Disclaimer; This fanfiction uses existing ideas, characters and or worlds, but is an independent work of art. I own nothing, hence the reason for publishing my writings here instead of in real books where I could make some money.
Hovering above a jungle somewhere in India in a McDonnell Douglas 500N helicopter, was Gina Diggers. She, Penny Pincer and Kevin "Ace" Koss were on the way to the site of their next expedition … to find the onyx tablet that was said to unlock the full potential of a djinni.
Gina was leaning out the open cargo door, scouting ahead with one hand holding down her father's old fedora and the other holding her steady in the opening. She was dressed in a tight, blue one-piece bathing suit, covered only by a brown leather jacket matching the hat, gloves and knee-high boots.
Not long after Gina started her scouting, a stone construction appeared through the foliage. Its form looked to be a cross between an Egyptian pyramid and an office building made of concrete without windows. Surrounding it were several segments of wall made in a similar material.
Of course, this was not cement or concrete, but rather limestone … there wasn't such a thing as cement or concrete at the time the building was made, so limestone was the material, and they were placed in blocks and slabs of varying sizes to gain the desired form.
"There it is!" declared Gina, yelling over the din of the helicopter motor. "Uhm Di Turrok! "The Halls of the Extremely Dead"! Just think of all the archaeological discoveries waiting to be uncovered inside!" the bespectacled super genius was nearly giggling in anticipation.
"Well, well …" commented Penny drolly, "aren't we gung-ho all of a sudden …"
Gina looked over her shoulder, and looked at her former arch nemesis. The black woman was dressed a little more conservatively, at least having the decency to have her clothes look somewhat like a safari outfit … close to the "naughty nurse" type of safari outfit, complete with matching beige stockings and safari hat, the last of which was sitting in her lap, waiting for her to get out of the cabin before it would perch where it was supposed to be … on her noggin'.
"But then again, I guess you're really feeling confident after "winning" that "Explorer of the Year" award, huh …"
"Actually," corrected Gina. "I'm just itching to get a look at what's been buried inside that crypt! It predates Egypt by ten thousand years and is supposed to have deities buried inside!"
"Yeah," agreed Penny. "But isn't this trip really about trying to prove you really did deserve that award?"
"Don't even sweat Penny, Gee …" added Ace. "She's caught mad vapours over your award, yo …"
"Kevin!" exclaimed Penny angrily. "Will you cut that out? How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not jealous!"
"Make that mad, crazy vapours, Gee …" Ace corrected himself.
"Kevin!" exclaimed Penny with even more anger seeping into her voice. "For the last time-"
"Uh oh …" muttered Ace, knowing he was in trouble. "Later for that, Penny … and call me Ace, yo … anyway, we're here … what – the … Stryyp? Seance? What happened to Britanny and Brianna, Gee? I thought they were the "Early Birds" on this one!"
As the chopper landed on top of the Uhm Di Turrok, Gina explained that they and Charlotte had decided to go fishing, so Stryyp and Seance volunteered to set up camp while she and Penny did some last minute research on the site the previous night.
"It's kinda strange going in with untested "helpers", Gina …" Penny pointed out. "Should we let them assist us inside, or keep them at camp … I mean, this place isn't for rookies, partner … I don't want stupid mistakes hurting our chances to find the onyx tablet!"
"Oh, they'll be Okay …" brushed Gina off as she jumped down from the helicopter to the stone roof of the structure. "Hi Stryyp!"
"Hello, Gina," greeted Stryyp. "How was Calcutta in the evening? Seance and I didn't get to stay long enough to see it."
"We'll all go sight-seeing later, Stryyp …" said Penny as she too climbed out of the helicopter. "Right now, we've got to focus!"
"Agreed," chirped Seance in, his hand going for his own face in thought. "I feel the presence of something sinister in this crypt … a power that radiates evil … Over the eons it has rested here … sleeping … I wonder how it will react to us waking it up …"
"Seance, you always say that …" commented Gina as the mage walked closer to the rest of the group.
High above them, unnoticed and hidden in the leaves, was a serpentine purple form that listened to every word uttered.
