Chapter Text
She couldn't save them. She had done everything she could, but she was no fighter. She had spent her entire life, at least what she remembers of it, as those first few years were hazy, living in her castle. Protecting herself, let alone the castle, was literally not her job! She had some training with magic, but not nearly enough. The theory of magic and its applications was taught to her, as it was to anyone with the aptitude. Those lessons stopped after her mother saw her first successful bolt. What she had expected to be an exciting cheer and celebration instead was met with horror and silence from the crowd. Her bedroom was moved halfway across the castle into a more secluded section, a years worth of 'extra etiquette training' to remind her to be as polite, passive, and refined as possible, and she was assigned two Guardians to accompany her at all times she left her room. They, at least, were nice! Even if they were a punishment. Whether she was a punishment for them or they were a punishment for her was unclear, but she always thought of them as older siblings, as that felt far less awkward than the thought of them being her leash. She could go wherever she wanted, as long as they went with her, technically. And assuming they weren't busy with their other duties.
Nobody explicitly said she was banned from visiting Terra, but every time she requested a visit to her home planet (Mother insisted the Moon was her home, no matter how many times she countered with 'but it isn't a planet'), her mother or one of her guardians would tell her how lovely it might be to visit one of the outer castles instead. Of course, that didn't stop her from visiting Terra, it just meant she had to be careful. The longest she was ever left alone was when she allegedly slept, which meant an 8 hour visit planetside and sleeping through the morning's lessons, before getting grounded and given a surprise exam. Some part of her was convinced Mother knew she did this, and at least twice she'd had to teleport directly into the bath to explain why she wasn't in her room when her keepers checked on her, but if nobody would explicitly tell her to not visit Terra, she clearly wasn't disobeying any rules. Aside from her two guardians, the castle had a very chatty AI that she ordered around to keep herself sane, so it was a safe assumption it had snitched at some point, no matter how careful she was. She enjoyed the freedom of wandering out in the wilds barefoot too much to stay in her bed night.
But no expertise in teleporting or bolts of magic could help her today. She had managed to squeeze out small bits of training in what little private time she found in her life, but these invaders had slain the guardians and were making their way through the palace. Having been banished to the other side of the castle, she hadn't been evacuated with the rest of the household, or maybe they thought her room would be ignored, and even her guardians had been called to the front lines of the fighting days prior, leaving her with explicit instructions to not leave her room under any circumstances. She had managed the first two days, but after whatever explosion she'd heard, along with the knowledge she'd picked up after her last few visits to Terra, she knew this war was over. And she knew she wasn't on the winning team. So she did the only logical thing she could think of. While she might not have the reflexes to safely wield her magic in combat, and teleporting was exhausting, even for someone who used it as often as she did, with her infinite free time she had studied. Far more than most other mages of her time. And she had studied weird things. Forbidden things.
And that was what lead her to trying to break one of the biggest rules. Not just her mother's rules. Not just the Queen's rules. The very rules of time. Nobody ever listened to her brilliant ideas, or believed her even capable of what she claimed, but she knew she was the best. It was even her namesake. Princess Maximiliana always wins. She was LITERALLY the best! That was why her mother named her that! The queen of the solar system couldn't be wrong! If she could just figure out how to open this stupid forbidden door she could save everyone. Her family, her friends, her castle, maybe even the universe! She just had to open the Door of Time, on her own, without the key, or any known rituals, while an entire invading army is killing everyone she loves. Without creating a paradox that stops her from going back in time. Some part of her began weighing if a paradox was an acceptable trade for her family as she allowed her magic to reach out, gently probing the door. Brute force would likely be the best way, which made it also the worst option. Any invading army would try brute force, physical or magical, to get this door open, so that was likely what it was best fortified against. She could try asking it nicely? In the infinite time this door had existed, had anyone tried genuinely asking 'hey, can I go back in time?' before? That.... felt like a sane place to start. Even if it didn't work, asking politely probably wouldn't get her killed, even if it didn't get the door open. As her magic approached the door, after gently feeling the impenetrableness of it, she gave it the politest 'knock' she could.
