"Florencio B. de la Merced, Jr." <fmerced@pworld.net.ph> wrote:

Bravo: Ah, why does the FFML goes kaput?

Alpha: So people get the time to write some fics.

Charlie: Really good ones, at that.

The ABC team? I haven't seen you guys before.

Bravo: Looks like pre-reading works for Gary-sempai.

Alpha: What do you mean?

Charlie: He means those pre-readers were a great help.

You didn't see the fic before they got to it... :)

     HEARTS AND MINDS PRELUDE EIGHT
GOSUNKUGI HIKARU: COURAGE

Alpha: Why is everyone doing a Gosunkugi fic nowadays?

Charlie: Bravo mentioned him in his last "In My Life" episode.

Bravo:  It's the holidays, I guess.

'Tis the season to be nerdy. :-)

This will probably be my longest and most ambitious series ever.
All feedback will be welcomed, and responded to, and any suggestions for
change will be seriously considered.

Bravo: Change? Are you kidding?

Charlie: I think he was serious.

Sure, I'm always looking for ways to improve.

Bravo: Shan Pu?

Charlie: Shampoo.

Alpha: Some say its Xian Pu.

They're wrong. ^_^ "Shan" is the character that means "coral", a homonym
for one that means "mountainous".

Charlie: Shampoo.

Bravo: Stop drooling at her pic, man!

Charlie: Shampoo!!!!

Charlie's been taking lessons from Mousse... :)

Hikaru knew that his parents didn't want him to have anything to
do with Ranma, though they had never said so directly. "People get hurt,
even killed, in martial arts battles," his mother had told him when he
was in High School. "Be careful around these sorts of people. After all,
you only have one life."

Bravo: Ranma has nine, right?

No, that's Shamps. :-)

She laughed politely and smiled. "It's just Yuka." Her smile was
nearly as cute as Akane's. "It's so nice to see someone else from
Furinkan at this university. It's like having an automatic friend."

Bravo: Robotics?

Heh!

"Uh, yeah." What did she mean by that? Did it mean that she
liked him? "I know what you mean." Was that a good thing to say?

Bravo: Him?

Delta: Maybe 'me' since its Hikaru asking himself the question.

Hmmm... I'd have to italicise it, then.

Bravo: Something tells me, Ranma and Akane are the most popular students
in any school whatsover.

Charlie: Seconded.

Among the opposite sex, anyway.

Soon Akane would have a child of her own. Yuka felt almost
guilty. She always got to have fun with the kids in the building, but
didn't have to do the dirty work of taking care of them or making them
behave.

Alpha: So she likes dirty work?

Bravo: No, she just like to have kids of her own.

Alpha: Why not get Gary to give her one?

Bravo: Maybe he will. [grins at the author]

Sorry, guys, I don't do self-insertions. ;-)

Bravo: I always thought Happosai was a demon released into the world to
release havoc.

Alpha: Maybe he's one of the four horsemen.

Charlie: Does that mean there are three other Happosai's running around
the world?

Alpha: Gawd, I hope not.

There's Lukkosai, so all you need is two more!

"You like Akane, do you? Ever spend your time just thinking
about what it would be like to be close to her? Those lips, those legs,
those huge...."

"Stop it!" Hikaru yelled, wondering if the old man had been
reading his mind. "Just shut up!"

Bravo: Don't forget her...[wham!]

Alpha: [holding a huge mallet] Pervert!

Charlie: I thought he liked Skuld.

He was going to say "those huge... martial arts facilities!" What did
you guys think he would say? :-)

Akane just rolled her eyes. Her husband was the *last* person on
Earth who needed an ego boost. Then she had a nasty idea. "Don't tell
me...." She tried to suppress a smile. "Don't tell me you *like* wearing
things like this, Ranma."

Bravo: Is Ranma a Bi?

In what sense? :) 

Alpha: What do you mean?  And what is a Bi?

Charlie: You don't want to know.

(I'm remembering Eric Idle's joke, "I'm bisexual: if I want sex, I have
to buy it.")

"NO WAY! I told ya, it just makes me feel good. People say
things like 'Liang is the hottest babe in the city!'"

"'Liang?'"

Bravo: Liang?

Charlie: I think Akane already said that.

This is actually a call-back to another fic.

Bravo:  I guess the secret of that techinque is not so complex after all.

Charlie:  Maybe we can learn invisibility instead.

It would probably help you against Alpha... :)

[bigsnip]

Bravo: So the rumors that Gos is one of the four horsemen is not true.

Charlie: Apparently.

Actually, he has a very rough, husky voice. He's a HOARSEMAN! :-)

"Then you are welcome here, Gosunkugi Hikaru."  Tatewaki shook
Hikaru's hand. "For you are truly a man of courage."

Bravo: Is this the same Tatewaki I know?

Charlie: Apparently not.

Alpha: What's wrong?  This is a fic, right?  So anything goes.

He's been through some changes in this series.

Did anybody reading this guess that Asuka would be the mother of
one of Ranma's children? If you did, you're wrong. Who the parent(s) of
Saotome Ririko are will be revealed in part 10.

Bravo: That leaves Nabiki.  And that's one of my dreams.

Alpha: With Nabiki?

Nope, not Nabby.

This is another great prelude to a much awaited HaM, and I home its coming
just in time for the Holidays.

Not these holidays... sorry about that. The main HaM series will
probably be written this spring.

If there was a problem with this fic, its the absence of Gos' years of
hate against Ranma.  But, if you turned a leaf your suppose to start on a
new chapter in the book of life, right?

Yeah, something like that. :) I didn't want too much vendetta going on
for fear that Gos would come across as too obnoxious.

Thanks Gary for a great chapter again.

Thank you for the kind review and funny MST!


Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe