In a message dated 3/15/2002 11:22:51 PM US Mountain Standard Time, 
sommer@3rdm.net writes:

Nineteen out of eighteen? 'Snot a propa' fraction, it's not!

 
 What most people would probably dub an 'epilogue.' :)

So true... And there's still a couple more scenes I wanted to squeeze out
of the chapter. ^_^

 > Sailor Mars took several more breaths. "Fire," she began
 > slowly, gathering the magic again between her hands, "ba..ll..."
 > Her hair suddenly turned white. The magic departed with a whine and
 > she swooned to the grassy knoll.
 
 Right next to a mysterious gunman who wasn't really there, right? :)

You can't prove it. ^_^

 > Sereba
 
 Serena

Yeah, missed that one.

 > BoomBoom chucked a handful of explosive red nodules at Sailor
 > Mercury, which bounced off of her big, blue 'fro, flew backward and
 > detonated right smack on the center of the same youma's face.
 
 Damn you! You made me visualize it again.

Nothing can penetrate the mystically-armored 'FRO!!! ^_^

 > Mercury raised her guitar and started playing it again.
 >
 > *VREOW!*VROW-VROEW!!!*
 
 Wow! It's just like Black Heaven, save that she isn't a middle aged
 ex-rocker.

^_^

 > "Disco," Mercury whispered in a powerful voice.
 >
 > "Disco is dead!"
 
 Thankfully. Bell bottoms still give me flashbacks, though.

I get this awful vacuum in the pit of my stomach whenever I see a combination
of bell-bottoms and all those hot-pink and hot-orange colors of that era...

 > *WROAAAAAAAAAAR!!!* A sparking, flaming whirlwind of water
 > swirled outward from Sailor Mercury, engulfing the entire horde and
 > ripping through it. For entire seconds, all of the girl's foes
 > slammed into each other while being burned and drowned and
 > electrocuted under the Water Scout's powers.
 
 Sounds like she's encrouching on Mars and Jupiter's turf all right.

Yeah, but she's just been through a lot in the past day or so. A little leeway
couldn't hurt... could it? ^_^

 > The unpowered girl dressed as Sailor Moon looked desperately
 > at where Nephrite had been standing. "Uhhh, could you, like, finish
 > them off for us, please, Neffy?" She paused. "Nephrite?"
 >
 > Nephrite had taken off running past their injured foes,
 > carrying Molly with him.
 
 A wise choice

When charging, there's a slight chance of getting impaled on a pike, though...

 > Doctor Samuel Beckett thought he was just having one of the
 
 I forgot he was in there.

And in this chapter I wanted to finally get him out...

 > worst nightmares in his entire life, but was rudely awakened to the
 > unpleasant knowledge that it wasn't a dream after all.
 >
 > First of all, judging by his outfit, he was still this girl,
 > Molly Baker. Sam looked around to see the tattered forms of a couple
 > dozen monstrosities that would have best been left in a horror film.
 
 A Grade-B one anyway.

True. ^_^

 > Some dramatic chords were struck in a major key as everyone's
 > gaze fixed on the figure that had thrown the rose. He stood on the
 > edge of a nearby roof, and he was brandishing a big, honkin' double-
 > bladed battle axe.
 
 Weapon upgrade, I see.

I asked around and most people didn't want to see Tuxy get any upgrades...

But afterwards, these people were cheering and saying, "Let 'em keep the axe!"

^_^

 > Tuxedo Mask cocked a grin at his foe and said, "You're next."
 > He pulled at his axe, trying to yank it out of the ground, but it
 > wouldn't budge.
 
 Heh. Oops/

Kull was suited to it, but Tux-boy here...

 > "Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Tuxedo Mask yelled, dodging the blows
 > while trying to avoid panicking.
 
 And obviously failing.

Quite obviously. ^_^

 > "Oh well," General said with a shrug, then flung the girl
 > over the railing.
 
 Heh. General is evil.

Wouldn't feel right blowing 'em up if he weren't. ^_^

 > "Maybe you'd have found a nice young man to settle down with
 > and get married. Yes, I can see such a weak, effeminate one such
 > as yourself seeking pleasure in that area almost immediately. Why,
 > you'd jump at the chance. Perhaps that's why you're fighting so hard
 > to get hold of that body. Bwah-hah-hah-haaaa!"
 
