Was looking forward to this:

All comments, suggestions and criticisms are in my humble opinion only and

should be taken with a grain of salt.

Ah, like my own C+C then. :)

BTW: I forgot to label this 'part 1', in the subject line. Probably annoyed
some people who thought it was a one shot.

DB Sommer wrote:

Gestalt
A Dual! Fanfic

A DB Sommer Dual! Fanfic. This should be interesting.

Or so I hope. The idea interested me, anyway.

Standard disclaimer; I don't own any of the Dual! Characters. They are

owned

by Masaki Kasjishima and Pioneer.

KaSjishima? I'm not aware of who exactly was the creator-owner of Dual is,

but is the romanization of his name correct? If it is, my bad.

Whoops. Stray 's' in there. Will drop it.

"Ge-stalt: a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical,

biological,

or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional

unit

with properties not derivable by summation of its parts."
--Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary--

Aw. Damn... and here I was, thinking this is a Gestalt-Dual! crossover...

but of course, Gestalt should be even lesser known as a series than that of
Dual, since it has but one episode.

Saw that and completely forgot what it was about. I don't think I liked it,
as I recall. That was the vague impression I am left with.

Also, (for considerably more substantial comments here) I'm kinda curious

as to how the title'll relate to the fic itself. We'll see.

It'll be towards the end. It'll be operating on two levels, though I don't
know how obvious it will be.

And it was all thanks to Kazuki Yotsuga, who, for one brief shining

moment,

was given the power of the Gods and could shape reality to his personal
whim.

Suggest:

"was given the power of the Gods... to shape reality to his personal

whim."

Liked that one the most.

or

Either of the three could work, IMO.

Gazing at the world outside, Mitsuki was thankful Kazuki lacked

imagination.

Mistuki: (sighing) Such a boring little boy.

Heh.

With a tired yawn she forced herself out of bed and began the task of
preparing for yet another day of school. Her nightgown was discarded and

a

bathrobe chosen in favor of it. There was a time when she wouldn't have
worried about such things and could have gone to the bath dressed in

nothing

more than a towel, but that was before Kazuki moved himself into her

house

and home.

Nitpick alert! Nitpick alert!

The whole thing wondorously elaborates the plot flow, unfolding it in nice

prose. But might I suggest a more 'show, not tell' approach? It would seem
unnecessary (at least, in my opinion) to warrant an explanation about
Mistuki S.'s tastes in bathrobes when she'll air the same opinions to
Mitsuki R.'s own considerably more economical apparel.

Will cut that line. But this is orieneted a lot through Mitsuki's eyes. In
fact, there's only going to be one scene which won't have her in it, and it
done through her POV.

But, generally, nitpicks are taken with a pound of salt. Besides, you're

already 'seized in wonder' with how short this piece had come out.

Yeah. Had it at least 10k longer in my mind, and figured closer to 20 more.

created to the real life she had once before. But seeing her father's

beaming face --one that had departed along with Ayuko-- when he spent

quiet

moments with his wife and daughters, was a consolation that Mitsuki would
never have thought possible. So she left any objections with the way her
life had been rewritten silent in the recesses of her mind.

Fascinating take, that... with Mistuki S. having conflicting memories and

such and her seeing Kazuki's creation as a fabrication.

Her personality and life was 'formed' in the originalverse, so she's aware
of the alterations and sees them as such. Mitsuki Rara would think more
along opposite lines, with her universe having been 'lost' but she didn't
care for it that much anyway, and her parents have remained the same. She
has very few complaints as well.

Though, if we go with _Mistuki_ S. having recreated the world (I know, I

know... just work with me here for a minute, 'k?), then that little fact
would have been _her_ doing, showing just how fond she really is of her
mother dear.

Indeed, and her at least helping form the world was what was actually
implied in Dual! But since others have mentioned this I shall say for the
purposes of this fic, this is how it works.

 A: With Zinj/Genbou's(sp?) destruction, Kazuki was what was left to snap
things
 back to 'normal'. He was what was instrumental in reformation, since he had
 a connection with the last 'artifact' in existence. (At least that was what
 seemed to be implied, which was one reason Dr. Sanada was uncertain of what
 would happen to Kazuki after Genbou was destroyed.)

 B: Frankly, I'm not sure how simply throwing a lever would make Mitsuki the
 recipient of the ability to restructure the world. It makes more sense that
 Kazuki  would be able to do the restructuring regardless, which was why he
 was the one that was supposed to throw the switch. Everything would be left
in his hands.

