Insertion

 Part 55

 Ranma, Lord of Chaos

++++++++++

 It was the beginning of Crystal Tokyo, Ranma Saotome stood looking at
the small village that would one day become the greatest society in
history. "Well, I guess so anyway," he muttered with a small frown on his
face as he walked among the people with Hotaru at his side.

 "What are you going to do now?" asked Hotaru as she hooked her arm into
his and smiled at him.

 "I dunno. I've still got some things to do," he replied with a shrug. 

 "Didn't you..." said the woman as she looked at him.

 "I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave for a little while again. A few
days at most, and I'm afraid I can't take you with me where I'm going,"
he said as he smiled at her gently.

 "What?" she gasped.

 "I've got some loose ends to tie up," he replied calmly. "It's nothing
you can help me with really. I've got to go talk with a few people I
know, and take care of a few things. I think I'll put it off for now, at
least until Tenchi arrives."

 She scowled at him for a moment. "Why can't I come?"

 "Because, I'm going to visit some people in places where you can't go,"
he replied.

 "Where can't I go?" she snapped as she started to squeeze his arm a
little.

 "Well, Hell for starters. I've got some things to work out there, then
I've got to drop by heaven..."

 "You've got to be kidding me!" she cried as she relaxed a bit.

 "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I promise I'll come back. I've just got to
work this out is all. It's not that big a deal..."

 Hotaru nodded her head slowly and sighed. "I suppose I can accept
that...on one condition."

 This caused the pigtailed boy to blink. "Huh?"

+++++++++++

 Usagi blinked as she looked at the stern look Hotaru was giving her.
Akane and the two girls she had brought with her were standing right
behind the woman and the frightened looking boy on her arm. "What?"

 "You heard me," said Hotaru calmly.

 "Right now?" said Usagi dumbly.
 
 Hotaru nodded and pulled Ranma back to her side. He had been trying to
sneak away.

 "I suppose I could...but..." stammered the woman as she looked at him
for a moment. "Are you sure?"

 Hotaru nodded again.

 "Okay," said the Queen with a shrug of her shoulders.

 "Oh man," grumbled Ranma fearfully.

 "Shut up, and do it," snapped Hotaru.

 "Yes dear," he muttered.

 Usagi sighed. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to witness the union
of Ranma Saotome and..."

+++++++++++

 Akane sighed as Ranma and Hotaru finished saying their vows.
 
 Kasumi and Hitomi sighed wistfully and clung to one another. "That was
so beautiful!" cried Hitomi.

 "Poor guy," said Kasumi as she looked at Ranma.

 "Akane, you wished to speak with me?" asked the flustered looking Usagi
as she turned towards the woman.

 "Yes...it's about these two..." said the woman as she waved her hand at
the two girls standing behind her. "Um..."

 "They don't want to get married do they?" said the Queen as she looked
at them for a moment. "I mean..."

 "No. Well, probably, but..." Akane shook her head. "Never mind. I think
you need to know about this."

 "Huh?" said the Queen as she stared at the girls for a moment. "Why
Akane! These two...they look just like..."

 "Haruka and Michiri," confirmed the woman with a smirk on her face.

 "Who are these two people you keep talking about?" asked Kasumi with a
confused frown.

 Hitomi blinked and looked at the blonde woman in confusion as well. "I
don't understand."

 Usagi gasped as she fell to her knees in front of them. "It's uncanny!"

 "It's no coincidence," said Ranma as he stepped up to them with his new
wife on his arm. "Usagi, I'd like you to meet Kasumi and Hitomi; or
should I say, Uranus and Neptune?"

 The woman looked up at him in confusion. "What?"

 "They were reborn shortly after your friends died," supplied the boy
calmly. Hotaru was smiling cheerfully as she clung to his arm. 

 "Could you let go please? I've got to at least pretend to be serious for
a minute," he said as he looked at her for a moment. 

 She snorted, but complied, moving off to the side for a moment.

 "And Akane is your new advisor," he said as he pointed at the woman.

 "What?!" cried Usagi in shock. "I have no problem with Akane becoming my
advisor, but who are you to tell me..."

 "Transform please," said Ranma calmly.

 "Pardon?" she said as she looked at him dumbly.

 "Transform into Sailor Moon," he said as he crossed his arms and smirked
at her.

 She stepped back with a confused look on her face. "Why?"

 "Just do it, and you'll understand," he replied.

 Akane growled at him and turned her head away.

 "Moon Prism Power Makeup!" cried the Queen as she held her
Transformation Pen over her head. 

 Nothing happened.

 "What?" she gasped in shock.

 Ranma looked at her with a knowing grin on his face. "Now try again."

 "What happened?" she muttered as she looked at it. 

 "Try again, and I'll explain everything," he supplied calmly.

 She nodded slowly and held the pen over her head. "Moon Prism Power
Makeup!" she cried. The transformation flowed over her body as it always
had before. She gasped as she looked down and saw that it had worked.
"What?"

 "Here," said Ranma as he put something into her palm.

