And here we go again:

    After nearly of an hour of quiet chatting, both Ranma and Yakumo
finally succumbed to sleep.

    And dreamed.

Ranma: Oh, Yakumo.

Yakumo: Oh, Ranma.

Ranma: Oh, Yakumo!

Yakumo: Oh, Ranma!

Ranma: OH, YAKUMO!

Yakumo: OH, RANMA!

Everyone else on the bus: Stop talking in your sleep, you disgusting
perverts!

    His shout echoed through the vast, echoing

two 'echoes' close together.

    She had not been there when he had first arrived, but he had learned
to expect as much from the dreams. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

    "I am Amatera Omiki, Higurashi-sama," she replied, curtsying low.
Straightening, she added, "I would advise that you be quiet, though. I
do not know how much I can hide from the lady who this hall belongs to."

Tokimi; Nothing, but it amuses me to allow you to think you can hide from
me. Do continue.

    Unused to the lavish apartments that had been bestowed upon him when
he was handed the title of 'Emperor,' Tenchi did not entirely feel
comfortable in the old Emperor's oversized bed.

There were stains in the sheets he seriously did not want to think about.


It was large enough that

it could comfortably allow three of

or

 four of himself to sprawl about and

not be able to reach one another.

    Thinking about why a bed would be so large didn't comfort him much
either, and as a result he had taken to sleeping on a couch in a sitting
room connected to the official bedchamber.

It was only four times the size of a normal couch, which made it just like
his bed back home.

The sitting room was large

enough that it put the living room of the Masaki home on Earth to shame.

I would think the Emperor's toilet would put the Masaki living room to
shame. :)

since past. "Meeting with Seiryo," he mumbled to himself. "Delegates
from the Galaxy Police to discuss common laws that the Galaxy Police and
the Empire of Jurai will agree to enforce within Juraian space." And
more, he knew, that he couldn't remember at the moment.

    "Ugh," he grumbled, sitting up and swinging his legs off of

can drop 'of'

 the

couch to stand on the soft carpeting. He scratched at one arm absently,
glancing around the room. The clothes that he had been given to sleep in
were not to his liking,

Really, how could one expect to sleep in a clown outfit? It was ridiculous,
traditional grab be damned.

    Funaho nodded her understanding, sipping at her tea, while Misaki
sat stiffly, managing a terse nod. "Are you sure that you do not wish
Ayeka to be here?" Jakugo asked softly. "And perhaps, your successor
also?

A successor to Tsunami? How would that be? She's pretty unique.

    Tsunami felt her smile fading, and sighed, bowing her head again.
"I'm... neither. And both," she said hesitantly. "I am _of_ Tsunami and
Sasami, but not wholly either. I suppose this is very difficult for you."

    "Yes," Misaki said instantly,

Not really surprising, though.

    Jakugo watched with undisguised interest, a subtle hand-gesture from
him sending the attending servant to refill the tea.

    "Divinity?" Tsunami asked, frowning. "I'm.... I'm a real person,
Funaho, Misaki."

Tsunami: A demi-god, at least.

    Misaki sighed, calming herself visibly. She was probably pleased
that Tsunami had taken the first step towards allowing her to disavow a
relationship between them.

Why would that please her?

    Blinking away forming tears, Tsunami offered a shrug. "Yes," she
said simply. It wasn't true, of course, but it was the answer that
Misaki obviously wanted to hear. It was far easier for her to think of
her daughter dying as a sacrifice than changing in such a manner.

I wouldn't think so. Children change. Misaki would realize that, though this
is far from the standard way. I still contend she would accept that, at
least in time.

    "By your leave, Misaki-san, Funaho-san," Tsunami mumbled, rising,
and offering each of the women a polite nod.

Methinks Tsunami is being rather pessimistic about this whole thing.

    Tsunami blinked, frowning. Her own tree-self could only distantly
remember Astar-oh's pain before its life was extinguished, crying out to
the nearest ship for help before it perished. And that ship had been
Saryu-oh, which remembered the wreckage clearly enough, and more
clearly, rescuing the man from the void of space before his life support
failed.

Who, Jakugo?

    She shuddered at the memory. Saryu-oh was not far away, orbiting
above the planet with many other ships in the Home Fleet. Of his crew,
Jakugo was the only to survive.

Okay. That clears that up.

 >

    "Not at all!" Jakugo exclaimed, shaking his head quickly. "Tenchi is
as much a Masaki as I am, and I wish nothing more than the Empire to be
ruled by those most capable -- and that's us. I'm quite sure that he'll
do more good than evil for Jurai before his reign ends."

