Ranma and The Doctor

Chapter 1

Change, Acceptance, Conglomeration, Arrival

"Ranma! Jump into the water!"

The redhead snapped her head to look at Ryoga, the Open Water Kettle boiling the geyser streaming out of the earth.

Damn! I've already started the spiral... Taking a look at Herb, she realised that the fight could continue later. I've got to get it!

Noticing the change in her eyes, Herb growled. "You're not backing out of this Ranma Saotome!" A ki blast flew by her as she started jumping to get to Ryoga.

Lime burst through the steaming water. "You bastard! How dare you throw me into the Earth!" He smashed his fists on Ryoga's head.

"Argh!" With his spare hand he pointed at a nearby rock. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The blasting particles flew everywhere, but didn't affect the resilient Lime as much as Ryoga hoped.

Herb managed to singe the black material of Ranma's bottoms, and again it struck the already fragile land.

A combination of the rushing water, the Bakusai Tenketsu, the ki blasts, and more crucially, the lack of the hot spiral keeping the soil packed together, resulted in the premature collapse of Mount Horaisan. The combatants all paused to get their bearings as the ground shook violently.

Off balance by a stray punch from Lime, Ryoga vitally let go of the Open Water Kettle to pound the tiger man back in the face. However this moment was the point in which that section of rock split, and fell into the crevice.

"No!"

Ranma jumped futilely, bounding off walls and boulders in an effort to reach it. She could only watch on horrified, as instead of it vanishing into the abyss, a falling rock crushed the Kettle against the wall, shearing the magical artefact into tiny pieces. White lines in the shape of runes, strange characters from other languages, and various symbols illuminated and died away with the mangled metal.

She stared listlessly into the chasm, ignorant of the dangers around her, as the terrain crumbled away.

"Ranma!" Ryoga cried out, not before roundhousing Lime away. "Get moving, this place is going to fall apart!"

Still, she knelt there, her eyes losing their focus.

It's gone... I'll never... never be a man again... Her hands moved slowly, grabbing the clay like soil beneath her. Cursed to be a woman forever...

Mousse was throwing more daggers at the dextrous Mint, but quickly saw what was happening. "Ranma! Watch out!"

The edge that Ranma was perched on began to crack at the seam.

She wasn't paying attention to this, and put her hands up in her hair and let out a scream. Ryoga and Mousse winced, the raw emotion in that yell was worse than they ever imagined.

She fell, exhausted both physically and emotionally from everything, and fainted.

"Ranma!" Ryoga and Mousse both delayed their enemies and tried to save her, but they were too far away.

Suddenly, the floating figure of Herb swooped in and grabbed the redhead, and once he reached the safer edge, started running from the peak to lower ground.

30 minutes later
Somewhere on Mount Horaisan

Two eyelids fluttered open, to lay eyes on two blurry figures.

"Ryoga... Mousse..." The eyes widened and held her throat briefly, then stared at the hands. "So... It wasn't a nightmare..."

Ryoga looked down, a strange green aura growing around him. "I'm sorry Ranma... If I hadn't asked you to get it -"

"Heh..." She sat up and flicked some of her hair away. "'S not your fault, I just wasn't fast enough." She flexed her arm muscle. "I'll find another way to cure myself, that's all!" Her smile was twinged with something else, as it turned down at the edges, her ki senses noting that there was more than the two powers near her.

Mouse adjusted his glasses, looking oddly pensive and saddened. "Ranma, Herb wants to speak to you..." Ranma turned quickly, the news a surprise to her. "I'll have to hold Ryoga back though…"

She looked back and saw the lost boy gritting his teeth in anger, and nodded to Mousse, who began to coax Ryoga away from them.

The tall figure of Herb strode up to Ranma, as she sat up to face him, her legs not quite steady enough to stand up just yet.

Herb looked down at Ranma, his face still angry from the fight. Sighing, he held out his hand. Looking at it for a few moments, but not sensing any malevolent purpose, she accepted it, and he pulled her up, before stepping back and relaxing his guard.

"Ranma, I did not mean for you to remain cursed forever. I would have allowed you use of the Kettle."

She bit back with a smirk. "You sure have a funny way of showing it…"

Herb returned the smirk. "I understand that my actions were inexcusable, and I apologise profusely. I hope you can forgive me in time."

