New Pigtailed Loops

Disclaimer: I don’t own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.

This group is based on a Groundhog’s Day concept, if time was looping, and certain members were aware of this.

These are their insanities.

New Loop #1:

Loops came, Loops went, and Loops would continue.

He could still remember how it all started, shortly after the failed marriage attempt that had destroyed the Saotome home. Not even a week later—more than enough time for Nabiki to write up a bill and subtract what she got for selling the wedding gifts—he ended up right back at the beginning.

It wasn’t too bad. He didn’t go back to being as weak as he had been. It was kind of nice to have the good ole Möko Takabisha when he was first there, same old stamina, speed, etc. Hell, he enjoyed it because no matter how long he spent, he always had his martial arts to further perfect; an infinite year to become perfect.

Then boredom set in, had he actually started … reading! And not just scrolls either—though the Imperial Palace did have a nice cache of forbidden techniques in a sub-sub-sub basement that required the Emperor’s personal key to enter—but books on science and such.

Of course, you could only work so hard before boredom returned, and thus the knowledge from a certain small tomboy of a Goddess—who in typical Nerima fashion, showed up while he was soaking and got upset for ‘him’ being naked. After a nice chat—and he finally got her to stop claiming that she was now ‘impure’—he learned not only what had occurred but that there would be an ending.

Hope can keep any man going when all seems lost.

Of course, also in typical Nerima fashion, she’d been unable—or more likely unwilling—to change where he entered the Loop.

BAM!

This was why just after the Loop started again—literally fractions of a second—and there was no time to get his—now her—thoughts together, she once more felt the cold impact of a stop sign to the sweet-spot on the back of her head, rendering her unconscious.

The Old Man will die this Loop … painfully, were her last thoughts as unconsciousness claimed her and a panda picked her up.

New Loop #2:

Ranma could only cringe, looking at how this Loop was turning out very badly. Nothing good will come of this, he mentally cried, wondering what Gods he had pissed off for this to happen. He had been so petrified by the sight before him, he hadn’t even noticed when Soun Tendo poured the boiling hot water over him.

“You’re problem’s not so bad,” smiled Soun, oblivious to any discomfort/fear Ranma was feeling. “Now I know you have a hard choice. My little girls all take so much after their mother.”

“Daddy!” giggled the eldest Tendo.

“Now then: Serenity, age 19, Usagi, age 17, and Usa, age 16,” he said, pointing to the platinum blond, pure blond, and pinkette in turn. “Choose the one who will be your fiancée!”

“Is he okay?” asked Usagi. “He just went pretty pale.”

“He must have eaten some of your food,” smirked Usa.

“WAAAAAH! I TRY! AND DADDY EATS IT!”

THUMP!

As a whole, the trio of oddly hairstyled girls and fathers looked at the Saotome heir … collapsed on the ground, twitching heavily.

“I … think he’s having a seizure,” mumbled Usa.

“WAAAAAH! WE NEED A DOCTOR!” yelled Usagi, panicking.

“I’ll get the first aid crystal,” said Serenity, as she dashed into the kitchen.

“Stop acting like that, Boy!” bellowed Genma, offering what ‘help’ he could.

Ranma fought to regain control over his massive nervous twitch, but could do nothing to stem the fear of an entire Loop … of magic girl fiancées.

New Loop #3:

Ranma was far from being an idiot.

Okay, to be truthful, now he was far from being an idiot. But a few thousand years tends to make one crack open any books nearby. Unlike others in their own Loops, Ranma’s own Loop lacked … a rival.

Oh sure, he had Ryoga, but the Lost Boy was far from becoming an evil overlord. When only you remember the last life, the competition soon falls quickly behind. The only unpredictable excitement he had was that young Norn popping up, insisting he take responsibility for what he did.

He would truly like to know how it was his fault she arrived using the tub he was soaking in, fell forward, and impaled herself because of her angle and that it was the one morning she was going commando in her loose robes because all her clothes were dirty. Yeah, all his fault…

It wasn’t like he had met a whole lot of ten-dimensional entities. The first one was a psycho and the other one—oddly enough her eldest sister—spent half the time trying to grope him and suggest she could use a bath as well. Maybe if Saffron fully ascended, he’d have been some major pervert as well, he thought.

Perhaps that had been why the pigtailed martial artists had been mad as a hatter, bat-shit insane curious enough to try tapping into the Dragon Lines of Earth and seeing what could be done.

