Prologue: Immortals' Lament

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC. Tenchi Muyo! belongs to Hitoshi Okuda, AIC / Pioneer LDC, and Viz Communications, Inc. Oh, My Goddess belongs to Fujishima Kosuke, Kodansha, TBS and KSS films; AnimEigo, Studio Proteus, and Dark Horse Comics. Star Trek belongs to the estate of Gene Roddenberry and Paramount.  Highlander belongs to Rysher / Davis / Panzier Productions.

He was alone, so very alone. He was almost the last of his species. He was also an Immortal. Only one other Immortal was with him. They were the only two left.

He remembered. He remembered it all. He could not stop remembering. The immortality gave him a perfect memory, and guaranteed his sanity. He remembered the feel of the sun on his skin. Earth's Sun. The blue / sapphire sky. The green / emerald grass. The white / diamond clouds. The brown / chrysoberyl earth. The red / ruby of the setting sun. But most of all he remembered the people. Most especially he remembered HER. AKANE. His precious, sweet, wonderful Akane. She had been dead these past million years. He would never see her again. Never hear her call him a baka. Never have her hit him over the head with a mallet. Never taste her cooking again. He would give everything he ever had to taste a single bit of her cooking. Ranma had been everywhere, seen and done everything. He was so old, and just wanted to die. But he could not. Even though he was a one-million-year-old ancient, he still had the body of a nineteen-year-old boy.

*Flashback*

It was from his attempt to cure his curse. He succeeded in stopping water from transforming him. Later he learned how to cause the transformation at will. But when Akane, his wife, started to grow older and he didn't, he learned the true horror of his curse. The cure had stopped him from aging in either form. He could not die now, either. He had stopped a robbery and been shot.

It had been a normal day for him. He was taking the payments from his most recent students to the bank. The Tendo School of Anything Goes Dojo had become one of the best in all of Japan. New students came every day to train under the master of the school, Ranma Saotome. He had received three more students that day for the beginner's class. Akane, his loving wife of nine years now, was in the process of teaching that class as he headed to do some shopping. As he walked into the bank, he noticed a number of things wrong. The few patrons inside were lying on the floor. The tellers all had frightened looks upon their faces. The most noticeable problem, though, were the two men with guns. Ranma didn't even think about danger, he just acted as he had so many other times before in times of trouble.

The first robber didn't see what had hit him. One moment he was getting the money from a teller, the next his body exploded with pain, and he was flying across the room. The second was even worse off, as Ranma released the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken on him. All nine hundred seventy-three blows landed home, striking the man into the black depths of unconsciousness. That was the point that a freak accident had occurred. The first robber's finger tightened reflexively on the trigger of his gun when he hit the wall. Time seemed to slow for Ranma. He watched as the hammer slammed down and the bullet left the barrel. His eyes raced faster than the bullet and saw that a small girl, perhaps four years old at the most, was in the path. His body moved faster than ever as he poured every bit of ki he could muster into speed. Faster than he had ever dreamed possible, he was between the girl and the bullet. He felt it impact his chest, and puncture his left lung. The pain tore through him like a bolt of lightning through a tree. Then the pain was gone. Looking down, he saw a bloody bullet on the ground. He quickly lifted his shirt to check the wound, only to find none. There was blood on his body, but the wound itself was nowhere to be found. Thinking back to his cure all those years ago, and to his curse, Ranma realized instantly the true price he had paid.

He had become immortal. Nothing could harm him. All damage was repaired instantly. He watched his love grow old with the passing years and die before his eyes, all while he remained young. All his friends died of old age, too. He saw his children, their children, and their children's children live, grow old, and die. He saw humanity invent space travel and spread throughout the stars. He saw them form the United Federation of Planets. He was one of the first who had helped begin it, along with the Senshi. He saw Crystal Tokyo born.

He met Neo-Queen Serenity, but she could not cure him. He stayed with them awhile, learning what he could. He fell in love with Neo-Queen Serenity's teenage daughter Usa. After a few years, he married her. It was a surprise when Usa accidentally died and then revived, revealing she was an immortal like Duncan Macleod.

