And trying to finish a few things up before advancing on to the next
project"

"I, myself, came within inches of losing my life on that day. The...
heroes, I suppose... they tried their hardest, but it wasn't good
enough. We were helpless. Defenseless. We could only sit there and
wait to be mown down like wheat, praying that guardians that weren't
even entirely human could -- or would bother -- to save us. The
Battle of Shanghai is what I see as one of Earth's darkest days.

I'd say events leading up to it were somewhat grimmer.

And then the battle truly began. The red-robed Ranma was slower, but
sure, his blade biting deep into the hides of the reavers before
they could draw away, while his smaller and faster counterpart
harried them mercilessly, her blades much less effective, but still
capable.

The reavers attacked en mass, attempting to merely swarm the pair
with their superior numbers, but both defenders merely

two 'merely's close together. I'd drop the first myself.

escape."

He descended from his height upon the reavers, scrambling frantically
to defend themselves as he spun, whirling his sword like a dervish.
The second fell swiftly, wounded too deeply to struggle onwards. The
third flung itself at Ranma in a suicidal rush of claws, goring
Ranma's shoulder before the sword pierced its entire length,

So they did draw some blood. That's good try to avoid making Ranma too
invincible.

A stabbing pain, however brief, flashed through Rei's head,
momentarily staggering the girl. Ranma's grandmother

Ranma's grandmother?

Leaping across the crowds and barring it's

its

path, Mamoru -- in his

Endymion form, shining armor, sword, and all

Aww. I wanted to see him throw a rose in the thing and stop it. :)

 -- was there, rapidly

slashing at the reaver and whirling back from it's

its

The reaver lunged to follow, acting

I'd drop 'acting' as being unneccesary.

 eager to finish the man off, but

Eric distracted it, opening fire. Rei winced at the brightness of
the Marine's blazing lance of energy, and added her own power to the
struggle, throwing her most powerful attack at the creature. "Mars
flame sniper!"

Shouldn't it be 'Flame Sniper'?

***

Trusting the other half of the team to see to matters on the street
corner, Cologne sped off, towing the hesitant Usagi, and with the
much more eager Hotaru dogging her heels. Michiru followed
hesitantly,

two 'hesitate's close together. Again I'd change one


unsure of what she could add to the fray.

"Child," Cologne asked, pacing with the child

and here with child. 'young girl' could be used for the second.

An invisible wall halted the reaver's claws, as the remaining
stragglers dragged themselves to safety. Michiru and Usagi remained
still, staring at the mass of bodies lining the street, blood
pooling around some, others reduced too far by repeated slashes of
the reaver's claws to positively identify who they might have been.

Other than being organic material at one time. :)

Her staff struck a point on the reaver's hide, causing it to ripple
in its entirety once, resonating as though Cologne had tried to
break an object many times the reaver's own mass. She blinked, as
realization reached her, mid-leap away from the reaver.

Countless dimensions of stacked mass unfolded into one, expanding
outwards and exploding with monstrous force.

My, how messy.

The chasm smashed shut, allowing a thin line of reaver's ichor to
spurt upwards, as he sank to his knees, exhausted. Around him,
everyone had fallen, shakily reclaiming their feet, nearby buildings
collapsed into rubble,

Hope they didn't land on anyone.

sending a massive cloud of dust skyward. But

the devastation stopped, only a hundred meters away. Smiling in
satisfaction, Endymion allowed himself to faint from the effort that
the attacks had left him with.

'left him with' sounds awkward. I'd change it in some way.

The mass of shrapnel from the reaver's hide -- many, many times the
reaver's own size -- exploded outward, a storm too thick for Cologne
to ever dream of deflecting entirely. She closed her eyes, sighing.
A suicide attack, probably, but if there were enough willing
Joketsuzoku warriors, then it might turn the tide.

What would they need? A hundred or so left?

"Nah," a voice said quietly. "Pops always said, 'respect your
elders'.

Ranma; But I always thought that was just so much crap.

The hand lowered, as Ranma stared about in dismay. "I was too late,"

Just by a little bit.

she said slowly, kneeling to inspect a body.

Ranma's trembling fingers closed the body's eyes, a young girl who'd
never see another summer. It hurt Cologne, but she was no stranger
to death. Being familiar with it didn't let her enjoy it, though.
Eyes bright with tears, Ranma shrugged, "What can I do? I'm still
not strong enough. It'll never be enough.

Actually in another 100 or so it will be enough. :)

She shivered, as Ranma descended through the smoke, setting Setsuna
down as he landed, his partner on his shoulder. Her eyes widened as
she beheld the boy, clad in the same odd robes as from her dream.
"That -- that--" she stammered, pointing at him, eyes wide, "that's
the robe from my dream!"

Which is actually a bad thing since it means the dream is closer to becoming
true.