 Guardian: Oh pooh. He figured me out.

^_^

 > General smiled evilly and dusted his hands off, floating over
 > to watch the glowing blocks come out on a conveyor belt. "Ah,
 > Guardian Jadeite. What's wrong? Nothing left of you to come up with
 > a snappy retort?"
 
 I wanna see one of the bricks nail him in the head..

Technically, they're below 'em, but I'll see what I can do.

    General smiled evilly and dusted his hands off, floating over
to watch the glowing blocks come out on a conveyor belt. "Ah,
Guardian Jadeite. What's wrong? Nothing left of you to come up with
a snappy retort?"

    General Jadeite shook his head, chuckling to himself softly
at first, but soon burst out into a peel of intense, maniacal
laughter.

    *KABLAM!* Suddenly, the ingot machine exploded outward and
Guardian emerged, singed but intact with streams of molten iron
flowing past him.

    *WHACK!* In the process, a metal brick flew off of the conveyor
belt, slamming up against General's head, knocking him downward into
the floor. In the daze that resulted, the General was unable to react
when Guardian Jadeite strode forward and grabbed his neck with both
hands, squeezing with all his might.

    "YES," Guardian growled, "I WANT that body SOOO very badly!"

What do you think? Still needs work?

 > "That's not funny, Doctor!" 'Tim complained, pulling the sheet
 > off of his face.
 
 Oh, I was highly amused. And worse, I had an idea in the back of my mind
 this was going to happen.

---

    As he watched the occupied bed covered entirely with a large
sheet, Death continued to grin. It wasn't like he had much of a
choice.

    "Death came at twenty-one-hundred hours," the EMH said.

    AND I HAVEN'T LEFT SINCE.

    "Cause of death," the doctor continued, plunking the required
death certificate data into an electronic PADD, "lack of
intelligence." He looked at Ukkyo. "I'm sorry. He was," he shook his
head, "too stupid to live."

    "That's not funny, Doctor!" 'Tim complained, pulling the sheet
off of his face.

Any better? ^_^

 > Death continued to grin. Even though that was the only
 > expression he could maintain, he looked like he really meant it.
 > NO MORTAL MAY FIGHT ME AND WIN.
 
 Death:  STALEMATE, PERHAPS, BUT EVEN THEN IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY.

I like that line. I added it in.

 > Short of breath and eyes periodically unfocusing, 'Tim
 > fought to stabalize himself before saying, "Okay, try this one. I've
 > seen it done TONS of times."
 
 DEATH: SO HAVE I. IT NEVER WORKS.

I like that line too, so I'll add it in.

    Short of breath and eyes periodically unfocusing, 'Tim fought
to stabilize himself before saying, "Okay, try this one. I've seen
it done TONS of times." He cleared his throat. "Darkness beyond
twilight," he intoned, "crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in
the flow of time--"

    I HAVE SEEN IT MANY TIMES AS WELL. IT NEVER WORKS.

    'Tim stopped, then blinked at Death. "Of course it'll work!"
He paused again. "Won't it?"

 > "Let me put it this way," the doctor said, going through a
 > few items on a nearby screen. "Have you been experiencing any
 > odd symptoms lately? Shortness of breath, inability to focus,
 > racing pulse, mood swings, elevated temperature, weakness in the
 > joints, the sudden, uncontrollable urge to go up against the world?"
 
 'Tim: I've had that since I was created.

Hmmm....

    "Ummmm..." 'Tim hesitated. "Well, that last bit, ever since
the day I was created." He furrowed his brow. "Okay, give it to me
straight, Doc. What is it?"

 > "And you've also fallen deeply in love with a fourteen-year-
 > old blonde schoolgirl," the doctor added after a moment.
 >
 > "WHAT?!" both 'Tim and Ukkyo cried in unison.
 
 Yeah. Don't see Ukkyo caring for that.

For some reason, 'Tim doesn't like it all that much, either...

