Interface - A Ranma 1/2 / Matrix Fanfic Crossover
Chapter Three
Authored by XStylus (Troy Alan Williams)
Begun on: 10-25-99
Released to RAAC on: 6-15-2000
Revisions made on: N/A
Special thanks to prereader Kevin D. Hammel
Please see Chapter One for disclaimers, all of which
apply to this chapter and all forthcoming chapters
unless otherwise noted.
All previous chapters are archived at www.sofaspud.org.
Got comments? Let's hear em'!
Please visit www.sofaspud.org and send comments to XStylus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is a sparring program, similar to the programed
reality of the matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like
gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no
different from the rules of a computer system. Some of them
can be bent. Others can be broken." Morpheus explained.
"Or rewritten." Neo added.
"Sorry, I'm not in the practice of cheating." Ranma said.
"-They- are." Morpheus replied. "Akane and I shall go
first."
Akane nodded as she walked to the center of the dojo,
bowed, and faced her opponent.
Thus, began the battle. Akane's first attack, a gorilla
strength forward thrust, was easily dodged. She continued
with a series of all-out attacks, leaving a lacking defense
which was an open invitation to Morpheus who had already
managed to get in several cheap hits.
"Good."
"Good?! I haven't even gotten a hit on you yet!" Akane
shouted.
"Don't be so critical on yourself. You haven't even had any
training yet."
"I've had a lot more than you!"
Morpheus grinned.
Akane launched another flurry of attacks, all of them again
just as easy to block as they were the first time. She now
added a few kicks and foot sweeps into the mix, some which
Morpheus wasn't expecting, but was still able to dodge or
block.
"Am I too fast for you?" Morpheus questioned, blocking a
two fisted strike, returning the favor with a knee to her
stomach.
"How...?" Akane mumbled.
"The battle is in your mind, Akane. Fight smarter. Know
that your strike will hit."
More punches, more kicks. Akane tried a grappling
maneuver in an attempt to throw Morpheus across the dojo.
She was a little confused when she found it was -her- being
thrown.
"You seem to focus more on strength and power than
speed. That's fine in the real world." Morpheus explained.
"You forget that this isn't the real world. Try using that
to your advantage."
Morpheus leapt high into the air, intending to make a
descending strike. Akane countered by leaping into the air
with him before he could even execute the strike. Into the air
they hung as the moments in time slowly passed. An
unsuspecting Morpheus caught off guard by the surprise
attack, and Akane in the air meeting her attacker having a
clear advantage. -KAPOW!-
0.1 seconds...
0.2 seconds...
0.3 seconds...
0.4 seconds...
Akane fell hard to the ground gasping for air, the wind
knocked out of her lungs. Morpheus landed at the opposite
side of the dojo unharmed. He walked over to Akane and
offered her a hand to help her up.
"You need to work on your defense. It's quite lacking. I see
that you're quite confident of your own strength. That's very
important. We're only halfway there though. Now you need to
find your speed."
Akane coughed, still slowly recovering. "Find my speed?"
"You'll do better once you learn how to use your skills
more efficiently in the matrix." Morpheus explained.
Neo stealthy walked up behind Ranma and tapped her
on the shoulder. Startled, she turned around and scowled
at Neo.
"Me and you, young lady." Neo smiled, having already
won a tiny victory.
"Let's go." Ranma gritted as she thrust a fist at her palm.
"By the way, how come you're in female form?" Neo
asked.
"Don't ask me, ask the machine." Ranma replied.
"All the machine does is interpret your self image. Are you
starting to see yourself as a girl?"
Ranma scowled, but remained silent.
"Have you ever fought as a girl before, Ranma?"
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, now and then."
"You'll get plenty of practice, I promise you." Neo said
with a sly smile. "Whenever you're ready. Ladies first."
Enraged, Ranma launched the first attack, a short leap towards
Neo with her fist straight on target for Neo's head. Just
millimeters away from connecting, Neo dodged. Ranma, wasting no
time, launched a spinning kick which was easily ducked. Neo
returned the favor with several kicks, a cheap thrust to
Ranma's stomach, and an even cheaper foot sweep. All of
them were blocked or dodged.
"Very good!!" Neo praised.
"You're holding out on me."
"So are you." Neo gave a challenging smile.
Thus, as they battled on, the stalemate continued. Neither
had managed to register a hit on the other, each attack either
having been blocked or dodged. Neo was definitely holding
out on the boy. He knew every attack Ranma was going to pull
at precisely the same time the computer managed to translate
Ranma's command of the attack.
