Subject: [FFML] Re: [Ranma/Tenchi/Sailor Moon]Process of Elimination -- Chapter Fifteen -- Part Two
From: Brian Randall
Date: 5/3/2002, 7:48 PM
To: DB Sommer
CC: ffml@anifics.com


DB Sommer wrote:
Next:

	Quite nearly LAST, too.

As she watched, the attacking reavers tore a bloody swath through the
marines without kinetic displacement rifles, shrieking angrily.

Why? The buggers are winning. :)

	They've got a lot of anger, you see....

	I'm trying to imagine Washuu holding a clipboard, talking to a reaver on 
a big couch about its anger with its parents, but... no.

ichor. The second began to phase, but not until it was too late, and the
third passed through them harmlessly.

Neat trick, though.

	Monomonecular wire.

Collecting herself, she placed her hands before her, palms facing the
reaver, summoning a thin barrier of sparkling red light to ward it off.
She could just touch the bracelet on her wrist and call to Ranma for
help while her shield slowed the reaver.... But her hand made no move to
touch the bracelet, and the reaver strode through her barrier without
visible effort.

That's not goof.

	Quite a few things in this story aren't....

"No," she whimpered, her traitorous body taking a slow step forward. "I
don't want to... why are you doing this?"

Tokimi: You owe me twenty dollars. I intend to collect. Now.

	HAH!

"Do you suppose that she'd be willing to make the reavers go away if I
gave you to her?" he asked.

Heh. That's not a good sign. Wonder what brought this on.

	Good question.

"Yeah, well, I guess dealing with Tokimi constantly kinda scared me a
little bit, too," Ranma murmured. "I have some sympathy. How about I
send Tokimi a little token of my esteem for her, hmm?"

Washuu: You mean one of my Washuu blow up dolls?

Ranma: You can only wish.

	Washuu: What's that supposed to mean?

	Ranma: I... uh... not that I wanted to keep one of the blow up dolls, or 
anything....

"Do not take that attitude!" Kiima yelled. "Saffron-sama fights at the
side of those below -- are you better than him?

Soldier: If it keep me alive, hell yeah.

	Saffron (waves hand negligently): What did that small cloud of ash just say?

	Soldier 2: That there's no better master to fight under -- down I go!

"Saffron-sama," Kiima said quietly, confident that none could hear her.
"Why are we doing this?"

Because otherwise it is death? I think she should understand that by now.

	Well, it's more about the option to run away, like the craftsmen and 
children did.

"There are those that govern me, and then, those that govern them,"
Saffron said evasively. "I wholly doubt that Tsunami-sama

Hmm. Awfully odd to hear him add that to her name.

	Indeed.

"Looks like we lost about fifteen, all told,"

Nowhere near as many as I thought from the way you were describing things.

	That's just Marines.

"From the vanguard, Eric and Jim, from the northern flank, Jon,
Patterson, Smith... and more. That's half of your officers, sir."

Oh. I see. Casualities among the marines.

	Right.

"Sir," Pavel said quietly. "With all due respect, I think she has a
point. Given the performance of our Marines, we're going to be more of a
liability than an aid here. We can barely keep up with the Amazon and
Musk warriors, our weapons are potential dangerous to both our allies
and ourselves... this is a fight that we should have stepped away from a
long time ago."

Well, once they became completely ineffectual, yes. Until this point they
did fairly well.

	That's true.... I should have him rephrase that.

Washuu bit her lip, staring after Ranma as he strode away uncertainly.
"I'm not sure," she said quietly. "He knows... he knows something I'm
not allowed to remember yet."

Odd way for her to phrase that as well.

	In_deed_!

"We should sleep in shifts, I think," Cologne said after a moment of
thinking. "Is there anyone who wants to leave? Anyone who's hurt? Most
of the Marines will be leaving -- to the stars. We all will, soon, I think."

Actually they probably could all bail out to Austrailia and meet the
spaceships there. The reavers might not make it there in time.

	I think they mention that, at one point. If not, I may have accidentally 
deleted a scene. >_<

Cologne nodded her understanding. "Eleven of my warriors remain with us.
Twenty are leaving. The rest...." She sighed, shaking her head. "We've
not lost so many in a single battle in decades.

Haven't exactly been in a battle like this ever before.

	Also true.

"Atsuko, Mousse, Ryouga, Ryu, Tsunami, myself, Yakumo, and Yosho, Ranma,"
she said apologetically. "Aside from yourself and Saffron and Herb, of
course. I don't know how long we have until we get attacked, though, so
I can't guess our hopes of lasting this out."

yeah. But after 15 chapters, it's time to wind things down.:)

	Admittedly.

"Yes, but that raises even more questions and problems, too. They can
phase-shift and slide through the lot of us -- destroy us all at will,

Not really. Phasing through things and solidifying in them doesn't ever seem
to be a tactic of theirs.

