(A/N: I've been changing and changing and changing this all the time when I've been bored, and I think I've finally got everything back to the way the original idea was and simplified some of the mechanics of the universe. So, re-read chapter 1. Now that I've tweaked it, I can continue the story with my original plan. Not too many obvious things have changed, but how the Time Gate works, which I'm going to make a plot device when they return. Because of that, some of the Setsuna-interactions will disappear or change for those of you that have read the return from Slayers World that is now removed. I removed it so I can begin posting the story in a linear fashion so everything makes sense. So for now, I'll actually finish the Slayers World arc that has been sitting on my computer and I've been idly working on for a while. Now that I'm back on track, I'm focusing on finishing the dang arc, but it has so much potential it keeps getting longer even though I try to keep every scene simple and just get through it. Not to mention I've slipped up a couple of times on setting up the prerequisits for the story after their return and have to rectify it by writing more. It might end up as bad as Robert Jordan who originally said the Wheel of Time series was only going to be like 5 books, and now there is 11 and a prequel. As it is, this story has over 60,000 words currently on my hard drive. It looks like by the time I finish the Slayers arc, it'll be 60,000 words by itself. This will probably be my longest story. I hope I break the 100,000 word mark, but seeing how much potential I left open in this, unless I catch random writers block, it is going to make it.)

Kami-sama, the All-mighty, God, Odin, and many other titles frowned as he looked at his 'terminal' in his office in Asgard. Although he subtly manipulated reality along with the goddesses under him to achieve certain results and ends, he left much of 'destiny' as it's put, in the hands of the inhabitants he created on Midgard. However, some young well-meaning upstarts appear to be planning for a future that will upset the balance of reality. Good and Evil are relative terms, something that most mortals don't understand. Death and pain is necessary for growth and prosperity. A simple example-- the food chain. Creatures kill other living things to eat and survive, even the plants, at the bottom of the chain, retrieve their nutrients from the earth where previous life had fallen and faded away.

Many years ago in Midgard, there was great prosperity in the solar system containing the earth, and enlightenment of the universe was high. Magic was rampant, the society having an understanding of the universe beyond the physical. But as with all things, there was an end due to greed, a nasty backwash that was inevitable. With so much good for so long, it could only be expect for so much destruction to follow to compensate to keep balance. Thus, the Moon Kingdom had fallen.

However, let it not be said that the Moon Kingdom was inept in their study, as they soon found the threads of power that Odin weaved throughout the universe to bend and mold reality into it's current form. Upon discovering what is called by the gods part of 'yggdrasil', they began to experiment on the system, trying to understand it. Unwittingly they came across one of the threads Odin created himself that could manipulate time and space.

Time is merely a measurement of the rate of movement of energies. It is possible to speed up, or slow down this process locally. It , however, is NOT POSSIBLE to travel time.

When the Queen sent her protectors to the 'future', what she really did is prevent their souls from being recycled by the system until much later. When someone 'travels to the future' of their timeline, what they are actually doing is slowing down their relative time to the surrounding area. Moments pass from the observer's point of view, but from someone outside his reference bubble, decades have passed.

The only reason Odin did not send someone to interrupt the time manipulation was that they were needed to balance out the evils that would form in the future.

The only problem with this was that the protectors were apparently going to overcompensate. At first when the future had a slim possibility of this occurring, He was not worried. But now, the protector who managed to evade the destruction, was manipulating events by using the illegal program interface titled the time gate.

The first ability of the time gate is to use the ygdrasil's monitor function. This is hard to wrap ones mind around, but practically ALL possibilities and realities exists simultaneously. Beyond the edge of each universe, there are infinite universes. Like the soap bubble universe theory. That every universe is like a "bubble" in existence. So if ALL possibilities exist, there is a universe, just like yours that is a few minutes further along. Or perhaps years? Or decades?. Monitoring ones have pasts matching the one you are currently in, gives one the ability to view many different alternate paths for the future of yours to take and make the events happen necessary to make the future you wish occur.

Another problem is that the time gate has the transportation function. The gate exists in the majority of realities that have Sailor Senshi. It allows transportation between gates, and subsequently, realities. And there is a huge cluster of universes that have them. It allows transportation between realities! Whoever is using it thinks that they are traveling time. The truth is they are traveling to similar realities at different points in their progression. Time can be sped up, or slowed down relatively, but one CANNOT travel time.

Odin rubbed his chin. What would He do about it? He could send a god or goddess to investigate. But the sheer manpower would be outrageous. He would have to probably find and rip out time gates from over half of the realities he covered! He only built his system over the majority of realities that had similar quantum designs as this one, after all he came from a similar one. Realities where gravity repelled and similar quantum opposites made his head hurt. Still, the number of realities he covered was somewhere around 1e(10e1,000,000.) Scientific notation. He covered a good portion of the sector of realities dubbed, Ain Soph.

Yggdrasil suddenly alerted him of a foreign energy, which should be impossible since all existence was under it's influence. Theoretically, nothing could be 'foreign', unless…..

An odd ripple appeared before him, as if reality was inverting itself in that very space in the Upper Realm of Asgard. Soon a body formed, in the shape of a woman, although not a very shapely one. Wild bangs became visible, darker than nothingness. Long hair became apparent along with a cape as distortion took substance. There were shoulder guards with large imbedded jewels and a simple shirt of two colors: gold and deepest of black. Pants of one color, a deep black went into darker than crimson boots. Slender arms where adorned with long white gloves that folded into a collar. Odin raised an eyebrow as the face formed, golden eyes and the palest of skin, the lips the black of the sea during a New Moon.

"Ah, Lady of the lake…haven't seen you for a few eons."

The woman gave a frown that seemed to make reality cringe. "The mortals of my 4 realities call me 'Sea of Chaos', how dare you cheapen my title with the word 'Lake'."

Odin grinned infuriatingly. "Why did you decide to take that form? Last time I saw you, you were more like moonlight on a ripple in the sea of reality."

A remote semblance of a smile graced the exotic woman's face. "It is a form similar to a little hellion of chaos who dared to summon and attempt control my power, despite her awareness of her own mortality. She has caused quite a stir among the demon lords of her plane. You could say it has… sentimental value."