"Excuse me, I know I'm not supposed to be here, but I'm Princess Liana and my family is in danger and I want to be able to save them! Can you PLEASE open? I won't change the past! Maybe just.... let me train and we can change the present? Or future? Technically it hasn't happened yet right? If I train for 10 years, I could at least try and save them? I promise I only want to save my family!"
She felt absolutely nutty for having tried talking to the door, but she slowly graduated from feeling awkward to desperate to overwhelmed as the door actually did begin to open.
"Thank you thank you than-"
"DEAD SCREAM" echoed through the chamber as something pink interrupted her celebration.
Then there was a wet dripping sound somewhere nearby.
And then her whole world went black as she crumpled into a heap and fell to the floor.
Ranma Saotome, Man Amongst Men always wins. ALWAYS. Because s-he's the best.
Which is why this nightmare was so frustrating. She had been having it ever since she fell into Nyannīchuan and it just reinforced everything her-HIS father ever told him. 'Girls are weak, they can't fight, so if you want to be a princess, go live in a stupid castle with your frilly dresses and wait to be rescued. Otherwise, get out of that shameful form and get ready for the hardest training of your life.'
Because he'd lived it. Aside from training with his Pops, he didn't lose. It just wasn't in his nature. It was more fact than preference. So being haunted by a dream of failing? Of losing? While running around like she's off to a ball with some boy? Where were her reflexes! Why was she wearing heels during an invasion! Dodge that stupid pink ball and go save Akane! At least, he assumed it was Akane. Dreams were weird after all, but he knew he'd go back in time for her, and couldn't think of anyone else worth saving. Maybe his sister?
That thought derailed everything in his head. Did he HAVE a sister? His pops had taken him for training over 10 years ago, so if pops had left behind some baby somewhere in that journey it would make sense. Might even explain why he's on the run in the first place. His mom could've been pregnant before they left, or either of his parents might have a kid somewhere, though the fact that he felt love for an imagined sister and not an imagined brother felt weird. Either way, family is family. He'd go back in time for any of his family, though for his pops it might just be to make sure he doesn't make so many engagements. Honestly, those engagements might be a valid reason to create a paradox, and she knew enough about temporal microadjustments to simply nudge the timeline gently rather than doing something dumb like telling her dad NOT to go to Jusenkyo. No, she'd just steal the brochure in the middle of the night, her father would assume he lost it, his stomach would growl, and he'd go home to the Tendos a week early! Curse cured with probably no paradoxes! Well, in theory. Technically he would need a third party to do that for him, without his knowledge to really avoid the paradox, but who could he even ask to do that. Akane maybe? So she just needed to use her social etiquette studies mixed with her political diplomacy studies to make Akane think going back in time is a good idea, hoping she does something that indirectly then prevents Genma from finding the map to Jusenkyo in the first place, without telling her to do so. He was pretty sure he could take down whoever threw that pink ball if he got a round two at least. The amateur threw a single blast center mass, with no follow up. But that was the point of the nightmare, to teach a lesson. Girls are too weak to survive a blast like that. Girls are too slow to dodge a blast like that. Only a girl would sob on the floor uncontrollably because she'd failed, rather than standing back up and fighting on, no matter how much lifeblood she spilled on the floor.
With a quick shake of her head she did her be- HE did HIS best to clear his thoughts. That might be the worst part of the nightmare. It felt so comfortable so familiar to be running around in that body. That body knew how to dance, dine, and, well. Other things girls that age got up to. He felt like he had decades of experience in that body, despite it never looking older than twenty, and every time he dreamt of that endless castle her thoughts would start to slip and slide around and she'd lo- HE'D lose grip on the fact he was a Man Amongst Men. Even if that girl didn't have any martial arts training, her attitude, her mannerisms, they felt too natural. Like he'd been born to them, and only lost to the vigorous training of his Pops. Maybe that was why though? Being the greatest man ever couldn't be an easy feat, or everyone would do it. Training to be the best martial artist was hard, but worth it, so training to be the best man ever was also hard, but worth it. Even those princess lessons had been hard, and on some level worth it. Even if she had no proper claim to the throne, she still had to make appearances. You don't get the softest bed amongst the inner courts by not being a princess!
