At the start of the year, I sent out a Ranma/Reboot/Wheel of
Time crossover. It was my first fic, and I got a decent response.
However, several people said I was ripping off Differing Powers. I
had a look at it, and had to agree with them. So, I went back and
rewrote it, changing events and characters. Then, in April I goofed
up big time, and lost most of the stuff on my computer. I also lost
all my disks. After that, I began to build up my fic collection
again. A few weeks ago, not long after I finished Ocarina's Love 3, I
found one of my backup disks. I had a look at this fic, made a few
changes, and decided to send it out. This won't be my major storyline
for a while, at least not until I finish the first story arc of
Ocarina's Love. So, don't expect part two of this for a while.

        Matrix Dragon presents......

         NERV Production (This fic causes mental instability in the
writer:)...

        Gateway Between Patterns.
        Part One: A Beginning.

        This story is dedicated to Greer Peace, a friend of mine who
was hit by a car while I was writing this. Get well soon Greer,
life's just not the same without you.

        Everything belongs to whoever made it. In other words, Rumiko
Takahashi for  Ranma 1/2, the great minds at Mainframe Entertainment,
and Robert Jordan, the best fantasy writer there is! I know that
this will not save me from the attacks of bloodthirsty lawyers, but I
am using these characters without permission from anyone. Don't
bother sueing me though, for I have no money, only an old 486, a N64
and a shitload of computer magazines. I don't even have a modem, I'm
sending this from the local libary. If all that dosen't convince you,
maybe this little info will. NERV owes me a lot of favors. Don't say
I didn't warn you :)

                                                ***
        The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories
that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long
forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In
one age, called the Third Age by some, an age yet to come, an Age
long past, a wind blew across the Energy Sea. The wind was not the
beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of
Time. But it was a beginning.

        The wind blew across the docks, where the Mainframe Task Force
ships were docked. The wind blew past them and into the city of
Quasar. It continued to blow, weakening until it reached the
Guardian known as Matrix. He felt the cool wind blow across his face
and smiled. Ever since the User restored Mainframe, he had stopped
taking things for granted and enjoyed life. He knew he had changed
once again, only this time, he was happy with who he was.

***

        Somewhere in the vast number of realities that made up the
Multiverse, a mysterious being covered from head to toe in a dark
green robe stood in front of an altar. "I can sense him at last. What
protects him also makes him vulnerable. The power that he has must be
used for the light. If the Dark One manages to control him, the
results would be terrible. For all the worlds." With that the power
of magic filled her. While the Creator himself could not do anything
here, his servants could. She began to weave the flows that would
shape the young Guardians destiny.

***

        Before he knew what was happening, the sky around Matrix seemed to 
flash a bright yellow light. Bringing the zipboard to a halt, he armed Gun. 
*What the heck is going on?*

        Suddenly a silver portal opened in the sky above him. Before he had 
time to react, Matrix found himself being pulled up towards it.
Moving as fast as he could, he aimed Gun at the portal. His bionic
eye rotated and locked on to it's target. Matrix opened fire. The
blast hit the portal dead on - and flowed harmlessly across the
surface.

        Matrix fired again and again, the energy blasts flying in large 
clumps at the portal. No effect at all. "OH FRAG!!" he screamed
before he was pulled in. The portal slammed shut behind him. There
was no trace that the rebel had ever been there.

***

        "So far so good. Now then, to make sure the young man will
survive in his new world."

***

        Matrix found himself in - well the middle of nowhere would be
the best description. Nothing but darkness as far as he could see. He
also noticed the fact that he wasn't standing on anything, just
floating in midair. <Am I deleted? Is this the afterfile?> As he
looked around, trying to find a point of reference, he found one. A
small dot of silver blue light in front of him. <Wonder what it is.
And how come I didn't notice it before. Wait a nano, it getting
bigger. No, it's moving! And it's coming right for me!>

        Desperately he threw himself to the side. Or at least tried to. 
Instead the momentum only spun him around several times. Soon the dot was 
close enough for him to see it properly. It was a long beam
of energy, stretching back as far as he could see. He didn't get the
chance to examine it any further as it slammed into his chest.