Ranma was ecstatic with joy now that he had a love who could live eternity with him. It had taken him so very many long years to fall in love again after Akane. He thought about her all of the time, but for the first time since he lost her, he felt like he could go on. He wanted to live once more.

The knowledge that someone else shared the curse he had brought unwittingly upon himself gave him hope. There was someone that he could talk to. There was someone that he loved. The pain of Akane slowly faded. Though he would no longer feel the pain of that loss, he would never forget the good that had been between them.

Then, after a long time, he and Usa left to explore the universe. They traveled throughout the galaxy. They served on the Enterprise with James T. Kirk. Later on, the new ship under Captain Picard. They met a greedy Ferengi named Quark. They decided not to participate in his get-rich-quick schemes. They got lost in the Delta Quadrant on the Voyager. They saw the end of the Federation, when the aggressors from the neighboring Galaxy had swept in and took it all for themselves. That had happened some centuries after Janeway's time. Very shortly after Captain Braxton's time. His people did not have enough warning to do anything about it. All their time travel technology was lost as well. They had kept all of the Federation's knowledge of time travel in one base, which was immediately destroyed. Both Ranma and Usa had argued with the head of the Federation over the placing of all the knowledge into one place. They both had realized the threat that would come about if that knowledge were lost. They had been laughed at and scorned upon. The Federation was overconfident. They had lasted for many centuries, what could stop them? Ranma and Usa were right. The Federation learned the error of their ways.

The Federation was completely totally destroyed. Earth and its star system were blown to rubble. His entire race, and many others too, was wiped out. The invaders then turned on themselves. After one hundred years of bloody fighting, they had utterly destroyed themselves. Ranma and Usa had fought them when they first appeared, but were powerless against them. The weakest one of them had the strength of one hundred Saffrons. Not even the Senshi could stop them. They shrugged off Saturn's attack like it was nothing. The Queen tried to use the crystal, but it was no good.

The invaders destroyed all the Senshi except Pluto and Usa. She had been ordered to guard the Gates of Time from the invaders, and to protect Usa, by her Queen. Being forced to defend them, she did the only thing she could. She grabbed the only other immortals and brought them to the gates. Ranma and Usa were the only other immortals left. The invaders had beheaded Duncan, and all the others of his kind, except Usa. She put Usa in a suspended animation chamber and tossed her into the Gates of Time. It was the only way she could think to protect her for as long as might be needed.

Ranma was pained by the thought of having to do so to his wife, but it was for the best. Besides, Pluto said that she would retrieve Usa later when it was safe. Together they locked that entrance and moved on. With the Federation and so many of its races wiped out, Ranma and Setsuna left for the Gamma Quadrant and did not return for three thousands years. They found a way to cross galaxies and went to pay back the invaders kinfolk. They learned that like the invaders, they had destroyed themselves and their entire galaxy.

Ranma screamed in rage at the pointlessness of it all. "Why?!", he yelled in bitterness and rage. "Why did they destroy everything?"

Sailor Pluto had no answer. She could not figure it out either. The timestream could give her no answers as the invaders, frustrated by their inability to open the Gates, had destroyed them instead. The great magic of long ago was lost. This also meant that Usa was lost forever. Ranma did not take that news well. It took a while for him to recover. He eventually did after a few hundred years.

There were many times during those hundreds of years that he contemplated suicide. At least, to anyone else it would have been. He didn't know what it would be to himself, though. Ranma had found a black hole that was near enough that he could leave through it. He had no idea what the immense gravity would do to his immortal body.

He was always stopped by Setsuna's presence, though. He wouldn't leave her alone. That would be too cruel for anyone. Another thing stopped him. It would be giving up, and Ranma didn't want to be considered a quitter by his last friend. He tried to slit his wrists a number of times to see if his curse was gone, but to no avail. It became a common event for Setsuna to enter the bathroom to find blood in the sink. Pluto was patient with him, helping him when the grief became too much. Eventually he recovered, though only for the sake of his last friend, for the last person from his home.