"UUUUUUUGH! I'm slipping again. I need breakfast. I need a fight. I don't lose, but if I could win with a concussion that might help. I heal fast enough, what's two days of being dazed if it shuts up the princess talk."
Ranma trudged downstairs, grateful to have dodged a morning spar with his pops, the sake from last night having been the panda's biggest weak spot.
"Mornin' 'Sumi, need any help?" He had woken up far too early in the morning because of that stupid nightmare, which in most houses might've meant the house was silent, but in the Tendo house it meant 'Kasumi has already been awake for an hour because nobody else helps out around here' and if he was going to be awake anyway, he wanted to make sure his bowl didn't get poisoned when Kasumi finally snapped. He couldn't really fathom Kasumi snapping, but he also couldn't fathom one maid maintaining an entire cas-
Ranma decided that concussion idea was a good one and began banging his head on the wall with a groan.
"Bad dreams again? Wash up and you can take over breakfast if you want." Kasumi said while stepping back to dry her hands
"I know it is just a dream, but it feels so real. Like I lived it... Or, I guess, like I died it?" Ranma chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood with the grim joke and a weak smile as he fished out an apron.
Kasumi just let out a small sigh and pulled him in for a hug before he got to work. "Even if it is just a dream, that can't be pleasant. Take today off, I'll call in sick for you and tell your dad you just left for training."
Ranma gave a small nod as he let out a yawn and began slicing vegetables. Some part of him wanted to protest and insist he was fine, and nothing ever bothered him, but the 'phantom etiquette lessons' told him that might be rude, and while he hated agreeing with his dreamself, not having to deal with fiancée troubles for one day sounded pretty promising. Hell, if he could avoid them forever he would. The only fiancée he actually cared about romantically was the only one who would likely be killed if he ever made his choice, so he was left in a stalemate until he could untangle it. A stalemate he was regularly and violently punished for. Maybe if he got lucky he could dream more about her political diplomacy classes and less about being murdered by the Guardian of Time for daring to ask a magic door nicely, but she knew the risks. She knew Pluto was to guard the door against all intruders, she just wished Pluto cared more about the other intruders. Ironically, she had no idea who Pluto was, despite the fact that she knew her name was Pluto...
"Hey Kasumi, you and Akane like those planet girls right? The martial artist demon slayers?" Ranma stared at the ceiling and prayed. As stupid as the dream was, maybe it was telling her where a cure was?
"I... Do you mean the pretty guardians of love and justice? Like Sailor Moon?" Kasumi tilted her head in absolute befuddlement, not sure how Ranma had swerved so wildly, especially to a topic that he clearly knew nothing about, but she was happy to indulge if it was common ground between the pair, as strange as 'martial artist demon slayers' might be.
Ranma gave a wave of his hand and shook his head "Nah, there's no Guardians for the Moon, its not a planet! Sailor Moon is made up. But yea like, Mars, Mercury, Venus, those girls. Though Neptune and Uranus are probably my favorite."
Kasumi's eyebrow began twitching. Ranma had a habit of saying strange things or rambling incoherently, and Kasumi would simply nod along politely, as she did with most conversations under the Tendo roof. But for Ranma to so confidently insist Sailor Moon wasn't real, while assuming the rest were? If Ranma had said 'none of them are real', she might've understood the point and politely disagreed, but where had he even gotten Neptune and Uranus from? It made sense for there to be some for other planets, but there hadn't been any sightings of them yet, and Sailor Moon was THE girl! Maybe not Kasumi's favorite, but she was morally obligated to love the one that reminded her of her little sister best!
After a quick recovery of her senses, Kasumi did manage the polite nod, having hopefully obfuscated her confusion by simply seeming to think about them. "Y-yes we're talking about the same general group of people, what was your question?"
