Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong


Neon Genesis Evangelion\Ranma 1\2: Just won't die 4


      The busy busy city of Tokyo was dead quiet that afternoon. No one 
roamed the street, fearing what Misato had prophetized, that a monster 
called an Angel will attack this city in a very short while. As a 
necessary precaution, the entire city had been evacuated in anticipation 
of this attack.
  "Today at 12:30, a state of special emergency has been declared within 
Kanto and Chubu districts, around Tokai district. Please take refuge in 
the designated shelters. Repeat... Today-" could be heard echoing 
throughout the quiet city.
  From inside the control room of a secret military base located within 
a nearby mountain, Gendo looked at the view screen, "We're going to look 
like fools if these Angels don't attack us like you said," he said.
  Misato stood next to him. She was looking at the screen also, "I know 
we will. But what can we do? If we don't take this precation thousands 
could die if this Angel I have been told about attacks,"
  Gendo turned his attention onto Misato for a moment. He wondered 
exactly who this Ranma guy Misato had told him about so many years ago, 
wondered how this Ranma guy knew about the world's impending future.
  Gendo's wife, Yui, entered the room. She stood by Gendo's side, 
watching the screen as it panned over the outskirts of the city. "It 
would have been nice to have known from which direction this so called 
Angel was going to appear." She commented.
  A brown haired Ritsuko and her mother was in the room too. Ritsuko was 
eager to see her Evangelions in action after all the work she had done. 
Her mother, Naoko, was eager to see her supercomputer, MAGI, at work.
  Maya, a new recruit yet very intelligent addition to the Nerv family, 
was the computer operator. She said, "We have a strange energy detection 
three miles east by noth east from here, pattern blue. I think this is 
the Angel we've been waiting for,"
  Misato didn't really know whether to shout in happiness that there was 
an Angel attacking like prophetize or to be afraid, wondering what the 
string of events would soon occur like that young man had told her.
  "Send Unit-00 and Unit-01 to intercept," Gendo said.   
 Within the massive mountain base were three EVA units on standby, all 
three pilots ready for what they had been training for all these years. 
  Hikari was in her EVA, Unit-00, very nervous. She didn't really want 
to be an EVA pilot but she was chosen to be one anyway.
  "Hikari, prepare to launch," she heard Misato's voice.
  "I-it's here? The Angel? It showed up like you predicted?"
  Misato replied, "Yes. You and Toji will be going out to stop that 
Angel,"
  She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "All right,"
  Inside Unit-01, Toji shouted, "All right! It's about time I put all 
that training crap I went through to good use. Send me out, Misato-san! 
I'm gonna bust this Angel wide open," He wanted something to tell his 
classmates. He wanted to tell that bratty Asuka how well he did so he 
could wipe that annoying condescending look of her face. "Jeez, what 
makes her think she could be a better pilot than me, constantly 
criticizing me like that," he muttered to himself.
  "Hey, Misato-san, how come I can't go up there?" Kensuke's voice 
entered could be heard as it echoed through the com channels. "I want a 
piece of the action too,"
  Gendo smirked, "Hm, the two boys seem to be eager about this upcoming 
battle,"
  Yui leaned forward and said into the microphone, "Because you're 
needed as backup, Kensuke-chan, in case Toji or Hikari have trouble,"
  "How the hell are we gonna have trouble?" Toji replied, "This damn 
unit I'm piloting is incredibly powerful. It's like a walking god,"
  "Yes," Ritsuko said, "It exceeds both Hikari and Kensuke's EVAs by 
extreme amounts, but that's still no reason to get cocky about it,"
  "Yes, ma'am," came the reply.
  Ritsuko chuckled a bit. She turned toward her mother, "You hear that? 
He called me ma'am. God, I feel old,"
  "You? I'm your mother. Guess how old that should make me feel?"
  Both girls laughed a bit but quickly stopped when they saw the others 
staring. 
  Maya said, "Everything is within normal parameters. They're ready for 
launch,"
  Gendo nodded,
  "Launch,"

  Both unit's appeared near the outskirts of the city, ready to 
intercept. There were only several building located throughout the Tokyo 
that were used as exit point from Nerv. It had taken many many years to 
build interweaving tunnels below Tokyo for this to be able to happen.
  "Toji, you go in for close combat," came Misato's orders, "Hikari, go 
to armament building two and get ready to pick it off from a distance in 
case Toji has any trouble,"
  "Hai," both kids said in unison.
  The Angel progressed its way toward the city, intent of getting to 
Nerv Headquarters. Unfortunately, it had a city blocking its path. Toji 
emerged by the outskirts of the city just as the Angel neared the first 
building.
  Toji ran forward and blocked the Angel's path.
  "That's as far as you go, buddy," he said with a sneer. His entire 
body was coursing with adrenaline. Although his EVA was incredibly 
powerful, he still had something to be nervous about. Afterall, his EVA 
was also very unstable. It had gone beserk once during a testing and 
proceeded to rip its own armor off for no apparent reason.
  The Angel extended a hand forward quickly and grabbed Unit-01 by one 
of its arms before Toji had a chance to react. An instant later, he 
found himself being lifted into the air and slammed down into the 
ground, hard, on his back. 
  Toji shook the cobwebs from his head. "All right, now it's my turn," 
he smirked.
  Unit-01 got back onto its feet and reached an arm out and grabbed what 
looked like the face portion of the Angel. It tightened its grip and 
lifted the Angel off the ground, slamming it down on the ground several 
times and then almost effortlessly throwing it a good quarter of a mile 
right into the mountains that was behind the Angel.
  Toji maneuvered Unit-01 ontop of the Angel where it proceeded to rain 
down punches on its weird looking face. "Take that and that and that!" 
Wanting to finish the Angel off once and for all, he made Unit-01 cock 
its arm way back, sending it forward right into the Angel. 
  The impact of Unit-01's fist hitting into the Angel was so powerful 
that the mountain the Angel had been lying against collapsed from 
underneath them.
  "Goddamnit! How the hell did it just do that?" Misato asked, her eyes 
wide. She never realized Unit-01 could generate so much power behind a 
single punch. 
  The Angel was still alive. It managed to push Unit-01 off and get back 
onto its feet.
  "You want more, eh?" Toji said with a smile. He was actually enjoying 
this. But then again, he knew the Angel was no match for his EVA. Unit-
01 was just way too powerful. 
  The Angel stood still for a moment Toji just watched, wondering what 
it was doing, waiting for it to attack. When he realized that the Angel 
was regenerating the damage it had sustained, he rushed toward it to 
punch it but had his extended arm grabbed and was propelled through the 
air, sliding to a halt several hundred meters away from the Angel.
  Toji swore to himself as Unit-01 got back up.
  The Angel proceeded toward the city. From out of nowhere, a massive 
beam of energy shot forward from nearby, striking the Angel. This 
massive red barrier appeared in front of it, rippling like water as the 
energy was absorbed.
  "The Angel has an AT field," Maya said, "Hikari's weapon is useless 
against it,"
  "Fine, proceed to close combat," Gendo said, "You must stop that Angel 
before it reaches the city and starts destroying buildings,"
  "All right," Maya said. 
  She relayed the message to Hikari and Toji.
  Unit-01, knowing his sole objective, rushed forward and grabbed the 
Angel from behind, hoisting it into the air and slamming it back down on 
the ground. Once on the ground, Unit-01 once again mounted the Angel and 
proceeded to constantly rain down punches, this time, not pausing once 
for a second. After a short moment, he pulled out his progressive knife 
and stabbed it right into the Angel's face.
  It let out this roar of pain as Toji continued to stab the Angel 
repeatedly.
  After several moments, the Angel, knowing that it has been defeated, 
reached its arms up and grabbed Unit-01, and then self-destructed.
 The explosion engulfed Unit-01 entirely.
 Everyone stared at the screen, "Toji!" they all shouted.
 When the explosion subsided, Unit-01 stood in the middle of the newly 
formed crater, totally unscathed.
  "God, Ritsuko, how did you manage to create such a monstrosity...." 
Misato said softly.

  Ritsuko sighed. She wasn't getting through to Misato. The both of them 
were at a restaurant.
  "After seeing Unit-01 in action today, can you explain it, in more 
simpler terms, how it seemed to pretty much overpower the Angel in every 
way shape and form?" Misato asked, a can of beer in her hand. "C'mon, 
you can tell me. The first EVA unit was only a prototype, only slightly 
derived from the remains of that....thing my father found in Antarctica. 
The third EVA is obviously derived from it also, except it's heavily 
derived from it. Now, with the second unit, what did you derive it from? 
It's obvious that it isn't derived from the same thing my father found. 
So what is it?"
  Ritsuko shook her head, "I'm sorry. That information is confidential. 
I can't tell you."
  "I don't know why it has to be that way. I mean, we've known each 
other for years," Misato said, a bit annoyed, "It's all a puzzle to me. 
After seeing Unit-01 fight it reminded me of this man I saw fifteen 
years ago, when I was a little girl."
  "You mean `Ranma'?"
  Misato nodded. 
  "I don't undestant why you always bring that person up?" Ritsuko's 
eyes creased a bit, "Why do you keep mentioning this `Ranma' person? Who 
is he? All I know was what you had told me. That he was some kind of 
prophet that stopped this thing called the Second Impact, whatever it 
is, and told you when the first Angel was going to attack."
  "Look, for fifteen years, we have prepared for the Angel's attack," 
Misato said, taking a sip of her beer first, "Now that it attacked, 
which was as predicted, it leads me to wonder what we've been all 
worried about. I mean, with Unit-01, I'm pretty sure we won't have much 
to worry about. Toji only got knocked off his feet because he never 
really used his EVA in hand to hand combat before. Which, back to the 
subject, leads me to ask on exactly why that EVA unit is so goddamn 
powerful?"
  "I told you already," Ritsuko said, her voice louder than usual, "I 
can't tell you. It's confidential."
  "You do know that if I probe around, I can find out for myself," 
Misato said with a wry grin, "I mean, I have my ways."

  Ranma opened his eyes, unable to discern his surroundings for several 
moments. After sitting upright and looking around, he realized his was 
in a tiny room. At the front of the room, there was a mirror.
  He smirked. This sure looked familiar. 
  Misato, Ritsuko, Yui, Naoko, and Gendo were behind the one way mirror.
  "I'm telling you, that's that `Ranma' fellow I saw fifteen years ago!" 
Misato said.
  "Yeah, but where did he come from?" Ritsuko asked. "I mean, after that 
forteenth Angel attack and Unit-01's synch ratio jumped all the way up 
to four hundred and Toji was supposedly absorbed into the LCL, and when 
he somehow reappeared, this man came out of the EVA unit along with him. 
He couldn't have magically reappeared out of nowhere,"
  "Are you sure this is the man that told you about the first Angel's 
attack?" Naoko asked, standing close to the mirror. "You said you saw 
him fifteen years ago and that he was somewhere in this twenties. Well, 
how come he still looks like he's in his twenties?"
  "I don't know if he necessarily is that `Ranma' guy. But I'm positive 
he looks exactly like him," Misato commented.
  "God, this is all so strange," Yui commented, "We went several months, 
repelling Angel after Angel with little or no trouble, and then one day, 
this man appears. And if this is the man is the man Misato said she had 
seen so long ago, he should be forty nearing fifty"
  Ritsuko made no comment. She continued to stare at the man before her. 
She had pretty much remained silent the whole time, ever since Misato 
had said the man was `Ranma'. She was deep in thought the whole time.
  "What is he doing?" Naoko asked.
  Everyone stopped their talking to watch Ranma.
  Ranma stepped out of his bed and immediately realized he had been 
naked underneathe the covers. Now he was without covers and standing 
totally naked in the middle of the room.
  "I have to admit. That man sure has a great physique," Misato 
commented, almost blushing a bit.
  "He sure does," Yui agreed.
  "Yui, what are you staring at? Turn around," Gendo said to his wife.
  Yui turned toward her husband and smirked. "Why? I believe the human 
body is a beautiful thing,"
  Gendo was silent. 
  Ranma walked back to the bed and picked the bedsheets, wrapping it 
around his waist. He then turned toward the mirror and said, "I'd 
appreciate it if you guys give me my clothes back,"
  "You had no clothes to begin with," an unfamiliar voice filtered into 
the room.
  "All right. Then get me some. I like wearing chinese clothing. A red 
shirt and black pants to be more precise," he said.
  Yui replied, "That doesn't seem like an unreasonable request,"
  "I don't recognize your voice," Ranma said, "What's your name?"
  "What's yours?"
  "My name is Ranma Saotome,"
  Misato turned toward everyone, "You see, I was sure it was him."
  "That doesn't matter," Gendo said, always the cautious one of the 
group, "He could have been sent here as a spy to keep tabs on us. How he 
got into the EVA unit has yet to be determined."
 "My name is Yui Ikari," she said into the microphone, replying to 
Ranma.
  "Yui Ikari, I recognize that name. You're Gendo's wife. And Shinji's 
mother," he said. He remembered Shinji had mentioned something about his 
family and brought up his mother. 
  Yui was shocked by Ranma's comment. She looked at Gendo, who was 
staring at Ranma curiously. "H-how did you know that?" she asked, this 
lump in her throat. She had no idea who this man was yet he knew who she 
and her husband were.
  Ranma was silent for a moment. Because he was hearing Yui's voice, 
assuming that she was telling the truth, then that must mean he was in 
some kind of alternate universe. "Oh. I get it. I'm still on this world. 
I never went back home. That explains it." he said to himself. But then 
he also realized something. "Asuka! W-where is she? What happened to 
her?"
  "Asuka? Who's that?" Ritsuko asked.
  "Asuka Langley! Where is she?" he said, his heart beating rapidly. 
  Misato spoke, "Asuka Langley? I know her. Why?"
  "Is she all right?"
  "Yes. She's fine. Why do you ask?"
  Ranma sighed in relief, "Good. That's good to hear." He sat down on 
the bed, allowing himself to calm back down. He was scared that 
something bad had happened to Asuka. Afterall, she had been with him 
when they attacked Adam and destroyed him. 
  "I heard you say alternate world," Gendo's voice filtered into the 
room through a speaker, "Exactly what alternate world are you talking 
about?"
  Ranma's eyes narrowed, "Well well well, if it isn't the dick, 
Gendo...."
  Gendo was taken aback. "W-what?"
  "You heard me," Ranma replied acidly.
  Yui looked at her husband, "What is he talking about? Do you know 
Ranma?"
  "I have no idea. I'm serious!" Gendo said, putting his hands in front 
of him "I've never seen this man in my life. I don't know why he 
dislikes me,"
  "Because you shot Shinji, I should kill you before you get the chance. 
But you're lucky because I value human life very much and would never 
take a life in cold blood," Ranma said, walking up to the mirror. Even 
though it was a one way mirror, he could see through it. He was looking 
right at Gendo.
  "What?! Y-you shot Shinji?!" Yui shouted, anger rising.
  "I never shot him! I swear! I have no idea who this man is, let alone 
what this man is talking abou!" Gendo quickly replied, getting out of 
his seat and taking a cautious step back. 
  Ranma soon realized something. Waitaminute, he thought. If this is 
some alternate universe, then Gendo could be a totally different person. 
I mean, his wife is alive and well. Afterall, Gendo turned cold and 
heartless because his wife had died. Perhaps he's a different person in 
this world. Hm, perhaps I should say something to undo the damage.
  Ranma said the first thing that came to his mind.
  "Just kidding,"
  
