Alternate Future

By James Lee

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and Evangelion are not mine. They are the 
creations of people much better than myself.

Part 5 Aftermath

Warning Spoilers ahead!

	Rei sat in unit 00 waiting to be launched. They were to be having
a team combat exercise today. To her dismay she was teamed up with
Asuka. She was surprised by her feelings on this. Normally she didn't
care about such things, but this time she found herself wishing she had
been teamed with Ikari-kun. She had been feeling the need to be close
to him a while now and didn't know what to do. She thought of asking
Ikari-san, but wasn't sure how to ask him. Misato's voice then came 
over the comm channel.
	"Begin exercise. EVAs launch!" In an instant unit 00 was racing
for the surface. Upon reaching the surface however, something odd 
happen. Unit 00's controls freezed and Rei found herself facing 
'herself'?
	"Who are you?" Asked Rei.
	"I am you." Said 'herself'.
	Something about that wasn't right. Rei narrowed her eyes.
"No your not."
	"Your right I'm not you. I not a DOLL." Rei narrowed her 
eyes even more. She started to feel something that was very rare and
a bit scary to her, anger. "I am not a doll!"
	"Yes you are. You're Commander Ikari's doll. His toy. His
tool. You exist only to serve his needs." Said 'herself' smiling.
	"No I don't!"
	"Yes you do. You have nothing. You are nothing outside this
metal shell. You have no friends. There is nothing outside this place
for you."
	"Yes there is!"
	"Oh? What? Commander Ikari, who see's you as the reincarnation
of his dead wife? His coward son?..."
	"SHINJI IS NOT A COWARD!!" Screamed Rei, surprised 
by her outburst. One of the reason this emotion anger scared her was
because she had so little control over it.
	"I see. What would he see in a half angel freak like you? Why
would he want a weirdo half bree....AHHHHHH" 'Herself' suddenly 
screamed and everything went black.
	When Rei woke up she found herself in all too familiar surroundings.
She was in the infirmary. Her head hurt as well as her chest. Looking
down she could see her leg in a very large cast.. Looking to her right
she could see Shinji sleeping in a chair next to the bed. "S-Shinji?"
	Shinji woke up. "Ayanami? How do you feel?"	"H-head hurts. What happened?"
	"Umm your EVA was taken over by an angel. It attacked and
took out unit 02. Ranma manage to get you out, but we had to destroy
unit 00. You were hurt when unit 03 lost it's grip on the entry plug. 
You've been unconscious for over a day now."
	"I see. You stayed here with me?"
	"Umm Y-Yeah. I-I wanted to make sure you were all right."
	Rei smiled at this. She tried to think of what to say next. "Thank
you." That sounded right.
	"W-Well I'll let you rest." Said Shinji getting up. Then he stopped.
He remembered what Kensuke had told him. *Drink and be merry 
today for tomorrow you die.* After yesterdays events, it seemed like
that was true. Shinji looked back at Rei. Could he do this? "Umm
Rei?"
	Rei looked at Shinji. "Yes?"
	"Umm I-I was wondering i-if you would l-like to g-g-go out.
Umm Maybe to a-a movie or something a-after you get out o-of 
h-here?"
	Rei thought about this. She wasn't quite sure how to respond.
She then thought of what 'herself' had said, that she had nothing. Rei
smiled because now she knew that the angel (that's what she assumed
was 'herself') was wrong. "Yes. I-I think I'd like that."
	"GREAT! Umm I see you later then." Rei just nodded. Shinji
left the room smiling. He lost this smile when he saw the next visitor 
coming down the hall. "Father."
	Gendo looked at his approaching son. Normally Shinji could
not look at him, but this time he was glaring at him with a face full of
hatred.
	"Those orders to destroy unit 00. Those where your orders
weren't they!?" Gendo tried to walk past him. "I don't have time for
this."
	Shinji grabbed his arm "MAKE TIME! Those were your
orders weren't they!?" Gendo looked at him then nodded. "Why!?"
	Gendo thought for a moment. He thought about what Yui had
told him. That he should try to come closer to his son. But was Shinji
ready for the truth. No Gendo decided Shinji wasn't ready, not for all
of it. But Gendo had to answer him.
	"If we should ever fail to defeat an angel; if an angel should
succeed to reach NERV Headquarters. Then all humanity, 2.5 billion
people, will parish. What is more important: the life of one pilot or
the lives of every man, woman, and child on earth." Shinji couldn't
answer him. "I made my decision on the knowledge I had at the time.
I did not know of Saotome's ability to combat the angel hand to hand.
If I had know I would have order a rescue attempt, but if he failed I 
would have order the destruction of unit 00 anyway. Those are the 
decisions I have to make. Now if you will excuse me." Gendo left
Shinji to think about what he said.

