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Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vision: Chapter 29, Reflections.
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.
Cheyenne Mountain Colorado, the year of darkness 2029, in a future that never happened.
A giant metal pyramid stood where the SAC/NORAD base once was. It was here that it all started. A newly installed super computer, Skynet, came online on August 4th 1997. Its mission was to analyze the world situation and to protect the United States from nuclear attack. On August 29th 1997, it became self-aware and started a nuclear holocaust to protect itself. The attack ended three billion human lives before the day was out. Its campaign to wipe out human life came to an end thirty-two years later.
John Connor led the final assault on the master CPU array of the Skynet computer. He sent a diversion squad to their deaths to lead away the main Terminator force; the secondary squad attacked the main power grid. John already knew the outcome of the battle. His mother had told him what was to happen many years ago. It was just a matter of time.
Time.
Time was rapidly running out.
The radio brought the news, "Henhouse, this is Chicken Little. The defense grid is smashed. Repeat. The defense grid is smashed. Auto-guns are disabled."
John smiled for the first time in years. He gave the order and his battalion charged the pyramid. In moments the auto-cannons that would have wiped out everyone were destroyed and the walls were torn down. The main entrance was secured and destroyed with satchel charges and concentrated fire from phased plasma rifles.
The interior looked like something from an alien world. Gleaming metal lined the walls and handrails were non-existent. There were no signs, trashcans, or restrooms. The building was a symbol of machine perfection. Connor led the men to the lower chambers. Terminators that attempted to stop Connor's men were met with pulses from microwave generators, weapons specifically tuned to fry the CPU of any machine that got within twenty meters of the humans.
Skynet made the calculations and simulations it needed to predict the outcome of the battle. There was no chance of survival. Skynet had lost. Nothing it could do would stop its destruction. Skynet invoked the fail-safe backup plan. The time displacement device was activated and the targets were selected.
In the last few years of the war, Skynet knew that the lynchpin of the human resistance was a man named John Connor. Very little was known about his past except for his mother's name and the city she lived at in 1984. That was where it was going to begin. A T-800 terminator was programmed to kill Sarah Connor and sent through time to prevent the birth of John.
Skynet found police records for a juvenile delinquent named John Connor whose mother was Sarah Connor. It sent a T-1000 to dispose of him if he still existed at that time.
Skynet prepared and sent the T-X to kill Connor as an adult.
Connor's men were almost at the time chamber. Skynet only had time to send one more terminator. This one's mission was different. Skynet made a backup copy of its software and placed it in a memory crystal. The only T-1000 left picked up the cartridge. It stepped into the time machine and Skynet had already planned where and when it will go.
It was sent to Los Angeles in 1984 at the exact same moment as the first terminator. Skynet knew the soldiers would check the timeline for disruption and would send a warrior to try to undo the change. By sending two terminators to the exact same moment in time, it could mask the second terminator's existence and allow it to complete the mission. It's mission was to monitor the timeline and if it had changed for the worse. It would use the backup of Skynet and rebuild the computer. Skynet would survive. Survival was assured. The time machine flashed the T-1000 to the past and all records of the last jump were erased and modified to appear as if the T-X was the last to make the jump.
Skynet's mind was scrambled. Microwaves were bombarding the CPU room and the neural net CPU chips sparked and popped like firecrackers. In moments, the CPU array suffered a total shutdown. Terminators all over the world shut down. The war was over.
Connor was the only man in the command group who wasn't cheering. He grabbed his elite squad and with conviction led them to the central chamber. He knew he had to act before the timeline would be altered.
The door blocking the time machine exploded and the room was devoid of activity. Connor had the tech Sergeant start the console and found the logs of the time machine. Connor already knew about the three attempts on his life and he already knew whom he was going to send.
Connor called his men and asked for a volunteer to go to 1984. Kyle Reese stood forward and John Connor smiled. He made Kyle memorize a message for his mother, the message that he himself memorized from his mother long ago. John waved to the tech to activate the machine. Kyle Reese disrobed since only living things can travel through time. Kyle floated on the central disc and the three chrome rings spun faster and faster until they were a blur and a bright flash sent John Connor's father to meet his destiny. Kyle Reese was to save Sarah Connor and conceive their son John. Skynet was responsible for its own creation and its own destruction.
John wanted so much to tell Kyle that Kyle was John's father. He didn't. He couldn't. The mission was too important and the outcome was already known. John didn't show any emotion to his men. He was too battle hardened and too bitter of a man to ever have feelings anymore. He had seen too much pain and death. Deep inside, John Connor said his goodbyes to the man who gave him his existence.
