Finally! After a year and a month of (admittedly sporadic)
work, 'Halftime' is complete! Finally, I can turn my attentions
to other, much shorter works that have been clamoring to be
written. Or, just maybe, I can finally afford the time to have a
life! (Naah. Why start now?) And, above all, finally my little
sister'll quit bugging me to finish.
   So what is 'Halftime'? Those who have read the introduction to
'Justice', my first completed 'Ranma 1/2' fan fiction, know that
'Halftime' is my first started 'Ranma 1/2' fan fiction (and my
second overall, etc., etc.). It is a crossover with the Super
Nintendo Role-Playing Game 'Chrono Trigger', a brilliantly
designed game, and well worth playing if you haven't. (As a
matter of fact, if you haven't played the game, and intend to, it
might be best not to read this fanfic now, as it contains a
number of spoilers.)
   It is likely that many who read this story haven't played the
game (or even heard of it). If this is because you hate video
games and all they stand for, I hope you die a slow, painful,
gristly death. For those of you who are merely unenlightened, I
provide descriptions for each of the main characters from the
game:
   Crono: This redheaded fellow is the character that is meant to
represent You, the Player. He is Bold, Daring, Brave, and
coincidentally a Great Swordsman even though he is still just a
teenager. Basically, he is cut from the same generic cloth as any
of a large number of RPG heroes (he's practically a clone of the
hero of 'Secret of Mana', another spectacular RPG). As he is
supposed to represent You, he doesn't ever actually say anything
during the game--he does communicate with the other characters,
but you never actually hear what he says. As such, he'll not
speak a word during my fanfic either, except when he executes one
of his special fighting techniques, or 'Techs', as they're called
in the game. His weapon is the Katana, of which he has a variety
to choose from during the game. His brand of Magic is Lighting
Magic. He lives in the town of Truce, in 1000 A.D.
   Marle: Marle is a Princess. (Yes, she does eventually need to
be rescued. What kind of game would it be without having to
Rescue the Princess at some point?) She's also a dedicated
Tomboy, and proud of it. She is enthusiastic and energetic in
everything she does, though she is also somewhat headstrong at
times. It is implied in the game that she and Crono may be
forming a strong, romantic attachment to one another. Marle packs
a mean Crossbow, but her real strength lies with her Water Magic
(the solid variety of Water), and her many powerful healing
spells. She lives in Guardia Castle, in 1000 A.D.
   Lucca: Crono's best friend. She is extremely bright--a genius,
in fact--and loves to tinker with machinery, and to invent new
contraptions. She is extremely self-confident and determined, and
never gives up. Lucca's chosen armament is the Gun. Her Magical
alignment is Fire, and her Fire Magic provides the most potent
Magical attacks in the game. Lucca lives in a house on an island
south of Truce, in 1000 A.D.
   Frog: A valiant Knight, transformed into the shape of a frog
by Magus, shortly after Magus slew his best friend and fellow
warrior, Cyrus. For a time, he lived alone with his guilt and
feelings of inadequacy, afraid to face his Queen. Eventually,
Crono and his friends convinced him to fight once more. Now he
once again guards his Queen with self-confidence, having
reconciled himself with Cyrus's death. Frog is trained in the use
of the Sword--specifically the Masamune, a magic-resistant blade
of legendary power. He can also cast some Water Magic (the liquid
variety). Frog lives in 600 A.D., in Guardia Castle.
   Robo: As his name would imply, Robo is a sophisticated
mechanical man. Crono and his friends discovered him in the
desolate future where a terrible creature known as Lavos has
destroyed almost everything. Lucca repaired him, and he joined
their group, feeling lost and not knowing his purpose or reason
for being. Eventually he finds his Mother computer, and discovers
that he was built to track down and kill the few humans still
alive. He rebels, a testament to the his growing ability to feel
emotions, and to the emotions he developed for his friends. Robo
has a number of detachable Arm weapons. He has no magic as such,
but his energy weapons possess Shadow-Magic-like qualities. Robo
lives somewhere in 2300 A.D., a time period much less desolate by
the end of the game.
