Balance of Force 1a

[MageOhki]

Decided to post the first two scenes of the chaper, espically since this is a 6-8 scene chapter, and 2 of them are going to be a #$*(@#$
Eilsa watched the youngling simply fly though the sky, dancing. She'd have been hard
pressed to recall a neither more graceful nor more potent fighter of even master rank.
The warriors of Earth had managed to develop unusual ways of using their life-force, and
for those who were force sensitive, it truly took it to levels that even the great masters
would be hard pressed to equal. Eilsa's expression turned to a pixie grin as she imaged
Master Windu's expression as a youngling handed him his rear.
As Ranma hopped down, Eilsa decided to interest her in what the Force could do when
properly trained.

"Impressive, some of the best I've seen." Eilsa watched as Ranma shrugged.
"No big. I'm the best." The ego with Ranma spoke that with troubled Eilsa, but she
knew she could get around it.
Eilsa's raised eyebrow questioned Ranma's superiority, and before he knew it, he was in
the air, being held by some invisible force.

"Really. An excellent fighter you may be. However, what if a person chose to remove
your edges like I just did?" Eilsa's tone was amused.
Ranma struggled, twisting and turning becoming more frantic with each passing second,
trying to find the grip points, then coming to a realization she was being held over every
point of her torso and neck making breaking out impossible without leverage. "Lemme
go!" She said that as she started to draw power to toss a kiblast at Eilsa.
Eilsa lowered Ranma rapidly in response to the feeling of Ranma gathering the Force to
do _something_ with it. "That's the least the Force can do. I can use it, and so can
you."
Ranma got up, and glared slightly. "How did you do that?"
"By reaching out and using the Force. And many years of training." Eilsa smiled.
"What's the force?" Ranma's expression was still a bit irritated, but Eilsa noted the
child's normal state had returned quickly.
"It's what we use to defend others, and keep the peace. It is energy created by all living
things. It surrounds and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. It is all, and from it
comes life, and to it we return." Eilsa smiled. "You were beginning to draw on it to do
something when I put you on the ground."
"You mean you can lift people with Chi?!" Ranma's expression was awed.
"If by Chi you mean the Force, yes... And that's the least of what we can do with it.
Would you like to learn?" Eilsa waited to see what the possible padawan would say.
Ranma kicked a rock while pondering it. "I dunno... what else can you do with it?"
Eilsa smiled inwardly. Time to add more bait to the hook. "Well, I can use it to read
people's emotions, which helps me defuse fights."
Ranma eyed her. "De... fuse? You mean like... not have the fight?" Ranma's face
scrunched up; clearly remembering a few times she'd have loved to do that. "Man...
that'd would have been great, with the Tomboy. Though it's fun sparring with Pigboy
most of the time."
Eilsa nodded. "It's a long and hard road. You never finish learning, of course, but the
initial training took me years, and years. And we'd have to go to my home, since that's
where the training would take place."

Ranma snorted. "Betcha I could do it faster."
"Really... care to prove it?" Eilsa smiled. Lesson one, padawan.
"Sure!" Ranma beamed.
"Then I'll personally train you myself." Eilsa smiled. "And it does settle what you're going
to do till you regain your age again. We'll go visit with your family, and tell them that
you're coming with me to train, because you want to."
Ranma nodded, asking a question. "You'll feed me, right? While we're training?"

