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.

22. Chapter 9b

PATH OF CHAOS: ASCENSION OF SUPREMACY

- By 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: Hmm... Arc 1's done.

By the way, pardon me if I and my prereaders missed some misspelled words in the fic. I upgraded my OS to WinXP, and sadly I got the no-Office copy, meaning, I have no spell check. I'll try to do a spell check on the edit page of FF dot net instead, but don't get your hopes up too much.

Warning about the bit of violence in some parts. Take note that the violence level would pick up real quick as Ranma gets flung deeper into everything.

I would like to thank Cory D. Rose and St Longinus for pre-reading this stuff. Many thanks to HolyKnight70, Norethfir, Valor Phoenix, SSJ Guyver and Silver Bullet for exchanging ideas with me, as well as semi-prereading. Special thanks to Backslash, who's been my best friend for, heck, years. Anyway, he's a cartoon, comics and anime otaku as much as I am. Kudos to you, my friend!

I had to cut off the chapter in half... it got too long. Sorry 'bout that folks...

To my significant other, Lady Ayame... this is for us!

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 9B - THE UNIVERSE OF ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES, CONCLUSION...

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In the Northern Continent, City of the Ancients...

For Aerith Gainsborough, the whole trip with the gang was a big tiring chore. It hadn't helped matters any when she found Cloud's uncanny rendition of her beloved Zack's personality. She was gravitated to show Cloud a bit of affection, yes, but Cloud's no Zack. Although, she felt she just had to help the poor boy to recover his memories, as well as help him save the Planet.

Also, there were these callings of the Planet itself. Since her powers manifested themselves back when she was a child, the Planet has been talking to her. It spoke of a tremendous blight that wanted to destroy the Planet. The blight's name was JENOVA.

That was why Aerith was here. To pray for the protection of the Planet. She also discovered in her younger years that she kept a white materia in her possession. Nobody was able to identify it, and Aerith felt that she should keep it safe up until it was needed. She felt that the materia was very important in the future, and it seemed that it has something to do with the Planet's cries.

Aerith fervently prayed to activate the materia. Now she had a name to call the materia by, thanks to the guidance of the souls in the Life Stream. The materia in her hands was named Holy.

Cloud and the rest of the group ran around and dodged the Shin-Ra soldiers, especially the Turks. It was another sore memory for Aerith. While Tseng was her friend from childhood, she can never love him more than a friend. And then there were the Turks' attempts to kidnap her. Really! What's a girl gotta do to have some peace and quiet anyway? Because of these kidnap attempts, Aerith was swept into the mess Cloud was in after blondie fell through the roof of her miniature garden in the old Slums cathedral. She hired Cloud to become her bodyguard, and was coincidentally recruited into saving Tifa, Cloud's childhood friend, from the local town rich pimp, Cornejo. There were more weird circumstances before they reached where they were right now.

Five years... somehow five years passed without word from Zack. But with Cloud's presence, Aerith felt that Zack was still around somewhere. Sure, she was a bit irritated that her lover hadn't even sent a letter to her, but then everything he does has a reason. Probably something like to protect her from harm or whatnot. Sweet, but a pain sometimes. Still, Aerith hoped that Zack was still alive, and that they meet soon.

Aerith missed Zack so much.

The brown haired girl huffed slightly as she tinkered with the light pink bandanna around her forehead. The trio of gems on her forehead was similar to her boyfriend's own, something in which confused them to no end. They had no idea why the two of them were the only ones who had them, not that they took the time to find out more about them. Although, Zack's gems came in a black, silver and golden color scheme, hers came at a trio of black gems. They both knew that the presence of the gems somehow connected them with each other beyond anything they could comprehend, but information about them came scarce. And if they tried to dig deeper, they knew they might attract the wrong crowd...

But she was getting sidetracked. She had to activate Holy to start the magic for Gaia's defense. Gaia was the new name of this Planet as of the moment, but the Planet once told her its former name was Earth.

Anyway, Aerith cleared her thoughts once again and concentrated on the task at hand, but she kept on having the most ominous feeling that she was in grave danger. But the Planet tried its best to placate her, telling her that this was her fate.

Fate... somehow, the term sounded totally wrong for Aerith. The girl huffed once again as she squirmed while she kneeled on the minuscule altar in the middle of the hall she was in. It was surrounded with water, and it gave off a tranquil feeling that should've allowed her to meditate on her prayer. But... these lingering thoughts kept nagging in her mind...

Aerith opened her eyes slowly and found herself staring at the hall's high ceiling. Funny, was that a silver-haired man dressed in black wielding a long-bladed katana eerily similar to her boyfriend's Masamune falling towards her in alarming speed? With the sword poised for a strike that came straight right at her chest?

The girl smiled at the funny thought. But the feeling of the cold wind which blew on her face disapproved the hallucination idea. She momentarily panicked, her smiling visage frozen at the sudden insight of her impending doom.

"What the..." Aerith muttered feebly as she locked gazes into the man's blue-green eyes as he descended towards her for the kill. There was no way she could dodge the deadly sword thrust anymore. But... the most amazing thing happened...

An explosion of feathers, followed by a loud clanging sound that signified a blade striking another blade echoed all over the cavernous room. A mass of white covered her sight as a stream of curses filled the air, followed by a voice which brought so much hope and happiness in her heart...

"Oh no you don't, Sephiroth." A deep melodious voice rumbled near Aerith. The feathers that momentarily blinded her slowly cleared up.

In front of her was another visage of a man with a dark cape. His back was against her as the mysterious stranger stood between Aerith and the other man with silver hair, who was surprisingly flung towards the other side of the hall over the waters. But the most prominent thing that caught Aerith's attention were the additional appendages that jutted out of the stranger's back. They were a pair of glowing silvery wings, and she could see the raven-haired pigtail that flowed down his back.

The silver haired man, whose name was revealed as Sephiroth, glared at Aerith's savior as he slowly stood up from his crouch. He landed on a small islet of land near the cavern wall. Sephiroth's eyes trailed down to his sword, and surprise showed on his face when he found the blade edge was nicked, badly. All because of one encounter...

"YOU...!" Sephiroth growled as he sheathed his sword unto its holster. His Masamune would have to be re-forged again soon. Not only that, he also failed his mission to kill the young upstart Cetra that wanted to hurt his mother, JENOVA.

The stranger shrugged as he rested his own long-bladed on his broad shoulder. "Yep. Me. What? You thought I could be killed that easily? In your dreams, kid."

The silver-haired man's lips went into a straight line. "It seemed that my information was wrong. So, you survived."

"Yup. Returned from the dead just to irritate you." The stranger's voice mused lightly. "I bet you're feeling quite angry right now."

Sephiroth bristled at the comment. "Damn you, you traitor! I will ki---" the rest of his statement was cut off when another voice called out from the entrance of the large grove.

"AERITH!"

Aerith didn't stray her eyes from the stranger, but her head inclined on one side to acknowledge the newcomer. Sephiroth gaze turned to the source of the shout. A blonde-haired man stumbled into the grove with the Buster Blade unsheathed.

The blonde was frantic, and was momentarily relieved when he spied upon Aerith's form. "Aerith!" he called out, "You okay?"

"Yes Cloud!" Aerith said in a daze, her stare still trained upon her defender.

Cloud was momentarily confused. There was a stranger with a black cape in front of Aerith, but the girl was safe. He was about to ask about it, when he finally saw the silver haired man on the other side of the cavern. "You... SEPHIROTH!" The blonde growled as he ran towards Aerith.

"Well..." The person in front of Aerith noised, "Seems like it's not your lucky day, eh Sephiroth? Watcha gonna do now?"

Sephiroth grunted, "Mother will be displeased. No matter... Reunion is at hand, boy. You cannot stop it. For now, I will let you go. There will be other chances to kill the girl, and of course, you as well..." Without waiting for a response, Sephiroth activated his Teleport materia and vanished from the area.

An intense and ominous silence permeated into the cavern after Sephiroth finally vanished.

"Eh..." The spell was broken when the only stranger left in the cavern spoke with slight amusement, "This is kinda... awkward..."

Finally, he slowly turned to face Cloud and Aerith, which allowed them to fully observe the man's profile. Added to the black cape were obsidian bracers that decorated his arms, a same dark-colored choker around his neck, a red furry belt around his waist, black body suit overlapped by a dark blue kevlar vest style armor, and the dark-tinted sunglasses that covered his eyes, and a trio of multicolored gems shimmered slightly on his forehead...

Cloud showed a confused look in his face. In some way, the mysterious stranger seemed familiar to him.

Aerith made a slight strangled noise when recognition immediately came to the expression on her face. Even when the man's hairstyle was changed slightly, there was no doubt in her mind... this man... this man was...

"Hey Cloud... you're probably still confused about all these..." The pigtailed man chuckled nervously, if only to alleviate the heavy atmosphere around the place. His facial features softened greatly when he turned to the awestruck brunette, "It has been a long time, Aerith... love..."

To Aerith... this man was...

"Mew!" A familiar pink furball phased into existence behind the man.

"ZACK! MEW!" The girl quickly leapt towards the man, who was revealed to be Zack. The man grunted as he caught the girl in his arms. He remained silent as he let the young woman sob into his chest while the pink cat floated around the pair happily.

Sephiroth was right about one thing. This was a Reunion... thought not the reunion he was hoping for.

Heh.

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Still at the City of the Ancients, in one of the abandoned mini-homes...

A large bonfire lit the area quite nicely, and it brought the necessary warmth to protect a person from the night's biting cold.

A group of odd people surrounded the said bonfire, who sat staring at each other in slight wonder and askance. Actually, most of the group's gazes concentrated on the new face on their team, as well as the weird cat that hung around the air near the newcomer quite protectively.

Aerith snuggled closer to Zack as the rest of her current erstwhile companions as she idly teased Mew with lazy waves of her hand in the air. Cloud sat across the lovebirds and stared at the scene with a mixed expression of slight anger and longing on his face. Tifa sat a bit to the side of Zack, while Yuffie sat next to the buxom long-haired girl. Barret was next to Cloud, confusion seemed permanently etched on his rugged features. Cid lay on the ground just behind Cloud, but was listening to the conversation while he pretended to be asleep. Red XIII posed on his haunches as he watched the new guy warily. The dog-tiger hybrid specifically glared at the floating feline beside Zack, who returned it with a stare of her own. Vincent was a bit behind Cloud's place, his face half-covered with the red scarf that surrounded his head. Cait Sith was curiously silent that night.

"I think..." Zack began as the fire cackled noisily, "That most of you have some questions... especially you, Aerith..."

The aforementioned girl sighed softly, but didn't lift her head from its position on Zack's chest. "Yeah, I do..." she said softly, but loud enough to be heard by everyone in the area, "Like... where have you been, or what have you been doing, or... how you survived, when I heard from the Turks that you were... killed... five years ago. But somehow, I can't bring myself to care too much about that... I knew you wouldn't die so easily like that..." She lifted her head to peer into Zack's sunglasses, "I'm just happy that I'm right to believe you're alive... and that you're here, with me..."

"Hey hey..." Barret said gruffly, "How do ya know that this guy's the real thing, Aerith?" He gestured with his gun-arm towards Zack's general direction.

Aerith snorted. "Oh, it's him, all right..." she replied with strict conviction, "There's nobody else who can expel that much ego during a fight. Also, there are some... special features that only Zack has which allowed me to be made sure of his identity. No doubt, this person I'm holding right now is Zack."

Cloud flinched slightly at the loving tone from the girl, which was mostly unnoticed by the group.

"I remember meeting Zack five years ago..." Tifa mused mainly to herself, "Back in my and Cloud's hometown, Nibelheim, I met Zack along with some Shin-Ra soldiers... and Sephiroth."

"Yeah..." Zack confirmed Tifa's words, "We were... investigating an accident in Mount Nibel at that time..." he glanced at Cloud, "And that incident where Sephiroth went nuts. But that will be a story for some other time. I don't know how to explain that one yet."

Yuffie piped up, "Aerith? Are you and Zack... you know?" she gestured with her hands vaguely.

Aerith got the idea of Yuffie's query anyway, "Yes, we are."

A soft "Ohhhhh..." came from the girls' vicinity.

Vincent decided to speak up, albeit in a low voice, "I heard stories about you. Shin-Ra Special Operative Zack, whose sword skills were second only to Sephiroth's. But... I heard of a few more rumors..." He bore a heated gaze towards the pigtailed man, "Some say that you're actually far better in fighting than Sephiroth. You only let him win in the spars because of rank, as well as not letting Sephiroth be embarrassed in losing to a subordinate."

Zack merely shrugged at the veiled accusation, while Mew seemed to glare at the moody Vincent.

"You have a weird scent..." Red XIII commented suddenly, which caused everyone to look at him in curiosity, "I mean... you have a different scent from the others out here. There's hardly enough human scent from you to classify you as human. In other words, you're not fully human..."

Mew hissed at Red XIII angrily, which caused the ruby-furred canine to flinch back slightly. Must have been the small cat's glowing pair of eyes when she glared at him.

"Says the talking hybrid canine..." Zack deadpanned wryly, which caused Aerith to giggle slightly. "Oh..." the man winced when he saw Red XIII eyeing Mew carefully, "Mew's pretty protective of me and Aerith, so better be careful. She can understand what you're saying perfectly, and she's also much more intelligent than she lets on."

"Hey..." Cloud called out to them, as he nodded towards Zack's direction. His aquamarine eyes strayed over to Aerith's snuggled form for a short time before they snapped back on Zack's face. "I was wondering... you told me earlier back in the cavern... that I may be confused... what do you mean by that?"

The former Shin-Ra operative stared at the bonfire for a few moments, as he contemplated on the answer to that question. The rest of the group waited impatiently for his reply, while Zack continued his staring contest with the flames.

At last, when the others were about to become rowdy in their wait, Zack spoke solemnly, "You're not ready to know. The fact that you were not able to make much progress in connecting the dots, so to say, means that you're far from ready." Before anyone could comment on his words, the pigtailed young man urged Aerith to rise, who complied accordingly, and stood together with the brown-haired girl. After whispering some choice words with Aerith, Zack nodded to her slightly and turned to the others still around the bonfire.

"I gotta talk to Aerith about some things..." Zack trailed off when he saw Red XIII and Barret started to rise from their seats, "... Alone. In private."

"What!" Barret bellowed as he glared at Zack angrily, "No way in hell am I gonna leave Aerith in your hands! Who knows what you'll...!"

"Barret! Please!" Aerith cut into the conversation as she stared at the dark-skinned man with the gun-arm, "Zack will NEVER hurt me! And yes, I'm one hundred and fifty percent sure he's the genuine Zack! We have to talk about a lot of things! Are you going to stop us from doing so!"

Barret winced as he lowered his head meekly, "S-Sorry! We're just worried!"

"And I thank you for that..." The healer of the group commented at him with a small smile on her face, "But Zack and I have a lot of things to talk about by ourselves. So please..."

Red XIII sighed as he sat back down, and grimaced when he noticed Mew was poised for an attack of some sort. He wasn't sure, but he felt quite frightened at the thought. He just hoped his fur wasn't standing up right now...

"If you will excuse us..." Zack said curtly as he led Aerith hand-in-hand out of the encampment. After a few steps though, Zack turned his head slightly to the side, while Mew twitched in mid-air. The floating cat seemed to nod at the man before he turned and continued out of the room. The pair vanished in the darkness of the rooms outside the place they stayed in and left the rest of the party to look at each other in trepidation.

Cloud's face was contrite; he probably wouldn't say it verbally, but the sight of Aerith happily joined hands with another guy really irked him. But he can't voice out his thoughts, especially since Aerith's tone against Barret was borderline anger. Still respectful and cheery, but everyone could practically taste the young woman's impatience to be alone with Zack. While true that Cloud spent a few hours alone with Aerith in Golden Saucer during their 'date', she hadn't stopped mentioning things about her 'boyfriend' though... much to his consternation. Especially in the Ferris Wheel...

Tifa and Yuffie glanced at one another in worry. Both were quite worried of Cloud, when they saw his normally non-expressive face slightly scrunch up in what they could describe as anger and jealousy. Tifa felt slightly affronted by this, since she herself had a thing for the blonde-haired mercenary. If not for his amnesia... Cloud would've remembered Tifa already. Yuffie was quite amused and weary at the same time. Amused, because it was only a few times she was able to witness such drama in real life. Weary, because she has been watching the 'Love Triangle' between Cloud, Tifa and Aerith ever since she joined the group. But because of this recent development, Yuffie was able to ascertain that the one-sided romances were evident. Tifa loved Cloud, Cloud loved Aerith, while Aerith loved a person outside the triangle, Zack. Ah, the drama continues...

Barret was still a bit put off by Aerith's mood swings. Well, he really can't do anything against Zack because of Aerith's reaction. He always felt like an older brother to most of the younger ones in the group, so he was pretty much over-protective of them. Especially the women.

Red XIII was totally baffled. His sense of smell was triple strength of those normal beasts around, and he smelled Aerith's immediate arousal ever since Zack saved her. One wouldn't have to be psychic just to understand the flow of her mind at the time, since it was so obvious on the expressions of her face. The sad thing was that Aerith now acted pretty much like a lioness reunited with her mate and patriarch, and it would be unwise for anyone around her to show any kind of hostility against the patriarch. Arghhh... hormones sucked, seriously...

Vincent was contemplating on the effects of this new development. For one, it has upset the balance of the group, with Aerith as she did a moment ago. Not that it was bad in itself, quite frankly, he was kinda glad Aerith finally found her long lost supposed-to-be dead love. While it didn't show on his facial expressions, Vincent was quite worried about the girl. He could see the depression set underneath Aerith's mask of cheerfulness. While the girl continued to tease Cloud every now and then, he could feel her trying to lighten up dire situations whenever they were in a depressing mood. And Zack... the man was a legend. He has heard how great the man was, and that Zack was a person who will not intentionally do anything bad. Vincent also found stories about Zack bravely standing up to anyone who wanted to order him around, even against the Shin-Ra president. Vincent mused as to how this situation will turn out, and also wondered how Cloud would interact with the guy. It would be really interesting to watch...

Behind the robotic doll named Cait Sith, Reeve sat in his hidden base of operations somewhere in Gaia. He knew who Zack was, and the soldiers who participated in the 'Hunt' for the escaped duo of Zack and Cloud was pretty much certain that Zack died that day five years ago. Of course, now that he saw Zack through Cait Sith's camera that the man was alive and well, that theory was out of the window. How did Zack survive the nearly fifty-story drop off the ravine anyway? And then there were the gunshot wounds... too many mysteries...

Frankly, Cid didn't care much about everything. Sure, Aerith acted a little out-of-character, but hey, she's still a woman. And to be reunited with her love at such manner, well... it was inevitable. Besides, when he saw the pure unadulterated joy in Aerith's eyes whenever she looked at Zack, Cid was reminded of his somewhat relationship with Sierra. Ah... how he missed her so...

Mew glared at the dog-turd that was with the group. She disliked Red XIII, especially when his scent was a mixture of both canine and feline attributes. Quite confusing for her, really, but she can defend herself when she wanted to. Besides, she wanted her beloved master and partner to have some time to be reacquainted with Aerith. Mew was fond of the girl because of Aerith's innate ability to make people feel... content... whenever she was around them. Aerith's uncanny ability to disperse disputes with only a smile on her radiant face was a sight to behold. As much as Mew wanted to reunite with Aerith, Zack's welfare was Mew's priority at the moment. Besides, Zack has a lot of things to talk about with Aerith for now, point driven to the topic of Zack's newly-recovered memories. And boy, were those memories a doozy! With their link, Mew was able to 'see' bits and pieces of those memories of Zack's. Although, Mew did like Zack's true name... Ranma. It sounded so... wild and primal.

Anyway...

Aerith and Zack broke off from the group hand in hand. The pigtailed young man led the brown haired girl back to the grove where Aerith was praying a while ago. The brown haired girl shivered a bit as she had a few flashbacks at what happened earlier. When Zack saw that his girlfriend tensed when they entered the huge cavern, he tightened his grip on her hand a bit to reassure her. Sure enough, Aerith relaxed when she felt him do so.

"I never wanted to believe you died, Zack..." Aerith began as her eyes strayed on the altar in the middle of the grove, "I... I've always felt that you'll come back someday. But..." she smacked her free hand against his arm weakly, "What took you so long, you dope!"

"Sorry..." Zack chuckled weakly as he led Aerith to the altar itself. The pair stopped a few steps from the shrine and gazed at the water beyond it calmly. "A lot of things happened..." Zack continued, "That incident actually did me a few favors..."

"Oh?" Aerith asked skeptically as she slowly disengaged her hands from her boyfriend's, and sat at a protruding rock on the ground, "What, pray tell, is more important than your girlfriend?" She threw him a mock glare. The humor was lost with Zack's serious face.

The pigtailed man removed his glasses and put them in his pocket. He stared at Aerith thoughtfully and replied, "I got my memories back."

Aerith's blue-gray eyes widened quite a bit when she heard the news. She sat rigid as she gazed at her lover's ethereal eyes, "Wow... all of your memories?"

Zack nodded. "Yep. All of them. And so much more..." he grinned as he slowly lifted off the ground, which caused the girl to be more surprised. He still held his grin as he slowly floated nearer towards Aerith, "I have powers, Aerith... and my memories... they're so much more than anyone can ever imagine."

"W-Wow!" Aerith gasped, "But... isn't that a good thing? I mean... you know..."

"It depends on how you'll react to them, I guess..." Zack sighed as he willed his body to go horizontal and took a lying position languidly in midair, "I was hoping you'll be able to accept the consequences."

"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" Aerith joked weakly, but Zack could see the slightly frightened undertone within the question.

"As I've said, it will depend on how you'll take them..." The pigtailed man whispered audibly.

Zack began to explain to Aerith explicitly about his origins. He began with his old life in the Nerima of his home world, his true parentage, how he found out, his travels, his accident with Washuu's inventions, the chaos he introduced in the futuristic universe... and the girls.

Aerith got a far-away look on her face when Zack mentioned of his true parentage, especially with the name Tokimi. It was quite familiar with her, but she couldn't explain how. Her musings were cut short rudely when Zack mentioned the girls... and Ryoko, the bearer of Zack, no, Ranma's first child Ranko. Her eyebrows twitched wildly when Zack mentioned of the girls' plans for their... relationship with him.

"Sharing, huh..." Aerith mumbled as she returned to her dazed expression.

Zack, or rather, Ranma swallowed nervously, "So you see... I'm..."

Aerith cut him off, "All those girls vying for your affections... must be really nice for you, huh?"

The man scratched the back of his head slightly in embarrassment. "I'm tempted to say no, but somehow I felt that I would be a liar if I do so..." he looked at the water's dark depths as he continued, "Also... it's the girls' decision. It wouldn't be right for me to just ignore them. Besides... it's true... I feel strong emotions for all of them..." he eyed Aerith's slightly slumped form at the corners of his eyes, "Just as strong as what I feel for you."

"Wha?" Aerith's head snapped back up and faced the man she now knew as Ranma, "Are you... are you saying that...?"

Ranma shrugged slightly, "Many would call me a pervert, a womanizer, an opportunist, maybe. But... I can't help it. I love you, just as much as I love the other girls as well. I try to give attention to all of them as much as I can..."

Aerith's eyes widened once again, but this time it's because of a huge realization. She saw it clearly, Zack's... Ranma's love for her literally smashed into her in waves. It made her heart beat faster, and her breath hitched at the enormity of the situation. Ranma has all those girls waiting for him, and he also loved her too. What to do... what to do...?

"I told you that it will be up to you..." Ranma muttered, "I'll accept any decision you make about this. I know I don't deserve your love, especially since it seems that I'm stringing you along, but I really do lo---"

Whatever he was going to say trailed off when Ranma found his lips being smothered by Aerith's, when the girl leapt towards the man's floating form with wild abandon. Unknown to them, their hearts synchronized with the tremendous emotions that seemed to have been released with their current union, and the gems on Ranma's forehead shone brightly. In response, Aerith's bandanna was burned off by the intensity of her own gems' shine, and they seemed to gleam in response with one another.

Ranma was forced to release their heated kiss when Aerith's head suddenly snapped back as she made a wordless scream. He finally saw that the gems they both had were glowing brightly, and caused him to worry a bit.

Aerith's mind was suddenly unlocked. Her thoughts became a jumble of memories as her mind continued its recollection. The black gems on her forehead flared brighter as thousands upon thousands of unfamiliar memories were crammed into her mind... her old life... her life as... as... Belldandy?

Who was Belldandy? Ah... daughter of Tokimi... Tokimi? Goddess... a goddess... of Chaos... her mother... the seal of God as she was taken away from her mother... her service as a formal Goddess of the Present alongside her 'sisters'... sisters? Urd... Goddess of the Past... Skuld... Goddess of the Future... the granted wish to become the girlfriend of a mortal named Keiichi... the appearance of the dark gems upon her forehead... her recent, or was it past... meeting with her real mother... the seal of God broken...

The new punishment... her person a declared heretic... was forced to be reincarnated into a mortal body... as... Aerith? Aerith... yes... Aerith... or Belldandy... no! Belldandy! That's who she was! She was Belldandy, daughter of Tokimi, reborn into a mortal shell.

She was Belldandy, at the same time... she was also Aerith.

And Zack... no... Ranma... Ranma? Ranma's biological mother... Tokimi... half-brother in her previous incarnation. Yes... Ranma... Zack... in this life... her lover...

Her love... Ranma...

"RANMA!" Aerith, rather, Belldandy screamed as she hugged the startled man she straddled on. "I found you... I finally found you!"

"Y-You... what?" Ranma asked in confusion as he automatically held the distraught girl in his arms. He had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation, but he improvised...

Belldandy cried tears of joy as the pain in her mind ceased, "I... I was reborn as well... I was... I was Belldandy, Goddess of the Present... until Kami-sama punished me when I met my mother once again... my mother... Tokimi!"

"EH!" Ranma quailed as he almost lost control of his powers as the two of them almost fell back down the ground. "S-So... you're my... half-sister?"

"Former half-sister..." Belldandy insisted as she buried her face deeper into Ranma's chest, "As punishment... I was reborn as a mortal. I was punished because I recovered my memories of mother!"

Belldandy continued her sniffles as she continued, "Kami-sama took my memories when they imprisoned mother in another dimension. He trained me into becoming one of His goddesses. I got stuck on Earth when a mortal wished me to become his girlfriend. Then one day, these gems appeared..." she gestured to her forehead, "And then... I met mother in a town called Nerima..."

"Nerima..." Ranma breathed, "You mean... Tokimi-mama..."

"Yes..." The former goddess of the Present replied, "She was freed from her dimensional prison. As to how that came to be, I do not know. But she was there, and she was looking for you."

"Looking for me..." Ranma whispered as he slowly allowed the two of them to settle down on the ground, "She... she was looking for me..."

Belldandy lifted her head and gazed into Ranma's eyes, "It was by pure chance that I found her there. It was then that the memory block in my mind was removed. The memories were bittersweet for me, but I was happy I was able to remember mother... after which I was pulled out from that universe and was put here. I was forced to be reborn as a mortal to a special couple, Doctor Gast and Ifalna."

"Heee..." The pigtailed man smiled tentatively, his face twisted in a sick fascination, "I... I made out with my sister..."

"In essence only, love..." Belldandy murmured as she planted a light kiss upon Ranma's slightly opened lips, "The past is done. This is my present now. I am mortal, born from different parents. While I have Belldandy's memories, I am now Aerith as well."

Ranma scratched his head. "Uhmm... well, what name do we call you then?"

"Belldandy..." The brown-haired girl smiled at the young man's skeptical expression, "I don't want to pretend that I am not Belldandy. I am also Aerith, but I am Belldandy. I answer to both names, but... please, call me Belldandy."

"Belldandy..." The pigtailed hybrid said the name reverently, as he stared into the former goddess' eyes intently. "What about... us? We're... half-siblings in your past life... doesn't that bother you? At all?"

The beautiful brown haired girl slid her hand on Ranma's cheek as she said, "The past life is just that, the past. I was a goddess in my past life, so I should know a few things regarding how Existence work, my dear. I may have my goddess memories back, but physically, I'm no longer Belldandy. And about your harem..." she pinched his cheek playfully, "From my goddess memories, I am not adverse to the idea. In fact, most divinities have their own harems. There are also humans in different religions who allow harem relationships as well. So don't bother trying to convince me otherwise."

Ranma was about to protest, but Belldandy gleefully silenced him with a searing kiss. When they broke apart, the young woman gave him a passionate gaze.

"Don't bother trying to weasel out this, love... I have decided. Which means... that you're stuck with me, along with the other girls as well..." Belldandy said in amusement, "Now come along, dear. We need to get... reacquainted. Your goddess has been without you for way too long..."

The pigtailed alien sighed morosely. He wasn't able to do anything when the ex-goddess pulled themselves up from the ground and led him back to the camp.

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

The entire party of Gaia's saviors looked up curiously when they heard footsteps rapidly approaching their position. They were about to draw their respective weapons, only to sigh in relief when the light of the dying bonfire revealed the intruders to be their companion Aerith and the still-mysterious person named Zack. They had just finished setting up their sleeping quarters, which were simple tents made out of cloth that they had bought from the last town they were in a while ago.

They were quite surprised to see Aerith's fiery determination as she did not even bother to pause and say hi to them when the pair just walked past them towards one of the tents the rest of the group had set up earlier. Zack did throw them an apologetic look as he was pulled by Aerith into one of the tents farthest from the others out in the back. The party watched as the flaps of the tents were violently shoved closed by feminine hands in an eerie sign of finality. Only then did they noticed something different from what Aerith looked like when she passed them.

"Is it just me, or does Aerith have black gems on her forehead just now?" Tifa commented shortly after the pair locked themselves in the tent. A soft yelp followed by the sound of cloth being ripped were heard afterwards.

Barret nodded. "Ya, she usually had a bandanna over that forehead of hers, right?" he said as he stared at the direction of the aforementioned tent, which shook slightly as another sound of protest escaped from it.

Mew just snorted as she fluttered near the dying fire. She knew what had happened because of her link with Zack, but she wasn't about to say anything about it. Not that anyone from this crowd understood her in the first place.

"Cloud, did you know about that?" Yuffie asked with a slight greedy expression on her face. ((They're probably materia!)) she thought to herself giddily.

The spiky blonde-haired mercenary shook his head. "No. The truth is, I don't know much about Aerith."

The group's chatter fell silent when soft moans emanated from the tent the pair got into.

Mew twitched on the ground as she tried to drown the extreme emotions she felt through the link. It didn't help too much as her eyes glazed over.

Red XIII's nose scrunched up as he yipped in distress. The group looked at him curiously as he leapt up and scrambled to the other side of the camp, opposite of their sleeping tents.

Yuffie, the Wu-Tai ninja noticed her fellow female in the party, Tifa, had blushed so much as the long-haired girl ducked her head to hide it, but it was for naught. The ninja leaned to her friend and asked, "What's wrong, Tifa? Your face is all red..."

"S-Shut up!" Tifa blushed even harder as she tried to shove the other girl away, but one good thing about Yuffie was that she was very persistent.

The same persistence gave Yuffie the strength not to be thrown off her seat as she leaned towards Tifa once again as she waited for the answer. She was about to ask again when a loud feminine scream emanated from the tent, which caused her to stand and draw her weapon.

"That guy's hurting her! Let's go help Aerith!" Yuffie crowed enthusiastically. But her ire switched into confusion when she noticed no one was following her. Everyone, except Cloud, had their gazes anywhere but towards her. The blonde haired mercenary looked at the fire with a weird expression on his face.

