I'm not subbed to the list, please email C&C to <7ahw@qlink.queensu.ca>.

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T h e    H e a r t ' s    B a t t l e g r o u n d

A Ranma 1/2 and Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover by Adrian Wong

Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi while Evangelion belongs to Gainax
Productions.

You WILL need to know some basics about the Eva series to understand this.

" " Japanese dialogue
< > thoughts
[ ] Chinese dialogue
/ / Illusory sounds, memories

***Kevin"Lord Talon"Wible*** is the honorable pre-reader for this fic!
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Part 1

Time: 2017

        Inside a dimly lit conference room, Soun Tendo, the Commander of
NERV, was looking out the glass window with a somewhat complex
expression on his face.  He was a man in his forties, with shoulder
length long hair and a Mustache that hides much of his upper lip.

<Yes, the Third Angel had finally appeared, and a good time it has
chosen too . . .>

        Right now, the only available Eva pilot, the first child was
still recovering from that injury that he got when his synchronization
test with Eva 00 failed. But no matter, another pilot has been
summoned.  Even though Soun had tried to delay having to ever face her
again, the fact that NERV needs her remains.  He can only hope that he
would be able to convince her to go along with this in this little time
that he had left.

        Idly, he stared at his own bandaged hand.

*               *               *               *            *      
*               

        Akane Tendo's state of mind was like a whirlwind as she sat
beside the somewhat scantly clad woman who is racing the speeding car
through the evacuated city.  Her long, thigh length hair keeps on
whipping across Akane's face in the strong wind, further annoying her.

        Ten minutes ago, that woman, Hinako Ninomiya, showed up at her
doorstep and told her that she is here to pick her up to her father's
place for some catching up, as she cheerfully calls it. Akane, who
hadn't even seen the man for twelve of her sixteen years, wasn't
impressed.  To her, her father was a total jerk that had neglected her,
leaving her in the care of her tutor and running out on her life like
that.  But then, a distant explosion was heard, and the Ninomiya woman
forcibly dragged her into the car with her.  It was then that she saw
the humanoid giant causing mayhem in the distance.

        "What is that thing?! And just where the HELL do you think
you're going?!" Akane screeched as she blushed Hinako's hair out of her
face.  "This is NOT the direction of the emergency shelter!"

        "Chill out, Akane-chan." Hinako said as she sped up to 150 km/h.
"We're heading for a much saver place: the NERV headquarters."

        "The place that Daddy works at?!"

        "Right.  He'll explain everything to you there."

        The car went into an underground tunnel.

        "Damn, Daddy won't call me there just to see me . . . I bet he
probably Wants something or another from me."

        Hinako sweats as Akane's words hit home.  Akane sighed as she
realizes that she was right.

        A handbook was suddenly being put into her hand; it said NERV on
the cover.

        "Ah, you might want to read this."  Hinako said uncomfortably.

        Suddenly, the platform rushed out of the tunnel they were in and
started moving through a vast underground cavern.  Akane gasped.

"A Geo-Front?!" she exclaimed, looking out the window with wide eyes.  

"That's right, Akane-chan. THIS is Tokyo-3." 

        Akane continued to stare at everything in awe. High overhead
hung the buildings of Tokyo-3, like some eerie mirroring of the city
above.  Far below sat the buildings of NERV, including the pyramid that
held Central Dogma and the Evangelions.   Orange light filled the cavern
and reflected off the water far below.  

        A few minutes later, the platform stopped and they exited the
vehicle. Hinako led Akane through several hallways to an elevator. 
Akane skimmed through the NERV document, but she only understood about
half of it.
        
        They entered the elevator, which used an odd mechanical device
that clicked to mark passage from one floor to the next.  The elevator
stopped, and a woman wearing a stylish, black Chinese skirt with a lab
coat draped over her shoulders got on. Akane looked curiously at her
flame-toned red hair, which is styled into a simple but stylish beehive
that, showed off her beautiful profile.  

