Crossover Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Chaos: Ascension of Supremacy ❯ Chapter 08e ( Chapter 19 )

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

PATH OF CHAOS: ASCENSION OF SUPREMACY

- By Lord Rance

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

Author Notes: Hmm... Arc 1's done.

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

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

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

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

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

Thoughts: ((Ranma))

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

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

Electronic Communications: ["Ranma"], [""Ranma""]

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CHAPTER 8E - PAVING THE WAY TO THE FUTURE

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"Uhm... you can stop hugging me now..."" Chibi-Ranma said in embarrassment, as he tried not to notice his unexpected passenger's lithe body against his own. Even if he's still in his child form, his brain was that of an adult. Big people thoughts ran rampant in that little head of his... and they're not helping his predicament right now.

The portal was one big swirling mess of a gateway, which caught Raven unawares. Her previous irritation on the pigtailed boy vanished as she was sucked into the whirlpool easily. She quickly sought out an anchor for her to keep her balance. Lo and behold, she found one.

"Don't wanna..." Raven whined to his chest, unable to stop a few tears from escaping the corners of her eyes. Ranma was about to leave her, for good... and the thought actually pierced her heart fiercely. She just realized it as soon as she entered the portal, that she was about to be separated from the person who she was bound tightly to. Good thing she followed him, even if for the wrong reasons initially, else she'll be left in a world without him.

Of course, even when Ranma underwent all those changes mentally and physically, he was still a sucker for helpless women. The policy included 'crying women' in bold letters.

"H-Hey... it's all right, really!" Chibi-Ranma sweatdropped. Apparently, he's STILL a wimp when it came to a female's tears, though he knew about it. It was just part of his nature to crumble at the sight.

It was at that small respite that he managed to look around them.

Chibi-Ranma gaped. "What the hell happened here?" he whispered to himself.

Raven took a gamble and pulled her face from Ranma's chest, and gazed around herself. She saw that they were definitely in another world, with the multi-moons and all that hanging in the sky, as well as the various advanced technology around them. But...

"Er... it looks like there's been a war, Ranma..." Raven said softly as she stared at the decapitated mechanical head of what seemed to resemble a tiger. Or was it a lion? And colored in blue, too.

"Of course there was, I was here before I left for your universe, after all. But it wasn't THIS bad..." Ranma was stumped. Sure, temporal mechanics were unstable at best, but with the looks of things... the time elapsed seems not that far. There was a familiar flag that lay in tatters just beyond the decapitated mechanical lion/tiger head.

((Head?)) Ranma thought to himself furiously, ((Now what am I forgetting here... ah! Rin-Ohki!)) he crowed mentally as he opened his link with his partner.

Ranma and Raven grimaced in pain as tremendous amounts of grief and anger filled their heads. And it all came from the newly-reopened link.

"Ranma... what is this?!" Raven growled out as she clutched at her head in agony.

The physically young boy on the other hand was busy trying to connect with his partner again, but he was having little success. Rin-Ohki was so far gone into her rage that she was ignoring anything else that would hinder her revenge. Revenge? On what? On who?

Not that it matters. In fact, Ranma hadn't noticed that he was already floating up in the air, homed in to that large concentration of maddening anger. He seemed to have ignored the fact that Raven was still clutched at his chest. There they were, with Ranma flying horizontally in the air, with a frantically grabby Raven who tried to stabilize herself. She was helped by Ranma when the young boy quickly changed into his much larger form of around eighteen years of his physical age.

It was then that it hit the demonic girl... that she could fly as well. Almost cursing her weird outbursts of wild emotions, she let Ranma's waist go and allowed her own dark powers to levitate beside Ranma. Not that the young hybrid noticed it in any way. But she still followed him... she doesn't have anywhere to go to in the first place.

They flew in mid-air for a bit, and marveled at the plain sight below them. There were a few clumps of land where trees grew, but the planet was mostly made of sand and deserts. There were a few areas where Ranma and Raven saw a group of those mechanical animals, Zoids as Ranma told his companion, battled against each other. The red-tailed boy explained to Raven as much as he could remember from when he was here a while ago.

A flash of light caught their attention, as the duo sped along in the air. When they turned towards the source of the light, they goggled at the sight of piled scrap metal that littered the ground below them. It was a virtual junkyard, and judging from the smoke that wafted from the debris, they were still recent.

In an outcropping just beyond the mountain of mechanical debris, there was a gathering of some sort. A large group of robotic animals surrounded something in a tight circle. Curious, Ranma and Raven floated in the air and went near the gathering. What they saw had different reactions from either one.

Raven was quite interested, as she saw a small silver-like animal whose breed was a cross between an Earth bunny rabbit and something that was most likely a cat. The said animal has been surrounded carefully by the gigantic robots, but it seemed unperturbed as it hissed around itself in great anger.

Ranma's expression was one of resignation. His link with the aforementioned partner of his was still closed, so he had no way to communicate with Rin-Ohki until the link was restored. He grimaced as the agitated cabbit hissed and fired off an narrow beam of energy blast from its mouth towards one Zoid that tried to come near it. Good thing the pilot cleared the jump out of his Zoid's cockpit, or else he would've been sheared in half as his Zoid fell apart in two clean parts.

It started a chain reaction that made the other Zoids jump into the fray, and the cabbit just started blasting them all away from waves of energy that erupted from her mouth, as well as beams from her eyes. The gem on the cabbit's forehead glowed fiercely as the massacre began.

"Eh... this will be a long day." The pigtailed hybrid sighed, as he sweatdropped when a stray beam almost sliced Raven in half. The demonic girl squawked as dodged to the side hastily, her hand clutched to her chest in fright.

"A really, long day..."

It was a weird day, indeed.

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

In the Nirvana, three days after the Planet Zi Incident...

Ranma was currently staring towards the speckled view outside the window of the hallway just outside the Nirvana's bridge. He reminisced upon the events that happened within the days that has passed...

It has been a few days after Ranma and Raven arrived from the other dimension. It was by chance that the Washuu in Raven's original dimension was quite lucky, since she has somehow pinpointed the somewhat exact location where Ranma disappeared, only off by a few hours or so.

But even so, those few hours of Ranma's absence managed to aggravate one lonely cabbit, who thought she lost her beloved master. The small, seemingly harmless creature was to be remembered by those who managed to survive the all-important war for planetary peace in Planet Zi that day. That same creature everyone laughed at initially by the natives managed to raze at least sixty percent of the Zoid population of the planet. It was by luck that Rin-Ohki was able to resist blasting the Zoid Eve as well, which was 'supposed' to be the one who sent Ranma into another dimension. The destruction of the huge monolith would've spelled doom to all the Zoids in the planet. It will kick the civilization's technology back a few thousands of years worth of advancement.

By the time Ranma managed to calm the enraged cabbit down, she has inadvertedly mowed down both the Republic and Imperial forces Zoids alike. The Republic's flagship Zoid, the Ultrasaurus, was slammed by one of Rin-Ohki's energy blasts from her mouth. The beam managed to shave off a third of the huge Zoid's body. The legendary almighty Death Saurer, which terrified the ancient Zoidians of the planet's past, suffered an even harsher fate as its strong hide was no match for the fury of the currently deranged cabbit of destruction. The upper part of the Death Saurer has been cleanly sheared off, which effectively stopped its random acts of violence cold. Not that it really made that much difference with Rin-Ohki's berserk state.

Planet Zi was in the middle of a war when Ranma and Rin-Ohki landed on it. In as good as four hours, Rin-Ohki effectively ended the planetary war that lasted for years.

Upon setting her sights upon her master, Rin-Ohki was totally joyous at the reunion. She abandoned her erstwhile task of reducing a Zoid robot named Gojulas into scrap metal, and virtually teleported into her master's arms. Rin-Ohki ignored her master's companion for the time being, to give her total devotion on relishing the feel of her mind's reconnection with her master once again. The rest will come later.

Ranma did not bother trying to explain the situation to the natives of the planet. He can't possibly formulate a cohesive excuse regarding his partner's actions. Well, actually, he knew, but why suffer a long winding speech about it when he could just take off? Besides, Ranma can't really help if he was suddenly pulled out of this dimension. It was indirectly his fault, but he can't help it.

The pigtailed hybrid hasn't even bothered asking the cabbit to transform into her ship form; he just teleported while he held Rin-Ohki in his right arm and Raven by his hand on her shoulder. Raven has no time to ask for any questions as Ranma made a first teleport just below the admissible height in the atmosphere where the air was still breathable. After pinpointing the Paeksis Plagma and the Nirvana's crew's position in space, he phased out of Planet Zi's atmosphere with his companions. The trio left the planet's surface virtually in ruins, but Ranma knew the natives can start their lives again.

It was in Nirvana that Ranma had found out about Hibiki Tokai's location. The boy was picked up by Dita, Jura and Meia from the planet they were assigned to. Hibiki also has this strange feel around him, and Ranma surmised that the boy has matured at least in a little bit. Probably some experience from the planet where he crash landed changed the boy's attitude drastically. Ranma did not bother asking much since he's not really entitled to needling out the information from Hibiki.

The trio of Lea, Vanilla and Emeralda had greeted him in the Hangar Bay. It was the place where Ranma, Rin-Ohki and Raven reappeared after their teleport off-planet. Ranma nervously introduced Raven to the group trio of women and expected some resistance, but he was quite surprised when he encountered none of the usual banters about new women in the group. Raven was actually quite enthused at meeting the new people, since she found out that the trio were not really ordinary mortals. She felt at home with the girls, and the trio accepted her warmly. This did not ease the nervousness in Ranma's mind which was questioned by Raven, who felt his emotions through their link. Rin-Ohki would've bothered asking about it herself, but she was too busy catching her rest as she snuggled deeper into her master's arms. Ranma deigned not to answer Raven's question, and was thankful that Lea averted her attention into assimilating the new girl into their group.

The raven-haired young man noticed that the trio has been acting a bit differently towards one another, and now with Raven. He has dreaded this particular meeting, but all his doubts were laid to rest. He has thought that the three wouldn't accept Raven, but he was clearly mistaken. Still, the thought brought some shivers to his spine, as he tried to think of the sudden implications of this change. It seemed to him that the three were 'too friendly' now.

Feh. Ranma dismissed those scary thoughts for the time being. The important thing for the moment was that he rested a bit. But first, he reported to Washuu everything that has happened to him in the other world, especially the new form he was able to acquire. Washuu was definitely excited, and while she had wanted a more physical sort of evidence, Ranma just coughed up the disk the other world's Washuu gave him to present to her other self. Washuu was kind of disappointed, but she just accepted it in stride. She has locked herself in her lab to investigate the data inside the disk, and it suited Ranma just fine.

The last few days have been hectic for him.

The young pigtailed hybrid snorted as he watched several pieces of space junk smashed against the Nirvana's shields harmlessly. He remembered the supposed 'celebration party' that the whole crew assembled for their return to their home worlds. Ranma's face winced a bit, as he thought of how carefree these women were...

Ranma was about to rest atop one of the trees in the indoor biosphere in the center of the Nirvana, when he stopped at the doors which outcropped the green garden. Instead of being empty as it usually should've been, the area was filled with people, women, scurrying about carrying various condiments and decorations. Some were dressed in perverted versions costumes, while others were just dressed in other outlandish scanty clothes which almost caused Ranma's nasal cavity to explode with his life fluids.

The normal clothes the majority of the crew wore before were already straining on Ranma's self-control, and their clothes now were much, much worse.

The horrified young man clutched at the silver cabbit sleeping in his arms, as he slowly backed away from the entrance towards the hall. He was almost free when he bumped upon Dita, Meia and Misty, who were trailed behind by Lea, Vanilla, Emeralda and Raven. All of them were dressed in different colored kimonos, modified to fit the styles of the future he was on from those he remembered from the past. Misty hung upon a flustered Meia's arm, which brought Ranma to blink at the scene. They were probably on their way towards the center hall of the ship.

"Where are you going, Ranma-sama? And why aren't you dressed?" Lea asked as she pointed at the black body suit that covered Ranma's body. He did wear a pair of dark blue trousers though.

"Probably to sleep..." Raven said drolly as she cast a dry stare towards the fidgeting young man.

Ranma scratched the base of his pigtail, a reflex action he was never able to change through the passing of years in his new life. "Uhm... I... fine. I was gonna catch a few hours of sleep somewhere. Say... what's with the decorations and stuff? And while we're in the middle of the magnetic storm, too."

Meia cocked her head to one side slightly and asked, "You were not informed of the celebration?"

"We're waiting to celebrate when Nirvana breaks through the storm!" Dita hopped in place repeatedly with joy, which caused Ranma to avert his gaze with a small blush on his face. Things got too bouncy for his taste, even if the kimonos were of a tight fit to avoid such things from happening. Raven smirked at his reaction.

Dita sobered though. "It's too bad... Mister Alie... uhm, Hibiki is still outside with Jura..." she suddenly glared at nothing in particular, "Powering up the Nirvana's shielding..." then she suddenly brightened up with a smile, "He promised to celebrate with me later, though!"

"... right..." Ranma deadpanned, but stopped himself from commenting any further when he spied on Misty at the corners of his eyes. She was clutched unto Meia's right arm and smiling, but he saw her eyes. The depth of sadness and loneliness was overwhelming. Ranma opted to watch for the girl's welfare for the time being.

Sure enough, amidst the chattering of the other girls amongst themselves Misty slowly detached herself from Meia and backed away from the group discreetly. After making sure nobody was looking, she casted him a longing glance before she disappeared into the hallway that led deeper into the Nirvana.

Meia hasn't noticed Misty's absence yet, since she was busy conversing with Raven and Lea about the benefits of handling emotions effectively. Dita was busy doing a one-sided conversation with both Vanilla and Emeralda, who just looked at the chatty girl like she was a bane of their existence. Lea observed both of her younger companions absently, ready if ever Emeralda or Vanilla decided to strangle the hyper girl anyway.

