[Ranma/Batman][FanFic] The Dark Knight: Chapter Two
Fiona Lim
by Fiona Lim
fanta...@gurlmail.com
Author's Note
So what does Bruce/Ranma Wayne Saotome look
like?
And why the confusing use of both names as if they
were two different people?
In a way they are. Bruce Wayne is controlled,
intelligent - filthy rich - and sixteen years old as this
story continues.
Ranma Saotome - as we all know - is chauvinistic
at times, brave, uncontrolled and doesn't act very
smart half the time.
In this story, Bruce/Ranma's first name is Bruce. It
is what his parents called him, and he called himself
that for quite some time. Genma has always called
him Ranma (for traditional reasons, and also
because 'Ranma' is a MANLY name), and perhaps
till he was fourteen.
In flashbacks, Ranma will think of himself as 'Bruce'
- because that is what he called himself then. His
hair till he's twelve is in a small pig tail, from twelve
till fourteen, his hair is short, cut raggedly at the
nape. From fourteen onwards, it's in the more
familiar pigtail.
Bruce Ranma Wayne nee Saotome looks like
Ranma Saotome except for blue eyes (from
Alexandra his mother, who was 'gaijin') and the fact
that he is closer to six foot than Ranma (original
series) was.
Disclaimer: Ranma =BD and Batman does not belong
to me. I'd say, don't sue me, but I doubt any fanfic
author has EVER been sued. Actually, I think fanfic
writers help to increase the fanbase for any series
they're writing in by dragging in more fans who read
their work and get hooked - especially if they are
good (note though, I am not saying that I am good,
just noting this fact). Which might mean, of course,
that instead of being scared that we'll all be sued if
we DON'T put disclaimers, maybe all the award
winners out there should start suing the companies
who produce anime for some compensation. After
all, we're doing free publicity. ^_^
-----
The screech of a steamer filled the dock, scattering
several scavanging seabirds up into the smog filled
air. The sea-dock was covered in moving figures as
they loaded boxes into several large vans marked
with the faded words: 'Gun-Dam Warehouse'. A tall
young boy made his way through the controlled
chaos, his bright, cheaply made clothing making him
stand out among the dirt-dulled clothes of the
scurrying workmen.
Several of the low lives that frequented busy places
the world over, glanced up as the boy walked past
their alley, but the smooth grace he employed to
walk through the crowds changed their minds. The
fluidity of his movements was one usually
associated with dancers - or knife fighters. That, and
the dangerous flare in his eyes added to the small
voice in the back of their minds that screamed:
'dangerous'.
"Hey honey, where you headed?" a voice whispered
from an alley as the boy stalked past, "Wanna slow
down and see what I can give you?"
The boy paused as he stared at the girl leaning
against the side of the building in what probably was
suppose to be an 'alluring' pose. Unfortunately, her
thin body, straggly brown hair - not to mention the
frightened glaze of her eyes - destroyed the effect.
"No thank you." He finally said politely and turned to
walk away.
The yell made him turn.
"Idiot!" a man dressed in a suit had stepped out
from the shadow of a building and was hitting the
girl, "That's another one you lost today! Keep this up,
Tolo and you're gonna go back to Madam's house -
you want to go back to Madam's house?"
"N-n-no - please, Jackie. J-ju-just give me another
chance - I p-promise. I won't m-m-muck up again."
The girl stuttered.
"Bah! My fault - I should never have taken someone
as young as you - worthless."
The boy watched, his eyes filled first in shock, then
anger.
[cue opening credits]
[scene: Genma talking to a much younger Ranma as
he drags the boy down a path =96 in the background,
a house and the huddled figure of a crying woman]
Ain't no need for this here,
Take your angelheart
And disappear.
[Skyehawke Archives]
[young Bruce (Bruce Ranma Wayne nee Saotome)
learning to fight by a series of different senseis.
Crying, screaming =96 angry, brooding. A young Ukyou
appears in last scene, laughing as Bruce stands
over her.
