Crossover Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Chaos: Ascension of Supremacy ❯ Chapter 07b ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

PATH OF CHAOS

- 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: Remember... the Vandread Universe is gonna be one huge
Alternate Universe. I'm gonna rewrite most of the episodes, maybe even
skip some unimportant ones, but some will still be used. ^_^

I would like to thank Cory D. Rose (http://shi_hanna.tripod.com) and St
Longinus (former email was StLonginus@aol.com, now amesuisei@yahoo.com)
for pre-reading this stuff.

Ancient Language (used by gods and goddesses, Ancient Gods): ++

Phone Receiver: ##

Telepathy: {}

Thoughts: <>

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CHAPTER 7B - THE NEXT FRONTIER: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, SOMEWHERE
======================================================================== =====

Space... the final frontier...

Yeah right, not for Ranma it isn't!

It has been three weeks since Ranma had appeared out of thin...
whatever. Not out of air, because space has no air, or something.

Okay, Ranma just appeared out of nowhere, and ran into the crew of the
Mejer Space Pirates, an all-female group who HAD a very nasty opinion
about males in general. Add three males in the group, who were initially
prisoners of the group until the males proved their worth otherwise. One
boy was for battle, another for medical purposes, and the last was with
the ship itself. Everyone there has a place in the chain, like a
well-oiled steam engine. Each part compliments the other, creating a
powerful chain that made Nirvana what it was.

He was constantly hanging around Meia, more like pestering her. The girl
was too serious for her own good, and Ranma thought to irritate her just
the same. Besides, he enjoys making Meia scream in frustration when he
bothers her. He noticed that most of the time, she was either in the
briefing room constantly reviewing battle tactics and such, or she would
be in the docking bay, where she would tinker with her Dread for some
reason.

Of course, there are other companies out there that he tried to get
into. Gascogne for example, Ranma found out that he would never win a
card game against this young woman. The able-bodied supplies manager
could read through his face, and Ranma knew his poker face was next to
non-existent.

Paiway and Duero were usually busy in the clinic, doing kami knows
whatever in there. Last time he went there, the male doctor was trying
to get his blood sample. Not that he despised the bloody syringes, but
spreading his weird predicament regarding his own existence was not in
his list of 'to be shared' things. Paiway was constantly taking pictures
of everything he does, even his sneezing. Then the girl would scribble
notes on her notepad. Ranma didn't really want to know why, for the
situation was akin to what happened with him and Nabiki back in his
time.

The girl with the eyeglasses, Parfait, was more of a mechanical genius.
It was a deja vu featuring Washuu for Ranma when he tried conversing
with the resident mechanic, chattering mostly about science and stuff.
She was usually cooped up in her office, the one with the large window
on one side showing the weird gigantic ball of blue energy that pulsed
every now and then. For some reason, Ranma felt drawn towards the energy
ball or Paeksis as its name was mentioned by Parfait. The mechanic was
also eyeing Rin-Ohki weirdly, which didn't set well on the cabbit. Just
last week, Parfait tried to experiment on Rin-Ohki, much like Duero's
medical examination of his body, which prompted the cabbit to bolt and
hide outside the ship's hull. Poor Rin-Ohki stayed perched on the
Nirvana's outer wall all day, letting Parfait's lust for experimentation
pass. It amuses Ranma to learn that Duero and Parfait had something in
common.

BC tried to avoid him most of the time, which suited Ranma just fine.
The pseudo-girl was probably still sore about how Ranma discovered her
secret. She was the sub-commander, and was usually in the command room
barking orders and/or checking the system.

Bart stayed half of his time inside the helmsman's hole, which according
to rumors where he usually go into naked. Other times, the irritating
young man was in the males' quarters, sleeping. Bart has this thing
about those capsule food things. Once, Bart offered some to Ranma. The
pigtailed hybrid took one and immediately gagged. Not only did it taste
really bad, but also it was really dry. Ranma would rather have normal
food than those capsule things. The guy shaved his head one day, in
memory of that girl in one planet they visited. The population was
plagued with a sickness that slowly killed most of them, with the girl
that Bart took a liking of.

Magno was usually in her room, and Ranma didn't even bother to disturb
the old woman. When he does get to talk to her, the old woman would ask
about Earth and whatever customs there were.

Jura and Barnette, for some reason, seemed like lovers in Ranma eyes.
Once in a while though, the blond would come and ask him about babies
and stuff, which Ranma didn't have any experience whatsoever. Besides,
the look the blond gave him really set him on edge. It was somewhat the
look Shampoo gives him whenever she's near.

Misty has clearly taken a liking of the Hibiki boy, much to Dita's
irritation. They usually run around chasing each other. Once, Misty and
Dita even fought as to who will give Hibiki his food. Ranma really felt
for the kid, but he was happy that he has no part in that anymore. Most
of the time though, Ranma would see a glimmer of sadness and loneliness
in Misty's eyes as she chased the boy around. Ranma felt that he should
help the girl, but experience proved that he should wait for Misty to
ask for his help anyway. He hadn't much experience about human emotions,
but he knew what loneliness really was.

Dita was a cheerful sort of person, more like Shampoo's happy
personality and somewhat his girl type's looks. She was klutzy at times
though, and was constantly making mistakes here and there, although, she
really showed her affections for Hibiki in a really enthusiastic way.
Ranma already talked with her a few times, but she was too busy keeping
Misty from taking the upper hand in Hibiki's heart. She says that
Misty's kiss was enough for her to work really hard.

Hibiki was generally moody, because of the constant pressures of his
relationships with Dita and Misty. He usually hung out inside his yellow
robot he constantly calls his partner. In Talaark, those robots were
called Vanguards, and they were Talaark's greatest achievement to date.

Ranma shook his thoughts out of its current state. He was back in the
small greenhouse in the middle of the Nirvana, with Rin-Ohki dozing off
on his side. Meia was called into a meeting a while ago, and was
probably discussing things like battle strategies and such. Ranma
chuckled to himself.

It was a good thing that his abilities were not seen when he helped at
that one time before. The event took place behind the ship, so it was
safe to assume no one took notice of his interference. Besides, who
would believe it immediately anyway? Probably one or two people saw the
whole thing, and they could've deduced that it was their imagination or
something.

Although, his curse was harder to keep a secret.

- FLASHBACK -

A day after he showed Meia his cursed form, an incident in the cafeteria
involving Dita with a glass of icy cold water and a banana peel
conveniently left on the floor exposed it anyway.

To say that it was chaos after that would be an understatement. Most of
the weapons of the people inside the cafeteria were charged and were
trained directly towards the red-haired and wet Onna-Ranma. Jura
screamed in fear, while Barnette automatically drew her sidearm. Looking
miserable and utterly left alone in the middle of the mass of females
who paused and trained their guns towards her, Onna-Ranma just swiped
the errant red hair on her face and continued eating in silence,
ignoring practically everything around her. She was done by the time the
group of BC, Magno, Duero, Parfait and Paiway entered the cafeteria room
and stared at the new female in the group. Everyone stood away and
formed a perimeter circle around the cursed alien, who was now staring
blankly at her empty plate with a sad expression on her face. She saw
that Meia was nowhere to be found.

"Who are you, girl?" Magno asked curiously as she took note of the
resemblance between the newcomer girl and Ranma, especially since she
wore the same clothes as well as that same weird animal that clung on
her shoulders as it was with Ranma as well. She also wore those dark
glasses that covered most of her eyes, which was the same with Ranma.

The red-haired girl looked up and stared at Magno. "I'm... the same
Ranma Saotome that came here days ago. I'm under an ancient curse that
turns me into female with cold water sprayed on me. Hot water turns me
back to male. Before you ask, I am male by birth." To demonstrate, she
grabbed the tea she was about to drink and poured it over her head,
immediately turning her to a 'him'. This caused everyone to gasp and
back away slightly.

The girl turned boy looked around him, and saw the confused and quite
disbelieving looks that went to his way. "What?!" Ranma asked irritably,
"I came out of nowhere and I have a shady past (although I still haven't
mentioned them), should you even be surprised if I have this condition?
I haven't told you right away because you might think of me as a freak,
just like what you are thinking right now! I want to get everyone to
settle down first before I throw the bombshell, and I think you realize
why I needed to do that." He pointedly gestured to their expressions.

Everyone blushed and turned away from him, embarrassed to have been told
off by an outsider.

"WOW!" Parfait was gushing as she patted Ranma all over his body,
eliciting a small blush from the pigtailed boy.

Duero nodded, his eyes giving off a slight glint. "You must allow us to
examine you, Saotome."

Ranma blanched at the looks he received from the two.

BC just stared at Ranma. The thought of having the ability to change
from male to female was... useful... to her.

"Ranma..." BC said suddenly, "Is the change... complete?"

Ranma snickered slightly at the almost glazed look BC had on her face.
"Yeah, and taking the words from a scientist friend of mine, 'Complete
change up to the DNA level'. I got the curse from Earth."

BC deflated when she heard of the location as to where she could get
cursed.

Paiway was too busy snapping pictures on the phenomenon to say
something. Her camera was already smoking in protest.

"Simply astounding." Magno said in awe. It was her first time ever to
have witnessed such a feat. But she has heard some countless fables back
in her childhood about magic and enchantments, but she thought they were
just that: fairytales and make-believe.

Jura was miffed a bit. "He's got bigger breasts than I do." She
muttered, although nobody paid attention to her.

Gascogne was laughing out loud. "He... He's c-cute as a girl! By the
kami! Hahahahahaha!" She gasped out in between laughs.

Barnette has long dropped her weapon on the floor, and settled on just
staring at Ranma. She nodded at Gascogne's comment, she really thinks
Ranma was cute as a girl AND as a guy. When she realized what she was
thinking, a small trace of a blush appeared on her face.

Dita however was as ecstatic as Parfait. "WOW! You really are a Mister
Alien!"

"I'm not... oh hell what's the use?" Ranma glared in a futile way
towards Dita. His glare slowly melted into a resigned expression as he
sighed and banged his head on the table, making the plates clatter.

The door slid open as Meia stepped in. She stopped and saw everyone was
around Ranma, who was... well... banging his head on the table. He was
also evidently wet. Rin-Ohki was eating some carrots on another table,
trying to ignore the banging noise. She thought about what could cause
this weird sight in front of her, and inspiration struck her mind.

Meia went over to Ranma and said calmly, "So, they found out about your
curse, right?"

Ranma just sped up in banging his head.

- END FLASHBACK -

Ranma winced at the memory. The poor abused table snapped into half
after that one. He shrugged and then glanced at the small disk in his
hand. Misty gave it to him when they talked to each other again. She
said it was something Washuu left her, and only Ranma's voice could
activate and unlock the information.

He remembered his encounter with Misty, in the same greenhouse he was in
right now, but it was on the benches that laced the stone path that led
around the area.

- FLASHBACK -

Ranma was lounging around the greenhouse, which became his favorite
place in the Nirvana. His blood craves for greens and clean air, and he
missed the scenic view of the countryside he used to see during his
training trips back on Earth. Besides, the whole area was deserted most
of the time, except when Hibiki runs to the small forest to hide from
the over-excited Dita. Some people eat their lunch here as well, but
that was seldom. Usually, he's all alone here, well, him and Rin-Ohki
that is. Sometimes, Meia goes here and sits beside him, talking to him
about Earth and his adventures.