Odin raised an eyebrow. "So what brings you here now?"

Glancing at Odin's interface, "Something similar to the problem you're having."

He gave her an inquiring look, asking for elaboration. "I need something to reset the balance. The demon lords are resurrecting their god, and there are few Dragon Gods or dragons to oppose them, having returned to me long ago."

"Why don't you fix it yourself?"

The Lord of Nightmares narrowed her eyes. "You know as well as I do, that too much interference would disrupt the fine balance that is required to maintain relative order and keep my creation in tact. My interference would be too drastic, seeing that even putting a small part of myself, Chaos, into my creation, Order, threatens to tear it from its hinges."

The Lord of Nightmares was a many-dimension being. In fact, she was every possible dimension. Odin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The Lord of Nightmares was the creator of her 4 realities spawned in the Ain sector.

In the universes in Ain Soph sector form a quantum system dubbed the 'Tree of Life'; a system where everything cascades from simple and vague, to complex and certain. Dimensions fold out from creation. Ain sector is a little different and formed on the quantum system dubbed, 'Lake of Chaos.' The 'Lake of Chaos' quantum system is a system where creation simplifies from incomprehensibly complex to more simpler forms.

Odin himself was once a powerful mortal, rumored to be descended of gods, having extra dimensional powers. His universe was in the peak of spiritual and scientific progress, almost to the point that they were one in the same. Using scientific and spiritual theory with his intellect, he created a method to access the rudimentary higher planes of existences using dimensional theory. Using this method he created an interface to the higher dimensions or rather most rudimentary. He was actually more a scientist more than anything else, yggdrasil giving him power. He could build things in the planes of 'divinity'. His system was a 1-D system, like a flat circuit board that took him eons of eons to complete. The whole system worked on the theory of the big bang, in that everything originates from one point in time and space but it is taken further. He believed every dimension originates from a singular one. In the beginning there was 1 dimension, that became two, that became three; etc. By controlling the origins of creation, the plane of god, it gave him power greater than any other. Using his creation he attached powerful astral beings. He and Hild were merged directly to the system he created himself. Odin was connected to the positive side, creation. Hild was attached to the negative side, destruction.

"So what do you propose?"

"An outside influence, perhaps someone from here, can help me."

Odin frowned, but did not object. "Creating a being of that magnitude and then removing it from this reality would severely disrupt the balance worse that it's already threatening to become."

The Lord Of Nightmares frowned and squinted her eyes thoughtfully. Her eyes lit up as realization hit.

"You can't take from your existence, and I cannot put into my creation….but I CAN put into yours. As proven by my piece of conscious standing here."

Odin's head spun. Mixing two of the quantum Trinity? It was mind-boggling. He could not imagine the possible consequences. The known sectors, called 'The Trinity' ( Ain, Ain Soph, and Aur Ain Soph) were incomprehensible. That was the only understandable thing of their nature.

"So…. You would provide the substance I need?"

The shadowy woman smiled, actually revealing painfully flawless teeth. She brought a hand up and held it out before her, palm up. Reality seemed to 'push' out of the way as something huge came in. Odin's eyes widened. It was quickly approaching his power. Dimensions unfolded from the object to past 10 dimensions.

He quickly hid his expression. So this is the power of many-dimension being.

Soon a crystal without color, yet opaque and solid more than anything than existence gained shape. She set it on his desk. "Is this sufficient?"

Odin resisted nodding dumbly and stoically mumbled a reply. "Mm."

"I trust you'll choose well. Mean while, I'll talk to the spirit of the Fire Dragon, and have him 'prophesize' the coming of a great god from the GREAT TREE beside the SEA OF CHAOS to his last priestess. Isn't a tree what you use to describe this model of creation?" She giggled amusedly. She tapped her chin as she faded away, "I'll give them some sort of summoning or something…." She mused.

As the great being left, Odin sagged with relief. He then picked up the crystal and marveled at it's construction. It was a 10 dimensional crystal, complex and dense with energy.

He did not believe this crystal was possible. The amount of energy was tremendous. Not to mention the complexity. She expected him to give this to one being? What type of unbalance where they experiencing on the staffs of her existence?

Odin pondered over who he could possibly entrust this to. After a short while, all he came up with was a blank. He sighed and opened a window on his terminal, flipping through gods and goddesses one by one. There were MANY gods and goddesses. Every time enough people believed enough in a being, the very belief fuels the formation of the god or goddess into a being/force on the astral plane. On the astral plane, the only law is will and belief. What happens in the physical and Astral plane, echoes in the higher planes. Your very thoughts will gather into a form. Odin, usually when he discovered the collation of energies forming the beginning of a new god not birthed into existence from parentage, he formed and molded it into his standard template for gods and goddesses. He then links them to what he liked to call the World Computer.

As he searched he realized that his search as nigh impossible.

He muttered under his breath as he moved through files, "Who?"

******

Ranma sneezed as he lowered his leg from his stance. He had just finished going through an intense kata. He left the chaos of Nerima leaving a message that he was going on a training trip and didn't know when he'd be back. He had been working on his skills, but recently had been focusing on the spiritual aspect a lot more. He had taken a trip to a hidden away shrine, one that he had been taken away from when he was younger because his father thought more than any basic meditation was a waste of time. He had spent roughly a month there, and learned a lot about how energies work. He had learned to open his 'third eye' to levels perhaps even beyond the old ghoul.

Ranma took a deep breath as his sweat hit the forest ground and summoned power to take form. He had learned basic manipulation of energies, to make it more all it would take would be some practice. If someone could build a martial art from basic fighting knowledge, he could create spells and constructs.

As the blue light of his spirit gathered in his hands, he coaxed it into being beyond heat, and light, and forced more from the abstract and the astral into the physical. Flame burst into existence in the palm of his hand.

Ranma smiled at his achievement. Most mages, wizards, sorcerers, or whatever one would chose to call them could not achieve this feat with merely just their own energy. He, however, from his martial art training, had it in spades.

With a wave of his hand, and the release of his concentration, he decided to do it the traditional way: by summoning the energies all around him. He could only sense vaguely the energy around him, formed as he was told, by the lots of different sources, such as the residue of someone aura, to the light from the sun. Emotions are related to certain elements mainly because that was the type of elemental energy they corresponded to in the astral.

