Subject: [FFML] [Ranma/Starcraft x-over][RP] Second Star ch. 3
From: Louis-Philippe Giroux
Date: 12/3/2000, 11:30 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

  Apparently, my first attempt at posting this chapter for Mike met
with rather *odd* results on a number of computers (some apparently
got an empty message), so I am reposting this, with sincere apologies
if you already got it once.



Remember that any replies should be directed to Ohmen1@aol.com



***************************



    Okay, here is the third chapter of the story.  As I have been mentioning

in my previous reposts, and as you can plainly see, I am not the one posting

this, but my friend Louis-Philippe Giroux is doing so for me.  If you have

never heard of him (which essentially means you have been living in a cave

for the past several years ^_^ ), you should stop reading this now and run

over to his website.  His two stories 'Lines Of Destiny' and 'Differing

Powers' remain two of my favorite Ranma stories ever.  You can expect chapter

four to be reposted tonight, and then the new chapter posted tomorrow night.

Then its back to work on new chapters and new stories!

    Everything displayed below is exactly what I posted a year ago, so the

Author's Notes should be read with that in mind.



Author's Notes:

    Hello!  And welcome to chapter three of my story, Second Star!

Actually, Second Star is just a contraction of sorts of its full name:

Second Star On The Right.  But lets just call it Second Star for now,

eh?

    As always, I would like to thank Louis-Philippe Giroux for

pre-reading this chapter for me.  Mr. Giroux has my utmost respect

as a writer, and if you have not yet read his works, than stop reading

this right now and go read his stuff!  His two main stories, Lines Of

Destiny (a Ranma/Sailormoon crossover, and Differing Powers (A Ranma/

WheelOfTime crossover), are great!

    I would also like to thank ranko@v-wave, whose e-mailings were

a kick in the butt for me to start writing this chapter.  Thanks!

    More notes at the end!

    And now, on with the show!





Second Star On The Right

Written by: Michael D. Rever

Ohmen1@aol.com









Chapter 3         Awakenings



    Ranma loved to fly.  To soar up into the air and view the world

from above.  Zooming over the streets of Nerima, diving under the

small bridges, and racing the birds as they flew to unknown

destinations.  He paused a minute to watch a baby chick call for its

mother, demanding food, and then he was off again.  He had someplace

he had to be.  Someone he had to meet.  Launching himself straight

up, he rose over the rooftops and headed for the park.  There she

was, waiting by the small lake, feeding the ducks.  As he came to

land next to her, she started to look up.  Her face was starting to

turn towards him...



    !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP!



    Ranma awoke with a start, sitting straight up in bed.  Almost

immediately though, he flopped back down into his reclining

position, pulled the leathery cover over his head, and started to go

back to sleep, murmuring something about 'Goddamn alarm clocks...'



    *Waitaminute,* some slightly active part of his brain called

out, *'leathery cover'?  This bed ain't right either.  Kinda hard.

Like metal.  Feels a little familiar though...*



    *Who cares?  I can sleep on it.* Another, even fuzzier, part of

his brain responded.



    The first part considered this.  *Yes, I can sleep on it.*



    *Sleep gooooood.*  The second part mumbled.



    The two parts mentally shook hands, and joined the rest of the

brain in dreamland.



    !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP! !BEEP!



    Ranma's arm went on automatic.  It shot straight up into the

air, and swung mightily down, on a course to send a certain

annoyance into mechanical heaven.  As it reached where its intended

target was supposed to be however, instead of hitting a small but

very annoying clock, it hit...nothing.  Ranma quickly found himself

tumbling off of a fairly high bed, carried by the force of his own

swing.

    Still groggy from sleep, Ranma sat up slowly, scratching his

head and smacking his lips.  As his mind and vision started to

clear, he idly began wondering who put a bed in his room.  That

thought suddenly evaporated from his mind as he started to look

around, and his eyes grew huge.



    The room he was in was very small, about the same size as his

room back in the Tendo house.  Rectangular in shape, the two longer

sides and one of the short ends appeared to be nothing but large

computers with blinking lights and screens which displayed lines

that moved in strange rhythms.  The short wall without any computer

banks was simply a blank wall made from what looked to be pewter.

Glancing around in bemusement, he noticed that the 'bed' he had

fallen from actually appeared to be a squat, rectangular metal

pillar with several opaque crystals held above one end of it from

the ceiling. About where his head would have been had he still been

laying on it.  The only two sources of color in the silver and gray

room were from the bright purple sheet that had been covering him,

which was now twisted around his feet since he had jumped up from

his sitting position, and from his usual red and black clothes which

he was wearing.

    Looking around at the highly technical machines and the ominous

looking bed, Ranma could only come up with one answer.  *Oh no, Pop

engaged me to that B-Ko girl!*

    *No wait, that's not right.  What's goin' on here?!*  It was

such a good question, he thought it was worth shouting out.  And so

he did.

    As if to answer his question, the pewter wall suddenly

disappeared, without a sound and without fanfare.  It was just

simply not there any more.  "ummmmm...ok"  Ranma mumbled as he

slowly walked towards the now open doorway.

    What was revealed on the other side was a large circular room

with a tall domed ceiling, about fifteen feet high.  The room, in

great contrast with the small room he was in, was made entirely from

carved stone, which had been polished smooth.  The rock it was made

of was a strange mixture of dark brown, light tan, and pure white

strata all swirled around each other in a strangely compelling

pattern.  There were also flashes of green, blue, and gold from time

to time, but no discernable source of these colors was evident.

    Ranma slowly started walking out of the 'bedroom' he was in,

into this larger one.  Other than the opening he just walked out of,

the room was featureless and barren, though well lit and at a

comfortable temperature.  A slight feeling of air pressure behind

him caused Ranma to spin around to discover that now the room was

completely featureless, the door having closed behind him.

Searching the wall where it had been, Ranma was unable to find it

again.

    He spent the next fifteen minutes trying to find the door

again, and, having failed that, searching the rest of the wall for

anything that might point a way out of the room.  After he was done

he realized three things.  One, he had no idea where along the wall

he had started out from.  Two, it didn't matter since he couldn't

find that door anyway.  And three, he was going to have to wait

until whoever put him in the room came back before he could get out.

So he started doing some katas to fill in time until his kidnappers

came for him.

    *And then,* he thought cracking his knuckles, *they're going to

regret messing with Ranma Saotome!  If this is another plot by some

guy who wants to marry Akane...*  Ranma paused at this thought,

horrified that it had not come sooner.  *Where's everybody else?

Where's Aka...uh, everybody else?*  Ranma sped up his katas as worry

started to build in him.

    An hour passed.

    And then another hour passed.

    And a third.

    All the while, his mind was working, trying to remember how he

got here.  *OK, I was fighting Ryouga...I think.  And Akane came out

with a bucket of water, trying to stop us from fighting...she

splashed us..and..something...I remember holding her...no that's

Ucchan...and Cologne was there smiling and making a wedding

okonomiyaki...no, that's not right...*  Something appeared to be wrong

with his memory.  He remembered clearly his life with his Pop, and

arriving at the Tendo Dojo that first day.  He remembered Ukyo and

Shampoo coming into his life.  He remembered the failed wedding.

But then things started getting a bit foggy, and whenever he tried

to think about those times he got disjointed and confusing images

that didn't make much sense to him.  *Ryouga fighting...boomers?

What's a boomer?  What happened?  Why can't I remem...the Xi Fa

Xiang Gao!  Cologne!  That old troll must have used it on me!  Ha!

But I'm too strong for it!  I still remember everybody!*  Ranma

paused once again, *I think.*

    Having gone through most of his katas, Ranma decided to rest a

minute and sat down against the wall that ran around the room.  He

closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wall for just a

second, when they suddenly shot open again and stared at the room.

There was something he saw, just as his eyes were about shut.  What

was it?  Something about the walls, about the designs, the swirls

and flashes of color...*That's it!  Its like those 'magic pictures'

Nabiki showed me!  Stare at them and they show you something!*  He

groaned aloud, he had never been able to get those damn things to

work for him.  Feeling that this was something important, he spent

the next half hour squinting and closing his eyes, trying to see the

pattern he had glimpsed.  He looked sideways. He looked at an upward

angle. He looked at a downward angle. He looked upside down.  He

looked close-up and far away. No success.  His mind fuzzed a little

bit while he was silently berating himself.

    Then something appeared, out the corner of his eye.  But when

he looked that direction, there was nothing.  But it kept happening,

he started seeing things, shapes, out of the corners of his eyes.

And then the secret came to him and he deliberately let his eyes

unfocus, concentrating on using his peripheral vision.  And the room

came alive.  Beautiful images, mosaics, shapes, and patterns filled

the walls in vibrant colors and graceful lines.  There was not a

single inch of the wall nor the ceiling that was not covered with

images of strange creatures, lush plants with odd flowers, and what

looked to be scenes from space.  Two images seemed to dominate the

room, as they were much larger than the others and were situated at

opposite ends of the room.  One was of a strange creature, tall and

impossibly thin.  Its two arms were long and bone thin, it's hip-

bones were prominent, and it's waist was small enough that Ranma bet

he could almost surround it with his two hands.  Its face was longer

than a humans, and did not seem to have a mouth nor nose.  Its eyes

were sunken in and the picture seemed to portray some sort of energy

radiating from the top of its head.  The second image was simply

that of a huge eyeball, with lines stretching away from it in many

directions.  The entire image seemed to have that same energy

pattern radiating from it.  Ranma shivered momentarily, for the

image of the eye seemed to ooze malice and threat.