C: The resulting world seems far more like how Kazuki would want things, not
Mitsuki,
especially when it comes to Yayoi and Rara still being interested in him.
Most likely Kazuki's accusation in the series to Mitsuki was to imply the
world was a combination
 of their desires, rather than Mitsuki doing the sole rewrite.

 D: (And the real reason I've done this) This isn't going to make anywhere
 near as much sense by the end if it was Mitsuki who did things. For the
 purposes of the story, it was all Kazuki's doing. His attempt to pawn part
 of this as being Mitsuki's fault was to assuage his conscience, since he
was
  responsible for the outcome. Again hopefully this will become clear by the
end.

The sight of Hartzenen

BTW: As others have pointed out, it was Zinj/Genbou (sp?) that is here, not
Hartzenen.

she dressed up in one of those ridiculous Rara cheesecake outfits and
proclaimed to the world that it needed to bow down to her and the newly
formed 'Rara Army'?

Hm?

I would suppose more of this would be elaborated more in the next chapter

or is this a passing mention fodder to fill up space until the unavoiable M
& M lemon scene?

Refers to the events in the OVA:  Final Frontier. If you haven't seen it
yet, I recommend it. It's pretty humorous, taking place in the newly formed
world and setting up the possibility of a sequal if the creators so chose.

walking down a street. More than she wanted, actually, with the

continuous

outpouring of love letters she received from her classmates at school.

She

didn't need to overcompensate for having a passive personality by doing

such

outrageous things.

That's one take on the li'l one-eighty turn little Ms. Ra had in the

series, from dominatrix to near-Kasumi like.

Yes. This will be played upon later, as it goes a bit deeper than that.

It was peculiar that she had engaged in such behavior in the first place.
She wasn't surprised by the other girls doing it. Rara had done it long
before Mitsuki had ever met her. D was just a child, and for some odd
reason, looked up to the 'other' Mitsuki, so following in Rara's

footsteps

made a certain kind of sense. Yayoi was just plain starved for any

attention

Perhaps Kazuki finally had her Yahiko-cropped, Klooney-esque hair grow in

this world? One of the more distateful... albeit cosmetic things... I didn't
quie like in Dual!.

Ditto. Hated Yayoi's 'new' hair, but it is still the same here. Not like
she's going to appear in any case.

Also, just _what_ were they parading for? I don't think Mardi Gras occurs

in their side of the world.

Again refers to the end of the OVA. Sets up that this takes place the next
day.

A warmth spread across Mitsuki's cheeks as she remembered the way Kazuki

had

stared, irritating her to no end. What was it with her lately?

(shrug) Plot setup by the author to get you to bone him as well as your

feeling up your cousin just a few more paragraphs away, making things even
more complicated before it even gets better... who knows? If there wasn't a
better term for it, I'd call it sommerization.

You'd have to capitlize that phrase, though. :)

some instinctual level that all was right with the world. Not paying
attention to her was marginally less better. Acting like a nervous,
indecisive twit was not so good. Not knowing what she was thinking, when

it

was blatantly obvious, was bad. Paying attention to Yayoi, or the

ultimate

sin, that flirty little Miss Rara, was very, very bad. And when Kazuki

was

bad, he was punished. Sometimes in little ways, sometimes in big ones.
Mitsuki was never lax in letting him know of her disappointment in him.

Heh. Yup. That quite fits her perceptions of him to a t. You know all your

borrowed characters well, Mr. Sommer. ^^

Well, it's not hard to interpet her. ^_^

Not that Mitsuki was jealous or possessive or anything. She certainly

didn't

think of Kazuki like THAT.

Strange, you were nearly flirting with him at that time when the both of

you returned to your actual, Rara-free world

Yes, but self-denial is a useful trait. :)

... and you had a cat-ate-canary smile when you discovered Kazuki's little

collection from under his bed right in front of his face.

I'd completely forgotten about that. It's been a while since I've seen much
since the last episode.

As Mitsuki exited her bedroom and headed towards the bath, her mind ran

off

a list of the finer qualities Kazuki possessed: qualities she had learned
when they had lived under the same roof, as well as fighting in life and
death struggles aside one another. Despite a timid exterior, he was
unbelievably brave. He was almost enthusiastic when it had come to

helping

save the world. He didn't act like some lech, like most of the other guys
his age.

Mistuki: And he had that collection of porn under his bed from way back

our original world, so proves he wasn't gay. (sigh of relief)

Definitely forgot it.

he was just so passive. A little aggression wouldn't hurt him. What he
needed was a few courses in assertiveness from Mitsuki Rara's other half,
Miss Ra. Sort of another version of that, like a Mr. Ra, or something.

Heh. Ooooh, thought-shift. We're getting clooooser.