  "No, you're the bad guy," Ranma told Gendo, "You shot Shinji, but 
Shinji shot you back and killed you,"
  "But where did Shinji get the gun?" Misato asked. She and the others 
were in Gendo's office, all of them seated around his desk. Ranma had 
even made a comment that the Gendo he knew made people stand.
  "He got it from you after you were shot by Gendo also," he answered 
her. "I came back to Nerv and found it being attacked by what I was 
later told as the EVA units five through....hm, I forgot how many. I 
think it was to thirteen."
  "We produced thirteen EVA units?!" Ritsuko asked. 
  Ranma shook his head, "Nope. Some other place built it and Seele, 
they're the bad guys, they sent them here to kill everyone,"
  Gendo's lips persed. How did Ranma know about the secret organization 
Seele? Or perhaps he was sent here by them as a spy. Of course, it was 
still unexplained on exactly how Ranma ended up inside Unit-01 in the 
first place.
  "I remember fighting this weird guy with these looking odd glasses 
downstairs in front of that Angel you.....I mean they kept downstairs," 
Ranma continued, spouting everything he knew. "What was his name? Starts 
with an `L' if I recall correctly. And that Angel was named Lilith."
  Yui gave Gendo a pensive look. Ranma sure knew a lot about Nerv and 
Seele yet no one knew a single thing about him, except that he was 
human. When he had appeared unconsious, several tests were taken and he 
checked out as human, but that was it. There was no information on who 
he was. Perhaps all his records had been erased.
  "H-how is this world different from the world you're from?" Gendo 
asked, humoring the man. He knew that man was lying. There was no such 
things as different worlds and people traveling between them. He was 
hoping Ranma would slip up somewhere.
  "It's pretty different," he said, thinking for a moment. "I'm trying 
to recall all of this from memory. I was told the entire story a while 
back but can't remember all the details. Anyway, Yui, you're dead. So 
are you, Naoko. Lettme see, Yui disappeared during an EVA sychronization 
test. Naoko, you commited suicide after you killed Rei,"
  "What?! S-she killed our daughter?!" Yui gasped.
  Ranma looked at Yui for a moment. "Y-you have a daughter?"
  "Why did she kill Rei?" Gendo asked.
  "Hold up, I'm confused here. You and Yui have a daughter named Rei?" 
he asked.
  Yui nodded, "Yes, what does that have to do with it? It still doesn't 
explain why she killed our daughter,"
  Ranma held his hands up, "Ikari-san, what are you getting angry? This 
all happened in a different world. Like I said before, it's different 
here. Besides, the Rei that Naoko killed was called Rei Ayanami,"
  "Ayanami? I've never heard of her," Naoko said.
  "Of course not, that's because Gendo made a clone of her shortly after 
his wife died," he told her. "And I must say, there is quite a 
resemblence.The only difference was that she had blue hair,"
  Yui turned toward Gendo and glared at him. 
  "Honey, I didn't do those such things!" he said defensively. "Can't 
you see this man is lying?"
  Ranma smirked a bit, "So you don't believe me, Gendo?
  "Honey, please, calm down," Gendo said to his wife. He then turned 
toward Ranma and his eyes narrowed, "I don't appreciate how you refer to 
me as Gendo. I am your elder and should be given the proper respect," He 
needed to at least get some control over things. He would have to start 
off first with Ranma. After that, he would have to calm Yui down.
  Ranma smirked, "Are you sure you're older than me?"
  "How old are you?" Misato said, "I'd say around twenty or so,"
  "I have no idea," he said, "I'm probably somewhere around eighty by 
now. I mean, fifteen years just disappeared for me. I was on Antarctica 
fifteen years ago, and now, here I am. I was around sixty when I was on 
Antarctica. So that would make me nearing eighty by now."
  "You're shitting me," Misato said. She wondered whether or not she 
should be envious of a man capable of looking so young at such and age, 
or disgusted that she found such an old man incredibly attractive. It 
was best she made no mention of either one.
  "Nope. I ain't. Anyway, back onto the subject, Gendo," he smirked, "I 
ain't lying. Everything I'm telling you about is the truth. Lettme ask 
you a question. How much different is this world from the world I'm 
describing? In the other world, there was a secret committee called 
Seele. The leader of the committee had a name that started with an `L' 
and weird glasses. There was an Angel located under Nerv Headquarters. I 
was later told that that Angel was held in place on the cross by this 
weapon called a Spear of Longius. There was this thing called a Human 
Complement Poject which was supposed to evolve human to a higher 
lifeform. The Evangelions were derived from Angels and the armor on `em 
prevented them from growing, not as a form of protection. Those are some 
of the things I recall having seen or heard. How far off am I? Is this 
world any similar to the one I was on?"
  Everyone was silent. 
  The tension that filled the room was broken when Ranma's stomach 
growled. "Is there anything to eat?" He got up to leave.
  "Hold up," Gendo said, "How do you know so much? Who told you?"
  "Who? Lettme see, Misato, Shinji, Ritsuko, Rei, and Asuka, from that 
world, they all told me," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
  "You mean we've met before?" Ritsuko asked.
  "I wouldn't necessarily say just that," Ranma said, "But I do know 
about you from your other self. And, since this world isn't very much 
different from the other one, I know a good deal about you. For 
instance, one thing I found out the hard way, when we began living 
together, was that you collected cat crap....um, wrong choice of words. 
I meant you collected cat stuff, or anything pertaining to cats,"
  Misato was the first to finally get it. "T-this is all starting to 
make sense,"
  "Oh?" Gendo said, looking at Misato curiously.
  "I've met you before, Ranma, when I was young," she said.
  Ranma nodded.
  "I remember you saying that you knew me," she continued, "You said you 
were there to prevent a thing called the Second Impact, and I assume you 
did because the entire continent didn't melt nor did billions die."
  "Yep," he nodded again, "This is kinda strange to hear. To put it as 
briefly and simple as possible, I came to a world similar to this except 
billions had died from the Second Impact. While on that world, I learned 
all about it. I did all that I could to save it, but all I could manage 
to do was save several people, Ritsuko, Asuka, Shinji, Rei, and you, 
Misato. From there, and now knowing of the cause of the Second Impact, I 
came back and prevented it from happening. Fifteen years later, I just 
pop up outta nowhere. Exactly why or how I got here, I have no idea,"
  Ritsuko looked toward the ground.
  Ranma noticed this but said nothing. He continued on, "Now, there are 
some things I am still unsure about. What happened to Asuka?"
  "She's in school right now," Misato said, "I remember Toji mentioning 
something about a girl by that name,"
  "Misato, dontcha remember that there was a little girl with me?"
  She shook her head. "No," 
  "When you were young, dontcha remember that I wasn't alone? That I had 
a girl with me? Her name was Asuka. Asuka Langley."
  "The Asuka you saved from the other world?" Naoko asked.
  Ranma nodded, "Yes. She was the one that came back here to stop the 
Second Impact. I came with her. Now, the reason I'm asking this is to 
find out exactly what happened to her? Where did she go? I'm not talking 
about the Asuka in school. I'm talking about the other Asuka, the one 
that was with me. I wanna go back home to my world, but I have no 
intention of leaving her here."
  "Perhaps she went home without you," Yui noted, "Or then again, 
perhaps she stayed behind. She would be, what, thirty?"
  "Well, if she's thirty, and she stayed behind. I still have to find 
her," Ranma said, "I have to see her. If she went home without me, then 
I could rest easier. I'll find my way back home, no problem,"
  "And how do you suppose that?" Gendo asked wryly, his eye brows 
raising. Ranma had just talked himself into a corner. "How do you 
suppose you travel back to your own world?"
  "The same way I got here in the first place," he said patiently, "With 
the nanban mirror,"
  "Nanban mirror?" Gendo was a bit surpised that Ranma had managed to 
say anything.
  "Yep, the nanban mirror. I can travel back in time and to other worlds 
with that mirror. All I hafta do is find it." he said. He stopped for a 
moment, "It shouldn't be too hard because I found it on the other world 
so what's so hard about finding it on this world? The only tough part is 
getting to the place. That's all."
  Ranma's stomach rumbled again. "I'm hungry. I wanna go and eat."
  "We still have more questions," Ritsuko said.
  Ranma got up off his seat, brushed his backside a few times and said 
with a smirk, "I'm pretty sure you do. But that still doesn't exclude 
the fact that I'm hungry. I haven't had a meal in....fifteen years," He 
chuckled. "Besides, I think it's about time I get back to Seele and tell 
them about how I infiltrated Nerv and everyone believes me. Whoops, I 
forgot I was supposed to think that, not say it. Oh well, my cover is 
blown. Can we go eat?"
  Everyone was silent. 
  "God! What's wrong with you people? I'm not a bad guy!" he said, 
"Look, I'm going to leave now and get some food. I'll be back later,"
  "We can't allow you to leave because you're a breach of security," 
Ritsuko said professionally.
  "Fine, then come with me if you think I'm gonna make a break for it," 
Ranma said, exasperated, "Bring several guns. Point them at me. See if I 
care. I'm hungry and I wanna eat."
  Ranma's stomach growled again.
  "How about this?" he continued. "Hey, Gendo, you've got authority. 
Order us some pizza. Order a dozen or so for me. I'm serious. I can eat 
that much. Have it with the works,"
  Gendo sighed. Perhaps he wasn't cut out to be in charge of everything.

  "Y'know what?" Ranma said, practically inhaling the slice of pizza 
"You're not so bad in this world. You're much worse in the other world. 
Over here, you're not as anal,"
  He and the others were in the mess hall, all of them sitting around a 
round table. No one else was around.
  Yui snearly spit out the drink she was drinking and almost started 
laughing. She liked Ranma. Although she knew little about him, she 
enjoyed his company. Sure, he probably had some secret agenda like 
everyone else, but his personality was quite refreshing for a change. 
Everyone here, aside from Toji and herself, was pretty predictable. Even 
though she dislikes Ranma teasing Gendo at his expense, she realized his 
teasing was harmless fun.
  Gendo found his blood about to boil. Ever since Ranma's appearance, 
he's been criticizing him. It was just too bad he had no idea how to 
deal with someone like Ranma. There was no way he could have Ranma 
killed because he really could be a spy. It was just that there was no 
plausible plan to put one over on Ranma to make him work for Gendo. At 
least not yet.
  Ranma picked up another slice and began to eat that.
  "H-how many slices have you had so far?" Ritsuko had to asked. She had 
lost could after the tenth one.
  "Dunno, probably are fifteen or so so far," he said, finishing off his 
slice and picking up yet another one, "Better make that sixteen,"
  Everyone seemed to stare at Ranma.
  "So what? I eat a lot. I need a lot of energy. That's all," he said 
with a wave of his hand. "I'd say some poor excuse like I'm a growing 
boy, but I'm a bit too old for that." He looked around for a moment, 
"Hey, what time is it? I can't tell if it's day or night?"
  "It's going to be four in the afternoon," Misato said, looking at her 
watch.
  "Hm, doesn't that mean the children will be swinging on by for those 
synchro tests?" he said, eyes lighting up.
  "Yes, what about it?" Misato asked curiously, eyeing Ranma carefully. 
  Ranma smiled, "All right. I'd like to meet the Asuka, Rei, and Shinji 
of this time,"
  "No one by those names pilot the EVAs," Naoko said. She had been 
paying a bit too much attention to Ranma for some reason. Her gaze 
lingered on him longer than the next person. "I assume you meant Toji, 
Hikari, and Kensuke,"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. I meant the other three. I've never heard 
of those three names you just mentioned. Actually, perhaps not. Those 
names do sound familiar a bit,"
  "They goto the same school as Shinji and Asuka." Yui said, "As to who 
this Rei girl is, we've never heard of her. Our daughter goes to another 
school,"
  "The same school....hm." he mummbled, thinking for a moment, "Oh, now 
I remember those names. I taught at that school once. I remember reading 
those names before."
  "You taught?" Misato asked.
  "I was just having fun. I actually went in there to talk to Shinji, 
but I ended up teaching the class all about Ki and how to throw one," he 
said.
  "Ki?"
  Ranma sighed. He wondered how many times he would have to explain the 
concept.
  "I'll explain it some other day," he said, getting up off his chair, 
"I wanna go out and get some fresh air," He proceeded toward the door 
but was stopped when Naoko placed a hand on his shoulder.
  "Eh?"
  "Would you like some company?" she asked, smiling.
  Ranma thought about it for a moment. "Sure. Why not? Let's go,"
  "You have work, Naoko," Gendo said sternly.
  She shook her head, a determined woman.
  "No I don't. At least not at this moment,"