They left to other galaxies far across the Universe. The pain of their destroyed home brought them to a decision. They would never allow something of such hatred to ever come about again. They fought evil and oppression and also tyranny wherever they found it. Countless races across the Universe made legends about the great warriors who had saved them. Ranma And Pluto, The Immortal Champions, they called them. They spent time with some of the longer-lived individuals like Washu. Ranma and Pluto learned a lot from her. But in time, even Washu died. Before she did, they came across a site that even for some as long-lived as they, left them filled with awe, grief, and a terrible sadness. A giant tomb floated in space. It looked like it had been grown from living crystal of many rainbow colors. There was ancient writing on the tomb, including Japanese. The Kanji said, "Here lies the bodies of Urd , Belldandy, Skuld, Peorth, Keiichi, Megumi, Tsunami, Tokimi, Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, The Sailor Senshi, The Moon Cat Family, and all the others who perished during the Last Battle."

Ranma, Pluto and Washu realized that they have found the Tomb of the Gods who died during the battle that destroyed the Federation, Earth, and humanity.

Washu had a sad look on her face and said, "Tsunami/Sasami, Tokimi. How I miss you, sisters.", then started crying. Ranma got a sad look on his face and says, "Akane… Usa". He too breaks down crying. Pluto just stared at it a tear running down her face. She stayed like that for a time. She finally spoke, "I am sorry, your Majesties. I failed you terribly. Usagi. Mamoru. Usa. All the others," then started crying uncontrollably. Centuries later after Washu had died Ranma and Pluto took her back to the Tomb to bury her beside her sisters. Then Ranma and Pluto were alone once again.

*End Flashback*

Ranma looked out their starship's window at the universe. The last light was dying now. Soon there would be nothing left but him, Pluto, their ship, their ancient memories, and the Holographic Doctor.

It came as a great surprise to Ranma when he stumbled upon a little program Kasumi had left for him. While going through the logs of the on board computer, revisiting memories of better times, he stumbled upon an upload of a program called 'money'. Not knowing what else to do, he ran the program. Much to his surprise, an image of Nabiki appeared on the main screen. More to his surprise was when she demanded 50,000 yen for not being released sooner. After a long talk and argument over the money, it had come out that Nabiki had had her memories placed inside a data program just before her untimely death at the hands of a drunk driver. Her eldest sister had saved the program and eventually uploaded it to Ranma and Usa's ship after their return from the Delta Quadrant. It then became a hope of Ranma and Setsuna to find an android's body that they could place her into. Until that time, however, she was forced to remain in the ships computer.

The Doctor had joined them shortly on their new ship shortly after they had returned from the Delta Quadrant. He received new programming and an upgrade of medical knowledge from Doctor Tofu. Physically he looked the same except he had long hair tied in a ponytail, was a bit more muscular, and just a little taller. His personality was still the same, though. The Doctor was also given a new name by Tofu: Tolan. He had no problems at the time, since Ranma and Usa were traveling and aiding people. Tolan had saved many lives while being with the two of them. He had changed a bit after Usa was lost and started acting a bit cranky. He traveled with Ranma and Setsuna on their adventures. But since for three hundred years all they ever came across were lifeless worlds, habitable but uninhabited, he asked them to never turn him back on until there were more than the two of them in the Universe. They hadn't seen him in a century now. Later as their ship floated through the Void and Nothing that was left of everything, Ranma curled himself into a ball on the floor of their ship and wept tears of grief, real emotional pain, loss, anguish, sadness while saying two names over and over and over again, "Akane, Usa".

Sailor Pluto could not believe it had all come to this. She was the Guardian of Time and was supposed to be able to turn back entropy using the Gates Of Time. But ever since the battle with the invaders, she had lost her powers, and the Gates had been destroyed. She had not had access to time travel for millions of years. If she did, she would go back and change everything. The unchanging of the Timeline be damned, if this was the result of it. She didn't care if she altered all of history. It had to be better than this. She had lost her powers, but still retained some abilities. Otherwise she would not be immortal and sane right now. Unlike Ranma, she could destroy herself. No one or nothing else could, though. She still had her self-destruct magic that every Senshi had. But she did not want to leave him alone. She loved him too much.

