Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong	

Neon Genesis Evangelion/Ranma 1/2: The Angel the just won't die 4


  Asuka was playing video games. Shortly after Ranma had left, Asuka had 
stormed out of the apartment, a few bills in her hand, heading for the 
local arcade. She needed something to do. She was ready to explode from 
frustration and needed something to keep her mind occupied.
  The arcade Asuka was in was loud up to the point of deafening. She had 
been there for around ten minutes when she noticed a tough looking group 
of six boys enter the already crowded arcade.
  She could care less who frequented this arcade but couldn't ignore the 
revulsion she felt when she felt one of the boys' hands brush across her 
backside as the grouped walked past.
  "Who the hell did that?!" Asuka said, furious. She eyed all four boys 
intensely, not at all scared by the fact they were not only larger, but 
also older. When her eyes rested on a rather tough looking boy with 
short hair who was grinning from ear to ear, she knew he was the one who 
fondled her.
  "You're the one who grabbed me!" she said accusingly, her hands 
clenching into fists.
  "Maybe I did, and maybe I didn't," the boy said, "Whatcha gonna do 
about it?"
  "This!!!" she shouted, cocking one of her arms back and slamming her 
fist right into the boys' mouth.
  The boy absorbed the blow, his head cocking backwards from the impact. 
Unfortunately, that didn't seem to really faze him. He glared at Asuka, 
his own fists clench. 
  "You fucking bitch!!" he shouted, wiping the tiny trickle of blood 
with the back of his hand, "You'll pay for that!!!"
  Asuka took a step back. She thought she would have knocked the kid out 
with that one blow. As she saw the kid taking a menacing step toward 
her, her heart started beating rapidly. She was in trouble. This boy was 
a lot bigger and tougher looking than any other boy she had ever faced. 
She also knew that the other five boys behind him was ready to jump her.
  "I suggest you leave her alone," came a voice. Asuka turned around and 
saw Ryoga standing in the doorward, Rei standing a few steps behind him.
  The boy assessed the young man standing in the doorway. He wasn't all 
that scared of Ryoga because he had five of his friends with him. 
Although Ryoga was a bit taller, he would surely succomb to six people 
beating on him.
  The five boys stepped forward.
  "I suggest you walk away," the boy said, "This is none of yer 
business,"
  Ryoga walked into the arcade and looked at Asuka, he noticed the 
knuckles of her right hand was bleeding.
  Ryoga sneered, his fangs showing as he said, "I don't know what 
happened, but I seriously suggest you apologize to her,"
  The kid pulled out a knife and said, "Fuck you! You think I'm scared 
of you?"
  Ryoga sighed, "Jeez, what's with kids nowadays," He raised a hand and 
aimed it toward the kids, "ShiShi Hokodan"
  A massive ki-blast formed at his fingertips. It hovered there, waiting 
to be released and shot through the air toward its intended target. The 
shadows flickered as the ki-blast pulsated in Ryoga's hand.
  All six kids and everyone else behind them took several steps 
backwards. "W-what the h-hell is that!?" the kids said, dropping his 
knife, pissing in his pants from fright.
  "Get the hell outta here you little punks!!" Ryoga shouted as he let 
the ki blast die down in his hands. "And dontcha ever come here again or 
you're gonna regret it!"
  The kids quickly got up onto their feet, one of them almost slipping 
on his own urine, and they quickly ran out the door.
  Once the kids were gone, Ryoga walked over to the where the knife had 
fallen and picked it up, breaking the blade with his hands. He broke it 
several more times so it resembled tiny blocks of metal and then threw 
in in a nearby garbage can.
  Ryoga walked over to Asuka and said, "You okay?"
  Asuka's eyes were starry as she looked up at him, "I-I am now,"
  Ryoga looked at the door, "Well, ya don't hafta worry about them 
anymore. They'll never come here again, that's for sure." He pinched his 
nose, "Jeez, one of 'em actually pissed in his pants," He looked at 
Asuka, "Um, sorry for the crude languages,"
  Rei, who had stayed a good distance away from the action, walked up to 
Asuka, "Are you okay, Asuka?"
  Without looking away from Ryoga, she answered. 
  "I am now,"

  Ranma entered Misato's apartment.
  He was surprised to see the whole gang there, at least, most of the 
gang.
  When he entered the livingroom, he saw Shinji, Rei, Ryoga, Asuka, and 
Misato.
  Ranma smirked as he looked at Ryoga, "Well, it seems Ryoga finally 
found his way here." He looked at the clock. It was now almost eleven. 
"And it only took him....twenty two hours to get here. Not bad."
  "Shut up, Ranma!" Ryoga sneered, getting up off the couch.
  Misato's eyes widen as she got up off her love seat and lunged in 
front of Ryoga, "Dontcha dare, Ryoga! I don't want you and Ranma 
fighting in my apartment!"
  Ranma took it upon himself to flip Ryoga the middle finger, something 
he recalled a motorist giving him not too long ago, while Misato's back 
was toward him.
  "I'll kill you!!!" Ryoga said, fuming.
  Misato lunged forward and dove for Ryoga's legs, quickly closing her 
arms around them, making Ryoga fall down.
  "I said no fighting!!!!" Misato shouted, pointing a finger at Ryoga, 
her eyes burning.
  Ryoga semed to cower as he cringed a bit, "All right. I promise. No 
fighting."
  "You too, Ranma!" Misato said, getting up and turning toward him 
"Promise me, no fighting!"
  Ranma smirked and then nodded, "All right, Misato-chan, no fighting. I 
promise."
  "How come I don't believe you?" Misato said, eyeing Ranma intently.
  He smiled back.
  "I dont' trust him," Asuka commented. 
  "So?" Ranma said, "Your opinion doesn't matter,"
  "Why you!" Asuka spat. She got up off the couch, intent on slapping 
him.
  Ranma smiled, "I better watch out. Asuka's angry at me,"
  Ryoga, unable to control himself, quickly got back up to his feet and 
punched Ranma right in the face, hard. The impact was intense and the 
windows shuddered slightly from the vibrations. Ranma's head was cocked 
back at an extreme angle.
  "How dare you tease Asuka like that!" Ryoga shouted.
  Asuka seemed to sigh as she looked up at her knight in shining armor.
  "No fighting!!!!" Misato shouted, already visualizing the entire 
building collapsing because of two people fighting one another.
  Ranma brought his head back forward, "Heh, what a lame attack," He 
rubbed his neck a few times, "Thanks Ryoga, ya got rid of that kink in 
my neck,"
  "How about I get rid of you?!" he retorted, his fangs showing.
  Ranma chuckled, "Yeah, right, I'd like to see you do that. Me, I can 
get rid of you in no time. I'll simply lock you up in a room. You'll 
never find you way back out,"
  "I'll kill you!!!!"
  "Ryoga!!!!" Misato shouted, "No fighting!!!!"
  "Yeah, no fighting," Ranma agreed. He cocked his arm back, "That means 
you can't hit me like this!"
  He brought his fist forward and struck Ryoga in the face, causing his 
entire head to get snapped backwards like Ranma's was before.
  "Ranma!!!!" Misato shouted. She ran forward and grabbed Ranma's arm as 
he was about to punch Ryoga in the stomach.
  "Gee, you're no fun," Ranma commented, sitting down on the floor when 
Misato gave him a reprimanding look and then releasing his arm.
  Ryoga brought his head back forward. He looked at Ranma. "Heh, that 
felt like a baby's punch,"
  "No, perhaps you're too stupid to realize it's supposed to hurt," 
Ranma smirked.
  "Why you!!!!" Ryoga's aura flared.
  "Lighten up," Ranma said, waving a hand, "Quit taking everything so 
seriously. You're gonna pop an artery at this rate"
  "Yeah, and I'll start with yours!" he said.
  Rei said, "Do you two fight all the time?"
  The quick change in subject seemed to calm both people down. Ranma and 
Ryoga both stopped what they were doing to look at Rei, who was sitting 
on the floor next to Shinji.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yep. All the time. We hate 
each other."
  "Yeah. We would kill each other if we could," Ryoga added.
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga, "Yeah, like the time we _killed_ each other 
with our seppukku blasts to stop that supercomputer"
  Ryoga looked at Ranma and snickered.
  Ranma started to snicker also. After a short while, he started 
laughing.
  Ryoga, seeing Ranma laugh, started to laugh also.
  Pretty soon, Ranma and Ryoga burst out in laughter.
 
