_______________________
   /                       \
  | Teineina Tenshi No Teze |
  | (Kind Angel's Thesis)   |
   \_______________________/


Neon Genesis Evangelion and all character belongs to Gainax
Ranma ½ and all characters belong to Takahashi Rumiko
No copyright infringement is intended. 

Thanks to my pre-readers:
Ben
Aevan               http://aevan.virtualave.net
Kevin D. Hammel     http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~khammel/
Isawa Kazeko        tanzelax@reviewpe.com
Blood Blade         http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/5920

Please distribute this work unaltered and crediting the author.
dzillman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire

What has gone before:
In the year 2000, Ranma was attacked by a demon summoned by Happosai. 
In an attempt to save Akane, he travelled to the Antarctic to gain 
power of a heavenly warrior Cologne told him about. Unfortunately, he 
died in the effort. 

It is now 2015, and Ranma has been reborn and recruited as the Fourth 
Child for NERV. This is because the First Child, Ayanami Rei, has gone 
missing. In some unknown manner, Rei and Ranma share the same body, 
changing bodies and controlling personalities in the same way that 
Ranma's curse always used to work. With the defeat of the fifth Angel, 
everything looks set for some R&R.


daiyonwa
(Story 4)
---------

Ranma slumped to the ground and wiped his brow. Although the body he 
possessed was male and looked like a duplicate of his pre-Antarctic 
self, it obviously was not the body he was used to. Firstly it was 
fourteen years old, judging by size and appearance. That might be nice 
since it gave him an even bigger head start on martial arts than anyone 
else his age, but fourteen-year-olds just did not have the musculature 
development of sixteen-year-olds. As much as he hated to admit it, 
Ryoga had always been stronger than him. Now that he was only fourteen, 
he felt as weak as a baby.

The whole problem of strength being linked to age and physical 
development brought to light the other problem that was afflicting his 
body. Before he had gone to the Antarctic, he had fitter than an 
Olympian tri-athlete, and in better shape than most people dreamed 
possible. Now, the only exercise that his body seemed to have done was 
the mandatory swimming and running at school. Rei was as fit as a 
fourteen year old girl is expected to be under those circumstances, but 
since their bodies' development was linked, her lack of heavy exercise 
had made him entirely too average for his tastes.

That explained the regimen of fitness exercises that he had been doing 
for the last two weeks. Aided by his excellent knowledge of the human 
body, Ranma trained every day to exactly the point that was just the 
right side of doing more harm than good. Every night he had gone to bed 
exhausted and had eaten like there was no tomorrow. Only two weeks had 
not been enough to show sufficient changes to satisfy him, but already 
his lungs were working better and he could feel his endurance beginning 
to return. The fact that his teenage body was coursing with huge 
quantities of natural growth hormone only added to the results he was 
getting.

Since Shinji had defeated the Angel yesterday, Ranma had decided that 
today was definitely a day for recovery. Doctor Akagi had dropped him 
home at around three in the morning, and he had slept like a log until 
almost nine. When he had awoken, Ranma had checked on Rei, but she was 
still sleeping. Assuming that she would need the same sort of time that 
he needed to recover from the bio-feedback induced by the Eva, Ranma 
had eaten his breakfast in silence.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon now, and Ranma was seriously 
beginning to feel the effects of his training. Kata, jogging, and even 
some improvised weight lifting were all par for the course. Give him a 
couple of months and he would be back in fighting shape. 

'Hey, Rei? Sorry about making us hurt so much when I'm finished. I 
guess you're gunna have sore muscles when you take over again.'

*It will not affect my performance.*

Ranma nodded. Although Genma had only known a few simple massages, Dr 
Tofu had taught Ranma an assortment of techniques that he used. 
Everything from easing muscles soreness to speeding recovery had been 
in Dr Tofu's repertoire; while Ranma had not learned everything the 
doctor knew, he was able to put some of massages to good use everyday.

Ranma's planned conversation with Rei was cut short when he heard the 
sound of footsteps approaching. Assuming that someone from NERV might 
want to find him, he had left a note taped to the door of their 
apartment. There just was not enough room to train properly in Rei's 
squalid little flat, but out the back of the apartment block there was 
a moderately large clear space. Perfectly sized for running, jumping 
and the sort of acrobatic exercises that Ranma favoured.

Turning around to face the path that his visitor was coming down, Ranma 
was surprised to see his class rep. Things really were different in 
this year. He could not even remember who his representative had been 
back in Furinkan. Even the teachers had been different then. Not once 
had his current, boring teacher tried to drain his Ki, or give him an 
obscene haircut. If it was not for the giant robots, school these days 
would be seriously boring.

"Hey, Hikari!"

The class rep smiled and walked over to him. She had a bright, cheery 
face, with a sincere smile that she managed to maintain under almost 
any condition. "Are you all right, Ranma? When you didn't come to class 
today, and Shinji said that you had been hurt by the Angel, I was 
really worried."

Ranma snorted and stretched, showing that all his limbs were in place 
and functioning correctly. "Nah, I'm fine now. Even an Angel can't stop 
me. I just wanted to take some time off, so I figured that this was as 
good as any."

Hikari's smile showed that it was not able to stay around all the time 
as it gave way to a slight frown. "You mean you cut class? There wasn't 
anything wrong with you?"

"Umm.... Well, no. I didn't exactly say that. Or maybe I did say it, 
but I didn't mean it. What I mean was that Dr Akagi thought I should be 
in bed for another couple of weeks, so I figured I deserved at least 
one day to recover."

"In bed?" Hikari looked closer and gasped. "Oh no! You're all flushed 
and sweaty! If you've got a fever, you should have obeyed the doctor 
and stayed in bed."

"Fever? Ha, ha! No, I'm just sweaty from exercise. Don't worry, I think 
the Eva just probably gave me a bit of brain damage or something. 
Nothing to worry about really."

Sighing with relief, Hikari leaned down and placed her school bag on 
the ground. Suddenly she gave a start. Surely he could not have meant 
what he said about brain damage... could he? Giving up on that thought 
she shuffled though her bag and produced a handful of papers, holding 
them in front of her so that she could read them. "I... I brought your 
homework for you. Do you want me to stay around and help you with it? I 
told my mother that I would be late home, so it's OK..."

Pulling a face, Ranma waved her off. "Nah. I don't suppose you could 
just say that you forgot to see me or something?"

*I would like to do the study.*

'Why? School's so boring!'

*Commander Ikari requires satisfactory progress at school.*

'And?...'

Ranma and Hikari's shoulders seemed to slump in defeat at the same 
time. Hikari had wanted to be able to spend the evening with him, since 
together the homework would surely take no longer than an hour. Ranma 
had been hoping that he could do almost anything other than homework. 
However, if Rei wanted it, how could he reject her? She was nice enough 
to let him take the time to do the training he wanted so much, how 
could he refuse to do this for her?

Looking up again at the sad girl, Ranma tried to put some enthusiasm in 
his voice. He tried; he did not succeed, but he did try. "Ahh, yeah, 
sure, Hikari. You wanna come up while I have a shower? We can do it 
then."

Brightening immediately, Hikari nodded her head and followed him back 
into the building. If she left after dinner and the homework, she 
should still be able to get home before it was too dark. Walking behind 
Ranma, she admired how different he seemed from most of the other boys 
at school. He might not have been as big as Touji, but he was really 
cute. 