After Ranma has ushered the girls into the party proper, he excused himself to get himself something to drink from the cafeteria, ignoring the fact that there were some girls in the party who served drinks. Lea and Raven both gave him a meaningful look, which he pointedly ignored for the moment. He quickly sped outside of the hall and retraced Misty's footsteps.

His innate curiosity led him to the Engine Room, where the greenish glow of the Paeksis Plagma bathed Ranma as he entered it. He spied upon the blue-haired girl, who was at the catwalk that was above the Paeksis Plagma itself. Even at the distance between the girl and Ranma, he could see the crystalline drops that fell towards the Paeksis below.

Misty was crying.

Ranma bit back some choice curses that almost erupted from his lips as he stared at the slightly shaking, slumped figure of Misty. Rin-Ohki shifted a bit in the crook of his left arm, and was currently content in dreaming of frolicking in a large carrot field. Ranma on the other hand firmed his resolve as he stepped towards the girl silently.

Misty almost fell over the railings of the catwalk when she felt a large hand touch her shoulder. She whirled around and tried to project a dangerous stance to intimidate whoever managed to sneak up on her, but all she was able to do was make Ranma smile at the weird contortions her body made itself do.

"R-Ranma-san! You scared me!" Misty has thought of slapping the smiling young man soundly on the cheek for frightening her, but the anger she felt melted away when Ranma's smile became infectious. Soon enough, she found herself smiling shyly.

Ranma grinned as he pulled back his hand. "Sorry if I scared ya. So... what're you doing here all alone?" His face suddenly grew thoughtful as he stared at the slightly nervous and abashed girl in front of him, "You're not... playing with yourself, are you?"

Misty gasped loudly as her face suddenly lit up in an atomic blush, "N-NO! What made you think that I was doing THAT?!"

The red-tailed man shrugged slightly, his free hand lifted to his face as he pushed the black-tinted eyeglasses on his face up his nose. "Dunno... you're the one skulking in a dark place all alone. I mean, who knows what you're doing here? I was just curious." Slowly, all traces of humor left his face as he turned away from the girl. Ranma leaned his back to the catwalk railings beside Misty, and stared at the dark recesses of the room.

"So..." Ranma began after a short period of silence, "What's really bothering you?"

"N-Nothing!" Misty shuddered slightly as she turned her back on him.

The pigtailed hybrid smiled gently, as he continued looking at nowhere in particular. "Those tear tracks on your cheeks say otherwise, Misty-chan."

The girl sighed softly, as she stared down at the soft green glow of the Nirvana's energy core. She would've thought of this setting as somewhat romantic, but she knew that with this man, it probably would not happen. Too many women love this man, and she was nothing compared to them. Besides, she knew she was too selfish to even think of sharing him with other girls, as it would seem to be the case based on how those women who came back from the planetary excursion a while ago acted upon seeing another girl with Ranma.

Besides, Ranma was one big clueless jerk. Well, he really didn't mean to be one, but he was! Nothing short of a tantamount Nuclear Holocaust could get his attention, and she knew she wasn't as brave and as hard pressed as those other girls to claim a right on him.

As if sensing Ranma patiently waiting on her, Misty quickly composed herself as she replied, "It's really nothing... it's just that I feel kinda lonely here, you know? Even if I'm a girl like most of those around here, I feel that I don't belong with them. I'm a girl who, by all means, was an alien to them. My customs and beliefs are far different than theirs. I can't force my beliefs on them, nor can they force their beliefs on me, and that's why I'm kinda lonely."

"Ah..." Ranma noised as he turned his body so that he was facing the railings of the catwalk, and leaned unto his free arm as he draped it across the metal pole, "I know how you feel. When I first came here, I was kinda weirded out by their beliefs too, ya know? As far as I'm concerned, my mind's still on the 21st century mindset. A lot of what I believed in are foreign here too."

Misty winced as she thought of what he said. Because of her own self-pity, she has forgotten that Ranma was as temporally displaced as she was. In fact, Ranma has more problems than she does. Faced with this dilemma, she has no right to complain to him, as her problems were insignificant compared to what plagued his person.

"How do you cope?" The blue-haired girl finally found her voice, "How do you keep on going, knowing that there's no way you can go back?"

Ranma shrugged nonchalantly. "Who says there isn't? There is a way for me to go back, but it's a hard and difficult road. It may take me another thousand years, but I will persevere. I just try to live on everyday, to exist, knowing that there has to be a light beyond the tunnel. Also, I treat these little excursions of mine like field trips. They teach me things... new things as a matter of fact, about different customs and ideals of some people. Also, this gives me insight to what people in the future will be like."

Misty sighed as she too leaned unto the railings, "I don't think I can cope with that..."

Ranma snorted slightly, "I can't do much about my situation, so I just try to live it accordingly. Besides, if you were to voice your opinions to the crew, I'm sure they'll listen to you. You're just girls... you'll understand each other."

"Eh?" The girl form Pluto growled as she stomped her foot on the catwalk agitatedly, "What do you mean, 'We're just girls'? Are you implying something?"

The pigtailed hybrid looked at her at the corners of his eyes, his black glasses glinted against the faint green glow of the Paeksis, "Girls have their own language. That's why they get along really well, even if they just met. They get all noisy and babbly after a while of talking, and then they're all best pals. Give them one topic, and they'll talk about it for hours. Boys aren't like that though, at least, not by much. Sure we act all buddy-buddy with one another at first, and we talk about random things, but we don't get all huggy and babbly like you do. Boys are cool, and girls are..."

"Ooooohhhh!!!" Misty turned on the catwalk and stomped away from the young man and shouted, "You... you... MALE! Arrogant jerk! Arrgghhh!!" One could hear Misty's curses fading into nothing as she continued stomping out of the engine room.

Ranma stared after the fuming girl and watched her disappear from the doorway that led outside. Once Misty was gone, he looked down at the Paeksis Plagma, which was glowing erratically.

"Yeah, laugh it up..." Ranma grumbled at first, which was followed by his soft chuckles to himself, "At least she ain't crying anymore. I can't stand girls that cry. I just hope it ain't gonna bite me in the ass later..."

Just as he was about to relax, the door to the engine room opened once again.

"RANMAAAA!!" A chorus of female voices echoed all over the engine room.

Ranma grimaced. "Nope... no rest at all."

The girls, which included some of his companions as well, were adamant in teaching him a lesson about respecting women. Well, he really didn't mean to say those things otherwise, he just wanted to make Misty concentrate on other endeavors.

Oh well... that has been a few days ago. As of the moment, he was at the bridge of the Nirvana, just as excited as the other members of the crew as they anticipated their eminent arrival in their star system.

Unknown to them, there was a surprise waiting for them at home.

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

The situation in the Mejer and Talark system had been bleak. The Earth Harvester force came barreling through the defensive grid the two planets surrounded themselves. The Harvesters sacrificed one of their huge motherships to punch a hole through the automated mines. Once all of them were removed, it was a simple matter of cruising comfortably into the Mejer and Talark space for the Harvesters.

It was a weird sight to see, when the two planets did not even mount a small defense force to fight for their lives. The citizen of each planet were at an uproar as well, asking their respective leaders as to why they had to watch this travesty in the making.

'Grandma' and 'Grandpa', the illustrious and shaded leaders of each planet, were silent about this.

There had been four battleships of the enemy, one had already destroyed itself as it rammed through the defense system. Two came through the cloud of debris to survey the area, then parted to allow a more decorated and massive vessel to squeeze in between them. They stopped just outside the borders of the two planets, as if waiting for some sort of signal to begin the massacre, while the people of the two planets lay defenseless.

At that time, on the opposite side of where the trio of Earth battleships appeared, a white vessel pierced through the darkness of space. It was the Nirvana, with the Soja II still anchored at its side.

The whole of Nirvana was on alert, and everyone was in their stations. Bart was already inside the pilot's console of the Nirvana, while Hibiki, Dita, Jura, Meia and the rest of the Dread pilots were already positioned in their respective vessels. Deuro and Paiway already have the medical bay all prepared and ready for action, while Parfet and her crew tensed inside the Paeksis Plagma's main room. They were already prepared to face anything that may come their way. Anything, but what they were about to see...

"We have arrived in our home world." BC announced loudly as she scanned all communication frequencies. Then a loud gasp went out her lips as she stared at the nightmare come true on the screen. Noticing their sub commander's sudden lapse to silence, the bridge crew followed her gaze and blanched as they saw the trio of motherships that were poised on the other side of the space, ready and probably charged to start their slaughter. On another side, battleships coming from both Talark and Mejer were assembled, but separate from one another, as the stalemate continued in the middle of space.

"There are a lot of motherships of bad aliens!" Dita commented loudly as she stared on her Dread's screen hard.

"It is weird though." Duero reported as he looked intently at the screen.

Magno narrowed her eyes at the sight. She said, "Where are the reinforcements?! Why are our home worlds not protecting themselves...? Oh kami..." her voice trailed off as she suddenly realized something.

"Your so-called leaders chose to accept their fates and die..." Ranma idly noted as he stood on one side, with Vanilla, Emeralda, Lea, Raven and Washuu around him. Rin-Ohki lay contentedly on Ranma's head once again, but this time the cabbit was currently wide awake. She surveyed the area of space in front of the Nirvana with her own sensors and hissed rather audibly as she detected the already familiar electronic signatures of the Harvester drones.

Everyone quickly turned their hard gazes on him, which he pointedly ignored. Having been around women most of his time in the future, which for some reason he noticed that most were tomboys and such, made his resistance to those looks much more profound than before. The only ones not looking at him in irritation were Vanilla, Lea, Raven, Emeralda, Washuu themselves.

"Transmission coming from Planet Mejer, captain!" Someone from the communications console called out as she filtered the necessary information from the calling party and displayed it on the screen.

Nodding, Magno turned to the female and said, "Patch it through."

The holographic screen whirred into life as it showed a trio of hooded women. Two of them stood on the sides in between a third one, who has different clothes apart from the other two. She seemed important, since she was flanked by two other.

["Ahh.... Magno.... the leader of the Mejer Space Pirates. It would seem you have just returned from your... quest."] The old woman in the middle of the entourage rasped roughly.

"Grandma." Magno acknowledged with a nod, causing gasps from all those around them.

["I order you..."] The leader of the Mejer planet intoned direct to the point, ["... not to do anything and surrender the Ikazuchi. You are to do NOTHING."]

"WHAT?!" Everyone in the Nirvana, formerly known as the colony ship 'Ikazuchi', shouted in defiance as they turned a stare of disbelief at their highly respected (until now, that is) planetary leader.

"What about the enemy forces?! Are we just going to sit back and watch them destroy us? You haven't even started to mobilize your defense forces!" Jura said in exasperation as she did nothing to hide her contempt at the formal declaration.

When silence answered Jura's words, everyone whispered amongst themselves.

Someone said her own thoughts out loud though. "So... Ranma was right all along." Meia's soft but firm voice echoed across the hushed whispers around the bridge. "So that means... the information we sent over a few months ago was probably destroyed. And you probably didn't even inform the rest of the planet about this."

Hibiki's face suddenly appeared on the viewscreen, his face screwed in an expression of disgust, ["At least Talark isn't like Mejer."]

"Don't be too sure." Everyone turned to Ranma as he stepped forward a bit, his glasses-covered eyes boring holes towards the Mejer leader. "I think both the planets' leaders are in this together."

Hibiki was outraged. ["NO WAY! How dare you associate us men with those---"]

"Stop what you're about to say, moron." Ranma chided roughly as he glared at the small boy on the viewscreen, who tried to glare back but finally cowered when he saw Ranma's pupils glow under the blackness of the hybrid's glasses. It didn't help that Ranma's gems on his forehead flared in response.

Ranma continued as he looked intently towards the screen, "Hibiki... you've been in this ship for nearly a year. You should've known that they're not what you were taught back in your planet. And that goes the same with the women." Pointing towards the screen, Ranma sneered, "I think you have something to explain to them, woman!"

["Silence, you insolent male!"] The help from the old woman's right side shouted back at him, but then flinched when Ranma's gaze snapped towards her.

Help for the old woman came from an unexpected source as the screen split into two, revealing another person in white robes, but the area around the person was bleaker than the women's side of the screen.

"Grandpa?" BC asked in surprise as she stared at the apparition of her, rather, his leader. It has been so long ago that BC has been ordered to blend in with the women to spy on them, even going to the farthest extents to alter her body to transform her into a woman, at least her upper body and her curves that is. Her reproductive organs were intact, however. The years have passed, and she came into contact with these pirates and got under the command of Magno. BC's views about women wavered as she spent time with them. Now, her confusion was evident as to who she was, but somehow, somewhere deep inside her heart, she knew she could never go back to being a man.

'Grandpa' turned slightly to BC, who stifled a shudder as she looked away from the screen. ["So... we meet again, commander."] Grandpa's old voice grated into the communications speaker. ["I understand you have finished your assignment. You are free to return. Leave the Ikazuchi and take your place among us again. We welcome you back as a hero."]

For a moment, silence reigned over the bridge after Grandpa revealed BC's true gender. The women around the bridge were surprised at the information, all except Magno and Ranma themselves. Duero, Hibiki and Bart in the pilot cubicle all gaped at BC, who sat at her post in silence after the secret was blown.

"S-Subcommander?" Dita asked through the comms nervously as she tried to get the grips as to what was being revealed to her as of late. Most of what she believed in were lies and half-truths.

"It's true..." BC sighed as she slowly stood up, her voice barely audible in their ears. But because of the pounding silence, the small voice was crystal clear. "I'm a highly-ranked commander from the Talark intelligence, whose job was to infiltrate the women's ranks and gather valuable information from them. At first it was all about the job, but now... I..."

"You've seen how they're really not what they've been described to you by your superiors, right?" Lea said offhandedly as she shook her head while she joined staring at the two highest leaders of the planets with Ranma and the rest of the crew.

Ranma's own emotions on the matter were evident from the way the gems on his forehead glowed brightly. His emotions ran rampant at this point all over his body.