   Ayla: A cavewoman, and leader of the Ioka tribe. She is a
skilled warrior, and dedicated in her duty to protect her people.
When Crono and his friends first meet her, she is in the middle
of a war against the thriving civilization of the Reptites, a
race of intelligent, reptilian people. It is a primal struggle
for survival of the fittest, and one that Ayla eventually wins,
just before an ice age begins. Now, she and her mate, Kino,
protect their people against an even greater threat: nature
itself. Ayla's only weapon is her Fist (and feet, and head, and
teeth, etc.). She has no magic at all, but more than makes up for
it with her powerful Physical attacks. She lives in 65,000,000
B.C., in the Ioka village.
   Magus: A ruthless and powerful sorcerer. He was thought to be
the mastermind behind Lavos, before it was discovered that he,
too, sought Lavos's death. Unrestrained by pathetic concerns such
as morality, however, Magus's methods for achieving that end were
eventually interrupted by Crono and his friends. After finally
realizing that Lavos was too powerful for him to destroy on his
own, Magus joined Crono's band. (See, I told you there would be
spoilers! But would you listen? No.) Magus, grim fellow that he
is, wields a Scythe. His Magic is Shadow Magic. While he has no
real home, he resides in 12,000 B.C.
   Finally, a few points about the game itself. In case you
haven't realized it from the character descriptions, 'Chrono
Trigger' deals with time-travel. Crono and his companions flit
about through time in an effort to destroy a terrible monster
known only as Lavos, who is destined to decimate the globe in the
year 1999 A.D. On a more important note, everyone in the game,
whether they be human, machine or monster, whether they live in a
tent in 65,000,000 B.C. or hang out under a lamppost at the End
of Time, they all speak the same language. So, in order to ease
the crossover, I have decided that this language is Japanese, all
conveniently translated to English by your's truly.
   For those of you who have played the game, this story almost
immediately follows the best possible ending for the game, in
which Crono's mother chases Crono's cats into the last remaining
time Gate just as it closes, and Crono, Lucca, and Marle leave in
the Epoch to try to find her, wherever in time she may be. As for
Ranma continuity, well, basically, I know squat about the Manga
(other than a few synopses that I've read), so this story is
placed after the anime, after the movies, and after all of the
OAV's.
   Thanks go to Josie, my sister, whose constant demands for me
to write finally removed the last pesky bits of sanity that were
preventing my work. Thanks also to Rumiko Takehashi, for
providing the world and many of the characters featured in this
story. Thanks to Squaresoft, for providing many of the other
characters. Thanks also to my dark id, for not acting up as much
as it did while I was writing 'Justice'.
   And so, without further ado (geez there was a lot of ado this
time):

Halftime
By Aaron Ziegler
alziegle@norcia.cs.csbsju.edu
http://bingen.cs.csbsju.edu/~alziegle

Chapter 1: A Timely Arrival

   "RANMA YOU JERK!!!" The sight of a handsome, pigtailed
teenaged boy in a red Chinese shirt flying through the wall of
the Tendo Dojo was not a new one. Had any of Ranma's neighbors
been watching, they would not have been surprised, nor would they
have cared. The fights between Ranma and Akane were well known,
both for their frequency and the seemingly excessive amount of
punishment inflicted on the combatants and the surrounding area.
Ranma sat up as a furious teenaged girl stormed out of the dojo,
carrying a bandaged and equally angry piglet under her arm.
Having just returned from an afternoon jog, she was wearing
jogging shorts and a red and blue T-shirt. A red headband was
wrapped around a head of short, black hair. The piglet, oddly
enough, wore a yellow and black striped bandana around its neck.