For a few seconds, it felt like heaven.

Then it really, really, really fucking hurt. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at the center of such a huge blast and because of your connection to the Dragon Lines, feel ‘their’ pain?

I should have known something would go wrong. I mean, the node was at the top of Tokyo Tower! How often does bad shit happen to the Tokyo Tower in anime?

It wasn’t so bad.

Okay, the pain sucked Akane’s Chicken Surprise.

But the result wasn’t so bad. He had a pretty good idea now of what not to do the next time he tried that—and there would be a next time, rest assured.

But he was in a new Loop. The guy who just entered the compartment on the train had introduced himself as Harry Potter. And for the last five minutes, Ranma learned beyond any shadow of a doubt that the crazy pervy Goddesses were correct: he wasn’t alone. And even if he got sent back to Nerima after this Loop—which could last anywhere from seven to eight years on the average and thus was a hell of a lot more fun than his usual one-point-five—he’d know and be able to try something new.

Oh yes! This was a glorious day! Well worth the pain of feeling your atoms and those of all the humans around the greater area of Tokyo turned into plasma.

“Um, hello,” said a redheaded boy, peeking into the compartment, “if this one full—HEY!” he yelled as he was shoved aside and the door was forced all the way open.

“My name,” said a figure in Hogwarts robes that sent a strong shiver down Ranma’s eleven-year-old spine, “is Skuld Odinsdotter. Hello, my destined,” she said with a purr that sounded extremely creepy coming from her eleven-year-old form.

Gulping, Ranma turned to look at the wand in his hand. I wonder if this thing is strong enough to pierce my heart…

New Loop #4:

Ranma sighed as he watched his ‘student’ continue her work.

It wasn’t that he hated the Loops. He knew why they were happening. And even if he didn’t have the ‘main enemy’ like the others did, he did find something to do.

True, he could only take it so far. After all, if he ascended—became a God himself between the levels of 4D and 10D—the Loop would fail and all those would cease to exist. As such, he could only do what would allow him to stay a 4-D mortal.

This was why he now had a student who was three Loops old.

“Damn it,” said female—as if Skuld would allow him a male—cursed.

“It isn’t that hard,” said Ranma, looking over the roof. The sunset was nice this day of the year; no pollution to interfere in the rays, not after that last super-storm.

“We can’t all be masters of powers of all types,” the female growled at him.

Sighing, he turned towards her. “It is the first step towards adding magic to your skills,” he replied. “If one cannot separate mana from ki, they cannot become what I am. As such, if you cannot generate a ball of ki and a ball of mana in opposite hands, you are not ready for my tutelage in spells,” he said.

And his tutelage was unique. After all, only he could have suffered under the worlds of Lina Inverse and Harry Potter, only he could suffer under those Loops and know what he knew aside from the Anchors themselves.

“Damn it,” growled the girl, “I’m trying.”

“I know,” said Ranma. “Try harder.”

Growling, the girl bowed her head, working once again on separating the two powers.

Sighing, Ranma turned once more towards the sunset. It was nice to have someone else in the Loop with him, someone who could keep him grounded.

But why was it her?

Sighing, he opened his eyes once more towards the sunset. He would stay mortal to keep those he loved from fading into nothingness. He would stay mortal to keep all those he had known from ceasing to exist.

He just hoped it came soon, especially with her as his new student.

New Loop 5:

Ranma groaned as life and consciousness returned to him. Okay, that ending, though way cool, sucked.

Once again, Ranma had immersed himself in the Dragon Lines, becoming one with the Earth and all upon it. Sure, he had mastered that centuries—or was it millennia?—ago, but he had a theory he needed to test out, something that came to him when watching a science special about the Earth and the Moon.

Namely, it was some scientist claiming the two were a binary planetary system.

This of course intrigued Ranma. Could there be a Dragon Line connection between the two, one so small or underpowered that he had yet to illuminate it? He had after all only focused on the energy of the Earth.

Had he missed something?

The answer was yes, he did. Very weak lines extended from the surface towards the Moon. In fact, he could now agree with the scientists who stated the Moon was born from a collision of a Mars-sized body into the proto-Earth. The lines told it all.

And then, Ryoga Hibiki, the permanent random element, decided he was going to tunnel from Sweden. And encountering the light cloud Ranma became when in tune with the Dragon Lines, decided that Ranma was apparently an alien force field meant to allow the Lost Boy to be probed in the ‘bad place’ again.