Heh. Not a nice way to put it.

    ***

    Funaho regarded Misaki levelly, dismissing the servant after Tsunami
left with Jakugo. "That wasn't very kind," she informed the other woman.

    "Neither were you," Misaki snapped. "Goddess of Jurai or not, she's
not my daughter."

More like she's everything her daughter was and more. Again this seems
awfully short-sighted.

    Lacing her fingers together beneath her chin and frowning, Funaho
hesitantly said, "This is not entirely news, I'd suppose, but rumor has
it that Washuu has some guardian, from Earth. A Terran native would
likely be more amiable to Tenchi's cause, but it's difficult to gain
information on him."

Why would she think a terran would make for a signifigant 'ally' for Tenchi?
I would think she's referring more to those that run planets and star
systems when saying Tenchi needs allies, not individuals.

    Funaho nodded, settling back into her chair and staring upwards,
deep in thought. "Yes, that's the one."

    "Physical power is not political power," Misaki noted.

Exactly

    "Tsunami seems reluctant to support Tenchi herself," Funaho said
quietly. "Or Tenchi is reluctant to ask her for support because it might
be seen as a sign of weakness. If that's his thinking, I applaud it,
because he's right. However, if he's allied with someone who the goddess
of Jurai supports openly, it garners him that much more support without
making him look weak for it, especially if it's through an outsider."

I don't know about that, but we'll let it slide. :)

    "Very funny," the figure remarked, leveling a massive steel fist
towards him. An unfriendly-looking gun-barrel popped out of the wrist of
the armor, directed at Tenchi. He swore softly, and dodged to his right
before suddenly reversing his direction, rebounding off of a large
dresser moments before a number of nearly silent rounds from the
hand-cannon reduced the furnishing to rubble.

Ah, his first assassination attempt. He's learning more about what it takes
to be the Emperor every day. :)

    Swearing under his breath, Tenchi leapt to his feet and slashed
across his opponent with his sword, yelling, "Guards!" The cloak parted
beneath the Tenchi-ken's assault, falling to the floor, but the blade
rebounded harmlessly from the armor itself.

That's really not good.

    And not a moment too-soon, as one of the massive feet of the armored
figure crushed into his chest and flung him across the room. He impacted
roughly with the far wall, and slumped to the floor, crouching low. The
pain wasn't unbearable, merely extreme. "Guards!" he yelled again,
gasping, Rolling to one side, he used the Tenchi-ken to create a
protective barrier as another salvo of the nearly silent rounds flew
across the distance between him and his assailant, destroying more of
the furnishings in the already devastated room.

On the bright side, he now has room to use the assassin's head as a wall
decoration once he's done with him. :)

    Unsteadily reclaiming his feet, Tenchi threw himself at the door,
obstructing the assailant's face as it was, and rammed the Tenchi-ken
forward to stab easily through it, and into the armored figure with a
far greater deal of resistance. Yelling savagely, he rolled onto his
back, tucking his in

tucking his what 'in'?

    "Flechette rounds will still get you," the attacker mumbled,

HIs attacker does seem prone to mumbling, doesn't he?

    Recovering himself, and sparing no time for the as-of-yet unhealed
wound on his arm Tenchi charged forward, knowing that Ryouko was already
battling whoever his assailant was. "Aw, crap," he distantly heard,
recognizing it as being the voice of the attacker through the suit's
speakers.

I'd say that's an understatement. :)

    "I didn't think any of them would agree to a job like this, really,"
Ryouko mumbled,

More mumbling. Use a different word for some of those mumbles.

 not even glancing aside as the corridor filled with a

silent, noiseless explosion of light, kept at bay by Azaka and Kamidake.

Took him a while to explode. :)

"Whoever sent him had to know he would fail.

Err, he almost didn't fail. I think they're being wee bit generous about
Tenchi here.

    Misaki rounded on Ryouko the second that Ayeka and Funaho were out
of sight, fuming, "You're supposed to be my successor, Ryouko! It's
going to be your duty as the Supreme Commander of the Royal Bodyguard to
protect Tenchi-sama. Where were you?"

There is that.

    Hanging his head, Tenchi sighed. "Okay. Well, since we don't know
who sent the assassin at us

drop 'at us'

=>     Unsettled from a dream he remembered far too well for his own

liking, Yakumo woke, staring about with some confusion. The girl at his
side, sleeping against him, head resting in his lap was not Pai, which
simultaneously disappointed and pleased him. That she wasn't there meant
she was safe from the current threat. That she wasn't there also meant
that she could be in danger from some other threat that Yakumo couldn't
hope to counter.