All elemental energy is just a slightly astral representation of the forms of matter; the abstract form. Fire/ lightning element is merely the astral or abstract representation of matter's highest energy form, plasma. Air element is merely the abstract of the gas form of matter. Water element is the abstract of liquid, and Earth the abstract of solid. Spirit/Ether/Aeythr is basically representative of spirit, the positive aeythr that binds (light) and the negative aeythr that divides(dark). Some people believed that it is representative of electromagnetic force, which coincidentally coincides with a lot of people's belief in auras being electromagnetic. So ether that binds is attractive force, and the ether that divides is repulsive.

Ranma summoned the elemental fire energy into a ball in his hand. This way was clearly less draining on someone because the majority of the energy used came from an outside source. He smirked sinisterly. His next opponent was in for a huge surprise.

He still couldn't figure out his curse, it was something different. There was water elemental there, but he it wasn't the same. All he could figure out was simple forms, not programmed responses and complex results. The way he was doing magic, made him a mage, someone who could force and direct elemental energy. A sorcerer supposedly used astral elemental spirits to do their work, in such that sense they were conscious spirits -although not self-aware- could perform logical functions. Could be 'programmed' for a lack of a better term, by the user's will. The high level of that type of magic was lost thousands of years ago. The most that can be done now is by Shinto priests, and that is just simple talking to spirits, not commanding or controlling. A mage can only perform complicated feats as he is consciously controlling the energies and result consciously. Mages can't cast any lingering spells.

Ranma haphazardly tossed the fireball he formed into the wood gathered for his campfire and watch it erupt into flame. He turned to go to the river to bathe when a sudden shift in energies almost unnoticeably washed over him. He almost shrugged it off until he realized that even though it seemed weak, it covered a huge radius, implying that there was a huge source some distance away. He couldn't sense it from this far, he wouldn't even have known if not for its remote affect, much like you can fill the wind of a storm on the coast long before you can see the storm. He started moving in the direction that this intangible 'wind' came from. After a few more apparent bursts he began to speed up, flying through the trees as fast as a cheetah would move on the ground.

*****
Uranus grunted as she took another blow from the creature. It seemed to be made out of pure silver or something similar in a vaguely humanoid shape. It seemed immune from magical attacks and was being quite physical. It had never shot off any type of projectiles, magical or physical. It had inhuman speed, strength, and endurance on it's side, however. Already all the scouts were bruised and their magical attacks somewhat weak from over use. Jupiter and Uranus, the toughest physically on the team, were the only ones that could hold a candle to the metallic looking creature. But no matter how hard it was hit with their fists and feet, it didn't have a dent.

Mercury leaned against a tree, her breath ragged as she attempted to analyze the creature before them. It had came out of the blue and began terrorizing. The mercury computer took but a moment to analyze it. The creature had no sign of spirit or magical energy that usually denoted a sentient being, but appeared to have some sort of extreme source of heat in it's chest. Judging from the radiation, it was probably some sort of nuclear reaction, probably fusion with some new device that could harness gamma energy directly. Further analysis concluded that it as made of some sort of lead-uranium alloy. Lead in itself was resistant to magic for unknown reasons, but Uranium was the most heavy and solid metal known to man. Practically nothing short of an atomic explosion could hope to render it apart.

She looked away from her visor just in time to see Sailor Moon throw her tiara at it, even though it would not hurt the creature, it would knock it a distance away to give Jupiter and Uranus time to catch their breath. Mercury's expression became that of despair. She did not foresee them surviving this battle without retreating. But if they did that, more people would die. She took a weary glance around at the bodies crushed in the debris from when the creature fist began terrorizing. Tears began to fall as she gave a silent prayer for help as she painfully rose to her feet and began to channel the last she could with her remaining stamina.

*****

Ranma arrived in the Tokyo, the Juuban prefecture if he judged correctly, to a scene of destruction. It looked like there had been an air raid on several city blocks and part of the park he was now in. He crouched in a tree watching as girl in a sailor girl outfit, white with deep blue skirt and trim with black bows, scream out "Silence Wall" forming a wall of shadow between some Terminator 2 looking silver guy and two other girls in sailor outfits.

Ranma raised an eyebrow as he felt ether element, dark form, being evoked. He found it odd that the attack seemed about as powerful as her aura, and as the attack held, her aura barely diminished. There was no power being drawn from around her noticeably…perhaps it was from a god like some of the magic he learned at the shrine.

He watched as the girl finally drained about half of her aura slowly while two girls recovered. Suddenly the wall just vanished, and taking a look at the girl she seemed drained from her attempt. Looking closer, however, he could see her energy supply being replenished practically as fast as Happasai's with a supermodel's panties. Although it would still take a few minutes before it was back where it was when she initiated the attack. He returned his attention from the astral to the physical as he saw the creature slam through one of the girls who had barely got into stance before being thrown. It continued on, looking for all purposes to inflict mortal damage on the little girl with the wicked glaive.

Ranma's brow furrowed with anger. Who would pick on such little girls! That was when he decided to teach this thing a lesson or fifty. He cracked his neck with a quick jerk of his head and was preparing to jump when a stream of pink, which apparently packed some force, as the creature flew back 50 yards. Suddenly a woman with deep crimson eyes and deep green hair, and black skirt and trim, appeared in out of shadow with a tight frown on.

Ranma raised an eyebrow as he paused to take in her features, but continued with his purpose. Seeing her grand entrance, he decided he should make one of his own, slipping into the Umisenken.

Ranma startled the girls as he appeared right between them and their opponent. Pluto's only response was a further furrowing of her eyebrows. Uranus and Neptune, still trigger happy as usual, was about to release a pre-emptive attack on the newly arrived and perceived potential threat, but refrained as they realized that they were dressed too normal to possibly be some Negaverse general.

Moon started running towards the person, intending to push them away and warn them away. "You need to get out of here! Now! That thing's dangerous!"

She was backed up by several shouts of something similar from everyone but Pluto and Saturn.

Ranma turned slightly towards them, never letting the enemy leave his sight as it stood. "I know that. I also know it isn't right for this…this…THING to be picking on cute girls."

