Hi, all!
Well, finally, after an inexcusable delay, here's chapter 3. Author's notes
at the end.
C&C desperately needed. PLEASE!
Enjoy!
---
DISCLAIMER: Ranma 1/2 belongs to the brilliant Takahashi Rumiko. Robotech is
owned by Harmony Gold USA, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story is based on McKinney's books.
___________________________________
SILENT BATTLES
A Ranma 1/2 / Robotech crossover
by Latin_D (latin_d@uol.com.ar)
___________________________________
Chapter 3: First steps
---
The Battloid slowly stood, a shower of concrete and rubble falling from
its metallic shoulders. Still alone in the street, a gaping Ranma could see
how it moved its cyclopean "head" this way and that, as if looking for
something. After a moment, it stopped. Gazing in its same direction, Ranma
found out what it had apparently been looking for: the far explosions of the
dogfight.
Finally closing his mouth for the first time in minutes, Ranma tried to
make sense of what had just occurred. A very strange plane--which just
_happened_ to have legs and arms and look like an eagle--had apparently
tried to land, and in doing so it had devastated an entire block.
�I hope there wasn't anyone in those buildings,� he thought, worriedly
glancing at the partly-destroyed office buildings.
Then, when it had finally come to a stop, the fighter had begun
changing. Some stuff had moved this way, some other had slid that way--and
instant robot! Then, the sturdy-looking humanoid robot stood up and seemed
almost completely unscathed. Sure, there were some small dents in the armor
and a few holes in its chest, but he would have expected a lot more damage
in a plane--or something--that had just crashed against several concrete
walls at terminal velocity.
�Maybe I'm dreaming?� He thought, almost hopefully. �Nah, I'm not that
lucky. Damn!�
Deep in thought as he had been, he hadn't noticed the small crowd that
had started gathering around the now-frozen Battloid. Quickly, a torrent of
rumors and speculations arose from the gawking people.
"Could be a new weapon." "We're being attacked by aliens!" "Looks like
an autobot to me." "It just fell out of the sky!" and a million similar
comments flowered around Ranma.
He smirked. �Well, Ranma, what have you learned today?� he silently
asked himself. �That some places are even weirder than Nerima.�
Suddenly, the Battloid started moving. It took a few lurching steps,
like those of a drunkard, but stopped again a moment later.
"Wow! What a cool robot!" Gazing to his right, he could see Jason
standing next to him, looking intently at the machine with wide eyes.
"Guess so..." Ranma trailed off. Maybe now it was a robot, but a minute
ago it had looked like a fighter plane of sorts. �Perhaps it is a
convertible plane?� he wondered in his mind.
"Let's go upstairs, Ranma! We'll get a good look from there!" Jason
grabbed Ranma's hand and started dragging Ranma towards the restaurant.
Luckily, Max appeared in front of them, halting the hyperactive boy.
"Son, let go of Ranma. Maybe he doesn't want to go."
"But he _does_ want to go. Right?" Jason asked with pleading eyes.
"Eh... Um... Well, Jason, I should really get--" he started, but quickly
stopped himself when Jason's eyes began moistening. "I mean, I'd love to
go!"
"Great!" Jason chirped, his tears forgotten.
With a knowing look in his eyes, Max put a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "I
pity you," he said, giving him an amused smile. "Take care of him, Ranma.
Don't let him get too close to the window, okay?"
Ranma could only nod before someone started pushing him in the White
Dragon's direction.
"We gotta hurry, Ranma! C'mon!"
�Oh, man. Why me?� thought Ranma while looking to the sky, as if
searching for an answer in the small clouds.
They stepped through the doorway.
