Process of Elimination -- Chapter Eight -- Part Two

    Disclaimer: The primary colors in this story are from Takahashi, Viz (Ranma 1/2), Pioneer (Tenchi Muyo!), and Kitty Films, Naoko Takeuchi (Sailor Moon).

    Additional tinting provided by: Takada Yuuzou, and Kodansha (3x3 Eyes), Takada Yuuzou, and A.D.Vision (Bannou Bunka Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku), and Takahashi, Viz (Inu-Yasha). The easel is mine. That's all.

    Notes: Diverges from Ranma after volume 24, continuation for OAV 2 in the Tenchi universe (well, one of them). Nuku Nuku is from the OAVs, not TV. Sailor Moon occurs, well, at some point in the series, but it's something of an alt anyway. 3x3 Eyes diverges just before OAV2. This fic uses the bizarrely vague 'Pick One!' scenario. Enjoy.

    Special Note: Music! When the sun rises in the fic, if you have it, I highly recommend listening to 'Resistance Line' (Wild Arms2 OST, disc 2, track 1).

    -----------------------------

    "That was also the beginning of one of the bigger mistakes any of us had ever made. Ultimately, it had to be done for the greater good, but don't think for a minute that we enjoyed doing what had to be done to save innocent people. Some make out that we're still villains, even though far more would have died at the Battle of Shanghai if-- What? Higurashi? This interview is over."

    Sailor Pluto -- Interview with G.N.N. on July 27th, Old Terran Year 2003.


    Yosho's senses alerted him that something was amiss. He glanced around, looking for Mousse, Ryouga, or more importantly, Ranma.

    His keen hearing picked up a shout of terror, and he wasted no more time. With the boys missing, he'd have to find someone else -- and quickly -- to help counter the threat of a reaver. The senshi's small campsite was known to him, so he charged there, yelling, "Wake up! We're under attack!"

    Not pausing to give them a chance to react, he grabbed Ami's hand, and hauled her to her feet, still half asleep. "What's going on?" she shrieked, completely taken off guard.

    "No time!" Yosho said, running full-tilt towards the edge of the deck. "You can do things with water, correct? Well I hope you think of something quickly, because we need to get over there." He paused, to leap from the deck across the water. His leap would easily carry him halfway across the gap to the nearest freighter, but from there he would be forced to swim. "And soon," he concluded, wondering if he could move quickly enough to run across the water.

    The girl twisted in his arms, and the question became moot as she gestured to the water beneath them, suffused a brilliant and glowing blue as she was. He dimly heard her say, "Shabon spray freezing!" before his feet found traitorous purchase on a thin shelf of ice, and then he leapt away again. The ice shattered as he leapt, not having enough time to set, and he barely made the jump, pausing on the railing of the freighter to steady himself and his passenger.

    Alarms began to sound, both behind him, and ahead. He swore under his breath, heading forward -- he'd have to trust those on the ship behind him to manage their problem on their own. "Good work," he said aloud, leaping again.

    "Masaki-san, do you take to grabbing sleeping girls and running around with them often?"

    "Not often," he commented wryly. "I certainly haven't gotten a chance to teach Tenchi how to, yet."

    He found purchase on the railing of another freighter, this one sounding loudly with panicked screams and terrified shrieks. Leaping upward to land atop the stacked cargo boxes, he set the girl in his arms down, blinking to see that her clothing had changed from the simple and everyday clothing to the exotic fuku that all of the senshi seemed to use for battle.

    "I see," she said dubiously, recovering her balance and dashing along at a swift pace towards the sounds of screams.

    Yosho said nothing, activating his blade and shield absently. "Do you think that you can freeze a reaver?" he asked, as they reached the end of the cargo boxes.

    ***

    Sparing no time for thought, Ryouga seized Ryu about the waist, wrenching the other boy away from the reaver's spray of blood, umbrella raised above his head and spinning madly. The descending gouts of ichor were halted by the umbrella, which quickly liquefied.

    Its job done, the lost boy cast it aside as he came to rest on the deck, setting Ryu down carefully. Ryu shot him an appraising look, before turning to study the reaver. Fouled again in Mousse's chain, it was slowly climbing to its feet again, one claw hanging by only a thin fraction of the thing's carapace. "Woah," Ryu said, impressed.

    Ryouga merely grunted, "I lost my umbrella and my belt."

    A brilliant lance of green fire speared across the deck, screaming from a point past Makoto to impact against the incapacitated monster, flaring brightly and forcing it back. More than when Makoto's ball of electricity had slammed into it, or Mousse had pierced the thing's eyes with his needles, the creature thrashed about, shrieking incredibly loudly. Ryu slumped slightly. "The calvary has arrived," he muttered. "About damn time."

    Ryouga nodded stoically, watching the reaver get pushed back along the deck ever so slowly by the force of the beam. Slowly, inexorably, the beam narrowed, weakening, and momentarily, died out.

    "Oh, this really just _sucks_!" Ryu snapped, preparing to attack again.

    Ryouga ran past him, drawing back a foot, and launching his most powerful kick into the creature's side. Blackened carapace groaned and cracked alarmingly under the blow, making Ryouga wonder what damage the beam had done, and sent the reaver rolling along the deck, still twitching.

    He frowned, glancing behind him. More of the girls had arrived, in their brightly colored skirts, most of them merely staring in shock. Ryouga eyed the reaver, deciding it was, for the moment, not a risk, and slowly made his way to Mousse's side, standing a short distance from the girls. "I guess we got it," he said tiredly, addressing the bespectacled Chinese boy.

    Mousse nodded, adjusting his glasses and frowning darkly. "I think the chains are most effective," he noted, "but I'm afraid that I've used all of the chain I had with me."

    Grumbling, Ryouga nodded. "I lost an umbrella, and my belt."

    The Chinese boy produced a short length of rope from his robes, and handed it to Ryouga. "You can use this in the meantime," he suggested.

    "I won't be able to cut anything with this, though," he noted, tying it carefully about his waist.

    Mousse shifted suddenly, pointing to the reaver. "It's getting back up. I need a new chain." He turned to look at the girls, frowning, and asked, "Do any of you know where I can get a spare chain?"

    "I have one!" the girl in the orange skirt exclaimed. "What do you need it for?"

    Mousse rolled his eyes, pointing at the reaver. "To kill that thing!" he snapped.

    "Oh. Well, okay, then." The girl paused, gathering her focus for a moment, and pronounced, carefully and deliberately, "Venus love-me chain!" At her words, a sparkling, dazzling golden chain of light erupted from her hands, ringing her in a long circle, looping downwards in a spiral from her head to her ankles. "See? I've got a chain!"

    Not waiting to listen to her further speech, and ignoring the 'heart' motif, Mousse grabbed the chain, charging towards the reaver. "Someone hit it with something big," he yelled, leaping upwards, the chain writhing in his hands like a living thing.

    A cry echoed from behind him, a voice shouting, "World shaking!"

    Not looking back, Mousse launched one end of the chain straight down, the other clenched tightly in his other hand. The chain screamed towards the deck, whipping underneath the reaver and bouncing up the other side. Catching the returning end, Mousse sent it down again, and again it shot underneath the reaver, the other end being caught by Ryu on the return.

    The Chinese boy shot Ryu a nod as he landed, and the two strained to pull the chain as powerfully as they could in opposite directions. Through their strength, or maybe through magic, or maybe simply because the reaver had been weakened from being shot with the green beam of energy, the chain bit deeply into its hide, imprisoning it as the two boys fought to hold it steady.