Ranma's eyes bore into his, startling the dragon descendant partly. "I don't think anything you can say or do will give back my manhood…" The fire in her eyes died down. "If you really mean what you said, then help me to find a cure. I'm sure you realised how bad it would be to live as a woman forever…"

Herb shuddered. "The thought did cross my mind, I didn't like what I saw of the future…" He paused for a moment, before nodding. "I will do all in my power to track down a cure for you. This was my boorish fault, and I will do this much to make amends with you."

Ranma folded her arms and looked over Herb's shoulder to see the retainers standing far away, the larger one had many bruises on his body. "What happened to him?"

Herb smiled. "Ask your friends over there." Herb bowed lightly. "I will take my leave now and return home. There I will be able to get more information about a permanent lock, and I can start my search for a cure."

Ranma smiled. "Thanks Herb."

The Musk Prince left the area, his two bodyguards loyally following behind him. Ryoga and Mousse wandered up to Ranma.

"So, what did he say?" Mousse asked.

"He wants to help me…" Ranma replied neutrally. "He feels responsible." She cast her eyes over Ryoga, peering closely at the lost boy and grinned. "Thanks Ryoga, for protecting the damsel in distress ag-OWWW!" She rubbed at the large bump growing on her scalp. "Man, relax, it was just a joke!"

Ryoga stood up huffily. "We'd better get home, the mountain collapsing probably reached the news by now..."

"Yeah..." Ranma got up on her own. "I guess..." She looked back at the ruined peak. "I'll have to disappoint Akane this time..."

Mousse adjusted his glasses and followed them both in pace as they returned home.

Nerima
Several hours later

Akane saw the news footage of the large cracks in the earth and shattered rocks. Emergency teams milled about the place to check that there were no people injured, and of the threat of more quakes.

Deep down, she knew that the cause of the collapse was Ranma somehow. The several signs of bad omen that occurred around the house also did nothing to settle her mind.

Her hearing picked up the soft padding of someone landing on the roof. Excusing herself from the television, she walked up the stairs slowly and peered into the bathroom. Seeing that it was empty, she moved on to the guest room.

She saw two darkened figures in there, sitting again the wall facing the door. "Ranma, is that you?"

"Yeah, he's with me Akane-san..." One of them stood up, recognising the voice as Ryoga's.

Akane smiled a bit. "So, you're back home Ranma, I'm glad..."

"Not quite Akane..." The dejected voice wasn't happy, and the second person also rose up, though at a more leisurely pace.

Akane was puzzling over the voice, and why he wasn't back entirely. One major point failed to hit her until the lights were switched on.

The voice was female.

"Ranma..." Akane's eyes teared up. "You're not..." She shook her head, not wanting to say it..."

"Yeah..." The redhead put a hand behind her head. "Sorry about that, things kinda went messed up there..."

Akane's eyes grew hotter, and she glared strongly at Ryoga.

"I thought you were supposed to help him?!" She sent a punch in his direction, and he didn't bother blocking it, allowing it to hit his cheek. "Why couldn't you help him?!"

She pounded her fists on his chest, all the while Ryoga getting sicker with guilt and sadness. Soon the punches were bare taps, and her hands drew away from him.

"Why...?"

Ranma pulled Akane away from Ryoga. "It's okay, Ryoga really helped me out there, he saved the Kettle from being crushed." She looked away from them. "I wasn't thinking straight. I gave up the battle, to go and cure myself. I lost my only chance." She looked back at Akane. "It wasn't his fault, it was mine."

"Ranma..." They both muttered. Tears were freely pouring from the blue haired girl. She ran in and hugged Ranma, clutching her tightly, repeating her name over and over.

"I... I'll be excusing myself now..." Ryoga made his way to the window, a pulsating green ki growing around him.

"Wait Ryoga-kun..." Akane said suddenly. "I..."

He smiled, though it never reached his eyes. "It's okay Akane-san." He grew stern and focussed on Ranma. "I'm going to search Japan, and I won't stop until I find a cure."

"Ryoga... You don't have to you know..." Ranma began.

"I know." He interrupted. "But I want to." He opened the window. "I'll try to come back every month or so... Goodbye..."

Without a chance for either of them to protest, he jumped out. Running to the window, they both saw that he had vanished into the night air.

Ranma looked at Akane. "I guess I'll get a good night's rest first, then I'll do my own search."

Akane nodded then gave Ranma a quick hug. "I'm sorry Ranma..." She pulled away and gave her a kind stare. "If you ever need any help or... advice... I'm here, okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sure..." Ranma scratched her head. "Anyway, goodnight, Akane."

"'Night Ranma."

