[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 18:
Freedom and Healing
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories. And I'll put them back when I've finished with them.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Se
mper-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma out of the house,
Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet EVA pilots Shinji
Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffery Davis.
Rei recruits Asuka to save Shinji from his nightmares. The three are
finally driven from Shinji's dreamscape, they must retreat to Rei's
dreamscape, a world of incomplete items of all kinds, from watches to the
Eiffel Tower. There Asuka encounters multiple Reis of varying ages and
appearances. Only the youngest one is the only one that show initiative.
Ranma is attacked in dreams by a shadow that becomes a panda as it
strips off and consumes pieces of Ranma, revealing Ranko underneath.
Asuka takes Misato and Rei shopping, with Shinji along, Ritsuko sends
Ranko and Maya along. As a reward and thank you, Rei and Shinji get Asuka
some (of what they think of) German food for dinner.
Nabiki discovered her slightly primitive existence is the height of
luxury and that her pay makes her rich beyond her peers' dreams of
avarice.
The L.C.L. subjected to Tulzscha's attack escaped containment
Ranko discovers she is unable to teach Martial Arts, in frustration a
dreamscape battle against Raccoon ensues. Jeff agrees to teach her how to
teach, and teaches her that her talents make her a superb actor and mimic,
as well as any other physical pursuit, like sports or dance. The last is
not well received.
Jeff receives a new contact from the Council, who is definitely less
rigid that its deceased predecessor.
The supplies for Ritsuko's serum are sabotaged, the Yazuka contacts
are able to easily replace them.
A new sorcerer is revealed, to continue to defend Shinji, Asuka and
Misato: Pen Pen.
Ranko, Jeff and Ranma play out a scene to convince everyone that Jeff
is Ranko's boyfriend, and that Ranma doesn't like `her` dumping `him` one
bit.
Belldandy gives a message to Rei that 'They' are concerned by her
relationship with Shinji. Rei is devastated. Belldandy watches in
pleased amazement as Jeff and Nabiki move in to support their fellow
pilots.
Jeff remembers and then has nightmares about the time during El
Nureenen's war he encountered creatures like that, who had foresworn both
Heaven and Hell, and being used as an expendable radar system and tripwire
by the Host and the Hounds.
Like everyone who is not in love, he imagined that one chose the person
whom one loved after endless deliberations and on the strength of various
qualities and advantages.
Marcel Proust, Rememberance of Things Past, Cities of the Plain, pt. 1
Chapter 18: Freedom and Healing
Dreams Rebuilt
May 19, 1947
Shinji looked at the ruins of his dreamscape, and fell to his knees
in despair. The rabbit-spiders had eaten everything edible, and sampled
everything that wasn't. The locomotive had bites taken out of the main
drive wheels, even the rails had pieces nibbled out of them.
He glanced up at Asuka, who was looking down on him sternly, and Rei,
who seemed as disturbed by the destruction as he was.
"Look, Spineless, don't marinate yourself in misery over what they
destroyed," Asuka said severely, "Just _fix_ it, then you can go back to
enjoying it."
Shinji pouted at that, it was Asuka through and through, practical,
almost but not quite, to the point of heartlessness. "I'm not sure I
can," Shinji said.
"You built it in the first place," Asuka retorted, staring at him,
"Rebuilding it should be easy. Right, Wondergirl?"
"Yes, it will be easier," Rei agreed, "Unless you wish to alter or
improve it."
Shinji had the satisfaction of watching Rei put Asuka off-balance.
"Well, do you want to do a redesign?" Asuka snapped back.
"I don't know," Shinji admitted, he liked how the place had been
arranged, he actually wanted it back _exactly_ how it was.
"Then put it back!" Asuka ordered.
Shinji was wondering if the furious expression on Asuka's face
indicated she was reading his mind.
"If it works," Asuka continued, as if explaining to a child, "If it
does what you need, there's no reason to change things."
That surprised Shinji, Asuka _always_ was complaining about things
not being good enough.
"Come on, Wondergirl," Asuka took Rei's arm, "Let's give him some
room."
He watched them march away, he smirked that Rei took Asuka's hand,
and they walked away like that, despite Asuka trying to disentangle her
arm from Rei's. He leaned down and ran his fingers through the ravaged
soil. He wanted to break down and cry, he'd brought the things here,
_he'd_ failed to defend this place. Still, he had to fix it, he stood and
took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, and fixed the image of what it
had been in his mind. All exactly as Asuka had taught him.
He felt a wave of weakness, which indicated he'd completed the doing.
He opened his eyes, and had a moment to enjoy the restoration, before
Asuka's scream of rage told him to run for the trees and hide.
Asuka, her hair now an orange, purple, and green plaid, ran under his
hiding place in the trees, screaming something in German. Shinji was glad
he didn't understand German.
Rei positioned herself at a tree a short distance from his, and
stared up into it.
"He's there?" Asuka began throwing rocks into the tree, her hair
returning to red, as her control overwhelmed his.
"Come out where I can see you!" she ordered, "So I can KILL you!"
Rei glanced around, caught his eye for a moment, then went off to
collect more rocks for Asuka to throw. It took Asuka a few moments, and
Rei's delivery of more stones, to realize Rei had never answered her
questions.
"Well, is he up there or not?"
"No," Rei told her.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I did not want you to know," Rei told her.
"Then why am I wasting my time around you?" Asuka stormed off.
Rei walked to Shinji's tree, pointed right at him, "He is here!"
"Yeah, right, Wondergirl!" Asuka tramped through the forest. Rei
smiled, as she stared up at him.
He wasn't sure if Rei was pleased she'd tricked Asuka, or that
despite the other girl's presence, they were having private time.
Or is it she's protecting me again? Shinji wondered, She seems to
enjoy that.
----------------------------------------
Asuka finally wound down, she had mud and leaves all over her, as if
she'd fallen down repeatedly. She stared up at Shinji and Rei sitting in
the tree. She seemed more angry with herself, that she hadn't believed
what Rei'd told her.
"Throwing rocks at you two isn't worth the effort, you are supposed
to be kissing," Asuka said as she walked off, and vanished.
"I wish to ride the train," Rei told him.
"Yes," he admitted, "So would I."
----------------------------------------
Asuka woke, shook herself, "Outsmarted by Wondergirl." She punched
her pillow several times, "I must be slipping."
She put her head down, listening as Misato stumbled through the
apartment in the darkness. Asuka wondered how she managed to navigate
without killing herself, or destroying the furniture as she snaked
through.
Another mystery I can't solve, she considered as she settled into
sleep, before Misato started snoring.
Outside, the rain was starting. The precursor of the monsoonal rains
that would start in a few weeks, That should drown out Misato's snoring,
Asuka hoped. Asuka considered the other consequences of the pouring rain
on everything. Asuka glanced over, saw the darker shadow in the dark
hall, "You want to go play in the rain?" Asuka asked Pen Pen. The bird
eagerly waddled off.
Asuka tossed the covers aside, and followed. She stopped at the
patio door, "I'm going to have to leave you out there. Okay?"
The penguin stared at the door. Asuka opened it, and closed it
carefully behind him. She watched the penguin frolic in the rain. She
wished she could be as carefree as that bird, no worries, no
responsibilities.
The penguin let the rain pour over him, Asuka thought he was
relaxing, as she did in the shower. She wondered what penguins meditated
about, Fish, swimming in the ocean with the other penguins?
----------------------------------------
Misato's snoring drove Asuka from her room. Pen Pen was content to
remain outside in the rain. As she started the kettle to fix some tea,
she watched the penguin out on the ledge of the patio, facing into the
wind. He looked like he was aboard an old sailing ship, challenging the
wind.
She could only find green tea, even the PX didn't have chamomile, and
a cup of that green stuff would raise the dead.
So, I will stay awake, she decided. She wondered what was going
through the creature's mind. "So, are you remembering the feel of speed
and water," she smiled sadly, "And freedom?"
She remembered `falling` into British hands, lovingly placed there by
Anna. She accepted that she might have died, if Anna hadn't done what she
did.
The British, her captors, were always polite, at least the people she
dealt with every day were polite and friendly. She knew Germany could
never defeat the coming darkness, her best service to her country and the
world, was to make sure her new `masters` would be able to, in Germany's
place.
However, there was occasionally, almost periodically, 'Someone from
Headquarters', a nondescript nobody who would point out that some of her
friends' families more properly belonged in the Russian sector, invariably
they would mention her grandmother. Asuka knew, as did the British, that
her mother and her father, and all their ancestors, had their family home
in Wurttemberg. Her grandmother had no family in the east, too old to
support herself, it was the cruelest threat her `masters` ever tried on
her, as if she would have done anything except help them fight those
things.
She wondered if Anna had been subjected to the same coercion, or if
the Americans saw her zeal and need to fight these monsters from beyond.
All that succession of bland, proper little men did, was make Asuka
question where the real evil resided: in men, or mad gods?
She watched Pen Pen as she brewed the tea, she wondered if she took
him to the sea, would he just swim away, Is that why Misato keeps him
locked up here? So he can't run away? Is that why they assigned her to
`watch over us`, so we can't run away? She thought of Misato, sawing
logs, alone in her room. Asuka knew she and Shinji looked after their
commander far more than the other way around.
"Even here, I'm still trapped," she poured herself another cup of
tea, she hadn't even noticed pouring or drinking the first, "It's as bad
here as it ever was around El Nureenen's fortress," she didn't remember
every moment of the 40-odd years that fight had taken. She remembered
most of the mistakes made by her side. The initial competence becoming
incompetence as the force structure grew from companies to battalions and
then divisions, the different factions of nationality and avocation, the
different missions. All the generals jockeying for position, some because
they honestly had, what they thought were better answers, others were just
social climbers: politicians rather than military, some were both. In the
end, it was always a stalemate, World War I with a maze of stone corridors
replacing the trenches, endless sweeps through terrain that literally
could not be held. Until they'd finally forced a decisive action, pared
away the generals and mages and foot soldiers, until El Nureenen couldn't
hide behind them anymore, then searched out the hidey-holes and secret
gates until these offered no further refuge. But most importantly,
instilled in the army the idea they could win, and would win.
"That's what we're missing here," Asuka told the empty tea cup, "It's
all a holding action again. No one is sure we can win, and no one wants
to even speculate about taking the fight to our enemies, all we pilots are
supposed to do is stand here, waiting for them to show up," Asuka wanted
to throw the cup across the room in frustration, "And destroy them as they
come in." She sighed, she _knew_ there had to be a better way, she was no
expert on these creatures, but she did know many of them had lairs, places
they 'Slept in deathless repose'. It seemed logical, if you knew where
that was, you sent part of the force out to kill them there, probably her,
Raccoon and Horseface, and kept part of the force, probably Spineless, Ice
Princess and Wondergirl, to defend Japan. "But I'm just a little girl,
who'd ever listen to me, even if I _am_ right?"
She put aside those depressing thoughts with the tea cup, and
decided, like it or not, Pen Pen was coming in. Maybe she'd rig a leash,
with a long cable, to let him think at least he was free, if only for a
little while.
She called the bird, and he reluctantly hopped off the balcony
railing. He shook himself as soon as he was out of the rain, giving Asuka
enough warning to close the patio door, to avoid getting soaked. She
thought about things as she toweled the bird dry.
Why am I helping Wondergirl and Spineless? she didn't know, except
she realized she would need them, and she'd heard about the Japanese test
pilot, even during the war. She'd heard about how she acted, how cold and
isolated she was, and the whispers about how that might happen to anyone
who piloted long enough. Asuka knew it wasn't true, she'd piloted about
2/3d's the number of hours Wondergirl had, and it hadn't affected her.
Throwing the two introverts together, and encouraging them as best she
could, had proven it wasn't the EVAs that were the problem. Quiet, creepy
Wondergirl didn't have anything else in her life.
Asuka snorted at that, Now she certainly did. "Maybe I should find
another violinist, and make a string quartet? Huh, Pen Pen?"
The bird looked at her quizzically.
Great! I've been reduced to talking to a bird, she thought back to
her idea of taking Pen Pen for an ocean swim, as he headed for his
refrigerator. She wondered if they were ever going to let her off her
leash, or if they were going to lengthen it, until she could almost forget
about it most of the time.
She looked at the kitchen, at the empty tea cup and the rest of the
pot, "No wonder Misato drinks beer all the time, Japanese tea is
depressing."
She headed back to the kitchen to pour the rest of it out, then had a
thought. She opened the refrigerator, removed one of Misato's
almost-empty beer cans, she poured it almost full of tea, no milk or
sugar, and carefully replaced it. She returned to her room, past the
Katsuragi Sawmill and Rock-Crushing Emporium, and crawled into bed.
Yes, she smiled, Tomorrow's breakfast ought to be _very_ memorable.
As Asuka drifted off, she considered the chains she'd put on herself, the
responsibilities she'd chosen to take on, as opposed to those forced on
her by others. Despite the same, and sometimes greater weight, they were
better somehow.
----------------------------------------
'Lemons,' Ritsuko heard from Jeff. She'd been intently listening to
the soft cries from Ranma's female form, she'd been trying to soothe
whatever night fears plagued the martial artist, she hadn't noticed her
other charge had woken up. The two pilots had been asleep in Ranma's bed,
she'd sat with them all night, watching over them. They'd restrained
Jeff's hands, after bandaging them, she'd had Jeff's head in her lap, with
Ranma's female form restraining him from kicking, then Ranma had fallen
asleep. She did wonder why Ranma had remained in his female form when it
was clear Jeff was not about to wake up.
"Lemons can get rid of the smell of L.C.L., the juice and the oil
from the rind," Jeff told her, "How did I forget to tell all of you that?"
She reached down and tousled his hair, "Are you saying we stink?"
Jeff raised his head, looked down at Ranma, "No. I just realized I
wasn't in my own bed, because of the sme . . . scent. I apologize for
being overly familiar."
"Relax," she guided his head back to her lap, "You're doing both of
_us_ a world of good. I am curious why you were bloodying your knuckles
fighting something. When people dream, their bodies lock up, they don't
move around."
