And moving on to the next chapter.

    The old woman before him cackled, shaking her head, "Calm yourself,
Muko-dono. I heard from the other boys what you did. I'm impressed." She
looked upwards, sighing, and waved her staff towards the ships overhead.
"I've not seen anything like this in all my years. I haven't seen one of
the 'monsters' myself, either... but I hear that you've fought some of
them. Hmm... and the boys say that your father killed one..." she
trailed off, frowning darkly. "But that's not the point."

Almost sounds like Cologne.

    He nodded again, not looking away from the small figure. "Yeah. She
taught me the soul of ice and the hiryuu-shouten-ha."

Yep. Thought so.

    Ranma blinked, reaching behind his head to tug at his pigtail, and
frowning when he remembered that it was no longer there. "Oh," he said
softly, a light of realization shining in his eyes. "Washuu? How long
would it take us to move everyone to China?"

But are the Amazons big enough to fight off the Reavers. That is the
question.

    Ranma frowned, scratching the back of his head thoughtfully. "I
might be able to... I know someone in China, too."

Herb would definitely be useful here.

    Yosho's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Bogard-san," he called out,
recognizing the tall man. "You came to Tokyo after all?"

Terry's back. Wonder if Andy, Mai, and Joe bit the dust.

with... should have come here sooner." Terry grimaced, glancing back at
the old man as he pulled a few possessions from his truck and plodded to
the already crammed car to ask something of the driver. "Anyway. I'm
here, might as well do what I can. Didn't think I'd meet you again."

Terry: Thought an old wimp like you would be dead meat for sure.

    The radio that Yosho had been given crackled to life suddenly,
before Yosho could respond. "Okay, this is Defense, and this is probably
the last announcement we're going to make. The 'reavers' are pulling
back a ways, we think they might be preparing an attack of some kind
later, but for now, everyone's moving to the docks for transportation.
We urge everyone to be orderly in the evacuation, as the Juraian forces
have everything under control."

Wonder if they'll actually get the people off planet, or if the reavers
already figured a way to prevent that from happening

    Ayeka coughed politely, offering, "Katsuhito is truly Yosho,
Tenchi-dono. He's my older brother, and the, ah, heir to the throne."

    Tenchi paused for a moment, glancing at Ayeka thoughtfully.
"Wouldn't that mean that he was over seven hundred years old?"

He doesn't know yet? Odd, I thought that would have come out by now.

    Grimacing, he rubbed at the trefoil mark on his face again. "I hope
we find him soon..." he trailed off, seeing a pair of unfamiliar men
walk across the street, chatting in low tones, while Ryouko drifted to
the pavement near Tenchi, her face pale and drawn. Ayeka was merely able
to stare, her mouth falling open in shock, while the Guardians behind
her made quiet noises of surprise.

Yosho must be in his normal younger form.

    Barking harshly, Yosho overrode Tenchi, "No!" Collecting himself, he
coughed, dropping his elderly guise and returning to what Tenchi
belatedly realized was his true, much younger, self. "I cannot. And I
refuse. There's no way you can make me leave until I've done everything
within my power to save the people of this planet." He smirked, a smile
that was not reflected in his eyes. "These are my mother's people,
Tenchi, and yours, too. I'm not going to leave them alone to face this."

Yosho's being a bit of an ass here. He should let Tenchi say his piece.

    Tenchi was struck, suddenly, with the realization that for all of
Yosho's years, all of his theoretical knowledge, and all of his training
as a priest... Yosho was an incredibly petty man.

Sounds that way to me.

    Tenchi glowered at the old man, then steeled himself. "I really
don't want to do this," he said slowly, "but if you're going to be so
stubborn... I'm not going to let you stay here when you could do better
for everyone back on Jurai." He stepped forward, reaching one hand to
Yosho's shoulder. "Now come on, and stop being so childish!"

Heh. They're both being idiots.

    "Of course, Ranma. I'm worried about Tenchi-dono and Yosho-dono."

Since it appears they're ready to kill one another.

    The boy slowly staggered to his feet, wiping at a trickle of blood
from his lip. That was more than enough for her. Three months of
wandering through a palace where no one would respect _her_, and now her
_Tenchi_ wasn't being respected, even on his own home world? "Bastard!"
she screamed, tensing herself and teleporting to the attacker's side.

This could be bad for Terry. As tough as he is. Ryouko's more versitile.

