(Chuckle.  Shake head) I've always been told I've had a unique sense 
of timing.

I've never believed it up until now.

After waiting and planning to see that the SI fic I have begun to 
write will not turn out to be a, "watch the author kick everyone 
around and seduce the girls/boys he/she wants fic" some guy living in 
a dark, dirty place comes out of nowhere and proclaims (emphasis on 
LAME) that it's going to happen anyway and that I'm an immature brat 
for even trying.

So, I'm an immature brat. ^  ^
                                      U

BTW, try some works called "Oh! My Brother" and "Revenge's End", Mr. 
GWLUtB, you may change your opinion of SI's if you gave those two (as 
well as this one) a chance.

Also, this fic is going to have some parodies in it, no one take 
offence... please?

The Flashman
(Proud member of The Church of Tsukino Usagi)
(Possible Co-Founder of The Church of R&U???)
Loyal G-Fan
"Hair: I'm Bald, Jackass!"
-From the credits for 'Cause Stone Cold Said So
www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/3105/
May The Spirit Preserve You!
______________

	It was the best of worlds.

	That was the only way Ranma Saotome could describe it.  The sun was 
warm, but not too warm, as it shone down on him, his beautiful wife 
Akane, and their young daughter in a stroller, Usagi. (So named in 
honor of the TV show they had been watching when Akane had gone into 
labor.)
	Ranma couldn't help but reflect on how he and Akane met.  It had 
been love at first sight, as he and his father walked into the Tendo 
Dojo, his hair slick and his clothes clinging to his body, from the 
rain.
	Soun and Genma, the finest fathers anyone could have, had explained 
in detail, along with Nodaka and Sahiko, exactly what an arranged 
marriage was and what was expected of them.  They also promised to 
break it off at any time, if either of them didn't want to go through 
with it.  It was a moot point, since Akane had volunteered to get 
engaged and the rest, as they say, was history.
	As they continued to walk through the streets of Nerima, they came 
upon Happosai, the kindest, gentlest old man they knew.  The old 
martial arts master had taught Ranma about the compassion, caring and 
willingness to help those in need, that made one a true master of The 
Art.
	"He was my best student," Happosai said, as his eyes glistened with 
tenderness, "The martial arts world lost it's greatest star when he 
married you, Akane.  Did you know that?"
	Akane giggled and hugged her husband as she replied, "I know."
	Soon, they parted ways and Usagi began to kick in her stroller, 
shouting, "Hungwey!  Mama!  Hungwey!"
	Akane said, "I guess it is time to eat.  How about we go home and 
I'll cook you both a big lunch?"
	Ranma licked his lips as he asked, "Your prize winning Pork Ton 
Katsu?"
	Akane smirked, "Sure."
	"HORAAAY!" father and daughter exclaimed.
	Yes, it was the best of all possible worlds.
	It was a pity that the green-skinned, Big Nasty Thing With Teeth was 
going to kill them... or at least, it would have tried to.

	That's where we come in.
	If I may point out the glowing white portal that's formed in the 
alley where the Big Nasty Thing With Teeth, was waiting to back jump 
the happy family, and the five figures running out of it, I'll 
introduce us.
	The tall, green fish-man in the gold bikini briefs is Trident, of 
the Eternal Champions reality.
	The short Reploid in the red armor, with a blond pony tail and a 
glowing green sword is Zero, of the Mega Man X reality.
	The girl in the shortened fuku and the long white headband is Sakura,
 of the Street Fighter Alpha reality.
	The other girl in the shortened fuku, the one with the blue skin and 
a giant crystal wedge growing out of each shoulder, along with the 
big, lizard-like tail, is Space Sailor Moon and, in an existential 
sense, my daughter.
	And the guy in the lead, wearing gold and blue spandex, you ask?  
That's me, The Flashman.
	Together, the five of us work for the Free Flow of the Multiverse 
League. (FFML) We insure that Wild Deamons (like the BNTWT we're 
currently going after) Avatars (extra dimensional beings of 
incredible power) and other events, both natural and unnatural, do 
nothing to alter the course of realities from what they should be.

	Together, we are...

				 FFML SENTAI
				   FIVEMAN
By: The Flashman
[Multiple disclaimers.  Complete list at the fic's conclusion.]