"They got a Sailor Pluto? Long green hair? Black skirt? Big key thing?"
"I don't think I've seen her, is she new? She wasn't in any of the magazines at least, and I don't think I've seen her on the news." HOW? How is Ranma imagining Senshi so confidently. He calls them martial artist demon slayers, claims the most prominent one isn't real, then describes in detail a fake one? While having never even touched a single news article about them?
"Shame, my dream told me she could cure my curse." Ranma gave a small shrug and resumed cooking as if they had just had a sane, normal, reasonable conversation. Kasumi did her absolute best to never pry or be rude, but she was just too baffled.
"D-don't you die in that dream Ranma?" How does a made up Sailor Pluto that kills him have a cure for his curse! Is she supposed to be some gender-magic Senshi or something? Kasumi did her best to avoid a loud sigh
"Naaaaaaah. I could take 'er. She just caught me off guard the first time."
Kasumi slowly set her apron down, cleaned up the nearby table and began to leave the room "I think... I'm going to get a bath in before everyone else gets up. Maybe ask around Azabu-Jūban with your day off?" Not my problem, not my problem, not my problem. How has Ranma been having nightmares about being murdered, by a made up champion of love and justice, that, also has his cure? And those dreams started the night after he was cursed? In China? Jusenkyo has weird magic but, a prophecy about how you die? Or a prophecy about how to cure yourself? Ignoring why or how a 'Sailor Pluto' has or is guarding a cure.
"Right! Of course!! You're the best Kasumi! I'll just punch some of those monsters they have until the Guardians show up!"
"Just... Be safe. For me. Please? I do care about you like a little brother."
Kasumi finally let out that sigh she had been holding in. She might have just sent Ranma to his death. From what she'd seen, nothing could kill the boy, but maybe he WOULD find Sailor Moon. Finding Sailor Moon sounded like a believable story about the bizarre life Ranma led. Then he'd know she's real, ask her about Sailor Pluto, and stop having these nightmares. That left Kasumi one simple choice, to make some of Ranma's favorite dinner for when he got back with a wild story to tell!
Ranma's brain finally made the connection it had been struggling with all morning! That made sense! He loved his big sister because Kasumi was her big sister! That's why she couldn't imagine having a big brother! Time to do the best she could with making breakfast, today was going to be a great day!
Ranma was long gone from the house by the time Kasumi finished her bath. He made sure to get the food ready and table set, then immediately headed for the train station. He didn't actually expect to find a cure, but spending the day milling about Azabu-Jūban in search of a cure felt more productive than going to school and fighting Kuno and Akane. It felt even better to have completely dodged a day of being beaten by his old man. He technically won most mornings, but spending every breakfast bruised and battered, and having grown up with plenty of untreated broken bones did not help. Limping to school never felt like a win, especially knowing his father would spend the day playing with a tire.
New to Azabu-Jūban and with no clear destination in mind, the first logical step was to find a patrol route while mapping out the city. Ideally he'd find his answer today by simply stumbling straight into Sailor Mars or Sailor Mercury as he got off the train, but if he could roof hop, he had to assume they could too, and they likely didn't have a reason to wander out of the city they protected. It was a gruesome first hour. Roof hopping with his senses open isn't so terrible when you know where you're going, but having to stop every third roof to look for 'prime monster attack locations' slowed everything down to a crawl. Where are the places likely to teem with life that might attract a hungry monster. Where are the places devoid of life that might attract a desperate monster to hunt a solo target. How do I route them so I'm not wasting time. How do I stay central enough that I can reach anywhere in Azabu-Jūban before the monster gets defeated and the Guardians escape? By the second hour, his mind was beginning to numb and his senses dull. Even with the micronap he managed on the train, he had woken up even earlier than his father typically did. If his adrenaline kicked in, he knew he could fight at top form, but a break might do him some good.
