Chapter 2

Gifts and Goddesses

-…- coughing, hacking, making a certain sound

"…" speaking out loud

'…' thinking

Disclaimer: I don't need a disclaimer. I own this 100 percent! HAHAHA! (sigh) If I did then everything in Ranma will change. I don't do this for profit or gain but I do it for fan appreciation. So that means I don't own it. So bug off you lazy ass lawyers.

Last Time

As Rena looked out the small window in the kitchen seeing Ranma having fun with Rei it brought a smile over her delicate face.

Unknown to Ranma and Rei the Giseisha is nearly in range of the colony that Rei and Ranma currently is in.

Nighttime at the colony

Everything is quiet, not a sound was to be heard through the night. Except for one house. The house that stands in the middle of nowhere, to be exact, in a grassy plain filled with trees at the edges. Animals could be seen scouring about, hurrying back into their little homes.

The house, which stood in the middle of the grassy plains, made loud noises. Crashes and bangs of bodies could be heard in the still night.

Inside the house

"Damn it Rei! Give me back my knife!" Ranma shouts on the top of his voice, while trying to grab the quick yet slippery little thief.

"Come on Ranma! What does this supposed to do? Tell me!" The little innocent Rei asks.

"Grrr… just give it back! It's for cutting things! Now give it back!" Ranma shouts back.

Rei seems to consider it for a moment. "Naw, I'll just keep it a little longer." Rei had a hidden smile within his eyes.

Ranma smiles, he got the message. Either he caught him or he'd never get it back. Ranma smiles at Rei with such a sadistic smile, Rei shudders for a moment. That is when Ranma swoops in. Grabbing the knife out of Rei's hands, Ranma then stores it into one of his dimension pockets, copied off Mousse of course.

"How you do that?" Asks Rei.

"Hm…." Ranma contemplates for a moment.

Ranma opens his mouth and Rei leans in closer. "I'M NOT GONA TELL YOU!" Ranma shouts in Rei's ears.

Rei quickly brings up his hands to his ears to block out the ringing noise in his head.

"Hey that's not fair!" Rei complained.

Ranma laughs out loud. "So true, but nothing is the world is ever that easy? If it was then I'll probably have never met you."

Rei looks confused for a moment. He then shrugs away the comment and asks him some question.

"Hey, Hey is it true that you are from another world? A planet?" Rei asks with a happy gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah I came from a planet. The skies are bluer than blue. The ocean so vast you couldn't make out the end and as for the night it is the perfect solitude for your mind. The vast stars that hangs above your head shimmering and glittering within the dark sky. Giving it an unearthly glow. The beams of moonlight guide you through the darkness of the night, protecting you from the evil that lurks beneath the shadows." Ranma tells Rei.

"WOW! Is it that wonderful? I have never seen a sky before…" Rei says, and then falls into a daze.

Ranma gets worried as Rei stops talking and looks at him with a blank stare. Ranma getting even more worried, waves his hand in front of Rei. After a few minutes Rei snaps out of his daze and shouts in a happy voice.

"I see it! I see it!" Rei shouts in glee.

"What did you see?" Ranma asks carefully.

"I see the skies that you were talking about. I even saw an ocean! But…" Rei's voice trailed off.

"What is it?" Ranma asked concerned for the well being of his new friend.

"But…I haven't seen the stars that you were talking about. All I saw was ships filling the skies and screams that came from everywhere around me. It was horrifying, there were screams and a lot of red stuff flying through the air." Rei says this with a terrified voice.

'No, it can't be. I think he means that the world, no MY world, was being captured by aliens. No I refused to believe it. I will not believe that my world is destroyed. I will not believe it I simply refuse to believe this bullshit. But I can just dismiss Rei's version either. He is not telling a lie. Then what will become of my world…' Ranma thought sadly.

Rei looks at Ranma while his was in his daze.

Snapping out of it Ranma moves over to the window and looks up to the sky. 'Rei is right. There are no stars you could see in this place. Weird.'

Sighing again Ranma looks over at Rei. Giving Rei a forced cheerful smile and then says, "Rei we should better get going to sleep. Don't want your mom yelling at us now do we?"

Rei suddenly realizes the time. "Oh no! I should've gone to sleep an hour ago! Well, I better head back to bed. See ya in the morning!" Rei waves as he leaves the room.

Ranma's forced smile slowly disappears and looks up at the starless sky. There is no one in the world right now that felt this emotional pain he is going through.

Staring at the starless skies for a few more hours Ranma finally looks away and goes over to his futon and wraps himself. After a few more noiseless minutes Ranma fell asleep.

