And returning to this as I said I would:

This would have been released sooner, but I had to drive all the way
across the country and back before I could take care of this.

Sorry for the delay!

Ditto. On the bright side, only 2 more Novermbers to do.

Process of Elimination -- Chapter Six


Important: I made a few errors in chapter 5. Michiru and Haruka
(Neptune and Uranus) weren't supposed to be there for the fight
Ranma had against the reavers. Kinda explains why they didn't react
much, huh? Aside from that, just before Hotaru destroyed one of the
reavers with a Silence Glaive Surprise, I mistakenly referred to
Ranma's gem as blue, when it should have been green then.

Makes sense. BTW, you might want to consider breaking these larger chapters
into smaller pieces to people can C+C them more easily.

Grunting, he walked to the edge of the nearest chasm, peering into
it. Fifty meters wide, and beneath the warm sun the bottom was still
obscured in darkness. What was illuminated was more of the serrated
granite and basalt that lay scattered about, and nothing else.

"Well," he said aloud, more to break the stillness than any hope of a
response, "it's hot, but at least it's a dry heat."

Heh

Only to remember that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He grimaced, but
looking down, found he actually was wearing a shirt. The white
Chinese shirt and the blue pants he was most fond of.

Hmm. Sounds like a dream sequence.

Blasting a violent path through the maelstrom, and halting only after
it struck the spinning air around him, a corridor formed, clear of
dust and debris. He looked up apprehensively, eyes tracking across
the scoured earth and onward, to the small heap of head-sized
stones. "Greetings," the soft voice said again. Not in the manner of
someone who is gentle, but in the manner of someone who was afraid
of breaking whoever it was they were speaking with.

Interesting way of putting it.

He stopped at the edge of the storm, which had risen in intensity
until a low grinding noise penetrated the shield. Ranma swallowed
nervously, asking, "So, uh, what's the deal, then?"

She leapt from the stones, drifting serenely down to the ground at
Ranma's side. She eyed him appraisingly, walking around him in a
small circle. The wind's protection expanded to allow her to do so,
and he growled, turning to face her. "And what the hell is it with
women walking around me like that, huh? What am I to you -- a piece
of meat, or something?" he snapped abruptly.

Girl: Worth about $5.50 a pound my my reckoning.

She ignored him until her circuit was complete, then hopped daintily
back to her perch of stone. Cocking her head to one side, she said,
"That is precisely what you are. Look at yourself, child. A pathetic
creature of meat and bone. How can you compare to a perfect being
such as I?"

"Cause I got rythem." Ranma began to dance,

Grumbling, Ranma relaxed, shaking his head. "Yeah, what do you want?
To kill me? I get that from time to time." His eyes narrowed
suddenly. "You better not want to marry me," he warned. "That's just
right out."

Heh.

He stared at his feet, ankle deep in the thick green flora. He ran a
hand through the grass at his feet, confirming his speculations. His
hands simply passed through it. If he were to step further forward,
he would likely subject himself to the veritable meat-grinder of the
sandstorm. Looking behind himself, he beheld the woman, still
perched atop her rock pile. "Okay," he said slowly, "what is this
supposed to mean to me? You're not answering my questions."

Girl: I have to be vague. If I told you everything right out, it wouldn't be
fun in the least.

Light poured from its point of origin, the single brightly glowing
point,

'point's close together. I'd change one.

thick and flowing like honey, to spread outward, slowly

gathered into the point of darkness in swirling eddies and currents.
"That," the woman said, indicating the light, "is the domain of my
youngest sister. She does not concern me, for her realm will enter
mine and be finished. It is of no import."

Then why bring it up? :)

Ranma scratched his head, then shrugged. "Okay," he said. "I guess.
But why are you showing me this?"

"Because," the woman explained to him in the same patronizing tone,
"you are mine, to do with as I please."

Ranma: I see, so you must want me to give you the finger like this.
(promptly sticks out his middle finger towards her)

He staggered to his knees, feeling his flesh slowly strip away, his
insides shifting and warping.

"Hmm," she mused. "When they fashioned you they made a mistake. For
each is allowed only one. And in making you, they created you for
anyone... and that one shall be me."

Ranma; Jinkies. It's another woman after me.

"Oh?" the woman asked. "It is true that I cannot force your hand...
but consider this, child. Your world will perish under the onslaught
of what is assaulting it. You may perish, as well." She grinned at
that. "And if you do perish at my pets' hands, then you will be mine
anyway.

Oh ho. So the Reavers are hers? Interesting.

