RanSquares15

Realities Squared

By
Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi & Others,
with characters and situations created by my fellow fanfic writers
Gregg Sharp and DB Sommers)

Chapter Fifteen.

HENTAI ALERT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
CONTAINS SCENES WITH GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS
AND GRATUITOUS REFERENCES TO BODY PARTS
AND/OR SEX WITH NEEDLESS REMINDERS THAT THE
VAST MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN THIS CHAPTER ARE
CLOTHING DEFICIENT...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!



Continuum #17046289

Roll Call:

Lylac Tendo	--17, purple haired daughter of Nabiki and Shampoo
                      From Continuum #59343921
Ekko Daitokuji	--16, redheaded daughter of Beiko and Aiko
                      From Continuum #59343921
Tenko Masaki	--17, blue haired daughter of Tenchi and Ryoko
                      From Continuum #59343921
Veil Morisato	--16, brown haired daughter of Keiichi and Belldandy
                      From Continuum #59343921
Lamyra Saotome	--17, green haired daughter of Ranma and Megumi
                      Native to this Continuum.

Ranma Saotome	--38, dark-haired brooding figure whose tragic life was marked
                      by his doomed marriage to Akane.  A Time Agent,
                      Troubleshooting consultant, linked with the spirit of
                       the god Shiva, the Destroyer.
Ryoga Hibiki	--38, dark haired partner to Ranma whose marriage go Akari was
                      both happy and fruitful.  Time Agent/Troubleshooter
                       linked to the god Vishnu, the Preserver.
Nabiki Tendo	--38, brown haired Lore Master and Time Agent/Dispatcher,
                      Ranma and Ryoga's immediate supervisor and current
                       Iinazuke to Ranma.

Toltir		--Cat-Man, Elder God of Mischief, Age: Indeterminate but 
Ancient.



Ranko Saotome		--16, redheaded daughter of Ranma and Akane
                              From Continuum #29715382 
                               Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.
Watazashi Saotome	--16, black haired daughter of Ranma and Kodachi
                              From Continuum #29457180
Yuan-Yen Tendo		--16, brown haired daughter of Mousse and Nabiki
                              From Continuum #29457180
Tinkerbell Tendo        --17, brown haired daughter of Perfume and Kasumi
                              From Continuum #68743219
Rinse Saotome		--17, purple haired daughter of Ranma and Shampoo
                              From Continuum #472193567
Tachi Kuno		--17, brown haired daughter of Tatewaki and Nabiki
                              From Continuum #472193567
Ryeka Masaki		--16, blue haired fusion daughter of Ryoko and Ayeka
                              From Continuum #472193567
Atari Moroboshi		--16, green haired daughter of Ataru and Lum
                              From Continuum #472193567
Silver Saotome		--17, silver-haired daughter of Shampoo and Ranma,
                              From Continuum #48972185 
                               Jusenkyo cursed: Nanniichuan.
Akira Tendo		--20, black haired son of Shampoo-kun and Kasumi
                              From Continuum #48972185
Kinko Kuonji		--14, brown haired daughter of Ukyo-kun and Akane
                              From Continuum #32145896
                               Jusenkyo Curse: Winged Angel.
Kama Sutra Saotome	--18, purple haired daughter of Miko Mido and Ranma
                              Native to Continuum #57821964
                               Part Shikima
Tsuyori Saotome		--18, brown haired daughter of Ukyo Kuonji and Ranma
                              Native to Continuum #57821964
                               Part Kitsune-Fox
Cheetah Saotome		--17, brown-furred daughter of Kasumi and Ranma
                              From Continuum #729058146
                               Humanoid Cheetah



It loomed over them, an impossible vision whose size and length defied rational 
comprehension and description, over five miles long and a hundred meters wide, 
the largest living thing that mortal eye had looked upon in the history of the 
planet with ebony scales that gleamed in the fading sun like the glistening 
embers of Ragnarok, the doom of all life, and gathered in a coil around that 
portion of Nerima that centered upon what was left of Furinkan High School.

From where he hovered only a kilometer away, Beast Ranma stared in dismay at the 
enormous size of the creature, which had been sleeping in an almost perfect 
circle, coiled around the building several times with its snake-like mass 
winding around and around the place that had been its power-center during the 
past twenty years when the creature had slept and gorged itself upon the blood 
of entire planet.  It was more than five times the size of the creature that he 
remembered on their one previous encounter, a memory that had defined itself in 
Ranma's mind as the ultimate in waking horrors.

Maelstrom...the Dragon of Death and Chaos!

"Oh Kami...!" Yuan-Yen gasped as she strained herself to see the thing from her 
awkward position.

"Now that's big," Watazashi agreed, a sentiment that was wordlessly shared by 
the rest of their rather intimate circle of similarly helpless damsels in 
undress.

"FOOLISH MORTALS!" came the booming mental voice of the enormous Dragon, "YOU 
DARE TO CHALLENGE ME IN MY HOUR OF ASCENSION?  YOU MAY HAVE STRUCK DOWN MY PAWNS 
AND SERVANTS, BUT YOU ARE TOO LATE TO PREVENT ME FROM CLAIMING ULTIMATE POWER!  
NOW DIE AS BEFITS THE WORTHLESS WORMS THAT YOU ARE!"

"Guess that makes it official," Toltir nodded, "He's pissed."

The helpless girls strapped to the machine could do nothing but look up at their 
doom with expressions of helplessness.  The jaws of the creature were so wide 
that they looked as if they could swallow up Gojiro whole and take down Mothra 
as a chaser.  The impossibly huge monster loomed poised to gobble both them and 
the device that they were strapped to in mere seconds, but as that huge head 
hung over them, prepared to strike, a single voice rang out, "I don't think so!"

The dragon's eyes-as large as houses, oriented on the single insignificant spec 
at the base of the pit that had dared to speak with such calm and arrogant 
defiance.