  Naoko and Ranma were standing on what seemed like a helicopter landing 
pad. They were both looking out toward the city that laid before them.
  "It's kinda annoying that I hafta be watched," Ranma commented, 
jerking a thumb toward the two guards at the entrance behind him.
  "It's regulations. You're considered a security breach,"
  Ranma looked forward, "Man, Nerv is part of a mountain," he said, "I 
never knew that. The Nerv from the other world was located in GeoFront, 
this weird structure located underground. Also, the layout for Nerv is 
quite different. I assume since there was no rise in the water level, 
there are more resources, thus, the whole place is larger and more 
heavily fortified,"
  Naoko said, "What do you think of this, um, world?" She felt a bit bad 
that this man, albeit cute, was crazy and actually believed what he was 
saying. He sure was a good liar. She had to give him that. 
  "I dunno. This is the first time outside. I plan on visiting the city 
shortly after I see the kids," he said, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
  "Sure,"
  "Um, I don't know if I should even do this, but I'd like to know more 
about you," he said, "I was wondering if that was all right with you?"
  "That's fine," she said warmly, taking a step closer to him, looking 
warmly into his eyes. Although she had very little experience with 
getting closer to someone of the opposite sex, she managed to get her 
point across without saying it.
  Ranma pointed toward toward something outward toward something. "Hey, 
look, we're being watched. There's a camera on that tree following" He 
had recognized the look in her eyes and quickly changed the subject.
  "Once again, regulations," she said. "Anyway, back to what we were 
talking about before. Um, I'd like to get to know you better also. Do 
you have someone, um, back home?"
  Ranma sighed inwardly. He didn't want Naoko to get the wrong idea. 
Unfortuantely, he would have to be more obvious, "Um, Naoko, I don't 
want you to get the wrong idea. I'd like to get to know you, but not in 
that way. Besides, there is someone back home waiting for me," He just 
didn't bother to tell her that Akane was now more like a really good 
friend to her instead of a fiancee. Over time, Ranma's feeling for her 
had changed. Even though she hadn't, he had.
  "Oh,"
  "But don't worry, it still doesn't mean we can't be friends, ne?" he 
smiled.
  Naoko felt like a fool. Of course someone like him would be taken.
  "I guess so,"
  Ranma and Naoko indulged in meaningful conversation. They continued to 
talk for close to an hour before Ranma finally called it quits. Over 
that period of time, he was able to determine that Naoko was very caring 
of her daughter. He wanted to be sure of that because he wanted this to 
be a gift for the Ritsuko he knew.
  As they continued to chat, Ritsuko appeared.
  "Ranma, is it all right if I speak to you?" she asked. She motioned 
for the guards to leave but they couldn't so she walked up to Ranma.
  "Sure, what is it?" he asked, turning from Naoko and onto Ritsuko.
  "I'd like to talk to you alone," she said. She remembered Misato 
ranting and raving about having seen  Ranma do amazing feats. "If you're 
the Ranma Misato told me about, then you should be able to do some, um, 
rather unique things,"
  He nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"
  "What kind of...unique things?" Naoko asked.
  "You have to get rid of them," Ritsuko whispered. "We can't have them 
hearing our conversation,"
  Ranma nodded. He turned toward the two guards and walked toward them. 
"Excuse me? Do any of you have a cigarette for me?"
  One of the guards did. He reached into his pocket and took on a pack 
and handed it to Ranma.
  Ranma placed the cigarette in his mouth, "How about a lighter?"
  The other guard anticipated it already. He reached into his pocket and 
pulled out a packet of matches and walked over to Ranma.
  Just as the guard was about to light the cigarette, Ranma looked up, 
"Oh, wait a minute. I don't smoke,"
  Ritsuko and Naoko were unable to even see as Ranma's hands shot out 
and touched several pressure points on the guards. Both of them fell to 
the ground, dead asleep.
  "I'm sorry about that," Ranma said apologetically, "Nothing personal. 
Okay, now, what was it you wanted tot alk to me about, Ritsuko?"
  Naoko was just staring at Ranma at what he had just done. Ritsuko, 
although expecting something like that after having heard so much from 
Misato, was still a bit shocked. She said, "It's about you,"
  "All right, what about me? What's so important?"
  "Ranma, do you know where you came from?" she asked. She had surmised 
that this was what had happened and wanted to break it to Ranma as 
easily as possible.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I came from another world if that's what you 
mean,"
  "No, not that. Do you know how you reappeared?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. All I remember was that one day, I was in 
Antarctica, and then the next day, I wake up, fifteen years later, on a 
bed and being watched through a one way mirror."
  "Do you remember anything in between that time?" she asked patiently.
  "Well, yeah, I remember one thing, but it was most likely a dream. I 
remember seeing these purple gloves on my hands and armor just like 
Unit-01 and I tried to take `em off." He said. "Of course, I can't 
remember much more aside from that. It only lasted for a second. Why?"
  Ritsuko looked down toward the city not too far away. She ignored his 
question and asked, "You mentioned that you got hurt while in 
Antarctica, while fighting that Angel of light you keep referring to,"
  Ranma nodded. 
  "Do you remembered what had happened to that Angel? After you defeated 
it?"
  Ranma shook his head, "I don't know. Actually, I don't remember even 
fighting him. I assume I did and won because the Second Impact never 
happened and the real Tokyo is still above water,"
  "God, what have I done?" Ritsuko muttered to herself. She turned a bit 
paler.
  "What's wrong, Rit-chan?" Naoko asked, concern in her voice. "Are you 
okay?"
  Ritsuko ignored her mother and said, "Ranma....do you know exactly how 
you appeared here?"
  "No, why?"
  "Well, I guess I better explain," she said slowly, "Just a short while 
ago, Toji was absorbed into the LCL that filled the entry plug he was 
in. Now, after almost a month, he suddenly reappears....along with you,"
  "Y-you mean I came from an EVA?"
  Ritsuko nodded.
  "Okay, so? Nothing wrong with that. So what if I came from an EVA. But 
then again, how did I get in there in the first place?" he said, more to 
himself than anyone else.
  "I assume....my other self has explained to you how the EVA were 
created," she asked.
  Naoko looked at her daughter. Did Ritsuko actually believe what Ranma 
had said? This man said he was from another world!
  Ranma nodded, "Yes, she told me the EVAs are derived from Lilith, am I 
right?"
  "Yes, that's true," she continued, "Has she ever told you if there was 
anything else that the EVAs were derived from?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. I'm not too sure what you're trying to get 
at,"
  "Just humor me," Ritsuko said. "Anyway, when the first Angel attacked, 
was Nerv able to fend it off easily?"
  "I wasn't there when it happened," Ranma said, "I appeared on their 
world shortly after. But I was told that Unit-01 was almost destroyed 
and that they had quite a bit of trouble destroying it."
  "Okay," she said, turning back toward Ranma, "Not too long ago, the 
Angel attacked, like Misato had predicted since she was pretty much 
relaying a message you had given her fifteen years ago, and we easily 
stopped the Angel. The thing is, I believe what we knew about the future 
and the Angel attack, made me do something different in creating an 
Evangelion as opposed to the other version to myself."
  "Oh?"
  "You see, Unit-01 also fought the first Angel, but it easily 
overpowered it," Ritsuko said, taking a deep breath, "And do you want to 
know why? It's due to Unit-01 being derived from something aside from 
Lilith. It was derived from humans also. To be more specific, it was 
derived from your blood,"
  "Huh?"
  "Fifteen years ago," Ritsuko said, "The Katsurai Exhibition was 
stopped from achieving their goals, which I have no idea what it was. 
Anyway, on the day what you termed `The Second Impact', they saw a huge 
beam of light shooting into the sky, and they headed for it. When they 
got there, all that remained was what looked a massive battle that had 
happed, with splatters of blood skattered about....y-your blood. Your 
blood was taken and it was studied."
  Naoko's eyes widened. "You mean the `Superstrain'? That blood sample?" 
She remembered hearing something about it and Ritsuko making a mention 
of it.
  Ranma looked a bit confused, "'Superstrain'? What's that?"
  "That was what the blood was titled," Ritsuko said, "You see, the 
blood found there was called that because it had...um, what you would 
consider the best of the best traits. All we knew was that that blood 
sample was derived from what we believed to be an extraordiary human 
being,"
  Ranma smirked, "Cool, I'm the best of the best. I'm extraordinary,"
  Ritsuko took a deep breath and continued, ignoring Ranma's comment, 
"That blood was used in the creation of Unit-01."
  "I assume that was what made Unit-01 so strong, ne?" he asked.
  "Yes. And you came out of it. When you came out of it, you were given 
tests." She said.
  "Tests?! I hate tests!"
  "It didn't matter. You were unconscious," she said, "Well, all the 
test did was determine that you were human. But, I didn't really buy 
that. I was stubborn and checked further into the testings and I found 
out that your blood is a mix of the blood found on Antactica and 
Lilith,"
  "So? Of course it's the same. I'm the person that was there fifteen 
years ago,"
  "Ranma, don't you understand what I'm trying to say?" she said, almost 
exasperated, "You came from that EVA. You're part EVA! You are a clone 
of the blood sample we took!"
  Ranma looked at Ritsuko for a moment, "No offense, but you're crazy. 
That's not true. What makes you think I'm a clone?"
  "All right, explain this then," Ritsuko said logically, "Can you 
answer these question? What happened to the fifteen years that has 
elapsed since you were on Antarctica preventing this so called `Second 
Impact'? And that dream you mentioned, do you remember seeing those 
purple gloves elsewhere? Or on something else?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. Why?"
  "Can you describe those puple gloves?"
  "Yeah, they were purple. What else do you need to know? Oh, they had 
different colored knuckles,"
  Ritsuko grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled him with her, "Come with me. 
I've got something I want to show you,"
  Before Ranma had a chance to even say anything, he found himself being 
dragged toward back into Nerv while Naoko just stared after the two of 
them.
  
  Ranma looked up at Unit-01.
  "W-what's going on here?!" he said. "It's just like that dream I had,"
  Misato was now with him and Ritsuko. They had stopped off and asked 
Misato to accompany them to the bay. She wanted to ask Misato several 
question concerning an event that she had been present when it had 
happened.
  All of this was slowly starting to fall into place as Ritsuko found 
herself putting all the pieces together.
  "Misato, can you recall that day when Unit-01 went beserk?" Ritsuko 
asked "Do you remember exactly what Unit-01 did when it did go beserk?"
  Misato nodded, "Yeah. It tried ripping the armor plating off its arms 
and then off its chest, why?"
  Ritsuko turned toward Ranma, "Ranma, in your dream, do you recall 
doing that? Do you recall trying to take the armor off your chest?"
  Ranma nodded, slowly, still staring at Unit-01. Unit-01 of this world 
looked different than the Unit-01 Shinji piloted. The EVA before him 
looked like it had more armor and two more eyes than he remembered.
  "Ranma, that dream you supposedly had wasn't a dream," Ritsuko said, 
"You were Unit-01. What we thought of as Unit-01 going beserk, it was 
you proceeding to take the unfamiliar things off. It was somehow your 
consciousness breaking through and you proceeding to take your `gloves' 
and `armor' off. It all adds up. You emerged from Unit-01, Unit-01 was 
derived from the blood we found in Antarctica, the blood was your blood, 
you not remembering the fifteen years between when you were in 
Antarctica and now? You were born from Unit-01...."
  Ranma was silent as he took everything in. He then said, "All right, 
so what you're saying is that I'm....I'm a clone?"
  Misato, listening all of this, unable to truly understand everything, 
said, "Ritsuko, what are you talking about? What do you mean he's a 
clone?"
  Ranma sat down on the floor, his knees feeling weak. It was actually 
starting to make sense to him. What Ritsuko was saying could be true.
  Ritsuko continued on, "You probably retain the memories from the blood 
sample. How come you don't remember fighting the Angel if it was obvious 
that it the Second Impact was prevented? It could be because the blood 
was from the real you during the battle. You could have gotten hurt 
during the battle and lost some blood before you defeated the Angel."
  Ranma thought back to when he had been in MegaTokyo. Akane went 
through that once. She could not recall anything from the day of her 
death to the day she woke up on that stainless steel table over tirty 
years later. 
  He turned toward Misato, "T-that beam of light. Misato, did you see 
it? You were in Antarctica. Can you describe it?"
  "I never saw it," Misato said, recalling that day, "My father 
described it as `a column of light and energy'. Shortly after that, he 
saw another flash of light,"
  "Oh man, I remember being told that when I get angry, go beserk in a 
way, you see that," he said, his voice almost soft, still looking at 
Unit-01, "A-and that flash of light afterwards.....it could be the 
nanban mirror being used."
  Misato looked at Ranma. She was finally starting to understand what 
Ritsuko had been saying. "R-Ranma, is this true?"
  Ranma looked at her, "I-it could be. I mean, it actually makes sense 
and is very plausible. It would definitely explain the memory gaps I 
have and Unit-01 supposedly going beserk,"
  He took a deep breath. 
  "Man, I'm a clone," he said softly. 
  He was silent for several moments before he said in a very sad voice,
  "If I'm a clone, what happened to the real me?"
  "I don't know," Ritsuko said softly, "Perhaps he went home along with 
Asuka,"
  Several guards rushed into the room. Ranma's location had finally been 
determined shortly after those two unconscious guards had been found.
  "God, I need some time to think," he said, ignoring the guards. "I'm 
going to town. I need some time to myself," 
  He walked toward the entrance where several guards pulled their guns 
on him. As he walked, staring at the floor.
  One of the guards stepped directly in front of Ranma and said, "Don't 
move or we'll be forced to shoot."
  Ranma looked up at the guard and said, "Lemme alone,"
  Out of nowhere, Unit-01 moved. Its head turned toward the guards and 
its eyes blazed, and it roared toward the hapless guards. It raised one 
of its arms, ripping free from the arm restraints and brought it up and 
down in between Ranma and the guards.
  "W-w-what the?!" Ritsuko studdered, falling down from the sudden 
shaking as the platform shook from  Unit-01's movements. She watched, 
wide eyed, as Unit-01 simply scopped the hapless guards toward it, the 
guards falling ino the liquid it was submerged in.
  Ranma turned toward Unit-01 for a moment, "Thanks,"
  And then left the bay.

  "Lettme see," he muttered to himself  "I was born from an EVA. Okay. I 
accept that. But what is my signifigance?"
  He walked down the street, continuing to talk to himself.
  "From what Ritsuko said, I am human and part EVA" he continued on, "On 
the other world, when Ryoga and I went to China to look for the nanban 
mirror, there had been an Angel that penetrated Nerv Headquarters. What 
the heck was his name? Kaworu? Was that his name? Well, it doesn't 
matter anyway. He, too, was part human, just like me. Ritsuko had 
mentioned that perhaps he was had been born from that Unit-04 that 
supposedly disappeared. She said that that EVA unit had that S2 thingie 
in it and didn't need batteries so to say. Well, Unit-01, which I came 
outta, also doesn't need batteries so that could mean I'm a Kaworu...."
  Ranma looked around, unable to recognize his surroundings. He 
continued walking in a random direction.
  "Man, that's crazy." He muttered "Will that mean I'm the key to the 
Third Impact? Wait, the Second Impact never happened. So what the hell 
am I? Will the Second Impact be the Impact where humanity cease to 
exist? Damn, let's go over this again. I was born from an EVA. That 
Kaworu person could be born from an EVA. Why? Because tests on me shows 
that I am a pure human, just like tests on Kaworu shows that he's human. 
With me, Ritsuko says I absolutely have to be part EVA because Unit-01 
was derived from an Angel and human blood. So that would make me part 
Angel.
  "Ugh, this is confusing the hell outta me. Perhaps all this junk means 
nothing. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid. But what if I am? What about 
those white Units EVAs I saw, units five through thirteen if I remember. 
They didn't need batteries. Maybe they could be a result of Unit-04's 
disappearance. Heck, maybe the EVA I came outta is supposed to be like 
one of those white EVAs. Argh! My head hurts!"
  Ranma, in a fit of rage, shot a ki-blast into the air. He then 
continued on walking.
  "Commander, the MAGI has just registered a massive power spike near 
the Tokyo Tower," Maya said, "It could be Ranma. The computer is unable 
to discern the energy origin so there's a good chance that it could be 
him,"
  Makoto looked at the screen and commented "That's gotta be wrong. How 
the hell can someone like Ranma cause such a huge spike of energy to 
happen? Not unless he got hold of a positron rifle and decided to shoot 
it in the air which I seriously doubt,"
  Maya turned toward him, "Don't be too sure. Ranma did come out of 
Unit-01 and we all know how powerful that EVA is."
  "Enough," Gendo said harshly "I don't want anyone speculating on 
anything. Send out a reconnaisance crew to survey the area."
  "Yes sir,"
  Ranma continued to walk down the street. He looked up at the huge 
looming tower, "Gee, Tokyo Tower, I haven't seen this thing in decades." 
  He continued walking, still talking to himself  "All right. Back to 
square one. I'm an EVA. No. I'm a human. No. I'm a clone....but of what? 
I believe I'm Ranma but I'm led to believe I am a clone of him. Okay, so 
let's say I'm him. If I'm a clone of Ranma, then that means I'm human. 
So what the hell is Ritsuko so insistent that I'm more than human? Am I 
part Angel? Am I part EVA? Wait, an EVA and an Angel are the same thing, 
right? Ugh. My head hurts!"
  Ranma sat down on a nearby bench.
  "God, I wish someone would explain these things to me...." he sighed. 
He pinched the ridge of his nose as if he was having a migraine. "What 
the hell have I gotten myself into?"
  He sat there for several moments before he finally got up. "Well, 
there's nothing much else I could do but go back to Nerv and talk to 
Gendo or someone about all of this. If any of them know anything about 
this, which is most likely Gendo, they will slip somehow and I will be 
able to notice that. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll go back to Nerv."
  Ranma got up off the bench and proceeded toward Nerv.
  "Man, this little walk I had seem to clog my head up more than it 
cleared it...."
    
