*blows some dust off of the fic*

Happy 2025 everybody!

So… I'm alive. A lot of things delayed this chapter. The biggest single contributing factor is that I was, unfortunately, once again unemployed. Being on the job hunt for as long as I have been, it drained a lot of my energy for creative endeavors. Which, yanno… sucks. I can't say I'm terribly upset about the idea of not working for the job I had up until last October. It was soul-sucking, it was miserable, and my manager very definitely had it out for me for some unknown reason. I suspect but have no way to prove that transphobia played a role in my termination, but it's been months and frankly I no longer give a rat's ass about that company. So I was looking for another job, again, and that also means that I was quietly panicking over my financial situation, again… and a side effect of all of that is that I have had substantially less energy for writing. It sucks, but it is what it is… or more accurately, has been. As of just last month, I officially have a new job! I don't expect that I will have an enormous amount of spare time for writing as a result of the new job, but now that my financial situation is stabilizing, I should finally be able to shake off the funk and get the focus back that I need to start putting pixelated words to digital paper again.

Also, holy carp, Ranma remake! More on that in the post-notes.

I'm really grateful to all of you for being patient with me, because I've been wanting to answer a lot of these questions for months.
Mr Haziq: Mostly, Aerith just isn't ready to open that can of worms yet. Dealing with it once was a lot, and unloading that barrel twice in that short a time would be a lot to ask anyone. As to the second question, there is a sort of answer to it. You'll have to be patient on that one, because it's far down the pipeline.
Pillarsofsnow: I have yet to play FF16, so I can't say for certain. I've been deliberately avoiding major spoilers for that just in case, because I definitely want to play it when I have the resources to devote to it. I can say that it's not quite an existing system. The most I will say for now is that, like most things that Ranma has broken in this universe, it does share similarities with some existing franchise mechanics.
Fezzgator: Welcome to the story! Ranma's effects on the story in general and on Aerith in particular are already notable, yes… I'm not quite ready to address that particular adamantoise in the room, as the event you're alluding to is quite some ways off. But like many other things, it has an answer, and it is more or less set in my notes at this point. I hope you continue to follow this narrative and find out as we get there.
Brogatar: Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude! Believe it or not, there is a small but (at least to me) amusing MMPR reference planned for a very distant future chapter… but it's going to take a while to get there, so you'll have to wait and see when. Hopefully, it'll be a little less than ten thousand years from now.

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to point out something a little unexpected. I am no longer the only writer in this particular crossover fandom. As of June 2023, there is now a second story in this little niche I carved out here in this one small corner of the internet. So if you've been enjoying my story, I'd like to ask you to take a look at RePlacement by StrawberryPepper on AO3. I only found out about it a couple weeks after I posted chapter 40, when I went looking for a link to my story to share with some local friends. RePlacement looks to be still in its early stages, but I feel like there is some promise to the concept. Go show it some love.

Once you've done that, the new chapter is waiting for you!

Chapter Forty One

Great Power

[ ν ] - εγλ 0007, December 21

The next morning, Ranma had intended to get each of his students working on training immediately after breakfast. Unfortunately, Tifa had almost immediately indicated she had something else to take care of.

"...like what?" Yuffie asked across the mess room table, cutting off Ranma from asking the same question.

Tifa waved her off and glanced at Cloud. "AVALANCHE meeting. Barret and Cloud want us to be ready to move as soon as we make port, so we're hashing out some of the details together. I'll let you know when I'm done."

Barret didn't say anything, but Cloud shifted slightly in his seat, turning to meet Tifa's gaze. "If you need to focus on your training, Tifa…" he trailed off.

"No, Cloud, this is just as important," Tifa answered, shaking her head. She turned to face Ranma. "Sorry, sensei, I promise it won't take the whole day, and when I'm done I'll show you what I've learned. I think I'm pretty close, too."

Ranma nodded. "All right, then. You can catch up with us when you're done." And he started up the stairs, Yuffie and Aerith following close behind.

Tifa waited until the younger fighter's footsteps had faded into the distance above deck, and turned to Cloud. "Candles," she declared.

Cloud nodded and started digging through the galley. Barret rolled his eyes and remained seated where he was. "So what're you two doin', exactly?" he asked.

"Morale building," Cloud answered calmly.

Tifa nodded. "You remember two years ago, around this time of year, when I had Wedge and Biggs help me decorate the bar?"

Barret paused and cocked his head in thought as Cloud opened a cabinet to reveal a small plastic crate labeled 'PORTABLE LIGHTS'. "Oh yeah… an' you sent some of the regulars home with candles?" he said, before adding, "An' one of them had that… woody smell to it that the gun shop owner liked."

Tifa smiled at the memory. "Yeah, and he started hitting on me after that for like two weeks until I gave him the brush-off." She took the crate from Cloud and set it on the table. "Anyway, we're doing that again. Hopefully, without the awkwardness from the gunsmith."

Barret nodded and rubbed his chin in thought. "I mean, I guess it could do somethin' for morale, but…"

"They're still young, Barret," Cloud commented softly, before reconsidering everyone in the group in his mind. "Well… most of them are. And we might not get another chance. We may not all be here for the same reasons, but we're all here. AVALANCHE, and others. We need something that will unify us."

Barret mulled that over for a moment. "An' not all of us can learn that magic martial arts bullshit that Ranma's been teachin'," he said finally, before waving his good hand in surrender. "All right, all right, you made your point. Jus' keep it under control, okay? We're already kinda imposin' on the captain as it is."

Tifa let out a huff, but nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah, you've got a point." She opened the crate, revealing a small stack of short metal-and-plastic sticks which had a lightbulb at one end, enclosed in a clear plastic shell. "...huh. No candles?"

