Well... I know we've beaten the Ranma 1/2 / Matrix crossover cow to death
here... why not throw one more into the fire. This one is uncompleted (still
got a long way to go), but I've got a very good idea of where I want to go
with it. Hehehehe... I'm gonna have SOOOO much fun with this one... <evil
(but not hentai) grin>
Please reply with some comments/questions/observations either on FFML (admin
patience permiting) or in email and let me know if you think this has
promise or not. (Even if you think it doesn't, I'm gonna do it anyway so
PBBBBBTTTTT!!!) <grin>
----- Actual story begins here
Interface - A Ranma � / Matrix Fanfic crossover
Authored By XStylus (Troy Alan Williams)
Begun on: 10-25-99
First draft completed on: Unfinished
Final draft completed on: Unfinished
Revisions made on: N/A
Notes to RAAC/TASS: This may be categorized as a one-shot
story. There shall be no forthcoming chapters or side-stories.
The Matrix is a copyrighted production of Warner Brothers Inc.
The Ranma � series and it's characters are the creation of
Rumiko Takahashi. I assume no ownership to any of the characters
listed herein. No infringement or disrespect for their creativity is
intended. Consider this story a parody.
Send comments to stylusx(@)earthlink.net.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Call trans opt: Received 13:04:18. REC: Loop
Trace program running.
TTY output enabled.
Male voice: "It starts here."
Voice identified: Perp 7b098bf - "Neo"
Female voice "They're listening, you know."
Voice identified. Perp a1f61d2 - "Trinity"
Neo "I want them to. They're not too clever though."
Trace failure. Diagnostic program running.
Neo "See?"
Trinity "Showoff."
Silence interval: 3.7 seconds.
Trinity "Why here?"
Neo "Because they already accept. They already feel."
Trinity "Why them?"
Neo "The matrix isn't perfect, Trinity. There are glitches."
Trinity "Having another deja vu? (humor reaction: chuckle)"
Neo "I don't mean the construct program. There's glitches
in the interface..."
Interface protocol: Level 7 diagnostic running.
Neo "...glitches they can't fix."
Diagnostic halted.
Trinity "What kind of glitches?"
Neo "Glitches we can take advantage of. I can't describe
them for you. You have to see them yourself."
Trinity "We better cut this short. There's civilians around."
EYEinEYE protocol active. Output file stored to tn130418.ini
Neo "I've got you covered."
Call termination.
EYEinEYE protocol: This program has executed an illigal
operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists,
please contact the program vendor.
File corrupt: tn130418.ini. Abort, Retry, Fail?
---
Downtown Nerima Japan, early morning. Trinity parked
her motorcycle alongside the wall to the Tendo dojo. The doors to
it's entrance were wide open, so she took a small step inside. No-
one had noticed her yet, but she could see a dark haired woman
with her empty hands above her head as if she were carrying an
invisible weapon of some kind chasing some boy across the
premises.
Her weapon wouldn't be invisible for long.
"Raaaaaanmaaaaaaaaa!!!" Akane screamed as her 3.7 ton
wooden -thing- known respectfully as "Mallet-sama" materialized
in her hand.
"YAAHHH!!" Ranma quickly headed -anywhere- but
here, and made his exit with one of his patented 20 meter leaps
over the fence and onto a nearby roof, followed by Akane.
Trinity's dark glasses concealed her reaction, but had she
not been wearing them her eyes might have fell out in shock. She
just witnessed a regular person -create- a rather LARGE weapon
and hoist it as if it were a feather. There is no mallet... there is no
mallet... there is-...
"Go get em', Akane! Beat em' good!" Happosai
encouraged.
"What did my boy do this time?" Genma inquired.
"He let Akane to discover my new hiding place for some of
her unmentionable treasures that I kindly appropriated just recently!
That's what!" Happosai explained.
"Dare I ask, where might that be?" Genma inquired.
"Ranma's underwear drawer." he answered.
"Master, how could you do this to my poor son?!" Genma
yelled.
"Ah, but Genma, it is all but essential training for young
Ranma! It's not the training I was hoping for, but it'll do..."
"And just what kind of training did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was hoping that he'd find dear Akane's brazier
and panties and try them on for me and-..."
"I shall purge this world of your evil!" Genma exclaimed as
he attempted to crush Happosai with a nearby tea kettle.
Happosai, in one swift move consumed the entire contents
of the tea kettle, grabbed Genma's wrist, hurled the tea kettle into
the air, flung Genma into the pond, balanced the falling tea kettle on
one finger, then eventually set it gently on the table. The whole
move took place in approximately four seconds, the bulk of that
being the balancing act.
"Forgive me, master!" Genma signed.
Trinity face vaulted. How could anyone move that fast?!
She face vaulted again when Genma emerged from his pond as a
panda.
"That is one MAJOR glitch..." Trinity silently muttered.
"Pretty lady!!!" Happosai exclaimed, seeing Trinity standing
at the front entrance. Trinity caught a glance of the small piece of
living beef jerky, and then he disappeared. Strangely, she now felt
this strange shriveled piece of -something- adhered to her chest...
