Private Bet #10: Part I: Be All That You Can Be
by Shade

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and affiliates are the
property of Rumiko Takahashi, Rifts and
Phase World are owned by Palladium. Other
references belong to their respective owners.
~~~~~~~~~~
part 1a: Where do we go from here?

Zora was her name, a woman of few words and quick action.
 Despite her seemingly delicate appearance, with silky white
blonde hair, an angel's face and a petite figure that a supermodel
would kill for, nobody in their right mind would treat her with
anything less then the utmost respect befitting a lady. Partially
this was due to the fact that she was a CosmoKnight, one
of the chosen heroes of the Cosmic Forge and embued with
enough power to go toe to toe with an Imperial Dreadnought
and kick it six ways from Sunday. The other reason was her
weapon of choice, the Cosmic Shotgun.

Several times in the past people had laughed at the seemingly
ridiculous name of her weapon. At least until they got a good look at
the business end of it. Staring into the silver barrels of a muzzle that
is almost as big as your entire head at point blank range can do
wonders for your manners. (1)

"Change here." She pointed to a spot and kicked in a stray rock.

 Not many things could shock the Guardian aside from lemons,
female nudity, or sex, but this was one of those golden moments.

"You want to do WHAT?!"

"Don't overreact." She looked remarkably composed
 for someone who just dropped the verbal equivalent of an
N2 mine.

"Do you have any idea of what the consequences
of opening a Rift are?!"

Silence was her response.

"What could you possibly want him for...."

Comprehension dawned slowly on his face.

"...you're not serious.....you've got to be kidding..
....nuh uh...no way...not happening...forget it lady...
absolutely NOT!!!"

Zora just smiled.(2)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the heart of the valley of Jusenkyo a
system of chaotic magical energy lay dormant.
 Invisible to the naked eye, dozens of minor ley lines
connected the various cursed pools. Several of
the more well known pools were sites where
anywhere from two to half a dozen ley lines
intersected. But one pool at the very center of
Jusenkyo was very different from its brethren.
This pool was a Super Nexus point,
 three major ley lines met as one there,
seven minor nexus points intersected at it
and seven times seven minor ley lines all
joined to form the most magically rich
3x3 square feet of water outside of the Bermuda Triangle.

For centuries the magic had slumbered;
though even at its lowest point the residual
emanations from the ley lines was more then
enough to keep the cursed pools active.
A side effect of all this background magic
was an environment that attracted two ancient
beings of power to the area, an ancient Dragon and a Phoenixi.

For the most part the area remained stable throughout
the turbulent and often violent times that history is known for.
Hundreds of animals and beings with latent psionic or magical
talent were drawn to the valley by the siren call of the various
springs only to drown or receive the curse Fate had decided for them..
The Dragon sired offspring and eventually passed away into the
antiquity of legend. The Phoenixi lived and died, only to be reborn
generation after generation. Each time it revived it lost a piece of
itself, weakening as the energy provided by the ley lines deteriorated.
As the decades passed eventually only the valley itself retained
any sizable amount of power at all.

For over a thousand years Jusenkyo was silent.

Then one day....

....It woke up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here sirs. We come to famous legendary
Training Ground of Cursed Springs, Jusenkyo."

It started as the smallest ripple along the ley lines.

"Are you ready Ranma?" Genma was an idiot. Nothing new there.(3)

Harmonics on a level beyond human comprehension
started to tremble in discord as a change entered
the scene. Those both blessed and cursed by Destiny
and Chaos also tended to affect the area around them,
Jusenkyo was no exception.

"I don't know...something feels weird here."
Ranma couldn't put his finger on it but whatever he
sensed was setting his hair on end, it was almost as
bad as having a cccca....cca......ca..cacacacaca...cat around.

For once he showed some uncommon sense by not immediately
joining his father on top of one of the many bamboo poles
sticking out of the springs.

"Hurry up and follow me boy!"

The subtle feeling of an increasing wrongness to surrounding
area completely passed over Genma's less then stellar powers
of observation. The occasional sparkle of unnatural blue light that
started appearing at the very edges of his vision was easily ignored,
he'd had many years of practice at denying the truth to himself and
others.

Ranma finally jumped to one of the poles as his father started
making cracks about his "obvious lack of manhood" at being
 afraid of getting wet from some old springs. His ego took
charge over prudence; nobody implied Ranma Saotome was
less then a man among men and got away with it, especially
not his idiot father. Still, he hesitated for a second before assuming
a ready stance. Something was happening here, something big.

At the every bottom of one of the pools a point of azure light appeared.

An eerie silence seemed to descend, as if the spirits
of the valley were holding their breaths in anticipation
of what was to come.

The two opponents faced each other, one just reaching the
beginning of his peak. The other already on the long slope
down toward mediocrity. No quarter was asked for and none
would be given.

The tension of those crucial moments seemed to stretch into an eternity.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as father and son prepared
to beat each other to a black and blue pulp.

The guide's warnings went unspoken, the living drama playing
out before him holding his attention completely. In his time the guide
had seen many martial artists come and go, but this he had to admit
was something out of the ordinary.

As if in agreement to a silent signal the two took to the air as one.
They met at the arch of their jump, hands and feet blurring into
individual strikes and parries that crossed the no man's land between them.

For several seconds they seemed to hang there in midair, defying
gravity as they tried to gain an advantage over the other. Disengaging
they landed effortlessly on another set of poles. Only to take to the
air once again.

And again.

And again.

A missed block ended the stalemate. Genma's arm was a fraction
of a second too slow coming up to stop his son's flying kick from
connecting. Down he went to splash into the spring below.

That event finally managed to snap the guide out of his passive
observation..

"Oh sir, very bad you fall in spring!"

"Huh?" Ranma wondered what was taking Pop so long to come up.

He hadn't hit him that hard had he?

"Pop? We done already?"

A dark shape broke the surface of the pool.

"Wha? Wha? Wha?" Ranma started babbling in shock as he
beheld the giant creature that had emerged from the pool.

"Honored sir fall into Spring of Drowned Grizzly Bear!
Very tragic story of Grizzly who drown in spring one
thousand nine hundred and ninety nine years ago. Now
who ever fall into spring take body of Grizzly Bear.
Is very cursed spring."

"You never said anything about this!!!"

Ranma picked the wrong moment to stop and talk.

The Bear had not yet realized that something was wrong,
seeing an opening in Ranma's defenses it attacked. Unfortunately
 its new paws packed quite a wallop, this new form was much stronger.
 Ranma went flying through the air past the spring of drowned girl,
soaring over the spring of drowned cat, beyond the spring of the drowned
demented tentacle demon fiend from another dimension, straight towards
the only uncursed spring which coincidentally lay at the exact center of
the valley.
~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay.....someone please explain to me HOW THE HECK
DID A GRIZZLY BEAR GET TO CHINA?!"

"Calm down. Stress leads to Heartattack."

"She's right."

"Shut up Rowan! If I wanted that advice I'd have asked for it!"

Needless to say, the Guardian was having a bad day and it showed.

"Could've been worse, he could've fallen into that last spring."

"He did fall into that spring Bard, remember that Imp's bet(4)?"

*Shudder* "You had to remind me."

"What'd you do with him anyway Shadow?"

"Booted him out."

"Before or after you beat the crap out of him?"
~~~~~~~