When Ranma led her up several flights of stairs to get to the 
apartment, Hikari started blushing furiously. His face was not the only 
cute thing about him, and being several steps below him, she found it 
very hard to look at something that would not cause highly improper 
thoughts. Even his back and arms were not safe, since the sweat had 
made his thin shirt stick to him and outline his developing muscles.

Once they were inside the apartment, Hikari was pleasantly surprised to 
see how neat and tidy it was. When she had gone there almost two weeks 
ago, she had seen a house that was not a home. It was dirty, and 
unkempt, with an assortment of things sitting wherever they happened to 
have been placed, including a box full of dirty bandages. The 
difference between now and then was easily noticeable. Everything that 
was not bolted down seemed to have been thrown out or hidden away. The 
floor had been mopped and it even looked as though there was food in 
the kitchen. 

Looking at Ranma, she caught a glimpse of his back as he took off his 
shirt and tossed it into a washing basket. "This place is a bit small, 
so don't come down the hall, there isn’t really a proper bathroom or 
nothing."

"Un." Blushing furiously, Hikari turned and walked back into the small 
galley kitchen. Talking quietly to herself, she tried to get a better 
idea of what sort of boy Ranma was by the food that he kept.

"Rice.... More rice... Another bag of rice? What's the deal with all 
this rice? At last! A few vegetables, and their all fresh too. I bet 
Ranma likes to do his shopping every day just like I do."

As she took another look around the kitchen, she finally found the 
small refrigerator tucked into one corner. Pulling it open she found a 
couple of cold compresses in the freeze section and a small piece of 
meat. Picking up the meat, she thought about what she could make with 
the vegetables that were here. Perhaps a nice stir-fry? She would have 
enough that there should be leftovers and he would not need to cook 
tomorrow.

"Ranma! I'm going to get started on dinner!"

The soft 'thank you' that came from the doorway brought her around with 
a start. Covering her mouth in shock, Hikari stood eye to eye with 
Ayanami Rei. "Oh! Ayanami. You gave me a bit of a shock. I wasn't 
expecting you to be here. Is... Is Ranma still in the bath?"

"No."

Recovering from the shock, Hikari finally managed to place something 
that confusing her. She had not heard the door open, but yet here was 
Ayanami, which meant that she must have been in here the whole time. 
But where could the girl have hidden in a place as small as this one? 
What was even stranger was the fact that Ayanami was wearing her 
uniform, but she had not been at school today.

Taking a quick look past the pale girl, Hikari tried to see Ranma and 
ask if they should make dinner for three. To her amazement, the room 
was empty. "I thought you said that Ranma wasn't in the bath anymore."

Silence. 

"Well? Didn't you say that?"

"I said that he was not in the bath."

Pushing past the girl, Hikari took a quick look down the corridor that 
held the small bathroom. It was empty, the main room was empty, and so 
was the kitchenette that she had just been in. He obviously was not 
here, but she had not heard the front door opening. "I don't get it. 
Did he go out to get something to drink for us and not tell me?"

"No."

Placing her hands on her hips, Hikari looked Ayanami squarely in the 
eyes. "Ayanami-san. Where is Ranma? I thought we would be studying 
together."

"I do not know where Ranma is."

Fidgeting slightly as the two girls kept their eyes locked, Hikari 
gestured back at the food. "But what about dinner and studying? I 
thought I was going to have dinner with him."

"I shall make dinner. I shall study the homework."

"But... But... Where's Ranma?"

"You already asked that."

With that, Rei turned back to the kitchen and put away the meat into 
the fridge. Taking out a knife, she began to slowly and precisely cut 
the vegetables into exact pieces. Still in the main room, Hikari wiped 
her brow and sat down on the bed. Having a conversation with Ayanami 
was very intense. Even without trying, the girl presented an 
unbreachable front of indifference. Thinking of whose bed she was on, 
Hikari popped to her feet.

"Hey, Ayanami. Did you come over here for dinner with Ranma?"

"No."

"So does that mean that you still live here with Ranma?"

"Not together."

The pleasant smells of frying vegetables and the sound of bubbling rice 
took her attention back to the food. Ayanami might move slower than she 
did, but every action seemed to be done with the same considered 
thought that she gave her speech. By the looks of things, Ayanami would 
be able to take rice and stir-fry off at precisely the same time. With 
a note of respect in her voice, Hikari congratulated her. "Mmm, that 
smells good. Where did you learn to cook?"

"Ranma told me what to do."

"Oh... Are... Are you two going out with each other? Ranma said that 
the two of you didn't live together."

"We are never together. I have not been told to have a relationship 
with anyone."

"Oh." Despite the clinical sound of Ayanami's description, it somehow 
relieved Hikari that Ranma was still available. 

While Ayanami pulled the meal for four off the stove and divided it up, 
Hikari continued to question her on Ranma's activities. She always drew 
the same terse, sometimes cryptic responses to her queries. She was 
happy that Ayanami did not seem to have any romantic intentions to 
Ranma, but it still disturbed her that the two lived together. When she 
saw how unevenly the two plates were filled, she was worried that she 
may have insulted Ayanami some way in the questioning. After a moment, 
Hikari realised that she had received a completely normal serving, it 
was just that Rei had filled her plate with the remaining three 
servings.

"Wow! You sure eat a lot! How do you keep that thin?"

"Ranma insists that I eat this. My body will not grow without 
sufficient food."

Mimicking a bloated body, Hikari puffed out her cheeks and then 
laughed. "I know how I'd grow if I ate that much."

Rei did not so much as bat an eyelid her joke. She just kept 
methodically scooping rice and vegetables into her mouth and eating 
them. After a few moments, Rei drew forth the homework assignment and 
placed it on the bed between them. Since there was no room for a table, 
they had been sitting on the bed to eat. Apparently they would also do 
their study there.

Studying with Ayanami was an interesting experience for Hikari. She was 
just as quiet as ever, but it finally seemed normal. This might have 
actually been the first time that Hikari had been to a study session 
with one of her classmates and actually spent the time studying. Maybe 
that actually meant that Ayanami's silence was not normal.

By the time she left at around seven in the evening, Hikari had a new 
respect for Ayanami. The girl never seemed to be at a loss of the 
answer. Sometimes she would go through an entire problem and make a 
number of mistakes then, after just a few moment's thought, she would 
go back and correct all of her errors. It was strange to watch, almost 
as though there was a third person studying with them that had done all 
the work before. An invisible tutor watching over them.

Walking out the door, Hikari gave Ayanami a genuine smile and wished 
her a good night. Just as the door was shutting, she turned back. 
"Um... Will you and Ranma be at school tomorrow?"

"No. I will be there tomorrow. Ranma will not be there until the day 
after."

"Oh... Well, if you see him, tell him I said hello, and that I'm sorry 
he couldn't have studied with us."

"I will not see him."

Waving her hand as she scooted down the corridor, Hikari brushed off 
the comment. "Well, thanks anyway. I guess it was... nice... having 
dinner with you tonight, Ayanami."

Two people watched through one set of eyes as Hikari left down the 
corridor. Their thoughts were silent as Ayanami Rei walked back into 
the room and began to clean the dishes. *You've got to learn to open up 
to people more, Rei."

'Why?'

*I dunno, so people will like you, I guess. So they'll help you when 
you need it. So you can be friends.*

'I do not understand.'

*All right, look at it this way: did it take you any more work to make 
extra food for Hikari?*

'I must clean an additional plate.'

