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.
" " Japanese dialogue
< > thoughts
[ ] Chinese dialogue
/ / Illusory sounds, memories
***Kevin "Lord Talon" Wible*** and ***Andrew Huang*** are the honorable
pre-readers for this fic!
All previous parts of this series can be found at
http://www.tass.org/fanfic/
Under the titles
ranma.Evangelion.the-hearts-battleground.(part number)
My other fanfics, like Poison, Darkness and Light, Village Tale(Prelude
only) can be found on the same page.
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Part 5
An infinite sea of red, stretching, stretching towards infinity . . .
A boy, tall, pale and lifelessly flawless, a blinding white ghost
contrasting against a world of crimson . . .
Echoes, vague yet haunting, of memories familiar yet alien, of past and
present intertwined . . .
/If it is a girl, then we'll name her Akane./
/An excellent choice, Kimiko./
/If it is a boy, then we'll name him . . . dear, aren't you putting a bit
too much mousse on your hair?/
/Mousse . . . heh, now that's a name that a son will thank his father for./
/Soun! <giggled> It is just like you to joke about such things!/
/Ahahaha . . ./
<I am naming my son. Yet . . . I don't have a son, do I?>
/Mousse, our boy will be named Mousse! Haha . . ./
<I don't have a wife, do I?>
/Even AKANE would have been a better name for a boy than Mousse!/
<But . . . I do have Akane.>
Shapes shifted within the red haze, forming the face of an adorable infant
girl, beaming at him with undisguised innocence.
/Dad . . .da, Aka . . ne/
<My Akane . . .>
/Aka . . ne . . . luv . . ./
<. . . who really is . . .>
/. . . Dad . . . da . . ./
" . . . a part . . . of me . . ."
And his eyes slowly opened, taking in the familiar, white ceiling of his
hospital room. Feeling a hand over his, he turned his head around and saw
Akane's worried expression as she looked down at him.
"Mousse, what is it? You're . . . mumbling in your sleep."
Mousse stared at her for a moment as his breathing calmed, and replied.
"Nothing."
Akane didn't seem convinced, but she didn't pursue the issue either.
Instead, she simply asked: "how are you feeling?"
Mousse smiled. "Much better than the last time since you've came."
Akane smiled. Before she could stop herself, she leaned down against
Mousse's broad, newly healed chest. "I'm glad," she whispered with a light
blush on her face. Mousse pats her short hair for a while with a rather
curious look on a face. After a while, a content smile spread on his face
as he decides that he liked the feeling.
<. . . a part of me . . .>
And they stayed like that, enjoying the modest but strangely intimate
contact with each other's body. If only the moment could go on forever . . .
"Whoa . . . hope I didn't catch ya two love birds at a bad time?"
Then again, of course it couldn't.
Shooting up from Mousse like a sprint board, Akane turned aground to glare
at the slender, long-haired boy leaning on the doorway. Idly twirling a
piece of his long hair around his finger, he smiled at Akane with a jocular
yet taunting expression.
"Heh, that was pretty impressive. Ya actually acted FEMININE in the past
minute." He then turned to Mousse, who was looking back at him blankly.
"You're the first child, right? Hey, that's a neat shade of dye you've got
on ya hair."
"Blue is the natural color of my hair," The albino boy replied in a neutral
tone of voice, neither offended or amused, "my name is Mousse."
Ranma, who was trying to have a light conversation, didn't know what to
make of Mousse's response. Akane, however, was majorly ticked off. "You're
just trying to be annoying. Stay the hell away from us, PERVERT!"
"Hey! I was trying to socialize with you people there, tomboy! If it
weren't for Hinako-san delivering all my stuff to her place right this
minute, I won't even be trying to get along with the likes of you right now!"
Akane's expression was angry. "You think that just because you've
single-handedly defeated an angel in one shot, that you're better than us,
that you can just make fun of us like this, don't you?"
Ranma was taken back as he protested. "Hey, I never did make fun of you
cause . . ."
"YES YOU DID!" Akane roared at Ranma, as Mousse looked on at her outburst
with a startled expression. "And you know what? Right now, you MIGHT be
better than me, or maybe even better than Mousse. But someday, someone
WILL pilot better than you, be it the two of us or somebody else, and I'd
LOVE to be there to see you get cast aside like yesterday's newspaper!"
"Shut. Up."
The subtle but dramatic anger in Ranma's voice startled Akane, but it
wasn't enough to make her back down. Looking away from her, the anger on
Ranma's face seemed to drain away into the atmosphere, as his expression
gradually became neutral. Turning to face her again, his expression had
changed into a seemingly flawless mask of boyish confidence. He was even
smirking cockily.
"I'm the greatest Eva pilot alive, the sole defender of the world! I ain't
gonna lose to anyone, and that's the way it is. Feel free to be jealous of
me, tomboy, it won't change a thing! Ha!"
