Now that Avenging 9 is done and all I need to do is wait for the last
prereader to get back to me on the first half, I think I'll do some C+C.

[Side note: Just got done watching Boys Be... so if any of my comments seem
shounenesque, you'll know why ^_^}


Wee. Someone whose chapters are bigger than mine. :)

Process of Elimination -- Chapter Ten -- Part A

Wee, only three chapters behind.

"I can destroy one more monster," Ranma replied flatly, his sword
slowly ceasing it's unsteady waver at Don Hai's

Don Hai: But I'm telling you I'm not related to Don Ho. I can't even play
the ukele,

Ran-oh-ki gave a vigorous nod, and vaulted skyward,

Heh. Here it comes. Looks like devouring an aircraft carrier was what he
needed.

while Nuku

ignored Ranma and Washuu's exclamations. Above the courtyard, with
the line of refugees streaming through the vast archway, the small
furry being suddenly exploded into a veritable swarm of spires and
protrusions,

not sure if you need that comma

a dozen meters and more across. It emitted a piercing

cry that shattered the windows of nearby buildings, and sent the
refugees into a panicked stampede towards the Gate. The glass slowly
rained down, nearly melodic in the background, sunlight sparkling
off of

can drop 'of'

 the flowing collapses. Nuku offered Ranma a victorious smile,

as a shaft of light speared out from the bottom of the confused
topography of Ran-oh-ki's new form, enveloping her and raising her away.

her who? Nuku? Might want to make it clearer

Ran-oh-ki made a noise in confirmation, and lurched suddenly,
rocketing upwards, as a pair of metallic clamps swung down, meeting
Nuku's ear-sensors as they swung up

Heh. Makes link ups much easier.

, and carefully restraints

latched around her waist.

She was then electrocuted.

As she watched, they opened up, sensors and interfaces from Ran-oh-ki
entangling with the local system and integrating it into himself.
"Ran-oh-ki-niichan has weapons?"

So they weren't merely converted into mass for the ship. Didn't realize
that.

telemetry data, and more that she recognized instantly as targeting
data. Ran-oh-ki trembled slightly, and the starboard laser fired,
searing through the sky and vaporizing the first of the targets.
"Good job, Ran-oh-ki-niichan!" Nuku encouraged him. "Let's get them
all!"

_This_ time, she would protect her family!

Indeed she shall

Sighing, Ranma pulled the replacement gem from his left wrist,
shooting a sidelong glance at Washuu. "I don't sense any reavers
nearby at this second." Furrowing his brows, he kicked Don Hai as
the man climbed to his feet,

smashing him into a fleshy jelly. "Oops," Ranma said, "Don't know my own
strength."

clipping the man in the temple and

flipping him over to lie on the ground, unmoving. Norris bit back a
curse, and ordered one of his men to secure him elsewhere.

"Ranma," Norris growled. "It's not a good idea to attack the people
in charge of the country we don't even have permission to be in."

Ranma: Nah, it's all right if they attack first.

Taking a deep breath, he reclined against the rubble of the hotel for
a moment, glancing to his side. Mousse had taken off his robe in the
chill air, wearing only his blue Chinese pants while he worked, much
to Minako's delight. The blonde girl stared at Mousse with enough
fervor to unnerve _him_, though Mousse affected not to notice,

Mousse: Actually my glasses are cracked. Can't see her well enough to
notice.

"Okay, I guess," Ryu answered, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "Sure
wish we had Ranma's pet here, though. I keep thinking that we're
going to get attacked any second."

Ryouga shushed him with a movement of one hand, checking to see that
none of the refugees heard the complaint. "Don't say things like
that too loudly," he mumbled.

Yeah. He'll jinx them

Ryu rolled his eyes, glancing across the street to Minako and Makoto.
Ray

He activated the weapons he had managed to integrate into himself,
though they weren't well designed to deal with the heat they
generated. A stray impulse adapted for that, altering highly
conductive materials to shunt the heat directly to his skin, which
was chilled by the air that tore against it. Makeshift solutions,
until he could find something better to eat.

A unique way of looking at a problem

Already his mind and elements of Nuku's had calculated what it would
take to destroy all of them in time, and already they knew that no
matter what happened, they would fall short. Utilizing one pattern,
all but one could be stopped, and using another, all but three.

Well, obviously one woudl be better than three

All of this passed through the linkage between he and Nuku in what
his internal chronometer assured him was only three seconds.

For that, then, a choice. Three, or one? One, then, despite the
greater risk, and likely annoyance to his partner. His partner would
not approve of a choice that let people get harmed, one

can drop that comma too, I think

Yakumo scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms for a moment,
before trying to explain. "Blue... blue. Something about a woman...
or a girl. Something blue, and something about her that's... green?
No, they think green is something else... something... I think it
has to do with life. They're afraid of her. They hate the blue...
but they don't hate her."

So they know ambivalence too. :)

"They fear that which changes more than they do, and so quickly that
they don't know how to counter it.

Makes sense. If it changes faster than they can adapt, they might not ever
be able to kill it.

"They don't love her," Yakumo managed, shuddering. "They just... they
just... I can't put it into words. The only thing they have for her
beside loyalty is a lack of fear or hate. No love."

Ambivalence again. :)

He relaxed instantly, sighing in relief. "Pai,"

Ami said, "I can get you a pie." she broke the window of a nearby bakery and
handed him a pie. "It's blueberry."

"Radiation," Yosho guessed. "Washuu mentioned that. So then, the
explosives would probably do nothing to them, it's the radiation
that kills them."

