Hah! But you didn't expect another one so soon:

    I have GOT to come up with some uniform method of posting these....

Not sure what you meant by that.

    Process of Elimination -- Chapter Thirteen -- Part One

    "One would be inclined to think that if the Emperor had been told
what was happening on Earth before the Second Wave departed to Juraian
space that the outcome would have been... different. Certainly, the
situation was already dire if [the Ethos array] had been called into
play, but for what was to follow.... There is no way that we can express
adequate sympathy for that, but neither can we hold the Emperor
responsible for the matter."

Hmm. How grim.

    Laruma Karau of Minor House Laruma, Council Member -- Speech to the
Council in Old Terran Year 1999, July 30th.


    In the midst of the vast wash of nacreous green fire, Ryouga stared
resolutely at the reaver immediately before him. The cascading torrent
of force was linked with something in him he had never felt before,
something that changed the way he realized the technique worked.

In that it was now as harmful as the glare from a flashlight.

"Oops," was the last word he said.

    If the reavers had no ki, then they had no life. No souls. But the
force of his own ki, borne of his spirit, which was a reflection of his
own soul... that had the power to harm them. He just needed to put more
than ki into it, and push until that sharp pain deep within himself was
pouring his very soul into the attack.

What? He's not depressed enough to use it?

    The raw emotional force pouring off of Ryouga was tangible, filling
the air and adding definition to the cascading torrent of green fire
that smashed through the trees and slammed the reavers into the ground,
pinning them around Ryouga. It flooded through Rei's senses, and she
fell to her knees, her stomach churning with the anger and self-loathing
that flowed through her, radiating outward from the focus of the boy's
attack.

"Shi Shi Freezumsolid!" she shouted, using those feelings to fuel her own
attack.

    The answer to that question arrived as a giant ball of red ki-flame
punched through the coruscating green, picking Ryouga up and flinging
him towards the girls. Minako's chain lashed out, carefully wrapping
about him

Yes, since chains are so gentle, after all.

and dropping him to the ground, unconscious but breathing.

Well yes. If he's unconscious, he's breathing. :)

    Ryu knelt on the ground a distance away, staring at the sight with
wide eyes, his hand still pressed against whatever wound he had taken to
his stomach. Standing not terribly far away from him,

The 'Standing' sentence seems wordy. 'Standing nearby' might be better.

in pristine white,

flowing clothes, offset by golden scaled armor, an imperious man with
greenish-gold draconian eyes raised an eyebrow. "Intriguing," he
remarked, eyeing the creatures in the devastated area of Ryouga's
attack. "I suppose then, that these are friends of Ranma's?"

Rei: No. Those are the enemy. The humans are the friends.

    Watching the hoop contract about his wrist until it was sitting
snugly against his bodysuit, Ranma frowned. "What's that?"

    "I know!" Nuku exclaimed excitedly. "It's something that Papa-san
put in me to make sure I don't accidentally hurt people!"

    "Right," Washuu said, lips quirking into a smile. "It means that you
can't access your powers, so you can't hurt yourself.

Well, he was  using those powers to hurt the reavers more than himself.

 Whatever you had

before, you'll still have, plus the benefit of your enhanced physique."

But no splitting or energy swords? This seems stupid. It's genocidal war and
the bad guys are winning. They have to take chances.

    "So you took away my Masu powers?" Ranma asked, frowning at the
bracelet, but not removing it.

    "No, I just gave you that to keep them in check for the moment.
They'll come back once I let you take it off."

    "Okay," Ranma allowed, his voice subdued. "So does this mean I can
fight, just without using my powers?"

    Washuu bit her tongue, and frowned darkly. "I'd rather you didn't,"
she answered after a moment. "If you have to, fine, but if things get
that bad I'll probably remove your limiter."

Okay. That's better.

    "Are you that eager to leave, Ranma?" Tsunami asked quietly.

She turned to see Ranma had already left.

"You didn't answer my question!" she shouted to no one in particular.

    "Just curious," he deflected. "You still haven't said how we get
down to Earth."