 > "AAAAARRRGGGHH!!!" Nephrite yelled, slapping the ground with
 > a free hand in a frantic attempt to ignore the pain as Molly
 > continued to yank on the sparking thorns in his shoulder. With all
 > her efforts, she'd managed to move them about three inches. There
 > yet remained about a foot and a half of evil jagged plant matter to
 > extract.
 
 Don't know as he'll be able to take much more.

^_^

 > All in all, the situation seemed pretty grim.
 >
 > Serena collapsed along with her friends when the shockwave hit
 > her. "I wish," she sniffed, "I wish the Starlight Knight was here."
 >
 > *KER-THWACKKKK!!!*ROAAAAAAAAAAR!!!* A thunderclap sounded and
 > a few dozen grenades imbedded themselves down Scream's throat.
 
 I think she's about to get her wish.

Hoo-yeah! ^_^

 > Zoicite held her head and stared in wide-eyed shock as the
 > rest of her death squad was systematically eliminated.
 
 Might be in her best interest to leave before SK runs out of youma and
 switches to generals.

But if she were that smart, then we couldn't include the Princess Bride 
reference
later. ^_^

 > "Aaaaaaaaaaah," the blonde general breathed weakly, crumpling
 > to the ground, holding her chest and writhing in pain as red bodily
 > fluids rapidly drained out of her in a large puddle beneath her.
 
 Hmm. Dispatching her quite easily, I see.

When he's in the mood, ASK is quite a warrior.

 > "Upstaged again," Tuxedo Mask muttered, shaking his head. He
 > sighed and snapped his fingers. "Oh well, there's always next
 > time..."
 
 To be upstaged again? Why, there's an infinite number of those. :)

^_^

 > "You're welcome," Molly breathed in a relieved, exhaused voice,
 > in a slightly sarcastic-yet-serious manner only achieved by such
 > great actors as Scott Bakula as she fell flat on her back.
 
 Hehehe. Nice touch

Thanks!

 > All we've got left is to tie up some loose ends.
 
 Quite a few, I thought.

Here's a couple, for starters:

    Nephrite watched his wounds attempt to seal themselves as the
spikes were withdrawn from his shoulder. They made progress, but
stopped after repairing only a small amount of the damage. He gazed
in surprise at the girl who had accomplished such a task. "You,"
he coughed, "did it..."

    "You're welcome," Molly breathed in a relieved, exhausted
voice, in a slightly sarcastic-yet-serious manner only achieved by
such great actors as Scott Bakula while she fell flat on her back.

    Nephrite leaned forward to lift and cradle the girl in his
arms. "Thank you," he whispered, ignoring the lingering pain in
his shoulder. As he continued to gaze at the girl, his eyes
widened. "Molly," he breathed, as if discovering the words for
the first time.

    The rest of the group, except for Sailor Moon, drew closer
to listen to the conversation.

...

    "Molly," Nehprite repeated, a faint smile coming to his lips.

    Al touched a few buttons on the hand-link device, moving
nearer to Doctor Beckett. His expression mirrored the surprise
Nephrite was going through. "Sam! This is amazing! You're not
gonna believe this!"

    "At this point," Sam replied in a soft, exhausted voice, "I'd
be willing to believe practically anything."

    "Maxfield Stanton--Nephrite is Molly's FATHER!"

    Nephrite's expression continued to soften and his smile grew.
"Molly..."

    Sam's jaw dropped. "You're right, Al. I don't believe it."

    "He's remembering just now," Al explained. "Ziggy says he's
been through some pretty thorough brainwashing, so he's just now
started to remember!"

    "I never thought I'd see you again," Nephrite added, hugging
Sam tighter.

    "But she's been here with you the whole time," the girl with
the blue hair noted in slight confusion. Her name was Amy, Sam
remembered.

    Dr. Beckett cocked a smile at Amy. "Well, not like now, he
hasn't."

    "This is what you came here to do!" Al announced, gesturing
toward the data coming through on his hand-link. "You weren't just
here to save the guy's life! You came to reunite him with his
familiy and remind him who his daughter is!"