        <Now that's a peculiar looking dye if I've ever seen one. >
Akane thought.

        "Nodoka, Akane-chan is here." Hinako said.

        Nodoka simply nodded.  "And not a moment too soon.  Commander
Tendo is waiting for you both." She extended a hand to Akane.  "Nodoka
Akagi, NERV Technical Expert."

        "Nice to meet you . . . umm, is Daddy that high ranking?"  Akane
wondered aloud, then notices the look that Nodoka is giving her. 
"Forget what I said."

        Leaving the elevator, the group entered a dark cavernous room,
and the doors snapped shut behind them.  "Hey!" Akane yelled, a bit
startled.  The lights snapped on again, and Akane found herself face to
face with a giant beast.

        "AHHHHHHH!" Akane shrieked and leapt backwards, almost falling
off the catwalk they stood on.  "Wha-what is that ugly thing?!"  Seeing
that the thing wasn't moving; she took a few steps closer and examined
it more thoroughly.

	It was the head and shoulders of a giant robot, submerged from then on
down in a strange orange-pink liquid.  It colored a familiar yellow -
the same color that Akane likes on her dresses.  The giant head had a
large horn sticking out of it, on a line with the rest of the forehead
like the start of a crest.  The eyes of the giant were of a
darker yellow and seemed to be staring blankly ahead in a perpetual
scowl.

"That is the Test Type model of the artificial lifeform Evangelion,"
Nodoka said with a hint of pride to her voice.  "Unit 01."

"And it's mankind's last defense against the Angels," Hinako smirked.

"Hmm. so Daddy build this, huh?" Akane asked speculatively as her
initial shock wore away.  <So THIS is what he had neglected me all this
time for. >

"Yes, Akane, I did.  And you will pilot it," said a man's voice from a
nearby speaker.  Hinako and Nodoka turned around and looked up. 
Following their gaze, she saw her father looking down at her from a
booth high overhead.

Akane coolly stared up at her father, then wilts under her father's
impassive gaze.  She turned her head and glanced at the Evangelion. 
"Pilot That thing that you gave up all your time to?" She asked, then
snorts. "You Actually THINK I will do that?"

"Yes." Soun answered sternly.  "Like it or not, you are the third child
eligible to pilot a Eva, and you will pilot it."

"This is ridiculous!" Hinako exclaimed.  "She has no chance of piloting
that thing!   It took Mousse almost half a year to synchronize with his
Eva, how is she going to do it now?  She doesn't even have any
training!"

"Calm down. She doesn't have to do anything, only sit in it and follow
our instructions," Nodoka returned calmly.

        Meanwhile, father and daughter are still locked in a visual
combat.  "I'm not your doll, I won't have to listen to you!"  Akane
spat.

        Soun raised an eyebrow.  "Not even if all of humanity is at
stake?"

        Akane was taken back.  "I . . ."

        Soun smiled coldly.  "Fine, you can go then.  I hope you can
sleep at night knowing how you have neglected your duty to the human
race."  He turns to his assistance.  "Bring in Mousse."

        As Akane's face burned with anger and shame, a tall, longhaired
young man was pulled in with a gurney.  Even with chalk-white complexion
and blue hair, he was excessively handsome.  Akane's heart aches as she
saw the bandages covering him from the legs down, the cast on his right
arm, and the gauze on his head that covered his right eye.  Attached to
the gurney was an IV bag that dripped fluid into his left arm. 

The boy opened his eyes, and Akane felt herself blush as she looked into
the blood red pupils.  Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt an
attraction to the boy unlike one she had ever felt before, a strange
attachment to him.  The boy blinked his eye once, and for just a moment
she thought she saw some tenderness flickering in it.  

Looking away, the boy began to struggle to a sitting position, his face
twisted in pain and effort as he worked himself up.  The medical
technicians at his side removed the IV from his arm.
 
