Well, here it is...

The next chapter of TRIO, coming at you!

The Flashman

May The Spirit Preserve You!
______________________________

				   TRIO:
			    WHISPERS OF THE PAST:
				  Part 6:
				  MEDIC!

	The banner above the convention center read, <The International 
Medical Show>.

	"This is the place," Usagi said as she and the others looked at the 
passes they had been given.

	"About time," Ranma grumbled, "that cab driver must have the 
directional scence of... of..."

	"Of who?" Gohan asked.

	"I forget."

	The three entered the center and five minutes later...

	"YAWWWWWN!  This place is boring," Ranma complained, "can we go now?
"

	"I know," Usagi replied, fighting to keep her eyelids raised, "maybe 
this wasn't such a good idea."

	Gohan cut in, "Hey.  I find this interesting.  Besides, didn't you 
want to see Ami again?"

	Usagi nodded in agreement and then grinned as she added, "How come I 
get the feeling that YOU want to see her again too?"

	Gohan was unable to stop the deep red blush that came over his face. 
 Ranma laughed out loud and patted Gohan on the shoulder as he said, 
"It's okay.  I know the feeling."

	"You do?" Gohan asked innocently, "Who's the lucky girl?"

	Gohan was totally unprepared for the looks his friends gave him and 
Usagi started to say, "You mean you hav..."

	"USAAAAAGIIIIIII!!!!  Over here!"

	The Trio turned their heads to see Ami, waiving her arms at them 
from the booth she and Dr. Tofu were using.  As they walked over, 
Tofu looked at his assistant and asked, "Friend of yours?"

	"Yes," Ami replied, "one I thought I'd never see again."

	"That boy with him... the one with the pig tail... do you know who 
he is?"

	"Why?  He someone you know?"

	"Maybe."

	Outside...

	Kunzuite and Broli stood on the roof, the former Dark Kingdom 
General smiling to himself as he said to his hulking companion, "They 
are inside."

	Broli said nothing.  In fact, he could not even speak, for Eclipse 
Lord had turned him into nothing more then the flesh and blood 
equivalent of a robot.  Kunzuite grinned as he sensed the auras of 
Sailor Moon, the one named Yin Yang, Sayamans unique one and....

	"So, Sailor Mercury is here too," Kunzuite flipped a few strands of 
stray hair out of his face, "that just means two for the price of one.
"

	Back inside...

	"And this..." Ami said, pointing out the Trio for Dr. Tofu, "is.."

	"RANMA," Tofu exclaimed, "where have you been?  You've been missing 
for MONTHS!  How did you get HERE?!"

	"Huh," Ranma asked, "Do I know you?"

	"Ranma, it's me.  Dr. Tofu.  The one who was always patching you up 
after your fights."

	"'Fights?'"

	"Oh dear.  You have amnesia don't you?"

	"Uh... yeah."

	Tofu looked at his watch and said, "Well, I have a half hour until 
the next demonstration, how about I see what I can do?"

	"How?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

	"Maybe fill in some details that you're missing.  Or I could try 
some specialized acupuncture..."

	"I'll skip the needles, but I will take the details."

	Dr. Tofu motioned towards the hallway and as he walked off he said, 
"I'll be leaving you in charge of the booth Ami," he grinned, "don't 
break anything."

	"I won't," Ami replied.

	As she and Usagi began to talk, Gohan was content to stare at the 
blue haired maiden that stood before him.  He was off in the land of 
pastel bubbles until he realized that Ami had asked him a question.  
"Huh," was all he could manage.

	"I said," Ami repeated, "did you know that your eyes are turning 
into little red hearts?"

	Gohan, caught red handed (or eyed, as the case may be), tried to 
find something else to focus his gaze on, as the two girls snickered 
and his eyes finally rested on a calculous book.  He asked, "That 
book yours?"

	"Yes," Ami replied.

	"Mind if I look at it?"

	"Go right ahead.  Now, as I was saying Usagi..."

	As the two girls resumed chatting, Gohan managed to make his way 
over to where the book was (it just HAD to be right next to her) and 
picked it up.  He flipped through it and thought, "Wow.  She's  smart 
too," as another wave of tingling went through his belly.