"Bad dreams, that's what it looked like from my end," he glanced up,
"Should I mention she's drooling on me?"
"I thought you'd be flattered," she joked, "You could just kick her
off."
"Two problems, three actually. First, even asleep, she's a lot
stronger than I am, second, the only point I could reach to kick . . .
well, it would certainly wake her up, but a gentleman _does_NOT_ kick a
lady there."
Ritsuko looked a lot more closely at how Ranma had wrapped herself
around. It had begun as simply holding Jeff's legs stationary, then
evolved over several hours to the current arrangement. "What's the
third?"
"Assuming her link with Ranma transmitted the experience from
yesterday, I find it disturbing she would seek solace and comfort from the
very person who is the source and cause of her nightmares. It is a
disturbing comment on her psychology."
"I think it's a special _marital_ arts hold," Ritsuko snickered,
inwardly she was worried, A beautiful young girl is practically crawling
all over you. From what I saw in your class, most of the boys and about a
quarter of the girls would _kill_ to be in your position, she thought, And
you're analyzing it like you're looking at a picture, from the outside.
She saw that their conversation had settled Ranma, rather than disturbing
her, Jeff was blushing.
"You gave me quite a scare, young man," Ritsuko told him, trying to
get away from the line of thought.
"I couldn't let Saotome get hurt, I wasn't willing to let _me_ get
hurt. That left one alternative, like I told the police, and frankly
Doctor, I'd do it again, if I had to."
"I expected you might shoot Ranma, or somebody else. That frightens
me," she admitted.
"I would not _do_ that to a pilot," he looked around, "Can I get out
of here?"
"Can you?" Ritsuko asked, "Why are you so skittish?" she untied the
cloth that had bound his wrists.
"I have my reasons, reasons I've told you. Added to those, if Ranma
finds out about this, ten minutes later, you'll be able to bury me in an
envelope," Jeff told her.
Ritsuko frowned inwardly, "I think he knows. I doubt he'd object."
"Doctor," Jeff said coldly, "I know how Ranma talks about Ranko as an
inanimate thing," he paused, patted Ranko's head, "But I think he does
indeed care about her, however much and forcefully he denies it. I don't
think he'd want her hurt. Physically or emotionally."
Ritsuko didn't have anything to say.
Nabiki walked in, smoothing her pajamas. She stared owlishly at all
of them, "Perverts," she announced, crawled into bed and spooned up behind
Ranma.
"Ranma is going to kill all four of us," Jeff lamented, relaxed and
put his head down.
Ritsuko didn't have the heart to tell them they'd have to get up for
school soon.
----------------------------------------
General Tembris walked into the warehouse he and his men had been
using as a base.
"General," the mage hailed him, "The little man took the homonculous.
It wasn't completely ready, but he said it was all right to have it before
maturation was complete."
"When did he take it?" Tembris thundered, letting loose the temper
that had cost him allies across the Dreamlands.
"A few hours ago, I assumed he had your authorization," the mage
stammered.
"He did not. Can you make another?" Tembris's hands were clenching
and unclenching, his eyes searching for a neck to throttle, a neck he knew
he wouldn't find here.
"No, sir," the mage admitted, "There are some ingredients which are
only available in the Dreamlands. Short of going back there, we can't
make another."
"Men!" the General shouted, "Pack up everything and be ready to move
in an hour."
"Sir?" his adjutant asked.
"Do you think that stupid, little toad will hesitate to accompany
whatever strikeforce SEELE has cobbled together?" Tembris asked, "And I
don't intend to depend on Dame Fortune to ensure he isn't captured and
interrogated. He'll crack like an egg, and lead them right here."
Tembris could barely restrain himself from striking out of his men. A
month's careful work, gone, he fumed.
They'd managed to patch over all of SEELE's clumsy attempts to speed
things along, but everything had depended on the homonculous, the delay to
prepare it properly was necessary for absolute success. Now these idiots
at SEELE had proven their tactical acumen, again. In two weeks, they
could have delivered Saotome directly into their hands, they might have
even convinced him to give his word, and go willingly. Now that was
impossible. If they were lucky, he might survive for them to make another
attempt later, but he'd be on his guard.
Fools! he raged inwardly, Stupid! God-damned fools!
----------------------------------------
Ranma sat inside the tank as they rode to school. Nab-chan kept
pressing him a little more into the corner, and smiling brightly at him.
Ranma was wondering when would she push him right through the side armor
of the tank. He glanced over at Raccoon, hoping he'd do something to
distract Nab-chan, but he was staring straight ahead.
What's got _him_ scared? Ranma wondered, HE shot somebody, and it
doesn't bother him, _now_ for nothing, he's terrified.
Rei and Shinji sat next to each other, every time they bumped into
each other, they blushed, smiled and looked away. Considering how bumpily
the tank rode, it happened a couple of times a minute. Asuka grabbed
Raccoon's hat and put it over her face.
Now he really looks nervous, Ranma glanced down as the pressure from
Nab-chan's hip and smile increased. Ranma wondered if anyone had some
cold water, he wasn't sure if he'd use the water on himself, or Nab-chan.
When the tank stopped in the school yard, Ranma noticed the rain for
the first time. Now he was worried about being a girl at school, or
staying trapped in the tank with Nab-chan until the others all filed out,
and he could run for the entrance of the school.
Raccoon stepped out, opening his large umbrella, "Come on hydrophobe,
you too."
The pilots clustered under the protection as they headed inside.
----------------------------------------
Jeff watched the everchanging riot of colors march over his fellow
students, like technicolor pack ice, as they talked and gossiped and
argued. He wished he could learn to place the color blocks with the
person actually speaking, like he count when taking one-one-one, t he
couldn't control it, so he lived with it.
Another day in the Japanese school system, he lamented. He watched
the people around him, for most part they were abstractions, ciphers he
didn't know, and didn't care to know. He had nothing against any of them,
but they weren't important, unlike the work, was which was important. His
college psychology classes gave his condition a name, but naming something
didn't always give you control over it, unlike what his magic teachers in
the Dreamlands had taught him. So he studied all the relevant
philosophical, psychological and religious texts, developed a code of
conduct from them, and chose a price for his power. It gave dealing with
people a real and meaningful consequence and reward, and let him ignore
that most of those around him were meaningless.
He didn't need to turn around to know Saotome-san was following him,
Codes of Honor! Ha!! They're rules ordinary people made up, he wanted to
turn and shout at Saotome, but he knew that would be a bad idea, You don't
worship them! If they weren't part of you before you started, imposing
them externally wouldn't make any difference. He knew he could tell
Saotome-san that, and it would be like explaining space travel to a
barnacle, 'Can I hitch a ride on a space ship?' Everything would be
translated into his frame of reference. Exactly like the people around
here, he wondered why he left so discouraged today.
They would fumble through life, eke out a living never raising their
heads up to be as truly great as many of them could be, and lament the
boredom of their lives. Jeff remembered a quote by Susan Ertz, 'People
wish to be immortal who can't think of anything to do on a rainy Saturday
afternoon.' Jeff knew he was different, he devoured life, books, art,
music, tiny bits of human creativity, the profound, the whimsical, he
lived each day, each moment as if it were his last, so he tempered
ephemera with more solid studies.
Literature class he despised most of all, the teacher would assign a
passage, poem or work, then spend the next class period reading it aloud.
No comments, no emphasis on the beauty or message of the work, nothing
that wasn't in the book. Most of the classes were that way here, a
reading assignment and a lecture on the assignment without any additional
insights, learned or inane.
----------------------------------------
"Back to the tanks?" Hiroko asked Nabiki as she changed into her
inside shoes, "What happened?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," Nabiki had an idea, she hoped she was
wrong. It was mind-boggling that Raccoon had told them the truth at
dinner last night.
"You mean I know something the Boss doesn't?!" Hiroko said
enthusiastically, "The world must be ending." She touched her lips to
Nabiki's forehead, "You don't have a fever, so the world is definitely
ending."
"I think I know, but I don't believe it. What do you have?"
"Somebody tried to kill a pilot, maybe two. ONI dropped on the Tokyo
P.D. like a ton of bricks. The assassin got killed, gun shot."
"Near that fancy French restaurant?" Nabiki asked weakly.
"Yeah, so you did know about it," Hiroko was disappointed.
"We had dinner there last night," Nabiki said, "They never told us."
"Oh, sorry," Hiroko apologized.
"Do you want to come with us to the ballet on Saturday, after class?"
"Oh, sure. I love getting shot at. The roof of that theater at the
Naval Base is concrete, isn't it?" Hiroko asked as they walked to class,
"Maybe the Yamato really didn't sink. Those guns should get through."
Nabiki frowned at her, "Don't be ridiculous, the Americans are
refitting her as a spaceship."
"Nobody would ever believe that."
Nabiki glanced at her fellow pilots as she entered the classroom.
Asuka was chatting with Hikari and her clique, Asuka was pantomiming
horrified surprise, the others were laughing. Ranma was talking with Toji
about something. Shinji kept glancing back at Rei, who, when she realized
he was looking, would look down. Raccoon was glancing around, nervous as
a cat.
Okay, Nabiki thought, All nuts present and accounted for. "Hiroko,
are there any of the eyes and ears detailed to follow the pilots around?"
"No, not really, they have minders, like I do," Hiroko admitted,
"That's just to keep them out of trouble at school."
Nabiki considered, "Why didn't they intervene?"
"Pilots fighting pilots, nobody's that brave, Boss. I mean, you kill
things," Hiroko said, "You're specially-trained how to fight."
Not as much as I expected, Nabiki thought, 'You kill things,' she
considered Rei and Raccoon, Some more than others.
----------------------------------------
Monday Monday
Ritsuko walked into her office, she noted how edgy Misato was acting
as she waited, it took most of her self-control not to creep up, and scare
the daylights out of her.
"You're looking well, this morning," Ritsuko commented, from a safe
distance.
Misato still nearly jumped out of her skin, "Oh fine, nothing wrong,"
Misato announced quickly.
That wasn't what I asked, Ritsuko thought, as she wondered what
Misato's kids had done to her, how badly she'd have to torture her friend
to get the whole story.
Fortunately for Misato, Maya's arrival put the operation on hold,
"Sempai, Captain. The American Navy found something we might be
interested in, something that would really help our work," Maya set the
folder she was carrying down on Ritsuko's desk, she opened it and spread
the underwater maps, alongside the salient passage in the report, and put
it practically under Misato's nose.
"OH MY GOD!" Misato shouted.
Ritsuko was pleased that Misato seemed to have suffered more than her
eardrums had.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko entered the Search and Rescue training area, a large
classroom with a pool of varying depth, tables inundated with equipment
filled most of the available dry space, "Captain," she found the Dive
Master, Captain Madison, "I take it you are planning to scare the two
pilots out of their idea of joining Search and Rescue."
"That was the general idea, Doctor."
"Don't. Push them as hard as you think necessary, concentrate on
deep diving. I repeat, it is imperative they become competent with deep
diving and underwater operations."
"Understood, Doctor, I would have thought you would _want_ us to
discourage them," Captain Madison was confused, "I mean, what we do isn't
very safe."
"I understand that, sometimes what we want, isn't what we have to do.
I also need you to consider how to provide a supply of L.C.L. to a person,
from the EVA as a base."
"Diving with an oxygenated liquid? That would certainly allow for
deep dives. Why the sudden interest, Doctor?"
"You don't need to know, and you have about two months to prepare and
test the equipment."
"Yes, Doctor, I assume we can get time in the simulators to test the
equipment and the pilots?"
Ritsuko considered, "Yes, also I'll arrange for you to get all the
help from the U.S. Military to build and test your equipment."
"Yes, Doctor," he said as she left.
----------------------------------------
The Search and Rescue crew glanced at each other, they hadn't really
intended to scare the pilots into quitting, but just short of it.
"What was that all about?" the Chief of the Deck asked.
"I really don't know, Mr. Kassind," Captain Madison replied, "But
orders are we see them through."
"Well, we'd better get our set up changed, we can't overload them,"
the chief said sardonically.
"Let's concentrate on the hard hat and helium hat suits. They're our
deepest diving, that should get them ready for the diving tests. We'll
have to rush those. I don't like it."
"What about the dive system she's talking about, Captain?"
"Modified hard hat suit would be the simplest, if we're going deep,
it's going to be cold, so we'll need heated uniforms, and the
communication will be important."
The Chief considered, "Will throat mikes work if you're breathing
liquid?"
"We'll find out," the captain said, "We'll have to use the pilots to
test that. L.C.L. has a . . . strange effect on normal people."
"Are you saying our two new recruits aren't normal?" the chief asked.
Captain Kuroda, the head of Search and Rescue arrived, "If you ever
have to clean up after one of Ikari's 'special experiments', you start
wondering how anything even remotely human can survive contact with
L.C.L., let alone getting submerged in it to pilot. I hope I never get
stuck in there."
"Amen," the Chief and Captain Madison added.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched Raccoon collect his umbrella and walk out into the rain
outside. He knew he couldn't follow him, unless he wanted to talk to him
as Ranko, which he knew wouldn't work. He hadn't brought an umbrella or
raincoat himself, Depending on Raccoon, or Nab-chan, or Rit-chan to do
that kind of planning, he wanted to understand why that made him so
uncomfortable, You were supposed to be able to trust other people.
Weren't you?
"You make a better door than a window, Horseface," Asuka stood behind
him in a rain cape.
"Can I borrow that, when you're done?"
She rolled her eyes at him, "When I get back, I'll tell you where to
get one yourself."
Ranma wasn't happy about that, but short of tackling her and stealing
it, he wasn't going to get the cloak.
----------------------------------------
Asuka walked through the rain. Raccoon was eating under his huge
umbrella, alone out on the field. The English would call this a 'soft
day', she thought, Gentle, cleansing rain.
"What's all this about?" Asuka called to him, "Trying to be all
alone?"