   "Akane, really! I only accidentally dropped P-Chan into that
dog kennel!" Ranma protested, giving Akane a desperate grin. The
little black piglet in question squealed, and stuck his tongue
out at Ranma. Only a sudden, nearly uncontrollable urge for self-
preservation kept Ranma from sticking his own tongue out in
return.
   "I don't believe you," Akane said coldly. With her free hand,
she hefted a huge, wooden mallet, produced, apparently, from
nowhere.
   Just as Akane was about to give Ranma a royal pounding, there
was a loud thunderclap and a bright flash directly above them.
The boy, the girl, and the pig glanced upward, just in time to
see a silver flash streak across the sky and disappear in the
distance. "What was that!?" gasped Ranma.
   "I-I don't know," answered Akane, her anger temporarily
stifled by the strange sight. "It didn't look like lightning, and
there isn't a cloud in the sky."
   Seemingly concerned, P-Chan squealed loudly, and struggled
free of Akane grasp. He raced out of the yard. "Wait P-Chan!"
called Akane, but the little black pig was out of sight.
   "He'll be fine," reassured Ranma.
   Akane did not look reassured. "Like you care, Ranma!" She was
about to go after P-Chan, when the two of them heard a high-
pitched whine, like a distant jet engine. Looking up again, they
saw the silver object again streaking through the sky,
approaching from the opposite direction that they had seen it
disappear.
   "Could that thing have circled around the globe already?"
Ranma asked in disbelief.
   "Look Ranma! It's stopped right above us!" True enough, the
strange silver object was hovering above the Tendo yard, close
enough to make out some details. It was vaguely egg shaped, and
had fan-like wings protruding from either side. Then, it started
to descend.
   "It's gonna land Akane! You'd better get someplace safe,"
Ranma warned, jumping to his feet.
   "You idiot! I can handle anything you can!"
   "Sorry, I forgot what kind of violent tomboy you were," Ranma
grinned. Akane scowled, but before she could do any life-altering
damage to Ranma, the silver egg had landed.
   With the egg on the ground, Ranma and Akane could see more of
the topside of the thing. There was a glass cockpit, and a large,
orange fin mounted on the back. The word "Epoch" was printed
clearly on the side. With a whirr, the fan-like wings folded into
the sides of the egg. "Is it a spaceship?" whispered Akane. Ranma
just shrugged, staring at the odd vehicle with wide eyes.
   Then, with a loud hiss, the cockpit began to slide open.
Without a word, Akane and Ranma backed away slightly. Suddenly, a
boy jumped out of the silver egg. He had spiky red hair, and was
wearing blue overalls, leather boots, and a red bandana. He had a
long katana sheathed at his side. Next to jump down was a girl
with thick glasses. She wearing an orange tunic, a short dress,
and a helmet with a small antenna. She carried a satchel strapped
around her shoulder. The last to emerge was a blonde girl wearing
a tear-shaped pendant. She was wearing a loose white blouse, and
had her hair tied in a ponytail. She had a crossbow strapped to
her back. The three seemed confused by something, and were soon
deep in conversation with each other.
   Seeing that the strange visitors were human, Ranma and Akane
relaxed a little. The blonde girl was the first to notice them.
"Oh, hello!" she called, waving cheerfully. The other two stopped
talking, and turned to see who she was talking to.
   "Er, hi," replied Ranma, with typical flair.
   To Ranma's surprise, the redhead asked him what year it was.
"Er, 1995," Ranma stuttered at the odd question.
   The three newcomers seemed surprised. "1995?" repeated the
blonde girl. She turned to the girl with the helmet. "I thought
that we were going to 2300!"
   "So did I," replied the other. "Perhaps something went wrong
with the temporal motivators." She looked around, her glasses
glinting in the sunlight. "Still, something seems wrong. It's
only four years until the Day of Lavos. Where are all the domes?
The advanced technology?"
   "Um, excuse me," began Akane, a little quicker to recover than
Ranma, "but could someone please explain WHAT'S GOING ON!?!"
