Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong	

Just won't die 2





     "Great! Just great!" 
  Ranma sighed. He looked around and took in his surroundings. He 
realized he was standing on a cliff that overlooked the outskirts of a 
vastly technologically advanced city.
  "Hm, reminds me of MegaTokyo," he couldn't help but comment.
He really wished his curiosity hadn't gotten the better of him. Why did 
he have to open that damn box?! Why?! He should have left it where it 
belonged, in the Amazon village Shampoo used to live in, before she had 
died in the 'Nerima Massacre' along with everyone else.
  He looked down at what remained of the box. 
  "Great! Just great! I'm stuck here! How the hell am I gonna get back?!" he 
muttered.
  When he had opened the box, he was instantly ripped from his own world and 
plunged into this one. It didn't help that he reappeared several hundred feet up 
in mid air, only to hit the ground with such impact that the box had broken.
  Ranma stretched out his arms. Sure, he was stuck in this world, but he 
would somehow find a way back. 
  "Oh, I could look for the nanban mirror," Ranma realized, his eyes lighting 
up. It didn't really bother him that it was probably near impossible trying to 
find a single mirror. But it didn't matter. He had time. It wasn't as if he was 
ever going to die from natural causes any time soon. Heck, he was well into his 
middle ages but he would probably live well past the age Happousei had been when 
he died. Heck, considering his health, he could probably live longer than 
Cologne and Happousei put together. He was also as fit as a virile twenty year 
old, and looking like one to boot.
  Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Hm, now how the hell am I gonna 
find it?" It bothered him that here he was out on some alternate world, 
while Ryoga and Akane remained back on their own world.
  "Well, that won't matter all that much," he said to himself, "When I 
find the mirror, I'll just travel back to the exact time and place as 
when I opened that box. Only a second would have elapsed..."
  All of a sudden, alarms could be heard reverberating throughout the 
town.
  His eyes widened, "Cool!!" 
  He caught sight of these massive buildings slowly lowering into the 
ground. He stood there, watching intently. He raised his gaze upward 
where he saw what looked like the sky opening up, only to see this 
massive beam of light shooting downward through the opening and hitting 
one of the retracting buildings, destroying it. The blast had been so 
powerful that Ranma had to shield his eyes from the brilliance, feeling 
the heat up against his skin.
  Ranma's jaw dropped as he saw this weird looking creature descending 
from the sky, landing somewhere within the city limits, hidden behind 
one of the buildings.
  "Oh man, oh man! No way...t-that can't be what I think it is....c-
could it?" he said, this shock in his voice. "T-this world is being 
invaded by aliens!"
  Curiosity getting the better of him yet again, Ranma leapt off the 
cliff, freefalling toward the ground below head first.
  He skillfully somersaulted forward and landed on his feet moments 
before impact, and then ran toward where he believe that alien had 
landed. 
  He wanted to get a closer look. 
  He'd look for the mirror later.

  "Hey, Wonder Girl, do you see it?" Asuka asked, skillfully maneuvering 
her EVA through the city streets. 
  "No," Rei's voice filtered into the cockpit.
  Asuka knew Rei was somewhere by the outskirts of the city. Rei's EVA 
had its high powered rifle with it, and was leaning against the side of 
the mountain, waiting for a moment to fire. Of course, Rei's attack 
would be useless due to those damn AT fields surrounding the Angels. It 
was Asuka and Shinji's job to break down the AT field to allow Rei a 
clear shot.
  Asuka looked down at her EVA's weapon. A single knife. Sure, the blade 
was probably around twenty feet long, but it was a knife regardless.
  "Hmph, this knife won't do anything. I might as well fight this Angel 
hand to hand. It'll be more effective." Asuka made the comment to 
herself.
  Misato's voice echoed throughout the cockpit, "Asuka, be careful out 
there,"
  "Of course I'm going to be careful," Asuka muttered. "Sheesh, why do 
you keep having to remind me? It's not like I didn't hear the first time 
around. Look, just tell me where the Angel is and I'll kill it"
  "There's two of them," she heard Misato's voice.
  "What?" Shinji said. He was positioned on the other end of the city. He 
and Asuka were supposed to slowly make their way toward where the Angel 
had landed, and now, there was a second Angel?! He didn't recall seeing 
two Angels descend from the sky.
  "Where is it?" Shinji asked.
  "The second Angel is currently heading north, straight toward the 
other Angel," Masato's voice could be heard over all three pilots' 
cockpits. "Be extra cautious. This second Angel...we're getting weird 
power readings from it."
  "Huh? What do you mean?" Asuka asked.
  "It's a very small Angel," came a reply, "yet its powerlevel is akin 
to the one we just saw land,"
  "Where the hell did this second Angel come from?" Shinji asked. He was 
slowly making his way toward where the Angel had landed. Hundreds of 
questions were running through his mind. His fingers were twitching 
nervously as he handled the controls.
  "I dunno. It's just....appeared outta nowhere. Just be careful,"

  Ranma continued to wander the streets. 
  "God, all these buildings look the same," he muttered. But that didn't 
really matter much to him. He didn't need to really see the alien to 
know where it was. He could merely feel its presence.
  He closed his eyes for a moment.
  "What the?" Ranma's eyes immediately opened. He was getting this weird 
feeling. Aside from sensing that alien, he had sensed three other 
beings, each almost as strong as the alien he had seen.
  Ranma was getting excited and worried at the same time. 
  "Oh man, what am I gonna do?" he said to himself, looking around. He 
needed better vantage point. All these building were in the way. Sure, 
he could destroy them to clear his path, but it was a waste of energy.
He decided to leap up onto one of the roofs. He leapt up toward one of the 
buildings and propelled himself off of it, triangle jumping onto a roof of 
another building.
  "Much better," Ranma said with a smile. He had a clear view from where 
he was perched. His eyes widened as he caught sight of this weird red 
robot leaning against a building. "Whoa,"
  Asuka spotted a human....which happened to be Ranma, "W-what the? Why 
is he up on the roof? Is he some kinda idiot? How come he didn't seek 
refuge like everyone else?! Doesn't he know there're Angels running 
loose? He's gonna get himself killed,"
  "What? Someone's on the roof?" Misato's voce "Well, get him outta 
there! Get him to safety!"
  "Why? It's his fault that he's up there in the first place, not mine," 
Asuka spat. She resented the fact that the man on the roof was too 
stupid of follow the simple task of taking refuge. She didn't want to 
play babysitter.
  "Just get him to safety," Misato's voice was stern.
  Asuka swore to herself. She then maneuvered her EVA toward the man, 
and reach and arm out to take hold of him.
  Ranma peered at the extended arm intently. He then looked up, 
remembering he had almost killed the Knight Saber's all due to a 
misunderstanding. Perhaps these giant robots were human driven....like 
some kind of mech.
  "You human?" Ranma asked after a moment.
  "Of course I'm human you idiot!" Asuka's voice echoed. "Get the hell 
onto my hand so I can get you to safety!"
  Ranma, realizing that the robot wasn't the enemy, and realizing the 
human voice, figured it was best to oblige. Afterall, he had no idea 
what that alien-looking was that he saw land. As he was about to hop off 
the rooftop and onto the EVA's outstretched hand, a massive explosion 
struck the back of Asuka's EVA, causing it to topple forward, right into 
the building Ranma had been on.
  Without even thinking, Ranma reacted on instinct and quickly leapt up 
into the air, landing on the EVA's back as it settled down on its 
stomach. As he stood there, he looked up and caught sight of the alien 
he had seen earlier. It looked like a massive spider and was standing 
before him.
  "Whoa," he commented, only to find himself a bit off balance as Asuka 
maneuvered her EVA to get onto its feet. Ranma was forced to lunge off 
the EVA's back and onto the ground below.
  "You son of a bitch!" Asuka shouted as her EVA got to its feet. 
  Unit-02 gripped its progressive knife with both hands as it made a 
suicidal attempt at stabbing the giant spider in its body. 
Unfortunately, Unit-02's attempt was foiled when one of the Angel's legs 
came crashing into its chest, sending it flying bodily backwards into a 
nearby building, causing Ranma to run for cover from the falling debris.
  "You'll pay for that!" Asuka spat as she made Unit-02 get back onto 
its feet. Twice she had been knocked down. Enough was enough.
  From out of nowhere, one of the buildings crumbled and out of it Ranma 
noticed purple looking robot emerging.
  Unit-01 grabbed the Angel from behind, holding two of its legs in 
place.
  "I've got it! I've got!" Shinji shouted into his communicator. He 
couldn't believe he was doing something this reckless, jumping through a 
building just so he could get the Angel quicker.
  Asuka smiled. Now it was her turn.
  "You're gonna pay for knocking me down twice!!!" Asuka said. 
  Unit-02 punched the Angel in what seemed like its face several times, 
continuously barraging it with blows that nearly shook the ground they 
were on. 
  Ranma nearly cheered aloud. It was actually cool to watch a fight 
instead of being in one for a change. As he stood a short distance away, 
definitely close enough to feel the impact of every blow, Ranma's battle 
aura starting to glow. Perhaps it was because he was getting excited.
  Asuka noticed something through her peripheral vision and turned her 
EVA to investigate, her view screen immediately showing an image of 
Ranma and this weird blue light surrounding him.
  "What the hell is tha-" Asuka's words were cut short as she soon found 
her EVA being flown bodily backwards yet again. It didn't take a genius 
to realize that that idiot Shinji couldn't hold onto the Angel long 
enough for Asuka to finish it off. The Angel, after having freed itself, 
struck her with all its might, hitting Unit-02 directly in its chest.
  Shinji battled for his life as he did his best to keep the Angel's 
flailing legs from hitting him. It had gotten free and it seemed to want 
revenge on what Shinji had did. Its attention was turned solely on him, 
standing on only its hind legs, its other legs in striking position.
  "Jeez!!" Shinji said, trying the best to keep the Angel away from him, 
making his EVA slash at it wildly with the progressive knife.
  Ranma looked toward the red robot. It was slowly getting back up onto 
its feet.
  Asuka looked at her damage screen. Several red lights were on. That 
one blow she had taken from the Angel had been devastating. She soon 
realized her EVA's right arm were no longer functioning, and the power 
cable had been torn away when she went flying. She could see the timer 
to power failure rapidly in progress.
  She had to finish this Angel off and quickly before she ran out of 
power. 
  But she needed a plan.
  "What the hell are you waiting for?! Hit it!!!" Ranma cupped his hands 
and shouted. He wished he was as large as that big red robot. If he 
were, he would have finished that spider looking alien a long time ago. 
"Uppercut its belly! Better yet, stab it in the belly!"
  Asuka looked over toward the glowing blue human, "What?!"
  "Use that knife! It's always on its hind legs! Its belly is wide open! 
Forget about keeping the legs away!" Ranma shouted, urging the red robot 
pilot on. Couldn't that pilot see it? It was a perfect place to attack.
  "Shut up!" Asuka shouted, "You're not the one fighting! And get the 
hell outta here if you know what's good for you! You're gonna get 
yourself killed!!!" Asuka couldn't believe that man was still there. He 
should had taken cover already when he had seen the Angel. How stupid 
could that man be? Why the hell was he still there?!
  Asuka turned her attention back onto the Angel, just in time to see 
the Angel bringing two of its legs down right into Unit-01's chest, 
causing the entire EVA to fall down to the ground, onto its back, 
unmoving.
  "Move!!!!" Shinji shouted "Get the hell up!!!! Move!!!!" His EVA 
refused to respond. 
  "Oh shit!" Ranma said, realizing that the pilot of that purple robot 
was in deep trouble if he or she didn't do something and fast. The robot 
was just lying there in the middle of the street, waiting to be skewered 
by that alien's legs.
  Ranma, not even realizing what he was getting himself into, ran toward 
the purple robot, running right underneath the belly of the alien. He 
knew he had to do something. He wanted to at least attempt to rescue the 
pilot before it was too late. As he ran underneath, Ranma took a quick 
moment to look up, only to see the red robot desperately trying to keep 
the alien's legs at bay. If that red robot stepped in the wrong place, 
Ranma would get squished.
  Back at Nerv headquarter, Misato had a worried look on her face. 
"Shinji's in trouble! Unit-01 is no longer responding! Eject him!"
  "I can't!" Maya replied "It's not working!"
  As Ranma reached the Shinji's EVA, he jumped onto its chest and said, 
"Hey, get the hell outta that thing! You're gonna get killed if you stay 
in there!"
  Shinji looked at his view screen and saw a human standing almost 
directly in front of the external camera. What the hell was he doing 
there was what immediately ran through Shinji's mind. Where the hell did 
he come from?!
  "Hey, get outta there!!!" Ranma shouted.
  "I-I can't!" Shinji shouted. It didn't really stay in his mind that 
that man wasn't supposed to be there.
  Ranma, hearing the replied, realized he had to somehow rescue the 
pilot.  He turned around and faced the Angel. After a quick glance, 
"Hell no! I ain't fightin' no alien!" He then turned toward the EVA's 
chest.
  "Where the hell are you?!" Ranma shouted.
  "I-I'm....I'm in spine!" came the reply. It all seemed surreal to 
Shinji. Here he was, in his EVA, which was unable to move, about to die, 
and there was someone standing on his EVA's chest talking to him.
  Ranma ran up the chest and stopped at the head. He then squatted low 
and dug several fingers right into the EVA's steel armor. Once he had a 
firm purchase, he pulled as hard as he could, pulling one of the steel 
plates right off. The individual armor plate weighted around a ton and 
was over a foot in solid metal.
  Ranma gritted his teeth as he tossed the plate to the side, the plate 
falling to the ground below with a deafening thud. When he looked back 
down and caught sight of another plate, Ranma realized it would be a lot 
harder of a task than he had anticipated.
  Realizing that he had no time, Ranma extended a hand forward and said, 
"Mouko Takabisha!"
  A ki-blast shot right from his extended arm and struck the metal 
plate, denting it.
  "All right, you wanna play hard ball, huh? Ranma said. He reached a 
hand forward and concentrated for a change. He glowed blue for a moment 
and then said, "Mouko Takabisha!!!!"
  "What the hell was that?" Misato commented, looking at the screen. 
From out of nowhere, she huge spike of energy in the energy scans 
surrounding the area.
  A massive ki-blast shot from his hand again, nearly blowing the head 
of Unit-01 right off its shoulders. Ranma was blown backwards several 
yards due to the close proximity of the impact, but he skillfully 
twisted in mid-air and landed on his feet. Once on his feet, he ran back 
up to where he had shot his ki-blast.
  "What the?" Ranma comment as he noticed this pink goo looking 
substance under the armor plating he had just destroyed. He was about to 
reach out and actually touch it if weren't for him hearing a deafening 
crunching noise from behind. 
  He turned around and his eyes widened as he caught sight of the giant 
spider of an alien clamping two of its legs around the red robot in what 
looked like a bear hug. The crunching noise was from Unit-02's armor 
shuddering from the intense pressure being administered.
  All of a sudden, a massive explosion struck the side of the spider. 
The massive explosion left the alien unscathed. It seemed to actually 
make it angrier.
  Unit-00, perched by a mountain, had fired one of its rounds. And it 
seemed to have no effect because of the AT field still surrounding it. 
It didn't really matter because Rei opened fire, emptying the entire 
magazine clip full of heavy duty explosive shells right into the side of 
the Angel.
  Ranma shielded his face as dozens of explosions ensued, the wind from 
the explosions causing him to actually run away and take cover behind 
the now helpless purple robot. When the explosions stopped, Ranma 
realized there must be another robot somewhere around acting as a 
sniper. But he didn't think about that for long as he looked at the 
alien and noticed it was totally unaffected.
  "What the hell?" he said, "If something that strong can't hurt it, how 
the hell do you beat that thing?"
  For several helpless moments, Ranma watched at the alien slowly crush 
the red robot between its many legs. "What a minute! Perhaps 
conventional weapons don't hurt it! That means I might be able to help!"
  Ranma's aura flared incredibly as he raised a hand toward the back of 
the alien.
  "What the hell is that?!" Misato said as she looked at her control 
screen. From out of nowhere, she saw this massive energy source emerge. 
  Ranma shouted, "Mouko Takabisha!!!" From out of his fingertips came a 
massive ki-blast striking the alien in its back, causing it to rear up 
in what seemed like pain, this earth shattering shriek emerging from 
what seemed like its mouth. It released its hold of the red robot, 
flailing its legs.
  "What the heck was that?" Ritsuko said, staring at her screen. From 
out of nowhere, this huge surge of energy struck the Angel. "Where the 
hell did that surge of energy come from? What's going on? What the hell 
are all our instruments going ballistic?"
  Ranma smirked "Ah, so you can get hurt,"
  He ran forward and underneath the alien. Once underneath, he shouted, 
"Mouko Takabisha!!!" and let loose yet another massive ki-blast, sending 
it rocketing upward into the belly of the alien. The impact blast as it 
hit its underside caused the alien to rear up on its hind legs, and then 
come crashing down on its back, right on top of the purple robot.
  "Oh shit," Ranma said, as he ran backward, getting narrowly missed by 
a huge flailing leg. He turned his attention toward the red robot and 
shouted "What are you waiting for? Beat that thing up!"
  Asuka stared at her screen with wide eyes. One second she was in the 
worse predicament of her life, and then next, she saw all the scanners 
of her cockpit reading a huge spike of energy, and then she saw the 
Angel rear up and fall backwards onto its back. And then, to make 
matters worse, she could hear a man's voice, telling her what to do.
  She looked down and caught sight of the human. Did he just do that? 
Did he cause that massive spike of energy? She would have to answer 
questions later. First, she had to kill that damn Angel.
  Just as she was about to maneuver her EVA in for the kill, her cockpit 
went pitch black.
  It took several moments before Asuka realized what happened "No!!!! 
I'm outta power!!!!!"
  Ranma looked at the red robot. How come it wasn't moving? Is it in 
some state of shock? He pointed again, "Kill the damn thing!!! It's 
gonna get back-"
  He didn't manage to finish his sentence as a one of the alien's 
massive flailing legs struck Ranma from behind, sending him bodily into 
a small building, the building collapsing down on him.  
  Brushing off that devastating blow, Ranma quickly hopped back onto his 
feet and raced out the opening his body had created. He wasn't going to 
stand idly by while this alien get back onto its feet and then go about 
destroying the city. Sure, it wasn't his city, nor was this his world, 
but he would never let something like this happen anywhere.
  Upon reaching the sidewalk, Ranma stopped dead in his tracks to look up 
and see a blue robot, equal in size as the red and purple one, punching 
the alien over and over again. The robot seemed to have come out of 
nowhere and climbed on top of the alien in a mounting position and was 
proceeding to beat it into oblivion.
  Ranma was about to run up and cheer when he saw the aliens legs go 
limp, when all of a sudden, the alien's legs reach up and take hold of 
the blue robot.
  "What the-"
  That was all Ranma managed to say before he saw the alien self 
destruct, sending out a massive wall death in destruction in every 
direction like a nuclear bomb, enveloping everything.
  Even Ranma.