Dead silence ruled the wasteland, and the woman's face twitched with
vexation. Intoning deeply, and eyeing Ranma with nothing but
contempt and disgust, she said, "Then your world will perish, and
you will fall, and then you will be mine anyway. You are not given a
choice in the matter."

Ranma: Well, a wise fellow once said, 'a man can't choose his destiny, but
he can always fight against it.'

***

Ranma lay tangled with her -- and Nuku, somehow -- on the captain's
bed. She had asked for it for Ranma, and hadn't intended to stay
herself. Her plans had included avoiding sleep to work on devices
that could make a difference in the battle against the reavers. Not
having Ranma pull her onto the bed and knock her out.

Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo: Oh, if only our plans had gone awry that way.

Had she been planning on it, she could have switched herself for a
doll easily.

A Barbie one with a larger bust, though Ranma would probably never know the
difference.

Washuu winced. "Still loyal? I'm envious, Ranma. Whoever you end up
with is going to be a lucky woman indeed.

Biiko Diamatku: And thus he shall be mine. Ohhohohoho.

Ranma twitched once, then bolted upright so strongly that he wrenched
himself free of Nuku, and slammed into the ceiling with a resounding
'whang'. "Ung," he grunted.

"Time to go back to sleep," as his eyes rolled back into his head.

briefly when he had dozed in the command chair. He had loaned his
room to the redheaded scientist, when she had asked for a place to
put Ranma. In truth, more room could have been found more easily
elsewhere, but Norris had wanted to keep a careful eye on the redheads.

The smaller one was dangerous.

Nah, they're all dangerous. She's just the most dangerous of the lot.

Shaking his head, he rose. He commanded the battle group, let the
captain manage the ship.

Besides, Captain's don't like people trying to command their vessels. They
command the vessels. The will obey commands from their superiors, but the
captain runs the ship.

Listening to a few last-minute

informational updates, he walked towards his own rooms.

room

Ranma raised an eyebrow in reply. "Oh?" she asked.

Washuu nodded knowingly. "Yes," she stated. "I'm perfectly capable of
deciding when I should sleep."

Frowning, Nuku cocked her head to one side. "So it's okay for
Washuu-mama-san to put Ranma-papa-san to sleep, but it's not okay
for papa-san to put mama-san to sleep?"

Washuu: Absolutely. It's called a double-standard.

Washuu's smile disappeared immediately. "Oh," she said in a small
voice. "That's, um, true. Er... I suppose I had it coming to me,
anyway." Wincing, she asked, "You're not upset with me, are you?"

Ranma hesitated, considering that for a long moment. In all truth,
she couldn't have done more in his

probably ought to be 'her' there.

The scientist nodded, absorbed in the task of brushing out the odd
looking spike of hair atop Nuku's head. "I'll tame you yet,"

Good luck.

 she

muttered quietly. Raising her voice, she added, "Okay, Ranma. Try
and relax, for today. I don't think we're in danger, and you've
hardly had a moment to rest since..."

You had your innerds removed and replaced with mass.

They had taken refuge aboard one of the last ships to set out,
separated from Ranma as they were. He had said to board the Kitty
Hawk, but the crewmen wouldn't let anyone else board, and they were
forced to fall back on another ship. It was a cargo ship,
originally, though most of the cargo was dumped overboard to make
room for people.

Making it human cargo.

The end result was that

think you can drop this 'that'

the three of them, along with some other

people the self-proclaimed 'senshi' had awaiting them were all
crowded into a freight container, devoid of cargo, with the door
propped open enough to allow airflow. The young ladies were
especially distraught over the affair, explaining that they had
secret identities to maintain.

That's kind of moot now, since most of their families are probably dead now.

The boy shrugged, following Yosho outside, where the cold wind
blasted at them. Mousse didn't react, though soft mumbling rose from
within the compartment until the door was mostly shut again. Shading
his eyes with one hand, Yosho stared at the horizon. Mousse answered
after a moment, producing a toothbrush and a small bottle of water
from his robes, "No... I have a futon in the nekohanten. I sleep in
the storeroom when I'm not locked in a cage."

Yosho: That's 'had' and 'slept. I think you'd better get used to using past
tense verbs.

They both nodded, producing a toothbrush for him, and then looked at
each other with a shrug. "It always pays to be prepared," Yosho
murmured, "but all I have is Ranma's scroll." Accepting Mousse's
offered spare, Yosho nodded his thanks, then borrowing some
toothpaste as well. "You must have everything in there," he
commented as Mousse stowed the tube back in his robes.