    Zeroing in on the reaver with alarming speed, a fiery orb of destruction tore along the deck, plowing up and devastating the metal plating. A ring of flame circled the ball, until it impacted with the trapped reaver, slamming it completely off of the deck, where it exploded just in front of the ship, sending the shattered and broken remnants of the creature into the sea below.

    Mousse and Ryu blinked in surprise, the chains having melted into nothingness as the ball of fire struck. The girl in the orange skirt dashed to Mousse's side, prattling, "Wow! Wow! That was _so_ cool! I've never seen someone move that fast! You were amazing!"

    The boy blinked, scratching his head, and looked to Ryouga as the lost boy approached, smiling grimly. "Good job, Mousse," he congratulated.

    "Uh, that was really --" he was interrupted as Ryouga slapped him on the back companionably. "Uh, thanks, but that was really all of us working together, I think."

    "Speaking of which," Ryouga asked, frowning, "where is Yosho? It looks like some of the senshi are missing too."

    "And Cologne," Mousse observed.

    He moved to step away from the scene of the battle and investigate further -- he wanted to know who had fired the green beam of energy, too -- but the blonde refused to release his arm. "You sure know how to handle a chain," she said excitedly. "Can you teach me to do that?"

    "Uh... maybe," he answered hesitantly. "Um, look, aren't some of you missing? Shouldn't we find them?"

    Minako blinked, saying, "Well, Hotaru-chan and Usagi aren't here... I wonder where they are."

    "With Michiru," Haruka answered, spinning and running towards the rear of the ship. "Let's hurry!"

    ***

    Standing at the rear of the ship, Cologne stared into the sea beneath her, some of the little girls still behind her. She'd seen one of them -- Makoto -- shock Ranma, so assumed they knew some form of magic, but that girl was gone, and Cologne had reason to doubt their effectiveness.

    There was a much louder commotion at the prow of the ship, but she trusted the boys to take care of it to the best of their ability. In the meantime, from her vantage, she could see the ocean below. Her eyes, through years of training and her already sharp innate senses, allowed her to peer through the foamy spray.

    The deck projected in a manner that she needed to lean precariously far over the deck to see down to the screws. Keeping pace in the water with the ship easily, an inky black form slowly latched onto one, sending much higher waves and plumes of foam upwards.

    Taking a cautious step backwards as the ship gave a sudden lurch, she noted, "Well, I think we've just lost a propeller."

    A moment later, the screw flew out to the side of the ship, wholly severed, and skipped along the waves before slamming loudly into another freighter, which pealed like a struck bell. Only a half-second later, another pair of screws flew out after the first, missing the struck freighter and sinking harmlessly, before the final shaft was severed. Flying up in a high arc, the last propeller rose above the deck of the ship, spinning, nearly six and a half meters across, spraying sea foam and water about before it reached the apex of its arc, and angled sharply downward, striking the sea with an unsettlingly loud splash.

    The small girl with short black hair shifted her grip on her polearm, and frowned. "Where's Ranma-san?" she asked worriedly.

    "He's with Pluto, getting something that's supposed to help us win the battle," the girl with the long blonde odangos answered.

    "Hmm. Well, let's hope we can counter--" She paused as the deck lurched slightly, the massive bulk of a reaver landing shortly behind her. "Ah, well, look alive, children." Raising her staff defensively, Cologne skipped a half-step closer to the reaver, easily slipping around the claw that whipped towards her. The things were much faster than she had expected. Chiding herself, she danced around another claw, stabbing the deck beneath its stationary claw with her staff and shouting, "Bakusai-ten-ketsu!"

    The deck-plate exploded, whirling shrapnel being deflected expertly by Cologne's staff, but not phasing the reaver in the slightest -- until its ponderous bulk fell, three claws slipping into the newly-created gap. Cologne stepped back, smiling faintly.

    An aqua-haired woman took advantage of the reaver's predicament before it could work its way free, and gestured meaningfully, chanting, "Deep submerge!"

    Rushing in from nowhere, all at once, a massive wall of water swirled into being, the massive pressures of the water obvious as the force further scarred the already tortured deck. Seeming completely unaffected, the reaver climbed out of the rushing torrent, which Michiru quickly released, eyes wide. "That didn't even slow it down!" she cried, surprised.

    "Humph," Cologne muttered, as the water vanished, flowing quickly off the edge of the deck. "I can buy a little more time," she grumped, spinning her staff expertly. The thing generated enough heat that she'd not even need to circle around it. "Take cover," she advised. Turning her full attention to the reaver, she called out much more loudly, "Hiryu-shouten-HA!"

    The resultant blast of wind launched the massive reaver skyward, and Cologne turned to face the awestruck senshi. "Now," she asked tersely, "do you have anything else that could hurt this beast?"

    ***

    Yosho calmly took in the situation, throwing one hand behind him to keep Ami from coming closer. There were things in the melee below that she'd be better off not seeing. "Retreat about twenty meters," he barked, leaping off the edge.

    He couldn't know if she'd listen, but as she was only a child, Yosho had no reason to expose her to what lay below.

    His footing was sure on the blood-slicked deck below. A cargo-container had been shredded to metal ribbons, and a would-be defender flung against the mess so solidly that his body had been reduced to much smaller ribbons. Viscera and bits of things Yosho would just as soon not think of littered the area, while the reaver stalked resolutely away -- towards a frantically screaming mother and her child. More bodies lay scattered about, and Yosho could only attempt to console himself with the fact that had he been slower, there'd have been more.

    Acting more on reflex than thought, Yosho slashed across the reaver's carapace twice, prompting the thing to wheel about. Backing away carefully, he leapt upward, over the tortured and ruined steel, taunting, "You know me, monster. I've killed one of your kind before."

    Hissing, the creature scrambled over the wreckage, quickly mounting the cargo crates. A quick glance at the drawn and pale face of Ami demonstrated that she had not listened, instead looking to see what Yosho had warned her against. Throwing one arm out as he backed away, he guided the girl in retreat until she recovered her sense, and dashed away. Grunting, he turned to run, only to throw himself to the roof of the cargo-box, as the reaver leapt at him, claws passing scant centimeters from him as he rolled back to his feet.

    The reaver skidded to a halt, claws tearing apart the cargo containers as it spun to face Yosho again. Ami dashed nimbly to one side, and turned to face the creature, her expression furious. "For attacking innocent and defenseless humans, you will pay! Shabon spray freezing!"

    A whirling blizzard of ice swept from the girl's extended hands, enveloping the reaver entirely in a hail of frozen water. The cold mass expanded, swiftly trapping the reaver in a block of ice. "Impressive," Yosho commented, charging in with blade extended. A solid thrust left the ice largely intact, and pierced the hide -- slowly. Once the hide was pierced, Yosho drew the blade viciously upwards, cleaving deep into the creature and laying a massive gash open.

    When he judged that the wound would be lethal, he stepped back, releasing his blade, and turning to look at the girl. She was on her hands and knees, retching solidly at the vision she had seen, the mess of bloody ruin that had once been living humans. Yosho almost wanted to retch with her -- but there was no more time to waste. Frozen for the time being, the reaver's acidic blood wouldn't flow for a while yet. "This thing should be done for," he said, taking her wrist carefully, and drawing her to her feet. "We need to check the wounded, and see if any of them can be saved."

    His words were an immediate bolster to the slight girl, and she nodded with determination. "Let's hurry," she said. "If we can save them..."

    Not speaking anymore, Yosho dashed back to the site of the devastation. Survivors wandered about numbly, many of them not able to accept the enormity of the situation. Yosho couldn't blame them, either. It was an ugly thing, war.