Eilsa shook her head slightly. "Of course. However, the real question you should have
asked is this. 'Where do you live?' _before_ agreeing to becoming my padawan."
The blink from Ranma told Eilsa a lot about his training. "Huh? Why would that matter?
And what's Padawan?"
"Lesson 1 and 2, Padawan." The Jedi smiled softly. "Padawan is the term for a Jedi
student, which you are now. Second lesson. Get the details of an agreement _first_,
before agreeing to it. I live on Coruscant, in the Jedi Temple. Which is roughly 11 million
light years away."
Ranma just stared at her for a bit. "Umm... what's a light year?"
"The distance that light travels in a year. Didn't your school teach this?" Eilsa's voice
conveyed her shock. Sure Nippon was primitive, but given the electronics she saw, they
should know what a light year is.
"Didn't do much Schooling, Pops thought it was a waste of time." Ranma shrugged.
"So, it's a long way?"
Eilsa stared. She just clued into why her new padawan was so skilled in the arts of war.
That's all he learned. "Oh, yes, a very long way. Even in my starship, one of the fastest
built; it took over two months to get there."
"Oh." Ranma's tone of voice said it all to Eilsa.
"Don't worry; I'll leave a commutations device behind so you can talk to your mother and
friends. It'll be real time, and it's quite costly. I'll have a devil of a time justifying it to the
Temple." Eilsa shrugged. "It's not a problem. I'm sure that the Council will want to
investigate this planet more, anyways."
Ranma just blinks repeatedly.
"A bit of a shock? Consider it the first lesson I can teach you about the battle fought with
words instead of weapons." Eilsa watched Ranma nod dumbly, realizing she had a long
way to go with this student. She sighed, and looked deeply into Ranma's eyes as she
stated her next line. "Ranma, I know you've spent most of your life devoted to training
your body in your art. However, if you are going to get the most of your abilities, you
must be able to focus your abilities. If you don't train your mind for combat, it becomes
easy for you to be deceived. In this case, you could potentially become that which you
most fear - someone who hurts - or worse, kills - the innocent. Do you want that? I
would say most of your problems with Akane are due to the lack of training with your
mind." She watched emotions play out over the child's face, and decided to add an extra
little thought. "Some have stated that words are the most powerful weapon a person
possesses, Ranma. But think of this. How many times have you fallen for a trick or a
play of Nabiki's, or one of your other's rivals, who while not as skilled in the art of
fighting, is skilled with the art of words?"
Ranma just stared at the Jedi. Apparently the child never thought about it that way.
"But... pops said..."
Eilsa raised her hand. "You agreed to allow me to train you. There's a whole other
dimension of combat and the use of what you call Chi, which he made sure you'd be
unable to easily learn. Maybe because he didn't consider it important, maybe because
he didn't learn it himself..." She trailed off letting him see if there was any other reason
that Genma might not have made sure Ranma was well rounded.
"Dammit, Pops. Why?" Ranma grumbled kicking a wall slightly.
Eilsa shrugged. "How many times has your father made critical mistakes? How many
times has he been wrong? This is just a string of mistakes he made. I might accept
honest mistakes, except the consequences are so dire, for so many of these. And
they're repeated over and over again." She watched as Ranma just pondered those
words.
With his continued pause she stood up, brushing off her robes. "Ponder it; I need to go
visit your parents and family. Sleep on it, indeed. Just tell the droid what you want, and
he'll get you some food."
******
Balance of Force Book 1, Chapter 1
The Child
By Andrew 'MageOhki' Norris
With grateful assistance from Nicholas 'NightElf' Leifker
Various members of the #fukufic crowd and special thanks to
Quedrom
******
Eilsa consulted the map that she had acquired, along with the directions Ranma
had given her, and quickly found the Dojo. She was glad Ranma listened to her
and stayed on the ship to sleep. She didn't want the negotiations to be
disrupted by the child's presence.
As she walked through the gate, many emotions washed over her, the most
predominate was worry and fear. She blinked. Some anger, yes, but it was
almost lost in overriding fear and worry. She shook her head, realizing she
had
once again let her initial thoughts override her better judgment. She forgot
at
times how difficult it was to separate her natural empathy from her logical
mind.
Master Yoda kept telling her to control it. Worse, as with everyone in there,
Ranma's very force signature simply shouted her emotions at anyone with the
talent and training to read them. She knocked on the wood frame of the door,
and
waited as she heard movement to the door.
Kasumi slid the door open, and saw a hooded woman dressed strangely at the
door.
"Tendo Residence, I am Tendo Kasmui, how can I help you?" Her voice was tight
from the worry and frustration she was hiding.
Eilsa raised an eyebrow and nodded slightly. "I would speak with you and your
family and the Satomes if they are here." She was calm and collected, while
she
read Kasumi's emotions, and felt worry, frustration, and a sudden spike of
hastily
repressed anger that didn't reach her face.
"I'm afraid that this is not a ... good time to handle business... "Kasumi let
her
words trail off hinting that she would like a name.
Eilsa thanked the Force that she listened to Ranma pronounce his name, and the
correction she gave, so she could answer this correctly. "Jardon Eilsa.
It's...
about Satome Ranma." She didn't miss the spike of hope, anger, resignation
that
all flashed though the young woman in front of her. Eilsa itched for a force
tester
to confirm what her senses were telling her.
Kasumi nodded sharply, and bowed, saying "Please, come in, then." She
watched as the hooded figure bowed and walked in, removing her hood. She
studied the person, placing her age as older than most of Ranma's fiancées,
and
noted the warmth in the eyes, but couldn't quite repress the irritation she
felt as
the person didn't remove her boots.
"I'm sorry, I'm a stranger in a strange land, am I doing something wrong?"
Eilsa's
voice calmed Kasumi.
Kasumi couldn't keep a slight smile from appearing. "We take our shoes off in
houses in Nihon, Jardon-san."

Eilsa blinked but shrugged and quickly removed her boots, while Kasumi
discreetly nudged a pair of slippers towards her.
As the slippers were put on, Kasumi gestured at the hall mentioning to the
older
woman, "You are quite excellent in your timing, Jardon-san, for both families
you
wish to talk to, plus some of Ranma's friends are here."
Eilsa walked into the room, pausing to take the scene in. She blinked at
seeing a
panda with a blade at his neck and the blade was held by a redheaded woman
with a striking resemblance to Ranma. She swept over the rest, and noted that
besides a glare from the redheaded woman at the panda, and several young
women occasionally glaring at a young man, the overall mood of the room were
as she felt outside. One of worry and fear for someone. All eyes turned to
her.
Eilsa took a deep breath; she looked from one person to another and locked
eyes with them. Diplomacy had its nuances. Sometimes it worked best to
appease and show peace; other times, a show of force was required.
"Satome Genma?"
The panda nodded weakly.
"Satome Nodoka?"
The woman next to him nodded not removing the blade from the panda's neck.
Eilsa noted the source of some of the anger, and focused her eyes in that
direction. "Tendo Akane?"
"What did the idiot do now?" she replied.
Eilsa held her ground; she let her Force presence extend further, increasing
her
intimidation. "Other than receiving treatment for hairline fractures to her
skull? Accepting my offer to train her in areas both relating to the art, and
in areas that were severely crippled by her father."
Akane blinked. Before she could respond, Kasumi had muttered something about
"about time..."
Nodoka paled and her katana slipped from her fingers, scraping the panda's fur
off.
"But..." Akane trailed off wincing at the level stare from the lady.
"Some apparently are about a month old, though given the child's healing
abilities, I'd put them at anywhere from several days ago at the earliest."
Eilsa raised an eyebrow. "Care to tell me how she got them?"
Before Akane could respond, Nabiki butted in. "See what happens when you play
with your toys too hard, could break them." Nabiki grinned at her younger
sister,
clearly not concerned about Ranma.
Eilsa saw Akane pale more, and a glare from Ukyo and Shan Pu to her along
with a repressed spike of emotion from Kasumi filtered into the Jedi's mind.
She
found Akane's emotions most interesting. Shock, denial, her angry overtones
suppressed for the time.
"Fortunately for you, you're not the only one I need to talk to." She turned
her
eyes toward Genma. "When I found Ranma, she was acting in a most... peculiar
manner. When she came to, she mentioned something about the Nekoken. You
wouldn't have anything to say about that, would you?"
She had the satisfaction of watching Genma pale, and Nodoka look puzzled.
She tried to estimate Nodoka's age, and came to a sobering conclusion. Nodoka
was no more than a child herself, really, when she had Ranma.
Her eyes alight on Cologne who had a mask herself on, and was hiding her
emotions behind a primitive shield. Eilsa filed that away, and swept her eyes
across the rest of the room gauging others' reaction to this news.
Eilsa sighed. "There comes a time to settle accounts; now is a good time as
any
would be. Ranma is very much a mystery wrapped in an enigma, as are most of
you - and I will know why. I have a five-year-old girl who claims to be a
sixteen
year old male at times, and a cat at other times. Her medical history or
currently
healing injuries would have killed her, if it wasn't for her ... more unusual
talents."
Nabiki smirked. "10,000 yen" She clearly expected to be paid, and Eilsa felt
the
emotions radiating from the young girl.