Cloud shrugged as he stood up from the last of the cabinet doors. "Not surprised, it's a wooden ship after all."

Tifa nodded her comprehension. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." She looked over the 'light' doubtfully, before finding and pressing a switch at the bottom. The bulb lit up with an almost startling brightness. "Oh, I see now, they're like torches. They should work, I guess, but do you think we should leave them some gil to replace the ones we end up using?"

Barret shook his head. "Nah, I'll take care of that myself," he said, getting to his feet. "You an' Cloud keep workin' on your project, an' I'll make sure we're good with the cap'n."

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Aerith squared off, holding the staff in a ready position. She stared down her opponent, waiting for the right moment to move. Her breathing was even, measured, and she could feel the lifestream, her chi, swirling within her body as she did so. The Wing Chun dummy stared back, its expression wooden.

There was a moment, a fraction of a second, where doubt entered her mind. She dismissed it with hardly any effort. I'm stronger now, she thought, tightening her grip on her staff. I can do this.

Ranma raised one hand.

Aerith blinked, and swallowed, before nodding her head in acknowledgement.

Ranma lowered his hand.

Aerith's arms blurred.

The sound was not as regular as Ranma's demonstration two days previously. A rapid fire trio of side to side helicopter strikes connected with the dummy's head with a resounding thok-thok-thok. Aerith slid just to one side, shifting the angle of her attack downwards and connecting with one end of the staff with another three strikes, which impacted with the 'leg' areas of the dummy. She spun on the ball of her foot, bringing the staff tip around in a circle to connect with the opposite side of the dummy's torso hard, a blow that would knock the wind out of nearly any normal person, before bouncing up to the head and back down to the padded midsection. Finally, she slid her grip down to the bottom third of the staff, stepped forward aggressively, and thrust the staff forward like a short spear, closely mimicking Ranma's movements from the other day when he had demonstrated his Elemental ability. Three sharp thrusts forward to the stomach, chest, and neck, the last leaving a small but noticeable gouge in the wood just below the 'head' padding.

Aerith pulled back after the last strike, holding her staff in a ready position for a few seconds as she panted slightly from the sudden exertion, misted breath hanging in the chill morning air. She took a single deep breath, and slid into a more relaxed stance with her staff held to one side. "So," she said, taking a few breaths, "how did I do, sensei?"

Ranma had watched her attempt unfold with interest, scrutinizing every part of it. There was no question that she had the speed down; even with the added flourishes and changes to her stance, she'd cleared the two-second mark with room to spare. She hadn't quite accomplished the task the way he had laid it out for her, but arguably she had done something a bit more difficult by adding in an element of mobility and dividing up the attack in phases. The way that she had split up the strikes was… actually pretty impressive to him. A harassment of unpredictable attacks from every direction almost at once, without a clear pattern, was almost guaranteed to keep even the most seasoned fighter off guard, confused about where the next blow could come from even as they were reeling from the last. On the other hand, there was a great deal of excess motion, the strikes were wild and somewhat unfocused, and the spin midway… that needed addressing, and fast. But it was an excellent start.

"That… was pretty good," he allowed himself to say, "for a first attempt." He gave a genuine smile, taking a few steps towards her. "That last part, the three thrust strikes, might be better as an opening for that attack, so you can hit from a bit of a distance and use it to distract the enemy while you jump in, or use it to cover your retreat if they block or evade it. There's one thing, though," he continued in a tone of concern, "that I'd recommend changing right away."

Aerith went from beaming with pride to confused in a split second. "What's that, sensei?"

Ranma held out his hand. "Mind if I see the staff?" Aerith passed it to him without question. Ranma spun it in his hands and adjusted his grip, before turning to face the dummy. "After the second part of that combination attack, you did this spin-" he paused to deliver a trio of matching attacks to the dummy's legs, before performing an identical spin, stopping halfway through the movement, "-and right here, you can't see your opponent at all. Obviously, Chun here ain't goin' anywhere, but in a real fight, you should do everything you can to keep your eyes on your opponent. Right here, this part, this is where you're the most vulnerable. If your attacker recovers before you're ready, or if they move to the side, or a new opponent gets into range while your back is turned, then you could be left wide open." He completed the spin and connected in the same place Aerith had, just below the dummy's 'ribs'.

Aerith watched carefully, and nodded in comprehension as Ranma turned to face her. She'd grown more accustomed to how easily he could match her movements after only a single attempt, but it was still more than a little impressive. "Okay, I see what you mean… do you have any suggestions for how to change that, sensei?"

Ranma tilted his head in thought for a moment. "Hmm… maybe… I don't know if you'll be able to do it the same way as me, but… you're pretty flexible, so it might work."

…flexible? she thought, blushing slightly at that frank assessment. Ranma didn't notice, as he had already turned to face the dummy again. He repeated the triple strike on the dummy's legs, and began to turn. As he did, his body shifted, arching through the turn, his body bent like a longbow. His eyes remained almost perfectly level, his body seeming to rotate on an axis centered around his head. His arm swung up and over, the staff building up momentum in much the same way as Aerith's horizontal spin had done. He completed the spin, planting both feet firmly beneath himself as the arm holding the staff swept around, down and in, connecting in exactly the same place on the dummy's right side as the last two attacks. "Whoa…" she breathed. It was graceful. It was beautiful, in a terrifying kind of way. It reminded her of a ballet dance, or one of the extravagant 'mating dances' sahuagins would perform that she had learned about during her time in school.

Ranma paused, brought himself back to center, and passed the staff back to Aerith. "Wanna give it a go?"

