Disclaimer time: Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and Viz Communications
own Ranma 1/2. Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Gainax and ADV Films own
Neon Genesis Evangelion.
A big thanks to my pre-readers for this chapter: Merc-for-Hire and Thomas
Hackwood.
Corwin (ely7@inter.net.il or corwin@virtuallyjeannie.com)
http://www.virtuallyjeannie.com/ranma.html
* Previous chapters can also be found at:
http://phu.anifics.com/
http://tannim.anifics.com/rfics.html
http://ranmaxovers.tripod.com
--------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
A Couple of Angels
Chapter 15
Ranma sighed, peering into the endless water spreading as far as the eye
could see. "Are we there yet?"
"Not very patient, are we?" Ritsuko teased him with a small smile dancing on
her lips.
The pigtailed boy snorted. "Patience is overrated."
"I personally consider patience to be a virtue," Ritsuko commented slowly.
"I wouldn't have stayed with Gendo all these years otherwise."
Ranma's lips became a thin line.
"Is there anything wrong?" Ritsuko asked him calmly after a few minutes of
silence.
"You're sleeping with him."
It wasn't a question, and hence Ritsuko didn't bother with an answer.
Instead, she asked, "Does this bother you?"
"I... don't know," Ranma drawled out, looking away from her. "Rei told me
about the Commander. I don't like him."
"Didn't you get to meet him, Ranma?"
The pigtailed boy shook his head, still continuing to look to the side,
examining a particularly large iceberg the big military ship they were on
passed slowly. "I think he was avoiding me." Ranma gave a short snort,
before returning his attention to studying the iceberg. "Smart bastard."
"Why did you join Nerv in the first place, Ranma?" Ritsuko couldn't help but
ask. The question had been bothering her for quite some time now. "Did you
only do it... for her?"
Ranma shrugged noncommittally. "She asked."
"And if she asked you to jump off a cliff?"
"I probably would. It's kids' stuff for me."
Ritsuko chuckled at his answer. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me one bit."
"It shouldn't. I haven't lied to you yet."
"Yet?"
Ranma sighed heavily, not the response she was expecting.
"Nothing lasts forever. Nothing..."
A heavy silence reigned between the two afterwards.
--------------------------------------------------
"What are you doing, Kiddo?" Ritsuko asked upon entering Ranma's cabin and
finding him sitting in front of a television set.
"Kiddo?" Ranma repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you mind it?"
"Nah, I guess not. If anyone else tries it, I'd kick their ass, though."
With that, Ranma resumed watching anime.
Ritsuko took a seat beside the pigtailed boy. "This looks... interesting,"
she commented after watching the screen for a few moments.
"It's ok," Ranma replied with a shrug.
Several minutes passed, as Ritsuko tried to decipher the plot of the anime.
"Umm... what are we watching, Ranma?"
"Dragon Ball," he said curtly, not tearing his eyes away from the television
set.
"It's... interesting."
"You've said that already."
Ritsuko chuckled at her slip. "Yes, I suppose I have. Oh well, you've caught
me. I don't know what's going on. Care to explain it to poor little me?"
"It's an anime... about fighting." After a moment's thought, Ranma added,
"Rei got it for me."
"Oh. I see."
"I can learn new techniques from this," Ranma said suddenly, causing the
scientist to pay special attention to the screen.
A few moments later, she exclaimed in shock, "You mean, you could throw
those huge energy blasts around?!"
"Been there, done that," Ranma interjected lazily. "Ah, the wonders of ki."
"Right," Ritsuko drawled out, eyeing the boy carefully.
Still watching the screen, Ranma held out his left hand to Ritsuko's face,
palm up. "Asuka didn't believe me without a demonstration either." A small
blue flame erupted from the center of his palm, wavering in front of the
doctor's wide eyes. Several seconds later, Ranma balled his hand into a
fist, extinguishing the flame. "Like it?"
"It's... interesting," Ritsuko answered, still a bit dazed from being so
close to the phenomenon this time instead of seeing it on tape, before
realizing what she had said and starting to laugh. Ranma joined her,
although his laugher seemed restrained to the blond woman's ears.
When the episode ended and the credits started rolling over the screen,
Ranma turned to face Ritsuko. "Anime... video games..." the pigtailed boy
said, looking at his companion with the utmost seriousness. "All of those
that are related to fighting are rooted in reality. Normal martial artists
won't be able to execute any of the fancy moves, of course." Ranma pressed
the 'off' switch on the remote, powering down the television and the video
connected to it. "I, however, am not a normal martial artist."