Ranma was falling......falling.......he could see
the crystal clear waters of his landing point.
What horrible curse awaited him? Would he
ever get a chance to express his thanks to
his father for getting him into this mess?
And why was the spring glowing blue all of a sudden?

At the moment right before Ranma impacted into the
water all hell broke loose.

Power beyond anything seen in a millennium exploded
into existence as the entire ley line network went from
practically nonexistent to hyperactive with a vengeance.

The sun vanished behind a storm of black clouds and ominous thunder.

Jusenkyo seemed to explode as the released energies played havoc
with reality. To Genma and the guide it was as if the world
had gone mad. They were hearing colors and tasting sounds,
side effects of the warping of local space-time.

These were mere trifles compared to the main event.

A Rift opened.

It blazed into brief existence within the waters of the pool
Ranma was falling towards. Within a distant corner of his mind
he admired the impossible beauty of it, a swirling vortex of colors
that went beyond anything replicable by human hands. The other 99%
of him was panicking.

There was absolutely no doubt in his mind.

He was going to die.

Ranma almost had time for one complete scream before he fell through.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It ended as quickly as it had started. One moment it was as
if the Second Coming was taking place, the next instant
everything was back to normal.

No trace of the flaring blue lines of magical energy remained.
The sun was shining and some birds that had apparently
taken a wrong turn burst out into song. It was as if the
entire nightmarish experience had been just that, a bad dream.
Except for one thing......

Ranma Saotome had vanished from the face of the Earth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ur.....ugghhh....." He hurt. He hurt all over.

Explosions in the background drew a protest from
his cracked lips. Hadn't he been tortured enough?
He knew he wasn't dead, he was in too much pain
at the moment to be dead.

Opening one eye finally gave him some badly needed visual data.
He was in the remains of what had once probably been a nice city.
Right now it was an war zone. The shattered remains of once proud
buildings surrounded him, laser burns and plasma scarring was
everywhere. In the distance he could see faintly the telltale flashes of
red and
blue indicating energy weapon fire. Another explosion shook the area as a
hovering blip over the firefight burst into a rich orange ball of basic
particles.

"Where the hell am I?"

Slowly he pulled himself to his feet, his back complained every inch of
the way.

As soon as he looked down he found out why.

There was a corpse under him. From the looks of it he'd
killed it when he crashed here. Judging from the size of the
crater they were in it had been one heck of a drop. He was lucky
 to still be breathing, let alone moving.

He peered down at his unlucky landing pad.

It was an ugly bastard, all armor and claws with a face
only its mother could love. The only thing that marred
its fierceness was the almost comical look of surprise on
its face and the way its head was twisted the wrong way,
indicating a broken neck.

"Damn....boy you're lucky to still be alive. Especially after wasting
one of the Kreeghor elite like that."

He turned in surprise, he must be hurt worse then
he thought if he couldn't sense someone sneaking up on him!

"What?"

