Book One Omake + Author's Notes

Well, it's been one HELL of a ride, hasn't it? Nearly a year, and easily my longest project to date, PoE was an experiment to prove that I could do something that someone said I couldn't do.

It's now halfway over, and the results seem to be in my favor.

First off, I've used a hell of a lot of sources for this fanfic, and here they are in a semi-random order:

The big three: Ranma 1/2, by Rumiko Takahashi, Tenchi Muyo!, by Masaki Kajishima, and Sailor moon, by Naoko Takeuchi.

Major Cameo roles: 3x3 eyes (Sazan Eyes), Bannou Bunka Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku (All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku-Nuku) and Blue Seed were all created by created by Takada Yuuzou, Golden boy was created by Tatsuya Egawa, Inu Yasha was created by Rumiko Takahashi, Love Hina was created by Ken Akamatsu, Fatal Fury was created by Takashi Yabara, and You're Under Arrest! and Ah! Megami-sama were both created by Fujishima Kosuke.

Minor Cameo roles: Hitomi from The Vision of Escaflowne (Sunrise, TV Tokyo/Bandai Entertainment), the three Magic Knights — Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu — from Magic Knights Rayearth (CLAMP, Kodansha), Yohko Mano, from Devil Hunter Yohko (Miyao Gaku), and I believe that's about it.

Deleted cameo roles: Ifurita and Makoto, from El Hazard, created by Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoei Tsukimura.

Anything else never made it off the cutting room floor….

Chapter 1 Omake:

This one was Mr. Sommer's:

Ranma running around laughing, "Now I don't gotta pick any of 'em!"

It's too short to be real omake (not many people want to waste that much time on it ;) but I was amused.

Process of Elimination was the first fanfic where I really worked at making fight scenes. I think I've gotten the hang of it — I'm not told the fight scenes are confusing, though I'm sure I haven't excelled, yet. More work on that to go… but later. For a while, a break from the fighting.

Chapter 3 Omake:

Ryouga and Mousse wait for someone to mention Ukyou. Konatsu breaks the fourth wall, and then everyone waits for someone to mention Kodachi. No one does.

I really wish I could remember whom this was attributed to, but I seem to have lost the e-mail that had the omake originally!

But that brings me to my next point: PoE is not a very good fanfic. If you think that it is, then it's probably because you helped me out by C&Cing — a lot of people have sent me helpful C&C over the course of the story's chapters.

In no particular order (and with many thanks!) here are the people who have helped me with this story to date (brace yourselves and take a deep breath):