        Energy crackled over Matrix's body, sending waves of pure pain
through his body. He could feel nothing but the pain! Pure pain, the
likes of which he had never felt before. It felt like his insides
were being twisted to breaking point and beyond. His hands felt like
they were going to explode, his arms felt like they were being broken
again and again. His right eye overloaded with the energy output,
shutting down. At last Matrix collasped, the pain too great for even
him to stand.

***

        "It is done. Now for the next two."

***

        Nerima doesn't exactly have much of a reputation as a quiet
town. The words 'Disaster Area' come to mind when you think about it.
What with Chinese Amazons, curses, panty thieves, insane gymnasts and
so on, being careful was an important part of life if you wanted to
stay out of hospital. The only exception to this was the young man
known as Ranma Saotome. He couldn't avoid trouble. Like now.

        Ranma dodged the bandanna, leaping over Ryouga and onto the
fence. "Come on P-Chan! You've got to be able to do better then that!
I could avoid that in my sleep!"

        "Shut up Ranma! SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!" The ki-bolt flew at Ranma,
who easily dodged. "Because of you I have seen hell!"

        "That's the eighth time you've said that today. Can't you ever
come up with anything original? Or are you too pig-headed for that?"

        "AARRGGHH! DIE RANMA!" Ryouga leapt at Ranma, who jumped to the 
side, and kicked him in the back of the head.  Ryouga landed in an
alley, where a splash was heard.

        "Well that was easy enough."

        "Don't pick on Ryouga BAKA!" Akane's fist hit the back of
Ranma's head. Ranma groaned and began to pick himself up.

        "Hey! He started it! Aren't you smart enough to figure that
out?"

        "Jerk!" Akane's mallet imbedded itself in Ranma's head. Ranma
groaned and began to pick himself up. Again.

        "That didn't even hurt! Your mallet's as bad as your cooking!"

        "RANMA!" By this time Ranma was already running off, throwing
insults behind him. Akane gave chase, mallet above her head. "Get
back here! You're going to pay for that!" Suddenly Akane felt
something grab her around the neck. In shock the mallet faded out of
reality. Whatever had her by the throat lifted her a meter above the
ground. she tried to struggle against the mystery force, to no avail.
"Hey, let me go!"

        "No Akane Tendo, I will not be letting you go." The voice
seemed feminine. Soon Akane saw the person that the voice belonged
to. She was wearing a long woolen robe that covered her entire
body. The hood was pulled back, showing the face of a young gaijin
woman. She had long blond hair and deep blue eyes.

        "Oh yes you will, lady! Let her go now!" Ranma stood around ten 
meters away from the woman, in a simple battle stance.

        "Do you really think you can attack a woman? Do you want to
stain your honor even futher, Ranma Saotome?" With that all three of
them faded from sight.

***

        Matrix found himself waking up, then wished he hadn't. It felt
like Mike the TV was in his head, playing all of his ads at the same
time. He briefly considered passing out again, but stopped when
he saw his hands.

        "What in the net?" he whispered softly. His skin had somehow
changed color. It was now the same color as the skin of all those
users he had seen over the hours he had spent traveling the games. As
he stood up, staring at himself in shock, he noted his surroundings.
He was on a mountain, around half way up. Looking below him, he saw
that the land went on as far as he could see. <That's new. Must be a
game cube.> He double tapped his icon. "ReBoot." To his surprise,
nothing happened. "Okay, so it's not a game. Gun;" The weapon flew to
his hand. "Command Line; Full Delete." <Better safe then sorry.>
With that he activated the sensors in his eye and began to search for
anyone or anything that might be able to tell him where he was.

***

        Ranma and Akane reappeared less then two hundred meters away
from Matrix. The first surprise was Ranma's clothes. Somehow they had
been changed. He was wearing leather boots and gloves. He also had
white woolen pants and shirt, with a green tunic on top of that. On
his belt was a standard icon. "Weird. Okay then, lets figure out
where we are." Looking around, he realized it was sunset. *That's
weird, it was only morning back in Nerima.* He saw a strangely
dressed figure not too far away. He had short, spikey black hair, a
black vest, blue pants, black boots and had a silver shoulderpad.
"Hey buddy!"

