I'm not Subbed to the list, pleasee C&C to <7ahw@qlink.queensu.ca> as
well as the list.  I REALLY need more C&C in order to continue this.

Also, I've finished this in a hurry so please forgive any potential typos
:)

**Note: I have lost the Email address to Lord Talon and Andrew Huang, so
this comes out without prereading.**

########################################################################
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


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.

########################################################################
Part 6

It was the darkest hour of midnight.

Inside a dimly lit laboratory that was part of the Genetic Engineering
department of SEELE stood a short, shadowy figure that looked like a
balding old man.  In front of him was a glass tank of LCL, in which a
humanoid being was suspended within.  The old man chuckled to himself as
he examined the being.

"Ah, such beauty like I've never seen before.  A heavenly creature
indeed."

Beside him, another figure spoke up as well.  "We have combined the DNA
configurations of the greatest beauties of our world together with
Lilith's configuration to produce this clone, Mr. Happosai, just as you
have requested."  

"Well done, very well done."  Happosai said with glee as he ran his eyes
over the tall, slender frame of the man made beauty, flawless save for her
ash gray hair and unnaturally white skin.  Another figure spoke up at this
point.

"Our original plan was to use her to keep an eye on NERV under the guise
of being the fourth child in order to prevent Tendo Soun from stealing the
opportunity to master the Human Complementary Program from us.  Now that
the second child had came together with Unit 02, and the first child is
recovering . . ."

Happosai waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

"Fear not.  The time will come when one of those children shall fall in
battle.  Then we shall have our opening."

	"And if not?"

	Happosai was silent for a moment before he spoke up again.

	"If not, then we'll just have to wait until unit 03 arrived from
the States.  But for now, let's activate the angel first: I want her to be
admitted to Tokyo-3 high by next week."

	The figure seemed startled.  "So soon?"

	The ancient man sighed exasperatedly: "I want her to get an early
start as part of the Eva children's lives: this way, her admittance into
NERV later on would be a lot less suspicious looking."  

Taking out an ancient scroll from under his sleeve, the old man grinned at
the naked girl within the tank.  "Now, to summon an actual soul for this
beauty.  Hmm . . . just to make sure that she would be up to her task, we
need a spirit with a martial artist's knowledge.  What famous Japanese
female martial artists had recently passed away, gentlemen?"

"How about the young heiress to the Kuonji Clan?  She died from a traffic
accident sometime ago."

"Ah, Kuonji Ukyou.  The warriors of the Kuonji clan could turn anything
remotely okonomiyaki-related into weapons, and that girl was rumored to be
the best of the clan aside from her father.  Why, she even looked like our
creation!  Wouldn't you say, gentlemen?"

"Indeed."

"Yes, she would be perfect as the host soul."

"But how do we get her to carry out our plan?"

"Leave that up to me, gentlemen," Happosai narrowed his eyes evilly, "for
now, let's just concentrate on getting her here into this gorgeous body."

*		*		*		*		*
*		
A week later.

	Inside a very unfurnished apartment, a boy, hair wet and clad only
in a towel, was standing in front of his closet mirror as he took in his
blue hair and chalk-white complexion.  Opening the drawer beside his bed,
he took out the first and only object that he had ever stolen from a man
that was the center of his young, bland life.

It was a picture of a long-haired young man, with medium length-bangs
styled partially away from his forehead with mousse and hairspray.  There
was a smile on his face, as he held a slender, cute looking young woman in
his arms.

	A young woman that the albino boy did not know in life, but in the
torrent of vague dreams that had plagued him during his long hospital stay
. . .

	. . . a young woman who was, apparently, the mother of Tendo
Akane.
	<I haven't seen Akane since the day that dark-haired boy had came
into my hospital room.  Why am I feeling such depressive emotions over
it?>

	Just then, the phone to his apartment rang.  Picking it up, the
familiar voice of Akagi Nodoka entered his ear : "Mousse, the Commander
had a new mission for you.  Report to the headquarters as soon as
possible."

