For days I've been working on this feverishly. I'm still trying to decide
whether to break up the story into chapters, or to make it one big story. If
I decide to break it up, this here would be considered chapter one.
I'll get to work on the second part of this tomorrow, provided that there
aren't any serious problems with this here. Part two will be where the real
fun begins... I wanna give you a taste of what's to come but I don't wanna
give any damned spoilers!!! What to do... what to do...
Be very critical with this, especially the final parts. I got a tad sloppy
around the end, but it is workable, and I am open to improvement ideas. I
remind you, THIS IS AN UNFINISHED WORK.
As far as everything seeming like it's being rushed, I say nay, everything
moves at exactly the speed I want it to.
--------------------------------
Interface - A Ranma 1/2 / Matrix Fanfic crossover
Authored By XStylus (Troy Alan Williams)
Begun on: 10-25-99
First draft completed on: Unfinished
Final draft completed on: Unfinished
Revisions made on: N/A
Notes to RAAC/TASS: This, for now, may be categorized as a
one-shot story. There may, however, be a sequel...
The Matrix is a copyrighted production of Warner Brothers Inc.
The Ranma 1/2 series and it's characters are the creation of
Rumiko Takahashi. I assume no ownership to any of the characters
listed herein. No infringement or disrespect for their creativity is
intended. Consider this story a parody.
For continuity purposes, this takes place after volume 38 of the
original Ranma 1/2 series, and before Matrix 2, which is in
production as of the time of this writing. This was originally written
under the assumption that there wasn't going to be a Matrix sequel.
Send comments to stylusx(@)earthlink.net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Call trans opt: Received 13:04:18. REC: Loop
Trace program running.
TTY output enabled.
Male voice: "It starts here."
Voice identified: Perp 7b098bf - "Neo"
Female voice "They're listening, you know."
Voice identified. Perp a1f61d2 - "Trinity"
Neo "I want them to. They're not too clever though."
Trace failure. Diagnostic program running.
Neo "See?"
Trinity "Showoff."
Silence interval: 3.7 seconds.
Trinity "Why here?"
Neo "Because they already accept. They already see."
Trinity "Why them?"
Neo "The matrix isn't perfect, Trinity. There are glitches."
Trinity "Having another deja vu? (humor reaction: chuckle)"
Neo "I don't mean the construct program. There's glitches
in the interface..."
Interface protocol: Level 7 diagnostic running.
Neo "...glitches they can't fix."
Diagnostic halted.
Trinity "What kind of glitches?"
Neo "Glitches we can take advantage of. I can't describe
them for you. You have to see them yourself."
Trinity "We better cut this short. There's civilians around."
EYEinEYE protocol active. Output file stored to tn130418.ini
Neo "I've got you covered."
Call termination.
EYEinEYE protocol: This program has executed an illegal
operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, please
contact the program vendor.
File corrupt: tn130418.ini. Abort, Retry, Fail?
~~~
Downtown Nerima Japan, early morning. Trinity parked
her motorcycle alongside the wall to the Tendo dojo. The doors to
it's entrance were wide open, so she took a small step inside. No-
one had noticed her yet, but she could see a dark haired woman
with her empty hands above her head as if she were carrying an
invisible weapon of some kind chasing some boy across the
premises.
Her weapon wouldn't be invisible for long.
"Raaaaaanmaaaaaaaaa!!!" Akane screamed as her 3.7 ton
wooden -thing- known respectfully as "Mallet-sama" materialized
in her hand.
"YAAHHH!!" Ranma quickly headed -anywhere- but
here, and made his exit with one of his patented 20 meter leaps
over the fence and onto a nearby roof, followed by Akane.
Trinity's dark glasses concealed her reaction, but had she
not been wearing them her eyes might have fell out in shock. She
just witnessed a regular person -create- a rather LARGE weapon
and hoist it as if it were a feather. There is no mallet... there is no
mallet... there is-...
"Go get em', Akane! Beat em' good!" Happosai
encouraged.
"What did my boy do this time?" Genma inquired.
"He let Akane discover my new hiding place for some of
her unmentionable treasures that I kindly appropriated just
recently!" Happosai raged.
"Dare I ask, where might that be?" Genma inquired.
"Ranma's underwear drawer." he answered.
"Master, how could you do this to my poor son?!" Genma
yelled.
"Ah, but Genma, it is all but essential training for young
Ranma!"
"Just what kind of training do you have in mind?"
"Well, I was hoping that he'd find dear Akane's brazier
and panties and try them on for me..."
"I'm sure my SON is quite grateful, master. Allow me to
express MY gratitude!" Genma exclaimed as he attempted to crush
Happosai with a nearby tea kettle.
Happosai, in one swift move consumed the entire contents
of the tea kettle, grabbed Genma's wrist, hurled the tea kettle into
the air, flung Genma into the pond, balanced the falling kettle on
one finger, then eventually set it gently on the table. The whole
move took place in approximately four seconds, the bulk of that
being the balancing act.
"Forgive me, master!" Genma signed.
Trinity face vaulted. How could anyone move that fast?!
She face vaulted again when Genma emerged from his pond as a
panda.
"That is one MAJOR glitch..." Trinity silently muttered.
"Pretty lady!!!" Happosai exclaimed, seeing Trinity standing
at the front entrance. Trinity caught a glance of the small piece of
living beef jerky, and then he disappeared. Strangely, she now felt
this strange shriveled piece of -something- adhered to her chest...
She glanced down and saw the strange man groping
her.
0.01 seconds. She extracted him from her chest...
0.03 seconds. ...drop kicked him...
0.06 seconds. ...straight upward into her fist...
0.09 seconds. ...knocking him downward into Trinity's
kick again...
0.1 seconds. ...and repeated this process 10 times, totaling
one complete second of rapid-fire, turbo button triggered, super
rave comboed pain. The gun might've been more merciful...
Trinity quickly left the premises in pursuit of Akane and
Ranma. On the way she whipped out her cell-phone and vigorously
punched in a phone number.
"Hello, this is Neo. Sorry I can't come to the phone right
now Trinity, but if you'll leave your message, the time you called,
and a few choice words reminding me of how much you love me,
I'll gladly return your call at my earliest convenience, or until you
calm down, whichever comes last. -BEEP!-"
Trinity used some -very- choice words indeed.
