Untitled Batman Beyond Crossover

[LawOhki]

Another idea that crept in my head for Ranma at a different school.


Ranma timeline is a year after Jusenkyo, with several major differences. He makes a concentrated effort to hide the curse from becoming public knowledge, even though it eventually did at Furinkan.

The first is that there is no Tendo engagement. Soun and Genma know each other and are friends, but Ranma has had minimal interaction with any of them outside of school.

Ryoga and Ranma had several fights, losing interest in his rival, and without Akane there was a focus for him to torment Ranma, he more or less gives up his quest, having never learned that it was Ranma who cursed him.

Without Ranma being volunteered for the rhythmic gymnastics tournament, Shampoo never found him, and Kodachi never gained an interest in him. Kuno does not like Ranma, but he only saw the pig tailed girl in passing, without ever getting into a fight.

Some of the random stand alone chapters occurred.

Ukyo was in the process of transferring to Furinkan when Ranma was heading for Gotham. So they never met. Nodoka stays out of this one. I have no need for such a crazy woman. Hinako and the Principal stuff happened but differently.

-------

Batman Beyond timeline is a few days before the first episode of the second season called 'Splicers', and it's the day before the start of a new school year.

It was suggested that I should use the standard Batman setting in the irc channel but I wanted more of a conflict between Ranma and Terry/Bruce. Ranma being the uppity new guy who treats the villians of Gotham as a bunch of training dummies. The other two who take thing seriously and have had some loss in their lives.

I also felt that it would be better with Ranma and Terry being close to the same age to create a more rival type feel, rather than an older mentor figure if Ranma was clashing with Bruce in his prime, rather than a crotchety old man.

X x x x x x

“Don't you know it's dangerous for pretty girls like you to be out all alone?”

Ranma paused mid step, trying to reign in her smirk, and letting her backpack slip from her right shoulder to the ground. Fifteen minutes in Gotham city and she had already found some fun. Turning to face the male voice that had called out to her, she found herself facing a group of four guys dressed in different clown suits.

“How bout you come with us? Show you a good time.” The biggest one asked, his face painted with a big bright red smile.

“And if I said no?” Ranma asked as ignorantly as possible, having to raise a hand to cover her mouth to hide a smile.

“Well-- we can do this the fun way, or the fun way for us.” A flabby guy shared a laugh with a short skinny one next to him.

“Ya know, I'm sorry I just can't do this. Can I just kick your ass and get it over with?” Dropping all pretense, she shrugged indifferently.

The four guys shared confused looks before taking in what she had just said. “It's pretty good you guys are just mindless goons, you're not smart enough to be anything else.” She poked at them.

Sidestepping the first clumsy grab at her, she struck the guy in the small of his back, sending him crashing face first into the wall. As the man groaned and slid to the ground, the rest of his joker friends seemed to have second thoughts. Gesturing with her hand for the next attempt, this time it was a punch, which she redirect across the man's body before twisting the elbow, and throwing him to land on the first attacker.

“Who's next?” She asked, glancing back at the two on the ground, and finding them slowly regaining their feet. Her eyes narrowed at a knife that was pulled out from the skinny ones pocket, and flicked open. He paid for it in the next instant, when she painfully wrenched it from his grasp, breaking several fingers in the process. The boy screamed and clutched as his hand when she released him. “Oops, was I too rough?”

“Get her!” The three non broken jokers attempted to jump her at the same time. Dropping down into a crouch, she swept out all three of their legs, causing them to fall clumsily to the ground.

“Boring.” Cracking her knuckles, she glanced around at the three boys who were rising back to their feet. Two minutes later, she left the alley humming to herself. “And don't let me catch you doing whatever it was you were trying to do again.” She said over her shoulder, earning a four person groan from the pile of boys.

X x x x x x

“Nice place.” Ranma whistled, walking across some rocks through a traditional rock garden, the sand was freshly raked, and the few trees were neatly trimmed. The whole place was a two story structure spread out length wise to his position, done in shades of red, with large rectangular windows in the front showing the inside.