"Uhm, hey? Why isn't anyone following me?" Yuffie asked in exasperation.

Cid spoke up without moving from his prone position, "Kid, sit down. Aerith's not bein' hurt or anything."

Yuffie insisted, "But she screamed! I heard her, YOU heard her..."

"Yuffie..." Tifa's soft pained voice caused Yuffie's anger to deflate rapidly, "Zack and Aerith... they're in a relationship." The female bartender looked up to see if Yuffie understood.

The ninja didn't.

"They've been separated for so long, and I guess they've pretty much gone far in their relationship..." Tifa tried once again, only to be met by a blank look from the other girl.

"And...?" Yuffie tilted her head to one side.

"Good god, girl..." Barret grumbled loudly as he stomped his foot on the ground. He has been watching the exchange in frustration. "Didn't your pops ever tell you about the 'birds and the bees' yet? You're old enough to know 'bout it!"

"Wh-What?" Yuffie stammered as she fell down to her butt in shock. "Y-You mean... Aerith... t-they..."

"Yes, Yuffie." Vincent stated in a monotonous voice, "Aerith and Zack are a couple. Couples go beyond hugging and kissing after some time in their relationship. You know... SEX."

This was punctuated by a loud duet of groans from the tent in question, which caused everyone to look away in embarrassment.

"O-Oh..." Yuffie muttered. She then stood up quickly and casted a desperate look towards Tifa, "W-Well, we better get some sleep, right? We've got a big day tomorrow! Ho-hum! Sleepy! Yes?"

Tifa's eyes widened in understanding. "R-Right! Sleep! Let's go Yuffie!" she said as she stood up as well. Both girls quickly scampered towards their tent, which caused the males to look at them in askance.

"They do realize that their tent's the nearest to theirs, right?" Cid drawled out as he pulled down his bandanna over his eyes firmly in place.

Barret looked at Cait Sith and saw that it was already 'asleep'. "Eh... anyway, the girls are right. We need to sleep..." he threw Cloud a concerned gaze, "You okay there Cloud?"

The blonde merely growled softly as he stood. "I dunno. Maybe. Right, let's get some sleep." Without waiting for a reply, Cloud went inside the males' tent.

"Heh..." Cid sniffed, "The kid's jealous. Love triangles... gotta love 'em."

It was a... vigorous night for Ranma and Belldandy, while the rest were kept awake by the sounds. Especially Mew, who twitched every now and then at the sensations she was receiving from Ranma.

Ah, glorious night indeed...

The morning came quickly, as Aerith emerged from the tent bushy-tailed and energetic. Zack came out with his eyes still half-closed after a short while and plopped down next to her near the re-lit fire, his red tail dangled lifelessly behind him... though nobody noticed it yet. Everyone was already around the fire, their haggard expressions were testament to their lack of sleep. Mew was draped on Zack's back, because the whole night she was an unwilling distant participant in the pair's coupling. Red XIII sniffed as a sudden onslaught of cold attacked his sense of smell. Barret threw Zack a tired glance, unwilling to voice out his protests due to Aerith's weird mood swings. Vincent was... stoic as always, but one could see his shoulders slumped just a bit lower than normal. Cid was cursing under his breath as he cooked breakfast, his eyes had black bags under them. Tifa and Yuffie huddled close to one another, their hair in total disarray and their faces showed an expression of horror mixed with envy in them. Cait Sith kept its silence as it prepared the dishes and utensils to be used for the meal.

The awkwardness of the situation was broken when Aerith finally revealed ANOTHER huge secret... Zack and Aerith's true selves... their lives as Ranma and Belldandy. It took the pair more than a couple of hours to explain the situation of their lives, particularly Belldandy's.

"So, let me get this straight..." Tifa said slowly, her eyes alternated between the woman she got to know as Aerith, and the man she has met as Zack, "Zack, rather, Ranma... isn't from this world, and that he's been traveling in different dimensions to get home. While Aerith, I mean Belldandy, was punished by god, THE God, to become mortal because she recovered her memories as the daughter of this... Tokimi?"

"That's right!" Belldandy tittered cheerfully, as she clutched tightly as her slightly embarrassed boyfriend.

"Whoa whoa whoa..." Barret waved his arms frantically, "Different dimensions, gods, goddesses... man what a messed up situation!"

Vincent interjected, "Not only that, but both of you were... half-siblings before... Belldandy... became mortal."

"And now..." Yuffie added energetically, "You're lovers! That's sooooo romantic!" She clasped her hands in front of her dreamily.

"So..." Cloud grumbled gloomily, which caused everyone to sober up from their festivities quickly, "There was never an Aerith Gainsborough to begin with. It was all... a lie."

"Actually..." Ranma cleared his throat, as the group's attention shifted towards him, "To my understanding of how Bell explained it..." the aforementioned girl blushed at her new nickname, "Belldandy actually 'died' when she was reborn in her mortal body. So, Aerith is real, only with the additional Belldandy memories. Whereas I..." Ranma pointed to himself with his thumb, "Actually never died. So, I am Ranma, who took the name Zack, when I crash landed here a couple of decades ago. So, it was Zack that wasn't 'real' per say, but my own created identification to make me fit in this world with my amnesia."

"That's correct..." Belldandy nodded, "I am Aerith, but I chose the name Belldandy because that's been my name since I was born in my past life for thousands of years as a goddess. But I still answer to the name Aerith, only, I also answer to the name Belldandy."

"Confusing..." Cid moaned as he slapped his forehead, "So, you're Ranma and Belldandy now. That's fine with me. As long as they don't destroy the world or anything, I don't care what their names are."

Red XIII was about to comment, but his attention riveted on the red furry thing that wriggled behind Zack, err, Ranma. His eyes widened when he saw the thing wave again, as he finally recognized what it was. The canine hybrid stammered some nonsense as he pointed a shaky paw towards Zack's behind.

Mew, the ever-so-protective of her master/partner/friend, immediately teleported in front of Red XIII and smacked the poor canine with her tail. Red XIII yelped as he leapt backwards, his teeth bared slightly at the pinkish floating cat that glared menacingly at him.

"Hey Red, what's the matter?" Barret asked curiously.

Red XIII pointed his paw at Ranma once again, more specifically, Ranma's red tail. "Ranma has a tail, if you're just curious to know."

Everyone, except Belldandy, Ranma and Mew, gasped when they saw the red furry tail that flittered in the air from behind the pigtailed young man. Not only does Ranma have weird eyes, but a working tail as well?

"Uhm..." Ranma chuckled nervously, his tail quivered agitatedly as it became the topic of the discussion, "I can explain this, really!"

Belldandy giggled melodiously as she watched the love of her life flounder around on his story. She knew about it for a long time now, with her memories as a goddess in the previous life. She gave Ranma a loving gaze...

All the while gently running her hands upon her flat stomach.

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

The group continued their pursuit of Sephiroth, as they encountered multitudes of obstacles in the Shin-Ra and some very powerful monsters. It didn't help them that Ranma refused to participate in most of the battles. The pigtailed man said that it was to toughen them up, something in which Belldandy agreed upon as well.

Ranma explained that he will not always be around to help them, but Belldandy knew the real reason.

With her love's recovered memories, his link with his other partner, Rin-Ohki has been re-established. Already, the pair expected the rest of Ranma's entourage of women to come and take them back. Yes, Belldandy has decided that she will leave with him when the time comes.

Belldandy, though, was curious as to why her link with the World Tree Yggdrasil has been off lately. But she surmised that it was because of her rebirth, but she wasn't sure. Even with the problem, she did amass quite a lot of knowledge regarding Ranma's past, as well as his 'plotted' future. But for some reason, Kami-sama's plan for Ranma were totally derailed. Kami-sama was supposed to have Ranma, or his own previous life's person as Chaos, by His side. The notion was totally bombed, with Ranma being the dominant personality and was totally against his Fate.

But it was good, after all, if the events hadn't happened, she wouldn't have met him. Then she remembered her own life as Belldandy, and the wish that led her to be stuck on Earth for quite a number of months. Keiichi Morisato was a kind young man, that's true, but Belldandy wondered if the former emotions she felt for the man were real. After all, if Kami-sama would seal her memories of her mother and her past, why not plot her own fate as well, right?

While the group continued their journey to the path of Sephiroth, Belldandy mulled upon her own fate. She discussed this once with Ranma, and the man just laughed at her. She was about to bash him with her staff, but he followed up with a simple statement.

"Fate is just as an excuse whenever things go wrong, or right, depending upon the situation. Our future lies in our own hands, not on fate or destiny, but with our own actions and decisions."

Because of that, Belldandy was now faced with the truth. She would face her own future and shape it with her own two hands. And she will do this with her Ranma. More about her own mortal past was uncovered when they reached the Icicle Inn, where Ifalna and Professor Gast hid from Doctor Hojo. Belldandy couldn't help but shed some tears when she saw the video taken by his mortal self's father, Professor Gast, of her mortal self's mother, Ifalna. Even if she stayed with them for only a short while before they were killed, she loved them dearly.

The most prominent source of information for them with regards to Belldandy, rather, Aerith's heritage were revealed in the Temple of the Ancients. This was also where Ranma and Belldandy met up with the Turks, in particular, Tseng, for the last time.

But the group moved on, intent on stopping the menace brought about by Sephiroth.

Cloud, on the other hand, became quite desolate. With Belldandy's strengthening resolve about her future, Cloud's doubt on his future became apparent. No one noticed it in the outside, but his turmoil in the inside grew in intensity. His love for Aerith, or Belldandy, became one of the foundations of the personality he adopted for himself when he woke up from his coma. Ranma was tight-lipped about his relations on Cloud's past, saying that Cloud has to be the one to learn the truth for himself.

Information that pertained to the Reunion was of no help, as secrets unraveled themselves as they surged on. Certain secrets about Doctor Hojo's experiments, as well as the truth what happened to Cloud in the past. The biggest blow came to the group when they faced Doctor Hojo in the Northern Crater, just as the Black Materia was used by Sephiroth to summon Meteor.

The mad doctor gleefully explained most things, particularly, how he fathered a girl named Lucrecia, who bore the man now known as Sephiroth. But while Sephiroth was still a fetus, he was already subjected to Hojo's experiments on the JENOVA cells. Which was why Sephiroth was more... stable... than the other samples. As a fetus, Sephiroth had a lot of time to accommodate the JENOVA cells and integrated them into his own DNA structure. But as in everything else in the universe, it was never perfect. Sooner or later, the effects took hold of Sephiroth.

Vincent was especially incensed regarding the girl named Lucrecia. Apparently, he was in love with the young woman, but she chose Doctor Hojo. For what reason, nobody bothered to know.

Doctor Hojo cheerfully told them what he did with Cloud. The blonde mercenary's doubt increased when Hojo mentioned how Cloud was a failure as a test subject. Cloud was infused with the same JENOVA cells inside Sephiroth, and was exposed to Mako Radiation Therapy. But that was after Cloud was found inside the Mount Nibel Mako Reactor ruins, after which the blonde managed to wound Sephiroth severely. Unlike the other test subject that was used the same time Cloud was, the regular blonde soldier had a reaction to the JENOVA cell infusion, as well as a severe case of Mako poisoning. Doctor Hojo made a lot of... adjustments on Cloud's body to 'retrofit' the blonde for the doctor's experiments.

Ranma knew the truth though, but he kept his silence. This was new information, however painful it would be to Cloud, Ranma knew the blonde mercenary needed to hear this for himself, and make his own conclusions.

Apparently, Ranma miscalculated Cloud's doubt of himself. The mercenary was so full of self-doubt that Cloud lost his sense of self. Ranma was slightly guilty at this, for if he only woke up earlier from his self-induced healing trance five years ago, he would've been able to spare Cloud of this psychological torment.

In the end, the group failed to stop Meteor from being summoned, and Cloud's psychological state was destroyed to an extreme degree. The group watched helplessly as Cloud was whisked away by the blonde's own power and disappeared from their sight. As the place they were in slowly collapsed, Ranma hesitantly teleported all of them in Junon.

Most of the towns all over Gaia were damaged by the backlash of the Meteor summoning magic. Barret became totally worried about his daughter Marlene in Midgar, and Ranma obliged to help by teleporting the group into the town. They found Marlene, as well as Belldandy's foster mother Elmyra, alive and well amongst the other refugees who managed to escape the destruction of their homes. The group took the refugees to the town of Kalm, and asked Elmyra Gainsborough to take Marlene. The group made sure the Midgar refugees were safe, before they took off to take care of the business at hand.

Belldandy implored Ranma to search for the distraught Cloud, but the pigtailed man refused, albeit with a small amount of reluctance. Ranma stated that the rest of the group needed to find Cloud with their own power to show their full support for the poor man. If he decided to intervene now, Cloud's mental state would become borderline insane, as what happened to Sephiroth. Now that Cloud knew he wasn't what his personality perceived itself to be, Ranma's presence would only make things worse.

Ranma told Belldandy bluntly that the both of them shouldn't interfere too much, because they were part of the reason for Cloud's mental trauma as well. The former goddess understood Ranma's reasoning and agreed into taking the sidelines in the new journey of the search for Cloud.

Along the way, they met a few remnants of Hojo's JENOVA experiments. The Sephiroth Clones, as they dubbed them, had numbers on them signifying their connection with Sephiroth. Most of them either went insane, or died because they became too sick from their respective reactions on the JENOVA cells.

Belldandy was mortified at the situation and was quite worried about Ranma's welfare. Her lover had been involved in the experiment as well, but Ranma reassured her that he was capable of fending off JENOVA's influence. Red XIII, whose real name was Nanaki, was quite worried as well. Nanaki bore the number 13 as one of Doctor Hojo's test subjects. When Nanaki vocalized his concerns regarding his own mental state, Tifa was adamant that Nanaki would be all right. Ranma smiled at the group's interaction, which proved that his decision of leaving things to them was the right thing to do.

This will also strengthen their ties with one another, and Ranma knew they will need it in the battles to come.

After a few weeks of floundering around, they managed to locate Cloud in a small village called Mideel. It wasn't such a happy occasion though, because Cloud was in his semi-catatonic state once again. He was in the same condition when Ranma managed to free both of them from Hojo's laboratory. Tifa took it upon herself on seeing of Cloud's needs while he's on a wheelchair.

This one disaster was followed by another, as gigantic organic beasts called WEAPONs emerged from various locations in Gaia. Ruby WEAPON wandered the deserts, Emerald WEAPON terrorized the seas, Diamond WEAPON walked the lands, and the Ultimate WEAPON ruled the air.

Belldandy explained that these WEAPONs were not evil. They were the Planet's automatic defense system against threats. The WEAPONs remained dormant during times of peace, but were awakened whenever the Planet felt danger upon itself, in this case, Meteor. However, they were indiscriminate of their targets.

Which was why Mideel was suddenly attacked by the Ultimate WEAPON. The massive behemoth's shadow covered the village as it began its assault. Barret, Yuffie, Red XIII, Cait Sith and Vincent began their defense of the village while Ranma and Belldandy led the village people to safety. Sadly, Tifa and Cloud were caught up in a stray attack. The ground where the hospital the pair stayed in opened up and spewed green stuff.

The Life Stream, as was explained by Belldandy a while back. The main lifeline of the planet itself, comprised mostly of spiritual energy. Cloud and Tifa fell into one of the rifts that contained Life Stream.

This event was unfortunate for them, but at the same time, it was necessary. It was only then that Cloud was forced to face his true past, way before the incident in Nibelheim. With Tifa's help, Cloud was able to piece his past together, and then some. Tifa finalized her feelings for Cloud in this 'dream world' orchestrated by the Life Stream's will. The most prominent memory Cloud and Tifa had of their past in Nibelheim was Cloud's promise to Tifa of always being their for the girl to protect her whenever she needed him. Tifa almost forgot the promise, but Cloud never did. In fact, Ranma had an indirect hand in allowing Cloud to keep his promise by making the blonde come with the Shin-Ra entourage in the Mount Nibel expedition. Even if Tifa didn't know it, the unknown regular soldier that kept on 'pestering' her was actually Cloud.

The more painful memories came into the form of the incident inside the Nibel Mako Reactor. It was when Cloud saw his friend, Zack, getting slashed by Sephiroth. Not only his best friend and mentor, but also one of the most important people in his life... Tifa, has gotten involved in the conflict. The sight of her limp body flying in the air with blood spraying everywhere spurred her into taking Zack's sword and coming after Sephiroth inside the main core of the reactor. It was then that he was able to deal the fatal blow on Sephiroth, but he didn't escape unharmed. He was run through by the silver-haired man's Masamune.

During Cloud's memory recollection, Ranma and the others were trying to push Ultimate WEAPON back. Ranma was adamant on NOT destroying the WEAPON, not because Belldandy asked him to, but because he felt no ill aura on the organic planetary guardian. It was only reacting to Gaia's pain with regards to Meteor's summoning, and probably categorized ALL Homo Sapiens as threats to the Planet. Hence, the indiscriminate attacks of the Ultimate WEAPON on anything that moved...

Belldandy's shield spell was very useful in retaining some of the village's semblance of its terrain as the shield deflected Ultimate WEAPON's stray blasts. Ranma helped in steering off the angry WEAPON away from the village. Eventually, the WEAPON grew tired and ceased its attacks. With a loud roar, the massive monster fled the area without disturbing anything else. The group was finally able to breathe easier now, and put themselves to the task of recovering Tifa and Cloud from the rift the pair fell into. Again, it was Ranma who took charge of this job, since he was probably the only one aside from Belldandy who would be able to resist the side effects of being exposed to too much of the Life Stream. With his flight ability and teleportation, the pigtailed alien hybrid easily transported Tifa and Cloud out of the rift.

Cloud finally remembered everything... he recognized Ranma as Zack, whom, he was quite happy to see alive and well. The blonde explained how Zack took him under his wing as a student in sword fighting, also how Zack protected him whenever he got into trouble with the bigwigs of Shin-Ra. He also mentioned how Zack managed to cheer him up when he's down, especially when the realization came to Cloud how much he failed in his promise with Tifa.

Belldandy couldn't have been prouder of her beloved as she gave him her approving smile.

The small band of would-be world saviors had a short time of respite after the incident with Cloud, but as with every good thing it wasn't meant to last. Gaia has become dark and gloomy, as Meteor loomed closer by the second. One could see the huge space comet on Gaia's skies.

Not only that... the WEAPONs began their attacks on various villages and Shin-Ra bases. Emerald WEAPON has been attacking Junon from underwater as of late, and Diamond WEAPON just finished destroying the Sister Ray cannon Shin-Ra has built over at Junon. Both Diamond WEAPON and the Sister Ray annihilated each other when both blasted the other apart with their respective attacks.

The Sister Ray was meant to destroy the barrier that protected the Northern Crater, the place where Sephiroth waited for Meteor to land.

Ruby WEAPON scourged the land near Golden Saucer, destroying various military entourages as they patrolled the area to control the monsters that have increased lately. Ultima WEAPON was hovering above the Northern Crater itself.

The group decided to split up in dealing with the WEAPONs first. Ranma and Belldandy offered themselves to go after the underwater giant named Emerald WEAPON. The pigtailed alien hybrid reasoned that he doesn't really need air to begin with, and would be the perfect candidate to have Emerald WEAPON retreat back into the Planet. Belldandy will support her future husband with her magic, and she would be able to cast a shield bubble around her for underwater breathing as well. Having goddess memories really rocked.

The rest of the group opted to go after Ruby WEAPON. They decided that after the battle, they would meet back in Junon.

Ranma and Belldandy easily routed Emerald WEAPON back into the gallows of Gaia, where it became dormant once again. With Belldandy's strong connection to the earth and nature, the planetary guardian was easily coerced into sleep. Cloud and the others had a bit of a harder time in handling Ruby WEAPON, but with the Hades Summon, they were able to pause it long enough for them to damage it. When Ruby was severely depleted of its energy, the WEAPON burrowed into the earth to sleep once again.

With Diamond WEAPON gone from the earlier skirmish with the Sister Ray, there's only one more to go.

That... and Sephiroth.

But first, they had to find out more about Meteor, so they sought after the great scholar Bugenhagen, who was incidentally Red XIII's, Nanaki's, adoptive grandfather. The group traveled to the Cosmo Canyon, where they found a weakened Bugenhagen. But the scholar managed to explain to them the effects of the Meteor on Gaia, as well as its current position in space as well as the approximate time and day it will arrive.

Bugenhagen also opened the path of truth for Nanaki... the truth of what really happened with his father in the past. Nanaki learned of his father's great heroism, who sacrificed his life to safe his son's and every villagers' lives from the powerful monsters that attacked the canyon. The truth gave Nanaki a firmer resolve to protect the land, consequently, the entire planet, from Sephiroth's wicked ideals.

When the group returned from their trip to Nanaki's memory lane, they found a dying Bugenhagen on his deathbed. After a few hours of spending his time with his grandson, the old scholar finally rested in peace.

Armed with new-found vigor, the group continued with their journey towards the Northern Crater.

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

In the... 'borrowed' airship, Highwind...

Cloud casted a longing gaze towards where 'Aerith' snuggled with 'Zack'. Oh yeah, Belldandy and Ranma... he sometimes forgot that these were their real names.

"It's pretty sight, huh?" A female voice commented at the blonde's side. Cloud found that it was Tifa who spoke.

Tifa continued, "When Aerith mentioned that she was searching for someone, I had a feeling it has something to do with her lovelife. I just had no clue that the guy I met back in Nibelheim during that expedition was the person she was looking for..."

"Zack, no... Ranma... he helped me out a lot in the past..." Cloud stated as he turned his gaze towards the dark sky outside the Highwind's window, "He's a good person. Now that I think about it, he's a perfect match for Aerith... Belldandy, I mean. That's why I admired him so much, it's probably the reason why I imprinted on his personality when I temporarily lost mine."

"Cloud..." Tifa murmured as she stared at the back of the blonde's head worriedly.

"But..." Cloud breathed in deeply as he closed his eyes, "I have to accept it. Aerith doesn't feel anything special towards me. Just the feelings of a sister to a brother. I think she only saw Zack in my personality when she met me. It wasn't wrong for her to think so, since she missed Zack. And also, I might have picked up Zack's emotions towards her when I took in his personality."

Cloud smiled sadly as he turned to gaze at Tifa's confused eyes, "What a screwed up situation that was..."

"It wasn't your fault either..." Tifa insisted as she neared Cloud with a passionate look in her eyes, "You weren't yourself at that time. Please... don't be too hard on yourself."

"I know that..." Cloud smiled slightly at the concern Tifa was giving him, "But, I can't help but wonder, though. What it would be like... I mean, Aerith, no... Belldandy... was pretty much perfect in any way. She just has this way with people that seemed to attract them towards her."

"Perfect, huh?" Tifa mused as she turned towards Belldandy and Ranma. The pair was now standing and both stared at the incoming destination at the horizon. Mew sat upon Ranma's shoulder, and seemed to be in a conversation with the pigtailed man.

The Northern Crater was shrouded with dark clouds, and the shield was vaguely visible.

"Mew says that the whole area's filled with hopelessness and despair..." Ranma commented to his female companion as they gazed at the crater seriously. "Frankly, I don't like staying here more than I should, but we have to stop whatever Sephiroth's planning to do."

Belldandy nodded, "This place, the Northern Crater, was formerly known as Knowlespole. It was a land inhabited by the people known as Cetra, which my current incarnation is as well. The Planet's calling out for help. It felt the same emotions Mew felt from whatever's inside the barrier. If we don't stop Sephiroth, Gaia is doomed."

Ranma grimaced as he turned towards his beau, "Don't be too negative. I'm not gonna let Sephiroth do what he wants. And besides, with you here, I have a lot more at stake in saving this world from destruction."

"About that..." The brown-haired girl said nervously as she looked at the horizon, "Ah... Ran-kun... we have to talk."

The pigtailed man blinked. Those words... he knew they meant heavily when they were spoken, and yes, it got him all chilly inside. "Okay... what is it?"

"Uhh..." The girl was still very nervous, who looked at anywhere but him, "Well... to tell you the truth... I'm pregnant."

"..." Ranma fell silent as he stared at Belldandy with wide eyes. Finally, he seemed to gain some semblance of life as he asked, "W-What... you're serious? Coz if it's a joke..."

Belldandy shook her head quickly, "I'm not jesting, Ran-kun. You're going to be a father."

"Hahah... urk..." Ranma's body seemed to lock up before he fainted.

"Ran-kun!" Belldandy rushed towards her lover as she caught his head before it hit the metal floors. "Mou... Ran-kun..." she commented as she caressed Ranma's hair lovingly.

They have no time to joke around though, when all of the sudden explosions were heard from the outside, followed by the airship jolting quite violently.

"What the..." Cloud muttered from where he was thrown on the Highwind's flooring when they were attacked.

Cid grimaced from the pilot's seat. "We're here, I guess."

Ranma sighed as he let Belldandy down. His balance was better than anyone else's, and he wasn't thrown off like the others when he levitated. He automatically woke up and reversed positions with the girl when he caught Belldandy after the girl lost her bearings. "Get ready to fight, people... Ultimate WEAPON calls."

The pigtailed hybrid turned a skeptical look towards the girl near him and said, "We're gonna talk about this... later. I guess... but first!"

"But first...?" Belldandy cocked her head to one side slightly in curiosity.

Ranma raised his fists into the air and hollered, "OH YEAH! WHO'S THE MAN! I'M GONNA BE A DAD... MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" then lowered his voice to a tone that not even Belldandy could hear it, "Well... I'm gonna be a dad, again... Ryoko's gonna kill me for sure, but hey... that's life..."

The brown-haired girl just giggled at his antics.

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

It took the group at least two hours before they managed to stave off Ultimate WEAPON. That's because Ranma wasn't with them, since the pigtailed alien concentrated on bringing the Northern Crater's Barrier down. Ranma was able to destroy the shield before Cloud and the others defeated the WEAPON. It became distracted by the fact that the barrier was brought down, and that was when the group bombarded it with their strongest attacks.

The Northern Crater was created long ago. As far as anyone can remember, it was already there. A black dot in the map, the crater was as ominous as they come. Anybody who dared to explore this wretched place came back totally changed. Some died from mysterious illnesses, while others died prematurely.

The truth of the matter was that the Northern Crater was the Point of First Contact. In the pre-apocalyptic era, it was part of the northern hemisphere of the world, where polar ice caps melted to create the desolate wasteland of a world.

The Northern Crater was the place where the first Angel, Adam, touched the Planet. It was the beginning of the end for the world, and certain individuals wanted to take advantage of the knowledge within the Angel's remains.

The alien life form dubbed as Angels became a test for humanity's survival, hence, the Evangelion Wars. The event was called the Second Impact.

After the Third Impact occurred, the world's lands shifted and formed what was now known as Gaia, the post-apocalyptic world. The survivors thrived, but then the greed in humans can never be removed from their hearts. People blatantly used the scarce commodities left of the post-apocalypse and now the Planet wanted some sort of balance. Hence, the activation of the WEAPONs. Add to the fact that Sephiroth has been guided by JENOVA, a small part of whatever was left of the Angels in the past, to continue the world's destruction.

The Northern Crater spawned powerful monsters given to life by JENOVA. It was the blight of the world, and it was growing at an exponential rate. It was the perfect place for Sephiroth to instigate the 'Final Judgement' of Gaia, the Meteor. This was also the incoming Fourth Impact.

The Reunion was the gathering of JENOVA's pieces, which were taken and experimented on by Doctor Hojo. The mad doctor has the idea that if JENOVA was torn into microscopic pieces, they would still have the urge to gather at a certain place in due time. The humans Hojo used to inject the JENOVA cells on were compelled to gather in a certain area for the Reunion.

All for JENOVA's rebirth.

The crater itself became one huge mess of a maze, with powerful monsters at every corner. It was what greeted the small band of heroes.

"You're enjoying this, aint'cha?" Barret groused as he breathed in sharply. They had just finished off a rather big stone giant, and most of them were exhausted. Ranma wasn't tired at all, in fact, the guy was grinning like an idiot!

"Oh, come on..." Ranma said in amusement as he held on to Belldandy's tired form in his arms, "I'm just conditioned in fighting better than you people..."

"Mewwwwww..." The pink pokemon snorted on her position draped on top of Ranma's head.

Cloud groaned as he held his body up with the Buster Blade, "I have forgotten how much of a stamina freak Zack was..."

"Ugh, great!" Cid commented wryly as he stared at the dark cavern while he was lying down the ground, "We've got monsters, Sephiroth, Meteor, and a sadistic maniac who loves to fight! What else could go wrong!"

The pigtailed man stiffened slightly. "Don't say it... don't say it...!" he said in a mantra as Belldandy looked at him curiously.

"Well..." Cloud chuckled tiredly, "Hey, it could be a lot worse..."

RUMBLE...

"Oh crap..." Ranma winced, and looked at the confused blonde mercenary with a narrow-eyed stare, "You said it. I kinda hate you right now..."

RRRRUUUUMMMBBBLLLEEEE...

The group watched in morbid fascination as the space in front of them warped and bent. The stone slab they stood on defied physics, as it seemed to float in mid air without anything to support it. The whole area gained a somewhat heavy feeling; a tantamount sign of something ominous and dangerous coming towards them.

"Something really bad is coming right for us..." Ranma mumbled as he stared at the warping space with slight dread. He felt this feeling before... and it reminded him of the battle he had with the fake Deus.

Sure enough, a large swirling mass of contorted space opened up and spat out a large form. Something obscenely ugly and... with tentacles as its arms. Actually, it was some large mess of combined monster parts and whatnot, something in which Ranma had expected of a really dangerous boss monster. Why boss monster? It was... huge. Something like that. Really.

Hmmm? You can actually hear some background music pertaining to heavenly hymns or something. It was something that was pretty much out of place from the whole picture, being a grotesque monster and all. But who was Ranma to complain? He wasn't the one who made the thing, after all...

"Kid, have I told you how much I dislike you right now...?" Ranma intoned seriously, never taking his eyes off the monster in front of the group. "Really, in dangerous situations, never say that phrase you just said before. It makes things worse, much worse..."

Cloud chuckled nervously as he slowly unsheathed the Buster Sword from its holster on his back, "How was I supposed to know that will happen?"

The monster, having successfully taken itself out of where ever it came from, reared its tentacles outwards and whipped them about. Its arms glowed with quite the magical power, something which Ranma didn't fail to notice.

"Cloud..." The pigtailed hybrid called out, as he levitated off the ground thoughtlessly, eyes still trained towards the monster. His feat caused some of the people behind him to gasp, but he ignored them idly. "Cloud... better go on ahead and take care of Sephiroth for me. Take Barret, Vincent, Cait Sith and Tifa as back-up. Yuffie will stay here with Belldandy and me to take care of this one." A loud 'mew' made him rethink his statement.

"Oh, and Mew too."

When he hadn't heard anyone moving, Ranma turned his head slightly to the side and saw from the corners of his eyes that only Belldandy seemed to be quite ready for the fight. He huffed irritably and repeated his earlier words, but this time he ended his instructions with a loud, "GET MOVING PEOPLE! EXPLANATIONS LATER, FIGHT NOW!"

THAT got the rest to move, as Yuffie quickly led herself to Belldandy's side, while the rest jumped down on a lower stone slab below their current position. Ranma watched the other group as they jumped unto a much lower stone pillar, all of them except Cloud.

The blonde was about to jump but he stopped. He turned back towards the others above him who were left to fight the other monster. He knew that Ranma was capable of fighting and protecting at the same time, but he can't help but worry still. When he looked up, he saw that the pigtailed man was looking down at him expectantly.

"How about you guys? Are you gonna be okay?" Cloud asked loudly.