    Not bothering to ask permission, he seized Ami before jumping to the deck of the ship. The girl could probably navigate her way down on her own, but the experience would obviously have left her very shaken. He set her down, wishing that one so innocent didn't have to see something so bloody.

    The messy remains of the man who had been reduced to shreds were gone, and in its place, leaning against the railing heavily, was a man in almost entirely destroyed clothing, carrying a satchel in one hand loosely. He grunted, shaking his head when Yosho approached. "I'll be fine," he muttered.

    Yosho nodded slightly, moving on to the next body. A woman, gashed open from shoulder to hip deeply enough to sever her spinal column. He closed the woman's eyes with a backward glance at Ami, and dragged a bloodstained blanket across the corpse.

    Ami ignored him, instead looking to a boy who had been flung, rather than cut. His breathing was shallow, likely the result of shattered ribs, and behind him, nursing a stump that had once been a wrist, bandaged with a wadded shirt and still bleeding slowly, was a disheveled man. He ran his one hand through the thin stubble on his face, shaking his head and staring at Yosho with a look of raw hatred. "You're too late," he spat. "Worthless. Worthless freaks!"

    Yosho turned his attention back to the boy, whose breathing was slowly becoming shallower. "Mommy?" the child asked softly, coughing, and sending a short spray of blood to fleck his lips. "Where... where are you? It's cold..." he trailed off there, breathing his last, and lying still.

    "Damn it," Yosho swore softly. None of the other wounded were moving in the slightest, all of them obviously dead by horribly unsubtle wounds. Ami swallowed nervously, closing the small boy's eyes gently, and turning to Yosho, her own eyes brimming over with sorrow and confusion.

    Yosho put one arm about the small girl, allowing her to sob into his robe, as the magnitude of the events finally dawned on her.

    His sad suspicion that the day would only get worse was confirmed when the man in the tattered clothing reached into his satchel, produced a gun, and leveled it squarely at Yosho.

    ***

    Slamming into the deck and further ruining the surface of the ship, the reaver impacted, upside-down, and promptly reversed the jointing on its legs to rise. It was greeted immediately with a, "Moon gorgeous meditation!"

    The reaver was instantly enveloped within a seething miasma of swirling lights and flashing colors, sharply pointed fragments all suddenly tightening into the reaver and slowly compressing the creature. It stopped resisting suddenly, and exploded messily with a sickeningly moist 'pop'.

    A liberal wave of ichor flew towards Cologne and the senshi, halted only by a quickly uttered, "Silence wall!"

    The old woman raised an eyebrow, impressed to watch the ichor slowly slide down the invisible wall of force, and from there, to swiftly melt into the deck. "That works much better," Cologne said, turning to Usagi. "A bit messy, but it works."

    The blonde giggled nervously. "Oops! Thank you, Hotaru-chan!"

    Nodding tiredly, the little girl lowered the Glaive, stepping backwards warily as the acidic fluid continued eating away at the deck, slowly dissolving its way through the ship. Michiru mumbled, and used another of her spells to wash the reaver's corpse and the remaining ichor from the ship.

    Ryouga and Mousse skidded to a halt only moments later, Ryu a half-step behind. "What happened?" Ryouga asked tersely.

    "Reaver attack," Cologne said simply. "Looks like they got the ship's propellers."

    A trio of Norris' Marines dashed up next, bearing the positronic rifles that Washuu and Durant had built for them. "Is everything okay?" they asked worriedly in English.

    "You're late," Ryu snapped back in the same language.

    "I needed to wait for clear shots, and then I found out that the battery life on these things isn't as great as we initially imagined." The lead Marine, a massive and well-muscled man with closely cropped blond hair, shook his head. "Sorry," he apologized. "It will not happen again."

    "That's for certain," Cologne said. "I'm going to need to talk to Norris. Where's Washuu?"

    "Uh... Sleeping, Ma'am," the Marine said.

    "Well, we'd better wake her up."

    ***

    Yosho flinched, and the man pulled back the trigger on his gun. The bullets tore through the air, all of them passing so close to his face that he could feel the wind of their passage. "Well, that sucked," the man said, absently flinging the gun overboard and marching past him. "Can't risk Tou-Chou here, though."

    The former emperor blinked. Ami, still pressed into his chest and sobbing deeply, seemed not to have noticed. Turning to follow the man with his eyes, Yosho beheld the already wounded reaver, not dead as he had assumed. Broken free of the ice, it limped slowly along the deck, no survivors in its path.

    As he watched, the man easily removed a medium-sized metallic object from his satchel, and carelessly dropped the bag to the side of the deck. Raising the object, he removed a pin, approaching the wounded reaver, and balling his hand into a fist around it, slammed the arm directly into the reaver's waiting maw.

    Yosho could only stare, shocked, as the man yanked back his arm, severed below the wrist, and laughed maniacally. "Take that, you god-damned worthless bug! You can't kill a Wu!" he roared.

    The grenade detonated a half-second later, rocking the reaver, and sending a massive volume of ichor spurting through the gash in its side, flying across the ocean to strike the water harmlessly. He shook his head, retrieving his satchel, and completely ignoring his severed hand as the mass of the reaver crashed to the deck behind him, unmoving. Approaching Yosho, he shouldered the satchel. "Knew they'd come in handy some day," he said conversationally.

    Yosho blinked again. Ami recovered her composure somewhat, and drew away, eyes red and puffy. She jumped when she saw the man with his newly severed arm, and instantly attempted to assume a businesslike demeanor. "You're hurt," she said. "Let me bind your wound--"

    He shook his head, explaining, "It won't be a problem in a few minutes. Hurts like hell, but they can't eat me."

    As they watched, a thin red smoke began to creep from the collapsed reaver's corpse, swirling beneath the boy's wrist, and slowly climbing upwards through the air in a spiral, gruesomely reassembling him a centimeter at a time. "Ah," he groaned. "That wasn't as bad as getting shredded, but I think I finally got that bullet out of my gut."

    "Pardon?" Yosho asked, stunned.

    "I'm Fuji Yakumo," he said, extending the newly reformed hand to Yosho. "Minor Yakuza thug, former employee of a prestigious gay bar, and immortal zombie Wu. Nice to meet you."

    Yosho accepted the handshake, dubiously impressed. "There's probably a really interesting story behind that," he commented.

    "Oh, yeah," Yakumo responded. "That's for sure. I don't want to talk about the Wu part, though."

    "Fair enough," Yosho said, taking his hand back. "Where did you get the pistol and grenades, though?"

    "Like I said," Yakumo responded, shrugging, "I hooked up with the Yakuza. Mostly just so I could get what I thought I'd need to protect Pai, but it turns out that most of it's pretty useless against the bugs."

    "Reavers," Yosho corrected absently. "Are you interested in fighting them, then?"

    "Yeah." Yakumo's expression hardened. "I sent Pai away so she'd be safe, but I figured since I couldn't die, I'd let someone else take my place."

    Ami stared, shocked at the man's casual attitude towards his missing, then returned, limb. "Wow," she managed, obviously still shaken.

    "Great," Yosho said. "I think we can get one of Washuu's positronic laser rifles for you, then."

    "Sounds like fun," the man answered, glancing back at the still form of the reaver behind him.

    "What would you have done if your grenade hadn't killed the reaver?" Yosho asked, curious.

    "Probably been in a whole lot of trouble," Yakumo admitted. "I do know some... tricks... that might have helped, though."

    Yosho nodded, frowning. "I suppose it's not suicidal if you can't actually die..."

