Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by Gainax
Ranma 1/2 is owned by Rumiko Takahashi
For the Sake of the Children
-----------------------------------
Chapter 2: The Power of Ki
----------------------------------
Everything had started out fine for Ranko when she was first injected into
Unit 03. The LCL had taken a bit of getting used to, but it wasn't
anything she could not handle. An image of Dr. Akagi's face popped up in a
little window in front of her and the synchronization test began.
Following Dr. Akagi's instructions, Ranko felt herself grow, becoming one
with Unit 03. Although she had never experienced one before, she thought
that synching with an Eva was akin to an out-of-body experience. It was
strange, but not altogether unpleasant. That was, of course, until all the
lights went out and Dr. Akagi disappeared.
"Dr. Akagi? Is everything alright?" Ranko asked a bit nervously. "Dr.
Akagi, can ya hear me? Hey Misato! Dr. Akagi! Anyone! Can anyone hear
me?" Ranko yelled. Suddenly the Eva moved and Ranko felt herself jerk
around in the entry plug. Frantically taking hold of the controls, she
tried to stop Unit 03. "Hey what's goin' on? Let me out of here! This
thing is moving! Dr. Akagi! Misato! Otosan! Help me, please!" She
screamed.
*********************************
Ranma shook his head as he slowly stood up. The control room was filled
with smoke; fires were burning in several areas. He looked down at Misato
who was standing as well. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Thanks for the save," Misato replied, smiling weakly.
Ranma quickly looked around the room. Ritsuko was on the floor, a small
trail of blood trickling down her face. Ranma quickly knelt beside her and
checked for a pulse. "How is she?" Misato asked.
"She's alive," Ranma said shortly, looking around the room. He sighed in
relief when he found that no one else had been injured. "Get her out of
here, this place isn't safe!" Ranma exclaimed to Misato as he stared out
the now broken window at the retreating Eva.
"Come on, we'd better hurry," Misato replied, grabbing a hold of Ritsuko.
Ranma stepped out the window and stared at the Eva turned Angel, a look of
growing determination in his eyes. "Ranma, what are you doing?" Misato
asked, fearful of the answer she would receive .
"I'm gonna go get my daughter," Ranma replied coldly, jumping out of the
window.
"Ranma!" Misato yelled as he disappeared from view. She almost dropped
Ritsuko to run to the window, but another small explosion in the computer
console convinced her to leave. (What the -hell- does he think he's
doing?) Misato asked herself frantically as she half-carried, half-dragged
Ritsuko to an emergency stair well.
Ranma, meanwhile, was running after Unit 03. He took off at full speed
yelling at the top of his lungs. "Ranko! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
He screamed as he got closer and closer to the Eva. (Either she can't
hear me, or. . . she can't respond,) Ranma thought. Ranma had been running
behind the Eva, which, for some reason, was walking at a leisurely pace.
As he got within five feet of the Eva, he ran into what felt like a solid
wall. "What the hell?" He asked, dizzily trying to get up off the ground.
The Eva did not stop, in fact, it did not even seem to notice Ranma at all.
It just kept on walking; towards Tokyo-3, if Ranma's sense of direction
was correct. "Hey! You come back here!" he yelled at the Eva as he stood
up and ran after it again. As he got within a few feet of the giant mecha,
he slowed down and hesitantly reached out with one hand. His hand hit a
barrier and an octagonal-shaped light rippled along the aurface. "This
thing's got some kinda invisible shield!" Ranma exclaimed.
He ran around the Eva and stood in front of it. "Hey! You up there! Look
at me, you big freak!" Ranma yelled. The Eva continued to walk,
completely ignoring Ranma. "All right buddy, you asked for it!" Ranma
growled. He stepped forward and slammed his fist into the AT Field. This
time, the ripple effect was much larger, but otherwise had no effect.
Ranma was forced to jump back before the Eva stepped on him.
"Let's see if you can take this," Ranma said, stepping back towards the
Eva. "Katchu Tenshin Amiguriken!" Ranma yelled, fists flying. Hundreds of
ripples flew across the AT field as Ranma continued his attack. He was
forced to jump away again as the Eva stepped forward. "Damn! What's it
gonna take to bring that thing down!" Ranma said angrily, slowing backing
away from Unit 03. "Fine," Ranma growled as he glared up at the Eva.
