When Gods Fall

Chapter 3

"Thank you for the wonderful evening Keiichi," 
Belldandy said as they walked out of the restaurant.  
She held on to his arm as they made their way through 
the city. 

"Then I'm glad that we went out tonight then," he said 
feeling her warmth with his.  It had been a perfect 
night and he silently wished time would stop so that 
it could remain so.  "Belldandy, I'm glad 
that I wished for you to stay with me.  I don't know 
that I'd do if you ever left"

"Keiichi, even if we part I believe that we will find 
each other again.  Kami-sama works in many ways."  
Belldandy said resting her head on his shoulder.   And 
as the night passed on, the two enjoyed one another's 
company under the smiling light of the stars above.
They started back on the walk back home. The streets 
were filled with people enjoying the nightlife. There 
were other couples there.  Keiichi remembered the 
times he used to envy those couples but now he didn't 
mind anymore.  

They stopped on the corner and waited for the light to 
change.  Beside them was an open-air café.  The 
chatter from the patrons mingled in with the city 
sounds and traffic. 'It was a good night to be 
together,' Keiichi though to himself.
"What is it Keiichi?" Belldandy asked?

"Huh?"

"You were staring at me," she said blushing.

"It's just that I... I though um... maybe you'd like 
t-to go out again some time," He swallowed, waiting 
for her reply. 

A smile grew on her lips and he nodded.  "Yes, I'd 
like that.  I'd like that very much." 

The lights changed letting them cross.   As they 
turned down the street, Belldandy gasped out clutching 
her hand to his chest.  A slight tremor shook her 
body.  

"Belldandy?"  Keiichi asked as he felt her suddenly 
tense up.  

"Keiichi!  Hold on to me!" she said cried out.   She 
clung onto him holding tightly.  As she did so the 
three marks of the goddess appeared on her face 
glowing brightly.  

"Belldandy, what's -" he was cut short as he saw a 
massive pillar of light rise out in the distance.  The 
rays raced out across the horizon radiating from it.   
In moments it reached them.  Keiichi could feel the 
magic that Belldandy wove around them.  The wave of 
light passed and as he looked around, Keiicha realized 
that aside from him and Belldandy everything else had 
stopped.  People stood frozen in mid stride as cars 
that were once speeding down the busy intersection 
halted in their tracks.  His eyes widened as he saw 
drops of water hang in the air as a car had just run 
through a puddle.   

"Don't let go of my hand Keiichi," Belldandy said 
stepping back from him. 

'Time's stopped...' he suddenly realized.  People 
became statues trapped in an immovable instant of 
time.   He turned to Belldandy, and saw a worried look 
on her face as she watched the sky part open directly 
over the column.  The clouds swirled around the 
maelstrom overhead. 

"Belldandy what was that?" 

"I don't know," she said shaking her head.  "...but it 
coming from the temple.  We must go there!"   Her tone 
left no room for discussion.

Keiichi just swallowed wordlessly.  Squeezing her hand 
tightly he nodded and the two were off racing their 
way through the frozen people.  
 
As they left a lone figure sitting at the café reached 
over and took a sip from their cup.  A smirk appeared 
on their face as they watched the sky overhead rumble 
ominously in the distance. 

***---**---***
 
Skuld stood alone in the path of a wave of flame.  
Cerberus, the hound of hell had some how come to 
Midgard and attacked.  Urd had succumbed to the power 
of the monster and she knew that she herself was no 
match for the beast.  Then the fire came all she could 
do was cover her eyes and pray.  

For what seemed like an eternity she waited for it all 
to end.  And then she heard a voice call out over the 
roar of the flames. "Hiryu Shouten Ha!!!"  The sound 
of it was familiar to her but she couldn't place 
where.  

She opened her eyes to the sight of Cerberus lifted up 
by a tornado of flame reaching high into the sky. Then 
the beast came down causing the very earth to tremble 
from the impact.  And once again a quiet stillness 
returned to the Morisato residence. 

'How...' Skuld looked at the prone form of Cerberus 
lying still where he had landed a few hundred yards 
away.  And then she heard the voice speak out again.  
A shiver ran down her body as she finally remembered 
to whom it belonged to.  

