Disclaimer stuff: Ranma and his wacky bunch are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
Yohko and her crew are owned by Toho Co., Ltd./Madhouse. May I fall into the
Spring of Drowned Mamono before I claim any of them for my own. The only
character in here that's mine is Jujan.
Here's the first draft of this. C&C welcomed, and hoped for. ^_^
Yin, Yang, and Yohko
A Devil Hunter Yohko/Ranma 1/2 Crossover
Part 3
Ranma sat at the table, sulkily eating his ramen, while the plans to deal
with Jujan's return were hashed out. Despite appearances, he was actually
listening carefully, and was quick to voice his opinion when he felt it was
necessary.
"No way! You *ain't* usin' my girl form as bait!" he growled.
"Aw, but Ranma!" Akane said teasingly. "Dress you up in one of Nabiki's
swimsuits; what demon could resist?"
"NO!"
"Where's Jujan likely to show up when he returns?" Yohko asked.
"Wherever Ranma is, most likely," responded Cologne. "Forgive me, son-in-
law, but I suspect you'll have to be in girl form, or Jujan won't be able to
find you."
"Good!" Ranma declared, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's the way
I want it."
Akane sniffed. "Get real, Ranma. You know you're a cold water magnet.
You'll go girl sooner or later, and then he'll show up."
"And it would be better if that were in a place where *we* would have the
advantage," Yohko added.
"All right, all right!" Ranma agreed grudgingly. "But no swimsuit!"
"Shampoo have kettle ready for when demon come," Shampoo put in. "Change
back to boy quick for fight."
"Yeah, that'd be okay, I guess," Ranma nodded.
Chigako got up and turned to Cologne. "Excuse me, but would you mind if I
used your phone?" she asked. "I have a bit of research to do."
The old woman nodded, pointing to the back. "It's next to the door. I pre-
sume this isn't long-distance."
"I wouldn't do that," Chi assured her, making her way to the door to the
kitchen. "Thanks!"
"Why did that devil decide you were his intended, anyway, Ranma?" Yohko
asked the martial artist.
"That's what I'd like to know," Ranma replied.
Just then, the door once again slid aside, and a large panda waddled into
the restaurant, holding up a sign that read, "[Five deluxe ramens, and put
them on the Tendo's tab.]"
Immediately, every eye in the room was focused on the panda. Four of the
eyes showed surprise. The rest showed contempt and anger. The panda glanced
around at the hostile crowd in confusion, and the sign spun in the panda's
paw. Now it read, "[What?!]"
Ranma leaped to his feet and rushed the animal, knocking it onto its back.
"What the *hell* did you do, Pops?!" he shouted. "Spill it, old man!"
Yohko and Azusa facefaulted. "P-pops?" Yohko asked weakly.
"Another curse," Cologne explained. As the angry panda knocked Ranma away,
the old amazon tossed a convenient kettle of water at him. Abruptly, a mid-
dle-aged, bespectacled man sat where the panda once was.
"Ungrateful son!" the man bellowed. "Whatever you think I did, I did it
for your own good!"
"How exactly is marrying my girl form off to a stinkin' *demon* for my own
good?!" Ranma shouted, matching Genma glare for glare. "This is a new low,
even for *you*!"
"What?" Genma seemed honestly confused. "I never engaged you to a demon.
At least I don't think so..."
"You damn well engaged my girl form off to *someone*!" Ranma retorted. "Now
why'd you do it?!"
Genma, his (often conveniently) bad memory spurred by Ranma's roiling bat-
tle aura, exclaimed, "I remember! There was that time in China..."
*******
Genma sat on a rock, perched high above the valley where Ranma was perform-
ing katas in girl form, pondering their latest problem.
"How does that Amazon girl keep finding us?" he muttered to himself. While
battling Shampoo every other day helped keep Ranma in fine fighting form, this
constant running to avoid Ranma's death at her hands was beginning to have an
undesirable effect on Genma's digestion. Obviously something had to be done.
So wrapped up was Genma in his dilemma that he never noticed the person
coming up behind him until he spoke. "You look like a man with a problem."
Genma quickly turned to see a large, pleasant-looking man standing behind
him. _How did he sneak up on me?_ he thought. Aloud he said, "You might call
it that." He went on to explain how the lavender-haired wrecking crew had
been after them to kill his only child ever since Ranma had defeated her back
in the Joketsuzoku village. The stranger listened intently, his gaze wander-
ing into the valley below, where he watched the teenager go through her forms.
"That is your child?" the stranger inquired, gesturing to the exercising
martial artist. At Genma's nod, he continued. "A lovely girl. It would tru-
ly be a shame to hear of her end."
"Indeed it would," Genma agreed, deciding that correcting the stranger's
assumption of Ranma's gender would be too much effort. "What I wouldn't give
to get that girl off our backs."
"Would you give me your daughter in marriage?" the strange man asked sud-
denly. "Agree to that, and I can keep the amazon from killing her."
Genma considered the offer for only a moment. "Do that, and I will gladly
agree to engage my daughter to you."