   The three newcomers jumped, and then looked sheepish. The
redhead apologized, and introduced himself as Crono. After
introducing the blond girl as Marle, and the helmeted girl as
Lucca, he explained that the three of them were looking for his
mother.
   "Your mother?" asked Ranma, a sudden, wistful picture of his
own mother, Nodoka, appearing in his mind.
   "Yes," answered Lucca. "She was chasing Crono's eleven cats
when she disappeared. Have you seen her?"
   Ranma paled, and edged away, "C-CATS?" he mumbled. "E-
ELEVEN!?"
   Akane sighed and quickly whapped Ranma on the head with her
hammer, causing the three guests to start in surprise, both at
the casual nature of Akane's violent action and in wondering
where the hammer had come from. "Snap out of it, Ranma. There
aren't any cats here."
   She addressed Crono. "I'm sorry, we haven't seen your mother.
But with eleven cats, she should attract some attention, wherever
she is."
   The three looked disappointed, Crono most of all. Shoving
eldrich feline horrors from his mind, Ranma came to a decision.
"No one should be kept from their mother," he announced bitterly.
"By the way, I'm Ranma, and that's Akane. We'll help you find
her."
   Crono looked grateful, but told Ranma that there was probably
little he could do to help.
   "What do you mean?" said Ranma, slightly miffed. "She's gotta
be somewhere, doesn't she?"
   "That's the problem," replied Lucca. "She doesn't have to be
somewhere. She could be somewhen."
   "Huh?" said Akane and Ranma in unison.
   "The Epoch is a time machine," Lucca continued. "When Crono's
mother disappeared, she fell into a time Gate. We aren't sure
where in time she ended up. We were headed to the year 2300, but
for some reason, we ended up here."
   Ranma and Akane stared blankly, trying to absorb all this.
   "Well, we really should be going," reminded Marle. Crono
nodded and the three of them started back toward the Epoch.
   Suddenly, there was a strange ringing sound, like a bell. Then
they heard a rapid clicking sound followed by a crash, and the
Epoch flew into the air. Crono abruptly found himself on the
ground with a bicycle and a purple-haired rider on top of him. He
gasped for breath as the girl looked down at him with a puzzled
expression. She said, "You not Ranma!" Meanwhile, the Epoch
crashed to the ground on the other side of the yard.
   Crono yelled at the strange girl to get off of him. Seeming
almost hurt by his vehemence, the cyclist pulled her bicycle off
of the prone figure.
   As Crono started to get up, the girl spied Ranma. "There you
are, Ranma!" she shouted happily, dropping the bicycle onto Crono
once again. She tackled Ranma in an embrace.
   "Um, hi Shampoo." Noting Akane's cold stare, Ranma pried
himself loose from Shampoo's amorous grasp, and said, "Shampoo,
we have some guests."
   Crono had pulled himself out from under the bicycle again, and
was staring at Shampoo angrily. "That's Crono."
   "The Epoch..." whispered Lucca in horror, and ran over to the
fallen time machine.
   "That's Lucca."
   "What have you done?" shrieked Marle.
   "And that's Marle."
   "They seem like they too grumpy," said Shampoo.
   Lucca was crouched by the time machine. The machine itself was
badly dented, and there were bits and pieces of delicate
machinery strewn about it. Lucca began muttering to herself as
she surveyed the damage. "This bird is totaled. It's gonna take
me a while to fix it. I'm not even sure I can fix it. I'm no
Belthasar."
   "You mean we're stuck here? Forever?" demanded Marle.
   "Unless I can get Epoch up and running again, I'm afraid so.
The regular time Gates are closed, and I don't think there was
ever one here anyway."
   Shaking with rage, Marle unslung her crossbow and leveled it
at Shampoo. "This is your doing!"
   Quickly Ranma jumped between the angry girl and Shampoo,
"Don't hurt her! It was an accident!"