Not waiting for a response from BC, Lea continued, "The women shouldn't be too angry at her. You people are at odds with one another because you've been manipulated into it. You've been isolated from each other on purpose. Isn't that right, old man, old woman?"

["How dare you..."] The old man started speaking, but was silenced when Ranma cut into the conversation as he waved a hand in the air sharply.

When silence ruled the whole area once again, Ranma spoke, "You old folks hid vital information from your people... for what?" Turning to Magno, he asked, "Were you part of this? I know... I can feel your age somehow... it matches those from the records..."

Magno's 'deer caught in the spotlights' look didn't help her case as she sat on her chair. She couldn't believe how the shameful secret was revealed, and how someone as dense as Ranma could figure it all out.

"So..." Duero added, drawing the attention to himself, "The captain must be from this same colony ship, along with Hibiki and the first generation of humans in this system. Hibiki was put into stasis before the colony ship gave out, and the survivors tried to survive. Afterwards, they collected the discarded stasis pods once again. Years passed... Magno and the others grew old and Hibiki was awakened by his grandfather from his stasis. And... here we all are. The question now is... why all these? Why the lies about the gender issues regarding men and women?"

["It's for the good of everyone."] Grandpa said tiredly. Years of hiding the shameful secret regarding their heritage slowly came back to haunt them.

Hibiki growled, his bangs covering his eyes as he spoke in firm tones, ["'For the good of everyone'? Is that all you can say after you taught us how to hate each other?! And for what?! Tell us that, 'Grandpa', 'Grandma'?!"]

Dita shook as she pressed her hand over her chest. "I knew... there was something wrong with what we were taught. Mister Alien and the other men were not who we perceived them to be. Sure, there was fighting, but that is normal, right?"

"That's why I'm in this ship... that's why I'm with the pirates." Gascogne said lightly, leaning on the far corner of the bridge as she took stock of everyone looking at her. "If you can remember, I was supposed to be in the military, and yet I chose to join this crew. Being in that planet only hindered the hindsight of perception. They were taught to hate men for some reason, and I didn't know why. I sought to find out, so I joined up with the captain. Imagine my surprise when I found other civilizations with men and women living together during our travels."

["What you think is irrelevant to our reasons."] Grandma interjected, ["We did this so that our people could be preserved one way or another..."] her voice trailed off.

["I think I now get it."] Parfet face appeared on the viewscreen as well, which caught everyone's attention, ["You kept our people 'pure' for the Harvest. You knew about it all along."] Her brows raised higher than the upper rim of her round glasses. ["By the kami... we're being set up! We never had a chance from the start!"]

Raven snorted loudly, "You're probably right. As far as I could conclude from how the rest of the crew told me of this trip, I think your leaders kept males and females far apart from each other to keep your organs pure for those body parts collectors. You've been branded dead ever since your births."

A loud chatter broke into the bridge of the Nirvana. The whole conversation was being broadcasted live all over the channels of the mothership. Nearly everyone was panicking, trying to babble their denials as to what was happening to them.

The pigtailed hybrid stepped to Magno's console and reached over the buttons to press the open channel broadcast feature of the ship. It allowed the Nirvana to transmit its current proceedings everywhere on both planet Mejer and Talark's various TV and radio stations.

"So, Hibiki..." Ranma began casually, as he winked slyly towards the bemused Magno and walked towards the front part of the bridge, "What do you wanna say? Don't you have any thoughts about this? I mean, you just found out that you're one of the original first generation settlers, and I personally think that you've got a lot of say in this debate."

All over in front of the television stations and radio towers in the Mejer and Talark territories, millions of women and men from their respective planets watched and listened in slight curiosity as their regularly scheduled programs were unceremoniously replaced by this weird broadcast.

The various viewscreens showed a picture of a young boy with roguish raven hair, his eyes closed in contemplation as he sat upon something spacey. He had his arms across his chest, which showed off the colorful bluish scarf he had wrapped around his arm. It seemed to be important to the boy. At the backdrop on the sides and top of the boy's image were the smaller images of the grand ruler of Talark known as Grandpa, the grand ruler of Mejer called Grandma, and the smirking face of one pigtailed young male who has a trio of gold, silver and dark purple or black gems in an inverted triangle on his forehead. A pair of dark-tinted eyeglasses covered his eyes effectively. The males of planet Talark were quite confused as to why they felt a bit of wariness and nervousness when they tried to look at the pigtailed male's image, while the women of Mejer felt something stir within their chests that seemed to spread like wildfire all over their bodies.

The main focus of the moment, Hibiki Tokai, sat with his arms across his chest as he contemplated upon what has been revealed to him with Ranma and the Nirvana Crew's help. It was only now that he realized how his own grandfather, the one who raised him when he got out of that cryogenic sleep, and taught him everything he knows. Hibiki remembered nothing of his guardian's when it came to women, nor did his guardian ever badmouth them. He learned these customs through peers and the other males in Talark. And now...

Apparently, it was revealed that Hibiki was part of the original migrating refugees from the dying planet of origin called Earth. He would've been a bit younger than Captain Magno of the Mejer Space Pirates, if he weren't shoved into a cryo-pod by his own real parents. Since his experience in the last planet he has fallen into earlier, his long forgotten memories resurfaced to the fore, even his childhood memories of his parents and their love for him. While Hibiki never really thought much about it because of his young age at the time, he still felt the loss in his heart.

While Hibiki contemplated on his own past and future, the rest of both worlds watched in rapt attention.

Grandma, the leader of the Mejer planet, gasped slightly as part of the revelation finally dawned to her. ["Hibiki?"] She asked hesitantly, eyeing the boy displayed on her viewscreen, ["My Hibiki...??"]

On the planet Talark, an assembly of the world's leaders took place. Grandpa heard his counterpart's longing whisper as his eyes widened in shock. "Hibiki?!" he asked the man standing in front of him urgently.

The slightly younger, but still old man stared at Grandpa as he stood just a few feet away from the grand ruler of Talark. He has come into the room a bit earlier when Ranma's revelations slowly unfurled the mysteries of both races, and he opted to stand back and watch the proceedings with a careful eye.

This man was Grandpa's younger brother, and the same man who took care of Hibiki when the young boy got out of the cold sleep. He took care of the newly awakened boy and took him out of the public's eye for a while, away from Grandpa's eyes. He wasn't about to let his older brother poison this young boy's mind with all these nonsense, since the feud between men and women was really quite stupid.

Now, he stood in front of his bewildered brother. He heard Grandpa gasp as he realized the truth in front of him. He raised an eyebrow as he pushed his glasses back up the ridge of his nose, when Grandpa graced him with a questioning look on his face. He could see the longing and anticipation in both of Grandpa and Grandma's eyes. He nodded at Grandpa's look, which rewarded him with another deep breath from the older man.

"Yes, brother... that is Hibiki, your son..." He confirmed Grandpa's conclusion, as well as Grandma's, "Can you see him, Jin? He's grown up, hasn't he?"

"B-But how?" Grandpa stuttered a bit. The council of men around him whispered amongst themselves, curious as to why their normally infallible leader was being jittery for the moment, "I though he was still in cryogenic sleep?"

"Heh..." was all the old man got out when everyone heard Hibiki took a deep breath within the comms. Everyone's attention turned to the contemplative young man again as they watched in baited breath for his speech.

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

Hibiki Tokai calmly opened his eyes, eyeing each of the world leaders with a calm gaze. As he was about to say something, a familiar face caught his attention within the Talark's side of the comms. His face suddenly brightened as an old man's smirking face was focused.

"Ojii-chan!" Hibiki gasped in surprise as he leaned towards his face.

The old man, Hibiki's caretaker for how many years, waved proudly as he said, ["Oi, Hibiki-kun! I can see that you're enjoying yourself!"]

The short dark-haired boy nodded enthusiastically as he sat back, "Hai! Ojii-chan... I've been to many places! I learned a lot of things! There are lots of things taught to us that were wrong, and..."

["Whoa there, boy!"] The old man lifted his hands in a placating manner, ["Relax... you're still so hotheaded. You haven't changed much in my eyes."]

Hibiki bashfully scratched his head, ["Ojii-chan! I've changed..."]

["Heh..."] The old man scoffed at him playfully, ["So boy... what DID you learn in your travels?"]

Hibiki's face slowly melted into a serious and thoughtful look. "Ojii-chan... women weren't as evil as they taught in Talark. They didn't eat men's livers, or were bad-looking. They were... they're women. The teachings of our planet were mostly lies."

The young boy saw his caretaker nodding his head in agreement.

"There are a lot of other worlds out there..." Hibiki's thoughts focused on the men and women of Melanos, "And they're humans too! They were part of the same migration as we were! And they've fought against the Harvesters... at least some of them... so why can't we?"

Hibiki didn't wait for any response as he continued, "I saw worlds where men and women lived together..." His thoughts strayed to the memory of the girl who owned the blue scarf tied around his arm. Hibiki did not hear any of the gasps emanating from the men and women from the planets Talark and Mejer who, unknown to him, were also tuned into the conversation in the comms.

["Hibiki-kun..."] The old man was proud of the boy, even if Hibiki wasn't his real son. For him, Hibiki was his son, his pride and joy. The old man knew that the boy will someday become a great person, and that he was the instrument of the huge change that was supposed to happen in both Talark and Mejer's worlds years ago.

"It's been a long road for us, Ojii-chan..." Hibiki continued, as he refocused himself on the conversation at hand, "We saw a lot in our travels. I just wished everyone would've seen it too. I think we were living the wrong way. Why do we separate men and women in the first place, while other worlds have both on their worlds?"

The white-haired mustached man on the screen smirked. ["You sound so grown up, you matured somehow. But you're still a kid, you know."]

"Ojii-chan!" Hibiki pouted in irritation as he his glare failed to faze his former caretaker. The old man continued to smirk at him.

"I've decided to fight, ojii-chan." The wild-haired boy turned serious once again, "I will defend our worlds. Not only for the men, but for the women as well. I don't think we can afford to fight with one another anymore."

["Hibiki-san is right!"] The red haired Dita's face suddenly popped up on the screen, nearly overshadowing the multitudes of multitasked screens already firmed in place, ["Our real enemy are those really bad aliens!"]

And just to prove a point, the Vanguard and the Dread spun towards one another, until a bright light enveloped them. As the light faded, the Blue giant of the Dita Vandread emerged once again. The vid screen showed a little bit of how Dita and Hibiki were fitted into the cockpit of the Vandread, which caused the 'uneducated' ones to gasp at the sight of it.

Jura's face also popped out of woodwork. ["Heeeeh... this looks like a fun party. Don't count me out of it."]

["We can win if we band together."] Meia's serious face appeared in the screen as well.

Other members of the Dread Team quickly assembled around the Nirvana, which were led by Hibiki, Dita, Jura and Meia.

["Hey Captain Magno!"] A female voice cackled in the comms, ["You're late! Where were you guys?! Sub commander BC... have you been taking care of things?"]

Meia snorted in her Dread with amusement. ["You've got no idea..."]

Dita squealed in excitement, which caused Hibiki to shiver slightly in his seat, ["It's the other Mejer pirates we left back in the base! They've come to join us!"]

["Permission to join the party, old Captain?"] The same female voiced out as a large group of Dreads congregated around the Nirvana.

Inside the Nirvana, Magno looked at the smirking pirate commander in stride. ["Young idiot..."] she said affectionately, ["You're welcome to join us and your companions..."]

Another broadcast was heard in the comms without the video feed, which came form the Mejer fleet in the area. ["This is the Mejer Border Fleet... we will join the battle alongside the Nirvana."] A large group of Mejer Dread ships swarmed and joined with the Nirvana's own Dread group, just behind where Hibiki's Vanguard, Dita's Dread, Jura's Dread and Meia's Dread were located.

["As do the Talark Forces..."] A slightly peeved captain of the Talark Military grunted into the comms as the ships that belonged to the males lined up alongside the Nirvana as well. The Vanguard Corps assembled just a little ahead of the other defending forces in front of the assortment of battleships, prepared to defend the battle lines with their lives if needed.

The face of the Vanguard group's leader appeared, showing a big-faced man with dark mustache and beard. His hard features showed a veteran fighter to anyone who can see him. ["Our Vanguard Force will engage the enemy first! We will show them the power of our spirit!"]

"Typical male..." Most of the women in the Nirvana groaned out loud in dismay.

Suddenly, their assembly was interrupted when alarms blared all over the place. The brown haired girl handling the Nirvana's communications traffic reported that several ships came out of warp and managed to enter the intervening space. Two new groups appeared to have joined the frenzy.

Hibiki and the rest of the now United Alliance of the two worlds were skeptical at the new arrivals, until a transmission revealed one of the newcomers was from a planet called Melanos.

The Melanos people was close to Hibiki's heart. They were the ones the Harvesters attacked for their skins. He remembered the time when he was almost killed during that one instant he tried to flee from Nirvana a long long time ago. It was a particularly trying day, and it was the same day Barnette decided to rouse the rest of the crew into throwing the men out of the ship. Hibiki decided to leave them behind and launched into space within his Vanguard. He encountered a relatively small group of Harvesters, but was pummeled because he wasn't concentrating on the battle too well.

The second group of ships that arrived were a much more recent bunch Hibiki met. The telepathic natives of the colonized planet Rakuen were the ones who helped him get over his angst about his whole situation. This particular group was led by the ever-mysterious Rabbat, with his trusty 'friend' Utan. Together with a few ships of their own, they managed to make the whole situation a bit easier for them.

The encouraging smile the Elder of Rakuen gave Hibiki on the vid screen brought a warm feeling in Hibiki's heart.

"The two new groups are requesting to form alongside our battle fleet, Captain!" The Nirvana's comm officer informed her commander.

Up in her comfy chair the old woman suddenly lurched forward, clutching at her chest with a grimace in her face. With all the willpower in her body, she ignored the pain, and said, "Let... let them join! Tell them... tell them we are all humans. And as humans... we are to fight as one!"

Magno was thankful that no one noticed her predicament, as she slowly straightened herself up on her seat. One saw and understood, though, but let it pass.

