The Champion by Ken Arromdee Rei stared into the fire, trying to empty her mind and to see, through the fire's flickering orange light, the vision the Senshi needed. Usagi had managed to defeat even Galaxia through the power of love, but she couldn't have gotten that far if she couldn't fight first... if everyone couldn't fight first. The next enemy after Galaxia had called themselves the Warp Drivers. That silly name had belied their great power. The monsters that they had sent were trying to retrieve who knows what, and the whole team had been completely ineffectual in stopping them. "Did you see anything?" asked Usagi. "Ssh, dumpling head. I'm almost there." She had to empty her mind. Usagi's mind must have been pretty empty itself for her to keep distracting her with talk. But no, she had to forget it, she had to concentrate on nothing else but the fire. There it was... a faint image of a person. A girl who could help them. No, wait, it was a boy for a moment... no, a girl again. Rei had never quite seen that happen in a vision before. But the flames washed over her field of view, erasing that image and leaving behind one image of a teenage girl with a pigtail. "I think I've got it!" yelled Rei. "I have our fighter! We needed more help and we've got it!" "Cool!" said Usagi. "What's she like? "I don't know. I just know her name, and what she looks like. More or less. Her name is Ranma Saotome." * * * * * "I wonder what this girl will be?" said Usagi. "Maybe she could be a Sailor Earth! We don't have a Sailor Earth. Or a Sailor Sun. Or some comet and meteor Senshi. Luna, was there a Sailor Earth in the Silver Millennium?" "I don't know, Usagi. I didn't even remember that the princess was supposed to be you. Most of it I just forgot." "So what transformation phrase do you think Sailor Earth would be, Luna? What color would her costume be?" "I don't know, Usagi." "Rei, what color do you think Sailor Earth would be?" "Blue and white? Green and brown? She's probably not Sailor Earth anyway. There was something peculiar about that vision." "Peculiar?" "Yeah. She was a girl in the past vision, but I think I saw her as a guy in the present. How can someone be Sailor Earth when they're a guy?" * * * * * There was only one Saotome in the phone book, which made it very easy for the Senshi to find the address. It was in Nerima. Of course, nobody had the train fare to get to Nerima. "Why don't you use the Sailor Teleport?" asked Luna. "Because we've never used it before for something like this?" replied Sailor Moon. "You could thank me for the idea." "Okay, thanks for the idea. I really appreciate it!" said Sailor Moon, petting the black cat. The five Senshi gathered together, holding hands, and yelled "Sailor Teleport!" They vanished, reappearing in Nerima ward, and let their costumes change back to normal clothes. A handsome boy, wearing a yellow and black headband, a backpack, and a rather worn set of clothes walked up to Usagi. But not more handsome than Mamoru, of course. But his presence made Usagi feel liked, feel good. No doubt he was going to compliment her on... "Excuse me" asked the boy. "Which way to the Tendou Dojo?" "What?" said Usagi. "Oh, that's where we're going. Why don't you follow us." "Thank you!" said the boy. "I will." She blinked, and a second later he was gone. "Hey wait!" yelled Usagi. "Mister, you were going to follow us." Makoto laughed as the group of Senshi walked along without the boy. "Usagi, my old martial arts teacher told me about this place. This part of Nerima is full of strange martial artists. There are rumors of a martial artist that gets constantly lost. That must have been him!" "Maybe that's why Rei saw that girl fighter as a guy. She could be a guy that changes into a girl, like the Starlights. Maybe the people here are as strange as people from another planet." "You mean Sailor Earth is a guy?" wondered Minako. "Maybe she's just a girl who thinks she's a guy" said Usagi. "Maybe it's not Sailor Earth, maybe she's Sailor Sun. Or something else. Maybe she's really just a guy Sailor Senshi." "Maybe you should keep your eye on the street" said Rei. "You just stepped in a piece of gum." Her foot did seem to be sticking to the ground too much, and when she examined it, sure enough there was a big piece stuck to the bottom of her shoe. "Waaaaaaaah!" * * * * * "Let me get that out of your shoe" said a familiar voice. "Setsuna-san!" exclaimed Usagi, looking up at the woman. "I didn't see you." "That's because you weren't paying attention." said Setsuna as she pried globs of gum off of Usagi's shoe using a stick. "The person you need to meet is in there." She pointed to a building a half block distant. "And from what I know of the Silver Millennium, this is what you must do..." Usagi listened. Turning to Rei, she said "that's strange". And when she looked back to Setsuna, the woman was gone. Oh well. At least the gum was out, and the mission was almost over. The group walked up to the house-and-dojo and knocked on the door. "HELLO" yelled Usagi. Another cute guy, one with a pigtail flopping behind his head, answered the door. "Yo. What do you girls want?" "You're Ranma Saotome?" asked Usagi. "Yup." "But you're not a girl!" "I am a guy!" yelled Ranma. "Now, how can I help you?" "Well, it's a long story..." said Usagi. * * * * * "This is great", said Ranma. "I get to teach martial arts to some people who really appreciate it. And Dad is going to have to find something else to worry about aside from money problems." "Are you saying I don't appreciate it?" retorted Akane. "What an uncute thing to say. You're not a student here. They are." "Never mind. But one thing I don't get, Ranma. Why do all these girls want to learn martial arts anyway? What are they going to fight? It's awfully suspicious. And why do you have to teach them in your girl form?" "They say that in another lifetime thousands of years ago I used to be their martial arts trainer. They think I was a girl then, but that can't be right. But they really do want to learn to fight something. I don't know what they want to fight either, but they really do mean it." "Well, there was one thing that was suspicious, Ranma. I don't understand it. Something I overheard them say." "Hm?" "It was... 'So does that mean we don't get to see Ranma in a sailor fuku?'"