	"Hai."  Mousse replied automatically.  After a while, he asked.

	"Will Akane be accompanying me on this mission?"

	"No, Mousse.  This is a strictly confidential mission for you and
you alone. 
	
	". . . oh."

*		*		*		*		*
*		

	A little later into the day, the indoor gymnasium of Tokyo-3 was
alive with wild cheers.  The cause . . . or rather, causes of the
commotions were the two martial artists playing opposite each other in the
basketball games.  Ranma, wearing his gym shorts without the top on, was a
whirlwind of motion as he darted between the opposing team members with
rapid, fluid grace that basically forced the bystanders to scream out
their cheers.

	The boys' cheers were as follows:
	
	"Go, Ranma, GO!"

	"Yeah, that's it . . . WHOOHOOO!!!"

"Show them what you've got, guy!"

	On the girls' side, however . . .
	
"Wah!  You're marvelous, Ranma-kun!"

	"<giggle>Kawaii!  Kawaii!"
	
	"Sigh . . . such a nice view he has got hidden under the school
uniform . . ."

	"His . . . <blush> his shorts are so . . . tight . . . >

	"Ya!  You're naughty! <Giggle>"  

On the opposing team, the equally (if not more) handsome Herb was also
doing spectacularly.  Doing a couple of impressive moves in midair, his
body seemed almost weightless, allowing him lots of time to score.  People
were cheering for him too, but his alien "feel", as well as the fact that
he wasn't all that "into" the game, made the cheers a lot less
enthusiastic than it should have been.  Also, none of the girls were
giggling over him: handsome as she was, he just wasn't as . . . topless
and sweaty as the fiery Ranma.

"Hiya!"  Glowing with a blue chi and floating in midair, he delivered the
ball into the basket once more as some kids on the looked on at his
performance in awe: never before had they known of this particular ability
of their Class Pres..  Ranma, however, smiled with a slightly feverish
look in his eyes as he picked up the ball:

"Now we're getting serious.  Let's see you block this" Leaping up into
mid-air, he shouted: "Eva-Pilot-Techinique: Moko Takabisha Supper-Aim!!" 

With that, he shot a chi-propelled ball towards the net on Herb's side.
Smiling, Herb leapt past the ball and casually sent out a chi-blast
towards the floor . . .  one that rebounded and hit the ball off it's
trajectory.  Their classmates could do little more than to look on in awe.

"Wow . . ." 

*		*		*		*		*
*

Meanwhile, at the private computing site of Nerv, Kasumi blinked as the
computer screen showed her something surprising.

"Oh my, for a duration of 1/5 second a strange pattern had appeared at a
the location somewhat close to Tokyo 3 high."

"Let me see that,"  Nodoka said as she leaned over to examine the data.
"Hmmm . . . the pattern resembles that of an angel, but yet it seems too
disorderly to be one.  It could simply be the side effects of a
particularly strong emotion from an ordinary human."

"By the way,"  Kasumi held a hand to her cheek with a slightly worried
expression on her face,  "is it wise of Commander Tendo to have Mousse
carry out the new mission alone?"

Nodoka sighed.  "The commander had wanted none other than the First Child
and the highest NERV officials in this mission: this way, the news won't
slip out to other preying parties of concern."

"Oh,"

*		*		*		*		*
* 
  
Back at Tokyo-3 high, Akane, Shampoo and Kurumi were all standing at the
sidelines as they observed the match.  

"Wow . . . he IS sexy, I'll give him that."  Kurumi sighed as she stared
at the topless boy.  "Just look at how . . . wet he is . . ."

Shaking her head, Akane grumbled to herself.  "Showoff.  It isn't THAT hot
that he can't keep his shirt on . . ."

"Well, I'm not complaining."  Kurumi's eyes sparkled as Ranma somersaulted
in midair, causing his muscles to be more obvious for a split second.

Akane sighed as she glared at the other girls drooling over the agile boy.
Shampoo, after observing her for a while, spoke up. 

"Akane,"

"What?"

