Poor Reception

by Remenants

A Ranma / Silent Hill Crossover.

Disclaimer: Ranma and the Wrecking Co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Silent Hill belongs to Konami. This is just for fun, please don't sue.

Author notes: Anything spoken in bold is English, everything else is Japanese.

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The rain fell in Nerima, and the police had came and gone. Questions had been asked, responses given, afterwards certain people had left the others, while others were taken away. The amount of water that poured down onto the now quiet streets was drowning, as if someone was trying to wash the last few days away. However, in Nerima, water doesn't clean things, it changes them.

"Hikaru Gosunkugi! Open this door now!"

Nerima's wannabe mage flung open the door in a hurry. Having Nabiki Tendo at your door was unpleasant, while having her yelling was bad. Having her angry was utterly terrifying, and after the last few days...he felt that he was two steps away from experiencing the end of the world.

Before he could get a word out the Japanese girl clad in a black sweater, jeans, and an umbrella in her hand, she shoved a letter against Gosunkugi's chest. "What do you know about the town of Silent Hill in America?"

The first reaction was confusion as his mind tried to catch up to what happened. The second was absolute relief as, after a brief analysis of her actions, he came to the conclusion that Nabiki was NOT here to destroy him. The third reaction was a dead stop of all other reactions as he realized what exactly she had said. "W-w-what town?"

"Silent Hill, it's in New England. A little resort town."

It was confirmed; Gosunkugi's brain went back into panic mode. "W-why do you want to know about that place?"

There was a long pause, as Nabiki stared at the meek boy, her eyes reaching a new temperature of cold not thought possible by science. Her voice went quiet as she responded to Hikaru's question. "Apparently that's where their honeymoon is. I got a letter."

Gosunkugi's eyes went wide. "But...that's not-"

"So I decided to check up on this 'quaint, sleepy town' and I found a few interesting websites that mention it. ' ' and other interesting sites that are your area of expertise."

"Nabiki...if whatever you got is from Silent Hill, then they're dead."

"No."

"You don't understand Nabiki! That place is hell on ear-"

"No."

Hikaru Gosunkugi did not know that much about the town of Silent Hill actually. He had occasionally seen it referenced when he was researching occult subjects looking for a way to defeat Ranma. On a whim one day he had decided to look into the infamous town. The two hours worth of reading on it had provided a clear enough picture for him to know that it was a place he never wanted to visit, and sure as hell didn't want to live there.

"Nabiki, I don't know enough about that place to help you, but believe me don't go there! I mean, what you're talking about, it sounds too much like the Sunderland Case."

"So you do know about it." Her eyes still had that frozen quality to them. She gestured to the paper in his hands. "Tell me what I want to know. If I'm happy, I'll clear your debt."

"What?"

"Every last yen."

A long quiet pause between the two as Gosunkugi weighed his options. "I'll be back in five minutes. Do you want to wait inside?"

"You have three, and no."

Gosunkugi ran for the family computer to print out what information he could pull up quickly. He shook his head clear in silent chastisement as he felt a twinge of elation that his debt to the Ice Queen would be gone. 'NO! I'm sending her to die there. I have to do something! I mean she could be alive!'

A second voice chimed in his voice full of spite 'Like you did anything at the wedding? No Hikaru, you wont be doing anything here. You warned her, you know that she's going to go anyway. She knows some of her family's art. She will be fine, what you need to do is make sure she knows what she's getting into.'

The first voice came back 'Don't listen to him! Besides, there HAVE been cases where people don't see anything at all, and they really could be alive, maybe you should go! You could see her again, save her from that Hell! You can do it man!'

'Oh no, oh HELL no! You are not going into that place. Hikaru! Are you listening to me?! You don't NEED to go! She is gone!'

As the last page printed out Gosunkugi had made up his mind. He grabbed a suitcase and filled it with odds and ends of junk that might have a use, maybe, well you never knew. He went to the front door where Nabiki was still standing in the rain.

She looked him up and down, "I only have airfare for one."

"But you-"

"No." She grabbed the paper out of his hands, then walked away from the Gosunkugi household.

'I told you! She can't protect you there! I mean, look at you! Do you really thing you can survive more than a few seconds there?'

"SHUT UP!" Gosunkugi collapsed at the door as the fragile wall he built up to hide these last few days away shattered. As he lay there on the ground sobbing that first voice inside whispered to him. 'Go, go there Hikaru. Find her, find her! And don't let anyone get in your way Hikaru.'

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As Nabiki walked through the ruined shopping district of Nerima, she stared at the burnt out, colorless husks of the stores. She could almost hear the screams again, as the water caused the charred wood to warp, scrape, crack, and rot.