    Shaking his head and tearing his eyes away from these two

images, he started walking around the room looking in wonder at all

of the pictures.  Now that he had learned the trick, he no longer

needed to unfocus his eyes, he could see the decorations normally.

As he was walking around the room, another flash from the corner of

his eye caught his attention.  From the floor.  Just now realizing

that the floor was still bare of design, Ranma unfocused his eyes

and tried to see the decoration he had glimpsed.  Nothing.  Looking

at it from different angles, to the point of getting on his hands

and knees, provided no more help.  Shrugging, he continued with his

explorations and started walking around the room again.  When he got

to the other side of the room, it happened again.  A flash of

something on the floor.  Looking around, he noticed that he was

halfway between the two dominant pictures, or nearly so.  On a

hunch, he started inching backwards until he estimated that he was

exactly halfway from one picture to the other, and looked at the

floor with normal eyes.  The design was clear and easily

recognizable.  Moving his head from one side to the other, he

watched in fascination as the decoration appeared and disappeared

according to his head's, and eyes', position.  It was not a trick of

focus like the walls and the ceiling, but more of a optical illusion

where you had to look from a certain angle to view it.  Ranma

stepped away from the wall, causing the floor's picture to disappear

from his vision, but it was not needed.  The design was a simple

one.  A spiral, leading to the center of the room.

    Keeping the design is his head, Ranma slowly, and then more

quickly, started doing the spiral dance, as if he was going to

launch the Hiru Shouten Ha attack.  When he reached the end, the

center of the room, he stopped, strangely out of breath, and looked

around.  And promptly passed out.

    He awoke again, a short time later, and slowly got back onto

his feet, a splitting headache he did not remember having fading

away as he became upright.  He raised his eyes and looked around.

And gaped at what he saw.  The decorations were gone, as well as the

swirls of color that had made them.  The wall was now a uniform dark

brown, polished smooth, yet the light that filled the room did not

reflect from it.  Three red dots of light, similar to the light from

a laser pointer, shown brightly from three different locations on

the wall, each quite a distance from the other.

    Almost hypnotized by the glowing red lights, he walked towards

the one that was directly ahead of him.  When he got to about a foot

or two away from it, he stopped.  The dot had not changed.  Looking

at it from different angles, he could not tell anything about it.

It was just a dot on a wall.

    "Hello?", he hesitantly spoke to the light, "Ummmm, this is

great and all, but could you let me out?"

    No response.

    "I said let me out!"  He was getting a bit angry now, the

strangeness of the situation, worry for his friends, and being

cooped up in a cave started to get to him.

    "Listen, I don't care what this is about, but I'm gonna count

to three, and if you don't open a door, somebody's gonna get hurt!"

he shouted, cracking his knuckles and brandishing them.

    "One..."

    "Two..."

    "Thr......" Suddenly a image of the great Ranma Saotome waving

his fist at a dot of light on the wall of a cave formed in his mind,

and he froze for a moment, realizing just how utterly stupid he

looked.

    *I bet they're just laughing it up right now.*, he thought

darkly of his captors, *When I get outta here...*  He left the

thought unfinished as he dropped his arm and stood up straighter.

    Standing up straight, the light was about chest high to him.

Looking around he could still see the other two lights on the wall,

and did not see any change in them.  Bending over, he started to

bring his face close to he light in front of him, looking at it as

if it were a peephole of some sort.  When his head came within a

foot's distance however, the dot changed.  Instead of just a small

dot of red light, it stretched out, become a red outline slightly

oval in shape and growing larger as his face got closer.  Jerking

back quickly, Ranma saw the red outline shrink back onto itself so

that it was just a dot again.  Hesitantly, he poked his finger at

the light.  As soon as his finger broke the one foot mark from the

wall, the light once again spread out into an outline, only this

time it was much smaller.  Pulling his finger back, the outline once

more became a dot.  Poking his finger in and out of the one foot

range, Ranma watched the dot expand and shrink several times.

Poking two fingers at the dot, he saw that the resulting outline was

different.  Instead of a single round outline, the shape was of a

sideways figure eight with the center cross missing.  After several

more tests, Ranma came to realize that the outline the red light was

forming, was the outline of whatever came close to it.  A sudden

flash of understanding burst through his head, and Ranma firmly

extended his hand, palm out, towards the light.  The dot expanded as

his hand came closer to it, until it exactly fit his hand as he

touched the wall.  A flash of bright, white light came from

under his hand and suddenly the wall in front of him was no more.

    Instead of a section of the wall, he was now looking through

the very same door he had exited hours before.  The 'bedroom' for

lack of a better term, looked exactly as it had when he had first

awoken, except that the crystals which had previously hung just

above one end of the bed were now hanging just a couple inches from

the ceiling.  Understanding now how the door worked, Ranma took a

step backwards and watched the wall reappear.

    "Cool!" he exclaimed.  He played with opening and closing the

door a few more times before he remembered that he still had no way

out of the room, and that there were two more lights on the wall.

*Now I'm gonna get some answers!*

    Walking over to the next closest light, he confidently stuck

his hand forward and opened the door.  Instead of a doorway into a

room or the way out of this one, what was revealed was a small

alcove, maybe a foot and a half deep, and hemispherical in shape.

The walls of the alcove seemed to be made of the same brown rock of

the room Ranma was in now, but the floor was a metal plate

crisscrossed with lines of clear crystal or glass. There were the

outlines of two feet engraved on the floor, with the heels against

the back of the alcove.

    Figuring he had nothing to lose, Ranma stepped carefully onto

the plate and planted his feet so they matched the engraving on the

floor.  The wall suddenly reappeared, leaving him within a very

small area, with barely enough room to move more than a few inches

in any direction but up.  Looking around in panic, he noticed that

the little alcove extended much higher than he would have thought.

He could tell this because a dull white light was slowly making its

way down towards him from high above, shining through previously

unseen veins of crystal embedded into the walls.  As the light

reached about head level, Ranma started to hear a slight buzzing.

No matter which way he turned his head, the buzzing seemed to come

from directly behind him.  A few seconds later it did not matter,

for the light had traveled down the veins of crystal until they had

reached the lines of the mineral on the floor-plate.  And Ranma was

suddenly blinded by an intense white light.

    When his vision had cleared, he found himself back in the

center of the main room of his prison.  The decorations were still

gone, and the three dots of light were shining on the wall.  The

only difference was, standing right before him was...himself.  Or

maybe it should be said, herself.

    Ranma immediately and instinctively dropped into a ready stance

and sized up the person in front of him.  The girl looked exactly

like his female half, from the red hair down to the black soft-soled

shoes on her feet.  His trained senses and eyes had quickly

categorized everything about her and they told him that she was not

a threat.  Her eyes were wide and honest, her stance unthreatening,

and the expression on her face looked more bored than anything else.

But there was something about her that nagged him (besides the fact

he was facing off against himself).  Something just was not 'right'

about her.  And it came to him.  She was not breathing.  Not at all.

And had not been since she he had first appeared.

    The girl, for the most part, simply stood there while staring

at him, occasionally blinking her large blue eyes, and looking

expectant.  She was balanced easily on her feet and her hands were

clasped behind her back.  As a matter of fact, Ranma realized with a

start, she looked exactly the way he had when he was first

challenged by Akane a few years ago.

    "Who...who...who are you?" he asked hesitantly, not absolutely sure

he really wanted to know.  *Am I dreaming?* he wondered to himself.

    "Ghjihijkn jhikh, ihuygi bkuy bh bb b y f uyfu kjh okl." The

girl before him responded.  Immediately her smile, which had

appeared when he spoke, disappeared and her eyes narrowed a little

bit in concentration.

    "TbjgGjio Ranma, dreaming HGj hgj tv you iut fgj." The girl

closed her eyes for a second and tried again.

    "No Ranma, you are not dreaming."  She beamed happily at

finally being able to speak correctly.

    "Wha?  Hey, who are you?"  He paused for a second and did a

double-take "How did you know what I was thinking?!?"  He had not

yet relaxed from his fighting stance.

    The girl suddenly looked a bit nervous and tilted her head to

the side a bit, before starting to pace back and forth in front of

him, with her hands still clasped behind her.

    "That...is a bit hard to explain.  For both questions." She

replied.  She suddenly laughed a bit ruefully.  "I have been

planning for this exact moment for a long time.  A very long time.

And now that it is here, I have absolutely no idea how to begin...what

to say."

    "How 'bout telling me where I am, who you are, and what you've

done with Akane?" Ranma grated out, starting to lose patience with

this imposter.  "And the others!" he hastily added.