Outside the forest, there was this stone paved path where one could take
strolls and such, as well as benches along the sides. The path was lit
by lampposts, which Ranma was quite familiar with. It seemed that this
part of the ship retained some of the old designs from Earth.

Right now, Ranma was on one of the benches for a change. Usually he was
on the grass beside the artificial river, either watching the stars or
viewing the smooth flowing water. He wasn't really anti-social, far from
it, but because of some circumstances, with his upbringing a small part,
he didn't want to be in the middle of a large group of people. Also, he
knew that he wasn't a member of this group as of yet, even if he spent a
bit of time in the ship already. There are a bunch of them that he still
haven't met yet, and he still reserved some secrets pertaining to who he
really was and what he can really do. The only one who had most of the
knowledge about him was Meia, who was there to listen on his ranting
even if she was a bit too serious about everything. Once in a while, she
would crack a small smile at his foot-in-mouth disease.

Ranma sighed as he stretched his arms out horizontally across the top
part of the bench he was sitting on. His tail was coiled on his lap,
where it lay relaxing itself. Rin-Ohki was on his lap as before,
sleeping as usual. Not that Ranma blamed her, for he knows how exhausted
the cabbit must've felt after forcing her body into transforming weeks
ago. So Ranma just let her be, because she deserved every minute of it.

It was then that a blue blur went past his current position, creating a
small breeze that ruffled Ranma's black hair. His glass-covered eyes
easily tracked the blue projectile, which slammed against a bench next
to him. The blur turned out to be Misty, who seemed to have not noticed
his appearance as of yet. Ranma saw her face in a slight haughty
expression, which suddenly melted into a sad smile. She quickly covered
her face in her hands as a glistening orb went down her cheeks from her
eyes. Her shoulders slumped forwards as she hid her head in between her
thighs.

Misty was crying.

Ranma felt torn up inside, because he was used to seeing the girl happy
most of the time. Her personality rivals that of Dita's, but he knew
that all of it was a huge farce. Her eyes reflected loneliness, and
Ranma knew that feeling quite well. He didn't notice himself standing up
and transversing the empty space between his position and Misty's. He
found himself reaching out and touching the girl on her shoulders,
making her gasp in surprise and was now wiping at her tears furiously.

"What... what do you want?!" Misty demanded.

Ranma sighed softly. "I... feel that you're lonely and in need of
company. May I sit down?" He gestured to the seat beside the girl.

After a few terse moments of contemplation, Misty finally nodded and
allowed Ranma to sit beside her. The pigtailed boy smiled as he sat
down, with Rin-Ohki in his arms.

Another long silence filled the air, marred only by some faint sniffling
coming from Ranma's side. His sigh caught Misty's attention, and finally
spoke, "Why were you crying?"

Misty's mouth opened to retort harshly, to tell the rude boy to mind his
own business, but she stopped herself when she felt a small warmth
encompass her. She didn't know at the time, but Ranma's aura of worry
and compassion touched her subconsciously, so she was able to stop and
think of what to say.

Instead of her earlier angered response, she mellowed down as she said,
"Nothing really. I just feel that sometimes, life isn't fair. You
wouldn't understand..."

Ranma nodded slightly. "Oh, I understand all right. Whenever you think
you have it all figured out, sometimes something comes out of nowhere
and hit you real bad. Then lots of things start going wrong..." He
trailed off.

Misty turned to look at him in the eye, but found it impossible for her
to do so. But she saw the serious expression on his face and felt the
honesty in his words. "You do understand, don't you?"

Ranma smiled slightly. "Yeah I do. Lots of things happen to me that
don’t help me much, but without them, I really wouldn't be who I am
today. I'm just thankful I'm still alive... and I would be for a really
long time." He whispered the last phrase under his breath.

The girl didn't notice his last comment, and was content in watching the
expressions that seemed to have been reflected on Ranma's face as he
talked.

The boy cocked his head to one side and gazed at Misty, who became
flustered at the attention. "So... would you mind telling me why you
were crying a while ago?" Ranma asked.

Misty sighed audibly, wincing at the same time. "I... tried asking
Hibiki to stay with me. He... chose someone else." She lowered her gaze
to her lap.

"I see." Ranma said softly. "You're hurt because he chose Dita, and left
you all alone. You're lonely, and you think Hibiki's your last hope."

Misty stiffened slightly. "I sound real pathetic, right?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not really. Being lonely is real harsh to anyone.
I should know..." He threw a sideways glance at the blue-haired girl.
"I've been in that position before. It hurt me real bad, but I have to
live on and forget about it. There's nothing to gain in pining about
it."

"How..." Misty asked hesitantly. "How... did you go on with your life?
How can you live when you know everything you've lived for was lost to
you? I lost everything, my home, my life, my family... I can't even
claim someone's love to more or less fill the emptiness that seemed to
have covered my heart..."

Ranma shrugged helplessly. "I really don't have an answer to that.
Everyone has his or her own way of coping with loneliness. But no matter
what, you must always remember that you are never alone." He put his
hand on Misty's shoulder. "Don't worry. You are not alone, because
someone out here cares. You have lots of friends here. At the moment,
you just have to think of how to get through everyday against the enemy
that keeps on attacking, and even with that thought you are still not
alone. There's a whole crew of people in here who would care to give you
a helping hand." He really does care, because no matter what era he's
in, he was still weak against girls who were in tears.

Misty looked at him for a moment, then suddenly lunged into his chest,
dislodging the meowing Rin-Ohki, who jumped unto the side of the bench.
Misty's body suddenly shivered as a bout of loud sobs echoed across the
greenhouse.

Ranma just looked on in surprise as he automatically wrapped his arms
around the crying girl leaning on his body.

After nearly half an hour of crying on Misty's part, she finally
disengaged herself from Ranma and handed him a disk, explaining that
Washuu had left that in her pod with her. She said that nobody can view
the information inside the disk other than Ranma, because the data was
encoded with a voice activated file decryption.

- END FLASHBACK -

Ranma sighed as he held the mini disk on his left hand, looking at it as
if judging its very existence. With a nod, he finally took hold of the
small disk player on his side that he borrowed from Parfait. He inserted
the disk carefully, just like how Parfait had taught him, and pressed
the 'play' button. A small window appeared in the screen, which said to
repeat the words written on it loudly.

Ranma's brow twitched as he read the message. "Washuu-chan... is the
greatest scientist in the... Universe?" He read from the window.

The screen immediately blanked out. Ranma thought for a moment that the
disk was too damaged already, but was surprised when it lit up once
again.

"OHAYO! Ranma-chaaaaaan!" A familiar green-eyed redhead appeared on the
small screen.

Ranma really tried not to facefault and was partially successful, but
his body still teetered to one side.

The redhead smiled sunnily as she continued, "Well, if you are watching
this, it seems you have been found. A lot has happened since you
disappeared, Ranma-chan. For some reason, even I can't find you."

"Anyway, this message contains some historical highlights that led to
whatever future you are in, if ever you were sent in the future. I have
no way of knowing, but just to be sure I made this anyway."

"Alright, to start with, I must tell you what happened when you
disappeared. Ryoko, my poor daughter, was catatonic for several weeks,
constantly disappearing from the shrine from time to time. I heard that
she's been appearing here and there around the world, probably searching
for you. After nearly ten years of searching, Ryoko finally had herself
locked into forced hibernation. Yosho and I tried to tell her not to do
it, but you know her... once she has this idea in her head, she won't
give it up. She just figured we could reawaken her once you are found.
She says she can't bear the loneliness, so she'll just sleep while we
search for traces of you."

Ranma gasped at the information. "R-Ryoko..." He muttered as he lowered
his gaze to the ground. However, the disk rambled on.

"Inuyasha stayed in the shrine until the time came when he has to go and
see his beloved Kagome, which was around the late 1900s. Kagero followed
as well, saying something about meeting his son. Kiima went back to the
Phoenix Mountain to attend once again to her liege, although somehow I
think that she stayed here because of a certain... someone. Sango,
Miroku and Koneko all stayed in the shrine and lived more than a hundred
Earth years, older than what most Earthlings could achieve, but in the
end mortals were still mortals. They passed on in a very ripe age. The
four shrine priests eventually moved out of the shrine and went out into
Japan, each having gone into various locations and setting roots there."

"In the late 1800's, we received a rumor about a famous swordsman who
single-handedly led Japan to peace. It was after the Restoration period,
where the Shogunate was finally disbanded. Inuyasha and I went to
investigate the rumor, and watched in the sidelines as this swordsman
named Himura Kenshin, battle opponents in an impressive display of sword
play. I think he could even rival Yosho with just his speed and tenacity
in battle."

"In the early 1900s, demonic entities appeared in Japan, effectively
striking fear and chaos around the country. My sensors went up when
certain powered individuals banded together and went back to battle the
Darkness as they called it. I went on to investigate, and found the
group hiding out in a large amphitheater, which to my delight was sheer
genius. They also made great plays, which I found out when I decided to
stay a bit and gather data. I was also fascinated by the mecha they
used, which they called Kobu. What you dubbed as Ki, or internal energy
powered it. After several months of battles, they finally pinpointed the
root of evil in the old castle Edo. They managed to defeat the evil...
just barely, but defeated nonetheless..."

"After the World War Two, a new kind of entity appeared. They were
dubbed Invaders, and the information was kept from public eyes. Japan
created an undercover elite group called AEGIS, specific in defending
the Earth against the Invaders. The AEGIS was made up of special people,
who were able to gather and release attacks from another dimension,
which were called Gate Powers. These special people were called Gate
Keepers. At first, it was thought that the Invaders were aliens from
another world, that which caused me to get really interested in it
anyway. But later I found out, and I guess they did too, that the
Invaders were transformed humans having excessive negative energy. Their
final adversary turned out to be an evil Gate Keeper, who tried to
conquer the world. In the end, the evil Gate Keeper was defeated
eventually, along with the countless Invaders he summoned."

"So anyway, the shrine itself became Yosho's after he married a Terran
named Itsuki, under the guise of Katsuhito. This happened more or less
three Earth centuries after you disappeared."

"They had two daughters, Achika and Nodoka, whom both have considerable
powers of Jurai. However, Nodoka didn't finish her own training, making
her powers miniscule and dormant at best. Nodoka eloped with a martial
artist, and was not heard from as of yet. Achika however manifested hers
once, forced to use them to defeat a certain evil that was made up of
anti-Juraian energy. She died a few years after Tenchi's birth."

"Some people also discovered some ancient ruins located in China, Tokyo,
as well as somewhere in a remote island located west of Japan. I went
there to investigate, and found that they were ancient alien
civilizations that probably crashed on Earth approximately eight hundred
fifty years or so. I decided not to breach a certain barrier that seemed
to have kept the whole ruin under tight wraps, but there are artifacts
in there in gigantic proportions. How big, I found out years later."

"Soon, Tenchi grew up strong as his Juraian heritage manifested nicely,
although he had no idea what they were. When he finally reached the age
of maturity, his powers were already in a nice level. Not enough to give
Yosho, rather, Katsuhito a hard challenge, but still commendable. He was
a bit of a pacifist somewhat, but he defended his family and friends in
times of need. Anyway, suddenly a Juraian Dreadnought appeared out of
the sky, and started attacking for some reason. That was when my own
ship, the recreated Soja, fired back automatically, crippling the ship
and making it crash into the lake that's located near the shrine."