~~~
The Nebuchadnezzar operator room. Neo, Tank, and
Morpheus were staring at a screen of small bits and characters
scrolling across it. To the untrained eye, they would look like
perhaps an entirely new language. To them, it was more vivid than a
picture.
"You chose well, Neo..." Morpheus assured. "...but be
careful. I don't want another Cipher incident."
"Tank, prep up an extraction room about a block away
from Trinity's location."
"Already done." Tank smiled.
"Shall we?" Neo motioned to the interface couches.
"Oh, just so you know, Neo..." Tank called. "Trinity left a
(cough) message. She wasn't quite happy with you. You might
wanna try to stay on her -good- side when you get in there..."
"You'd think she never spoke to an answering machine
before..." Neo mused as he plopped down into one of the couches.
"Tell her to meet us there with the 'kids'." Morpheus said,
just before he slipped into the matrix.
~~~
"I am called Trinity."
"Akane Tendo." she replied with a bow. "That fool under
the mallet over there is Ranma."
"Nice meeting you, Akane and Ranma Tendo. Tell me-..."
"Ranma SAOTOME, not Tendo! We're not related... not
yet, anyway." Ranma exclaimed as he removed himself from under
the mallet.
Trinity remained unfazed. "I was watching you two a few
moments ago. How did you learn to leap like that?"
"Huh? Oh... that. Training. Lots. Don't try it at home."
Ranma brushed some debris off his shirt.
"And you, Akane. Where did that mallet come from?"
"Well, uhm... I dunno. It's just always there when I need it.
I never really thought about -where- it came from..."
"GUN!" Ranma yelled, pointing to a man in a dark suit and
tie wearing sun glasses standing at the other side of the alley of
which they were in. The man held a Colt 45 pistol leveled straight at
Trinity's head. -Click-.
0.01 seconds. Akane pushes Trinity to the ground, both
narrowly missing the bullet.
0.15 seconds. Ranma launches a concentrated Moko
Takabisha blast.
0.27 seconds. Blast hits it's intended target, the gun. The
bullets inside it explode, blowing up the agent's hand.
0.34 seconds. Ranma charges up to the distracted man.
0.50 seconds. Kachu tenshin amaguriken!!!
1.00 seconds. Man is incapacitated and collapses to the
ground. After a moment, it abandons the body it possesses and
morphs back to the form of it's original owner, an office secretary,
still unconscious with a pulped hand.
"NO! I wasn't trying to kill... wait a-..." Ranma looked
closer at his vanquished opponent. "Where'd this girl come from?!"
"An agent moves from body to body. If only you -had-
killed him... You're in danger now." she turned to Akane. "I owe
you one." Trinity pulled out her cell-phone and made a call.
"Morpheus, we got problems. Agents know we're here." a
pause. "Yea, we're fine for now. You'll love this... the boy just
took one out." another pause. "You heard me."
"I didn't mean to...!!! I... I... " Ranma yelled.
"...Morpheus, we've got to protect these two."
"We don't need anyone's protection!" Akane yelled.
"...what's your location? We've got to get them out
NOW."
"Out of what?" Akane questioned.
"...I know it's their choice, but they just attacked an agent!
They're dead if they remain, no matter how good they are. You
can forget that blue pill."
"HELLO?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Akane
questioned.
"...I understand. We'll meet you there." Trinity closed the
flap on her cell-phone. "They'll be after you now. We need to get
you out.
"Out of -what-?!" Akane shouted.
"Come with me and I'll show you -what-."
~~~
"Are those two 'them'?" Neo questioned as he adjusted
several settings on a small terminal.
"Yes. This is Akane and Ranma." she answered.
"Ranma SAOTOME and Akane TENDO. Show some
respect!" Ranma shouted.
"In reality, does a name really matter?" Morpheus
ominously stated.
"What do you mean?" Akane questioned.
"I don't have a lot of time to explain." Morpheus replied.
"Actually, you do. I still need a few more minutes to get
things set up." Neo interjected.
"(Ahem) I'm all ears." Ranma impatiently muttered.
"(Sigh) Have you ever felt a strangeness in your daily life?
A strangeness that felt like a dream you couldn't wake up from?
Something that felt... off? Something that felt like it couldn't
possibly be real?" Morpheus questioned.
"Oh...hell...yes." Ranma replied with conviction.
"That is the matrix."
"Say what?" Ranma muttered.
"What is the matrix?" Akane inquired.
"What is the matrix, you ask? Look around. There it is. It is
the world around you. It is everything. It is the wool pulled over
your eyes to mask you from the truth."
"What truth?" Akane inquired.
"That it's not real."
"OH YES YES YES YES YES...!" Ranma exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Akane asked.
"You are trapped in a computer generated reality. Need an
example? Try your mallet, Akane. That's one of many glitches
caused by an incompatibility between you and the Matrix... glitches
that might come in handy, if you'll help us." Trinity explained.
"You mean, I'm in a virtual reality right now?" Akane
asked.
"Yes."
"And you want to wake us up?" Ranma inquired.
"Yes."
"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE WE WAITIN' FOR?!"
Ranma yelled.
"Not so fast. I'm being totally honest here, so I must tell
you that there's no turning back once we do this. I offer you one
last chance. Take the blue pill, and life as you know it continues.
Take the red pill, and I show you just how big of a nightmare
you've been living, and what you can do about it." Morpheus held
a pair of each pill out to them.
"Nightmare...?" Akane muttered.
"There's a string attached, however." Morpheus added. "I
can't guarantee that life outside this 'reality' is any better, but it will
be -real-. All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Then what's to stop me from taking the blue pill if it's not
any better?" Akane inquired.
"Are you nuts, Akane?! Anything's better than this!"
Ranma exclaimed.
"If you take the blue pill, then the story ends here. But keep
in mind, you two fought against an agent a short time ago."
"What's so special about them?" Ranma inquired.
"How can I describe this..." Morpheus mumbled
"Think of them as video game henchmen using cheat
codes." Neo stated.
"If you remain here, they'll hunt you down, and there's little
that they -can't- do to you." Trinity added.
"Are you trying to frighten me?!" Akane yelled.
"The truth tends to have that effect." Morpheus answered.
Akane gave a questioning glance at Ranma.
"Don't look at me, Akane. My decision's already made."
Ranma grabbed the red pill.