  It was around midnight when the kids started getting tired. For the 
past hour, everyone simply sat in the livingroom chatting. The kids 
asked a series of questions toward Ranma and Ryoga about how there world 
was, both of them answering eagerly, telling the kids and Misato that 
they would like living there.
  Although Ranma had originally intended to teach Shinji some more about 
ki, but since Ranma hadn't gotten home until way late, he decided he 
would stay one more day to make up for lost times. After that, he and 
Ryoga would leave. They have already stayed longer than they were 
supposed to.
  Shinji had been the first one to fall asleep. Sooner after that, Asuka 
fell asleep. Even though she tried her best to stay up, since she 
enjoyed being around Ryoga, she eventually succombed to sleep. Rei was 
still up along with Ranma, Ryoga, and Misato.
  Ryoga yawned.
  "You tired, Ryoga?" Ranma asked.
  Ryoga nodded, "Yeah, I haven't slept yet. I went all night without 
sleep. The last time I slept was when I arrived here,"
  Ranma whistled, "Whoa, that's a long time to go without sleep. You 
should get some rest, man,"
  "Yeah, I'll go to sleep in a little while," Ryoga answered. He looked 
at Rei, "But first, let's get Rei home,"
  "You don't need to walk me home," Rei said, "I can walk by myself,"
  Ranma shook his head, "Nope. We're gonna escort you. There are a lotta 
crazies out there and we don't wantcha gettin' hurt or nothin',"
  "Um, t-thank you for you concern, but I'll be all right," Rei said, a 
slight color coming to her cheeks. She was deeply touched by Ranma and 
Ryoga's concern for her.
  Ranma was stubborn, "Well, it doesn't matter. We're still gonna walk 
you home,"
  Rei was silent.
  "Um, Rei, I could always drive you home, y'know," Misato said. 
Unfortunately, she couldn't supress the yawn that just hit her.
  "Yeah, right," Ranma chuckled, "Considerin' how tired you look, you'll 
probably fall asleep at the wheel,"
  Misato smiled weakly. Boy, she was really tired. 
  "Go to sleep," Ranma said, "We'll see to it that Rei gets home 
safely," He made an exaggerated motion of shooing her away as if she 
were a fly. Misato smiled warmly, "All right, I'll take you up on your 
suggestion," She was tired enough that she was slowly starting to have 
trouble discerning reality and fiction. She needed some sleep and fast.
  When she retired to her bedroom, Ranma turned toward Rei, "C'mon Rei, 
let's get going,"
  Ranma and Rei and Ryoga both left the apartment.
  On the way to Rei's complex, Ranma and Ryoga were indulging themselves 
in coversation. Rei walked meekly behind the two of them.
  "I seriously hope we find the nanban mirror," Ranma continued, "I 
don't really wanna be stuck here. There's people waitin' for us back 
home," He turned toward Rei, "Right, Rei?"
  Ryoga cringed. He wished he had told Ranma about what Rei had told him 
earlier.
  "T-there's no one at home waiting from me..." Rei said stoically, 
continuing to walk, even after Ranma and Ryoga stopped.
  "Huh? Y-you mean you live alone?" Ranma asked, "T-that's not right. 
Where's your family,"
  "I-I have no family," she answered back.
   Ranma looked at Rei, "Oh, I-I'm sorry to hear that. What happened? 
Did they die?"  
  Rei didn't answer.
  Ranma, not wanting to push further, scared that he might make her 
bring back bad memories, said, "I don't have a family either,"
  "Y-you don't?" she asked.
  Ranma shook his head, "No. I've lost my family many years ago. 
Everyone. The town I used to live in was destroyed along with everyone 
who lived there. My friends and family died along with the hundred of 
thousands on that day,"
  "I'm sorry to hear that," Rei said, "Does it hurt?"
  Ranma looked at Rei for a moment before he answered, "Yeah, it hurts. 
Sometimes I wake up, and expect to see my family. Of course, that'll 
never happen."
  "Is there ever anything that reminds you of your past? Of your 
family?"
  Ranma thought about it for a moment and said, "No. Not really. I lost 
everything. All I escaped with were with the clothes on my back. I....I 
lost a lot of people I care about that day. I went many many years, 
hating myself, blaming myself for not being abled to save them, but 
eventually, I learned to live with it,"
  Rei was silent. She stopped for a moment to look at Ranma.  
  "Well, we're here," Ryoga said, recognizing the complex. He didn't 
recognize the surroundings but he definitely recognized the complex. It 
kind of stuck out, what with it being all run down and so down trodden.
  Ranma looked at the complex, "Y-you l-live here?"
  Ryoga gave Ranma a menacingly look, his eyes telling Ranma to keep his 
stinking mouth shut. Ranma seemed to have caught the meaning of Ryoga's 
glaring. He remained silent.
  Silently, the two escorted Rei up to her apartment. When she opened 
the door, she peered in and notice how much it looked void of life. She 
turned toward Ranma and Ryoga and said, "Thank you for walking me home. 
I appreciate your concern" 
  She turned around and entered the apartment, closing the door on them.
  Ranma and Ryoga stared at the door for several moments.
  "I feel....I feel sorry for her," Ranma commented. He had looked over 
her shoulder when she had entered and noticed how beak the place looked. 
"She shouldn't be living like this," He felt helpless.
  Ryoga nodded. He said, "We should do something about it,"
  "What happens if she doesn't approve of it?" Ranma asked, "I mean, I-
it's really none of our business, right?"
  Ryoga sighed.
  "But then again, she seems like a sweet girl," Ranma said, "But from 
what I notice, it....it seems like she just doesn't care anymore. 
Anyway, I can't just sit around and let her live like this, not after 
finding out that she has no parents and that she's living alone,"
  "Um, I have a question,"
  "Oh?"
  Ryoga thought for a moment before he spoke, "Um, who would you goto to 
have this place fixed up?"
  Ranma smiled. It seemd Ryoga was having the same idea as him, "You 
know what, Ryoga, I was thinking about the same thing." He reached into 
his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, "I've got plenty of cash. If we 
need more, we could always go out and get jobs,"
  "But what about going back home?" Ryoga asked "Akane and the others 
are waitin' for us,"
  Ranma nodded, "I know that. But I think this is more important. I'm 
pretty sure Akane won't mind after we tell her what took us so long 
getting home,"
  "I hope so,"
  Ryoga yawned.
  "Heh, you better get some sleep man," Ranma smirked. "You look like 
you could use about a week's worth of sleep,"
  Ryoga nodded, "You're right about that. I betcha at this rate, I could 
sleep throught he next Angel attack,"
  Ranma chuckled a bit.
  "I'm going to sleep out here," Ryoga said. He leaned against the wall 
and slid down to a sitting postion. "I don't know why, but I'm a bit 
worried. I mean, this is an old building and all. Also, who knows who 
wanders the streets at this time of night. I don't like the thought of 
her being alone, that's all,"
  Ranma smiled. He leaned against the wall and slid down it, sitting 
down next to Ryoga.
  "You took the words right out of my mouth. Even though she probably 
doesn't care if we stay or not, I'll stay," Ranma said, yawning and 
stretching his arms once.
  Without saying another word, Ranma and Ryoga closed their eyes and 
went to sleep.
  In her lonely and bleak apartmet, Rei leaned against the door, closing 
her eyes.
  She had heard everything Ranma and Ryoga had said.
  "Thank you for you concern,"
  
   Ranma and Ryoga seemed to have awoken at the same time. It was 
probably around three in the morning. Only a few hours had passed since 
they walked Rei home.
  They both looked down and noticed a blanket wrapped around them. A 
cool breeze blew by, strong enough to send a siver down one's spine. 
Ryoga and Ranma didn't shiver. They looked at each other and smiled.
  After that, they both went back to sleep.