Like boredom. :)

    Yakumo smiled weakly. "Morning," he returned. "What's the plan for
the day?"

    "Keep on moving, I guess." Ranma struggled to stand, but the
younger-looking redhead -- the one with shorter hair, thought

though

I'd actually drop 'though...long' It seems unessasary. We know the length of
Washuu's hair isn't short.

 it was

still quite long --

    "Fine. Who do I take with me?" he grumbled. "It's just going to make
it harder if I find a bunch of people who need to be brought back."

    "I'll go with you," Yakumo offered, standing slowly, stretching his
muscles out as he did so.

True. He can hang with Ranma. :)

    "Nyima," Yakumo answered, shrugging. "Spent a few months learning
Wang Chung Kung Fu."

Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wang Chung tonight. ")

    "Right. Ran-oh-ki senses a reaver not too far away, and a couple of
people underground pretty close by. They're probably hiding from it."

    "And it's not attacking them because it wants to lure us in," Yakumo
said, nodding slowly. "Makes sense. There's two of us, what can a single
reaver do?"

    "We're about to find out," Ranma mumbled, tensing his shoulders and
drawing his sword.

Yep. It does seem rather underpowered for the reavers.

else took advantage of the opportunity to stretch and eat.

    A not-quite-vacuum sealed sandwich package sat in her lap, obviously
wrapped at a lower altitude, as the plastic was bulging outwards. A
similar sandwich had been gathered for Yakumo, and sat next to a pair of
juice cans, but Ami's attention was focused on her computer. Washuu too
consulted her terminal, one of the stray leads linked to Nuku's
ear-sensors, while the scientist explained, "Finding something for you
to eat is easy, Nuku-chan, but finding something that's _good_ for you
is going to be a more difficult problem. You're going to need to have
most of your systems replaced when I have the time."

ie: Upgraded. :)

    Ami realized she was allowing herself to be distracted, and turned
her attention to her computer as it beeped loudly, warning of something.
Keys flew to buttons from long memory, swiftly retrieving a window to
explain what the alarm was about. "Oh!" she exclaimed, surprised. "We
have company!"

    "What kind of company?" Washuu asked, glancing over curiously.

    "I'm not sure," she admitted, frowning.

The bad kind, lately. :)

    Sighing, Yakumo trotted towards the house, pausing as an eerie
warning sensation reverberated through his spine. He and Ranma exchanged
a glance, Ranma's partner leaping across the intervening distance to
land in Ranma's outstretched hand before running back to Yakumo. Low to
the ground, and some distance north, a massive red ball of fire was
barreling towards them, streaks of faint vapor spreading upwards from
behind it.

    "That ain't good," Ranma noted sourly,

Nope. I should say it ain't.

    For the briefest moment, Yakumo thought that Ranma had stopped the
projectile, but in truth it halted for only a heartbeat, before Ranma's
wall of power dissipated, cracking like a pane of crystal. The resultant
backlash flung Ranma backward with explosive force, before Yakumo's
eyesight vanished in a blinding flash of searing fire and light.

Now that was powerful.

    Flesh boiling away from the intense heat, Yakumo was only able to
dimly hope that Ran-oh-ki was protected by Chin-Kuu before the
all-too-familiar sensation of death overtook him.

Death: Sticking around this time?

Yakumo: No. Sorry. Have to go back to life.

Death: I'll be waiting. It is what I do, after all.

    Ami, however, fretted constantly, unsure of what to do and watching
the readings of the Galaxy Police cruisers from her laptop. Washuu's own
terminal was displaying a square of static, Mihoshi being somehow unable
to be reached for comment, as the remaining twenty five Galaxy Police
cruisers all locked into a neat orbit, waiting on orders from their
squadron commander.

    Who was unavailable at the moment.

Heh

    "Oh no," she groaned. "We don't have time-- Defenses, people! Dive
for cover!" she yelled, disabling her console and converting what power
she had available to her to a defensive shield. It would only be able to
stop so much before the entire reserves that she needed to power her
computer were drained, but it would be better than allowing everyone to
be destroyed by the incoming vessel.

I'll say.

    ***

    Careening through the atmosphere of the Earth, unsure of her bearing
and orientation, Mihoshi scrabbled desperately at the control panel,
yelping worriedly as the ship slammed through a barrier of blue force.