"If Shampoo remember correctly, yesterday night was night Mousse's
hospital stay end, right?"

The sentence hit Akane like a stack of bricks as she gasped.  

"I . . . oh my god . . . I've FORGOTTEN about it!"   

Shampoo sighed.

"Akane, Shampoo no want intervene with Akane's love-life.  But as friend,
Shampoo think should point out if dump Mousse just like that, without
explanation, it hurt ice-boy deeply."

Looking down the gym floor as she frowned, Akane whispered:  "No.  I'm not
dumping him.  Why would I?  He had risked his life to save mine.  Besides,
we were . . . we are close."

Shampoo raised an eyebrow.  "Then what about Ranma?"

At that point, the boy in question scored once more (Herb didn't even
attempt to stop that one), and was proclaimed the winner of the match much
to everyone's cheer.  Akane looked at the flush-faced boy for a while,
then sighed.

"He . . . he was such a jerk most of the time, and definitely no where as
sensitive as Mousse.  But still . . . I . . . I don't know."

 Just then, Kurumi tapped her on the shoulder as she stared at the
entrance to the gym with a look of awe.  Akane looked up, and blinked at
the sight in front of her.

*		*		*		*		*
*		
"Hey, Herb.  Ya don't have to do that, ya know."

Startled, Herb blinked before he could answer his friend's question.  

"Eh?  Whatever do you mean, Ranma-kun?"

"Holding back and letting me win, that's what I mean."  Ranma snorted as
he tossed back his long hair.   "Ya chi is fast enough to disrupt the path
of my ball, yet you didn't use it against my last strike."

"Well," Herb replied cautiously,  "I was just trying to be fair.  After
all, no non-Musk people in the world could have done those kinds of
maneuvers, and . . ."      

"Oh, spare me!"  Ranma sighed.  "Look, I appreciate your efforts to
protect my ego.  But seriously, I can handle a loss or two in something as
unimportant as a school game."

A disbelieving look crossed Herb's face as he heard that.

"You forced the coach to stay in this gym for an entire night to watch you
perform after I've scored higher than you at vaulting, Ranma-kun."

Ranma looked insulted.  "Hey, that had nothing to do with you performing
better than me (God knows that's impossible), I was just trying to get the
coach to evaluate my performance justly!"

Just then, a series of murmuring among the students caught the boys'
attention.  Turning around, they saw the cause of the commotion and were
startled.

At the entrance of the gym stood a girl clad in a set of boy's uniform and
carrying a school bag.  Her face was beautiful, if vaguely androgynous:
dark brows, large eyes framed by long slits and heavy leashes, a
delicately curved nose, and a pair of lips that gave her a slightly
determined yet playful feel. 

What had kept the boys from openly drooling at her were her red pupils,
her unnaturally pale skin, and her fountain of odd-looking gray hair that
spilled all the way down to her narrow waist: she was an albino.

Under the odd looks that everyone is giving her, the girl smiled with
slightly forced cheeriness as she spoke up.

"Hello, everybody.  My name is Kuonji Ukyou, the new transfer student.  It
is nice meeting all of you."

The students hesitantly greeted her, still a hint taken back by her
appearance: it reminded them too much of a certain albino boy who didn't
talk with nobody through his long years in that school.  The girl seemed
acutely embarrassed under everybody's weird looks.  Taking a deep breath,
she opened up her bag and took out an expendable mini-grill, an accessory
of ingredients, a large tablecloth, and a set of plates. Forcing another
smile onto her face, she continued:

"Before settling down here in Tokyo-3, I used to be a wandering cook,
selling food from pace to place in my yatai.  As a gift to all my new . .
. friends here, I'd like to treat everyone to my specialty: extra deluxe
Japanese Okonomiyaki!"

With that, Ukyou's red eyes hardened in concentration as she shut out the
odd stares and began making okonomiyaki so quickly that they seem to be
appearing out of thin air.

"Wow . . ." The students breathed out in awe as they observed the
whirlwind of motions that were her spatulas.  Shampoo's eyes narrowed as
she took in the rapid movement.