			*****

	Meanwhile in another part of the infirmary, Asuka and Ranma
were getting discharged for their minor injuries. As usual Ranma and
Asuka were fighting. Ritsuko and Misato tried to look like they didn't
know them. This was silly since this was the NERV infirmary and 
almost every one knew who the children and their guardians were.
	"Are you stupid Hydrosexual? I mean really, letting your
power run out in the middle of combat."
	"Oh yeah? You did a good job getting thrown around all over
the place!"
	"Well you did a good job too! Putting Rei in the hospital that
is!"
	"Better in the HOSPITAL than in a CASKET!"
	Asuka tried to retort, but couldn't think of anything. Instead
she marched away grumbling about stupid hydrosexuals. After Asuka
was gone, Ranma turned to Misato.
	"What's with her? Did I beat up on her in some past life?"
	Misato took a deep breath. "Ranma, Asuka just very 
competitive. She wants to be the best EVA pilot in NERV and right
now things aren't going her way."
	"And she's taken it out on me because I'm the competition."
	"Asuka's very proud and a little arrogant. She has her reasons."
	"And those are?" Asked Ranma.
	"I can't tell you that Ranma. I have no right. Only Asuka can
tell you why, when she's ready." Misato moved to follow Asuka, but
then stopped. "Oh....Ranma. I should chew your ass off for breaking
orders yesterday, but I can't. Ranma...thanks. You did a very good job
yesterday."
	Ranma watched Misato leave then turned to Ritsuko. "Well
we going home or what?"
	"Or what. We're going to the lab. I want to talk to you about
that attack you did yesterday."
	Ranma grimaced. "Not more tests?"
	"Um hm." Said Ritsuko nodding her head smiling.
	"Oh WONDERFUL." Said Ranma sarcastically.

				*****

	In a dark room in some corner of the world, the five men that
were the SEELE conceal discussed recent events. In front of them were
the holograms of Gendo and Fuyuzuki.
	"Damn it Ikari what's going on? Just where did you get this 
new pilot. This kid isn't even on the Muldock Report." 
	"Isn't on the Muldock Report? He's not on any report! It's like 
this boy doesn't exist."
	"What's the idea of putting this child with no record what so 
ever in the cockpit of an EVA Ikari?" Asked Keele.
	"Pilot Saotome was found a few days ago by one of my 
employees. Although he had no record and no memory, medical tests
showed that he had unique qualifications for EVA testing. After a complete
background check and polygraph test that showed no hostile intent, he
was assigned to unit 03. A decision that proved to be wise, considering
yesterdays events."
	"True, this new pilot has if anything proven to be.....effective."
Said Mr. Green.
	"But what about the risk he put unit 03 in when he broke orders?
What about the damage the unit sustained as a result?"
	"The damage to unit 03 was light. Pilot Saotome broke orders
to save his fellow pilot Rei. A action he was successful in. I doubt
either of the pilots would have open fired on the angel in any other
case." Said Gendo.
	"Yeah some rescue! The girl now has a broken leg, cracked
ribs, and a concussion. She'll be out of action for months!"
	"Yes but she is alive." Replied Gendo.
	"If you were worried about the pilots not engaging, why didn't
you just activate the dummy plugs?"
	"Need I remind you that Rei is a vital part of the Human
Compliment Project?" Asked Gendo.
	"Yes, but a part that can easily be replaced." Said Keele
	Mr. Green broke in. "True however, Pilot Saotome's actions
have saved us the considerable cost of reviving and retraining a 
replacement."
	Keele looked at Mr. Green then back at Gendo. "Alright Gendo,
you may continue to use this new pilot. Keep in mind however, that
we'll be watching you from now on. The rest of this meeting doesn't
concern you." With that the holograms of Gendo and Ikari vanished.
*What are you up to Ikari?* Thought Keele.

