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Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vision: Chapter 22, The Depths Of Despair.
by
Rebecca Ann Heineman
Ranma 1/2 and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. Based on "Sailor Ranko" by Duncan Zillman and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel.
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me upload chapters to FanFiction.net without checking them.
"REPORT: ELEVEN HK FLYERS DESTROYED BY AMERICAN COMBAT SQUAD. OUTCOME OF BATTLE DID NOT MATCH SIMULATION."
"COMMAND: ANALYZE COMBAT LOSS. DETERMINE NEW WEAPONS."
Skynet went over the battle logs of the skirmish at the Los Angeles Airport. The loss of the HK was acceptable; it killed two soldiers and was able to detect the unit's strength. From this, an ambush was planned that would result in the loss of three T-70 units but was predicted to wipe out most if not the entire marine unit.
A T-70 having its gun jammed by a rose was an unexpected event. It resulted in only four soldiers and the civilian who threw the rose killed. Skynet looked at all the history of battles through the ages and found nothing that said that roses were battle weapons.
Skynet took no chances. It sent ten HK flyers to utterly wipe out the marine corp. unit. The simulation had shown that they were going to destroy the unit with a possible loss of a single HK. The battle was much different. In a single minute all ten HKs were destroyed. Seven girls wielding energy weapons of some sort easily defeated Skynet's forces.
The marines were inconsequential and the pursuit was abandoned. Who was this new adversary? Only six of the seven girls were recorded on camera. The seventh struck from behind and was not visible at all until she attacked.
The entire log was analyzed and only one girl was recognized. She was called Sailor Io and she was with Sailor Sun and Sailor Pluto at an Internet monitoring station. The only connection it had to the girl's whereabouts was that Ami Mizuno might have had something to do with these girls.
Ami Mizuno was the key to learning about this new enemy. Skynet moved up her termination order on the priority list. It knew where she lived.
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Sailor Sun took Tuxedo Mask's body and placed it on a bed in the tiny sickbay the space station had. She promptly collapsed. The other Senshi beamed in and came to check up on Sun. Io and Jupiter dragged Sun to bed. Sun had overdone it again. Io spoke to Jupiter, "I guess that sunlight from dawn wasn't good enough for her."
Jupiter nodded. They tucked Sun into bed and went back to the Senshi in sickbay.
Sailor Moon stood next to her boyfriend. She had a look of fierce determination on her. She was somehow going to set things right. She just didn't know how.
"Sailor Moon, I need to speak with you." It was Sailor Pluto. The other Senshi backed away since Pluto had a look that she meant business.
The two wandered off. The others followed but Pluto glared at them, "Alone!" She put her arm around Moon and went off to the power room and sealed the door.
Mars crossed her arms, "What was that about?" The other Senshi gave a collective shrug. Pluto was always the odd and mysterious one. Why should now be any different?
"Oh good! You are all here." Kasumi called from the dining area. She had prepared a meal for everyone. "Dinner's ready."
The Senshi looked at each other and realized they hadn't eaten for quite some time. They all ran and took seats with chopsticks at the ready. The food tasted pretty good. Kasumi worked her magic on the one thousand year old tofu blocks; freeze dried vegetable matter and other unrecognizable supplies that were in the food stores. The kitchen was spotless and everything was neat and tidy.
Kasumi sat among them. "So, Akane, can you introduce me to your friends?"
Io giggled, "When I am dressed like this, could you call me Sailor Io?"
Kasumi touched her lip with her fingers and smiled, "That is such a cute name."
Sailor Io introduced Kasumi to all the Senshi at the table by their Sailor names. They all exchanged greetings and idle chitchat. Io smiled at her sister. She was so happy to be sharing a moment with both of her families.
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Sailor Moon came when they were about finished with the meal. She for a moment reverted back to the old Sailor Moon when she started to munch on everything in sight. Io introduced Moon to Kasumi and then Moon changed back to her odd state.
Sailor Moon ordered for Sailor Sun to take a break. The teleportation has been taxing her and she was concerned that if she didn't get any rest, she could hurt herself. She told them to leave her in bed. She was going to be needed soon in full health. She told Io to keep an eye on Sun.
Sailor Moon took the Inners to the hospital where they assisted the nursing staff and gave a huge morale boost to the people of Tokyo. Sailor Moon was getting to know her future subjects.
Pluto stayed at the station. She was back at the computer communication console scanning Earth. She was looking for Skynet. She was getting close. She could feel it.
Io was sleeping next to Sun. She wanted to make sure that Sun didn't sneak off somewhere.