• DB. Sommer (every chapter so far, one at a time — what a guy!)
• Bjorn Christianson (you are too a good writer!)
• KPJAM (I owe you a lot of C&C, my friend!)
• Rezantis (viva la Refuge!)
• Andrew Norris (still think I can't do it?)
• Paul "Unseen" Durant (there's a bit of Mookie in all of us)
• The Evil-Twins (Slacker, Aaron Nowack — you guys are the best evil twins a guy could ask for)
• CyMage (excellent in-depth C&C, and FAST on those later chapters!)
• Druid (thanks for forgiving me for the Unbroken Circle)
• Ginrai (got more CtL ready yet? ;)
• Corwin (I couldn't have done this without you)
• Mad Hamlet (erm… we may disagree on points, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends)
• Patchmonkey (I will someday find that missing Monkey Destruction Switch. Until that day, I am in your debt, noble simian)
• Nanashi (where are you?)
• DF Roeder (got more of Heart's Healing yet? ;p)
• Angus MacSpon (I lost you in the later chapters!)
• Michael A Chase (thanks for the grammar comments on theoretically 'completed' chapters >_<)
• Chan Wei Lik (you're much nicer when I don't try and write A!MG fanfics)
• William Dix (thanks for being so supportive!)
• John Cope (sorry about the headache ;)
• Seaver (I didn't always have a use for every comment you made, but they were still great to read!)
• James M. Zema (you're smarter than me, that's for sure ;)
• CCMax and Aleh(at)aol (good eyes on that Tenchi information)
• Dan Julicher (thanks for the support, and you were right on with your comments)
• The Wanderer (who would have thought — a websoft to calculate the effects of nuclear fallout!)
• Yanslana (you have had many insightful comments over the course of this story, so thank you for your time ;)
• Tonyloco (thanks for the encouragement, and yes, there will be a book two)
• Eden Lost (your comments were astute, and to-the point. Good C&C all around)
• Rai-kun (I made the same error twice, and you caught it both times >_<)
• Trunkboy (thanks for the support, and I'm sorry about DR. Maybe in a few months….)
• Grookill (very detailed and thorough C&C — I was lucky to have your help in this project!)
• Dracos/Kind Fearless Leader (thanks for the support, and good comments throughout!)
• Siaru (thanks for your support and patience — you're really smart, and very helpful)
• Jason Miao (thanks for your C&Cs, they were a nice refreshing change of pace, and quite funny;)
• Gabrial Blessing (excellent broad comments, focusing less on grammar and more on story flow)
• Nemesis Zero (very good grammar comments)
• Oola the Mok, aka Peter (thank you for your concise grammar commentary -I'll learn the English yet)
• Howard Melton (more good comments)
• RSS (smart catches, the suggestions you posed)
• Benjamin Goldberg (your comments were very accurate — thanks for your help!)
• David Smith (good eyes for those grammar snafuus)
• Fido/David Lindquist (you blow'd up real good — thanks for the comments ;)
• Jonathan Rosenbaugh (reaver plushies rule!)
• Alexander Primus (more additional great comments)
• And last but not least…. Larry F (for hosting, comments, and support throughout)!

WHEW!

And now that the individuals have been named (I'm sure I forgot a few in there >_<) the groups that really helped me improve the story:

• The Refuge: Some of the best C&C I've ever gotten has come from you guys, and you all rock.
• FFML: Mr. Sommer chief among all C&Cers, but not the only good one by a long shot, this story would not have been half of what it was without your help.
• #void: You guys are like a second family to me. Without you, I would have given up a long time ago.

Chapter 7 Omake:

This one is (of course) Corwin's.

Ranma running around, laughing carrying a nuke and yelling 'What a haul!'

I learned a lot from this experiment, and I had a lot of fun in the process; some days it seemed like my muse was out to get me, though. There was just so much in my head I needed to get written down… whew! It was madness, I tell you!

But I guess in the end I was lucky; I got to learn more about writing and have fun. This story allowed me to come to terms with my self-loathing and suicidal tendencies. I've got a long way to go, but this is putting me on the path….

Chapter 8 Omake:

Ran-oh-ki eats the Deep Aqua Mirror.

I can't remember whom this one is attributed to, either, but I know that several (nearly a dozen people) suggested it.

Deleted scenes:

Over the course of the fanfic, quite a few scenes were deleted — most just to be consigned to the eternal void of the circular file — but a few lived on awaiting a day they'd some day be useful. That day never came.

Never posted:

• Amatera Omiki explaining her story to Ranma.
• Omiki trying to challenge Tokimi and some exposition on the original bargain.
• Yakumo and Ranma griping about women troubles together (this was kind of rewritten into the main story — you can see what it became in the bus conversation).
• Omiki trying to seduce Ranma (don't ask. Just… don't. It made sense at the time, but…).
• A clever Chinese soldier named 'Yang Wen-Li' killing a few reavers before the reavers destroyed all the Chinese rockets (sorry, Pavel).

Posted in a distributed rough draft at some point:

• A fight scene between Ranma and Herb featuring a really stupid stretch trying something with a writing style I shouldn't have.
• A scene involving Ifurita and Makoto (from El Hazard) in chapter two.
• Ranma trying to convince Washuu to follow him to a valley filled with reavers (this was deleted with extreme prejudice on grounds of extreme stupidity).

And… That’s about all I can remember for that.

Chapter 9 Omake:

Courtesy of Thermopyle.