---
Minmei looked at the retreating forms of his cousin and the tall man,
Ranma. Should she go with them? While she was worried for Jason, Ranma was
already there to look after him. But she was also interested in the tall
man. Seeing his strong, broad back and the long pigtail fluttering behind
him, she formed an opinion: �He is kind of cute, if a little too old.�
There was something else about him, something she couldn't quite put her
finger on. The way he walked perhaps--so gracefully that he made other
people look clumsy in comparison. Or maybe it was that aura of confidence
that seemed to surround him, impregnating everything he did. He was...
mysterious--and Minmei loved solving mysteries.
Besides, _she_ was the one who had to take care of her cousin. She
couldn't leave him alone with a total stranger, right?
Making a decision, she shouted, "Wait for me!" and hurried towards the
restaurant's doorway.
---
Gazing out the top-story window, Jason was looking up at the Battloid's
head with obvious delight. "It's huge!"
Standing behind him, Ranma shrugged. "Maybe. But after you've seen the
Orochi, things just don't look that big any more."
Minmei had just entered the room, right in time to hear his last
comment. "What's an Orochi?" she asked, curiosity evident in his voice.
Ranma started sweating profusely. How do you explain to a person that
you have met a dragon? "Eh..." He was saved from further interrogation when
the Battloid's head bent slightly forward.
"Look! Its back opened up!" squeaked Jason happily. Ranma could see how
an empty pilot's seat set in a metal post rose slowly from the Battloid. At
first, he thought that there was no one running it, but then the post went
higher with a soft whir. It revealed another seat, this one occupied by a
young man. He had medium-length mussy black hair, and was wearing a white
and orange uniform that almost hurt the martial artist's eyes.
�Not that impressive. Looks rather skinny to me,� thought Ranma.
"What the..." muttered the pilot under his breath, but Ranma sensitive
ears picked it up anyway
"What's the problem?" the martial artist called out loudly over the low
hum of the crowd below.
Startled, the pilot almost dropped the strange flight helmet he had been
carrying. He looked in their direction, noticing them for the first time.
Ranma couldn't help but smirk when he saw how the young pilot's eyes
lingered on Minmei for a moment more than necessary.
"Eh, hi," he greeted uncertainly. "Tell me, does this look like a robot
to you?"
"Yeah, I'd say so. Why?" Maybe he had been hurt in the crash and lost
his memory?
"Oh, nothing," he said after a long sigh. "I just thought I was crazy or
something. This used to be a fighter, you know."
"It's a joke, right?" said Minmei, unbelieving.
Ranma shook his head. "No, he's saying the truth. I saw that thing
changing. But tell me, kid, how come you don't know what it is? Ain't you
the pilot?"
"My name's Rick, not 'kid'," said the pilot, a little angry. "And this
wasn't my idea. Some woman ordered me to take off, so I took off. It's the
army's fault!"
"Okay, whatever. But did you have to make so much damage?"
"Hey, do you think it's easy to pilot this thing?" asked Rick, annoyed
at the pig-tailed man's attitude. It's not like he had wanted to crash
against those buildings.
Ranma shrugged nonchalantly. "Can't be that hard."
"Oh, yeah," Rick drawled. "Then why don't you come here and try?" he
invited, holding out his helmet.
"You know, I just might. At least it'll be difficult to do worse than
you," retorted Ranma, grinning.
They were interrupted by the sound of a horn coming from the street.
Looking down, both could see a truck standing next to one of the Battloid's
foot. Its driver had half his body out of the window and was yelling loudly,
shaking his fist. "Hey, you! Move this thing! I've got supplies to deliver
and I haven't got all day!"
Rick sighed, resigned. "I'll see what I can do." Then, he turned to
Ranma. "We'll continue this later." There was still a trace of anger in his
voice.
"Any time," he said defiantly, trying to refrain a smile from reaching
to his lips. �I like the boy. He reminds me of myself at his age--just not
so handsome.�
Rick got back to his seat, and it started lowering. In that moment,
Minmei blurted out, "Good luck!"
The young pilot was caught off-guard by this, and so was only able to
stammer timidly, "Eh, thanks!" before the support pillar was out of sight,
hidden inside the enormous machine.
