The Final Chaos

Phase 1 Part 1: New Friends and Old Enemies

by David Farr

Final Fantasy 7 and all characters and idea connected to it are the property of Square Co. Ltd.

Ranma 1/2 and all characters and ideas connected to it are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

Both are used here without permission for the purposes of Fan Fiction.

Readers are warned that this fanfic contains material that may spoil the plot of the computer game Final Fantasy VII. I apologise to any reader still playing the game. This part contains spoilers.

*****

The sun had just started rising as the rider topped the ridge. The red glinted off his birds golden feathers and the jewels in the hilt off his sword. Looking across the plains below the mountains to the once great city that was his destination.

Once the lights of the floating city had lit up the plains, but now that the reactors had been all but shut down all that was left was dark metal. In fact in this light you could barely see the collapsed sector.

The blonde rider shuddered at the thought. He'd lost friends when Shinra had dropped sector seven on the slums below in an attempt to destroy Avalanche. An eighth of the city had died in that little political decision, and Avalanche had gone on to bigger and better things.

Cloud shook his head. Those events had been over a year ago. Everything had started in Midgar, and appropriately the final defeat of Meteor had occurred in the skies over Midgar, and now the new Shinra was healing the planet and Avalanche had been disbanded, after a fashion.

Four days earlier Cloud had been called out to Fort Condor, the ranger that protected the giant nest had reported that the new egg was ready to crack. Barrett, Tifa and Reeve had needed to stay in Midgar, but Cloud had managed to get there just in time to witness the event, and again afterwards he had found a Phoenix Materia sitting amongst the shell fragments.

He was about to urge his Golden chocobo Pride on down through the mountains, after all he did have an appointment to keep, when a strange feeling came over him. Hojo's experiments and the events with Sephiroth had left Cloud with a stronger than normal connection to the planet, and now it was telling him that something was wrong.

He wheeled Pride around, and sent him into a dash. The other three Chocobos that had been following immediately turned and running along behind, but slowly losing ground. Cloud was glad that he was riding one of the fastest Chocobos on earth, whatever was happening was major if the planet had noticed.

*****

"Ow, did ya have to hit me so hard Akane?" Ranma asked sitting up.

Akane, kneeling next to him, punched him, knocking him down again. "You jerk, it wasn't me!" She looked around at the forest surrounding them. "Ranma, where are we?"

Ranma leapt to his feet. "Dunno, doesn't look like Nerima." His brow furrowed. "Last I remember we were running to school."

Akane stood up. "Same, when I woke up we were here, and you were fast asleep."

Ranma frowned and started pacing. "Could this be some trick of the old ghoul's?"

Akane shock her head. "Don't be stupid, Shampoo would be here, not me."

Ranma glared at her, then nodded. "Not Happosai, or any of the others, not their style."

Akane stood hands on hips glaring back at him. "Then someone else you've annoyed that hasn't shown up till now. I'm sure there are whole legions of people pissed off at you and your dad for some reason or another."

"Hey!" Ranma cried. "I'd remember if there was anyone else."

"Like you remembered Ryoga and Ukyo?" she asked pointedly.

Ranma was about to respond when he felt something wrong. As he went into a battle stance a large lizard charged from the bushes. The two martial artists stared at the creature for a brief second. It was unlike any monster they had seen before, about the size of the horse it continued its charge. Towards Akane!

Ranma became a blur as he dashed to grab Akane and leap away. The creature skidded to halt, turning to face the pair. Ranma put Akane down, then turned to face his foe.

"Well if that's the way you want it." Ranma leapt forward, delivering a series of kicks and punches. The lizard staggered back, then gave a cry before beams of blue light shot from its eyes at Ranma.

A strange grey pulsed under Ranma's skin. 'What the hell?' thought Ranma. He broke away, sweeping Akane off her feet. "Let's get out of here!" He jumped into the trees, and charged off. As he bounded from limb to limb he could hear the lizard charging through the trees behind them, the grey pulse was still there too. 'Damn, it's too fast, I'll have to fight it.'

Akane had been too scared to look for the duration of Ranma's flight, but when he landed on the ground, and simply stopped, she opened her eyes, to stare into the face of a statue of Ranma.

"Ranma?!" she cried. "What happened?"

*****

Cloud heard the commotion, and immediately turned Pride towards it. Hopefully this was what the planet wanted him to see.

*****

Akane was still trapped in the stone Ranma's arms when the creature once more burst into sight. It paced towards them, and gazed at the girl. It sniffed Akane a few times, then opened it mouth, only to give out a cry of pain.

The creature shuddered for a few seconds, then disappeared in a flash of red light. Akane looked to see her saviour, a spiky hared young man in black armour carrying the largest sword she had ever seen, it was easily as long as he was tall. He straightened, twirled his sword in one hand then shoved it into straps across his back. As the stranger approached, Ranma started moving again.

Ranma stared warily at the newcomer as he put Akane down on her feet. "Who are you?" he demanded.

Akane slugged him in the arm. "Ranma, he saved our lives, be grateful."

"Yeah, thanks." Ranma said, scratching the back of his head.

Cloud smiled. "You're welcome, glad to be of service. Name's Cloud Strife."

"I'm Saotome Ranma, this is Tendo Akane."

"Where you folks headed?" Cloud inquired.

"Um, we're kinda lost, do you happen to know where we are?"

"Or the way back to Nerima?" Akane added.

"Well, we're somewhere Southeast of Junon, but Nerima." Cloud shrugged. "I've never heard of it, what continent is it on?"

"It's in Japan?" Akane told him hopefully.

Cloud shook his head. "Still doesn't ring any bells. If you two can ride, you can come with me to Midgar. My friends might be able to help you."

Ranma and Akane shared a glance. "I'm willing to give anything a try," Ranma replied confidently.

*****

The lab's machines were humming with life, literally considering they were Mako powered. A number of scientists hurried around the room, fiddling with controls. Above them in a large glass cylinder a large dark sphere of energy pulsed.

A balcony jutted out from the wall level with the sphere. A large man in a lab coat lent over the railing, observing the activity.

"What's the matter, what's happening?" the man demanded.

One of the men below stopped and looked up. "Sir, something disrupted the field. We almost lost containment."

The large man's face went red. "Do you know what would have happened if that had happened?! What caused the disruption?!" he screamed.

"We don't know sir."

"Well find out!" He turned and stomped off. "Idiots, if containment had breached it'd be the end of the world."

Behind him, unobserved by all, a pair of eyes glared out from the sphere, and shook as if laughing.

*****

How did Ranma and Akane get somewhere Southeast of Junon? Why did the planet react to their arrival? How will Ranma react to being stoned? How will Cloud react to Ranma's curse? Who is the man on the balcony and why is a black sphere laughing at him? And what strange pet has Pricilla found now?

Read the next part of Final Chaos 1/2 and you might find out!