 "What is...this is the Silver Imperium Crystal!"

 "Correction. It was the Silver Imperium Crystal," he supplied calmly.

 Usagi looked at him and narrowed her eyes.

 "It's just a rock now," he told her.

 "What do you mean?" she snapped.

 "I mean, I took the power away from it," he said calmly as he looked at
his fingernails. "To put it bluntly, it's impossible for you to become
Sailor Moon, unless I allow it."

 There was a collective gasp from all that had gathered around. 

 "Crystal Tokyo will exist, but not because you wish for a perfect
world," he said calmly. "You'll have to build it on your own, and Akane
is going to keep you from making too many mistakes."

 "Mistakes?" gasped Usagi.

 "That's right, mistakes like banishing the sorcerers to Nemesis,
creating one of the most dangerous enemies of Crystal Tokyo. Mistakes
like brainwashing the world, so that it conforms to your vision, no
matter how unwittingly you'd do it."

 "How dare you!?" cried Usagi in shock.

 "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" he asked her calmly.

 She backed away from him slowly. 

 "Usagi! Is something wrong?" cried Mamoru as he rushed over to the
commotion.

 "Ranma?" muttered Akane as she looked at him.

 "I am the Golden Sea of Chaos, I am L-sama. Lord of the Mazoku, and one
of the most powerful Gods in the Universe. If not the most powerful."

 "What?" stammered Mamoru dumbly as he looked at him. "God?"

 "That's right," confirmed the boy calmly as he looked at him and
smirked. "I'm not here to conquer your planet, or make slaves out of you.
I'm here to put things back on track, and make sure you don't screw up.
After the Jurians leave, I'll probably pretty much leave you alone,
unless you start screwing things up too badly. After all, I'd like to
live peacefully with my wife."

 Akane frowned at this. "Those kids are right, you are an egotistical
bastard."

 "Maybe I am," he replied with a small shrug. "However, your magical
powers come from me. The senshi's powers come from me. Without me, you're
just normal people."

 Usagi nodded at this and turned away from him. "So. What do we do then?"

 "That's up to you. I'm not going to lead you by the hand," he said
calmly. "Build your new world, conquer it if you want, or nourish it."

 "That's enough! You're being an asshole!" snapped Hotaru as she pulled
on his ear and dragged him away.

 "Ouch! Stop that!" he cried as she led him away.

 Usagi blinked and then sighed. "Oh dear." She turned towards Hitomi and
Kasumi. "Well. How would you like to meet your fellow senshi?"

 The two girls looked at one another and blinked.

++++++++++++

 Six days later...

 "Well, okay," said Ranma as he hung his head. Hotaru was tapping her
foot behind him impatiently. "I suppose I could help them out just this
once."

 "Right, master," said Jadeite cheerfully from where he was standing
nearby.

 The other three Mazoku were standing among the young senshi, with Kasumi
and Hitomi standing with them as well. Both girls were now wearing the
same uniforms as the rest of them.

 "I'll bring down the Palace, and clean it up," he said as he looked up
at the moon. "Where do you want it?"

 Hotaru smiled at him gently. "How about over there?" she said as she
pointed at a nearby hill. It was just outside the village, and seemed to
be large enough to accommodate the huge building.

 Ranma sighed and raised his hands. The palace slowly materialized, at
first looking worn and mostly destroyed, little more than rubble. After a
moment or two, it faded back out, and then reappeared completely whole.
"There? Happy now?" he asked as he looked up at his wife and snorted. 

 "Yes! Thank you!" she said as she grabbed him around his neck.

 "You really didn't have too," said Usagi as she walked up to him with a
thankful smile on her face.

 "Yeah. I did," he said as he jerked his thumb at his wife.

 "I hadn't dared to ask..." said the woman as she looked up at the
towering walls and spires. "I was just talking about my old memories
about it with her, I'm sorry if she imposed on you..."

 Everyone else was in too much shock to speak. They were all simply
staring at the building dumbly.

 "How the hell did he do that!?" cried Mamoru.

 "I suppose you'd need a place to meet Prince Tenchi at anyway. This
should do..." grumbled Ranma as he hung his head and gave a heavy sigh.

 "It's the least my husband could do, especially after all the trouble
he's caused over the past few days," said Hotaru cheerfully.

 Sailor Mercury was still staring at him a little angrily, her skin was a
sort of light blue tint now. 

 "I didn't mean to use that much Blueberry pie..." he said to her while
scratching the back of his head.

 "All my clothes are stained...and my house is blue now!" she snapped.

 "Well, at least you match it..." he said apologetically.

 She growled and turned away from him in disgust.

 "You're supposed to be apologizing!" snapped Hotaru.

 Ranma turned and saw equally angry looks on the other senshi's faces.
"I'm sorry about the marshmallows, and the tampons, and the sharp
cheddar. I just got a little bored...I didn't mean too..."

 "To turn my house into a jello mold?" snorted Venus.

 "Or to fill all my shoes with cheese spread?" snapped Mars.