  Ranma awoke all of a sudden and sat upright. A couple of days had 
passed since he had been consumed in the blast. Not knowing where he 
was, he immediately surveyed his surroundings. He realized he was in 
some kind of infirmary and that virtually half his entire body was 
covered in bandages.
  He groaned a bit. It hurt to move. But then again, he's been in worse 
conditions before, like that time when he had jumped in front of Ryoga's 
Shi Shi Hakodan those many years ago. Now that had hurt.
  He looked up and noticed the room was void of everything except for 
the bed he was on and a mirror on the wall adjacent to his bed. As he 
looked at the mirror, he noticed faint shadows behind it, leading him to 
believe that it was a one way mirror and that he was being watched.
  Ignoring the voyeuristic group, Ranma got up off the bed and removed 
the bandages one by one. It seems the bandages were restraining his 
movements more than the injuries he had sustained.
  "That's incredible," Misato commented, watching Ranma intently through 
the mirror. "That guy looks like he's unhurt. And look at his wounds, 
they're all healed up. Not even a scar,"
  Gendo sat in the middle of the viewing room, his elbow resting on a 
table, his chin resting on his hands.
  Ritsuko was up against the glass, staring. Where ever 
this....specimen....had come from, he was magnificent.
  After all the bandages were removed, Ranma looked down at himself. He looked 
to be in good condition considering what he had just gone through. Everything 
seemed to be in working order.
  He hopped out of the bed, the blankets falling to his feet. Luckily for him, 
he was wearing a pair of boxer. He noticed the door to his right and proceeded 
toward it, only to trip on a couple of bandages he had precariously thrown to 
the ground. 
  Feeling embarrassed, he got back up onto his feet and proceeded 
toward the door. When he tried to turn the knob, he noticed it wouldn't 
budge. He was locked it.
  Although he wasn't claustrophobic, Ranma didn't like being in closed 
rooms. He turned toward the mirror, and said, "Excuse me, can you please 
let me out?"
  "Shit, he knows we're here!" Ritsuko said, a slight measure of panic 
raising in her voice.
  "Ignore him," Gendo said in a cold voice, "We're here to observe him 
and how he reacts to the situation he's in,"
  When Ranma didn't receive a reply, he shrugged his shoulders and said, 
"All right, I said for you to open the door. Now you're gonna hafta pay 
for a new door,"
  He struck the center of the door with a quick open hand, blowing it 
right off its hinges. He stopped for a moment as he remembered doing 
the same thing when he had been captured by Genom and placed in a steel 
reinforced room. 
  "Shit, he's out!" Misato said. She ran toward the phone near the back 
of the room only to be stopped when Gendo said, "No. Don't,"
  Stepping out into the hallway, Ranma looked to the left and saw 
another door. That must be the door to that observation room, he 
thought. He walked up to the door and opened it, not even bothering to 
turn the knob, pulling yet another door right off its hinges.
  Misato and Ritsuko gave a yelp in shock as they saw Ranma entered the 
room. They had no idea exactly what he or it was.
  Ranma looked at Ritsuko and then at Misato, his eyes finally coming to 
rest on Gendo.
  "What's the big idea, leaving me locked in there?" Ranma said.
  "W-we wanted to observe you," Misato said nervously.
  Ranma seemed a bit confused, "Why the heck would ya wanna observe me? 
Are you some kinda perverts?"
  "W-what?!" Ritsuko said, her eyes widening, "W-we are not. W-we just wanted to 
observe you and what you would do,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders. He figured that was a good enough 
explanation as them being perverts and wanting to see him naked or 
something. He looked at Gendo, "Are you in charge here?"
  Gendo nodded briefly.
  "Well, where am I?"
  "You're in Nerv Headquarters," came the quick reply. 
  Ranma didn't seem all that impressed by whatever this Nerv was as he said, 
"All right. Can you do me a favor and let me out? I don't wanna be here any 
longer than I wanna be. I wanna go back to my own world,"
  "W-world?" Misato asked, "W-what world? What are you talking about?"
  Ranma shook his head, "Don't worry about it. It's my problem. Let's 
just say I accidentally screwed up back on my own world and ended up 
materializing here,"
  "You mean you're from a different world? Like as in an Angel?" Ritsuko 
asked.
  "Thank you," Ranma said with a smile, "I've been called many things in 
my life, but never an angel,"
  "Not that kinda angel. What are you?" Misato questioned, "Where did you 
come from? Heck, what the hell is your name?"
  Ranma sighed, "Well, my name's Ranma. Ranma Saotome. Jeez, I remember 
going through the same interrogation like this back on my own world. 
Anyway, I'm human. Just like you,"
  "What about your powers? Hey, where are you going?" Misato said 
following behind Ranma.
  Ranma, annoyed with being interrogated, decided it was best to find 
he was out of this place, whatever it is. He walked down a random 
hallway.
  "Hold up!" Misato said, running right behind, only to trip over her 
own two feet and go lunging right into Ranma's back, bringing him down 
with her. As she looked down at him, she said in a meek voice, "S-
sorry,"
  Ranma got to his feet as Misato did too. He said, "I'm gonna leave 
now. I'd appreciate it if you tell me how to get outta this joint,"
  "Hold up, I still have some more questions," Misato said.
  Ranma sighed, "What?"
  "Where did you get all your powers from?"
  "I practiced it. Everyone can do that. I just happened have practiced 
it until I perfected it, that's all," came the reply, matter-of-factly. 
"I learned it when I went to China during a decades long training trip"
  Misato opened her mouth to ask more questions before Ranma said, 
"C'mon, lemme alone. Quit givin' me the first degree. Third degree, 
whatever the hell you call it. I don't like being interrogated."
  "Where are you going then?"
  "Home hopefully,"
  
  Ranma looked up. "What the hell are those? They look like upside down 
buildings. Where the hell's the sun?"
  By now, Ranma was dressed in some clothing. Misato had been following him, and 
realizing that he was practically naked, she had asked him to wait for a moment 
while she had someone retrieve some clothes for him.
  Misato, whom had continued to follow Ranma all the way, said, "You're 
Underground,"
  "Whoa, that's new. I've never been in an underground city before," 
Ranma commented, "Man, I can't believe the new things I come across 
everyday."
  "What do you mean by that?"
  "C'mon, quit asking so many questions," Ranma said, "They're so 
annoying," He looked down at Misato's name badge, "Look, Misato-chan, 
can you please just, well, lemme alone?"
  "Misato-chan?!"
  "Yeah, that's what I said,"
  "First of all, you should be addressing me as Misato-san," Misato 
corrected, taking a firm stance with Ranma. Even though she had no real 
idea who he was, she was still his elder.
  Ranma shook his head, "Nope. I don't think so. I'm actually a lot 
older than you. You should be calling me Ranma-san,"
  "What?! Older than me? How old are you?"
  "Argh, quit asking so many questions!" Ranma shouted. He wanted to get 
away from this girl. Sure, she was very cute, but she asked too many 
questions. Looking around, Ranma caught sight of a cable line that 
seemed to run down from that mile high ceiling to the building he had 
emerged from.
  He leapt up into the air and skillfully landed on it.
  "Holy shit!" Misato said in shock as she saw Ranma leap a dozen or so 
stories high and onto that cable line. 
  Ranma looked down at Misato and said, "Well, it was nice meeting ya. 
Ja ne," He then began to run up that steeply declined cable line, 
running up it as if he was running on solid ground, not once struggling 
to stay balanced.
  "What the hell's going on here?!" Misato said in frustration, "Who the 
hell is that man?"
  
  "He's gone," Misato told Gendo as she entered the room.
  "Go after him, the power he possess could help us greatly in our 
fights against the Angels," Gendo said, not even bothering to look up at 
her.
  "And how the hell do you suppose I bring him in, huh?" Misato asked, 
"Put a gun up to his head? I don't think a gun's gonna scare him if he 
managed to survive that explosion that Angel had caused,"
  "It doesn't matter. Just find a way!"