    The man edged back warily at the sight of the blade, seeming to take
a moment to focus himself. A lambent sheet of blue flame seemed to erupt
from somewhere within the man, cloaking him in its glowing aura. "No
more playing nice, eh?"

Right about now I'm betting he wouldn't mind having several piece of the
Armor of Mars on him.

    She nodded, springing to the defensive, dimly aware of the sounds of
energy weapons colliding behind her. Well, Yosho would not hurt Tenchi,
and Ayeka was there to help him.

Actually I'm sure Ayeka will remain out of it. Yosho is her half brother,
after all.

    The older man faked a laugh where he felt no humor. "Boy, you're
being foolish. What good would it do? What if my father merely decides
to abandon the planet, with me gone? You _know_ the council is _more_
than frightened of the reavers as it is!"

True. Azusa has made no assurances. Of course the question is why would
Azusa want someone who despises the throne so much in it. It can't be good.

    Terry's eyes widened as the small ball of energy was hurled
downwards, smashing into the rooftop near him and exploding violently.

Well, at least he's used to blasts being hurled his way.

    Ryouko glowered at him. "And _I'm_ not in the mood to deal with
someone who's not even a fraction of my age and thinks that he's as good
as me."

Ranma: Don't be stupid. I'm way better than you.

    He snorted, shaking his head. "'As good as you'?" he retorted. "I'm
the best."

Heh. I was right.

    "Maybe, maybe so," Ryouko laughed lightly, starting to enjoy the
fight. "But you're a little to young to hope to fight _me_!" She
teleported directly behind him before he could react, extending one hand
towards him, palm outwards. "Too bad!" she finished in a singsong voice.

True. Teleportation gives her the edge.

    Running a hand through her hair, she gathered herself, and launched
back into the battle. "This isn't over," she warned, catching the
stunned Ryouko off guard and launching the larger woman hurtling to the
ground with a two-armed hammer-strike. Stunned, Ryouko slammed into the
asphalt, gasping in sudden pain in a newly formed crater.

    Not giving her time to recover, Ranma dove, both blades extended for
a lethal attack. "No more going _easy_ on you!" Ranma hissed.

This could be messy.

    Ranma bristled, but held his temper in check, trying to ignore the
way he felt something... changing... inside him. Something sharp and
painful.

Methinks this bodes ill.

    Ranma laughed giddily, slowly sinking to the ruined street,
unmindful of the ice-limed asphalt. "I'm... standing up... for what I
believe," he said, wondering why he was having trouble breathing if he
didn't _need_ to breathe. He giggled again, wiping at a sudden sensation
of moisture on his lips, dimly surprised to see blood on them. "Oh," he
remarked, sinking to his knees. "I... wonder what that... means..."

Nothing good.

    The boy overrode his grandfather. "Tsunami! Yosho is being an idiot--"

    The two found themselves silenced by Ayeka. "You're _both_ being
idiots!"

She's the  most right of the lot.

    Dismissing it for the moment, Cologne turned back to the charts on
the ground before her. "Mm. My people are here, in the middle of
Qinghai. How do you suggest we travel with as many people as we're going
to have to take?"

Send them Fed Ex. When it absolutely positively has to get there.

    Cologne's eyes widened at that. "Oh! So you propose we draw the
reavers to a place where we can fight them, leaving everyone behind in
safety?"

    "I wish. The reavers are probably too smart. To be safe, no one
inside the area should leave it... meaning we would want to travel to
Qinghai with everyone, and our smoke screen. By my calculations, that
could take easily seventy days."

Hmm. Sounds awful risky to me.

    Crossing her arms, Washuu glanced at Suu, still curled up a short
distance away. "Well, we'll send away who we can, and keep who we must.
People who are not as capable of moving to Qinghai -- hopefully quickly.
Once that's done, and we can... we'll leave."

Hmm. Seemed a bit vague to me. So the powerful ones will stay behind as bait
in this mist, or not?

    His mind balked for a moment, a surge of pain and confusion denying
him the correct answer. "I'm..." he shook his head, staring at her
again. "I'm not givin' up. I'm not loosing.

losing

that Ayeka had spent hours explaining to him, drilling them into him
until he could practically recite the formalities in his sleep.
"Yosho-sama. It is the most humble request of myself, a most
insignificant supplicant..." Tenchi grimaced, hating the flowery speech
of the courts, and trying to remember which subtleties to avoid, and
which to use. "I humbly beseech you to return to the court of your
family, and return to your rightful place!"

Methinks he'll still say no.