Flash Scene: Bruce is laughing and crying as he
plays with Ukyou.]
You can laugh, and you can cry
But that ain't gonna help you
So why don't you leave your angelheart
Behind?
[In conjunction with Fantaghiro Visions]
[Scene: Ukyou crying as Genma drags a shouting
Bruce down a road while he drives a white van.
Close in from last scene: Ukyou is holding several
strands of Bruce's hair, she reaches up and ties it
in a psudo-necklace around her neck.
Flash Scene: Bruce is in a different place, tied to a
rock as he struggles while an old man lectures him.]
Emotions =96
Don't need them, nothing
In life ever fixed by
Screaming my HEART OUT.
[guitar solo]
[Scene of young Bruce taking a scissors and cutting
off his braid at the nape.
Flash scene: young teenage Bruce is fighting, his
face impassive. A worried looking Koh Lon is
standing in the background a piece of paper in her
hand.
Flash Scene: slightly older teenage Bruce fighting
with another ancient person standing in
background.
Successive scenes each with slightly older Bruce
and Senseis in background.]
[Proudly Presents]
With control
You can ignore your emotions
Nothing is ever won by crying.
Yeah I know
Ain't provin' nothin'
But don't ya know you can't fight
Without feelin' somethin'.
[Scene: A tall, stately man staring at older Bruce
and walking away.
Flash scene: Bruce (Bruce Ranma Wayne nee
Saotome) wearing a red shirt and black pants, hair
in long pigtail as he concentrates =96 stately old man
watching in background, smiling]
Angelheart Angelheart
Why don't you =96 why don't you
Leave me alone!
[Scene: Bruce/Ranma Wayne Saotome standing at
the railing of a ship, staring at the outline of a smog
covered city]
[Dark Knight]
Chapter Two
Memory. . .
***
Six years ago
Juuban Ward
"Anger is a power as any other, Bruce-san." The old
man said as he paced around the angry boy, "And
like all power, it must be harnessed for it to be of
any use." The man paused and stared at the young
boy, "What has angered you, young one?"
"POPS!" the boy yelled, stopped from destroying - or
at least marginally damaging - his surroundings only
stole UCCHAN's food! He took the cart! And he
won't let me go back! Even though we have lots and
lots of money!"
"And what do you want to do now?" the old man
asked.
"I want to go hit him! I want to make him sorry!" the
boy shouted, struggling harder, "Let me go! I
WANNA MAKE HIM SORRY!"
The old man winced at the raised decibels as he
walked another circuit around the rock, "Then go."
"LET ME -" a pause, "What?"
"Go. Break through the chains." The old man said,
staring at the boy intensely, "And you can go and
pound your father. Each day, you will have that
chance, every morning, you will be tied to that rock,
and every day, if you can break through that rock,
you can beat Genma as much as you want."
And with that said, the old man stalked over to a
lower rock and perched on it, his eyes closed as if in
meditation. In actuality, his thoughts were as far
from calm and peace as was possible.
*For as much as you want to teach this boy some
self-control, face it Hino. If he manages to break the
bonds before he learns, you wouldn't stop him from
pounding that old leacher.* Sensei Hino thought as
he listened to the struggles, *It's a wonder the boy
hasn't been totally corrupted, though from what
Sensei Adani passed on, I wonder about his lack of
memory on his past.* Hino muffled a sigh as he
shifted imperceivably on the rock, *Damn - I'm too
old for this 'know-it-all ancient' routine. Perching on
rocks, jumping around the place? That was for Koh
Lon, not me.*
"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!!!!"
*And listening to screams has always been
Happossai's forte.*
Sensei Hino watched as the young boy relaxed
against the chains holding him. *Funny, it's still
morning.* he thought as he stared up at the sky,
*And it's only been three weeks - too early for young
Bruce to be learning the control he needs.*
"There's another way here, isn't there?" the voice
was small, but the intelligence that shimmered in
the words nearly struck the Sensei dumb.