	Meanwhile...

	As Tofu tried to lead Ranma to a less populated area, he was 
suddenly pulled forcefully into the thick crowd by a man in a black 
trench coat with blue and whitish hair.  "Excuse me sir," Tofu 
exclaimed, "just what do you think you're doing?!"

	"My apologies doctor," the man replied as he lead him through the 
building, "but there is something you must see right away."

	Before Tofu could object, the man reached the stairs.  They went up 
the stairs and to the roof, where the man locked to door to the 
center behind them.  "What is the meaning of this?!" Tofu yelled.

	Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind by hands that could have 
crushed him flat without even trying.  Meaning that Tofu was totally 
helpless in the grip of Broli.  Kunzuite removed his jacket and held 
up an amulet to the doctors face and said, "I said I was going to 
show you something and I meant it.  See?"

	As the amulet placed it spell over a screaming in agony Dr. Tofu, 
changing his form into something unrecognizable, the door was kicked 
in.  "Too late, whoever you are," Kunzuite growled, "this man is my 
servant now."

	A minute earlier....

	Ranma looked around for where Tofu had been pulled off to and 
noticed the struggling doctor being pulled to the stairs and pushed 
his way through the crowd after him.  As he saw Tofu being led to the 
roof, he thought, "What's going on?" 

	He placed his ear to the door and when he heard the scream of pain, 
without thinking, he hit the door with a mighty kick, and it was 
smashed in.  He heard the man tell him that he was too late but 
ignored it as he jumped forward.  While in mid air, he thought, "What 
am I DOING?!  I'm not ready for this yet!"

	He was intercepted by a small pin that hit him on a point on his 
chest and he fell to the ground, feeling as if he weighed a ton.  The 
pin had come from Dr. Tofu.  Or rather, what Tofu had been 
transformed into.

	The creature that had once been the good doctor stood at six feet 
tall.  He was covered in white armor with red cross symbols on both 
sides of his head.  His left hand was nothing more or less then a 
giant syringe and his right hand held many small pins.  "Medkind," 
Kunzuite ordered, "destroy him."

	Medkind chuckled as he said, "Of course master."

	The creature turned to Ranma and said, "In case you were wondering, 
I have hit the pressure point on your body that causes you to 
suddenly weigh five times heavier."

	Ranma dragged himself to the stairs and managed to roll himself down.
  Kunzuite turned to his servant and ordered, "Go after him."

	As Medkind did so, he turned to Broli and said, "Get ready."

	Broli nodded and flew up into the air.

	Downstairs....

	Even though Gohan tried to keep his head buried in the book, he was 
overhearing almost everything that Ami and Usagi were saying to each 
other.  He was amazed at how long two women could talk about almost 
absolutely nothing at all.  He looked up and his eyes went wide as he 
saw something in the back ground.  "Usagi, Ami," he whispered 
urgently, "look over there."

	The two young ladies turned their heads and they both gasped as they 
saw Ranma fall out of the stairwell.  They also saw the monster that 
followed him down.  "Usagi," Ami said, "follow me."

	The two girls ran off as Gohan rushed towards the monster.  He 
tackled the creature and used only a fraction of his strength to 
knock him down.  He saw the fist rushing towards him and he thought, 
"Too many people here.  I gotta take this, can't give away my 
identity."

	The fist hit him on the jaw and Gohan flung himself backwards with 
the blow.  He slammed to the ground and sat up slowly, rubbing his 
jaw and thinking, "That actually stung."

	A security guard ran over and snapped as he held his nightstick in a 
ready position, "Okay pal, your five minutes are just about up."

	"I think not," Medkind laughed as he threw several needles at the 
guard and several of the surrounding people.

	The ones who were hit all dropped to the ground, groaning.  Medkind 
laughed as he taunted, "Looks like the pressure point of lethargity 
really works. Hee hee hee."

