WARNING! The following is extremely silly and totally unlikely to
happen.

                                    HOSTILE TAKEOVER
     
                            A "Ranma 1/2" fanfic by Erin Mills
              based on characters created by Rumiko Takahashi

         
     "You what?"
     Rumiko Takahashi stared at the publisher of Shohen Sunday Comics,
not believing what she had just been told. The publisher nodded sadly,
looking for all the world like a man destroyed.
     "We've been bought out, Takahashi-san. By the Americans." he said.
     "How? I thought SSC was doing well."
     "It was a hostile takeover. They bought a bit of stock here, a bit of
stock there, and the next thing we knew, they had 60% of the stock.
Enough for controlling interest."
      "So, you're letting me go, is that it?" asked the manga photographer
bitterly.
     "No, no, no," the publisher replied. "The new owners still want you to
work for SSC. That's why I called you. The new editors-in-chief will be
here to meet with you shortly." The phone on the desk began to ring.
"That must be them now. Hello?...Yes, send them right in. The new
editors from EB Comics." he explained to Rumiko as he hung up.
    Rumiko, for her part, was now past shock and in the first stages of
extreme mistrust.
    The new editors were shown into the office. One was a stocky,
blonde gentleman dressed in brown slacks, a black turtleneck and tweed
sport jacket. The other was a thin, elderly man with horn rimmed glasses
and a thin mustache. They bowed as they entered. Rumiko and the
publisher returned the bow. The publisher took the opportunity to
introduce the Americans.
    "Rumiko Takahashi, I'd like you to meet Renny O'Keil," the blonde man
bowed again. "and Dan Knee." The mustached gentleman did likewise.
   "A pleasure, Takahashi-san." he said.
   "Please," said the publisher, gesturing to the adjacent conference
room. "Let us 'get down to business', as you Americans say."
    The publisher, editors and photographer entered the conference room
and took their seats, the Americans on one side of the table, the
Japanese on the other. 
    "Well," Dan Knee began. "I, for one, would like to say that we at EB are
very exicted about this whole idea. The merging of one of America's best
comics publishers and Japan's top manga publication working on
simultaneous releases to both countries. I can see great things
happening--"
    "Knee-san?" Rumiko interrupted.
    "Yes, Takahashi-san?" Knee asked, a little miffed at having his
inspiring monologue cut off in mid-sentence.
     "Could we please get to the point? I have a series to put out."
    The Americans exchanged glances in a way that Rumiko was sure
she didn't like.
    "Ah," said Renny O'Keil, smiling (also in a way that Rumiko didn't like.)
"That is one of the things we'd like to talk to you about. We're suspending
publication of your new series."
   "NANI?!"
   "Only for a short time, Takahashi-san," Knee reassured. "You see, we
need you for another project."
   "What are you talking about?" said Rumiko, her mistrust turning to
outright anger.
    "We at EB bought this magazine so that we can break manga into the
mainstream comic market." O'Keil explained. "Currently, only a small
group of American comic consumers read manga on a regular basis. The
typical American comics reader is usually fiercely loyal to one company.
We'd like to see more...better selling series' in our lineup. One of yours, to
be exact."
     Rumiko frowned. "Which one?"
     Knee pulled some papers out of his briefcase and paged through
them. "Ah, here we are...'Ranma 1/2.'" 
     "Sorry, gentlemen," Rumiko said, relieved. "but the American
distribution rights to that are taken by Viz Communications. And, anyway,
I finished the series two years ago."
     "That isn't quite what we meant." said O'Keil, with a grin that filled
Rumiko with dread. 
     "What we want," the editor continued. "is a completely new Ranma
series. We've managed to deal with the legal difficulties from Viz. We
want a series that will be more palatable to a wider audience." He
passed a file folder to Rumiko. "Here's a summary ofwhat we had in
mind."
     Rumiko opened the file. She scanned her eyes across the page,
reading the summary. Knee had handed another copy to the publisher.
When they were finished, the publisher and the photographer looked at
each other. Rumiko tossed the folder back on the table.
     "I won't do it. You'll be destroying my work."
    "You'll also be violating your contract," O'Keil said, holding up a copy
of the document in question. "If you don't do this, we'll have no choice
but to let you go. And that new series of yours will never see further
publication. I can guarantee that." 
     "You use my characters, and I'll sue." Rumiko growled, rage
sweeping away any trappings of civility.
     "Sorry, Takahashi-san, but the copyrights went to SSC when you
signed on. So, you see, we're holding all the cards." 
     Rumiko sat back in her chair. She sighed in frustration. Then, she
stood up and walked towards the door.
    "I'll get my equipment from the studio,"  she glared at the Americans.
"You may think you've beaten me, that you've got me on the ropes, but
you haven't seen ANYTHING yet."
    The door slammed shut. The publisher turned his gaze to his new
American bosses, who were sitting looking very smug indeed.