"I figured that part already." Ritsuko smirked, surprising Ranma who never
expected to see that expression on the doctor's face.
Ranma seemed to think something over for several long moments before he made
up his mind over something. "Come, I want to show you something." Not
waiting for an answer, the boy grabbed Ritsuko's arm and started going for
the door, half-dragging the woman until she came out of her stupor and
started following him on her own.
--------------------------------------------------
"Watch."
After saying that one word, Ranma took a few steps away from Ritsuko. He
concentrated, and his aura became visible to the naked eye. It started to
grow in intensity, pulsing with barely restrained power. A few moments
later, Ranma's concentration seemed to have doubled and he let loose a
wordless roar.
"Wha...?" Ritsuko was amazed. The boy in front of her was floating! But that
kind of thing shouldn't have been possible!
Calming down once the initial shock wore off, Ritsuko was able to observe
the phenomenon with the clear head and mindset of a seasoned scientist.
Noticing the exertion on Ranma's face and the beads of sweat collecting on
his brows, she asked him to stop what he was doing for a moment. The
pigtailed boy complied, powering down and lowering himself to one knee to
keep himself upright.
"Ranma, why did you ask me to come here?" Ritsuko asked curiously once the
boy seemed rested enough. "I admit this is fascinating, but why show this to
me now? There has to be some other reason... right?"
Ranma nodded in response. "I'm trying to duplicate a technique from Dragon
Ball, that anime I showed you today. It's supposed to use a person's ki to
give them the ability to fly."
Ritsuko was about to retort that anime was different from real life, when
she remembered that Ranma did manage to make himself float in mid-air.
Seeing the confusion on his companion's face, Ranma attributed it to her
poor knowledge of true martial artists. "I once knew a person who could
float. He was a descendant from the dragons."
"Well, if floating was what you wanted, then you've certainly managed to
achieve that," Ritsuko commented, flicking a few loose strands of blond hair
away from her face.
"No, like I've said, I want to fly, not float," Ranma insisted. "I've asked
you to come, because you said you would help me."
Ritsuko frowned. "Ranma, this isn't the same as helping you control your
Angel side."
"Perhaps it is," the pigtailed boy replied, startling her. "I don't have
Herb's access to a dragon's ki, and between that handicap and having to
divert too much energy to control myself, I can't do more than just raise
myself a few centimeters off the ground."
"Hmm, I see," Ritsuko replied thoughtfully. She didn't doubt Ranma's claims,
deciding to believe them all without question. In his own words, he had not
lied to her yet. "What if you stopped your control for a short while?"
Ranma shook his head firmly, closing his eyes. "No. I won't do that. The
risk is simply too great."
"I see your point," Ritsuko agreed reluctantly. "You expend too much energy,
and might be unable to have enough of it to control yourself, even if you
tried."
Ranma nodded at that. "Not to mention the possibility of burning out after
exhausting myself trying to control it after using too much of it."
"However... what if you kept your control, but tried to use your AT field to
supplement for the needed ki?"
Ranma raised his head, looking at Ritsuko. Confusion shone clearly in his
blue-gray eyes.
"If you do it right, the control will still be there... like a safeguard,
see?" the doctor explained. "And from what we have seen, Angels are able to
fly and float. They are doing it with their AT fields somehow; I would bet
my credibility on it!" Mulling over something for a short while, the woman
added, "Besides, wouldn't you be tapping into a nearly-limitless pool of
energy, just like your dragon friend?"
Ranma nodded slowly, digesting what he had just been told.
"The only question now is whether you can actually combine this energy of
yours... this 'ki'... with your AT field."
Ranma snorted and raised the palm of his right hand into the air, a now
familiar blue flame springing into existence from its center. After a
moment's concentration, it appeared distorted to Ritsuko, as if she were
looking at the phenomenon through indented glass. The flame shook for a
split-second, and changed color to bright orange.
"Voila!" Ranma announced with a smile.
Ritsuko applauded, and he mock-bowed. During the bow he must have lost his
concentration, because the flame shot from his hand and flew at
neck-breaking speeds at a large iceberg, impacting its surface. The enormous
block of ice shook from the impact, before exploding in an impressive
display of pyrotechnics.
Debris rained on the enormous ship from above, and Ranma wasted no time in
waving his arm in a wide arc to erect a protective AT field and deflect
them. Seeing a particularly large piece, easily a tenth of the iceberg's
overall size, descending upon the ship directly from above, Ranma growled
and bunched his legs, before launching himself at the threat. The AT field's
power, augmented by the kinetic energy from Ranma's jump, were enough to
divert the enormous chunk of ice far enough to the open sea.