"You believe them?" Akane asked.
"Ha! Not really, but hey, I'll try anything if it'll get my life back
to an acceptable norm..." Ranma replied.
"FINE! See if I care!" Akane vented as she grabbed the
blue pill.
Morpheus offered Ranma a glass of water to drink the pill
down. After taking a small sip, the glass was offered to Akane. She
remained motionless as she stared carefully at the blue pill.
"What are you waiting for? Take the pill, Akane."
Morpheus said.
Akane remained completely silent, staring ominously at the
pill held in her open palm.
"You're curious, aren't you?" Morpheus inquired.
Akane's reply was shattering silence, continuing to stare at
the dark, sickly greenish blue pill.
"You know what they say about curiosity." Morpheus muttered.
"Ignorance is bliss. What you don't know can't kill you."
Akane remained silent, continuing to stare at the strange pill
in her palm. Her blinked in nervousness. Once... twice... on the
third time, the pill was no longer blue, but red.
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Akane
popped the pill in her mouth without hesitation, and took a small sip
from the large, overfilled glass of water.
"Have a seat."
Ranma and Akane sat in the two chairs as Trinity placed
several small monitoring devices on them.
"Try to relax. You're in for quite a ride." Neo said.
Morpheus pushed a button on his cell-phone. "Tank,
anything yet? ... We're gonna need a signal soon."
"Akane...?"
"Yea Ranma?"
"Could this really have been just a dream all this time?"
Ranma nervously inquired.
"I doubt it, but... we'll find out soon enough, won't we?"
Akane replied, trying to keep a tone of optimism.
"Are-... are you just another part of my dream?"
"I was just about to ask you the same question..."
"I hope not." Ranma smiled
"I got a lock on the girl." Neo announced.
"Things might get a little freaky from here. Whatever
happens, just keep calm." Trinity suggested.
"Freaky? What do you-..."
"Do it." Morpheus ordered.
"HUAAAAAGGGHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!!!!"
"AKANNNEEEEEE!!!" Ranma yelled as Akane digitally
dematerialized in front of his own eyes. "What happened to her?!"
"She woke up. You'll be with her shortly." Morpheus
calmly answered.
"You... you tricked me! You killed her!"
"Calm down. She's out of the machine. She'll be fine."
Trinity said.
"Bring her back NOW!"
"Is he restrained?" Morpheus asked.
In a swift move, Trinity strapped a thick restraining belt
over Ranma's torso.
"Let me GO!" Ranma yelled.
"Got a lock!" Neo announced.
Ranma flailed his arms around trying to grip -anything- that
he could use as a weapon. He knocked the glass of water,
shattering the glass and spilling the liquid on him. No-one noticed
Ranma change forms, all of them more concerned with their task at
hand.
"Shit! I lost him!" Neo exclaimed. "Wait... got him again!
What the...? What's up with these readings?"
"What's wrong?" Trinity asked.
"Never mind that now. Hit it, Neo!" Morpheus ordered.
~~~
"A-a-akane... where are you...?" Ranma quietly muttered,
staring up at a ceiling with a rather bright medical light looming
above, lying on an operating table, impaled with several
acupuncture needles.
"She's resting. She had quite a shock. Are you... Ranma?"
a vaguely familiar voice inquired. His vision blurred, he was unable
to make out a face.
"Yea..." Ranma struggled an answer with weak and raspy
vocal cords.
"Jesus..." the familiar voice muttered.
"What?" Ranma weakly inquired.
"I just thought... uhm... that you were a guy."
~~~
The walls... a sickly yellow with a greenish hue. These were
the walls of an interrogation room. The table... stainless steel, with
firm utilitarian chairs around it that were rough, but ergonomically
comfortable. At them, a boy sat opposite of another man who was
wearing a lab coat. Unlike most lab coats which were usually white,
this one was a mysterious dark grey, and since when does a
scientist wear sunglasses indoors?
"...and all that we're asking in return is your cooperation in
a small experiment we're conducting." the man spoke.
"Yea... well that sounds like a really good deal." the boy
muttered. "But I think I got a better one..."
The man leaned forward to closely hear the boy's counter
offer.
"How about you give me my cure, and -then- I'll let you do
your little 'experiment'."
"Hmm... Mister Hibiki..." the agent in the lab coat
muttered.
"You can't screw me around. I know a fake when I see it!"
Ryoga vented.
The agent presented Ryoga a green pill along with a glass
of ice water.
"Do you now?"
Ryoga snatched the pill and analyzed it carefully.
"Do we have a deal, Mister Hibiki?"
Ryoga inspected the pill further. "You know... I know this
is too good to be true. I know that when I put this in my mouth my
mind is telling me 'This is it! I'm gonna be cured!' After a mess of
false miracles, you know what I realize?" Ryoga questioned.
The agent patiently awaited the forthcoming answer as
Ryoga ingested the pill, and then splashed himself with the ice
water.
"Miracles really do happen!" Ryoga ecstatically concluded.
"Then we have a deal."
"When do we start?" Ryoga inquired.
"We're already done." the lab-coated agent said.
~~~
"Where am I?"
"You're on board our ship, the Nebuchadnezzar... in the
real world." Trinity explained.
"Real world? Where the hell do you think I've been all this
time... MARS? Where's Ranma?!"
"Resting. So should you."
"I want answers NOW." Akane demanded.
"No you don't." Trinity muttered.
"Don't you-..."
"Trust me, you don't." Trinity interrupted. "Get some rest.
The answers are coming."
"I want to see Ranma."
"Yea... about Ranma......"
~~~
"Did you ask her, Trinity?" Neo inquired.
"She said something about a curse. Cold water supposedly
makes Ranma female, and hot water makes him male."
"The machines must be getting sloppier than I thought."
Neo mused.
"She assured me that Ranma's actually a guy." Trinity said.
"This could get ugly."
"You're telling me?"
"I WANT TO SEE AKANE!" a female voice yelled from
another room.
"This is worse than ugly." Neo commented as he and
Trinity rushed to Ranma's room. Morpheus was already in the
room when a certain -subject- turned matters from bad to worse.
"What happened?" Trinity inquired.
"What happened?!" Ranma mocked "Something -ain't-
happening, that's what happened!" she exclaimed as she dumped a
pot of hot water on herself.