Ranma made a dismissing gesture with his hand as he gave Cloud a half-lidded stare. "Don't worry, kid. We'll manage."

Cloud nodded a bit reluctantly. In the end, he can do nothing but follow through with the plan anyway. With another firmer nod, the blonde mercenary turned and jumped after the other group and disappeared within the darkness of the crater's bottom.

When Ranma was sure that the rest of their little band of saviors were gone from this area, he turned back to the monster, which did not move at all. For a few seconds, Ranma thought that the monster had some sort of a skewed honor code, until it spoke.

"KSSSSSSSSSHHAAAAAAAA... YOU... YOU ARE NO HUMAN..." The monster growled out.

Ranma, Belldandy and Yuffie were taken a back a bit. Most monsters they encountered had minds that were only slightly developed; their brains were only to accommodate primal instincts. A few altered monsters could speak a few phrases and such, but fell back unto the same spiel of instincts.

This monster... it was totally different from the rest.

"WHAT ARE YOU, NOT-SO-HUMAN? SOMETHING OLD... AND HAS MUCH POWER WITHIN THAT BAG OF FLESH OF YOURS. WHY HIDE IN THAT CONTAINER?" The monster hissed as its tentacle-arms started lashing out in the air.

Ranma then decided to answer, even if he was still bewildered by this... strange phenomenon of communicating with a monster first, "I dunno what the heck you're talking about. I trained for this power, so this body of mine is the result." (("As well as good genetics, I guess...")) He amended in his thoughts after a bit.

He was taken out of his musings when Mew mentally shouted at him an urgent warning. Ranma quickly phased himself near Belldandy and Yuffie, grabbed them, and teleported a bit further back of the meager land they were on as the monster's tentacles exploded from the rock flooring itself. Mew materialized above the battle area, whose mission was to warn her master of any surprise attacks.

The monster roared in anger. "SUBMIT TO ME, AND ALL WILL BE ONE!"

"This monster..." Belldandy whispered in shock, "This is JENOVA..."

"Impossible!" Yuffie cried out as she threw her shurikens at the monster. They stuck unto the monster's skin and stayed there for a moment, before they were absorbed into its skin. "But we already defeated JENOVA! How many are there!"

Belldandy shook her head. "We only defeated parts of JENOVA. The purpose of the Reunion... those people Doctor Hojo injected with the JENOVA cells... I understand everything now!"

Without waiting for her companions to ask for more information, she supplied them with it, "Those people... they have JENOVA in them. When they spoke of Reunion, it meant that those cells in them contaminated with JENOVA were trying to reunite with the others. That's why they were so adamant in coming together as a group! The contaminated people became parts of JENOVA once its cells were introduced in their bloodstream!"

"Like a virus..." Ranma murmured as he looked troubled at the revelation. "JENOVA infects like a damn virus... takes over the specimen's circulatory system, and makes them an extension of its own body. That's so... sick..."

Yuffie looked between Ranma and Belldandy. "But... but why is that here, in this place?" she pointed a shaking finger at the hulking mass of the monster, which was now known as JENOVA.

Belldandy casted Yuffie a hooded gaze and replied, "The Northern Crater is where JENOVA crashed into this world. This JENOVA is probably the remnant of its main body, before scientists of the pre-apocalyptic world and Shin-Ra came to collect samples. Those samples then became other lesser JENOVAs, the ones we fought earlier."

"The specimens used by Doctor Hojo..." Ranma growled out, "They were guinea pigs to test how JENOVA will react if its body was in pieces. The Reunion... just like any other organism in the universe, the parts wanted to become whole again. United as one."

Belldandy nodded. "That's correct. It's like a wound trying to mend itself back to its original form. That's the true purpose of the Reunion."

"No way... that's... that's just so wrong!" Yuffie shrieked in terror of the thought, as she slowly backed away from the two.

This became their undoing, because the monster, JENOVA, caught the ninja girl's movements and locked on them.

Suddenly, JENOVA's tentacles became a whirlwind of death, which forced Ranma and the other two women with him to dodge frantically. One almost caught Belldandy, but Ranma was there to teleport her out of the attack range. The monster became quite agitated with the lack of its success, but Ranma cannot fight back as well. He was too busy dodging and keeping the others alive.

The status quo shifted when one of JENOVA's tentacles drew back and glowed bright blue. Ranma immediately felt the magical power gathering in that lone tentacle and scrambled to get Belldandy and Yuffie out of the magic's range.

JENOVA fired off a high-level Ice spell from that tentacle, which blasted a terrible Blizzard that battered and froze the area where the trio were before.

"Damn...!" Ranma huffed as he materialized with Belldandy secured firmly on his right arm, and Yuffie draped indignantly over his left shoulder. He floated way above the monster's reach.

"This isn't doing us any good." Yuffie commented as she squirmed to get into a more comfortable position on the hard shoulder she was on.

Ranma agreed with her. "You're right..." he said as he turned towards his beloved, "Bell-chan... I will take you to a much safer place out of that monster's range of attacks while Yuffie..." he now faced the younger short-haired girl on his shoulder, "You will be with Bell-chan to guard her."

Belldandy huffed angrily, "I can help you, Ran-kun!"

The pigtailed hybrid shook his head. "Not in your condition."

Yuffie looked at him in confusion. "Condition? What condition?"

"It's nothing!" Belldandy snapped at her.

"She's pregnant with my child." Ranma deadpanned.

"Oh my god!" Yuffie squealed happily and tried to congratulate the brown-haired girl, but it was cut off when Ranma continued his explanation.

"I don't want to risk you and our child, Belldandy..." Ranma intoned seriously, "So I'm gonna make sure you're safe. I can deal with JENOVA on my own, trust me."

Belldandy's face became angered for a moment, before it softened, "Oh Ran-kun..." she whispered as she kissed the man's cheek, "I'm sorry for being bitchy... I trust you, and I also want our child to be safe."

"Thanks, Bell-chan..." Ranma smiled at Belldandy lovingly.

A quick teleport and a short conversation with Mew and the girls later, Ranma left the three on one of the topmost floating rock ledges near the top of the crater, just enough for the trio to witness the fight at the safest distance possible.

"Heh... now we can fight without any restrictions..." Ranma muttered darkly as he reappeared once again on the battlefield, a few feet away from the flailing monster.

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

The battle was taking a long time, and both combatants were becoming a bit frustrated. Especially Ranma, who knew that he could've finished this one with a much lesser time than he's taking at the moment. He wouldn't dare fire off the big guns, because the structural integrity of the place was quite questionable. Which was why Ranma was trying to finish off JENOVA with much smaller ki blasts and his martial arts.

So far, he's failing. JENOVA was a pretty fast healer, and was absorbing most of the energy he used to fire off his attacks.

"This is insane..." Ranma sweated as he felt his reserves waning a bit. Normally, he wouldn't have so much trouble with an opponent. He now understood the advantages of the battle ground in a fight. JENOVA was taking its time on beating him, but it fired off magic attacks like it wasn't even worth its time!

Ranma dodged another flurry of attacks from JENOVA's tentacles. Damn appendages, they kept on regenerating as fast as he cut them. If only he has his own magic... attacks... gah! How stupid!

JENOVA growled as its target managed to phase out of its trap, only to back off of its attack range. It had half the mind to pursue, but it knew that it was only a matter of time before the young fleshy upstart would tire and succumb. Being connected to Mako Energy, JENOVA has virtually unlimited access to power. But this... mortal... impressed it a bit. So much power...

Ranma resisted the urge to slap his forehead. He DID have magic attacks! How could he have forgotten about the Masamune!

But his momentary distraction caused him his advantage at the moment, as he found himself wrapped with those slimy tentacles of JENOVA's. Once it managed to secure the pigtailed hybrid with its arms, the 'Blight of the Planet' bombarded him with poison.

Too bad for JENOVA though, because Ranma wasn't affected by the poison much. He did slow down at a moderate scale as some of the exotic poison's effects started overloading his senses. It was a good thing for Ranma that his body's healing factor was off the charts. His ailments were being healed on par with the damages the poison wrought on his body.

"Great..." The former amnesiac warrior groused as he struggled against his bind, "My reflexes still felt sluggish. Gah... stupid amnesia... after living for years without using my skills, I got a bit rusty."

JENOVA for one never cared at his plight, as it continued to try and squeeze the life out of its victim. Ranma proved to be quite stubborn, as the man refused to simply die. Yes, Jenova was quite agitated at the moment.

"As if I'm gonna die like this..." Ranma grumbled to himself as he idly watched JENOVA grew impatient at its efforts. He quickly powered his strength with ki and broke off from the grapple and somersaulted out of range once again.

"Okay..." The raven-haired man assessed as he rubbed a particularly painful spot on his upper arm. Sure, he was stronger than most, but it still hurt being crushed by JENOVA. "Hmmm... JENOVA's arms generate elemental magic, its body releases a very fatal poison, it can also suck energy outta me, and it regenerates pretty fast. I can't use my more powerful moves because the crater might have a premature cave-in. Yup... I have to go with the Masamune..." he concluded as he concentrated on his right arm. The Chaos Gems embedded within Ranma's body glowed fiercely as the crystals shifted and melded together. The Masamune slid out of his arms gracefully.

"Have to finish this fast..." Ranma surmised as he draped the long katana across his shoulders, "Who knows how long this cavern can last with all this energy and fighting?"

To point out this fact he thought up of, some of the floating slab of rocks started disintegrating into nothing. It was as if the entire area wasn't able to hold unto its shape. He was idly worried about the state Belldandy and Yuffie's area was in, but a mental reassurance from Mew quelled his thoughts. Mew told him to concentrate on defeating the ugly monster, and that she will handle the situation when the need arose.

((Mew... oh yeah!)) Ranma crowed in his mind as he sliced the offending tentacle that wanted him caught again. Of course, the same tentacle grew back, typical. ((Mew can generate a really powerful shield... maybe if she puts up her barrier, I can probably use my more powerful moves...)) he noted, and dodged another barrage of ice and fire magic.

Mew apparently caught this train of thought from her master, and sent back that she will put up the shield before he fires of his stronger attacks. Generating the shield will be a taxing experience for Mew, since in her own home world, she only puts up her barrier for short intervals at a time.

With this type of 'back-up insurance', Ranma was now ready to face his enemy with more than what he's thrown at it so far...

"CEASE YOUR STRUGGLES, MORTAL..." JENOVA's voice rumbled out as it tried to pummel Ranma with her magic attacks, but the red-tailed man was too quick to hit.

"I don't know about you, slimy..." Ranma somersaulted and held his upside down pose for a few seconds before doing a reverse triple axle and landed on the ground perfectly, "But I know I won't surrender to you."

JENOVA was beyond pissed. Black lightning coursed along its glistening skin as it tried to catch Ranma with its elongated limbs. With a sudden insight, the monster managed to 'feel' the presence of the other three individuals who were with this foolish mortal just a few moments ago. For some reason, the mortal managed to whisk its other targets out of the battle area, but not completely out of the crater itself. Now that it was able to concentrate for a bit, JENOVA found the other three hiding out on one of the rock copse above the duel zone.

Ranma had no time to react, even with all his skills, as one of JENOVA's tentacles managed to divert his attention to the monster's true purpose. The other tentacle blurred and sped towards where Belldandy, Yuffie and Mew were, its skin glowing with bright red magical energy. The only thing he heard was Belldandy's scream of fright as the tentacle was already more than halfway towards the trio above the fighting duo.

The red-tailed man tried to move, really, but his momentary lapse of attention towards his opponent got him snagged with the tentacle that was hell-bent on capturing him. He watched in horror while entangled in JENOVA's clutches as the other errant tentacle managed to strike its mark, with the girls' screams echoing all over the large cavern.

Everything went into a near-standstill as Ranma and JENOVA waited for the dust of the destroyed floating rock where Belldandy and Yuffie were before was totaled by the sharp end of the limb. Small rocks and dust showered Ranma and JENOVA...

"No..." Ranma whispered as he renewed his struggles to free himself from JENOVA started anew, but then he stopped when he felt a sudden change in JENOVA's mood. The monster seemed to have remained paralyzed from its position before, its other tentacle still outstretched towards the rapidly dissipating dust cloud above them.

The limb that was thrown into the girls' direction was caught half-way by a pink bubble of force that now surrounded a slightly awed Belldandy and Yuffie, as well as Mew. The tentacle has a bit of its length inside the bubble on the girls' side, a proof that even a little delay with the shield's activation would've allowed JENOVA to succeed in its goal.

Ranma wasted no time though, as he quickly flexed his arms and made the tentacle that held him to snap, literally. JENOVA's arm whipped back violently as the red-tailed warrior leapt back from its range once again, with a silver energy ball gathered at one hand. When he landed, Ranma released the ball and fired off a series of attacks similar to the first one at a rapid pace. JENOVA's Barrier magic and Shell magic activated at the same time, but as the attack went on for more than five seconds the shields cracked and groaned in protest. Eventually, they broke down, but only a few ki balls were left to actually hit JENOVA. The monster was thrown back for a few feet, but its healing ability mended the damage done unto its personage without much problem.

The pigtailed man glowered at the lack of better results as he floated into the air. Ranma shot a really weird look towards the direction where Belldandy, Yuffie and Mew levitated inside the force bubble, a look that none of the three targets of that look missed. Belldandy and Mew were the only ones who understood that look, and frankly it made them nervous as hell. Mew responded by tripling the strength of the shield. No sense in not playing safe, right?

Yuffie was just dumbfounded as the bubble that surrounded her and her companions flashed rhythmically. Also, the expression on Belldandy's face as she looked at the battle wasn't really promising.

The obsidian bracers around the pigtailed alien hybrid's arms were completely removed as it vanished into thin air when Ranma threw them aside. Washuu probably installed a special recall issue into the bracers that would make them go into Ranma's personal subspace when he removed them.

Power exploded from Ranma's body when the man called to it. The bracers were his limiters to his true power, something which he hasn't fully controlled yet. But he's getting there. The gems on his forehead glowed brightly as the Masamune waited patiently for its master in mid air from where it was released a while ago.

Color washed over Ranma's raven-black hair as it turned into a bloody red color. The spiky hair was everywhere as the back length quickly became apparently elongated, but it still maintained the pigtail. His red tail became agitated as the now red haired young man threw back his head in a silent scream. Feathers exploded from his back as the Light Hawk wings formed from him. The shockwave of power destroyed many of the floating rocks surrounding the battle area. Even Mew was hard-pressed in keeping the shield intact, so Belldandy eventually opted to help the poor pink cat, even if the woman's power was still pretty weak. The shield was buffeted by the winds of power coming from Ranma.

"Playtime, is over..." The newly-transformed demi Saiyajin's voice growled out as Ranma got out of his power-up frenzy. He reached to his side and plucked his long-bladed katana from mid-air. "Dammit, I'm sick and tired of everyone trying to kill me. But then you involve my friends, and my love, and my unborn child... while I understand that it's literally Anything Goes in a battle like ours, you shouldn't have involved them especially since I took them out of our battle field."

Ranma lifted the katana easily as he pointed the sharp end towards the monster known as JENOVA, "Someone is gonna die for this, and it's no question that it's gonna be you."

JENOVA grumbled loudly as it lashed out with its arms, but it was all in vain. The monster could do nothing but scream as its tentacles were stabbed by Ranma's wings when the pigtailed man batted JENOVA's arms aside. Ranma used his wings to bat the tentacles aside, and the razor-sharp feathers cut into JENOVA's skin like hot knife through butter. The tentacles were pinned to the ground, effectively paralyzing them for JENOVA' use.

"Now..." The red-tailed warrior lifted his sword and poised its sharp end aimed straight towards JENOVA's midsection, "This is your defeat, JENOVA."

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

Meanwhile, just outside Planet Gaia's (formerly called Earth) atmosphere...

A large tear suddenly ripped right across the space between Planet Venus and Planet Gaia. A silvery crystalline object emerged from the rift as the tear slowly closed itself off. It was a large ship, but its built emphasized speed. Although, one can never know what a ship such as this one would hide as secrets. After all, never judge a book by its cover...

Inside the silver ship, the occupants sat amongst the floating fluffy chairs they have conjured for themselves. They formed a semi-circle around a large table-like structure in the middle of the ship's bridge. The top-most part of the 'table' showed various star maps and such, until one of the people around the thing switched the view into Planet Gaia's current resource stats and other important tidbits about it. Not only that, but a succeeding effort to map out the surface already began when it was activated.

"Finally... I thought we'd never get out of that wormhole..." One of the persons commented, "By the way, turn on the lights, will you Rin-Ohki?"

"Miyah!" A cutesy voice echoed all over the bridge as the lights flickered on once again. The whole area was illuminated, and exposed that ALL of the occupants of the ship were humanoid females, except two furry cat-like things that had ears of rabbits. One of the animals was colored black, while the other was slightly shiny silver.

"Rin-Ohki's pretty excited..." The same woman who talked earlier observed as the group watched the silver cattish animal known as Rin-Ohki flittered around the bridge's computer consoles. This woman stood up and followed the silver cabbit around the area. She was revealed to have long light blue-green hair, faint dark purple lipstick, and red eyes. Her skin was pasty white, and had quite a few number of patterned tattoos. She wore a skin-tight bodice that showed her great figure, and the golden halo-like thing around her head gleamed in the ship's artificial light. Her staff made a metallic noise as it was tapped against the ship's floor.

Another woman piped up, "Relax, Ihadurca. Rin-chan's just excited at seeing her partner again..." and settled down on her comfy chair. This one has golden cat-slitted eyes and teal-colored hair that was spiked around the crown of her head carelessly. Her body was covered by a tight red and black body suit that didn't hide her great figure. Her ears were a bit more pronounced than the other girls in the bridge, and a bit of fangs showed from her mouth. Her arms had armbands with them that held a pair of red gems. Her throat had a choker around it that held another red gem, which was bigger than the others.

On this woman's lap, a little girl was curled in a fetal position. The sleeping child has spiky red hair, and her body was also covered in a form-fitting black full-body suit. She moaned as she shifted into a much comfortable position on the teal-haired woman's lap. The woman smiled gently as she looked down on the little one. On this woman's shoulder was a creature similar to the silver cat-rabbit from before, but this one has black fur. It was currently slumped on the woman's shoulder, sleeping quite deeply.

"Soon, Ranko-chan, you will see your father soon..." The woman caressed the girl's hair, whose name was now revealed as Ranko.

Lea, or Ihadurca as the others called her sometimes, also smiled at the scene. Her eyes were a bit wistful, though. "Ryoko... I really envy you sometimes, you know? Ranko-chan's so cute..."

The teal-haired woman, Ryoko, snorted as she sat straighter on her seat. "Ranko-chan's cute when she's asleep. When she's awake, she's as much a troublemaker as her father. Like father, like daughter, I guess..."

"Please be nice, Ryoko-chan..." A violet-haired woman commented from the other side of the formation. Her outfit was colored white, and was currently sporting white wings around her lower back. Her skin was ash-gray, but no one was really paying attention to it. "I'm sure Ranko-chan just misses her father..."

"As if..." Ryoko snorted once again after glancing at her sleeping daughter, "You remember that incident in Planet Toengiri, right Raven?"

"The rat-people..." A light-green haired woman piped up from the violet-haired woman's side. She wore a black body suit as well, but was overlapped with a dark-green colored breastplate. A dark-red muffler was wrapped around her neck, which covered half of her face from view. Her skin was darker than most of those in the group. "Those vile creatures... they tried to kidnap... Ranko-chan..." she said haltingly.

"Ranko blew the planet up, Emeralda-chan..." Lea deadpanned at the light-green haired woman. Her eyes were lit with mirth, however.

Ryoko sighed helplessly, "Who knew Ranko could assemble a planetary destruction bomb with the bare essentials anyhow? If you wanna blame someone, blame Washuu. That's where Ranko got her perks in being the scientist thing, after all."

"Excuse me, but we're here..." A monotone voice cut through their chitchat. Everyone turned to the girl with light teal hair and pale skin, who was currently handling their ship's navigation. Her body was slender and graceful, and it was built like a dancer's body. Her red eyes stared right back at them as her hand gestured at the screen on their 'conference table'. Everyone saw that, indeed, they had arrived at their target coordinates. They stared at the planet that Ryoko, Raven and the teal haired young woman at navigation seemed to recognize as Earth.

Around the planet was a ring full of space debris. Most of them were remnants of something large and mechanical, and must've been mostly comprised of metal. The planet's atmosphere has a dull look in it, but the presence of some green patches and blue on the planet's surface showed promise of the existence of life on it.

Oh, and let's not forget...

"Hey Vanilla-chan, is that a really big meteor heading right straight for the planet we're supposed to look Ranma in for?" Ryoko asked as she looked at the projected image of an incoming meteor towards their target destination.

The girl at the navigation, Vanilla, nodded slightly at the former space pirate. "Yes, Ryoko-san. It will strike this planet within the hour. I would suggest an immediate evacuation of the planet's living inhabitants within a thirty-minute time period. Even so, that would be cutting it close."

"Or, we could shoot it down..." Lea's brow lifted as she tapped on the meteor's image on their electronic view screen on the conference table.

Emeralda shook her head in unison with Vanilla. "Not recommended..." The dark skinned jade-haired girl disagreed, "Power backlash... might cause... irreparable damage... in star system's... gravitational orbit..."

"Bah!" Lea hmphed as she crossed her arms under her... gifted chest, "Then what do we do?"

Vanilla sighed as she looked at the screen blankly. New information filtered in, and it already brought hundreds of different scenarios into her mind. Of course, there's the most prominent information that was now flashing on the screen, and the other girls would be thrilled to find this one out. She had half the mind to keep this one to herself, but...

"Excuse me..." The red-eyed young woman informed them anyway, which effectively drew the attention of the bridge back to her, "Ranma-sama has been found."

"WHAT!" was the general sound the other girls made from this news, which sadly partially woke the poor red haired girl on Ryoko's lap rudely.

Ranko-chan whined softly as she tried to bury herself deeper into her biological mother's warm lap.

The cyan-colored spiky haired woman gasped softly as she noised an apologetic sound towards her bundle before she focused her attention towards the subject at hand once again. "Well, what are we waiting for! He's probably in danger or something. Rin-Ohki, contact Ranma-kun with your mind link. Vanilla, try to translate the data into a viewable file so that we may be able to communicate with Ranma as well, via Rin-chan though."

"Miyah!" was the cheerful reply from the silver cabbit.

Vanilla only nodded soundlessly as she turned to her console to ask Rin-Ohki some questions.

Ryoko nodded in satisfaction and turned towards the black-furred cabbit on her shoulder, "Ryo-Ohki, try to boost Rin-Ohki's power since she's still drained from the trip. Also, try to tap into the information about the mind link cabbit ships have with their owners, and how to have them being visualized for the rest of the crew to see, will you?"

"Miya-o!" Ryo-Ohki pumped her small paw into the air as she hopped towards the now-serious Rin-Ohki near the main computer of the ship.

The cyan-haired woman blinked when she noticed her peers looked at her incredulously. She huffed and said haughtily, "What! You got something to say, say it!"

The other women in the room shivered slightly at the irritated battle aura Ryoko generated. They all figured it would be best to allow their future co-wife to cool off for a bit. After all, twenty long years were such a long time to go without sex, even if more than half of those years they were in stasis.

Which also reminded them; they had to make sure their errant would-be lover would never try those suicidal stunts again.

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

Back on Planet Gaia's surface, in the Northern Crater...

JENOVA, the huge and ugly deformed monster was currently pinned to the floating ground that was used as the fighting arena. It was being held firmly to the ground by the multitudes of white semi-transparent feathers. It was struggling weakly, but it only made the odds against it worse than before. The feathers were unmerciful, each struggle made the seemingly harmless feathers gather large amounts of energy and disperse the charges simultaneously against the wriggling JENOVA. In short, it was a nearly unending torture...

In front of the subdued monster was the red-haired bane of its existence. The red-haired man's power multiplied exponentially after he 'transformed' from his original raven-haired form. Ranma, in his own version of the Super Saiyajin first form mode, stood over JENOVA. The Shin Masamune was currently resting across his shoulder as the red haired man stared at something above them with faraway eyes. His red pigtail waved lazily at his backside as Ranma underwent something similar to an internal monologue, probably to those who can see him.

The psychic Mew, however, knew that her master was currently talking to someone else in another psychic link. Something similar to what the pink pokemon and Ranma shared, but she couldn't listen into it without his permission.

A few minutes ago, Ranma was in the middle of... 'punishing' JENOVA some more when his mind felt a familiar tingle. A mind link was currently trying to make itself known to him, and he knew that this moment was to come sooner or later.

Sure enough, it was his cabbit partner, Rin-Ohki. Their link remained cut off during the duration period of his amnesia. It was only until that time when he fell off that high cliff was he able to recover his memories, as well as reactivate his telepathic connections with Rin-Ohki and Raven. So far, the dark purple-haired woman named Raven hasn't demanded herself through the link as of yet, probably she opted to prioritize Ranma's link with his cabbit ship first.

Nevertheless, Ranma felt elated when he heard the familiar high-pitched "Miyah!" that came from his cabbit partner's side. Although... Rin-Ohki had been so excited about their reestablished mind link that the cabbit literally crammed two decades of memories and scenarios Ranma missed when he had amnesia.

Ranma groaned as he felt a huge migraine coming on.

Still, Ranma placated his cabbit partner by 'downloading' his own memories of the two decades they were apart. Secretly, Ranma hoped that the girls wouldn't react too harshly over the news about Belldandy's 'condition'.

Speaking of which... he was in the middle of a battle, wasn't he?

Ranma's attention refocused itself unto the battle at hand once again. He noticed that the surrounding terrain started deteriorating on its own. It would seem that the instability of the place has become worse. He idly wondered if Cloud and the group with him managed to beat Sephiroth already, and at the same time Ranma glanced up and gazed at the pink bubble that protected Belldandy, Mew and Yuffie.

"I really have to finish this soon..." Ranma muttered to himself as he tightened his grip on the Shin Masamune. He had just concluded his mental conversation with his 'other' psychic-linked partner, one whom he hasn't introduced to the other partner yet. Sadly, that would have to wait until this whole mess with Gaia was finished.

Most of Ranma's communication with Rin-Ohki were more on the side of instructions, with a few bits of information about his two-decade life on this version of Earth. Rin-Ohki, surprisingly, was demanding an explanation regarding the recent development with Belldandy's condition. But those concerns had to be waved off to get to the heart of the matter.

Ranma sent Rin-Ohki the severity of his situation. He relayed his coordinates to Rin-Ohki, but instructed the cabbit not to get too close, else the entire construct of the Crater might give out and bury those still inside it alive. He also gave Rin-Ohki the specific coordinates of the ones the transformed cabbit just HAD to teleport out of the area. But he warned Rin-Ohki not to include him in the transfer. At least, not at the moment...

Ranma still has a score to settle with JENOVA, as well as having to wait for Cloud and the members of the party who went after Sephiroth deeper into the Northern Crater. Of course, the irritated cabbit became quite adamant at pulling Ranma out of the fight anyway, but the pigtailed hybrid promised an explanation afterwards. Rin-Ohki had no choice but to follow Ranma, because she knew she couldn't teleport Ranma without his permission anyway. Also, Ranma has a point about the whole situation.

The now red-haired, red-tailed warrior stood proudly as he watched Belldandy, Yuffie and Mew were captured in a silver pillar of light. Belldandy has a look of surprise and confusion in her face, while Yuffie was slightly terrified. Mew was slightly scared according to his and the pokemon's mind link, since the feline cannot escape the beam for some reason. Ranma placated Mew and promised an explanation for later as well. He also mouthed an "I'll explain later!" to Belldandy, whose confused look slowly abated from her face as she was slowly disappearing from his sight. Before the three inside the silver beam completely vanished, Belldandy mouthed "I love you, Ran-kun!" towards the red-haired hybrid.

"Good..." Ranma murmured as he turned his gaze back to his quarry, "They're safe now, kaijuu-san (monster). How 'bout that?"

"WHY..." The monster rasped, as it ceased its struggles to get up from its predicament. Instead, the monster tried stalling for some time in order to recover from its injuries. But due to the damages on its body was done by the Shin Masamune, healing those injuries were next to impossible.

JENOVA continued to converse, in a vain hope to slightly heal anyway, "WHY DO YOU INSIST ON HELPING THESE MORTALS?" it burbled as what's left of its arm waved around. "THEY ARE SCUM, ARE THEY NOT? THEY BETRAY ONE ANOTHER, HURT ONE ANOTHER, KILL EACH OTHER... THEY DO THESE DEEDS TO ANOTHER OF THEIR KIND EVEN TO THE SIMPLE REASON OF PERSONAL GAIN. IT IS IN THEIR NATURE, AFTER ALL. YOU OF ALL MORTAL SCUM SHOULD KNOW, YOU EXPERIENCED THIS FIRST HAND. SHOULD YOU NOT SIDE WITH ME, YOU DO NOT BELONG IN THEIR MORTALITY..."

"Save your speech, JENOVA..." The red-haired Saiyajin hybrid sneered as he thrust his sword into the monster's 'chest' cavity, which caused JENOVA to screech painfully. "These so-called 'scum' are the ones who should exist in this world. True, they might be traitorous to the other, but this is their own existence to live in. Besides, even with all the darkness in this world, there are always those who wanted nothing more than to live their lives peacefully with one another."

Ranma leaned unto the Shin Masamune's hilt, an action which drove the blade deeper into JENOVA's body. The monster started squirming once again, but it was all in vain, being pinned like it was right now. "You say they're all scum, but there are still some who wanted to stop you and your stupid plans of being fully revived. You're still planning on continuing with that stupid test for humanity, well, I say you're pretty much idiotic in doing so."

The alien hybrid snorted as he leaned back from the sword hilt, but left the blade where it was. He continued, "I'm really not sure on why you're testing humanity. You're probably sent by some god or whatever. But right now, I really don't care for the reason you're here. It's the fact that you're here that bothers me..." Ranma adopted a melancholy look on his face as he went on, "And besides, there're still those few individuals who wanted nothing more than to live peacefully. So they struggle against insurmountable odds set by you and those other so-called 'scum' to oppose them. It's because of those same few individuals that made me fight you, JENOVA."

"FOOLISH..." The scourge of humanity rasped as it ceased struggling once more, "FOR SO FEW MORTALS... YOU SAVE EVEN THE MAJORITY OF SCUM? HOW PITIFUL... AND SO 'MORTAL' OF YOU... RAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Its sentence was cut off when it suddenly convulsed in place. The sheer volume of its cry destroyed the last few of the floating rocks that decorated the cavern they were in. Ranma just looked at the monster in confusion, but he felt a spike of power that seemed to have lost its flare almost at the same time when JENOVA started its throes.

"SEPHIROTH... YOU HAVE FAILED ME! STILL... IT IS YOUR DESTINY TO DISAPPEAR, MORTALS!" JENOVA screamed as it tried to free itself once again from its confinement. Ranma's ki-enhanced feathers remained impassive at the monster's thrashing.

"Well... according to your sudden lurch, Sephiroth must've been defeated by Cloud..." Ranma allowed a small sigh to pass through his mouth as he stared at the depths of the darkness within the Crater itself. He looked into the direction where he perceived Cloud and the others have gone through earlier, and mentally congratulated the party for finally beating his former friend. JENOVA must've felt its connection with Sephiroth severed when the silver-haired madman was beaten.

A low snicker escaped Ranma's lips, followed by audible chuckles, then by his loud belly-aching laughs. The man with the red-hued pigtailed hair laughed loud and free, unable to control his emotions any longer. Relief was foremost in his mind, relief that his former blonde student in the sword arts managed to defeat a stronger enemy, his relief over the fact that Cloud may be able to set everything that happened to him in the past behind him. Everything was in place.