	But I'm getting way ahead of myself.  I have a tendency to do that 
sometimes, so please keep that in mind if I start to ramble on.
	Anyway, it's a good idea to probably start where this all began.  
Hmmm... I guess it all really started when I got into Anime, but if I 
started there, I'd be here forever and you'd lose interest by the 
third page and...
	There I go again.
	I got it!  I'll start with the Otherworldly Power Beam.
	Okay, I know what you're thinking, "Otherworldly Power Beam?!  Yeah, 
right."
	Now I know that sounds ridiculous and I know that the book "How To 
Be A Superhero" lists this as the most unlikely way to gain super 
powers, but that's not how *I* got MY powers.  However, it DID get me 
noticed by certain people...

=============

	It was about a year ago and I, a 19-year old, 5'10", slightly chunky 
(210 lbs), brown haired, steel blue eyed, romantically unattached 
male, was doing something almost totally alien to my nature.
	I was cleaning my room.
	More specifically, I was cleaning the dust off of my to... err.. 
collectibles.  As any otaku (that's "fanboy", for those of you who 
are uninitiated) knows, when you become a fan of Anime, Kaiju Egia, 
Live Action Sentai, or any other such thing, there is an 
unrepressable need to collect things that have your favorite 
characters likeness.
	With my Sailor Moon stuff, I stick with the Japanese plastic figures,
 since the American figures look like Barbie trying to do an 
impression of...
	I know.  I'm drifting.
	Anyway, I had just finished dusting off my collection of 6" Ohranger 
mecha, and was beginning to work on my Super Sailor Moon plastic 
figurine and my collection of Godzilla action figures, paying special 
attention to my Bandai Space Godzilla figure.  After dusting the two 
of them off, I placed them on my bed.  With the way I was, I might 
have decided to rearrange where they were and placed them together, 
since they were my two favorite things from Japan.  As it was, they 
were leaning back-to-back for the moment, as my Super Sailor Moon's 
base was not built to hold the figure's feet correctly, so it needed 
to be supported by another object until I could get her in just the 
right angle for the base to work.
	As I went to work on my other figures, and the little green soldiers 
surrounding my Kaiju in a ring, something of interest was happening 
in a UFO, parked somewhere around the planet Mercury.

	"Now... if I reset this decimal to here..."
	"Hi, Nikto!  What's up?"
	"Huh?  Oh, hi, Birada.  I'm just trying to work on my interstellar 
thesis.  It's a good thing you showed up too.  Could you hit that red 
lever for me?"
	"Which one?  This?"
	"NOOOO!  NOT..."
	*ZACK!*
	"... that one."
	"Awww, Shazbut."

	Humming "Destiny" to myself, I continued cleaning, not hearing the 
soft buzz of sound or the small glow of light that enveloped my two 
most beloved collectibles.  However, as I finished giving the final 
touches to my MOGERA (Mobile Operations Godzilla Expert Robot Aero-
Type) figure, I turned around and noticed the effects that they left 
behind.
	Where there had once been two action figures, there was now only one.
 (If I hear even ONE, "there can be only one" joke... sorry.)
	I blinked several times and then picked it up to get a closer look 
at the combined figure, and confirm it's existence was not due to an 
illusion of some kind.
	A figure dressed in Sailor Moon's normal outfit, with deep blue skin,
 a long lizard-like tail of the same color, with jagged spikes on the 
end, lime green hair done in the classic Sailor Moon style, a giant, 
crystal wedge sticking out of each shoulder, stared back with gold 
eyes and the placid grin that resided on every action figure of it's 
type.
	I traced my hand along it and thought, "Impossible.  It can't be... 
Space Sailor Moon?"
	The next thing I thought, after my brain recovered from the worst of 
the shock, was that it was someone's idea of a joke, but I quickly 
dismissed that, as I had never told anyone about her.  She was the 
first Anime style character I had created, born out of a fever dream, 
due to watching DIC episodes of Sailor Moon followed by a healthy 
serving of my fansubbed copy of Godzilla Vs Space Godzilla, while 
home sick from school with a 102.3 temperature.
	The only reason I had never given her life on paper was that I had 
never known how to play her.  Should she have been a crazed alien 
villain?  Who's only concern was killing the original and taking her 
place.  Or a comedic figure?  Where the alien intelligence made the 
original look like a brain surgeon.  Maybe a tragic figure?  
Frightened by those who hunted her because they didn't understand 
what she was.
	As I look back on this moment, I wonder what would have happened if 
I had dropped the figure, or placed it back down, or lost contact 
with it in anyway.  As my grip on it, was what caused what happened 
next to play out the way it did.