Ranma looked curiously at the girl, but she merely turned around,
blushing slightly. Jason, who had been oblivious to the whole exchange,
loudly yelled, "Hey, It's moving again!"
The Battloid stirred, and slowly moved its head to its former upright
position. It began raising one of its colossal feet, but then it lost
balance, and started falling backward. Seeing this, the throng gathered in
the street panicked, and people ran in all directions, screaming and
wailing. Right before the Robotech machine could crash against the tall
office buildings behind it, its back thrusters fired for a moment, sending
it stumbling in the direction of the White Dragon.
Ranma saw the Battloid staggering towards them and, realizing it wasn't
going to stop, he quickly collected Minmei and Jason in his arms and ran for
the door. The Battloid crashed against the window behind which Ranma had
been standing and completely destroyed it--along with half of the
restaurant.
"Are you okay?" asked Ranma when the rubble had stopped falling.
"Sure!" came Jason's happy reply.
Minmei was coughing because of the dust, but managed to compose herself
after some time. "Yeah, I guess so," she said.
"Good." Ranma turned to the Battloid, which lay now sprawled over a
mountain of concrete and girders. "Hey, boy! You all right?!" he yelled.
"Yes," came Rick's voice over the Battloid's external speakers.
"Great. Would ya make me a big favor?"
"What?" asked Rick, confusion reigning his voice.
"Remind me to never lend you my car, 'kay?"
"Why you..."
---
A very unusual sight greeted Ranma's eyes as he stood next to the now
partially-demolished doorway of the White Dragon. Steel cables had been
roped round the Battloid's torso, and these had been attached to two big
trucks, in an attempt to right the downed craft. Inch by inch, it was slowly
coming away from the restaurant, the trucks' engines blaring and roaring
like lions.
Finally, the Battloid reached a precarious balance--a _very_ precarious
one. After a moment, though, it started swaying, unstable. The bystanders
quickly bolted away, yelling, and the truck drivers left their vehicles
behind and ran for cover. For some seconds, the Robotech craft struggled to
find its balance, much to no avail. One of its legs became entangled in the
still-taut cables, and the Battloid staggered backwards. It crashed against
an abandoned building, which collapsed under the titanic weight of the
machine.
�Another building destroyed. With pilots like this, who needs enemies?�
Ranma asked himself, smiling at the almost-comical situation. If this single
"friendly" aircraft had caused such a mess in the city without even trying
to, he shivered at the thought of what a berserk army of these things could
do to Macross.
Suddenly, the ground under his feet vibrated slightly, and the breeze
brought a low but deep and somehow guttural rumble with it. Ranma whirled,
searching with his eyes for anything unusual--which in this island, Ranma
realized, was a very easy task.
He wasn't dissapointed. In the distance, the SDF-1 was partially hidden
by a cloud of dust, and if his eyes didn't cheat him, the ship was tilted to
one side.
�What the hell is going on here?� he wondered mentally. This kept
getting weirder and weirder. Maybe someone had fired on the ship?
He was distracted from his musings when he heard several gasps coming
from the people in the street. His first guess was that they had also
noticed the SDF-1, but when he turned around, he saw that they were all
facing upward into the air, and in the opposite direction that the glorious
spacecraft. Following their gazes, he discovered a white and black Veritech
approaching them from the ocean.
Everybody rushed out of its path, their previous experiences making
people wary. To Ranma's amazement, the onrushing aircraft changed--just like
Rick's had minutes ago--into that same metal bird of prey configuration that
he remembered seeing before, its wings deployed and legs outstretched as if
to land. It deftly settled in the middle of the street, and the gaping
martial artist noticed that it had a black skull painted under the canopy.
Without losing a heartbeat, the Robotech craft finished shifting, rapidly
becoming a robot, much like the one that rested against the building.
