Way of the Force

Disclaimer: Star Wars was the brainchild of George Lucas while Ranma 1/2
came from Rumiko Takahashi.

Introduction: Here we have yet another possibility, in which Ranma Saotome's
life dramatically changes from the original. This story was yet another of
the rejects that ended up on the shelf, (or in this case, collecting dust in
my disk drawer), but I've decided to let it out for some air and tweaked it
up some. After reading Way of the Ninjitsu by Jason Wong, I thought... what
the heck! This fic takes place just after Ranma's father had abandoned Ukyo
and the Cat Fist training.

< >: Thoughts

##: Alien language

Prologue

Martial Artist, Jedi Knight

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

The Empire was victorious as the great Jedi Purge had wiped out the majority
of the Jedi Knights and Masters throughout the galaxy. The Jedi who had
escaped the purges were few and far between. One by one, the Jedi who served
the light side of the Force were hunted down and destroyed. With each Jedi,
another bright light of hope was snuffed out as the Emperor and his minions
strove to bring the Jedi Knights to extinction. It seemed that darkness
would reign throughout the cosmos as the last remaining Jedi Masters went
into hiding, cloaking their presences from the those who were hunting them.
Even the legendary Jedi Master Yoda was forced into retreat. As of now, he
was now residing on the swamp world in the Dagobah System, letting the
overflowing life energies of that planet mask his presence from the
Emperor's Purges.

However, he was not the only Jedi Master to have escaped. Racing across the
galaxies in a small cruiser was another. He had just recently achieved the
rank of Jedi Master and had yet to take on any disciples. He had been one of
Yoda's students and he was considered somewhat unorthodox by his peers. His
name was Jarrick Yor. He was a man in his mid-fifties and he was dressed in
the well-worn robes of the Jedi Order. As he sat in the pilot's cabin, he
began considering his options.

He knew that he was no match against the might of the Empire on his own.
With the Jedi Order being brought to the brink of extinction, the
neighboring galaxies would soon fall under the tyranny of the Imperials. He
needed to find allies and perhaps begin rebuilding the Jedi. However, that
in itself was no easy task. Searching for individuals who had strong ties to
the Force was almost impossible due to the Emperor's Purges. Nearly everyone
in the known galaxies who were either Jedi or had the potential were hunted
down and exterminated. No, if Jarrick wanted to rebuild the Order, then he
would have to search outside the known systems. However, he knew that the
journey would be long and difficult. It would take months, perhaps even
years before he might find even one person with any considerable talent in
the Force.

But, Jarrick Yor was nothing if not patient. He would find at least one
student, for as long as there was even a slightest chance, then the
possibility of resurrecting the Jedi Order was still alive.

----------

Ten years later, Japan, planet Earth...

Genma was tired. He had been chasing that boy all afternoon after teaching
him the Dreaded Cat Fist. The dim-witted martial artist had followed the
manual to the letter; wrapping up the trainee in fish sausage and throwing
him into a pit of starving cats. Unfortunately, he never bothered to read
the rest of the manual, which clearly stated WHY such a training technique
had been banned. He was so eager to have the boy to gain the so-called
invincible technique that he didn't bother to read the rest of the book like
a responsible martial arts. Then again, responsibility and Genma were about
as compatible as plugging an AC appliance into a DC outlet.

He had been impressed with the results... sort of. Ranma's speed and agility
had increased dramatically after emerging from that pit. And the way he cut
through things with those claws of chi was amazing. However, there was a
major down side. Ranma was now acting like a cat to escape his irrational
fear of felines. Furthermore, he had now run off and Genma knew that if he
didn't get that boy back, then he'd be a head shorter when returned home...
literally. The father lamented his woes to the skies, asking the kami why he
had been saddled with a weak son who couldn't take a little harmless
training.

----------

A few blocks away from the district where Genma was searching for his son,
an old man quietly walked down the streets. He was quite tall and seemed to
move with the grace of a man half his age. He was dressed in dark, loose
fitting pants, a well-worn tunic and had a black cloak with the hood drawn
over his head. It was now late-afternoon as the sun began dipping toward the
horizon. The man suddenly stopped as he seemed to sense something out of the
ordinary that was heading toward him. He tensed up and waited while his
right hand went to his belt and reached for something that was hidden by his
cloak.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOWWWWRR!"