 "I could have told people I was really a girl without the use of those
ten-thousand tampons delivered to me in the middle of the village
meeting!" snapped Uranus.

 "Well, you'll never have to buy anymore..." he said sheepishly.

 "I'm still pulling white stuff out of my hair from when you replaced my
mattress with a giant marshmallow!" cried Jupiter.

 He winced visibly and sighed. "Well, at least no one complained when I
used the water supply to make that huge batch of spaghetti," he thought
to himself.

 "We're sick of eating spaghetti! We've been eating it for five days
now!" added Neptune.

 Everyone walked away from him and he frowned at them all. "Oh well.
Can't please everyone..."

 Mercury turned around and sighed, forcing her fellow senshi to as well.
"Despite all that, this does make up for it, and we forgive you...this
time."

 "Um...thanks..." he said with an uncertain grin forming on his face.

 "Right," snorted Neptune with a heavy sigh.

 "Shouldn't you girls be doing something right now?" asked Nephrite as he
walked up to Ranma and pat him on the shoulder.

 They all looked at one another.

 "What time is it?" asked Uranus.

 "Oh my god! Akane is gonna kill us! We're late for class!" cried Mercury
as she turned and started running. The others quickly followed.

 "Well, that certainly was nice of you," said Nephrite calmly. "Come on,
the others are waiting for you."

 "Good, I need a drink," he grumbled as he glanced at Hotaru. She was
talking with Usagi and nodded at him as he waved at her.

 "Going to give her a tour?" asked Nephrite.

 "Why? It's the same as it was on the moon. Both of them remember enough
to get around in there," he said with a shrug.

 "Right," said Nephrite cheerfully. "You were right though, Mercury's
face was priceless when she finally managed to climb out of that giant
pie."

 "Come on. I'll buy us a round," said Ranma calmly.

 "All right," said Nephrite.

++++++++++++

 They walked into the bar and paused when they saw the other three former
generals sitting along the bar. "Ranma!" cried one of them, and everyone
in the bar repeated it.

 "Hiya," said the pigtailed boy calmly. "Well, here's to another day in
paradise."

 "You got that right," said Jadeite as he held up a mug of beer.

 "I miss light beer," said Zocite as he looked at his own half-empty mug.

 "Well, you got two choices, beer, and sake," said the bartender with a
shrug.

 Ranma smiled at this and relaxed a bit as he sat down. "One for all five
of us, Jiro."

 "Right," said the man as he set the drinks down in front of them.

 Ranma placed a few of the coins Usagi had decreed as money within the
town down on the counter. They were using the old Japanese system of Yen
again. 

 "How did you guys get here so fast?" asked Ranma.

 "We had to leave when you started to apologize. We were all laughing too
hard," said Jadeite cheerfully.

 "Yeah. A real riot," snorted Ranma.

 "The strongest man in the universe, laid low by a mere woman," said
Zocite calmly.

 "That's why I never cared for them," said Kunzite as he grinned at his
lover.

 "Yeah. Gross," said Ranma as he frowned at them.

 "Don't knock it until you try it," replied Kunzite as he took another
drink.

 "Nah. Hotaru would kill me," said the boy with a shrug.

 "She could have a secret fantasy you know..." said Jadeite as he elbowed
Ranma in the ribs.

 "Cut that out. Don't go putting weird ideas in her head," said the boy
as he glared at him.

 "Fine," said Jadeite innocently. 

 "At any rate, we should be seeing Tenchi sometime tomorrow," said Ranma
as he leaned onto the counter and smirked.

 "Time sure has flown by," commented Nephrite.

 "Tell me about it," agreed Zocite.

 "We've only been around a couple of weeks," snorted Kunzite lazily.

 "Well, at any rate, the palace is here now, Usagi is fitting into the
roll of queen better than I'd hoped, and now..." Ranma trailed off,
unsure of what else to say.

 "Now what?" asked Nephrite.

 "Hell if I know," said Ranma with a shrug.

 "How about going back where you belong?" asked a familiar female voice
from beside them.

 All five men turned on their stools in unison. They were looking at the
end of the bar, where Urd was sitting calmly with a small cup of sake in
her hand.

 "Who's this?" asked Nephrite as he jerked his thumb at her.

 "Goddess of the Future, Norn, Urd, big trouble, pain in the ass," said
Ranma between gulps of his beer. He finished it and put the glass on the
counter as he stood up again.

 "Sounds fun," said Jadeite with a small frown on his face.

 "Loads," replied the pigtailed boy cheerfully as he walked over to her
and leaned against the bar next to her, facing away from her. "So. Did
you want something, or are you just here to bother me a little?"

 "Arrogant little..." snarled the goddess hatefully.

 "I'm not going to kill myself, in fact, I'm not even sure if I can die
anymore," he said as he smirked at her for a moment.

 "We could find out pretty easily," snorted the Goddess as she turned
away from him.

 "Not as easy as you might think," replied Ranma as he put a worn looking
crystal on the table.

 Urd gasped. "That's the..."

