Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Neon Genesis Evangelion\Bubblegum Crisis\Ranma 1\2: Just won't die 5


     "I-I d-died?"
  Ranma and the others were gathered around the dining area table. He 
had finally come back home and had been welcomed with open arms as 
everyone embraced him and told him how much they had missed him just as 
he them. But within moments after his appearance, everyone noticed his 
wings and began to barrage him with questions. However, Ranma, 
remembering that the real version of himself, was curious to see himself 
face to face and refused to say anything until otherwise. When he asked 
what had happened to the other Ranma, they told him.
  Everyone was now silent.
  "H-how on Earth could I have died?!" Ranma asked, feeling very 
disappointed and sad. He wanted answers. He had gone through so much. 
How could he have died? How? "I don't understand? I just got back from 
the other world, and the Second Impact was prevented. B-but how could I 
have died? When did I die?"
  It was Akane that broke the awkward silence. "Ranma, you, your 
otherself-"
  "No, my real self. I'm just a clone!" he spat, angry. He felt angry 
and wanted to throw something. He wanted to break something.
  "Y-you're a clone?" Ritsuko asked, her eyes widening.
  Ranma nodded, "Yes. I'm a clone of the real Ranma...." He took a deep 
breath, forcing himself to calm down as he slowly said, "On the other 
world, I found out that I was a clone. I was created from the blood that 
had been found on Antarctica,"
  "B-blood? Your blood?" Asuka asked.
  Ranma nodded.
  "You....no, Ranma was badly injured during his fight with Adam..." 
Asuka said. She couldn't believe she was saying this. Ever since Ranma 
had died as a result of her selfish need to prevent the Second Impact, 
she had told no one of what had happened, not wanting to recall the 
painful memories of seeing Ranma taking the blow that would prove fatal 
shortly after he defeated Adam.
  "How was I injured?"
  Asuka looked down at the table, "Y-you g-got hurt trying to save 
me...."
  "I-I did?"
  "Yes," Asuka said. She found herself near the brink of tears as 
everyone listened intently, all of them hearing this for the very first 
time since she had gotten back, "Y-you jumped in front of me w-when Adam 
shot that projectile toward me."
  "How come I couldn't survive it?" Ranma asked, making a fist. He was 
getting angry again. He could have survived. Why didn't he? "Was I 
weakened during the battle? I don't remember it. All I remember was that 
preemptive attack Adam made on us while we were on top of that tractor. 
That was where I got a bit hurt and even coughed up some blood. That 
blood was what I had been cloned from. I don't remember anything after 
that...."
  "Cloned? What do you mean by that?" Ritsuko asked, catching something 
Ranma had said.
  Asuka looked at Ranma and said, "A-Adam attacked again, while we were 
getting up off the ground. I-I didn't have enough time to get up off the 
ground and away that you.....you jumped in front of me and pushed me out 
of the way, right before the blast hit you,"
  "Then how did the two of us managed to defeat Adam?"
  "You....you brushed that attack off like it was nothing," Asuka said 
softly, "And you shot one of your ki-blasts right at him. It destroyed 
him on impact. Although you brushed the blast off, the...the blast 
proved fatal,"
  "Did I die after that? Did I die on Antarctica then? What happened?"
  "No." Asuka said, "You didn't die. Y-you....why did you go on and do 
that, you idiot?!" She stood up, tears falling from her eyes.
  "Do what?"
  "Why the fuck did you say you were all right?!" Asuka spat, releasing 
all her emotions, all the emtions that she had kept bottle up all this 
time. "You pretended to weren't hurt!!! You pretended like you were all 
right!!! You acted like that blast didn't affect you when-" A tear fell 
from an eye. After a moment, she composed herself and shouted, "The 
blast broke your fucking ribs and punctured your goddamn heart!!!! But 
you go on and pretend like you were all right!!!! Why?!? Why the hell 
did you do that?!?"
  The was a vase with a flower in it that sat on the middle of the 
table. She picked it up and threw it at a wall, shattering the vase into 
pieces, the flower falling to the ground. "Your heart failed!!! You knew 
you were going to die!!!! You knew!!!! You told me you were all right 
and that I should go home and tell everyone we were back!!!! I came back 
with everyone the next day and you were dead!!!! You died that night we 
came back!!! You knew you were going to die and you didn't want me there 
when you died!!!"
  Ranma was dead silent. He regarded Asuka with sad eyes. She must have 
gone through so much, must have felt responsible for his death.
  Asuka continued to let out her pent up anger, anger at herself, "You 
said you were all right!!! You said everything was fine!!! Why did you 
go and die like that?!?" Asuka finally lost it as she broke down 
sobbing, tears flowing. She slumped down to the floor, her face in her 
hands, weeping uncontrollably.
  Akane and Misato and Ritsuko quickly rushed to her side and comforted 
her.
  "It's all right, Asuka," Misato said in a soothing voice, "Let it all 
out,"
  "It's prefectly all right to cry, Asuka," Akane said.
  Asuka said between sobs, forcing herself to look at him"Why Ranma?! 
Why did you die?!"
  Ranma looked at Asuka's sad eyes. Seeing her in such pain made him 
furious because he knew there was nothing he could do about it. How in 
the world could he make that pain go away? He knew the guilt she must be 
feeling. There was nothing he could do to remove that guilt....
  It took several moments before he said in a very truthful voice, 
"Because....because I wouldn't've wanted you there when I died."
  "Why?!?"
  "Because I didn't want to hurt you more," Ranma said, "I wouldn't want 
you to see me in pain. I wouldn't want you to know that I was hurt. I 
don't want you resenting yourself for my pain...."
  "You fucking died!!! And it was all my goodamn fault!!!" Asuka 
shouted.
  Ranma darted forward and grabbed Asuka's shoulders tightly, staring 
into her tearing blue eyes and said, "Don't you dare say something like 
that, Asuka! It is not your fault. I have no problem sacrificing myself 
to save someone else. If I had to, I would do it again, without a second 
thought. I would much rather die saving your life than to go on living 
knowing that I didn't try...."
  "How do you think that makes me feel, huh?!?" Asuka said, feeling a 
torent of emotions. Guilt. Anger. Saddness. "It was my fault that you 
were there in the first place! I was the one that wanted to go back! Why 
did you go back with me? You would have been alive if you hadn't gone 
with me!"
  "Don't feel guilty," Ranma said softly, "I went with you because I 
wanted to. It was my choice. I chose to go with you so I could protect 
you from any and everything."
  "And you seemed to have kept that end of the deal....but with you 
life," she said soflty, looking down, watching as the tears fell from 
her chin and onto the floor.
  "Then so be it," Ranma said, "At least I didn't die _not_ attempting 
to save your life. C'mon, you should know me by now. I have no problem 
sacrificing my life for others. On many occasions, I have done so, with 
every intention of dying in the process, and I will continue to do so 
unit....unitl I finally die....again," He tried to give a weak chuckle 
at the obvious attempt to lighten the mood up, but was a bit 
disappointed when no one seemed to laugh.
  Ranma took a deep breath. "Look," he said slowly, "When did I die?"
  "You....your other self died one year ago from tomorrow," Akane said, 
turning his attention from a still distraught Asuka and onto Ranma.
  "A year?! A year has passed since then?!" Ranma said, shocked. He 
couldn't believe the time that had elsaped. He had only been on the 
other world for about a little over a month, but somehow, a year had 
passed on this world.
  Shinji, silent until now, said, "Yes. But things have pretty much 
stayed the same,"
  Ranma looked at the children one by one, "You three have grown. You 
look more mature," When his eyes rested on Asuka, he smirked and decided 
now was the best time to change the mood, "Except for you, Asuka, your 
breasts are still small and you look like you're gonna get some 
premature gray hairs from all that useless guilt you've been carrying,"
  "W-w-what?! What did you say?!?" Asuka said, her tears now gone, 
finding herself actually getting angry.
  "How can you say something like that?!?" Misato snapped at Ranma.
  "You're such an insensitive jerk, Ranma, for saying something like 
that!" Akane said, eyes narrowing, glowering at him.
  Ranma held his hands in front of himself defensively and took a 
tentative step back, away from the girls. 
  "Hey, hold up. I-I was trying to lighten the mood. Don't take it 
personally,"

  "I'm an Angel," Ranma said. An hour had passed since Ranma had found 
out about the death of his other self. It was now his turn to be asked 
some questions. "I'm a clone. Yes, you heard me right, Ritsuko on what I 
said earlier. I'm a clone."
  "Of the Ranma that died?" Misato said. Her head was already starting 
to hurt. She didn't want to even know how and where the hell he got 
those wings from.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah. I cloned from the blood she, meaning Ritsuko of 
that world, had used along in making Unit-01,"
  "Hold up, I...I mean my other self, she made Unit-01 out of human 
blood?" Ritsuko asked.
  "No. Unit-01 was created from human blood and Liltih," Ranma said. 
"The EVA looked similar to the one on your world but it was very 
different,"
 "How so?" Misato asked.
6  "It was incredibly powerful," Ranma said, "I think it was some kinda 
god. It had wings, and brushed off a6ttacks like it was nothing. Heck, 
it even took on Unit-00 and Unit-02 at the same time without breaking a 
sweat, figuratively speaking that is. I mean, Unit-01 doesn't sweat and 
all,"
  "We know what you mean," Ritsuko asked. She cleared her throat and 
said, "Unit-01, why was it fighting the other two EVAs in the first 
place?"
  "Well, it's a long story,"
  "We have time," Misato said with a smirk, "Plenty of it,"
  "Okay, I'll start from the beginning," Ranma said after a short 
moment, "On that world, the Second Impact never happened. I guess Asuka 
and my other self somehow succeeded. Well, even though it had been 
prevented, it was very similar to the ones you and the others come from. 
For instance, from what I was told, Unit-01 was derived from both human 
blood and an Angel's blood. The Angel's still attacked like back on your 
world, and in sequence. The difference was that Nerv was able to repel 
their attacks with ease. I guess it was because of Unit-01,"
  "Go on," Ritsuko said, giving Ranma her undivided attention.
  "Well, afrom what I was told, everything went perfectly fine until the 
forteenth Angel," Ranma continued, "Toji, Unit-01's pilot-"
  "Suzuhara was Unit-01's pilot?! What about me?" Shinji asked.
  "You lived at home with you mother and sister," Ranma replied, "I'll 
tell you about that in a sec. Boy, do I have some things to tell you. 
Anyway, Toji somehow disappeared in the entry plug. Well, after a month 
or so, he finally materializes....and I was somehow materialized along 
with him,"
  "You came out of the EVA?" Rei asked.
  "Yep," he replied, "It seems that I existed inside that EVA ever since 
it had been created but was in there in the same form as when Toji had 
been when he was like that when he had been absorbed for about a month. 
If you're going to ask me what I think you're going to, then yes, I was 
born from an EVA. That's why I'm considered an Angel,"
  "This is deep," Shinji said.
  "That's not all," Ranma smirked, "There's much much more. Although I 
have no idea how it works, at least not yet, but, because I'm an Angel, 
I have the ability to generate some kinda AT field."
  "An AT f-field?!" Ritsuko nearly shouted, getting up out of her seat, 
"You've got to joking, right?"
  "Wish I was, but I'm not," came the quick reply, "That leads to the 
part about my wings. You know how you told me about how Unit-01 somehow 
regerated that severed arm using those ribbon like arms that belonged on 
that Angel? Well, I did the same thing. I got these wings during my 
battle with the final Angel,"
  "Kaworu?" Shinji asked.
  "No, Saffron,"
  "Who's Saffron?" Misato asked,a bit confused.
  "He's someone I wouldn't wanna meet in a dark alley," Ranma chuckled a 
bit, "But then again, now that I'm an Angel and have an AT field at my 
disposel. Oh well, anyway, Saffron, the last Angel, was absolutely 
nothing like the last Angel on your world that you had told me about. 
Saffron made fighting every Angel look like walk in the park. He was one 
really really hard dude to beat"
  "H-how did you manage to beat him?" Akane asked after a moment.
  Ranma took a deep breath, "Um, I couldn't. He was just.....well, 
waaaay too strong. I had Unit-01 eliminate him,"
  "'Had Unit-01 eliminate him'? What do you mean by that? You were Unit-
01's pilot?" Asuka asked, silent until now. 
  Ranma sighed, "God, this story is gonna be very long to explain. No, I 
wasn't Unit-01's pilot. It turns out that I was like a Kaworu Angel of 
that world. I was able to simply will Unit-01 to do what I wanted it to 
do, just like how I was told Kaworu did it,"
  "H-how did you end up with the ability to control Unit-01?" Ritsuko 
asked. Although she was able to follow everything so far, she found 
herself slowly starting to becom confused.
  "I have a question, do you know where the Kaworu of your world came 
from?"
  "No, we never found out. We know that Seele sent him though," Misato 
replied.
  "I found out. He was born from Unit-04, just like I was from Unit-01. 
I think that S2 organ had a major role in it," Ranma said, "Since no one 
like me showed up after Shinji had disappeared in the entry plug, you 
only had one Kaworu-type Angel to worry about. Another thing that seems 
highly probable is why the Kaworu Angel of your world acted the way he 
did while the Kaworu Angel of the one I just came from was the exact 
opposite. Asuka, remember when you were mind probed by that fifteenth 
Angel?"
  Asuka nodded.
  "Well, Kaworu's traits and personality made him that way because of 
that mind probe," Ramna said, "With me. I allowed myself to be mind 
probed and Saffron was the end product. Saffron knew all about me, and 
he even made me believe he was the real Saffron while, instead, he was 
the final Angel. Anyway, I was on that world for the final two Angel 
attacks and when Nerv was attacked by those white EVAs. I left 
immediately after that was resolved,"
  "You're leaving out huge gaps in the story, Ranma," Misato said, "How 
did you defeat that last two Angels? How did you ward of the attacks by 
the other EVA units? How was the world different from this one?"
  "One question at a time, Misato," Ranma said softly, "Okay, that mind 
probing Angel, I had Unit-01 use the Lance of Longinus use it to defeat 
it, just like how you told me about how Rei did it back on your world. 
With the final Angel, Saffron, I have no real idea. Unit-01 took care of 
him, but I'm not real too sure how. I'm just glad he's gone, even if he 
is just an imitation Saffron. And, when Nerv was attacked, Unit-01 was 
more than enough to fight them off,"
  "Saffron, that's the Angel that gave you the wings,"
  "Yes, the real Saffron had this special ability, along with lots of 
other, where he rips off his wings and throws them at you," Ranma said, 
"I simply egged him into doing that and turned those wings into my own. 
At first, I thought he was the real Saffron and had come to that world 
to kill me, so I didn't even think about it on exactly why it worked 
when I was able to make his wings my own. I was too busy trying to fight 
him,"
  "How are both worlds different?" Shinji asked. He was more curious 
about his other self.
  "They're a bit different," came the reply, "But not by much. The same 
sequence of events happened except the exact reason on why it occurs is 
different. For instance, your father worked on the Human Compliment 
Project was being worked on because Seele forced him into doing it,"
  "H-he did?" Shiji asked, shocked.
  "On that world, he was forced into doing that project because if he 
didn't, the entire city of Tokyo-"
  "Wouldn't it be Tokyo-3?" Misato interrupted.
  "No, the Second Impact never happened," Ranma said, a bit annoyed, 
"Tokyo was still above water. Anyway, Tokyo had seven N2 mines buried 
underneath it, and Seele would set them off unless he did otherwise. In 
a way, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place."
  "So what did my father do?" Shinji asked, very interested.
  "He told me about it and together, we came up with a plan," Ranma 
replied, "I pretended to be the final Angel and used Unit-01 to fight 
Unit-00 and Unit-02 to create some kinda smoke screen and disarmed the 
N2 mines. I was able to be the final Angel because on that world, Gendo 
had never reported about that computer virus Angel so no one knew that 
after Saffron, there were no more Angels. They were expecting one more. 
Well, we gave it to `em. Pretty cool, huh?"
  "Yes, it does," Shinji said. "Did you work together with my father for 
long? Was he like the one I knew?"
  Ranma smirked, "On that world, your dad ain't such a dick on, 
afterall. It seems it was your mom's death that changed him into the 
father that you know. He actually seemed to be a bit wishy washy at 
times,"
  "He ain't the only one," Misato joked wryly.
  "I heard that," Ranma said, before turning back to Shinji and 
contining on, "Also, speaking of your mother, I met her and got to know 
her. Ya wanna hear?"
  "Of course,"
  "Well, she's very caring person and really cares for you and your 
sister, Rei," Ranma said, "Yes, you have a sister. Heck, you would most 
likely have a sister if your mother wouldn't have died anyway, ne? Well, 
anyway, she seems to keep Gendo walking the straight and narrow. Man, it 
was so funny. You should have seen your dad's face when I told him and 
your mother about how from another world, he shot his son. Your mother 
looked like she was ready to....well, rip him a new asshole,"
  "Nice choice of words, Ranma," Misato commented wryly.
  Ranma ignored Misato's comment and said to Shinji, "Your mother was 
very caring of you and your little sister. It's too bad she died though. 
And, she's not like your father, she cares more about her family than 
her work. That's for sure. I rarely saw her at Nerv because she's 
usually home taking care of your sister or helping you with your 
homework or preparing dinner or something like that,"
   Shinji smiled a bit, "Yes, I would have liked her,"
  Ranma turned toward Ritsuko, "I also met your mom, Ritsuko. You want 
me to tell you about her?"
  Ritsuko shook her head after a short while, "Not really. She and I 
never really got along anyway."
  "Yeah, but that's your point of view of her," Ranma said, "You might 
like hearing what someone else thinks about aside from yourself"
  "Perhaps some other time," Ritsuko said.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Well, all right. I just wanna say that 
I got to know her because I was hoping you might ask about her, that's 
all." He then turned toward Asuka, "I met your other self on that 
world,"
  "You did?"
  "Yeah, she was every bit as annoying as you are...."
  And so, they spent the day catching up one what had happened since 
Ranma's death.
  "All right," Ranma said after several hours of talking, "Enough 
talking. I'm beat. My throat is dry. I'm going to sleep. We've been 
talking for hours and I have no idea what had happened while I was gone. 
We can talk about it tomorrow,"
  "Um, we will be visiting your grave tomorrow," Misato said. She 
wondered how Ranma was going to take it.
  Everyone wondered how Ranma was going to react.

