The Return (FF.net version) by Sunshine Temple is ostensibly a Ranma ½ / Sailor Moon Crossover fic throwing Ranma and the Senshi into the world of secret government agencies, ancient conspiracies and Eldritch Abominations. It is very much of the Darker and Edgier school of ficcing.Fans of Ranma would be best served to treat it as fic featuring characters merely with the same name and a few surface similarities, as it strips virtually all canon except Ranma's curse (and even that doesn't last long), though the Senshi fare somewhat better. It stands on its own as an excellent work of original fiction, however, and no previous knowledge of the original series is required (some may argue it helps).The story begins when Pluto seeks to replace a suddenly dead Tuxedo Mask with the nearest available candidate for Prince of Earth, Ranma Saotome. Unfortunately Ranma's curse activates in the middle of the rite, and what Pluto gets is a very female Succubus Princess of Earth, Sailor Darkstar. Predictably, Ranma is less than thrilled by this turn of events. Shortly afterward he is recruited into a shadowy organization by secret agent Tendo, Kasumi Tendo, kicking off a twisting tale which may lead Ranma and the Senshi to save the world. Or destroy it.Imagine Torchwood meets The X-Files, with a dash of Being Human.Currently The Return clocks in at a hair over half a million words across 28 chapters, it was started in 2002 and is still going.By the same author is And If That Dont Work, a Evangelion alt-fic which does much the same thing with that franchise.
A Fate Worse Than Death — Being turned into a succubus, according to many, which is why it's a volunteer emergency procedure, rather than a universal one — the soldiers are free to judge for themselves which fate is worse, and choose accordingly.
The Artifact — Happosai, he is included just to complete the checklist of Ranma characters but serves little plot function and sits uncomfortably at odds with the tone of the rest of the series. Thankfully he appears to have been dropped for all purposes bar limited cameos.
Also Ranma's curse, since the genderbending is more than covered due to his being the reincarnation of the Whore of Babylon Queen DarkStar.
Automobile Opening — In this case a Motorcycle Opening. Like the TV version of the trope, the opening is done with an eye towards cost reduction.
BFG — Morrison and Morgan are thrilled to find out their new physiology allows them to handle even bigger guns.
Slight subversion in that while the standard succubus rifle fires a massive 17mm cartridge, the weapon itself is a rather compact, if heavy, bullpup design.
Blue and Orange Morality — trying to map human morality onto Succubae relationships will only give you a migraine, trust me on this.
Boring Invincible Protagonist — Ever since Alexia, Darkstar has become this. Her superpowered attacks, Wolverine-esque healing factor, and shield of self-righteousness make any confrontation a foregone conclusion. Exception below.
it doesn't help that her powers were significantly Nerfed with no reason yet given.
Breather Episode — Two, the first is basically an Info Dump on the background of The Company, the second a rather amusing crossover with another Ranma Fuku Fic allowing two different Fan Fic continuities to meet and compare notes.
Brainwash Residue — Nabiki and Akane still have a significant amount of mental contamination after being enslaved and Mind Raped by Alexia and it takes a lot of work to salvage any of their original selves.
The Clan — Succubae Broods have distinct aspects of this, especially Darkstar's which comprises several human members as well as Succubae. Also have shades of Cannibal Clan as well.
Clean Up Crew — One the many departments within the company. Probably on triple overtime pay since Ranma joined.
Complete Monster — Alexia is considered an in-universe example.[[Invoked]]
In one of the battles a succubus in a french maid outfit is gunned down in the crossfire. We're later informed that that was the original owner of the mansion before Alexia turned her into a minion.
Captain Jarvis believes himself to be one, but at worst he is Necessarily Evil.
Daydream Surprise — The funny and disturbing sequence where it looks like Darkstar has sold out the Senshi and given Usagi's head to the Russian Cyborg Mercs. Leading to a Crowning Moment of Funny when Ranma snaps back:
""Oh, just wondering how big that brain of yours is ... just thinking about how many explosives I could fit up there."".
Deal with the Devil — Darkstar really seems to like this; she's made offers to the Russian Cyborgs, Mercury, and Usagi. Despite her being the protagonist, it's not really a subversion given she is a demon and what her offer will cost, especially in what Mercury would have had to pay.
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells — A wide variety, in addition to the expected "tailored for specific bad guys" and "sample platter of various materials" there are ones designed to retard regeneration and others that punch through Deflector Shields.