With a contemptuous toss of his hair, he was gone, leaving Akane annoyed
and angry at the same time.
* * * * * *
Running down the hall, Ranma has a somewhat wild look in his eyes as he
fled from unpleasant memories conjured up by the tomboy's cruel words.
/ . . . I'd LOVE to be there to see you get cast aside like yesterday's
newspaper!/
Damn her.
Of course he can't be cast aside ever again. How could he be? He had
trained so hard to be a good Eva pilot just to make sure that THIS time, he
would STAY as the one in the spotlight.
For those who were outclassed . . . were indeed . . . cast aside like
yesterday's newspaper.
A sample of one of those distant, old days that kept on coming back to
haunt him as nightmares was as follows:
"So how about it huh, Aono-san? My boy Ranma here has already demonstrated
his great potential to become a martial artist. Surely, he could have been
worthy of your daughter . . ."
"But our dojo is poor, Genma-san. We can't afford the dowry that you have
requested for this boy. Besides, agile as he is, he seemed to lack
strength . . . I think he's more of a dancer than a fighter."
"Ah, so you are looking for strength, eh? Ryoga, my boy, show Uncle Aono
what you can do! Now THERE is a dojo heir like you've never seen: my boy
is so strong that he is already capable of smashing through solid bricks!"
"Kyaa!!!"
Smash!!!!
"Hmmm . . . this one look promising. I will see what I can do to get the
dowry that you've requested, Genma-san."
"Ahaha . . . Aono-san, you won't be disappointed."
"Oyaji . . ." the five year old Ranma tugged on the sleeve of Genma's gi.
The man looked down on him in annoyance.
"What? I'm doing business . . . I mean, a sacred union here."
"I'm hungry . . ." Ranma asked, not daring to look at his father's stern
face.
"No food for you till you can lift that rock lantern up with one arm. If
it weren't for your brother Ryoga, our bloodline would have been shamed!
Ryoga, my boy, you did well today. I'll buy you okonomiyaki for dinner
tonight."
"Thanks, Oyaji!" The five year old Ryoga, Ranma's non-identical twin,
beamed in a fanged smile, then stuck out a tongue at Ranma. "Nyah!
Ranma's a wimp! Ranma's not worthy to be a Saotome!"
"SHUTUP!!!" Ranma struck out at him . . .
. . . and his fist was stopped by Tofu, in a hallway at NERV, where luckily
no one else was watching. Now momentarily free from his past, the boy's
body relaxed as it collapsed against the startled looking man.
"Ranma! What's wrong?"
"Not . . .Nothing, Otousan." Ranma replied as he stood up and away from
Tofu. Gathering himself, he put on a smiling face.
"So, how did it go with Hinako-san?"
Tofu sighed. "That woman was still as unreasonable as she was all those
years ago. Heh, but what do I care? I still have my little No-chan
drooling over me."
"That's cool, Otousan." Ranma replied somewhat absently as his eyes sought
to look at anywhere other than Tofu's questioning eyes. Tofu sighed.
"Out with it, Ranma, what's the matter? Is it about Akane? Really, she
doesn't seem like a bad kid, I'm sure you two can get along fine living
together. Besides, " Tofu smirked, "you're already 16: it's about time you
learn to get along with girls."
Ranma looked away as he replied in an edgy voice. "I DO know how to get
along with girls, Otousan."
"Well, it's just that ever since you've been sold . . . I mean, accepted
into NERV as a child, you seldom got to socialize with kids your own age,
much less young girls. I mean, I'm kind of a father-figure to you-"
"You ARE my Otousan." Ranma stared at Tofu with a rather intense and
determined look as the man sweated at his seriousness. After coughing a
bit, Tofu then continued:
"Right. . . and I'm responsible to have you grow up to be a healthy teenage
boy in every way."
"Otousan!" Ranma replied agitatedly. After looking around to make sure
that no one else was there in the hallway, he turned back to Tofu.
"Otousan . . . am I . . . am I not good enough?"
Tofu was startled. "What?!"
"Am I falling behind your expectations? Am I not good enough to be your
son?" Ranma asked as he got increasing frantic.
"Of course not, you silly kid!" Tofu chided the teenager as he hugged
him. "I'm proud of you, Ranma. Whatever gave you that idea?"
"It . . ." Ranma's voice became shaky as he tried to press down a sob,
"It's just that you said I am not normal . . ."
Tofu quickly began gathering the right lines to try and cheer the overtly
emotional boy up as he held the boy's shoulders so they were face to face.
"I . . . that's not what I meant, Ranma. You made a much better son than
any father in the world can hope for! You can pilot a Eva like no other
can, and you are so brave . . ."
"But . . . What if someone else pilot better than I? What if . . . what if
I lost to an angel?!"