  Ranma was in the backyard doing some kata forms, enjoying the morning 
sunshine. 
  Asuka and Shinji and Rei were in the livingroom, doing miscellaneous 
things, trying to keep busy.
  Akane, wearing a gi, was next to Ranma, doing the same kata forms with 
him. Both of their forms were flawless. After they were done with their 
usual morning ritual of practicing their kata forms and eating 
breakfast, they were going to visit real Ranma's grave and pay their 
respects.
  "I think I had a dream," Rei said, watching Ranma through the window. 
She had experienced her first dream last night and didn't know what it 
meant, or how it should be interpreted.
  Shinji looked up from his manga and said, "Huh? What do you mean you 
had a dream? You said you don't dream,"
  Rei said, "I found the dream very disturbing,"
  "What about it?" Shinji asked.
  "I saw two Ranmas,"
  Shinji commented, "Well, we are going to Ranma's grave. Perhaps that's 
what sparked that dream,"
  "Yes, perhaps,"

  Ranma was in his room, getting dressed up. Although a year had passed 
since Ranma death, his room had remained as it was, never touched. It 
seemed no one wanted to go into his room, feeling they were trying to 
rid him from their lives if they got rid of his personal belongings.
  He felt very odd about doing this. Today was exactly one year since 
his real self had died and he was getting ready to go to the cemetary to 
pay respects. He had no idea how he would react, seeing his own grave.
  There was a knock on her door.
  "Come in, it's opened," he said, putting a tank top on. He was glad he 
could remove thos wings of his. He didn't like the thought of putting 
holes in all of his shirts for his wings.
  Rei entered the room.
  Ranma smiled warmly, "Hello, Rei. What can I do for you?" 
  He walked over to his closet and opened it and proceeded to look for a 
decent outfit.
  Rei was silent for several moments before she said in a soft voice, "I 
sensed something about you when you first appeared,"
  Confused, Ranma turned toward Rei and eyed her curiously and said, 
"Sense me? What do you mean?"
  "You and I, we are now alike," she said.
  He realized what Rei was talking about, "I understand. We're both 
Angels,"
  "Hai,"
  "Well, I assume that makes you feel better, you're not the only Angel 
in this world," he said with a smirk, "I'm glad I could make you feel 
better,"
  Rei blushed a bit. She wasn't expecting Ranma to react this way. "Does 
it bother you? That you're an Angel?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. Not at all. Does it bother you?"
  Rei was silent.
  He said, "Well, you shouldn't be bothered by it,"
  "I am not," she said softly, "I don't get bothered by it,"
  "That's good to hear," he said, leaning against the wall, his arms 
crossed in front of his chest, "If you really wanna think about it, I 
think it's actually kinda cool,"
  "Cool? It does not bother you that you're....you're a clone?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. But dontcha feel like you're special? 
You're unique. It doesn't even bother me that I'm a clone. Clone. It 
rolls of your tongue. `I'm a clone', that sounds so cool."
  "Y-you think I'm unique?"
  He smiled warmly and gestured toward the chair in front of the tiny 
desk at the corner of his room. "Please, take a seat," When she did as 
he was told, he sat down on his futon and said, "Of course you're 
unique. There's no one in this world like you. Sure, you may think 
you're replacable, but you shouldn't think that. Here's a thought, you 
have a soul. Your soul is what makes you so special, one of a kind,"
  "I'm one of a kind," she said.
  Ranma almost wanted to pull the hair out frustration, but he kept in 
control and said, "Yes, you're one of a kind. You are very special. 
Also, you don't work for Nerv anymore. You're not a pilot. You're a 
person, with a soul, just like myself,"
  Rei was silent. She smiled a bit. She liked that thought. She was just 
like Ranma, and Ranma was special in her eyes. That must mean she was 
special in other people's eyes.
  "Don't be so down on yourself, Rei," he said patiently, "Who's 
decision was it to self destruct Unit-00 to save Shinji's life? It was 
yours. You have the freedon to choose, and that is one of the things, 
one of the rights, that everyone have to life,"
  "That is true,"
  A voice could be heard from downstairs. It was Akane's voice, "Hey, 
Ranma, you almost ready? We're all about to leave,"
  Ranma ignored Akane's voice and said, "Of course it's true. It was 
your decision. That's a part about living." He got up and placed a hand 
on her shoulder, "And guess what? You're alive. You're living. So, have 
fun,"
  "I-I will,"
  "All right, let's have some fun then," Ranma said with a warm smile, 
"Have you ever been to the beach?"
  "No,"
  "Never?"
  "No,"
  "All right, then I'm gonna take you and everyone tot he beach," he 
said, "We're all going to have a ball. I swear, one of the days, I'm 
going to make you not only crack a smile, but laugh uncontrollably,"
  Rei smiled slightly, "I look forward to it,"
  "Hey, Ranma, what's going on?" he heard Akane's voice.
  Ranma, a bit annoyed, shouted back "Keep yer panties on you uncute 
tomboy! I'm having a chat with Rei,"
  "What did you call me?!?" Rei and Ranma head coming from downstairs.
   Rei giggled a bit. 
  Ranma smirked, "Well, I gotta get dressed. Go on down and tell Akane 
I'll be downstairs in a couple of minutes,"
  "All right," she said. She got up off her seat and left the room. 
Ranma followed her outside into the hallway and listened to Rei tell 
Akane that Ranma would be ready in a minute.
  "Well, I'm gonna kill him when he comes down," he heard Akane 
muttering, "That baka! You hear me Ranma?! How dare you say that to me!"
  Ranma smiled as he headed back into his bedroom. 
  Although only thing that was missing is Ryoga to pick on, it was good 
being back home.
 
  Ranma stood in front of the grave. Everyone had paid their respects 
and were waiting patiently. Sylia, Nene, Linna, and Priss were already 
there when everyone had arrived. Shocked at first upon seeing Ranma 
alive and well, they were told that it would all be explained after the 
visit.
  After they paid their respects, Ranma asked to be left alone in front 
of the grave, and that he would be with them in a little while.
  "This is weird, Ranma," Ranma said in a soft voice. "I can't believe 
it. I-I actually died. You did the right thing though. Although I'm only 
a mere clone of you, I would have died doing the same thing. Remember 
how fun it was, when we were young? The finacees, the fights, the curse? 
I know you found those days fun because I found them fun also..."
  Akane and everyone stood a short ways off, all of them gazing up the 
hill to where Ranma's lone grave stood, shaded by a single tree. They 
watched Ranma carefully, wishing they knew what he was talking about.
  "Do you think he's all right?" Nene asked. She wondered how she would 
be able to handle something like that, knowing that she was a clone and 
that her real self had died. She would probably be crying her eyes out. 
She was sure she wasn't the only one. The other girls and Shinji were 
watching Ranma intently, probably thinking the same thing.
  "I don't know," Akane said, "I really don't know,"
  Ranma looked down at the tombstone, experiencing the spectrum of 
emotions when dealing with death. He was now angry as he nearly shouted, 
"Why?! What the hell did you die?! I was so looking forward to meeting 
you!" He got down on his knees, placing both hands on the top of the 
tombstone, "I hate myself. Why do I have to be so unafraid of death? 
Why?" 
  It took several minutes before he took a deep breath, calming himself 
down and said, "Well, you won't hafta worry about Akane and the others. 
I'll take over where you left off. They'll be well taken care of." He 
chuckled weakly, "Heck, after this, I'm gonna take Rei to the beach for 
her very first time. We're all going to have some fun."
  He stood up, "Well, Ranma, it was nice talking to you. Well, because 
I'm here, I'm pretty sure, somewhere, where ever you are, you're 
probably busy trying to come up with a plan to coming back to life. And 
while you're busy doing that in the afterlife, here, in the living 
world, I'm going to find some kinda way to bring you back. You can bet 
on that."
  He turned around and headed back down the group of awaiting people.

  Ranma and the others were back home. Sylia, Nene, Priss, and Linna 
were there too, all four of them having the day off. It was now nearing 
noontime, everyone having visted Ranma's grave early in the morning and 
then going to breakfast together. While they ate, Ranma told the four 
girls about everything, about how he was a clone and an Angel and his 
adventure on that other world.
  When Ranma switche the conversation and mentioned about how he wanted 
to take Rei to the beach, everyone else seemed to jump at the idea. It 
was a beautiful sunny day and no one really had much to do anyway.
  Ranma was upstairs in his room while everyone else was downstairs 
chatting.
  "Man, I'm back for one day an I'm already feeling settled in," he 
commented with a smile, furrowing through his drawers for a pair of 
swimming trunks. "Rei's gonna love the beach," He was glad that he could 
take her. She needed to enjoy life more. Sure, even though she was a 
little more open than the Rei he once knew before he had left for China 
with Ryoga, she was still quiet and reclusive.
  After a few minutes, Ranma realized that he couldn't find his bathing 
suit. He shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, I'll go out and buy a new 
one," He picked up his house keys and proceeded downstairs, realizing 
something, "If Rei's never been to the beach before, that means she 
doesn't have a swiming outfit. I'll bring her with me,"
  Entering the livingroom where everyone was, he looked at Rei, "Hey, 
Rei, I'm going to town to buy a swimming suit. Since you probably don't 
have one, why dontcha come with me?"
  "Okay," she said softly.
  Ranma said, "Okay, everybody, chat amongst yourselves. I'll be back 
later,"
  Sylia said, "I'm going on home to get my stuff,"
  Linna and Nene and Priss said the same thing.
  "Hey, if it isn't a bother, can one of ya ask Lisa, Madigan, and 
Carper if they'd like to come?" Ranma said, right before leaving with 
Rei, "They don't know about me and I'd like to surprised `em. I'll save 
the wings for a rainy day,"
  "Wings?" Sylia asked. "What wings?"
  Ranma chuckled, "Nevermind about that. I'll see you later,"
  He and Rei left.

  Rei and Ranma walked down the street together. Rei was staring 
straight ahead while Ranma was looked around. After a while, he asked, 
"Rei, have you seen Ryoga around?"
  "No," she answered, "I haven't seen him in several months. I assume 
he's left on another training trip,"
  "Probably got lost again," Ranma commented with a smirk.
  "He took it very hard when you died," Rei said, still looking ahead, 
"He said he wanted to take his time. I guess he wants the time to clear 
his mind,"
  Ranma was silent. He was pretty surprised someone like Rygoa would 
actually be effected by his death.
  As he and Rei walked down the street, Shinji and Asuka finally managed 
to catch up to them.
  "Ranma," Shinji called out, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. 
He was glad he was close enough that Ranma had heard someone call his 
name and turned around. When he spoted Shinji and Asuka, he and Rei 
proceeded toward them.
  "Something wrong?" he asked.
  "Aside from you? Not really," Asuka said, back to her normal self of 
disliking Ranma.
  "We don't have bathing suits," Shinji said.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "All right. Come along. I have plenty of 
money for everyone. We'll all buy swimming stuff together. What about 
Misato and Ritsuko? How about them?"
  "They went with Sylia," Shinji said, "She told them that she had some 
extra pairs and could lend her to them,"
  "All right. Whatever."