Next Day

Ranma awoke to the sunlight hitting his eyes. Waking up from the side of the bed Ranma groans at the damn thing, Ranma then slowly got out of bed. Strangely there were no sounds coming from inside of the house except for an annoying humming sound coming for outside. Mumbling again Ranma shouts, "Hey Rei! Rena! Where are you guys?"

Ranma quiets down to hear the faint humming noise, still no reply that came back. Wondering what was up Ranma looks around the house. No one's there. He can't find Rei or Rena. Strange.

Ranma hears the humming noise more clearly now. Looking annoyed Ranma goes outside to find the annoying thing that makes the noise and shut it up…permanently.

Going outside Ranma looks up into the sky. The skies are filled with some thing Ranma would call weird and organic. The aliens in the air swarmed the air. Looking around Ranma sees nobody. Everything was quiet not even the slightest noise could be heard except from the humming. Still staring at the sky Ranma wonders.

'What on Earth is going on here?'

Suddenly the skies brighten up. Ranma wonders why the sky is brightening up and why the ships seem to glow. Wondering for a minute Ranma remembers a show he once saw, it was like a gundam or more specifically Wing Zero buster rifles…

"OH SHIT!" Ranma says as he drops to the ground.

The laser beams pierces the clouds and strikes the colony, creating redden skies as the fire spread throughout the colony. The blazing inferno and destruction could be seen miles 'round. The organic things in the air just blew up an entire city and laid it to ashes. These things were unreal. They are so strong that even civilians just drop to their knees and pray for their safe trip to the after life.

It seems the city was closer than Ranma thought it was. It was supposed to be about ten miles away. Except that it wasn't there anymore. Ranma quickly runs through the opposite direction of the non-existing city. Running through bushes and debris Ranma hard a hard time going anywhere. Finally he reached another city. The place is in chaos. The citizens were running around screaming, a blaze of fire set by the aliens. Ranma grimaced at the site. Snapping himself out of it he started to run at a fast pace trying to find either Rei or Rena. The aliens inched ever closer as the red haze deepened. As Ranma keeps running he finally spots a line filled with people. Running over he jumps over the crowd to see Rei or Rena. Finally spotting Rei Ranma lands a distance off.

Rei sees Ranma and was about to shout his name when suddenly the 'Giseisha' or Victim, as some people call them, attacked the edge of the city. Blowing apart many of the houses that surround the area. Looking back Rei tried to shout Ranma's name, but the people's shouts and cry of terror over thrown his voice.

Ranma tries again to look for Rei the Giseisha that attacked caused such a huge panic that he lost sight for Rei. Looking up Ranma sees the Giseisha coming closer than ever before. Suddenly five giant Ingrids flew down and started fight the Giseisha. Ranma looks around and sees an all white Ingrid; Ranma's jaw went slack. It is a Goddess, in its truest form. In a few moments notice a beam of light surrounds Ranma.

'WHAT! AGAIN! WAIT NO!' Ranma screams in his mind as he loses his voice.

Ranma slowly disappears within the light, but no one seems to notice except for Rei.

In a Void

'Where am I?' Ranma questions himself.

A voice could be heard, but it was faint and whispered.

'Who are you?'

The voice seems to whisper once more.

'Why am I here?'

The voice does not reply.

'…'

Looking up Ranma found himself unable to see. Quickly sitting in an upright position Ranma began to rub his eyes furiously, nothing could be seen by his eyes. The empty void had no shape and had no light; therefore nothing could be seen or felt. Feelings of fear and dread hammers Ranma's brain, shivering in fear of lost sight Ranma quickly precedes to another test. Flaring up his ki Ranma could see nothingness around him.

'At lease I know I'm not blind anymore.' Ranma thought dryly.

Suddenly a person stands in front of him. Jumping back from instinct Ranma stands in a fighting stance. The man looks at Ranma with sad eyes. Ranma seeing the pain within the man's eyes drops his guard. The man slowly walks towards Ranma. Ranma raises his guard up and tenses his muscles. The man felt unthreatened by Ranma and kept on walking. Ranma wait for the perfect moment in which he'll strike.

The man stops right in font of Ranma not even breathing. The man opens his mouth.

"Ranma I ask of you a favor."

Ranma looks at him quizzically.

"What do you want?"

The man pauses.

"I want you to take up my legacy. I know it will be good in your hands."

"But why me? There are trillions of people out there."

"That maybe true but they do not posses one thing you have."

"And what pray tell is that?"

"A will."

"A will to what?"

"A will to fight, the will to protect your friends, the will to survive in the world."

"…."

If an unspoken question could be heard it would've been creepy, and now it's one of those times.