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here. Their Imperial Guard
has been called in, if you get caught like that they'll execute you
on the spot."

The stranger grabbed what appeared to be some kind of
fancy weapon from the corpse's belt before indicating a side
alley for him to go to.

"It was an accident!"

"Heh, wish we all could have accidents like that. Let's go."

He didn't have much of a choice, anything was better then just sitting
here.

"By the way what's your name kid?"

"Ranma....Ranma Saotome. And don't call me kid!!"

"Well Ranma, I'm Dennis Skythe. Welcome to the Revolution."

To be continued......
~~~~~~~~~

(1) Zora Crystellia, 12th level CosmoKnight that I once played. She's
beautiful,
intelligent and has the best poker face west of the Kreeghor Empire.
 Her Cosmic Weapon is a personal howitzer that is given the laughable
tag of a mere
shotgun. The mere look of this weapon has cowed more then one potential
troublemaker.

(2)It's a secret!

(3)Sold Ranma a couple dozen times, taught him the Nekoken.
 Hasn't learned a thing from either experience. Same old, same old.

(4) Do you really wanna know?

*$*$*$*$*$*

1b: Some things never change

1 Galactic Standard Year later.......

"Good of you to come on such quick notice Commodore,
 I've been meaning to talk to you about that officer of yours."

"You mean Commander Saotome?"

"That's the one. Bit of a loose cannon so I've heard."

"He gets the job done sir, that maverick streak of his has
saved our bacon on more then one occasion."

"I take it you're talking about that incident with that alien
intelligence infiltrator. Messy business that."

"We'd never have found it without him, he's got to be the most damn
 lucky person I have ever met."

"Luck is all well and good but it seems he's fighting with our
troops almost as much as he does with the Kreeghor. There's also
the matter of the complaints from our provision department.
 Saotome eats enough supplies to feed two whole divisions and
that's just breakfast! I'd swear that he was a transformed dragon
if the tests hadn't come back negative."

"Well he does work hard, if I had a hundred like him we'd whip the
Empire in no time."

"If we had a hundred more like him we'd all starve to death."

"....Sir, exactly what is the real problem?"

"....*Sigh*......Sit down."

"General?"

"I won't argue that Saotome hasn't proven himself a fine and loyal
officer, because he has. However his continued presence here is becoming
detrimental to both morale and property values."

"I'm aware of the commander's tendency to put his foot in his mouth,
but isn't that going a bit far?"

"Commodore, half of the troops love him, the other half would love to
kill him."

"So what are you suggesting I do about it? I wish I
knew what it was that attracted women to Commander Ranma.
It's unnatural how they just seem to fall for him, almost as
mysterious  as how the heck he manages to get on the bad
side of every male soldier he meets within five seconds of running into
them."

"We've recently acquired a new experimental corvette from some
friends on Phase World. The Free Worlds could use another privateer,
don't you agree Commodore?"

"Ah, I see. But what about the crew?"

"Entirely female of course. It simply wouldn't do for the captain of the
ship to be lynched by his own people."

"Somehow I doubt Saotome will be grateful for that.
I suspect a lynching would have been kinder."

~~~~~~~

Ranma relaxed in his quarters, one of the few remaining
places he could find any privacy anymore.
He didn't understand women at all.
Ranma doubted that he ever would.

It had been bad enough back home when it was just human girls.
Even though he hadn't had much contact with them he had still
wondered about the looks they would give him more and more
often as he'd gotten older.

Here he had to deal with Dragons, Elves, Nymphs, and females
from half a dozen other races that all wanted one thing.......

Ranma blushed bright red. Even after a crash course in reproduction
six months ago he still got embarrassed thinking about IT.

{Me and my big mouth. I should never have accepted
that challenge. But I thought she was talking about Martial
Arts, not Marital Arts!}

On the bright side after a month of intense studying and training he
had won the match. Of course that victory had brought him a whole
new set of problems. Not the least of which had been the discovery
that the match had been recorded and broadcast on a minor
interstellar network. His women troubles had increased tenfold after
that incident. Then there were the side effects of his training....

Right now he was off duty, which was good since it would give the
bruises he'd gotten from this morning's brawl some time to heal.
Just why had that chef attacked him anyway? All he had been
doing was asking for his 273rd helping of breakfast. It wasn't his
fault that the portions were so small.

He sighed, life had been so much simpler when he was just a martial
artist back home. No legions of amourous women after him, no
bounties on his head and various other choice portions of his anatomy,
no bizarre advanced technology, a place where a giant interstellar battle
between the Rebellion and the Empire was just a movie and psychotic
tentacled aliens from another dimension were just the product of quickly
forgotten nightmares.

Absently Ranma checked the date as he relaxed in his bed. This precious
freedom from the "command bunnies" was worth its weight in credits. He
fully intended to take advantage of it to the fullest.

Had it really only been a year since he had arrived in this strange
dimension?

Even as his eyes closed Ranma's mind wandered back to
those hectic weeks and months earlier.

Ranma Saotome had found himself stranded on a strange and
very hostile alien world in the middle of a very brutal and bloody war.
The Rebellion forces were outnumbered, outgunned and outclassed on
almost every military level. The Kreeghor Empire had been playing for
keeps, even now Ranma could only wonder how he had survived through those
first two months of sheer hell.

