Purpose

by Differing Fools

Two Ranma selfinserts and two friends are brought to the future. A future of war, chaos, and giant mecha. Rated M for a pottymouthed ZAFT Captain.

Purpose

Phase One

It Began With a Boom!

))o((

The story began as many do.

BOOM!

A large explosion.

Eryn shook his head, trying to get hearing back in his left ear. From his place behind the large lead barrier, he couldn't tell if anything had changed. Maybe Illyana's latest crackpot idea hadn't done anything harmful... or better yet, hadn't done anything, period!

Wait, he wasn't that lucky. Peeking over the barrier, Eryn looked around; there was Illyana still standing by her large mechanical… thing. It seemed most of the rest of her lab was okay, too; a little soot here and there, a couple broken gears and thingamabobs, but all in all alright.

Then he saw it, almost unnoticeable in its sheer Nerimian normalcy... a little blue haired thing, probably a boy, and Ryoga, both standing in the farthest corner of the room, facing the wall. They both seemed confused and disoriented.

The blue-haired boy spun around quickly, Ryoga mimicking the motion more slowly. A million questions raced through the boy's mind, and just about all of them were asked. "Hey, where are we? How did we get here? And who the hell are you?"

Eryn blinked, processing the information in his head. Turning, he noted that Illyana seemed to be observing the new couple but making no moves to say or do anything. Realizing any explanation was going to fall on his shoulders, the boy breathed deeply, then began. "You're in a lab in that blonde over there's basement. You either got here because my... friend, Ryoga there, got you lost, or my other friend Illyana's latest invention malfunctioned. Oh, and I'm the Dark Lord Sir Ruffles."

The young boy was about to make a sarcastic reply, but Ryoga's dumb one cut the kid off. "Sir Ruffles? I don't think I know anybody by that name." The eternally lost boy scratched the back of his head. "And I'm pretty sure I've never seen you around, either." It was true; Eryn had a head of long, silver hair, something that even Ryoga would be unable to miss. "So how do you know me?"

The kid sighed.

Eryn sighed. "We've met twice, maybe three times. The first time shortly after you fought Ranma at Furinkan. And the name's Eryn, not Sir Ruffles. Sir Ruffles was a joke."

The bandana-clad youth looked perplexed. "When I fought Ranma? At Furinkan? I don't remember ever fighting Ranma at school."

"You never did," Ryoga's friend responded. "Kuno, yes. We've all beat up Kuno." Turning to Eryn, the kid asked, "Are you sure you're not thinking of Kuno? You know, kinda tall, really dumb, pulls a wooden stick out of his butt?"

Eryn rubbed the back of his head. "No. I know the difference between Ryoga and Kuno. Kuno's a psychotically deluded individual, Ryoga is a self deluded individual. Why would I get the two confused? I mean, it's not like they have very similar dressing or fighting styles..."

Well, it was all making sense to the boy, or at least starting to. "I can assure you, then, that neither Ryoga nor myself have ever been here."

"What do you mean, Kari?" Ryoga asked, perplexed.

Kari sighed. "Look, Ryoga, we're not in Nerima any more. Or, if we are, not ours." She looked over at Eryn. "All right, so what the hell was your friend doing that brought me and Ryoga to this place?" She switched her gaze to Illyana.

Illyana answered before Eryn could. "I was simply testing out a device I've been working on for a branch of the JSDF that prefers to remain nameless. It seems to still have a few bugs in it though… Hmm, maybe I need to add more plutonium… and maybe a bit more ethanol. And probably a happy face sticker."

Kari spoke first. "Plutonium?"

Ryoga was next. "A happy face sticker?"

Eryn had a horrified look on his face, but, once again, before he could speak, Illyana started. "Oh, don't worry, the shielding should keep any radiation from leaking out, I think. And happy face stickers are good karma, very good karma! Do not doubt the power of the happy face sticker!"

It was quite obvious they were dealing with an eccentric mad scientist type. "Aw, well, could you at least be kind enough to send us back?" The short-haired girl looked over to Ryoga, then back to Illyana. "Me and Ryoga are kind of running late for a test. Gotta keep our grades up, right?" In her head, Kari pleaded for a quick end to this madness.

Illyana nodded. "Sure, just step onto that platform," Illyana's left hand indicated a platform sitting in the middle of the mess of machinery, "and I'll get right to sending you home." Finishing, she mumbled to herself, "If I can figure out how I got you here in the first place."

Eryn came out from behind the barrier, looking between the odd couple and Illyana. He was still slightly confused on what was going on, but far be it from him to speak up when Illyana was so engrossed in her work.

Kari and Ryoga approached the platform, as per instructions. As the girl stepped upon it, though, Ryoga hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Kari asked, looking over to her friend. "You do want to go home, don't you?"

"Yeah," Ryoga replied. Quieter, he mumbled, "It's just that I have a bad feeling about this..."

Kari heard him. "Don't be such a baby." She grabbed the fanged boy by the arm and dragged him up onto the platform with her. "See? Not so hard, now was it?"

Ryoga grumbled.

