Incoming phone transmission intercepted.
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. Don't worry... they're not that
clever."
Trace failure. Diagnostic program running.
Neo "See?"
Trinity "Showoff."
Silence period noted. 3.7 seconds.
Trinity "Why here?"
Neo "Because they already see and accept."
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. Aborting...
Neo "...which they could try to exploit if we're not
careful."
Diagnostic reinitialized. All available resources allocated.
Processor overclock subroutine for diagnostic server enabled.
Trinity "What kind of glitches?"
Neo "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 loading. Output file stored to
tn130418.ini
Neo "I'll take care of that."
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?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interface - A Ranma 1/2 / Matrix Fanfic Crossover
Chapter One
Authored by XStylus (Troy Alan Williams)
Begun on: 10-25-99
Released to RAAC on: 04-26-2000
Revisions made on: N/A
Special thanks to prereader Kevin D. Hammel
Notes to RAAC/TASS: This story may be categorized as
a continuing series.
The Matrix is the creation of the Wachowski brothers.
The Ranma 1/2 series is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi.
Street Fighter is the property of Capcom International.
No infringement or disrespect for their creativity is intended.
I assume no ownership to any of the characters listed herein.
This fanfic has been rated (R) by the Motion Picture Fanfic
Association of America. Otaku guidance is suggested.
For continuity purposes, this takes place after volume 38 of
the original Ranma 1/2 series, and before Matrix 2, which is in
production as of the time of this writing. This was originally
written under the assumption that there wasn't going to be a
Matrix sequel.
Comments? Visit www.sofaspud.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was still early morning in downtown Nerima. Trinity
parked her motorcycle alongside the wall to the Tendo dojo.
The doors to its 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 remain 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 in the direction
of 'anywhere but here', a direction once known only by a
certain yellow-bandana wearing rival of his. He made his exit
with one of his patented twenty meter leaps over the fence and
onto a nearby roof, followed in pursuit by Akane.
Trinity's dark glasses concealed her reaction, but had
she not been wearing them her eyes might have fallen out in
shock. She just witnessed a regular person -create- a
substantially 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
cheered.
"What did my boy do this time?" Genma inquired.
"He let Akane discover my new hiding place for some
of her unmentionable treasures that I kindly appropriated just
recently!" Happosai raged.
"Dare I ask where might that be?" Genma inquired.
"Ranma's underwear drawer!" he answered.
"Master, how could you do that to my son?!" Genma
yelled.
"Ah, but Genma, it is all but essential training for
young Ranma! That ingrate... after all I've done for him...!"
"Just what kind of training are you talking about?"
"Well, I was hoping that he'd find dear Akane's brazier
and panties and try them on for me..."
Trinity BLINKED.
"Oh. -That- kind of training. Well, I'm sure my SON is
quite grateful, master. As HIS humble father, 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 as he grabbed Genma's wrist and
hurled him and the kettle into the air. Genma landed in the
pond, and the kettle landed on Happosai's finger. He balanced
the kettle on his finger for a moment, then set it gently on the
table. The whole move took place in approximately four
seconds... seven if you count Genma's hang-time.
Genma remained underwater for quite some time. A
few moments went by, then eventually a sign and a tiny white
flag emerged from the water.
"Forgive me, master!" The sign read.
Trinity face-faulted. "How could anyone move that
fast?!" She face-faulted again when Genma emerged from his
pond as a panda.
"That's 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 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 finishing move comboed pain. The gun
might've been more merciful... but then again, a dose of good
ol' fashioned pain never hurt anyone.
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, all quite
loving.
~~~
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..."
"You'd think she never spoke to an answering machine
before..." Neo mused as he plopped down into one of the
interface couches.
"Tell her to meet us there with the 'kids'." Morpheus
said, just before he slipped into the matrix.
~~~
"I am called Trinity." She respectfully bowed,
remembering her Japanese customs lessons.
"Akane Tendo." she replied with a bow. "That fool
under the mallet over there is Ranma."
"Akane and Ranma Tendo, eh? Nice to meet you. Tell
me how you-..."
"Ranma SAOTOME, not Tendo! We ain't related...!"
