"Moonlight Battle! Orpheus' Last Stand!"

Ranma was two meters from the bus stop when the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. He leapt in the air; he looked down to see a familiar sword stab into the sidewalk where he had just been.

He narrowed his eyes. "I coulda sworn I killed you."

Orpheus pulled his sword from the ground and slung it over his shoulder, red eyes burning with hatred. "One such as you cannot possibly kill me," he said. "Now, hand over that crystal."

"Go to hell," Ranma snarled, settling into a fighting stance.

"Oh?" Orpheus asked, amused. "You're going to fight me without transforming?"

"I don't need t' be Sailor Moon t' kick your ass, freak."

"Have it your way, then," Orpheus said. He raised a hand over his head; a dancing ball of flames appeared. "Agidyne."

Ranma leapt sideways as a massive blast of fire erupted from the purple-skinned swordsman. Wrenching the bus schedule sign out of the ground, he charged with a bellow, almost parallel to the ground as he blurred towards Orpheus, swinging the sign with all his might. It caught the swordsman in the side of the head and sent him flying. The cursed martial artist rushed after the downed killer, not giving him a chance to recover; he brought his improvised weapon down on his foe repeatedly, raining blow after blow until the sign tore free from the post and the post itself was a dented, mangled mess of metal. Ranma discarded it, picked up Orpheus' sword, and raised it, planning on stabbing the swordsman with his own weapon again...

"Tetrakarn," Orpheus whispered. The tip of the blade skittered against a wall of light that sprang into existence between the two; the unexpected force feedback of the shield was enough to throw Ranma off his feet, the sword flying from his hands. Orpheus stood, retrieving his sword, and stalked over to the pigtailed boy. "I could kill you so easily," he said. "But you have angered me. I want to take my time with you. I want to hurt you. I want to make you scream as I take you apart piece by piece. Only THEN will I kill you, once you are begging for death."

"You sure love t'hear yourself yap," Ranma said as he stood. "How 'bout I shut that stupid trap'a yours once an' for all?"

Orpheus sneered. "You already failed to kill me once. What is the point in fighting against the inevitable?"

"Oh, you're totally evitable," Ranma retorted. "Hey...how'd you know it was me, anyway? Last time we fought, I was a girl..."

"I can sense your aura, and the aura of the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou," Orpheus replied. "No matter where you go in this world, no matter what shape you take, you cannot hide from me."

"Like I wanna," Ranma snorted. "Okay, let's finish this."

Without further words, they tore into each other; Ranma's fists and feet flew at nigh-supersonic speeds, while Orpheus' sword flashed in the fading light of evening. Streetlights began to come on as they duelled; the two combatants drifted in and out of the shallow pools of electric light as they battled up the street.

As they passed a convenience store some distance up the road from the shrine, a feint by Orpheus slipped through Ranma's guard; he barely avoided being gutted, but the force of the blow from the flat of the massive blade was enough to send him crashing through the store's glass door.

The cashier cried out in alarm. "KYAA! Don't hurt me! Take whatever you want!"

"I...ain't a robber, lady..." Ranma said, grunting as he stood, brushing slivers of glass from numerous small cuts on his arms. "Ah, crap, sorry about your door..."

"It's...it's okay..." the young cashier stammered, eyes wide.

Orpheus stalked through the shattered door, grabbed Ranma by the collar, and threw him out into the street.

The cashier cringed at the sounds of extreme violence outside, and was about to call the police when suddenly Ranma reappeared in the doorway. "Can I get a bottle'a water?" he asked, digging a handful of coins out of his pocket.

"Aa...hai!" the cashier replied nervously.

"Thanks." Ranma grabbed a bottle of water, tossed his money on the counter, and exited. The cashier simply stared after him, blinking dazedly.

Back on the street, Ranma emptied the bottle over his head. "Okay, you want th' crystal? You got th' crystal. MOON SPIRIT POWER, MAKE-UP!"

Sailor Moon grinned unpleasantly at her opponent. "Round two."

* * * * *

Hibiki Ryouga trudged wearily down the road, looking up at the waxing moon above. He sighed.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never get where he wanted to be when he wanted to be there. Even now, he wasn't sure entirely where he was. This morning, he was sure he'd found the Tendou dojo, but it turned out he was in Chiyoda-ku. A helpful old lady had told him he needed to go northwest, and he'd tried to follow her directions using the sun, but he'd misjudged what time of day it was (his watch was broken and his phone battery was dead), so he ended up going the wrong way. He was halfway to Adachi-ku when he realized his error; trying to get his bearings, he headed in what he thought was the direction of Nerima-ku.

An hour ago, he'd run into the same helpful old lady again, and she'd seemed surprised to see him.

Now, he was...somewhere, only the gods knew where, and as it was getting late, he needed to find someplace to set up camp for the night.

He knew he was at least still in Tokyo, not that that really helped any.

He paused as he heard the unmistakable sounds of an intense battle from somewhere just ahead. The sounds drew closer; a head of fiery-red hair briefly swam into view in the halo of a streetlight.