"We found out later that the ship was Ryu-Oh, the royal battleship of
Princess Ayeka of Jurai, together with her younger sister Sasami who
were in search of their half-brother and Ayeka's fiance, Yosho. Well,
Yosho talked to me before I got to talk to Ayeka, and somehow got me to
promise not to reveal his real self as of yet. We told Ayeka that Yosho
was dead, and that he died of old age. Ayeka was in denial, but finally
understood when Tenchi produced the Tenchi-ken. The two princesses and
their guardians, Azaka and Kamidake, stayed in the now dubbed Masaki
Shrine."

"It was during this time that the alien ruins I mentioned earlier came
to light. It turned out to be giant war machines, which for some reason
were powered with the advanced knowledge of Ki. They called it Life
Sympathy, which involved the pilot's state of mind, as well as the
ferocity to live through the battle. The ruins were split into two
groups, one group was the Rara Army led by a certain Professor Rara, who
took the ruins that were located in that remote island outside Japan.
The Tokyo ruins were claimed by the Global Defense Force, led by a
scientist named Sanada Ken. The scientists were also trying to prove the
existence of the parallel world, which we both know actually existed.
The two groups eventually clashed against each other for superiority
over the artifacts recovered from the digs. The artifacts were the war
machines their selves, and were used in the battle. I heard that the
Global Defense Force acquired a pilot that reached a high negative Life
Sympathy reading, and from some sources it says that the pilot was from
the parallel world... probably the same world you came from. By the way,
it's not that positive Life Sympathy was weak, but the negative Life
Sympathy somewhat exudes this extra power because it is like a
desperation attack. You do know how powerful one becomes when he or she
gets desperate."

"Check this... I found that the alien artifacts and the Manticores
exhibit the same characteristics. In fact, the artifacts specifically
from the Rara Army strongly suggest familiarity with each other. The
artifacts the Global Defense Force claimed were under-developed and
slightly weaker, but I contained some knowledge regarding them anyway.
So they used this knowledge to recreate some of the artifacts and make
copies. They also managed to unearth and revive a near-death alien
specimen from the ruins. They gave it a body of a robot... a bioroid...
an almost robotic replica of the human body, so that it can move and act
like humans."

"I was tempted to step in when both sides managed to bring the world I
was trying to save into near destruction. Their excessive usage of the
artifacts caused the spatial distortion between the parallel world and
the original one to expand greatly. It sped up the process that
should've taken at least a hundred years or more, which would give me
time to stabilize the two worlds at least until you find the source."

"An unlikely source of help appeared in the form of a meteor that fell
into Antarctica, which was dubbed the Second Impact. The war between the
global Defense Force and the Rara Army was halted immediately. I still
don't know if it was good or bad at that time, but when I did realize
the significance I was too late. The polar ice caps melted and flooded
nearly 90% of the world, and left most islands underwater. Millions of
people died needlessly that time, and it really bugged me. When I
investigated it, I found out that the meteor was in fact a living being.
Humans kept it to themselves after it was discovered, and it was called
Adam. I think it was around the year 2000 at that time."

"Around fifteen years after that Second Impact, other unique copies of
the alien artifacts found in the ruins appeared, but a lot bigger than
its predecessors. They were called Evangelions, which was still driven
based on the Life Sympathy of the pilots. They were created out of the
technology extracted from the earlier models of mecha, and combined with
some DNA from the meteor that fell in Antarctica. But this time, certain
children could pilot it, not all. The pilots have to 'synchronize' with
the EVAs before they could even 'will' it to move... at least more than
fifteen percent synchronization. These Evangelion Units appeared so that
they could fight another type of invaders, which were suspiciously
called Angels for some reason. These Angels have a special shield called
an AT Field. Only a stronger AT Field or certain attacks of the
Evangelion could penetrate this shield, also dubbed as a Divine Armor.
The EVA units themselves have this special field as well."

"As always, there was a motive behind these attacks, as well as certain
dark secrets from the defenders themselves. The Angels were supposed to
be a test from the gods, to judge if humanity was fit to survive in the
future. The defenders, particularly their leaders, have their own
agenda. The only thing I got out of it was something called the Human
Compliment Project. Well, they won, barely, and the instigators of the
said project failed for some reason."

"After the Angel Wars, the world was still left in shambles. Soon,
technology picked up once again, and Earth was able to construct a
magnificent Space Ring outside of the Earth's orbit. It housed thousands
of people, which was ideal while the planet replenished itself."

"I was in space at that time when Yosho, Tenchi and Ayeka disappeared,
as well as Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki's cryo-chambers. Sasami was back in Jurai,
having been recalled for a bit by her mother Misaki. I tried looking for
them, Ranma-chan, but they vanished without a trace. It was then that
the Earth unified its government into one ruling party."

"Earth sent out space explorers to search other planets to colonize. One
such vessel disappeared near Jupiter, where it consisted of a whole
family of explorers. The father, mother, two brothers and one sister,
and the other members of the household like personal trainers and such
all disappeared. Later, one came back to Earth, who for some reason lost
all his memories. The only thing he knows was just that the Venomoids,
which was the alien menace that conquered the space exploration team,
planned to attack and populate the Earth with their spores and such. You
see, they were like alien spider crabs and the like."

"Back to the one that came back to the Earth, he crash-landed on the
planet without any pod whatsoever. He had amnesia, but he remembered his
name as Blade. He demanded to be taken back to space, so that he may
stop the Venomoid attack. After hijacking a vessel, he set out to space
and transformed into this Teknoman. Apparently, those alien invaders
kidnapped the whole family and were the first to be transformed into
their footsoldiers, but Blade got away just in time before the process
was completed. He revealed that there was another Teknoman leading the
Venomoids in battle, who goes by the name of Darkan. Two battlesuits
were created out of the designs from the old Earth files, combined with
the knowledge about Blade's own Teknosuit. After countless battles and
other enemy Teknomen that the group from Earth defeated, they finally
took the fight to Darkan's base on the dark side of the Moon. The battle
was long and fierce, but they finally won. Blade disappeared after that,
and reappeared after another threat appeared, but this was some of the
recesses from the conflict he just managed to defeat."

"The Earth finally reconstructed the Space Ring, but it was divided into
five parts. They called them Colonies, and were immediately settled in
by some people from Earth. The people on the planet were later called
Earthnoids, while the ones in space were Spacenoids. New war machines
emerged, which were called mobile suits. A lot of conflicts rose between
the Earthnoids and the Spacenoids, who disputed who should be the ruler
of the planet and the territories themselves. More powerful machines
called Gundams were built. Those piloted most of the Gundams were from
space, because of their special ability. After living in space for some
time, the Spacenoids developed their mind in an advanced degree. They
developed ESP powers, which was in turn used to pilot the Gundams
efficiently. It is said that the Gundams were effective because of their
much fluid movements and faster reaction time, because of the mindlink
between the pilot and the mecha. These people were called Newtypes, and
they were the best of the best in piloting mobile suits."

"The most famous of the Gundam pilots was Amuro Rei, who was the first
Gundam pilot ever produced. He was revered all over because he did what
he thought was right, and he defended the Earth from the invading
Spacenoids. His rival and nemesis was Aznable Char, whom was rumored to
have died with Amuro during their battle in space. But they both
reappeared together on the same team when another conflict arose,
gathering allies. What's surprising was that there were other mechas
that seemed to have joined in the defense of everything. Behind
everything that has happened, there was a huge plot involved, and both
Earthnoids and the Spacenoids were the culprit. For some weird reason,
they seem to have been intensifying the conflict further. Also, after
some time, new threats appeared. Aliens such as Zentraedi, Boazam,
Andromedans... as well as Earth enemies like the Guests and more."

"Anyway, it was a spectacular battle. It was called the legendary Robot
Wars. Every mecha on Earth gathered together and battled the enemies.
The Gundams, Mazinger Z, Raideen, Dancougar, Combattler V, Daimos,
Voltes V, Grandaizer, Gunbuster, Dunbine, Macross, and lots of others...
they all banded together, even the elusive Personal Trooper Type Robots
and the dreaded Hukkebine. Even though they were severely outgunned and
outnumbered, the home team won, and restored the meager peace that was
destroyed when the attackers launched."

"Before you ask, no... the Saiyajin you told me about didn't come to
Earth for some reason. But there WAS a Saiyajin who touched down in the
end of World War 2, but you told me he was kidnapped, right? Well, he
wasn't, and was able to return to his home world without any hassles at
all. It seems that your appearance as well as your disappearance
might've been tied to everything this world has and since you
disappeared, everything came falling apart. The Earth became vulnerable,
although there were still some heroes, they just barely managed to
defeat the enemy. With the disappearance of Yosho and everyone, Earth
was open season."

"I had no chance in investigating this further, because the first
prototypes of Paeksis Cores suddenly appeared. Earth began to send
colony ships to different star systems to find places that support life.
The first one was stolen by me, then I installed it into one of the
colony ships that was about to be used in transporting people to another
star system for safekeeping. The second one stayed on Earth, in the
hands of the Earth Council that was formed as a unified government over
the planet. The third was also sent to another star system, but it was a
different type of Paeksis. While the other two cores were manufactured,
this one was a natural Paeksis core that suddenly appeared. I lost track
of it once it went out to space, because I was busy securing the first
one."

"That was when the REAL problem exposed itself. Nobody really noticed
that the Prime Minister, who was the global leader of Earth as well, was
replaced by a perfect double. It was until everything was hectic due to
the after effects of the wars which ravaged the planet that the Prime
Minister turned out to be none other than Kagato himself! You remember
him, right? The one who kidnapped Ryoko, brainwashed her, and sent her
to attack Jurai to claim Tsunami's space tree. It was also him that
imprisoned be for thousands of years in the Soja, my own ship! The Earth
was easily subdued, and he gloated to me that he was the one who created
the Paeksis Cores. I really didn't understand it, nor did I want to
listen to him, but he said that those cores mean everything to me.
Seeing the situation on Earth turn as it is, I escaped to Pluto, where I
found some of the earlier colonists. I gave them a copy of this message
so that if ever you turn up somewhere, I'd be certain to deliver this to
you. I will leave this place soon, in order to conduct my search
elsewhere, at the same time hiding from Kagato, as weird as it may
sound. I am the best, but I do know when to run when the odds are
against me."

"Once you open this message, it automatically sends a feedback signal
that will communicate with my own ship. It will act as a homing beacon
so that I will be informed that you have been found, and that I will
come to you as soon as possible. Ranma, you must return to Earth and
defeat Kagato. He is a plague that must be destroyed. I will join you as
soon as I can."

Ranma could only blink as the image of Washuu smiled sunnily and waved
enthusiastically at him. Even when the screen darkened, he still stared
at the blank small screen.

He finally got himself together when he muttered, "That was a really
long explanation." As an afterthought, he added, "That was really
weird."

Ranma sobered as he set the small disk player aside. His thoughts were
wild and in a disarray because of the load of information that trickled
in his mind as of late. But there was one particular thought that nagged
in his head, and that was Ryoko.

"Damn it." He muttered to himself. Ranma's disappearance threw the
universe in a loop, and he felt responsible for the mess it caused. Most
especially, he felt saddened when Ryoko disappeared.

Ranma's eyes hardened as he replaced his shades over his eyes once
again. He will find her for sure.