Eilsa turned the most contemptuous glare she could. "I didn't ask you, Tendo
Nabiki. I'm asking them."
Nabiki smirked. "They don't have the whole story, _I_ do."
The headshake she was returned with surprised her. The next words stunned
her.

"No, you don't. Lie again, and you won't know what happens to you." With that
statement, Eilsa turned to Kasumi. "Do you know what happened?"
Before Kasumi could speak, Nodoka interrupted confusion clear in her voice.
"Excuse me.... did you say girl? Why are you saying my son is a girl?"
Eilsa blinked, realizing Nodoka didn't realize about the 'curse' as Ranma
called it.
"Ah... well. When I came across Ranma, she was female, as she fell into the
Neko-ken. And her signature was far more ... visible to me, in her female
form.
The Force wills, as it wills."
Nodoka glared at Genma, understanding the reluctance of him to tell her
Ranma's curse. Genma shivered thanking the kami that Kasumi had managed to
get Nodoka to destroy that contract.
Cologne blinked, narrowing her eyes, trying to recall something. "Excuse me.
The Force?"
It took a great deal of effort for Eilsa to keep from smiling. "What do you
know of
the Force?"

"You have a strong aura, one of the strongest I've seen, and the word's
familiar
to me. But that's it. Are you talking about ki or chi?" Cologne inquired.
Eilsa did smile. "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy
field
created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the
galaxy
together. It is all. Why, do you know something more?" Her inquiry was met
by a
stunned look from Cologne who hit Shan Pu to the ground, groveling, along with
her own grovel.
Cologne from a kneeling position spoke with a reverent tone. "Honored Jedi,
Master of the Light. Our legends speak of You and yours."
Her tone shifted, as if she was reciting a basic tenant to a student, and
wasn't
aimed at Eilsa. "The Jedi, Masters of the Light and the Sith, Lords of
Darkness
descended from the heavens at the end of the Great War. They fought on the
blessed and cursed ground known to us all as Jusenkyou. The powerful and
terrible magics warped the world and the very fabric of life around them.
Blood
from the light and dark spilled there, staining the waters with red and
leaving the
impression of those magics used even today. In the end, the remaining Jedi
defeated the Lord of the Dark, sending him to the pit of darkness, and
destroyed
his forces. The remaining Jedi each went their own ways. One, a great bird
went into the mountain of Jusendo to watch over us all, leading a small band
of
his own kind. He was changed by the very powers he wielded. Another group,
made mostly of males made their home near a second mountain forming the
Musk. One other group, comprised mostly of females, formed my very tribe,
being our forbearers. A few left, wandering away, including the one that held
them together and his wife."
Eilsa raised an eyebrow. "Do you know the names of these Jedi? Or the Sith
for that matter?"
Cologne didn't rise from her stance on the ground. "The avian, my lady was
Saffron, while our leader only allowed herself to be called the Exile. The
Musk were lead by Atton Reed. The leader of the whole was called Revan, and
his wife was Bastila Shan."
Eilsa blinked. "I wish I had my holocron handy." She shook off the wish for
it and continued on.
"Now. I do recall that you have some stories to tell?" She smiled a bit more
frostily as she continued. "Tales of dumping a child into a pit of cats,
perhaps? Or maybe instead I could find out just how many times a person was
hit over the head with a blunt instrument?" She waved at Cologne. "I do not
accept service nor do I accept worship, Cologne. Please, please, rise and be
seated."
Cologne rose with respect, and sat down. "May I ask a question first, honored
Jedi?"
"Of course."
"Since it is clear you've had contact with Ranma, perhaps you could answer a
question that is burning in all our minds?" Cologne's slightly sardonic tones
were belied by her smile. Cologne received an amused nod in response. "Where
is the child?"

Eilsa smiled. "On my ship, sleeping I believe. Or depleting my food stocks,
whichever."
Nodoka's eyebrows raised slightly, along with Cologne's. Before Cologne could
speak, Nodoka broke in with a sharp question. "And just why didn't you bring
my son back?"