    The girl stopped and seemed to think for a second, eyeing Ranma

sideways.  She then sighed and turned to face him.  "Yes. Yes, I

guess that is as good a place to start as any. I am a memory in

essence. A psionic program projected directly into your brain.  When

you stepped on the viewing pedestal, you activated the chamber you

are in now, and me.  You are actually still standing in the little

niche, but I am controlling what you see and hear.  You see what

happens is that a mind impression, focused through the crystalline

weave, is able to psionically project itself...Ranma?  Uhh, Ranma?"

The hologram stopped speaking when it noticed the blank look that

had overcome Ranma features.  "Ranma!"  Ranma's eyes refocused.

    "OK, look," the hologram stated tersely, "I am here to help

you.  To explain things to you."  The girl sighed.  "I am not a

Leader.  I don't have the conversation skills of one.  But I need

you to listen, your life depends on it."

    To tell the truth, Ranma had not been paying much attention.

Worry, anger, and confusion were warring over each other in his mind

as to which was going to take control.  He heard every word the girl

was saying, but the content of those words was just not being

heeded.  But this last sentence brought his full mind into focus.

There was a threat.

    "Good, I can see that you are finally listening.  Now listen

carefully, understanding what I am going to tell you might be the

most important thing you ever do."  She seemed to take a deep

breath.

    "Millions of years ago a species was born.  Like other species

were destined to do, they grew, multiplied, and evolved.  After

centuries and millennia of change and evolution, the race had grown

into a highly advanced and structured society.  They were called the

Xel'Naga.  Being a naturally curious species, they learned and

researched everything they could about their home planet and about

themselves.  Using biochemical experimentation they were able to

accelerate their growth, artificially manipulating their life-

strands so as to amplify their minds and bodies.  Their experiments

caused several races to appear within the Xel'Naga for the first

time.  Soon they had learned everything they could from their planet

and they were unable to convince their bodies to evolve any more.

They had developed limited control over the three powers of life:

the power of the Body, the power of the Mind, and the power of the

Spirit.  Their lifespans were limitless.  What was left?  They

started feeling bored and entrapped.  Before long they were building

and growing ships to take them beyond their home planet's

atmosphere.  Reaching out, they colonized their solar system, and

then traveled beyond.  Excited again at the thought of experiencing

something new, they studied, and researched, and learned.  The

powers of the stars, the paths of the planets.  Astrophysics.

Cosmic energy.  Everywhere they turned they found new things to

study, and those things, in turn, led to other new fields.  The

Xel'Naga were once again happy."

    While she was talking the landscape around Ranma changed.

Instead of being in the cave, he found himself floating in space,

high above a solar system with three large planets and a sun that

was much brighter than the one he was familiar with.  As the story

progressed, he and the girl experienced planetfall and he saw images

of buildings fade in and out of existence, along with different

terrain and landscape.  First there were huts, which changed to

small buildings, and then into tall ones.  These tall buildings, in

turn, were replaced with other tall buildings, which were also

replaced.  Images of strange ships sailing on smoky looking water

were seen, as well as small oddly shaped hovercraft sailing through

the sky.  Soon other ships of various shapes and sizes were seen

floating in the air, only to fly off far above him.  Ranma seemed to

follow these ships up past the atmosphere and into the blackness of

space, where he saw the ships split up and travel in every

direction.  The girl had disappeared, with only her voice remaining.

    "But then the Xel'Naga came across something that would change

their existence forever.  On a small moon, near a newly explored

planet at the edge of their galaxy, they found life.  They were

stunned.  Despite their vast knowledge and curiosity, they had never

thought that there might be other life-forms out there.  And if,

they came to realize, there was other life amongst the stars, might

there not be another race like them?  What knowledge could be

shared?  What new things could be discovered when they found this

brother race!  The life they had found was simple, a single-celled

organism whose life span was about two days long.  Such a simple

thing, but with such great consequences!"

    "The Xel'Naga flew out into the reaches of space with new

purpose.  To find other species to talk with.  The idea had become

all-consuming to the Xel'Naga.  But they quickly became

disappointed.  Beyond that simple organism that they had found, no

other form of life had yet developed.  They were the first and only

beings in the universe.  At first they despaired.  Their dreams of

finding new species and life-forms had crumbled to dust.  But

eventually this dream changed, twisted.  They came to believe that

they had evolved first for a reason.  And that reason was to create

and guide life throughout the cosmos.  To invent that which they had

been searching for."

    "In their arrogance they began two new fields of study.  That

of xenobiogenetic manipulation and Projective Evolution Management.

They created life-strands in their biolabs and seeded thousands and

millions of planets.  And they watched, guided, and protected the

results; ever working towards evolving species which would develop

sentience and learning abilities.  After millions of years they came

to watch over thousands of success stories, with the life-forms

developing societal structures and the beginnings of civilization.

They kept themselves hidden, content to guide secretly, and to watch

and to learn.  Eventually several of the more advanced species

learned space travel.  Hidden from scanners and searching eyes, the

Xel'Naga watched as these life-forms reached out and began

colonizing planets, just as the Xel'Naga had done so long ago.  And

the entirety of the Xel'Naga watched as two of these races came into

contact with each other, wanting to experience vicariously the

meeting they themselves had searched for millions of years before.

But something went wrong.  Instead of the glorious blending of two

of their 'children', the two races waged war on each other.  Still

not wanting to expose their existence, the Xel'Naga could only watch

as the two races continued to fight.  And, as the races developed

more and learned more, the fighting grew larger and larger.

Eventually other, not as developed, planets were conquered and

brought into the fighting.  Two thousand years later a quarter of

their galaxy was at war, and it was spreading."

    The view of Ranma had changed much while the story continued.

First he was traveling over the landscapes of countless planets.

Strange vistas, oddly colored skies, thick oceans, and planets

without any ground at all were all shown.  He was then back in space

looking down at a moon that circled a small planet with several

rings.  Many ships, much larger than the ones he saw take off from

the home planet of the Xel'Naga, hovered over this moon.  Then they

took off in every direction as well.  A brief view of a galaxy was

shown, resembling more of a rough sphere than the spiral shape of

the galaxy he was familiar with (well, that he had seen pictures of

anyways).  He was then taken to a yellow-orange planet, from which a

small spacecraft was slowly leaving its atmosphere.  A blink later

and there were suddenly several more of these ships, constantly

moving back and forth from the planet to its neighboring planets.

Then a much larger ship appeared from around the planet, rotated in

place, and disappeared into the inky blackness of space.  His view

followed this ship as it sped along towards a distant star that was

slowly becoming closer.  After it had reached its destination, Ranma

saw another ship, just as large, hovering over a brown-green planet.

Whereas the ship Ranma had been following was silver, sleek, and

angular, this new ship was dirt-brown, gangly, and had many

hemisphere-like protrusions covering it like boils.  After a short

while of sitting still, the ship that Ranma had been following

suddenly shot some sort of energy weapons at the new ship.  And the

battle was engaged.  The images that floated by Ranma now were of

derelict ships, blasted and dead, floating in space.  The hulls of

these ships changed, becoming larger, more damaged.  He found

himself planetside, looking at vast fields that were burned and

pitted.  Destroyed buildings and burning structures were seen.

    "The Xel'Naga were at a loss as to what to do.  They pulled

back their observers and returned to their home planet to decide on

a course of action.  It was eventually decided to leave their

galaxy.  To travel to a new one and start again.  And so they packed

up everything and left, leaving no evidence that the Xel'Naga had

ever existed."

    "And they came here to this galaxy.  With one big difference

however.  You see, even ancient, genius beings make mistakes and

accidents do occur.  On the trip between galaxies, one of their

world-ships developed troubles and exploded.  This was a critical

blow for the Xel'Naga, for this particular ship held the entirety of

the Leader caste.  This caused the next most powerful race to come

into ruling power, the Theologian caste.  This was the caste that

had originally spearheaded the movement for developing and guiding

life amongst the stars.  At first the Xel'Naga continued as they had

done for millennia, seeding countless worlds and subtly guiding

those worlds which already had the beginnings of life.

But then something happened, something totally unexpected.

    While exploring a planet-system for life-potential, a small

craft suddenly appeared near the outer rim.  The exploring Xel'Naga

ship quickly investigated and discovered the craft and its one

occupant.  The life-form that was in the ship was like nothing they

had seen before.  The ship was badly damaged and had appeared to

have been in a fight, and the person inside was frozen in a

primitive cryogenic sleep.  But the creature was amazing!  Mind,

Body, Spirit!  Never before had the Xel'Naga seen such a perfect

blend and development!  While they themselves had limited control

over these fundamental forces, the readings for this one, lone,

frozen being were astounding.  Keeping the life-form frozen, the

Xel'Naga went about studying him and searching for his place of

origin.  After seeing and studying the potential of their find, the

Theologian's fervor and ideology began to change.  No longer

satisfied in just starting life and watching as it developed,  they

came to want to create the perfect species.  They wanted to see if

they could duplicate what they had found.

