Another nice chapter. Your best scenes are wonderful, and you keep
coming up with new plot twists.
Something you might want to think about:
Your chapter length is on the high side of what it probably needs
to be, to cover the material. If you were so inclined, I'd guess
you could shrink this story by 15% or so without noticable change,
just by being not quite so wordy. (The kind of editing a
a professional editor might do.) IMO, this would improve the
story, but it does _not_ save you work, as this editing would have
to be done to the long version of the story, even if you do it
yourself. And some readers seem to prefer longer stories just
for their own sake.
Detailed comment follows:
creatures. How could there be Buyierfei in the Compound? I was so
stunned, I stood there staring at Akane jumping around the large
training room dodging the black creatures, which seemed to fade into
existence randomly around her.
Finally, I came to my senses and called out to the Compound
systems. "Emergency! Buyierfei in the main dojo!"
I like it, but I'm not sure it's entirely plausible. If we can guess
that they're "Danger Room holograms", why doesn't an actual native of
2057? This can be handled with a short statement to the effect that
his mind is on how unexpectedly the Buyierfei appeared in Utah.
I imagine they usually did. "Hi, Mr. Davidson. I'm Reiko and
my brother
here is Reiji," the young girl said, bowing slightly.
<clip>
Akane came up and patted me on my shoulder. "That's okay, James.
Better safe than sorry. Hey, Rei?"
"Reiji" struck me as an unusual name for a boy (though I haven't looked
it up, but I suppose you picked it for this joke.
"Oops, sorry... since someone won't show me a complete family
tree-"
Conveniently for you! ;)
"So would I," Akane commented, smirking. I made to ask her about
it, but she anticipated my question. "After the two Reis took over
operation of the Compound's systems they moved the control center and
won't tell anyone where it is."
Reiko and Reiji materialized again in front of us. "It's for
security, Matriarch!" the both declared, then vanished almost as
quickly.
This actually doesn't strike me as particularly good security. Wouldn't
Akane think of what might happen should the Buyierfei strike directly
at the control center? I assume that they have paranormal means of
learning where it is, but maybe I'm assuming too much. But even if not,
someone Akane's age wouldn't discount the possibility that sheer chance
could get the Buyierfei there. I'm sure she's seen enough improbabl
coincidences.
"Me too, but the vet said otherwise. P-chan is a girl and
pregnant."
Nice fake-out.
<How did Ryoga find a pig that gets lost just like he does, anyway?>
Oh, kami... Not Yoiko?
"I'll share Akane with you two, but I'm not going to share my
clothes with you!" Ranma growled and advanced on Ranko.
Shouldn't this have been "advanced on Sanma"? Sanma's wearing "his"
clothes.
"Fat chance," Sanma muttered. She looked at herself in a mirror,
adjusted the cups, and then asked. "Do you think I should go up to a
36D?"
(Blink) They know about cup sizes?
"I don't understand... every time I used to do that, he would
suddenly turn into a girl with big breasts."
Heh-heh. Liked this bit.
"Sure. Um..."
Ukyo looked at Kang, who was looking awkwardly at the countertop.
"What's up?"
"I was wondering if you'd like to maybe have dinner with me
tonight?"
The Kang established so far is very brash, almost a caricature Aussie.
Instead of the "Um...", shouldn't he be saying "Sure. Say, Ukyou-sugar,
how's about having dinner with me tonight? Steak and beer!" You could
then have a bit of fun when he sees how much steak costs in Japan.
Konatsu, who was waiting tables in a cute little skirt,
snapped his
head towards the counter and frowned. The tray of dirty dishes he was
holding crashed to the floor.
Warning! Warning! OOC lifeform approaching! No, seriously, Konatsu is
handled well in this fic as a whole, but two (apparently) OOC items in
the paragraph where he first appears might be a bit much. Even though
both the short skirt and hit attitude are explained later, you risk
knocking your readers out of the story at this point. If that's your
intent, go for it.