He quickly began mulling over the places he had passed in his head before settling on one. He could simply take a break in a park or on a roof top, but he remembered seeing an Arcade in a busier part of Azabu-Jūban, which felt like the perfect excuse. Have an arcade entirely free to himself because it was a school day, while staying somewhere both central and active, so it was likely to be attacked. Decision made, he took a sharp turn and changed his path, finally taking a flip down to the street level and milling about the freshly opened for the day arcade, getting some funny looks from the pair working there. Husband and wife maybe? Brother and sister? Random employees? Whoever they were to each other, they probably expected him to be at school or they wouldn't be staring. Half of Nerima could leap down from the third story of a building, though the flip might have been excessive.
Ranma barely had the time or money for an arcade most of his life, but this was a Kasumi mandated sick day so he was going to make the most of it as he scanned the room. He could try and win prizes to maybe soften Akane up before the next malleting, but that could absolutely devour his budget for the day, no matter how skilled he was, those machines were just designed to not pay out. A scammer recognizes a scam. Though speaking of scams, he noticed one of the arcade machines. Or rather, he noticed that he didn't notice one of the arcade machines. After his third survey of the room, he had mentally mapped out every last detail incase of hidden attackers, and even after the third look over, there was one empty arcade machine sized hole in his map. Ranma made one final lap of the arcade before coming to a sudden stop, standing before the 'invisible' arcade machine. It reminded him of one of the forbidden techniques his father had bragged about, but, as it was forbidden, Ranma hadn't learned it. Yet at least. But he understood the principal, that one worked by simply making you uninteresting to look at. You weren't invisible, you were simply beneath the notice of anyone observing you, as interesting as a quiet machine humming in the background or the individual strings of carpeting beneath your feet. This arcade machine seemed different, rather, you simply couldn't look at it. Rather than the machine being uninteresting, it seemed far more forceful, actively pushing your gaze in any direction while scrambling any memory of having even looked at it, which was extra strange as this machine likely didn't have any ki flowing through it, unless it was some martial artist disguise. The only logical solution seemed to be play it and figure out why it was hidden, if he could get it into his field of view.
After the fifth attempt began to leave a growing pit of frustration, Ranma let out a small sigh. Trying a simpler approach as his dreams reminded her that 'asking nicely' had opened up the Door of Time, she centered her breathing and her emotions, closed her eyes, and gave a small moment of focus. It felt small at least, she had never owned a watch, most of her jewelry was bejeweled golds and silvers, and a time piece made no sense when time was relative to the suns location. Would she set her watch to Moon time? Terra time? Which kingdom? How many watches would she need? No, it was simpler to spot where the sun was and simply live in the current time. One final breath, her mind finally cleared, she ran her fingers across her eyes, focused, and opened them to see....... a sixth Sailor V game. Did some child hide this? Did they just want unfettered access to a machine so they never had to wait in line? What moron had wasted this much power hiding an entertainment console! She had some high scores to ruin as she pushed the start button.
"Girls come in! We have something strange going on!" Artemis had sent out a non-emergency all-call and was staring into the screen impatiently. Luna had been quick to answer, but unfortunately, Usagi was the only student reckless enough to answer her communicator during school hours, so Artemis would have to hope the message got to the rest the Azabu-Jūban girls at least.
"I was luckily already in the hall! What happened?" Usagi let out a nervous laugh as she looked up and down the hall again and took a few extra steps away from her classroom.
"It... It doesn't make any sense. We'll have Ami look into it once school lets out, but I wanted to warn you girls that we have someone who can see through disguise fields in town."
That seemed to instantly wake Usagi up from her post-nap-fatigue "What? Who are they? What are they doing? Is it more dark kingdom forces? I'll be right over!"
"No no! They aren't DOING anything, and if anything, you should avoid him at all costs. If he sees you as Sailor Moon, your identity will instantly be revealed to him!"
Usagi gave a small pout as she started to ponder "So... I should go home immediately and lock myself in my room? Maybe even hide under my covers?"
Luna gave an eyeroll "Honestly, yes princess. You especially, but try and warn the other girls if you can."
"And DO NOT come anywhere near the Crown today!"