He smiled at her, "I wanted a taste of home, since Europeans hate
this, and Ranma won't even touch it, and if Ranma won't eat it, no
Japanese will eat it."
"Gaah! Peanut butter," Asuka saw the sandwich filling as she stepped
under the umbrella, "How do you Americans eat that stuff?"
"You didn't come all this way just to insult my lunch," Raccoon
switched to German.
"Two things," she opened her lunch, showed him the sausage,
sauerkraut and boiled potato, "This was Rei and Shinji's idea, a taste of
home."
"That's a problem?"
"Look, I . . . I was remembering the war, all the things _we_ did.
Doesn't it ever bother you?"
"Not really."
"Look, Dorian Gray, doesn't sitting around waiting to be attacked
bother you?"
"Not if it gives me a chance to establish the proper reception."
"Raccoon, you can fool the rest of them with that
villainous-but-subdued sorcerer act, especially after Horseface's little
show, but a mage I trust told me once, that spells from the Dreamlands
don't work in the Waking World. You charlatan," she tapped his head, "The
spells that work in the Waking World turn your brain to mush. You might
have a few spells to wow the locals, but that's it."
"Well, if they're the right five spells . . . so you have insulted
me, now you're standing in the rain while we talk about lunches and magic.
What's the second, Langley?"
"I found out who the Haunter is, that thing that's been following
me."
"I think I know who," Raccoon said, "But tell me anyway."
"Rei, Wondergirl," Asuka admitted, "I think this was a peace
offering," she tapped the lunch box, "Now, how did you know?" Asuka stared
at him.
"One of _them_ was terrorizing our shy watcher." Raccoon finished
his sandwich.
Asuka didn't feel like eating any more, "From which side?"
"Does it matter?" Raccoon laughed, "They'll abandon us as soon as
they're done. As I remember, it was your engineering skills that
equalized things, not any help from them."
"It didn't take a genius to figure out, filling a teleport site with
rocks limited El Nureenen's actions."
"I beg to differ," Raccoon told her.
"The concrete to bind the stone together was some mage's idea," she
nodded to him, "Well that's part of it, why has she been chasing me all
those years? What does she want?"
"Shinji, isn't that obvious? Otherwise, I don't know, I don't think
you're in any danger. I've got problems of my own."
"Ranko?" Asuka chortled, "What are you afraid of?"
"Honestly? Ranma Saotome. I haven't figured out which way he's
going to jump, and there's nothing I can do about it."
"Maybe he wants a threesome," Asuka laughed at Raccoon's sour look,
"Or a foursome, add Nabiki." She laughed harder.
"I could always splash _you_, see what you turn into," Raccoon
grumped.
Asuka smiled, then frowned, "Look, I'm no Calvinist, like you. I
can't 'It's all in God's Hands', and quit worrying about things, don't you
wonder about why we aren't helping Dr. Akagi? Truthfully, as pilots, she
should be working _with_us_ on the research. I'm sick of getting a pat on
the head, and watching them `round filing` my ideas."
"The Americans call it `File 13`, well, if you want to do something,
I've got some equations you can help me with. I'm not the expert, and
frankly, I want it done before we give it to the adults, so when they toss
it in the ash can, we can still teach it to the others."
"Sounds good, when do we start?" Asuka said without enthusiasm.
"A couple days, maybe, imagine what will happen after the war. The
uses we could put the EVAs and AT fields to."
"And you won't be there, did you know that when El Nureenen cursed
you?"
He shrugged, "Oh course, I was paying attention when you talked about
it. Congratulations, you're immortal, until at most 1952, then . . . you
are correct about Dorian Gray, except there's a timebomb wired into the
frame. You do what you can, within the system or in its despite," Raccoon
shrugged, "What else can we do?"
"Do I have to?" she pouted, "I want to rush out and smash their heads
together."
"That sounds like the 14-year-old with a 160% sync rate."
"168. There has to be a better way, like the wards the Dragon put on
our apartments."
"All that's on top, what's underneath? You evaded my question."
Asuka turned and stared out into the rain, remembering, "While I was
leaning against the railing of an _American_ cruiser, pulling out of
Bremen. I remembered that when I escaped from Berlin with Anna, the
question was how we were going to win, the Germans, not the Nazis, they'd
already lost. When I woke up three weeks later, in a British hospital
bed, at that point, I wished I had died instead, instead of my country.
As the cruiser pulled away, I thanked God no one was waiting there, to say
goodbye, to cheer, to console, . . . or to pity." She glared at the
rain-soaked field, "We are never going home, are we? You and me, not even
if we win."
"I don't think so, and that is an awfully big if," Raccoon told her.
"I look at these people, and wonder why I even bother, not fighting
the war, but following this pack of morons. What are we? Sheep?"
"Naaaaaah."
Asuka turned back, frowning, "I'm serious."
"So am I, you bypass the idiots and kill the traitors. I think the
U.S. Military wants to win. I haven't the faintest idea what Gendo and
company want."
Both laughed at that.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched Asuka walk out to Raccoon. He debated simply walking
out there, but he knew that his curse was supposed to be secret, and the
last thing he wanted, was the other students to know about it. He heard
Nab-chan's approach.
"Why don't you go out there?"
"Into the rain?" Ranma asked, "What is he afraid of anyway?"
"I think he's afraid of you," Nab-chan told him, "After he woke up
and found Ranko glomped on," she ignored his increasing blush, "He figured
you'd beat us all up, with him as the main focus."
Ranma flinched at that.
"Frankly, I think he's right. Considering how much you love Ranko,
the idea of you cheating on you like that. Well, I can imagine," Nab-chan
told him, "Or can you imagine what would happen if he called a halt to it,
'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."
Ranma hung his head in disgust, "He can't really believe that," Ranma
groaned, "He just can't."
" 'Fraid he does, 'Ranma and Ranko are _NOT_ the same person',"
Nab-chan patted his shoulder, "Just let him down easy, maybe have Ranko
promise to protect him if Ranma comes after him." Nab-chan walked away.
Ranma felt worse, he wondered if she _enjoyed_ pointing out all the
complications in his life, even complications he hadn't seen yet. Ranma
could hear Asuka and Raccoon talking, arguing really, but not the way they
normally argued. It was as if someone had split Asuka's usual emotion
intensity between the two of them, neither of them looked happy. But they
weren't acting normal, he couldn't read their chi across the distance, but
he thought they were more depressed than angry. That doesn't make any
sense, he thought, What could _they_ be depressed about?
He wanted to talk to Raccoon, as Ranma. The dream from a few days
ago was still bothering him, but last night `she'd` thought of the
shooting, then dreamt it over and over again, different each time.
Raccoon fired in about a third of the dreams, the rest all the action was
Ranma's, as Raccoon just stood there, waiting to `be protected` by Ranma.
In some variations, Ranma did the shooting, and sometimes it worked,
sometimes it didn't. In some of those cases, the cultist killed Raccoon
before Ranma fired, sometimes after, the cultist then killed Ranma in most
of the dreams, laughing at him as it left him with the corpse in the
others. Some, no matter who shot, the cultist killed Raccoon, then only
part of the time it killed Ranma. Always Ranma, never Ranko. It was
better than the dream about the panda and getting skinned, but it still
couldn't be anything except a nightmare. None of the tricks to get out of
nightmares did anything, except change the sequence, the main reason he
`escaped`, was that he'd remember, and ended that particular dream,
another would begin anew.
Then for some reason, he found himself in a huge library full of all
kinds of old and interesting smells, leather, tobacco, ink, paper. Two
figures, Ritsuko and Raccoon, by their scent, were sitting in a library
next to each other, in two high-backed leather chairs, arguing about
something in a language he couldn't understand. He still didn't know why
he leapt into their laps, curled up like a cat and purred himself to
sleep, while one of them scratched him behind the ears and the other at
the base of his `tail`.
That dream frightened Ranma almost as much as the others, except
cat-Ranma was delighted by the warm laps, the attention, and felt
completely safe and contented.
He sighed, lunch would be over soon, he doubted Asuka and Raccoon
would be done before it was over. Any conversation at home would be
monitored by Nab-chan, and he'd never hear the end of it, and while Ranko
luring Raccoon to a secluded place would work, he'd be furious at both
Ranko and Ranma.
"Good grief, now I'm thinking of myself as two people!" he said, then
thought, It would be easier if there _were_ two of us, Ranko could `keep
the peace` while Raccoon and Ranma talked. He knew that was impossible,
there was only one Ranma Saotome, who was sometimes a girl. He sighed as
the bell proclaiming the end of lunch rang.
----------------------------------------
Dr. Akagi and Commander Fuyutsuki were finishing up a conference on
the sea investigation, when Jeff entered his office.
"Excuse me, Captain Katsuragi asked me to drop this with the two of
you for scheduling and approval, before I started with Search and Rescue
training." He handed each of them a carbon copy of the sheet, "It's a
request for one day's leave, in about two months. I'm delivering it now,
so you can deal any scheduling problems well in advance."
Commander Fuyutsuki scanned the paper, "It seems in order, two months
seems a little more than necessary for one day's leave. We do need some
way of contacting you, if there is a problem."
"I'll probably have a major military security force shadowing me. If
an Angel attacks, I'll hear about it and head back, probably by
helicopter. Anything else, well I doubt I'll be much use to anybody that
day."
Dr. Akagi considered, "What's so special about that day?" Jeff gave
them a mischievous smile, Dr. Akagi knew they were in trouble.
"You two love mysteries so much," Jeff told them, "I could hardly
deprive you of this one. I'll give you a clue, check in my personnel
file, under siblings."
Intrigued, Commander Fuyutsuki pulled out the file, leafed to the
section. He didn't see it.
"Adjust for the time zone," Jeff suggested.
Commander Fuyutsuki read the paragraph, "Leave is approved."
Jeff nodded and left, the Commander set the file before Dr. Akagi,
and indicated the relevant paragraph.
She looked at the entry, "Samuel," she said quietly. It's not right
for him to be alone that day. She remembered the comment Nabiki had made
as they went through his photo album, wondered if that had something to do
with his reaction to Ranko. She considered the possibilities.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was having difficulties reassembling the regulator, she glared
at Jeff as he arrived. Their first lesson was the assembly and
disassembly of the critical parts of the heavy helmet of a hard hat suit.
A similar unit called the 'Helium Hat' was for deep diving. She wondered
why they didn't use scuba systems.
"What about air tanks?" Nabiki asked.
The Marine Captain, Kuroda, was watching her progress, "There's a
French guy, Coastal, Cowste . . . "
"Cousteau, Jacques Cousteau, also Dr. Christian Lambertsen - "
Raccoon started.
"Yeah," a chief interrupted, "But his thing killed people. I think
we'll wait to let that French guy to work the kinks out."
Nabiki smiled at Raccoon's shrug.
"Until the problems are ironed out, you're stuck with hoses, tethers,
etc.," Captain Madison, the Dive Captain, told them, "Besides, you can't
talk using that system."
"What about talking?" Nabiki wondered if she'd heard correctly.
The chief pointed out the parts, "The helmets have a mike and
headphones, so you can talk to the surface. If you get in trouble,
there's someone who can help you. Or send help."
Nabiki wasn't as mechanically adept as her fellow pilot, so she fell
behind him, slightly. Her pride would not let her get too far behind,
even if she had to ask for more help.
Memorizing the dive tables was a lot easier, it didn't have to make
sense, she just had to remember them. There she had the advantage.
Just before evening, the two had done so well, the Dive Captain
decided to give them a `treat`.
----------------------------------------
Into the Depths
"This is _heavy_!_" Nabiki was amazed by the weight of the copper
helmet, she hardly needed the weighted shoes and belt. They were fully
suited up: helmet, suit, weight belts and shoes.
"Then how come you're moving so much faster than me?" Raccoon was
falling behind her.
They were only 'diving' to ten feet, so their heads were only about 4
feet underwater.
"Okay," Nabiki was not enjoying the possibility of drowning in water
she wouldn't be the least bit worried about, if she wasn't wearing all
this weight. The presence of two other divers for each of them, did not
fill her with confidence. She could still drown if she tripped and fell,
If they're trying to scare us, she thought, They're doing a good job.
They walked around for a few minutes, then went through a simulated
decompression. Nabiki didn't like the close confines of the hardhat suit,
the rough canvas chafing her, and most of all, the dependence on others
for her very life. The pump and all the other equipment had to be
monitored by someone else, she didn't like depending on others.
Especially when it was this important.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki let the warm water in the pilots' shower run over her, she
couldn't imagine how she could be so cold and all sweaty at the same time.
"Why did I volunteer for this?" she asked quietly, "Why haven't I quit?"
She hated getting all sweaty, she hated having to depend on others, she
hated jobs that were muscles not brains. This looked like it was all
those things. She let out a long breath, and shut down the shower.
"Because I'm too stubborn to quit," she admitted. She would get some
food, a little practice, then she'd sleep. Maybe get one of the Ranma's
wonderful massages. Maybe I shouldn't have teased the boy so much, she
thought, But he's so cute when he's flustered.
----------------------------------------
The bastard is happy and chipper, she watched Raccoon cook dinner,
while she sat at the dinner table and struggled through her homework, his
was already done, of course. Ranma was across the table, grinding through
math, having read the Literature assignment already. Nabiki could still
feel the lead shoes on her feet.
She was starting to have real reservations about even being here, the
deal she'd made with Belldandy. She'd been forced to see the difference
between her `pampered` life and how her classmates had to live. Hiroko
lived in an apartment so small that it wouldn't have been out of place in
modern Tokyo, especially for 11 people, Hiroko's whole family. She had
answered all kinds of questions posed by Hiroko's parents, grandparents,
brothers and sisters. They had been very nervous about meeting a pilot.
Nabiki hated the deference born of real fear, EVA pilots were practically
another species, so far beyond normal humanity, as the kamis were beyond
humans. Hiroko's earnings had increased the family's income. Nabiki had
downplayed the danger, implying that Hiroko's job was administrative, true
enough, the need for security and reliability explained the cost.
