Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma ½ and Palladium Books Rifts: Psyscape by Kevin Siembieda.

It was nighttime and Ranma was furiously practicing with his new Psi-Sword a top some School he really did know the name of. After the fight with that creature Ranma had reached to the point were he could use the Art of Offense, with the addition some additional powers thanks to his Mind Melter Heritage. He did not immediately realize his new Psionic Powers. After he killed the creature Ranma spent four days trying to come to terms with his action. Even though the being he killed was not human nor was it a 'good' did little to appease Ranma's conscience. Ranma had performed an action that as a Martial Artist he would never have to taken a part in; to take another person's, or in this case being's, life no matter.

For the next three days Ranma spent most of his time isolated in the park he was staying at serious contemplating if he should continue his the path of a Psi-Warrior. Ranma started to weigh what he knew about the being and what he could have possibly done or still have done if Ranma had not killed him. The creature had used some kind of Magic Spell to attack him and when Ranma blocked it with his Psi-Shield it actually moved him, something that Ranma knew took a lot of force to accomplish. What would have that 'Soul Render' done against a normal person? Ranma shuttered to think of what that attack could have possibly done. Then there was the dagger that Ranma got hit with, it was Magical and was able to penetrate his Psychic Body Field; a Psionic Power that effectively turned the user's skin to full plate mail. To penetrate that meant the dagger could have ripped a hole through a normal human body with almost no effort. Again Ranma had shuttered at what he thought that being could have done with that dagger.

Then there was Ranma's own actions, was he justified in killing him? The battle was life and death, Ranma had decided when he searched his enemy's feelings, it wanted to kill him and Ranma had to defend himself. Was killing in self defense allowed in a Martial Artist Code? Ranma honestly did not know the answer to that question. He only had his father's teaching about the Code of a Martial Artist to go on. And even before Ranma fell into that Spring in China he knew his father's teachings were warped at best. Not a good frame of reference to be sure. What about stopping an evil person? It was when Ranma asked himself this question he remembered a saying he overheard once when he was a kid, 'Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.' It was after remembering that phrase that Ranma decided that he did the right thing by stopping that creature, even though he loathed killing it.

When Ranma came to the realization that sometimes to stop evil one had to kill he had to face his original question, does he continue the path of a Psi-Warrior? Ranma's answer was; yes, he would continue his path and his training. That meant entering his mind and talking with Jake once again.

(Flash Back)

Ranma opened his mental eyes and saw Jake sitting in lotus position with his eyes closed. When Ranma approached him Jake said, "I'm glad you are continuing your training Ranma. I know this was a difficult decision for you and I feel I should give you another warning about the future, if you truly wish to continue you must understand that you will forced to kill again. There is no avoiding that part of a Psi-Warrior's duty."

"I know," Ranma said. "I hated the feeling I had when I killed that guy and I hope that I will always hate the idea of killing."

"I hope so too," Jake said. "Because if you do you will no longer be a Warrior but a Butcher instead." Jake was silent for a moment before speaking again, "Ranma, I would like to apologize to you. When we first spoke I should have warned you that you have to kill if you became a Psi-Warrior and I did not. For that you have my deepest apologies."

"You're right should have told me," Ranma said. He then waved his hand in a dismissing gesture while saying, "But we can't do anything about that now, so don't worry about it."

"Very well," Jake agreed. "Now let us move on. It is time for you to learn the Psionic Powers for the Art of Offense, plus a few additions that will come in handy during battle."

(End of Flash Back)

After that meeting Ranma opened his eyes and immediately reached his hand out and activated his Psi-Sword. When he did it took the shape of his Chinese Broad Sword just as he envisioned it. He had to admit he was quite proud of this achievement. The Psi-Sword is one of the most personal Psionic Powers a person can have. They often reflect a person's will and personality in terms of shape, color, and use. For Ranma the shape was a Chinese Broad Sword, the sword was flexible in its use in that it combined with open hand techniques very well, something that Ranma desired in a weapon if he were to use one. The color was sky blue signifying confidence in one's self, a well inner strength, and a strong determination to do what is right. And the shape or a better word was the design of the sword was an equal mix of power and speed making it ideal for Ranma to use.

After Ranma manifested his Psi-Sword he went off somewhere private to practice it. And that was what brought Ranma to the roof of School this night. It was well after hours and the chances of someone finding him were remote. After Ranma finished his last Kata he willed his Psi-Sword away and took a deep breath, "Well I guess I finally got the hang of it know. Later I'll test out the other powers I got, although the Mind Bolt and the Telekinetic Acceleration Attack will need to be done in an even more isolated place then this. From Jake said those two Powers can cause a lot of damage and there's no way I'll put an innocent person in danger if I can help it."