"Hey Skuld are you all right?" he asked her. 

She turned slowly toward it.  She felt her heart skip 
a beat as the image of a young pigtailed boy appear 
standing in front of her. 

"Ranma?" Skuld whispered.  He wore a baggy white shirt 
whose sleeves were too long for him, and a pair of 
black pants.  A pair of deep blue eyes looked 
curiously at her and on his face was the three marks 
of a god.  She tried to speak but no words came from 
her trembling mouth.  
 
 "Hey, what's wrong, Skuld?" Ranma asked concerned as 
the tears formed in the young girl's eyes. 

"Nothing, nothing's wrong.  Not anymore..." she said 
she said running towards him holding him tight.  The 
young boy was too surprised to react to her glomp and 
Ranma's confused face quickly turned red-hot knowing 
what to do. 

As he tried to make sense of what was happening, Ranma 
for the first time realized his surroundings.  The 
once stately Morisato temple lay in smoldering ruins.  
His eyes widened seeing the destruction around him and 
Skuld.  "Skuld, where are we?" he asked.  

The goddess pulled away from him.  "W-what?" her face 
paling slightly. 

"Where are we?" Ranma asked again.  Confusion was 
written all over his face. 

Skuld's eyes widened as she took a step back in 
surprise.  'He doesn't know...'  

A groan was heard from behind one of the smoking piles 
of rubble.  As the smoke cleared a white haired woman 
appeared carefully making her way through the debris.  
Her face was smudged with soot and her hair was a 
tangles mass on her head.  "Skuld!  Skuld where are 
you?!?" she called out hoarsely."  There was an almost 
frantic quality to her voice. 

Skuld looked up and Urd visibly sighed in relief 
seeing her.  "You almost had me worried there 
kiddo..."  the words died on her lips as she saw the 
familiar boy standing next to Skuld.  "Ranma..." her 
eyes widened starring at the boy.  "Ranma is that 
really you?" Urd asked.

"Urd?  Skuld?" the young boy looked between the two.  
Fear grew within him as he tried to make sense of the 
reactions he was receiving.  Something was terribly 
wrong but he didn't know what.  "I don't understand 
anything.  Why are you both acting so weird?  Skuld, 
what's happened!!!"  the little boy asked anxiously.  

The young girl visibly flinched hearing her name.  A 
pained look cam onto her face as she struggled with 
the words.  "I... I..."  Her legs gave out from under 
her and she fell to her knees clutching her sides 
trembling.  "I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Ranma..."  

"Skuld?  Skuld what's wrong?"  Ranma moved towards her 
but as he did so he tripped over a twisted piece of 
metal on the ground.  He looked down at what had 
caught his leg and saw it was a remains of a metal 
arm.  The knobby fingers were melted and frayed wires 
hung limply where it had connected to a shoulder.  
Next to it he saw a curved sheet of metal.  Etched on 
the steel plate he could make out the name.  He picked 
it up rubbing away the soot with his hands.  "Banpei-
kun..." he whispered and a floodgate of memories came 
surging through.  Overhead the sky rumbled with 
thunder.

Skuld paled as she heard him utter the name of the 
bumpy robot.  She felt her heart die inside her as she 
saw the realization on his face.  "Ranma..."

"I... I remember..." he said in a whisper.  In his 
mind's eye grounds disappeared replaced with the 
memories of his past.  

***---**---***

The robot towered over him like a titan.  And past him 
he heard a voice call out. 

"Look out!!!" Skuld yelled as Banpei-kun lashed out at 
the pigtailed boy.

"Huh?"  From the corner of his eye he saw a metal fist 
coming toward him. 'Oh boy...' was only thought to 
come to his mind as the impact came.  The young 
godling was sent flying, his body slamming hard into 
the back wall causing it to crack from the impact. 

"Ramna!!!" Skuld screamed.

He landed on the floor like a broken doll.  The world 
was spinning around him and his body screamed in agony 
from the abuse. Over the ringing in his ears, he heard 
her voice again. 

"Ranma get up!  It's coming toward you!"

