Standard disclaimer: I do not own anything in this fan fiction except for the idea behind it and even that is mostly blatantly stolen from a multitude of sources. And if you don't like that, then SUE ME! Uhm, why are you all staring at me like that? No, it was a joke! Really! No, don't take my computer, no, not my videogames, no, not my cat!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!! *Sounds of a man being stripped of everything he own can be heard. * (Does anyone know that sound effect BTW?) Timelines: Everything in the canon Ranma ˝ has happened in this fan fiction with the exception of the Saffron incident. Only the Ranma ˝ reference in this fan fiction will use a modified timeline. Any other references will really just use the characters without any complex plots and/or situations. Age rating: If you can understand all the crap I'm spouting then you are definitely old enough to read this fan fiction. "Japanese " *Thoughts* Kenneth Lönnberg aka Macross_VF1 proudly presents: Balance of Chaos Chapter 2: The beginning and the end *** - - - - *** "Well that was fun." The man who had introduced himself as Wildman deadpanned. He looked down on himself and sighed. "Damn, the fools got lucky." His weapons and bulky armour disappeared while he started fingering the cracks in his right breastplate as if measuring how badly damaged it were. He stopped and pressed a button on his wrist and with a loud hiss and a release of steam the breastplate came loose. Wildman grabbed the plate and calmly dropped it to the ground while a new one materialized out of thin air. The dropped plate made a loud *Thump* against the concrete, indicating that it was quite heavy. Sailor Pluto did not like this person. He had used energy that she interpreted as evil. Secondly, being the Guardian of Time also made her sensitive to Space-Time anomalies. And boy, did she feel a space-time anomaly when this guy showed up. His somewhat fearsome appearance and his cold-blooded and almost mechanical slaughter of the enemy only further convinced her that this guy was not exactly the nicest person to have around. She quickly checked the Time Gate and found to her surprise that it was working again. She almost gasped out loud, when she checked the time stream. The most common possibility was that Earth was destroyed. The second possibility did have a healthy Earth, but no Crystal Tokyo. While Wildman changed the damaged armour, the Sailor Senshi, with the exception of Pluto had watched with stunned expressions. Sailor Pluto took a step forward, certain that the other Senshi would follow her lead, when she attacked. Sailor Mercury snapped out of her daze when she saw what Pluto was planning. "Pluto, stop!" She cried out. All the Senshi stopped and looked at her. Pluto raised an eyebrow. "And why not, Mercury? This... person is a huge threat to the timeline. I think you of all people would agree with me on that." "Yeah, but he asked me to stop you from attacking him." "Oh? And when did you talk to him?" "Uhm... well... he hacked the Mercury computer..." Mercury answered looking somewhat ashamed. "Yup I sure did, but that was only because it was the closest connection. I'm sorry about it though." Now all the Senshi turned to Wildman. He looked at them with a wild grin and a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You!" Pluto hissed. "Satan is that you?" Wildman replied in mock surprise. "Don't think we will be fooled by your appearance, negaverse scum!" "Oh! Venom is dripping from you when you speak! Please, let me take a sample to study!" Pluto didn't really now how to respond to that except with brutal force. "Dead Scream." She whispered. Wildman merely sidestepped the attack, while changing his expression from playful to deadly serious. "Hmph, what's your problem, really? Maybe it's that time of the month? It's not like I'm planning to stay long, I'll probably leave this pathetic piece of dirt you call a planet to find someplace that's a little more friendly. Maybe hell or something. Besides didn't you watch me 5 minutes ago? I took out an entire attack force of hostile aliens and a spaceship by myself, something I doubt that you could do. Believe me when I say this: You DON'T want to mess with me." Pluto however didn't really listen to him, she was preoccupied being pissed off and she prepared another attack. Wildman only shook his head before counterattacking. Just as Pluto was about to launch a second dead scream, she suddenly found Wildman in front of her with his fist planted in her gut. "Impossible..." was Pluto's last thought before unconsciousness claimed her. The other Senshi had not had time to react to Wildman's attack as he seemingly disappeared only to reappear in front of Pluto. He quickly held up a hand in a gesture of peace. "You