Valley of Darkness

I do not own any of the characters of Ranma ½ or The Adversary Cycle

Just BTW, this story is not cannon to either series and timelines may be skewed to allow for the two stories to work together, only the mythology of The Adversary Cycle is used, it will be primarily Ranma.

!

Fate is a mysterious mistress, some say that the will of fate cannot be broken; others say that it can be bent and molded to ones wishes if they are strong enough, and still others say that there is only the fate that we ourselves make and believe. In actuality, all three approaches are in a way, correct. It is true that fate cannot be broken, but there are those who decide what that fate is. Usually fate is decided by the embodiment of chaos, but once every millennia, a mortal is born with the power to challenge fate and win, and in doing so, they will change the fates of all those that surround them.

Chaos knew that the day was coming and he could not allow whoever was chosen to interfere with his plans, so he had come to the mortal plane under the guise of a old woman in an attempt to kill the one who could challenge him at birth. He however only knew that this person would be born somewhere in Tokyo. For 40 years he waited, but still he could not sense the one.

One day during his search he found a homeless man, he was near death on the side of the road, as chaos approached the man, he could see that his heart was full of greed and hate, but also that his mind was weak and easily influenced. Chaos approached the man, and using his power, cut one of the man's strings of fate, the string that tied him to death. As the man started to awaken, chaos smiled, it was a perfect plan, the man would be his ambassador to this planet, and would be charged with finding the one and killing him. Chaos then began to weave new threads, tying the man to himself for a source of power and making him perfectly loyal.

As the man opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of an elderly woman staring down at him.

"wh.. who are you?" the man managed to stutter out. He could not believe his luck, he was still alive, but that was impossible, he had been shot nearly a dozen times and thrown out of a moving van just before everything went black. 'Damm Yakuza' the man thought.

The elderly women simply continued to smile at him. 'What is her problem? Why is she staring at me?' Sitting up, the man noticed something was very wrong, it didn't hurt. Tearing off his bullet riddled shirt, he could only stare as he saw all of his wounds simply close up as if they hadn't been there. Snapping his head back up at the lady, he saw that she was chuckling softly at his antics. He was about to yell at her when suddenly she raised her hand, and he found he couldn't open his mouth. Adrenaline surged through his body as panic took over. Who WAS this lady?

"There is no need to fear me child, I simply wish to speak without being interrupted, do you understand?"

The man quickly nodded his head, not wanting to anger what was probably a demon or a god.

"Good. I have a proposal to make to you, as you can see, I have mended your wounds and brought you back from death. I wish to have you be my representation here in this world in return for your unwavering loyalty. You see, I have a problem that needs to be taken care of, but I simply can not devote any more time myself in solving it."

Inside his mind, chaos was laughing, the man would not be able to refuse his offer, but there was no need to tell him that.

"If you accept my offer, I will endow you with the power you need to accomplish my task, what say you?"

Suddenly finding himself able to talk again, the man asked the first question that came to his mind.

"What is it you would require of me my lord?"

Chaos was cracking up, the whole loyalty thing was taking effect much faster than he anticipated.

"You are to find the one who can challenge my power and kill them by whatever means necessary."

"It shall be done my lord" the man said as he knelt in front of chaos.

"I have but one question for you, what is your name child?"

"My name…my name is Rasalom"

!

20 years later…

Rasalom had searched the whole globe several times over for the one, but he could never pin them down. A glimpse here or there of power, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone. This time however was different, there was a bright beacon of power, no, make that two beacons of power radiating from within China. 'Its actually quite close to a nexus of chaos' mused Rasalom. Though he had been charged with killing the one, Chaos never specified how he was to kill them, and being a cruel man, Rasalom had decided he would make the one suffer, Playing with him as a cat would play with a mouse before killing it.

Rasalom was currently in California, 'Not that it makes a difference' he thought as he walked out onto the Pacific ocean, he would be in Japan in an hour, and now that he had a lock on the prey, he would wait for them to come to him. Rasalom whipped out his cell phone and called some of his men in Japan. There was no need for him to do the initial messy work.

!

Ranma was exhausted, not just physically, but emotionally as well. He, Ranma Saotome, had just killed a god. He could almost laugh at the absurdity of it. Granted Saffron would be reborn, but that didn't lighten his mood very much. Sitting next to his left on the plane was Akane, who was currently curled up next to him fast asleep. Ryoga had been sitting to his right, but the lost boy had gotten up to use the bathroom and no one had seen him since. Cologne had searched the plane for him, but the only information as to his whereabouts that could be found was that the pilot had informed her that the emergency exit had been opened for a second at the rear of the plane.