Eilsa gazed upon the younger woman, and shook her head. "For two reasons. As
by her injuries, she was clearly what any medical professional would consider
abused, so I would be ill done to possibly take her back to an abusive
environment." Eilsa sipped at the tea Kasumi placed by her side, as she
watched Cologne touch various places on each of the teenager's backs, to keep
them still. She nodded with a smile of appreciation to both Kasumi and
Cologne, and continued. "Second, she accepted my offer of training, and as
such, has become a Padawan of the Jedi order, under me as her Master. Which
makes _her_ MY responsibility under Republic law."
Nodoka gripped her katana again, while trembling slightly. "I am Ranma's
mother!"
Eilsa nodded accepting that. "Not questioning that, Satome-san. However,
once a child is accepted by the Jedi order as a trainee, the child loses all
legal ties to his or her birth family. Usually this is done with the full
concurrence of the birth family, of course... which I do intend to get."
"And if Auntie Nodoka and Uncle Genma don't give you their blessings?" Kasumi
inquired sweetly.
Eilsa turned to look at Kasumi with a raised eyebrow. Kasumi's naming of
Genma had a repressed spike of distaste and anger. "I don't think they would
be... difficult to convince. Even setting aside the 'magics' I possess, I'm
quite convincing on my own, plus I'm willing to comprise on several aspects of
what the Order tends to do."
Nodoka marshaled her arguments to be undercut by Eilsa's raised hand. "I'm
sorry, Satome-san, but I think you should hear all the reasons why this is a
_good_ thing for Ranma."
Eilsa paused to be sure she had all their attention. "First and foremost, while Ranma's
case of ailurophobia is the most extreme I've heard about, I am _very_ confident in the
Order's healers to severely lessen it, or remove it all together." Nodoka's blink and
shocked expression indicated that Nodoka also didn't know about this. Eilsa stomped on
her anger again, knowing it would do no good and lead to the darkness if she just lopped
off Genma's head. "Second, the order and I know a lot more overall about what you call
Chi, and we the Force, and how to use it. I mean, can any of you lift a car with your will
and 'Chi' alone?" Eilsa smiled a bit amusedly as she noted Cologne's brief expression of
disbelief. "I see you don't quite believe that."
Cologne nodded. "I have lived for 300 years, and I have not seen anyone able to do such
a thing, Honored Jedi..." She trailed off, inviting proof of Eilsa's words.
Eilsa nodded and raised her hand. Before the room could react, everyone BUT Eilsa
was a good two feet off the ground. She lowered her hand and smirked slightly. "Proof
enough?" She was rewarded by a stunned nod by all. "Thirdly. _I_ can FIX the damage
Genma has done to Ranma's growth as an honorable and good person. Right now, I
don't think the poor child has the ABILITY to have a relationship, or at least one of his
proper age, much less have one of an adult nature." She stopped, taking a deep breath,
watching as Cologne and Kasumi nod, and Nodoka stare at Eilsa in shock.
"All of which, I'll concede are not by themselves viable reasons in separation. I am sure
that you could cure the Neko-ken, am I wrong?" Eilsa waited for Cologne's statement.
"No, we cannot. We cannot even lessen the fear given how long Ranma's been affected
by it." Cologne sighed. Eilsa nodded, hiding a smile.
"Fixing Ranma's lack of education and socialization, well, I'm sure that could be done
too..." Kasumi's expression argued against it as well. Eilsa blinked. Ranma did have
defenders here... just overwhelmed by the situation.
Cologne sighed. "And what about the honor debts he has acquired?" Eilsa smiled in
response to that statement.
"Can she honor them as she is?" That statement was rewarded by a hesitant shake by
Nodoka, and a stronger shake by Cologne.
"I seem to think that Nodoka doesn't know the full story of Ranma's life?" Eilsa inquired,
resulting in two sighs from Kasumi and Cologne, an attempt by Genma to edge out the
door, only to be stopped by Cologne's quick staff tattooing a pattern on his back, and
Nodoka's hesitant statement.

"I had received progress reports..." Cologne snorted.
"Kasumi-chan. Perhaps you should tell us all what you know, since you've had the most
conversations with Ranma." Cologne was rewarded with a small smile from the
mentioned woman.
Kasumi looked at Nodoka and glared at Genma. "Well, Auntie Satome, it began one
rainy afternoon, as our father called us to a family meeting..." Eilsa listened intently to
Kasumi's tale, with additions from Ukyou, Shan Pu, and Cologne. Nodoka's expression
became more and more horrific as each new detail came out. Kasumi finished by
explaining what happened after Akane had implied that there were no more mushrooms
to restore Ranma's and Ryouga's age. "Father attempted to cheer up Ranma by giving
her a mustache rub, and she fled that. Akane had hidden some of the mushrooms, and
figured that Ranma would return shortly. After they were the proper size, and cooked,
we found that Ranma hadn't returned. Akane, Ukyou and Shan Pu went out looking for
Ranma, and Ryogua stayed behind. In a fit of anger over Akane's worry for Ranma, he
destroyed Ranma's mushroom, and right now, we have no more mushrooms." Kasumi
finished, taking a sip of tea to relax her throat, while pretending to not notice Akane,
Ukyo and Shan Pu's glares at Ryogua.
Eilsa sipped some tea and nodded. "I see. This matches with what Ranma told me, not
as in much detail, and excepting the bit about there being more mushrooms, but there
are some differences, of course." She paused. Her eyes tracked to Nodoka.
Nodoka's eyes were streaming, unable to make a sound. Eilsa nodded in relief, it
appeared that her initial thoughts on Nodoka were wrong. However, her eyes went to
Genma's prone form. Only the pressure points that Cologne had struck that kept Genma
in one place. Eilsa sighed. She really had a bad feeling about this. "I take it that divorce
is legal here?" She raised an eyebrow at the slight disappointment from Kasumi, and the
nod from Cologne.
Eilsa's eyes tracked over the rest. Ukyou's horrified and pale face indicated she was
unaware as well, while Shampoo's hunched over form indicated the same. Akane had
joined Nodoka in crying, while... where was the middle sister? No matter. Soun was
apparently attempting to work up some indignation.
Nodoka gathered herself. "You say your healers could fix this... Neko-ken?" Nodoka
was rewarded by a nod from the Jedi. "Then, if it is truly my child's wish... I must
consent. I will hear it from his own lips, however. And I want my child home as much as
possible, and to hear from Ranma as often as possible." Nodoka's further statements
were broken by Soun's rising to the statements she made.
"No! The Schools MUST BE JOINED!" Soun was rising and Eilsa's hands flew to her
lightsaber as she felt a tainted feeling forming around Soun. Before her hand had
removed her lightsaber from her belt, and activated it, Nodoka had already scooped up
her katana, and had it across Soun's neck, interrupting the building up of the Force Eilsa
felt.
"Haven't you done ENOUGH in that mindset?" Nodoka's voice was quiet. "Haven't we
_all_ just done enough to ruin _my_ child's life already? You with the pressures of an
engagement, without helping Ranma to solve his problems. Me, letting Genma lie to me
repeatedly!" Nodoka couldn't continue as she started to sob.
"Scattering the ashes of the past is never pleasant. Realizing our dreams of the future
are as much dust as well is even less pleasant." Cologne took a breath. "It does allow
for new dreams to rise, however, such as new growth can rise from a fire in a forest."
She shook her head. "We have failed ourselves, our ancestors, and more importantly
Ranma, all in the name of greed for his body. This has resulted in all of our dreams for
him destroyed, and the things the child held as important, ruined. We never asked what
_he_ wanted out of this. Our failure again. Perhaps we can grow as well." Her eyes
met Eilsa's. "What will the future hold for young Ranma?"
Eilsa nodded slightly in response to Cologne's statement. "Training, of course. Doing
what a Jedi does. Communications with you all, of course. I am not the type to take a
person away from those he or she views as friends. Besides that? I've never been one
to see the future, nor hold much faith in those visions. In motion, it always is, and it
makes fools of those who seek to control it."
Cologne nodded. "And when can we see Ranma?"