The family had been close-knit, which also made Nabiki a little bit
jealous. Hiroko and her mother were polite to each other, Nabiki knew
they argued, but would never do so in front of an honored guest. When
they tried to discover what exactly Nabiki and Hiroko did, Nabiki talked
it around, implying security concerns, not lying, not telling the whole
truth. Talking about charity, helping with tutoring, etc. She barely
escaped without revealing her shady operations. She had never been the
least bit ashamed of fleecing the morons of Nerima. She knew it was pay
her, or do without the new CD or movie this weekend. Because her family
needed the money for food, and clothes, and repairs to the house.
Here, she was the rich one, if anything, she should be spreading her
money around, she could afford it. She had thought Raccoon was just being
sanctimonious when he wanted his money to go to charity. Now she was
thinking that he had a clearer view of what was happening around Tokyo,
around them, than she did. That irritated her. Japan, Tokyo
specifically, was her home, she should have learned about this in history
class, but they glossed over it. Furinken was hopefully not typical, but
considering the arrogance of her father and Genma towards basic
necessities, she doubted they'd ever seen this kind of extensive poverty.
----------------------------------------
Ranko woke on the rocky plain, in much the same position and
condition she'd found herself in when she'd managed to escape this dream a
few nights before, she wished Raccoon would loosen up some, she wanted to
talk, and he was sleeping on the couch in the living room, again.
Sometimes it is prudery. It's not as if I'm going to jump him or
something, Ranko was sleeping in Raccoon's bunk, Maya was in Ranma's. The
two adults had come home and Maya stayed over, after hours of talking
about some new project or other, something about actually catching and
studying one of the Angels. It all hinged on Nab-chan and Raccoon
mastering the diving skills they were learning. Ranko smiled, from
Nab-chan's expression, she'd been hoping Rit-chan would forbid what they
were doing, and give her an excuse to quit. Now the two women were
encouraging it. Ranma hadn't know what Cthylla was, but he thought
capturing an Angel was the worst idea he'd ever heard of, and said so.
She thought of the bizarre situation in the Waking World, and the
bizarre situation here in _her_ dreams, because there was no Ranma here,
only Ranko. That it didn't worry her, should have frightened her, but it
was just one more bit of weirdness, she stood stiffly, took a few wobbly
steps, then collapsed.
She realized the beating had a greater effect than she'd considered.
She didn't like it, but she crawled to a pool of water she'd spotted when
she was fighting, she cleaned herself up, then considered what to do next.
She was worried that Raccoon hadn't come looking for her. She'd admitted
she left the dream dojo, and couldn't make her way back. She could tell
he disapproved, but he didn't yell at her.
"Yeah, I might have cried," she complained bitterly. Her practices
lately had been terrible, that worried her even more. If this dream
disrupted her emotions and her sense of spiritual balance, it was more
than something to be troubled about, it was something to be terrified
about.
Even more than that thing stuck up there, "How do girls do this . . .
bleed every month? No wonder Asuka and Nab-chan are mad all the time."
She washed the blood and dirt in the clean, and most ominous, warm
water, it was hot enough she should have transformed.
"Except that panda ate Ranma, he's not here, just me," she sighed,
spotted something in the water. She leaned over and looked in, it looked
like Rei, if Rei were three meters tall in plate armor, and a lot more
curvy and buxom than usual. "There's a lot of space between that
breastplate and Rei."
"It is chainmail."
Ranko whirled around, realized her initial guess was right, Rei was
bending over, staring at Ranko. The armor was of an unknown style, the
straight spear she carried could have come from any tradition, a
heavy-leaf shaped blade on a stick a little taller than Rei herself.
Ranko instantly wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.
"The panda went that way," Rei, now normal shape, in her school
uniform, but still 3 meters tall, pointed to a cleft in the rocks, "The
escape is that way. Roku-kun cannot help you here."
Ranko sat up, "So you're telling me to give up?"
"I expect you to," Rei replied, as she returned to her normal height,
bare centimeters taller than Ranko, "You will not like what you find
here." She turned away.
Ranko rushed up to cut her off, but Rei vanished before she could
reach her. "Then where am I?" she asked desperately. She looked at the
path the panda had taken, steeled herself to follow, then realized Rei was
manipulating her to do exactly that. "Jeez, even Rei's pushing me around
now."
She despondently marched in the other direction, she looked down on
the other thing that bugged her about this place, Rei and Ranma got to
wear clothes, and I'm stark naked . . . why?
----------------------------------------
Jeff closed the door of the dream dojo behind him, adjusted his
tattered hat and coat. Looked around the dojo, "Well, she isn't here, she
wasn't out there," he sighed, it had been quite a risk, but if Ranko was
not out there, where was she? He did wonder how much of Ranko's phobias
running away screaming, was Ranko's sense of humor, and how much he should
really be concerned about.
A moment later the door opened, closed, and something slammed into
him from behind, almost knocking him over.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so happy to see you here!"
Ranko told him, wrapping her arms around his waist, "Can I have your
coat?"
"I'm please to hear it. Why pray tell, do you need my coat?" he knew
he couldn't get his arms loose from her grip without a bulldozer. Her
fear almost overwhelmed her relief.
"I'm naked."
"You know enough to make your own clothes," Jeff reminded her,
concerned about her obvious fear, and that he hadn't seen her, and she
arrived moments after he did.
"Oh, it works," she released him and giggled.
"Where were you?" he asked, he tried to work the creases out of his
ribs.
She got very serious, "YouhavetohelpmesaveRanma,
apandatorehimoffofmeandatehim, andbeatmeup,
soI'llneedyourhelptogoafterhim."
"Can you repeat that as one sentence, instead of one word?" he asked,
he could see how agitated she was.
----------------------------------------
"I cannot help you," Raccoon told her.
Ranko was outraged, "Why not?"
"Because you are traveling in your own mind and spirit, not a
dreamscape. Depending on the strength of your personality, either I won't
be able to go in at all, or I can enter, and I'd wreak untold havoc. So
it is not advisable."
"Great."
"Well, you don't have to go back. Although I find it interesting
that you projected as your subconscious, your animal drives, as
Genma-Panda; and your superego, your conscience and self-control, as Rei.
Good casting."
"So why did my Rei, superego, that sounds really conceited. Why did
it tell me to go running back here?" Ranko asked.
"Why are you so eager to go running off into your deeper selves? By
the way, getting Ranma `torn` from you isn't too different from what
happened to me, I got torn to pieces by something, and my pieces were
eaten by all these little fish. Can you imagine trying to reassemble
yourself as hundreds of thousands of bits of fish droppings, from all over
the ocean?!"
Ranko giggled at that.
"You told me you wanted to know who and what you were, Rei was
basically telling you, you aren't ready to do that. Are you that
dissatisfied with who you are?"
That stopped Ranko, she kept being brought up short, she wasn't
really as capable as she expected. People yelled at Ranma for doing
things that, looking back, they were right, but there were much better
ways of achieving the same thing. Yet at the time, Ranma did the only
thing that occurred to him, and sometimes it got him into trouble, she
needed to know why. "What you told me, doesn't explain enough."
"Well, with Gendo taking your father's place, a lot of the disasters
he'd inflicted on you on a daily basis didn't occur, but getting the
Amazons mad at you, selling you for a fish and some pickles, even Gendo
wouldn't do that. He might sell us down the river to save the world, but
that's a very different motivation. So you have to decide if you want to
find out why you are the way you are, or if you want to overcome it. You
might want to do both. But just not just yet."
"Why not?" Ranko complained.
"Your destiny is to become a Great Old One, the Angel of Late Martial
Artists."
Ranko was shocked, he seemed so serious and sure. Then she carefully
examined his body language, it was a bit _too_ neutral, "YOU!" she tackled
him. She had him flat on his back in an instant, his arms inextricably
pinned, she lay atop him and considered she could do whatever she wanted .
. . she threw herself off. Dammit! I'm a guy! It shouldn't even be
thinking that way!
"Are you all right? You looked like you hurt yourself."
"No." she hugged her legs to her chest, Was this because of what
happened to `Ranma`? "As you say, 'It's not proper.'" She was glad he
just nodded.
"Well, let's do some practice," Raccoon told her as he stood, "From
your expression, you're planning on ignoring my advice and going back."
Ranko nodded, "I think I have to."
"Okay, we'll concentrate on what will help you. The first thing
you'll need is a basis in psychology and general mythology. That should
help you interpret the symbols."
----------------------------------------
They packed up their books and papers after Literature class. Shinji
glanced around. Ranma had left to talk with the Judo and Karate clubs.
Asuka had disappeared with Hikari. Nabiki, Hiroko and a few of the others
were talking, tallying and totaling. Only Rei-san and Raccoon were ready
to leave.
He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with this `special project` that
Rei-san and Raccoon had involved him in, he had a strong suspicion it was
more than 'moving boxes', and 'fitting people to products', as Rei-san had
described it.
Nevertheless, he followed them down, a second tank was waiting for
them. Rei-san took his hand, her look assured him that everything would
be all right. He would have agreed, if it was just the two of them, add
any of the other pilots, and their rather odd way of having fun, and
nothing was safe and predictable.
"Relax," Raccoon told him.
Coming from him, Shinji thought, That's the last thing I feel like
doing. The tank moved off, Shinji concentrated on just hanging on.
----------------------------------------
Asuka wanted to know why Hikari had been so determined to keep their
destination secret. Asuka didn't think fooling her was in Hikari's
nature, her imagination just didn't run that way. They sat in the cooking
classroom, between the desks and the stoves that ran the length of the
clssroom. One of the few classes Asuka actually enjoyed, Japanese food
preparation was . . . different. She wondered what they'd think of Shinji
or Raccoon taking this class, instead of whatever the boys did during that
period. Especially when Raccoon and Shinji got straight A's, she smirked
at that.
"Asuka," Hikari looked worried, "Has NERV been doing something
strange, taking the students and testing them?"
Asuka thought, "Nothing they've told us about. Why do you ask?"
"A lot of people have been staying home sick. Not many in our class,
but I've talked with the other class presidents. The descriptions are all
the same, weak, irritated, insomnia, it's usually over in a day or two,
but it's been getting worse."
"No, as far as I know, they aren't doing any special testing. They
don't tell me everything. How many people are we talking about?"
"Fifty as of yesterday, and it's been getting worse. It was twenty,
just today."
"Maybe it's hayfever," Asuka said, as she considered the problem,
"The rainy season is about to start, maybe it's that."
"I've never noticed it this bad before," Hikari told her.
"I think you need to lay this out for the eyes and ears."
"You mean Hiroko and Nabiki," Hikari said sourly, "Raccoon already
left."
Asuka decided to have some fun, "You know, I would have thought you'd
have the courage to ask me to take you to the PX, I never thought I'd have
to suggest it to you."
"Really?!?"
Asuka wondered if it really was the Arabian Nights, or if ignorance
and gossip made it more than it was, "Well, if you don't want to tell
them, tell Raccoon, or Natsumi, or Wondergirl."
"I would rather tell Nabiki. Ayanami-san unsettles me, do you know
how that is?"
You have no idea, Asuka felt her stomach churning, but kept smiling.
----------------------------------------
Shinji carried another box of blankets to the truck, he couldn't
imagine how Rei-san could carry a stack of boxes as tall as she was. He
was struggling with one or two. The medical building's laundry was a
strange place to be picking up 30 boxes of blankets, it felt like
stealing.
"Are you sure this is all right?" he asked Raccoon.
The other boy pulled one of the blankets out, it was clearly marked
'U.S. NAVY', it barely reached from his shoulders to his ankles. "They're
all shrunk, or somehow unusable in the hospital, but that doesn't make
them any less blankets."
Shinji nodded, some of them were too small even for him, Rei-san or
Ranko. But who'd need 30 large boxes of blankets?
"Trust us," Rei-san said, told him, rather than asked him.
He climbed into the tank with them. The tank took off again, Shinji
saw that the truck was following them.
"The American Military only throws away the very best," Raccoon told
him.
He wasn't sure what that meant, the tank's crew thought it was funny.
Shinji's worries faded considerably when Rei-san took his hand and looked
at him. She'd told him to trust her, he did. He could tell she was
smiling because he didtrust her, even if she didn't show it.
----------------------------------------
They arrived, wherever they had been going. Shinji followed Raccoon
and Rei-san out of the top of the tank. Surrounding the tank, was a
collection of children of various ages, and a group of adults, all in
orange robes, with prayer beads around their necks. The children were
shouting and yelling, they parted to let Rei-san and Raccoon jump to the
ground, but they closed immediately, trapping him on the deck of the tank.
"That's Ikari Shinji, the first person ever to take an EVA into
battle," Raccoon announced.
The kids cheered, reached up to touch him. He wanted to run away,
even battle wasn't as frightening as looking down into those worshipful
faces. Children, a few older than he was, most younger, so full of joy
and hope at seeing . . . him. He glanced over at Rei-san, who had total
confidence in him, then to Raccoon, who was leading some of the
orange-garbed adults to the truck with the boxes of blankets in it.
Two of the tank crewmen carefully took his arms and lowered him into
the shouting mass.
So many people, Shinji was glad Rei-san made her way through the
crowd to his side, and led him into the compound.
----------------------------------------
Ranma looked at the entire Judo and Karate clubs. Most of the
members were lying on their backs, he had been careful not to hurt any of
them, but they still didn't give him a workout.
Nab-chan, Rei, Asuka or Raccoon might have a time with all of them,
but not much. He cracked his neck and watched them stand up.
"Are any of you black belts?" Ranma asked.
One or two besides Kenta and Seisuke raised their hands.
"Okay, let's work on some basic exercises," Ranma reminded himself
that they wouldn't learn as fast as he did, some of his most effective
moves would have to be taught step-by-step. At least this will be good
practice for when Ranko starts teaching. he thought.