 "It's a paperweight. Usagi didn't want it back, so I kept it. Sort of a
souvenir."

 Urd stared at him with her jaw hanging down. "What do you mean
paperweight?"

 "I drained it," he said casually.

 "That's not possible!" cried Urd as she jumped out of her chair and
staggered back away from him.

 "Didn't take very long," he replied with a small shrug. "What? You look
pale..." Ranma was starting to wonder about the look she had on her face.

 "You would have been destroyed by absorbing that much energy!" cried the
woman as she pointed an accusing finger at him.

 "It wasn't all that much," said Ranma as he looked down at the crystal
for a moment. "What's the big deal?"

 Urd almost fell over. "You...you don't know?" she muttered dumbly.

 The pigtailed boy got a slightly worried looking frown on his face and
looked back at his generals for a moment. They all shrugged and focused
on Urd, waiting for an explanation.

 "That's a backup drive for the Yggdrasil system," said Urd quietly. "If
you drained it completely as you claim, then you just downloaded the
entire system into yourself."

 Ranma looked confused for a moment. "Huh?"

 "A human couldn't use it to directly access the system, it's nothing but
raw information really, with no ports to access it. Think of that crystal
as an encoded disk. Mortals would find it mostly useful for healing
things. In fact, it's useless without a divine body like Kami-sama using
it."

 "So...I'm a backup Yggdrasil system?" muttered Ranma as he looked down
at himself. "Whoa. Cool."

 Urd suddenly went white as a sheet. "That would mean, you've got the
creation protocol! Ragnarock! Armageddon, and re..." 

 "So?" he said to her with a frown on his face.

 "Only father is strong enough to handle the weight of those programs!"
gasped the woman in shock. "There's no way! It takes almost all of his
power to do it!"

 "Really, I thought he just made this program cause he was lazy," said
Ranma dumbly.

 "What?" gasped Urd.

 "I figure he got sick of doing everything himself, so he made the
Yggdrasil system," replied the boy with a shrug.

 "That's part of it," admitted Urd. "But the Universe became more than he
could handle, on more than one level."

 "Okay...so?" he replied with a small shrug.

 "What's going on?" asked Jadeite in confusion.

 "It's kind of technical," replied Ranma as he looked back at him for a
moment.

 "Oh," said the man with a shrug. He went back to his drink and ignored
the rest of the conversation. The other generals seemed to agree with
that assessment and did the same.

 Urd was frowning at Ranma, and watching him carefully.

 "Oh for god's sake, come on," he said as he threw his hands into the
air. Both of them vanished in a flash of light. 

+++++++++++++

 They found themselves standing at the gates of heaven. Ranma smirked at
Urd and walked up to the old man standing in front of the huge pearly
gates.

 "Hello! Name please?" said the old man cheerfully. He had a large book
in front of him and was blocking his path.

 "Move. Now," said Ranma as he looked down at him.

 "I'm afraid I can't do that sir," said the old man in irritation.

 Ranma snorted and raised his hand slightly. The gates gave a heavy groan
and opened in front of him, almost tearing themselves off at the hinges
with the force he had to use to open them. "Get out of my way, or I'll
move you."

 The old man wisely did as he was told, clutching his book fearfully.

 Urd gasped in shock and rushed up behind him. "What do you think you're
doing?!" 

 "Going to see your dad," he replied calmly. "I was going to put it off
until tomorrow, but since you showed up..."

++++++++++

 "I'm sorry sir! He just burst in!" said the flustered looking secretary
as she rushed into the office behind Ranma.

 He grinned at the unseen figure sitting behind a desk and waved
cheerfully. "Sorry about the mess."

 Outside, a trail of angels could be seen lying along his path,
occasionally a god or a goddess who had been knocked out could be seen as
well.

 Kami-sama shuffled a few pages on his desk and ignored him. "It's all
right. I've been expecting him."

 Ranma watched her wiggle away girlishly. She was an amazingly cute
secretary. "Maybe I should get one of those..." he said out loud. An
image of Hotaru standing over them angrily popped into his head and he
shuddered. "Maybe not..."

 "Welcome," said Kami-sama as he looked the boy up and down for a moment.
There wasn't anything particularly unusual about him. He stepped out of
the light that hid his face, revealing a handsome middle aged man, with a
clean- face. 

 "Wow. Major let down," said Ranma as he blinked.

"Well, I suppose I'm not as impressive to you as I am to a mere god or
goddess, never mind a soul," replied the creator of all things with a
small shrug.

 "Why?" asked Ranma as he smirked at him.

 "You already know," said Kami-sama casually.

 "Right, boredom, loneliness, want of some time off, lack of a decent
poker player in heaven..."

 The god sighed. "You got that right. No one is willing to beat me, never
mind someone who'd be willing to cheat a little."

 Ranma shrugged at him and smiled again. "Well. I guess this is just a
formality more than anything else. Two supreme beings meeting together
and all that."

 "Well, there is more to it than this you realize," said Kami-sama with a
light smile on his face.