	"I am so sorry, Nikto."
	"It's okay Barada.  There's no perminant damage."
	"That's a reli..."
	"DON'T LEAN ON THAT..."
	*KA-ZZZZZAAAAAAPPPPP!*
	"... lever."
	"Awww, Shazbut!"
	"If Klatu ever finds out about this..."
	"Shazbut Shazbut Shazbut!"

	There's a reason that Otherworldly Power Beams are so rare.
	They hurt.
	A LOT.
	More specifically, they feel as if some giant is holding a 
magnifying glass over you, trying to set you on fire, as millions of 
red hot pokers stab you in every cell of your body and someone is 
using your ceribelum for a drum solo.
	Something, to this day I'm still not exactly sure what, knocked me 
away and into the door, where I slumped to the ground in a daze.  In 
their defence, the effects of an Otherworldly Power Beam wear off 
surprisingly quick.  However, my poor eyes received another shock as 
they came into focus and caught sight of what was kneeling on my bed.

	There, unmoving, was Space Sailor Moon, now about the same size as a 
human.  For a moment, I thought that, whatever had happened, had only 
increased the size of the amalgamated figure.
	That only lasted until she moved.
	I don't mean moved in the herky jerky motion of an-action-figure-
given-a-parody-of-life way, but moved in a flesh, muscle and bone 
kind of way.  She raised her right arm experimentally, clenched her 
fist, unclenched, blinked, did the same with her other arm and hand, 
then turned her head, and froze as our gazes locked.
	For a minute, neither one of us moved, and my thoughts were like 
this...

	"Ohm'god!Ohm'god!Ohm'god!Ohm'god!Ohm'god!Ohm'god!Oh'mGOD!"

	Not very productive, was it?
	Space Sailor Moon blinked those honey colored eyes of hers again and 
then, the thought of imprinting entered my mind.  "She's part lizard,
" I reasoned, "so she might have the instinct to imprint the first 
creature she sees as a parent."
	I don't know WHY I thought that, it seems pretty silly when I think 
back on it, but then again, when you're mind can't handle so much 
radically new information all at once, it tends to bring up trivia in 
a desperate attempt to keep you rational.
	Not too far into the future, I would become very used to this 
feeling.
	I opened my mouth and tried to say something in greeting, but all 
that came out was, "H... h... he... (gulp)."
	The amalgamated creature's tail twitched slightly as she 
absentmindedly brushed a lock of her hair back, and asked, "Who are 
you?"
	"I'm..." I started to say, glad that she seemed simply curious.
	"Who am I?" she asked, without waiting for an answer to the first 
question.
	"Okay then.  You're, at least I THINK you're..."
	"What am I?  Where am I?  Am I good or evil?  What can I do?  Who 
are my friends?  Who are my enemies?  Do I have a boyfriend or 
husband?  A girlfriend or a wife?  Am I smart or stupid?  Where do I 
live?  Do I have a family?  Do I watch television or read books?  
What is my favorite hobby?  Am I a realist or a dreamer?"
	At this point, after trying to interject several times, I yelled, 
"ONE AT A TIME!  PLEASE!"
	However, she kept on droning on, "Do I have a job?  Do I go to 
school?  Am I from earth or the stars?  Am I coordinated or klutzy?  
Am I happy or sad?  Am I a virgin?  Am I strong or weak?  Do I drink 
coffee or tea?  What foods do I like?  What do I need to survive?  Am 
I a killer?  How old am I?  Can I be trusted with a secret?"
	On and on, it went.  Question after question after question, with no 
apparent order as she asked for more and more information about 
herself, but never gave me the chance to answer.  I gave up yelling, 
as it seemed to be only giving me a sore throat, and decided that the 
best course of action was to wait until she finished.
	"Those are all good questions," a voice behind me said.
	Both of us looked behind me, and saw a man in silver armor with a 
visored helmet of the same color, and an appearance that screamed, 
"Faceless Flunky".  Flunky continued, "And we're going to see about 
getting you, both of you, some answers."
	That was when he pulled, what I would later learn was called, the 
stun rifle on us and fired a wide blast of blue energy.  Unlike the 
Otherworldly Power Beam, this felt as if something just reached into 
my brain, found the switch that controlled consciousness, and simply 
turned it off.

	As I floated in the black, dreamless void, I felt the urge to say 
the word, "Shazbut."

TO BE CONTINUED IN....
Part 2: Welcome to the FFML.