Usagi tilted her head as she tried to divine the hidden message "Wait... How do you even know they can see through disguise fields if we're all in class?"
"That's just it! This martial artist looking guy with dark hair walked into the Crown, at open, searched the arcade a few times, then began playing OUR Sailor V cabinet. The one set to training mode. They've been playing it for six hours and crushed every single high score we have on the machine! We don't know what they want. We don't know if they're trying to break in. I thought it might be a fluke they got through the disguise field by some natural ability or the field had simply had a fluctuation they slipped past, but they've been here, on this one single machine, the entire day! We have no clue to their motives, the only background search we found was they likely came from Nerima, and you know how weird that place is, but then why come here and try to break into our command center!"
Usagi gave a nod of agreeance, slammed shut her communicator watch, and charged for the Crown, following exactly zero of the instructions she'd been given.
Ranma had to pause and blink his eyes a few times as he stared proudly at the new high scores. He had cleared out most of the machine, decimating the old scores still in the top ten left by M.K. M.A. R.H and A.M. and stared with pride at his current handiwork. The top two high scores were set by someone with the initials P.L., but he had proudly claimed slots three through six. For his first time on any arcade machine and with zero practice? That felt like a serviceable starting point, though how someone was faster and more precise than he was after training with those chestnuts and piranha was soul crushing. They must be some martial arts master. He'd just have to return some time in the future for a rematch. His stomach told him it was lunch time, even though he couldn't imagine it having been longer than an hour on the machine. Running over his incomplete mental map of the city, he was fairly certain he had spotted somewhere nearby that might be cheap enough for lunch and left the arcade. Something about Azabu-Jūban was really leaving him in higher spirits, he hadn't even been splashed since his bath last night. There was no threat of sudden storms, no random water buckets, no fiancées with cursed foods, intentional or otherwise.
Before he could make it even one block over however, he started to feel a strange and familiar tug at the back of his senses. He knew nobody was behind him, but something had to have snagged his pigtail. Refusing to let his overconfidence be his downfall, he forced himself to accept his paranoia and spun... to stare at the empty street. Not even a tree branch in sight. Either someone with the Saotome Secret techniques had decided to waste them on pranks in Azabu-Jūban or he really was off his game after all those nightmares. Staring down the empty street he tried to focus and find anything off about what his senses told him. No empty spots, no people within his ki sense range, no people running and screaming, no fires and smoke... but there was that damn tug again! With two he could now identify it was the same direction at least, the pigtail lining up with it had been a fluke, and with nothing better to do, he charged forward. Worst case he would just have to find somewhere else to eat lunch, but his gut had told him twice to go this way and it hadn't steered him wrong yet.
Gotta save the command center. Gotta save the command center. Strange intruder is attacking home base. Usagi was not designed for running like this. Or rather, she was designed for running exactly like this, tripping every five steps over every single crack, root, or pebble she came across while winded and sleep deprived. It was exactly how she ran to school every morning, so it was how she was stuck running in this life or death emergency! She couldn't risk transforming, she remembered that part, but if she could get to the Crown, identify the intruder, maybe ask them nicely to leave, and sneak in some very subtle and clever questions, she could save the day!
She tried to take a short cut through an alley she had transformed in plenty of times before tumbling into her fourth faceplant of the hour. Panicked and looking around she couldn't see what tripped her until she saw in the shadows some sort of log. At least, it looked like a log, though a bit darker and smoother and it seemed to get narrower towards one end. In her momentary daze, the 'log' darted out at her and tightly bound her body as the wielder of the tail slowly stepped out of the shadows. Once the monster was in better lighting, Usagi instantly went pale. Here she was, less than a block away from the crown, and she'd stumbled right into a youma's nest, just like she'd been warned. Some part of her brain insisted the intruder was supposed to be a boy according to Artemis, but youma were almost always female, and this one very clearly was. That at least reminded her that she was not to transform under any circumstances unless absolutely necessary, so she did her best to send out an emergency all-call and prayed someone would get here in time. She was at least twenty minutes from the school, but that was Usagi speed, not Pretty Guardian speed. Sailor Jupiter could likely make it in three. Could she survive three minutes with a youma? Most people couldn't survive more than five, and she would likely pass out before then. Could she stall? If she could last even two minutes it might be enough, after that she might have to-
"Hey ugly! Set the lady down!" cried some voice from the edge of the alley. Usagi didn't have the freedom of movement to look behind her, and she really didn't want a civilian picking a fight with a monster that could kill them, but if they could stall for even a single minute, they both might survive.