  Ranma was heading for Nerv when he spotted someone he recognized 
  He saw Shinji carrying a bag of groceries.
  "Shinji!" he called out to him, running across the street to meet him. 
He just stared at him, not recognizing him. "It's me, Ranma,"
  "Do I know you?"
  Ranma finally realized that this wasn't the Shinji he knew. This was 
the Shinji of this world, the fortunate Shinji, the Shinji with a mother 
and a more caring father. He quickly said, "Nevermind,"
  Shinji eyed the young man carefully, "How do you know my name?" He 
shifted the heavy bag of groceries in her arms. "I don't think I've ever 
seen you before," 
  Ranma shook his head, "Um, perhaps not. You were, um, little. You 
probably don't remember me."
  "I don't remember meeting you before,"
  Ranma said, "Um, your father and mother, I was just spoke to them 
earlier,"
  "You did? About what? How do you know them?"
  Ranma remembered what the Shinji he knew had told him. He shrugged his 
shoulders and said, "Nothing much. We were just catching up on old 
times. They and I go back a while. Actually, Gendo and I go back. By the 
way, how's Rei? How old is she now? Eight? Nine?"
  "She's eight," Shinji said. 
  "Where's Gendo and Yui now? I mean, where's your parents?" Ranma said 
on purpose, "Sorry, I'm used to calling `em by their first name. I guess 
I could call `em Ikari-san. Ikari. Strange, I was a bit surpirsed your 
father took Yui's family name instead of keeping his,"
  I could talk to Yui about all those crazy assumptions I've had, Ranma 
thought. Perhaps she could clear some things up for me.
  Shinji assumed this Ranma person was somehow a friend of the family. 
He seemed to know quite a bit about the family. "My parents should be 
home in a little while. My dad is still at work. He called home to tell 
me he was going to be staying for a little while longer. He didn't tell 
me why or what could have come up. And my mom, she went to pick Rei up 
from her friends house,"
  "Hey, is it all right if I walk ya home?" Ranma asked causally, "I 
forgot to ask Gendo...um, your father, if he was going to be free....um, 
tomorrow. Um, so he and I can go flyfishing."
  "M-my dad flyfishes? I never knew that"
  Ranma smirked, "And a whole buncha other things. He also....plays 
tennis and golfs,"
  "He does that also? I never knew that either. What else does he do?"
  I'm going to burn in hell for lying so much, Ranma thought 
mischieviously, "Well, c'mon, I'll tell you some more embarrassing 
things about your dad on the way to you place. Here, lettme hold the 
groceries. You just lead the way,"

  Rei looked up at her mom. She and her mom were standing right outside 
their apartment door.
  "Hey, mom, what's bugging you?" she asked curiously. She seemed to ask 
more perceptive than the average eight year old. 
  Yui looked at her daughter and said, "Oh nothing. Nothing at all." She 
wondered if her husband had finally managed to find Ranma after he had 
escaped. She would have stayed behind, but she had to pick up Rei from 
her friend's house at six. Shinji had already gone out when she phoned 
home so she was stuck picking up Rei while her husband stayed behind at 
Nerv.
  She wondered how Ranma had managed to incapacitate several armed 
gaurds and make it out of Nerv without being caught. It wasn't that the 
security of Nerv was bad, but rather, he was just that good. She just 
prayed that Ranma was who he said he was. She also wondered where Ranma 
could have gone or where he would show up.
  Yui opened the door and entered the apartment. She smelled something 
delicious wafting through the air and went to the kitchen to see what 
Shinji was making. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ranma 
standing in front of the stove cooking something.
  "Well, it's about time you got home," Ranma said casually, "I've been 
worried sick young lady,"
  "Who's that?" Rei asked.
  "Hello, Rei," Ranma said, walking forward, picking the little girl up 
in his arms before Yui could do anything, "Do you remember me? I'm a 
friend of the family." He gave Yui a quick look to tell her to play 
alone.
  Rei giggled. 
  "Well, I assume not because you were very very small. But look at you 
now, you've grown so big," he said in surprise. He placed the little 
girl back down and turned toward Yui. "Go on and run along, I wouldn't 
want any oil to splash on ya or nothing." When Rei left the room, he 
turned toward a shocked Yui and said, "Yui, can I talk to you for a 
moment?"
  Yui swallowed the lump in her throat. It was finally starting to 
register that Ranma was actually in her home, and that her children were 
nearby. Anything could happen.
  Ranma walked to the front entrance and opened the door and gestured 
for her to step outside with him. She did that without saying a word.
  "W-what do you want?" she asked a bit nervously. 
  Ranma gazed at Yui "Gee, I-I forgot. Damn, what the hell did I come 
here for?"
  "There's a lot of people out looking for you," she said.
  "So? This ain't the first time," he said with a smirk, "I doubt 
they'll look here of all places."
  "Why are you here?"
  Ranma finally remembered and said, "Oh, now I remember. It's about me. 
I have a couple of questions to ask you."
  "Like what?"
  Ranma leaned against the wall and said, "It's all very far fetched so 
bear with me. I mean, I could be just paranoid."
  Yui eyed Ranma for a moment. "I'll bite. What is this you want to tell 
me?"
  He took a deep breath, "I came outta Unit-01, right? Well, from what 
suddenly occured to me a short while ago, Unit-01 moved so that must 
mean it has that S2 thingie..."
  "How did you know?"
  Ranma smirked, "I do now. You just confirmed it. Anyway, did another 
EVA unit happen to have that S2 thingie?"
  "I can't tell you,"
  "Was it Unit-04?" he asked, "Did it disappear?" He leaned forward and 
gazed into Yui's eyes. "Tell the truth, I can tell if you're lying or 
not. I learned how to tell if someone was lying or not simply by seeing 
the subtle changes in the pupils when someone lies."
  Yui gazed at Ranma for several moments. Calling Ranma's bluff she 
said, "Unit-04? It never disappeared,"
  Ranma smirked, "You're lying. Okay, now that I know Unit-04 
disappeared. That's good. Did Unit-04 have that S2 thinigie in it?"
  "No,"
  Ranma sighed, "Will you quit lying? I can see it in you eyes."
  "Fine, I'll keep them closed, then," she retorted, chin held high.
  "Then I'll grab your breasts because you won't see my hands to smack 
them out of the way," he smirked. He would never do something like that, 
but he figured Yui would not want to call his bluff. Or better yet, 
I'll......I'll hurt your children,"
  A lump formed in Yui's throat. "Y-you wouldn't! Y-you better not!"
  "Please, just tell the truth," he said softly, "If you don't give me 
problems answering my questions, it would make it a whole lot easier for 
me and for yourself,"
  "How will it make it any easier on myself?" she asked defiantly.
  Ranma sighed again, "Look, just humor me and tell the truth. In case 
you're wondering, you might come out of this a little more enlightened. 
From what I remember on the other world, Nerv is nothing like it's 
cracked up to be. I know that there was this organization, this 
committee working behind the shadow under Nerv that almost no one know 
about, Seele. Ha, I see a reaction! So that means the Seele of this 
world is working in the darkness behind Nerv."
  "I said nothing,"
  "You don't need to say anything," Ranma smirked "Just by your body 
language I can tell if you're hiding something. Anyway, do you know what 
Seele did in the shadows?"
  "Yes,"
  "Does it have anything to do with the Human Complement Project....or 
whatever it's called?" he asked, watching her intently.
  "No,"
  Ranma was a bit surprised at finding out that she was actually telling 
the truth.
  "Okay, then what does Seele do?"
  "It funds Nerv," she said.
  "No, the UN does that." Ranma said, remembering everything that had 
been told to him.
  "They both fund Nerv," Yui said steadfastly. "Actually, Seele funds 
the Evangelion repairs. The UN funds munitions and damage done to the 
city due to an Angel attack. What did the Seele that you know do?"
  Ranma said, "Ritsuko, the Ritsuko of my world, told me it was 
concocting this thing called the Human Complement in which it was trying 
to cause a Third Impact."
  "And what is the Third Impact?"
  Ranma thought about it for a moment, "I dunno. I think it has 
something to do with mankind evolving to a higher lifeform or something 
like that."
  "That's a buncha bull," she said, looking at Ranma like he was a 
lunatic.
  "Just hear me out," Ranma said, "This could actually hold true in this 
world. You see, I prevented the Second Impact so it never happened in 
this world. But.....perhaps it did. It's just that it wasn't at a global 
scale level. It's either that or Seele could be hiding it from the 
world."
  "You're crazy," Yui commented.
  "God, just listen to me, please," he said, exasperated, "On the other 
world, almost everyone believes that the Second Impact occured when a 
meteor struck Antarctica, melting it, when in reality, it was when the 
first Angel attacked. On this world, it could have been covered up in 
some way. Perhaps a huge explosion could've happened in Antarctica or 
something....but no where near as large an explosion that could've 
happened to have melted the continent. You get me?"
  Yui nodded, "All right. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's 
assume this....then what does Seele have to do with this?"
  "I remember fighting this man that was from Seele. His name 
was.....Lorenz. Yeah, that's his name. Lorenz. Now I remember. This guy 
had these weird glasses." He continued, "This guy seems to be in charge 
of the whole organization. I'm positive your husband knows something 
about him because I saw a reaction from him when I mentioned that guy."
  "I don't seem to understand,"
  Ranma said patiently, "Well, the Ritsuko I know said that the Gendo 
from her world had some kinda contact with that organization. She 
doesn't really know what. But, since this world is very similar to the 
other, it could happen. Anyway, it's just that Seele is not what it 
really seems. That whole thing has some kinda hidden agenda..."
  "I'll ask my husband about it," she said.
  "You do that, please," Ranma said, "Now, let's assume Seele 
is....um....evil."
  "That's very far-fetched,"
  "So is the thought of fighting messengers of God, yet you're fighting 
them, ne?" he asked wryly with a smirk. When Yui said nothing, Ranma 
continued on, "Let's say that have....dubious intentions. They could be 
behind that Unit-04's disappearance...."
  "How?"
  "Well, in the other world, Unit-04 disappeared also. It had that S2 
thingie." he said, "What I believe was that that unit was stolen. In the 
other world, I remember Nerv was attacked by several EVA units. Nine if 
I remember correctly.....and none of them needed batteries"
  "They're called power umbilical lines,"
  "Yeah, that. Whatever," Ranma said with a shrug of his shoulder, 
"Anyway, dontcha find it odd that Nerv was attacked by EVAs that had 
that S2 thingie? I believe Seele has something to do with it. Do you 
follow me? There's more to this disappearance. Y'see, on the other 
world, I was told that the last Angel came in the form of a young boy. I 
think his name was Kaworu but I don't really remember. It doesn't matter 
anyway. The thing is, everyone thought he was human...but he was really 
an Angel."
  "You mean an Angel actually penetrated into Nerv?"
  Ranma nodded, "That's what I've been told. Shinji killed him."
  "M-my son?"
  "Yep. In that world, Shinji, Asuka, and this girl named Rei Ayanami 
piloted the EVAs," he said, "In this world, it happens to be piloted by 
three children that just so happen to be in Shinji's school in the other 
world. Pretty coincidental, ne? Well, anyway, back to the point. That 
Kaworu kid was thought of to be a human because all tests indicated that 
he was human,"
  "So?"
  "Think about it," Ranma said slowly, "I was tested, ne? I came out 
human. But here's the question, I came out of an EVA. That's been 
already assumed. Unit-01 isn't human. So wouldn't that make me a part of 
something else also? Unit-01 is supposed to be part Angel. Well, if I 
came outta it, then I'm part Angel. I could very well be that Kaworu 
kid. Shinji had told me that that last angel was able to make an EVA 
move without even being in there. Well, Unit-01 moved for me when I 
wanted it to. I was just to preoccupied to notice that until shortly 
after that."
  "I-I've got to sit down," Yui said, leaning against the wall and 
sliding down to a sitting position. "So what you're trying to say is 
that you're the last Angel"
  "It's all a hypnosis," he said.
  "You mean hypothesis,"
  "Yeah, that." Ranma said with a weak smile, "Anyway, Unit-01 had that 
S2 thingie in it. The Unit-04 that disappeared had that S2 thingie. 
Perhaps in this world, Kaworu is gonna be born from that disappeared 
Unit-04, just like how I was born from Unit-01."
  "But I thought Unit-04 might play a role in those EVA that had been 
sent to attack Nerv," Yui interrupted, a bit confused.
  "Yeah, it could've. Perhaps Unit-04 was used as a model for those 
attacking EVAs shortly after Kaworu was born from it." he replied, 
"Besides, it's not like you're gonna get rid of Unit-01 after I came 
outta it, now wouldja? See? Exactly. Just like I expected."
  "God, this is crazy," she said, looking out up toward the sky.
  "It's all an assumption." Ranma said with a smirk, "But it all seems 
to add up and seems very plausible. Everything fits into place."
  "What are you going to do?" she asked.
  Ranma's stomach grumbled, "I'm gonna go eat,"
  "After that," Yui said, "Hey, didn't you eat a short while ago? Like 
in twenty or so slices of pizza?"
  Ranma smirked, "Hey, I eat a lot. I have a fast metabolism."
  "Well, what are you going to do?"
  "Well, after I eat, I'm gonna go talk to your husband," Ranma said, 
"That way, perhaps his reaction to some of my questions could help fill 
in the gaps,"
  "Like what gaps?"
  He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, like what happened to Adam? If I 
destroyed him, then why are Angels still attacking? That's been bugging 
the hell outta me. Also, I'd like to know where Seele is located. I'd 
like to have a talk to that Lorenz guy. What better way to find out that 
answers than to talk to the guy in charge of it all,"
  "And how do you suppose you do that?" Yui asked, eyeing Ranma 
critically.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "It's not that hard. If you're talking 
about security, I'm not all that worried. I have a few trick up my 
sleeve." He looked out over the balconey and down toward the street. He 
spotted several people running by. "Hey look, Nerv operatives,"
  Yui wondered is she should call out for their help. By the time she 
realized that she could, they were already gone.
  Ranma turned toward Yui, "Oh,Yui, about my threatening to hurt your 
children. I was lying."
  "Y-you were?" she said. She felt this huge sense of relief wash over 
her body. Even though she was relieved, she was still a bit cautious 
about Ranma.
  He nodded, "In case you're wondering, I love children. I'd like to 
have some one day, but I've still got plenty of years ahead of me, so 
I'm not worried,"
  At that moment, the door opened and out peek a little brown haired 
girl. Rei said, "Mom, Ranma, Shinji says the food you were cooking is 
ready,"
  Ranma snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I had been 
cooking something before I asked to speak to you. Tell him thank you,"
  "All right," she said politely before ducking back into the apartment.
  Ranma smiled warmly, "She's a sweet girl. She reminds me a lot of Rei 
Ayanami,"
  "Oh?"
  "Well, after you died in the other world," he said, "Gendo was so 
devestated that he created a young girl that he called Rei, and she 
looked a lot like you. Actually, she looked exactly like you. The only 
difference was that she was very quiet and to herself. After she died, 
she changed and began acting more like a, um, normal girl"
  "Died?" Yui looked at Ranma curiously.
  Ranma nodded, "The Rei that I knew looked like a forteen year old 
version of yourself but had blue hair instead of brown. She was quiet 
and usually kept to herself. After she died, she was reborn, but 
retained the memories that the old Rei and of me and my friend and 
my....um, I guess concern for her that she started opening up. I was 
told there had been a Rei before the one I knew. She looks exactly like 
your daughter but, once again, had blue hair. She died and was reborn as 
the Rei I first got to know."
  "Um, how did my dau....how did that Rei die?"
  Ranma said, "I dunno. Heck, I dunno how the second Rei really die 
either? Wait, now I remember, she committed seppukku to save your son. I 
don't really know must more than that. I'm gonna ask her that when I get 
back,"
  "S-she died for Shinji?"
  Ranma's stomach grumbled, "Ah, let's eat."
  "Y-you're e-eating here?"
  "Sure why not? I'm not a bad guy, y'know," he said, opening the door 
for Yui.
  "No, you're actually an Angel," Yui said, entering the apartment, 
Ranma following behind.
  "Thank you," Ranma said with a smile.
  "Not that kind of angel..."