  Ranma and Shinji picked up the first pair of swimming trunks they came 
across that came in their size.
  "All right, we've got what we're looking for," Ranma said, proceeded 
toward the cash register with Shinji and the outfit. There were several 
people in the shop also. 
  Asuka said, "How can you have gotten pair of swimming trunks already? 
We just go here," She only looked through two pairs of outfits so far.
  "Hey, we're guys, we look good in any kinda swimming trunks," Ranma 
smirked. "If it fits, we'll wear it,"
  "Bah, men," Asuka muttered. "I don't really know why I'm bothering 
getting a swimsuit. It's not like I'm gonna go into the water anyway,"
  Rei picked up a blue one piece swimsuit "Is this okay?"
  Ranma smiled, "Sure, Rei. Whatever ya like. It's gonna look cute on 
you. Right, Shinji?" He nudged Shinji.
  "Um, y-yeah," Shinji said nervously, blushing a bit.
  Rei blushed a bit. "Thank you,"
  Ranma smiled. He picked up a pair of the slinkiest swimming trunks 
that he could fine. It looked like a string cloth, "Jeez, this looks 
like an eye patch. If it gets any slinkier, I could use this as dental 
floss. God, the girls nowadays wear this kinda stuff? Jeez,"

  Ranma was holding the suntan lotion.
  "Hey, Sylia, do me a favor and rub some suntan lotion on my back?" he 
asked. He walked up to the female sitting nearst to his beach towel, 
whom happened to be Sylia. She was in the process of putting her own 
suntan lotion on.
  "Um, o-okay," Sylia said nervously. She watched as Ranma handed the 
the bottle and then sat down in front of him. She gazed at his naked 
back for several moments.
  "Boy, that lotion must be really light cause I sure don't even feel 
it," Ranma said wryly, smirking the whole time. He looked up and saw 
Linna and Priss seemingly glaring at Sylia. He laughed inwardly.
  Sylia proceeded to put the lotion on. "It's nice that you're back,"
  "Thanks for the compliment,"
  "No," Sylia said a bit annoyed, "I said it's nice that you're back. I 
was commenting on you,"
  "Oh," Ranma said, smirking "Well, that's what I said, `Thanks for the 
comment'"
  Sylia smiled a bit. Ranma sure was a quick thinker. He had grown much 
smarter over time. Heck, he had grown up both physically and mentally. 
Considering how much Ranma had changed over the years, she wondered what 
would have happened if she and her friends mistakened Ranma for a boomer 
now. She and her friends wouldn't be able to come close to touching him, 
let alone defeating him. But then again, when Ranma was much weaker, 
they still couldn't beat him.
  "You've changed," she said, rubbing the lotion on. His back felt 
solid, taut with muscles that were much stronger than could be 
determined. 
  Ranma was a bit confused, "Oh? What do you mean?"
  "You've grown up," she said, "I like how you've changed. You've taken 
to caring for Shinji and Asuka and Rei, let Ritsuko and Misato stay in 
your home. You're quite like the family man. Have you ever though about 
settling down?"
  Ranma chuckled. "I've never really thought about it before. I don't 
think I'm cut out to raise a family. I don't think I'm a good family 
man,"
  A little five year old girl ran up to Ranma and hugged him, "Uncle 
Ranma! You're back!"
  He hugged the little girl, "Hello, Jun. How's my little darling?"
  "I'm fine," she said, happily, still hugging Ranma.
  "Since you're here, I assume your mom and dad are here. Where are 
they?" he asked, smiling warmly.
  The little girl's parents showed appeared as if on cue. Madigan and 
Carper's jaws nearly dropped to the sand they were standing on, "R-R-
Ranma?" the said in unison. They both couldn't believe who they were 
seeing. They had just gone to Ranma's grave a short while ago, right 
before they headed to the beach with their daughter to meet up with 
Akane and the others.
  Ranma smiled, "Hello,"
  Jun sat in Ranma's lap. "Ranma's back," she said in a happy voice.
  "W-we c-can see that," Madigan said in a very shocked voice. "B-but 
how?"
  "It's a long story,"
  "I bet," she said. "And I hope you're going to tell us,"
  Ranma turned toward Jun and said, "Jun, dear, go on and say hi to 
auntie Akane," 
  The little girl did as she was told. She ran into Akane's waiting 
arms.
  Sylia smiled, this warm feeling in her heart as she said, "I don't 
know about you, but from what I gather after watching that little 
display of affection, that's definitely family man material,"
  
  "Wings? What wings?" Carper asked, confused. He and his wife were 
sitting on either side of Ranma on the beach towel. The rest of the 
adults were playing a game of beach volley ball. There was a massive 
crowd of males watching the game intently. Perhaps it was because it was 
only females playing the game. Shinji and Rei were busy making a 
sandcastle with Jun. Rei seemed to be enjoying this outing quite a bit. 
Asuka was currently the focus of attention of four boys as they tried to 
get to know her better. She simply gave them wry replies, glancing at 
Ranma every here and there for some unknown reason.
  Ranma smiled, "Don't worry about it. You'll find out about that later. 
Forget I mentioned it."
  "How does it feel, to know that you're a clone of the one that died?" 
Madigan asked.
  "I'm not bothered by it. Afterall, Akane's also a clone," Ranma 
replied articulately, "I found out that my other self had died doing the 
same thing that I would have done. In a way, although I am indeed a 
clone, I don't feel like one," Ranma looked around, "Do you guys know if 
Lisa's going to show up? How is she doing?"
  "We don't really know if she's going to show up or not," Carper said. 
"She's doing fine. We saw her a few days ago while I was picking Jun up 
from school,"
  "Jun's grown up quite a bit," Ranma commented. 
  "Yeah," Madigan said, looking at her daughter while she happily played 
with Rei and Shinji.
  "Well, Lisa shouldn't have a hard time finding us," Ranma said, 
getting up, "Afterall, all of us are at the beach. She should be able to 
spot at least one of us. C'mon, enough talking. I've been explaining my 
life for the past two days, ever since I got back. Now, let's go have 
some fun."
  He stretched his arms out, the muscles of his body rippling, and then 
walked over toward Asuka. He asked, "Hey, Asuka, what gives? Dontcha 
wanna be over with Jun and Rei and Shinji?
  "Hey, can't you see she's busy?" a boy said. He stood almost as tall 
as Ranma. However, Ranma stood taller than all of them. The boy wanted 
to show off that badass attitude he had to Asuka and impressing her. 
Also, he was with his friends and felt less threatened.
  Ranma looked at the boy and laughed, "Hey, is your name Asuka? Well, 
since it isn't then that means I wasn't talking to you," He turned back 
toward Asuka, "Well?"
  Asuka looked at Ranma. She didn't know how to react. Her heart was 
racing. She had been only slightly amused by these simpletons that 
seemed attracted to her. But now, here was Ranma, seemingly livening the 
situation up. 
  Ranma jerked a thumb toward the boys, and said bluntly "You like boys 
like these? What's with that supposedly badass attitude of theirs? Jeez, 
you've got odd tastes. With attitudes like theirs, even the seagulls 
wouldn't shit on `em,"
  "What the fuck didja say?" another boy said. He glanced at his 
friends. They would all jump him at once.
  Ranma flipped that boy the middle finger and smiled wryly. He then 
said, "Go away. She's too good for you."
  Asuka looked up at Ranma. Was what he was saying serious? Did he mean 
it? He sure looked it.
  "Get him!" the boy shouted. He lunged forward and punched Ranma right 
in the face. Ranma didn't even move. The boy pulled his hand away, a 
finger most likely broken. The other boys, whom had been about to 
attack, stopped when they saw Ranma totally unfazed.
  Ranma smirked, "Go home,"
  The boys ran away. Asuka continued to stare up at him.
  He turned toward her, "Go hang out with Shinji and the others. Why are 
you associating boys like that? You deserve better,"
  He turned around and headed on over toward where the girls were 
playing beach volleyball. By now, there were so many males gathered 
around that Ranma actually had trouble making it through. When he 
disappeared into the crowd, Asuka looked at where Shinji and Jun and Rei 
seemed intent on making a sandcastle. After a moment, she shrugged he 
shoulders and walked on over to be with them.
  When finally made it through the crowd, he stepped onto the sand court 
and walked over to the nearst player, Linna, and said, "Can I join in?"
  "Sure!" she said happily, smiling warmly. She turned toward the other 
team and said, "Hey, Ranma's gonna play,"
  The entire crowd of males seemed to mutter about how Ranma was going 
to ruin the game, that it was better watching two teams of females 
playing against one another. Now Ranma had to go and ruin everything. 
Some of them even started to shout profanity toward him.
  Ranma turned toward the group, challenging everyone at once. He 
flipped them all the middle finger, a big grin on his face and proceeded 
to turn three hundred and sixty degrees in plan so everyone could see 
the middle finger. "You're all just jealouse that you can't play a game 
with all these lovely girls,"
  "What the hell is Ranma doing?" Nene said to one of her teammate, 
Misato. "Does he have some deathwish?"
  Misato was smiling as she said, "Hey, you know Ranma better than we 
do. Why on earth would he do that?"
  Nene shrugged her shoulders and replied, 
  "I guess that's his way of having some fun,"

  Ranma sat down by the sandcastle, "God, I can't believe every single 
guy there bumrushed me,"
  "Are you gonna help us with our sandcastle?" the five year old Jun 
asked, eyes wide. 
  He nodded, "Yeah. All those guys back there don't want me playing 
volleyball so I'll just both you guys with this sandcastle here,"
  Ranma noticed Asuka glaring at him. "What? Do I have something on my 
face?" he asked.
  "You mean besides bruises?" Shinji asked with a smirk.
  Jun pointed, and said, "Uncle Ranma, those ladies are staring at you," 
  When Ranma followed Jun's gaze, he saw a small group of four girls 
that seemed to have immediately turned their attention onto something 
else, pretending like they hadn't been looking at him.
  "Perhaps it is because Ranma is a good looking man," Rei said softly, 
continuing to build the sandcastle.
  "Why thank you," he smiled warmly. Asuka seemed to mutter something in 
German about how she couldn't understand Rei could say something like 
that without being embarrassed about it. Sure, Ranma was indeed 
handsome, but she couldn't understand how Rei wouldn't be nervous around 
him. Even though she disliked him, Asuka still found herself a bit 
nervous around his presence.
  "Hey, have any of you seen Lisa around?" Ranma decided to ask. His 
eyes rested on a young looking girl walking straight toward them, "Well 
speak of the devil,"
  Lisa's eyes was wide, "R-Ranma? Is that you?"
  "It's a long story,"

  "Waitaminute, t-that would make you somewhere around eighty," Lisa 
said, realizing something.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Somewhere around there,"
  "But it's only been one years since you....your other self died and 
when you came back," Lisa said.
  Ranma nodded, "Yes, but, don't forget what I just told you, I was on 
that world for around fifteen years before I came back. So, while you 
and the others only aged one year, which makes you, what, about forty, I 
aged fifteen. Pretty messed up, ne?" He gave a chuckled.
  "Well, you still look good for a eighty year old," she smiled.
  "Thanks,"

  Lisa, anticipating that the children would be there, had brough two 
boogie boards.
  Ranma handed Rei the boogie board.
  Rei looked at the object in her hands and asked, "What is this?"
  "It's a boogie board," Ranma replied patiently, remembering that Rei 
had never been to the beach before, "You lie on your stomach on it and 
ride the waves as it comes toward the shore. It's really fun. You'll 
love it." 
  "It sounds interesting," Rei commented.
  "Can you swim?"
  Rei nodded, "Yes,"
  "Good," Ranma grabbed Rei's hand and lead her to the water. When they 
both actually got into the water, Ranma said, "All right, Rei, get on 
the boogie board, lie on your stomach,"
  Asuka eyed them both from ashore, her arms crossed over her chest, 
"What is he doing? Is he stupid or something? There's no waves,"
  Rei did as Ranma was told. While on the board, she said, "The water is 
cold,"
  Ranma laughed aloud, "And you know what cold water does to a girl's 
chest, huh?"
  She blushed, still holding onto the board. "You embarrass me," She 
watched Ranma's back as he proceeded to swim out to see ahead of her, 
holding the small rope that was attached to the front of the board. She 
was about to ask what was going to happen but stopped when Ranma turned 
around to face her.
  "We are far away from shore," she stated, looking back toward the 
shoreline.
  "I know," Ranma said, "That's good. You want that." While remaining 
stationary in the water, Ranma turned Rei and the board around to face 
the shore. Shinji and Asuka and Jun watching them intently. "Hold on 
tight, you're in for great ride," 
  He ducked underwater, and swam about twenty feet downward. Once at 
that depth, he twisted around and darted toward the surface, rocketing 
through the water as fast as possible. Within seconds, he shot up out of 
the water about thirty feet and twisted in mid-air, shooting on a 
massive ki-blast about five miles further out toward sea. The explosion 
that was created caused a massive ripple in the water, the ripple 
extending outward, gaining strength, soon creating a rather large tidal 
wave.
  Ranma landing in the water again, just as the wave got higher and 
higher in the air. He resurfaced and turned toward Rei. She was still 
facing the shore.
  "All right, hold on tight," Ranma said. He then proceeded to swim 
toward the shoreling, intending to body surf back to land. Rei gasped as 
she immediately found herself being caught in the massive wave and then 
thrusted toward the land, propelled by the wave behind her. As she 
finally realized she was actually riding a wave toward the shore, she 
smiled and even let out a little yelp of surprise and amusement.
  The ride lasted only about ten seconds, but it was invigorating. When 
she came to a halt, she stood up as Shinji and Jun rushed up to her. 
Asuka took her time.
  "How was it?" Shinji asked, very interested.
  Rei turned back around and watched as Ranma emerged from the ocean, 
getting out and walking toward her, "How was it, Rei?"
  "It...it was very interesting," Rei said, a bit more earger than she 
thought. 
  "Dontcha mean fun?" Ranma smirked.
  "Yes, it was fun,"
  "Do ya wanna do it again?" Ranma asked with a smile, "I can make one 
huge tidal wave. It would last much much longer than that one ya just 
had. Of course, we'll hafta swim about three miles out, but I won't 
mind,"
  "If it doesn't bother you..." she didn't finish her sentence. She 
really wanted to do it again.
  Ranma smiled, "All right. Let's do it." He looked at Shinji and then 
at Asuka, "Shinji, Asuka, would one of you like to come along? Lisa did 
bring two boogie boards, afterall"
  "I'll go with Ranma," Asuka said vehemontly, grabbing the boogie board 
from Shinji's hands.
  Asuka quickly caught up to Ranma as he and Rei proceeded back out into 
into sea.
  Ranma stopped for a moment to look at Asuka. He smiled a bit and said, 
  "If I recall correctly, you said you didn't weren't going into the 
water. What's with the change of heart?"
  Asuka blushed.