Devil but No God — played straight, until Russian cyborgs threaten to pierce the veil
"Which would be worse? An invasion from a place that could be described as Hell or one that could be described as Heaven?"
'80s Hair — As she gets more demonic, Darkstar's hair goes this way.◊ And The Drake's oft mentioned Mullet.
Eldritch Abomination — There are some pretty heavy hints that Sailor Pluto is an avatar of Yog Sothoth or something similar, with a possibly-sinister agenda of her own. Other abominations are believed to be eagerly waiting for a recurring dimensional collision set to happen any time now. Older demons are mentioned as being pretty eldritch too.
Emergency Transformation — Initially to save Nariko's life, then made company policy in the D-Program (which is strictly voluntary given the potential side effects).
Program members have a special mark on their dog-tags. In the case of mortal-wounding it serves as consent.
Face Heel Turn — Aurora, Eclipse, Orion, Mercury, and Venus.
Failure-to-Save Murder — Darkstar and Eve tell Usagi that because the bad guys attacked her, in her home, that she should be the one liable and responsible for the civilian casualties not the evil, murdering, Russian Cyborg mercs.
Fashion Victim Villain — In-Universe spoofing with Alexia, Aurora and Dark Mercury who are all soundly and mercilessly mocked by the heroes for their "evil" fashion sense (or lack thereof).
Foe Yay — In addition to beating each other to hell, Darkstar shot Galina in the crotch repeatedly, has daydreams about fighting her again. It's suggested Galina for her part cut off Darkstar's tail (why else would a being that can heal even bother to bandage a minor wound) and seems to be obsessive to the point of scaring her "men".
Fountain of Youth — Pluto gets hit with one of these leaving her younger than the rest of the Senshi, and also Nabiki who is turned into the youngest member of the brood..
Gambit Pileup — Setsuna's, Murdoch's, The Company's, and several others including Queen Serenity (which is a good trick since she has been dead for millenia).
Murdoch eventually admits that he has no idea what's going on, and just occasionally drops cryptic hints to the involved parties that make it look like he caused the latest twist.
Murdoch's job seems to be to twist everyone else's schemes into a Gambit Pileup rather than to further a specific agenda. Fridge Brilliance? Maybe?
Game Face — Horns, Wings, and Tails out, it's fightin' time.
Gender Bender — and not limited to Ranma for a change.
Germanic Depressives — Captain Jarvis is introduced as one of these, of course in this fic...
Ghostapo/Stupid Jetpack Hitler — Part of Captain Jarvis' backstory is that his grandparents were involved in something along these lines.
Grey and Gray Morality — A Nakama are fighting an enemy where being tortured and eaten is the best you can hope for if you get captured, the alternative is much worse. To muddy things further, they and their enemies are both after the same thing. Which side are the good guys and which are the bad guys?
Answer: In many ways the Soviet Cyborg Mercenaries seem less murderous and manipulative than the Brood.
Groin Attack — Darkstar repeatedly shoots an opponent in the crotch. In a training session Eve is referred to as punching Ranma somewhere that hurt women just as much as men.
Colonel Edwards also wears two sidearms, but we haven't seen him fight yet, despite his nicknames.
Hair Colors — Becoming a succubus almost guarantees a dye job, some pretty outlandish. In fact, the only characters so far to have escaped this fate are Eve and Nariko (though her eyes changed.). With that in mind, let's rock:
Ranma — Ranma's hair is red in succubus form, same as canon.
Heroic BSOD — Usagi after the battle in the toystore, complete with Shower of Angst. It's implied Ranma had one of these after being turned into a Succubus before the story starts.
Hufflepuff House — House Vespar. They were a rival clan of Succubae that teamed up with BlackSky and invaded Earth. After DarkStar (Terran royal that BlackSky had captured and turned) was killed they were destroyed when BlackSky betrayed them with to Serenity. Serenity herself invaded the earth and took it over, while BlackSky retreated and took over Vespher's homelands. At least that's how BlackSky tells it. No description given to Vesper than they act like Alexia. The whole minion thing and all.
Humanoid Abomination — it looks like Darkstar is heading down this route, her Grandmother BlacksSky qualified for this trope several millennia ago. Arguably Sailor Pluto too.
Want to stop those military squads busting down your door at midnight and forcing you and your family into stress positions while they interrogate you, without a warrant? Hah, no chance you'll live where you are told (if they allow you live at all) and be subject to spot inspections (and possible execution on suspicion and nothing else) at any time.