  The next day, Rei woke up early, like always. 
  As she was leaving her apartment, she almost tripped over the sleeping 
forms of Ranma and Ryoga.
  She stood there for several moments, looking down at them.
  "You didn't need to do that," she said softly. She wondered what other 
things Ranma and Ryoga could be doing right now, instead of sleeping in 
front of her apartment, worried about her well being. Here they were, in 
a world they do not belong to, not knowing if they would ever be able to 
get home, yet they are worried about someone other than themselves.
  Ranma opened an eye, "Yes we did,"
  Rei was momentarily startled. She had thought Ranma and Ryoga were 
both asleep.
  Ranma got up to his feet and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "You're 
on your way to school, ne?"
  "Yes,"
  He looked up at the sun and how high it was in the sky. "Ain't it 
pretty early? It must be, what, seven thirty,"
  "I was on my way to school." Rei looked at Ranma curiously. "How did 
you know what time it was?"
  He smiled warmly and said, "It's not that hard. If you look at the sun 
and how high it is in the sky, you can approximate what time it is. Of 
course, this only works for the day. But it doesn't really matter all 
that much to me though, I mean, the concept of time doesn't really 
matter to me anymore,"
  "I don't understand,"
  "Time doesn't matter all that much to me anymore," he answered her. "I 
mean, I'm already sixty or so years old. Heck, I don't even know how old 
I am."
  "You do you not know how old you are?" Rei asked, looking up at Ranma.
  "Hey, you were on your way to school, right? I'll walk you,"
  "What about Ryoga?"
  "I'll come back for him later," Ranma said with a smile, "Let him 
sleep. He hasn't slept since he got here."
  Together, Rei and Ranma walked down the street.
  "Where was I? Oh, you were asking about how I don't know how old I 
was," Ranma said, "Well, I know I'm somewhere around sixty, but I have 
no real idea of the exact age. Physically, I have no idea what so ever 
on how old I am. I mean, I think I'm somewhere in my twenties,"
  "In your twenties?"
  Ranma nodded, "Well, no one knows this, but I trust you," he found 
himself saying for some reason. There was something about this girl that 
made him want to bare his soul to her. Although she was very quiet, she 
seemed to listen intently.
  "Trust me?" Rei said dubiously, "You trust me? Why?"
  "Why not?" Ranma said, "Is there any reason why I shouldn't trust 
you?"
  "Because you don't know me,"
  "That doesn't really matter," Ranma said, "You barely know me yet you 
trust me,"
  Rei looked at Ranma. "How do you know I trust you?"
  He smiled, "Do you trust me then?"
  Rei was silent for a short moment but found herself saying, "Yes, I 
do,"
  "Well, that kinda explains it," Ranma said, "Anyway, where was I? Oh, 
my age. No one really knows this, but I used to be cursed,"
  "Cursed?"
  Ranma sighed, "It's what people would definitely call a curse. One of 
the things about my curse, was that I have a cursed form. I became 
cursed when I was very young. Now, every time I get changed into my 
cursed form, my originaly form would age back toward the age of when I 
was first cursed. So, imagine this. I managed to avoid going onto my 
cursed form for, say, decade, which is nearly impossible. Now if I 
accidentally get changed into my cursed form, my true form would age 
backwards. That means that when I change back, I'm ten years older. 
Pretty must up, huh?" Ranma noticed a restaurant, "Hey, Rei, let's go 
get something to eat. My treat of course. You're hungry, right?"
  "It doesn't matter,"
  Ranma sighed. Sometimes, he didn't like the way Rei answered his 
questions. But that didn't matter. Ranma wouldn't be perterbed. He 
considered Rei a challenge, "Well, if it doesn't matter, then we go eat. 
I'm starved. I'm in the mood for some dim sum for some reason," He 
looked at Rei for a short moment, "But since you don't like meat, let's 
go get some salad,"
  Rei looked at Ranma, "How did you know that I don't like meat? I never 
told you,"
  He smiled, "Well, I noticed you cringe when I mentioned dim sum. And 
since it has meat...."
  "But I didn't cringe,"
  "I know," he said, "But your eyes did. You can tell a lot about a 
person just by looking at their eyes,"
  "You can?"
  Ranma looked right into Rei's eyes. She stood very still, her gaze 
unwavering. 
  He smirked, "Well well well, you like Shinji,"
  "W-what? How did you know?"
  Ranma burst out laughing. "I didn't but I do now. I was just guessin', 
but seeing how you seemed so shocked at my little revelation, I knew my 
guess was right,"
  Rei found herself blushing.
  "And look, you're blushing, that will definitely confirm it!" he said 
with a big smile.
  She tried to fight her blush but couldn't. Ranma seemed to have a way 
of evoking emotions from Rei, albeit slightly.
  "There's still some time before school starts. C'mon, let's go get 
some food, my treat." Ranma said, placing a hand on Rei's shoulder 
"Let's consider it a date. You can pretend I'm Shinji." 
  Ranma tried to imitate Shinji, "Um, R-Rei. Would you....um....like to 
go out with me?"
  Rei blushed again some more. Ranma imitated Shinji perfectly.
  He smiled warmly, a smile Rei could get used to. "I kinda wish I knew 
you when I was young,"
  "Y-you do?" she asked, interested. She looked up at him, wondering 
where that came from.
  "You're nice to be with,"
 
  Ranma was walking down the street back toward Rei's apartment when 
Misato's car pulled up next to him.
  "Hiya, Misato, what's up?"
  "On my way to work. What about you?" she said, leaning out the car 
door.
  "Oh, I was headed back to Rei's apartment," he said with a smile, 
leaning against the side of the car. "I figured I'd do her a favor and 
fix her tiny apartment up. After having seen her apartment, I don't like 
the thought of a sweet, although quiet, girl like Rei living alone 
there. I have money, surely there's something we could do, perhaps goto 
a contractor,"
  Misato smiled back warmly. "I admire your kind heart, Ranma. But 
there's really nothing you could do"
  "Oh? Why the hell not?"
  "Becaus she was assigned that particular living space by Nerv," she 
replied, "Unfortunately, because of that, you have no business messing 
around or fixing her apartment. It's probably going to piss a whole 
lotta people off because in doing so, it will seem as you are 
challenging Nerv itself."
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "So?"
  Misato laugheda bit, "Look, up until this point, Nerv has pretty much 
tolerate and appreciated your help with their battle against the Angels. 
I don't think they'll appreciate you going up against them."
  "It doesn't really bother me," he said, "What bothers me is where and 
how she is living. She's a kid for god sakes,"
  Misato sighed, "Well, if you're really interested, it's best you help 
Rei out at the source, by going to Nerv."
  "Who?"
  "Who else? Commander Ikari," she said. "He's pretty much in charge of 
everything. I'm pretty much positive he won't even listen to you. He's a 
cold man."
  "A dick is more like it," he said, clenching his hands, "Although I'd 
never do something to someone who can't defend themselves, I'd really 
like smack him around a few times one of these days."
  Misato laughed again, "Well, anyway, he's the man to goto about 
getting Rei's apartment fixed. Because he's probably going to view your 
hostility toward him as a personal attack, he might actually throw you 
in the brig, even if you did help and are only looking out for someone 
else's well being."
  "I don't care. If that's going to happen, then Ryoga's going to come 
with me," Ranma said, "I mean, I'm not some bad guy or something. I just 
have a soft spot for children."
  "And I deeply admire it, Ranma. Just keep a level head. Gendo is a 
very influential man. I don't know if this would actually happen, but he 
would probably get rid of you if he ever thought you were a threat to 
him or Nerv,"
  "Screw him," 
  
