[FFML] [Ranma][Wheel of Time x-over] Two Halves, One Power Prologue

[Peter Gallagher]

Disclaimer: Wheel of Time belongs to Robert Jordan.  Publishing rights
are held by Tor Books.  Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Publishing rights in the United States are held by Viz and Kitty
Films.

Author's notes: Well, I did say I'd do at least a prologue for this.
If I decide to continue it is a different story.  Much of the prologue
will be flashback scene, well except the opening. Wheel of Time is a
fun series to cross Ranma with.  If anyone wants to continue this if I
decide to drop it, contact me first, but I'll probably say yeah.  In
any case, without further ado, I present to you:

-----------------------------------------
Two Halves, One Power
By Peter Gallagher (Ellf)
-----------------------------------------
Prologue: The Awakening of the Great Serpent

A burst of Power rose from the hills near the ruin city that was
Shadar Logoth.  Shadow's Waiting, the foul place was aptly named.  The
foolish leaders of the city when it was Aridhol did unspeakable things
that invited the darkness that now haunted the city.  Mashadar laid
waste to the citizens save one, and that one was corrupted by its
power.  A wonderful choice of location for the Dragon Reborn to
attempt to cleanse saidin from.  The taint would be removed this day.

Linked with Nynaeve and holding the key to the Choedan Kal, Rand
al'Thor fought a valiant battle while channeling.   The battle was
mostly mental and directing the flows of the power.  Over the course
of several hours, Rand used more of the One Power than anyone could
have hoped to in a lifetime.  He tried everything he could think of to
eliminate the taint.  Constantly he poured the Power, both saidar and
saidin, at the taint, but nothing seemed to faze it.

*******************************************

In the middle of the Great Blight lay a cave.  A few miles south of
the former location of the Eye sat this cave.  West of the Mountains
of Dhoom and north of the border to Shienar.  Like the Eye of the
World, this cave was never in the same place twice.  However, unlike
the Eye, none could find it.  What was in this cave?  Something far
more important than a pool of untainted saidin.

The inside of the cave was, as most caves are, dank, dark, and a wee
bit wet.  However, further in the back of the cave stood something
precious.  Avendesora, the Tree of Life grew, protecting all who
rested in its shade.  Or was it Avendesora?  Was this not the tree
that stood at Rhuidean? No... It was different... it was... older...
 Lying beneath its branches with eyes closed was a figure encased in
red ice, or was it blue ice?  Or green ice?  Purple?  The ice seemed
to change colors so rapidly, almost as rapidly as the figure inside it
changed appearances.  At first, one would see a raven-haired young man
dressed in a red silken shirt and black pants of a similar material.
His hair done up in a braided pigtail.  Barely a millisecond later, a
figure, different yet the same, would be seen.  A buxom flame-haired
beauty clad in the same clothing, but would fit in the clothes
differently.

Suddenly... the ice began to crack as a dark cloud formed within the
ice, appearing only when the figure was male.  Thin cracks began to
spread, covering the surface of the ice that encased the person.  The
figure seemed to change forms very rapidly now, leaving an afterimage
of each form overlapping the other.  Fractures continued to form on
the ice, and now a visible multi-hued aura could be seen.

The cracks began to overlap, causing the ice to form into fragments,
fragments that were blown away piece by icy piece.  Away from the
figure each piece ripped through the air like a hot knife in butter.

Suddenly the figure stopped shifting, remaining in male form.  The
dark cloud that surrounded him, darker than night, blacker than black,
was exposed to the Light and began to dissipate.

*****************************************************************

Rand collapsed to the ground of what used to be Shadar Logoth.  The
ter'angreal that he had used to access the male Choedan Kal lay next
to him.  Nynaeve al'Meara also lay unconscious next to him.  Her long
braid ran across her shoulder and down the side of her dress.  Sitting
next to her was the female equivalent of the ter'angreal that Rand had
used, but unlike his this one was melted, divided in half, and it
could scarcely be called a ter'angreal anymore.  Access keys is what
they were called, used to access the most powerful sa'angreal from
anywhere in the world.  After all, if one were to be near them while
they were channeling, they were likely to be burnt up from the Power
flowing there.