    They searched the planets that were under their care and

settled on one of the more advanced engineered species they were

guiding.  This species was one of the more successful life-forms to

come from the Xel'Naga seeding campaign.  Their bodies were durable,

fast, strong, and they adapted quickly to Aiur's (their home planet)

Jungle environment.  But what interested the Xel'Naga the most was

the fact that the species had developed a limited degree of

telepathy.  The Xel'Naga came to think that with the right guidance,

this species could come to control one of the three powers of life;

the power of the Mind, or Psi.  They immediately began a program of

development for this species to accelerate its evolution.  And for

the first time in Xel'Naga history, there was dissent.  The Scout

caste of the Xel'Naga was the caste most in tune with the powers of

the mind, far greater than any of the other races within the

Xel'Naga.  They were able to use Psi to interact with their

computers and ships in fundamental ways, and they were able to send

their thoughts across vast distances.  They warned the Theologians

of the dangers of forcing the evolution of the chosen species, that

forcing the development of the powers of Psi could and would cause

problems as the life-form progresses."

    Ranma watched as huge spherical ships traveled through space

and observed with interest as suddenly one of the ships slowed,

stopped, began to spin, and exploded.  This was better than any

space movie he had ever seen!  Then he was once again floating in

space, near a large planet.  Behind him was a small planet and a

bright-blue sun behind that.  After a few seconds, a bright flash

off to his right caught his attention, and he saw a small craft. Or

what was left of one, appear out of nowhere.  He found himself

drifting closer to the ship until he could see into the windows.

Unfortunately he could not see much, as it seemed the entire inside

was one solid piece of ice.  A figure could barely be seen trapped

inside the ice.  The craft was suddenly whisked away and Ranma could

see it being towed away by another small craft.  As soon as the two

ships were out of sight, the environment once again changed and

Ranma found himself in the center of a huge, circular auditorium.

Tier upon tier stretched from the floor to the rafters in all

directions.  The room could easily hold hundreds of thousands of

humans.  The girl once again stood before him and was talking with a

faraway look on her face.

    "The Theologians, and thereby all other castes, decided to

ignore the warnings of the Scouts.  And they set about doing it.

Gently but persistently they began to guide the steps of evolution

for the chosen species, to whom they had given the name Protoss,

which meant 'the First Born'.  The Protoss had been living in a

tribal society, living more by instinct than true thought processes,

but all that changed.  As a result of the Xel'Naga's manipulations,

the species evolved at a very quick rate.  They developed quickly

both in mind and in achievements.  The tribes grew, and met, and

merged, until the planet was ruled by a single governing body.  A

communal link between all of the minds of the Protoss was developed.

They had come to live in harmony and were content."

    "The Xel'Naga, believing that they were close to achieving

their goals, made themselves known to their children.  The Protoss

were overjoyed to discover the Xel'Naga and worshipped them as gods.

The Xel'Naga set about teaching the Protoss about the universe and

all of its secrets, pleasantly surprised to find a curiosity and a

drive for knowledge that rivaled their own.  The Protoss learned

from the Xel'Naga and began studying new fields of research.  As

they made more and more discoveries, pride in accomplishment and new

ways of thinking developed amongst the Protoss.  Individuals and

whole Tribes began desiring individuality and began taking personal

credit for things.  This sense of individualism grew and grew until

whole Tribes began actively trying to disengage themselves from the

communal mind-link.  They now began to look upon the Xel'Naga with

suspicion, wondering at ulterior motives.  The Xel'Naga for the most

part were overwhelmed.  They came to believe that they had indeed

pushed the Protoss too far and too fast.  The sense of

individualistic ego many of the Protoss were developing was a sign

of this.  As things got worse and worse, and individuals and Tribes

alike went into isolation, it was with a heavy heart that the

Xel'Naga decided to leave Aiur.  It had been a failure.  However,

while the Xel'Naga were done with the Protoss, the Protoss were not

yet done with the Xel'Naga.  When they saw their old mentors leaving

them, the Protoss panicked and attacked their fleeing creators.

Dozens of world-ships were destroyed before the Xel'Naga retaliated

and eradicated the Protoss forces.  And so the Xel'Naga left Aiur,

and the Protoss."

    "Traveling to the other side of the galaxy, the Xel'Naga

decided to try again, once more over the protests of the Scout

caste.  Surrounding a fiery planet named Zerus, the mighty Xel'Naga

selected a small insectoid species called the Zerg as the subjects

of their next attempt at creating perfection.  Mindful of the

failure with the Protoss, the Xel'Naga decided to take a different

approach entirely with the second attempt.  This time instead of

focusing on development of the Mind, they decided to focus their

attentions on the power of the Body. Also, they had decided to keep

the manipulation down to a minimum and hope for the best.  They

selected a small species that had great handicaps.  The Zerg were

very small and had no way to effectively manipulate their

environment, let alone thrive.  They guided the Zerg's evolution so

that they became a parasitic species that was able to survive by

infecting larger, more durable, creatures.  They gave the Zerg great

adaptability skills.  And then the Xel'Naga sat back and watched."

    "The Zerg, now able to thrive upon Zerus, slowly evolved.  By

infecting spinal nerves and brain matter, they soon were able to

take control of their hosts and manipulate their environment.  The

Xel'Naga, wanting to ensure the initial survival of the Zerg placed

several new breeds upon Zerus, which the Zerg would be able to use

to develop.  Driven by a need to evolve and thrive, the Zerg soon

infected all of the major life-forms on Zerus.  The Xel'Naga watched

in amazement as the Zerg learned to manipulate the evolutionary

traits of their host creatures and to supercharge those traits.  In

just a short period of time every major race on Zerus had grown

tough carapaces, sharp spines, long teeth, and razor sharp limbs.

The uniformity of the changes to the diverse races was beautiful."

    "The Xel'Naga, remembering the destruction individual desire

caused on Aiur, structured the Zerg Swarm's collective sentience

into a semi-sentient being called the Overmind.  The Overmind was

the embodiment of the Zerg's instincts and drive.  The Zerg became a

collective. The Xel'Naga were content, they had indeed created a

species perfect in Body.  However, as they had before, things began

to go wrong.  The Overmind gradually became more aware and more

intelligent.  All of the strong life-forms on Zerus had been

absorbed into the Zerg Swarms, and the weak ones had been destroyed.

But the fundamental drive of the Zerg caused the Overmind to send

its mind outward, into the void.  Finding a race of spacefaring

life-forms traveling through Zerus space, the Overmind mentally

called out to them.  The life-forms responded to the call and landed

on Zerus, and were soon absorbed into the Zerg Swarm.  Now the Zerg

had the genetic blueprints for the ability to travel through space.

It was now the Overmind sprung its surprise.  Somehow it had learned

of the Xel'Naga fleet that hovered far above the skies of Zerus.

The Xel'Naga were astounded when the Overmind severed the mental

link they had created to observe it's actions.  They were even more

surprised when wave after wave of Zerg forces suddenly assaulted

their world-ships.  Understanding and fear swept through the

Xel'Naga as they came to realize exactly what it was they had

created.  A race totally without mercy, whose only desire was to

absorb other races and to make themselves stronger.  Realizing this,

and in the situation they were in, the Xel'Naga accomplished two

last actions.  The first was to send away the Scouts with some very

important cargo, and the second was to self-destruct their ships,

all of which had been boarded by the Zerg.  The knowledge possessed

by the Xel'Naga had to be kept from the Zerg's hands, and the

Xel'Naga themselves could not risk becoming absorbed by their

children.  The universe's first race, the Xel'Naga, were no more."

    "But the Overmind did not give up.  Before it had severed its

link with its creators, it had stolen much information from the

organic computers of the world-ships.  Naturally its research and

theft was solely on topics that could help it advance its own

evolution.  Descriptions and reviews of thousands of species were

stolen and memorized, and, more importantly, the Overmind learned of

two great bastions of genetic potential.  The first was knowledge of

a great and powerful species, called the Protoss, which lived on the

far rim of the galaxy.  The second was the discovery of a being of

vast potential and power, who was being held frozen by the Xel'Naga.

Not knowing what had become of the powerful being, the Overmind set

its eye on the far off race of the Protoss."

    Ranma was now feeling quite woozy.  At first he had simply

stood in the auditorium and listened to the girl speak, but then the

view changed again and again.  He started out standing on the ground

of a strange planet, with huge tree and a jungle-like appearance.

Soon humanoid creatures walked out of the underbrush, and Ranma

immediately recognized them as being of the same race as the first

huge mosaic he had seen in the cave.  Time seemed to speed up and he

saw these creatures, the Protoss, grow and change.  Simple tents and

cabins gave way to larger buildings and towns.  Other beings of the

same race showed up, wearing different colors than the ones he had

been observing.  And more Protoss showed up.  And more.  The larger

buildings gave way to huge temples and ziggurats.  A city was born.

The Ranma saw huge ships slowly descend from the sky and the Protoss

running to meet them.  A quick blink later he saw the ships take off

again, this time followed by smaller ships, which began attacking

the leaving ship.  All around him he could see dead Protoss and off

in the distance he could see the Protoss killing each other.

    Then he was on a planet that was blackened and burned.  Most of

the ground was covered with what looked to be a purplish mucus.  He

watched as a small group of crab-like creatures skittered by. When

they were a few feet away from him, he saw a small cloud of

something suddenly fly through the air and land on the creatures.

