>        Ryoga Hibiki looked around and felt himself in a familiar
>situation-Not knowing where he was. Of course, the place where he found
>himself now was even more unusual than before. There was snow covering rocky
>peaks, a large but primative mining town ahead of him, but, most of all, the
>three large mecha heading towards him at an incredible rate of speed. He
>barely managed to jump out of the way, still asking himself if he'd wandered
>onto a live-action Gundam set. He turned to see where the mechs were going
>when he saw, to his horror, that they had stopped and were heading straight
>for him.
>        "Who are you?" one of the men in the mechs asked.
>        "My name's Ryoga..." he began, until the mech fired a laser at him.
>It was obvious he didn't really want an answer. He looked at the other two,
>which followed suit. His attention was quickly drawn to a young girl in one
>of the mechs, with a crown of some kind on her head. She looked almost
>comatose, but she was still operating the vehicle. 
>        "Doubtlessly," he said to himself, "The fiends are controlling that
>girl!" He jumped out of the way of another blast. He pulled his umbrella
>from atop his pack, and used it to block the next attack of the machines. He
>then threw it. It slid across the ground right-side up, then sliced off the
>legs of one of the mechs. Its pilot jumped from it just as the upper half
>hit the ground and exploded. The other two mechs fired at him, and he
>quickly jumped back. He looked at the girl's mech, trying to figure out a
>way to disarm it without hurting her.
>        "Disarm...that's it!" Ryoga said, then pulled out two of his
>bandanas. He threw them at the mech and, exactly as he'd planned, it sliced
>off the two arms. The girl continued to try and attack, but the mech did
>not-could not-respond. The other mech fired at him again, but missed somehow.
>        "I got lucky." Ryoga thought. "Well, let's end this."
>        Ryoga concentrated on his enemy, then saw a point appear on the
>middle of it. The machine fired at him again, but Ryoga dodged the blasts.
>He then extended one finger and touched the point he had seen. The machine
>tettered back and forth for a second, then exploded into millions of pieces.
>Ryoga had to grin at how easy it was. He then jumped onto the mech and
>pulled the young girl from it. She struggled, at least until Ryoga removed
>the crown. Then she fell unconscious. Ryoga sat her down and walked over to
>the two disoriented pilots. He picked up one in each arm and hoisted them
>into the air.
>        "Now, you should tell me what's going on, before I get REALLY MAD!"
>        "Well, we were on a mission for Emperor Gestahl..."
>        "Silence Vicks!"
>        "Gestahl?" Ryoga said, confused. "Who is this Gestahl?"
>        "B..but everyone's heard of Gestahl!" the other trooper said.
>        Ryoga drew him closer to his face. "I haven't, so apparently not
>everyone has."
>        "H..he controls the Empire!"
>        "You lie! That's Clinton!"
>        "Clinton?" the soldier said. "Are you some kinda Narshe weirdo?"
>        "What's Narshe?" Ryoga demanded.
>        "The town behind you, stupid!"
>        "Hooboy," Ryoga thought, "I've REALLY gotten lost now."
>
>        "And so, you think that's how Ryoga disappeared?" Akane asked.
>        "Yes. These sorts of things pop up all the time." Cologne replied.
>        "Great-grandmother, why you so concerned about Ryoga?" Shampoo
>asked. "He just silly boy with no sense direction."
>        "That may be true, Shampoo," Cologne said, "But Ryoga could
>inadvertantly destroy a reality by interfering. Because he is so good and
>pure of heart, he might assist in averting a tragedy that was supposed to
>happen."   
>        "This is starting to sound like War of the Realities!*" Ranma said.
>        "Like WHAT?" Akane asked. 
>        "Oh, this story I read on this list server thing. The person behind
>it has the crazy idea that fiction is REAL!" Ranma started laughing, but was
>quickly silenced by a rap of Cologne's cane.
>        "That's an idea it took 500 years for our Amazon tribe to come up
>with, son in law!" 
>        "Stop calling me that!" Ranma said, but quickly found himself doused
>with cold water. He turned to see Shampoo holding a bucket.
>        "What did you do that for?"
>        "Ranma will be Shampoo's husband, no?"
>        "Yeah yeah." Ranma-chan said, then started sulking.
