Story: Mercury Tendo

 

 Things had changed around these parts since he'd gone into deep cover. The streets themselves were broadly the same. A few new buildings, some torn down, others renovated... but the general lay of the land was as it had been. The Demon Lord took a deep breath and savoured the aroma of the surrounding area. How best to go about this?

His energy reserves had returned due to the umbrella of love, but he was quite rusty with these skills. If he wanted revenge upon those Sailor Senshi then... Hrmph! He was going to have to work for it. Get himself back in fighting shape. Drain a bit more energy. Make that a lot more energy. He remembered them swooping in to kick his ass the last time, they were much more powerful than their appearance suggested. Not to mention it had been quite a few years - two decades or so - since he had gone into hiding... There was a very real chance they were even stronger now than they had been then.

That was a rather scary thought... and so, he would have to adjust his approach. To enter a battle without understanding his enemy would invite yet further failure. That was not something he could abide. He would need more energy. He would need more allies. He would need more information. He needed a cunning plan.

Heh. Well, the energy part was easy enough. That boy had asked about Furinkan High (while charging off to the Tendo dojo), and so, his duty was clear. To Furinkan High he must go! A place like that would be an excellent place to draw energy from the student population, their youth would make them a replenishable energy source. Furthermore, their young and horny minds would be quite pliable and easy to manipulate. They would surely supply him with information, and potentially extra pairs of hands to use against his vexatious adversaries!

Of course, the school itself was closed - though apparently one student was still around. A tall boy in a tuxedo carrying a kendo stick as if he was some samurai from years gone by. Hrmph! A fine candidate to start with.

"Hold knave! What business have you here at Furinkan, after hours?"

Well, he hadn't expected to have a wooden stick pointed at the end of his nose to start this conversation off. Thinking about it, didn't the Kuno family have a history of being kind of strange around these parts? Now, let's see. Let's dust off this manner of speech, to see if he could play this fool like a fiddle as he once was certainly capable of.

"Pardon me, young man. I found myself inextricably drawn in, as if guided by fate itself."

That seemed to have the desired effect. Before giving the boy a chance to think, he continued on. Though in retrospect he may not have needed to hurry. It was quite likely to be morning the next day before a thought occurred to this buffoon.

"I see before me a young man with love issues," he announced gladly, quite certain of that. This is an example of what is known as cold reading. You could easily make that assessment about almost any teenage boy you met. Whether in a relationship or not, affairs of the heart were persistent in the young. Now he would continue as he had begun. "Perhaps I have the very thing to help you contend with such a matter...?"

"As if I, Tatewaki Kuno, would require the help of a mere salesman!" the boy said. Really now, giving his full name away to someone who implied great magical power? Good thing his magic was not fae oriented, or the boy really would be in trouble. "How much?"

"For a fine, upstanding young man like you? I couldn't give it away for anything more than... A hundred yen."

"At that price, now I know you're flogging something cheap and tawdry!" Kuno huffed. "However, in the interests of charity I shall take it off your hands."

Ahaha, how wonderful! He handed over an enchanted item to the boy. A pendant that would enable his feelings of love (or more likely, lust) to feed energy to someone more worthy of it. Come to it, the lust of those around him would also be fed in. A tiny amount of life energy, barely noticeable, trickling in over the course of time. One of many little feasts he would set up for himself. At the same time...?

"Name your true love," he said. "Think of her face. While you wear this pendant, she will be unable to tear her eyes off you."

That was quite genuine, incidentally. Whenever he was in the vicinity of the one that he adored, she would find her eyes drifting towards him, unable to look away. It would create a subconscious effect of attraction between the two, over the course of time, which would feed even more energy into the pendant. Win for both of them. Hehehe!

Kuno clutched the pendant in his grip, said the name 'Akane Tendo' and hung it around his neck, where it began to glow with an ominous light. How marvelous.

Now, for his other business. To be perfectly honest the Demon Lord had been considering subtle ways to draw the conversation over to where he wanted it to go naturally. Then he remembered who the hell he was talking to, that such things were unnecessary, and just went straight to the point.

"Say, it's been quite a while since anyone saw those Sailor Senshi out and about, hasn't it?" he said, rolling on his heels. "What do you young folk think of that?"

"Hrmph, I know not of what you mean," Kuno replied. "Why, this very morn I have heard rumours of an emergence of a new team, attired much as the originals!"

What was this now? A new generation? Well now, that was quite serious wasn't it? Heh! Perhaps he could take out his revenge on this new team, then? It turned out this idiot was a useful font of information after all! Those new girls better learn to shudder in terror, for now they would find themselves up against a great and terrible enemy!

