Curse of the Ancient

Chapter 1: Awakening

Unknown Location

Two sets of eyes watched the proceedings of the plane, one a blue haired green-eyed teen, the other a blond red-eyed man. As the ponytailed warrior entered the plane the two observers watched.

"So Keeper," asked the blonde, "what was the purpose of bringing the Harbinger here?"

Smiling sadly the boy answered "she is owed at least one life with a friend. For millennia I have watched as she and her past lives have been shunned and used. Usually I've been unable to help, but now thanks to the guardians actions, I was able to draw her here. Since the boy is undergoing the Trial, Muse and I were able to force the Silence, to manifest, without harming her."

They watched as Ranma charged the Silent Ones, even as the plane collapsed. They watched as he carried the girl, ignoring the calls of the Proctor.

"Noble, that one," remarked the man, "very few would keep her. That fool," he laughed, "he'll never make it!" They both watched as the boy leapt across the chasm, and the teen smirked, "He isn't trying to," he said, "Watch.". Confused, the man looked again. He was surprised to see the boy spinning in the air, "The test wasn't to get out," said the boy, as the pigtailed boy finished his spin, flung the girl through the Arch, "It was to free the girl."

"But why?" asked the man, "What purpose would there be to test the boy, if you're just going to send him to the Silence?"

"In order to give the girl a companion," said the boy. "In order to stand with her, she needs to know that he can survive a a loss of control." The green-eyed boy smiled as he watched the boy, before the Silence consumed the teen. "The real test is to defeat the Silence."

Unknown Location

A green haired woman looked at scenes before her. Several minutes ago, she had arranged for a threat to the future to disappear. She disliked taking such a direct approach, but it was necessary. This particular threat was in the form of Ranma Satome, world's greatest martial artist. She had followed his life since he'd caught her attention, and he'd spread chaos energies just by existing. In the future, he became an immortal Nexus, spreading chaos throughout the world. Most of the futures where he lived past Jusenkyo ended up with no Crystal Tokyo. Due to his status as a Nexus, she couldn't pinpoint when or where his existence destroyed CT, but she knew that if he survived Jusenkyo, then it would become near impossible for her to save the Future, so she used a large amount of her power to tweak the pools, with a not so subtle burst of magic, just as the panda had hit him, and another to weaken the walls around the Origin Spring.

It had hurt to end another innocent, especially so soon after she had to seal Hotaru, but she consoled herself with the new percentage of futures that led to their Utopia. She had been a bit worried, just after he had hit the pool, when the futures fragmented, but she quickly quashed her fears when she realized that more than ninety-nine percent of the possible futures ended with a version of Crystal Tokyo.

Thinking back to Hotaru, she sighed. It had been a tough choice, but there was a 3 percent chance that the Harbinger would once again fail to keep her mind, and she would be used to destroy earth. Knowing this she had found the infant Senshi after her 'death' and had sealed her away in a subspace dimension. If the Harbinger was needed, she would simply link the subspace to the planet they needed, and let her out, before activating the Saturn Contingency to force her to call the Silence.

Sighing again she approached the gates to check up on the girl and was caught flat footed by the blast of chaos energies that slammed through the gates, knocking her into the wall. Barely holding onto consciousness she dragged herself to the gates to see what had happened. What she found worried her, in the space of 4 minutes 80% of the futures involving Crystal Tokyo had disappeared. Worse, the subspace she'd sent Saturn to had bee consumed in Silence, and she couldn't find the girl. After her search but before she could begin counter measures, another wave of Chaos burst through the Gates and sent her into blissful unconsciousness.

Jusenkyo, Origin Spring

As the two old men watched the waters, they noticed a strange eddy in the water. First it was seemed like a trick of the light, colors playing off the water, but soon it grew into a whirlpool of rainbow streaks in the water. Quickly the colors bled out from the center to the edge growing faster and faster with each moment, until all they blurred together in a technicolor swirl. As the swirls spun faster and faster, soundless black and violet lightning played across the water, and leapt to the stones and walls surrounding the pool. As the strange lightshow reached its finale, the lightning converged on the pool, and with a burst of steam and power, the form of a young girl burst from the pool and landed near the edge of the now empty spring.

The Guide was startled, but reacted quickly; jumping down into the basin, which was quickly refilling itself with the magic of the Valley, and grabbed the girl. Pulling her out, he motioned for Genma to follow and led them to his hut.

Jusenkyo, Guides House

Both Genma and the Guide watched the unconscious form of the girl. She had shoulder length deep purple hair. She was wearing a red and purple fighter's gi, and black tennis shoes. As they watched the girl stirred.

Opening her eyes, the girl looked around the strange room. Taking in the simple room, she heard a sound, turning she was caught in the face by a bucket of hot water. Sputtering and coughing, she turned and glared at the large man holding the bucket, only to hastily duck as he threw it at her head. Despite her attempts, the bucket still clipped her shoulder, causing tears to spring to her eyes.

Seeing this, the man's eyes darkened. "Quit actin like a weak little girl!" He yelled approaching her, and striking with a quick backhand, that sent her tumbling off the bed.

"B-but, I am a girl" said the crying girl, struggling to sit up.

