And getting back into the C+C swing of things:

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

"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,

Pluto: But losers often do that.

Ayeka and Ryouko had gamely stayed at his side nearly the entire
time, and while Ryouko merely looked worn out, Ayeka's flagging
strength left her nearly nodding in

nodding off (I think)

Tenchi nodded, sighing, and resting his elbows on the desk. A moment
later, he sunk his head to his hands, groaning. "I can't give up,"
he protested weakly. "There's so much work to be done."

Feels like me and C+C. :)

At least I finally finished watching Nadia today.

"No," he insisted, pulling away, putting one hand on the Tenchi-ken.
Both knew that he wouldn't use it against her, merely that he
intended to show his sincerity, and that he wasn't going to concede
to her whims. The cyan-haired woman paused, considering, then
shrugged, willing to risk the unpleasant shocks that the device
would give her when she forced Tenchi's hand. When Tenchi was pulled
away from his desk, she grinned, commenting, "Even your sword agrees
with me,

Sword: No. I want to kill something. He's just too much of a weenie to go
around lopping the heads off his enemies like I want him to.

***

Rei lurched across the gently rolling deck, still driven by whatever
it was that allowed her to know what to do without knowing _how_,

Very convient, that.

and led her to Hotaru. Clothing disheveled, still soaked with sweat,
she stumbled into the room, nearly ready to collapse. The hangar was
deserted, excepting Washuu and Ami, Hotaru and Nuku sitting nearby.

Awkward as hell. I'd rephrase it in some way.

"Fine," Rei managed, sitting heavily on the deck, breathing quickly.
"But... I need to tell you before I forget. I had a dream... a dream
about the Sacred Fire."

"Do you want me to get Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama?" Hotaru asked.

Why? Are they good at lighting fires? :)

Rei's answer was interrupted by the arrival of Setsuna. "Yes," the
woman muttered, obviously upset, "what is going on?"

Stuttering and nervous initially, but slowly gathering her will, Rei
described the entirety of the dream.

Except the part about a naked Usagi and the ridiculous amounts of ice cream.
They didn't need to know about those.

 "And I know that if we let

things go like they did in the dream, then... then Hotaru and Ranma
and that other man will all die," she concluded.

"I'd like to avoid that, if possible," Washuu commented archly,
having paused her work to listen to Rei.

"Or as many people dying in general," Rei grumbled. "No one should
have to die."

But if we lived forever, things would get boring pretty fast. :P

Washuu snorted, shaking her head and turning back to her project. "I
think you're entirely missing the point," the redhead notified the
green-haired woman.

Setsuna gave Washuu an appraising look. "Perhaps," she returned
coolly. "But I can keep my own council. And so should you." With
that the woman marched from the hangar, oblivious to Washuu pulling
her eyelid down and sticking her tongue out at her.

Heh. Nice touch.

***

Groaning, Tenchi mumbled, "Ayeka's going to kill us.

A tall man in a dark robe appeared out of nowhere and said, "GOING IMPLIES
SOMETHING THAT HAS NOT YET OCCURRED. SUFFICE TO SAY THAT WAS NOT THE TENSE
YOU SHOULD HAVE USED THERE."

Ryouko's hurt demeanor melted into one of surprise. "Really?" she
asked. "Why?"

Tenchi: Something about a menage a trios, I believe.

And as she touched the dreams of one who was closer to her heart than
most others, she masked his presence from one who would have touched
his dreams in a much more forceful manner, without even knowing that
she had masked him so.

Smooth on Tsunami's part.

***

Three days at sea passed with an almost eerie calm.

Yeah. Usually it takes 6 chapters for a day to pass. :)

"I will not fault you if you choose to leave. I will not think any
less of you -- Australia is going to need more of you to police all
the people we've already got, many of them only moments away from
panic and riot. But any of you who choose to fight with me, to risk
your life -- _not_ for your country, gentlemen, but for your whole
_world_ -- I welcome you as men I would be proud to have stand at my
side.

Suddenly, Norris realized he was talking to thin air. "Bunch of cowards," he
mumbled petuantly.

"Those of you who have chosen to follow me, congratulations. You are
no longer Marines

Something just occurred to me. Why are they marines instead of navy? Most of
the personnel would be navel, I would think,

"What did he say?" Mousse asked, curious. "I couldn't understand most
of it."

"Um... You tell him, Ryouga," Ranma said, shaking his head.

Ryouga:  He said something about burying his green pencil.

Ranma: If you don't understand English either, just admit it!