======================================================================== =====

Everyone looked up from their planning in the Meeting Room as Ranma
entered it without any preamble, with Rin-Ohki perched on top of his
head. Barnette was about to lash out at the pigtailed boy when she
finally noticed the serious look on his face. Magno looked at him
curiously, as well as BC. Jura was rather surprised at his sudden
appearance. Parfait was staring at him, because she saw the pained look
on his face. Gascogne looked on in interest, while Duero and Paiway
stood on one side, curiosity reflecting on their faces as well. Bart sat
haphazardly against two seats, bored out of his wits. Other female faces
looked at him as well, but Ranma didn't really remember all their names.
He knew they were part of the crew that manned the command center with
Magno and BC. Dita and Hibiki were no where to be found. Misty and Meia
looked worried at the visibly troubled Ranma, which tugged at their
hearts for some reason.

Ranma breathed in deeply as he said in a calm but strained voice. "I
wish to return to Planet Earth."

"WHAT?!" More than several voiced their protest in that word. However,
Magno waved her hand in the air to get their attention once again, and
faced Ranma.

"Boy..." Magno began, shifting her weight on her staff, "You must
understand that this is a rather highly unprecedented request. I mean,
we have our own problems to see through. You see, our planets are going
to be attacked by the Earth's forces soon, and we need to get there as
soon as possible to save our homes." The other people inside the room
nodded in agreement.

The pigtailed boy sighed. "I need to go to Earth and stop the whole
thing. No offense, but I think your planets are already attacked, and
are probably floating debris right now."

Shouts of indignation and anger rose in the air. Gascogne shook her head
and commented, "Still, we need to go back and make sure. Who knows?
Maybe our home worlds are still in one piece."

Ranma shook his head vehemently. Suddenly, he stiffened as he stood
straight. Unknown to everyone, Ranma was now communicating with
Rin-Ohki, who was telling him to get her a copy of the area map the
Nirvana has seen so far.

Turning to Parfait, he said, "Can you give me a copy of the star systems
in this area? I really need to go back to Earth."

"Why?" BC finally spoke. "Why do you need to return to Earth so much?"

Ranma swiveled his gaze to her. "It's complicated."

BC stepped forward boldly, challenging his words. "Try explaining."

Ranma was about to argue, but a meek but firm voice interrupted from his
side. "Ranma, please just explain it."

Everyone turned and saw Meia staring at Ranma pointedly and evenly. The
boy in turned just sagged and wilted at Meia's weird gaze.

Ranma finally told them, explained most of the weird circumstance that
revolved around his appearance in this place, rather, this time. Still,
Ranma hadn't told them about his special abilities, and a small
meaningful gaze on Meia communicated to keep their conversations before
a secret. After a narration of his recent encounter with Washuu's
invention, the whole area was silent, save for the hum of the Nirvana's
engines. Everyone adopted a stunned look on their faces, save Meia and
Misty, who just looked on with amusement at their companions'
expressions.

"You... you came from the Past?!" Parfait asked giddily, the thought of
having met someone who survived a trip through time made her curiosity
run amok.

Misty nodded sagely. "So... Washuu-sensei was correct then. I assume
you're the same person she's been searching for so long."

"I guess so." Ranma said slowly.

"Should we really believe all those things you said?" Barnette asked
rhetorically.

Misty fielded that question. "Yes, he is. I didn't really know the real
story back then, but Washuu-sensei explained that Ranma was involved in
an accident that threw him somewhere in the space-time continuum. She
wasn't sure if he was sent forward, backward, or even in another
dimension. She mentioned something about Ranma's chaotic tendencies or
something..."

BC would've reacted too, but Magno's unresponsive face proved that the
old woman did have some suspicion about Ranma's origins already. The
knowledge was probably from when Misty mentioned knowing him long before
she was sent to space.

Everyone jumped when the alarms blared loudly.

The enemies have been spotted.

======================================================================== =====

The crew gawked at the screen as they watched the gigantic Seed ship
going towards them at cruising speed. Thousands of smaller cube drones
surrounded the large capital ship, as well as several different versions
of Vandread drones. The whole screen was filled with red dots, as well
as the dark yellow hide of the main ship that seemed to be three-fourths
larger than the Nirvana.

Ranma on the other hand narrowed his eyes at the ship. He already knew
how outnumbered the Nirvana was, and this just takes the cake! It was
rather a bit of overkill for Earth to send this large piece of...
something... to go after the ship he was on.

He watched intently as the battle finally ensued outside. A large
assortment of Dreads was in battle formation around the Nirvana. The
Dreads were many, but the drones still hugely outnumbered them. Hibiki's
Vanguard and Dita's Dread by now have combined to form the gigantic blue
Vandread mecha. Even Gascogne was in her own ship, joining the battle as
well. Jura's red Dread was beside Barnette's own, as well as Meia's, and
together they led the defense grid.

At first, the battle went smoothly for the defenders, because they were
able to repel most of the drones that attacked. Even the Vandread clones
were defeated after sometime, but Ranma couldn't help but feel his
danger sense going crazy. Rin-Ohki was hissing softly as she arched her
back on his head.

After a while, the speed of the attackers went up as well as their
numbers, immediately battering the hapless Dreads. Meia took a hit when
she was momentarily distracted by something, and was taken inside the
Nirvana by Gascogne. She was immediately sent to the medical lab, but
she promised before she went inside that she was going to come back and
fight again. Ranma was tempted to visit her, but Duero communicated in
the comms that the med lab was off limits for now. So Ranma stayed put
in the main room, intently watching the fight.

Ranma looked around the battlefield, trying to locate the source of his
uneasiness. His gaze finally settled on the unmoving capital ship.

"The mother ship is not moving..." Ranma muttered loudly, enough to be
heard by those around him.

BC turned to him quickly and asked, "What's the matter, Ranma?"

The boy continued to stare at the monstrosity outside. "The big ship is
not moving, not even firing any of its armaments. All it's doing is
sitting there and... waiting."

"Waiting for what?" One of the crew on the room asked.

Ranma shook his head. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's something
really big. If I try and read it like a martial arts competition, the
big ship is like a observing fighter, and the little attackers are just
probes to prod on our defenses. It's like we're attacking blindly and
foolishly, not minding what the other is thinking."

Magno sat on the captain's chair, busy in glaring at the huge behemoth
that was stationary in front of the Nirvana. "I think Ranma is correct
in his assessment... tell the others to be careful and keep their eyes
open for any tricks."

BC gasped loudly. "You mean..."

"Yeah..." Ranma nodded. "We're being observed, and the defensive posture
will most likely disappear later, once our defenses were studied
extensively. Then that big ship will attack, and looking at its size, I
think we're in for a slaughter in our hands. We will lose if we continue
to fight recklessly like this..." He paled slightly when he saw
something outside. "I think it's a little too late..." He said faintly.

Everyone turned from Ranma to the screen and watched as the big Seed
ship move slightly sideways. The sensors finally beeped into attention,
displaying the ship's new statistics to everyone. It turned out that the
Seed ship's sides were riddled with high-powered laser cannons that
could penetrate their shields without any problem.

The Harvest ship's sides suddenly lit up and fired huge red beams of
energy towards the Dreads, dismantling most of them. Luckily enough
Barnette's Dread survived with considerable damages, but Vandread Dita
was separated when the beam hit it. Jura's own Dread was damaged
severely, as well as her own body as it was jolted violently inside the
cockpit as she was hit. Her cry of surprise and pain filled the comms,
taking her best friend Barnette into a berserker rage.

Before any of them could do anything, a green beam encompassed each of
their Dreads, pulling them away from the Seed ship's side. It seemed
that Gascogne's ship was equipped with a special device called 'Tractor
Beam' where it can lock on to any ships incapable of fighting, so that
it may be pulled away from danger. Gascogne decided that it was enough
and beamed most of the ships, but Barnette's ship was a special case.
The inventory manager used the pincer-like appendages from her ship and
grabbed Barnette's ship on a tight hold, disabling the damaged Dread
totally. Barnette's angry voice echoed all over the comms that she still
wanted to fight. Ranma and the rest of the crew left in the Nirvana
winced when Gascogne and Barnette bickered back and forth across the
comm channel.

Ranma and the rest of the crew left in the ship blinked as Bart was
forcefully pulled out of the navigator console. At the same time, the
ship turned fast and escaped the other way.

"Who told you to escape?!" Magno stood up angrily as she glared on the
ejected Talaark navigator.

"I didn't do it!" Bart exclaimed urgently. "It was the ship!"

In the engine room, Parfait stared at the frantically glowing Paeksis
core, which has more patches of red in it.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Parfait whispered to herself.

After the ones who battled went back inside the Nirvana after the lost
fight, the bickering among the pilots became worse. They were currently
on stand by in case the Harvest ship from Earth caught up with them. It
wasn't long before that happened though.

They were inside the medical labs, where Jura, Dita, Hibiki, Barnette,
and strangely enough Gascogne were talking. Well Barnette, Hibiki and
Gascogne were fighting one another, it seems. Duero, Paiway and Ranma
were doing a good impression of nonchalance at the scene, trying to
blend with the background.

The doctor and his assistant were busy patching Jura up, who suffered
some burns because of the hit she took earlier. Ranma just watched the
confrontation, unable to think of anything to pacify everyone in the
room. He knew how each side felt, so he was trapped in the middle. He
thinks both sides were right in some aspects.

"Why did you pull me out of the battle, Gascogne?!" Barnette growled out
as she glared angrily on the muscled girl leaning on the wall. Behind
her, Hibiki growled his agreement to the question as well.

Gascogne didn't even flinch, as she was subjected to two scathing
glares. "It is my duty to keep you out of danger. I took stock of the
situation, and made a decision to pull you out."

"I could've taken them on!!!" Barnette insisted, standing up from her
sitting position a while ago. Her fists were clenching and unclenching
as she continued shouting at Gascogne. "You shouldn't have done that!"

"My, isn't it convenient..." Hibiki's voice sarcastically cut in the
conversation. "For you who doesn't have to go to the front lines and
fight, you just have no idea how we feel, don'cha?" He sneered at
Gascogne.

Ranma shook his head as he grimaced. He knew he spoke before he thought
of it before, now that he hears it from others, it really doesn't sound
all that good. Sure enough, Gascogne finally moved and smacked Hibiki's
face with her fist, her face in a deep scowl. For a moment, Ranma
thought he saw unshed tears gathering in her eyes.

"How dare you..." Gascogne growled out as she clutched on Hibiki's
collar.

Ranma immediately shuffled himself out of the room, all the while trying
to blend on the walls. He didn't want to be there when the bomb of anger
exploded in that room.

Nope, not at all.

======================================================================== =====

The alarms rang again as the enemy was spotted. It was still the same
mother ship, but the drones were fully recovered and were now flying
towards the Nirvana at full speed.

The Nirvana's Dreads met the attackers head on. As per the earlier
attack, the gigantic Harvester ship was stationary, waiting for them to
lose their focus and their attention towards that particular ship.

Vandread Dita immediately launched their attacks on the main ship. As
usual, the Harvester ship's side opened up and fired a volley of red
beams towards the Vandread, crippling them once again. Same tactic, same
mistakes...

They floated helplessly along space as the enemy mother ship prepared to
fire another volley of lasers. Suddenly, Gascogne's ship appeared to
shield Dita's Dread and the Vanguard, much to their surprise.