  Ranma took in a breath full of fresh air as he finally set foot on 
firm ground. He was finally above ground.
  "Wait!" came a voice.
  "Oh no," Ranma muttered to himself. He reluctantly turned around to 
face Misato, "You again. What do you want? Why are you following me?"
  "I hafta bring you in," she said, huffing and puffing. She couldn't 
believe her luck in actually finding Ranma. When she had entered the 
control room and found Ranma's location, she jetted out of there, hoping 
she would find him still wandering around in that location. Her guess 
came out correct.
  "Bring me in? For what? Did I do something wrong?" Ranma said with a 
smirk.
  "Well, no, you didn't do anything wrong," Misato found herself saying, 
"But we need your help,"
  Ranma's eyes raised a bit, "Help, like in what kinda help?"
  "We need your....well, power," she said, trying her best to come up 
with the words, "We need to know how you generate so much power,"
  Ranma shook his head, "Hell no. I ain't playing no ginea pig. I went 
through enough experiments when I was young to last me a life time. No 
thank you," He began to walk away again, talking to himself, "Hm, well 
judging from the sun, west should be that way. I guess that's the 
direction I hafta head in order to get to China,"
  Misato pulled tranquilizer gun from her coat pocket, "Don't move,"
  Ranma turned around again, now a bit angry "Now what?" 
  When he saw the tiny gun, he started laughing, "You've gotta be kiddin' me. 
That looks like a pea shooter,"
  Misato closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
  Ranma didn't even flinch as he caught the tranquilizer dart between 
his index and middle finger, "Do you mind? I told you, I ain't gonna 
play no ginea pig. Lemme alone,"
  She pulled the trigger again, only to have that dart swatted away 
skillfully.
  "Misato-chan, first of all, I guarantee that you're not going to hit 
me with those darts. Second, I'm not gonna play ginea pig," he said, 
exasperated 
  "But I have to bring you in," she said.
  "Goddamnit it! I've been in this world for, what, a day, and I'm 
already in a heap of shit!" Ranma shouted, shooting a ki-blast into the 
sky for emphasis, "Lemme alone. I have other things to worry about, like 
in getting back to my own world. I'm not here in your world because I 
want to, y'know. I have friends in my homeworld waiting from me to come 
back,"
  Misato pulled the trigger again but nothing came out. She was out of 
darts.
  Ranma smirked, "Ha. You're outta bullets. Now go away. Shoo,"
  "I ain't leaving!"
  "Misato-san, what's going on?" came a voice, Shinji's voice.
  Misato turned her attention away from Ranma.
  Shinji, Rei, and Asuka were together, staring at Misato and Ranma. 
They had been on their way home from school. They would have done some 
testing, but all the EVA's were currently being repaired after that 
fierce battle.
  "What's going on here?" Asuka asked. She looked at Ranma and her eyes 
immediately dawn recognition, "You!!"
  Ranma pointed toward himself, "Me? What about me?"
  "You're the idiot I saw on that rooftop the other day!" she spat, "If 
it weren't for you, I woulda killed that Angel in no time,"
  "Huh? Wait a minute, you mean you were the one piloting that big red 
robot?" Ranma asked.
  "Of course I was, you idiot! And for your information, it's not a 
robot, it's an EVA," she corrected him.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Looked like a robot to me. Anyway," he 
ignored Asuka and turned toward Misato, "What do I hafta do to get you 
to leave me-"
  "Hey, don't ignore me like that!" Asuka said, her brows creasing.
  Ranma sighed, "What? What do you want?"
  "You heard what I said," Asuka replied, "Don't ignore me like that,"
  Annoyed that this little red haired girl could be so pretentious, 
Ranma ignored her on purpose and turned back toward Misato, "As I said 
before, I'm not gonna play a ginea-"
  "Hey, I said don't ignore me!"
  Ranma sighed, "Forget it,"
  He ignored everyone and began walking away.
  "What the hell's his problem?" Asuka asked, jerking a thumb at Ranma 
as he walked away.
  "It's most likely you," Rei said.
  "And what makes you think that, Wonder Girl?" Asuka quickly said. 
  "Ranma! Wait up!" Misato called up, running after Ranma. She would 
have to talk to Asuka later about that mouth of hers. 
  Ranma ignored her and continued to walk away.
  All of a sudden, a loud siren could be heard. Ranma stopped for a 
moment, curious as to what that siren represented. He looked toward the 
side and noticed the building beginning to sink into the ground.
  "Oh shit! Another Angel?! Already?!" Misato said, her voice shaky. She 
quickly ran to a nearby payphone and dialed for Nerv Headquarters.
  Ranma, curiosity getting the better of him, followed Misato for a 
change, hoping to eavesdrop on the conversation.
  "Are you absolutely sure?!" Misato said, a finger plugging her free 
ear so she block out the sirens, "Where is it expected to land? How much 
time do we have?"
  After a few moments, Misato hung up. She turned toward the three 
children nearby, "We've got another incoming Angel!"
  "Already?!" Asuka said, shock in her voice. She didn't even have time 
to fully recover from last battle. She still had bruises from when she 
had been thrown around in that cockpit of hers, "But it's only been a 
couple of days. The EVA's aren't even fully repaired yet!"
  Misato said, "I know. But we have no time left. That Angel's gonna 
land! We have to prepare! Get down to headquarters and suit up! I'll be 
there in a minute!"
  The children all nodded before they ran down the street toward one of 
the Nerv buildings that led them down underground, leaving behind Ranma 
and Misato.
  "Sounds like something bad's gonna happen," Ranma continued to look at 
Misato curiously. 
  "Yeah, you've got that right," she responded, "You remember that thing 
you were fighting not too long ago? Well, another one like it is gonna 
land in a short while! And we're not fully prepared to fight it! Our 
EVA...those robots you saw fighting them, they're not fully repaired. Heck, 
they're in horrible shape after that explosion."
  Ranma found his conscience getting the better of him, "Um, do you want 
me to help?"
  "Yeah, that's why I wanted to bring you in!" she shot out, "Whatever 
those things you threw, they hurt the Angel pretty badly. It seemed to 
break through the AT fields like there was nothing there. If we know how 
you harness that power you have, we would have an advantage over those 
damn Angels!"
  "Um, what will happen if you can't stop those things, 
those....Angels?"
  "What the hell do you think?" she answered, "Mankind will be wiped off 
the face of this earth. Those three...robots we have are our only 
defense against those things. Once they get destroyed, we're helpless,"
  "Man, that's a lot of pressure resting on your shoulders," Ranma 
commented. "Especially on that redhaired girl if she's the pilot,"
  "That group of three kids, they're the pilots! They pilot the EVAs, 
those robots you saw," she said, "They're the ones who go into combat 
against those things,"
  "What?! B-but they're only kids!!"
  "I know, but we have no choice," Misato said, "They're the one those 
EVA's will synchronize with. They can control those EVA's better than 
anyone else. Those EVA's won't respond to just anyone piloting them. 
They only respond to certain people, children that had been born nine 
months after the Second Impact,"
  "Second Impact? Jeez, that sound like something bad,"
  "Look, I can't stay here and explain. I have to get back to 
headquarters and fast. I have to help those children prepare," she said, 
"Now that you know of our predicament, are you coming with me back to 
headquarters?"
  "What for? I'm useless there,"
  "We need as much help as we can get!" Misato pleaded, "How the hell 
can you be so goddamn selfish?! Dontcha get it?! Everyone will die if 
those children fail! If we knew how to harness your...powers....at least 
we stand a much better chance!"
  "Go on and help those children prepare. I'll stay here. I'll 
keep the thing distracted,"
  "What?! Angels are huge! You saw how big that other one was! Angels 
don't come any smaller than that!" she shouted above the sirens, "Damn, 
I really have to go! Look, can you make a promise that you will help us 
out after all of this? Please, I'm begging you,"
  Ranma shook his head. "No, I'm not gonna play ginea pig. But I can 
help you out in other ways perhaps,"
  Misato reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a tiny card that 
had her address and phone number on it, and then turned around and ran 
down the street, but not before saying, "That's my apartment address. 
After all of this, I'll be there later. Can you please meet me there?"
  "Um, I guess so. I hope I could find it," he said, "But, remember, 
I'll only be there to help, not play ginea pig,"
  "Fine,"

  Ranma sat on the rooftop.
  "Jeez, what the hell am I gettin' myself into? All I wanna do is go to 
China to find that blasted nanban mirror so I can go back home, and here 
I am, sitting on a rooftop, waiting for an alien, what was it called, an 
Angel, to land," he said to himself, "When I was young, I fought ghosts, 
demons, and ogres. When I got older, I fought boomers and superboomers. 
And now, I'm on a different world, fighting aliens from a different 
world also. Jeez, when the hell can I ever get some time to myself?"
  Meanwhile, back at Nerv Headquarters, everyone was preparing for 
battle.
  Shinji, looked at his display screen within Unit-01, "Everything's 
fine. I'm ready for launch," 
  Jeez, there's still so many things that haven't been repaired yet, he though 
to himself. God, how the hell am I supposed to fight with one arm?
  Asuka's voice entered the cockpit, "Hey, Shinji, you better not get in 
my way. I plan on ripping this Angel apart. If you see that guy out 
there again, you go and play babysitter,"
  "Speaking of which," Shinji said, "Where did that guy come from? 
Didn't you notice that he was actually helping us out?"
  Misato's voice entered the cockpit, "That's enough. We'll worry about 
that later. Get ready for launch,"
  Maya said, "Synchronization ratio within normal parameters. Activating 
launch sequence,"
  "God, I hope this isn't a mistake," Ritsuko commented, "I mean, we're 
sending into battle three damaged EVA's. They had trouble stopping an 
Angel with three fully functioning EVA's and they all got damaged. How 
are they going be able to stop this one?"
  "It doesn't matter. We have to send them in anyway," Gendo said 
coldly, "All of humanity depends on them succeeding. They must succeed, 
no matter how much they're at a disadvantage," He looked at the screen, 
saying nothing else.
  Misato looked at the screen. The Angel had finally landed near the 
outskirts of Tokyo 3 and was slowly making its way toward the city.
  "Guys, I want you to listen to me carefully," Misato said into the 
communicator, "We have someone on our side. He's that man you saw earlier, he's 
currently standing on top of one of the weapons depot buildings. 
Whatever you do, don't let him get killed. Y'hear? He's very very 
important to us," 
  She almost hated saying that. It was as if she was treating Ranma as some kind 
of object, not some human being.

  Ranma looked at the Angel in the far off distance. The Angel was at 
least five miles away.
  "Jeez, what the hell is that?" he said, "That damn thing looks like a 
jellyfish with a big fat eye in the middle. How the hell does it remain 
hovering like that." He noticed the angel was hovering several miles 
high above the ground.
  All of a sudden, the ground began to shake, "Whoa,"
  After the shaking stopped, Ranma noticed three EVA's emerged from 
buildings within the city. He watched as all three quickly ran down the 
street, heading directly toward the incoming Angel.
  "Hm, I guess I better do that same also," Ranma said to himself as he 
leapt forward onto another rooftop, continuing to do so as he slowly made 
his way toward the Angel.
  "We have visual on Ranma," Maya said, "H-he's....what? He's jumping 
from rooftop to rooftop, heading straight toward the Angel,"
  Misato and Ritsuko looked at the screen. Their eyes widened. 
  "What the hell is he?" Ritsuko said, "How the hell is he doing that? 
Are you sure thing guy's human? From the way I see it, he's probably an 
Angel that happens to look human.
  "Don't say something like that," Misato retorted.
  "Damn, it's gonna take me forever to get there," Ranma said to 
himself, already breathing heavily. He took a moment to stop for a 
breather. As he took a short break he realized there was an easier way 
to get to where he was headed, take a ride on one of those EVA's. He 
looked around and saw one of the EVA's running through the street 
nearby.
  Without caring if he should or not, Ranma leapt off the building and 
down onto the EVA's shoulders. 
  Shinji looked at his screen. Something had just landed on him. What 
the hell was it?
  "Relax, Shinji, that's the guy I mentioned earlier," he heard Misato's 
voice, "He's hitching a ride on Unit-01's left shoulder."
  Ranma looked over toward the head of the EVA he was on, "Jeez, look at 
the teeth on those things,"
  "Hello, you there?" Ranma heard a voice say.
  "Huh? Where are you?" 
  Shinji said, "I'm inside. I'm talking to you through an external 
Speaker,"
  "Cool," Ranma commented, "Which one are you? I saw three kids,"
  "I'm the young boy," Shinji replied, "My name's Shinji Ikari,"
  "Ranma Saotome. Nice to meetcha,"
  "Are you going to help us out?" Shinji asked, still maneuvering Unit-01 
through the winding streets. After a short while, he had to unplug his 
power cord and replug it with a new one from one of the buildings.
  "What the hell's that?" Ranma asked as he saw Shinji changing power 
cords.
  "Um, that's our power supply. If it gets disconnected, we will only have 
five minutes of power before total power failure," Shinji answered.
  "Shinji, concentrate on your objective," he heard Misato say, "You 
don't need to tell him everything there is about those EVA's. We still 
don't know who he exactly is. All we know is that he's on our side, but 
there's no need to disclose all our information."
  "Sorry, Misato-san,"
  Ranma's eyes widened as he saw the Angel up close, "There it is," He 
was only a mile or so away. "Look, I'm gonna hop off here. I don't want 
to get blown up again like last time. That kinda hurt, y'know. Anyway, 
I'll try and help out from over here."
  "All right," came Shinji's voice. The EVA knelt down low to the 
ground, allowing for Ranma to leap off much easier and onto one of the 
rooftops, "Take care,"
  Ranma smiled, "For such a young kid, he sure is polite,"
  He looked up at the Angel as Unit-01 ran down the street toward it. He 
looked toward the side and saw the other two EVA not a far ways off, 
also running down the street to intercept the Angel. As he stood there, 
he could feel his heart racing, knowing that the inevitable was going to 
happen, that a major battle was going to break loose in no time, and 
that he had a front row seat.
  "Ranma!"
  "Huh?"
  "Ranma, it's me, Misato," came her voice, "I talking to you through 
the external speakers throughout the entire city,"
  "Cool, what do you want?"
  "Can you use that fireball thing you used earlier on that Angel in 
front of you?" she said. 
  Ranma thought about it for a moment and then said, "All right,"
  "Can you shoot it in one minute? I'm gonna tell the others of the 
plan,"
  "All right,"  He raised a hand waited for a minute and then said 
"Mouko Takabisha! Mouko Takabisha!"
  Two ki-blast shot from his hands, both of them rocketing straight 
toward the Angel that happened to be in their path. As the blasts 
whizzed by between the buildings, the buildings shuddered from the shear 
velocity of the blast as the flew right by them. When both blasts struck 
the Angel, it let out a deafening roar as if it were in pain. For a 
brief moment, a huge wave of red surrounded the Angel before it 
shattered.
  "Holy shit!!! He just destroyed that Angel's AT field!!!" Misato said 
in shock as she noticed this barrier surrounding the Angel disappearing 
all of a sudden.
  Ritsuko looked at the screen. This couldn't be right. If this was 
true, the Angel was now defenseless. The EVA's would be able to destroy 
it in no time, even if they were damaged.
  "What the hell was that?!" Asuka asked, looking at her viewscreen. She 
had been maneuvering her EVA toward the enemy when all of a sudden it 
had been consumed in a ball of energy. She was forced to shield her eyes 
from the intensity of the blast.
  "Attack it!!!! It's defenseless!!!" All three EVA pilots heard 
Misato's voice, "Its AT field is down!!! Grab one of the weapons and 
pick it off from a distance!!"
  Shinji was the first one to respond. He immediately ran up to one of 
the weapons buildings and grabbed a heavy grenade launcher. Using Unit-
01's useful arm, Shinji brought the launcher up and aimed it high into 
the sky toward the Angel and opened fire, several shots missing at first, 
but eventually hitting its mark.
  The Angel was helpless as it was barraged with intense firepower. It 
was soon barraged with even more intense firepower as Unit-00 and Unit-
02 grabbed their weapons and also opened fire. It reared up in pain as 
chunks of its body was blown clear off, green blood splattering 
everywhere.
  After a short while, the Angel fell toward the ground.
  "Watch it, it's gonna self-destruct if you get too close," Misato 
warned them.
  With its last ounce of strength left, the Angel self-destructed, 
consuming everything that happened to be nearby just as it crashed into 
the ground.
  Ranma, as he caught sight of the walls of flames coming straight 
toward him. 
  "Oh man, not again!"
  