***

        Matrix acted the same way he always does at a time like this.
He shoots something. In this case, it was the person who called out
to him. He was surprised when the women leapt to the side and
the man leapt over the blast and charged at him. Matrix prepared to
defend himself. <Ah well, I needed a good fight anyway. I've been
getting bored.>

***

        Ranma charged in, bringing in a punch to the stomach. His
opponent dodged the attack and aimed a kick at Ranma's head. Dodging,
Ranma laughed. "Is that the best you can do?" He went low, knocking
his opponent off his feet. "Let me show you a real attack." He
focused his ki in his hands. Only a weak blast, didn't want to kill
this guy. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!" The impact sent his opponent
flying into a tree, hitting with a sickening crunch. Ranma made a
show of dusting off his hands. "That was one of the worst fights I
have ever had!"

        The stranger began to get up. "Now I am _very_ mad. Okay kid,
let's party!" He charged Ranma, sending them both slamming through
another tree. Ranma flipped, sending his opponent into a snowdrift.
*Shit, all this snow. Got to avoid it. Don't want to have to worry
about my curse now.*

        The two charged again. Ranma tried to knock his opponent's feet out 
from under him but failed, receiving a kick to the head for his troubles. 
Both of them began a pattern that seemed to have no end.
One of them attacks, the other blocks or dodges it. No matter what
they did, neither could break through the others defense.

        For over a minute this went on, until Ranma performed a spin
kick at the stranger's head. The stranger caught the foot and
grinned. Ranma stared in shock. The man only had one eye! His right
eye seemed to be made of metal, with a glowing M on it. As Ranma
stared in shock, his opponent twisted his foot, throwing the young
martial artist to the ground, then following up with an elbow in the
back. Ranma barely bit back a scream of pain. <If he hit a normal
person like that, he would have torn them in half! This guys playing
for keeps!> Rolling to the side, he leapt up and changed tactics.

***

        The robed figure stood some distance away, cloaked by a field
of invisibility. <Damn, I should have known this would happen. I
should have gotten rid of that gun. Maybe if I..... yes that could
work.> She vanished without a sound.

***

        Matrix went through possible attacks. <No. No. No. Can't do
that, Mike isn't here. No. No. That's sick. No. No. Guess this one
will have to do.> "Gun; Command Line; Death Blossom" Matrix aimed Gun
at his opponent and opened fire. Hundreds of energy blasts ripped
across the battlefield, destroying trees, rocks and anything else too
slow to get out of the way. However, not a single blast hit the kid,
who just ran around him in circles, throwing insults all the while.
Matrix's anger increased to new heights. <That's it, this kid is
dead!>

***

        Akane looked on as Ranma began a move that would finish this
fight once and for all. She was playing smart and sensible for once,
staying as far away as possible from the pair. Just one of those
blasts would kill her in an instant. Her attention was pulled away
from the fight when a silver sphere appeared in front of her. "What
the?!" Without a sound the sphere imploded, leaving behind a
unconscious young woman. Akane ran over and checked her vital signs.
<Oh kami, she's not breathing. What do I do? C'mon Akane, think! Of
course, CPR!> As Akane tried to remember what that instructor
had taught her, she prayed that the fight wouldn't go near them. She
doubted that the woman would survive.

***

        Ranma smirked. This guy was just too easy. "Sucker!" He stopped 
running, ducked an energy blast and threw an uppercut into the air. "HIRYUU 
SHOUTEN HA!" The winds that formed began to spread out,
pulling first the one eyed man and then Ranma into the air. Unnoticed
by either of them, the winds spread towards Akane and the mystery
woman.

***

        <She's breathing!> Relief filled Akane as the woman began to
breathe.

        "Wha? Where am I?"

        "Don't worry, you should be fine now. What's your name?"

        "AndrAIa."

        "I'm Akane." Akane looked at the women. She had blue green
hair, something Akane had never seen before. She was fairly tall, was
wearing knee-high boots, pants made of some fabric she didn't
recognize, and a shirt and coat made of the same fabric.

        The girl began to get up. "Uh, where am I?"

        "No idea. Um, not to be rude or anything, but do you recognize
the man wearing the black vest?"