Inside the Nirvana, Ranma quickly grabbed Rin-Ohki by the scruff of her
neck and handed her to BC, who was still sitting shell-shocked on her
seat. The sub-commander blinked as she felt Rin-Ohki's fur against her
dark skin. She looked up and saw Ranma's face in a tight scowl.

"W-What's this for?" BC gestured to the cabbit.

Ranma looked down on her. "Keep her safe for the moment. I have no
choice but to do something about this."

"But what can you... WHAT THE HELL?!" BC shouted as she stood up in
surprise, reflexively clutching as the cabbit. The rest of the crew's
reactions were the same as Ranma softly smiled, his eyes reflected
sorrow and for some reason, a little fear. The boy slowly dematerialized
from in front of the slack-jawed crew.

Outside the Nirvana, the battle was coming to a dramatic close, with
everyone that fought watching in horror as the huge red beam lanced
towards Gascogne's hapless ship. Not that it was really undefended,
because it probably has the strongest shielding of all the ships
available in Nirvana. Gascogne worked as supply after all, and her job
required her to rush into the middle of battle to refuel everyone, so
she might be a definite target of elimination for the enemies. But the
firepower surging towards her right now is too much even for her heavy
shields.

Gascogne will die.

Inside the supply ship, Gascogne knew that as well. Actually, before she
left the Nirvana, she already felt that tug of death in her mind. Hibiki
and Barnette's words hurt like hell, but she can't really blame them.
Due to the nature of her job, she was required to just sit back and
watch as everyone went on their merry way. She knew they didn't really
mean what they said, because she too suffered a lot of losses in the
past. Her older sister's death brought back painful memories in her
head, but she welcomed them. She could feel herself blaming her own for
not being able to help her sister. It was just a doorway apart, but that
little distance cost Gascogne her sister. The sense of loss was evident
in her, and she strove not to let that happen again. She saw her friends
in deep trouble, and they were basically defenseless. The Harvester
ship's hull was really tough, not even Vandread Dita's cannons could
penetrate it. A plan formulated in her mind, and it was simple. Have her
own ship rush in and put a huge gaping hole at its side.

Yes, all for her friends... to protect them from an early death.

That was why she was smiling as her ship raced into the much bigger
ship's outer hull. She was already past the point of no return, not that
she ever wanted to anyway. She welcomed her death.

Just as her ship was about to hit, a mop of black covered her vision,
bathed in a soft light blue glow that seemed to be simply divine in
nature. She had wondered if this was death, but she felt a soft warmth
as something hugged her. Everything vanished before her eyes afterwards.

The communications channel was silent as they watched Gascogne's ship
collide with the Harvest ship. It exploded fantastically, but it was
still not enough for it to do much damage to the Harvest ship anyway.
But the impact point left a gaping hole, but it was still small compared
to the overall size of the Harvest ship.

The silence stretched from the moment of impact to when the lit fumes of
the explosion finally ebbed.

Loud wails filled the comms as the realization of Gascogne's demise
finally settled down. BC announced loudly about her order of retreat,
which some had some reluctance in following, but then with no other
things to do, they did it anyway.

Back in the operations room of the Nirvana, everyone screamed in shock
as something materialized on the deck of the ship. Two figures actually,
one was Ranma, who disappeared only minutes ago, and the other was...
Gascogne?! The girl was cradled in Ranma's arms. The boy lay her on the
floor and let himself fall backwards on his back, panting.

"GASCO-SAN?!" Several voices screamed as the deck flurried into motion.
They left their posts as they gathered around the dazed Gascogne.

"I... I'm still... alive?" Gascogne asked lividly as she stared blankly
around her, as if trying to see if everything was real.

Ezra was the first to move, who immediately wrapped her arms around the
older girl, sobbing. "Gasco-san! You're alive! We thought you were
dead!"

"B-But... h-h-how?!" Magno asked to no one in particular as she stared
wide-eyed at her crewmember.

Gascogne shook her head. "I... I have no idea! I was there, watching as
the whole thing's wall came fast towards me... then something appeared
in right front of me, protecting me form the blast... then I'm here!
What happened...?!"

Nobody really had an answer to that, until a loud miyah interrupted
their impromptu celebration. The cabbit in BC's arms managed to squirm
out of the hold and floated towards her master, who was lying somewhere
nearby. Rin-Ohki approached Ranma and nudged her nose unto his face.

Ranma opened his eyes and stared at the deck ceiling. "I'm okay,
Rin-chan... just exhausted. I kinda did two tiring things at once.
Need... to rest."

"You did this?" An old voice said as Ranma turned his head to one side,
managing to keep his glasses on his face for some reason, and gazed at
Magno thoughtfully.

"I... can't let her die now, can I?" Ranma asked as if it was the most
obvious thing in the world.

BC shook her head. "These things you do... they're just not possible!"

The boy just sighed as he gazed up to the ceiling once again, allowing
his eyes to close slowly. "It is... now."

"Commander! Gasco-san is... Gasco-san is...!!!" Dita's teared-up face
appeared on the viewing screen in front of the deck. Apparently, nobody
outside has yet to know of Gascogne's survival.

Magno turned to the big screen as she finished staring at the pigtailed
boy. Mustering barely enough dignity in her voice, she addressed Dita,
"Gascogne's fine, Dita. She's right here with us." She pointed to the
slightly muscled young woman, who was looking down on the unconscious
form of Ranma. Actually, all of them were staring at what was connected
to Ranma's backside, which by now became visible. It was a red tail, and
it was twitching a while ago.

The crew continued to stare at the appendage as they virtually ignored
the frantic cries of everyone who were out in the battle. The ones
fighting were very happy to know Gascogne managed to survive the
explosion, so happy that they didn't even think of asking how that
happened. All they knew was everything's all right.

Well, there will be time for that later.

======================================================================== =====

Somewhere in Ranma's mind...

He looked around him as he was surrounded by the vastness of space. He
looked down on himself and saw his appearance, but he wasn't prepared
for the surprise it hid. He wasn't wearing the usual Chinese clothing,
but rather a modest silver vest that hugged his slightly muscled frame.
Silver bracers that shone against some imaginary light decorated his
arms. His pants were replaced by an overly large pair of dark magenta
pants that bloomed on his ankles, which felt like silk to him for some
reason. His skin was pale against the black cloak that encircled over
his shoulders.

For some reason, Ranma felt himself drift forwards, and found himself
amidst a battle of epic proportions. Thousands of discarded weapons,
broken and not, and also some bodies of dead individuals that might've
died in the conflict floated past him. His eyes narrowed at the people
in front of him. He felt their evil intentions, which was so tangible
that it can be cut with a bread knife. Behind him, a group of more
human-looking people also gathered.

Two people were at his sides. On his right was a seemingly bishonen man
with ice blue eyes and long flowing light blue hair to match that
reached up to his lower back. He wore a golden armor around his torso,
and wielded a large broadsword with his right hand. On his forehead were
two small circular golden gems that glowed faintly against the dark
background of space. On his left was a blonde haired woman with jade
eyes looking back at him fondly. On her forehead were two dark circular
gems that were contrast to the ones the person on his right had on his
forehead. On her cheeks were, surprisingly, star-shaped tattoos that
seemed to have been comical, if not for the seriousness of the situation
before them. Her personage reeks of sexiness and beauty, as her body was
in perfect proportions. Her skin was dark in color, and her chest was
covered in a slimmer, visibly lighter version of the armor the person on
the left wore, and it was also darker in color. On her hands was an
oversized mace that was seemingly quite appropriate for her for some
reason.

In front of his own entourage, several figures of giants seemed to be
unfazed of all the gore around them. They were in the vicinity of a
large rainbow-colored planet, to which Ranma thinks that it was caused
by the atmosphere. Four of the giants were mounted on what seemed to be
like horses, but they were grotesque and much more horrifying than the
ones Ranma knew. The 'horses' had Ram's horns on their heads, and their
large bulky bodies were riddled with spikes along the sides. For some
reason, the fact didn't seem to faze their even scarier looking riders.
The mounts have three pairs of legs, and have a dark leathery hide. It
looked like the horse his companion had before, but they left the
glorious white mount in the stables back in the planet down below... or
was it up? The mount's name was Sleipner, and it was already transferred
in another location when the conflict arose. In space perspective, one
can never know. At the far back, the largest of the giants held his
gigantic two-sided battleaxe, which seemed to gleam against the meager
light the planet reflected from the star it was revolving around on.
There were others surrounding him, but were much smaller in size though
still bigger than he was anyway. They were floating in the area where
the light doesn't expose much, hiding them in as much shadow as it
could. Not that it mattered, because their aura were blazing so hotly
that it was creating an effect that made them look scarier. The powers
they have were staggering.

Ranma felt himself speak in a language he didn't understand, and his
body moved without his permission. He felt himself a passenger in this
dream, or was it a memory? Was it his? If it was, why does it appear
now?

He was speaking and gesturing to his companions at his sides. The man
was shocked when Ranma said whatever he has to say then it turned to
sorrow, then finally acceptance, while the woman grew angry and was
yelling at him in a desperate way. Her eyes were pleading, trying to
tell him not to do what he was saying. He felt his feelings falter for a
moment, but then his expression hardened again as he traced the woman's
face with his black-gloved finger. Having said his piece, Ranma, or
rather whoever he was in this dream, turned to the giants and gathered
an ominous energy that seemed to send chills up and down his spine. With
a determined look on his face, Ranma materialized the energy in front of
him, forming a dark ball that seemed to absorb everything, even the
light was sucked into it.

Once again, a dainty female hand grabbed Ranma’s arm. He turned and saw
the woman once again, pleading him for something. She was probably
pleading for him to stop. He just shook his head and barked out a
command, to which the woman reluctantly followed as she back away with
the other person on his side before. The others that were behind them
finally followed the departing two, each giving him a respectful glance
before backing away as well.

He saw that his enemies (yes, he figured they were enemies since his
group seemed to be glaring at the assembly in front of them) were
shouting in protest and were aligning themselves for the best defense.
Ranma noticed that the enemies put their weaker-looking troops in front
of them, as if using them as a shield to whatever he was doing. But he
felt that he doesn't have to pay the action any attention as he focused
on putting all of his energy into the dark globe of force in front of
him. He closed his eyes began to chant in that language he can't
understand again.

Ranma opened his eyes and stated a name that he said in a different
language, but for some weird reason he understood it anyway. It was the
only words he could understand in what he said.

His aura shone bright silver as the black ball of power enlarged into
several times from before. The cackle of an occasional lightning coursed
all over the ball, which upped the intimidation factor. But everyone
around nervously backed away as they recognized the power of Creation
and Destruction in that sphere of energy.

Finally as everything inside Ranma felt all drawn out to the ball, he
staggered to one side, still holding the ball aloft with his left hand
as his right clutched at his chest. With a glare sent to his enemies, he
stated the name that everyone clearly understood and heard, no matter
how far they were.

"Chaotic... Disruption."

And with those words, the huge ball of darkness launched itself from
Ranma, engulfing the now fleeing army of the giants. The ball swiftly
absorbed all of them, dragging them into its dark confines. But it
didn't stop there, as the ball continued on its merry way and streaked
towards the rainbow-colored planet.

To his allies' horror, the energy he released slowly enlarged itself as
it absorbed the whole planet into itself, not leaving anything... not
even a speck of dust from it. Everything disappeared, except the halted
ball of darkness that seemed to float in place of the planet.