But he only loved Akane and Usa. Sailor Pluto had never seen two loves so strong before. Even Mamoru or Usagi would have gotten together with someone else after all this time. If only one of them had survived. Thinking of her dead leaders and friends, she started crying again. Finally she stopped. She loved Ranma, but she could not compete with a woman dead for a million years, or a lost-in-the-Timestream Usa. Stretching her few remaining mystic senses out into the void, she found nothing. That is all there was now, void and nothing. She kept thinking that if she had been quicker she could have stopped the Gates being destroyed. Then she would have not lost her powers. If she had not lost her powers, then she could have used them and the Gates to turn back entropy and repower the universe.

All my fault, she thought, all my fault that I underestimated them then.

Suddenly her senses found something where she had expected nothing. This more than surprised her. Hurrying to a sensor panel she scanned outside the ship and found a small object. It was radiating magic energies. She hurried to a transporter and beamed it aboard. She gasped out loud when she realized what she had brought aboard. IT CANNOT BE, she thought. Then she yelled, "RANMA!!! HURRY DOWN HERE!!!"

Ranma was still on the floor saying Akane and Usa's names when he heard Setsuna yell. He knew that Setsuna, unlike him, could die. He immediately got up and ran to where she was. All the way, thoughts of her activating self-destruct and he being left all alone again ran through his mind.

He arrived where she was and could only stare. She was jumping up and down like a schoolgirl. She was hollering about things working out. Ranma was worried that Setsuna had finally lost her sanity now. He warily approached her and said, "Setsuna, what is going on?".

Hearing her name Sailor Pluto turned around and hugged Ranma. She said, "I can't believe I found it. It was right outside the ship. Oh, Ranma, we can make everything right again finally," she babbled on while Ranma wondered if he could use a pressure point strikes on her and render her unconscious before she hurt someone. Like himself.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, while getting the pressure point strikes firmly in his mind. She turned around and picked something up. She then turned back to him. She presented him with what she was holding in her hands outstretched to him. Ranma took one look at what she had and immediately forgot about pressure point strikes and realized she was still sane. He just wondered if he was. There was no way he could be seeing what she held. He just stared at it in awe. Sailor Pluto was amazingly holding the remarkably intact Nan Ban Mirror.

Ranma looked at Pluto and at the mirror. All could be changed, all could be right again. Akane, Usa. Then the words of Cologne came back to him. The words she had spoke when he told her the mirror was repaired.

*Flashback*

"Ranma, the mirror has changed. With it, you can go into your past, but you can't change the present with it. With the Nan Ban Mirror now, any change you make in the past will create a branch to a new future, an Alternate Universe like on that American TV show, Sliders. It will not be your own.

"If you were to stop your father from teaching you the Neko-Ken, you would still have it, but an alternate you would not. You can only create a better future for others now, not a better one for you.

"You can use it to travel to other universes as well. Not just the ones you create by changing things, but ones that also have always naturally existed. I believe that it also has become completely indestructible. I seriously doubt that anything can harm it now. Even the most powerful of martial arts techniques could not break it. Your Neko-Ken would be nothing to it."

Ranma had decided he had enough troubles in his own universe without going to naturally existing Alternate ones or creating new ones, so he buried the Nan Ban Mirror in a deep volcano.

*End Flashback*

"Setsuna, there is something that you must know. We can't change our future with it."

Setsuna looked at him in shock. "I can feel the timestream ripple around it. I know it can send us back into the past."

"Yes, but it has been changed. A long time ago— 999,984 years, back when I was only sixteen— the mirror had been broken. It was repaired when I was nineteen, but the magic changed. Any change in the timestream will create a new alternate universe. We can make a better world for others, but we ourselves will not change. Are you willing to use it? To give others a better life, though we will not change? I am."