        "Of course! He's my boyfriend." Suddenly Akane saw Ranma throw
an uppercut. "HIRYUU SHOUTEN HA!" She watched as the winds first took
AndrAIa's boyfriend, then Ranma, then realized in horror that the
winds would reach them too. "HANG ON!" Both women held on to one of
the few trees that was still in one piece. For almost ten seconds the
winds pulled, sending every single rock, tree branch or anything else
that may have been in the area into the air. To Akane it felt like
every single piece was slamming into her. At last the winds died
down, Akane and AndrAIa let go of the tree and looked around. For
almost a hundred meters from the blast site, a good number of trees
had been uprooted, lots of junk was falling out of the sky, and there
was no sign of the two combatants. It was only because of pure luck
that they had not been swept up in the storm. Akane simply stared in
shock. <How was his attack this powerful?>

        AndrAIa looked up into the sky. "What was that?"

        "The Hiryuu Shouten Ha. It's a huge ki-powered hurricane."

        AndrAIa nodded. "So then. Where are they?"

        Akane looked around as well. "Is that them?" she asked,
pointing towards two very small dots.

        "I think so."

        "That's pretty high up."

        "Sure is."

***

        High above the Mountains of Mist, in the light of the setting
sun, two warriors of the Light were engaged in mortal combat. The
battle was really just a misunderstanding, not that that mattered to
either of them. They just wanted to belt the crap out of each other.

        The deafening roar of Matrix's gun ripped across the red sky,
bright blue energy slamming into his opponent. The boy moved towards
him as they fell, swinging his left fist at his face. Matrix swung
his head back, smirking as he avoided the punch easily. "Guess you're
not so good after all kid."

        "Oh I'm a lot better then you, ugly! KACHUU TENSHIN
AMAGURIKEN!!" The boy's right arm became nothing more then a blur as
it smashed into the guardian's chest. However, the strength of his
armored vest stopped it from hurting too badly. He replied with a
knee in the chest, followed by a left hook to the jaw. He noted with
some pleasure that the boy spat out blood.

        "Aw, did the little kiddie hurt himself? Why don't you go back
to your toys? I'm sure that's all you're good for!"

        "Oh yeah one-eye? At least I don't need a wimpy gun!" The boy
performed a roundhouse kick to Matrix's right hand, sending the gun
flying off into the distance. One of those _DAMN_ balls of energy
appeared in his hands again. Matrix mentally cursed. <This is gonna
bruise.>

        "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!" The blast slammed into Matrix once again,
sending him slamming into the ground, which had been using the fight
to sneak up on him. His last thought before he passed out was <Ah
frag I was right.>

***

        AndrAIa watched the light show above them. <Looks like Matrix
lost his temper again.> "Are you from around here Akane?"

        Akane shook her head. "No. I was just pounding Ranma for being
a baka when some girl in a robe showed up and brought us here."
AndrAIa noted that Akane seemed angry. <Don't blame her, considering
what she went through.>

        "It's sort of the same. This portal appeared and pulled me
here. Maybe it's the same person. I guess we're on the same side." If
anything Akane was madder. AndrAIa noticed the short haired girl was
muttering something under her breath. Something about a mallet and
cooking?

        AndrAIa watched as Matrix used his body to make a rather large
crater. <He'll be fine. He's taken worse then that before. Hey wait a
nano, what's happened to his skin. It's changed color!> Then she had
a sudden thought, and looked at herself. She gasped in surprise. Her
normal top had been replaced by a shirt and jacket, which seemed to
be made out of the same materials as her pants. Her skin still looked
the same, but the fins on her arms had somehow disappeared, as had
those on her legs. <How could they disappear like that? They're part
of my body!> "What in the Net is happening here?" she asked quietly.

***

        Ranma landed perfectly. Firing so many ki-blasts should have
left him drained, but for some reason he barely felt tired. <Must be
getting stronger.> "Damn I'm good!"

        "RANMA NO BAKA!!!" Ranma's self praise was interrupted by the
mallet of intense pain and agony (TM). "He's on our side! Why is it
you always go and pick a fight with people?!"

        "Urk!" At the moment Ranma was in no position of answering this 
question, due to the fact that he was out cold. Akane pounded him one more 
time, then turned to AndrAIa. "Guess we'll just have to wait for them to 
wake up."

