Title: Magical Girl Ranko vs. Z-Fighter Ryouga

Author: Rowan Seven

Teaser: The day is saved, and now the characters must go on with their lives. But is a peaceful future truly on the horizon?

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2, Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Looney Tunes, El-Hazard, and any other series I mention belong to their respective creators and copyright holders, as do the characters and settings in this story that don't belong to me. I make no claims to any of them and am making no financial profit from writing this story.

Author's Notes: Marked with (#) and posted at the end.

Epilogue – The Mandatory One Year Later Postlude!

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join-"

The church was packed, pews filled with a good portion of Nerima's population, the Nerima Wrecking Crew, and various people who'd passed through the ward one or more times and either instigated a new round of chaos or gotten dragged into an already existing mess. Remarkably, despite the vast numbers of guests with scores to settle against someone else in the room and the esoteric martial arts and magic tricks under their belts to make their plans of revenge a reality, no blood had been spilled yet outside of an unfortunate encounter between the Gambling King and Sanae the Tea Ceremony Martial Arts monkey who was less than equable in responding to the King's swindling attempts.

"Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together – let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

No one spoke. How could they? As bemused as some were by the couple standing before them, there was no denying the love they shared and the happiness they clearly felt at being together. Even the gazes of jealousy and envy were bereft of their customary edges and seemed more wistful than anything else, but such is the miraculous power of weddings. More than formally recognizing two souls as one, weddings can bring whose who were and would be enemies together in harmony and, at least for a time, create a new future not defined by the perils and problems of the past.

"By the power vested in me by the Government of Japan, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Parting the bride's veil, the groom did as asked. The two newly married souls held the embrace for a long moment, savoring the sensation of becoming husband and wife and committing every detail to memory. They then slowly turned to face the crowd and, although it wasn't customary, took a bow. The response from the guests was rapturous.

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

"May you find everlasting happiness together!"

"OOK-OOK-OOOOOK!"

"Congratulationssss, nyah! Now if only I could find a bride too..."

"Congratulations! And now...Shampoo, will you marry me?"

Ka-POW!

"Stupid Mousse...Shampoo gives her congratulations too!"

"Congratulations!"

"Congratu-...er, I mean, ruff-ruff! Bark!"

As the well wishes continued, Kasumi leaned against her husband's side and smiled happily. "Now do you see why I wanted a large wedding, dear?" she whispered softly, a note of playfulness in her voice.

Jadeite chuckled quietly and placed an arm around her shoulders. "What can I say other than you were right again, my love? Of course, if we want to get to the reception before tomorrow morning we should probably start walking down the aisle now because I can only imagine how long it will take to greet everybody on their way out..."

Soun was the first to meet the couple as they stepped off the chamber's dais, happy tears streaming from his eyes and a light-skinned baby girl with blue-gray eyes and early shoots of lilac-colored hair nestled protectively in his arms. The Tendo patriarch had initially been concerned when he learned that his future granddaughter was the reincarnation of a Demon God who'd come within a hair's breadth of destroying the world under circumstances that had been wiped from his memory, but any anxiety he'd felt disappeared the second he saw the newest addition to the Tendo family and her deep, luminous eyes that looked at everything with wonder and joy. He'd grown so fond of her, in fact, that there were times when Kasumi almost had to pry the baby Ifurita from him.

Now was not one of those times, however, and the reborn Ifurita gurgled happily as she was transferred back into her mother's arms and held snugly against her bosom. Jadeite tensed briefly as he always did whenever he saw the infant, but he relaxed again almost immediately. Kasumi's love for the baby was virtually contagious, and so far there had been zero signs that Ifurita remembered anything about her past life or, for that matter, that she retained any of her Demon God powers. She was as carefree and innocent as any other human infant, and that made her beautiful.