Washuu: It involves stepping outside, gravity, and a lot of heat.

    "Ran-oh-ki will have to carry us, I'm afraid. Ryo-oh-ki's a little
too rattled from the phase valance that got destroyed while she was...
busy helping Ryouko."

Washuu: She's puking up carrots left and right.

    "Ryouko," Ranma said quietly. "Huh. She's here?"

Ranma: She beat me once. No one beats me. The reavers can wait. I'm gonna
kick her ass now.

    "On the Throne, actually. The Galaxy Police and the second wave of
the Home fleet are preparing to use the Throne's gateway to move back
into Juraian space. Since they don't need to carry people for two weeks
or more on the journey, they're taking extra people. Already, the bulk
of Asia has been evacuated."

    "So, everyone but us is safe from the reavers?"

Well, if everyone else was truly safe, they wouldn't need to stay. I assume
they mean only the peoplein Asia.

    "Oh, I nearly forgot, Ranma, there are some people who want to talk
to you before we leave," Washuu warned.

    "Who would want to talk to me?" Ranma asked, frowning.

IRS agents. Even the reavers won't try to eat them.

    Riding the spear

There are so many naughty connotations behind that. :)

    Ray took that opportunity to open fire, projecting a raw shaft of
blazing green light into the side of the creature. The light seemed to
spread on contact from the creature, washing across it and spreading the
damage evenly over its side. It shrieked, as the women shielded their
eyes from the display and winced, watching bits and chunks of carapace
fly about, torn away from the force of the blast.

That ought to score him so points with them.

    Jerkily, barbs and jagged protrusions catching on things within the
creature, the spear began to free itself, shedding a faintly reddish
aura, and forcing the ichor off of it as it returned to her hands.
Rolling, she tumbled behind Jian-Di and Pei-Lin, cheering again. Pei-Lin
echoed her cheer, viciously slashing at the creature, and avoiding its
blood as Cologne had warned. Jian-Di, ever her calm and calculated self,
merely allowed herself a smile, breaking to the left without warning.

I wonder if this is suddenly going bad on them. They are acting a bit cocky.

    He turned to one side in time to see another of the monstrous
creatures leaping towards him. Too late to move out of the way, his eyes
widened. How had it caught him unaware? His ki-sense was nearly
flawless, and yet, he couldn't sense them at all. He'd thought nothing
of it before, because he could see them, but perhaps that was why Ranma
feared them so?

Well, one reason.

    "Hup!" cried his tiny counterpart, springing upwards from the

ground, a number of chains and cords spinning in his hands. Mint flew
upwards, dancing through the lashing tangle of reaver's claws, and
leaving a trail of small weighted ropes across the reaver before
bouncing up again, landing in a nearby tree.

This should hurt it.

    The battlefield was obviously to the reaver's disadvantage, with the
defenders almost completely ringing them, and they already weakened by
Ryouga's blast.

Yeah. They are biting it fast.

Lowering itself to the ground, the weakened reaver seemed to pulsate

once, a dark, black aura extending from it, nearly to the ring of
defenders before snapping back suddenly. Yosho froze, glancing behind
him and through the ring of defenders apprehensively. "Oh, no," he

breathed.

I guess this is very bad. Self-destructing?

    "Fair enough," the woman allowed, bowing her head to Washuu and
attempting to recover her composure slightly. "I see that much has
changed in the short time since we've been here last."

Funaho: With most of the population having been eaten and everything.

    He blinked, confused, and turned to look at Ran-oh-ki, wondering if
his partner could decipher the woman's meaning.

He's turning to Ran for advice? Since when did he start doing that? Seems
odd

    "It means that she wants to set you up with Tsunami for political
reasons,"

Ranma: So it is about foisting me off on a chick. I knew it.

    Kintaro grinned. She sure was cute.

Feed her some raw fish and she'll be your friend for life. :)

 Shaking his head, he tried to

dismiss those thoughts, and cleared his throat purposefully. "Well, it's
nice to meet you, Nuku-Nuku-san. I don't, ah, suppose that you've seen
my partner anywhere, have you?" he asked, hopefully.