"FOOL," Maelstrom said as he made out the leather clad man bent down over his 
woman, the Witch who had herself proven to be only a minor annoyance, "YOU DARE 
STILL DEFY ME...I WHO NOW POSSESSES A POWER THAT THE GODS THEMSELVES MUST 
TREMBLE BEFORE?  I HAVE GATHERED TO ME THE MIGHT OF THE EARTH ITSELF, GORGING 
MYSELF UPON THE SUFFERING OF YOU HUMANS AND YOUR PETTY EVILS.  YOU ARE NOTHING 
TO ME NOW BUT A STEPPING STONE ON MY WAY TO GLORY AND ULTIMATE POWER!"

"Ultimate power?" Time-Cop Ranma said as he glanced down at Nabiki, who looked 
up at him with clear understanding in her eyes and a quiet acceptance that he 
would do what was needful.  He stood up over her with his head bent down and 
murmured "You don't know what you're talking about, creep.  You don't know the 
meaning of the words 'Ultimate Power,' but if you insist on threatening 
everybody, I'll be happy to show you."

"Oh my..." Veil looked at the leather-clad with a hand over her mouth, "That 
doesn't sound like the Uncle Ranma I know..."

"It ain't," Toltir said grimly as he laid a hand to her shoulder, "That ain't 
the Ranma you know...not by a longshot."

"Uh oh," Ryoga murmured faintly, "It's started..."

"What's started?" Megumi asked, feeling the hackles rise on the back of her neck 
as she suddenly sensed an enormous power welling up in the shape of the one who 
somewhat resembled her husband.

"He's giving himself over to the Power," Ryoga replied, "He's calling on Shiva.  
In another minute he won't even be the Ranma we remember."

The man who had been Saotome Ranma continued to keep his head bowed as thoughts 
and memories resurfaced within him.  He was still looking at Nabiki, and as he 
stared at her she saw his eyes begin to change color and the hue of his skin 
noticeably darken.

Maelstrom decided he would not waste time discerning what the puny mortal had in 
mind and lunged forward, only to be met and repelled by an invisible boundary 
line.  In astonished frustration he tried to breach this barrier, but it sternly 
resisted his efforts.  Now thoroughly annoyed at between thwarted, he sought to 
breathe flames upon the barrier, but they were easily repelled.  Now thoroughly 
confused, the enormous beast tried to discern the nature and source of this 
strange barrier, only to find that it emanated from the puny looking man who in 
some ways resembled that annoying Beast, Ranma.

Beast Ranma himself was staring in dismay as he felt something like electric 
tension play across the surface of his skin, and all at once the force lines 
gathered about the city to concentrate on one point as his counterpart stood his 
ground beneath him and continued his transformation, becoming less and less 
human by the instant.

The naked youths strapped to the machine all felt the wave of power that 
emanated from the man who-to some of them, at least-represented either a parent 
or a favorite uncle.  Ranko herself was looking at the form of the one whom she 
now thought of as an overly grim version of her father and stared in disbelief 
as his complexion turned blue and his eyes now radiated crimson.

So close, thought the man who had been Ranma to himself, to have come so close 
to losing her...to losing Nabiki, his beloved Siva, and all for the preening 
ambitions of an insane, pretentious worm who used people like they were mere 
pawns that he could play with...his woman, his Siva!  All the rage at the horror 
and injustice of it all helped him to slough off the outer shell of humanity 
that he wore and call the inner fires of the Destroyer to the surface.  When at 
last he raised his head to gaze upon the dragon, his eyes were ruby-red with the 
color of blood and contained within their depths the very fires of destruction 
and the death of worlds, to which mere mortality was bit a fleeting illusion.

Long ago there had been a boy named Saotome Ranma whose one passion in life was 
the study of the martial arts.  It was all that mattered to him, all he wanted 
and aspired to be, following his father's footsteps in the art even long after 
he had become aware of his guardian's moral failings and personal shortcomings.  
It was all he wanted to be, to be the best there was, to be stronger than his 
father in the art and to always win his battles.

Then one day he met another boy who seemed to share his passion in the art, his 
first real friend in childhood, who at first fought with him but later started 
making lunch and acting nice to him and treating him like he was something 
special, a unique sensation in his limited awareness.  When they parted ways the 
boy had been so sad, but as time did with youth the memories were soon lost and 
forgotten.  There were new things to learn, and he had a long way to go before 
he could be the best, as he wanted.

Then later he met the boy again...only surprise of surprises, he wasn't a boy, 
he was a remarkably cute and vivacious young woman.  Ranma had felt incredibly 
awkward about this discovery, unable to believe that he had never known the 
difference before, yet unable to say why it made him feel so awkward.  When that 
childhood friend turned out to be not only a girl but a fiancée it changed 
everything that Ranma had thought he had known about their past relationship, 
and it made it hard to think of her in these new terms where what had been 
boyish and manly was suddenly forbidden and Hentai.  Ukyo was a cross dresser by 
choice, not because of a curse like the one Ranma lived under.  It confused him 
to no end, and Ranma had to mentally adjust to his own reactions, the confused 
feelings that he felt whenever Ukyo made loving eyes towards him or was nice to 
him in ways that went beyond mere friendship.

And then came the day when he hurt his friend and crushed her dreams beneath his 
foot with no more thought or intention than one might feel stepping on an 
insect.  He had thought he had been doing the right thing, that he had never 
intentionally led her on or deceived her of his intentions, and he had tried his 
best--in his stumbling, hesitant way--to make things right with her by 
maintaining their friendship long after he had married Akane.

