Ryoga : Crossover
by Mark Latus
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic in nine parts

The Quick Guide to Ryoga Hibikis
Ryoga 1 - The only Ryoga who belongs on this world.  The guy you've seen in the
          anime.
Ryoga 2 - Engaged to the Nabiki of his world.  Has the same curse as Ranma. AKA
          Ryoga 1/2, Ryoga-chan.
Ryoga 3 - Married the Shampoo of his world shortly after meeting her.  Normally
          lives in China.  Trained by Cologne.
Ryoga 4 - Engaged to the Ukyou of his world.
Ryoga 5 - Forcibly engaged to Kodachi of his world.  Slightly paranoid.
Ryoga 6 - R.I.P.
Ryoga 7 - An android (unit 303, model 17 AKA a Ryogoid) from an alternate 
          world's future.  Possesses the memories and emotions of its 
          psychopathic creator.  One mean bastard.


Part 8 : The Terminator Blues

     The Ryogoid chuckled to itself, this was going to be most amusing.  "Well
Ranma as a guest in this house I should be polite.  Please feel free to strike
first."
     "Fine by me."  Ranma launched a flurry of punches and kicks.  His form was
excellent, unfortunately not a single one made contact.  The android dodged
every one with ease.  It didn't strike back, in fact it clasped its hands behind
its back.  Then continued dodging with a look of extreme boredom on its face.
     Ranma paused for a moment, angrier than he'd been in ages.  This thing was
making him look like a fool.  It smiled at him and said, "Have you started yet
Ranma?"  The incredibly condescending tone of its voice infuriated Ranma even
more.  It was time for an attack too fast for anything to dodge.
     "See how you like this, TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"  Ranma threw hundreds of 
punches in the space of seconds.  The android didn't dodge these, it could have
but didn't bother.  The effect wasn't quite what Ranma had hoped.
     Ranma ceased his attack and tried not to scream in pain.  The Ryogoid 
asked him, "I did mention the armour plating under my artificial skin?  You
people think of ceramics as fragile but by my time you'd be amazed at how light
and strong we can make them."
     Everyone was still watching him, Ranma realized.  He was not going to let
anyone see him lose.  He ignored the pain and started to concentrate his Chi.
"OK, no more messing around."  A glowing aura surrounded him as he built his
power.  The android waited for him.  With its speed it would be simple to dash
forward and punch a finger into Ranma's heart.  Simple, but lacking in 
amusement.
     "Are you ready yet?  Even machines get bored."
     Ranma glared at his enemy, "Laugh this off, MOUKO TAKABISHYA!"
     The energy blast hurtled toward the machine.  About half a metre from its
target it flared and dispersed.  Almost as if it had hit an invisible wall.
     Ranma (and everyone else) couldn't believe it.  What the heck just 
happened?  The Ryogoid chuckled again.  "People tend to forget the bottom line.
The bottom line is that energy is energy.  Any form of it can be produced if you
know how.  We know how.  My internal Chi Generators can outperform the greatest
master of this or any other time.  I can use them to create kinetic energy 
bursts, plasma spheres, lightning or an energy reflecting force shield.  Now 
Ranma, I think it's my turn."
     It held its right hand palm up.  Almost instantaneously an energy sphere
formed and launched itself at Ranma.  Ranma was slammed back into the garden
wall.  He pulled himself out of the rubble and said, "Is that the best you can
do, tincan?"  He took one step forward then blacked out and collapsed.  Akane
rushed to his side.
     The android started to turn away from Ranma to face the rebels.  Then it
paused and snapped its fingers, "Sorry, almost forgot.  Shishi houkoudan or 
whatever."
     It completed the turn.  Ryoga 2 stood between it and the rebels.  A 
negative emotion fueled energy sphere was forming between his hands.  The 
machine smiled, "Going straight for the heavy stuff, hmm?"
     "Seems to be the only thing that'll work."
     "It won't work.  I just demonstrated that."
     "I prefer to see for myself."
     The Ryogoid pointed past him to Perrier and Sadu.  "They were trying to
kill you very recently.  Why protect them?"
     Ryoga 2 glared at the android.  "I don't like them, but I like you a lot
less.  You dragged me and the others into this world for the sole purpose of
being your decoys.  Now one of us is dead and Ryoga 5 is crippled.  It's your 
fault and you're going to pay for it."
     Completely unworried the Ryogoid reviewed its options.  It could block the
Chi sphere with its shield or simply evade the attack.  Evasion would do fine,
more disconcerting.  Ryoga 2 was ready to fire, time to dodge.
     OVERRIDE.
     The android's movement systems froze up.  What the hell?  Then the energy
sphere slammed into it.  The android hit the ground hard and unfroze.  Only
superficial structural damage, clothing and artifical skin shredded over 40%
of its body, minor damage to cermaic armour.  It triggered its self diagnostic
programs, no program failure apparent.  Except it couldn't be functioning
normally.  What just happened?  Its sensors detected a nearby Chi buildup,
this time it was Ryoga 3.