Something you could do for an outtake is have everybody sitting around, and Nuku-Nuku looking nervously at the rat, who is staring at her and having his tongue flick out every few seconds. After a few minutes of this, she'd yell, 'Papa-Ranma-san, Ran-oh-ki's (maybe little brother, instead? ^_^;) looking at me! Make him stop!', Ranma would blink and wonder aloud why that is, then Washu would comment that the rat probably figured out that Nuku-Nuku is made of metal. Nuku-Nuku would go 'eep!' and run away, then Ran-oh-ki would start chasing her. ^_^;

Or even not as an outtake, although it's probably too late to have this happen before Ran-oh-ki transforms and no longer (I'm presuming) needs to eat metal. Of course, he could like it as much as the other two cabbits like carrots, and continue to do so anyway.

Another thing that PoE is rife with is references.

From the first Maze reference (Sasami calling Ranma 'Ranma-nee-niichan') on… let's see if I can remember some of them, though I suspect I can't remember them all….

• 'Ranma-nee-niichan' was from Mill (from the Maze OAVs).
• Nonoko was a (kind of) homage to Nonoko Yamada, of one of my all-time favorite Ghibli films: My Neighbors the Yamadas.
• Joudai Arashi means 'stormkeeper' — this is Rakhal Stormwarden, who works on the Index, just like Arashi did.
• Ginraii is not a cameo of Ginrai. Genoh is.
• Eimi offering to sing to Terry is a reference to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• Andrew Norris is a friend of mine (and a C&Cer, on rare occasion).
• Tokimi's first speech to Ranma contains some snippets from SHODAN's speech to the Hacker from System Shock (the original).
• Durant is Paul "Unseen" Durant, a close personal friend.
• The foxtail on the nuclear warning sign is… well, you know. ;)
• Durant's "Do not cross the beams." reference is right out of Ghostbusters.
• Ray Ericson and Eric Thompson are from New Yniss Jihad, though Eric had to lose the Trench, and Ray had to lose his MareWaever abilities, since it would
• have made them far too powerful.
• Jim Dew is Jim Dew, the 5000th visitor to my website.
• Patterson is the roommate who lived in my apartment for nearly a month before I was introduced to him.
• Pavel is Pavel (of #void — the only man who would order a scrambled reaver and actually eat it. And live).
• Don Hai is, in fact, the same Don Hai that ordered Ranma revived and used as a biological weapon in Compass Points (go figure).
• Kura-Wan is Azalyn, Jian-Di and Pei-Lin are Rouge (Legend of the Last Labyrinth) and Rei (NGE) respectively.
• Kohito is KPJAM.
• Maintainer Shiname is Shizumu (#void).
• One of the mentioned killed Marines is Jon, which is Jon Rosenbaugh.
• The Rickenbacker and Von Braun are the names of the ships from System Shock 2.

And DA calls the entire thing a massive SI by proxy scheme…. Well, the alternative was to create what could just as easily be termed ANCs, so I take what I can get. :/

General purpose insanity (by me, but not that impressive — really):

Three crystals for the Starlights under the sky,
Four for the Outer Senshi in their halls of stone,
Four for Inner Senshi, doomed to die,
One for Tokimi from her dark throne
In the land of China where the reavers lie.
One crystal to rule them all, One crystal to find them,
One crystal to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of China where the reavers lie.

Three fiancées for the Martial Artist under the sky,
Seven for the Juraian lord in his halls of home,
Nine for Keitaro doomed to die,
One for the Panda Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Nerima where the shadows lie.
One Fiancée to rule them all, One Fiancée to find them,
One Fiancée to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Nerima where the shadows lie.

And that's about that — this is long-winded enough, really. I'd like to thank everyone who helped me make something of this story — this story is not mine as much as it is ours (now that the darned thing is complete, and I can USE what you gave me to help complete the story). I owe all of you… well… everything in this story. :p

I'd like to dedicate this book to Bjorn, Aaron Nowack, Corwin, Ginrai, Unseen, and my mother. Thanks, guys (and Mom!).

Brian Randall

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: January 7, 2006