Path of Chaos: Ascension of Supremacy

by Lord Rance

A powerful entity has been reborn after so many eons being dead, but what if the entity doesn't want to go back to what he used to be? This is a story of a powerful god, who doesn't want to become a god.

10. Chapter 6

PATH OF CHAOS: ASCENSION OF SUPREMACY

- Lord Rance

Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own any of the anime characters that appear in this entire fanfic, otherwise I'll just make sure you'll know if I do make new characters.

Author Notes: Ranma and Akane? Not that I have anything against the pair, in fact I like them, they won't get together in this fanfic.
Whatever gave you that idea? There are a lot of tomboys in the known multiverses that sounds like Akane ya know.

I would like to thank Cory D. Rose (http/shihanna. and St Longinus for pre-reading this stuff.

Ancient Language (used by gods and goddesses, Ancient Gods): "-Ranma-"

Thoughts: ((Ranma))

Telepathy: "((Ranma))", ""((Ranma))""

English/Chinese/Other languages specified: ""Ranma""

Electronic Communications: ("Ranma"), (""Ranma"")

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CHAPTER 6 - LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER, LIKE SON...

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

We momentarily return to Ranma's home world... to take a peek at what is happening...

In Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen Heroes near the entrance to the Gateway back to Midgard...

"Are you ready to go, Oneesan?" A blue-haired woman asked to her taller companion.

The taller woman nodded to her, saying, "Hai. Where are we going this time, by the way?"

The blue-haired woman giggled. "Well, if we can't find my nephew in this time for now, then we should meet those people who 'adopted' him."

"Oh really?" The taller woman's blue eyes glittered. "I still haven't seen their files as of yet. I can't go in there without any knowledge whatsoever of..." Her sentence was cut off when a folder appeared on the blue-haired woman's startled hands.

"Eeep!" The shorter woman started in surprise. "Kami-sama just loves to play His jokes! Anyway, look Tokimi-neesan! These are some general information concerning Ranma's experiences when he was on Earth."

The taller woman named Tokimi grasped the thick folder from her younger sister and skimmed on it a bit. Her blue eyes narrowed and reflected a dangerous glint as she angrily closed the folder after a few moments of reading through it.

"NEKO-KEN! Tsunami, that... human took MY SON and threw him in a pit of hungry cats!" Tokimi growled as she almost destroyed the papers in her hands.

Tsunami gulped as she commented, "I didn't know much about it. There was too much chaos in Ranma's aura that I can't keep tabs on him. I'm sorry,
but I saved him before he... uhm..." She trailed off.

Tokimi glared at Tsunami. "Before what?"

The blue-haired goddess of Jurai backed slightly as she responded,
"Before he... got killed. I think he was weakened up to the point where his aura cleared for a moment to allow me to see him and his condition.
I saved him and took him to Washuu, who... well, saved him by injecting Masu in him. His injuries were too extensive, so we had to do that. Then I returned him at the pit just in time when Genma peeked inside it. I had Washuu's help in bending a bit of the time elapse between the intervals, so it seemed that nothing happened."

The brown-haired taller goddess was silent for a moment, still not breaking her sharp gaze on Tsunami. The goddess of Jurai felt very nervous at the time, because it was partly her fault for assuming things and taking the child out of Tokimi's womb anyway. She was quite sorry for that, but the damage has been done.

Tokimi finally spoke, "Yes, you did return him. Because of that, he got cursed in those cursed springs! That human you chose is so stupid! He endangered my son so many times that even if I kill him right now and send him to Hild it will not be enough!"

"But I chose the mother, one of the Jurai as the basis, not the father!
I didn't know that Genma was going to be a creep in the future!" Tsunami whimpered.

The goddess of Chaos snorted unlady-like and turned her back from Tsunami. "Whatever, let's just go. I want to kick his sorry behind for the tortures he inflicted on my poor son!" Her eyes went glittery as she clasped her hands under her chin. "My poor manly son! Cursed to be a girl because of some stupid human! But otherwise... his near death only made him stronger than before. Saiyajins are known to be like that.
they get stronger each time they cheat death. And Ranma still overcame the odds of his curse even if it bothered him. He reminds me so much of his father in so many ways... oh Nasu! You would be proud of our son!"

As Tokimi continued to rant about whatever, Tsunami sweatdropped.

"Oneesan..." Tsunami uncharacteristically pleaded to her older sister,
"You're embarrasing me."

In Asgard, Kami-sama's Office...

The Lord of all Creation smiled as He monitored the newly freed Tokimi and her sister Tsunami talk as they prepared to return to Midgard. He turned to His computer and brought up a certain brown-haired goddess'
file. He grinned as He erased a certain line in the entry that formerly stated: 'Memories Suppressed until further notice'. He entered: 'Full Memory Status Approved'.

Kami-sama sat back to his chair as He says softly, "I HOPE TOKIMI LIKES THIS GIFT WAITING FOR HER BACK IN MIDGARD."

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In Juuban Ward, Ranma's Home World...

Darkness clouded her mind as the Senshi of Mars slept on. She was sweating, twisting and turning in her sleep.

Everything was dark and cold, and it was making her weary. She was dreaming of the Crystal Tokyo that she and her fellow Senshi were hard-pressed to create. This goal of theirs was supposed to be rid of all evil and darkness. With just a spell from the Silver Crystal,
everything will be alright. Just as the Crystal Tokyo was about to be completed, the whole image suddenly froze and shattered like glass. Its shards fell down to a non-existent floor and clattered loudly.

Rei watched horrified as a pigtailed young man who had dark tinted glasses over his eyes with a red tail hanging down his behind stepped on the glass pieces, along with several silhouettes of women behind him.
They all stood close to him, as if protecting him from everything that might come to harm the young man. Suddenly, the group of girls parted as a tall older woman with dark red clothes and clawed hands walked slowly towards the pigtailed individual. She slowly engulfed the young man's body in a warm hug. Her eyes glowed blue-gray as her slitted eyes closed in on themselves. A bright light covered her dreamscape, and a fleeting image of... feathers... flying all over the non-existent air in her mind. The whole scene wavered and sleep slowly drifted away. Before Rei woke up, she heard the young man whisper, "Mother..."

The Senshi of Mars bolted upright on her futon, panting for air. Her bed was soaked with her sweat. She tried to recall her dreams, and received a full-body shudder. Everytime she dreamed of that pigtailed young man,
Crystal Tokyo ceased to exist. Most of the time, she dreamt him of being in other worlds with different settings. Still, it all shattered their precious Crystal Tokyo, where ever he went.

She reached for her communicator, a wonder in modern technology developed by their friend, Ami. She needed to inform of the others about this.

In the Gates of Time, an artifact that was a gift from the gods to the first human civilization ever to create an intergalactic kingdom, its guardian jolted from her sleep. Her crimson eyes darted left and right as she tried to reorient herself with her surroundings. She grabbed her key-shaped staff, the only thing that could unlock the mysterious powers of the gates themselves, and transformed herself into Sailor Pluto.

The Guardian of Time quickly transversed the darkness of her domain, and hastily let the gates do its job of showing the Time Stream. Her initial reaction was to curse as she saw the multitudes of branched timelines.
She calmed down when she realized that this was meant to be, as her future self had spoken before. One caused by the Chaos Incarnate himself, Saotome Ranma, and the sudden reawakening of his multi-heritage.

It was bad enough to know that he was a Saiyajin, but a Juraian (she still has no idea the data was faked) as well? Also, she finally found out what his other heritage was... a Masu, courtesy of Washuu herself.
For some reason, her vision of Ranma's childhood cleared for a small amount of time when he was almost at the brink of death. It was probably because of his near-death experience that weakened the hold of his chaos factor on his aura that allowed her to glimpse that part. Sadly, it was the only part of his life she had seen.

Suddenly, a flare of pain erupted from Sailor Pluto's head. She clutched at her temples desperately as she tried to ward of the searing pain she felt. As the moment of nausea has passed, she looked into the Time Stream. Her eyes widened as she watched the timelines twist and screw themselves. A cloud of darkness covered them.

Sailor Pluto searched frantically for the cause. She knew that Ranma was still not back from his excursion to that parallel past that he was unknowingly forced to fix, and there are no other chaos generators that were as powerful as Ranma, so there shouldn't be another disturbance at all.

Just as she was about to start another bout of cursing, the gates cleared for a moment, showing a tall woman in a dark red body suit. She has blue eyes that glowed menacingly in the darkness of the gates. Her lipstick color was dark purple, and some green leaves covered the sides of her cheeks. A large golden orb decorated most of her body,
particularly a barrette on her forehead that held a lock of light red hair. Her dark clothes accented her neck-long light brown hair and a white cape covered most of her body. Another woman with light blue hair that has triangular tattoos on her forehead flanked her. She was shorted than the first woman, and was dressed in what Sailor Pluto has remembered as Juraian Royal robes. Her pink eyes were friendly, in contrast with her taller companion. Strangely enough, this woman was looking a bit familiar. Then, a symbol from the background flared. It was a symbol of three small spheres in an inverted triangle. They were alternately changing colors from gold, to silver, and to black, then back to gold again.

Sailor Pluto frowned. These individuals could be trouble.

She quickly gestured to her staff and vanished. She must warn the other Senshi about this.

In a particular Shrine in Nekomi Ward, one mortal and three goddesses were currently in the dining room and eating breakfast.

Morisato Keiichi looked longingly at his side, where Belldandy was silently sipping her tea. For some reason since that incident where her symbols became erratic, the normally cheerful and seemingly oblivious goddess slowly changed to the silent and contemplative type of person that was present right now.

Urd looked idly at Belldandy in the corner of her eyes. She was quite worried about her sister, and even called it up to Kami-sama. The only answer the Almighty gave her was that everything was as it should be.
Although it was quite comforting that these type of changes that Belldandy are undergoing were already accounted for, she was still quite unnerved at how... human Belldandy seemed these days.

Before, only a full-blown demon attack or Keiichi being in danger would snap Belldandy's anger. Lately, Belldandy's mood swings changed dramatically. The other thing she was wondering about was Belldandy's sudden indifference towards Keiichi. Well, Belldandy really didn't treat him like he wasn't there, but the loving attitude was a bit toned down,
very much so, and it was scaring Urd a little. In the middle of the night, she would catch Belldandy awake up on the roof, gazing at the stars. The goddess of the Present was mumbling something about her mother being a stubborn lady and things about wild horses. Not only that, but the new symbol on Belldandy's forehead really made Urd uncomfortable for some reason.

The goddess of the Future, Skuld looked more openly at Belldandy's visage. She was more vocal about her observations regarding her older sister, but Belldandy just shrugged it off and said nothing. Skuld already heard from Urd when the eldest Norn had called it to Kami-sama.
Everything was at it should be... it was as if that explained everything. Her own visions of the future were blank, and most of it had nothing to do with Belldandy or her current changes, so Skuld tried ignoring it. The goddess of the Future had searched the Yggdrasil for some information regarding Belldandy's new symbol, but the information was restricted, for Kami-sama's eyes-only.

Initially, Skuld was a bit glad when Belldandy seemed to have lost interest with the mortal Keiichi, but as time went on it started to worry her. She used some of her devices to probe Belldandy, discreetly of course, and at first she found nothing. But after some time, Skuld's devices finally registered some large-scale changes that were masked the first time. Meaning, everything Belldandy was before melted away and changed, rather, reverted back to who she was initially. The Belldandy sitting across them right now is the REAL Belldandy, not the always-smiling sister Urd and she used to stay with. Before she had the chance to explain her findings to Keiichi, who was so genuinely worried that Skuld felt pity on him, Kami-sama had called through the telephone and forbade her to do so. She had been sworn to secrecy, as Kami-sama explained that it should be this way.