He dropped his hands to his sides, fingers stretched out. He closed his
eyes and breathed in deeply. A blue glow of ki grew in each of his hands.
As the ki grew stronger, Ranma's whole body seemed to glow bright blue. He
slowly raised his arms up towards the Eva. The glow in his hands grew even
brighter. "Futabo-ken!" Ranma yelled, jumping back away from the Eva,
releasing all his frustration in a blast, launching two glowing balls of ki
towards the Eva. (Let's see ya ignore that!) Ranma thought angrily. The
ki attack traveled in a straight line toward the Eva. Half-expecting his
attack to stop at the barrier, he watched as the ki balls flew through the
shield as if it wasn't even there, each ki ball impacting squarely on the
Eva's shoulders. The Eva threw back its head and roared in pain.
"Got yer attention -that- time, didn't I?" Ranma asked with a smirk. The
Eva stopped walking and looked down at Ranma, its eyes glowing intensely.
Suddenly, its right arm elongated and quickly snapped out towards Ranma.
Ranma jumped lightly over the Eva's hand, landed on its wrist, and ran up
its arm to the right shoulder.
As the Eva turned its head towards Ranma, he jumped onto its back and got a
foothold near the entry-plug. He was relieved to find that the hatch
covering the entry plug was open, and the plug itself was partly ejected.
(They musta tried to get her out,) Ranma reasoned. He looked up at the
Eva, who had turned its head completely around and was now staring at him.
"What now?" Ranma challenged. The Eva turned its head back to the front
and looked up at the sky. Ranma looked up as well and saw a large airplane
out at a distance. (Looks like the cavalry has arrived,) Ranma thought as
he looked back down at the entry-plug.
"What the hell is this stuff?" Ranma asked, inspecting the plug. The plug
seemed to be stuck in a pinkish-red material that looked almost like bubble
gum. Ranma held on to the entry plug; there was just enough room for him
to get a strong grip on it. He pulled on the plug as hard as he could but
it didn't move. "Damn," Ranma growled, gritting his teeth. The Eva had
continued to walk forward, and the plane was getting closer.
"That's right! They twisted the thing in like a screw!" Ranma exclaimed,
remembering how the entry plug was injected. With all his strength, he
twisted the entry plug, and it slowly started to rise. (Why'd they have ta
make this thing so big?) Ranma thought. As the plug rose, Ranma's hands
touched some the pinkish-red substance and started to burn. Ignoring the
pain, he worked faster at the plug. He spared a second to look up and saw
that the airplane seemed to be deploying some heavy equipment via
parachutes. Even from this distance, Ranma was able to recognize the Evas
when he saw them. "Oh Damn!" Ranma yelled, returning to the entry plug.
By this time, several feet of the entry plug had been removed from Unit 03.
Ranma sighed when he realized that he could at least get the plug's hatch
open. (Hang on, Ranko, I'll get you out.) Carefully, Ranma opened the
hatch to the entry plug.
As soon he opened the hatch, LCL drained out the plug. Ranko was sitting
in the pilot seat, hugging herself and quietly crying. "Ranko-chan? Are
you all right?" Ranma asked softly. As the LCL drained out, Ranko coughed
gasped as she saw Ranma and quickly climbed out of the plug and hurled
herself at him, nearly throwing him off balance.
"Otosan! I- I was so scared, I'm sorry- I-" Ranko said between sobs.
"Shhh. . . It's okay. Everything's okay," Ranma said soothingly.
"Everything just turned dark! None of the controls were working, and- and-
I didn't know what was happening," Ranko said, her tears starting to subside.
"Are you hurt?" Ranma asked.
"No, I'm okay," Ranko said, shaking her head as she stepped back. She
gasped when looked at Ranma's hands and arms. "'Otosan! What happened?"
Ranko asked, wincing as she looked more closely at the burns on his hands.
"What, this? It's nothin'. Don't worry about it, I just need ta get taped
up," Ranma replied.
"Where's the Eva?" Ranko asked, suddenly a bit scared.
"Uh. . . We're still -on- it, Ranko. Ready for a bit of training?" Ranma
asked with a grin.
"Oh man. . ," Ranko whined.
"Relax Ranko, it'll be easy. A few quick hops and we'll be back on the
ground," Ranma said.
"Every time you mention 'training', it's something I'm not gonna like,"
Ranko complained.
