On 10/15/97 2:36 AM, Chris Davies at cdavies@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca wrote:

Opening Shot:  The earth slowly revolves, revealing a shining sun.  On the
earth, we can see a city which looks vaguely like a pentacle.

Frito: Ya know, ya can get shot fer things like dat in these here parts, 
pardner. <Chews on a grass stem, then spits off to one side> We don't 
stand fer dem feer-ign religion-like stuff here in the Bible Belt.

<Urk> All right, Frito, I think we all know what Kansas is like now, 
thank you very much... <Sigh>

Frito: Aw, shucks. <Grins>

The image freezes.  The caption, Experts of Fanfic Review:  The Text File
appears.

Cut to the inside of a theatre.  In the middle row of seats are seated
SHEILA TENKAI (friendly, open expression, with red hair tied back in a
long pony tail), RITSUKO URAWA (busily typing on a compact laptop, with
pale blonde hair and dark eyebrows), HIROE HIBIKI (cute, big eyed, short
cropped blue hair and short eartails), and RYOUKO MIZUNO (cool, distant,
frowning, with long blue hair and curled eartails.)

Ah, another team joins the fray... 

Frito: <Chuckles nastily, leering> Fresh meat! Hohohuhuhahahahahahah!

RITSUKO:  <looks up> In any event, we should perhaps introduce ourselves,
for the benefit of those unfamiliar with us.  We are the group whom H.
Torrance Griffon collectively dubbed the "Senshidottir", as we are the
children of the Sailor Senshi, not including, of course, Her Royal
Highness Small Lady.

SHEILA:  <muttered> Praise be to goddess.

Lyra: <Fervently> And may this situation reign, forever and ever, amen.

SHEILA:  <desperate> Write to JMS and demand a TV movie focusing on
Ivanova and Talia's relationship?

Windir: Alas, 'tis too late for that.

Frito: Contract disputes are a b*tch. <looks disgusted>

Frito: Boot ta the head!

Windir: OUCH!

Lyra: Didn't you already try an opening like that, Windir?

SHEILA:  Oh dear Goddess, she's gorgeous.

RYOUKO glowers at SHEILA.

Lyra: Um. I'm not really sure what to say.

Frito: Oh, I can think of a couple... he he he... <Leers>

Lyra: Frito no hentai! <WHAM>

Frito: <Groans>

The mysterious figure stood on the roof, laughing evilly as he looked 
down at the bank and listened to the bug planted in the vending cart. As 
the conversation reached a critical point, he dug inside his jacket... 
and, with the flick of a wrist, sent the Bloody Card screaming down on 
the foursome, skimming it 'round in patterns that just missed the 
panicking crew. He indulged himself in a final, cruel chuckle as the 
ninja eventually brought down the card; a hand signal sent an 
impersonator running away down the alley, long black hair streaming over 
her 3WA uniform...

RYOUKO:  Ah, the mysterious mastermind behind it all is hinted at.  Shall
we guess?

HIROE:  I bet it's Uncle Ranma.

RITSUKO:  Hiroe, why on Earth would Ranma Saotome conspire to commit
repetitive suicide?

SHEILA:  It doesn't really seem IC, kid.  My bet is on Mousse -- he
probably could handle the Bloody Card.

RITSUKO:  For my part, I would suggest that it is the legendary character
Pantyhose Tarou, or possibly his principal apologist.  What do *you*
think, Ryouko?

RYOUKO:  It's dad.

HIROE:  ONEESAN!

SHEILA:  <muttered> Oh, no unresolved feelings of hostility here, no, not
at all.

RITSUKO:  The tactics employed by this person do not quite match with
those customarily employed by Ryouga Hibiki, sister.

RYOUKO shrugs.

Interesting speculations, here. Pity they're all wrong. ^_^

Let me give you a hint, if you'd like -- you're going down the completely 
wrong path. It's *not* any of the regular cast.

As the laughter faded off into the distance, the table surface swam back 
into focus in front of her... the photos on the table as well. *Those* 
photos. Damn them.

SHEILA:  Wait.  Now I'm confused.

Evidently a common complaint. <Sigh> A couple of my prereaders also had 
problems with the first bit, so I tried to make it clearer here. Looks 
like I need to do a little more. :(

RYOUKO:  And here I thought that sexuality was predetermined.  Bit late to
start claiming to be bisexual --

SHEILA:  <annoyed> What I mean is, are we meant to think that the bit
before the title was actually just part of Lyra's dream?

Bingo.

RITSUKO:  There is a compelling reason to believe otherwise, Sheila.

SHEILA:  What?

RITSUKO:  Consider the amount of time we spent speculating as to the
identity of that character.  If he doesn't exist outside of Lyra's mind,
we will seem ... foolish.

Lyra: <Shrug> Oh, well, everyone makes mistakes. We made a couple of 
doozies, here.

"Look, dat thing stinks on ice," Frito said. "'Course da murderer just 
happened ta use da Bloody Card, and a'course she attacked us right in 
front of the bank, where she'd get caught by da cameras. Just right, 
everythin' pointin' to da guy right off da bat. An' I got some nice 
beachfront property down in Kansas. Uh-huh."

SHEILA:  I think this paragraph would work better if the "just happened"
was repeated, as follows. <fair impersonation of FRITO> "'Course da
murderer just happened ta use da Bloody Card, and a'course she just
happened to attack us right in front of the bank, where she just happened
to get caught by da cameras."

Not a bad idea. 

Frito: Ya thinkin' a' puttin' words in my mouth again, buddy? <Frowns>

RITSUKO:  It *does* stress the improbable coincidences involved.  Also,
unless I'm mistaken, that "everythin' pointin' to da guy" should be
"everythin' pointin' to da gals".  If I follow Frito-san's speech
patterns correctly.