  Ranma entered Gendo's office.
  "I wanna have a word with ya," Ranma said, walking up to Gendo's desk. 
  "You are not authorized to enter my office and do as you please, get 
out!" Gendo said, very annoyed.
  Ranma stood there, defiant. He crossed his arms over his chest. "You 
don't scare me,"
  Gendo sighed as he steepled his hand in front of him. He had been 
expecting Ranma to react like that. The man before him would not be 
intimidated by anyone, not even Gendo.
  "I'm listening,"
  Ranma wasn't paying attention because he was busy regarding the room 
for a short moment. "Jeez, where the hell is everything? Where are the 
seats? It's so dark in here,"
  Gendo's eyes creased, "What do you want?"
  Ranma turned toward Gendo, "I wanna speak to you about Rei,"
  "Oh?"
  "I don't want her living in such a crappy ass apartment," he said.
  Gendo almost smirked. This man before him sure had a limited 
vocabulary. It was kind of funny that a man so powerful could be so 
vulgar.
  "I saw her place," Ranma continued, "It's a goddamn dump. It's also 
noisy around the area too. I'd like for you to do something about it,"
  "And what do you propose I do?" Gendo said, his voice cold.
  "I dunno," came the reply, "Have her moved to a better place. Jeez, 
she's one of your EVA pilots. She should at least deserve better,"
  "And what makes you think she wants something better? How do you know 
that is what she wants?"
  Ranma was getting mad. He gritted his teeth. This man was just toying 
with him.
  "I don't know what she wants," Ranma said. "But then again, she might 
not know it either. She's too passive to say anything. I'm just trying 
to say the words that she might try to say but is too quiet to say so,"
  That seemed to hit a soft spot with Gendo. His face showed no signs 
though.
  The brows of Ranma's eyes raised, "Well, it seems I've hit a soft 
spot,"
  "W-what?"
  "I saw it in your eyes," he said, "You seem to have a soft spot for 
that girl."
  There was a moment of silence before Gendo finally spoke, "It doesn't 
matter whether or not I have a soft spot for the child. She is a pilot. 
That is all that matters,"
  "She's a human being, ya goddamn dick!" Ranma spat.
  Gendo twitched a bit.
  "I'll make a deal with you," Ranma said.
  "I won't accept," he replied.
  "You haven't heard what I've got to say," Ranma replied.
  "It doesn't matter. I won't accept,"
  Ranma gritted his teeth. He really, truly disliked this man. He felt 
sorry for Shinji, having to have a father like the man standing before 
him. "Fine, if you won't accept, then I'll do something about it,"
  "Is that a threat?" Gendo said, standing up. His hand was close to the 
little red button under the desk that would have a horde of security men 
come into the room immediately after it was pressed.
  Ranma sneered, not backing down from the challenge, "Gendo, do you 
want it to be a threat?"
  Gendo pressed the button. He didn't have time for this. "Get out! I 
don't want to ever see you here again!"
  Ranma stood where he was, not at all bothered by that fact that a 
dozen or so armed guards will be there at any moment. "Send those damn 
EVA units after me for all I care," he sneered, "I ain't gonna budge,"
  Without saying a word, Ranma grabbed Gendo's table and pushed it 
toward the door from where he had entered, blocking the entrance. 
  Gendo was absolutely shocked upon seeing this incredible feat. The 
table not only weighed a ton, but it had been nailed into the ground and 
was supposed to stationary.
  Ranma turned toward a somewhat perterbed Gendo.
  Gendo was looking at the empty space of what used to be his desk. Four 
struts that used to hold the desk stationary could be seen jutting out 
from the floor. 
  "Ryoga and I will leave, but under one condition," Ranma said. 
  "What condition is that?" Gendo said, supressing the urge to sigh. 
This man was like nothing he had ever met. Ranma was an extremely 
powerful young man. And he was very intelligent also. Although he lacked 
mundane knowledge, Ranma was extremely perceptive, able to notice the 
most subtle of differences.
   "We want you to have Rei stay somewhere better," Ranma said, "She 
doesn't deserve to live in that crappy apartment that had been assigned 
to her,"
  "In return for what?"
  "That we leave," he replied. "You have my word on it,"
  Gendo was silent for several minutes. After a while, he nodded and 
said,
  "Very well,"

  And so, Rei was assigned to a new apartment at Gendo's request.

  Ranma and Ryoga were behind Rei as she entered her new apartment for 
the very first time. It had only taken a day for new quarters to be 
assigned to her. The apartment looked nothing like Rei's old one.
  "Well, what do you think?" Ranma asked, smiling warmly.
  "It looks nice," Rei said softly.
  "I know it was none of my business," Ranma said, "It's just that I 
couldn't just didn't like the thought of you living in a place like that 
old one. We both believe you deserve better,"
  "You do?"
  Ranma and Ryoga nodded.
  "Thank you," she replied softly.
  Ranma and Ryoga both smiled warmly.
  Ryoga started looking around, "Wow, this is a nice apartment. It even 
has carpeting. Not like that cold wodden floorboards in your old one,"
  He turned toward Ranma and said, "Well, I guess Gendo kept his end of 
the deal. Now's our turn,"
  Rei looked at both Ranma and Ryoga, a bit confused.
  "We're leaving," Ranma said, "I told Gendo that we would leave in 
exchange that we have you assigned to a better apartment,"
  "Y-you're leaving?" she asked.
  Ranma and Ryoga nodded.
  "You did all of this for me," she commented, looking at the cosy 
looking apartment. There was an open window near the back of the 
apartment and it was opened, allowing for a beautiful and quiet view of 
the park just across the street. One thing that was very envident 
between this apartment and the other one, aside from its interior, was 
that it was very quiet. All that could be heard were bird singing their 
lovesongs. "Why? Why do you do this?"
   "Why not?" Ranma smiled, "You're a nice girl. You deserve better,"

  Ranma and Ryoga were walking down the street. It was dark out and 
somewhere near midnight.
  "Man, we have a long way to go," Ranma muttered.
  "Yeah, China's a long ways off from here," Ryoga agreeded, "It's going 
to take us quite a bit of time before we make it there. And how the hell 
are we gonna get there in the first place?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "How else, we swim,"
  "Do you think we'll find the village and the mirror? I mean, don't you 
remember what Ritsuko said?" Ryoga said, "After that Second Impact 
thing, Antarctica melted and the water level rose. The village could be 
completely underwater, y'know," Ryoga didn't really like the thought of 
that. He didn't like the thought of being stuck here....forever. Akane 
was back home waiting for him. And that cad Ranma, Ryoga thought 
angrily.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, 
  "I really dunno. I hope the village is still above water,"

  In a massive flash of light, Ranma and Ryoga reappeared in the air 
high above Geofront. It had been somewhere around a month since Ranma 
and Ryoga had been in Geofront.
  They immediatedly fell toward the ground below as gravity took over.
  The two landed on ground skillfully, neither of them getting hurt in 
the process, despite the speed of which they hit ground.
  Ranma, holding the nanban mirror, looked around. Ryoga did the same.
  "W-what the hell's going on here?" he said, his eyes widening. As he 
looked around, he saw nine white robots attacking a lone red one. "W-
where did those things come from?"
  "Hey, t-that's Asuka's EVA!!!" Ranma said pointing. He caught sight as 
Unit-02 desperately battled EVA unit and EVA unit. "C'mon, we have to go 
help her out!!!" He had no real idea what the hell was going on, but if 
Asuka was in trouble, he would do whatever he could to ensure her 
safety.
  Without saying another word, Ranma toward the battle as fast as he 
could.