    "Heh. My boss in the yakuza said the exact same thing."

    ***

    Frenzied pounding at the door to the room she, Ranma, and Nuku had commandeered from Norris awaked Washuu. Nuku mumbled in her sleep, curling into a tighter ball.

    Washuu climbed out of the bed, still tired from converting all of the nuclear warheads into fission batteries. Sleep had been precious and hard to come by, of late; the most restful period she'd had was when Ranma had _made_ her sleep.

    Sighing, she climbed to her feet, answering the door. "What is it?" she asked, frowning when she saw the burly Marine that Norris had -- much earlier -- introduced as Eric Thompson, flanked by another pair of Marines.

    "Begging your pardon, Ma'am, but Commodore Norris and Miss Cologne wanted to talk to you -- we were attacked by reavers a moment ago," he answered respectfully, removing his cap as he addressed her.

    "Where's Ranma?" Washuu asked, frowning.

    "I'm afraid I don't know, Ma'am."

    "Fine," Washuu muttered, shooting one last glance at Nuku before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her.

    The Marines swiftly led her to a large meeting room, Norris and the majority of the senshi already present. Cologne nodded, and Washuu frowned, noticing someone missing. "Where's Yosho?"

    Norris answered quickly, "He's on another ship. He radioed us with his location, and I sent a chopper to bring him here. He said he'd stopped a reaver on another ship."

    "Okay," Washuu said, frowning. "What happened, then?"

    "We were attacked about ten minutes ago, by six reavers. Two of them attacked here, on the Kitty Hawk. Barring some incidental damage," Norris broke off, frowning at the senshi, then Ryouga and Mousse, "both of them were stopped with no casualties, save the loss of the Kitty Hawk's drive-shafts. Four other ships reported attacks, one of which was stopped by Yosho, and his apparent newfound ally. After Yosho stopped the third reaver, the remaining three retreated."

    Norris paused, clearing his throat and looking upwards. "Casualties on the ship Yosho defended were minimal, but present. Casualties on the other three ships are... high."

    Washuu winced, drawing in a breath and hissing. 'High' probably meant dozens -- maybe even hundreds. Any loss was unacceptable, in her estimation, but that just made it that much worse. Likely each of the defenders was berating themselves for what they all saw as a personal failure.

    "However," Norris said, once his composure was recovered, "to counter the threat, I have sent a Marine to each of the ships, all armed with positronic lasers, and prepared to defend them to the death. There will not be another failure of this magnitude."

    His eyes turned to Washuu, hardening. "Miss Hakubi, if you don't mind me asking, where was Ranma?"

    "Oh!" the blonde senshi with the blue skirt exclaimed, still a little pale from the news. "He's in fifteen-hundred something. He had to go back in time to get something that would help us fight."

    Norris stared at the girl for a moment, and nodded his head. "Okay," he said evenly. "Regardless, we now have to revise our plans. I cannot imagine that anything other than a trap will be waiting for us in Shanghai." He sighed, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling again. "Is there anything we need to know about the reavers, Miss Hakubi? Any other ability of theirs we should be aware of?"

    "Ah... they're clever, and they know how to set traps. When Ranma was in Tokyo, they had rigged a building to collapse easily, and left a little girl inside the trap to act as bait," she said slowly. "I wouldn't put it past them to try the same again."

    "What happened to the little girl?" Usagi asked breathlessly.

    "Ranma saved her. Tsunami teleported him out of danger before he was crushed. However," she warned, "Tsunami's not here, nor do we have the protection of the Home Fleet."

    The room fell silent for a moment, and then Mousse spoke up, hesitantly, "We might have found something out about the reavers, though."

    Ryouga nodded, adding, "They seem to react strangely to ki."

    Norris frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ki? I don't understand. What are you talking about?" he asked.

    "Ah..." Cologne answered, filling in when Mousse and Ryouga weren't able to put it into words. "Think of it as the native life-force in a being. Or, better, think of it as being somewhat like... 'The Force' in your 'Star Wards' movies."

    "Star Wars," Ryu corrected, grinning. "That's where the idea was stolen from anyway."

    Washuu frowned, shaking her head. "Wait," she said slowly, blinking. "I think I understand it. You call it ki, but it's actually a quantum signature -- the essence that defines what and who any living being is. Reavers have no quantum signature, and because of that, projecting one on them would make them unable... unable to phase!" she cried out, standing triumphantly.

    "Of course, that's it!" she continued. "Ranma said that the first time he fought a reaver, he attacked it with a bolt of his 'ki' while it was phasing through something, and it got stuck! A reaver can't handle the imprint of a quantum signature, so anything carrying enough of that force to imbue them will affect their abilities. They wouldn't be able to phase due to their own lack of a quantum signature -- it's so obvious now!

    "It's the same reason that Ryouko or Ranma wouldn't be able to phase through most living creatures, unless they were small, like insects -- or plants, which have more diffuse signatures. That's also why the reavers can't phase through people."

    "How does this help us?" Norris asked quickly.

    "I use ki in the iron cloth technique," Ryouga said slowly. "That seems to let me chip away at their hides, but not very quickly."

    "And they can't phase through the chains I throw at them," Mousse mused. "They also seem to have more trouble breaking them."

    "Excellent," Cologne said, nodding. "That should mean that my spear-sisters should be able to provide substantial aid to us. And... should Ranma somehow curry his favor, Herb."

    Ryouga and Mousse both shivered at that mention, prompting Washuu to wonder what she hadn't been told of him.

    "Okay," Norris said, frowning. "That's something, at least. We're going to reach Shanghai in an hour. All we can say for certain is that if the reavers are there, we're not going to have enough time. Washuu, I know you had a lot of trouble with the lasers, and I'm afraid to ask, but how long is it going to take you to assemble your 'Gate', how large will it be, and how quickly can we evacuate everyone here?"

    Washuu licked her lips, frowning thoughtfully. "Well," she said, "I'll be able to do that much faster, since I brought the parts for it with me. I wasn't expecting to have to make a positronic laser. It's a testament to my genius that I was able to make them as quickly as I could, given the inferior lab conditions."

    Norris sighed. "It's the best we have," he mumbled. "How long?"

    "I can probably have it set up in two or three hours," Washuu answered. "It's about ten meters wide, so people will be able to go through fairly quickly, but it will probably take several more hours for everyone who's leaving to walk through. There are, after all, millions of people here."

    Nodding, the commodore said, "Less than a day, then. We'll need to hold the city until the day ends, at the very least. Very well. I believe that's possible. How long will it take us, with our much reduced task-force, to reach the Joketsuzoku territories?"

    "Well, if we're lucky, we can commandeer vehicles in Shanghai. Given the state that the city appeared in from the last satellite image I got of it, that should be entirely possible. Ah... with that, considering the number of people and the amount of equipment we're moving, we can hope for two weeks, perhaps less. We must keep in mind that our route crosses rivers, and likely, the reavers will have destroyed any bridges."

    "It's better news than I was expecting," Norris mumbled. "Okay, we should me making port in an hour or so -- the Chancellorsville and Cowpens are going to tow us in. My Marines are going to get to work clearing the flight deck, and doing everything that they can to make it launch-ready for our planes. In the meantime, we're keeping an eye on the sonar for reaver attacks. Please remain in areas where you will be able to hear alarms when they sound."

    With that, the man nodded politely, and marched from the room.

    ***

    The rest of the voyage was without remarkable event, other than the Navy's two cruisers moving into position and towing the much larger carrier.