    "Glad to see you too, Dad," Sam sighed, smiling back at
the man who was holding him.

    The eyes of Serena, Amy, and Raye went wide. The mouth of
the one in the tuxedo went wide "Dad?!" they exclaimed in shock.

    Nephrite closed his eyes and placed his shoulder on Sam's.
"Molly..." Tears flowed down his cheeks. The edges of his wound
glowed a bright white and started to close together.

    "Nephrite's love for Molly is healing him!" Serena awed.

    In another moment, the hole punctured in Nephrite's shoulder
had completely disappeared.

    "Thus it would seem," the man in the black tuxedo added, "that
while through love one may endure many great hardships, and the
journey is long, the price is but a pittance when compared to the
wonders that will follow."

    The long-ponytailed blonde stared at him for a second. "Wow,
Darien. That wasn't half bad..."

    Darien cleared his throat. "Err, yes, well, I've been taking
poetry classes. It's a general education requirement for my degree."
He grinned at the girl. "Not that you'll ever know about college."

    Serena's expression fell into a pout. "Ooooh, youuuuu!"

    "So why haven't I leaped yet?" Sam Beckett whispered to Al.

    "If you want to reuinite the family," Al replied, "you've gotta
remember that there's one more person who needs to know about this
guy."

    "Oh. Right," Sam breathed, then turned toward Nephrite, putting
his feet on the ground and helping both of them stand. "Come on, Dad.
Let's go home."

    Nephrite nodded and sighed happily. "Yeah, I'd like that."

    "Not going to say goodbye to your old employers?" Sam asked,
his voice full of irony.

    The tall man with brown hair smirked. "Heh. For all I care,
that lady can just kiss my great, big--"

    "AHEM!" Rei cleared her throat.

    "--furry donkey," Nephrite made some last minute changes to his
dialogue, grinning sheepishly as he did so.

    Sam smiled. "Good for you. I'm glad."

    *Vrrrrr-shwish!* And then the familiar light-blue electrical
lighting effect enveloped the time-traveler, obscuring completely the
view of his surroundings.

...

    When the light cleared, he found himself standing with his arms
held behind his back and wearing a pair of thin-lensed glasses.

    Pushing the spectacles up against the bridge of his nose with
one finger, he took in his surroundings. He stood in some sort of
control room overlooking what looked like a large submarine bay.
Only, the water was red and instead of a submarine, the head and
shoulders of a giant robot poked out of the liquid. The robot's
hand was raised out of the water with several broken cables
protrusing from its arm.

    On a walkway near the robot were four people. Two women stood
on one side, and a young man held a severly injured girl in his
arms.

    "All right!" the boy cried, his voice coming through the room's
speakers. "I'll pilot it!"

    This just keeps getting better and better, Sam thought with
a sigh of confusion. "Oh boy..." 

---

    Near the outskirts of Tokyo, a manhole began to shake and
tremble as someone below it forced it upwards.

    In another instant, the metal cover shot spinning dozens of
meters into the air before finally landing a few feet away.

    Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld, in that order, sprang out of the
sewer system, panting in exhaustion.

    *THWAP-THWAP!* "BACK! BACK! DOWN! DOWN! GET AWAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

    Skuld, wearing only a wooden barrel with brown suspenders and
carrying a broken wooden oar with "Baka" inscribed in glowing letters
on it, beat back a host of suction-cupped and other assorted
tentacles while the other two goddesses worked on an enchantment to
banish the evil monsters that had been tormenting them nonstop for
the past few hours.

    Finally, the tentacle monsters vanished in a wash of blinding
white light, allowing the Norns to take a much-needed breather.

    "The Really Nasty Program(tm)," confirmed Urd with a nod.

    "He wasn't," Skuld panted, dropping her oar and falling to
her knees, "supposed to be able to do that sort of thing..."

    "You of all people should have known," Urd noted, adjusting
the few scraps of string and canvas that currently served her as a
barely modest bikini. "I mean, it WAS you who granted him a wish a
while back."

    Belldandy remained silent, too traumatized by the whole
experience to care about any conversation or her tattered outfit.