Over the course of the next year, when that marriage steadily progressed from 
bliss to a waking nightmare, Ukyo had stuck by him and stayed true to their 
friendship, never truly giving up on her feelings towards Ranma but no longer 
actively pursuing a relationship either.  It was she who recommended counseling 
when Akane's mental state began to deteriorate, along with their marriage, and 
Ukyo who all but dragged him to those therapy sessions where he had a chance to 
witness for himself what other people experienced in abusive relationships at 
the hands of spouses who were alternately pleasant and beastly, and Ukyo who 
tried to get him medical treatment when Akane did more than the usual amount of 
damage to his person.  Ranma had fallen far during his year of hell, when his 
health had faltered and his ability to heal back from injuries was taxed beyond 
endurance.

In all that time Ukyo had never complained or cursed him for their friendship, 
but Ranma had never truly appreciated what hell he had put her through being 
forced to witness his life with Akane.  He never truly understood her loyalty to 
him or appreciated how much he had depended on her as the only one who could 
hear his suffering or gave a damn about him, and then one day she took a sword 
in the heart for her troubles, sacrificing herself to save him, a last act of 
devotion for a man who had never given her anything back but agony and years of 
torment.

It was a very different man named Saotome Ranma who had later begun a quest 
seeking personal healing and redemption, not to bury the memories of his loss 
but to somehow find solace for the wounds to his pride and self-respect that 
been shattered beyond repair with the sacrifice of his Ucchan.  By then the news 
of the fate of Shampoo had forced him to confront a side of himself that he did 
not like and could no longer stomach, seeing the arrogant pride and stubbornness 
that caused him to reject the two girls who professed their love for him in the 
only ways that they knew how, and for the false love of a woman who had always 
deep-down despised him.

His quest brought him halfway around the world into conflict after conflict, 
seeking to drown the rage and grief that crushed his soul with the cleansing 
fires of battle and carnage, where alone he felt alive, pressing himself to his 
limits without heed to the consequences, uncaring if death awaited him in the 
end.  All that life held open to him was a glorious end in the heat of combat 
where he would struggle not to simply survive but to find redress for the guilt 
and remorse that overwhelmed him.

Of necessity he would sometimes find himself pitted against opponents far 
stronger than himself, which was what he yearned for since the ordinary level of 
opponent held no challenge for him any more.  When bested by a superior fighter, 
he would rally some element within his soul that refused to bow down and 
surrender, and somehow he would emerge triumphant in spite of being the lesser 
of two opponents.  It was these moments that he lived for, believing no other 
sort of life could remain for one who had failed in the ultimate test of his 
manhood...the ability to protect a beloved friend from his own hubris and folly.

One time Ranma faced a challenge too great to be overcome, and the result was 
that he got his head handed to him rather badly, leaving him broken and battered 
while barely clinging to life over an abyss of unimaginable torment.  In spite 
of the pain and the cries of his body to surrender, and in spite of not caring 
if he lived or died, he still would not give up the struggle and sought to hold 
on beyond the limits of mere flesh, knowing that to fail was to doom more than 
himself as a consequence.  In that moment he truly understood the meaning of his 
own life and the significance of his adventures.  The faces of friends, enemies 
and loved ones flashed through his mind, each containing a potent message for 
his survival as each one represented something that held him back from the edge, 
that told him to fight on and not give in, to wage the impossible battle against 
death itself and somehow live on in spite of the impossible precariousness of 
his current situation.

And in that moment when extinction loomed before him, he caught the attention of 
an entity whose very existence was beyond the scope of mortal comprehension.  
This entity was less a being than a presence and the scope of its existence 
transcended anything in Ranma's imagination, and as he hovered between life and 
death this entity filled the whole of his awareness and demanded Ranma's 
unwavering attention.  After the fleeting sensation of being like a gnat under a 
microscope as the being thoroughly examined him inside out, Ranma heard a voice 
speak into his mind, a voice like the opposite of thunder, sublime and all-
encompassing with the hint of galaxies born and dying.

"Why do you fight to stay alive?" the voice had asked him, and for the longest 
time Ranma did not have an answer.  When Ranma remained silent to the query, the 
voice continued, "You who hate yourself and despise your very existence...what 
have you to fight for?  Let go, surrender this pain and embrace the karmic wheel 
of destiny.  You have lived your life as few other mortals have...it is time to 
rest and embrace the peace that awaits you.

Peace?  The very word inspired scorn in Ranma, and with an anger that went 
beyond reason he cried out, "THERE IS NO PEACE FOR ME!  I CAN NEVER REST, NEVER 
BE FORGIVEN!"

"Then embrace death and face the penalty for failure that you believe that you 
deserve," the voice said reasonably, not in judgement or dismissal of Ranma's 
pain, or even contempt for his failings as a human being, "Why live on to endure 
new pain?"

"Because it's all I have!" Ranma had cried back into the void, "Pain is all I 
have to live for!  It's what I deserve for what I did to her...to them...to all 
of them!  There is nothing else for me but pain, and for that I will live!  I 
will live but I will never SURRENDER!"

"You are wrong to blame yourself for what has happened," the voice argued 
persuasively, "It is of the past, let it go...it weighs you down and binds your 
soul to that which can never be..."

"I don't want to be free of my past!" Ranma had declared, "The past is where 
they still live and care for me...the future holds NOTHING!  I won't let go and 
you can't make me!"

"Can't I?" the voice hinted menacingly of possibilities not dreamt of in mortal 
imagination, "Little man...who are you to define what I can and cannot do?  Do 
you not know that I could extinguish your flickering mortal flame like the 
candle that it is?  Pride and stubbornness will not avail you before me...I am 
the OMEGA, the end of all things, the death of possibilities and the renewal of 
all things, for from death new life must ever emerge, from the death of the old 
does the future take conception..."

"I don't care!" Ranma had declared, "You're nothing to me, nothing!  You took my 
Ucchan and Akane!  You took Shampoo...you took everything, but you will never 
take me!  I will fight you forever!"