Apparently this was the wrong thing to say, as the man's expression darkened further and he approached her again.

Seeing his rage, the Guide stepped between the two and tried to calm the man. "Honored customer", he began "this is not-" he was cut off as Genma slammed a fist into his gut and launched him through the wall of the hut. "Shut up!" he barked.

Approaching the girl once again he lashed out with a kick, hitting her in the stomach. The blow caused her to empty her stomach and curl up into a ball, and seeing this caused him to kick her again. Grabbing her hair he hauled her up and struck her again. Looking at the barely conscious girl, he made a noise of disgust. How could his son turned out like this. 15 years of work, undone in an instant, the boy could barley take a hit, and all his skill seemed to have vanished. The seeming permanency of this new weakened body of his left him with no other choice.

"Fine then you weak little boy!" said Genma pushing the girl away from him into the wall, "I Genma Satome, head of the Satome family, formally renounce Ranma Satome as my son and heir, and cast him from my home. You may no longer practice my style. Leave my sight. " As he finished he swung a vicious blow at the girls head.

From the wall battered girl could only watch as the violent man's fist flew towards her head to fast for her to even think about dodging. Closing her eyes she waited for the blow to smash her skull, her mind screamed for help.

Elsewhere

Darkness.

Emptiness.

Silence.

Stretching as far as he could see was black. It wasn't the soft blackness of night, or the inky blackness caused by the absence of light, this was deeper, like the light had died. He knew it came for him, to end his life.

No! came the thought, I wont lose! Feeling a strange energy he pulled it, and pushed the darkness away, forming a sphere of light. The darkness was bested

It wasn't hot, it wasn't cold, it was the complete lack of feeling, a void of all things. He couldn't feel it, he felt nothing in this broken plane, but he knew. He knew that it hungered for him, it tried constantly to consume him. He knew that eventually he would fall to it

I won't give in! the thought screamed, I'll never give up! Drawing more of the energy he felt his body separate from the whiteness around him; he could feel again. The Emptiness defeated

The total, complete lack of sound even as he watched from is sphere of light, even as he separated his body from the void, no sound was made. He shouted, but no sound carried. In the back of his mind, he felt a tug, a calling. Looking towards the feeling, he ran off towards it, his sphere following. After a few minutes his sphere fell on a broken something spit into 30 or so uneven pieces.

Examining the pieces, he began to put them together like a puzzle, a strange sense of urgency compelling him, he needed to finish before something happened. As he worked he noticed that the Darkness had been pressing against his sphere, shrinking it from 10 meters it was to a paltry 2 meters. Snapping the last piece into place, he looked over his creation; it was a simple staff, made from a strange blackish silvery metal. Acting on a feeling, he pulled on as much of the strange power he had discovered as he could and fed it into the staff. As he did so he slammed the end of the staff into the ground.

When the staff hit the ground, it made the first noise he had heard since waking up. With the sound of shattering glass the mass of blackness that had been surrounding him cracked and broke, leaving behind an empty white plane.

"Congratulations!" spoke a voice from behind him "I thought you'd never make it." Spinning he brought the staff to bear, only to stop when he saw what had spoken. Floating about a 2 meters away, was a pink cat like creature. It had a catlike face and ears and a long whip-like tail, ending in a oval. It had two short arms, large legs and wide padded feet, its blue eyes shining with mischief.

"Wha?" came his reply "Who are you? What are you?"

"I am many things," replied the thin, "And I have even more names. But for now , you can cal me Muse. An you are my successor."

"Your successor, since when?"

"Since you fell in the pool. You'll inherit my abilities and powers."

"Okay. What powers?"

"Now, now," chided Muse, "If I told you your limits, you'd never test yourself. Now its about time for you to leave."

"Huh?"

Muse swishes his tail and images appear. They see the Guide's hut shortly after the girl wakes. As they watch Genma's rage Muse spoke "Go," As the listened to his tirade. Ranma stepped in front of the image of Genma and reached out his hand. As the girl cried for help, Ranma latched on to her plea, stepped forward and then pulled.

The world shifted.

Jusenkyo, Guides House

The sound of flesh hitting something prompted the girl to open her eyes. Looking, the man's fist had struck an opaque silvery barrier, a sphere around her and a stranger.

Genma felt pain. Pain lanced through his arm as his blow was interrupted. His fist had been inched away, when suddenly the dome sprung up, and intercepted his fist. From the dome another figure glared at him fury dancing in his emerald eyes. The boy, looking no older than twelve, stepped into his guard and landed a punch to his gut. The blow caused a shockwave that blasted him out the door, through several trees and into the woods.

As she watched the man fly out of the cabin, her many bruises and injuries caught up ith her and she collapsed back into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was the face of the boy who had once again saved her.

As the Guide rushed back to his hut he felt a familiar power surge, and saw the fat man rocket out of his house. Entering the house he smiled at the scene. A young man had gently lifted the battered girl and was carefully placing her back on the bed. As he entered, the boy turned to him and he saw his eyes, eyes he hadn't seen in more than a millennium. The guide smiled, after so many years the third Ancient had once again awakened to walk the worlds.