Ranma was quite impressed at sudden hype of morale the entire Nirvana was experiencing for the moment. He spied upon Magno clutching at her chest a while ago. He was inclined to help, but understood that Magno needed to show her subordinates that even she will not give in to any bad situation, even a sickness, and it will serve as a good boost of confidence for everyone seeing their captain well. Ranma did decide to watch out for the old woman, though.

The young alien hybrid then turned to the screen that showed the enemy fleet. Thousands of drones flitted along the mothership, as a few hundred more were currently being deployed. Their metal graspers slithered all of over the place, in preparation for the upcoming battle. He slowly frowned as the situation finally settled in.

"You've noticed it too." The purple haired sorceress called Raven commented at his side, also watching the preparations being shown on the screen. Ranma glanced towards her for a moment in recognition of her presence, but then he turned his face back towards watching the screen.

"It's gonna be a tough battle for them..." Ranma said grimly, his frown deepening dangerously.

A tall, teal-haired woman walked to Ranma's other side, also watching the video intently. "This does not bode well, Ranma-sama."

The pigtailed young man nodded.

"You can help them, you know..." Raven suggested, gesturing towards the ever-growing army of the Harvesters, "These things needed to be stopped. According to what I've been told, they hunt these people to take their organs."

"I wonder if it's all right for me to interfere after all..." Ranma mused loudly to himself. Footsteps coming from behind let Ranma know the approach of Vanilla and Emeralda. The two were helping in the sick bay preparations as well as some mundane jobs a while ago.

"It is not of consequence that you do not belong in this dimension, Ranma-sama..." Vanilla intoned from behind him, "You know you can do some things for these people, and it is all up to you to do so."

"All up to you..." Emeralda parroted as she nodded.

The emerald haired girl with dark skin and the pale-skinned red-eyed girl hugged Ranma around his neck and around his waist simultaneously. Lea and surprisingly, Raven, clutched at Ranma's arms as well.

Ranma sighed as he felt a huge amount of support coming from the girls. His face cast a serious look, as he gazed at the Harvester group impassively.

He will protect these girls, as well as the Nirvana and the other races who wanted to be free from the threat of these... Harvesters.

Everyone's ruminations were interrupted when the speakers blared again, but this time the voices and the signals were not of their respective home worlds.

["We are from your initial planet Earth. We sent you into space to thrive and one day be able to return the generosity we showed you by allowing you to live. We let you survive from being wiped out on Earth, and now we need your help. Your sole existence is for mother Earth to thrive once again."]

The transmission came from the Earth Harvest fleet. The voice was deep and mildly hypnotic, and it is somehow pushing the listeners into siding with the Earth force's logic.

Ranma growled under his breath, causing the Mejer women to cringe a bit in fright away from him. Even with his glasses on, Ranma's unearthly eyes were glowing behind them.

["Resistance is really futile against us. We let you survive long enough for you to develop our species. Now, we need the fruits of the time and labor we spent on you back. After we assimilate you, you will be part of history in the making, saving our planet Earth and its inhabitants from destruction. After your heroic sacrifice to us, we will become gods."] The transmission continued.

Magno turned to Hibiki and Dita's screen and said, "Boy, get ready to fight for your lives. It looks like the Harvest is going to start soon. The rest of the pilots, get into your Dreads and form a defensive line. We will fight against them."

The bridge spun into life even as the Harvest group's transmission droned on the speakers.

As the Nirvana's pilot crew scrambled, Ranma still hasn't moved from where he was standing, still gazing at the darkened visual transmission coming from the main Harvester ship. Emeralda was looking at him worriedly with Vanilla on her side. Washuu took off to the engine room to respond to Parfet's calls about the Paeksis going into fits again.

"Ranma, what about you?" Magno asked the pigtailed young man, but her question was ignored as Ranma trained his eyes into the screen.

After a pregnant pause, Ranma finally spoke to the figure behind the Harvest in this sector, "Where is Ryoko?"

The shadowed figure in the monitor visibly straightened on its seat, seemingly interested in the sudden shift from the one-sided transmission it has been broadcaster for the past fifteen minutes. With the same deep resonating voice, the figure asked, ["How did you know of this... Ryoko?"]

"Stop antagonizing me, idiot, and tell me NOW!!!" Ranma growled out the last words very loudly, causing those near him jumping in surprise.

["Who is this you upstart that has the gall to insult me, so that I may know just who you were before I have you destroyed?"] The figure asked mockingly.

Ranma sneered, "Ranma Saotome... and I am not the one who's gonna be destroyed. I will CRUSH you for what you did to Yosho, Tenchi and the others... and especially to Ryoko!"

The figure paused, as if thinking of what Ranma had said. After a few tense moments, it replied, ["I see... so you were the one that woman has been screaming for right before we took her and transformed into this energy core."]

Ranma's fist balled tightly, causing his bones to crackle as he stared hatefully at the screen. "You will pay... for everyone's lives you took... KAGATO!!!!"

["Heh... a forlorn and lonely traveler... which makes me wonder. How DID you get in this time anyway? Your aging must've been a lot slower than mine, or are you ageless?"] A pale-faced young boy emerged from the shadows bathing the area beyond the viewscreen. His ashen face accented his luminescent red pupils for eyes, his eyebrow cocked in amusement.

["No matter..."] The Harvester Lord snorted, not waiting for a response, ["Ryoko has been pining for you for years. Had herself locked in stasis until you were found. By the way... did you know that she has someone else to keep her company in there when she went into that stasis chamber?"]

Ranma glared at the pale skinned brat smirking across the viewscreen. Behind him, Raven, Emeralda, Vanilla, and Lea watched in trepidation as they felt the male's anger. This was especially true with Raven, who has a bond with Ranma.

The Harvester Lord's eyes widened in glee. ["You mean, you didn't know? Poor little you, left in the dark I see. Well... didn't you know that your precious Ryoko.... bore YOUR female brat? I found a two to three Earth years old female brat sleeping beside her, one that resembles my greatest enemy! I assumed it's yours, since you're the only one who could've done 'it' with her since I knew of Ryoko's virginity before...]

But the rest of the explanation coming from the Kagato-clone was ignored as Ranma went into shock.

Seeing the expression on Ranma's face, the pale faced child on the other side of the virtual connection laughed mercilessly. ["I'll leave you to your thoughts, boy. Watch while I destroy this sector of the universe!"]

The screen switched into static with finality.

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

The space outside the Nirvana erupted in a gruesome war as the two opposing forces finally clashed with all their might. Dreads, Vanguards, Melanos ships, Rakuen light fighters, Harvester drones and other instruments of war blasted one another without any mercy.

Meanwhile, inside the Nirvana, it was dreadfully quiet. After the sudden revelation of Ranma's small but very significant past, they opted on keeping silent and watching Ranma's reaction carefully. Twenty minutes after the battle started, the pigtailed hybrid hasn't made a move yet. Nobody dared to approach him for the moment, since even the cabbit perched on top of his head has an expression of deep hatred etched on its face.

Suddenly, Ranma's posture straightened. Everyone waited with baited breath as Ranma raised an arm and lifted Rin-Ohki off his head. He brought the determined cabbit in front of his face.

"Rin-Ohki... prepare for transformation..." Ranma declared softly, but loud enough to be heard all over the silent bridge, "Today, we go to WAR. And for once, we will NOT hold anything back."

Rin-Ohki smirked as best as she could, which made the other members of the crew shiver in fright, "MIYAHHH!!!" she screeched as she dematerialized from Ranma's hold.

Without turning, Ranma said, "Emeralda, Vanilla... you help tend to those who will get injured in the Medical Room. Raven, Lea... if you can, help the Nirvana's shield to deflect as much of the stray shots as possible."

Emeralda and Vanilla quickly nodded and complied, scurrying towards their designated responsibilities after mumbling some good lucks towards Ranma. Lea followed them in a dignified manner, but her face reflected the worry she felt for the young man she loved.

Raven was about to follow them as well, but she paused just before exiting the bridge. "Ranma..." she called out, her back still turned, "Don't get yourself killed..."

The pigtailed hybrid snorted in response. "I'm not the one who's gonna die, Raven. You can be assured of that."

The dark gothic former super heroine nodded as she continued on her way.

Magno was impressed. She heard the authority in his voice, yet it was full of compassion. She was about to ask something, when her comms officer suddenly blurted, "C-Captain! Look outside! There... there's..."

"What is it?" Magno asked empathically as she DID look outside, only to fall in silence as she witnessed something very scary.

Rin-Ohki's transformation into the Anima Seraphim.

Ranma smiled grimly. "It is a good day for chaos..." he said as he faded from sight. The last thing the Nirvana crew saw of him was the glow of the gems on Ranma's forehead.

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

The huge battle was well underway, as explosions rocked the entire area with a vengeance.

Inside the Harvester Mothership, the child form known as Kagato glowered in his 'throne'. It has been a long way since he was almost killed back then by that punk Tenchi.

More than five millennia have passed since he came to Earth following the reports of the Galaxy Police. He has heard that sightings of Yosho following Ryoko were made in the area several hundred years back, and he came to investigate. He did arrive on Earth, and was a bit surprised to find Yosho had become a family man. Even the Jurai brat Ayeka and her sister Sasami has come to the blue planet as well.

But no Ryoko.

Undaunted by his plans for capturing the Juraians, he attacked immediately without warning, but Kagato overestimated his own strength. Yosho might be out of practice, but he was able to hold Kagato off long enough for Yosho's grandson to decide to fight.

Yes, Yosho had a grandson, a half-breed Juraian named Tenchi.

Thrice damned the boy, Kagato really underestimated him. Kagato thought that Tenchi will be a whole lot weaker than him, simply because of heritage and genealogy. But alas, he was proven wrong, as the boy manifested at least three Light Hawk Wings. Kagato had no defense as he was slashed a mortal blow...

But he persevered. He managed to teleport fast enough before everything went boom. His teleport brought him to the Earth's natural satellite's surface. No air and little gravity, but a little bit of application of his own power managed to keep him alive. He directed the last of his energies into fixing his body up. It took him months to be able to close the mortal wound the Masaki brat gave him.

He teleported on the Earth's surface, and he finally assented the extent of the damage done to him by the battle. He lost most of his power, as well as his slow aging. In fact, he aged so much after healing his extensive injuries.

Due to his weakened body, Kagato decided to hold back his revenge on the Masaki family for a while. Instead, he used his acquired knowledge in science and technology to gain quite a bit of a foothold many of the planet's independent governments.

And then... Second Impact occurred. Kagato just knew there was something significant about the phenomenon, so he decided to have himself 'join' the Katsuragi Expedition as one of the researchers. It was there that he discovered the hidden well of vast power that came from such a sample left of Adam, the alien that crash landed with the meteor. Kagato was quite amused as to how easily these Earthians easily connected this phenomenon to religion. Although... the meteor DID kill more than three fourths of the world population.

He caused a fatal accident during the expedition, which killed all of the other researchers except himself. Kagato then renamed himself as Lorenz Khil, and founded the SEELE.

Kagato as Lorenz Khil presented to the world a copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was in fact a forged copy he created. He discovered humanity's greatest weakness: religion. He then claimed of the prophecy wherein Angels from heaven will be sent into Earth to test Humanity. He funded the formation of a research and development group called NERV, and released a copy of the research notes from the Katsuragi Expedition to one Gendo Robunkugi.

Khil has his own project though. Using some of the samples taken from the meteor crash of the Second Impact, he created himself a body. A cloned child from Adam's DNA and his own. This was his trump card, an escape when his current body gave up and died. But this body was incomplete.

Still under the guise of Lorenz Khil, Kagato continued to fund and 'aid' humanity through the man-made anti-Angel defense mecha called Evangelions. Unknown to anyone, Khil used the data gathered in every battle as well as from the Evangelions to aid his own projects.

While the battle with Angels wore on, Khil started his assault on the Masaki Shrine as well. Using his connections to the government, he easily subdued the Masaki family, but not without casualties. Still, the capture went on smoothly, especially with no Ryoko around.

Khil pushed his revenge by sucking out the Juraian energies from Tenchi, Yosho and Ayeka, which caused their deaths. It was too bad that Sasami was able to escape, it would've been such a sweet victory for Khil. But such is life, and he knew that he has to make do what he has at the moment.

Eventually, his body as Khil died, betrayed by his own pawn named Gendo Ikari. The end of the Evangelion Wars caused his old body's gruesome death, but its purpose was completed. From the ashes of his death, Kagato's other body, the child, was awakened.

Kagato was able to download his memories, as well as his legacy into the child body from Khil without any problems. Even without his old body, he was still able to complete his experiments. With his contacts that he built up as Khil, he was able to attract countless corrupt politicians and government officials who wanted to have a small part of immortality as well. His cloning process, albeit crude and quite outdated according to his standards, were still effective for luring these individuals into siding with him.

In this new child body, whom he has christened as 'Kagato' anyway, watched as the Earth was engulfed in a wave of LCL. He was safe inside a reconstructed spacecraft of his own design, suited to comply with the materials he had at hand. He was vastly interested in the amount of energy the large goop was emitting as of the moment, and he decided to wait it out.

Kagato watched as humans slowly started to come out of the LCL, as he was also continuing his own experiments. But with the lack of technology at hand, he can only go so far. He has to wait some more...

With the lack of equipment and the boredom, Kagato decided to sleep. Not just any sleep, but long, cold sleep. He cast himself into the cold sleep chamber he developed, and rested.

Four thousand years have passed...

When Kagato woke up again, he was quite amazed at the technological advancement humanity has garnered while he was asleep. He later found that the Earth was unified in one government, and those who decided to set up their residency in space within the space colonies located around were separated from one another. And this caused a war to erupt between them. Using various mecha as their weapons, they waged battle amongst one another, almost destroying each other in an attempt to conquer the planetary system.

Kagato had to step in once again, and viciously separated both factions by force. Using his more technologically advanced weapons, he managed to do so.

Adding the arsenal of newly developed technology from the Terrans, Kagato managed to continue his plans of absolute power. But first, he knew he had to establish a main base of operations first. And since he was already in the place, his first conquest was clearly the Sol System.