Sun couldn't sleep. She was having a nightmare about her mother's death. "MOM!" She jumped up out of bed and landed in a fighting stance. She slowly put her hands on her knees and calmed down. She looked at the alarm clock by the bed. She still had an hour before she needed to be up. She sat on her bed and was restless. Io was still asleep. Sun thought about Ukyou. She hadn't checked on her. She tried to sense her. She couldn't from the station. She had to be much closer. She concentrated and teleported.
Io opened her eyes. She quickly looked around the room for Sun. "Argh! She got away!" She ran off to tell the others.
Sun stood in front of Ucchan's. Her heart sunk into her feet. The restaurant was totally destroyed. She walked into the area where the grill once stood. There were fragments and protrusions from the ground that hinted the outline of the booths and the counter that Ukyou's smiling face once stood behind. Sun didn't want to, but she had to know. She relaxed and let her Senshi sense detect the presence of Ukyou. It led her to the back of the restaurant where the storeroom once was. There were some twisted metal and broken poles still sticking out of the concrete foundation. Otherwise, there was nothing here. She stood in a former corner and felt the former presence of two people. "At least you were not alone Ucchan." Sun kneeled and gave a prayer for her dear friends Ukyou and Konatsu. She vowed to never forget them.
Sun teleported into the courtyard of the Tendo dojo, she looked around at the ruins of what was once her home. She went to the former kitchen and stood where she found Kasumi. She used her Senshi senses to feel the life that was once there. It felt good. It felt a little like what it was not so long ago.
She gazed at the dark sky, staring at where her bedroom once was. She took a deep breath. How she wanted to go back to the way it was. The way things currently are truly wasn't a world she wanted to live in. She still had Sailor Io and Kasumi, so she still had people who cared for her.
She felt her mother. She was directly above her. In the next room, she felt Nabiki. Sun sighed thinking how she probably was complaining how her stock prices were dropping before it didn't matter for her anymore. She looked farther down and knew that was where Mr. Tendo was, taking the bath that he so loved.
She sat down in the former dining room and recalled all the times she ate there. How she fought with her father for scraps of food and gotten clobbered from everyone on a regular basis. She missed those times.
She felt people in the area. She thought that they might be others who, like her, were trying to reclaim a tiny piece of their former lives. There was sadly no going back. She meditated for a moment to reflect and to remember her mother. She remembered her in a good way, the times she taught her to cook, taking her shopping and just trying to be a good surrogate mother to Ranko.
Sun had a feeling of despair. It broke her meditation. She opened her eyes and saw a somewhat familiar person walking past the former front of the house. Ryoga looked like he had aged twenty years. His hair had fallen out in places and he had a strange burn mark on his finger where a ring would be. His skin was discolored and he looked very pale.
Sailor Sun was overjoyed. Someone else she cared about had survived. "Ryoga!" Sun stood up and totally forgot that she was dressed as a Senshi. "Wait up!"
Ryoga stopped in his tracks and turned to the strange red-haired girl that was calling him by name. He stumbled a bit and regained his footing. "Hello?"
"I'm so glad you're alive pork butt!" Sailor Sun held Ryoga by the shoulders. Ryoga just stood there totally shocked that a stranger would call him that.
"Do I know you?" Ryoga moved his head up and down gawking are this odd girl. He thought that he knew this girl but really couldn't place her.
"It's me! Ranma!" Sun held her arms akimbo and held out her chest in a male fashion. It looked rather strange coming from a female body in a skintight leotard and mini-skirt.
"Ranma? Why are you wearing that stupid disguise?"
Sun stopped. She slowly looked at her dress and turned red. "Whoops!" She ran off and jumped behind a piece of wall just large enough to hide her body. She transformed to Ranko. She then hopped back over to Ryoga. "It this better?"
"You are getting weirder all the time Ranma." Ryoga just shook his head. He paused for a moment, "Where's Akane?"
"Oh, she's safe bacon breath..." was all Ranko could say before Ryoga jumped on her and shoved her to the ground.
"THAT DOES IT!" Ryoga slammed his fist into Ranko's stomach and Ranko returned the favor with a kick that flung Ryoga over her head. Ranko got up and charged Ryoga at full speed. Ryoga landed on his feet a little clumsily but compensated by tilting with the fall and lifting his leg to meet Ranko's left shoulder. Ranko swerved to soften the blow and did a flip to reduce her forward speed.
Ranko made a quick u-turn and stopped to see what was wrong with Ryoga. He rarely landed improperly and the way he looked gave away the fact that he wasn't healthy.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ryoga was on his side and was having trouble getting up. He finally stood and faced Ranko and lifted his arms to fight. "Never call me that again! Do you hear me?"
Ranko stood her ground. She saw that Ryoga was really in no condition to fight. She gulped and asked very gently and softly, "Akari?"