A daring strike had cut off the ground forces from the fleet,
stranding thousands of Rebel troops on the surface of the
planet as the Kreeghor blockade bombarded the planet
on an hourly basis.

Left with no other alternative he'd hooked up with the
remnents of the Rebel army. It had been two months of
running and guerrilla combat along with endless lessons
that crammed the basics of survival in this universe into his thick
head.

He hadn't wanted to learn at first. Always the confident martial artist,
contemptous of the "crutches" of advanced weaponry. Getting most
of his shoulder vaporized by an enemy plasma bolt made him
change his mind very fast.

Ranma flexed his right hand again, the reassuring feel telling
him that his arm was still there.

Thank the kami that Livia had been nearby and that she
had a spell of Restoration ready. Without it he would most
likely have died, with only some field med-kits available
to treat an injury of that magnitude his chances of making
it would been practically zero.

After that nearly fatal battle he'd lost a lot of his cockiness and
soaked up everything he was taught eagerly, there's nothing
quite like confronting your own mortality to get you motivated.
Ranma had quickly become the proud inventer of Anything Goes
Speed Reading, Anything Goes Computer Hacking, Anything
Goes Power Armor Combat and a dozen other new sidebranches
to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Nor did Ranma
ignore his original training either, his unique style of martial arts
was unknown in this universe and it gave him a crucial advantage
over most of his opponents who tended to underestimate
a "mere human".

By the time the Rebel fleet broke the blockade Ranma had already
reached the rank of master sergeant via battlefield promotions.
And he'd earned each and every one of them.

After escaping from the planet (who's name he had learned later was
Ristmoth) Ranma had intended to just leave and look for a way back
home. As luck would have it things didn't turn out that way. Instead
Ranma found himself entangled in the middle of a conspiracy to assassinate
the leader of the Free Worlds. Along the way he had also literally stumbled

across an undercover Kreeghor agent, one that turned to be part of an
unknown alien intelligence. For his role in thwarting the assassins they
had promoted him  to officer status and he'd known at that moment that for
better or worse he was stuck here.

There were worse fates he figured.

His last promotion had been only four months ago to his current rank of
commander. He had been ashamed to receive it, in his opinion he didn't
deserve it. It had been a fluke and an embarrassing one at that.

Ranma and a small group of fellow Rebellion officers had been betrayed
and captured at Phaseworld by the Imperial Fleet. They were taken onboard
the Dreadnought that served as the Flagship to serve as "examples" to
worlds that resisted the might of the Empire. Somehow a cat had got on
board the
ship during docking and when their captors had discovered that Ranma was
scared to
death of it they decided to have a little fun before they killed him.

 The last coherent image he could remember had been the
tawny furball clutching to his face in feline aggravation.

When he woke up later he was being congradulated for singlehandly
capturing the Dreadnought virtually intact, a major coup for the
Rebellion.

It wasn't until he reviewed the records that Ranma learned of what he
had done. The cat triggered the Neko-ken, Neko-Ranma found himself
in an enclosed space full of many enemies and few friends.

The feral beast cut loose. By the time the alarms sounded every Imperial
troop within 100 feet had been shredded into unrecognizable kitty litter.
The Kreeghor found out the hard way that Neko-Ranma could SWIPE
their blasts aside with absolutely no difficulty.

A surprise attack by local Rebellion forces increased the confusion,
by the time the Kreeghor finally figured out what had happened their
forces were crippled and every one of their personnel on the Dreadnought
was dead.

Things had rather quiet since then. Besides the normal battles going
on in contested territory there was no new fighting between the
Rebellion and the Kreeghor. It was almost......boring.

Well, besides the legion of WARS (Women After Ranma Saotome).

Sleep descended on the weary officer.

But this time his dreams were different.

[Greetings Ranma Saotome]

{Who are you?}

[Transcendence, Connection, Life, Light, Hope.]

{Which one?}

[All and none....I am the Cosmic Forge.]

{What do you want with me?}

[I will show you.]

And so a hero was born........

1c: Save the World, See the Galaxy, Sign Up Today!

A destiny of glory.
A fate worse then death.
Hero.
Villain.
Savior.
Destroyer.

[Choose.]

{Why me?}

[You are the one.]

{I don't understand!}

[That is why you are the one.]

{Are these images real? Will they happen?}

[Perhaps. The future is never set, always can it change.
In your hands lies the way. All things are possible Ranma,
 never forget that.]

{I...I see.}

[The Universe will always need protecters. Will you become one of mine?]

{I don't know......This is so overwelming. Why didn't you pick
someone more suited to this then me?}

[Why would someone else be a better choice?]

{I mean look at me, I'm a loudmouthed jerk! I keep getting into
trouble and I'm lost in a strange dimension. I'd probably mess up as a
CosmicKnight the very first day!}

[So?]

{Huh? Don't you get it?}

[It is your choice. It has always been your choice.
If you fear the consquences then so be it. To accept is
to take the greatest challenge you will ever face, in return
all I can promise is a chance to defend the good and the innocent.
The rest is up to you.]