"He said we've got more allies to help us fight reavers today than we
did yesterday," Ryouga answered quickly. "And it was a good speech."

"Feh," Mousse snorted, "I could have said the same with a _lot_ less
words. English is so inefficient."

***

It was far, far too early to be awake, in Usagi's estimation. But
some strange... energy? Power?

Gas from the chili she ate yesterday?

 Something filled the air, making her

sleep restless, and leaving her to lie awake hours and hours

I'd just say 'hours' or 'many hours'

 before

the dawn.

think you can drop 'the' as well.

Sighing unhappily, she sat up.

Best to make the most of it, she supposed...

And promptly took a nap.

When she sat up Mamoru remained asleep. She'd let him rest, she
decided. He'd been remarkably unwell due to the resonance between
himself and the wounded Earth, but something... something about
seeing Makoto... Something had happened then, and left him in much
better condition afterwards.

Obviously Mamoru is interested in Ryu as well.

She dismissed that, after a moment. All of the other girls were
asleep... except for Setsuna, who had a habit of wandering off, and
Haruka and Michiru, who did not.

Sleep or wander off?

"What reason do you have to not trust me? Or anyone, for that
matter?" Yosho returned easily. "I can't think of any reason not to
trust me. What have I done to demonstrate myself untrustworthy?"

"Well..." Setsuna frowned darkly. "I don't trust someone who allies
so closely with a thing that's not even human."

Yosho: But you have friends.

Pluto: I'm human.

Yosho: Only in the most literal sense of the word.

"Of course! Ranma-san is a very noble person. Why wouldn't you trust
him?"

"He's not human!" Setsuna snapped.

Usagi: Neither are you.

Pluto: Am to.

Usagi: Only in the most literal sense of the word.

Usagi blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"His eyes, Usagi. His ears. The fact that he can fly, and turn into a
girl at will."

"Okay... so? What does that have to do with anything? Why does that
mean we can't trust him? You trust Luna and Artemis, right?"

Pluto: Don't be stupid. Of course not. Their eyes, usagi. Their ears. The
fact they can talk, and they always have mouse breath. They're not human
either.

"Why would I ask him?" Setsuna asked, confused.

Usagi: because he could tell you the names of his family and you could see
if they match?

Calming herself with visible effort, the woman introduced herself,
saying, "My name is Meiou Setsuna. I'm looking for someone who's
supposed to be able to help us fight the reavers." She produced the
scroll from her pocket and handed it to Ranma expectantly. "Do you
know where this line would lead us?"

She did it wrong. If he was a liar, like since she thinks he's
untrustworthy, he could just say yes and she wouldn't know if it was the
truth or not.

Shrugging, he teleported the pair of them there, setting down the
woman as she reeled from the dizziness Ranma had learned that it
caused in others. As it had for him, initially. Nuku seemed immune
to it, for some reason he couldn't fathom, and Washuu declined to
state how it affected her. "Okay," he said, shifting his thoughts to
the people about him. "What do you want with me? There's a reaver
around here, somewhere. I can sense it. Ran-oh-ki tells me they're
hiding beneath the sea floor. Probably waiting to attack us the
moment we land."

They know where the ship is going? How?

"Wait, wait... wait..." Ranma shook his head. "Ten'oh, have you ever
heard of a place called Jusenkyou?"

"No..." the man said slowly. "I've heard of it from Hibiki-san, but
I've never been there, Ranma-san."

Why would he think she knows anything about it?

Noting the stress on the honorific, Ranma frowned. "Okay, sorry,
Ten'oh-san. Just wondering... Why do you and Hotaru all have
different last names?"

Hotaru: We all had different parents.

"No," Setsuna snapped, "it's not soon at all. It's nearly five
hundred years ago!"

Ranma; Well then, I guess that's a bit of a problem then.

"Of course you don't remember," Ranma said offhandedly. "I tricked
you.

I don't think ol' Pluto is going to fall for that one.

***

Ranma glanced around after emerging from the Time Gate. "Huh," he said.

The area was faintly foggy,

Don't like the double 'f's there. Might want to change 'faintly' to lightly
or something.

"You can't do that! We run too much of a risk of--" She cut herself
off as the door opened, and a slim woman, dressed in a loose and
flowing robe, long black hair hanging well past her shoulders,
peered out at them. The woman's eyes widened, and she gasped in
surprise, slamming the door shut before Setsuna or Ranma could speak.

"Well," Ranma muttered. "That went well." He raised his hand to knock
again, when the door slammed open again, and a man with an unruly
mane of white hair literally flew out of the doorway, crashing into
him and bearing him to the earth.