     "You know number 2 over there is right.  Those people wouldn't had tried
to kill us if you hadn't brought us here.  Besides if we wreck you maybe we
get to go back home."
     Ryogas 1 and 4 looked at one another, one wanted his duplicates gone, the 
other wanted to be gone.  Both began focusing chi.
     Ryoga 3 seemed to feel he'd built enough power and prepared to release it.
The android had the same two choices, actually it only had one choice.  It
activated its energy shield.
     OVERRRIDE.
     Its internal chi generators off-lined and the energy wave slammed into
it.   It impacted the ground again.  The generators came back on-line as 
subsystems began reporting damage.  Nothing too serious so far but internal
diagnostics were still reporting no program failure.  So why were its defense
protocols not working.
     New tactic, best defense is kill your enemy.  Ryoga 3 was the most 
dangerous, take him out first.  It jumped up, a plasma bolt to the head would
...
     OVERRIDE.
     Its attack stopped before it began, as soon as it thought about it.  What
was happening?  Two more Chi spheres slammed into it, again defensive systems
shut down.  For the first time in its existence it didn't know what to do.
     Soun and Genma looked at one another, "It seems the false Ryoga is not
as tough as it claimed."
     "Indeed, then I should teach it not to strike my son."
     Soun and Genma launched themselves through the air.  The Ryogoid saw them
coming and swatted them out of the air with ease.  They hit the ground dazed.
The machine considered the implications, it had defended itself without any
trouble then.  Perhaps its systems were back to normal.  A test of attack
systems was clearly in order.  Akane was still crouched by the unconscious
Ranma.  The perfect test, its creator had loved her.  If it could kill her
then it could kill anyone.
     It looked at Akane and raised its right hand.  An energy sphere began
to form.  "Nothing personal Akane, but you have to die now."
     "AKANE!", Ryoga 1 screamed as he jumped between her and the Ryogoid.
     OVERRIDE.
     The energy sphere destabilised and detonated in the android's hand.  Its
internal systems began screaming damage reports.  Chi Emitters in the right 
palm had just been destroyed.  Three of its fingers were immobile, wrist
mobility 25% of optimum, various feedback damage throughout the arm.  What
was happening, and why did diagnostics still report no evidence of program 
failure?
     From his slumped position Ryoga 5 chuckled.  "You can't fight Ryogas
can you?  Makes sense, after all a megalomanic would be worried that 
machines with his memory might try to overthrow him.  So he puts a failsafe
in his robots, 'Thou shalt not mess with Ryoga Hibiki'.  And that makes the
situation here very different."
     A binary pulse flickered through the android's cyber consciousness.  
Translated into human terms it would say, "Shit, that's what's wrong with me."
It made sense.  Hypothesis, Emperor Hibiki has an override device hardwired
into every android.  This monitors a Ryogoid's mind and engages if the android
contemplates violence against Ryoga Hibiki.  It overrides these actions before
thought can be translated to deed.  And, to prevent a traitorous android 
escaping, Ryogoids are incapable of defending themselves against Ryoga Hibiki.
This hardware is an integral part of the android mind, probably it cannot be
removed without destroying the android.  In fact if it could be safely removed
that would defeat the whole purpose.  Diagnostics don't report the override as
program failure because it's supposed to be there.  
     That explained what was going wrong.  It also meant unit 303 was trapped
in a garden with five people it couldn't defend itself against.  Five pissed
off people capable of destroying it through continued bombardmant.  This was a
definite problem.
     Command directives flickered through its mind.  First priority was the 
termination of the surviving rebels.  Approximately fifteen hours from now
the Quantum Shift Charge they received when using the time machine would
expire.  They would snap back to the Homeworld.  There they could kill the
future emperor and destroy the empire before it had even begun.
     Elimination of the rebels outweighed all other considerations, including
personal survival.  If necessary it would self destruct to kill them.  If its
fusion powercell detonated everything within a kilometre would be destroyed.
Arming procedures began ...
     OVERRIDE.
     ... and aborted.  It couldn't directly take any action that would harm
Ryoga Hibiki.  When the override was invented the concept that more than one 
ever existed was never considered.  After all until the discovery of alternate
universes the concept was clearly ludicrous.  It had had to something fast,
somehow the rebels must be eliminated before it was destroyed.
     Ryoga 2 was still between it and Perrier and Sadu.  If it charged him ...
     OVERRIDE.
     No attacks allowed.  Chi energy cursts continued to hammer it.  New 
option, hit the pond with a kinetic energy burst spraying water everywhere.  