The creatures froze in place and flopped down on their bellies.

They shuddered a bit, as if trying to shake something off, then they

stopped that too.  Then they stood as one, turned in a new

direction, and marched off.  Similar scenes were repeated with other

creatures.  The view changed and he was suddenly floating again, but

not in space.  He was not sure where he was, but before him was a

really huge eyeball.  The eyeball had tendons stretching away into

the darkness, and moved back and forth slowly.  Then he was high

above an unidentified planet and facing the spherical ships he had

seen previously.  Suddenly from the planet below him, thousands of

small creatures burst from the atmosphere and started impacting upon

the ships before him.  As more and more creatures rammed into the

ships, causing dents to begin to appear, Ranma saw a large number of

small craft shoot from two of the ships and fly off at great speeds

out into space.  Then the huge ships exploded, blinding him

momentarily.  When his vision had cleared, he found himself back in

the cave, facing his female half again.

    The girl looked at him, "Do you have all that?"

    Ranma thought for a second, trying to remember what she had

been saying.  "Nope."

    The girl stared at him for a moment before muttering a soft

curse.

    The story was repeated.  This time without the graphics.

    "You got it now?" she asked.  It was then she noticed that

Ranma had fallen asleep.

    When the girl had recovered from her facefault, she fairly

shouted, "RANMA!"

    "Wha?  Who?  Huh?"  Ranma was awakened and looking around.

    The girl studied him for a minute, with her chin in her palm.

Her eyes widened slightly as an idea came to her.  Her expression

then became one of scorn.  "Ha!  And to think I was told you were a

great fighter.  You seem a little dim to me.  Can't even pay

attention to a training exercise!"

    Ranma was now alert and his anger had returned.  "What do you

mean!  I AM a great fighter!  I'm the best!  And what do you mean

'training exercise'?  All you were doing was telling me some stupid

story!"

    The girl inwardly chuckled, outwardly she made a show of

sighing.  "OK, I'll spell it out for you.  The story I told you is a

cover.  In its meaning you can find the secret to winning the

greatest battle of your life.  But you have to listen carefully!

The secret is well hidden, and you really have to think about it.

To tell the truth," she went on with a bland expression, "I don't

think you can handle it."

    Ranma was really mad now.  "Hey!  If it has anything to do with

fighting, I can understand it!  Tell me again, and I'll tell you the

secret!"

    The girl looked hesitant.  "Well, OK.  I'll tell it one more

time.  But that is all!"  It was probably a good thing that Ranma

totally missed the smile that was threatening to break out across

her face.

    The story was retold once more, but this time Ranma's full

concentration was brought into play.  Every word the girl spoke was

recorded, analyzed, and categorized within his mind.

    "Well?  Did you pay attention this time, or were the rumors I

heard about you just that?  Rumors?"

    Ranma repeated the story back to the girl, word for word.  One

thing bothered him though.  "So what happened to the guy that was

found frozen?  Did he get blown up when the Xel'Naga blew themselves

up?"

    The girl suddenly looked very hesitant. "Ranma, you have to pay

attention to what I am about to say.  It is very very important that

you believe me.  The story I just told you was not just some bedtime

tale.  It actually happened.  It may be hard for you to believe, but

YOU are the being we found frozen!  We don't know how you got there,

and we don't know where you came from.  When the Zerg attacked, we

could not risk them getting you, and we did not want you to die for

our mistakes!  The Theologians gave you into our care and sent us

off to escape the Zerg!"  The girl was now speaking very

passionately, stressing what she was saying. Ranma stood still,

absorbing her message.

    "Waitaminute, waitaminute!  Let me get this straight.  You are

a billion year old alien that found me floating frozen in space.

After studying me, you tried to create life and got burned, and now

your whole race, except for a few outcasts, is dead?  Is THAT what

you are saying?"

    The girl was now smiling widely.  "Exactly!"  Her smile

disappeared quickly when Ranma fell down laughing.

    "Hee hee hee hee!  You *HA!* expect me *Hoo!* to believe that?

*gasp*  C'mon, at least *choke* give me some credit!  *chortle*"

    "Its true!  All of it!  And that's why your memory is messed

up!"

    This caught Ranma's attention.  While the whole unbelievable

story had suddenly become a source of great amusement for Ranma, the

holes in his memory were something real and felt.  If even a glimmer

of truth could be found in her explanation, maybe it would help him

figure out a way to get his memories back.  If not, well then, it

would just take a bit longer is all.

    "What do you mean, 'That's why your memory is messed up'?!" he

demanded

    The image of the Scout turned sad.  "Look, my people were not

perfect.  Even within our strict caste system, there were ways for

incompetent people to raise to positions of responsibility.  When we

first found you, we did a few scans and then we unfroze you.

Everything was going well, you were awake and talking.

Unfortunately, a person by the name of Kuros was assigned to mindtap

with you so we could communicate more easily.  Kuros was of the

Theologian caste.  They did not assign a person from my caste, the

Scouts, because of political reasons.  Kuros was a low level

Theologian, and his mindtap was a fumbling affair that defeated its

own purpose.  In his attempt to connect with your mind, his bumbling

actually destroyed part of your Psi.  Your mind immediately saw this

is an attack and retaliated, but it was too late.  When we first

found you, your Psi was seen by us to be a large, bright, golden

sheet stretching across your mind.  After Kuros was done, there was

a huge hole in that sheet.  We sedated you and tried to fix the

hole, but some...unforeseen results took place.  One of those results

is that part of your brain, the part that seemed to control your Psi

and held many memories, was numbed.  Those brain cells were totally

drained of all energy.  There is no physical damage, so your mind is

slow to realize that there is a problem.  Because of this, those

cells remain 'asleep'.  Eventually all of these cells will be

awakened, and your memories should return as they are.  We froze you

again, not really knowing what to do.  We unfroze you three or four

more times after that time, in hopes that sufficient healing had

occurred to attempt another mindtap.  Each time we had to refreeze

you minutes after your waking up, seeing that the damage was slowly

repairing itself, but that you had developed an instinctive distrust

of us.  Every time you were awakened, you immediately attacked us.

After Korus, we could not blame you.  It was decided that it would

be kinder to keep you frozen until we found your people so that you

would have companionship."

    The girl stopped here and looked at Ranma.  "Look, I know you

don't believe me.  But you will.  Just for now, can't you pretend

that what I am telling you is the truth?"

    Ranma was looking at the image of the girl with open

skepticism.  It had occurred to him that this whole thing was just a

dream or nightmare, but all of his senses have been telling him that

this was real, ever since he woke up in the strange bedroom.  It

also occurred to him that one of his old enemies had captured him

and were doing this for some reason, maybe Saffron.  But nobody he

knew was able to do the things he had seen.  He decided to play

along with what this imposter was saying, at least until he found a

way to escape.  "OK, so you grabbed me and ran away from these Zerg

things.  Then what?  And why do you look like me? *lets see them

answer that one!*  What's your name anyways?"

    The image took on a vastly relieved look.  "As I said my people

have, or had, limited powers over our own bodies.  When we found

you, a large number of us, mostly from the Scout class and the

Artist class, chose to alter our appearance to match your species.

I deliberately chose to look like you because you and I have a

special bond.  You see, when Korus damaged your Psi powers, I was an

advisor standing nearby.  After his attempt, and after we removed

what was left of him, I volunteered to try to replace what was taken

from you with some of my own power.  What none of us took into

consideration was your incredible adaptive skills.  As soon as I

started shoring up the hole with my energy, your mind melded

perfectly with mine and grabbed hold.  I was unable to remove my

mind from yours.  It got to the point that your mind started to

overwrite mine!  If not for the fact that I had several brothers

there to help me, I may have lost my identity!  As it was, I escaped

your mind with copies of many of your memories.  I must admit, I do

not remember too much about what I was like before our 'adventure',

but I am told that I changed after I was rescued from your mind.  I

became something of a rebel if the truth be known.  Or, considering

the reputation my caste has, more of a rebel.  I came away from that

incident a changed being.  I also came to think of you as a Caste

Brother, someone whom I should watch over.  You were given into my

care primarily, and I changed my name to Ranko to symbolize my new

position."

    "Anyway, after my Caste Brothers and I escaped the Zerg, we

fled in all directions.  I was given the task to keep you as far

away from the Zerg as possible, for if they should happen to absorb

somebody with your potential, then the entire universe would be in

danger.  None could stand against them.  So I fled to the other side

of this galaxy, my small Scout ship not being powerful enough to

travel to a different one.  Ironically, my path led me back through

the same systems my people had fled.  The Protoss systems.  I had

traveled so fast and so recklessly that my ship developed fatal

problems.  I was forced to land on an uninhabited planet near the

Protoss empire.  Seeking cover, I found a huge mountain range and

landed there.  After a few months work, I was able to build an

adequate home within the highest mountain of the range.  I

cannibalized my ship and moved as much as I could into our new home,

then I destroyed what was left.  For better or worse, we were stuck

here."

