The Final Chaos
Phase 2 Part 1
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 citizen's of Nerima were used to strange sites, so the group of eight young people and a large dog lying unconscious in the middle of the street went totally unremarked. It was probably just the fallout from one the martial arts battles that were forever pushing up insurance premiums. Thus it was none of their business, they were just glad that there didn't appear to be any property damage.
The first person to come round in the group popped up like a spring. "Wow! This place is neat!" Kimiko exclaimed. "Restricted use magic, unusual martial arts. This is going to be fun."
"What's she babbling about?" Cloud groaned as he woke up.
Ranma bounced to his feet. "Hey, we're home!"
"That'd suggest now we're lost," Red XIII rumbled, getting to his paws.
"Let's worry about that later," Tifa interrupted. "We need to find a place to bed down, we may be here a while."
"We can put you up in the dojo if you don't mind the floor," Akane offered.
Cloud nodded. "That would be best. Lead away."
"Shampoo go see Grandmother, tell her we're back," Shampoo announced, then dashed off.
The arrival at the Tendo dojo was anything but peaceful. Almost the instant the warriors walked through the gate they were assaulted by a demon-headed Soun.
"What have you been doing with my daughter Ranma?" the large apparition demanded.
Ranma cowered away. "Hey, it weren't my fault!"
"Daddy, stop that!" Akane demanded. "Come inside and we'll explain." Akane lead her once more normal (for him) father inside.
"By Holy," Cloud swore, breathing heavily, one hand on his chest. "I'm glad Cid isn't here, that'd have given him a heart attack."
"Cloud, that's not a nice thing to say." Tifa admonished him. "His heart's not weak."
"Are you kidding? I almost collapsed from that."
"We've lost Ryoga," Red XIII noted.
"No surprise there, he's always getting lost. He'll show up," Ranma assured him. "We'd better get inside."
Akane's arrival had brought out the entire family, so they were all there when Ranma led the Avalanche warriors into the main room. Kasumi stood at the entrance to the kitchen, while Genma still sat watching the shogo board. Nabiki, Akane and Soun sat around the table.
"Friends of yours Ranma?" Nabiki asked when she saw the armoured fighters.
"You must be Nabiki," Cloud said, smiling sweetly. "Ranma's told me a lot about you."
"Only good things I hope." Nabiki looked at Ranma with her eyes half-closed. Ranma shivered.
Kasumi was staring at Red XIII. "My, what an interesting pet you have."
Red XIII sat down on his haunches and gazed at her. "My dear lady, I am not, and never have been anyone's pet."
Kasumi blushed. "Oh, dear, I'm terribly sorry."
"That's perfectly okay, I get that a lot from strangers." Red XIII gave her an unfortunately toothy smile.
"Perhaps we should make some introductions before there are any more misunderstandings," Ranma put in.
"Perhaps," Nabiki said flatly.
After the introductions were made Ranma and Akane found themselves telling an abbreviated story of their adventures. Then they had to defend themselves against their fathers' suggestions.
"Dad, Genma stop it, they obviously didn't do anything. What's more important is if our guests can pay." Nabiki declared.
"Nabiki, don't be rude!" gasped Kasumi.
"No, it's okay," Cloud told her. "We'd hate to impose unnecessarily. Nabiki, Ranma's told me your good with finances."
"I hope that's all he's told you about me." The look Nabiki gave Ranma sent shivers up his spine.
Cloud pulled something from a pouch at his waist, then tossed it through the air. "What can you do with this?"
Nabiki plucked the coin out of the air. She gazed at it, turning it in her hand. "I could get something for it as an unusual coin, I'll take a ten percent commission of course. How many do you have?"
Cloud frowned. "I'm a little light on GP at the moment, only four or five hundred."
It was the last thing you'd expect really, which is why no one reacted to it. Nabiki still held the bump on the head against them though. In all fairness though, Nabiki had never fainted before in her life.
*****
"She do that often?" Cloud asked as he struggled out of his armour. He had retired to the guest room to change out of his black armour and into something that would let him blend in more.
"It's a first as far as I know. She doesn't often met people who call a small fortune being "a little light"." Ranma stood outside, talking through the door.
"Yeah, monster hunting pays well." Cloud pulled the door open and stepped out. He was wearing a black leather jacket instead of the black armour and a pair of dark sunglasses to hide his eyes. "How do I look?"
"Like a American gangster, or even a Yakuza. Are you going to carry your sword around?"
"I think I'll ask Nabiki if she can come up with something. If she's as good as your stories suggest, I think she might actually be worth the cost." Cloud looked at his friend. "I think I'll go out exploring tomorrow while you're at school."
"Lucky you."
*****
Thunder rumbled through the overcast sky, threatening rain. Soun stood on the back porch, watching the teenaged girl dashing around in the backyard. He turned to his daughter.