*See, so you got to do something nice for her, and it didn't really 
cost you anything. I just think you should be nicer or something. Call 
her Hikari-chan like all the other girls do.*

'Why?'

*Well, girls always call each other by their first names and stuff when 
they're friends. It's just being nice.*

'Sometimes Dr Akagi calls me "Rei-chan". Does she want to be my 
friend?'

*Adults do that sometimes. I think it's just because she's older than 
us.*

'I have not been told to be Class Representative Horaki's friend.'

*Have you been told not to?*

'No...'

*	*	*

As Ranma walked into the classroom and sat down at the desk, he decided 
that there were aspects to this life he had not appreciated fully 
before. Like school and Rei. Ever since Rei had gone to school 
yesterday, Ranma had found a deep and abiding love for both Rei and 
school. 

Ranma loving school? It seemed almost impossible to believe. Ranma 
certainly would not have believed anyone if they had told him, but now 
he understood just how good going to school with Rei could be. With Rei 
being the one in control of the body, he had been able to relax and go 
to sleep. What could be better than that? He could spend the entire day 
sleeping, and the notes would be taken, and he would never get 
blackboard erasers thrown at him.

Another reason that he loved the arrangement so much was the fact that 
Rei actually wanted to go to school. He could not understand it, but 
she did. Knowing Rei, it was because Commander Ikari had said that she 
should go to school. Naturally it followed that Rei would take those 
words as gospel and would go to school whenever it did not interfere 
with her job piloting an Evangelion. Since they were trying to divide 
time evenly between them, and Rei wanted to go to school, it meant that 
he would have lots of spare time built up each day.

Something that Ranma had noticed last night was the fact that the human 
mind needs sleep more than the body does. He knew from some of the 
ridiculously long training sessions his father had organised in the 
past that he would start to feel really strange after just a day or so 
without sleep. He would become woolly-headed, as though his brain had 
been stuffed with tissues. Thinking would become difficult and his 
reflexes would lapse.

All this had become apparent when Rei had relinquished the body to him 
after school. Since he had just slept for eight hours straight, he was 
bright and awake. So, while Rei had slept through the night, Ranma had 
gone out and trained, pushing his strengthening body to its limits. As 
morning rolled around, Ranma spent an hour in meditation, resting the 
body as well as hours of sleep could. Food and a bath were all that was 
needed before he came to school for another nap today. Simply sitting 
around in school would provide the rest that his muscles needed for 
growth.

As the teacher started speaking - the same lecture on Second Impact as 
yesterday - Ranma looked out the window and concentrated on speaking to 
Rei.

'So, Rei, I bet you're wonderin' why I wanted to go to school today.' 
Ranma asked in a cocky tone.

*No.*

For a moment, Ranma was worried. Did she already know what he had 
planned? 'Oh? Why do you reckon I came?'

*Dr Akagi ordered you to come.*

'Umm... What does that have to do with it?'

The silence meant that Rei was as stumped by his response as he was by 
hers. Just because Dr Akagi ordered him to do something was hardly a 
reason for him to do it. Heck, if you followed that reasoning, he might 
as well wear a school uniform while he was at it. Glancing at the 
teacher for a moment, Ranma verified that the man was talking about 
geometry. Sure that he would never need to know about angles and lines 
and things like that, Ranma went back to looking out the window. If Rei 
needed to think about the answer, this could take a while.

Time passed, and eventually Ranma felt Rei tentatively offering up a 
suggestion. *Dr Akagi did order you to attend school.*

'Yep.'

*And you have been told by Commander Ikari to obey Dr Akagi's orders.*

'Yep.'

*Therefore you must be here in accordance with Dr Akagi's orders to 
attend school.*

'Nope.' Ranma sounded smug. He was obviously taking great joy in 
confusing his alternate personality.

Rei hesitated, pausing for a longer period than would be considered 
normal, even for her. *I do not understand.*

'All right, try this: Dr Akagi ordered me to read that book of 
emergency stuff for NERV, didn't she?'

*That is correct.*

'But I haven't read that.'

*But, Dr Akagi ordered you to read it... I assumed that you must have 
read it while I was asleep. Your reading that book was a mission 
requirement. You must have read it.*

Ranma brushed that aside. 'I didn't wanna read it, so I didn't. I don't 
wanna come to school, but I did. Come on Rei, I know your pretty smart, 
you can figure it out.'

Rei paused again. They would be into the lunch recess soon. *You... You 
have decided to obey Dr Akagi and will read 'Emergency Procedures 
Manual 07-41, Pilot's Briefing' as soon as school is over?*

In the near silence of the room, the teacher's yell was enough to reach 
even Ranma. "Saotome! Stop banging you head against the table or go 
outside!"

Glaring down at his bright red computer, Ranma thought strongly at Rei 
as he brought up a mail program Hikari had told him about. 'Listen, 
Rei. Just 'cause someone tells you to do something, don't mean it's the 
right thing to do. You gotta do things 'cause you believe in 'em. You 
gotta do what's right. And for me, school ain't right. I been here 
before, and I gunna be with you when you come. You don't have to always 
obey orders, Rei.'

Ranma typed out his mail and sent it to Shinji. "Shinji. I is the other 
pilot. Since you is the best fighter, I want to see how good you really 
are. Out back of school, during lunch."

Ranma received Shinji's confused reply, waved to the teacher at the 
start of lunch, and wandered out the back of the school. He was 
watching Shinji walk up when Rei finally spoke in a timid and slightly 
frightened voice. *I do not have to obey all the orders I am given?*

'Of course not! What gave you that idea?'

*Commander Ikari.*

"So, Shinji. I hear you’re the pilot of Unit-01 and you’re the best 
fighter there is. Well I'm Saotome Ranma of the Anything Goes School Of 
Martial Arts, and I'm gunna prove I'm better than you!"

Dropping into his relaxed stance, Ranma hardly looked more ready to 
fight than he had been moments before, but within his finely balanced 
body, the difference was enormous. Now he was carefully poised on the 
balls of his feet, each muscle singing its readiness back to him. 
Preternatural awareness of each and ever gram of his being forged his 
young body into a single, complete weapon at the control of his mind. 
With computer like swiftness, he read a subtle move in Shinji's stance, 
studying every possible implication.

"Ahh, Ranma... That's great... um..."

Sweat began to bead on Ranma's head. Part of his introduction was just 
bluff. He knew he was good, but this would be his first serious fight 
in this body. It was years younger and much smaller than what he was 
used to. True, he had been training almost non-stop since his re-
awakening, but he would still be at a disadvantage against Shinji who 
was used to this body because it had grown with him his entire life.

"I guess if you want to pilot the Evangelions, you have to do what you 
can. I'd have thought after your first try, you would have learnt your 
lesson, but... well... I'll teach you what I can."

Fear was not a normal feeling for Ranma, but this fight did worry him. 
Shinji was considered the best of the best. He was the fighter that 
everyone looked to when it came to defeating the Angels. He was the one 
that everyone measured performance and ability against, the only person 
to ever defeat an Angel in hand to hand combat. Not only that, but 
Shinji had already defeated two of them. That sort of adulation and 
combat ability could not come about without the fighting skills that 
went with it. No-one could possibly defeat warriors like Cologne had 
described without being serious in the art. 