>        "So, what you must do is go through the gate Ryoga went through and
>try to stop him before he does any damage."
>        "Let me get this straight:I have to go through some dangerous
>portal, potentially risk my life, to save RYOGA?" Ranma-chan shot back.
>        "Yes. But it is to save your reality."
>        "Oh alright. I suppose I can endure having to save Ryoga if it'll
>save the world as we know it."
>        "I'll go too." Akane said, standing up. "I wouldn't want you
>accidentally leaving Ryoga behind."
>        "If Ranma go, Shampoo go too."
>        "Shampoo!" Mousse said, appearing out of nowhere. "If you're going
>somewhere dangerous, I'll go to protect you!"
>        "Count me in too, Ranma."
>        "Ukyou?" Ranma-chan said, shocked.
>        "Of course it's me." she said, jumping down. "Ryoga's gone and done
>it this time, and I'd like to be there to smack him around."
>        "Alright boy! If you're going on some kind of crazy adventure, you
>can count me in too." Genma said, walking over.
>        "Why does it seem that any time you have to face some grave peril,"
>Cologne whispered to Ranma, "You get such a huge group?"
>        "Hey, at least Kuno isn't...HOT WATER! QUICK, BEFORE HE GETS HERE!"
>
>        Somehow, this was all seeming remarkably familiar to Ryoga. He'd had
>deja vu before-Maybe he had been here before, it was just different. But it
>wasn't like HE'D been here before, it was almost as if someone had told him
>about it. When he thought about it, he thought Ranma had told him about it.
>        "Thank you, kind stranger, for saving our village and this girl's
>life. You protected the Esper from Gestahl's hands. He will probably be
>back, angry. But you have saved us for now. We were able to move the Esper
>to a hidden place."
>        "Esper?"
>        "You didn't know? Then you must be a Returner! You are fighting
>against Gestahl and his hordes!"
>        "Returner?" Ryoga said. "No! I'm just trying to find Tokyo!"
>        "Tokyo? I have never heard of such a place."
>        "But..." Ryoga began, but noticed that the girl began to stir. Ryoga
>ran to her side.
>        "You...you saved me." she said.
>        "Yes. Was it...the right thing to do?"
>        "Yes. An evil man known as Kefka placed the Slave Crown on me to use
>me. Because of my powers..."
>        "Powers? Do you use your chi, as I do?" Ryoga asked.
>        "No, it's magic." she said. "Wh..what's your name, kind one?"
>        Ryoga blushed. He had completely forgotten to tell his name. "Ryoga
>Hibiki."
>        "I'm Terra Branford." she said. "Pleased to meet you."
>        Suddenly, the door was opened, and a man ran in, frantic.
>        "The Empire's forces! They're here!"
>        "Locke, quickly, take these two to the hidden caves. You must hurry.
>They possess great powers."
>        "Come on, follow me!" Locke said, and ran to a hidden back door.
>Terra tried to get to her feet, but couldn't. Ryoga quickly helped her onto
>his back. This all seemed so familiar now...
>        The three ran across a wooden bridge, and were spotted by the
>Imperial forces. A man dressed in brightly-colored clothes ran to the front.
>        "Get the spellcaster back!" he cried. "I don't care what you do to
>the other two!"
>        "Yes, Lord Kefka!" they said, then began firing flaming arrows at
>the bridge.
>        "No, you fools!" Kefka cried.
>        Empire, Gestahl, Terra, Locke, Kefka... It suddenly all clicked. 
>        "Final Fantasy VI!" * Ryoga cried, remembering the game Ranma was
>always playing.
>        But how could he be living a video game?
>
>        *-Ryoga lives in Japan, so it would be FFVI to him.
>
>
        *-The War of the Realities line was a joke about a group of stories
that had been going around on the list server. 


        "Now, Cologne, there was one thing we didn't cover yet..." Ranma
said, toweling off the steaming water.
        "And that was, son-in-law?"
        "HOW THE HECK DO WE GET BACK?"
        "Oh, Ryoga will know the way." 
        "WHAT?" Ranma said, suddenly panicked. "Ryoga has trouble finding
the toilet in the bathroom! And he's supposed to be able to lead us back?"