Been Mind Raped, deprived of your property and forced into servitude? Well you'll be gunned down not rehabilitated.
Just new in town and comitted no crime? Well an off duty merc can arrange an execution squad for you while you are on the way to do the shopping.
In Spite of a Nail — The Alt-Ranma from the crossover chapter, not demonic, but still stuck in female form and a FukuFic Senshi (and due to be a mother too).
It Gets Easier — Hoooooo boy. The main character started off highly disturbed with her powers an rather adverse to killing, over time she changes to where she doesn't bat an eye at graphically killing and eating dozens of people.
Just Desserts — basically the fate of any Big Bad dumb enough to get on Darkstar's bad side, most obviously Alexia.
Knight In Sour Armour — Ranma/Darkstar. It seems to be pretty much the Hat of all the WIC staff too.
Lime — Believe it or not it may have sex demons as central characters, but despite the insinuations and innuendos the story never gets as explicit as implies it has.
The Little Detecto — Pattern scanners. Useful items that can not only detect sentient life, but can also discriminate between a human, a disembodied spirit, and a human infected with lycanthropy with no problem (as there's a specific pattern for each.) Not to mention more interesting yet easier to detect things like demons and sailor scouts. Used to give a "power reading" too, but that was abandoned after Ranma went over level 12 or so.
Little Miss Badass — Yuki(Nabiki), who can pass for a middle-schooler despite her succubus sized chest, wields a pair of cam assisted folding knives oddly reminiscent of straight razors and can create an armor piercing thermobarac weapon with magic. She's about as Lawful Evil as Misako is Chaotic Evil.
Loss of Identity — It seems being turned often leads to significant personality changes; this clearly happens to Darkstar, Misako, Eclipse and Yuki. Eclipse and Yuki actively try to recover their old personalities, with mixed success.
Lovecraft Lite — The Stars are Right, but they can be stopped.
Lovecraftian Superpower — At first Succubisation appears to involves just becoming a BadassPerky Goth, however as the story progresses and reveals more and more mutations it begins to look more like Body Horror with boobs.
And of course the less said about what happens to Minako the better...squick.
Lysistrata Gambit — More a Lysistrata punishment, Nariko punishes Akane this way for mistreating Nabiki.
Mad Oracle — Shest, the Russian who can walk through walls, has a unique perspective on reality. She wields the Deep Diver system and may or may not know just how dangerous it really is.
Mandy's Law of Anime Gender Bending — If I were a male character in this series I'd be very worried indeed. Especially given the personality changes that seem to occur. Several mortally-wounded agents when given the choice have declined being turned, for just such a reason- they might lose themselves, and there's no going back afterwards.
Manipulative Bitch — Alexia, to a lesser degree Pluto, and eventually Darkstar herself.
The Mind Is A Play Thing Of The Body — debatable. There are arguments for and against this due to the intricacies of being turned (for more see the discussion page). However there does seem to be something in this even in the best case scenario. Even if it is just a higher sex drive and less inhibitions.
Played with, when an unregistered brood is attacked by Canadian Special Forces. Though the real Nightmarefuel hits when Darkstar does arrive: "Please! Kill them now! Don't let Her get them."
Morality Pet — The broodlings are this. Subverted in that their needs push Ranma away from human values and identity and towards those of a succubus brood mother.
Noble Demon — Subverted. While Dark Star is demonic royalty, she doesn't fit the "noble demon" style: no qualms about killing or eating her enemies, doesn't try to prove she's evil. Related to the Always Chaotic Evil subversion.
BlackSky however, fits this to a T, even though she claims to be a Retired Monster.
Overshadowed by Awesome — Usagi and the Senshi; originally seen as desirable by the company as allies, key to staving off the Reality Collapse. Now they're seen in need of protecting and severe training in order to keep them alive until the Stars Are Right.
Cyborgs and suposedly golems are stated to be "pattern V's" as well.
Pardon My Klingon — Submaternissima : When a broodmother mindrapes her spawn and turns them into cannonfodder. See, Alexia. Particularly damning in succubus society it's a sign of poor parenting. (the literal meaning is quite simply "worst mother EVAH!" The rest is just cultural baggage.)
Given their hats, Alexia is more of a Complete Monster by succubus standards than human.
Perky Goth — Getting turned into a succubus seems to involve also turning into one of these, especially Yuki.