The sound of that name set him off again. He made a battle cry and ran straight for Ranko. She easily jumped over the charging Ryoga who dived, missed and fell flat on the dusty ash covered ground. He didn't bother getting up. He punched the ground, "DAMN YOU RANMA!"
"What did I do?" Ranko stood over his fallen friend, ready for him to try to attack her again.
Ryoga didn't have an answer. He was so used to Ranma being at fault for all his problems that he cursed her by instinct. He slowly turned over and sat. He hung his head low and let bitterness and despair take hold.
Ranko knew what happened. It was obvious. She kneeled down at a safe distance from Ryoga. "I'm sorry Ryoga." She bowed towards her friend.
"SORRY!" He leapt at Ranko who had no problem jumping over Ryoga and avoiding the attack.
"Will you stop that?" Ranko was getting tired of being a punching bag.
Ryoga again lay there in the dusty ground. He turned on his back with tears in his eyes.
Ranko added, "Do you think you are the only one who has suffered? I lost my mother."
Ryoga didn't care. Nothing could match his despair.
Ranko saw that her loss meant nothing to him. She filled with rage. "My mother means nothing to you huh? How about Akane? She lost her father and Nabiki! Does that mean anything to you P-Chan!"
Ryoga was both furious and despondent at the same time. "Nabiki? Mr. Tendo?"
Ranko took a step back to avoid an attack, "Yeah. So go ahead and wallow in your own self-pity. Look around; does this look like a town of happy people? Does it?"
Ryoga just stared at the black clouds above. "Everything I had that mattered is gone. I have nothing anymore."
Ranko wanted to cheer up her friend. "Well, you've got me." She blew it.
Ryoga lifted his head and spat out, "Like I said, I've got nothing." Ryoga took a good look at Ranko and noticed that she was in perfect health. He examined his own arms and saw the radiation sickness that he was suffering from. Everyone he met in his travels was suffering from it in some form as well. Ranko though, looked like she had a nice hot bath and her clothes were perfectly clean. It was not normal. "Ranma, where have you been?"
"Right here stupid. Where else would I be?" Ranko crossed her arms again giving a typical Ranma stance.
"Why are you not sick? Did you find a cure?" Ryoga tried to stand up, but fell back down.
"Cure for what?" Ranko was being her usual ignorant self.
"Radiation poisoning you moron! Everyone has it! Look at you!" Ryoga was furious that Ranma was holding out on him. "Why are you healthy!"
"What's radiation poisoning?" Ranko started looking around for a poison gas cloud or a pool of bad water.
"You can't tell me that you hadn't gotten a flyer or heard the alerts. You can't be that clueless." Ryoga took a second to think about that, yes, Ranma could be that clueless.
"No, I haven't gotten a flyer. But you do look like you've come down with something pretty bad." Ranko bobbed her head left and right to look at Ryoga's receding hairline. "Are you going bald? Little young for that aren't you?"
Ryoga just stood with his mouth agape. Ranma had no clue what she was talking about and yet she was a vision of health. Where she lived must have been shielded from the fallout. That had to be the answer. "Ranma, take me to your place."
Ranko, being her usual self, "Oh, Ryoga, this is so sudden." She batted her eyes and made a girlish pose.
Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. He just didn't have the strength or the will to rip Ranko's head from her shoulders and throw it to China. He just fell to his knees. "Just leave me to die. You don't care."
Ranko realized that she took things a bit too far. Usually she figured this out after a mallet strike. "Ok, I'll take you to my place. I think you need to see a doctor first."
Ryoga tossed his head aside to look away from Ranko, "I'm terminal. I made the stupid mistake of packing my backpack with radioactive metal cans. The nurse at the triage unit said I'd be lucky to last another week."
Ranko swallowed hard. She didn't know what to say. "Uh..."
Ryoga just sighed. He gave a small smile, "At least my pain will finally come to an end." Ryoga turned to look at Ranko who was looking around for something. "What's your problem Ranma?"
Ranko looked at the dust all around her. It dawned on her that she had been Sailor Sun since the apocalypse and this was the first time she had reverted to human form. She already started feeling a little nauseous but thought it was because Ryoga punched her in the stomach. She still had some Senshi powers in human form and can sense that she was in danger where she was. "Oh my god, so that's why I didn't get sick."
Ryoga was wondering what Ranko meant by that.
Ranko produced a small yellow rod with a reddish glow to it. "You wanted to know about my disguise?"
Ryoga was not in the mood for games. But humored her anyways, "Yeah, why were you dressed in that stupid mini-skirt?"
Ranko got angry. She was proud to be a Senshi. She was proud of her uniform, just like Akane was proud to wear her fuku, "It's not stupid!" She held her henshin stick high and exclaimed, "Sun Star Power, Make Up!"
