Heir to the Empire
A Ranma ½/Sailor Moon Crossover fanfic by Ozzallos, which defies many of the usual conventions of the Fuku Fic.
In the climactic moments of Ranma Saotome's battle with the Phoenix prince Saffron, as Akane lies dying before him, Ranma finds help he never anticipated—a mysterious silver gem appears and gives him the power to both save Akane and defeat Saffron. Afterward, Ranma returns to Tokyo with the gem in his possession, somehow certain that it is profoundly important and to be held above the usual antics of the Nerima Wrecking Crew. That touching it forces him into his girl form—and that Ranma, who normally hates his female body, doesn't mind—worries those around him.
Meanwhile, in Azabu-Juuban, Usagi Tsukino discovers that the Ginzuishou, the immensely powerful magical gem which boosts her powers as Sailor Moon and is her heritage as the reincarnated Princess of the Silver Millennium, is missing. Magical scans locate it in Nerima, but a future instance of the time traveling Sailor Pluto warns the Senshi not to go there until they are invited.
When Usagi jumps the gun on the invitation, the two groups collide with dramatic effect. Ranma is revealed to be the reincarnation of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium, the magical queen who gave up her life sealing away the enemies who destroyed her kingdom as well as the mother of Usagi's earlier incarnation. Ranma reluctantly accepts that the Senshi aren't just going to go away and let her be, but it's only when the Chinese Amazons turn out to have an unexpected connection to the Senshi's oldest enemy—and an unpleasant prophecy which just might apply to Ranma—that matters take a turn from comedy of errors to deadly seriousness. And what at first looks like a simple case of tribal politicking among the Amazons in the wake of that discovery turns out to have far more wide-ranging implications.
Heir to the Empire is a very different approach to the bog-standard Fuku Fic, which takes the admittedly-tired idea of making Ranma a Senshi and flips it on end. It features Ozzallos' trademark ultra-techno-magical interpretation of Silver Millennium, this time operating on a galaxy-wide scale far beyond the usual scope seen in either fanfic or canon—and gives the reader a far more detailed look at a place and time that is very much not the Crystal Spires and Togas Golden Age paradise that the Senshi's fragmentary past life memories make it out to be. At the same time, it explores a collision between Ranma's world and that of the Senshi which leads to places unexpected—and potentially deadly—to both.
It can be found here.
Not to be confused with the first book of The Thrawn Trilogy.
Tropes used in Heir to the Empire include:
- Absolute Xenophobes: The Emblem, a Silver Millennium-era civilization which had reacted to encountering Serenity's kingdom by refusing all diplomatic contact, then drawing on demonic energies to utterly destroy two inhabited worlds belonging to the Silver Millennium before Serenity was forced to go to war against them.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted. There's no evidence any AI using Silver Millennium technology ever went rogue, even after thousands of years. The only "evil" AI seen was deliberately programmed to be so, using an uploaded copy of Beryl's mind.
- Apocalypse How: We see or hear of multiple instances of Planetary/Physical Annihilation, including Cambriea, Meridian and Geidi Prime.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite all their experiences with the bizarre and supernatural, the families and the Nerima Wrecking Crew still have trouble believing Ranma's new circumstances -- something he does not hesitate to call them on.
- Baleful Polymorph: The transformation of Amazon warriors into youma. Includes a Shapeshifter Mode Lock.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Ami sure did give off an evil laugh.
- Blood Sisters: Late in the story, after much development, Shampoo announces that this is her and Ranma's new relationship.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: The Outer Senshi, to Ranma. However, unlike most examples of this trope, the relative power levels are quite close—at least until Ranma unlocks some of Serenity's more... extreme abilities.
- Brain Uploading: At some point before the fall of the Silver Millennium, Queen Beryl uploaded a copy of her mind into a magical AI which millennia later becomes the object of worship and a cultural guide for the Chinese Amazons.
- Brick Joke: Early in the story, after Ranma is transformed (slightly) by his possession of the Ginzuisho, Kasumi admires his girl form's new silver hair and asks if he can give her silver hair, too. Ranma's response is a distracted, bemused comment to the effect of "sure, if I can figure out how I got it." In the last chapter, a hundred thousand words or so later, a teenaged Chibi-Usa visits from the future, stares at Kasumi, and asks "Say, when did Kas-chan dye her hair brown?"