    As Norris had instructed, all of the refugees gathered up their things, the entire sea of tents being bundled up and stowed away. The Americans were left to mill about restlessly, as flight crews began to inspect the deck for usability. One catapult and ramp were left unobstructed, and the men focused all of their attention and energy on that, while the massive elevators ferried a small group of planes up from beneath the decks.

    In short order, ten of the fighters were launched, as the city of Shanghai came into view, breaking the monotony of the sea. The first skyscrapers and towers came into view, prompting the majority of the refugees to murmur amongst themselves quietly, unsure of what would happen next.

    The wounded carrier was nudged carefully into place at the quay, as the rest of the ships made port, hastily mooring and allowing the panicked passengers to disembark. Scurrying to cordon off the area before anyone could wander into potentially dangerous areas, Marines equipped with only standard military armament secured a perimeter.

    Through the 'safe' zone, a path avoiding passing directly next to any high-rise buildings led to Renmin Park. Escorted by Eric and the pair of Marines with him, Washuu found herself left there, with Norris nearby, overseeing an impromptu command center and listening carefully to the idle radio chatter of his men.

    Focusing herself on the task of assembling the Gate from the components stored in her subspace pockets, Washuu tried to shake off a feeling of impending disaster.

    ***

    Ryouga paced back and forth on the street nervously. "A city this big shouldn't be this empty," he said nervously. "Where the hell is everyone?"

    Mousse shook his head, pointing to a hardware store. "I don't know, but I need some more chain. You probably want more cloth, don't you?" he asked.

    Behind them Ryu shook his head, glancing towards the street. "You guys," he said, "just wait here. We don't want to break in -- we'll scare them." There was no reason to say who the 'them' in question was. Standing impatiently in their large column, leading all the way back to the still-anchored fleet, the mass of refugees waited. "They'll riot and go nuts. We can't have that."

    Agreeing fully, Ryouga lamented, "If there was a way to get in and get chain without alarming anyone, I'd be for it. How are we..."

    He trailed off, realizing that Ryu was already gone, vanished. "Where did he go?" Mousse asked, peering about for a moment before removing his glasses to polish them.

    Makoto grinned proudly, exclaiming, "Ryu-chan's clever. Don't you worry."

    Ryouga shook his head, turning back to regard the girl. "Look," he said flatly, "we need to work together for this to work. That means that we can't have people running off like that -- like Norris said, we need to listen to whoever the team leader is."

    "Of course, Team Leader," Makoto responded, her smile lessening.

    Sighing, Ryouga glanced at the rest of his team. The combination was impromptu, but had proven effective before. Hence, he was allied with Ryu, Mousse, Minako, and Makoto. Haruka was sent to aid Yosho, and his new ally, who Ryouga hadn't met yet, while one of the Marines who Ryouga did not know the name of replaced her.

    Ryu returned, seeming to melt out of the morning air, arriving at the same moment as the beginning of the pre-dawn glow. "Here you go, fearless leader," he said, tossing a small bolt of linen to Ryouga.

    The lost boy caught the cloth, as Ryu handed what was probably one hundred meters or more of heavy chain over to Mousse. The nameless Marine shifted his stance slightly, positronic laser slung over one shoulder strap, and two of Washuu's fission batteries hanging from another. Ryouga smiled at the man encouragingly, setting about tearing the cloth into smaller, more usable strips.

    Mousse busied himself making his new chain disappear into his robes, to Minako's extreme fascination. "I wish that Ranma's partner were here," he commented absently, the last links disappearing into his robes.

    Ryu frowned. "The little fuzzy thing?" he asked. "Why?"

    "It can sense reavers," he answered. "So can Ranma... wherever he is." Mousse shivered, wheeling about.

    "These people are packed in too tightly," Makoto observed. "If a reaver does show up, and they panic, it's going to get ugly."

    "Fine," Ryouga snapped, "we'll fight, you can deal with the crowd."

    "What, you think we can't fight?"

    "I know you can," Ryouga answered, grinning and showing his elongated canines. "But I know I can't calm people down as well, and Mousse is better at fighting than Aino-san, I'm betting."

    Minako nodded confirmation. "He is really good with a chain," she admitted. "And who better to calm the panicking crowds then the sailor-suited soldier of love?"

    "Probably," Ryu agreed. "I know I'm not so hot with the whole 'people skills' thing."

    "Exactly," Minako returned. "Necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows! No, wait, that's not right..."

    "Close enough," Ryu said, smirking.

    ***

    The docks were teeming with people who weren't certain what was happening, and were afraid of finding something had gone wrong. They were barely kept below a panic, and then only because of the escape -- finally -- from the confinement of the fleet.

    At Yosho's side, Yakumo prowled restlessly, rifle slung over one shoulder, satchel of grenades and spare batteries on the other. Ami sat nearby, staring into the murky water as it lapped against the concrete barrier beneath her, lost in thought. Yosho could tell she'd rather be with her friends, still traumatized by what had happened already, but she obviously considered herself something of a soldier, and refused to back down from what she saw as an order.

    Brooding silently on her own, sword spinning through her fingers as she distracted herself, Haruka stood nearby, though it took Yosho a long minute to equate her to the blonde 'man' he had met what seemed to be so long ago.

    "I feel like I might be able to make a difference now," Yakumo confessed.

    Yosho nodded, maintaining his silent vigil over the crowds. In the skies above the city, he glanced upwards. The fighters streaking along all turned seaward together, all of them ejecting from their planes within the span of a few seconds, parachuting downward while their planes continued onward, flying for long minutes before crashing into the sea, too spent of fuel to detonate.

    The people stirred slowly, and Ami broke from her brooding to watch, fearing an outbreak of panic and rioting. But the refugees calmed slowly, having been told of the plan before.

    Yosho flexed his hands, waiting. It was only a matter of time. The tension in the air was almost a tangible, crackling force. Ami climbed to her feet, fidgeting nervously, and finally consulting a small pocket computer. "I hope this can sense them coming," she muttered quietly.

    ***

    Eyes closed, Cologne mentally thanked the goddesses of the Joketsuzoku territories. The light of the pre-dawn began its gentle glow, brightening the sky, and reassuring the people in the crowds before her. Behind her, Eric stood impassively, rifle in his hands and eyes busily scanning for anything out of the ordinary.

    Dozens of his Marine brethren lined the roads, most of them bearing much more ordinary weapons. He was loyal to a fault, Cologne observed within only a few moments of having the man told to follow her orders. His unquestioning loyalty spoke poorly of his sense of self-preservation.

    Behind him, the same girls who had followed her earlier lounged about idly, waiting for something to happen. "Girls," she said softly, "be ready. This is likely to be a dangerous battle, should we be attacked. Do you know what to do if we get attacked?"

    "Destroy the reavers!" Hotaru answered instantly.

    "Yes, that's good, but you also must do everything you can to keep people calm," Cologne said. "It's very important that we be careful."

    "You don't really think we'll be attacked, do you, Ma'am? Begging your pardon, but we scared them off earlier, thanks to your work," Eric rumbled.

    "I'd be willing to bet on it," Cologne assured him. "Just you be ready."

    Eric nodded, his eyes still searching for possible dangers. The fighters passed overhead, the pilots ejecting, and angling their parachutes towards the park. In a neat line from the harbor, arrayed evenly along the path from the quay to the park, the four groups were lined up to provide point-defense, and scramble to fight off any attacking reavers.