Aerith gave an awkward smile, somewhat uncertain of herself. "I, uh…" she paused. An image flashed across her mind for a moment, of her tripping over her skirt mid-pirouette and ending up exposing herself to half the ship's crew. It was not a welcome thought. "...I guess I'll give it a shot…?" she answered, still trying to gauge her chances. She took a step forward and tried to visualize where and how she wanted her body to move. Am I actually that… flexible? the doubtful thought flitted across her mind, before she banished it and focused on the task at hand. She hesitated and took a step back once, standing clear of the dummy. She tried an experimental spin at a lower speed, trying to pivot her body the same way Ranma had, and got about a third of the way through it before nearly falling forward onto her face.

In the instant between losing her balance and colliding headfirst with the deck, Ranma was there, catching her. "Whoa, careful." He lifted her back to standing. "I know it sounds like it shouldn't work, but sometimes ya have to run before you can walk, an' this is probably one'a those times. Try doing the motion at full speed instead of slowin' it down like that. The speed of it helps balance your body some… or at least that's what it feels like when I do it."

Aerith took a deep breath, nodding her head in comprehension. "Okay," she answered, "I'll give it a try." She stood up straight, took a couple of breaths to center herself, and gave it a second try.

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Barret entered the ship's bridge and gave a nod of acknowledgement to the helmsman. "Captain Shiro?" he called out.

"Back here!"

Barret looked in the direction of the voice, and was somewhat surprised to see that there was indeed another room attached to the bridge that he hadn't noticed previously. He stepped through the open door, and saw a large table with a number of charts and maps laid across the surface. They were being scrutinized by the captain, and one of his crewmen. Shiro pointed at one of the charts, drawing a line between two points with a finger. "We'll need to replenish the mako battery once we make port. Make sure the engine room is aware, we'll need to disconnect the main power after we dock. Good news, there'll be shore leave for those that have earned it."

"Aye, captain," the crewman acknowledged, and left to spread the word. Barret stepped out of the doorway to allow him to pass.

"What can I do for you today, mister not-actually-a-sailor?" Shiro asked, motioning for Barret to enter.

Barret stepped through the doorway and peered over the various charts. Aside from the map, which seemed obvious, none of the others made any sense to him at a glance. "I, uh…" he paused, refocusing his attention. "My friends an' I want to ask your permission for somethin', an' it might sound a bit weird-"

"Nibelheim's festival of lights, right?" Shiro interrupted him. Barret looked perplexed, trying to comprehend how Shiro knew in advance. The captain barked out a laugh, and pointed to a small collection of trumpeted tubes in one corner of the room. Barret realized that he could faintly hear the voices of Cloud and Tifa as they worked below deck coming from one of the tubes. "The day I've got strange passengers on my boat and I don't know every damn thing they're talking about, you should worry. Told the blond kid the same thing yesterday. Besides, Kannoh there," he paused, pointing out the door to the crewman who had passed by only a moment earlier, "spent some time in Nibelheim a few years ago, and he knows about the festival as well. We were planning to do something along that line as well, which is why we loaded up with the electric torches in the first place."

Barret's expression of surprise deepened, before realization struck him. "Wait, so you an' your crew were gonna do this festival yourselves?"

"Something like that," Shiro confirmed. "And since you're interested, maybe we should see what we can do to plan this out together."

Barret reached up with his good hand and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The one trick to all of this is, we're tryin' to keep Ranma out of the loop while we're plannin' this," he said in a conspiratorial tone. "Seems he's got somethin' similar back at his home, so we're tryin' to make it a bit of a surprise. D'ya think we can pull that off?"

Shiro tilted his head in thought for a moment. "Hmm… the kid is sharp. Should be doable, though," he said after a moment. "As long as he's distracted with trainin' those three girls. But I'll need you and the others below to follow a few instructions to make it happen. Can you promise me that?"

Barret grinned from ear to ear. "Aye, captain," he responded.

"Oh, and before I forget?" Shiro added, holding out his hand. "Since you and your friends were discussing it before… your share of the torches will be thirty gil." Barret's smile slowly bled away. He grumbled, but reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coins, passing them into Shiro's hand in payment. Shiro smiled. "Now, as for how to add you lot in, without letting that brawler of yours in on it…"

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Yuffie had been given a mission. Ranma was holding onto a dish towel near the bow of the ship. She had been told to retrieve it from him.

Without losing hold of the Soul of Water.

She took a deep breath and did her best to focus on her emotions. The Soul of Water technique was becoming easier to enter as she got more practice at it, but moving around while keeping it up was proving to be difficult for her.

"But," Ranma had said, "that's the point of this. So prove to me that you can handle it."

This is going to be tough, she thought to herself, but I have to do it. She wasn't one to back down from a challenge, and she intended to prove to him that she could do anything he could… and especially anything he thought she couldn't do. Despite her earlier bravado, she was nervous, and felt the energy of the Soul of Water begin to waver as she approached Ranma. Not gonna lose it here! She paused, took a deep breath, and recentered herself, letting her emotions pass through and then past herself, the ripples in the lifestream within herself beginning to fall placid. She took a few more steps and came to within arm's reach of Ranma. She reached out for the towel in his left hand-

-and Ranma turned suddenly, placing himself between her and the towel.

Yuffie glared up at him, but his eyes were closed. How does he always know where I am? she wondered, before remembering that 'chi sense' he'd mentioned. She still hadn't quite got her head wrapped around it, but she knew what she was looking at now. She took another deep breath, stilling the turbulence within herself, and reached out again to grab the towel.