He reinstated his power over Earth again by using force, and was quite successful. Because of the lack of manpower and equipment due to the recent war, the Earth was defenseless against Kagato's assault. Kagato then began to surround the Earth in a large spheroid metal shielding, as a sign of power over the people of the planet.

While his hold on Earth began to take shape, Kagato began his other project. His actual first target: to acquire the most power in the universe. He pulled out his first experiments, the Juraian energies he managed to collect back when he was awake.

Using the designs made for Juraian battleships, he created his first experimental weapon, DEUS, an interplanetary weapon. Sadly, it was a failure when the refugees he sent to test out his weapon seemed to have run off with it. Damn him for relying on incompetent fools! He would hunt them down and kill them all!

He turned his anger towards those left on the Earth's surface. He used the orbital shield he had created and enclosed Earth off completely. It took at least six weeks before he finally closed the entire thing off, and some of the bolder Terrans managed to escape using Colony Ships they have developed. He was slightly impressed at the tenacity of these humans, who defied him 'til the bitter end. He destroyed as much of the fleeing ships as he could, but he let the others go anyway.

Kagato returned to his research and started his second project, the Paeksis Plagma core. A super concentrated sphere of plasma energy which generated power several times the power of a star. He used the remaining Juraian essence left in his hands and fashioned it after the Juraian Flagships that once went after him in the old days. And to think, he had Yosho, Tenchi and Ayeka's essences within the sphere... near equivalent to three fully powered Juraian Flagships! He wanted to make sure THIS time, and wanted to install this Paeksis Plagma into his own Flagship. But alas, another hassle cramped his project...

It would seem that he has severely underestimated Washuu's ability to annoy him. His former mentor gathered her own information and enough political standing to allow her access to many files concerning his projects. After more than five thousand years of sleep, Kagato's security protocols have been lax lately. Washuu managed to infiltrate his flagship while the Paeksis Plagma was being mounted, and spirited the ball of energy away with her and disappeared. He later found out that the Paeksis Plagma was later on installed by Washuu in one of the last colony ships that escaped the Sol System, Ikazuchi, while it was being prepped in planet Pluto.

Kagato was left with nothing, and while fuming with anger, he descended into Earth and inspected the ruins of the Masaki household for any more loose ends. His search were almost futile, until one of the octopi drones that accompanied him managed to detect something deep within a cave near the shrine proper.

Curiosity led him to excavate the entire area, and to his utter glee, he discovered something significant. A cryogenic chamber was left within the confines of the cave. Washuu probably thought he wouldn't think of looking for it in the Masaki shrine after it was destroyed. The cryogenic chamber which held Ryoko Hakubi herself within. It surprised him though, that inside the cryogenic chamber was a Washuu-look-alike, tucked into Ryoko's body. The cyan-haired woman's own arm was embracing the seemingly four-year-old babe into her chest.

Nevertheless, it was a magnificent find for Kagato. To find Ryoko intact once again was a great boon for him. But he had other plans for his new find, though. Instead of sucking the energy out of Ryoko to power up a new Paeksis Plagma, why not use Ryoko herself intact as the power core of the Plagma itself? He could probably create a lot more Paeksis Plagma with this idea of his...

It was then that he discovered something very unfortunate. His body was not aging. In fact, it was incomplete, power-wise and some organs decayed far too quickly. He used transplanted organs from... 'donors'... and constantly undergoing self-operation to keep himself alive. Even those organs he acquired were not enough to sustain him permanently. He discovered that he needed the untarnished organs of those who managed to escape the Sol System. It would seem that when he closed off Earth, a plague resulted on the planet's surface. All of those left on Earth, as well as those in scattered space colonies, were tainted with the plague.

Kagato will have to go after those cretins who managed to escape his clutches all those years ago...

And that's how the Harvest of Earth began.

Shaking himself out of the reminiscing mood he fell into, Kagato quickly focused his attention into the battle once more. He frowned when a large group of his octopi drones have been annihilated in quadrant four, the area where that strange mecha appeared after the Vanguard and the Dread have combined into one. According to the data returned by his fallen drones months ago, the mecha can actually shift forms and cycle them around as they see fit. Not even the 'copies' created by Kagato's own Paeksis Plagma can match it.

Again, the 'human factor' remained a much bigger advantage for the humans that he anticipated. Kagato growled out as the drones in quadrant four were completely wiped out. Gesturing with his hand, Kagato has sent another large group of drones to keep the meddlers busy as he prepares his final solution. He would take this whole system hostage, using a special weapon that he knew his Paeksis could create.

As he was about to continue on monitoring the progress of his plan, Kagato's main battleship's alarms suddenly blared mercilessly, which startled the cloned villain out of his work. Quadrants two and four were reportedly annihilated completely, though Kagato could've sworn he still saw quite a numerous amount of drones stationed in those areas. As he looked into the monitors, he saw... IT.

The dark blue knight-like humanoid robot larger than the first one he saw a while ago seemed to have emerged from the chaos of the battle, calmly floating amongst the debris of the octopi it must have destroyed. As another group of drones approached it, the mecha calmly raised its palm towards the approaching enemy group and fired off a silvery ray of light, which engulfed the enemy battalion completely. When the light went out, only broken pieces of the group remained.

Kagato's ire grew as the new threat seemed to be approaching his main ship slowly but surely, calmly destroying the drones that would try to get in its way towards him.

Another problem for Kagato arose as the Super Vandread made its appearance. The three Dreads plus the special Vanguard all combined into one big mecha, which now approached his ship at very high speeds.

The pale child form of Kagato snorted. He was prepared for this Super Vandread's appearance. He quickly pressed a few buttons off to the side of his Throne and watched as his own Paeksis Plagma shot off a huge beam of red light. Although it was mostly shrugged off by the Super Vandread, its allies suffered great losses from it, which created a big chance for Kagato's own forces to retaliate.

Outside in space...

Super Vandread surged on towards the main Harvester ship, but it was stopped by a red sphere of energy surrounding the antagonist, one that successfully separated its combination back into the three Dreads and Vanguard and were captured by tendrils of red energy. The same red energy that came formed the Harvest Master's Paeksis Plagma.

To the Nirvana crew's horror, Hibiki Tokai was sucked into the Harvest Master's ship without delay, further crippling their attack force. Dita, Meia and Jura, still in their Dreads, were imprisoned in red spheres of force as they watched their friend disappear from their view. The Nirvana and their allies, though, somehow managed to hold on to the fight as they wait for their companions to escape. No one noticed a slight ripple in the space near the hull of the Harvest mothership.

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

Inside the mothership, Kagato stood imperiously over the struggling form of Hibiki. Earlier, Kagato became quite irritated at the constant babbling of the young upstart. To silence the impertinence of the brat, he drastically increased the gravity on the floors in front of him five times its normal strength. To add insult to the injury, he even brought up a broadcast screen to televise the event.

"Dammit, lemme... go!" Hibiki struggled to stand, but his face pressed harder into the cold steel floor as Kagato loomed over him.

The pale child cocked his head to one side and said, "Now, why would I do that? You've been most... disobedient. Why do you not submit?"

Dita, whose face was shown on the screens, replied, ["We won't give up! We can't let the bad aliens win!"]

"Little girl..." Kagato raised an eyebrow as he gazed at the red haired girl's face, "It is destiny for you to give yourself up for Earth. Can't you see?"

["We... have the right to live our... own lives!"] Jura's face appeared right next to Dita's, ["I still haven't gotten a baby yet, dammit!"]

["We are not beaten YET!"] Meia growled out as her face appeared as well.

"That's right..." Hibiki growled out, once again trying to stand up, but failing nonetheless, "We... we will not give up!"

"So you say..." Kagato said lightly, "But here you all are, helpless in front of me. What a pitiful sight. Why not just give yourselves a break and allow your fellow Earthlings to ascend into a higher state? Why do you deny us this opportunity? After all we've done just to save humanity from extinction, to be denied of evolution because their fellows are afraid of sacrifice for the common good?!"

The feed was still broadcasted in an open channel.

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

In the Nirvana, the rest of the crew were still watching the feed coming from the Harvester mothership.

"Arrogant bastard..." Magno scoffed as she glared at the bane of their existence. But her anger momentarily evaporated when she heard what some of her crew has been saying...

"It's... it's for the Earth, right? Isn't that... good?"

"That's quite true... if it helps us to live on, why not?"

"After all... progress should have sacrifices..."

The sub commander BC, however, was unaffected by the 'charismatic' broadcast being shown in the video screen. The dark-skinned sub-leader of the Mejer pirates glanced around her, and saw her crewmates actually buying the crap being spouted by the Earthling brat.

"What the hell is going on..." she muttered to herself.

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

Back in the Harvester Mothership, Kagato frowned upon his captive, who was still trying to stand up in futility.

"For Earth... you say?" Hibiki ground out as he finally managed to lift himself up with both of his arms. He lifted his chin up to the child form of Kagato and continued, "Don't we have the right to decide? We have the right to live too! Why do we have to sacrifice ourselves to you?!"

"Shut up..." Kagato said simply as he increased the gravity once again. It caused Hibiki's arms to give up, as a resounding crack echoed across the lonely hall of the ship's bridge. Hibiki's scream pierced the silence of space, which were joined by Dita, Jura and Meia's shout of dismay and worry.

Hibiki clenched his teeth in pain. His arm was twisted at an odd angle, and he can now only barely lift himself with his other arm. Still, he managed a grim smile to grace his face through the burning feeling he has running all over his ruined arm.

"Heh... you sound so proud and sure of yourself... but the truth is that... you're afraid." Hibiki accused as he finally managed to find his center of gravity with his remaining arm, "Afraid... you're afraid to be all alone... you're lonesome... because everyone left Earth. You're scared!"

Kagato blinked, inwardly he contemplated on how stupid that statement was. Such was expected from these simple minded fools. Lonely, indeed.

["We have lots of friends to help us!"] Dita piped up, as she stared at Hibiki's prone form with tears in her eyes, ["But you have no one to make you feel good when you're lonely!"]

Before Kagato could retort though, a deep baritone voice answered Dita's statement, "You're looking into this too deeply. This... creature isn't lonely or anything like that. That I can assure you..."

The pale faced, white haired boy with red eyes suddenly grinned and spread his arms apart widely. "I'm glad you could join us, boy! How do you like the party so far?"

"It stinks." The intruder said simply as he appeared out of the shadows from one corner of the hallway. As he stepped into the light, Dita, Jura, Meia and the rest of those still fighting outside were surprised. Instead of his casual and bored look, Ranma had a determined look in his eyes. Another thing, his glasses weren't covering his eyes for the moment, and it was clear to everyone how inhuman his eyes really were. His body armor was fully equipped, from the helmet down to his boots. His trademark pigtail fluttered against an imaginary wind as he walked calmly towards Kagato.

Dead silence met the entire conflict as the two powerful individuals glared at one another, neither one hiding the hostility they felt towards the other.

"How impertinent of you to come here alone, monkey..." Kagato sneered as he took note of the reddish tail that wriggled after Ranma's back, "Now that you're here, what do you plan on doing?"

The pigtailed hybrid shrugged, "I don't think you're going to free Hibiki at my request, right? So why don't we cut the chatter and fight?" And with that, he disappeared from view once again.

Kagato snorted and smiled nastily when his defense barrier, something he discovered years back when he activated this small body, was hit by something. A red hexagonal shaped 'fence' appeared around him. Like a fly caught in a bug zapper, Ranma appeared as he was caught by the shield in mid-air, zapped by an unbelievingly large amounts of power that he still hadn't figured out what. It stunned him long enough for Kagato to order the Paeksis core to send out red tendrils of crystalline energy and subdue Ranma.

Ranma shook himself out of the funk he was in, only to find out that he was being held by red crystals that covered his whole body. Like an iceberg, he was held in place by the crystal without much problems, much to his irritation.

["Mister Alien?! Mister Alien?! Are you okay?!"] He idly heard Dita breathlessly asking him if he was all right, to which he nodded wearily. He has been too rash, he knew now, but that won't help them escape this predicament they're in.

"Well, some savior you are." Hibiki sniffed as he struggled into lying on his back. The gravity on the floor under him was still quite high.

Ranma gave Hibiki a baleful glare, one which made him satisfied when he saw the younger boy shiver in terror. "If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all, kid. Besides, if he decides to torture us, you're gonna die first, since I'm a whole lotta tougher than you. I just want to remind you of that."

Hibiki grunted, "Who the hell is this guy? He's... he's a maniac!"

Ranma chuckled, "Heh... something like that. He's a psychopath."

Meia's screen was still active, and she was the one who asked, ["You know of him?"]

The pigtailed hybrid shrugged as best as he could while being trapped in the red crystal, "Not directly. But I heard some bad things about him. He's bad to the bone."

Their conversation was broken when the pale skinned boy who was currently the most hated person in that sector of the universe made his presence known once again, "Finally got your bearings together? Good. Now that I have you, your glorious power will add to my arsenal of might!"

Ranma eyed the crazy child curiously as he gingerly sat atop his 'throne' once again, and pressed a few buttons from its armrest. Ranma had no warning when a massive jolt of electricity traveled into the crystal chamber he was imprisoned in.

The last vision he had was Kagato's smirk of triumph as things started to blur around him...

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

Somewhere...

When Ranma opened his eyes, he saw red. Literally. But it's not because he's angry or something of the sort. Everywhere around him was coated with a red hue.

"Well, this is new..." Ranma mumbled to himself as he floated along the red-tinted atmosphere. His sharp hearing brought to him a sound he didn't want to hear: a woman crying.

The pigtailed hybrid flew into the sound's direction. After a few moments of floating in one direction, he finally came upon a small clearing of some sorts with a dark red spherical force field in the middle. Tendrils of red crystal seemed to be jutting out of its position. But the most noticeable thing Ranma saw out of all these was the inside of the bubble.