Pluto thought for less than a second before making a decision. She had been manipulating the timestream to aid others all her life, without any thoughts of using it for her own gain. "Yes, I am. To aid my Queen and all of the others who died uselessly, I am willing to go on as I am."

"Then let's go." Ranma was about to rub his eye and let a tear fall on the mirror.

Suddenly a vortex appeared outside the ship. Setsuna scanned the vortex and realized it was giving off temporal energy.

"Ranma, look at that! Do you know what that is?!" Ranma could hear the excitement in her voice. He studied it closely for a few moments until it came to him.

"That's a temporal vortex! Then that means…"

"The Gates of Time survived! This is a direct link to them, though it is unstable."

Ranma's eyes widened in shock as the next thought came to him. "Usa-chan! I can get to Usa!" He dashed to the controls of the ship only to be stopped by Setsuna.

"Ranma, you can't do that!! The Gates would block out any other type of time travel device. If we go into the vortex, then we can't use the Nan Ban Mirror! We enter there and it would be pure luck to find another vortex to let us out!"

Rage entered Ranma's eyes. The feelings of helplessness that had come over him when he thought that the Gates were destroyed was finally gone. He had a way to bring back one of the only girls he had ever loved. He would not let this one chance slip by him. "I don't care, Setsuna! To see my lovely Usa's face again! To hold her in my arms once more! To touch her soft lips with mine one more time! To feel her heart beat against mine! It's worth eternal damnation in every pit of hell that man has EVER conceived of! I will NOT lose this chance to be with her once more!!"

Setsuna looked at Ranma in awe, and a bit of fear. It had been a long time since she had seen him worked up this much about something. But she couldn't let him do what he wanted. There were too many lives in the balance. She took the only option she could with him, she used Usa against him. "Ranma, what would Usa say? Knowing that you had the chance to save everyone… knowing that you could put everything right, that you chose to be selfish. You chose to listen to your own greed. What would she think of you?"

Thinking on this Ranma paused. What would his wife say about him turning his back on all those he could protect. The fear of her rejection of his actions caused him to delay. That was all that fate needed to play its hand.

The vortex shifted slightly. The colors of it started to fade. Just before it collapsed, an object came through. A tall cylinder made of gray metal. There was only one color on it. Two Japanese Kanji painted in bright red letters. Ran Ma. Both of the Immortals' eyes grew large. A word escaped Pluto's lips. "Princess."

"Nabiki, lock onto the object outside and beam it to sickbay. Use extreme care when transporting. That's my wife in there.", said Ranma.

"How much is it worth to you, Ranma?"

"NABIKI!!!!"

"No problem, Ranma-kun.", said Nabiki, with a slight laugh in her voice, "Lock-on achieved. Transporting now."

"Ranma to sickbay. Medical emergency. Nabiki, activate Doctor Tolan. Doc, Usa's back and I'm bringing her down to sickbay," said Ranma.

The Doctor's image appeared just in time to see the cryostasis tube appear. "Well, I'll be…" He got to work getting Usa out.

"Transport complete," said Nabiki. "Welcome back, Usa. Hmmm… things are going to get interesting around here now. I wonder how I can turn it to my advantage?"

Less than a minute later Ranma burst into the room, Setsuna right on his heels. "Doc, can you get her out? How long will it take?" The Doctor calmly looked at the immortal.

"By Crom, Captain, calm down. It is going to take a few hours. Set's guts! You can have a seat, but you must stay out of my way. I have already started the process."

Ranma, not wanting to be kicked out, quietly sat down on one of the medical beds and waited for his wife to be free once more. He was watching those Conan holo-novels when he shut himself off so long ago, thought Ranma. Did he set himself into a feedback loop of Conan or something? He's acting very like Conan right now.

Ranma sat in the sickbay holding on to his wife's hand. He marveled at her continued beauty, at her firm muscles, at her bright pink hair. He still couldn't figure out which genes gave her that hair color. But then, he didn't care. He had his wife back, and that was all that was important. He watched as she moaned softly and her eyes opened. The first thing that she saw was her husband sitting next to her, holding her hand.