Everything was all right in Ranma's world, until he felt the entire Northern Crater shudder dangerously. The danger was accented when the walls of the Crater started breaking apart. Not only that, but Ranma actually saw something greenish coming from the bottom of the Crater. He felt an immense amount of planetary energy bubbling to come out, kind of like a volcano waiting to erupt.

"That can't be good..." Ranma muttered to himself as he turned to his enemy warily.

The monster had the gall to start chuckling, but it turned into short gasps of pain as the ki-feathers that held it in place responded with Ranma's stress. The feathers blazed with arcs of Ranma's power and sapped JENOVA of its struggles.

Just as Ranma was about to hold the Shin Masamune for the deathblow, the Crater suddenly exploded all around him. The ground he and the monster were on slowly disintegrated into nothing. JENOVA was released from being pinned, but without its power it wasn't able to do anything but fall into the greenish substance that bubbled upwards from the Crater's abyss-like bottom, with the Shin Masamune still stuck across its middle part.

Ranma has a sudden frightful premonition. He finally recognized the green energy as the same power he found in Mideel. It was the Life Stream, a concentrated source of Mako energy. If JENOVA managed to fall into the stuff, then it would become a near unlimited power source for the monster.

"Crap!" Ranma scrambled for a teleport, but the interference from the saturated amount of power flowing all over the place sabotaged his senses. He has no choice but to rely on his flight ability.

The red-haired warrior blurred in his haste to get to the falling monster, and totally ignored the white airship known as the Highwind speeding out of the erupting volcano of excess Mako of the Crater. Inside the Highwind, Cloud, Tifa and the rest of the party who went after Sephiroth were all right and all accounted for. Most of them were bewildered when they saw a red blur pass by their airship at great speeds, but they had no time to consider it since the pressure of the energy underneath the Crater was about to explode outwards.

Back to Ranma, the pigtailed one finally reached the monster. Instead of blasting JENOVA away with one of his ki blasts, Ranma opted for a slightly better approach. As he clutched at the hilt of his sword once more, he threw the monster a mocking grin.

"You're not gonna escape me that easily, JENOVA...!" Ranma shouted amidst the loud roar of the energy trying to escape towards the surface. The wind from the deep fissure within the Northern Crater started to pick up violently, but he paid no heed to any of it. As Ranma grasped at the Shin Masamune, the gems on his forehead flashed their own respective colors in sync with the glow of his ethereal eyes. The Shin Masamune slowly became luminescent as well, in response to Ranma's power being released. "You're like a virus, JENOVA! And guess what! I'm the CURE! Take this... Ultimate Magic... ULTIMAAAAAA!"

The loud shout of the pigtailed hybrid drowned out the noises from the background, as the Shin Masamune exploded in power. Dark yellow-green energy erupted from Ranma's sword that encompassed both the caster and the monster. JENOVA's shrieks of pain were reduced to the sounds of the background once more as its molecular composition slowly broke down.

Ranma wasn't out of the woods yet, as the flood of toxic Mako came rushing up to his position. He quickly glanced at the Crater's opening and saw the looming form of the Meteor on the atmosphere.

The red-haired pigtailed man frowned grimly. There was only one thing left to do in this situation. He has to summon... his 'armored angel'.

As the still raging Ultima spell completed its wreak of destruction, the Northern Crater was lit in a fiery inferno... along with JENOVA's parting words...

"IT IS DESTINY FOR MORTALS TO DISAPPEAR...!"

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

Meanwhile, the Highwind was in danger of being reached by the sickly green energy that raced out of the Crater.

Cid Highwind, the designated pilot of the airship, already activated the rocket boosters that would've pushed the Highwind's speed triple of its original one. Sweat poured down his face as he struggled to keep the airship on course, but Cait Sith and Barret's shouts to make the pilot go faster let him know that the backlash from the Crater's explosion was about to reach them, even with the added speed. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Tifa holding unto a worried Cloud as the pair stared out of the Highwind's window.

The spear user's fears grew when he spied upon the tendrils of the Life Stream shooting out from the side windows of the Highwind's cockpit, testament on how close their escape was going to be. And frankly, Cid felt that his luck was about to run out.

The white airship shuddered as one tendril of energy lashed out unto one of the rocket booster's gas tanks, which caused quite an explosion off to the airship's side.

With the sandy-haired spearman's prowess in anything that flew in the air, Cid developed some sort of a 'connection' with the Highwind. Thus, Cid had to grimace when he felt the once great airship stolen from the Shin-Ra slowly fell apart against the powerful energy torrents originating from the Northern Crater.

Tifa Lockhart just clutched at Cloud Strife's powerful arm as the Highwind shuddered and groaned more than before. The raven-haired female martial artist was quite regretful of her apparent loss of chance to get reacquainted with the young man who managed to save her all those years ago in their hometown of Nibelheim. The blonde swordsman just stared at the incoming green goo with slight trepidation in his eyes. He was almost drowned from the similar stuff back in Mideel, and it still brought him some bad memories from the experience. Nevertheless, he felt so powerless at the moment, and just hoped for a miracle. Looking at the horizon however brought Cloud's optimism down a notch, as Meteor's image slowly enlarged in sight.

Cait Sith, the combination of the black robotic feline perched on top of an equally robotic white roundish creature was currently slumped at one corner. At the end of the wireless radio controller of the animatron, Reeve was quite depressed at the predicament of his somewhat teammates.

The angsty form of Vincent Valentine still stood rigid at one side of the frantic Cid, as he glared at nothing outside of the window panel in front of him. He was reminiscing, however, about the better times of his life, and about the betrayal of Lucrecia against his person. Sadly, the love of Vincent's life chose to be with that scum Hojo, he had no other choice but to let her go for her so-called happiness. He felt that everything that happened up to this point was partially his fault, but what was the point in all of the blame? Vincent did feel that he tried his best to fight and save his... party mates, but sadly the effort wasn't enough to save them from this situation.

AVALANCHE member Barret Wallace was panicking, an exact opposite of the stoic Vincent. The dark-skinned roguish hulk of a man was yelling his head off as he ran hither and yon across the deck of the airship. His most prominent thoughts were of his daughter Marlene, and that he felt he failed her. They did successfully defeated Sephiroth, but Meteor wasn't stopped at all.

The canine-feline hybrid named Nanaki, also known as Red XIII, watched Barret panic in front of him. He idly wondered if he would go to where his grandfather, Bugenhagen, has gone after the old man died. The red-furred former experiment sighed as he gazed at Meteor. It was a depressing sight.

The entire party inside the Highwind had no choice but to watch helplessly as the tendrils of power slowly washed over them. But a miracle happened.

Just before they were completely encompassed by the power backlash, the entirety of the airship was surrounded by a pillar of silver light. No one managed to react about it or utter a word as they vanished from within the almost-prison of the backlash.

Cloud and the others found themselves teleported in a different place. It was still a bit dark, and they recognized the city of Kalm below the battered airship. The only thing that bothered them, which Cid shakily pointed out above the Highwind, was the shadow of a much larger, and vastly different kind airship. It was something none of them has ever seen before. Surely, even the now-ruined Shin-Ra Corporation wouldn't have developed such a ship. After all, the Highwind was already the corporation's greatest achievement to date.

Above the white-hued broken-down airship, the silver crystalline ship known as Rin-Ohki hovered above the city that the newcomer woman named Belldandy indicated. Rin-Ohki wasn't about to disobey the woman fully endorsed by her master. And also, the brown-haired woman can really cook! But the other one... the short-haired girl named Yuffie... acted like they were pod people or something! Well... they really WERE aliens in context, but please! Rin-Ohki chose to ignore the slightly panicky girl as she concentrated on the poor little ship that almost got swallowed up by the inferno from the Crater.

The other women inside the silver crystalline ship were really not surprised at the current situation. In fact, some of them seemed to be a bit amused. Especially towards Yuffie's indignant shout of fright when Rin-Ohki's avatar form nudged the ninja girl's ankle. The women of both sides, the ones from space and the ones from Gaia, introduced themselves diplomatically. The women from space were a bit fascinated at Mew's appearance though...

In fact, Mew and Rin-Ohki's avatar stared at one another in silence. The entire bridge hall fell silent as the air seemed to have gotten heavy with tension. Mew, the pink floating feline pokemon, was fascinated and a bit jealous at her rival as Ranma's faithful companion. After all, according to the memories Ranma allowed the pokemon to view, Rin-Ohki was the first one to have a connection with Ranma and stuck with him inside limbo. When compared to Mew, Rin-Ohki was a veteran. On the other hand, Rin-Ohki felt threatened by Mew's presence, since this young upstart was with her beloved master for twenty years. That was not something to sneeze at...

While the two 'pets' stared each other down in the background, Belldandy finally noticed the battered Highwind's appearance underneath the cabbit ship. It helped that the flooring can be turned into a translucent viewscreen, and it clearly showed how damaged the airship was. The brown-haired reincarnated goddess implored to the women, particularly the one who's at the helm, Vanilla, to teleport the rest of the people inside the airship into their location. Belldandy told them that they accompanied Zack along his travels while he stayed in this world, and that those people were friends of theirs.

Several pillars of silver light appeared on the cabbit ship's bridge. A blonde spiky-haired man with a large sword strapped on his back appeared, hand-in-hand with a long raven-haired girl with gloves, white sleeveless shirt underneath a dark red jumper and short shorts.

A red-furred tiger-like animal appeared a little further behind the first two, along with a dark-skinned unshaven man with a body that has a large build and a gun-arm. A man dressed in red and black appeared as well, with eyes cold and unemotional... his large red scarf covering most of his face, and the flap draped behind him like a small cape.

Near this man, a frantic short cropped sandy haired man with goggles over his head appeared as well, still frozen at a position which seemed like he was gripping something in front of him with two hands. A long spear was strapped at his back. At his side, a large stuff toy-like creature appeared, who 'seemed' just as shocked as the others were. Nobody really knows, since its face was set into a goofy smile on its face. If looked upon closely, it was actually two stuffed creatures; the top one was a small black cat, and at the bottom was something white and big.

Again, the stupefied looks from the newcomers made the others giggle. Another round of introductions later made them feel at least a bit more at ease with one another. Belldandy, however, was an instant hit to the women from space. Especially when they learned she was now part of the family, and was expecting a child on the way.

Their slight festivities were interrupted when the Northern Crater erupted in a fantastic miasma of green and white energies, much to everyone's horror...

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

Inside the 'Rin-Ohki'...

The psychic floating pink pokemon named Mew and the telepathic silver-furred cabbit named Rin-Ohki forgot their beef at each other for the moment, as they both stared at the view screen in front of the ship's bridge in trepidation.

They were not the only ones. The brown-haired woman named Belldandy clasped her hands over her open mouth as she looked at the images. A petite young ninja with short black hair named Yuffie gasped beside her as she too joined Belldandy in viewing the screen. The blonde haired man with an enormous blade, Cloud, grimaced at the pandemonious explosion that occurred at the Northern Crater's opening. The raven-haired martial artist and Cloud's childhood friend, Tifa, felt her knees buckle as she tried not to look at the event. The large-bodied dark-skinned man with the gun-arm, Barret, bowed his head in helplessness, while the brooding visage of Vincent glowered by his side towards the screen. The former test subject in the form of a larger-than-normal red-furred wolf-tiger named Nanaki whined without meaning to do so. The big stuffed animatron named Cait Sith stayed silent at his little corner. The sandy-haired spear master, Cid, lowered his goggles from the top of his head down over his eyes.

The others however, the so-called 'aliens', currently betrayed no emotions on their faces.

The woman with spiky cyan hair, Ryoko remained in her seat as she held her daughter down on her lap. She also has a cabbit on her shoulder, although, this one was black-furred. The youngest member of the 'aliens', the red-haired girl on Ryoko's lap named Ranko, looked at the screen lazily. Vanilla, the girl with light teal hair, stared at the viewscreen impassively, while the now demonic-looking Raven leaned back to her seat with a bored yawn. The dark skinned tall girl named Emeralda was silently muttering to herself, something about babies and chocolates.

Of all the women in the room, the one with a little bit of darker shade of teal hair bore the most regal poise than the rest. Her face and upper neck has tattoos on them, and her clothes were... daring, black leather and all. The demon goddess named Ihadurca, who took the liking of the name Lea, sat on a seat on the side of Ryoko with her legs elegantly crossed with each other. On her right hand, an intricated staff was held firmly. Her brows, however, sported a slight tick on them, as if the involuntary action showed how impatient the woman was on the situation.

"How can you stand there doing nothing at all!" Everyone turned to the angrier-than-normal ninja girl named Yuffie, her dark short hair flapping wildly against her jumping around the cabbit ship's bridge, "Ranma's gonna die, and you're just watching there like you don't care!"

Belldandy gasped softly and looked at the ninja with a somber expression, "Yuffie..."

Seeing that the 'alien women' were clearly ignoring her outburst, Yuffie strode up to the nearest of them from her, who turned out to be the red-eyed pale-skinned Vanilla.

"Hey you! Ain't you gonna say something! What the hell's wrong with you!" Yuffie shouted at Vanilla's face, the latter just stared back at the little girl shouting in front of her impassively. Yuffie growled and smirked nastily and said, "Hmph! Maybe you didn't really care about Ranma at all! All you were doing was stringing---URK!"

Cloud's party, with the exception of Belldandy, gaped as Yuffie was suddenly grabbed by the petite Vanilla around the ninja's neck with her right hand. The pale-skinned girl was able to lift the slightly smaller girl and allowed Yuffie to dangle in mid-air. The poor ninja choked as she tried to remove Vanilla's hands from its grip around her trachea, but the red-eyed girl's hand was unrepentant.

When they saw that their comrade was being manhandled easily, Barret and Cid moved to put a stop to the confrontation, but the dark-skinned tall woman with light green hair named Emeralda pinned them on their positions with a glare.

Yuffie started to hyperventilate as she hung on Vanilla's arm, as her struggles slowly died down. The normally unflappable pale girl's face now sported a terrifying look of anger, something in which the 'alien girls' were surprised to see from Vanilla.

"I love him..." The simple statement was heard from Vanilla's lips. The words were soft, but firm... and they held heavy power. Yuffie's eyes widened, as well as her fighting comrades around them. The pale girl's words were filled with so much conviction.

Vanilla continued, "I love him so very much. Emeralda loves him just as much... Raven as well. No doubt Lea too, as well as Rin-Ohki. There is no question on Ryoko's love for him, their daughter Ranko's the proof of that. And also, in fact..." the girl's blood-red eyes seemed to glow as they locked on the brown-haired Belldandy's own blue-gray eyes, "You love him as much as we do as well."

The former Goddess of the Present ducked her head as she blushed hard.

"Do not EVER doubt our love for him, little girl..." Vanilla went on as her soulful stare was directed towards Yuffie once more, "You have absolutely no idea as to how much our emotions weigh for that man that is currently fighting for your world."

A metallic clang interrupted the pale girl's ire as Lea's golden staff hit Rin-Ohki's flooring quite clearly.

"That's enough, Vanilla. Put her down..." Lea coaxed her angry companion. The tallest woman of the group watched as Vanilla turned to her in slight confusion, before slowly let Yuffie's limp go.

Vanilla backed away as the ninja coughed and inhaled sharply to get glorious air into her lungs when Yuffie's feet touched the floor. Barret and Cid rushed to catch Yuffie as the small girl's knees buckled. The two men looked at the pale girl angrily.

"You have to forgive Vanilla for her actions..." Lea bowed slightly at Cloud's group. The regal woman slunk towards the still-emotional Vanilla and took the smaller girl into her arms. "She misses Lord Ranma very much. Hearing your young friend doubt her feelings for him caused a reaction..."

The demon goddess continued to hold Vanilla and she said, "It's not that we do not care for Lord Ranma's plight. Do not be disillusioned that we are not worried. The fact is, we would love to go and fight alongside him. But... it is not needed." She gestured towards the screen, which showed the Northern Crater still engulfed in the green miasma of fire.

Lea turned towards Belldandy and looked at the brown-haired girl straight in the eyes, "You were a former goddess, surely you know of Lord Ranma's capabilities, were you not?"

Belldandy nodded mutely.

"Then, you do know we have no doubts that he will not be killed in this small thing..." The former prisoner of the Null Zone commented, "In fact, you of all people should know real well how capable our future husband is in a battle. Lord Ranma is extremely powerful, much more than you think he is..."

"I never doubted Ranma..." Belldandy said resolutely as she threw a light apologetic glance towards Cloud and the others, "Ranma defeated a demigod even though he was limited into using a normal mortal's strength. He defeated a seemingly immortal phoenix avatar using only his wits, as well as his ability to rapidly adapt in a situation where normal men would consider winning as an impossibility."

"I thought as much..." Lea mused more to herself, "And even with all that power, he doesn't want to flaunt it around. That's one of the strengths he has, allowing his opponents to underestimate him."

Another loud explosion rocked the Northern Crater, which caused everyone to focus once again on the viewscreen. There was the usual green fire from earlier still enveloped around the crater, but this time, there was a silver fire that seemed to spread around the area pretty quick.

A massive arm erupted from the flames, clenched tightly as silver energy compressed around it. But its size was massive, and seemed to be metallic as the flames reflected against its skin. Its fist was black, and the arm was covered with dark blue armor that enhanced the ominous reflection of the flames against it. A loud roar followed the appearance of the arm, which shook the entire area.

Belldandy and Lea shared a look as they both understood the implications of the phenomenon.

"The Anima Seraphim appears..." The ash-skinned, purple haired woman named Raven said in awe.

Cid fidgeted as he pointed a shaky hand towards the image. "W-What the hell's t-that!"

"The Anima Seraphim... more than sixty tons of semi-organic semi-sentient Armored Module operated purely on Lord Ranma's will..." Emeralda obliged to answer, "In your terms, you may call it a Robot, a Mecha... but having sentience greatly contrasts that label. It is an Armored Module, something of a giant body armor for Lord Ranma. The Anima Seraphim is some sort of an amplification module, which can only be controlled by Lord Ranma due to its complexity. It also recognizes Lord Ranma as its one and only Master. It is operated by Lord Ranma by directly linking his mind with the Armored Module, a system rarely used due to its certain disadvantages. If the Module gets damaged, the same damage happens to Lord Ranma. The great advantage, however, makes the Module move how Lord Ranma wills it to move."

Vanilla, her head still buried into Lea's chest, muttered loud enough to be heard all over the silent bridge.

"It begins..."

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

Back to the ruins of the Northern Crater...

The red haired pigtailed hybrid known as Ranma blinked as he found himself within the familiar confines of the Anima Seraphim's cockpit. He felt the same lightness of the movements even with the Module's massive weight, which made him to silently thank his immense strength. The cockpit seemed to be unchanged, but what did he expect? All that was there was the three hundred and sixty degrees of complete visual environment. Aside from the seat that was within the cockpit to make himself comfortable, as well as the snake-like appendage now latched at the back of his head, there was nothing much.

Still, the feeling of sudden awareness of the entire area was welcome to Ranma. He realized that he missed this; his link with the Anima Seraphim somehow gave him a sense of great hope and kept his mind at ease.

Ranma decided that he has no time to ponder about this, especially when he has a large hunk of rock to destroy. He thought of establishing a link with the Rin-Ohki, but decided against it. He knew that the girls will be pretty worried of his situation, and he did not want them to be burdened more of his problems.

He steeled himself as he felt more of his old power coming back to him. His abilities were suppressed when he had the amnesia, but now that the familiar feeling of the Anima Seraphim enveloped his whole being, he recovered his old self, plus the additional memories. He couldn't stop the low growl that emitted through his mouth as more energy gathered in his body.

Nevertheless, Ranma still felt a bit awkward. Sluggish was more like it, after all, he was out of practice, as was the Anima Seraphim. The Module hasn't been maintained ever since that fateful day a couple of decades ago. Although, he will manage, because he cannot afford to fail. The chances of his success was around fifty percent. Of course, Ranma wasn't about to brush off the reality of things. Even with all the power everyone perceived he has at his disposal, he was still mortal.

"MUUUUHHHHRRRRRRR..." The entire cockpit that encased around Ranma's form rumbled as the Anima Seraphim showed its sentience to the world. On one side of the cockpit's screen, there were pictures that flashed quickly like a colorful mosaic as well as words at random, nevertheless Ranma understood the whole thing anyway.

"I missed you too, Sera-chan..." Ranma smiled fondly as he caressed his seat's armrests, as the giant he was in rumbled once more.

The red haired man nodded to himself and said, "That's right. We have to protect this planet, because no matter how much it gets battered, it's still Earth, somehow. We will protect it, as well as those people who wanted to make this world a better place."

In response, the Armored Module growled dangerously as it gave off a burst of silver aura, something which synchronized with Ranma's own power as well. The symphony of their energies swirled around the Anima Seraphim as it continued to float just above the ruined Northern Crater, covered in silver light.

To everyone who were watching the show, it would seem that the Anima Seraphim was actually a gargantuan demon which rose from the fires of hell itself.

Still hovered above the village of Kalm was the silver-hued interstellar battleship Rin-Ohki. Even from that distance, the spectacular view of the Anima Seraphim's revival was visible. Inside the silver crystalline cabbit ship, some of the people grew panicky, particularly, those who weren't used to such phenomenon in their lives. But the self-proclaimed 'crew' of the ship were watching the proceedings with rapt attention.

"The Meteor increased its speed..." Vanilla's flat voice sliced through the loud chatter of Cloud's group.

Ryoko glanced at the screen showing Meteor's progress worriedly. "The planet's gravitational pull has snagged this monster already."

Emeralda nodded slightly. "And with the Meteor of that size... it would totally wipe out the entire population of living beings on the surface."

"I just hope Ranma knows what he's doing..." Raven muttered off to the side, already transformed in her demonic form. The newcomers were quite shocked at the change at first, but once again Lea managed to stave off any fighting from either group with her diplomacy.

Barret twitched as he slowly made his may towards the screen and said, "Whaddya mean? I thought Zack has this under control!"

Lea shook her head as she sighed loudly, "Lord Ranma can easily destroy the incoming projectile, if he were allowed to freely use his power."

"What the hell's that supposed ta mean, lady!" The dark-skinned man growled out as he stamped his massive fist against the conference table.

"It means..." The animalistic Nanaki replied, "Zack can't just blast the Meteor from its path."

Before Barret could ask another question, Cid intervened irritably, "What he means is that we can't just go on blasting the Meteor with too much power. If Meteor blows up at that range, say bye-bye to this planet."

"I see..." Vincent muttered loudly, "The explosion of opposing forces would definitely wreak havoc on Gaia's surface."

"The vortex of the opposing forces imploding against one another will be tremendous..." Vanilla intoned ominously, "It will create a force similar to a gigantic vacuum. Everything will be ravaged on the planet."

The planet's inhabitants in the bridge swallowed hard at the same time when they thought of the devastation.

"That's not a very nice picture..." Cait Sith piped up as it waved its arms wildly.

A chorus of "Gee, you think!" made the doll duck its head in embarrassment.

"In any case..." Lea said helplessly, which caused the others to focus on her words as well as the viewscreen, "We just have to wait and see what happens. We cannot interfere, since it will definitely destroy this planet."

Yuffie hopped up in irritation, "No way! Ain't gonna happen!"

Raven snorted as she pulled the hyper ninja down to her seat once more, "That's why we can't do anything but watch, idiot."

Back to the smoldering remains of the Northern Crater, the Anima Seraphim looked up towards the incoming projectile of doom named Meteor. It was summoned using the Black Materia Sephiroth managed to acquire from Cloud when the blonde was emotionally unstable. Sephiroth has this vision of a new world without humans, because he believed that they were the cause of the planet's degrading resources.

The pilot of the Anima Seraphim, Ranma, glared at the Meteor. While he has the necessary power to demolish the gigantic meteorite, he can't just fire off those attacks haphazardly. With Gaia's planetary structure already in jeopardy, he might just set off a chain of events that would eventually destroy the planet anyway.

There was no way in hell he would allow that to happen.

"We've got little options left, Sera-chan..." Ranma mused to the Armored Module, "The only thing we can do right now is to stall that thing 'til it runs out of power."

"MMMMRRRRHHHHHH..." The dark blue knight-like mecha responded in its own way.

Ranma snickered sadly. "I know it's not an ordinary meteorite. It's made out of magic... something we can't fight with just anything. Sure we can blast it out of space with a massive attack, but what about this planet? There's no sense in erasing Meteor only to let Gaia die along with it, ne?"

"RRRRRHHHHH..."

The red haired pigtailed hybrid adopted a thinker's pose, his left arm crossed holding at his right arm's elbow and his right hand cupping his chin. This pose was mimicked by the giant mecha that protected its pilot, since they were connected through the mind.

"So... we just need an attack to push it back or something..." Ranma commented as Meteor started to flare up in the atmosphere. While normal space debris burned as they entered the atmosphere, Meteor's magical nature removed this obstacle.

The red haired pilot's attention was focused on the right side of his three-sixty degrees viewscreen, which suddenly brought up a bunch of ideas and catalogues of weaponry that was currently available for his disposal. Ranma dismissed most of the weapons because they were too destructive, which narrowed down his choices to three; the Anti-Matter Shot, the Pulse Wave Gun, and the Graviton Cannon.

Ranma smiled grimly as he mentally pulled out the specifications of the weapons.

The Anti-Matter Shot, while effective against slow moving objects and stationary targets, might have a severe backlash effect if it hit Meteor. With only a sixty-six percent chance of wiping out the gigantic piece of rock, the odds were too weak for Ranma to capitalize upon. This weapon was a severely toned-down version of a black hole, which added to the negatives of using the weapon on the planet's surface. If the Anti-Matter shot and the Meteor met at the planet's atmosphere, the sudden loss of matter might contract the entire area where the Meteor was blown into a miniature vacuum, which would greatly trigger a global catastrophe. Not a viable option at this time...

The Pulse Wave Gun was electricity and static based, and would've been effective in fending off objects consisted mainly of metals and other things conducive of electricity. But it's too weak to even consider using right now, and it would probably only punch a large hole on Meteor and not stopping it. With only twenty-two percent of success rate, if fired simultaneously, the chances were too low to even consider.

Now, the Graviton Cannon on the other hand... the prospects were good. With a ninety-two percent chance of success rate, the odds were clearly on his favor on this one. The cannon also fired at a continuous wave form, not a projectile unlike the other two options he had before. The firepower can also be adjusted even as the cannon was amidst firing, therefore he can actually tone down the power if it was too much, or up it if it's too weak. In other words... we have a winner, folks.

"Graviton Cannon..." Ranma murmured to himself as he chose the third weaponry option. The Anime Seraphim grunted as it acknowledged the pilot's choice, and probably, this was also a sign of approval as well. A slight sound reminded him that the weapon charge was completed. ((Heh, only five seconds and it's full power, huh? Cool...)) Ranma thought to himself happily.

The hulking figure of the Anima Seraphim glowed as it looked up towards the direction where Meteor was coming from space. The huge comet sped towards Gaia without remorse. Meteor gained a lot of speed when it touched the planet's gravitational pull, elevating its destructive power to a global level. The roaring flames of the comet was reflected against the techno-organic dark blue armor-plating of the mecha as it stood stoicly with its massive right arm now raised towards the Meteor. Its open hand pointed towards the gigantic projectile of death, with a dark-purple crystal seemingly hidden underneath its palm. The crystal on its palm now glowed darkly as it cackled with dark-colored lightning.

Inside the cockpit itself, Ranma's aura blazed bright silver as he fed power into the Anima Seraphim's system to support his personal giant armor. It seemed to empower the weapon that was now charging at the palm of the Anima Seraphim.

Ranma breathed in deeply as he closed his eyes. He made himself comfortable as he calmly recollected his thoughts at the moment. "We've got one shot at this, Sera-chan..." the redhead muttered loudly, "We only got one chance in making this right. We gotta make this shot count."

The red haired pigtailed hybrid felt the whole cockpit rumble as the Armored Module allowed him to feel its response to his determination.

Ranma gathered himself as he continued pouring power into the attack. He also fed power in preparation of releasing a powerful barrier, so as to protect the Anima Seraphim as well as the surrounding area from the backlash when his attack and the Meteor hit each other.

"Well..." The red-tailed redhead grinned slightly in anticipation, "Let's get this show on the road!"

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

The gigantic hulk of the dark-blue giant known as the Anima Seraphim stood poised on the former location of the Northern Crater, which by now suffered a new landscaping job. The whole area was now of a semi-flat surface because of the power emitted by the giant.

It wasn't too surprising that everyone around the immediate area surrounding the former crater braved outside the safety of their homes, if only to see the breath-taking spectacle. Even though the arrival of the Meteor into the planet's atmosphere created a vision of darkness and gloom to the people, they saw the silver light emanated by the dark-blue giant knight from the edges of their vision. That alone gave them some hope.

Especially in the town of Kalm, where the cabbit battleship Rin-Ohki was currently 'parked', nobody even paid attention to the ship's odd presence above them.

Inside the silver crystalline battleship, the people situated at the bridge looked on at the events with trepidation. Those native of the planet were bewildered and nervous to the outcome of this new development, while the 'visitors' were excited at the prospect of seeing their beloved once again after around two decades of separation.

One person stood apart from the others, since this young woman stood near the window at the right side of the bridge. It was the side where the Anima Seraphim was most visible. This female has long brown hair cascading down her back, her bangs covered most of her forehead hiding the three dark-hued gems embedded into her skin and skull. Her form-fitting pink ankle-length skirt outfit was doubled by the smallish jacket around her bust, which covered most of her assets perfectly. Her blue-gray eyes flitted in concern as she concentrated on the Anima Seraphim, the armor that held the future father of her children. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her chest worriedly as she observed what the future may bring.

The future that everyone was hoping for now lay in the hands of one man... as well as one techno-organic Armored Module. The glow on the blue mecha's right hand increased its intensity, and the lightning around it cackled faster. The crescendo of power seemed to have reached its desired plateau, and the whole world held its breath as time seemed to have stopped between the Anima Seraphim and the Meteor...

A baritone voice, which came from the dark blue giant, echoed across the land, "This is our hope... GRAVITON CANNON!"

The intense wait has been justified, as the Anima Seraphim's arm reared back a few and was thrust forward once again, but the swirling ball of dark death that festered in front of its hand shot out into a black continuous beam. The dark wave of energy traveled into the air straight at the incoming Meteor. The two forces collided with a powerful jolt, the shockwave of the collision rocked the whole continent rather violently.

Unfortunately, when the cloud of dust cleared from the collision point, the Meteor was still in one piece and was still hurtling towards the planet. Although on the positive side, the Anima Seraphim's Graviton Cannon stopped Meteor's descent cold in mid-air.

Inside the cabbit battleship, the bridge was devoid of any sounds whatsoever. After a few moments however, it was broken by a young ninja-girl's cry of joy.

"He... he did it!" Yuffie crowed triumphantly as she pumped her right fist into the air, "He... Zack stopped Meteor! We're saved!" she turned towards Cloud and her other fellow inhabitants of the planet.

Tifa breathed a sigh of relief as she clutched at her blonde haired companion's arm tightly, "Finally..." she murmured.

"Man... that was so freakin' unbelievable!" Barret whooped as he patted a disgruntled Red XIII on his head with wild abandon, which made the poor former experimental specimen whimper.

Red XIII rubbed a paw over the area on his head where that brutish giant of a man he called friend gave his poor fur a massive noogie. He declined to put his two cents in, since his own physical health was more prioritized as of now.

Cid stared at the giant blue mech longingly, "Man, I gotta get me one of those things!"

