Disclaimer: G.I. Joe and Ranma ½ are most definitely not mine. Wish I could claim otherwise though..

Timeline:

G.I. Joe is around five months before the events in G.I. Joe the Movie. It has been a year and a half ever since the episodes of Arise Serpentor Arise took place.

Ranma ½ is three weeks after Ranma's battle with Saffron.

The year is 1987

A G.I. Joe/Ranma ½ Crossover

Crossing the Line

By Darksoar

Prologue:

The office of General Clayton Abernathy was filled with some of the higher ranked officers in G.I. Joe; a special mission force first assembled by General Flagg in the late 1970s to protect America from threats to freedom. They were in discussion about the lack of recent action by Cobra, a terrorist organization bent on world domination. G.I. Joe had already prevented nearly a hundred of Cobra's plans trying to do so.

"It's been a while since we've heard from Cobra, hasn't it?"

"Yes sir, General Hawk. Though I'm glad for the break, I've got a gut feeling that they're building up for something big."

Hawk grimaced, and it wasn't from the bitter tasting coffee. Taking a sip, he replied, "That's what bothers me the most. Duke," he said, turning to G.I. Joe's first sergeant, "has Mainframe or Dial Tone intercepted any information that could give us a clue on what Cobra might be up to this time?"

Duke crossed his arms over his chest, frowning in concentration. He was one of the Joes' earliest officers, having been enlisted in the mid 70's. "No sir, I haven't heard anything from them. Do you want me to get them to check back with me on a daily basis, General Hawk?"

"Hold that thought. How about you, Flint?"

Sgt. Dashiell R. Faireborn, whose code name was Flint, was a Warrant Officer and also one of the best tactical planners Hawk had ever seen. He had drafted and personally led a half dozen rescue missions in hostile territories that for obvious reasons of security were never publicized let alone admitted to. And that was before he joined G.I. Joe.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Duke, General Hawk. It also gives me the goosebumps that the snakes," he referred to the Joes universal nickname for Cobra, "have been laying low for sometime now without a peep. Come to think of it, this is the longest that they've gone without Cobra Commander or Serpentor cooking up some bizarre scheme."

Hawk's brows furrowed in deep thought. After a few seconds of organizing his thoughts, he said with authority, "Okay, this is I want done. Duke, I want you coordinate with Mainframe, Dial Tone and their respective tech crews. Tell them that to increase their efforts at scanning for any hint of anything that Cobra might be planning. No matter how small it is; even if it's a bounced check by one of the Dreadnoks, I don't care. I want a weekly report on the most interesting things they've picked up."

Switching his attention to Flint, Hawk said, "Flint, I want you to work with Sergeant Slaughter, Beach Head, Gung Ho and Leatherneck to intensify our current training program. Make it unpredictable in order to push our boys and girls to their limits. I want progress reports that show just that, progress, and lots of it."

Returning to his desk and sitting down, he eyed both men sternly. "The reason I am doing this, gentlemen, is that several times in the past we've been caught with our pants down by Cobra. I trust both of you remember when Cobra introduced the B.A.T. to us a few months back?" Both officers nodded, grimacing slightly at that memory.

"Well, all I can say is that if indeed Cobra is building up for something big, we can't afford to be caught unprepared. We must be prompt and able to counter anything those snakes throw at us, within a minute's notice." He didn't really have to explain his orders to them, but Hawk had always felt that it cut down on rumors and speculation.

Taking a moment's breather, the commanding officer of G.I. Joe added, "Any questions?" Flint and Duke said simultaneously, "None, sir."

Nodding in satisfaction, Hawk said, "Good. Remember those reports. Dismissed."

Saluting briskly, both men left their superior's office.

At that exact moment in Cobra Terror Dome, ironically, Cobra Commander was having a meeting with his underlings.

Well, he thought of them as underlings. They probably thought of themselves as primary movers and shakers in Cobra. The ungrateful fools owed it to him, for he had founded Cobra in the beginning! He managed to calm himself down slightly enough to proceed with his latest plan, which, unfortunately, they didn't like. And their arguments were?

"Too risky!" retorted Zartan, leader of the Dreadnoks.

Baroness, a beautiful yet deadly European aristocrat turned international terrorist, was the next to voice her dissent. "How will we effectively sentry the entire boundaries of the country? Even from here, I can see a hundred different ways that the Joes can sneak in past whatever patrol we can muster."

"The cost of hiring new men and constructing patrol vehicles is too high," Crimson Guard Commander Tomax remarked in his low-pitched, British accent. Without a pause, his twin brother Xamot continued for him, "We cannot possibly support it under our current budget, Cobra Commander!" The two of them spoke in this manner all the time, completing the other twin's sentences. They also felt what the other was feeling if they were separated over a certain distance. It was highly speculated that all this was due to a telepathic connection between them.

