BR wrote:

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

"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.

I'd drop this since you have it in part one

"No time!" Yosho said, running full-tilt towards the edge of the
deck. "You can do things with water, correct?

Ami: Well, I can blow bubbles.

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.

Yosho's that quick?

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

Yosho: Used to do it with my wife all the time and she certainly never
complained.

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.

I thought it was already a liquid. Do you mean it oxidized or something?

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.

That might take care of it.

"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.

She carries tire chains with her?

"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!"

Oh, that kind of 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,"

So Ryoga picked up Ryu and hit the reaver with him.

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

can drop 'of'

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?"

Minako: And then tie me up in it and spank me?

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.

Odd. I thought the reaver would eat it instead of using it as a weapon.

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.

That is the natural thing to do.

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.

That will go a long way to solving matters.

When he judged that the wound would be lethal, he stepped back,
releasing his blade, and turning

and turned (I think)

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."

No, they need to kill the rest of the reavers before they made more wounded.

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'.

One more down. They keep at it, and they'll run out of reavers.

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,

Eh?

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!"

Oh. the 3X3 eyes bit. Yakamo, I do believe.

he roared.

"I'm Fuji Yakumo,"

Okay. I was off on the spelling.

"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,

I see

"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."

Heh

"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."

Hmm. Didn't think they usually did that.

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."

True. They should try a different island.

"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!

Interesting, and very useful.

"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."

Oh, since it's genocide we're talking about, I'm sure Herb will be happy to
help.

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."

Oh, they managed to transport millions? Didn't think it was that many.

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

"Close enough,"

yeah. it works.

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.

Heh. It is a matter of time.

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.

Might want to use it now if they reavers will follow it.

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.

You think the rat would tip them off to reavers coming as well.

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.

Probably a good idea.

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?"

Reaver: You're not. That's the idea.

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.

That should do it.

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.

Heh. They do learn.

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."

If there were still some people left alive, then it was 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?"

Yosho: Why didn't you?

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

Actually, I doubt if most people, despite being panicked, would turn on
those that had obviously saved them from certain death.

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.

It should still be wounded nastily.

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

its

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

Ah ha. He figured it out.

"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.

Heh. Still, the building might give out anyway. Most of its support is gone.

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.

And another one bites the dust.

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.

Assuming it can't phase.

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.

That should work.

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'.

Eh?

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."

Bit melodramatic. I'd just have him stand there with the sword
threateningly, but its your call.

Nice work and things are picking up. Excellent chapter as events slowly
reach for an end.

D.B. Sommer

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