Tilting his head up he saw the metal giant approach.  
With each step, n ominous metallic 'clang' echoed out.  
He fought to get up and as he did so a wave of pain 
coursed over him.  Legs buckled and muscle failed. He 
fell back down to the floor broken. 

"No!" the girl cried out.  

Ranma tried to yell at her, tell her to keep away, but 
he barely even managed a weak wheeze.  

'No you dummy... Get back...' he tried screaming at 
here even as she put herself between him and Banpei-
kun. 

"Banpei-kun I order you to stop!  I order you to stop!  
I order you to stop!"  She kept repeating frantically 
as her fingers flew across the keyboard on her 
computer. 

'You dummy...' his eyes watered seeing the robot come 
closer with each step.  Even as the world darkened 
around him, the young boy still desperately tried to 
reach out to her, to pull her out of harms way, to 
protect her, to yell at her for being such a stubborn 
tomboy.  

Raven locks flowing down past her shoulders.  A 
terrified look was on her face as she backed up from 
the robot.  He watched as the automaton brought up its 
fist and prepared to bring it down upon the young 
girl.  

'Skuld!!!'  With one last effort, a final push, he 
called upon what little he had left.  It was almost 
all dark now.  All he could see was that bossy 
annoying girl he had constantly fought with.  Quietly 
he wondered to himself how he could care so much for 
such an un-cute tomboy.  'Skuld...' he thought as the 
darkness finally took him, and with that he released 
the spell containing the last of his power. 

And then there was nothing...

***---**---***

The memories faded back from where they came and once 
again he found himself on the temple grounds.  The 
metal chest plate fell from his hands.    The sky 
thundered again and lightning arched overhead.  

"I don't belong here," he said looking up at Skuld and 
Urd.  Even as he spoke, a golden glow grew around him 
and bit-by-bit the pieces of light broke away and 
faded into the night.  

"That's not true!" Skuld said.  As she reached out to 
him a shaft of light broke though the sky surrounding 
Ranma the force of it knocking her to the ground.  
Rumbling thunder echoed overhead and the clouds 
swirled overhead forming the eye of the storm.  Before 
her very eyes she slowly began to be able to see 
through him as the bits of light broke off.  

Standing by Skuld Urd felt her mouth go dry as she 
looked up.  "The Ultimate Force..." she said in awe.  
Lightning arched through the sky and the column of 
light flared as bright as the sun bringing on a false 
morning.  A power which dwarfed her own was activated 
and she knew that time had been stopped.  

Magic was in the air.  So thick that Urd could feel 
its essence everywhere.  Her hair flew freely with the 
wind.  Around her she saw the rubble of the temple 
come together.  From the largest timbers to the 
smallest flecks of paint, the pieces reformed, 
combining back into the building of which they were 
apart. The earth where they stood shook as a rift 
opened up where Cerberus lay.  The hound of hell was 
swallowed up returned back from whence it came. 
'Everything is returning back to the way it was,' she 
realized.  'Kami-sama...' she gasped in realization 
and she turned toward Ranma.

"No!!!" Skuld screamed as the column of light exploded 
outward washing over the world with it's power and 
everything was set right once again. 

***---**---***

"Ranma.  Ranma!" a voice called.  "Ranma table four 
need more water," the purple headed waitress stated as 
she busily shuffled her way through the crown of 
hungry customers. 

"W-What?" Ranma exclaimed blinking in confusion.  "W-
Woah!" she cried out as the bowl of ramen she was 
twirling in her hand slipped from her fingers and with 
a crash it shattered onto the floor.  The crowd at the 
Nekohaten let out an audible gasp as it was the first 
time that any one had seen the cute waitress let a 
dish slip by accident.  

"Ranma you ok?"  Shampoo asked coming up to her.  

"Y-Yeah," Ranma said nodding dumbly but deep down 
inside something didn't feel right.  She was missing 
something but she couldn't place what.  "Don't worry 
Shampoo I'll clean it up."

Just then a wrinkled figure on a cane came hopping up 
to the two of them.  " No, let Moose handle this.  
There's still customers to serve so snap to it," 
Cologne said.  "On, and that's coming out of your 
paycheck son-in-law."