Ranma let his head drop into his hands, sighing at almost causing another
disaster, when he noticed something. He was flying, staying easily several
meters above the ship's deck. The pigtailed boy was about to smile and cry
out in triumph, when his vision clouded and he plummeted back down.
--------------------------------------------------
"Mom?" Ranma stirred, trying to get up. A cold compress that had been on his
forehead slipped down at the act, covering his eyes. Strong yet unmistakably
feminine hands pushed him back down onto the bed, adjusting it.
"Just lie down, Ranma. You've had a bad dream."
"Oh, you won't believe it if I told you," Ranma complained with a moan. "It
was awful! Everyone was dead, and I..."
"Well, you don't have to worry about a thing anymore, Ranma. You're safe and
sound now, back in your cabin."
"Right... my cabin?!" Ranma shot up again, coming face to face with Ritsuko.
Realizing their closeness, he looked away with a slight blush.
"Relax, Ranma," she said, running her hand through his hair. "You're all
right. Your nightmare is over."
"No," the pigtailed boy replied sadly. "It's not. I'm living it."
Ritsuko was silent for a few long moments afterwards, until eventually
deciding to change the subject. "I believe you've exhausted yourself too
much during your little stunt. That, coupled with your impact against the
deck, was enough to knock you out for a few hours."
"You stayed with me?"
"Yes."
Ranma managed a small smile. "Thank you."
Ritsuko returned his smile. "In any case, I think you need to practice that
technique of yours some more, until you get the hang of it."
Finding himself at an agreement with the blond scientist, Ranma nodded.
"Good." Ritsuko paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, Kiddo, but I have to get
going. We had reached our destination an hour ago and I should be there to
supervise the extraction."
"Of what?" Ranma asked, his interest piqued. He knew that the mission was
important for Nerv to send one of their top operatives so far to execute
it... but that was the full extent of his knowledge.
"What we came to do here is top secret, and only the Commander and
Sub-Commander know the full details of this mission - not even the Captain
of this ship." Giving Ranma a warm look, the doctor added with a wink,
"We're here to retrieve the Lance of Longinus, also known as Lancea
Longini."
"That sounds... interesting."
They both shared a laugh at that.
"Actually, Ranma, I think we could use the Lance to help you with your...
condition."
"You mean my curse?" the pigtailed boy asked eagerly.
The scientist scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Umm, no. I
meant your other condition."
Ranma's face, which had drooped when the boy's hopes for being cured were
crushed, brightened immediately. "Do you mean it? For real?" he asked
excitedly, grabbing Ritsuko's right hand.
The doctor nodded, and Ranma gathered her into a hug, laughing happily into
her shoulder. Despite the awkwardness of the situation she found herself in,
Ritsuko didn't pull away, careful not to ruin her new friend's happiness.
Once the initial euphoria ran out, Ranma noticed the way the doctor's body
was pressing into his and jumped away, releasing her. He looked around
frantically, half expecting someone to hit him or challenge him to a match
to the death for the horrible offense he had just committed. However,
nothing happened. Ranma let out the breath he had been secretly holding and
gave Ritsuko a timid smile.
The woman chuckled, and offered him her hand. "Want to come with me and see
the Lance of Longinus for yourself?"
Ranma nodded frantically, taking the proffered hand, and the two were off to
the upper deck to observe the retrieval process.
--------------------------------------------------
Ranma looked the gigantic lance over. "It's... big."
"It is, isn't it?" Ritsuko agreed with a nod.
"What are you going to use it for?"
Ritsuko glanced around, and when she was satisfied that they wouldn't be
overheard, leaned over to Ranma slightly to whisper to him, "Retrieving the
Lance serves three purposes."
The pigtailed boy listened intently, not interrupting her.
"The Lance's power is vast... almost God-like, I would say."
"I thought you didn't believe in God," Ranma commented.
"I don't. But if I did, I'd probably say that the Lance would rival its
powers."
Ranma gave a curt nod of understanding, urging the doctor to go on.
"It can penetrate an AT field; any AT field, no matter how strong. Think of
it as our ace, to use only in a dire emergency of the highest caliber, when
all else fails." Ritsuko smirked. "Obviously, we cannot allow this fearsome
weapon to be used against us, which pretty much covers the second reason
behind our mission."
"If it's so important, why has Nerv waited until now to get the Lance?"
Ranma asked curiously.
"Its current location had only recently been discovered. Believe me when I
tell you that we came after it as soon as we could."
