Defying Fate

By Metaverse

A Ranma ½ Story inspired by information on Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters nor am I making any money from this.

Please do not sue me.

Chapter 1: Opening Moves

Ranma knew it was a dream, despite how real it all seemed. The green grass that stretched into rolling hills that surrounded him for miles was an image burned into his mind long ago. Along with the feel of cool wind caressing his skin, as a warm sun shone down upon him. This field of life was one of the few places he'd ever been truly happy as a child. It was now a place he could only return to in dreams as the way back had long since been lost. Something else he could lay at his father's feet.

Ranma took a moment to enjoy the feel of being in this place and would've been content to continue on that way until he awoke but a familiar voice intruded on his relaxation.

"I always did love this place."

Ranma's eye snapped open and over to the lone figure who was now standing next to him, a figure that looked remarkably like him.

"What, do I have something on my face?" The other self queried.

""Wha.." Ranma responded intelligently.

The other being was much like Ranma except it was obvious he was a little older and taller as well as being a bit more solidly built, though his dark, torn cloths and stubbly face seemed to give off a hint of tiredness. It made it seem as if he'd not slept well in some time.

"I'm sure you have a ton of questions." The other began. "But frankly we are low on time, so I'll cut to the chase. Yes I am you, but a you from about eight years in the future, and no I'm not here right now in the physical sense. Transporting a physical body through time is extremely difficult and requires more energy than I have access to…"

Ranma gazed at the person for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and deciding to play along. "All right, not saying I believe you but then how and why are you here?"

The other shook his head "Patience Ranma." He smirked "It'll save you a lot of trouble in the future. Now as I was saying, I can't transport my body through time, but I can send my consciousness, which is what I've done. The reason for all this is that I want to save you and hopefully thereby save me."

Ranma folded his arms across his chest and frowned "What are you talking about, saving me?"

"I know how you and Akane's relationship has been deteriorating after the last wedding attempt. I also know that in six months time the issue will be forced by the fathers. At that time you will likely do what I did and break the engagement, which sets in motion a series of events that lead to the creation of an unstoppable foe bent on destroying me…Us…Whatever."

"So you're here to make me marry Akane?" Ranma was surprised to see the other him, burst out laughing.

"Good lord no. If you marry Akane she'll eventually kill you through a mixture of bad cooking and violent mood swings." He slowed to a chuckle. "In fact she'll put you in a body caste for trying to sleep in the same bed as her during your honeymoon, seems she doesn't like anyone but her beloved

Chan sleeping next to her."

Ranma didn't know what scared him more, the tale or that fact he could so easily envision it happening.

"No what I'm here to do is to help you stop this daemon before it's too late."

"How?"

"At this stage in my life I have gained a superior knowledge of the arcane and martial arts." To emphasize, he held out his right hand, palm up and conjured his chi, channeling the blue glow into the character for life. "However, none of it does me any good at this point. The daemon is simply to powerful now to be permanently stopped. I can only seal it for a time, and even that is starting to become ineffective. It's adaptive nature will eventually render it immune to my attacks, and one day it will kill me." This is where Ranma actually began to believe this other self. It was obvious that the years had not been kind to him, but the full gravity of it now came through as he bowed his head his voice nearly cracking as despair began to seep into his words. But just as the sorrow threatened to consume him, his head rose, mouth set firm and his eyes burning with a defiance far brighter than any Ranma had ever known.

"However," He began, pointing at his younger self. "If I knew and could do in my past what I can now, it might have made a difference."

Ranma shook himself from the mesmerizing war going on before him, as a seemingly irrational human spirit fought against the cold logic of the universe, and dared hope to win. "So your going to replace me?"

He shook his head, now seemingly more confident in his goal. "Better, I'm going to give you my experience and knowledge, hopefully, you'll be able to find away to save us both."

Ranma frowned, part of him still unsure about the wisdom or the validity of this person's claims. "I still don't understand why some monster would try to kill us just because we didn't marry Akane."

"Easily answered. Our fate was to die at Akane's hands after our marriage, but we defied that fate, and thus we are to be punished in this manner."

The skepticism raised one last defense against the force of the other's argument. "I still don't know if I believe any of this."

The older looked at his junior, meaningfully "Here's a thought, can you afford not to?"

For a moment, Ranma envisioned the life that had lead this self to such a desperate gamble. The years of running, sleeping with one eye open as some demonic beast hounded him, stealing any chance and even worse, any hope for a happy life. A true hell on earth the likes of which no one he knew could engineer. With this thought Ranma was forced to agree. "So what do I do?"

"Take my hand and I'll give you everything I have."

The two reached out and clasped hands as if they were brothers. "One last thing, from everything you've said it sound like that no matter what I do, I die. How can I possibly beat these odds?"

As Ranma felt himself fill with knowledge as the other self began to fade, he saw the other smile "Think of your situation as a two sided coin. If you flip a coin enough times one day it may land on it's edge."