Tofu was alarmed. Ranma's ego was his strength, literally, as it was what
fueled his Eva 02 to perform the Moko Takabisha chi blast. If his ego was
damaged, his Eva's ability to concentrate chi will decrease accordingly.
"Shhh . . . as long as you keep up your training, NOBODY can be better than
you!"
"But what if . . .?"
Tofu sighed. "Even if you're not the best, I'll still treat you as my son.
But still . . . as I'd like you to keep on trying your best no matter
what. The safety of the world is depending on your performance."
"Otousan . . . thanks." Ranma said as he put up a light smile. "I'll
keep on doing my best!" With that, he ran off down the corridor looking
for Hinako.
"That's the spirit, Ranma." Tofu sighed in relief. Ranma wasn't really a
bad kid to have as an "adopted son", but his emotional insecurity, the
thing that the boy had hidden from the rest of the world save for his
"Otousan", was still tough to sooth even after all these years.
<Sigh . . . being a father just isn't my strong point . . . I wish he
wouldn't take that Otousan thing so seriously. But then again, who else
but me is willing to take up the responsibility?>
* * * * * *
On the back of Hinako's car, Ranma and Akane were both extremely tense.
Ranma was coldly staring out at the Geo-front through the window as Akane
sulked, shooting him a glare every once in a while. Seeing this in her
rear-mirror, Hinako sighed.
<Why does NERV have to assign BOTH of them to my apartment? Do I look like
I'm rich enough to afford constant repairs and renovations?>
* * * * * *
Ranma looked on at the scene in front of him in awe.
"This . . . this is . . ."
"What does it look like, baka?" Akane asked with a peeved look.
Hinako immediately cut in before Ranma could retort.
"It's my apartment, Ranma-kun." She said as cheerfully as she was
capable of under the circumstance. "Nice place, eh?"
In front of them was a dumping ground for beer-cans and potato chip sacks.
There were Pepsi stains all over the carpet and the sofas, and to top it
all off, there were at least thirty dirty dishes piling up on the side of
the dinning table. Ranma could almost feel the fleas crawling up her legs
as she stared at the remarkable display of untidiness in front of him.
"Now, since we are ALL to be housemates . . ." Hinako said with a rather
forced smile on her face, "why don't we divide up the chores with a game of
Jaken?"
This time, Ranma somehow managed to lose so badly that he ended up having
to do everything that Akane had to . . . which was just about everything.
* * * * *
"Err . . . this . . . is all there is for dinner?" Ranma asked, staring at
the cup of instant noodles in front of him.
"What, got a problem with it?" Akane asked, somewhat crossly, as she
sipped on the noodles.
"Like it, Ranma-kun?" Hinako asked tentatively. "Akane boiled the water
herself . . ."
"Yo, Third Child, why don't you make yourself useful and cook up something
else to add to our meal? Or are you unable to do even that?" Ranma asked
with as much arrogance in his voice as he was capable of, hoping to
embarrass Akane. Before Akane could take up Ranma's challenge, Hinako
quickly (and wisely) cut in once again.
"Now, Ranma! You shouldn't be so mean towards Akane . . . "
"What about her being mean to me?!" Ranma snapped. "It is the 10's,
dammit! I don't need to take this kinda &(*% from girls!"
"Ha! Since it is the 10's, then why don't YOU go cook us something, Mr.
Feminist?" Akane countered. To her surprise, Ranma smirked at hearing that.
"You're on."
* * * * * *
Half an hour later, around the dinning table . . .
Hinako couldn't help but sob as she ate the dinner prepared by Ranma.
"It's . . . incredible! How did you manage to make this third rate bacon
taste so GOOD?!"
Ranma smirked confidently as he explained the way of cooking bacon to
Hinako: "Oh that's easy. I made it almost every week, since it is one of
Otousan's favorite dish. Ya just have to fry it with butter, together with
some yellow corns that will make it less stuffy. No salt is needed in this
case, since this bland of bacon is already salty enough as it is." He then
leaned towards Hinako eagerly. "If ya marry Otousan, then ya can enjoy
food like this every night after a tiring day of work. C'mon, give Otousan
a chance!"
Hinako flushed as Akane, who was struggling hard not to touch the delicious
bacon and corn prepared by Ranma, spoke up with a bored look on her face.
"Why don't YOU marry Tofu-san yourself if you're so hot for him, Second
Child? I'm sure that you'd make a great housewife, Ranma-CHAN."
Ranma sent a HEATED glare towards the Third Child. Before he could hurl an
insult back at her, however, he noticed a duck popping up on the table
beside him, and was staring at him curiously.
"Eh . . . is that a life duck I'm seeing on the table?"
"That's Mu-Mu Chan, a type of new, genetically engineered, hot-spring duck
with extra-hi intelligence." Hinako said, glad that Ranma was distracted
from his anger. "Mu-Mu Chan, say 'Hi' to your new roommate."