Looking at Shinji now, Ranma felt he was justified in his fear. Ranma's 
stance was designed to hide his true competence from his opponents, but 
Shinji's was a masterwork. If Ranma did not know better, he would have 
sworn that Shinji was completely untrained, that his shirt and pants 
hid none of the muscles that a martial artist develops. With a slow, 
careful movement, Ranma slid his left foot forwards two inches, and 
evaluated Shinji's response.

Fear was a part of every fight: fear you might loose, fear that your 
reputation would be tarnished, even the simple fear that you would not 
perform to your best. When Ranma saw the shy smile that Shinji offered 
in response to his obviously offensive move, Ranma felt a cold chill 
run down his back. So confident! He must think that he can wipe the 
floor with me! 

*Ranma, do you intend to---*

'Not now, Rei! I need to concentrate! Shinji's damn good, I can't read 
his stance at all!'

Breathing regularly, Ranma fuelled his body with oxygen, careful not to 
take a single, telling breath before he struck. Despite the unusual 
worry, Ranma decided to take his chances and make the first strike. It 
would be better to take a quick fall to Shinji and get him moving, 
force NERV's master fighter to reveal his true capabilities. Without a 
movement's warning, without a shouted give-away, Ranma struck. It was a 
single, direct punch to the face. Certain that Shinji would be able to 
dodge, block and counter it, Ranma was already moving to the side, 
preparing to scimitar his feet across the other boy's body.

The last thing he was prepared for was to see Shinji fly backwards, 
flailing madly. By the time Ranma stopped his abortive follow-up 
strike, Shinji was on the ground, holding his chin, and looking at 
Ranma with accusing eyes.

"You hit me!"

Ranma was nonplussed. "Of course I hit you. I challenged you! Why else 
do you think we're here?"

"Challenged me? But I can't fight! I thought you wanted to know about 
piloting!"

*Ikari-kun is correct. His personal data file contained no history of 
fighting experience.*

"You... You don't know martial arts?"

"No! Why would I know martial arts? I'm not even fifteen!"

That confused Ranma even more. "What's that got to do with it? I was 
training before I could walk! Why the hell did they make you a pilot of 
a thing like Eva if you can't fight?"

Disgustedly, Shinji shrugged his shoulders and looked up at Ranma. "I 
don’t know why they do anything around here. All I know is that they 
were going to put Rei back in there if I didn’t go... After that?... I 
guess no-one told me to stop..."

"No-one told you to stop? What is it with you people? Where's your 
backbone? Don't either of you do anything without being told to?"

Shinji looked away for a while. When he spoke, he still did not look up 
at Ranma. "Do you want to hit me again, or can I go now?"

Walking forwards to help him to his feet, Ranma felt awful when he saw 
the way Shinji flinched at his approach. "I'm sorry, Shinji. Really. I  
thought, you know, they wanted martial artists like me to pilot them 
things. I just... I just wanted to fight the best. To be the best."

Reluctantly taking the hand, Shinji stood then and brushed off his 
pants. For the life of him, he could not understand why people seemed 
to take so much pleasure in knocking him to the ground. First Touji, 
then Ranma. Maybe this would mean that they would be friends too, 
someday.

As Shinji headed back into the school, Ranma watched him go. When the 
smaller boy was almost in the doorway, Ranma called out to him again. 
"Hey, Shinji! One more thing. Stay away from Rei, you got that? I saw 
the way you looked at her and all the other day. Don’t think you can go 
getting all kissy with her and stuff."

Shuddering with the thought of kissing Shinji, combined with the way he 
felt he had just made a complete fool of himself by challenging a non-
combatant, Ranma looked for a bench and sat heavily.

Looking up at the sky, Ranma idly asked his ever-present advisor the 
all-important question. 'Where did I go wrong, Rei? It all seemed so 
simple.'

*Evidence suggests it was when you went to Antarctica.*

Ranma snorted. 'Was that a joke?... No, I guess not. I mean where did I 
go wrong here? Shinji was supposed to be the best, but he doesn't even 
fight. And you... I kinda figured you must have been really fast or 
something, like I was in my girl form, don’t have to be as strong 
then...'

Rei was quiet for a while. *You were not ordered to attack Ikari-kun. 
If you had waited for that order, this would not have occurred.*

Groaning as he climbed to his feet again, Ranma shook his head. 'Don't 
get me started on that again, Rei.'

*	*	*

There were many reasons that Fuyutsuki Kouzou was the second in command 
at NERV. Most importantly was his unswerving loyalty to the man who was 
once his student, Ikari Gendo, as well as a commitment to very precepts 
and objectives of the massive semi-governmental organisation. These 
attributes alone would not be sufficient to gain him such a vaulted 
position; there were plenty of sycophants fully capable of fitting that 
bill. 

The all-important requirements that were married inextricably with 
Fuyutsuki's loyalty were his astounding memory and his great 
intelligence. While the venerable Dr Akagi had been instrumental in the 
construction of the Magi, Fuyutsuki's intelligence had been one of the 
leaders in the efforts to create the Evangelion and unlock the secrets 
of Adam.

Since the heady days of scientific discovery and the glory of building 
the only weapons capable of saving mankind, Fuyutsuki had moved into a 
more administrative role. He still worked with the designers in NERV's 
second and third facilities in other countries, but these days he 
seemed to find himself spending more and more time aiding Gendo in the 
purely day-to-day task of the operation and maintenance of the 
Evangelions. But even in this field, with Dr Akagi having completed the 
work on the Magi, he was reducing his workload. The burden of running 
an organisation the size of NERV just did not leave sufficient time to 
partake of the more pleasurable pursuits of research and development. 

For this reason, it was little or no surprise to find the tall, lean 
man reclining in his office chair and re-reading the files of NERV's 
pilots. When Dr Akagi had given him the Saotome boy's file the first 
time, something had struck him as odd. Not the least was the 
surprisingly high level of synchronisation. While no pressure had been 
brought to bear on the boy about where he had previously trained in an 
Eva, a suspected security gap had been found in the Second Branch in 
America. Saotome was too valuable as a backup pilot to risk 
interrogating, but that did not stop the new American head of security 
from have a few informal 'chats' with some of his staff. 

Fuyutsuki was not even particularly worried about the Saotome boy's 
lack of personal history. After Second Impact, with the majority of the 
world's population now dead, record keeping became understandably lax. 
Even to this day - fifteen years later - rescue teams were still 
finding isolated families that had retreated into the mountains and 
become used to their new life. The were many others out there that 
simply had avoided being caught up in the modern system; even a city 
like Tokyo-3 had many places that cash was the accepted currency, 
allowing thousands or millions of residents to exist without notice by 
authorities.

NERV's security was trying to do a detailed mock-up of the boy's 
history, but that was destined to take quite a while. Without revealing 
themselves to Saotome, it would take a lot of leg work to try and trace 
back his path from before the time that Dr Akagi had tested him as a 
potential Evangelion pilot.

Setting out the four file folders in front of him, Fuyutsuki sighed and 
massaged his temples. Rei, Asuka, Shinji, Ranma. Where did this one boy 
differ from the rest of them? True, he had not been raised under the - 
often subtle - observation of NERV and SEELE. True, he had been found 
at an ordinary junior high school, but they had found several other 
possibilities in other schools around the world.

His eyes were blindly scanning over the information of the file covers 
when something caught his eye. He had been about to give up and go to 
bed, when he stopped. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply and gripped 
the edge of the table. It was there, in front of him somewhere. 
Somewhere, on those pages was the clue that he had been searching for. 
Some opening to Saotome, so indication of greater depth. Now that he 
knew he was on the right track, he would stay here all night if he 
needed to. 