Seeing his work done, Ranma or rather, his other self slowly lost
consciousness, but he could feel his elation and the smile etched on his
face as he felt himself slowly fade away.

As he was about to find out, Ranma was brought in the Medical Room after
he collapsed on the deck.

Ranma slowly opened his eyes as his dream slowly dissipated. He blinked
owlishly for second, trying to wave the fogginess in his vision. He felt
something furry scamper to his side, rubbing itself into his arms. He
smiled gently, knowing exactly who it was.

"Ranma?" A rather familiar voice called to him softly. "Are you okay,
Ranma?"

Ranma blinked once more, and sure enough the fuzziness in his eyes
lifted. He saw a mop of light blue hair in his line of vision looking
down on him. He cocked his head to one side slightly, asking, "Uhmm...
Meia-san?" He shook his head slowly, eliciting a wince on his face. The
action brought some painful jolts in his brain, a residue of being
drained of energy too much.

"How... how long was I asleep?" Ranma asked softly.

Meia sighed and said, "About sixty-four hours at least. You were in deep
sleep that long..."

Ranma groaned. It was probably not a good idea to do two long-range
teleports and the full activation of his shield to protect him and
Gascogne from the explosion momentarily at the same time. The whole
process drained him real badly. "Okay... so how did the battle go?"

Meia's face broke into a huge smile. "Surprisingly, we won after some
planning. You see, Gascogne's 'supposed' suicide attack left a huge hole
on that gigantic ship's hull, enabling us to enter it and install the
virus from the information pod in Misty's probe. It wasn't easy though,
because there was a gigantic mecha that seemed to have sprouted from the
giant ship. It made things difficult for us for a while, but we managed
to enter the ship while the others kept the giant robot busy. The inside
was huge, and it was filled with self-defense mechanisms that were
composed of thousands of turret lasers. Amazingly, we reached the core
of the ship and had Pyoro install the virus for us. The machines finally
stopped moving, and remained stationary in space, all except the giant
robot for some reason. We didn't expect it to move until it hit us dead
on with its cannons. We thought we were gonna die, and we let Barnette,
who was with us at that time, to go and escape with Pyoro. We didn't
want to lose, and that feeling was so strong that it enabled us to
transform all three Dreads and the Vanguard into one Super Vandread. We
formed a sword by experimenting the buttons and finally defeated the
enemy."

Ranma frowned, looking at Meia intently. "You were not hurt, were you?"

The look on Ranma's face brought a small blush on Meia's cheeks. She
replied meekly, "Well, we weren't hurt that much, especially after we
defeated the robot. We were kinda happy after that." <No need to tell
him that I wanted to live and win because I wanted to see him again,
right?>

"Alright." Ranma nodded. As he sat up, gasps of surprise were heard from
around him. He saw a lot of faces peering at him, some in curiosity,
while some in fear and disgust.

Ranma cocked his head to one side and commented, "What did I do? Why are
you all looking at me like that?"

Meia smiled slightly as she explained, "Ranma... your glasses were
removed earlier."

The boy shrugged. "So? If my glasses were... removed... oh." His eyes
widened in realization. In reflex, he lifted his hand to his face to
feel for the glasses, only to find that it was indeed removed. Not that
they blamed them, but still, the looks they were giving him were too
weird.

Ranma finally got fed up of the staring and huffed, "I know my eyes are
not normal, but you don't have to stare at me like I'm some kind of
monster or something."

"We do deserve the full explanation, don't you think so, Ranma-san?"
Magno said with a smirk. It seems that the old woman wasn't really that
surprised at this.

Ranma looked at Meia helplessly, asking silently for help. But the
blue-haired girl just shrugged a little, saying, "What harm could it do?
You can't hide it anymore anyway. Just accept it, you're busted."

The pigtailed boy just sighed in response, and proceeded to tell them
everything about his life. He skipped his childhood, but he did explain
the real phenomenon of how he got to their time in the first place, and
told them of his alien blood. He still hasn’t told them much about his
skills, because he wanted to reserve some secrets for himself. The looks
he got from Duero, Parfait and surprisingly Paiway were nothing short of
maddened glee. Dita was cheery as always and a bit smug, declaring she
knew all along that Ranma was a 'Mister Alien', much to his annoyance.
Meia already knew most of it, while the others were silently
assimilating the information given to them.

"A real live alien..." Dita said breathlessly, her eyes were shining in
happiness. It seems her pursuit of being the first one to make contact
with UFO people were fulfilled. Let her have that fantasy anyway.

The door for the infirmary silently slid open and accommodated a newly
recovered Gascogne, with Misty by her side. Seeing everyone turned to
look at her, Gascogne smiled and said, "I'm okay. I just wanna thank the
one who saved me." She blinked when she saw Ranma though. Now that his
glasses were off, she could clearly see his eyes, which were far from
normal.

"Damn." Gascogne commented. "I won't be surprised if you say you're not
human at all."

"That seems to be the case." BC responded on one side.

"Still..." Gascogne continued, "He saved my life. Human or not, I trust
him."

Everyone turned to Misty expectantly, who just looked back at them
evenly. "I've heard good stories about him. There's no reason I would
not trust him."

"TRUST?!" Barnette finally growled out. "Look at him! He's... he's...
his eyes! Look at his eyes! Have you ever seen a human with that pair of
eyes before?! He has shining stones stuck on his forehead! He has a
weird pet! And he has a tail for crying out loud!"

"Red, cuddly tail... to be exact." Ranma said sarcastically as Rin-Ohki
climbed into his arms. He automatically cradled the small form into his
body.

The others were about to comment as well, but Magno put a halt in that
though. "In any case..." She began, "I don't see anything wrong with him
staying. He saved Gascogne... and that is what's important."

She began to look thoughtful for a moment. "By the way, how DID you save
Gascogne from inside the ship anyway?"

"Urk..." It was all Ranma said that was understandable before he babbled
some nonsense, to which everyone sweatdropped heavily.

======================================================================== =====

Things have become quite awkward after rumors of Ranma's weird powers
came about. Most of the girls in the Nirvana eyed him with fear, and
some with curiosity. Ranma just shrugged, already understanding their
fear of the unknown. If they were afraid of getting in contact with men
before, how can this be any different?

Besides, Ranma was usually alone anyway, so it didn't bother him much.
Some of them like Meia, Misty, Dita and Gascogne weren't like the
others, because they were still usually there to cheer him up some,
despite the actions of others. Magno was also talking to him, but she
was usually in her room or in the deck, and Ranma didn't want to go
there for no reason at all.

Right now, Ranma was back in the greenhouse, which he thought to be his
hangout place. He was currently wearing nothing for his torso, except
that black and red battle suit that Washuu has constructed for him back
in his time. Although he was wearing his black pants because he learned
that his armor, while protecting his body perfectly, still molded
against his body, leaving nothing to everyone's imagination. He was
rather thrilled with the fact that he never has to worry about losing
clothes, since the suit constantly reconstructs itself if ever it gets
damaged. Also, the suit adjusts itself prior to his male and female
forms.

Beside him was Meia, who was holding Ezra's baby. The little girl, who
was the newest member of the crew, was named Karua, but that weird robot
Pyoro kept on calling her 'Pyoro 2' much to Ezra's exasperation. Meia
didn't know any of this, but the crew was planning a birthday party for
her. Dita already whispered about it in Ranma's ears about distracting
Meia for a while. The Dread team leader didn't like the idea of
celebrating her birthday, so every year the crew planned this surprise
party for her. Due to a rare ingenious plan hatched by the combined
minds of Hibiki, Dita, Paiway and Duero, they thought of letting Meia
take care of the baby as they continued on their activities without any
hindrances. After making sure Meia wouldn't be able to escape via
patrolling and locking herself inside the meeting room, the plan was
going perfectly.

The baby made quite a ruckus a while ago, crying her heart's intent. For
some reason, a instinctive compulsion led Ranma to take the baby into
his arms himself, rocking the baby in slow tantalizing motions. Soon,
the baby fell asleep with a small smile in her face. Who would've known
Ranma has a hidden talent in keeping babies at bay? Or maybe it's a
fluke...

Misty was with them until a few minutes ago, having been called into the
radar room for her turn on duty. She took the job after Ranma suggested
that she find something to do so that she could somehow feel at home in
the ship. Her calling seems to have led her into the radar room.

Ranma heard a small sigh at his side. He deftly looked at his right and
saw Meia having a far-away look in her eyes. It looked like she was
thinking of something real bad to lose her concentration like this.

"You alright, Meia?" Ranma asked worriedly.

The girl's eyes snapped back into focus. "Huh? Oh Ranma... yeah I'm
okay."

The boy snorted. "You're thinking about something. You can tell me you
know."

Meia gazed at the boy in wonder. She still can't get over the enticing
look Ranma's eyes have when you stare at them for too long. It looked
like the yellowish full moon over a dark blue sky. Now those two
wonderful eyes of his were hidden behind those dark glasses of his once
again, to hide away from prying eyes. She also marveled at the trio of
silvery orbs that sparkled every now and then on his forehead, mostly
covered by the black bangs from his hair. She had seen him do feats that
defy physical limitations, and she still didn't know if that was all he
could do.

Ranma said softly, "Ezra has been called into the tactical room a while
ago by BC."

Meia nodded. "I know. It has something to do with not spending too much
time with her baby. Parfait told me about it, although I don't
understand why. I mean, the others don't mind keeping the baby busy, and
I know Pyoro won't mind at all. In fact, he spends the most time taking
care of the baby anyway."

The boy just sighed. "That's the whole point though. Ezra should be the
one taking care of the baby. She's her mother... and from what I
experienced, growing up away from one's mother is not good for the
child." Ranma sadly shakes his head. "My father took me away from my
mother when I was barely walking, so I can't remember much about her. I
have to trust and believe all the crap my father told me about her, so
when I finally get to meet her, I was so terrified and confused at her
that I almost pushed her away. A child should bask in its mother's love,
so that a bond may form." He didn't notice it, but the three gems on his
forehead glowed briefly.

Meia was a bit shell-shocked at what she heard. For some reason, she
couldn't deny the truth in his words. She looked at him and saw the
jewels on his forehead glowing. <It must be the gems making him all
introspective like that...> she wondered in her mind. She shook her head
briskly, banishing her thoughts about Ranma. "Everyone's planning
something, aren't they?" She decided to change the topic, hoping for
Ranma to take the bait.

And take the bait he did. Ranma used his best poker face, which we all
know was bound to fail anyway. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Meia laughed slightly. "Don't worry. Every year when my birthday is
near, they plan a surprise party for me. I just wished they didn't make
a big deal out of it."

"They care about you, that's why they do it anyway." Ranma shrugged.

"I know..." Meia smiled. "But it's just a lot of work..."

"Well..." Ranma said, "They think it's worth it. As I said, you can't
really blame them if they wanted to show you how much they care. Humor
them anyway, you won't lose anything out of it, rather gain some food in
the process."

He shifted slightly on his position. "You are lucky to have so many
people caring for you to even remember your birthday."

Meia looked at Ranma oddly. "You sound jealous."

Ranma smiled sadly. "Partly, because they remembered your birthday, and
they want to share their gratitude on your continued existence by
celebrating it. I can't even remember my own birthday you know. Nobody
back at home celebrated it, even my own family. I probably celebrated it
when I was really small, but when I started my training trip, everything
that doesn't pertain to the Art is neglected. My birthday is one of
them..."