Several of the girls blushed awkwardly. It was an odd time to be throwing compliments, it caught them completely off guard.

"But….," Moon started weakly as she slowed down to a brisk pace, unsure how to handle the newcomer.

Ranma turned back fully to the creature, leveling a malevolent gaze at it. The pigtailed boy, almost man, cracked his knuckles threateningly. "Haven't had a challenge in a while." He took up a stance.

Uranus frowned. He looked rather weak in martial arts comparatively judging by his loose stance. She shouted out incredulously, "You think you can beat that thing with simple Martial Arts?"

A cocky smirk graced the young man's face. "Of course. After all, I AM the world's GREATEST Martial artist."

Uranus scoffed. "This ain't some joke kid. Get out of here. We don't want you to get hurt."

Ranma couldn't resist but turn his head towards her and grin infuriatingly. "Looks to me you were getting your ass handed to you a second ago. Two against one even."

Uranus let out a growl. "SHUT UP. THIS AIN'T A JOKE I SAID!"

Ranma harrumphed at her and turned back towards the creature who was now suddenly moving rapidly at him. All the girls charged, but realized they were too far away.

"NO!" Moon shouted.

Suddenly they watched the creature swung at him…and nothing happened. They almost fell as they suddenly stopped in confusion.

CLANG!

"Ow that fuckin' hurt!" Ranma screamed as he held his hand, standing…behind the thing.

He shook his hands while the other girls gaped. 'How did he do that?'

He took a kick at the thing, a sweeping movement meant to toss the creature, and not inflict physical damage because it would just hurt himself.

"How the hell do you supposed to beat this thing? It's harder than Ryoga!"

Several of the Scouts looked at him funny. "What's an 'Ryoga'?" One muttered.

Ami was still very unsure of this person…he didn't seem to have any magic. She turned her scanner on to him as she decided to respond. It was a force of habit mostly.

"Well, it doesn't seem to able to be damaged by magical attacks or physical attacks."

Ranma looked at her and frowned as the creature stood. "Well if you hit something hard enough, or enough times, it will eventually cause damage."

Ranma looked glanced quickly around for something hard and metal to hit the thing with. Bare hands were out of the question. He noticed the girl with the glaive. It looked to be of high quality, it even had an aura… it was probably enchanted or something.

"Hey, can I borrow that?"

Saturn blinked before he realized he was talking to her. "Um… I don't think…"

Before she could blink again, he already was pulling it from her unprepared fingers.

"Ah!!!" She cried out and reached for it…only for him to be already a couple of meters away, charging at the creature.

Neptune frowned and Uranus growled as the let loose their attacks.

"What do you think you're doing!? World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

Ranma frowned as he felt elemental energy focusing… coming towards him if his judgments where correct. He frowned as he though of how to quickly deflect the attacks without taking damage. He smirked as he charged water into the glaive. He batted away the Earth Elemental attack and followed up by channeling Fire into the glaive for the water elemental attack. They gaped as they watched him do this in what appeared almost casually.

Ami's computer picked up the change along with the boys aura reading. It seemed he was repressing a massive amount of energy. Before he deflected the attacks it only appeared as if he only had about a little more than Rei's chi…which would be expected if he said he was a Martial Artist, but this was astounding. He was what appeared at least as powerful as one of them. Maybe an outer.

"WAIT!" Ami shouted. The girls paused as they were mentally preparing themselves for yet another enemy. "Let him take a try." They all looked at her questioningly. "He is A LOT more powerful than he looks." Ami tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I don't think he's far off when he said he was one of the best. Judging by his chi levels, he is a good 100 times more than either Jupiter or Uranus untransformed." She paused. "Even you Rei."

Rei's eyebrows reached her hairline. "I didn't think that much was possible." She had trained with hers for a while for her priestess abilities.

Ranma smirked when they remarked on his power. "Heh." He returned his attention to the creature just in time to be smashed in the face.

"Oh shit!" Ranma cried as he spun around, slamming into the ground eating dirt. He quickly stood and spit out blood. "Almost broke my nose, that fucker."

Ranma was currently facing away from the creature when it approached him from behind. The girls were to shocked to see he was still standing to say anything.

Right when Sailor Moon gained enough sense to respond, the glaive lashed out, knocking it back a few feet. Ranma suddenly became a flurry of motion. All the girls saw was the silver creature roughly getting thrown around like a leaf in a storm.

Needless to say, many jaws dropped. "He is….much faster than us."

If the other girls were not so awestruck at the moment they would have snorted at her and responded, "No, duh!"

Suddenly the creature flew back 100 feet and Ranma appeared spinning to a stop, facing away from the enemy. "How'd you like my custom special attack. 'Hurricane Dance'?"

What the girls did not see, was the flurry of vacuum blades that would cut through almost anything… except this uranium alloy beast.

Ranma growled as he surveyed his handy work.

With the exception of looking a little less than shiny new, there was no visible damage.

"What does it take to hurt this thing?!"

Ranma closed his eyes and thought. 'I need to hit it hard… physically…. Earth Element!' Ranma mused over what to call this new attack he as going to inevitably improvise. It had to be something that sounded cool…. Ranma snapped his fingers and took up a rough stance. He charged at the creature.

"METEOR STORM!"

Ranma jumped mid-charge and flew several stories into the air. The glaive started arcing beautifully back and forth like a furious dance as Yellowish-Green energy flew in a rain. The whole area lit up as Ranma descended while throwing earth elemental attacks. He was going to give this his all.

The Glaive came to a slowing stop after a graceful arc to end right over Ranma's head. He looked as if he was going to cleave the thing in half, and cleave he would. A rumble sounded as everything solid in the area began to vibrate, even the scouts on a slightly noticeable level. A HUGE ball the size of a World Shaking appeared on the end of the blade. Everything seemed to be go dark, as if the only light in existence was the ball of energy. Suddenly glaive and monstrous ball of dark light streaked toward the creature as Ranma came within melee range. After that, there was only a flash of light similar to a camera flash on a huge scale.

The light cleared to show Ranma flipping with feline grace away from the impact zone to land on the edge of a newly formed crater. All the girls ran to the edge to look with him. Nothing was visible. They were shaking with excitement. The thing was defeated.

