Will C&C this before going off on vacation.

At least I'll finish something since there's almost no way I'll be able
to finish C&C'ing PoE in time ^_^;

  It didn't even occur to me until someone actually asked, but I...
er... made a bit of a mistake on this one.

Posted an example without bothering to post the scenario it was based
on. ^_^

Heh.  I noticed that.  Forgot to tell you last night ^_^;

Anyway, here it is, I hope my fans (all both of you!) like it. ;)

Am I one of them? ^_^

--

Pick one!

Ucchan! ^_^

Disclaimer: The paints belong to Takahashi, the easel is mine.

Notes: Don't understand? Read the author's notes!

--------------------------

"Choose one," he muttered to himself, his breath rasping with the pain

'the pain' or 'pain' (?)

he no longer acknowledged. "Yeah, right..."

True, no matter what, Ranma wouldn't allow any of the girls to die.  He
would find a way...

Slumping to his feet in the otherwise deserted corridor, its gleaming
steel and cold empty stretches echoing. Either they would come and find

The first sentence doesn't sound right.  Maybe change beginning to:

'Ranma slumped to his feet in the...'

him dead, or he would kill as many of them as he could before he died.
It was that simple.

He smiled grimly at the deep, resonating roar that shook the complex,
rattling his teeth and telling him that _that_ at least had gone as
planned. "I win," he whispered, the pain slowly beginning to fade as his
vision darkened. "I win..."

Nice beginning.  Will hook most of the readers.

***

Ranma eyed the folded note distastefully. "So..." he said, the entire
assembled Tendo and Saotome families, in addition to the normal
tagalongs staring at him. "What's this all about?"

Seems like he knew what the meeting was about.

Nabiki shrugged uncomfortably, clearly looking unhappy about something

She has a good reason to be...

or another. "Ranma," she began, pointing to the note. "They're not
assigning any more spaces. Basically... you won."

Sounds like only one person from Nerima was being chosen and Ranma
won...

He blinked, staring at the slip of paper on the table, suddenly
frighteningly aware of the eyes on him. He had gotten a pass. Not Kuno,
with his wealth, nor Nabiki with her grades, or anyone else... but him.

Nabiki: You're one of a kind, Ranma.

Ranma: Thanks, I think...

"Uh..." he started, suddenly nervous with the number of eyes locked on
him. His parents, his fiancees, and his rivals. "What does this mean?"

Nodoka was there?

Nabiki stood slowly, taking the paper and striding purposefully across
the room towards Ranma. "It means," she stated, "that because of your...
'unique'... position, that you can take one person with you. Just one.
But... _any_ one."

Definitely the most important decision of Ranma's life...

Ranma swallowed involuntarily, taking the note as Nabiki pressed it into
his chest. "Pick one, and make it a good choice, Ranma."

Certain people, like the guys can be easily ruled out.  And the parents
wouldn't let Ranma choose them, instead asking him to choose one of the
girls.

***

He sat on the roof of the house, alone, and thinking. Who to take? Just
one person? That wasn't fair. Not for him -- not for anyone, really.

And, as I said before, Ranma _would_ search hard for a way to take as
many as possible.

Sensing another presence at the edge of the roof, he looked over,
waiting patiently as she approached. "One at a time," he muttered to

Done on purpose to not show which girl it was?

himself, wondering how they would take it. Maybe really only three
choices, but that didn't make things easier.

Yup: Akane, Shampoo and Ukyou...

***

Ukyou lounged at the counter, idly poking at a half-finished
okonomiyaki, before sighing moodily, and pushing it away. She glanced
over as another girl entered the shop, nodding before taking a seat near
Ukyou. "Hello."

"Hello, Shampoo. What'cha doing here?"

The Amazon fidgeted for a moment before admitting, "Airen not going to
choose Shampoo, Shampoo think."

Ukyou nodded. "He's probably going to choose Akane."

Surprised they could admit something like that.  Guess since it's
gotten this serious...

Shampoo nodded, pulling a note from a pocket. "He give this..." she
trailed off, handing over the note.

Surprised Shampoo doesn't think much of it.  Maybe she thought it was
just one last goodbye...

"Three days?" Ukyou commented, reading the note. "So he's gonna tell us
in... but that's..."

Or when he makes the announcement, though they both already conceded to
Akane.

"Last day?"

"Yeah..."

Ukyou: So... wanna have some hot sex?

Shampoo: Again?  That third time this week!

Ukyou: And your point?  Why not have as much fun before dying?

***

Shampoo peered nervously into the dark alleyway. People were acting
less... restrained... this close to the end, doing things that they

Seems to give an idea of what she saw ^_^

never would, were it not for the impending disaster. She shivered,
suddenly afraid, and spun, seeing a sudden shadowy figure before her.

That was the meeting area?

There was only enough time for her to open her mouth in surprise, before
she was silenced.

***

Akane followed the pigtailed boy doubtfully, intimidated by the expanses
of bare corridor before her as Ranma marched forward knowingly. "Where
are we going?" she asked.

She doesn't know?

He glanced over his shoulder and flashed her a smile. "Got some good
news, and some bad news. After a bit of arguing, I got them to accept
one boy, one girl, and one pet."

Akane doesn't even realize that Ranma never told the bad news...

"You're kidding?" She adjusted the handle on her suitcase as her arm
began to tire.

Just where did Ranma place the cat? ^_^

"Nope."