- Calling Your Attacks: Michiru affectionately upbraids Hotaru for not verbalizing when casting her "Silence Wall".
- Chainsaw Good: Among the toys Ryouga gets from the Moon arsenal is a chainsword.
- Cheongsam: The teenaged Chibi-Usa shows up wearing one that is pink and black.
- Combat Sadomasochist: The leather-clad, magically-empowered Amazon hit team sent to deal with Ranma and the Senshi definitely has a strong flavor of this trope.
- Complete Monster: The Emblem, a civilization which had reacted to meeting the Silver Millennium with an absolute xenophobia that led them to draw on demonic power, destroy two inhabited planets, and then fight to the last being rather than even consider the possibility of coexistence.
- Creator Thumbprint: We see several of Ozzallos' trademarks here: The ultra-techno-magical Silver Millennium. A Ranma who remains female for the majority of the story. Rouge Angles of Satin in industrial job lots.
- Crossover
- Dark Magical Girls: The Amazons who receive a power-up from the Beryl AI.
- Dawn of an Era: What the events of the story's end suggest is about to occur.
- Deadpan Snarker: Setsuna has her moments making the odd comment to Ranma.
- Death From Above: The Brimful of Asha provides this in the last chapter: first, with a threat to nuke the Masaki household, and later by blowing Jusenkyo to hell to avert an Earth-Shattering Kaboom caused by the Beryl AI's self-destruct.
- Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: Deliberately invoked during the Silver Millennium: a flashback shows the genesis of the mini-skirted sailor uniforms for the Senshi as the replacements for admittedly sinister-looking bodysuits; the change is part politics and part PR, intended to deny Serenity's political opposition the ability to cast the Senshi as her personal jackbooted thugs while making them more appealing to the general population. (That the sailor suits were more advanced with more power and better defenses than their predecessors was just gravy.)
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The Beryl AI's intent when it triggers its Self-Destruct Mechanism.
- The End of the World as We Know It: We see several instances of planetary-scale destruction, not to mention the fall of the Silver Millennium itself. Also, the Beryl AI almost succeeds in vaporizing Earth when they try to shut it down.
- Emergency Transformation: The Amazon Elder Nair sacrifices herself with a dark artifact to return in a more powerful demonic form when Ranma/Serenity proves too much for her to defeat as a human.
- Feet of Clay: Akane can't decide whether to be angry at Ranma or disappointed at her hero Sailor Moon when the former easily bounces the latter around the Tendo yard like a rubber ball.
- Fuku Fic: Turns the trope on its side.
- God Test:
- Setsuna whispers the word "Meridian" to Ranma as her last attempt to prove to Ranma that he is the reincarnation of Serenity. The emotional connections to the word (the name of a planet completely slagged by an enemy, a piece of which became the Ginzuishou) trigger the release of enough of Serenity's memories that Ranma can't deny it any more.
- Ranma and the teenaged Chibi-Usa engage in an all-out Anything Goes martial arts fight to prove that she's Ranma's granddaughter from the future. Ranma wins, but she's convinced.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Setsuna and Serenity.
- Hypocrite: Elder Nair of the Amazon, who insists that Ranma and the Senshi are demons even as her own forces use dark- and pain-themed powers, and she herself undergoes an Emergency Transformation into a demonic form.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Played with; Ranma intervenes in a Senshi fight with a youma to pursue a suspicion she has, actually muttering (part of) the trope name as she prompts the youma to fight her. She's not trying to rescue a friend from mind control, though -- she's noticed that the youma's fighting style resembles that of the Amazons and is trying to draw out more (and more complex) moves from Amazon Wu-shu.
- Ironic Echo: When Ranma introduces Ryouga to the Sailor Senshi, she ends by saying, "Pick the one you want. She's your fiancée" under her breath.
- Ranma also deliberately echoes both her father and mother ("Oh, for shame! What ever did I do to be cursed with an ungrateful daughter of loose morals?", "I'll only have my daughter engaged to a man among men, several if necessary.") both to amuse herself and tease Usagi.