Something popped into Ranma's mind.  "Hey, old ghoul!  
What was the idea of sending me out to the middle of 
nowhere for some dumb delivery?"

Cologne looked at her funny.  "What are you talking 
about?  No one's called for a delivery all night," she 
stated.  

"What?  But you sent me out to... to..." the words 
faded from her lips as her mind clouded over.  The name 
of the place was on the tip of her tongue.  She could 
recall the traditional setting of the home, the stone 
path leading up to the door, and the smell of the tree 
as they rustled in the wind.  Then just as she 
recalled the name, everything blurred and for the life 
of her she couldn't remember what she had been 
thinking about.  "Ahh..." she said blinking a few 
times. 

Cologne gave her a concerned look.  "You've been here 
waiting on tables all evening.  Take a five minute 
break then go back to helping Shampoo before she gets 
swamped."   With that, the wrinkled woman turned and 
went back into the kitchen.  

"Sure..." Ranma said.  She shook her head trying to 
clear out the fuzzy ness still there.  Things began to 
clear up and she could almost seem to recall the 
entire night working at the Cat Café but still for 
some reason she just couldn't understand why she felt 
so empty inside. 

From underneath one of the tables, the little bug 
happily lapped up the spilled ramen. 

***---**---***

"How is she?" Urd asked Belldandy as the flaxen haired 
goddess entered the living room.  There was a tired 
look to her eyes. 

"Just fell asleep a few moments ago," Belldandy said 
taking a seat at the table next to Keiichi.  There was 
a somber atmosphere in the room with quiet faces all 
around. 

"Here Bell-chan, have some tea," the young man said 
pouring her a glass.   

"Thank you, Keiichi."  She held the steaming cup in 
her hands and took a small sip.  "Have you been able 
to reach the main office yet?" she asked turning to 
Urd. 

"No.  I haven't been able to reach them since it 
happened."

"What exactly happened?" Keiich asked.  He and 
Belldandy had arrived at the temple to see the last 
bits and pieces reform itself.  It was just like the 
first time when Belldandy had restored the worn down 
buildings.  

"It was a system reset," Urd said looking up. 

"System reset?" 

She nodded her head, "It only happens when a major 
error happens within the Yiggdrasil system.  It is a 
preventative measure of last resort to keep the system 
from completely crashing.  Then it repairs the damage 
and set's things going again from the last instance 
the everything was running smoothly."

Keiichi blinked.  "So it paused its program to fix the 
error?"

"It's a little more complicated than that but, yes.  
The only reason you're aware of it is because 
Belldandy shielded you from the effects.  Otherwise 
you'd be as oblivious as everyone else about what had 
happened."

"And you think that Ranma's to blame for all this?"  

Belldandy could only nod.  "It shouldn't be possible 
though.  Ranma's...  He not with us anymore."

"This doesn't make any sense damn it!  I want some 
answers and I want them now!" Urd said slamming hr 
hand on the table.  She had never before felt so 
helpless and she hated it.   

Just then the phone rang.  Keiichi was the one to pick 
it up.  Answering it, his face paled slightly and he 
swallowed.  "Urd, it's for you."


***---**---***


The walk home was quiet and Ranma enjoyed the cool 
night air.  It was late at night and there weren't 
many people out on the street anymore.  After a few 
more minutes of walking Ranma found himself alone the 
rest of the way back to the Tendo Dojo.   "The old 
ghoul is one heck of a slave driver," he muttered to 
himself.  

His senses perked up then and felt himself being 
followed.  Readying himself in a moments notice, he 
jumped up flipping and turning in the air, then 
landing to face his would be assailant.  He was on the 
balls of his feet and his arms were up ready to 
defend.  And on his face was that ever-present 
confident grin.  

Seeing the spectacular show, the little spider-bunny 
that was following him looked up and the martial 
artist inquiringly and squeaked.

Ranma face faulted. 