Traveling as a foreign exchange student, he would be in Gotham for an entire year, staying with a family called the Tan's. Who, if their houses location was any indication, were rather wealthy. Ringing the doorbell, he adjusted the strap of his pack, waiting patiently for someone to come to the door. Lights were on inside, and they knew that he was coming. He didn't have to wait long before a stout, but tall man, of Asian descent opened the door. Dressed in a collared white shirt, black dress pants, he looked like he had just gotten home from his job.

“You must be Ranma.” The man greeted with a big smile, extending a hand to be shook. “I'm Clyde Tan, please come in, I'm sure it's been a long trek.” (1)

“Thank you.” Ranma shook the hand, and Mr. Tan stepped aside to let him in. Since there didn't seem to be a specific area for it, he removed his shoes to lay next to the door.

“How was the flight over?” Mr. Tan asked.

“Boring, and I had to sit through three really bad movies.” He answered bluntly. “But the train was different, I've never been on one like it before.” Ranma commented on the vertically running lifts to get people to and from the upper and lower layers of the city.

Gotham was a tiered city, without a restriction on the height of buildings, requiring transportation not only horizontally but vertically in order to move around the city. The home he would be staying in was actually part of a suburb built on the top of a group of buildings. The suburb was part of a residential block making up part of a city level. Included in the block was the school he would be attending, Hamilton Hill High School.

“I can see how Gotham will take some getting used to. I'm sure my daughter Dana will help you get up to speed.” Clyde looked towards a large black couch facing the door, where a pretty girl his age with black hair and dark eyes was lounging in a pair of orange pajama pants, and a matching camisole top. “Dana get off that thing and at least say hello.”

“Just-- a-- second.” The girl rapidly typed on her laptop before finishing what she was doing and putting it aside to stand up. “Hi I'm Dana.” She greeted.

“Ranma.” He answered back.

“Dana, could you show Ranma to his room? I need to check on dinner.”

“Sure Dad.”

Ranma followed the girl who was about the same height as his female form, up the steps to a walkway that ran along the length of the main room. At the last room she entered, tapping the lightswitch as she did. On the far wall was a large window looking out over the backyard. To the right was a queen sized bed, while the left had a simple desk. Everything was done in shades of green.

“This is our guest room, sorry if it's kind of barren.” Dana said with a shrug.

“More than I've ever had.” He gleefully dropped off his pack on the bed, and sat down to bounce on the mattress. “Never slept on a bed before, always a futon.”

“I'll show you around school tomorrow, you can meet some of my friends, show you to some of the hang out spots. You don't happen to like dancing do you?”

“I've never danced before.” He answered.

“Even if you don't, they have good food and tunes. So what do you like to do in your free time?”

“Usually if I'm not watching the net, I'm practicing my martial arts.”

“Oooh, martial arts, you any good?”

“Very.” He smirked. “Had to beat up some idiots wearing clown costumes when I first showed up.”

“Really? Wow, must have been the Jokers.” Dana gave him an impressed but skeptical look.

“Jokers? Some kind of gang?”

“Yes, they're spread all over the city, mostly they just harass people, and steal their money. It's good you weren't hurt.”

“Any other bad guys I should know about?” Flipping open the top on his pack, he started to pull out his clothing to arrange them on his bed. Grabbing his computer, he flipped the lid up, and turned it on to check to see if he had any mail.

“I usually try and avoid trouble, but anybody wearing brightly colored clothing, is probably a bad guy.”

“Good to know.” He had mail from Hiroshi, who once again demanded that he send pictures of any pretty girls he saw. 'I don't even have a camera you twip.' As expected, nothing from his old man, who would learn how to use a computer over his cold dead, panda furred body. Meaning Ranma would have to call to tell his old man that he had arrived.

“Oh, and I hope you brought your swim trunks, we have a heated pool in the back, see.” Dana pointed out the window.

“I can't really wear trunks anymore.” He said absently.

“Speedo then?” Dana said suggestively.

“Actually it has to do with my water-- thing.”

“Oh yea, we were wondering about that. Is it some kind of allergy?”

“You mind if I explain to you and your dad at the same time? It gets annoying explaining it repeatedly.”

“You don't have to explain if you don't want to.”

“Actually I have to, you'd find out either way.” Closing up his computer, he wondered why Furinkan hadn't disclosed the information about his curse.