"You are thinking, 'Why should I trust him? Why will he give away his legacy to a stranger?' am I correct?"

Ranma openly gapes at him.

Taking that as answer the man continues.

"There is no reasons for you to trust me, but I have to give my legacy away because I'm dead."

"Dead? Then how are you standing right before me?" Shouts Ranma.

"This is a void. It is judgment that I await. I can not move on until my legacy is passed down."

"But the question still remains why?"

"It is something to be use against the Giseisha."

"What is the Giseisha?"

"It is those things that you saw in the sky."

"Those monsters? What do you mean?"

The man looks at Ranma and says nothing. Then he switches the topic.

"Did you know that there are parallel dimensions?"

"Huh?" Ranma taken aback from the switch of topics.

"There are other world besides your own that exists in another time. It is basically something that is related to your own world though it is changed differently. Like for example, in some dimensions you've died by Akane's cooking, Akane's mallet, or even sometimes marry her to only kill you with her cooking AND malleting."

Ranma shivers at the possibilities.

"Okay, say if I did accept your offer what could you possibly give me?"

"I can take the curse that you have with me to the afterlife." The man replies with a wicked smile on his face. 'Hook, Line and Sinker'

Ranma nearly jumped with joy at the possibility.

"Fine, I'll do it."

The man smirks and reaches Ranma and touches his forehead. As soon as he had done it a spirit of a girl came out of Ranma's body. The spirit looked all too happy of getting out of Ranma. The man turns to Ranma once again.

"Remember, the only way you can summon this is by willing it to come forth. And any damage you take in battle will be applied to your body as well. If the mecca is repaired so will your wounds. Don't worry though it has a pretty fast self-healing system."

"Wait! What the hell are you talking about?" Ranma shouted.

The man smiles an evil smile. He then raises his hand and touches Ranma's heart. Electricity runs right through him. The pain was unbearable. Dropping to the ground Ranma fell unconscious.

In an Alley Way

Ranma groans as he wakes up.

"What IS that smell?"

Looking up Ranma sees that his is in an alleyway. Luckily he didn't land in any of the garbage and didn't have the smell stick on him. Quickly leaving the area Ranma went to scout the new world…again.

Out of the Alley

Ranma comes out to another strange place. Sighing at the possibility of being lost. Ranma shudders as he is reminded of Ryoga. Looking around Ranma notices that his is wearing something different other than his red silk shirt. Looking down he sees that he is wearing a plain white t-shirt and khaki pants.

'Well at least the khaki pants has a lot of pockets.' Ranma muses to himself.

Looking around again Ranma sees nothing out of the ordinary…except for a massive line of people going into a building. Wonder what is up Ranma goes over to the line and asks someone for directions. The man turns around and to Ranma's surprise it was Rei.

"REI!" Ranma shouted in shock.

"R-RANMA? Is that you?" Rei shouted back.

Everyone in the line looked at Rei and Ranma weirdly before they ignored them and stared at the building again.

"How ya been man? You look taller than the last time I saw you." Ranma remarked.

"Heh, it's because you disappeared for ten years. Man I…" Rei continued.

Ranma blocks out Rei's words as he stares at him. 'What it has been ten years? How can that be? I've only been in the 'void' for only a couple of minutes.'

"Yo Ranma! Ranma!" Rei shouts in Ranma's ear.

"HUH! WHAT!" Ranma shouts in confusion.

Rei sighs and repeats. "As I was saying, are you here to apply for G.O.A.?"

Ranma looks quizzically at Rei. "What is G.O.A. Rei?"

Rei frowns a little. "Just call me Zero now. G.O.A. is a place that defends the final planet, Zion."

Ranma frowns at the news. 'So then my planet is destroyed…' Ranma thought bitterly.

"Sure why not? I'll try too see if I can join." Ranma states.

Zero (Rei) looks at him. "Do you have an EO blood type or EX?"

Ranma ponders on this for a minute. "What exactly is EX?"

Zero facefaulted. "EX is something a person can do if they have the potential to use it. It makes them faster and stronger and everything."

Ranma still does not get the idea.

Zero sighs and continued. "EX also gives you a blue-ish glow and temporary blue hair."

Ranma looks up in surprise. 'That is what they call Ki here?'

Ranma then answers. "Yea I have it. I even used it before."

Zero smiles brightly. "Then we could go to G.O.A. together then!"

Ranma smiles back but say nothing. 'So I have to protect the last planet…' Ranma smirks and then laughs out loud.

Zero looks at him weirdly. Ranma just continues to laugh out loud.

A Few Hours Later

"That was easy…" Ranma said.