"Yes, there is." *Ah, the wonders of a 'mysterious,
ancient know-it-all sensei master' reputation.*
"What is it?"
"That, I'm afraid, Bruce-san, is for YOU to find out,
not for me to tell you. Because *that* would be too
easy."
"But that's - that's not FAIR! Pops said you were
suppose to teach me martial arts!" young Bruce
complained.
"And you believe everything your father tells you,
Bruce-san?"
"I -"
"Exactly." Sensei Hino finished, "Do you still wish to
beat him up, Bruce-san?"
"No."
Inwardly, Sensei Hino sighed, *Not exactly what I
wanted to teach him. But at least he learned control
- I guess another Grand-Master will teach him the
power behind emotions.* "Then tell me, young
Bruce, what have you learned from our sessions."
"That I shouldn't scream so loud about what I want
to do - or else people will stop me." Came the
prompt reply.
Hino's mental eyebrow shot into the heavens, "And
you learned all this, this morning?"
"I've been thinking about it for the past week or so -
sorta between screaming and tryin' to break the
stupid ropes."
*Not only a fast learner, a good actor. This one will
go far - if I can keep that leach 'father' of his from
destroying his potential.* Sensei Hino thought as he
kept his face an impassive mask, "Than you have
learned what you need. Control, Bruce, is everything.
Remember that."
"Okay." A pause, "Now can you cut the ropes - it's
boring here. And Rei said she'd let me read her
comic books with her." Came the plaintative words.
*Great promise, but a child. Ah, but if all martial
artists could be children - better yet, all GRAND
MASTERS be a child. One who does not see
anything but good, therefor hesitates before using
what he has.* Sensei Hino thought as he released
the knots and stepped back.
Five years ago
Unknown area, Japan
"Sensei Yoshu?"
Yoshu stared at the teenager in front of him, "So you
are the young boy my friend Hino wrote me about."
He said thuoghtfully.
"Yes, sir."
"And what is your name?"
"Bruce -" a pause, almost impersivable, "Bruce
Wayne - though I was adopted as a Saotome, sir."
*Hino said that he failed to teach Bruce the power
of emotions - the chi based attacks. He learned
control instead. Lora didn't teach him how to
master his anger - or even release it - but Bruce
Wayne became a tenth dan in Akida Nozitsu.
Adams showed him how to channel anger
productively to give himself energy, but that is
something any black belt of any school might learn.
Koh Lon tried and failed to show him any of the
secrets she COULD impart from that society of
hers. Happossai -* Yoshu barely managed to hold
off a shudder, * - he failed. But Bruce learned at
least some of the finer points of that tiny school.*
Sunlight streamed through the trees surrounding
the temple, and Yoshu stared at the teenager who
stood there, the air of control seldom seen in one of
that age almost shimmering around him. *Which
leaves me precisely where? He shall be powerful,
this Bruce Wayne. If the letters speak correctly, he
will inherite much money - something that gives
power even without the 'arts in this world. 'He
knows how to control his anger, and channel it into
what he decides is 'productive'. He is matured, he
learns fast, he is many things - most of them are
probably considered good too. Amazing that he is
the 'son' and protegee of the lazy good-for-nothing
Saotome. He makes me want to throw up. He's in
your hands, Yoshu - do something with that streak
of prudeness he's developed.'* Yoshu almost
smiled in rememberance of Happosai's letter, *Of
course, being a prude to Happi is wearing a bikini at
a beach.*
"Sir?" Bruce stared at him questioningly.
*A choice, Yoshu. Teach him the power of chi - and
hopefully show him some responsibility at the same
time. Or not.*
"Why are you here, Wayne-san?" Yoshu asked finally
in English.
Bruce blinked and then replied in accented English,
"To learn martial arts, Sensei Yoshu."
*Quick on his feet.*
"You are ranked black belt and above in over twenty
different styles, Grand Master in four others and
Master in your adopted Father's own school. What
else is there for you?" Yoshu demanded, switching
back to Japanese.