Ryoga couldn't believe his eyes. Ranko was encased in flames, her body lifted in the air and her clothes vanished replaced by red ribbons that formed a white leotard. She lifted her arms and white gloves with red trim appeared. A red mini-skirt and yellow bows appeared on her leotard. She spun around and kicked up a leg and red knee high boots materialized. Her hair unraveled its ponytail and became a waist length full mane. Red earrings and a gold tiara appeared on her head with a fiery red gemstone in the center. Her face got a full makeup treatment. Sailor Sun then landed on the ground and made a pose.
Ryoga fainted.
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A long-range speedboat came quickly into Tokyo harbor. Two Austrian looking men wearing trench coats and dark sunglasses came ashore. The boat sped away back to its base. The two men took a look around and began to walk to Juuban.
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Ryoga woke up in an unfamiliar location. He was in a forest deep in the center of Japan. He looked around and found his backpack cleaned, his clothes washed and a new supply of food. His tent was set up and a small campfire was lit. He thought that he must of had a strange dream. He looked at his body and he was the picture of health. "Whew. That was weird."
"What was weird?" A female voice called out from on top of his head.
Ryoga recognized the voice and didn't at the same time. He made a guess, "Ranma? Get off my head!"
"Guess again."
"Fine, if you want to be Ranko. I'll call you Ranko." He shook his head and the person jumped off and in front of him and it turned out to be Sailor Sun.
"Were you expecting Akane?" Sun said sarcastically.
"Where is she?" Ryoga demanded.
"Is this how you repay someone who saved your miserable life?"
"Huh?" Ryoga took a step back. He looked at himself, the campsite and his things. "How did you?" He looked at Sailor Sun, "What are you?"
"I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Sun."
"Run that by me again Ranma."
Behind Ryoga came another voice. "I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Io."
Ryoga spun around and saw Sailor Io. Ryoga knew it was Akane. He just didn't remember why. "Akane?"
"Yes P-Chan." She giggled.
No! No! No! Ryoga dropped to his knees and held his head in despair.
Sailor Sun came forward, "You fell unconscious. You were almost dead when we took you to a friend of ours who healed you. Too bad the nurse bathed you with cold water first. You should have heard her scream."
Ryoga's mind was spinning. Oh no! I transformed in front of a nurse! Oh the shame!
Sailor Io crossed her arms. "Guess who was the nurse."
Ryoga turned white. "What were you doing there?"
Io tapped her foot, "When I heard that you were at the hospital waiting to be treated by Saturn, I had Sun bring me there."
"You owe me your life a second time bacon breath." Sun said smugly. "She wanted to serve sausage right there and then to the hospital staff. If I hadn't stopped her, you would have been dinner for six."
Ryoga tried to accept the fact that his dark secret was out. "Forgive me..."
Io went over to Ryoga and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry to hear about Akari."
Ryoga flooded into the darkest regions of despair. He finally found it inside himself to let out the grief he held back and fell to the floor.
He gave a gentle weep, for the unrequited love for Akane and the loss of his soul mate Akari. He looked at Sun with a new purpose, "Who killed her?"
"Akari? We are not totally sure yet. Whatever it is, it's trying to kill everybody. We are looking for it."
Ryoga jumped up to Sailor Sun and held her dress by the collar. He meant business. "Looking for it?"
Sun got wide eyed; she knew if she said the wrong thing, Ryoga would go ballistic. "We are close."
Ryoga made the demand of all demands, "You find him. I want in! Understand!"
"Uh... If you say so."
"RANMA! YOU GIVE ME YOUR WORD! YOU FIND HIM! I WANT IN!" Ryoga raised a battle aura higher that Sun had ever seen before.
Sun raised herself to be at eye level with Ryoga, "You wouldn't last five seconds against its army."
Ryoga looked her in the eye. "That's all the time I need."
Sun gulped. "Ryoga, I swear as a martial artist, I'll bring you."
Ryoga let go of Sun and she fell to the ground.
Sun stood back up. "Well we've got to go. I also left you a ceramic kettle and a heating unit. Just in case you pork out."
Io went to Ryoga. "Be careful."
Ryoga stared at Sun with revenge on his mind. "Don't you break your word!"
Sun stood steadfast. Io went up to her and held her tight. "Sun Beam Transport!" They disappeared.
Ryoga was alone again. He was staying put. Ranma may have been an obnoxious, ignorant, insensitive jerk. Ryoga knew. He or she will be back.
Ryoga went bug eyed and froze. Wait? Why was Akane calling herself Sailor Io?
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and keeps me from making that bump in the night sound you hear at midnight.
Last edited on October 17, 2002