 "Yup," said Ranma with another shrug. "Still, you've got a lot on me.
Creator of all things, ever existing, where as I actually have a
birthday."

 "Well, so do I technically," said Kami-sama.

 "Yeah, but it's weird stealing your son's birthday that way," said the
pigtailed boy calmly.

 "I suppose, but that all depends on what religion you are," replied the
god.

 "Yeah. I guess so," Ranma scratched the back of his head. 

 "Not going to ask which one is right?" asked Kami-sama with an amused
chuckle.

 "Don't really care, doesn't apply to me anymore," replied the boy with a
dumb looking grin forming on his face.

 "Well, you're a very busy man, I won't keep you any longer," said Kami
as he extended his hand.

 "Right. Hotaru's gonna kill me," said Ranma with a small sigh. "I hope I
haven't been too long."

 "As of right now...time is of no consequence to you," said Kami as he
grasped the boy's hand with both of his own and held tight.

 "What the?" said Ranma in shock as he felt the familiar tingle run
through his body again. "No! What are you doing?"

 Kami gave him a gentle smile. "I have been alone since the beginning of
time. It is my greatest pain, and one that you can never experience."

 Ranma tried to pull his hand away and finally managed it. The almighty
was on his knees in front of him, gasping painfully as he clutched at his
chest. 

 "What did you do to me?" muttered Ranma as he backed into a wall and
looked at his hand in horror.

 The man sighed and sat up with a wistful smile on his face. "I'm not
alone anymore."

 Ranma narrowed his eyes and looked down at the man. He had three
markings on his forehead that weren't there before. "You...gave me almost
all of..."

 "Yes," said the god as he smiled up at the pigtailed boy.

 "All of your damn responsibility!?" snapped Ranma angrily.

 "Well, yes...that too..." replied Kami sheepishly. 

 "Damn it! This sucks!" cried Ranma hotly as he stomped his foot in
irritation. "How could you do this to me?"

 "I got lonely," replied Kami with a shrug.

 "How long have you been planing this you little shit!?" snapped Ranma as
he picked the god up by his collar.

 "Since you merged with my creation at Jusenkyo," said Kami nervously.
"You were the first of your kind. The first multiple personality human
who really did have multiple personalities! I knew that would eliminate
the biggest fault I had with my job."

 "Being lonely," said Ranma as he seemed to understand.

 "Right!" agreed Kami. "I tested you...you didn't do so well at first,
but you got smarter, and kept learning. Eventually, you became what you
are now, and I decided you were ready."

 Ranma sighed and hung his head. "So what the heck does that make you?"

 "Kami, God of Creation, First Class Unlimited," replied the deity
cheerfully. "I've got peers! For the first time in my existence, there
are others who are my equals! Even my superiors!" The man looked
absolutely giddy with excitement.

 Ranma released him and let him fall to the ground. "Great. Just fuckin
great."

 "You really shouldn't talk that way," said Kami cheerfully.

 "Who are you to tell me how to talk?" snorted Ranma as he looked down at
the man. "You can keep your office if you want. I'm going home now."

 "Right," said Kami cheerfully as he waved. The God Ranma Saotome had
become was truly his best work. Light and Darkness, plus the entire
Yggdrasil system all rolled into one. He was practically his own
Universe.

 Ranma sighed and walked out into the hallway, where confusion reigned.
Mutters of anger and shock filled the hallways as he strolled past gods
and angels that had never expected to see him again after he entered
Kami-sama's office. There was even a little fear.

 Urd walked up to him, finally catching up from when he'd left her alone
at the gates. "You! What do you think you're doing?"

 "Did you really think he wasn't expecting me?" snorted the boy calmly as
he glanced at her.

 She paused at this and looked around for a moment. "Where are you
going?"

 "Home," he replied calmly.

 "What? Didn't he tell you to destroy yourself?" she asked him.

 "If he did, what makes you think that I would?" said the pigtailed boy
as he smirked at her. 

 Urd gasped in anger and narrowed her eyes at him. "You..."

 "You'd better watch your mouth Urd. I'm your new boss," said Ranma
calmly as he looked down at the planet for a moment. 

 "What?" she muttered dumbly.

 "I'm going back to Earth now, don't bother me unless it's important,"
said the pigtailed boy calmly. 

 "You arrogant son of a..." started Urd. She then seemed to realize that
she was standing in heaven and about to utter a rather unpleasant phrase.


 "See you around," said Ranma as he vanished.

++++++++++++++

 "Oh. You're back!" said Hotaru sweetly as she looked at her husband for
a moment and smiled. She was sitting inside of their room in the palace.

 "Hiya," said Ranma as he slumped down into a chair and relaxed. 

 All of the senshi had been given a room in the palace, Ranma had been
allowed to move in with his wife of course. Not that they could have
stopped him if he had wanted them too.

 "Did you enjoy your night out with the boys?" she asked him.

 "It was fine at first, but then I had to go to heaven and become the
Almighty. That kind of sucked." He rubbed at his temples and turned to
smile at her again. "Tenchi should be arriving tomorrow." 

