Scott Jamison Just to confuse you, a complete fan-fic while I try to finish one of my ongoing series! WINGS OVER CHINA by Scott K. Jamison (Note: Gargoyles and its associated characters are owned by the all-powerful Disney Corporation; Ranma 1/2 and its associated concepts was created by Rumiko Takahashi, no infringement is intended so *please* don't hurt me!) Narrator: Previously, on Gargoyles... (From the end of the Avalon episodes) Tom: Ye dinna understand! Avalon doesn't take ye where ye want to go; it sends ye where ye need tae be! (From the Mirror episode, the scenes of Elisa as a gargoyle, then Goliath as a human; then the end of that episode, as Goliath turns to stone.) Elisa: I know, Goliath, but that's the way it is. (TITLE SEQUENCE) (A foggy night; as the mist clears, we see a valley filled with many small pools. Out of many of them stick bamboo poles of various heights. Emerging from the fog is a small skiff with four occupants. How it got here is unclear, since there's no water connecting the pool they're in to anywhere else. The occupants are: Goliath, head gargoyle of his clan; Angela, his daughter by human standards; Detective Elisa Maaza, one of the gargoyles' few human friends; and Bronx, the gargoyle "dog". (Check any Gargoyles web page for pictures.) The skiff bumps into the shore of the pool.) Elisa: We're here...wherever here is. Bamboo poles, somewhere in Asia maybe? Goliath: You're more familiar with geography than either of us. Angela: It seems peaceful here. I think I like it. Bronx: Grrr? (A rabbit comes leaping up, and onto the prow of the boat, just as Elisa is standing up. Bronx jumps at it, sending her off balance.) Elisa: Whoa boy! (She falls into the water.) Goliath: Elisa! (He leans over and holds out his hand. It's grasped, but something looks odd about Elisa's hand. Goliath and Angela's faces register shock.) (But we switch to Bronx, who's still after that rabbit. It's more agile, and the gargoyle plunges into a pool.) (Switch again to Angela and Goliath's backs, blocking our view.) Angela: Elisa, you-- Goliath: Oh, Elisa! Elisa: What? Is something wrong? Goliath: You're...a-- (The wings part, and we can see Elisa, who has become a gargoyle. Not the ersatz Elisa-with-wings of the Mirror episode, but more like Delilah, the Elisa/Demona crossbreed created by Thailog. She looks at her clawed hands and her eyes glow bright orange.) Elisa: YARRH!! (lots of reverb.) Bronx (off): Yipe! (Everyone turns to look. Out of the pool Bronx fell in to crawls a naked human male. (Shadows hide the good bits :-) He crouches on all fours and throws back his head.) Man-Bronx: Owooo! (There's a flash of lantern light across the gargoyles. Behind it we see a middle-aged Chinese man in a Mao uniform carrying the lantern.) Guide: Nii hao! Elisa: Uh, niihao. Do you speak English? Guide: A little, Miss Customer. Elisa: You don't seem to be surprised to see us. Guide: A little surprised. Never have three people fall in Spring of Drowned Gargoyle at one time before. Elisa: Spring of *what*? Guide: Legend, very tragic, of gargoyle who drown there 900 years ago. Now anyone who fall in pool take body of gargoyle. Elisa: And that's what happened to me, er us? Angela: Sorcery! Man-Bronx: Growf. Guide: Oh, and dog fall in Spring of Drowned Man, I guess. Goliath: Come, Elisa, it is nearly dawn. Sir, could you watch our, um, dog? Guide (realization dawning): Sure thing, Mr. Customer. (A secluded cave nearby.) Elisa: What am I going to do now, Goliath? I'm a gargoyle! (He puts his wing around her.) Angela: There are worse fates, Elisa. Elisa: I suppose. I know I wouldn't want to be Bronx now. It's kind of ironic. Demona has to be human part of the time, and now, I'm like this. Goliath: If it is any comfort, by our standards you are exceedingly beautiful. Elisa: Flatterer. Angela: Perhaps there's a cure. We'll ask tonight. Goliath: Yes. I have a feeling we have not yet done all we came here to do. (The sun comes up and the three turn to stone.) (Some time later, several trucks pull up to the pools. Three of them have large tanks for liquid on them. Xanatos' mercenaries hop out; two of them approach a small hut.) (Inside the hut, we see the Guide and Man-Bronx. The latter has now been supplied with a loincloth, much to the relief of Standards and Practices.) Guide (Speaking Chinese at the moment, but it sounds like English to us): Not to worry, your masters will return with the sunset, as I recall my grandfather's tales of gargoyles. In the meantime, I'll make some tea. It's very good for nerves. (The door crashes open, and two of the mercenaries (Bates & Johnson) enter, waving their blasters.) Bates: All right, old man. You and the loony just stay where you are and you won't get hurt. Guide: I not move, Mr. Customer. Man-Bronx: Grr! (He leaps at Bates, who accidentally shoots Johnson. Johnson's gun goes off, knocking a piece of the roof onto the Guide's head. As they struggle, Bates and Man-Bronx slam into the stove, spilling hot water on them. Bates goes unconscious; Bronx turns to stone (but *not* gargoyle form!) (Next to one of the trucks (which bear the Gen-U-Tech logo) is the evil genetics genius Dr. Sevarius, who has one hand in a cast. He's approached by Elkton, another of the mercenaries.) Sevarius: Well? Elkton: That Chinese guy musta been tougher than we figured. He managed to knock out Bates and Johnson while they were taking him down He's also got interesting taste in art. There's a statue of a half-naked man in the hut. Sevarius: You don't say. Man, not monster? Elkton: Nope, just an average-looking half-naked guy. Sevarius: Hmm. Well, start the extraction process. Elkton: Yessir! (Night falls, and the gargoyles waken from their stone sleep with mighty roars.) (In the hut, Man-Bronx also awakens, and transforms into Gargoyle-Bronx.) Bronx: Garooo! (Translation: "It's good to be back!") (He pads over and licks the Guide's face. That worthy is bound and gagged, however.) (The gargoyles spread their wings.) Goliath: We'd better teach you how to glide, Elisa. You didn't have much chance to practice the last time you had wings. Elisa: Oh yes, I remember. Here goes! (They take off. Elisa flutters clumsily at first, but with a little correction soon gets the hang of it.) Elisa: I'm flying! I'm actually flying! (Tries to do an aerial loop and stalls out. Before she falls very far, Goliath catches her and gets her back on the level. Goliath: Not flying. Gliding. Angela: Look, Father. Trucks near those pools! Goliath: Gen-U-tech trucks. They can only be up to no good. Elisa: We should try to scout out what's going on and try to find Bronx. Angela, you're the smallest of us now, you'll have to do. Angela: Yes, M-Elisa. (She dives near the trucks.) (Elkton and his fellow mercenary Tirpitz talk by one of the trucks as we hear the steady chug of a pump. They'd like to smoke, but Standards and Practices won't let us show that :-) Squinting, we see Angela lurking nearby.) Tirpitz: So what's so special about this water anyways? Elkton: All I know is Doc Sevarius is interested in it, and we have orders not to drink it, swim in it, or even let a drop touch our skins. My guess is some kind of contaminant. You notice nobody but that one guy lives near here? Tirpitz: And from what I hear, he's the toughest old coot in the valley. Bates and Johnson wake up yet? Elkton: Naw, but we got the old guy tied up real good in the hut. You want some coffee? (Angela fades back into the shadows.) (She rejoins Goliath and Elisa.) Angela: They are siphoning off the spring water, no doubt for their nefarious experiments. The one behind it is Doctor Sevarius. Goliath: I thought we'd seen the last of him at Loch Ness. Elisa: Remember when he was supposedly shocked to death by electric eels? The man is obviously an escape artist. Angela: They're holding the man we met last night in that hut. No word on Bronx. Goliath: Elisa, you free the man. Angela and I will attempt to destroy the tankers. Elisa: But be careful not to get any of that water on yourselves. No telling what would happen. I... don't want to lose you. Either of you. (Goliath and Elisa exchange one of those meaningful glances...Angela doesn't quite get it.) (As Elisa swoops towards the hut, the door suddenly crashes out (being none too steady after being crashed in earlier) and Bronx hops forward. The Guide is hanging on for dear life around his neck.) Guide: In words of Chairman Mao, Aiyah! (The mercenaries start firing wildly. Elisa glides down and pulls the guide out of the way.) Elisa: Going my way? (Meanwhile, Angela and Goliath tip over a tanker truck, then gash it open, leaping away before the leaking water can hit them.) (Suddenly, more mercenaries spring from ambush and fire electrified nets. Angela is caught first, then Elisa (who is no longer carrying the Guide) and Bronx and finally Goliath, who takes three nets to take down. Sevarius strolls forward.) Sevarius: Well, well. You do get around, don't you Goliath? And your lovely daughter-- Angela: *SNARL* Sevarius: And the family dog of course. But where is Detective Maaza? And who is this new gargoyle? Goliath: Don't touch her! Sevarius: I see. So the legends about Jyuusenkyo being able to completely restructure someone's genetic pattern are true! I had wondered how..Bronx, was it? had gotten into the hut without being seen. It's fortunate you dropped by. I need some volunteers to test the effects of the water. (The Guide walks up casually.) Guide: Excuse please. Sevarius: I'm rather busy gloating just now. Guards? Guide: Another gargoyle behind you. (points) Sevarius: What? (looks. Sucker.) (The Guide pushes Sevarius into a pool.) Guide (in mock horror): Oh no, not Spring of Drowned Cockroach! That pool have especially tragic legend of cockroach who drown there 723 years ago next Tuesday! Ever since--you get picture. (He takes out a small net and fishes a bug from the pool.) (The mercenaries are so dumbfounded by all this they've been just standing around looking stunned. The gargoyles take the opportunity to escape the nets and kick butt in a really exciting action scene.) (Later, the mercenaries and a restored Sevarius are carted off by a gaggle of formidable-looking women bristling with martial arts weaponry.) Goliath: What will be done with them? Guide: Amazon wise woman make them forget about Jyuusenkyo and Cursed Springs. Not worry. Do this to government officials all time. Here is hot water. (Elisa takes the kettle and pours it over herself, returning to human. Her outfit is in shreds, though still modest enough for children's TV.) Elisa: It feels good to be me again. Goliath: You were always yourself to me. (They exchange another meaningful glance. Angela is pretty sure they're not telling her something.) Guide: Remember, cold water on, hot water off. Miss Customer's friends not change back? Angela: We were always gargoyles. Guide: Ah, so. (Obviously thinking "I knew it!") Luck on your journey. And thank you, Bronx. (scratches Bronx behind the ear.) Bronx: Growf! (The regulars board the skiff.) (They cast off, and the fog moves in.) Elisa: Y'know, this "curse" has definite possibilities. Angela: I just thought of something, Father. If you had dipped in the Drowned Man pool, you could visit Elisa in the human world. Goliath: D'oh! (The fog closes in.) THE END Well this would certainly change one scene from the Gathering episode, wouldn't it? Also note this fic doesn't contradict anything in the other Ranma/Gargoyles crossover recently posted. If anyone is also on a Gargoyles list, you have my permission to forward this story to that list, provided all due credit is given. SKJAM!