With lightning quick movements, it retreated to inform its master of the arrival of this party.
Gina, being a little antsy, immediately started inspecting the roof they were on for any entrance, which she knew was somewhere nearby … ancient constructions could get a little predictable after having visited a few …
If her guess was right then the secret entrance should be "Right … here …" turning to Stryyp, who had been following her on her walk, she tried to look innocent to gain his favour, or rather, get him to do her a favour. "This stone slab is a secret entrance! I'm positive … Stryyp? Do you think you're strong enough to move it?"
Stryyp took out a notebook and flipped through it.
"Sure … er … "Why don't you do something nerd-like while I handle this"?" he quoted uncertainly. This was understandable, as it was rather rude, and he was normally anything but.
"Say what?" exclaimed an insulted Gina.
"Uhm … did I say that wrong?" he asked. "Britanny gave me a list of things to do and say …" he explained. "She expressed concern that you'd be "off your game" if I didn't follow her directions."
"Oh …" said the shocked Gina and blinked in confusion. "Oh … come to think of it … I was feeling a little off centre until you said that …"
Never mind, she'd figure things like this out after the mission … hmmm … maybe she could swing by Japan on the way back … visit Ranma, see how he's doing … have him declare his undying love for her … hold on, she didn't want to be like those "fiancées" Ranma left behind when he was somehow banished from Japan and to the Dragon Pharao's Tower … if he decided he loved her, then he'd have to confess that to her, she was not going to pressure him into making a choice, because that might scare him off … oh hush! This was no time to think about this.
While she was musing on this, Stryyp had managed to get the slab of stone off the opening Gina had predicted was located underneath.
"So … who goes down first?" asked the tiger-striped Kryn.
Looking around, he saw the others silently looking at him with nervous perspiration starting to appear on their exposed skin.
"Oh, yeah … I'm supposed to …" remembers Stryyp and rubbed his own neck. "Okay, here we go!" he added and dropped down the open hole.
"Stryyp! Wait!" screamed a terrified Gina. "You're gonna need a rope! It's ten storeys straight d-" her sentence was cut off abruptly as she saw her brother-in-law slowing down in his fall.
"Huh? He's floating down?" asked Penny.
"Oh, wait! That's right!" groaned Gina, angry with herself for forgetting. "He can fly!"
Back in Atlanta, Ryan Tabbot was getting annoyed.
He had been standing outside his girlfriend's house for several minutes, ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door, but no one had answered.
Gina hadn't mentioned going anywhere to him, so she couldn't be on an expedition, neither had Penny … her house wasn't locked, so she hadn't gone anywhere with everyone … that meant she was still somewhere inside, and possibly unable to answer, and the rest of the household was in a similar position, or she had been abducted …
"Excuse me, sonny-boy," interrupted a voice that sounded rougher than sandpaper. "Is this the residence of Dr Diggers?"
Ryan turned and was faced with what looked like a score of beautiful women with odd-coloured hair and armour on top of scanty bikini outfits … and in front of them was what looked like a long-haired shrivelled old monkey on a stick, wearing a robe of oriental design and having very over-sized eyes compared to its head and body.
The conflicting emotions roused from the sight kept him silent for long enough to have the shrivelled old thing on the cane repeat the question.
"Yes, this is the house of Dr Gina Diggers," he answered carefully. "What do you want with her?"
The monkey frowned somewhat. "Would you know if a Saotome Ranma is living here, or did at some time?" it finally asked.
Ryan lit up for a moment … these armed and armoured people were after the mage. That was fine with him, he'd even get the man wrapped up in a bow for them, if it wasn't for Gina probably getting miffed at him for it. Not to mention, these people might get too eager in their quest for that cheater and hurt Gina … he could not allow that to happen …
"Yes, Ranma lives here at the moment," he finally admitted. "But I'm afraid you have to go through me to get inside."
Ah … famous last words …
It was after a few hours that Nodoka and Lydia returned to the apartment, arms laden with groceries.
As they entered the living room, they saw Ranma, floating about a foot off the floor next to the table. The project was nowhere in sight, leading them to the conclusion that it was finished. Beebee's smile confirmed the assumption.