   Ranma stood outside Misato's apartment. He looked at the card and 
then up at the number on the apartment door. Several hours had passed 
since the destruction of that Angel. He hadn't stayed behind to be 
questioned and probed because of his portrayal in the Angel's 
destruction. Although he had been consumed in the blast when the Angel 
self destructed, he had been far away not to become seriously hurt.
  "Well, I guess this is it," he said and then knocked. After several 
moments, he knocked again.
  The door opened after he knocked a third time to reveal Misato.
  "R-Ranma!" she said, very surprised, "Where the hell have you been? 
I've been worried sick about you! No one found you after that explosion. 
We all thought the worst had happened, that you had been killed in the 
blast,"
  Ranma shook his head, "Nah. As you can tell, I survived. What makes 
you think I wouldn't be able to survive? I survived the last blast, so 
why wouldn't I be able to survive this one, ne? Well, anyway, I'm here 
like I said,"
  "Um, please, come in,"
  Ranma entered the apartment. His brows raised a bit as he noticed what 
a mess the place was. There were beer cans, take-out food boxes, and 
miscellaneous things strewn about. It didn't really bother him all that 
much because it reminded him of his own room when he had been young.
  "The place sure is....nice," he commented.
  "Yeah, yeah. I know. It's a mess," she said wryly, "Have a seat. Do 
you want anything to drink? Sake? A beer?"
  "No thank you, I don't drink," he said.
  "You're probably not underage because you had mentioned that you're 
actually older than me so I assume you just don't like alcohol,"
  "Yeah, let's say I'm well over sixty," he answered, "Anyway, I'm here, 
like I said. I'm here to help out, but that's it,"
  "Y-you're o-over s-sixty? Then how come you look so young?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yes, I'm over sixty. I look young because, well, I used 
to be cursed, but that's aside from the point. Anyway, I'm here to help 
out."
  "Cursed?"
  Ranma sighed, "Hold up. Time out. This is starting to sound like 
another interrogation again. Back onto the subject, I'm here to offer 
some help,"
  "Um, yes, help," Misato said, "Um, your powers, is there any way you 
can show us, Nerv, how to do it?"
  "Well, it's pretty easy. Everyone has the ability to do that," Ranma 
said matter-of-factly, "You know what ki is? It's a form of inner 
energy. Everyone and everything possess it. The act of throwing one of 
those fireballs as you call it, is simply harnessing all that ki into a 
concentrated point and throwing it. That's all,"
  "All right, if everyone can do it, how come no one here knows how to 
do it? Also, how do you manage to get something like that so powerful?" 
she asked, "I mean, from what I saw, the energy is incredibly high. It's 
even stronger than those AT fields surrounding those Angels,"
  "AT fields?"
  "That stands for Absolute Terror fields," Misato said, "It's like an 
impenetrable force field that requires obscene amounts of energy to 
break through. And you....you destroyed that thing with a single blast. 
The amount of energy required to break through that field is in the 
terrawatts, which is enough to power half this entire country,"
  "Well, perhaps those AT fields can't withstand ki blasts," Ranma said, 
"I mean, ki is a form of internal energy. And all those things you shoot 
are, well, external energies,"
  At that moment, Shinji and Asuka came home.
  "Misato-san, we're home," Shinji called out. 
  Asuka entered the livingroom, "God, what a day! I need a rest! Why the 
hell did we hafta stay behind and-" Her eyes widened as she saw Ranma, 
"You again?!"
  Ranma looked at Asuka, "Hey, I know you. You're that girl I saw 
earlier,"
  "Yeah, and you're that jerk that was stupid enough to be running the 
streets during that Angel attack!" she said, "That was pretty stupid of 
you,"
  Ranma turned toward Misato, "Is she always like this?"
  "Hello, Ranma," Shinji said politely.
  "Oh, hello, Shinji," Ranma responded, nodding in acknowledgement.
  "Y-you know each other?" Asuka asked, looking at Ranma and then at 
Shinji.
  "Um, Asuka, he was the one that destroyed that AT field," Shinji said 
softly.
  Asuka looked at Ranma and then back at Shinji "He what? That can't be! 
How can someone as stupid as him do something like that?"
  Ranma, a bit annoyed with this fiery-haired girl, "Jeez, what's wrong 
with you? Do you have some kinda chip on your shoulder?"
  "What do you mean by that?" Asuka said, looking at Ranma, her eyes 
creasing in contempt.
  "Is it that time of the month or something?" he asked. It didn't at all cross 
his mind that women never wanted to be asked something like that if they ever 
acted annoyed or angry at something or someone. It was one of the most taboo 
questions to ask a woman, and Ranma had just asked.
  "What?!?!?!" Asuka exploded, "How dare you say something like 
that!!!!"
  Misato burst out laughing. Oh god, that was just too funny. 
  Shinji also started laughing, more like snickering.
  "That's not funny!!!" Asuka said aloud toward Misato and Shinji. She 
then turned her attention back on Ranma, who was watching her with a 
bemused expression.
  "What's your name, little girl?" he asked, a smirk.
  "I don't need to tell you!" she said, "And my name's not 'little 
girl'!"
  "All right, if you don't tell me your name, I'll keep referring to you 
as little girl," he then said, still smirking. 
  Asuka looked at Misato, "Why the hell is he here?
  "I came here to ask you out," Ranma said with a smirk, jokingly.
  "What?!" Asuka and Shinji said in unison.
  "Yeah, I think you're cute, little girl, that I came here to ask 
Misato if I could take you out on a date," he said, giving Misato a 
wink. Here he was, teasing a girl he didn't know. On any other day, he 
wouldn't have done that, but he disliked the way she looked at him like 
he was some kind of bug that should be squashed.
  Asuka blushed a bit, only a little bit. Misato burst out laughing.
  Ranma then turned toward Misato, ignoring Asuka, "Anyway, back onto 
the subject, I guess I could help you out. I could simply teach you how 
to do something like throwing a ki-blast,"
  "And what makes you think I wanna go out with a jerk like you?!" Asuka 
tried to put up a defense. She would not lose a verbal argument with 
this man, whoever he was.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right. Then forget I asked. Anyway, 
Misato, about-"
  Asuka opened her mouth to say something yet again, "Well, what makes 
you think I would wanna go out with a jerk like you?"
  Ranma, more annoyed with her constantly pestering him, turned toward 
her, and said "Go away,"
  "I live here,"
  "Too bad," Ranma said, "I feel sorry for Misato then,"
  "What?! How d-dare you s-say something like that! You don't even know 
who I am!!!"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, and then turned toward Shinji, "Yo, is 
she always like this? Someone oughta spank her,"
  Misato burst out laughing again. Shinji chuckled.
  "Hey, quit laughing!" Asuka said in frustration.
  Changing the subject, Ranma continued to barrage Asuka "I betcha you 
touch yourself,"
  "What?!?!?!?!?" Asuka shouted, blushing beet red. "I-I d-do not!!!!!!"
  Ranma wondered how much longer he would have to continue teasing this 
little girl before she would simply be quiet. All he wanted her to do 
was be quiet. That was it. After a short while, he turned toward Misato, 
"Anyway-"
  "I d-don't do such a thing!!!!" Asuka said.
  "Argh!!!!" Ranma said in frustration. He walked over the Asuka and 
touched her chest.
  "Eeeeek!!!!" Asuka screamed as she saw Ranma's hand pressing up 
against her breasts, "You pervert!!!!!" 
  She stopped screaming when Ranma touched one of her pressure points. She fell 
forward into Ranma's arms unconscious. He threw her over his shoulder, "Where's 
her room?"
  Misato, staring, pointed toward Asuka's bedroom door. Ranma carried 
Asuka into her bedroom and emerged a second later, "I shoulda done that 
a long time ago. She keeps going on and on and on. Jeez,"
  "W-what did you just do?" Misato asked.
  "I pressed one of her pressure points," Ranma replied, "It knocks her 
out for a few hours. Very useful for people who have trouble sleeping," 
He inched his face close to Misato's, "And take advantage of some one," 
When Misato blushed, he added, "Hey, don't get the wrong idea, Misato-
chan. I was just joking around. I'm old enough to be yer father,"
  Shinji, who watched all of this, asked, "Misato's father? B-but you 
look like you're only, what, twenty,"
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I may look twenty, but I'm definitely not. I'm 
very old. Actually, I have no real idea exactly how old I am, but I'm 
well into my sixties,"
  "Well, you look very, um, young for a sixty year old," Misato 
commented.
  "Is that some kinda come on, Misato-chan?" Ranma said with a smirk. He 
was in the teasing mood after having teased Asuka so much.
  Misato's brows creased, but she said in a somewhat jokingly matter, "I 
don't think I've ever met someone as crass and arrogant as you, Ranma,"
  Ranma smiled a bit, but then took on a serious face, "Now, back to the 
subject about ki-blasts,"
  "Ki-blasts?" Shinji asked, "What's that?"
  "Well, what Misato and I were talking about was my ability to shoot 
projectiles from my hands," he answered, "and from what I'm expecting, 
it seems like I'll be teaching you how to do that,"
  "Y-you're g-going to teach us to do stuff like that?" Shinji said, his 
voice shaky, "I-I don't think I could do something like that,"
  Ranma shook his head, "Don't think that way. Everyone and anyone can 
do it. It's just harnessing all your ki that's a bit tricky. Here, 
follow me, I'll show you,"
  He headed out the front door, Misato and Shinji following him. Once 
outside, Ranma leaned over the balcony, and pointed toward the sky at a 
single white cloud tainting an otherwise perfect night sky.
  "You see the cloud over there, Shinji? Stick out one of your hands, 
palms open, and aim the palm toward it," Ranma said in a rather soft 
voice. He actually felt rather happy to be showing someone something he 
knew. This reminded him of the time he had taught Sylia how to 
manipulate ki.
  Shinji did as Ranma told him, gingerly raising an hand, palm open.
  Ranma placed a hand on the young boy's shoulder and almost immediately, an 
aura formed around the two people.
  Misato, shocked at the sudden power that emanated from both Ranma and 
Shinji, took a step backwards, tripping and falling down on her 
backside, yet still staring at the two.
  Shinji was starting to panic. He was feeling this intense feeling of 
energy flowing through his entire body.
  He said, "W-what's t-this feeling I-I'm getting? It feels like I'm gonna 
explode,"
  "I know. Doesn't that feel cool?" Ranma chuckled a bit, but stopped 
when he realized that Shinji would probably be in this near state of 
hysteria, not knowing what he was supposed to do while this intense 
power built up within him. 
  Ranma immediately said in a soft and soothing voice, "There's no need 
to worry. I'm right here. You're not going to get hurt."
  "I-it feels like I c-can't get hurt," Shinji commented, his hand a bit 
shaky as it was still extended from his body.
  "That's the ki," Ranma said softly, "Basically, it's an intense energy 
surrounding you, like a form of, I guess, armor. Anyway, it's basically 
pure energy and you can manipulate it to suit your needs. Right now, 
you're gonna use it as an ki-blast,"
  "W-what d-do you want me t-to do?" Shinji asked meekly. He was getting 
more and more nervous. He could feel the energy gathering within him 
growing exponentially. 
  "Shoot it toward that cloud when you feel like it," 
  "H-how?!"
  Ranma smiled, "Well, it's hard to explain it. Right now, you feel more 
and more power flowing through you, ne? Well, it's building up because 
you're using your will to hold it in. To release all that power, simply 
think of releasing it. Picture a ki-blast shooting from your fingertips, 
and, guess what, it will...."
  Shinji nodded. A second later, a massive ki-blast erupted from 
Shinji's hands, the ball of energy shooting up at its target, ripping 
right through it and continuing upwards toward the dark sky above, 
disappearing as it ascended toward the heavens.
  The kickback of shooting the ki-blast sent Shinji propelling backwards 
where he landed on a shocked Misato.
  "Oh my god!!!!" Shinji said, his pupils wide, his mouth agape, as he 
looked up at the sky and where the cloud used to be.
  Ranma smiled weakly, "Sorry bout that, I shoulda told ya that throwing 
one of those things gives quick a kickback," He walked over to Shinji 
and picked him up, doing the same for Misato.
  "H-how d-did Shinji do that?!" Misato asked in a shaky voice. "That 
thing was so powerful I felt the heat from it as it shot from his 
hands!"
  Ranma turned toward Misato, "Well, since Shinji doesn't exactly know 
how to summon ki, I simply let my own ki flow right into him. That's why 
I had a hand on his shoulders. Anyway, in order for him to call forth 
ki, without my help, you hafta learn to breath and concentrate properly. 
That's all,"
  "T-that's i-incredible!!" Shinji commented, looking at his hand. He 
couldn't believe so much power had gone through those slender fingertips 
of his.
  Ranma smirked, "And you know what else is funny?"
  "What?"
  "I'm gonna punch ya in the gut," Ranma crouched low and cocked an arm 
back, paused for a short moment for Shinji to realize what Ranma was 
about to do, and then brought his fist forward and struck Shinji right 
in the stomach in a perfectly executed uppercut.
  Shinji's eyes opened wide as he realized a fist was implanted in his 
gut, and that his feet were no longer touching the floor. 
  Ranma smiled and then lowered his arm, allowing Shinji's feet to touch 
the ground. When Shinji looked at Ranma, this dumbfounded look in his 
eyes, Ranma said, "Guess what? I just punched you in the gut hard enough 
to knock the wind outta ya..."
  "W-w-why d-did you just do t-that?"
  Ranma smirked, "Did it hurt?"
  Shinji looked down at his stomach. He noticed his shirt was slightly 
crumpled. He also noticed he was breathing perfectly fine and that he 
hadn't been winded. He looked up at Ranma, unable to discern what had 
just happened.
  "I just punched you," Ranma said.
  "B-but I-it didn't hurt,"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep, that's because you were expecting it. Ki protects 
you. It just so happened that after you shot off that ki-blast, you 
still had some build up of ki within you. I sensed it,"
  "Huh?" was what all Misato could say. 
  Ranma sighed a bit and said, "What I just demonstrated were two ways 
you could use ki. Because of ki, you shot that projectile. And also, 
because of ki, you were protected from that punch I gave ya. That's why 
I told you I was gonna punch you. I made you expect it, thus, 
subconsciously, you manipulated your ki to absorb the blow instead of 
your body"
  "But I felt you hit me....even though it didn't hurt," Shinji said.
  "Of course you felt it. It's just that when my fist actually touch 
your body, the ki absorbed all the impact." Ranma responded, "Think of 
it as some kinda, well, force field. Now, if you weren't expecting that 
blow, you would have been winded. Man, I remember getting hit in the 
back with a missile and I had been totally unexpecting it. Jeez, that 
hurt, but that's besides the point,"
  "Oh man, this is too much," Misato said. Her head was starting to 
hurt. Just a few seconds ago, she saw Shinji....yes, Shinji, throw a ki-
blast powerful enough for her to feel the heat, and then, she saw him 
absorb a blow that would have probably damaged internal organs. 
  "God, I'm getting a headache just trying to comprehend what I just saw," she 
commented.
  Ranma chuckled, and a very sensual chuckle Misato noticed, as he said, 
"I know, it's very....um....frightening at first, but it's always been 
there. It's just that, well, I guess no one really knows how to harness 
all that energy. Wait a minute, I know. You know what yoga is?"
  Misato and Shinji both nodded.
  "That's a form of ki manipulation," Ranma said, "In yoga, you learn to 
breath and concentrate correctly. The only difference is that you're 
taught to use your ki as a form of self improvement,"
  "I still don't get it. How do you do that?" Shinji said, "H-how long 
will it take to learn something like that?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. It depends on how quickly you 
can pick things up and understand 'em. I guess it would probably take, 
what, decades to learn how to effectively harness ki. Me, I learned 'em 
in a few days cause, well, I had to learn it," 
  He stopped from a moment and scratched his head. He remembered once saying 
this to some other people when they, too, had asked the same kind of questions.
  Ranma's stomach grumbled. All of a sudden, he seemed to forget where 
he was or what he was talking about.
  "God, I'm starving," Ranma commented, rubbing his stomach. He began to 
walk off down the walkway, "Well, I'm off,"
  "Huh?" Misato said, realizing Ranma was walking away, "W-where are you 
going?"
  Ranma turned around, "I gotta go get some food, I'm starving,"
  "Um, why not have dinner with us?" she quickly said.
  "Nah. No offense, but I have this sneaky assumption you don't really 
know how to cook," Ranma commented.
  Misato blushed. After a short while, she felt this anger flow through 
her, "W-what makes you think I can't cook, huh?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, this slight mischievious grin on his 
lips as he said, "Well, they why do I see so many take out stuff in yer 
house?"
  Shinji chuckled, unable to control himself. Busted.  
  Misato blushed, "Um, well, I've been busy. I have work, y'know. I'm a 
very busy person," That was the best defense she could come up with 
while on the spot. It sounded plausible.
  "All right, if you say so," Ranma said with a smile.
  There was a brief pause. Misato knew Ranma was a very perceptive 
person, but she had no idea he was that perceptive.
  "Okay, fine. I can't cook. You happy?" she said, annoyed that Ranma's 
assumption was correct.
  "Well, see ya around," he said, continuing down the walkway toward the 
stairs.
  "Hold up, aren't you gonna show us more to this ki stuff?" she asked, 
following closely behind him.
  Ranma stopped and turned to face her, only to realize that Misato 
didn't manage to stop in time as she bumped right into him, bringing herself
down on top of him. She quickly got up, embarrassed beyond belief. Ranma 
had landed on his backside and his arms was propping himself up, his legs 
spread, Misato sitting between them. It provided quite a licentious 
scene.
  "S-sorry about that," she got back up, Ranma doing the same.
  "Look if you wanna come along that badly with me, I don't mind," Ranma 
said.
  "W-what makes you think I want to come along?" she replied 
defensively, "Um, I just wanted to know if I, um, we could see you 
again. We would like to learn more about this ki stuff. It would help 
out greatly against those Angels,"
  Ranma's eyes creased a bit. He then shrugged his shoulders, "I'll stop 
by around the same time,"
  "Um, where are you going? Where are you going to stay?" Misato asked 
curiously. She almost didn't want him to leave.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea where I'm going. Nor 
where I'm staying,"
  "Um, how about, um, staying at my place. I mean, I can make room for 
you," she offered.
  "Huh?" Ranma said, this odd look in his eyes. He placed his hands on 
her shoulders, "Why on Earth would you offer me to stay at your place? 
You don't even know me that well. Besides, I don't think that little 
girl would appreciate it."
  "Asuka,"
  "Huh?"
  "Her name is Asuka. Shoryuu Asuka Langley," Misato said.
  "All right. I don't think Asuka would appreciate it. I'm pretty sure 
she hates my guts," he smirked, "She'll probably kill me in my sleep if 
she had the chance," 
  "She's all right once you get to know her," Misato said, "Anyway, as a 
way of saying thanks, you're welcome to stop by whenever you like. Heck, 
there's even food in the fridge, in case you're hungry. I guess I'll see 
you tomorrow, at around the same time?"
  Ranma nodded.
  "All right. I'll see you around. Maybe we might bump into each other," 
she said, smiling warmly before she turned around and headed for her 
apartment.
  Ranma stood there, on the walkway, alone, for several moments. He 
chuckled a bit.
  "Man, Misato sure reminds me of Akane...."