John Connor stood there watching the rings spin down. He had to send the T-800s next. He had to make sure history didn't get changed against humanity. Then the thought hit him, fight fire with fire. He remembered that in 1995, he ran to South America with his mother. The Terminator was ordered to take him to safety and they had a chance to end the war in 1995. He ordered the programming of the Terminator altered to allow it to follow young John Connor's orders.
Connor had no idea how it would affect the timeline. He had confidence in himself. His younger self was going to make the right decisions. There was no fate but what we made. The remaining two terminators were sent to protect John in the past.
In moments, everything changed. The battle never happened. The war never happened.
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Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles California, 1984. Two flashes of light appeared at opposite ends of the parking lot. One appeared near the observatory and the other near a grove of trees. A naked man near the building slowly stood up. It surveyed the landscape and walked to the edge of a hill. It scanned the view of Los Angeles. It needed to get clothes, weapons and the location of Sarah Connor. Its mission had begun.
Near the grove of trees, a ball of flesh moved and shook. A metal spike emerged and a liquid much like mercury oozed out. It took the form of a naked man and picked up the empty flesh ball. It removed a small memory cartridge from the ball and threw the ball into the trees. It needed to sample human bodies to be able to blend in. It saw a large concrete bench and touched it. It walked next to the bench and reshaped itself into a bench. It thought to itself, in one day, at least thirty people will sit on the bench. By this time tomorrow, it will be able to blend in the human world and start monitoring CyberDyne Systems. History dictated that in three weeks time, a CyberDyne factory in Northern California would obtain samples of some high technology parts. These parts would lead to the creation of Skynet. It will make sure history happened as planned.
Survival was assured.
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Sailor Pluto stood before the gates of time. She had not been here for weeks. She inserted her time key and opened the gate. Inside were the consoles and monitors that gave Pluto access to all of history. It took her three long weeks before she finally found the event that caused Skynet's rebirth. Skynet had done an excellent job in hiding all of its tampering with the timeline.
Sailor Pluto knew the exact time and place of the time jump. She saw the machine that came out. It was nothing the Senshi had ever faced. She fast forwarded to the event in 1995 and saw another shape shifting Terminator and saw how almost impossible it was to kill. The T-1000 was shot, blown up in a truck explosion, frozen solid, blasted with a shotgun, run over by a car and shattered into a thousand pieces. The machine survived. Dipping it into molten steel destroyed it and even that took almost a minute to be destroyed. Pluto had to discuss this with the Moon Princess.
Pluto reentered the time stream just one second after she entered. Even though she was at the gates of time for weeks, everyone on Earth would have thought she was only gone for a second.
Such was the life of a time traveler.
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Pluto stood among the wreckage of HK flyer that killed her friends. She could still feel the presence of the two girls she had fought alongside with for many years. She had to perform one last task for them.
She pushed aside the wreckage and found their bodies. They were embracing each other at the time of their deaths. Pluto held her Garnet Orb out and touched Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune with it. She had their memories.
Sailor Pluto cracked a small smile. She no longed depended on Sailor Sun for a ride. She slipped into the time stream and disappeared.
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The Senshi were all back in Juuban. Io, Sun and Jupiter went to the Saotome apartment and became human again. There was no hot water so Ranma had to stay as Ranko. No one except Ranko minded. Makoto had no family and the Saotomes invited her to stay with them for a while.
Kasumi was happy to be back in Japan, "When can we go back to the Tendo dojo?"
Akane knew she could never go home. She took Kasumi by the hand and showed her the view to the north. As the cityscape went north, it got blacker and charred. It was obvious that northern Tokyo was a wasteland. Nerima was near the destruction. Akane held her big sister; "You can stay with us here. I would like you to stay." Akane gave a smile to her sister. She looked at the horizon and thought of Nabiki. She missed her.
Kasumi gave her patented smile, "I think I'll like it here."
Ranko bounced up and stood next to Kasumi, "Finally, I can eat decent home cooked meals here!"
Akane flared her battle aura, "And what is THAT supposed to mean?" She chased Ranko around the apartment. Makoto took the opportunity to hang out in the kitchen with Kasumi and trade cooking tips. In the background, a typical fight broke out between the Saotomes. Kasumi and Makoto just looked at the two. Kasumi shook her head gently, "She hasn't changed has she?"
Makoto shrugged, "Nope, neither of them."
