Quick notes first:

1. I won't add in the remaining Japanese titles until the fic is completed.

2. This part has some very strange narrative in it. 
3. This part also has the first Ranma-esque humor of the story. 
4. C&C is encouraged.

1:2 Self-identity

	Ayanami Rui pitched his tent in a clearing in the middle of a forest on a
hillside. As he made a fire and began to prepare dinner, a now familiar
internal conversation was once again initiated.

	How did we become this? I don't understand.

	I don't know

	That helps a lot.

	No, it doesn't

	Sarcasm is lost on you.

	Yes

	Who are you anyway? 

	I am you

	Don't start that again. I mean, where did you come from? 

	Someplace else

	That's not an answer.

	No, it's not

	How about telling me about your life? I'd like to know something about you
at least.

	You wouldn't want to know

	Try me. It ain't good to keep secrets now.

	Very well.

	Cold. So cold.
	Sterile room. Bandages.
	A smell. Strong, comfortable, terrifying.

	LCL

	Surrounded by a warmth, thoughts one with another.

	Prototype Unit-00

	Who am I? 

	Rei

	Who am I?

	Yui

	Who am I?

	Lilith

	I don't understand.

	Angels

	Angels?

	Who am I?

	Rei
	Yui
	Lilith
	Angel
	Kaworu

	Loneliness...

	Ikari-kun

	What is my purpose?

	First Children

	I pilot Eva. Is that who I am?

	Ayanami Rei. First Children.
	Eva Unit-00

	Is that all there is?

	Yes

	Am I really alive?

	...

	For several minutes, a whirling tempest of images, thoughts, barely
existant emotions raged in the mind of Ayanami Rui. When it ended, he was
stunned, and more than a little confused. 

	What was all that?

	That was me. My life. My past.

	Nothing made sense. Evangelion? First Children? Angels? Tokyo-3? I don't
understand.

	Your world has not seen what mine has

	My world? 

	Before I was here I was somewhere else

	Somewhere...another planet?

	No...another Earth

	Another...I don't understand...

	More images. 
	Swollen seas, burying once-thriving lands.
	A world in turmoil. So many dead.
	Second Impact.
	Things. Giant things. Things that could not be stopped.
	Angels.
	NERV. Evangelion. Absolute Terror Field.
	First Children. Third Children. Second Children.
	Pain. Loss. Torment. Loneliness.
	Death. Rebirth. Death. Rebirth.
	Evolution. Third Impact.
	Resistance. Failure.
	Decaying...
	Eva Unit-01. Space.
	Portal.
	Chaos.
	Light. Sky. Mountains.
	Crash. Destruction.
	Water. Strange force. Imprisonment.
	Release. New life. Coexistence.
	Eighteenth Angel. Ayanami Rei. Saotome Ranma. Ayanami Rui.
	Indeterminate future. 

	Rui was speechless. He had just witnessed the entire life history of
Ayanami Rei, this time in a clear, understandable fashion. It didn't make
it any less bizarre.

	So you came from another dimension.

	Yes

	You're not entirely human.

	No

	Why are you here?

	I don't know

	It was an accident? A mistake?

	Yes

	What are you going to do?
	
	I don't know

	What would you like to do?

	...Like?

	You must have some hopes, dreams...

	My dreams frighten me.

	...there's nothing you want to do with your life?

	My life was never my own

	It is now. What do you want to do with it?

	...I don't know

	Would you like to live a normal life?

	...normal...life...

	...

	...

	...

	We'll get back to Japan, maybe go to school...

	School. I remember school.

	Sure, and make friends...

	Friends...

	...Ikari Shinji-kun...

	He's gone. If what you told me is right, everyone where you came from is
gone. You need to move on.

	...

	...hai.

	Ayanami Rui doused the campfire, and settled in for the night.
	Their dreams didn't offer them much comfort.

1:3 Journey

	Several days passed. Ayanami Rei shifted her backpack and trudged downhill
to the beach. Sitting beside the lapping waters, she paused to catch her
breath. As she did so, she turned her focus inward, to the other within
her.
	He had changed. She had changed. Their minds, personalities, souls were
merging, forming one.
	Soon there would be no distinction between them.
	But she still knew absolutely nothing about him. The former Saotome Ranma.

	You know my life. Please tell me yours.

	...I'd completely forgotten about that. Alright...where do I begin?

	Wherever you'd like.

	Hmm...