Ranma spared her a glance, studying the damaged buildings, and
frowning. "What happened here,"

here?

he levitated upwards and vanished. "Oh, no," Rei gasped. "I never
told him about the dream!"

Obviously it doesn't happen until later. She has time, even if it is
reasonable for her to get worried now.

"Yes," she mumbled. "My future self would have no reason to lie to
me. She seems to like playing tricks on me, though." She huffed
indignantly at the last, shaking her head.

Hmm. Odd. Wonder why she likes to do that?

Ran-oh-ki nodded solemnly, his ear tickling Ranma's. "Okay," Ranma
continued, pulling his partner from his shoulder and setting him in
his cupped hands. "This is how it's gonna work. Washuu's at one end
of this big line, right? Well, the reavers are probably going to go
after the Gate mostly, 'cause they're really big jerks, but they
might try here, too. You're gonna stay here for me, and tell me
where they are all the time. Okay?"

The creature mewled, dismayed, but nodded. "Okay, and have yourself a
ball -- they're not using this thing anymore, so eat your heart out.
I think Washuu left a bunch of stuff in the hanger.

He's going to eat a whole sircraft carrier? Now that should be a major
accomplishment.

Smiling faintly, Ranma teleported back to Setsuna's side --
effortless

effortlessly (I think)

When he reached the bank, Setsuna was already inside, a pair of
needles inserted into the lock of a safety deposit box. She glanced
at him, then back, touching one of the needles just so, and opening
the lock.

She learned lockpicking? I'm impressed.

Don't be surprised if there are two copies of the same letter, I
wanted whoever took charge of this to make an extra copy, because if
the letter becomes too aged and illegible, it'll do you no good.

Good thinking.

"Why should I do what you say?" Setsuna asked, not angry, instead
seeming only to be curious.

Ranma; Because you my bitch now.

"Not much," Setsuna admitted. "Merely to watch my step in a place
with a lot of springs."

Now if Ranma was evil, he could tell her that that's just paranoia and
traipsing around springs is perfectly fine.

Washuu spun to face him, jumping again. "Don't _do_ that!" she
exclaimed. Clearing her throat, she regained her composure, saying,
"I can tell you, but Norris can probably explain it better. Just
remember that your quantum-- that your ki can keep reavers from
phasing, and to _be_ _careful_."

Gee, you'd think he'd have picked up on that by now. :)

"No," Usagi protested, shaking her head, "that's not it at all! I
need to fix all of this right now -- I can't let people suffer like
this!"

"What are you talking about?"

Usagi: It's time to take over and make Crystal Tokyo a reality. Anyone that
doesn't like it can get exiled or something.

Not as good as the round green things with the squishy red centers,
but he felt an odd craving for something in the metal there anyway.
His senses reported the composition to him easily, and he
immediately sought out the best parts, only pausing to relay to his
partner when he felt a surge of power that he'd probably be
interested in.

The same energy that was in the reavers, actually.

Heh. Ran-oh-ki needs to learn to categorize things to a human scale of
importance.

Ranma stood again, Setsuna at his side, staring in confusion mixed
with horror, while his sword was held before him, the point mere
centimeters from Usagi's throat. "What are you doing?" he growled,
inhuman eyes glowing, blazing with fury.

Oh, so that was the energy spike. This could get messy.

"The Ginzoshou," Usagi answered swiftly. "I wanted to try and set

things right with it. Get rid of the monsters and make everything
better!"

"No, Usagi," Setsuna said, shaking her head swiftly. "I don't think
it could be that easy

Setsuna: The fic would end too abruptly.

"I was... fighting. There were some reavers in Renmin Park, attacking
the Gate," he replied, staring down at the girl in complete and
utter confusion.

She nuzzled her face against Ranma's side affectionately. "You smell
nice," she said after a moment.

Hotaru:: Like blood and violence. I like it.

The girl nodded happily once more, beaming at him.

Seeing that things had calmed, Mamoru dropped his sword to his side,
still obviously displeased, but more accepting. "Higurashi," he
addressed Ranma coldly, "do not threaten Usagi again."

Ranma: Fine. Next time I'll kill her outright instead of threatening her.
Would that make you happy?

"He's also a superior officer," Eric mumbled quietly for the first
time, eliciting the attention of all the gathered senshi. "If you
had tried to hurt him, I've been ordered to protect him with my life."

Rei stiffened, backing away from the Marine hesitantly. Cologne
grumbled, "Idiot soldier. Don't you forget for a moment that we're
all fighting together against the reavers. I won't allow this
pointless and petty infighting."

Aww, but it makes for a good plot.

"... and once that's done, there's a delegation from... ah, well,
you've met him."

Tenchi sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Seiryo?" he asked, concentrating.

Heh. Always liked him. One of the best one shot throwaway characters I've
seen.