"Yeah! I know what you mean all you were doing is glowing blue and they immediately accepted you." Zero comments.

"Well, they also accepted you too." Ranma replies with a raised eyebrow.

"But it took soooo long! I mean I have to give them the forms and even my blood sample to see if I really had EO blood. Man was that annoying! I could barely show my EX to them." Zero complained loudly.

Ranma smiles at Zero before he thought of something.

"Hey Zero."

"Yeah? What is it Ranma?"

"Where are we going? Are you going back home?"

"Yeah, after you disappeared five goddesses appeared and saved our colony…" Zero trailed off.

Ranma noticed this and did not say anything about it.

"Okay fine but where are you going?"

"Oh yeah, I'm going back home… hey Ranma if you haven't gotten a place to stay you can come over to mine like last time." Zero asks sheepishly.

Ranma smiles at Zero. "Sure I love to. I'd like to see your mom again."

Zero also smiles but says nothing.

Zero's House That is STILL in a Forest

They both have finally gotten out of the forest into the plain that Ranma once remembered. Well, I looked almost exactly like it. The area is the same but the forest is a little bit closer. And the house that stood in the middle, made everything seem so peaceful…

Zero and Ranma neared the house. Zero looked perfectly fine, while Ranma on the other hand has twigs and leaves stuck all over his body. Ranma grumbles as he walks into the house.

Ranma looks around feeling a difference in the air. There were no homey feelings here or the motherly touch to anything. Wondering Ranma looks around, the house was what you call empty. Going up stairs Zero looks a bit sadden by something. Ranma looks up the stairs and continues to walk with him. Zero stops right in front of a room on the end of the hall. Ranma stops behind Zero and looks past his shoulders gazing into the other room. Ranma sees a sight that brought has heart down.

Zero's mother is on the bed sickly looking. She is still healthy enough to take care of herself but most of the time she felt sick and needed to lie down on the bed. Looking down on Rena Ranma said nothing.

"Mom, I've brought Ranma over again." Zero silently said.

"Oh that great dear. You're bringing over friends again. I was beginning to worry that you might not have friends."

Zero smiles, "Do you want anything mom? Like water?"

Rena smiles at Zero, "No thank you dear, I just need to have a little nap."

Zero smiles again and says "okay" before he left with Ranma.

Ranma looks at Zero with a lot of questions within his eyes.

Zero says nothing for a bit before he starts pouring his heart out to his first best friend.

"After you disappeared the Giseisha nearly destroyed us all. The five goddesses as I said before saved us, but the problem was that the safety shuttle was leaving and I got separated from mom. I was trying to get in with mom but the people kept pushing me so I couldn't get in. I think that experience had affected my mom more than it should. So now she is kinda sick. I hope that by going to G.O.A. I can transfer some money I get there or get professional help G.O.A. can provide back to my mom to at lease you know… help her." Zero said sadly.

Ranma nodded with understanding.

They both said nothing after that, all they did was have dinner and spent the time together in silence. They still made small talk but nothing important. Both of them felt weird on the subject of Zero's mom.

The Next Day

"We're finally going to G.O.A. I can't wait to show off there!" Ranma said with a smile on his face.

Zero looks at Ranma weirdly for a second. "What do you mean show off?"

"Well, I'll probably make through the physical exams easily. I mean I'm the best martial artist around after all." Ranma bragged.

Zero sweat dropped at the comment but said nothing.

Before they both left they said their good byes to Zero's mom.

Then they made their way into the city. They continued to keep walking until they reached into a shuttle the guards at the entrance required them to show their I.D.

Ranma got annoyed at the man but Zero kept it in better than he did.

"WHAT! WE BOTH HAVE TO SHOW OUR FREAKIN' I.D.'s!" Both yelled at the same time.

Ranma was about to punch the guy when they both didn't show their I.D.'s.

Ranma and Zero both didn't have I.D.'s for different reasons. Ranma because he just arrived in the world. Zero because he rarely visited the city and never bothered to ever have one.

As Ranma was about to punch the guy but a man behind him told them all to shut up.

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND GET IN HERE!" The man shouted.

The guard, Ranma, and Zero all jumped at the voice. The guard was about to yell back at the man until he saw his face.

"Yes SIR!" The guard saluted the man.

The man looks at Ranma and Zero. "My name is Azuma Hijikata, but from now on I'm your superior. So you can only call be by Hijikata-sensei or Azuma-sensei."

Both Zero and Ranma nodded dumbly. Not knowing what to say to the man.

"Good, so both of you get in. Were moving out." Azuma ordered.

Ranma and Zero looked at each other and shrugged as they followed him.