X x x x x x

'Well that was expected.' Ranma was laying on his new bed, staring up at the ceiling. While the Tan's had some misgivings about the origin and nature of his curse, they seemed to grudgingly accept it, and the need for discretion. After a year of living with the curse, he had learned long ago that attempting to hide it from people he was around in day to day life was impossible. That and always dousing himself with hot water got old fast.

“Hey Ranma.” Dana knocked lightly on the door. “Sorry if I was a bit insensitive before.”

“You haven't called me a freak or pervert, so you're already ahead of the game.” He'd heard that enough from some girl called Akane at his last school when the curse had become known. Personally he thought it was just because he could swim, while she sunk like a stone. Then again, it probably hadn't been a great idea to rub that fact in her face at every opportunity, as well as a myriad of other insults for the foul tempered girl.

“Well I certainly don't think that, and I'm sure my dad will be fine when he gets to know you. He's real old fashioned. You've seen the garden in the front right?” Dana paused after her question. “So how much time do you spend as a girl?”

“Eh?” Raising himself up into a crosslegged position, that was the first time anyone had ever asked that. “Can't say that I've ever timed it.”

“So-- what? You don't have a problem with changing bodies all the time?”

“Yea that bugs me, but after a month of having the curse, I was used to it.”

“You've never seen a doctor about it?” Dana asked.

“You know any doctors who work with magic?” He laughed.

“Could be magic, could be something different. Haven't you heard about splicing?”

“Isn't that some thing with animals?” He asked, remembering that he had seen something like that on the news one day.

“Humans are animals.”

“I fell into a mud hole out in the middle of nowhere, it's been happening there for thousands of years-- seems like magic to me.” He answered sarcastically.

“Just throwing out ideas.” She said defensively.

“It's alright, I've just heard it all before.”

“Hmm, does this mean I have a new girl friend to hang around with?”

“No, I'm not a girl, I'm a guy.” He corrected.

“Gotcha, no fashion tips.” Dana sighed. “Wish my life was half as interesting, I hate just asking questions.”

“Well, what's exciting about your life?” Ranma asked.

“Biggest thing I have going is my flaky boyfriend Terry and how he always has something to do for his boss.”

“What's his job?”

“He's an errand boy for, get this, Bruce Wayne.”

“Who's that?”

“This really rich old guy, he vanished for a while but now he's always busy with something, and always taking up all of Terry's time.”

“Don't know what to tell you.” He said with a shrug.

“Sorry, just-- frustrating.” Dana quickly checked the alarm clock next to the bed. “I better get to bed, don't want to be in a rush for the first day. Night.”

X x x x x x

After getting his photo identification card, Ranma finally got into his homeroom. The locker he was assigned to keep his things in was different, and moving between every class would take some getting used to, as well as some more minor points of difference. When lunch hour rolled around, he was just swiping his ID card to open his locker when Dana showed up with a guy with her.

“So we meet at last.” The guy greeted, extending a hand to be shook. “Terry McGinnis.”

“Ranma Saotome.” He shook the guy's hand, remembering that this was Dana's boyfriend, and so he would probably be seeing a lot of him. Terry was several centimeters taller than himself, he had jet black hair, blue eyes, and athletic build. From the way he was standing he had some training on how to fight, or experience in it.

“Better watch out Terry, keep being flaky, and Dana might go for this hunk.” A pretty black girl with her hair colored pink joked, appearing at Dana's side while Ranma had been focused on Terry. “Maxine Gibson.” She greeted. “But call me Max.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Hey Howard!” Maxine called to an overweight short boy with black hair and thick glasses tinted bright green.

“Hi guys.” The pudgy boy said as he passed by. “Sorry gotta talk to Nelson.” Ranma watched the boy rush up to a tall guy with brown hair, wearing a green and gold jacket. There were three other guys wearing the same kind of jacket, as well as several girls in cheerleader outfits with the same color scheme.

“Don't mind Howard.” Terry rolled his eyes. “He's got a problem with wanting to be popular.”

“So-- they are popular?” Ranma pointed towards the group who were ignoring the pudgy boy completely.