A bit.

there with hers being slightly narrower. And then there were the breasts.
Mitsuki had assumed since they shared the same bra size, they would be in
the same shape, but there was something about her counterpart's chest

that

seemed more perky in comparison. Mitsuki's hands grasped the underside of
her own breasts, feeling them to see if they had become flabby on her
without realizing it.

The power of fanservice.

^_^

Fascinating, the play of words here which carefully outlines Mistuki S.'s

POV... I mean, such insecurity has made way for some interesting comments
about actual differences in the two women's anatomy... a prime example of
which is her insistence of Mistuki R.'s perkiness and her own perceived
flabbiness.

Women are far more obsessed about their looks than men, and are far more
critical too. I've known plenty of women that see 'flaws' which aren't
really there, especially when they compare themselves to other women they
think are 'attractive.( in a general rather than personal sense) ' I'd say
this is actually quite normal behavior, and Mitsuki is being too critical of
her own looks in this case.

"Oh, okay." It was a simple request. In the past, there were times D had
helped in reaching those hard to get spots when they shared a furo

before.

Mitsuki picked up a washcloth, soaked it in the soapy water from the

bucket

at Rara's feet, and proceeded to wash her counterpart's back.

Now we'll try finding out what the heck went wrong. It went so fast that I

didn't quite realize what was happening either... and I was merely _reading_
it.

Well, not so sure if it's 'wrong.' Just the way things evolved, sort of.

Being this close to her sort of rival, Mitsuki took the opportunity to
examine Rara's skin more closely. Here, she thought, she finally had the
advantage. Her cousin's skin was pale, something that was only

highlighted

by her auburn locks, while Mitsuki's own was a pleasant tan, though not

the

darkened hue of most 'sun-worshipper's.'

I'm not so sure, but I think it's 'sun worshippers'' 'coz 'sun worshipper'

cannot be used collectively (as opposed to 'people' and somesuch)

I think you're right with the first suggestions.

 Rara looked like she hardly ever

spent a day in the sun, which suited Mitsuki just fine. Perhaps she would
purchase a jar of 50 SPF sunblock for Rara's birthday to ensure she

remained

that way.

Asuka: Hm... that's an _idea_... hey, wondergirl!

Heh. Dual! is such an obvious parody. I've always nicknamed it 'Eva Lite.
Evangelion without the angst.' I always wondered if Kajishima was poking fun
at Anno with Dual, or if he just liked the idea in general.

"You're in great shape," Mitsuki commented. There was a touch of venom in
her voice as she continued scrubbing her counterpart's back, wondering if
she could 'accidentally' scratch it, just so it would have some sort of
flaw.

Well, she's still quite her normal, un-butch self here. If one didn't know

better, or if one blatantly ignored all the obvious clues presented, he'd
say this was a chaste, normal, venomous cat-fight-potential type of scene in
the bathroom.

Mitsuki Rara would probably just cry about it rather than attack back. Miss
Ra, OTOH...

"I know what you mean. I usually don't like being alone either. I'll
definitely start working out with you."

Here, it starts....

Yep

With that decided, Mitsuki returned to the task of cleaning. Her mood
improved, the work was done more enthusiastically than before.

It was that seemingly innocent enthusiasm which led from one thing to

another... contrived? Maybe... but a digestible contrivance.

Oh, it is contrived. Even Mitsuki S admits later it's like a switch was
thrown in her, and that was intentional. The reason for this oddity will
become clear later.

The close proximity to Rara made Mitsuki aware of a fragrance emanating

from

her body. It seemed to hover at the edge of her senses, tantalizing and
intoxicating at the same time.

Rather strong hints there... intoxicating and tantalizing. Subtlety be

damned, though it is quite a drop from friendly familiarity to unfamiliar
hormonal frenzy.

Intentional again.

It reminded her of the scent of a forest
being reborn with the dawn of a new Spring.

Because that's what it says in the bottle... "Gee, your hair smells like

the scent of a forest being reborn with the dawn of a new Spring."

Mitsuki Rara: Wow. Truth an advertising. What will they think of next?

No longer satisfied with merely
using a cloth as a medium, Mitsuki lathered one of her hands with water

and

soap and proceeded to use it to clean as well.

Decidedly all reflex talking. Obviously, since there's not one POV

mentioning Mitsuki actually _thinking_, just mostly reacting to whatever
stimuli is presented to her. Very nicely done... and the fact that I went
'Huh? Whuwuzzat?' after reading through this scene shows just how much.

Thanks.

If
Mitsuki had been in his place, awakening next to the nude form that was
pressed close to her now, she probably would have-

"What are you guys doing?"

Ah... now something more interesting... and typical to your prose.

What? The interruption?