For the next few minutes, Ranma ogled mesmerized as the Battloid with
the skull walked up to the other one and started repairing it. A wide
assortment of tools sprang from one of its strong arms, and sparks rained
down onto the pavement as Rick's Battloid was repaired.
Finally, Max took him out of his reverie, coming up to him and saying,
"They have sent the evacuation order, Ranma. We must go to the shelters."
"Okay, I'm going in a minute. Thanks."
He turned his attention back to the Battloid, and saw how Rick managed
to free himself from the rubble, standing up with considerable steadiness.
�The boy is fast learner,� he thought, gazing at the Battloid's head.
�Well, at least I know why these things were so secret.� Unbelievable.
He would have called it magical, but he, perhaps better than most people,
knew that magic was a very different thing. All that magic had ever brought
to him had been pain--and curses, of course.
Trying to stop himself from walking down the sorely known path of
depression, Ranma walked to the two Battloids and called out, "Hey, boy!"
One of the Robotech machines leaned down over him. "My name is Rick!"
blared out a youngish voice through the Battloid's PA system.
"Yeah, whatever. I just came to say goodbye, we're going to the
shelters."
"Oh, well, bye," Rick said, uncertain.
Ranma smirked. "Try not to step on anyone, eh?"
Rick growled, "The only one I might step on is you."
"Ha! As if you could catch me," yelled Ranma at the Battloid, but
started walking away anyway. If there was something he had learned during
his life in Nerima it was that you should never _ever_ push your luck.
Max and Jason were already in their way to the hills, where the nearest
shelter had been built years ago. Lena, however, seemed to be waiting for
her niece. Glancing over his shoulders, the pig-tailed martial artist
discovered Minmei. She was yelling something at Rick's Battloid. �She must
be saying goodbye. He had to have made a good impression, after all. I'll
never understand women. A man demolished her home and she smiles at him.�
Ranma looked at the grassy hills. They weren't far; it couldn't take
them more than five minutes to get there. "We should get going," he said to
Lena, who was still waiting for Minmei.
Lena nodded. "Yes, you are right." She turned to Minmei and called,
"Minmei! Come on!"
He could see the girl jogging to them, and again couldn't help but
notice how pretty she was. Grace in each step... Too young for him, yes; but
that Rick guy was another matter entirely. �Ranma: the matchmaker. Wait and
see!� he promised himself.
Minmei finally caught up with them and, together, they started walking
towards the hills.
---
Almost the entire population of Macross paced lazily around the large
hill that loomed over the entrance to the underground shelter system,
waiting for their turn to get in. Among the masses, Ranma waited
impatiently. Next to him, Max ranted.
"I mean, so many plans, so many years, the least you'd expect is that
they'd be quicker," he said, exasperated. "How much time do they want us to
wait here?"
"Well, there's a _lot_ of people..." said Ranma, appeasing.
"That's beside the point. With all the money they spent in t--" He
couldn't finish, as Minmei suddenly gave a yelp.
"My dairy! I forgot my diary!" she said, almost shouting.
"What?" asked Ranma, confused. A strong sense of d�j� vu was invading
him.
"I have to go back!"
�Oh, no, girl. Not you too! What's with women and diaries?� thought
Ranma, a little annoyed. If he ever had a daughter, he would be certain she
didn't keep a diary. Those things were disasters waiting to happen.
"Wait, child!" Max tried to stop her, but she was too fast for him.
Ranma also tried to reach for her, but two civil defense workers stopped
him.
"Come back!" cried Lena, worry etched in her face.
"I'll be back in a moment!" shouted Minmei over her shoulder, and with
that, she was off, losing herself in the maze of streets.
"What are we going to do?" asked Lena to Max, holding him for
reassurance. "It may be dangerous in the city."
"Don't worry, I'll go get her." Ranma shrugged off both men's attempts
to stop him and, throwing them at the ground, hurried after Minmei.