----------------------------------------
Shinji sat at a table, trying to fit the kids to the blankets. The
aura of adulation, the absolute awe these kids held him in, hadn't
diminished with time, and it still frightened him. They'd talk about how
brave he was, he'd reply how scared he was, and still he worried about
combat. Instead of reducing their zeal, it only increased it. He
couldn't understand it, I'm a coward, I only did what I had to, what they
forced me to.
Rei-san had taken one of the larger blankets, gone over to a young
child sitting off by him/herself, Shinji wasn't sure if the child was a
boy or a girl. The child seemed not even to notice her presence, picking
up rocks and spinning them. Rei-san pulled several palm-sized metal discs
from her skirt pocket, and spun them, she matched the child's back and
forth rocking motions. Shinji wasn't sure what she was doing, but no one
bothered them.
He refocused on the little girl in front of him. She looked so
scared, like she was ready to cry, "Would you like Army or Navy?" meaning
brown or tan.
"Navy," she said, barely audible.
Shinji went to the boxes, found one much too large, returned and
draped it over her head so only her face showed, "Is that too big?"
She shook her head, " 'ank you," she wrapped it around herself and
ran off to show it to one of the priests, as if she had gotten some holy
relic. That was the other thing that bothered him, most of the men here
were Jesuits, Japanese Catholics, the women were Buddhist nuns. Very
different despite the orange robes and prayer beads. He glanced at
Raccoon, There's a story here, somewhere. Raccoon didn't seem to be
having the same problem, he was a curiosity, not an object of veneration.
Shinji found himself in the uncomfortable position of not scaring
other people. He was acting as he wished other people would act towards
him, and he was still frightening these kids, even a few of the ones who
were two and three years older than he was. He didn't like being
frightening, but he was having enough trouble just avoiding being
terrifying. He kept smiling, kept his tone friendly and tried not to move
too quickly, but it didn't seem to work, even the adults were intimidated
by him.
"I told you, you were a hero," Raccoon whispered to him as he
collected some of the empty boxes.
He hadn't considered that, he was just Shinji, he wasn't clever like
Raccoon or Nabiki, he wasn't a fighter like Ranma, he wasn't an expert
pilot like Rei-san and Asuka, he was just him, nothing. Now he
surrounded by people who were absolutely convinced he was definitely above
normal humanity: braver, smarter, something. Somehow, he couldn't look
into their faces and shatter all their illusions. So he returned to
passing out blankets, answering their questions as completely as he could.
----------------------------------------
"I completely fouled up," Shinji wanted to curl up and die.
"You did fine, very Jimmy Stewart," Raccoon told him, "You saved the
world! Shucks ma'am, jist doin' a job that needed doin'."
"What does that mean?" Shinji asked as he looked around the tank they
rode in.
Rei-san was studying the smooth stone the child had given her.
"Those kids have a lot of things to be scared of, the idea that an
_EVA_pilot_ is scared too, somehow it takes away the shame of being
scared. I didn't take Saotome or Langley for that reason. Too
overwhelming. The two quiet ones were the best choice," Raccoon smiled,
"You did just fine. They'll be talking about meeting you for months, the
blankets were the real extra."
"That is who you were helping with the picture money," Rei-san said.
"Exactly, a little food, hardware for repairs, now they have all
those extra blankets to distribute to people who come to their doors. The
blankets took weeks to arrange. I appreciate your help."
"Will we do it again?" Rei-san asked.
Shinji thought she sounded eager. The experience terrified him, but
if Rei-san went with him, he would do it again.
"You two are free to do it any time you wish. As long as you clear
it with Security, I'm going again next week," Raccoon told them.
Shinji glanced over at Rei, she nodded, they'd go back with Raccoon.
Neither was ready to go on their own, or together without Raccoon.
----------------------------------------
Rei watched Shinji-kun as he and Roku-kun tried to keep their seats.
She had enjoyed trying to reach out to the little girl who had withdrawn
from the world, Rei had the determination, the stubbornness to break
through, to enter the girl's world and operate in it.
The gift of the stone indicated she had partially succeeded, and the
girl wanted her to continue. Those who didn't pay attention, assumed
neither did she, nor did she want to be part of the world. Her
incomprehension wasn't the same as disinterest. She closed her hand on
the rock, not understanding was not the same as not paying attention, and
it certainly was not the same as not wanting to belong.
----------------------------------------
Ranko walked through the mountain pass to finally chase down the
panda. "Eaten by fish," she shuddered as that thought, she couldn't
figure out why she was naked again, she wasn't self-conscious, she was
thoroughly tired of getting scratched by the stones and plants. She also
had a bad feeling that her own baser instincts would _love_ to get their
hands on her.
She was honest enough to know she had those impulses.
_You_ had one about Raccoon, Ranko reminded herself, And Nab-chan.
All Nab-chan had asked for was a shoulder massage, Ranma had trouble not
thinking about other places he could put his hands.
All the explanation she'd gotten was in regards to the `link` she and
Ranma had, and that she was afraid of losing him. Raccoon guessed that
Ranma was having similar dreams/mental walks due to the link they shared.
What Ranko had learned about Ranma and Ranko's past, threatened that link.
Ranma/Ranko had verified the curse still worked, so it was all mental, her
'lapse' as Ranko, then almost as Ranma, was entirely her or him, that
scared her a lot!
Raccoon was a good guy, and he was a lot of fun to be around, but he
was a _guy_._
Just like I am, she reassured herself, Nab-chan is definitely a girl,
but I could never figure her out. Does she want to be my girlfriend, or
does she wnat me to stay away? she wondered if Nab-chan even knew. She
wondered at the barrenness of the place. It was starkly beautiful, a
desert or wilderness, she had to wonder if that was due to the scarcity of
her memories, or if this is the kind of territory she preferred, or
something else.
It felt funny not being able to ask Nab-chan, Rit-chan or Raccoon
about this, somehow having a source of reliable information didn't feel
right. Half the time when Ranma, or Ranko asked a question, those three
would provide a decent answer, or admit their ignorance, and direct
him/her to another source of information.
Being alone, having to depend only on Ranma, or Ranko as she did
right now, not being able to trust anyone or anything felt more `natural`,
and very uncomfortable. She paused, as the wind carried voices to her,
voices arguing about something. She headed in that direction, climbed
over an escarpment, and gazed into a large depression, like a meteor
crater. At the center, she saw the panda and the woman Raccoon had
described as his mother, she did look a lot like Shinji or a dark-haired
Rei.
I wonder how _that_ happened, Ranko saw the pair were cooking
something, in a huge black cauldron almost as tall as they were, the wind
brought a whiff of what they were cooking.
"GAHH! That smells like burning piss!" Just brilliant! Tell them
you're coming. Ranko watched the panda jump close. She leapt away as the
panda approached. She remembered 'stocking up' on the information. She
couldn't beat one of the 'icons', they represented some concentrated
aspect of her/himself. The panda might be anything, but it was only one
element of Ranma, 'A support beam makes a lousy roof'. That was why Ranko
didn't dare try to meet any of these things force to force. Her
'amalgamated nature' made victory impossible, likewise, if she could force
something out of its strength, she could beat it easily.
This one is sneaky, so I don't let it be sneaky, she kept up a
seemingly random pattern of direction changes, but generally away from the
pit, then she changed it into a circle, to loop back and get a look at
whatever they were doing.
Unfortunately, the woman and the pot were gone when she arrived at
the pit, when she looked back, the panda was no longer pursuing. Ranko
sat down near where the pot was, searched for any clue about what they had
been doing. Other than a wood fire and the lingering burnt piss smell,
she had no idea, but she had other sources of information, when she woke
up.
----------------------------------------
Rei woke suddenly, filled with dread. She glanced around her
apartment, the feeling was different from the attacks by the Cthonians,
deeper and more visceral. She immediately thought of the others, that
struck a chord. It was the others who were in danger this time, the rains
had protected her from the monsters of the deep, the rains and one other
thing.
The day she'd been allowed to return to her apartment, after the
mortar attack, she had noticed the faint scratches in the metal panel, and
that the screws were not oriented as they had been. So she had removed
the panel, and found the gift behind it. She was no spell-caster, she
didn't have to be. She had seen what was there, and what it did. Then
she had realized when Roku-kun had come in response to the power's
intrusion, it was also a warning system. That had been easy enough to tap
into as well, she touched the plate concentrated on the patterns beneath.
In her mind she saw them, two sets of concentric circles, separated
in space and time. From outermost in, the circles went from the gossamer
flexibility of a spider web to the armor of a battleship, the outermost
ring had been disturbed, and several of the other, inner rings. Warnings
had been sent out, had wakened her.
"Shinji-kun," she whispered, he was in danger. She grabbed a folded
shirt out of her closet, and ran out the door, pulling it on as she
covered the miles at her best speed.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched the Reis, 27 of them, all riding the train. The
littlest one had insisted on riding in the engineer's cab of the
locomotive, and was using up about half the steam the poor boiler could
generate, just blowing the whistle. He didn't recognize the tune she was
trying to play. The others sat on the roof or in the cars, just watching,
not talking, not moving.
Shinji had realized if going to the orphanage was going to be a
regular thing, he was going to have to get used to crowds of kids. Then
he remembered how the others had reduced Saotome's fear of cats, frequent
exposure in small doses. He had one `crowd` he didn't mind being around
at all. He'd expected to find Rei-san in her dreamscape, the Rei who
also walked the Waking World, but she wasn't there, so he'd offered to
take the crowd that had formed, to ride the train. None of them seemed
enthusiastic, even the littlest one. Then she'd said something that
chilled Shinji, 'If we leave here, we'll die.' She said it as if it were
obvious, and it didn't bother her. Shinji had never heard of such a
thing, he'd assumed these were parts of Rei-san's personality, as his many
fears manifested in the `rabbit-spiders`. So he'd brought his dreamscape
here, he wasn't sure how he linked the two realms, but he knew they could
safely pass between them now, as long as he was here.
Shinji sat alone on the leading edge of the roof of the car following
the tender, he could glance back and see several of the Rei's, watching
him, watching the scenery, he knew they were enjoying themselves, perhaps
only he would be able to tell. The little one, with the engineer's cap
askew on her head, was tracing the steam lines, trying to figure out what
everything did, Rei-san's voracious curiosity made manifest. He kept
wondering where the `real` Rei-san was, the one he talked with and walked
with in the Waking World.
----------------------------------------
Pen Pen saw the thing, it looked like an asymmetric spider made of
smoky, gray crystal, almost invisible in the darkness, five legs on one
side of its twisted body, three on the other. It could not break in
directly, but he knew what it would do, break into hundreds of tiny
fragments, thousands of tiny copies of itself. Almost invisible in
shadows, all filled with venom, all waiting for the kids and Misato to go
out beyond the ward's protection. They would sting and bite and tangle,
one alone was meaningless, the dozens or hundreds that would attack each
victim would be fatal, before help of any kind could arrive. The house
was quiet, he could do his work, and not be discovered, although as the
spell took effect, it would wake everyone around, although that might not
be a bad thing, and people would blame the noise on the monster.
Pen Pen closed his eyes and concentrated, crystal had one fatal flaw,
even one as misshapen as this one, that crept along on eight legs. Pen
Pen and the neighborhood dogs heard the high-pitched sound first, he'd
started beyond human hearing to disguise what he was doing as long as he
could. The spell balked and faded. Someone had shielded the creature,
there was a faint chance it could pass the wards, and a very good one that
nothing Pen Pen could do would stop it.
----------------------------------------
Rei had never seen Roku-kun not wearing a suit, either his business
suit or a plugsuit, but he stood barefoot in his pajamas on the roof of
Captain Katsuragi's apartment. He still wore his hat, and still carried
his walking stick. He took aim and threw the stick at the thing that was
hanging on the side of the building, scratching at the window of
Shinji-kun's room. The stick bounced off without any effect, Roku-kun
stepped back from the edge, uttering a quiet 'Damn!', as the creature
leapt onto the roof.
Rei had an answer for spiders, a gift from a successful battle.
She'd practiced, as Roku-kun and the Second Children had instructed her.
"No," Roku-kun reproved, "That's what it wants."
She lowered the Schofield she normally kept wrapped in this shirt,
when she wasn't practicing with it, and considered, if Roku-kun wasn't
using his gun. . . .
"We let it kill itself," Roku-kun pointed to the stinger on the
creature's tail as he approached from one side.
Rei knew she was no good at these kind of games, instead she formed
her AT field and squashed the spider-crystal against the roof,
immobilizing it completely.
"You wouldn't step on Douglas Fairbank's daring-do like that, would
you?" Roku-kun asked as he broke the creature's tail off, and impaled the
crystal spider with it. The gray faded to black, and the creature
crumbled away to dust.
"Subtlety, my dear, subtlety, if I'd wanted to wake the neighborhood,
I'd have called in a fire mission to the Alaska and the Hawaii."
"That would have worked?" Rei asked, if they could get the
battleships to fire on these monsters, it would simplify things immensely,
at least for the little ones.
"No, I was joking, the guns aren't that accurate, and even if it
worked, the shell would have blown up the entire apartment."
Rei considered, "That would not be desirable."
"Well, you could ask the Admiral about getting some slugs for the
heavy guns."
Rei thought it was an excellent idea, she nodded and started off.
"After school!" Roku-kun stage-whispered at her, "Not now.
Somebody's going to die for this." He walked away grumbling, Rei wasn't
sure what he was saying, she could only make out 'Admiral' and 'Mr.
Davis', he didn't sound happy.
Rei swung over the side, and climbed down to see if Shinji was
disturbed by the activity, he was still sound asleep. Rei watched him for
a few moments and dropped the rest of the way to the ground. She
considered how early would it be appropriate to approach the Admiral about
this problem, after school was too long a wait. She settled on 6:00 a.m.
----------------------------------------
"Burnt piss?" Rit-chan asked.
"Yeah," Ranma said around his breakfast, "They were boiling something
in a pot and the breeze off the pot smelled like burnt piss."
"I'll leave off the question if this is really appropriate mealtime
conversation," Raccoon said irritatedly, "And how you know what burning
piss smells like. But ammonia vapors sounds like a fuller or a tannery."