Point.

"Hey, I was in shock, OK?" Frito pulled himself up to a seat on the edge 
of the table. "It ain't like I see two a' my favorite bombshells accused 
a' killin' people every day, neither. Got it?"

RYOUKO:  <dry> As opposed to their normal habits of drinking tea and
engaging in poetic competition.  It should probably be "murderin' people".
While the Lovely Angels do, within the context of their operations, kill
those opposing them, they aren't murderers, despite the calumny
perpetrated by the makers of "Fatal But Not Serious".

Another point; will change it. As for FBNS... he. Heheheheheheheheh....

The first murmurs were audible about a block and a half away from the 
studio. As the trio walked closer, chorused shouts began rising out of 
the clamor; at about half a block, they became clear enough to 
understand. Chants of "U-KO-YO!" alternated with "O-O-C!" as the studio

HIROE:  Um ... who's Ukoyo?

SHEILA:  Good question, kid.

The creation of a few fervent fans who wanted to match syllables while 
chanting. :) 

Frito looked nervously from side to side as the trio walked between the 
rows of protesters, and Lyra hunched her shoulders guiltily; Windir, 
however, strode proudly to the entrance, head held high. Surprisingly, no 
one threw tomatoes or eggs, though the volume of shouting did rise 
slightly. Off to one side, a short, cute young woman with 
shoulder-length, wavy brown hair and round glasses stood taking notes; a 
press card was clipped to the collar of her sailor fuku.

SHEILA:  Hm.  Smells like a cameo.  Anyone wanna take a crack at it?

RITSUKO:  I believe that it must be Fuu Huonji, of the Magical Knights
Rayearth.

RYOUKO:  Nope.  I'm thinking it's 

Lyra: Qui? <Curious look> 

Anyway, another case of looking in the wrong place. :) Noriko is present 
by the gracious permission of Raphael See. Wish he were still around... 
and hope he finishes "Scoop" *soon*. :)

Kasumi stood lost in thought for a moment. "Not him, either," she said 
quietly. "At least not at first -- he's arrogant, thoughtless, and 
couldn't pick up a clue if it was delivered by bokken... but he's loyal, 
honorable... and he also cares, deep down." She shook her head. "Later, 
after a new one has a chance to settle in and pick up on the celebrity 
lifestyle, well... let's just say we enjoy the good times while we can."

SHEILA:  Veddddy interesting.

RITSUKO:  This supports your hypothesis, Hiroe.

HIROE:  <blink> It does?  <blink>

RYOUKO:  I can see it.  Sometime ago, Ranma gets killed, and a new Ranma
is activated.  (Incidentally, the world that this story is setting up
reminds me of what the makers of "Fatal But Not Serious" would have us
believe the 3WA was like.)  

An interesting idea, but not really the way I'd pictured it, I'm afraid. 
Basically, the idea I'm working from is that the original canon material 
is the heart or Platonic ideal of this world; as long as a character is 
still alive in the original source, he, she or it can't be permanently 
killed here. When one instance is killed, another is generated from the 
original source to take its place. (Hence the comment about 'settling 
in'; a new instance appears as if it came straight out of the original 
source, and has to pick up life in Anime Town all over again.) I 
deliberately left the actual hows and wherefores vague, since getting 
specific would open up a can of worms I really didn't want to deal with 
in this story. Perhaps in the future...

Lyra frowned at him. "What's your name?"  

"Questions, questions, always questions," he said, shaking his head in 
mock resignation. "You'd think people would get tired of them by now.   
Call me Roku, if you like. I just dropped by from BritWorld, to do a 
little job for an old friend."

RITSUKO:  Oh, good grief.  Under the circumstances and given his dialogue,
I think "Ni" would have been more appropriate.

Or 'Ichi', per "Fall Out"? :) Really, he does have his moments, 
particularly in "Hammer Into Anvil"...

SHEILA:  Uh, Ritsuko, you do realize that none of the rest of us have the
slightest idea what you're talking about?

Heh. Do you have some fun ahead... Be seeing you!

Author's notes: 
--------------- 

Yes, this a *lot* later than I'd hoped to get it out. I'm a fairly slow
writer, and it's been a *busy* year. Only a couple of people have bugged
me to get it out; I'm not sure if that's good or bad. ^_^ 

HIROE:  Didn't our author prod Travis-san to get this released, once?

RYOUKO:  I don't think so, although he was very happy to see it at last.

SHEILA:  But I think he has the same complaint that I do:  WAY TOO SHORT.
<beat> 

Well, I was originally hoping to finish the whole thing before releasing 
it... but splitting it into parts to release does seem to have 
kick-started it. I'm close to the end of Part 2 already...

Also, the fun version of Natsumi and Miyuki in "Pair of Jokers"
are absent in this story, much to its detriment.

You might see them a bit in Part 3 (or 4, if it goes that far), but not 
in a major role. They quite well could end up in a major role in a future 
story in Anime Town, though... That's one fun aspect of Anime Town -- 
lots of room for stories. Might do one about Kasumi's struggle, for 
example...

RYOUKO stares disgustedly at SHEILA.

RYOUKO:  Why do you insist on ascribing to other characters your
perversion?

SHEILA:  Hey!  The subtext is *there*.

In joking, yes... :) But last I heard, Miyuki and Ken were doing just 
fine. Sorry, Sheila.

Thanks for the review!



Travis Butler
(The Professor, formerly of Myth and Magick!, Lawrence, KS;
 tbutler@tfs.net, now from the Wandering Powerbook;
 <http://www.tfs.net/personal/tbutler/>;
 Mac page <http://www.tfs.net/business/tbutler/>)

...I'm sorry, but all questions MUST be submitted in writing.