"Then we are agreed," the stranger smiled. He then pulled out a piece of
paper and handed it to Genma. "This will make it official."
Genma looked at the paper. It was a contract.
*******
Shampoo glared at Genma. "So. *You* the one who send beast after Shampoo
and make Shampoo lose trail. Shampoo not catch up until reach Japan!"
Ranma growled. "You stupid old man! That was a *demon* you so carelessly
engaged me to!"
Genma looked sheepish. "I suppose the fact that he wanted me to sign in
blood could've been a clue...."
"Oyaji no baka!!!"
Chigako, talking to one of her sources on the phone in the kitchen,
shrieked in surprise as a gi-clad man crashed through the door next to her,
landing with a clatter among various pots and pans. She carefully studied the
stunned man across from her, then turned back to the phone.
"Just some middle-aged guy crashing through," she said into the mouthpiece,
in explanation of her shout. She gave a brief description of the man, who was
now getting to his feet and heading back to the dining area. "Oh, so *that's*
Ranma's dad?" she asked. "Not much of a family resemblance." She paused to
let her contact supply another bit of info.
"He turns into a *what*?"
Chigako listened a while longer, typing into her organizer. "Mm-hmm. Go
on. Anything else? Okay, next subject--tell me everything you know about one
Nabiki Tendo. No, she's not going to find out! You know me better than that.
Okay, I'll pay you a bonus, but this info had better be worth it. Now give."
After a while, Chigako finally decided she had enough information. Thank-
ing her informant, she hung up and closed her pocket organizer, now filled
with bits of trivia about Ranma and his associates. She figured she could
find a way to make some cash from this, as long as this Nabiki person didn't
get in the way.
Plotting strategies, Chi returned to the dining area, where her friends
were still arguing battle plans with the locals. She paid it little heed.
Promotion and finances were her baliwick, not operations. Instead, she decided
to examine her earlier purchases. She glanced around for her bags.
"Azusa," Chigako asked, "where's our shopping?"
Azusa thought it over for a moment, then looked startled. "Ahh! We must
have left it outside! I'll go get it!" In a flash, the younger girl was on
her feet and out the door.
Outside, Azusa glanced around frantically for their mislaid packages, fin-
ally spotting them across the street, next to the telephone pole Yohko had
encountered earlier. Now that she saw that the bags were safe, she relaxed,
and started across the street, idly tossing her ring in the air and catching
it as she walked. About halfway across, she paused suddenly as she heard an
odd noise.
_Get out of the road, you idiot! That must be a car coming!_ she thought
furiously to herself as the noise grew louder. She quickly moved toward the
abandoned packages, but the source of the sound was upon her before she man-
aged to run more than a few feet. Azusa only had time to register a tug on
her hand as she was knocked aside by the blurred form that passed her.
Azusa cried out in pain as she hit the asphalt, tears springing involuntar-
ily to her eyes. She got back to her feet as quickly as she could, but who-
ever had knocked her down was already out of sight, though she thought she
could hear hear someone faintly shouting in the distance, "Jolie! Jolie! Come
home with A--"
"Some people are so rude," Azusa sighed to herself as she finished her
journey across the street. As she reached down to pick up the bags, she real-
ized something.
She wasn't holding her Devil Hunter ring.
Whoever had shoved her had taken it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Seconds later, Yohko sped out of the restaurant, followed closely by Ranma,
Chigako, Shampoo, and Cologne. Mousse discovered the joys of running into the
wall next to the door, while Genma stayed behind to finish off everyone else's
ramen, in case they failed to return. Can't let good ramen go to waste, now...
"Azusa! What is it?" Yohko asked as she raced across the street.
Azusa held up her arm and pointed to her bare wrist. "Someone stole my
ring! SomeonejustshovedmeandgrabbeditandtookoffandMYRINGISGONE!!!! WAAAHHH!!!"
Yohko tried to comfort her apprentice as the younger girl burst into tears.
"We'll get it back, Azusa. I swear. Which way did she go?"
Azusa removed one hand from her eyes to point the way, and stopped crying
long enough to say, "I think she was on rollerskates."
Akane, coming up beside Yohko, blinked. "Rollerskates?"
"That's what they sounded like."
Ranma and Akane nodded. "Azusa!" Ranma growled. "I'll get her!" He
leaped to the nearest rooftop and took the high road in the direction the
thief had gone.
"Wait for me!" Yohko shouted, easily matching Ranma's jump and running to
catch up.
"Why'd he say my name just before he ran off?" Azusa asked, confused.
"He didn't mean you," Akane answered. "We know another Azusa. Azusa Shir-
atori. She likes to collect cute things, and I guess she thought that brace-
let of yours was cute."
"But it belongs to me!" Azusa cried, outraged. "I need it! I can't trans-
form without it!"
"Things like that don't matter much to her..." Akane sighed.
"But..." Azusa collapsed to her knees, a ball of misery. "It..it's mine..."
"Don't worry," Akane assured her. "I'm sure Ranma and your friend can get
it back."
"I hope so," the miserable girl sobbed. Suddenly, a thought occured to
her. "Hey, didn't that girl we gave that little pig to call herself Azusa?"