    "I made sure that you were safe, that the shielding was

operative, and that my computers were working properly, and then I

joined you in a hibernating sleep.  Eons passed while we slept.  And

then I was awakened by my machines.  Something was happening on the

planet.  I was surprised to say the least when I found beings like

yourself landing not far from here.  Humans.  Up until then, we had

never seen another of your species.  I also scanned nearby sectors

and was overwhelmed with what had happened to the Protoss.  They had

somehow overcome their problems and were once again a thriving and

powerful species.  Mindtapping with my computer, I sent my mind out

across the reaches of space, looking for my brethren.  And I found

them, hiding and observing like I was.  Spread across the galaxy.

And that was the policy we decided to take.  We were going to hide,

never showing ourselves.  We again became simple observers."

    "Another thousand years passed and I watched the humans conquer

the planet, and then move on to other planets.  For the last time I

watched a civilization grow.  And I knew it was the last time for me

because of something that was headed our way.  The Zerg.  They had

been seen coming straight towards us, consuming all in their path,

becoming stronger."

    "And then they were here.  I found myself out of time and out

of options.  My brothers could not come save us for they would stand

no chance against the Zerg swarm.  And we could not let the Zerg

know that there were Xel'Naga still left in the galaxy.  I quickly

created devices that would awaken you when the time was right, and I

set things up in my home to lead you to this chamber.  You see, as I

have said, my Caste is strong with Psi.  We see things differently

then a person with no Psi does.  We live that way, it is our

lifestyle.  It infuses everything we do.  My chambers could only be

accessed by a Psi-active being.  And from previous scans, I knew

that you would not be able to even see the access ports for my

chambers without help.  And so I set a series of steps that would

lead you down the path of regaining your Psi abilities.  My mosaics

would be able to be seen by somebody with very low Psi abilities.

Your subconscience would automatically start probing your

surroundings as you became more aware of yourself.  This would be

enough.  The images on my walls themselves are partially made up of

Psi imprints.  The longer you look at them, the more your mind will

react to them.  Becoming stronger, more Psi active.  Hopefully you

will eventually be able to see the spiral I impressed into the

floor.  This spiral is perhaps the most important part to the

process of reawakening your potential and, perhaps just as important

to you, your memories.  As you followed the spiral, thousands of

tiny Khaydarin crystals were probing and infusing your mind with

their power.  As long as you kept moving, this continued.  When you

stopped at the center, the power had nowhere to go and no source to

contain it.  And so it dissipated from your mind.  This sudden loss

would have been a little overwhelming, like the loss of an arm or

leg.  I daresay that you would lose conscience.  When this happens,

your mind should become fully aware of the parts of your mind that

are no longer working, and it should start repairing them."

    "And everything worked!  It had to have, if you are standing

here listening to me.  You are awake, and on the road to recovery.

I just wish I was there to see it."  The girl, named Ranko, looked

wistful as she spoke this last sentence.

    Ranma was not sure what to make of the girl.  He did not

believe her story, but he could not deny that -she- certainly

thought it was true.  Nobody was that good of a liar.  "What do you

mean, you wish you were here?  You are here!  Where do you think you

are?"

    Ranko looked sadly back at Ranma.  "I told you.  I am just a

memory.  A Psi-imprint of the original Ranko's mind.  You see, some

distance from here, there is a large force of Zerg headed this way.

They seem to be searching for something, so they obviously have

discovered our existence.  It was Ranko's thought that if the Zerg

actually saw us die, they would think there was nothing else to find

and they would leave.  That would allow you the time you need to

fully awaken.  We had to move fast.  First he imprinted his mind

into our computers and created me, to guide you and explain things.

Then he programmed your stasis bed to begin the thawing process.

His death would be the trigger for the process to begin.  It seemed

poetic for it to be that way, but now I see it was just dumb.  And

then he left to fight the Zerg, and to die."

    Ranko's eyes caught Ranma's and pinned him with sudden

intensity.  "Ranma, listen to me.  You are going to find out that

what I have told you is the truth.  And when you do, keep this in

mind.  If the Zerg catch you, if they bring you into the Swarm, they

will become unstoppable.  They are nearly to that point now.  You

have to leave this cave and find a life-path to follow.  When you

do, stamp three times with all your might on the floor in the center

of the room.  You will then have five minutes to leave before this

cave destroys itself."

    The determination in her eyes grew stronger and her chin set

firmly.  She was also beginning to speak quicker, her words almost

stumbling over themselves.  "I have told you everything I can.  Even

now I can feel the stored Psi energy that is my source begin to wear

down.  Remember these three things: First, the Zerg -can- be killed.

They are strong, but not eternal.  Second, do not give up hope.  The

levels of your powers are seriously depleted due to your long sleep

and the damage to your mind.  But they will return to you gradually.

And third, my Caste brothers are going to be watching.  They cannot

do much while the Overmind controls the Zerg, but if they see a way

to help you, they will try to do so."

    "Goodbye Ranma.  For 35 million years I have been watching over

you.  I want you to know that you were not alone while you slept."

Ranko was looking down at the ground, and Ranma hear regret in her

voice.  The she looked up.  "One more thing Ranma," she said giving

him the thumbs-up, "go kick some ass!"  And the she evaporated like

smoke.  The room soon followed her example, and Ranma found himself

back in the little niche with the way open into the cave.

    As Ranma slowly stepped back into the main room of the cave, he

thought about what he had just gone through.

    "That was a -colossal-,"  Ranma said to himself, his eyes wide

and mind whirling, "waste of time!  Huge!"  *Did she really think I

would believe that crap?  Space aliens.  Ha!  Frozen.  Ha!  35

MILLION years!!  Yeah, right!  I'm gonna go find Cologne and get her

to take back whatever she did to my memories!*

    He looked around and decided that the only thing left for him

to do is to try the last dot of light on the far side of the wall.

    *Still, SHE seemed to believe it.  And I don't know how she

managed that disappearing trick at the end.  Maybe she's ninja?  But

she did look like me.*  Ranma's mind was mostly still on the strange

encounter he had just experienced, but he did have presence of mind

enough to activate the last door.  *Now this is more like it!*  On

the other side of the door was a dark tunnel, rough hewn from the

same type of rock that was in the cave.  He walked down the cave

perhaps twenty feet when the darkness swallowed what little light

flowed into it from the cave behind him.  *No problem,*  he thought

as he summoned his battle aura to act as a light.  Or he tried to

summon anyway.  For some reason he could not muster even the

slightest of glows.  "What the hell...?"  he muttered, shocked.  He

had been able to create a battle aura since he was a kid.

    "So!  Think it will make it easier for you if you cut off my

Chi, eh?  Well, it ain't gonna work!"  Ranma felt better after

yelling this.  He started making his way down the tunnel, carefully

probing with his hands and feet so he won't step into a trap.  "I'm

gonna find ya, then I'm gonna kick your ass, and I don't need my Chi

to do it!"  Ranma blindly followed the cave around a corner and

noticed an exit leading to a dimly lit sky not too far ahead.  "Ha!

Made it!"  He continued speaking to his kidnappers, all of whom he

knew were sweating now that he found the way out.  "I have to admit

though, I just can't figure out why you would think I was dumb

enough to listen...to...all...that...crap?"  When Ranma reached the end of

the tunnel, he found himself standing on a high precipice

overlooking a mountain range.  Except for a thin path that wound

down one side and around the corner, it was pretty much a straight

drop down several thousand feet.  A huge sun was just starting to

rise in front of him, and he could make out huge tendrils of

billowing smoke wafting from just over the horizon.

    "......" he said.

    *......* he thought.

    Ranma Saotome had seen many strange things in his life, some of

which he still remembered.  He was still convinced that he was

somewhere on Earth.  And then a giant creature flew overhead, coming

over the mountain top behind him, flying over him, and heading for

the plumes of smoke in the distance.  The creature was a combination

of gray with blue markings.  It was squat, wider than it was long,

and had eight long legs sprouting from its sides and pointing

straight out.  It actually looked like a really huge jumping spider.

A really huge jumping spider that could fly.

    Seeing this one creature, something that he was absolutely

certain did not belong on Earth, caused his mind to accept one

horrible fact.  A realization that was so dreadful in its meaning

that he clenched his hands in anger and growled deep in his throat.

The Earth was being invaded.  They captured him so that they would

have no obstacle in their conquest.

    *No wait,* his mind thought, *lets think about this.*

    This time he got it right.  Realization that everything that

Ranko had told him was true flooded his mind.  He had been asleep

for millions of years.  He was on another planet.  Akane, Ucchan,

Shampoo, his home, his friends, his Pop, his mother...they were all

dead.  Dead.  All of them.  When you take into consideration what

Ranma had gone through in the past few hours, it is not too

surprising that Ranma did what he did.  He fainted.

    A little while later he woke up and stood again, taking in the

sight that had not changed much.  Deciding that he really did not

want to think about it, Ranma shoved all his problems into the back

of his mind and started to make his way down the curving path.  For

a long time he was running down, his mind numb and movements

automatic.  At last the path widened a bit and the air was

noticeably thicker than it had been up in the cave.  Now traveling

at considerable speed, Ranma rounded a corner and literally crashed

into a creature that had been traveling just as fast the other

direction.  Picking himself up off of the ground, he shook his head

to clear it a bit; an action the creature did as well.  When Ranma

finally got a good look at what it was he ran into, he found himself

face to face with a Zergling.