<hr>

At that very moment, in the training hall of the Tendo Dojo, a very special occasion was occurring. We can see Akane Tendo dressed up as Sailor Mercury, with the snug fitting leotard, blue miniskirt, fancy boots and even a prop computer. Next to her are her friends Yuka and Sayuri, similarly dressed up as Sailors Mars and Venus. On top of that was Usagi (jr) dressed up as her own mother.

Meanwhile, there was also Kasumi Tendo dressed as Sailor Jupiter.

What's this, you say? No girl form Ranma? Well, hold onto that thought one moment, and let's see how this scene plays out.

"In the name of the moon, I will punish you!" Usagi said, pointing with great drama at the panda playing with a tire. "Your lazy days are numbered, evil youma!"

"Oh my, you're quite right Akane, this is a lot more fun than I - Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

It was honestly eerie how well Kasumi played the role. Almost as well as she filled out the costume. It didn't hurt that her hairstyle wasn't too far off, so a wig wasn't even necessary. A minor adjustment, add in a ponytail - et voila.

"Oh no!" Usagi suddenly gasped, hand to the back of her head. "This evil panda is stronger than I imagined!" the other girls lined up behind her, holding her up as she seemed poised to topple over. "Whatever shall we do?"

A beat of silence. The only sound to be heard was the squeak, squeak, squeak of a certain panda playing with a tire.

"I said, whatever shall we do?"

Still nothing.

"Ranma!" Akane growled. "If you want to know how I did that you will come in here, right this -"

A plastic rose shot out across the room, and Akane plucked it out of the air. She had some practise at it. "Ugh, this really ain't my style at all," Ranma said. Boy form. Wearing a rather snazzy tuxedo and a domino mask. You know, the sort that basically doesn't hide your face at all. He flipped back his cape. Not to be dramatic, it was just annoying him. "I'd almost prefer the skirt to this."

"Marry him," Sayuri whispered in Akane's ear. "Marry him right now."

"She's right, he cleans up super nice in a tuxedo," Yuka whispered in Akane's other ear. "Do not let that pass you by."

The annoying thing was that Yuka was right. He did look good in a tuxedo. The rough edges were all polished off and you could see the diamond shining as brightly as it was -

"Oh Tuxedo Mask! You're here!" Usagi yelled, jumping into Ranma's arms. Gerk! Akane could feel her battle aura spiking for some reason! Watch that hand! That skirt is really short! Usagi <i>batted her eyes at Akane's fiance</i> and nuzzled into his chest. Gah! "Please, give me words of encouragement so that I may defeat this mighty foe!"

Ranma looked over to the panda and took a deep breath. "Mighty foe, huh?" he grumbled. "Alright, alright. Uh... You haven't beaten him yet? What kinda weakling are you? He's not even fighting back!"

"That's the spirit, boy!" said a sign being held up by the panda. He flipped it over. "You encourage those girls!"

"You call that encouragement?!" Akane yelled, stomping over to take Usagi out of his grip, and into her own. "You don't have the first idea about the character you're playing as!"

"Yeah I do!" Ranma said. "He dresses like a dork! Who goes around tossing roses anyway? That's really dumb!"

"Watch this!" Akane sniffed, then turned her attention to Usagi. "Don't give up, Sailor Moon. You and your friends have all the power you need already! Fight on, you will only fail if you surrender!"

Kasumi, Yuka and Sayuri all applauded, while Usagi blushed a little. That manner of speech, that tone, it had all been just like her own father. Which was kind of a weird thing to get heated up over, but - hell, people had been cosplaying as her father for all her life, that sort of thing breeds a complex, you know? At least she wasn't going around in slinky black dresses with an upside down crescent moon on her head!

"Huh, not bad! Maybe you should wear the tuxedo and I should wear the skirt," Ranma said. If sarcasm had a physical form, it would have been oozing off his every syllable.

"Sounds good to me!"

"Fine then!"

"Fine then!"

"Oh my," Kasumi whispered to Yuka and Sayuri. "I knew that they were mutually interested, but not to this degree."

"Hrm... I'm torn..." Yuka whispered to herself. "Ranma as Tuxedo Mask looks the part, but can't act it. Akane can act it, but kills it as Sailor Mercury... Do I prioritise appearance or performance?"

"Girl, you have seen Ranma in girl form in this outfit, you already know the answer to that question," Sayuri whispered back.

Meanwhile, Usagi was trapped in between the middle of the two of them as they were violently agreeing with one another over the costume switch. She'd never felt so confused before!