Nodoka was not yet used to have her child floating around with no visible point of gravity attached, but showed no reaction to it apart from a second glance.
"Auntie, we have a problem," said Nabiki bluntly the moment she spotted the two newly returned.
Nodoka pulled out the box containing the airgun, a colt double eagle soft pistol in metallic black, and a plain brown paper bag filled with the essentials Ranma required and handed them to her daughter.
"The crate of tooth picks is being carried up as we speak," added Nodoka to Ranma who had snapped out of the meditative trance she had been in. "Now, what is the problem?"
"Genma knows where you live," blurted Beebee. "Nabiki was calling someone called Iwo, to arrange a meeting of some kind, when Ranma called a greeting to him. Nabiki was slightly angry with her, but a scream of "Ranma's alive?" came from the phone … it couldn't have been Iwo, because Nabiki was surprised to hear him."
"Apparently, Genma had sought out Iwo to find you, because it was well known that he was the President of the Science Club, and knew his way around a computer, unlike that no-good ex of yours," interrupted Nabiki to keep herself from sounding too odd through someone else's point of view. "He was there when I called, and heard Ranma greet Iwo over speaker phone … there went an easy thousand yen …" she added in a mutter.
"The point is, now the old man knows where we are, and will most likely come and get us," finished Ranma. "I've been keeping a lookout of the neighbourhood, but there has been no sign of any malicious intent towards us yet."
Nodoka very briefly looked to the rooftop opposing the apartment before her eyes returned to her daughter.
"Of course not," she said to draw attention from her very brief act. "It would take him at least three hours to get here on foot at his speeds, and he is not the type to attack in broad daylight unless he knew he could get away with it."
"Sounds about right," agreed Ranma, and extended her senses to the roof her mother had looked to. Perhaps Genma had gotten on there without her noticing.
There was someone up there, but there were two, they were female and held no ill intent towards them … maybe it was a couple of sunbathers … it was a sunny day, so it was a shame they hadn't all been outside yet … but then, there was at least one person per roof along the entire block … were they snipers? Eh, enough about that, they weren't out to get him, so it was none of his business why people were camped out on the roofs.
"Okay, let's start planning how the confrontation should happen," she continued. "Here's what I was thinking …"
After several minutes of intense fighting, Ryan Tabbot dropped unconscious on the front lawn.
Cologne lowered her staff from where she had knocked the man unconscious with it and sighed in disappointment. The warriors had been holding back in their fight with the outsider, thinking him to be weak because he was an outsider male, and as a result, nearly a dozen of them had been defeated by him.
Well, there was nothing else to be done, after they got her thankless Son-in-Law, they would have to bring this man with them as well … thank goodness her great-granddaughter didn't get caught up in this mess.
Oh well, those warriors would have to learn to share …
Just as the ancient Amazon Elder touched the doorknob, the door opened, and what looked like an ocean of metallic turtle-like beings spilled out, whooping about intruders and what to do with them … this was not looking very bright for their mission.
-BOOOOOM!- "Yeeehaw!" –BOOOOOOM!-
Oh, there were the lights …
In India, Gina, Penny and Strypp had finally managed to get into the Uhm Di Turrok by means of making a hole in one of the walls. The hole in the ceiling had turned out to be a trap … a giant blender of hundreds of twelve feet tall curved blades rotating rapidly, and acids pouring down. The rotating room, the small entrance hole and blades somehow created a strong vacuum that prevented Stryyp from flying back out or for those up top to pull him out. It was only because the hole had been destroyed and widened when Seance had tried to use magically enhanced strength to pull him out that Stryyp had not become more than slightly injured, something the bandages he was wrapped in testified of.
Seance had remained outside to patrol the area for dangers, and Ace had gone back to the main camp for some more supplies, as the acid blender had managed to destroy most of the equipment already brought in.
Gina herself was on her knees, looking through the content of her backpack. She was somewhat annoyed with Seance for inadvertently cupping a feel of her sizable bosom when the roof crumbled into the trap, but she couldn't really fault him, as he was only trying to save her, and those protrusions were the first things he could get a grip on to keep her from falling into the nasty stuff.
