X-Over By Wanderer D
Yeah, well... you're gonna try an' kill me for this, aren't you?
This just came to my mind, and, finding myself with 4:30 hours of free
time (No Art class) I just HAD to do something.
So, I just started on it and was already halfway through when I noticed
jus WHAT I was doing... so... well... here it is...
Disclaimer: For now, bear with me. The characters are NOT mine. None
of them. I will give a more detailed disclaimer at the end of the
story with the sole purpose of not messing the surprise, ok? ^_~;;
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Belldandy sighed as she watched the increasingly small figure that was
once known as Ranma Saotome. Once again the Martial Artist had gotten
into Akane Tendo's bad side, even after all they had gone through, and
even after she had heard -because she had, Belldandy knew- Ranma tell
her that he loved her as he held her close to him just below Mount
Phoenix, Tendo Akane was in reality not in love with Ranma.
Oh, Akane loved Ranma, no doubt about that. It was however a brotherly
kind of love, much like the love he felt for Ukyo. They were close, but
not that close.
Once again she considered interfearing. Ranma had an important destiny,
he had already been granted his immortality along with his 'curse', but
his destiny awaited him a couple of hundred years in the future.
Ranma had to learn a lot of things by then... but Akane Tendo was the
one being capable of killing Ranma... in the inside, if not the outside.
A soulless Ranma, stricken by pain an loss... would not be prepared for
his future obligations. No, Ranma should be given a chance, Akane was
going to find her happiness, someday, in the arms of another man...
Ranma would not find a girl for him until...
Belldandy shook her head. She was getting out of track here. Deciding
upon a course of action she went to meet Ranma.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
The scream was cut short as Ranma plunged into a small lake in the
middle of a park, water jumped in every direction as the body of the
martial artist hit with the unspeakable force of one of Akane's kicks.
"Oww... that hurt! Why did that.. that tom-" Ranma sighed.
He was trying to be nicer to Akane, but she wouldn't let him... who
understood girls anyway?
Ranma-chan swam out of the lake and let herself fall on her back in the
soft grass. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze in her face, and the
soft caress of the grass underneath her.
She sighed happily.
"Man, I wish I could feel the air, the grass and water like this more
often, maybe I could live a better life in a jungle for a while or
something..."
She suddenly felt something. Opening her eyes, she stared at the woman
with strange markings in her face floating, head bent back as a beam
of light shot from her forehead into the sky.
She hung suspended in the air for a moment, then floated down slowly.
Belldandy stood in front of Ranma for a moment, regaining her
senses.
"Ranma Saotome, your wish has been granted."
"Huh? What wish!?"
"Your wish to live in the jungle."
"WHAT!? HOW AM I GOING OT GET HOT WATER IN THE JUNGLE!?"
"Oh, my! Well, I can do something about that..."
"Y-you can?"
Ranma could swim back from Africa if need be, just for getting
rid of his curse.
"Yes," Belldandy answered. "Just wait a second..."
As the woman's forehead shot another ray into the sky, Ranma
waited expectantly.
The ray disappeared in the sky and the strange woman landed softly on
the grass.
"It's been done."
Ranma looked down at herself. "Huh? What do you mean?! I'm still a
girl!"
Belldandy nodded. "Yes, but until you return to civilization, your
curse will be activated by warm water. That is all I can do for now.
The curse of Jusenkyo is not to be removed for now.
To prove her point, Belldandy drenched Ranma in warm water once,
turning him into a guy.
Ranma smiled at that.
Then she drenched him in hot water again.
"Hey! What did you do tha-" Ranma looked down at herself. "I-I... I'm
a girl!"
"No shit Sherlock!" Some runner shouted.
Belldandy nodded. "Yes, now it's time to send you to your new home."
***********
[Now is a good time to hear the song: The Lion Sleeps Tonight.]
***********
A long row of huge figures opened it's way through the jungle, pushing
aside branches, and gigantic leaves, and even small trees, they
followed an unmarked root down the side of a waterfall.
The last figure stopped suddenly, and ignoring the others as they went
on looked around.
She had heard something... there! She could hear it again! She swiftly
-if heavily- started running across the jungle in the direction where
her ears told her where the only creature capable of producing such a
call would be.
Finally she slowed down. Lying in the soft grass there was something
moving underneath some kind of blue leaf...
The creature underneath the leaf made another call... so much like
the one she had once answered before!
Stepping closer she stepped over something that cracked. She removed
her foot from it and picked it up.
It was an oval thing, cold to the touch and was covered in something
transparent, like solid water... underneath it she could see something
that looked like some sort of creatures...
