Bet you didn't think you'd ever see this one : )

     Process of Elimination


   "That is not to say, of course, that he was human, or not. If
anything, he was better than us. Not because of what he did for us in
his services and his aid, not because he saved us... but because he
never stopped believing that we could win."

"It didn't stop us from losing, though."

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

Heh. He cheated. Good for him.

Snipped what I already C+C'd

   One desiccated hulk of compacted and compressed alloys and
biomaterial, slowly seeping out a thick toxic sludge that ate through
the steel corridors beneath it.

Awkward as hell. Feels like a run on.

   She paused for a moment, staring at the gargantuan hulk, stuck
halfway in a wall, though the ichor was slowly eating through the
confining metal. Its claws were splayed loosely around it, leaving the
monster looking deplorably stunned, despite the twisted metal of the
walls opposite it, slashed to pieces by the thing's massive piercing
limbs, which easily evidenced its raw power.

Wow. 37 word sentence. I'd watch out for making them too long. Gets hard to
follow sometimes.

   The view screen focused inwards for a moment, showing a reddish coat
on one claw, fresh blood slowly congealing on the appendage. Something

think a semicolon would be better there.

   She watched, surprised, as her hand did not hit the recall button,
instead activating another function.

Mine do that to, acting on their own. Usually the woman I just fondled ends
up slapping me rather than listening to my reasons, though.

   "Uh-oh."

   Another hand fell upon her shoulder, prompting her to turn around.
"Yosho?" she queried.

   The young-seeming man behind her nodded, staring at the monitor.
"What are you going to do with him?"

Washuu: Have sex. Wanna join in and make it a threesome?

   The machine swept across the boy twice, informing her clearly what
his vital signs were.

   It would take every iota of her skill to bring him back from the
brink, every ounce of knowledge she had available, and more likely than
not, need every bit of equipment her lab could provide.

Including the disintegrators? Don't think those would be useful. And what
about the warp drive? How can that help him? And the cheese whiz dispenser?
No. I think there are plenty of things in her lab that won't be needed to
help him. :)

   Stability, if nothing else. She frowned, surveying the latest
readouts. Logically, she knew that she needed to make him better --
replace the damaged parts that were too heavily infected to repair.

Major Steve Austin had to be brought back from the brink, even if it meant
giving him bionics. It might cost her six million dollar or so, but it would
be worth it. Ranma, on the other hand, was dead meat.

   She jerked, startled -- and annoyed at being surprised. "What? Hmm...
Maybe you can help me, Yosho. You are a priest after all."

Washuu: I need a liver. You're going to have to spare one.

   Another scanner passed slowly over him, illuminating some of the more
damaged areas, infected with toxins from the reaver he had killed. She
shook her head, glancing back at him in admiration before turning
towards the computer again. To be able to destroy one of them alone --
he had to possess great willpower, not to mention his physical abilities.

And some C4. Like five hundred pounds of it.

   Washuu sighed, staring around herself at the calm,

'staring around herself' sounds awkward. I'd really reword that.

   Washuu rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. "Well, from what I can tell,
they dropped a nuclear explosive on a group of them... the radiation
looks to have killed six of them."

   Wincing, Tsunami shook her head. "That's a very poor answer...

Well, it's not like they had an alternative. :P

   Tsunami stared at Washuu for a long moment, then nodded curtly. "I
will help. In the meantime, the Throne is preparing to send a lead
convoy of our ships for evacuation through a gateway, along with any
capable Galaxy Police ships. Currently, we've only managed to assemble a
few of their ships, supplemented with some volunteers from the Home
Fleet.

What? They can't get any other worlds in the Empire to help and loan some of
their ships?

   He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long minute.
Generally handsome features, he supposed, though he couldn't remember
what it was in relation _too_.... He had medium-length spiky black hair,
though he couldn't guess at the reasoning behind the style, spiked
upwards and back as it was. He ran a hand through it, surprised as it
sprang back up into spikes after he pressed it down.

He's got Ryoko's body now?

   Washuu sighed, pointing towards the table. "Try reaching through that
surface."

   He nodded, punching through the table with ease.

   The woman sighed, shaking her head. "Doomed," she commented. "Maybe
it's a side effect on the brain from the Masu... Ryouko did the same
thing when -- Bah. Try again, see if you can reach through it _without_
damaging it."

Ranma; Oh. Well you didn't specify no damage the first time.