Pintsized Powerhouse — Despite being all of 5 foot nothing, Darkstar dominates any room or battlefield.
Power Creep, Power Seep — Usagi and the Senshi are nerfed to the point of uselessness, Ranma (and every other character) are power boosted to the point even normal humans have combat super-powers.
The Power of Love — This is explicitly stated to be the Succubae's other hat.
Power of Trust — Col. Edwards uses this to bring Ranma onboard, it pays off big time. A lesson Ranma learns to her benefit and one that Pluto doesn't to her cost.
She's Got Legs — Eve checking out her new body, it's lampshaded how short her "regualtion length" skirt looks because of this.
Sinister Surveillance — That the company is capable of inflicting this on people is actually held as a virtue by the brood. Private secrets breed public problems, is the attitude.
Sixth Ranger — The Original Darkstar and Sailor Orion.
Stages of Monster Grief — The Company has skilfully guided Ranma all the way to the cusp of stage four (they may not realise how close she is to it though).
Stripperiffic — Initially, the Brood dresses this way◊. Somewhat subverted when after a few fights they start dressing with more sense.◊
The aversion is then subverted hard in the when Ranma fights Galina. She comes home perfectly healthy, if a little hungry, her armor however is all but gone. What's the point of wearing bulky armor when it's less Immune to Bullets than you are?
Super Registration Act — If you are a registered Non-Human and play nice you are fine, unregistered Non_Humans are fair game, The Company alternates between type 1 and type 3 (currently it's type 3 with Ranma and Eve's broods).
Take That — In-Universe example, Those Two Girls criticise the Senshi for flashy speeches, fanservice outfits, themed powers, etc and so on.
The Tease — Ranma likes pulling this on Usagi and Pluto in early chapters.
Technicolor Eyes — Becoming a succubus almost guarantees an eye color change, some pretty outlandish. In fact, the only characters so far to have escaped this fate are Eve and Akane (though her hair changed). Also they all have Glowing Eyes of Doom which can lead to Eye Beams. With that in mind, let's rock (again):
Ranma — Ranma's has Purple Eyes, started out as a transformation effect but became more and more dominant, pushing out the original blue.
Tempting Fate — When Agent Morrison wonders how he'd feel if he was turned into a Succubus, there are no prizes for guessing what happens in the next chapter. Also Nabiki says she isn't a real target, a rare slip for a normally Genre Savvy character.
Third Law of Gender Bending — Hammered into the ground with all the subtlety of a drunken elephant on a moped trying to navigate the East Kilbride traffic system. It's commented on too many times to count that Gender Bender Succubae are girlier than cis-female Succubae.
Those Two Guys — Naoko and Sam, Sunshine's schoolfriends.
Transplanted Character Fic — on the Ranma side. The Sailor Moon stuff is clearly the same characters, but the Ranma stuff would not be recognizable as such with a few changed names
The Sailor Moon half of the fic isn't much better. The characters might be mostly intact but the setting is much Darker and Edgier..
Traumatic Haircut — Eve cuts off Usagi's Odango to make a point about...er, something. Or possibly just to be a Jerkass. It just came across as pointlessly mean.
Unstoppable Rage — what happens when you hurt one of Sunshine's kids.
Unorthodox Reload — Nariko can reload her handgun by dropping the empty mag, slicing open a magazine carrier with her tail, slamming her gun onto the falling mag, and finally hitting the slide release. All this while engaging in a sword duel with her right hand.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic? — BlackSky is almost an English translation of Lilith (in one of the possible etymologies at least). It's even more telling when it's later translated into LatinDemonic: AlterCaela. She also IS the queen of succubae in their own little dimension of Hell
What Have I Become? — Mostly absent, Ranma apparently did this before the start of the story but definatly present with Nabiki and Morrison, despite the latter having volunteered (apparently didn't think it through fully).
also present in Morgan, though it's harder to spot, since it's not about gender so much as becoming a demon, as well as her being quite possibly the most stoic of all in the two broods. Granted the author did devote a whole scene to her What Have I Become? moment.
The Worf Effect — Ryouga is introduced as just slightly below Ranma's demonic power level and looks like he might be the Big Bad of the arc, naaaaaaah. it's just so he can be beaten up and converted by Alexia.
Van Helsing Hate Crimes — Ranma calls the Senshi (and to a lesser extent the company) on this one.
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