---
Vigilant, mechanic eyes witnessed as Ranma ran back into the city, but
they paid him no attention. They had other objectives, and very important
ones. So, as they stared intently at the far shape of the SDF-1, they also
ignored the crowds of people waiting outside the shelters for entrance. They
couldn't afford distractions, the time was near.
The army of Zentraedi Battlepods stood impassively as thousands of
energy bolts--fired by the Zentraedi armada from an orbit around the
moon--fell down on Macross, devastating the city. None of them touched the
SDF-1, but the buildings that surrounded it were obliterated in a fraction
of second, helpless before the amazing power of the alien weapons.
Finally, it stopped. Recognizing this as their signal to action, the
Battlepods leapt down from the cliffs around the city. Firing their
long-range weapons, they began their assault on the spaceship they had
tracked down through time and space.
War reigned anew in Earth.
---
Somewhere in the city of Macross, Ranma fought for his life.
He had been trying to find his way back to the restaurant, looking for
Minmei, when those strange war machines had appeared seemingly out of
nowhere. They had two legs articulated backwards, and this gave them the
appearance of ostriches--headless, wingless, packed with heavy weapons
ostriches. They had come hopping swiftly, and had immediately showered the
whole city in missiles. Luckily, Macross had been evacuated in time, and the
streets were almost desert. Except for some CD workers, Ranma--and Minmei.
So, when one of the those Zentraedi Battlepods had finally noticed Ranma
and started firing laser beams at him, he fought. After all, he didn't want
to die.
But even as he ducked low to avoid an incoming energy bolt, Ranma was
smiling. He felt ecstatic, exhilarated. This is what he had trained his
whole life for: fighting. It didn't matter if it was against a robot or a
person. It didn't matter if his enemies had rockets and lasers when all he
could use was his own body--he had faced worst odds before. All that
mattered is that he was still a warrior in his heart, and this was simply
the most exciting moment of his life. He was one of the best martial artists
of the world--and he showed it.
Around him, chaos ensued. Buildings after building was being destroyed
by blasts and missiles, and the air was filled with plaster and concrete
dust, which made breathing difficult at times. Debris and shrapnel flew in
every direction, some of them sharp as knives, and explosions flared in
blazing infernos that, Ranma knew, could reduce him to ashes in mere
seconds. Meanwhile, the pig-tailed man was a whirlwind of activity. He
jumped, leapt, ran, sidestepped and generally dodged, expertly avoiding
being caught by the burning wreckage that rained down from the sky--or by
the powerful laser bolts the pod was intent in throwing at him.
Yet, even then, his mind remained in the uttermost calm. His thoughts
were clear, his mind analytic and continuously assessing the situation. He
was the eye of the storm, the center of the cyclone.
The insistent pod finally caught up with him. With a colossal leap, it
landed in front of him, feet big as cars tearing at the concrete as if it
were made of butter. He quickly leaped to the top of a nearby building, just
as the section of the street where he had been standing was converted to
super-heated dust by the alien lasers. Not wasting time, Ranma jumped down
back to the ground right behind the confused Battlepod, and fired a ki-blast
at its knee-joint, shattering it.
The alien craft toppled over and fell to the ground with a tremendous
crash, unable to get up for the moment. Not looking back, Ranma continued
his way, knowing that time was crucial if he wanted to find Minmei.
Help had finally arrived, and in the form of tall robots just like the
ones he had seen outside the White Dragon. They kept firing those powerful
guns of theirs, destroying pods left and right. They were really agile--much
more so than what its size and weight suggested--and seemed to dance around
the larger Battlepods, rapidly overcoming them.
Ranma turned at the corners at random, hoping against hope he would find
either the restaurant or Minmei. Suddenly, another pod jumped onto the roof
of a tall building to his right, and gazed down, noticing him.
�Time for the big guns,� he decided wordlessly. Ranma quickly crossed
his arms in front of his chest, then snapped them forward and to the side.