Ranma lay himself down on the grass he was on. "I have been alone most
of my life, only my so-called father as a companion. And even with that
the old man didn't do a good job with it, accompanying me I mean. I
watched as he used his martial arts skills to pilfer and steal goods
from various people. He used me as a bartering chip for his vices. That
was why I feel so alone even though he was with me all those times
before. My birthday is not in the list of priorities, as well as having
friends. Whatever friendship I was able to build up during the short
times we stopped in villages and cities, he destroyed by taking me by
force away. He didn't even teach me about how to deal with people as
well. That's why I was a rash and proud boy once before. I still am, but
it is moderated nowadays. I can't change the way I am, but I can
redirect them in some things."

"I... I never knew how hard it was for you." Meia said shortly after a
somber silence surrounded them.

The boy just smiled softly. "You were never meant to understand it. But
seeing that you think the people who care for you were just wasting
their time, I thought I needed to tell you that it was all because they
love you. You are not alone in this ship, always remember that. You have
a family here, whether you think it or not."

Meia's eyes widened marginally for a moment, before moisture erupted
from those same eyes. A soft sob escaped from her lips, alerting Ranma
of Meia's soft crying.

"ACK!" Ranma sat up abruptly and made warding signs with his hands.
"P-Please stop crying! I'm sorry if I said something wrong! I didn't
mean to, honest!"

The girl giggled with her sobs as she wiped her tears gently with one
hand. "Relax, Ranma... I'm n-not really s-sad. I'm actually happy,
because you reminded me that I am loved in here."

Ranma grinned roguishly. "I'm glad you to be of service."

Just then, a familiar blare of alarms filled the air, alerting them of
an impending attack. The baby was jolted awake as she cried hard because
of the noise. Upon seeing Meia trying to look for a place to settle the
baby down in haste, Ranma held her shoulders down firmly, locking her
into place.

"You're not going anywhere." Ranma said seriously.

"But the enemy..." Meia tried to protest, but was silenced once Ranma
gave her a hardened stare.

Ranma gestured to the baby. "You have a responsibility of taking care of
the baby's welfare, whether forced or not. You have to see it through,
and settle on watching the battle from here. Don't worry and have faith
in your teammates... they can win this battle. Meanwhile, you have your
own battle to win, like how to settle that baby down."

Meia nodded numbly as the baby continuously cried out loudly, having
heard the irritating alarms from earlier.

======================================================================== =====

In nearby part of the galaxy, five intricated ships were zeroing in on
the disturbance that bleeped in their monitors. The data seemed to have
detected a massive Lost Technology device that was under attack by
something.

We go to one of the ships' interior, where a pre-adolescent blue-haired
girl with long ears extending on both side of her head monitoring the
signal generated by their target.

"Mint, are you sure you about the Lost Technology? It's the size of a
battleship, and this will be the first time we found a technology as big
as this." The red-haired face visualized in the viewscreen of a short
blue-haired girl with long doggy ears.

"I am sure, Forte-san. Even I was surprised at its size... but there is
no mistake. It is a Lost Technology, one that probably predates
everything we've found so far." The blue-haired girl called Mint
replied.

Another viewscreen appeared beside the one with the redhead named Forte,
bearing the face of a blond haired young woman with large white hair
clips on her head and a small triangular tattoo pointing downwards to a
small dot on her forehead.

"Quit whining, Forte! All we have to do is just go there and drag the
huge hunking thing with us back to Headquarters, right? No big deal!"
The blond snorted derisively.

Forte visibly bristled at that. "Shut up, Ranpha! You were also
complaining a while ago, back in Headquarters right? You were the one
who said, 'It may be just a waste of time, why do I have to get dragged
into this' earlier, you know!"

Before Ranpha could respond, another screen squeezed itself between the
two bickering girls, one with the face of pink haired girl with blue
eyes and a bright smile.

"I wonder if there are people in there..." The pink haired girl said
loudly, effectively breaking up the squandering duo.

Mint shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Milfeuille-san. It might be
pretty old, so there may not be people on board that ship anymore,
although I'm quite curious why it's under attack or under scrutiny of
something. Our sensors picked up just at that point."

Milfeuille sagged slightly. "That's... that's so sad..."

Another screen appeared on the side, showing a red-eyed girl, whose cyan
hair was tied up in a high ponytail. A white headdress of some sort
secured her hair over her head and the sides of her face, covering her
ears in the process. She usually held a dark pink stuffed toy that has a
passing semblance to a fat bird or something, but she left the thing
back in Headquarters. Her face brooked no emotions, which put the rest
of them except Milfeuille rather uneasy.

"People reside within the location where Kami-sama is located." The girl
said cryptically.

Mint cocked her head to one side, momentarily recovering from her
uneasiness. "What do you mean, Vanilla-san?"

For some reason, it seemed to them that Vanilla's face relaxed slightly,
despite having no change at all in their screens. They just 'felt' it
like that. "We are currently headed to where Kami-sama is located, where
my feelings are at the strongest." She replied rather vaguely.

"You keep saying 'Kami-sama', Vanilla. But what do you really mean by
that?!" Ranpha said in exasperation.

Vanilla merely looked at back evenly, her face not even twitching for a
bit. "Kami-sama is Kami-sama."

"Guys... only three more minutes before we reach our destination. Ready
your weapons in case someone's really attacking in there." Forte
interrupted the impromptu ranting of Ranpha regarding Vanilla's evasive
answers, although she was also quite curious as to why Vanilla seemed to
react very much to this mission.

A long bout of silence permeated in their comms as they cruised along
the darkened surroundings of space. Finally, their sensors picked up the
Lost Technology easily, pinpointing its exact location and as well as
information regarding those around it. Sadly, it proved that those
smaller crafts around the technology have their weapons charged and were
firing quite rapidly.

They seemed to have walked in the middle of a battle.

Sure enough, their screens displayed a large white battleship being
peppered with laser fire. Other smaller crafts around it seemed to chase
and destroy the red cube-like ships that seemed to fire at the big ship
as well. There was a mecha-type craft that was having some trouble with
its own enemy.

Without any second thoughts, the team swooped into the battle, their own
lasers ablaze.

Inside the Nirvana, their sensors bleeped as they detected the
appearance of five new ships. At first, the crew at the deck seemed
skeptical, while Magno just watched on tensely. The old woman was hoping
they weren't enemies, because they were already having some trouble with
the current one. It seemed that the Harvesters developed a weapon that
was equally fast and was capable of stealth technology. Hibiki and Dita
were having a hard time fighting it, as the others took care of the
smaller cube-types.

Magno released a huge sigh of relief as the newcomers attacked some of
the Harvester drones, effectively destroying them. She also took note
that the designs of the five ships were a bit like those of their
Dreads.

The Nirvana's communications window lit up, and the face of Mint greeted
them all. "Uhmm... hello there. Ah... are you the ones in the Lost
Technology?"

BC was skeptical at best. "Lost Technology?"

The blue-haired girl nodded. "Hai. I mean the ship we detected that
seemed to possess technology from long ago."

Magno answered at this point. "Yes, child, you are correct. This was
once a vessel from Earth, hundreds of years ago. We named it Nirvana,
after we took it back from those who tried to possess and use it for
war."

Mint's face brightened at that. "Yatta! We were not expecting
inhabitants in the Lost Technology, and we thought we would grasp at
straws trying to understand how it works. It seems Kami-sama blessed us
with luck this time." A small explosion rocked her ship as the view
shook for a moment. "We'll talk later... right now we'll have to beat
the enemies."

Suddenly, they were interrupted when a loud signal suddenly lit up,
alerting them of an escape pod blasting off from the Nirvana. Everyone
looked confused as to why it was so, since they haven't been beaten yet.

Near the escape pod's entry point, Ranma held Meia and the baby close to
his body in reflex.

They were about to go to the bridge where it's safer when the ship shook
violently, making Meia lose her balance. Ranma on the other hand didn't
even flinch when the ship vibrated, along with Rin-Ohki perched on his
head. He saw Meia, with the baby in her arms, stagger to one side.
Meia's hand suddenly shot forward in a vain attempt to balance herself.
Because of this, her hand accidentally pressed a large red button on the
adjacent wall, making her open a circular door that happens to be the
wall Meia was about to reorganize her equilibrium.

Ranma's arms shot out all of the sudden, grabbing Meia's flinging arms
in an attempt to stop her backwards movement. It was totally successful,
with Ranma hugging Meia gently, pulling her away from the circular door.
Sure enough, the exit closed itself, and a loud explosion from behind
the closed door followed it.

A viewscreen on the wall suddenly flared to life, with BC's worried face
on it. "What happened? An escape pod suddenly left the Nirvana, is
everything alright?" BC's voice cackled from the communicator.

Meia was still trying to catch her breath when Ranma decided to answer
for her, "Meia almost got caught in that pod, along with Ezra's baby. I
guess I just pulled her out of it when the pod escaped."

"I... I see..." BC was relieved, according to the emotion on her voice.
The screen finally went to static before shutting off.

Ranma finally noticed that he still held Meia's trembling form. He tried
to pull away, but Meia's body unconsciously followed. In a soothing
voice, he said, "You're safe now, Meia."

The girl snapped out of her trance and gazed at Ranma's eyes. She
replied in a soft voice, "T-Thank y-you..." Seeing herself still in his
arms, she slowly pulled away from him.

Ranma backed away a bit from her, also a little embarrassed at the
awkward situation. His tail was even twitching from side to side, while
Rin-Ohki watched in amusement.

Back to the battle outside, the only enemy left was the fast squid-like
cruiser that disappears from view when it is targeted. Hibiki and Dita
was having a hard time fighting it. When they finally have a lock on
unto it, it ripples out of existence and reappears only when it was
going to blast them with its laser. Vandread Dita was already heavily
damaged and was starting to lose power. Irritated, Hibiki finally had
enough and immediately took his hand from the controllers,
simultaneously immobilizing the Vandread.

It was an ancient technique, used by weaker and slower prey to attack
their predators. It was the 'Play Dead for Now, Attack When the Enemy's
Guard is Down' method.

The Vandread lay vulnerable and open as the cruiser kept on battering it
with its armaments, but it didn't notice that the intervals it was going
invisible was starting to waver. After five minutes of blasting and
almost no movement was detected, the cruiser finally sped up and
prepared to ram its sharpened point into the Vandread.

All those who were watching screamed for Dita as they watched the final
enemy speared towards the Vandread, but at the last moment Hibiki
finally held the controls and caught the tip of the cruiser with two
hands. Holding it into place, he willed the two cannons on his back to
life and blasted the enemy, obliterating it out of existence.

The five newcomers were awed at the destructive power of the giant blue
mecha that emerged unscathed from the explosion.

======================================================================== =====

"Uhmm... hello. We're the Galaxy Angels, from three galaxies across the
western quadrant sector of the universe. We do odd jobs and collect Lost
Technology for our headquarters. I am Mint Bramansche." The blue haired
girl with weird long ears bowed curtly in front of the crew of the
Nirvana.

It was two hours after the battle, when everything finally settled down.
Magno invited the five girls into the ship, since they were also
interested in the so-called Lost Technology that they seem to have
referred the ship with.