"What a strange girl," he commented. "She seems almost like a young child, experiencing things for the first time."
"Yes father," Kasumi commented. "Perhaps they should take her to see Dr Tofu."
"And how trustworthy is this Tofu?" Red XIII inquired.
Kasumi was about to answer when Kimiko stopped running and laughing and produced a small bag. Reaching inside she pulled out a small seed and threw it to the ground. "Grow!" she yelled, throwing out her arms in a grand gesture. The group was surprised when a large flower grew out of the ground to tower over the girl. It was a sunflower, they could easily tell, sunlight was streaming from its head. Kimiko went back to playing in the sun.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi.
"Call your doctor Tofu," Red XIII told them. "If nothing else he might calm her down."
*****
Dr Tofu hurried round when Nabiki called him. She had been unusually mysterious (he didn't have much experience dealing with Nabiki) so he was afraid that there had been some disaster.
When he arrived he found the Tendo household peaceful, much to his surprise. Mr Tendo greeted him at the door, and invited him in, offering a cup of tea. To say that the strange girl and the wolf/cat thing sitting watching the TV shocked him is an understatement, a lesser man would have let out an exclamation.
"Red XIII, Kimiko, this is Doctor Tofu," Soun told them.
Red XIII turned his. "Hmm? Oh Sorry, this program is interesting." Dr Tofu took a step back in surprise.
"What've you found that's kept her quiet?" Soun inquired.
"It's called Magic Knight Rayearth, I think."
"Mom never let me watch this, she said it would only make me worse!" Kimiko announced, then turned back to the TV.
Red XIII padded over to the doctor. "Doctor Tofu, we would like you to examine Kimiko here."
Tofu glanced at Soun, who simply nodded. "In what way?"
"Anyway you can find, we are pulling at straws."
"Grasping at straws," Tofu corrected absently, staring at his patient.
Pulling Kimiko away from the TV turned out to be more of a chore than they expected.
"WAAAAAAAAH!" wailed Kimiko.
Red XIII looked at her flatly. "You know Kimiko, few people actually cry "wah" when they wail." The girl giggled.
Once they had her settled down, the examination went fairly routinely, but just as Tofu was finishing disaster struck.
"Oh, Dr Tofu, nobody told me you were here," a mild voice said from the doorway.
"Kasumi!" squeaked the good man.
Red XIII heard a series of pops and cracks. When Tofu moved away he saw Kimiko, sitting upside down, hands and legs folded into the lotus position. The good doctor continued out through the door (Red XIII thought opening it first would have been easier) and a splash marked his entrance into the pond.
"I hope he doesn't turn into anything," Red XIII noted, then looked at the girl in front of him. "Is that as painful as it looks?"
Kimiko went cross eyed, just to complete the effect.
*****
Ranma and Cloud wandered back through the streets of Nerima towards the Tendo dojo.
"That's very unusual, Ukyo usually leaves a note when she closes down her restaurant," Ranma told Cloud.
"It was probably a personal emergency, if she needed help she could have left a note with Kasumi," the other replied.
"Yeah well, I wouldn't her to get -- ack!" Ranma leapt into the air as a volley of chains shot under him.
"Ranma! Where is Shampoo?!" demanded the maddened Hidden Weapons Master.
"Mousse!" declared Ranma. "What are you talking about?"
"I want to know what you did with my darling Shampoo!" with that declaration Mousse leapt forward, and grabbed Ranma.
"Mousse, stop it!" croaked Ranma.
There was a splash of water, and Ranma found herself being choked by Mu-Mu the duck. Cloud plucked the duck off Ranma.
"Hi Mousse. Last time we saw Shampoo she was headed back to the Cat Cafe, why don't you try going back there," Cloud told the transformed Amazon man. After Mousse had flapped off down the street, Cloud turned to Ranma. "Why didn't you fight back?"
Ranma shrugged. "I guess you've rubbed off on me, seeing as I was just going to tell him anyway, there wasn't much point in me doing anything."
Cloud smiled. "Don't worry, I won't tell your father."
Ranma smiled back at Cloud. "Thanks, by the way where did you find the water?"
Cloud's reply was interrupted by a shout from down the street. "Cur, you are being very familiar with my pigtailed goddess!"
His hand shot over his shoulder, and Cloud silently cursed his leaving his sword at the dojo.
*****
The room was dark, even to Shampoo's cat eyes. She was hanging from the roof, securely bound up. She strained her senses. There was a strange hiss, and she thought she could here someone moving around.
She mewed quietly, caught between wanting to alert possible rescuers or whoever had grabbed her. She also started struggling, but the rope didn't give.
A pair of fiery eyes appeared in the darkness. "Well, well, well, I see my little guest is awake. I wouldn't struggle too much, if you slip your bonds I promise you, you will die!"