Ranma carefully removed himself from under the heavy
mallet. "...yet." he ever-so-silently whispered.
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 its 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?!"
"Agents can move from body to body. If only you
-had- killed him... You're in danger now." she turned to
Akane. "...and I think I owe you one."
"But... but... I just... KILLED someone!" Ranma
flustered. "And what the hell kind of agents are those
anyway?!"
Trinity calmly pulled out her cell-phone and made a
call.
"But... but... but...!" Ranma pointed to the corpse as he
cringed with a nervous twitch.
"Morpheus, there's a problem. Agents know we're
here." a pause. "Yeah, 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."
"Hey! 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, a look of confusion
painting her expression.
"...I know it's their choice, but they just attacked an
agent! They're dead if they remain, no matter how good they
are. You can forget that blue pill."
"HELLO?! What the hell are you talking about?!"
Akane questioned, her temper reaching critical mass.
"...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 erupted. "Will you hold up
for a minute and explain it to me already?!"
"You'll be sorry you asked that." Trinity warned.
~~~
"Are those two 'them'?" Neo questioned as he adjusted
several settings on a small terminal.
"Yes. This is Akane and Ranma." she answered.
"SAOTOME Ranma and TENDO Akane. I don't know
you people quite that well yet, thank you." Ranma interjected.
"In reality, names don'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.
Ranma gave an exaggerated cough. "I'm all ears."
Morpheus sighed and began his lecture. "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?"
"Oh...hell...yes." Ranma replied with conviction.
"That is the matrix."
"The what?" Ranma questioned.
"What is the matrix?" Akane inquired.
"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."
"HA! If only it were...!" Ranma exclaimed.
"Yeah, really." Akane agreed. "What do you mean?"
"You are trapped in a computer generated reality."
Trinity answered. "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 against the machines."
"You mean, I'm in a virtual reality right now?" Akane
asked.
"Yes."
"And you want to wake us up?" Ranma inquired with a
chuckle.
"Yes."
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE WE WAITIN'
FOR?!" Ranma sarcastically yelled. "C'mon, man! Beam me
up or whatever the hell it is you gotta do! This oughta be
good!"
"This isn't a game, Ranma. 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 skeptically questioned.
"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?! The way our lives are, what
would be the difference?" Ranma inquired.
"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.
"COOL! Can't wait to see the bosses..." Ranma
chuckled, still playing along.
"If you remain here, they'll hunt you down, and there's
little that they -can't- do to you." Trinity added.
Akane scowled. "Are you trying to frighten me?!"
"The truth tends to have that effect." Morpheus
answered.
Akane gave a questioning glance at Ranma.
"Don't look at me, Akane. I don't know what to tell
you." Ranma grabbed the red pill.
"You believe them?" Akane asked.
"Ha! Not really, but hey, I've tried damn near
everything else..." Ranma replied. "Waking up from la-la land
doesn't sound any weirder."
"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." Morpheus
muttered. "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 eyes 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 red 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 a ride." Neo said.
Morpheus pushed a button on his cell-phone. "Tank,
anything yet? ... We're gonna need a signal soon."
"Akane...?"
"Yeah, 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.
"What if-... what if you're just another part of my
dream?"
"I was just about to ask you the same question..."
They both held a moment of eerie silence as they
considered the possibilities.
"Well... it's not as though I'd miss you or anything."
Ranma remarked.
"Hmph!" Akane grunted. "My thoughts exactly."
A wall of cold silence separated the two for the briefest
of moments.
"Ranma..."
"Yeah?"
"Do you really think we are?" Akane hesitantly asked.
Ranma sighed. "Y'know, for what it's worth, Akane... I
hope not." He smiled as he grasped Akane's hand.
"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!" Ranma
erupted.
"Calm down. She's out of the machine. She'll be fine."
Trinity said.
"Bring her back NOW!" Ranma ordered as he tried to
struggle some of the connectors off.
"Is he restrained?" Morpheus asked out of forethought.
In a swift move, Trinity strapped a thick restraining
belt over Ranma's torso just as he was making a move to get
up.
"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...kane... 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. Seeing with
blurred vision, it was impossible to make out a face.
"Yeah..." Ranma struggled to 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."
~~~
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Thanks for reading!