There was someone sitting inside the sphere, and was clutched at what it seemed to be like a small child. Her spiky teal hair covered most of her eyes as she cried, and she wore her black and red body suit that covered most of her body. Her light skin was quite a contrast to the reddish environment they were in.

The baby she was holding unto has red hair, and has her own body suit covering her whole body. As much as Ranma could tell from the view, the girl also has a dark brown tail protruding from her backside.

But the woman seemed familiar to him... wait... Ryoko... RYOKO!

"RYOKO!!!" Ranma frantically called out as he swiftly went to the red sphere's side, as he banged upon its surface with his fists, "RYOKO!!"

"That... that voice..." The crying teal-haired woman croaked before she unfolded herself from her crouch. She gently had the child in her arms seated beside her as she looked around herself. Aside from the usual red bubble that she can't seem to break, she can't see anything that... was that a pigtailed man looking through the shielding?

Pigtail... Ranma?

"RANMA!!" Ryoko suddenly stood, startling the child beside her and caused the toddler to topple over comically. Ryoko quickly bent down and muttered apologies to the small girl and lifted her up in her arms. She quickly floated over to where Ranma was pressed up in her prison. "RANMA!" she shouted happily as tears fell down her cheeks, "B-But... but how? HOW?!"

Ranma shook his head, his own unearthly eyes glowing slightly as he felt unshed tears pooling around them, "I don't know... but... I don't really care. Ryoko... I'm... I'm so happy I found you..."

Ryoko nodded joyfully, "I looked for you all over Earth, but mother just told me you might be off-world, or even worse, in another dimension."

"She's pretty close..." Ranma hiccupped slightly, chuckling at the sight in front of him, "I got trapped in limbo for more than five thousand years with Rin-Ohki... Ryoko... who...?"

The teal haired woman blinked as she looked down to the child in her arms, who looked back at her with those slitted blue eyes with curiosity. "I forgot to tell you..." she almost whispered, "You... we... the last time we... we did... IT... I got... well, PREGNANT... and..."

"A daughter..." Ranma breathed as he took sight of the small girl in Ryoko's arms, which favored the new face a look of wonder. She has flaming red hair, and blue eyes like his curse form. But her hair was spiky like her mother's as it spread like angel wings just behind her ears, and her eyes were slitted. The brown tail waved imperiously down her backside.

Probably by instinct, the girl recognized her father easily and reached out towards him. The little cherub giggled and smiled as she lifted her little arms into Ranma's direction. The sight made Ranma and Ryoko sob in happiness.

Especially when little child squeaked, "Papa!" to Ranma.

"Her name's Ranko..." Ryoko declared proudly, "No connection to your female form though. I just thought of mixing RAN-ma and Ryo-KO into her name. I hope you don't mind..."

Ranma shook his head vehemently as his gaze rose to meet those golden orbs of Ryoko's eyes, "It's a wonderful name. It suits her well."

"But we're trapped here..." Ryoko suddenly changed topics, "We can't get out. Somehow, some force manages to drain us of our powers enough to keep us weak enough. We cannot break through..."

"We don't know what will happen if we do so..." Ranma stated, "So it's probably best that you haven't broken the barrier yet. But don't worry, I'll do something about it from the outside."

Ryoko adopted a confused look. "Outside? Wait... where are we? What's going on?"

Ranma blinked. "You mean, you don't know? Years after you locked yourself in stasis, Kagato found your pod and was now using you as his batteries for his pet project."

Ryoko snarled loudly, which caused the child in her arms to squirm in discomfort, "KAGATO! So... that bastard's still alive?!" Then her expression turned into one of fright as she asked hesitantly, "Wait... what happened... to the others?"

The pigtailed hybrid grimaced as he bowed his head, "Dead... by Kagato's hand as well. His first experiments... he killed them for their Juraian energies..."

Ryoko fell to her knees as she clutched at their baby, "Dead... Yosho... the shrine... oh no... it's... it's all my fault... if I didn't put myself in stasis..."

"Don't blame yourself for this, Ryoko!" Ranma hissed emotionally, "It would probably make no difference. Kagato was prepared, he got all of them without problems! If you were there, he would've killed you too, as well as Ranko!"

Ranma slid down the shield's surface into a sitting position, "Don't worry... we'll avenge them... but first. You have to gain control of this prison. I know you can do it. You're stronger than this!"

"I can't!" Ryoko cried out, "This is Kagato we're talking about! He already took control of me once... it would be easy for him to do it again!"

"RYOKO!" Ranma caught the woman's attention back from her ranting, "Listen to me! This prison you're in, it's you! It's inside you... the only way you can take back control is if you wanted to! Do it for those who died... do it for Ranko... do it... for me... for yourself... for US!"

"For us..." Ryoko mumbled, before her voice started to gain its intensity, "For US! YES!" she shouted as she stood, twirling the little girl in her arms.

"Good girl..." Ranma sighed. He could feel his existence in this world slowly fading, so he has to make this quick, "Ryoko... remember... take control of the Paeksis. Kagato connected you to it. So in some weird and fanatical way of thinking, it's part of you. I know you can do this."

Ryoko nodded. "I will. Ranma... I'm so happy to see you."

Ranma smiled tiredly. "Same here. I'm going to be seeing you soon in person, if... no... WHEN we pull a miracle in this situation." He grunted, and it was noticed by Ryoko. The pigtailed hybrid waved her worries away.

"By the way... where's Ryo-Ohki?" Ranma asked curiously, as he looked around the bleak surroundings.

The mother of Ranma's first child shuddered. "She... she put herself in hibernation mode... and put up this shield that protects Ranko and my consciousness from total corruption."

Ranma nodded grimly. "That's good... she did her best to protect the both of you... now it's our turn to return the favor." He grimaced for a moment, as he sensed his essence slowly fading away.

"I need to wake up soon... so that I can begin my side of the plan..." Ranma explained as he slowly faded, "Ryoko... I know we have a link... I can feel it at the back of my mind... we are mind linked..."

Ryoko graced Ranma with a beautiful smile, "Yes... and it's what's kept me thinking you're still alive. I felt you, no matter how faint, it's still there."

The fading form of Ranma chuckled loudly, "Such a resourceful woman... remind me to tell you about the other girls you might have to share me with..." and with that he totally vanished from Ryoko's sight.

The teal-haired woman blinked, before exclaiming, "OTHER GIRLS?!"

The red haired toddler girl in her arms just gurgled in amusement at seeing her mother's face contort into funny shapes.

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

In the real world, Ranma's eyes slowly opened. Sure enough, he still found himself within the red crystal prison he was in earlier before he lost consciousness. But somehow, something was different. Whereas the crystal was cold before, now it emitted a warmth that soothed his frazzled nerves. Ranma idly noticed off to the side that Hibiki was nowhere to be found.

Ranma found himself just near the Throne in the Harvester Ship's bridge now. He spied upon Kagato's child form sitting on the throne, an intense look of concentration etched on his face. A quick look towards the viewscreen proved that somehow, in some way, Hibiki managed to escape. This was proven by the appearance of the combined Super Vandread, the culmination of all four Paeksis-infected machines from the Nirvana.

The Super Vandread successfully destroyed almost three quarters of the drone ships, and Kagato's displeasure on the fact was evident.

It was then at that moment that Ranma opted to make his presence known to the irate Harvest Master. "Seems to me like you're losing big-time, Kagato."

The diabolical master turned his head sharply to the side and saw the infuriating grin on Ranma's face. "Hmph. I haven't even shown them the secret of this ship. Observe, the true power of the Paeksis Core!" he declared as he pressed a big square button on his seat.

The Harvester Mothership shuddered ominously, and Ranma knew it wasn't good. He had to act soon, and thankfully he could feel the crystal's hold on his body slowly melting away. Not waiting to waste any more time, Ranma let out some of power. A bright corona of silver energy erupted from his body, which caused Kagato to be distracted from the spectacle of his ship's preparation for its final attack.

"What's this?!" Kagato grunted as he felt the enormous amount of energy being emitted by the red-tailed hybrid he got trapped beside him. Kagato quickly stood from his seat and backed away, shielding his eyes from the harsh glare of Ranma's aura.

"Heh... it's time to end this..." Ranma chuckled as the red crystal surrounding his body exploded, freeing him from his worthwhile prison. Ranma's raven black hair turned red as his power continued to rise.

Kagato gaped as his former prisoner's demeanor became a lot more menacing, with an aura that created a crater from where he stood. He quickly banished the terror he felt and glared at the now red haired Ranma, "Damn you... how did you..."

Ranma brushed off the red dust that lingered on his chest armor and said, "Do you really think that Ryoko will allow you to go on doing what you want at her expense?"

"That bitch!" Kagato spat, "I changed my mind about you... I have to kill you now!" He lumbered to his Throne and pressed a switch that caused the gravity around Ranma's location to increase up to three hundred times that of Earth's.

Ranma didn't even flinch. He raised his hand and fired off a ki blast, which was stopped by Kagato's AT Field. Nonplussed, Ranma continued firing off shot after shot, but it was still not enough to breach Kagato's barrier.

The pale child quickly summoned whatever control of the Paeksis he had left to create red lances in mid air, and sent it straight for Ranma. The pigtailed hybrid twisted and twirled as he leapt into the air as well, firing off two ki blasts that destroyed a few errant crystal lances sent to impale him.

"You can't defeat me in my own turf!" Kagato crowed as he summoned more crystals, which were in turn destroyed by Ranma's ki blasts. "My new combined power, this field and my own Juraian powers, cannot be penetrated by mortal attacks!"

<Heh, he might have a point there...> Ranma thought, <If that's the case then...> He landed on the far side of the bridge opposite where Kagato was, and concentrated upon his power once more. <If I can't breach it with ki only, then...>

Kagato's eyes widened as his nemesis suddenly sprouted wings. Not just any normal wings, "The Light Hawk Wings!" he screamed, "But... how?! Not only can you summon one, but EIGHT?! WHO ARE YOU??!!"

Ranma shrugged as he flapped his massive translucent silver wings, "What can I say? I am my mother's son after all..." and with that, Ranma's reshaped Light Hawk Wings burst outward and broke into thousands of feathers, which remained hovering in mid air. With a smirk, Ranma gestured towards the immobilized Kagato and said, "Chaotic Symphony!"

Kagato had no time to scream when the Light Hawk feathers ripped his barrier apart, the unhindered ones exploded upon contact with his body. He coughed out blood as his battered body smashed against the wall of his ship.

The floating form of Ranma glowed bright silver once more as he stretched his right hand to his side. Several points all over his body glowed deep purple and flowed out of his outstretched hand. The purple motes of light reshaped themselves into a weapon Ranma had just reacquired.

"Masamune..." Ranma breathed calmly as he brought the extremely long katana near his face. He tasted the chaotic aura swirling madly all over the sword, and it made him feel good.

Ranma nodded to himself when he was satisfied with his scrutiny. "Let's go, Masamune..." he said as he slashed his weapon to the bridge's Throne.

The last vision Kagato had before he brought up his shield up once more was his beloved Throne decapitated by the longest and strangest looking sword he has ever seen.

And then, everything went white...

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

Everything lay still as they awaited for the outcome. Hibiki, Dita, Jura and Meia all held their breaths as they watched the clouds of hydro-induced fire flare against the darkness of space. The Super Vandread floated ways off from the explosion, almost getting caught in that wildfire that might've destroyed their already damaged robot.

They were deep in their fight with those duploids of their lower level combination outcomes when the Harvest Ship suddenly acted very strangely. At first, they all thought it was about to unleash something horrifying when it opened its front area to reveal the red Paeksis Plagma in all its glory, but then all of the sudden the movements died down.

It was silent for a few more minutes before a loud explosion rocked the Mothership, and nobody was really sure what caused it. The front area that opened a while ago blew up, and was now part of the debris that floated in space.

When the explosions veered off, the area cleared up and exposed some chunks of metal that was used to be the outer hull of the Earth Harvest main ship. Their hopeful looks died when the smoke disappeared completely, which exposed the badly damaged but still functional inner part of the ship. The dying hope in their faces turned fearful as red sphere of light flashed angrily from the broken down ship.

Ranma and Rin-Ohki were nowhere to be found.

["You... stupid... INSECTS!"] Various communication speakers blared as the red light grew in volume.

"No..." Dita whispered in tears as she gazed at the miniature red death star in front of them. "He's still alive... and Mister Alien... he's gone..."

Meia suddenly turned from her seat, surprising the heck out of Dita, Hibiki and Jura. They were more surprised when they saw a handful of tears flowing down the face of the normally stoic leader of the Dread team. "Ranma is not dead!" She cried out vehemently, "Ranma can't die! He... he..."

Whatever she was going to say was halted when the screen blared again, showing the blurry image of a young boy struggling to sit up on his ruined Throne. It was the Earth Harvest Force leader. He was bleeding a bit on various lacerations all over his face, but the childish innocence usually found on children was lost to him as he sneered madly.

"It seems that I have to use it..." The spawn of Kagato snorted as his eyes gleamed red a moment before it returned to normal once again. "Obviously since you had the gall to go against me, instead of harvesting you, I will destroy you and your pitiful planets altogether! My Paeksis will swallow everything in this sector!"

Sure enough, the huge red ball that was exposed in the middle of the Harvest ship wreckage started to light up brighter, but everyone was quite surprised when it sputtered and slowly died down into a soft red glow. On the screen, the once smug face of leader of the Harvest slowly melted into a confused look as he saw his precious Paeksis lower its power levels, which was against his orders.

"What the hell is happening?" The pale young boy asked more to himself as he gazed at something on his seat.

A loud crackle echoed across the communications microwave. The noise was curiously ominous, which silenced most of the combatants on the field once again. The noises slowly gained coherence, and the cackles turned into a familiar voice.

["I will... ask you again... Kagato... you... you really think that... Ryoko will go with this... for so long?"] The voice from the communications spouted. It was high-pitched, which caused a lot of activity in various space vessels that came to help the Nirvana fight off the Harvesters.