Kasumi next glanced down the pew and grinned cheerfully at the rest of her assembled family, her smile brightening as her gaze met first Nabiki and then Akane's congratulatory faces. She spared a moment for each of them and looked for an instant as if she'd say something, but Jadeite preempted her with a polite cough and indicated the long aisle awaiting them with his blue eyes. Catching on, the beautiful brunette chuckled quietly in mirth and, keeping Ifurita close to her, walked gracefully down the aisle with her new husband. The clapping that ensued was nearly deafening, but it didn't disturb the happy family in the slightest. They were together, they loved each other, and they had a bright future to look forward to that – although not what any of them had ever expected – was what they'd all hoped and longed for in their own way. A loving family to share oneself and see the world with, a person and reason to live for, and a second chance free from the tormented past that preceded it. What more could anyone ask for?

"Ook!"

"So cute! So cute! Azusa want!"

"Nyah? Pretty girl like the monkey more than me? Thissss...thisss is unforgivable! Sanae, prepare to die! Meow!"

"Ook-ook? EEK!"

"This our chance! Ready, Ling-Ling?"

"Ready, Lung-Lung! Nothing stand in Big Sister Shampoo's way after today!"

"Delinquents! Happou Go-en Satsu!"

...besides friends and family who were sane, of course, but such is life.

000ooo000000ooo000

Later that evening, a young man and a young woman sat together on a park bench overlooking a pond. The pair was easily identifiable by the male's black and yellow checkered bandana and the female's bright red hair, although they had exchanged their normal garb for attire more befitting the recent wedding. Ryouga wore a dark tuxedo with a bow tie that matched his bandana while Ranma-chan was clothed in a forest green bridal gown. The former's customary red bamboo umbrella leaned against the bench. Neither youth looked particularly comfortable in their formal wear or, for that matter, overjoyed to be in each other's company, but they had important unfinished business to attend to.

"So...always a bridesmaid, never a bride, eh Ranma?"

Not that the business was so important that it couldn't wait till after a few insults first, though.

Ranma-chan snorted. "It's better than the alternative, P-chan, and I'd rather take my chances at Jusenkyo than go anywhere near a chapel set up for a wedding with all my fiancées invited wearing a tuxedo." The short redhead shuddered at the recipe for disaster those words conjured up. "Heck, even with me as the maid of honor I'm pretty certain that if it was anyone's wedding _other_ than Kasumi's the Amazons or Pop and Mr. Tendo still would'a tried something."

The Lost Boy grunted but found himself inclined to agree. Thanks to Shenlong and one very detailed wish loaded with secondary clauses, the destruction and lives lost during the battle against Ifurita had been undone and no one who hadn't been directly involved in the fight remembered a thing. Everyone else had a month's worth of false memories, but the forgotten experience of dying had apparently left subconscious marks. Ukyo and Shampoo had become even more driven – almost fanatic – about their relationships with Ranma, and Akane's mood swings between being nice to her betrothed and fierce jealousy had intensified. Between that and Genma and Soun's already great and now greater desperation to see their families united, there were at least twice as many would-be wedding attempts nowadays than there had been before Ifurita. Only Kodachi showed no obvious changes in behavior, but it was hard to imagine anything warping her mind more than it already was.

"I guess it's a good thing we left the reception before Kasumi tossed the bouquet, then," the brown-eyed martial artist remarked, half-joking. "There's no telling what kind of mess your philandering would've caused back there...although I can't say I'm terribly pleased by how you dragged me off like that." He turned to glare at his companion and sighed disgustedly. "Shampoo and Ukyo are already suspicious of how you always change to your female form whenever I'm around and even Akane's beginning to get a strange idea or two that makes me _sick_ just thinking about it, and us disappearing like this isn't going to help."

Ranma-chan shrugged unconcernedly. "Meh, those girls are already crazy anyway and it's not like they ever listen whenever I try ta tell 'em the truth, so there's no point in getting worked up over it. Personally, I'm more worried about Dr. Tofu these days than silly rumors. He's been an absolute mess these past few weeks, and I can only wonder what pressure point he used to get himself through the wedding."

Ryouga placed his hands behind his head and leaned back, the redhead's display of concern for their mutual friend momentarily countering his normal urge to pummel her for insulting Akane. "True enough, though I think things might be looking up for Dr. Tofu. I saw that woman from China...what was her name again?...the one who looks like she's from India...Rouge! Yeah, I saw Rouge chatting with him at the reception, and she seemed quite taken with him."