He thought about it carefully, this decision would probably be the
most important one he ever made. Was it really worth it?

Then he thought of all he had seen since he had got here. The cruelty,
the suffering and the oppression of countless beings to the forces of
evil. Here was his chance to make a difference.

For once he had been given a chance to decide
without interference or coercion.

{.................okay, you've convinced me. How do I sign up?}

[You already have.]

Ranma could have sworn that the voice smiled.

{Wha......?}

Then everything went light.
~~~~~~~~~

Ranma awoke with a startled gasp.
That dream had been so real......

Then he looked down.

No doubt about it.
Things were going to be a lot more interesting from now on.
~~~~~~~~~~~
-Two Galactic Standard Years Later

Ranma looked at the canopy of stars that stretched as far as the eye
could see from the port in his room. He had changed so very much
that he doubted even his own father would recognize him anymore.

He'd grown, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well.
The Neko-ken was a thing of the past, along with most of his immaturity
and boorish attitude. After getting it pounded into his head day after
day he was able to finally admit, (grudgingly mind you) that women did
indeed have a place in combat and that fighting was not only a "guy" thing.
(1)

The Cosmic Forge had for all intents and purposes wiped
Ranma's karmic slate clean, giving him the chance for a fresh start.
This time without the mistakes of his previous life haunting him.

Ranma had never been one to waste second chances.

He smiled sadly as he took a drink of some distilled Narmah nectar,
the tangy orange syrup was one of the few indulgences he still had.
While no longer requiring nourishment in the regular sense, he could still
appreciate the taste. There was just something so sinfully delightful
about being able to eat and drink just to enjoy the flavors. Now that he
had stopped simply gulping it down as fast as humanly possible, a whole
new world of flavors and textures had opened up.

{I've seen and done things that I'd never have imagined
in my wildest dreams or my worse nightmares. It's amazing
how quickly you get used to the unusual to the point where
it seems odd when nothing out of the ordinary happens.
But now this, just when I thought the Universe had run
out of ways to surprise me it goes and flips upside down
on me anyway. Funny, I've never been afraid of going anywhere,
 be it Rift's Earth, Phase World, Wormwood or any of the
hundred or so worlds that I've been to. But now the thought
of going home, the one I left behind three years ago scares me
more then all of my past opponents combined.}

Home. It was almost an alien concept to him now. For as long
as Ranma could remember he'd been living on the road. Even
before he'd arrived in this strange dimension he'd never stayed
for more then a couple of months in any one spot, his father had
always been on the move to stay one step ahead of all the people
he'd swindled or stolen from. The closest thing to a home that he
had now was his ship.

His ship.

Ranma never got tired of thinking about her that way.
~~~~~~~~~

Free World Starship 119 Untamed Stallion, a Shadowstar class
corvette that had been "liberated" from an unnamed source.
Originally intended for hit and fade operations and fire support roles
she'd been designed to move fast and hit hard. After Alliance
technicians got done with her, she also had a hide thick enough to
back up her bite and live to tell about it.

And when Silvia had finished with her modifications.......

All the proof needed of how effective she was at what she did
was shown at the skirmish off Antares IV. The Untamed Stallion
 took on two Kreeghor Berserkers attacking a FreeWorld
convoy and won. The ship was in drydock for repairs for over
a month afterwords and over three quarters of the superstructure
had to literally be rebuilt from scratch, but still, it had won.

The ship itself sported a formidable (and in most cases highly illegal)
array
of energy and solid projectile batteries along with several missile and
torpedo launchers. A pinpoint defense system had been crammed in along with
a
revolutionary binary forcefield. The FTL system was faster then most
standard
military and commercial drives, easily allowing the ship to catch its
intended target or run from larger opponents. Its cutting edge sensor
stealth
system along with the latest in electronic countermeasures gave the ship
its
nickname "Ghost Horse". Last but definitely not least was the launch bay.
Holding four fighters and half a dozen power armors, this was where the
true
strength of the Untamed Stallion lay. The versatility provided by this
small
but well armed force had proven to be extremely effective in the various
missions carried out by the unconventional ship and her unconventional
crew.(2)

Over the past two years several other useful upgrades had been made. Four
phase cannons taken from pirates supported by the Kreeghor on Epsilon II
now
supplemented the ship's already formidable defenses, a true cloaking system

from the Dominator ship of Glarg, Devourer of Midsized Planetoids
(Although they still hadn't gotten all the bugs out of it yet)and several
others ranging from "sorta semi-legal" to "so blatently illegal that you'd
better make sure that your ship is never ever boarded by customs" had been
installed as well.

But the crowning achievement had been the Universal Codebreaker,
a piece of equipment no bigger then a toaster that could crack the most
advanced Confed, Kreeghor, or Federation encryptions. That one
little gadget was worth almost as much as the entire ship; Ranma had
chosen wisely not to ask where his chief engineer had gotten it from.
The result would have been horrible, she might have actually told him.

The FWS Untamed Stallion had been the terror of the Kreeghor
shipping lanes, with over two hundred successful raids credited
to it and over a thousand confirmed kills, one hundred and fifty
of them capital ships. The daring exploits of Captain Saotome
and his heroic female crew had spread far and wide to every bar and dive
a ship could reach. There was a remote planet of  jelly-like aliens that
didn't even know what a human was and even they had heard about
Ranma and his legendary luck, both in battle and with the opposite sex.

If the taletellers had bothered to ask Ranma about it he'd say
that they had it backwards. It wasn't luck, it was a curse!
Of course along with the truth came hundreds of false or exaggerated
rumors and stories of the women the Captain had seduced, what
Saotome and his crew really did when they were off duty, and the history
of the mysterious man named Ranma.

Popular opinion was that he was a transformed Dragon or a True Atlantian
or some other kind of supernatural being in disguise. Others said he was
a godling that had been imprisoned by the Kreeghor before being freed by
the Alliance. Some speculated that Ranma was a member of a previously
unknown humanoid race that had only recently been discovered by the
Alliance.

None of them believed that Ranma was just a human.

A human reborn in Cosmic Fire to become a champion of
Justice and the Light.

A human with a billion credit reward for his death, courtesy of the
Empire.

A human with a trillion credit reward for his capture, courtesy of a
planet of beautiful amourous females that wanted to make Ranma their
next Adam and who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

A human that had forever altered the face of the Multiverse and
saved it from destruction more then once.

But Destiny wasn't through with Ranma Saotome, not by a long shot.
~~~~~~~~~~