  Ritsuko noticed someone familiar on her way home from a grueling day 
at Nerv Headquarters. She was jealous of Misato because she had gone home 
many many hours ago. While Misato had gone home close to five, Ritsuko 
had stay behind, not finishing until well past eleven.
  She was stopped at a red light, waiting for it to change, when she saw 
Ranma as he crossed the street. Unfortunately, he didn't quite make it 
as it turned green on him. Still, he took his time, not even bothered by 
the fact that several cars were honking at him, several drivers even 
sticking there heads out the window to curse at him.
  "Hold yer horses," Ranma shouted back. He was really hungry, having 
wandered the street for several hours already, and was starting to get 
irritated at not having found a job.
  "Get the fuck outta the road!!" a pissed of motorist shouted, flipping 
Ranma a gesture quite frequently used in a city called New York. He was 
a young man, showing off to his three friends whom happened to be in the 
car with him.
  Ranma, very annoyed at how rude people were nowadays, walked over to 
the motorist. Ritsuko watch all of this from the safety of her car, 
which happened to be located directly behind the peeved off motorist. Her 
eyes widened as she saw him grip the front of the car and pick it 
up, all four wheels leaving the ground. As he held the car, he walked 
over toward the red light, where everyone else was still stopped, 
watching in awe, and placed the car back down, perpendicular to the 
sidewalk.
  Ranma smiled a bit, and then crossed the street to the other side.
  Ritsuko turned her attention from Ranma and onto the car. She realized 
Ranma had put the car down so that it was stuck in the middle of the 
street, unable to move forward or back up to right itself due to the 
oncoming traffic one side and that sidewalk on the other. 
  After a short while, all the motorists realizing it was a green light, 
also realized they were all being blocked by that man's car and soon, 
everyone started honking their horn, swearing at him.
  After a few minutes passed, the light having turned green and then red 
several times, the man finally righted himself, moving forward and 
backwards in tiny amounts. As the traffic finally managed to pick up, 
Ritsuko, compelled and shocked at seeing Ranma, pulled her car to the 
side and got out of her car. She ran down the sidewalk, catching up with 
Ranma after a short moment.
  "Ranma," she called out to him, stopping by his side, her breathing a 
bit heavy.
  Ranma looked at Ritsuko, "Eh? Do I know you? Have we met before?" He 
looked at her carefully, and after a moment, his eyes lit in 
recognition, "Oh, I know you. I saw you in that tiny room with Misato, 
ne?"
  Ritsuko nodded. This was the first time she had actually met him and 
talked. She had observed him through the one way mirror and had talked 
to him during that Angel attack via a communications line, but they had 
never truly met face to face.
  "I'm Ranma,"
  "Yes. I know that. I'm Akagi Ritsuko,"
  "How're ya doin'?" he said with a warm smile, "Whatcha doing around 
here?"
  Ritsuko's heart skipped a beat. She had never realized how handsome 
Ranma was. God, he was gorgeous, "I-I'm fine. I-I was on my way home 
from work,"
  Ranma seemed to be an easy person to talk to. He said, "You were at 
work until now? That's quite a bit of hours. You must be tired. Do you 
live around here?"
  She nodded, "Yeah, I've been at work for over fourteen hours. And I'm 
beat. And yes, I live very close. My home is just around the corner,"
  Ranma looked around, "Do ya walk home from work? You want me to walk 
you home?"
  "Um, er, I guess you could walk me home. I-I don't mind," she said. 
Jeez, she thought, what the hell am I doing? I don't even know this guy! 
Misato is the type of person to do this, not me! "Um, now that I think 
about it. There's no real need to. I mean, I live right around the 
corner."
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right," 
  And then he walked off.
  Ritsuko felt a bit sad that Ranma didn't even persist in walking her 
home.
 
  Asuka was looking out the window of her classroom during lunch break 
and caught sight of a very familiar and unwanted sight.
  "What the hell is he doing here?!" she gasped, noticing Ranma walking 
through the courtyard.
  Ranma looked around as he stood in the courtyard. He couldn't help but 
notice that every Japanese courtyard looked the same, and that every 
school looked the same. Luckily for him, there was only one school in 
the area. He closed his eyes and pictured Kuno rushing him, his bokken 
raised, ready to strike. God, how he missed the days. He would even let 
Kuno hit him several times, just for the fun of it. Of course, those 
attacks wouldn't hurt since Ranma had gotten much much stronger over the 
many years, but it was fun to imagine the look on Kuno's face as he 
realize he couldn't hurt Ranma.
  "God, what I would do to see that happen," Ranma said to himself, 
smiling happily. His little reverie was broken when someone called out 
to him from one of the second story windows.
  "Hey, oyaji, what the hell are you doing here?!" Asuka shouted with a 
wry grin, "Dontcha have some geriatric home you should be checking 
yourself into?"
   "Oyaji? What makes you call me an old man?" Ranma shouted back. Even 
though he technically was an old man, he was just curious. 
  Asuka smiled evilly, "Because I found out from Shinji that you're at 
the ancient age of, what, sixty. Man, that's old,"
  Ranma smirked as he shouted back, "Ya have a nice sleep, little girl?"
  Her brows creased. She remembered hearing from Misato this morning 
that Ranma had touched one of her pressure points, knocking her out as 
it put her to a deep sleep.
  "My name's not 'little girl'," Asuka shouted back, "It's Asuka. You 
think you can remember that or might your memory be slipping due to your 
old age?"
  Ranma continued to have his fun, "No, I don't think I'll forget that 
name.....unfortunately. But then again, who could forget a person with a 
winning personality like you?" he said sarcastically, a wry smile on his 
lips.
  Asuka was not going to lose this verbal battle, not after that 
humiliating one she had lost to when Ranma had struck one of her 
pressure points. 
  Shinji, curious as to who Asuka had been talking to, walked up to the 
window, immediately noticing Ranma.
  "R-Ranma, what are you doing here?" he asked.
  Ranma shouted back, "I'll answer you in a sec. You're on your lunch 
break, right? Well, I'm sick of tired of having to shout. I'll come up 
to yer classroom," 
  He then entered the school through the front doors.
  "Considering how old he is, he'll probably fall and break a leg on his 
way up here," Asuka commented wryly.
  
  Ranma entered the classroom, not really all that worried if there was 
a teacher present or not. If there was a teacher, he would simply make 
something up to explain his presence. Luckily for him, there wasn't one.
  "Who are you?" Toji asked curiously, "Are you the a sub?"
  Ranma smirked, looking at Asuka with a wry grin and then said, "Yep. 
I'm the new sub. Class, please be seated,"
  "But there's still ten more minutes left before class ends," the class 
rep, Hikari, said.
  Ranma brushed the comment aside, "I know. That gives you an extra ten 
minutes more to learn what I'm gonna teach you,"
  "He's not the substitute. He's just an perverted old man!" Asuka 
shouted, pointing at Ranma. She didn't want him in the same room as her, 
much less acting like he was teaching the class, "He doesn't belong 
here,"
  Ranma pretended to look at a list of names that was on the podium 
before him. He then said, "You must be Asuka. I've heard a lot about 
you, that you're a real nasty one,"
  "Hey, oyaji, why dontcha go back to the geriatric ward that you came 
from?! You don't belong here!" Asuka said with a wry smile. She planned 
on embarrassing him to death.
  Ranma looked at Asuka, pretending hurt, "Oyaji?" He then looked at the 
class, "Class, do you think I'm an old man? How old do I look to you?"
  "You look like you're in your early twenties, and you're very cute," a 
female classmate commented.
  Ranma smirked. He had forgotten how open the girls are nowadays. And 
of course, they would say that stuff since they actually thought he was 
a substitute and wanted to make him nervous. He also recalled what kind 
of questions he would be barraged with in a second.
  "Thank you, um," he faked looking at the paper, "Junko, that's very 
nice of you to say that,"
  "My name's Keiko," The girl said, blushing a bit, she jerked a thumb 
toward another girl, "She's Junko,"
  "Oh, I'm sorry. I must've read the wrong name," Ranma responded 
glibly. When he noticed the girl giving him this starry eyed look, he 
got a bit nervous. 
   Hikari raised her hand and then stood up. She asked, "Sensei, do you 
have a girlfriend?"
  Toji, who was sitting rather casually in his chair, looked at Hikari 
curiously and asked "Why do you ask that? Ya interested in him?"
  Hikari blushed. How clueless could that boy actually be? She 
whispered, "Dontcha get it. I'm the class rep. It's a tradition that I 
ask, um, embarrassing question to a young male substitute whenever one 
shows up,"
  Toji shrugged his shoulders, "Oh. Okay," 
  He went back to ignoring everything else.
  Ranma smiled. He might as well have some fun while he was still on 
this world, "No. I don't have a girlfriend, but I'm definitely looking 
for one," For a split second, he actually felt guilty. He was sixty 
goddamnit. He continued, "I'm looking for the right girl. Could you be 
her?"
  Hikari blushed beet red. This little joke was backfiring.
  Luckily for her, Asuka came to the rescue and said, "Nah, she wouldn't 
be the one right for you. She's human. She's much too good for you. You 
should look for people that belong to the same species as you,"
  Ranma smirked, and then changed the subject, "Anyway, I'm here to 
teach you about....um.... human development,"
  Toji seemed to perk up a bit. He raised his hand and asked, "As in 
Human Sexuality?"
  "Suzuhara....." Hikari said, giving Toji a scornful look. 
  "Um, er, not really," Ranma quickly said, "It's about....what it's 
capable of. Yeah, that's it,"
  "What the hell are you up to, oyaji?" Asuka muttered.
  Ranma smirked and said, "Asuka. Go stand out in the hall. I will not 
have you interrupting my class without raising a hand,"
  "Go to hell!" came the reply. Asuka gave Ranma a look that would 
probably kill a man. Unfortunately, Ranma wasn't at all perturbed.
  "All right. Everyone here gets a zero on the pop quiz I plan on giving 
at the end of today's lesson," Ranma said, grinning from ear to ear. 
God, this was fun.
  The class gave Asuka a odd look.
  "What the hell's wrong with all of you?! He's not even a substitute!" 
she said in contempt, "Why do you actually believe he's a damn 
substitute?!" 
  The class continued to stare at her.
  Ranma, figuring he should really put Asuka in a situation like that, 
said, "Class, forget that last one. She could stay. Ahem, now, if you 
don't mind, Asuka-chan. Please, be seated. Okay, now what I'm here to 
teach you is....what the hell was that.......human something?"
  "Human development, sensei," a girl corrected him.
  "Yeah, that's it. Thank you," Ranma said, not even embarrassed. 
"Anyway, I'm gonna demonstrate to you what ki is and how to use it. But 
first, I must say that ki is a power that can not be abused. You must 
swear to me that you would not use it for evil purposes. You must not 
use it to help those devil....um....Angel thingies."
  The class was silent. What was this substitute babbling about? Why on 
earth would he make everyone swear?
  When Ranma noticed the moment of awkward silence, he said, "All right. 
That's good enough for me. Um," He pretended looking at the paper, 
"Shinji, can you please come here? I would like to volunteer for a 
demonstration,"
  "I-I c-can't"
  "C'mon," Ranma persisted.
  "H-hai," Shinji said meekly.
  "What the hell is he up to?" Asuka muttered, more to herself than 
anyone else. Toji heard though.
  "Will ya just shut up? This ki stuff sounds interesting," he 
commented.
  "You shut up you walking gorilla," Asuka snapped back
  Shinji walked up to the front desk. 
  Once Shinji was next to him, Ranma whispered, "Yo, Shinji, ya up to 
learning this stuff? I'll show you more on this after school. I know I 
said I'll swing by Misato's by evening, but have something else I wanna 
do later. Anyway, I'll be around the courtyard here after school. Can 
you meet me there?"
  "Is this why you're going all this pretend substitute stuff just to 
tell me?" he asked.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah. Why not? I could be fun," 
  He then picked up a piece of chalk, and wrote 'Ki' in bold letters on 
the chalkboard. 
  He said, "Ki. Everyone has it. It's what you would consider inner energy. 
Y'see, everything, living and non-living have this internal energy called ki. 
Now, what I'm here to teach you is how to harness this energy,"
  "Huh?" Toji, although interested, was lost.
  "It's all fake, you dolt!" Asuka said to Toji, "He's makin' this stuff 
up!"
  Ranma placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder and, all of a sudden, a blue 
aura formed around the two of them. The class, except for Rei, was 
shocked to see this. They continued to stare, mouth agape. Asuka watched 
uninterestedly. 
  Ranma said, "All right Shinji, walk over to the window and point yer 
hand toward the sky, palm open,"
  Shinji did as he was told.
  "Now, whenever you feel like it, release all your energy. Picture a 
fireball erupting from your hand," Ranma said.
  Shinji did as he was told, but was now expecting what would happened. 
A massive ki-blast erupted from his hands shooting up into the sky. The 
entire class was staring at Shinji, a shocked expression on all of their 
faces. Toji fell backwards and off his chair, caught totally by surprise 
at what he saw. Everyone else was deathly silent, still staring.
  "Wow, Shinji, have you ever done this before?" Ranma said with pretend 
surprise, "You sure caught on to this stuff real quick,"
  "W-w-what the h-hell was that?!" Asuka said, very much shocked like 
the entire class. She had never seen something like that before. It was 
even more shocking to see that Shinji had actually played a part in 
this.
  Ranma looked at Shinji and smiled, "Don't tell her how to do it. Let 
her suffer, hee hee," He turned toward the class, "Well, class, that is 
what you would call ki in one of its many forms,"
  At that moment, the teacher chose that time to enter the classroom. 
When he caught sight of Ranma, he said, "Who the hell are you?"
  Ranma, caught up in the act of shocking everyone, forgot to stop his 
little charade and said, "I'm the new substitute. Why?"
  "Sub?" the teacher said, "For what? My, you're awfully young looking 
to be a teacher, albeit a substitute one,"
  "Human development," Ranma said as he regarded the teacher for a short 
moment. The teacher was short and stocky and was balding.
  "I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong room. First of all, as you 
can see, I'm not sick. And second of all, if I were sick, you would be 
teaching history," the teacher said.
  Ranma, finally realizing that this was actually a real teacher he was 
talking to, finally said, "Oops. Um, I must be in the wrong class. Sorry 
'bout that. I'll be on my way," 
  As he was about to head out, he quickly said to Shinji, "Like I said, 
I'll be at the courtyard after school," 
  He opened the door and was about to leave when one of the boys made a 
comment, "C'mon, show us more. That was so cool! I wanna know how you do 
that!"
  The teacher looked at Ranma curiously. He was wondering how this 
youngster had done to get these damn kids to actually be interested in 
learning something. What was there to human development that was so 
interesting to learn. Afterall, human development didn't dwell that much 
on human sexuality. That was another course all together.
  Ranma smiled weakly and apologetically as he said, "Sorry class. I 
didn't mean to teach that. Forget you learned it."
  But, before he left the class, he turned toward the teacher.
  "Can you do me a favor?" Ranma asked.
  "What is it?" the short man asked.
  Ranma pointed toward Asuka, smiling wryly directly at her.
  "That girl over there. She kept interrupting me while I was trying to 
teach. Can you please do me a favor and have her stand out in the 
hallway for a short while."
  The teacher nodded. "Okay, I'll do that,"
  As a teacher to another, the man would grant him that favor. 
  Ranma smirked one more time at Asuka before he left.

