The Legend of Ranma

Disclaimer: Well, I suppose you expect a disclaimer. Don't I get enough

flack from the flamers?

< >: Thoughts

[" "]: Telepathic communication

Chapter 7

Bad Time to be a Superhero

"Look out! It's Morpha!"

The gigantic, gelatinous mass of liquid suddenly formed a bizarre tentacle

and lashed out at the people in front of it. The Hyrule Knight and Navi

moved off to one side as the Sailor Senshi and the Devil Hunters dived to

the other side. Though Morpha seemed to be a huge body of water, it moved

with surprising speed as it tried to engulf its victims into its body.

"What the hell is that thing?" Yohko cried out as she held out her Soul

Sword.

"It's something that I destroyed a while back on Hyrule. " Ranma explained

as he began powering up and taking a ready stance. Navi fluttered near his

right shoulder. "Its name is Morpha and it looks like Saffron used the

TriForce of Power and Tokima's remains to recreate it. You see that nucleus

in its center? That's its main control center, which enables it to control

all liquids, especially water."

Sailor Jupiter nodded as she saw the huge, spherical object pulsating

within the giant amoebae. "No problem! All we have to do is destroy that

thing! And since water conducts electricity..."

The skies began to turn black as lightning began to crackle among the

clouds. Then Sailor Jupiter's tiara put forth an antenna and began

absorbing the electricity while concentrating it into one hand.

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

The Sailor of lightning and nature threw the ball of energy in a sideways

throw. The blast struck into the surface of Morpha and was conducted into

the mass, heading straight toward the nucleus. However, the nucleus let off

a bright glow and simply reflected the lighting back out of its body. Ranma

and the others had to duck for cover as Sailor Jupiter's attack was sent

right back at her.

"Look out!"

"ARRGGGGHHH!" Sailor Jupiter screamed as he own attack struck her. She was

thrown back several yards and was a little more than dazed as she landed on

her back.

Ranma ran toward Sailor Jupiter as Morpha suddenly threw out more

tentacles, which suddenly became as hard as steel. He just barely managed

to sweep the Senshi off her feet and get her out of harm's way, before the

pseudopodia impaled themselves into the ground and shredded the few

remaining trees that were still standing.

Makoto felt a warm flush of heat as she found herself in the hard-muscled

arms of the Hyrule Knight. It felt wonderful! It was just like being the

arms of her old boyfriend! No, it was WAY better! However, she then

remebered Sailor Pluto's words and became saddened at the possibility of

destroying him. <How can I fight against this guy? He just saved my life

again. >

Sailor Venus felt a sudden twinge of jealousy as she saw the Hyrule Knight

save her comrade like a handsome swashbuckler of those torrid romance

novels she read in secret. She began imagining herself being held close in

those strong arms. She shook her head soon afterwards, dispelling that

silly notion.. This was no time for fantasies. A water monster was

threatening Tokyo and they still had to deal with the Hyrule Knight. Though

she too found herself reluctant to deal with him.

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

A long chain of energy in the shape of golden hearts whipped out toward

Morpha, but the giant amoebae had learned from its previous encounter with

Ranma on Hyrule. It knew that its nucleus was its weak point and countered

Sailor Venus's attempt to snare its brain. It lashed out with a hard-water

tentacle and batted the energy rope aside.

Ranma saw that he had an opening as he landed behind the blob. Setting

Sailor Jupiter down, he called forth the Longshot and fired off its

harpoon. However, Saffron's power had made Morpha faster at countering

threats, and though the metal barb shot through its watery body, the

nucleus put up its defensive shield and the point rebounded off.

"No good! I can't pull out its nucleus like the last time!" Ranma shouted

as he and Sailor Jupiter scrambled out of the way as Morpha threw out three

more tentacles to try and ensnare them.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"Asuza!" Yohko cried out.

Looked in the direction of the screams and Ranma's blood ran cold as he saw

Asuza swept up by one of Morpha's psuedopods. The Devil Hunter-in-training

found herself becoming enveloped into the tentacle and Ranma knew that

Morpha would drown her in its body. Ranma whipped out his Fairy Bow and

notched an arrow, infusing it with a blue energy.

"ICE ARROW!"