And they can't adapt to it. Interesting.

"That's a good thing," Norris opined. "That was the area of one of
Patterson's supply requisition squads. Did you see any soldiers there?"

Might want to make Norris sound a touch worried about their fate. They are
his men, after all, and it doesn't look good for them.

They needed something to distract themselves.

Orgy time!

She wondered what effect it would have on the creatures that lived in
the sea,

reavers will probably evnetually eat all of them too.

Eyes distant, Yosho quietly continued, "Those fifty would breed to
thousands in only a few weeks.

Oh? They can replicate themselves?

Of course, the barrier was operating at a net loss, and by the time
the day was over, that gem would crumble to dust. She grit her
teeth. She wanted so much to wish that Ranma didn't have to fight...
to try and protect her, and everyone else.

If Ranma could simply live her own life... but no, it was her fault
that Ranma was trapped into the situation she was in.

Instead of just dead. You've been going on wee bit too long with the
self-recriminations on Washuu's part. This sounds like ground that's been
covered many times before.

[]query -- phase valance disassociation

Phase Dispersion Cannon: an effort intended specifically to fight of
the effects of both Phased-Space and Anti-Phased-Space attackers,

Well now, that might be useful.

Washuu clicked her tongue, frowning in consternation. The only person

she could think of who could be accessing a computer on the moon --
though according to that last snippet, there was a lot more than
just a computer up there -- would be Ami. And there was a good
chance that as well as she meant, Ami didn't really understand what
exactly she was playing with.

Oh, I'd say that's a guarentee.

"Oh indeed," Washuu snorted. "It would also very likely disrupt and
kill Ran-oh-ki instantly. I don't think that Ranma would appreciate
that much."

"I hadn't realized he was so fragile," Ami whispered.

Heh. I don't think she quite grasps the situation.

"Not at all," she said, shaking her head very slightly. "I do not
intend to mercilessly kill. I intend to press the evolution of a
species faster. Are the reavers not the ideal tool to accomplish that?"

No. They pretty much eat everything, including new species.

Ranma wasted no more time, grabbing firmly onto the little ball of
fear that Ran-oh-ki had taken from him when they first bonded. That
little ball of fear that was so much more than a little ball...

Claws and darkness and scratches and growling and anger and hate and
fear and anger and hate and fear and anger and hate and fear....

Oh, this might be amusing.

As though he were watching the scene unfold from a great distance, he
watched the woman stare, impassive, some invisible force that he
couldn't penetrate holding him at bay. "Impressive," she allowed.
"But savage. I warn you this, mortal, never try that again, or I
will see to it that you are completely unmade."

Heh. Thought as much.

"You can cut me open," Ranma yelled at her. "You can break my bones
and take me apart from the inside out.

Tokimi: Okay. (Moves forward)

Ranma: Wait! I ain't done with my melodramatic speech yet. Wouldn't be right
to cut it short. Just isn't done.

"Healing," the woman stated, disgust evident on her features. "You
have the power to crack stars open when you are fully matured, the
strength and the ability to annihilate planets..."

Ranma: Why would I want to do any of those things?

Tokimi: Well, I hadn't thought that far yet.

"You know what?" Ranma asked tiredly.

"What?" she snarled. "Dare you defy me further?"

"Yeah," Ranma answered, smiling grimly. "So _fuck_ you."

Tokimi: An interesting offer.Does your desire to mate with me mean you've
given in to my desires?


Ranma: I didn't mean it that way!

Norris's men said something back, though Nuku heard it more through
her own sensors than from the speaker in Norris's radio, but she
paid little mind regardless,

I'd drop 'regardless' as being unneccesary.

are they headed?"

"West," Ranma said slowly. "And... they're moving fast. Some of them
are still staying nearby... Why are they leaving?"

Another plan

Washuu considered the question thoughtfully, offering Nuku a smile
before answering, "We might as well. It couldn't hurt."

Unless it drives him more insane

"Ranma's killed six before today,"

Odd, thought it was more than that.

she said. Mamoru fumed silently,

glowering, and Cologne added, "Of course, the largest number of
kills isn't everything, not by a long shot...

Sure it is. Kill enough of them and there won't be anymore left.

"So he thinks that he can threaten Usagi and get away with it?"
Mamoru growled.

Cologne; With you as her primary defender, Tux-Boy, anyone could get away
with it.

Cologne shook her head, turning back to Usagi. "Did you have any
other questions, child?" she asked.

Usagi: If a tree falls in the forest and there was no one to hear it, does
it make a sound?

Cologne: Yes. Trees like making noise when they fall even if one else is
around. It reminds them they were upright once.

Usagi: Cool. You're really smart.

Cologne; No. You're really gullible.

"You are welcome to attempt to improve on my current route,

Oh, I wouldn't offer her that. She might take him up on it and there's no
telling what will happen.

Norris scratched behind his ear nervously. "I'm not going to like
finding out why, am I?" he asked.

"They've all been destroyed by reavers, it looks like."

My. They moved quick.

"In a way, I can't complain," Norris grumped. "They finally did
something that helps us. Okay. Patterson, have all ground-forces on
the alert, tighten up the cordon since we're actually moving people,
and have Dew's team watch out. Yosho's team's been attacked twice
today already." Norris's aide nodded quickly, and began speaking
quickly into the radio.

Yeah. They should really get a move on. Most of the people should have been
transferred by now.

Will have to get to the next part soon.

D.B. Sommer




             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'