Another long pause before the voice spoke again, and when it did there was a 
sober note of reflection there as the presence said, "I do believe you 
would...you would fight me though you know in your heart that such battle is 
futile.  You would fight because that is all there is for you, the struggle to 
endure.  It is not courage or folly that makes you what you are...you truly know 
no other way to live than to engage in battle with that which would destroy 
you."

"So?" Ranma asked, and it was not his usual pride or pig-headedness that 
prompted him to do so.  He knew the power of the presence dwarfed him and 
anything in his experience, but he also knew that he would not kowtow to such a 
being simply because it was stronger than himself.  Ranma had never liked 
bullies, and he wasn't about to start submitting to one, no matter the 
situation.

"Little mortal...you interest me greatly," the voice informed him, "How strong 
is your desire to live?  Is it as strong as your refusal to lose in combat?  If 
it is so, then I will make of you an offer."

"What kind of offer?" Ranma asked, considering that it could not be much worse 
than any devil's pact he had ever made with Nabiki.

"To make you live again, I would join with you and make of you my aspect," the 
voice replied, "You will be your own man...nothing about you will change, and 
what you do with the rest of your existence is your own concern...but I will be 
a part of you, with you always, there to call upon in times of need, for which I 
will manifest in the form that I choose.  Only one condition I will ask...that 
you keep your will to win alive, and you will never surrender, for the day that 
you are defeated in battle is the day that you will truly die.  The choice is 
yours to make...choose wisely."

What could he do?  The voice explained it to Ranma so that it sounded like a 
reasonable proposition, and afterwards he woke up from his seeming dream, 
restored to health and in his proper body.  He went on to win his next fight, 
and the ones after that, the struggle no less difficult than before, only now 
there was one subtle difference...Ranma knew that he would never be truly hurt 
or exhausted, that his strength would restore itself with only a moment of rest, 
and that when he needed to call upon an extra amount of Ki energy, the power 
would be there to tap into.  Gradually he learned that he could exceed his 
mortal limits and go beyond the scope of his previous power levels.  His power 
was potentially limitless, but never more of it on call than what he needed for 
a given situation.  As long as he kept up his will to fight, the power would be 
with him, and in time he learned to call upon the rest of Shiva's gift, learning 
in time the identity of the entity that bore a thousand different names, the 
living embodiment of destruction and renewal.

That power swelled up within him now as Ranma changed outwardly to reflect his 
other nature, and then he was the Avatar of Shiva, the embodiment of 
destruction, looking up at an astonished dragon who thought itself the equal to 
his fury.

He had lost Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo, no way in hell was he going to lose Nabiki!  
And that went for all the other women in sore need of his protection, especially 
the one called Ranko!

"WHAT...IS THIS POWER THAT I SENSE WITHIN YOU, A MERE MORTAL?" the Dragon asked 
in almost comical confusion.

"Who are you calling Mortal?" the transformed Ranma asked, and then he began to 
slowly rise up into the sky levitating out of the pit to confront the dragon on 
a more even level.  When he hovered in the air at near eye-level to the creature 
there was an attitude of otherworldly superiority in his bearing that went far 
beyond the arrogance and cockiness that normally typified this dour version of 
Saotome Ranma.

"Well?" the blue skinned Ranma asked as his eyes blazed like twin infernos, you 
gonna make the first move or just leave it up to me?"

The Dragon did not take kindly to that mocking tone of voice and summoned up his 
power, breathing flames as hot as a thousand blazing oil refineries at the 
annoying insect, illuminating the sky as though a miniature sun had turned the 
spreading dusk into full noon light.  The heat alone was like a wave of 
scorching inferno that threatened to burn and blister the naked girls exposed 
underneath it, though it was but a momentary flash that coiled around the 
presence that was Ranma.

But when the blaze died out the blue-skinned Ranma remained hovering where he 
was, smiling all the while before saying, "Refreshing...but is that all you've 
got?  If so, then I guess it's my turn!"

He cupped both hands together and shaped a ball of energy that glowed with blue-
white intensity, the size of a soccer ball but with a core that burned with the 
color of diamonds.  He made a motion of pushing it forward and suddenly it flew 
from his hands to strike Maelstrom full in the face, blinding the Dragon and 
causing him great agony throughout the entire length of his massive body.

"Veil!" Ekko called out, her normally calm and confident voice holding just the 
slightest edge of urgent haste bordering on desperation, "Now while the monster 
is distracted, start the machine!"

"R-Right," Veil replied, shaking off her lethargic reaction to seeing the clash 
of twin powers far above.  She turned immediately to the control panel before 
her and started making some adjustments, and then a humming noise resounded in 
the pit as the machine began vibrating slightly, and then with an audible clank 
began to extend its hidden members.

"Hey...what?" Silver gasped as she and the others glanced down, only to find the 
space between her legs was now occupied by a hydraulic arm from which protruded 
a set of ominously shining bulbous-headed objects.

"Omigawd..." Ryeka said with rounded eyes, "Those things aren't what they look 
like, are they?"

The machine arms slowly, inexorably moved forward until the tips of the 
protruding objects touched the outer lips of each girl, slowly easing forward 
until they found and guided themselves up and into the moistening flaps of skin 
that covered the opening to their respective crotches, and then Tachi gasped, 
"What do you think?!?"

"Oh my..." Atari's eyes got very round indeed, feeling the object moving in her 
begin to vibrate in an altogether pleasant manner, the smooth surface easily 
sliding into the cleft of her most intimate moistness.

"I knew it!" Rinse exclaimed, "You guys just live to hump me silly, don't you?"

"What do you mean you?" Lylac asked, glancing sidelong to Ekko, "You're enjoying 
this, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Ekko replied, fetching the purple haired girl a pleasantly 
insinuating smile, "And the best is yet to cum, I promise."