No, they won't get away with this that easilly... at least, not Mitsuki S.

and her trouble, guilt-ridden mind.

Ah yes. No, it's not that easy.

Despite the obvious guilt, the explanation seemed to ease D's suspicions.
"Oh, okay. I thought Mitsuki might have been hurting you with the way she
was grabbing your front and you were moaning."

There's nothing like the straightforward approach to things.

Heh.

Mitsuki smiled wide and mentally congratulated her cousin. "Yep. That's

what

we were doing. Checking for signs of breast cancer. I wasn't feeling her

up

at all."

"Okay. I understand," D said, then removed her robe. "Would you check my
breasts like that, too?"

"NO!" Both Mitsuki's shouted as one.

Oops. Should be "Mitsukis'

Nice setup to that too. Just gotta love those little opportunities of

frankness from the Rei-like types of D. Some classic statements can be taken
from them.

She's the straight man to any comedy duo.

"Geez, why are you being so touchy today?"

Mitsuki nearly choked on her soup. "I didn't touch anything today!"

Heh.

Nice that that worked.

Kazuki, obviously eager to join in her flight, rose out of his

cross-legged

sitting position and said, "Wait, and I'll go with you."

"Wait! I'll go with you."

Got it

had happened? One moment she perfectly normal, dealing with Rara the way

she

had always had, when suddenly it was like a switch had been thrown inside
her.

It was the intoxicating and tantalizing part... and you not thinking by

that time, which had helped matters... develop that way. Oh, and incessant
comparing of bra sizes and tanned vs. immaculate skin.

Heh. Well, sort of, though the comparisons in the beginning were done more
out of jealousy than sexual interest.

Instead of behaving normally, she had acted just like some hormonally
crazed guy who couldn't keep his dick in his pants, though in her case it
was more like smothering Rara with her chest than with any anatomical
features between her legs.

Mistuki: Though it could work either way... damn! (whaps herself) I'm not

a pervert! Not a pervert!

^_^

However, Mitsuki certainly didn't fit into the category anymore. What had
been going through her mind? Actually, it was easy to recall, most of it
having to do with how sexy she thought Rara was. "Am I a lesbian?" she

said

Hm. She's nicer than people most give her credit for. All this time,

bitching about whether or not she's herself butch, while not at all making
any accusations with Mitsuki R.'s own orientation or whether or not dear ol'
cousin should be partially to blame for all this. S

It's kind of hard to do with Mitsuki S initiating all the contact.

he's rather selfless at that respect... Kazuki is really the main catalyst

to the conflict.

True. Mitsuki even mentions that in the beginning that she gets along fine
with Yayoi and Rara, and that it only becomes troublesome when Kazuki enters
the picture.

concerning Rara; of that she was certain. The girl had been in many
categories in Mitsuki's mind. From enemy to defector to rival (though not
for Kazuki's attentions, she assured herself. Mostly),

Suuuuuure.

She tends to qualify her statements concerning Kazuki throughout this. Even
she is having problems with unilateral denial. It's to show mentally she's
starting to admit she likes Kazuki, though it defies her 'common sense' that
she would.

to friend to family.
None of those roles had included 'romantic rugmunching interest.' Aside

from

being the wrong gender, Rara was like a long lost twin sister, which

would

make it incestuous before anything else. It was perverted.

Perhaps it's the overly-powerful pull of the plot that kindled latent

bi-sexual urges in you?

Sort of, and not exactly. (Oooh. A paradox.)

It's just a thought... and Kazuki can make a great double as a girl. That

could be part of your... um.... allegedly non-existent feelings for him.
Yeah.

Heh.

To test herself, and reconfirm her sexual orientation, Mitsuki thought of
other women naked.

Ah. An understandable reaction.

Actually someone thought I lifted this bit from an anime called Ham.
However, I've never seen it before. Any resemblance is coincidental.

Rara's three former friends in the Rara army? No. Besides, they tended to
annoy her, especially that ditzy Alice. She didn't even consider D.

Lesbian

or not, pedophilia was an even bigger no-no than the incest.

They're just not your type, silly.

Heh

"Oh no! I am a lesbian!" Mitsuki wailed.

Heh. You got me hook, line and sinker with your setup here, Sir Sommer.

Though what happened afterwards with the li'l kids kinda muted the effect,
IMO.

Well, obviously it's not as simple as what Mitsuki seems to think at this
point. I liked the touch with the kids, myself.

lines, and even then she had problems keeping the person in hangman

looking

like a human instead of a demented Christmas tree as interpreted by

Salvador

Dali.