  Asuka gritted her teeth as she skillfully maneuvered her EVA to battle 
the charging enemy.  Unit-02 was taking massive damage as she 
desperately tried to fight for her life. The battle was in no way, fair. 
She was out numbered, out gunned, but luckily for her, she was more 
skilled. 
  "I'll kill every one of you!!!!!" Asuka shouted as she faced the white 
EVA in front of her. She wasn't at all bothered by the thought of 
several EVAs surrounding her.
  From out of her peripherl vision, she saw a flash of light.   
  The next thing she noticed was a massive explosion erupting on the 
chest of the white EVA in front of her.
  "W-what the?"
  Ranma ran up the side of the mountain, his legs aching from running 
harder and faster than it ever had.
  "Asuka!!!" he shouted.
  Asuka, momentarily distracted at the sight of seeing the explosion, 
was stabbed through the torso from behind. Red lights within her cockpit 
flared to life the computer assessed the massive damage the unit had 
just received.
  She looked down as saw what looked like a massive white sword emerging 
from the EVA's stomach.
  Ranma, seeing what had just happened, went into a fit of rage.
  "What the fuck do you think you're doing to Asuka?!?!" he shouted, his 
aura flaring. He didn't even think of the consequences that would result 
as he let rip one of his most powerful ki-blasts toward the white robot 
that had stabbed Unit-02 from behind. "Seppukku Mouko Takabisha!!!!"
  Ryoga stumbled back as he heard Ranma say the words "W-what the hell 
didja do that for?!?" 
  But it was too late. The ki erupted from Ranma's figertips and shot 
through the air, striking the attacking EVA in its side. The impact of 
the blast striking the EVA had been so intense that the EVA was blown 
toward the side, losing grip of its weapon, sliding down the side of the 
hill, its AT field shattered. 
    Unit-02, being within such close proximity of the blast, was blown 
bodily forward, sliding the side of the hill, the weapon still embedded 
in its torso.
  Asuka, as she quickly maneuvered her EVA to stand up, looked about her 
cockpit and noticed a sudden presence of extremely high energy slowly 
proceeding toward her from the side. She turned her EVA toward the 
presence, seeing nothing.
  "W-where is it?!" she shouted, almost going insane. She must be seeing 
things. She could have sworn she had read the instruments correctly. 
  In a state of extreme stress and rage, Asuka made her EVA pull the 
weapon out of its side, more lights in her cockpit going up as more 
damages resulted from the actual act of pulling the weapon out. 
  "Asuka!!!!" Ranma shouted, releasing another ki-blast toward a nearby 
EVA. He didn't care what it was or why it was there. It had put Asuka's 
life in danger and he would not allow that.
  Asuka looked down. She must be seeing things because she was seeing 
Ranma and Ryoga near the foot of her EVA. She blinked several times, 
believing she was starting to go insane as the stress from knowing she 
was going to die started to consume her. "R-Ranma?"
  Ryoga, sensing something, quickly looked behind him and saw a charging 
EVA. It was the same EVA that Ranma had hit with his seppukku ki-blast. 
It was badly damaged, its right arm severed from its body.  He saw two 
other EVAs following close behind, their weapons braced for attack. 
  In a state of panic, Ryoga was forced to improvise, deveoping a new 
technique on the spot.
  "Seppukku BakusaiTenketsu!!!!" he shouted, his finger darting right 
into the mountain.
  Ranma's eyes widened. He prayed he didn't hear that correctly, "Oh 
no!"  
  The entire mountain exploded. 
  The three hapless EVA units that had been on the mountain when it 
explode were thrown backwards, away from the group.
  Ranma, Ryoga, and Unit-02 were sent flying through the air, all of 
them landing several dozen yards or so apart, several hundred yards away 
from the huge gaping hole in the ground from what used to be the 
mountain. Ranma and Ryoga quickly rolled onto their feet, quickly 
rushing toward Unit-02, which was lying motionless on its front.
  "Get up!!! Get up!!!!" Asuka shouted, tears forming, diluted in the 
LCL that she was submerged in. Her EVA wasn't responding. It had 
sustained too much damage.
  Ryoga and Ranma stood near Unit-02, ready for anything. They watched 
cautiously as eight EVAs surrounded them. The ninth one, the one with 
its arm severed, was lying a short ways off, unmoving.
  "H-how the h-hell are we supposed to stop 'em?!?" Ranma said, feeling 
a massive rush of adrenaline surge through his body. He was badly hurt. 
His back was bleeding from the the rocks and shrapnel that had hit him. 
Ryoga was in no better condition.
  Ranma looked toward Unit-02 and said, "Asuka, you have to get up!"
  Asuka, finally realizing what was going on, that Ranma and Ryoga had 
come back, said, "I-I can't!!! It won't respond!!!"
  "Shit, we're sitting ducks out here in the open!" Ranma said. He 
noticed how the EVAs were slowly starting to circle them. As one of them 
got a bit close, Ranma let loose another ki-blast. The blast struck the 
EVA right in the chest, sending it reeling backwards, its AT field 
shattered.
  Ryoga, seeing the AT field shatter, shot his own ki-blast, hitting it 
in the chest. It did no damage.
  "O-our ki-blasts have no affect!" Ryoga shouted, his eyes widening.
  "W-we have to use our seppukku blasts!" Ranma said, slumping low to 
the ground. That suppukku blast he had thrown had taken a huge chunk of 
his energy away. He would never be able to keep this up. He would 
succumb to exhaustion before he finshed those EVAs off.
  "We can't use our seppukku blasts!!!" Ryoga shouted, "T-they're too 
goddamn close!!!"
  Ranma looked at Unit-02. His eyes widened as he saw the weapon a short 
ways off.
  "Ryoga, lets use that weapon!" he said.
  "What?! Look at how big that thing is!!!!!" Ryoga shouted, "Are you 
crazy?! I may be strong, but I can't throw that thing!!!"
  Ranma shook his head, "You don't have to throw it! We'll work 
together! Use your BakusaiTenketsu to get it into the air! I'll use my 
Hiryu ShotenHa to propel it forward!"
  Ryoga smiled. That was a damn good plan. Without saying anything, 
Ryoga walked over the weapon that had slipped out of Unit-02's grip and 
fallen to the ground. He jabbed his index finger into the ground below 
the weapons and shouted, "BakusaiTenkestu!!!"
  The ground below him and the weapon exploded upward. Ryoga was blown 
into the air, sent flying bodily backwards but unhurt.
  The weapon, too, was blown into the air, albeit little due to its 
extreme mass and weight. Fortunately, that was all that was needed.
  "Horizontal Wave Revised!!! Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!!" Ranma shouted as he 
let loose a massive column of wind from his fingers virtually parallel 
to the ground, directing it toward a neaby EVA. The column of wind 
engulfed the weapon and shot it forward, spinning it like a helicopter 
blade, sending right into the hapless EVA. The blade struck the EVA 
right across its chest. Half the top part of the EVA slid off its torso. 
The bottom half of the EVA fell forward while its top half fell 
backwards.
  "Yeah!!! Two down!!! Seven to go!!!" Ranma said enthusiastically, 
raising his hand into the air in triumph.
  "What are you, stupid?!" Ryoga spat, "How the hell do you expect us to 
take down seven more of these?! We had enough taking down two!!!! And we 
have no more weapons to use against 'em?! We'll be exhausted by the time 
we get rid of the next one!!!" Ryoga's breathing was already labored. 
There was no way he could continue on at this rate. He was already a bit 
hurt. There was no way they could fight them off. They had to do 
something else.
  "Ranma, we hafta take cover!" he shouted. He pointed toward Unit-02, 
"We hafta get Asuka out!!"
  Ranma looked down at Unit-02. "And how do ya suppose that?!"
  "I dunno! Find a way!" Ryoga shouted. He turned toward the circling 
"I-I'll keep 'em distracted!"
  Ryoga rushed off toward one of the EVA.
  "Good luck, Ryoga,"