Four of the Ryogas would convert to animal form, leaving only one to block and
attack it.  Unfortunately Ryoga 2 would be the one to retain human form.  Still
it would prolong operational lifetime.  It started to aim at the pond ...
     OVERRIDE.
     Obviously that counted as an attack.  It had to think of something else
fast.  There was one thing that might work.  When it arrived it had been
carrying (hidden in its book bag) the transmitter array that locked the 
alternate Ryogas into this universe.  It wasn't equipped for remote shutdown
but destruction of it would remove four Ryogas from this universe.  The 
remaining Ryoga would be more interested in protecting Akane than shielding the
rebels.
     It started toward the house but Ryoga 5 stepped into its path.  The glow of
his aura was bright enough to make the humans shield their eyes.  "You owe me 
for my arm, bastard! I've never been this angry before!", he snarled.  A rage
fueled Chi sphere formed in his remaining hand.  The power level was 
remarkable, who'd have believed meat could generate like that.
     The Ryogoid knew that if it didn't get around the override system fast it
was in trouble.  Unfortunately there was no way around it.  
     The sphere's impact smashed the Ryogoid into the garden wall.  Damage 
reports scrolled through its mind, mobility at 40%, left leg nonfunctional, 
chest armour caved inwards.  The only undamaged things were its facial features
(the attacks having been body blows) and the multi redundant Quantum Stabilizer 
System which held it in this universe.
     Ryoga 5 collapsed, he'd put all his remaining strength into that attack.
Ryoga 3 was building power for his ultimate technique.  It was time to finish
this.
     A new plan formed in the crippled android's mind.  A fairly desperate plan
but its options were rather limited.  It pulsed instructions to the transmitter
array.  Waves of energy rolled from the hidden device, some of them visible to
humans.
     Ryoga 2 shouted to 3, "I don't know what's happening but we'd better 
destroy it quickly!"
     Ryoga 3 nodded, "Almost ready, just a few seconds more."
     The Ryogoid's sensors reported success, synchronisation had been achieved.
Now for a destination.  Ryoga 3 was ready to fire, no time to choose.  It'd have
to jump blindly.
     "DRAGON CLAW STRIKE!"
     Ryoga 3's attack wave surged towards the android.  Which flickered out of 
existence a moment before impact.  The energy wave chewed through the wall and
ripped a deep trench in the street.
     Ryoga 3 paused for breath, Ryoga 4 slapped him on the back.  "You blasted
it to pieces, excellent."
     Ryoga 3 shook his head, "No, I missed.  He vanished just before it hit
him somehow."
     Ryoga 2 was looking around the battle torn garden, "They're all gone!"
     Everyone stared, it was true.  The live rebels, the dead ones, their 
weapons, the bloodstains, every trace of them was gone.
     Nabiki was the first to ask, "Where ... where did they go?"
     Ryoga 2 answered hesitantly, "I think ... I think the robot left here 
somehow.  And when it did it dragged everything that belonged in its world
with it."
     "But where did it go?"
     No one answered, no one knew.
     Transition completed and the android looked around.  Success.  It had used
the transmitter array to cancel the Quantum Charge holding all matter that 
passed throught the time machine in the previous world.  As it did that it had
synchronised the matter to the field generated by its own Quantum Stabiliser.
Finally using its inbuilt emergency Dimensional Shift System it had jumped 
randomly into another world.  The Quantum Stabilisation Field had dragged all
synchronised matter with it.  The transmitter array remained behind, held in
place by its own stabiliser.  It would return and retrieve it later.
     Once again the Tendo garden was full of bodies.  The android's personal
system was incapable of performing spacial changes, that required larger
hardware.  So it was in this dimension's counterpart to the Tendo yard.
     First things first.  Sadu and Perrier were slumped nearby, groaning.  Jump
disorientation combined with theie injuries had dazed them.  Good, it didn't 
need additional complications.  Even with all the damage it had suffered 
killing two unarmed humans would be easy.
     "YOU SCUM!"  The voice came from the figure who had just emerged from the
house.  It was absolutely the last voice unit 303 wanted to hear.
     This world's Ryoga Hibiki glared at the Ryogoid and the scattered corpses.
Strangely he showed no shock or fear.  Just anger, and a certain resignation.
     "You Chronos bastards stop at nothing do you.  It's not enough to kill
people, you've got to do it while wearing my face!"
     "What the hell is he talking about?", the android wondered.  Chronos?
CHRONOS! No it couldn't be, not this world of all the possible choices.
     "GUYVER!"
     Yes it could.
     The Bio Booster Armour formed around Ryoga.  He jumped and landed between 
his enemy and the two survivors.  Strange, the body of this Zoanoid looked 
manufactured.  Normally they looked far more organic.
