counted on was how difficult the journey there and back again would 

be.

There and back again? Returning to her hole, is she? ^_^

Careful, these jokes can be hobbit forming....

  Don't get started on Tolkien.... 

Also, so far it feels almost a bit over-cliched in parts. Yeah,
I realize many of the patterns are probably started upon mainly to
be able to *break* them, but at this point it feels like a bit too

  That's what some authors enjoy doing the most. 

much. Most obvious examples, as noted in the comments, are the
"betraying Elder" and "Mousse given a chance to defect" scenes.

Maybe you could clarify this a bit. I'm not sure where you're expecting
these things to go. Part of the reason for them is to show that it's 

not

clear who the group can trust and who they can't. 

  Funny, I'd think Ranma'd never trust most of them (except maybe just 
Akane and Ryoga). That's just me. 

It's the same with
Kodachi: is she working for the other side (as you postulated above), 

is

she just a loose cannon, or is she going to be cooperative if annoying?
I'm not telling. Nya ha ha!

  Kodachi helps Kodachi, and Mousse helps Mousse. It's that simple. If 
either of them saw it fit to help someone else, it'd only be in their 
own best interests (then again, that's what usually drives most 
characters, circumstances barred, but since this event came up....). The 
only variable is circumstance. 
  Oops, did I ruin it? Don't say 'yes' if I did. 

The point is, typically fics where the gang goes off to battle some
threat or other, the interpersonal conflicts get shoved aside and
everybody fights as a team. 

  Guilty. This only works when everyone has the same goal (or coinciding 
goals) in mind. Otherwise, it's FFA. 
  (But then, they're starting to kill each other. Cooperation and 
friendship is for the birds when this event comes around.) 

I'm not going to speak about any specific
character, but overall that's NOT going to be the case here. This group
doesn't know who it can and can't trust, and that's going to make the
mission doubly difficult.

  And when they start killing each other... hooohooo.... 
  AFA I can tell, from what you say about one of the regular cast dying 
and all, my guess would be the character whose death would make the most 
signifigant impact on everyone else (then again, character death is 
impact in itself)-- be that the other characters or the readers. 

  Back off now if you don't want to hear my pet theory. 

  Let's play my game: it'd be way too simple to off someone like Ranma, 
Akane, Kasumi, Asuza, Sanzenin, or Ryoga, or Kodachi or Mousse-- the 
first set because it simply won't matter all that much (general response 
would be iffy at best; c'mon, Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane have died plenty 
of times in other fics and I, for one, never cared enough for any of 
them, and I've always been quite apathetic about Kasumi in general, and 
for the skaters I don't have any sympathy for-- just pity), and the 
latter two because half the characters probably won't care (and perhaps 
half the readers would be too happy to see Kodachi kick the bucket?). 
Characters that might draw some real impact upon death are Shampoo, 
Kuno, Nabiki, or Ukyo. However, all things considering, I'll rule out 
Shampoo, because the 'dying in defense' routine is that-- routine (meant 
to be broken). Why Nabiki? More of the after-the-fact morose kind of 
thing, but that's barely more likely than Shampoo dying. I could easily 
see Kuno dying-- more of that ego going for him to the point of madness, 
maybe, or a certain, unexpected drive pops open within him ('he wasn't 
such a bad guy after all' kind of thing, even if this is already showing 
up). Ukyo could easily die, too, but maybe the super-hell she went 
through might get her more points for the living position (that was 
wicked, Gary). 
  Barring unpredictable events (due to author's whims and diabolical 
plans...), and against my better judgement, I'll say that Ukyo will die. 
Sure, makes her look even more pathetic, but still... 
  (Or maybe I'm completely wrong and Sanzenin will die-- simply because 
Ukyo finally builds up enough nerve to kill the punk :P)

  I probably forgot to consider a few someones. Heck, the theory is 
probably flawed, basing this more on preludes (well, duh). Theory may 
very well unfold much better as more info is released (that is, more 
chapters). 
  Don't tell me if I'm right, k? 

  This has been an exercise in interpretation. 

"Decepticons FOREVER!!" --Ravage, former Decepticon
"You've gotten tricker since last time. I LIKE THAT!!"--Rampage
"If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die." --Kosh, Babylon 5
"Master! You mustn't! People are watching!!"--Cherry, Saber Marionette J

--Razorclaw X
Author: "Wheel of Fire" and "The World's Worst Ranma Fanfic!"

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