“If you consider jocks to be the height of popularity-- then yea.” Max answered.

X x x x x x

School couldn't finish quick enough. The teachers all seemed to repeat the same speech about class rules and expectations. Only exciting part was in physical education they let the class have the run of the gym. While there wasn't much to do besides play some basketball, it was still better than sitting at a desk. Now that school was done for the day, he was just exiting the glass doors at the front of the school, when one of the jocks he had seen earlier pushed roughly past him.

“Out of the way twip.” The brown haired teen demanded roughly.

“That wasn't very nice.” Ranma pushed back just as roughly, sending the boy falling on to his side. “Are all Americans as rude as you are?”

“You little piece of trash, who do you think you are?” Hastily regaining his feet, the teen made a clumsy grab at him.

“Ranma Saotome, you?” He answered, flicking the boy in the forehead, causing him to stagger back.

“Nelson quit playing with the new kid and let's bail.” Another jock demanded.

“You're just lucky I got places to be.” The rude jock growled before storming off.

“Right.” Ranma drawled.

“Are you in a hurry?” Dana asked, exiting the school with Maxine and Terry with her.

“Just making some new friends.”

“Do you have any homework?” She asked.

“Just a chapter of reading.”

“Then let's go drop off our stuff and have some fun.”

X x x x x x

“I'm almost getting dizzy from the height.” Ranma was sitting in a train as it passed over a thousand foot drop to the street below. Tokyo had been rebuilt to be a tiered city as well, but not for the entire city, and definitely not to this level. He'd be fine if the floor didn't seem to keep dropping out. “So where to next?”

“Food?” Terry asked, sitting close to Dana.

“Rhino's Chili?” Dana suggested to Terry. “You ever have chili before?” She asked him.

“Maybe.” He had to think about that. “If I have, I don't remember it.”

“Well then you're in for a treat.” Terry indicated as the train slowed to a stop at the next stop. “This is our stop then.” Just as Ranma was getting off with Dana and Terry, the inevitable happened, some guy with his arm slung over a girl bumped into him and dumped a large cup filled with ice water all over his shirt.

“Whoops, sorry.” The guy apologized. “Didn't see you there.”

Slowly looking down, Ranma sighed, and pulled the wet material away from her chest. “Forget about it.” Moving around the pair, she found Terry looking at her with wide eyes, and Dana looking very nervous. “I'll explain it over food.” Terry continued to stare. “If you don't stop looking at me like I grew a second head, I'm going to throw you in front of the next train.”

Terry snapped out of his surprise quickly after that. “Oh I gotta hear this.”

It was a short walk to Rhino's Chili, which in the dimming light was in a purple two story trapezoid building. After getting some food suggested by Dana, they found a booth with few people around. “Alright, here's the short version. It's a curse I picked up in China, I'm really a guy, but cold water turns me into a girl. Hot water turns me back.”

“Like all the way?”

“Yes all the way.” Rubbing at her temples, she supposed that was the best case scenario. “Don't tell people, I don't like lots of people to know.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” Terry answered.

“I'll hold you to that.”

“So how does it work?” Terry asked before she could try her chili.

“I don't know-- magic. How should I know? My old man actually turns into a giant panda. Those things have been extinct for twenty years.”

“No way, do you have any pictures?” Dana asked.

“I might have some on my laptop.” Using a spoon she took a bite of the chili. “Pretty good.” She remarked.

“Extra spicy is my flavor of choice.” Dana added, happily eating her own.

“That's the second time you've said that.” Terry pointed out.

“And I'll say it a few more times if I want.” Dana replied jokingly.

They finished dinner with some more idle chit chat, Terry asked a few more questions about the curse, minor stuff that was really specific for some reason. Such as how often she could change, was there a time limit, did her personality change, and wanted to know more about Jusenkyo. Dana had planned out the night to finish with some time spent at a local dance club. On the way though, they encountered a group of eight clown costumed gang members.

“Hey it's that little bitch who beat up Jack's crew yesterday.” A skinny clown with a huge red grin painted on his face pointed at her.

“More Jokers?” Ranma asked both Terry and Dana.

“Take a hike guys.” Terry stepped towards the group.