Ranma nodded again. Then, the boy recalled something and after doing the
math quickly in his head looked at his companion curiously. "Ritsuko, you
said there were three purposes."
"Indeed," Ritsuko agreed with a smile. "To understand the third reason you
would have to know one of Nerv's deepest kept secrets."
"Oh?" Ranma asked with a raised eyebrow. "You guys are just full of those."
Ritsuko chuckled. "Indeed we are, Kiddo." Her demeanor changing suddenly,
she turned to her left and looked Ranma in the eyes. "There is an Angel
underneath the Geofront, kept in the lowest level of Central Dogma... an
area we call Terminal Dogma."
"How... imaginative of you." Despite the barb, Ranma mulled over the new
information briefly with the utmost seriousness. "It makes sense, I suppose.
Rei told me that the first Angel to attack you was actually referred to as
the Third Angel."
Ritsuko smiled mischievously. "A brilliant deduction. Unfortunately, you are
wrong. The Angel we call Lilith is rumored to be one of the Sources of Life.
It's not included among the lesser Angels that are attacking, because
according to our data, they all originated from Lilith."
"And so, the plot thickens," Ranma said ominously, a small grin dancing on
his lips. "You still haven't told me that third purpose the Lance serves for
Nerv."
"In a way, I have," Ritsuko countered, flashing him a smile of her own.
"Just think about it and you'll have your answer."
"The Lance..." Ranma drawled out, a look of the utmost concentration on his
face. "It passes through the strongest of AT fields. To do that, it must
cancel them out somehow." Ranma tapped his chin thoughtfully. "You keep an
Angel right under your primary base of operations. A smart move, considering
that you can control it with all the Evangelions stationed at the same place
if things got out of hand. Smart, yet extremely reckless." Scratching the
back of his head, Ranma asked rhetorically, "You only put all of your eggs
in one basket if you absolutely have no other choice, right?"
Ritsuko observed the pigtailed boy with a smirk. 'He's close... very close.
I wonder...'
"That lance of yours can contain an Angel, isn't that right?" Ranma asked
his companion, glancing at her with a cocked eyebrow. "It not only cancels
out the Angel's AT field, but also negates its powers somehow."
Ritsuko clapped. "You are amazing, Kiddo. When you put your mind to
something, it amazes me how much you achieve within so short a time.
However, there is one important detail you missed so far."
"Is that so?"
Ritsuko waved her right hand at a lazy arc, pointing at the large lance in
front of their eyes. "It's so big... I don't think anyone is going to miss a
small piece or two."
"Is that so?" Ranma repeated, an understanding smile coming onto his lips.
"It won't cancel out all of your Angelic side; not by a long shot. And it
won't really cancel out all of your AT field, for an AT field is needed for
everyone to maintain their physical forms." Ritsuko grinned, and put a
reassuring hand on the pigtailed boy's right shoulder. "However, it should
give you the control you need... in theory."
"Thank you," Ranma said sincerely, lowering his head and sniffling. "It...
means a lot. And don't bother yourself about those side effects. I've
survived without any Angel powers for all my life." The boy chuckled
quietly. "I don't need no power ups to kick ass!"
Raising his head and looking at Ritsuko with blue-gray eyes brimmed with
unshed tears, Ranma got out, "Thanks, Rit-chan," in a strangled voice.
"Oh, so it's Rit-chan again, eh?"
Ranma laughed. "Yes. Yes it is. You'll always be my Rit-chan."
Ritsuko ruffled his hair playfully, and gathered the boy in a hug. "You
don't know how much that means to me, Kiddo."
--------------------------------------------------
Two people walked towards each other in an underground parking lot.
"Nabiki."
"Kaji."
The two nodded at each other curtly.
"What have you found out?" the last surviving Tendo asked finally, schooling
her face to show no sign of emotion.
Kaji chuckled. "That Misato thinks I'm having an affair."
Nabiki smirked and told him, "I don't care about your personal affairs."
"Perhaps you should," the ponytailed man mentioned casually. "She is trying
to track me down using Nerv's resources. Resources that are monitored by
both the Commander of Nerv... and Seele."
"Seele... that charming group," Nabiki snarled.
"No matter how much you try, Miss Tendo, a mere mention of that name is
still enough to get through your carefully laid defenses."
"Stuff it!" she growled. "Tell me what you've discovered!"
"Who said I found out anything?" Kaji asked innocently.
"You set this meeting up," Nabiki replied with no small amount of annoyance.
Kaji's eyes widened, and he quickly drew out his gun from within his shirt.
"We've been tricked!"