Mousse: Yep. Everything but common sense. At least that was what Shampoo
used to tell me.

"China," Mousse said softly. "We're going to China. My people's tribe
is there. I know how to live off the land, even moving. Finding
fresh water and food enough for myself and a few others is something
nearly any martial artist who's familiar with travelling can
accomplish. But all of these people?"

If they're lucky than can scavenge disused crops.

"Yes," she said, meeting Yosho's gaze. "But I don't know where I
would put it yet -- it's not exactly convenient to do. Still, if it
would help us, it could be worthwhile."

Yosho nodded. "Anything to help. What's your real name, anyway?"

Ryu, Ryouga, and Mousse all perked attentively, curious. Ryu had
already known of -- and exposed -- Makoto's identity, but the rest
were all

can drop this 'all'

still unknown. The girl hesitated for a moment, then

admitted, "It would be rather unfair for us to hide our identities
when you reveal your own. My name is Mizuno Ami." She bowed politely
to the quartet of warriors, and Yosho returned the gesture.

"It should be interesting," he mused, "to work with rebels as allies."

Eh? He knows something?

"The fifth royal family left because they were not granted what they
wanted -- favor from the Goddess of Jurai. All of the other families
had been blessed individually by the Goddess of Jurai, Tsunami, at
some point. But the Amatera family had not been. Because of this,
when the Council convened, their votes were given less weight, and
they considered this to be unjust."

Yeah. I would call it discrimination too.

"All of this was ignoring clan Amatera's vote. They voted in favor of
Masaki, but Amaki contended that they had no right to vote, because
they were not favored by Tsunami, as the other clans were. Amatera
was left without recourse, because Masaki and Tatsuki were united in
claiming that the vote of Amatera was valid... and Amaki and Kamiki
were united in denying their vote.

Could always flip a coin.

Yosho nodded to himself, while his audience blinked, stunned. "So,"
Ami began, confused, "you're saying that we're all descended from
aliens?"

Yosho: We prefer the term, 'Intergalactic Immigrants.'

"We've seen one of your 'Ouke-no-ki' before, and it carried two
people within it who were nothing more than enemies to us."

Yosho's eyebrow rose. "Is that so?" he asked.

"Yes. The 'Doom Tree' is a better name for it," the woman spat. "They
wanted nothing more than to kill us!"

Yosho: well, that's not really all that surprising. I find you annoying and
want to kill you as well. I assume this is a common problem you have, people
you've never met coming out of nowhere and trying to kill you?

Ryu followed behind the older man pensively.

It was fate, he decided. Fate that had led him to the scroll that he
was told would let him build a school.

Not like there's really time to build a school at the moment.

He had no idea what to make of the girl, and what had begun for him
as a simple fling to while away the time long ago, was now something
that was apparently very important to her. His brows furrowed,
trying to sort things out.

Heh. It would be kind of amusing to see him as a sort of bastard about it.

First things first, he needed the Umisen-ken, even if he wouldn't
have the opportunity to actually build a school until after all of
the monsters were killed. And then he needed to figure out how to
resolve things with Makoto.

Ryu: Hey, Mako-chan, you know all those romantic thoughts and kisses I
shared with you way back when?

Makoto: Yes, sempai.

Ryu: I didn't mean them. I was just trying to get into your pants.

Makoto: I can respect that.

Ryu: This is tougher than I thought.

As if summoned by his thoughts, she grabbed his arm, hauling him back
a half step. "Eh?" he managed.

She smirked, shaking her head and hanging onto him. "You aren't going
anywhere without me now, Ra..." she trailed off grimacing, then
corrected herself, "Ryu-chan."

Sulking, he continued onward, his thoughts again turning to Ranma and
the scroll. Yosho stopped suddenly, as they reached the bow of the
ship,

A good reason to stop suddenly. Running out of ship, I mean.

Ryouga nodded pensively. "It's a jusenkyou

Jusenkyou

Mousse remained still and quiet, allowing Ranma to carry him all the
way to the room without further noise.

When the door opened, Nuku pounced on Ranma immediately,

Better than her pouncing on Mousse.

Nuku pointed to a small door near the back of the room wordlessly.
Nodding, Ranma strode to it, phasing through it without effort.
Through the door lay a small washroom, though all Ranma was able to
make out at the moment was a nearly blinding haze of steam, and a
large reddish blur that he took to be Washuu's hair.

Heh.

Nuku had slowly climbed onto the bed, crouched on all fours, and was
staring at the duck closely, while Mousse slowly edged away. Nuku
fell backwards and rolled to a sitting position. "Papa-san, will you
play with me?" she asked plaintively.