"Ranma!! You're okay!"

"Usa-chan! My dear sweet Usa!" Ranma broke down and started to cry. All of the emotions that had been buried in his heart came out. He pulled Usa into a hug and a deep kiss. They stayed like that until Usa pulled away and then had asked the question that Ranma had been dreading.

"Ranma, what happened to everyone? What happened to my parents?"

Ranma couldn't lie to her. He choked up a number of times as he told her what had happened since he and Pluto had put her into cryostasis. She cried at the loss of her parents and friends. She wept when she learned of the Tomb. Her heart went cold as she learned the fate of the invaders and their descendants.

Finally, when all was told, she gazed downward with the pain she felt. "So that's it? There are three people, a holographic Doctor who acts like Conan, and a self-aware computer with Nabiki's memories, personality, and image inside it left in the universe? Everything we strove for, everything we fought for is gone?"

"Not everything, Usa. We can set everything right. We have the means to give everyone a brighter future… Well, everyone but ourselves."

"What do you mean, Ranma?"

"Just before the vortex that let you out formed, we came across the Nan Ban Mirror. It is an ancient magical device that will allow us to go into the past and change fate. We can give this universe a brighter future."

"There is a problem, though; anything we change will create an alternate reality. We will never live through any of the changes we make."

Usa sprang from the bed and grabbed the Guardian of Time in a hug. "Pluto, am I glad to see you! With everyone else…" She broke off with the pain rising to her throat. She then felt the strong arms of her husband wrap around her, and she drew strength from them. "You say that we can change all of this?"

Ranma spoke from behind her. "Yes, but not this universe. We can go back and split off an alternate one. Our native universe will remain unchanged. We can travel to any time in that new alternate universe, and if anything disastrous occurs we can split off yet another alternate from it. We will remain the same, not altered. We will never change. Are you willing to do this?"

"Yes, I am. To save Mother, Father, and the Senshi, I am prepared to do this."

"By Crom, count me in too," said Tolan. He typed something on the console. "The Anvil of Crom" started playing in the background.

"I'll help too, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki. "I won't even charge you. This time." Nabiki looked at the Doctor. You've been reading way too many Conan holo-novels my friend, thought Nabiki.

Pluto smiled. "Things will be easier than we planned, Ranma. When the vortex opened I felt something. My powers as Pluto have fully returned. While we can't get to the Gates of Time in this universe, we will be able to use them in others— that is, if they were built there then."

"Good, that will help us. Meet me on the bridge when you are ready to go. I want to make a few last scans of the area before we use the mirror." He gave Usa another kiss, and left for the bridge, leaving the two Senshi together.

Usa and Setsuna walked onto the bridge of the starship Wild Rabbit. Ranma was sitting in the pilot's chair staring into space. Usa walked up to her husband and put her arms around him. "What's the matter, dear? You don't look too good. Are you alright?" Concern etched her face. There was something that Ranma wasn't telling her. Her senses then picked up that Setsuna had not entered the bridge. She looked over her shoulder to see Setsuna staring at the same point Ranma was. Usa looked out the window to see a giant crystal-like space station floating in space. The ship was moving closer to it, heading for one of the docking bays. Ranma finally spoke, just before she could ask the question on her mind.

"That, love, is known as the Tomb of the Gods. All who fell during the last battle are buried there. So are your parents, the Senshi, and those Gods and Goddesses who remained on Earth. I felt that we should say good-bye to them. We will never see them again, or this universe. Those that we care for are in there." The ship docked and the gravity generators in the station kicked in. The hanger filled with air and the power went from standby to active. Ranma stood up and turned around in his wife's embrace. "Shall we go?" The last of the immortals left the bridge and headed into the Tomb.

Usa stared at her parents. Slowly turning around, she gazed at the others in the Tomb. All of them were in perfect condition, but could not be revived. The last wish of Kami-Sama. To have the heroes who tried to stop the greatest evil ever created survive eternally. To have them in a state that they could be remembered for all time.