She shook her head while she passed the two ash-grayed corpses of once-familiar restaurants, and considered that she would never be able to eat ramen or okonomiyaki again without collapsing into tears. The madness she had left behind only days ago, had just spread out to all corners of the ward, consumed it and eating at it like decay, and left a lifeless, broken, and dark shell. With everything else that had happened, Nabiki supposed that she had developed a little madness now as well. After all, one doesn't get letters and pictures from dead people.

She knew this.

Silent Hill was a town in America with a dark history. People inexplicably going insane, committing senseless murders, rumors that it was the base of a rather powerful cult all spoke of the ill within the seemingly desolate burg. There was a very very good chance that if she entered the town, she would end up leaving in a straightjacket, or a body bag.

She knew this too

However, if there was a chance that she was there, even a small glimmer of a fraction, an utterly improbable chance, she would have to go. If she was there then Nabiki would find her, and then face all the others. She would apologize, confess, forgive, repent, and then kill.

This... she knew as an absolute truth.

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Nabiki looked over the material she had gotten from Gosunkugi. She was mildly impressed with the depth of it. There were the usual LexisNexus news items and some maps of the town and surrounding areas. The truly interesting information were the articles written by David Burlew. A journalist famous for his exposes upon the town and the peculiar goings on within. He had gone missing last year, the details of his disappearance were vague and ties to the town were obviously present. The result had catapulted his work from the fifth page story of the Weekly World News to the first page of the American Occultist Journal. Both of which earning the same amount of credibility

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The geographic location of Silent Hill is designed for isolation. A basin set inside the Catskills, the only way inside one of the two ravines leading into it. Lake Toluca located dead center of the basin serves to effective bisect the town into the elder commercial district and the newer part of town that has the larger part of the residential area. Though only 30 minutes away from a town in either direction it still retains a sense of isolation. It's almost as if the earth itself is trying to cut it off from the rest of the world, like a malignant tumor festering, eating away at the heath of the world, spiritually and physically trying to reach out with its demonic tentacles and destroy everything holy and good in the world.

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'He certainly has a flair for the dramatic.' Nabiki thought to herself. She opened her carryon bag and took out a small orange bottle. As she took off the child-safe cap she reminded herself that she needed to file the paperwork so Dr. Tofu would receive his memorial hospital. She popped two of the plum colored octagons and slipped into unconciousness. Nabiki did receive a dreamless sleep as her plane traveled and landed at LAX. She quietly transferred to her next plane and repeated her ritual with the purple pills.

This time however, perhaps Nabiki needed to take one more pill, maybe the past events finally hit home, or it could be Burlew's demonic tentacles striking out. Either way, when Nabiki slept on that flight, she dreamed.

Nabiki fidgeted in her bridesmaid dress, maybe it was time she start to consider her options. Well there may be time for that later, at least she hoped so, after all the third time was the charm, right? They had tried a small private ceremony again, big mistake. This time, through no fault of her own this time, Ryoga had wandered into the chapel of course at the time of objections. Following him was the Chinese Trio, then the Kunos, the Ukyo and soon it was a giant riot all over again. Nabiki then applied simple Nerima logic to it, if a small quiet ceremony created a disaster...then maybe they should invite everybody to get it be peaceful! After countless invitations and RSVPs she actually thought that this might work.

The Kuno's were actually behaving, with the help of Nodoka she had found some old obscure samurai codes no one bothered to take off the books. As a result they were honor bound to sit there, enjoy the wedding, and congradulate the bride and groom. If they didn't then after the wedding there would be another ceremony, and then a funeral.

She shot a look at Cologne, she returned it with the look of absolute utter hatred and death. She sort of felt sorry for the old ghoul, for a moment. The matriarch had experienced the full wrath of the Middle Tendo. If she or Shampoo so much as blinked wrong then health inspectors, immigration officials, a few bigots focused on racial purity, a gentleman in a suit with tattoos on his back, and an ill tempered and very respected food critic would all descend upon the Nekoken. Add to that the Musk and Chinese Government receiving a complete file detailing the activities, location, and weaknesses of the amazon's village. Needless to say she had them over the barrel, a bus, and a flaming hoop.

Ukyo was tough. Nabiki decided to try the wealth card, using her contacts to ensure her getting an amazingly lucrative catering deal. If she decided to not hold her peace, then she, her father, and anyone closely related to her would be rendered bankrupt.

Ryoga managed to get lost between the distance of the dressing room and the chapel. Nabiki knew he would probably show up again, but Nabiki had Ranma make him the best man. Ranma was more than happy to do it really, they were friends of a sort. Nabiki had also gotten Akari and her pets to come and made her a bridesmaid. A passing mention in jest about the 'duty' the best man has to perform with the bridesmaid with both Ryoga and Akari present. If Ryoga didn't faint from the blood loss first he would most likely not be a problem even if he showed up at the objection part.