    Firstly, Yosho's team, at the quay. Secondly, Cologne's group, as they were, approximately one third of the way towards the park. Ryouga's group was further down, closer to the park. Norris had his men spread evenly along the course, save a reserve group of six additional soldiers to secure Renmin park. Fully one hundred more soldiers, armed with only standard weapons lined the plaza where the Gate was being assembled, ready to charge through the moment it was completed and secure the area beyond.

    The old woman idly wished that Ranma were nearby. "What are you waiting for?" she murmured softly. "What do you gain by waiting to attack?"

    ***

    Wiping sweat off her brow, Washuu shivered, then turned her attention back to the Gate before her. The physical structure itself was completed, but the delicate wiring would take another hour, at least. She glanced briefly at the large temple a short distance away from the plaza she was using to stage the Gate, then back to her project.

    The refugees were kept far enough that they couldn't see her working, nor could she see them. She didn't blame Norris for making that decision -- the pressure would have been even more stressful than the existing situation was. A short distance away, still not activated, sat the beacon. Once the final refugee was through the Gate, and the beacon was loaded up in a vehicle of some sort, it would be switched on. Until then, it remained ready, but deactivated.

    Washuu sighed, opening a panel in the side of the gleaming metal archway. Ten meters across, and another three high, it should be enough to accommodate the volume it would need to move swiftly. Washuu was worried, however, that the reavers would be attracted to its subspace pockets, which seemed to interest them more than anything else would.

    Nuku stood to Washuu's side, carrying Ran-oh-ki and keeping him out of trouble -- which was the task Washuu had charged her with. "Is Ran-oh-ki Nuku-Nuku's little brother?" she asked curiously.

    "Something like that," Washuu said, aligning delicate circuitry with meticulous precision.

    "Where is Ranma-papa-san?"

    "Travelling through time, apparently," Washuu grumbled.

    "Is something wrong with that?" Nuku asked, confused.

    Washuu took a breath to calm herself. "Well," she said carefully, "that is the kind of thing I would have appreciated more warning about, if you stop to think of it. Taking a jaunt into the past several centuries, without the decency to even leave a note! Really!"

    Nuku blinked several times. "Oh," she said quietly.

    Sighing, the redhead said, "I'm sorry, Nuku, I'm just a little busy. It's not your fault."

    The girl remained quiet, simply staring at Ran-oh-ki, deep in thought.

    ***

    The hopes of keeping people from panicking were shattered swiftly. The first reaver rose in the center of the crowd, a whirling mass of sharp claws and swift death.

    Swearing loudly, Yosho moved to rush the creature, only to be distracted by another rising from the sea that the screaming and terrified people were running towards in their blind fear. "Ami, freeze the one in the crowd, Haruka, once it's frozen, break it. Yakumo, help me with this one," he snapped quickly, calling his blade and shield to him as he charged the reaver.

    Yakumo fell behind quickly, not able to keep Yosho's frantic pace. A few stray streams of brilliant green light over the older man's head sent the panicked people wildly fleeing the reaver, and allowed Yosho a chance to engage it without having to worry about bystanders.

    His shield narrowly deflected a claw, and he wheeled, not desiring to combat it directly. Luring it to the side, he glanced at Yakumo. The boy had dropped to one knee, braced firmly, and thumbed a switch on the rifle before unleashing a much more potent stream of green fire at the reaver.

    The blast slammed into the unsuspecting creature, and it spun to immediately charge Yakumo. Yakumo grinned, dropping his spare fission batteries and clenching a grenade by the pin in his teeth. Remembering how Yakumo had defeated the last reaver -- even if he didn't entirely approve -- Yosho leapt above the reaver, dropping his shield and transferring the full power of the substitute key to the blade.

    The humming energy dug through the thick carapace, and the reaver sank immediately through the cement beneath Yosho, leaving him to roll on the pavement before righting himself warily.

    Yakumo swore loudly around the pin in his mouth, lowering the rifle and checking a setting on the gun. "That was about forty percent of the whole charge," he yelled to Yosho. "Where the hell did it go?"

    Alerted by his own keen senses, Yosho twisted to one side, long before Yakumo's shouted warning reached him. A black claw, two meters and more in length, sliced through the air behind him, slamming into the concrete with enough force to shatter it before sinking again.

    Casting about with his eyes, and frowning, Yakumo held his rifle away from him, to his side. Yosho wondered why, until the reaver's next pass struck him much faster than the less experienced boy could react, cleaving deep into his shoulder and nearly slicing the boy in two.

    Stumbling, Yakumo dropped his rifle, clutching the wound in agony. "Shit!" he swore, as the reaver's claw dipped beneath the paved surface once more. "How the hell are we supposed to get this thing?"

    Yosho leapt upward, dodging the reaver's next strike. Perhaps expecting the dodge, the reaver surfaced, its hulking mass moving more quickly than Yosho had expected, claws and gaping maw reaching upwards after him.

    Yelling incoherently, Yakumo pitched as hard as he could, launching his grenade towards Yosho with all the force he could muster. The Juraian acted swiftly, one hand grabbing it, yanking the pin out in the same motion, and hurling the activated explosive downward as hard as he could.

    ***

    Ami struggled to follow Yosho's order, but the pressing crush of fleeing refugees was too thick for her to muscle her way through. Seeing her partner struggle, Haruka held her sword aloft, shouting, and the crowds parted, refugees giving way even in their fear.

    The reaver killed with an almost contemptuous ease, claws lashing out to impale and eviscerate all within its reach, as it was able to move that much faster than the fleeing citizenry could. "Halt!" Ami screamed, unable to stomach the bloodshed further. "In the name of Mercury, I will punish you!"

    Not even realizing she had summoned it until the device was in her hands, she focused her will through the Aqua Harp. Preparing herself, she yelled, "Mercury aqua mirage!" Like chords of music, liquid ice exploded from the harp in her hands, arcing out, wide, and then zeroing back in on the reaver, instantly enveloping it in a solid block.

    Heaving for breath, Ami struggled to keep her attention on the monster, and away from the bodies on the ground. At her side, not waiting for her confirmation that all was ready, Haruka invoked her own attack, crying out, "Space sword blaster!" She swung her sword before her in a dizzyingly swift arc, and a crescent of golden energy speared forward from that arc, slamming into the frozen reaver with explosive force. Trapped within the ice, half of the entire creature was sheared away from a slightly larger mass of ice, falling to the ground to slowly thaw.

    The two both stared at the aftermath of their work quietly after that. Never before had their duty been so... gruesome. "Ami?" Haruka asked softly, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

    "No," Ami said flatly. "And I don't think I will be for quite some time."

    Haruka nodded wordlessly at that.

    ***

    Rolling from its upright position, the reaver vomited a stream of thick yellow ichor, and the grenade detonated in a pool of the stuff, spraying it everywhere. Yosho shifted stances abruptly, using the shield to deflect it as it showered down about him. Yakumo ignored it, out of range, and rushed the reaver with another grenade. "Die!" he shouted, removing the pin and attempting to slam the grenade-laden fist into the reaver's mouth.

    Yosho raised his shield, ducking and expanding it, as the monster refused to open its mouth, actually backing away from the explosive bearing madman. The grenade detonated, tearing Yakumo's body apart, and having no discernable effect on the reaver.

    Cursing again, Yosho switched the balance of energy back to the sword, hacking one limb off and dancing out of the range of the spurting wound. The reaver whirled, slashing out with another claw, which Yosho again severed. Howling, the reaver rushed, forcing Yosho to retreat, attempting to slash at him. His counters were hampered by the need to shield against the constant streams of toxic ichor, and he hissed with anger when he realized he was slowly being forced back towards the panicking crowd.