"You again!?!" he exclaimed pointing at the bug 
accusingly.  "Why the heck are ya following me for?  
It's not like I have any food on me!"  He turned back 
around and start waking home again.  After taking a 
few steps he stopped knowing that he was still being 
followed. 

 "Go on! Shoo!  Scat, you little fur ball!" he said 
waving his hands at it.  

The bug responded by creeping up towards him with a 
pitiful hungry expression.  It's puppy dog eyes 
glistened as it looked up at him with a pleading look.

"H-Hey!  Cut that out!  Look I'm not going to feed you 
and that's final!!!" he said placing his hands on his 
hips.  "Stop looking at me like that!"   

A few minutes later.

"Tell anybody I'm doing this I'll use you for a mop!  
Got that?" Ranma muttered to the spider-bunny 
energetically bounding beside him as he walked.  

The bug just gave out a happy squeak. 

Ranma just shook his head and sighed and overhead the 
sky rumbled with thunder in the distance as if a storm 
was beginning to form.


***---**---***

As Urd continued talking on the phone Keiichi sat back 
down at the table to finish his tea..   "Belldandy, 
what god was Ranma?  I mean Urd, you and Skuld are in 
charge of the past, present and future.  Was Ranma 
responsible for anything?" 

She nodded quietly with a slight smile on her face.  
"Yes, he was.  Ranma was the god of Change."

"The god of Change?" A questioning look was on his 
face.  

Belldandy nodded.  "That was Ranma's responsibility.  
He was the god of Change, the god of Fate and 
Destiny."

"Aren't Fate and Destiny the same thing?"  Keiichi 
asked confused.  

"No," she said shaking her head. "That is a common 
misconception. They are entirely different, opposites 
in fact.  In each person lies a certain potential.  A 
person's destiny is the brightest goal a person can 
hope to accomplish, their potential to shine.  Few 
people ever attain their true destiny.  It's very rare 
that a person rises to the challenge of a great 
destiny, but when it happens, all of Heaven rejoices.  
Fate is the opposite of destiny.  It's the dark moment 
in life when, through error or selfishness, a person 
dooms himself to aid the dark side.  Just as destiny 
is the best a person can be, fate is the worst."

"What part did Ranma play in all this then?" Keiichi 
asked. 

"Well... Every mortal has a both a fate and destiny.  
In some of us we have the ability to that see fate, or 
destiny in each person.  By being able to see the 
potential for good or evil that each human soul has 
within them, we can know the measure of a human life 
before its return to the Yggrasil.  In fact part of 
the decision to grant people wishes is based upon 
that."

"As the god of Change, Ranma could see people's 
destiny.  He could see the finest things hidden in a 
person's soul. I think that's why no matter how many 
times he and Skuld argued and he never once asked to 
be transferred to a different division.  He knew that 
she wasn't really un-cute even though he called her 
that al the time.  He was just too shy to admit how he 
really felt.  

***---**---***

Asleep in her room, Skuld dreamed. 

Two figures ran through the weaving and winding 
corridors of the Yggrasil.  A young boy with a pigtail 
and a young girl with a hammer raced down the hall in 
pursuit of a rapidly fleeing half-spider, half-bug 
creature.  

"That way!" Skuld pointed as the bug turned the 
corner. 

"Yeah, yeah I see him," Ranma said following closely 
behind. 

As they hit an intersection, Skuld abruptly stopped, 
looking down each of the corridors.  

"What are you doing dummy!  He's getting away!" Ranma 
said skidding to a halt to avoid running into the 
girl. 

"Be quiet, I'm thinking here!" she bit back.  Pulling 
out her little red laptop computer and with a few 
clicks on the keypad, a schematic of the floor they 
were on blipped onto the screen.  After examining it 
for a moment, the little goddess jumped up in 
excitement!  "Yes!"

"Want to fill me in on this one?" Ranma said 
impatiently.

"Here!" she said bringing the screen up to his face.  
"If you head down that path and I keep following him 
down this one, we can trap it at this corridor.  
There's only one way out so if you can block the route 
we should have him," Skuld said happily. 

"Cool!" Ranma said nodding.  With that the two 
godlings split up and ran off down the halls. 