"You're still holding out!" Ranma yelled.
"C'mon, little girl! Show me what you can do!" Neo taunted.
"FINE!" Ranma flared.
Neo's eyes went wide as he read the command Ranma's
mind was executing to the matrix.
"Sweet Jesus! What the-...?" Neo gaped.
"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"
Neo managed to block every punch, but barely.
"Wha...?! How... how did you block those?!" Ranma
questioned.
"Not easily, I assure you." Neo took a moment to catch his
breath. "That was quite a workout."
"You're faking." Ranma muttered. "You're not tired in
the least, aren't you?"
"Am I that bad of an actor?" Neo asked as he dropped his
tired facade. "I'm sorry about taunting you like that. It
seemed to be the best way to get you to go all out."
"Hmph." Ranma grunted. "I'm no girl, punk. I can take twice
as much as you can dish out."
"Maybe, but can you strike back twice as hard though?"
Neo inquired. "That was an incredible move, but I hope you
weren't expecting it to bring you an easy win."
"Maybe if I was a guy..."
"Ah ha. I figured you'd say that." Neo grabbed his cell
phone from a pocket Ranma didn't think a karate gi had.
"Tank, a little magic please."
Ranma's image fuzzed in a ball of static for a moment, and
then rematerialized into male form. It wasn't a perfect illusion,
as Ranma still had red hair, but it was close enough.
"So... let's try that again, shall we?"
~~~
For Tank, fifteen minutes passed for what seemed like
well over an hour in the construct. As the training session
came to an end, Tank deactivated the construct program and
walked over to the command couches to help Trinity remove
the entry plugs as they woke.
Morpheus, first to be unplugged, walked over to Ranma's
chair to greet her as she awoke. "Congratulations, Ranma."
"In all honesty, I didn't think you could do it." Neo added.
"I knew she could." Trinity interjected as she helped remove
Neo's plug.
"You were still holding back. Don't deny it." Ranma
muttered, still waiting for her plug to be removed.
"That's because I programmed his interface that way." Tank
snickered.
"Why?" Akane inquired.
"He's untouchable without them." Trinity answered.
"No-one's untouchable." Ranma retorted.
"I saw your moves the moment the construct interpreted
them. My interface in the practice construct attenuates the
processes that let me respond to them." Neo explained as Tank
unplugged him.
"How come you can... I mean... how do you see his moves
before he even makes them?" Akane asked.
Neo chuckled and shook his head. "I'm hungry, Trinity.
How about you?" Neo inquired.
"Not a bad idea. Morpheus?"
Morpheus motioned her to lead the way. "After you."
"Wait a second! Answer my question!" Akane yelled.
"Hey! I'm hungry too! Unplug us!" Ranma whined.
"After your training." Morpheus said as he left with Neo
and Trinity for the mess hall.
"Training?" Ranma questioned.
"Uh huh." Tank affirmed. "First, let's have a replay of your
fight with Neo. I think you'll find it interesting."
Tank keyed up the fight on a nearby view screen. Ranma
had just rematerialized into male form, and another fight had
just begun.
"Let's fast forward to the moment of triumph, shall we?"
Tank muttered.
Ranma and Neo were standing at opposite ends of the dojo.
Neo was in a defensive stance, and Ranma was preparing for
an all out offensive. Confident of success, Ranma charged at
Neo just like the first time.
"KACHU..."
Ranma noticed the image of himself on the screen
beginning to flicker.
"TENSHIN..."
On the screen, Ranma changed to female form.
"AMAGURIKEN!"
Neo managed to block all of the punches... except one. One
was all Ranma needed, and Neo was down for the count.
"Good fight, huh?" Tank asked as he turned off the view
screen. "Special effects complements of yours truly."
"NO WAY! I beat him while I..." Ranma exclaimed.
"Yep, while you were a girl. You knew you could do it, and
you did. You knew you had the power to take him out, and
you did. Now tell me... how was that different from the first
time?" Tank asked.
"I... I don't know..."
"Bingo. You didn't know. Did you think you could
beat him as a girl?"
"I thought I could... I wasn't too certain..."
"There's half of your problem. You think too much.
Knowing is better. You knew you could do it as a guy, right?"
"I knew I could get at least one punch in... and I knew if I
placed it right and put enough into it I could take him out."
"And that's precisely what you did."