  Ranma sat at the table and was enjoying the meal.
  "Tastes good, Shinji," Ranma commented with a smile, nearly inhaling 
mouthfuls of food.
  "You're the one who cooked it." Shinji said, "I just continuously 
stirred it until it was ready. That's all,"
  Ranma turned toward Yui. She seemed to be eyeing him intently, willing 
him to leave her and her family alone. She didn't seem all that 
comfortable with his presence. He said, "Don't worry, I'll leave once 
I'm finished eating. All I'm gonna do is eat and then leave," That 
seemed to comfort her a bit for he noticed her relaxing somewhat, albeit 
little.
  "Hey, Rei, Shinji, ya interested in hearing some of my adventures?" he 
said with a smile, "They're really cool."
  Rei nodded emphatically while Shinji said, "Sure,"
  "Keep in mind ya hafta keep an open-mind here," Ranma began, "I've 
been to some weird places. Like once, many years ago, I went back in 
time,"
  "I may be young, but I'm not stupid," Shinji said, his eyes narrowing.
  Ranma sighed, "I said to keep an open mind. There's a lotta stuff that 
you  don't know about. I happen to have found some things that no one 
really knows about. Anyway, I went back in time on several occasions."
  "Like where?" Rei asked curiously, believing Ranma. Yui seemed to be 
intent on listening too.
  "Okay, in this world, there was supposed to be a thing called a Second 
Impact. I came back in time, along with a girl named Asuka-"
  "Asuka? Asuka Langley? The girl from my class?" Shinji asked.
  Ranma nodded, "Yep. But not exactly the same one. She's a bit 
different. She's an EVA pilot,"
  "No way!"
  "Yeah, and a pretty good one at that," he said, "Anyway, she and I 
came back in time and stopped it from happen." He looked at Rei and 
smiled, "You should see what we had to go through while on our way to 
Antractica. That's where the Second Impact took place. Well, we took a 
boat from Japan to Antarctica. And Asuka drove me nuts on several 
occasions. I remember once, I was taking a swim, and two sharks attacked 
me,"
  Rei's eyes widened. Shinji's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to believe 
any of this.
  "What happened?" Rei asked.
  "The shark bit me right on my shoulder," he said, "And another bit me 
on the ankle. Now, Shinji, before you ask me for a look, I happen to 
real real fast and my scars disappear after a short while,"
  "Yeah," Shinji said sarcastically.
  Ranma smirked, "You don't believe me, do you? I betcha you don't 
believe in ki-blasts either,"
  "Ki-blasts?"
  "It's this huge amount of energy you can generate," Ranma said, "And 
it just so happen, ki-blast and penetrate through an Angel's AT field 
like it wasn't there. If I recall correctly, it takes about all the 
energy from all of Japan to generate enough power to break one those. 
Well, since ki is totally different, it can break through an Angel's 
defense with no trouble,"
  "Y-you're kidding me," Yui said. She didn't believe a word he was 
saying but for some reason, he made it sound very plausible.
  Ranma shook, "Nope. I swear. I would show you but I'm gonna play it 
safe and not reveal....my powers," He smiled, "I don't want people 
poking and prodding me with question as to how I do it. It's just that I 
just can. It's just the less people that know, the less chance I'll be 
viewed of as some kinda weapon. Anyway, aside from myself, there's only 
one other person who could rival, um, my powers and his name is Ryoga."
  "No one else?" Yui asked.
  Ranma scratched his chin, "Hm, there are a few that might give me a 
run for my money. Herb, Taro, and Saffron come into mind. Hey, now that 
you brought that up, now I know what I'm gonna do right after I get back 
home, I'm gonna look those three guys up and see how their training's 
coming. I'll do this after I ask how Rei really died,"
  Rei's eyes widened, "W-what?"
  Ranma chuckled weakly, "No. It's not you I'm talking about. There was 
this girl named Rei Ayanami. She died and was cloned."
  "Cloned?" Shinji asked. "P-people can be cloned?"
  Ranma nodded, "What do you think I am? I'm a clone. Pretty weird, ne?"
  "My head hurts," Shinji said.
  Yui gave Ranma a weird look. 
  "All right, I may not be a clone, but the pieces of the puzzle fall 
together and it all points to me being a clone," he said with a shrug of 
his shoulders, "Although I don't like the thought, I've already accepted 
it. It doesn't really bother me because I myself don't feel any 
different, and that's all that counts,"
  Shinji leaned back in his chair, "This is all made up, ne?"
  "Nope. I'm pretty sure you won't believe me." Ranma replied seriously, 
"It's kinda hard to get people to believe me nowadays because of what 
I've seen. All right, he's a question, do you believe in ghosts?"
  Shinji shook his head. Rei shook her head also.
  Ranma was about to say something but figured he might scare Rei. 
Instead, he said, "All right, how about, say, being cursed?"
  Shinji and Rei both shook her head. Yui continued to watch Ranma 
intently, not knowing what to think.
  "Well, I used to be cursed." Ranma said slowly, "I am not gonna tell 
you what the curse is, but some aspects of it was immortality,"
  "W-what?" Yui spouted, "Y-you're i-immortal?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. But I used to be immortal. Here's a 
question, how old do I look? Twenty five? Somewhere around there? A part 
of the curse was, I guess, eternal youth. I got rid of the curse about a 
decade ago, that's why I look this age. Y'see, I got cursed at a young 
age and seemed to remain that age. Then, roughly, what, fifty or so 
years later, I get rid of my curse but I'm changed back to the original 
age I was cursed,"
  "That's so cool," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind being immortal,"
  "It has it's quarks, but it's not all that great," Ranma said.
  "Hold up," Yui said. She had been keeping an open mind all this time. 
"Y-you mean to tell me you used to be cursed with immortality."
  Ranma shook his head and said, "No. I was cursed with something else. 
Immortality was part of that curse. I'm not gonna tell you the true part 
of the curse cause it's kinda embarrassing. Anyway, Yui, you remember 
when your husband mentioned that I should respect my elders? And I said 
I was actually eighty? Well, in truth, I really am."
  "Y-you're eighty?" Rei said honestly, "You're old,"
  Yui blushed. Ranma chuckled heartily. "Yes. I'm very old. I just 
happen to look young. I've been through experiences people in their 
lifetimes may never experience. For instance, time travel, going to 
other worlds, fighting these robots called boomers, fighting Angels up 
close and personal, and much much more. I've been through a lot,"
  Shinji turned toward Yui, "Mom, how did you an Ranma meet? How do you 
know each other?"
  Ranma quickly answered for her, "Actually, you mother and I met 
recently, um, I know Gendo mostly."
  Yui looked at Ranma, saw him nod slightly. She said, "Um, yes."
  "Like I said earlier, um, Gendo and I go way back. I knew him from 
over fifteen or so years ago" Ranma said. "The only problem, Gendo don't 
remember me." Ranma, finished with his meal, got up off his seat, "All 
right, I better get going now,"
  "No, stay," Rei pleaded "Tell us some more,"
  Ranma smiled warmly and place a gentle hand on Rei's hand, "Nah, I 
better get going now. Shinji, you probably have homework to do,"
  Shinji was about to protest but when Yui glared at him, he nodded and 
soon left the room.
  "Rei, go act like a little girl and go and bug your brother," Ranma 
said with a smirk. He even chuckled when Rei nodded and ran off for 
Shinji's room. 
  When the children were gone, Ranma proceeded to pick up the dishes.
  "I-I never knew about this with you," Yui said.
  "You never asked," Ranma answered, placing the stack of dishes in the 
sink, turning on the water. "It doesn't really matter, I'm pretty sure 
they don't believe me anyway. They just like to be entertained,"
  Yui said nothing. She found the stories Ranma told rather 
unbelieveable herself.
  "I brushed it aside, that you were, um, eighty," she said softly, 
proceeding to wash the dishes.
  "No. I'm actually older than eighty," Ranma correctly, "I lost count 
at around sixty plus years old. My age doesn't really matter all that 
much to me."
  "Um, you said when you get back to your world....." she said, "Um, 
where do you live? How do you plan on getting back there?"
  "Not here. I don't even live on this world," he said, proceeding to 
dry the dishes, "I plan on getting back to my world the same way I got 
here, through the use of a magical mirror. I know it sounds crazy, but 
after having been through what I've been through, you tend to develop a 
very open mind. I'm gonna stay here for a short while, find out exactly 
what's going on, and then head back home. I don't wanna stay here longer 
than I'm supposed to."
  Yui was silent.
  "Heck, I'll walk outta this apartment and you will never see me again 
if I wanted it that way," Ranma said truthfully, turning to face Yui, 
"But I've always had this thing to stay and help out others even if they 
don't know they need help. It's in my nature. Besides, I want to know 
the truth once and for all....about this world. There's so many 
unanswered questions. Also, getting to know you would be a good enough 
reason to stay,"
  Yui blushed, "I'm married,"
  Ranma stared at Yui for a short moment and then chuckled, "No. Not 
like that. You're Shinji's mother. Back on my world, you died when he 
was three. He kinda took it very hard and wonders who his mother was. 
But, since the Shinji of this world acts very much like the Shinji that 
I know, I believe you act a lot like the mother that Shinji lost back on 
my world."
  Yui was silent. She didn't like the thought of her son suffering 
through life without having known her.
  "When I get back, I'm gonna tell Shinji that I met you, his mother, 
and if he wants me to, I'll tell him about you and what kinda person you 
are," he said softly. "That's what I'm doing right now with Naoko. The 
Ritsuko of my world, her mother died also."
  "You have a kind heart," Yui commented.
  "Well, the dishes are done, I'm gonna get going now," he said.
  "Where are you going?"
  "To Nerv," came the answer, "I'm gonna ask your husband some 
questions. Perhaps he could help solve some unanswered questions I have. 
Once I get my answers, I'm going home and I'll be outta your hair once 
and for all. I've seen how you've looked at me, wanting me to leave and 
all,"
  "Um, that was before I got to know you...."
  Ranma chuckled, "Well, I gotta go anyway. I don't belong here. I don't 
know if I'm doing more harm than good to this world just by being here. 
I don't wanna end up really messing this world up. Oh, and do me a favor 
and not call your husband on my coming there. I don't like having to 
make my way all the way through Nerv and all its security just to ask 
him questions. I promise you, I'm not gonna hurt him. Heck, in all my 
years, I have never hurt anyone....at least not intentionally."
  "I don't like the sound of that," Yui commented, her visage growing 
stern.
  "Don't worry about it. Many years ago, I was mistakened for boomer,"
  "Boomer?"
  "Yeah, a robot," he said, "Anyway, these three girls wearing these 
specialized suits mistakened me for a boomer and tried to kill me. Me, I 
thought they were boomers and tried to kill them. It wasn't until I 
realized they acted way too human before I stopped. They suffered minor 
cuts and bruises but that's all. The thing is, I don't hurt people. I've 
only killed one person in my life. He was that Lorenz guy. I killed him 
because if I hadn't, he would've killed my.....friend, Ryoga and Rei and 
would've caused the Third Impact, which would mean the extinction of 
mankind. All that when weighed against the death of one man kinda made 
it an easy decision on what to choose. I'm not a bad guy."
  "I-I believe you," Yui said, and she really found herself beliving so.
  "Well, I better get going. I'll see you later," he said with a polite 
bow, "It was nice talkin' to ya."
  "Um, yeah, sure. Likewise,"
  Ranma turned around and left the apartment.
  "Could he be a true angel...."

   It was probably around eight when Ranma showed up at the badly 
damaged entrance that Ranma had nearly blown off its hindges during 
Nerv's feeble attempt to stop him. Having even gone to extremes as to 
sending out Unit-00 to retrieve him, their efforts at getting him back 
had been futile for Ranma was already gone by the time it had been 
launched.
  Ranma entered the headquarters and walked down the corridor toward the 
control room. He had no real idea but assumed that was the best place to 
be. After walking around for an hour and a half, Ranma had finally come 
to terms of himself and him being perhaps a clone and accepted it. It 
was because Akane was able to deal with the same dilema that kept Ranma 
from going insane. If she could handle it, so could Ranma.
  He accidentally emerged from the corridor and into the EVA bay. He 
looked up at the three looming giant EVA units lined up on one side of 
the room, submerged to their neck in some kind of liquid.
   "Hm, perhaps stumbing here is better than makin' it to the control 
room," he said to himself, "I wanna see if Unit-01 can really move on 
its own," 
  He stared at Unit-01 for a moment and said, "Raise your arm up," 
  He was disappointed when it didn't respond. "Hm, perhaps I'm not like 
that Kaworu kid. I can't make a EVA move like Shinji had said that kid 
did,"
  Ranma found this odd yearning to talk to Unit-01, as if that EVA unit 
was somehow connected to him, "Hey, Unit-01, can ya hear me? Do you have 
ears?"
  Unit-01 made no movement.
  "I have a question to ask you," Ranma continued, "How come you moved 
last time but didn't move this time? I'm sure it had to do with me 
because you moved your hand to swat those guards away because they 
seemed like they were a threat to me,"
  Ranma raised his arm. He was hoping that perhaps Unit-01 would imitate 
his movements. It did not.
  "Waitaminute," Ranma said, realizing something. 
  He smirked as he stared up at Unit-01 for a short moment.
  All of a sudden, Unit-01 raised its right arm out of under the liquid 
it was mostly submerged it. An alarm went off since Unit-01 had just 
broken one of its arms free from its arm restraints.
  "All right!" Ranma said, raising his arm into the air in triumph, "It 
moves based on my thoughts! That's so cool!"
  He looked up toward the top of the room where he saw a window. "Hm, 
perhaps that's an observation booth," He said. 
  He turned his attention toward Unit-01 and smiled. Unit-01 turned its 
hand so the palm would be facing the ceiling. Ranma casually hopped on 
to the hand. A second later, Unit-01 raised its arm up toward the 
ceiling, stopping when Ranma found himself standing at the same level as 
the observation booth.
  He looked in and said, "Hm, no one in there."
  Unit-01 brought Ranma back down onto the walking platform below. When 
Ranma hopped on its hand, Unit-01 brough its arm back down to its side, 
submerged in liquid.
  "Well, at least now I know how to use you," he said with a smile, 
"But, I can't stay. It's gonna get awfully crowded in here in a minute 
or so,"
  With that said, Ranma left the room, whistling a happy tune.