That would be an extraordinarily bad thing on a ship. It might sink a
little.

Simple-minded games

For simple-minded people.

Called to attention, he turned to Nuku, whose head was cocked to one
side, and had both ear-like sensors raised. "Yeah?"

"Is that Yosho-san?"

She can't tell with her sensors?

Ranma looked back, squinting. "I think it is," he said after a moment.

***

Ryu glanced around the deck of the ship warily, adjusting to the
gentle rolling motion. Yosho stood at one side, conversing in
English with an uneasy crewman. Ami listened attentively, frowning
as she mouthed some of the words to herself. Makoto clung to his arm
the moment he stood still long enough to allow her to do so,

Heh

Hesitantly, Ryu explained, "It's one half of two schools. The
Yamasen-ken and the Umisen-ken. I've been told that when someone has
both scrolls, they can build a dojo with it."

Ryu: Well, with that and a low interest loan.

Ranma watched for a moment before turning back to Yosho. "You need to
find Washuu?"

Yosho nodded, and Ranma tapped the jewel hanging from his ear.
"Washuu? Yosho's here." He remained silent for a moment, eyes
tracking something unseen to the others, then nodded abruptly.
"Okay. Yosho? She's going to send Norris around to show you where
she is.

Oh. Norris is now her butler or something?

Cologne shrugged, sinking to sit in a cross-legged position, and
ignoring the people who drew close to watch. "Nothing we can do. If
Ranma loses, I'll challenge that 'Ryu' boy myself, and win them
back.

Heh. Cute.

Cologne sighed, shaking her head, and explained, "They're both
holding back. A lot. Ranma's worried because he can't tell how much
Ryu's holding back, but Ryu seems to think that he's sounded out
Ranma pretty well."

Interesting.

Grinning, Ryu drew his hands to his chest, stepping towards Ranma and
yelling, "Oh no! The old woman!"

"I'll save her!" Ranma shouted, grabbing a surprised Ryu by the neck and
throwing him like a javelin in the direction he had indicated.

Ranma shook his head dourly. "Pops had a lot of techniques based like
that. Making a noise to surprise someone and then hitting them
really hard is nothing new."

Ryu's grin faded. "Whatever. You want to see the Yamasen-ken?"

Ranma: Just because I look like a girl doesn't mean I want to see your dick.
And that's a stupid name for it. You should call it something cool, like Mr.
Happy, like I do mine.

Ryu drew his hand away from his chest, and took a few experimental steps.

"Give up?" Ranma asked, raising his voice to be heard across the
distance.

Shaking his head, Ryu assumed a defensive posture, and beckoned Ranma
closer. Ranma grimaced, but nodded, and set himself, springing
towards Ryu like an unleashed tiger.

In the opposite direction.  Apparently 'Fierce Crouching Tiger' was a move
Genma gave to the Yamisenken style as well.

Centering himself, Ryu drew his hands towards his chest. "I didn't
want to have to do this," he warned, "but you left me with no
choice. Kijin raiyashu-dan!" As he drew his hands apart, a booming
shockwave of force and vacuum swept out from his outstretched hands,
screaming in a line directly for Ranma.

Luckily for Ranma, he could now stand being in a vacuum, and the attack was
ineffectual.

Weak and tired, Ranma crawled forward. "I got more than that,
jackass. I ain't gonna throw stuff towards a crowd, either!" he
snarled vehemently, surging to his feet again.

Ryu sneered. "It wins the battle, doesn't it?"

Ranma: Not this one.

"Bastard!" Makoto shrieked, losing what control she had, "How could
you?"

Ranma; Well, it has to do with all of those really painful fatal to a normal
human attacks he was hitting me with.

While Ryouga fretted nearby, unsure of what to say, Nuku had pulled
Ranma up from the deck and clutched him to herself protectively,
muttering, quietly, "Took mama-san away... took papa-san away...
took Eimi-chan away... took Ryunosuke away..."

Death: Hey, I'm just doing my job.

And what a horrible day it had been.

Strike.

Her mother, her father, Soun, and Terry.

All that was in one day? Thought it was longer.

Hotaru bit her lip, frowning. "What happened to your father?"

"He... he died yesterday."

Hotaru: Oh. Mine went insane and died. It looks like we have something in
common.

Ranma blinked, as the girl smiled triumphantly, and swooned, falling
to one side, and off the edge of the ship. It took less time to
think about, than to teleport to her side, catching her carefully
and using his levitation to dampen the landing for her.