"Ohhhhh shit." Trinity mumbled as she rushed out of the
room heading for Akane's.
"What's the problem?" Tank inquired as he rushed into the
room.
"You'll be sorry you asked..." Neo muttered.
"What did you do to me?!" Ranma shouted.
"Just calm down, Ranma." Morpheus said.
"I will NOT calm down! I... I will... not... ooogg..."
"Easy now sweets..." Tank said as he caught Ranma as she
fell unconscious..
"WHAAAAAAT?!" Akane screamed from another room.
"Tank, load them up."
~~~
"Ooog..." Ranma woke from his unconsciousness to find
himself on a comfortable bed, and back in his male form. As he
looked around he found... nothing. Totally and completely nothing.
"Do you feel better?" Morpheus asked.
"Wha...?! Where am I?" Ranma inquired.
"You're in what we call the construct. You're inside a
computer program. I decided that we should talk in here while your
body rests, and so that you could be back in your male form."
"While my body-... that wasn't all a dream?" Ranma
inquired.
"That, my friend, was real. If anything could be called a
dream, it's this." Morpheus waved Ranma's attention to the empty
space of the construct.
"Where's Akane?" Ranma inquired.
"She's in another construct, talking with Trinity."
"Morpheus, what in the hell is happening? Have I gone
crazy?"
"(Sigh) We have a lot to talk about, my friend."
~~~
"...I've heard enough!" Akane sobbed, sitting in a room
devoid of -anything-, similar to Ranma's construct with Trinity
sitting opposite of her. "That can't possibly be-... machines using us
for-... (sob)"
"I really wish it were, I really do. That's why we're here.
We fight for a future without the machines." Trinity explained.
"Why Ranma and I?" Akane inquired.
"You know that mallet of yours?"
"What about it?"
"You're the first person we've -ever- met who can
spontaneously create an object. Do you know how valuable a skill
like that can be?"
"So that's it, huh? You want us to be your SOLDIERS?!"
Akane ranted.
"That's a pretty rough way of looking at it, Akane. Would
you rather live in a fake world, or would you rather fight for a real
one?"
"My friends... my family..." Akane muttered.
"They're not your real family, Akane."
"HOW DARE YOU!" Akane fumed.
"It's the truth, Akane! If I were to free them out of the
matrix right now and do a DNA test it would show that you're
totally unrelated to them. They're all random souls grouped to form
a family. It's all part of the illusion. None of it is real, Akane.
NONE of it." Trinity elaborated.
"None of it... none of it... not even my fiance'..."
"Fiance'?"
"Ranma's my... my fiance'." Akane tearfully muttered.
"Oh my god..."
"AND ALL THIS TIME HE WAS A GIRL DAMNIT!
Why couldn't the damn machine have gotten THAT right?!"
~~~
"I don't care if I'm -actually- a girl or not! I was raised a
guy and I'm gonna BE a guy! I ain't gonna act like no damned girl!"
Ranma shouted.
"Have I missed something? Trinity's a woman. Does she
act any differently than anyone else?" Morpheus asked.
"Huh? Uhh... no, I don't think so..."
"Then I don't get it."
"Picking flowers, acting cute, wearing dresses..."
"Picking flowers...? What are you... OH!" Morpheus burst
a roaring laugh. "Ranma, (chuckle) I just look forward to the day
when we can -grow- flowers. I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
There's a few things I forgot about life in the matrix."
"Uhh... now -I'm- lost." Ranma muttered.
"We're a little too busy fighting for humanity to be worried
about things like flowers or dresses, my friend. You've got nothing
to worry about. I don't think anyone really cares."
"But still...! I was raised a guy and... uhm..."
"Don't you get it? There's no real difference. Here when a
person looks at you, they see -you-. The rest is details." Morpheus
explained.
"I... I don't want guys coming on to me."
"Oh... so that's it." Morpheus mused. "Then when they
ask, you politely tell them no."
"No-one I've ever met took no for an answer."
"Then you politely -deck- them until they do."
"Sounds like something my father would say..." Ranma muttered.
"On this ship, I'm everyone's father. We are a family, and
you and Akane are the newest additions to it." Morpheus patted
Ranma on the back. "Just so you know... you, uhm... -do- have a
second option."
"And that is...?" Ranma inquired.
"You can politely accept."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"Or don't. It's your option. No one will think any different
of you either way. The only person who will care is you, but before
we worry about that, there's two facts you need to wise up to first.
Fact one, you're a girl. Fact two, there's nothing wrong with fact
one."
"You better make sure everyone knows I'm -already-
engaged." Ranma muttered.
"That was in your life in the matrix, Ranma. That's something
you'll have to let go."
"I will NOT! I... I love her!" Ranma shouted.
"The woman you love is in the matrix. You can't go back
to her."
"You're wrong. She's right here."
Morpheus was silent for a moment.
"Akane?" Morpheus inquired.
Ranma nodded.
"I see. That changes everything."
~~~
"You love her, right?"
"Y-yea..." Akane nervously answered.
"I grew up in the matrix, and I remember how strange a
woman in love with another woman was, but here in the real world
love is too rare to let 'details' spoil it." Trinity explained.
"But... if Ranma and I still... I mean... what will everyone
think?"
"They'll think that you two are the luckiest people alive."
~~~
"You mean that?" Ranma inquired.
"Every word. I envy you, Ranma. When you left the matrix
you were able to take with you the only real thing you had."
"And that is...?"
"Something you and Akane seem to share. Something that's
rather rare in the real world. It'd be a shame if you lost it."
A tear trickled down Ranma's cheek.
"If you hope to build a future with her, you have to let go of
the fake life you've been living. Are you ready to?"
~~~
"Yes." Akane answered.
"Are you ready to tell Ranma that you still love her?" Trinity
asked.
~~~
"Yes!" Ranma and Akane both shouted as they awoke
from the construct.
"...Ranma?"
"...Akane?"
They looked at each other for the first time since being
freed from the matrix. They both had very short hair which,
although growing quickly, left them looking slightly unfamiliar to the
other at first.
"Akane... I... I'm..." Ranma nervously muttered.
"Shut up..." Akane replied with a kind smile. "Just shut up
you dummy."
Ranma and Akane ran to each other and hugged, which
was but only a prelude to a passionate kiss that brought them both
to tears, complemented with applause by an audience of Neo,
Trinity, Tank, and Morpheus.