"Don't look at me," Ritsuko said.
"I know those are `unclean` jobs," Raccoon said, "I can't imagine
ostracizing people for doing these jobs."
Nab-chan squirmed at that.
"What's a fuller?" Ranma asked.
"A fuller cleans and prepares cloth, often making felt from pelts and
hides."
"Oh." Ranma concentrated on his breakfast.
----------------------------------------
Homonculous
May 21, 1947
The sun had dried the fields at school, Ranma still felt he was
chasing the wind, Raccoon had avoided him at school, every chance he got.
Ordinarily, Ranma would have thought chasing him down was a good test of
his abilities of stealth and speed, except he had a lot of questions and
only a little time to ask them. Last night's dream had just added to
things.
He still didn't want Nab-chan or Rit-chan around when he asked them.
"Raccoon, Davis, can we talk?" he'd finally cornered him near the
perimeter wall. The look of suspicion the other boy gave him, hurt Ranma
worse than if Raccoon had just punched him instead.
"Yes, Saotome-san?"
"Look," he stepped back as Raccoon tensed up, "I need to talk to you,
about some dreams."
"All right," Raccoon didn't relax much.
Ranma didn't know where to start. Raccoon just stared, keeping that
neutral expression, and an air of imminent flight. It could scarcely have
made Ranma more nervous. "I'm not going to hit you!"
"I have your word, as a martial artist, on that?" Raccoon asked.
Ranma was about to agree, when he remembered the contempt Raccoon had
heaped on the whole code of honor idea, "My word, but not as a martial
artist, as me."
Ranma was extremely uncomfortable, besides the disturbing dreams, he
didn't want to `give permission` for Raccoon to `date` Ranko, but he
didn't want the other boy always looking over his shoulder if Ranko got
the least bit friendly when they were just having fun. But he couldn't
just say that, I cannot believe it, I'm jealous of myself. Ranma didn't
like the idea that anyone was frightened of him, respecting his skills,
that was okay. But that someone like Raccoon, someone who could kill, was
afraid of him, it was mystifying.
They stood there like that, for nearly two minutes, Ranma failing to
find the words he needed, he saw that Raccoon was outwardly calm, inwardly
ready to vault the wall to escape.
Ranma wanted to ask about the dream, any ideas, guesses, anything
that might help him decide his next move. The words never came. "I'm
okay with you and Ranko," he mumbled.
"That is her choice, and mine, not your's," Raccoon replied coldly.
Strangely, the defiance made Ranma feel better, and made him curious,
"If I told her to stop seeing you. How would you stop me? I said _if_!_"
"There are ways," Raccoon intoned, "Terrible dark ways, to freeze the
soul and boil the marrow, yielding only pitiful, unheard lamentations and
gnashing of teeth."
Ranma took a step back away from the growing cold and darkness, and
wondered who turned off the sun.
Raccoon raised his walking stick, Ranma froze, wondering if he'd put
his foot in it again, like he often did with Nab-chan.
"CAT BOLT!" Raccoon hissed menacingly.
Ranma covered his face, expecting a storm of thousands of the
terrifying creatures to erupt from the end of the stick instantly . . .
any second now . . . this second . . . now . . . right now . . . maybe
now. He peeked at the smirking Raccoon, and considered pounding him
anyway.
Then the scream.
"That wasn't me," Ranma exclaimed, "It's this way," Ranma pointed,
"And it's close."
Raccoon caught his arm before he could charge over the wall, "Let
Security handle it, that's their job, not ours."
"I can't do that," Ranma shook himself loose, and jumped over the
wall, he took off running.
He heard the sounds of Raccoon crashing the the ground, he glanced
back as the other boy was pulling himself out of the undignified heap he'd
landed in. Both heard the cries for help, they both accelerated.
"You don't listen, do you?" Raccoon angrily asked as he caught up.
Ranma could careless what he thought, it was a Martial Artist's duty
to protect the weak.
A little girl, maybe five or six years old, was being loaded into a
Navy truck by six men, while she was struggling and screaming her head
off. Easily a dozen men were waiting in the truck.
Raccoon swung wide, accelerating away from Ranma. Ranma still didn't
know how Raccoon managed that, Raccoon's extra foot of height shouldn't
have given him _that_ much of a speed advantage.
At least he knows how to run, Ranma thought as he closed in. He saw
Raccoon hit the driver with his walking stick, then the co-driver flew out
the other side of the cab, The truck's going nowhere, Ranma thought as he
hit the first man, while kicking the rifle out of the hands of a second.
He grabbed one of the men out of the truck bed and threw him at the four
on the ground.
Rei Fu, Ranma thought, Hit your enemies _with_ your enemies. He
jumped into the truck bed and tore into the packed men, As long as you
have two or more foes, it's an armed style. He used the elbow and short
leg strikes, just to practice the techniques, there wasn't even 2 dozen
men, hardly even a workout. But this new technique is better for close-in
fighting, his instinct was to let the distance open up, but he knew that
some of these people would escape, if he did that.
It was over too quickly for Ranma's tastes, he wished at least one of
them could have given him a workout. Ranma saw one of the bystanders turn
and run away, he jumped out of the truck and started to chase him down.
"Saotome!" Raccoon raced towards him, Ranma dodged Raccoon's clumsy
tackle as the gunshot went off. The little girl has a gun? Ranma dodged
out of the expected path of the bullet as Raccoon crashed down to the
pavement, once on the ground he aimed his pistol at the girl. "No!" Ranma
shouted, "She's only . . . "
Raccoon's shot took her in the head, splattering the rear of the
truck and the men inside with blue-green ichor, and throwing her under the
truck. Ranma watched in shock as the little girl with the top of her head
blown off, got back up. She raised her gun as Raccoon aimed his, he shot
first, blowing open her chest and smashing what was left against the front
wheels of the truck. She, it, didn't rise again.
Ranma stared at the small corpse in disgust and horror, he missed the
first gunman who got up and ran away, he didn't miss the second, or the
third, slinging all of them into the truck on their colleagues. The rest
stayed cowed by his fighting and Raccoon's gun.
Ranma kept looking at the little corpse. He wanted to ask what was
going on, he wanted to know who, or what, that thing was. But Raccoon had
remained lying on the ground, and looked a little worse for wear, so he
was likely disinclined to talk to Ranma.
Terrific, Ranma thought, Jabber, jabber, jabber, until _I_ want to
talk, then he clams up. He glared at their prisoners as NERV Security and
the Marine guards showed up. Except I couldn't say what I wanted, when I
had the chance. A little privacy and a glass of cold water and he'd talk
to me, and I could talk to him, Ranma complained inwardly, another
uncomfortable `difference` between Ranma and Ranko.
----------------------------------------
Hiroko entered the chemistry lab, saw Natsumi going through the
closet area used by the Chemistry Club, "Wasn't that almost empty?"
Hiroko watched the other girl rearranging the crowded contents.
"Yes, it used to be just what we could scrounge up. But we got a
special order to get this stuff, and we get to keep it, after we test its
purity," Natsumi told her.
Hiroko could guess who gave the orders, and paid the money, "Methyl
vinyl ketone ACS reagent, isopropyl alcohol pharmaceutical, mesylate . . .
forget it."
"Methylene Chloride Mesylate, there's a lot of weird stuff," Natsumi
glanced around, "Raccoon told us that Dr. Akagi was having trouble getting
this stuff."
"And you didn't have any trouble?" Hiroko was already considering the
implications.
"We had to go pick them up ourselves, but in less than a week, we had
them, we couldn't find these three," Natsumi handed her a list, "We don't
know what those are. The rest was easy, once we had the money."
"This second one is incense, I think the first and the third are
animal parts, take it to the biology teacher, he may know exactly what it
is. I think someone is playing a bad joke on Dr. Akagi." Hiroko handed
back the list, she was already thinking.
"That's what the other eyes and ears thought so too, I agree with
them," Natsumi told her.
Or someone is sabotaging her work, Hiroko thought, Or is
intentionally restricting her supply, now they can't any longer. Hiroko
smiled and wondered if she should bring her suspicions to Raccoon, the
Boss, or both. She smirked, If I learn too much, they'll rub me out, she
laughed at that.
----------------------------------------
Dr. Akagi carefully examined the bruising on Jeff's chest and arm.
"Funny how the bruises are on your side and the _inside_ of your arm," she
said, "Almost like the bullet hit your side, bounced off and hit your
arm."
"Or I could have landed badly, trapping something in my coat between
my arm and chest," he replied, "I take it Saotome-san's okay."
"A little shocked about what happened, but he's already bouncing
back."
"You do not sound too happy about that."
"The two of you walked into a group of gunmen," Ritsuko said, "And
Ranma is already talking about how easy it was."
"It was easy, they didn't react properly. And you're worried about
what happens if someone is expecting him and his skills."
"I'm worried about _both_ of you," she walked over, hefted his coat,
"You take precautions. But that's not a preventative, nor is it a cure."
"Well, I'd warned Saotome not to go, when he didn't listen, I
realized the rest of Security would never keep up with him. I couldn't
leave that idiot unguarded out in harsh light of the real world."
"Well, there are no internal injuries, nor are there magic ways I can
speed the healing of these bruises, you'll have to live with them. Take
it as a lesson about your own mortality," Ritsuko told him.
"Fair exchange," he started putting his undershirt and shirt back on,
with her help.
----------------------------------------
"So, Raccoon," Ranma caught up with his colleague, "What was that
thing? I've never seen blue-green blood."
"It was a trap," Raccoon told him as they stepped out of the
medcenter, "I would like to know how they knew exactly where to stage
that. Somebody had to tell them where we were talking."
"Who?" Ranma asked, he didn't like what Raccoon was saying, he was
also concerned by the way he was moving, too stiff, favoring one side,
until he noted ranma's attention, then he alternated, favoring one side,
then the other. Ranma wished he could uses some of his ki techniques,
determine the extent of the injuries, but Raccoon had enough man in his to
block him.
"If I knew, I'd be doing something about it. Somebody's going all
out, I think someone should make sure they get an appropriate remuneration
for all their exertions."
No, I think someone should make them pay, Ranma thought.
----------------------------------------
Gendo looked across his desk, and steepled fingers at Kaji, "As head
of Security, I would think you'd have more and better answers than that."
"Commander," Kaji replied breezily, "I can't give you information I
don't have. Do you have any information on the bait?"
"None of that concerns Security, the device can't be manufactured
locally," Gendo replied, "Military Intelligence is handling that part of
the investigation, as well as running down the identity of the captured
attackers, with the assistance of the Tokyo Police."
"Do you think these latest incidents are linked?" Kaji asked.
"I don't see how," Gendo admitted.
"I bet the Committee isn't pleased by all this activity, "Kaji
commented.
"I don't doubt it." Gendo considered why they were doing this.
----------------------------------------
The little man looked through the warehouse, except for what was
officially here, it was empty. He wondered where the others had gone,
when his compatriots would betray him to the police. He had barely
escaped, the others had been captured, and that stupid thing automatically
went to kill mode.
He was still limping from where Saotome had kicked him. He finally
understood why they were offering so much money for him alive. But he
didn't understand why the rush. He doubted they'd tell him. Now even
Tembris had abandoned him.
He considered just turning himself in, maybe they wouldn't execute
him, Maybe the Army wouldn't, but SEELE certainly would.
----------------------------------------
"Ranma! Can't you keep out of trouble?" Nab-chan attacked as soon as
he walked in the door. "And what about you?" she attacked Raccoon as he
followed him into the apartment.
At least let us get our shoes off Nab-chan! Ranma thought.
"No," Raccoon glanced at the schedule.
It's not his turn to cook, it's mine, Ranma thought as Raccoon headed
to the bedroom. I've been watching him favor his right side, and try to
hide it, the side he _didn't_ land on, when he tried to push me out of the
way, he thought.
"So what do you feel like for dinner?" he asked.
"Your heads, on a platter!" Nab-chan told him, "Both of them! If I
don't get some answers."
"I already answered you," Raccoon called from the bedroom
Ranma heard him head into the bathroom. He stepped past a fuming
Nab-chan, "Take a long soak in the furo, you'll feel better. Nab-chan
will be too busy with me to peep."
"Thank you, no," Raccoon replied.
Ranma heard the shower go on, off, And it'll go on again in about
five minutes and he'll be out, Ranma shook his head, "Talk about
stubborn," he walked away.
"Yes," Nab-chan, arms crossed, stared at him, "Let's talk about
stubborn."
"Look, you weren't there!" Ranma told her, he stepped past again, and
headed for the kitchen.
The shower stopped, He's gone to bed, fewer people to cook for, Ranma
thought, I still want to know what that thing was, and why Raccoon knew to
shoot it, Ranma stopped to consider, Or does he shoot everything that's a
real threat to him and the pilots? Ranma shuddered, Nab-chan's as bent out
of shape as I've seen her. Sheeesh, even Kaji and Rit-chan didn't give me
this much of a hard time about what happened. What's your problem? Ranma
didn't tell her, he knew enough to stay out of her way when she got in
these moods. I have to wonder what these guys were after. There weren't
enough of them to take me or Raccoon, certainly not together. Ranma
smiled at that thought, deepening Nab-chan's frown.
Well, sorry Nab-Chan, Ranma thought, The first real thing you asked
me to do for you was fight, then you get all incensed when I do it for
myself, or somebody else. I can't do that, he wanted to tell her, But
she'll never understand, it's like I am, the one thing about _me_ I'm sure
of.
----------------------------------------
The small corpse lay on the examination table, the blue-green blood
had confused the medical examiner, but he continued the routine autopsy.
He knew the cause of death had been blood loss. Unusual, considering the
massive trauma to the head. He completed his work, and rolled the corpse
back into the refrigerated cabinet. Writing the report was going to be
_very_ interesting.
No one noticed the man enter the examination room after it was empty,
and open the cabinet. Some of the blue-white solid chunks, that the
medical examiner thought was the creature's dried blood, were collected,
and the man left.
----------------------------------------
Ranma stared up at the futon in the framework above his head. "You
got shot," he said without preamble.
