Ranma 1/2, High School DxD, Darkstalkers and the rest are owned by their respective owners. I own nothing.

If only I did, that would be awesome.

Chapter 8

Ranma was sitting in a meditative pose on air in his bedroom, his eyes closed as he focused on keeping the barriers under him as small as possible. "...Today's the day, huh?" He asked himself as he dismissed his barriers and unfolded his legs as he dropped to the ground. He walked out of his room and to the living room and tilted his head in confusion as he saw some people he didn't expect sitting on the couch. "Mom? Dad? What are you two doing here?" He saw Kuroka sitting next to his mother while Kunou and Lilith were on her lap.

"Well, I was told about this Rating Game from your daughter, boy." Genma said, gruffly. "So I want to see what it's all about."

Nodoka had a really pleasant smile on her face. "And I finally got to meet the mother of my future grandchildren." Nodoka smiled and patted Kuroka on the head, getting a pleased smile from the Nekoshou as she practically preened from the petting. "Although, I'm not sure how you know that she's pregnant. From what she told me, she's barely two weeks along."

Ranma gave her a grin as he leaned on the railing. "Thanks to my training and my bonding with Lilith, I can tell someone's pregnant within hours of conception."

"You can?!" Kunou, Kuroka and Nodoka all gawked in surprise.

"Well, yeah." Ranma nodded, looking at them in confusion. "What? How do you think succubi control their fertility?" He asked as he finished coming down the stairs to walk into the living room.

"Magic." Nodoka answered.

"Magic." Kunou answered.

"Magic." Kuroka answered.

Ranma twitched slightly. "Fair point, but their ability to sense living energy also allows them to decide if they get pregnant or not. Don't ask me, I didn't create them, it's just instinctive from what Lilith told me." He shook his head as Lilith II had a confused look on her face. "Not you, the other Lilith."

"Oh, sorry."

Nodoka pursed her lips for a moment. "Actually, about this one's name." She gestured towards Lilith II, "who came up with such a horrible name for such a sweet girl?"

"Someone who named her after his mother." Ranma shrugged helplessly. "The guy was the son of Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" Nodoka frowned in confusion. "Sorry, the name is familiar, but I don't quite know it."

Ranma waved her confusion off. "He was like the first of the Devils. Anyway, Lucifer took Adam's first wife, Lilith, as his wife and from there all the monsters that ever existed were born into the world." He shrugged as Nodoka gave him a confused look. "So anyway, Lucifer's son, Rivizim had someone take half of Ophis's soul, put it in the body of a young girl and named her after his mother."

"I... See." Nodoka said with a frown on her face. "Tell me something, Lilith, do you like your name?" She asked the small Dragon, who looked at her and shrugged. "Hmm, but considering that we know another Lilith, it might be easier to call you something else."

"What?" Lilith II asked, wondering what Nodoka had in mind.

Nodoka smiled at her. "Why we can simply shorten your name. Instead of Lilith II, why don't we call you Lillie?"

"Leave it to your mother to come up with a simple solution." Genma chuckled in amusement. "Actually, that is a fine name. It's similar to your name but different enough that it won't be so confusing."

The young-looking Dragon thought about it for a little bit, before nodding. "Okay. Lillie."

"That's so cute!" Kunou gushed and hugged the Dragon. "Now we don't need to keep going "the other Lilith" all the time when talking to people!"

Ranma gave Genma a look. "So, you and mom... Want to come to Hell to watch a match?" Genma nodded. "...If I had known you'd be coming with, I would have asked you to join my team."

Genma shook his head. "Boy, I might be a strong fighter, but I've never been interested in testing my strength against others just for the sake of comparing myself to them." He adjusted his glasses. "Boy, I'm just not interested in it." They both knew that Genma could, if he had wanted to, could have made a ton of money in underground fighting.

"I'm not surprised, but I'm still a bit disappointed." Ranma sighed and shook his head.

Genma had a faint smirk on his face. "Well, that girl with glasses, the short one with a serious expression..."

"Sona Sitri?" Ranma asked and Genma nodded with a look of recognition on his face. "...What did she want?"

"She offered me a job." Genma said bluntly and smirked at Ranma's dumbfounded expression. "It's easy enough, she wants me to train her peerage and herself."

Ranma was flabbergasted, but he knew that Genma's training, as crazy as it was, was very effective. "But... Why?"

Genma shrugged. "Something about my training methods would be helpful for using psychological tactics on the battlefield and ignoring the enemy's psychological tricks."

"...So basically she wants you to teach her and her peerage how to insult someone like a Saotome?" Ranma asked with a flat expression on his face, to which Genma nodded, "...well, don't be too harsh on them, I suppose."

Genma chuckled and nodded. "So, where are your girls?"

"Not sure." Ranma admitted and looked at Kunou. "Where did everyone go?"