Ranma casually lifted his arm straight up overhead, the towel slipping just out of her reach once again. "Whatcha gonna do now?" he asked calmly. Yuffie grimaced in frustration, but said nothing, steadying herself again. She stretched up on tiptoes, but Ranma leaned this way and that, effortlessly keeping the towel just outside her grasp. "Not giving up, are you?" he teased.

Yuffie ground her teeth, feeling the Soul of Water wobble within her. "Not on your life," she responded, taking a step back to regain her balance. She looked at him, sizing him up, trying to anticipate his movements the way he had been doing for her. How do you predict where someone's gonna move, when they only move when you do? her mind rattled through the problem, doing her best to consider her options.

After a moment of consideration, she realized her best option.

With no warning and barely a sound, Yuffie darted forward suddenly and tackled Ranma, pushing him to the deck. The two of them landed on the planks with a thud. Before he could recover, she rolled forward with the fall, using her body weight to pin his arm, and pulled the towel free from his hand. "Ha, got it," she crowed, taking a few deep breaths, waving it above her head like a flag.

Ranma smiled briefly as he came to his feet. He could tell that her Soul of Water technique had been shaken and disturbed by the sudden burst of movement, but it had definitely remained intact. "Good work," he responded, dusting himself off. "You took the risk, and it paid off."

Yuffie grinned from ear to ear. "Hell yeah, it did," she confirmed, staring at Ranma expectantly.

Ranma gave her a smirk. "Okay, fine, but before you learn this, I want to explain somethin'."

"What, again?" The eyeroll was practically audible.

Ranma let out a sigh, crossing his arms in frustration. "I know you joke about me goin' on like some old man, but this is important," he said, sitting down. Despite herself, Yuffie also took a seat, facing him. "I know all this is cool, but it's also important that you understand something. I'm teachin' you this stuff… 'cuz you have the raw talent to learn it. But, you havin' that talent means ya also got a responsibility to use it. Not for yourself… not for money, not for fame or any of that crap… an' not to step on regular people." He paused, and stood up, walking over to Yuffie. He took her hand in his, closing her hand into a fist, and pressed it against her chest. "You have to use it to help people that can't help themselves. You gotta be the strength they need to push past the problems they can't solve, either 'cuz they aren't strong enough themselves or they just never got the chance ta learn like you did. That's the first duty of a martial artist. You see someone in need, you gotta help them out if you can."

Yuffie stared at him, torn between awe, disbelief, and denial. "How do you expect to get anything done, if you're just helpin' every rando on the road between here and Mideel?"

Ranma smirked. "You're here, aincha?" The ninja girl paused, mouth hanging open. Ranma let the smirk drop, and continued, "I helped you for a lotta reasons, but at the end of the day, I did it because I think helpin' you was the right thing to do. You don't havta give people the shirt off your back or every coin in your pocket. It ain't about what you get out of it, though, an' it ain't somethin' you can just… sit on. You can't stand around waiting for someone else to do the right thing, because if everyone waits around for someone else to shoulder the burden, then nobody ends up helpin' anybody." Pops got a lot wrong, he thought ruefully, but he got that one right at least. "If you can help, even if it's gonna be a bit of a hassle for ya… then you should do what you can."

Yuffie made an exaggerated show of sticking out her tongue. "I dunno if I could live like that, boss," she admitted. She turned and looked out across the ocean. "I ain't exactly got a lot to give these days anyway. And the last time Wutai tried ta be nice to people, it didn't exactly go well… I don't know how you'd expect me to help anyone after all that."

A silence passed between them, as Ranma did his best to put his thoughts into words. As he struggled with his thoughts, a voice off to one side "I apologize, I could not help but overhear your conversation." Ranma turned, and saw Red sitting on his haunches, regarding them both with his scarred eye. "I believe I understand your philosophy, Ranma, and if you would permit me, I may be able to help explain it a bit clearer."

Ranma blinked, focusing on what the wolf had said. He wasn't used to having to explain his philosophy in this much detail, or at all in most cases… and he certainly wasn't used to the deep thoughts a philosophical discussion like this made possible. If anyone had asked him, he had never even considered that what he did all the time could be considered a 'philosophy.' This was a deeper body of water than he was prepared to wade through, and seeing a way out, he nodded. "Sure, let's hear it."

"Try to think of it like this, then," Red began, stretching a paw forward along the deck. He poked at the edge of a plank with one claw. "As an example, say that you are walking along the road, and there's an old man and woman standing on the side of the road. They have themselves a cart full of everything they own, but the cart is stuck in a ditch next to the road. Even working together, the two of them can't get it out on their own." He raised his head to face Yuffie. "You are strong enough to get the cart unstuck, on your own, with little or no effort. The old man and woman can't pay you, they have no house or food, and there is no offer of any other compensation. There is no judgment on you for your answer. Would you help them?"

Yuffie furrowed her brow. "I… I dunno," she admitted after a few moments. "I guess I might, but…"

Red nodded, and turned to Ranma. "I suspect I already know the answer, but would you help them, Ranma?" Ranma nodded after only a moment. Red continued, "In a situation like that, it doesn't matter what it means to you to help them, what matters is what it means to them . And that, I believe, is what he is trying to explain. Am I right?"

Ranma turned that back and forth in his head. He'd never heard someone else explain it that way. He'd actually never heard anyone try to explain it at all, other than Aerith saying he was 'noble'. And as much as he didn't like the idea of how he tried to help others to be some kind of noble intentions, Red's more simplified explanation felt… closer to home. "I think that's pretty close, yeah," he answered.

Red gave a canine smile, and sat up straight. "I am glad to be of service," he responded, and headed towards the stairwell below decks.

Ranma and Yuffie sat there, considering Red's words in their own separate ways for a few moments. "All right," Ranma finally said, standing up. "You learned the Soul of Water. I didn't think you had it in you to pick it up this fast," he added, smirking to himself, "but I'm a man of my word."