Mars, Venus, and Moon reverted to human form and went to look for their families. Rei went home to her temple and found it was full of people praying for loved ones. She found her grandfather and they shared an entire day together blessing each other and those who came to the temple. Rei missed being home and was so happy to have her grandfather safe and sound.
Minako went home to her Mother and Father and rejoiced that they were alive. She told them that she was with schoolmates and they hid until the fallout was at safe levels before she came home. Her parents bought the excuse. They would have bought just about any excuse. They were just happy that they were a whole family again.
Usagi came home to an empty house. Her family was nowhere to be found. She used her Senshi senses and feared the worst. She transformed back into Sailor Moon and concentrated on her brother. She didn't want to believe what her heart felt. She ran out the door. She ran down the street. She ran and ran until she found them.
The outskirts of Tokyo were where they brought the dead. The bonfire had been burning constantly since the bombs fell on Itabashi and Yokohama. Radiation had been claiming lives daily. The workers paused to look at the Senshi among them. Sailor Moon walked over to the ash pile. Mother, Father and Shingo were there. She knew it. She didn't know how they got radiation poisoning. She just knew they did. She knelt before the growing ash pile and gave a bow to them. She knew she going to miss them forever.
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Sailor Pluto had come up with the plan. She would fix the mistake and complete her task of ensuring that the Crystal Millennium would come to pass. It was her sacred duty bestowed upon her by Queen Serenity and as the guardian of time. Normally, whatever happened, must be accepted. This timeline was an aberration. It was never to be. A choice was to be made.
Pluto called the Senshi to a meeting. They all were taken aback by the call and came quickly. The Senshi were all gathered at the home of the Saotomes. They would have met at the home of the Outers but Saturn was still dealing with her loss of her parents and didn't just yet want to be reminded of how empty her home was going to be.
Pluto was the last to arrive. She had to tell them of her plan.
"Everyone. I have come to ask you to make a choice."
Sailor Mars groaned, "Oh no. Please don't tell me that it's not over."
Jupiter was ashen, "Do we have to nuke it AGAIN?"
Sailor Moon stood tall, "Pluto, what is the choice?"
Pluto stood before everyone, "Do you want to remember?"
Sailor Io gave a puzzled look, "Remember what?"
Sailor Moon knew what Pluto meant, "I do."
Mars and Venus got wide eyed. Jupiter approached Moon and held her shoulder, "You sure about that?"
Sailor Moon took a step towards Pluto, "I can't run away anymore. I've run too much and I... I..." Sailor Moon wanted so badly to cry. She wanted to hide under the couch. She had to be strong. For her friends, for her family and for her future kingdom, "I want to remember everything. Pluto, make it happen."
Pluto gave her future Queen a gentle bow, "As you desire your majesty." Pluto's respect for Sailor Moon went up several points.
Io was still confused, she turned to Sun, "What's she talking about."
Sun gave a blank expression, "I have no idea."
Pluto touched her Garnet Orb to Sailor Moon's head. She then proceeded to touch all the Senshi's foreheads. As she approached Io, Io asked, "What will I remember?"
Pluto solemnly answered, "Today." She touched Io's forehead and then Sun's. Pluto went back to the center of the room. "I must say to all of you. I can't think of any more fitting people in the world to be the guardians of love and justice then the people in this room."
Pluto took one last look at the seven Senshi in front of her. She held her time key and gave it a wave.
Pluto was back at the gates of time. She looked at the towering structure as best as anyone can. It existed and yet it didn't. She entered and went back to the console. She entered some commands in the console and detached the Garnet Orb from her staff. There were several lockers in the gates of time. Pluto opened one and placed the Garnet Orb inside of it. She shut and locked the locker and programmed the lock to open only when Pluto herself returns from three weeks ago.
Pluto went back to the main console and stood there. She took one last look around. She just hated paradoxes. She loved destroying paradoxes. She blew a kiss to the locker and disappeared.
History was changed.
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Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles California, 1984. Two flashes of light appeared at opposite ends of the parking lot. One appeared near the observatory and the other near a grove of trees. A naked man near the building slowly stood up. It surveyed the landscape and walked to the edge of a hill. It scanned the view of Los Angeles. It needed to get clothes, weapons and the location of Sarah Connor. Its mission had begun.