Ryouko glanced at Ayeka from her position across the room, sprawled
over a short couch and toying idly with Ryo-oh-ki. "Rumors are
flying all over the place. Mostly, the common people don't know what
to make of you, because none of them know what happened certainly.
Some of them say that you're going to use Ginraii to sell Juraian
citizens into slavery,

Tenchi: Wow! I didn't think of that. We'll get to work right on it tomorrow.
Remember to thank the citzenry for the idea.

"Isn't that a demon?" Haruka asked, unnerved. "Don't you put your
soul on the line to use that kind of power?"

"I don't have a soul," Yakumo assured her.

Heh. Wondered when he'd bring that up.

"Three from the sea, one behind the crowd, and one under that
building over there!" Ami exclaimed, pointing to the building that
Yakumo's creature had created a line to.

She needs a better early warning system

"It's a trap," Yosho swore. "They could all come up under the crowd
again -- what are they up to?" Thumbing his radio on, he explained
tersely, "This is Yosho, at the wharf, we've got five reavers headed
towards us, over."

I thought Ran Oh ki was supposed to tip them off anyway.

"Maybe they want to die," Ranma said, eyes gleaming with a nearly
feral light, gems flaring brightly green. "And for that, I'm going
to give them what they want. Okay, Yosho, stay out of range. They've
got a trick up their sleeves -- they have to, because I just killed
six of them at Renmin Park, and they started running. See if you can
figure it out, and stop it once they do. Meiou, don't get yourself
hurt."

An odd thing to say to her.

Decided,

need something before 'Decided' I think.

 >

He sat up, grunting. As he shook his head to clear it, the pain
slowly receded, and he blinked, looking around in confusion. The
center of the street was replaced

had been replaced (I think)

"We're not doing so hot," Ryu grunted. "Ranma cracked six of my
damned ribs a couple days ago. Breaking my fucking arm doesn't help
things a lot."

"Ryu!" Makoto protested, upset.

Well, with a broken arm, I'd say he has reason to be upset.

Yakumo spared no time for thought, merely reacting, though one part
of his mind still focused on keeping Tou-Chou under control. The
innocents at his back

innocents behind him (since you used 'backing' later in the sentence)

He blinked, staring at the three stationary monsters. They remained
at the very interior edge of the impromptu arena, ignoring Tou-Chou
completely.

Interesting.

Describing a perfect circle,

I'm not sure what you were trying to say there.

Haruka fired their own charges into the fray, and again the reavers
seemed to merely slide.

I see they've finally learned a new trick.

"I've got it!" Ami called nervously. "Washuu-sensei showed me how to
use -- Oh! They're doing something to the space around them. It's
called phase-shifting." She looked at Yosho nervously, as the man
paled, swallowing and staggering away from the barrier. "What's
wrong, Masaki-san? What is it?"

"It's... they cut an area of space out of our own dimension, and
moved it to a near-dimension. Light and energy can enter,

Then they need lasers.

Near the opposite end of the table, one of the Councilmen cleared his
throat loudly, stabbing at disk to represent his disapproval.

"Aric," Tenchi called to the man levelly.

Tenchi: It's nice to see you volunteer to leave. Thank you for making it
easier. Next order of business.

The Councilmen all gaped openly. "But -- Your Eminence!

Tenchi: That's right. That's what I am and you're not, so be silent and go
away.

Leaping high, he sailed over the pair, and spun, wincing. Without his
levitation, he found his range and ability much lessened. A
halfhearted attempt at the body duplication trick yielded identical
results, leaving Ranma to realize unhappily that without the
Tetsusaiga he was completely unarmed.

Can always use his chi attacks, which would be effective.

The figure stirred, uncurling languorously from rest, and a pair of
eyes opened. Eyes of the softest pink, blank and confused. Slowly,
painfully slowly, awareness and memory crept into those eyes, as
they widened, and darkened.

Shifting, the figure sat up, staring down at itself in fascination.
Flesh and blood, simply, what had once been female only in concept,
and in borrowed skin, was now truly real. She smiled, her first true
expression aside from the confused blankness, and murmured, "I must
be clothed."

Hmm. Ominous.

In its place, where all had been energy and power before, the girl
was left clad in the immaculate robes appropriate of the Goddess of
Jurai. Clasping her hands before her gently, aware of the strange
newness, and stranger comforting familiarity of the garment, she
bowed her head, and whispered thanks to what she had been, and
further thanks for what she knew she would become.

Oh, Tsunami.

Ami was too shocked to react, only Haruka's last-second lunge saving
her, throwing her to the ground as the searing heat of laser-fire
burnt through the air above her. Bullets bit into the concrete near
her, spraying fragments of rubble, and larger fountains of dust
towards her face. Whimpering, she covered her head with her hands,
as Haruka rolled free, yelling something the girl couldn't quite
make out.

Why was this happening? She was one of the defenders, and they had
just slain one of her allies! Again she silently asked herself, why?

Yes, a very odd reaction. I wonder what brought it on.

Well, I'll move on to part two and find out. :)

D.B. Sommer





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