"Commander," he breathed out in a quiet, emotionless voice.  "I am
ready.

        Soun surprises Akane by suddenly having a tender look on his
face as he spoke softly to the boy.

        "You'll do fine-"

        Just then an earthquake shook the catwalk, and the med. Techs
immediately fled the catwalk, leaving Mousse to drop down painfully onto
his knees. Akane immediately rushed to his aid.

        "Come back!"  Hinako yelled. "The girders are breaking!"

        "Why else do you think I'm helping him up for?!"  Akane yelled
back as she scoped the much larger Mousse up into her arms with no
effort at all and leaps away from the mass of metal falling on them. 
Just then, however, the Catwalk gave way and snapped, and the two fell.
Hinako covered her eyes in fear.

        A gasp from Nodoka opens her eyes, and she saw that the hands of
Eva 01 had shifted from the suspension liquid to hold the teens in its
palm.  Soun looked pleased and nodded his head.

        "Impressive . . ." Nodoka said. 

        "Are you okay?"  Akane asked.  Mousse simply stared blankly at
her and nodded.  She then looked up to her father.

        "You will have him pilot in his state if I didn't pilot it,
won't you?" She hissed.

        "Right."  Soun said.

        "Alright then, you win!  I'll pilot the damn thing!"  She yelled
back in frustration.  Mousse had a curious look on his face as he stared
at her.

     *               *               *               *               *  

        <Damn . . . I feel sick . . .>

        Dressed in a ridiculously tight yellow plug suit, and breathing
in an Oxygen medium that Nodoka had called LCl, Akane was launched out
from the underground before she was even ready.

        And then, she saw the angel staring at her robot with
undisguised malice in what she thought is its eyes.  Akane flinched.

        "What do I do now?"  She yelled at communication link.

        "Just concentrate on walking for now."  Nodoka said from the
control booth.  "Let your mind flow with the Eva."

        "You can do it, Akane-chan!" Hinako said encouragingly.  "Your
Synchron-rate is already at 41.5 . . . very good for a first timer!" 

Akane had no idea what the hell that meant, but it sounded reassuring
None-the-less.  "Alright! I'll start by flexing my legs . . . hey, I did
it!"

Everybody in the control booth sweated as Eva 01 did a warm-up exercise
right in front of the startled angel.  Soun was the only one who managed
to look as stiff as usual.

"Amazing . . . and this is her first try!" Nodoka said.

Akane, with her confidence boosted, charged the angel.  "Now to get the
job done . . . HYA!"

Eva 01, aimed a center-kick at the angel, but it caught the leg and
flung the Eva into a building.  Akane gasped as pain rippled through her
body.

"What-?!"

"Don't panic!"  Hinako yelled, "It isn't real pain, it's just the reflex
of the Eva!  Don't let it-"

CRASH!!

"Oh my, she got another hit!" Kasumi Ibuki, Nodoka's assistant
exclaimed.

Now straddling the Eva 01, the angel began hitting it on the chest as
Akane screamed in agony.  Suddenly, she was back in her first day grade
one again, being hazed by some bigger girl and her gang.

/Take that, geek girl! /

/Akane has no parents Akane has no parents/

/Hohohohohohohoho. /

<Stop . . . no . . . Daddy! >

/He won't come, geek girl! /

<Mommy! >

/She won't come either!  Ha! /

<No . . .>

/You are nobody, you hear? /

<Stop . . .>
 
/You are nobody cause you have nobody! /

"SHUT-UP!"

Suddenly, the angel find it's fist being caught, and before it knew it,
it was flat on its back, with the Eva pounding its fists into its head.

"Oh, my!  The Eva's entered a berserker mode!"  Kasumi exclaimed.

"Amazing " Nodoka, said.

"Actually, it seemed kinda scary," Hinako said.

Suddenly the Eva was pushed away as the angel set up an AT field.

"The Absolute Terror field!"  Hinako exclaimed.