  Asuka continued to make her EVA respond, "Get up!!! Get up!!! Get 
up!!! Get up!!!!" She was crying. She felt helpless. Her entire cockpit 
was glowing red from the all the damage lights having gone up. She knew 
she was done for. In no time, those EVAs would rip her to shreds.
  "Asuka," she heard a muffled voice.
  "W-who is it?"
  Ranma had his ear pressed against the EVA's back, "Asuka, where the 
hell are you?! I'm here to get you out!"
  "R-Ranma?" she asked.
  "Yeah," he said, "Where are you?"
  All of a sudden, she found herself cying. "I-I'm in the Entry Plug," 
She tried to eject herself. It was no use. Unit-02 was no longer 
responding. Everything save for life support had ceased function.
  "Entry Plug? What the hell is that?!"
  "I-it's in the base of the head and runs along the spine...." her 
voice was very soft but loud enough for Ranma to hear....barely.
  "Hold on tight, I'll getcha out in no time," he said. He ran up the 
EVA's back and stopped at the base of the head. He brought his fist up 
and brought it down with vicious speed, striking the armor as hard as he 
could. He was shocked to see that he barely damaged the armor. All that 
had been left behind after the impact was a dent mark the size of his 
fist.
  "W-what the hell's this armor made of?" he said, a bit shocked. He 
extended an impatient hand forward and shot a ki-blast right at it. When 
the blast subside, leaving behind a slightly singed Ranma, the armor was 
only slightly more damged.
  "Jeez!" Ranma scratech the back of his head, "T-this is not good!"
  "Ranma," Ryoga shouted, "What the hell are you waitin' for?! Get her 
outta there!" He turned he attention back toward the EVAs and let loose 
ki-blast much more powerful than his average ki-blast but less powerful 
than a sepukku one. The blast sent an EVA falling down to its knees, 
unable to function due to the damage, needing to take a minute to 
regerate.
  Ranma, knowing that they would be overwhelmed in a very short while, 
had one more option left. He allowed his aura to flare as he brought his 
cocked his fist and concentrated all his ki into his hand. All his ki 
flowed into his hand and pretty soon his fist started to glow red.
  He was very reluctant of using this newly aquired technique but he had 
no choice. Remembering how it had sent him into a coma when he had first 
executed it, Ranma closed his eyes and prayed that he would survive 
this. Asuka depended on him.
  Ranma brought his glowing red fist down and struck the base of the 
head.
  Asuka was thrown around in her cockpit as she felt her entire EVA 
shake violently. She was forced to grab onto the controls tightly as she 
risked hitting her head against the cockpit walls.
  All of a sudden a light entered her cockpit as the LCL she was 
submerged in started to flood out of the tiny chamber.
  "Damn, that's hot!" she heard Ranma's voice enter the cockpit. She 
turned her head around and caught sight of light entering into the 
cockpit through a tiny hole. All of a sudden, her cockpit shook again as 
she saw Ranma's foot enter in through the hole, making the hole larger.
  With the hole wide enough to fit someone through, Ranma peaked his 
head through, "Asuka, I came to get you out!" He tried to climb in but 
immediately jerked his hand back, "Ah, shit, that's hot! Ah, screw it!" 
He climbed into the cockpit, ignoring super heated metal that surrounded 
the entry plug he was touching upon climbing in.
  Once inside, Asuka looked up at him with wide eyes, "R-Ranma?" Her 
voice seemed to be failing her.
  Ranma smiled, "Yep. C'mon, let's get you outta that thing, whatever 
that is..." He was referring to the seat that was almost partially 
attached to Asuka. He cocked his hand back and struck the control panel, 
breaking it. After several more punches, the panel fell down in a 
crumpled heap, allowing Asuka to esacpe. 
  After staring at her savior for several moment, Asuka quickly realized 
exactly what was going on. "Y-you're here to save me?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep. You may not know it, but I do care about you,"
  Asuka quickly came up with an idea. She said, "I-I'm gonna self self-
destruct Unit-02!" Although the EVA had little or no power, it would 
always be able to self-destruct. She had to get rid of those EVA units, 
even if that meant the death of everyone within the area.
  "All right, but make it fast,"
  She quickly reached over and grabbed the self-destruct lever and 
pulled it. She had ten minutes to get as far away from here as possible.
 He grabbed Asuka and quickly pulled her into his arms. Not really 
knowing how to react, Asuka held onto Ranma tightly, her head resting 
snugly against the little crook between his neck and shoulders.
  Ranma quickly made his way back out the cockpit and out into the 
artificial sunlight that shone in the Geofront. Outside, he shouted to 
Ryoga, "Hey, Ryoga, I've got her. Let's get the hell outta here!"
  Ryoga knowing that he had done his job, turned toward Ranma, "Yeah, 
let's do, but where the hell do we go?"
  "Where else? Nerv Headquarters!!" Ranma quickly shouted, leaping high 
into the air, just as a spear struck the ground where he had been a 
second ago. "We've gotta take cover!"
  Ranma and Ryoga quickly made it to the headquarters in no time flat. 
The EVAs seemed to have stopped attacking them as they focused their 
attacks on Unit-02. They all ganged up on the unmoving EVA and proceeded 
to rip it apart, slicing into it with their weapons and also eating at 
it.
  "We hafta close the entrance!!!" Asuka quickly shouted. She was still 
in Ranma's arms and she held him tightly, her head snuggled against his 
neck. "In case those EVAs come after us before Unit-02 self-destructs!"
  "Yeah, you heard her! Go close the damn entrance!!" Ranma shouted. 
"And ya better hurry cause that EVA's gonna self-destruct in a minute or 
so!"
  Ryoga didn't have time act shocked. He did exactly as Ranma had said 
and struck his finger right into the one of the walls.
  Ranma, still holding Asuka, turned his back toward the blast, 
protecting Asuka with his body.
  The entire wall exploded as shrapnel and rock flew in every direction. 
When the dust subsided, only a fraction of the opening had been closed 
up. Ryoga, realizing he had to do better than that, struck an index 
finger into the wall again and again, not even bothering to wait for the 
dust to clear up. After several times of striking the wall, the entire 
front section of Nerv Headquarters fell down on them, closing up the 
entrance under thousands and thousands of tons of rubble.
   Ranma and Ryoga both ran further into the building, avoiding the 
falling debris. When they were deep into the heart of Nerv Headquarters, 
Ranma gently placed Asuka on her feet. Asuka, unable to control her 
feelings, started to cry. She managed to say in shaky voice, "T-thank 
you, R-Ranma, for what you did back there,"
  Ranma smiled a bit, but then, all of a sudden, the pain started to 
register. He keeled over and spat out a large quantity of blood. When he 
had been busy trying to save Asuka, busy running break through the 
armor, busy running from the falling building, he never had time to 
think of the pain he was in. He had never had the chance to realize the 
extent of his injuries.
  Ryoga looked down at Ranma, "Yo, Ranma, you okay?"
  Ranma tried to nod. Everything hurt. That ki-saturated punch he had 
executed on Asuka's EVA had seriously hurt him. He just didn't have the 
time to worry about his injuries. Now that he had a chance to rest, he 
also had a chance to realize the extent of his injuries.
  "Oh, god, do I wish I'm cursed," Ranma slowly got to his feet, 
clutching his ribs "All I need is some cold water,"
  Asuka looked at him curious. Ranma tried to walk forward but keeled 
forward again, blood gushing from his mouth yet again.
  Ryoga shooked his head, "All right, I'm gonna go getcha to the 
infirmary," He picked up Ranma and thew him over his shoudler and turned 
toward Asuka, "Where's the infirmary? Better yet, c-can you show me the 
way, please?"
  Asuka numbly nodded. She quickly ran down the corridor, Ryoga 
following behind her.
  As she ran down the corridor, she caught sight of Shinji. He was 
kneeling over Misato as she lay on the floor. 
  "W-what h-happened?" Asuka said. 
  "H-he shot her....h-he s-shot her!!" Shinji said through tears as he 
held Misato's dying body against his  frail body. Misato, after having 
found Shinji, had been trying to get Shinji to Unit-01's cargo bay to 
send him out to save Asuka but she and Shinji accidentally came across 
Gendo.
  "Where's Rei?" Asuka asked.
  "I don't know!" he said, looking up at Asuka, his eyes almost blank. 
He caught sight of Ranma and Ryoga, "R-Ranma....R-Ryoga,"
  "Oh shit, what the hell's going on?!" Ryoga said. He dropped Ranma ont 
he ground and rushed over to Misato. Kneeling down next to her, he 
placed his hand up to her neck, "She's still alive but her pulse is a 
little racey." He looked at the gunshot wound. "It probably went through 
her one of her vital organs, we hafta have her treated and fast,"
  Shinji watched through tears as Ryoga picked Misato up as carefully as 
possible. Ryoga's yellow shirt turned red from the blood of Misato's 
wounds.
  Ryoga walked over to Ranma, who was now unconscious, and grabbed one 
of his arms. He turned toward Asuka, "Which way to the infirmary?"
  "I-I'll show you," Asuka said, quickly rushing down the corridor.
  Shinji stood very still as he watched Ryoga, dragging Ranma, carrying 
Misato, rounded a corner.
  "I'm not going to run away!" Shinji cried out.
  He ran down the corridor and stopped Ryoga.
  "What is it?" Ryoga asked. "We have to get her treated,"
  Shinji grabbed the gun from Misato's holdster and cocked it.
  "I'm going to kill him!!!"
  With that said, Shinji ran down the corridor toward the elevators that 
led down to Central Dogma.