  Ranma and the others were now at a public hot pring. It was now 
getting close to evening. After they beach, everyone wanted to wash up 
and go out to dinner. Of course, wondering how a restaurant will be able 
to accompdate forteen people was a mystery to Ranma and the others.
  The public hot spring was located along the beach shoreline, and 
provided a great view of the sun as it set in the horizon. 
  Ranma, Carper, and Shinji were all soaking in their side of the 
spring.
  "Ranma, you've grown up over the years," Carper said, feeling his 
muscles relax.
  "Sylia told me the same thing also," Ranma answered, leaning against 
the wall that seperated the men's side from the female's side and gazed 
up at the sky. "Well, what can you say, I've have, what, seventy or so 
years to grow up. People do change over the years."
  Carper chuckled a bit as he said, "Remember when we first met?"
  "Yeah," Ranma chuckled.
  "What?" Shinji asked, wanting to get in on the conversation.
  Ranma smirked, "Carper and Madigan were both trying their hardest to 
kill me and Ryoga. And the funny thing was that we didn't even know they 
were trying to kill us. They kept sending wave after wave of boomer, 
those are the robots I told you about, after us and we kept destroying 
it. They must've sent a couple hundred after us, each boomer probably 
worth about five hundred thousand yen each."
  "Well, when Genom used to be around, it had more money than it knew 
what to do with it," Carper smiled.
  Ranma nudeged Shinji, "Yeah, and the funny thing, we knew this. So 
what do Ryoga and I do? We broke into Genom and robbed `em blind. Sure, 
they're worth more through assests and property, but we stole all the 
money that they had in their bank vault at the time. How much did we 
steal? I think it was several billion yen per crate. Ryoga and I stole 
several of `em."
  Carper burst out laughing, "And the funny thing was we actually sent 
out boomers to retrieve it. And in the process, we stumble upon one of 
the Knight Sabers' home and didn't even realize it. And above that, you 
stashed quite a bit of the money away."
  Shinji laughed a bit. He remembered Akane telling him bits of that 
story not too long ago, when she was teaching him in the dojo. 
  Ranma looked at Shinji, "Hey, Shinji, what have you been up to? It's 
been over a year since you settled down here. How's everything going? 
How's school?"
  Shinji took several moments before he said, "Um, well, shortly after 
your death, I sought to better himself in martial arts and asked Akane 
to teach me. From what you had showed me back there when you were on our 
world, it got me really interested. I've been training ever since, but 
not that hard. I still have a long way to go. With school, it's going 
fine. The martial arts came in handy quite a bit,"
  "Oh?" Ranma asked.
  "There was some school bully that had a thing for testing out the new 
kids that come to school, and he started picking on me. I managed to 
defend myself," he said, his confidence level through the roof again. He 
remembered how great it felt when he realized that he could actually 
defend himself physically against a larger opponent. Of course, it 
wasn't until Shinji resorted to giving the bully a good swift kick in 
his private area before Shinji was able to knock him out. Regardless, it 
felt great.
  Ranma and Carper both congradulated Shinji.
  Ranma smirked, "Let's have some fun with the girls,"
  Shinji's nose threatened to bleed.
  "No, you moron," Ranma said, "Not like that." He walked away from the 
wall and shouted out, "Hey, Sylia, Akane, whoever, do any of ya have the 
body lotion?"
  Nene walked up toward the wall on her side, "Yes. I have it,"
  "Do me a favor and throw it over?" she heard him say. All the girls, 
who had been chatting with each other, stopped and proceeded toward the 
wall after having heard Ranma's voice.
  Nene grabbed the body lotion bottle floating in the water and threw it 
over. A second later, she heard Ranma.
  "Ow," Ranma said, "That hurt,"
  "What happened?" Carper asked, getting in on the joke. 
  "The bottle hit me on my private part," everyone heard Ranma's voice. 
Several girls blushed. Misato and Ritsuko and Sylia were buying none of 
that.
  "Here, lettme see," they heard Carper's voice.
  "Hey, that tickles," Ranma chuckled.
  Misato whispered, "Don't believe `em. Asuka and I played that same 
trick on Shinji. I have a better idea," She shouted out, "Ranma, as soon 
as you and Carper over there are through fondling each other, throw the 
bottle back over,"
  On the other side, Ranma pouted, "Gee, that didn't work. Oh well, it 
was worth a shot," He threw the bottle back over. 
  A second later, the guys heard Misato say, "Hey, look, girls, I 
managed to catch the bottle between my breasts. Cool, huh?"
  "That's quite a feat," they heard Linna voice, "But then again, you 
have such nice breasts,"
  "Thank you," came Misato's voice again. "H-hey, what are you doing?!"
  "And they're so firm," came Sylia's voice, "My, I wish my breasts felt 
as firm as this,"
  "Sylia, don't stop that. That feels kinda good," Misato said, trying 
her best not to burst out laughing. This was much better than the joke 
she and Asuka pulled on Shinji. They were now teasing three guys instead 
of one.
  All three guys' eyes widened as they continued to listen. Ranma and 
Carper walked to the wall to see if they could find a peep hole. 
  "Where's a peep hole when you need one?" Ranma muttered.
  "Guys, it's only a joke," Shinji said. He did find himself having some 
rather hentai thoughts. The thought of thermal expansion came into his 
mind. He quickly ducked back into the water.
  "What if it isn't?" Carper said with a grin.
  "Well, since there's no peephole around here, there's only one thing 
left to do," Ranma said, getting up out of the water. He proceeded 
toward the huge rock that was up against the wall near the back of the 
hot spring. Carper and Shinji looked at each other, shrugged their 
shoulders, and followed him.
  "W-what are you doing?" Shinji asked, noticing Ranma now climbing up 
the rock.
  Ranma smirked, "Hey, I'm a guy, that can excuse my pervertedness, ne? 
I'm curious,"
  "Y-you've gotta be kiddin' me," Shinji muttered. Carper's jaw dropped. 
Ranma was going to lose his head the moment he peeped over onto the 
other side.
  Ranma looked over the wall and saw all the girls standing there, near 
the wall, almost laughing. And Misato didn't have the bottle between her 
breasts. "Hey, what gives?! You lied!"
  Everyone turned their attention toward Ranma. Everyone shouted as they 
realized someone was actually seeing them naked 
  "Ranma, you pervert!!!" they all shouted. Most of the girls ducked 
back into the water, covering their front up with their chests. Akane 
proceeded to pick bath buckets up and launch them at Ranma's head, only 
to have Ranma easily swat it out of the way, grinning like there was no 
tomorrow.
  He stuck out his tongue at Akane. Everyone then saw Ranma turned his 
attention toward something motion for them to come closer to him as he 
shouted, "Hey, Shinji, Carper, come one up! The view is great!"
  He caught the bucket launched at him, intent to cleave his head, and 
smiled. He proceeded to balance it on the tip of his finger, sticking 
his tongue out at everyone.
  "Get outta here you pervert!!!" Akane shouted, launching yet another 
bucket. By now, most of the girls in the in the spring was launching 
things at him, most of them inaccurate and hitting the wall below him. 
Even the girls that didn't know him were throwing things at him.
  Asuka launched a piece of soap at Ranma, only to have Ranma catch it, 
still grinning.
  Ranma turned toward his side and said, "Hey, look, Shinji. This is 
Asuka's soap. That means she's rubbed this against her body. Here, you 
could have it,"
  Shinji's nose started bleeding as he ran away from the rock toward the 
front of the spring where the towels were located. Ranma shurgged his 
shoulders and turned back onto the girls' side of the of the spring. He 
raised the bar of soap, "Asuka, the thought of you rubbing this all over 
your body turns me on!"
  "Die!!" Akane shouted, throwing two bath buckets at a time, her aim 
perfect. The only problem was that Ranma was extremely skilled and 
proceeded to swat the buckets out of the way with ease, still grinning. 
  Carper's head popped up. Madigan saw this and shouted, "Carper, get 
your head back down if you know what's good for you!!"
  "Yes, honey," Carper said meekly, ducking his head back down before he 
could get a good look at anything, let alone anyone. He was hoping his 
wife was with Jun in another part of the spring. While sitting on the 
rock, leaning his back against the wall, Carper looked up at Ranma and 
commented, "Ranma, you're such a bad influence,"
  "Hey, don't distract me!" Ranma said. He looked at Shinji on the other 
side of the spring and said, "Shinji, throw me a towel!"
  Shinji made his way toward the rock and threw Ranma the towel. Ranma 
wrapped it around his waist and hoped up on to the top of the wall, 
balancing on it like he would on a fence way back then. He proceeded to 
run back and forth, dodging the incoming projectiles.
  As Ranma continued to dodge attacks, Akane realized that it was going 
to be nearly impossible knocking Ranma off the fence as he proceeded to 
almost dance, teasing and egging all the females. A moment later, she 
realized the only way to knock him off was anticipate his next move. 
  She grabbed the soap and threw it for the area where Ranma was going 
to take his next step. She smiled as Ranma stepped on the soap and fell 
off the fence and onto the female side. Unfortuantely, Ranma had reached 
a hand out and caught a hand on the top of the fence, preventing himself 
from falling all the way over. He climbed back up onto the top of the 
fence and smirked, "I don't think so, Akane! I've learned over the 
years! You're gonna hafta do better than that!"
  "Die!!!" she shouted, throwing any and everything at him.
  Ranma as he continued to dodge, caught sight of Rei as she threw items 
toward him. She was smiling, not at all bothered at Ranma seeing her 
naked, but of having fun trying to hit a moving target because he was 
causing quite a stir, working for the good of the female side of the 
spring to rid the pervert.
  That seemed to provide the distraction for Ranma for he stopped for a 
moment to smile at her, only to have both feet hit out from under him 
sending him falling forward, landing on the top of the fence with his 
stomach before flipping forward and landing back first in the female 
side of the spring.
  When Ranma resurfaced, he caught sight of a mob of females rushing 
toward him, heading toward him like an unstoppable force. 
  "Oh boy, I am soooo dead now,"

  Everyone was now sitting around a massive round table. The restaurant 
had brought it out from one of their backrooms, for groups of this large 
a number. It was now very dark out, somewhere around nine.
  Jun sat in a little child seat next to Ranma, chatting with Ranma 
while everyone else chatted with each other.
  "I like cookies," Jun said happily. "But mommy and daddy don't like me 
eating cookies. They say its bad for me if I eat a lot and will give me 
a tummy ache,"
  "I like cookies, too," Ranma said. "They taste even better with milk,"
  "They do?" she asked curiously. 
  "Yeah," Ranma said with a smile, "You should drink a lot of milk. It's 
good for you. If you drink a lotta milk, your mom and pop might give you 
a cookie to have with it,"
  Sylia, Madigan, Misato, and Ritsuko seemed the be listening to the 
conversation between Ranma and Jun.
  Misato leaned over to Madigan and said, "Ranma seems good with 
children,"
  "Yeah," Madigan replied. "And the funny thing is he doesn't even know 
it,"
  "He seems quite the catch, ne?" Ritsuko asked Sylia. She was sitting 
next to her.
  "I've never really seen this side of him," Sylia asked softly, still 
watching Ranma and Jun, "I never knew he was good with children. Heh, I 
guess that just seems to add more to that sex appeal of him," She liked 
Ritsuko even though they only knew each other for a short time. Perhaps 
it was because they were both brilliant people. 
  Linna smirked as she wanted to tease Ranma, "Ranma, you're good with 
children. Have you ever thought of becoming a father?"
  "W-what?" Ranma asked, shocked.
  "You know, females find a man good with children to be very 
attractive," she said slyly, "That's one of the things females look for 
in a man, if he's good with children,"
  "What, you wanna have children with me?" Ranma asked.
  Linna laughed nervously, "Don't be s-silly, Ranma. I'm not ready to 
settle down just yet. I will very soon. You're going to be the first 
person I come to," She smiled at Akane. Linna would never say something 
like this in front of Akane if she hadn't found out that Ranma and Akane 
were now considered best friends, not lovers.
  Ranma chuckled, "Good chance I'll be still single then," He turned 
back toward Jun, "So, what do ya wanna eat?"
  "What makes you think you'll still be single?" Lisa asked. She found 
herself jumping for joy. Ranma was still single. Perhaps she still had a 
chance.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. Because I have no intention of 
dating,"
  "Why not?" Shinji asked.
  "Martial arts is what I like, not dating," 

   Ranma was walking down the street with everyone, carrying a sleeping 
Jun piggy-back style. It was somewhere nearing eleven at night.
  "Hey, I wonder when Ryoga's gonna show up?" Ranma asked to no one in 
particular, "I betcha he's in for a surprise,"
  "Who knows when he'll show up," Akane said, "He hasn't been around in 
ages."
  Sylia and her three friends started down another path. 
  "Well," Sylia said, "Here is where we split apart. Today was great. We 
all needed time off from time to time. But, unfortunately, we all live 
in the real world and have jobs that we need to get back to tomorrow,"
  All four girls gave Ranma a hug, careful not to wake Jun.
  "It's great having you back," Linna said, kissing him on his cheek. 
The other girls did the same, telling him that they had a great time and 
wanted him to drop in on them them in the near future whenever he or 
anyone else was in town. 
  They said their goodbyes and parted.
  Walking down for several more block, Madigan said, "All right, here's 
where we part." She took Jun into her arms, craddling her, and smiled 
toward Ranma. "If I weren't married, I'd consider you a great catch," 
  "Hey!" Carper said, "I resent that. What am I, chopped liver?"
  Madigan gave her husband a playful nudge. "No dear. Of course not."
  Madigan and Carper said how glad they were to see Ranma alive and 
well.
  "Well, I'm glad we didn't end up killing you, if that was possible," 
Carper said with a smirk, "You're a great guy. It's too bad we got off 
on the wrong foot, what with us trying to kill you and all,"
  Ranma chuckled, "You're not the only one. The same thing goes for 
Sylia and the others. Heck, Lisa hit me in the head with a brick. I 
don't think I've met anyone unless it was through some unusual 
circumstances,"
  Madigan and Carper said their goodbyes and soon parted. 
  After a short while, Lisa and Ritsuko and Misato parted.
  "Misato, Ritsuko? Where are you going?"
  Misato smiled, "It's been a year, Ranma. We now how our own place. 
Lisa and Ritsuko and I live together,"
  "B-but how come you were at my house when I arrive?"
  "We were visiting," Ritsuko said, smiling. "Surely, we can drop on by 
whenever where nearby."
  "Of course," Ranma said warmly. "Drop by whenever ya like,"
  "We will," all three girls said. They said their goodbyes and left. 
All that remained were Akane and Ranma and the three children.
  "Ritsuko and Lisa work together," Akane commented. "They're partners 
in a small but expanding computer firm. Give it enough time and it would 
eventually grow up to be another Gendom-like megacorporation. Of course, 
let's just hope they don't try to create a OMS-type chip,"
  Ranma chuckled, "Let's hope not. What about Misato? What does she do 
now?"
  "She's in charge of research and development of a major firm," Akane 
said, "I don't want to spoil everything for you because they might be 
looking forward to telling you about how well they're off now. I'm 
pretty sure they would all love to tell you that when they're good and 
ready,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you're right,"
  
  Ranma was downstairs in the livingroom, reading a book, something that 
he had never really done before. He assumed that there was something 
else he could get interested in. Reading was the first thing that came 
in mind.
  It was around midnight when Asuka came down the stairs to goto the 
bathroom. Although she was half asleep, she managed to notice Ranma.
  "What're you reading?" she asked. She was surprised to see Ranma 
actually attempting to read a book. But then again, it was probably a 
book that had a lot of pictures.
  "I dunno, the cover got ripped off a long time ago. This is an old 
book," he replied.
  "I never knew you read," she said.
  "I don't. I figure I'd give something new a try," he said with a wave 
of his hand.
  Asuka sat down on the couch adjacent to his. 
  Ranma eyed her curiously and said, "Ain't it a bit late for you to be 
up? It's past midnight. Dontcha have school tomorrow? Speaking of it, 
how is it? Doing okay I assume, you being booksmart and all,"
  "It's okay," she replied, "I'm doing much better now that I got used 
to it."
  "Better?" he asked "What do you mean by that? I always thought you did 
real well"
  "I didn't know the kanji," she said with a wave of her hand, "I kinda 
had trouble understanding the questions. But now, now that I do know it, 
I'm breezing through it. I graduated from college in Germany, afterall. 
Given the time, I'll finish Japanese college in no time,"
  Ranma looked down at the old book, his voice a bit sad, "That's good 
to hear. I'm glad to hear that,"
  Asuka caught something in his tone of voice and said "Not that I 
really care about you and all, but from the tone of your voice, it seems 
like something's wrong,"
  Ranma placed the book on the coffee table. "I never even finished high 
school." he said, right before heading upstairs.
  Asuka remained sitting in the livingroom. 
  She didn't even remember why she had come downstairs in the first 
place.