  Ranma entered the control room where he spotted Gendo standing in 
front of a screen.  
  "Where is everybody?" he asked.
  Gendo was startled and quickly turned around. When he saw that it was 
Ranma, he were even more shocked.
  "W-what are you doing here?!" Gendo asked, a slight hint of panic in 
his voice.
  "I came to ask some questions," Ranma said. He sat down on one of the 
chairs. "It concerns Seele,"
  Gendo flinched a bit. Ranma smirked when he saw this.
  Ranma didn't even bother to wait for a reply. He simply sat down in a 
nearby chair and said, "I'm gonna ask you some questions later but I 
want you to hear me out first."
  Ranma took a deep breath, thinking of what to say. After a short 
moment, he said, "Fifteen years ago, the first Angel arrived on 
Antarctica. And fifteen years ago, a man and a girl infiltrated the 
Katsuragi Expidition and used the information to find out of the Angel's 
location and stole one of their units and proceeded to that location. 
That man was name Ranma. The girl was Asuka. While there, I told a young 
Misato of the Angel that was going to attack fifteen years later. 
Fifteen years later, the Angel attacked as predicted. Do you know why?"
  Gendo took a step back. "No,"
  "That's because I've been through all of this once already and 
remember everything," Ranma said. "This world is only slightly different 
from the one I experienced, even though the Second Impact had been 
prevented. But, as of right now, we don't know if the Second Impact had 
been prevented because it could have been covered up. Seele has come up 
with a plan called the Human Complement Project...and is attempting to 
raise mankind to another existence, but, in order to do so, must cause 
an Impact, perhaps a conrolled one instead. Am I right?"
  Gendo said nothing.
  "Okay, I guess I am right."
  "I-I said nothing," Gendo said, his voice a bit shaky.
  "So? I don't need to hear what you say to know," Ranma said with a 
smirk, "Anyway, you are somehow connected to this Human Complement 
Project. How? Your wife is very much alive. In the other world, your 
wife died and you wanted to implement that Impact so you could be with 
her. You had told that to Shinji just moments before you shot him,"
  Gendo's skin colored paled a bit. He could not picture himself shoot 
his son for anything. This other Gendo must be a cold hearted bastard to 
do something that horrible.
  "But, since your wife is alive, why are you still trying to create a 
so called Impact?" Ranma asked, "What is the reason behind it?"
  "I don't need to tell you,"
  Ranma sneered, "No you don't. But, I could can turn a whole lotta 
heads. I definitely know enough information about Seele to expose them. 
And what then? I can goto the UN and tell `em about the Human Complement 
Project. I can tell them about Lorenz. And, I can tell them about how 
Nerv has Lilith located underneath this headquarters,"
  "How do you know about Lilith?"
  Ranma smirked, "I didn't. But now I do. I just assumed Lilith was 
located under this base and your reaction confirms it."
  "I don't need to speak to you. I've had enough of this," Gendo got up 
to leave. He hit a button, "Security, we have-"
  Ranma reached a hand out and placed it on Gendo's shoulder, "I 
wouldn't do that if I were you. I don't want no trouble. I'm here to 
find some information. I'm here to find out about the truth before I go 
back to my own world,"
  Gendo said, "Security, cancel that last transmission." He turned 
toward Ranma and said, "You are leaving?"
  "No, not yet," Ranma said, "Something doesn't add up. Why are you 
working for Seele?"
  "I'm not. I'm working for the UN. I am to spy on them," Gendo said 
with a sigh. "The UN is aware of a secret organization but knows nothing 
much about it. I am a spy sent by the UN to infiltrate Seele to find out 
their true motives. I have reason to believe that the Human Compliment 
Project is just a smoke screen to hide something of greater importance,"
  "You're lying." Ranma said flatly, his eyes narrowing. "Don't lie to 
me"
  Gendo was taken aback. He almost believe the words he had said 
himself. It sounded so plausible. How can Ranma tell that he was lying?
  "I can tell if you're lying," Ranma sneered, "It's written all over 
your face. Tell me the truth!"
  Gendo looked at Ranma, "Please, don't make me tell you"
  Ranma sighed. "Look, Gendo. I am here only to find out the truth 
behind everything."
  "Why?"
  "I'm curious," he answered "Ain't that a good enough reason? Also, 
imagine going through all the trouble of preventing a Second Impact only 
to find out that almost nothing has changed. I'm pretty sure you would 
be curious too,"
  Gendo sat down. 
  "Okay, let's make a deal," Ranma said, "I'm positive I know somethings 
that you don't. How about we trade information? How about this for a 
little teaser on what I know? The disappearance of Unit-04, do you know 
what happened to it?"
  Gendo shook his head, "No, but I have reasons to belive I know who's 
behind its disappearance,"
  "All right, then I guess you know that it's Seele," Ranma said, "Why? 
Because in a very short while from now, after all the Angels are 
defeated, Seele will send nine EVA units, each one with that S2 thingie 
in it. Seele stole Unit-04 and will use it as a model for the EVAs that 
will soon attack,"
  "This is all an assumption," Gendo said.
  "All right, then who do you believe it was?" Ranma asked patiently.
  "I believe it was Seele also," he answered. "But tell me this, how do 
you exactly know about this? What makes you think Seele will attack 
Nerv?"
  "Because it happened on the other world," Ranma said, a bit annoyed, 
"Dontcha get it. This world is very similar to the other one. The chain 
events seem to happen in sequence, but is only slightly different from 
the one I've witnessed. Sure, you have three billion more people more on 
this world than the other, but why the hell does Nerv have the exact 
people that I remember from the other world? You have three extra 
billion people to choose from, damnit, yet still chose the same people. 
Do you catch my drift?"
  Gendo nodded slightly.
  "I have reason to believe that Seele will send an Angel to infiltrate 
the base," Ranma continued, "And that Angel came from that disappeared 
Unit-04,"
  "W-what makes you say something like that?" Gendo said, "The event 
didn't even happen. It's all an assumption."
  "Hear me out," Ranma said, exasperated, "Unit-01 has that S2 thingie 
in it and doesn't need batteries anymore, right?"
  "Right, but what does that have to do with-"
  Ranma continued and said, "Now, Unit-04, which recently disappeared, 
also had the S2 thingie in it. I came from Unit-01 and I just realized 
that I can make Unit-01 do whatever I want it to. Why? Because I just 
came from the EVA bay and made move. Didja hear that alarm go off not 
too long ago? Well, that went off because I made Unit-01 move. Of 
course, I wasn't there to find out what happened."
  Gendo was silent. He remembered hearing the alarm go off. When he had 
gotten to the bay, computers gave reading that Unit-01 had moved its 
arms.
  "Now, this Angel that Seele will send, he also had the ability to make 
an EVA move on his command," Ranma said, "Now, wouldn't that be a bit 
coincidental. Could that mean that the Angel came from Unit-04?"
  "Waitaminute," Gendo said, noticing a flaw in Ranma's hypothesis, "If 
what you say is true, then that must mean you're an Angel. But that 
isn't true because we've run countless tests on you and you proved to be 
human,"
  "Yes, just like that Angel," Ranma said, "The Angel will have the name 
of....Kaworu, I think. Anyway, think of it. On the other world, Kaworu 
managed to get all the way down to the heart of Nerv. How could he have 
even made it into Nerv in the first place if tests showed that he was an 
Angel? Exactly, that's because he was detected as a human, like myself,"
  "So what you're saying is that you're an Angel?"
  "Ritsuko insists on it," Ranma said. "And why shouldn't I believe her? 
She's the EVA expert. Besides, it all seems to fall into place. And, 
like you said, you believe Seele was behind Unit-04's disappearance. 
Well, Seele will also be sending an Angel right into this base not too 
long from now,"
  Gendo looked down at the ground. This was too much for him to take in. 
  "Your head hurts, ne?" Ranma said with a snicker, "Think of how much 
mine hurts? I hafta deal with the thought that I'm....whatever....a 
clone that is part Angel that was born from an EVA."
  That didn't seem to make things any easier on Gendo.
  Ranma cleared his throat and continued on, "Now, since you've got a 
idea of what I know, perhaps now you will tell me why you are working 
with Seele?"
  "I can't!" Gendo said.
  "Why not?"
  "I just can't!!"
  "Please...." Ranma pleaded.
  "No!"
  "Fine, please with a goddamn cherry on top!"  
  "No!!"
  Ranma sighed, "What's with the stick up your ass?! Why can't you tell 
me? Does this have anything to do with you or your family?"
  Gendo flinched. Ranma caught that.
  "Yes, it does! But what?" Ranma persisted, "What does this have to do 
with you and your family? Tell me. I can help you."
  "How? You're only one man," Gendo said sullenly.
  Ranma smirked, "I'm much more than meets they eye. You have yet to 
even see what I am capable of."
  "It doesn't matter," Gendo got up.
  Ranma stood up and started glowing blue "Shit! Just fucking tell me! 
Are you goddamn stupid? I'm trying to help!!!"
  Gendo took a step back and fell to the ground, shocked at what he was 
seeing.
  Ranma, realizing that he was glowing, willed his ki to abate. After a 
moment, there was no more aura around him, "Sorry about that. I got 
angry. Anyway, just tell me. Look, you have my word that I'll tell no 
one."
  Gendo sighed. He knew that Ranma wouldn't go away. 
  "Fine, I'll tell you," Gendo said in a resignated voice. He slowly got 
up and sat down on a chair next to Ranma. Ranma sat down also. "I have 
been forced to work for Seele," he said softly, looking over his 
shoulder, "You see, this entire city sits on top of seven N2 mines. And 
if I don't do as I'm told, this entire town will be destroyed....along 
with my family,"
  "So? Disable the mines," Ranma said. "Or evacuate the city...."
  Gendo shook his head, "I can do neither. The mines were put in shortly 
after the city became fortified. How it got there, I have no idea, but I 
know they are there. When the first Angel attack, the city was 
evacuated, but at that time, there were no mines. The mines had been put 
in sometime during the time when people were moving back into the city, 
and when the building were being fortified with steel plating."
  "Damn," Ranma said, listening intently, "Go on,"
  "Seele has chosen me to implement the Human Complement Project." Gendo 
said, "And I could do nothing to prevent it. If I refused, Seele will 
know I was coming on to them and would detonate the mines and rid all 
evidence of their involvment along with Nerv and...my family. I can't 
evacuate the city now because they'll find out. I can't look for the 
mines because they will find out also. They have spies all over the 
place. Hell, you could be one of the spies here to find out what I 
know." He looked down, "I can't trust anybody....except my family,"
  Ranma looked at Gendo sympathetically.
  Gendo took a deep breath and continued to tell everything, "I've been 
working on this Human Complement Project but have been going about 
trying to stall it as much as possible because I know that as soon as 
I'm finished, Seele will implement it. Alone, I have been going about 
trying to find Seele's secret location but I don't know what it is and 
it takes time because I have to go about doing this without making 
anyone suspicious."
  "Oh man," Ranma said, "So when I showed up, spouting all this stuff 
about the project and Seele and everything, you panicked because you 
believe I have either found out or someone will hear me and relay it to 
Seele,"
  Gendo nodded.
  "Damn," Ranma said, "This is deep. I'm sorry. I-I didn't know 
that...."
  Gendo sighed and said, "That's why I was so intent on getting you back 
to Nerv without anyone finding out because Seele is unaware of who you 
are or where you came from. Of course, when you disappeared...."
  "You believe Seele will find out," Ranma finished for him.
  "Yes," Gendo said, "I am in a very awkward bind. I have to work on the 
project while simultaneously work on fighting off the Angels. If the 
project is found out in anyway by the public, Seele will set off the 
mines. If the Angels succeed in destorying Nerv, humanity will die. If 
the project is finished, it will be implemented. Many times it has 
crossed my mind to expose Seele publically but I can't. The people at 
Seele are desperate people. They don't even care that destorying the 
evidence would also mean destorying Nerv....which would mean the Angels 
getting through."
  "Damn, that sucks," Ranma said. He got up off his seat, "And you're 
the only one here aware of all of this? Aside from myself that is,"
  Gendo nodded, "Yes."
  Ranma smiled weakly, "Actually, perhaps not. I saw Shinji today and 
went with him back to you home where I met Rei and your wife. Let's just 
say that I've been doing quite a bit of talking so they should be 
suspicious of something. Sorry. I wouldn't have done that if I had known 
all of this first,"
  "T-T-They know?!" Gendo asked, his eyes wide.
  "Now they do,"
  "You fucking asshole!!" Gendo shouted, getting up off his seat.
  Ranma stood up, "Don't do anything rash. It's too late now anyway. 
They know and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is tell 
`em to keep quiet. Also, what's there to be so scared about, I thought 
you said you trust your family,"
  Gendo calmed down a bit and composed himself, "Y-yes. I do."
  "When you're done with your work, or whatever, just tell `em to keep 
quiet on it when you get home," Ranma said.
  "I'll do that,"
  Ranma looked around, "Where is everybody?"
  "On standby," Gendo replied, "In case of another Angel attack, they 
will be able to respond immediately. Everyone went to the cafeteria to 
eat."
  "What about Misato and Ritsuko?" Ranma asked, looking about. "Where 
are they?"
  "In the brig,"
  Ranma was shocked to hear this at first but then realized something. 
It was perfectly logical that they would be put there because they would 
most likely be viewed as the reason to Ranma's supposed escape. But, 
since Ranma had come back, it was obvious that they had nothing to do 
with it. "I assume you believed it was their fault that I escaped."
  Gendo nodded. "They were going to be questioned in their involvment of 
your escape."
  "Well, I simply went out for a walk." He said, "I had a lot on my 
mind. But, since I'm here, it's obvious that I didn't supposedly escape. 
Well, let's go get them out,"
 