Washuu smirked at her place near the huge screen. The other women around her, save Vanilla and Emeralda were appalled a bit earlier by the redhead's seemingly nonchalant attitude when Ranma was caught in the explosion. The redhead spoke, her smile still plastered on her face, "Good to hear from you, Ranma-chan. I was a tad worried that you were too injured. You turned to female automatically?"

Another screen exposed itself on the already crowded main screen of the bridge, displaying the static covered feed from Rin-Ohki's smoking cockpit. A red haired Ranma with definite feminine assets emerged.

["Feh!"] The other redhead snorted, her face distorted in a small grimace as red blood flowed down her forehead. Various cuts were visible all over her face, which were healing quite rapidly right before their very eyes. She said, ["As you can see... I turned female. Seems I misjudged the backlash of power that exploded when I destroyed the kid's throne. My fault entirely..."]

"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma..." Washuu shook her head in amusement. "Still having trouble with science? Let me explain it to you in simple terms then. We all know that the body would automatically shut itself down when injured to recover itself. That's what fainting and comas are for. The body shifts to reserve and bolster its energies to heal itself. But in your case, the body has found a loophole. Since you have an option of having a body with smaller mass that requires lesser energy, your body shifted to it and allow the excess energy from your being male to heal your body. Do you understand, Ranma-chan?"

Onna-Ranma rolled her eyes up her head cutely, an action that caused Vanilla and Emeralda to giggle. ["Alright, alright... not that it matters to me anymore anyway."]

"R-Ranma?" Magno asked tentatively, her eyes wide in surprise as she stared at the shocked face of the Harvest leader, who was gaping like a fish out of water as of the moment. It was shocking, yes, to find Ranma still alive after a huge HUGE explosion like that. "You're alive?!" she finally asked what she wanted to know.

["Hello to you, too..."] Onna-Ranma rasped as she slowly shifted back to male, not that he noticed himself changing back at will. Instead, his attention was riveted to the growing black hole that was caused by the remnants of the Paeksis that was still in Kagato's control. ["That doesn't look promising."]

"An understatement, Ranma-chan..." Washuu said wryly, "The Paeksis-induced black hole is gaining size by minutes, and probably within the next twenty-three minutes, the size and mass will be enough for it to engulf this entire system. And... what the... there's something charging up within the destroyed Mothership. It seems that she still has a lot of kick left in her before she croaks..."

Inside the cockpit of the Anima Seraphim, Ranma just has to sigh. He just had to many weird things going on around him right now to think about anything else. Especially that strange power up that seemed to be the mothership's final attack before it blows up. He could see the damaged Super Vandread that positioned itself between the destroyed Harvest ship and the Nirvana, in a vain attempt to shield everyone with its barrier again. But with the amount of hits it took earlier, it might not be enough to hold off the beam, and would probably end up killing everyone.

Ranma had no time to ponder some more because Rin-Ohki just meowed loudly in warning. The large cannon that seemed to have survived the destruction suddenly flared to life and fired off one last massive red beam. It was wide enough to engulf two thirds of the allied forces who fought against the Harvest fleet. The cannon finally collapsed into itself, but the beam has already been fired off.

Everything went in slow motion for the pigtailed hybrid as he assessed the situation in near light speed. His mind quickly filtered through the information pounded into him by everything he has gone through in his lifetime. As he saw it, there were two situations he needed to remedy.

One was taking care of the huge beam that would decimate most of the Talark, Mejer, and others' fleets, including Hibiki, Dita and their companions inside the Super Vandread. Second, he needed to go and stop the black hole generated by the last visages of control Kagato had on the red Paeksis Plagma.

"Rin-Ohki..." Ranma said in an urgent tone as he got his cabbit's attention. The silver-furred cabbit's face appeared on the viewscreen of his mech, with an inquiring look in her eyes.

"I need someone to generate a large enough shield to protect everyone in the fleet..." The pigtailed boy's eyes glowed as he spoke, which caused the cabbit to panic a bit, "There's no point in arguing! The only one I can trust to do this is YOU! Remember! There're still the others in the Nirvana! Vanilla-chan... Emeralda-chan... Lea-chan... Raven-chan... you need to protect them!"

"MIYAH! Miyah-mi-miyah!" The cabbit answered.

"I need to go and destroy that black hole, Rin-chan... and shut down this Paeksis, a mockery of Ryoko's power, for good as well..." Ranma said sadly as he tugged upon something within Rin-Ohki's systems. While Rin-Ohki has access to most of Ranma's mind, it worked in vice versa. Ranma knew Rin-Ohki inside out, since some of her was part of him, after all. As he tugged upon the strand he needed within Rin-Ohki's system, the cabbit yowled in shock as her consciousness was thrown back from the mech she used to wear as an armor. Her existence formed into a light blue ball, and was ejected from the mech towards the Nirvana. In effect, the Anima Seraphim's wings retracted into its back.

Ranma could feel the headache coming to him as he felt Rin-Ohki's angry yowls of protest in his head. "((I'm sorry, Rin-chan...))" He mentally sent to his partner, "((You haven't fully 'digested' the mech yet into yourself, so it's still separate from you. Pulling you two apart was easy... but I'm sorry that I betrayed your trust. It has to be done...))"

"((Now, Rin-Ohki... raise your barrier and block that beam with everything you've got! Help the Super Vandread to protect that fleet, do you understand?!))" A soft mew was his answer, but it satisfied him, "((Good... now... to do my part. You can get angry at me later...))" and with those words, he manually piloted the Anima Seraphim.

The Anima Seraphim really hasn't changed much, even if Rin-Ohki haven't fully assimilated it, the change was profound enough for its systems to be upgraded to a very high degree. It has evolved from the meager Alpha Weltall form it initially has before assimilation into this behemoth. Yet for some reason, Ranma has no problems dealing with the piloting without Rin-Ohki. The mecha moved like it was his own body...

He shook off those thoughts for now, since his target was to nullify the Black Hole. Another reason why Ranma broke Rin-Ohki off from the Anime Seraphim was because there was a great chance that he may suffer a lot of injuries and damages from this maneuver. His plan was simple: to nullify the black hole, he has to fire another black hole into it. But in turn, he might get sucked into it...

But it was no time to contemplate of a new tactic. Already, the escape ship he saw Kagato used to flee was now nearing the location where the red Paeksis power core was located. It was miraculously spared from the destruction of the rest of the mothership, probably because it was the most fortified part of the ship.

Ranma saw into Kagato's plans. He wanted to flee with Ryoko's pod once again and hide to recover his strength. With Ryoko still with him, he could create a few hundred more Paeksis Plagma to use, and Ranma wasn't about to allow that anymore.

He willed the Anima Seraphim's arm to extend, its forearm armor snapped open to reveal twin gun nozzles. He fired off a few shots and hit Kagato's escape ship successfully. Ranma managed to knock Kagato's ship off course, right towards the black hole's direction.

Kagato's escape ship reversed its course in an attempt to flee, but it was too late. His ship was already caught in the black hole's Event Horizon.

"Heh... what an irony..." Ranma eyed the hapless ship as it swirled into the black hole's darkness. He sighed as he concentrated his power into the Anima Seraphim's systems, his red hair exploded from its pigtail as it elongated once again. The Light Hawk Wings made its appearance once again, but this time it extended on the outside of the mecha. Now, it seemed that the Anima Seraphim had eight gigantic spikes that jutted out of its back as wings.

"Fight fire with fire, huh..." The now red-haired hybrid mused to himself as he willed the Anima Seraphim's chest cavity to open.

"Black Hole Cluster... FIRE!!!"

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

Magno Vivan of the Mejer Space Pirates has lived for at least a hundred years, but never in her long life has she seen something like this. The huge red beam that would've surely ended her life and her crew's has been blocked by Ranma's pet, who was now perched at the nose of her ship.

Before she even knew what was going on, everything has happened so quickly. After the beam has been deflected, she saw that the mecha Ranma has donned has started moving towards the source of the black hole. But she was confused, wasn't the little rabbit thing and that huge thing out there one and the same? But judging from how the scientist Washuu has been hopping up and down in her glee, it must've been something new.

When the Anima Seraphim sported new wings, Magno has been very sure she would die of heart attack. But she still hasn't, so she bore witness how the dark blue robot fired off another black hole into the first one.

The shockwave of the collision was the worst. It fried almost all of the Nirvana's system, and Magno was pretty certain the computer systems of her allies as well. Only Washuu's weird computer has survived the onslaught...

Right now the rest of Ranma's companions, Vanilla, Lea, Raven and Emeralda were gathered around the red haired scientist. Magno saw they were quite distressed, probably about Ranma, but right now she was quite worried about her own crew members, as well as Dita and the rest who were fighting outside.

Imagine her surprise when she saw that blue tendrils of crystal has burst forth from her own ship, the Nirvana, and was now 'holding' the battered Super Vandread and the small cabbit Rin-Ohki in separate blue spheres. It would seem that the Nirvana has protected them from the shockwave that would've destroyed them, especially with the Super Vandread's condition.

Magno sighed as she leaned on her seat. All she can do now was wait for communications to return...

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

When Ranma opened his eyes, he hasn't really expected to have a perfect view of the Event Horizon up close, but he did. The dying black hole spun faster as it slowly dissolved into itself, but it was now taking him within it. He also took note that he was now in his child form, male though, and was hurting like hell.

Typical. Feh.

Ranma tried to establish contact with the Nirvana, but it would seem that communications from his position was impossible. Although...

He gestured to the air and summoned his translucent computer, a culmination of Washuu's genius passed down unto him, and activated it. His gamble has been rewarded when his computer has detected a certain distinct signal unique of Washuu's terminal trying to contact his own.

Contact was made.

["RANMA-SAMA!!!"] Lea's distressed voice echoed within the cockpit. Ranma had to wince from the tone. He knew he was in bad shape, from summoning so much power within the short span of time then pulling this off, his power was almost depleted. He barely has enough to keep himself from keeling over.

["Move over!"] Ranma recognized Washuu's commanding voice as Lea's face was shoved off the screen. She quickly took stock of Ranma's situation, ["How are you? Are you all right?"]

Ranma chuckled painfully and blood trailed down the side of his mouth. "Maybe. Dunno. Ask me tomorrow." He shifted in his seat. "Truthfully, I can barely move."

["Ranma-chan..."] Washuu sighed, ["How, no, WHY did you separate Rin-Ohki from your mecha?"]

Ranma smirked slightly, "No way in hell am I gonna let her get involved in this crazy plan of mine. Besides, you need her to find me..."

Washuu's face adopted a lost look, a first in Ranma's eyes. ["Find you? Ranma-chan... what are you..."]

"Washuu..." Ranma intoned seriously, "I don't think... no, I'm sure... I can't go back. I can't escape the event horizon."

["NOOO!!!"] Ranma grimaced when Raven, who was currently in her angelic form, shoved Washuu from the screen, ["I think I can save you! I'll just teleport you here... then... then...!"]

Ranma shook his head slowly. "No... I of all people know of your limitations, Raven. The distance is too great, and if you come near my position, you'll be sucked in too. Thanks for the offer but no, don't even think of trying it."

When Raven turned dejectedly from the screen, Vanilla's formerly impassive face appeared in its place, and was now wrenched in worry. An expression that brought Ranma a lot of pain in his heart, for it looked so foreign upon the pale-skinned red-eyed girl's face.

["Ranma-sama... I..."] The light blue-green haired girl began, but she faltered.

"Vanilla..." Ranma took charge of the conversation, "Keep the other girls together for me, will you? Keep them from fighting one another too much... and also, find me soon, okay? I might get lonely... heh..."

Vanilla nodded curtly, her red eyes grew moist as she stared at him longingly. She quickly turned and vanished from the screen, which was now occupied by a young woman with dark skin and light green hair.

"Emeralda..." Ranma whispered.

Emeralda reached towards the screen, as if to caress his face, ["I believe Ranma-sama will not die from a black hole. I will believe..."]

Ranma inclined his head, "Well, that's good, coz I'm NOT gonna die from this black hole."

When Lea's face appeared on the screen, the burden in Ranma's heart grew heavier. Her usually casual and calm face was now flooded with tears, all because of his bull-headedness once again. But Ranma knew he had to do it, or everyone will die from that black hole.

["Damn you, you stupid, arrogant, selfish..."] Lea couldn't finish as more tears spilled from her eyes.

"I'm... I'm sorry Lea, everyone..." Ranma said softly, his own eyes burned with tears, "I... I really don't know how to act in this situation. I'm not really good at emotions. I'm selfish... I'm arrogant... I'm stupid... I'm a horrible person, for making you cry like this."

["R-Ranma-sama..."]

"It's probably the first time I'm put in this situation..." Ranma continued, as his gaze focused on the black miasma that was slowly, but surely devouring him, "I usually end up having to save other people. I... when I'm put in a situation where I have to be saved, I'm not sure how to act. I'm sorry for this..."

["You will not die..."] Lea said in a badly shaken voice, ["We will find you again... I swear..."]

Ranma huffed, "I trust you'll do just that. And in return, I'll promise I won't let myself die in this stupid vortex. I... lemme say this just once, everyone... please... save me soon..."

["Hai... Ranma-sama..."]

The pigtailed hybrid nodded just as Lea's face was replaced by Washuu's again.

"Washuu.... Ryoko... find Ryoko's cryo-pod..." Ranma's statement drew a surprised look from Washuu, nonetheless Ranma continued, "I can feel her at the back of my head, floating somewhere in the debris. Kagato didn't kill her for her power, rather he used her as a battery."

["Little Ryoko... she's alive..."] Washuu breathed, then her expression changed into apprehension as she looked hesitantly towards him, ["Uhm, Ranma-chan..."]

Ranma grinned as he said, "Saw my daughter... Ranko... heh heh... so pretty..." his eyes slowly closed, as his connection with Washuu slowly got weaker and weaker until finally... only static remained. His hand fell limp to his side...

Several female screams can be heard all over the Nirvana as the communication line was cut.

It was then that the Anima Seraphim was completely devoured by the dying black hole as it closed into itself.

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

In Nifelheim...

In the office of the Lord of Nightmares, Hild was currently typing in her computer. Rather, erasing certain files...