  Ranma outside in the backyard early in the morning, doing kata forms.
  Asuka was the first to wake up and was on her way to take a morning 
shower when she spotted him fron the back porch.
  "G'morning, Asuka," Ranma said, still continuing to practice, 
perspiring a bit.
  "Um, g-good morning," Asuka said, more awake now. Ranma wasn't wearing 
a shirt, the morning already too hot. "Why the hell are you not wearing 
a shirt?"
  "What are you, my mother?" Ranma retorted, still focused, "I could do 
as I please," He stood very still and started to glow.
  Although Asuka had seen Ranma do this on countless occasions back when 
he was on her world, it still amazed her. She just couldn't grasp or 
understand how Ranma exactly did that, no matter how many times he had 
explained it to her. It seemed very unnatural, which was even more weird 
because it any and everyone could do it.
  "You have no sense of modesty!" Asuka spat.
  "Funny coming from someone like you because the front of your night 
gown is open," he retorted 
  Asuka looked down and realized that Ranma was correct. She quickly 
closed the front of her shirt up, "You pervert!!"
  Ranma smirked, "Like I really wanna see you naked anyway,"
  "And just what is wrong with my body anyway?!" she asked, her hands on 
her hips.
  "Nothing. It's the personality that occupies that body that annoys 
me," he replied, still smirking. "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen 
you naked anyway. If you've seen one naked girl, you've seen `em all. 
There's nothing that makes your body any more special that, say, Akane's 
or Sylia's or whoever."
  Akane turned around the corner, still yawning, and noticed Ranma and 
Asuka, "What are you two talking about? I heard someone mention my 
name,"
  "None of your business you uncute tomboy," Ranma chuckled, "Go back to 
your beauty sleep. You need it,"
  "Ranma, you idiot!!!"

  Ranma was eating breakfast with everyone. On Ranma's face, several 
bruises could be seen. He even had a black eye.
  "All right, so I talk too much," Ranma muttered when Shinji and Rei 
glanced toward him curiously.
  Akane hmphed. "Well, you get what you deserve, saying something like 
that to me," 
  Ranma started laughing.
  "What's so funny?" Shinji asked.
  "It reminds me of the time when I was young," he said, smiling warmly, 
"Those days were fun,"
  "You mean you enjoy getting hit? Are you some kind of masochist?" 
Asuka asked, her eyes narrowing. "There must be something really wrong 
with you....as if there isn't already enough as it is,"
  Ranma leaned forward, his face coming closer to his, "You know, you 
act just like how Akane used to act....when she and I were fiancees,"
  Asuka nearly spit out her food. She blushed beet red but quickly 
fought it back and stood up, "Well, even if you were half the obnoxious 
jerk that you are now, then I feel sorry for Akane, having to be your 
fiancee back then."
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders and went about ignoring Asuka, eating his 
food, "Hm, this is pretty good, Akane," 
  Akane smiled, "Thanks. I'm glad you like it."
  Asuka looked at Ranma and then at Akane and then back at Ranma, "Jeez, 
Ranma, how capricious can you be? First you're arguing with Akane, and 
then you're complimenting her cooking,"
  "If I knew what that word meant, then perhaps I'll be able to answer 
ya," he said, still eating.
  "It mean unpredictable," Rei answered for him.
  "Well, her cooking is good," he said, "What she used to cook was real 
slop. Until not too long ago, everything I ate that she made made me 
horribly sick,"
  Akane glared at Ranma, getting angrier by the minute.
  "But, she cooks much better now," he commented, still eating, "Heck, 
it's pretty damn good."
  She blushed a bit, "Um, thanks,"
  Asuka looked at Ranma. He gave her a rather mischievious grin and 
said, "I may not know what capricious means, but I do know what 
articulate means,"

  Ranma was walking with Rei and Asuka and Shinji to school. He was 
walking on the fence.
  "Jeez, why the hell are you walking us to school?" Asuka muttered, 
"It's not like we're gonna get lost or anything. You're not our 
parents....even though you're old enough to be our parents's father," 
For some reason, she didn't really mind Ranma walking with her and the 
others. It kind of added a air of familiarity to life, of belonging.
  "Hey, for your information," Ranma said, "I ain't walkin' ya to 
school. Your school happens to be on the way to where I'm going,"
  "Where are you going?" Shinji asked. He wondered how long it would 
take him before he could walk on a fence like Ranma so effortlessly.
  "I wanna pay Misato and Ritsuko and Lisa a visit," he answered. 
  "Oh," Asuka said.
  Arriving at the school, Ranma looked up, "Jeez, I haven't seen one of 
these things in the longest time,"
  "What, you mean a school?" Shinji asked curiously, "You've got to be 
kidding me,"
  Ranma shook his head, "No. The last time I've been to a school to 
learn was when I was sixteen."
  "What happened between when you were sixteen and now?" Rei asked.
  "Well, at sixteen, everyone died and I went up to the mountains," he 
relied softly, "I trained up there for roughtly thirty years. I came 
back to Japan where I met up with Sylia and the others, and brought down 
a major corporation called Genom. I assume the others've told you about 
that. From there, after Akane and Ryoga and I tried to commit suicide-"
  "S-suicide?" Shinji asked, his eyes wide, "Y-you tried to commit 
suicide?" This was something he had never known about Ranma. He always 
thought Ranma lived life to the fullest and would never want to end it 
prematurely.
  Ranma nodded, "Well, it was either our deaths, or pretty much 
thousands of people living around the area. The choice came pretty easy. 
Anyway, we all survived. From there, we journey back to China to rid my 
curse,"
  "You keep mentioning about how you are cursed," Asuka said, "But 
exactly what is it? Akane and the others won't tell us,"
  "That's because I don't want anyone knowing about it, Asuka," Ranma 
grinned, "C'mon, you're smart. If you had a rather upsetting past due to 
that curse, I'm pretty sure you don't want it being brought up during a 
dinner conversation and all."
  "That's true, Asuka," Shinji said.
  "Quit butting in, Stupid Shinji," Asuka retorted.
  Shinji glared at Asuka.
  Asuka gritted her teeth. Ever since Shinji learned martial arts, and 
became pretty damn good in it, he was starting to get cocky. Having 
beaten up that bully in school also added to the cockiness. She was 
going to have to bring him down a peg or two. Although she could still 
beat him up, she knew that sooner or later, he would best her. Although 
he wasn't as skilled as her, Shinji was physically stronger and faster,"
  Ranma chuckled, "My, Shinji, you've changed,"
  Shinji blushed a bit, "Um, well, n-not really,"
  Ranma place a casual hand over Asuka's shoulder and the other one over 
Shinji's, "Do you two ever spar against one another?"
  "I'll wipe the floor with him," Asuka said confidently. She noticed 
Ranma's hand on her shoulder. If it was anyone else's hand, she would 
have killed him for doing something like that. She let it slide because 
it was Ranma. Afterall, he had taken her and Shinji and Rei in under his 
wing and they were living in his house. If they had stayed back on their 
own world, their life would probably be terrible. 
  Besides, it's not like there is anyway Asuka could physically make 
Ranma remove his hand. Asking him would only make him keep his hand on 
her shoulder longer just to tease her.
  Ranma chuckled and looked toward Shinji, "Well, it looks like a 
challenge,"
  Shinji glared at Asuka, "Don't think you're such hot stuff, Asuka! 
Considering how much I've been practicing, you're going to be in for a 
surprise!"
  Rei, ignoring Shinji and Asuka as they argued, continued on toward the 
school. Shinji, noticing this, stopped what he was doing and said, "Hey, 
Rei, wait up,"
  Asuka and Ranma were left alone.
  Pulling his arm back, Ranma said, "Well, see ya," He turned around and 
was about to walk away but was stopped when Asuka called out his name. 
"What is it?"
  "Um, about what you had said last night," she began slowly.
  "You mean about my not having finished school?" he said slowly, 
walking back to her. 
  God, does he have to stand so damn close,  Asuka thought, looking up 
at him. He stood a full head taller than her. It also didn't help that 
she could smell the shampoo Ranma had used this morning. "Um, yes, have 
you ever thought of going back?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yes, I do. And I will,"
  "Um, when?" she asked. She had no real idea why she was having this 
conversation with Ranma. She didn't even like him. He was an arrogant, 
obnoxious, sexist jerk. But for some reason, there was a side to Ranma 
that she found rather intriguing. She had to admit that Ranma can be a 
very nice guy. Afterall, he didn't need to bring her and Shinji and Rei 
back home with him. But that wasn't really it. It was the fact that 
Ranma had died saving her life that made realize that he was a very kind 
person. There were those little insignificant things niceties that he 
does, that he doesn't even realize he is doing, that makes it kind of 
hard to truly dislike him.
  "When? I don't know," he replied, "I'll probably go back when there's 
nothing else to do. I kinda get bored easily. If nothing comes up 
anytime soon, I'll probably go back after summer vacation. Hey, speaking 
of that, when is the last day of school for you?"
  "In two more weeks," she replied.
  Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Well, that's good to hear. I guess 
I better get going,"
  "Yeah,"
  "See ya around, Asuka. Nice talking to ya," 
  
  "Hey, Asuka, check him out," Keiko said. She was Asuka's firend. They 
became friends shortly after Asuka and Shinji and Rei started attending 
classes there.
  Asuka looked up from her desk and at her friend as she stood by the 
window. Her friend looked a bit like Hikari. Perhaps that's why Asuka 
was friendlier to her than others. 
  "What is it?" she asked, not really wanting to get out of her seat. 
The school day was almost over. As the teacher continued on with the 
lecture, Asuka got up out of her seat and walked over to the window. By 
now, several other girls we there looking out. It looked like there was 
a fight going on outside in the courtyard. What she saw surprised her.
  "T-that's Ranma," she said. She recognized the man leaning against the 
tree, his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly waiting for someone.
  "You know him?" Keiko asked, "Who is he?"
  "He's Ranma Saotome," she answered without much thought, "We live in 
his house along with Akane,"
  "Him? He's gorgeous!" Keiko said. "How old is he?"
  "I dunno. Probably somewhere around eighty?" she said, looking out the 
window and at Ranma. 
  Keiko looked at Asuka like she was on some kind of drug, "You're 
joking. C'mon, really, how old is he? He looks like he's twenty five or 
so,"
  Asuka continued to gaze at Ranma. She had to admit that Keiko was 
right. Ranma did look like he was in his mid twenties. She also, albeit 
with reluctance, had to admit that he was gorgeous. She would never 
mention it to him though.
  "Do you really know him?" Keiko asked.
  Asuka nodded, "Yeah."
  "Get outta here," Keiko said, "I don't believe you. You're making it 
up just to make yourself look good,"
  By now, several girls were by Asuka's side, listening to her, ignoring 
the teacher.
  Asuka shrugged her shoulders, "Fine, I don't really care if you 
believe me or not anyway,"
  Shinji, seeing what the commotion was, walked up to the window, 
"What's going on?" He looked out the window at what all the girls seemed 
to be looking at and said, "Hey, it`s Ranma," 
  He waved a hand out, "Hey, Ranma! Up here!"
  Ranma looked up and spotted Shinji and waved. A second later, he 
stopped Asuka by the window right next to Shinji's. He waved to Asuka 
also.
  "H-he does know you!" a female classmate said, shocked. "He's waving 
right at you! I'm so jealous!"
  Asuka hmphed, but for some reason, she found herself blushing a bit.

  "Why are you here?" Shinji asked, walking up to meet with Ranma. He 
was with Rei and Asuka.
  Ranma smiled and said, "I was on my way home from the city. On the 
way, I figured I might as well stop by the school and walk with you 
home. It was on the way. All I had to do was wait ten minutes,"
  Asuka looked back over her shoulder and saw a small group of girls 
nearby, all of them seemingly talking amongst themselves, most likely 
about the man the three children were talking to. One girl dared to walk 
up to Ranma.
  "Hi," she said.
  "Um, hello. Nice to meetcha," Ranma replied. He turned back toward 
Shinji, "If you and the others aren't busy, I figured I'd treat you all 
to something to eat. How's that sound?"
  "That sounds great!" Shinji smiled. He looked at Rei, "How about you, 
Rei? You interested?"
  "It doesn't bother me," she replied softly.
  "How about you, Asuka?" Ranma asked her.
  "Um, y-yeah. Sure," she replied a bit nervously. She was almost 
glaring at that girl that had said hi to Ranma. 
  Ranma smiled, "All right. Let's go eat," He turned toward the girl and 
said, "Well, it was nice meeting ya. See you around. Bye,"
  Ranma, Asuka, Rei, and Shinji headed down the road and rounded a 
corner. But before they did, Asuka happened to glance over her shoulder 
and at the glaring girls. She found herself smiling a bit, knowing that 
those girls were staring at her enviously.

  Ranma yawned as he laid down on the back porch. It was now late at 
night. He gazed up at the stars, remembering the constellations Asuka 
had taught him from a while back. The constellation of this world was 
the exact same as the other world.
  "What're you doing?" Asuka asked, noticing Ranma lying on the floor. 
She walked up to him, standing over him.
  "Um, Asuka, I don't know if you know this, but I can see up your 
dress,"
  Asuka kicked Ranma in the head, "You pervert!!!" 
  Ranma sat upright, rubbing his cheek, "Hey, what'd ya do that for? You 
were the one that walked up to me! What did you want me to do, say 
nothing and enjoy the view?!" 
  He got up to his feet and headed toward the kitchen. 
  "Jeez, women. You can't live with `em....and I'm going to sleep,"
  "Then why are you going into the kitchen?" she asked wryly.
  Ranma emerged from the kitchen, glared at Asuka, and then headed 
upstairs.
  