go back to your headquarter or whatever you call and I'll drop by with Pluto in an hour." "What are you going to do to her?" Sailor Moon asked with a worried expression while the other senshi prepared to attack in a desperate attempt of retaliation and hopefully rescue Pluto, though most of them still doubted their ability to actually defeat this foe. "I'm going to her 'home' and hopefully talk some sense into her. Whatever you may think now, you must believe me when I say that I'm not your enemy." As if sensing the next question he continued "And if you think that my attack on Pluto proves otherwise, think again. Remember, SHE attacked ME first." He carefully picked up Pluto in his arms and a portal opened beside him. "Oh, by the way, I know quite well where your 'headquarters' is so don't worry about that" He stepped into the portal with Pluto and vanished. The Senshi just stood there for a minute trying in their own way to figure out what had truly happened and how to react to it. The sounds of approaching police, ambulance and fire-vehicles however didn't let them think for long. "Ok, let's go to our headquarters." Sailor Moon exclaimed. "Hey! Since when did I allow you to call my home a headquarters?" Rei protested. "Oh quiet Mars." *** It took only 15 minutes to return to the Hikawa Shrine. Unfortunately the following 40 minutes was not exactly used in an efficient manner. Usagi complained about nothing to eat while reading Rei's mangas. Rei ranted about how they should kill this new enemy. Of course she also yelled quite at Usagi for reading her manga and not acting as a leader. Minako and Makoto were naturally worried about Setsuna, but they were mostly preoccupied with dreams of this new and handsome guy. Makoto obviously stated that Wildman looked just like her old boyfriend. Ami didn't say much except for answering questions on Wildman's capabilities while trying to figure out just how he had connected and hacked the Mercury Computer. Haruka and Michiru tried to form some type of battle plan but that was a lost cause with all the chaos going on around them. Hotaru just sat silent and prayed that Setsuna was all right. The moon cats didn't understand much of all the commotion except that a new enemy had supposedly kidnapped Setsuna. Somehow in the midst of this chaos they finally agreed on a sort of battle plan. Five minutes before the allotted time ran out they would hide themselves around the shrine and the shrine grounds just in case this Wildman had lied to them about not being their enemy. *** A portal shimmered into existence in the middle of the shrine grounds and a man recognizable as Wildman stepped out. He quickly glanced around and held out a hand to the portal. A slender hand reached out and took the offered hand and Pluto stepped out. "See? My way isn't so bad." Wildman cheerfully proclaimed. Pluto only glared at Wildman. "C'mon, you've gotta loosen up. It can't be healthy for you using that glare all the time. Besides you'll get wrinkles." Pluto intensified her glare. "Oh well, suit yourself. Now what do we have here..." He smirked as he looked around again. "Heh, one might think that you've set up an ambush. Now come out in the open." He ordered. No answer came. Wildman rolled his eyes "Please, do you really want me to embarrass you further by actually having to drag each of you out of hiding?" He pointed to a bush "There's Sailor Mars." A stone "Sailor Saturn." A tree "Sailor Venus. I can tell where more of you are but where's the point in that? Now come out!" Now he got a reaction as the Senshi slowly came out of their respective hiding places and gathered on the yard looking somewhat dumb since they couldn't figure out just how he had known where they had hid. "My, aren't you girls cute." Wildman commented with a smile. Most of the girls blushed at that comment but Mars predictably blowed up in fury instead. "What are you, a pervert?" Wildman calmly replied with a shrug. "Been there, done that." That wasn't exactly the response she was expecting but Mars didn't let such a small thing stop her. "What have you done to Pluto? I swear if you have harmed her I'll kill you!" "Other than doing a revised version of a Vulcan mind meld, she's just fine. Besides you shouldn't be angry all the time. It will make you dumber by killing your brain cells." The other senshi snickered at this comment and only made Mars angrier. However before she could retort, Pluto cut her off. "Please Mars, calm down, I'm perfectly fine. Everything will be explained. Let's go into the shrine." Satisfied with the answer, Mars and the rest of the senshi went into the shrine with Wildman and Pluto following behind them. *** When they entered the shrine, Wildman told them to drop the disguises. It took a little convincing but