	Actually, they can't pass through living things. So the people would be 
splattered, kind of like the unlucky Musk who got cut in half when the 
reavers attacked the orbital platform.

Snorting, Ranma countered, "How long did it take them to get to the
orbital platform from Earth?"

Need a break there.

	Arg! Stupid format eating Word.... *grumble*

	Sorry about that.

There was another moment of silence then, a large Galaxy Police craft
sinking towards them through the night sky, and silently teleporting
away the troops that had elected to leave. "Well," Ranma said quietly,
"that'll have to do, I guess. Keep them as confused as possible, for as
long as possible, then engage in a running battle

Could grab one of the spaceships. Keep touching down,and once the reavers
draw near, take off again. It's not like it would be stationary, like the
platform was.

	But Ranma's got a Plan.

"Who is to say?" Saffron asked, shaking his head. "I am not a master of
fate and destiny, I am merely a god.

Ranma: And not much of one if you can't handle a few thousand piddly
reavers.

	Saffron: Perhaps you don't understand the abilities of a god, Ranma.

	Terry: Hey, I killed a god, once, and I only managed to take out one 
reaver. And I died in the process!

	Ranma: Oh, I get it. Gods are all pansies.

them looking down at the pools. The first of the attackers arrived,
flying up from the land below the cliff's edge, and landing atop the
level area above Jusenkyou.

Hmm. So the final fight of book one begins.

	Largely.

Galvanized, the troop began to move, Kiima's forces lingering overhead
for a moment longer, as a few more victims of the pools began to land
atop the cliffs. A duck, a cat, a dog.... Eventually, of course one of
them would hit one of the pools of drowned human, and then....

It would die too, persuamble.

	Right.

"Testing us," Yakumo replied tersely. "I can... I can feel them in my
head. They're waiting for us to panic, and break for it, because they
think they're leading us into a trap."

That is a bad thing.

	Of course. I seem to be a bit TOO predictable. �_�

-- once we get to the valley, we can evacuate, and be done with all this
nonsense."

Heh. We all know it's not going to be that easy.

	Who's to say?

sure that she's gone before what has to be done comes about. Saffron...
Saffron and I will see it through to the end."

Hmm. I doubt if it will be that simple.

	Of course.

"My men may flee, Ranma, but to me, you are a brother in arms.

brother-in-arms

	Ah! Whoops. :p

"Trust is good," Ranma said, clapping a hand across Herb's back. The
prince of the Musk stiffened at Ranma's touch, then collapsed to the
ground, eyes wide and shining with betrayal

Thought as much.

	Yep.

Yosho nodded again, and turned to Setsuna. "Meiou, you should leave, too.
Your plans will come to naught if you remain."

Hmm. I thought her plans were crapped out anyway.

	She was making new ones -- that's what her speech to Artemis and Luna was 
about. And why she was talking with Yosho, of course.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "The crystals have your pattern, and
will tell it to the reavers. Now you leave." With that, he teleported
again, setting Washuu down on a chair aboard Ran-oh-ki, and Tsunami
nearby as well. "Now do you get it?" he asked, smiling.

Hmm. He could have told them that before rather than drawing and over
dramatizing everything.

	Didn't want to give them time to back out.

"Ranma!" she exclaimed, as he vanished, leaving the robes in her hands.
"What... Ranma! You have to come back!"

Well, he can teleport.

	Yep.

But it was so far to the ship, and he was so tired... so very tired....

Hmm. Methinks he'll make it anyway.

	Maybe.

Slowly rising away from the planet, Yohito allowed himself a sigh; they
were clear of whatever madness was going on below. Saryu-oh shuddered
once, the local subspace energy growing too thin to sustain the ship.
"What the hell," he breathed, as the ship's rise began to slow. "We're
going to smash into the planet," he gasped, eyes widening. "Something's
taking all of the energy from local subspace--"

Oops.

	Heh. 'Oops' indeed.

Nuku's eyes were bright with tears, but she shook her head,

Yep. Sadly, she's been through this before.

	Right....

Below, the entire planet was slowly consumed with a seemingly endless
tide of ice, spreading from Ranma's resting place outwards.

Hmm. We'll see in the epilogue if this is so. Still think there's a chance
he got out, but if not, he died the heroe's death Couldn't find any real
grammar errors. Will have to move on to the epilogue now

	Thanks again for the C&C. :p

D.B. Sommer
-- Brian Randall -- I write fanfiction. Too much of it. You can read it here, thanks to a kind grant from the Larry F foundation: http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/durandall/index.html -- Together. Allegiance or death. BIGFIRE! -- Haiku of my lament: Forgive my spelling, my U.S. education, is the source of blame. .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----. | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'