	Medkind jumped high into the air, landed on a railing and threw a 
storm of needles down towards the ground.  Gohan leaped to his feet, 
grabbed Ranma and then rolled under a near by table.  Most of the 
other people weren't as lucky as the needles hit their pressure 
points and they all passed out.

	Suddenly, the table Gohan was hiding under was flung upwards and 
smashed Medkind in the face.  When the monsters vision cleared, he 
looked down and snarled as he saw Great Sayaman, ready for battle.

	Medkind pulled out a giant roll of medical gauze and without a word, 
threw it at Great Sayaman.  Sayaman raised his left arm and the white 
medical wrapping coiled around it.

	The gauze suddenly gained a life of its own and before Sayaman could 
react, the medical tape wrapped all over his body, making him 
resemble a mummy more then a super hero.  Sayaman started to flex his 
arms but he found out that the tape has a sticky quality to it and 
that it was glued to his entire form, making it almost impossible to 
break it.

	"It's also making something else impossible," Sayaman thought as he 
gagged, "BREATHING!"

	A golden discus flew in and cut a slit over where Sayamans mouth was.
  The Saya-jin halfling took as deep a breath as he possible could as 
Sailors Moon and Mercury raced onto the scene.

	With the renewed ability to breath, Sayaman was able to concentrate 
enough to flare his ki and burn off the rest of the gauze.  He turned 
to his friends and said, "Thanks Sailor Moon.  I needed that."

	As the tiara floated back into Sailor Moons hand, Medkind muttered, 
"Shaves as close as a razor or your money back."

	"Wait a second," Ranma said as he still tried to fight through, 
whatever the monster had done to him, "don't try to destroy him.  
That... thing, is Tofu!"

	"WHAT?!" the other heros exclaimed.

	"That's right," Medkind laughed, "however, I've gotten an... 
adjustment.  HAIL THE ECLIPSE!"

	With that and an evil laugh, Medkind bounded off the railing and up 
the stairs.  "We have to go after him," Sailor Moon exclaimed.

	"Can you tell me," Mercury asked Ranma, "who did this to Tofu?"

	Ranma managed to prop himself up with his elbows and replied, "Don't 
know who it was.  He was wearing a grey uniform and he had kinda grey-
blue hair, like ice."

	"That sounds like... Kunzuite," Mercury thought as her insides grew 
cold, "but he's dead."

	"There was someone else too," Ranma continued, "He was big, REALLY 
big.  He had blond hair, sorta like yours is, Gohan, when you do that 
power up thing."

	Sailor Moon kneel down next to Ranma and ask, "Are you okay?"

	"Not really," Ranma replied, "there's this needle in my chest that's 
making me feel like a lead weight."

	Sailor Moon looked over Ranmas chest until she found what he had 
been talking about and pulled it out.  Ranma quickly sat up and 
stretched out his arms and legs as he exclaimed, "Now THAT feels MUCH 
better!"

	"Ranma," Sayaman looked at his friend with concern, "you coming with 
us?"

	Ranma tried to say "yes", however the word stuck in his throat as 
his mind replayed images of what had happened during the Woe Bringer 
incident.  "I... I... I..." he balled his hands into tight fists as 
he mentally cursed himself for his cowardliness.

	"It's okay," Sailor Moon said as she placed a hand on his shoulder, 
"we understand."

	Sayaman nodded vigorously and Sailor Mercury, not knowing the 
details of what had happened, said nothing.  "Let's go," Sayaman 
exclaimed as he raced up the stairs.

	"Gohan!  Wait a..." Sailor Moons volume dropped as she saw that 
Sayaman was out of hearing range, "second. (Sigh.)"

	"He is pretty eager isn't he," Ranma said with a smile.

	"Yeah," Sailor Moon replied as she moved closer to Ranma, "Wait here.
  We'll be right back."

	Before he knew what was happening, Sailor Moon kissed him on the 
lips.  Once again, he felt himself freezing up but through an intense 
use of will power, he found himself starting to return it.  However, 
the gasp that came from Mercury made the two young lovers separate 
from their embrace.  The two of them asked, "What's wrong?"