Time Passes

Ranma strode boldly into Nerima after a month long training trip. After waking up to the wealth of knowledge and skill his future self provided, he'd found it necessary to get away from Nerima to assimilate all the information and skills he'd gained, literally, over night.

Still, leaving without giving more than a short note had probably not gone over to well with his associates. He'd left a hastily scrawled letter telling everyone that he needed some alone time to work things out in his head. In retrospect this probably was not the best idea he could've come up with, as the basic equation in most of his suitor's heads and most certainly that of his own father's likely ran along the lines of

Ranma + Time to think Unfavorable outcome for me.

Well, maybe not for Ukyo but that was mostly because she tended to live in a fantasy world where their future together was concerned.

Still, it may have been possible that no one had blown this out of proportion…

"RANMA! Prepare to DIE!" Three voices called as one.

Ranma sighed as he tossed his pack away from him, and reflected that he should've considered the fact that he lived in Nerima, home to the largest number of easily excitable people in Japan.

A quick glance around brought the situation into focus. Above him, Ryoga was descending from a nearby building, clearly intent on caving in his skull, with his up raised fist. To the front and back were Mousse & Kuno respectively, the former, readying a series of chains to wrap him up in.

Ranma flipped back, making sure to adjust it for Ryoga's decent speed. Just as Ranma's hands touched pavement, he snapped his legs up in a maneuver that connected solidly with Ryoga's chin. Though he pulled enough of the force from the blow that it didn't launch his opponent sky high, yet did completely stun him for a few precious seconds. Which was all the time needed.

Ranma completed his maneuver and landed on his feet, arms crossed over his chest. He watched as a severally stunned Ryoga landed unsteadily on his feet before sinking to his knees, Ryoga glared at Ranma, but was for the moment unable to move or say anything, the blow obviously having done it's work.

Just as Ryoga looked to be able to begin the process of getting to his feet, Mousses chains finally reached him, just as Ranma had planned. "Ranma! Today you pay for your crimes!" Mousse shouted

By stunning Ryoga with a pulled blow, and then removing himself from the immediate vicinity, he knew that the nearly blind Amazon would not be able to distinguish between him or his opponent. "Let go of me you blind fool! I'm not Ranma!" Ryoga tried unsuccessfully to fend off the other's attacks.

"You can't trick me with your lies Satome" Mousse responded while using the chains to sling his captured prey into a nearby wall.

Satisfied that those two would be occupied for the moment, he turned his attention to Kuno, who was currently ranting about the foul and treacherous Satome. What caught Ranma's eye, was the naked blade Kuno held above his head, ready for a downward strike. That made Ranma feel much better about using his own sword. One a friendly priest at that Misaki shrine had let him have after he spared a few times with his grandson.

Grasping the shaft at his back, in one smooth motion he pulled the sword into his right hand and the unhooked the sheath and held it in his left, both at the ready. Kuno came in with a downward chop, which Ranma parried to the outside on his right, then whipped fully around and caught Kuno in the side with a spinning right kick. The Kendoist stumbled, even showing his back for a moment but recovered. "So the Devil finally fights as a man." He taunted "Then I shall show thee the true power of my sword!" With that he struck forward, lunging once and then striking forward in a rapid flurry of steel. Ranma worked his sword and sheath together, keeping the hunting blade at a safe distance.

For several long moments the sound of metal seemed to ring in one long unbroken note as the two warriors faced off in a battle of speed. Slowly, Ranma began to work his opponent's blade down. Focused on his furious attack, Kuno did not notice, until his sword was forced so low that he was forced off balance. Reacting to the opening, Ranma locked His blade with Kuno's then, whipped around, in a back spin, to the right and smashed the side of his opponents head with his scabbard.

The blade fell from Kuno's suddenly limp hands as he crashed into the ground,

convulsing once before darkness claimed him.

Ranma, sheathed his blade and returned it to its place at his back. Turning around just in time to see Ryoga, slam his fist into Mousse's gut and proceed up and around in a windmill motion with the same arm, carrying the Amazon boy along, only to send him crashing into the ground hard enough to crack the sidewalk.

"Won't…let you have…sham..poo!" Mousse's arms tried to leaver his body up. "Blind fool!" Ryoga gritted out before cocking back a fist and striking the others abused abdomen hard enough to make Mousse taste the coppery ness of his own blood.

Ryoga's arm cocked back for another blow when Ranma intervened. "Hey piggy, your beefs with me! Leave him out of it!" Ranma managed to cover up his concern with a boastful taunt. He knew that such violence from Ryoga was unusual against anyone but him and figured the lost boy had seen or heard something during his absence that'd forced him close to the edge.

When Ryoga's dark eyes finally lifted to look at him, Ranma was forced to considered that Ryoga may have already fallen over. "What happened." He asked, cockiness gone from his voice.

Ryoga rose to his feet, kicking Mousse once more for good measure, before stepping over him and beginning his slow trek towards Ranma. "You happened, just like always."