    Yosho resisted the urge to grab the boy by his collar and shake him
roughly -- why couldn't things simply be as pleasant and easy as they
once had been? "Stop talking like that, Tenchi. I... I'll go."

Looks like I was wrong

    Yosho couldn't miss the tone of bitterness buried in that statement.
"Well," he said slowly, trying not to remember his own wife, passed away
some generations ago... "That's true, too, but I was thinking, 'running
never solves anything',

Not true. Running from problems has saved my hide on more than one occasion.
It's just that some problems are faster than you and can keep up better. :)

    Tenchi was dying, his body almost entirely reduced to ash in what
had ultimately been a futile display of... phenomenal stupidity. Not
that she could fault him. He had done what he believed in, which was
admirable, even if not successful.

Yeah, it surprised me that he failed to miserably to beat Kagato the first
time in space.

    Weaving her power, she reflected on how easy it would be to blame
Ryouko for the entire situation. How simple... Ryouko had attacked
Jurai, making Sasami fall. Ryouko had gotten captured, and Tenchi had
nearly died trying to rescue her. And she had fought Ranma, damaging him
so badly...

    Perhaps Ranma would forgive her on his own, but there were limits to
how hard he could push himself. And blaming Ryouko would solve nothing.
Ryouko was misguided. In the first, she was not in control of herself,
and in the second, she was hardly willingly captured. In the last...
perhaps there was more blame there. Perhaps. It would be for Ranma to
decide, however, not her.

Nice insight into Tsunami's mindset.

    Smiling softly, she traced a line across his cheek with her delicate
fingertips, leaning close. "Ranma... wake." He did so, the pain blocked,
leaving him drowsy and tired. He blinked, trying to get his bearings.
"Ranma... you have been wounded."

    He blinked again, able to do no more at the moment. "I will heal
you, and leave you with something..." Something, she reflected sadly,
that he wouldn't be allowed to remember. Not for some time.

Hmm. I wonder what that will be.

    Tenchi waved a hand, dismissing the affair. "I'm sure it's not a
problem...

Heh. How little he knows.

    Washuu nodded, running her hand through her hair to brush a stray
strand back into place. "Yes. As I said before, the average human has a
maximum walking speed of three kilometers per hour."

They can't use vehicles?

    "Hmm..." Cologne looked pensive. "How long will it take to get more
ships from Jurai?"

Too long.

    The light of realization sparked in Cologne's eyes, and she
understood. "Oh," she said softly, "is _that_ how it is?"

    Washuu blinked, looking askance at the woman. "What do you mean?"

    Cologne chuckled. Ironic, the poor woman didn't even know it, and
knowing Ranma, he would be oblivious as well! "Nothing, nothing, child.
Simply... stay near him. He's not the most open or trusting sort, so...
have patience."

True. Nice to see she knows him that well.

    Pausing to gather herself, the woman explained, "Ranma-dono... had a
disagreement with Ryouko." She sighed, kneeling at Ranma's side, and
patting his head affectionately. "I'm... I am afraid that Ryouko was not
careful... and Ranma-dono has... died.

Eh?

    Tsunami sighed sadly. "Yes, but Ranma-dono... his human half was not
strong enough. His heart failed him, and he pushed himself too hard...
nothing of Ranma-dono remains as human."

Don't think anyone will see much of a difference. One would assume he'd be
like Ryouko then.

    Washuu calmed herself forcibly. "Ranma... I was going to surprise
him, once this was all over. I was going to see if I could find a way to
extract the masu from his makeup, and allow him to revert to his
original form."

Oh. Well, given the way the fighting's gone, I would assume there was little
chance of that.

    The woman -- Tsunami -- sighed forlornly. "There is nothing left of
his original body... it's -- it is completely masu, now. But..." She
smiled encouragingly at Washuu. "His sprit is his own, and that can't be
taken away from him. Even though he is no longer what he once was... his
heart is still as beautiful." She shifted, placing her hand atop
Washuu's, and repositioning it over Ranma's chest. "He will not resent
you. Save... I would not tell him until Ryouko has left."

I think I would not bother mentioning it at all, since it's not going to do
him any good, and will only cause a greater loss for him.

    Ranma could only stare dumbly for a long moment, and then managed,
"Don't you mean 'Muko-dono'?"

    "Ah!" exclaimed Cologne. "So you _do_ admit it, then!" She smiled,
clasping her hands behind her back and nodding knowingly. A little
nettling to distract the boy from his problems.

    "Uh..." he said slowly, narrowing his eyes. "No?"