The projectile sped toward a point below where Asuza was just starting to

be engulfed. It drove deep within the blob. The water began to harden as

the arrow worked its freezing magic. He rushed forward, putting away his

bow and calling forth the Biggoron's Sword. He leapt high and struck

forward with the massive blade, causing the water arm to snap off like an

icicle. The limb fell, shattering like glass and Asuza found herself

shivering as she was sprawled on the ground. Ranma wasted no time in

helping her up and getting her away from the monster. The shattered pieces

of the tentacle that had held her melted into small puddles of water and

amazingly moved back to the main body to be reabsorbed.

Sailor Jupiter and Venus saw that they needed help as their own attacks

weren't working against this monster. Lightning and energy beams were

easily relflected and they spent most of their time dodging water

tentacles. Then suddenly, it withdrew all of its appendages into its mass,

then its nucleus began to glow even brighter.

"What's it doing?" Venus asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this!" Sailor Jupiter replied

as she took a ready stance.

Ranma didn't like the looks of it either. This new Morpha was far more

deadly than the seemingly mindless blob he fought on Hyrule. His fears were

confirmed when the surface of the amoebae suddenly began forming spikes,

making it resemble a giant sea urchin. It then suddenly expanded, launching

the spikes in all directions. The water spikes took on the hardness of

diamond as they shredded dead tree trunks, cracked concrete and smashing

through nearby parked cars.

"WHOA!" The two Sailor Senshi had to duck for cover and winced as several

of those projectiles managed to come close enough to graze their legs,

sides and arms.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Ranma gritted his teeth after calling forth his Hylian shield to deflect

the barrage as he put himself between Morpha and Yohko and her group. Navi

was busy using her own magic to deflect any spikes that managed to get past

her partner. Things were getting more intense.

On Phoenix Mountain...

"Now let me get this straight." The demon Mara said as she spoke with

Safrron. She gestured to the viewing portal of the battle that was

occurring. "You want me to pit this Hyrule Knight against those Sailor

Senshi and stir up some major conflict between them, right?"

Saffron grinned as he said, "Yes, and I know just how much you love to stir

up misery and despair. I knew this would be right up your alley. The Sailor

Senshi are already suspicious with this newcomer and it'll only take a

small push in the right direction to have them at each other's throats.

This will also throw a big monkey wrench into Sailor Pluto's plans. And

I'll make sure she won't interfere until after you've finished with your

job."

"Hmmmm, it's tempting." Mara admitted as she watched the battle continue.

She had caused much mischief over the centuries, making former allies into

bitter enemies. Though not many people know it, she was the one who really

caused the Cold War. With tensions as high as they were at the end of World

War II, it was a simple matter to get Stalin to declare the United States

as the enemy. Now with this much tension between two powerful sides; The

Hyrule Knight and the Sailor Senshi, the thought of all that lovely chaos

was just too much for the demon to resist. She also knew of Sailor Pluto's

plans to create Crystal Tokyo, and the thought of that perfect, peaceful,

and ugh, boring utopia becoming a reality made her want to hurl. If causing

friction between the Senshi and this potential ally of good would greatly

interfere with the Senshi of Time's plans, then she was all for it.

"I'll do it!"

"Splendid! I'll leave the method up to you. Just make sure that the Hyrule

Knight is seen as the villain. As for your payment..."

Mara held up a hand. "No need to pay me. A job like this would be payment

enough. I would have stirred up some trouble with these people anyways.

Hell, with this much potential for chaos, I would PAID YOU for a chance at

this!"

"Whatever. In any case, I suggest that you wait until after they defeat

Morpha. Their emotional states will be at their peaks and their guards will

be down long enough for you to sow your seeds of discord."

"No problem! See ya!"

As the demoness disappeared in a puff of brimstone, Saffron grinned as he

watched the viewing portal. Mara was certain to stir up a lot of mayhem and

the Hero of Time would soon be fighting against the former allies of

Hyrule. Though the Phoenix God was doubtful that the Senshi would have

sufficient power to destroy him, they would weaken him enough for Saffron

to take the TriForce piece that Ranma possessed. Just fighting the enhanced

Morpha was already tiring the Hyrule Knight as he launched more energized

arrows and continued to drain his dwindling stores of magic. Now the rest

of the Inner and Outer Senshi were nearing the battle scene. A weakened

Ranma against nearly fresh Senshi did not give the Hyrule Knight favorable

odds.