"This new girl, she martial artist . . . very good martial artist."

"Normal people certainly can't perform such complex movements so quickly .
. ." Kurumi said.  

"Amazing . . ." Akane simply looked on in awe.
   
Within minutes, Ukyou had spread out at least 30 plates of steaming
mini-okonomiyaki on the tablecloth.  Holding up a plate, she smiled as
friendly as she could.  "C'mon, guys, try one.  It's on the house."

While most of the students were still looking uncertain, Ranma stepped up
with a curious look on his face and casually gulped down a piece.
Immediately, his expression turned deadly serious, startling Ukyou a bit.
The other students to whisper among themselves:

"Look at his face . . ."

"Doesn't look encouraging . . ."

"The way the new girl cooked it, the okonomiyaki is probably still
half-raw . . ."

"Maybe it sucked-"

"YESSSS!!!!!!!!"

The shout from Ranma cut off the whispering as everybody focused their
attention on the boy.  Ukyou, meanwhile, stood up and looked at Ranma as
if he was her savior.  The boy continued on with a look of wonder on his
face.  

"The rapid movement of the spatulas had forced the butter deep into the
very core of the pastry, making it even more delicious that it should have
been.  The meat was cut so expertly that the veins have all been severed,
so that it won't even stick to your teeth.  The sauce, being mixed with
cooking wine, had served well in highlighting its taste!"  Turning to
Ukyou, he spoke up with tears in his eyes. "Ukyou!  This is the best
okonomiyaki . . . no, the best food I've ever tasted in my 16 years!"  He
then asked with puppy-dog eyes.  "Can I have some more?"

The girl beamed.  "Sure, take as many as you like.  My other new
classmates don't seem to be interested - "

"Who said we weren't interested?!"  The mob of students shouted as they
make a run for the okonomiyaki.  All of them became teary-eyed as they had
their first taste of the Kuonji-special.

"It's . . . fantastic!"

"Never again shall I eat anything aside from okonomiyaki from now on!"

"After knowing such delights, how can I ever settle for anything less?"

Smiling with newfound confidence, Ukyou began passing out advertisement
sheets to her classmates.  "Thank you all for liking my art!  My
Restaurant is just a few blocks down from Tokyo-3 High, serving all kinds
of okonomiyaki that you could ever put your name on!  Wish to see you all
there sometime soon!"  Turning back to Ranma, who was gulping down his 7th
okonomiyaki like there was no tomorrow, she smiled.  "My, you surely have
a hearty appetite."

"Heh,"  Ranma mumbled between bites, "when ya stuck living with a bunch of
people who can't cook, ya don't pass up an opportunity for free food,
especially if it's THIS good!"

Ukyou's smile turned slightly shy.  "Flattery will get you anywhere."

"Really, then eh . . ."  Ranma looked a bit bashful as he realized that he
had already finished off all of the remaining okonomiyaki,  "can I have
some more?"

"Sure."  Ukyou beamed as she whipped out some more ingredients and began
flying it on her grill.  At this point, Akane coughed impatiently as she
stepped up to the pair together with the rest of her friends.  Glaring at
the hungry boy, she said:

"So, I see you two are all nice and comfy here . . ."

Ukyou blinked at the sight of the jealous girl while Ranma glared back at
his teammate in annoyance.

"What ya talking about?  Don't ya know what a social call is?"

"Hmph!  Like hell I would ever buy that!  You are practically drooling all
over her!"

"I was EATING, ya tomboy!"

"Pervert!"

After studying the two for a while, Ukyou cut in: "Excuse me, but are you
his girlfriend?"

Before Akane could even answer to that, Ranma, with a beet red face, cut
in hastily: "No way!  Who could have ever liked such an uncute girl?!"

The other students joined in as well.

"Can't be.  They don't seem to like each other too much . . ."

"Yeah!  They had been fighting since the first day Ranma came to this
school . . ."

"Akane is too much of a "good girl" type for the long-haired delinquent .
. ."

"Ranma is too wild for her . . . he'd make a better match with Shampoo . .
."