She glanced down and saw that the strange man groping
her.
0.01 seconds. She extracted him from her chest...
0.03 seconds. ...drop kicked him...
0.06 seconds. ...straight upward into her fist...
0.09 seconds. ...knocking him downward into Trinity's
kick again...
0.1 seconds. ...and repeated this process 10 times, totaling
one complete second of rapid-fire, turbo button triggered, super
rave comboed pain. The gun might've been more merciful...
Trinity quickly left the premises in pursuit of Akane and
Ranma. On the way she whipped out her cell-phone and vigorously
punched in a phone number.
"Hello, this is Neo. Sorry I can't come to the phone right
now Trinity, but if you'll leave your message, the time you called,
and a few choice words reminding me of how much you love me,
I'll gladly return your call at my earliest convenience, or until you
calm down, whichever comes last. -BEEP!-"
Trinity used some -very- choice words indeed.
---
The Nebuchadnezzar operator room. Neo, Tank, and
Morpheus were staring at a screen of small bits and characters
scrolling across it. To the untrained eye, they would look like
perhaps an entirely new language. To them, it was more vivid than a
picture.
"You chose well, Neo..." Morpheus assured. "...but be
careful. I don't want another Cipher incident."
"Tank, prep up an extraction room about a block away
from Trinity's location."
"Already done." Tank smiled.
"Shall we?" Neo motioned to the interface couches.
"Oh, just so you know, Neo..." Tank called. "Trinity left a
(cough) message. She wasn't quite happy with you. You might
wanna try to stay on her -good- side when you get in there..."
"You'd think she never spoke to an answering machine
before..." Neo mused as he plopped down into one of the couches.
"Tell her to meet us there with the 'kids'." Morpheus said,
just before he slipped into the matrix.
---
"I am called Trinity."
"Akane Tendo." she replied with a bow. "That fool under
the mallet over there is Ranma."
"Nice meeting you, Akane and Ranma Tendo. Tell me-..."
"Ranma SAOTOME, not Tendo! We're not related... not
yet, anyway." Ranma exclaimed as he removed himself from under
the mallet.
Trinity remained unfazed. "I was watching you two a few
moments ago. How did you learn to leap like that?"
"Huh? Oh... that. Training. Lots. Don't try it at home."
Ranma brushed some debris off his shirt.
"And you, Akane. Where did that mallet come from?"
"Well, uhm... I dunno. It's just always there when I need it.
I never really thought about -where- it came from..."
"GUN!" Ranma yelled, pointing to a man in a dark suit and
tie wearing sun glasses standing at the other side of the alley of
which they were in. The man held a Colt 45 pistol leveled straight at
Trinity's head. -Click-.
0.01 seconds. Akane pushes Trinity to the ground, both
narrowly missing the bullet.
0.15 seconds. Ranma launches a concentrated Moko
Takabisha blast.
0.27 seconds. Blast hits it's intended target, the gun. The
bullets inside it explode, blowing up the agent's hand.
0.34 seconds. Ranma charges up to the distracted man.
0.50 seconds. Kachu tenshin amaguriken!!!
1.00 seconds. Man is incapacitated and collapses to the
ground. After a moment, it abandons the body it possesses and
morphs back to the form of it's original owner, an office secretary,
still unconscious with a pulped hand.
"NO! I wasn't trying to kill... wait a-..." Ranma looked
closer at his vanquished opponent. "Where'd this girl come from?!"
"An agent moves from body to body. If only you -had-
killed him... You're in danger now." she turned to Akane. "I owe
you one." Trinity pulled out her cell-phone and made a call.
"Morpheus, we got problems. Agents know we're here." a
pause. "Yea, we're fine for now. You'll love this... the boy just
took one out." another pause. "You heard me."
"I didn't mean to...!!! I... I... " Ranma yelled.
"...Morpheus, we've got to protect these two."
"We don't need anyone's protection!" Akane yelled.
"...what's your location? We've got to get them out
NOW."
"Out of what?" Akane questioned.
"...I know it's their choice, but they just attacked an agent,
Morpheus. They're dead if they remain, no matter how good they
are. You might as well throw away that blue pill."
"HELLO?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Akane
questioned.
"...I understand. We'll meet you there." Trinity closed the
flap on her cell-phone. "They'll be after you now. We need to get
you out.
"Out of -what-?!" Akane shouted.
"Come with me and I'll teach you -what-."
---
"Are those two 'them'?" Neo questioned as he adjusted
several settings on a small terminal.
"Yes. This is Akane and Ranma." she answered.
"Ranma SAOTOME and Akane TENDO, thank you very
much. Show some respect!"
"Where we're going, names won't matter." Morpheus
ominously stated.
"What do you mean?" Akane questioned.
"I don't have a lot of time to explain." Morpheus replied.
"Actually, you do. I still need a few more minutes to get
things set up." Neo interjected.
"(Ahem) I'm all ears." Ranma impatiently muttered.
