Highwaymen by Gregg Sharp ===== Just a weird crossover idea i thought i'd throw out for general amusement. Just to give it a title, call this Bet: the Highwaymen ===== added the lyrics for the song at the end, originally lost these and they aren't out there on the web for whatever reason... ===== "Airen!" "Ranma you idiot!" Ranma managed to put his hand up, Amazon Glomp or not, and did something he'd never done before. He took the hammer away from Akane. "Gee. Akane, you oughtta be more careful. Y'could hurt someone with this." Ranma paused as the various expressions became much more clear to him. Shock, surprise. Then everyone around him...knelt?!?! Shampoo had turned him loose and had knelt like the others... "Uhm, guys? What'cha doin'?" "HE has not Awakened," Cologne said drily. "Then we should Awaken him," Akane said with a confident tone in reply. "Not yet, I think," Cologne looked off into the distance. "When He Awakens, his Adversaries will know for sure. Until then, they merely suspect." "Huh?" Ranma noted that both his father and Mister Tendo were standing on the veranda, looking as puzzled as he felt, while Nabiki knelt in the manner of a warrior and Kasumi curtsied deeply. "Guys? You're weirding me out. Someone want to clue me in on the joke?" "My liege," Nabiki began. "Look at what you hold in your hand." "It's just Akane's...hammer?!" Ranma had taken a glance at the hammer in his hand and felt what there was of his mind come to a stop. A BIG and elaborate two handed metal sledgehammer with ornate runes on it. What in the name of all the kami? "Akane, what were you thinking, trying to tag me with this?" Akane smirked. "My lord, it WAS merely the very hammer that the La--, that my sister did give me." "Kasumi? Nabiki?" Soun Tendo looked around at the tableau and wondered if he REALLY wanted to know what was going on or was he better off not asking? Shampoo smirked and looked at her great grandmother. "So, wizard, we're related this time around. How...ironic?" "True," Cologne's eyes narrowed. "How unfortunate that it has not made you wiser." "Uhm, guys?" "Milord, if I may?" Akane stood, her hand gently taking the hammer away from Ranma's nerveless grip. "If you hold onto it for too long, it and you may Awaken earlier than wouldst be prudent." "Uh huh. And waking up from this weird dream would be bad?" Ranma felt like his head was beginning to spin, though it felt a little better after Akane took the hammer back. -------------------------------------------- yeah, it's actually sort of a Mage:The Hero Discovered/ Ranma fusion. Ranma's been pretty corrupted by Genma and the problems with Anything Goes style, but lurking hidden within is the archetypical Hero. Alternatively (and maybe more interesting) would be to approach this with only Ranma Awakening or Ranma and Akane and/or Ukyou being the ones Awakened. Hmmm. Maybe a better group would be Cologne, Akane, and Shampoo. All three of whom are suddenly getting along a LOT better. what could make this different is making it a post volumn 38 fusion, as opposed to the usual volumn 1 fusion. Ranma's in the Kevin Matchstick/Artur Pendragon role Cologne in the Mirth/Merlin/Friar Tuck role Kasumi as the Lady Of The Lake/Marian, who hands Parcival the Fang. Akane as Lancelot, who has this problem with going berserk and apologizing later. Shampoo as Isolde? Mousse as Tristan? Ukyou as Galahad, irritating the heck out of Akane now by calling her "Dad" a lot. (If nothing else, Zen should like this casting.) Ryouga as the Green Knight/Gilgamesh/Odysseus (cursed to wander) BA Hammer as the Edsel's Louisville Slugger/Excalibur Tatewaki as Guinevere? (Arthur and Lancelot. I must have them BOTH!) Happosai or Genma eventually Awakens as the Sherriff... Making the sight of Excalibur the trigger for Awakening, or meeting Ranma's eyes now. Hmmm. Tatewaki as Isolde? Kodachi as Tristan? Kiima as Gawain? Lotsa possibilities here, especially if one makes the Robin Hood band a Second Incarnation with Ranma's group the Third Incarnation of the same group of Eternal Heroes... Perhaps some gravitate/remember more of one particular life and NOT the Table Round. An idea thrown out in Mage is that these heroes are recurrent Archetypes. So maybe Ryouga is Gilgamesh is Odysseus is Sir Pellimore (of the Questing Beast) or even the Green Knight. So the Heroes Reborn means the villains aren't far away. Who? Well, Morgana LeFay and Modred as much as internal politics and a tryst ended Camelot in most of the stories. Robin Hood died of poisoning after his band won their battle. Eternal Villains make a certain amount of sense as well. or maybe mix things up like in the current Mage series. So we've got some members of the Table Round, while others Awaken as different Archetypes altogether. How would the various characters deal with the memories of hundreds of lifetimes? How would Shampoo deal with the memories of being a man? How would Akane deal with being Lancelot and Little John? How would Cologne handle being Merlin and Friar Tuck? I don't actually see Ukyou having much trouble handling the memories of life as Galahad, except maybe to feel guilty about the sins she'd committed in this life (at least in the manga version where none of the characters seem to actually have much in the way of character by the end of the series...sad really...) If you go with Ranma being the one Awakened, then he's going to come across quite different. He'll still have the Ego and the Cockiness (Arthur's influence for the first, Robin Hood's for the second) but will suddenly gain the Responsibility factor and maturity of the other personas...Not to mention being the natural leader that the Eternal King tends to be. Of course, if Cologne=Merlin you could make Happosai=Morgana. well, i thought it was an amusing concept. almost as much as that Spring Of Drowned Elvis idea i threw out awhile back. (explained where all those Elvis impersonators/sightings come from, ne?) "Akane, y'can mallet me, but don't you scuff my bl..." "Baka. Wearing blue suede shoes in the house..." oh, why that title? here's the lyrics. "I was a highwayman, across the coast roads I did ride, a sword and pistol by my side, many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade, many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade, the Masters hung me in the Spring of '25, but I am still alive... "I was a sailor, I was born upon the tide, with the sea I did abide, I sailed a schooner 'round the Horn Of Mexico, I went aloft to furl the mains'il in a blow, and when the 'yards broke off, they say that I got killed, but I am livin' still. "I was a dam builder, across a river deep and wide, where steel and water did collide, a place called Boulder on the wild Colorado, I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below, they buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound, but I am still around, I'll always be around "and around, and around, and around, and around, and around "I fly a starship, across the Universe Divide, and when I reach the other side, I'll find a place to rest my spirit, if I can, perhaps I may become a highwayman again, or I may simply be a single drop of rain, but I will remain, "and I'll be back again, and again, and again, and again, and again." song tm Chris Christopherson, Waylon Jennings, Johnnie Cash, Willie Nelson ----------------------------------------- http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/ metroanime@mindspring.com "There is no death, only a change of worlds." -Seatlh (1786-1866) Suquamish chief