Belldandy tried to ignore the piercing silence that seemed to have enveloped the entire scene. Sure, she knew about the drastic and noticeable changes her personality has been going through these past few weeks, but they didn't have to make a big deal out of it. One major change Belldandy noticed though was about how she felt towards Keiichi.
The love was still there although this time it was more of a... sibling sort of way now. She felt much more relaxed as well, and some flashbacks of memories started to return to her lately. The most important of her lost memories were of her mother. She lost this information when she was assigned to be one of the Norn goddesses, particularly of the Present.
Her mother was cast into imprisonment, something about her whole existence being too chaotic and unpredictable for Heaven. Belldandy was just a child back then, and was not able to defend her mother against those accusations. For so long, she couldn't imagine what her mother had gone through. But she wasn't fit to be called the goddess of the Present now, because her symbol had changed all of the sudden one day. Her elliptical tattoo morphed into the trio of small black dots that formed an inverted triangle just above her eyebrow. Kami-sama still hasn't told her what those symbols mean as of yet.

As one, the three divinities snapped their heads up, as they felt a surge of power coming from a very powerful transportation spell, that seemed to be from a rusty spell-caster or rather, an out of practice one. Somehow, the flow of energy was very familiar to Belldandy, as she continued to feel out for the location of the transportation's end side.

Belldandy stood up as she gazed on her bewildered sisters and Keiichi,
who were about to ask her about the phenomenon. She graced them with a small smile as she said, "Urd, Skuld... we must go to Nerima."

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In Nerima Ward, Ranma's home world...

In the restaurant called Nekohanten, the great matriarch of the Chinese Amazons, Cologne jerked from her cooking as she felt a momentary chill that ran up and down on her spine.

"That was... an omen." Cologne whispered to herself as she shuddered.

Outside the restaurant establishment, a huge cloud of dust started to form. The dwarfish figure of the grandmaster of Anything Goes came running by, complete with his trademark bag of underwear that he managed to snag as he went along.

"SWEETO!" Happosai cackled with glee as he dodged the projectiles that were thrown towards him from the back. Behind him was a large crowd of women hurling insults towards him. It was probably because of the underwear he stole. Like what had happened to Cologne before, Happosai perched unto a shingled roof as he felt a backlash of power sweep over his senses. He shivered when he thought about the possibilities of whoever gave out that much energy.

"Something is going to happen." Happosai muttered to himself as he absently jumped down to the ground. He forgot about the large group of women chasing him, who were now surrounding him as he was still lost in his thoughts. When he finally took stock of everything around him, he sweatdropped at the amount of anger he felt all over him.

"Oh damn." Was all he had to say as the group converged and began their painful ministrations on his aged body. Of course, we won't get into how they tortured him. One word described the whole encounter.

Squishy. You really don't want to know.

The lost boy Ryoga was currently... well, lost. He was trudging along the rough terrain of the countryside just east of Nerima. As usual, he was blaming his current predicament to Ranma.

"This is all your fault! If you didn't disappear and fought like you used to, I wouldn't be lost! Ranma you coward! You should've just let me kill you!" Ryoga shouted to the skies as he rested under the shade of a huge tree at the side of the rough road.

Yes, it was a normal day. But not for long.

Ryoga finally tired himself out. He fell back to the trunk of the tree and pulled some of his supplies in his backpack. He ate his meager food as he planned on how to get back to the Tendo Dojo, mainly, to Akane.

His Akane... he had won against Ranma. Ryoga smiled at the thought as he continued to munch happily on an apple that he had managed to snag in a place called Washington or something.

Ryoga sighed.

Although Akane was his, Ranma's appearance had an effect on her. She was quite distant lately. All she does was acknowledge his presence whenever he finds himself in the dojo, then nothing at all. Couple that with those two brats of Saotome coming back from the future. Things went pretty cold because of these events. These were all Ranma's faults.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his head rose quickly as he felt something in the air. He quickly jumped to his feet and looked around urgently. He spotted the shadows under the tree moving and twisting,
which was quite impossible since nothing was moving at the moment. The shadows stopped twisting as it slowly stretched upwards, forming two humanoid shapes. The two shapes took their forms and also gained some color. Ryoga was sure that the two were females.

The first was a tall woman, with light brown hair and eyes flat blue.
Slitted black pupils tore between the blue depths of her eyes as she surveyed her surroundings. Golden jewels decorated her clothes, two on her chest and one that held the lock of red hair on her forehead. The sides of her cheeks were laced with green leaves that enhanced the color of her eyes. Her body was covered in a dark bodysuit, and her fingers are clawed that were covered in black gloves. A golden circlet that seemed to deny the forces of gravity as they floated on the air hugged her neck and hips. Her large dark red shoulder guards were wrapped in white linen that was connected in the middle of her chest by a dark red oval ruby. A red blouse that billowed against the non-existent wind covered her legs.

Beside the tall woman, a smaller blue-haired young woman started to pat herself down. Her white robes glistened against the light, as her pink eyes looked over her clothes for dirt and such. A red vest that connected bound her chest to her front. Dark green shoulder pads supported her cape. A light blue material at the sides that split on her chest laced the white cape itself. Several golden orbs laced across her chest and to the sides of her cape. Two small dots can be seen on her forehead.

The taller one turned to her smaller companion. "Whew! It's been a long time since I last used my mode of transportation. Are you alright with this, Tsunami? Coming with me and all..."

The smaller woman, who was Tsunami, waved the woman's concerns off with a light wave. "Don't worry, Tokimi-neesan. Kami-sama granted me some extra privileges, although it's temporary and is limited for a good two days or so out-of-Sasami experience. I do enjoy walking by my own,
without having Sasami to actually walk for me, you know. Though I'm really thankful for her having to accommodate me and allowing me to assimilate with her in the near future..."

"About that..." Tokimi began a bit hesitantly, "Was it really necessary?
Couldn't you just... you know, rejuvenate her body or something?"

Tsunami shook her head sadly. "The damage done in her mind when she fell was too much even for me to handle. Contrary to beliefs, I can't revive the dead. She was fated to die if I hadn't intervened at that time."

Tokimi looked at her sister oddly. "What will happen to you then?"

The blue-haired goddess of Life smiled. "Sasami and my own personality will merge, creating a new one. That person will have both characteristics of Tsunami and Sasami, and will still be a sister to you, Tokimi-neesan."

Tokimi smiled slightly. "Thank you, Tsunami." She suddenly noticed a boy wearing a spotted yellow bandanna in a yellow muscle shirt and black pants gaping at them. She frowned a bit and said, "Well hello young man."

Tsunami whirled around and saw whom Tokimi was referring to. "Oh dear.
I was hoping we were be able to change our clothes before we got spotted."

The goddess of Chaos looked down to her dark bodysuit and said, "What's wrong with my clothes?"

Before Tsunami could respond, Ryoga finally squeaked out, "W-What are you! Are you demons or something!"

Tokimi huffed loudly in indignation. "Well! Demons indeed... why I ought to..."

"Oneesan..." Tsunami hissed to her older sister. She turned back to Ryoga who was in a battle stance. "Please, we are not demons or anything. We are... uhmm..."

"Goddesses! We are goddesses alright?" Tokimi was rather blunt at her explanation.

"Yeah, right!" Ryoga snorted. He pointed at Tsunami, "Her, I can believe she's a goddess, but you? No offense, but with the dark suit and claws and all... and those eyes! Have you seen anything more evil?"

A low growl escaped from Tokimi's lips. "Look here, kid. I've just got out of millennia of being locked up in some dark corner of the universe.
I don't have the patience of scolding you about good manners and right conduct right now. I need to find Ranma, and I..."

"RANMA!" Ryoga bellowed as he clenched his fists. "Where is that good-for-nothing coward! I'm going to kill him!"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Tokimi shouted back, but stopped herself when she remembered something. "Wait a minute..." she said as she took out the folder Kami-sama gave them as a guide on what happened during Ranma's stay in Midgard.

"Hmmm... now I see!" Tokimi slammed the folder shut as she powered up.
"You're the one who kept on attacking Ranma just because of your stupidity!"

"Eeep!" Tsunami backed away as dark waves of energy cackled along Tokimi's clenched fists.

"It's all Ranma's fault!" was Ryoga's rebuttal, as usual.

"Ranma's fault?" Tokimi asked as she started to float, eliciting a startled gasp from Ryoga and a sigh of resignation from Tsunami, "Is it his fault that you have a directional problem?"

Ryoga gulped. "Uhm... no but..."

Tokimi cut him off. "Is it his fault that you didn't arrive at your designated duel place at the right time, not to mention that it was just behind your house by the way, and before you say he should've waited,
you should have known that he waited FOR THREE DAYS before that cursed human of a foster father knocked him unconscious just to drag him away from that place and take him to China!"

"But..." Ryoga began as he slowly backed away from the floating Tokimi,
who was approaching him at every stress of her words.

"Is it his fault you followed him to Jusenkyo, and got yourself cursed!" Tokimi growled out.

Ryoga mustered his courage. "It was his fault I fell into the pool! He pushed me!"

Tokimi scoffed. "Oh really? What were you doing there in the first place? If you had stayed here in Japan, you wouldn't be cursed! You're just a big brat who is afraid of taking the responsibility of his decisions and actions! You are a person who just rationalize his own existence in pursuing some useless piece of crap you call revenge! It was a long time ago, why can't you let go!"

"It's all his fault my life is ruined! Because of him I've seen hell!"

"Let me tell you what hell is, BOY!" Tokimi lowered herself as she glared full force on the cowering Ryoga. "I was imprisoned by my fellow gods and goddesses because they were afraid of my powers. Because of their inability to understand it, I was thrown into a dark dimension ALONE! My son was taken away from me even before he was born! Now I learned that he has to go through all these crap just because of some mindless misunderstandings... do you even realize the HELL I've been through, BOY!"

Tsunami cringed when Tokimi had mentioned how everyone in Heaven treated her way back then. She had to agree that her older sister knew more about vengeance than anyone. She visibly paled when Tokimi had said the thing about her taking the unborn Ranma out of Tokimi's womb. It was one of the saddest mistakes Tsunami has ever done, and even though Tokimi had forgiven her about it, she still felt a huge guilt over everything that has happened to the older Choushin Megami.

Ryoga ack'ed loudly as he made warding gestures with his hands. Tokimi was undaunted by his actions as she gathered a dark sphere of energy in her right hand. She extended the hand and pointed the ball towards Ryoga, who sweated at the intensity of the amount of power from the small ball.

The bandanna-clad boy went from afraid to terrified when Tokimi shouted,
"Hibiki Ryoga, PREPARE TO DIE!" Not really original, but it does its job.

Ryoga jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he can, screaming all the way. He knew he's strong, and he's not a coward. He would face everything that challenged him, but fighting goddesses that dwarf Saffron's power was something he tried to avoid. It galls him to think so, but he employed one of the techniques Ranma usually used, 'Run away and try to think of another way to fight the threat before coming back and trying once again'. Tokimi fired a shot and hit the ground behind Ryoga, who was thrown forward by the backlash of the impact. When the cloud of dust cleared, Ryoga was nowhere to be found. Tokimi growled loudly as she powered down, casting a wary glance at her powered up sister Tsunami.

The blue-haired goddess breathed in relief as she powered down as well.
"Good thing you purposely aimed that blast away like that. I would've been forced to repel it."