The duck raised a wing at him as if waving as Ranma blinked. Then
suddenly, a rather mischievous expression spread across his face as he
turned to Akane's plate of food.
"Say, Akane, you still haven't touched your food yet, have ya?"
"I'm not hungry," she sulked.
"Well, then . . ." Ranma snatched the plate away from Akane and placed it
in front of Mu-Mu chan, "better not waste good food."
Akane's jaw dropped as she watched the duck effectively cleaned up her
dinner with much vigor. Ranma smiled at Akane with mock innocence as the
latter flared with a bight aura. Hinako, getting tried of always having to
stop them from killing each other, simply refilled her plate and moved over
to the sofa to eat in peace while watching TV.
* * * * * *
The next day at Tokyo 3, Shampoo and Kurumi were both already in their
classroom, wondering why was Akane so unusually late that particular day
that they had to arrive at school without her.
Just then, the sound of what seemed like a boy and a girl quarreling could
be heard from outside the hallway:
"Man! How could you eat so much so early in the morning? Truly you're a
gluttonous girl!"
"Jerk! If it weren't for you giving away my dinner last night, I wouldn't
have been so hungry this morning!"
"But you're the one who said that that you weren't hungry? Or are you just
pretending that you don't need my food to uphold your wounded pride?"
Shampoo's eyes widened. "That voice . . . it no be . . ."
"RANMA NO BAKA!!!!!"
With that, the infamous Second Child was launched into the room like a
rocket. Somersaulting in midair, he regained his balance and landed
lightly in the middle of the classroom while pulling down an eyelid at the
fuming Akane standing by the door.
"Go rot in your own jealousy, uncute tomboy!"
Noticing everybody's curious glances upon them, Ranma quickly composed
himself and got up to the front of the classroom.
"Hi there, everybody! I'm Ranma Saotome, also known as the Second Child
due to the fact the I'm the second Eva pilot ever. Nice meeting all of ya!"
Immediately, the entire class (minus Akane, Shampoo, and Kurumi) gathered
around him as they did with Akane. However, rather unlike Akane, Ranma
takes great pride in being a Eva pilot, thus is a LOT more talkative when
it comes to people who are interested in knowing more about his "glory".
"Heh! The world ain't gonna end! Not if I, Ranma Saotome, have something
to say about it!" Ranma struck a rather dramatic pose as the entire class
clapped as if watching a show.
"He's SOOO cute!!!!" Some of the girls in the class giggled among themselves.
During all this, Shampoo slid over to Akane.
"We seem stuck with jerk boy. Oh well, Shampoo think if we just no retort
to Ranma's boasting, he leave us well alone."
"Easy for YOU to say," Akane sighed, "I'm the one who is stuck LIVING with
him, for Christ sake."
"Whoa . . . now THAT's tough." Kurumi whispered sympathetically. "You
can't even avoid hearing his ranting 24 hrs a day."
Ranma's eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed how Akane, Shampoo and Kurumi
are whispering together while shooting glances at him.
<Humph! Stupid ^*^*&^*&s! Now that they can't have me, they're trying to
blend other against me. We'll see about that! Ranma Saotome DO NOT lose
in any contest, even if it is a popularity-based one! First, to find a
really popular person to stick to . . .>
"Now, now, everybody," a beautiful looking boy(?) with long white hair tied
in a high ponytail spoke up, "let's not overwhelm Ranma-kun here. Besides,
class is about to start!"
The class, to Ranma's surprise, obeyed, if somewhat unwillingly.
"Man! The Class Pres. surely knows how to spoil the fun . . ."
<The Class President?>
The boy smiled at him politely.
<Then he MUST be popular!>
Skipping over a few rolls of desk, much to his classmates' awe, Ranma
landed in front of the boy with a smile as he extended a hand.
"Hey there. I don't believe I've met ya yet."
Herb was a bit startled at his agility: it had certainly exceeded anything
that non-musk people were capable of. But what startled him even more was
the fact that another BOY had take the initiative in befriending him
despite his foreign accent and exotic, almost girlish appearance. He
quickly got a hold of himself and took Ranma's hand.
"Herb. Nice to meet you. You've very agile. You've been training for
quite a couple of years, I presume?"
"Oh, heh! You can tell, huh?" Ranma rubbed the back of his head as he
laughed. "It's really nothing, just speed training, midair combat, and a
little Chi . . ."
Herb looked surprised. "You know how to use your Chi? Me too! Back in
China where I came from, my court master had been training me in this
chi-based maneuver . . ."
Shampoo frowned as she studied the two of them. "Ranma friendly towards
Herb?"
"Probably because he is the Class Pres.. He's trying to gather some allies
in this new school, I guess." Kurumi observed.
"Humph!" Akane snorted. "Choosing his friends like that, just what I
would have expected on that jerk!"