when he told them that he could recognize them by their aura, as demonstrated earlier, they finally agreed and introduced their real life personas. As soon as everyone had settled down, Wildman spoke up. "I suppose you want to know who and what I am." He paused to gauge their reactions. Satisfied that he had their attention he continued. "My name is Wildman, Ranma Wildman. Well actually Ranma is the only name I can truly claim for myself. Some two millennia ago I was somehow transported to another dimension" Now this truly captured their attention. "I don't know why or how it happened but when I woke up I found myself in the care of a race called the Eldar. The Eldar are tall and lithe with pointy ears. They are truly beautiful to behold. They are also proud and a bit arrogant. If you could imagine an elf then you can imagine an Eldar except that the Eldar are highly advanced." He smiled at the memory. "Now the Eldar are on the verge of extinction due to a very tragic moment in their history and they struggle to survive, especially against humans, which incidentally are viewed as nothing more than filthy barbarians or Mon-Keigh as the Eldar prefer to call humans. Now imagine me, a 'lowly' Mon-Keigh, coming from nowhere into the very core of their most holy sanctum. To say that they were upset is an understatement. Something happened though. I don't have any memories of this or my time before my arrival at the Eldar craftworld but from what I've been told I tried to escape from the upset Eldar. "What is a craftworld?" Ami interjected. "A craftworld is basically a self-contained spaceship the size of a small planet. As for the reason why the Eldar live on these craftworlds, I could tell you but not right now. Now back to the story. Somehow when I tried to make my escape I accidentally came upon a truly ancient artefact. An artefact that held an equally ancient prophecy, I might add. This artefact attached itself to me and changed me a bit." It was rather obvious that he wasn't telling everything about the artefact. "The Eldar were at a loss as how to deal with me. I fulfilled the prophecy but I still was a Mon-Keigh. A civil war almost broke out because of my presence. In the end they allowed me to live and I was slowly allowed to gain a place in the Eldar society. I became a warrior and helped the Eldar survive. Ultimately I gained the trust of all Eldar, although it took almost a thousand years, and they truly believed that I was the person the prophecy had spoken of. However, disaster struck." He took a shuddering breath before he continued. "My wife and daughter became victims of a dark and horrible god called Slaanesh. Slaanesh was the Chaos god of perverse pleasure and the nemesis of the Eldar race. When I found my wife and daughter, my mind went blank. A year later I woke up on an Eldar spaceship carrying me back to the craftworld. From what I've been told, I went into a berserk rage that ended with the destruction of Slaanesh. In the aftermath two other Chaos gods Khorne, the Chaos god of war, and Tzeentch, the Chaos god of magic, disappeared when they battled to claim the former domains of Slaanesh." "I on the other hand was a total wreck. I hadn't had time to grieve my family and to me, the almost complete victory over the Chaos gods, was a poor consolation. However I got a second chance. I was somehow transported to yet another dimension and from there the shifts only became more and more frequent. A thousand years has passed since I last saw an Eldar and here I am now. The next shift will probably occur in a year or two and then I'll no longer be a problem to you. Now, can you believe me when I yet again state that I'm not your enemy?" The senshi looked at each other trying to decide what to do. He seemed sincere and his story was really to complex for just a fabrication. Coming to a silent conclusion Usagi spoke up for all the Senshi "Ok, we trust you... for now." "Are you sure that is wise, Usagi" Luna frowned at her. "For all we know, he could be some kind of infiltrator." "Oh shut up Luna! You're just being paranoid. Besides you weren't there at the fight. You should have seen his weapons. They are so advanced that he could probably destroy the moon." She said jokingly. "Actually they can." Ranma answered truthfully. All the Senshi turned and glared at him. Ranma couldn't help sweat dropping under the combined glare of nine girls and two talking cats and understandably he fidgeted somewhat when he spoke "Uhm, well you see... well, you know the shoulder gun I fired during the fight?" All the senshi nodded while continuing their unified glare. "Well depending on what power source I use, I could potentially destroy this entire solar system. I normally use water, antimatter or even protoculture but I have a few