Three years ago he would have been ecstatic
to find that he was going home. Now all he felt
was a bittersweet sense of nostalgia for his planet
of origin.

The dream had been crystal clear though.

It was time to go back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The worst part was he would have to leave his ship, and more
importantly his crew behind. He'd miss them all, in a way
they'd become like a surrogate family to him.

Ayla and her steady shoulder that he could always count on.
Perky Tania with her cheerful smile no matter what the current crisis
was. The challenging chess games with Silvia, as well as the heated
and often quite loud arguments the two had had over the tinkering
she wanted to do to his ship.

A hundred memories swept over him, good and bad, of the times
he and the crew had had together on and off of the ship.

This wasn't the first time he'd left the them behind, but
this would be the first time he wasn't coming back.
They were not going to take this well. If he was lucky
the girls would settle for just maiming him when he told
them he was leaving. If he wasn’t, well then things were going
to be quite painful.....for him.

With a silent plea he looked up to the ceiling.

{It's not my fault! I didn't ask them to all fall in love with me!!!}(3)

For a moment he thought he heard a quiet chuckle in response, then
dismissed it as his imagination panicking at the thought of what his
loyal crew was going to do to him in.....

Ranma checked his chrono-unit.

.....less then fifteen minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Fifteen Minutes Later

A brief moment of stunned silence followed the Captain's announcement.

Alas, it wasn't going to last.

"WHAT?!?!"

If anyone had been watching the Untamed Stallion from the
outside they would have been treated to the once in a lifetime
sight of a starship doing better then lightspeed suddenly jumping
like a cat with a firecracker up its.....tail.

{Well, they're taking this better then I thought they would.}

Somehow that thought wasn't very comforting to Ranma.
Perhaps it had to due with the blue glow that was now being
emanated by the bridge personnel, an event he suspected was being
repeated all over the ship as the crew got over their shock and went
from stunned to "Someone is going to be in a whole world of hurt
once we find out who's responsible for this".

{Better think of something fast Saotome.}

"Uh...that's all I've got to say. It's been an honor serving
as your commanding officer, I'll miss you all."

{Doh! That didn't come out right.}

"RANMA!!!" That would be Lily, the security officer looked
like a feral hunter ready to rip her unlucky prey limb from limb
and she wasn't even in her feline form yet. Damn, this wasn't
going to be pretty. She was strong enough even as a human
to literally hurl him across the bridge and while it wouldn't
hurt much it would be rather....awkward.

Of course he might be better off that way.......

{Oh Gods. Please, not the "adorable hurt puppy eyes
 with shining tears in them" routine!! Anything but that!!!}

*Sniffle*

Ranma decided that the Universe must hate him.

"Y..you're le.leaving us?" Tania looked like she'd
burst into a flood of tears any second.

"Captain?" Ayla sounded shaken, this was the first time he
had ever heard her speak with anything but absolute confidence.

The rest of the bridge crew was looking at him too.
What was he supposed to do now?!

Time for the tried and true Saotome
Anything Goes Final Attack.

"I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me.
Commander, you have the bridge."

The fearless Captain Saotome fled before anyone could reply.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(1)This took a bit longer then you'd think,
   despite all the changes he's undergone he's still Ranma.

(2) Trust me, you have not seen the last of them.

(3) Yes, this will come back to haunt him.

The Mentioned Crew of the FWS Untamed Stallion

Commander Ayla: Chiang Ku Dragon, one of the few remaining
in this Dimension. Desperately in love with the Captain but keeps
her feelings pretty well hidden.Very, very competent as well as
an accomplished tactician. This is NOT someone you want
as an enemy. Normally assumes the form of a stern but devestatingly
attractive red-haired green eyed woman in her mid-twenties.

