Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma ½ and Palladium Books Rifts: Psyscape by Kevin Siembieda.
Pre-story Author's Note: This Fic was inspired by two other fics, Wild Knight and A Different Type of Visitor. I would like to thank the authors DarkJackeland enlu-tarsonis for the idea and their stories.
A strange pair of individuals trudged their way through the Chinese wilderness. From their attire one could easily see that they were a pair of traveling Martial Artists. What would surprise a person would be that this pair was father and son. The father and son shared only one physical characteristic, black hair. Other than that both were very different; the father was fat the boy was lean, the father had beady black eyes that showed cowardice deviousness and stupidity and the son had normal sized blue eyes that held confidence, bravery and a hidden intellect that was waiting to be revealed.
Currently the two travelers were looking for a rumored training ground so that they could finish the last leg of their training journey. The problem was the father who was in charge of the journey had no idea how to get to the training ground and did not bother to higher a guide. For the past three days the pair had been circling the same area looking for a trail that would lead to their destination. "Danm it Pops!" the son yelled. "Were is this supposed trainin' ground?"
"Quiet Boy!" the father yelled back. "I know what I'm doing!"
"No ya don't ya fat idiot!" the son replied.
"Looks like I need to teach you to respect your elders Boy!" the father yelled yet again. He did not wait for a response from his son and leapt at the teenage boy with a flying kick. The son blocked then countered with his own kick and soon the two were fighting back and forth in an impressive display of Martial Arts prowess for several minutes until the son knocked the father through some underbrush.
"Hey Pops ya ain't done are ya?" the son asked. "Don't tell yer gettin' to old are ya?"
"Boy I found the trail," the father said ignoring the jab on at his age. "Come on Boy let's get moving!" The son grumbled getting even more lost than before following his father into the underbrush.
An hour later the father and son actually made it to their destination, a small valley with countless springs of various sizes sticking out of them. After a quick look around the training grounds the son frowned, "So this is the trainin' ground. Don't look like much."
"This is the Legendary Training Ground Jusenkyo," the father stated. "The manual said that only the best Martial Artists Train here."
At this point a short, slightly overweight Chinese man wearing a Maoist Uniform came out of a small hut near the springs, "Oh hello Sirs welcome to Jusenkyo," the portly man greeted in broken Japanese.
"Well come on Boy!" the father said jumping up onto one of the bamboo poles, "Time to see what you've learned."
"Right behind you Old Man!" the son jumped up after his father.
"Oh Sirs what you doing?" the Maoist dressed man yelled. "Very dangerous if you fall in spring!"
"I won't go easy on you Boy!" the father said before leaping at his son.
"Just the way I like it Pop!" the boy replied.
The fight an hour ago was an impressive display of Martial Arts prowess. This fight dwarfed the previous fight as the two Martial Artists showed a dazzling display of techniques, aerial maneuvers, strength, speed and balance. Back and forth the two leapt exchanging several blows in the blink of an eye. The fight seemed quite even with the son having the advantage in speed and agility and the father having the advantage in experience and endurance. Finally after fifteen minutes of fighting the son got in one strong side kick and sent the father crashing down into a spring below.
"Ha! Take that Old Man!" the son shouted.
"Oh too bad," the Chinese man said. "Honored Sir fall in Shonmaoniichuan, the Spring of the Drowned Panda. Very tragic story of Panda that drown 2000 years ago. Now he cursed to become Panda." To illustrate his point a Panda jumped out of the Spring wearing the father's Gi and took a strange stance, at least for a Panda.
"What the Hell?" the son shouted at the sight of his father. The father seeing his son off guard resumed his attack from earlier. "Hey! Pop! Cut it out!" the boy was trying to calm his father down and cease his attack. Like so many times before, however, the Panda that was the boy's father refused to listen to anyone other than himself. To him his Son's reluctance to fight meant he just needed to push the boy more.
The Son was able to avoid one or two swings from his Panda of a Father but the sheer relentlessness and increased side and reach of the father caused by the transformation eventually one out and the boy was struck sending him down into the water below. Now it was the father's turn to gloat, but when he attempted to speak all that came out was, "Growl." Startled by his own lack of words the father finally took a moment to look at his new body. Seeing that he was covered in white and black fur the Panda turned to the only person in the area, "Growl!"
The Chinese man was too busy looking at the spring that the son had fallen into, "Young Sir fall into rare spring, Naohaiwanquniichuan, Spring of Drowned Mind Warper. Very tragic story of one drown that would warp minds, seven hundred years ago. Now Young Sir take form one that could warp others minds, I think." This last part was added because in the entire history of this spring no one had fallen into it. This was because it was a very small spring, only just big enough for a person to fall into. Also with it being located next to a Curse Spring that drew many people towards it, this spring was often bypassed. This time the Springs seemed to have chosen the boy to fall into this seldom used spring for a reason only known by Jusenkyo.
When the boy surfaced he looked no different that when he went in. The Chinese man concluded that the spring was one of the ones that did not alter the person physically but mentally instead, like the Zhengyinannichuan, the Spring of the Drowned Righteous Man. The boy looked incredibly dizzy when he tried to climb out of spring he fell onto the back groaning. "Stupid Pops," the boy said before passing out.
