Prologue: Insanity Breeds Disaster

Professor Hojo was one very disturbed individual on a good day. Today was a very bad day. He just found out that his wife Lucretia was having an affair with the Turk that was supposed to protect her. And what's worse was that it was the bodyguard's son that had grown inside her womb, not his own. So, with this information in hand, he did the thing that came best to him: murder them both and decide later with what to do with the bodies.

'At least some good will come of this…I can finally rid myself of that damnable woman and her smitten prick of a bodyguard.' Hojo thought with some insane glee.

He swiped his security pass in the card reader and the door opened seconds later to allow him access into the secret labs above his own private lab in the Shinra Mansion. He made sure after that to relock the door and close off all access except his own into all the labs. He knew that after this, there was no way to continue here for a while, so it's better to close off all access to a very damnable subject.

After all, one did not kill a very respected Turk without anybody noticing something wrong.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o00o0o0oo0o0o00o0o0o00o0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Vincent thought he was having the time of his life at this moment. Lucrecia was going to divorce Hojo and they were going to retrieve their son and hopefully never come back. However, fate had declared that this was not to be. For all three of this semi-dysfunctional family were to meet horrible ends.

"Vincent…we need to act fast before Hojo shows up. You know how excitable he can be when he's emotional." Lucrecia said with worry in her voice.

Vincent smiled and said, "He's probably up in the lab working on killing our son. We'll just go up there and surprise him."

"I think not, Valentine." They heard from behind them in the shadows.

Vincent and Lucrecia turned around and saw Hojo standing behind them with a baby in one hand and a wicked-looking pistol in the other. The baby was sleeping softly…but all three knew that that was about to change.

"So, dear, when were you going to tell me that my son was really that bastard Valentine's…huh?" Hojo said with a dangerous glint in his eye.

"Calm down, Professor, you're probably just tired. After birthing your son-" Vincent began.

"BULLSHIT HE'S MINE! I JUST RAN THE DNA TESTS…HE'S YOU'RE ABOMINATION VALENTINE!" Hojo shouted before shooting the pistol in their direction.

Lucrecia and Vincent ran off and hid behind a table. Lucrecia looked at her love with concern as she saw him pull his own pistol out from the holster in his jacket.

"Vincent….oh, Vincent…here Vinny, vinny, vinny…I have your son, and he'd like to say hello to you." Hojo said with more of his insanity leaking into his voice.

"Professor, put down the child and face me like a man." Vincent said from his hiding place.

Hojo smiled and pulled the trigger on his pistol. A blast of light issued from the barrel and the table disintegrated into nothingness.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Vincent shouted as he reappeared from behind a storage locker.

"Believe it, Valentine…you're precious Lucrecia just took a trip to who knows where. She could end up in the past of this world or she could be in the future of another. That's the way this gun works. It sends you to a random universe and you never know it." Hojo said with an insane laugh.

'Think, Valentine, think…Hojo's possibly killed you're love and he's holding you're son hostage. Hojo's armed with a gun that can send you anywhere in space and time and he has his insane mind. You're armed with a HP .45 pistol, the single shot pistol in my ankle holster, and your knowledge of the layout of the room. What to do…'Vincent thought before he had an idea.

Hojo was looking around the room before he saw Vincent walk out and throw down his pistol and put his hands in the air.

"So, finally deciding to surrender and have a quick death?" Hojo said.

Vincent shook his head and said, "I want you to put you're gun and the baby down and fight me like a man."

Hojo smiled and said, "I tell you what…I'll put the kid down first, then I'll put the gun down…sound fair?"

Vincent just shook his head in agreement.

Hojo put the baby down on the ground and held the gun at his side. Vincent was about to step forward when Hojo raised the gun and fired. Vincent dropped himself down and fired his single-shot pistol from his ankle. The bullet hit Hojo right between the eyes, effectively killing him. But the blast from the dimension gun hit both Vincent and the baby…causing both to disappear.

0oooooooooooooooo0oo0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Nerema, 15 years ago…

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo0

Genma was scrambling at this point. At already a year old he lost his newborn son, Ranma and he knew that his wife would be pissed.

'Think, Genma…what are you going to tell your wife when she finds out that you lost your only son. Especially when the doctors say that your wife can't have children.' Genma thought as he was running around the park.

He was about to give up and allow his wife to kill him when a flash of light appeared in front of him. It grew to a bubble big enough to get even his master's attention. So, he did the best thing he could do in a situation calling on bravery and courage…he wet himself and hid in a bush, not necessarily in that order.

The flash's end had Genma appearing from behind the bush to see a baby in the slight depression made from the glowing sphere of air. He looked around to see if this was a joke. When he felt safe, he picked up the year-old baby and noticed a lot of similarities between Ranma and this baby. Except for the silver hair, green cat eyes and a tattoo with the number 1 on his right hand, this baby would be a spot on match for Ranma.

'On second thought, Genma…you have to worry about if she finds out…' Genma thought.

"Yeah…if is good." Genma said to himself with a cruel smile.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

ARK Space Station, holding orbit above the Earth, 50 years ago…

0o0000o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oo00o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dr. Gerald Robotnick was having a temper tantrum at this moment. He was so close this time to inventing the perfect creature…his 'Ultimate Life Form'. But the materials that he kidnapped…'borrowed' from pregnant lizards and Chaos Island on Earth were only producing cyborg-type monsters. All five were good weapons of war to give to GUN…but none were good enough to be called 'the Ultimate Life Form'.

'Something's wrong…there is something that I'm missing…maybe I'll use a hedgehog. Of course a hedgehog is the only one capable to control the energies of the Chaos Emeralds, next to echidnas but I won't use those smelly freeloaders. But I still need a pregnant hedgehog and a Chaos Emerald…but what to use as an imprint source?' Gerald thought-slash-rambled to himself.

Gerald heard a thump behind him and saw the body of a young man with black hair and dressed in a business suit spread out on the floor. He noticed that the man was unconscious and had the vibe of an experienced killer.

'Perfect…this young man will be the imprint of my final experiment.' Gerald thought.

"Maybe I'll call this project…'The Shadow Project', no…'Project: Shadow'…yeah, that's it. 'Project: Shadow'" Robotnick said with an evil grin.

After that, he got to work quickly. This time, he knew that there were going to be no mistakes.

000o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o00o0o0o0o0o

Disclaimers

Shadow the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA, Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix, and Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and ViZ Entertainment.