Communications Officer Tania Sha'isti'a:  She's blonde, blue-eyed,
and got pointed ears. She's an Elf; handy with sword and bow but
hopeless with any weapon more advanced then that.
Took to radio and laser link communcation like a fish to water.
Radiates cheerful cuteness on a level equal to high grade plutonium.
Like the rest of the crew she's got a crush on Saotome.

Chief Engineer Silvia: A Phantom, member of a race of intelligent life
composed of pure energy although they can take a material form if they
choose to. They're known as the TV otakus of the universe, primarily
because they've watched so many old shows that they have a tendency to
mimic or imitate their favorite characters. Silvia is one of the more
level headed ones, although she has a weakness for a syndicated sci-fi show

that was very popular a couple millenium ago. One of the results of this
is a fascination with all advanced technology, especially engineering.
The other is her insistence on speaking with a pronounced Scottish accent
since "all great engineers are Scots". Constantly making improvements
to the ship, however her improvements often have a habit of failing at
the worst possible moment. On the other hand she's also able to juryrig
repairs on the spot with little more then spit and thread, a talent
which has often saved the Untamed Stallion when its chestnuts were roasting

in the fire.

Sergeant Lily: During a mission on Rifts Earth Ranma rescued a girl
under attack by a Coalition extermination squad. Turned out that the
girl was actually a were-panther, having nowhere else to go she
tagged along with him. Eventually wound up going back with him
to the Free Worlds where she joined up. Shortly thereafter she was
assigned to the Untamed Stallion at her request. Originally from
South America, her human form is much like her panther form,
sleek and deadly curves with a temper to match.

$*$*$*$*$*$*$

1d: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?!

From their places on the Plane of Neutrality several interested parties
watched Ranma in the Pool of Destiny. Currently it was now at one of
those all too rare quiet moments, the calm before the storm so to speak.

"I never thought I'd say this but I feel sorry for him." Shadow shook
his head in disbelief at the sheer amount of havoc that one little
change had caused. And he'd thought his life had been messed up. This
universe's Ranma had problems that would kill a lesser man, figuratively
and literally.

The Splugorth never were good losers; toss in the Vampire Intelligences,
 half the Dark Pantheons, the Kreeghor Empire, Naruni Enterprises,
the Coalition States, the Gargoyle Empire and assorted villains and
monsters that would all love to see Saotome as a corpse and you
had a recipe for Trouble a'la Ranma. How any one person could
manage to offend ALL of them and still stay in one piece for so
long was a mystery beyond even Shadow's comprehension.

"Um....can someone refresh my memory? I'm not that familiar with this
class of Knight." The Bard was rather envious at this point.
Why couldn't HE have this kind of luck with girls?!

The Guardian had finally gotten over his shock, and even felt a
grudging admiration toward Zora for having the sheer audacity
to pull something like this. He produced a podium and chart from
"Gratuitous Plot Device Space" and went into his droning professor
lecture mode

The others groaned painfully.

"Ranma has been changed by the Cosmic Forge, an ancient
sentient artifact of immense power, into one of the most powerful
classes of heroes in the Multiverse."

A life-sized three dimensional hologram of Ranma projected from
the chart behind him. It was perfect in very detail down to the
number of hairs in Ranma's pigtail.

"Part of this transformation process literally recreates the
chosen Knight's body into one at the peak of their full potential.
They become faster, healthier, much tougher, and a lot stronger.
In Ranma's specific case it also appears to have compensated for
the ten years of malnutrition that he suffered under Genma's care."

The Guardian produced a laser pointer that he used to highlight the
changes to Ranma's physique. The female portion of the audience suddenly
started to
pay close attention to the territory the red light roamed over.

"Note for instance, a growth in height of approximately eight
inches as well as a 35% increase in general muscular development."

Wolf whistles came from some of the Valkyries as well as from some
of the more uninhibited nymphs.

"Ranma's features also have undergone a change that gives him
a more refined and mature look that seems to be partly responsible
for his problems with over enthusiastic women."

Chuckles and snickers from the males were greeted with dirty
looks from the assorted females.

The men wisely shut up.

"As a higher order of being he doesn't need food and
can function quite effectively even in the vacuum of space.
Also as a CosmoKnight, Ranma is essentially immortal.
He won't ever age past the point where he was transformed.
Unless something kills him, he just won't die."

"Oh that makes plenty of sense." Sarcasm was Shadow's forte
and he used it with the same precision that made him the deadly
swordmaster he was.

"Let's not forget his combat abilities." Rowan reminded him,
this unusual break from his normal quiet mode raising a few eyebrows..

"You're the tactician Shadow."

"Fine."

The chart was replaced by a giant movie screen, the dark warrior
always was one for the dramatic.

A new picture of Ranma appeared, this time from one of the
many battles he had fought in the world of Rifts.

"To make a long story short CosmoKnights are able to
shrug off most conventional weaponry, nothing short of
a duranium hyper-velocity rail-gun slug will cause more then
superficial damage to them. Energy Weapons are even worse,
Ranma's resistance to them is so great that it would take at least a
CCW Cruiser Mark XXX Heavy Particle Beam Cannon
to give him more then a minor burn. As for Plasma or Nuclear weapons,
 forget it. He can laugh them off, theoretically a CosmoKnight can
survive even in the raging inferno that lies within the heart of a star."