Eilsa nodded. "As soon as I go to my ship. I still need to find fuel and certain supplies.
Is there a chance you can help me?"

Cologne winced. "While I have contacts, I would need a list of what you need, and what
could be used... before saying one way or the other."
Eilsa nodded. "Then I will bring back both my padawan, and the list. Good day."

*******
Genma waited for a moment. He menatally snarled, keeping that expression off his face
as to not warn anyone. No mere woman was going to take HIS heir away. Happosai
had taught him well. If you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself, and
do it as painfully as possible. Shame that the bombs didn't kill the bastard pervert. He
kept his eye on Cologne and his wife as they discussed something, and as she moved
her eyes from him, he moved.
Cologne spun, and seeing Genma hunch over, began to move. However, to her shock,
Genma was gone before she could get to him. "Dammit!" Kasumi's eyebrows rose up in
response to Cologne's curse.
"Child, I suspected Genma would try something. I underestamted him, though.
Apparenlty the pressure points wore off before I thought they would on him. Must be
Happosai's influence. Come, we have to follow the Jedi, else she might kill him."
Cologne saw several blank looks as if asking 'This would be bad, why?'
"While _I_ don't disagree with killing the panda, children... Ranma would!"
Several nods of comprension answered her, as they all got up to track the woman who
had left.
Genma roofhopped in his techquine of invisiblity, keeping a eye out on the woman who
had his heir, and was occasionally looking back, as if someone was following her. He
snerked. Colonge was foolish to think a apprentice to Happosai would be affected for
long by pressure points. The master was a genius with them, espically the more painful
ones. And this woman? Ha. She was no warrior, for she never looked up, not that she
would have seen him anyways.
Eilsa checked back again. She'd have _sworn_ someone was following her. No signs of
a stealth cloak, and her senses didn't _say_ anyone was following her... just the back of
her neck itching. She shook her head, and suddenldy spun, ingiting her lightsaber and
ducking. She'd never know how she was warned, but the clang of the fist agasint her
ship's hull made her thankful. She rolled, and stood up in a netrual stance.
"Genma. I should have known you were too passive." She hissed at the man.
Genma smiled at her, a evil smile. "You think that little toy will do you any good? Try my
power! KIJIN RAISHU DAN!" With his cry, his hands snapped backwards, and only
Eilsa's honed insticts allowed her to drop to the ground, and parts of her hair went to the
ground, cut off by the vaccum blades, which went on to cause tears in her ship's hull.
Genma sped foward attempting to stomp her into the ground, but was failed by her quick
kip and flip foward over him, and her attempt to stab him though the chest, which he
dodged, and leapt to the side avoiding any follow up attack.
Eilsa eyed Genma, going into a Makashi stance, and preparing to move smartly. She
put everything out of her head, including the arrival of several sets of footsteps, and
settled herself into the Force, letting it guide her to victory in this fight. She was
rewarded by the sense to move one way and she did so as Genma chased one of his
vaccum blade attacks in, and she spun around, striking, running her lightsaber though his
shoulder via a spin and a stab though the back.
Genma rolled clutching his sholder, and standing up, snarling. "I'll make that your last,
woman!" Eilsa just eyed him, as Cologne held Nodoka back.
"Bring it. Only reason you have your head, is I don't think Ranma would want you dead."
Her calm and clear voice answered his snarling fury.
Genma took a deep breath and rapidly swung his hands back casuing a craclking sound,
as several small blades raced for the Jedi who weaved though the vaccum blades, losing
bits of her clothing, and small slices on her skin appearing. He attempted to take a few
steps back to engage the Goshin Dai Ryu, but Eilsa was on him, and before he could
finish wrapping the cloth, or even take another step, a sharp burning pain screamed from
his left shoulder as he heard a thump on the ground. Eilsa spun and eyed Genma, blood
dripping from several of her wounds.
"Do you yield, Genma Saotome" She asked, showing no strain from the combat.
Genma snarled; his remaining hand glowed with power. Elisa sighed and prepared
herself for the final charge, when a single word cut through the air.
"Hold!" That voice laced with power and instant obecideance stopped all but three.
One, a small child sneaking down the ramp of the ship, but sticking to shadows, second:
a wizended old man, and third, the Jedi master, who spun towards the voice.
The Jedi was rewarded by a dry chuckle. "I didn't belive my master on the legends.
Shame on me. Good thing I remembered. We owe yours a debt, Jedi." The voice
belonged to the old man, who had a small smirk on his face, while he held a small tube in
one hand.
Eilsa rasied an eyebrow a calm expression showing on her face. "Oh?" Inwardly, she
was rattled. She had never heard her title spoken with such rancor and hate. Only...
Oh... dear.
Happosai smiled as she paled slighlty. "I see you have figured it out. Excellent. Shame
on you poaching my heir, Jedi. Please, you didn't think I wouldn't follow the last of the
Revan's heirs? To finally sway them to the truth of the Force? The one and only truth!"
Eilsa nodded. Revan's departing of the other surivors made perfect sense now. He
knew that a Sith was left. She got a further shock as a red blade arose from the tube in
the old man's hand. She settled herself deeper into the Force, preparing to take the
battle to him.
Before Eilsa could move, a ping pong ball attempted to slam in to the wizened old man,
only to be batted aside with a force push, and then... "Time for you to learn to respect
your _real_ master". As Happosai said that, sparks, then sheets of low powered lighting
slammed into Ranma, knocking her out, not before she screamed breifly as her body
arched in response to the electricy and hate running though her frame. "There, that'll
keep you out of this!" The words were accopmianed with a truly evil smirk, showing that
the old man had enjoyed that. Happosai flipped back as Eilsa charged attempting to end
the fight fast with a stab to the chest, only to be met by his flip and parry.
Eilsa leapt back, and back again, retreating from his hyper agressive attacks. She
needed leverage to be able to set him up in a trap, but he was so small and so fast, it
was worse than fighting Master Yoda! Not to mention, for such a small man, he was
incredibly strong as her one attempt to lock blades nearly resulted in her decaptiation by
her own blade.
Happosai smiled. "Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Jedi?" His sinster words and twisted
expression were in accentuation to his force thrown bombs that kept the Jedi hopping,
and completely on the defensive. Not to mention the blast fragments added more tears
to her clothing, and more scratches to her body.
"No, just a bit surpised. I'd have figured anyone as old as you couldn't rise to the
occasion." Eilsa bit back, hoping to throw him off balance as she leapt over, and whirled
though more fragments. She needed a distraction badly.
Happosai smirked. "Not bad, not bad. Time to show you how I can really rise to the
occasion." With that, he took a step back, and several dozen trees of anicent oak came
out of the ground and then aimed themselves at the Jedi. She was nearly shaken off her
feet by the earth's response to the trees being torn from the ground, and Nodoka had
fallen becasue of it.
She eeped, and force leapt out of the way, as the trees came in, two of them shattering
on her ship's hull, one being driven into the ship; and the rest went beyond the ship. Her
landing was shaky and she wondered just how in the name of the Force he did that. She
risked a glance at Genma, and saw him looking more and more drained, along with
Soun, who had come with them. Both men had painful expressions, and looked like they
wanted to scream, but couldn't. She felt the earth shake as the trees landed,
rearranging the landscape behind her, flattening a small hut.
Eilsa stared, realizing what he was doing. "COLOGNE!" She shouted as she sent a tree
back at Happosai, who nimbly leapt over it, landing in the position he was in before.
She watched as the tree that she threw embedded itself into the ground, casuing a
second shiver to run though the earth. She had to keep him distracted til Cologne could
attack and hopefully defeat him.
Before Happosai could do anything else, a shout of "JOUTEN MOUI BAKFUU" rang out,
as a pure sphere of power slammed into him from his flank, followed up by several dozen
small spatluas and two girls charging in, with blunt instruments ready to maul. He stood
up, shaking off the blast, and met the young ladies' charge with his lightsaber ready.
Happosai flipped away from spatluas, and sheared though Shampoo's bonbori, landing
on Shampoo's rear leg, breaking the bone there, causing her to bite a scream off. The
whimper brought a gleeful grin to the man's face. Leaping up again, while dodging
Akane's mallet, which shook the earth as much. As Akane attempted to bring it back up
for a smash, he force pushed her into the ship's hull, knocking her out. Cologne stood
by, panting, building up enegry for a second try.
"So, going to interfere, Cologne. Thought you knew better. Shame. Could have been
fun." With that, Happosai shot out a second sheet of lighting, casuing Cologne to drop to
her knees, while she refused to give him the sasification of screaming. A slight
expression of displeasure was seen on his face, and he sent more lighting onto the elder.
Caught up in this, he nearly failed to dodge the giant splatua that nearly took his head off,
but did leave a long cut along his back. Ukyo spun away, dodging her way out of his
immediate rang, as her slice caused him to drop his lightsaber. He smiled evilly at the
look of fear on Ukyo's face.
Happosai leapt away, panting. In a reddish storm around him, enegry streamed from
Genma and Soun straight into him, healing the wounds of battle the ladies had inflicted on
him. Eilsa watched horrified as Genma simply... shrivled up, becoming one with the
force, and Soun joined him shortly. Before she could formuate a response, a shout
interrputed her thougths. "SHI SHI HOKUDAN!" Ryouga had snuck up onto a flanking
position and used his most powerful move, and she didn't like the feel of depression and
fear in it. Happosai was blown into her ship's hull by the green blast, and slid off the hull,
leaving a dent. Before he could reclaim his lightsaber, or even set up a new defense he
was quickly pounced on by a young man dressed in a hakama.

"STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!" Accompaning those words, was a blur of strikes from the
wooden blade in the hands of the young man who finally found his calling as a Samurai.
Eilsa watched as several of the high speed strikes struck, rattling the Sith lord, but
before she could rush to the side of the brave man, Happosai's lightsaber flew to his
hand and reingited. Happosai spun up, landing behind the swordsman and he struck,
seperating Kuno's waist lenghtwise and he twisted and knocked the two havles of the
body apart.
A horrified shout of "BROTHER!" rang out, followed by repeated whip strikes, which
were all destroyed by the flashing lightsaber, and Eilsa had leapt foward to take
avadange of the distraction, but wasn't fast enough to keep the young girl from
screaming as a tree branch impaled her, but she watched amazed, as the letoard clad
girl kept struggling to reach her enemy.
Chains whipped in, and before Happosai could react, several spikes linked to chains
penetrated his body and pinned him to the hull of the ship, with a sword following the
pinning, narrowly dodged as the old man pulled away from the spikes, leaving a blood
trail on the hull. Happosai's response was a sheet of lighting on the young man holding
the chains that casued the younger warrior to arch and scream before he fell, smoking.
Eilsa had gotten close enough to strike and spun onto the Sith master, plunging her
lightsaber though his heart, and pulled the engery blade up, seperating Happosai's head
from his body. Eilsa stood and deactivated her lightsaber.
Sickened beyound words at the cost of this battle, she went first over to Ranma, placing
herself in the grip of the force, long enough to check on those living. As she suspected,
the Sith had cacluated the lighting just enough to put Ranma out, not hurt the child, and
with Colonge's call, she rushed over to the leotard clad girl. Scanning quickly, and
suppresing the gore that rose from the injuries the girl had suffered, she nodded. "We
need to take this out, then I can attempt to heal it." Cologne nodded.
"Good, she was brave, and proved herself a worth Amazon, she shouldn't be allowed to
be wasted by this injury, and we have no time to get her to a local healer. She is Kuno
Kodachi, from a samurai line. Proved worthy of her ansectors today, she did." Colonge
eyed the shell shocked suriviors, who were dazed at their first taste of real battle. As
the two worked to save the girl's life, the others came to grips with this bloody day.
Ryouga walked over to Mousse's side and dropped to his knees, while the three girls
concentrated on helping Cologne and the Jedi save Kodachi. "You did good, today, Mu
Tsu" Ryouga whispered in Chinese. "I'll make sure your village knows you died worthy of
their respect today. He stood up, and walked to Kuno's side, and bowed, while clapping
his hands three times. His prayer was unheard of by anyone, as Eilsa had dashed into
her ship, bringing out a few supplies, and a weird looking robot who went to work on the
wounded Kodachi.
Elisa let the Force widen her focus; she let the entirety of the battlefield absorb numbly
into her consciousness. M-21J carried Kodachi back into the ship, where a bacta tank
no doubt awaited; she would be scarred, but she'd live. At the edge of her vision, she
noted Nodoka cradling her child in her arms, and crying in relief at Ranma's minor
injuries. A gasp from behind her caught her attention; she whirled around to face the
source. Next to Akane's elder sisters was a brown haired man, who was just...
centered, as she could put it, and even at the signs of carange didn't turn a blink, just
went to each dead body, confirming the deaths. The two girls just stared at Genma and
Soun's lifeless and dessicated bodies.
Eilsa walked over to the two father's bodies, placing a hand on both girl's shoulders. She
had heard rumors about such a Force-leeching technique used by the Sith, but this was
the first time she had seen its horrible effects. Dessicated husks that could have been
dead for years curled up on the ground, their fetal position and looks of agony were the
only testament to what had gone on only minutes before as they were used to fuel
Happosai's power. The Jedi sighed as she watched Nodoka's fussing over Ranma
awaken the child, and the young martial artist's eyes widened in shock at the battlefield,
unable to form coherent words at the sight of carange that would not normally be
expected by anyone.