Tokimi sighed as she said, "Right. Anyway, let's go."

Tsunami nodded and followed her older sister as they started to walk in a general direction towards Nerima. After a few moments of walking, she turned to Tokimi and asked, "You were not seriously trying to kill him,
right?"

"Huh? Oh that... forget about it..." Tokimi replied curtly.

"No really, were you serious?"

"What do you think, Tsunami? He made my son's life a living hell because of all those garbage he's been mouthing off! How do you suppose I should react?"

"Ehhh... I was just asking you know. We can't go off killing people just like that..."

"Whatever. He better stay out of my sight for a few years or so, then I might forget about it. I know it's ironic that I talk things about revenge like that, because I sure know a lot about it. But still... the cause of his anger is quite stupid."

"Right... oh by the way, Tokimi-neesan, we should change our clothes."

"Sure. Whatever you say. Just lay off with the ribbons and laces. I swear, you take so much from Sasami's tastes in clothes..."

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

In the Tendo-Ke...

Tendo Soun was calmly sipping tea as he read his newspaper, which had something about a Professor Rara spouting things about parallel worlds and such. Soun snorted in disgust as he thought ((Parallel Worlds,
indeed!)).

It was in the middle of the morning, and also a Saturday. His friend,
Saotome Genma was currently engrossed in the food his daughter Kasumi had made for them for breakfast. He always thought of Genma as a barbaric man who always thought with his stomach, but nevertheless he was still his friend.

Kasumi was eating rather demurely once again, her smile still evident.
But lately, that same smile she used to dazzle everyone was a bit dimmer than usual. The family just shrugged it off as a trick in their eyes or something, but she was sometimes caught dazed in the kitchen as she waited her food to cook around her, sighing forlornly over something.
They had never seen her like this, not even when that nice doctor Tofu left before, so they can't deduce her masked sadness with that. Her smile failed to reach her eyes these days.

Kasumi sighed as she looked around her, taking note once again of everyone around her. Although they thought she was always ignorant about most things, she just didn't want to get caught up in the excitement.

Nabiki was as pushy as ever, as her Ice Queen persona radiates everywhere once anyone is near her. Especially now, since Ranma had disappeared her so-called income had gone a bit under the water lately.
The poor Kuno kid must be dry at the pockets right now.

Akane's anger returned with a vengeance, since she and the others that traveled to China with those two Saotome kids back then returned.
Sometimes she was lonely, but then it quickly changes into that unbridled fury they had long recognized and has learned to stay away from. Their budget took a slight plunge because of this, for their stock of cinder blocks quickly disappeared once she enters the dojo during one of those moods. Kasumi shuddered to herself when she remembered the other activity that might take Akane out of her foul mood... which was cooking for the family. Tuesdays were really bad for them, because it was Akane's night to cook (mainly due to Akane's 'insistence').

Saotome Nodoka also sat with them at the table today. She arrived earlier to check up on her husband, and it seemed that she was regretting it. Seeing her husband pig himself out on the food from the Tendo family really irked her. She silently elbowed her husband in the ribs and felt satisfied as she heard Genma choking on some rice. Since Ranma had disappeared, her good mood had been dampened a bit like Kasumi's, but her usual worried attitude was not present. She says that she trusts her son to be safe. Kasumi firmly believed in that one as well.

The amazons still retained their place in the Nekohanten, with hopes that Ranma would someday come back to them. Shampoo was still bubbly and irritating as ever, with Mousse bowing and scraping at her feet. Once or twice a week she would visit their home to ask about her 'Airen', much to the family's dismay. Shampoo always did leave a mark on their house.
Weird, though, that it was during these times that Akane showed her usual flair and gets angry at Shampoo's little visits.

Ukyo's restaurant remained as a great rival for the Nekohanten. Her okonomiyaki were still hot in the town. Her devotion to Ranma was quite toned down lately, since she often just asks if Ranma was okay, not even bothering in mentioning that she was still a legitimate fiancee. Konatsu was another Mousse, with much more subtle adoration. Ukyo's visits were accompanied with a box of that delicious food of hers, and it was specifically timed during Tuesday evenings when Akane decides to cook for dinner. Kami bless her kind soul, Kasumi would always pray.

Kodachi was still a pest, where twice last week she tried to ambush Akane while she went to school. The female Kuno apparently blamed Akane for Ranma's disappearance. Tatewaki was the same, spouting every morning how he had vanquished the evil sorcerer Saotome. The idiot tried to revive the old custom of 'beat up Akane and get her as a date' thing,
but was promptly ignored. Good thing the male half of the students,
minus Kuno, was quite adamant in staying neutral in everything. Besides,
no one is stupid enough to follow Kuno, after all the craziness he did in the past year. The last time Kasumi had heard of Tatewaki, he was punted towards the atmosphere, much further than normal.

Oh... back to the table. Yes, Soun was seating as usual at the head of the table, as she, Nabiki and Akane sat on one side. Nodoka took the position beside her husband Genma, who was stuffing food like there is no tomorrow.

Kasumi sipped her tea with a soft sigh. She missed Ranma real bad. But still... it's not right to dwell on it.

Ah yes, a normal Saturday morning.

Yeah, right.

A loud knock broke the monotonous actions of the family every morning.
They all perked their heads up in anticipation as to who will answer the knock. Kasumi sighed internally as she stood up. No matter what, it was usually up to her to keep the Wa of the house.

Kasumi quickly made her way to the gates and pushed them open. Sure enough, outside the compound were two women, each varying in height, and were looking at her expectantly. The taller one wore lightly colored sunglasses. She has light brown hair that reached up to her upper neck,
with light red wisps of hair in front of her face. She absently brushed back the red strands. Her dark slacks complemented her white plaid blouse. A rather thick belt covered around her waist that has a big golden buckle in the middle. The smaller one wore a simple white sundress, which overlapped a light yellow long sleeved shirt.

The eldest Tendo bowed low as she said, "Welcome to the Tendo Dojo. My name is Tendo Kasumi."

The smaller one stepped forward and bowed. "Hello there. My name is Tsunami, and this is my older sister, Tokimi." The taller woman bowed slightly as well. The woman named Tsunami continued, "We are here to see Masaki Nodoka, rather, Saotome Nodoka please."

Kasumi frowned slightly at the names. They have been mentioned once or twice during one of their conversations. If she remembered it right,
Tokimi was the name of Ranma's real mother, right? She mentally shook her head as she smiled brightly to the guests. "Oh, where are my manners. Please come in! Auntie Nodoka is here right now, visiting."

The two women nodded as they followed the brown-haired girl inside the house, towards where the rest were. When they reached the dining room,
the two newcomers noticed varied reactions. Akane, Nabiki and Soun were puzzled as to who would visit the dojo this early, without the need for a challenge for their sign. Genma took no notice as he tried to stuff as much of the food as he can in his mouth while the rest are distracted somewhere.

Nodoka however gasped lightly. She recognized the shorter blue-haired woman once when she appeared before her. It was the time when her father, Masaki Katsuhito, has introduced her to their family art and heritage. Tsunami, the goddess of her people called Jurai, looked exactly like the blue-haired woman in front of her. The goddess appeared again to Nodoka when she took Ranma into her womb. It has been some years ago since then.

Tsunami smiled at Nodoka. "Greetings, Nodoka of Jurai. I am Tsunami."

"Tsunami-sama!" Nodoka exclaimed as she turned her body towards the two and bowed low, her forehead nearly reaching the floor. Everyone except Genma boggled at the sight of a bowing Nodoka. They looked at the two with awe and respect, with a little bit of fear and distrust as well.

Tsunami quickly went to her and grasped at her shoulders, saying, "No need for that, Nodoka." When Nodoka straightened herself up once again,
Tsunami continued, "We were just visiting. My sister wanted to meet you."

Nodoka gazed at the taller woman beside her goddess. Her eyes widened in recognition as she whispered loudly, "Tokimi-sama?"

At the mention of the name, everyone turned to the taller woman, who nodded slightly. Genma choked on his food as he hesitantly turned to the irate goddess of Chaos, who crossed her arms across her chest once she saw she got Genma's attention.

"T-T-Tokimi?" Genma stuttered as he coughed lightly.

"Oh yes, Saotome Genma." Tokimi smirked evilly. "Now, let's talk about what you did to my son, Ranma."

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

The overall status of energy balance all over Nerima suddenly shifted as everything was slowly setting itself in place.

In the Nekohanten, Shampoo was busy tying her ramen deliveries on her famous bicycle of doom. Her thoughts were set on the Tendo Dojo, as she prepared herself for another visit to her rival's place. It would not be a good thing if Ranma reappeared and she was not present to begin with.
In the shadows, Mousse was brandishing his swords and placed them inside his robes, as a precaution if ever Saotome does come back. In the kitchen, Cologne has a sinking feeling of where her great-granddaughter was off to. She loved the young child dearly, but Shampoo's impatience will be her downfall. She quickly removed all the pots from the stove and braced herself to follow the child. Another day of no profits again,
but something in the air told her that she needs to be with her great-granddaughter, for the young Amazon will need her help.

The rival of the restaurant Nekohanten, the Ucchan's, had somehow managed to plan its early closing today as well. It was quite a coincidence that both top-notched restaurants in Nerima are currently 'Closed, Family Emergency'. The usual customers just shrugged and planned on just going to the movable yattai in the area. These types of closing are really common for them, especially when Saotome Ranma was still present in the Ward. Back to the Ucchan's, Ukyo finished her last batch of okonomiyaki delivery and stuffed them in two large delivery boxes. She felt that she has to visit the Tendo Dojo right now, for some reason. Ukyo and Akane went along with each other fairly well, compared to, say, Kodachi or Shampoo. No offense, but those who always vowed to kill their obstacles were not really friendly-types. Since her Ranchan had disappeared, Ukyo devoted her time in her work and school. She believed that Ranma would come back to her, once he realized how incompatible he was with Akane or any of the other fiancees. She was the one for him. Never mind the outburst Ranma had before he disappeared,
Ranma didn't mean it at all. At least that's what's in Ukyo's mind as she reassessed what happened.

While Ukyo was in her apartment atop her restaurant brooding about her upcoming visit to the dojo, Kodachi was also contemplating in her room back in the Kuno Manor. Her brother Tatewaki was still missing since yesterday, after having been punting for the nth time towards Antarctica by the furious Tendo Akane. Not that Kodachi could blame that vile tramp and rival for her Ranma-sama's affections when she trashed Tatewaki, her brother was really just a pain. She barely pays any attention to the swordsman's raving when he was actually present in their home. Sasuke,
their clan's retainer, was also nowhere to be seen, probably off to find the missing Kuno.

Despite people's perceptions of her behavior, Kodachi knew that Ranma didn't have many feelings towards her. It might be called a hero-worship, right up to the point of obsession, of what she felt towards him. Since Ranma saved her from that near-fatal fall the first time she met him, Kodachi felt that he was the only one for her.

Of course, her methods were too... desperate and homicidal to begin with, but she was quite deprived of attention that she felt this was her only chance. Yes, it was her desperation for companionship that drove her into this corner, companionship and love that she never found amongst her own blood, ever since her mother had died. Kodachi felt herself slip into the throes of lunacy at times, but this was all she could do to get herself some kind of emotion from others. Be it hate,
loathing, anything... anything except nothing. The Black Rose stood up from the lush covers of her bed and donned her black leotard. She picked her gymnastic ribbon from its perch on the armrest of the huge comfy chair in her room and made her way outside... towards the Tendo Dojo.

Chaos is brewing in the little town called Nerima.