"Very well. (Sigh) Have you ever felt a strangeness in your
daily life? A strangeness that felt like a dream you couldn't wake up
from? Something that felt... off? Something that felt like it couldn't
possibly be real?" Morpheus questioned.
"Oh...hell...yes." Ranma replied with conviction.
"That is the matrix. We're here to free you from it."
"Say what?" Ranma muttered.
"What is the matrix?" Akane inquired.
"What is the matrix, you ask? Look around. There it is. It is
the world around you. It is everything. It is the wool pulled over
your eyes to mask you from the truth."
"What truth?" Akane inquired.
"That it's not real."
"OH YES YES YES YES YES...!" Ranma exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Akane asked.
"You are trapped in a computer generated reality. Need an
example? Try your mallet, Akane. That's one of many glitches
caused by an incompatibility between you and the Matrix... glitches
that might come in handy, if you'll help us." Trinity explained.
"You mean, I'm in a virtual reality right now?" Akane
asked.
"Yes."
"And you want to wake us up?" Ranma inquired.
"Yes."
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE WE WAITIN' FOR?!"
Ranma yelled.
"Not so fast. I'm being totally honest here, so I must tell
you that there's no turning back once we do this. I offer you one
last chance. Take the blue pill, and life as you know it continues.
Take the red pill, and I show you just how big of a nightmare
you've been living, and what you can do about it." Morpheus held
a pair of each pill out to them.
"Nightmare...?" Akane muttered.
"There's a string attached, however." Morpheus added. "I
can't guarantee that life outside this 'reality' is any better, but it will
be -real-. All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Then what's to stop me from taking the blue pill if it's not
any better?" Akane inquired.
"Are you nuts, Akane?! Anything's better than this!"
Ranma exclaimed.
"If you take the blue pill, then the story ends here. But keep
in mind, you two fought against an agent a short time ago."
"What's so special about them?" Ranma inquired.
"How can I describe this..." Morpheus mumbled
"Think of them as video game henchmen using cheat
codes." Neo stated.
"If you remain here, they'll hunt you down, and there's little
that they -can't- do to you." Trinity added.
"Are you trying to frighten me?!" Akane yelled.
"The truth tends to have that effect." Morpheus answered.
Akane gave a questioning glance at Ranma.
"Don't look at me, Akane. My decision's already made."
Ranma grabbed the red pill.
"You believe them?" Akane asked.
"Not really, but hey, whatever it takes to get my life back
to an acceptable norm..." Ranma replied.
"Ranma..." Akane nervously muttered. "I-If you're going
to... ...(sigh) then so will I."
Morpheus offered a glass of water to drink the pill down,
and motioned to the two chairs in the corner. "Have a seat."
Ranma and Akane sat in the two chairs as Trinity placed
several small monitoring devices on them.
"Try to relax. You're in for quite a ride." Neo said.
Morpheus pushed a button on his cell-phone. "Tank,
anything yet? ... We're gonna need a signal soon."
"Akane...?"
"Yea Ranma?"
"Could this really have been just a dream all this time?"
Ranma nervously inquired.
"I doubt it, but... we'll find out soon enough, won't we?"
Akane replied, trying to keep a tone of optimism.
"Are-... are you just another part of my dream?"
"I was just about to ask you the same question..."
"I hope not." Ranma smiled
"I got a lock on the girl." Neo announced.
"Things might get a little freaky from here. Whatever
happens, just keep calm." Trinity suggested.
"Freaky? What do you-..."
"Do it." Morpheus ordered.
"HUAAAAAGGGHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!"
"AKANNNEEEEEE!!!" Ranma yelled as Akane digitally
dematerialized in front of his own eyes. "What happened to her?!!"
"She woke up. You'll be with her shortly." Morpheus
calmly answered.
"You... you tricked me! You killed her!!!"
"No! We took her out of the machine, that's all! She's
perfectly fine, just stay calm!" Trinity said.
"Bring her back NOW!"
"Is he restrained?" Morpheus asked.
In a swift move, Trinity strapped a thick restraining belt
over Ranma's torso.
"Let me GO!" Ranma yelled.
"Got a lock!" Neo announced.
Ranma flailed his arms around trying to grip -anything- that
he could use as a weapon. He knocked the glass of water,
shattering the glass and spilling the liquid on him. No-one noticed
Ranma change forms, all of them more concerned with their task at
hand.
"Shit! I lost him!" Neo exclaimed. "Wait... got him again!
What the...? What's up with these readings?"
"What's wrong?" Trinity asked.
"Never mind that now! Hit it, Neo!" Morpheus ordered.
---
"A-a-akane... where are you...?" Ranma quietly muttered,
staring up at a ceiling with a rather bright medical light looming
above, lying on an operating table, impaled with several
acupuncture needles.
"She's resting. She had quite a shock. Are you... Ranma?"
a vaguely familiar voice inquired. Looking through blurred vision,
it was near impossible make out a face.
"Yea..." Ranma struggled an answer with weak and raspy
vocal cords.
"Jesus..." the familiar voice muttered.
"What?" Ranma weakly inquired.
"I just thought... uhm... that you were a guy."