Ranma was standing in front of the last of his family. The only other immortals to ever come from Nerima, Kasumi and Tofu. They had helped him so many times in the past, and he could do nothing for them now.

Setsuna was standing by the outer Senshi. Her family that formed after the rebirth of Serenity. She was crying as she stared at Hotaru. The young girl who had become the closest thing to a daughter that she had ever had. The same thoughts went through her mind as Ranma's. Why couldn't I help you?

Usa looked at her mother again. As she prepared to say her final good-byes a voice entered her mind. "Draw it forth. It will come to you." The crest of Serenity began to glow on her forehead. The power that she rarely wielded reached into the block of magic holding her mother, and wrapped around something. Something familiar. Something from long ago. Her mother's locket, and the Ginzuishou. There was an explosion of power that caused Ranma and Setsuna to turn around. Watching, Usa's hands took hold of the Ginzuishou, and her clothes started to change. A moment later she stood in the garb of Sailor Moon. Ranma watched as a chalice formed in front of her. Usa reached out and placed the crystal against the chalice. There was a flash of light and the chalice was absorbed into the Ginzuishou. Usa's clothes changed once more, and she became garbed in the outfit of Eternal Sailor Moon. It was then that the spirits started to arrive.

The first was Neo-Queen Serenity and her husband, Usa's parents. They spoke out to her. "My dear daughter. We don't have much time to be with you. Kami-Sama granted us this last chance to be with you. Know that the Ginzuishou has changed. From now on, when you use it to turn into Sailor Moon, you will enter the strongest form possible. Learn to use this form to your advantage. You can make it stronger with practice. It will be difficult, but I have faith in you."

Then her father spoke. "Ranma, please come forward." Ranma walked to the King of the Earth. The man once known as Mamoru held forth a rose. "Take this rose, Ranma. With it you will be able to summon the armor and sword I wielded as Endymion. They will aid you, I am sure. You are now the protector of Sailor Moon. I have great faith in you. Protect my daughter, your wife. Use the love that is between you to strengthen you in your hour of need."

Queen Serenity spoke then to Pluto. "Pluto, take this." A white beam of light emitted from the Queen. In front of Pluto the Staff of Time formed, though it was broken in two parts. "The Crystal has the power to repair your staff. Keep the children safe, Setsuna. I am counting on you to watch over them as you did for Usa so long ago."

Setsuna looked upon her Queen with tears in her eyes. "I will, my Queen."

The two rulers of long ago faded with parting words of love for them all.

A glow from the other side of the chamber lit the room. The spirits of the Inner Senshi came forth. Mars spoke for the group. "We have less time than the Queen, princess. We can give you our strength, though. Please take our powers, and use them to stop this from happening again." Light emitted from the inner Senshi and sped into Usa's body. Water, flames, electricity, chains of hearts, and sunlight surrounded Usa. When it had stopped Usa stood once more, a bit taller and more sure of herself. Then the Inners faded away.

Another glow came about, and the Outer Senshi stood in front of Pluto. Uranus spoke for her group. "Setsuna, you alone of us survived. But you succeeded. You were able to protect the princess. We can aid you in the future. Take our strength. You will know how to use it when the need comes." A glow emitted from the outer Senshi and drove into Pluto. Earth, water, darkness, and light surrounded her. Then the Outer Senshi vanished from sight.

Yet another chamber glowed with color. Out of the light stepped the three moon cats. Ranma's reaction was expected by any who knew him. Setsuna had never seen him around cats before, though, so she was quite surprised when he leapt to the ceiling and was clinging there in fear. The cats just looked annoyed. Luna spoke for the trio. "Ranma, get down here! We are going to take care of that fear of cats for you." Ranma dropped from the ceiling but was holding on to Usa.

"Hurry up, then. I can barely fight the Neko-Ken right now!"