  Ranma and the others were eating breakfast.
  "There's a school dance tonight?" Akane asked, wanting to make 
conversation. She knew there was a dance. She remembered Shinji coming 
up to her and asking her for advice on asking a girl out to the upcoming 
school dance. 
  Ranma looked at the children, "You have a school dance? I never knew 
that,"
  "It's tonight," Shinji said.
  "That's because you were dead, Ranma," Rei said softly.
  Ranma chuckled, "Yep,"
  
    Asuka hmphed as she entered the house.
  Ranma was in the kitchen. He heard Asuka enter. He peeked his head out 
the door, "Hey, Asuka," he said, ducking his head back in.
  Asuka entered the kitchen. She needed someone to talk to. 
Unfortunately, Ranma was the only one at home. Everyone else was out, 
Akane probably visiting Lisa, Shinji and Rei at school.
  She sat down on the chair. She watched Ranma's back as he went about 
cooking his dinner.
  "Um, what're you making?"
  "Dinner," Ranma replied, continuing to cook. "Hey, how come you're 
home? I mean, dontcha have that school dance tonight? Weren't you 
supposed to goto it with your classmate, um....Keiko, right?"
  Asuka nodded, "I was but after ten minutes of being around the boy she 
set me up, I told him I had to goto the bathroom and simply came home. 
He was so boring,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders and continued on cooking. He reached over 
an grabbed a small plate of sliced meat and put about half of it into 
the pot. He turned around, looked at Asuka, and then turned back and 
threw the rest of the meat in.
  "What are you going to do tonight?" she asked. 
  "Nothing much, I'm gonna eat and then I'm going out," he said.
  Asuka's lips persed a bit, "Um, where are you going to go?"
  "To the movies. I haven't seen one of those in the longest time," he 
said, "Ya wanna come?"
  "No!" she quickly said.
  "All right," Ranma said with a shrug of his shoulders. He went about 
cooking.
  Asuka glared at Ranma. She felt extremely frustrated. Several minutes 
passed by in silence. After a moment, Ranma looked at her, "Is something 
wrong?"
  "Not really,"
  "What's wrong?" he said, "Is it because of the dance?"
  "No," she snapped, "Who needs to goto a stupid dance anyway? It's 
going to be the same as any kind of dance anyway. They're all the same."
  "How's that?"
  "The boys hang together on one side of the room while the girls hang 
together on the other side," she said, "But it doesn't matter. It's not 
like I like those idiot males anyway,"
  Ranma finished cooking and preparing the meal, walked up to the table 
holding two plates, and placed a plate in front of Asuka, "Here," he 
said.
  "I didn't ask for this," she said.
  "Fine, more for me," Ranma said, starting his meal.
  Asuka looked at the plate and then at Ranma, "Why did you make it for 
me? What if I weren't hungry? It would have been wasted,"
  Ranma shook his head, proceeding to virtually inhale his meal, and 
said, "No. It won't be wasted. I'll simply eat that portion too,"
  Asuka was silent. She watched him eat for a short moment. Ranma was so 
different from the other guys she had ever met. Every guy she had come 
across tried to impress her. But not Ranma. He actually showed some 
hostility toward her if she showed hostility toward him.
  Finished with his meal, Ranma said, "Do you want that food or not? If 
not, then I'll eat it,"
  Asuka's stomach grumbled.
  Ranma smirked, "I guess yer stomach answered for you," He picked up 
his plate and walked over to the sink and proceeded to wash it. 
  "How come you act the way you do?" Asuka asked after a moment.
  "Where the hell did that come from?" he asked, looking at her 
curiously, "Why do you ask that?"
  "I'm just curious, that's all," she said, resting and arm on the 
table, her chin in her hand.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. Perhaps it's because of what 
I've been through."
  "What have you been through?" she asked. She knew that Ranma had lost 
his family when he was young, but nothing much more than that. She had 
been meaning to ask him about that when he and her were alone. Of 
course, she had no idea why she never bothered asking him that when they 
were on the boat alone for close to a month.
  "What would you like to know?" he asked.
  "I dunno, um, how about your mother?" she asked.
  That seemed to hit a nerve and Asuka noticed. Ranma was silent for a 
moment, "I don't really know who my mother was."
  "Y-you don't?"
  "My father made an oath to my mother that he would raise me as a man 
among men," he said, giving Asuka an odd look when she was about to make 
a comment, "The oath was that I committ seppukku if I don't turn out 
like the person she wanted me to. My father failed,"
  "Y-your f-father failed?" she asked, very shocked. Although Ranma was 
a rather obnoxious and arrogant, it was clear that he was indeed a 
healthy male. Ranma was definitely masculine. Excuse this 
pretentiousness and it wasn't so far fetched that he would be considered 
a man among men. How he had failed in achieving that had Asuka very 
curious.
  "Well, I got cursed, and because of my curse, I was forced to avoid my 
mother," he said, staring straight ahead at the wall, "My mother visited 
the house where I lived, but she didn't even know I was her son. And I 
couldn't tell her that I was her son because if she found out about my 
curse, I would have to committ seppukku."
  "T-that's horrible," Asuka said.
  Ranma sat down, "But that's a long time ago. My.....my mom died a long 
time ago,"
  "Did you ever let her know? That you were he son?"
  Ranma picked something up and was about to throw in at the wall. He 
stopped at the last moment and gently placed it down again. "No! I 
didn't! She went her entire life wondering who her son was....when I was 
standing right next to her in my cursed form. By the time I was cured of 
my curse, she had died already,"
  Asuka looked up at Ranma. This was a side of Ranma she had never seen. 
"I-I'm sorry to hear that,"
  Ranma took a deep breath, calming himself down, "It's okay. It all 
happened a long time ago. I can't really do much about it anymore. I 
can't change the past, and even if I do, I won't know what happens, not 
unless I stay there, which I can't because, not only do I not belong 
there, but I belong in this world. If I could, I would probably go back 
and stop the Nerima Massacre,"
  "The Nerima Masscre, the one where everyone was killed?"
  Ranma nodded as he said, "Yeah. They all died." He stood up, "Well, I 
don't really like talking about the past that much. I kinda brings back 
bad memories..."
  "So why do you do talk about it then?"
  "How else am I to get over with?" Ranma asked, "If I keep it bottled 
up, it'll just tear away at me,"
  Asuka was silent. She was absolutely amazed at how Ranma could change. 
Once second, he seemed to be torn apart from the inside, and then the 
next, he seemed perfectly all right,"
  Ranma turned toward the door, "Well, I'm going to the movies now. I'll 
see you later,"
  "Wait," she said.
  "What is it?" he asked.
  "Um, about what you said," she began, "About not keeping everything 
bottled up,"
  "Is there something you wanna tell me?"
  She nodded.
  "Well, if you're not busy, we can talk about it at the movies," he 
said with a smile.
  She smiled a bit, "Um, I guess I can go. It's not like I have anything 
to do anyway,"
  Ranma and Asuka left the house.
  "So, what is it you wanted to tell me?" he asked.
  Asuka took a deep breath. She was going to talk about something she 
had never talked about before, had told no one. Ranma was going to be 
the first one to hear it from her.
  "Um, it's about my own past,"
  
  Asuka was waiting for the movie to start.
  Ranma had left the movie theater to buy some refreshments and had said 
that he would be right back. As the theater became more and more 
crowded, Asuka looked around, hoping she could spot Ranma coming into 
the theater.
  "Hey, what's a nice girl like you doing here all alone?" a young boy 
behind her asked. He looked like he was with his whole posse of male 
friends. 
  "Trying to avoid people like you," she retorted, turning around to 
glare at the boy. The boy looked like a street thug. He had several 
earings, two of them in his nose. His hair was obviously bleached blond, 
giving him that punk look.
  "There's a seat here on my lap for you," the boy smirked, pointing 
toward his private area. "How about you sit on my lap and we talk about 
the first thing that pops up?"
  The six boys sitting around him burst out in laughter. Asuka continued 
to glare at him. What a lame joke. Like she hadn't heard that before. 
"Get lost, asshole!" she snapped, turning back around.
  The boy chuckled and skillfully hopped forward and into the open seat 
to her right. 
  "Ooh, she's a fiesty one," the boy said with a licentious grin, eyeing 
her chest quite fondly. Auska, for some reason, felt very uncomfortable. 
She knew the boy was picturing her naked right now. Sure, a lot of boys 
probably do that in school, but the way he was looking at her gave her 
the creeps.
  Ranma slowly made his way to the open seat to her left and sat down. 
He handed her the drink. "Here, I got ya something to drink. When's the 
movie gonna start?"
  "Who's he, yer boyfriend?" the boy sneered, leaning over, his mouth 
coming close to hers. His breath reeked of alcohol and smoke. 
  Asuka turned toward him, feeling much more corageous now that Ranma 
was nearby, and shouted, "Hey, get the fuck away from me!" She cocked 
her arm back but had it caught by Ranma's hand.
  She turned toward Ranma, wondering why he had stopped her.
  "I've got him. I'll show him a lesson," Ranma said, "No need breakin' 
a fingernail on some junkie like him,"
  "What the fuck didja say?" the boy said, standing up. The six boys all 
stood up. They were all roughly Ranma's height, one of them even more 
muscular. It was obvious that these boys weren't boys, but rather young 
men.
  Ranma angrily stood up andglared at the boy, "I hate people like you! 
You think you guys are all tough because you're go around in groups, 
harrassing people that you think won't fight back! Well, asshole, don't 
think I'm gonna just stand around and do nothin'! I'll fuck you up!"
  "Yeah, right," the boy said wryly. "You, against seven of us? You're 
the one who's gonna get fucked up!"
  Ranma twitched a bit. He reached his hand out and grabbed Asuka's, 
"C'mon, Asuka. Let's get another seat,"
  Asuka gazed up at Ranma. Ranma was doing all that he could to keep 
himself under control. She nodded and quickly followed.
  "Yeah, take yerself and yer lil bitch of yours, get lost," another boy 
taunted.
  By now, most of the theater was silent, watching the little scene 
going about in front of them. The words could be heard echoing through 
the entire theater.
  "I seriously suggest you apologize," Ranma said, slowly walking up to 
the boy. The boy stood his ground, remaining where he was. It annoyed 
Ranma to hell that people could be so rude nowadays.
  "Fuck you!" the boy said with a sneer.
  Ranma twitched again but managed to say in a very calm, yet unstead 
voice, "A-apologize to her,"
  "No," the boy said with a smirk.
  "All right, I asked," he said, smirking. The next second, Ranma's fist 
shot out, hitting the boy in his solar plexus. The boy keeled over, 
gasping for breath. Asuka, realizing this was her opening, brought her 
foot up and right into the boy's private area. The boy fell forward, 
clutching his groin, groaning in pain.
  "Ya still want me to sit on your lap?" Asuka asked wryly.
  Ranma turned toward the other boys. All of them bumrushed Ranma.
  Without even blinking, Ranma grabbed the hurt boy off the ground and 
flung him effortlessly into his friends, winding all of them, sending 
them all to the floor. "Get lost," he said.
   The boys slowly got back up to their feet, picked up their hurt 
friend, and made their way out of the theater. Everyone soon started 
clapping. It seemed that those boys were notorius to that theater and 
people wanted them taught a lesson.
  Ranma turned toward Asuka, "You okay?"
  She nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," She brought a hand up to her chest, to 
feel her rapidly beating heart, "T-that was exhilarating," It felt more 
exhilarating than defeating an Angel because she realized she had 
managed to incapacitate someone using her own body. Although she kenw 
martial arts, this was the first real time she had implemented it.
  "That's adrenaline," he smiled. "It does that to people," 
  He looked up at the screen and noticed that the movie was going to 
start, "The movie's gonna start, let's get seated," He took her hand and 
lead her toward the seat they had originally been in.
  Asuka continued to look up at Ranma. 
  "Um, thanks,"