At the devastated park, Ranma and the others were breathing hard and were

feeling the strain as the prolonged battle took its toll. So far, they had

managed to defend against Morpha's attacks, but just barely, and even the

Hyrule Knight was feeling a little winded. His magical abilities were now

reaching dangerously low levels and with the watery monster keeping him on

the defensive, there wasn't much he could do. His sword wasn't very

effective and he couldn't get close enough to the nucleus to do any

considerable damage. Yohko's Soul Sword and Asuza's spear was also unable

to get within striking distance. Fire Arrows and Din's Fire attack didn't

work, as Morpha's body would simply extinguish the flames. Ice Arrows were

also ineffective as they would only freeze the waters for a few seconds and

then would melt back into water again. The nucleus was shielded from

electricity, light and his Longshot weapon. Ranma began to despair when he

then heard a familiar voice.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

A barrage of fire rings blasted from one side and struck Morpha. However,

like Ranma's arrows, these were simply dissipated as the watery body of

Morpha snuffed them out.

Sailor Mars gasped as she, Sailor Moon and Mercury came onto the scene.

"It... didn't work!"

"Duh." Sailor Moon said. "Everybody knows that water beats fire."

"Oh shut up!"

Sailor Moon gave her a Japanese Red Eye before taking her usual customary

pose and giving out her entrance speech. "Fear not, Sailor Jupiter and

Venus! Your fellow Senshi are here to help you against this abomination!"

"How dare this creature use the purity of water for evil! I, Sailor Mercury

will defeat it!"

"I, Sailor Mars shall assist and use my fires to boil it into nothingness!"

"And I, Sailor Moon, Champion of Justice shall show this perversion of

nature not to mess with the Sailor Senshi. In the name of the moon, we

shall triumph!"

The three Inner Senshi took a group pose.

Meanwhile, hiding behind the wreckage of a parked car, Mara gagged.

<ARRGGGHHH! All of this righteous babble is making me sick to my stomach!

And I thought Belldandy's voice was hard on my ears! > She shook her head

and continued to watch the battle, waiting for her chance to strike. As she

observed, she began thinking about her meeting with Saffron and his sudden

rise to godhood. Though she did like the cruel, arrogant streak he had,

which reminded her of several other mean-spirited gods (the only kinds of

gods that she did like), she did wonder how he managed to attain the power

to rival that of a first-class deity with an unlimited license. She also

detected a considerable amount of godlike energies being emitted from the

Hyrule Knight. It was very similar to what Saffron was wielding and Mara

decided to look more into this matter after she had done her dastardly

deed.

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

A jet of freezing water exploded from Sailor Mercury's hands. However to

her horror, the attack did not cause Morpha to freeze on the spot. Having

learned from Ranma's Ice Arrow attacks, the creature now simply absorbed

the ice into itself, melted it and added to its own mass, making it grow in

size.

"Stop! You're only feeding it!" Ranma cried out as he dodged another

barrage of tentacles and water spikes.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sailor Moon cried out as she and Mars ducked for cover and

more tentacles and spikes shot out.

Things were getting out of hand and the Hyrule Knight had to end this fast.

"Navi, is there any way at all to get at that nucleus?"

The little fairy began using her magical senses on Morpha, then bobbed up

and down in agreement. "Yes! The nucleus is shielded from individual

attacks, so you'll have to do a combined attack." She began to

telepathically transmit her plan to her partner, who nodded and called out,

to the Inner Senshi.

"Sailor Mercury! Can you use that freezing attack again?"

"Huh?" Mercury replied as she swerved to avoid another tentacle. "But it

doesn't work! That thing will absorb it again!"

"Trust me! We just need to freeze it for a few seconds!"

Mercury considered her options, then nodded as she began powering up again.

After dodging a few more tentacles, she threw out her hands and launched

her attack.

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

At the same time, Ranma took out his Fairy Bow and began launching Ice

Arrows in rapid succession.

"ICE ARROW BARRAGE!"

The combined freezing attacks struck into Morpha and began to cause its

body to stiffen. Fifteen freezing bolts and Sailor Mercury's attack caused

Morpha to freeze up too fast for it to absorb all at once. Though Ranma

knew that it would only be a few seconds before the monster would thaw out

and grow ever larger.

"Jupiter! Venus! Use your attacks on that nucleus together!"

Both Senshi nodded as they called out their attacks!

"LOVE ME CHAIN!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

Just as they launched their energies, Ranma called forth the Longshot and

fired off its harpoon. He began focusing the TriForce of Courage into the

links, which caused Sailor Venus's chain and Jupiter's electrical blast to

become attracted to it. The Longshot's chain merged with Minako's chain and

Makoto's electrical energies began running down the length and focused at

the point. Fortunately, Ranma's Golden Gauntlets insulated him.

