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The Perfect Warrior
Prologue: The Darkness Falls
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	A young boy is in the dark.

	This is not an uncommon thing.  Children are often in the dark, 
for example, at night when they are sleeping.

	This boy is scared.

	This is not an uncommon thing, either.  Young children are often 
scared of the dark.  The dark represents the unknown, and children are 
afraid of what might be lurking in the dark.

	This child knows exactly what lurks in the dark, and he is still 
scared.

	Actually, the things in the dark are not lurking.  They are 
actively clawing at him, biting him, and tearing at his flesh.

	The things in the dark don't usually tear at young children's 
flesh, but, you see, they are out of fish sausage.

	The boy is screaming.

	"Help me!"

	The boy reaches up his hand, searching for salvation.

	A paw reaches up, claws extended.  It rips three long gashes in 
the hand, and the screaming gets louder.  The hand clenches into a fist,
blood running between the fingers, as it is pulled back down.

	The boy's screams are not just ones of physical pain anymore.  He 
has been betrayed.  He has been betrayed by the only person in his life 
who was always there for him.  The one person he had always loved. 

	The boy tries to curl into a fetal position, but the things are 
all around him- he has difficulty moving.  There is not a place on his 
body that has not been scratched now.  Blood is beginning to soak the 
ground.

	In his greatest hour of need, the one person he loved and 
trusted- his father- has gone.  His father has thrown him in the pit, 
and left him at the mercy of the things in the dark.

	The boy's screams intensify.  A claw that does not exist rips at 
his soul, tearing it apart.  The claw rips away human feelings and 
human thought as the boy's very essence is torn asunder by his father's 
betrayal.

	Finally, the pain and the screaming cease as the boy's body goes 
limp.

	A few seconds after the boy loses consciousness, a shaft of 
sunlight pierces the pit, from an opening in the ceiling above.

	A middle aged, slightly overweight man lowers a ladder into the 
pit and climbs down it.  Shooing the cats away from the boy, he leans 
down and picks him up.  The boy coughs.

	"Well, did you learn it?  Did you learn the Cat Fist?" the man 
asks impatiently.

	The boy coughs up blood, splattering the man's face.  He is 
sobbing softly.  The man grimaces.  "Come on, boy, this is part of 
your training.  Like the rest of your training, you should face it 
like a man!"

	A single tear runs down the boy's cheek, mixing with blood and 
leaving a trail of clean skin behind it as it rolls down his face and 
onto the floor.

	"We'll try it again in a couple days.  Obviously, something went 
wrong.  Maybe I used the wrong kind of bait."

	The boy's eyes widen in surprise and shock, and then narrow in 
anger.  The man carries his son out of the pit, then lifts up the 
ladder.  The door closes, cutting off the sunlight and leaving only a 
group of scared and hungry felines in a cold, dark pit.

	The boy is no longer scared.  He is angry.  As the days and 
months pass, the boy's father continues to train him, and the boy's 
soul is enshrouded by a cold and unfeeling darkness much like that in 
the pit of cats he left behind those many years ago...

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                              Presenting:

                    Based on the Ranma 1/2 Universe 
                    created by Rumiko Takahashi...

                          An epic fanfiction:


                          The Perfect Warrior

                            by Will Andrews