Ranma's eyes lit up as he saw the furry bug round the 
corner hopping towards him.  "I got ya now!" he said 
as he ran forward. 

From her end, Skuld saw the bug she was chasing turn 
the corner.  "Oh no, your not getting away from me!"  
As she reached the intersection she hefted her hammer 
and swung down hard.  There was a satisfying 'thunk' 
as the hammer hit true.  The only problem was that the 
system bug was energetically bouncing away, while a 
certain pigtailed boy was twitching under the mallet.  
The raven-haired girl blinked as an "oops..." escaped 
her lips.

"Are you alright Ranma?  Sorry." she said pulling back 
her hammer. 
 
He got up and glared at her.  "What you do that for 
dummy!"  He angrily rubbed the bump on his head 
wincing. 

"I said I was sorry you jerk!" Skuld flared.

"And you're clumsy too!  I don't understand how 
someone like you could ever manage to hit a bug let 
alone become a system debugger!"  

"What?!?  You're the one who ran into me!  If you 
weren't there I would have mashed it!" she yelled back 
at his face.

"Ha!  You can't even hit!  You're flat as a brick!  
And since your soooooooo slow, the bugs are too quick! 
And you're un-cute to boot!  In fact your so un-cute 
that- Eh?" The little boy's eyes widened as Skuld 
brought her hammer up.

"Ranma you jerk!!!  Just as she was about to bring it 
down, Skuld felt her grip come lose and the bug masher 
fell to the ground with a clank.  She stood there with 
tears welling up in her eyes. 

"H-Hey w-what are ya doing that for?!?!  I-I didn't 
mean to...  It's just that I... well... I mean you're 
so... and when the bug got away...  Oh boy..." He 
waved his arms frantically, looking down the halls 
with a guilty expression on his face.  

Skuld wiped her eyes and in-between sobs Ranma could 
hear, "Jerk! Baka! Idiot!  I hate you!!!" she screamed 
at the top of her lungs and then she ran off leaving 
the dumbstruck godling alone in the hallway.
 
She finally came back to the door of the lab.  Getting 
there she took a seat by the empty table and sighed 
resting her chin in her hand. 'It's not fair!  Why do 
I have to be stuck with a jerk like him!' she growled. 

Looking at the table she saw her reflection of the 
white marble.  A pair of dark eyes looked back at her.  
'I'm not un-cute am I?' She thought to herself looking 
at reflection.  She wiped her mussed face and pulled 
back the loose strands of hair from her face.  She 
looked back down at the reflection and nodded to 
herself.  'Nope, definitely not un-cute.'  She 
thought, feeling better.  

Why do I even care what Ranma says anyway?'  She 
though, frowning.  'When he gets in here I'll clobber 
him!' It was then that the door to the room opened and 
a pigtailed head poked through. 

"Uh... Skuld?" the boy asked warily.   

"What do you want?," she sniffed.  

A guilty look came onto his face seeing her.  "I... 
Well...  I mean...  Look your not un-cute," he said 
finally blurting it out.  "I'm ... I'm sorry."

"Y-You're sorry ?" she said looking at him as if he'd 
just grown a second head. 

"Here I even brought you some ice-cream."  From behind 
him he pulled out a gallon bucket of the cold treat.  
"Just don't cry anymore ok?"  He stood there nervously 
waiting a reply.  

"W-what..."  Skuld blinked stunned.  It was he last 
thing she expected.  She just blurted out the first 
thing that cam to her mind.  "What... what flavor is 
it?" 

He face faulted.

Ranma just looked on amazed as Skuld wolfed down the 
double fudge choco supreme from the container.  About 
a quarter of a way through Skuld looked up at him.  
"Don't.... mmm... think... yum... you're off... the 
hook yet Ranma," Skuld said accusingly pointing her 
spoon at him.  

 He just nodded.  "You have some ice cream on your 
nose."

"Huh?" she looked down her eyes crossing as her did 
so.  

"Humph" Ranma covered his mouth to keep from laughing. 

"What's so funny?" she said glaring at him.  Then she 
saw her reflection on the table and quickly wiped her 
nose trying to put on a serious expression but failed 
miserable as a silly smile crept onto her face and she 
laughed.  "Want some?" she asked.