  Ryoga ran into Central Dogma and found Shinji lying motionless in the 
middle of the room in a small puddle of blood, Rei by his side. He 
didn't have the time to go after Shinji because Misato needed treatment 
as fast as possible or she would have died. Luckily, Ryoga was able to 
bring both to the infirmary in time for them to be saved. Ranma had been 
still unconsious.
  Ryoga looked at the bloody Shinji on one side of the room, Rei, stark 
naked, by his side, crying for him. He noticed on the other side was 
Gendo, dead, lying motionless on the ground in a puddle of his own 
blood, his gun lying a few feet away from the body.
  "W-what happened?" Ryoga asked. He turned his attention from Shinji 
and onto a massive white monster that seemed to be crucified on a large 
red cross. "W-what the hell is that?!" Below the moster he saw the dying 
body of Ritsuko, lying motionless in the pool of LCL.
  Ryoga took a step back, his eyes wide. To him, the monster looked like 
an Angel with seven eyes.
  From out of the shadows emerged a man.
  "That is my ticket to a higher plane," Lorenz said, sneering. 
  "W-who the hell are you?" Ryoga said.
  "It doesn't matter who I am," Lorenz said. He looked totally in 
control. "You're not going to stop me from achieving my goals!"
  He slowly walked toward Rei.
  Ryoga ran forward to block Lorenz's path toward Rei.
  "Whoever you are, I ain't gonna letcha go near these children!" Ryoga 
spat. Although he was physically tired and exhausted, he still had 
enough strength to fight this man, whoever he was.
  Lorenz laughed mockingly, "And you think you could stop me?" 
  He continued to walk forward.
  "Don't go near him, Ryoga!" Rei shouted. 
  In what seemed like a blink of an eye, Ryoga found himself being 
lifted up into the air. It took a moment before he realized that his 
opponent had somehow ran forward and grabbed Ryoga by his neck, lifting 
him up into the air while squeezing tightly.
  Rei shreiked, "R-Ryoga!"
  Ryoga, desperate and knowing he would black out due to lack of oxygen, 
cocked his hand back and brought it forward right into Lorenz's face. 
Lorenz didn't seem to get be effected by such a devastating blow. 
  "Ryoga!!!" Rei shouted as she ran forward and grabbed Lorenz's arm, 
hoping to break Lorenz's grip on Ryoga.
  Lorenz looked at Rei and slapped her out of the way, hitting her hard 
enough to knock her out. "I'll deal with you later. You are the key, my 
dear. You will cause the Third Impact! You are my ticket to a higher 
existence!" He turned his attention back Ryoga who saw struggling to 
free himself.
  "It's useless to struggle! You are going to die!" Lorenz sneered, his 
voice echoing in the vast room. "Whatever you do, you will not be able 
to trick me! I have been around for thousands of years! I know all about 
you and your friend! I am just like you except I've seen it all and been 
through it all!"
  Ryoga noticed out of the corner of his eye someone entering the room. 
It was Ranma and Asuka.
  "I'm not scared of you!" Ryoga shouted, spitting right into Lorenz's 
face. "I don't care who you are!!! I'm not scared of dying!!! I will 
much rather dying saving lives than to live without trying!!!" He hoped 
Ranma understood the meaning of his words.
  He saw Asuka grab Rei and slowly drag her out of the room. He saw 
Ranma grab Shinji and drag him out to. After a moment later he saw Ranma 
enter the room again and grab Ritsuko's dying body, slowly and silently 
dragging her out of the room.
  Ryoga slowly waited for his chance. Once he had the chance he would 
use a seppukku to destroy this entire room and everything with it. 
Whoever this guys was, surely, he would not survive.
  "Here," Ranma said softly to Asuka as she came back into the room, 
"Take Shinji and Rei to safety. Ryoga and I'll stop this guy,"
  Misato, when she had regained consiousness, had explained in a weak 
voice what everything was about to Ranma, who was slowly awakening from 
his unconsiousness. She explained about how Gendo had wanted to create 
the Third Impact. About how Rei had died self-destructing her EVA. About 
how the Rei Gendo had taken was going to be used to start the Third 
Impact.
  Ranma, knowing that so much was at stake, knew he had to do whatever 
he could to stop this man from starting the Third Impact, despite his 
injuries. 
  Clutching his ribs, Ranma slowly made his way up to Lorenz from 
behind, all his ki flowing toward his one hand. He would concentrate all 
his ki into on last punch and knock Lorenz's head right of his 
shoulders. He knew he had to stop this man. At any moment, everything 
would be vaporized when Unit-02 finally self-destructed. 
  Lorenz continued to sneer at Ryoga, "Well, how does it feel? To know 
that you're going to die?"
  Ryoga smiled. That seemed to shock Lorenz.
  Ranma tapped Lorenz's shoulder.
  When Lorenz turned his head, he saw Ranma smiling mockingly at him.
  "Surprise, you're dead!" Ranma smirked, tears in his eyes.
  Ranma cocked his glowing red fist and punched Lorenz square in that 
ugly mug of his. He put more ki behind his punch than any thing he had 
ever done before, putting more ki behind it than a seppukku blast. When 
Ranma's fist struck Lorenz's face, collapsing the man's skull in, a 
massive explosion erupted. 
  Lorenz managed to scream but the sound of his voice was drowned out by 
the sound of the explosion as it consumed his body, ripping it apart, 
the explosion then expanding to envelope the entire room. An explosion 
akin to Ranma and Ryoga's seppukku blasts erupted against Lorenz's face 
and continued to expand in a spherical shape in every direction.
  Asuka, whom had been outside of the room, fell to the ground from the 
violent shaking that that explosion had created. Curious as to what it 
was, she peeked her head in through the huge opening and saw a wall of 
flames moving straight toward her.
  Knowing that she would never be able to outrun it, she closed her eyes 
and prayed that........she would see Shinji in the next life. 
  Out of nowhere, a bright light appeared in front of her. As fast as it 
appeared, it disappeared, leaving behind Ranma, who had Ryoga slumped 
over his shoulder. He didn't have a chance to do anything else except 
grab Asuka and Rei with one hand, grabbing Shinji and the motionless 
Ritsuko with the other.
  As soon as his hands touched them, he looked down into the tiny mirror 
in his hand and closed his eyes and they all disappeared.