"I can arrange for you two to be alone for a while..." Tank
said.
"We're doing just fine, thank you." Akane smiled as she
wiped her face.
~~~
"They've been locked in that room for three hours. What
are they doing in there?" Tank inquired.
"Talking... playing... who knows? It's none of my
business." Neo muttered.
"Is it me, or do you sound a bit bothered?" Trinity inquired.
"It's not you." Neo replied. "The matrix doesn't normally
make a gender glitch like that."
"A girl who can make objects from thin air, a man who
changes into a panda, jumps of about 20 meters or more... I'd say
the matrix is having a rough day." Trinity mused.
"A man who changes into a panda?!" Tank questioned.
"You had to be there." Trinity muttered.
"There's another thing. Remember when we were getting
Ranma out of the matrix I lost the lock at first? I got it back, but it
wasn't the same."
"Didn't Ranma get splashed with water just before?" Trinity
inquired.
"I dunno. I wasn't watching." Neo answered. "Tank,
establish a link with the matrix informational node. Let's see what's
on the news."
"You got it. Let's see... ah. Here's the sports section..."
"Can it, Tank."
"You're no fun."
"Stop! That... right there. I remember those. That might have
been the first lock."
"What's the rest of it say?" Trinity asked.
"More coordinates, a project in progress, mentions the loss
of a supplemental component... a replacement... hmm. Maybe this
is a status report."
"Sounds like they're building something." Neo muttered.
"In a populated cluster of the matrix?" Trinity inquired.
"I guess so." Neo affirmed.
"Coincidence?" Trinity asked.
"What do you think?" Neo inquired.
Trinity grinned.
"Tank, you think you can get us into that cluster?"
"It'll be tight..."
"Plan it out. Let me know when you're ready." Neo
ordered. "Until then, I've got some kids to train..."
~~~
"Just be quiet." Akane softly muttered.
"Akane, I..."
"Shhhhh."
"No, Akane. I..." Ranma flustered.
"No words, Ranma. Just accept it." Akane said. "You
always were and always will be the man I love."
"Please, Akane! I..."
"Quiet, you dummy!" Akane kindly chided. "You don't
have to mmmphhhh!!"
Ranma put her hand over Akane's mouth.
"Would -you- be quiet so I can say just THREE words
please?"
Akane reluctantly nodded.
"I...love...you." Ranma said as she released her hand.
Without hesitation, Akane burst into tears and hugged
Ranma.
"Y-you're... you're all I have left, Akane." Ranma added.
"Thank you for not leaving me." she kissed Akane's forehead.
"I will never, never leave you, Ranma."
Ranma smiled. "Which one of us is the tomboy now?"
Akane's tears ceased as she glared at Ranma.
"Ah. There we go. That's my Akane!" Ranma chuckled.
Akane's glare slowly disappeared into a slight grin.
"Dummy."
"Macho chick."
"Pervert!"
"Careful... Technically you can be hit with that one yourself!
Ranma replied with a chuckle.
Akane scowled. "Tomboy!" she shouted.
Ranma flinched, caught off guard by the new insult that
strangely now applied to her.
"Gotcha!" Akane exclaimed victoriously. "I'm real good with
double edged swords, Ranma."
-Knock knock-
"It's open."
Neo opened the door and walked in.
"If you two lovebirds are done..." Neo said.
"As a matter of fact, we're not." Ranma muttered. She
took hold of Akane and planted a deep kiss, her lips on hers.
"Now we're done."
"Oooo... very nice. I give it an eight." Neo commented.
"So... Trinity tells me that you two -think- that you know martial
arts."
"HEY!!!" Akane and Ranma shouted in unison.
"Don't like hearing that?" Neo inquired.
"No, we DON'T." Akane curtly replied.
"Want to do something about it?"
"Honor demands it!" Ranma fumed.
"Good. I look forward to getting my ass kicked. Load up in
the construct. Akane, you'll fight Morpheus. Ranma, you'll fight
me."
~~~
"This is a sparring program, similar to the programed reality
of the matrix. It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity.
What you must learn is that these rules are no different from
the rules of a computer system. Some of them can be bent.
Others can be broken." Morpheus explained.
"Or rewritten." Neo added.
"Sorry, I'm not in the practice of cheating." Ranma said.
"-They- are." Morpheus replied.
"Enough." Akane muttered.
"Indeed. You and I shall go first." Morpheus said. "Hit
me."
Thus, the battle began. Akane's first attack, a gorilla
strength forward thrust, was easily dodged. She continued with a
series of powerful attacks, however her defense was quite lacking
and Morpheus had managed to get in several hits.
"Good."
"Good?! I haven't even gotten a hit on you yet!" Akane
shouted.
"Don't be so critical on yourself. You haven't even had any
training yet."
"I've had a lot more than you!"
Akane launched another flurry of attacks, all of them again
just as easy to block as they were the first time. She now added a
few kicks and foot sweeps into the mix, some which Morpheus
wasn't expecting, but was still able to dodge or block.
"Am I too fast for you?" Morpheus questioned, blocking a
two fisted strike, returning the favor with a knee to her stomach.
"How...?" Akane mumbled.
"Fight with your mind. Know that your strike will hit."
More punches, more kicks. Akane tried a grappling
maneuver in an attempt to throw Morpheus across the dojo. She
was a little confused when she found it was -her- being thrown.
"You seem to focus more on strength and power than
speed. That's fine in the real world." Morpheus explained. "You
forget that this isn't the real world."
Morpheus leapt high into the air, intending to make a
descending strike. Akane countered by leaping into the air with him
before he could even execute the strike. Into the air they hung as
the moments in time slowly passed. An unsuspecting Morpheus
caught off guard by the surprise attack, and Akane in the air
meeting her attacker with a clear advantage. -KAPOW!-
0.1 seconds...
0.2 seconds...
0.3 seconds...
0.4 seconds...
Akane fell roughly to the ground gasping for air, the wind
knocked out of her lungs. Morpheus landed at the opposite side of
the dojo unharmed. He walked over to Akane and offered her a
hand to help her up.
"Your defense is lacking. You'll have to work on that.
You're quite confident of your own strength. That's important.
That means we're halfway there. Now you need to find your speed."
"(Cough) -Find- my speed?" Akane questioned.
"You'll do even better once you learn how to use your
skills more efficiently in the matrix." Morpheus explained.
"Me and you, young lady." Neo said to Ranma.
"Let's go."
"By the way, how come you're in female form?" Neo
asked.
"Don't ask me, ask the machine." Ranma replied.
"All the machine does is interpret your self image. Are you
starting to see yourself as a girl?"
Ranma remained silent.
"Have you ever fought as a girl before, Ranma?"
"Now and then."
"You'll get plenty of practice, I promise you. Go!"
Ranma launched the first attack, a short leap towards Neo,
her fist straight on target for Neo's head. Just millimeters away from
connecting, Neo dodges. Ranma, wasting no time, launches a
spinning kick which Neo easily ducks as well. Neo returns the
attack with several kicks, a thrust to Ranma's stomach, and a foot
sweep...
...all of them blocked or dodged.
"Very good!" Neo praised.
"You're holding out on me."
"So are you."
Thus, a continuous stalemate continued. Neither had
managed to register a hit on the other, each attack either having
been blocked or dodged. Neo was definitely holding out on the
boy. He knew every attack Ranma was going to pull at precisely
the same time the computer managed to translate Ranma's
command of the attack.
"You're still holding out!" Ranma yelled.
"C'mon, Ranma! Show me what you can do!"
"FINE!" Ranma flared.
A shocked expression painted Neo's face. The command
Ranma's mind was executing to the construct was unreal.
"Jesus!"
"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"
Neo managed to block every punch, but barely.
"How... how did you block those?!" Ranma questioned.
"Phew... not easily. That's an incredible move, but I hope
you weren't expecting it to bring you an easy win."
"Maybe if I was a guy..."
"I figured you'd say that." Neo spoke to the sky. "Tank, a
little magic please."
Ranma's image fuzzed in a ball of static for a moment, and
then rematerialized into male form.
"Let's try that again."
~~~
"Congratulations, Ranma." Morpheus said as they awoke
from the construct.
"I must say, I didn't think you could do it." Neo stated.
"You were still holding back. Don't deny it." Ranma
muttered.
"That's because I programmed his interface that way."
Tank explained as he unplugged Morpheus.
"Why?"
"He's untouchable without them."
"No-one's untouchable."
"I saw your moves the moment the construct interpreted
them. My interface in the practice construct attenuates the
processes that let me respond to them." Neo explained as Tank
unplugged him.
"How come you can... I mean... how do you see his
moves before he even makes them?" Akane asked.
Neo chuckled and shook his head. "I'm hungry, Morpheus.
How about you?" Neo inquired.
Morpheus motioned to the mess hall.
"Hey! Answer my question!" Akane yelled.
"Unplug us! I'm hungry too!" Ranma added.
"After your training." Morpheus said as he left with Neo for
the mess hall.
"Training?" Ranma questioned.
"Uh huh." Tank affirmed. "First, I think we should see a
replay of your fight with Neo. I think you'll find it interesting."
Tank keyed up the fight on a nearby view screen. Ranma
had just rematerialized into male form, and another fight had just
begun.
"Let's fast forward to the moment of triumph, shall we?"
Tank muttered.
Ranma and Neo were standing at opposite ends of the
dojo. Neo was in a defensive stance, and Ranma was preparing for
an all out offensive. Confident of success, Ranma charged at Neo
just like the first time.
"KACHU..."
Ranma, watching the view screen, noticed the image of
her/himself beginning to flicker.
"TENSHIN..."
On the screen, Ranma changed to female form.
"AMAGURIKEN!"
Neo managed to block all of the punches... except one.
One was all Ranma needed, and Neo was down for the count.
"Good fight, huh?" Tank asked as he turned off the view
screen.
"NO WAY! I beat him while I..." Ranma exclaimed.
"Yup, while you were a girl. You knew you could do it,
and you did. You knew you had the power to take him out, and
you did. Now tell me... how was that different from the first time?"
Tank asked.
"I... I don't know..."
"Did you think you could beat him as a girl?"
"I wasn't sure..."
"But you were certain you could do it as a guy, right?"
"I knew I could get at least one punch in... and I knew if I
placed it right and put enough into it I could take him out."
"And that's precisely what you did."
"Because I knew I could do it?"
"Now you're getting it." Tank answered. He walked over
to his console and shuffled through a few disks.
"Okay, then what happens if I -know- I can get a hit in, but
my opponent -knows- he can block it?" Ranma asked.
"Then you're in for a long fight. Confidence wears down
eventually though, just like stamina. It's all a matter of who tires
out first." Tank explained.
"Gee, you're awfully quiet, Akane." Ranma muttered.
"I'm still thinking about how many hits he got on me. Come
to think of it, I never worked on defense much..." Akane mumbled.
"Oh I can fix that reeeaaaal quick." Tank said as he pushed
a button.
"HUAAAH!!!" Akane shouted as information was being
shunted into her mind in a disorienting manner that can only be
described as a painless headache. "What was that?!"
"That was a refresher course on some of what you already
know." Tank said as he held up a disk labeled 'Kempo'.
"Did you... no... no way! That's no way to learn martial
arts!" Akane yelled.
"DO NOT use that on me, do you hear?!" Ranma shouted.
"Huh?"
"You DON'T learn martial arts by simply loading it into
someone's mind like a program!"
"This is stuff you need to know!" Tank argued.
"Maybe those disks can teach the moves, but not the spirit.
It doesn't teach the -art-." Ranma said.
Tank remained silent for a moment, then eventually
conceded.
"Fine. If you have enough confidence in your own skills then
that'll be enough. There are other things you have to learn though,
and for the moment I have you held captive in that chair there so
you're gonna learn em' whether you want to or not! Welcome
to kindergarten, sweets."
"(Sigh) Fine, but no martial arts." Ranma agreed. "And
don't call me sweets."
"Whatever. Here we go..." Tank winked at Ranma.
"Hey! Knock that-... HUAAAGH!" Ranma yelled as a
flood of information surged her brain.
"Is she always that easy to tease?"
"Afraid so..." Akane answered.
Finished with Ranma's first lession, Tank ejected the disk
labeled 'Rand McNally's Matrix Atlas'.
"So, Miss Ranma... are you ready for junior high?" he
asked as he held up another disk labeled 'The idiot's guide to really
really big GUNS'.