  Misato and Ritsuko stood outside on the helicopter landing pad. It was 
the same place where he and Naoko had a small talk before Ritsuko had 
appeared. The three of them were looking out at the city. It was now 
well past sundown and the city sparkled with lights.
  Ranma was leaning his back against the railing as the gazed at the two 
females standing before him.
  "You leaving like that was very uncalled for, you should have at least 
let someone know beforehand," Ritsuko said, a bit angry. She didn't like 
sitting in that cramped cell for several hours while Ranma walked around 
the city.
  "I'm sorry, I didn't know the consequences," Ranma apologized, "I was 
kinda used to the other world and how I acted there. I won't do it 
again,"
  Ritsuko gave a small smile, "Well, that's good to hear. Um, did you 
have enough time to think things over?"
  Ranma took a deep breath, "Yeah. I accept what you told me,"
  Misato was a bit surprised, "Gee, you don't seem to be taking it that 
hard,"
  "Let's just say it was because of a really good friend of mine," he 
replied, "She's a clone of the real person that I know....and she's no 
different. Since it doesn't bother her, and she's learned to accept it, 
it shouldn't bother me all that much to do the same for myself." He 
turned around and looked at the city, 
  "Hey, what happened to the pilots that were supposed to swing on by 
earlier for the synchro test?"
  "You probably missed them since you were out so long," Ritsuko asked. 
"The tests only take a short while,"
  "Oh well, I'll meet them another time," he said non-chalantly. "Um, I 
have a few questions I'd like to ask the two of you,"
  "Like what?" Misato answered for the both of them.
  "When did I supposedly appeared in this world? After which Angel? 
Exactly how did I appear?"
  Ritsuko stepped forward and said, "It was right after the forteeth 
Angel. Suzuhara had somehow disappeared within the entry plug. After 
roughly a month, he reappeared, and so did you,"
  "That means there are three more Angel's left, ne?" he asked.
  "Yes,"
  "So, this took place right after Unit-01 ate that Angel?"
  "Yes. How did you know?"
  Ranma smiled, his back still toward the females, "The significant 
chain of events seem to take place in sequence. The differences between 
the events that unfold here as opposed to the other world is only 
slightly different from one another," 
  "Is that so wrong?" Ritsuko asked,
  "Not really," Ranma said, "It just means it's much harder for me to 
predict what's going on. That's all. Nothing much to worry about,"

  Ranma entered Gendo's office shortly after his little chat with Misato 
and Ritsuko. He didn't even bother to knock. That seemed to anger Gendo 
a bit.
  "What do you want?" Gendo asked, annoyed. He had been busy reading 
some documents, trying to come up with a plan to finding and ridding 
those N2 mines, where ever they were.
  Ranma smirked, "Not that I really give a damn, but you should go get 
some sleep. You do have a family at home waiting for you. If you're 
gonna use some lame excuse like you hafta stay in case of an Angel 
attack, it's useless. After talking to Misato and Ritsuko, I just found 
out that there are only three more Angels left."
  "For your information, there are four Angels left," Gendo said. He was 
going to have a talk with Ritsuko and Misato tomorrow. The eleventh 
Angel, the Angel that had attacked MAGI never occured. The MAGI's data 
recorder showed that no such incident had occurred.
  Ranma paused for a moment, and said, "Four Angels left? That's 
strange, I could have sworn I heard `em say there were three. Didn't the 
forteenth Angel attack?"
  "No, that was the thirteenth," 
  "Damn, that's shot to hell then," Ranma said, "I figured I'd do ya a 
favor and tell you that the last three remaining Angels attacked during 
daylight. I can't remember when the forteenth Angel attacked."
  Gendo looked up at Ranma and said, "And what do you have to back this 
assumption up as to when these Angel will attack?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I remember being told this. If you 
don't believe me, don't. Sooner or later, you'll start realizing I'm 
actually here to help. Anyway, perhaps a lack of sleep is a good reason 
why you could be so damn uptight all the time."
  There was an awkward silence. It was broken when Ranma said, "Can you 
do me a favor?"
  "What?"
  "I want to go to the children's school tomorrow," Ranma said, "I want 
to at least attempt to fix up the damage that my big mouth has caused. 
Anyway, I'd like to teach in their school. On the other world, I taught 
in the school for a short while and really enjoyed it. I'd like to do it 
again,"
  "No," Gendo said.
  Ranma sighed. After a moment, he said, "All right. How about you go 
home tonight to undo what I have done? Oh, wait, you're worried an Angel 
will attack, ne? Oh well, I guess I'll hafta do it." 
  With that said, Ranma left.
  Gendo gritted his teeth.
 
  Asuka opened her locker and out out fell what seemed like a bagful of 
love letters.
  "I hate boys! They're all a bunch of idiots!" Asuka muttered to 
herself. She threw them to the floor and stepped on them, kicking them 
in the general direction of the trash bin. "I wish they would leave me 
alone,"
  Ranma watched as Asuka did this, smiling. "She acts like the same 
Asuka I know," he commented, leaning against the wall. He ignored 
several stares from girls as they passed by. Sure, he was out of place 
for a student, but he actually looked old enough to be a teacher.
  Knowing that class would soon be starting, Ranma turned his attention 
away from Asuka and onto a nearby door and read the room number. He 
realized that he was only doors away from the assigned room. He smirked. 
He sure didn't have much trouble getting getting Gendo's permission for 
him to teach here. The Gendo of this world was nowhere near as cold as 
the Gendo he disliked. 
  Ranma assumed all Gendo had to do was make one phonecall to do all of 
this. He stepped back and looked down the hallway to his left and then 
to the right. The classroom could be in either direction because he 
didn't know which direction the roomnumbers counted up. 
  Asuka, heading toward her room, bumped into Ranma as he took a step 
back.
  "Hey, watch where you're going!" Asuka nearly bit Ranma's head off. 
She was in a bad mood, especially after finding out her locker stuffed 
with pathetic love letters.
  Ranma wondered whether or not to introduce himself. He decided against 
it and pretend he didn't know her, at least not the other version of 
her. "Sorry `bout that." he said. "Um, I-I'm Ranma." It felt funny 
meeting Asuka for the first time.....for the second time.
  "So?" Asuka said, eyes narrowing. 
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right. See ya,"
  Asuka was a bit surprised at Ranma's reaction. Most of the time, the 
boys, even the older ones, would at least stay and try and get her name. 
She regarded Ranma for a moment as he walked away. He looked like he was 
too old to be in this school. "Hmph, he's probably too stupid and got 
left back several times in a row,"
  She watched him for a moment longer before she turned around and 
headed for her classroom.
  
  "Shinji," Asuka said, "Have you ever heard of a person named Ranma?"
  Shinji looked at Asuka and said, "Ranma? Yeah. He was at my house just 
the other day. Why?"
  Asuka jerked a thumb toward the door, "I saw him outside in the 
hallway,"
  "Really?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.
  "Who is he?"
  "He knows my family," Shinji answered her.
  At that moment, Ranma entered the room, "Sorry class," he said with a 
smile, "I didn't mean to be late"
  "Who the hell are you?" Toji said, leaning back in his seat.
  Ranma smirked. So that's Unit-01's pilot, huh, Ranma thought. He 
recognized the profile picture he had seen when he had been at Nerv a 
short while ago. He looked next to him and saw a boy with glasses. That 
must be Kensuke. And then he looked at the girl with brown hair and 
freckles sitting in the front of the class. That must be Hikari.
  "I'm the new teach," Ranma said with a grin.
  Shinji's jaw dropped. Asuka glared at him. Toji fell of his seat.
  "What?!" the class seemed to ask in unison. Every teacher they had had 
been old and beyond his or her retirement years. It was quite odd seeing 
someone as young looking as Ranma teaching for a change.
 Ranma nodded, "Yep. I'm the new teach." He leaned against the front of 
the desk. "I'm replacing whoever your last teacher was," He looked 
directly at Shinji and pointed toward him, "Shinji, I'd like to have a 
private word with you,"
  "Me?" Shinji asked, pointing to himself, When Ranma nodded, Shinji got 
up off his seat and followed Ranma outside into the hallway. Once 
outside, he asked, "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
  "Shinji, I'd like you to do me a favor," Ranma said, "Remember the 
conversation we had just a short while ago at your place? Don't tell 
anyone about it. Just keep in to yourself."
  "How come?"
  Ranma said, "I don't want word getting around about who I am"
 "Asuka asked me and I told her you had been by my place the other 
night," Shinji said slowly. He felt like he had already disappointed 
Ranma.
  Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma said, "Ah don't worry about it. If 
anyone asks you more about me, just say....I'm your uncle."
  "Um, okay,"
  "Gee, that was easy," Ranma commented to himself with a smile.
  Ranma and Shinji entered the class. Everyone in the class was talking 
among themselves. After Shinji sat down, Ranma asked for the class' 
attention. When only a few did actually stop and look up at him, Ranma 
turned toward the blackboard and scraped his fingernails across it. The 
high pitch and extremely irritating noise seemed to cause everyone to 
stop what they were doing and look up Ranma.
  "What the hell did you do that for?!" Asuka was the first to ask, 
standing up, slapping her desk to emphasize her words.
  "Why to get your attention of course," Ranma said. He turned toward 
the blackboard and picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name. 
Underneath it her wrote the word `Ki'. "My name's Ranma Satotome, but 
you can call me Ranma. I'm here to teach," He pointed toward the word 
and smiled.
   "What's ki?" Toji asked, still leaning back in your chair.
  Ranma smiled, "Please, don't lean back in your chair or I'll show you 
what ki is...."
  Toji looked at Ranma curiously, "What's wrong with my leaning in my 
chair?" Toji wanted to test this new teacher and see how dedicated he is 
to his profession.
  Ranma held an arm forward, open palm facing the ceiling. and smiled, 
"Because ki does can make you do something like....this!"
  He brought his arm back quickly, as if jerking a rope toward him.
  All of a sudden, a huge gush of wind emerged from what seemed like the 
ground. Papers started flying about, some even out the open window. Toji 
fell backwards and onto his back while all the girls screamed because 
they found their dresses being caught in the blast of wind and lifted 
upward.
  Ranma smirked, "That's ki. And today, I'll show you how to use it,"
  "You pervert!!!" the girls shouted.
  "Hm, perhaps I shouldn't have done that demonstration...." was all 
Ranma managed to say before several girls lunged toward him, intent on 
hurting him for his perverted ways.

  The classbell rung.
  "Well class, that's all," Ranma joked, "Go home. Get outta here. I'm 
sick of seeing you. I'm not looking forward to seeing all of you 
tomorrow,"
  Everyone slowly made their way out of the classroom. However, before 
they actually left the classroom, everyone stopped at Ranma's desk and 
bowed to him respectfully, telling him that they had learn more in that 
one day than they had learned of anything all year. Of course, no one 
was or will be able to actually put Ranma's teachings to practical use. 
They just enjoyed hearing of the powers and potential the human body 
had.
  "Toji, Hikari, Kensuke, I'd like to talk to you...about something,"

  Ranma entered the control room several hours after his little 
conversation. It was very odd how Ranma even managed to get into Nerv, 
let alone all the way to the control room without anyone stopping him.
  Naoko, who was looking at the data read outs, looked up at Ranma and 
smiled delightfully, "Hello, Ranma,"
  "G'afternoon," he said with a polite nod, smiling back. He greeted 
Misato and Ritsuko, who were also in the room. After greeting the three 
grils, Ranma turned around and spotted Gendo "Yo, Gendo, I wanna talk 
with ya privately for a moment. Ya busy?"
  "When did they get friendly with one another?" Misato whispered to 
Ritsuko, even nudging her.
  "I don't know," she replied.
  Gendo looked at Ranma for a moment. He did not like this man one bit. 
He got up off his seat, delegating the task to Misato and followed Ranma 
out into the hallway. "What do you want, Ranma?"
  "I have thought of a good plan to exposing Seele and not having to 
worry about the N2 mines blowing up in everyone's face," Ranma said. 
When Gendo eyed him carefully, Ranma continued on and said, "Why not use 
the EVAs to fan out and search for the mines? That way, if any of the 
mines blow up, the EVAs could use its AT field to keep the explosion to 
a minimum,"
  "It won't work. All mines are set to go off at the same time. Even if 
we manage to get three EVAs to generate an AT field over three mines, 
the four remaining ones is more than enough destroy the entire city," 
Gendo said. He had to admit that it was nice of Ranma to at least think 
try and come up with a plan, despite it resulting in a futile effort.
  Ranma sighed and said, "That sucks. Oh well, back to the drawing 
board. Don't worry Gendo, we're bound to come up with a plan to getting 
rid of the mines. I'll keep on trying to come up with a plan. Oh yeah, I 
talked to Shinji at school. And thanks for going outta your way to 
getting me into the school without any problems," 
  Ranma turned around and headed down the corridor toward the mess hall, 
rubbing his now rumbling stomach.
  Gendo watched Ranma as he rounded a corner and disappeared. A moment 
later, Gendo turned around and headed back into the control room.

  Ranma was in the mess hall, munching on food when he heard an alarm 
about twenty minutes after his conversation with Gendo.
  "I recognize that sound," he said, stuffing the rest of his meal in 
his mouth, "That means an Angel had been detected. All right,"
  He stood up, swallowed his meal, and ran toward the control room.