Cait Sith seemed... overwhelmed. The white robotic doll was quite limp as it stared at the events outside the ship. Somewhere in Midgar, the robot's operator, Reeve, was riveted at the scene being transmitted to him by his 'eyes' on the field.

Vincent was... in a word, 'stoic'. But even he couldn't stop his eyebrows, both of them, to rise up dramatically as he watched the black beam lance out from the dark blue giant's hand. It was an unfamiliar sight, even for him. And what a sight it was... for him, at least, it was impressive.

A monotone voice abruptly ended their preemptive celebration however.

"It is far from over..." Vanilla's red eyes seemed to gleam dangerously as she gazed at the people partying in front of her. It was far too soon for them to be happy anyway, since the threat of the Meteor has just been halted temporarily. While she trusted Ranma more than anyone else in the universe and beyond, there was always the slight chance of possibility that a mishap might occur at any moment. A slight slip, a wrong moment of power shortage... those kinds of things happen in a situation. There were no guarantees, after all.

Emeralda was livid, however. She had wanted to jump out of the ship aboard her own mecha, the Crescens, to help Ranma achieve victory. But alas, the Crescens was hidden alongside the Anima Seraphim in Ranma's personal subspace hangar. It was the expanded space Ranma used as his own version of a laboratory, a feat taught to him by his aunt Washuu. With Ranma acting so... 'macho', he didn't want anyone else to get involved and be exposed to danger. So, Emeralda wasn't able to do anything but watch, and pray that her love may be able to win over the overwhelming odds that seemed to pile up against this world.

These same thoughts were shared morosely by the man inside the Anima Seraphim. Inside the mecha's cockpit, Ranma was sweating slightly at the strain of controlling the power he fed into the weapon. He was slightly dejected to note that a magical attack such as the Meteor cannot be destroyed easily with the way he was handling things at the moment. But he knew he mustn't let up, for fear of allowing the massive hunk of rock to plummet into the planet's surface.

"I always get myself in these situations... ah, curse my helpful nature..." Ranma muttered dejectedly as he surely felt his body slowly tiring for maintaining the beam for so long. It was minuscule at first, but this was slowly draining his energy for sure. It wouldn't be long before he does run out of power, as unbelievable as it sounded, but nevertheless he was still mortal.

"Bah..." Ranma snorted blithely as he struggled on his quest to eradicate the Meteor... safely. The seriousness of the situation became moot when his stomach growled in protest of its emptiness. "I'm hungry..." the red haired youth glared at the offending body organ, "I would kill for a good roast beef right now..."

As he earlier predicted, the push of the offending projectile from outer space became stronger, which caused Ranma to strain more power into his attack without much effect. The Meteor was more powerful than Ranma thought it was, and it showed.

Unlike most space debris that Ranma was aware of, the Meteor was special. It was born out of all the hatred and scorn of JENOVA and Sephiroth, fused into one gigantic mass of magic and dark energies. While normal meteorites can be eliminated by one good solid hit from a land-borne targeting weapon in strategic locations of the projectile, the Meteor was held together by something far more powerful and sinister. It was empowered by the Dark Materia, an opposed elemental materia from the one carried by Aerith all throughout her life, which was the White Materia called Holy. This dark matter of destruction was the materialization of the summoners' will to eradicate all life on Earth because of some twisted notion of fate.

Meteor evidently pushed against the Anima Seraphim's Graviton Cannon's beam, and was slowly but surely gaining ground against the continuous onslaught of the defensive line on the planet's surface. Of course, this little setback did not wane Ranma resolve to push it back into space one bit, although the young man knew that he was fighting something akin to a losing battle.

This sentiment was shared by those inside the cabbit ship Rin-Ohki. The avatar of the ship had wanted to help her master resolve this situation with a swift strike, but calculations proved that this action would eventually affect the planet's surface to a disastrous degree.

Amidst the ship's avatar and passengers' growing anxiety upon the deteriorating dilemma, one person already had an idea of what would definitely help the ailing planetary defender. Aerith Gainsborough, the reborn mortal form of the former Goddess of the Present Belldandy, sifted through the pockets of her outfit. She fished out a semi-translucent white stone, one that was normally tied amongst her ponytail's band. Belldandy eyed the white stone, the Holy Materia, her final hope to save this planet from its destruction. When she was within the Temple of the Ancients, she prayed in the altar grove to start the Holy's activation. Had not been for Zack, rather, Ranma's untimely but very much welcomed intervention, Sephiroth's surprise attack would've killed her. Belldandy knew this much, and she had hoped that even after her death, Holy would've been summoned anyway. Two birds with one stone, quite frankly, as Belldandy would've activated the planet's one chance for survival, as well as having a chance to join her beloved in the Life Stream.

Of course, fate was somehow derailed once more, as her beloved managed to defy logic and halt Sephiroth's attack against her person. If the course of history was followed, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to reunite with Ranma in the mortal plane, as well as conceive their offspring.

Belldandy's unoccupied right hand caressed her still-flat abdomen with overflowing emotions, as thoughts of the uncertain future came across her mind. The left hand that gripped the white stone visibly tightened as the normally calm woman's resolve strengthened to a terrifying degree. No, she surmised, death wasn't an option for her anymore. She has a life to protect now, and she will be damned sure to protect it, just as much as her mate was trying to protect it at the moment. The future was in their hands to mold, and she will not allow some madman to try and take that right away from them.

The dark gems upon Belldandy's forehead blazed with unknown power as the Holy materia resonated with it. The woman's desire for life, as well as her passion for a fruitful future fed power into the stone. The materia glowed magnificently as her hopes and dreams grew into a feverish pitch. The cries of worry around Belldandy from her fellow passengers were ignored by her, concentrated was she on her mission to aid her ailing mate. Belldandy's vision slowly warped and distorted, making her feel a bit nauseous at the body-wrenching sensation of a telltale teleportation. Her body, unaccustomed to the sudden influx of knowledge and skill of the new ability, was slowly being crushed by the tremendous force of the space she transversed at the moment. The gems on her forehead flashed momentarily, and the woman felt the soothing calm that befell on her person.

Was she dead? No... Belldandy could still feel the pull of the teleportation on her body. It would seem that somehow, her body adjusted to her body's slow deterioration. But she had no time to dwell on her body's sudden transformation, as the literal light at the end of the tunnel appeared on the horizon of her sight. Belldandy opened her arms as the end of the transversed space opened to the sight of a red haired man's grimacing visage inside some sort of a cockpit. Ranma, her mate, was pale and somewhat sweaty, which urged Belldandy to will her teleportation to speed up. She was elated when she felt her consciousness bursting forth quicker than before, and she had to close her eyes to the oncoming light...

The other people inside the silver crystalline ship stood rooted around the place where Belldandy had collapsed a few moments ago. Then Yuffie started panicking, which of course was followed by the others in her group from Gaia. They were unused to these sort of things, and the gravity of the situation must've added to the growing pressure of their personal anxiety that their pent-up emotions just exploded when they saw their friend suddenly stiffen and fall on the ground, unconscious. Unlike them, however, Vanilla and the others from those who were chasing Ranma were very much used to such phenomenon, since their beloved was prone to sudden faintings due to power drains and such. They surmised that somehow, in someway, that the girl about to be added to their growing group was able to unlike a probably hidden skill due to the events that have occurred recently. They had a slight idea where the girl would appear, and they hoped Belldandy was able to help their future husband. The all-women entourage however began to soothe the other group's wailings, because the noise was becoming too disturbing, especially towards Rin-Ohki and Ryo-Ohki.

Meanwhile, the red-haired Saiyajin hybrid named Ranma was currently struggling against releasing his full potential on the predicament he was on at the moment. Sweat started to fall down the sides of his face as he fed a bit more energy into his link with the Anima Seraphim. It was short of the transformation beyond the second level of his Saiyajin trait, a form he had used a few years back during that fateful battle against Kagato. While he was still unused to the form, he will have to suck it up if he wanted to save this planet, else Meteor would easily overpower his efforts and lay waste on Gaia.

Ranma already gave up on being called a 'normal human'. After all, the presence of so much power in this little body of his, as well as the unknown energies still left uncovered within his genes and the eons-long memories of his past incarnation, it was hard to ignore the facts. Instead of wallowing in his own pity like normal people would in his situation, he dared to improve upon himself and use the situation to his own advantage. After all, his zest for life was clearly similar as to how he handled his martial arts. Anything Goes.

As of the moment, he felt that he was fighting a losing battle. Ironically, the situation somehow exhilarated him. He figured that with all the power at his disposal, he would not be challenged in a very very long time. But alas, right now, he was sweating profusely. Such a welcomed change of pace.

Ranma grunted as he felt the ground he braced the Anima Seraphim on breaking off a bit. The odds were clearly against him. Even if he could've finished this off with a dramatic increase of his power level, the price was the planetary mantle's integrity. Not a good thing to think about, especially with all those people he somehow felt was hoping for his success. Another grunt from the man and he fell to one knee, his outstretched hand almost slipped off course. The ground he was on was unstable in the first place, after all, the ruins of the Northern Crater wasn't a sturdy flooring in the least.

It was at that moment in time, that Ranma felt a sudden shift in his surroundings. He spared the offending space a curious glance, which was just a few inches to his right INSIDE his spacious cockpit, and saw that the air rippled into a very familiar outline of a person, a woman in fact. A goddess... that's what Ranma thought he saw when the form materialized into a semi-translucent form. She was familiar though, the trio of dark gems blazing upon her forehead was a unique pattern available only to one other person he knew, aside from his own.

Belldandy... in her full goddess form...

Those blue eyes of hers looked into his yellow ones, full of love and compassion that it almost overwhelmed him. Unbidden, a few tears leaked out of their eyes, as time seemed to have stopped for the both of them. The raw emotions that emitted from both persons electrified the entire cockpit.

"Bell-chan..." Ranma's breath hitched as he was forced to swallow his spit in shock, "W-What... h-how...?" he was about to continue, but his voice faltered when the ghostly form of Belldandy filtered to his side. For some reason, the pale hands that now held the side of his face were warm and compassionate, which had Ranma speechless. Those same hands were now pulling his head towards her own, and without a word from the girl, their foreheads touched each other... and their lips met...

It was then that Ranma felt a different kind of power filling his body up, which caused his Light hawk Wings to unexpectedly come out of his back. The wings soon transformed into eight elegant glowing tendrils, which in turn latched into eight different parts of the cockpit.

In the Rin-Ohki, everyone bore witness to the Anima Seraphim's silver aura slowly becoming metallic green. It seemed that a green aura of power exploded from it, which spread into the desolate land around it. The tendrils of green entangled with the parched ground, and as amazing as it sounded, it has spread quickly across the entire continent. The green energy filled the entirety of the planet, and was actually concentrated on feeding their power into the Anima Seraphim.

Silver wings exploded from within the Anima Seraphim's back. It greatly surprised everyone who bore witness to the events that occurred, and they were entranced how the wings intertwined with the green tendrils that shot out of the earth. The green veins seemed to envelop the dark blue mecha in their embrace.

Back in the silver cabbit ship, a few of the spectators recognized the green shroud that encompassed the blue giant. One such person was Cloud Strife, who was acutely aware that those tendrils were the same ones that ran in the town of Mideel. Another was the person who also fell into that chasm a few weeks back with Cloud, Tifa Lockhart. Ryoko clutched at her daughter's smaller form as she gazed at the scene. The pull of the planetary energy was immense, and she could feel it. Somehow, Ryoko felt that little Ranko felt it as well. The green energy felt peaceful, at the same time, it was a force to be reckoned with.

They all in turn glanced at the unconscious form of Belldandy, who now rested at the lap of the dark-skinned green haired Emeralda. The insensate brown-haired woman was glowing soft green, in contrast with the dark shimmer that came from the gems on her forehead. The planet's inhabitants threw a questioning glance to the 'aliens', who seemed to be too relaxed at the situation to their liking.

"Must be astral projection..." Ryoko remarked in admiration, as she now stared at Belldandy with respect. Beside her, the demonic Raven nodded in comprehension.

"Excuse me..." Red XIII's slightly frustrated growl broke into the hollow silence that followed, "Can anyone explain to us normal beings just what's going on here?"

The cyan haired former space pirate snorted as she levitated to get a firmer grasp of her daughter in her arms and replied, "It's just a matter of projecting one's consciousness and spirit into a semi-translucent form. This girl must feel so much love for Ranma that she threw almost her entire life force just to reach him."

Yuffie huffed as she hopped in place, "I don't understand!"

It was Vincent who explained this time, "It's like throwing your voice. Aerith was compelled to force her way into Zack somehow, and managed to separate quite a bit of her spirit from her physical body, just enough for her to become ghost-like. Most likely, her spirit form is inside that giant robot, currently in contact with him."

"Precisely..." The demon-goddess of the Evil Zone named Lea agreed at the brooding man's intellect, "If one's will is strong enough, one could achieve seemingly impossible things."

"Mew!" Everyone's ruminations were halted when the pink floating feline named Mew pointed a smallish paw towards the former Northern Crater.

"The Life Stream..." The cabbit ship's passengers turned to Cloud as the young man voiced those words in slight awe. Beside him, Tifa was nodding in great reverence as well. The rest of the pair's compatriots were understanding, but the 'aliens' were a bit confused since they have little to no information about the events they got themselves into.

Tifa took over the explanations, seeing that Cloud was too engrossed at the view beyond the windows of the ship, "The Life Stream, is basically the energy vein of the Planet. It is said, that every life on the Planet came from the Life Stream, and when they finally expire, they return to becoming energy and join up with the Life Stream again. Probably to be reborn again..."

"Ahhh..." Lea nodded sagely, "The idea somehow ignores the idea of heaven though... and I know that there is heaven, and hell for sure..." The tall woman eyed the unconscious Belldandy speculatively.

"Then..." The small ninja girl growled ominously, as she pointed a shaky finger towards the window that overlooked the entire phenomenon, "What the heck's that!"

"Oh, that..." Raven deadpanned, as she looked at her fellow 'aliens' with an inquisitive brow raised. Vanilla just blinked back at her, typical. Emeralda blinked in unison with her paler future co-wife, no help there. Ryoko was pointedly ignoring her look, as the cyan-haired girl cooed at her daughter, why did she even bother thinking Ryoko would help anyway? Ranko was of no use, since the little girl, physically anyway, acted the same way her mother did. Lea though had this mysterious smirk on her face, nope, there was no chance Raven was getting help from any of these women at the moment.

"Anyway..." The demonic-looking girl sighed as she rubbed her ash-colored skin at the nape of her neck in askance, "I really don't know much about it. But the way I see it, those green planetary ley lines, the ones you call the Life Stream, were currently helping Ranma. One could only guess at the moment..." She paused to gesture towards Belldandy's form, "Because the only person who knows anything about it is currently out of commission. So... we have to wait for her to wake up from her trance."

"Great..." Most of those in Cloud Strife's group muttered helplessly, while the blonde mercenary gazed at the brown haired woman with worry.

As if to answer them, Belldandy began mumbling in her trance, "Please, oh mana of Gaia... protect him. Please... Life Stream... protect my beloved Ranma..."

"Couldn't have said it better myself..." Lea murmured appreciatively.

Of course, Cloud was less pleased with that one. Not that he can do anything about it.

Heh.

They did not know who did it first, but Emeralda seemed to have touched Belldandy's body and was now glowing soft green as well, with Vanilla on her side. Lea and Raven were on the other side of Belldandy, who had closed their eyes as they concentrated their own energies and sent them through the unconscious Belldandy's body. Ryoko, with her daughter Ranko, sat at Belldandy's feet and was also sending her own via her touch upon the brown haired girl's legs. Mew was also found touching Belldandy on the other side of Ryoko and Ranko, her tail half-coiled around the calf of Belldandy's sleeping visage. It was as if it was instinct for them.

The others can only watch in awe and slight fear as the green glow between these seemingly powerful women appeared to have gotten stronger as time passed by.

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

If anyone could've measured the power readings which emanated from the Anima Seraphim at the moment, he or she would've found out that the readings were immeasurable. It was fortunate for the Anima Seraphim AND the Planet that the Life Stream intervened in the effort to stop the Meteor, because the Life Stream's appearance was a two-fold convenience for everyone.

For one, the Life Stream offered more power for the Anima Seraphim. Planetary energy was nearly inexhaustible, which made the Shin-Ra Corporation rich since they gathered Materia as well as harnessed Mako Energy - both were outcomes of massive concentrations of planetary power. Another was that the Life Stream now gave some measure of protection for the Anima Seraphim when it basically cocooned the dark blue mecha. Not only that, but the whole planet was currently being cocooned by the Life Stream, which gave Gaia its own protective shell as well. This allowed the Anima Seraphim to unless more power at its disposal, and it seemed that it knew this subconsciously.

The Planet probably deemed its defender worthy of its help, and also, with a bit of help from the prayers of the last 'Cetra' as well.

Inside the Anima Seraphim's cockpit however, Ranma was ignorant of these things. He was, in a word, awestruck. It wasn't the fact that Belldandy's astral form was currently naked, nor was it because Belldandy was in her goddess form. It wasn't even from the fact that there was overwhelming power that flowed not only all over his cockpit, but also outside and ALL-OVER the Planet itself. Nope, it was from the unconditional love and devotion being thrown at him by the forces that wanted him to succeed. It was scary enough that Belldandy's emotions were so strong for him, but coupled those with the rest of the women waiting for him in the ship... the emotions were choking him, but not in a bad way. Ranma was just unused to being the core of a lot of women's existences, and they projected those feelings to him in waves at the moment.

Ranma has been subjected into physical abuse when he was younger, mostly by those who pursued his affections. While he later on understood that they only did those things to claim him and his love, he was still... wary and confused by such. While those girls in his past wanted to 'claim' him for themselves exclusively, the women he's with at this time were more than willing to share him amongst themselves just to show how much they were devoted to him and only him.

Frankly, it quite scared him. But at the same time, he felt like crying happy tears. These females wouldn't want him to choose one among the other in their group just to satisfy their own selfishness and cause his own anguish of the dread in having to hurt the others he wouldn't choose.

It was a very heartfelt gesture, that he can't help but feel his own love for them grow in such a feverish pitch and was now combining with this power that currently shrouded the cockpit. The Planet seemed to feel it too, and the desire for his and everyone's survival was Belldandy's ultimate wish to the Holy Materia.

Outside, the foliage all over Gaia seemed to have flourished tremendously, which reacted to the intense emotions currently being fed by the individuals who lay their wish upon the Holy Materia. Flowers mutated and bore new buds instantaneously. Old trees were shredded and sprouted new stronger species. A lot of vicious monsters wailed in agony as they seemingly evaporated. The various volcanoes that seemed to have erupted when Meteor reached the atmosphere quieted down, as new terra firma formed all over the continents, all the while the green shroud of the Life Stream formed a shell around the Planet. It was to prepare for the final reckoning, for the destruction of the blight known as the Meteor. All in the span of a few measly minutes...

Back inside the cockpit of the mecha, Ranma's attention was finally diverted from Belldandy's nude form currently perched on his back towards the Meteor.

The pressure of the power which now encompassed everything in sight seemed to come to a standstill, and Ranma heard Belldandy's ethereal voice whisper into his ear, "It's time, our love..."

"But..." The red-haired Saiyajin hybrid balked slightly at the tone of finality, "What if I used too much? I can cause more damage..."

"Trust us, love..." Belldandy's voice filtered into his ear once again, this time the feelings of assurances accompanied it, "You do not have to be alone in this. Can't you feel them? Lea... Raven... Emeralda... Ryoko... Ranko... Vanilla... Myself... we will always be here to help you. Trust us, love... we will not abandon you. The burden of saving this planet will not be yours alone. Even Gaia seemed to think so, since the Planet granted us its boon..."

"It's true, isn't it...?" Ranma seemed to ask himself breathlessly, "I am not alone... not anymore. I thought that... if I get to carry this burden alone, I will keep you all safe..."

"We know that, love..." Her voice reflected a bit of amusement in it, "But remember, as much as you wanted to protect us, we also wanted to protect you."

At that moment, Ranma's doubts were totally crushed by the absolute certainty that came from Belldandy's resolve. That, or probably Belldandy's ghostly hand that stroke the base of his tail sensually. Not that he cared at the moment.

With confidence soaring to unbelievable heights, Ranma straightened on his seat and declared, "I understand... Sera-chan, prepare to open the hatch for, THE WEAPON..."

'The Weapon' was one of the Anima Seraphim's greatest weapons, and probably one of the most physics-breaking arsenals to date. It was nearly impossible to control, especially if this weapon was mounted unto a different mecha instead. The weapon was located at the chest of the mecha, exposed only when the Anima Seraphim opened its chest cavity. Three small cannons surrounded a bigger one, but these were no ordinary cannons. These nozzles fired off massive amounts of quantum singularities. The three smaller ones were to stabilize the bigger one. In other words, a Black Hole weapon.

Black Holes were made from a star's death. These swirling holes of death created a gravitational pull so powerful that even light wasn't able to pull out of it. The three smaller outlets created smaller bursts of powerful gravity based beams, while the bigger one fired off the self-induced Black Hole. It was only coincidence, probably, that the three nozzles were arranged in an inverted triangle position, with each nozzle at points, and the main gun was at the middle of it all. Ranma was quite adamant on not using this weapon in the first place. It was quite obvious to anyone that the weapon would rip the planet apart when fired. But now...

Well, the Anima Seraphim seemed to growl its delight as it opened the hatch for The Weapon, as it carefully calculated the needed power to totally obliterate the offending piece of trash that caused to much trouble for its pilot. Ranma knew, and by proxy the mecha as well because of their connection, that even with the Planet protecting itself, too much would still cause irreparable damage.

Ranma then 'felt' that it was time. The culmination of powers gathered around him seemed to indicate that it was the perfect moment to strike. Years of battle instinct ingrained this skill on Ranma, and it hasn't failed him yet. Or maybe it was because of the amount of dark matter already spinning inside the nozzles of the guns situated upon the Anima Seraphim's chest. Maybe.

The red-haired man hadn't noticed Belldandy's astral form slowly dissipating with a smile on her face, as he concentrated on feeding power upon the mecha's conduits. A grin graced his lips as he felt the freedom of releasing this much power at one sitting.

"Decreasing Graviton Cannon power to zero..." Ranma intoned as he slowly lowered the first weapon's output, as the beam outside that held the Meteor at bay temporarily trickled to nothing.

"Each one of us have great power in our hands..." His eyes narrowed as he clenched his left hand in preparation.

"The power to build... the power to destroy..." This time, his right hand clenched in anticipation.

"But the greatest power we mortals have... is to guide our own fates..." He pumped his aura into the Anima Seraphim, which bathed the immediate area with a silver glow.

"Our future... is to be shaped by our own hands!"

Everything seemed to have come to a standstill at these words, as the whole world waited for the final judgement to pass.

Ranma screamed with all of his heart, as his red hair lengthened up to his lower back, "At this twenty percent power... get out of my sight, Meteor! BLACK HOLE CLUSTER, FIREEEE!"

Everything seemed to have started moving once more, as a black ball of vacuum seemed to hover a few inches from the main gun nozzle. As the three graviton beams that surrounded it fired off, they carried the ball of dark matter as it grew in its intensity and size while it transversed the space between the mecha and its target. The slowly growing Spatial Displacement used the trio of graviton beams as its pathway for a precision strike, as well as its stabilizing current.

Light seemed to dim as the Black Hole ripped outwards the Planet's atmosphere. The air seemed to distort as clouds wavered and disappeared into the void when it passed through them. Sound became garbled as the universe's strongest gravitational force of nature was suddenly recreated by Ranma and the Anima Seraphim.

The void of doom has finally reached its quarry, true to its target, and literally ripped into the Meteor. No sound escaped the collision, but the shockwave of the impact was testament to its power as the wave was clearly felt by everyone on the Planet at the moment. The only thing that protected the planetary surface from the force of impact's destruction was the green shroud produced by the Life Stream, which in itself still strained to contain the power. The entirety of Gaia shuddered as the black hole paused where Meteor was and literally ripped the magically-created comet apart, and systematically absorbed the pieces into its inky darkness just like its space-born counterparts. The void continued its carnage until every last piece of the Meteor was absorbed into it, before it slowly collapsed into itself and closed with a terrifying finality.

The darkness that encompassed the entire planet lifted slowly, as a slight sign of normalcy emerged when the rays of the sun filtered into the ground once more. The Life Stream's tendrils of energy slowly abated from their hold all over Gaia. They slithered back into the lone standing figure of the Anima Seraphim. The dark blue giant stood triumphant amidst the newly regrown foliage made possible by the power of the Life Stream, its semi-organic wings losing its glow as the mecha slowly powered down.

The Life Stream's energy finally relinquished its hold on the Anima Seraphim, as the mecha's movements ground to rest.

Inside the cockpit, Ranma was quite surprised to notice that he had closed his eyes in the process. He was alone in the cockpit, and he surmised that Belldandy, whatever she did back before, was finally back in the safety of his other partner, Rin-Ohki. He also found that he has reverted back to his normal form; shorter black hair and all that. He noted, much to his chagrin, that he would have to replace the tie that held his hair into his favorite hairstyle, a pigtail. He silently vowed to himself that he would try to invent something to remedy that soon. Ranma tried to move, but found himself too tired to even wiggle his toes. It was dark in the cockpit, probably because most of his energy as well as the Anima Seraphim's has been drained from that last burst of attack.

"Well..." Ranma muttered drowsily, as he fought to keep his eyes open, "At least the viewscreen's still working though... and what a wonderful sight it is..."

Indeed, the sight he was seeing at the moment was a drastic change in comparison with what he witnessed a while ago. The dark, foreboding atmosphere was gone, replaced by the sky-blue cloudless skies that brought comfort to his soul.

The extremely exhausted alien hybrid managed to chuckle loudly amidst his loneliness in the cockpit, "Heh heh heh... take that, JENOVA! Score another one for the good guys!"

The last scene Ranma was able to make out of the viewscreen was the glorious image of the crystalline cabbit ship he has sorely missed for at least two decades appearing in his vision before he finally succumbed to his exhaustion.

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

In the Yggdrasil, center of the Heavenly Plane...

It was one of the most intricate and most important part of Heaven, or Asgard, itself. The World Tree, Yggdrasil, was the main component of Heaven's control over the fate of those in Midgard. Midgard, or Middle Earth, was the home for mortals and other slightly supernatural beings.

The Yggdrasil spoke for itself, its greatness was well known throughout several realms of power in reality. It was where Fate and Destiny were programmed for mortals, as well as the data holder for almost every living being in the known multiverses. In itself, the Yggdrasil was also known as the World Mainframe Computer, operated by various gods and goddesses whose innate powers were in tuned to Fate and Destiny.

Once, there were three goddesses who governed majority of Yggdrasil's network. They were the Norns, the three goddesses of fate. Urd, the Goddess of the Past, Belldandy, the Goddess of the Present, and Skuld, the Goddess of the Future. Skuld, the youngest of the three, took over 'debugging' certain errors that the Yggdrasil must've made in its operations. Urd was one of the lead programmers, while Belldandy was their back-up.

Alas, one day Belldandy was pulled out of the Norns' jurisdiction, and somehow disappeared into the myriad of realities of Midgard. Rumors has it that the main timeline Belldandy, the almost original version of all Belldandy's available within the multiverse, was expelled from her duties due to some unforeseen event. Nobody in Asgard nor Nifelheim knew what had occurred, only that the Almighty Himself only knew what really transpired... and He was not sharing the information to anyone. With only two Norns left, Urd and Skuld were hard pressed at keeping Yggdrasil in check. Skuld's debugging sessions became more frequent lately, while Urd became a near-permanent stand-in as the lead programmer for the World Tree.

Urd was currently in the main console of the Yggdrasil, her haggard visage was testament to how gruel her job now was. Gone was the usually-drunk goddess of the Past, as she was now needed nearly full-time inside the Yggdrasil to keep it running smoothly.

It was this scene where another powerful entity found the platinum-haired goddess of the Past. For some reason, the alarms for various intrusions of the World Tree hadn't detected this entity, who was visibly female. She daintily stepped into the room for the main console of the Yggdrasil, and paused for a few moments to admire the view that hasn't been seen by her eyes for how many eons past.

This entity has long, curly silver hair, which was held together by a dark pink and blue headband that almost encompassed her whole head. A couple of golden-hued hair clips shaped like balls clamped some strands of her shiny hair. Her skin was bronze in color, and her clothes were dark, leathery and skin-tight, laced with dark pink undertones at the back. Several spine-like appendages trailed behind her, which were connected to her clothing as well. Her blemish-free skin reflected the flickering lights of the various operating systems within the console room. Her generous bosom bounced within the confines of the black corset she wore as she half-skipped, half-danced towards the center of the room. Her white high-heeled shoes noiselessly stepped on the damp surface, while golden bracelets and anklets decorated her wrists and ankles respectively. Her face was of an ageless and exotic beauty, with a starburst symbol on her forehead and a pair of five-point stars on her upper cheeks. Her almond-shaped eyes were soft and alluring, as her pupils changed colors every now and then... but most of the time, they were in purple.

This entity, was Hild... the Nightmare. She was the FORMER Queen of the Demons... the FORMER Head Honcho of Nifelheim. It was never revealed to the public of all realms that the foremost leader of Nifelheim disappeared from the sight of even the Almighty.

Hild continued on her merry way towards the center of Yggdrasil, where an enormous elevated technological throne of some sort was located. The entire area was more like those found on stock market offices, but the surrounding smaller computer consoles were vacated at the moment. The only active console was the main one, and that was the one used by the elevated seat. And the one who currently sat at that seat was none other than Urd herself.

The platinum-haired goddess of the Past was currently busy recalibrating some important settings for the Yggdrasil operating system, since the Norns now lacked a certain important member of their sisterhood. The balance created by all three sisters has been upset when Belldandy vanished, and for now certain steps were to be made to ensure the optimum running capacity of the World Tree while the goddess of the Present's location has been found. The Almighty was pretty much tight-lipped about the situation, and Urd was somehow frustrated at the sudden hush-hush from the higher-ups regarding this dire event. In any case, she would do anything in her power to keep Heaven's computer running, until they find Belldandy.

Urd suddenly stiffened on her seat when she heard a VERY familiar giggle within her vicinity. A voice she hasn't heard for quite some time now, and she never would have expected to hear that voice in the Yggdrasil! Urd quickly swiveled her elegant seat around towards where the voice was heard, hoping against hope that she was wrong in her assumption...

But sadly, her luck must be rotten lately, as her hopes were dashed when the familiar sight of the High Lord of Demons greeted her eyes in the most unprecedented of locations.

"HILD!" Urd's strangled gasp echoed all over the now-empty Yggdrasil mainframe room.

Hild giggled as she performed a half-bow towards the dumbfounded Urd. "My, my... working late, Urd-chan?"

Urd sputtered incoherently, "B-But... how! I mean... the alarms! What... wha..."

The former queen of Nifelheim pouted cutely, as she levitated off of the damp ground and floated par the level of elevation where Urd sat. "Oh, please do relax, daughter. I'm not here to do anything bad, or something like that."

Not really waiting for a response, Hild continued, "Well... a very nice place you've got here, daughter. Finally, a promotion for you, huh? Anyway... you must have a lot of questions..."

The goddess of the Past finally got something out, "Yeah... like what are you doing here! How did you get in!"

"Well, as to 'how' I got in... through the gate, of course..." Hild deadpanned as she twirled slightly in mid-air, "As to 'what I am doing here'... well, to talk to you, actually."

"Talk!" Urd's voice cracked, "What's there to talk about!"

