The Test. 
Part Two: The Reply 
By: Peter Vela 

Nabiki sits and stares in wonder at the screen. 

"Shit. I can't believe I got away with it! Muwehehehe!" 

"Got away with what?" 

Turning in her brand new Ikea ergonomically correct swivel seat, Nabiki sees 
Ranma poking his head through her bedroom doorway. Immediately composing 
herself, Nabiki assumes the superior, but sexy expression that we all know 
and love. 

"And what is it now, Saotome?" 

"Well, I heard that hyena laugh that I have nightmares about and thought 
Kodachi took to attacking you." 

"Do you SEE Kodachi anywhere in here??" 

Ranma glances around nervously just to make sure. 

"Good thing you don't have a cathedral ceiling like Akane's room, Nabs." 

Nabiki snorts as she observes Ranma with a dry expression. 

"Saotome, IS there anything else??" 

"Nah, ther...." 

"Bai bai Saotome." 

Shrugging, the pigtailed boy turns to leave. That is, until he sees the 
computer screen. 

" 'Ey, what happened with that test message of yours?" 

Looking suitably shocked, Nabiki righteously chastises the younger Saotome. 

"It's a fanfic thank you very much, and I expect you to address it in the 
appropriate manner." 

"Okay, okay. Fanfic it is. " An impossibly huge sweatdrop makes it's way 
down Ranma's temple. 

"Yeah, so, what happened." 

"I was in the process of investigating, before I was rudely interrupted." 

"Yeah, yeah. Well, get on with the show. I wanna see too." 

Nabiki sighs. "If you must." 

She accesses the inbox as Ranma looks on. 

"See, Saotome not one admin replied to my posting..." 

Ranma looks unconvinced. "So, it looks like you got away with your 'fanfic'... 
but what are all these others?" 

"Heh, those're private replies. Probably flames and death threats and the 
like... I'd be expecting a lot of people to be pee'd of because of what I 
sent. Most likely accuse me of wasting their time and inbox space... y'know 
those stiffs that can't spare five kilobytes on their Coldmail accounts. 
Especially the moderators. I was expecting them to crucify my ass, but as 
you can see..." 

"What's a flame?" 

"Jeez... it's a personal attack to yo... ah, never mind! Let's just get around 
to reading these, 'kay." 

Ranma simply nods and smiles the smile of the oblivious. 

 

******** 
From: "Loh Chan"  
To: "Nabiki Tendo"  
Subject: Re: [AFML] [R1/2][shortfic]The Test 
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 17:49:24 -0500 

Cute. Maybe you should consider putting this in the 1-Hour Spamfic 
challenge. ^_^ 

Liked the way you put the story in present tense. It's kind of a 'as 
amatter of fact, it's happening right now!" thing. I was actually turned 
offby it until I realised what you were doing (silly me, I didn't get it 
till the end ^_^). 

Er, not much else to say about it. Just my 2 yen. 

Loh. 
******** 





"Hmm... looks like you gotta fan Nabs." 

Nabiki smirks. "Certainly looks that way, huh? " 

 


******** 
From: "F. Sai Yuk"  
To: Nabiki Tendo  
Subject: Re: [AFML] [R1/2][shortfic]The Test 
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 09:58:03 +0000 

actually i thought it was pretty funny. 
not a test at all but an ironic comment on the recent 
misadventures of mr daly and the responding 
decree from the admins. 

regards 
Fong. 
******** 



Ranma scratches his head. "Who's that Daly guy." 

"Y'know, the guy that got banned for sending a test message he thought he'd 
get away with..." 

"Oh, yeah..." 

 


******** 
From: Musashi 
To: Nabiki Tendo  
Subject: Re: [AFML] [R1/2][shortfic]The Test 
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 18:57:09 -0500 (EST) 

Why is it that you feel the need to push us? 
******** 


Nabiki lets out a low whistle. "Straight forward kind of fellow, isn't he? 
Not the one to beat around the bush." 

Ranma smiles, thoroughly amused. "Is that the ol' sourpuss you were talking 
'bout?" 

"Yep... that's old sourpuss alright, and he doesn't sound too thrilled to me." 

"Yea, given a chance, he'll probably eat your liver with fava beans and a 
nice chianti... tsitsitsitsitsitsitsi..." 

Nabiki gives Ranma a pitying look. 

"Poor, poor attempt at humor, Saotome." 

"Okay, I'll shut up now." 

"Yyyeeessss, now help me think of what to say back." Her countless mental 
gears turning, Nabiki leans forward, supporting her head on the palm of her 
hand, elbow at the knee, and assumes the classic thinker pose. 

"Uh, how 'bout challenging him to a du..." 

"Hold it, hold it there Saotome. Say no more... please. I'll pretend that I 
didn't hear that from you. I mean, seriously! Is that the only thing you can 
think of? And what'dya think he's gonna do if he accepts a challenge? Brain 
me with his keyboard?! Jeez... get a grip. The guy's probably sitting at home 
in front of his computer, wearing a 'truth is out there' t-shirt and eating 
five pounds worth of Taco Bell for dinner." 

"Well I don't see you comin' up with anything." 

"I already have." 

Giving Ranma an evil grin, Nabiki types out her reply. 



******** 
To: miyamoto@fanfic.com 
Subject: Re: [AFML] [R1/2][shortfic]The Test 



Why is it that you feel the need to push us? 



Just wait for the sequel. ^_- 
******** 



"......Nabs, you're a shit stirrer." 

"I know" 

 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


In a darkened room, the AFML moderator known as Musashi hunches over his 
keyboard, staring with bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes at the flickering 
screen. It had been a long and tiring night of endless comments and 
criticisms, coupled with a few threads of off topic spam which he rightfully 
banned from the mailing list. 
"Fools. Don't they ever learn?" He mutters to himself as he clicks the mouse 
button, effectively banning yet another deviant who dare test the authority 
of AFML moderators. 

Musashi loves this part of his job. The feeling of power he gets from 
sending these delinquents on their way was euphoric. He just wished that 
Kami-sama grant him the same satisfaction in his life outside the AFML. 

Even though everyone thinks that he's oblivious, he knows his life sucks. 

He comes across Nabiki's message and reads it thoughtfully. 

"Ah, Nabiki Tendo. You are fast becoming a thorn in my side." 

Picking up a foam bokken, Musashi proceeds to whack the monitor at the speed 
of a chestnut fist. 

"Strikestrikestrikestrikestrikestrikestrike..." 

Panting from his exersions, Tatewaki Kuno smiles, turns off his computer and 
heads to kendo practice. 

end The Test part 2: "The Reply" 




Stay tuned for: 

The Test part 3: "Mr. Moderator!" 




"I've had my fifteen minutes of fame... when're you gonna get your's?" 
-Konfucius (bluezboy@hotmail.com) 


Konfucius Says! The best Ranma and Eva fanfics are... 
www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Teahouse/4901/index2.html 


Much gratitude goes to my good friend Damocles for pre-reading. 
the NEXUS - http://www.bluep.com/~modesto 

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