For several seconds, Bruce paused, the aura of
complete self-assurance slipping slightly, then he
spoke, "I don't know, sir. Genma dumped me here so
he could catch several months over in Los Vegas. I
figured I'd learn - like I did before. I haven't learned
your style yet." He added non-challantly.
*Utter coldness. He learns for learnings sake - good
in some places, not particularly good for one like
him.* Yoshu noted, *Bruce Wayne cannot learn
what I teach him - but perhaps. . .*
"From this day forth, you are Ranma Saotome."
Bruce stared at the old man before him - alike in
most aspects with the usually ancient men and
women who had been teaching him their 'arts since
he could remember clearly. "What?"
"Ranma Saotome." Sensei Yoshu said clearly, "Are
you deaf, boy?"
"My name is Bruce Wayne, sir." Bruce replied firmly,
"Pops been trying to call me Ranma for a long time
now =96 it's never worked. My name is Bruce." He
didn't add that the name was his only connection
with a past he barely remembered but would one
day have to return to, "I'm not taking on anybody
else's name."
"Ranma is your name as well. It says so right here
on the birth certificate Genma gave to me before he
left. Bruce Ranma Wayne nee Saotome." Sensei
Yoshu replied as he turned and walked away, "So
Ranma Saotome you shall be. And if you are Ranma
Saotome, I shall teach you what I know about ki."
"I SAID MY NAME IS NOT RANMA!"
Walking away, Yoshu smiled. *The shield has
broken, and though he does not know it, 'Ranma'
already 'is'. Creating a secondary personality is
definitely not something I want to do - but this is the
only way. Hopefully 'Ranma' and 'Bruce' shall have
enough control that they will merge enough that
whatever turns out has the best of both. The lack of
emotional control would temper the total control of
emotion that 'Bruce' had gained.*
***
Present
Ranma stared at the man in the suit and the
frightened girl who couldn't have been more than
five or six years older than him, the words of Sensei
Hino echoing in his mind. *Control. Patience. Wait -
and learn, then you can strike.*
"P-please, Jackie. I'll do better." The girl whispered,
sinking to her knees, cringing.
*To hell with this - patience and control has it's
place. It's not now.*
It wasn't a fight - in fact, it wasn't anything
resembling a fight at all. Jackie was exactly what he
looked like - a thin, slight man whose power came
from the fear he over people, not in his physical
form. Ranma stared down in disgust at the man. "I'd
get out of this line of business." He said in a carefully
toneless voice and turned to leave.
"W-wait!" the girl =96 Tolo =96 said, staring at him as if
he was some sort of being, "W-who are you?"
He ignored her as he walked away =96 though he
wasn't sure why. Perhaps as melodrama =96 though
he hoped it wasn't for that reason =96 or perhaps
because a part of him wasn't proud of what he had
just done. There were probably many ways to have
done something to the man. Beating him up was
one of the more barbaric ways. *Got to remember,
you're in civilization now, Ranma. Over here, you
can't go around beating people up =96 even if they
deserve it.* an inner voice reminded him. *But what
about the defender's code?*
He barely remembered most of the time he had
spent with his parents, and then later with Nodoka
=96 before Genma had taken him away. He couldn't
recall much of the original wording, except what
Auntie Nodoka had explained afterwards, *Those
who are stronger, MUST protect the weaker ones.*
*I'm too tired to figure all this out.* Ranma decided,
*Just find Alfred for now =96 or at least somewhere
there's some clean water and a bed without too
many holes, maybe even a roof that isn't leaking TOO
much. . . Then I'll figure out how to handle everything
else.*
Behind him, the girl stared down at the prone figure
of Jackie, his sports jacket turning a dirty brown
from the muddy water seeping into the cheap
material. *So what do I do now?* Tolo wondered,
shivering in the cold wind as she leaned against the
alley wall, *Jackie won't take me back. It's NOT
FAIR! It isn't my fault that strange guy took him out
like that -* she paused in her thoughts, hugging
herself, *But he stood up for me. Nobody's ever
stood up for me before.*
*So what are you gonna do now, Tolo-girl?* she
could almost hear her long dead Mother's voice in
her head, *You gonna cry and sob or are you gonna
do something worthwhile, girl?*
*Oh Momma.* Tolo sniffed, though perhaps it was
more from the cold wind and her cold, then
sadness, *I wish you were still alive. Nobody ever did
nothin' so long as you were lookin' after me. Maybe I
wouldn't have hung round with Donnie and his gang
neither if you'd been alive.*
*You have to stop blaming other people for your
problems, girl. Or you ain't gonna be nothing.