"Oh... I dunno..." Hild mused, "Probably something in the lines of... what's really been going on in the multiverses... and where Belldandy is at the moment..."

At this, Urd stood from her sitting position. "WHAT!" she exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes towards the woman who was also her biological mother, "What did you do to Belldandy! If I find out you hurt her..."

Hild huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest, "Oh, do relax, Urd dear. I didn't do anything to Bell-chan. In fact... it was Deus, the Almighty's real name by the way, who took the liberty of banishing the poor girl into mortality."

"WHAT! FATHER BANISHED BELL!" Urd screamed, but then adopted a thoughtful look as she continued, "Wait... Father's real name is Deus? I didn't know that..."

Hild nodded absently, "Yes, well. Don't worry... Belldandy's all right at the moment, and is in the best of care. Oh, and dear? Deus is NOT your real father..."

Again, the silence of the near-empty room of the Yggdrasil's mainframe was disrupted by a loud female shout of "WHAT!" from Urd.

Hild winced as she slowly removed her hands from covering her poor ears, as she gave her totally shocked daughter a bored look, "Hmmm, yes. You know, it started eons ago... but first..."

The voluptuous woman smirked slightly as she whipped up her laptop computer, typed into it for a few seconds, and then closed it with a giggle. Her pet project, the world full of magic, sorcery and swords, was thriving well. Not only that, but there was one particular sorceress that she needed to check from that world. Now that the sorceress' true form has been revealed, it was time from the girl to be whisked away from Hild's pet universe. After that though, Hild still needed to handle her daughter Urd's curiosity of the truth regarding the younger woman's parentage.

And so, Hild's story was told once more...

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

Meanwhile, in the Alpha Prime Point of Existence...

The Almighty, whose real name was actually Deus, was currently staring at the sealed off planet of 'where it all began'. He was in his real form, the bishonen-esque form that has captivated multitudes of women throughout the ages. But sadly, the woman he wanted to win over was never attracted to him. In fact, said woman actually had the gall to disappear from his sights and betray him over that... that... glory hog!

Deus knew that what he just thought was... petty. But for someone who took the initiative to rebuild the entirety of Existence from its nearly non-existent state after that great war with the Elder Gods, he received a bit of a lesser extent of thanks.

He was actually excited at the prospect of reviving his brother, really he was, but now... everything just went under for some weird reason. He just doesn't know whether he should blame his own actions for trying to revive those who have moved on in the past, or was it the chaos factor? He had no idea which one to blame.

Which brought him to the present, and what his present course of action would likely entail. Ever since Deus brought his brother Chaos' dark gems back into that blasted boy Ranma Saotome, Chaos' genetic physical manifestation, the Almighty's firm hold over the ongoings in Reality has been definitely skewed many times over. He glanced upon his clenched fist, and spied upon the strands of silvery hair that belonged to Hild. The truth was, he has no idea what enticed him to come here in the first place, but if he was to restore his former power he has to have some allies. Was he about to do something that would make things worse? Was he this petty?

Deus drew his free hand over his chest. It has been a long time since he felt something akin to these emotions... envy, jealousy, and a bit of animosity, everything aimed towards his irksome reincarnated brother.

The Alfadur's musings were cut short when a loud rumble emanated from one side of the sealed planet's barrier. When he shifted closer into the source of the sound, he found a small hole where he could actually fit both his arms into.

"So... the seal has been weakened to such extent..." Deus muttered, "The Elder Gods have been... busy."

But what else would they do in their imprisonment anyway?

The Almighty squared his shoulders. "There is no turning back now. I need to gain control over the excess chaos. And the Elder Gods will help me... for a price."

Chaos' final gift to the Elder Gods was his own life to power up the seal. Chaos' Seal became the ultimate prison for the powerful beings, as his life banished the entire planet in which was the former center of the multiverses. Up until now, it became a forgotten memory, only a handful of beings remembered Chaos' final sacrifice.

And the only way to nullify it, ironically, were parts of both Order and Nightmare, whom were both spawns of the Abyss itself.

And here Deus poised in front of the very barrier his brother offered life into, in his hand was the genetic material he acquired from the vanished Empress of Nightmare. While he originally wanted some more time to think things through, his time ran out as a very grating voice mocked his very presence in the area.

"-Hooo... and what do we have here?-" The voice from beyond the small hole on the barrier mused, "-Is this the Almighty Alfadur I see beyond our measly prison?-"

Deus had to stop himself from making a biting retort as he took calming breaths. "-Yes, Chronus...-" he replied in the oldest language of eons past, "-It is I, Deus.-"

"-Hmmm...-" The monstrous voice noised, "-And to what to do we owe the pleasure of your... visit? I would have invited you in for some pastries, but as you can see... it is impossible at the moment.-"

Deus sighed. "-I came here to ask for your... fealty, Chronus.-"

Loud boisterous laughter emanated from beyond the barrier.

"-And why would we offer our services to the ones who put us in this filthy lodgings in the first place?-" Chronus' voice sounded... skeptical and sarcastic.

The Almighty narrowed his brows as he glared through the barrier. "-In exchange for you services, Chronus... I will grant you... Freedom.-"

Silence followed Deus' remark.

"-Interesting...-" Chronus replied, "-Very interesting, indeed.-"

A great foreboding feeling rippled across the entire multiverse as the Elder God's laughter echoed all over the area.

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

In Hild's 'pet' reality...

A certain abandoned temple housed a lot of secrets. Various myths about the place floated all over this continent filled with magic and mayhem, which caused most of the locals to avoid the place. The more interested adventurers, who seek certain recognition and rare treasures, tended to try and brave this place anyway. But they soon found this area to be... nearly inaccessible due to topographical decay and the more powerful monsters which guarded it. Their failures only added to the stories about this temple, whose name has been unknown ever since it was discovered in the first place.

But now, it would seem that the stories were going to be put to shame, not that it would be publicized in any way. A certain pair of weary travelers did manage to accomplish something none of the earlier spelunkers did. The duo reached the center of the empty temple. From their figures, they seemed to be both females.

"Are you sure we have to be here, Luna?" The taller of the two figures whined as they unloaded the burdens of their belongings on the hard ground. She has blonde unbound hair that reached up to her lower back. Her full-body dress was a bit filthy from the dirt accumulated on their journey, but it was formerly white in color. Underneath the hem of her dress, an ornate mace was securely clasped around her right calf. There was also a strange appendage jutting out from her back... a yellow-skinned serpentine tail that had a pink ribbon tied a few inches near the tip. Her blue slitted eyes flitted around the temple nervously.

The shorter of the two nodded. "Of course, Filia. This is where I was instructed to go by my dreams..." the woman named Luna responded. She has reddish-colored eyes and light purple hair. A few months ago she still wore her waitress outfit, but she has abandoned them for her off white slightly-fitting vest and pants with its ends tied around her ankles. Her waist was surrounded by a dark blue belt with a golden buckle. Her arms were covered with sapphire-colored bracers, as well as her knees. Dark blue shoulder pads held the light blue cape that fluttered around her back. Her shoes were black, and Luna opted the lighter but durable kind instead of heavy boots. Around her forehead was a white bandanna, only to cover the trio of golden gems arranged in an inverted triangle on her forehead.

The golden dragon transformed into human huffed lightly as she took another cursory glance around them, "I'm really skeptical about your dream. I mean... there's nothing here. Besides... didn't you hear the stories about this place? It's giving me the creeps."

The sorceress inclined her head absently as she inspected the supplies they took with them, "I understand your concern. But I don't really know what we can do next. I mean, we've been chased by really powerful beings lately, and even with our powers, we can't hold them off forever."

Filia sighed morosely as she sat on top of her backpack. "Seriously though, are you going to tell me more about your dream, now that we're here?"

Luna frowned a bit, but continued to rummage on her pack anyway, "Well... you might find it weird, but I've been contacted in my dreams by someone who claims to be the Lord of Nightmares."

The dragon gasped as she struggled to balance on her seat. "You mean... L-Sama? But why? I mean... aren't you a disciple of Cepheid?"

"That's what I'm curious about too..." Luna mused, "But it's also what got me interested. To tell you the truth, I'm found some disturbing texts from the Dragon Spire's library's books. There's more to the legends of the gods than what was taught to us, Filia."

She looked up and saw her companion's inquiring look. Luna continued, "There are far too many discrepancies. In fact, there are some texts that suggested that the Lord of Nightmares was but one of the three major powerhouses of gods in reality. One was the Lord of Order, while the other was the Lord of Chaos. Anyway, that's not what we're really here for though... we really need to shake off our pursuers if we want to survive, and I was answered by my dream."

"I'm a bit suspicious about your dream, but I trust you Luna..." Filia intoned seriously, "I just hope you're right about this."

"I hope so too..." Luna muttered, as she pulled out some jars of unrecognizable stuff, as well as some special ink and a brush.

Filia walked over to the crouching Luna, who was inspecting the items the sorceress pulled out of her bag earlier. "Hey Luna, what are those for anyway?" the golden-haired girl asked, "Those are some pretty mean ingredients. Very rare too."

Luna shrugged slightly, "They're all from my dream. L-Sama told me to bring all these and left some pretty distinct instructions in my head on how to do this certain spell..."

"Uhm... are you sure it's safe to cast a relatively unknown spell at a time like this?" Filia asked nervously, her tail twitched agitatedly behind her.

Again, the powerful sorceress shrugged nonchalantly, "No, but at the rate things are going for us at the moment, I'd rather go for this spell."

"Oh, good point..." The female dragon blinked dumbly.

"Now..." Luna huffed as she glared slightly at her ditzy companion, "Help me with these runes, will you?"

It took them a good two hours of daylight before they finished drawing the complicated magic circle. It wasn't much of a spell, but more of a ritual, they had realized now that the circle was done. They double checked their runes from Luna's memories with the help of several candles, since it was finally nighttime when they got done. The outer circle itself was around twelve feet in diameter while the inner circle was about eleven feet in diameter, with several phrases written in an unknown language around the perimeter between the outer and inner circle. Actually, it was in the ancient dialect used by the ancient gods, but L-Sama never really got into explaining that to Luna. Inside the smaller circle was a six-point star instead of the common five-point star. It actually represented the six elements comprising the universe. The usual Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, but the last two were ignored by the newer generations. Light and Darkness were as much important as the other four were, and their presence allowed the caster access to certain high-leveled forbidden spells.

"By Cepheid..." Filia breathed as she stood back after the last rune was drawn into place. The magic circle was unlike anything she has ever seen before, and it gave her the shivers just by looking at it. Somehow, she could actually feel the intensity emitted by the strange circle, and it was extremely high. She just hoped that this wouldn't explode in their faces, since her and Luna have been involved in pretty wild stuff lately already. All because of the strange appearance of those mysterious golden gems on Luna's forehead.

Luna Inverse strode up beside her, the sorceress' face also etched in slight shock at the intricate symbols she drew out from her dreams. "My word..." she whispered urgently, "I don't even recognize any of these texts. But I know that this is pretty much very high level, and the magical focus is a bit different compared to the normal orations. And look here... see this?" The light purple-haired woman pointed at one side of the circle, "This one, I think I recognize a bit. It's something of a portal of some sort..."

The transformed golden dragon embraced herself as a slight tremor filled her being, "I don't know about this, Luna. What is your dream really about? What if it's just a ruse to get us into a place and we get captured? What if they use our powers for evil?" Although, due to her shivering, the final ingredients she held for Luna spilled into the circle, and mixed amongst the other rare ingredients Luna has already placed on the symbols. Filia gasped in surprise when she realized what she just did.

"Well..." Luna drawled out, as she sighed out of the stupidity of it all when the runes flared with bright lights. Both her and Filia were immediately encompassed by the lights.

"Don't move, Filia..." Luna warned her companion when the panicking dragon tried to leave the circle, "We're not in a normal circle. Because of its complexity and high level, the symbols were designed to keep its targets in and anyone who tries to disturb the ritual out. Meaning, while we're stuck here, we can't be disturbed too."

"WAAAAAHHH!" Filia wailed as she turned her teary gaze towards Luna, careful not to move too abruptly in fears of being obliterated, "Luna! I'm soooo sorry!" For some odd reason, Filia has her tail in her hands, and she was actually biting lightly on it while she looked at Luna with a piteous expression.

"Bah... we can't help it now, idiot..." The sorceress mumbled as she felt the magical energies started its work on them. She hadn't noticed due to the glare of the rays surrounding them, but the gems on her forehead were shining ever so brightly as well.

A bright flash of light followed by a loud bang filled the entire cavern.

When the hoard of Mazoku that were chasing Luna and Filia entered the cavern, they found no trace of their targets.

Hmm... one would wonder where those two went, ne?

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

Back in the reality where Ranma currently resides...

A certain black haired pigtailed man groaned softly as he opened his eyes. His blurry vision slowly cleared, and he found himself in a slightly familiar situation.

"Eh... I recognize this place..." The man named Ranma muttered to himself as he tried to reorient his senses. "Damn... this is getting to be a real habit of mine..."

The air inside the room was clean and fresh, unlike the polluted environment he has grown accustomed of for at least twenty years. The wooden ceiling with silvery paint that reflected back his image, and he saw that he was on a quite large bed, probably good enough for several people to fit into. A soft light blue blanket firmly set him in place, as it covered him up to his upper chest.

When he tried to move, he found that he could not. It might have something to do with the fact that there was something that held him in place, he really wasn't sure, although there was a suspicious bulge on his side within the blanket that covered him. He slowly lifted an arm to lift the heavy cloth up, and a patch of dark red silky hair attached to his other arm. Not only that, but his movement seemed to have dislodged something else, as a growth of silver fur covered half of his face, while a pink tail dangled over his left ear. Ranma looked up to the ceiling, and saw a silver rabbit-like creature curled just above his head on his pillow, as well as a pinkish creature beside the other.

"Huh... oh. The silver fur must be Rin-Ohki..." Ranma surmised, "And Mew is the pink one..." he pointed out to nobody in particular, "But... who has red hair?"

The last question made him look back on the red-haired one on his arm. Further investigation proved that it was a girl around probably eight to ten years of age.

Ranma scratched his slightly spiky black hair as he tried to remember who has red hair from the girls he met before. The only ones he knew were his female form, and Elhaym... so who was this girl?

"Wait..." The pigtailed one scrunched his face in thought, "I remember someone else... oh... OH!" He almost jumped at the conclusion, "Ryoko... I mean... her daughter... err, my daughter... ah, OUR daughter!" He crowed in triumph, but then he fell silent as the implications started to dawn on him.

Ranma's sudden movements and raised voice were enough to awaken the small redhead, as a childish face suddenly looked up towards him. A rather pale face greeted him, but what caught his attention was the girl's eyes. Still half-closed due to being awakened prematurely, he still found that the eyes were golden in color. Not only that, but they were slitted as well, like a cat's.

((Ryoko's eyes...)) Ranma thought to himself absently as he gazed at the sleepy visage of his daughter. Said sleepy girl's eyes suddenly opened fully when she realized her 'pillow' was now awake.

Ranma's gaze went from the girl's face to the rising bump on the blanket. He quickly tried to feel his... crotch... with his free arm, and was relieved to find that he wasn't... excited. It wasn't his tail too... which was currently limp on his free side. So, what was... oh...

Said bump started wiggling like mad as the girl's face slowly lit up with a wide smile. Oh look, what cute little canines! And she has this cute little red gem on her forehead too! Neat!

No time for Ranma to ponder any more, as the girl slowly opened her mouth and squeaked, "PAPA! You're AWAKE!" before she glomped at his arm tighter than ever.

((I remember... Ryoko named our daughter Ranko. And geez, what a grip this girl has!)) Ranma thought furiously as he endured his daughter's affections. He has a handful of years being absent to make up for, after all.

It was like a domino effect. When the little girl screamed, the twin balls over Ranma's head shot up and floated around, probably trying to spot any intruders that might've entered the sanctum. But when Rin-Ohki and Mew spotted him awake, they immediately darted towards him and started making a whole lot of noise.

"GAH!" Ranma sputtered as he was accosted on all sides, his vision filled with silver, pink and red as the trio of excited loved ones showered him with affections in their own unique way. "Wait... gack! Rin-Ohki, I missed you too but... urk! Mew! You too of course! Waah! That's my mouth...! Pbbthh... dang... so much... fur... erk... hairball!"

The noise must've been real loud, because it definitely attracted the attention of the other people in the place he's staying it at the moment. The door on the far side of the room slammed open, and Ranma strained to gaze upon several female figures, and at a few males, who tried to cram into the room at the same time. Ranma wanted to laugh at the sight, really he did, but the constant barrage of fur and his daughter's death grip was still taxing his energy at the moment. The new group finally reached an impasse, and the women Ranma hasn't seen for at least two decades claimed first priority of entry into the room along with Belldandy.

First came the pale teal-haired Vanilla, then the tall green-haired Emeralda, followed by the regal Lea, then Raven in demonic form, also the floating cyan-haired Ryoko who has a black-furred cabbit hanging off her shoulder, who was followed by the light brown-haired Belldandy.

Oh, and the beloved women of Ranma's life looked quite ticked off at him.

Heh... must've been all those years he's had amnesia...

Oh boy.

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

After a nearly two hours of non-stop sermon sessions with his future wives, Ranma received a few bruises already healing at the moment, some bumps on his head also already becoming smaller due to healing ability, and a really scared expression that would've probably become permanent to normal mortals. But Ranma wasn't normal, in any case.

The pigtailed man understood that he needed to endure this at least for the moment, because he knew he should allow these women to vent on their frustrations on him. He felt that he owed them that much and more, for searching his whereabouts as well as even waiting for his reappearance. He expressed the feeling of inadequacy for their presences in his live in the middle of the rant session, but they just smacked the thought out of his mind.

After things finally calmed down, Ranma was informed that the girls were able to retrieve him from the Anima Seraphim when it became immobile. The mecha disappeared after his body was removed from the cockpit, and Ranma knew the mecha just went back into storage within his subspace hangar. He was brought while unconscious into the town of Kalm, where he has let Barret's daughter Marlene stay with Belldandy's foster mother Elmyra earlier during the Meteor's siege for safety.

After a few more hours, Ranma found himself propped up on his bed with Ranko still clutched at his arm tightly. Mew and Rin-Ohki were on his shoulders along with Ryoko's cabbit Ryo-Ohki, each one with a different side while the latter in the middle. The room Ranma was on was big enough to fit at least twenty people, and it was now filled by both of the girls who came for Ranma and those who went and fought with Sephiroth. The division of the two groups were quite visible. Vanilla, Raven, Ryoko, Lea, and Emeralda were on one side, along with Belldandy as well. Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Barret, Red XIII, Vincent, Cid and Cait Sith were on the other side of Ranma's bed. Near the door of the room, Elmyra Gainsborough and Marlene Wallace sat with their own chairs as they observed the proceedings with rapt interest.

Everyone lapsed into silence, as they seemed content in staring at one another. One could cut the tension with a knife.

"Well, this is a bit awkward, isn't it?" Ranma laughed weakly as he tried to break the tension feebly. The others turned towards him with varied looks of surprise and incredulous expression on their faces. He ignored the stares pointedly as he ventured on, "I guess everyone has their own questions, ne? To start off, has everyone been introduced to each other?"

The ever-stoic Vincent spoke up, as he flung his red scarf over his shoulder, "Not entirely. We know the others' names, but we haven't been briefed about where they come from. It would probably help explain certain... circumstances that happened."

"Yeah, yeah!" Yuffie piped up, her short dark hair bobbed wildly in the air as she nodded excitedly, "Like, where did that giant robot go anyway? After we got you outta the thing, it just vanished into thin air, ya know?"

"Screw that!" The sandy-haired spear-user named Cid interjected, "I wanna know where the silver ship came from!"

Just like that, the planet's inhabitants exploded with questions of their own, and Ranma doesn't know which one to turn to.

"Please!" Belldandy raised her voice over the questions, "One at a time! And also, please allow Ranma to answer your questions one at a time!"

As usual, the sight of a slightly flustered Belldandy caused the talk to die down and allow Ranma to speak.

"Err, well..." Ranma cleared his throat as he threw the light brown-haired girl a grateful glance, "To start things off... Vanilla-chan, can you and the others start your introductions? I don't wanna get some things wrong."

The pale-skinned, light teal-haired girl blinked her ruby-colored eyes when the crowd's attention turned towards her. "Uh..." she floundered a bit, not used to being the center of attention all of the sudden, "I am Vanilla Ash."

Another lapse of blissful silence ensued. The crowd from Gaia were still waiting for more from the girl, while her companions tried to stifle their laughter.

When it was obvious that it was all Vanilla would say, Red XIII drawled out, "Excuse me, but can you please elaborate? Like, where you come from, and why you said you were searching for Zack?"

Vanilla blinked once more, and turned towards Ranma with a questioning glance. When the young man nodded, the girl sighed and explained, "Ranma-sama saved me from a life of solitude. He came into my life, just as I have resigned myself into my own lonesome. I love Ranma-sama, whom you have come to know as Zack. I came because I want to be with him. As for where I am from... it would be a long and grueling story so complicated that it will shatter your world view. I'm sorry, but that part of my life is private. All you need to know is that I've been searching for Ranma-sama for a long time."

"Uhm... okay..." Cid finished lamely.

"I guess it is my turn, then?" Lea raised a delicate eyebrow in amusement as everyone turned towards her, "My name is Lea, but my original name was Ihadurca. I was the majority of the personality of an entity that was banished into a dimension called the Evil Zone, where my Ihadurca side was trapped into. I am one would call a demon goddess, however ironic it may sound. I was in a death-sleep stasis when Ranma found me. In short, he woke me up from my near-eternal slumber. I chose to pledge my existence for Ranma-sama's pleasure. He is my all."

Everyone made a synchronized blink at the explanation.

"Whoa..." Tifa breathed, "Talk about loyalty..."

"Same goes with me, apparently..." The demonic Raven muttered loud enough to be heard in the room, which turned everyone's attention towards her, "I was... cursed at birth. Don't ask too many questions about it, I can tell you that it wasn't fun. I wasn't able to use much of my emotions in fear that I would release my father, as well as lose control over my magic powers. Oh, and guess what? My father's one major pain-in-the-ass demon. A high level one, apparently. Cool, huh? Anyway, Ranma came into my life, accidentally got into my head, beat the crap out of the link I had with my father, and caused a bit of a side-effect. I can use emotions now, but I randomly change between my demonic-looking form and my other ditzy-minded goodie-two-shoes angelic form. Now, don't look at me like that, it's not very bad. It's just... weird at times. But this is better than the alternative. Believe me, this is much better."

"We can see that..." Red XIII remarked drolly, "But... doesn't it get annoying? Don't you have any regrets, none at all?"

"Nope..." Raven stated without second thoughts, "I'd most definitely choose this than how I was before with no doubt in my mind. I was slowly losing my self-esteem as well as my sanity before, but now I regained it when my father's shadow disappeared. As I've said, I can't express extreme emotions before, because my powers go haywire when I do. But now, I'm free to feel the things I didn't allow myself to have when I was young. And to top it all off, I finally met someone who doesn't care what I was or how I look. I am happy with him, and I will follow him to the ends of the universe just to be with him."

"Anyway..." Yuffie rolled her eyes as she gestured towards Emeralda, "What about you? Why are you so... silent? I mean, sure I heard you talk, but only a couple of times..."

"I dislike talking without much of a reason..." The green-haired Emeralda intoned, "I am Emeralda. All I can say about myself, is that I was not organic before."

Lea took over the explanation when she saw Ranma's inquisitive look, "Your Aunt Washuu happened, Ranma-sama. Her final gift to you and Emeralda before she wandered off once again... she made Emeralda a body. I think I remember her saying about Ctarl-Ctarl DNA strands. Her insides, her innards, are now organic... self-grown by Washuu-sama in VAT tubes. Emeralda's outer skin is still nanomachine though... but her insides are organic. Believe me, I saw the whole process myself."

Ranma shook his head in exasperation. "Washuu-baachan probably took it as a challenge. It's a good thing for Emeralda though. How's it going for you, Emeralda?"

The tall jade-haired girl blushed slightly, a sign of the correct nerve synapses from the organic side of her body, "It is all right, Ranma-sama. It was... a little bit uncomfortable during the first few months, but I managed to get used to normal bodily functions with Washuu-sama's help."

"Also..." Raven interceded, after she gave a rather amused glance over at Emeralda's blushing form, "You haven't seen anything yet. Emeralda, kindly lower your muffler, please?"

"Uhmm..." Emeralda remained flustered, but opted not to move an inch, "I would rather not... he might not be ready, and..."

Lea groaned as she stifled the urge to throttle the girl, "Oh for crying out loud, just get it over already!" and with a flourish, the regal-looking woman moved with deadly precision as she grabbed the dark brown cloth that covered over half of a rather surprised Emeralda's head. Without another word, the demon goddess pulled the muffler off, which elicited a whispered squeak from the green-haired girl.

Everyone gaped when what they thought were Emeralda's oversized hair sideburns flopped upwards. Apparently, they were ears, but not just any type of ears...

"Cat ears..." Tifa gasped as she marveled at the aforementioned appendages. She squealed slightly when the same ears twitched at the sudden attention.

Emeralda's blush became darker in hue as she felt everyone stares bore down on her. Her new oversized feline ears stretched from the top sides of her head, and reached to the lower sides of her cheeks. The hair on her ears were actually fur, and was dark green in color as well. The fur in the inner ears were light brown. A green-furred tail was also hidden underneath her belt made out of red cloth, only the alien women and Ranma could actually notice the slight twitching from it. Combine all these with her slight blush and dark green eyes, she was currently an epitome of cuteness. But all these were useless, for this girl has been waiting for only one person's opinion.

Said current person was gaping at her. Emeralda has no idea what was going on inside Ranma's mind, though Raven, Mew and Rin-Ohki knew. Mind links were such useful things...

After a few minutes of silence, Mew was suddenly struck by inspiration as she smacked her pink tail against Ranma's head. The pigtailed man squawked as a red welt momentarily appeared in the middle of the multicolored gems stuck on his forehead before it slowly faded. But the action gained some progress, as Ranma was finally revitalized from the trance he was on earlier.

"Uhh... sorry about that... the staring, I mean..." Ranma tried to amend himself as he gave the expectant girl a dazzling smile, "The new look really suits you, Eme-chan... in fact, you look really cute."

Emeralda seemed to redefine the color of a blush as she turned redder.

Vincent coughed softly as he interjected, "Shall we continue with the introductions, please?"

"Hmph... I guess it's my turn then..." The cyan haired woman with golden cat-slitted eyes snorted as she crossed her arms across her chest while seated. "I am Ryoko... former space pirate..." she elaborated, but she got miffed when she was interrupted.

"SPACE!" Cid stood up from his seat, while pointing a twitching finger towards Ryoko.

The spiky-haired woman glared at the sandy-haired blonde man and stated, "Yes, space, as in the huge thing beyond this planet's sky. And don't point your finger at me, if you wanna keep it. Didn't your momma ever taught you it's bad manners to point fingers, jerk?"

Mortified, Cid slumped back down to his seat.

Ryoko nodded, "Anyway... to continue, Ranma here freed me from my prison. We've been together for quite some time during our travels, until my mother invented something that caused an accident that sent Ranma far away. He was lost to me for such a long time, and I've been searching for him ever since. Before he disappeared though, we... got intimate. Our daughter, Ranko, is the fruit of that night..." she gestured towards the red-haired child curled underneath Ranma's arm.

Ranko just waved a hand in the air casually. She did not even bother to raise her head from her father's chest.

"Yep, like mother like daughter..." Ryoko stated proudly. Everyone sweatdropped when Ranko's hand curled into the universal sign of 'The Finger'.

The cyan-haired mother bristled at her daughter's audacity. "Little brat! You've been spending too much time with your grandmother!"

"Whatever mama..." Ranko's small and droll voice caused Ryoko to snort irritably. The mother slowly relaxed once more on her seat, but not before throwing another irritated glance at her daughter's back.

"Oh my..." Everyone turned towards Belldandy, who has her head tilted off to one side as she stared off to... somewhere, "I wonder how my child will be like when he or she grows up...?"

Cloud decided to speak up. "How about you, Aerith?" The mentioned girl turned towards him as he asked the question, "What's the real story with you?"

The beautiful blooming young woman smiled as she shrugged a bit in response. "Well, I was born on this planet and was given the name Aerith Gainsborough. My biological mother was Ifalna, an Ancient as you call them, but more specifically a Cetra. They are actually humans who were... unchanged even after the catastrophe of the Third Impact and the dreadful reign of Kagato. But if you wanted a specific explanation on that, it would've been a long and dreadful story. As they say, ignorance is bliss. So, truthfully, you're better off not knowing the distant past since most of what happened there doesn't really affect your time."

"Geez... now I'm interested..." Barret muttered.

Cloud pressed on, "So, what can you tell us? More about yourself I mean..."

"Ah..." Belldandy nodded, "Well... as I've said from earlier, I am a reincarnated soul. I was a goddess in my previous life, in particular, one of the Norns."

"A goddess, Aerith... I mean... Belldandy?" Elmyra Gainsborough, Aerith's foster mother, asked hesitantly.

Belldandy smiled at her. "Yes, mother. You see, there has been an event in the another reality that led me to be reborn in this place. Actually, the reality I was from was the distant past of this timeline, in particular, about several thousands of years ago. Before you ask, there are different realities... each reality line breaks off from the original based on certain key persons' important decisions. Ranma is one of such people on a lot of these realities. His decisions can alter realities and make alter universes. It's pretty much a complicated matter when explained to those not well-versed to temporal mechanics, so for the preservation of your sanity, please don't ask too much about it."

"Ugh... I wouldn't have believe it if I wasn't living it..." Ranma groused as he combed his daughter's red locks with his fingers.

Belldandy gave Ranma a grateful glance, "Precisely. Only those who intimately knew about such deviations were even aware of them. Anyway... back to the topic... I was banished by God Himself because I recovered my memories of my past."

"Eh?" Red XIII was perplexed, "How can recovering one's memories be bad?"

"I am not most people, Nanaki-san..." Belldandy reminded everyone, "I am a goddess, serving under God and his doctrines. But when I discovered that my past memories were altered by the same god I revered, there was a chance that I will rebel. And I was planning to, especially since the one who erased my memories was God."

"But why?" Yuffie asked curiously.

The brown-haired girl sighed as painful memories flashed in her mind's eye, "My mother, the one who bore me as a goddess, was actually Tokimi, Goddess of Chaos. Due to other divine entities' envy and fear of her power, my mother was sealed into another dimension, alone. She was jailed for the absurd reason of being who she is. I was born without a father, as my mother fashioned me out of earth and breathed life into me. God took me away from my mother and sealed my memories. He gave me new ones and had me serve under him, as one of his goddesses of Fate. I was given the title Goddess of the Present. I govern the Present, while my 'sisters' were given the jurisdictions of Past and Future accordingly."

When they saw the pained expression on the normally cheerful reincarnated goddess' face, they became hesitant at asking more questions. It just wasn't a normal occurrence to see that emotion on Aerith's, rather, Belldandy's face.

"You have the Gems, Bell-chan..." Ranma broke the silence, as he stared at the ailing girl with sympathy, "I would ask you how you got them, but..."

Belldandy shook her head. "I don't know where I got them. All I know is that they appeared when the seal on my memories broke apart. I even got to see your mother, Ranma-sama."

Ranma cocked his head to one side inquisitively. "Which one? Surrogate or biological?"

"Both, actually..." The brown haired girl smiled impishly, "You'll be happy to know, that your biological mother Tokimi acts the same way as your surrogate, Nodoka Saotome."

"Gah..." The poor pigtailed one hid his face with one hand. "Just what I need... two mothers who wanted me to give them grandchildren."