Ouch

"Yes," the man said, nodding tersely. "How do you know?"

"Because you're... Um, because I'm from the future."

The man stared at him, blinking, and allowed his hands to drop to his
sides. "And we're famous then?" the man asked, obviously confused.

Ranma: More like dead, actually.

Teleporting to Setsuna's side, Ranma immediately raised his hands to
illustrate his unarmed status. Kagome, not quite trusting, still
held a drawn bow on Setsuna, her gaze and aim only shifting to Ranma
for a second, before going back to Setsuna. "What are you doing
here?" she demanded.

Ranma: Being held up at arrow point.

Once inside, with the bow set carefully on its rack on the wall, the
woman was surprisingly polite, though obviously still wary. "Now,"
she said, after both Ranma and Setsuna were seated, each holding a
cup of tea. He had a vague suspicion that they were given tea
because it would preclude the use of other weapons,

Obviously she had never seen Martial Arts Tea Ceremony in action

"Um... Okay, Higurashi-san. Um. Anyway, do you know what reavers are?"

The woman frowned. "Large, wicked creature, with eight claws, and
acidic blood?"

Ah ha. So she is the time traveller, all right.

"I... see," Kagome said slowly. "Inu-Yasha, I very much want to
believe this young man. Can you please fetch me the Shikon jewel?"

Inu-Yasha: What do I look like, a retriever.

Kagome: Sit! (Inu-Yasha crashes violently on the ground) Looks to me like
you are.

"Yes," Setsuna advised. "Relative time is maintained, so every minute
here is more-or-less a minute there, and I don't want to toy with
that, because meeting myself leaving would be... awkward."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "That might explain why the well worked in
the manner it did," she muttered.

Probably.

Ranma rose, following Inu-Yasha outside.

***

Inu-Yasha's steps were solid,

solid?

and he dashed as quickly as he could

across the soft turf, pleased to see that Ranma was able to keep
pace. It was an odd sensation, he thought, to know that he was
meeting... his own many-times great-grandson. He planned on using
the Shikon jewel to turn himself human -- he had no desire to
outlive Kagome.

Well, unless they die in some horrible accident, one will outlive the other.

Outlasting another love, as bitter as it had turned, had taught him
that much.

Shoot. Haven't seen past epsiode 8 so I have no idea of what he's talking
about.

Inu-Yasha raised both eyebrows, studying his theoretical progeny.
"It's probably really annoying," he allowed. "But it could be worse."

"How?"

"You could have a cursed hole in your hand that sucks in everything
around you, and eventually swallows your body up," he noted.

Yes. That would be worse.

"My old robes. Made from fire-rat hides," Inu-Yasha assured him.
"They're pretty decent armor. Probably better than you'd expect.
They also mend really well when they get torn."

I'd say they won't make that much of a difference when compared to his own
hard skin.

Studying it quickly, Kagome nodded again. "Better than Inu-Yasha's
handwriting. Very well, Higurashi Ranma. Make us _all_ proud." With
that, she leant forward, kissing him gently on the cheek. "There
will be a safe-deposit box awaiting you in Shanghai -- I'll see to
it that my descendants know to pass it on for you,

Heh. Nice touch.

Inu-Yasha grinned like a madman,

since he was insane

"Why can't it break the chains?" Mousse asked dumbly. "Or go through
them?"

"I don't know," Ryouga answered, slamming his umbrella into the
thing's hide forcefully, buckling the deck further. "And I don't
care! We just need to kill it, and fast, 'cause it's going to be a
hell of a lot harder to fight these things on another ship."

Yep.

Mousse grimaced, knowing that despite his potentially better agility,
he could never hope to even match

I'd drop the 'even'

Finding itself taking more damage, the reaver turned to face Ryouga
squarely, fully four claws sweeping together to try and shut on him
like pincers. Ryouga danced out of range past one pair, but was far
too slow to dodge the second. To his surprise, the claws were
stopped, Ryu having interposed himself and catching them roughly.

Nice trick

Ryu's feet were set, and he grit his teeth, arms both outstretched
and trembling. Not wasting any more time, Ryouga bellowed a fierce
battle cry, and swung down on one of the crushing limbs full-force.
The belt cut rudely through the armored and protrusion covered
surface, spraying a sharp fountain of deadly ichor upwards and out
towards the boys.

Only to be intercepted in part 2, I'd wager.

Nice work. Will try to get to the next part soon.

D.B. Sommer




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