"...Ranma?" he wondered.

Two figures suddenly passed over his head. He ducked and whirled, tensing; they landed beneath another streetlight, and Ryouga stared in disbelief.

One of them was wearing armor and had purple skin, glowing red eyes, and a huge sword.

The other looked a heck of a lot like Ranma in his girl form, but...this girl was wearing an outfit Ranma would never be caught dead in, and something was...off about her face. Try as he might, he couldn't really figure out who she was.

Not that he had time; the duelling pair quickly disappeared into the darkness once more.

Curious, Ryouga followed the sounds of their combat.

* * * * *

"MOON TIARA ACTION!" Sailor Moon cried, hurling her glowing weapon at Orpheus. He dodged, but she had expected that; she charged in, forcing him backward with her Amaguriken; her intent was to drive him into the return path of the tiara, since it had worked on Sailor Uranus earlier.

It worked even better this time; the tiara struck Orpheus in the center of his back, cracking his armor. He let out a grunt of pain and staggered; Sailor Moon used the opening to pummel his face with a flurry of punches, then kick him several meters down the street. Pausing only to replace her tiara, she charged after him, leaping high in the air to deliver a follow-up attack that would certainly end the fight. She cupped her hands, which began to glow. "MOKO..."

"Makarakarn."

"...TAKABISHA!" Sailor Moon yelled, thrusting her palms downward. A solid beam of light slammed into Orpheus...and bounced off another barrier of light, which reflected it right back at the surprised Senshi.

"Oh, fu—"

Sailor Moon's world exploded in light and pain.

As the dazed Senshi plummeted to the ground, landing in a twitching, groaning heap, Orpheus stood, picked up his sword, and walked over to her. "And now it ends," he said. He raised his sword to strike a killing blow...

Something grabbed hold of it and wrenched it from his hand. Then grabbed hold of his scarf and threw him to the ground, hard.

Orpheus looked up and saw a boy with filthy black hair and dust-covered clothes standing protectively in front of Sailor Moon. The boy scowled at him, baring beastly fangs. "Leave the girl alone, you bastard!" the boy snarled.

Orpheus sighed. "I hate humans. You're all so tiresome."

The boy charged, brandishing a red umbrella; Orpheus didn't bother to guard against this seemingly foolish attack, and was therefore stunned when the boy and his umbrella plowed into him with the force of a shinkansen. Bits of his armor fell away, and a trickle of black blood oozed from a deep wound in his gut. "Ma...masaka..." he gasped.

The boy with the umbrella wasn't finished; he administered a truly savage beatdown which left Orpheus dazed and insensate. He lay prone on the street, barely able to see, as the umbrella boy worked him over; every new hit introduced him to pain unlike any he had ever known.

"I think you got him," Sailor Moon said. The umbrella boy spun around; Orpheus tried to summon the power to cast a spell at the boy's back, but found his strength had completely left him.

"Are...are you alright?" the boy asked.

Sailor Moon nodded. "Un. I coulda handled him, but uh...thanks." Before the umbrella boy could say another word, the red-haired Senshi leapt high into the air and vanished.

Orpheus struggled to lift himself up. "Ki...kisama..."

"You failed again, Orpheus," an echoing female voice called from all around them. A chilly fog suddenly filled the street. A large, pearlescent pink mirror appeared out of thin air; its surface rippled as a female figure emerged from it. She was slender, buxom, and clad in a very tight black bodysuit with symmetrical diagonal white strips across each breast. A white poncho adorned with two rows of rectangles, one red and one blue, was draped loosely about her shoulders. Her head was covered with a white mask that bore a graceful, serene expression. In each hand, she held a gleaming white scimitar, the blades serrated so that the swords resembled stylized metallic angel wings.

"Isis," Orpheus spat. "So it's to be you, then."

"You didn't expect Lord Thanatos to allow you to live after you failed to retrieve the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou for a second time, did you?" Isis asked.

Orpheus sighed. "Of course not."

With quick, precise slashes, Isis dismembered and decapitated Orpheus. His body dissolved into motes of shadow which quickly evaporated like boiling water.

Isis glanced up at the boy with the umbrella, and pointed one of her swords, now smeared with thick black blood, at him. "Never interfere with us again," she said. "If you do, you will die." With that, she stepped into the pink mirror again; the mirror and the fog vanished as abruptly as they had appeared.

Hibiki Ryouga stared at the spot where she had been for a long time, trying to make sense of what he had just seen.

* * * * *

It was nearly midnight when Ranma finally made it home.

"Tadaima," Ranma called wearily as he slipped off his shoes at the genkan.

"Ranma! Where WERE you? We were so worried!" Akane cried, rushing up to him. It seemed as though she couldn't decide whether to hug him, hit him, or shake him.

He sighed. "Can it wait 'til tomorrow, Akane? I just had a hell of a weird day, an' I'm beat." Without waiting for a response, he trudged off to bed.

Akane sighed. "Baka," she whispered, eyes shining with tears of relief.

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