- Japan Takes Over the World: The revival of the Silver Millennium takes place in Japan with then-Emperor Akihito (secretly) giving it up to Ranma and Usagi.
- MacGuffin: The Ginzuishou plays this role in the early part of the story.
- MacGuffin Melee: One starts to break out in chapter two, only to be very dramatically short-circuited.
- Magic From Technology/Magitek: The Silver Millennium apparently didn't see much difference between magic and technology, and consequently enjoyed the full benefits of both.
- Magical Computer: Possibly literally. Subverted in that even magic-based AIs can't crack hardened military-grade defensive software instantly.
- Memento MacGuffin: The Ginzuishou is this to Serenity (and subsequently Ranma) -- it was originally a blackened chunk of rock Serenity picked up off the surface of the nuked planet Meridian; she slowly converted the piece of nuclear slag into a magical gemstone as a tribute to the lost people of that world and as a symbol of her intention to restore its ecosphere somehow, some day.
- Mineral MacGuffin: Again, the Ginzuishou.
- Noodle Incident: Inverted where it happens in the future: The circumstances leading to Ranma giving birth to Usagi's sister Unagi.
- Offhand Backhand: Ranma disposes of the demonically-transformed Nair in this manner, evaporating her with an almost-thoughtless energy blast while her attention is on an incoming space battleship.
- Out-of-Character is Serious Business: When a distracted Ranma thanks his father for his concern, it's a red flag to everyone around him that something is different.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Tuxedo Mask utterly fails to impress Ranma when they first meet, and his rose attack reminds Ranma entirely too much of Kuno. When Ranma finds out that he's Usagi's fiancee, her immediate response is "Not anymore he ain't." (She does relent by the end of the story, though.)
- Pass the Popcorn: Near the end, a teenaged Chibi-usa, sent back from the future, sits on the stone lamp in the Tendo yard eating a bucket of popcorn while watching events she's only known about from bedtime stories.
- Past Life Memories: A major part of Ranma's character development in this story—not just unlocking Serenity's memories, but what it takes before he begins to accept that he and Serenity are the same person.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Serenity, during the Silver Millennium. Ranma/Serenity in the present day. And implied of Usagi.
- Planet Killer: Several varieties show up:
- The xenophobic civilization The Emblem glassed two planets that were part of the Silver Millennium civilization with nuclear saturation bombing. While the planets themselves were not physically destroyed, they were rendered completely dead, sterile hunks of radioactive rock. A piece of slag from one of these planets, Meridian, was slowly transformed into the Ginzuishou by Queen Serenity as a tribute to the lost people of that world and as a symbol of her intention to restore its ecosphere somehow, some day.
- Queen Serenity retaliates for the destruction of Meridian and Cambriea by bringing a fleet to The Emblem's capitol planet/home world and launching six Z90 Point Singularity torpedoes at it -- when four would have been sufficient to destroy it. The planet is torn apart by and vanishes into the eager maws of six miniature black holes.
- The Z90s, which are tactical fleet-based weapons, were not the only planet killers in the Silver Millennium arsenal. In a different flashback, as a distraught Serenity threatens to destroy multiple planets in retaliation for the murder of her consort, we learn they had several such weapons, described as "a cocktail of total annihilation", including the XA-505 "Nova Bomb", designed for system-to-system bombardment.
- In yet another flashback, we learn that Sailor Saturn vaporized a planet called Phaelon during Beryl's assault on the Silver Millennium.
- At the climax of the story, the Beryl A.I. triggers its Self-Destruct Mechanism, which is designed to take not only itself out but the entire Earth with it.
- Power-Up: After a quick visit to an arsenal on the Moon, the Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, and Ryouga all sport some serious extra hardware.
- Ranma goes through most of the fight with Elder Nair and her Beryl-empowered Amazon fighters entirely on her current life's martial arts prowess, but when things get serious she finally reaches for (and receives) Serenity's magic.
- Nair herself undergoes an Emergency Transformation to gain a demonic power-up. It doesn't last.