"I think...she means...that the gesture is meant for all of us," Watazashi said 
with a curious range of facial expressions, "But it's a not an altogether 
unpleasant feeling at that..."

"Oh wow!" Kinko's eyes got very round, "It feels...so nice down there...!"

"I quite agree," Tsuyori grinned, trying to position her hips so that she could 
enjoy the maximum thrusting power,  "We definitely need one of these back at 
home..."

"I completely agree with you there, Sis," Kama Sutra concurred as she, too, did 
her best to accommodate herself to her own semi-impaling.

Akira glanced at Ranko, who remained where she was at the center of it all, but 
who was clearly dividing her attention between him and the battle raging far 
above them.  He gave her an almost apologetic shrug and said, "I guess...we'd 
better do our part now to help out."

"Uh...huh?" Ranko blanched, her attention now swiveling to the member that was 
extending from his own loins, which presently was at half-mast but slowly 
swelling as she saw his eyes orient towards the naked Silver.

"So far everything checks out nominal," Veil remarked, "The device is performing 
within desired parameters...that's odd..."

"What is?" Nabiki asked, unable to help staring at the sight of sixteen girls 
being simultaneously humped in unison as the machine began to slowly piston them 
up and down with identical rods sliding into their vulvas.

"I'm detecting a slight anomaly, but it's not in the machinery," Veil  frowned, 
"It's one of the living components..."

"Oh my...oh my...oh my...!" Tinkerbell exclaimed, her own face contorting with a 
mixture of pleasure and discomfort.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryoga asked, his own perceptions informing him which of 
the girls was starting to weaken.

"I don't really know," Veil replied, "But these readings show that she is 
peaking prematurely.  I'm going to have to do an emergency shut down and reboot 
the system.  If I don't, then the dissonance that she's experiencing might tear 
her apart and jeopardize the overall configuration."

"If you do that, how long until you can restart the machine?" Nabiki asked.

"Difficult to say," Veil replied, "As much as ten minutes at least, but we're 
going to have to find a replacement unit, one able to handle the strain without 
endangering their entire nervous system."

"New components, huh?" Toltir asked, "Got anyone in mind?"

"It will have to be me," Veil said resolutely, "Don't try to talk me out of it 
this time, Uncle...I know what needs doing, and I am adjusting these controls so 
that I can operate the machine from the inside."

"Excuse me?" Nabiki blinked, "You're going to go on that machine and control it 
from there?  Pardon me for saying so, but that sounds bloody risky!"

"It is," Veil said simply, "But it has to be this way, and I was prepared all 
along to do my part.  I want to share this with my friends and the others, it's 
nothing less than my duty as a Goddess."

"I still don't think your Mom would approve," Toltir remarked, "But I'm sure 
she'd be proud of you wanting to take a stand and all that."

"Sounds to me more like you actually want to ride that machine you created," 
Megumi remarked with a pleasant expression, "Not that I can blame you since I 
find the idea myself quite tempting."

"Mother!" Lamyra called from the machine in typical daughterly exasperation.

"I may not have designed this machine or crafted its special functions," Veil 
replied, "But I've made enough alterations and improvements that I'm confident 
that it will perform as needed.  I know what I am doing here, so I am the one 
best suited for this assignment."

She began removing her apparel even as the machine subsided and withdrew the 
mechanical arms and moisture-slicked dildos from the loins of each of the women.  
There were some disappointed noises as well as grunts and groans of relief from 
various quarters, but Tinkerbell just heaved a sigh, having nearly passed out 
with the approach of her last climax.  She hung where she was feeling mingled 
guilt and disappointment that her hypersensitive nervous system had once more 
betrayed her, which brought a sense of burning shame, even though she knew it 
was not her fault that she could not perform with the others.

"What happened with you?" Yuan-Yen asked with concern.

"Are you all right?" asked a similarly anxious Cheetah.

"N-Nothing," Tinkerbell grunted as the straps binding her to the machine were 
undone by the sensitive fingers of the Honey-blonde Goddess, "I just need to 
rest a little..."

Meanwhile overhead the uneven battle raged between the transformed Ranma and the 
humungous Dragon.  The energy streamers that colored up the twilight sky would 
have been truly spectacular under any circumstances, but the furious play of 
attack and counter-thrust that went on between them was appalling to behold, as 
Beast Ranma himself could attest, being no stranger to mystical duels of a 
formidable nature.

In mere moments these exchanges grew so intense that he could no longer bear 
hovering in such close proximity of their battle and decided to seek cover by 
joining up with the others, just in time before a huge detonation shook the air 
and the ground itself trembled in anticipation.

This did not go unnoticed by the people on the ground as Megumi looked up in 
time to see her husband approaching.  They acknowledged each other with relieved 
looks and a brief exchange before attention returned to the escalating battle as 
more and more devastating power was unleashed, scorching the air with the 
distinctly unpleasant smell of Ozone.
 
"What are they doing up there?" Megumi asked.

"Beats me," Beast-Ranma replied, "And I'm not sure I wanna know either..." a 
brief glance to the side caused him to raise an eyebrow as he saw their daughter 
strapped in with the other girls, but that was all the time for recognition of 
the bizarre contraption before an even more intense eruption of fire turned the 
darkening sky almost white, then rippled like the mother of all Auroras.

"Ranma's just doing what he has to do for the sake of all of us," Ryoga replied 
to their question, "And he's winning."

"How can you tell?" Tinkerbell asked as she winced from yet another detonation.

"Ranma never loses," Nabiki replied calmly, "No matter what the odds, he'll do 
whatever it takes to insure our survival."

Maelstrom was not having a good time of it, finding himself taxed in the arcane 
duel by which he hurled vast amounts of his stored up energy, squandering what 
had taken him nearly two decades to accumulate in a futile effort to crush the 
stubborn gnat that continued to defy him.  Spell after spell failed to register 
upon his opponent while he had the distinct and unwelcome impression that the 
human was laughing at him...at Maelstrom, the scourge of humanity itself!