"But Shampoo is going for the Class Pres . . ."

"Actually, isn't Akane supposed to be Mousse's girlfriend?"

At hearing that, Ranma's eyes widened as he caught the kid who voiced out
the last sentence by the shirt-collar and dragged him out of the crowd.

"What . . . did you say?"

The kid replied in a hesitant voice as he took in the subtle anger in
Ranma's eyes.  "I said that Akane is Mousse's girlfriend.  Everybody at
school knows that."

Ranma let go of the kid and turned to Akane, who was looking away with an
embarrassed expression on her face.  In a rather edgy voice, he asked.

"Well?"

Akane didn't turn back to face him.  "Well what?"

"Are ya and the first child really an item, that's what!"  Ranma shouted.
"Dammit!  I should have known after seeing that way ya draped yourself all
over him at the hospital!"

Agitated by his tone of voice, Akane shouted back.  "And what if we are?
What's it to you?  Pervert!"

For an instant, Ranma became so angry that veins were popping out on his
forehead.  Then abruptly, he smoothed his features and turned towards
Ukyou with a gallant smile that would have made Tofu proud.  Speaking up
in a voice that was huskier than usual, he looked into the girl's red eyes
with his own melting, black ones.

"Ukyou-san, will you be free tonight?"

Ukyou blinked as Akane's jaw hit the floor at the turn of events.  Getting
over her initial surprise, Ukyou smiled.

"I can make time, Mr. . . ." 
 
"Saotome Ranma," the boy leaned forward with a flirtatious wink, "but you
can call me Ranchan."

"RANCHAN?!"  Akane yelled in outrage as the rest of the school gasped in
awe.  Ukyou chuckled.

"You're being very straightforward, you know.  What will the pretty-girl
with the straight hair say to this, Ranchan?"  

Ranma shot a sideways glance at the fuming girl, then snorted as he turned
back to the albino girl.  "She'll rot in her own jealousy.  C'mon, let's
go and plan out something for tonight.  Ya like discos?"

"Love it."

"I knew ya would.  By the way, mind if I call ya . . . Ucchan?"

"You're impossible, Ranchan!" Ukyou laughed.

Ranma stole a look at Akane's expression and chuckled to himself.

<Serves ya right, tomboy!>

With that, the two of them merrily exited the scene, leaving a fuming girl
and a bunch of nosy classmates gossiping among themselves. 

"Ranma no . . . BAKA!!!!"  Akane roared.  "Fine!  See if I care!  I'm
going out with Mousse tonight too!  HA!"
 
 Whirling around, she stomped towards the changing room in steps not
unlike that of a gorilla: an extremely pissed off gorilla to be exact.
Sighing, Shampoo stretched her arms as she whispered to Herb in Chinese.

[Told you that nothing good will come out of the Akane/Ranma pairing.  And
now, Mr. Macho is dragging an innocent third party into this mess to get
back at Akane for her two timing.  I wonder what will happen after ice boy
finds out?]

[What can we do?  Best let them sort this out themselves.  By the way,
Aunt Melon is coming home tonight to take care of my cousins.  I have
nothing planned for tonight.  I wonder if . . .]  Herb trailed off  with a
bashful smile.

Smiling sultrily, Shampoo held onto his arm and leaned against him.

[Hiba-chan is almost completely recovered now, and I don't have to go see
her every other night.  Let's go check out that new Karaoke Bar downtown.]

[Love to.]

Seeing how cozy the Chinese pair had become, Kurumi sighed as she resigned
herself to yet another night of watching re-runs of old robotic anime
series at home after school.

[I want a boyfriend . . .]

*		*		*		*		*
*		
"What did you say?!"

Back at Hinako's apartment, Akane looked stricken as Hinako took another
sip of beer.

"Just what I said: Mousse was sent to China to carry out a top secret
mission . . . so damned secret that even I can't go along!"  she sulked.

Her original plan forgotten, Akane asked worriedly.

"All by himself?!  Would he be okay?  He just got out of the hospital!"