Yuffie's grin could have lit up all of Midgar. "Oh yeah, I'm the greatest," she boasted, doing a little half-dance in her seat. "So, how's this little trick of yours work?"

Ranma let his smirk fade, before turning to face Yuffie, a solemn look on his face. "Pay attention, Yuffie," he instructed. "Because I can only show you this… once."

Yuffie sat bolt upright in indignation. "Wait, seriously?"

Ranma grinned. "No, not seriously," he replied. "But that's what my pops said when he taught me. It was tough, but I learned the basics in one go." He pointed at her, his index finger resting lightly against her forehead, poking twice before pulling away. "I still want you to pay attention, though. Try to look at it like this… if something happened while we were in Wutai, and you needed to pull off this technique for us all to succeed, that means that you were only ever gonna get this shot before you had to try it for real. So show me what you're capable of, Miss Ninja."

The young ninja nodded along with the explanation. "All right, boss," Yuffie answered, taking on a look of concentration. "I'll do my best. Show me how it goes."

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"So how did they end up doing?" Cloud asked Ranma over a plate of rice and vegetables in the kitchen mess.

Ranma considered that for a moment. "I didn't get a chance today to give Tifa her test, but Yuffie and Aerith are both learnin' fast," he commented, with a noticeable amount of pride. They were his students, after all. "I mean, I don't want us to run into trouble when we reach land, but I think they'll be able to hold their own a lot better now if we hafta deal with anything."

Cloud nodded in understanding. "That's good to hear. And trust me, if anyone can learn what you're doing, Tifa's definitely going to get it."

Ranma smiled in response, as Aerith sat down with her own dinner. "We're all learning a lot, too," she commented. "I wouldn't have known about half of this even being possible last month, let alone that I could do it. And now…" she paused, stretching out her arms, "...well, I can't imagine not knowing it now."

Cloud finished his vegetables, and stood up. "When you two are finished, meet us up top," he instructed. "We should be pulling into the harbor soon, and Captain Shiro wants us all to help out with getting docked."

Aerith looked confused for a moment as Cloud passed her. "...huh, okay," she said, staring after him as he walked up to the stairwell.

Ranma turned to look after her, noticing the expression on her face after a moment. "Something up?"

Aerith continued looking at the spot where Cloud had last been before turning the corner and ascending the stairs to the main deck. After a moment or two, she shook her head and turned back to her meal. "No, I think it's fine," she finally answered, picking up her fork.

Ranma turned back to his food, eating quickly. After putting his dishes into the sink, he walked back to the table and sat opposite Aerith. "You did good today," he said quietly. "I thought you should know that."

Aerith swallowed her mouthful of food, trying not to cough. She settled for blushing slightly. "Um, thanks, sensei," she responded, caught off guard by the genuine compliment. He didn't withhold praise, but he usually had some criticism to go with it. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Ranma spoke again before she could ask. "I'm… still learnin' how to be the best sensei I can for each of you," he said, his eyes not rising past the center plank that ran lengthwise across the dinner table. "I don't… you an' the others shouldn't hafta learn the way I did. Like pops an' the— an' Cologne an' Happosai taught me," he continued, cutting himself off from the nicknames he had used for them in the past. He grimaced at the idea of Happosai pulling his usual stunts anywhere on Gaia, and how likely it was to result in all of SOLDIER eventually getting mobilized against him. "Especially Happosai. But that means, when you or Tifa complete a lesson, I want you to know that you did it right, and that you did it well."

Aerith took that in for a moment. And then asked, "...but not Yuffie?"

Ranma chuckled at that. "Her too, but I gotta keep that ego of hers in check too, so… probably not as often," he admitted with a smile. "My point is, if you three are gonna be my students, then I gotta do my best to be a teacher who's worth you three."

The brunette smiled, finishing off her own dinner. "I think I understand what you mean, sensei," she responded.

As she stood to bring her dishes to the sink, the PA system crackled to life. "This is the captain speaking," it began, the familiar voice of Captain Shiro blaring through the speakers. "We are expecting to reach the inner harbor of Shenxi within fifteen minutes. All hands and all passengers report to the main deck."

Ranma shrugged. "I guess that means us," he said.

"I guess so too," Aerith commented with a smile, and moved towards the stairwell. Ranma followed shortly behind As they climbed the stairs to the main deck, instead of merely the expected 'all hands on deck', they were greeted with a sight beyond words. A few dozen electric torches were in the hands of every member of the crew, wedged into the rigging, or propped up in slots on the rails.. The entire ship and the surrounding waters were bathed in a cool glow. All of the companions were present. Each one held an unlit torch in their hands, Cait's being held by his Mog. Tifa turned to Ranma, and handed him a torch of his own. "Is… this what you an' Cloud were workin' on this morning?" he asked as he took the light-stick, still surprised by it all.

Tifa smiled and gave a nod of her head. "It's not your world's Christmas, but this was one of Nibelheim's traditions. Cloud and I talked about this the other night, and since we're all on this road together, it felt right to share this one with you… all of you."

Cloud nodded in agreement, passing a similar light to Aerith. "We're not exactly what you would call family," he said in his usual stoic tone. "But we're all in this together. And the festival of lights was about showing how we stood together against the darkness, against the cold of winter, and against anything else that the world might throw at us." He lifted the torch in his hand, switching it on and adding to the glow around the deck. "Together we banish the darkness."