Oh, so it was her.

    He only managed to eke out, "What the heck is going on, here?"
before the ship lurched again, and his hands reflexively flew to the
manual steering levers. "What the-- how does this thing work?"

    "Activating tutorial function," Yukinojo notified them, sounding
almost relieved as instructions flashed across the viewscreen.

    "Tutorial? Is this a spaceship?"

Ahh. Now it makes sense.

    "Don't know," Nuku said. "He disappeared."

    "Lovely. Where's Ranma?" Shaking her head at her distraction, she
tapped her wrist to the bracelet there, and asked, "Ranma? Where are you?"

Recovering from being hard-boiled, no doubt.

    "What?" Ranma asked, shaking his head. Ran-oh-ki was a short
distance away, unhurt, but severely rattled. Teleporting to his side,
Ranma allowed the creature to scurry into the sleeves of his robes and
hide there, shivering. "The reaver here is moving towards -- shit. I
think I can take two birds out with one stone."

Heh. Maybe he can.

    He pointedly ignored the smoking corpse that remained of Yakumo;

That's awkward. I'd reword it.

    "Gotta learn how to do this," the man muttered under his breath.
"Gotta study. Study! Study! Okay, show me how to do it, and let's get
this done!"

Heh. True. Oe can adapt to just about anything.

    "Yeah," Mihoshi added weakly. "Why not?"

    "Do you plan to let him pilot your ship, Mihoshi?"

    "Sure!" she said, nodding quickly. "He did a good job!"

Good point.

    Yakumo smirked wryly. "Funny thing is that it hurts less after a
while. You stop noticing the pain.

Heh. I guess it just stops bothering you when you get a lot of it. :)

    "I see," Washuu muttered. "Hello, Oe-san. I didn't recognize you
when you knocked Atsuko to safety. Can you pilot that craft?"

    "Yes!" he said, nodding quickly. "It's quite educational, really."

Give him a week and access to Washuu's computer, and he could probably
outsmart her. :)

    Washuu raised an eyebrow at that. "What did you bring?"

    "Fifty Galaxy Police shock-troops!" Mihoshi exclaimed proudly. "And
some weapons for you, too! Where should we send them?"

I would say that could prove most useful indeed. :)

    Washuu smirked, waggling a finger at Ranma. "I didn't have the time
to make them, and they're complicated enough that the Galaxy Police
themselves only have a few. What they do is create a beam that drains
all of the heat-energy from a target and dissipates it into the
surrounding air. I could explain how, but we're a little short on time.
To make a long story short, they'll freeze the reavers and take all of
their normal heat out of them."

That'll work for a while.

    "I'm not so sure about that," Yakumo remarked. "I don't know what it
is, but the reavers already have a way to counter cold.

But this sounds slightly different. One would hope it works, though.

    "I think that Ranma shouldn't be on this planet and fighting
reavers," Washuu said quietly. "I think he should be living a normal
life, away from this mess."

But that would apply to everyone. So it's not really relavent, IMO.

    Washuu eyed the much shorter woman. "I meant at fighting the
reavers. But that's aside from the point. Where else could Ranma go,
anyway? He hasn't got anyone who's not here, does he?"

A lot of people are like that now.

    "Well, there are his fiancees," Cologne mused. "One of whom is my
own great-granddaughter." Washuu flinched at that,

Why? Does she think Shampoo looks like Cologne?

 prompting the old

woman to mask a smirk. "But they're somewhat out of reach at the moment,
and I do not know if they would be able to handle the changes that he's
been through."

    The redhead nodded somberly, sighing again. "It's always something,"
she said quietly. "The point is that there's nothing we can do at the
moment."

    "Maybe something," Cologne said, smiling pleasantly. "We getting

We're

    Cologne looked away, staring thoughtfully at a descending shaft of
light, headed for a point some hundred and more meters distant.
"Probably one of the most dangerous men on Earth," she managed after a
minute.

    "And this is a good thing how?

'Dangerous' means powerful and 'men' means he's not a reaver, which makes
them his enemy.

    While her original plan had been to offer a help

drop 'a'

allow Ranma to glow

grow

    Which was good, to a degree. Warriors should be warriors, but not
nothing _but_ warriors.

Actually they should be just that until the battle is won. Then its okay to
relax.

Glad I finally got to this. Helps fill in some of the holes only reading
part 2 made. :) Not many grammar errors I could detect. Nice work, overall.

D.B. Sommer





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