Ranma knew that the fathers would try something utterly stupid as soon as they got back, so Ranma had informed them that he would meet them back at the house in three days after they landed. He simply needed some alone time. When they landed in Tokyo, he said goodbye to everyone and bounced off across the rooftops, hoping that he could get a few days of peace before returning to the chaos that was his life.

!

The next day

Nabiki woke up much later than usual, not that she was an early riser, but the ice queen did not usually get up at noon.

"uggg… I overslept big time" she said to no one in particular. With the return of her sister the night before, they had all stayed up late listening to what had happened. Nabiki dragged herself out of her bed and walked over to her computer, there was several bets that had ended today that she needed to clear up.

(Meanwhile downstairs)

Kasumi was in a good mood, not that she was ever really in a bad one, but having Akane back home was the best thing that had happened in a long time. The fathers were busy playing shogi, Akane was in the other room watching TV, She had let Nabiki sleep in, knowing that she was probably tired from the previous night. She herself was making lunch, and was nearly finished when a knock came from the door.

"I'll get it!" she called out as she made her way towards the door.

When she opened the door, it reviled a well built man of about 25 years of age, he had jet black hair and was wearing what appeared to be some sort of military uniform, but Kasumi could not identify it.

"Is this the Tendo Residence?" he asked while he lit up a cigarette.

Frowning at this action Kasumi replied "yes it is, how may I help you"

"Has a Mr. Ranma Saotome been living here?"

"Yes, but he isn't here right now, if you came back lat.." was all Kasumi got out as the man pulled out a gun and shot her twice in the chest. Her eyes went wide as she tried to say something before collapsing to the side of the hall.

Nabiki nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the noise, She had been watching the man on her computer with some of the cameras she had strung about the house. She had dismissed him as just another challenger for Ranma, and was only half watching since she was attempting to figure out who had one a new bet when she saw Kasumi get shot. Her eyes remained glued to the screen as she saw at least 20 other similarly dressed men, but much more heavily armed begin to surround the house.

The only way to describe Soun was that he was filled with pure rage, Calling on his long forgotten skills, he manifested a sword made of pure ki and charged at the front door, only to be shot from behind as several more men came in through the back door.

Genma wasn't fairing much better, he had managed to slip into the umisenken as 7 men came out of the bushes around the koi pond. Drawing on his forbidden arts, he fired a multitude of vacuum blades towards the home invaders. Unfortunately this reviled his position and he was shot, but not before killing three of the men.

P-chan (AKA Ryoga) had been sitting in Akane's lap when the fighting had begun and he only had time to turn around and see one of the men behind Akane before darkness claimed him.

Nabiki was panicking, she had tried to call 119 (the Japanese equivalent of 911) but discovered that the lines were cut. Luckily, two weeks ago she had gone out and bought a new device called a cell phone, she was currently ripping apart every electronic in her room trying to find 6 AA batteries.

'SHIT! I ONLY NEED 1 MORE!' She screamed mentally, cursing her not being prepared for this kind of situation. She jammed the five batteries into the phone and then stretched the spring in the sixth slot across the battery compartment, praying that it would be enough power to make a call. Knowing that someone else had likely called the police, and that they probably couldn't help her anyways, she dialed the number for the cat café.

"Cat Café, Cologne speaking, how may I help you?"

"COLOGNE!" Nabiki harshly whispered "I NEED HELP, THE DOJO IS UNDER ATTACK FROM AT LEAST 30 MEN WITH GUNS, AND I THINK IM THE ONLY ONE STILL ALIVE!"

"I'll be right over, stay calm and don't make any noise."

"OMG I CAN HEAR THEM COMING UP THE STAI…*click*"

"Shampoo, get over to the Tendos NOW and get Nabiki out, I will be over there in a minute." Yelled Cologne leaving no room for argument. She began to flare her aura, praying that it would attract Happosai or Ranma.

!

Nabiki invented three new curse words as she stared at the blinking battery icon on the phone. She sunk back into the corner of her room as she heard them banging on her door. After an incident with an angry Akane, she had replaced her door with an aluminum one that had ten deadbolts, which was still no match for superpowered martial artists, a normal human would and was having trouble getting through. Showers of sparks burst from the door as one of the men began shooting the locks out one at a time.

"Mercenary girl! Shampoo come help, quickly!" Shampoo shouted from Nabiki's window. Nabiki wasted no time jumping out the window and allowing Shampoo to pick her up just as the door was kicked in.

Looking over Shampoo's shoulder as she bounded away from the dojo, she could see that it was on fire.

"HAPPO FIRE BURST!" yelled Happosai, how dear they kill his students and try to take his silky darlings. He was dimly aware that his actions were setting the dojo on fire, but that could be dealt with later