"How do you figure that?" the other boy replied tiredly.
"You landed on your left side. You're hurt on your right. You got
shot . . . because of me."
"I don't know how you figured that. I carry a medical kit in my
right pocket. I just landed badly. A bullet wound wouldn't leave a
precisely rectangular bruise. Besides, if I'd been shot, you'd be staring
at my corpse on a slab in the morgue, not talking to the back of my head."
Ranma made a note to check on Raccoon's medical kit, he knew that if
the bullet landed on the kit, the kit would cause the bruise. "I just
want to say, I'm grateful," he was uncomfortable with this, Raccoon was no
Martial Artist, he could have been killed.
"For what?" Raccoon replied, "Look Saotome, we can talk about this
all night, but I'd rather get back to sleep. So, assuming you are
correct, you are about to propose some stupid code of honor nonsense that
will have me tripping over you as you follow me around like a lovesick
puppy. With that in mind, since you would continue going into situations
that I can handle, and you can't, acknowledging your point of view, would
result in a severe degradation of my effectiveness. As I divided my
attention between my enemies, protecting myself, and protecting you."
"You realize I don't have any idea what you just said," Ranma told
him.
"It - makes - more - sense - for - me - to - have - let - you - get -
shot," Raccoon told him, "That would have been my best course of action.
Your scenario makes no objective sense."
Why do I get the idea I'm right, and you'll never admit it, Ranma
thought, I just can't figure out why you won't admit it. Against humans,
I can protect myself better than you can. Ranma couldn't figure out how
someone could save his life, at great risk to his own, and not want to
acknowledge the honor debt that created. He almost thought Raccoon was
angry at having done what he did, He isn't angry he saved me, Ranma
guessed, He's mad that I `caught` him doing it.
Ranma shook his head, if he lived a million years, he'd never figure
out his roommate.
----------------------------------------
Shinji had entered Rei's dreamscape again. He was glad to see all
the Rei's, including the Waking World version, were here. There were only
28, total, that's all there was. He watched the Reis mingle, You can't
call it socializing, he realized that while all of them would interact
with him, they treated each other like mobile obstacles, they never talked
to each other, they never played together.
He could direct them to play a game, and they would continue without
prompting, but they wouldn't start one spontaneously, when he asked why,
they just stared at him in incomprehension.
"Where were you last night?" Shinji asked the Rei of the Waking
World, "I came by and you weren't here."
"I was occupied elsewhere," she told him, looking slightly ashamed at
that.
"You can do what you want, you just looked forward to riding the
train with me, I thought you'd all like to go. You're the only one who
missed it."
Rei turned around so fast Shinji stepped back, he hadn't seen that
expression on her face since the black tar monsters, Children of Nyogtha,
he reminded himself, tried to break into her apartment. He thought for an
instant she was really going to hit him this time.
"You took them outside?" she asked, stepping closer to him.
"Yes, I brought my dreamscape close, and well, I guess I linked them
up, so they could go to either one," Shinji wondered how much trouble he
was in, how badly he'd alienated his friend and confidant.
Rei didn't' answer, she just turned and ran away at her best speed, I
couldn't catch her with a jeep! Shinji thought as he pursued, the other
Reis falling in behind, keeping pace with him, rather than her.
"Do you know where she went?" Shinji gasped from exertion as he ran,
the others had no trouble keeping up the pace.
"Don't you?" the littlest one teased.
Shinji understood he did know, he wasn't sure how, and he didn't know
where what he searched for would be found, in Rei's dreamscape. However,
he knew exactly where she'd be.
It took several minutes of searching, but he found it. The room full
of tables, the tellers' windows, it was a bank. Behind the tellers'
counter, he saw it, the vault, the door was closed. A tug showed it was
locked as well, and he was no safecracker, her will here was adamant, he
couldn't simply wish it open. Shinji stared at the vault door, vaguely
remembering what Asuka had said, 'Nothing was ever finished.'
He walked past the other Reis, who had followed him, and outside the
bank. Sure enough, the rear of the bank wasn't there. Huddled in one
corner of the vault was Rei, swatting down, hugging herself and rocking
back and forth. It reminded him of the child Rei had played with at the
orphanage.
"Rei-san?" Shinji entered with trepidation, he knew how dangerous
approaching an angry Asuka was, or a drunken Misato, he'd rather fight
angels, he was allowed to fight back.
She hadn't reacted as he approached, and the other Reis were staying
outside. He touched her shoulder.
"Rei-san, I'm sorry if I did wrong, if I hurt you, please tell me,"
he said miserably.
"Hurt - me," she stopped rocking, but didn't lift her head, "Hurt -
me?"
Suddenly she sprang at him, Shinji couldn't dodge, and wouldn't hit
back. He was pushed back, bumping into the walls of the vault as Rei's
arms encircled his shoulders and his hips, she'd practicably picked him up
and shoved him there. She buried her face in his shoulder, while the
tightness of the grip made his shoulders and hips creak, he could still
breathe. Nothing happened for a few moments. She made a quiet cough that
shook her entire body, then another, she seemed to be burrowing her head
into his shoulder.
"Rei-san . . . Rei-chan, please tell me, what did I do, how can I
help you, how can I make this right?" he felt wretched, he couldn't figure
out what was happening, if he'd hurt her, why wasn't she hurting him back?
She raised her face to look at him, etched on her face was an
expression of heartbreaking pain, Shinji hadn't realized he could have
hurt anyone this badly on purpose. He would have done anything to take
back what he'd done. Then she smiled at him, just long enough for him to
see, then returned her head to his shoulder.
He felt her tears, and realized she was sobbing. He put his arms
around her, and started the slow rocking motion he'd watched her doing
when he'd arrived. She tightened her grip slightly, nuzzled his shoulder,
but said nothing, continuing to gasp occasionally as she held him.
Shinji wished there was someone who could tell him what was going on,
what he'd done. He understood she wasn't angry or sorrowful, she was
happy, so happy it hurt her dreadfully. He couldn't think of anything to
say, or anything else to do. So he held her, rocking slowly, saying
nothing.
----------------------------------------
No wonder Saotome hates school, Asuka thought. She'd watched
Spineless and Wondergirl enter, hand in hand with Wondergirl's head
resting on Shinji's shoulder. Wondergirl's expression was bland, as
_always_, but now it was the blandness of utter contentment. Well,
somebody nipped off to Nirvana, and left no forwarding address, she
thought, Why didn't you stay there!?
Asuka could hardly stand it. Spineless and Wondergirl had been
carrying on like that all day. If she didn't know better, she'd have
thought he'd slipped off to her apartment, and they'd discovered sex
together, Spineless looked intensely guilty, Even for him, he looks
guilty, and Wondergirl looked like she was still in the afterglow. But
that's impossible! Asuka was sure of it, Neither would have the guts to
even try it. They'd both need an instruction manual and permission from
Steeple-fingered Stoneface. Even she couldn't calculate the odds of that
happening.
She knew it was possible to do that in dreams, she'd had lovers
herself, another reason she laughed at Misato, and Horseface. Men were
men, what they did outside of bed or the battlefield made them keepers or
not, she thought, wondering again what had happened, she knew it didn't
carry over to the Waking World. So what's got them like this? Asuka
wanted to take both of them somewhere private, and beat the truth out of
them. From the look on Ice Princess's face, she thought, I might have
some help. Except she isn't disgusted by it, she's more curious and
amused. Then she watched a little more closely, And she's wondering how
to torture Horseface with it. Ice Princes, you'll never get him like
that! Raccoon's got Ranko more wrapped up than you do Ranma, without even
trying. Try using his methods! she wanted to yell at the stupidity that
always surrounded her.
She also wanted the class over, NOW!. Because they were going to
work on the equations today, she wasn't sure what the equations were for,
but any real math challenge, I'm up for it!
Instead, she waited, and she listened, to the teacher drone, on and
on, about the local volcano.
There's not one mountain in Japan that's a patch on the Alps, she
tried to stay awake.
"Davis-san!" the teacher's anger and sarcasm was evident, he disliked
the two gaijin in his class, especially when they were proficient in the
subject, "I'm certain the class would be fascinated to know what you are
so diligently working on, instead of listening to the poems about
Fuji-san."
Asuka nodded her head enthusiastically, and brought a snicker from
the class. A Raccoon versus teacher exchange, she thought This should
make my week. Go get him! There's only 20 minutes left, you can keep him
occupied for 20 minutes, please!!
Raccoon stood the moment the teacher addressed him, a level of
courtesy the other students often failed to meet, "Of course, sensei. I
was comparing and contrasting Sun Tzu's the Art of War, Musashi's The Book
of Five Rings and Guderian's Achtung! Panzer, with regards to NERV's
current troubles and life's problems in general."
Asuka managed to avoid laughing by main force, the giggles from the
others almost cost her her composure, Stupid teacher assumed the gaijin
was goofing off, she thought, We're college students, of course we know
the subject. Better than you! Asuka saw Hiroko and Ice Princess were
stifling laughter, the Three Stooges were making faces at Raccoon or at
each other, she couldn't tell which.
"What about the haiku on Fuji-san?" the teacher demanded.
Raccoon answered, "Sensei, I grew up in Wyoming, between two arms of
the Rocky Mountains, on a clear day, you could see both. So well . . . "
he continued in English,
"It's very pretty:
It doesn't come up to home:
In my eyes, sorry."
There were whoops and cries of 'poetic stud!' from some of the better
English speakers. Asuka heard Ice Princess add a 'Nice Kuno-chan', and
felt a chill.
The teacher thanked him and asked him to sit down. He walked away
shaking his head, it took him nearly five minutes to regain his composure
and another ten to get control of the class.
----------------------------------------
'I'm sorry, I just can't get that worked up about a volcano,' Asuka
heard Raccoon tell Wondergirl as they packed up to go home, 'I keep
wondering when it's going to go BOOM!' Wondergirl placidly nodded,
stealing looks at Spineless.
"It's very pretty, but it doesn't compare to home," Asuka teased as
they walked to their ride home, "Raccoon, I thought you would give the
prof a stroke, right then and there."
"He forgot that others have mountains too," Raccoon replied, "And
some are more impressive, besides, the point of a mountain is to look down
from its top, not to look up from its bottom."
"A difference in culture," Wondergirl commented.
Asuka was surprised that Wondergirl was actually contributing to the
conversation.
"To see far, or to know your place," Wondergirl finished.
"Heisenberg's uncertainty principle for politics, the farther you can
see, the less you know where you're supposed to be. Very well," Raccoon
asked, "Where do you stand on the mountain?"
Wondergirl stopped, the others did also. She had no immediate
answer, she considered.
Come on, Wondergirl, let's get home, you can wax philosophical on the
ride home! Asuka didn't shout, although she wanted to.
"On the rocky part," Wondergirl said and started walking again.
Asuka turned to Raccoon, "You did this to her," she said
threateningly. She grabbed Shinji's arm and dragged him towards the tank.
"You act like I got her pregnant," Raccoon grumbled, then shouted,
"One of these days, you're going to tear his arm off doing that, like a
cloth doll."
Asuka stopped, shoulders hunched as if struck, she released Shinji's
arm and marched into the personnel carrier.
"Ah," Ice Princess noted, "An opening."
"Let's get the prybars and explosives," Raccoon replied.
"I've got nothin' ta do with this," Horseface held up his hands and
backed away.
"Chicken," Raccoon and Ice Princess commented to each other as they
followed her into the tank.
No doubt devising schemes to taunt me, Asuka thought, Give me those
equations, and I don't _CARE_ what else happens!
----------------------------------------
May 22, 1947
MATHS
"It's called a transformation matrix." Asuka told Raccoon, "It allow
you to convert one set of equations, or in this case one set of
coordinates, to a different basis." The others ignored them, first they
were speaking German, second neither Ice Princess nor Spineless could
follow even half of what they were saying.
"So this should allow me to convert to a mutually orthogonal basis,
then into the standard basis?"
"Why not just convert directly?" Asuka looked at his equations and
wrote down several more equations. "Why the sudden interest in Linear
Algebra?"
"Simple, why can't we overlap and reinforce our AT fields, why are
they always flat, planar surfaces, usually vertical? I managed to derive
these equations," Raccoon handed Asuka a sheaf of papers, "But I couldn't
solve the simultaneous equations. You're the maths genius."
"You finally recognized that."
"I knew it before, it's everything else I dispute."
She frowned at that, "Well I'm going to check these equations, and
you start on converting them to the standard basis."
"Quick question, how do I derive the basis they are in?" Raccoon
asked innocently.
Asuka growled, snatched the papers from his hand and stalked into her
room. Slamming the door behind her, "Don't bother me!"
----------------------------------------
Nabiki watched Raccoon hold up his hands in mock surrender.
"I like living too much," he said.
"What is that all about?" Nabiki asked, "My German may not be
perfect, but you two lost me in a few sentences. All I could make out
were bits and pieces." She glanced over at Rei and Shinji, who were
sitting next to each other. Nabiki had the strangest impression that Rei
wanted to put her head on Shinji's shoulder or in his lap, they'd both
been acting _very_strange_ all day, but she'd get to the bottom of it,
Before Asuka does.
"Yeah, you were talking about the AT field?" Ranma asked, "Weren't
you?"
"Yes, if the mathematics becomes solvable, we can link our AT fields,
change their shape, even extend them through another AT field without the
massive effort we have to use now. Maybe even duplicate that trick you
used the first time."
"Still after the magic bullet to shoot Angels?" Nabiki teased.
"Why not, I'm sick of having to go hand-to-hand against enemies with
ranged attacks. We always end up damaged, and we always end up in the
hospital."
"You do certainly!" Ranma teased.
"Quit being so catty," Raccoon retorted, causing Ranma to shudder,
"Anyway, if we could form a tube to guide a shell into and through an
Angel's AT field, we could balance that out. Imagine a regular 16-inch
shell hitting one of those things, where it matters. The Russians are
supposed to have shells that can penetrate, I'd love to see them in
action, and figure out how they do it. Then see if we can duplicate that,
or come up with a way of doing something similar. Combining what they do
with our AT fields could make mincemeat out of the next Angel. Or
Saotome's trick of projected explosive points, anything to increase the
combat range."