"Oh!" Kunou perked up and jumped off of Nodoka's lap before putting a hand to her forehead. "Lilith and Nuku Nuku were doing some running. Lilith said that she's not completely used to having boobs yet."

"Yeah, I know." Ranma chuckled. "She almost smothered Mittelt the last time the two were together."

Kunou nodded and continued. "Mittelt and Bulleta were in the dojo with Yohko and Ravel, something about moving targets. Leonardo..." She paused and pointed behind Ranma, who turned to see the young boy standing there with a pensive look on his face.

"What's up, kid?" Ranma wondered what he wanted. Usually he was so quiet that everyone forgot he was there. Though he was a bit of a big eater.

"...Can I come too?"

Ranma tilted his head and nodded. "Sure, I got no problem with it, but..." He paused and sighed. "There's a high chance that Murphy's going to show up and everything's going to go straight to the Void." Leonardo gave him a confused look and Ranma chuckled. "Let's just say that some crazy stuff might happen. And if it does, there will be fighting going on. You don't have to fight though." He put a hand on Leonardo's shoulder. "Just live how you want, okay?" Leonardo nodded and Ranma looked back at his parents. "I don't mind the fact that I'm the way I am." He looked back at the young boy, "but it's nice to choose what you want in life."

Genma huffed in annoyance. "If I hadn't forced you on that training trip, you never would have met Lilith or your wife or anything else, boy."

"Oh, I know." Ranma smirked at Genma as he turned away from Leonardo. "And I'm fine with it. Not everyone would be though."

Genma snorted in annoyance. "You need to stop talking to your magic teacher."

"Haven't seen him in awhile." Ranma told Genma. "Last time I saw him, I gave him a cursed Excalibur to give to the Fae of his world." Genma gave him a surprised look and Ranma nodded. "Yeah, risky I know."

"Your funeral if they decide to come here and curse you to a slow, agonizing death then." Genma muttered, getting confused looks from Kunou, Lillie, Nodoka and Kuroka.

"Faires aren't that bad." Kuroka muttered. "What kind do you two know?" She blinked as both Ranma and Genma shuddered. "What?"

"Unholy abominations." They said at the same time.

"Talking about the other world Fae?" Nabiki asked as she came out of the hallway. Ranma nodded and Nabiki shivered. "I took a look at them, they are very much unholy abominations. They can look human, but... Don't piss them off."

"We know." Ranma and Genma deadpanned.

"Anyway," Nabiki shook her head, "the others should be done with their last minute training soon. I was making something." She held up a bracelet. "My Sacred Gear's going to be sealed for this Rating Game, but Gasper's isn't. So I made this to give to whomever has to face him."

"Good idea." Ranma nodded in agreement. "Like what happened when he was forced to use his Sacred Gear?" Nabiki nodded and Ranma looked at his parents, who were confused and smiled. "Gasper has the power to stop time. He's not the best at using it, but it's a powerful ability, so this will give someone an edge against him."

"Makes sense." Genma nodded. "So long as there's no rules against using something and you know what to expect, there's nothing wrong with using any trick to win."

Kunou had a bit of an disgusted look on her face. "That seems... Not very nice."

Genma smirked at her. "Anything Goes, girl. If there's no rule against it, you do what you can to win. If you're better than your opponent, you don't need to do anything more than beat them down. If you're weaker than your opponent, fight dirty."

"Or get creative." Ranma jumped in. "There are going to be times when you face someone who has a massive gap in power compared to you. You can either die like a dog or you can find a way to make that gap not matter. Either train yourself until you're stronger or come up with a technique that can overcome them. Or just lead them into a situation where they can't win."

"Assassins don't fight fair, girl." Genma continued. "They'll strike when you're sleeping and move on. Fighting fair is only something idiots do. Take every advantage you can get."

Nodoka spoke up, since Kunou was starting to look upset. "There's nothing wrong with fighting fair, but there are people who will cheat. Always fight within the rules of a match, but use whatever is available to you to win."

Kunou still looked uncertain but nodded. "I guess..."

Ranma was going to say something more when the door opened allowing Atsuko, Lilith, Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse to walk in. "Oh, you're ready?" They all nodded and Ranma flicked his wrist and a vial with a liquid appeared in it. "Here." He offered it to Cologne. "I'd recommend drinking it now before we go and in the bathroom so you get your clothes adjusted."

Cologne chuckled and nodded as she took the vial and used her gnarled cane to pogo up the stairs and towards the bathroom with Nabiki's instructions on where it was.

Shampoo looked at Ranma and sighed softly. "Shampoo glad that Ranma helping great-grandmother." She grimaced at her own speech. "Sorry, Shampoo been slacking off on language skills lately."

Ranma waved her off. "No one's good at everything, the fact that you only screw up on pronouns tells me that you're plenty smart. Besides, if you're worried about language, everyone will be able to understand you." Shampoo tilted her head and sighed in relief as she realized what that meant.