   Wasting no opportunity, Shampoo embraced Ranma. "Ranma save
Shampoo!" she cooed.
   "What are you doing, Ranma?" said Akane, furious.
   "Out of the way Ranma! I have no quarrel with you!" Marle
loaded the crossbow. "This quarrel's for her!"
   Then, Crono was beside her. He gently pushed the crossbow
down, and told Marle that revenge would solve nothing. Marle
still looked angry, but acquiesced.
   Struggling briefly, Ranma once again disengaged himself from
Shampoo. He looked at her sternly, and she looked at the ground,
guiltily. "You should apologize, Shampoo," he said.
   "Shampoo sorry she wreck machine," she said.
   Akane, having calmed down a bit now that there was a little
more distance between Ranma and Shampoo, said, "So, I suppose
you're stuck here for a while." Crono nodded. "Then you'll need
someplace to stay. Our house is pretty crowded, but we should be
able to find someplace to put you."
   "Say, why are you here, Shampoo?" asked Akane, suddenly
remembering their unwelcome Chinese visitor.
   "Shampoo make ramen delivery to Tendo's," she answered,
gesturing to her bicycle. There were several boxes of ramen
noodles loaded on the bicycle, and oddly, they were all intact.
   "But why?" wondered Akane, "I was cooking tonight!" Abruptly,
she glanced at Ranma, who was edging away, grinning sheepishly.
"RANMA YOU IDIOT!" Raising her hammer high, Akane lunged after
the fleeing boy.
   Later that night, Crono, Marle, and Lucca were sitting at the
Tendo dinner table. They were introduced in turn to Genma
Saotome, Ranma's father, Soun Tendo, Akane's father, and Nabiki
and Kasumi, Akane's sisters. Genma was a tall, stern-looking man
wearing a karate gi. Perched on his nose were a pair of thin,
wire-frame specticles, and wrapped around his head was a turban
of white cloth (which did little to conceal the fact that Genma
hadn't a hair on his head). Soun was equally tall, equally stern,
and equally dressed, but more slender than Genma. Also unlike
Genma, Soun possessed a full head of shoulder-length black hair,
as well as a proud black moustache. Nabiki, the middle of Soun's
three children (Akane being the youngest, and Kasumi the oldest),
was a tall, slender, attractive girl. Her brown hair fell just
short of her shoulders, and was cut away in front, forming a sort
of frame around her face. She was wearing blue jeans and a
striped T-shirt, and possessed an almost perpetual expression of
cynical amusement. Kasumi, of an even hight with Nabiki, instead
wore an almost unbearably innocent expression on her pretty face.
She was wearing a modest dress and an apron. Her hair was also
brown, though a darker shade than Nabiki's, and was tied back in
a long, lusterous ponytail.
   Akane had made good on her promise to cook dinner, as there
were several unidentifiable dishes on the table in addition to
the boxes of ramen. Without exception, these dishes had remained
untouched. Marle was startled to see one of Akane's dishes edging
toward her plate of ramen. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her
crossbow and blasted the offending meal. It keened shrilly, and
expired. With the exceptions of Crono and Lucca, no one seemed to
notice the violent exchange.
   "So, where are you and your friends from, Crono?" asked
Kasumi.
   Crono started to respond that they were from the past, but
noticed Akane gesturing at him not to tell. Crono was confused,
but answered that the three of them were from the town of Truce.
Nabiki watched this exchange carefully, realizing that secrets
were being kept. She smiled. There was good money in secrets, and
she had a knack for finding secrets out.
   Akane, for her part, was relieved. She didn't like to think of
what Nabiki would do if she knew that they had a time machine,
even a broken one.
   Lucca, quick to catch on to Akane's subterfuge, continued, "We
can't get back to...er, Truce, our home town, until we fix
our...um, jet."