    "What's she look like?" the girl asked curiously.

How does she know his partner's female?

    "You're going back?" Kintaro asked, surprised. Why would anyone who
could leave stay and face a fight that couldn't be won? Not even his own
father had the power to stave off the reavers.

Only saw the first ep so don't know the backstory on his father.

    Kintaro stared, his eyes widening. Perhaps, then, he and Ranma had
something in common. "Your grandfather?" he asked cautiously. "My father
made me make a promise, too. What was his name?"

    "Inu-Yasha," Ranma answered,

Kintaro: So was mine. What a coinicdence. He wasn't a youkai by chance, was
he?

    Startled by the opening of the door again, Kintaro straightened up,
turning to face it as the tallish woman left.

Um, isn't she coming in rather than leaving?

    Ranma grunted disinterestedly, not changing his position. The small
creature on his shoulder straightened up, turning to face the boy, and
raised himself to put both paws against the side of Ranma's head before
he delivered a vicious bite to his ear.

Heh

    "Whoa, hold up there!" Washuu protested, laughing softly. "No one's
laid a claim on him other than a Terran girl."

Multiple terran girls, actually.

    Tsunami's face fell, and she covered her mouth with her fingertips,
aghast. "Oh, oh, oh dear," she said quietly. "I... I hadn't realized,
and now, and now I'm too late? That's not very fair, is it?" she
managed, struggling to keep her voice from giving way to frustrated tears.

    "Ah," Washuu chided, her smile lessening slightly, "you worry too
much. Ranma's choice is his to make,

Ranma: I choose no one.

Washu: Except that one.

    Washuu offered her an amused smirk, and nodded. "Of course," she
said amiably. "I think we've seen enough of Ayeka and Ryouko to know
that there's no reason to fight over him." She coughed delicately, and
looked away. "And I think... I think I love him enough that I'm willing
to share him with you."

Washuu: Mostly on Sundays, Tuesdays, and alternate Fridays.

    "Um, Washuu-chan?" Tsunami queried nervously. "For Ranma, I'll....
What kinds of tests?"

Washuu: Don't worry about them. Most won't be very intrusive at all.

    The newly arrived reavers, undamaged by Ryouga's attack, as the
first six had been, landed with ground-shaking thuds, slamming into the
ground in a ring larger than that of the defenders. "Shit," Yosho swore,
counting.  Fourteen more reavers -- an even twenty, counting the five
slain, and the one wounded.

Why would he count the dead ones?

 "Don't just stand there!" he ordered,

rushing the lone reaver again. "Fight!"

Err, no. a fighting retreat would be better so they don't end up surrounded.

    The reaver staggered away from him before his sword pierced the
already softened carapace,

The way you have the first part of this makes it sound as though the reaver
darted out of range. You might want to rephrase that.

with his shield. The staggered

creature sustained a long, gashing cut from a chain of woven light,
licking at it's

its

    His cry was answered by Lime, having recovered an odd spear before
the second wave of attackers set in. The boy hefted the spear over his
head, and hopped easily into the center of the trio, whipping his weapon
about him. So fast were the motions, that for a moment it seemed that
his tiger-skin mantle became a solid sphere of reddish-yellow, striped
with black.

So he's fast too, eh?

But the motions ceased, and Lime grinned toothily, the

resultant force from the attack flinging the reavers back across the
line. "Big brother!" he yelled, not looking at Yosho. "We'll keep the
middle clear!"

    A shorter boy, of a similar build to Lime himself, strode to his
side, hefting a matching tiger-spear. The blades of the spear were
curved oddly, like a pitchfork missing its central tine, but if they
allowed the Musk to repel the reavers, Yosho wouldn't complain. He
rolled to his feet, and joined the rough ring of defenders.

Ah, Musk reenforcements I see. Now they stand a chance.

    The blow forced the reaver to rear up, and Herb wasted no time,
charging into the gap before his enemy could recover his defenses. The
blade of ki slid almost effortlessly through the creature's carapace,
and Herb plunged the blade in with grim efficiency. Too late, he
realized that the advantage was for the reaver, as his attack put him in
easy reach of the angrily lashing limbs.