Thus the Hibiki decided to strike the cloud with a Perfect Shishi Höködan.

If there was one thing Ranma knew, it was that one does not attack an active and exposed Dragon Line with large amounts of chi. Doing so would spike and flare all of the lines connected to it, forwards and backwards.

The good news was that Ranma learned the lines even had a connection to the sun.

The bad news was thanks to Ryoga, Ranma could claim partial credit for destroying an entire solar system—and probably part of the Centauri system as well. He wasn’t so certain, as his consciousness faded after the blast took away the former Sol Oort Cloud.

This seemed to explain why Ranma was slowly waking up in a very unfamiliar place. Looking around, he found his figure bound to a medical bed in a large room. Apparently, blowing up an entire solar system sends you to a really weird Loop, he thought.

“Ah, good,” came a female voice, just out of his restricted range of vision, “you’re awake.”

His face paled as he recognized that voice, his mind slowly recognizing the place he was in. Oh Kami-sama, no!

The sound of foot steps clicking on a floor grew as the figure stepped into his field of vision, showing no sign of caring as Ranma desperately tried to escape.

It figured she would be the one to find some way to bind him and prevent escape, especially with everything he knew and had at his disposal.

Soon, she stood before him, wearing a smile, thankfully in an adult form—he could tell by how tall she was and the fact her cleavage was straining the obviously too small top of a nurse’s outfit, and to finally her crab-like hair.

“My name is Washu, and I hope we’ll get along really well, Mr. Guinea Pig,” she said with a smile.

“Did you guys hear something?” asked Tenchi.

“Like what?” asked Ryoko, floating above the rafters.

“I thought I heard someone scream in epic fear, as if the hounds of Hell were about to tear into them.”

“Probably Mom found something new to play with,” Ryoko said with a shrug.

“Should we … help them?” asked Tenchi.

“Hey, better them than us.”

“Ah, good point.”

New Loop #6:

Ranma sat in the courtyard of Furinkan High, munching on his food as he studied the booklet in his hand.

A week, a whole week is what he had to spend to get this plan to go off. That didn’t include the studying he had done, Loops of previous tests and trials to pull this off.

“Where have you been?” demanded Akane, as she stormed over to where he was. Looking up, he could see Nabiki trailing behind her, ways of how to use this already dancing in her vision.

Showtime! “I was busy preparing for my future.”

“I’m not going to marry you,” said Akane in a huff.

“Who said we were getting married,” dismissed Ranma, returning to his book.

“Then where have you been,” said Akane, her temper somewhat mollified. “You’ve been gone for a week.”

“Daddy and Uncle Genma have been worried sick about you,” offered Nabiki with her usual Cheshire smile.

“Well, since my Old Man didn’t make further plans for my future aside from marrying one of you and taking over the Dojo,” Ranma continued, turning the page in his booklet, “I set about planning my own future.”

“So my little sister isn’t good enough for you?” asked Nabiki, trying to start another tiff between the duo. Most of her possible fun had been ruined when Saotome had disappeared sometime during their first night at the Dojo. Now he was back after a week and she wanted answers.

Moreover, he was going to give her the answers she never expected. “It has nothing to do with Akane or any Tendo,” Ranma said, still focused on his book. “Marriage or any relationship at the moment is not within my plans, so I am not concerned with whatever plans my father has.”

“Then where were you?” asked Akane, her anger gone, her mind already wondering just why she wasn’t in those plans. She might not want to marry the gender-changing Saotome, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to be desired. His statement that he had no desire for anything from her now stabbed at her ego.

“I was in several pit fights to gather the needed capital for my future college plans,” Ranma said. “After all, my Old Man would have saved nothing for my college fund, nor do I see him allowing me such if he could get his hands on it. I needed to also set aside an account he could have no access to.”

The Tendo sisters blinked at that.

“And after that and ensuring I didn’t have to worry about any organized crime syndicate coming after me for taking them for enough funds to pay for my full college tuition and assorted fees, I returned here just this morning to take my placement exams.”

“Furinkan offers placement exams?” asked Akane in surprise.

“I was as shocked as you,” said Ranma. “I would have figured I would need them just to attend.

“Anyway, you may refer to me as sempai now,” said Ranma, as he held out his schedule.