Heh.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Back in the aforementioned Tendo Dojo...

Tsunami and Tokimi's grand entrance brought a lot of mixed emotions from the group.

Nodoka had respect and fondness for them. Tsunami is her patron goddess,
and she was as powerful as what was described in Nodoka's father's stories. Tokimi however was a big turnabout for Nodoka, because her father mentioned once or twice before how evil Tokimi should be. Now that the Chaos goddess was here, Nodoka felt none of the evil that those stories implied.

Akane was in awe, especially towards the taller woman who was Ranma's real mother. She wasn't really that good at detecting auras (she swore she'd perfect it tomorrow and become better than everyone at it) but she could really feel the waves of power coming from Tokimi. Meanwhile,
Tsunami's aura was on par with Kasumi's own peaceful one, but the power underlining it was still evident.

Nabiki had a calculating look before the mess started, as she thought of different ways to exploit on the information about Ranma's parentage,
but one look at Tokimi's eyes when the goddess of Chaos had tossed the tinted glasses that covered her eyes away spooked her real bad. The fact that they glowed wasn't really that much, the sight was just plain scary.

Kasumi felt safe with Tsunami, but a little bit of fear when it comes with Tokimi.

Soun was just plain scared.

Genma was currently choking for air, as Tokimi gripped his neck and leveled him against the wall. He didn't get to say much after the irritated goddess declared something about what he did to Ranma way back then. He scratched and clawed at the hands that held him, but his strikes seemed to just slide off the fabric that clothed Tokimi.

It took several moments before it finally registered to everyone that Tokimi had moved faster than their thoughts and already had Genma against the wall. Tsunami quickly made her way to her sister and held her arm, which was about to strike at the helpless Genma.

"Tokimi-neesan! Don't be rude... we are guests in their house!" Tsunami cried out as she tried to pry lose Tokimi's grip.

Tokimi actually took time to pause what she was doing and thought about it. "Well... lemme see." Turning to Soun without letting Genma go, she asked, "Where is your dojo?"

Soun was still a bit shocked at the display, and replied automatically.
He woodenly pointed towards the direction of the dojo.

Tokimi nodded to him. "Thank you." She let Genma's neck loose, which caused the fat martial artist to fall down the floor panting. But he was hauled back to the air by a hand that gripped the front of his gi.
Tokimi grabbed Genma by his clothes and dragged the weakened Saotome towards the dojo.

The rest just turned back to their tea, courtesy of Kasumi, and blatantly ignored the rather high pitched screams of pain followed by loud explosions from the dojo. Nodoka just shook her head in disgust as she muttered about her husband sounding like a female when he begs for mercy. The shame of it all! Was this the man she entrusted her son,
well, adopted son in the sense, who should make a man out of him? Nodoka now realized how foolish it was for her to let Genma take Ranma out on that training trip. A lot has gone wrong just because of that wrong decision. It was her hope that the seppuku pledge Genma had signed would keep him in line, but even that didn't stop him from pushing Ranma into those insane things she had heard from the trip.

They were disturbed by another set of knocking from the dojo gates.
Tsunami stiffened as she felt various presences that were very familiar to her. Nodoka saw Tsunami sit straight and asked, "Tsunami-sama? Is there going to be trouble?"

Tsunami turned her head to the side and looked at Nodoka. "Oh, not at all. I just felt some divinities nearby, so it is safe to assume that the newcomers might be gods or goddesses."

"Tsunami!" A sultry voice called their attention. They turned to the entrance and saw three of the most beautiful women they've seen in all their lives... that and they're also quite familiar. The voice came from a tall dark-skinned shapely woman, who has platinum colored hair that fluttered freely down her back. On her forehead was a dark blue inverted triangular tattoo, as the sides of her face had the same triangles just below the eyes. She wore tight fitting clothes that hugged her figure perfectly, emphasizing her assets quite well. The second was a short young girl, barely twelve to thirteen, who had long deep blue hair that was almost black. She was dressed in a white shirt laced with red, with matching shorts with the same color scheme. A large prominent dark blue oval marking on her forehead can be seen, coupled with the triangles just below her eyes. A mallet with a long handle was strapped on her back. The third one had long brown hair, with a matching emotionless expression on her face. Her dark blue dress seemed to match the most prominent of her features, which was her blue-gray eyes... the same shade of blue that Ranma has on his eyes as well. On her forehead were three black dots in an inverted triangle, which gleamed every now and then. At first glance, one would mistake her for Kasumi, who was also standing beside the same young girl.

Akane seemed livid as she blurted out, "You're the same ones that appeared when those two children appeared!"

The brown haired young girl turned to her and nodded a bit. "That's right."

The goddess of Life and Jurai stood up and smiled to the three. "Urd,
Skuld, and Belldandy..."

Nabiki sighed loudly. "Well! We've been having all sorts of goddesses visiting us today... first Tsunami and Tokimi, then you..."

"Tokimi!" Everyone gaped at Belldandy, who was looking at them expectantly. "Where is she?"

Tsunami nodded at her. "Well, she's currently busy dispensing her brand of justice..." She paused as a high pitched wail of someone begging for mercy erupted from the dojo. "She's not quite finished yet, and would be very upset if you disturb her..."

Seeing the horrified looks on Urd and Skuld's faces, while indifference from Belldandy, she continued, "Don't worry, she won't kill the man."

Another scream of pain was heard. "What did he do!" Urd gasped out in horror. She was tempted to barge in and stop the goddess of Chaos from her ministrations against the mortal. Heaven wouldn't have allowed it anyway, but she just stood back as she complied on Tsunami's hidden request.

Skuld has her hands on the handle of her debugging mallet, poised and ready if they decide to move against Tokimi. She has heard stories of her ruthlessness and that she was evil. She stared at Tsunami defiantly as she stated, "It's not right. We shouldn't be doing this to mortals."

Tsunami sighed loudly. "I'm afraid even Father has allowed it and turned a blind eye on this. Tokimi's anger towards this certain mortal is very deep. For one, this man is the adoptive father of her son, Ranma."

"Ranma?" Belldandy flopped down to the mats, staring wide-eyed at Tsunami. "R-Ranma is my... brother?"

"BROTHER!" Everyone except Tsunami shouted in surprise at Belldandy.

Tsunami shrugged. "Half-brother, actually..."

"Belldandy?" The said goddess turned to Urd, who was eyeing her curiously, "What do you mean, 'brother'?"

Belldandy smiled slightly, as she adopted a far-away look on her face.
"My full memories have returned... it seems Kami-sama released the seal on them."

"Aaaand!" Skuld asked impatiently.

Belldandy smoothed the imaginary wrinkles on her garments and straightened her back. She gazed at them serenely as she said, "I am born out of Tokimi's own. I have no father, because I was born the same way as Venus did. Before my mother was imprisoned, she made sure that Kami-sama would take care of me. Despite my very... colorful protests..." She blushed a bit as she said this, "My memories of my childhood were sealed to prevent complications in the future. Kami-sama stationed me as the Goddess of the Present, and my whole personality took a bit of a 180 from its original one. You see... if you think Urd's bad, I'm worse... I just know how to control my rampant emotions, unlike someone I know..." She said in a soft voice as she looked at the goddess of the Past in the corner of her eyes. Urd glared at Belldandy in retaliation.

Taking advantage of the silence, Tsunami continued the story, "Yes, and she did her job real well, too. Without her memories, her powers were limited severely, as Kami-sama ordered a custom-made limiter for her abilities. Anyway, Tokimi grew angry in her imprisonment, and took it out on Midgard. Once in a while she would send havoc into the lives of the mortals, cementing the misguided rumors of her being an evil goddess. Nevertheless, she fell in love and conceived Ranma, which by the way was one of my greatest mistakes."

"Auntie... you didn't!" Belldandy narrowed her eyes at Tsunami, who just sighed sadly. Urd and Skuld gaped at the scowling Belldandy, who for them was a bit out of character too much.

"I did a terrible mistake, which led to Ranma being separated from Tokimi. The rest is history..." Tokimi finished lamely.

Belldandy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So, basically Saotome Ranma is my half brother. In Heaven, he was dubbed as 'Chaos Incarnate', most of it because of his very life. For some reason, eventhough he's in the middle of pure chaotic fury, he survives. Now I know why. Being mom's offspring really brings out our chaos potential."

A moment of silence fell over the group as they pondered on the ramifications of everything that has been revealed. Everything was going too fast for their tastes. A sound of opening sliding doors broke them from their contemplation as Tokimi went out of the dojo, with a smug look on her face. When the goddess of Chaos' eyes fell unto Belldandy,
her motions froze.

"B-Belldandy?" Tokimi asked in a soft voice, struggling in finding the words to convey her feelings. It has been too long since she last saw a glimpse of her first daughter.

The brown-haired young woman stood up and slowly made her way to Tokimi's position, who was still shocked in place. Belldandy's face slowly melted into a small smile as she brought her arms around Tokimi.
"Okaasan... I missed you so much..." Belldandy whispered in the taller woman's ear.

Tokimi finally willed herself to move, as she lifted her arms to cover Belldandy's smaller body. She sagged and began to weep. "Oh Belldandy!
It's been so long... I'm so sorry I wasn't with you in the past! I... I was..."

"It's alright, mom." Belldandy soothed her mother as she clung to Tokimi. "I remember what happened. It was all a huge misunderstanding,
and Kami-sama can't do anything about it. I should be the one who must apologize to you, for not doing anything about it!"

"My daughter... my Belldandy..." Tokimi continued to sob as she held her daughter in her arms.

As their cries subsided, Belldandy has her mother in arm's length. "So,
'mommy'... what's this about Ranma being my half-brother?" Belldandy grinned slyly at her mother.

To everyone's amusement, the usually composed face of Tokimi lit up in deep red.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

We take a brief interlude to peek at Ranma's position, back in the Past Parallel World...

Our pigtailed hybrid was grumbling as he sat on the rocks that overlooked the cliff on Jusenkyo. Behind him, sitting on a rock was Ryoko chuckling a bit with Ryo-Ohki and Rin-Ohki on her lap, while farther back at a clearing Inuyasha was practicing his sword forms. On the youkai's side, a tall young woman with silvery hair was looking at his forms and mimicking them. Oh, there was a pair of feathered wings jutting out of the young woman's back, which accented her exotic looks.

"C'mon, Ranma... it's really not that bad when you think about it"
Ryoko struggled to control her laughter as she gazed at the young man in front of her. It has been two years since the incident, but Ranma was still sore about the subject. She absently scratched the two bundles of fur on her lap, who squirmed lightly at the noise.

Ranma scowled as he whirled around to face Ryoko. "Oh really? Tell that to these things!" He turned his back to the cyan-haired girl as two massive wings erupted from his back. For measure, he took a couple of test flaps, kicking up dust and dirt everywhere as his red tail fluttered against the wing-induced wind. "It's bad enough that I have this strange stones on my forehead, I also have to get these wings too?"

Ryoko finally lost it, and laughed loudly. "R-Really! It's not bad! It makes you look... cool!"

The now winged pigtailed warrior snorted loudly as he crossed his arms across his chest, glaring at nothing over the horizon. "It hurts when I don't let it out at least twice a week. I really don't need wings to fly anyway, so what's the purpose in this!"

"Well..." Ryoko began hesitantly, "I think they look great. Besides, at least you have something to fall back on if ever your power runs out"
She knew it was a lame excuse, but she just has to say it anyway. She was running out of placating reasons for the irate pigtailed hybrid.

Ranma in turn just ignored her.