Opening his eyes, he looked down through Rei's statistics. Shifting 
slightly, he repeated it for Asuka and Shinji. His mind was gripping 
those pieces of information, holding tight like a steel spring trap. 
When he finally moved on to Ranma's file, he mentally compared each and 
every entry with the others, seeking some mysterious connection.

It did not take him long to see it, the connection between Saotome and 
Ayanami was on the third line. How he, and everyone else, had missed it 
so many times was beyond comprehension, but now he had the facts: 
Ayanami Rei and Saotome Ranma were living together. 

Relaxing in his chair again, Fuyutsuki studied the ceiling. He had the 
information, but what did it mean? Nothing, nothing at all. Surely it 
was a strange coincidence that they were living together, but not 
impossible. Different sexes, both of legal age, there should not be any 
real problem... other than the fact that it stretched coincidence to 
breaking point, and the fact that Ayanami was one of the people 
involved.

Fuyutsuki looked down at his watched and wondered what was the best way 
to proceed with this. 00:45, a quarter to one in the morning. Any sane 
person - certainly a pair of teenagers - would be sound asleep at this 
time of day, so there was no point in confronting the pilots directly. 
Standing and pushing his seat under the table, Fuyutsuki lamented that 
almost half the nights of the week, even he would leave work early 
enough to be in bed by midnight. Gathering the two files, Fuyutsuki 
walked out the office door with a solid gait, heading deeper into the 
massive NERV complex.

Many people considered Fuyutsuki Kouzou a mystery man, but he had 
nothing on his boss, Ikari Gendo. Once again, the tall, retired 
professor was able to take advantage of another of his superior's 
idiosyncrasies. Knocking once on the door to the man's office, 
Fuyutsuki strode straight in to see Gendo seated at his desk, hands 
clasped in front of his chin. Any time of the day, Gendo seemed to be 
at work. He would be moving around during the day, organising this or 
running that, but even at night he was always on duty. Which was 
perfect if you found something at a quarter to one in the morning and 
needed some immediate attention.

"Come in, I was just about to contact you. Have you found out anything 
else about Saotome?"

Of course, there was the associated problem that Gendo still expected 
all of his key staff to work as hard as he did.

Giving a tired smile, Fuyutsuki walked across the massive room and set 
down the two files so that Gendo could see them. "Actually, I have and 
I wanted to get you input before I took it any further."

The man hardly moved, But Fuyutsuki could see him eyeing the folders 
looking for the elusive evidence that had tickled at the edge of so 
many people's attention. Before Gendo could see it himself and steal 
Fuyutsuki's joy of revealing it, the tall man leaned over the desk and 
placed on long finger above the address on each file. "It would seem 
that young Saotome has managed to catch Ayanami's eye."

"I find that hard to believe. Ayanami has not been programmed to have 
those sort of responses."

"No matter how we have raised her, she is still a human being... 
almost. Is it too difficult to imagine that she has succumb to the 
boy's charms?"

"Yes. Rei was specifically brought up to be immune to that. By this 
stage, she should be no more capable of an emotional attachment to 
someone than a rock is. We do not have to be concerned about them being 
emotionally involved."

Fuyutsuki was surprised at that. He knew that Gendo was a cold man - 
everyone at NERV knew that - but he expected some more interest about 
Rei. The way that Gendo treated her sometimes almost reached the same 
level of affection that a normal person would give to a dog. Maybe it 
was actually Gendo that was no longer capable of forming emotional 
attachments.

"And you're not concerned about the fact that security did not notice 
the fact that they are living together?"

"I know the security procedure. They simply checked that the address 
Saotome provided was considered safe. Ayanami's is the only one in that 
building that would pass, but since that was the address he gave, it 
passes the computer test too. The fact that our security staff is not 
competent to notice this sort of thing no longer comes as a surprise."

Fuyutsuki stifled a small laugh. The list of securities failing just 
kept getting longer, but they never seemed to add to their successes. 
Shinji went missing, Rei went missing, Ranma went missing, and none of 
them were stopped by security. It had become a running joke that 
someone could steal the complete Geo-Front and the only time Security 
would notice was when they could not find the juice machines.

"Do you think that we should alert security to this and get them to fix 
their procedures?"

"Why bother?"

"Why?... I don't understand. Why wouldn't we?"

"With four pilots, we do not need any new ones in the schedule prior to 
the last Angel, so there is no point in fixing it."

"But what about after the Angels are defeated, NERV will..." Fuyutsuki 
trailed off, blushing slightly. "Sorry, I get so used to talking with 
other people, it is difficult to remember the truth some times."

Gendo nodded, fluorescent lights glinting whitely across his glasses. 
"You are also tired. Go home and get some sleep. Don't come in until at 
least seven tomorrow. You deserve the extra rest."

He nodded relived. "What about you? Are you going to get any rest 
tonight?"

"I have to finish preparing for the Jet Alone demonstration. We will be 
using their failure to cause the Germans to release Evangelion Unit-02 
to us; Soryuu too, if we can get her. They have not yet understood that 
everything hinges upon Tokyo-3 and its defence."

"Hmmm. Are we still using the hydraulic leak? Make the J.A. robot 
collapse in the assembly tower?"

"No. That has been... modified in view of our increased costs of 
operations. It has been decided that NERV will need to acquire the 
funding that had been channelled to Jet Alone. Something more... 
spectacular... will be needed to completely discredit the J.A. 
research."

Fuyutsuki nodded. It was a shame that Jet Alone would be made to look 
like fools, but in the pursuit of the defeat of the Angels and the 
Human Instrumentality Project, some sacrifices would need to be made. 
Suddenly, his thoughts and Gendo's words about being spectacular 
connected in his mind and made sense. The professor opened his mouth to 
query Gendo for a few more details on what "tragic accident" would now 
befall Jet Alone, but a look at the set features on his superior's face 
convinced him otherwise. Fuyutsuki believed in the Evangelions and 
everything they stood for, but he was not entirely at ease with the 
means that were required to operate NERV.

"I... I think I shall go home now."

Gendo nodded once and was reading another document before Fuyutsuki was 
even out the door.

*	*	*

Ranma was walking out of the school gate as the day ended, bemoaning 
himself for being an idiot. It had been a complete waste of a day, and 
nothing had gone right. The whole reason for coming to school was to 
fight NERV's master martial artist, and look at what a fighter Shinji 
had turned out to be. Bad enough that he had come to school at all, but 
Class Rep Hikari had kept waking him up every time that he had fallen 
asleep. If that was not sufficient to make school annoying, Rei had 
insisted that he watch the blackboard rather than stare out the window, 
because she wanted to see what was going on.

To himself, Ranma kept wondering why he had challenged Shinji. Martial 
artists are supposed to protect the weak, and now he realised that 
Shinji certainly fit into the 'weak' category. He could hardly turn to 
Rei for sympathy on the subject, which meant that he continued his self 
recriminations. Beating up fourteen-year-old school kids. What would be 
next for the great Saotome Ranma, Master of Anything Goes Martial Arts? 
Hitting girls in anger?

"Oi! New kid! I'm talkin' to you!"

Outside the gates, Ranma turned around and looked for the voice that 
had called for him. Looking up, Ranma recognised one of the kids from 
his and Rei's class. Ranma did not know his name, so he just stood 
there casually, waiting for the bigger boy to introduce himself.

