Jurai-Knight wrote:

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...

Of course, I'm not sure what the big deal is, anyway.  Why do the 
Saotomes want to keep this technology from their government?  
The constraints make it useless as a weapon or tool of conquest.
At worst, they might manage to find a Quantum with generally more
advanced technology and get to implement some of them at home, and
I can't see scientists objecting to that idea much.  
Unless of course the even more dictatorial world had a Genma working
on a device for _physical_ movement between worlds.

    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.)

That quantum doesn't strike me as being much darker than 
regular Ranma is if you aren't playing it for laughs.

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?

Ehn.  Don't worry about it.  I think you should only put "Dark" on a fic when
the bad guys win and/or the good guys all die, or there just are no good guys.

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. :)

I liked it.  Kasumi's portrayal in fanfics so often takes on a creepy
tone, but this one was fine.  

    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.

You could just have Genma tell Ranma not to do any more worldhopping until
more safeguards are in place to protect his life and sanity.  What with
preparing for his duel with Akane, and dealing with the thundering horde of
fiances, he has plenty of distractions.  

    "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?

It would be interesting to see her in mainline Akane's body.  After all,
mainline Akane despises those who bully the weak.  

    "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. :)

Sort of kinky implications if he loses.  I almost want to see it.   

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

The Amaguriken is extremely unlikely.  This Ranma is no faster than
Akane and can't condition his body in such a short time.  When Ranma learned
it, he was already far faster than Akane, although it's also possible that 
Akane-thug is a better fighter than Akane is, since she seems to have a far
narrower range of interests.  

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.