The redhead's eyes widened at this news and, slowly, she turned to face her companion. "Um...Ryouga, you do know that Rouge fell into the Spring of Drowned Asura and transforms into a six-armed, three-headed demon when splashed with cold water, right?"

"...Oh," the Eternal Wanderer said lamely, head turning in the direction he believed the wedding reception lay in (Naturally, it didn't). "Do you...um, think we should tell him?"

Ranma-chan opened her mouth to respond but, considering the matter a bit more thoroughly, changed her mind. "Nah, it's not terribly important. If something does happen between those two he'll find out anyway...and it might even be a plus considering the back problems Rouge's six arms give her."

Ryouga looked at her oddly for a moment but, more than used to such bizarreness by now, accepted her words at face value and moved on. "_Anyway_, I still think you'd do us both a favor if you'd let my friends use the Dragon Balls to remove your curse. It'd certainly make your life easier."

The Saotome heir scoffed at this and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And conveniently eliminate my ability to practice Pretty Magical Girl Martial Arts too, which is _not_ going to happen. Much as I hate my Jusenkyo curse and the Master's embarrassing fighting style, I have my pride as a martial artist to protect. Saotome Ranma _never_ loses, and I'm not about to start just because it would make things easier." She nearly spat the last word as if it was distasteful, which considering how much she'd sacrificed and continued to sacrifice for the Art it may well have been to her.

Ryouga sighed again, an action that was becoming increasingly common for him the more time he spent around his rival without getting into an epic martial arts duel. He rather missed those, but as livid as he'd been a year ago after waking up from Ranma-chan's assault Shogi had still managed to convince him to accept a truce until everyone was resurrected and things went back to normal. And then he and Ranma-chan had gotten dragged (i.e. politely asked by Kasumi) into helping out with this wedding and then- oh.

"I'm guessing you brought me here so we could have the rematch I demanded, right, Ranma?" the Lost Boy asked, looking at her carefully with an uncharacteristically neutral expression on his face.

"Bingo!" Ranma-chan answered with an eager nod. "I figured that with practically everybody we know at the reception this might be our best chance for some privacy, and the way things work around here all of Nerima will probably descend into chaos on a weekly basis again once the calm of Jadeite and Kasumi's wedding fades away. We might as well get our own fight out of the way while there's still some peace and quiet. PLUS," she added wryly, "I've been in this ostentatious piece of formalwear for so friggin long that wearing that blasted miniskirt again is starting to sound appealing. So, if you're ready to-"

"I give up."

Those three simple words nearly caused the Saotome heir to choke on her own surprise as her face scrunched up in bewilderment and disbelief. There was no mistaking the seriousness of Ryouga's tone, however, and he continued speaking as he placed his hands on his lap and leaned forward unhappily.

"I don't want to repeat myself so listen closely, Ranma," the brown-eyed warrior said gravely, pointedly not glancing in his rival's direction. "I utterly _despise_ you and would like nothing more than to send you to the Next Dimension, but our last battle was simply ridiculous and put the entire world in danger. I can endure embarrassment if it means punishing you, but I have no right to put others at risk for a personal vendetta...no matter how much you deserve it. So...I give up. I'm _still_ going to pummel you whenever you insult Akane, but you've won our rivalry. You won't be receiving any more death threats or challenges from me so...congratulations. I hope you're happy about this, Ranma."

"...Eh, not especially," the redhead said slowly, also placing her hands on her lap and leaning forward as she watched her companion carefully. "You're the closest thing I've got to an equal, Ryouga, and as much as I complained I looked forward to our duels since they actually challenged me. ...though I have ta admit, the thought of conceding our rematch did cross my mind for the same reasons you just outlined. I have my pride, but I also have a duty as a martial artist to protect people and destroyin' another ward isn't exactly the best way to go about that. I just assumed that since you lost the last round you wouldn't accept me giving up without a proper fight first...but I guess I was wrong."

The two rivals were silent for a moment, lost in thought and pondering each other's words until the Lost Boy spoke again.