Stryyp, covered in bandages across his head, right arm, leg and lower torso, was supervising things, acting as the body guard.
Penny was wearing a set of green, smooth goggles that had "rabbit ears" on the ends, scanning the area. This was the Virtual Mapper.
"Is it working?" asked Gina absently while still looking.
"Hold your horses …" muttered Penny, holding one hand to the "goggles". "I've got to recalibrate."
After fiddling with the device for a little, she saw fit to continue.
"The walls in this crypt are strange," she commented. "Harder to scan through."
"Well, don't take too long," said Gina. "We're in a race … we have to find that tablet before Fauntleroy."
A short moment passes in silence.
"Any luck?" asked Stryyp, looking rather silly with his head wrapped in a helmet of bandages. This standing around and doing nothing was getting on his nerves.
"Hmm …" started Penny and looked around the corridor they were facing. "Hold it … I'm getting something … What the …um … you guys aren't going to believe this, but …" removing the "Mapper" from her face, Penny turned her face to her friend, but kept an eye on the corridor. "Gina? Do you have a blaster on you? High powered?"
"Sure … why?" asked the blonde genius as she produced the weapon in question.
Penny didn't answer, but accepted the blaster anyway.
"Why do you need my blaster?" repeated Gina. This was getting scary … what had she seen that required such firepower?
"To put this stupid mapper out of its misery!" replied Penny and dropped the device on the ground before pointing the weapon at it. "This glitchy son of a B!TCH has crashed on me for the last time!"
Just as Penny was about to pull the trigger, two creatures crashed through one of the section walls of the corridor before them, fangs or talons bared. One looked like a giant purple snake and the other like a cross between a red and yellow earless fox and a bat.
"Look out!" called Stryyp needlessly, stepping in front of Gina.
"Zoinks!" exclaimed Gina. "Those must be dragons! It's an ambush!"
The two giant beings froze in mid attack.
"Wait … you didn't know we were there after all?" asked the giant purple snake. "$!"
"Kaf!" coughed the other creature piteously. "Kaf!Kaf!Kaf! Thirty-Eight! Help! I've got dust in my eyes!"
"For crying out loud, Six!" snarled the snake.
Already in a defensive stance, Stryyp spoke up next. "Before you attack, dragons, I feel it is fair to warn you … we will fight back!"
"Well," countered the serpentine dragon. "I feel it's only fair to warn you … that humans just happen to be a good part … of a "dragon's" well balanced diet!"
With that, the purple thing snapped, like a snake after its prey, but Stryyp caught its upper fang and held tight, managing to slow its lunge down with his inhuman strength.
"Hah!" scoffed Penny, only flinching slightly from the situation. "Shows what you know, Stryyp's not even human!"
"Actually, Penny, I am …" corrected Stryyp as he struggled to keep the mouth big enough to swallow him whole from doing just that.
"Oh … Anyway, I've got a bead on the other one!"
This statement was finished as Penny started discharging the blaster at the red and yellow dragon.
"Ow!" screamed the thing as it covered its face with its wings. "Aaah! Aaaah! Thirty-Eight! HELP MEEE!"
"I warned you!" screamed Stryyp before taking a chance and freeing an arm to ram the elbow into the hard snout of the serpentine dragon he had been wrestling with.
"Augh!" it grunted. "That HURT!"
The raging serpentine dragon reared its head and was about to strike, when a blast went off on its head, causing it to grunt in pain once more.
"Normally, I don't have an opportunity to test modifications my sister makes on my gear," commented Gina as she pointed an ominous looking gun with green lights here and there at the dragon. "Thanks for volunteering! BRIANNA MODE!"
A series of clicks and clacks followed as the gun started shifting, taking up a more wicked form than the last, and a dangerous humming started up.
The one shot that had been fired had hurt, now it was supposedly getting enhanced, so naturally, the dragons reacted like any dragon faced with this choice would have.
"RUN AWAY!"
The ground rumbled as the two beings dug their way into the floor and disappeared within moments, leaving only the rubble and hole as a reminder of their former presence.