The cry made her drop the object, and ignoring it completely, she
carefully picked the blue leaf up.
Underneath, squirming and turning around was something that looked...
similar to her own baby... only... hairless.
Picking it up from the white thing at it's waist, she looked closely
at it.
The small baby looked right back at her. Then, smiling, grabbed her
nose.
She snorted and pulled the baby away, then as it slowly turned around
from where she was holding it, she noticed that the baby did have a
small amount of hair on it's head. Black hair. The baby then grabbed
her finger and started examining it with it's small fingers.
She smiled fondly at the small baby, a reminder of her own lost one.
Taking it up in her arm, she ran back to the others.
Her arrival was met by exclamations from the others.
The gorillas were a large family, and Kala was one of their members.
A female gorilla with mud-brown fur was the first to address her.
"Kala! Where had you been!?"
"We were all worried about you!" interrupted another with mostly the
same characteristics.
A big gorilla, a little behind the group that was gathering around
her, sighed in relief as he slowly approached her too.
"I'm fine! Really," she was telling the others. "It's just that I got
a little... side tracked." she finished showing her discovery to the
others.
The sight of the strange baby was greeted with a surprised exclamation
from everyone as they pulled back a little.
The female gorilla with the mud-brown fur, who was now accompanied by
a smaller black female gorilla, who hang on to her from the neck, was
the first to regain her bearings.
"Oh, my! Isn't that... well... so..."
"It's...it's...it's... so...so..."
"It's freaky lookin', that's what it is!" The collective mothers looked
at the small female gorilla in shock.
"Terk!' Exclaimed her mother in admonition.
"But it is!" Terk complained. She then approached Kala. "What the heck
is it anyway?"
Kala chuckled slightly.
"It's a baby." She answered as she gave it to Terk.
Terk received it. "OW!" "I can't!"
The baby had progressively worked up to her head despite the complaints
and finally was investigating around her hair. She smiled at it.
"So... where's his momma?"
"I will be his mother now." Kala answered.
The others stared at her as if she'd grown two heads, but their
reverie was broken when the big gorilla made his way through them.
When he saw what was the cause of everything he stopped in surprise.
Then approached more wearily.
"Oh! It's not so bad once you get used to him..." Terk stopped
suddenly as a shadow covered her.
She suddenly threw the baby at Kala, who caught it deftly.
"Kala is going to be his mother now!" She informed the big gorilla as
she jumped out of trouble's way.
Kerchak -since that's the gorilla's name- approached Kala and the baby.
He started smelling the baby... and snorted.
The baby giggled and laughed at the big gorilla.
"I found him abandoned in the jungle..." she began.
"Kala," The gorilla sighed. "it won't replace the one we lost..."
"I know that..." Kala answered sadly. "But, he needs me."
Kerchak shook his head. "But... Kala, look at it! It's not our kind!"
Kala held the baby closer to her.
Kerchak, noticing this, sighed yet again.
"You have to take it back." He ordered and started turning around.
"Take him back! But-but! He'll die!"
"If the jungle wants him-"
"I want him!" Kala interrupted.
"Kala, I can't let you put our family in danger!"
"Does he look dangerous to you!?" She asked holding forth the baby,
who was falling asleep by now.
Angered, Kerchak roared hitting his chest, and jumping to face Kala.
The other gorillas turned around fearful, but Kala held her ground.
Kerchak, as if ashamed of his fit of anger, started breathing more
calmly, shaking his head slightly.
He looked around avoiding Kala's eyes. "Was it alone?"
"Yes. He was alone."
"Are you sure?" he asked piercing her with his gaze.
"Yes. There were no others. No footprints, no smells. Nothing. As
if he had just appeared there from no-where." She carefully avoided
the object she had found there.
Still avoiding her eyes Kerchak sighed again, this time with a
little relief.
"Then you may keep it."
Kala smiled gratefully as she looked down at the baby.
"Kerchak... I know he'll be a good son..."
"I said. He could stay." Kerchak interrupted, his voice breaking
ever so slightly. "That doesn't make him my son."
Kala stared at Kerchak as he ordered the others around.
"We will nest here for the night."
Without complaining, the others set to prepare for the night.
Kala watched Kerchak sadly. Noticing his hurt. Their son had been
his pride, and he still felt guilty for not protecting him from
Saabor, the leopard."
Terk tugged at her arm. "So, what you gonna call it?"
"I'm going to call him... Tarzan." She answered.
"Tarzan!?... Okay... he's your baby..." Terk said.
Terk's mother came for her and picked her up, taking her away despite
her complaints.
