"Now hey wait a second time out," Brianna told everyone. There's no way our lives could have been the same! There's a million things that Ranma's done to help us out. Like what about all those times he helped Cheetah and Dani back in school when they were doing the super hero thing?"
"I still can't believe I actually wore that stuff," Brittany mumbled to herself.
"When what now?" Dao asked a little confused.
"Well, you see back in high school Brit and Dani ran around...doing pretty much what they do now, but anyway, my point is that Ranma saved them a few times that there's NO way they could have gotten out on their own," Brianna told him. "Like when that mind controlling dessert-no that's a little too weird. Oh wait, how about when the gym teacher found that magic croquet mallet and-actually that's was kinda stupid. Ok, there was this time that Cheetah and Pinky were caught in an elevator shaft by-"
"Oh no," Brittany yelled. "You're not even going to START on the tentacle porn monster incident!"
Suddenly everyone in the room froze and looked over to Brittany with questioning expressions.
"It's not like I was going to mention that little detail sis," Brianna said while Brittany sat down, rather embarrassed. "But the point is, tons of stuff would have gone different without Ranma around, so how can our lives be the same?"
"Well I'm not saying there isn't differences," Dao replied. "High school girl friends that I didn't know about being one of them. Carla's another example, previous timeline Ranma wasn't around so she might of had different plans for a night here or there instead of getting advice from one of you. But, like I said, other than a few minor changes everything turned out pretty much the way it did last time."
"From what I can understand it isn't very complicated at all," Theo said.
"That's where you're wrong," the djinn told him. "There's a problem with wishes that alter reality like this, not to mention the way that the wish was worded caused a few...glitches in the system so to speak."
"Something tells me I'm not going to like the sound of this," the arch-mage mumbled to himself, but loud enough for some of the people around him to hear.
"What kind of glitches?" Julia asked. "Ranma isn't in any danger, is he?"
"Well, if you're thinking that he'll just up and fade away, no," Dao assured them. "But there are some problems with granting Ranma a new life." The magical creature sighed before leaning back in his chair. "Now, how should I best explain this?"
After a few more moments he sat back up and looked at the family. "Whenever a person is born, they are given certain gifts, talents and abilities possessed by no others. It is through these talents and abilities that a person's destiny is made."
"You mean something like pre-destination?" Brianna asked.
"No not exactly like that," Dao replied. "For example, when Gina was born, she was obviously blessed with both a well developed mind as well as good looks. As we all know she ignored the second of the two in favor of the first for most of her life, which in turn led her to where she is today.
"But, imagine if you will for just a moment that Gina had become aware of her looks early on in high school as well as her...boy crazy personality. Would she have found someone back then and be married right now? Would she still be who she is today if not a little less lustful? Would she even be an archeologist? Thousands of women have walked on easy street with looks as good as Gina's and not even a tenth of her IQ. Same talents, but different paths."
"And Ranma?" Theo asked.
"That's where things get a little iffy. Yes, Ranma got a new life. "But, it did not include new talents, or anything else that came with it. However the bigger problem was that when Ranma left, if also left a void where he used to be. The magic attempted to compensate by creating a kind of stand in for him, but if that would have worked he'd still be here."
"So you're saying that Ranma has to go back and live his old life?" Brittany asked. She didn't like the idea of loosing her brother because of a miss-worded spell-wish, or whatever. Ranma's life was Ranma's, not...well, that other Ranma's.
"Nothing so drastic," Dao assured her. "He just has to do something. But don't ask me what that something is because I have no clue."
"His destiny," Theo said. "It has to be that. I guess the replacement wasn't as good as the original. So, the spell transported him to the sight of his previous life to do whatever he did before that had been undone."
"Yeah that sounds about right," Dao confirmed. "But don't bother asking me what that is. I haven't got a clue."
(Posted Sun, 05 Oct 2003 05:44)
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