Unique, Very Unique. A bit condensed and could use a bit more development.

This is a very thoghttrough and well written story! Bravo!

I would like to use this first chapter as a part of a thread start at the Anime Addventure. Please let me know if I may do this, I will do no such thing without express permission.

Mousse knowing protections from the demonic/"From Beyond" elements you've ascribed in this chapter is quite reasonable. Given his relative youth and his language skills being extraordinarily good for a ypoung man as isolated and near blind as he is, it's very easy to presume he is a first class summoner, if not capable of portals.

Of course, his sight may be so crap due to earlier sights of Things Man Wasn't Meant To See before he got the defenses quite right. It might explain his unique reasoning (apart from and beyond his subterfuge, as he needs to hide this art the way Saotome hides his intellect, and for the same reason--mutual protection of himself and others).

Concerning the detente between Nabiki and Cologne, as soon as one perceives a slight by the other, the detente begins to fade because one or both of the parties becomes dissatisfied with it. Of the two, I would think Nabiki much more susceptible to such an influence, although it would be unsafe to entirely rule out insult as motivation for Cologne.

The utter elimination of Happoasai, struck me as something rather close to a Hogwarts without a Peeves. Possible, but somehow dreary. You have several ways to bring him back if you really wanted to do so.

It seems probable, to me at least, that Ranma could, would and should gain control over his curse and could conceivably teach such control to other victims of the cursed pools. This alone would be good grounds for a sequel and could be a factor in the politics (politics in the broadest sense of the word) between Cologne and Nabiki.

I have yet to ever write a crossover story, and seldom read them or recommend them, but A sequel to this yarn would seem a natural for a crossover involving Lina Inverse, the very earthy sorcereress in the Slayer's universe. Of course, one need not use Lina Inverse, but one could create a similar character for the job. Your audience, however, would more readily accept Lina Inverse.

As for how the conflict is finally resolved between Nabiki and Cologne? How about both of them recognizing the madness of MAD for what it is and developing respect for one another? It is, after all, something the US, the UK and Russia should have already done, yes?

And, yes, I am baiting you with these ideas hoping to provoke you into writing a sequel.

This is pretty neat. I would wish for a sequel, but not one that sounds like the direction that the ending notes was headed for. One of the really great things about Lovecraftian horrors is the horror of them. While this whole story skirted around the edges and gave a brief glimpses with the death of Happy, it didn't really fall into the cosmic mind-breaking horror that is typical of the genre.

While I would like a sequel, it would be much better if instead of concluding the different relationships it was about some massive bad thing happening. While I would prefer a crossover (maybe chuck Ranma into a Eva timeline where the angels are a minor outbreak of the otherworldly badness that is following behind them, or he gets sucked into the Warhammer 40K universe and uses his knowledge to survive) as I am most fond of them, you could just have it that something about Happy's death or his final struggles as he dies opens the door for more things to follow through, maybe (another crossover) tie it into Sailor Moon and have some demonic invasion that they try and stem before Ranma has to help as he knows more about these things then them (also allowing new people for him to date (I vote for Hotaru) that isn't his ex's or an original character)... But whatever happens, you really should have some enemy that he either has to use horrifying skills to fight against or defend himself from.

Well, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Nice, but could bear more details.

It's an interesting concept. Like you said, the Lovecraftian undertones just sort of got dropped as you decided to explore the "how would an intelligent Ranma solve his problems." And the end doesn't resolve anything, even in the sense of "a new set of problems." Other than that you've decided not to write any more, I wouldn't mark this one as complete because it doesn't feel complete. Still, it's an interesting read. It just would be nice to have a little more closure.

You're right there isn't really a way to resolve the Cologne and Nabiki situation. Not without having someone who can control the effects of Jusenkyo enough to cure her. And although you talked about Love Craft and weren't able to go full horror like you wanted to I doubt anyone other than Gosenkugi would be foolish enough to even attempt the kind of contract that would let that happen.

The only real sequel options I see would end up with that whole thing staying in place on a back burner and following Ranma through a romance story arc. Maybe even having the results of Happosai's failed summoning fall to the not so tender mercies of perhaps the Sailor Senshi or maybe defeated by Aoyma Motoko's Evil splitting spirit sword technique.