Kala placed small Tarzan on her back, as was the gorilla custom, and
started walking towards the others, pleasantly surprised that her
young son was holding on to her easily. She was also very surprised
by the strength of her son.
He was far stronger than he looked.
Nesting underneath a tree, she prepared for sleep hugging the small
baby to herself.
***
Belldandy smiled from where she floated -invisible- over Kala.
"This is your new family, Ranma." She whispered on the baby's ear.
"A caring and loving family," She added brushing her hand on the
baby's forehead. "Be happy here, Ranma. In time your memories will
come back, but, by then, you will have known the warmth of a real
family. Be happy, and rest assured. If you get transformed, you will
remember this as a natural thing. So don't worry young one."
Belldandy floated away from the couple and faded away.
***
Kala woke up. Groggily she looked around for something. When she
didn't find it under her arm she awoke fully and started searching
under the leaves, the rest of her, pieces of wood...
Until she heard a yell.
Sighing, she looked down into the small clearing where the other
gorillas were looking at Tarzan.
It had been strange, the first time (and the second and third) Tarzan
had woken up to start doing some silly movements with his hands and
feet.
Now and then his arm would shot forward as if he were hitting something
then, it would be followed by his foot then his elbow, then he would
roll and jump and then hit again in a different position...
By now she had seen it enough times to know what followed what.
Occasionally, Tarzan would add something to it, like another sweep
with a leg, or another jump with a punch, but it had become a daily
thing, which annoyed the rest of the gorilla mothers, since part of
it included shouting, the other young gorillas had taken into trying
to do what he did and shouted and stomped around.
With another shout Tarzan jumped up into the air and spinned with
his leg extended... And hit Kerchak in the nose.
The leader of the gorillas stepped back, a little stunned by the force
of the kick, but, recovering quickly, he looked down at the small pest
that lay stunned beneath him, his mop of black hair covering his face.
Suddenly Terk was hugging Tarzan.
"Oh, Tarzan! Here you are! We were SOOOOOOOOOOOO worried about you!"
She turned to face Kerchak. "Oh, Kerchak, wonderful leader! Thank you!
Thank you for finding Tarzan! What would we do without your kind and
wise leadership?!"
Kerchak sighed, annoyed, and rolled his eyes.
"RUN!" Terk whispered forcefully into Tarzan's ear and disappeared.
Tarzan looked up at Kerchak, smiled meekly and ran.
Terk grabbed him as he almost ran past the tree where she was.
"Are you nuts!?"
"What!?"
"How many times do I have to tell you!? If you want Kerchak to like
you... STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
Just then two more gorillas ran past them.
"Hey! Terk! You commin'?!" One yelled.
"Last one's a-"
"I'll be right there!" She shouted back. "Remember what I told you."
She then began running after the others, but stopped when Tarzan
called her.
"Hey! Terk! Can I come too!?"
Terk looked at him and coughed slightly. "Uh... sure you could..."
she adverted her eyes, avoiding his. "But...uh... you see... only if
you could keep up! But... of course you can't, so... uh... sorry!"
She ran away a little more quickly.
Tarzan looked downcast for a moment. Then, a resolute look came to his
face.
The two gorillas arrived at a ledge overlooking a lake formed by the
water of a nearby waterfall.
They fought playfully for a while until they heard some rustling from
the leaves.
"Here comes Terk." The one slightly taller told his companion.
Suddenly Tarzan jumped from the jungle, running on all fours and
skidded to a halt.
"HUH!?" both gorillas asked intelligently.
Terk jumped out of the jungle second's later.
"He'reeeeeee- what are YOU doing here?!" She asked Tarzan.
"Yeah!" The other two chorused.
"Well... you said that I could come along if I could keep up..."
The other two gorillas groaned. Terk gulped and looked at them.
"I'll handle this..." she whispered.
She passed her arm around Tarzan's shoulders.
"Look, kid. You know I like you... but you can't stay with us until
you've... passed the test!"
"The test?" Tarzan asked doubtfully.
"Yes! The... test!... you would have to get a... hair!"
"A hair?"
Terk was running out of ideas, when the answer came to her with the
trumpeting from below.
"An elephant hair."
Tarzan paled slightly, which was just what Terk wanted.
"Yes, I know, it's stupid right? So, go home and forget about it..."
She added pushing him into the jungle.
She turned around with a smile at the other two gorillas. A smile that
quickly disappeared when Tarzan rushed past her.
With a scream Tarzan leapt from the edge.
"No! Wait!" Terk shouted a little late as she gazed down the precipice.