Tifa held up her own torch. "I was there when we started AVALANCHE," she began, glancing at Barret and then at Yuffie, "or at least our version of it. We'd all seen one of the Planetology presentations, and it… struck a chord with us all. But… we didn't want to hurt people, we just wanted to stop the mako production under Shinra and save the planet. And that didn't seem to be what the old AVALANCHE was interested in." Tifa paused, and lit up her torch as well, before glancing over to Barret.

Barret lit his torch, holding it down and to the side. "So we started making our own plans. And we told ourselves… we were going to do it the right way . We'd fight if we had to, even kill if it came to it, but we didn't want to kill people for the sake of killing, or jus' to scare folks… and we didn't want to hurt ordinary folks, civilians, people jus' tryin' to get by. We wanted to stop Shinra." He punctuated that with a thump of his gun-arm on the banister. "Stop the mako plants suckin' the life outta Gaia." Thump. "Stop 'em shittin' all over the people under the plate." Another thump. "Try an' make it a better place for people, an' not jus' a machine to make the rich richer and the poor broke. We wanted to be a light in the dark for everyone who couldn't stand up for themselves anymore… actually makes this feel more appropriate, now that I think 'bout it."

Yuffie suppressed a smirk as Barret completed his speech. "Corny as hell, if you ask me," she commented in a light tone. Regardless, she lit her torch as well. "But… yeah, you all are okay, I guess. Way better than my father and the people he surrounds himself with, anyway." She held her light forward, mimicking Cloud's movements. "I wouldn't mind staying on when you leave again, if you'll still have me."

Yuffie glanced at Ranma. "Yeah, you're not gettin' off that easy, runt, I still got some things to show ya." Ranma smiled briefly, before looking down at the deck in silence for several seconds, screwing up his brow in thought. "...jeez, I feel like I just got called on in class and I don't know the answer."

Tifa smiled at him. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, Ranma."

"No, I want to, I just…" he shook his head, trying to organize his thoughts. After another moment, he looked up at the stars. "You know… I've been here almost a month, and I still don't recognize any of the stars in the sky. I used ta look at the stars sometimes, back when me an' my pops were wanderin' through China. He'd tell me stories about the constellations an' old yokai tales an' stuff like that. An'... we'd train. We trained a lot. It's kinda how I got into this mess, but it's the best way I know how to get out of a mess too… learn ta do somethin' new that you've never done before, and do it the best you can."

"Here here!" Tifa called out, lifting her candle in salute.

Ranma smiled awkwardly, not used to being the center of attention in this way. "Pops an' I still got problems…" he paused, and shook his head. "That ain't what I'm tryin' ta say. I think what I'm tryin' ta say is," he continued, smiling a bit as he spoke, "I don't recognize the stars… but I think I recognize this. The torches, the light, the whole… family thing. An' so far, not countin' the run-ins with Shinra… travelin' with you all has been one of the best–"

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-K-A-B-O-O-M-

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Ranma's next words were cut off by the sound of a massive explosion somewhere in the harbor city. For one brief second, the world was as bright as day, and the deafening sound rolled over them all. A powerful gust of wind followed in the wake of the blast. Ranma felt his braided hair bouncing around behind him with the force of the wind, and instinctively raised his arms in front of his face.

"...oh Goddess…" Aerith's voice whispered.

"Holy shit, what was that?" Barret's voice sounded as he took cover behind the ship's railing.

Cloud had drawn his sword, more out of reflex than anything else, but still held it at the ready. "Some kind of explosion," he answered, looking out across the harbor towards the docks. Up until a few seconds ago, there had been a lighthouse on the far side of the harbor. It had been completely leveled, its remnants having landed on several nearby buildings. Most of the northern edge of the harbor was already on fire, and the voices of panicked citizens filled the air as the flames began to spread. "This is not good. Captain Shiro! Can you bring us into the docks without their help?"

"Aye, but I'll need all of you to pitch in," Shiro responded, before darting up to the bridge. A moment later, the ship's PA crackled to life. "All hands, prepare to make fast to the dock! Once the ship is secure, all hands will report to the harbor to assist in fire suppression and rescue. Now move your asses!"

Ranma, Cloud, and Tifa hopped across to the dock as they approached, as Aerith, Barret, and Yuffie cast mooring lines to them. The engine churned in hard reverse, slowing their approach as they began to secure the thick ropes to the dock posts. In less than a minute, the vessel was motionless and held fast. With the ship taken care of, Ranma leaped straight out from the side of the dock at full speed, across the open harbor and landing on the next pier over. He leaped again, landing on a sailspar, traversing the narrow beam as quickly as he could manage, and leaped again, landing on the next dock from there. He continued in more or less a straight line across the piers and decks, while the others took the more mundane approach of simply running along the shortest available route as fast as they could.

Ranma arrived first, and immediately began focusing his chi, channeling it through his Fire materia to stave off the heat from the flames. He could still feel the burning air around him, but it now felt less like the raging inferno it was and more like a unpleasantly hot summer day as the Elemental defense snapped into place. He began working to shift the rubble as quickly as possible, lending his aid to the harbor workers who were focusing their efforts in a few places. Less than a minute later, his companions came up alongside and began to lend their aid as well.

It took five minutes to clear the detritus from the explosion and free the trapped people beneath it. A man and a woman both limped to relative safety; a third person, an elderly woman, had to be carried away. But they were all alive.

"All right, everyone," Cloud called out, getting the attention of his companions as the sailors from the Leviathan's Tail arrived. "Split up and help where you can. If you have Blizzard materia, make sure there's nobody in the area before you use it, but it might help put out fires if you use it right. Ranma, you've got that Elemental protection, so use it and try to find survivors trapped by the fires. If anyone finds out what caused it, see if you can stop it from happening again. Let's go save some lives, everyone!"