	Mother. Crying. 
	Backpack. Father. Leaving.
	Mother. Leaving Mother.
	Traveling. Training.
	Ucchan. 
	Ucchan crying. Leaving Ucchan.
	Traveling. Training.
	Cats. Cats. Father, no. Father, please. Cats...
	Cats. No. No. Cats. No. Father, no. Cats...
	Traveling. Training.
	School. Lunchtime. Cafeteria.
	Ryouga.
	Challenge. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
	Father coming. Leaving. 
	Swimming. China. Traveling. Training.
	Valley. Springs.
	Training.
	Panda. Shock. Falling.
	Shock.
	Death. Rebirth. Confusion. 
	Revelation. Acceptance. Rebirth.
	Moving on.

	So you have spent your life learning martial arts.

	Yeah. It's all I've ever known.

	What do you want to do now?

	I'm not sure. I really don't know what Pop had in mind next.

	I do. I went through his backpack.
	
	When were you planning to tell me?

	Right now.

	So what's up? 

	He was going to Nerima, to the Tendou dojo. His old training partner owns
it.

	I see. Why was he going there I wonder?

	...to engage you to Tendou-san's daughter.

	WHAT!?

	To engage you...

	...I heard you. No way. We ain't going there.

	Tendou will not know you. I have a plan.

	Huh?

	Ayanami Rei pulled out a folded sheet of paper, and a fresh postcard.
Studying the paper carefully, she began to scribe on the postcard.

	Whatcha doin?

	A postcard for Tendou, from Saotome Genma. Detailing the deaths of Genma
and Ranma.

	...!?

	You are Ayanami Rui now. There will be no engagement. We pass ourself off
as a student of Saotome. Tendou will probably take us in. We will have a
place to live.

	...Hey, not a bad idea. You're smart. 

	We're smart. You could have thought of this, in a day or so.

	...You know, you're right. Somethin's different now.

	We're becoming one. Our minds and souls are merging. By the time we reach
Japan, we will be one person.

	...I see.

	It can't be avoided. There is no other way.

	I know. I got no problem with it. 

	Good.

	Ayanami Rei carefully placed the folded letter and the postcard in her
backpack, hoisted it onto her shoulders, and continued walking along the
seashore.

Intermission: Jyusenkyou, China

	"Get back here! You disrupt Amazon fighting tournament! No get away! You
die!"
	The Guide's head snapped up as two young people charged full-speed into
the valley. He yelled out a warning in Chinese. The girl snapped back
something about Amazon business. That was enough to shut the Guide up.
	The boy wore a sleeveless dark blue shirt, black pants, an enormous
backpack, and a yellow bandana. He was casting glances over his shoulder at
the purple-haired girl with the sword who was screaming at him in broken
Japanese. "I'm sorry!" he shouted. "I didn't know!"
	"No is excuse! You die now!" The girl raised her sword, intending to lunge
in for a good strike. The boy dodged, pulling the bamboo umbrella off his
backpack, and swinging it around as though weilding a cudgel. 
	"Enough is ENOUGH!" he yelled, parrying another thrust with the umbrella.
Miraculously, it held. The girl became angrier, and attacked again.
	The Guide was becoming concerned. They were too close to the springs.
	As the boy fought, he bellowed in rage, "Dammit, Ranma, this is ALL YOUR
FAULT! I'll KILL YOU WHEN I FIND YOU!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" As he blocked
another strike from the purple-haired girl, getting in a good whack to her
ribs in the process, the boy lost his footing on the slippery grass, and
splashed into one of the springs. The girl, surprised at the power of the
umbrella blow, was knocked halfway across the valley...where she too
plunged into a spring.
	The Guide dashed around in a mad panic. "Oh no! Is tragedy! Boy fall in
spring of drowned spa penguin! Girl fall in spring of drowned black piglet!
Very tragic stories!"
	From one of the springs emerged an irate, meter-tall bird with a red crest
on top of its head and a yellow bandana around its throat. It squawked
angrily.
	From the other spring emerged an equally irate black piglet. It squealed
in rage, and leapt at the penguin. The bird gave an angry squawk and pecked
the piglet, hard. The small pig shrieked and retreated behind a boulder.
	The penguin seemed to actually snort, then waddled over to the boy's pack
and umbrella. Somehow, it managed to get a good enough grip on the umbrella
with its beak and stubby wings to put it back under the straps of the pack.
Then, impossibly, it grabbed the pack by the straps with its beak, and
began dragging it slowly out of the valley. The piglet waited until the
penguin was out of sight, then made its way to the mountain trail.