As they walked in everything was…. normal except for the fact that everything is bolted down to the floor. Wondering over the seats only a few people were there. Saying nothing to them Ranma and Zero sat off in a corner near the windows. They both talked until the shuttle lifted off.

When the shuttle started to move Ranma and Zero braced for the impact to their lungs. The shuttle lifted off easily but Zero didn't feel too well with it leaving off the ground. Ranma felt weird because of the feeling of leave the ground. Being used to mid-air combat did not make him invincible to the weightlessness that came from a flight.

Both feeling sick, Ranma and Zero headed to a bathroom together and puked their guts out. The flight finally reached space so the artificial gravity came in and made Ranma and Zero feel better again.

Coming out of the bathroom Ranma and Zero looked tired and pale. The excessive puking did not go well with their health for obvious reasons. They entered the lounge area and see the rest of the group with Azuma there.

Ranma began to smiles ruefully and Zero getting excited. Zero immediately ran over to a window to see if he could find Zion. After taking a minute finding it he happily pointed it out to Ranma. Ranma smiles at Zero and looks over to Azuma still hearing Zero's comments.

"LOOK AT THAT! IT'S A PLANET IT'S A PLANET A REAL PLANET!" Zero shouts happily.

"You've never seen it before?" Azuma questioned.

"What are you talking about? This is my first time leaving my colony!"

"And this is coming from a person who went to the bathroom during take off." Azuma dryly added.

Ranma answers for Zero and himself. "Yeah, we both felt reeealy sick all of a sudden and had to puke in the bathroom."

Zero nodded in agreement.

"WHAT! You have Zero Gravity sickness! This isn't in your data file! And you still expect to be a pilot!" Azuma quickly searches through his futuristic laptop.

"No I don't want to be, I WILL be the next pilot! You can't fight with destiny!" Zero self-proclaimed.

Ranma just shrugs and replies, "I'm just going in for the ride with him." Ranma said as he pointed at Zero.

"And all there's left is to learn how to!" Zero laughs to himself.

Azuma grumbles but then a kid also on the ship gets up and moves towards a door.

"And where do you think you are going candidate 87?" Azuma asked.

"Out… it's unpleasant in here." The kid with number 87 said coldly.

"Geeze what's his problem?" Ranma said out loud, Zero and Azuma nodding in agreement.

The kid with the spectacles seems to be interested in the conversation.

Not paying attention again Zero sees that Zion is fading away. Zero screams that he couldn't see Zion and rushes out of the door. Azuma sighs as he sees the kid running away. Ranma sighed too but then looks up suddenly. Azuma sees his reaction and was about to comment before Ranma interrupted him.

"Brace yourselves, a shockwave is about to hit the shuttle." Ranma braced himself for the impact. 'But how can it be this strong? It is about 10x my Moko Takabishi strength! I must find out how!'

Azuma looks at Ranma quizzically before he complied with what Ranma said. As soon as Azuma held on to a seat the whole shuttle rocketed back and forth. An explosion sounded off as the shuttle took some damage. Red light flared through the ship. Ranma grits his teeth as he realizes what is happening. Getting quickly out of his position Ranma rushes through the door Zero used.

Running down the hall he finally found Zero and the kid named number 87 they're fighting. Quickly grabbing both of them by the collar Ranma dragged them back to the lounge area. Not a moment too soon a vacuum of air rushes out of the area as the door shuts behind Ranma, Zero, and number 87. Heaving a sigh of relief Ranma looks over the both of them with an annoyed glare.

"What?" Zero asked.

"What were you doing out there fighting! You could've been killed. Lucky I got you guys before the vacuum got you!" Ranma shouts at Zero giving him a light bop on the head.

"Thanks…" Number 87 said.

"Uh… You're welcome…" Ranma paused.

"Hiead Gner." Hiead replied.

"You're welcome Hiead!" Ranma said cheerfully.

Zero pouts in the background. Hiead said nothing and turns around and sits down.

While the ship is in a state of emergency they signaled for the goddesses to pick them up. After a few minutes only one goddess arrived. A pure white goddess, perfect in any form. Zero sticks to the glass to see a better view of the goddess. Ranma sat by thinking of ways to improve his martial arts. The goddess picks them up carefully and cares them to the ship.

In the Engineering Bay

They all got off the shuttle and went right in front of the goddess to thank the pilot properly. Azuma made them of course. The pilots steps out. A white-heeled boot came first. Ranma got interested as she steps forward. Her blue her swaying in the air released by the goddess. Ranma was speechless.

"What a beautiful Goddess…"

Author Note: How you like the chapter? It took me forever to write this long. I got a writers block for this. Read and Review! You know you just have to press the button down there.