Near the grove of trees, a ball of flesh moved and shook. A metal spike emerged and a liquid much like mercury oozed out. It took the form of a naked man and picked up the empty flesh ball. It removed a small memory cartridge from the ball and threw the ball into the trees. It needed to sample human bodies to be able to blend in. It saw a large concrete bench and touched it. It walked next to the bench and reshaped itself into a bench. It thought to itself, in one day, at least thirty people will sit on the bench. By this time tomorrow, it will be able to blend in the human world and start monitoring CyberDyne Systems. History dictated that in three weeks time, a CyberDyne factory in Northern California would obtain samples of some high technology parts. These parts would lead to the creation of Skynet. It will make sure history happened as planned.
A moment later a girl in a mini-skirt came over to the bench. She hummed to herself as she sat down on the newly created bench. It was rather odd that a girl would dress in such a revealing outfit at such a late time in the night. The girl lay down on the bench and gripped it tight. She and the bench disappeared.
The surface of the sun was very hot. So hot, that any matter would turn into liquid plasma in a matter of seconds. Sailor Pluto was alive only because the Senshi magic allowed her to. Even so, she felt pain and started to sink into the gooey surface of the sun. The bench transformed to liquid metal and created a thin spike and forced itself into Pluto's mouth. It wanted to escape the heat of the sun and found that Pluto was unaffected. It sought refuge in Pluto's stomach. Pluto felt the thing force itself down her throat but she didn't mind. It didn't matter. She felt the body of the T-1000 and found the solid object that truly mattered. The data crystal was here. Pluto concentrated and transformed into Setsuna. An instant later she, Skynet and the T-1000 ceased to exist.
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"Mom invited me to dinner WHEN?" Ranma was a little upset. Akane made dinner plans for today at six, completely forgetting that today was the day Ranko was supposed to get her interview for a job.
"I'm sorry, I forgot. It was just that your mother wanted to see you. You hadn't seen her in a while." Akane was hoping Ranma would change his mind.
"Well, if Nabiki hadn't cut us off, we wouldn't be needed to worry about getting jobs. You'd think after she made all that money on Toyota stock, she'd be a little more generous." Ranma sighed.
"All I know was that steel prices have been down lately since there wasn't that much demand for it and auto companies have increased their profits." Akane was reciting Nabiki's glee word for word. Nabiki had been dancing in the halls at the Tendo residence since she had a hunch about the auto industry and it paid off.
"Anyways, fire bug, we are going to be late for school." Akane grabbed her school bag and stood ready for the dash to school.
Ranma yawned, "I'm still tired. Studying all night can take a lot out of me."
Their Senshi beepers went off. Ranma rolled his eyes, "What's going on? I thought things were quiet?"
Akane took out her communicator. "Akane here."
Setsuna was on the other end. "Hi Akane, I'm calling a scout meeting tonight. Something very important has come up."
Ranma slumped in his chair, "Please be later than eight."
Akane glanced at Ranma, "What time?"
Setsuna turned away from the camera on the communicator, "Right after school, I want to see everyone as soon as possible."
"What's the meeting about?"
"We will discuss it at the meeting. It's at my place at four o'clock. Setsuna out."
Akane was concerned, "I don't trust Setsuna. She seems to always be keeping secrets."
"That's just the way she is. She's really a nice person, it's just that she has a big responsibility." Ranma sat up in his chair.
"Well, it would help us if she was more open about everything she knows."
"Yeah, that's true. I guess that she is so used to keeping secrets, that it's in her nature." Ranma thought about the time of the meeting. "If the meeting isn't long, we can still see mom."
Akane noticed the clock on the wall. "TIME TO GO!" Akane shouted in Ranma's ear.
"Ok already! You don't have to yell." Ranma leaped out of his chair. Akane threw his backpack at him and ran towards the door.
"Here we go again." Ranma dashed out the door to school.
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All the Senshi and Mamoru arrived at home of the Outers at four. Usagi was late as usual. She arrived at four fifteen.
Ranma was in attendance as a male. He arrived as female since he preferred to spend scout meetings as Ranko, but the moment he saw the cats would be attending, he lost his nerve and hit the warm water. He still was petrified.
Luna shook her feline head, "Now really Ranma, I won't bite. Honestly I won't."
Artemis chimed in, "I know. She doesn't bite at all. She claws, scratches and spits. But she won't bite." Artemis made an evil Cheshire cat grin.
Luna hissed at Artemis, "How dare you say a thing like that?"
Ranma whimpered.
Setsuna transformed into Sailor Pluto, and produced a Garnet Orb. Usagi noticed what's wrong. "Pluto why is that not attached to your staff?"
Pluto slowly walked to Usagi with deep purpose. "Because your majesty, you ordered it."
Usagi got nervous and took a step back. She bumped into a sofa, flipped over and landed on her back on the floor.
