When I subscribed to this ML, I had a few fanfic ideas rattling around
in my brain for some time. Now that I'm on, I've got a reason to develop
them a little bit (one of them would be a mutli-author effort). Tell me
what you think.

Ranma 1/2: The Pact

This is the story I am currently working on. It's basically intended as
an extension of the Ranma 1/2 universe after the end of the manga, with
some new characters thrown in, some relationship resolutions and some
NEW relationship conflicts (thanks to the new characters). this is
intended to be an ongoing series.
The story begins with the arrival at the Tendo Dojo of a young man named
Nathan (Nate) Paladine. He is another character connected with Ranma's
past, but everyone else in Ranma's history, he *doesn't* want to
kill/marry/enslave him. Instead he's delivering a letter from his
recently deceased Uncle to Genma as per his last request, and once
that's completed, he'll be on his way.
Yeah, right.
It turns out that while Genma, Ranma, Nate and his Uncle Horton were
travelling together in China two years ago (Nate and his Uncle were on a
training mission, too. Its how he and Ranma met), Genma and Horton made
a pact (for reasons to be later revealed) that should one die, the
survivor would care for the orphaned boy as his own. Add in the fact
that Nate's flight back to Canada has been cancelled, and the next
ultra-super-really-cheap flight isn't for three MONTHS, and you now have
a rather reluctant addition to the Tendo household (at least until his
can scrape together enough cash to get home).
Nate is basically something I noticed lacking from the Ranma 1/2
Universe - A friend for Ranma who shares his interest in Martial arts
whom he can actually relate to. Of course, Nate has some difficulties of
his own. for starters, he has a rather unusual metabolism (similar to
Ms. Hinako's) that allows him to pull some neat tricks, but causes him
problems whenever he's around high-voltage power lines, or there's an
electrical storm. He also has some difficulties with some of the Ranma
1/2 regulars, *especially* the Kunos.
I'm trying to vary the storylines so that they don't all focus on Nate,
however. I really just threw him in there to mix things up a little. I'm
developing a storyline for Ryouga in this universe called 'Heart of
Glass', which deals with what happens *after* Akane finds out who P-Chan
really is, and there are many more untitled ideas rattling around.

Bubblegum Crusade:

I don't know if this title is taken, but its my working title for the
moment. This story takes place shortly after the events in Bubblegum
Crash. Things are still pretty screwed up in Megatokyo after Largo's
final defeat. Largo's AI virus is still zapping around sending Boomers
berserk, and the Knight Sabers and AD Police have their hands full. Leon
in particular is frustrated with the new milquetoast chief and the
diet's continual refusal to allow the AD Police access to heavier
hardware (The K-11's and K-12's are almost useless at this point).
During a chase with three military Boomers, Leon's unit is badly
outclassed. However, a figure in a hardsuit shows up and trashes the
Boomers in typical Knight Saber style. No one gets a good look at the
dark figure. Leon chalks it up to another save by the Knight Sabers,
even though he knows they almost never operate independently of each
other. However, when he returns to HQ, he discovers that the Knight
Sabers were out trashing a Boomer riot on the other side of town, and
all four were present and accounted for. Leon wonders about the
possibility of a fifth Saber when the mystery is partially cleared up by
a young P.I. named Jason (no last name yet). Jason reveals that he has
been investigating this new hardsuited character for some time; He calls
himself Dark Phoenix, and he seems to have a serious grudge against
Genom in general, and Boomers in particular (sound like anyone we know?)

The final idea I have rattling around is considerably more general. It's
basically an idea for a semi-serious crossover of multiple anime and
manga universes, and it would definitely be a multi-author work: I would
simply provide a mechanism, and the individual authors would write the
stories for each of the universes as they saw fit. The basic framework
works like this:
On a parallel version of Earth, Atlantis never fell, and is now pretty
much the center of civilization (bear with me here).
Or at least it was. It turns out the Atlanteans recently discovered how
to open interdimensional portals (a la Sliders), and a civil war erupted
over control of the technology. Atlantis is pretty much devestated by
the war, and only two factions remain. One is Lord Galek, a former
Atlantean lord and major megalomaniac, he has found a way to use the
portal technology to gather nasties from all over the place. But his
major goal is what he calls 'reuinification'. He plans to use the
portals to force a consolidation of *all* timelines into his own, where
he will be the ruler. At the moment he is busy sending his troops out
into various universes to find power sources for his plan.
Opposing him are the Star Knights (c'mon, this is a *standard* hoakey
anime team name, here!). They represent what's left of Atlantis' elite
guard. The have *one* functioning portal device, a small disc resembling
a large coin or dubloon. They know they haven't got a prayer against
Galek and all the nasties he's recruited, so they decide to use their
own portal to recruit some heavy hitters of their own.
This is the point where the story starts branching into other universes.
I *am* placing some limitations on it, for instance the portal is only
big enough for a roughly human-sized object to pass through, so no giant
mechs or starships (Sorry, Robotech fans). The beauty of this storyline
is that each individual author doesn't have to worry too much about what
the other authors have done, he just has to send the Star Knights into a
universe of his choice, along with whatever characters that have already
been recruited he thinks might be useful (this is optional). Once
everyone has written their bit, then we draw it together for the
conclusion. If anyone is interested in this, please let me know. this is
sorta on the back burner for now, but if I get enough requests I can
speed up development.

Alpha C.