			*****

	Later in the day Misato went down to Ritsuko's lab. Like 
Ritsuko, Misato was curious as to what Ranma did yesterday. Entering
the room Misato saw Ritsuko and Maya writing notes on notepads as
Ranma was grabbing objects at incredible speed. Misato spoke to 
Ritsuko.
	"He can do that without the EVA!?"
	"Not only can he do it, but he's even faster without the EVA."
Ritsuko looked down at her notepad. "In a period of five seconds he
hit a target 203 times."
	Misato whistled. Then Maya spoke up. "Not only that but his
female form is faster still. She hit the target 257 times in five seconds."
	"That's pretty intense."
	Ritsuko nodded. "Look at what he's doing now. Do you notice
anything?"
	Misato looked at Ranma. He was now grabbing nuts and bolts
out of a tray of water and putting them into two separate piles. She
could barely see his hands as he put them into the water. WATER!?
"Ahh isn't water supposed to change him?"
	Ritsuko smiled. "That's right. Ranma's moving so fast that his
hands aren't getting wet. Do you here that snapping sound?" Misato 
nodded while wondering if Ranma was from another planet. "At 
first we thought it was his fist impacting. We now know it's really his
hands actually breaking the sound barrier!"
	"Speaking of changing, I've been meaning to ask you why 
doesn't Ranma change in the LCL? It's kind of like water, isn't it?"
	Ritsuko shook her head. "LCL is like water but it isn't. It's
oxygen rich and has very little water content. We've found that Ranma's
changes are highly dependent on the water content of the liquid that
changes him. Liquids with very low water content like LCL won't
change him. On the other hand, liquids with high water content like
coffee or tea will change him."
	"I see. Do you think he can teach this attack to the other pilots?"
	"Hmm he might, but it would probably take years for them to
get to that level. I been working on a theory as to why Ranma's able to
do things like this."
	Misato looked at Ritsuko. "Oh? Let's hear it."
	"I think that Ranma was raised solely to be a martial artist."
	Misato had trouble believing that. "Oh come on Ritsuko! 
There's no way that can be done with just martial arts! Besides who
would raise their kid like that!?"
	"I don't know, but that's what's seemed to happen with Ranma.
I've been looking up some info on the martial arts ever since Ranma
told me that he was a martial artist. After I discarded all the crap about
ki blast, battle auras, and such; I found documented proof that a
martial artist can do some pretty interesting things with years of 
training and discipline."
	"Now I've been looking at Ranma's school grades for the 
past few day's. His grades in science, math, history, and writing are
the worse I've seen. However, I've also given Ranma some basic 
intellect tests. Ranma is actually a very smart problem solver and a
natural learner. You saw how fast he took to piloting an EVA." Misato
nodded. "I think with the proper upbringing Ranma could have been
as smart as Asuka, if not smarter."
	"Don't tell either of them that." Ritsuko nodded, she wouldn't 
want to see the fight that would come from that bit of knowledge. 
	"Also his physical condition is better than any Olympic athlete.
He'd have to spend years exercising to get to his current level of health.
	"Anyway, I know this sounds crazy. However, I think that 
this evidence proves that Ranma has spent the bulk of his childhood
learning martial arts and not much else."
	"Well it's nice that he can do all these things but isn't growing
up like that kind of unhealthy in the long run. I mean you said his school
grades are the worst you've seen and look at his social skills. He has
almost none." Said Misato.
	Ritsuko nodded her head. "Yes I know. I plan to have a talk 
with him about his school work and his social skills sometime."

