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.
• 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?"
• Chainsaw Good: Among the toys Ryouga gets from the Moon arsenal is a chainsword.
• 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.
• 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.)
• 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.
• Fuku Fic: Turns the trope on its side.
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Setsuna and Serenity.
• 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.
• Japan Takes Over the World: The revival of the Silver Millennium takes place in Japan with Akihito (secretly) giving it up to Ranma and Usagi.
• MacGuffin: The Ginzuisho 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.
• OOC 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 family 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.
• Power-Up: After a quick visit to an arsenal on the Moon, the Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, and Ryouga all sport some serious extra hardware.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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'?"