"You're lucky your -grandfather- never trained you," Ranma said, looking at
the Eva's head. "Good, it's still ignoring us. Time to go, Ranko." Ranma
carefully climbed to the Eva's shoulder and lifted Ranko up to join him.
He stared at the Eva's impassive face as it slowly walked towards the three
Eva's waiting for it. "Ready?" he asked, turning to his daughter.
"Yeah, let's do it. In fact, I'll race ya!" Ranko replied confidently.
Ranma grinned fondly at his daughter. No matter the circumstances, when it
came to martial arts, she was on familiar ground; just like he had taught
her.
"Let's do it!" Ranma exclaimed, as he jumped onto the Eva's arm.
"Hey! No fair!" Ranko yelled, jumping down after him. Within a few
seconds, they were both safely on the ground, staring at the Eva as it
continued its slow trek. "Not that I'm complainin', but why do ya think it
ignored us, Otosan?" Ranko asked.
"Oh, don't worry about -that-. I think it's got a lot more on its mind
right now," Ranma replied, pointing towards the other three Eva Units out
in the distance.
"I hope they'll be all right," she said worriedly.
"Those things are being piloted by kids too!" Ranma suddenly realized.
"My classmates," Ranko said with a nod. For several seconds, Ranma stared
as the black Eva made its approach towards the waiting Nerv pilots.
(Damn,) he thought to himself. He looked down at his daughter and put one
arm around her. 'There's. . . nothing we can do Ranko. They've defeated
Angels before and. . . I guess they'll do it again. Come on, we gotta get
outta here," he said, leading her away from the entry plug.
*******************************
Shinji stared at the screen as the Eva came into view. "Isn't that an
Eva?" He asked his father uncertainly.
"That is your target," Ikari replied.
"But, if it's an Eva, isn't there a pilot in there? Like one of us?"
Shinji asked.
"You mean you -still- don't know?" Asaka asked, a chat window from Unit 02
popping up on Shinji's screen. "The pilot of Unit 03 is-" Asuka started to
say as her screen was filled with static.
>From the control room in Nerv Headquarters, Shinji heard the report of Unit
02 being down. He sighed in relief when Maya reported that Asuka was safe.
"Otosan, there -is- a pilot in there, right?' He asked again.
"The pilot. . . has been ejected," Ikari said, his voice sounding slightly
troubled. Maya glanced at him as he made that statement. Everyone in the
control room had the video display of Ranma's exploits.
**************************************
"Take it easy, you've inhaled a lot of smoke," Kaji said as he sat next to
Misato in the makeshift sick bay. Misato removed the oxygen mask that a
medic had given her and slowly sat up.
"I'm all right Kaji. How's Ritsuko?" Misato asked.
"She's fine, just a little bump on the head is all," Kaji replied.
"What about Unit 03? And Ranko?" Misato asked, her throat dry.
"Ranko's just fine. Although, I guess I shouldn't be surprised,
considering Ranma-san was here," Kaji replied.
"What? You know Ranma?" Misato asked.
"I -knew- him, a long time ago; before I met you," Kaji replied.
"Wh-what happened?" Misato asked
"Misato, you don't know Ranma, so you wouldn't believe me if I told you.
You just better watch the tape. As for Unit 03, it was destroyed by Unit
01," Kaji replied.
"Where are Ranma and Ranko now?"
"No one knows. They seemed to have disappeared in all this mess. I
wouldn't worry though, I'm sure they're fine."
Misato lay back down on the bed, relief flooding her system. (If something
had happened to Ranko, I don't know how I'd face Ranma,) she thought.
(How in the world did he save her?) She sat back up and got out of bed.
"Hey, not so fast! You need to rest!" Kaji admonished her.
"I'm fine, Kaji. I want to see that tape you talked about," Misato replied
briskly.
"All work and no play, Misato?" Kaji asked with a playful sigh.
"Maybe later, -if- I get the information I want," Misato replied, smiling
tightly.
"Such a hard woman. Come on, I'll show you that video," Kaji replied with
a smirk. (I can't -wait- until she sees this!) He thought.
*****************************************
End Chp 2.
Thanks to Dave Eddy for the technical advice.
Thanks to Donny, Dave, and Dfire for the grammar help
And thanks to Dfire for suggesting -where- to end this chapter! =)
**********************************************