     The Ryogoid sensed power building in the Guyver's chest plate.  He was 
going to use the Megasmasher right away.  Typical Hibiki approach, why use a
mallet if you've got a sledgehammer?  It had to do something fast.  If it was
destroyed so was the stabiliser.  With nothing to hold them here the rebels
would snap back to the Prime Worldline.  Where they could destroy the glory 
that was to follow before it happened.
     It tried frantically to find a way around the override.  There was none.
It was trapped, the only option was deactivating the stabiliser and snapping
back to the homeworld.
     OVERRIDE
     It couldn't take action that might damage the course of history.  It was
forbidden to enter the past of the Empire.  It would take about 60 seconds to
recharge its Dimensional Shift System.  The Megasmasher would fire in about 15.
No way to block or evade, it was doomed.  For the first time it felt a new
emotion.  Fear.  It was going to die pointlessly and perhaps doom the empire
in the process.  It had to do something, say something, anything!
     "I don't want to die I've done a lot of rotten things.  What if there's a
hell for robots?"
     Then the Megasmasher flared and unit 303 ceased to exist.  Along with its
Quantum Stabiliser.
     Ryoga turned to the two survivors.  He needed to know who they were and 
why Chronos had murdered their companions here.  There was no one behind him.
The garden was empty again, no trace that there ever had been bodies here.  No
one nearby, no sign of Zoanoids, nothing.
     He deactivated the Guyver Armour.  It folded itself back into whatever
dimension it called home.  Was he seeing things or was Chronos playing 
mindgames?
     With the elation of battle gone his depression returned.  He'd go down
fighting but he knew there was no chance of winning.  Chronos was a worldwide
conspiracy with seemingly unlimited resources, he was just a teenager with an
alien artifact.  One man against thousands, Chronos was everywhere.  He 
couldn't be everywhere they struck.  How many times had they killed friends 
and he'd been powerless to stop them?  Ukyou, Genma, Mousse ... the list went 
on.  All slaughtered by Chronos's monsters.  
     He stepped back inside, pausing at Kasumi's shrine.  Slaughtered by 
Chronos or abducted and transformed into Zoanoids.   Zoanoids that died at
his hands.  As always he whispered, "I'm sorry Kasumi, I had no choice."
     "Ryoga?  I ... I thought I heard the Megasmasher.", Nabiki asked him
nervously as she peered around the corner.  She must have gone to bed, she'd
taken off her eyepatch.  It had been a while since he'd seen the full scar.
The doctors did everything they could but there was no way to save her eye.
     "You did", he answered, "But I may have been shooting at shadows.  Maybe
I've been walking the edge so long that I finally slipped off."
     Nabiki said nothing, she just shivered.  She'd always been so self 
assured, now she was so fragile.  Not that surprising after what she'd been
through.  Especially if her nightmares were anything like his.
     He continued, "I didn't mean to wake you.  Think I disturbed Akane and
Ranma?"
     "No.  Sounds like they're otherwise occupied.  Probably didn't hear a
thing."
     He nodded absently, that answer would have upset him not too long ago.
Now nothing seemed to matter except surviving to fight another day.  Realizing
just how short life could be Akane and Ranma had stopped playing games and got
serious.  Fine by him, people should grab the happiness they could while they
still had time.  Far too soon all hell would break loose on them again.
     Overhead he heard Soun crying in his sleep.  He'd never recovered from
Kasumi's death, he rarely spoke these days.
     Nabiki sat down, he sat beside her.  Tentatively he rested his arm on her
shoulders.  She began to shake and he withdrew it hurriedly.  Everyone in this
house was walking wounded in some fashion.
     He cleared his throat, as always his mind had drifted back to the same 
thing.  "You know, I keep thinking 'what if?'  If I'd just walked any other
direction that day nothing would have changed.  Chronos was around before we 
were born.  They were always there, we just didn't know it.  I really wish I
still didn't know it."
     He continued bitterly, "Things used to be fun around here.  Maybe 
personally embarassing sometimes, or painful but underneath it all wild and
crazy.  Then I stumbled on that damn Guyver Unit and everything turned to 
shit.  The closest thing to cute lately was when I had to activate the Guyver 
while I was P-chan.  That Gregol laughed its head off.  Right up to the point I 
decapitated it for real.
     "This world's a dead end.  Sooner or later Chronos will win.  We'll go
down fighting, but we will go down.  It'd just be nice to think that 
somewhere things were different."
     Nabiki nodded, she thought about her personal history having been 
different every day.  But she knew that this was the only world she had.  It 
was foolish to dream that things might have been different.

end of part 8

Authors note:  Now that the cyberpunkish stuff is done it's back to a more
               character driven story for the final episode.  For anyone who
               thinks I dragged Guyer-Ryoga out of nowhere; the android
               mentioned knowing about him back in Part 2.  Foreshadowing
               strikes again.

Next episode:  Back to the Tendo home as the surviving Ryogas go home.  
               Leading to six different endings.
Part 9 : Departures and Consequences.