"Why are you so determined?" Ranma asked, "I like punching them out."
"Because if I don't figure out a way to shoot them," Raccoon replied,
"John Wayne and Randolph Scott are going to repossess my spurs and horse."
Nabiki shook her head, she returned to the homework, the teacher had
gotten back at everyone, they had to write a paper about an unusual
experience in their lives, the pilots could not detail anything having to
do with NERV. I could talk about all the nuts back in Nerima, Nabiki
thought, But One) no one would ever believe me, Two) I'd rather not
advertise it, and Three) I'd rather not think of those people if I don't
have to, and I don't have to.
Asuka returned a few minutes later, "Try that as a basis, run it
through the equations a few times."
"I'm not going to ask how you did this," Raccoon set the paper before
him, and started to work. Asuka returned to her room with a grim
expression.
"This has something to do with magic too, doesn't it." Nabiki asked
quietly, in German.
"That's how I got the observations in the first place, testing my
field against the other effects. They all followed a consistent basis,
deriving and refining the basis took years," Raccoon replied in Japanese
as he wrote out the complex equations and substituted in the variables.
"You haven't _had_ years," Nabiki retorted, "Months or weeks at
most."
"How little you know," Raccoon returned, "Anyway, if math can
describe the field, we should be able to manipulate it as we want."
"You could let Ritsuko-sensei help," Ranma suggested.
"And have to explain how I got the data, set up the equations and
proofed them. No thanks, I got embarrassed enough describing one aspect
of that already. When I present this, it will be a fait accompli, 'Here
Doc, the solution to the problem, just turn the crank.' I'm tired of
having to justify everything that I do, I'm just the second alternate
pilot remember, not a certified genius borne of another genius."
"You're as competitive as Asuka," Nabiki watched the mathematics flow
onto the page, it was eerie watching it, "And you're both worse than
Ranma."
Raccoon stopped, looked up, "If you're going to insult me, I can work
outside."
Nabiki backed away, "Okay, I was joking."
"Not. Funny." He looked back at the work.
Nabiki grumbled as she returned to her school work, she wondered what
his reaction would be if she told him about his parent's work on the
Manhattan Project. She couldn't think of another reason a
physicist/chemist team would have been at the University of Chicago in
1942-43.
A few minutes later Asuka came out. "I can't find any errors in your
work."
Raccoon stared at her open mouthed.
"What?" Asuka asked angrily.
"Those equations are thirteen years' work, you check solved them in a
few minutes?"
"Oh course," Asuka was miffed, "You doubt me?"
"No, no. It's just that as good as I am at something, somebody
around here is orders of magnitude beyond my skill level. It's sooo good
for my feeling of self-worth."
"Thirteen years?" Ranma asked, "You mean you developed this while you
were in Nerima, as me?"
"Exactly, Soun Tendo was very helpful."
Nabiki watched the papers cascade out of Asuka's fingers, then Shinji
had to catch her as she tottered, he lowered her to a sitting position.
Nabiki was trying not to faint as her pulse raced and her breathing
stopped.
"Soun Tendo?" Asuka stared at Raccoon, "Looks like Commander
Fuyutsuki, cries a lot?"
"Long brown hair and droopy moustache," Raccoon's eyes were fixed on
Nabiki, "Cries a lot, very helpful in developing this."
Nabiki couldn't believe what she was hearing, but it continued.
"Three daughters - "
"Five: Kasumi, NABIKI, Akane, Natsumi, and Kurumi: brunette motherly,
brunette loan shark, three black-haired combat monsters," Asuka said
automatically, as Rei helped Shinji keep her upright.
"One affianced to a sixteen-year-old Ranma Saotome," Raccoon added.
"Yeah, Kaji, I was her," Asuka pointed at Nabiki.
"I feel sorry for Kaji, I got stuck as Mr. Subtlety too, with Gendo
as Genma."
"Stoneface as that fat slob!" Asuka was laughing hysterically, "Talk
about miscasting!" She continued laughing until Ranma stood.
"You knew about it too!" Ranma yelled furiously at Asuka and Raccoon,
"You know what my father looks like, what my history is! Who my family
is! And you didn't tell me!?"
"Calm down, Saotome," Raccoon said sternly, "It wasn't exactly all
fun and games for me. I assume the separation wasn't easy for the rest of
you, I notice you haven't exactly broadcast _your_ experiences in that
dream."
Ranma gulped, "It's not like I like talkin' about massacres . . . all
that blood."
"So let's discuss this rationally," Raccoon said, "It's clear that
Langley and I didn't go through the same experiences, I told Ranko that it
was a Great Old One's distortion, this just proves it."
"What's this `history` stuff," Asuka rallied, "You were sixteen . . .
in 1992 . . . that sounds like the future to me."
Nabiki watched the two nod, she was dreading what was going to happen
next.
"What about you?" Ranma asked her, "Don't you have anything to add?"
"I don't _have_ two sisters, or four," she said, Because I disowned
them, "I'm not sure how much of the rest of the story is accurate. My
father was named Soun, and he did own a martial arts dojo."
"'Was', 'did', are you saying he's dead?" Shinji asked.
"I don't know," Nabiki said quietly, "The last time I saw him, was
months before I came to NERV, he may be dead now, I don't know. Mybe this
Soun is, will be, his grandson."
"What did you dream?" Rei asked.
"'Analytic and Algebraic Topology of Infinitely Differentiable
Non-Euclidean . . . '," Nabiki recited mechanically in German, "Boring,
boring, boring, boring, boring."
"Berlin, 1944 . . . that was around the time that Gunther died,"
Asuka said, "Anna was heartbroken for months. What about you,
Wondergirl?"
"The tower of Celephais, after the incursion into the Forbidden
Lands," Rei said quietly, "You have many loyal friends."
"Gott im Himmel!" Asuka said.
"Wait a second!" Ranma shouted, accusing Rei, "You were there in
Boston!"
"I was never in Boston," Rei replied quietly, "Before 1947, when you
were there too."
"No! In 1945, April, I - ," Ranma paused, "I kinda blew you up,
sorry, but you were trying to shoot me."
"I was not in Boston in 1945," Rei replied primly. Everyone knew if
Rei said something, it was the truth, "Besides, if you killed me then, how
am I here, now?"
"Maybe Raccoon didn't kill you."
"And you believe that, why?" Raccoon asked.
It was clear Ranma had painted himself in a corner.
"As I said, they were distortions, the events are just _based_ on
real events," Raccoon said, "I mean, if _you_ blew up poor Rei, I must
have, right?"
"No one has ever blown me up," Rei said.
"No comments about blowup Reis!" Nabiki commanded, trying to figure a
way out of this disaster, without revealing everything. "Since you two
had similar experiences, why don't you tell us about them. Maybe it _was_
the future you saw, we all get thrown into 1992, or frozen and defrosted,
or something."
She was glad that Asuka and Raccoon nodded, neither seemed that
willing to start though, she hoped with a few questions to get them
rolling, so she could stay out of it.
"Hey," Ranma shouted, "If you were really me, how come you don't
believe that I transform?"
"Let's put this to rest, once and for all," Raccoon stood, "Stand up,
Saotome, facing me."
Ranma did.
Nabiki looked on with interest, she doubted Raccoon would be stupid
enough to start a fight.
"Close your eyes, don't worry, the others will protect you," Raccoon
said.
Ranma glared, then relented, closing his eyes.
Raccoon reached out and gently brushed Ranma's lips with his finger.
"Hey!" Ranma jumped back, "Quit doing perverted stuff like that!
Guys don't kiss each other!"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case," Raccoon sat down.
"What's that mean?" Ranma demanded.
"He didn't kiss you Horseface," Asuka told him, "He just touched
you."
"What does that prove?" Ranma demanded.
"If you were _really_ Ranko, you'd know," Raccoon said.
Nabiki shook her head, she debated simply dousing Saotome, but it
still might not work. Nabiki thought of that, Ranma used to get splashed
all the time, now, he usually changed of his own free will, but he changed
almost as often. Could that be the key to the cure? she wondered.
----------------------------------------
"So, how did you defeat the Gambling King?" Asuka was proud of her
mathematical machinations.
Nabiki's head was spinning, she could honestly say she'd never heard
of most of these people, and the level of idiocy was predictable, but
unexpected. Her father betting the dojo was, unfortunately, not out of
character. That `Ranma` or `Nabiki` had to rescue everybody, was typical.
"He cheated," Ranma assured everyone.
"Well, I made it appear he was cheating, which he was, just not the
way I `caught` him." Raccoon described a bit of sleight of hand, and his
victory.
"What about you, Spineless?" Asuka asked, "What did you dream?"
"Something different, I was alone," Shinji told them, not elaborating
further. None of the others felt eager to push him.
Raccoon checked his watch, "Well, as much as I've enjoyed this,
Tendo-san and I have to go test some equipment for Search and Rescue."
Nabiki checked her watch, "Oh, good grief." She hated being late,
although she wasn't looking forward to sitting in the simulators for
hours, but at least Dr. Akagi could give them the training they'd been
denied. One of the few reasons not to hate Search and Rescue training,
and all the work it was taking.
----------------------------------------
"I don't think this is working," the Dive Captain heard clearly, but
not through the throat mike. "You can actually see them?" he could hardly
believe Dr. Akagi and her assistant could see and hear the kids clearly.
They'd attached him to the system with a circlet they called an A10
nerve clip, the trailing wires connected it to the console, all it gave
him was a severe headache. Dr. Akagi's staff had tested several more of
the team, only the Chief of the Deck and two of the divers could get
anything, and that was only voices, no picture.
"Yes, well, is that the last of your equipment?" Dr. Akagi asked
politely enough.
"Yeah," Captain Madison scratched his head, the headphones worked
fine, but there was no way for the pilots to talk in L.C.L., that limited
what they could do, "Do you know why you can't talk in liquid?"
"Probably the weight of the liquid and its viscosity," Dr. Akagi told
him, "With exercise they might be able to make noise, but speech would
probably take years to learn how to do it."
"Any ideas about how to communicate?" Captain Madison asked.
"Morse code?" Maya suggested lamely.
Nobody thought that was an answer.
"Well, I need to train them in operating the EVA, that will take
several hours," Dr. Akagi said, "I'd like to get underway.'
Captain Madison held up his hands, "Don't let me stop you." He
turned and left.
"Okay kids, just relax," she told them, she turned to her team,
"Let's start testing, don't forget to reset for their lower sync rates."
One of the technicians suddenly reset his recorder. The other four pilots
were 60 to 168%, Nabiki and Jeff were 38% and 27%, respectively. The
tests began. Dr. Akagi was also curious about how they could sync with
various EVAs with so little variation of their readings. Rei, Ranma,
Ranko and Shinji were all over the board, specializing in one EVA. The
other test she hadn't performed was a contamination test, the
`calisthenics` of the sync testing.
"Take them down as deep as you dare, right to the limits, but be
ready to pull them out at any sign of trouble," Dr. Akagi told Maya.
"Yes, Sempai," Maya told her, "They're going to have severe headaches
tonight and tomorrow. I pity anyone who crosses either of them tomorrow."
Dr. Akagi nodded and walked back and forth to monitor their progress.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched his two fellow pilots enter the apartment with Dr.
Akagi and Maya, he was glad he'd called Dr. Akagi, so he had dinner ready
as soon as the group walked in. Raccoon managed a slight smile, Nab-chan
looked ready to kill and eat anything that presented itself. Ranma
remembered the special testing that Rit-chan did, and the way he felt
after it. Asuka had the good sense to keep her mouth shut afterwards,
even Shinji was snappish after those tests. The pair had gone through
twice the usual test duration, he could just imagine how they felt, every
bright light, loud sound, strong smell, etc. _HURT_, your body never
seemed to stay the same size, so you banged your knuckles by overreaching,
and you also missed things that anyone could have grabbed.
This all combined to make pilots the most emotionally unstable after
those tests, he was barely able to keep his temper, the others dealt with
it in their own ways, like him, they usually hid in the pilot's changing
room, unmoving, in the dark silence, until they could be civilized.
This is the time, Ranma had to know something, he followed Raccoon
into the bathroom, he needed to know if Raccoon would turn on him and the
others, "So, Raccoon, did you tell Rit-chan you married her, in your
dream?" he teased.
"Yes, I did, and we had children," Raccoon said quietly, "I told
Ranko this, it isn't news."
"Do you still feel that way?" Ranma asked, "Are you planning on
dating her, having kids? Does Maya know, does she know she has
competition or does she?"
Raccoon frowned at that, "You forget, it was an amalgam of Miss Tendo
_and_ Dr. Akagi, are you planning on embarrassing both of them this way as
well?" Raccoon asked, "Or is there a deeper reason to these questions?"
Ranma was satisfied, if anybody had pressed him in that condition, he
would have lashed out in some way. Ranma wanted to try something else
"No, but Ranko, Rit-chan, and Nab-chan, maybe even Langley and Rei, and
you aren't doing anything about it. I just can't figure you out."
"Maybe from someone named Wild Horse, and with your lack of
experiences, you've never considered gaining proficiency in restraint.
There is a great deal of difference between wanting and pursuing
something. Or more simply, I'm smart enough to know what I can never
have. Are you _quite_ through?"
"Yeah, I guess," Ranma said, "See you at dinner." He left Raccoon in
the bathroom.
"What were you two talking about?" Rit-chan asked.
"Oh, guy stuff, you know," he smiled, then realized she wasn't buying
it. Especially when Raccoon headed into the bedroom, glaring at Ranma the
whole way, then carefully closing the door and shutting off the lights
behind him. Both knew he wasn't eating dinner, because of what Ranma had
said to him.
Ranma shrugged, smiled, then prepared for the tongue-lashing he knew
he'd get.
----------------------------------------
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