"Oh, you will give them grandchildren, Ranma-sama..." Lea intoned in mock seriousness, "You will..."

"Wait wait wait..." Tifa formed a 'T' with her hands, "I'm confused. I thought this... Tokimi... is Aerith's mother? Doesn't that make you... brother and sister?"

Yuffie's eyes widened dramatically, "Ooooohhh... incest! How kinky!"

Belldandy giggled slightly. "Tokimi is my mother in my past life, Tifa-san. I am reborn as a mortal, therefore Tokimi being my real mother is moot point."

"Besides..." Raven pointed out, "The way things are going, Belldandy will call Tokimi 'mother' soon anyway."

"This... this is just so..." Cloud was at a loss of words. Everyone turned to him expectantly, as he tried to find the words to convey his feelings on the matter. "Gods... goddesses... demons... space... everything's so vast. I feel..."

"Small, insignificant, at the tip of an iceberg?" Red XIII deadpanned. The reddish former Shin-Ra experimental subject sighed and ignored the slight glare Cloud threw at him, and raised a paw towards the three creatures near Ranma's head, "What about them? What's their story?"

"Hmmm...?" Ranma hummed as he half-turned to gaze at Rin-Ohki, who just blinked back at him lazily, "Oh... well. Mew, as you know, just appeared to me one day, and we formed a bond..." At this point, Mew let out an exuberant 'Mew!' while Rin-Ohki's brows narrowed at the back of his head, "Anyway, the silver one's Rin-Ohki. She's among the species called Cabbits, which are usually not without partners. They forge links to their chosen partners so that they may work more effectively together. Cabbits are very helpful and affectionate... and they have special abilities. Hey Cid, that silver ship you were on? That was Rin-Ohki's cabbit ship form by the way..."

Cid bristled at that. "What? How can a pipsqueak like that become so big..." he was forced to abandon that statement when he instinctively ducked as a narrow red beam passed over where his head was earlier. The sandy-haired man swallowed audibly as he took a glance behind him. A smoking hole the size of a Materia stone now decorated the room's wall. The angry silver cabbit hissed at the flinching man.

Ranma chuckled in embarrassment. "Oh yeah, and they're very easily irritated by comments like those, Cid. She's telling me to relate to you that she could squish you flat if she wanted to. Uhm, the other things she says after that can't be mentioned in front of children..."

Everyone except Cid had a small laugh at that.

"Anyway..." Ranma said as the laughter died down, "As you can guess, Rin-Ohki's my partner. The other black-furred cabbit is Ryo-Ohki. She, however, is Ryoko-chan's partner. And yes, she can fire off beams like Rin-Ohki, so be careful."

Vincent spoke up, "There's something that's bothering me a bit..." he directed his gaze towards Ranma, "How is it that you have records here on this... planet... that dates as far back as at least twenty years past? Doesn't that mean that... these women have been searching for you at the same length of time? How is it that they still look so... young?"

"Very observant of you..." Lea muttered loudly.

"Err... yeah. Kinda..." Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Uhhm... to simplify things, let's just say it's the alien blood thingie, okay? There will be a whole lotta different explanations about it, but everything will sum up to that reason."

"I'm sorry to interject..." Lea spoke once more, her sharp eyes now riveted towards a slightly nervous Ranma, "I assume that the girls and I wouldn't be asking too much of what happened to the other people that accompanied Ranma. Not to be rude or anything, but we simply don't care about your history. It doesn't affect us. Now... to OUR unified question... what happened, Ranma-sama? Twenty years, give or take... that's how long you've cut off your link with Rin-Ohki and Raven."

The silence seemed deafening as everyone now turned their stern gazes towards the one person who has most of the answers to the mysteries of what had happened for the past few years. The man in question, Ranma, blinked owlishly for a few moments before he sagged back to the comfort of his propped-up pillows.

"I... I don't know where to begin..." Ranma stammered slightly, as he opted to stare at the sheets since he was unable to meet anyone's eyes at the moment. He was slowly sinking into his guilt when he felt his red haired daughter's dainty hands slide on his cheek softly.

"Don't be sad, papa..." Ranko murmured softly as she gazed upon her newly found father's ethereal eyes.

"Ranma..." Ryoko's voice caused Ranma to flinch, "The beginning would be best. Start with when you disappeared into the wormhole with that bastard Kagato."

Ranma nodded, and thus started to enlighten the crowd of what had happened. Ever since that fateful day he crash-landed into the planet formerly known as Earth, now called Gaia...

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

It has been well past midnight when Ranma's very long story started to wind down. It was around mid-morning when he began his tale. Inside the room, most of the crowd was still actively listening to the last dredges of his story. Marlene however was already asleep on her father, Barret's lap. Same thing with Ranko, who was now fast asleep in Ranma's embrace. Ryo-Ohki also changed her position, as she was now perched on Ryoko's shoulder. The room was now a bit messier than it was earlier, because of the few containers of food that were discarded from the large group's meals.

As of the moment, Ranma was taken into answering a whole lot of questions that the entire group has. He answered them to the best of his knowledge, and he hoped they could be placated with the replies. He also wasn't so keen to reveal too much information to the planet's inhabitants, since it would take a long long time before they will be able to grasp the idea of his current lifestyle.

The questions slowly stopped, as the group's curiosities were satisfied for now. There was a moment of respite that followed, which allowed everyone to reflect on the knowledge imparted to them by the other's experience, as well as the new-found information regarding certain aspects of their universe from the female newcomers.

"To tell you the truth..." Ryoko began as she smiled softly at the lovely scene Ranko and Ranma created while the latter held to the former, "I'm not really THAT surprised, ya know? I mean... Ranma's the type of person who just couldn't help but attract chaos. Not that I'm complaining much... but it's still a tad frustrating when he disappears like that for long periods of time. I'm just glad he's safe, and now I can present Ranko-chan to him."

"The little fireball's an every-day whiz kid, Ranma-sama..." Lea smirked as Ryoko choked slightly at those words, "And she's following your footsteps. Why, just a few years ago, Ranko-chan blew up a planet that housed a civilization who tried to kidnap her. Amazing, really, what she can do with the bare essentials. She managed to create a planetary destroyer bomb using only what she could scrounge up on that planet's fauna."

Ranma gaped at his sleeping daughter. "Gaahh... can anyone tell me why nobody tried to stop her?" he asked hesitantly.

Vanilla opted to field that question, "While we would have loved to obliterate an entire civilization ourselves for trying to experiment upon Ranko-chan's person, our little girl managed to get to them first."

"Errr..." Ranma seemed to be lost at the explanation.

Raven rolled her dark-purple eyes upwards in exasperation. "It means that Ranko finished the bomb before we could actually mount a rescue operation. We were already picking up the SOS signal from the pod ship Ranko 'borrowed' from the surface when the whole planet just... imploded into itself."

The pigtailed man's eyes widened in understanding. "Ohhh..." he noised.

The crowd of Gaia's inhabitants fell silent at that, for they have no idea how to comment on that. They have one thing in mind, though...

((Destroyed a planet? What kind of people are they?)) was the common thought.

"Anyway..." Lea's tone of voice caused a stir of concern from the group. The seriousness behind the pitch wasn't meant to be ignored. "We need to know what happens next, Ranma-sama. You do remember Washuu-san's warning, right?"

"Ehh..." The alien hybrid's nervousness came back, as he scrunched his face in concentration, "Well... aside from the scientific junk and those other things she managed to cram into my head, I do remember something about..."

Everyone waited anxiously as Ranma's face grew more nervous. The reincarnated Chaos sweated slightly as the strain of thought became too erratic in his head.

"... okay, I give up... I don't remember..." he ended lamely. He sweatdropped when the group facefaulted at his answer. Well, everyone's face fell to the ground except a few handful. Belldandy's face retained its blissful expression while she looked at Ranma in adoration. Vanilla's face only bent sideways as her reaction. Barret stopped himself before his face fault, since his daughter was still sleeping on his lap after all.

((This man... is this the same Zack I met a few years back?)) Cloud thought as he picked himself up from his face fall.

As Lea pushed her face off of the ground, she almost shrieked, "The deadline, Ranma-sama! Don't you remember? Every reality that is not your original one, you can only stay for varied limited lengths of time!"

"Uhhm... wait..." Ranma started as he looked down on the white sheets of the bed he was on, "I remember that one but... I don't think it's the same thing in this timeline."

Raven snorted as she crossed her arms across her chest, "Oh, and why is that?"

The pigtailed man huffed indignantly, "Because, if I got my quantum mechanics correctly, this planet is the future of the timeline I disappeared from. Basically, I came from this timeline, several thousands of years ago, wherein I got trapped in limbo after that accident with Washuu's contraption."

"Hey... you're kinda right..." Ryoko mused as she scratched her chin in thought, "So... this is your original Reality Line, but wrong era."

Ranma nodded. "Yep..."

"But..." Emeralda cut into the conversation, "We should not be complacent that Ranma-sama's appearance in this reality line will have no adverse affects on this particular future anyway."

Lea smiled graciously at Emeralda, "That's correct. Ranma-sama's still in the wrong point of time, so there might still be some effects on reality itself if he doesn't get back to the original point of time to correct the anomaly."

Ranma sighed morosely. "Geez... do we have to go back to that line anyway? The only reason why I wanna go back was 'coz of Ryoko."

The cyan-haired woman's squeal of absolute delight was heard from the background.

"It appears so, Ranma-sama..." Vanilla continued as everyone else ignored Ryoko throwing confetti in the background, "Washuu-san explained some important facts to us, right after you vanished. It was imperative to find you because there seems to be a great reality rift in the original reality line you came from. We have to repair that first, lest the anomaly will spread and affect the other neighboring multiverses spawned from the One True Reality."

"Ugh... big words..." The red-tailed demi-Saiyajin groaned to himself as he closed his eyes tightly, "Okay. Let's pretend I completely understood all that. To summarize what you just said... I have to get back to my timeline to fix the mess created when I left that era."

Vanilla blinked in astonishment as she stared towards Ranma, "That's... basically what I've been trying to convey."

Ranma scratched his cheek. "Hmmm... cool. So, wait... what about you girls? I don't think you want to be left anywhere, so you'll be coming with me everywhere. Won't that be dangerous too?"

The demonic ash-skinned Raven was the one who answered, "Washuu explained to us that we've become so saturated with your energy that we became... freelance from the Laws of Reality. She said that..." she blushed slightly at this, "... those who you've been intimate with, always in touch with, or even those who basically tied their existence in one form of another towards you will become Freelance. All thanks to you and your chaos aura."

"Another complicated explanation..." Ranma grumbled, "And again, pretending I understood all of that, summarizing what you just said... you've been with me and been very close to me, emotionally, spiritually and mentally, so you've become part of my weird adventure. Gotcha."

"Meeeww... mew, mew..." The pink feline on top of Ranma's pillow noised.

The pigtailed man just shrugged. "Why do I simplify the explanation if I could understand it anyway? Well... for the benefit of the others who can't understand, like those from this planet."

The silver cabbit at Mew's side nuzzled Ranma on top of his head as she miya'd repeatedly. By the tone of her noises, they were her show of affections towards the man. Ranma smiled slightly as he raised a free arm to scratch Rin-Ohki's ear. The cabbit purred her gratification for the favor freely.

"Anyway..." Ranma continued, "How about you, Eme-chan? What do you suggest?"

The green-haired girl with semi-feline attributes gave him a pointed look, "I follow where Ranma-sama goes."

"Figures you'll say that..." The demi-Saiyajin muttered loudly, "Well, if that's the case, then we'll just have to find our way back, ne?" He turned his head towards Rin-Ohki thoughtfully, "Say... doesn't Rin-Ohki have that thing she ate all those years back...? The dimension thingie Washuu made?"

Ryoko chuckled. "Yeah, mother has been moping about it when she found that invention of hers missing. I think I remember her saying that it's supposed to transport anything through different dimensions, but the version your cabbit ate was incomplete. She said that the Coordinate Targeting System of that version wasn't calibrated correctly, so... if you use that one, the dimension you come out of will be in random."

"That doesn't sound too reassuring..." Lea groused, "But I guess we have no other choice on the matter now, do we?"

The silver-furred cabbit meowed loudly before she continued her soft purring as she draped herself over her master's head.

Ranma fiddled with his pigtail out of habit, "I think it's a really bad idea. I mean, this just spells chaos all over..." he sweatdropped when everyone turned to him with deadpanned looks, "But... I guess it's better than nothing, ne?"

"It's settled, then!" Belldandy clapped her hands together once gleefully, "Well, I better make some preparations, as well as pack. And also say my goodbyes..." she said cheerfully as she herded the crowd with all the planet's inhabitants out of the room. Afterwards, Belldandy came back along with Barret to help her carry Ranko-chan's sleeping form out of the room as well. Rin-Ohki and Mew sent their own telepathic excuses as they floated out of the rooms after Belldandy, and claimed they wanted carrots and some berries. This left only Raven, Lea, Vanilla, Emeralda, Ryoko and Ranma inside the room.

The pigtailed alien hybrid grew anxious as the tension in the air became heavier, especially when the girls gave him predatory grins as the door's lock clicked ominously.

((Eh... this reminds me of the time when Belldandy cornered me on that first day of my vacation from SOLDIER...)) Ranma's thought's ground into a halt when he fully realized his predicament. He lost any coherent thought and his intuitive perspective when all five girls leapt at him on his poor bed.

"You got another girl pregnant, Ranma-kun..." Ryoko cooed as she landed on Ranma's abdomen, "All the while you have other women waiting for twenty years, some even more than five millennia... you've got a lot of debts to pay now, dear."

His last thoughts were ((... oh crap...)) as five pairs of hands descended upon him.

It was thirty minutes later that Ranma barely noticed Belldandy inside the room and has already joined the fray as well.

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

The townspeople who lived in Kalm has started renovating the town from the damages brought by the latest catastrophe. The former AVALANCHE members helped diligently in the repairs as well. There was still a few refugees arriving from Midgar City, which was probably one of the more damaged areas on the planet.

The town was relatively bustling with activity, but none compared to the action happening in one of the houses in the town proper. Although, no one dared to even investigate the strange loud noises that emanated from the said house, since there were probably two things that may happen when they disturb the performance of the people in that house. One, heavy objects hit them when they try to rouse the individuals involved inside the house. Two, even weirder was the energy balls that fried anyone who tried to peek inside the room wherein the center of the activities were focused inside the house. So basically, everyone left the house alone, even if it was just for their own safety and personal health.

It was only a week that passed when Ranma and the girls with him in Elmyra's house were seen outside once again. To the townspeople's immense surprise, Ranma looked rather calm, and not tired as everyone else predicted he would be. Although, the red-tailed young man immediately attacked the nearby restaurant with huge orders of food, most probably to replenish lost energy from the... vigorous exercise he was on for the week. The women followed him with wide grins plastered on their faces, and were able to partake with the meal that was set out for Ranma as well inside the restaurant.

It was one of those beautiful mornings, where birds chirped joyfully amongst the few trees left after the battle. The sun slowly showed its face from the horizon, and the sky only has a few wisps of clouds. All in all, a beautiful day brewed.

A certain blonde-haired mercenary trudged along a slightly widened dirt path that led towards the mountains. He was on firewood duty today, and he also wanted to get some hunting done as well. Cloud Strife's face was a mask of indifference as he chopped down a few dying trees, those that can be used as effective firewood. He finished early, and took his time going back to the peaceful village of Kalm. When he passed the small forest, he heard a faint melodious voice. Entranced, he followed the voice while bearing the firewood he has collected earlier. He found himself in a small clearing near the edge of the forest, and spied upon someone in the middle of the field. The entire area was fortified with sunflowers, and with the sun's rays reflected softly on the dew upon the blades of grass in the area, the atmosphere was soothing and clearly wonderful.

Cloud realized that the person sitting on the clearing was none other than Aerith Gainsborough... no... she was Belldandy, the reborn goddess. She was singing a soft tune that seemed to energize the flowers more around her, as well as Cloud himself. He was about to leave Belldandy to her privacy, but a log from his burden fell on the ground. The sound attracted Belldandy's attention, and caused her to pause in her singing to turn towards his direction.

"Cloud-san!" Belldandy smiled brightly, "It's nice meeting you here. Isn't it such a beautiful day today? Come here and stay with me for a while!"

Cloud felt torn between running away and granting this pretty woman's request. In the end, he opted the latter as he slowly walked towards the girl. He set his burden down a few feet away from where Belldandy sat and took his seat upon the logs. The girl with light brown hair inclined her head towards him and turned back to what she was doing. He found that she was making a headband made out of flowers.

Belldandy seemed to have felt Cloud's curiosity. Without turning away from her work, she informed him, "It's for Ranko-chan. I tried teaching her how to do it the other day, but it was a bust. So I'm making her one to make her feel better."

"I see..." Cloud muttered as he broke his gaze from the back of Belldandy's head, and chose to stare at the slow-moving clouds above the clearing.

For the blonde-haired man, he felt very tense around the girl nowadays. While he felt strong emotions towards her, their situation has clearly changed, and not for the better. At least, that's how it felt for him. She was probably the first woman he felt love for, and he felt quite inadequate, especially when he failed to protect her from Sephiroth's surprise attack. Without Zack... no... Ranma's intervention, things would've gone differently, and this woman would've most likely died in that encounter. He... he felt that he was a total failure...

"Cloud-san?" Belldandy's soft voice cut through the fog of despair in Cloud's mind. He turned to gaze at the girl, who was still riveted in her work, "Is everything all right?"

"Huh...?" Cloud noised uneasily, his insecurities clearly reflected in his cracking voice, "What... what made you think that?"

He heard the woman snort disbelievingly. "I was once a goddess, Cloud-san, even if it was a lifetime ago..." she deftly ignored the mercenary's full-body shudder, "I can identify tension easily. Besides, I could feel it as clear as day, you know?"

Cloud lowered his head in shame. It was true, he was trying to avoid this conversation in such a long time, and now, there was no escaping it. Not from this girl. "I... I'm sorry."

"Things have been awkward between us, right? It started after Ranma showed up when he saved me from Sephiroth..." Belldandy surmised as she continued her tedious work, "Ever since then, you kept it to yourself. Your emotions... you did not want the others and me to notice how you felt on the matter. But I do know about it, Cloud-san, and I was waiting for you to start and confront me about them. But... I somehow knew you weren't that kind of person..." she smiled as she held the half-finished wreath in the air for inspection, "So now... can you tell me? Your feelings about this matter, I mean."

Another bout of silence filled the air, but Belldandy was an epitome of a patient woman. She sighed softly as she waited for the young man's answer. She knew of the turmoil Cloud felt whenever she was near, and she just had to fix the situation before it affected him in the future in a very negative way.

"I..." The young woman almost paused in her work to hear the rest of Cloud's answer, but she continued weaving the flower stems without missing a beat.

"I... I dunno..." Cloud's uncertain voice was almost painful to the ears. "I tried ignoring it... but... it hurts, you know? I... I..." ((Say it, idiot!)) the blonde berated himself, as he continued to struggle with the words, "I... I l-love... I love y-you... and... it's hard for me to cope..." he slumped on his seat, and waited nervously for the girl's response.

"Stop fidgeting, Cloud-san..." Belldandy chided gently, "And I do know that you're in love with me. I'm... sorry... if I gave you some sort of false hope that I'm to return that life. I do like you though, like a younger brother. Not the same way you probably felt for me..."

The brown haired girl turned her head slightly to the side to look at the flowers, "I have to admit, when I first met you... I felt something spark inside. I saw Zack in you, but as I spent more time with you, I finally saw some character flaws. I mean, you were pretty good imitating Zack, but... it wasn't perfect."

Belldandy smiled softly as she turned to face Cloud's forlorn face, "I began to realize there was something wrong with your memories. But, I don't want you to confront that yet. I just didn't know the extent of the damage, so I let it go on. I felt that you loved me probably because Zack has been telling you snippets of our relationship, and you got the idea in those stories. You've had mental difficulties, Cloud-san, and the only way you were able to overcome the grievous after effects was to imprint Zack's personality. But as I've said, it's not perfect."

The girl shrugged slightly as she went back to her work, "The thing is, Zack, rather, Ranma, is a very complicated man to understand. Never take everything coming from him at face value. While you've got some of his mannerisms right, like his seriousness in the battlefield, he was not like that when he's around me. If I were just an ordinary girl who just lost her boyfriend and found someone who has nearly the same attributes as him, I would've latched unto that person. But... clearly, I'm not."

"I trust Ranma-kun wholeheartedly, Cloud-san..." Belldandy intoned in an endearing voice that speared pain into Cloud's heart, "That man, even with all his powers and abilities, was simply not perfect. But, he tries his best at all times. By the memories I've gained from my past life, record of Ranma's life has... made me very curious of him. So many challenges... so many heartbreaks... so many difficulties, and yet, Ranma-kun still manages to go on with his life. He takes his promises very seriously, most in which have brought him sorrow, but he still persevered in them."

She paused once more in her work and inspected the nearly finished wreath on her lap, "When I got into Gongaga, Ranma's village, he was the only one who accepted me, weirdness and all. In fact, I remember him cheering me up by proving that he's a lot weirder than I ever was. And his tenacity... and his resolve... in making me feel loved even if he didn't mean to... that was probably the time when I felt I loved him. I was with him in that village, and watched him grow stronger each day. I know what he can do. So... a little fall off a cliff wouldn't kill him. I know that, which was why I kept my hopes of seeing him again."

Belldandy looked up and flashed him a bright smile, "And there he was. He swooped down just in time to block Sephiroth's fatal strike against me. I felt... that I fell in love with him all over again."

Cloud slumped even further on his seat. He supported his lowered head with his hands as he stared at the ground in sadness. He felt a hand pat his calf companionably, which caused him to look at the woman curiously.

"Besides, someone else likes you, and I feel that she's the one for you..." Belldandy grinned mysteriously as she pulled back her hand and continued finishing her work, "Just let someone else inside that closed heart of yours, Cloud-san. That person who's really for you, and only you, is actually nearer than you'd think."

"Eh..." Cloud scratched his chin in confusion, "I don't think I can be in a relationship at the moment."

Belldandy tilted her head to the side slightly, "You don't need to worry. I think this girl's very patient. She will wait for you to the death. How adorable!"

Cloud sweatdropped slightly when the girl squealed softly and clutched at the flower wreath on her chest.

"So..." Cloud broke the euphoric Belldandy out of her daze, "You're really... with child, huh? Za-Ranma's, right?"

Belldandy immediately calmed down and caressed her still-flat stomach lovingly. "Yes... I am. And yes, it is Ranma-kun's..."

The blonde scratched his chin, "But, are you okay with the situation you're in? He's got kid from another woman, as well as those others that were after him..."

The girl waved a hand in the air dismissively. "I really don't mind it..." she threw a shrewd glance towards Cloud, "In fact, we cemented our relationship with our... activities for a for nights."

Cloud's eyes widened marginally. "O-Oh..." he stuttered as he blushed heavily, "You were... loud."

"Yes!" Belldandy chirped happily, "Ranma-kun's very energetic. It took us a few days before we managed to wear him down!"

"Too much information I didn't need to know..." Cloud groaned as he slapped his forehead with his palm. His face grew somber though, as a thought ran across his mind fleetingly, "Oh yeah... so this means you're gonna go with him when he leaves this world, right?"

The former Goddess of the Present nodded, "Of course... I will go with Ranma-kun."

"I'm... I'm gonna miss you..." The blonde-haired mercenary smiled sadly at her.

Belldandy returned the gesture with one of her own. "It's going to be all right. You have friends now, so you will never be alone. Your friends have been with you all this time. You just have to be there with them as well, all right?"

Cloud nodded at her request. They continued their conversation about other smaller trivial things. After a good twenty more minutes, Belldandy finally finished her wreath. Both of them went back to Kalm together.

Belldandy smiled to herself as they walked along the narrow dirt path towards the town. At least, she was able to remain friends with Cloud. Now, she's ready to leave this place with Ranma, without the burdens of the past.

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

With the help of everyone, including the visitors, the town of Kalm regained some of its former tranquil environment. A small but rigorous celebration followed the night the repairs were finally finished... in honor of the planet's heroes.

The next morning, however, marked another somber occasion for everyone. It was the time for Ranma, Belldandy and the rest of the 'alien women' were scheduled to leave. The entire population of Kalm, along with Cloud, Barret, Cid, Tifa, Yuffie, Vincent, Red XIII and Cait Sith assembled outside the town gates to witness the departure.

A tired Ranma in female form stared at the assembly of people dully. Ranma's 'curse' was already explained through the storytelling, and it was passed on to the other townspeople of Kalm. Still, it was a sight to behold, to see a very manly Ranma turn into a rather smallish but rather 'gifted' female. He turned female the other day before, in an attempt to at least try to have some breathing room from too much sex. Sadly, it wasn't effective against Lea and Ryoko, who broke Onna-Ranma in bed quite soundly the night afterwards. It was a new experience for Ranma, but still quite tiring. Right now, it took all of her willpower just to maintain standing.

Onn-Ranma's clothes have been modified. She still wore her outfit that she had on as Zack over her tight-fitting black body armor. Her right shoulder armor has been discarded, and was replaced by larger black ones that seemed a few sizes too big for her shoulder, even in her male form. Also, the shoulder armor now has a twin on her left shoulder as well. Her ever-present obsidian bracers glinted against the rays of the sun, and her choker was exposed proudly around her neck. Her anklets were hidden underneath the oversized pants she wore. In addition to this outfit, she now has a dark purple cloak around her. It has an oversized collar that stretched enough to cover half of her face. The collar can be closed at the front, but it was currently open to display her slight smile. Her dark-tinted glasses were once again present to cover her unearthly eyes.

"Well..." Onna-Ranma drawled out as she combed back the stray strands of red hair over her face. She discarded the use of the bandanna to cover the tri-colored gems on her forehead because, quite frankly, the fabric itched when used for long periods of time. She still wore her dark-tinted sunglasses though, since the sight of her unusual eyes still brought uneasiness to the townspeople. "Uh... I guess this is it, then..." she continued as she gazed at the sad visage of the people around her.

Lea, Vanilla, Belldandy, Emeralda, Ryoko, Ranko and Raven all stood behind Onna-Ranma, most of their expressions were somewhat neutral. Except for Belldandy, who has a sad smile on her face directed at the former AVALANCHE members who were her companions for a short while. Rin-Ohki was being held by Ranko against the little girl's chest, while Mew was hugged by Belldandy lovingly. Ryo-Ohki was with on her mistress, Ryoko's shoulder, watching the scene with great interest.

"Hey hey, now don't be sad and all that...!" The red-haired busty girl crowed as she crossed her arms across her chest arrogantly, "Look at it this way... you're now free from the Meteor! It's gone! And you're finally gonna have a peaceful life! Believe me... if we stayed here, we might attract some really powerful beings and probably accidentally destroy the planet in the process. So... I guess it's better this way, really."

"Big brother... don't go!" Barret's small daughter, Marlene, squeaked as she ran towards Onna-Ranma and hugged the latter around the legs.

Onna-Ranma let out a strangled 'Eeep!' as the little girl latched around her legs. The redhead windmilled her arms frantically, as she attempted to maintain her balance. When the worst was finally over, she sighed and patted the crying girl on the head. One of Ranma's greatest weaknesses, even with all her strength and power, was the sight of crying females... especially cute ones. And cute children were also part of Onna-Ranma's list of 'Do not make them cry' people.

"Oh, come on now... don't cry..." Onna-Ranma started to panic, as the little girl continued to sniffle into her loose dark-purple pants. She threw a pleading glance over her shoulder towards the women of her life, but to Onna-Ranma's askance, the women just smiled gently at her and shook their heads in eerie unison.

The red-haired busty girl sighed morosely as she turned her attention towards Marlene once more, "Don't worry, Marlene-chan... you don't have to be sad anymore. You're going to live a healthier and wonderful life now that there are no more threats. I and the others however have to go away, since staying here will attract a lot of bad guys. While I'm more than happy to defend you from them, I'd rather not take the risk and get you hurt in the end."

Marlene pulled up short and looked up at Onna-Ranma. "But... B-but I'll never see you again! That's... that's not fair! I want you to stay, big brother!"

Onna-Ranma smiled at the girl sadly. "I know, but if I stay here, a lot of trouble will come. I know that you don't want that too. Do you want those bad men to come and destroy things again, just like what happened a few weeks ago?"

The little girl shook her head wordlessly.

"Now go on, little Marlene... your new friends and loved ones are waiting for you..." Onna-Ranma ruffled Marlene's hair playfully, and pushed her gently back into Elmyra Gainsborough's waiting arms.

The former AVALANCHE members approached, their faces reflected a grim visage of sadness.

"So, you're really leaving, huh?" Yuffie asked sadly as she scuffled her dainty foot against the dusty ground.

Belldandy spoke up, "Yes, as Lea-san mentioned a few days ago, any delays on leaving this dimension might leave an irreparable damage. We must leave."

"Man, it woulda been cool if I got those blueprints for that big ship of yers..." Cid grinned sheepishly as he scratched his sandy-hued hair.

"Highly unlikely..." Vanilla interjected in monotone, as she bore a really scare gaze towards the slightly panicked Cid, "Rin-Ohki-chan is not an object to be tinkered with. She is Ranma-sama's partner."

Barret waved his organic hand in the air to placate the seemingly irate red-eyed light teal-haired girl, "Bah, ignore the idiot, little lady. Anyway..." he grinned as he stepped forward and patted Onna-Ranma's shoulder, hard. The red-haired girl wasn't even fazed by the force.

"You did good... you saved a whole lotta buncha folks here. I jus' wanna thank ya for all yer good work, man... err... girl... whatever. Thanks!" Barret gave her a thumbs up and stepped back in place with his fellow former AVALANCHE members.

Yuffie eyed Onna-Ranma curiously. A few days back, the self-proclaimed 'Materia Hunter' has been trying to cajole Ranma into... donating the materia in his possession. Sadly, it was no use... even if Ranma did want to give her the stones, the materia themselves became incorporated quite intimately into Ranma's 'Shin Masamune'.

The small ninja gave the pseudo-girl a sad smile, "Well, I guess this is goodbye then. I hoped that you can give me those materia of yours... they're pretty rare."

Onna-Ranma shrugged helplessly. "You know I can't. My sword somehow assimilated the materia into itself. Anyway, I already gave you the other mastered materia I have ya know."

"Hmph..." Yuffie pouted playfully as she crossed her arms across her chest in mock anger, "Excuses, excuses... heh. But seriously though, thanks for all your help. I'll save those materia you gave me as souvenirs..." The dark-haired girl smirked and flashed Onna-Ranma a V-sign with her fingers, before she turned and ran back behind the crowd. If Onna-Ranma was a bit more observant, she should've seen the tears that escaped Yuffie's eyes as the petite girl ran.

Vincent scoffed lightly as he spoke, "It was... interesting, to say the least. I learned a lot of things from your story. For that, I am grateful."

"Feh..." Onna-Ranma snorted, "It ain't even the full story, but if you knew everything... it would spoil the surprise, ne? Life's really unpredictable like that. All ya can do is face it head-on."

The brooding dark-haired man nodded grimly as he fell silent.

"Well, I still say you're really weird, Zack... Ranma... whatever your name is..." Red XIII growled as the red-furred former specimen cocked his head to one side, "It's gonna be pretty boring without you mucking things up around."

The red-haired demi-Saiyajin grinned at the red-furred wolf-tiger reject. She swiftly moved forwards, her overflowing dark purple cloak fluttered behind her, and patted him on his head. "I'm sure with Yuffie around, you're gonna have a lot more misadventures even without me, Nanaki-chan."