Nabiki took it, confusion evident on her face. Her eyes went wide as she read the classroom assignment. “Senior Group, Classroom 1-A?” she stated in shock.

“What does that mean?” asked Akane.

“It means I am officially a senior at Furinkan High,” Ranma offered. “It also means I am being prepared to become the first Furinkan High graduate to attend Todai.”

“Todai?”

“Tokyo University,” whispered Nabiki to her sister, awe in her voice. Did she just stick her sister … with a future Todai graduate?

“I was thinking the science division,” continued Ranma. “I don’t see too many business grads surviving the coming economic hardships due to the housing bubble in the American economy.”

Nabiki twitched. She had foisted a genius and future stable salary man onto her sister. Said man had no desires to be attached to anyone now.

Todai graduates had a much higher chance of surviving any economic hardships in any company, but Saotome was setting himself up for a government job. He was … perfect—minus the curse but she’d be willing to eat carpet for such a catch.

In addition, … he already had the funds to attend Tokyo University for all the years he needed… He was going to be set for life … and he didn’t care for any ties to her. “But what about the honor pledge between the families?”

Ranma shrugged. “I don’t see any paperwork for it,” he said without concern. “Verbal agreements have little weight in a federal court. Moreover, I’ve already filed the proper paperwork to be declared outside of any promises my father made in the name of honor. Oddly enough, there seem to be a great deal of issues with my Old Man in the court system.

“Glad I’m out of that shit waiting to hit a fan.”

Worse, his father was a walking bottomless bill, apparently, with massive legal troubles. Without the Dojo as a rent free place from which to base her current actions from…

“So … we’re not getting married?” asked Akane, a little slow on the uptake.

Ranma just nodded. “Nope, you are free to pursue whoever you want. I’m no longer legal bound by any promises of one Genma Saotome. Enjoy,” he waved off.

It was at that moment Nabiki focused on the booklet he had been reading, seeing the title of the booklet.

Preparation Guide for the Tokyo University Entrance Exam.

“Well that’s good then,” said Akane, missing the meaning. “Now I can—Nabiki? Are you okay? You look really pale?”

Said girl just continued to twitch, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out. Her last thoughts were those of wondering how she let the perfect catch slip through her fingers … to her anger-imbued sister.

“Nabiki? MEDIC!” cried Akane, as she checked over her sister.

Ranma hid his smirk behind his booklet. Oh yes, it had taken him a few Loops, but he finally had payback against the Mercenary Tendo. I feel very good!

“Someone help me!” yelled Akane. “She’s having a seizure!”

New Loop #7:

Ranma leaned back against the wall of the abandoned house, waiting for his guests. Luckily, it was still early in the Loop. Therefore, he didn’t have to worry about fiancées or rivals popping up at the worst moment. And because it was within the first week of the Loop, he didn’t have to worry about noisy Tendos or suspicious fathers either.

This suited him just fine.

Looking around, he looked at their arrival points. Against the wall to his left was a large mirror, perfect for the Goddess of the Present to pass through. To his right was a television—thankfully the Goddess of the Past’s preferred mode of transport didn’t require power to be used. And before him was a small kiddy-pool of water.

The last thing he wanted was the Goddess of the Future to arrive in a possible blind spot. Skuld was a bit of an unknown factor. He still wasn’t certain of her motivations or if perhaps her mind had been affected by the impact that created the Loops as well. All he knew was that she pursued him with fiancée-grade passion but without the possessiveness.

So he knew something was definitely wrong with her, even if her sisters insisted nothing was. His life just didn’t work like that.

But he needed answers, answers he was more likely to get with all three Norns present.

Soon, the three items glowed as the Norns arrived, stepping away from their mediums and into the center of the room.

“Ladies,” he said, bowing slightly, not taking his eyes off them. In his experience, females were always the most dangerous when not watched, like most predators.

“Yo!” waved off Urd, smiling.

Belldandy just gave her usual innocent smile, making Ranma once again picture Kasumi in his mind, before returning the bow. “Hello again, Saotome-san.”

Skuld did what she always did when in her adult form and confronted with Ranma.

“MMRPH!” he cried as said Goddess wrapped herself around him like an octopus and shoved her tongue down his throat.

“Oh my! Skuld, that isn’t proper at all!”

“Damn, little sister sure was repressed.”