"...Man, when did we both become so mature and reasonable?" Ryouga wondered aloud, struck by how impossible this conversation would have seemed not so long ago. Him giving up? Ranma openly admitting to thinking about ceding a battle? He would check for signs of the impending apocalypse, but they'd already faced the end of the world a year ago.

"It's all part of growing up, I guess," Ranma-chan remarked dryly before she sighed in disgust. "Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yep, but an epic battle with the fate of the world at stake tends to do that to people," the Lost Boy answered, dourness melting into a wry half-grin as he turned to face his rival again. "There's nothing quite like a life-and-death fight to clear the head...and at least this way I don't need to worry about you kissing me again or resorting to even worse tactics to beat me. I'm _still_ trying to expunge all memory of that from my mind, you know."

"It was a secret martial arts technique!" the redhead insisted, blue eyes twinkling. "And really, Ryouga, just what are you insinuating? I'm not that kind of magical girl."

The two rivals stared at each other levelly for a long moment, and then they both broke out in partly confused, partly lighthearted, and partly relieved laughter as both the silliness and significance of their conversation sank in. Neither one was happy per se that their rivalry was over, but this unexpected, anticlimactic resolution was somewhat welcome in its own way because it spared them from contemplating what new levels their unhealthy and incredibly destructive competition would reach. Now they had the entire future in front of them-

Vwrop!-Vwrop!-Vwrop!

"AAAIIIIIEEEE!"

-as well as a swirling iridescent vortex that had just deposited a cute little redhead girl face-first on the ground in front of them!

Ryouga and Ranma-chan both immediately tensed and stood up, memories of their last harrowing experience with dimensional tears and visitors from other worlds quickly coming to mind. However, the short redhead stiffened for an additional reason as she watched the shorter redhead and noticed several details about her appearance. The young girl wore a grade school uniform Ranma-chan didn't recognize with a backpack strapped to her back and looked to be about Miss Hinako's (younger) age. A small, red bamboo umbrella was fastened to the top of her backpack, and the child's long, flame red hair was tied back into a ponytail by a black and yellow checkered bandana. As the child grunted and got back to her feet the volleyball-sized ball she held in her arms became visible, a half white and half black sphere with what looked like dog ears and an antenna sticking up from the top and a puppy's face painted on front. The little girl opened her eyes next, revealing polychromatic irises, and when she saw the two older youths in front of her a delighted, relieved smile blossomed across her face, showing off her tiny fangs.

"Mom! Dad!" the child shouted, overjoyed and looking like she was about to cry from happiness. "I know this'll sound strange, but I'm your daughter from the future! I've traveled back in time to warn you about the evil A.I. Skynet! The bad computer has sent an android assassin into the past to kill you, but Shogi-P timed my time travel jump so I'd get here first! We need to get someplace safe quickly so I can fill you in on the rest!"

Ranma-chan and Ryouga took these words about as well as one might expect...which wasn't very well at all. The Lost Boy froze, stunned still by disbelief and horror, but then an expression of such fury it went beyond livid crossed his face. He rapidly reached for his umbrella and swung it down hard at the spot the Saotome heir had occupied a millisecond ago.

"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!" the brown-eyed warrior yelled, chasing after the redhead who was retreating at speeds even a roadrunner might envy

"Ryouga, calm down!" the Saotome heir shouted back placatingly as she ran for all she was worth and then some. "Killing me won't change this! ...okay, maybe it would, but that's beside the point!"

Within seconds the two were specks on the horizon, and within seconds after that the sounds of explosions and massive property damage could be heard from the direction they'd disappeared in. Strangely, Ryouga and Ranma-chan's daughter's smile grew wider as she took in the signs of her parents trying to murder each other.

"Mom and Dad don't change at all, do they, Shogi-P?" she asked rhetorically, her tone cheerful.

In response, the ball in her hands sweatdropped.