[bissek]

While bacta was a common cure for most forms of illness and infirmity during the days of the Old Republic, its usefulness as a cure for battle injuries, either by itself or to enable people to be fitted with a prosthesis was not well known until the Clone Wars. As such, it's unlikely that a small craft in the pre-Clone War era would have a full tank of bacta on hand for dealing with injuries (people wouldn't see the need for it), even though bacta was much cheaper in those days. After the Clone Wars Palpatine gave the Xucphra and Zaltin corporations exclusive control on bacta production and the price skyrocketed, making it unlikely for a different reason.
You might be interested to know that over the past couple days I and several others on this board had a discussion of how Jedi abilities fit in battle and possible counters to those abilities in the Ideas::Ranma/Star Wars X-Wing cross section (pages 3-4). You might find some of the details useful for later portions of this fic.
Three members of the NWC are now dead, as are the Dopey Duo. How will this affect Nerima dynamics? Will the damage done to the ship delay Eilsa's efforts to get Ranma to Coruscant?
Will a search of Happosai's quarters contain any Sith artifacts that will need to be studied and/or destroyed? I know the books state that some Sith used an exotic implement called the Lanvarok, which was apparently some kind of tool used by left-handed torturers. No descriptions of the item exist, other than the name, so you can be creative describing it if you want to.

[MageOhki]

Umm... timeline is in the prequels, chum... and "not commonly known" != not used.
Ie, it's close enough to the clone wars, I can see it.
Andrew

[MageOhki]

Furtermore, She's a jedi, making her a LOT more aware of the need for support. And she's also not that good of a healer Jedi.
The wrecking crew's reaction is being worked on...
Andrew

[antimatterenergy]

I like the idea of A Ranma Star Wars crossover but I'm never really happy with them. Here's a few comments (don't take them as negative because I do like this story so far I'm just comparing it to the manga the way I see it):
Holding Ranma with the force would not be overly impressive to Ranma since he already knows that can be done with chi since Happosai did that to Ranma once and Ranma had broken free by force of will, surprising Happosai. (It was near Happosai's first showing in the manga)
Ranma also already knows of some mental tricks caused by chi when happosai's friend lucky tried to use it to hypnotise Ranma. Ranma was easily able to break free from ki created hypnotism and even said that those kinds of tricks won't work on him implying that he knows of other forms of those techniques. Also though I have no proof of this I believe that at least one of the yamasenken techniques is a form of suggestion otherwise why would Ranma just stop because the person yelled it. Also some of the techniques Ranma tried to use against Ryoga when he had the mark of the gods would have only worked if they had some type of suggestion to them.
Ranma is not likely to go away to learn a few techniques. A few new techniques no matter how powerful is not really a sufficient goad for Ranma. He's much more likely to start a fight with the person so as to see the techniques enough times to learn them.
Genma does not consider school to be a waste of time since he is the one who sent Ranma there and complained about his grades on one occasion.
In the manga people really don't manipulate Ranma all that often unless he's already feeling guilty, feels it is an attack on his ego, or it has to do with a cure for his curse. Even when they are blackmailing him and stuff Ranma is generally aware that they are doing so. I can't remember him just giving in ever. Even when Nabiki was blackmailing him with pictures Ranma negotiated with her because he considered the blackmail price to high. So even though Ranma is lacking social skills he is not overly easily fooled or tricked with words. He's actually one of the last ones in the manga who would be tricked and is often times the person who is tricking others. (Ryoga, Akane, Soun, Genma, Happosai, Hinako, Kuno, and Mouse for instance are much easier to trick with words than Ranma.)
As for Ranma's problems with Akane, Ranma is not going to believe that most of his problems with Akane are because of lack of mental training. Ranma's problems with Akane are generally because Akane insulted Ranma, showed a lack of faith in his abilities/massively underestimated them, takes someones word over his, doesn't let him explain the situation, because Akane misunderstood or took what he said out of context, or because they are both competitive people who hate to lose. Ranma considers the problems to be because of Akane and not him. It would take awhile to convince him otherwise.
At least in the anime Cologne would have no trouble lifting a car with her chi alone since she lifted a large stone bear and flew around on it. I also believe that several characters in the manga could do this if they had wanted to (Cologne, Herb, Ranma, Happosai, and maybe Ryoga.)
In manga Kasumi doesn't talk to Ranma very much at all and really doesn't know at least half the things that goes on around Ranma. If anyone did know about Ranma's past and what had been happening to Ranma it would be Akane (since she is around for many of the things and is the person Ranma talks with the most) or Genma. Ranma very rarely gives anyone information about current events much less the past unless he has to and generally he lets someone else (Akane or Genma generally) tell them.