    Skuld looked at her eldest sister. "No he wasn't! I've never
granted a wish to anyone who..." She paused as part of her mind found
the forgotten memory reel, dusted it off, gingerly hooked it up to
the projecter, and watched the old events unfold over a bag of
popcorn and a fizzy soda.

*Chk!*Wrrrrr!*

    [Playing transmission: Thank you for calling the Relief
Goddess Office. We will send someone over immediately,] the main
computer's overly cheerful voice beamed. [Sugoi!] it whispered so
no one could hear. [We can get service all the way out to Jupiter?
Maybe I can get the ramchips in my core replaced, too! Tee-hee!]

    The Cranial-Traumatized, Ultra-Cute, Super-Deformed, Kawaii-
kenned Atomic Starlight Knight picked up the hot water on the
replicator and poured it on himself, at once regaining his previous
height.

    As the last bit of water fell, a young girl dressed as a
goddess suddenly appeared out of it and landed in the tall man's
arms. She screamed and whacked ASK on the head with a croquet
mallet.

    "OW!" A.S.K. said, rubbing his head. "Why did you have to
go and do that?!" He paused as if noticing something. After the
short inner conversation ended, he smiled at the girl who was now
in a defensive posture on the other side of the room.

    "I don't know how YOU got selected for a wish, Destroyer of
Worlds," Skuld said, swinging her weapon menacingly in order to
make sure he stayed back, "and I'm CONVINCED that Yggdrasil is
malfunctioning!"

    "Yggdrasil?" A.S.K. asked. After a moment, his eyes lit up.
"Oh! The computer that runs the universe." He nodded. "Yeah,
computers do that sometimes." He pulled out his sword and leaned
against it as if it were a cane. "As they say: To err is human, but
to REALLY mess up, you need a computer."

    Skuld would not be fooled by such an apparently friendly
communication. This man was pure evil and had to be treated as such.
"Let's get this over with. I am a Goddess, and *YOU*," she said, her
voice dripping with venom, "get a wish."

    A.S.K. paused and looked at the ceiling as he considered this.
Finally, he looked back at the young, cute, and brilliant goddess.
"A wish? What can I wish for?"

    "Anything," Skuld said carefully.

    An evil grin came to A.S.K.'s lips. "Well, then! I wish to
destroy the Uni(CLOMP)mrfe!" he tried to say, but was stopped when
Skuld deftly snapped her hands over his mouth.

    "Don't even think about it," the goddess warned, narrowing
her eyes.

    "But you said I could wish for anything!" A.S.K. complained
as Skuld removed her hands from his mouth.

    Skuld pulled out a damp sterile cloth and wiped her hands off
in disgust. "Isn't there anything ELSE you want besides that?!" she
asked, desperate to keep this man's evil from spreading. "A new pair
of combat boots? Your computer fixed? Some more armor polish? A
restaurant?"

    "A restaurant?" A.S.K. pondered. "Hmm, sometimes I wish I had
one of those."

    Skuld breathed a VERY relieved sigh as the energy required to
grant the wish poured through her, rewriting reality to a small
extent. A new door appeared on a wall.

    "Wish granted," the young goddes said with a satisfied nod.
She looked trumphantly over at the former galactic destroyer. "You
now _sometimes_ have a restaurant. Goodbye." She glanced down and
noticed that the puddle of hot water was still there. She stepped
into it and vanished.

    "*Sometimes* have a restaurant?" the Atomic Starlight Knight
asked rhetorically. He glanced sideways at a nearby panel and asked,
"Computer, report!"

*RRRRRK!*RIIIP!!!*

    As the metaphysical film broke in Skuld's mind and the popcorn
ran out, she went pale and whispered, "Oh no. He was part of the
Galactic Destroyer!" She paused, a puzzled expression forming on her
face. "But I thought I remembered him being a bit taller. And why in
the world would he dye his hair pink?!"

    "It's how he looks as sort of a regular human being," Urd
explained. "He didn't have that way back when he signed his name
using three periods. Now he uses those little squiggly marks and
calls himself 'Tim most of the time." She rolled her eyes. "Besides,
turning guys into girls is serious business and can REALLY mess
people up if you're not careful." She shrugged. "It's a lot of fun,
but I wouldn't have gone along with it unless I was pretty sure
nobody would miss the guy."