"Don't worry," Hinako waved her hand, "from what I've found out from
Nodoka, it is an Eva operation that doesn't involve any combat."  	
    
"But what use is a Eva aside from combat purposes?"

". . . beats me."

*		*		*		*		*
*		
Inside a large cave within the heart of Mt. Phoenix, Eva 00 stood
impassively as it looked down at the giant egg-shaped object in front of
it.  

"This gigantic object had been detected to emit periodic blue patterns for
the past few months, right after the locals guarding it had fled due to
the plague.  It could very possibly be the egg of the eighth angel."  Soun
said through the com.link as Mousse listened impassively.  

After a while, the boy asked:

"What would you have me do, Commander?"

"I want you to move it into the underground tunnel so as to transfer it
back to NERV for further observations."

"Hai."

Straining, Eva 00 picked up the surprisingly heavy egg and lowered it into
the gigantic hole, which lead to a gigantic tunnel that was connected to a
gigantic NERV submarine waiting beneath the lake near the mountain.   From
there, it will move down the artificial waterway into Pacific Ocean and
back to Tokyo-3.  The entire procedure will be carried out in the dark, so
as to avoid any possibility of radar detection from above the earth's
atmosphere.  The cost of this operation was enormous, but that what
Japanese taxpayers were for.
 
"Well done, Mousse.  I assume that you will keep this mission confidential
like the rest of the others?"

". . . of course."


"Good."

<This angel could be my ticket to master Lilith and start the Human
Complementary Program on my own . . . NERV must not know of this.>

*		*		*		*		*
*		
Miles away in a crowded street of Tokyo-3, Herb was laughing together with
Shampoo over a joke that she had told him.   Suddenly, he saw everything
around him disappear into a blaze of white light as a boy's voice with a
musical accent called out to him in Chinese:

/Brother . . ./

<Brother?>

[Herb?]

Brought back to reality by a familiar, feminine voice, Herb blinked as he
focused his eyes on Shampoo.  The girl looked back at him with a hint of
curiosity in her large, starlit eyes.

[What's the matter?]

Chuckling with embarrassment, Herb rubbed the back of his head.  

[Nothing, nothing at all.] 

/Brother . . ./

<What on earth was that?>

*		*		*		*		*
*  

On the dance floor of a dimly lit disco, countless couples were moving to
the rhythm of a slow song.  Amidst them were a slender, handsome boy and a
beautiful, grey-haired girl who had caught the attention of the entire
dance floor.

<Hmhmhmhmm . . . stupid, stupid tomboy, be jealous, be very, VERY
jealous->

"Ranchan?  What are you smiling about?"

"Eh?  Oh, I am just smiling cause I've got the prettiest girl on this
dance-floor right here in my arm."

Ukyou's face darkened in disbelieve.  "I'm albino, Ranchan."

"So?  Ya're still more beautiful than any so called #normal# girls I've
ever seen."  Ranma replied matter-of-factly, startling Ukyou.

". . . really?"

"Of course!  Do you think that someone as good looking as myself would
dance with an ugly chick?  I mean, Akane looked like a stack of potatoes
when compared with you."  Ranma chuckled as Ukyou blushed and looked away.

<He really didn't mind how I look in this body, but still . . .>

Her mind wandered back to a week ago, after she had awaken from her death:

The albino girl was in a daze as she slowly sat up from the hospital bed
that she was being laid.

<I'm a spirit, yet . . .>

Looking down at her unnaturally pale hands, Ukyou's eyes widened.

<My . . . my hands, my body . . . I feel solid again.  Yet . . . I look .
. . white!  Am I back inside my dead body?  Had it decayed so much?>

So shocked was she that she didn't even noticed the wrinkled ball of meat
perched onto her delicate breasts until a moment later.  Looking up at
her, the hideous creature smiled as she freaked.   

"AHHHH!!!!!  A flesh eating old ghoul!!!!!!"

"Sweeto . . ."  The ghoul drooled.  Getting her second wind, Ukyou's eyes
narrowed as she realized that the ugly being was actually a tiny old man
in ninja robes.  