"Holy shit."

"Exactly, and that's not even the tip of the iceberg. Ranma's
got a set of Cosmic Armor that is as tough as he is and that he
can summon at any time."

"Geeze, can ANYTHING hurt him anymore?!?"

"I didn't say that he doesn't have any weaknesses,
notice I said `conventional' weapons."

"You mean....?"

"Magic, Psionics, Ki and all sorts of UNconventional
attacks work just fine on him. Also most supernatural
monsters are quite capable of hurting him as well
although he can hurt them back too."

"Interesting choice of armor, I was expecting something a
little more medieval from Ranma."

"Appearances can be deceiving Rowan."

"True."

"What the heck is that?!"

The Bard pointed to a scene where Ranma was
fighting one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
A giant beam of prismatic energy that made the Perfect
Shi-Shi-Hokodan look like one of Dan Hibiki's fireballs
blasted forth from Ranma's outstretched hands to utterly
engulf the demon of Pestilence. When the glare from the
blast and resulting explosion died away all that was left
of it was a small mound of bug ashes and charred bones
inside of a twenty foot crater. Ranma casually blew two small
wisps of smoke from his forefingers before the image dissolved
and reformed back to the present.

"That....was impressive."

"Oh, that would just be his Cosmic Energy Blasts."

"JUST his WHAT Blasts?!"

"Ranma's now a living battery of Cosmic Energy, he can fire
blasts of it from his hands at will."

"Exactly how strong are these blasts of his?"

"They're about as powerful as a midsized tactical nuke in the
10-15 megaton range. Maybe a little bit more now that he's
gotten more experienced at using them. If he's in space Ranma
can temporarily pump them up to the level of anti-matter
cruise missiles. Course that would also drain most of his
energy reserves but he can still do it. keep in mind now that there
is a difference in terms of the area affected. Ranma's
attack can be considered more powerful because the beams
travel straight and affect a much smaller target area with all of
that damage and even though the blasts are very powerful
Ranma also has pinpoint accuracy when firing them."

"Are you putting me ON?!"

"Do I look like I'm joking here?"

"Bu..bu...bu....but...THAT'S INSANE!!!"

"I guess the Cosmic Weapon can wait."

The Bard's eyebrows twitched violently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Back to Someplace Relatively Normal

Nodoka Saotome smiled at the young and very
beautiful teenage girl. Such fire, such spirit, such skill
with a Soul Sword. This would be an excellent mate for Ranma,
Yohko was a bride fit for a man among men.

After all it was a mother's duty to make sure that only the best
became her son's fiancee.

"So do we have a deal?" Yohko's mother held out her hand.

"Deal." They shook hands. One shared thought filled both their minds.

{Grandchildren!}
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Genma spent all of five minutes searching for his son. His thoughts ran
along the lines of what his eventual fate would be if he couldn't find
Ranma.

{Boygonegonnadieboygonegonnadieboygonegonnadieboygonegonnadie!!!}

Genma being Genma finally came up with a way to save
his furry hide for at least another day.

{I'll just hide at the Tendo's! Once I explain everything to Soun
he won't mind.}

He had a plan. Poor ungrateful Ranma, the boy just had to go
and drown to spoil all of his father's plans for a
long and luxurious retirement.

Oh well, time to go find something to eat.

Genma the Grizzly shambled off in the
direction of the Chinese Amazon village.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About half an hour after Genma left another figure
entered the cursed training ground of Jusenkyo.

"Where on Earth am I now??!!!" Ryoga screamed
up to the uncaring heavens.

In hindsight it really wasn't such a smart idea for him to hold up
his umbrella dramatically to the looming black thunderstorm approaching
and yell, "Damn you Ranma Saotome!!! This is all your fault!!"

Lightning crashed down.

Unfortunately for Ryoga this was the Trademarked Secret
Technique of the Kuno clan.

Divine Copyright Protection Enforcement kicked in.

Ryoga learned that depleted uranium umbrellas make
great lightning rods.

*ZOT*

"Aiiiieeee!!!!"

A blackened Ryoga desperately leapt into the nearest
spring to put out the fire in his hair.

Again, in hindsight this wasn't one of his brighter ideas.
~~~~~~~~~~

"Mmmm."

Ranma moaned softly around the tongue dancing in his mouth.

The bane of the lost boy's existence was busy at the moment.
One by one the individual crew members had snuck into his room to
each give him a "personal farewell". Right now Commander Ayla had
him backed up against his cabin wall as she gave him a lip lock that
would have suffocated Ranma if he hadn’t been what he was.

It wasn't that he was a letcher or a cad. Ranma just could not deny a
girl when she wanted something from him, one of the leftover remnants of
his training under Genma.

It would be at least a week until he left.
Good thing he didn't need sleep anymore.
At this rate he wasn’t going to even get a chance
to close his eyes, let alone find time for a nap.

A familiar softness pressed against his chest to remind
him that there were other, more pleasant things to
think about now.

{Nope, definitely not going to get any sleep on this trip.}

*$*$*$*$*

(End Chapter I)