A swirling white and black beam of energy ran to all three of the immortals. Ranma felt the fear die away and something else come forward. His senses enhanced, his strength increased, and his balance shifted slightly. Then Artemis spoke. "Ranma, the Neko-Ken has been brought forward. You can now use it at will. For all of you, we have given you a link to each other. You are able to sense each other's emotions and feelings. If you concentrate you will be able to speak to each other telepathically. We must go now. Farewell."

Diana, Luna and Artemis's daughter, looked at Ranma and Usa then said, "Goodbye you two. I'll miss you. Have fun, you two cuties."

Then the three of them faded away.

The last chamber started to glow. In front of Ranma appeared Tofu, Kasumi, Washu and the Norns. Belldandy spoke for them. "Ranma, you are strong, but you do not have the ability to win yet. We give to you all of the knowledge that we have acquired that can aid you in fighting the invaders. You will know more forms of fighting, healing, and magic than you ever dreamed of, and ability for your ki level to increase many levels. Your body, however will not be able to use it all. You must train to be able to control the knowledge and the power that we give you. The same is true for your girl form as well. I know you do not like being a girl, but sometimes it will be necessary."

Tofu spoke up at that point. "Ranma, I placed a special device in your ships medical bay that will allow Tolan to move free of the ship. A portable emitter, if you will. It is much more advanced than the one he had on Voyager. Please use it to your advantage. It will also allow him to experience human pleasure and pain. It is as close to a human body as I can offer him. He already has emotions, but he will now have the ability to dream. I remember he once said he wished he could dream. Oh, and about his personality. Your earlier thoughts were right, he accidentally locked himself into an image feedback loop and kept repeating the holo-novels. Don't worry, he'll be back to normal in a few months. Until then, just go along with it."

It was then Kasumi's turn to speak. "Ranma, long ago I gave Nabiki a choice. She could either join Akane and the others in eternal rest, or join you. She chose to go with you, for she wanted to finally help people. Her memory chip is far too advanced for us to have been able to build a holographic body around. It would have also cheated her of what she knows to be life. There are, however, instructions on how to move the memory chip that she is in. You can carry her in your palm computer, and eventually move her into an android's body. Please, keep my little sister safe."

Light surrounded those in front of Ranma and entered his body. His eyes glazed over and as his lost friends faded from view, he collapsed to the floor.

Ranma awoke in the sickbay with his wife standing over him, holding his hand. "Weren't we in a similar position not too long ago, love?"

"Yes, we were. Are you all right?" The concern that was on her face caused Ranma to smile with his entire heart in it. A shock came to the two of them as they realized that they could feel each other. The concern that Usa was feeling for Ranma flooded his mind. The love that Ranma's smile projected was felt with the power of a raging star. Usa was stunned at the force that Ranma's love held for her. There was another buzzing in both their heads. Concentrating on it, they both sensed Setsuna's worry over Ranma's health as she was monitoring the void from the bridge. Ranma concentrated on her presence and tried to speak with his mind.

[Setsuna, would you mind coming to Sickbay?]

Usa's eyes widened, as Ranma was sure that Setsuna's were doing. A stuttered yes came mentally from her. Ranma smiled. "We may need some practice, but this will be a great help to us, ne, Usa-chan?"

Setsuna entered the Sickbay. "Ranma, are you okay? And how did we do that?"

"Just a small headache. All of that knowledge basically overloaded my brain. As to how we talked like that, it is the gift of the moon cats. We simply have to concentrate on each other to talk mentally." Ranma sat up and gently kissed his wife. He was so completely happy to have her back. "Come on, let’s get that portable emitter installed in Tolan and use the mirror. I can rest later, but we've got a universe to save."

They were standing around Ranma waiting. Ranma let a tear fall onto the magic mirror. In a bright flash of light, Ranma, Setsuna, Usa, Tolan, Nabiki, still on the main screen, and their starship disappeared.

To be continued.

Author's notes:

— Kitsune's Thanks: I want to think Tomas Megerson, without whose help this would be nothing. He did the hard work of dialog, writing in some cool scenes , character interaction and development, coming up with some cool ideas, and writing them in a way better than I ever could. Thanks, Tomas.

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Last revision: May 21, 2007