"You . . . you . . . you pervert!"  Ukyou growled as she flung Happosai
into a wall.  "How dare you molest a dead woman?!"

Prying himself off the way, the ancient man smiled. "You're not dead, my
dear.  I am a man with considerable means, who happened to  have the kind
heart to give you your life back again through my magic-"

His sentence was cut off as a spatula appeared out of nowhere and whacked
him one on top of his bald head.  Ukyou had an intense scowl on her face
as she spoke up: "Idiot! I almost made it into heaven.  I don't need
mortal life, especially not in this . . ."  she looked down at her
paleness in disgust,  "this abnormation!"
 
"Ah, but you are alive," Happosai smiled evilly, "and you will remain so
indefinitely.  You might as well get used to being a mortal again."

"In this body?!"

"I think it look stunning, actually.  Well, there is a way for you to
regain a more . . . ordinary form.  Ever heard of NERV?"

Ukyou frowned.  "That weird government branch that kept itself in the dark
most of the time?  What about it?"

"There is a giant alien being coded #Lilith# beneath its headquarters.  By
joining with it, you can make my spell complete and look totally human
instead of albino.  You can lead a normal life once more."

Ukyou narrowed her eyes.  "Just like that?  How am I supposed to get
through the high-tech. defenses?  Why are you even telling me this in the
first place?"

Happosai chuckled.  "Ah, but you are a smart one.  You see, I'm actually
the head of SEELE, the organization that controled NERV in the dark."

"You don't look like you had it in you."  Ukyou frowned as Happosai looked
insulted.

"ANYWAY, I need an undercover to keep an eye on NERV, to make sure that it
is completely loyal to me, and you are the best bet I have.  In return, I
shall aid in your joining with the Lilith when the time comes."

"You mean . . ."

"Yes, I'm going to sent you in as a Eva Pilot.  But before that, I need
you to enroll in Tokyo-3 High first where a Pilot-scout from NERV will
pick you up as soon as the new Eva Unit 03 arrive from the States: it will
look a lot less suspicious this way.  In return for your service, I will
make you normal again.  Do we have a deal here?"

"I . . . can I have a mirror?"

"Certainly, sweeto.  Take your time!"

Taking out a mirror from out of his sleeve, the ancient man handed it to
the girl as he continued to take advantage of the fact that Ukyou was
still in way too much shock to realize that she was as naked as the day
that she was born.

"Umm . . . can you uncross your legs, dear girl?"

Ignoring him, Ukyou looked into the mirror, and saw an eerie looking girl
with red eyes, white skin, and gray hair. Gritting her teeth at the full
visage of how unnatural looking she had become, she muttered: ". . . I'll
do it."

Back to the present, Ukyou was still deep in thought, totally unaware of
the fact that Ranma was smiling ear-to-ear from daydreaming about how to
further humiliate Akane using the new girl. 
  
<You�re nice, Ranchan.  Whatever this undercover thing shall come to, I
hope that it shall never bring you harm in anyway.>  Ukyou thought as she
rested her face against the boy's shoulder and let out a little sigh.
 
Ranma, coming out of his daydreaming at the feel of Ukyou's slender curves
pressing against him, abruptly noticed how all the other boys on the dance
floor were looking at him enviously.  Under the dim light of the disco,
Ukyou's chalk white complexion was effectively masked, making her as
beautiful as Ranma had claimed she was.  Realizing how tightly she was
hugging him, Ranma winced inwardly.

<Oh man, she seemed to have actually fallen for me.  Can't say I blame
her, considering how irresistible I am.  Besides, even as an albino, she's
gorgeous . . . and nice . . . and all that Akane isn't.  Still, I wish she
won't get hurt after realizing that I am simply using her to get back at
Akane.  Stupid tomboy, this is all her fault!!>

Each preoccupied with their own private thoughts, the two continued to
dance the night away in the soothing melody of the dance floor.
    
 End Part 6

May 27, 1998.

Adrian Wong