    AndrAIa gave her a wide grin. That, combined with the twinkle in
her eyes, would have anyone who knew her well running for the Web.
"Don't worry Akane, I can wake up Matrix at least. You deal with
Ranma." She walked up to Matrix, put her mouth next to his ear and
yelled "LUNCH!!" at the top of her lungs.

        Matrix and Ranma both sat up at the same time. "Food! Ow my
head," Matrix groaned.

        "Hope Akane's not cooking," Ranma added and was once again
pounded by the mallet. Matrix looked at Ranma, his face a mix of
emotions, mainly anger. He began to walk towards the young  man,
right eye glowing red. AndrAIa gasped.

        "Matrix, stop!"

        "What? AndrAIa? Ho-how did you get here?" The eye stopped
glowing.

        "I have no idea. Listen to me Matrix, we were all brought here
against our will. We're on the same side."

        "He attacked me!" Matrix protested.

        "After you shot at him first, I'll bet! It was all a
misunderstanding, nothing more! Now calm down!"

        "Why should I?"

        "Defrag it Matrix, use your brain for once. He's on our side,
there was a misunderstanding, there's no need to blow up this place!
Do you understand?"

        "All right. Uh, what are we going to do about him?" The two
sprites turned human looked at Ranma, his body crumpled up on the
ground.

***

        Five minutes later Ranma came to. After another near fight
between the two men, AndrAIa and Akane had finally managed to stop a
repeat of earlier.

        Okay then, we're on the same side. But that doesn't mean that
there won't be a rematch," Ranma said.

        "I look forward to it kid. I'll show you how a real fighter
fights."

        A real fighter!? Hey pal, I'm the best there is! I always beat
my opponents!"

        "And I don't?!"

        "Well, if I remember right, you're the one who got slammed into the 
ground! Thanks to me! Face it old man, you're no match for me!"

        "You have a big ego problem. Hey, wait a nano! OLD MAN?!"

        "HEY! YOU TWO!!" Both men looked at AndrAIa. <Men,> both
AndrAIa and Akane thought at the same time. "Save the fights for
later, for now lets figure out what we can do about our current
problem."

        "Okay. It's sunset now, but personally, staying a night in this cold 
weather is crazy. I remember seeing a village down in the
valley. I think our best bet would be to head for that. I figure we
could make it in a couple of days if we try," Ranma said.

        Matrix stared at Ranma in disbelief. "DAYS!! Are you nuts? I'd
say two seconds, maybe three." Ranma stared at him like he was crazy.

        "One second, two seconds, three seconds, you're still here."
Now it was Matrix's turn to look at Ranma like he was random.
Everyone was staring at each other in confusion. AndrAIa thought for
a second (or is that nano?) then figured out the problem.

        "I think I get it. We use different names to measure time. What you 
call a day we call a second."

        Akane nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Well, let's get going."

***

        The small group, brought to a place that none of them knew of,
began the journey down the mountain. The forest was dark and cold,
with no sign of life. There was small streams, but nothing that
would cause any trouble. Almost instantly though, they began to try
to learn about the people that they knew nothing about.

        "So Matrix, tell me about yourself." Ranma was very interested
in this man. He'd been blasted with several Mouko Takabisha's, a
Hiryuu Shouten Ha, a Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken along with normal
enough punches and kicks and then used his body to make a five foot
crater. And been ready to keep fighting. <Where did this guy train?>

        "Well, I had a normal enough life to start of with. It was
peaceful enough for a while, then an experiment destroyed the Twin
City, along with my parents." Matrix's eyes showed grief for a brief
second, almost as much as Ryouga. Somehow, this man had managed to
overcome that grief. Ranma had to admit he was impressed. And that is
something that happens very very rarely.

        "After that I lived in Mainframe with my sister Dot......"

        Matrix's story continued, with Megabyte attacking and taking
over G-Prime, the arrival of Bob, the web-creature that caused the
World Web War, the Megabyte war, losing the game, travelling the
Net and the Web, and finally returning home and leading the final
battle against Megabyte and now serving in the war against Daemon.