 "How nice," she said as she slipped into his lap and grabbed him around
his neck. 

 "You know. This isn't very funny Hild," said Ranma casually as he shoved
her off. "You know my wife is going to be pissed if she comes in and sees
you here."

 The woman's skin suddenly became pitch black, and all the light in the
room faded away. Ranma frowned, and the light came back, but dim enough
for it to be comfortable for the queen of demons.

 "So. It is true!" hissed the thing as it snarled at him.

 "Yeah. Now go away, before you get me into trouble," said Ranma calmly.

 "I think not! You're going to give me the Yggdrasil system you have
hidden inside you. Kami was smart to hide himself away in heaven, and you
were a fool to come down here!" She reached for him and he smirked at
her, completely calm.

 "Right. Look, go home before I get angry," said the boy as he scowled at
her and waited.

 Her hands pulled back, and she growled as if considering something for a
moment. Then, she simply dove for him, screaming loudly.

 Ranma simply reached out and put a hand on her chest. "Goodnight."

 Hild's eyes went wide as she felt something being drawn from her body.
She started to scream in alarm and flail about painfully, unable to touch
him for some unknown reason.

 Ranma released her to the ground and smirked. "Well, that wasn't as
difficult as I thought it'd be."

 Hild was lying on the floor, mostly unable to move. "What have you done
to me?" she gasped.

 "Hild, Demon First Class. I'm afraid that you're no longer the most
powerful demon in hell." His eyes seemed to be swallowed by darkness as
he looked down at her and flexed his hand for a moment. "Useful tool this
is."

 "What? How can you? That's impossible!" she snarled hatefully.

 "I am L-sama, Lord of Chaos. Both the light and the darkness," said
Ranma as a black and gold aura started to form around him. "To put it
quite simply. I am everything now."

 Hild hissed angrily as she backed away from him, she put her arms up
over her face and melted into the shadows. 

 "Well, now that's over with," he said with a calm shrug. "Where is
Hotaru anyway?" He walked out the door and looked up and down the hall.

 Hotaru was walking towards him with Usagi at her side. They were both
dressed in dogi, and had towels draped over their shoulders. 

 "Hi!" said Ranma cheerfully as he walked up to them. 

 Both of them blinked, and had the strangest urge to prostrate themselves
in front of him.

 Ranma frowned and mentally switched that urge off. "Sorry about that."

 "You're back early," said Hotaru.

 "Yeah. I got kind of sidetracked, and finished with some business. I
decided to just come back rather than hang around the bar some more."

 "Oh. That's nice!" said Hotaru with a smile on her face. 

 "You just finish with Akane?" asked Ranma.

 "Yeah. We decided to join in the martial arts class she's been giving
the younger senshi," said Hotaru as she grabbed his arm.

 "Eww. You're all sweaty," said Ranma as he smirked at her.

 "Well you can help me take a bath then," she replied calmly.

 "Yeah, yeah," he said while pretending to be upset about it.

 "You should be glad someone as young and beautiful as me is showing
interest you old hag!" cried a familiar voice down the hall.

 Ranma pulled Hotaru aside in time for Akane to chase Kasumi and Hitomi
by them with a shinhai held over her head. The three of them were clad
only in towels.

 "Um..."

 "Just let it be," said Ranma cheerfully.

+++++++++++

 Tenchi Masaki walked off of the platform that had lowered him from the
Tsunami.

 Tsuki glanced around from beside him, with Ayeka and Sasami just behind
them.

 "It's been so long..." muttered Tenchi as he took a deep breath.

 "It doesn't seem that long to me, but...everything is so different,"
said Tsuki with a short nod of understanding.

 "It has been many years," said Ayeka.

 "Wow! Neat!" cried Sasami. She was pointing at the nearby palace. "It
looks just like the one in the history books! The one the Moon Kingdom
used!"

 "It is the one the Moon Kingdom used," said a familiar voice from
nearby.

 The group turned to see Ranma smirking at them while leaning against a
tree trunk. "I brought it down from the moon and restored it."

 Tenchi nodded at this and looked up at the building. It was very
impressive.

 "So. What you say is true," he said to the boy.

 "Ranma is dead? And the Moon Kingdom is rising again?" said Ranma
playfully. "Yes."
 
 Usagi cleared her throat and stepped up with her senshi standing around
her. "You must be Prince Ten..." she trailed off and gasped in shock. 

 "Usagi?" muttered Tsuki in confusion as she stepped forward. "Is that
you?"

 "Tsuki?" muttered the Queen quietly.

 "Told you it'd be a surprise," said Ranma cheerfully.

 "You're alive!" gasped Usagi as she rushed forward and grabbed the girl
in a rough hug. "Oh! Thank you! I've felt so alone!"

 Tsuki blushed and returned the hug lightly. "It's good to see you too
Usagi."
 "What happened to you? Where have you been?" cried Usagi as she shook
the woman by her shoulders.