Whoops. Tends to be a bit more faint than I remember.

Drifting above the deck of the ship, he closed his eyes, teleporting
beneath the sea. The murky waters echoed with the rumblings of the
engines overhead, and allowed him a moment of solitude.

All of those people above him, he thought, and yet, he was some place

someplace

"Um, Sir, we're missing an F-18."

"Where the hell does an entire _plane_ go, petty officer?"

Yes. That is the question, isn't it?

Ran-oh-ki didn't move, and Ranma ended up picking up his partner atop
his head. He made a soft noise, and Ranma wordlessly encouraged him
to be silent for a moment. Stealing food was one thing, he thought,
but his partner had some fairly expensive taste.

Oh, I see. Boy. Hungery little bugger.

She stared at him for a moment, picking up and fiddling with one of
the devices that lay scattered about the table. "Okay," she said
hesitantly. "Just make yourself comfortable. I'm working on the lure
at the moment, and I'm going to try..." she trailed off, turning
back to the machine intently. "Try," she resumed a heartbeat later,
"to build something to distill sea water to drinking purity.
Something to last a few days, at least."

For a genius of her caliber, she should be able to whip up one in minutes.

"You already talked with Yosho?"

"Yes," she replied absently, tapping a small box on the side of the
cylinder as it lit up. "Aha! This task was a mere nothing for a
genius of my caliber!"

Like I said. :)

"Uh... not really," he mumbled. "I c'n go away if I'm bothering you..."

"Don't mumble," she chastised him,

Heh. Cute.

Shaking her head and staring towards the carrier they were headed
for, Setsuna tried to sort her thoughts out. Firstly, her plans had
been completely destroyed by the arrival of the aliens. Secondly,
her pride had taken a considerable bruising because of the
embarrassment of having some... alien... show up and do the senshi
one better. Thirdly, she _knew_ she had made a mistake in letting
the girl in the past live.

It looks that way, if it had anything to do with this.

"I had to slow her pet half-demon down with a Dead Scream," Setsuna
muttered. "After that I told her that she couldn't rewrite history
as she saw fit -- no matter how tempting it might be."

Setsuna: That's my job.

"Oh." There was a long, silent moment. "Why not?"

And that was the fourth thing bothering Setsuna. "Because if history
is altered, Crystal Tokyo might not become a reality,"

And in its stead, something better might arise. But she doesn't want to
consider that. :P

Once he had done so, Ran-oh-ki collapsed contentedly, sleeping in
Ranma's lap with a contented

Two 'contended's, I'd change one.

"What's that?" Ranma asked, scratching Ran-oh-ki's ears as the
creature stretched in its sleep.

"Hm. Well, if I can find everything I need here," she gestured to the
ship, "then we can simply make a gateway to send people away -- to
some place safe."

Yeah. That would be useful.

Making a face, Washuu considered. "The odds of finding what I need
aboard these ships are infinitesimal. We can hope to find them in
Shanghai -- I haven't activated the beacon yet, so we can try it,
but... the idea of trying to hold a city isn't so great. The odds of
succeeding where we failed in Tokyo are worse than the odds of
finding what I need to build a hyper-dimensional gateway."

True.

"What, you don't like to relax?" she teased.

Ranma; Just don't get to do it often.

The rest of the journey became a muted blur for Usagi, until she was
let into the room where Makoto lay.

rested. (Since you use lay in the next sentence)

The chestnut-haired girl lay,

seemingly asleep, on a cot. At her side, on a slightly higher and
very clean bed, lay Ryu, though his wrist was secured to a guardrail
with a solid looking

solid-looking (I think)

Tsunami wrestled with herself.

Learning Ryouko's self-replication trick had been fun and opened up all
sorts of new possiblities.

The stone came to a stop at the base of the pile, and Ranma realized
that it was no stone at all -- it was a grinning skull.

Heh. Knew it.

Returned to merely being 'Usagi' again, the blonde swooned, to be
caught by Mamoru. He glanced at Ryu and Makoto reproachfully, before
turning to tend to his fallen lover.

Setsuna was the first to break the silence, placing a hand on
Hotaru's shoulder absently. "Why," the woman mused, "do I have the
feeling that things just got much, much more confusing?"

And worse. But only the future will let us know for sure.

Truly a monster, but you got a lot accomplished. The SM cast are starting to
make their presense known. Reavers didn't appear forthe first time in a
while. Events are unfolding slowly and surely. Hope to get to more soon.

D.B. Sommer





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