Whinners don't get anywhere.* Tolo winced
"Oooooh." Jackie growned as he slowly sat up, "Who
was that guy?" he demanded as he stood up,
"Would you look at this jacket! It was brand new
too!" he glared at Tolo, "You're gonna pay for this,
Tolo! This is all your fault!" he said.
For the first time in as long as she could remember,
Tolo felt something moving inside her heart. She
stared at the man in front of her, and felt disgust.
"No I ain't."
"What did you say?!"
"I ain't." Tolo said as she pulled on the cloth jacket
she'd stashed inside the alleyway, "In fact, I ain't
gonna stay 'round you neither, Jackie." She added.
"And where you going to go, Tolo?" Jackie
demanded, sneering, "Back to Madam? Or are you
going to try to go solo? A girl like you will never
survive without somebody like me looking over her."
"I'm not gonna =96 GOING TO =96 go back to Madam."
Tolo said softly, "I ain't going to do that no more.
There are other jobs out there for people like me."
"Yeah, like what?"
"I don't know =96 but I'll find it!" Tolo snapped as she
walked away.
Behind her Jackie shook his fist at her as he yelled,
"You'll come crawling back Tolo but I won't take
you!"
She ignored him even though she was quivering
inside. *I'll make it. Make Momma and that stranger
proud of me.* she decided firmly.
*But how?*
--
Ranma stared down at the piece of paper in her
hand. The scrawled ink seemed to waver before his
vision =96 almost as if it would disappear. He clenched
his fist, crumpling the paper tightly. The paper was
too important =96 for him, for his Auntie Nodoka. . .
*For whatever future I can make for both of us.* he
decided. *At least the address is in the upper side
of this city. Whoever my parents were, they must've
been pretty rich to own a town house =96 or whatever
it was that librarian called it.*
The City Records Hall had been the only place
anybody had been able to point him to when he'd
began asking around about Alfred. *I must have
been crazy. Thinking I could find a man in a city with
millions of people, just by asking around.* Ranma
thought.
All he knew about Alfred Pennyworth was the few
letters he'd received while he had been staying at
Sensei Yoshu's temple. For the past ten years,
Alfred had been the caretaker of the house
(*houses* now he found out) his parents had
owned in Gotham City. The laywers had told him that
if he chose to leave Japan when he turned fifteen,
that Alfred would be his guardian till he reached
twenty-one in Gotham City. But Genma had always
handled the legal correspondance. And he'd never
written =96 after all, he hadn't even known where to
write to. *But I guess I knew that my parents
must've been pretty rich. With the money Genma
spends every month, they'd had to have been.*
Looking around for street signs, Ranma began the
long walk to the address.
The screams jerked him out of his reverie. *I have
to remember that this is a city =96 too dangerous to
walk with my head in the clouds.* Ranma reminded
himself as he looked around.
It was growing darker; the shadows reflected
against the wall of an opening between two houses
was what drew his attention. That and the screams
that grew all the louder, though the people who
were walking on the street, didn't seem to hear =96 or
perhaps they didn't care.
The light bulb in one of the backdoors of the building
cast everything into a hellish black and white. The
screaming woman dressed in a business suit, the
man dressed in a heavy black bomber jacket, the
knife that glinted. He reacted =96 both sides of him
agreeing that this wasn't the time to pause and
consider.