 "I...well...I was trapped in space, sort of in a coma," said the Senshi
of Pluto nervously. "I'm sorry Usagi. I wish I could have been here to
help you."

 "No. You'd have been killed too, if you'd remained," said the blonde as
she shook her head. "He had a reason for not killing me, otherwise it
would have ended for me long ago."

 Tsuki nodded in understanding. "So. This really isn't him?" 

 Ranma blinked. "You have to ask?" he said with his eyebrow arched in
frustration.

 "No. He isn't," said Usagi gently. "I'm so glad you've returned."

 "We're the only ones left, aren't we?" asked Tsuki gently.

 "Of our old friends, yes," said Usagi. "Hotaru is with us as well, but
she was never really in our group."

 "There are new senshi I understand?" said the violent haired woman as
she smiled at her old friend.

 "Husband, should we..." started Ayeka.

 "No. Let them be," said the Prince quietly. 

 "Come on then," said Ranma as he walked up to them.

 They all turned to see Ryo-Ohki descending from above. It landed in a
clearing nearby, and within two minutes, Ryoko was standing with them
with Ryo-Ohki on her shoulder.

 "I'm glad to see you're well," said Ranma as he nodded at her.

 She merely nodded at him. Tenchi moved up with Usagi as they walked
towards the palace. Ayeka and Sasami walked with Tsuki beside them, while
Ranma hung back with his daughter.

 "Don't start getting silent with me Ryoko," he said with a smirk on his
face.

 "Who are you?" she asked him suddenly.

 "I am your father," he said as he held his hand up to his mouth and
making breathing noises.

 "How can that be? He was my father! Washuu told me it was really him!
She..."

 "He came from me," replied Ranma with a frown on his face. "It's hard to
explain, but he was my dark side. Sort of an evil version of me. We were
separated, and he managed to kill me while I was still in shock about him
coming out of my body."

 Ryoko looked at him dumbly.

 "Think along the lines of a cell dividing, and you'll understand what
happened to us," he said with a shrug. "So, he was just an exact copy of
your father. However, I am the man you once knew."

 Ryoko nodded, seeming to accept this.

 "Your mother...what happened to her?"

 "She was...killed..." replied Ryoko as she looked at him. "He killed
her. I don't know how...but he did. I felt her connection to me die
suddenly. I never realized that I was never really alone until that
moment, when I felt her die."

 "I see," said Ranma with his head hung low. He had an angry scowl on his
face as he continued to walk in silence.

 "You're really him aren't you?" she asked him suddenly. She seemed to
peer at him for a moment curiously.

 He smiled at her and nodded. "That I am."

 Ryoko nodded at this and held out a small cube. "Here."

 "What is this?" he said as he took it.

 "I was only alone for a short time after she died," said Ryoko as she
turned her head away.

 Ranma blinked. It looked almost like a cube of glass, but with a switch
he could feel on the side of it. He pressed it, and an image of a small
child, with bright red hair appeared in his palm. "This is..."

 "My daughter. The Princess Ryomi."

 "Ryomi?" said the boy as he looked at her.

 "She's just like her grandmother," said Ryoko wistfully. "It's a real
pain. She's smarter than me, and only ten years old."

 "Probably a handful," said Ranma with a knowing smirk on his face.

 "Well, I'll be seeing you," she said to him as she moved up and jogged
to her husband's side.

 Ranma shook his head and sighed. "Well, here's to the future."

++++++++++++

 "Of course, our tale could end right here. But why?" said Ranma as he
looked down at the body lying on a table in front of him. 

 "Right. Where's the fun in that?" asked Carrot. 

 "Why are we doing this?" snorted Xianfu. She had calmed considerably
over the past few days.

 Dan sighed and poked the body in its cheek. "Well, we don't have much to
do ourselves here. I mean, we can't build this planet for them, and we
certainly can't just start playing evil demon now. It's too soon."

 "Think of it as something to pass the time," said Carrot.

 "How are we going to do this?" asked Xianfu.

 "The same way you grow a new plant from a clipping, cut off at the right
point, plant it, and the branch will continue to grow," said Carrot.
"Thus, we still go on as before."

 "And him?" asked Pissant as he peered down at the sleeping Ranma Saotome
clone.

 "Well, we sort of give him a little of ourselves, and put him in the
right place. Think of it this way, he won't be as strong as us, maybe a
little more than when he left really. He's more like a puppet than
anything else. Sort of a puppet we can wear," Carrot smiled at his
analogy. 

 "It's more like that Jesus thing Kami did a while back," said Dan.

 "We never did ask him if that was true or not," said Carrot.

 "Does it matter?" replied Xianfu.

 "I suppose not," agreed Carrot.

 "So. We're creating another universe?" said Dan in confusion.

 "Yeah. Kinda," said Carrot. "It's a bit more complicated than that plant
analogy thing, but you get the idea."

 "Right," agreed everyone.

 "So. Shall we?" asked Dan.

 "Yes. Let's," agreed Carrot.

 "Oops," said Ranma. 