Ranma nodded and tore off a strip of his shirt sleeve, tying it around his mouth to filter as much of the smoke as possible. Then he focused as much of his chi as he could through his Fire materia, moving carefully into the next building and through the flames. He heard something from up a flight of stairs, and moved quickly. At the top of the stairs, trapped by the fire and rising smoke, were two teenagers. One was unconscious, but seemed to be breathing; the other was curled over him protectively. The conscious boy started suddenly when he saw Ranma emerge from the flames. "Hey, don't worry, I'm here to help," Ranma said in as reassuring a tone as he could manage. "Let's get you both out of here. Is there anyone else in the house?"

The boy took a moment and shook his head. "No, our uncle works at night," he answered.

Ranma nodded his understanding. "All right, I'm gonna pick him up, and I want you to climb onto my back, okay?" The young boy hurried to comply, and Ranma lifted the both of them up. "Hold on tight, because this is going to be a short trip." The burdened martial artist turned to one side and spotted exactly what he'd expected to see; a bedroom and a large window, shuttered with wood panels, facing the street opposite the one he'd come from. He looked down and saw part of a stone that had come free from the wall. He deftly flicked the stone into the air with the tip of his foot, and with a skill and speed that would have impressed a pro footballer, kicked it straight through the window, knocking a sizable hole into it. As the wooden shutters shattered outward, he darted straight forward, carrying both boys as close to him as possible, and leaped through the broken window.

The landing was less smooth than he'd hoped, as he skidded slightly on the scree and strewn wood, but it was still a safe landing. He immediately walked up to the nearest bystander, a bald man with sea-weathered skin that identified him as a fisherman, and passed the unconscious boy to him. "Take him to a doctor," he said, as the boy's brother climbed off of his back. "Make sure both of these kids stay safe."

The fisherman nodded his understanding, and immediately started moving down the street. Ranma watched them go, and turned to the next building to continue his rescue efforts. As he made to move, there was a flash of metal flying through the air, and he stopped short as a slab of steel embedded itself in the stone wall less than six inches in front of his face, wobbling visibly. "What-" he began, but was cut off.

"I knew it," a familiar voice declared with an audible sneer. "I knew if I waited here long enough, you'd show up. And you brought so many other ants for me to play with, how thoughtful!"

Ranma spun to face the source of those words. "Lars," he spat, dropping into an aggressive stance and circling towards the middle of the street. Can't let this psycho pin me to the wall, I need to keep as much open space as I can. It took him a moment to realize that this was the first time he'd encountered Lars while in his male half. How did he know who I am like this? he considered briefly, but filed it away for later. Right now, he had to focus on his opponent. "Shoulda known you caused all this! I'm gonna-"

"You're not gonna do shit," Lars interrupted, striding over and retrieving his thrown saber. He slid the oversized blade into its sheath, and reached for a small metal stick hanging from his belt. "After all, little hero ant, you've still got ants to save, don'cha?"

He pulled a bright red cap free from the stick, revealing an equally bright red button. Ranma didn't realize what it was until Lars' thumb was already pressing down on the button. But by then, it was far too late to do anything to change what was about to happen.

An explosion went off above and behind Ranma, an enormous chunk of a building suddenly vaporizing in a ball of flame. The upper half of the building began to tilt towards the street-

-where stood a young girl, no older than seven years, crying for her mother, moving too slowly to get away from the falling wreckage.

Ranma breathed in, and blurred. The building toppled forward. A half ton of timber and stone collapsed into the street with a resounding crash. But Ranma had picked up the young girl and moved the both of them halfway down the road by the time the first piece of debris struck the flagstones. He cradled the child carefully, placing himself between his rescue and the falling debris. "It's okay, it's okay, I've got you," he said in as reassuring a tone as he could manage.

The child seemed reassured, but struggled to wriggle free from his grip. "Okaasan! Okaasan!" she cried out, pointing with one hand as she continued to push against her rescuer. Ranma got the hint and set her down carefully, watching her run to her mother. The mother turned and bowed gratefully, before mother and daughter continued running off towards safety.

Ranma turned to face Lars once more, but he was already gone. "...where the hell did he go…" the martial artist muttered to himself. He extended his senses slightly, and felt a chaotic swirl of chi somewhere ahead, and slightly to his right. He followed the trail for a moment, turning down what looked like a main road leading away from the harbor area. As Ranma rounded the corner, he saw a glimpse of Lars' sabers, still strapped to his sides, as he disappeared down another street. There was no tactical consideration, no weighing of his options. He saw Lars for what he truly was, a man armed with power he had neither earned nor had any respect for, someone who was using that power as a weapon to prey on people who couldn't stand up for themselves. Ranma saw a bully, and he was absolutely sick of it. He let out a shout of challenge. "You ain't gettin' away from me that easy!" the martial artist declared, and chased after him.

Lars was fast on his feet. Ranma remembered how fast he was in short range from their earlier battles, but he knew there was a difference between sprinters and marathon runners. And Lars was much faster over longer distances than Ranma would have given credit to someone of his bulk. He briefly wondered if there was something that went into making SOLDIERs that accounted for physical endurance. The entire time he followed Lars down twisting streets and narrow alleys, he had kept channeling his Elemental defense, since there were small fires here and there. Later on, when he had time to think about it objectively, he would realize that this alone was probably responsible for saving his life when he turned another corner. He had a fraction of a second to notice a large metal object stuck to the wall that had a blinking red light in the middle. He only had a fraction of a second to notice this, because it immediately stopped blinking, chirped once, and then exploded.