Casting an aggravated eye upon the group that stood before him in that Conference/Planning room, he mastered his growing rage and then began speaking.

"Your concerns are not necessary at this point," he informed them with a shaking finger, "because I have just begun my presentation," he continued scornfully, "Now, if you have the patience to let me finish my strategy, then please allow me to do so. Then you can state your concerns then! Any comments?" When none were forthcoming, other than dubious shakings of the head and amused smirks, Cobra Commander turned his attention towards his planning.

When he was going to continue speaking, that was when the next question was asked. 'Impatient, disrespectful fools!' he silently raged.

"But, most impressive leader, what is Lord Serpentor's opinion of your proposition? Surely you have informed him; after all, he is the Emperor of Cobra." The snippiness and slight mocking tone of Destro's question raised Cobra Commander's hackles.

"Do not worry about that, Destro. I, Serpentor, have seen fit to give my grudging approval of Cobra Commander's scheme. It is a rare event that happens when he doesn't attempt to slither around behind my back, so I decided to be gracious this time and listened to his ramblings."

At hearing a new voice entering the briefing, all of Cobra's leaders turned to see Serpentor, striding arrogantly into the room. He was dressed in his usual outfit; gold scaled snakehead helmet that extended into a yellow mouth and uniform with and central chest padding. This time, his pet serpents that were usually on his shoulders were absent. Everyone, including Cobra Commander (who barely did so), instantly went down on one knee and lowered their heads.

When they were standing again, Serpentor smiled mirthlessly, thinking of the plan both he and Cobra Commander had developed together. True, the incompetent idiot did come up with the basic idea at first, but there had been many errors present within the initial plan. After pointing out some of the more glaringly obvious ones that the Commander's stupidity had failed to realize, Serpentor had quickly grown impatient.

Frustrated at Cobra Commander's lack of foresight, he had cursed his faceplated subordinate and kicked him out of the Throne Room. But since the plan, despite it's many flaws, had strangely appealed to him. Instead of ordering Cobra Commander to dispose of it, he threatened him to heavily revise it before presenting it to him again.

It was a week after that before a final version was judged acceptable (barely) by the Emperor of Cobra. During those seven days, Cobra Commander had been verbally humiliated, physically assaulted, and even chased by Serpentor's Hover Chariot all around Cobra Island. All those had happened because the Commander had greatly tasked Serpentor's limited patience.

Then the impossible had happened. For once, Cobra Commander had actually swallowed his pride, absorbed the abuse, and that had slightly impressed Serpentor. Serpentor had told Cobra Commander that although he would allow this plan of his to go through, he would also receive most of the credit for it.

Eventually though, with countless revisions, tactical planning strategies, and contingency plans with Cobra Commander, Dr. Mindbender, Major Bludd, and Firefly, Cobra's saboteur specialist, the finishing touches had been applied. Personally, Serpentor had given it a fifty five percent chance of working, which was a much higher rating than other earlier schemes. But the real reason why he even accepted it was because this was the first time he and Cobra Commander had seen eye to eye on a plan. Despite Serpentor's lack of faith in the Commander's abilities, he supposed that even useless lackeys had a rare glimmer of a halfway decent idea.

"Oh, mighty Emperor, I was hoping you would show up. I was just about to inform these buffoons," he pointed directly at the group, "that they were risking your wrath in insulting this masterpiece of a plan."

The twins, Baroness, Destro and Zartan threw death glares at their second in leadership, but couldn't say anything. Though none of them truly feared or respected Cobra Commander, the same could not be applied to the Emperor himself.

Although having been created from all the genes of history's greatest conquerors and leaders, he was unstable, unpredictable and extremely dangerous when angered. Usually it was Cobra Commander who had the misfortune of being Serpentor's favorite scapegoat; they weren't eager in experiencing it for themselves, not even once.

Speaking in his high pitched, grating hiss of a voice, Cobra Commander bowed towards the Emperor of Cobra. "Do you want to take over this briefing, or shall I, noble lord?"

At hearing this, mixed looks of astonishment, disgust, and light interest from the assembled officers made themselves evident as they watched this scene of sucking up. Easily ignoring it as nothing, Serpentor just waved Cobra Commander off, then stood beside the holoprojector on the table.

Clearing his throat, he began, "Listen carefully, I do not like to repeat myself. The great nation of Japan offers us an opportunity. Like Cobra Commander said before, it is quite predictable, in regards to their exports, imports, and annual budget, that Japan is extremely successful, motivated, efficient, and is on its way to becoming a world power."