Ranma noted that since settling on him, Ryoga's eyes had yet to leave him. "Gonna have to be more specific than that."

"She wants you." Ryoga said, while steadily closing the distance. "She claims you as her own." By now Ranma knew who 'she' was. "Akane…your vileness turned her into an obsessive monster. She will have you or no one will!" Though Ranma stood as before, his muscles were tensed as he mind worked through a number of opening moves he could make in the inevitable battle that was about to begin. "You've ruined something pure and beautiful and I will see to it that you never do so AGAIN!"

Ryoga had managed to close the intervening distance and punctuated his last word with a lightening fast toss of the right elbow, which he followed with a left uppercut as Ranma managed to duck his first blow, and then immediately launched into a spinning back kick, his right leg catching Ranma just as he was bouncing back to avoid the upper.

Ranma grimaced as the blow connected, but managed to grab the offending foot in both hands, incidentally halting his uncontrolled movement backwards, and yanked Ryoga towards him. Surprised, the berserker fighter was unprepared as Ranma slammed his left shoulder into him, before bringing his right fist, down and across, nailing Ryoga in the head.

Ryoga grunted as the blackness tinged at the edges of his consciousness but focused on his rage and managed to power through, grabbing Ranma by his clothes and slinging him to the ground.

Ranma just managed to roll out of the way as the berserker's foot came down on the space his head had occupied with enough force to actually crack the street down about half an inch.

Ranma new this was getting out of hand. Ryoga was so forgone in his rage that he wouldn't stop until one of them was at least no longer capable of moving, and more than likely till he was dead.

Ryoga charged in, arms raised above his head, ready to bring them down in a devastating arc. A guttural war cry issued from his throat, a mixture of pain and madness, the two things that currently held the lost boy in sway. Ranma remained in a crouch, waiting for the moment, to strike.

A moment he got when the arms came down. Ranma rolled around Ryoga's left side as the twin fists met the floor, burrowing in under the force of his blow. Ranma came to his feet on Ryoga's flank and immediately struck out at his back.

The lost boy had already begun to turn but no his movements ground to a halt as Ranma stepped back. "What…did…you….do…to...me!" Ranma folded his arms across his chest. "It's a neat little pressure point trick that's really useful for stopping berserker's in their tracks."

"Release….me!"

"Nuh uh," Ranma shook his head. "Your gonna stay like that till you've had a chance to cool down, buddy." He glanced over at Mousse and back again. "It's obvious your not you self."

"I'll…..Kill….y…yo…..you!"

Ranma shrugged "Maybe, but not today. Now you stay right there," He began as he walked over to the blind Amazon. "I'd better tend to Mousse."

Time folds forward

Ranma sat on the roof of the Tendo home, eyes gazing about at the twinkling night sky before him, ears listening to the commotion below. It'd been just over a month and a half since he'd been visited by his other self and been given the task. In that time, he'd managed to figure out where this Daemon would come from, interestingly enough the source was Akane Tendo. More accurately fate would fuel Akane's power with her rage, combined with that of everyone who would have reason to be angry with him once he left Nerima on his own.

This revelation presented him with two options. The simplest and most direct was to kill Akane and everyone else in Nerima who had beef with him, which was also not an option. For as much pain as they all caused him, they did not deserve to die. Besides, in a way, all of them were victims as well, it just so happened that sometimes, some of them seemed to enjoy the role fate had ordained for them. Still, being turned into an uncompromising killing machine hell bent on destruction was likely something Akane or the others would not want.

So that left option two. This one was a tad more complicated but solved the problem with hopefully the minimum of violence. The idea was to make each person who harbored dark thoughts against him, either forget or forgive whatever it was about him that made them mad. Truly the harder of the two, but if successfully he would rob the monster of its power and thus weakened he could banish the beast from Akane and eventually from this plane.

Tonight had been the first step towards that goal, for he'd called everyone together to discuss their situation. He'd managed to get a good feel for here everyone was coming from, just before the whole thing had degenerated into a royal rumble as the various personalities clashed.

"This won't be easy." He figured, the sound of someone below being shoved through a wall punctuating that thought. "But," he smiled and nodded as hope began to fill him. "It's a worth while challenge."

The End

Author notes:

This came about as I was reading the information on the game Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The quality of the game itself is debatable, however, I honestly liked the concept of a monster that simply could not be beaten through conventional means. The sheer desperation and fear that ran through some of the cut scenes and the idea that fate was a resentful, bitter, petty force unwilling to accept any deviations in the destinies it has prepared for people was something I thought might fit well into a Ranma Story. After all fate's been pushing Ranma around for a while now so I figured it's time for him to push back.

I have no plans to continue this yet. If I did it would be a fairly fight free story as the goal is to end the vicious cycle of anger and jealousy that runs loose in Nerima like a dang plague.

If you have a desire to continue, just let me know.

"I don't like fate, it goes against the grain. Besides he cheats at cards!'

- Chaos, Aladdin the animated series.