        "He will find the gateway back, though probably by accident."
Cologne said, smiling. "Take care, son-in-law. And remember, don't disturb
ANYTHING in this world! It could have cataclysmic consequences."
        "Yeah yeah. I'll be careful not to destroy the world as we know it.
C'mon, let's go." Ranma then turned to the glowing portal in front of him.
To his suprise, Soun Tendo and Kesumi had suddenly appeared in front of him.
Soun, as usual, was crying.
        "Ranma...please...don't let anything happen to Akane..."
        "DAD!" Akane said, annoyed at her father's constant melodramatic
behavior.
        "Ranma...be careful...please don't destroy the universe!" Soun said,
failing to regain his composure.
        "Have fun Ranma!" Kesumi said, cheerful as ever.
        "Okay, let's go!" Ranma said, and he and the others jumped through
the portal. Cologne wiped the sweat from her forehead.
        "Thank goodness no one unstable went through the..."
        "Ranma, darling!" Kodachi said, appearing out of nowhere. Hot on her
heels was her brother.
        "Saotome, wither the pig-tailed goddess?" he cried. Cologne tried to
stop them, but the two ran blindly into the portal. Cologne looked around her.
        "Hmmm...the destruction of the universe doesn't begin instantly."

        Mere seconds after his epiphany, Ryoga noticed the soldiers'
attention was diverted. Some remained fixed on he and his strange allies,
but more were running towards a spot further away from them. He found
himself stopping to see what was the matter. He definately heard the words
"Sorceress!" being yelled. It was only then that he noticed the bridge
holding them up was now on fire. He decided that it was unimportant, until
he heard a familiar voice.
        "Get away from me, you idiots!"
        "How the heck did she..." he began to think, but Locke quickly ran
over and tapped him on the shoulder. 
        "Um, excuse me, but this bridge is about to burn down."
        "Excuse me, please, but could you take her for a second?" Ryoga
asked Locke. He handed Terra over to him, then jumped down.
        "What are you doing?" Locke exclaimed.
        "A friend of mine's in trouble." Ryoga said, then ran over to where
the soldiers were. Sure enough, there she was, trying to fend off the
well-armed troops. Ryoga jumped up and onto the cliff wall above most of the
soldiers, then touched it.
        "BUKSAI TENKIN!" he cried, and the cliff suddenly exploded. Just as
he hoped the soldiers ran away from it...and her. He jumped down and picked
her up.
        "What, exactly, do you think you're doing Ryoga?" Ukyou asked him,
annoyed.
        "I'm trying to save you. Unless, of course, you'd rather stay back
there with the army."
        "But do you realize you might be changing the fabric of..." Ukyou
stopped when Ryoga landed in front of a man dressed in brightly colored clothes.
        "Kefka." Ryoga said.
        "You know this guy?" Ukyou asked.
        "Remember that game Ranma plays?" Ryoga asked. Ukyou nodded, then
looked at Kefka in recognition.
        "But how..." Ukyou said, but Kefka silenced her by raising his hand. 
        "You can argue amongst yourselves later. I want some answers. Not
even the finest students of Duncan can do what you just did, boy. Are you a
mage? Are you with the Returners? Are you..."
        "One question at a time, please." Ryoga said sarcastically. 
        "Why did you attack my soldiers?" Kefka asked.
        "They attacked me first. Besides, I don't really care for people who
enslave helpless creatures!"
        "What?!? How could you...YOU'RE AN ESPER!" Kefka said, then dived at
Ryoga, who simply jumped out of the way, grabbing Ukyou as he did so. He
jumped back onto the cave where Locke and Terra had gone, then smiled as he
saw how frustrated his enemy was.
        "You'll pay for that!" Kefka cried.
        "Hey, you should cool off." Ryoga said, then threw two of his
bandanas at a large accumulation of snow above Kefka. It fell down and
quickly engulfed the fiend. Ryoga made sure he was down for the moment, then
ran into the cave. Locke and Terra were waiting for them.
        "You alright?" Locke asked.
        "I just had a close encounter with Kefka, but I'm no worse for wear.
And you?"
        "Not bad, considering the Empire'll have a bounty on my head soon."