   "Oh," he said, prodding at the table experimentally, before finding a
way to... slide... through it. "Like this?" he asked nervously.

   "Excellent," the redhead crowed, marking off another point on her
clipboard. "Now... those are your most basic abilities. The more time
you spend in your new body, the better you will be able to control it.
Here..." She fished a small blue stone out of her pocket, and tossed it
to the boy, who belatedly caught it. "Integrate this gem."

Ranma put it up his [Delete]

"That's disgusting," Washu said.

"Well you didn't tell me where to put it, and this outfit doesn't had any
pockets. Feel kind of good, back there, though." Ranma said with an odd
smile on his face.

   Washuu frowned. "Ranma? Hmm... 'Ran-oh-ki'... it works."

It does?

   "What?"

   Washuu shook her head, leading Ranma into a vast bath. "You can worry
about that later. He won't be mature for a bit,

Oh.

 since I started him a

bit later."

   He halted suddenly, glancing around worriedly. "You want me to take a
bath with you?"

   Washuu shrugged, pausing at the entrance to the girl's side. "It's...
better for everyone involved to avoid being alone around here with the
reavers loose."

Washuu: Also easier to have sex as well.

   Washuu snorted, shaking her head. "In

I

   Ranma nodded slowly, feeling his hair again curiously. "So... what am

I?"

Washuu: Hunky.

Ranma: I'm getting a weird sense of deja vu here.

   Ranma smiled crookedly, staring into Washuu's eyes from across the
pool. "What do I do, though? I'm supposed to protect you, right?"

   ***

Don't need the astericks there.

   Washuu cleared her throat, shifting to her child-form again, and
adjusting the washcloth on her head in an attempt to cover a slight
blush. She knew she was a genius -- the greatest scientific mind in the
universe -- but this young boy was going to protect her, a woman of more
than twenty thousand years? "Well," she commented, "that makes me feel
better. Yosho should be around here, too. Though I don't have a real
plan for dealing with the reavers yet. Planning actually works poorly
against them, since a given tactic usually only works once."

Ah, like the early versions of the Sentinals then.

   Washuu grimaced, explaining, "An old genetically engineered weapon.
Nasty things. But whoever found them on this planet apparently managed
to remove their capacity for breeding, or we'd all have been dead, and
this planet probably scoured of all matter. Come to think of it, they
might have been adjusted before they got here... Anyway, reavers are
lifivores, Ranma. Do you know what that means?"

   He shook his head, watching her raptly. "No. I've never heard of
it... that I can remember."

Washuu: It doesn't mean anything. I made it up. I just wanted to see if
you'd be macho and claim you did know what it meant.

   "There are

They are

   Washuu recovered herself, remembering that there was plenty of time
to examine Ranma's abilities later. "Yes, a good portion of the damage
was the toxic fumes in your lungs. Some of the other toxins got on you,
also. They're very powerful -- they have to be to

drop second 'to'

   Washuu pursed her lips as she took a seat before the television
screen. "Mm... yes, that. One of the places that she said to send ships
to was Jurai, which happens to be the planet where everyone else who
lives here went to get aid. Unfortunately, litigation, red tape, and
who-knows-what-else have slowed things down substantially

Ah. Typical bueracracy.

   Sighing, she rubbed at her temples, and stared at the door. The
problem wouldn't go away on its own, and despite the fact that she did
not need to sleep for days at a time, she had gotten precious little
rest of late. Nodding decisively, she turned her back to the door, aware
in a peripheral sense of Yosho nearby, and marched to the couch. She
could sleep there easily enough, and avoid the horrendous emptiness of
the lab, and its erosion.

Hmm. Feelings for the 'old man' eh?

   He wouldn't have thought it from his initial meeting with the woman,
but Misaki's demeanor turned very cold and professional in the political
arena. Funaho, on the other hand, seemed more relaxed, and casual...
perhaps it was more fitting, considering her role. The Emperor himself
wore the same grimly set features that Tenchi had grown used to after
their initial meeting.

Azusa: I look grim? I had no idea. That's the way I normally look. Didn't
think it grim at all.

   "You mean colonial planet 0-315, and it's _Earth_," Tenchi corrected,
overriding the man's speech. "What reasons are there to _not_ help as
much as you can?" He stopped himself off there, trying to retain control
over his temper, and rubbing at the trefoil symbol on his forehead that
he knew would be there. Tsunami's presence seemed to call it, but he was
afraid it would glow with the intensity of his emotion.