  Shinji stepped out of school and into the courtyard where he saw Ranma 
talking to a young female teacher. It seemed a few of the females 
noticed him waiting there and wanted to talk to him and get to know him. 
Only one of them had the courage.
  "Not too long. I only started here a very short while ago, about three 
months ago," the young teacher said.
  The teacher noticed Shinji walk up to them and turned her attention 
toward him, "Why hello, Shinji-kun. How are you doing?"
  Shinji said meekly, "I'm doing fine, sensei,"
  "Well, I guess I better get going now," the teacher said, "Perhaps 
I'll see you again,"
  Ranma smiled softly, "All right. Perhaps we might bump into each other 
again. Ja,"
  Shinji and Ranma stood together and watched the young teacher leave. 
Once she was out of earshot, Shinji said, "Do you know her?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. I just met her today. She seems nice,"
  Shinji was silent for a moment. He wondered if he should tell Ranma 
that almost every guy in the school had a thing for her. He figured it 
was best to let him find out for himself. "Um, you wanted to see me 
after school, right? Well, I'm here,"
  "Yeah, and that's good," Ranma said, "Is there any place we could go 
that, well, no one could get hurt or would be bothering us?"
  Shinji thought about it for a moment, "Well, we could always go to the 
park. It's not too far from here. Also, you said you were going to stop 
by Misato-san's later today. What's with the change in plans?"
  "Well, I wanna go away for a little while, and I wanna leave tonight," 
He responded, "And it's better since there's daylight anyway,"
  "Um, all right,"
  Asuka and Rei emerged from the school.
  Ranma looked at Asuka, "Hello,"
  "Hmph!" Asuka said, turning a head toward Ranma. She didn't want to 
see him. Ever. She had made her day turn out to be one of the worst in 
history. Never had she been this angry at someone in her life.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulder and turned toward Rei, "Hello. We haven't 
really met each other. I'm Ranma Saotome,"
  "Rei Ayanami," came a soft reply.  She didn't even hold eye contact 
with Ranma.
  "Why are you here?" Asuka said, contempt in her voice.
  "I came here to teach you what you saw earlier. Ki," He responded. 
"Since ki seems to help out quite a bit when you fight against those 
aliens-"
  "Angels," Asuka said, "At least get the terminology right,"
  Ranma's brows creased for a short moment. He sighed, "All right, 
Asuka, Angels. Anyway, I'm here to teach you about ki so it could help 
you fight against those Angels,"
  "Why?" Rei asked.
  "Well, I'm here to help out the best that I can. And I'm here to teach 
you before I leave," Ranma said.
  "Leave? Where?" Asuka said. Her eyes seemed to light up. She would 
love for Ranma to leave. Now would be a good time as any.
  Ranma said, "I wanna go back to where I came from. I'm leaving 
Tonight,"
  "Good," Asuka commented. "The sooner you leave, the better,"
  He ignored her, "I'll teach you the basic fundamentals of how to use 
ki and harness it. The only problem is that it takes quite a while to be 
able to manipulate ki effectively. What you saw Shinji do, well, that 
was one of the examples of ki. I showed him some more examples last 
night at Misato's,"
  "You did? When?" Asuka asked. She didn't remember seeing Ranma showing 
Shinji.
  "After I put you to sleep," Ranma answered matter-of-factly, "Anyway, 
it's very easy to call forth ki, this inner energy, but it's very hard 
to use it effectively,"
  "Why are you showing us how to use this?" Rei asked, "We are EVA 
pilots,"
  Ranma looked at her, a confused and embarrassed look on his face, "Oh 
shit. I forgot about that,"
  "Idiot,"
  Ranma took a deep breath, still ignoring Asuka, and said, "Now that I 
think about it, there's no real way you could use ki from within those 
robots....um.....EVAs. Man, that kinda puts a damper on the 
effectiveness of what I'm gonna teach you,"
  "I still wanna learn it though," Shinji said.
  "That's because you're a wimp and need it," Asuka commented wryly. 
"It'll become your backbone,"
  Shinji looked down at the ground. She was right. That one moment last 
night and today when he had experienced the power of ki had brought his 
confidence level through the roof. Unfortunately, when Asuka noticed 
Shinji looking a bit happy that morning, and began teasing him, bringing 
his confidence back down.
  Ranma looked at Asuka. She looked back at him, defying him, her eyes 
showing the utmost contempt toward him. He shook his head in disgust at 
her and turned toward Shinji, "Well, Shinji, I'll be glad to teach you. 
You could use ki in anything, even in the real world, like healing 
yourself,"
  "Don't shake your head at me like that!" Asuka said.
  Ranma turned toward Asuka, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! What the hell's 
wrong with you?! Dontcha ever shut up? You keep yabberin' and yabberin'. 
Dontcha ever run outta things to say? Jeez,"
  "Why dontcha just leave? We don't need you here!" came Asuka's retort. 
"We were doing just fine without you,"
  Ranma pretended to pull out his hair, "Shut up! Shut up! What's with 
you always havin' the last word? Are you always like this? All stuck up 
and bitchy? I mean, I respect females and all, I respect 'em more than I 
do males, but you're really making me think otherwise,"
  Asuka opened her mouth to say, only to catch sight of Ranma extending 
a finger toward her.
  "If you don't shut up, I'm gonna push your pressure point again and 
put you to sleep," he said seriously. He waved a index at her 
threateningly, "You'll find yourself waking up somewhere very 
embarrassing, like the men's restroom or a men's bathhouse,"
  "Is that a threat?!" she said, her anger rising "How dare you threaten 
me?!" When she saw Ranma take a step toward her, she covered her 
breasts, "Stay away from me y-you pervert! I-I'll s-scream!!"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "So?" He took in a deep breath, "I'm 
asking this nicely. Will you please be quiet? Cause you're making it 
very hard for me to be nice to you,"
  Asuka's brows creased.
  "R-Ranma? What are you doing here?"
  Ranma turned around to face Misato.
  "M-Misato? What are you doing here?" Ranma asked.
  "I came here to pick the children up for work," she responded.
  "Work? They work? Aren't there child labor laws around here?"
  Misato and Shinji burst out laughing. Asuka snickered at Ranma's 
ignorance. Rei smirked.
  Misato shook her head, "No. Not as in workin' in some kind of 
sweatshop or anything. I have to bring them to Nerv Headquarters for 
some synchro tests. Just some testing, that's all,"
  "Oh," Ranma said, "But, um, could that wait till later? I mean, I was 
about to teach Shinji some more about ki,"
  "I thought you were going to stop by my apartment later tonight,"
  Ranma nodded, "Well, yeah, I was. But I kinda wanna get back to my own 
world, so I wanted to leave tonight,"
  "Your world, you mentioned about that earlier," Misato said, changing 
the subject, "What's it like?"
  Ranma looked around, "Well, judging from what I see around me, my 
world is more technologically advanced, at least, it used to be until 
the downfall of Genom. But otherwise, it's pretty much the same. But 
that's besides the point. I was kinda hopin' to be teachin' Shinji now,"
  "Um, no can do," Misato said, shaking her head, "We have to do the 
synchronization tests. We have to make it a top priority. We need to 
constantly keep in check of how well the children could synchronize with 
the EVA units," She wondered if she should be saying all this stuff to 
Ranma. It didn't really matter because he was the key to everything, the 
key to finally ridding this world of Angels once and for all.
  Ranma sighed, "But, I wanna leave tonight. All right, when are these 
tests finished?"
  "In two hours,"
  "All right, how about I come with you there and I'll teach Shinji 
there. That way, we could save the time it takes for him to get from 
there and to your apartment,"
  Misato wondered what she should do at that moment, "Wait a minute. I 
just thought of something. You can come along with us. While there, you 
can show us, as in Ritsuko and I, how this works. Perhaps we could 
develop some kind of weapon to generate that kinda energy,"
  Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Um, I don't really think that 
would work. I mean, ki, it's an internal thing. Can you recreate that?"
  Misato smiled, "We can recreate a lotta things. Even if it doesn't 
work, it's best give it a try. It's better to have tried and failed than 
to go on wondering if it ever have worked,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right, I'm game. But, after that, I 
leave. There's a village I plan on visiting. If I'm lucky, there's gonna 
be a special item there that'll get me back home,"
  "And what would you do if it isn't there?" Misato asked, "Or worse, 
what happens if it doesn't get you home like you expected?"
  Ranma thought about it for a moment before answering, "Well, there's 
actually two items. There's that box I came to this world in. And then 
there's a special mirror. So, I have two chances of getting back. If 
not, well, I'll hafta find a way. It shouldn't be too hard. I mean, I've 
seen some strange things happen, and that isn't all that farfetched. 
Heck, I even went back in time once, but that's besides the point,"
  "Y-you went back i-in time?" Misato asked. She couldn't comprehend the 
possibility of it. She imagined would could have happened, how the world 
would be different, the Second Impact had been prevented. The 
possibilities were endless.
  "Yeah, I went back in time," Ranma said matter-or-factly, "I met one 
of my fiancees' great grandmother. I also met my father's grandmaster 
when he was young. It was some really freaky stuff."
  "Fiancees?  As in plural of fiancée?" Misato said.
  "Yeah, at the time, I had....one, two, three, four fiancees, five if 
you count that Tea Ceremony girl," he said.
  "F-five fiancees?" Misato said, a bit dubious, "What, were you 
stringing four other girls along?"
  Ranma shook his head, "Nope. All five girls were my fiancees against 
my will. Ahem, but that's besides the point, Misato. We're straying 
way off the subject. Anyway, I'll come with you to this Nerv 
Headquarters. I'll demonstrate for you guys in hopes of you being able 
to recreate ki. That way, you can battle these Angel thingies without my 
help. All right?"
  Misato nodded, "All right"
  Asuka, who was listening to all this, was a bit stunned at hearing all this, 
"Um, is a-all that true?"
  "Huh? What do you mean?" 
  "About all the things you've been through,"
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, and much much more,"
  "Like what?" Shinji asked, also curious. Rei looked a bit interested 
also, although she didn't show it much.
  Together, everyone headed for Nerv Headquarters.
  "Well, I used to be cursed to immortality," Ranma said, "That's why I 
look so young. I've traveled back in time, became engaged to more girls 
against my will than I can remember, fought with ghosts and dragons, 
seen giant lizards, battled these machines called boomers, and a lot 
more,"
  Shinji was more interested in what Ranma had said first, "Cursed to 
immortality?"
  "Yes, I used to be cursed. I'm no longer cursed anymore," Ranma said, 
"Actually, I wasn't immortal. I mean, I could die, but not through 
natural means...at least, it was virtually impossible. You see, there 
was a cursed for I changed into when splashed with cold water, and while 
in that cursed form, I aged backwards toward the original age of when I 
was first cursed, age fifteen. When I get splashed with hot water, I 
reverted back to my original form, but, I would be reverted back to a 
younger age. Let's just say my curse led me into a heap of trouble and 
was pretty much the cause of all my troubles,"
  "T-that's crazy," Misato commented.
  "Look, perhaps we'll talk about this some other day," he said, pausing 
for a brief moment, "I don't really like talkin' about my past all that 
much. I've had some pretty bad memories of it,"
  "As in what?" Rei asked, silent most of the time until now.
  "Well, if you really wanna know, when I was young, I lost everything," 
Ranma said in a sad tone, "I mean everything. I lost my family, my 
friends, everything that I cared for. The town I lived in was destroyed 
completely. From what I remember, only three people outta hundreds of 
thousands survived. A girl named Lisa, my nemesis Ryoga, and myself. 
That's all,"
  "T-that's h-horrible," Shinji said. He realized Ranma must had gone 
through a lot of pain and suffering.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, none of his emotions evident, "But you don't 
really hafta worry about that. That happened a long long time ago. I can't 
change the past at least, I've never tried. I wouldn't try anyway because I 
would probably end up screwing everything up. Anyway, I've learned to go on with 
my life,"
  There was a moment of silence. 
  Asuka, even though she hated him, even felt sorry for Ranma.
 