000ooo000000ooo000

It was not a dark and stormy night, but that didn't stop ominous signs from appearing in a familiar vacant lot as the moon and stars shined down. First a cold wind with no discernable origin blew about the patch of ground, and this was soon followed by small bolts of what looked like blue electricity zipping through the air. As each second passed these bolts intensified and the breeze grew stronger, the electrical tempest finally climaxing as a blue sphere almost five feet in diameter appeared. An instant later the globe exploded in a burst of light and the wind and lightning died down, leaving behind a naked kneeling figure who was the mirror image of a purple-haired, voluptuous Chinese beauty well-known in Nerima. A mechanical key staff comprised of what looked like two joined chui maces with their rounded bulbs on opposite ends was clutched tightly in the female's hands. The T-X Demon Amazon 300 had arrived-

"Ranma and Ryouga! I kill!"

-and she meant business!

And they all lived happily ever after...eventually...in Nerima's typically atypical fashion.

The end.

Author's Notes: There are many people who deserve my thanks for inspiring, contributing to, or helping me write this fan fic. I've thanked several of them in previous chapters and would like to add the El-Hazard Online fansite community to the list. Our El-Hazard Round Robin served as a practice run of sorts for this and really helped me get a feel for writing stories of grand scope, and while the round robin seems to have vanished off the face of the internet (which might be for the best for some considering how kooky it was and how much fan service we crammed into it -grins-) I still regard it as one of the collaborative highlights of my earlier years online.

Moving on, I also want to thank everyone who's read this story and taken the time to leave feedback sharing their opinions with me. This tale surprised me time and again with how it kept growing in size (It clocks in at over 200 pages, much to my amazement), and your comments, compliments, and criticisms have been very helpful as I plowed forward and worked to see this fan fic through to its completion. "Magical Girl Ranko vs. Z-Fighter Ryouga" would not be the same story without you.

As for how this story came to be and why it turned out the way it did, I'm still a bit uncertain on all of that myself. Originally it was just a whimsical idea I developed ruminating on the requests for a sequel to "Ryouga vs. the Road Runner" and how that could play out, but at some point as I started writing what would become Chapter 1 I encountered a quandary. I realized that the way I was setting the story up almost all the attention would be on Ranma, and I simply didn't have enough material prepared for Ryouga to keep his side of the tale engaging. I could either shift the focus of the fan fic and make Ranma the sole main character, find ways to expand Ryouga's role through more "slice of life" scenes detailing his interactions with the rest of the Nerima cast, or take the lazy route and fill up space by tossing in a bunch of ideas I'd developed but never used in my 10+ years of exposure to fan fiction.

Were I a more talented, braver author, I might have chosen the middle route and spent more time focusing on the Ranma 1/2 cast. As many skilled fan fic writers have shown, in talented hands the extended Ranma 1/2 cast can be absolutely riveting even when they star in side-stories only tangentially related to the main plot. Instead, I went with the third option, threw in Ifurita to raise the stakes, and included Jadeite to give me another subplot to follow. To my surprise, though, and despite my complaints of struggling to make a cohesive storyline in my author's notes for the first chapter, once I established Ifurita as the main antagonist the conventions and tropes of both the magical girl and shounen martial artist genres seemed to fall into place one after another. I received a further surprise with Kasumi and how she became increasingly integral to the main plot when she was originally only supposed to be a supporting character. However, the way I depicted Ifurita I realized that pretty much the only convincing way to stop her would be to convince her to stop herself, and Kasumi as someone who doesn't fight and relies on words and her own innate compassion appeared to be the best candidate for this task. In retrospect I'm not completely sure that I made the best choices, but I am nonetheless satisfied with and pleased by the outcome and I hope those who've read this story are too. Thanks again for your support.

And just in case anyone's wondering, I have no plans to write a sequel to this. I know the ending leaves a few things open (Skynet with reverse engineered Demon God technology! Ranma and Ryouga's daughter!), but that's why I threw in the "and they all lived happily ever after" tag. Despite the odds things have a way of working out for the Nerima Wrecking Crew, and if you're curious that's what happens here somehow. Plus, after throwing pretty much everything but the kitchen sink into this fan fic I doubt a continuation written by me would live up to either of its predecessors. If you want to see a sequel, I thank you for the vote of confidence but it's not likely to happen.

Also, the Terminator franchise belongs to its respective copyright holders. I make no claims to it.

And on that note, thank you and farewell.