  Ranma looked around.
  "God, what a mess," he commented, shaking his head.
  He and everyone else was on a cliff overlooking what remained of Tokyo 
3. This cliff happened to be the exact same place Ranma had landed on 
when he first arrived in this world. It was before daybreak. As he 
looked at the city he sighed. Actually, nothing  remained of the city. 
All that had remained was a massive crater where the city collapsed in 
on itself, falling down to Geofront when Unit-02 had finally self-
destructed. All that was left behind were ashes and a crater about five 
miles in radius and could bee seen. Several days had passed since that 
fateful day that changed everyone's life.
  Ranma turned toward the group, "Are you guys sure ya wanna come with 
us back to our world?" 
  Misato, still in bandages, nodded weakly, "There's no reason for us to 
stay here anymore. None of us have any families. Our friends....we'll 
never see them again," She didn't want to really say much more. She had 
lost everything. She no longer had an apartment. She would probably 
never be able to see PenPen again.
  "I can't believe it," Ritsuko commented, "After all we've been 
through. All of it never really mattered. We were nothing more than 
simple tools for Seele." Ritsuko was in pretty bad shape but would 
otherwise live. The bullet had luckily entered and exited through her, 
missing her vital organs. If it weren't for Ranma and Ryoga's knowledge 
of treating wounds, she would have probably have died from bleeding.
  Ranma continued to wait. He wanted to see the sunrise on this world 
one last time before he left. It would only be another half hour or so 
before the sky would glow a brilliant glow of red and they would finally 
leave this world before.
  "So what's gonna happen to this place?" Ranma asked.
  "The UN's gonna drop N2's over this entire place until the city's 
totally gone." Ritsuko said. "Now that the shit's hit the fan, what with 
Seele's secret objective being revealed, someone's gonna get all the 
blame for all of this,"
  "The UN wants everyone to stay ignorant so they plan on destroying 
this entire city," Misato said. "Everyone who ever lived in this city, 
they have no idea of just how close we came to bein' wiped off this 
planet." Misato sighed, wincing a bit since it still pained her to 
breath.
  Asuka looked at Shinji. Shinji looked like a shadow of his former 
self.
  "S-Shinji, a-are you all right?"
  Shinji looked at Asuka and nodded a bit, "Yeah. I guess so.....I-I 
dunno."
  "He deserved it," Misato said, placing a gentle hand on Shinji's 
shoulder, "I'm sorry to say this, but....but your father deserved to 
die. All he ever cared about was himself and his goals. He used everyone 
to achieve it."
  Shinji said in a soft voice, "I-I....I hated him. I-I always hated 
him. I-I-I'm glad he died. I-I'm glad I was the one who killed him," All 
of a sudden, he broke down and started crying.
  Rei placed a hand on his shoudler, "It's okay to cry, Shinji."
  Ranma looked at Rei, a smirk on his lips, "So what's your story?"
  Rei looked at the ground for a moment before she spoke, "I'm not the 
Rei you know."
  "No duh," Ranma said "You act much different than the one I knew,"
  "The one you knew....she died," Rei said in a soft voice, "I'm....I'm 
her clone,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Well, there's really nothing wrong with 
that, being a clone and all,"
  "When I was....resurrected," Rei continued, "I kept all my memories 
from when I knew you. Commander Ikari tried to have all my memories 
removed and thought I wouldn't remember you or Ryoga, but I did. Because 
I remembered you....and all the good things you did for me, I realized 
that people do care about me, even more than Commander Ikari. I refused 
to help him because I realized he was only using me."
  "Man, I can't believe how long we've been here," Ranma said, "Jeez, my 
sense of time sucks. I can't believe it....I've been here for several 
months. It only felt like I've been here for a month or so, including 
the time it took for us to find the nanban mirror,"
  Ryoga scratched his head, "Um, I still don't get it. Exactly how does 
all of this come together? I mean, that Angels, the EVAs, that big thing 
we saw at....what didja call it.....Central Dogma,"
  "I'll explain it to you two someday," Misato said with a smile, "It's 
all pretty confusing,"
  Ranma shook his head, "No thank you. From what you told me, about how 
these Angels, which I really thought were aliens, were actually tests 
that God sent down from heaven to test humans, and this Human Compliment 
Project, and how that dick, Gendo wanted to start the Third 
Impact....it's gonna give me a headache."
  "Well, what's givin' me a headache was how you managed to survive 
that," Asuka said, silent until now.
  "Survived what?" Ranma said, "Oh, you mean that huge explosion? Well, 
it's pretty easy, at the moment I hit that....guy..."
  "His name was Lorenz. After what Asuka had described," Misato 
commented.
  "Yeah, Lorenz," Ranma said, "After I hit him, I used the nanban mirror 
to, um, I guess warp me and Ryoga out of the room. Once out of the room, 
I grabbed Asuka and Shinji and Rei and did it again warping outta that 
room and into the infirmary where I pick you and Ritsuko up and then 
finally wrapping all of us outta there and away to safety,"
  "But how didja manage to do all of that in such a little amount of 
time?" Ritusko said. Thinking in locical terms, it must be an extremely 
taxing feat since Ranma had time working against him because the 
explosion would have been growing at an expoential rate.
  Ranma smiled and said, "It wasn't that hard. All I had to do was 
physically touch you. That's all,"
  "That nanban mirror in your possession." Ritsuko said, "That seems to 
be a rather powerful object to have in your possession. I wonder how 
come that item had never been exploited before,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulder, "Well, it was always there to be 
exploited,"
  Misato looked at the horizon, "Look, there's the sunrise,"
  Ranma and Ryoga turned toward the rising sun. It looked beautiful.
  "It's just a lousy sunrise," Asuka muttered.
  Ranma walked over to Asuka and placed an arm around her shoulder, 
"C'mon Asuka, you've gotta be kiddin' me. You don't think that sunrise 
looks at all pretty?"
  Asuka seemed to be more aware of how close Ranma was to her than the 
sunrise, "Um, well, I suppose it is actually pretty,"
  "In my world," Ranma commented, "The sunrise looks just like that."
  "Speaking of your world," Misato began, "Um, how is it like?"
  Ranma smiled, "It's basically like this world but a lot more peaceful. 
You don't have to worry about Angels. You can basically enjoy life,"
  "Well, we saw the sunrise, are you guys ready to come along?" Ryoga 
asked.
  None of them seemed to be nervous. They all answered, "Yes,"
  "You do know, that as soon as you leave this world, there's a good 
chance you'll never come back," Ranma said, "I mean, you'll be leaving 
behind all your friends, your family, everyone,"
  "PenPen will get along just fine," Misato said cheerily.
  "Hikari, well, she has....Toji, even though he is a baka," Asuka said.
  "Everyone's going to be fine," Shinji said.
  "Shinji, you don't feel at all bad....about your father?" Ranma had to 
ask.
  Shinji thought about it for a moment. He then looked up right into 
Ranma's eyes and said, "No. I don't."
  "Well, let's get outta here," Ranma said, "Since there's nothing left 
here, let's go," 
  Ranma took out the mirror. He looked into it.
  Everyone disappeared in a brilliant burst of life.
  All of them will go to a better place.
  Ranma and the others appeared on a nearby cliff as the sun began to 
rise beyond MegaTokyo.
  "This brings back memories," Ranma said in a soft voice, "This was the 
same cliff we were on when we came back to MegaTokyo several years ago," 
He walked off toward a trail not a far way off, "I'm in the mood to 
walking home,"
  "MegaTokyo," Misato said, "That's the name of this city?"
  Ranma nodded. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you'll be calling it 
something else,"
  "What's that?"
  "Home,"


<End for now>


The parts before and after and even several spin-offs to this series can be
found on my page. Hope ya enjoyed the story. I should have posted this story
several months ago but had never gotten around to editing it until now :( The
fic you have just read was written by someone that knows nothing about the EVA
universe. I saw the series not too long ago, but not until well after I had
finished this story. Anyway, I'm sure there are inconsistencies and I apologize.
If you wanna flame me, please note that this is my second crossover, and that
crossing-over with a series I have no knoweldge about. 


-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
Author of Ranma's girls, 
The least one can do, and
the 'just won't die' series.
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
Site usually updated daily