~~~
"We know you to be an acquaintance of this perpetrator.
Any help you could give us would be... ...appreciated."
"I told you already, I haven't seen him!"
"We're not asking for his whereabouts. We're asking for
your... cooperation in apprehending him."
"You're asking me to turn in my-..."
"I'm asking you to do the right thing. I can trust you to be
the type of person who would do so."
"I don't believe you. He didn't do it! He's not-... I mean,
he wouldn't-..."
"You can believe what you want. He will be apprehended
and brought to justice. A trial will decide his guilt."
"I won't do it."
"Aiding and abating, accessory to terrorism, obstruction of
justice..."
"NO! You can't pressure me into it! I won't! I WON'T!"
"(Sigh) We'll be keeping an eye on you, Miss Kuonji.
Good day."
~~~
Ranma was in her room practicing her kata. She chided
herself several times as her body, weak and out of shape, had
difficulty performing what was once an easy kata.
-Knock knock-
"Come in." Ranma shouted as she continued.
"What are you doing?" Trinity inquired as she walked in.
"Making a mockery of the art, it seems. I can't even
perform a simple kata!"
"We were only able to rebuild your muscles to a point.
Time will have to finish where we left off. They have quite a few
years of catching up to do." Trinity explained.
"(Sigh) I guess my art got left in the matrix too."
Trinity smiled. "Do it again."
Trinity observed as Ranma carefully went through her kata
once again. Ranma grunted as she made a few mistakes, fewer than
the first time, but still annoying considering that this was once such a
basic kata to her. As she finished, she noticed that Trinity had been
trying to imitate her.
"That's one the training program didn't teach." Trinity
commented.
"I've been training most of my life. I doubt those programs
have even half of what I learned."
"What martial art is it?"
"The Saotome School of Anything Goes martial arts."
"'Anything goes'?" Trinity skeptically commented. "You
made that up."
Ranma glowed in fury.
"I...did...not." Ranma viciously said.
"Sorry! I didn't mean..."
Ranma waved her hand, dismissing the subject.
"You know, considering what we do, the name is fitting."
Trinity commented.
"So what brings ya'?"
"I got bored. I figured I'd drop by to talk. Akane's been
making herself scarce practicing with Morpheus all day. She's quite
determined..."
"Stubborn is more like it." Ranma chuckled.
"How did you two meet?"
"An arranged marriage between her parents and
mine. (Sigh)"
"So... you love her out of obligation?" Trinity inquired.
"No! I love her because I... I... actually -love- her. Had our
parents not forced our relationship and just let things be..."
"Why the arrangement?"
"To join our martial arts houses together, inherit the Tendo
dojo, carry on the Saotome school of martial arts... that sort of
thing." Ranma replied. "I wonder what their thinking now. Their
two heirs... gone for good."
"Were you looking forward to carrying on the school?"
Ranma sighed. "Yea, actually." A tear formed in her eye.
"Once I got rid of that damned curse I was-..."
"You're crying." Trinity observed.
Ranma shook her head in regret. "I was always afraid that
one day I'd end up stuck as a girl forever. I-... my father would be
ashamed, I'd lose Akane, I'd... I'd have to live as a -woman-..."
More tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Well, you're not going to lose Akane... that much is
certain. As for living as a woman, I don't see what your problem is.
I know -I- don't have any regrets. The rest of the emotional
baggage you should have left in the matrix." Trinity comforted.
"C'mon. Big girls don't cry."
Ranma chuckled. "Gee... thanks." she sarcastically
commented, tears drying from her face. "It's just that... in... in there
it -was- a big deal. Out here... it's not so bad. Everyone treats me
as just another one of the guys..."
"We're all just another one of the guys. Some of them like
to play a little though. I noticed Tank's taken a hobby of calling you
a few various pet names here and there."
"I'll rip him a new airway next time he does."
"He's just playing, Ranma. Try playing back. Maybe you'll
get back at him a couple..."
"Oh please." Ranma muttered with a sarcastic glance.
"Get used to it, spoil sport. C'mon now... Miss high and
mighty martial artist can't take a little tease..." Trinity chuckled.
"Yea, yea... yuck it up why don'cha.."
"So tell me about this martial arts school of yours. Did you
have any students?"
"Not really."
"You do now. I'm ready for my first lesson, sensei."
~~~
"The matrix is a system, Akane."
Morpheus walked across a crowded crosswalk in the
opposite direction of an oncoming flurry of people. Akane struggled
to follow close behind, bumping carelessly into several people along
the way.
"That system is our enemy." Morpheus waded through the
crowd effortlessly. The people were giving him a wide berth. "You
look inside and what do you see? Businessmen, teachers,
carpenters, doctors..."
"My friends..." Akane interrupted, still bumping into
people.
"Are you sure?" Morpheus questioned
Akane bumped into a rather familiar doctor.
"Dr. Tofu!" Akane exclaimed, looking behind to the familiar
doctor continuing onward.
"Look at me, Akane. Are you paying attention?" Morpheus
questioned.
"But that was-...!"
"Look again."
The man she looked behind to see wasn't Dr. Tofu, but
instead an agent looking much like the one Akane and Ranma had
fought.
"Freeze it." Morpheus ordered to the sky. The people in
the construct froze accordingly, as did the agent who had his gun
leveled right at Akane's forehead.
"What the hell...?!" Akane shouted.
"That was your friend you saw, wasn't it?"
"How did you know about-...?"
"I know enough to emphasize a point. You need to let go,
Akane. Your friends, your family... all of it."
"Why and how in the hell would you expect me to do that?"
"Because so long as they're still connected to the matrix,
they are your enemy. If you expect to survive, you'd better.
One moment you could be talking to your best friend..."
"And the next...?"
Morpheus tapped on the gun in the agent's hand. "There is
no next. Allow me to introduce you. This is a sentient program.
They can move in or out of any part of the matrix. They can be
anyone, and yet they are no-one."
"Ranma and I fought one of them... and it's body changed
into-..."
"...Into the body's original form. That is how they move
throughout the matrix. They possess a body and they do not leave
that body unless it becomes damaged. Consider a body taken over
by an agent to be as good as dead."
"Then what do we do?"
"We run."
~~~
"Tank..."
"I'm ready, Neo. It'll be tough trying to fly this barge
through it..."
