Arrrrrgggghhhh... guys, the last posting I had done was -not- the complete
story. It was only the story that I had gotten to -thus far-. It's an
unfinished work (as is this posting here as well).
Anyway... I thought you guys would like to see my LATEST update thus far. In
this the focus is mainly on Ranma and Akane adjusting to life outside the
matrix. Next I will make an actual -adventure- for them, and them thar idea
wheels they are a-churnin'!
For those who hadn't read this the first time I posted it, this contains the
complete story in addition to the new parts I added. I AGAIN REMIND YOU,
THIS IS AN UNFINISHED WORK.
C&C would be -GREATLY- appreciated. Be brutal!
-------Actual story begins now.
Interface - A Ranma 1/2 / 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 1/2 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 illegal
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 raged.
"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!"
"Just what kind of training do you have in mind?"
"Well, I was hoping that he'd find dear Akane's brazier
and panties and try them on for me..."
"I'm sure my SON is quite grateful, master. Allow me to
express MY gratitude!" 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!
They're dead if they remain, no matter how good they are. Forget
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 show 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. Show some
respect!" Ranma shouted.
"In reality, does a name really 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.
"(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.
"FINE! See if I care!" Akane vented as she grabbed the
blue pill.
Morpheus offered Ranma a glass of water to drink the pill
down. After taking a small sip, the glass was offered to Akane. She
remained motionless as she stared carefully at the blue pill.
"What are you waiting for? Take the pill, Akane."
Morpheus said.
Akane remained completely silent, staring ominously at the
pill held in her open palm.
"You're curious, aren't you?" Morpheus inquired.
Akane's reply was shattering silence, continuing to stare at
the dark, sickly greenish blue pill.
"You know what they say about curiosity. Ignorance is
bliss. What you don't know can't kill you."
Akane remained silent, continuing to stare at the strange pill
in her palm. Her blinked in nervousness. Once... twice... on the
third time, the pill was no longer blue, but red.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Akane
popped the pill in her mouth without hesitation, and took a small sip
from the large, overfilled glass of water.
"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!"
"Calm down. She's out of the machine. She'll be fine."
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. His vision blurred, he was unable
to 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."
~~~
The walls... a sickly yellow with a greenish hue. These were
the walls of an interrogation room. The table... stainless steel, with
firm utilitarian chairs around it that were rough, but ergonomically
comfortable. At them, a boy sat opposite of another man who was
wearing a lab coat. Unlike most lab coats which were usually white,
this one was a mysterious dark grey, and since when does a
scientist wear dark sunglasses indoors?
"...and all that we're asking in return is your cooperation in
a small experiment we're conducting." the man spoke.
"Yea... well that sounds like a really good deal." the boy
muttered. "But I think I got a better one..."
The man leaned forward to closely hear the boy's counter
offer.
"How about you give me my cure, and -then- I'll let you do
your little 'experiment'."
"Hmm... Mister Hibiki..." the agent in the lab coat
muttered.
"You can't screw me around. I know a fake when I see it!"
Ryoga vented.
"Do you now?"
The agent presented Ryoga a green pill along with a glass
of ice water.
"Your cure." the agent said.
Ryoga snatched the pill and analyzed it carefully.
"Do we have a deal, Mister Hibiki?"
Ryoga inspected the pill further. "You know... I know this
is too good to be true. I know that when I put this in my mouth my
mind is telling me 'This is it! I'm gonna be cured!' After a mess of
false miracles, you know what I realize?" Ryoga questioned.
The agent patiently awaited the forthcoming answer as
Ryoga ingested the pill, and then splashed himself with the ice
water.
"Miracles really do happen!" Ryoga ecstatically concluded.
"Then we have a deal."
"When do we start?" Ryoga inquired.
"We're already done." the lab-coated agent said.
~~~
"Where am I?"
"You're on board our ship, the Nebuchadnezzar... in the
real world." Trinity explained.
"Real world? Where the hell do you think I've been all this
time... MARS? Where's Ranma?!"
"Resting. So should you."
"I want answers NOW." Akane demanded.
"No you don't." Trinity muttered.
"Don't you-..."
"Trust me, you don't." Trinity interrupted. "Get some rest.
The answers are coming."
"I want to see Ranma."
"Yea... about Ranma......"
~~~
"Did you ask her, Trinity?" Neo inquired.
"She said something about a curse. Cold water supposedly
makes Ranma female, and hot water makes him male."
"The machines must be getting sloppier than I thought."
Neo mused.
"She assured me that Ranma's actually a guy." Trinity said.
"This could get ugly."
"I WANT TO SEE AKANE NOW!" a female voice yelled from
another room.
"This is worse than ugly." Trinity commented as he and
Neo rushed to Ranma's room. Morpheus was already in the
room when a certain -subject- turned matters from bad to worse.
"What happened?" Trinity inquired.
"What happened?!" Ranma mocked "Something -ain't-
happening, that's what happened!" she exclaimed as she dumped a
pot of hot water on herself.
"Ohhhhh shit." Trinity rushed out of the room, heading
for Akane's.
"What's the problem?" Tank inquired as he rushed into the
room.
"You'll be sorry you asked..." Neo muttered.
"What did you do to me?!" Ranma shouted.
"Just calm down, Ranma." Morpheus said.
"I will NOT calm down! I... I will... not... ooogg..."