- Powered Armor: Among the gadgets Ryoga gets from the moon arsenal is a suit of armor which he refuses to deploy at first. Chibi-Usa's bodyguards wear similar armor when they appear in the yard of the Tendo home.
- Precursors: What the Silver Millennium is to the galaxy today.
- Pulling Themselves Together: One of the powers the Amazon hit squad receives from the Beryl AI.
- Reincarnation: In addition to the reincarnations native to Sailor Moon, Ranma Saotome turns out to be the reincarnation of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium.
- Resurrection Sickness: Akane briefly suffers from this after an attempt to wake Ranma with a bucket of cold water gets her run through by a jumpy Sailor Uranus. Fortunately, Sailor Saturn resurrects her, but Sailor Pluto notices and even muses about "rez sickness" being a bitch.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: A flashback to the Silver Millennium shows Setsuna talking Serenity out of one after the assassination of her husband/consort.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Queen Serenity was quite active in promoting her empire.
- Something Only They Would Say: Ranma addressing the various Senshi by their Silver Millennium incarnations' names despite never having met them before is the first clue for Setsuna that Ranma is Serenity's reincarnation.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: When it learns that the actual Queen Beryl has been killed, the Queen Beryl AI engages a self-destruct mechanism intended to split the earth in two.
- Sitting on the Roof: The story ends on Ranma and Usagi sitting on the roof of the Tendo home discussing the future.
- Split Personality: Something like this starts affecting Ranma after Serenity's memories start returning. Ranma isn't really two different people, but he seems to develop two different "overlays" to his personality -- the crude martial artist, and the galactic empress with a millennium's life experience -- that he swaps between seamlessly as needed.
- Stuff Blowing Up: It's a Ranma/Sailor Moon crossover. It's almost guaranteed. But the very biggest boom is averted.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Ranma's reaction after he finds himself influenced by Serenity's memories and "appreciating" Ryouga's physique and potential as a consort.
- Take Over the World: The story ends on the birth of a plan to do exactly this, with confirmation from The Future that it works.
- The Theocracy: The Chinese Amazons, who worship Beryl—the Big Bad of the first season of Sailor Moon.
- Third-Person Flashback: How we see the Silver Millennium.
- Time Travel: Well, if you have Sailor Pluto in the story, it's a given.
- A teenaged Chibi-Usa visits from the future in the final chapter.
- Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Considering the two series used, it's a bit obvious.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Serenity is both at different points in her life—tomboy before her involvement with and after the assassination of her husband/consort, girly girl during their romance and early motherhood. During the "present time", though, Setsuna is the girly girl to Ranma/Serenity's tomboy.
- Tragic Keepsake: What the Ginzuishou started out as.
- Training from Hell: Quite literally for those Amazon warriors trapped in the Beryl AI's dimensional "locker".
- Also what Ranma puts the Senshi through once he realizes they have given him authority over themselves.
- Transformation Sequence: Ranma finally allows himself to go through one during the battle with the Amazon hit squad.
- Volleying Insults: Rei and Minako trade friendly insults when Minako complains that a mid-battle uniform upgrade doesn't let her show off as much leg as her original seifuku did.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In a moment that's far more Ranma than Serenity, Ranma gives Usagi a thorough reaming-out for committing suicide during the fall of the Moon Kingdom (and using Venus's sword to do it). She then widens the lecture to all the other Senshi:
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"That goes for all of you. I don't care if you've lost everything. Your friends. Your fiancée. Whatever. You will grind the bad guy into the dust first, then question your own goddamn existence later, do I make myself crystal clear?" Wide eyes and nods greeted her words, and her voice lowered to a threatening growl. "And if I happen to find you don't kick their butts before you slit your own wrists, you can be damn certain I'll hunt you down in the afterlife and kick your ass just as surely as I sent you forward to the here and now." ... Those hard blue eyes then turned back on Moon. "And you are the heir to a goddamn galactic empire. One day you'll have billions relying on you for guidance. The innocent will turn to you for protection. Of everybody in this room, you don't have the luxury of suicide." |
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- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: When she learns that Usagi's future sister is named "Unagi", Minako demands, "Who the hell names their kid 'eel'?"