"He's still angry about that, huh?" Ryoko faced the other winged person in the group, as she strode up to them slowly. Inuyasha just ignored them as he continued to practice his swordplay. His clothes were also different, for they were weighed heavily for him to build his strength up some more.

Ryoko sighed, then chuckled a bit more. "Yeah Kiima... I understand that he really doesn't need it, but how can we know his body would assimilate the Wings of the Light Hawk?"

Kiima shrugged. "I still don't understand the thing about the Light Hawk thingie, but it doesn't look too bad on him. Although those jewels on his forehead are pretty exotic on him."

Ryoko made a face. "He says it weighs him down on occasion, and that he really doesn't need more attention drawn to him. And the stones don't bother him that much anymore."

The winged woman smiled softly. "True..."

The former space pirate snickered some more and sighed as she floated above the rock she was sitting on in a lotus position a while ago. Three small gemstones on Ranma's forehead, a trio of silver spheres aligned in an inverted triangular position, appeared all of the sudden while they were on the trek in Japan. Ranma was quite miffed at them and tried to wash them off, even rubbed them raw, but he found out that they were actually gemstones. He just sighed and just let it be after a while.

She also remembered the incident that gave Ranma those two glorious wings made out of pure energy.

The main event happened two years ago, after several years of travel around China when they exterminated the stray Manticores that roamed everywhere. The gigantic monsters were already adapting, assimilating everything they think would give them the edge they need for battle.
Once they encountered a Manticore with a cannon mounted on its back.
Instead of a ball of iron, its bullet was huge amounts of energy. The abilities of the Manticores were still shady at best, but they still try to defeat the monsters with everything they had.

It was also during the moments of peace in between that Ranma started sparring with Inuyasha. Among the three of them, Inuyasha was probably the weakest, and the hanyou was a bit angry about it. They didn't know what started it, but next thing they knew Inuyasha and Ranma were already sparring. The pigtailed young man suggested that Inuyasha should wear weights all over his body, which was taken into consideration.
Right now, the hanyou can wield the huge weapon Tetsusaiga with little to no effort at all. Now, the only thing they need to improve on was on the various sword skills Inuyasha can pull out of the huge sword.
Various ki techniques came into mind...

They became quite a bit of a legend on the trail between Japan and China. They were dubbed as the Three Demons of Japan, since they all speak Japanese. The three of them also met up with those Chinese Amazons, which for some reason Ranma was quite nervous about all the while they were in the village proper. Seems like his fears were justified, for most of the villagers, all female, tried to fight Ranma.
It was later that Ryoko had learned about the Amazon Law pertaining outsiders, and she was pissed about it. She almost blasted the whole village away, but Ranma just stopped her and announced that he was unavailable. Of course this didn't suit the Amazons, especially the elders. They said that he was just a weak male, and that he has no say about the law. Ryoko almost laughed at that, but was fairly placated when Ranma challenged the elders for it. Yes, Ranma made a spectacle of defeating the Amazon elders all at the same time, and thus made a clear statement that he was not to be tampered with. Inuyasha was mostly left alone, since the sight of his massive weapon really put a damper on the Amazons' enthusiasm. Also, they can see the demonic blood present in the hanyou. They can't have demonic blood in their village after all.
Rin-Ohki and Ryo-Ohki, to their dismay, were targets for some of the hunters from the village. At first, they were thought to be food,
rabbits as they called them. They always stayed close behind Ranma to hide from the sudden attacks that were unfortunately directed to them.
Ranma finally told the Amazons that the two cabbits were not to be touched, much to the fur balls' relief.

Some twenty Manticores were present in that location. Most of the things converged on Ranma, Ryoko and Inuyasha when they felt the trio was the biggest threat to them. Good thing they were a bit weaker, although they still had a hard time since they attacked in-groups. They were smarter than the earlier ones in Japan. The cabbits acted as a back up,
generating shields to those who were too wounded to fight, and were left vulnerable in the battlefield.

A lot more of the monsters accumulated in the area of the one called Musk, one of the big three ancient kingdoms in China. A humanoid dragon named Paprika ruled this kingdom. At first, they rejected the trio's help, even scoffed at them when they heard about the troubles a Manticore can cause. But when several suddenly appeared and killed most of the sentry in the front gates, they immediately scrambled for their weapons and fought side by side with them. Of all the places the three 'demons' have visited, the Musk Territory was probably the most accommodating place they have encountered. Most of the people in the Musk were demi-human, so Ranma's weird eyes and red tail, Ryoko's exotic looks and slitted eyes, as well as Inuyasha's doggy ears were at home with the Musk. Whoever thought the gruff Musk had a soft side, because when they saw the two cabbits, they immediately gushed over them, even feeding them much to their delight. The only problem was the Musks'
weird reaction to females, namely Ryoko and Onna-Ranma. One of the more controlled Musk explained that they scarcely have any relations with females whatsoever. Also, Ranma had warned Emperor Paprika about an accident in the near future concerning his son, Herb, about a spring of drowned girl and... a monkey? Anyway, the emperor, upon hearing about the spring, took his advice seriously and had it recorded. Emperor Paprika was really grateful for the warning, and allowed Ranma, Ryoko and Inuyasha to train with them. It was more grueling than the amazons,
and their breeding program was more animalistic than most. Where the Amazons chose to mate with superior genes with fellow humans, the Musk used the Spring of Drowned Girl to turn a particular strong animal they find and mate with it. They even have that magical ladle that caused the curses to remain locked. For some reason, Ranma eyed that item warily.

They spent a good three to five years in that domain, soaking up as much information and fighting skills as possible. Ryoko was particularly grateful with the ki control the Musk showed her. It was for her to control the powerful energy from her gems when she uses them, so that she will not lose herself. Surprisingly, Ranma was still as resourceful as before, even though his powers were seriously hampered by the limiter bracers that Washuu had given him before they went on to their journey.
Those limiters seriously undermined his powers, and he spent more time powering up than when he has no limiters. His strength was significantly higher than Ryoko, but it was growing a lot slower than it used to. The only fast thing that grew was Ranma's ki reserves, which were already abnormally high to begin with. His other abilities were not limited though, like flying, teleporting, fast healing and phasing. Inuyasha's strength grew tenfold after his own training was done. It helped that his sparring partners fought him in-groups, and were close to his skill.
He improved greatly, and was also provided with a magical enchantment concerning his fire-rat hide hakama. The magic made Inuyasha's clothes significantly heavier than they looked, in turn helping with the hanyou's strength and speed training. Inuyasha hasn't grasped the idea of ki yet, because of his brash attitude and impatience, but they noticed that he was already using it to boost his speed and power. The height of his jumps was astounding now, and he's able to hang unto the air for a limited amount of time. Indefinite flying required a higher skill of ki manipulation, which the hanyou wasn't as of yet.

They went on after making sure that the Manticores in the area were eradicated. The device Washuu gave them made it easier for them to spot the monsters, even those that were underground. The next stop and probably the biggest deposit of Manticores were located in a nearby mountain just past the area, which Ranma dreaded for so long, which was Jusenkyo.

At first, the welcoming party from the mountain people was a little bit on the violent side. Ranma explained that they had little to no contact with outsiders, much like the Musks and the Amazons, and that they were at war with the aforementioned groups. The three kingdoms have been battling each other for supremacy over Chinese soil for hundreds of years. Ryoko found the mountain inhabitants fascinating, because for one they have wings on their back. They looked like an army of angels as they swooped down from their mountain home to intercept them. The cyan-haired woman was not bothered by the fact that the newcomers can fly, but the hanyou clearly saw his disadvantage in this situation.
Inuyasha and Ryoko geared for battle, but Ranma stopped them with an outstretched hand. Allowing him to negotiate (as if Ranma had negotiating skills) the two decided to settle down and allow Ranma to do his work. The pigtailed young man looked up and demanded, yes he demanded, to gain audience with their king, Saffron. The sentry grew outraged at the level of demand heard from Ranma's voice, and prepared to fire their weapons (arrows, I might add).

Suddenly, a female voice stopped the incoming battle and floated above the three of them, looking down on them as if they were lower life forms. Her eyes looked briefly at Rin-Ohki on Ranma's shoulder and Ryo-Ohki on Ryoko's head though. Her silver hair fluttered against the wind as she hung on the air. She was dressed in a blue silk one-piece bathing suit-like garment that hugged her figure firmly. On her hands were large leather gauntlets. On her hip was a saber that was poised for a quick-draw. Ranma just snorted and floated to meet the female officer (obvious from her different clothes), much to the surprise of the female and her companions. She barked out a command of some sort in a different language, and Ranma replied in kind. Finally, after a long while of debate, the woman introduced herself as Lady Kiima, high commander of the Phoenix Royal Guards. She switched to Japanese as per request of Ranma in fairness for Ryoko and Inuyasha.

When they arrived at the Phoenix Mountain, they were quickly accosted by more of the people there, mainly Inuyasha. After Kiima placated her people, she explained to Ranma that they saw the hanyou as a Musk, one of their main enemies. They couldn't even begin to understand what a meowing rabbit would bring to their mountain. After making sure they understood that Inuyasha was an inu-youkai (which caused a different type of stir... because a demon was a demon after all, and for them they figured that Inuyasha was evil... Ranma explained that the hanyou was not evil), not Musk, Ranma managed to settle everything down, with some little tension here and there. He also explained that the cabbits were rare animals, much to the two aforementioned's irritation. Kiima then led Ranma to Saffron's chambers, but did not allow Ryoko and Inuyasha inside. They prepared to protest, but Ranma just shook his head and told them to wait for him out there. He even handed Rin-Ohki to Ryoko.
Grudgingly, the two who were left accepted.

Ryoko, with the cabbits in her arms, did not know what Ranma and that Phoenix King Saffron talked about, but when the two walked out of the throne room smiling, she knew that everything went okay. She released the breath she held as she waited for the talk to finish and examined the winged people's king. Saffron was taller than Ranma, with flaming red hair and huge white wings. His royal armor was dark red in color,
and he walked with an imperious sense in it. He was powerful, and Ryoko felt that. Ranma explained in the past to Ryoko and Inuyasha that Saffron is immortal, a fast healer, and a god to his people. Saffron granted the three of them sanctuary inside the mountain refuge, much to their relief. He also ordered Kiima to prepare their warriors for tighter sentry duties, and told them about the threat of the Manticores.
The winged people immediately snapped to their duties and followed their king without any hesitation.

It wasn't long before the Manticores finally emerged and attacked. Most of the Phoenix people outside guarding the gates were killed or critically wounded. So far, the Manticores were in a vast numbers,
confirming Ranma's suspicion that they were after the most powerful people on the planet. Saffron, being an immortal and a master of fire,
attracted the monsters' attention and in turn attacked his domain in a large group. The battle raged for almost a month non-stop. Ranma, Ryoko and Inuyasha almost had no sleep within that time, constantly fighting and preparing for any ambush that the Manticores might've planned for them.

Soon, the Phoenix army was reduced from more than two thousand troops to a mere three hundred or so. The Phoenix people were good fighters in the air and are particularly good in using incinerating magic, but when their wings get injured they lose their edge. They were not trained very well in fighting on the ground with their feet. The monsters noticed this and started to attack their wings specifically. Because of their unintended clumsiness on the ground, the Phoenix people were mowed down by the Manticores mercilessly.