    The Zergling for the most part wasted no more time.  It

immediately struck out with its two forearms at the human that it

had found.  Fast enough so that the arms blurred, the natural twin

blades that comprised the Zergling's forearms launched towards the

still slightly woozy Ranma.

    However woozy Ranma may have been, he was never one to get

himself killed.  Just as fast as the creature struck forward with

its two forearms, Ranma leapt backwards, performed a single twist in

the air, and landed on his feet six meters away.  The Zergling,

expecting to be looking at the human's disemboweled corpse, stood

still while it adjusted.  This gave Ranma enough time to look over

the monster he had run into.

    "Damn that's a big dog!" he said out loud, though it was

painfully obvious that he was not facing a canine.  *Is that a Zerg?

Ranko said they were here.  I wonder if...*  His thought was

interrupted by the Zergling's next attack.

    The Zergling's limited mind was working overtime.  The human

was obviously going to be tougher to kill than the others it had

hunted with its brothers.  It was alone for it was assumed that one

Zergling would be enough to destroy the human spotted by the

Guardian, and it was currently out of range of an Overlord to relay

any sort of information.  In the end, the Zergling decided to follow

its instincts.  Leaping forward with it powerful hind legs, it swung

its forearms out again, trying to impale the weak creature before

it.

    Ranma backed up quickly as the Zergling continued to swing and

lunge with its sword-like arms, eventually leaping over the creature

and landing further down the sloping trail.  The Zerg, of course,

immediately spun around and leapt once again at the human that was

causing it so much trouble.  This time, however, Ranma did not back

away.  Instead he slid under the Zergling as it was still in the

air, and kicked the creature in it's belly with both legs.  The Zerg

went flying down the wide path, to land heavily on it's back.

    The carapace of the alien was tough enough that it was

uninjured by the landing, but it was a bit disoriented as it righted

itself and looked up.  Right into Ranma's frowning face.  Then the

world spun a bit as some sort of great weight crashed into it's

head.

    "Hey Fido," Ranma said after finishing his spinning kick, "you

are exactly what I need right now."  And he proceeded to take out a

day's worth of frustration, anger, worry, fear, and confusion on the

murderous beast.  "I...want...to...show...you...something." he ground out

through clenched teeth, punctuating each word with a punch or a

kick.  He then backflipped a few meters, drew in his confidence, and

shouted out "Mouko Takabisha!"

    Nothing happened.

    The Zerg, more than a bit dizzy and in pain from the incredibly

hard hits it had just taken, watched in total confusion as the human

it had been hunting stood up the slope, holding its forearms out,

and standing still.  Was something supposed to happen?  The Zergling

slowly stood up from where it had collapsed, and started to flee

down the path as quick as possible..

    Ranma was silently cursing himself.  *Damn, I forgot!  When

Ranko said my Chi was low, she wasn't kidding!*  He came out of his

daze just in time to see the Zergling turn to corner of the trail

quite some distance off.  Sprinting, he was able to turn that same

corner just a minute after the creature had.

    But there was no sign of the Zergling.  The mountain was a

large one, and Ranma was about halfway down, meaning the path was

long and only slightly curving.  This side's length could be seen

for quite some distance.  The Zergling had obviously been hurt, and,

while fast, did not seem fast enough to turn the corner at the far

end of the path in the short time it had been out of sight.

    *Damn, he's getting away!*  Ranma ran even faster down the

trail.  Completely missing the very tiny hole that did not belong in

the ground.

    He ran down the trail and around the corner a couple of times

before stopping, slightly out of breath.  Calming himself, and

regulating his breathing, he listened very carefully, trying to hear

something that would point the way to his enemy.  He could hear

nothing.  *Shit!*

    Looking around he tried to get his bearings.  He was closer to

the bottom than the top, but he still had quite some distance to

cover before he hit the ground.  The part of the mountain that he

was on now was almost totally devoid of plant life, except for the

occasional scraggly bush.  He had a clear view of the other

mountains and he could see down to the valley at the base.  As a

matter of fact, if he walked over to the side, like this, and he

looked down, like this, he should be able to see the next stretch of

trail below him...

    *Waitaminute, what's that?*

    Ranma could indeed see the next stretch of trail quite some

distance below him.  However, it was not uninhabited.  He could see

the back of some large creature.  Taking in his distance from the

creature, and how far above it he was, he figured it to be around

ten feet tall.  He could not see much of it, but he could just make

out two arms, and a long tail that grew into a snake-like body that

resembled an upright S.  The creature did not move, except for it's

head slowly swaying back and forth, it just kept looking down the

trail.  *He's waiting for something!*  Ranma realized.  *Its gotta

be a Zerg.  But what's it waitin' for?  It doesn't look like the

other one.  If its here for me, it should be facing this way.*

    Figuring he could just keep walking down the path the way he

was now and still surprise the Zerg from behind, Ranma continued

down the trail; periodically looking over the side to make sure the

Zerg had not turned around nor moved.  However, as he reached a

position right above the Zerg, a sudden abundance of thick bushes

obscured his view, so he could not see it from the top nor front.

When he finally moved past the obstructions, he discovered that the

trail below him had taken a steep downward turn and was much further

away.  He could, however, make out a small figure slowly making its

way up the steep trail.  Squinting and concentrating, he could make

out what appeared to be a person climbing the path, using a walking

stick to prop himself up.

    *uh, oh!*  he thought as he watched the person climb ever

closer to the more level part of the path.  The speed of the

person's movements and the reliance on the walking stick  told Ranma

that the person was either old, or physically frail.  In other

words, the person had no chance against the Zerg that was now

obviously waiting in ambush.  "WATch..."  Ranma suddenly stopped his

shout.  Any noise he made that could be heard by the person, would

also be heard by the Zerg.  He had to stop the Zerg before the

person reached it, there was no other way he could see.  And he

would have to do it fast, the person was nearing the top of the

incline.

    Running back the way he had come, he passed the open area where

he first saw the Zerg.  Moving even further up the trail, he looked

for a way down the side, but found none that even he could navigate.

It seemed this part of the mountain was fairly vertical.  Realizing

that he was about out of time, and he did not have enough of it to

simply run down the trail and around the mountain, he decided to do

it anyway.

    Walking down the trail he found a side that was more navigable

and looked down.  He was at just about the exact spot he had been

when he first saw the creature far below.  Looking down now, he

could see the Zerg make its way down the trail, obviously having

seen the traveler.  He was out of time.

    Taking a breath and calming himself, he leapt out into the air.

Landing on a large protruding rock, he jumped again, this time to a

very thin tree growing from the rockside.  Twisting, turning,

jumping, and falling; he quickly made his way down the side of the

mountain, finally landing on his hands on the trail.   With a

flourish, he pushed himself in the air with his arms righted himself

and looked around.  Grimacing, he then ran flat out down the path.

    Turning a minor corner of the trail, he arrived just in time to

see the Zerg use its forearms to swat the traveler aside and into

the mountain wall.  The creature was standing in profile to Ranma,

but turned his way when the person was thrown.  Not really taking

time to study the creature, Ranma ran even faster and jumped into a

flying kick.

    "Kiiiiyaaaa!" he shouted as he flew through the air.  The beast

was just able to raise its head a bit and see him coming when his

kick connected with the Zerg's chest area.  The force of the blow,

increased by the speed Ranma had been running at, was enough to send

the Zerg flying back ten or fifteen feet and onto its back.

    Ranma landed heavily after the kick.  The creature was much

more dense then he had guessed, and now his legs felt like he had

run into the side of a battleship.  Barely he was able to stay

standing, but his legs felt very weak and shook slightly.  Bending

over with his hands on his knees, he looked at the creature, while

taking darting glances at the person he had just rescued.

    *It's a girl!  Man, she's out of it!*  The girl that lay on the

ground was obviously either dead or knocked out.  The slight groan

she had made as he passed over her suggested that she was not yet

dead.  But to tell the truth, Ranma had other things on his mind

than to wonder how she was doing.

    The Hydralisk shook itself a bit as it righted itself.  In its

whole existence it had never been hit that hard before.  The

Hydralisk was a more sophisticated Zerg than the simple Zergling

that Ranma had fought earlier.  It has a mind capable of thought and

had lots of animal cunning.  Right now it was excited.  It had not been

allowed to join the invasion of the human capital.  Instead it had

been sent into the less populated reaches of the area to hunt down

any humans that might have escaped or were living on farms.  Then it

had been called away from that easy task to hunt down the human that

the Overmind wanted captured.  Both tasks were easy and had no

challenge to them.  The human was unconscious nearby and the few

humans it had found had to be cajoled into putting up a decent fight

at all.  Though it had to admit the humans made wonderful screaming

noises when punctured hundreds of times with it's needles.

Especially the smallest humans.  Shoot a couple of those and the

rest would cry out and begin to fight back.  Still, they were no

challenge.  But now, here was a human that might possibly be worth

fighting.  The Hydralisk wondered what this human would sound like

when it screamed.