"Because I knew I could do it?"
"Now you're getting it." Tank answered. He walked over to
his console and shuffled through a few disks.
"Okay, then what happens if I -know- I can get a hit in, but
my opponent -knows- he can block it?" Ranma asked.
"That's where skill and creativity comes in. If you're
matched for skill in there as well though, then you're in for a
long fight. Keep in mind, confidence wears down eventually, just
like stamina. It's all a matter of who tires out first." Tank
explained.
"Gee, you're awfully quiet, Akane." Ranma muttered.
"I'm still thinking about how many hits he got on me.
Come to think of it, I never worked on defense much..."
Akane mumbled.
"Oh I can fix that reeeaaaal quick." Tank said as he pushed
a button.
"HUAAAH!!!" Akane shouted as information was being
shunted into her mind in a disorienting manner that can only
be described as a painless headache. "What was that?!"
"That was a refresher course on some of what you already
know." Tank said as he held up a disk labeled 'Kempo'.
"Did you... no... no way! That's no way to learn martial
arts!" Akane shouted.
"DO NOT use that on me, do you hear?!" Ranma
demanded.
"Huh?" Tank blankly questioned.
"You DON'T learn martial arts by simply loading it into
someone's mind like a program!"
"This is stuff you need to know!" Tank argued.
"Maybe those disks can teach the moves, but not the spirit.
It doesn't teach the -art-!" Ranma said.
Tank remained silent for a moment, then eventually
conceded.
"Fine. If you have enough confidence in your own skills
then that'll be enough. There are other things you have to learn
though, and for the moment I have you held captive in that
chair there so you're gonna learn em' whether you want to or
not! Welcome to kindergarten, sweets."
Ranma sighed. "Fine, fine. But no martial arts, and don't
call me sweets."
"Whatever. Here we go..." Tank winked at Ranma.
"Hey! I saw tha-... HUAAAGH!" Ranma yelled as a flood
of information surged her brain.
"Is she always that easy to tease?"
"Afraid so..." Akane answered.
Finished with Ranma's first lesson, Tank ejected the disk
labeled 'Rand McNally's Matrix Atlas'.
"So, Miss Ranma... are you ready for junior high?" he
asked as he held up another disk labeled 'The idiot's guide to
really nifty GUNS'.
~~~
Ranma was in her room practicing her kata. She chided
herself several times as her body, weak and out of shape, had
difficulty performing what was once a relatively easy move.
Her concentration was further weakened as she heard a knock
at her door.
"Come in." Ranma shouted as she feebly attempted to
continue.
"How was training?" Trinity inquired as she walked in.
"Can you say 'information overload'?" Ranma
muttered.
"Ah. One of those headaches." Trinity payed closer
attention to Ranma's kata. "What'cha doing?"
"Making a mockery of the art, it seems. I can't even
perform a simple kata!"
"We were only able to rebuild your muscles to a point.
Time will have to finish where we left off. They have quite a
few years of catching up to do." Trinity explained.
Ranma sighed. "I guess my art got left in the matrix too."
Trinity smiled. "Maybe not. Do it again."
Trinity observed as Ranma carefully went through her kata
once again. Ranma grunted as she made a few mistakes, fewer
than the first time, but still annoying considering that this was
once such a basic kata to her. As she finished, she noticed that
Trinity had been trying to imitate her.
"That's one the training program didn't teach." Trinity
commented.
"I've been training most of my life. I doubt those programs
have even half of what I learned."
"What martial art is it?"
"The Saotome School of Anything Goes martial arts."
"'Anything goes'?" Trinity skeptically commented. "You
made that up."
Ranma glowed in fury.
"I...did...not." Ranma viciously said.
"Sorry! I didn't mean..."
Ranma's fury slowly cooled. She eventually waved her
hand to dismiss the subject, deciding that there were better
things to argue about.
"So what brings you?"
"I got bored." Trinity answered. "I figured I'd drop by
to talk. Akane's been making herself scarce practicing with
Morpheus all day. She's quite determined."
"Stubborn is more like it." Ranma chuckled.
"How did you two meet?"
Ranma sighed. "An arranged marriage between her parents
and mine."
"So... you love her out of obligation?" Trinity inquired.
"No! I love her because I... I... actually -love- her. Had our
parents not forced our relationship and just let things be..."
"Why the arrangement?"
"To join our martial arts houses together, inherit the Tendo
dojo, carry on the Saotome school of martial arts... that sort of
thing." Ranma replied. "I wonder what their thinking now.