"NO! Please run! You can't fight this!"
"Girl, I'm Ranma Saotome, heir to the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I can beat anything because I'm the best! Nerima's got way weirder than this joke. Now, final warning, I don't like what's happening to the princess's ki. Set her down." Ranma's signature grin crossed his face as he absolutely beamed, ready to fight
The youma hissed and tightened around Usagi, locking her arms tight as she slowly began to feel dizzy. The timer had started before she would be forced to transform and risk her identity to the enemy.
Ranma charged in, dodging around the monster while throwing the occasional punch or kick, testing its defenses for openings while holding back the bulk of his strength. Restricting his strength and speed until he knew his opponent well enough to trip them up, he could tell this creature was used to being at the top of whatever food chain it lived under. The monster didn't bother dodging most of his attacks, letting the scales deflect the bulk of the damage, and even its attempts at dodging or counterattacking were insulting slow. That said, it definitely felt tougher than Ryoga.
After a few rounds of traded blows, he could see the blonde girl still struggling and knew she might suffocate or start losing ribs if the fight continued, even an accidental tail squeeze might do some serious harm. Ranma gave a small shake to his head, his original plan had been to stall until the Guardians had arrived so he could grill them, but it was his duty to protect people, and no cure was worth this girl dying. Tapping in to the highest speeds his training allowed him to go, he charged in for an all out barrage. He wasn't sure if 'large lizard person' was going to be weakest at the head, but that was at least where you should hit most fighters if they were too dumb to protect it. He ran forward, feinted left, jumped right, bounced off the alley wall, and dropped the heaviest kick he could as he came down, twisting his landing to use his legs as a spring, he then shot right back up in the best uppercut he could give. The monster flinched, but there wasn't enough force to even break the monster's grip on the blonde. It was a risky combo, and he had been forced to leave himself wide open, because anything less than a full commitment risked letting that girl die. He knew what came next even before he felt the claw grab his neck. It was only once he was grabbed he realized the fault in his plan. He had seen the blonde's life energy draining fast and assumed it was an active, targeted technique, but the moment he felt his own ki, he realized he'd been bleeding out on every single blow. That combo hadn't even been ki enhanced and he'd likely broken half his fingers in the attempt.
Grabbed by the neck and fading fast, she couldn't figure out what to do. With no oxygen she was going to fade fast, with no ki, she had no power to free herself. She couldn't rip the claw open or kick her way out, she couldn't bend and flex without any leverage, without any water she couldn't even transform and pray for the shock value. Think think think. What else do we have. Teleport out? Not nearly enough mana, and the girl still dies. A bolt? At this range? That would likely be suicide... But the girl lives. Trade my life for my older sister? I've already tried that once. That was a trade that took no thought. She forced in the last breath she might ever take and held both hands up to the claw that held her, grabbing on tight to the wrist. Then, she welcomed it home. All the mana she'd manage to squirrel away in this body. No mana reserves to speak of, no back up batteries imbued in her jewelry, she hunted for every single drop of mana she'd ever managed to salvage and dumped it into her hands as lightning began to arc through her finger tips. This was why Mother had exiled her so. This was her great shame. Her magic was wrong. The sheer look of horror at the mistake they had made was instantly apparent on the creature, but it was too late. The blackred lightning coalesced into two void colored orbs, tinged with the slightest of red outline before they detonated in an explosion. The monster's arm was severed cleaned off as she flew through the air and crashed into the wall behind her. As her consciousness rapidly faded, she saw the blonde fall free, then saw a pink flash of light.
Mission accomplished...