There was a moment of silence as Gina tucked away the deactivated weapon.
"Gina?" asked Stryyp, who had luckily not gotten any more injuries in the struggle. "I thought you normally avoided Brianna's equipment?"
"I do … normally," agreed Gina. Nothing was going to keep her from possibly visiting Ranma on the way home.
"Wanna trade?" asked Penny, holding up her blaster. "I kinda like her design philosophy."
"Actually," said Gina smugly. "I don't think we'll need these blasters any longer … they've had enough."
"Do you think they were Fauntleroy's?"
"Most likely," said Gina. "But first things first … the inner tomb is waiting for us! I'll take the lead! I've got a knack for handling traps!"
Unknown to the archaeological group, an entity within the crypt was watching them through a crystal.
Further into the crypt, Gina was getting irritated.
"Jinkies!" she exclaimed and examined her flashlight. "It's like the light is being sucked away from this flashlight! We can barely see three feet in front of our faces!"
"Except Stryyp, that is …" corrected Penny. "He still has those biosynthetic artefacts helping him … no doubt he can see in this pitch black fog."
"Trust me, Penny …" said Stryyp slowly as he looked around. "You're not missing much."
This was of course apart from the eerily lifelike depictions of suffering and tormented beings on the walls, ceiling and columns. But shedding light on this may have discouraged the two, or in the worse case, they would be interested and delay their trek through the crypt by studying the images.
"Hey, Gina," started Penny. "Why didn't those djinni of yours come along for this? This whole scenario is for their benefit, after all. And we could use the extra help."
"First of all," started Gina in a lecturing tone. "They aren't my djinni. They're both independent but, strangely enough, they like hanging around!
"Second of all, my scanners register both Dao and Madrid's power levels way off the scale, but they can't use that power for their own benefit for some reason. Even to save their own lives! So, basically, they would be pretty helpless in this trap-filled maze … unlike professionals like us-"
-Cik!-
"Uh-oh …"
"Uh-oh?" asked Stryyp worriedly. He could feel the impending doom already.
"UH-OH!" repeated Gina in a more urgent tone.
"NOBODY MOVE!" added Penny frantically, looking around for what would happen. "I think I hear something …"
Stryyp sensed something and turned just in time to catch a monstrous spiked ball with his back.
-Whump!-
"Stryyp!"
Akane was not very happy.
She and Ryoga had, inadvertently, travelled the globe in search of means to make Ranma's afterlife more hellish than it was, yet had thus far not come across anything to that end.
Yesterday they had jumped over a fence to a park in the middle of this big city that had some sort of big tower with a clock with a slight tonal error due to a small crack in it next to an ornate building not far from a bridge, where big red double-decker busses drove around the streets, and somehow, they had ended up in the middle of an ocean, with no land in sight.
The good thing was that the green metal man that had followed them had gotten lost, so they weren't in that much hot water. The water was nearly freezing, as a matter of fact …
Ryoga's curse had activated and Akane was forced to swim for him, while dragging their joined packs.
It was a good thing Ryoga had predicted a similar scenario, and included an inflatable raft in his gear … it was barely big enough to hold both of them and their luggage, but it made due for the night when Akane started to fall asleep and needed a place to rest. Of course, not really being capable of swimming, she was more pushing the raft, using the inflatable thing to keep her from drowning while she kicked off with her legs to get propulsion.
When she woke up, there were helicopters circling around them, a boat was approaching, search-lights blinding her, while some gaijin was yelling at her in English that she was an illegal alien, and had to return to her own country and apply for citizenship or temporary visa like the laws required if she wanted to enter the country. The man went on about how there were barely enough jobs for the native or legal citizens of the country, much less illegal aliens, but Akane ignored him … she was not looking for a job, and she knew for a fact that she and Ryoga weren't even near American soil … they were just outside Japan!
After setting off several more traps, all of which were taken out on Stryyp for some reason … he started to look more and more like a mummy with all the bandages, supports and splints used on him, Penny discovered that there was nothing wrong with her mapper … she had only forgotten to turn off the screen-saver … silly her …
Gina was feeling awful for two very excellent reasons. The first being that Stryyp kept getting injured … a guilt that most leaders would feel burdened by on a mission like this. The second was that Britanny had promised her pain beyond description if Stryyp got even one single scratch … oops.