Ukyo was shocked at hearing this, since she had never thought to
look at him like that.
It's not clear whether Ukyou's "shocked" reaction is to Konatsu or to
Kang.
"You don't wear dresses or skirts, do you?"
Kang recoiled at the mere suggestion. "No, of course not. Why do
you ask?"
Never been to Sydney, has he? ;)
"Oh, just making sure."
Konatsu looked down at the skirt he was wearing,
confused. When he
first started working at Ucchan's he usually wore a kimono when he
^ always
worked in the restaurant, since that was usually what he had
^ always
served his
step-sisters in. However, he had noticed how well Nabiki's restaurant
had been doing with the short French maid uniforms and
decided that he'd
try an outfit like that. So far, it seemed to be helping to increase
business. Although he was curious why there seemed to be more
middle age
men coming into the restaurant than before. The biggest thing that
surprised him was that he was getting more tips since he
started wearing
the skirt. Unfortunately, the men seemed to think his tip jar
was in his
blouse for some reason.
I liked this whole section. Konatsu is appropriately oblivious.
Again, there's a slight plausibility issue: it's a lot harder to
hide one's true gender in a mini-skirt than a loosely draping
kimono or ninja outfit. Also, it's not entirely credible that
Konatsu is completely oblivious about WHY middle-aged male
customers would be coming. Many of Konatsu's combat techniques
rely on the "feminine" distractions of male adversaries.
<Is that why Ukyo doesn't like me? Just because of the
skirts? Come
to think of it... most of the guys around Nerima usually wear
pants.> He
looked at Kang's short haircut. <I wonder if Ukyo only likes men with
short hair who wear pants?> A look of determination crossed
his face as
he came to a decision.
Liked this too.
"Um... Kang, in Japan we don't usually kiss on first dates."
I don't know if you intended Ukyou to be saying this honestly or as a
distraction, but what I've heard is that getting the first date is so
difficult, such a milestone, that about anything goes once you've
got it. That may not apply to dates with gaijin, though.
Ranko came into the dojo and squared off with Akane.
Wouldn't Ranko and Sanma be sitting there watching, so they can offer
comments and suggestions?
The new boy's 'uniform', was composed of a red Chinese shirt and
black Chinese pants. In short, it looked exactly like the outfits the
three Ranmas usually wore and were wearing at that particular moment.
I loved this.
the wedding. Some of their classmates were there, but in the
confusion, they never found out about the split.
Convenient for this story, but hard to believe, given how central
Ranko's and Sanma's reappearence was.
"Hey, Ranma! Why didn't you just tell us you had two
such gorgeous
sisters, instead of that stupid 'curse that turns me into a girl'
story?" Daisuke asked, then slipped an arm around Ranko.
In the manga, Daisuke and Hiroshi and usually very quick on the uptake
when weird, unexpected events happen. And they've seen the curse work
enough times; the two of them even deliberately triggered it during
the Dojo Destroyer story.
"I don't blame them, you two are just so pretty," Akane said.
"Handsome!" Sanma corrected her.
When he still had the curse, Ranma took pride in insisting that his
girl form was beautiful (part of his huge ego). Presumably, Ranko
and Sanma are taking their ludicrous position as a reaction to the
knowledge that they're both stuck as girls. That works for me, but
it would be just like Ranma to inject a wrong comment at this point:
either that they ARE beautiful, which would get him pounded on two
counts ("pervert!"); or that they're not as beautiful as he was,
which is at least as ludicrous as Ranko's/Sanma's position, and
should also get him pounded.
Kang looked crestfallen, but then took a long look at Konatsu.
"Oh... I didn't know you were gay. Maybe it was best if I not
waste your time then."
Ukyo gasped. "Konatsu's a man."
Kang looked closer at Konatsu. "She's your waitress, isn't she?"
Kang recognizes Konatsu, but leaps to the assumption that this is a
girl dressed up in a tux and with a short haircut?