   Ranma and Asuka went home after the movie. 
  "That was a good movie," Asuka commented.
  "Um, you already mentioned that on the way home," Ranma chuckled, 
"Didja forget we had that conversation a few minutes ago? I mean, you 
said it was good, I said I disliked it. You asked why. I told you,"
  Asuka glared at Ranma, getting angry, "I'm just trying to make 
conversation,"
  "And you're failing," he smirked. He sat down on the couch, putting 
his feet on the table. He grinned and added, "You ain't my mother. Don't 
tell me that I can't put my feet on my coffee table,"
  "I wasn't going to say anything," Asuka said, snorting in contempt. 
She was beginning to wish she had never went with Ranma to the movies. 
She looked at Ranma's feet and noticed that her school books where on 
the table and his feet were on them.
 Ranma followed Asuka's gaze and notice his feet resting on several of 
Asuka's school books. He placed his feet back down on the floor. Asuka 
quickly reached for the books but Ranma reached them first.
  He picked the books up and and gazed at it. His eyes narrowed on the 
first book as he slowly read the title.
  "Physics. English Literature. H-human sexuality?" he said, eyes 
raising as he read the last book. "My, how interesting,"
  Asuka blushed. She was hoping Ranma wasn't going to see that. She 
quickly retorted, "I-it's none of your business what I learn anyway. 
Give that book back!" She reached a hand out to grab it but Ranma turned 
his back toward her. He knew she would not climb over him to grab it.
  He opened the book up and started skimming through it.
  "Give that back!" Asuka shouted, almost pouting. She found this very 
embarrassing.
  Ranma handed a book back to her.
  "That's not the book!" she replied when he gave her her physics book.
  He gave her the English Literature one.
  "Ranma!"
  Ranma chuckled and gave her back her Human Sexuality book. He leaned 
back against the couch. Asuka just stared at the book that had just been 
handed to her. She was expecting Ranma to tease her some more about it.
  He reached out and grabbed the physics book and started skimming 
through it. "So, what do you learn in school?" he asked casually. He 
read a couple of paragraphs, albeit slowly, "This physics stuff sounds 
interestin',"
  Asuka was silent for a moment. She then said, "Um, w-what is it you 
want to know?"
  Ranma pointed toward the picutre, "What's this?"
  Asuka leaned forward and looked at the picture, "That's that 
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider,"
  "What's that?" he asked.
  She sighed. It was going to be impossible explaining something like 
that to Ranma. Ranma hadn't been in school in, what, close to fifty 
years. She wondered why Ranma even bothered asking about something so 
complicated.
  "Well?" he asked, seemingly interested.
  "Have you ever heard of the Big Bang theory?"
  Ranma shook his head.
  "Ritsuko would probably be better at explaining this," she muttered. 
She took a deep breath. If Ranma was interested, then Asuka could at 
least help him out instead of criticize him. "Do you know how the 
universe was created?"
  Ranma thought about it for a moment and then said, "Um, didn't God 
create it? I remember some religious person telling me that,"
  "Well, it's written in the bible that God created the universe, but 
that's from a religious point of view," she said. "The Big Bang theory 
is the scientific point of view of how the universe was created. Pretend 
that before the universe existed, there was pure nothingness. Nothing 
existed. Now, this Big Bang theory is of how two particles collided into 
one another, set off a massive explosion, created chain reaction that 
would eventually lead to the creation of the universe,"
  Ranma seemed confused.
  "What?" she asked, noticing this.
  "Well, if nothing existed, then where did those two particles come 
from?" he asked. "Something must have crated those particles,"
  Asuka's eyes widened a bit. That was a very intelligent question. 
"Well, that's what scientists can't seem to find out. They have no idea 
where those particle came from. But basically, they were able to predict 
the universe all the way up to, I think, the forty seven millionth of a 
second after the Big Bang,"
  "That sounds cool. Now how is this related to that Revelation Collider 
Of Ions?"
  "The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider," Asuka corrected him, smirking a 
bit. 
  "Ion Collider..." Ranma said to himself. After a moment he snapped his 
fingers, "Oh, I get it. Ion collider...as in particle collider. That 
Revalation Collider Thingie is trying to collide ions together to 
recreate that Big Bang you just mentioned,"
  Asuka's eyes widened. She stammered, "Um, y-yeah. T-that's right. Um, 
you already know about this stuff and are pulling my leg, right?"
  Ranma shook his head, "Nope. I've never heard of it before,"
  She paused for a moment, "Um, I'm a bit surprised,"
  "About what?"
  "That you can put it together so easily," she comment. 
  Ranma chuckled a bit, "Well, considering how long I've been around, I 
guess I learned to put thing together quickly over the many years,"
  She cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, you're right. It is used to 
create the Big Bang. You see, when two ions collide with one another at 
the speed of light, the Big Bang occurs. It creates this miniscule 
pocket of extreme heat and density. Basically, the Collider creates 
something that is more dense than a collapsing star and hotter than a 
million of our suns,"
  "Wow....um, but why?"
  "There are these things that can only exist in that atmosphere are 
called quarks," she said, confident of her intelligence, "And within the 
quarks, there are these particles that keep quarks attached to one 
another. They're called glueon quarks. These glueon quarks as so small 
that you can fit virtually the same number of it on an atom as the 
number of atoms could fit in this universe,"
  "You lost me,"
  "I figured," Asuka said, "It's very complicated,"
  "I understand this quark and glueon quark, but I don't understand 
exactly how small a quark is,"
  Asuka was shocked. Ranma understood that? It had taken her several 
times to understand that. It took her longer to understand just how 
small a quark was. She said, "You know an atom is really small, right? 
Well, imagine the amount of numbers an atom can fit in this universe. 
Well, that's basically the amount of quarks that can fit on an atom. 
That number is also that high when it comes to glueons fitting onto a 
quark. Pretty small, ne?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep,"
  "Y-you understand this stuff now?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep,"
  Asuka was shocked. If Ranma wasn't pulling her leg, and he knew 
nothing about what Asuka had explained before now, then he was one of 
the brightest people she had ever met. It was clear that at an 
analytical standpoint, Ranma was as brilliant as Ritsuko and Sylia. It 
was just his intelligence in all other areas were lacking.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders. He looked at the book and slowly started 
reading again. Asuka watched him with amusement. After a moment, he 
pointed toward a word on the book. "What does this mean? Entropy? What's 
that?"
  Asuka shook her head, "It's too complicated,"
  "Try me," he said, "I didn't seem to have any problem understanding 
the Big Bang theory, that.....Collider thingie, and what quarks are,"
  Asuka shrugged her shoulders. She might as well give Ranma the benefit 
of the doubt. Perhaps he'll surprised her again. She said, "Entropy, by 
definition, means, an index of the degree in which the total energy of 
thermodynamic system is uniformly distributed and is thus unavailable 
for conversion into work. It also means the tendancy for things to move 
toward chaotic disorder,"
  Ranma looked totally confused, "Huh?"
  "Drop and egg on the floor, what happens to it?" she asked, coming up 
with a better way to rephrase it.
  "It breaks,"
  "Drop a broken egg on the floor, what happens? It'll stay broken. 
Entropy is basically the chaotic energy released when the egg is broken 
that can never be replenished or recreated,"
  "Like in what kinda energy?"
  "Like the sound waves created upon impact, the slight increase of heat 
created from the impact, all kinds of energy," she said, "Now, once this 
energy is released, it could never be put back. Because if it could, the 
egg could become whole again, but that doesn't and won't happen. That's 
entropy,"
  "I'm still confused,"
  "About what?" she asked patiently. She found this rather fun, trying 
to teach Ranma something. But then again, he was extremely bright and 
seemed to soak in information like a sponge does water.
  "Okay, if I drop and egg, it breaks. If I drop the broken egg, it 
won't form into a whole egg again. This is all due to the release of 
energy that can never be replenished or recreated," he said, "Well, 
doesn't that sooner or later, there will be no more energy?"
  Asuka nodded, "Yes. And basically, once that does happen-"
  "What will happen?" he asked curiously.
  "I dunno. I guess that means the end of the universe, of all 
creation," she said.
  "That's terrible," Ranma said. "We hafta find out how to reverse 
entropy then. I don't like the thought of the universe ending eons from 
now,"
  Asuka smirked, "So what? This world is expected to explode four 
billion years from now. What do you think we should do about that?" 
  "That's nothing to worry about. For billion years from now, I'm sure 
mankind will have colonized new worlds," he said, "But, we only have one 
universe. It's not like we can colonize another universe before this one 
ends. What can we do? How can we reverse entropy?"
  Asuka shrugged shoulders and said, "It's one of the questions that can 
never be answered, like the meaning of life,"
  Ranma joked, "I learned what the meaning of life was, but I forgot to 
write it down,"
  Asuka laughed a bit. That was a rather cleaver statement. She paused 
for a moment and said, "Anyway, reversing entropy is like one of life's 
many mysteries, like the superstring, the meaning of life,"
  "The superstrain?" he asked. "I heard that before. That was what 
people on that other world called my blood. They called it the 
superstrain,"
  "No, the supersting. Not the superstraing," she corrected him.
  "What's the superstring then?"
  Asuka shifted in her sat. She wanted to get more comfortable. She 
said, "You know what the three dimensions are?"
  Ranma shook his head, "I dunno, up, down, left, and right? Wait, 
that's four...."
  Asuka giggled, "Um, good guess, but that's not it. There's width, 
height, and depth,"
  "Okay,"
  "The forth dimension is time," she said. "It's the act of time between 
the three dimensions,"
  "Okay, I still follow ya,"
  "Well, its hypothesized that there exists eleven dimensions, which is 
pretty far fetch because humanity has yet to understand what the fifth 
dimension is, let alone all the ones suceeding that all the way to the 
eleventh" she said, "You know width times height times depth gives us 
volume of that object, right? Well, that only incorporates three 
dimensions. There's supposed to be some kind of massive equation that 
incoporates all eleven dimensions. That's the superstring,"
  Ranma looked at Asuka, "Gee, you're smart,"
  She smiled a bit. "Thanks. Afterall, I graduated college,"
  Ranma's eyes narrowed, "You're shitting me,"
  "No, I'm not `shitting you' as you so crudely put it," she replied. 
"When I was in Germany, I graduated the top of my class. I'm considered 
a child prodigy,"
  He shrugged his shoulders, "Do you have one of those BO thingies?"
  "W-what did you just say?!"
  "Didja get your BO? You know, your deploma,""
  Asuka giggled a bit and said, "I think what you mean to say is BA, as 
in Bachelor Associates,"
  "Yeah, that," he said, "Hey, waitaminute, you graduated from college 
in Europe, right?"
  "Yes,"
  "Don't Europe have a different form of college than the type where one 
would attend after high school?" he asked. "I mean, considering that 
Europe's got a good education thing going, maybe the college you 
attended is kinda like a college you goto before you goto a college, 
like a post high school, pre-university type school,"
  Asuka was silent. For a man who hasn't even finished high school, he 
knew much more than he seemed to realize.
  Shrugging his shoulders and said, "Prehaps I'm wrong. Forget I 
mentioned it. Hm, reversing entropy," Ranma said to himself, "I should 
ask Ritsuko or Lisa or Sylia about that. They're smart. Maybe they can 
help. I'm not smart enough to do this on my own,"
  "You are smart," Asuka commented, "I can tell. You can grasp things 
easily, far quicker than the next person. Even though you're an asshole, 
I have to admit it that you are smart,
  Ranma looked at Asuka and smirked.
  He chuckled and said, "Leave it to Asuka to compliment and insult 
someone at the same time in a sentence,"
  Asuka blushed.
  

  At midnight, a sphere of light appeared, hovering in mid air several 
feet about the koi pond. A moment later, the sphere of light 
disappeared, leaving behind a lone figure in a featal position hovering 
in the air.
  The figure stretched his body to his full length, standing there, 
still hovering in the air. He walked toward Ranma's house, walking down 
a pair of invisible steps so he could place his feet firmly on the 
ground.
  He looked up at the house and sighed, "I'm home at last," 
  The figure opened the backdoor, knowing that it had always remained 
unlocked and walked into the house. Upon entering, he took a deep 
breath, grateful to be back in his house again. Unfortunately, a sad 
feeling washed over him as he remembered that he would not be here for 
long.
  Asuka, on her way to the bathroom, turned on the light in the hallway, 
not wanting to stub her toe like she had done on several painful 
occasions. Her eyes widened when she realized she wasn't alone in the 
hallway, that someone else was there with her. Recognition dawned 
immediately.
  "Ranma, what are you doing up?" she asked. She regarded him for a 
second. He was still dressed in his usual red shirt and black pants.
  Ranma looked at Asuka with sad eyes. Without saying a word, he walked 
forward and embraced Asuka and began to sob, "I'm sorry, Asuka," 
  Asuka stood there, shocked. Not knowing what to do. Why was Ranma 
holding her? Why was he crying? She had never seen Ranma cry before. She 
just stood there, in his arms, shocked. Not really knowing what to do, 
she did the first thing that came to her head and reached her own hands 
up and embraced Ranma back, her head pressing up against his chest.
  "I didn't mean to die on you like that," Ranma sobbed, his tears 
falling onto the top of Asuka's head. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want you 
to go through all the grief and suffering but it couldn't be helped. 
That night at the hospital had been my night to die,"
  Asuka pulled away from Ranma and looked up into his tearing eyes, "W-
what's going on? W-what are you saying?" Her heart was starting to 
break. What Ranma had said had brought back those memories, memories she 
would rather have kepted hidden away, locked away, so it would never 
haunt her again. Why was Ranma bring these memories back? Why?
  Ranma composed himself and placed both hand on Asuka's shoulders and 
said, "Asuka, I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but I'm 
the real Ranma. I was the one that died over a year ago, in that 
hospital,"
  "W-what? W-what are you talking about?" she said, tears starting to 
fall. She didn't like this one bit at all. This must be some horrible 
anc cruel joke Ranma was playing on her, using her greatest guilt 
against her.
  Ranma took a deep breath, "Over a year ago. I died. I have come back 
to from my grave," 
  Asuka started sobbing uncontrollably all of a sudden. "Why are you 
doing this?!"
  Ranma was very silent for several minutes before he said, "I died, 
Asuka. It couldn't be helped. I'm here so you could say goodbye,"
  "I-I don't understand,"
  "I have been reborn," Ranma said, "But I have been reborn as a 
messenger of God,"
  At that moment, the other AngelRanma, clad in his boxers, entered the 
hallway, rubbing his eyes because it pained his eyes slightly from 
adjusting to the light all of a sudden. Although he had been half 
asleep, but when his eyes adjusted to the light and he saw another 
version of himself, that woke him up immediately.
  "What the?!"
  
  The original Ranma stood in the middle of the livingroom. It was now 
about ten minutes after mindnight. Rei, Shinji, Akane, Asuka, and Ranma 
were all sitting on the couch, in a state of shock, but still managing 
to provide their undivided attention.
  "I have been reborn," Ranma said softly, pacing back and forth, "But I 
don't have much time on this world. I wish everyone else was here but 
this will have to do. Anyway, I am the Adam of this world. I am the Adam 
that should appear in Antarctica, but it's all different this time 
around." He took a deep breath and said, "From this point on, Angels 
will attack this world, just like how it attacked. There will be no 
fifteen year gap between me and the next Angel. Expect the third Angel 
to attack in a very short while,"
  "I don't understand," Shinji said.
  Ranma sighed, "Just listen. This is very very important. I am the Adam 
of this world. I have been reborn to take back Lilith.....just like what 
the original Adam was supposed to do on the other world. The Lilith of 
this world is Rei. I have come to take Rei back with me....but I won't."
  Everyone was very silent.
  Ranma made sure he was a good distance away as he said, "As soon as I 
come in contact with Rei, everything on this world will be destroyed, 
like a Third Impact on the EVA world if Ryoga and I hadn't managed to 
stop it. Now, although I'm supposed to come in contact with Rei, I 
won't. That is why my time is short. Everyone, this world is going to be 
tested just like the other world was. The Angels will come and try and 
destroy this world...."
  Everyone gasped.
  Shinji stood up and said, "Why? Why is this world going to be attacked 
by Angels? It's well past the year 2000!"
  Ranma shook his head and said in a soft voice, "It doesn't matter. 
This world, just like every other world out there, will or have been 
tested already. It's just that within the next few months, actually 
three months exactly, is when the first attack will commence," He turned 
toward the window, gazing out it and saying, "This test will be nothing 
like the test we went through on the other world. The weakest Angel will 
be very difficult to defeat,"
  Everyone listening was was silent.
  "Just like Adam," Ranma continued, "I am also a representation of the 
trials to come. You must prepare for it. Do whatever you could. Evacuate 
the city. Do whatever. The Angels will come to this city and attack you 
Ranma and only you,"
  "Why?" Asuka asked, "Why this city? Why here?"
  Ranma sighed and said, "Because they will be after me....to bring me 
back to heaven. And if they succeed, everything will be destoryed. The 
Third Impact will occur. You hafta do whatever you could to stop this,"
  The clone Ranma said, "Hold up, we hafta go through all this again? We 
hafta repell the Angels yet again? Jeez, I've already done this three 
times!"
  Ranma shook his head, "Ranma, this is nothing like the other world. 
The Angels are very very strong,"
  "How strong?" he asked.
  "Remember the final Angel you fought?" he replied, "Saffron? Well, 
expect to fight Angels like him."
  The other Ranma gulped. He didn't like the thought of having to fight 
Saffron at all. He said, "H-how did you know about that? I mean, you 
died, afterall,"
  Ranma said, "Well, you know how you are an Angel? Well, you're 
actually part human and part Angel. I happen to represent the human part 
while you represted the Angel part. As soon as you came back to this 
world, I left your body and you became pure Angel,"
  "D-does that mean I can cause an Impact?"
   Ranma shook his head, "Only if you, an Angel, come in contact with 
Adam, myself. Yeah, I know, talk about really awkward situation, huh? If 
I touch Rei, Impact. If you touch me, Impact. Both of which means the 
end of the world,"
  Everyone looked at one another nervously,. 
  "Anyway," Ranma continued, "I will be leaving,"
  "Leaving, why?"
  Ranma gave Akane an odd look, "Um, I don't wanna cause an Impact. 
Besides, I play a greater role. The Angels will be coming after me, to 
bring me back. Since my being near Rei is an obvious risk, I'll go the 
the most convenient place where I can't come in contact with Rei and you 
can come in contact with me,"
  "Where?" Asuka asked.
  "Where else? I'm going back into my old body. I going back to my 
grave." He said as he turned around and headed for the door. He stopped, 
"Ranma, take care. It's all up to you. The Angels will do whatever they 
could to reach me. You have to do whatever you could to stop them. Keep 
this in mind Ranma, only and Evangelion or another Angel could defeat 
the Angels. If you actually manage to find Ryoga, he won't be much help 
because he can't be the one that kills `em. Since Evangelions don't 
exist in this world, only you can defeat them,"
  The clone Ranma realized something, "Hold up. Back the truck up. What 
about when we....when you went back to the EVA world and defeated Adam? 
You weren't an Angel then. How did you defeat it?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Who says I did? The Second Impact was 
prevented....not Adam's becoming an embryo,"
  "I don't follow you?" the clone asked.
  Ranma smirked, "Adam had been changed into embryo form by the seppukku 
blast. The enrgy from the blast seemed to negate his energy, causing him 
to revert to his original form. Yes, like Saffron changing back into an 
egg. Ranma, on world were you were born from that EVA, Adam was also in 
embryo form,"
  "God, I never knew that,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, 
  "Well, it doesn't matter. Anyway, get ready for fourteen Angels, 
Ranma. And I wish you good luck,"
  Ranma said his goodbyes, assuring Asuka, comforting her one last time, 
telling her that he does not blame her for his death, nor should she 
blame herself. 
 In a flash of light, Ranma left their lives just as quickly as he had 
entered their lives.
  
