And here we go:

Winking and rolling slowly in the air before him, the gem floated to
be of level with his eyes, and a voice -- one Ranma knew too well to
ignore -- gently whispered to him, "Close your eyes, and be strong,
Ranma-dono."

I see. Tsunami's pitching in.

the ground, and Ranma spoke, loud enough for Yakumo to hear as he
lost his footing on the iced-over ground, "Mouko takabisha." A
golden globe of power coalesced at Ranma's fingertips and screamed
through the air to slam into the reaver, leaving it trapped in the
cement.

I see that trick still works.

***

Yosho pushed the memories of the dead marine behind him, stumbling
back into action as Setsuna leant

leant or leaned? Not sure which is more appropriate.

A claw attempted to ward away the blade of energy, and Yosho circled
left, while Haruka flanked to the right, her own sword just able to
deflect the stabbing claws. Leading in sharply, Yosho lashed at its
side when he could, swearing out loud when he heard Haruka's cry of
pain. Banishing the blade in favor of the shield, he rolled directly
underneath the reaver, the thinner-than-paper barrier only barely
deflecting claws as he slammed into the woman, trapped as she was on
the cruelly barbed hooks of the reaver's claw.

Ouch, but it was bound to happen eventually.

"It's dangerous," he continued, laying his palm open, and forming the
ritual words in his mind. "But there's a way to bind monsters that
are already mature. And unlike you, my little friend, I have nothing
to lose."

Oh, he's going to try and control one? That should be interesting.

He was nearly lost the second his attempt began.

The creature had no mind, no will of its own. They all shared one
mind, and one will. And they knew what he was doing.

And they were angry with him.

Heh. he'll be lucky if he can get his mind back out.

Ami staggered back, falling down as she watched. The topmost reaver
quivered, unleashing a fierce spasm, and its legs suddenly splayed
out, then contracted, crushing the reaver beneath it, which burst
messily, spraying acidic ichor across the surrounding area.

Well, he's done one in, though I doubt he can control it for long. Lucky his
trick worked on them.

Glancing to ensure that the others were not grievously injured, Ami
turned her attention to Yakumo. Yosho and Setsuna could take care of
Ranma and Haruka, but Ami was worried for -- and more than a little
frightened of -- Yakumo.

The man lay on the ground, sobbing after vomiting a stream of blood.

I see it did indeed take a lot out of him.

Yakumo shuddered, nodding. "Yeah," he said in a solemn tone. "I'm
never going to try to control one of the Qvansti again."

Ami frowned, peering at Yakumo in confusion. "Why do you call them
that?" she asked.

"That's what they call themselves," he answered quietly.

So they do have a name for themselves, interesting.

"Maintain position, and cooperate with the defenders. If Ranma gets
up, and tells you to do something, do it. Have someone retrieve
Ford's gun, over and out." Irate, Norris shook his head. "Ford, you
god-damned idiot, what have you done?"

Screwed up. But he paid for it.

In the distance, standing before Ami protectively, Yakumo deflected
stray rocks and rubbish from the angry crowd,

Gee, you think it would occur to some of them that without Yakumo and
company, they have no way of killing the reavers.

"Scaring them away wasn't the best answer, but it's one that saved
more lives in the end," Setsuna justified weakly.

"Maybe, but I was talking about trying to control the Qvansti."

Heh. Nice to see his thoughts were different from her.

"They hate us," Yakumo answered swiftly. "They hate all that lives,
and are devoted to some... I don't know. I think... A queen, I
suppose. But she's not a real being -- I guess she's like their
goddess. They call her Tokimi."

So it is her.

"I saw some of it. They're afraid of Ranma. And they're afraid of me,
because they think I'm one of their goddess's favored.

Intersting. I wonder that led them to that conclusion.

"No," she answered solemnly. "That has always been a part of you. The
gift I give you is a gift I hope you return someday, Ranma-dono. I
gave you, and will always give you..."

And with that, the dream-memory vanished.

Heh. Of course.

***
"It broke," Ranma apologized. "I think it tried to channel a little
too much power."

"It broke?" Washuu asked cautiously. "When Ryouko's spare gems break,
they explode.

They do?

Patterson grinned, offering, "Good news on that, at least. We've
raided a few bus-tour centers, managed to find a few fuel trucks,
and found that most stores have plenty of canned goods available.
Teams are gathering necessities and bottled water as we speak, while
the fuel trucks are pumping gas out of local gas stations."

They should have done that earlier when they were initially building the
portal. Now they're wasting time.

"Why is all of this simply left here?" Norris asked, frowning. "Where
are all of the people?"

Having no answer, Patterson let his smile fade and gave a helpless
shrug. "I don't know," he admitted.