    A few projectiles whizzed past him, bouncing off the reaver's hide with no effect. "Idiots," Yosho grumbled, edging backwards in a curving arc, to stall the inevitable. A random slash with his sword broke open several of the monster's eyes, showering him with ichor that was only just barely turned back by the shield.

    Yosho slipped backwards, preparing to leap over the reaver, and slipped, falling flat on his back. Swearing loudly again, he rolled away, as the reaver triumphantly lurched forward to strike him -- and was suddenly halted.

    Another lance of brilliant green light shot out from one side, penetrating the gaping wound that Yosho had left after severing the first claw. Shuddering to a sudden, violent stop, the reaver collapsed, bleeding its toxic fluid out still.

    Climbing to his feet and turning to face his savior, Yosho was stunned to see Yakumo, grinning like the madman Yosho thought he was, one eye missing, and his left arm still reforming. His rifle hung loosely in his right hand, and he spoke slowly, as missing pieces slowly wove themselves back into place, "Sorry about that."

    "You really can't die," Yosho whispered, shocked.

    "We've all got our curses to bear. Where are the girls?"

    Ami and Haruka approached slowly, heads bowed. "What's wrong?" Yosho asked, scanning them for wounds. "Did you stop the reaver?"

    "Yes," Haruka said quietly, raising her head to meet Yosho's gaze. "But not in time."

    Yakumo sighed, ejecting the fission battery from his rifle, and replacing it with another before retrieving his grenade satchel. "Let's see what we can do to get these people back under control," he said tersely.

    Yosho heaved a deep breath, as the people -- slowly -- began to calm. Cries echoed from the crowd, unkind and accusing, "Monsters!"

    "Why couldn't you save them?"

    And cruelest of all: "You're not any better than them!"

    ***

    Ryouga tensed, radio static from the radio on his belt breaking, as a warning came through, "Reavers are attacking the harbor, repeat, reavers are attacking the harbor."

    "Okay," Ryouga barked, glancing about him, "if they're coming, they're coming soon, so everyone be careful. I'm going stay here, Kino, Aino, you two stay close by and try to keep people calm -- somehow. Ryu, see if you can get on top of that building and try to keep an eye out."

    The group did as Ryouga instructed, the nameless Marine simply unslinging his weapon and holding at the ready, since he hadn't been told to do anything else. Ryu bounded directly to the front window of the five-story hotel that Ryouga had indicated, and slammed through the glass to disappear inside. Mousse dropped a length of chain to dangle below his sleeve in preparation, while Ryouga snapped one of the lengths of cloth he had wrapped about his arms for easy access into a makeshift blade.

    Ryu emerged onto the roof of the building he had been instructed to climb, and looked around, scanning further up and down the line of people. A few of the Marines with their standard weaponry became more watchful as well.

    The first of the reavers emerged from beneath the crowd in front of the building Ryu stood atop, and he shouted a warning -- too late for many. The reaver burst up from beneath the ground too fast for the majority of the bystanders to evade, and there was little space for them to move to, packed as they were.

    Mousse took to the air instantly, throwing and weaving his chains, Ryouga a half step behind him. The Marine swore loudly, and leapt atop a nearby newspaper vending machine, waiting for a clear shot.

    The crowd was spared the full and immediate impact of the reaver's claws as a golden chain of hearts wrapped around the reaver, quickly expanding outwards and pushing the bystanders to safety. There were those who could not be saved, reduced already to corpses, but Ryouga spared no thoughts for them, focusing instead on the immediate task of halting the reaver.

    Mousse's chains entangled it before it could attempt to surge across the glowing golden barrier of hearts, fouling it easily as the Chinese boy landed at one edge of the circular perimeter. Ryouga threw back his arms and hurled his makeshift iron cloth sword, which cut into the reaver's carapace, sending chips of black hide flying. Landing opposite Mousse, Ryouga circled to the left, remembering the Marine with his rifle, and lashed out with another cloth at the creature's legs, avoiding Mousse's chain.

    "Where's Ryu?" he yelled, as Makoto lobbed a massive ball of electricity at the reaver, and the Marine chose that moment to strike the incapacitated creature with a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Sparks flew wide, the green beam lancing into the reaver's hide, widening and becoming brighter as the Marine increased the intensity of the beam, and Minako expanded the cordon of the golden links, allowing him more room. Mousse warily stepped to one side, holding another chain at the ready.

    The beam of energy faded and died, while the Marine fumbled with the battery. The reaver, taking advantage of the situation, began to sink through the ground, pressing itself flat so that Mousse could not entangle it in further chain.

    "No!" Ryouga groaned, seeing the Marine drop the fission battery, and still struggling to load his weapon. If the reaver escaped, it would return more dangerous, as Yosho had warned, and then they'd truly have no chance. "No!" he whispered hoarsely, remembering, as the reaver snapped the chains already containing it, one by one.

    Washuu had said that ki kept them from working correctly. Nothing left but to hope -- despite the futility of the situation.

    "Give him room!" Mousse yelled frantically, leaping clear, as Ryouga stepped slowly and deliberately forward. "More room!" he shouted at Minako.

    She obliged, pressing the already crowded people even tighter, while Makoto yelled to them to move calmly. But Ryouga was beyond hearing that at the moment. "Perfect," he uttered aloud, the words causing all else to fall silent, a silence so clear and sublime he felt certain that his thudding heart would be audible to the crowd.

    Ranma had killed reavers before. Ranma had fought them and won. Ranma had saved Akane. Ryouga desperately wanted to be able to make a difference, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that he wasn't good enough -- all he could do was chip it's hide, when he'd watched Ranma claw directly through one. He was utterly worthless when it came to battling the monsters.

    The next syllables followed, nearly of their own accord, "Shishi houko-dan."

    Not a roar, not a yell, merely a whisper, and then the force of his will was realized in a rushing torrent of coruscating green ki-flame, descending in a pillar from the heavens as if to sunder the Earth itself.

    And where was Ryu, anyway? Or Ranma? Ryu he'd expect to ignore him when he was about to die, but he'd thought better of Ranma.

    ***

    Ryu would have missed it, were he standing on the ground, but from the top of the building, the faint tremor was an instant alarm to him. Not sparing a moment to signal, since the others were already fighting, he sent a quick prayer that Makoto would be safe to whatever gods were willing to listen, and bodily heaved himself towards the stairwell. Hurtling all the way down the stairwell to the basement, he didn't pause to allow his body to adjust until he reached the basement. Staring about the mostly empty space, he backpedaled furiously.

    In the dim, far corner, quickly and efficiently, another reaver was destroying the support columns for the building. Ryu swore softly.

    He was not a genius of architecture, but he knew from long experience -- and thankfully rare practice -- how to knock a house down. The reaver was going to knock the building down atop the street, crushing all the innocents below. "They can set traps," he realized, before swiftly moving to the nearest support column.

    Fighting the reaver was a losing proposition. He had learned well enough from the battle earlier that he could not expect to fight them alone and win.

    But he knew one thing he could do. Hoping the reaver wouldn't notice him, he used the stealth granted by the Umisen-ken, and lined himself up along the line of support columns. If he could break all of them before the reaver stopped him, the building would collapse directly atop itself, sparing the refugees.

    The stealth held, despite his shortage of time -- in only minutes, or less, the reaver would have destroyed enough of the foundation to send the building crashing down. Braced, he roared, "Kaichuu houju-satsu!" He wrapped his arms around the cement support, the force enough to shatter it to ruble in only moments. Dashing immediately to the next column, he again roared, and crushed it too.