Six months later
Sunday, 1996

Ranma lay back on the roof, sunning herself in the midday heat. The shuffling next to her made her raise an eyebrow.

"Hey Akane, taking a break from homework?"

The Tendo girl nodded and sat next to Ranma. "Yeah, didn't feel like being indoors on a day like this." She held out her arms and stretched them both behind her. "Mmm, that's nice..." She lay back and put her arms beside her.

By accident, she brushed her fingers against Ranma's, who flinched away slightly. She gripped his hand quickly and relaxed. She turned her head to face the redhead.

"How're the cramps?"

Ranma made a face and angled her head away, her face growing rosier. "D-Don't ask things like that!"

Akane giggled a little. "Well, at least you started to use a hot water bottle like I told you."

Ranma quivered, but then let out a long sigh. "Yeah, that helped, thanks..." She resumed her staring up at the sky.

Akane did the same and wondered out loud. "Ryoga's not been around for two months..."

Ranma furrowed her brow. "Yeah, I know... That's weird even for him..." She looked at Akane. "I'm a bit worried for him, I don't like the look of his aura... That green ki is making him sick, I'm sure of it..."

Akane shuddered. "I know... I hope we can get him to stop looking this time..."

"Ranma, Akane, lunch is ready!"

Sighing, they squeezed their hands and picked themselves up, jumping lightly off the edge to join the rest of the family.

Meanwhile
Elsewhere in Nerima

A hollow eyed boy was flicking through various magazines.

"Damn, nothing in this one..." Throwing it behind him, he continued to look on. "Hmm... This looks interesting..."

A light cackle later, Gosunkugi picked up his telephone. "So, do you have the item? How much?! Fine, I'll take it... I'll come over in an hour..." Replacing the receiver, he laughed to himself. "Finally, I'll show that Saotome, no more Warsuit, this time I can beat him and prove to Akane that he is a weak person!"

Growing in volume, his laughs scared away the local pigeons, and downstairs his parents were sitting down to lunch. "Oh my... Sounds like our son is happy! Should we give him more time?"

The father nodded, reading his newspaper. "Give him another ten minutes, then it'll be out of his system..."

Sure enough, ten minutes later, he stopped laughing and came down to eat.

Later that day

"So, how the hell does this work?"

Gosunkugi poked at the metallic arm, the same one he bought from his new seller, and sighed.

"I guess I was ripped off again..."

Lifting it up, he stared inside at the hollow gap. Putting his right arm inside, trying to feel anything, he shrugged, and chucked it on the floor. He winced as he removed his hand, having cut it on some innocuous piece of jutting metal.

"Worthless... Well, I'll keep on looking!"

That night

Snore bubble expanding and contracting out of Gosunkugi's nostril, he was blissfully unaware of the outside world. The moonlight streamed in and illuminated the metal arm. A panel opened up on the side.

HUMAN DNA DECODED

REGENERATION COMMENCING

SEARCHING FOR HOST

From the open hollow end, a mercury-like substance flowed out and snaked around the various voodoo objects littered about on the floor, before creeping up onto the bed. Lifting up the sheets, it slithered in and sought out bare skin contact.

Once it touched his left hand, the arm was dragged using the same path as the silvery trail, until it reached the bed. Suddenly, the bed was flooded with the substance, and Gosunkugi's entire body was covered in the glittering fluid. As it entered his pores, he gasped in shock and awoke.

At this point, the arm latched on to his real human one, and seamlessly moulded itself to him.

Gosunkugi screamed.

The next day
Monday
Elsewhere in Nerima

The land was till in the abandoned lot. It had remained that way for many years following some unsuccessful attempts to buy the land from the owner, and one failed building project. As such, it has remained fallow and useless, scattered equipment and worthless materials left lying there for years.

It had seen various strange things in its time, people walking their dogs, training exercises, hushed love confessions, temporary campsites, and fights.

However today was to be its oddest day on record, as the breeze built up speed and blew more blustery. A dry rasping sound pulsed and echoed in the air. A flashing blue light blinked above a transparent, but steadily becoming opaque, blue police box. Soon it was completely solid, and the rasping stopped by a sudden metallic 'thunk'.

The door of the police box unlocked and opened, silhouetting a man in golden light.

---
Author's Notes

Well, the first chapter of this unlikely crossover has appeared, it seems to be the first one (at least on this site). The scene of Gosunkugi being covered in silver mimics the moment in the Spiderman 3 trailer.

The second part of this chapter is mostly written, just some quality checking needed.

- J