"LONGSHOT SPARK-CHAIN ATTACK!"

The combined powers struck into Morpha, just as it was about to melt free.

The nucleus was just starting to put up its defensive shield when the

harpoon drove into it, causing a huge electrical and light energy discharge

to occur. With the point firmly embedded into his target, Ranma smiled.

Calling forth his Iron Boots to anchor him, he gave a mighty yank on the

chain while activating the retracting switch.

"Time to reel in this fish!"

The huge nucleus tried to resist being pulled from its body, but in a

couple of seconds, Ranma yanked it free from the pulsating mass. As it

cleared its body, the mass of water it controlled, spilled all over the

place, losing all cohesion as the nucleus was ripped out.

Ranma pulled hard and the nucleus was sent flying into the air. He then

made his Iron Boots and Longshot disappear and readied his sword.

Sailor Moon and the rest of the Inner Senshi saw their chance and launched

their attacks at the descending sphere.

"BURNING MANDALA!"

"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!"

"CRESENT BEAM SHOWER!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

The nucleus was blasted, scorched, frosted, shocked and then got hit by a

huge heart, but still did not break apart.

Ranma knew that once it touched water, it would reform its body again. That

wasn't going to be permitted as he focused the TriForce of Courage into his

blade. Huge amounts of power were emitted as his aura took on the purest

white. Then he leapt high and struck.

"TRIFORCE SWORD OF COURAGE!"

With a downward swipe, Ranma's sword cut a huge gash. The monster's brain,

began pulsate uncontrollably as the power within it could no longer hold

itself together. With an inhuman sound of death, the nucleus exploded into

a shower of water droplets and light. All those present at the scene had to

shield their eyes from the bright strobes, including Ranma and Navi as they

were thrown back from the explosion. He landed hard on his back and was in

a bit of a daze, while Navi fluttered down, when Mara decided to make her

move.

It was at that time that Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Chibi-Moon appeared at

the scene. On the other side, Yohko and her group were also recovering from

the bright light.

The Demoness Mara decided that a simple illusion spell was all that was

needed to turn the Sailor Senshi against the Hyrule Knight. And what better

way than to endanger an innocent and make it look like Ranma had done the

deed? Making her way toward the still dazed hero and his fairy partner, she

took on an exact appearance of the Hyrule Knight, while cloaking the hero

and his fairy in shadow, hiding both of them from view.

Navi looked up when she sensed the dark powers and saw an exact replica of

her partner glaring down at her.

"Who are you...?"

The disguised Mara grinned evilly as she made a replica of Ranma's bow

appear and took aim at Rini. The Outer Senshi were just rushing over to

where the Inner Senshi were standing and just recovering their eyesight

when she let loose with her arrow.

"Are you all right?" Uranus asked.

"We're okay." Jupiter replied as the spots in her eyes began to disappear.

"The Hyrule Knight saved us all. Sailor Pluto was wrong. He's really a

good..."

"Look out!" Neptune cried out as she saw a projectile flying toward

Chibi-Moon.

The next few seconds were like in slow motion as Neptune dived to push Rini

out of the way. All the other Senshi turned to see what appeared to be the

Hyrule Knight grinning as he loosed an arrow at Chibi-Moon.

Mara smiled as she timed her next move, making herself vanish in a bright

light while pressing her fake bow into Ranma's startled hands. The shadow

spell she had around him faded away.

FFFFT-THOK!

Neptune cried out as the enchanted barb of Mara's arrow dug deep into her

shoulder, just as Rini was pushed out of the way.

"NEPTUNE!" Sailor Uranus cried out as she saw her lover screech out in

pain. As she saw blood began to flow from Micharu's shoulder, her eyes

turned to a bloody haze as she glared at the one who would dare hurt her

Micharu.

Ranma was just staggering to his feet as the light faded away, and was just

looking up when he saw the not-so-pleasant visage of an angered Sailor

Uranus. H also noted the looks of shock on the other Senshi's faces. When

he saw the arrow protruding from Sailor Neptune's shoulder as she fell,

then looked at the bow in his hand, he turned pale at what this situation

must look like to them.

"Wait..."

"You... MONSTER!!!!" Sailor Uranus screamed and she charged at Ranma and

then struck the ground before her. "WORLD SHAKING!"

Ranma had to drop the bow and move out of the way as Uranus' attack blasted

at him. He tried to say some thing in his defense, but that was when the

shorthaired blonde threw another one of her attacks at him while screaming.