"You're the one who beat up Shinji. Well, I don't like it when new kids 
like you figure they can just come in and start picking on people."

Despite the fact that he was smaller than the boy yelling at him, Ranma 
was not too concerned. The boy simply did not hold himself like a 
martial artist, a fighter maybe, but not a martial artist. Looking past 
him, Ranma spotted Shinji and another of his friends running up. The 
spotty faced one... short, with glasses. Ranma looked at the track suit 
wearing boy who was glaring at him, and he smiled. 

"Ahh, I remember! You're Kensuke, aren't you? Shinji mentioned you."

Pounding his fist into his palm, the bigger boy drew his brows together 
and tried to put on a menacing sneer. "I'm Touji. _He's_ Kensuke. And 
I'm the one that gunna teach you a lesson!"

Touji started to advance, but before he got too far, Kensuke grabbed 
his arm and tried to hold him back, despite being significantly 
smaller. "Come on, Touji. Shinji said it was an accident. You don't 
have to go around hitting everyone that crosses you."

Simultaneously, Touji and Ranma looked at Kensuke. "You don't?"

Just to confuse Ranma even more, Kensuke's, Shinji's and Rei's replies 
all came at the same time. "No!" Shaking his head to try and lift the 
strange sensation of hearing exactly the same words inside and outside 
his brain, Ranma was just in time to see Touji push his friend back 
into Shinji and shaped up in front of Ranma.

"All right, new kid. If you figure you're so tough you gotta beat up 
Shinji, I'm gunna set you down!" With an energetic grunt, Touji swung a 
fist at Ranma's head in a broad hook that he could read a mile away. 
Stepping backwards, Ranma let Touji follow up with another two wild 
sweeps.

"Hey! Shinji! Tell him I didn't mean nothin'! I only wanted to fight 
you 'cause I thought you'd be a challenge and all."

That just enraged Touji more, goading him into another set of swings. 
"Ahhh! And you're sayin' I ain't a challenge? Just for that, I'm gunna 
take you apart!"

Giving another yell, the big boy charged forward, trying to grapple 
Ranma and take advantage of his obvious size advantage. With two lazy 
steps sideways, Ranma was out of his path and out of reach. Ranma still 
had not even taken a fighting stance, he was just loosely standing 
around, eyes carefully tracking everyone's positions.

*Why are you not fighting this boy? You hit Ikari-kun.*

'Well, I only did that when I thought that he was something pretty hot. 
This guy... he's just a brawler. He's got strength and size, but that's 
it. No style or nothing. I can't fight someone like that.'

As Ranma ducked down and rolled backwards under another pair of punches 
to his face, Rei continued to speak unperturbed, with only the 
slightest hesitation occurring as the world revolved around them. 
*Should you tell him that? He is not stopping.*

'You know, Rei, that's a good idea.'

As Ranma opened his mouth to say something - no doubt tactless - about 
why he was not fighting, Shinji spoke up from the sidelines. "Touji! 
Stop! There's no need. Besides, Ranma said that he was a martial artist 
or something. Just give it up."

Standing still, but weaving his torso around the blows coming his way, 
Ranma agreed. "He's right. You ain't gunna hit me, so there's no point 
in even tryin'. You just ain't good enough. Heck, I ain't met anyone 
here at all that's even in my league."

"Even in your league?!... Why I ought to..." Another failed grab for 
martial artist left Ranma next to one of the concrete pillars at the 
school's gate. A quick look at it confirmed that it was only a couple 
of meters high, which was not quite what he wanted for his 
demonstration, but it would have to do.

A single Ki assisted jump lifted him to twice the pillar's height, and 
almost directly above it. With the grace of a gymnast, Ranma held 
himself at the peak of the jump for a moment, legs together, arms 
spread out from his body as he executed a perfect twist and roll. Face 
down, he began to drop to ground, fists by his side as he called out 
one of his most tried and trusted attacks.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

For a short fraction of a second, Ranma's arms blurred, striking out at 
the reinforced concrete. Repeated blows - as hard as he could manage in 
his weak fourteen year-old body - struck the pillar, first cracking, 
then shattering the sturdy material. At the last instant, Ranma tucked 
his body in and brought his feet down for a perfect landing. 

Fully aware of the effect that his blows had, Ranma did not deign to 
look at his handiwork. He simply faced the three boys with a smirk on 
his face, desperately trying to hide the heaving of his chest as he 
sucked in gulps of air.

'Damn. That took more out of me than I thought! There's no way I could 
beat Ryoga or anyone like this.' A rush of dizziness hit him as his 
oxygen depleted blood circulated. 'Whoa, I gotta sit down before I fall 
down.'

Rei was silent for a moment, and no-one else was moving or saying 
anything, all too mesmerised by the sight that Rei could not see. The 
was a sound of shifting rock and falling dust, and Ranma smirked as he 
envisaged the last of the pillar's peak crumbling away to fall at the 
ground behind him.

*What did you do? I could not see it properly.*

'Tell you in a minute, Rei.'

"That, gentleman, was the least of my special attacks. When you figure 
you can beat that, then come see me for a challenge."

Ranma smirked as he poked a finger at Touji and walked off in the 
stunned silence. His knees were weak, and he wanted nothing more than 
to collapse to the ground and lie panting, but that would ruin the 
effect that he was looking for. Of course, that did not stop him from 
turning into the first alley that he found and leaning against the wall 
as he sucked in as much air as he could. Holding his hands in front of 
him, Ranma watched as they trembled like a old man with rheumatism. 

*You are unwell. We should report to NERV's medical facility to ensure 
that we will be available when we are needed.*

'I ain't sick, I'm just tired. I forgot just how much that takes out of 
you. When I first learnt it, I could only do it a couple of times 
before I was exhausted. Now... Now I'm not even in shape, and I'm so 
much smaller... God I feel so pathetic.'

*What did you do?*

His breathing was somewhat under control, so Ranma shakily began to 
head off. It would not serve his purposes if Shinji and his friends 
found him here. 'It's this super fast punching technique I learned when 
I was... You know, before. I just hit the block as hard as I could 
until it shattered.'

Rei waited several streets before she replied. Even then, she sounded 
tentative and uncertain. *You feel weak because you can shatter solid 
concrete?*

'I feel pathetic because there shouldn't have been anything left. 
Anyone could have done it.'

This time when she spoke inside his head, Rei almost seemed contrite. 
Worried or flustered slightly, perhaps. *Am I pathetic? I cannot 
shatter stone with my hands.*

Damn, Ranma thought. Now I gone and insulted her. Rei's always so nice 
and quiet and, well, she listens to me. Sort of like Kasumi, except she 
can't cook. And doesn't clean. And she argues with me. And those red 
eyes of hers...

Looking into a store window, Ranma caught his own reflection, and 
stared at himself so that Rei could see the serious expression on his 
face. 'Rei, you ain't pathetic. You ain't a martial artist, I am. It's 
different for me.'

*Should I be a martial artist?*

'You gotta be what you wanna be. If you wanna be a martial artist, I'll 
help train you if you want. If you wanna be a... I don't know... Well, 
whatever you wanna be: that's what you gotta be good at.'

At Ranma's pace it took them over half an hour to get home. They had 
been silent the whole way, Ranma concentrating on the scenery, Rei 
thinking thoughts that would forever remain a mystery to the world. As 
Ranma pushed open the door and toed off his shoes, Rei spoke once more.