"Let me take a wild guess," the annoying little eye-speck remarked with casual 
indifference to the titanic forces roiling all around them, "You've had a five 
thousand years obsession with human beings and you think we're a menace to your 
kind, so you wanted to destroy humanity before we were even fully on our way 
towards civilization."

"CIVILIZED?" Maelstrom heaped all the scorn of millennia of hate and loathing 
into that statement, "YOU ARE NOT CIVILIZED...HUMANS ARE INCAPABLE OF TRULY 
BEING CIVILIZED!  YOU CREATURES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PRETENTIOUS MONKEYS WHO 
FELL OFF THE EVOLUTIONARY TREE WHEN MY KIND WERE ANCIENT AND WISE BEYOND YOUR 
POWERS OF IMAGINATION!"

"Oh really?" Ranma replied with a knowing smirk, "I dunno, I can imagine quite a 
lot..."

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Maelstrom thundered, "YOUR SPECIES IS A BLIGHT UPON THIS 
PLANET!  YOU DESPOILED THE WORLD AND SLAUGHTERED ALL THAT WAS IN YOUR PATH!  IT 
WAS INEVITABLE THAT YOU WOULD COME INTO CONFLICT WITH MY KIND, AND SURE ENOUGH, 
YOU SOUGHT TO EXTERMINATE DRAGON KIND AS I PREDICTED LONG AGO WHEN I SOUGHT TO 
URGE MY BROTHERS TO JOIN ME IN YOUR ERADICATION!"

"Oh yeah?" Ranma said scornfully, "Take a look around you, Maelstrom...see what 
you've made of the world by the use of your power?  This was a teeming planet 
once, full of life that was evolving in a positive direction, but under your 
dominion it's become a place of death and devastation, and all to satisfy your 
hunger for revenge!  You're worse than humanity ever was!  You're the blight 
that needs eradication!"

"I ONLY USED YOUR OWN PETTY AVARICE AND VICE TO UNDO YOU!" the Dragon roared in 
protest, "YOUR GREED AND HATE DID THIS, I ONLY MANIPULATED THE EVIL THAT WAS 
WITHIN YOU!"

"Manipulating the dark side of human nature ain't nothing to boast about, pal," 
Ranma replied, "You could have appealed to our better aspects and made the world 
a paradise, but instead you squandered your chances, and in doing so you doomed 
your own kind!"

"MY KIND?" the dragon scoffed, "PREPOSTEROUS!"

"It's no joke, dude!" Ranma replied, "Other dragons had long ago adjusted to 
life in a world full of humans, some learning to blend in by assuming a human 
shape and integrating themselves in the general population.  Those who couldn't 
adjust either left or got plowed under..."

"WHY SHOULD WE HAVE MOVED OR ADAPTED TO YOUR KIND?" Maelstrom demanded to know, 
"WE WERE HERE LONG BEFORE THE FIRST ANTHROPOID DROPPED ITS SEED FROM THE LIFE 
TREE!"

"It's the rule of life, adapt or die," Ranma replied, "The climate changed, the 
world became a friendly place to humans, not Dragons.  Don't blame us, blame 
evolution."

"IT MATTERS NOTHING TO ME!" Maelstrom replied, "WE WERE LORDS OF THE EARTH AND 
HEAVENS!  YOU WERE BENEATH OUR NOTICE UNTIL YOUR KIND GREW PROLIFIC AND BEGAN TO 
CROWD OUR HABITATS AND LIVING SPACES!  WHEN YOU DISCOVERED THE SMELTING OF 
METALS IT SIGNALED TO ME THAT OUR TIME WAS WANING AND THAT SOON YOU'D BE SEEKING 
OUT OUR LAIRS AND RAIDING OUR NESTS TO KILL OUR YOUNG BEFORE THEY WERE OLD 
ENOUGH TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES!  YOUR KIND IS GUILTY OF GENOCIDE AGAINST MY 
KIND...AND THAT IS NOT EVEN TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE WARS YOU WAGE AGAINST YOUR 
OWN SPECIES..."

"I'm not arguing that human beings are perfect," Ranma said calmly, "But it 
might have helped if your kind had been willing to teach us when we were young 
and ignorant of life.  You claim to be so wise and powerful, but what did your 
wisdom teach you about helping others who needed the benefit of your experience?  
Sure people stumble around and do bad stuff to one another, but we didn't create 
this Hell, you did!  You condemned both human beings and those dragons still 
left in the world to having to live among all this death and anarchy!  So don't 
even try to come off as a wise and powerful judge condemning us for behaving 
like children!  You're the one whose madness created all this, and it's time for 
me to end it."

"END IT?" Maelstrom growled, "HOW?"

"Like this!" Ranma declared, and suddenly the energy streamers curling around 
his body shifted from blue to red spectrum, and all at once the energies he was 
pouring out redoubled themselves, ripping apart Maelstrom's attempts to counter 
those energies and assaulting the dragon himself, ripping past his psychic 
barriers and causing the enormous creature to experience agony all along the 
length of its body.

"HOW-HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS???" the Dragon cried in agony, "YOU ARE HUMAN, AND 
HUMANS ARE WEAK...!"

"Wrong on both counts," the blue-skinned being who outwardly had resembled 
Saotome Ranma replied, "You talk about being ancient and wise...but there's 
something in the universe far older and more powerful than Dragons...OR HAVE YOU 
FORGOTTEN THAT MY KIND EXISTED WHEN YOURS WAS TRILLING CILLIA PLAYING IN POOLS 
OF PROTOPLASM?"