Soon, the teacher came in, and conveniently assigned Ranma a seat beside
Herb's. Ranma was surprised that someone aside from himself is so
interested in the art. He found himself genuinely draw to the techniques
that Herb had mentioned. And best of all, Herb wasn't even a Eva Pilot.
This meant that even though they may have a lot in common, they would never
become rivals. By the end of the day, Ranma had completely forgotten about
the issue of whether Herb was truly a leader at school or not: he simply
hanged around together with him due to the similarities that they share.
As Akane, Kurumi and Shampoo walked home together that evening, they found
themselves taking the same route as Ranma and Herb.
"Just what are YOU doing here?!" Akane and Ranma demanded of each other in
perfect union as their respective friend(s) blinked.
"I'm going home, you baka! What do you think?" Akane snapped.
"Well, so am I!" Ranma snapped back.
Herb, confused by all this, slid over to Shampoo. "Eh . . . isn't he
supposed to be a Eva Pilot as well?"
"That true."
"But why are they fighting?"
Shampoo switched to Chinese and whispered. [One of them is too damned
egotistic for his own good, while the other is just way too easily angered.]
[Oh.]
Ranma stamped on his feet in frustration, he then turned to Herb.
"God! I can't stand her! All she had ever done since I've arrived was to
abuse me with her shrewd ways! Herb, I don't want to go home and be stuck
with the tomboy yet. What say we go and have some fun elsewhere?"
Herb took out a sheet of paper and looked up his schedule for the day.
"Well . . . I still have three hours left before I need to make it back
home to cook . . . alright. But can we go to the shopping district first?
I need to get something for my kid cousins."
Kurumi scratched her chin as she said the following in a stage whisper:
"Hmmm, three hours . . . two boys . . . fun, I wonder what that equation
add up to?"
Shampoo smirked slyly and wrote the letters 'Y', 'A','O',and 'I' in thin
air. Akane facefaulted as Ranma and Herb both turned beet red and
immediately went into fits of denial.
"NO! What were ya PERVERT girls thinking?!"
"Shampoo! This is no joking matter!"
"Aiya . . . is just that Ranma seem hate girls . . ."
Herb looked at Ranma oddly as the latter blew up in embarrassment.
"No! Don't listen to those ditties-"
Kurumi cut him off. "Tell you what, Ranma. If you TRULY are a . . .
hot-blooded teenage boy, then shouldn't you be trying to get along with us
instead of fighting us?"
Ranma fumed helplessly at hearing that.
"Besides," Shampoo added, "you now Akane's teammate, so must learn get
along. Otherwise, how you two fight fallen angels?"
Ranma turned up his nose instinctively at the mentioning of his career.
"Hmmph! I MYSELF is more than enough to take out any angel who dares to
attack us. That tomboy will only serve to get in the way."
Akane bristled as she glared at the boy. "That's MY line, pervert! Even
WITHOUT training, I've managed to single-handedly defeat the third angel on
my first mission!"
"Well, I can channel chi through my Eva to form an energy beam that can
penetrate AT Fields, can YA do that?"
"Maybe not, but I can make Unit 01 grow mallets out of thin air to crush AT
Fields, can YOU do that?"
"Humph! A weapon user, how absolutely inferior . . ."
"You're only saying that cause you don't know how to use one, weakling!"
"Muscle-girl!"
"Pervert!"
"Tomboy!"
"This boring," Shampoo yawned, "those two been trading same insults since
moment they met."
"One's think they're married already or something." Kurumi said.
Herb hesitantly spoke up: "Umm . . . Ranma-kun, we aren't going to stay
here all day, are we? I've still got some shopping to do . . ."
Unfortunately, Ranma didn't even hear him. "Ya think you're so tough? Then
how about making a bet, huh? Whoever gets to kill off the next angel is
the superior pilot, and the loser will have to admit defeat in front of the
entire class!"
Akane growled. "You're ON!"
Ranma smirked, then turned to Herb: "Herb! Ya be our witness, and see to
it that this loser here will carry out her part of the bargain when **I**
win!"
"Why . . . YOUUU!!!!!" Akane abruptly leapt skyward and came down at
Ranma with a flying-kick. Ranma narrowed his eyes as he got into a
defensive stance. Before the two could came into physical contact,
however, the loud ring of the emergency sirens shocked them into colliding
clumsily with each other.
**ANGEL ATTACK!! ANGEL ATTACK!! RETREAT TO SHELTER NOW!!** The automatic
recording was activated from a near by building and the people on the
streets immediately fled into the nearer building with an underground
shelter. Getting off of each other immediately, the two glared at each
other for a while, then ran off together to face the upcoming match.
"Ha! I couldn't wait to see ya humiliated in front of the entire class
after I've taken out the angel, third child!" Ranma laughed as he leapt
over a building.