Tsubasa, Konatsu, and Mousse were more than happy to help out. They helped decorate, general security for any rouge fiancées/rivals, and general fashion and decorating advice. That last one mostly from the two crossdessers, they had been very helpful, disregarding that little argument on if they should be bridesmaids or best men. Mousse was Ryoga's stand in for best man, also he had been dropping hints about how that there may need to be a second wedding soon after this one. Nabiki could hope he was right, but the smart money was on things continuing on normally as far as Shampoo and Mousse went. However, Shampoo had kept on stealing looks at Mousse when not looking at Ranma crying or Akane growling.

Genma, and Nodoka were sobbing with joy. Genma extra hard because his wife found out about their curses and chose to not execute the contract. Also she and Genma had rekindled the romance in their lives. Nabiki didn't really want to know the details but there were rumors that included the name Katherine the Great.

Her father...well the word deluge seemed to be appropriate.

Dr. Tofu began to go through the ceremony. Apparently he was an ordained minister at one point of his life, not too surprising Nabiki supposed. A small miracle had occurred as he was perfectly calm despite Kasumi standing a few feet away as one of the two maids of honor.

"Wonderful!" Tofu clapped his hands! "I know pronounce you man and wife!"

Nabiki let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding in. The point in time when she was sure that the world would collapse into chaos had passed and nothing had happened. As the couple slipped on their rings and kissed Nabiki took one long look around the room. Everyone looked happy, even Cologne's fury had cooled. Nabiki almost could have sworn she saw Mommy standing at the doors to the altar tears streaming down her cheeks.

That's when Akane turned to Tofu and snapped his neck.

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Nabiki woke with a start. She managed to keep from screaming that time. She disembarked the plane, grabbed her luggage that had miraculously not been lost in transit and proceeded to the taxi port.

"Silent Hill, please." Nabiki hoped that those English lessons had paid off.

The gentleman in the turban turned around to look at the Japanese woman in his backseat. "Silent Hill? You have wonderful taste in vacation spots, my wife and I went there for our honeymoon. Beautiful place."

Nabiki just stared back at her driver and smiled. "Yes, my sister and brother-in-law took theirs there as well." Nabiki was a little impressed with herself. True, her English was slow and had a heavy accent to it, but it was passable.

The driver smiled back at the woman and after a short conversation discussing fares he took off towards the Catskills.

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I believe that there are several Silent Hills all existing in the same place. I've interviewed many people, each one giving me a different story. Some people, mostly young children, find Silent Hill to be a gorgeous place, full of life and peaceful. The majority of visitors and residents see it just as an average town, no better or worse than their own hometown. Part of this group do recount times when a dense mist filled the town and it appeared to be abandoned, harmless as any ghost town. The rest recount tales of filth and decay, a town broken and dying, and within that group there are people who tell stories about things even worse.

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The taxi parked at the observation deck to the lake on the elder commercial side of the town.

"I would love to take you into town, but the road is out ahead, construction. This is far as I can go."

"This is fine."

"Well at least let me give you this map to the area." The taxi driver handed Nabiki a visitor's brochure that included a map of the area and several descriptions of the local attractions.

"Thank you." Nabiki watched as the friendly driver turned around and drove away. He was very kind to her, telling her about the beauties of the town and asking innocent questions about her visit. She didn't like lying to him.

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She dug out of her duffle bag the two items she had received, a picture of Ranma and Akane smiling, the lake to their sides, framed in sunset. A letter was included detailing the beauty and the fun they were having. She held the picture up to attempt to gauge where it was taken. The only clue she could get was a sign on a building to the other side. Pete's Bowl-a-rama. She checked the map again and found the place. She knew that, most likely, they hadn't gone bowling but for now it was the only lead she had.

Of course she couldn't forget the simple fact that it was physically impossible for these two items to exist. Kasumi had returned from the morgue teary eyed after identifying the bodies.

However impossible or not, Nabiki Tendo had to see what was going on here, she was obligated to get answers. For her family, for the Saotomes, for all the wedding guests, and most importantly for herself.

. Nabiki sighed and turned to walk down the observation deck into the town of Silent Hill.

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But there's one constant I've discovered about Silent Hill. Everyone who enters that town is there for a very specific reason.

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Author's Notes: Reviews, comments, flames are all welcome. David Burlew comes from Dan Birlew A.K.A President Evil, writer of the Silent Hill Strategy Guides and some very deep plot anyalsises on Gamefaqs. I would also like to thank the invaluable help of WFROSE. If you haven't read any of his works DO IT NOW!