  Ranma walked through the corridors. 
  "Great! Just great! I pull a Ryoga and get lost. Where the hell am I?" 
he muttered to himself, looking around, unable to discern any 
differences in all those plain looking walls. Everything looked the 
same. There was nothing for him to use as reference to see if he was 
walking around in a circle or not. Why the hell did he walk off while 
waiting for those synchronization test to finish?
  "Well, I'm a guy, and I ain't gonna ask for directions," Ranma 
commented. He continued to walk around, accidentally bumping into a 
pretty girl this short brown hair.
  "Sorry," he gave a meek smile.
  "It's okay," she said. She regarded the handsome young man for a moment before 
asking, "Are you looking for someone?" When she noticed Ranma's civilian 
clothes, she asked, "Um, do you belong here? Do you have the proper 
authorization?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Authorizations? Probably not. I'm just 
walking around, um, exploring the joint,"
  Maya continued to regard the young man for a moment. She couldn't help but 
feel her heart racing a bit. He sure was good-looking. 
  "Well, without the proper authorization, you don't belong here. I'll escort 
you out," she said.
  "What kinda authorization do I need?" Ranma asked, "Wait. I think I do 
have authorization. Misato invited me. I'm here to help Nerv out,"
  "Help out?" Maya asked, "How?"
  "Well, after these synchro testings, I'm supposed to teach Shinji 
how to manipulate ki," Ranma said.
  "Well, the tests ended ten minutes ago. I was just coming from the 
testing labs," she said, "Misato and the others are still there. Um, are 
you Ranma?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep,"
  So this is Ranma, Maya said. She remembered Misato walking up to her 
and asking her if she had seen a man named Ranma. When Maya had asked 
who Ranma was, Misato had told her he was a very good looking man with 
black hair that was in a pig-tail.
  "Please, come with me," Maya said as she walked down the corridor. 
  Ranma followed her blindly.
  After a few minutes of walking, turning down several corners, she gestured 
toward a large steel door, "They're in there,"
  "Thanks," he gave her a smile as he walked past her and through the door.
  When Ranma entered the room, he saw Misato, Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and 
Ritsuko.
  "Oh, hello, Ritsuko," Ranma said with a smile. Misato turned and 
looked at the blond haired girl, a odd look on her face.
  "You two know each other?" Misato asked Ritsuko.
  Ritsuko replied, "We, um, bumped into each other last night,"
  Misato gave Ritsuko a wry smile, "Oh, really?"
  Ranma, totally oblivious to the staring between the females, turned 
toward Shinji, "All right, Shinji, when do ya wanna get started?"
  Misato turned away from Ritsuko and said, "Um, weren't you going to 
give us some demonstration? I mean, after that talk earlier, I thought 
you were going to show everyone while Ritsuko and I observe,"
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I plan on doing that, but, I figured since I'm 
going to be observed, I might as well teach Shinji also. You know, kill 
two birds with one stone,"
  Ritsuko shook her head, taking on a professional tone, "It's better if 
we just observe you by yourself,"
  "Huh? How come?"
  "Well, our computers won't have to observe two people at once," 
Ritsuko said, "It'll be better to concentrate just one you,"
  Ranma looked at Shinji, "Is that all right with you?"
  Shinji nodded.
  Ranma then turned toward Ritsuko, "All right, I guess I could give a 
demonstration. I would like to leave then,"
  "Leave? For where?" Ritsuko asked.
  Ranma sighed, "Don't worry about it. It's just that I plan on leaving 
after this. Anyway, let's get started,"

   Ranma took in a deep breath as he looked around the observation 
chamber. He was somewhere in Nerv Headquarters, within a heavily 
reinforced room that had been specifically build to contain an Angel in 
case one had ever been captured. The room was massive. It was virtually 
the size of a football field in length, width, as well as height. In the middle 
of the room was a cylinder several feet thick, about as tall at Ranma.
  "What do ya want me to do?" he called out.
  "Do whatever you want," Misato's voice entered. She and everyone else 
were in a tiny observation booth on the extreme end of the room, 
separated by ten feet of reinforced glass. Shinji watched intently as 
did Ritsuko and Misato. Rei watched stoically while Asuka, too, watched, 
but pretending not to be all that interested.
  "Like what?" he asked.
  "Anything," Misato said into the microphone, "We just want to observe 
your powerlevels and attempt to recreate it if possible. We need more 
studies on it. That's all. I know, throw those fireball thingies of 
yours,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right," 
  Without much effort, he extending his hand toward the object and shot a tiny 
ki-blast toward the cylinder, utterly destroying it, it melting into a 
puddle of melted steel. 
  "My god!!" Ritsuko said, looking at the sudden numbers that popped 
up on the screen, "How did he do that?! That cylinder is made of the same 
materials as the progressive knives!" She looked at the screen and her eyes 
creased, "Wow, the powerlevels are through the roof. The computers can't seem to 
get a real good reading, but all the energy seems to be emanating from within 
him,"
  Misato nodded, "Yes, that's what he mentioned to me, but exact how is 
what I'm curious about finding out,"
  Asuka humphed. She wasn't impressed at all. He was still an asshole. 
She would be able to wipe the floor with him if she was piloting Unit-
02.
  Shinji's eyes were wide open. God, how he wished he knew how to do 
something like that. With powers like that, who needed EVAs.
  Ranma watched as the floor below the cylinder opened up and the melted 
ooze disappearing below it. After a short moment. Another cylinder 
started to rise from the opening, the floor closing below it. 
  "Don't worry about the cylinders," Ritsuko said, "We have quite a few 
of those. Please, go on with your, um, testings. We'll continue to 
monitor and observe you,"
  "All right. What else would you like me to do?" 
  "Anything you like," Misato said, "You're free to experiment with 
whatever you like. We're just here to monitor and observe you, that's 
all. We're very interested in finding out exactly how you manage to 
generate and harness all that energy,"
  "It's all from within,"
  "I know," came Misato rather exasperated voice, "But we don't exactly 
know how it come from, as you say it, 'within'. Just continue on. 
We're here to watch. Oh, I know, use one of you strongest blasts. I'd 
like to know exactly how strong you are. I assume that last blast wasn't 
your strongest,"
  Ranma nodded, "No. It wasn't at all my strongest. As for my strongest 
blast, that would be my seppukku blast, and, well, frankly, no thank 
you. Let's just say this room is too small. Also, as you can tell by 
what I call it, I would most likely die if I tried it......even though I 
survived it throwing it three times already. Once when I was young, 
another when showing my friend Ryoga, and a third when I tried to stop 
this supercomputer from self-destructing,"
  "Hmph, perhaps he should try it. Perhaps we'll get lucky and he'll 
succeed in killing himself," Asuka muttered to herself, even though it 
was loud enough for everyone in the tiny observation room to hear.
  Misato said, "All right. All right. Don't show us your 'seppukku 
blast'. Show us something else, anything,"
  "Okay," Ranma said.
  Everyone watched eagerly as Ranma approached the cylinder.
  "I wonder what he's going to do," Shinji commented, more to himself than 
anyone else.
  When Ranma was close enough to the cylinder, he cocked an arm back and stuck 
it with an open palm. Everyone in the room gasped as they saw the cylinder go 
flying backwards through the air, seemingly moving as if totally parallel to the 
ground, where it crashed into one of the highly reinforced walls on the other 
end of the room.
  Ranma turned toward the window and smiled, "How's that?"
  "W-what the heck did you just do?" Misato said, shock in her voice, "How the 
heck did you send that thing flying like that?"
  "I just hit it, why?" he asked.
  "The thing weighs fifteen tons!" she said, "A shell from a tank can propel an 
object of that weigh that far and that fast,"
  Ranma shrugged again, "Fifteen tons? It felt lighter to me. But then again, 
considering I have been getting strong and stronger as time pass...."
  "Did you use your 'ki' when you did that attack?" Ritsuko voice filtered into 
the room.
  He shook his head, "No. It was one of my run-of-the-mill open palm strikes, 
why?"
  "I figured," she said, "The computer here gave off no readings of your 'ki',"
  "Oh, you want me to use 'ki' based attack?" Ranma asked, "I didn't realize 
that. Okay, no problem,"
  "Let's try this again," Ritsuko said, "This time, something ki-based,"
  She pressed a button on the control panel in front of her. The floor where the 
cylinder used to be opened up, another cylinder emerging.
  Ranma grinned, cracking his knuckles.
  "Okay," he said as he concentrated his ki, "I'll try something I've 
never done before," Although there was no nothing wrong with his old 
one, he felt it was about time he developed some new techniques. And now 
was probably the best time. Sure, he wished Cologne was there to help 
him develop some new moves, but since she had died many many years ago 
in the 'Nerima Massacre', he would have to learn new techniques on his 
own.
  He closed his eyes and concentrated his ki, his aura blazing. He 
wondered what kind of technique he should learn. Realizing that he had 
two forms of projectiles and one form of physical attack, he figured it 
was best to develop yet another physical attack.
  "Yeah, that's what I'll try and perfect," Ranma said confidently to 
himself, making a fist with one hand, "Some kinda super attack. Since my 
Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken deals with speed, I guess it's best to develop 
one that deal with sheer power,"
  Not wanting really knowing the extent of his powers, Ranma 
concentrated a fraction of his ki toward his right hand. Slowly, the 
blue aura surrounding his body started to subside as this red aura 
started to grow surrounding his clenched hand.
  "Cool!" Ranma commented, looking at his hand. 
  "What are you doing, Ranma?" Ritsuko's voice entered the vast room.
  "I dunno, I'm improvising," came the reply, "Cool, right? Anyway, I'm 
trying to develop some new move, that's all,"
  With his hand still glowing red, Ranma walked over to the cylinder. He 
wondered if he should shoot this ki from his fist or just punch away. 
Choosing to do the latter, Ranma cocked his hand backward and bent his 
knees, going into a low crouch, a perfect uppercutting position. 
  He then brought his fist upward and struck the cylinder. 
  The moment his fist hit the cylinder, this massive explosion erupted, 
enveloping Ranma in this perfect sphere of pure energy. 
  "Holy shit!!!" Misato shouted, looking out the window and catching sight of 
the blast as it engulfed Ranma and quickly began to expand at an 
extreme rate in every direction, "I-it's coming straight toward us!!!!"  
  She turned around and dove for cover, lunging right into Rei and 
knocking her out of the way as the glass exploded, spraying to room with 
shrapnel. Luckily for its occupants, almost everyone had responded quickly
enough to dive down toward the ground and take cover, none of the glass 
hitting them. 
  After a moment, when the smoke from the fire abated, everyone 
slowly got to their feet. Misato was the first one to peer out the now 
glassless window. Her eyes widened as she saw the entire massive room 
covered in a black soot from the energy that had struck its walls. Lying 
in the middle of this huge crater that had been crated in the middle of 
the room was Ranma, totally unmoving.
  "R-Ranma!!!"

  Ranma was hurt.
  Misato was by his bedside.
  "Ugh, what.....happened?" he asked, looking around.
  Misato was silent for several moments before she answered. It looked 
like there had been a lot on her mind, "Ranma, y-you're finally awake,"
  "H-how....long was I....out?"  
  "A long long time," Misato said with a slightly wavering voice, "We 
didn't know if you were going to wake up or not,"
  "How long?"
  "About a month,"
  "M-month?!" Ranma was shocked to hear how long he had been out.
  "Yes, three Angels have attacked while you were out. We managed to 
stop them, although barely," Misato said.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders a bit, "Oh well, I guess my wanting to 
leave after the demonstration fell through,"
  He smiled a bit as Misato chuckled.
  "Um, I was worried you weren't going to wake up," she said after a 
short moment.
  Ranma slowly sat upright. Every muscle in his body seemed to scream 
out in pain. He tried to smile, "How flattering, you were worried about 
me,"
  Misato blushed a bit. Even though he was badly hurt, he still managed 
to act like a jerk, "For your information, I was worried that you 
wouldn't wake up. That way, we wouldn't be able to learn about these 
power you possess,"
  Ranma smiled, although slightly, "I'm hurt that you would say something 
like that."
  Misato felt extremely guilty for saying something like that. She was 
about to apologize when all of a sudden, he burst out laughing, unable 
to hold himself back. He stopped laughing as surges of pain racked his 
body.
  "Serves you right," she scowled.
  Ranma took in a deep breath. Jeez, why was he still here? Instead of 
being in a hospital recuperating, he should be somewhere in China 
looking for the damn nanban mirror. But then again, he was never the 
type of person to walk away when others needed his help. It wasn't in 
his nature to be selfish. Arrogant, yes. Selfish, not really.
  All of a sudden, Asuka and Shinji and Rei entered the room.
  "Really, I don't see why we have to visit him!" Asuka said to Shinji, 
"I mean, he was the idiot who got himself hurt. He's the idiot, not us. 
We're not obligated to come and visit. Besides, why would I wanna visit 
some jerk like him anyway?" It was the same thing she constantly 
complained about every time she came here. When she noticed that Ranma 
was actually awake and looking at her, she stopped talking. She was 
positive he had heard what she had said about him.
  Ranma's brow creased a bit but then relaxed, "You came to visit me, 
Asuka?"
  Asuka responded, "Yeah, but, for your information, I came because I had 
to, not because I wanted to,"
  "How are you?" Shinji asked, "When did you wake up?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders a bit, "I'm all right I guess. I've been 
better. I woke up only a few minutes ago," 
  He then turned toward Asuka, "Hey, Asuka, I betcha I know why you came."
  "Fine, I'll humor you. Why?"
  "I betcha you had trouble sleeping at night, knowing that I was here," 
he said, "Did you actually sleep at home, or by my bedside, waiting for 
me to wake up. But then again, since you're a perverted little girl, I 
betcha you slip into my bed since I was unconscious and wouldn't know to 
difference,"
  "You're an asshole!!!!!"
  "So?"
  "Argh!!!" she shouted in frustration. She walked over to the vase full 
of roses, pulled out the roses, and tried to splash Ranma with the water 
inside.
  Ranma, smiling, said, "Seems like that vase only had plastic flowers, thus, no 
water,"
  Asuka gritted her teeth. He was making a total fool of her, "I wish 
you never came outta that coma. We would have all been better off!!!" 
Wanting to get away from such an asshole like Ranma, Asuka stormed out 
of the room, vowing that she would never come back, no matter what her 
superiors tell her.
  Ranma gazed at the door Asuka left through and said sarcastically, 
"What's with her?" 
  "Perhaps it was because you were treating her unkindly," Rei commented 
stoically.
  He looked at Rei for a moment and smiled, "Well, if she treated me 
nicely, without insulting me....." He left the rest off, letting the 
group finish the sentence for him.
  Misato, finally unable to contain herself, burst out laughing, "God, 
ha ha, that was funny. It's always amusing watching you two butt heads 
with each other!" 
  Shinji was the only one to change the subject. 
  He asked, "What happened? I remember seeing you hit that cylinder with that 
glowing hand and all of a sudden, I was diving for cover,"
  Ranma said weakly, "I dunno. I was tryin' to develop a new technique. 
I guess it backfired. It was way too strong for me,"
  Ritsuko entered the room. When she noticed Ranma look up at her, she 
became extremely self aware of herself. She looked at him and said, "Um, 
h-how do you feel?"
  "All right, I guess," Ranma said. 
  A silent moment ensued.
  Ranma, not wanting to stay in the bed anymore, got up and out, "I 
ain't staying here anymore,"
  As soon as he stepped off his bed, the bed sheets fell to his feet. He 
looked down and noticed he was stark naked. He looked up at Misato, and 
then at Ritsuko. It didn't worry him. They were all adults, surely, 
Misato and Ritsuko had seen a naked man. Having Shinji in there didn't 
matter because Shinji was also a guy. But when Ranma's eyes rested on 
the young blue haired girl, he panicked, "Oh shit!" 
  He quickly scurried back under the bed sheets.
  "Sorry you had to see that," Ranma apologized, "I forgot you were in 
here," He hoped he didn't scar the little girl for life. At her age, she 
should be seeing the world, not a naked man.
  "It doesn't bother me," Rei said stoically. She wasn't even blushing. 
Ritsuko and Misato, on the other hand, were both blushing beet red. For 
some reason, both of them would be having trouble sleeping tonight and 
probably many nights to come.
  Ranma, realizing that Rei was actually telling the truth, shrugged his 
shoulders. Figuring he was in luck to be in the presence of people 
unbothered by his lack of modesty, Ranma got back up, wrapping the 
bed sheet around his waist, his upper body exposed for everyone to see. 
  "Um, why am I naked?" Ranma asked to no one in particular.
  "Well, it's so you don't go running off like ya did that other time," 
Misato said, "You remember, you busted out of the room, stormed into the 
room we were in, and then just up and left us,"
  "Oh. I guess that could work," he said. He walked out of the room, 
bed sheets dragging on the ground. Outside in the corridor, several 
nurses stopped dead in their track at the sight of a half naked Ranma. 
One of them accidentally dropped her syringe.
  Ranma walked up to on of them, "Um, excuse me. I would like to know 
where my clothes are,"
  "Ranma! Get back in here!" Misato shouted from Ranma's hospital room. 
It looked like she was scared to actually follow after Ranma into the 
open where everyone was.
  Asuka, who had been at the end of the hallway, sitting sulkily in a 
chair, looked up and saw Ranma talking to a nurse, "What the?"
  Ranma, a bit exasperated, turned toward the nurse, "Well, where are my 
clothes?"
  The nurse, her eyes glassy, pointed numbly toward a cubby behind a 
counter. Ranma walked over to it and took out his clothes. He looked 
around for a restroom. Finding one, he walked over to it and went in it. 
  After a short moment, he emerged, fully dressed.
  He gave Asuka a wry smile, "Um, Asuka, you can close your mouth now,"
  Asuka closed her mouth, embarrassed to death when she realized she had 
just been caught staring at Ranma.
  Ranma walked over to the room everyone was in an looked in, "Um, well 
guys, this is where I say goodbye,"
  "G-goodbye? What the hell are you talking about?" Misato said.
  "I'm gonna leave," Ranma said, "What else? I mean, I already 
demonstrated for you. Dontcha have the info ya need to do it?"
  Ritsuko shook her head, "No. Not at all. After that demonstration, we 
only found out how little we know about recreating this ki thing you've 
been telling us about,"
  At that moment, Misato's pager went off. 
  "Shit!" she said, "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
  Ranma looked at Misato curiously. It was kind of funny how someone so 
beautiful could swear so unlady-like, "What's wrong?" he asked.
  Misato, ignoring Ranma, turned toward the children, "Guys, get ready! 
Another Angel's on its way! We've gotta prepare!" She turned toward 
Ranma "Ranma, I don't wanna beg, but we need your help. It's no wonder 
we managed to defeat that Angel with damaged EVAs, but our EVAs are 
still not fully repaired. Please, stay and help out...."
  Ranma nodded, not even having to think, "Sure. Of course I'll stay and 
Help,"
  