As Ranma spoke a form took shape around and above him, of a man-like being whose 
outline obscured the very stars themselves and looked down upon the Dragon with 
pitiless eyes that were ancient and all knowing.  Maelstrom gazed up into those 
eyes and for the first time in millennia felt terror grip his draconic soul, and 
in a voice that quailed with terror he cried, "YOU ARE AN ARCHON!!!  BUT HOW???  
YOUR KIND IS ABOVE THE NOTICE OF PETTY HUMANITY...!"

"YOU ARE WRONG, MAELSTROM," the voice that no longer even sounded like Saotome 
Ranma informed him, "WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING, SO MUCH THAT YOU TAKE FOR GRANTED 
IS BUT FOOLISHNESS, YOUR HATRED BLINDING YOU TO THE TRUTH OF YOUR OWN EXISTENCE.  
YOU ARE NOT THE AVENGER OF YOUR KIND, YOU ARE THE DESPOILER OF LIFE ITSELF, AND 
IT IS MY TASK TO UNDO YOUR EVIL AND MAKE RIGHT WHAT IS WRONG, FOR HUMANITY IS MY 
CONCERN, AND TO TRESPASS AGAINST THEM IS TO STAND ATHWART MY GRAND DESIGN FOR 
ALL LIFE UPON THIS PLANET."

"NOOO!" the dragon cowered---or did as much so as a beast five miles long might 
do when confronted by an aspect of the Universal order himself.  The cry went on 
and redoubled itself when the huge hands of the giant reached down and seized 
hold of the Dragon's snake-like body, lifting it into the air as flames began to 
engulf Maelstrom, and his body literally came apart as it was instantly reduced 
to its constituent elements.

The energy contained within the Dragon's enormous body was released like a 
supernova, but those hands shaped and contained the power so that it did not 
scorch the Earth but was harmlessly defused and dissolved like a fine mist of 
morning, spreading those tendrils of life energy out so that they returned to 
the Earth and could revitalize the planet.

Down below this cyclopean event those human mortals whose fate was being decided 
stared in awed and horrified amazement as the enormous Dragon was transformed 
into a fiery cinder.  Even Nabiki was moved as she witnessed Maelstrom's ending, 
feeling it on a fundamental level through the elevated perceptions of a Lore 
Master and knowing beyond question that they were but perceiving the mere 
surface level of what transpired in the Heavens.  Maelstrom did not merely die a 
mortal death, his spirit became a mist that washed over Nerima and gradually 
filtered out to renew a tired and exhausted planet.

"W-what was all that about?" Beast Ranma asked, disturbed that even his own 
elevated senses could not sort out the conflicting sensations stirred up by the 
dragon's ending.

"What is that thing?" Megumi asked in equal tones of hushed disbelief, "It's 
like he could tear the world apart with his bare hands..."

"That is my brother," Ryoga nodded sagely, his own tone oddly transformed as he 
alone seemed to witness these affairs with a calm and purposeful expression, 
"The hidden aspect of Saotome Ranma, whose current form is but the outward 
manifestation of Shiva."

"Shiva?" Tinkerbell asked with a nonplussed expression, her perceptions so badly 
overwhelmed by it all that it was a struggle for her to remain both sane and 
conscious."

"That's right," Nabiki replied in a voice that conveyed none of her usual 
aloofness, "That's what my iinazuke becomes when pushed beyond mortal 
limits...the living embodiment of pure and total destruction."

Ryoga moved away from the others, lifted his head and called out, "Shiva!  Hear 
me, my brother!"

Very slowly and deliberately the ponderous giant turned his phantom head to 
regard them with eyes that had seen the deaths of stars and the birth of 
galaxies, and once more in tones that filled the air with his presence he 
responded, "WHO DARES TO CALL ME?"

"It is I," Ryoga replied, "Your brother, Vishnu!  Your assigned task has been 
completed, there is no longer a need for you to remain here.  Restore to us your 
mortal avatar that he can complete his own lesser assignment, then matters will 
again achieve a relative balance."

"I SERVE THE BALANCE," the giant responded, "CHAOS AND ORDER ARE AS ONE TO 
ME...FOR I AM WHAT I AM...THE OMEGA OF ALL THINGS!"

"You were present at the creation, you will be present when the Dream is ended," 
Ryoga replied, "But the time for your part is not yet at hand.  Leave now and 
restore to these people the one named Saotome Ranma, for he has his own life to 
fulfill and the aspect that is the you within him must be returned to the 
dreaming!  Life itself demands this, but I merely petition you, my brother."

"VISHNU, YOU ARE WISE AS ALWAYS," the giant responded, "I GO NOW THAT THE DREAM 
OF THE ONE NAMED RANMA MAY BE RESUMED WITH NO FURTHER INTERRUPTION."

And then the ghostly figure faded out, leaving the night sky to shine down into 
the pit that had once been underneath Furinkan High School.  A form fell through 
the night and landed awkwardly  in a clear space near at hand, and then 
straightened himself, turning around with now-darkened eyes and a slightly 
befuddled expression to reveal himself as Saotome Ranma.

"About time," Nabiki said, unable to conceal her relief as she approached him 
with a hesitant hand to touch his arm, earning a look of slow comprehension and 
recognition in those dark eyes that normally were as blue as cobalt, "Are you 
done playing around?  Because we have work to do, and these delays just keep it 
from happening."

"Work?" Ranma asked the word as though it were foreign to his nature, but then 
his eyes tracked the "Birthday Cake" full of girls and he said, "Oh...you mean 
that."

"Well, what did you think she meant?" asked Ryoga, his own voice now back to 
normal, "Frankly I think we'd better get this over with before those girls catch 
pneumonia..."

"Well, it's about bloody time that somebody remembered us!" called Silver in 
annoyance.

"Are we gonna get on with this or what?" asked an equally annoyed Kinko.

"Are you through holding us up?" Nabiki asked as she fetched Ranma a playfully 
chiding look, "Everybody was waiting for you to get done up there, and you go 
and take your bloody time..."