   "You have your own jet?" Nabiki asked. These people must be
loaded, she thought. She reflexively used her chopsticks to stab
a renegade dish that was threatening her ramen. Again, no one
paid any attention, and Crono and his friends were starting to
get used to it.
   Marle nodded to Nabiki, and changed the subject. "So, what do
you people do here?"
   Genma beamed proudly, "We teach the Anything-Goes style of
martial arts."
   "Anything-Goes?" asked Lucca curiously.
   "Anything!" replied Genma. "An adept at Anything-Goes martial
arts can overcome any challenge."
   "And I'm the best there is!" announced Ranma cheerfully
through a mouthful of ramen. Without warning, Genma grabbed Ranma
and chucked him out a window. Ranma's scream was heard, and then
a splash.
   "You will have to pardon my son. Sometimes he forgets his
humility and must be disciplined."
   The front door of the Tendo home slammed open, and an
unfamiliar, but sopping wet, red-headed girl glared at them.
   "Um, who's that?" asked Lucca.
   "Don't drip inside the house Ranma!" called Kasumi. "I just
cleaned."
   "Ranma?" asked Marle, startled. A second glance at the girl
revealed that she was wearing Ranma's clothes, and her hair,
though red instead of black, was braided in the same short
pigtail. "What happened to you?"
   "Ah, a tragic story, that," began Genma, oblivious to the
approaching Ranma, who had dried off outside. "You see, my son is
the victim of a tragic curse, so that whenever-"
   "Why don't we tell them about your curse, Dad!" yelled Ranma
as she grabbed Genma and threw him out the window. A second
splash was heard.
   A moment later, a large panda stood in the doorway wearing a
tattered gi, glasses hanging from one ear. It held up a wooden
sign that read, [I was going to get to that.]
   After staring for a moment, Lucca shrugged and said, "I've
seen weirder."
   "You don't know the half of it," muttered Nabiki drily.
   Over the next couple of minutes, Ranma and Genma (through
sign-language, of course) related the tragic tale of their ill-
fated expedition to the cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo. "So,
you've been looking for a cure ever since?" asked Marle.
   "Yup," answered Ranma in her new, high-pitched voice. "Almost
had one a couple of times, but something always seems to go
wrong, and I stay stuck like this."
   They all ate in silence for a few more minutes, and then
dinner was over. Genma held up a sign saying, [Come Ranma, we
must train.] Ranma sighed and stood up. She held out her hand,
and Kasumi handed her a teapot full of hot water. Ranma poured
the water on herself, thus returning to his proper form, and left
the room with his father to apply the same treatment to him in
privacy. Crono, Lucca, and Marle watched this exchange with
interest. Evidently this sort of thing had become routine for the
two families.
   As father and son headed out to the dojo, Crono asked if he
could watch. "Sure," said Ranma. "Are you a fighter?" Crono
looked at him ironically, and nodded. "Great! Maybe we can spar."
Crono mentioned that he was only adept as a swordsman, and
pointed out his katana for emphasis. "That's fine. A master of
Anything-Goes martial arts can fight anyone." Genma cuffed him
lightly. "Not that I'm a master yet, of course," he added,
throwing Genma a disgruntled look.
   In the dojo, Crono sat and watched Ranma and Genma fight. He
laughed at some of the petty tricks they each used (usually
effectively) to distract the other to get an effective punch or
kick in.
   "Look!" shouted Ranma, "It's mother!"
   "WHAT? NODOKA?" exclaimed Genma, whirling around. Ranma swept
Genma's legs out from under him, and he fell to the ground with a
grunt. "I'll teach you to respect your elders!" Genma growled.
Then he noticed Crono grinning. "Oh, and I suppose you think that
you could do better?" Genma asked Crono.
   Crono replied that he could. "I'd like to see that," said
Ranma. In answer, Crono unsheathed his Rainbow. Then he
confidently announced that he didn't want to hurt Ranma too
badly, and set the katana against the wall. To replace it, he
took a mop that had been left in the dojo. He gave the mop a few
swings, testing its balance and then moved to the center of the
dojo.