Ranma mentally sighed as he let Skuld continue to French kiss him. It was usually more trouble than it was worth to try to force her back. It was like explaining to her that as a Goddess, dirty clothes shouldn’t have been an issue to explain why she had arrived to speak to him without underwear on. There wasn’t a magic spell to clean clothes or conjure new ones?

Like he hadn’t heard that line before in the ‘Oops, we appear to be having sex now’ encounter.

Soon, Skuld withdrew her lips, smiling. “Um … hello?” she weakly offered.

Ranma just gave her a patient smile as she pulled away to rejoin her sisters. It certainly wasn’t the worst welcome he had ever received. Far from it—Skuld did things with her tongue even Urd didn’t know about. But he needed his answers. “Okay, I called you guys to ask a simple question: has anyone been messing with my code?”

“Your code?” asked Belldandy.

“You sure?” asked Urd.

Skuld stayed silent, never a good sign.

Ranma just nodded. “Do you three still have your Angels?” he asked.

“Why?” asked Urd. “And what does this have to do with changing your Yggdrasil code?”

Skuld continued to stay silent.

“Go with me on this,” said Ranma. “Could you all summon your Angels?”

Nodding, Holy Bell emerged from behind Belldandy. World of Elegance followed suit from behind Urd.

Gulping, Noble Scarlet—adult like her Goddess—emerged from behind Skuld.

Ranma nodded. “Okay, here is why I called you,” he said, as a beam of light emerged from his back.

When the beam faded, exact copies of the Angels before him now floated behind him.

“That … That’s impossible!” bellowed Urd.

Ranma nodded. “Now you see why I asked about my code.” His gaze then focused on Skuld, her actions suggesting she knew more than she was telling.

Gulping—and hoping this wouldn’t cut her off from Ranma—Skuld slowly replied. “I … well … in order to overcome the ascension lockup, I tried to use code from a similar species exposed to humans.”

Ranma nodded. He knew of the Ascension Lockup. If he ascended beyond the basic 4D life form—length, width, height, and time—his Loop could very well fail and erase the entire universe from existence.

He also knew it was a harsh struggle not to ascend, given his free time and his innate understanding of the energies used in the various Loops. Everyone else had some massive evil or destiny to face. He had at the hardest, Saffron. And the flaming turkey hadn’t been a threat to Ranma since the third repetition.

Suffice to say, he had nothing but free time to expand his abilities. He sadly had several avenues cut off to him to explore since it would have required him to move beyond his current level of existence. And while some of those he lived with were of the type he wouldn’t mind ceasing to exist, he wasn’t about to doom a whole universe just to test his limits.

“So since Angels are of a closer existence to humans than Gods and Goddesses, I used some of the code from our own Angels to see if I could correct that,” Skuld finished, her fingers steepled nervously.

“And … how does that explain this?” asked Ranma.

Urd sighed, palming her face. “Because when the Loop reset, your body is always fully repaired. The code for the repairs would have seen the code bits from our Angels and assumed they had been damaged as well.”

Ranma nodded, leaning back against the wall. “In effect, it duplicated them when the Loop began because as far as it knew, they were within me.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Skuld.

“So … will these three be okay?” asked Ranma. “I mean, I figure the system probably will state they’re a part of me now.”

“Oh yes,” said Belldandy. “They’ll need new names of course, otherwise that might cause an issue in Yggdrasil later on. But an Angel’s power comes from the love of others as well as the love their host feels for others.”

Urd nodded. “Keiichi was able to host an Angel and use her powers because well … a lot of Goddesses seem to care for him.”

Ranma nodded. “And by refusing to ascend, I show care and love for the universe at large in all things. And I also seem to have divine beings who love me,” he finished, looking upon Skuld. He didn’t exactly know if there was anything between him and Urd aside from the occasional get-together, but he was certain at least Skuld loved him.

Belldandy just nodded. “Though I wouldn’t recommend using their power until we learn how strong the power is that they can draw upon.”

Ranma opened his mouth to respond, when the ethereal hand of the duplicate Noble Scarlet touched his shoulder. Looking up, a silent communication passed between the two before Ranma sighed.

Walking forward, he approached Skuld. The Goddess was still nervous of how he was going to react to what she had done, so she flinched as he reached out for her.

She certainly hadn’t expected him to pull her into a hug, let alone say what he did.

“I forgive you.”

