I've been reading too many comic books and doing other things.  They've 
given me stupid ideas.  Last year I posted the beginning of a 
Ranma/Watchman crossover.  Here are a couple of others.  Do with them 
as you will; I disassociate myself from them completely.

SPOILER ALERT:  Crossover #1 contains a spoiler for the DC Graphic 
Novel "Kingdom Come" (which I highly recommend).  Read at your own 
risk.


STUPID CROSSOVER NUMBER ONE:

"C'mon, C-ko, we'll be late!"  A-ko grabbed the giggling middle school 
girl and began to ran.  Fast.  The road could not withstand the force 
of her feet hitting them, and chunks of asphalt flew about.

C-ko merely laughed.  "Whee!"  She loved the morning ritual, the 
feeling of the wind blowing against her face, the sound of cars 
screeching to a halt, the sound of pedestrians getting knocked off 
their feet.

This morning the ritual was interrupted by something else that was well 
on its way to becoming another commonplace event.  A huge robot erupted 
from the ground in front of A-ko.  She ground to a halt and sighed in 
exasperation.

"Haven't you learned yet?"  The amplified voice shattered nearby 
windows.  "I will not stop until... until..."

A-ko knew perfectly well what B-ko wanted.  "You're the one who needs 
to be taught a lesson!"  She set C-ko on the ground, then charged the 
robot.

---

He sat in a wheelchair because his body could no longer stand, not 
without the most extreme of mechanical supports.  Much of his body 
already depended heavily on other kinds of support.  He didn't have 
long, he knew.  He'd cheated death quite often in the past, but now he 
had no more aces up his sleeve, and the deck was stacked against him.

He watched the battle happening across the city.  His hands had trouble 
supporting the binoculars; he increased the signal strength his brain 
was sending the exoskeleton, and the binoculars stopped wobbling.

She won, as she always did.  The robot was so many spare parts.  So was 
a lot of the surrounding terrain.  People's homes.  She grabbed the 
girl and began running again.  He traced the path she had taken. 
 Furrows in the road led to the occasional fender-bender caused by cars 
whose drivers were startled by a streak of blue and white whooshing 
past them.

He finally dropped the binoculars on his lap.  So reckless.  So 
heedless of the damage she caused.  Of the damage she was capable of. 
 She had listened to him, once.  Once, years ago before she truly came 
into her power.  Now she nearly full grown, and they rarely talked, and 
she had moved away from the lessons, and coming perilously close to 
making the same mistakes her parents had.

Go home, the infinitely tired part of his mind said to him.  You've 
fought all the battles you were destined to fight.  There are others 
who can help her.  Let this pass and move on to the next stage of 
existence.

But the words came back to him from years past, a continent away. 
 *His* words, spoken above the babble of the crowded restaurant.  "Our 
child, more than any other, will need the leavening influence of a 
mortal man... a *moral* man... whom we can count on."

He sighed, feeling the weight of responsibility put on his shoulders. 
 And yet, the words brought back a feeling of excitement.  Adrenaline 
began flowing through his veins again.  One last challenge.  One last 
battle against the demons that had haunted his soul for almost ninety 
years.

More words from the restaurant, these coming from Diana.  "Bruce, I do 
know this: that there are things the Batman can teach our child... that 
Clark and I can't."

Quite right, Amazon.  It's time A-ko learned some of those things, in 
the way only I can teach her.

Smiling, he turned in his wheelchair, already preparing new lessons for 
his goddaughter.

*~*

Author's Note:  I know almost zilch about Project A-ko.  I saw the 
first movie once, a long time ago.  I do know the original concept was 
that she was the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman.  I don't know 
if that history still holds, but I do know that when I read the end of 
"Kingdom Come", I immediately began wondering how Batman would teach 
A-ko about responsibility.





STUPID CROSSOVER NUMBER TWO


Ranma stared at the door high on the cliff.  He needed to get there. 
 Very much needed to.

If Cologne was right, behind that door was a maze leading to a tomb. 
 In that tomb he would find a crystal imbedded in an ancient sword. 
 That crystal was said to be able to drain the magic from anything that 
touched it.  Most people would consider that to be a bad thing.  For 
Ranma, it would be a tremendous blessing.

His first problem had been finding the mountain, deep in the Himalayas. 
 The second had been finding the cave.  Now all he needed to do was get 
to the door and open it.

He gathered himself and jumped again.  As before, the ledge was just 
beyond his reach.  He fell back to the ground and swore.  He examined 
the rock surface, but it was still as smooth as it had been when he'd 
examined it thirty seconds ago.  There were simply no handholds.  He'd 
used all his rope and pitons getting this far.

He swore again, more profusely.  He had come this far, he was not going 
to be defeated by the sixty centimeters that separated his fingertips 
and the ledge where the door rested.

A sound came from the cave entrance.  Ranma jumped back and hid behind 
a boulder.  He wasn't afraid, but he'd already fought enough wolves and 
snow creatures.  He simply wasn't interested in wasting his energy on 
more battles.  Perhaps whatever it was would simply move on.

The creature stepped into the cave, looking up at the door.  Ranma 
blinked.  No wolf or yeti was this.  This was a woman.  She was 
definitely Western, tall, with brown hair tied in a pigtail down her 
back.  Ranma felt instinctively for his own pigtail; hers was very 
similar, just a lot longer.  She was wearing hiking shorts, the hem 
rolled halfway up her thigh.  She also had on what appeared to be a 
sweatshirt with no sleeves.  A small backpack was strapped firmly on. 
 Two pistols were strapped to either leg, and a shotgun rested in a 
holster next to the backpack.  Her expression was serious and 
impassive.  She exuded competence and danger; Ranma could feel in his 
bones that this was a woman he did not want to mess with.