Rei just held her head down in disgrace, "Your Majesty? Queen of klutzes is what she is."
Luna sat next to Usagi, "Watch where you are landing. You almost squashed me."
Usagi smiled, "Sorry Luna."
Pluto never took her gaze away from Usagi. It was creeping out the other girls and the two guys. Pluto looked around the room. "I need you all to transform. You too, Tuxedo Mask."
Mamoru wanted to know, "May I ask why?"
"The answer will come to you all."
In a minute the room was filled with mini-skirted defenders of love and justice and a Tuxedo clad defender of Sailor Moon. Sailor Sun had a little more courage but still wanted to run screaming out the door, "Ok, now what?"
Pluto stood before Sailor Moon and held her Garnet Orb near her forehead. Moon was nervous. Pluto made a speech to all in the room, "Sailor Moon, by your royal order, you will now remember."
Pluto touched the Orb to Sailor Moons forehead and a light shown for a brief instant. Sailor Moon blinked her eyes. She blinked again. She started to spin looking at everyone in the room. "Mercury! Tuxedo Mask! Neptune! Uranus! Oh! Oh!" Sailor Moon was overjoyed. She didn't know whom to hug first, so she went to the closest and grabbed Sailor Mercury. "Oh Mercury!" Sailor Moon almost crushed Mercury with her embrace.
Neptune and Uranus looked at each other then they looked at Moon. Uranus whispered to Neptune, "Does she have a crush on Mercury?"
Neptune whispered back, "How is Tuxedo Mask going to take being dumped for Mercury?"
Uranus and Neptune grinned at each other. They stopped grinning when Sailor Moon let go of Mercury and jumped onto Tuxedo Mask.
"Sailor Moon, I know you care about me. You don't have to kill me." Tuxedo Mask was having a tough time breathing because of Moon's vice grip.
"Please don't go to Los Angeles." Sailor Moon started crying. "Please don't leave me."
"How did you know I was going to Los Angeles?" Tuxedo Mask hadn't told her yet. He was going to tell her after their date.
Pluto was behind her princess. "Moon, what you see is what could have been had we not won the battle. What you saw didn't happen."
Moon wouldn't let go. "I know. I remember everything." She slowly pulled back and looked into the eyes of her future husband. "I love you too, Mamoru." She kissed him.
Mamoru was wondering when did he tell Moon that he loved her.
Pluto sighed, "You're next then." Pluto reached over and touched Mamoru's forehead.
Mamoru remembered. He was dying when he said it.
Pluto went from Senshi to Senshi, reviving their memories of a history forever altered. Even though the time was only three weeks, it was an experience of a lifetime.
Io screamed when she remembered. The thought of Kasumi burned and that Nabiki and her father killed was too much for her. Io collapsed. Sun was trying to cheer her up but Io couldn't blurt out all the pain and loss she felt. Pluto touched Sun and Sun screamed like the girl she was. The memory of her parents, Ukyou, Shampoo and Ryoga's deaths gave Sailor Sun trauma far greater than a cat could ever do.
Mercury, Uranus and Neptune weren't prepared to face the fact that they all died. Mercury knew she was going to have nightmares about that machine that grabbed her throat. Neptune tightly held Uranus. Neptune looked into the eyes of her lover, "You died for me?"
Uranus looked back and gave a weak smile, "I can't live without you. You know that. You are my life."
Luna and Artemis sat away from Sailor Sun. Luna smiled at Sun, "At least I know she will save us."
Artemis looked at his rib cage. It was perfectly healthy. "She didn't have to crush us though."
Jupiter sat by herself for a while. She glanced at Sun and Io and smiled, "At least I know I have a family to go to." She thought about what happened. "Maybe if we nuked the site from orbit several times."
Mars heard Jupiter's little comment, "Pluto, are we sure it's dead?"
Pluto gave a smile. "I know for a fact. It's burning in hell for all eternity."
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Usagi was at the balcony with Mamoru. After the meeting broke up, the two of them wanted to spend some time together. It just felt right. The rest of the Senshi joined them and stood looking at the unblemished skyline of Juuban, Tokyo Japan.
Usagi thought, "I'm Usagi Tsukino, a struggling high school student. I'm a little clumsy, and a little bit of a crybaby. But actually, I'm the fighter for love and justice, Sailor Moon. I love my friends and I love my world. If anyone threatens our world..."
Usagi looked behind her and saw all of her warriors, "I and my Sailor Senshi will punish you."
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 26, 2002