"I'll shove your own words down you own mouth! Just you wait, second
child!" Akane said as she followed suit a second later. Shampoo, Herb and
Kurumi stared after them for a while, then turned back to each other and
spoke up simultaneously:
"The earth is doomed."
* * * * * *
"What did you say?!"
Several hundred meters below ground level, Akane, still in her school
uniform, looked incredulous as Nodoka explained the situation to her in the
control center.
"This angel is capable of splitting up into two when under threat: the UN
air force had discovered that the hard way about 2 hours ago. They had
managed to hit the twin targets with an N2 bombs that had managed to
destroy one of them, but not the other. At this very minute, it is already
rebuilding itself with remarkable speed. Within 6 days, it will surely
return again."
At this point, Hinako spoke up as well: "After analyzing it's battle with
the UN troop, it appeared that the seventh Angel has one and only one
weakness: a concentrated, two-point attack to the core during it's
attempted separation. That's the only way."
Ranma, who was standing in a relaxed pose with his arms behind his head,
looked smug. "That's easily, I'll just get my Unit 02 to give the bastard
a double-handed strike to the core while it is still down-"
"NO!" Nodoka cut him off firmly, "your two hands will NOT be able to
perform exactly the same forward moment in the same time. An attack by two
Evas with completely synchronized timing must be used.
Ranma looked disappointed at hearing that. "Damn! And here I thought that
I don't have to get dragged down by the tomboy-"
Akane's elbow to his face cut him off immediately. "Shut. Up."
Hinako cleared her throat loudly, as Akane looked defiant. The chief
tactician then announced her plan to the pair. "Either case, we've only got
six days left. Akane, Ranma, you two must begin your combined
synchro-trainning starting from tonight."
The two children protested in union: "But I don't want to train with-"
"This is an order!"
" . . . him/her . . ."
Seeing no way to escape their fate, the two sulked quietly as they glared
at each other.
* * * * * *
The next day, after school, at the underground gym under Hinako's apartment:
"So, that what Akane skip school today for?"
"Wow, a special training session designed to get Ranma and Akane to have
matched synchro-rates and identical movements . . ."
"Ranma-kun, you're very good, but . . . you really should slow down a bit
to let Akane-san catch up with you."
In the middle of the cleared up exercise area, Ranma and Akane, both in
white gi, were trying to execute the same set of kempo katas at the same
time under Hinako's supervision as Shampoo, Kurumi, and Herb looked on.
"Halt!" Hinako called out, and the two martial-artists/pilots stopped
their katas and relaxed. Walking up to Ranma, she chided: "Ranma-kun, you
HAVE to slow down to match Akane's movement!"
"But Hinako! I've been trained to move as fluidly as I am now since a
kid!" Ranma whined as he stared sideways at Akane, "I can't purposely make
my kata as awkward and wooden as her's!"
"Why YOU . . ." glowing with red chi, Akane turned to Hinako and barked,
"Hinako! I have a suggestion . . ."
Placing a stack of six bricks over two supporters, Akane focused herself
and crushed all of them with a single chop while Ranma sweated. Smiling
evilly back at Ranma, she said:
"Now, let's see if you can smash a pile of bricks at the same speed and
strength that I have."
"But . . . but . . . strength is unimportant in Eva-combat . . ."
"Not exactly, Ranma," Hinako said, "the strength of a pilot reflects
itself in his Eva. The 7th angel is a humanoid combat type, thus, strength
will come in handy during the battle."
/Boy! Don't even THINK about having dinner ever again if you can't even
smash that tiny piece of rock in half! See how easily Ryoga had crushed
his over there?!/
<Stupid Oyaji . . . so WHO turned out to be the Eva pilot in the end, huh?
Me or that boar?>
Crunching his fists together, Ranma growled as he walked up to his own pile
of bricks.
"KYAA!!!!"
* * * * * *
A while later . . .
"Oh, wow . . . one out of six. Pretty impressive,
Mr.-I-am-the-best-of-them-all." Akane flexed her arms as Shampoo and
Kurumi giggled. Hinako, meanwhile, was tending to Ranma's injured hand.
He had his head lowered, with his bangs obscuring his eyes.
"Really, Ranma-kun. I think you need to go through more weight training if
you are to pilot the Eva to the best of its abilities." Hinako signed as
she finished applying the stinging medicine over the swollen area. A
shiver passed through Ranma's body as he heard that. Noticing Ranma's
reaction, Herb crouched down so he was face to face with the quiet boy and
spoke up soothingly.
"Ranma-kun . . . it's alright. If you can develop all this amazing speed
and flexibility, then a simple thing like smashing through bricks can't
possibly be any harder."
Akane meanwhile, spoke up off-handedly as she wiped off her sweat on a towel:
"I don't know. How old is he? 16? That's pretty late to start strength
training if you ask me. He still might get stronger, but will never be as
good as someone who had been going through strength training since a child."