  Ranma looked up at the screen and at the image of the Angel. He didn't 
recognize that Angel. 
  "The Angel is currently in orbit," Misato commented, knowing Ranma was 
about to ask where the Angel was. "It seems to be too high for any of 
our weapons to hit it."
  Ranma said nothing. He could have sworn he rememebered being told that 
the the fifteenth Angel attacked from orbit. He remember also being told 
of another Angel that proceeded to drop parts of its body down to the 
Earth below as it they were bombs, but that Angel has already attacked. 
This had to be the fifteenth Angel, but Gendo mentioned that there were 
four more Angels left, making this one the forteenth.
  "Hm, perhaps the Angels that attack is outta sequence," Ranma 
commented to himself silently. He looked at the screen. The Angel looked 
like some weird looking thing with many appendages jutting out from its 
side. It had a slight white glow to it.
  "What are we going to do?" Maya asked.
  "Damn, the EVAs aren't meant to attack from this distance," Misato 
swore, gritting her teeth. "We need the use the positron rifle again," 
  Ranma continued to stare at the screen. The Angel look like a tiny 
glowing being with giant white wings. That was the best Ranma could 
describe it if asked. "Does the Angel seem to be coming down here or is 
it staying up in orbit?"
 "Up in orbit," Maya said.
  Ranma said, "Where are the children?"
  "Kensuke is going to be sent up in an attempt to use the positron 
rifle," Misato said. She didn't even know why she was telling all of 
this to Ranma. He wasn't even allowed in the control room in the first 
place. But for some reason, she didn't find any problem enclosing 
information to him.
  "That's the mind raping Angel!" Ranma pointed, "That's the Angel that 
mind raped Asuka in the other world! I just know it!"
  "Mind raping Angel?" Maya asked, turning around in her seat.
  Ranma nodded, "Yes. It won't come down here and your positron rifle 
won't work. It's too far away that the energy from it, even at full 
power, won't affect it because it has a strong AT field."
  "H-how was it defeated on the other world?" Misato asked.
  Ranma rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking. "I forget."
  Misato an exasperated breath and turned toward the screen, "Is Unit-02 
ready for launch?"
  "Yes," Maya replied.
  Ranma shouted, "No! Don't!" His voice echoed through the entire 
control room. Everyone turned toward Ranma, regarding him intently.
  "Kensuke is in Unit-02, ne? He's gonna get mentally raped! Asuka got 
all messed up in the head because of that Angel! You can't send him 
out!" Ranma said "I remember how you can defeat it! You use the Lance of 
Longinus!"
  "The Lance? We can't!" Gendo said, standing up.
  Ranma walked over the Gendo, and said in a soft voice, "That's the 
only way. But think of it as killing two birds with one stone. The Lance 
in needed for the Human Comlement Project, right? Well, if you get rid 
of it, you can delay the project."
  Gendo was silent.
  Ranma sighed, "God, you still don't believe I'm here to help, huh? 
Fine, I'll show you!"
  He ran from the room, heading straight for the EVA bay. But before he 
left, he turned around and said, "Misato, have all three children get 
out of the EVAs. You don't want them there to witness what I'm going to 
do. They don't know about me and it's best that you keep it that way!" 
  Misato looked at Gendo a moment after Ranma left, wondering what she 
should do, if she should do as Ranma said.
  Gendo nodded, "Do it,"
  
  "Unit-01 is moving!!!" Maya shouted. It had been about five minutes 
since the children had been put in a safe location, away from 
everything.
  "How the hell is it moving?!" Misato said, "I want to see it on the 
view screen NOW! Is this Ranma's doing?"
  Maya hit a few buttons and picture of Ranma standing on top of Unit-
01's shoulder came on the screen.
  "W-what's going on here?!" Ritsuko said, "How is it moving? There are 
no pilots in that EVA. Toji isn't in there," She stopped. Perhaps her 
hypothesis was correct, "Oh god, it's Ranma that's making it move!" See 
turned toward Misato, "Don't you remember, Misato? When we were in the 
EVA bay and Unit-01 moved on its own to swat those guards? It was Ranma 
that caused it to do it!"
  "What the hell is he up to?!" Misato said to herself.
  "Unit-01 is currently making its way....toward Central Dogma!" Maya 
said, reading the screen read outs.
  "S-stop him!!! Why the hell is he going down there?!"
  Ranma stood above Unit-01 shoulder as the elevator descended toward 
Central Dogma. He was smiling a bit, knowing that everyone in the 
control room was going ballistic trying to figure out what he was up to. 
Gendo would be all calm about it because he knew exactly what Ranma was 
up to since he was the only he had told.
  He looked up at Lilith as she was crucified on the red cross, the 
Lance of Longinus embbedded into her chest.
  "All right, buddy, go fetch that spear thingie," Ranma said, crossing 
his arm, leaning against the shoulder compartment that held the 
progressive knife. He didn't need to actually tell Unit-01 what to do, 
but enjoyed pretending Unit-01 was responding to his vocal commands.
  Unit-01 pulled the Lance out of the Lilith chest.
  "Let's kill that Angel," he said with a smirk.

  Ranma and Unit-01 was stopped while they were on their way toward the 
launch pad. Misato stood in front of them.
  "What's up?" Ranma asked, now sitting on Unit-01 shoulder. He knew she 
was going to give him hell about what he was doing.
  "I-I came to give you this communicator," she said.
   Ranma was suprised to hear what she said. Noticing the communicator 
in her hand, he casually leapt of the EVA and fell toward the ground 
over a hundred feet below. Just moments before he hit the ground, he 
twisted forward in mid air and landed on his feet. 
  Misato seeing him do this, took a step back and tripped over he own 
feet. She had never seen someone do something so incredible. Every 
single bone in his legs should be broken from the impact caused from his 
landing. "W-what the hell are you?"
  Ranma smirked as he took Misato's hand and helped her up. He took the 
communitcator and placed it over his head. "Thanks,"
  "H-how did you do that?" Misato asked.
  He shrugged his shoulders, "There's a lot more stuff that I could do. 
This happens to be one of `em," He chuckled, "Wait until you see my ki-
blasts,"
  "K-ki-blasts?"
  Ranma smiled, "You're bound to find out sooner or later."
  With that said, Ranma did yet another feat that shocked Misato. He ran 
toward a neaby wall and jumped up toward it, triangle jumping off it and 
onto Unit-01's shoulder.
  Unit-01 and Ranma proceeded toward the launch pad.

  "What are you going to do?" he heard Misato's voice.
  Ranma looked up at the sky, "I'm gonna make Unit-01 throw the Lance at 
the Angel and kill it."
  "You're going to what?!" Misato shouted, nearly blowing out Ranma's 
eardrums.
  "No need to shout, jeez," Ranma replied, "I'm gonna kill the Angel. 
The only way to destroy it is to use the Lance to destroy it"
   He continued to look up at the sky, wondering exactly where the Angel 
was as it orbitted around the Earth. The was no way he could see it with 
the naked eye. He trusted that Unit-01 was able to see it and launch the 
Lance right through the Angel's core.
  All of a sudden a white beam of light shone in through the sky and 
seemed to enveloped Ranma and Unit-01.
  "Ah, fuck!" Ranma shouted, placing a hand in front of his face as he 
was slowly being mind raped. "What the hell is going on?! Something is 
trying to get into my brain!!"
  "Ranma!" Misato said, "What's going on out there?!"

  A sixteen year olf Ranma was sitting in the dining area of the Tendo 
home as he ate breakfast with his father and the Tendos.
  Ranma was about to grab the last pickle when his father grabbed it and 
ate it.
  "What the hell didja do that for?!" Ranma shouted, "That pickle was 
mine!"
  "It's all a part of your training, my boy," Genma said. 
  "Training my butt!" Ranma said, standing up. He grabbed his father by 
his gi collar and shoulder threw him into the koi pond that was in the 
backyard. 
  A moment later, a giant Panda, a pair of glasses hanging from one of 
its ears, surfaced. It had an angry look on its face.
  "Suck on that, old man!" Ranma said with a smirk.
  All of a sudden a black piglet appeared out of nowhere and lunged at 
Ranma, biting him on one of his arms. "Argh!!! Let go!!!"
  Ranma grabbed P-chan by the throat and slammed him down on the table.
  "Ranma you idiot!!!" Akane shouted as she brough a hammer down on his 
head, sending it crashing down into the table, breaking the table in 
half.
  Ranma got up, fuming, as he shouted, "What'd ya do that for?!"
  "It's because you hit my P-chan!" she retorted.
  "Bwee!"
  "Y-you're so uncute!!!" Ranma rebuked.
  Akane brought her mallet up again to knock Ranma back into the floor, 
but her eyes widened as she looked over Ranma's shoulder and saw 
something flying directly at the house. "What the?"
  Ranma, noticing Akane, turned around to see what she was looking at. 
It only took a second for Ranma to realize that those incoming 
projectiles were missles. The missles flew right into the house through 
the open back entrance. 
  In a blinding light, the Tendo's and Ranma's father were killed.

  "Get the hell outta my head!!!" Ranma shouted, still holding his face. 
Tears were starting to form around his eyes as he was forced to relive 
his friends and family's death all over again. To see them all die, and 
to be unable to do anything about it made him feel utterly helpless.
  While still on Unit-01's shoulder, Ranma dropped to his knees and 
placed both hands on his head and cried out as if he was in pain. In the 
few seconds that his mind was being raped, he was reliving the moment 
his life changed forever over and over again.
  It was intense. Ranma figured he could stand having his mind raped 
because he had gone through so much and figured he could handle it. Boy, 
was he wrong. Everything felt so real, as he was reliving it all over 
again, like he was right there.
  Back at Nerv Headquarters, Maya said, "I don't know what's going on 
but Unit-01 doesn't seem to be moving." She looked at the visual of 
Ranma as he stood on Unit-01's shoulder, "He seems to be in obvious 
pain,"
  "Ranma, what's going on?" Misato asked. She remembered Ranma 
mentioning something about one of the pilots on the other world being 
mind raped. Perhaps Ranma is going through the same thing that that 
pilot had gone through.
  "I'm being mind raped, that's what's going on!!!" Ranma's angered 
voice entered the room. He was starting to get angry as he was forced to 
relive everything that he wanted to forget. "D-don't do anything!!! I-
I'm fine!!!" 
  But Ranma wasn't fine. It was taking all his willpower to keep from 
going beserk and believing he was back in Nerima during that fateful day 
and sending out ki-blasts toward those boomers that he could see before 
him.
  This continued on for several long and agonizing minutes as Ranma 
struggled with reality and dream. But as time passed, the torrent 
emotions he was feeling seemed to get weaker and weaker as he slowly 
started getting used to the mind rape. It seemed that his assumption on 
the human mind, as well as the human body's ability to adapt proved 
correct.
  In that brief moment of pure clarity, when Ranma knew that he was 
perfectly fine, he had Unit-01 launch the Lance of Longinus toward the 
Angel still in orbit. The Lance shot through the clouds, seemingly 
parting the heavens as it spiralled up toward the sky at escape 
velocity, and right into and through the Angel, killing it.
  Ranma looked up into the sky for a moment as he saw a white light 
spread out throughout and smiled as he realized that it was from the 
Angel exploding. 
  He slowly got up to his feet, twitching a few times, walking the fine 
line between sanity and insanity.
  "I've killed the Angel." he said before closing his eyes and falling 
forward, off Unit-01 and onto the ground far below.

  Ranma awoke.
  "W-where am I?" he asked as he looked around.
  "In the infirmary," Misato said. She was the only one by his bedside. 
  Ranma sat upright, pinching the ridge of his nose, "God, what a 
headache. I must've landed on my head after I fell of that EVA,"
  Misato was silent. If he had landed on his head, he would have died. 
But then again, anyone falling from a distance that high should have 
died also. How Ranma survived, without even a bruise, she could not 
understand for the life of him.
  Ranma stretched out his arms and yawned. "How long was I out?"
  "A few hours," she answered, "It's close to seven at night now,"
  He hopped out of his bed, rubbing his head, twtiching a bit as if 
trying to force something out of his head, "My mind feels fried. Where I 
am right now, it doesn't even feel real to me. I'm having problems 
telling the difference between reality and fiction."
  "What happened back there?"
  Ranma took a deep breath and said, "That Angel made me relive the time 
when my family and friends all died," He looked at his hands, "I was 
there, and I knew what was going to happen, but I couldn't do anything. 
Rather, I acted like it everything would be all right. It felt like some 
reoccurring nightmare that I couldn't wake up from,"
  "Are you all right?" she asked, reaching a hand out and taking his 
hand.
  Ranma looked at Misato's hand and then back at her and smiled 
slightly, "Yeah, I think so. It's just that I went through something I'd 
rather forget. That's all." He laughed to himself, "I'm just grateful I 
didn't hafta relive the time I learned the Nekoken. I guess I got off 
lucky, "
  "The Nekoken?"
  "Don't worry about it. It's kinda like my curse, meaning I don't like 
talking about it anyway. It's kinda embarrassing," he said. He looked 
down at the hospital gown he was wearing. He saw a pair of clothes 
neatly stacked on a chair in the corner of the room, "I'm gonna change,"
  "Go right ahead," Misato said with a smirk. She was shocked when she 
saw Ranma proceed to take this hospital gown off. Only when his gown 
fell down to Ranma's ankles did Misato turn around, blushing a bit. 
  Misato's heart starting beating rapidly. She was joking around and 
trying to call Ranma's bluff but he called hers.
  Ranma put on his clothes and faced Misato, "Oh, in case you're 
wondering. I lack a thing called modesty."
  She smiled, "Perhaps that explains your arrogance at times,"
  Ranma chuckled heartily.
  "You seemed to have taken that Angel experience pretty lightly," 
Misato commented.
  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I guess so. But then again, it 
happened a long time ago. I've learned to let it go. Besides, I've 
avenged their deaths. There's nothing much else I could do about it. 
Hey, where are the children?"
   "They've been temporarily confined to their respective sleeping 
quarters. They're currently unaware about all that had happened. They 
believe it was all a false alarm,"
  Ranma said, "That's good to hear. I need to see Gendo. Is here still 
here?"
  "What for? And no, he isn't here. He went home to be with his family,"
  Ranma smiled, "So, it seems he's finally taking my advice. It's about 
time he realized I'm not the bad guy,"

  Gendo's mouth nearly dropped to the floor when he answered the door 
and saw Ranma.
  "What's up?" Ranma said with a smirk. He didn't seem to have any 
problem convincing Misato to let him have free reign to go where ever he 
wanted.
  "What are you doing here?" Gendo asked.
  "I came here to talk to you about some stuff, some pretty important 
stuff," Ranma said.
  "I have some questions I've been meaning to ask you," Gendo said, 
eyeing Ranma, "Why did you go and tell my kids that I flyfish and play 
tennis and golf?"
  Ranma laughed, "Oops. I forgot about that. I kinda misjudged you at 
first and wanted to embarrass you by telling `em that."
  Gendo was silent. After a moment, he stepped out of the house and took 
a deep breath and said, "What questions do you have for me?"
  "Did Seele grill ya for using the Lance of Longinus?" Ranma asked.
  Gendo shook his head, "Actually, no. They didn't. I find it rather 
strange because the Lance is a very important key to the project,"
  "It's not as important as you think because they're making an 
imitation Lance of Longinus as we speak," Ranma said, "Don't bother 
asking me how I know because I just do. Anyway, I've been thinking about 
what you had told me, about there being four Angels remaining. Something 
doesn't add up,"
  "There are only two Angels remaining now," Gendo said.
  "I figured," Ranma said, "You were lying to me back then."
  Gendo was silent but he nodded.
  "I didn't figure it out at first but during the descent down to 
Central Dogma to fetch the Lance, I had some time to think." Ranma 
began, looking out toward the sky, his back toward Gendo, "I forgot 
about the....I think it was the tenth Angel, right? It was the Angel 
that invaded MAGI, which ever Angel that was."
  "It was the eleventh Angel," Gendo corrected him.
  "Yeah, whatever," Ranma said, "Anyway, I was just curious about it, 
that's all. I have another question. What did you do with Toji? Do any 
of the children know about this?"
  "Toji is at home. He knows nothing about this," Gendo answered, "Why?"
  "Well, because at this point in time, one of the pilots must become 
incapable of piloting an EVA unit. Since I used Unit-01, we should 
pretend that Toji piloted it, not me because Seele probably doesn't know 
about me. That means we hafta somehow incapacitate him,"
  "I don't seem to understand,"
  "The last Angel comes in the form as an EVA replacement pilot," Ranma 
said, "How will you go about getting Seele to send you a replacement 
pilot when