        "Well, I'm in good company then." Ryoga replied.
        "Who's your friend?" Locke asked.
        "It's a long story. But we'd better go..."
        "Wait!" Ukyou said. "Ranma and the others..."
        "Ranma? He's here too?"
        "Yes! A lot of us came here, after Cologne found out about this. I
assumed we'd all show up here."
        "Found out about what?"
        "Cologne was worried you might interfere with...oh no, you've
already done it, haven't you? You helped them, so you changed the universe."
        "Well, um, I guess so." Ryoga said sheepishly. "Did I do something
wrong?"

        "WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" 
        With that, Ranma crashed into the sandy floor of the desert. He
looked around, and saw Akane running over to his side.
        "Ranma, are you alright?"
        "Of course I am Akane." he said, brushing the sand off himself. "I
just fell from an altitude of who knows what and landed without cushioning.
I'm feeling greeeat."
        "Oh, shut up you jerk." Akane said, then turned around. She saw
Mousse, looking around in a panic.
        "Shampoo? Where are you?" he said, then turned to see them. He ran
over and took hold of the still-dazed Ranma.
        "Oh Shampoo! I was so worried that something had happened to you..."
A quick punch from Ranma quickly sent him to the ground. Mousse pulled his
glasses down over his eyes, and saw Ranma.
        "Oh." he said, then looked around.
        "Where's Shampoo?" he said, looking around.
        "And Ukyou, and Pop?" Ranma said, slowly getting back to his feet. 
        "Maybe the dimensional door put us all in different places around
the world." Akane offered.
        "Maybe." Ranma replied. "I sure wish Cologne had come with us."
        "Who knows if she would have been put in the same spot as us,
though." Mousse said, looking around. "This definately complicates things,
if we not only have to find Ryoga, but others as well."
        "Wow Mousse, you're pretty well composed for Shampoo being lost."
Ranma said. 
        "It wouldn't help us if I was to over-react to this." Mousse said.
"Besides, before we left I had some ramen she made for you, DRUGGED ramen.
I'm the wiiiind..."
        "Okay, Mousse is a Thanksgiving balloon right now, and we have no
idea where we are. This is not a problem." Ranma said.
        "Hey guys, the ground is moving!" Mousse said, then fell over.
        "He's worse off than I thought." Akane said, shocked. She looked
down, and to her horror, the ground was indeed moving.
        "I didn't have any ramen..." she said to herself. Then, from the
sands, something began to rise. Akane and Ranma jumped to the side, while
Mousse, still in a stupor, remained prone on the now rising wall. 
        "I'm flying!" he said suddenly, and began to laugh like a maniac.
        "Akane, I can't believe it...do you know what that is?" Ranma said,
looking up in shock and amazement.
        "Some kind of ancient, legendary martial arts training hall."
        "No...it's Castle Figaro from Final Fantasy VI!"
        SMACK!
        "Honestly Ranma, you're shouldn't treat this as a joke!" Akane said,
as Ranma twitched beneath her sledgehammer. Suddenly, the gates opened and
two large birds, with riders on their backs, walked out. Behind them was a
man dressed in the garb of royalty, and it certainly wasn't the Gambling King.
        "King Edgar..." Ranma managed to say. Akane lifted up the hammer.
        "Who are you, and how do you know of me?" Edgar asked as he walked
forward. "You are strangers to my land..." he then noticed Akane to Ranma's
side, "And I would certainly remember a young lady as beautiful as you."
        Edgar quickly took Akane's hand and kissed it. She blushed and
smiled, making Ranma furious.
        "I really hated this guy in the game." he said in a low voice.
        "I'm Akane Tendo, and this is Ranma Saotome. And, the man up on your
castle wall, that's Mousse."
        "So, why are you here?" Edgar asked, confused.
        "That's a long story, your highness." Akane said.
        "Well, then I must make you my guests in the palace, for I would
like to hear it."
        "Why, thank you!" Akane said.
        "The pleasure of having you as a guest is reward enough, my dear."
        "This guy is REALLY annoying." Ranma said, but Akane stepped on his
head and forced it into the sand.
        "Oh, I'm sorry Ranma," she said in a sweet voice that lacked
sincerity, "I didn't see you there."