Teleported out by someone else?

"I thought he'd put a bigger dent in the place," Ranma commented,
drifting momentarily towards the deck. "He ate Norris's planes much
faster." As his foot touched on the deck, the entire surface of the
ship gave a single heaving shudder, before collapsing in on itself,
leaving Ranma surveying a swiftly sinking mass of fallen steel.
"Oh," Ranma said quietly.

Heh

Ranma frowned, unsure, and looked at Ran-oh-ki inquisitively. The
creature considered for a minute, then nodded, turning to look
across the city intently. "What do we do once I find a blue gem?"

"Wait until I tell you," Washuu said, waggling a finger at Ranma.
"You push yourself too hard."

It is kind of necessary at the moment.

Laruma Genoh fidgeted. Tenchi guessed that next to himself, there
hadn't been a more nervous man in all of history.

Heh

"From what you've told me," Tenchi remarked sadly, "I can't afford to
spare them. They're just as much a part of the problem anyway."

"But... But Tenchi, they are family!"

And still will be even if they are not on the council.

Ayeka protested weakly. "They

are noble, more so than perhaps some of the other families. The
Masaki are..." Trailing off, she swallowed, and asked in a timid
voice, "Tenchi-sama... am I unable to see things that you and...
Genoh-san... are able to more clearly?"

Ryouko, having simply watched the entire exchange in silence to that
point, interceded before Tenchi or Genoh could answer. "Ayeka," she
said frankly. "It's almost impossible to see the problems from inside."

Not impossible, just difficult.

"Can you keep on fighting?" Norris asked, using Ranma's own Japanese
for the moment.

Ranma answered tiredly, her voice slurred with strain and effort,
though it no longer had the English echo that had once accompanied
it, "Yeah. Ran-oh-ki says they're just waiting for now. They want to
plan something else big."

Which means they need to move the people fast.

"How much can he possibly need?" Norris muttered. "An entire ship...
he ate a nuclear submarine!"

"Oh, no, he didn't eat a whole submarine," Washuu said, prompting
Norris to relax. "He ate the entire Kitty Hawk.

Carriers are much bigger than subs

***

"Don Hai."

Not related to Don Ho, I assure you.

Swallowing, the young man blurted out, "And there are Japanese with
them, and American warships in the harbor -- one of them was
destroyed, but we're not certain how yet."

"Hmm," Don Hai mused, sipping at his tea, and staring into its depths
for a long, silent minute. "Well," he said, once he had pored over
the drink long enough, "if the enemy is there, tell the Americans
they have five minutes to leave the city, and see that Shanghai is
leveled."

Oh? Now this is odd?

Norris turned to Washuu, who stared at him in confusion. "What's
going on?" she asked.

"Washuu, do you have something that can stop SRBMs?"

"Stop what?" the scientist asked, confused.

"Short Range Ballistic Missiles," Norris said quickly. "China decided
to nuke the city to take out as many reavers as they could, as far
as I can tell. It looks like they consider us acceptable losses.

Well, since the Chinese are unaware of the fact they can teleport out, it
does look bad. Although Norris could have told them that they are drawing as
many reavers as possible there and to nuke them once they achieve the
maxiumum number that can be driven into the area.

The scientist licked her lips, turning her attention to Ranma, who
still slept. "I... if... Ranma can't summon the wings of the Light
Hawk. If he could, he could shield the city, but... I don't have
anything... wait, how much time do we have?"

"Less than ten minutes," Norris snapped. "We have rolling airframe
missile launchers back at the Kitty Hawk,

Had, would be the operative term there.

Norris glanced at the radio, then licked his lips nervously. "Let me
see if I can get him, maybe I can talk him down -- Don Hai, this is
Commodore Norris, are you there?"

"Yes," Don Hai said mildly after a moment. "But you really should
move, Mr. Norris. You don't have much time."

Now he's just being petty. He knows they can't clear the area in that amount
of time.

"Look, Don Hai, we need you to stop the missiles, I..." he trailed
off, as Ranma carelessly tossed Ran-oh-ki to Nuku, and vanished,
leaving a swirl of dust behind.

Ranma returned a half-second later, bearing a large man in a crisply
cleaned Chinese military uniform with him, held aloft by Ranma's
grip on his throat. The boy threw the man to the stone at Norris's
feet hard enough to crack the tile, and growled, "If you don't stop
them, then you die too."

Heh. Now that might work.

Tenchi promptly invited Karau and Genoh to dinner at the palace.
"After all," he had said, "things are finally looking up!"

Heh. How little he knows. I'll have to get to that last chapter you put out
soon.

D.B. Sommer

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