Nabiki gasped, and she reached for her cell phone. "They're on to us!"
Spotting something moving in the shadows, Kaji pushed Nabiki out of the way
and opened fire. Wasting no time, Nabiki ducked behind a parked car and
frantically called the first number on her speed-dial.
"Masamichi! I need backup!" Holding the phone to one ear, she covered the
other with her hand to try her best to filter out the sounds of gunfire.
"Get me out of here, fast! I don't care if you need to activate the second
prototype to do that!"
The male voice on the other side of the line agreed, asking Nabiki for her
coordinates. She was just finishing her instructions, when a particularly
hail of gunfire sounded right next to her. It took Nabiki several moments to
realize that they originated from the other side of the line.
"Masamichi? Masamichi!" she yelled into her miniature cell phone. "Are you
there? Hello? Anyone?!"
A female voice answered her after a few moments of almost deafening silence.
"Miss Tendo, you have been cancelled. Good bye."
The line went dead.
"G-God... oh God!" Nabiki stammered, looking at the phone in her hands. "If
they were already there... and _she_ was with them..."
'Who can you call? Who can you trust?' Nabiki asked herself frantically.
'The police? What a joke!'
Balling her hand into a fist, her face twisted into a mask of cold
determination. She wasn't going to go out like that. Not without a fight!
Nabiki threw away the cell phone. The thing was probably bugged, and might
have even had a tracer installed. That was the only possible answer to how
_they_ managed to track her to this parking lot. Unless Kaji sold her off...
No! She couldn't afford to think like that. She would trust Kaji, at least
until he showed some sign of betrayal. After all, he was the only other
person she could trust, beside Ranma.
'Oh, Ranma... where are you now...' she wondered sadly.
Shaking her head to clear it of all the depressing thoughts that threatened
to overwhelm her, Nabiki reached into her purse and withdrew a small
handgun.
The bastards won't take her alive!
--------------------------------------------------
Commander Ikari sat behind his desk, observing the local paper. The main
article spoke about a mysterious explosion that wrecked a good portion of
Tokyo-2. The primary investigation pointed towards an accident in a testing
stage of a nuclear-powered weapon that was similar to the ill-fated Jet
Alone in design. Unfortunately, no one was able to escape the testing area
alive.
The government was going to open a full investigation on why the cancelled
project was still going on without permission. In the meanwhile, there was a
nation-wide search of the project's coordinator, one Nabiki Tendo, who
seemed to have disappeared without a trace right after the explosion. Her
funds were frozen to keep her from buying a way out of the country by
illegal means, and the national police estimated that her successful
apprehension was only a matter of time.
The journalist speculated that since a lot of high-placed governmental
officials lost their family and loved ones in the tragic explosion, there
wasn't much chance of the former project coordinator living to celebrate her
fortieth birthday.
"The Prime Minister has announced that tomorrow would be a national day of
mourning," Fuyutsuki commented idly, leaning over the Commander's shoulder
to take a look at the paper. "Interesting. An unusually high number of
governmental and army personnel opposing Nerv's authority have lost their
lives in the explosion."
"How unfortunate," Gendo said with a small smile on his lips, partially
hidden by his crossed hands.
"I wonder how their summit went."
"It is irrelevant now, with no one remaining to back up their demands to
disband Nerv," Gendo replied coldly.
"True," Fuyutsuki agreed with a curt nod. "What about the Lance?"
"It has been safely retrieved without a problem and is on the way back."
"I see the lovely Dr. Akagi has yet to outlive her usefulness," the
Sub-Commander remarked with a smirk.
Gendo grunted in response.
--------------------------------------------------
"M-Misato..."
"My God, Kaji!" the purple-haired woman exclaimed, subconsciously clutching
her cross. "What happened to you?!"
The ponytailed man stumbled toward her, using a nearby wall to keep himself
upright. He tried to speak, only to cough up some blood on the ground.
The Major rushed over to him, supporting the man by putting his other arm,
that hung loosely at his side, over her shoulders.
"Your... pretty dress... will be r-ruined." Kaji tried to give Misato his
trademark carefree smile, but it got twisted into a scowl as pain shot
through his body.
"We have to get you to a hospital!" she exclaimed, starting to drag him
towards her car.
"N-No hospitals." His speech turned into a coughing fit.
"But you'll die here!"
"I'll die there... too..." Feeling his consciousness leaving him, Kaji
repeated, "No hospit..." before slumping into the Major's arms.
"Kaji! NO!" Misato screamed, clutching his bloodied form to her chest.
--------------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 15.
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