His first attack sent the knife flying across the
ground to stab blade first between the grating of a
storm drain, his second, the man to the ground, and
his third made sure the man was gasping for breath
as he grabbed the woman and ran out of the
alleyway before he found out if the drawings on the
back of the jacket meant the man was part of a
gang.
"Who =96 who are you?" the woman gasped as
Ranma paused at the end of the street, "I =96 I =96 " she
trailed off before whispering, "Thank you."
"It's all right." He said shortly, "Nobody decent
wouldn't have done what I did." He stared at her,
noting the rips and stains on the once immaculate
suit she was wearing, "Are you all right?"
"Y-yeah." She whispered, looking at him with huge
eyes, "Are you?"
And he realized that the man must have gotten
SOMETHING in =96 because he was bleeding from a
graze on his shoulder.
"Yeah." He said curtly and walked away, his thoughts
troubled.
*How can I bring Auntie Nodoka here? This place is
so dark =96 ugly. But if I let her stay in Japan, Genma
might return =96 and the gods know what he'll do to
her.*
Another voice, further in the back of his mind,
murmured that perhaps he could do something =96
make the darkness better, like the Code dictated.
*First find Alfred, then convince him I'm whom I say I
am.*
Glancing down at his clothes and the state they
were in, Ranma shuddered, *If I can do that, I can
do anything.*
Behind him, Xan Pu leaned against the wall, not able
to believe what had just occurred.
"Hey =96 you all right?"
She stared around, then down, to the young girl
staring at her. Something about the girl struck a bell
in the back of her head, but it was several seconds
before she realized that the girl was wearing what
she had come to refer to as the 'uniform' of the
various prostitutes and druggies that littered the
lower parts of Gotham City.
"Yes, thank you." Xan Pu replied stiffly.
"Don't do that." The girl said.
Xan Pu was struck dumb, "What?"
"Don't do that. I can see. You think I'm a low life. So
you pretend you're higher. Don't do that." The girl
said, "We've got somethin' in common we do."
"Like what?" Xan Pu asked, curiosity piqued.
"We both got saved =96 by 'im." The girl stuck out her
hand, "My name's Tolo. What's yours?"
"Xan Pu. Lon Xan Pu." Xan Pu replied, taking the
hand gingerly, "You know him =96 that boy?"
"No. He beat up Jackie that's all." Tolo replied,
"Come on, we shouldn't be staying on the streets
like this. Bad thing to do in this part of town. Say =96
why are you hear anyway?" she asked, staring at
Xan Pu, "I'd figure, a girl like you dressed in a suit,
wouldn't be near this quarter."
"Yeah, it was stupid of me." Xan Pu said numbly as
she straightened, "Tell me =96"
"Tolo."
" =96 Tolo, do you always talk to perfect strangers like
this?" Xan Pu asked, staring at the girl =96 it was rare
to meet somebody who would talk to you at the caf=E9
near her apartment, let alone on a busy street in
one of the lesser quarters of Gotham City.
"No. Usually I'm scared of most people." Tolo replied,
"But I saw him save you. And if he saved you, you
must be good." There was a glimmer of hero
worship in her young eyes, and Xan Pu felt curiosity
tug at her =96 as well as something else =96 for the first
time in a while.
"You're right. We shouldn't be standing here. You
can come to my apartment with me, we'll be safe
there at least." She decided finally.
"Really?!" Tolo said, shock in her voice, "But =96 aren't
you scared I'm gonna do something bad?"
"If he saved you, you must be good." Xan Pu replied,
"And I'm not as vulnerable as you think." She added,
"I happen to have lived in an Amazon village in China
till I was nineteen."
"Yeah, so why were you screaming in that alley?
Cause you liked it?"
"Good question." Xan Pu said as she took Tolo's
small hand and began walking, "And one I think I'm
going to have to answer very soon."