    Skuld's jaw dropped. "Hey! How did you find out about all
that?"

    "I checked out his profile on Yggdrassil and clicked on the
'More Info' button. Why, didn't you?"

    Skuld glanced around nervously, as if looking for an escape
route. "Ummm..."

    Urd tossed her hair back over one shoulder. "It explained
the whole thing: His connection to that nice girl, Terra Incognito,
his past life in the Moon Kingdom, being galactic destroyer, and I
read a little from his second book. If he's trained in even a third
of those moves he goes on about so much, he's gotta be some TOUGH
kind of fighter. On a good day, he might even give Thor a run for
his money."

    "He's not THAT tough!" Skuld complained, then hunkered down
under the gaze of her sister and pouted for a little while. She asked
softly, "Well, all right. But if you knew it was THAT big of a risk,
then why did you go along with it?!"

    Urd shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." She
thought about that a little more. "Actually, it looked like a
horrible idea, but it sounded like fun. In his profile, there were
TONS of juicy bits on how both his marriages turned out and it even
went on about his daughter, Lynne." Urd chuckled in her usual ultra-
confident manner. "He's a basket case. Pretty much anything would
have been an improvement."

    Skuld muttered a magical incantation in order to restore her
clothes. Her outfit reappeared in a twirl of light and a puff of
smoke.

    "So," Urd began, "what do you want to do now?"

    The youngest goddess clenched a hand into a fist. "I'm gonna
GET that guy for hurting us!"

    Urd shook her head. "It WAS your idea to go after him in the
first place." She looked over to Belldandy. "Say, what do you
think we should do?"

    Belldandy looked at the other two with a stricken expression.
"I can't believe this has happened. I feel so _wrong_!"

    Skuld nodded, her eyes welded shut. "Yeah! That's what I
thought." She took up an aggressive stance. "So it's settled. Let's
power up and take this jerk out!"

    "I called him a pansy!" Belldandy cried. "I feel terrible!"
She stood up and started to walk off with a very determined stride.
"I have to apologize to him--Right now!"

    "B-but, no!" Skuld whined, following after the brunette. "Don't
you remember what he did to us?! We've GOTTA stop him from doing
anything else!"

    "He must think I'm so rude!" Belldandy whispered to herself,
her eyes full of tears. "This is awful!"

    "B-B-B-BUT!!!" Skuld protested loudly.

    "I have to do this, Skuld," Belldandy sobbed. "It's the right
thing to do!"

    "But he was hurting us!"

    "Only because I insulted him." The middle sister took Skuld
by the hand. "Come with me. We have to say that we're sorry."

    Skuld struggled against Belldandy's grip, crying out in a
confused voice, "SORRY?!?! You want ME to say I'm sorry to HIM?!"

    Belldandy nodded, dabbing her eyes with a scrap of canvas.

    Urd shook her head and chuckled to herself and recreated her
clothes before going after them. "Besides, I already know how things
are going to turn out for him. And I'm not going to do _anything_
to try and stop it." She sighed, wistfully thinking of all the
terrible things that she knew would happen to the one that dared
beat up on her. "I can wait to see that."

---

I guess you could say I'm tinkering with expanding the epilogue a bit, so
I can include a bit more Ranma and the others before I seal the chapter and
call it done.

 > Tell me, would you prefer it if I ended the entire series at the
 > end of 18/18, or would you like the saga to continue in its typical
 > absurd manner? ^_^
 
 Nah. It's working. Keep going until you feel the end come upon you.  Nice
 work, as always.

Thank you very much. I've got an end in mind a ways down the road, so I'll
work toward that.

Again, thanks a bunch for your help on this!

-------------------------------
Benjamin A. Oliver
boredcollective@aol.com

    "We are the Bored. Lower your shields and surrender your fics.
     We will add your standup and slapstick comedy to our own.
     Your humor will adapt to entertain us.
     Resistance is and always has been: Futile."

Collective works available at:
http://rakhal.com/florestica/ben-oliver/index.html

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