Oops. Mr. Ego made a mistake.

    Another of the behemoth monsters surged towards them, and Rei raised
the sword defensively in response. Her action was unneeded, as

not sure if you need that comma

    Ryu shuddered, then nodded, turning towards the reaver. "Let's do
this," he mumbled. Yosho nodded to Minako before the blazing sword of
blue light sprang into his hands, and he rushed at the reaver, Ryu just
behind him. Calling her chain to her, Minako flung it between the two
massive warriors, t

I don't know as I'd refer to Yosho as 'massive', or are you talking about
the Musk?

    Yosho alit on the back of the monster, and drove his sword into its
back, while

uncertain about that comma as well.

at its own legs, that another reaver leapt near it, lashing claws
knocking Yosho out of sight, and away from its pinned comrade. Minako
gawked, the newly-arrived reaver raising one claw and then slamming it
down with enough force to nearly cleave one of the two men in twain.
Another slash severed the rope that Ryu had thrown, leaving the injured
boy

Oh, if was nearly bisected, I'd say he's more than wounded.

    "When did you get here?" Minako asked, confused.

    "Norris thought backup might be good, so me, and Dew, and Mousse
followed Ray's trail," he answered, pulling the trigger. A beam of
solid, nearly arctic white light leapt from the muzzle of the rifle,
only seeming to gently touch against the reavers. Whirring panels on the
side of the rifle popped open, raw heat being shunted out from within,
as frost began to form on the reavers.

Ah, the new weapons

    But there, in the center, smaller, now that the protective armor it
had generated was blasted away, was the reaver, apparently undamaged. It
seemed to shrug, then stepped through the frozen remains of its armor,
its companion a step behind as it advanced on Eric angrily.

So they've created a second set of armor, eh?

    Her fingers were bleeding. The tips were rough and abraded. She had
known that using her powers caused her fingers to tingle -- that was
nothing new -- but never had she pushed so much and so hard that she'd
wounded herself. And yet....

Nice to see there's some drawback to it. She better hope the chains aren't
broken when she's like that, though. Could get painful.

    At his side, Jim Dew pulled the trigger of one of the other weapons
that they had been handed -- kinetic displacement beams. The blue-white
fire lanced through Ray's beam. Ray wasn't certain what caused it, but
when both beams were focused on the same point, they greedily ate
through the reavers carapace, leaving it to melt and slide off.

Well, that should work on a handful before the learn to defend against it.

    Apparently realizing that they were failing the reavers

failing, the

    Yosho chose his words with great care, finally answering, "There
were three hundred, Herb, and through the efforts of the defenders, that
number had been reduced to less than two hundred and fifty... but now
that we know they can breed, then things might change.

I would say so.

    The retreating warriors stumbled to a halt, as another twenty
reavers hissed and clacked their claws together, a solid black wall of
slashing force. Makoto swallowed nervously, turning to Ryu worriedly.
"What now?" she asked, afraid, as more of the reavers flew from the
earth, streaking upwards.

Yeah. This is bad. Maybe someone in orbit will notice and blast them

    ***
    Ayeka nodded, glancing across the Court. "Yes, Tenchi-sama," she
answered.

    "Offer the Galaxy Police transit with us, so they can unload their
passengers faster," Ryouko suggested.

    "Done," Ayeka countered, smiling. "They accepted the offer,
Tenchi-sama. I thought you would want them asked."

Heh.

    "You've got to take my limiter off," Ranma insisted, thrusting the
bracelet towards Washuu insistently. "There are reavers coming here!"

Hmm. They know how to teleport, or fly?

    Washuu sighed in relief at seeing him, and said, "We're going to try
and clear a corridor, Ranma. Brace yourself." He nodded, trying not to
notice Tsunami's wide eyes and blushing face as she stared at him.

Ohh. Another cliff hanger to end it on. Good timing on that. It appears teh
reavers are becoming more dangerous by the minute.

D.B. Sommer




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