And cutting through even more of the backlog. Thank goodness most of the
pieces aren't terribly long.

Anyway, here it is, I hope my fans (all both of you!) like it. ;)

We'll see.

--------------------------

"Choose one," he muttered to himself, his breath rasping with the pain
he no longer acknowledged. "Yeah, right..."

Slumping to his feet in the otherwise deserted corridor, its gleaming
steel and cold empty stretches echoing.

Run on, I think

Either they would come and find

him dead, or he would kill as many of them as he could before he died.
It was that simple.

Ah ha. So he's being attacked by a herd of lemmings. They really are
unbeatable, since they have no regard for their own lives. It's true.

He blinked, staring at the slip of paper on the table, suddenly
frighteningly aware of the eyes on him. He had gotten a pass. Not Kuno,
with his wealth, nor Nabiki with her grades, or anyone else... but him.

Ranma; Thank god! Sorry all ofyou are toast, but better you than me.

"Uh..." he started, suddenly nervous with the number of eyes locked on
him. His parents, his fiancees, and his rivals. "What does this mean?"

Nabiki stood slowly, taking the paper and striding purposefully across
the room towards Ranma. "It means," she stated, "that because of your...
'unique'... position, that you can take one person with you. Just one.
But... _any_ one."

Ranma swallowed involuntarily, taking the note as Nabiki pressed it into
his chest. "Pick one, and make it a good choice, Ranma."

"I can't believe you picked me!" Akari squealed in delight.

"Always had the hots for you, I but I didn't want Ryouga ripping my balls
off and feeding them to me for stealing away another girl her fell for, if
ya know what I mean," Ranma explained.

Ukyou nodded. "He's probably going to choose Akane."

Probably.

Shampoo nodded, pulling a note from a pocket. "He give this..." she
trailed off, handing over the note.

"Three days?" Ukyou commented, reading the note. "So he's gonna tell us
in... but that's..."

"Last day?"

"Yeah..."

Nothing like keeping everyone in suspence.

***

Shampoo peered nervously into the dark alleyway. People were acting
less... restrained... this close to the end, doing things that they
never would, were it not for the impending disaster.

24 hour karaoke: It was not a pretty sight.

Had he chosen her?

Gee, since she's on the ship and has her suitcase with her, you think that
would be assumed.

She frowned, wondering why Ranma would have gone through the trouble...
P-chan? But that would mean that Ranma had chosen her -- as far as she
knew, none of the other girls had pets...

Not counting Mousse's relationship to Shampoo.

"Here." He announced, gesturing her forward.

She passed through a giant secured door with slight trepidation. "What's
this, Ranma?"

Ranma; A giant secured door. Didn't you read the sentence before your
dialogue?

He said nothing, merely gesturing her forward. She stepped forward
slowly, entering a room with an equally confused and nervous Ukyou -- in
her boy's school uniform. "Akane-chan?" she asked, disbelieving.

"Ukyou?" Akane turned to question Ranma, only to see the heavy door she
had passed through slam shut, sealing the two together. "Oh no..." she
whispered, piecing the clues together.

Akane; But I'm not a lesbian. I have no interest in Ukyou that way.

***

Ukyou ran for all she was worth, Shampoo -- human again, and dressed in
one of Akane's spare outfits -- towing Akane along behind her. "Airen
brave," she panted, "but Shampoo not leave alone like this."

Hmm. They must have gotten hot water, broke through the door, and moved fast
if they think they can catch up to him.

"He knows it, though," Akane grated out, pacing the other martial artists.

Ukyou nodded, darting a single glance back at the ship and its promise
of safety. "We'll find him, then... then..." she trailed off, not having
the slightest idea what she would do afterwards.

Die a fiery death?

"NO!" Ranma roared, shoving her back through the final door, pressing
her into the other two girls, and sealing them in as they struggled to
regain their footing. "I owe..." He trailed off, leaning against the
thick pane of glass in the center of the door. "I owe all of you... I
ain't... I ain't gonna pick just one." He looked up suddenly, standing
straight, and letting the trio actually see the reddening patch on his
shirt, the wound he had taken earlier being more than he had hinted.

With the four foot long spear protruding from his back, you think they would
have been tipped off sooner as to how bad it was. :)

"You owe me," he announced. "I gave up what I got for you, and you...
you owe me bein' safe. So... go." He coughed, turning to the panel on
the side of the door, and smashing the protective glass covering a large
red button.

A voice over the intercom boomed. "This ship will self-destruct in one
minute."

"Damn, wrong button!" Ranma cursed.

***

Ranma's eyes drifted closed, and he nodded to himself weakly, the
feeling of cold settling into his bones. "I win..."

Ranma: Now I got rid of all of them, and don't have to marry any of them!
Hahahaha! I win.

--------------------------
Author's Notes:

It's a one-shot! It's a prologue! It's a one-shot _AND_ a prologue!

Heard it was to the Tenchi megaxover or something. Hopefullly will get to it
someday. As to my reaction, pretty shifty on Ranma's part. I approve. Didn't
detect any spelling errors, though there was very little detail in this to
add flavor to it. I think it would be worthwhile to flesh out some of the
background and scenes in a revision. Aside from that it looked good.

D.B. Sommer

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