A moment later there was a soft thump and everyone turned to look up as a woman who looked to be a couple of years older than Shampoo walked into the hallway wearing a very short dress and nothing else. The only thing that gave away who the woman was happened to be the gnarled staff in her right hand. Her eyes were a piercing green as she smiled at everyone.

"I must say," Cologne smiled as she held her arms above her head and stretched, causing her dress to slide up over her hips. "it's so weird to feel so loose and limber and not have to use my Ki to keep my body going."

Ranma coughed, "you're not wearing panties."

The younger Cologne gave him a smirk. "It's been over three hundred years since I was this young, boy, forgive me if I forgot how big my ass was when I was eighteen, okay?"

Lilith gawked at Cologne. "...Master, you need to..."

"Finish that statement and I'll show you what I can do with my staff now that I don't need it to walk." Cologne gave the succubus a sweet smile. She flexed her fingers and looked at how smooth her hands were. "...This is only for a day anyway, I shouldn't get attached to the feeling."

"Do you even want any shorts or anything?" Ranma asked and Cologne shook her head.

"Just let me enjoy this." She smirked at him as Yohko, Bulleta, Ravel and Mittelt came out of the dojo. "Shall we go?"

"We'll teleport over to Issei's place to meet up with his group and Azazel and from there? Bullet train straight to hell." Ranma explained to everyone.

For some reason, Bulleta was grinning. "After we're done, I want to explore Hell and see if there's anything worth shooting."

"Not as much as you'd think." Kuroka, Ravel and Mittelt all answered at the same time as a large sigil appeared around the group before they disappeared in a flash.

(-)

*A few hours later, in Hell...*

Azazel looked at both Ranma and Issei and their teams and nodded. "You've all rolled dice to determine your positions, correct?" The two teams were in the middle of a field while a large crowd surrounded them, many of them cheering. "Alright then!" A large screen appeared in the sky. "This will determine who's facing who then."

The screen split in half and faces from both teams flashed on each side, rapidly going through each member in a random order.

(-)

In the VIP box...

Sirzechs looked at his wife and pursed his lips. "I would feel better if you were at home."

She gave him a flat stare as she rubbed her swollen belly. "The doctor said that I'm not due for another three days. Even if I go into labor a bit early, we're not far from the hospital." She closed her eyes and huffed. "Besides," she smiled as she looked at Rias, who was looking at the battlefield nervously, "I wish to see how my little sister's peerage will fare without her in charge."

Rias, who was wearing a sweater and pants, smiled before wincing. "Sorry, I've been having a bit of an upset stomach lately."

"Are you coming down with something?" Sirzechs asked as he noticed Serafall and Sona, along with Ajuka Beelzebub, entering the VIP stand.

Rias smiled at her brother. "I'll be fine, I saw the school nurse yesterday."

Sirzechs gave her a scrutinizing look, but nodded before turning his attention to the freshly arrived Odin. "Welcome, Norse All-Father."

The old God grinned as he stroked his beard. "Well, brat, looks like your woman's about to pop any day now. You're a lucky man. If your kids need any magic training, feel free to send them my way."

"That might not be a bad idea." Sirzechs conceded with a nod. "Perhaps we can set up an exchange program so Devil and Norse magic can more easily spread throughout the world?"

Odin laughed as he sat down near Sirzechs. "Perhaps. But that can come later. I'm here to enjoy a good match." A stern look came to the Norse God's eye. "There better be some good matches, if you want any Valkyries or Norse Gods to join this little game of yours."

"I'm sure that they will be." Sirzechs told him. "There's a few interesting potential match-ups."

(-)

Azazel chuckled as the first match ended up being Ravel and Koneko. 'Must be fate.' He thought to himself as the two glared at each other. As the first round selections went down, he raised an eyebrow at the final results.

Beyond Ravel and Koneko, Akeno and Mousse had ended up facing off against each other, as did Atsuko and Asia, Kiba and Bulleta, Gasper and Yohko, the young Cologne ended up facing Rossweisse, Lilith and Xenovia ended up facing each other, Mittelt got to face Griselda while the de-aged Vasco Strada was to face off against Shampoo.

One match that Azazel had hoped wouldn't happen in the first round didn't as Issei would face Nabiki and Ranma would face Irina.

"You all get one minute to make your final preparations." Azazel said as everyone looked at their opponents, some more nervous than others, and anticipation started to build up. "Good luck to both teams."

End Chapter 8

And the rating game is about to start!

When I was writing this up, I used a random name generator to determine who'd face who. And, yes, I'm not kidding when Ravel and Koneko came up. In fact, they were the first ones to come up. The names just fell as they did. My notes during this arc looked like something out of a conspiracy theorist board. Because after I came up with the matches, I had to figure out who would win and how it would go down. Anyway, I hope it ends up being what you like.