  "Ranma, are you okay?" Akane asked, concern in her voice. Several long 
minutes had pssed since that bright flash of light, everyone slowly 
absorbing what had just transpired and what would soon come to be.
  Ranma nodded a bit, "I-I'm fine. It's just that I can't believe this 
is all going to happen all over again....that the Angels are going to 
attack,"
  "It's your other self," Akane said, sitting down next to him, "Seeing 
your other self is what's doing this, ne?"
  Ranma looked at Akane, "I guess so. It's just damn scary.....having 
come face to face with the version of myself. It's just that when I saw 
him....it reminded me of how I'm nothing much more than a clone of him,"  
  "Don't say that," Akane said, "What about me?"
  "What about you?"
  Akane took a deep breath and said, "Keep in mind that I'm also a 
clone,"
  Ranma was silent. He knew that. And that was what kept him stable, 
knowing that if Akane could deal with it, then co could he. It's just 
that he had no idea how to react to seeing his real self. This was by 
far the weirdest experience he had gone through.
  He took a deep breath. "Well, let's call everyone and tell them what 
had just happened,"
  Ranma called everyone he knew.
  Everyone, except Madigan, having stayed behind to watch over Jun, had 
arrived at the house shortly after the orginal Ranma's disappearance, 
all wide awake. When all of them arrived, Ranma finally decided to 
answer the question they had been dying to ask, `What is going on here?'
  Ranma had said, "I-I just saw my other self. He was here just about a 
half hour ago,"
  "Your other self?" Misato asked, "You mean the one that died?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yes, he came and gave us a message. It seems this world 
is going to go through the same tests that you and Ritsuko and the 
children have gone through. Angels are going to attack this world,"
  "Y-your other self? He came here?" Linna said. She was more shocked 
about that than the news that Ranma had brought. Sure, she had heard 
about the Angels through Misato and the others, but she had no true idea 
about how terrible this was because she hadn't been there to live 
through the experience.
  Ranma wave an impatient hand, "Yes, he came here, and he disappeared. 
We have much much more to worry about. Dontcha get it? This world is 
going to be tested! The Angels are going to test us,"
  Misato and Ritsuko were very silent. So were the children. The rest of 
the group spoke up.
  "But why us?" Nene asked.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "My other self had said that all the 
worlds will be tested. It seems it's this world's time to undergo the 
test now. He had come as a warning. He told us the Angels will be 
attacking Japan in a very short while, and that we must prepare,"
  "Why Japan?" Priss asked, "Have we done something wrong?"
  Ranma said, "He came reborn as the Adam of this world. So the Angels 
will be attacking Japan in hopes of bringing him back with them to 
heaven,"
  "The other Ranma's alive? And in Japan? Where is he?" Sylia asked 
without takinga breath. "We can ask for his help,"
  Ritsuko said, "I don't think that's possible. Ranma here is an Angel. 
If the other Ranma came in the form of Adam, contact with him would 
cause this world's destruction. Also, the other Ranma can't really do 
much in terms of fighting because if he comes in contact with any Angel, 
that would mean the end of this world,"
  "Oh my god," Lisa gasped. "That's horrible. What are we going to do?"
  "What else? We prepare ourselves to stop these Angels," Ranma said, 
"And no, we don't have fifteen years to create Evangelions and get 
ready. It seems these Angels will be attacking very very soon,"
  Everyone was silent.
  Ranma, realizing that everyone was pretty much in a state of shock, 
came up witht he plans, "Here's what we do. Since I'm part Angel, 
Ritsuko, Misato, Lisa, the three of you can take my wings and find a way 
of creating an Evangelion from them,"
  "How? How the hell are we going to fund the creation of an Evangelion? 
All the money in Japan won't be enough to create one," Ritsuko said, "On 
our world, the whole world contirubted to the EVAs construction so they 
could prevent the Angel. Everyone in this room is the only one that 
knows of Angels coming. No one is going to believe us,"
  Ranma gritted his teeth. That was very true, "Damn, I know. They're 
all gonna think we're nuts," He snapped his fingers. "Here's what we do. 
I'm gonna take the nanban mirror and use it to go to the other world, 
the world I was from. Since we don't have the time to create and 
Evangelion, I'm gonna steal one,"
  "The nanaban mirror?" Shinji said, "You can't. Ryoga took that with 
him,"
  "Why the hell did he take it? For what?" Ranma asked, shocked. This 
was not good.
  Everyone was silent.
  Ranma realized something, "Oh, waitaminute....that doesn't matter. I 
have that mirror that I used to get back here. Problem solved. I use 
that mirror to retreive Unit-01 and the other EVAs. Anyway, Ryoga is 
bound to shows up sooner or later....when he does, tell him to meet me 
on the other world and help get those EVAs."
  "We have no way of telling," Ritsuko said, "Ryoga's been gone for 
close to a year. We haven't seen him since then,"
  Ranma shrugged his shoudlers, "Well, let's just hope Ryoga shows up 
sooner or later. We could use his help." 
  He headed for the stairs. Everyone waited in the livingroom for 
several minutes before Ranma came down, wings protruding from his back. 
They all gave him a puzzled look, wondering what he was up to. 
  Ranma said, "Priss, Rei, Asuka, Linna, Shinji, the five of you will 
try and find a way to evacuate the city. Misato, Akane, if and when 
Ryoga shows up, tell him of our situation. But in the meantime, try and 
find him, that is, if he is still on this world. Nene, Sylia, Lisa, 
Ritsuko, the four of you should go about and try and recreate the MAGI 
so it would help us detect the Angels. It would help out greatly if we 
knew what kinda Angels we're fighting and when they're attacking. 
Carper, you and Madigan can go about having Ranma's grave dug up and 
placed in Genom's old boomer factory that's under the heart of this city 
where Ryoga and Akane and I had attempted suicide to destroy that 
supercomputer. Since those Angels are after this world's version of 
Adam, we'll use that huge city-like factory as this world's version of 
GeoFront,"
  Ritsuko's eyes widened, "That's brilliant," She remembered Ranma 
telling her about that factory, about how huge it was.
  "In a situation like this, you hafta be brilliant," Ranma smirked. 
  At this moment, everyone realized that Ranma had the smarts where it 
counted. They were all grateful for that and wondered how he was able to 
keep calm and in control when something as dire as this was going to 
happen.
  "Um, what are you going to do?" Akane asked.
  Ranma reached into his pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror he had 
used to get back to this world.
  "I'm gonna go go fetch us an Evangelion"
  Ranma smirked and then left the house.
  A moment later, a bright flash of light could be seen.

  "We dont' know," Ritsuko said, "We'll probably get rid of them. Now 
that there are no more Angels that will attack, we have nothing to worry 
about anymore. They'll probably be put in a museum to signify mankind's 
triumph over the Angels,"
  Ranma got an idea and said, "Hey, if you're not gonna really be 
needing them, why not let me have Unit-01? I kinda got attached to it. I 
like the thought of having something like that by my side. Besides, it 
would come in quite in handy if, say, Adam decides to pay my world a 
visit, ne?" 
  "That sounds rather far fetched," Maya commented.
  "I doubt anyone would appreciate that," Ritsuko said, "Unit-01 is 
probably worth more than the entire city of Tokyo. You can't simply 
explain its disappearance without someone pointing blame toward 
someone,"
  "Oh well, it was worth a try," Ranma replied. He hopped up onto 
railing, balancing on it skillfully. While standing on the railing, he 
turned around to face everyone "I guess my work here is done."
  "Wait," Misato said, stepping forward. "C-can you do me a favor before 
y-you leave?" She wanted to at least kiss him goodbye. Sure, he may be 
incredibly arrogant, but she had grown quite fond of him.
  Ranma opened his wings and hovered backwards into the air, smiling 
warmly. "I already know what you want me to do. Don't worry, I already 
know. And yes, I like you too, quite a bit as a matter of fact,"
  Misato blushed. She found tears forming around her eyes. Ranma was 
really leaving, and he was never coming back.
  "Tell Asuka, Shinji, Rei, and Yui that I was very happy to meet them," 
Ranma said, continuing to hover backwards. If he looked down, he would 
be able to see the ground several hundred feet below. "Tell them 
everything about me,"
  "We'll do that," Gendo said, nodding.
  Ranma bowed while in mid-air. "Take care everybody, it was fun,"
  "You too, Ranma," Misato said, waving goodbye. Everyone else soon said 
their goodbyes.
  Ranma reached into this pocket and pulled out the nanban mirror. He 
let a tear fall from his eye as he looked into the mirror. When the tear 
touched the mirror, Ranma was immediately enveloped in a bright light. 
  A moment later, Ranma disappeared.
  A moment after that, Ranma reappeared.
  Everyone immediately recognized the man hovering in the air before 
them. They just stared at him, in a state of shock.
  Ranma smiled, "I'm back,"

  "Y-your world in going to be tested?!" Ritsuko asked, very shocked. 
She and everyone else were in Gendo's office.
  Ranma nodded, "Yep. Remember what I said, that it would come in quite 
in handy if Adam decided to pay my world a visit? Well guess what, Adam 
showed up and my own world is gonna get tested,"
  "Y-you've got to be kidding me," Misato commented, "Your world is 
going to get attacked by Angels? How do you know?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yep, Angels are gonna attack my world and I wanna 
prepare. And Ranma was the one who told me,"
  "I'm confused," Kensuke said, developing a headache. He couldn't 
understand how Ranma could tell himself that the Angels were coming?
  "It's a long story," Ranma said, "Heck, everything's a goddamn long 
story,"
  Everyone paid Ranma their undivided attention.
  "First off, I've been back to my world for a short while." He began, 
"Even though only one second has elapsed on this world before I came 
back, I've been on my world for several days before I came back here. 
Anyway, while I was back there, I found out some pretty disturbing 
things,"
  "Like what?" Hikari asked.
  "Okay, all of you guys know that I'm a clone, right?"
  They all nodded.
  "Well, it turns out that my original self," he continued, "after he 
had gone back home, had died. It seems my true self actually died 
preventing the Second Impact. Hold up. Lettme continue first and then 
you can ask the questions later. Its seems a year has passed since he 
had died and when I came back. Anyway, he came back to life and is and 
was considered the Adam of my world. Even though you don't really know, 
the Adam of your world came in the form of a massive giant that seems to 
be made of light. Well, the Adam of my world came in the form of my 
original self. Well, because he came, that signified that the Angels 
will soon be following. My other self, I'll call him Adam. Adam came and 
told me and my friends that our world is gonna be tested and that the 
test is going to be very very different from the test that this world 
undergone,"
  "In what way? How is it different?" Gendo asked.
  "Okay, you know the Saffron Angel? Basically, I was told that the 
upcoming Angels will be similar to him," Ranma said with a shudder, 
"Even though none of you have actually seen him or fought him, that 
Angel was a monster and I do not, I repeat, do not, look forward to 
having to fight him again. Here's a question, which Angel do you 
consider the hardest Angel?"
  "The forteenth Angel, the Angel that Unit-01 took in," Misato said 
quickly. 
  Everyone seemed to agree. No Angel had come closer to succeeding or 
had that powerful of an AT field.
  "Well, picture the weakest Angel being as strong as him," Ranma said, 
dead serious. When everyone said nothing, not knowing what to say, Ranma 
continued on, "And above that, this world had fifteen years to prepare 
for the first Angel. Well, on my world, we only have a few months,"
  "God, that's terrible," Kensuke said, "How in the world will you be 
able fight Angels like that?"
  Ranma said, "That's why I'm here, I need Unit-01. If possible, Unit-00 
and Unit-02 also. Heck, I would bring the entire Nerv Headquarters with 
me if I could but I'm pretty that's not possible. Right now, as we 
speak, my friends are back home working their hardest at preparing for 
the attack,"
  "Oh god, I'm getting a headache," Gendo commented, pinching the ridge 
of his nose.
  "So here I am, asking for Unit-01," Ranma said, "Can you give it to 
me?"
  "W-we can't," Gendo said, "We just can't."
  Ranma got a bit angry, "Um, do you have ANY idea how much trouble 
world is in?! We have only a couple of month before the Angels attack 
and we have NO Evangelions! Heck, we don't even have a MAGI that would 
detect it!"
  "Ranma, if you take Unit-01, we're all going to be blamed," Misato 
said, "We will most likely be executed,"
  Ranma sighed, "Oh man, talk about an awkward situation....without 
Unit-01, we're screwed. If we get Unit-01, then you're screwed. Oh, I 
know, come with me....to my world."
  "What?!" everyone said.
  Ranma nodded, "Yes. All of you come to my world. That means you'll 
hafta put your life on hold....but it's all for a good reason....you're 
out to save the world. Ain't that a good enough reason?"
  "Wait," Ritsuko realized something, "Can't we let him take Unit-01. He 
could simply return to our world once he's finished using it. He could 
come back only one second after he's left. That way, no one will know it 
was ever taken,"
  Ranma said, "I've thought about it before but I can't do that."
  "Why not? That could work," Misato said. She had to admire Ritsuko. 
That was a rather good idea. No one would know.
  Ranma shook his head, "Yes, it could work but there's only one 
problem..."
  "And what is that?" Maya asked.
  "What if I die?" Ranma said seriously, "What if we lose? No on