Threaten a few of them. Lop off a few heads and you'll really get their
attention.

   Ayeka cut in smoothly, stating, "We have decided to rethink our
stance, and would request to reconvene tomorrow, after everyone has had
a chance to rest." He soft

Her

   He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should track Sasami --
Tsunami, he corrected himself. If he should track Tsunami down and
apologize, and tell her that he just wasn't sure how to deal with the...
difference... between her and Sasami. And that he missed Sasami, but...

Is now really the time for that though, with his homeworld's population
being decimated?

   Slinking away from the monster, she huddled away in a corner,
whimpering. "Tenchi-niisan!" But he was nowhere to be seen, having
disappeared like Washuu had.

   The monster kept its mechanical motions, varying slightly upwards, or
down, but moving forward ever so slowly, inching towards her. Shivering
in fear, the girl let a shriek of terror escape, not knowing what to do.

How about going back the way she came in?

   Ranma relaxed, allowing his memories of proper stances to flood back
into him. But how to fight the creature? It was huge! And to keep this
new little girl safe, of course...

   It snarled again, sweeping a pair of appendages towards him like a
giant pair of scissors, each tipped with wickedly jagged barbs. He
ducked, throwing himself to the ground and only narrowly avoiding being
caught, then lashed out with a foot, aiming for the things

thing's

   Scowling, he realized that he wasn't making any headway -- he simply
wasn't able to do enough damage to the thing. Yelling, he rushed,
ducking under an attack, and attempting to grapple the thing. It looked
like he might be able to flip it over onto its back, like a turtle.

Somehow I doubt it will be that easy.

 He

knew he could make it cold, but was worried that the backlash from such
an attempt would hurt the girl.

   He grunted in pain when he closed with the thing's leg -- it was
covered in sharp, spiny protrusions, some of which seeped pale colored
and stinging ichor. Heaving, calling upon strength he did not know he
possessed, he raised the monster into the air, wincing as a pair of
claws rent the space near him, coming perilously close to him.

drop 'to him.' Not needed and you already use 'him' earlier.

   Washuu nodded, eyeing the wounds dubiously. "Right... maybe you
should try not to use your bare hands, Ranma."

   He stared at her dumbly. "Huh?"

   Wincing, Washuu held a hand towards him, and clenched it into a fist,
causing him to step backwards as a red, blade-like, glowing bar of
energy sprang from her hand, humming quietly in the air. "I forgot to
mention it to you, but you can generate these, too. And right now, you
probably should."

Yeah. It might be handy about now.

   Soul of ice. He clamed

calmed

   He leapt towards the reaver, arms held behind him as he flew towards,
it like a bird of prey. It raised a claw to block his passage, and
another in an attempt to spear him. The claws met with his blades,
neither yielding immediately.

Interesting. Thought it would cut right through.

   Shrugging, Ranma exited the house and drifted towards the outdoor
onsen. If they wanted to use the one, when there were two, then there
shouldn't be a problem with her using the other...

   She lit upon the entrance, pleased to note that it was still brightly
lit within. She peered in, seeing no one, and focused for a moment,
willing her bodysuit to disappear. That done, she wandered over to the
washing area, frowning at the steaming water of the baths as she grabbed
a rag and began to scrub herself.

Wonder how he's going to react to his Ran-Oh-ki cabbit, emphasis on the
'cat' part of it.

   Still disgustingly 'cute,' still with red hair, though no longer in
the boyish pigtail, and instead... She grimaced, holding her breath and
sinking below the surface of the water. She emerged a moment later,
shaking the water out of her eyes, and noting with some interest that
the spikiness was gone, leaving her hair to lie straight down her back,
hanging slightly past her shoulders. "Hmm...." she mused, running her
hand through it.

Odd

   As she watched, it seemed to dry itself off, reassuming its previous
spiky configuration.

Ah. Better.

   Like an abscess of moonlight, though she could faintly make out the
glow of the pre-dawn, she felt more than saw it.     A shadow, creeping
inexorably closer to the onsen, which had dropped to the level of the
lake's surface while she had slept. Steeling herself, Ranma glided
forward, preparing to meet yet another reaver

Hmm. Methinks he's jumping to conclusions.


Nice work. Will try to get to more of it when I can. Sorry it took me so
long to get to this.

D.B. Sommer



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