Chigako, newly informed as to the true ownership of that particular pig,
winced at her friend's words. _Uh-oh..._
Akane's voice was very calm. "What pig was this?"
*******
"You see her?" Ranma called out to Yohko, running atop the rooftops across
the street from him.
Yohko leaped from her roof to the top of a telephone pole, holding on with
one arm and her legs as she scanned the nearby streets from this vantage
point. She spotted a flash of movement and pointed. "That way!"
As Ranma altered his course to intercept what Yohko had seen, the Devil
Hunter launched herself from the pole, somersaulting neatly in midair to land
on a rooftop closer to their goal. She felt a brief moment of panic as one
foot nearly slid out from under her, but she managed to get it under control
and continued her elevated dash.
Soon enough she found herself racing above and parallel to the skating
thief. Looking at the buildings across the street, she saw Ranma pacing both
of them. Yohko couldn't believe it. This other Azusa seemed to have no ink-
ling of their presence right above her head, and she seemed to be talking to
her apprentice's transformation ring.
"Azusa is so glad she found her little Jolie! Come home with Azusa, and
Jolie will meet all her new little friends! We'll have such fun together!"
Yohko glanced across at Ranma with a look that said, _*She's* a sick little
puppy, isn't she?_ and was given a look in return that said, _Yep._ Ranma
then gestured sharply downward, and he and Yohko both jumped down in near-
perfect choreography, lighting upon the ground on either side of Azusa and
forcing her to a halt.
"That's my friend's ring you have there!" Yohko accused.
"Hand it over, Azusa," Ranma directed, placing his hand out to receive the
ring, though he didn't expect a positive responce.
Azusa didn't disappoint the martial artist. "You can't have my little
Jolie!" she exclaimed, pouting and stomping her skated foot cutely. The mo-
ment her wheels hit the ground, she suddenly backflipped, landing on her hands
momentarily before pushing off again to land again on her feet. She skated
backwards away from her attackers, who shouted and gave chase.
Giggling like a little girl, Azusa continued her backward flight, occasion-
ally sticking her tongue out at her pursuers, until her path was blocked by a
lamppost. To Yohko's and Ranma's amazement, she grabbed it with one hand and
began spinning around it, faster and faster, building her momentum until she
was little more than a blur surrounding the pole.
"Now what?" Ranma asked rhetorically, coming to a halt, Yohko beside him.
Ranma was about to use the Chestnut Fist to bring Azusa to a halt when she
suddenly broke from the pole, screaming a (strangely cute) battle cry, and
leaped directly for Yohko, one leg extended for a kick.
Time seemed to slow for the Devil Hunter as her vision focused on the foot
aimed for her head. Very clearly, she saw the inline wheels on Azusa's skate
split down the center, the halves moving aside and retracting into the boot,
revealing the razor-sharp ice skate that was hidden inside the wheels.
Time sped up again, and Yohko dove aside with a yelp of near-panic, feeling
the whisper of a breeze as the lethal skate rushed by her head. Her relief
was short-lived as she was nailed by Azusa's fist, knocking her dizzy.
With Yohko disoriented, and in Ranma's way, Azusa made good her escape down
an alleyway. Yohko fell to her knees, shaking her head in an attempt to clear
it. "Damn it! I was all set to dodge, but when that blade came out...I did-
n't expect it."
"You panicked?" Ranma asked, offering her a hand up.
"Yeah," Yohko muttered, embarrassed, accepting his hand. "I can hear my
grandmother now..." She began an 'old woman' imitation. "'Never underesti-
mate your opponent, Yohko! Always expect the unexpected! You need more
training! Go do your homework!'" She reverted to her normal voice. "What
my homework has to do with my training I've never been able to figure out..."
"Heh," Ranma snorted in amusement. "Well...guess we should go back and
tell 'em the bad news..."
Yohko's face fell. "Poor Azusa. We've *got* to get that ring back!"
Ranma patted her shoulder in reassurance. "Don't worry--Akane and me know
where Azusa--the other one--lives. We'll get that ring back if we have to
invade her little 'Gallery of Cute Stuff'."
"Thanks," Yohko smiled. "You're a real big help, especially since you
don't know either of us too well. Guess you're not as big a jerk as I
thought."
Ranma shrugged. "Hey, like Akane said, I need all the help against Jujubes
I can get. She can't help without the ring, so I'll help get the ring back."
"I stand corrected..." Yohko muttered.
*******************************************************
* Kent Magami and David Outram (kmagami@hsonline.net) *
*Second Deacon of Ryoga, Tracker of the Wandering One *
*Co-founder and High Priest of the Holy Order of A-ko *
* Motto: You can *never* have enough C-kos! *
*******************************************************
* One month after B-ko hypnotized C-ko... *
* *
* C-ko: Hi, B-ko! What're we gonna do tonight? *
* B-ko: The same thing we do every night, C-ko-- *
* try to destroy A-ko! *
* C-ko: Waiwai!!!! *
* *
* o/~ One of them's an airhead; the other one's *
* insane! It's C-ko and the Brain! o/~ *
*******************************************************