The other two gorillas looked down too, they however had amused smiles.
Ranma went into the water without a problem, and the gorillas above
applauded.
"Hey! This guy's great! If he lives, be sure to get him to join us
more often!" The fat gorilla said.
"Come on! Let's go get a better view!"
As the other two left, Terk looked down at Tarzan.
"Good! Good!" Terk whined. "Now, just ignore the hair and get out!"
Tarzan, however, had other intentions as he slowly swam to where the
elephants were.
***
"Tantor, dear, come on into the water!" One of the elephants called.
"Buuut mooom!" A young elephant whined from the side of the lake.
"Are you sure this water is sanitized? It looks dirty!"
"It's fine dear!" Came the reply.
"But... what about piranhas?"
"There are no piranhas in Africa!" One of the Elephants stated.
"Yes," Another one nodded. "They are native to South America."
Tantor was about to go into the lake, but something caught his
attention.
Tarzan swam underwater, slowly approaching the elephants.
Forgetting his fear, Tantor ran to the other Elephants. "Mom! Watch
out! A piranha!"
The elephants ignored him as he jumped and tugged at them.
Meanwhile, Tarzan had just swam up behind Tantor's mother and was
jumping out of the water trying to grab her tail.
Tantor saw Tarzan jumping out of the water and grabbed his mother's
tusk.
"MOM THERE'S A PIRAHNA IN THE LAKE!!"
"Now, dear, don't scream. I told you there were not any piranhas in
AfricAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
With a last, forceful jump, Tarzan was able to grab the Elephant's
tail. He however hadn't expected the elephant to jump and throw him
into the air.
The elephants jumped into a small circle, facing into the water.
"Where is it!? Where is it!?" Tantor asked frantically.
Tarzan splashed into the water just in the middle of the elephants.
With a start, the elephants turned to look at the place where the
splash had originated.
Tarzan came out suddenly. Gasping for air.
All the elephants saw were the teeth.
"PIRAHNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The elephant gathering erupted into utter chaos as every one of them
attempted to escape in every direction. More than once Tarzan was
thrown under water as the elephants crashed into one another.
Desperate, he grabbed the tail of another elephant.
Terk and the other two gorillas arrived in time to see the elephants
stumping madly in the water.
"He's dead!" Terk stated mournfully as the other two looked on in
disbelief.
The elephants started stampeding in their direction.
"WE'RE DEAD!!!" The three gorillas shouted as they stumbled to get
away.
As they ran away, Terk was able to grab a nearby root and climb out of
----------------------------------------------------------------------
the way as the elephants stampeded under her.
Turning she caught a glimpse of Tarzan as he was catapulted away and
landed in a small puddle of water that had been lying in the sunlight.
Quickly getting down to floor level, Terk ran towards her friend.
Grabbing Tarzan by the legs, Terk pulled Tarzan out of the sun-warmed
water.
Tantor, who was running around madly, saw Terk dragging Tarzan, and
shouting in warning, grabbed Terk and pulled her away from Tarzan.
"What do you think you're doing?! Don't you know a piranha can eat all
your flesh in mere seconds!?" He asked frantically.
"Piranha? PIRAHNA!? He's no piranha! He's... he's... he's a she!?"
Terk pulled herself out of Tantor's grasp and approached Tarzan, now
noticing that his mop of black hair had been replaced by another of
red.
Turning her friend around, Terk saw what could only be breasts. Still
a little doubtful, she slightly pulled Tarzan's loincloth up. Just a
little.
"Yup. Definitely a female..." She stated confused.
Tarzan interrupted her thinking with a series of coughs. Ignoring the
peculiar change her friend had undergone, Terk hugged Tarzan.
"You're alive! ALIVE!!"
"She's alive! ALIVE!!" Tantor echoed.
As Tar-chan gasped for air, Terk pushed her away. "YOU IDIOT!!
DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! WHY DID YOU GO AND DO IT!?!?"
Tar-chan smiled slightly and proudly showed Terk a single hair. Terk's
frown disappeared, to be replaced by a smile.
"Hey, you did it!" She said taking the hair from Tar-chan's hand.
Shaking her head she looked at Tar-chan again.
"Hey! Would you mind telling me what happened to you?!"
"Huh? Why?" Tar-chan asked, standing up. She then noticed the slight
change to her tone of voice.
She then noticed the change of her hair color.
"Huh?"
"Terk!"
"Tarzan!"
"Oh, no!" Tarzan and Terk echoed.
"Who's that?" Tantor asked, confused.
"My mom." The two echoed again.