"Wait. I'm still getting an energy reading….."

The girls slowly turned to look at Mercury incredulously. The sound of shifting earth turned them back to look at the bottom of the crater.

There, and the very bottom center a arm was extracting itself from the debris. But that wasn't the most disturbing. What was is that it seemed to only have some scratches. Everyone blanched.

Ranma's eye twitched as he quickly began thinking of something he could do more powerful. He had given most of his energy, and wasn't up for something remotely close to what he had just done. Unless…

Suddenly a deep, rich, womanly voice spoke. "I fear I must attempt to use a forbidden ability." She would not allow for the scouts to die, without them, Crystal Tokyo would never be formed. It was worth the risk to the universe in her eyes. They were more important.

"No." Mercury stated firmly. "Messing with seldom used time abilities that you have no idea how it would effect the world or universe…. You could destroy everything!"

Pluto didn't respond.

She started to raise her Key-staff when Ranma interrupted, paying no attention to the previous conversation.

"I got it!" He would summon a massive amount of power from around him. Enough to blow a hole in the moon if possible. If he aimed it upward, it wouldn't damage anything….hopefully. It as the only thing he could think of. Or perhaps a blade of earth element so thick and sharp. Either way it would take a lot of energy to hurt this thing, apparently.

"Get back," he shouted. The girls were about to ask why when they felt as if everything drained from around them. It felt like someone draining the water from the bath with the person still in it. This was something big.

Mercury chose that moment to comment. "Um… you might want to move back…." She turned and started running. "Come on! This is going to be big!"

The girls felt as if what Mercury said was redundant… the feeling they just had spoke for itself.

****

Ranma felt incredible as he drew more power in than he ever had dared to before. He started getting light headed. His thoughts started getting a little muggy… It was then he realized he couldn't stop the flow! He couldn't stop drawing in power… it was like he had open floodgates he couldn't close.

Ranma's mouth opened in a silent scream.

****
Alarms went off in Asgard's main control room, starting all it's inhabitants from their monotonous routine. The room looked like some sort of neo-Catholic missionary with a gold and white theme. The walls had rune symbols and everything was rounded, not a single corner or point. There was a tall, yet thin tree that grew in the center, circled with a golden metallic spiral. All around the room there were terminals and balconies hanging around the infinitely high room. Around the specific area where the universe was monitored and bugs in the system fixed, there were hovering platforms with elegant looking beings, goddesses, who were working on terminals that looked like futuristic harps and had holographic displays.

"Report!" A goddess that had short black hair with a blue diamond shape on her forehead and more slender versions of it under the corner of her eyes. She wore what looked like an odd black two piece bikini with an accessory of leather like belt-ribbons clasped with a belt buckle just above her navel and wrapped in a semi-circle around her arms and then hung like long and wide decorative ribbons, one on either side.

One of the other elegant and oddly dressed goddess (although most of them were wearing more elegant Celtic robe style clothing) responded, "There is an anomaly in Midgard."

"Specifically?" The Rose goddess Peorth inquired.

"On Earth. Reality Number 782185154."

"Earth?" Peorth repeated to herself. 'Did Urd do something stupid again? There is a reason why she is only a Second Class goddess.'

"Details?"

One of the goddesses with blue hair responded, working furiously on the harp-like keyboard along with several others. "The source seems to be some sort of energy gathering that lost stability."

"Cause?"

"One moment," The goddess responded as she dug through the time registers. The goddess paused with shock before slowly responding. "A human…."

The rose goddess couldn't hear her subordinate clearly, she had spoken very low. She was sure she misheard. "What?"

"It was caused by a Human."

The goddess' eyes widened before she took a deep breath. "How?…or rather why?"

The subordinate blinked, trying to decided how to go about figuring that out. Then a light bulb hit her. With a few plucks on the keyboard, a large holographic display materialized above all of the goddesses.

"This is a visual replay of the scene a few moments before the anomaly occurred."

They all watched as a pigtailed boy battled with some odd metallic creature. While the video was still playing a goddess responded.

"Energy drain increasing rate. In a few minutes the absorption of ambient spiritual energies will exceed the Yesodic limit and begin affecting physical matter as well."

Peorth resisted the urge to curse, keeping in mind she was in the sacred realm. Although she did think of several chose ones she desperately wanted to say. She thought quickly as she watched the scene play out before them.

"Megumi, I need you to try to contain the anomaly."

"Hai," She responded and quickly began working through the system, looking for a suitable program.

"Athena, could you bring up that mortal's file and send it to me?"

After only a few seconds a display appeared before her. She quickly glanced through the file. It appeared this one was one of the few beings that were beyond direct control of the system's 'Destiny' program. His soul was too chaotic and yet ridiculously influential, Peorth discovered, studying his akashic record. His soul was like an imaginary number in the equation of the universe. You just had to sort of calculate around it.

"Ma'am! All I can seem to do is slow it down!"

Peorth began to sweat. It seemed they couldn't do it on their own. She hated to ask the Big Guy for help, she felt it made her look incompetent, but it would be worse to let this get any more out of hand.

She sat down in her rounded chair and pressed a few buttons. The display was solid black as she opened a com to his desk. Only the eldest gods ever saw his face before.

*****
Odin hummed to himself as he was still flipping through potential carriers to bestow this power from the Lord of Nightmares. He didn't want to give it to someone who would abuse the power, possibly wreaking havoc he could barely contain since it would put them on par with other Original Gods, ones without Class and License designations, being somewhat beyond his system directly.

Odin had taken the time to interview a few moral battle gods who were based on fighting for what you believe in, but even most of them would probably be overcome with the urge to abuse the power. He thought about giving a very pure hearted goddess the power… but none of them were true warriors, which was what was needed. Otherwise, he would have given to Belldandy already.

Odin sighed at his dilemma. He began idly tapped his fingers on his desk when he was interrupted by a dull ring. He raised an eyebrow. He tended to contact others, not the other way around. He mentally allowed the holographic Com to initialize. A young Norse goddess, more Vanir than not, appeared before him. Peorth. He blinked. What could be so urgent that his system admin had to call him for?

"Sir?"

"Yes?" Odin responded.

"We have a problem."

Odin blinked. "You can't take care of it yourself?"