Ranma, Ryoko, Inuyasha, Kiima, Saffron, and the other Phoenix that were left of the battle were torn and bloody at the middle cavern of the mountain, where the two huge faucets of the Dragon and the Phoenix were located. About thirty-five more Manticores were left, and were successful in cornering them inside the huge room. Kiima was cradling Rin-Ohki, as the cabbit looked really exhausted, while Ryo-Ohki stood warily beside Ryoko. The cabbits were rather hard-pressed in summoning shields against the stray attacks that managed to punch through their defense. The monsters poured out of the only exit from the incubation room, which effectively trapped all of them inside. Seeing their prey,
the Manticores powered up and huddled together, combining their energies into one huge bonfire of ki, which made Ranma's skin crawl. Before Ranma could react, Saffron already flew straight in front of their cowered group and stood defiantly. Ranma tried to tell Saffron to let him handle it, but his body didn't cooperate. A few weeks of non-stop fighting really taxed on his energy reserves. Not only that, but Ranma can't seem to remove his limiter bracers. The monsters released the ball towards Saffron, who blocked it with his own life energy. At first they thought Saffron would win, but the Phoenix King finally stumbled. Although in return, Saffron managed to dampen most of the accumulated energy's power and dispersed it into the sides. The halved energy ball detonated on the walls uselessly, but Saffron slowly withered away. Ranma's dark glasses fell to the ground as he saw what had happened to Saffron. The pigtailed hybrid felt closer to this version of Saffron, because he was more mature and understanding, not to mention friendlier. His face lost its expression as his tail lashed around uncontrollably behind him. Kiima cried out and ran towards her King's former place, and picked up a bigger than normal white egg that glowed every now and then.

Ranma staggered blindly to the front, not minding the screams of Ryoko and Kiima to get back. His face suddenly screwed into a snarl as he screamed in outrage. Ryoko knew that Ranma has already exhausted his ki over the weeks they've been battling non-stop, so she knew that he would be pitting his own soul in whatever he was doing. She watched him glow brighter and brighter, and the trio of silver gems on Ranma's forehead lit up fiercely. His blue-gray eyes have their golden glint of the pupils illuminated ominously. His hair slowly turned from raven black to dark red. Ryoko's eyes grew wide as she felt an energy that she hadn't encountered in the last two centuries or so...

Rin-Ohki's hisses grew in intensity as she watched her master gather more and more energy.

They all watched as eight slivers of white feathers slowly formed a barrier in front of Ranma. Several broke out of its circle and formed a huge energy ball, while the one left formed a light blue translucent shield that covered most of those behind Ranma. Everyone watched as the white ball of ethereal light was launched from the pigtailed newcomer's position and sped towards the huddled Manticores. The monsters struggled to get away, but were too late when the ball exploded violently. The onlookers were further impressed when the explosion limited itself in the blast zone, even managed to avoid the destruction of the cavern they were in. But the floor was not spared, because a huge trench crater that began from Ranma's outstretched palm outwards to the now enlarged entrance to the cavern was etched. Ryoko was about to run towards Ranma and give him a hug in relief when she stopped and gaped at the sight.
Two glorious wings that glowed in soft silvery light sprouted from his back, ripping his shirt in the process. Ranma's eyes drooped as he staggered from his position. When the lighted jewels on his forehead resumed its dormancy, he fell down with a grunt. Ryoko snapped out of her surprise and teleported directly towards Ranma and caught him before he hurt himself.

It was six days after that fateful event did Ranma wake up. When he saw the wings, which still hasn't disappeared, and never did, he screamed.
loudly.

Ryoko shook her head out of the reminiscing mode she set herself into.
She gazed longingly at Ranma as she watched the wind blow against his wings. The protrusions themselves were pure energy, and she can feel them real well. She sighed as she turned her head towards Inuyasha, who by now was panting on the ground. Kiima lay on the ground beside her,
watching the blue sky.

Ryoko sweatdropped when she noticed a resemblance between a panting dog and Inuyasha right now. She gazed down to her lap, where Rin-Ohki and Ryo-Ohki lay sleeping idly, ignoring practically everything around them.

Feh, all in all, life for Ryoko was good.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

In another dimension... where magic is more abundant than technology...

"Filia, are you in right now?" A blue, almost blue-purple-haired woman called out to the former dragon priestess in front of her. She went into the shop where Filia works nowadays. The former priestess at the Temple of the Golden Dragons looked up from her catalogues, which she usually checks every other week. Now is such a time for her to take note of the potions she needed to have stock on, and those that were not really useful and that needed to be replaced.

"Luna? It's been a long time since we last saw each other! By the way,
how's your sister, Lina?" Filia cocked her head to one side as she talked to Luna.

Luna smiled softly as she sat down the chair that was placed in front of the counter. It was late, and Filia's shop has been closed for an hour now. "Lina's fine..." She replied to the transformed dragon, "She's still a bit of a trouble-maker, but nothing I can't handle."

Filia snorted unlady-like as she stacked her papers in a neat file.
"Yes, but you know how troublesome Lina is when she gets out in the world. It's a wonder she's still alive."

Luna giggled. "My sister, the great 'Bandit Killer', and 'Dragon Spooker'."

"Fits her perfectly, if you ask me. Wait for a moment, I'll go get some tea. L-Sama knows I need some..." Filia went to the back room to fix some tea.

The famed sorceress Luna Inverse combed stray strands of hair from her face as she took a look around the shop. Filia came back later with two cups and a pot of aromatic tea on a tray. She set it down on the counter and gestured to her guest. Luna smiled as she took one cup and filled it up with tea, and settled down to her seat once more as Filia did the same with her own cup.

"So..." Filia began after a sip of the tea, "What brings you here?"

"Well..." Luna fidgeted in her seat. Filia on the other hand noticed the new addition in the sorceress' wardrobe.

"Uhm, Luna? What's with the bandanna?" Filia asked curiously. Not that it looked bad on her, a dark blue bandanna goes well with Luna's hair,
but it was probably the first time she saw the sorceress wear something out of the ordinary for her.

"Filia." Luna intoned seriously. "A few days ago, I felt a strong pull in the mana lines. My body felt it, and it was so powerful. Something happened to me afterwards." Luna slowly removed the blue bandanna that covered her forehead, revealing three small golden orbs that were arranged in an inverted triangle. Filia gasped loudly when she saw the symbol, and scrambled backwards from her seat.

"T-that s-symbol! It's... it's forbidden!" Filia stammered as her gaze was transfixed at the gems that decorated Luna's forehead. "You shouldn't have THAT!"

"What? What is it!" Luna asked frantically. It wasn't an everyday occurrence to see the former priestess panic like this.

Filia fought to control her nerves as she stood up. She breathed out slowly and regarded Luna in a calmer tone. "That... that symbol... I don't know what it's called exactly, but it is a forbidden symbol." She raised her hand and grazed it quickly over the golden gems on Luna's forehead, quickly retreating the same hand to her chest. "You do know how the universe was created, right?"

Luna nodded uncertainly. She followed Filia as the transformed dragon went inside the backroom, to the stacks of books that Filia has accumulated and tabulated while she was in the Mystic Library. Filia pulled out an old black book, with a title in a strange language Luna hasn't seen yet. She looked at the former priestess, as the latter's tail lashed back and forth behind her.

"This book is called the 'The Book of Darkness, Alpha and Omega'. This book is not the original one, rather a rare copy of the original. The first release has been lost somewhere since people began to understand their existence. In all its purposes, this book is incomplete.
Nevertheless, that symbol you have on your forehead is right here"
Filia pointed out to Luna the first page of the book. A tri-circle symbol was on the top left, which was light in color. Another tri-circle was on the opposite side on the top right, colored black. The last was located at the near middle bottom, colored dark but significantly lighter than the black one. To her amazement, Luna noticed that even the symbols formed an inverted triangular pattern.

After moments of letting her guest look at the picture, Filia finally closed the book and re-placed it on the shelf it was from. She faced Luna with a face in a mask of determination and a little bit of fear.

"I can only show you the symbol, because I can't understand the language myself. When my fellow dragons before tried to translate the words by magic, something stronger than our own magic canceled it out. The only thing we have to go on is the symbol." Filia sighed as she massaged her temples.

Luna nodded slightly. "What's the symbol for?"

Filia shrugged helplessly. "Who knows? All I know are some rumors, and they are less than appealing. It is said that those who possess the symbols are the catalysts for Ragnarok, or in other words, the Twilight of the Gods."

"Hello! My, my, what do we have here?" A cheerful voice sounded off behind them. Luna made no indication of hearing it, because she was too disturbed by what she heard from Filia. Even if it was only a rumor, it came from Filia, so it might mean it's true.

Filia on the other hand growled and glared at the newcomer. "YOU!
XELLOS! What do you thing you're doing here!" she growled out at her mortal enemy.

Xellos on the other hand pouted and shook his head, his purple hair flinging here and there with the movement. "My, aren't we moody today"
He turned giddy when he finally noticed Luna. "My word, the famous Luna Inverse! How is your sister by the way?"

Luna seemed to have snapped from her daze when she heard her name being spoken. She slowly turned to Xellos and sighed in resignation. "You tell me, since you've been hounding her."

"Ah, are you moody as well? Alas! I would've... what!" Xellos' eyes uncharacteristically opened as he finally registered Luna's face and her new marks on the forehead. He pointed a shaky finger at her and said in a soft voice, "Y-You! How did you get those marks!"

Luna absently brushed her forehead with her hand, noting how smooth those bumps the gems made on her. "You know of them?"

Xellos sputtered indignantly, still trying to form a coherent sentence.
He suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Filia wanted to laugh out loud! For once, Xellos hasn't said his trademark phrase. But it's not to be, she can't even laugh at this dire circumstance. The appearance of the marks bodes ill to them, and they appeared on Luna of all people! If on Lina she could understand, but on Luna?

The ex-priestess put her hand on Luna's shoulder and said, "Luna,
prepare yourself. Your life is going to be harder in the future."

Luna nodded absently. She was still staring at the spot where the mazoku disappeared suddenly.

The sky grumbled loudly in agreement.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Back to the Home World, Tendo-Ke...

"Wow... you must've been real lonely mom..." Belldandy said sadly to Tokimi.

The tall woman shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I've managed so far, and the important thing is that everything is going to be alright."

Tokimi has explained her edited story to everyone that was present.
Tsunami has adopted a sad expression because she remembered how she betrayed her sister once again.

Belldandy was quite happy to know that she has a half-brother, but was quite skeptical and surprised at the identity. Urd was quite confused,
because she didn't remember fixing up a Saiyajin with Tokimi before (she's right, it was Benten's idea actually). Skuld was shocked to hear Tokimi's side of the story, as well as Tsunami's admittance of shame about what she did. Skuld asked Tsunami why she thought she did bad, and the goddess of Jurai answered that it was not in her power to place judgement on Tokimi, given that nobody really thought of how the goddess of Chaos felt about everything.

Nodoka was quite sympathetic, but also understood Tsunami's point of view. Although she knew that assuming things was dangerous as hell.
Kasumi was initially quite upset at Tsunami (she's a traditional woman.
The eldest Tendo thought that no child should be taken away from its parent just like that. A mere assumption was really not a good reason for it. Nabiki was quite nervous, because she now knew that Ranma's heritage was quite in the divine level. She has done a lot of awful things on Ranma, and she just knew she would go to the Very Bad Place.
Nabiki initially thought that this information would make a good profit,
but even without the martial arts skill needed to feel aura, she could actually feel the waves of power emanating from those around her. At first, Akane was quite happy that Ranma wasn't really spawned by Genma,
but that quickly turned to sadness. This meant that if Ranma wasn't a Saotome, then he really has no point in staying with her. That, and the chance of Ranma even remotely falling in love with her again after what she had done to him was already non-existent in the first place. She really blew it, big time. Soun was crying as always, his tears spraying at his sides (good thing no one was sitting there). He wanted to retort about the union between the two martial arts schools, but the proof of Ranma not being a Saotome was explained to him. He really wanted to push it, but these are goddesses here! What can he do anyway? He sighed as he wailed some more, despite the fact that he's been doing it for a while now. Where was Genma when you need him?