A ball of flame engulfed him, and as he raised his arms instinctively to shield himself, he heard something that sounded vaguely like falling rocks. It was hard to tell with the blinding flash of fire where the sound was coming from, and as a result of this he was unable to adequately defend himself from the parts of the building that fell around him. Something heavy and hard struck him square in the head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

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…elsewhere…

The trooper stood on the distant ridge as twilight began to fall, reviewing the order he'd been given directly by Heidegger. He was still only a corporal in the regular army, and had dreams of joining SOLDIER. Despite that, he'd been languishing in obscurity for a few years, and his mission record had shown that he was not cut out for SOLDIER candidacy yet. Heidegger had given him an opportunity to make his dream come true. The mission was simple. 'Plant the explosive in the command tent. Blow up the tent when the President was inside. Make sure you're not spotted.' In exchange, once Heidegger had grasped the presidency, the trooper would be moved directly into SOLDIER. What could be simpler than that?

So he'd taken the mission. Planting the bomb had been easy enough. With troopers coming and going every which way, nobody had even looked twice at some unremarkable trooper in regulation uniform. And so he'd easily managed to stick the bomb to the underside of the large table in the middle of the tent. And now all he had to do was wait for his moment.

The moment came. One of the troopers, a captain by the look of him, came with a folder of paper and handed it to the President. The President took the folder and began flipping through it as he walked back into his tent.

The trooper took the detonator stick out from his pocket, twisting the bottom to arm it. He waited a few seconds to make sure he didn't walk back out. And then pressed the button.

An explosion rocked through the camp, obliterating the command tent. The shockwave knocked down several other temporary structures nearby. Suddenly, everyone in the camp was on high alert. But he was smart. He'd gotten out an hour ago, and made sure to have a lot of geography between himself and that camp before doing anything important. He dropped the now-useless detonator and pulled out his PHS, typing in a quick message to the number Heidegger had given him.

'Mission complete.'

He pressed Send, tossed the burner phone to the ground next to the detonator, and reached to his belt for a grenade. Before he could pull one free, he felt something land on his shoulder. He turned to see that it was a large hand in a thick leather gauntlet. He turned further to see that the hand was attached to a man wearing a SOLDIER uniform. The man was staring death at him.

"Uh…" the trooper began, somewhat lamely, "...hi."

The SOLDIER had short black hair and wore what looked like an ordinary, standard-issue longsword, the type that were mass-produced and handed out to any Third Class, on his hip. A large scar ran down from his right ear to just above his lips, and a small chunk of cartilage was missing from his nose. He reached out and snapped one hand firmly around the trooper's wrist. The trooper immediately began to struggle, but he might as well have been arm wrestling with a backhoe.

"Hi," he responded in a flat tone, lifting the trooper by the wrist until he was practically dangling in midair. "I'm Quintus. And you're under arrest."

"W-wait, what ?" The trooper was indignant. He had no intention of being caught this close to his plan's fruition, especially after he'd been so careful. He reached with his free hand for his sidearm, pulling it free and pointing it directly at the SOLDIER-

-who reached out with lighting speed and knocked the pistol away, before crushing the trooper's right hand in his own iron grip, breaking two of the unenhanced man's fingers in an instant. "You're lucky," Quintus declared over the man's agonized whimpering. "If it were up to me, you would be dead for that alone. But I have my orders, and they include you surviving… for the next few minutes, at least." He let the man fall to his feet, still gripping his hand in pain, before lashing out with a vicious kick straight to the trooper's kneecap, folding him in half in the blink of an eye. "But I was never ordered to bring you in unharmed, so don't let your good fortune go to your head."

Quintus bent down and picked up the used detonator and the PHS, placing them into a belt pouch. He then grabbed the trooper and lifted him into a fireman's carry, shouldering the squirming body effortlessly, while the hapless assassin tried in vain to pull free. The SOLDIER walked the two of them back to the encampment.

I'm back, baby!

This was originally a much shorter chapter, but for a number of reasons I ended up merging it and the draft for the next chapter before finishing it all up together. It ended up running a bit longer than originally intended because of that merge, but I feel like it got to all the points I needed it to, and did them well enough. Part of me wanted to just get a chapter out and remind people that I'm still here and this story is still alive, but I also came to the conclusion that the chapter went to the length it needed to be, and trying to force out a chapter before it was ready for the sake of some arbitrary, self-imposed 'schedule'… yeah, that was going to make the whole experience not fun. And if it's not fun, then, well, you know. I just want it to be fun.

Ranma has officially returned to the screen! I honestly don't even know what to do with this information, I'm kind of beside myself with happyfeels. I've watched the whole thing with my partner and I'm seriously impressed with it. It's not absolutely everything I wanted in a remake, but it's damned close. I've already heard that the series has gotten a greenlight for season 2. Since the anime has the benefit in this iteration of the source manga being completed this time around, it would be amazing to see what happens if we get to see things from later arcs as the series progresses, like maybe Saffron or the Ryu Kumon arc.

Language lessons…

Okaasan - Japanese, for mom or mother. There are actually several different words that mean mother, but this is one of the most commonly used ones. The others that you are likely to encounter if you are listening to or reading in Japanese are haha, which usually refers specifically to one's own mother and implies a sense of humility or respect from the speaker; mama, which is a loanword from English and means, well, mama; and okan, which is a contracted version of okaasan used primarily in the Kansai dialect.

Hope you like it! As always, feedback and comments are welcome. I do not expect chapter 42 to be ready any time soon, but hopefully the delay between this chapter and next will be shorter than the gap between this chapter and the previous one. The good news is that the primary chain of events through the next few chapters is mostly set and has been for a while now, I just have to get it all out onto the keyboard and into my documents. Keep an eye out, and I'll see if I can make things happen again in some kind of timely manner.