canisters loaded with Omega particles." Ami gasped and paled visibly when he mentioned this. The other Senshi couldn't help but to notice. "Ami? Could you please explain what this stuff does?" Usagi asked with worry in her voice. Ami took a few breaths to calm herself before she spoke up. "I only know the theory but an omega particle is supposedly the most complex particle that exist. And since the more complex a particle gets, the more energy it contains, the most complex one should theoretically hold unimaginable amounts energy." "Couldn't be more right." Ranma answered. "I can understand your worry, believe me, I know first hand what even one Omega particle can do, so I constantly worry about it myself. Each canister is carefully stored in a separate parallel dimension to myself, which should prevent any large- scale destruction of the dimension I reside in although I can't be totally sure of that. Omega particles are way to unstable and too rare to experiment on." "Well I forbid you from EVER using them!" Usagi almost yelled. Satisfied that she had made her point clear, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You said you did something to Setsuna... If you hurt her..." She left the threat hanging. "Relax, I only did a revised Vulcan mind meld. It does hurt when it's applied, but Setsuna was unconscious when I performed it so she didn't feel a thing, except maybe a headache in an hour or two." "Thanks for the warning." Setsuna replied dryly. "And exactly why did you do this mind thingy, and what does it do?" Usagi asked. "My version of it allows for a constant link between two minds, in this case mine and Setsuna's. Thanks to it, I can sense what Setsuna is currently thinking of and vice versa." He turned to Setsuna with a smirk on his face. "What am I thinking Setsuna?" Setsuna blushed and replied with "Pervert." Ranma only chuckled and turned back to the others. "This was the only way I could convince her not to constantly attack me at first sight, since she now can feel if I am planning anything against you. Other than that I also made a deal to help you out." "Is this true?" Usagi asked Setsuna. Setsuna sighed. "Yes, as much as I would like to see him dead or worse I cannot find any evil intentions in him." "Yeah I love you too." Ranma deadpanned. Setsuna levelled a truly horrifying glare at Ranma, while the other Senshi snickered. However Setsuna's glare turned into an evil grin as she formed a plan to get him back. She stood up and walked over to Artemis and picked him up. "Hey! What gives?" Artemis yelled undignified. "Oh nothing, right Ranma?" Setsuna said while grinning like a madman. Ranma started to fidget where he sat. "Uhm, please stop that." "Oh come on. Don't tell me the big bad dimension traveller got a problem with a little kitty?" Setsuna said as if she talked to a small child. She slowly stepped closer to Ranma, and he visibly got more and more nervous as she came closer. "Yeah, the big bad dimension traveller with really nifty guns and cool equipment is afraid of cats, happy now? I've had a phobia for cats for as long as I can remember, though I'm fine as long as they don't touch me. Now put the damn thing away! No offence, of course." "None taken..." Both Luna and Artemis answered while the Senshi rolled around on the floor laughing. Ranma cleared his throat to get their attention "Now as I was saying earlier, before someone..." Now it was Ranma that levelled a glare. Setsuna just looked extremely smug and ignored him. The other Senshi just snickered some more. "...decided to play a practical joke on me, I had to make a deal with Setsuna. The deal consists of three parts. First and foremost I promise to protect this planet to the best of my abilities. Secondly I will do what I can to ensure Crystal Tokyo. Third and last, I will train you to be better fighters." Noticing some of scowls he got from some of the Senshi he continued before they could comment. "Yeah some of you might think your good fighters but you are not even beginners compared to most of my friends. I have two millennia of experience, spread over hundreds of dimensions, in almost every possible field of fighting, from one-on-one to spaceship battles involving thousands of craft. When it comes to fighting there's not really anyone better than me." He seemed strangely sad when he said this. Ranma stood up and stretched. "Well I think that is enough for today, don't you agree?" Usagi was quick to agree, but the others especially Ami still had a bunch of questions. Not that it helped that they all started asking questions at the same time. Ranma only held up his hand to stop them. "No, I won't answer any more questions right now. Tell you what, I'll be back in a week to start your training, and if time allows it, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions and maybe even tell a story or two about my travels." "Where are you going then?" Ami asked. "I'm gonna check out this planet and see if there's anything I've missed with my preliminary scans. It is always good to 'know the map' so to speak, especially if you're a dimension traveller. Besides, I reckon that my somewhat explosive entry onto this planet has gotten the attention of more than one secret agency and possibly some evil villains and/or people bent on world domination." Rei couldn't understand his attitude; to her it was like he was bragging about how high and mighty he was. "Yeah, right 'Mister Important'. Like that's gonna happen." Ranma only rolled his eyes; he had already learned not to expect any less from Rei. "It has happened before, and I'm quite sure it will happen again. It wouldn't surprise me if there already was some sort of agency charged with the task of monitoring super powered persons such as your little group." Now this shut up Rei, and all the others nervously started looking around as if they were expecting to find anyone spying on them. 'Heh, talk about being paranoid.' Ranma smiled to himself. 'Still, I could probably pull a prank or two.' The unexpected voice in his head startled Ranma. Setsuna's almost permanent glare at Ranma slowly turned into a frown as she turned to look at him. Setsuna's frown deepened. Setsuna let out a sigh of relief. He almost scolded her. Ranma replied with a grin. Setsuna only shook her head and returned glaring at him. He chuckled in response Setsuna asked in a hopeful tone. They both turned to let the others know they were leaving only to find themselves being stared at. "Uhm, I think I'll leave now." Ranma said while almost running out of the shrine. Setsuna was not far behind; she didn't want to answer any questions, as she was sure the others would jump to conclusions. She shivered at that thought, there was no way she would let them believe there was something going on between her and Ranma, other than plans for killing him. "What was that all about?" Minako asked no one in particular. "Beats me" Usagi answered for all of them. *** Nabiki had a headache. As soon as she saw the news clip of Ranma, she had worked hard to gather everyone that would be interested in Ranma's return. She knew that if anyone of the usual loons in Nerima had seen the news, they would be itching to find Ranma. That was in it self not so bad, but anything concerning Ranma would invariably mean that the Tendo Dojo would see some action. Nabiki was also concerned about more riots. If the loon squad got over to Juuban, it too might get seriously damaged, just like what happened in Nerima. The government had employed her, along with several other people in Nerima to prevent more outbreaks of rioting. It had sounded like a good idea at the time since the pay was good, but right now Nabiki wished she hadn't went along it. As she came down from the upper floor and heard all the shouts, commotion and bickering coming from the living room, she wished she had at least two boxes of Aspirin available. She walked up to the entrance and sighed at the chaos. Soun was in another one of his crying fits, ranting about how the schools never could be joined. Genma was cursing and muttering about how useless Ranma was. Kuno tried glomping Akane, just as Mousse tried glomping Shampoo. Both only got violence in return for their shows of affection. Ukyo and Kodachi tried to stare each other to death. The only calm people were Kasumi (Nothing strange with that.), Nodoka, Cologne and Happosai (Now that was REALLY strange). Ryoga was the only one that Nabiki had not been able to reach, but considering his infamous sense of direction, that wasn't a surprise. She was rather proud that she had been able to gather everyone with such short notice (With the exception of Ryoga of course.), and without them knowing what had transpired over in Juuban. When she had seen the news clip she prayed that no one important had seen the news at the same time as her. Apparently her prayer had been answered, since they were all here and accounted for. Nabiki cleared her throat to get everybody's attention. Nothing happened. She tried again and yet again failed to clear the chaos. She rubbed her temples in irritation. "Will you just SHUT UP!" She yelled. Now that got their attention. Everyone turned to watch her. She took a deep breath before she continued. "As you might have guessed, I have information concerning the whereabouts of Ranma." She continued before they had a chance to start the chaos again. "However before I start I want you to know that if you don't shut up and listen to what I have to say, I'll charge each one of you 100 000 yen as punishment. As for the Kunos, the amount is 1 million yen." Everyone present, even the half-insane Kunos, knew that Nabiki wouldn't hesitate carrying out a threat involving money so they wisely chose to shut up. Nabiki glanced at her watch. 