"Stay sharp, Penny …" warned Gina. "We still have to be on the lookout for suspicious areas to aim the mapper's scanner at … like the one I spot right now! Angle 315 and 321!"
"Holographic marker on trap: 321, please," requested Penny of the marker. A blue ring appeared on the ground before them, and a 3D arrow pointed down on the slab of stone the ring was on. Written in the air above the arrow was its designated number, 321. "Whoo! You're on a roll, Gina! I'm glad you're on my side!"
"Thanks, Penny," accepted Gina morosely as she looked at her brother-in-law. "I just wish I could have paid this much attention earlier …"
"Shmh hm no mnch hmnp," murmured Stryyp through the bandages. This unintelligible sound could be roughly translated into; Sorry I'm not much help.
"It's okay, Stryyp," assured Gina. "To tell the truth, I doubt anyone else, even Britanny, could walk away after being smashed and pummelled the way you were," she added comfortingly. "I mean, the traps around here could total a freight train!" seeing that her speech was starting to work, she decided to go on. "To say the least, your being there saved us both, Stryyp!"
"You can say that aga-" started Penny, but halted mid speech. "Whoa … check this out!"
Everyone looked into the great hall they had just entered, and amidst the scattered lonely support columns, blue strips of glowing energy was pasted along the roof. Several circle shapes were pronounced along them, and in the middle of the room, a platform rose a good twelve feet in a tapered form. Hovering above this platform was a large tablet shaped not unlike the silhouette of a turkey with its head cut off, and with a diamond symbol in the middle.
There was only one word that could describe this sight.
"Jinkies!"
Penny removed the mapper from her visage and gazed in awe at the tablet.
"What … is this place?" she asked.
"Look!" said Gina, also staring. "The tablet! We found it!"
To herself, Gina was ecstatic, this meant they could stop by Japan much sooner than she had thought!
However, she let her business face take over … after all, it was bad form to drool over a man that wasn't even there while on the clock. She was the Explorer of the Year, after all, and needed to act accordingly.
Author's Notes; Another chapter reread and corrected, though I must admit that very little was changed in this chapter apart from a few words being replaced or rearranged. The biggest change was the deletion of a big chunk of the Author's Notes, but I kept some of it, because it would still be true after the changes and reposting.
Just to clear up some potential confusion … "Gee" is apparently the nickname Ace has for Gina, possibly an abbreviation of her name. It is not my concept, but is repeated several times in the comic books, so please don't complain to me if you do not think the grammar in the dialogue is accurate. I'd also like to apologise for my unusual censorship of the word B#&, but I was copying directly from the dialogue
The mystery of how Akane suddenly learned how to swim has hopefully now been solved … if it hasn't been solved in a satisfactory manner, speak up.
As stated several times (nearly said countless, but that would not be true), suggestions and ideas are appreciated, as well as pointing out errors I have made at any point on the story. If it is a big mistake on my part, I will immediately go back in my text-file and make the adjustments needed, and the corrected version will be posted in place of this one when possible.
Also, I'd like to thank Gelionshead for the e-mail I got … the idea is remarkably like one idea I had for a different story of the same crossover, and I'll see if I can work it into this one instead.
Credits; I'd like to thank Xtor49, Necrovore, Zolar, Matthew Talbain and iiradned who provided me with and confirmed the medial term for death by loss of blood; Exsanguination … the changes have been made in the text-file. As rudely as it was put, I'd like to thank AmyLee for pointing out that I had not made the living arrangements clear enough, I did not send people to the dojo to sleep but rather one of the rooms of the apartment … there were about two and a half bedrooms in it which is explained in the raw text after I saw the review, and, admittedly, I may have stressed the period thing, but I don't want people complaining about it being unrealistic, unauthentic etc, and as I said, I'm just an ignorant man who knows next to nothing about it apart from it causing women to feel bloated, causes pain of varying degrees from woman to woman, and makes them bleed and get edgy in temper.