Had he chosen her? He still hadn't announced who he was going to pick,
and time was running critically low. "One pet?"

"Don't worry about it."

She frowned, wondering why Ranma would have gone through the trouble...
P-chan? But that would mean that Ranma had chosen her -- as far as she
knew, none of the other girls had pets...

Guess Akane doesn't feel as confident of her being the choice even
though Ukyou and Shampoo somewhat conceded it.

"Here." He announced, gesturing her forward.

She passed through a giant secured door with slight trepidation. "What's
this, Ranma?"

He said nothing, merely gesturing her forward. She stepped forward
slowly, entering a room with an equally confused and nervous Ukyou -- in
her boy's school uniform. "Akane-chan?" she asked, disbelieving.

How did he get Ukyou there?  He told her that he'll make his decision
there or that he chose Ukyou and wanted her to dress as a boy to not
get noticed?

"Ukyou?" Akane turned to question Ranma, only to see the heavy door she
had passed through slam shut, sealing the two together. "Oh no..." she
whispered, piecing the clues together.

Akane was probably the only one Ranma told about the one boy, one girl
and one pet thing.

The okonomiyaki chef blinked, realizing what had happened. "But..." she
started, looking towards the door.

Blinking suddenly, Akane stared at her suitcase, as a crackling voice
over the intercom asked, "Saotome Ranma?"

***

Ukyou ran for all she was worth, Shampoo -- human again, and dressed in
one of Akane's spare outfits -- towing Akane along behind her. "Airen
brave," she panted, "but Shampoo not leave alone like this."

He probably knew they would do this...

"He knows it, though," Akane grated out, pacing the other martial artists.

Told ya ^_^

Ukyou nodded, darting a single glance back at the ship and its promise
of safety. "We'll find him, then... then..." she trailed off, not having
the slightest idea what she would do afterwards.

Ranma gave them little time to think of a way to bring him in.

***

"But--"

"NO!" Ranma roared, shoving her back through the final door, pressing
her into the other two girls, and sealing them in as they struggled to

Looks like he had to carry them back.

regain their footing. "I owe..." He trailed off, leaning against the
thick pane of glass in the center of the door. "I owe all of you... I
ain't... I ain't gonna pick just one." He looked up suddenly, standing

Didn't think Ranma would.

straight, and letting the trio actually see the reddening patch on his
shirt, the wound he had taken earlier being more than he had hinted.

So he killed the reaver (for your fic) while the girls were still with
him?

"You owe me," he announced. "I gave up what I got for you, and you...
you owe me bein' safe. So... go." He coughed, turning to the panel on
the side of the door, and smashing the protective glass covering a large
red button. "Go..."

The only way the would stay on the ship...

"Ranma!"

***

Ranma's eyes drifted closed, and he nodded to himself weakly, the
feeling of cold settling into his bones. "I win..."

Nice end.

--------------------------
Author's Notes:

It's a one-shot! It's a prologue! It's a one-shot _AND_ a prologue!

Pretty much...

And it's not very good, either.

Only your opinion ^_^

Anyway. This is essentially a seed for a crossover. Might be too dark
for some, and it is awfully vague. But that's for a reason.

Hmm.... well, doesn't have to be a crossover.

What's it a crossover with, you ask? Why... whatever you want! I've been
told it's a good seed for a crossover with several stories, from
Irresponsible Captain Tylor, to Battle Angel (not sure how, myself,) to
Sailor Moon and Tenchi.

You left it vague enough to be anything.

For some reason I can't think of any at the moment ^_^;

So where are the girls going, and what's Ranma talking about? Could be
anything. The girls could be boarding a spaceship to escape a horde of
bloodthirsty alien monsters, or a bizarre virus, with Ranma staying
behind to fight back the panicked zealots and rioters long enough for
them to escape... or they could be using a dimensional rift that only
can transport so much mass, fleeing some other dire threat -- the Senshi
lost their battles and are in hiding, etc.

Why bother? Well, Ranma's wounded, but there are plenty of anime
characters that can heal him. Maybe Nuku^2 finds him on her way to find
'Papa and Mama-san', or Hotaru sees him and tries to help him -- while
Pluto sees a _very_ useful ally. Maybe he stumbles into a stasis cell,
and he is found hundreds of years later, preserved and revived for a

A xover with Futurama ^_^

crossover with... well, almost anything. (Hey, Ranma's the new Fei Wong!

Heh

(On second thought, nobody write that one. Please?)) Maybe Makoto and
Ifurita see him lying wounded before they depart to El`Hazard forever.

The situation, one way or another removes the fiancees in such a manner
that they won't be bashed, and they aren't killed (they'll probably
return. Some day. It just might be a while.) They could be trapped in a

Yup, definitely a plus ^_^

pocket dimension along with the other survivors, or speeding towards
Jurai at relativistic speeds (40+ year trip from the outside, but from
their standpoint, only a month will have passed.)

The other members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew are fair game. Maybe they
all survive, maybe they don't.

Could be that Kuno becomes a knight of whatever villain the Senshi lost
to, or Kasumi runs into a suspiciously familiar woman and her boyfriend
(Belldandy and K-1). It's open-ended, and you can fill in the blanks.


Good lord, I'm a pretentious sot. Oh well. Maybe someone will find it
useful. Enjoy!

I liked it.  Though I can't think of any ideas at the moment.

This looks like it'll be the only think I'm able to C&C before leaving.

Will get to PoE when I come back.

Ginrai
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