It's an interesting piece but I'm not sure I'd want to read a sequel if it did attempt to resolve the Cologne/Nabiki situaiton.

Daniel Thomas Stack
Spokavriel @ yahoo . com

I love this story, and not just because you're an awesome writer. I like the idea of smart!Ranma, but it can be hard to pull off. Usually people say things like, "he did his thing, he calculated *something*." YOU actually go into detail with how his mind works and the applied science involved. Basically, it sounds like he knows his **, and you obviously know yours. I sincerely hope this fic has not been abandoned and that you choose to continue it.

Thanks for taking the time to write/ post this fic. It was an interesting piece of work, and quite enjoyable. Although I might not go to the level you did, it's quite obvious that Ranma is fairly intelligent. After all, he ends up passing his classes despite sleeping through them, in addition to having a rather lax educational background.

As pointed out, I've thoroughly enjoyed your fic. However, unlike some other fics, I'm rather satisfied without any further continuations. As you pointed out, there was a definitive sense of finality, brought about by many resolutions to Ranma's various problems. Although there are still problems left, there aren't even close to as many as there were previously.

Oh, and just so you know the, "I wonder what Kuno would say if I clobbered him in the schoolyard while performing "Death of a Faun," line absolutely cracked me up. I had visions of Ranma performing pirrouettes as dodges against the blue thunder's air pressure strikes. :P

Well, once again, thanks for the fic.

So far I have read To Tell A Hawk From A Handsaw and this one, and so far these are the most intelligent Ranma fanfics I have ever read. I would have never thought about the series like this.

As far as the endings go, I feel that they end right where they're supposed to. There's no drawn out plot or anything.

Great story ;)

I like this story a lot - this is the second time I've read it, and I like it as much as I did last time (if not more).



As for the Nabiki/Cologne situation ... I don't think it can be resolved, the way it is.

But that doesn't mean it can't provide a subsequent story.

Making some analogies here, they've got a MAD situation, akin to that of the Cold War, right?
Well ... like the Cold War, surely they're going to engage in plenty of skirmishes. As long as it's not direct enough for either to feel threatened to the point of trying to launch a preemptive strike, it can still escalate.
Furthermore, there are those who would prefer to keep it from escalating (Ranma and Shampoo, just to pick the two most likely to be in a position to make efforts to do something about it) - providing dramatic tension, and allowing matters to ratchet up and down as required.
And just like in the real Cold War, the most obvious way for the two involved parties to interact is by way of trying to influence third parties.
How would Cologne react to Nabiki interfering (subtly) with a Ranma/Shampoo date? How would Nabiki react to Cologne, say, throwing off the betting pools? I doubt Nabiki's going to have a peaceful homelife - what would Cologne be willing to do there, that she'd think wouldn't provoke Nabiki to react too strongly?
For that matter, there's the simplest opening moves of all - trying to build a defense against the other's ultimate attack, while strengthening your own. For instance, Nabiki would likely be trying to set up some measures to defend herself against the sort of thing Cologne did to get her this time. Cologne's reactions could destabilize matters, either directly or by how they get third parties (again, Ranma would be a likely choice - how does he feel about the whole thing, after all?) involved in the conflict.

And once things start heating up, you've got a story.

I'm as ultimately in the dark as yourself as to how to resolve the feud, seeing as how you put them in a situation equal to, if not worse than, a Takahashi conundrum. Though I still hold out hope for for a sequel.

Hmm, maybe if you had the rights to publish this as an addition to the Ranma manga, someone could possibly post a fanfiction of it so that the situation reaches a conclusion. Then agian they might futhure paint themselves into a corner far worse than yourself... Catch 22...

Wow. This was different. Very well writen, entertaining, and, I felt, a very satisfactory ending. A resolution of the Cologne/Nabiki war seems unnecessary, so if you do write a sequel, let it cause problems in the background for some entertainment, and focus more on the chaos that would result from Ranma attempting to date like a normal teenager (which he isn't in any sense of the word), and dealing with the Tendo brothers. Besides, not every problem can be solved. Que sera, sera, 'What will be, will be'.