			*****

	The next day Hikari entered the school in a foul mood. She
had missed her train that morning and was now considerably late. As
class representative, she was supposed to be setting a good example.
Yet here she was twenty minutes late. Suddenly Hikari felt someone 
bump into her from behind. Turning around she saw a girl digging in
her school bag for something. Pulling out a thermos the girl looked up
at Hikari. "Umm...Sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going."
	"That's okay." Said Hikari as the girl quickly passed her. *At
least I'm not the only one late for class. Funny, that girl's wearing a 
boys uniform.* Hikari then froze as she looked at the girls hair. The
girls BRIGHT RED hair, done in a PIGTAIL. Hikari quickly ran up 
to the girl. "HEY YOU! STOP!"
	The pigtailed girl jumped and muttered something that sounded
like "Oh shit!". The girl then turned to face Hikari. Hikari glared at the
girl. "What are you doing in that uniform!? Just who are you!?"
	The pigtailed girl seemed to have trouble answering Hikari's 
questions. Suddenly the girls eyes widen and she pointed behind 
Hikari. "Oh my god! What's that!?"
	Hikari turned her head for two seconds, but quickly turned it
back. "Oh Please! You can't think...Whaah!?" Two seconds however,
was all the girl needed. She was now halfway down the hall and bolting
through a door. 
	"Your not going to get away that easily!" Hikari ran down to 
the door. Without looking she entered the room, only to run strait into
a slightly damp Ranma. "Where is she!?"
	Ranma looked a little nervous. "Ah Where's who?"
	"That pigtailed girl! I saw her come in here!"
	"Umm there's no girl here Hikari, this is...."
	"This is what!?"
	"Umm this is the boys room." As if on cue a boy exited one
of the stalls zipping up his pants. He froze at the sight of the girl. 
Hikari bolted from the restroom, her face now a nice shade of purple.
*That bitch! She deliberately lead me there. Oooooo wait till I get my 
hands on her!"

			*****

	Gendo looked up as Ritsuko entered his office. "Well?"
	"I have the final damage assessment for unit 00."
	"Go on."
	"We can find no trace of the angel that entered unit 00. It is
the Magi's opinion that the angel was destroyed during the battle. 
Therefor the unit may be recovered. The damage to unit 00 however,
is quite extensive and it will be two months before it can be ready for
combat."
	Gendo nodded his head. "Proceed with the recovery of unit
00. If there is any chance of the unit being combat capable again, then
we must take it."
	"Yes sir. Umm sir?"
	Gendo looked up. "Yes?"
	"Since we've just received a S2 engine for testing and we'll 
be almost completely rebuilding the unit. I would like to go through
with the XX upgrade. Even with the last upgrade the unit has been
lacking the combat edge that the other units have, being only a test
model. The XX upgrade would give it the edge it needs."
	Gendo thought about that. He had to admit that unit 00, just
didn't measure up to the newer combat units. He was uneasy about 
the untested S2 engine, but why put a combat capable unit at risk?
"How long will it take to upgrade the unit."
	"With the XX upgrade, two maybe three months. With her
broken leg, Rei is going to be off the combat roster for most that time
anyway."
	Gendo nodded. "Alright. You may upgrade the unit."
	"Thank you sir." Ritsuko then turned and left the office.