New Loop #8: (Requires preknowledge of Star Trek: DS9: Children of Time)

Nabiki yawned as she made her way to the Mess. The last few days had been taxing on her, helping plant some fields of a plant she didn’t even like was not her idea of Starfleet work. Nor was talking with the ‘other’ her that had spent two centuries on Gaia.

All she wanted at the moment was a nice large meal before she tried to get some sleep. The process of using the temporal anomaly to ‘twin’ the Defiant had left the Goddess and Demoness drained. And the last thing she was looking forward to was trying to get some sleep after the two were forced to overindulge in their respective recharging methods.

As the door opened, she spotted her pigtailed traveling companion/teacher sitting at the mess, a nearly full tray before him, his face staring out the window as the ship traveled through Warp.

“Mind if I bunk in your room, Saotome?” she asked, ordering her meal from the Food Replicator. “I don’t really know what ice cream or liquor overload does to a tenth dimensional deity, but I’m guessing it involves odd sounds and bodily gasses.”

“No prob,” muttered Ranma.

“So … how many plates is that?” she asked, sitting across from him.

“One,” he muttered to her surprise.

“I would have thought you’d be on your tenth now.”

“Not really hungry, I guess,” he said.

She arched her eyebrow at that. “We’ve been here for over two centuries, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that, even when the food was knowingly poisoned.”

“Thinking about Gaia still,” he said.

Nabiki chuckled lightly. “Just because the me down there let the you down there knock her up, don’t be getting any ideas I’ll do the same.”

Ranma looked at her with a moment of confusion before he let out a tired sigh. “You don’t get it, Nabiki.”

“Get what?” she asked.

“They had children,” he offered.

“So what?” she asked. “You had them with Hild and Skuld as well. Hell, there’s probably someone else every few generations spitting out a Saotome. What of it?”

“Nabiki, in all the Loops, how many children have you had?”

“None, not ready to be a mother, probably still won’t be a century for now.”

“It doesn’t have to deal with choice,” said Ranma. “As a general rule, our code in Yggdrasil was changed for every person awake in the Loops so we couldn’t have children until reality is repaired.”

“Nice to know,” snorted Nabiki. “Why?”

“Could you stay sane if you constantly had to watch your child erased from history over and over again?” he asked. “One moment you’re holding your child, the next they’re gone, and only you remember them. Hell, the randomness factor in sperm means you’ll likely never see that child ever again. How many times could you go through that?”

Nabiki paled at such a thought. She would be the first to admit she wasn’t exactly brimming with maternal instincts. But even she could see where having such things happen to you wouldn’t be good for one’s sanity. “So they’ll have to suffer through that?” she asked.

Ranma shook his head. “Nope. They won’t. Their children won’t be erased.”

Nabiki shivered a bit, still remembering the photos the other ‘Nabiki’ had shown her of that timeline’s history, of her children with Ranma. Sure, the pigtailed teen taught her a lot during the Loops. But it didn’t mean she had ever considering squeezing out a few Saotome babies. “So what does them having children mean?”

Ranma sighed. “Nabiki, any Looper cannot have children.”

“So?” She still didn’t see where this was going.

“It means that the other versions of us on Gaia … will never leave this universe. For them, this is home. And as the universe began as a Pseudo-Loop, it will never end for them.”

Nabiki’s eyes went wide at that. She knew what a Pseudo-Loop was. It was a Loop that wasn’t. In effect, the Loops crossed and intersected a universe that was stable, that was not Looping at all, and thus had no anchor. They hadn’t replaced anyone. It simply became a new branch universe from the stable one. However, they were essentially alone until they died or until their home Loop ‘pulled them back. At the end, the new timeline continued on, always existing. “You mean … they’ll never return to Nerima.”

Ranma nodded. “They were created by the Quantum Barrier; they are of this universe and of us.”

Nabiki leaned back in her chair, her meal forgotten. “That’s why she told me to give her regards to my family. I … I thought it was just because the barrier would make it impossible to get through in a few weeks.”

Ranma nodded, recalling his own talks with his duplicate, stories and tales, plans to pull off Yedrin’s insane idea, tips and discoveries, pain and joys. He had always wondered what he might do when the Loops ended, his plans and ideas of how to resume his life. Part of him had simply assumed he would ascend to a higher plane—which coincidentally would get him out of his fiancée issues. And for a brief moment, he had found that on Gaia.