Terk's mother hugged her daughter as Kala stopped confused. "Tarzan?"
"Yes mom..."
"What happened to you son?"
Terk interrupted.
"She's not your son anymore! She's your daughter!"
"Daughter!?" Kerchak interrupted. "Explain yourself."
Terk jumped to stand next to Tar-chan.
"Well, Tarzan was flung to the sky..." She grabbed Tar-chan and threw
her into the air. "Like so, and he fell into the small puddle over
there..." she continued as Tar-chan hit the puddle again. "like so..."
A male Tarzan crawled coughing out of the water. "And she changed...
like so!" Terk finished.
With a gasp the gorillas took a step back.
Kerchak frowned at that, but he ignored it for the moment.
"It doesn't matter. Would you tell me what happened here?"
This time, Terk wasn't quick to answer, as she exchanged looks with
Tarzan.
Tarzan sighed and walked forward to stand infront of Kerchak.
"It... it was my fault, Kerchak. I scared the elephants. I'm sorry..."
Tarzan tried to touch Kerchak's hand with his, but the gorilla pulled
his hand away.
"No. Someone almost got killed today, because of your games!"
"But... it was an accident!" Tarzan complained.
"That's no excuse!"
"He's just a child, Kerchak! He'll learn!" Kala interrupted.
"He can't learn to be one of us! You have to stop defending him!"
Kala instinctively hugged Tarzan against her.
"Look at him!" Kerchak insisted. "He'll never be one of us!"
At that moment Tarzan discovered why Kerchak treated him the way he
treated him. Why the others still looked at him strangely.
Hurt, and fighting the tears that were swelling in his eyes, Tarzan
forced his mother's arms open and, running on all fours, lost himself
in the jungle.
Tarzan ran around the jungle until it was night time, he stopped near
a puddle of water and gazed hatefully at his reflection.
Trying to erase his face as it stared back, he hit the water again and
again and again. Until he noticed that some mud had fell on his face.
As he was about to rub it away, he noticed that he looked... brown.
He then started to rub mud all over him.
Kala found Tarzan as he was busy bathing himself in mud.
"Son, what are you doing?" She asked as she picked him up and started
cleaning the mud from his face.
"Why am I so different?!" Trazan asked, looking directly into her eyes.
Kala smiled faintly.
"Are you that different? Well... I see two eyes... just like mine...
and two ears, just like mine... and somewhere..." she cleaned the mud
over his nose. "Ah, here it is a nose. Just like mine!"
"And two hands?" Little Tarzan asked as he pressed his open palm
against hers.
"Yes, two hands." Kala answered softly. "It's just that Kerchak doesn't
understand. He doesn't see this."
Tarzan hugged his mother. "Then I'll prove him wrong! I'll be the best
gorilla there is!"
Kala smiled. "I'm sure you will be."
***
Belldandy had come back to Africa from time to time to check how
Ranma was doing.
What she saw now suprised her. Invigorated with new energy, Ranma -or
Tarzan- had approached his new life willingly and inteligently,
learning to jump from tree to tree, and to swing from the vines and
surf down the long branches, he had earned the admiration of almost
all the jungle. Kerchak just tried to ignore him.
This time, her sister, Urd had accompanied her to visit the young
man, Ranma was about 22 now.
"Tell me, sis." Urd commented as Ranma practiced a complex kata without
even knowing what a kata was. "How is it that Ranma remembers martial
arts, but has forgoten everything else? Including his hate for the
curse?"
Belldandy stopped humming and looked at her sister. "Well... that
would be because Ranma's martial arts weren't just memorized, they
were ingrained into him. Martial arts is to him as much as an instinct
as it is for the gorillas to breathe."
"Oh."
Silently saying their goodbyes to Ranma, Belldandy and Urd departed.
***
"Don't even think about it." Kala muttered.
Tarzan got up from the crouch he had planned to use to scare his
mother.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked.
"I'm your mother. I know everything."
Tarzan was about to answer when Terk appeared out of nowhere and threw
him into the underbrush.
"Good morning aunt Kala, a lovely evening, isn't it?"
"Hello, Terk." Kala answered.
Tarzan jumped from the underbrush and crashed into Terk, sending them
both sprawling.
"It's alll fun and games until someone loses an arm!" Tantor warned.
They passed infront of Kerchack, a tangle of arms and legs followed by
an elephant.
Kerchak grunted and continued his patrol.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok... I had intended to finish this for today... but it's 2:30 in the
morning, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow night to get the end of
this!
BTW. In case you were wondering this version of Tarzan is based
on the Disney movie of the same name. So please don't sue.
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