Philip C. Mak wrote:

On Wed, 9 Sep 1998, Jurai-Knight wrote:

    It was strange, Nabiki found it very easy to just let her body
react without thinking, like she was an observer.  *I _have_ to get
Ranma to let me try this again.  I never understood what Akane

Uh-oh, do I smell trouble later...Nabiki has a way of finding things
out...^_^ although if Ranma always sends Nabiki to quantum band 16 or
something, she'll probably never find out about what the device is REALLY
for. :)

That's part of Ranma's little plan.  If he can continue to convince her
that it is a virtual reality generator, then she won't feel much need to
report Ranma to the Security Directorate.  If she learns how she's been
deceived though...

    On a whim, she grabbed a random male student from the crowd
by the lapels, and then she pulled him in for a kiss.  The other
male students in the crowd murmured in envy, and many of the

ROTFLOL!!!!!! Hmm, it would be interesting to see how the native Nabiki in
that quantum timeline copes with this Nabiki's actions. Fortunately for
her, that guy probably understood that her kiss meant nothing and she was
just playing with him, unless he's an idiot...^_^

This parallel is one that I enjoyed writing about, and I may visit again to
see how Nabiki deals with the results of her brief possession.  I plan on
having Nabiki return to that parallel.  Some of these alternate worlds I
may spin off into side-stories if I choose not to return to them in the
main plotline.

    "Now we show your Captain Nabiki that she shouldn't have
messed with the Men's Martial Arts Club," said a gruff male voice
from behind the girls.  The girls turned, and Nabiki saw a group
of very tough-looking male students dressed in Security gray
suddenly come around the corner behind the girls.  One of them
supported a staggering Kuno.

It's weird, how the fact that when Japan was Westernized in the 1600s,
they ended up becoming such savages in some ways...first the Security
Dictorate, and now this. (Too much dark content can detract away from the
enjoyment of a fic, IMHO. When used carefully in moderation though, it can
add depth.)

I hope by that comment, the dark aspects of my fic are adding depth rather
than taking away from the enjoyment. :)  I confess that I'm not even sure
if I should be putting a "Dark" label on any of my chapters so far.  Have
any of them crossed over that line?

You know, this kind of reminds me of the book "Star Trek: Dark Mirror". In
the book, the crew of the Enterprise meets an alternate universe version
of themselves; in that world, there is no Federation, instead there is the
"Empire", and the USS Enterprise is called ISS Enterprise instead. The
people in the Empire are almost all savages, and they've conquered all the
races (the Romulans were erradicated). When they found out about the way
to cross into another world, they tried to come through so that they could
conquer it, but fortunately, the crew of the USS Enterprise were able to
seal them off. That's a lot like the Security Dictorate in some of the
quantum universes that have been visited here; they want to get their
dirty little hands on the quantum travelling device so that they can go do
what they want with the other quantum universes.

Yep.  That is the danger of the device, and a future plotline for the
series.  It is also possible that they will discover a method of
"physically" travelling to other quantum universes, as the present method
that Ranma uses is more set up for espionage and data-gathering.  Right now
though, I am having fun writing about the alternate cast and the problems
unique to their world.

    "Oh my," replied Kasumi quietly.  "This simply won't do,
Ranma."  She turned back to her bag, and pulled out a small
syringe filled with a yellowish fluid.  "Why don't I give you
something to help you relax before we talk?"

I have one word to say about the above paragraph:

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P

Another fun little scene to write.  Typical Kasumi mannerisms, but NOT
Kasumi inside. :)

    Hours went by.  Genma looked at his watch and noticed the
time.  The various circuit boards of the Resonator were laid out on
the workbench along with the master schematic.  "Let's break for
lunch, son."  Genma removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of
his nose tiredly.

Seems kind of careless of them...dismantling a working device like that,
especially one as hard to create as this one.  What if they can't put it
back together? :) One would have thought they could just work with the
schematics

I will admit that it's a plot contrivance to put off the other worlds for a
little while, so I can focus on Imperial Earth for a little bit.  I tried
to make it sound plausible though.  I might need to re-write that scene and
the one later in the chapter where the Quantum Flux Coil gets damaged.

    "My son already ate his lunch, but I'm sure that he would like
to spend some time with you outside, young lady," said Genma
with a smile.  "I have some thinking to do on your work, Ranma.
Why don't you take a break with this pretty, young lady while I do
that?  Spend some time in the sunshine."

*chuckle* Genma playing the matchmaker? :)

Heh.  He has a great track record in other worlds.  Why should this one
blow up in his face? :)

    Akane was bored.  Normally, to relieve her boredom she would
pick a tough-looking student to challenge to a fight.  Other times,
she would find a weaker student to bully to see if she could
provoke a fight.  Her recent injuries prevented either from being

*shakes his head sadly* Savages. Such savages.

Akane is just being Akane.  She's a vicious little thing in this world,
isn't she?

goofy look on his face that Akane knew that she did not like.  She
became angry when she realized that he was having this effect on
her.  *Why do I care if Ranma Saotome talks to another girl?  It's
not like we've even dated or anything.*

This Akane gives new meaning to the words "overpossessive" and "abusive".
I say she's worse than the Akane in "Bitter End". :P

I don't know if I'd go THAT far.  She's pretty whacked out in "Bitter
End."  She just has a twisted fascination for Ranma here.  It does kind of
flip-flop the Akane/Kodachi dynamic a bit though.

    "I guess I should start at the beginning," said Kodachi in a
thoughtful tone.  "On my world, you never existed Ranma.  Your
father never married.  Instead, he devoted his life to his research.
He managed to create the device himself after twenty years of
research into quantum theory and quantum mechanics.  He taught
at my world's version of this Academy."  Kodachi made a
sweeping gesture to take in the whole area.