When the boy seemingly came too he found that he was in a pure white room without any kind of features what so ever. After spinning around trying to find something other than white the boy asked, "What is this place?"
"This is your mind kid," a voice said behind him. The boy spun around and took a defensive stance only to see a man that looked to be American in his mid to late twenties standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Who're ya?" the boy demanded.
"Before we get to introductions you think you could make this place a little more pleasant?" the American asked.
"How'd I do that?" the boy asked, he truth he wanted a different location himself. He was getting sick from all the white.
"Just think of the place you're most comfortable in," the man suggested. The boy complied and the white started to shift and warp until he changed into a standard Japanese Dojo. "A Martial Arts Dojo, I like it and it's rather appropriate for what we need to discuss."
"And what's that and who're ya?" the boy asked again.
"My name is Jake," the American answered. "And I don't have a last name, never needed one. As to what we need to discuss, it has to do with the spring that you fell into. You see the way Jusenkyo works is that when a person or animal drowns in one of the springs it makes a copy of it. That copy can be a physical copy, a mental copy, a spiritual copy, copy of the victim's special abilities or any combination of the above. The spring you fell into made a partial mental copy and a special abilities copy of the original person."
"What's that mean?" Ranma asked not really understanding what was going on.
Jake rolled his eyes a bit. "It means that you now have the some of the experiences and the abilities of the person that originally drowned in the spring." Jake waited for a moment to see if Ranma understood what he was saying.
"So ya mean if I drowned in one of them springs a person could look like me or be the best at Martial Arts?" Ranma asked.
Jake smiled at Ranma's understanding. "Exactly!" Jake nodded and smiled.
"So yer the memories of that guy that drowned?" Ranma hazard a guess.
"Correct again Ranma," Jake answered. "I'm glad that idiot you call 'Pop' did not make you entirely like him." Ranma glared at Jake for being compared to his father, Jake however ignored the glare and continued speaking. "Now for the important part. I'm actually the partial memories of how the original Jake learned how to use his powers and a little bit of the historical information he knew. If I wasn't here you're mind would be overwhelmed by the powers and you would end up like vegetable for the rest of your life."
"How'd I end up like rice?" Ranma asked.
"Not that kind of vegetable," Jake replied. "I mean those people that need a bunch of machines that to keep them alive, you know a coma you can't wake up from." Ranma nodded as he shivered in understanding now. He had scene a couple of people like that just after the Neko-ken in the hospital. To the Martial Artist mind set that was the dominant part of Ranma's thinking this was a fate worst than death. "Glad you understand. You see I, kind of act like the cap on one of water bottles that even when opened you need squeeze the bottle the water comes out."
"So ya keep the power that guy ya look like had from puttin' me in a coma," Ranma summarized. Jake nodded yes. "So what kinda guy was Jake? Was he a Martial Artists?"
"Kind of," Jake answered. "He was what known as a Mind Melter that was trained as a Psi-Warrior. Both Mind Melters and Psi-Warriors are powerful Psyches from another dimension."
"Another dimension?" Ranma asked not comprehending the meaning.
"Ok time for a little school lesson," Jake said, to which Ranma groaned, he hated school. "Don't worry it'll be short. To simplify the explanation think of dimensions as rooms in a house and the house the Megaverse. Each room has it's own things and people that in it, some times they are similar to one another, sometimes they are a lot different. The doorways between the rooms, called a Rift, can open allowing travel between rooms, you understand so far?" Ranma thought for a moment then nodded, the imagery was fairly easy to comprehend. "Now some of rooms or dimensions can lead to other dimensions and thus lead to yet more dimensions with more Rifts and then continue on from there for just about forever. In one of these dimensions there is an Earth commonly called Rifts Earth, it's like a central room of a house that leads to many other rooms. Rifts Earth is where Jake came from. He came from a city on that Earth's North America called Psyscape, the City of the Mind's Eye. There they train people born with psychic powers on how to use them. One such method is the Psi-Warrior, and just like their title means they are Warriors or Martial Artists if you will, that use Psychic powers to fight. They use their mind to hit harder, move faster, heal injuries and even create some weapons."
"Ok, I get that. These Psi-Warriors use their Psychic Power instead of their Ki," Ranma said. "But what's a Mind Melter?"
"Actually Psychic power or Psionics is not that much different from Ki, but let's not get into that right now," Jake said. "A Mind Melter is person with incredible Psionic ability. They are naturals when it comes to using their mind to affect the world around them and are very powerful and versatile; usually they learn to use their power on their own through experience, experimentation and trial and error. I or rather Jake was different from other Mind Melters. He was raised by a Psi-Warrior and wanted to be like him so he too trained as a Psi-Warrior. Took him a while to finish because a Psi-Warrior's Training is as much physical as it is mental. Because he was a Mind Melter he was a natural at the mental part but had a hard time with the physical part. Eventually he mastered both and became a Psi-Warrior with the added powers of a Mind Melter. In the end he became a very dangerous enemy to have but a highly valued ally many wanted in battle."