After jumping down from the roof and leaving the School Ranma started to think about the issues he thought of before all this mess started. 'I need to find Mom's grave,' Ranma thought. 'I'll head to the Public Records tomorrow, good thing there was that street fight I found on the way here. I just had to beat a few armatures and collect a few thousand yen as the prize. It should be more than enough to cover what ever fees the Public Records Office charges me.'

The next day Ranma walked into the Public Records Office dressed in his best Chinese Clothes. He wanted to be taken seriously when he started to request information about his family and the best way to do that was to dress nice and look presentable; this was yet another lesson he learned after being on his own.

As he walked up to the front desk the Receptionist, a young woman in her early twenties, gave Ranma a once over and smiled liking what she saw. Ranma blushed at her smile knowing that she found him attractive, maybe more. He had correlated this type of smile with said feelings via his Empathy about a month ago. Now if he saw that smile Ranma did not have to have his Empathy activated to know the woman was attracted to him. "Welcome to the Public Records Office," the woman greeted. "I am Megami Nami, how can I help you?"

"Hello Ms. Megami, I would like to see the Family Register of the Saotome Clan please," Ranma requested.

"That should not be a problem," the Receptionist said. "Although I will have to ask for you for some I.D. thought."

"That's no problem," Ranma replied. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew his wallet and handed over the passport he received in Hong Kong. He decided to enter Japan legally on his return trip so he needed a passport. The process needed to get one through the Japanese Embassy was not too difficult then and now he had some legal I.D.

The Receptionist looked at the passport and noted Ranma's family name. "Why are you requesting your own Family Register?"

"Well just arrived in the area and I wanted see if I had any relatives in the area," Ranma said. "My Pop is out of the country on a Martial Arts Training Trip and I don't want to disrupt his training." Ranma had never been good at lying and would probably never be good at it. Over the last few months he had become in telling half-truths though so the Receptionist believed his story completely.

"I see," the Receptionist said looking over Ranma's body once again, this time her smile grew in size and implication. "Well getting you the Registry won't be a problem, especially since you are a member of the family, but there the standard fee of Two Thousand Yen."

Ranma nodded expecting that. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the necessary bills. "There you go," Ranma said.

"Thank you," she replied taking the money. "After you're finished looking at the Registry how about you and I go get some…lunch."

"Well…um…I would…I mean I…um…think that…um would be…n…nice," Ranma stuttered at the blatant display of attraction. "B…but I…um n…need to r…run some err…errands after I'm d…done here."

The Receptionist frowned at the news. "Well that's too bad. I was really hoping you'd be free." She let out a heavy sigh, "Well why don't you have a seat and I'll be right back with the Registry in a few minutes."

After the Receptionist left Ranma sighed, "Why does this keep happing to me?"

Ten minutes later the Receptionist returned and handed Ranma a thick pile of papers, "Here's the Saotome Registry as well as your passport," she said. She then handed Ranma a small slip of paper, "And these are my numbers. And for reference sake, the top numbers are my measurements and the bottom numbers is my phone number." She left Ranma with a wink and sway in her hip.

Ranma quickly took the small slip and hid it away. 'Great another one,' Ranma thought. 'I'll throw it away later.' He looked at the pile of papers, 'Well guess I better get started.' Before Ranma even looked at the first piece of the paper, he activated his Psionic Power Speed Reading and Total Recall. These combined Psionic Powers would allow him to read through the pile of papers extremely quickly and remember every word he saw. After a couple of minutes Ranma stopped reading the papers near the end and looked shocked. 'What the hell? Mom's alive!' Ranma was staring at the paper practically shaking in anger. 'Oh I am soooo going to hurt Pop when I see him again!' He started to look through the remaining papers and found Mother's address. 'Looks like she lives in the Suburb Ward, Meguro. That's a descent trip from here in Nerima. I should be able to get there in about an hour or so.' Ranma stood up picking up the papers and placed them in the return box so they could filed once again. Once he was finished Ranma left the building and could not help but think, 'I wonder what she's like?'

In the residential district of Meguro a reddish-brown haired woman was looking through a set of documents. The documents were detailing the latest news she had received about her husband and son. Ten years ago she allowed her husband to take her son on a Martial Arts Training Journey. Normally she would have never allowed this to happen, but her son was not an ordinary case and neither were she and her family.