18:00 "It's time." She said while switching on the TV and flipping to the right channel. "Good afternoon." A male newsreader announced. "Today's top story is the latest attack in the Juuban district of Tokyo. At 15:00 a huge unknown force attacked downtown Juuban in what eyewitnesses describes as a takeover attempt. While the famous Sailor Senshi was present to counter the attack, a new person that totally decimated the attackers interrupted. This is footage taken from the actual scene." The screen changed to give a full view of the battle that had transpired three hours earlier. Nabiki was still amazed by the ferocity of Ranma's attack, despite having already seen this footage. The others present didn't even utter a sound. The battle ended and was replaced by interviews of eyewitnesses and speculations of who this mystery man was and why the Sailor Senshi seemed to have a problem with this new person. The news announcer finished with relating government's usual denial of all knowledge or involvement. Nabiki choose that moment to shut off the TV. She turned to face the assembled group. "Now you know." Nobody spoke for several minutes. Ukyo was the first to break the silence. "Why did he call himself Wildman?" "How should I know that?" Nabiki answered in a tired voice. "He was gone for a week. For all we know he could have gone to hell and heaven and conquered both." Kuno decided to share his 'wisdom'. "So the cur has ties to hell and defiled heaven. I must smite him!" He rose from his place only to be smashed by one of Shampoo's Bonbori. "Thanks for shutting him up." Nabiki said to Shampoo. Shampoo only grinned. "Stupid stick-boy need lesson." "Look, it's entirely possible that he has lost his memories." Nabiki continued. "There are too many questions that need to be answered, so I strongly suggest that not one of you decides to find Ranma. At least not until I've been able to gather more info. In fact, I'll take it upon myself to bring him here. Is that ok with you?" Most people nodded to that. Genma however decided to do a Kuno. "No! We must find him a bring him over now so the schools can be joined." "Yes, without him the schools are doomed!" Soun followed Genma's lead. "Shut up you two." Happousai interjected. "But Master..." Soun started but he quickly shut up when Happousai glared at him "Earlier today I felt a strong aura at the same location that the news said. I dismissed it since Juuban is famous for strange occurrences, but now that I think back to it, it couldn't have been anyone else than Ranma. However seeing him on TV only confirms what I felt earlier; something is not right with the boy. If you bring in him in now, I have no idea what will happen." "As much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with him." Now everyone turned to Cologne. "I too dismissed the aura I felt from Juuban, since it was so... wrong. I'm actually inclined to say that the aura was evil." "Evil?!" Ukyo exclaimed. "C'mon this is Ran-chan we are talking about. He can't be evil." Cologne held up a hand to stop any other comments. "I'm not saying that he is evil, merely that the aura had traces of what could be considered as evil. For all we know, he might be possessed or he may have learned a way to harness evil energy." "So the foul sorcerer shows his true colours. I must smit..." Kuno didn't get any further since he yet again was smashed by Shampoo. Nabiki sighed. "Now, can we agree that I'm in charge of bringing Ranma here? Unless he decides to visit us, no one is allowed to seek him out, understood? And that goes for you too Kuno-baby." Everyone, even Kuno and Kodachi, agreed that Nabiki was to find Ranma. Quickly after that they started bickering again. Nabiki rubbed her temples. She really wished she had a box or two of aspirin. End Chapter Two *** - - - - *** This is supposed to be a somewhat dark story. Doesn't seem like it, right? Don't worry, Ranma's apparent light-hearted attitude will be explained later. I've already hinted some of Ranma's dark past and it should be apparent that his story isn't pretty. The next chapter will see him dealing with the Nerima Wrecking Crew. He will not stand and take any shit from them that's for sure. If you wish to contact me then do so at: kenneth@gon.nu or kenneth.lonnberg@bodenonline.com My works will be available at: My own page - http://www.angelfire.com/anime4/macvf1fanfic And when they get around to update/accept my fics, these sites will also feature my fics: Lady Cosmo's Fanfic Library - http://ladycosmos.anifics.com/ Ranchan & co. Crossing bridges - http://tannim.anifics.com/