When used together, by a linked man and woman, one can do anything
with the Power.  Black coat wearing gentlemen and dress wearing women
with ageless faces approached the pair.  The men were Rand's Ashaman,
his defenders, male channelers trained at the Black Tower, doomed to
go mad because of their channeling, but the feat accomplished today
should have changed that.  The women there were Aes Sedai, female
channelers from Salidar, the Rebel Tower, but some were from the White
Tower, under Elaida.

An Aes Sedai named Cadsuane examined the pair.  Nynaeve unconscious
was to be expected, she was used as the conduit for the largest amount
of Power ever channeled by any member of the White Tower.  It was
because of her strength and stubbornness alone that she had not burned
herself out during this process as the Choedan Kal had none of the
protection that many sa'angreal and angreal had.  This alone was a
miracle.

"It's clean," said one of the Ashaman, Jahar, his name was. He was
sitting on the ground with his head in the lap of one of the Aes Sedai
there.  "It's clean."

************************************************

Inside the cave, the boy's eyes opened.  He looked around, trying to
get his bearings.  Okay.  One, he was in a cave.  Two, he felt at
peace.  Three, there was a tree behind him, grown well in the cave.
Four, no one else was around.

'Damn, where'd they all go?  Didn't Saffron want to finish the fight?'

The pigtailed boy, obviously Ranma Saotome, tried to remember what
happened before.

He was standing on the ground, looking directly at the Phoenix Prince.
 Ranma knew that if he tried harder, he could beat him.  Especially
with the help of the Gekkaja.  All he had to do was wait for Saffron's
next attack, and then the heat of it would clash with the spiral of
ice that he had dug into the ground with the ice staff, and convection
would do the rest.

"Digging your own grave, mortal?" Saffron had asked, "No need to
strain yourself, there will be nothing left but ashes!"  Once again
the Phoenix God tore off one of his wings and began to do his attack,
but this time Ranma would be ready.

"Oh yeah, bring it on, punk!" Even then Ranma wasn't taking the fight
completely seriously.  He learned differently as the flames descended
towards him like a comet. Thrusting his fist up while standing in the
center of the spiral triggered his special move.  "HIRYUU SHOUTEN HA!"
Screamed the pigtailed martial artist.  Hot and cold air combined to
form a spiral convection current, the Rising Dragon Ascension's
tornado.  Saffron was surrounded by winds, and Ranma let himself get
sucked up by it.

Ranma smirked, that was a good decision he made.  Sure the winds were
no trouble for Saffron, but at least it got him close enough to hit
the bastard.  It was when Saffron had gotten the Kinjakan back that
caused the problem.  The clashing energies of the staffs had caused
the tornado to wander... straight towards Kenseizan.

"Saotome! You and your woman will die this day!"

Ranma smirked as he held onto the Gekkaja.  "I think not, bird brain!
Eat this!" Ranma formed a ball of blue ki in his hand and touched it
with the Gekkaja.  A swirling of ice could be seen around the ball.
"Mouko Takabisha Revised: Attack of the Ice Tiger!"  The pigtailed
martial artist thrust his hand towards the phoenix and the ball grew
and flew at him.  Unfortunately, Saffron protected himself by
launching another fireball, engulfing the meager ki blast, and it
struck the ground.  Looking around, Ranma saw bits and pieces of
rubble flying up from the ground.

"A pitiful attack... Landling, are you getting tired?  Don't worry; it
will all be over soon!"

The tornado of the Hiryuu Shoten Ha passed over the taps of Jusendo,
and both heads were pulled off.  They flew up into the tornado like
the creatures that they were designed after.  Ironically, the Phoenix
Tap slammed into Saffron, sending him flying towards the pools of
Jusenkyo.   As he fell, more and more rubble came from Jusendo to fall
on top of the unconscious Phoenix Prince.

Ranma watched as Saffron flew off, and smiled.  Finally the fight was
over.  But then, why was the Hiryuu Shoten Ha still going?  With all
the rock out of the way of the waters of Jusendo, the tornado was now
sucking up the magical water like a straw.  The water swirled around
Ranma, before the pigtailed martial artist began to sink.  He fell,
throwing the Akane doll out towards where Ryoga and Mousse were, and
the water turned her back to normal.  He smiled, and the last thing he
remembered was striking the water.