   "They what?" said Akane Tendo.
   "They bought us out." Rumiko replied, gathering up her photographic
equipment. She, Akane, and the major characters of 'Ranma 1/2' were in
SSC's shooting studio. 
    "They want to bring you all out of retirement and do a completely new
series." Rumiko continued, putting her equipment into two large cases.
    "Well, what's so wrong with that?" asked Ryoga Hibiki. "I wouldn't
mind doing a new series. One with some closure."
    Rumiko sighed. <Here we go again.> Some of her photo subjects
hadn't been happy with the ending of the series and took the opportunity
to let her know about it. Repeatedly.
    "Let's not go into all that again," said Ukyou Kuonji. "I'm sure we'd all
like to get back to work. What I want to know is why you turned it down,
Rumiko-chan."
    Before Rumiko could answer the thespianic chef, the doors to the
studio burst open, admitting the American editors.
    "Hi, everyone!" said Dan Knee. "I'm Dan Knee and this is Renny O'Keil.
We're the new editors-in-chief. We just dropped by to meet you all and to
hand out the first script of the new series."  He began to do so.
     O'Keil looked over at Rumiko, who was fastening the latches on her
cases.
      "Are you still here? I'd have thought you'd be out plotting your
vengance." he sneered. Rumiko ignored him, stood up and looked around
the studio at those she had written and photographed for eight years.
Ranma, Akane, Ryoga, Kuno, Kodachi, Shampoo, Mousse, Cologne,
Genma, Nodoka, Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, Ukyou, Akari, Konatsu...only a
handful of those she had seen with potential and given a break to. 
     "Good luck." she said quietly. She picked up her equipment cases and
walked out of the studio. Once outside the door, she paused and looked
at her cast as the new scripts were handed out.
     She felt a well-deserved sense of satisfaction when the entire cast,
upon reading the script summary, yelled out a collective "NANI?!?!"

   To be continued...

----

  Author's notes: "Rumiko-sama out of work? NOOOOO, say it ain't so,
Erin!" I can hear half of you say. The other half of you are placing bets as
to how long this one will get before it falls into the ranks of
incompleteness like my other fics. Well, those of you who are betting that
it won't be finished, PAY UP. Because it already is finished!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! So there. :P
   I should note that Rumiko Takahashi is portrayed in a completely
fictional intent. (As if you didn't know.) I have no clue as to how she
would react in this situation, but in my interpretation, she's not going to
take this lying down. She'll be back.
    About my classifying Rumiko-sama as a 'photographer.' I am
borrowing the world from Gary K. Wolf's cult novel "Who Censored
Roger Rabbit?" (Yes, the basis for a rather successfull 1988 film.) In the
book, comic book and comic strip characters exist side by side with
humans and the 'artist' that produces the strip or book is the
photographer or writer/photographer of those characters. It seemed like
the best way to go with this.

  As for the mysterious 'new series' Rumiko-sama wouldn't do...well, a
clue exists in the names of the new American editors. See if you can
figure it out! ^_^

                                                          ---Erin 2.5