“Oh we will, but not after we pay that little dreg back.” Another with a small conical hat and big red nose took a step forward, smacking a fist into the palm of his other hand.

“Fun, I needed to get some exercise today.” Ranma stepped past Terry and checked to make sure her belt was tight on her pants. “I'll even let you throw the first punch.”

“I'll handle this.” Terry tried to move in front of her but she knocked him back with a hit to his chest.

“No way, these guys are mine.” Smiling, she glanced between the group of boys looking for the first taker.

The first one she dropped by dodging his fist and planting a knee upwards into his stomach, driving all the air from his lungs. The next several tried to rush her at once, and weaving through their clumsy grabs, she was past them to take out two who had been trying to wait in the background. Back handing another upside the head, he crashed to the ground, tripping up another that she kicked face first into the ground by jumping on his head. No one else tried to attack her, choosing instead to run away as fast as they could.

“Yo Terry, do you know what I should do with these guys?” She asked the shocked boy to make herself look really casual about the whole display.

"I'll-- uh-- call the cops, they're always looking to bust the Jokers" Terry answered, slowly pulling out a cell phone.

[Atlan]

Huh. Nice.

Don't see a lot of Batman Beyond fics at all, let along crossovers. There was one other Ranma-BB crossover, but that had Ranma as Terry's mom. I like your approach better.

At first I didn't like how you skipped over Tan family's reaction to the curse, but after thinking about it for a minute I had to concede that missing it all together was the best course of action- people have reacted to the curse in so many ways, both cannon and fannon, that there just isnt origional way left to do it.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I like it. Now, just for a fun complication - as I recall, Bruce has a dog in Batman Beyond. Does Ranma smell the same as boy and girl? To you and I, probably, but to a watchdog?

[LawOhki]

Huh. Nice.

Don't see a lot of Batman Beyond fics at all, let along crossovers. There was one other Ranma-BB crossover, but that had Ranma as Terry's mom. I like your approach better.

At first I didn't like how you skipped over Tan family's reaction to the curse, but after thinking about it for a minute I had to concede that missing it all together was the best course of action- people have reacted to the curse in so many ways, both cannon and fannon, that there just isnt origional way left to do it.

Just seemed like needless dialogue, Dana's dad is not going to like Ranma all that much, nor is he really going to be in the story much.

Also, do you have that in your sig seriously or just to point out how ridiculous creationism is?

Ace will like Ranma instantly, must to Terry's annoyance.

[Cheb]

Well, I only know Batman by the 1989 year movie, so I cannot comment on *that* side.
But still your fic reads light as a feather. I don't feel even a slightest strain in it.
It's pleasingly natural.
I enjoyed it despite my vague familiarity with the Batman universe.

[LawOhki]

Well, I only know Batman by the 1989 year movie, so I cannot comment on *that* side.
But still your fic reads light as a feather. I don't feel even a slightest strain in it.
It's pleasingly natural.
I enjoyed it despite my vague familiarity with the Batman universe.

Actually Batman Beyond takes place in the DCAU timeline. Which includes the two Justice League series, the Batman animated series, Static Shock, Superman, and the Zeta Project. All of which are separate from their comic continuities.

http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/DCAU_Wiki

Poison Ivy for instance starts off as just a normal woman until the revamp that unified the style between the shows, where she became more like her comic book counterpart.

If you're looking for a good place to start with Batman Beyond, check out the Return of the Joker movie, which is probably the best Batman movie that's been made. Live action or animated.

There's about 3-4k more work I already have done for just this chapter that I'm getting to, and I already have another 8k done for a couple more chapters down the line because I had such an itch to write them.

[DCG]

An interesting start, Never cared much for that wanabe batman. But it should be good to see where you can take this.

[Neko-]

I'm with DCG on this... Wanna see where you take it

[LawOhki]

Wearing the batsuit minus the cowl, Terry approached Bruce Wayne, who was taking his medication while sitting at the computer in the batcave. Ace was curled up near the chair, paying him little mind besides a distrustful look.

“So what happened yesterday?” The elderly man asked.

“Oh nothing much, met the guy who's staying with Dana, and watched him trash a group of Jokers. Guess you heard the police call?”