"Where I come from, real men don't wear skirts!" Kang snapped.
Sydneyites aren't real men? Or Kang doesn't consider Sydney as part
of "where he comes from"?
Ukyo came up to the group and explained. "The uniforms changed
colors just before you showed up. Looks like the Principal
has some way to change the colors remotely."
Loved this bit. Just like the Principal to do this, too.
Ryoga looked at the school building and nodded. "Perfect!! I need
you to lead me to Ukyo!" Akane opened her mouth to speak, but
Ryoga was
so impatient he started talking again. "Please! I have to
tell her that
I love her before it's too late!!" He heard a startled gasp
from behind
him and turned around to see Ukyo. He immediately started to
stammer and
looked very awkward. "Uuuu... ky... ooo?"
Um... What
about Akari?"
It seems to me that Ukyou's reaction should be that she has now
become Ryouga's girl-of-the-week. She should be all-too-aware of
how fickle Ryouga can be whenever any girl shows the least bit of
interest in him. However, I am biased; I dislike the Ukyou-Ryouga
combination, whereas you appear to need it for selective breeding
purposes (given the ki abilities your third generation has).
he wouldn't wander off. "So pork any sweet young piggies?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Ukyo laughed as she walked away with Ryoga in tow.
Again, that reply should reinforce Ukyou's sense that Ryouga is
the last (well, next-to-last, after Kunou) guy she could expect
faithfulness of.
She managed
to take a couple more steps before a cigarette machine accosted her.
"My dear Ukyo, I have come back to you!" the cigarette machine
cried out and glomped onto Ukyo.
Good timing! I normally hate Tsubasa, but this joke worked for me.
Kang drew
his fork out of the ground and swung it at Konatsu, who leapt into the
air and landed on the end of the fork. Kang tried to shake
him off, but
Konatsu used his ninja agility to stick fast.
Good fight sequence. You make effective use of the wide variety of
techniques used by the three fighters.
other two, who were engaged in sword to fork combat.
I assume Konatsu used some of his tip money to buy a real sword, or
redeem the one he pawned in the manga? The plastic toy sword he
uses in the manga wouldn't last long against Kang's fork.
"That wouldn't care about my curse? Not likely. Please
don't get in my way, Akane, I don't want you to get hurt."
"Curse?" Akane gasped.
Oops. Love the way Ryoga finally let it slip himself.
things. After awhile, I just couldn't tell you for fear of
^ "a while"
"I Love Ukyo Rose Petal Storm!" Konatsu called out and sent a
blizzard of rose petals at Kang.
Not that Konatsu can't have new attacks, given that he's been around
for over a year at this point, but where did this one come from?
"Even when you knew he was deceiving me and sleeping with me?"
Akane asked, bitterly.
Sanma answered this time. "I... we made an honorable promise to
him... unfortunately that was before we knew what he intended
to do with his curse."
I don't know... Fanfics treat this revelation in all sorts of different
ways, but, given your Akane (the rapidly-improving warrior; the future
Matriarch), I'm inclined to think she ought to give just a bit more
credence to Ranma's dilemma under the code of Budo, and be a bit more
angry at herself for missing all the clues and hints. Rather like the
treatment in David Eddy's "Nekophobia", which IMO is the best treatment
of the revelation I've read.
Akane finally found her voice again. "Who are you three and where
are my fiances?"
Heh.
laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Inside she knew she would
forgive them eventually, but decided to enjoy the attention while it
lasted.
After this performance, I'd have thought she'd forgive them immediately.
Wonderful scene.
Ukyo shrugged. "Maybe." Inside, Ukyo didn't think it mattered
anymore if he did.
Where's the pragmatic businesswoman Ukyou? She's down an employee!
enough. My anger
over these events probably jaded my decision about the upcoming
wedding."
Ah ha! Akane's withholding forgiveness OOC (IMO, I admit) because
the plot requires it!
Seriously, this is usually a bad authorial decision in the long run.