"No sir. We don't have enough power to contain an anomaly."

An anomaly? "Send me the data," He commanded.

From what he could determine a mortal who was apparently very powerful, and beyond his Destiny program actually, attempted to gather some elemental energies. Most of the time one would be trained up to that level of power… no one normally started 'magic' training with such a huge aura of power. By the time they attempted to channel that level power, they had excellent control. This mortal however, started with great power, before control. He had lost control of his energy. This was why gods and goddesses in training wore limiters, it prevented things like this from happening. Gods, Goddesses, and Demon Gods start with great power, so they were necessary for training.

Odin snapped out of his revere and tried to figure out what he could do to stop this. The system only shifted energies around. He could draw power from some part of the universe, but that would cause an instability there. Upsetting a balance to fix an imbalance is somewhat pointless. He needed an outside source of…

Odin's thoughts trailed off as his eyes settled on the crystal given to him. He quickly called up the mortals record and saw he was of utmost morality, although it was a little twisted and he was a little immature. He might be able to take out two birds with one stone here.

"Sir?" Peorth called over the Com, worried about his lack of response.

"One moment, child." He tapped his chin. 'How to go about this….'

Odin begin typing furiously at his terminal designing a program to execute. He scanned through the mortal's file with another window as he programmed. Apparently he had to make a few tweaks to the mortals character. The female side had to stay… Lord of Nightmares' powers were distinctly feminine, although not overly so. It would help for compatibility. But this mortal had an aversion to his female side. Odin sighed. There was a reason he was destined that curse. He was learning slowly, but that would not do. A little tweak of his thoughts should fix that. Ah… a fear of cats. A panic attack with such power would be disastrous. It looked like the mortal had an almost separate feline psyche. He would have to integrate that in. Now for the aesthetics. Corporeal form will remain generally the same…but the mortal needs dress appropriate for his station. Now for his angel…

Odin tapped his fingers. This would not be a normal linking. Normally a goddess had an angel attached to higher dimensions. A goddess was essentially a enlightened soul with an angel that is connected ygdrasil. In this case, he would be attaching the angel in parallel, because the crystal would already make have him at a high number of dimensions. But he needed an angel to connect him to his system.

With one last slam on the 'enter' key, he sent it to Peorth's terminal.

****

Code streamed down Peorth's screen in the control room.

"Sir?" She responded over the com.

"Execute it on the mortal."

"What is it Sir?"

Peorth had an odd feeling about the program in her gut. It was in base code, what mortals would call 'machine language' on their computers. The language used to make the very operating system. Most programs in yggdrasil were macros (Spells and the like), or user/operator programs (like a word processor on a PC). This was as base as an OS Kernel.

This program was not limited by the OS.

"Just execute it, and you will see." He responded in a gentle voice that ended the inquiry.

"Yes sir."

With a shaky hand, Peorth hit 'enter'. She turned and looked at the mortal on the overhead display. Reality seemed to freeze around him as it decided what to do.

"Sir… it seemed to have frozen?" She asked, her voice wavering.

"Oh. I almost forgot, here."

A crystal appeared before Peorth in midair, and she reached out and grasped it. Almost seemed to waver in her hand and put a pressure on everything around it.

"M'Lord?"

A stand rose from the platform she was on. It was elegant and had an insanely intricate design carved in it.

"Put it on here. This is an attachment for the compilation."

Peorth carefully set the crystal on the stand, and it flared, temporarily blinding her. When she looked again it was gone. She looked back towards the screen to see an Angel of fiery red hair with a tail and pointy ears, and slit pupils scream out of the mortals back. Wings with feathers alternating black and white adorned the Angels back.

'A…. a new god? From a mortal!?'

She looked down at the terminal to see the anomaly was gone. She turned back to the overhead screen to see what would happen next.

****
Ranma felt his whole being rearrange at it was filled with immense and indescribable power. On top of that he felt like he was in several places at once as his awareness raised. As his vision cleared and he looked towards the creature had been attempted to attack and sneered at it. It was only mere matter. With a careless swipe of his arm the things was cleaved into beyond dust.

All the scouts looked on with awe at what looked like a being of majesty rose from the heights of heaven had come down and shown it's righteous power.

Ami shook, her eyes wide in disbelief, as her computer's sensors broke from the amount of power.

Ranma came back to his senses, suddenly aware he could feel everything for miles. He could see beyond the physical. He took the moment to look around in awe of the world; what it looked like with true sight. The world was so much simpler than he ever realized.

"Who…Who are you?" Venus stuttered out.

His feline eyes fell on them and his Angel faded away. Ranma looked down to see he was wearing a Chinese outfit similar to what he normally wore, but silver silk, with gold frogs to hold his shirt closed. His bracers were golden and his pants were purest blue silk. Over that there was a loose cloak of the deepest black. The contrast it had with the bright and pure looking colors was almost painful. The hood cast his face into shadow, but the outline was visible and his eyes

He looked at them bewilderedly. "I'm Ranma Saotome…. Sorry 'bout this."

*****

A holographic display formed in front of him informing him of a system error. Luckily yggdrasil was made in such a manner that blue screens of death were localized and didn't merit a restart of his system. Although the realities he melded COULD run on their own, the results would not be pretty. There were too many changes he made to what would have been that if not maintained would be disastrous. Yggdrasil was nothing more than a program that governed tweaked elemental quantum rules and shifted energy where he wanted it, unnaturally. Natural rules he bent for his purposes would snap back in place and things would not be pretty.

He looked at the error code. It looked like a hack into this reality. He'd only seen such a thing when the Lord of Nightmares came to talk to him. But why centered around the mortal? Just then another anomaly appeared in his very office. Realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

A voice came from the shadows. "It is time." A sharp female voice intoned.

Odin waited until he felt her presence fade. He groaned and hung his head in his hands.

"Oh crap."

*****

"Peorth." A warm, yet commanding voice called.

"Sir?" Peorth responded not breaking her eyes away from the overhead holographic display.

"I need you to prepare an emergency knowledge download for the new goddess."

"Sir, don't you mean 'god'?"

"Well, either will suffice for this one."

Peorth raised an eyebrow questioningly but did not press the issue.