"Sailor Pluto was right! You back-stabbing bastard! You are a threat to us

all and WILL BE DESTROYED! WORLD SHAKING!"

Ranma saw that reason would not reach her as he took out his sword again.

Navi flitted beside him and tried to say something but neither Ranma nor

Uranus would listen. Ranma was too busy trying to fend off Uranus' attacks

and the Outer Senshi was too enraged to heed anything.

The rest of the Senshi were still in shock over what had happened, but they

could not deny what they had just witnessed. They had thought that Sailor

Pluto was wrong and that the Hyrule Knight was in fact on their side. Now,

it seemed that the Senshi of Time was right and they felt betrayed.

Yohko and her fellow Devil Hunters were also in shock at what they had just

witnessed. The one hundred and eighth Devil Hunter of the Mano clan

couldn't believe that such a hunk would do such a thing.

On Phoenix Mountain, Saffron nodded in satisfaction after seeing the chaos

that Mara had just stirred up with her deceit. He then looked into the

timestream and his grin became even more pronounced. With the TriForce of

Power, he had only allowed Setsuna to see what he wanted to her to see:

mainly the scene in which the Hyrule Knight tried to kill Rini. She did not

know that it was really Mara in disguise and with no proof, the weakened

Hyrule Knight was now going to be considered as their mortal enemies. On

that note, he decided to release the hold he had on Sailor Pluto. The

Senshi of Time vanished, though Saffron knew where she was going.

Ranma was near the breaking point as he kept trying to calm Uranus down so

that he could explain. That hope however, was dashed when he saw the

appearance of Sailor Pluto. She really didn't look like she was happy to

see him.

The Senshi of Time leveled her staff at him and said in a cold tone, "Now

that you have shown your true colors, as I had suspected, you will be

eliminated. For the future of Crystal Tokyo!"

"Listen to me, I didn't..."

"DEAD SCREAM!"

Ranma had no choice but to call forth the Mirror Shield to defend against

Pluto's attack. Navi floated behind him to lend any of her remaining

energies. The Dead Scream attack slammed into the polished surface and was

then reflected back at the Senshi of Time.

Pluto swerved to the side to evade her own attack, then called to the

others. "The Hyrule Knight has shown himself to be an agent of evil and

must be destroyed!"

The Inner Senshi were snapped out of their daze as they reluctantly nodded

and began advancing on Ranma.

Ranma found himself being flanked on both sides and in front of him as the

Senshi prepared to deliver the final blow. He was already weakened from the

battle with Morpha and Uranus. Not to mention that Pluto's attack didn't

help either. Now the Inner Senshi, Uranus and Pluto were powering up for

their final attack. Even Neptune came up, despite that she had an arrow in

her shoulder.

Ranma knew that this was the end, but he wouldn't give up. Summoning what

little power he had left, he began focusing it into the Mirror Shield.

<TriForce of Courage... help me. >

In response to Ranma's plea, the artifact began to give off a bright light

as Ranma's form once again became silhouetted in a white aura. That was

when the Sailor Senshi struck.

"OUTER SENSHI PLANET POWER!"

"INNER SENSHI PLANET POWER!"

At the same time, Ranma called out his protection spell. "NAYRU'S LOVE!"

The crystal shield appeared around him, just as the combined attacks struck

his shield. The energies began competing against one another as they

clashed. In the background, the Devil Hunters could only stare in shock as

they witnessed a battle of titanic proportions. It was then that the place

where Ranma was standing exploded. Everyone present covered their faces as

debris went flying everywhere. The energies they had used in their attacks

came reflecting back at the Sailor Senshi, knocking them off their feet and

sent them sprawling.

When the smoke cleared and they all looked up, Ranma was nowhere to be

seen. All that was left was a huge crater and some charred remnants of the

Mirror Shield.

"The Time Stream is secured." Sailor Pluto declared.

In the temple home of Keiichi Morisato, Belldandy, the Norn of the Present

was busy putting the finishing touches on dinner when she heard a loud

crash of something landing in the back yard. She went out to investigate

and gasped as she saw a battered and bruised figure lying in a large

crater. Beside him was a faintly glowing ball of light with gossamer wings.

To be continued�

Author's notes

Well, I'm finally finished with that chapter and it was a doozy! The Sailor

Senshi are now against poor Ranma, though there will be even more conflict

between the Inner and Outer Senshi as time goes on. There will be some more

revelations in the next chapter, see you there!