IMO, I think she's really too hard on herself. Really. To think that this

was finally something which had nothing to do with the 'incident,' her...
depressing herself like this seems leaning more on a bit of much. Depressing
thoughts in favor of more depressing thoughts? One does not 'bludgeon'
things by chucking in more knives to the fray.

She's not really feeling bad about it. It's more like an admission that she
doesn't excel in all things.

"This is all that darn Mitsuki's fault," Mitsuki mumbled as she continued
her doodles.

So much for her earlier selfless thoughts.

Yep.

Kazuki could be a weenie at times, he really wasn't that bad. She

recalled

him filling out his old combat uniform well enough. He was a bit short

and

slender, but there wasn't an ounce of fat on him.

Ken Sanada: And remember... he's even a size smaller than you are.

Heh. Forgot that bit. It was with the suits, as I recall.

Mitsuki returned to her proper position against the wall. All she needed

was

one more class, then her scheme could begin. By the end of the night,
Mitsuki Rara would not be an element in the Kazuki Sweepstakes anymore

than

D was.

So what're you gonna do? Seduce her?

Ah, not exactly.

Man, that was a perfect one-eighty to another, completing the cycle.

Confucious was right about women.

The extreme mood swings are intentional as well. You'll see why in the
second half.

[End Part 1]

Author's notes below:

Tomorrow I might say to myself "Why didn't I put that in?" but for now,

this

is what came to me.

Which is it? I'm curious.

The added scene? Breakfast. I was only going to touch on it with Mitsuki
relfecting, but I like it being written out as is.

I dunno if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but the lemon scene merely

briefly encompassed the entire chapter... about as briefly as Gohan
encompassing Dragonball Z. It seems that it was put there more as fanservice
than actually moving plot (which, with close inspection and actual removal
of the lemon scene which constituted nearly the whole fic, would be the
typical M & M rivalry).

I don't think it's quite as typical as you think.

Bot that that's a bad thing, but....

Oh no. It was quite instrumental to what's going to happen next, I assure
you.

It could work either way... the lemon scene making Mistuki seem even more

fickle than usual, the 'kind of a trouble-maker, but not really
mean-spirited' character which is used mostly as a plot device to further
the plot. Or the lemon scene actually having some sort of impact in the
future chapters.

Definitely the latter.

Though....

The whole feeling of the lemon scene just _put_ there for the intents and

purposes of having lemon Dual! fic would be removed simply by the way the
second chapter would be presented.

I hope so, or I'll have completely failed in this endeavor.

The jealousy-uncertainty-lust-uncertainty-jealousy cycle of Mistuki S. was

so briefly and immediately presented that it borders unbelievable and
contrived.

Again, this was intentional. But I'm glad it's coming across as such, since
it's supposed to. :)

I mean, she just shrugged off all affections for Mistuki R. after seeing

her giggling with Kazuki. The chapter cut-off was almost unnatural, almost
shrugging off the earlier events which conspired with practical ease.

It's not a good place to end the part, truth be known. When this goes up on
the webpage, it's going to be one whole story. Well over a hundred K,
though. I would have cut it in two for C+C purposes anyway, and that seemed
the best place to do it, though I suppose it could have come after Mitsuki
initiated her plan. I played it by ear.

Oh well... we'll see. Maybe I'll be eating my words once properly

explained, maybe the whole thing's really an important a setup to next
chapter.

And final part. This is only a two parter.

But I just couldn't shrug off the impression of the lemon scene looking

quite like the Hasam-Fekish scene in chapter nine of Avenging... merely
elaborated on so the whole thing would virtually 'fill up more space' in the
plot.

Heh. I never put in filler, except in this, and it wasn't the lemon scene.
Heck, breakfast was more show than tell than most of the rest of the fic
(probably a good thing). Remember, I don't like how long Avenging is turning
out. I wanted chapters to hover between 40-100K (like the Blob story)
Believe me, I would have trimmed it if I could, but there was a lot of
material there and some characters introduced that I'll be using later.

Not many Dual! fics out there, but as is my wont, I tend to write at

least

briefly in some of the lesser written about series. Not many, and Ranma

is

still my primary source, but I do dabble in other series upon occasion.

It's

fun, and a nice change of pace, though I doubt if I'll be writing anymore
Dual! Fics in the near future.

I would still be looking forward to it. I couldn't think of a better

author to take up the task. ^^

Watch out, or my ego will grow bigger and start trickling out my ears. :)

Now I think I've babbled on quite enough. Thanks for reading. Hopefully

the

second part won't be long in coming.

Can't wait.

Only one scene done on it. Didn't get a chance to start writing as early as
I had wanted. Maybe more tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the comments.
They've been helpful.

D.B. Sommer





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