Phoenix: Resurrection
(Ranma 1/2 and Dragonball Z)
by Shea McIntee

Disclaimer: sigh... again, I must say that neither of these series belong
to me.

Chapter 1

A large golden egg sat near a cratered plain. Nestled among the
rocks and lichen, it waited for months growing and changing. During the
night, lizards and snakes, in a temporary truce, lay near it ignoring each
other, basking in it's comforting warmth. During the day it was bathed in
sunlight and shade. Undiscovered in spite of occasional burst of activity
in the nearby plain, it's occupant dreamed.

And then, alomst a year after it first came to rest here, it was
picked up.

A little girl, perhaps six or seven, carried it in her arms and she
wobbled towards a tall figure.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look what I found!"

The figure leaned over.

"What do you have there, Videl?"

"I donno! It's big and round and warm and when you put your ear to
it you can hear it thump! Can i keep it?"

"Well, I..."

The little girl have her father the infamous "kawaii puppy-dog eyes,"
dreaded by all males of any species (excepting sharks and lawyers).

"O-okay, Videl."

The girl jumped up and down in glee.

"Yay! You're the greatest daddy in the whole world!"

****
Ranma looked around. Gone was the mountain, the Tap Room, or anything
he recognized. Instead he was in a small grove of trees, with the sun
right overhead.

A branch snapped behind him, and he spun around to see... Ranma?

Looking close, he corrected himself. While the general build and facial
structure was the same, the figure's hair was almost flame-like, and the
eyes, although blue like his, wee deeper, more intense, and seemed to
almost contain hints of flames that constantly danced almost
hypnotically.

The figure calmly walked up to him while he was inspecting it, and, just
as calmly, slugged him HARD in the stomach. Ranma's breath exploded out,
and he bent over to recover. This guy, whoever he was, hit harder than
Ryouga ever did. With a slight grunt, he pulled himself upright.

"What the hell was that for?"

The figure gave him a slight glare.

"What do you mean, what was that for? You ATE me, remember?"

"Huh?"

"Remember? Oh, perhaps this will jog your memory a bit."

The figure suddenly burst into flames, which died down to reveal a giant
bird made up of flames. Ranma remembered where he had seen this before;
the phoenix.

"You're-"

"That's right! I WAS Saffron; or, at least, I was what Saffron would have
become if YOU hadn't interrupted."

"But-"

"And that was a particularly silly idea you had at the end. I'm the phoenix,
and Saffron was my avatar. I'm immortal, truly immortal, and because of his
link to me, so was Saffron."

Ranma was a bit ticked at this guy, phoenix or no.

"It worked, though, didn't it?"

"Oh, it worked, all right; Saffron's definitely dead, but now I'm stuck with
you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, ORIGINALLY, when Saffron completed the metamorphosis, he would be
combined with me, and we'd become one. However, your killing him screwed that
plan up."

"So? What does that have to do with you being stuck with me?"

"Think about it. When you killed him by separating him from the energy that
was sustaining him? ... Nice move, I'd have to admit, but foolhardy in the
extreme. You took the energy inside yourself. That wasn't so smart; most people
would have died, and in great pain. You managed to survive, and thus you became
my avatar instead of Saffron. The metamophosis was completed afterwards."

"So that means that you'll take me over or something? No way!"

The phoenix sighed and rolled it's eyes.

"Not quite. What'll happen is that shortly we'll both cease to exist as separate
individuals, and will merely be part of the same being. That's the way it works,
and there's nothing I can do about it. I do say that you're probably a better
choice than Saffron, although we'll have to work on that ego..."

Ranma grimaced. He still didn't like the sound of this.

"So what exactly do we do now?"

The phoenix shrugged.

"How should I know? We're in your mind, after all."

Ranma shrugged.

Seeing this, the phoenix sighed, and turned back into a human form.

"Look, maybe I should tell you a little about us. We ARE the phoenix; the
manifestation of fire and the sun. We are immortal; as long as the universe exists,
we exist in some form or another. As the incarnation of fire, we can control it in
whatever manner we wish; you've seen a crude form of that when you fought Saffron.
We can change our shape to some extent, assuming a humanoid shape, both with and
without wings, as well as a avian form. Our life force, which you know of as chi,
is more than most mortals can dream of, and we can heal with merely a touch."

He paused for a moment.

"Our duty is to protect what is ours; whether it is a people, like the folk of
Phoenix Mountain like Saffron, or an individual that we adopt. Without such a goal
in our mind, we can easily fall prey to the bane of all immortals, ennui, and could
become corupted by our own power. We have been a teacher, a warrior, a ruler, and
a healer, among other things."

He paused and cocked his head at Ranma, seeming to examine him.

"I think it's about time. All you have to do is to take my hand, and this'll be
over. Keep in mind, though, that our destiny is what we choose to make it; don't
let the past influence your future more than necessary."

Hesitantly, Ranma held out his hand and grasped the other's. There was a crackling
of flames, a flash of bright light, and then... a warm and soothing darkness, like
a warm bath in a lightless room.

****

The girl sat and watched the large object as it lay on the table. It was bright
and shiny, and as large as her head. She had gotten it only yesterday, and loved
to watch it gitter in the sunlight.

As she gazed at it, it started to rock back and forth, gently at first, and then
more and more. She cocked her head and stared at it, and suddenly a large crack
shot down the middle of it.

Immediately she burst into tears.

"It's-it's broken!!"

As she was rubbing her eyes, she heard a sudden noise.

"Chirp?"

She looked up, and saw a pretty bird sitting in the middle of a bunch of golden
pieces. It was an egg! She immedediately forgot her tears and looked at the bird.

It's body was only a little smaller than her head, and it's wings were
outstretched. It was a beautiful red and gold, with hints of blue, yellow, and
purple showing.

"Kawaii!!"

She lunged for it and grabbed it, squeezing it tightly.

"Ch-h-i-r-p ?!?"

It struggled, and, managing to escape her grasp, gave her a somewhat
dirty look, as if to say "Not you, too!"

"Hi!" she practically chirped herself. "I'm Videl! Who are you?"

"Chirp!"

She giggled, and then grabbed at him again, subjecting him to the
patented 'Kid's Grip of MINE', somewhat related to the 'Amazon Glomp of MINE!'

"That's not a name... I think I'll call you B-chan."

Ranma struggled and squawked indignantly as he tried to get away from
the girl. Now he knew exactly how Ryouga felt... well, more or less. He wasn't
at all attracted to her (especially since she was only five or six); he
would get bored if he had nothing to do, and she seemed nice... if in a
somewhat-grabby way. He gave a sigh, shrugged, and gave up. Might as well
enjoy it.

Author's Note: Not very long, but then again, most of my posts are rather
short. The next chapter will deal with what exactly happened to Ranma, and an
encounter between DBZ's biggest fake and a certain little bird...
deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com

Update Notes: I wrote in a little piece to explain a few things and to flesh
out the chapter; I've been told that it's a bit short... I agree; I'm not very
good at writing long pieces...