    The ceiling above him creaked alarmingly, and he leapt in a low arc to the next column, landing in a tight roll. As he expected, the reaver's claw slashed through the area he had been in, decimating the third column.

    "That's right, bug!" he yelled, flying past the next column, and wheeling to face the monster as it shambled forward. "Do my dirty work for me!"

    Moving more quickly, the reaver ran directly through the fourth column without disrupting it in the slightest. "Ahh... crap," Ryu swore.

    Turning about, he quickly embraced the fifth column. Breaking it would weaken the building, but he needed to destroy the final pillar before he could make it collapse, and that meant slipping past the reaver -- unless he could depend on some flaw, or maybe some outside force knocking it down. "Kaichuu houju-satsu!" he declared a final time, only just ducking out of the reach of the reaver's grasping claws.

    ***

    Finally adjusting the battery cartridge correctly and slamming it home, Ray Ericson looked back up to the street, and gaped as he watched a young boy walk to the reaver's side, and turn a section of the street into the roaring inferno of Hell.

    A massive pillar of the hellish green light washed down from beneath the clouds, impacting the ground and tearing it up, making a massive crater as the refugees cowered behind the dubious protection of the orange-skirted girl's chain. The green flames rained down upon the reaver, which stuck halfway in the ground it was attempting to sink through.

    On and on the flood of power went, leaving everyone to stare in shock, while the boy maintained his position. The ground beneath his feet was compacted, blasted, and dug away, but he remained standing, untouched and undamaged, only bowing his head. The five-story hotel behind the boy collapsed, likely from the tremendous wind pressures of the blast, and still it did not stop.

    Only when the crater was easily four meters deep, the reaver trapped in a strange protrusion in the center of the crater, its hide slowly flaying away under the tide, did it end.

    The boy raised his head, managed a wan smile, and collapsed. The Chinese boy with the chains barked a command to Ray, and he reflexively raised his rifle, centering the damaged hide in his sights and pulling the trigger. The beam of power again lanced forth, this time holing the struggling creature entirely, and sending a wash of its blood down into the crater.

    A mass of chains flew from the Chinese boy's sleeves, tangling the unconscious summoner of the green flames and hauling him back to the lip of the crater before he could be touched by the thick, yellow ichor.

    Shouldering his weapon quickly, Ray swallowed. His commander was out of commission, and as far as he knew, that boy was the only one with an appreciable grasp of English aside from the boy in fatigues -- who was missing. "What next?" he managed in his rough, pidgin Japanese.

    "Where's Ryu?" the green-skirted girl asked suddenly, staring at the building in horror.

    The orange-skirted girl let her glowing chain vanish, sinking to her knees with the exhaustion after her use of power. Ray couldn't even pretend to understand it, but he could respect it. He motioned the girl in the green skirt to follow him, and trotted briskly around the perimeter of the crater, the refugees giving him and the people trailing a wide berth.

    Pausing at the edge of the collapsed building, forced to fall back and away from the street by the force of the blast, Ray paused. He hadn't the slightest clue on how to proceed.

    The green-skirted girl saved him the embarrassment, crying out and hauling a body from the wreckage. Not a body, he noted with relief, but someone who was still alive. The other boy in the group. One arm hung at an awkward angle, and a small gash near his calf spoke of his injuries, but he roused when freed.

    He mumbled something Ray couldn't understand, and then shook his head, repeating it in English for Ray's sake. "One more, under there," he managed.

    The Marine leveled his rifle at the mess of the building, scanning around frantically as he backed up onto the narrow clear space between the rubble and the crater. "Where?" he asked tersely. That question answered itself a heartbeat-later, as one massive claw ponderously freed itself.

    Not waiting for a signal, Ray leveled his rifle and fired at the limb, maintaining a steady bead on it until the appendage was severed completely, spurting ichor across the wooden beams and concrete chunks pinning the monster down. Commodore Norris had mentioned that some of the defenders had a way to keep the monsters from passing through solid objects. The green hell-fire must have been the attack he had meant. Shrugging, Ray made the most of it; since the reaver was pinned for the moment, it was essentially at his mercy.

    The girls nodded with grim approval when he switched to the third and final fission battery, opening the beam to its most intense setting and spearing directly through to the reaver. Shrill screams from the monster told him that the aim was good, until the last battery was drained.

    Still, the monster wasn't killed, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. The first battery had only recharged itself just past sixty percent. It would have to be enough. He was dimly aware of the crowd yelling at him to hurry as the next battery was slammed home, and he opened fire upon the creature for the final time.

    ***

    The first rays shone through a gap in the buildings as the rising sun peeked over the horizon, flooding the plaza with its warm glow.

    Glancing nervously about herself, and attempting to remain focused on the task at hand, Washuu listened to the radio chatter from Norris's command center. The first report had said that the reavers in the harbor had been halted, with casualties. The second announced that the reavers in 'section three' had been neutralized with minimal casualties.

    She was expectant. The reavers would strike again; the question was merely 'where'.

    That question answered itself all too quickly.

    The heavy foliage that hid Washuu from the refugees, and the refugees from her, erupted with the forms of a multitude of reavers. Norris barked a quick order, and the Marines lining the plaza whirled, attempting to lay down suppressing fire with their rifles, which had no effect. Dashing to positions around the Gate that they had sworn to defend, six more Marines bearing positronic laser rifles opened fire on the reavers.

    Undaunted, the reavers only fractionally slowed their forward surge, driving recklessly towards the Gate. Washuu numbly realized that, in some fashion, they had to know what it meant. And that was why they had all converged on the Gate. If only she had been able to know that they were that much more intelligent than she had originally thought...

    Fully six reavers, an uncountable number of tons of black death and destruction, plowed forward, the piercing beams of the Marines only slowing them slightly.

    Washuu dropped her tool, allowing it to slip through limp fingers, as the sudden, shaking realization that the battle was lost reached her, offset oddly by the tinkling sound of the metallic wand she had dropped bouncing off of the stone beneath her.

    For over twenty thousand years she had lived, learned, and survived, only to have it ended in some miserable backwater planet. She could escape, doubtlessly. She was resourceful, but she didn't think that she could bring herself to abandon the Gate, and more importantly, the refugees. And worse yet, somehow nagging at the back of her mind to remind her of something missing, Ranma was still not there.

    Nuku shattered the morbid thoughts, calmly pressing Ran-oh-ki into Washuu's hands, then turning to take a position behind the Marines, crying out a defiant, "Nuku-Nuku will not let you hurt Washuu-mama-san!"

    And despite her bravado, even as the energy from the Marine's rifles began to waver, and die, Nuku shivered. The failing beams winked out, all in rapid succession as their energies were spent.

    And in that moment, as the Marines all struggled to switch their battery cartridges, the sun fully cleared the horizon.

    And in that moment, as the reavers surged forward like a tide of doom, a gate opened.

    And in that moment, there was a whirring noise, and a resonating 'snicker-snack'.

    And in that moment, hope was saved, for standing coolly and calmly, clad in red robes, massive sword extended behind him as he came to rest from his strike, Ranma had returned. He turned slowly, as the reaver immediately behind him fell to the stone plaza in two separate pieces.

    And in a loud, confident voice that touched Washuu's heart in a way she hadn't thought possible, he declared to the creatures who had halted their charge to face him, "I am Higurashi Ranma. And today is the day that you die."

    [End, Chapter Eight]

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

    I love Resistance Line.

    Thanks to Ginrai, Ladegard, Slacker, Bjorn, David 'Fido' Lindquist, Aaron Nowack, Alex Raven, William Dix, and MageOhki for pre-reading.