"Hey, give me a break!" Ranma responded, "I just fought a friggin' dragon, for 
Kami's sake!"

"Excuses, excuses," Nabiki replied, hiding the smile she wore by looking 
elsewhere with pretended indifference.

"We had best take advantage of the potent Ki energy that remains in the area," 
Ekko called out.

"Oh yes," Tenko agreed, "This much life energy will certainly prove useful in 
stabilizing the pattern."

"Hold up a minute," Ranma glanced at the one naked girl standing off to one 
side, "Tinkerbell, isn't it?  You were just excluded because of something...I 
didn't catch what exactly, but it was on the tip of my awareness..."

"I..." Tinkerbell blushed and looked down at her bare feet, "I have this 
problem...I'm very pain sensitive...comes from having these really sharp 
perceptions..."

"I wondered about that," Nabiki said with sudden realization, "You're Perfume's 
daughter, right?  She was the Tribal Enforcer for the Amazons when I studied to 
be a Lore Master.  She's a Sentinel, someone gifted---or cursed---by the Gods to 
serve as point woman for her people.  Small wonder you couldn't handle the 
tolerances needed by the machine...which of course begs the question of why you 
were ever selected in the first place."

"Maybe the pendant made an error?" Ryoga suggested.

"Possibly," Nabiki murmured thoughtfully, "Or else there was another reason why 
she was chosen...or perhaps it was must a slight miscalculation in the 
program..."

"I never miscalculate a figure!" Ekko called out from her side of the carousel, 
"My equations for this operation were flawless!"

"Oh no?" challenged Lylac, "What about the time you set us down on the wrong 
planet when we borrowed that Oni saucer?"

"I just knew you were going to bring that up," Ekko replied in mild annoyance, 
"And as I keep telling you, it's because the instruments were calibrated to a 
program language with which I was not familiar.  I was nine at the time and it 
could have happened to anyone..."

"Sure," Ryeka responded skeptically, "That's what you geniuses always say..."

"Please don't bring your grandmother into this," Tachi groaned, "I'm getting a 
headache just thinking about that..."

"Can we go already?" Cheetah asked.

"A good point," Lamyra said, "Hanging around like this isn't any more my idea of 
a good time than my parents."

"Too true," Beast Ranma turned to the others, "So what about it?  We gonna get 
started?"

"Sure thing," Ranma nodded, "Only we're gonna make one small adjustment to the 
program."

"You're gonna substitute for the kid?" asked Toltir knowingly.

Ranma did a double-take and said, "When did you get here?  Ah, never mind...and 
yeah, I'll take the boy's place.  Nabiki...you feel like doing your part in all 
this?"

Nabiki sounded genuinely surprised, "Ranma-kun...are you asking me to go down 
with you?"

"Hey, it's for a good cause," Ranma looked at her with a slight smirk, "Saving 
all creation and all that.  The idea ain't really mine, it's from Shiva.  He 
thought maybe we could help stabilize things by grounding the pattern."

"I'm afraid that won't work," Toltir said, "The kid with the pendant's the one 
plugged into Yggdrasil, so she needs to be right where she is...but your idea's 
a good one on another level.  Check near the base and you'll discover that thing 
has a second harness plug for a backup.  If you really want to do this, then 
I'll provide the altar if you'll provide the juice, and the kids can do their 
thing.  That way we can pull this off and still be home in time for dinner."

"Sounds workable," Ranma turned and asked, "Now about it, Nabiki?  You game to 
try this?"

"Why...Saotome," Nabiki slowly smiled, "You make the most interesting of 
propositions."

"You sure you two wanna do this?" Ranma asked, "'Cause me'n the misses have a 
lot more experience doing the nasty..."

"Quite true," Megumi leaned her chin upon his shoulder and levitated herself 
into a horizontal position, "You might even say we're accomplished experts."

"Unfortunately," Toltir replied, "This is a spell about renewal, and it's better 
if it's a first-timer for the parties involved.  The Ranko kid's never been with 
a man before, and Akira's never been with her, so it's like the both of them are 
virgins, while with you two..." the cat-god rolled his eyes as though 
petitioning the heavens.

"It's a first time for the both of us," Ranma said, taking Nabiki's hand, "And 
that means it's gotta be something special that we're both gonna remember for a 
long, long time.  In the meantime, little lady," he turned to Tinkerbell, who 
hovered a short ways off, "I made a promise to deliver you safe and sound to 
somebody who's waiting for you back home.  I gave my word...so stay out of 
trouble and don't make me a liar, you got that?"

"O-kay," Tinkerbell replied in her musical voice, "No problem..."

"Not that I want to talk either of you two out of this," Ryoga spoke up, "Kami-
sama knows I've been urging it for the longest time...but you sure this is the 
way you two want to remember your first time?"

"We're sure," Nabiki said just a bit too promptly, "But thanks for asking, Ryo-
kun.  Just stay here and...try not to get any nosebleeds."

"Yeah," Ranma took Nabiki by the hand, "Meanwhile we'd better get dressed for 
the occasion.  Mind if I do the undressing, Nabiki?  It's...something I've been 
wanting to do all day long..."

"You think I'm going to stop you?" Nabiki asked with a lifted eyebrow, then 
betrayed just a hint of nervousness as she asked, "I know Daddy was the one who 
insisted I honor the pledge..."

Ranma stopped her with a finger over her lips and said, "I gave my word, now 
it's time I keep it."

To which--for once---Nabiki found that she had no clever quip on hand, but her 
eyes shone with amusement that was as bright as any promise...



Continued.

Comments/Criticism/Cumming of Age: shadowmane@ridgenet.net

Matters shift into a high note as the gang mounts (or is mounted by) the 
carousel of delights and Nabiki finally gets some.  Be there!