On Wed, 16 Jun 1999, Vincent Seifert wrote:

     "No, really, Arisa," she said to her officemate, who was
lining up a dart at a poster-size blowup of an attractive girl
with long pink hair wearing a high-school uniform.  "Haven't you
noticed anything different about Lady Akiko recently?"

She hasn't even
played The Tape lately."

Well, people get tired of watching Overfiend.  What does she expect?

The Tape, of course, was the videotape
her estranged (and very strange) husband Kyusaku Natsume had made
just before absconding from the company labs with their young son
Ryunosuke and as much expensive equipment as would fit into a
Land-Rover; it never failed to whip Lady Akiko up into a frenzy
of rage and grief for one reason or the other.

Question.  After what episode are you placing this story?  After the
events of #3, that's no longer likely to be true.  (Though the random
attacks certainly are!)

     She didn't look up as Arisa and Kyoko marched into her
office until they were standing before her desk.  "Ah, you are
prompt," she said, inspecting them.

Not that I've had the chance to meet with many CEOs, but this seems like a
strange thing for anyone to say.

     Akiko stood up, picked up two envelopes from her desk, and
moved around it to her subordinates.  "As your performance this
last month has been exemplary," she told them, "I am pleased to
give you your bonuses."  She held out an envelope to each of
them, inclining her head.

Again, which episode does this follow.  In the beginning of #5, they
mentioned that the bonuses were canceled.

     "Voiceprint accepted.  Stand by," the cube responded.
"Central online."

Wait a moment.  They're identifying by voicemprint, when they're taking
over human hosts?  There's a fundamntal security problem in that...

     "Technocrat Darshian reporting," Akiko said to the cube. "I
have completed phase one.  Production of strobolators,
diagliders, and interociters using local materials and labor is
underway.

"However, the wazoos and the thingamabobs are behind schedule."

I have begun phase two; the immobilization of the NK-
1124 will render Dr. Natsume Kyusaku vulnerable to capture.

Immobilization?  Or neutralization?  It sounds like they're going to rust
her joints, or something. 

     Nuku-Nuku bicycled like a super-powered android with digital
reflexes and a cat's understanding of traffic regulations, which
was exactly what she was.

If I read this right, you just said she's a traffic regulation.

     Nuku-Nuku's long pink hair streamed back in the wind of her
passage, and her high-school uniform flapped in time with her
pedaling.

I still maintain to people who tell me it's pink that her hair colour is
red, but that's just a minor nit.  To each, their own opinion, I guess.

month-- well, almost."  She guiltily recalled The Incident With
The Soda-Vending Machine.

How could she have known that Tsubasa was inside the thing?

     It stuck.

Heh.

"Nuku-Nuku PUNCH!" she cried, aiming a blow at
the leg's "shin".

You know, in six Episodes, all filled with Nuku Nuku in combat, she only
says this in the last one, and only two or three times.  Why are you
bringing it back?

She darted between them, bounced off the Lexan slab in

What's Lexan?

     Nuku-Nuku giggled.  "That was fun!  Thanks so much for
coming over to play with me!  I'll help you clean up, then we can
go see Mama-san!"

^_^;

     "Surrender before we get hurt," Arisa added hopefully.

Heh.

     "But it tickles," Nuku-Nuku whined.

A-hem!

     "And when I sniffed around a bit, I started running into
security checks.  People in those labs wouldn't talk to me at
lunch, even when I wore the special blouse."

Ah, yes.  The *special* blouse.

     Arisa stared at the oddly-shaped structure at the heart of
the small vehicle.  She was intimately familiar with every
principle humans had devised to get craft into the air, and this
wasn't one of them.  Worse, it had none of the flavor of a device
conceived by human engineers.  "It can't be...."

Of course, Arisa *also* had a certain skill indentifying alien technology,
thus allowing her to recognize the artifact as such.

     "Now I hack around a little more," Kyoko said, turning back
to her console.  "Then we go see Dr. Natsume."

     "Kyusaku?  Nuku-Nuku?!"

"Of course not!  I meant Ryonosuke, of course!  He's the real brains of
that family."

     Kyusaku looked embarrassed.  "Er... 'Mad Scientist Mailing
List'.  It's just a joke name, really," he said over an
assortment of snickers.

Unless Kyusaku goes without sleep, that is.

     Kyusaku shrugged.  "To counterattack.  We'll massacre these
space invaders!  Hahaha!"

     "Dad!  This isn't a video game!"

Kyusaku fired his shotgun twice, then switched to his rocket launcher.
Pointing it downwards, he jumped, and fired, promptly boosting him up to
the backpack filled with am...

"Oh, really Ryu-?  Darn. And I was leading in frags..."

     "So were we, once," Kyusaku observed, stubbing out his
cigarette.

"But Ataru had to ruin all that."

Yes, this Kyusaku saying that sounds strange.

     To Nuku-Nuku, the energy buildup around Kyusaku was as
obvious as a bonfire, and just as alarming.

"DRAGU SLAVE!!!"

*zot*

     "Damn my eyes, but it's TIGHT in here," she gasped in
Fellani.  "Darshian?"

Wait a moment.  This guy just got stuck in a cat's brain.  And that's all
he has to say?

     Kyusaku smiled mysteriously and held up a forefinger.  "Ah.
That... is a secret."  He grinned.  "I've always wanted to say
that."

*WHAP*

the meantime, we're all wearing little jammers that will prevent
us from being forced to host Fellani.

But obviously, this didn't stop Nuku Nuku from getting posessed.  Either
this is a bluff, which is too easily called, or it just doesn't work.  I
don't believe the third option, that Kyusaku didn't give one to Nuku Nuku,
is likely.

     Darshian was left standing alone in the huge office of
Natsume Akiko.  From deep within her, she felt a sudden, alien
urge to chew on a handkerchief and cry.

Heh.

-Natsume Ranma Ranma
-------
The sardines weren't worth the trouble.  A few more shots, then 
Ryoga-san would overheat and explode.  Ducking around a corner, 
I managed to lose him as I entered the ramshackle residence of 
my Anime supplier.

One look at his face and I knew that I was betrayed.  "Tell me."
I insisted.  He refused, so I slammed him against the wall.
"Last chance.  Where can Ranma-Ranma find good fanfics?"
"Try Jason Liao." he whispered, before he slumped to the floor.
I heard the sounds of a door splintering as I left through the 
window, one step ahead of Tendo Heavy Industries...