Disclaimer: All characters are the property of their creators, and i claim no rights them... well, except for the ones where i _am_ their creator, but since none of those appear in this text, we don't need to worry about that for now... Please keep in mind, this was the first chapter of my first fanfic, and it hasn't changed much since i originally posted it on the FFML and RAAC back in 1996... well, except for the HTML formatting of this version. (Does it look better or worse than the standard markers i use for indicating thought and such?) I'm not asking anyone to be gentle or anything. Just... it's kinda weird, dusting this off and putting it up again. But even as old as it is, any C&C, suggestions, and whatever else you'd like to hurl my way would be gladly welcomed. Thanks for reading!

~Eimii














PROLOGUE...


"The world is a dark and empty place."

Not a very original statement, but expressing the depth of Ryouga's current depression would have taken vocabulary well beyond his regular verbal strata, and he really didn't feel like wasting the breath.

Ryouga glanced again at the crumpled piece of card stock clutched tightly in his right hand. The words written on it appeared floating behind the lost boy's eyes before he even had a chance to un-curl his fist.

'You, Hibiki Ryouga, are cordially invited to attend the wedding of Tendo Akane and Saotome Ranma, and witness the joyous union of the Tendo and Saotome family lines. The ceremony will be held at noon on June 27th, 1996, in the Tendo Dojo. The reception will begin at 3:00 pm. Please be prompt and properly attired.'

June 27th, three days ago. And Ryouga hadn't even set foot in Japan any time within the last week.

"GOD DAMN IT!!" Cried the wanderer as he drove his fist through a nearby wall, tears of rage and sadness streaming down his cheeks. A peculiar whirring sound caught his attention, and for the first time in almost a week Ryouga stood back and took in his surroundings.

He was in a maze of some sort. Row upon row of very futuristic, and strangely organic looking modules lined the walls, all of them softly droning in unison. Well, Thought Ryouga bitterly, I've really done it now. It was clear to him that, wherever he was, he was nowhere near the Tendo Dojo.

Three days... He had received the invitation almost two months ago, and had immediately set out for the dojo in order to prevent this tragedy. And yet, despite all of his determination and advanced notice, all of his efforts had come to naught.

Why??!! Why must I be cursed so?! What have I ever done to deserve this?? Ryouga slumped forward, suddenly unable to find the strength to go on. "Oh Akane..." Right now, because of my incompetence, you could be... you and Ranma might be... NO!

"NOOOO!!!"

Throwing his head back, he howled his anguish at the sky, a blinding green column of light and heat expanding outward from the lost boy's form to scorch the walls and floor. Then, as the weight of his emotions drew it downward unto the abyss of his soul, a ten meter wide sphere of light descended upon Ryouga's now kneeling form.

"No..."



Somewhere within the Yggdrasl central data storage archives, there was an explosion.

Alarm klaxions blared, and panic and chaos reigned throughout the heavens. System administration deities scrambled back and forth throughout the Yggdrasl complex, frantically trying to locate and contain the disturbance.

Several hours passed. Vital systems slowly came back online, but much of the archives had been consumed by the yet unexplained explosion. The Yggdrasl logic systems were attempting to extrapolate from secondary data storage stacks, trying to fill in the gaps as quickly as possible.

A one section that had sustained particularly heavy damage was the personnel archives. As many gods and goddesses were on hand at the moment, the computer asked that they log into the system so that it might fill in the missing profiles. After several more hours, 97% of the deity profiles were sufficiently filled in to allow for easy identification. The last 3% were difficult, as these personnel profiles have been completely wiped, and the deities in question were not available to assist.

Having compiled a list of unfilled positions, the computer began to access external files, in the hopes that there would be some reference to the occupants of the unfilledpositions. This search was largely fruitless, as most personal and performance information was immediately routed to the personnel profiles for storage.

In the end, the computer came up with nothing more than a piece of office joke mail, a list of comically exaggerated personality archetypes of various deitic positions. The computer then proceeded to scan the Yggdrasl complex for unidentified persons matching the archetypes of the various missing gods and goddesses.

Ryouga, meanwhile, had fallen asleep in one of many gardens in the Yggdrasl complex. He was propped up at the base of a tree, snoring loudly.

[UNIDENTIFIED LIFE FORM #0047: MALE, HUMANOID; ABNORMALLY HIGH LIFE FORCE READINGS. CURRENT EMOTIONAL STATE: DEEP DEPRESSION]
[CROSS REFERENCING: DOCUMENT 0001]
[POSSIBLE MATCH FOUND ___ 'God of Unrequited Love: Man is this guy a downer; the sort that can make you depressed just by looking at him.']
[POSITIVE MATCH CONFIRMED :: CONTACTING FOR DATA COLLECTION]

The lost boy was roused from his fitful sleep when a computer screen seemed to grow out of the tree trunk behind his head. Groggily rubbing his eyes, Ryouga cast an irritated expression at the offending piece of hardware.

There was a prompt of some sort on it. The word 'NAME:' was printed at the top of the screen, with a blinking cursor after it. Ryouga shrugged noncommittally, then decided that since he wasn't likely to get back to sleep, he might as well play along.

"Hibiki Ryouga" he recited, and was pleased to find that the first line now read 'NAME: HIBIKI RYOUGA.' A new prompt had appeared, just below the first.

'CLASS:'

He debated this in his head for several moments, then responded "Umm, Middle?"

[SUBJECT RESPONSE "MIDDLE" UNKNOWN ARGUMENT :: EXTRAPOLATING]

'CLASS: 2'

"Er, ok..." remarked Ryouga intelligently. Then yet another prompt appeared.

'CATEGORY:'

Ryouga's irritation was returning, as the initial novelty of this situation began to wear off. He was losing valuable sleep time because this stupid tree wanted to play twenty questions! To make matters worse, he had absolutely no idea how to answer this latest query.

"I don't know." The fang-toothed boy spat sourly to the tree.

[CATEGORY: ? :: CROSS REFERENCING TO RELATED POSITIONS]
[CONFIRMED 87% CHANCE THAT POSITION GODOFUNREQUITEDLOVE IS A CATEGORY 2 POSITION - CROSS REFERENCE BOOLEAN = LOVE]

'CATEGORY: 2'

"Well, that was easy enough," he mused, as the number leapt, unbidden, to the screen.

'LIMITED/UNLIMITED'

Hmm...must be like a True/False question. Ah well, it's a good a way to decide as any, I suppose. Patting his pants down until he heard the telltale clink of loose change, the weary boy dug a coin out of his pocket.

Ryouga flipped the coin into the air, catching it halfway through its descent and slapping it on his other forearm. Glancing at the coin, he spoke to the screen, "Hea...Er, I mean Limited."

'HIBIKI RYOUGA'
'CLASS:2 CATEGORY:2 LIMITED'
'THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION'
'HAVE A NICE DAY'

[SUFFICIENT MINIMAL INFORMATION OBTAINED :: COMPILING]

A blast of pure white light erupted from the computer screen, catching the still somewhat drowsy wanderer completely off guard.

He awoke several minutes later, a strange tingling sensation momentarily surging through his body before fading. After reducing the offending tree, now sans monitor, to toothpicks, Ryouga proceed to stalk off in a random direction, muttering under his breath something about "stupid trees" and "cheap shots".