Heh

    The small, box-like compartment might have been an office of some
kind, though that 'might' looked to have been years upon years ago, if
at all. There were no closets, no furniture aside from the bedding, and
a pair of dirty windows stood open, another girl leaning into them and
staring out blankly.

Sounds like my old Dorm room, save for there being no empty beer cans  :)

    Ranma blinked at that, not having seen the girl earlier.

'not noticing' would be better since you have him say 'I didn't see you
there' in the next sentence.

"Oh," he said, recognizing her. Her name was, Nuku, if he remembered
correctly.

Ah, she's back.

    Blinking, Ranma belatedly realized that he had forgotten. "Oh," he
apologized, "sorry about that." He scratched the nape of his neck again,
smiling bashfully, "My name is Ranma."

    Beaming a smile at him, Atsuko said, "Will you be Nuku-Nuku's friend?"

    Ranma grinned, nodding. "Sure. I'm happy to be your friend." He
glanced over his shoulder at Suu, still sleeping, and sighed. "I'm
thirsty. I'll be right back, but I want to get something to drink, okay?"

    Atsuko nodded happily, chirping, "Okay!"

He should have asked her if she wanted something.

    ***

    Atsuko watched the boy leave the room, and smiled in satisfaction.
Turning to the girl who Ranma had brought in -- and was still asleep,
she whispered, "Nuku-Nuku likes Ranma-san. It doesn't hurt as much when
he's here."

Heh. All the girls are starting to fall for him.

Yosho fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment, so much of his casual

confidence seeming to have been washed away somehow. "I'm... I'm going
to have to go back, Washuu. Back to Jurai."

    Sighing, Washuu shook her head. "Well, hurry back, then."

Heh. She suspected something like this?

    "You did," Washuu deadpanned. "Compared to you, he _is_ a child.
Despite that, however, he's got more mental maturity than I've seen you
display most of the time. He'd

He's

    "Secondly," Washuu continued, extending another finger, "you need to
give Tenchi some room. Smothering him won't help." Ryouko flinched,
nodding again. "Beyond that, of course..." A third finger was extended,
"you need to be more responsible for your actions. You can very easily
do something you could regret, if you're not careful."

Washuu: Since I'll be the one making you regret it.

    "Oh, oh, no," Washuu said, smiling slowly, "you're going to find
Ranma, and apologize _right_ _now_, if you want to start improving
yourself. Shirk off now, and you'll never improve." She paused for a
moment, considering, then added, "It's lucky for you that Tenchi is
already in love with you, or you would have lost your chance."

Heh. That should improve her mood.

    Ryouko nodded unhappily. If Ranma didn't forgive her... what would
Tenchi think?

Heh. This could get messy with her trying to make him accept her apology.

    A tallish man in glasses -- Seta, Yosho remembered -- climbed out of
the van, and waved towards Keitaro, but froze when he saw Terry. The
pair looked at each other for a long silent moment, before Terry bounded
to his feet, and the two flew towards each other faster than Yosho could
react.

    Terry shouted, "Seta!" Extending one fist as he dashed towards the
other man.

    Snapping his head to one side, Seta matched Terry's gesture, and the
two halted, fists meeting loudly, while Seta yelled, "Terry!"

Hmm. Odd. Wouldn't think they knew each other, though Seta's origin eludes
me at the moment.

    Seta shrugged, scratching the back of his head. "I've been better,"
he admitted. "But I've been worse, too." His words after that point
dropped to a level too low for Yosho to hear, but he could follow the
drift of the conversation anyway.

    Two men, soldiers if

in

    Ranma grinned slowly. "You're on."

Oops. Forgot about getting Nuku her water.

    The boy's grin widened, and he turned to look at Ryouko. "No," he
corrected, "I beat you, fair and square."

    Her pout increased, and she muttered, "It's not fair that you're
faster than me."

Heh. One way of looking at it.

    Washuu watched Tenchi closely, as he smiled encouragingly at Ryouko,
and in silent approval of her apology. Reading the emotion in Tenchi's
gaze, Ryouko flushed, staring at the bowl of soup in her lap. Washuu
fought momentarily for control, resisting the urge to laugh -- Ryouko's
mood swings when it came to Tenchi were sometimes outlandishly erratic.
Clingy and seductive one second, shy and awkward the next.

True. Zero helped to do that.

    Shaking her head, Cologne managed to produce enough ramen for all
present, but only just barely. "Always plan to serve more people than
you really expect to have to," she murmured.