A wall behind Tsunami suddenly crumbled, making the goddess yelp in surprise. The goddess of Jurai scooted near Tokimi as the others watched the scene warily. When the dust settled, a bubbly and bouncy purple-haired Amazon leapt forward, with bonborri on one hand and a take-out ramen box on the other.

"Nihao! Shampoo come see if Ranma come home!" The Amazon said with her broken Japanese.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! Has my Ranma-sama returned from his wanderings,
peasants!" A shower of black roses filled the room.

"Oh my, what a mess..." Kasumi muttered softly.

Skuld and Belldandy turned to Urd, who just looked back innocently.

"What did I do!" Urd asked urgently. "I don't laugh like that"
Disbelieving stares caused her to sweatdrop heavily.

Akane smacked her forehead with her palm. "Kodachi... Shampoo..." She said tiredly.

"He's not yet here." Nabiki deadpanned. She eyed the destroyed wall as she mentally calculated the cost for the repairs.

Kodachi glanced at the beautiful goddesses, and classified them as rivals.

Shampoo noticed the newcomers, and made the same conclusion.

"AIYAH! Rivals for Shampoo! I KILL!" Before the Nerimians could warn Shampoo, the girl already set the take-out box down and revealed another bonborri (... where in tarnation does she get those things anyway!) as she leapt towards her nearest target... which was Belldandy.

Kodachi took advantage of everyone's distraction as she twirled her ribbon and slashed it towards Tsunami.

BLAM! WHACK!

A smoking Kodachi crumpled on the ground unconscious as she was blasted there real hard courtesy of an energy ball from Tokimi. After feeling the strong dark energy, Tsunami shuddered as she watched the goddess of Chaos nervously. Her sister can be so violent at times, but today she was grateful. She didn't think she would become a target for attacks.

Shampoo staggered backward, holding on her head as she struggled to regain her equilibrium. Skuld lifted her hammer high up in the air as she prepared to slam it unto Shampoo once again, but was stopped when Urd held it down.

"That's enough, squirt!" Urd demanded as she held on the hammer tightly.

Skuld looked angrily at the wobbly Shampoo. "She tried to hurt Belldandy-neesan!"

"Skuld." Belldandy's voice immediately calmed the tension down. "Don't worry about it. I can handle it."

"Fine." Skuld said dejectedly, but immediately flared once again as she hissed, "But she better be careful, or I'll debug her permanently!"

A small dwarfish woman on a stick appeared from the hole and examined the surroundings. She almost fell down when she recognized the aura of the newcomers in the house. She looked at Shampoo sadly and said, "I see that I was too late..."

"That's right, Cologne..." Nabiki stood up and walked towards Shampoo,
who shook her head to clear the stars in her vision. "Shampoo, you idiot... you just made a HUGE mistake."

Shampoo stared at Nabiki. "What mercenary girl talking about?"

Nabiki sighed. "Meet Urd-sama, Skuld-sama, and Tsunami-sama. They're goddesses... that's right, as in divine goddesses." She gestured to each as she mentioned their names.

"As for Tokimi-sama, she's Ranma's real mother... a goddess also"
Nabiki gestured to the tall woman, who was sitting closely to her former target.

Nabiki chuckled lightly. "The one you were about to attack was Belldandy-sama... Tokimi's daughter and... Ranma's half-sister. Yes, a goddess as well..."

Shampoo paled when she realized what she had just done. She was about to spout some apologies when Belldandy shook her head.

"No need to trouble yourself with it. But this I must tell you... Ranma is his own person. Nobody can own him, not even your laws." Belldandy said seriously while looking directly at Cologne. The old woman just nodded sadly as Shampoo finally recovered her second wind.

"No!" Shampoo screamed as she tried standing up, but failed miserably.
"Ranma Shampoo's husband! Amazon Law say so!"

"Child..." Tokimi said as she massaged her temples lightly. "Ranma is beyond your petty laws. Even if he didn't know it, Ranma's part kami.
Mortal laws like those don't hold him down. Besides, who are you to declare who he must love?" She glared meaningfully at Shampoo, who bit down a retort.

"What's with her?" Skuld pointed at the unconscious Kodachi.

Nabiki snorted. "Ranma saved her from falling hard once before. She believed that Ranma loved her and deluded herself to be one of the fiancees. We just ignore her most of the time."

Something clicked in Skuld's mind as she stiffened suddenly. She turned sharply towards Urd, who was whistling nervously. "You! This was all your fault you old hag!"

Urd stood up and smacked Skuld upside her head. "Who're you calling old hag! I'm sorry okay? I didn't know this was gonna happen! There were so many women who can easily find themselves falling in love with the guy... he's the Fort Knox for the goddesses of Love! Even Venus was interested in Ranma..."

Before anyone could respond to that, a small timid knock caught their attention. As one, they all turned to the open door.

"Uhhmmm.. hi? Is this a bad time?" A brown haired girl wearing a dark blue top with black leggings stood at the doorframe. A bandoleer laced with small spatulas wrapped over her shoulder down to her waist, and a much larger spatula was strapped on her back. She was looking quite nervous as she glanced around. She eyed the still-smoking form of Kodachi, and gulped.

"Oh no Ukyo, it's all right. Please come in!" Kasumi said cheerfully as she pulled two more cups from... somewhere... and placed them on the table. She frowned a bit and pulled a third cup. No telling when Kodachi would wake up... she could probably use a good cup of tea by then.

"Great! Another fiancee!" Skuld said in irritation as she sat down heavily on her seat. "This is turning out to be a GREAT day! What's next? Happosai?" She asked sarcastically.

Suddenly, a raspy squeal of "SWEETO!" echoed all over the house followed by groans of various house members. They all glared at Skuld, who had the initiative to blush. Everyone froze when the cup in Tokimi's hand broke.

In a shaky voice Tokimi asked, "What is this... thing?" she pointed down to her bosom, where a wrinkled old man clung.

"Happosai..." The Nerimians said simultaneously.

"Hotcha! You're pretty big, lady! May I ask why are you hiding these babies in this hot dress?" Happosai asked as he looked up to Tokimi.
However, he froze once he met eye to eye with Tokimi's gleaming blue orbs. His body was paralyzed as he tried to absorb the female ki from the goddess of Chaos. He felt the darkness that was the source of Tokimi's power. Faster than the eyes of the Grandmaster of Anything Goes, Tokimi's clawed hands clamped tightly on Happosai's neck and slammed him on the floor. Her eyes glowed as her hands lit up in dark energies. Happosai screamed as his body was barraged with enormous power that he now recognized only as a higher divine power.

"Perverted little demon..." Tokimi growled out as she held the smoking Happosai in her grasp. She was about to blast him once again when her daughter spoke behind her.

"Mother..." Belldandy began, but was cut off by Tokimi.

"Please, Bell-chan. This pervert terrorized millions of women all over the world, all because he misused his ki absorption technique. He got addicted with it, and used it as an excuse to cop a feel. I won't stand for it, because I'm a woman too. Besides, Ranma suffered because of this... freak." The goddess of Chaos growled out, still trying to choke Happosai.

"Actually..." Belldandy grinned evilly, eliciting shivers from the audience, "I just wanted to say that it would be better to curse him, to make him suffer for everything that he did to all the women he felt up and also to Ranma."

Urd and Skuld could just gape at the new Belldandy as the three small black gems on her forehead glowed menacingly, enhancing her evil smirk.
Belldandy pointed her index finger over Happosai's forehead and removed her earring. Her aura glowed bright blue first, then was suddenly changed into a darker tone as she continued pouring energy into her finger. Happosai's body glowed in sync with Belldandy's own, and slowly shifted. Everyone watched as Happosai screamed and kicked while his body flexed in different places. His hair suddenly grew once again. His body also morphed into a curvier form, as his hair grew up to his hip. His face slowly rejuvenated as the wrinkles ironed themselves out. His black gi stretched a bit to accommodate the new size of his body.

Belldandy giggled as she pulled back her finger, the dark glow around her body receding as she gazed on her handiwork. Tokimi let Happosai go as she shook her head in amusement.

"That was... really bad." Tokimi finished lamely as she struggled not to laugh.

Nodoka spoke softly, "But I can't help but feel it's really appropriate."

"T-The M-Master...!" Soun gasped horrified as he looked harder to his former master. Actually, he was torn between jumping around in joy and being scared stiff at the casual display of power.

"Oh my." Kasumi and Cologne looked at each other. The former was quite happy at the magic show that their guest provided, while the latter was just plain stunned... and also a bit satisfied.

Shampoo and Ukyo paled, that could've been them if they made a slight mistake.

Happosai on the other hand was perplexed at the looks he was given.
"What?" he asked, but stopped when he noticed his voice was an octave higher than his normal one. He slowly patted along his body, not noticing anything at first, that is until he came upon his crotch. His eyes widened as he screamed in effeminate manner. 'He' turned and ran out of the door of the Tendo home, screaming along the way.

Urd sputtered for a moment, then laughed out loudly. "H-Happosai.
turned into a... LITTLE G-GIRL! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone looked at Belldandy warily, who just shrugged. "Hey, I just felt it's fitting for him." Belldandy said casually.

The sound of a phone ringing brought silence to the group. Kasumi excused herself and answered the phone.

"Moshi-moshi, this is the Tendo residence... no, I'm not Belldandy, but I can get her if you want... oh. Alright..." Kasumi looked up from the phone. "Urd-san? A phone call for you!"

"Eh?" Urd stood up and slowly made her way to the eldest Tendo daughter.
Kasumi smiled as she handed the phone off to her and went to the kitchen to fix up some more snacks. Urd turned to the phone.

"Uhmm... hello?" Urd asked hesitantly.

("IT IS I, KAMI-SAMA, MY DAUGHTER.") The soothing voice of the Almighty wafted into Urd's ear.

"F-Father!" Urd replied urgently as she stood ramrod straight.

Back on the table Tokimi, Tsunami and Nodoka were exchanging stories about Ranma and his childhood. Tokimi wanted to know what his son had been through since she wasn't there to see his childhood. Skuld and Akane were discussing something about mallet types and some of the materials used to make them. Belldandy and Nabiki were talking about fashion sense, for some reason. Kodachi so far was still unconscious on a futon, generously provided by Kasumi. Shampoo and Cologne were conversing on one corner, rather, Cologne was berating Shampoo regarding manners as well as recognizing aura and such. A low groan came from the entryway towards the dojo.

"Oh... it's you." Tokimi sniffed as she glared angrily at the still-smoking form of Genma, who by some miracle has succeeded in crawling out of the hole he's been drilled into the dojo and also managed to make his way to the dining room. A black sphere of energy slammed unto Genma, throwing him back several feet towards the koi pond this time. The group regarded Tokimi, who just shrugged innocently and pointed to her daughter. Everyone turned to Belldandy, who clapped her smoking hands together primly.

"That felt much better." Belldandy smiled happily.

The rest except Tokimi facefaulted.

Tokimi's eyes glittered. "For someone who just recovered her memories and some of her powers, you seem to be doing pretty good. First, a transmogrifying spell, then a potent energy ball. Amazing..."

Belldandy giggled. "I have lots of frustrations to let out, mom."

"Oneesan! That was mean!" Skuld gasped in horror as she stared up to Belldandy.