He didn't even announce the attack. �No need to show off,� he thought, as
the nearly invisible vacuum blasts soared through the air toward the pod. A
moment later, a now leg-less Battlepod lay helplessly atop the building,
desperately trying to keep itself from rolling over the edge of the roof.
�That one won't be moving for a while.� Even as he was thinking this, a
Battloid arrived to the place where the alien warcraft lay and finished it
off with its Gatling gun. There was no place for mercy in war. Or, at least,
that is what the Battloid's pilot thought as he rushed deeper into the city,
looking for more enemies. The Zentraedi wouldn't have had it any other way:
war was their philosophy; more, their life. And in a war, you fight to win,
no matter the price.
Ranma ran.
---
One furious martial artist kicked a pebble, frustrated. Where was she?
He still hadn't been able to find her, and he was beginning to fear he was
too late. He had seen too many dead bodies in the last fifteen minutes. It
seemed all the people who had stayed in the city after the evacuation order
had died. Emergency personnel, CD workers, all of them. Why would a teenager
girl be any different?
A few miles ahead, a pod exploded when a barrage of high-density slugs
impacted against its armor, courtesy of a blue Battloid. The explosion
caused a buiding--that had taken heavy damage from the enemy weapons--to
collapse over the offworld craft. The city was only a poor reminder of what
it had once been--a modern and beautiful place to live had become a battered
war-zone. All because someone had decided to start a war.
He looked to the distant SDF-1. He was pretty sure now that the invaders
were aliens. After all, who else could build--or pilot--machines as big as
those damned ostrich-machines? They were twice the size of the Battloids!
Besides, who else would attack the one ship that had brought peace to the
entire world? Who else _could_?
Another explosion made him look up, and he saw a Guardian descending
slowly, apparently trying to land. It had only one arm, and for some reason,
Ranma found it familiar. Flying though the smoke, it was for a relatively
smooth descent, when it abruptly dug its metallic heels into the pavement,
obviously trying to lose some momentum. Looking for a reason to this, Ranma
looked in the direction of the aircraft's intending path, and discovered a
damaged Battlepod giving them its back. The Guardian's foot thrusters flared
an intense bright blue, desperately trying to avoid the impending crash,
much to no avail. It took the Zentraedi craft from behind, sending both to
the ground with a loud thud. Without wasting time, both Robotech machines
nimbly got to their feet, but the pod seemed rather unsteady as it eyed its
attacker.
It wasn't till that moment that Ranma finally recognized the white and
brown Guardian that stood frozen now watching the alien craft: it was Rick's
aircraft! �The boy is alive,� he thought, relieved. �Maybe he can help me
look for Minmei.�
Then, the Guardian started firing his Gattling, and Ranma had to cover
his ears as the the bullets buzzed towards their goal. The pod's armor went
off in a minute, and it toppled over to the ground.
�I guess that's all.� Ranma warily gazed at the alien aircraft. Even as
he was thinking this, he heard a metallic sound coming from the pod. He saw
as a hatch in the back of the Battlepod opened, and a shadowy figure sprang
from inside the machine. It was humanoid, Ranma noticed, and was wearing
some kind of armor and a helmet, but that wasn't what made the martial
artist open his mouth in disbelief.
"It's huge," he muttered reverently. The alien was easily as tall as a
Battloid, and probably had the same weight. Ranma hadn't even had time to
assimilate this last piece of information, when the Zentraedi trooper slowly
grabbed his helmet and took it off, dropping it to the ground. A completely
human-shaped--if gigantic in size-- face greeted Ranma's eyes, and the alien
slowly started moving again.
He staggered and swayed tiredly towards Rick's Guardian, clearly wounded
but determined. His intention was clear to Ranma; he had seen that same
expression many times in the mirror: revenge. If he was going to go, he
would take with him his killer. The young boy was going to die, and why?