 "Oops?" repeated everyone else.

 "Sorry. I put him in the wrong place," said Ranma.

 Carrot chuckled as he looked down. "Let it be. At least for now anyway."

++++++++++++

Ranma Saotome sat up from where he had landed and blinked. "Okay. Where
the heck am I?" he stood up and looked around. "Everyone all right?"

 "Yeah," said Carrot.

 "Roger," agreed Dan. 

 "What the hell is this?" snorted Xianfu.

 "I think we're in...yeah! Nerima! It worked!" said Pissant cheerfully.

 "Great," said Carrot happily as they started walking. "So. Where should
we go?"

 "We've got to find that evil us!" said Ranma.

 "Sounds good to me," said Carrot. "First we need to figure out when and
where we are."

 "The dojo sounds like a good place to stop," said Dan.

 Xianfu sighed. "I suppose so."

++++++++++++

 Ranma looked up at the sign on the wall and smiled. "Well. Here we are."

 "What the heck is this place?" said Xianfu.

 "Where we used to live," said Dan.

 "Okay. Let's go say hi," commented Carrot as he opened the door.

++++++++++

 "Ranma! Prepare to die!"

 "Back for more! I'll teach you Saotome!"

 "Ranma! Stop picking fights and try this soup I made!"

 "That's right boy! Take it like a man!"

 "Saotome! Release the pigtailed girl to me at once!"

 Ranma Saotome turned and ran right into Ranma Saotome, both of them
blocking the other's route of escape. The collided and fell back onto the
ground. 

 Everyone chasing the pigtailed boy rounded the corner just in time to
see the two of them sitting up and rubbing their heads in frustration. 

 A moment later, Ukyo and Shampoo jumped over the wall, each bearing
food. They paused and looked down at the two boys for a moment.

 "Aiya!"

 "What the hell?" 

 "Um. Hi. Sorry about this," said one of the Ranmas nervously.

 "Oh man. Now what?" cried the other fearfully.

 "Is two Ranmas!" cried Shampoo.

 "Um...not exactly..." said the Ranma closest to the gate as he scratched
the back of his head. "Well, yes. But I'm not the same guy as him."

 Akane almost passed out.

 "Two of you or not! This is all your fault Saotome!" cried Ryoga as he
charged forward.

 The first Ranma simply stepped forward and punched him in the face,
causing him to stagger back and clutch his nose. "Wrt duh?"

 "Still the same dishonorable bastard as always I can see," said the
Ranma that had hit him with a smile on his face. "Still blaming your own
problems on other people. Eh, P-chan?"

 "How dare you!" snapped Akane.

 Everyone froze and gasped when the new Ranma grabbed her around her neck
and lifted her off of the ground before she could strike him.

 "If you attack me, I will hurt you," he said calmly. He then put her on
the ground and eyed her coldly.

 "I'll show you!" snapped Akane.

 The new Ranma punched her in the face, sending her to the ground next to
Ryoga.

 "Akane! You monster!" roared Ryoga.

 "Akane!" cried the other Ranma as he charged forward as well.

 The new Ranma sighed and stepped aside, causing the pair to collide in
mid air. "Are you finished yet?"

 Akane was sitting on the ground, with a look of shock on her face.

 "Never! Not until you pay for what you've done to Akane!" snapped Ryoga.

 "Bastard!" snarled Ranma as they both attacked again.

 "What place do you have defending her?" asked the new Ranma as he poked
Ryoga in the chest and sent him back to the ground again.

 He stepped back and blocked a punch by the first Ranma and casually
shifted his foot and tripped the boy. 

 "If you'll just calm down, I'll explain everything."

 "Airen?" muttered Shampoo as she walked up and peered at him.

 "I'm not your husband," he said to her calmly. "At any rate, I've got
some things to figure out. If you don't mind."

 Akane slowly stood up and hung her head down low. She walked up to him
and looked up with tears in her eyes. "How could you?" She tried to slap
him.

 He caught her hand and smiled at her coldly. "How many times have you
done that to him? You'd better ask yourself that question before you ask
me."

 The first Ranma looked at him and scowled. "Who are you?"

 "I'm you, but about twenty years older," he said calmly.

 "So, the knave has returned to the past, in order to try and defeat that
which he could not defeat in the future! Surely my might was too much for
him, so the dark sorcerer has returned to vanquish me now!"

 "I killed you once Kuno, don't make me do it again," said the New Ranma
calmly. 

 Everyone gasped and looked at the newcomer in shock. "Killed?"
 
 "If you'll allow me to explain," he said as he looked around. "I'm sure
we can come to an understanding fairly easily."

 "Lies! You could never..." Kuno was cut off as Ranma raised his hand and
shoved him into a wall headfirst. "Moron. Now, if no one else wants to
interrupt. I'll explain everything."

+++++++++++

 TBC...

 Well. I had to do something to water down Ranma's powers. Not much fun
if he's just god. Well, at least not if he's god all the time. I'd put
him at a little over what he was when he left now.
 
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