Ranma is probably a genious then; he managed to create the quantum
travelling device much faster than Genma would have done working alone.

Don't think his newly-enhanced ego will ever let anyone forget it either.
:)

    "I'm going to give you what you want from me," replied Ranma
in that same neutral tone.  "Three weeks from today, in this spot,
we fight.  If I win, you acknowledge me your superior before all
witnesses."  Akane frowned at that one.

Finally! How I've waited for Ranma to say that! :)

It does promise to be one of the major fights of the series.  Akane has
been asking for it for a while in this story. :)

curled into fists at her sides as she walked.  *I'm going to _break_
you, Ranma Saotome.  No matter how much you may have
improved, I'm still better than you.  After the fight, you're all
mine.*  Akane chuckled a bit as she walked.

Looks like Ranma'd better go brush up on his Martial Arts skills, learn
the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken and stuff (although he might want to be
careful about the more obvious ki attacks, e.g. Mouko Takabisha, lest the
Security Dictorate comes to give him trouble). If not, he's going to end
up as Akane's slave for a month. :P

With three weeks to train, he should be able to give Akane a good run for
her money.  The Amaguriken is probably possible, but he hasn't developed
his ki enough for the really big atatcks like the Mouko Takabisha.  The
Hiryu Shoten Ha is possible since that really seems to rely on the
OPPONENT'S ki, rather than the person using it.

    "It was my fault," said Genma in an apologetic tone.  "I was
examining it, and it slipped from my grasp.  I'm sorry, son."

    "Great, pop," sighed Ranma.  "This is just... great.  It's going to
take me a week to request more materials and fabricate another

No more quantum travelling for a week, eh? (Why do I sense a hint of
irresponsibility from Genma? Or was that a freak accident...?)

Genma is simply being a clutz, but on the other hand it could be part of a
devious master plan. :)

Ranma IS going to meet Ukyou soon right? (after he's gone to the arena and
lamented over Shampoo's fate...:P)

Shampoo and Ukyou will be the major new faces in chapter 9.  Just when
Ranma thought his life was complicated already.  The fun part will be that
he THINKS he knows them, so he may say some things that will turn out to be
rather dim-witted on his part.

    "It happened on my seventeenth jump," she said.  "Professor
Saotome was experimenting with fine-tuning the scanning pulses
to pick up more worlds in a band when he picked up a second
signal.  It caused the transfer pulse to activate before he could
abort, and I found myself slumped against a wall of the lab.  The
body I was in was shot through one of the lungs, and I could feel
myself dying.  I didn't know how long I might have, and I didn't
know if Professor Saotome would be able to retrieve me in time."
Kodachi drew in a shuddering breath before she continued.

I got a little confused as to what was going on here...I assume Kodachi
jumped to a universe where her alternate self was dying, so she had to
jump a second time out of that universe in order to save herself?

Yes.  She panicked when she thought she'd die before recall, and that set
her up for her current problem.

    Genma looked helplessly at Ranma.  Ranma was shaking his
head slowly, a sad look on his face.  "I don't see how we can,
Kodachi," said Ranma.  "I doubt we'd be able to even _find_ your
original world.  Even if we did, I think the personality integration
is probably complete.  Like it or not, this is your home now."

What happened to Kodachi's body in her original world anyway? Would she be
in a coma or something, since her consciousness is in another quantum
universe? BTW what's the "personality integration" thing Ranma is talking
about here?

The original body is comatose, with no chance of waking up.  The Genma of
that world will be having some explaining to do.  The personality
integration Ranma refers to is when a quantum traveller possesses a body, a
form of mixing of memories and personalities takes place.  Scholar-Ranma
has absorbed a lot of Martial-Ranma's skills and personality over the eight
hours he's spent in the other Ranma's head.  The Jumper (Leaper?) Kodachi
has been in her new life for over a month.  She's basically now permanently
part of the Kodachi of this world now. 

    "I want to do something special," she replied.  "My family has
box seats at the Arena.  Let's go there tonight."

Next up: Ranma meets Shampoo?

Yep.  What a meeting that will be too. :)

Judging by that scene from the universe where Ranma is in jail, I assume
there's going to be more scenes with that world? Perhaps a Ranma with
martial arts abilities will jump in there and beat people up? ^_^

That Ranma may or may not get possessed.  I haven't decided.

IMHO I think you are putting too many scenes with the "dark" tone, e.g.
when Kodachi describes how she got stuck in this universe. I had the same
problem with Shampoo 1/2; it started out looking like it would be a light
hearted romance story between Ranma and Shampoo, but the recent chapters
were not light-hearted at all, starting with Nodoka's meddling, then later
the hopeless fight to save Shampoo from being taken back by the
Joketsuzoku.

I have always tried to write this series from a serious with occasional
humor point of view.  My writing style is just naturally serious, so I use
humor as a seasoning to keep it from being unrelentingly dark.

I confess to being a fan of the Shampoo 1/2 series for over a year now. 
Even though it's serious  in tone, it still manages to be very
entertaining.  I wish I could write that much without burning out. :)

I'm dying to see how martial-Ranma deals with what happens later when
people confront him about going on a date with Shampoo. :)

The consequences should be colorful.  (Black, Blue, and Red I imagine.)  :)

Oh, another thing that I was expecting to see...when are Ranma and Genma
going to talk about Nodoka's attempts to engage him to a bunch of girls? I
find it strange that they have not discussed it at all so far.

Good point.  I will work on that little heart-to-heart talk in the upcoming
chapter, tentatively titled: A Taste of Things to Come. ~Yes, I did lift it
from Mortal Kombat :)~

Jurai Knight