The brown haired goddess shrugged. "You know his files... he did some pretty nasty things to Ranma. I'm entitled to release my frustrations on that man."

"That's true." Nodoka nodded sagely.

"Saotomeee! My poor panda-fied friend is floating on the koi pond,
unconscious! Waaaaaaah!" Three guesses who that was.

"Ah, pipe down father. He had that one coming to him a long time ago"
Nabiki chided his father, who just wailed harder.

"Yeah!" Akane rallied behind Nabiki. "Mister Saotome really screwed up bigtime on Ranma! All those stupid techniques he's been throwing at Ranma... all those responsibilities he ran away from and pinned them on his son! He was always blaming on Ranma for his own faults!"

Everyone turned to her like she grew a third head.

"What!" Akane asked, irritated.

"You're one to talk, mallet-happy Akane!" Ukyo scoffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"That right. Pervert girl always hit airen, even if fault not Ranma"
Shampoo nodded solemnly.

"I seem to remember..." Belldandy began seriously, "That you also blamed lots of things on Ranma that wasn't his fault. You malleted him for it,
remember?"

"How true..." Cologne agreed as she snickered softly to herself.

Akane blanched. "B-But..."

"Hmmm... also, you chose to side one Hibiki Ryoga over Ranma's side of the story, right?" Belldandy continued.

"Speaking of that... pig..." Tokimi almost growled, "Tsunami and I met him a while ago. He said some words that I really didn't like." Akane looked at Tokimi worriedly, which wasn't lost on the goddess of Chaos.

Tokimi chuckled softly. "Don't worry about your boyfriend, Tendo Akane,
I haven't harmed him... just scared him off after giving him a piece of my mind."

"He's not my---" Akane began her protest, but it died down when she saw Belldandy's intense stare.

"Don't bother denying it." Belldandy sighed softly. "We saw your file.
besides we could hardly blame you if you can't wait for Ranma to come back from his side trip. What's done, is done." The three miniature gems on her forehead glowed brightly as she glowered.

Tokimi and Tsunami finally noticed the strange sigil on Belldandy's forehead and gasped.

"Belldandy!" Tokimi quickly rushed to her daughter as she brushed the strands of brown hair that fell on Belldandy's forehead, covering most of the gems from everyone's eyes. "When did you get the symbol on your forehead?" Tokimi asked frantically.

Belldandy brought her index finger up to her chin thoughtfully. "I think it was weeks ago... why? What is it mom?"

"There are several levels of 'caste symbols' for the kami and demons within the multiverses." They all turned to the one who spoke, who was Tsunami. She continued, "Some divine or demonic symbols were etched into the skin, by way of special ink markers. These ones are the same symbols Kami-sama and Hild-sama used on their high-leveled operatives. The symbols themselves differ by way of level as well. Lower classes have their symbols burned into their skin by the higher caste, usually by the operatives of each 'side'."

Tsunami lifted her own hand and brushed it along Belldandy's forehead.
"These special dots have the signature of a symbol the Choushin Kami used... or the Central Gods. We are the Choushin Kami, Belldandy"
Tsunami gestured to her own dots, as well as Tokimi's, that was hidden beneath the huge golden barrette on her forehead. "But your symbol is more spectacular than ours, because it is rumored that those symbols made out of gems instead of the special divine/demonic ink constitute a special higher caste. That is what I know. The rest, I'm not familiar with anymore." Tsunami slumped as she thought deeper about it, but nothing else came to mind.

A loud sound of someone clearing her throat made its point clear as everyone turned to a sight of Urd just coming out of the area where the phone was. Her steps where somewhat unsure of themselves as she settled once again beside Skuld.

Before anyone could ask, Urd looked up and regarded Belldandy, "Bell,
Father called and was asking you to come up in Asgard to meet with Him."

Belldandy grimaced a little, unnoticeable to those who didn't pay attention, but the rest of the goddesses noticed that pained look in her face. Belldandy saw the concerned look on Tokimi's face and waved casually at her, "Don't worry about it, mom, it's probably just a courtesy call. I might also have an explanation regarding this symbol"
She finished by pointing at her forehead.

Seeing everyone except Urd nod in understanding, Belldandy graced them with a sunny smile once again and asked for a mirror, which was pointed to her by Nabiki, without a price of course. When she finally disappeared in the bathroom in a flash of light, a somber atmosphere settled on the table once again.

Urd couldn't face the rest of them, because what she has just told them was basically a fabrication... a lie which Kami-sama had allowed her to make. She didn't feel comfortable about it at all, especially with Tokimi trusting her like that.

((Why, Father? Why did you declare Belldandy as one of the 'Heretics'? An upcoming co-leader of a rebellion against Creation? What's happening up there!)) Urd thought to herself as she sat there, brooding.

A sudden cry of "P-chan!" made Urd, Skuld, Shampoo, Ukyo and Nabiki facefault though. Urd shakily brought her head back up and glared hatefully at the pig that was snuggled deeply in Akane's arms. She muttered, "She still doesn't know about that pig!"

Cologne just shook her head in annoyance. ((Akane still hasn't figured anything out yet?))

Tokimi was much more vocal though. "I'm gonna roast that pig, slowly and painfully!" She bellowed as she lunged at P-chan, who was suddenly frozen when he heard the scary voice that almost torched him earlier.

It took Tsunami, Urd and Skuld to hold down Tokimi as the goddess of Chaos spat out certain curses (she's currently allowed today, besides,
Kami-sama's busy doing something... wait for it to be understood later).

"Why are you so angry at P-chan!" Akane demanded as she shied away from Tokimi's clawed hands.

"Why! You wanna know WHY!" Tokimi could've burned P-chan with those smoldering looks of hers. "Because that pig's Ry---MMMMPPPPHHHHH!"

Akane and the rest sweatdropped as they watched Urd and Skuld simultaneously clamp down on Tokimi's mouth, each with one hand.

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Up in Heaven, Asgard, whatever...

In Belldandy's room, a large mirror glowed for a moment, as a shapely young woman with brown hair stepped out of it. As she set foot on the floor, a large circular symbol flared below her. Belldandy's eyes widened when she recognized the Divine Ward that held even the First Class Unlimited goddesses into captivity. With a loud cry, she fell down on her knees as the pain raced all over her body. Her new symbol flared a dark glow to placate some of the pain, but she still felt some of it as she lay helpless on the floor.

The door of her room opened wide and accommodated four Valkyries in full battle armor. All of them have holy spears on one hand, while the other held copies of the royal shield Aegis. They all glared at Belldandy, who was just confused as to why these things happened to her. She hasn't done anything yet to warrant her this kind of treatment from Heaven's special guards.

One of them stepped up and declared, "To Belldandy, First Class Goddess,
Category One, Unlimited... Kami-sama has declared you a danger to Creation. You are hereby sentenced to... what!"

The other Valkyries watched helplessly as the circle ward flared up and swallowed Belldandy, leaving nothing as evidence of her capture.

In Kami-sama's Office...

The Lord of Creation finally finished typing in His computer. It was a good thing He was paying attention to the Valkyries' movements. He almost didn't make it, and Belldandy was almost consigned to termination. He originally declared Saotome Ranma as the Heretic, but then changed the limitations of His orders when He noticed that the others awoke the same time as Ranma did. Too bad, He felt terrible in doing this to Belldandy, for the goddess was really a good girl, despite her almost total memory loss. This was the only thing He could do for her. He quickly interceded with the sentence before it was carried out and sent her soul back into the Yggdrasil. He let her soul be reborn into another world. He smiled widely as He watched Belldandy's soul travel across another dimension. This time, she was supposed to retain her memories in her rebirth.

((Soon, Ranma will meet her there as well...)) Kami-sama thought to Himself, as He sat back to His seat once again.

((Ifalna... a good foster mother for Belldandy...))

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

In the Gates of Time, Home World...

Sailor Pluto gaped at the distorted time lines in front of her. She just came from the emergency meeting she called with the Sailor Senshi. She found out about Rei's dream, and she found that it matched her own visions in the Time Gates. She instructed them to be prepared for anything, especially the two powerful beings that appeared in the scene.
She quickly returned to the Time Gates, only to find... chaos.

Suddenly, everything in the Gates lit up like a christmas tree, then the time lines became too branched for her to distinguish any of it. She tried looking to the future, but found out that for some reason, it sealed itself up to her.

Everything was going out of control, and she can't do anything about it.
For the second time in her natural life, Sailor Pluto felt helplessness.
Her mind has been too numbed from the excrutiating pain she felt as the Gate distorted in front of her very own eyes.

She could only watched as the past, present and future collide with each other, rubbing against each other, and slowly dissolve into unrecognizable blurs.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

To Be Continued...

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Author Rants:

Hmmm... whoever said Ranma and Akane will get together in this fic?

Actually, someone paid real attention to the things I gave out. Dual!
Parallel Trouble Adventure is gonna cross with this story. That's why the timeline Ranma's on is called 'Parallel World'.

People here are different, even the Akane in this world is different. If you harbor any ill feelings with the 'home' Akane, geez you are really vengeful, ain'tcha? Give it a rest, coz you're not gonna be any different from Ryoga.

BUT...

The reason why Ranma still can't have relations with Ryoko as of yet is that he's still worried of the paradox he might cause. He knows the consequences of his actions, and that it is dangerous right now especially since it IS a parallel world. That world is actually a Dual!
Parallel Trouble Adventure world, although it was in the past.

It will all be cleared up once everything reaches up to the 'present'
point of the Parallel World, up to the time where the two worlds must combine to stabilize reality once again.

As to why the location where Ranma was has a time frame that goes faster than the present... he's in a parallel past. The time span in that world is relatively the same with the original one. Although the truth of the matter is that what we see in the parallel world now is a flashback.
going to the present parallel world. I sped it up to match the other world when they converge.

Hmmm... that's probably the best I can describe it. Think about it this way, someone ageless go back several years in the past. Then we see him again in the present prior to the time he/she disappeared. For us, only a couple of hours, or a couple of seconds have passed before he/she reappeared again. But for the person, he/she experienced at least several years worth of experience before we meet up with him/her in the present.

That's basically the same, but in Ranma's case, he got sucked into a parallel past... so even if Ranma did meet up in the present already,
the reason why the home world haven't seen him as of yet is because he might've stayed in the parallel world a bit longer.

I want to describe what the heck Ranma went through, as well as the timeframes he screwed up unknowingly in the parallel past.

Why? Because it's fun!

Belldandy's OOC? Of course... she just regained her lost memories. Her original personality overrode the newer one. She would still retain some of her meekness and kindness, but also regains her naughty side as well.
She's the daughter of Tokimi you know.

I was real mean to Genma? Heck no... I let him live, didn't I? Even Ryoga's alive, but not for long!

Yes, Happosai turned into a small little girl. Snicker

Next up: With things heating up back in his homeworld, Ranma suffers another tragedy in his journey. A small accident caused him a wee bit of trouble... okay, BIG trouble. Big enough to cause a spatial distortion which flung Ranma somewhere. He has to find a way home, as he learns more about what WILL happen if he doesn't. This caused Ryoko to go hibernating while Washuu tried to find Ranma...

See Ranma in a space ship full of women who thinks men are their enemy!

And what's this? What's your name? Sakuraba Milfueille, age 17!

Oh yeah, "I'm NOT a Mister Alien!"

Snicker

Ja ne.

- Lord Rance

In case you need my email for some reason at all, those who will send flames, well, I'll just douse it with my trusty bucket of cold water!

"I swear! This ain't what it looks like!" - Ranma Saotome