She spent a few moments examining the door and cliff.  She walked with 
an easy grace up the cliff.  She gathered herself, and jumped.  Ranma's 
jaw dropped open.  He knew without conceit - okay, maybe a little 
conceit - that he was one of the best leapers in the world.  This woman 
matched him easily, leaping high up the cliff face.  Yet, her effort 
was no better than his, and she too missed the ledge high above.

She grunted as she landed.  She stepped back, and Ranma could see no 
disappointment in her eyes.  She merely gazed at the cliff some more, 
then began looking around the cave.  Ranma ducked back as her eyes 
swept by the rocks he was hiding among.

She examined the rock face opposite the cliff.  It was much more 
craggy, and contained many sloping surfaces.  She examined a 
particularly large one.  She looked back at the door, then seemed to 
make a decision.  She pressed her back against the sloping surface and 
took two measured steps forward, facing the cliff.  Then she jumped 
backwards, executing a somersault at the top of her arc.  She hit the 
sloping surface with her feet and immediately launched herself upwards 
again, arms outstretched.  Her fingers grabbed the ledge, and she hung 
there for a second.  Then she pulled herself up.  Rather than scramble 
onto the ledge, she pulled her self to a full handstand, held it for a 
second, then slowly let her legs fall forward and pull her upright 
facing the door.

Ranma gasped.  It was the single most impressive display of strength, 
dexterity, and agility he had ever seen.  And she did it with such 
confidence; the impassive expression on her face as she leapt for the 
ledge, her arms shooting outwards, heedless of the rocky surface far 
below, was one he would never forget.

At the sound of his gasp she whirled.  Her hands blurred and two 
pistols appeared in them, pointing straight at him.  He could see her 
forearms twitch as she barely suppressed the urge to fire.

Immediately Ranma's own reflexes kicked into gear.  He watched her very 
closely, waiting for her to make a move, prepared to leap out of the 
way before she could fire.  He was positive he'd be able to get out of 
harm's way in plenty of time.  Somewhat positive.

They held that tableau for a few seconds.  Finally she spoke evenly, 
her voice surprisingly cultured.  "Get out of my way, little boy.  I 
don't want to have to hurt you, but I will.  Count on it."

Ranma swallowed, trying to put moisture back into his mouth.  "I ain't 
here to fight you.  I need to get through that door, too.  I'm guessing 
we're after the same thing."

She considered him.  "You're quite likely right.  Make no mistake; *I* 
am going to be the one who leaves with it."

Ranma shrugged.  "Fine by me.  I just want to use it once.  Then you 
can have it and do with it what you want."

She narrowed her auburn-brown eyes.  "I don't know if I believe you, 
and I don't know if I want you jeopardizing my journey.  I've dealt 
with things like this before.  You haven't.  You'll just get yourself 
killed, and quite possibly me as well."

"Maybe."  He slowly reached inside his shirt, very aware of the guns 
that had not wavered a millimeter.  "But I got this map that the old 
hag gave me.  It shows the layout of the maze and what kind of traps 
the tomb might have.  That'll help even my odds a little."

Her expression didn't change, but he could tell by the way her eyes 
locked on to the paper that she didn't have anything similar.

Ranma let her stew for a few seconds, then spoke in a conciliatory tone 
of voice.  "I'd say we can help each other.  And if you've had the same 
kind of problems I've had getting up here, you know that having someone 
to watch your back might be a good thing."

He felt himself being measured in her eyes.  Finally, she lowered her 
guns and holstered them.  "It might at that."

Ranma grinned.  "Great!  Wait right there a sec."  He ran to the spot 
she had been in a moment ago.  He jumped backwards, hit the slope 
awkwardly, launched himself upwards, managed to grab the ledge with one 
hand as his body hit the cliff face hard, and began to lose his grip.

Her hands grabbed his forearm and lifted him onto the cliff with her. 
 He had to marvel once again at her strength.  Her face was still 
impassive, but her voice was tinged with disgust.  "That was a foolish 
thing to do, little boy."

"I... I could have set that up a little better," he admitted 
sheepishly.  "Still, I'm a fast learner.  Next time I'll get it right."

"Indeed.  I believe that you will.  I will admit that I'm surprised. 
 I've never seen anyone else who could jump like that."

He laughed.  "Me neither."  He stuck out his hand in the Western way. 
 "Ranma Saotome."

She studied him another second before grasping his hand firmly.  "Lara 
Croft."

"Glad to meet you."  He pumped her hand a couple of times, feeling in 
her the strength that was very probably equal to his own.  "Y'know, I 
got a feeling that there ain't nothin' that we can't beat together."

She smiled for a fleeting second, transforming her face into a thing of 
beauty before it melted into studied competence.  "Let's go then, 
Ranma."

Together, they turned towards the door.

~*~

Author's note:  In case you're not much into computer games, Lara Croft 
is the heroine of "Tomb Raider" and its recently released sequel, "Tomb 
Raider II".  The jumping sequence I described is typical of the things 
you have to make her do while playing the game.  Actually, the 
handstand is optional; I just like to make her do it all the time 
because it looks so cool.  And her pigtail in "Tomb Raider II" *is* 
exactly like Ranma's.  If you want to see screen shots of the game (and 
Lara), go to http://www.tombraider.com and see for yourself.


Well, again, I have *no* plans to continue either one of these stupid 
crossovers.  They're yours to do with as you please.  Just wanted to 
get them off my chest.  :)

-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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