The Eva 01 continued to pry at the AT field but it won't give way.
Enraged, it held its arms together, and a giant mallet suddenly appeared
from nowhere.

"The Eva is growing its own weapons!?"  Nodoka said. 
  
"Oh my, during the 1 second that she is whipping that mallet out,
Akane's Synchron-rate had risen to 97%!" 

"AMAZING . . ." Nodoka breathed.

The mallet shattered the angel's AT field and began pounding on the
angel's red core.  The angel exploded, burning off the armor around
Eva-01's face and left arm.  Hinako leaped up in joy.

"YES! Akane-chan, you did it!  Akane?  Akane?!"

"The pilot had passed out."  Kasumi reported.

"Well, eject the entry plug and rescue her!"

    *               *               *               *              
*               
Drifting out of a violet, restless dream, Akane slowly opened her eyes
and sat up.  Feeling her chest, she was puzzled by the fact that it
didn't hurt at all.  She pulled down the front of her shirt to take a
peek inside . . .

"You are unharmed."

The calm, detached voice shocked Akane into pulling up her shirt again
as she looked beside her to see the bandaged Mousse staring at her with
his one red eye.

"Oh, Mousse . . . that's your name, isn't it? I thought I would have
died."

"But you didn't.  You suffered a traumatic experience instead."  Mousse
replied.

Akane sweats as she stares at the boy due to his odd, emotionless reply.
Mousse stared back at her for a moment, then speaks up again. "What made
You decide to pilot the Eva?"

"Well . . . I . . . I eh . . . Daddy was trying to make YOU pilot the
thing, and I saw your wounds and how you can't even stand . . . so I say
to myself: why not?  No use at getting back at Daddy only to have you
hurt." 

"You piloted the Eva for me?"  Mousse asked, as he stared straight into
her eyes. Akane blushed as she averted her glance.

"I . . . I guess you could say that . . ."

        "Thanks."  Mousse said, as a pleased but subtle smile spread on
his flawless face, giving it life.   "You're the second person who had
sacrificed for my sake.  For that, I feel happy."
        
        "I . . . I'm glad," Akane said, still red as a beet.  "Um . . .
so who's the first?"

        Just then Hinako stepped in cheerfully.  "You woke up,
Akane-chan!  What a marvelous job you did today.  Oh, and Mousse, the
Commander called for you.'

        Mousse nodded and left. Hinako raised an eyebrow as she noticed
Akane staring after the boy.

        "Got a crush on him already?" Hinako teased.

        Akane shoke her head rigorously.  "Um-NO!  What are you doing
here?!"

        "Well, starting from today, you're a member of NERV, and as
such, your Father has asked me to take you under my care!"

        Even though Akane didn't like Soun much, she still couldn't help
but said.
 "I thought he would at least consider letting me stay with him . . ."   

        Hinako looked apologetic.  "Um . . . your father is kinda a busy
man, so? Hey, but don't worry, I'm a fun housemate!  C'mon, I've got all
your stuff transferred to my apartment already, just wait till you see
it . . ."

        Akane sighed as she followed the overtly upbeat woman to accept
her new life.

      *               *               *               *              
*             

        Inside a private conference room in NERV, Soun and Mousse are
sitting across a table facing each other.

        "So, Mousse, how do you feel about Akane?"

        "She makes me feel important, much like you do, Sir, when you
saved me from the heated entry plug" Mousse said.

        "What else?"

        "She confuses me, Sir."

        Soun looked thoughtful for a moment then spoke up again.  "You
may leave, Mousse.  I wish you a quick recovery."

        "Thank you, sir."

        As Mousse had left, Soun briefly think the situation over, and
decided to wait and see what will happen between his puppet and his
daughter.  But even if Akane had managed to give him a soul, he still
had lots of backups to carry out his plan.

End part 1




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I give you Freedom! That monster will trouble you no more!
Your hero has arrived at last!"
Mr Masamichi Fujisawa