			*****

	Asuka was almost finished with her lunch when Toji  sat down
in front of her. Asuka just looked at him for a moment. "What do 
want?"
	Toji pushed an envelope to her. "I need you to take this..."
	"What is it?"
	"It's a love letter." Said Toji. Asuka pushed the envelope back
to him. "No thanks. I get enough of those from the rest of the perverts."
	"It's not for you! It's for the pigtailed girl. I know you know her."
	Asuka looked back at the letter. *That's for Ranma!?* It took
all her will not to laugh out loud. Asuka began to think of all the humiliating
ways she could deliver the note. Then something better occurred to 
her. Most people think that Asuka likes to think with her fist. This is
true for the most part. However Asuka is also very, very smart and 
she couldn't miss this beautiful setup. "Yes Toji I do know her. Tell
you what! You buy me an ice-cream and I'll tell you the fastest way
to get that letter to your Pigtailed Girl."

			*****

	Ranma and Shinji were walking home after school when they
heard a sound behind them. They turned to see Toji and Kensuke 
approaching them. Toji walked up to Ranma holding a note. "Ranma
I want to know why I have to give this to you."
	"What is it?" Asked Ranma.
	"It's a love letter."
	"Hey man you aren't weird are you?" Said Ranma backing 
away from Toji.
	"No! Asuka said 'The best way to get your letter to the pigtailed
girl is to give it to Ranma'. So what's she to you?"
	Ranma tried to calm himself down as he answered. "Listen, 
that girl want's nothing to do with you and you really don't want 
anything to do with her. Believe me. Now if you will excuse me I've
got dishes to do." 
	With that said Ranma ran down the street and turned the corner.
"Hey wait a minute!" Toji took off after Ranma and was greeted with
a face full of water when he turned the corner. A automatic sprinkler
system had just gone off. Toji thoughts however, where on the girl that
he had been looking for and was now in front of him. They were 
particularly drawn to the way the water made her shirt stick to her skin,
doing a good job of showing the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra.
A now wet and angry Ranma walked past the boy, ignoring him. Toji
quickly collected himself. "Ah hi. I'm Toji Suzuhara, what's your name?"
	"Go away." Said Ranma.
	"Aww don't be like that. I just want to talk. Maybe you'd like
something to eat?"
	Ranma stopped and glared at Toji. "Listen I'm not interested
OK."
	"What's your problem. Wait a minute it's Ranma, isn't it? He's
your boyfriend isn't he."
	"WHAT!?" *Great. Does it get any better?* Thought Ranma.
	"Hey you!" Said a new voice. Ranma turned to see an angry
Hikari and a smirking Asuka walking up to her. "I want to talk to you!
What's the big idea leading me to the...." Hikari saw Ranma's shirt. "Oh
my god! Have you no modesty!"
	Ranma looked at the shocked and angry Hikari. She looked
at Toji who seemed to be trying to figure out what was going on. She
could also see Shinji and Kensuke walking up. Ranma then looked 
sourly at the smirking Asuka. *She's no doubt getting her kicks off
of all this.* It was Asuka who had sent Toji to her. Ranma also had
no doubt as to who pointed her out to Hikari. Suddenly Ranma got
an idea. An idea that, if it worked, would get both Toji and Hikari off
his back and teach Asuka a lesson at the same time. Ranma turned to
Toji. "Listen I'm not interest in you, Ranma, or any other boy!"
	"huh?"
	"I want a GIRLFRIEND!"
	"WHAT!!??" Everyone cried out at once.
	"I like GIRLS, like HER!" Ranma suddenly grabbed Asuka's
arms and pinned them to her sides. She then kissed Asuka full on the
lips! Asuka's eyes widen in shock. Toji's, Hikari's, and Kensuke's
eyes widen in disbelief. Shinji looked on with a forbodding sense of
dread. Although he had absolutely nothing to do with this, some how
he knew it was going to suffer for it. Ranma disengaged the shocked 
Asuka and turned to the others. "So there!"
	Noticing the expression on Asuka's face turn from shock to
anger to insane rage, Ranma took off down the street. Asuka was
fast on his tail screaming German curses all the way. 
	Toji, Hikari, and Kensuke collapsed onto the street. "S-She's
a lesbian!?" They said at once. Shinji watched as Ranma and Asuka
became small dots on the horizon. He wondered if it was now a good
time to run away again.