“Your name came up.” Bruce turned to the computer and hit a button to bring up the police report they had spent a half hour going over with the two patrolmen who had arrived to pick up the Jokers.

“I take it you did some research on Ranma?” Leaning over the computer, he watched the screen flip to an image of Ranma.

“I did, turns out he's the son of a petty thief and a woman who came into a modest inheritance when her parents died. He's been living in the prefecture of Nerima in Tokyo and attending Furinkan High School up until his transfer to Hamilton Hill High School. Since age two he's been living with his father. Participated in several martial arts competitions, winning all but one, and he lost due to a technicality.”

“So why the interest? Hey wait a minute, you don't have a big file on all my friends do you?” He stared at Bruce, who simply stared back blankly. “You do, don't you.”

“There's something of an irregularity.” Bruce didn't answer his question. “The report from last night indicated Ranma was a woman, and school records from Furinkan had a strange dual record.”

“Yea about that.” Scratching the back of his head he tried to figure out a way to avoid breaking his promise. “Fine, Ranma has some strange 'curse' as he calls it, that makes him change gender.”

“Anymore specifics?”

“Nope, he was real secretive about it, but he needs cold water to turn into a girl, and hot to go back.”

“Describe this other form.” Bruce brought up a detailed file on Ranma and quickly added a new line.

“About the same height as Dana but a bit curvier, black hair, brown eyes, and Asian I guess. When I get back from my patrol we're going to have a long talk about you and your paranoia.” Pulling on the cowl, he took a moment to adjust it to fit perfectly over his face.

[Makoto]

Can't recall (been too long since I've watched any Beyond episodes), but does Bruce still have his seeming aversion to 'magic' that the animated series seem to give him? (And, after checking that DCAU site, I'm wondering - does the "The Batman" series count as part of the DCAU?)

(Yes, I know it's not magic that Bruce actually dislikes, essentially.)

[Neko-]

I'm pretty sure Ranma-chan has blue eyes in the anime... but whatever

[LawOhki]

Can't recall (been too long since I've watched any Beyond episodes), but does Bruce still have his seeming aversion to 'magic' that the animated series seem to give him? (And, after checking that DCAU site, I'm wondering - does the "The Batman" series count as part of the DCAU?)

(Yes, I know it's not magic that Bruce actually dislikes, essentially.)

The Batman is not part of the DCAU continuity that Batman Beyond is. Bruce basically distrusts everyone.

I'm pretty sure Ranma-chan has blue eyes in the anime... but whatever

In the anime, which I do not use. But Ranma will be getting a bit more exotic by the end of this chapter.

[TerraEpon]

Interesting start, especially having rewatched the whole Beyond series recently (and ROTJ for the first time).
Giving the backstory AU though....I dunno, I understand the need, but it might be better for it to come out in writing instead of a summery that isn't part of the story? I mean, even just a quick info dump somewhere in story form...

I do want to read more, though.

[LawOhki]

Interesting start, especially having rewatched the whole Beyond series recently (and ROTJ for the first time).
Giving the backstory AU though....I dunno, I understand the need, but it might be better for it to come out in writing instead of a summery that isn't part of the story? I mean, even just a quick info dump somewhere in story form...

I do want to read more, though.

I won't be giving an info dump, but I if something is important for the story I'll give at least a basic summary inside the story.

Edit it's been brought to my attention on TFF that Ranma has sort of a blue color eyes in the colored manga pages for some close ups, so do the other characters but I suppose I can put it in because it won't matter much after this chapter.

[Anchoku]

This is a good start. I am not much into Batman Beyond and have only seen a couple of episodes on television but the concept of Ranma becoming a sort of Robin, or another ally, to Batman has some merit others have tried to explore.

The chapter is certainly easier to read than my own convoluted sentences. Keep that up. It is something I need to practice.

On the color of people's eyes, keep in mind manga and anime both use wild colors to distinguish characters in a society were everyon has the same color hair and eyes. I have toyed with the idea of presenting the Ranma 1/2 cast as all having black hair (unless it's been lightened to brown or turned grey) and brown eyes. In a written story, it shoudn't matter what the colors were. The characters could have other distinguishing features.