"All those resources that Japan has, will be ours, should we be successful." He paused, then continued, "The land area is slightly smaller than that of the state California in America. That is, as Baroness put it, not exactly easy to cover. However, that is not necessary. We are going to focus only on Tokyo." He pressed the remote, and the hologram changed to a close-up of metropolitan Tokyo.

"You can see here the capital, Tokyo, made up of sixty four wards, or districts." Several different, smaller sections were highlighted in red and separated with yellow boundaries. "Tokyo is the heart of Japan, therefore making it our primary target. And can any of my subjects here who possess at least half a brain guess what our goal is?" He crossed his muscled arms over his padded chest, seemingly waiting.

"To take over Tokyo?" ventured Baroness, not really guessing as opposed to stating the obvious.

Nodding slightly, in mock congratulations, to her, the Emperor of Cobra said, "Exactly. I plan to slip in a number of undercover agents. There will be a random number in each district. Their primary mission will be to familiarize themselves with the layout of the ward they are assigned to, as well as ingratiate themselves with the local law enforcement, law making bodies, and all governing figures. This first duty of theirs is the most important. They must gain the trust as well as create and maintain a relationship with high authority figures."

Meeting the eyes of everyone who stood before him, one by one, he continued, "Once that first step is done, that is when, with the aid of Crimson Guards and other troops in hiding, they will immediately seize them and their families, along with other notables, in a prearranged, inconspicuous location. We shall work our way outer to inner, until we reach Tokyo Metropolis. We shall take the Emperor of Japan, the Prime Minister, and other such important government heads, including the various Ministries, cabinets, and courts hostage. By taking their leaders prisoner, the rest of Japan shall have no choice but to follow our every orders. Once Tokyo and the other districts are secure, and we have suppressed all news, radio, and other information sources successfully, then we shall order martial law in Tokyo Metropolis, as well as in the outer districts."

Having built up momentum, the Cobra Emperor went on, "We shall devote most of our resources in this endeavor. Our aircraft shall patrol the air, and our troops shall setup prison camps to hold selected officials. We shall set curfew throughout the districts, and enforce it with our special police, which will consist of the Dreadnoks, Crimson Guards, and others. Our Battle Android Troopers will patrol the outer boundaries of Tokyo, with orders to shoot anything on sight. We shall have observers, informants, and spies stationed throughout Japan. They shall be assigned to all docks, ports, airports, or any other conceivable entrances or exits into Japan itself."

"But our main security shall be a special satellite that Dr. Mindbender and several teams of technicians, engineers, and scientists have developed. This will be our radar in space that will detect any inbound missile, aircraft, boat, or even submarine. This will be our defense against any attempted covert operation by G.I. Joe."

"We shall be monitoring the satellite from a station in an as of yet undisclosed area. A team of selected Tele-Vipers and Techno-Vipers, under the guidance of Dr. Mindbender shall be responsible for its maintenance and operation. Should there be an attempt to destroy it or alter any of its functions, then we shall give the world the ultimate punishment."

He smiled once again, brown eyes glittering with visions of conquest, victory, and world domination. To the side, Cobra Commander sulked in silence. Although he had agreed to let the unstable genetic mistake take all the credit, it was just one more reason for Cobra to be rid of Serpentor. Well, when they were safely ensconced as the new rulers of Japan, then he would see about getting Serpentor assassinated.

Every Cobra in the room was shocked when they heard their Emperor's next sentence. It was just that unexpected.

"We shall set off a number of nuclear devices and eliminate Tokyo from the map. This I command!"

At that exact moment, on the other side of the world, in a certain district of Tokyo, a young man woke up.

It was sometime after midnight, and with no other sound besides the loud snoring of his idiotic father, Ranma Saotome wondered why his sleep had been interrupted. He'd already had eaten; he didn't feel a need to use the facilities; Akane wasn't playing a practical joke by waking him with cold water.

When he gradually eliminated all the possible reasons, Ranma focused and found his center. After calming down, he noticed that he was sweating lightly. A nightmare, maybe? He'd die before telling anyone, but several times he'd been having bad dreams of the fight with Saffron going wrong, and Akane being killed. No, it wasn't a nightmare.

All he could tell was for no reason at all, suddenly he had felt a sharp ping from his sixth sense, warning him of danger…somewhere. That was what had awakened him so suddenly. Gradually, he became aware of a sense of vague unease that assailed him to the very center of his core.

Then his stomach growled, not in pain or misery, but in hunger. Being a Saotome, all current concerns were abruptly forgotten as Ranma stood up from his bed to satisfy the sudden craving. Heading out of the room that he and his father shared, he made his way to kitchen.

End Prologue

Author's Notes:

Awright, before you is my second fic ever. Written on a burst of inspiration, I'm not too sure if I am going to continue this. What do you guys think?