"What type of download?"

"Emergency Goddess Training." He paused. "Full. I want everything a goddess needs to know downloaded NOW."

Peorth hesitated. "But sir, I thought you believed in learning on one's own instead of giving them the knowledge. Through that comes wisdom. Isn't that why we have Goddess mentors?"

"Something came up immediately. The goddess has a mission that will be commencing within minutes and she will need to know everything."

Peorth's head spun. So many traditions and regulations were broken in just the last half hour.

"Sir… I will need the Database Reference Number of the new goddess with complete access to do the download." Peorth turned to Megumi. "Prepare a Emergency Goddess Training download. Immediately. Send it to my terminal."

The goddess paused before executing her order. "Aye, Aye, Ma'am."

A hushed murmur spread throughout the command room at this new chain of events. This had to have been one of Kami-sama's more drastic plans.

Peorth loaded the new goddess' file. She was in shock as she read it.

Eezoon

Deus Of Balance

Class: Zero

Type: Conceptual

License: Unlimited

Limitations: None

Sphere of Influence: Earth, Descendants of Earth

Mortal Influence: Level 10

Notes:

*Former Mortal Human

*Both God and Demon

Peorth gasped at what she saw. The god had no Class level. Even the ones under third class goddess that were closer the nature spirits had designation. They were noticeable due to having no third mark on their forehead, much like Megumi and Athana. Did that mean his power was beyond the classification system? Another thing she noticed was something she hadn't seen in over 3000 years, even being rare then: A Mortal Influence Level 10. The most that deities had now were level 5. Just enough to allow for a god or demon to show the existence of higher beings and a greater cause. Miracles, or Punishments, depending on Karma, Destiny, and Prayer. A Level 10 Influence on the mortal realm was the equivalent of Kami-sama saying that the god could take over the world and rule with an iron fist. Thousands of years ago, humans began resenting the gods and feared their power. They grew tired of the constant petty battling among gods and demons that destroyed their homes and lives. As a result, Kami-sama began placing restrictions on gods and eventually removing them from the world practically all together. Most of any influence a god or demon had now was invisible and subtle on Midgard. Kami-sama also felt that humans should be allowed to reach their potential without the direct interference of gods hindering them.

What does this all mean? Peorth wondered.

And what Peorth did not know, was that Odin is fond of humans… because they were the same creature he came from in one reality. The reality that was currently called Asgard, so long ago no one but he and the elders remember.

*****

Ranma closed his eyes and felt out his new power and senses. He had no clue about what just happened. Although he closed his eyes he could still feel the approach of 8 people. The eight he saw seemed to have disappeared. He could see them. Even more than see them even with his eyes closed. He gauged their emotions. All of them had fear, some had wonder and awe. He opened his eyes and faced them, pulling his hood back.

Warily, the blonde one with odangos approached and stopped a yard short. "What are you?" Her voice trembled.

Ranma removed his hood from over his head. The scouts gasped as he reveled his face. His pupils were slit and he had odd marks on his face. Under his left eye he had a white yang with a black dot. Under his right eye he had a black yin with a white dot. Each hung from the corner of his eyes like tear drops. On his forehead the two were joined to create a yin-yang.

Ranma opened his mouth to reveal pointed canines as he responded, "Human, I think. Or At least I was. I was drawing in power for a massive earth spell and I lost control. I'm not sure what happened."

All the scouts tried the process this. They still didn't understand. Before they could ask anymore questions a light congealed between Sailor Moon and the new god. It faded to show the form of a beautiful black haired woman in a black two piece bikini and odd belt-ribbons.

The newly arrived goddess of nature took in the new god's form both spiritually and physically. She had to admit he was a fine work of art. He had the most unique connectors (the marks on his face) to yggdrasil she had ever seen. She had never seen one before of two different colors.

Peorth broke from her thoughts and decided to get the job done. Father must be in quite the rush if he needed her to do this. "Greetings, Eezoon. I am Peorth, Goddess First Class : The Rose Goddess."

The on looking scouts looked at her incredulously, with the exception of Pluto.

Ranma looked at her bewilderedly. "Who's Eezoon?"

Peorth smiled mirthfully at the former mortal. "Why that's you."

"Me?"

"Yes. That is your new name. Eezoon Deus of Balance," Ranma frowned.

"Deus?"

"It means god or goddess. Although that calling you that would be ineffective due to your dual heritage."

"Duel Heritage?"

Peorth smirked. "Full of questions aren't we? Well you have the qualities of both god and demon, yet neither."

Ranma looked at her confused. "What…." He stopped to take a breath and organize his words. "Why did you make me… a deus, or whatever."

Peorth frowned lightly. "I'm not sure. Kami-sama did not say."

Ranma squeaked. "Kami-sama?"

Moon gawked. "THE Kami-sama?!"

"Yes, the Almighty Creator and Father of All. I am here to give you the knowledge necessary to wield your power. Normally, you would get a mentor and train for a while, but for some reason you need to know immediately. You see, Kami-sama believes in growth by effort and trails; earning your knowledge and power. However, I have come to download this knowledge into your mind and to give you these."

Peorth held out her hand and ornate earrings appeared in her hand. On the end of a small chain there were sapphire orbs the blue of Ranma's aura. Around them horizontally was a golden ring. Ranma eyed her distrustfully. Especially since he noticed they required piercing.

"You don't expect me to wear those things do you? Only girls wear…." Ranma suddenly trailed off when he realized he suddenly didn't care whether he was female or not. He suddenly just…forgot why he hated being female. He rephrased his statement. "I don't have pierced ears. Besides that….why do I need to wear those?"

Ranma noticed that she also wore unique earrings.

"It hides your power from mortal senses and they restrict your powers so you don't have any accidents. You have to use a little concentration to use any power instead of just thinking it. It also limits full access so that you don't overkill. It is mostly used for Gods in Training, but most gods still wear them afterwards. You are new so it's best to wear them. You don't want to accidentally kill someone do you?"

Ranma shook her head. "I guess I understand," Ranma responded slowly. "It's going to hurt to put those on…."

Peorth grinned at Ranma. "Oh, this is painless." Her voice resonated as she spoke a command, "Engage."