"Finally free..." Hild breathed to herself as she finally shut down her terminal, for good.

The realm of Nifelheim suffered a bit of a power surge for a few seconds, before it stabilized once again. Most of those who took residency in the place ignored it.

A knock on her office's door disturbed her from the task she was doing. She looked up from observing her terminal and stated, "Come in."

The door slowly opened, and a young woman entered her domain. A familiar blonde haired woman with slash marks on her face and cheeks. Her skin was dark tanned, and wore an outfit considered indecent in mortal society.

"What is it, Mara-chan?" Hild asked curiously. She hasn't recalled calling for the demoness to her office lately, especially at this time.

The demoness named Mara swallowed noisily as she asked, "Hild-sama... what... what's happening?"

The Lord of Nightmares quirked an eyebrow. "Why do you think something is going on?"

"The energy surge a few minutes ago..." Mara explained cautiously, "Normal citizens of Nifelheim will just ignore that. We demons with special designation will wonder though, since that only happens when there's a big virus in the System, or..."

"Or... I myself did something with it?" Hild asked cheerfully. When she saw Mara nod, she smirked, "Very astute observation, Mara-chan. So what if I DID do something with the stupid System? What will you do?"

"Bu-But Hild-sama!" Mara asked desperately, "I do not understand! We NEED that System! It keeps Nifelheim running smoothly..." her face scrunched up into a frown, "... and also Heaven!"

Hild nodded. "And that's exactly the problem. Too mundane. Too predictable. Bah... in the old days, no such Systems exist. The beings scattered in the Universe had to live according to what they perceive is right. Don't you think that's the correct way to exist, Mara-chan? Instead of being... subjected by a higher being in a path paved for them?"

"What about us?" Mara stared at her 'boss' intently, "What... what will happen to us when the System is gone someday?"

The Lord of Nightmares pouted and shrugged. "Learn to stand up on your own." With a swift chop, she smashed her computer terminal into pieces. Hild then threw a flying kiss towards the catatonic Mara, who gazed at her in horror.

"Time to go, Mara-chan..." Hild stood up and patted her body suit down, "I'm off to meet my husband. I'm off to meet my Chaos."

Hild was already long gone when the other demons found Mara inside the office, still rooted in her place ever since.

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

In an unidentified universe...

There was a version of Earth where mutated wildlife was found. Various plants, animals and such gained particular powers, and were eventually used as pawns in gaming purposes.

They were cute. They were powerful. They were known as... Pokemon.

In short of the word Pocket Monsters, these creatures can be 'captured' using specialized balls that transports the pokemons in a temporary subspace within the ball itself. A scientific breakthrough for humans, but a pain for the evolved wildlife...

In a particular day, a couple of these Pokemons were currently on the run from a lot of Pokemon hunters in their world. The reason was they were two of the most valuable and prized pokemons in their world.

One of the pokemons was cat-like in looks, and has the power of levitation at hand. It can also make itself invisible at will. But these powers weren't even near its limit... it has a mysterious power in the form of telekinesis, as well as psychic powers. It can also mimic every and known attacks of every pokemon in that world. This pink colored cat-like pokemon was the only one of its kind, and was known as the legendary source of the pokemons in their world. It was said that it has all the genes of all pokemon in the world, therefore the prize for its capture was exponentially high. Not only that, but the prestige and recognition it brings to the one who captures it, as well as the power this pokemon possessed will give an utmost advantage to its captor.

Such is the power of the Mew, the Pokemon of Genesis.

Its companion was a green pokemon with pixie-like features. It was said that this pokemon came from the future, and was able to time travel. It was a psychic plant pokemon legendary for its powers of healing. It was said that when this pokemon appears, a good day was sure to come. Not much was known about this pokemon, since it constantly flits from one timeline to another, in search for great pokemon trainers.

Meet the Time Traveling pokemon named Celebi.

The duo of powerful pokemons were currently flying through a thick forest, in hopes of losing their pursuers. But alas, their pursuers were much more persistent that the other hunters that came after them. They were actually foraging for berries along the lake just beyond the Hoenn region of the Earth in that universe, until they were spotted by a few pokemon enthusiasts. When they returned to forage for more food, the hunters were already waiting for their appearance.

Mew was especially reluctant to be caught by any pokemon trainer. The last time she was captured, she was experimented upon by the scientists in that world. Not only that, but they also tried to clone her. The outcome was a tainted clone named Mewtwo, who while powerful became a bit uncontrollable. In the end, Mewtwo escaped, with a vow to create a world for pokemons only.

Celebi suddenly signaled his companion to stop in a small clearing, since he felt the presences of another large group in the direction they were going. Mew also felt it, as well as the two other groups that now surrounded their location.

"((I am not going to be caught again!))" Mew told her companion telepathically. Her previous fears of captivity gave her the paranoia that was quite justified in her situation.

Celebi nodded slightly. "((I know that, but what can we do?))" he sent back.

Mew grunted in disgust. "((The only thing we can do... teleport.))"

The green pixie of a pokemon glanced at Mew, "((But... we don't know how it will affect the teleport! We don't know what will happen if my temporal powers mixed with yours...))"

"((I am not going to allow myself to be captured!))" Mew said mentally in defiance.

When Celebi saw the determined look on his companion's face, he sighed. "((Then... we shall risk it?))"

Mew nodded. "((Better be lost in whatever dimension than be caught by these lunatics again!))"

Celebi sighed morosely, as he started glowing. "((Then... it shall be done...))"

The pink cat-like pokemon snorted as she herself glowed. Lightning began to appear in the area as the sky darkened in the mixture of their powers. When their psychic connection finally synchronized with one another, they shot a burst of combined psychic force into the space in front of them.

The resulting black swirling portal was a blessing to them. Maybe.

"((I do not know where this will lead to...))" Celebi said hesitantly, as he glanced at the doorway in trepidation.

Mew flew towards the portal. "((I will not be caught again.))" was all she said, before she was swallowed by the portal.

Silence reigned in the clearing as Celebi stared at the portal. A small smile appeared on his face as he watched Mew disappear into the portal. "((I expected you to say that, my friend. But I'm sorry, I will not accompany you.))"

The green pokemon shot of another psychic blast towards the portal, which forced it to close abruptly. Celebi nodded to himself in satisfaction, "((I knew this was going to happen. It wasn't a coincidence that we met a while ago. In another timeline, you got caught and was used for more horrifying experiments much worse than you experienced before. But this time... I will let you live and find your own path in life. Such, is free will...))"

Celebi took one glance at where the portal appeared a while ago, before he vanished without noise.

When the hunters reached the clearing, there was no evidence of both pokemons in the area.

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

In another universe...

Mew squealed as she popped out of the portal she went into a while ago. The interference of her psychic energy created by the portal caused her to lose levitation momentarily. She crashed into the ground, hard.

When she opened her blue eyes and focused on her surroundings, she was terrified when a large black dog-like creature appeared in front of her. Mew wondered where Celebi was, but the thought vanished when the creature growled and leapt to finish her off. Mew tried to will her psychic powers to work, but they were still offline.

Just as the monster was about to make short work of her, a shadow appeared between her and the airborne monster. A slash of a weapon against the wind, followed by a yelp was all she heard, before she saw the creature crash down back on land in two halves. The carcass vanished in a puff of smoke.

The shadow turned out to be a person, a young boy in fact. He was dressed in a dark cloak with an oversized collar, and when he turned towards her she saw that he wore a simple dark blue sleeveless shirt with dark blue pants. His hair was raven black, and was let loose down his back that had it look like a giant porcupine's head because of its spiky features. A black bandanna was tied around his forehead, and dark glasses covered his eyes. His hands were covered in fingerless gloves, and his wrists were clamped with black bracers. In his right hand, the longest curved sword she has ever seen in her existence was seen.

Mew wanted nothing more to do with the human boy, but as he stepped forward, she felt no power in her body. She waited for her to be captured, but instead the boy picked her up with great care.

"Are you all right, little one?" She heard the boy ask. When her eyes made contact with his own through the dark glasses, some of her psychic powers returned. A jolt of a connection was established between the two.

Mew couldn't describe the feeling she got from the boy. Even with his physical looks, his maturity level was beyond staggering. But his mind was a bit damaged, by some accident of some sort.

"Mew, mew..." she tried to make him understand... but she held no hope of communication. It was understandably surprising for her when she heard her rescuer answer.

"I see... your name's Mew. My name is Zack. Will you let me take care of you? Don't worry... we'll get you fixed up in no time!" The boy smiled at her.

Mew felt her heart pound faster as she gazed at the boy who had her in his arms. She let out a small "Mew..." before she finally fell unconscious.

But Mew already knew... that she was in safe hands.

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

Back in the universe where Ranma disappeared from...

A few hours after the black hole collapsed into nothing, Washuu has sifted through the Harvest Mothership's debris. She finally found what Ranma has told her all about before he disappeared into the void...

Ryoko's cryo-pod.

It was in near perfect condition, untouched throughout the years...

When Washuu finally broke through the last security program needed to unlock the retrieved escape pod, a loud and long hiss emanated from the chamber as the capsule's surface snapped open. A long silence followed, only the sound of the beeping computers were heard. Suddenly, a gasp pierced the awkward silence that enveloped the scene, as well as a wail of a baby. Washuu quickly reached for the pod, just in time to see a hand which grabbed the side of the chamber.

"RANMAAAAA!!!" A female's heart-wrenching cry echoed all over the Nirvana's medical room...

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To Be Continued...

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

Cue Ending Theme Song "AGAPE" from UFO Princess Warukyure

NEXT CHAPTER PREVIEW:

Heh... where the heck did Ranma go?

Ah! Amnesia!

A meeting with a mild-mannered brown haired girl. What's this? She has gems on her forehead too?

And what's with the pink floating cat?

AUTHOR RANTS:

Ahem. Yes. Here we are. After a long absence, I'm back.

So why did I take so long? Did a few rewrites on past chapters, changed some info to correlate my Tenchi Muyo info into Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki! series.

Also, I had to function along with society one way or another. Meaning, I still had to talk to my friends, work, eat, sleep...

Anyway, the major distraction was the Game Boy Advance games, but they gave me a whole lotta ideas.

Besides, I'm dealing with time travel here, temporal mechanics, alternate worlds, and multiple crossovers. Give me some time to make sure my info is correct.

To those interested, the crossovers for this chapter are:

- Ranma 1/2 (Of course! Ranma is always there!)
- Evangelion Cameos
- Gundam Cameos
- Vandread 2nd Stage
- Evil Zone (Ihadurca)
- Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki!
- Ah! My Goddess!
- Pokemon

Again, someone asked me for this. I hope this will help some who had trouble understanding where is where and when is when.

1. HOME DIMENSION

The Universe where Ranma came from. Volume 1 - 38 of the manga happened. It's a sort of continuation from the Canon, but of course some information has been revealed into light to suit my needs.

2. FUTURE HOME DIMENSION

Ranma reached this dimension when Happosai threw the artifact at him during the prologue. This is approximately 700 years ahead of the Home Dimension timeline. Earth has experienced a death and rebirth, via Evangelion's plot. Dragonball Z Universe emerged in the end, where Ranma has finally popped out. This was where Ranma's true heritage reawakened. This is the timeline that went on AFTER Ranma disappeared, but since he appeared, everything in the Home Dimension's future splintered. Sailor Pluto, eat your heart out!

3. PAST HOME DIMENSION - DIMENSION B

This Universe was reached when Ranma used the splintered Nanban Mirror. This WAS the past of the Home Dimension, until Ranma got into it. Upon appearing into the timeline, it has veered off its course towards the intended Home Dimension Timeline, creating a new path in itself. This will give Sailor Pluto all the migraine she needs. This was supposed to be approximately 500 years into the past, during the time of Yosho's time on Earth (Tenchi Muyo) and the time of the youkai, Sengoku Jidai (Inuyasha).

4. FUTURE DIMENSION B

An accident caused by Washuu's invention entrapped Ranma in a null vortex, which acted somewhat like 'cold sleep', except that Ranma's sense of time inside the vortex slowed to approximately 97.35 percent of 'real time'. Normally, nothing survives inside the null vortex, but Ranma is Ranma. Ryoko, in her throes of despair, had herself locked in her own Cold Sleep after 10 years of searching for Ranma all over the universe. The incident catapulted Ranma approximately 5000 years into the future of Dimension B, the splintered timeline. Earth suffered into its deterioration, with constant strife and war battering the planet. It turns out that the Earth was under the siege of Kagato, who was under the guise of one of the bigwigs in the Earth's government. He manipulated events to totally dominate the world. Ayeka, Tenchi and Yosho were killed, their essences entrapped inside a special container that was later developed into an effective power source. Sasami fled, to parts unknown to anyone. Without Ryoko to help Tenchi defend Earth, the Juraians were easily beaten. Ryoko, still in cold sleep, was easily taken and converted into 'energy' by Kagato, and was transformed into a power source similar to the fates of the Juraians.

The Planet Zi, Planet Terra-Two, Solaris Planet (tentative name made by the Solarians when they took control of the land) are few of the worlds Ranma encountered in this dimension. And certainly not the last.

5. SLAYERS UNIVERSE

Mentioned a few times, here resides one of those who bore the gems of Higher Power, but still doesn't know about it. Go figure.

But as time went on, it was revealed that another one who bore the gems of power was Luna Inverse.

6. DC UNIVERSE

An offshoot from the Future Dimension B, when Ranma visited one of the planets inside a magnetic storm in order to search for Hibiki Tokai. The planet he landed on was Planet Zi, and he was unwittingly submitted into a war that he didn't want. When he neared the Zoid Eve, a power source for Planet Zi's Zoids, he was pulled out from Dimension B into THIS dimension. Later on, Ranma found out that it wasn't the Zoid Eve's fault, but a failed summoning experiment of the Universe's resident villain, Slade.

There ya go! Enjoy!

Ja ne.

- Lord Rance

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

For those who will send flames, well, I'll just douse it with my trusty bucket of cold water!

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