[MageOhki]

I like the idea of A Ranma Star Wars crossover but I'm never really happy with them. Here's a few comments (don't take them as negative because I do like this story so far I'm just comparing it to the manga the way I see it):
Holding Ranma with the force would not be overly impressive to Ranma since he already knows that can be done with chi since Happosai did that to Ranma once and Ranma had broken free by force of will, surprising Happosai. (It was near Happosai's first showing in the manga)
>> << Reread. Breaking a hold is a LOT harder when it's ALL over.
>> Which is excatly why I wrote it the way I did.
Ranma also already knows of some mental tricks caused by chi when happosai's friend lucky tried to use it to hypnotise Ranma. Ranma was easily able to break free from ki created hypnotism and even said that those kinds of tricks won't work on him implying that he knows of other forms of those techniques. Also though I have no proof of this I believe that at least one of the yamasenken techniques is a form of suggestion otherwise why would Ranma just stop because the person yelled it. Also some of the techniques Ranma tried to use against Ryoga when he had the mark of the gods would have only worked if they had some type of suggestion to them.
>> Ranma DID NOT. Reread AGAIN.
Ranma is not likely to go away to learn a few techniques. A few new techniques no matter how powerful is not really a sufficient goad for Ranma. He's much more likely to start a fight with the person so as to see the techniques enough times to learn them.
>> note that Ranma intinally didn't ASSUME that he'd have to go
>> away to learn them. *shakes head* Ranma DOES keep his word.
Genma does not consider school to be a waste of time since he is the one who sent Ranma there and complained about his grades on one occasion.
>> Uh. For Japanese, Genma does consdier School a waste of time.
>> LOOK AT THE CULTURE.
In the manga people really don't manipulate Ranma all that often unless he's already feeling guilty, feels it is an attack on his ego, or it has to do with a cure for his curse. Even when they are blackmailing him and stuff Ranma is generally aware that they are doing so. I can't remember him just giving in ever. Even when Nabiki was blackmailing him with pictures Ranma negotiated with her because he considered the blackmail price to high. So even though Ranma is lacking social skills he is not overly easily fooled or tricked with words. He's actually one of the last ones in the manga who would be tricked and is often times the person who is tricking others. (Ryoga, Akane, Soun, Genma, Happosai, Hinako, Kuno, and Mouse for instance are much easier to trick with words than Ranma.)
>> Manpulation != success. Means a attmept was made. AND Nabiki
>> DID win. Not the other way around, I have the same manga, in
>> orginal. THat's MY reading of it. You are free to disagree. Agreed
>> on the Others. AND Yes. RANMA DOES Manpulate others.
As for Ranma's problems with Akane, Ranma is not going to believe that most of his problems with Akane are because of lack of mental training. Ranma's problems with Akane are generally because Akane insulted Ranma, showed a lack of faith in his abilities/massively underestimated them, takes someones word over his, doesn't let him explain the situation, because Akane misunderstood or took what he said out of context, or because they are both competitive people who hate to lose. Ranma considers the problems to be because of Akane and not him. It would take awhile to convince him otherwise.
>> Ranma's mouth doesn't help. Trust me. Ranma's not stupid.
>> He'd have figured out by this point in the Manga, he's got something
>> wrong.
At least in the anime Cologne would have no trouble lifting a car with her chi alone since she lifted a large stone bear and flew around on it. I also believe that several characters in the manga could do this if they had wanted to (Cologne, Herb, Ranma, Happosai, and maybe Ryoga.)
In manga Kasumi doesn't talk to Ranma very much at all and really doesn't know at least half the things that goes on around Ranma. If anyone did know about Ranma's past and what had been happening to Ranma it would be Akane (since she is around for many of the things and is the person Ranma talks with the most) or Genma. Ranma very rarely gives anyone information about current events much less the past unless he has to and generally he lets someone else (Akane or Genma generally) tell them.

>> We. DO. NOT. see everything in the Manga. I own them, and there
>> are... indications that Ranma and Kasumi have a good relationship.
>> And re that, that's been covered already.
Andrew.

[Dragon Man]

Damn, Mousse and Kuno proved their courage and they died. That really sucks. I hope Kodachi survives and possibly comes out of her madness with Eisla's help. I'd suggest Nodoka or Cologne taking in the Tendo daughters since I doubt that Nabiki and Kasumi will be up to taking care of things. That is if Nabiki is the bread winner in this fic. If she isn't, then however money was coming in was probably through Soun and is likely not coming since he's dead now.

[ranger5]

Again nice chapter. Personally I liked the interaction at the Tendo house. Happosai as a Sith ... well all I can say is that it was a nice twist.
All in all a good chapter. Don't see much to change.

[Waruiko]

Twist? Happi being sith is hardly a twist. A bit suprising that he had been properly trained, but it was hardly, "No Ashley! I am your clone baby's clone daddy! Mendoza was your clone baby's MOTHER!!!" type of twist.

[ChasTaro]

Well you went and did it. You made a Ranma, Star Wars crossover that I like. There was only one other that had my intrest and it died before it was finished about 2 years ago. I don't even know if its still posted somewhere. Anyway before I wander any more. Keep up the good work. I'll be reading.