"What's this mean fer me?" Ranma asked.
"It means you kind of inherited his powers of a Mind Melter and legacy as a Psi-Warrior," Jake answered. "Now almost all Psi-Warriors have one thing in common, they protect the weak and innocent whenever can, and they have great respect and tolerance for life but are intolerant of evil, especially super natural evil."
"It's a Martial Artist's duty to protect the weak," Ranma quoted mostly to himself though Jake smiled at the similarities. Bringing himself back to the matter at hand Ranma said, "So let me get this straight. Because I fell inta a Cursed Spring I get a lot of powers that's kinda like Ki ta help protect people."
"Yes," Jake said. "Though the Jusenkyo curses are often only curses in the eye of the beholder so to speak. It is all a matter of how you perceive what happens to you and how you use the altered state."
"Well helpin' people's good an' all but I don't like free power. I think ya should earn yer power," Ranma said.
"Remember what I said earlier about what would happen if I wasn't here?" Jake asked. Ranma nodded remembering the coma part especially. "And while you have the power you will have to train in how to control it. You're kind of the opposite of what Jake was, a natural at physical training but a little lacking in the mental." Ranma grunted in indignation at the assault on his intelligence but made no argument. He knew the mental stuff was not his strongest suit, not that he would ever tell anyone that. "So you don't have to worry about just getting an instant power up, especially with me here, because I'm going to be training you in your Psionic Powers and other things that a Psi-Warrior needs to know."
"How'd Jake get here, anyway?" Ranma asked.
"He and some of his comrades were in a battle against some Magic Users. Part of the group had a couple of guys called Lay Line Walkers," Jake answered. "The fight was not going well for either side and the Magic Users got desperate and ordered the Lay Line Walkers to open a Rift to send Jake and his party away. Jake got caught by the Rift and was transported to this Earth. After wandering around Asia for a few years looking for a way to get back he came to Jusenkyo and Jusenkyo claimed him by drowning him in that pool you fell into."
"I see," Ranma said.
"Any more questions?" Jake asked.
"Just one. When do we start?" Ranma asked excitedly. By Ranma's perspective he was not just going to learn a new technique but an entirely new and very powerful Martial Arts School. And on the plus side he did not have to deal with his father's normal idiocy to learn it.
"We'll start right now with Meditation," Jake said. "It is absolutely essential that you learn to meditate properly as it is the foundation of all Psionic Ability. Once you've mastered that we'll be able move onto the next stage of training. Oh and one more thing, I know you don't like weapons but you should start practicing with them," Jake held out his hand and a glowing blue shaft of energy appeared in it, "You'll need to know how to properly use them when you learn to manifest your Psi-Sword. And that argument about if a weapons user loses their weapon they are at a disadvantage, does not really apply to a person whose weapon can only be removed by their will, does it?"
"No," Ranma answered as his gaze was transfixed on the Psi-Sword. If this was an example of what he would be doing then Ranma vowed to learn everything about being a Psi-Warrior and Mind Melter as soon as possible.
Out in the waking world the Chinese man, the Jusenkyo Guide and Ranma's father, Genma were watching over Ranma as he slept. The Guide explained to Genma how his Curse worked, that warm water changed back him to a human and cold water changed him into the panda. When Genma asked if Ranma would change the Guide said he did not know, as some Curses were permanent. Because Ranma was the first to fall in that particular spring since its creation the Guide had no idea what would happen. The Guide also said that because he did not change physically then they would only learn how the Spring affected him after Ranma woke up because the change would probably be mental.
When Genma asked about a Cure, the Guide informed him that he did not know of any cure but some of the locals might. The Guide said he would take Genma and Ranma to meet the more hospitable ones among the local people once Ranma awoke.
After that matter was settle Genma started to make plans. 'If the Boy's mind has changed then he may not be able to support me once he marries one of Tendo's girls. And what happens if he's not like me then Nodoka might not see him as a man, and then she would…' Genma shivered at the idea of his wife's very sharp family sword, 'I think it would be best if I take the Boy to Tendo's first. Yes that way I can avoid Nodo…I mean observer the Boy to make sure he's good enough to see Nodoka. Yes that's the best option, it'll ensure my retirement and make Nodoka happy.' Genma nodded at this own brilliance, others would say cowardice, in dealing with his potentially volatile wife. 'Now if the Worthless Boy would wake up I can find my cure.'
It was at that instant that Ranma's eyes started open signaling he was awake. 'This is new,' Ranma thought. 'I can already see uses for what I know, especially the 'Push' and 'Lift.' I'll try out the others later.' "Hey Pop what's been happenin'?"
"I'll tell you on the Boy," Genma replied. "Come on we're going to get me a cure." 'He doesn't seem all that different so far.'
"Yes Young Sir," the Guide spoke up, "We go see Amazons they been here long time. Them may know of cure for Honored Sir. We go now that you awake."
"Yeah sure," Ranma said picking up his pack. 'Why do I have a bad feelin' about this?'