   "Begin!" said Genma, having moved away from the two
combatants. Wasting no time, Ranma threw a punch, which Crono
easily sidestepped. Ranma ducked Crono's returning slash, and
swept Crono to the floor. Almost instantly, Crono was on his feet
again. Crono and Ranma each jumped away from each other, and then
leapt high into the air toward each other. They met in mid air,
and this time Crono gained the upper hand. He struck Ranma with
the mop, and Ranma lost his balance. Crono landed on his feet,
and Ranma landed on his head. Ranma stood up and winced as he
felt the developing bump on his head.
   Crono asked Ranma if he was ready to conceed. "Are you
kidding?" he laughed. "That was nothing. Let's see how you can
handle this!" Ranma ran towards Crono, who warily took up a
defensive posture. "Tenshin-Amaguri-Ken!" shouted Ranma
gleefully, as he threw punch after punch with blinding speed.
Crono managed to block or dodge the first hundred or so, but
eventually, Ranma's incredible speed broke through Crono's
considerable defense. Crono was thrown to the other side of the
dojo, where he made a tidy, Crono-shaped hole in the wall.
   Ranma grinned. Then, a disheveled and thoroughly irritated
Crono crawled out of his hole. "So are you ready to conceed?"
mocked Ranma. Crono glared at him, and uttered the word
'Confuse'. Ranma was taken off guard as Crono abruptly leapt
close to him. Crono began running in a circle around Ranma, too
fast for the eye to follow. Ranma desperately kicked at a space
where he thought Crono would be. He wasn't. Ranma was rewarded
for his effort by a hard strike to the back that knocked him to
his knees. He quickly stood up again, just in time to recieve a
second strike to the gut. A third hit soon followed. Ranma was
swaying dizzily. Suddenly, Crono stopped in front of the
bewildered fellow and delivered a vicious upward cut with the
mop, lifting Ranma into the air and sending him flying. Genma
winced at the specticle, and was glad that Crono had elected to
use the mop instead of his sword. Then Crono fell to the ground,
exhausted. Neither Ranma or Crono moved from where they lay.
   "Draw!" announced Genma. He looked at the battered dojo with a
sigh. "Soun's gonna have a fit," he muttered. "Then again, he
always does."
   Genma walked out of the dojo, and then came back in, carrying
a bucket of cold water. He splashed Crono, reviving him. He
splashed Ranma, who also revived and transformed. "Hey!"
sputtered Ranma. She looked at Genma, annoyed. Then she
remembered why she was on the floor, and looked at Crono with
respect. "You're pretty good!" she told him. "Of course, you
wouldn't have stood a chance if I hadn't been winded from
fighting Dad." Crono snorted, and mentioned that Ranma had at
least had a chance to warm up.
   Ranma looked ready to continue the argument, but Genma laid a
hand on their shoulders. "Now, now," he said, condescendingly,
"you can fight again later." Working as one, Crono and Ranma
grabbed Genma and chucked him outside, into the pond. The panda
surfaced and held up a sign, [Kids these days!] Laughing, Ranma
and Crono walked into the house, with the panda close behind.
   When Marle saw the battered couple, she asked, "Crono! What
happened?" Crono explained that he and Ranma had just been
practicing. "Well, let me fix you up," replied Marle. "Aura."
Marle glowed slightly, and then touched Crono. Crono's minor
scratches and bruises closed up and healed. Marle then applied
the same treatment to Ranma.
   "Wow," said a wide-eyed Ranma. Looking around, she saw that
her father and the Tendos were similarly awed.
   Nabiki, on top of any situation, was the first to recover.
"How'd you do that?" she asked.
   "Huh?" answered Marle, startled. "I never really thought about
it. I just have this knack for healing people. Maybe it's part of
my royal heritage."