Their two heirs... gone for good."
"Were you looking forward to carrying on the school?"
Ranma sighed. "Yeah, actually." A tear formed in her eye.
"Once I got rid of that damned curse I was-..."
"You're crying." Trinity observed.
"I don't cry!" Ranma wiped a teardrop from her eye.
"Dammit... y'know, I've always been afraid that one day I'd
end up stuck as a girl forever. I-... my father would be
ashamed, I'd lose Akane, I'd... I'd have to live as a -woman-..."
More tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Jesus, Ranma... is it that bad? I don't see what the
big deal is. I know -I- don't have any regrets. That's all
emotional baggage you should have left that in the matrix.
And believe me, I don't think you'll be losing Akane anytime soon."
Trinity tried to be of some comfort, wiping more tears
from Ranma's cheek. "By the way, girls don't cry either."
"They don't?" Ranma asked.
"Well... there is one exception."
"And that is?" Ranma asked, wiping the last volley of
tears from her cheek.
"It's okay if you have a shoulder to cry on." Trinity
smiled.
"Gee... thanks." she sarcastically commented, tears drying
from her face. "Y'know, in... in the matrix it -was- a big deal."
"What was?" Trinity asked. "Being a girl?"
"Yeah." Ranma answered. "Out here, well... everyone treats
me as just another one of the guys. That's all I ever really wanted..."
"We're all just another one of the guys. Some of them like
to play a little though. I noticed Tank's taken a hobby of using
you a few various pet names and gestures here and there."
"I'll rip him a new airway next time he does."
"He's just playing, Ranma. Try playing back. Maybe you'll
get back at him."
"Oh please." Ranma muttered with a sarcastic glance.
"Get used to it, spoil sport." Trinity chuckled. "C'mon
now... Ms. high-and-mighty martial artist can't take a little
tease?"
"Yeah, yeah... yuck it up why don'cha.."
"So tell me about this martial arts school of yours. Did you
have any students?"
"Not really."
"You do now, sensei."
~~~
"The matrix is a system, Akane."
Morpheus walked across a crowded crosswalk in the
opposite direction of an oncoming flurry of people. Akane
struggled to follow close behind, bumping carelessly into
several people along the way.
"That system is our enemy." Morpheus waded through the
crowd effortlessly. The people were giving him a wide berth.
"You look inside and what do you see? Businessmen,
teachers, carpenters, doctors..."
"My friends..." Akane interrupted, still bumping into
people.
"Are you sure?" Morpheus questioned
Akane bumped into a rather familiar doctor.
"Dr. Tofu!" Akane exclaimed, looking behind to the
familiar doctor who continued onward, completely ignoring
Akane.
"Focus, Akane. Are you paying attention?" Morpheus
questioned.
Akane turned to Morpheus, her lips moving faster than her
words. "B-b-but that w-was-...!"
"Look again."
The man she looked behind to see wasn't Dr. Tofu, but
instead an agent looking much like the one Akane and Ranma
had fought.
"Freeze it." Morpheus ordered to the sky. The people in the
construct froze accordingly, as did the agent who had his gun
leveled right at Akane's forehead.
"What the hell...?!" Akane shouted.
"That was a friend of yours, wasn't it?"
"How did you know-...?"
"I know enough to emphasize a point. You need to let go,
Akane. Your friends, your family... all of it."
"Why and how in the hell would you expect me to do
that?"
"Because so long as they're still connected to the matrix,
they are your enemy. If you expect to survive, you'd better
steer clear of everyone you can. One moment you could be
talking to your best friend..."
"And the next...?"
"There is no next." Morpheus tapped on the gun on the
agent's hand to add emphasis to his point. "Allow me to
introduce you. This is a sentient program. They can move in or
out of any part of the matrix. They can be anyone, and yet they
are no-one."
"Ranma and I fought one of them... and it's body changed
into-..."
"...Into the body's original form. That is how they move
throughout the matrix. They possess a body and they do not
leave that body unless it becomes damaged. Consider a body
taken over by an agent to be as good as dead."
"Then what do we do?"
"We run."
~~~
I would like to thank you for reading 'Interface'.
It would be greatly appreciated if you would take
a moment to send a comment or two to myself (XStylus)
telling me what you liked or disliked, or any potential
errors or typos.
The archive to this fanfic, as well as my email address,
can be found at www.sofaspud.org.
Thanks for reading!