Because he had fought back?! Because he hadn't let himself be KILLED?!
Ranma saw red. "Oh, no. YOU WON'T!" he cried, and rushed towards the
alien.
He practically flew towards him, his feet melting the asphalt with each
step. A bright white aura emerged from his body, but Ranma didn't notice.
All he could think of was the life of that pilot, that boy; all he could see
was the alien walking towards the immobile Guardian. And so, while Ranma
felt the purest anger course through his body, the aura glowed brighter than
ever. Blinding-white energy swirled and cracked around him, making him look
like a small, deadly nova; but Ranma continued running, faster and faster.
The alien was near now, and he sent all his strength in his hand. In a
moment, the aura was re-absorbed in his body, only to be focused in his
clenched fist a second later. One punch would be enough, just one.
He poised his fist backward, ready to strike. He was no more than a mile
from the alien, seeing with hatred how the behemoth was about to reach the
canopy of the Guardian, when he heard a deafening buzz saw sound. The
Zentraedi soldier coughed blood, and toppled to the pavement, his hand still
near the cockpit, grabbing one of the Guardian's feet. Standing with his
weapon still levered at the alien, Ranma could see a Battloid he already
knew: the one with the skull in its armor, the same one he had seen before.
The energy surrounding his fist dissipated, and Ranma stared at the
skull-insignia Battloid, his brow glistening with sweat. Hastily, he tried
to stop his hands from shaking. For a moment, only for a moment, he had lost
control. But a moment was all that it was needed.
He gazed at the giant corpse. The alien's lifeless eyes were staring at
the sky, unfocused. �So much like a human...�
As he headed towards Rick's Guardian, he looked to the ground, ashamed.
He had almost killed, something he had promised himself he would never do
again.
But he, better than anyone, knew that there are promises you sometimes
can't keep. He had once promised to never let his fianc�e die.
---
To be continued...
---
Author's notes:
Okay, this took too long, I know. As I said, it's inexcusable... Bah, if I
try hard enough, I believe I can make up some excuses. ^_^
I have had a couple of really hectic weeks--you know, lots of test ans
stuff. Then, I sent this to my prereaders, and I spent some more time making
a couple of revisions. And then... blah, blah, blah. I'm already boring you,
ne?
Well, let's begin with the 'thanks' page.
My wonderful prereaders, thank you:
Trevor Hoffert (check out his site! http://members.xoom.com/Battlekrome/ )
Wanderer D (who also has a webpage http://wandererd.cdreams.com)
Henrique M. Holschuh (who is to blame if the plot gets terribly thicker ^_^)
Con_Man (who sent me public C&C. Thanks)
As always, thanks to Morgan Hudson, for his help and _public_ C&C. The best.
Before I forget it, thanks to Glazius Falconar, the Synopses List Reviewer
who... Well, he doesn't seem to be liking the story that much, but, heck!
He's also sending public C&C. Thanks.
Now, for those who are asking themselves when is Ranma going to get into a
Veritech (not that there are so much readers, but my ego demands this ^_^),
well, you'll have to wait for a while. Be patient, my friend(s), he'll
become a pilot. Just wait and read.
The next chapter will probably take some time, maybe as much as this one.
Sorry, but you see, I'm going out of town next week, and I won't be a--Now
that I think about it, I'm sure you don't care for my personal life at all,
so I won't rant any more. Don't worry, the chapter WILL arrive.
Down here is where I beg for C&C. Down here, so the people who already quit
reading won't witness this pityful plea.
Please, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! Send C&C. Any kind, I even accept flames--they
hurt, all right, but I'm strong. Of course, if you say nice things, you'll
make me fell much better and won't break my crystal heart, but it's up to
you. ^_^
BTW, I don't have a web page, so if you want any of the previous chapters,
tell me so and I'll send them to you.
Bye, and thanks for reading.
Latin_D (who must be the only person in the FFML who doesn't have a funny
sig)