	Mercury, after a long pause managed to reply, "Nothing.  It's 
nothing, really," then she thought of something, "I'm just surprised 
that you found someone so soon."

	Sailor Moon smiled softly and replied, "I was lucky.  Let's go."

	The two Senshi rushed off, leaving a depressed martial artist alone 
with his feelings of helplessness and self loathing.

	Meanwhile...

	Sayaman raced onto the roof and confronted both Medkind and Kunzuite.
  "Hold it," the sun glasses wearing hero shouted as he went into his 
routine, "I am Great Sayaman!  The ultimate fighter for Justice!"

	As if on cue, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury came out onto the roof 
and without missing a beat, Sailor Moon picked up, "And I am the 
Pretty Suited Soldier... Sailor Moon!"

	Sailor Moon and Sayaman alternated;

	"Along with Sailor Mercury..."

	"We are the Trio!  The strongest force of good in the world!"

	"For daring to turn one of this worlds healers into a creature of 
destruction..."

	Together, Sayaman and Sailor Moon finished with, "We'll punish 
you!"

	Sailor Mercury sighed as she thought, "Oh well.  I guess its 
reassuring to know that some things will NEVER change."

	Kunzuite laughed as he said, "Why Sailor Moon, I never thought I'd 
see the day where I met someone who said speeches as corny as yours.
"

	Sayaman cleared his throat and replied, "They may be corny, but I 
can back them up!"

	"We shall see."

	"Sailor Moon, Mercury," Sayaman whispered, "you two think you can 
help Tofu?"

	The two Senshi looked at each other and Mercury replied, "We've done 
this sort of thing before.  We'll be okay."

	"Okay," Sayaman said in a louder voice, "the guy in the ugly uniform 
is mine!"

	"'Ugly uniform?'" Kunzuite asked with raised eyebrows, "coming from 
you, I'll take that as a compliment."

	Before the former Dark Kingdom General could even blink, Sayaman was 
in his face.  Kunzuite raised his arm but Sayaman belted him across 
the jaw with a stiff right cross, sending the arrogant general flying.


	While Sayaman went after Kunzuite, Medkind fired a barrage of 
needles and pins at the two Senshi.  Mercury dodged left as Moon 
leaped up in the air and flipped forward.  She extended her foot and 
hit Medkind as she cried, "SAILOR MOON KICK!"

	Medkind grunted as the kick hit him square in the stomach and with a 
roar, he thrust his syringe hand at Sailor Moon.  Remembering 
something Ranma had taught her, she side stepped the blow, grabbed 
the monsters arm, and, using leverage and speed, flipped Medkind onto 
his back.  As she jumped back, Sailor Moon noticed Mercury looking at 
her with the same shocked look she had worn when Moon had kissed 
Ranma.  "When did you learn that?" the blue highlighted Senshi asked.


	Sailor Moon replied, "From Ranma.  It's pretty tough to learn but it 
sure beats the old, 'Slip and Dodge' routine I'd been doing before."

	"I'm beginning to see your point Setsuna," Mercury thought 
grudgingly, "this is obviously been quite a learning experience for 
her."

	Medkind got up and threw a giant version of a rubber hammer, the 
kind used to test reflexes, at the girls.  The Senshi jumped out of 
the way but the shock waves from the hammer hitting the roof knocked 
them out of the air.  Medkind threw out two strips of gauze and 
wrapped the two Senshi up in them.  The doctor turned monster started 
to reel them in and in desperation, Mercury opened her hands and 
cried, "SHABON... SPRAY!"

	The bubbles burst from her hands and when they struck the roof, they 
popped, releasing their cold mist.  Medkind, confused by the sudden 
loss of visibility and the decrease in temperature, lost his grip on 
the gauze strips and as the temperature lowered even more, the gauze 
became brittle and snapped apart.  "Sailor Moon," Mercury called out, 
"heal him now!"

	"Gotcha," Sailor Moon replied before raising her broach high in the 
air, "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"

	The white light shot out of the broach and enveloped Medkind.  The 
monster screamed and when the light faded, Dr. Tofu collapsed to the 
ground, completely exhausted.

	Meanwhile...