'Ryoga, Mousse, Shampoo, Akane, Ucchan... I wish I could do more.'

The Gekkaja struck the water at that instant, and Ranma's memories cut off.

Ranma shook his head, at least Akane was alright.  He managed to save
her.  He managed to save them all.  Ryoga and Mousse managed to pull
through in the end after all.  Looking around, he noticed that he was
not far from the cave's exit.  As reluctant as he was to leave the
shade of the tree, he knew he had to.  It was his duty as a martial
artist to locate his friends.

'Duty...'

There's a saying in the Borderlands.  Death is lighter than a feather,
duty heavier than a mountain.  Ranma's version of that was drilled
into him by Genma since birth.  The life of a martial artist is
fraught with peril.  "Are you a martial artist, boy?" he would ask.
Chibi-Ranma would answer, "Uh huh." "And what is the code of the
martial artist?"  "Ta protect the weak!"  Ranma smiled at that
bittersweet memory.  That was shortly before he had met Ukyo, but it
was one of the most prominent memories he had of that time.

The pigtailed boy stood and began to slowly walk out of the cave.
Lying at the entrance to the cave were five things.  One was an
umbrella, apparently made of bamboo, another was a baker's peel made
out of the finest steel with a green dragon spiraling down the handle
of it, the third was a pair of bonboori, the fourth, a mallet, and the
fifth was an engraving.  It read: "In memory of Ranma Saotome, an
amazing martial artist, and a selfless friend.  We are sorry for the
way we treated you, and thank you for your gift.
1980-1996."

Ranma had a tear form in his eye as he read the engraving, but that
was before he noticed the dust on it.  Millennia of dust had formed
upon it, but yet it had not disappeared.  How Ranma knew it was
millennia of dust was beyond him, regardless he did know, and he knew
that meant that his friends were...  Ranma didn't want to think along
those lines.   Everyone he knew was dead and gone, but he had been
given a second chance at life.  Ranma wouldn't screw it up.  Picking
up the baker's peel, he noticed that there was a bandoleer attached to
it.  He put it around his body and hung the peel on his back.  He
hefted the umbrella, yep, it was Ryoga's alright.  The weight felt
natural in his hands, and it felt... right.  He placed it next to the
baker's peel on his back.  The bonboori he hung at his sides, and he
hid the mallet in subspace.  Ranma Saotome was ready for anything now.

Stepping out of the cave, Ranma noticed a feeling of... wrongness that
surrounded the area.  He stared at the barren wasteland that filled
his vision.  The Byankala Range wasn't like this.  More proof that his
friends... Ranma killed that thought immediately.  The first objective
would be to find civilization.

'Let's see, damn... this place is making me feel sick... Which way?
Well, down first of course.'

Ranma scaled down the mountain quicker than a cheetah at top speed.
He didn't want to be near that cave anymore. It reminded him too much.
 Spinning around, he extended his senses to find a direction in which
to go.  South seemed to be a safe bet, the feeling seemed to get
weaker towards that direction.

So Ranma set off at a speed that would make Olympic runners look like
turtles.  He slowed down a bit as he realized how fast he was going.
Ranma noticed smoke in the distance.  The pigtailed lad smirked, maybe
he was going to be lucky and find people already.  The ominous sound
of thunder could be heard overhead as Ranma took off towards the
smoke.

**********************************************
(End of Prologue)

Author's Notes:
Argh! Writer's block!  Wanted to be more descriptive but couldn't
think of how! At least not without giving the story away!  Anyways,
the story chapters themselves will be much longer.  This story will be
getting the backburner to "1/2 an Age", "Ranma no Jinchuuriki" and
"Reaping the Souls of the Cursed", but it will be worked on.
Prologues...  most of my stories have them, hmm...  I thought about
writing this one differently, but that would pretty much give
everything away if I wrote it the other way.  Well, you can drop me a
line about any of my fics at ellfangor8 at gmail.com. C&C is good, flames
are bad.  Saffron could tell you all about that.

-- 
"Evil is merely a perspective, one which is no longer of concern to me."