At hearing that, Ranma abruptly got up and ran out of gym. Akane was
startled at hearing a sob as he fled by. Shampoo, Kurumi and Hinako were
all shocked, while Herb was staring after Ranma with a pained look on his
face.
"Akane-san . . . go after him."
"What . . . what for?" Akane put on a mask of disdain. "That baka brought
that upon himself, always putting down other people like that. Stupid
pervert cry-baby . . ."
Without turning around, Herb said: "Akane-san . . . when a girl cries, she
did it to let out her pain to gain other people's sympathy. When a boy
cries, he did it because he was unable to hold back his pain despite the
danger of getting ridicules." After a short pause, he continued. "I've
known Ranma for only a little more than a day. We talked about things we
have in common . . ."
"Umm . . . Herb has things in common with Ranma?" Shampoo asked hesitantly.
Herb ignored her as he went on, "martial arts, video games . . . but
during all this time, his topics has not ONCE diverged from EVA combat
techniques." He turned back to stare at the girls (and woman) in their
eyes. "Piloting a Eva is his only goal in life. By saying that he can't
begin weight training at his age after Hinako-san had stated that strength
is essential in piloting a Eva, you've basically condemned him."
With that, he left the gym as well. Hinako quickly followed him:
"Wait! I'm going too: it is my responsibility as his guardian!"
Shampoo and Kurumi stared at Akane for a while, then they too went after
Ranma to see how he was doing.
Akane stood still, her conscience battling against her hatred. Finally,
with a determined look in her eyes, she too headed out to look for Ranma.
"Baka . . ." she muttered without much heat in her worried voice.
* * * * * *
She found him sitting on the edge of a rather tall building, his crossed
legs dangling off the edge. After getting up there, she tentatively tried
to approach him from behind.
"Umm . . . Ranma, I . . . eh . . . I want to tell you that we've still got
to train for the upcoming fight."
"Get the First Child to go with ya: don't want someone who can't even smash
bricks drag ya down, ya know." Ranma replied without looking around.
Akane rolled her eyes at that.
"Oh, for Christ sake, stop sulking-"
"WHY NOT?!" Ranma roared as he whirled around and glared at Akane with his
slightly swollen eyes. "I have speed, I have agility, and now I've even
got CHI BLASTS! But ya people STILL think that I'm not good enough, that
I'm $$%&%*&^* WEAK!"
Akane's own anger was ignited by Ranma's tone of voice: "So what?! If only
you'd just train-"
"I DON'T WANNA, OKAY?!?!" he yelled, "cracking granites, lifting boulders,
chopping down trees with bare hands . . . I CAN'T TAKE THAT ANYMORE! I'm
not meant to be strong . . . I'm meant to be skilled . . . I'm BETTER THAN
RYOGA!" his eyes turned teary as he lowered his head, "why can't anybody
see that . . .?"
Akane, stunned and confused at the same time, asked: "What . . . are you
talking about? And who's this Ryoga?"
"He's my . . ." he stole a look at her curious face, then looked away
again, "he's nobody."
"Like HELL I'm going to buy that!" Akane stepped forward and gripped the
front of Ranma's gi in her hand. "Whatever the *&(%#&$ is bothering you,
just spill it and get it over with! What is it that made you so damned
insecure and egotistic and moody that you've to make my life such a pain?!
Whatever it is, just tell me and get this over with!"
Ranma yelled back at her: "And what is it that made YA so damned violent
and angry all of the time, huh?! If it isn't for my superior speed and
skill, I would have been killed by ya temper already! C'mon, YOU tell me!"
"I'M THE ONE ASKING QUESTIONS HERE-"
"HYPROCRITE! YOU'RE JUST AS AFRAID AS I AM!"
At this, Akane raised her hand and gave him a resounding slap across the
face . . .which threw the boy off the edge of the building. Fury turning
into fright, she immediately dashed out after him into midair . . . and
fell together with him.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
Years of speed training and mid-air combat kicked into Ranma's system, as
he quickly grabbed Akane, twist his body around, and began jumping back and
forth between the opposing walls of two very high buildings to cancel up
the downward momentum. Finally, within three stories from the ground, he
somersaulted in mid-air and the two of them landed heavily but safely on
the ground.
Catching his breath, Ranma didn't realize how tightly Akane had held onto
him until a moment later. Before he could push her away, however, a wet
feeling on his right shoulder had stopped him from completing the act. A
sob could be heard from his right ear:
"We've both got unpleasant pasts . . . things that we don't want to talk
about . . ." lifting her head out of his shoulder, Akane stared into his
puffy eyes with her own teary ones. "I hate piloting Eva almost as much as
you seemed to love doing so. I'm strong while you're fast . . . so what?
We've still got to work together: the angel will come in less than five
days. I don't want to die . . ." she broke down and cried on his gi,
"it's . . . scary."