The earrings glowed in her palm and Ranma's earlobe glowed. When it faded after one second, the earrings were no longer in her palm, but in Ranma's ears. Ranma reached up with one hand to feel his earrings. He couldn't even feel they were in his ears. They felt entirely natural.

Venus spoke up. "Um, what's going on here?"

Peorth smiles warmly at her. "You are witnessing the only accession of a mortal to a god since Hercules. There were only even a few before him in all of mankind's history."

She turned back to the pigtailed boy. "Now for the last order of business. The knowledge." Peorth hovered over to Ranma, and he had subtly shifted into a defensive stance, but he felt no negative intent from her. She raised her hand and touched the march on his forehead.

In a resonating voice. "Initialize Program Wodonkeme.. Execute."

A light formed between Peorth's hand and the new god's forehead, and all her marks lit up brightly. As the download was occurring Peorth reflected.

****

"Peorth"

"Sir?"

"Add these files to the compilation for the Emergency Knowledge Download."

Peorth quickly scanned the files names. They were all the mid-level spells that required a password to use and High Level spells. Most of them attack and transformation spells. It even had advanced magic/energy manipulations. Usually a Emergency Knowledge Download would consist of low level spells and basic magic/energy theory and manipulation. This one even had a few classified extra's, such as dimension theory and Universe theory. Compiling these programs into a being meant that if they had the power… they could execute it just as well as yggdrasil. But Kami-sama had never done that before. Most mid and high level spells where executed by the World Computer. The god provided the power and the World Computer did the manipulating. Mid and High level spells were either too powerful, or dangerous to just give out to any goddess. So they required clearances and passwords. Of course some of the high level spells were created by some of the other gods. Urd's Divine Thunder she used in the Celestine incident was her own custom spell. It takes hundreds and even thousands of years of practice before one can design a program like that. Theoretically, understanding of energy and the universe is all that needed to create high level spells, but it takes experience to figure out the mechanics and effects. It's just like programming: You can learn all the commands, but that doesn't mean you can go straight to making an operating system.

Peorth realized she had yet to confirm Father's order. "Yes, sir." With a shaky hand she added the files to the old file Program Wodonkeme.v1 creating file Wodonkeme..

****

Ranma felt …knowledge…. Being pressed into his being, more information than all the martial arts he ever learned. He felt his mind furiously trying to categorize and file it away. He felt woozy like when he had a little to drink during that Romeo and Juliet play. It felt like an infinite amount of information was filing in and it would never stop…….

Ranma's Astral form AKA Angel, burst forth, mouth open in a silent scream. She grasped her head in her hands as she writhed back and forth.

Peorth watched, starting to get worried. About a second ago the safe limit on the amount of information a deity could absorb in one download was passed. The fact that his angel also seemed to be in pain added another set of worries to her. She bit her lip as she hoped it would be done soon.

And in a matter of a few more seconds it was. Peorth removed her hand from his forehead and hovered back. The new deity fell on to his hands and knees as his angel writhed in a silent scream, her hair and clothes whipping in a nonexistent hurricane. All of a sudden it stopped A blank look came over the angels eyes like she suddenly died before she faded away.

Peorth almost panicked. If it wasn't for the fact she could still sense Ranma's angel recuperating, she would have screamed in a frenzy for Father to come down and fix it, and forgive her.

Ranma's groaned and swayed on his hands and knees before understanding hit. Some of it was still fuzzy, but overall he understood a lot.

He rose shakily to his feet. He looked around to see the girls huddled together and shaking. They were very unsure and fearful of what they just witnessed. He tried to smile at them reassuringly.

That was when an odd glow erupted around all of them, goddesses and Senshi alike.

Ranma tried to maintain standing while the ground shook. "What the…." He realized it was coming from the ground. As of yet he couldn't make out what it was other than it was some sort of incarnation of power.

This was the last straw on Peorth's current frame of mind. She panicked and took off into there air. Seeming to dissolve into sparkles as she teleported away.

Ranma realized perhaps he should do the same, Deity or not, but realized he need to save the girls. He summoned the power to encompass the girls in a shield and whisk them away, but the power was sucked away from him as he summoned it. He realized with a start that the magic grew from it and was now sucking stronger. He mentally pushed out all panic to think logically.

He looked as the girls tried to jump up and away, only to find their power drained too, going up only as high as a normal girl would.

"RUN!" One of them screamed. It was a good distance to the end of the magic circle. And judging from their speed, it would be far too slow in their apparently diminished state.

He took the time to examine their power.

Ah…. Links to elsewhere. He looked up to the sky where their barely visible bonds stretched. He focused on sight beyond sight looking as far as a telescope seeing… a planet attached to the red colored girl of fire. Ambient energy from a planet. How could they manage that? You would have to be physically there to forge a bond that powerful, Eezoon's knowledge told him, But that would be impossible for a human. How could they get there? Let alone survive?

He looked closer to find something more interesting. The bonds are very old. Ridiculously old. It looks like one of the 'permanent' spells that eventually wear out if not recast. It looked like they could break if too much was channeled at once. As is, it just seems to only have about 48 hours worth of active channeling left. It also appears that they created high dimensional objects on every corner on the world. They seem to be part of the astral plane. It is a direct link… looks like they used a piece of their soul to forge it.

The pigtailed Deus snapped out of his reverie to find that the glow was coming from the ground and forming into an odd magic pattern. One that had lots of hard edges and did not follow remotely close to any of the forms of the ones he had just gained knowledge of. Not much longer now. Perhaps he should give it one last try to save those girls. Maybe he could teleport them….but that was assuming if he could summon enough energy for a teleport of eight girls at once and that he could summon energy faster that it was draining it.

Ranma took a quick deep breath and began summoning energy as fast as he could. A good portion was draining as he was summoning it. Then suddenly it seemed that the drain got worse. Ranma grimaced. The more it drained the more the drain gained speed. He would never be able to summon enough energy in time.

He thought furiously. He realized he could just walk through space-time, for the lack of a better term. However, he wouldn't make it to all of the girls on time….

With this thought, the world faded away.

****
"It has been done. My thanks."

Odin shook his head. "I hope this plan of yours works."

The Lord of Nightmares merely smirked. "It has been fated." She said with conviction before fading away.