As long as you don't mind leftovers.

    She shook her head resolutely. "Nuku-Nuku wants to be close to Ranma."

Heh. Lactched right on to him.

    Ranma twitched, wincing, and Washuu noticed Cologne mirroring the
wince. "Um... what do you mean?" Ranma asked cautiously.

    Nuku latched onto Ranma's arm exuberantly, nearly dislodging their
respective soup bowls. "Nuku-Nuku wants to stay with Ranma-san."
Nuzzling his shoulder affectionately, she exclaimed, "Ranma-san is like
Papa-san to Nuku-Nuku!"

Well, saying that should make things better.

    Cologne interjected, waggling a finger at the pair. "No need to
argue, you two. The answer is simple. Hope for the best, plan for the
worst."

Good advice.

    Nuku spoke into the silence, surprising nearly everyone. "Nuku-Nuku
knows... Mamma-san and Papa-san left Nuku-Nuku with something..." she
trailed off, her cat-ear-like sensors rising and twitching slightly.
"Nuku-Nuku has something."

Hmm. Interesting.

    Washuu raised an eyebrow, prompting, "What is it?"

    As if reciting from memory, Nuku said, "'Mishima Heavy Industries
has an array of orbital weaponry, which can, in the face of the monster
invasion, be used for the purposes of a defensive screen.'"

Oh ho! That should be useful.

    Washuu nodded. "It could work," she opined, "but... we can hope it
won't have to."

But it will, since so much time is being invested in it.

    The redheaded scientist nodded slowly. "Yes," she said, frowning
thoughtfully, "but... why?"

Methinks things are about to get messy.

    Terry coughed loudly, standing. "Ranma, I can take care of that. It
should be no problem, and anything that can grant you an edge in this
war... you should take," he warned.

Good point.

    Ranma glanced upwards, as a searching beam of light extended from
one of the ships, halting on Keitaro, Seta, and the two girls with them.
They only had enough time to look surprised before they were borne
upwards, into the waiting vessel above. A secondary beam searched over
the house for a moment, nearly as an afterthought, and stole away the
still-sleeping Suu.

Heh. Nice job of Washuu.

    Ranma snapped his fingers. "Easy," he said, "I can take you there."
He shook his head, wishing he had remembered when Atsuko and Terry left.
"If we're in a hurry, that might be a better idea, too."

Teleporting is useful.

    He blinked, shrugging. "Just like she showed me," he said, gesturing
to Ryouko.

    Cologne snorted, jumping from Ryouko's shoulder to land on the
street. "I'll be back in a moment," she warned, ambling into the

restaurant.

    Ryouko ignored the woman, shaking her head. "I can't teleport and
take people with me. And I can't teleport to a place I can't see,
either. And I can't teleport as fast as you..." By the woman's
expression, he guessed that if she were a cat her tail would be lashing.

Heh. Of course, has Ryouko ever tried that, or does she assume it?

    He grimaced, shaking his head. "I wish," he grumbled. "Then I
wouldn't have had that trouble with Nonoko earlier."

    Ryouko frowned, pausing her visual survey. "Are you sure about
that?" she asked.

Hmm. Same question I just asked.

    Washuu dismissed the small sword of energy that she had generated,
and shook her head. "Not entirely," she explained, "just that some of
the things you can do will be different. Note that your quantum
signature is more variable than Ryouko's, so you'll heal faster, and can
probably manage the body duplication trick more easily." She looked
thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, Tsunami's template would probably let you
do that _very_ well. I don't know if you can make a projectile like
Ryouko and I could, or if you're limited to the blade... but aside from
what you've gained from her, you _also_ have your own rather impressive
abilities, such as your 'soul of ice'.

In other words, Ranma is one tough hombre.

    The redheaded scientist smiled at that, seeming pleased. "More help
is always good." She frowned, remembering something. "Just be sure not
to try and kill Ranma. That would be, ah, a bad idea."

    Mousse and Ryouga nodded vigorously in understanding.

Heh

    Except that, now, Tenchi knew, his 'grandfather' was actually much
older than he had seemed.

And yet younger at the same time.

    "What are you planning, Jiji?" he whispered to himself.

Something unpleasent for his father, no doubt.

    -----------------------------
    Author's notes:

    Whoops. This should have been RI four... :p

Bah. Always listen to the muse. If it tells you to write something, write
it. You'll write faster and better that way. Very nice work as things move
along at a good pace. Will get to more as I'm able.

D.B. Sommer


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