Ranma was silent as he listened to her sobbing. After a while, he gently
pushed back Akane's shoulders so that they were looking each other face to
face.
"I'll try to slow down my kata to match yours . . . in return for us
smashing through two bricks instead of 6. Deal?"
Akane stared at him for a moment as she wiped off her tears. She then
replied in a soft voice. "Deal."
Ranma smiled with a glint of amusement in his tired eyes. "You're okay
when you're not angry."
Akane smiled back in return. "And you're not that bad yourself when you're
not busy boasting."
The two of them simply stared at each other with slightly bashful smiles on
their faces, totally oblivious of all that went on around them . . .
"<sob> I haven't seen anything this touching since the Shin KOR series . .
." Kurumi wiped at her eye with a handkerchief.
"Finally! I won't have to worry about those two killing each other while
under my guidance!" Hinako said excitedly.
"Ranma-kun, I'm happy that you two are okay now . . ." Herb smiled.
Shampoo simply stared at them and blinked.
"WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING HERE?!" Ranma and Akane yelled back at them in
union.
"Well, we're worried about Ranma-kun, and eh . . ." Hinako smirked, "but
it seemed that you've helped out each other well. I supposed we can start
training again after dinner tonight?"
The two looked at each other in an unspoken agreement, then back at Hinako.
"Hai!"
* * * * * *
Five days later:
CRASH!!!
In complete union, Unit 01 and 02 had struck the core of the angel with
Akane's strength and Ranma's speed, and it exploded in a cross-pillar of fire.
Back at the control booth, Hinako leapt up with glee as she shouted, "YES!
I KNEW those two can do it!"
"I'm truly impressed," Nodoka said as she smiled, "that those two
arch-enemies can actually accomplish something together."
Tofu chuckled. "Well, my boy can only resist a pretty girl for so long . . ."
"Oh my. Teenagers grow up fast, don't they Tofu-san?" Kasumi smiled at him.
"Ehahahaha . . . sure they do, don't they? No-chan?"
SLAP!!!
"I'm HINAKO! And WHERE do you think you are putting your hands, pervert!
And Kasumi, you're only three years older than the children!"
"My . . ."
Amidst all these, Commander Soun Tendo simply listened quietly to the
conversations regarding his own daughter without showing any sign of interest.
* * * * * *
As the two walked on the city streets, still dazed by their easy success
when working together, Ranma spoke up with a smirk on his face: "You're
really strong: I'd give ya that."
Akane smiled back. "And you're fast: without you distracting it in the
first place, We'd never get our opening."
Ranma laughed. "Am I hearing things? Are you praising ME?"
Akane looked slightly peeved. "Don't let it go over your head now."
"Alright already! I'm not THAT egotistic . . ." Ranma threw his hands up
in the air, " . . . by the way, it's still early. I don't want to go back
to the apartment so soon. Ya . . . ya wanna go to the mall downtown?"
Akane laughed. " Am I hearing things? Are you asking ME out?"
Ranma backed away with a blush on his face. "Hey, don't get any ideas.
It's just a social call, ya know. Besides, Otousan has been bugging me
about meeting girls . . ."
Akane sighed. "Oh, alright! You and your Otousan and your masculine pride
. . . hey, mind to tell me why did you call him your father? He seemed
awfully young . . ."
Ranma had a wistful smile on his face. "He helps me a lot . . . since I
was 9 while I was . . . in training."
"You were THAT young when they started training you?" Akane gasped as
Ranma looked a hint uncomfortable.
"Younger . . . let not talk about it. C'mon, I'll race ya to the train
station!"
With that, the boy took off into the night, followed by the girl.
"WAIT! You had a head start!"
* * * * * *
[Herb, I'm kind of worried. I mean, with Akane and Ranma suddenly being
this close . . .]
[Shampoo, I know you don't like Ranma much, but you should still support
their choice.]
[But . . .]
[What?]
[. . . what about Mousse?]
[. . . ]
* * * * * *
A few hours later, in a huge, dimly lit laboratory deep under the Central
Dogma, Commander Tendo was standing in front of a large glass pillar of LCL
while typing into small a hand-held computer. As he did so, he couldn't
help but took a second look at the long-haired, naked youth suspended
within once in a while.
<This face, this body . . . did I really used to look like this?>
After finished typing in the last of the recorded data, he spoke up gently:
"It's done, Mousse. You can relax now."
The boy within the pillar opened up his red eyes and stared into a pair of
older looking, black ones.
"Commander . . ." his voice came through the sound system.
"Yes . . . ?"
"If I can't abandon she who is a part of me . . . then how could you?" The
boy asked in a calmly curious tone of voice.
Commander Tendo stared back into his red eyes for a moment. After a while,
he turned away, and said. "Go get dressed, Mousse. We'll go eat together."
". . . Hai."
End Part 5
Adrian Wong <7ahw@qlink.queensu.ca> April 2,1998.