This woman's family was actually long running and highly respected clan of Devil Hunters, or at least the women were. In this particular family line only the women were born with the natural powers needed to hunt and destroy the Supernatural Evils of the world. Add to the fact that most of the children in the clan were girls the clan in order to maintain their bloodline the women of the clan would marry men with high levels of Ki. Usually this was done through an arranged marriage with another Devil Hunter Clan. In this woman's case, due to various reasons such as prior commitments and death, there was no available male from a Devil Hunter Clan. That meant that she had to find a man with high levels of Ki that was not part of a Devil Hunter Clan.

She found such a man in a gifted Martial Artist when she was out hunting a pervert demon once. He was not the best of catches but at the time he was certainly not the worst either. In time she grew to care for him enough to marry him and the two were wed. Nine months later her child was born and to many people's surprise the child was a boy. Due to the family most often birthing girls, the thought of checking the gender before hand never occurred to them. Although she was surprised at the gender she was still overjoyed at the sight of first child. Unfortunately the boy was to be her only child as an infection in her uterus ended up making her infertile.

Once this news was told the woman's Grandmother, the leader of the Clan, called in an old friend of hers. This old friend was actually a Seer and the Grandmother called him so they could determine the future of their Clan, for males born into the Clan never father another Devil Hunter even if the offspring were girls. With the woman being an only child and no longer able to bare more children the future of the Clan was in jeopardy. As fate would have it however the Seer said that there was hope for the Clan.

The Seer had said that the boy had the opportunity to become the Clan's first ever male Devil Hunter. The catch was the power would come from an outside means of the bloodline and that he had to be among the strongest of men. When the woman's husband heard of this prediction he proudly proclaimed that he train his son to be a 'man among men' in his Martial Arts and would be strong enough to become a true Devil Hunter. After five years of constant begging and assurances the woman's husband finally convinced her to allow him to take her son on an extended training trip. She however did not let him go without an incentive to raise her son properly, she force him to sign a contract that if her son was not what he was promised to be then her husband had to commit seppuku. With great reluctance her husband signed the contract and the father and son were off.

No more than two weeks later a man and his daughter showed up claiming they had an arranged marriage with the Saotome Clan, this would not be the last time this happened. After convincing the man that no such arrangement could have been made as the leader of the Clan did not make the deal, the Clan started an extensive investigation on the woman's husband's activities. With in another week her husband's actions were brought to light and the leader of the Clan declared that her son was to be brought back and her husband was to be apprehended. Allies and friends of the Clan searched frantically for the missing pair, even more so once they learned of a training exercise the involved a bunch of starving cats. To the continues frustration of the Clan, the woman's husband was very adapt at running away and avoiding pursuit. The result was whenever a search party caught wind of the father and son the pair had already left the area staying one step ahead of the Clan.

Still reports from many sources always came in. The latest was all the way from China. Apparently the woman's husband once again got into some serious trouble. The only difference this time was that her husband had actually been caught. That was great news, the Clan would send a request to the captures asking them to turn him over to them. The bad news was that, according to the report, her son disappeared soon after the capture and had not been seen since. At least that was until she read the next page of the report. One month ago, her son turned up again in Hong Kong requesting a new passport. When the Clan finally got there, he was already long gone. So as of right now her son was still missing and the woman was extremely worried for his safety.

'I will hurt Husband severely for what he has done to my Son!' the woman, Saotome Nodoka, silently declared. 'By the Kami what were we thinking letting him take Ranma away? We were we so desperate to continue our Devil Hunting Heritage that we willing to risk everything, that's what.' That thought made Nodoka curse her and her family's foolishness in their decision. 'We were so caught up in the idea of a Male Devil Hunter we ignored Genma's idiocy. Still that is no excuse, I just hope Ranma turned out well, I won't ask for his forgiveness no one in the Clan deserves it.'

Nodoka was brought out of her self damning by a knock from the front door. As she opened the door Nodoka saw a teenage boy waiting on the other side. "Hi," the young man said. "Would this happen to be the Saotome Residence?"

"Yes it is Young Man," Nodoka answered. "I am Saotome Nodoka, how can I help you?"

The boy looked stunned for a moment and then became nervous and started scratching the back of his head. With a slight stutter in his voice the boy spoke again, "H…hi Mom. It's me Ranma. Sorry about showing up like this."

Author's Note: For those that are familiar with the abilities of a Psi-Warrior I would like to assure you that Ranma will get all of them, just not necessarily in the same order. He'll get different powers at different times as well as additional powers because of Mind Melter part of him.