    Ranma for the most part was keeping a wary eye of the creature

before him.  He was a little unnerved at the sheer size of the Zerg,

and his legs were only now starting to regain some feeling.  Sizing

up the creature, from its spike-studded tail, to its armor-plated

head, he had to admit it was perhaps the scariest thing he had ever

seen.  *Still,* he thought idly, *its better looking than

Pantyhose.*

    The Hydralisk, having felt the damage Ranma could do up close,

decided to use its primary weapon.

    Ranma stood up straight and watched the Zerg warily as the

creature rose to its full height.  It then brought its head down a

bit, presenting the strange apex of its armor just behind its head.

For the first time, Ranma saw hundreds of tiny needles projecting

from the Zerg's top carapace and neck.  These needles were pointing

in all directions, or at least they were.  He had maybe a second to

ponder things, turn pale, and start jumping around as a great deal

of the needles suddenly oriented on him and fired.

    Ranma was in pain, a bit shook up, and starting to get

physically tired.  Despite all of this he forced himself to move

faster than he had in a long time to try to avoid or catch the long,

straight needles flying towards him.  He succeeded for maybe half

the needles.

    Ranma flew back and to the side, twisting in midair, as several

of the tiny missiles punched into him with armor piercing force.

Grunting in pain, he slowly got to his hands and knees and took

inventory.  His right arm had been hit a couple of times, the blood

already beginning to soak his shirt, as well as his right shoulder,

a huge cut along his abdomen, and once in his right leg.  *Damn that

hurts!* he thought, *But pain is good, means I'm not in shock.

Which means this bastard is going down!*

    The Hydralisk was impressed and more than a little happy.  The

other humans had been killed by this time.  This one was still

alive!  More opportunities for games!  It watched the human slowly

get back onto its feet and realized that it had not heard the weak

human scream.  It decided to see what it would take.  It oriented a

single needle and fired.

    Ranma gasped in pain again as a hole appeared in his left hand.

Clenching his teeth and grimacing, he kept his head down trying to

deal with this sudden new pain, glaring at his tormentor through his

eyebrows.  Now Ranma was pissed.

    "C'mon, is that the best you can do?  I know a tomboy that

could hit harder!  You can't fight!  You're nothing!  Nothing!"

Ranma was ready now, his anger overriding the pain that had flooded

his brain just moments before.

    The Hydralisk was having fun.  Not only was the weak creature

in front of it still alive, but it was also showing aggression.  All

the better!  It would take some skill to make this one scream, and

the Zerg was feeling up to the task.  It oriented another needle and

fired.  Only to watch in shock as the weak human snatched the

speeding needle from the air just before it impacted on his left

knee.  Another needle, another snatch, this time from just in front

of it's left shoulder.  Ok then, two needles.  One grabbed from the

air, the other knocked off course by the injured hand.  The

Hydralisk stopped and stood studying the human in front of it,

starting to get the impression that maybe in was in more danger than

it had previously thought.  After a moments hesitation, it decided

to end its sport, kill the standing human, and take its original

prey back to the Swarm as the Overmind had commanded.  Flaring most

of it remaining needles, and the few that had regenerated from its

previous shots, it prepared to turn Ranma into a pincushion, when

Ranma spoke up, distracting it.

    "You think you're hot stuff?  Because you can shoot things?

You like shooting things from far away, eh?  Well, I'm not to bad at

that either.  Try This!"  With that Ranma started throwing the rocks

he had picked up while the Zerg hesitated.  After the first salvo,

he kneeled on the ground and started to throw every rock and stone

he could reach with both his hands.  Ignoring the pain, he threw as

hard as he could, shuffling forward to reach more of the plentiful

rocks on the ground.

    The Zerg hurt.  It had never felt pain itself before and was

stunned that this human was able to cause it.  At first it had

wanted to chuckle when it saw the human start to throw pieces of

ground at it, but that only lasted until the third or fourth rock

had hit.  And the pain had begun.  At first the rocks merely bounced

off its though hide and carapace, but after a few hits, dents began

to appear.  And then cracks and holes.  Soon it was peppered with

dozens of small holes which were bleeding profusely.  A few places

deep inside it body had curious aches and pains.  It needed to get

away, to burrow itself safely and heal.  It began to turn away when

suddenly half of its eyesight disappeared in a hot red flash, and

its mind became scrambled.  With a high pitched scream, it fell over

onto its side, gave a shuddering sigh, and died.

    Ranma himself collapsed as well.  Deciding that the path made

for a comfortable bed, he took a quick nap.

    Sometime later, he woke up.  It must not have been too long

since he had passed out, as the sun had barely moved in the sky.

Sitting up with his legs stretched in front of him, he checked his

wounds.  As far as he could tell, each of the injures were clean

holes, in one side and out the other.  That was good, since he had

no idea how he would have taken a needle out had it still been in.

Funny thing though, the bleeding had stopped and the holes were a

bit smaller than he would have thought.  He had always been a fast

healer, and as his skills in the Art grew, he began to heal faster

as his body toughened and matured.  But he could not remember having

healed this fast before.  Shrugging it off, he proceeded to slowly

get to his feet, grunting with pain with every movement.  Looking at

the corpse of the Zerg he had killed, an exhilarating thought

crossed his mind.

    "Ranma Saotome!  The best damn Martial Artist on TWO worlds!"

His shout echoed across the mountains, followed quickly by his

delighted laugh.  *Even the ole Pervert can't say that!*  Then he

remembered something that caused him to feel very tired.  *Or I

guess I should say -couldn't- say that.*  The memory that everybody

he knew was dead started to weigh once again on his mind, before he

pushed it back.  Looking around, he remembered the reason he fought

the Zerg.

    Limping over to the fallen figure of the woman he had rescued,

he could see her body move with regular breathing.  Heartened by

this sign of life, he turned her over from the crumpled position she

was in.

    She looked in a bad way.  If he was any judge, and having lived

much of his life on the road, he was, she was exhausted.  Minor cuts

and bruises lined her face, and her red hair was matted and dirty.

Her green and white, form-hugging outfit was caked with dirt and

ash.  Nearby, what he had originally thought was a walking stick

turned out to be a really huge and intimidating rifle of some sort.

He tried several ways to wake her up, from poking her in the side,

to shaking her face (careful not to grab any cuts), and even

shouting at her.

    Looking around, he could see only one thing he could do.  If

the Zerg were roaming around looking for him, and the woman was in

no condition to protect herself, he had to hide her someplace.  *Not

that I can't take on anything that shows up,* he thought defiantly

to himself, *but a Martial Artist cannot allow a defenseless person

to be placed in danger.*  Unfortunately there was only one place he

knew of that was even slightly safe and defendable.  With a 'Why

Me!' look on his face, he looked back up the huge mountain to the

very top, where he had started out.

    Grabbing the gun to use as a crutch, he gingerly grabbed the

back of the woman's suit and started to drag her the long distance

to the top.  This was going to take a loooooooong time.

    On one of his frequent stops, he looked down at the still

unconscious woman.  "You better not be looking to get married!"

And he continued upwards and onwards.

    Again, he never noticed the small air hole that had formed on

the ground.  This one was further down the trail than the previous

one had been.  He did notice the strangely disturbed patch of ground

where the last air hole had been though.  But at that time his muscles

were screaming at him, his legs were about to collapse, and his

wounds had partially reopened, so he had other things on his mind.





More Notes!



    A few points that may answer some question you might have:

1) Why did the Xel'Naga do the things they did, in the order

they did them in?  Why did they act that way?  We have to

keep in mind that the Xel'Naga are aliens and do things

differently then you or I would do them.  That is why they

explored there entire planet before even thinking about

traveling the stars.  That is also why they packed up their

entire race and moved to another galaxy without leaving some

behind on their home planet.



2) Body, Spirit, Mind.  These are the three powers of life.

The power of the Spirit is called Chi, and the power of the

Mind is called Psi.  The Protoss are weak in Body, average

in Chi (with potential), and high in Psi.  Humans are

average in Body, average in Chi (with potential), and

average in Psi (becoming stronger).  The Zerg are high in

Body, average-high in Chi (applied only in forcing

evolution), and weak in Psi.  The Zerg are looking to

increase their powers of the Mind, so they could fight the

Protoss and absorb them into the Swarm.  Ranma is very high

in all categories, but with his current memory problems and

depletion he is high in Body (he does not know this), weak

in Chi, and weak in Psi.  His Chi should be coming back to

him quickly, with Psi coming more slowly.  At least, this is

how it is right now.  I may change these levels as I go.



3) What would have happened if Ranma had tried to open the door

to the outside first?  He would have burned his hand.  It

could only be opened when the Ranko hologram had finished

running.



4) Hmmmm, I know there were other places that might cause

questions or require explanations, but to tell the truth I

cannot think of them right now.  Write me with any

questions!



    C&C is always welcomed, even for old chapters.  I happily

accept simple notes saying that you love the story, eagerly

read notes that give constructive negative comments, but I ignore

flames totally.





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