        Ranma and Akane asked questions. The questions surprised Matrix and 
AndrAIa. They were surprised to learn that Ranma and Akane had no idea what 
a game cube was, or a null. They didn't know about the Web, or the 
Guardians. Ranma and Akane were also surprised. When they told their life 
stories, of how Ranma had spent his whole life training in Anything-goes, 
how he travelled the world, how he was staying at a friend of his fathers 
house for now, and how Akane grew up in Nerima, they discovered that the 
Mainframers had no idea of anything like that they knew back home.

        Confusion showed itself all over Matrix's face. "Almost like
different worlds. No, that's impossible."

        Ranma smirked. "Says who? Believe me, it doesn't matter how
weird it is, it will happen."

        "Maybe." Matrix still wasn't convinced. "So let me get this
straight. Your parents engaged you before you were born, you met less
then a hou... year ago, and you fight like cornered nulls."

        "Cornered nulls?"

        "Just a saying back home. You don't get along. Acording to
Akane, you're a perverted baka. Hey what's that mean anyway?"

        "It means Jerk. Don't you understand Japanese? Hey wait a
second! I just realised something!" Everyone turned to look at the
pig-tailed boy.

        AndrAIa spoke first. "What is it Ranma?"

        "We're not speaking Japanese! We're speaking English! And
easily at that! I didn't pay much attention in class-"

        "You mean you didn't pay any attention at all," Akane
commented. "Hey you're right! It sounds a lot like English!"

        Matrix and AndrAIa looked at each other. "Sounds like plain dos to 
me," the one-eyed warrior noted.

        Ranma looked at Akane for a second. "Hey Akane, can you still
understand me?" he said in Japanese.

        Akane nodded. "Yes."

        AndrAIa blinked. "Ah, what are you two saying?"

        "We're just talking in Japenese," Akane said in English.

        "Sounds even weirder then binary."

        "Okay. So where were we?"

        Matrix scratched his chin. "If I remember right, we were
talking about what you two think of each other. Akane thinks you're a
perverted jerk. You think she's an uncute tomboy."

        Ranma laughed. "More then that. She's violent, bad-tempered,
has a figure like a brick, can't swim, can't cook, can't fig-" WHAM!!

        "BAKA!!" Matrix stared in shock at the mallet Akane pulled out
of nowhere then made dissappear just as easy.

        "What in the Net was that?!"

        "That's the mallet Akane pulls out of nowhere and pounds me
with whenever she's in a bad mood. Which is when she's awake, when
she's asleep, when she's cooking, when she's walking, wh-" WHAM!!

        AndrAIa groaned. "Oh great, now we have to wait for him to wake up."

        Matrix pulled the martial artist out of the ground. "Not
really, I can carry him easily." He slung him on his shoulder and
walked on ahead.

        Akane watched the guardian walk up ahead and smiled. "He's
quite a catch. You're a lucky girl. Wish there was someone like him
back home." <At least someone who could tell me to my face that he
loved me.>

        "There is."

        "Huh?"

        "I've seen people like you before. Admit it, you like Ranma."

        Akane's instincts kicked in. "What!? You think I like that
pervert? You're crazy!"

        "All right then. If you say you don't like him, then you don't
like him."

        "I'm glad we sorted that out." But Akane couldn't shake the
feeling she was being laughed at. And NO-ONE laughed at Akane Tendo
and got away with it.

***

        "Hey Matrix, what happened to your gun?" Ranma, now awake, and
Matrix walked ahead of the girls a bit.

        "It landed ahead of us. I can track it, to a certain degree. I
know what direction it's in. When we get close to it I can find it
with no problem."

        "That makes sense. Do you need a sparring partner?"

        "I could always use another. Why?"

        "Well, I need one too."

        "Why can't I train with you Ranma?" Ranma nearly leapt into the air. 
<Where did she come from?>

        "C'mon Akane, you know I don't hit girls." Ranma's hands,
unnoticed by everyone, curled into that 'go away you inflicter of
pain' position. <Oh this is gonna hurt.>

        "Why not?"

        "Well, uh, guys don't hit girls. You know, honor and all that."

        "I can fix that." Akane scooped up some snow in her hands and
tossed it at Ranma, who dodged.

        "Hey watch it Akane!"

        Matrix and AndrAIa watched as Ranma dodged the snowballs.
"Why's he so worried about snow?" Matrix asked.

        "Beats me."

***

        Part b on it's way

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