"We're not going to stay. Just get me a look."
"Let's get this over with."
Tank carefully piloted the Nebuchadnezzar up a cramped
shaft which led to the matrix habitat, a cluster filled with people all
wired into the matrix.
"Easy does it baby..." Tank muttered as the ship escalated
up the shaft, narrowed by thousands of rows of body vats.
"What's that up there?" Neo asked, pointing to what
appeared to be a rather normal body vat, with the exception of a
large amount of wires and tubes interconnected into it and to the
empty vat to the left of it.
"That must be the experiment." Tank informed.
"That empty vat to the left with all the wires... that was Ranma's,
wasn't it?" Neo asked.
"You got it."
"Why's the vat to the right of it empty too?"
"Let's see..." Tank mumbled as he scrolled through several
files. "That was Akane's."
"This is no coincidence. Get us in closer."
Tank keyed in several commands into the computer, and
the ship responded accordingly as it moved closer to the vats in
question.
"Didn't we get a list of coordinates from the matrix info
node?" Neo asked.
"Hang on..." Tank keyed up another view screen which
recalled a small amount of data.
"A project in progress at-... Neo, these coordinates match
these vats here." Tank read. "It lists a critical component lost...
more coordinates..."
"Yea, yea... what component?" Neo impatiently asked.
"Cool it, will ya? I'm working on it!" Tank stressfully
shouted. "There we go. Let's see... wait a-... these are coordinates
Ranma's vat!"
"Ranma was part of some experiment?"
"There's coordinates for a replacement here... and it's that
guy right there." Tank pointed to the vat above the 'experimental'
vat.
"Looks like they haven't rewired their 'replacement' yet.
Think we can find him before they do?" Neo asked.
"Not a chance. You need to find the guy in the matrix first.
Heh... good luck. You don't even know who you're looking for."
"Let's get out of here."
"I hear that."
Tank quickly plotted a return course down the habitat.
"Patch me into the matrix info node again. I want to know
what the hell this experiment is." Neo said as he sat in an interface
chair.
"You got it." Tank replied. "Hey Neo... should we tell
Ranma about this?"
"No need to worry her until we know what we're talking
about." Neo answered. "I wonder what Akane's part in this is
though..."
"She could be a farm body."
"What's that?"
"You don't know?"
~~~
"We know you to be an acquaintance of this perpetrator.
Any help you could give us would be... ...appreciated."
"You can have what's left after I'm done with him."
"I'm sorry?"
"I never would have believed that Ranma would go so low
as to conspire with terrorists..."
"He needs to be brought to justice, along with his terrorist
co-conspirators."
"I'll see to his 'justice' personally. Please, don't be harsh
on Akane. Ranma must have pressured her into-..."
"I can't make any guarantees. Tell me, Mister Hibiki, am I
correct in assuming that you have a dispute with the perpetrator?"
"You could say that. If I ever come across him... ...he's
good as dead."
"I see..." the agent mused. "You're enrolled with our
experimental program, are you not?"
"I think so... why?"
"One of my associates was recently lost in the line of duty."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"Would you be interested in a job?"
~~~
"Okay... they're in." Tank said as he activated a special
sparring construct exclusively for Ranma and Akane. "They won't
be out for a while."
"Good. This is stuff they don't need to hear quite yet."
Morpheus muttered. "Now... what's this I hear about a weapon?"
"Ranma was a surrogate mind to keep the weapon body
alive while they built an AI to take it over when it was ready." Neo
explained. "I have all the data on a downloaded file from the MIN."
"Wait a minute... how did they do that without killing
Ranma's body?" Trinity asked.
"They set her mind to control the vital functions of both
bodies. It looks like they went to some trouble to keep her alive."
Neo explained.
"Why?"
"Simple... why waste a perfectly good farm body?" Tank
answered.
"Aw shit... that's the LAST thing a ship needs." Trinity cursed.
"What's the problem?" Neo asked.
"He doesn't know, Trin." Tank muttered.
"Know what? Could someone please tell me what the hell
I'm missing here?" Neo questioned.
"I think I left a program running..." Tank said.
"I'm gonna go grab some food..." Trinity added.
"I think it's time for Ranma and Akane's next lesson."
Morpheus mumbled as he, Trinity, and Tank departed Neo's
company.
"What the hell am I missing here?" Neo mumbled.
~~~
"It is expected that they may return here."
"Ranma would never dishonor himself by allying himself
with such terrorists!" Genma ranted.
"Your son has already committed a murder, Mister
Saotome. An office secretary, an innocent bystander, was
killed by them during our attempt to apprehend one of the
known terrorists." the first agent explained.
"Akane Tendo obstructed our agent just as we were about to
arrest the terrorist, and Ranma Saotome launched an attack at our
agent. His attack missed and struck the bystander instead." the
second agent elaborated.
"I don't believe you! There's something you're not telling
us!" Soun retorted.
"For security reasons, we have told you all that we can."
"Should they return, you are expected to contact us
immediately."
"Get out. GET OUT!" Soun raged.
The two agents caught a glance of Nabiki and Kasumi. The
agents stared at them for several moments, assessing the two for
purposes known only to themselves. Their gaze then turned to meet
the each other's, and without a moments hesitation the agents
departed.
~~~
Morpheus, linked into the interface chair along with Ranma
and Akane, coughed a small amount of blood.
"Morpheus!" Tank, who was previously distracted,
focused his attention on his console as he quickly pushed 'abort'.
Within moments Morpheus, Ranma, and Akane awoke from the
practice construct.
"(Cough) Ugh... do you two feel better now?" Morpheus
asked.
"No..." Ranma bitterly answered as Tank unplugged her
interface.
"Hmph." Akane muttered as Tank unplugged her also.
"Get over it."Morpheus said as Tank unplugged him as
well.
"What happened in there?" Tank asked.
"The jump program." Morpheus answered.
"Yea... that explains why they're pissed... but what
happened to -you-?" Tank inquired.
Morpheus walked over to Tank's console and deleted the
record of what happened in the construct.
"Don't tell me -you- fell..."
Morpheus remained silent for a moment.
"You two keep quiet." Morpheus motioned to Ranma and
Akane. "Tank, it's long story, and I don't feel like telling it."
"But..."
"Bring us up to broadcast depth. Tell Neo and Trinity to
get ready. We're going in."
~~~