"Easy now sweets..." Tank said as he caught Ranma as she
fell unconscious..
"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" Akane screamed from another room.
"Enough of this. Tank, load them up." Morpheus ordered.
~~~
"Ooog..." Ranma woke from his unconsciousness to find
himself on a comfortable bed, and back in his male form. As he
looked around he found... nothing. Totally and completely nothing.
"Do you feel better?" Morpheus asked.
"Wha...?! Where am I?" Ranma inquired.
"You're in what we call the construct. It's a computer
program. I decided that we should talk in here while your body
rests, and so that you could be back in your male form."
"While my body-... that wasn't all a dream?" Ranma
inquired.
"That, my friend, was real. If anything could be called a
dream, it's this." Morpheus waved Ranma's attention to the empty
space of the construct.
"Where's Akane?" Ranma inquired.
"She's in another construct talking with Trinity."
"Morpheus, what in the hell is happening? Have I gone
crazy?"
"(Sigh) We have a lot to talk about."
~~~
"...I've heard enough!" Akane sobbed, sitting in a room
devoid of -anything-, similar to Ranma's construct with Trinity
sitting opposite of her. "That can't possibly be-... machines using us
for-... (sob)"
"I wish it were, I really do. That's why we're here.
We fight for a future without the machines." Trinity explained.
"Why Ranma and I?" Akane inquired.
"You know that mallet of yours?"
"What about it?"
"You're the first person we've -ever- met who can
spontaneously create an object. Do you know how valuable a skill
like that can be?"
"So that's it, huh? You want us to be your SOLDIERS?!"
Akane ranted.
"That's a pretty rough way of looking at it, Akane. Would
you rather live in a fake world, or would you rather fight for a real
one?"
"My friends... my family..." Akane muttered.
"They're not your real family, Akane."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Akane fumed.
"It's the truth, Akane! If I were to free them out of the
matrix right now and do a DNA test it would show that you're
totally unrelated to them. They're all random souls grouped to form
a family. It's all part of the illusion. None of it is real, Akane.
NONE of it." Trinity elaborated.
"None of it... none of it... not even my fiance..."
"Fiance?"
"Ranma's my... my fiance." Akane tearfully muttered.
"Oh my god..."
"AND ALL THIS TIME HE WAS A GIRL DAMNIT!
Why couldn't the damn machine have gotten THAT right?!"
~~~
"I don't care if I'm -actually- a girl or not! I was raised a
guy and I'm gonna BE a guy! I ain't gonna act like no damned girl!"
Ranma shouted.
"Have I missed something? Trinity's a woman... does she
act any differently than anyone else?" Morpheus asked.
"Huh? Uhh... no, I don't think so..."
"Then I don't understand."
"Picking flowers, acting cute, wearing dresses..."
"Picking flowers...? What are you... OH!" Morpheus bursted
a roaring laugh. "Ranma, (chuckle) I just look forward to the day
when we can -grow- flowers. I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
There's a few things I forgot about life in the matrix."
"Uhh... now -I'm- lost." Ranma muttered.
"We're a little too busy fighting for humanity to be worried
about things like flowers or dresses, young man... or should I say
lady?"
Ranma shot a very cold glare.
"You've got nothing to worry about. As far as everyone's
concerned, those stereotypes are as fake as the matrix."
"But still...! I was raised a guy and... uhm..."
"You still don't you get it. There is no real difference. Here when
a person looks at you, they see -you-. The rest is details." Morpheus
explained.
"I... I don't want guys coming on to me."
"Oh... so that's it." Morpheus mused. "Then when they
ask, you politely tell them no."
"No-one I've ever met took no for an answer."
"Then you politely -deck- them until they do."
"Geez..." Ranma muttered. "Why couldn't -you- have been
my father?"
"On this ship, I'm everyone's father. We are a family, and
you and Akane are its newest additions." Morpheus patted Ranma
on the back. "Just so you know... you, uhm... -do- have a second
option."
"And that is...?" Ranma inquired.
"You can politely accept."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"Or don't. It's your option. No one will think any different
of you either way. The only person who will care is you, but before
we worry about that, there's two facts you need to wise up to first.
Fact one, you're a girl. Fact two, there's nothing wrong with fact
one."
"Well... just make sure everyone knows I'm -already-
engaged." Ranma muttered.
"That was in your life in the matrix, Ranma. Let it go."
"I will NOT! I... I love her!" Ranma shouted.
"The woman you love is in the matrix. You can't go back
to her."
"You're wrong. She's right here."
Morpheus was silent for a moment.
"Akane?" Morpheus inquired.
Ranma nodded.
"I see. That changes everything."
~~~
"You love her, right?"
"Y-yea..." Akane nervously answered.
"I grew up in the matrix, and I remember how strange a
woman in love with another woman was, but here in the real world
love is rare, too rare to let 'details' spoil it." Trinity explained.
"But... if Ranma and I still... I mean... what will everyone
think?"
"They'll think that you two are the luckiest people alive."
~~~
"You mean that?" Ranma inquired.
"Every word. I envy you, Ranma. When you left the matrix
you were able to take with you the only real thing you had. Your
love."
A tear trickled down Ranma's cheek.
"Are you ready to let go?"
~~~
"Yes." Akane answered.
"Are you ready to tell her that you still love her?" Trinity
asked.
~~~
"Yes!" Ranma and Akane both shouted as they awoke
from the construct.