Okay, so he ended up in a somewhat polygamous arrangement with Nabiki, Skuld, and Hild. But it was … enjoyable to see the lives denied him.

“And they can’t … I don’t know—merge back with us?” Nabiki asked.

Ranma shook his head. “In order to pull it off, we had to invest a lot of power, Nabiki. To remerge with us, we would have had to sacrifice the lives on Gaia. And they just weren’t willing to do that.”

Nabiki leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t imagine not returning home, not continuing the Great Adventure. But that version of her did.

That version of her gave it all up. And it made Nabiki wonder if at some point, she might have to make that choice as well. Looking up, she spotted Ranma picking at his meal. “This … it’s happened to you before, hasn’t it?”

Ranma didn’t even look up, didn’t answer as he pushed his meal away, standing up. “Ain’t anything you can do to make it easier, Nabiki. Ain’t a way you can really prepare for this, get yourself ready to handle it. All you can do is just … move on.”

“And hope it was worth it,” she murmured.

Ranma paused, placing his hand on her shoulder. “It gave over eight thousand people a chance they’d never of had without us there. Hell, without us in this timeline, I don’t know if the Defiant would even have been here. But I sure as hell know they’d never have been able to pull off what we did.

“But in the end, all we can do is keep moving on.”

As he walked out of the Mess, Nabiki closed her eyes, remembering the other her, and the last words she whispered to her younger self.

Trust me, no matter what, the Great Adventure is only great because of people like him being the guides. And don’t knock the sex until you have it.

Sighing, Nabiki stood up as well, gathering the two trays and returning them to the Food Replicator. Sleep sounded pretty good right now, certainly better than thinking of the paths not taken.

New Loop #9:

Ranma looked at the purple-furred cat, very glad he had finally used a few Loops to secure his control over the Nekoken—not that those nekomata who assisted him would ever tell, since they forgot as well.

But it was time to play a new joke. “Well, I better get her to a vet.”

“Oh?” asked Akane, still glaring at him for receiving a package from Shampoo.

Even the cat looked confused at his words.

“Well, yeah,” said Ranma, as if she had asked a stupid question. “I mean, she might need quarantined or shots.”

“Meow?” asked the now nervous cat.

“Hell, might have to get her fixed.”

“Meow!” cried neko-Shampoo as she tried to desperately get away from the pigtailed boy. Great-grandmother no tell Shampoo how to deal with this!

New Loop #10:

“And that is why Mother I am a manly man, despite my Jusenkyo Curse.”

Nodoka just blinked. This … man had shown up on her doorstep, claiming to be her son, and when confronted with the contract, had spent the last six hours and two takeout deliveries later, explaining why he had fulfilled it. To be honest, she didn’t know what to do.

“I will admit the curse will make my life somewhat difficult,” Ranma continued, wondering if he had finally mastered his case enough that he could see his mom for a whole day with that damned sword. “But it does give me insight into the female mind that no other man may have. In addition, it does appeal to the majority of women who have fluid and dynamic views of sexual relations. Why, I could even now woo lesbians and lesbian-leaning bisexuals.”

Nodoka blinked at that. Certainly obtaining the lust and perhaps love of women who would forsake the male gender was manly.

“My own sexuality is without doubt male-oriented heterosexual, even when I am in my girl form. So there is no need to worry that they may … ‘convert’ me.”

That … was good. A manly son could provide grandchildren faster than a daughter.

“Of course, such may be necessary for all the marriage arrangements my father made in my name,” said Ranma with concern. “To be honest, I’m not sure how he planned for me to honor all of these commitments and retain our family honor.”

Genma had jeopardized the honor of the Saotome Clan?

“But if a way can be found to satisfy these many verbal agreements—without me or anyone else committing Seppuku—then I shall work with the true Head of the Saotome Clan to solve these issues as peacefully as possible!”

Nodoka slowly nodded. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. Only a manly son would think like that.

“Then let us meet my father at the Tendo Dojo,” said Ranma with a smile, extending his hand towards his mother. “And together, we shall do everything—short of suicide—that we can to restore honor to our clan!”

“YES!” cried Nodoka, standing up, silk-covered sword at her side.

Ranma hid his smirk. Not only would this create a nice influence on the Tendo sisters—Akane couldn’t claim pervert if his Mother was there and knew of his ‘manly curse’—but it would also keep his father in check.

I love it when a plan comes together!