				*****
Later that night:
	"(BAM)(BAM)(BAM) Open this damn door Ritsuko! (BAM)
(BAM)(BAM) I know that perverted Bastard's in there!" Ritsuko
listen to Asuka banging on the door. There was no way she was going
to open the door. She had no desire to see her home and collection 
destroyed in the ensuing fight. Putting her hands to her head, she could
feel a headache coming on. *So this is the shit Misato has to put up
with.* Ritsuko looked up at Ranma. "Ranma. I'm very disappointed
in you."
	"Meee! She's the one who started..." Ritsuko cut him off.
"Ranma I know Asuka can be annoying at times. I also know she took
advantage of your condition. But getting revenge by kissing her in public
in girl form was going to far. I can not approve of your actions Ranma
and I can assure you that Major Katsuragi is probably very upset 
about this too." *Who am I kidding!*

	Back at Misato's palace loud laughter could be heard 
throughout the apartment. "BWAHAHAHAHA ALL RIGHT RANMA
he he YOU GO GIRL BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

	*Yeah. She's probably laughing her ass off right now.* Thought
Ritsuko before she started speaking again. "And what about Hikari
and the others. Did you stop to think what they would think about 
seeing that..."

	Hikari laid on her bed thinking about what she had seen
earlier. *I've known Asuka since she first came here. Could she 
really be like that? If not why didn't she resist when that girl kissed her.
Granted the girl was holding Asuka's arms, but how strong can the 
girl be?* "Well Asuka's still my best friend. If she's really is like that
then I'll have to give her all the support I can."

	"Ranma, you have the bad habit of acting before thinking. Did
you think about what might happen with Asuka, when you did that?"
Ranma didn't answer. "I thought not. Now we're going to have Asuka
beating on the door all night! I think after she's calmed down some
you should apologize to her, probably tomorrow." Ranma just nodded
 "Ranma, your initiative does you credit but you must consider the
consequences of your actions. Do you understand?"
	Ranma nodded again. "I think so."
	"Also I think you need to be a little more polite when talking
to people."
	Ranma blinked. "More polite? What do mean?"
	"Ranma right now you tend to say what's on your mind too 
much. You have the bad habit of putting your foot in your mouth when
dealing with people you're upset with. This just tends to make the 
situation worse."  Ritsuko heard more banging on the door. "Now I
know it can difficult with some people, but I think you'll find it easier
to deal with people if your a little more polite to them. Do you 
understand?"
	Ranma looked back at the door, which was shaking from 
Asuka's continued bombardment. "I-I guess so."
	"Good. Now I think you should go to bed now. You have 
school tomorrow and I think Asuka's going to keep us up most of
the night." As if to show the fact, another round of banging and cursing
could be heard from the door. Ranma nodded his head headed for his
room. As he walked to the his room he thought about what he had done
today. Maybe he had gone to far. *At least Toji's off my case.*

	Back at the Suzuhara home, Toji was watching TV. His mind
wasn't on the show however, it was on what he had seen earlier in the
day. His dream girl kissing Asuka! "That girls too cute to be gay. It's
obviously my duty to show her the right path of the strait and narrow!
I'll start tomorrow!"

	Ranma went into his room. As he got ready for bed he thought
about the kiss he gave Asuka. His first kiss, at least the first one that
he could remember. He thought about the way her face had changed
from shock to anger to rage. There was something else there, but he
couldn't make it out. He thought about how cute her face was before
it started changing. *Whoa I couldn't like a stuck up girl like her, could
I?* "Nahhh."

To be continued

Notes:
Some of you probably want to know what the XX upgrade is. All I can say 
is you'll find out later.