  Ranma was standing on the highest building in all of Tokyo-3. From his 
vantage point, it looked like he could see all the way to the ends of 
the world in every direction. He was wearing a headset, which consisted of
earphones with a tiny communicator extending from forward in front of 
his mouth.
  "What do I do, just wait here?" Ranma said.
  He heard Misato's voice, "Just wait there. The Angel's expected to 
arrive in a minute or so. Be prepared,"
  "All right," he replied back. He looked around and saw three EVAs 
standing within the city limits. He knew the Angel was going to land by 
the city outskirts, the EVAs waiting patiently to ambush it. There, he 
saw this huge sphere of white light hovering in midair a hundred or so 
feet above a lone mountain top.
  "Is that it?" Ranma said, "Is that light over there how the Angel's 
gonna arrive?"
  "We don't really know," Misato said, "Every Angel's different in 
many ways. Each one is very unique in how they look and fight, and also, 
how they arrive,"
  All of a sudden, the white sphere shattered outward in every 
direction, leaving behind what seemed like an Angel.
  Ranma squinted his eyes and looked at the Angel, 
  "No way!!!"

  Ryoga looked down and noticed he was well above the terra firma. His 
face faulted as he realized gravity was bound to take place. When it 
did, he screamed.
  "Argh!!!!" he shouted, flailing his arms as if he was trying to flap 
them fast enough to fly. As he fell downward at a blinding speed, Ryoga 
realized something, "Wait a minute, what do I have to be worried about? 
I can easily land on my feet," 
  He remembered being able to land skillfully and safely from heights well 
beyond this one. He remembered jumping from a cliff a mile high and 
landing perfectly fine, not even disturbing the ground upon where he 
landed, when he and Ranma and Akane finally went back to Japan many 
years after the downfall of Genom.
  As the winds ripped by him as he rocketed toward the ground, Ryoga 
realized he was supposed to be holding something. 
  "Oh no, where's the mirror?!?" he looked around. He remembered he 
had been holding a mirror a second ago. He spotted the mirror falling 
toward the ground several yards away from him, the ground rushing toward 
him at an extreme rate.
  Knowing that he needed that mirror to get back, Ryoga angled his body 
straight toward the mirror, hoping he would be able to reach it in time. 
  Unfortunately, he was too late. The second his hands barely touched 
the mirror, he collided right into the ground. The sheer impact of him 
hitting the ground was so powerful that a small crater was created. 
Although Ryoga would be only slightly bruised from the impact, he 
realized it was too late as the mirror, slipping through his fingers and 
hitting the ground, shattered.
  Ryoga stared at the now broken mirror, its remnants scattered about.
  It took several long minutes before he realized what had just 
happened.
  His aura flared as he looked up at the sky.
  "No!!!!!"
  
  Ranma shielded his eyes as he saw a massive column of light and energy 
shoot straight up toward the sky.
  "Holy shit! What the hell is that?!?!?" she heard Misato's voice, "Our 
power scales are going through the roof!!!! Shit!!! One of the scanners 
just exploded!!!"
  Ranma winced as a pain shot through his temple. He should have turned 
the volume down.
  He said, "Don't worry. It's nothing much to worry about,"
  "Not much?! What's going on out there?! Out scanners are blowing up 
one right after another!" came Misato's panic-stricken voice, "Maya, get 
the fire extinguisher! Anyway, Ranma, what's going on out there, we 
can't see anything on the viewscreen,"
  "Don't worry 'bout it," Ranma said, "It's only Ryoga,"
  "Ryoga?" he heard Shinji voice. He and the others had a constant 
communications line open so everyone could talk to and hear one another.
  "He's my.....enemy," Ranma said, almost smirking.
  "Your enemy?!" everyone said in unison.
  Ranma ignored the barrage of questions. Wanting to have his fun, he 
shot a massive ki blast right at the mountain Ryoga had landed on, his 
aim precise. What better way to get Ryoga's attention than to hit him 
upside the head with a ki-blast.
  A good portion of the mountain was engulfed in a massive explosion. 
When it subsided, the top part of the mountain was simply gone, like a 
knife that had been cut right through it, removing a portion of it.
  Ranma's eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. He had no idea one of 
his ki-blasts could do something like that. He wasn't even trying. He 
knew his ki-blasts were strong, but not that strong. 
  "Hm, perhaps having thrown a few of 'em over the days made me 
stronger," was all Ranma could come up with as he spoke to himself. For 
a moment, he felt a bit worried that he could have hurt Ryoga. But his 
guilt disappeared as he saw an equally massive ki-blast shot from the 
subsiding explosion, rocketing straight toward the building Ranma was 
on.
  "That's gonna hurt," Ranma commented, his eyes widening.
  Knowing that he didn't have enough time to simply jump out of the way, 
Ranma brought both hands forward and crossed it in front of himself and 
absorbed the full force of the ki-blast. The entire top half of the 
building was consumed in the explosion that ensued, Ranma caught in the 
blast.
  When the blast subsided, Ranma was somewhat bruised, his clothes 
singed. He looked around at what remained of the building and then 
snickered.
  "Ranma!!! Are you there?!?" he heard Misato's voice, startling him. He 
was surprised that the headset was still functioning after such a blast. 
"What was that massive surge of energy we saw hit the building you were 
on?!"
  He replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, it was just Ryoga's ki-blast," He 
brushed of some debris left behind from the damaged building.
  "Don't worry, it's just Ryoga,"
  
  "What're you doin' here?" Ranma asked Ryoga.
  He and Ryoga and others were now both standing on the top of the mountain 
Ranma had almost blown up. Ranma and Asuka and Misato had been 
helicoptered in. Asuka, Rei, and Shinji were still in their EVA's, 
standing a short ways down the mountain.
  Ryoga looked at Ranma, an obvious look of contempt in his eyes. It was 
obvious Ryoga didn't appreciate having a ki-blast hit him in his back. 
"I oughta kill you right here for what you did to me earlier!" he said, 
his fangs showing. One of his hands was slowly starting to glow as he 
subconsciously built up his ki into another projectile, most likely 
intended for Ranma.
  Ranma smirked, "Keep your pants on. How else was I supposed to get 
your attention, huh? Also, what the hell brings you here?"
  Ryoga calmed down a bit, "Well, as much as I hate to, I came here to 
bring you back home,"
  Ranma's eyes lit up, "R-really? You're kidding me, right?"
  "Hmph," Ryoga spat, "I wish I was. For all I care about, you could stay 
here, where ever here is, and die. I came here to bring you back because 
Akane asked me to. Don't you dare think I would bring you back because I 
wanted to. I'm bringing ya back because I care so much about Akane that 
I would do anything for her, even bring you back with me, as much as I 
hate you,"
  Ranma smirked, "That's good to hear. It wouldn't feel right that you 
would actually worry about me. After all, we're enemies,"
  "Of course we are!"
  "So....how did you get here?" Ranma asked, not at all bothered by this slight 
aura still glowing around Ryoga. Misato and Ritsuko, on the other hand, were 
deathly silent. They were almost scared to move. This Ryoga guy sure looked very 
very angry and probably on the edge of going ballistic on Ranma.
  Ryoga waved a hand toward what remained of the mirror that had broken earlier, 
"I used the nanban mirror to get here. Unfortunately, as you can see, that's 
what remains of it...."
  "What?!" Ranma said, his eyes widening, "B-b-but it's in pieces. H-how are we 
gonna get back?"
  Ryoga, realizing something, sneered and bared his fangs and said, "It 
was in good condition until after I get hit in the back by someone's ki-
blast!" 
  He wanted a good reason to beat Ranma up. Of course, hating him was good 
enough reason to blindly hurt him, but this seemed more reasonable.
  What Ranma said and did was totally unexpected on Ryoga's part.
  "Well then, it's all your fault! If you were half the man you were, 
you would've blocked that blast and not let the thing get destroyed!" 
Ranma said evilly, bringing a foot forward and kicking Ryoga right in the 
chest.
  Ryoga was sent flying backwards bodily, slamming into Unit-01's 
chest, the force of the impact nearly knocking the EVA off its feet. He 
slid off the EVA's chest and fell to the ground far below.
  Shinji had struggle with the controls to keep Unit-01 afoot. "What 
the?"
  Ryoga got up to his feet, glowing red with rage.
  "Die!!!!!!"
  Ryoga leapt up into the air, up toward Unit-01's chest, propelling of 
it and triangle jumping back up to the top of the mountain. The force of 
Ryoga propelling off the EVA's chest caused it to fall backwards, slowly 
sliding down the mountain while on its back.
  "Damn!!!" Shinji shouted, trying his best to get his EVA to get back 
up onto its feet, much to no avail. He continued to slide down until he 
came to a halt at the foot of the mountains.
  Ryoga landed back on the top of the mountain, several feet from Ranma. 
With his aura flaring, Ryoga charged Ranma.
  Ranma, unperturbed, held out a quick hand, "Stop!"
  Ryoga came to skidding halt, "What?!"
  Ranma jerked a finger over his shoulder toward Misato and Ritsuko. 
  They were both staring at Ryoga. 
  "I don't suggest us fighting because one wrong move, like a simple ki-blast, 
would get them both killed,"
  "Fine, I won't use one of those!" Ryoga spat. He then cocked his arm 
back and punched Ranma with such great force that it sent him sprawling 
backwards down the mountain side.
  "W-w-what's wrong with these guys?" Misato muttered, still staring.
  Ryoga seemed to calm down a bit, glad to have hit Ranma back for what 
he had done to him a second ago. He looked over at Misato and Ritsuko 
and noticed them staring.
  Blushing a little bit since he felt like he was under the scrutiny of 
those two females Ryoga said, "Um, I-I'm Ryoga. Ryoga Hibiki,"
  "And I'm shocked," Misato commented. She snapped out of her staring 
when she saw Ranma climbing back up onto the flat plateau they were on.
  "Hey, Ryoga," Ranma said, "So, how do you expect we get back?"
  Ryoga turned his attention toward Ranma and said, "I dunno. The only 
way back that I know of was through the use of that mirror....which was 
destroyed,"
  Ranma smiled weakly but then realized something, "Hey, how did you 
manage to get here? I mean, where didja get the mirror? Didn't it break 
or something?"
  "Well, it turns out that all you could still use it, even if it was 
broken," Ryoga responded, "Akane and I were in a museum when we saw the 
mirror. The mirror was one of the things actually recovered somewhat 
intact after the 'Nerima Massacre'. And, well, we stole it, and I used 
it to get here,"
  "Then perhaps we could use it to get back," Ranma said, a bit 
optimistic.
  Ryoga spat back, "Look at it! It's destroyed! How do you expect us to 
put it back together? I betcha we won't be able to find half of its 
remains! And it's all your fault!"
  Ranma took a cautious step back, "Now now, Ryoga. Um, it was an 
accident. I didn't know,"
  "Hmph," Ryoga said, acting forgiving, "Well, what's done is done. 
There's no way we could salvage it so we might as well try and come up 
with something to getting back home. Akane's gonna get worried,"
  Ranma said, "Well, we're not in hot water, not yet. We could always 
visit the Ama