*I do not know what I wish to do.*

Splashing cold water over himself in the bathroom, Ranma relinquished 
control to Rei for the evening. Their form shrank, and hair changed 
from black to pale blue. Their hips widened, while the chest and 
shoulders shrank. Somewhere in the middle of this rapid physical shift, 
the dominant personality changed too. Now Ranma was simply the observer 
and Rei was the master of the body. Even without the change in 
appearance, a stranger would have been able to tell that a different 
person was now in charge. The way she held herself, the way she walked. 
In many subtle ways, Rei unconsciously showed that she was a separate 
person from Ranma.

From within the mind, Ranma now spoke. *When you decide, you tell me, 
Rei. Then we'll see what we can do to make you the best, OK?*

'I understand.'

Shucking the Chinese clothes that Ranma wore, Rei took a quick shower 
and got dressed. As she reclined on the bed and looked at their cracked 
ceiling, Rei reflected on clothes she now wore. 

'Why do I wear a school uniform all of the time?'

*	*	*

Doctor Akagi Ritsuko took a slow sip from her coffee mug and smiled. It 
was her favourite cup - the one with the cats on it - but that was not 
why she smiled. She smiled because of the coffee. Rather than NERV's 
usual swill, this was made from her own supply, and it was almost hot 
enough to melt through the ceramic armour on an Eva. Looking at her 
school friend through the steam rising through the cup she continued 
her story.

"After that, I just dropped him home. It was fairly obvious he did not 
want to tell me what he was up to."

Misato placed a hand over her eyes and shook her head. "I can't believe 
he said something that stupid. Didn't he realise that you would have 
seen through it immediately?"

"Apparently not. I think Ranma's problem is that he's too honest. Maybe 
he doesn't get out enough, but it was pretty clear that he couldn't lie 
to save his life. The whole time he kept scratching the back of his 
head and laughing for no reason. He should take a few lessons from 
Commander Ikari."

That brought out a laugh. The image of Ranma sitting serenely behind a 
desk with an emotionless face while ordering people to do strange and 
dangerous things was just too hard to picture with a straight face. "Or 
maybe Kaji. He was always good at lying when it suited him."

Ritsuko frowned. "Hey, that's a bit harsh..."

Misato turned away from her friend and there was quiet for a few 
moments before she returned to their original topic. "So if Ranma-kun 
did not tell you where he went, and you did not want to question him 
directly about it, do you have any ideas?"

"Me? I thought you were the one that was supposed to be good with 
children. After all, you've got Shinji living with you. I just have a 
cat."

"That doesn't mean that you couldn't have any ideas where Ranma and Rei 
have disappeared to. It's just not like Rei to run off without telling 
anyone. Ranma... I don't know... There's something a bit strange about 
him."

Luxuriating in another sip of the fine coffee, Ritsuko looked at Misato 
through eyes half-lidded in pleasure. "Thinking about it, that's a 
pretty funny statement. There's something a bit strange about all of 
the pilots. I hardly think that Ranma is any stranger than Shinji, or 
even Asuka."

"Hey, Shin-chan's had a hard time. How would you feel if Commander 
Ikari was your father?" For some reason Ritsuko went bright red at that 
question but Misato ploughed on without asking why. "And Asuka... We 
both know what happened to Asuka... Poor girl."

"Is there any reason to suspect that maybe Ranma has not had a hard 
childhood too? You know as well as I do that the security check has 
failed to turn up anything yet, and time is ticking away quickly. Maybe 
we should have a talk to him; try to build up a dossier for them."

Misato snorted and ran a hand through her hair. "And it's not as though 
we would need a polygraph to tell if he was lying... Actually, that 
might not be a bad idea. I know that Commander Ikari does not want us 
to put any undue pressure on the Children, but I think this might be a 
good idea. If what you're suggesting is correct, then Ranma might have 
had some traumatic experience in his past. That might be some of the 
correlation we're looking for in the pilots."

Ritsuko shook her head and spoke confidently. "No. Childhood trauma has 
nothing to do with making pilots."

"You seem awfully sure of yourself."

"I..."

"Yes?"

"I... I have to go now. I'm supposed to introduce Ranma to our security 
team. He wants to practice martial arts with them. I'll see you later."

Before Ritsuko could pass her, Misato extended her arm and blocked the 
doorway. "You know something, don't you? You know exactly what it takes 
to make an Eva pilot... Why haven't I been told?"

"No... Not exactly. And remember, Captain Katsuragi, if you have not 
been told something, it's because you have no need to know."

Misato dropped her arm and let the other woman leave the room. She 
could remember a time when they both went to university together when 
they would tell each other everything. The whole idea of "need to know" 
stuck in Misato's throat and the thought that a woman she considered a 
friend would use it on her hurt even more.

Whispering quietly in the empty room, Misato listened to the sound of 
her friend's heels and she walked down the hall. "What happened to you, 
Ritsuko? We used to be so close. It wasn't Kaji. He never came between 
us. It's working on the Evangelions and the Magi. What did you find 
out? What do you know about the Angels that you aren't sharing with the 
rest of us?"

*	*	*

Standing just inside the metal doors, Dr Akagi placed a hand on Ranma's 
shoulder and nodded back at the Lieutenant. "That's correct. This is 
the boy that I spoke to you about on the telephone earlier."

The Lieutenant nodded back and gave Ranma a smile. "No problem, Ma'am. 
We'll look after your boy for you." 

The man waited just long enough for the doctor to be safely on the 
other side of the door before he ran his hand through his hair in 
frustration. "Damn! When are those staffers going to realise that we're 
not some sort of creche?" Turning his attention back to Ranma, he 
shrugged apologetically. "Sorry kid. It's a bit rough of your mum to 
dump you here with us. Do you just want to sit down over there for a 
while? You can read a book or watch us train or something."

"Huh?"

A confused Ranma watched the Lieutenant walk away from him, and he 
scratched his head. 'Oi, Rei! Do you know what's goin' on? Ritsuko-
sensei said that I was supposed to be able to train with these guys.'

*Evidence suggests that the Lieutenant does not believe that you wish 
to train. He assumes that Akagi-sensei is your mother, and she intends 
to leave you here while she works.*

Ranma looked around the room, taking everyone in. It was a fair sized 
training hall built within the NERV complex, and it looked like it was 
quite suitable for the sort of training he wanted to do. After you got 
through the steel door that led to the gymnasium area it was a fairly 
open layout, allowing Ranma and Rei to see lots of men and women doing 
all sorts of training.

Immediately in front of them was a locker area leading off to 
segregated showers that occasionally shed a billow of steam. Past that 
and to the right was a traditional weights and cardio area. Never one 
to train like that, Ranma paid it scant attention, focusing most of his 
attention on the large workout space. Divided into two areas, there was 
a substantial wooden floor, perfect for training, and also a large 
tatami mat area for novices to train. 

The people in the dojo section seemed to be easily sorted into two 
groups. There was one team that was wearing nice, clean Gi's, so 
brightly white that it almost hurt the eyes to look at them. What hurt 
Ranma's eyes most about watching them was the way they moved and the 
way they trained. Obviously complete novices, about thirty people were 
being lead through a small assortment of Kata by a pair of instructors. 
Rank amateurs, there was nothing he could gain from training with these 
people.