	Sayaman struck again and Kunzuite was sent into, and through, the 
wall of a nearby building.  Kunzuite managed to stand, although their 
whole battle hadn't been much more then the hero dominating him 
completely.  That however, was going to change.  Kunzuite closed his 
eyes and mentally concentrated, sending out a signal.

	"What are you doing?" Sayaman asked.

	Kunzuite smiled evilly as he replied, "Calling for help."

	"Wait a minute," Sayaman suddenly realized, "didn't Ranma say there 
was..."

	"RRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!"

	The inhuman cry made Sayaman turn, only to be bowled over by Broli.  
The mad Super Saya-jin struck fast, hitting Sayaman fifty times in 
the face before the hero could even blink.  Broil followed up with a 
savage kick to the mid section, making Sayamans insides heave.  The 
mindless warrior struck the back of the heros neck with a vicious 
double axe handle, sending Sayaman down to the ground.

	Sayaman, who was not feeling so "Great" at the moment, hit the 
street hard enough to create a large crater.  He slowly crawled out 
of the hole but Broli was right there to drop a knee into the small 
of his back.  Sayaman had time to think, "This... guy hits... 
stronger then... Blade Bot," before darkness claimed his 
consciousness.

	Kunzuite teleported next to Broli and said, "Good work."

	"Rrrrrr..." was all Broli said in reply as he moved in to finish 
Sayaman off.

	"Don't you DARE!"

	The two villains turned as the person who had shouted at them 
launched a storm of yellow ki balls at the both of them.  Kunzuite 
quickly raised an energy shield while Broli simple stood there and 
took it.  Kunzuite was forced to spin around and block a red energy 
ball that was released on the whispered command of, "Dead Scream."

	Super Trunks and Sailor Pluto leaped in front of the two villains.  
Broli growled and prepared to fight them both.  However, Kunzuite 
raised a hand and said, "Wait.  This battle is pointless, there are 
other matters to attend to.  Come."

	Broli snarled as he leaped up into the air and flew off at a speed 
Trunks had no hope of matching, while Kunzuite teleported away.

	"That was too close," Trunks said as he wiped the sweat off his brow.


	"It is not over yet," Pluto replied, "we must hurry."

	With that, the two time travelers leaped off in the direction Broli 
had taken.

	A few minutes later, back at the medical show...

	Ranma placed his left foot on the stairs, "THIS time," he muttered 
to himself, "I'm gonna do it for sure."

	After a full ten minutes of silence, the sounds of massive 
explosions from the roof managed to spur what was left of Ranmas 
shattered courage into action.

	His foot started to shiver as his body started to betray his mental 
commands.  "If I can make this next step," he thought, "then I KNOW I 
can do it."

	After a full minute of deep breaths, fearful shaking, thinking both 
positive and negative, and speaking aloud to encourage himself, Ranma 
finally got his other foot onto the steps.  As soon as his right foot 
hit the steps, it felt as if a gigantic weight had been removed from 
his body.  He raced up the stairs a smile of blooming confidence on 
his lips...

	A smile that was wiped off as he saw the devastation before him.  
The first thing he noticed was that the roof of the convention center 
was in ruins and that all the damage had been done with bare hands.  
The next thing he noticed was Dr. Tofu lying on his face.  He raced 
over and felt the good doctors neck for a pulse.  He let out a bent 
up breath as he felt it good and strong.

	The sound of rubble rearranging made Ranma turn.  He watched as a 
large pile of bricks was pushed out of the way by a white gloved hand.
  Ranma ran over to the bricks and started to dig, dreading what he 
might find.  His fears were slightly justified as he managed to pull 
Sailor Moon, with a large bruise on the side of her face, out of the 
rubble.  "Usagi," he asked, "are you okay?"

	"I... I'll be fine," she replied, then she started to sob, "but... 
but... they took Mercury... and I couldn't..."

	The emotionally distraught Sailor wrapped her arms around her 
boyfriends waist and cried.  Ranma whispered to her, "I'm sorry.  I 
should have helped.  This is all my fault."

TO BE CONTINUED....