   At the words "royal heritage", a slow grin appeared on
Nabiki's face. One could almost hear cash registers tallying huge
sums of money in Nabiki's mind. "So your father's a king, then?"
   "Uh-huh. 'Course, we don't always see eye to eye. He wants me
to stay home and act like a good princess. But I couldn't let
Crono search for his mother without me. I guess I'm something of
a tomboy at heart."
   Ranma groaned at this. "Great. Another tomboy is all we need.
At least this one's cute."
   "YOU JERK!" Ranma was instanly flattened by Akane. No one
seemed to notice.
   Nabiki continues, "So, you ran away? Your father must miss
you." A newspaper headline appeared in Nabiki's mind: NABIKI
TENDO OF NERIMA RECIEVES 100,000,000 YEN FOR RETURN OF LOST
PRINCESS!
   "Oh, probably," replied Marle. "But he trusts me now, and I
don't think that he's worried about me."
   Nabiki's dream newspaper vanished, and she sighed, thinking,
Well, she should still be rich. I may turn a profit out of this
yet.
   Marle beamed, "Thanks for your concern, Nabiki!"
   "Anytime," Nabiki smiled.
   "Say," groaned a crushed Ranma, "Can you do that healing thing
again?" Marle giggled at Ranma's pathetic state, and then healed
her. "I think I'm going to like having you around," said a
relieved Ranma.

Afterword:
   So, the adventure begins...
   Please don't judge me too harshly for having the fight between
Ranma and Crono end up as a draw (by far, the cheapest way to
introduce two main characters). Really, I couldn't see any way to
avoid these two dueling at some point (neither Crono's nor
Ranma's personality would have allowed these two to coexist
without sparring at least once), and I found myself uncertain as
to who would win. On the one hand, Crono can singlehandedly kick
Lavos's butt (on the second time through the game, at least). On
the other hand, part of Ranma's nature is that he is the best,
and this is shown time and again in both the anime and the manga.
However, Ranma often loses the first time he faces a new
opponent, so I felt that a draw was entirely fair. Just assume
that Ranma would win any rematch.
   Another important note: I've never really figured out exactly
why Ranma and company never just go back to Jusenkyo to try to
undo their curses. Many reasons seem to be possible. Perhaps they
don't have enough money (but if so, why not just walk and swim
there?). Perhaps Ranma has to stay close to Akane (so why not
take her with?), which is implied by the last episodes of the
first season of the anime. Maybe they just don't know how to find
it again (why not just find the Guide again, and ask him?). Due
to the fact that the Epoch exists in this crossover, and has the
potential of providing fast, cheap travel to the Cursed Training
grounds, I am working under the assumption that Ranma and his
fellow cursed just don't know where to find it. The only real
alternative is a cheap cop-out like that in the first Ranma
movie, in which everyone merely 'forgot'. I won't be a party to
such a travesty.

Crono Trigger Tip #1:
   Where on Earth did Crono get eleven cats?!?
   Well, Crono starts the game with one. At the Millennial Fair,
he can win a second one by playing the Rescue the Damsel game in
the House of Horror. And the rest? To attract more cats, you need
to win cat food. You win cat food by playing any of the three
games in the House of Horror after winning the prize initially
offered (i.e., a musical Poyozo doll for the Find Vicks, Wedge,
or Piette game, a Crono clone for the Imitate the Clone game, or
a cat for the aforementioned Rescue the Damsel game). The more
expensive the game you play, the more cat food you win. To see
how much cat food you have, look in the pot in Crono's room.
Every 150 ounces or so, you get a new cat. Once I reached eleven,
though, it seemed to stop.
   It takes mindlessly obsessive patience to win enough silver
points to play Rescue the Damsel enough to get enough cat food
for eleven cats, but it's worth it, if only to watch Crono's
mother chase them all at the end of the game. Also, I love cats.
I really, really love cats. It's almost enough to make me like
Shampoo. But not quite.