His eyes lit up as he nodded his head and they 
finished off the rest together. 


***---**---***


Urd slammed the phone down.  "That's not fair!!!"  She 
slumped back against the wall and closed her eyes.  
"It's not fair at all..."

"Urd?" Belldandy looked up at her older sister, a 
worried look plain on her face. 

 The white haired woman didn't respond.  

"Tell me what's wrong.  Please Urd."

Keiichi looked at the two concerned.  He had never 
seen their faces so troubled.  Silently he looked on 
waiting for the events to unfold. 

"Belldandy, do you remember granting a wish to a woman 
named Nodoka Saotome?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with Ranma?" she 
asked impatiently.

"Do you remember the terms of the wish?"

Belldandy blinked a few times, "Yes I remember.  She 
was a very kind woman who was worthy of a wish.  She 
wanted to bear a son but she found out later the she 
was unable to bear children.  Both her and her husband 
wanted a strong heir to their family.  But what does 
that have to--"  She stopped herself short, her eyes 
widening with realization.  

"Her wish was processed.  She has a son named, Ranma," 
Urd said.

"Kami-sama!  H-How?!?" 

"According to the files, after his death, Ranma was to 
return back to the Yiggdrasil system.  But something 
happened, a sort of a glitch.  Just as the Yiggdrasil 
was processing the final termination protocols, it was 
interrupted by an incoming wish request.  Instead of 
returning to the system, Ranma's soul was used to 
fulfil the wish."

"Kami-sama, all this time, and we never knew..." 

"The termination protocol is still active.  The 
Ultimate force has been trying to destroy Ranma ever 
since he was born." 

"What!?!?" 

"As far as the system is concerned, Ranma has to die, 
but that means breaking the contract you have with 
Nodoka.  Every time that the termination protocol was 
activated, the wish request blocked it.  The Ultimate 
Force is at odds with itself."

"The system tried to kill Ranma at the age of six by 
having him thrown into a pit of hungry cats.  But the 
Ultimate force stepped in to intercede on behalf of 
Nodoka's wish and instead Ranma successfully learned 
the Neko-ken.  Throughout his life Ranma has been 
plagued with enemies and conflict, but each time he's 
managed to survive by the slimmest of margins."

"In an effort to void the wish, the Ultimate force 
caused Ranma to be cursed at the springs of  Jusenkyo 
to turn his mother against him for not being manly 
enough to be the heir of the Saotome school."

"Poor Ranma..." Belldandy said cupping her hands 
protectively around her cup of tea. 

Keiichi moved over and topped her glass.  "I always 
thought that things moved more smoothly in Heaven than 
here," he said placing the tea pot back on the table. 

"If only that were true.  But at least now we know 
that Ranma is alive and safe here on Earth," Belldandy 
replied. 

Urd shook her head sharply, "Belldandy , You're 
missing something.  Nodoka's son was meant to be 
human, not a god.  Somehow Ranma's beginning to 
remember what he really is.  Belldandy this was never 
meant to be."

"What are you trying to say?" 

"Ranma has no restrictions placed on him as a god. As 
far as the system is concerned, humans are not divine 
so no limiters are placed on their powers.  It makes 
sense now how he was able to defeat Cerberus so 
easily.  When he tapped into his power the System 
didn't know how to handle it. The System almost 
crashed.  The Main Office... can't allow it to happen 
again."  Urd turned and looked directly at her 
sister's face.   

Belldandy's eyes widened as the blood drained from her 
face.  "Urd, what else did the Main Office say?"  

Urd turned away looking down to the floor. 

"Urd, what did the main office say about, Ranma!  
Urd!!!"

Urd felt her voice crack as she spoke.  "Ranma Saotome 
represents the greatest threat to the stability of the 
main System.  As is the case, debugging procedures 
fall upon the senior system administrators three of 
which are currently station on Earth.  Full 
authorization granted for the final debugging of Ranma 
Saotome."

"Kami-sama..." teacup fell from her hands shattering 
on the table.  

***---**---***

End for now