When Mint stepped back, the tallest red-haired girl wearing a hat and a
monocle on one eye stepped up and waved lazily. "Forte Schutolien, at
your service. I must say, you have some nice weapons in here."

The second tallest blond haired girl with large white hairpins stepped
forward. Her forehead was decorated with a dark blue inverted triangle
tattoo with a small dot on the bottom. She was dressed in a
tight-fitting red dress. She looked around and sighed, "My name's Ranpha
Flambois. All of you are women here? No men? Well, aside from that small
scrawny guy with the redhead, that goofy-looking bald guy... what's up
with that anyway? And that okay tall guy... but I think he's already
taken by that four-eyed nerdy girl by his side..."

"HEY!" Hibiki, Bart and Parfait almost exploded, if not for several of
the crewmembers holding them back.

BC put her hands on her hips as she said nonchalantly, "Well we have at
least those three me..." An elbow in her ribs made her amend the
statement, "I mean, four men... we recently acquired another man in our
travels. Our civilization may differ from yours, because we have lived
without men for years. Our women were brought up thinking that men bring
diseases or something. But recently, we have been in contact with them
ever since."

Ranpha gaped at her. "N-No men?! That's absurd!"

BC snorted. "Maybe to you, but to us it makes some sense, at least
before we got into contact with them once again. Our planet, Mejer, used
cloning technology to make reproduction between women a possibility. We
were forced to co-exist with the men in here while we're trying to
locate our home system. The men are in the same boat, growing up in an
environment where they thought women were cannibals that eat men's
livers."

"No... men..." Ranpha was shocked at that information.

A pink-haired young girl stepped up next, smiling brightly with her blue
eyes sparkling. She straightened up as she said cheerfully, "Hello!! My
name's Milfeuille Sakura, age seventeen! I'm so happy to be here! Do you
like tea? How about cakes? I love cakes, especially those with those
cute icing on top..." She rattled on about cakes, ice cream, cooking
tips... you get the point.

Everyone sweatdropped at the hyperized girl that was no different from a
bunny in an adrenaline rush. After fifteen minutes of talking,
Milfeuille finally managed to stop talking, simply because she lost
energy to do so.

A rather stoic girl, surprisingly more serious than Meia was before,
with cyan ponytailed hair bowing slightly forward. Her eyes were blood
red in color, and her head was adorned with a white headdress.

"Vanilla Ash." The girl said curtly, her face never betraying a single
emotion.

Ranpha rolled her eyes and added bluntly, "Before we came here, she's
been mumbling about someone Kami-sama. I think she believes Kami-sama's
in this place. Is there someone like that in here?"

Magno's brows raised considerably. "Kami-sama? Here? Where did you get
that thought?"

Ranpha shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I really didn't believe it
all that much. I mean, what are the chances of... HELLO! Who's that
guy?!"

Everyone turned to look at the approaching pair of Ranma and Meia, with
Ezra's baby on tow and Rin-Ohki perched on Ranma's shoulder. Ranma
suddenly looked up and noticed the attention set on them. He raised his
hands in the air and said quickly, "Whatever it is, I didn't do it! I
just got here for crying out loud!"

"WAI!" Milfeuille appeared on Ranma's side, curiously peering at
Rin-Ohki. "I'm Milfeuille! That's so cute! What's its name?"

"Uhhh..." Ranma looked helplessly at Magno, who was stifling a laugh. He
gazed back to the pink-haired girl and replied, "Well, she's Rin-Ohki."

Milfeuille clasped her hands together. "Can I hold her, pleeeeaaaaase?!"

Ranma sweatdropped. "O-Okay... just don't drop her or anything." He
reached up to his shoulder and looked Rin-Ohki in the eyes, saying, "Are
you okay with this?"

"MIYAAAAH!" Rin-Ohki replied happily.

He chuckled and handed Rin-Ohki over to the pink-haired girl, who
quickly petted the adorable silver furred creature in her arms.

Ranma turned to ask something, but stopped cold when he found himself
faced with the cyan haired girl, who was looking at him with curious red
eyes.

"Okaay... this is getting freaky." Ranma said softly.

Magno finally spared him the embarrassment. "Ranma, I would like you to
meet Milfeuille, Mint, Forte, Ranpha, and of course, the lovely young
lady in front of you is Vanilla..." She gestured to each with her hand.
"These are five Galaxy Angels, who came from another galaxy to inspect
our ship. I think they are from the other colony ships that escaped the
Earth years back. They are interested in Earth's technologies, or what
they call Lost Technology right now."

Ranma nodded. "I see... more survivors of... uhhmm... Vanilla-san?" He
started to feel nervous when Vanilla touched his forehead with her hand,
as if searching for something.

The girl gasped and stepped back, her face lighting up much to her
companion's shock. Vanilla reared back and bowed to the waist,
declaring, "Kami-sama! I finally found you!"

Everyone fell silent at that. It was bound not to last.

"EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

Ranpha pointed to Ranma. "You mean this hunk of a man is the one you've
been pining about since we left headquarters?!"

Forte whistled. "You have to admit, she's got good taste."

Mint blushed at the implications. "Forte-san! Ranpha-san! Don't tease
her like that!"

BC and Gascogne were chuckling hard. It was a rather funny thought.

Magno guffawed as she thumped her chest, laughing at Ranma's luck so
far.

Dita, Jura, Barnette, and the rest of the crew just stared blankly at
the pale Ranma.

"You know... Washuu-sensei mentioned the same thing back in Pluto..."
Misty said, tapping her chin with her index finger.

Meia looked at Ranma thoughtfully, humming, "Hmmmm... you know,
Kami-sama seems to fit you for some reason. I mean with all your
abilities, I won't be surprised at all."

"Uhm, actually, it was my mom who is the goddess." Ranma said meekly,
too softly for anyone to hear as he tried to clarify, but if he tried to
think about it, that will make him a god as well. We do know thinking
was not a strong point for Ranma anyway.

"Mister Alien is Kami-sama?!" Three guesses who THAT was.

"I'm NOT Mister Alien!" Ranma retorted hotly. Then he paused for a
moment to think about it. "Oh, wait... you're right. I am a Mister
Alien."

Meia eyed him evilly. "Oh? So you DO admit you're Kami-sama?"

Ranma bristled at that. "What?! NO! What makes you think I'm Kami-sama
anyway?! And for that matter, why are we even talking about this?!"

Meia just smiled cutely at him, holding little Karua close to her
breast.

Suddenly, the whole area was filled with loud wails of sirens signifying
an attack.

"Enemies already? We just defeated them a while ago!" Jura moaned as she
started to walk towards her Dread. Meia wordlessly handed Karua to
Pyoro, who has been pestering her since she entered the room with the
baby in her arms, and started to follow the blond. Hibiki, Dita and
Barnette, as well as the other Dread pilots sighed tiredly and started
to go to their own Vanguard and ships as well.

They were stopped when Ezra's voice filled the comms. "Ano, Captain,
there's a ship right beside ours. It seems to be hailing us."

Magno's face reflected a curious look as she replied, "Patch us through,
we may be able to avoid a conflict this time."

A high-pitched voice echoed all over the ship as it said,
"Ohayoooooooooo minna-san! How are you? Is my cuddly-wuddly Ranma-chan
in there?"

"Cuddly... wuddly... pyoro?" The white egg-shaped robot turned to stare
at Ranma, with the giggling Karua in his arms.

Everyone turned once again to Ranma as well, who stood up straight with
a strange look on his face. His right brow was twitching rather
violently as he sweatdropped. His tail was swaying quickly from side to
side, to which Mint, Ranpha, and Forte were staring at right now.

Vanilla just remained fixated at Ranma's face.

"MIYAAAH!" Rin-Ohki squealed in Milfeuille's arms, apparently glad that
Washuu was there already.

"That... that voice..." Ranma had a funny feeling who that was. Only one
person has that kind of a deceptively sweet and annoying voice.

The voice answered back with an excited tone in it. "Is that you in
there, my lovely guinea pig? It's been a long time, my Ranma-chan! I
finally found you!"

"I sometimes wished you hadn't." Ranma said softly, but the smile on his
face says that he didn't mean it at all.

Washuu replied back, "I am SUCH a genius! But of course, I AM the
greatest scientist in the whole universe! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ranma could actually sense the two puppets on her shoulders popping out
and throwing confetti all over, declaring praises to Washuu, even when
the communications was voice-only.

"That's Washuu?" Magno asked, her face screwed with disbelief.

Misty nodded sagely. "Yep, Washuu-sensei has such an ego that even a
black hole can't suck it all up." A small bead of sweat rolled down on
the back of her head anyway. The yellow holographic blob Q that appeared
outside her earrings nodded with Misty.

Everyone facefaulted at that.

"Uhmm... Washuu... chan?" Ranma asked hesitantly, his sweatdrop
returning with a vengeance as well.

Washuu continued her cackling laughter in the comm channel.

======================================================================== =====
== To Be Continued... ==
======================================================================== =====

Author Rants:

Sorry if this took longer than it should. I learned that wounding your
index finger by the tip hurts a little, but it constricted typing speed
to a bare minimum since the small wound was always pressed or something.
Who knew a little cut would give me that much trouble? I cut myself
while chopping vegetables for a good beef veggie noodle soup.

My companion laughed so hard about it. She says it was the first time
she has ever seen me fumble like that. It was all her fault too, making
side comments about stuff bearing the R-18 rating.

Anyway.

A lot of things were prevented in this Vandread AU. We all know Ranma
wouldn't allow anyone to get hurt, especially if he knew he could do
something about it.

Whew. Making the history Ranma missed while he was in limbo turned out
to be a chore. It was rather long. But it's now kinda understandable
what the heck happened.

Sailor Moon and the other scouts remained dormant in the Parallel World,
because of the appearance of the aliens featured in Dual! Parallel
Trouble Adventure. Beryl seemed to have lost her will to attack, how the
heck should she react on these gigantic things?

Yes, it's all Ranma's fault. His mere presence put the time line in a
loop within loop craziness.

Tenchi was still strong, although the lack of Ryoko's presence changed a
lot of things. Instead of killing Kagato, he ended up just hurting the
villain enough to put Kagato into retreat mode. Also, instead of going
after Ryoko, Kagato went after Washuu.

So, where the heck did Ryoko go? And the Juraians too?

Feh. You'll find out in the next subchapter.

Just a thought... with Ranma traveling in that limbo, he could very well
be thousands of years old, since who knows if he's trapped in there or
just passing through? Huh? What the heck am I talking about?

There are now two perspectives in Ranma's real age. One is according to
those he met in the future after he got out of the limbo, the other is
his perspective. But can we really trust Ranma's perspective, since he
will live a long long LONG time.

NEXT SUBCHAPTER: Washuu finally found her Ranma-chan, but she can't
return him to the past just yet. WHY? Oh! They need to return to Earth!

The secrets of the Paeksis will finally be revealed, as well as Ranma's
role in the grand scheme of things. It will shock Ranma to the core when
he finds out the truth about them. Everyone gets sucked into this scheme
as long as they are in contact with Ranma. What will they do?

They will stumble upon a planet plagued by another familiar energy
signature, which was also in the middle of a war. Stand Tall and Shake
the Heavens! The Legend of the False God will unfold!

Just what is Vanilla Ash's relationship with Ranma?

Ja ne.

- Lord Rance

In case you need my email for some reason at all, here:
lord_rance@yahoo.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