The second group, they were another matter entirely. They dressed how 
they liked and it was obvious from the way that they moved that they 
understood what they were involved in. The clothing was a wide variety 
of shapes and sizes, tending mainly towards tight shirts and shorts, 
with some of the women wearing the same as the men, and others wearing 
form fitting leotards and leggings. Although most of this group was 
simply sitting or standing around, they had the physique of fighters, 
and their footsteps were light and sure.

Walking over to the group, Ranma selected one of the lighter looking 
men to talk to. Some of the security forces were enormous Gaijin and 
given his current level of fitness and training, Ranma was not sure 
that he wanted to take on someone like that yet. The man he had 
selected was wearing a pair of black shorts and a matching singlet. 
Although he was one of the smaller men there, he still stood over Ranma 
by an easy twenty centimetres. 

"Hey! Are you planning on just standing around, or are you going to do 
some training tonight?"

"Buzz off kid. Go annoy someone else."

With deliberate casualness, Ranma turned and began to walk over to 
another group of people. "Well, if you don't think that you could keep 
up with me..."

For several heartbeats, Ranma was worried that the security man would 
not rise to the bait. Finally, he did. "What did you say? You wanted a 
few private lessons? I think I can oblige that..."

The implication was heavy in his voice and no matter how much it grated 
on him to accept it, Ranma let him get away with the slight. He knew 
that when he had been at Furinkan, he had been so sure of his 
superiority over anyone else, it took a lot to convince him to fight; 
usually someone attacking him. To gain the acceptance of these people 
and secure the training partners he needed, Ranma would have to show 
them that he was worthy. He might look like a fourteen year old boy, 
but he was still the master of the Anything Goes School of Martial 
Arts. Size and strength were not everything - as Cologne gave testimony 
to in every fight.

"Yeah... Private lessons..." 

Walking out onto the matting where there was available space, Ranma 
thought to himself. 'I'll teach you a lesson. And I wipe that smirk of 
your silly face.'

*Why?*

'Waddaya mean "why"?'

*Why must you fight this man. He has done nothing do deserve your 
animosity.*

'Did you know that he's not as good as I am, Rei?'

*No. I have not seen him fight.*

Ranma bowed to his opponent and took an open stance for easy movement. 
'He don't know that he's gunna lose either. That's why I gotta fight 
him. Show him and all the rest of them how good I am. I'm gunna be the 
best, Rei. To be the best, you gotta beat the rest.'

Seeing that Ranma knew how to hold himself in a fight, the unnamed man 
altered his stance. Where before he had simply stood there expecting to 
be able to knock Ranma to the ground the first time he came close, now 
he was holding himself ready. He was not fully committed and taking the 
match seriously yet, but Ranma knew how to change that.

Giving thanks to the fact that he was still fast and light on his feet, 
Ranma feinted right then came in close. His first attack was nothing 
fancy, and by no means intended to hurt the man that had left so many 
holes in his defences; just teach him a lesson. While the guard was 
shifting his weight to counter Ranma's apparent attack from the right, 
Ranma's left leg snaked in and lifted his opponent's right leg. In less 
than three seconds of the fight, the security guard had taken the first 
fall of the match and was lying on his back. 

Physically, the man was unharmed but the laughter of his friends 
obviously hurt, because the man in black climbed back to his feet and 
tightened his guard. "You got that one for free, but you aren't getting 
any more, Kid."

Rocking side to side, Ranma gauged his opponent. If he was not covering 
his motions unduly, the man was neither devastatingly fast nor 
overwhelmingly strong, and that suited Ranma to a tee. What he needed 
was a victory; something to make all of the other people around here 
respect him enough to train with him. Without his father and Ryoga for 
challenges, Ranma would have to rely on these men, and within a year he 
would be cleaning the floor with all of them at once. For now... it 
would be enough to beat one of them.

The bigger man came in quickly and with no warning, seeking to grab 
Ranma's red silk shirt. Floating under the arms, Ranma seemed to drift 
across the tatami, delivering a pair of jabs to the man's stomach. 
Aware of his own small stature and weakness, Ranma declined the embrace 
the man offered and moved back out of range as his opponent 
instinctively tried to drop an elbow on him.

Rubbing his side, the man gave Ranma rueful grin. "So, you do want to 
play rough. Well, just because you're a kid doesn’t mean you can expect 
to get off easily."

By now, most of the other experienced fighters were watching their 
little match. As yet it was nothing spectacular, but it was unusual to 
see someone Ranma's age seriously sparing with one of their own. When 
the security agent tried a trio of kicks in combination and Ranma 
dodged them, the audience's attention was assured. This was no ordinary 
boy.

They circled each other for a while, Ranma mainly staying on the 
defensive. An outstretched arm suddenly provided the opening he had 
been waiting for, and Ranma launched himself. For any of the martial 
artists he had known, a standing leap that took his feet almost to the 
ceiling would have been nothing, especially since he had inverted his 
body so that he could hold onto the singlet with his hands. 
Unfortunately, none of the men and women watching were of the calibre 
of martial artist that he had been. Even the best of them were only 
around Akane's level, and the man never even suspected that the move 
was possible.

Carrying his momentum onwards, Ranma twisted his body and dropped to a 
tight crouch just beyond the man's back. Because he was still holding 
onto the shoulder straps of the singlet, Ranma had effectively crossed 
the strong cloth over the man's neck, placing him in a strangle hold 
while he was ineffectually bent over backwards. When the man indicated 
his surrender, Ranma let go and jumped back into position. It was two - 
nil, and time for the final round of training.

His first win was because of his opponent's weakness. His second win 
was through his own unexpected capabilities. His third - and final - 
win would be through sheer ability and endurance. Something that Ranma 
had often regretted was the fact that Ryoga was both stronger than he 
was and also had better endurance. While Ranma would not sacrifice any 
of his speed for that endurance or strength, he had come up with a 
lovely thought. If he trained properly for the next two years, he would 
be as fast as he ever was, and as tough as Ryoga. His only problem by 
that stage would be finding someone worthy of fighting.

This time when they closed for battle, Ranma fought with only 
conventional attacks. The bigger, older man was capable of sustaining 
much greater damage than he was. Knowing full well that he would be 
vulnerable to some counters, Ranma took the fight to the other man. He 
used his speed where possible, but in the final count, Ranma still took 
some blows. 

After knocking each other around the mat for several minutes, again it 
was Ranma that was standing triumphant. His opponent was lying on the 
ground, panting; too sore and tired to rise again. Ranma was also sore, 
but he was a goodly distance from being unable to fight. 

Giving the recently defeated man a hand getting back to his feet, Ranma 
was rapidly surrounded by other security staff. They were all talking 
at once, and several were enthusiastically patting him on the back in 
congratulations. Despite the fact that there must have been over twenty 
people speaking at the same time, one overriding question came through.

"How'd I get so good? First it was my pop, then I fought with the best. 
I'm Saotome Ranma, of the Saotome School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts. 
Anyone else here think I shouldn't train with you?"

Silence. 

*You cannot let your training interfere with being an Evangelion 
pilot.*

'Ahhh, yeah, Rei. I kinda figured that one out already.'

"So, how about we do a bit more sparing? And tomorrow I'll show you 
something really impressive... Tomorrow I'll show you a technique that 
has been feared by Chinese Emperors for over 3000 years.... The Kachuu 
Tenshin Amaguriken!"

---
End of Chapter