Jarrick Yor was quite surprised when he saw a small form leap out from an
alley and slashed at him with what seemed to be his fingers. However, the
old Jedi Master easily glided out of the way. He noted that the mailbox
behind him had several slash marks cut into its metal surface. Just as he
was about to draw his lightsaber, he then saw his attacker was just a mere
boy. However, what set him apart from other children his age was that he was
actively tapping into the Force, though it was a miniscule amount of it. He
recognized the energy as chi, which he had encountered during his travels
through China and Japan. He saw it as a level of control over one's personal
energy, but even the greatest chi masters were only using a tiny fraction of
the Force to augment their physical abilities.

Ranma though, was different somehow. Jarrick could sense the great potential
within him and knew, that after years of searching, he had found his
disciple. This youth would become Earth's first Jedi Knight! But for the
moment, Jarrick had to calm the boy down. He could sense that his mental
state was imbalanced and he needed to achieve total mental control of he was
to learn the ways of the Jedi.

Jarrick stood his ground as the feral child leapt at him with 'claws' bared,
but the Jedi Master held out a hand and focused his power. Ranma stopped in
mid-air and found himself flailing some five feet off the ground. Then the
old Jedi looked deeply into the boy's eyes and began emitting a kind of
soothing field that made Ranma slow down and finally stop.

Jarrick Yor was well-trained in all the skills of the Jedi Knights. His
specialty lay in mind tricks and the power to see a person's past through
the eyes. As Ranma remained stationary, Jarrick began probing.

<Show your past, young one. >

Ranma's relatively short existence on this world became an open book to the
Jedi Master, as he saw images of the boy's life from his birth to the
present. He became quite displeased at his father for putting his only
offspring through such ludicrous training methods. He had also seen how
dishonorable Genma was as abandoning a young girl while stealing her dowry,
though the boy was not aware of what was going on at the time. A stray
thought came into the Jedi's mind as he thought that this Ukyo person might
also be a potential candidate for Jedi Knighthood, but he decided to hold
that thought until later. His attention turned back to the images and he
became even more disgusted. The fat martial artist was a hypocrite when it
came to honor, though he used that factor to keep the boy under his control.

After a short period of time, Jarrick came to a decision. He would take this
Ranma as his disciple and undo the damage that idiot Genma had done to the
boy. The first thing on the agenda was to erase the Cat Fist. He stared even
deeper into the child's gray blue depths, peering into his very soul until
he saw what appeared to be a silhouette of a maddened cat. Then, with a very
precise application of the Force, the image was obliterated without harming
the rest of Ranma's psyche. The six-year-old became totally relaxed as
Jarrick gently set the boy down on the ground. Then he felt another
disturbance in the Force and looked up. Recognizing the man from Ranma's
memories, he stood up and faced Genma Saotome.

"See here! What are you doing with my son?!"

<Hmph! Weak-minded or stupid... probably both. Too easy! >

"This is not your son." Jarrick said simply.

Genma then took on a blank look and droned, "This... isn't my son."

"You're looking for someone else."
"Genma nodded as he repeated Jarrick's suggestion. "I'm... looking for
someone else."
"You're apologizing for troubling me."

"I apologize for troubling you."

"Good day."

"Good day." With that Genma turned around and hurried off in another
direction.

Jarrick nodded as he turned his attention back to the now sleeping child.

----------

"W-W-Where am I?" Ranma asked as he found himself awakening in a clearing
deep within a forest. He then saw an aged man sitting on a large boulder.
"W-W-Who are you?"

The Jedi Master nodded as he replied in a quiet voice, "I am Jarrick Yor...
Jedi Master."

To be continued...?

Author's notes.

Yet another random thought that wouldn't go away until I wrote about it. Now
where could I go with this? Well, I've had ideas of Ukyo being found and
taught alongside Ranma as Jedi Knights and maybe even adding Shampoo and
Kaori Daijkoku into the mix. Then there were some ideas of the group going
into space and fighting the Empire during the time of Star Wars; a New Hope.
However, this ended up on the reject pile and I'll only write more if I have
nothing else to do and besides, I've got WAY too many projects as is!"