Red XIII growled at the honorific after his name, while Yuffie's indignant yelp was heard from the far back of the crowd. The former huffed as he turned and trotted to... place himself strategically behind Tifa to contemplate on the events that had happened in the past as well as the present... not to mope, mind you! Seriously!

Laughter erupted from most of the spectators. But the moment of mirth died down when Cloud stepped up from his position with his group. The blonde eyed the red-haired pigtailed girl with no expression on his face, but Onna-Ranma knew of the turmoil that's going on in the mind of her erstwhile student and friend.

The women from Ranma's group tensed when Cloud reached over his back and unclasped the Buster Sword, but relaxed when the blonde merely presented the blade to Onna-Ranma. "I guess I have to return this to you..." Cloud said as he eyed the blade somberly, "After all, this sword belongs to you..."

Onna-Ranma pushed the blade back into Cloud's possession and shook her head with a sad smile on her face, "You don't need to do that, kid. I trust that sword with you. Do you know why I gave you that sword in the first place?"

When she saw Cloud's bewildered look, she continued, "That sword is to protect those who are important to you. A weapon remains a tool if it's used kill without reason, but for us that sword is more than just a tool. It's also a shield... to protect our loved ones. Don't ever think that just because the battle's over, there will be peace forever."

Onna-Ranma placed her dainty hand over Cloud's shoulder protector, "Peace is a fragile thing, and it is by no means a permanent one. There will always come a time when you'll need to fight to protect in the future. Don't look at me like that... you and I both know this is true. Humans, as well as any other mortal in the universe, are unpredictable. Many would want to take advantage of this moment of respite in order to claim more power, and in the process hurt those who wants peace. That's where this sword comes in the picture... think of it as a legacy. Believe it or not, the moment I took you as a student, you became one of my heirs. We are protectors, kid, and this sword will be your instrument to protect."

The blonde mercenary nodded as he clasped the Buster Sword on his back once more, and shot a grateful look towards his former teacher.

Tifa smiled as the dark-haired girl stepped up to Cloud's side and clasped at the blonde man's shoulder tightly with her hand. She flashed him with a slight smile before she turned towards the travelers and said, "This is really goodbye, isn't it? We're not going to see you anymore after you leave..."

Belldandy, Aerith Gainsborough's newly christened name for herself, approached them. The young woman has a serene look on her face, as she hooked her hand into Onna-Ranma's face. The red haired girl squeaked a bit and blushed.

"Don't worry..." Belldandy smiled at Tifa and Cloud, "Who knows what the future may bring? As far as I know, Rin-Ohki already recorded this dimension's coordinates. So, when we get to fix our dimensional transporter, we may be able to go back here as often as we please."

"Eh, that's right..." Onna-Ranma blinked and scratched her head, "I kinda forgot about that... heh."

A chorus of 'Of course you did' came from behind the two women, which caused Onna-Ranma to sputter a bit at them.

"Uhh..." Tifa noised as she, along with the ex-AVALANCHE as well as the townspeople of Kalm, sweatdropped heavily at the... childish but totally cute pout now present on Onna-Ranma's face, though the males were disturbed when they felt something akin to... loving affections... towards the pseudo female. Scary.

Rin-Ohki squirmed in little Ranko's grip as she noised, "Miyah! Miyah miyah!" and looked at her currently female master pointedly.

The silver cabbit's cries caught Onna-Ranma's attention, as she tilted her head towards the cabbit without turning around. "I'm just about done with the goodbyes, Rin-chan..." the red haired alien hybrid called back.

Everyone knew of the telepathic connections Ranma has with the silver-furred cabbit, the pink floating kitty, and the weird abruptly-changing-mood angel-demon girl. Sometimes the four would end up in a private four-way conversation in their minds without speaking, which caused those not used to the idea to be wary of them. The 'alien women' didn't mind it though, as well as Belldandy... not that anything would phase the woman.

Onna-Ranma's smiling face slowly melted into a serious visage, which definitely helped burden the already heavy atmosphere that slowly developed ever since the thought of the otherworlders' upcoming departure sunk into everyone's minds. This was especially hard for Belldandy, who has lived in this world as a mortal for more than twenty years. She was also Aerith Gainsborough, part of the near-extinct race of the older beings known as the Cetra. Well... soon to be extinct anyway, since the last Cetra will be departing soon.

Elmyra Gainsborough, adoptive parent for Aerith, was actually prepared for her pseudo-daughter's leave. She knew ever since the moment she took Aerith from the dying Ifalna's arms, that Aerith was meant for greater things. Even with that future insight, Elmyra's inner turmoil was very evident when tears sprung from her ironically smiling face.

"Mother..." Belldandy began as Onna-Ranma sidestepped to set the brown haired woman in the front. The others did the same with Elmyra, and now the mother-daughter pair stood face to face.

"My daughter..." Elmyra chuckled while more tears sprung from her eyes. She wound her arms around the now slightly taller Belldandy and embraced.

Belldandy's immaculate face was now swarmed with her own tears, as she hugged her adoptive mother back just as tightly. "I'm so sorry mother..." she sobbed into the older woman's shoulder, "I have to leave you... I'm so sorry..."

"Shhh..." Elmyra soothed her crying daughter as she rubbed Belldandy's back, "It's okay, daughter. I'm... I'm actually prepared for this. Whether it be you doing greater things in the future, or to go and be swept away by your future husband. I just... I never thought you would end up using both reasons. I don't even get to see my future grandchildren!"

The taller light brown-haired woman blushed as she burrowed her head deeper into her adoptive mother's shoulder. She was mortified and embarrassed at Elmyra's outburst. She was also a bit relieved that her mother's usual jesting personality asserted itself into the situation, and somehow elevated a bit of the heavy tension that suffocated the area with sadness. But still, most of the depression was still present, and everyone could literally taste it in the air.

The pseudo-mother-daughter's tearful goodbye slowly trickled to a stop as it became evident that Ranma's group needed to leave soon. There was an aura of deep confusion and... out-of-worldliness that seemed to combine with the depressing environment. There seemed to be something... odd and out of place around them, and it greatly unsettled everyone present.

Apparently, the collection of Ranma's unusual companions already felt the dimension's slow deterioration.

"Ranma-sama..." Vanilla began softly as Belldandy ended her goodbye session with Elmyra, "We only have a few more hours before this universe slowly crumbles into itself."

Soft as the pale-skinned girl's voice was, it was still enough to be heard across the small clearing in front of the town of Kalm. The planet's inhabitants grew a bit worried at the implications of Vanilla's statement. As much as they wanted their new friends to stay a bit longer, they also had to think of their world's safety. After all, it was what Ranma taught them.

Onna-Ranma looked at each of her companions in a serious demeanor. "I understand, Vanilla-chan..." she said slowly, as she flashed the young-looking woman with a wan smile. The red haired alien hybrid then schooled her features as she turned towards the inhabitants of Gaia.

"We need to go soon..." Onna-Ranma informed them bluntly, "This universe will disappear if we stay too long."

"We understand that..." The blonde haired mercenary named Cloud spoke. He looked at Onna-Ranma pointedly and continued, "Take care of Aerith, Zack."

Onna-Ranma raised a delicate eyebrow as she shot Belldandy an amused look before turning back towards Cloud. "You don't need to tell me that, idiot. That goes without saying..." she snorted, but then smirked a bit evilly as she turned at Tifa with a sly look, "Don't forget your own responsibilities, blondie."

Cloud adopted a slightly confused look on his face. An expression that was very familiar to Ranma, who shook her head at it.

"Never mind, idiot..." Onna-Ranma grumbled as she waved a dainty hand towards the general direction of the former AVALANCHE members, "Just make sure you defend this peace you have when needed. Also..." she leaned towards Cloud and an aura of absolute malice erupted around her, which caused everyone to back away slightly in fright, "Practice your sword skills... I don't want to learn someday that the student I taught sword fighting ended up a moron about it anyway."

Cloud almost... almost squeaked, but managed to nod frantically anyway.

Satisfied for the moment, Onna-Ranma reined in her aura and smiled brightly once more. "Good, good! Now... we have to go!"

Everyone sweatdropped at Ranma's sudden one-eighty of emotions. Although the awkward situation turned into awe when everyone witnessed Rin-Ohki's battleship form.

Something in which added to Rin-chan's already over-inflated ego. Must've gotten it from Ranma, her master and partner.

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

The departure from Gaia's planetary surface was peaceful. Everything seemed to be in place, and the coordinates were set into Rin-Ohki's internal computer.

Space was the perfect place to test-drive the dimensional transporter within Rin-Ohki, since it was vast and wide. There was enough room to accommodate the error that might occur when the test went into its way. After all, that apparatus was created by Washuu, and there was always a chance that something may happen during its testing. Better safe than sorry, after all. So, Ranma opted to test the device a few light years away from Pluto, since Rin-Ohki found an open space where they could do less damage if the experiment failed somehow, or backfired. No civilization for about twenty light years... so it was probably safe to test it there.

After the destination was established, the group of females including Ranko, Mew and Rin-Ohki's avatar went out of the bridge to do... stuff. Ranma wasn't interested enough to know. So, the only guy in the whole starship was left inside the bridge, which allowed him to contemplate on certain things.

Outer space always fascinated Ranma in the past. When he was young, all he knew of the universe was martial arts and his training journey. That was what Saotome Genma repeatedly instilled into his young mind, to mold him into the old man's perfect little puppet heir. The sky was something that kept Ranma's dreams alive, for he knew that there was something beyond the blue yonder of the planet he was on.

As Ranma stared at the slowly shrinking blue planet that was once called Earth, he realized that he was beyond what he was from before. He was at a bit of a loss somehow, and wasn't sure how to proceed in the future. While he has no problems just wandering around multiverses, he still felt the pangs of homesickness every now and then. He realized, that he was leaving Earth once again, as he did before. This post-apocalyptic Earth now called Gaia was his home for around two decades of Earth years, even if he was under the grips of amnesia in most of it. Nevertheless, Ranma felt happy that he was once again able to experience a... 'home away from home'.

But still... Ranma's situation was clearly unpredictable at the moment. He narrowed his eyes as Gaia slowly shrunk from his vision as he gazed out of his starship's port window. Rin-Ohki's unfinished, untested version of Dimensional Transporter was, in a word, unstable. Ranma clearly attested to that fact, since it was the same scientist who made such device created the apparatus that threw him far into this future anyway. Washuu-obaasan was clearly a genius, albeit a weird one. Though some of her works were too... accident-prone to be tested on normal guinea pigs. Again, that was why he got into this mess in the first place.

Ranma wondered idly, where he would end up next? While the wanderlust he acquired at such a young age clearly never abated one bit at this point of his life, he has a lot of responsibilities to think of now. For some weird and fate-shattering reasons he still wasn't able to explain, he managed to inadvertedly collect quite a following. Not just any following, nope... but an all-female following.

"Not only that..." The pigtailed man muttered, "I'm actually a father. And a future father of another kid..."

Ranko, the red haired imp, was his daughter from Ryoko. It seemed that their trysts in the past bore fruit. Ranma did suffer some regrets, when he realized how hard it must've been for Ryoko when he vanished that time. Luckily, he was able to avert the gruesome fate that awaited the mother and daughter pair in the end, after he finally destroyed that bastard Kagato. And now... Belldandy also reported herself being pregnant. Only a few weeks old, but surely pregnant. While her personality hasn't suffered too much the dreaded changes pregnancy produced in females, it was clearly evident whenever Ranma heard the woman get sick in the bathroom lately.

Ranma actually thought he was going to be killed by these females when the whole entourage of women met one another, but for some reason... they seemed to have bonded together. He still wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing...

The demi-Saiyajin sighed softly as he savored the brief respite of piece inside the bridge of his cabbit starship. The girls were out of the room somewhere else in the ship, for whatever reason Ranma never bothered to find out. He has only a few moments of peace in his entire lifetime, and he meant to take advantage of it. Through the years, he managed to learn how to sit still and just... meditate on things. When he was young, he was brash and hot-tempered, not that it changed when he matured, but now he was able to just lay back and enjoy the good things in life. Things he hasn't done back when he was younger.

Ranma snorted through his nose loudly as he cursed himself for thinking like an old man. He still looked like a kid, dammit! Well... he could force his body into an older physique, but he disliked the wrinkles. He wasn't about to do what Yosho did to himself, because he thought Yosho was just plain dumb at his disguise. He can't help he became nearly ageless because of what he was! He was proud of his heritage! He wasn't going to hide his magnificence behind some lame-o parlor trick old man visage!

He blinked and smacked his cheek after he had that thought. It almost sounded like Kuno Tatewake's monologue in the past. And he definitely doesn't want anything to do with that idiot's... idiocy.

He shook his head wearily as he tried not to squirm in his seat. He was actually in a formal position as of the moment, with a thin pillow underneath his folded knees for support. This was a custom that managed to stick in his head, especially after the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony thing when he was young. Somehow, he found himself slipping into the custom when he got too serious in his meditations.

Ranma remained unmoved when the doors of the bridge swished open. According to the calm and peaceful aura that seemed to wash over the entirety of the bridge, the person who entered the sanctity of Ranma's current meditation room was none other than his currently pregnant beau, Belldandy.

"Are you alright, Ran-kun?" Belldandy's melodious voice echoed all over the room, which heightened the calming environment of the place. The light brown-haired ponytailed girl took off her usual clothes she wore while in Gaia. Her clothes now consisted of a peach-colored loose variant of a wedding dress, which tightened quite enticingly around Belldandy's still-small waist. The hem bloomed widely around her lower body, and reached down to her ankles. The new set of clothing seemed to enhance Belldandy's goddess-like features. If anyone hasn't thought of her as a former goddess in the previous life... he or she will now.

"Aaa... Bell-chan..." The raven-haired man nodded as he closed his eyes in bliss. Belldandy's presence always did that to any person, after all. "I was just... thinking of what has happened to me ever since I left my home dimension."

He felt the newcomer's presence stop a little ways behind him and sat there.

"By the way..." Ranma began, "Where are the others?"

Belldandy smiled serenely, "Maa... they're in the Karaoke Room."

Ranma furrowed his brows in confusion. "We have a Karaoke Room?" he asked incredulously.

The reincarnated goddess giggled slightly at the perplexed tone. "You should allow the others to take you on their guided tours sometime. You've been gone from their presence for too long, and there have been changes with regards to Rin-Ohki-chan."

Ranma nodded and heard a rustling sound coming from Belldandy's general direction. A light object was dropped on his lap, which caused him to open his eyes and stare at the minidisk that was given to him.

"Lea-chan gave this to me a while ago..." Belldandy explained, "She said it was left for you by Washuu-san. Your aunt explained little to them when she gave this, only that you are to receive it no matter what."

Ranma rolled his golden pupils in exasperation. "Washuu-obaachan's over dramatic sometimes..." he murmured softly as he summoned his transparent computer. He located the correct disk reader that should be able to read the minidisk format, and set it in.

("Ya-hoooo! My little Ranma-chan!") A loud but familiar voice boomed out of his computer's built-in speakers. Ranma and Belldandy grimaced as they simultaneously covered their ears with their hands for protection. It wasn't of any help.

Washuu's smugly grinning face appeared on the computer's viewscreen. Weirdly enough, the spiky redhead was in her adult form.

("Well well well... if you're watching this, then you've been found. Anyway, it's good that the girls found you, Ranma-chan! You have no idea how irritating they've become as time passed by.")

Washuu's image pouted playfully as she crossed her arms under her chest.

("Anyway... I gave Emeralda a gift of sorts. It was interesting how hard it was for me to manipulate those nanomachines of hers to accept the Ctarl-Ctarl DNA I've kept for further study. Made me curious as to how far humans have come in their pursuit for knowledge... and the proof lay on Emeralda. Well... you've seen the results, ne? Like them? She's now permanently a catgirl. A new breed of Ctarl-Ctarl. Come on, admit it, I'm a super genius, ne? Ne!")

Ranma and Belldandy sweatdropped slightly as Washuu's image cackled loudly.

("On to the real story here... Ranma-chan. I've got a surprise for you, specifically. I found her, Ranma-chan. I found... your biological mother's counterpart in this universe. I found my sister and your mother, Tokimi!")

That produced a stunned reaction from Ranma, and a tearful gasp from Belldandy. After all, Ranma was Tokimi's biological son, and Belldandy was Tokimi's daughter in her past life as well. In a sense, the pseudo-siblings slash future husband and wife were going to meet their mother. In both senses, it would seem.

The face of an aristocratic woman was pushed by Washuu into the viewscreen. She has dark-brown hair, cut short just beyond the nape of her neck. It was spiked though, and a couple of pairs of bangs colored red remained out of place in her hair. It was held together by a large golden orb on her forehead. She almost has no pupils in her eyes, since the normal white cataracts were dark blue, and her pupils were slitted black. The sides of her face displayed the dark-green leaves of Jurai. Her clothes consisted of the Juraian Royals Ranma saw Washuu wore once before, only in dark colors. The woman's fingers were of claw-like quality. There was no doubt in Ranma and Belldandy's minds...

This regal woman is... Tokimi of the Choushin Megami.

Regardless, it was a bit surprising for both of them to see Tokimi nervously fidgeting in front of the screen.

("Err, Tokimi-neesan? Stop fidgeting, will you?") Washuu's droll voice said from somewhere out the screen, as Tokimi glared at something beyond view.

("I can't help it, Washuu...") Tokimi's glare dissipated as the woman continued fidgeting. ("This... this is a bit awkward.")

("Aww, is little Tokimi afraid of the camera by any chance?")

("Bah, be silent, sister.")

("Then, say what you want to tell your son. This video will be received by him in the future, after all...")

At the screen, Tokimi sighed as she mustered her courage. ("I understand, sister... anyway... h-hello, s-son. Uhm... err, I think you already know who I am, since I was told you've already met my counterpart in another dimension. I'm Tokimi, your mother.")

Ranma and Belldandy were riveted to the video as Tokimi's image continued.

("To continue...") Tokimi shot a glare at the one who's probably holding the camera, ("Washuu, Tsunami and I are goddesses, that much you know. Divinities such as ourselves have no need for things such as clans, because we were considered... beyond them. But... years after I was judged to be... unstable, I learned from my own source that Tsunami started something that wasn't supposed to be done by a divine being. That is... to interfere with mortal affairs. In the end... Tsunami gave life to the Jurai, and became their patron goddess of life. Jurai has become somewhat... her own Clan. As you know, Washuu threw her own goddesshood away and became mortal, and started her own clan called Hakubi.")

Tokimi's visage grew melancholy. ("I... I never did thought that I would be following their examples. Some counterparts of mine in other universes began interacting with mortals, creating their own clans and families.")

The formal goddess of chaos' gaze focused on Ranma, as if she was really looking towards him, ("My son, even if I am not your actual birth mother technically... in more ways than one, I still am your mother. I deemed that you would need something... some sort of your own distinguishing mark... to separate you from your own counterparts. Therefore, I now announce... that you, Ranma, will be my Clan. I proclaim your new identity, as well as forming our own original family name, or clan name if you will call it that. I proudly allow you to use the name Choushin, because it is what we are, mortal or divinity. Your new name is now Ranma Choushin, my son.")

Silence permeated the bridge as the proclamation ended. Ranma and Belldandy were in shock, but for the brown-haired woman it was short-lived. She squealed and embraced the still form of Ranma, a few tears also escaped her eyes in her happiness.

"Did you hear that, Ran-kun!" Belldandy asked joyfully, as she maintained her hold on Ranma, "Tokimi-sama just gave you her full blessing. One of the greatest blessing of all... to be given your own name! Ranma Choushin, that's you! This... this is formally announcing that you are, no doubt, Tokimi's son, and that she acknowledges you openly!"

("Remember this, my son...") Both turned back to the recording as Tokimi continued her spiel, ("Whether you like it or not, you will be pursued by forces that are very powerful. Even if you're powerful as well, you will need allies. While it is common knowledge that emotions just get in the way while fighting, that's not entirely true. Because, my son... some emotions can harness your full potential, and allow it to come forth from within you in times of need. So instead of shutting off emotions, use them to your advantage. Oh, and one more thing...")

It was a tense environment as Tokimi dragged the one-sided conversation with a thoughtful look on her face. ("Since you're the first 'mortal' Choushin that ever existed in several thousands of realms in the multiverse, I expect you... to go forth and multiply. Give me lots of grandchildren!") The woman began laughing loudly, joined by Washuu's own mad-like cackling.

And then, just like that, Ranma and Belldandy face-faulted.

The duo clearly forgot all about the rest of the video, not that there was too much importance on Washuu's own lecherous inputs as well as the sisters own brand of goodbyes. When the rest of the video finally played itself out and fizzled into static, only then did Ranma and Belldandy recovered from their respective face falls.

"Great..." Ranma muttered as he straightened himself upright once more on his formal position, "I think mothers have hereditary genes of asking of their children some grandchildren. I mean... Nodoka-mama's the same way..."

Belldandy leaned a bit on Ranma, as she used her future husband's stronger body as a boost to straighten herself, "Apparently. But you've got to understand, Mother Tokimi's just excited at the prospect of getting descendants from her only son. Divine beings don't get that much of a chance, you know? Well, except for some... like those from the Greek Pantheon of divinities..."

"Whatever..." The pigtailed man sighed, "At least we'll know that she'll be ecstatic to know about her grandchildren then."

Belldandy smiled softly. "Also, it's indirectly giving you her blessings on our impending marriage... or rather, marriages in your case."

"Well, that's good to know..." Ranma retorted wryly, but the smile on his face showed his real feelings on the matter. He continued to gaze outside the window of the ship.

The now-mortal Belldandy flashed her beau another of her winning smiles and stood elegantly, as she stepped back towards the door. Before she reached the exit, she paused and turned her head back towards the lone man inside the bridge and said, "Well, I'm off to tell the others of this great news. Would you like to come?"

The light brown-haired woman's face skewed into a confused expression when Ranma remained in his position, but he did stiffen a bit. "Ran-kun?" she asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"Err..." Ranma wanted to chuckle at the awkward situation, "Eh... I'll be right with you. Go on, Bell-chan..."

Belldandy looked at Ranma for a few moments, before she nodded and continued her way out of the bridge. "All right, dear..." she called back, "But try not to be too serious, okay? It's not like you." Her voice faded when the doors swished shut, which lapsed the bridge into silence once more.

Ranma scratched his head as he started to chuckle to himself, "Well... this is awkward..." he muttered pathetically, as his body tipped forwards. His body remained in kneeling position even when his face met the hard crystalline floor of the ship with a loud crunch.

"This sucks..." Ranma's muffled voice whined against the floor, "All the power in the universe, and I get done with by a leg cramp. Owwww... stupid formal ceremony positions... can't feel my legs... scratch that, it feels like pins and needles... ugh... leg fell asleep..."

Ranma sweatdropped. "I just hope you're not recording this, Rin-chan."

An amused 'Miyah' blew Ranma's pride apart.

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

"((Tee-hee... now to store this into memory and create some back-ups...))"

"((Oi, cat-bunny! What the heck are you doing now!))"

"((Oh, ha-ha! Very original, pinkie! Anyway... if you're not interested in what I have... just leave me alone! But just to satisfy your curiosity, it's blackmail material of master Rannie...))"

"((WHAT! That's not nice! He's our master, cat-bunny! What the heck's gotten into you!))"

"((Relax, pinkie. I'm not gonna do anything with the blackmail material. Besides, the video's way too precious to just pass along, ya know.))"

"((... okay, now you've got ME interested. What is it about?))"

"((Eh... I thought you weren't interested?))"

"((I never said that! Just show it to me, please?))"

"((Oh my... so you CAN be polite! Okay, okay! No need to use that scary vibes on me! Here!))"

FLASH!

"((Oh, what's this? You've gone speechless all of the sudden, pinkie?))"

"((Uhm, cat-bunny? You DID notice how... firm master's butt is in this video, right?))"

"((Oho! So THAT'S why you recorded this video!))"

"((Shut-up, pinkie!))"

"((You have to admit... those buns of his are firm... very firm...))"

"((Buns of steel...))"

"((Hey cat-bunny, you're drooling for real...))"

"((Gah! Wait... you're drooling too, idiot.))"

"((Wah? Oh yeah... darn it...))"

"((Hmph... someday, when I learn to transform... I'll be able to... uhmm...))"

"((... say, I CAN transform! Hah! Take that, cat-bunny!))"

"((I still have a few more years before I gain that skill, pinkie...))"

"((Oh... 'kay... I'll just wait for that time then to reveal that ability of mine.))"

"((... thanks, Mew. For waiting, I mean.))"

"((... no problem, Rin-Ohki. For fairness' sake. After all, even if you're kinda my rival, but you're my best friend too.))"

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

As the silver cabbit starship disappears into the dark rift it has created to travel across dimensions, the multiverse continues to spin. The passengers hope that this will lead them back to a specific target of destination, but sadly, this is not to be. It will lead the group into another universe still far from their intended one, and they will continue their quest.

In another universe, a certain sorceress and her draconic companion settles in an energy-filled world, which coincidentally is parallel with a certain group's point of destination. Soon, they shall meet.

In another different point of reality, a mother and daughter pair continues to watch the proceedings. They will soon join the group in the quest... oh, they certainly will. Not if the former Nightmare has anything to say about it...

Still, in another reality, the omnipotent being cements his deal with a malevolent group of individuals, each side having their own hidden agendas about the matter. Both however have their sights on a certain reincarnated being. The wave effect of this temporary alliance still ripples across the entirety of reality, whether it be good or ill, only time will tell.

The Multiverse continues to change. With change, nothing is ever peaceful.

Nothing will ever be the same. As it should be.

And so it shall.

Let the true Path of Chaos begin.

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Within a dimensional wormhole...

The silver cabbit starship continued on its travel within the rift, however, there was in... interesting conversation happening inside the medical room of the ship.

"Uhm... Bell-chan? Why do I have to wear an oversized cape again?"

"But Ran-kun... it looks cool on you!"

"Err... okay. Say, why did you want to talk to me privately again?"

"Oh... uh... Ran-kun? You know that I'm pregnant, right?"

"I think that's been pretty much hammered into me these days. Why? Is there something wrong with the baby?"

"No, not really. Well... funny you should say 'baby'..."

"Ah, Bell... you're making me nervous. You're doing the poking your fingers thingie again. You do that when you're agitated."

"I do? Anyway... Ran-kun... I received the test results Vanilla made for me to check the baby's progress. We found something interesting. Anata, I'm pregnant... with twins."

THUD!

"Ran-kun! Oh my... he fainted."

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ARC 1... THE END!

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IMPORTANT NOTES:

Corrected version. I put the wrong titles for the goddesses in some places. Sorry 'bout that.

AUTHOR RANTS:

Yup. Done. Arc 1 is DONE! Muwahahahahaha!

Err... ahem. Anyway, don't worry. The story ain't done, not by a long shot. Seriously. It's only Arc 1. This is just a precursor on future events, meaning, Arc 2.

Soooo... weird huh? Certain people became somewhat villainous, others became much more confusing. Good! That's how things should be.

So, what's there to say? Other than prepare for Arc 2? Nothing much...

Okay, fine. Arc 2 will have more crossovers, more complicated plot, more mayhem...

Arc 2 will be the focus of everything I wrote in Arc 1. Those who complained about the random crossovers I've been throwing into Arc 1... you will now find out why I wrote them in the first place when we get to Arc 2. Everything has a purpose, I'm just vague in Arc 1 because it's just a really long prologue to me.

We'll see Ranma trying a really bad Xellos imitation. I mean, really, this guy can't lie to save his life, whaddya expect? Heh... can you imagine Ranma becoming a matchmaker as well? You'll see in Arc 2.

If you think Arc 1's really chaotic, wait for Arc 2. That's where things will get messier, in a very good way. Hang on to your hats, folks. We're still very very far off from the end of this fanfiction.

Sequel on the way...

To those interested, the crossovers for this chapter are:

- Ranma 1/2 (Of course! Ranma is always there)
- Final Fantasy 7 galore - Teen Titans (Raven)
- Evil Zone (Ihadurca)
- Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki!
- Ah! My Goddess!
- Pokemon (Mew)
- Xenogears (Emeralda)
- Galaxy Angels (Vanilla Ash)
- Slayers (Luna and Filia)

Again, someone asked me for this. I hope this will help some who had trouble understanding where is where and when is when.

1. HOME DIMENSION

The Universe where Ranma came from. Volume 1 - 38 of the manga happened. It's a sort of continuation from the Canon, but of course some information has been revealed into light to suit my needs.

2. FUTURE HOME DIMENSION

Ranma reached this dimension when Happosai threw the artifact at him during the prologue. This is approximately 700 years ahead of the Home Dimension timeline. Earth has experienced a death and rebirth, via Evangelion's plot. Dragonball Z Universe emerged in the end, where Ranma has finally popped out. This was where Ranma's true heritage reawakened. This is the timeline that went on AFTER Ranma disappeared, but since he appeared, everything in the Home Dimension's future splintered. Sailor Pluto, eat your heart out!

3. PAST HOME DIMENSION - DIMENSION B

This Universe was reached when Ranma used the splintered Nanban Mirror. This WAS the past of the Home Dimension, until Ranma got into it. Upon appearing into the timeline, it has veered off its course towards the intended Home Dimension Timeline, creating a new path in itself. This will give Sailor Pluto all the migraine she needs. This was supposed to be approximately 500 years into the past, during the time of Yosho's time on Earth (Tenchi Muyo) and the time of the youkai, Sengoku Jidai (Inuyasha).

4. FUTURE DIMENSION B

An accident caused by Washuu's invention entrapped Ranma in a null vortex, which acted somewhat like 'cold sleep', except that Ranma's sense of time inside the vortex slowed to approximately 97.35 percent of 'real time'. Normally, nothing survives inside the null vortex, but Ranma is Ranma. Ryoko, in her throes of despair, had herself locked in her own Cold Sleep after 10 years of searching for Ranma all over the universe. The incident catapulted Ranma approximately 5000 years into the future of Dimension B, the splintered timeline. Earth suffered into its deterioration, with constant strife and war battering the planet. It turns out that the Earth was under the siege of Kagato, who was under the guise of one of the bigwigs in the Earth's government. He manipulated events to totally dominate the world. Ayeka, Tenchi and Yosho were killed, their essences entrapped inside a special container that was later developed into an effective power source. Sasami fled, to parts unknown to anyone. Without Ryoko to help Tenchi defend Earth, the Juraians were easily beaten. Ryoko, still in cold sleep, was easily taken and converted into 'energy' by Kagato, and was transformed into a power source similar to the fates of the Juraians.

The Planet Zi, Planet Terra-Two, Solaris Planet (tentative name made by the Solarians when they took control of the land) are few of the worlds Ranma encountered in this dimension. And certainly not the last.

5. SLAYERS UNIVERSE

Mentioned a few times, here resides one of those who bore the gems of Higher Power, but still doesn't know about it. Go figure.

But as time went on, it was revealed that another one who bore the gems of power was Luna Inverse.

6. DC UNIVERSE

An offshoot from the Future Dimension B, when Ranma visited one of the planets inside a magnetic storm in order to search for Hibiki Tokai. The planet he landed on was Planet Zi, and he was unwittingly submitted into a war that he didn't want. When he neared the Zoid Eve, a power source for Planet Zi's Zoids, he was pulled out from Dimension B into THIS dimension. Later on, Ranma found out that it wasn't the Zoid Eve's fault, but a failed summoning experiment of the Universe's resident villain, Slade.

There ya go! Enjoy!

- Lord Rance

In case you need my email for some reason at all, here: lordrance at yahoo dot com

For 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