After working close to fifty different switches, levers, dials, and buttons, Illyana seemed to be happy. Looking between the duo and the control panel, she smiled. "Okay, all set! Prepare to return from wherever the heck it is you came from, but... first..."

Illyana ran over to Ryoga and Kari, slapping something onto both of their foreheads before returning to the control, "Okay, now everything's set."

Ryoga resisted the urge to chuckle, noticing the happy face sticker that Illyana had slapped onto Kari's forehead. His, too, but he couldn't see that one.

Illyana was grinning. Kari didn't like that grin. Nonetheless, it's not like there was much choice but to grin and bear it. "All right, let's get this show on the road."

Eryn sighed. Sitting down on something that he hoped didn't matter, he mumbled, "Hurry it up, you still gotta help me with that other problem."

Illyana nodded, flipping one last switch. Turning, she stared in abject horror at Eryn as the oversized lever he was sitting on went down. She had just enough time to mumble, "Jeebus help me," before everything went white.

))o((

The first thing Kari noticed when she awoke was that the ground was hard.

The second thing she noticed was the conspicuous lack of weapons. She always carried several dozen shuriken, kunai, and other various ninja weapons on her person.

The third was that her hands were handcuffed behind her back. Hmm, that was unusual.

Then the girl opened her eyes, quickly looking around to take in her surrounding. She was in a tent of some kind, bigger than a camping tent she might be used to, likely something professional. She also noticed that she wasn't wearing her normal green ninja outfit, but rather a pair of gray pants and an equally drab gray shirt. Who the hell had changed her?

The answer came, pointing a pistol at her head. "I see that you're awake."

"Who are you?" was Kari's first question. Her second, "Where am I?" She tested the strength of the handcuffs. Sturdy, too tough for her to break out of. "And why am I handcuffed?"

The young man, apparently in his late teens, seventeen of eighteen by Kari's estimate, snorted derisively. "My name, if you're really curious, is Daisetsu Saito the fifth, member of ZAFT." Daisetsu looked Kari in the eyes. "But you should know well enough where we are, and why you're our prisoner." Quietly, he muttered to himself, "The Earth Alliance is recruiting them younger and younger."

"I'm afraid," a futile effort to break the handcuffs, "that I have no clue of either." Kari noted that her captor appeared to be in the military, though she couldn't recall anything named ZAFT, nor place his red uniform to any other military she had even heard of. And that feather insignia on his collar?

"Don't think we'll go any easier on you just because you're a kid," Daisetsu remarked. "We need to know exactly who sent you. Are you a soldier from the Al Sulayyil base? A local conscript?"

Kari was getting annoyed. "Nobody sent me!" She growled. "Now be a nice boy and let me go! I haven't done anything!"

"Even if you are a local, which is doubtful seeing as how we're many miles from the nearest village, you've stumbled across our unit after an unsuccessful operation. I can't just let you go." However, Daisetsu put away his gun, apparently taking some amount of pity on the young girl.

"I'm glad you put that thing away," Kari said, putting her hands in front of her and stretching her arms. "Kind of nerve wracking, you know?" She was smiling.

Daisetsu blinked, taking a moment to mull over the fact that she was stretching her arms- handcuff free arms- when they were supposed to be... Pulling out his gun, he didn't have time to do any more before he was doubled over, dropping his gun in the process.

Kari pulled her fist out of the boy's sternum and kicked away his gun. "Stupid," she remarked as he fell to his knees. She quickly looked around. "Damn, none of my stuff is here. Guess I had best get looking." The girl made her exit, using all the stealth of her ninja training.

However, Daisetsu wasn't nearly as out of it as the girl had expected. Getting back to his feet, the boy cut off a curse. He stumbled over to his gun and picked it up. "This is going to suck," he muttered to himself.

))o((

Ryoga awoke to the sounds of bitching.

"…And these cuffs are cutting off my freaking circulation. How the hell do you expect me to answer your questions if my hands feel like they're gonna fall off. What, you wanna shoot me in the head? Go right ahead, a lotta good it'll do you!"

"Eryn?" the bandana-clad boy asked, opening his eyes. Yep, that was Eryn. It looks like the two of them were handcuffed and stuck in a tent. A military officer, in a green uniform, was standing over the other boy, a rifle in his hands.

"So, you're awake now." The military man seemed to be lacking energy, probably from having to put up with Eryn as long as he had. "Good. Just sit tight, it'll be dark soon. We'll head out in the morning."

"Where am I?" Ryoga asked. "Why are we handcuffed?"

"You're about two hundred miles from the Red Sea," the man replied, "and you're a ZAFT prisoner."

Eryn snorted derisively. "Oh, yeah, you interrogate me and tell me nothing. He wakes up and you act buddy-buddy. Bastard."

Another soldier entered the tent. "Quick, has the escapee come this way?"

"Escapee?" asked the first guard.

A nod was given in response. "You know the girl we thought was a boy? Looks like she got away. We're searching for her now."

"Girl mistaken for a boy? They must be talking about Kari," Ryoga realized.

Eryn blinked. Turning his head towards Ryoga, he asked, "Who's Kari?"

Ryoga cocked his head to the side. "Oh, I guess she didn't introduce herself. She was the blue haired girl I was with."

Eryn asked, confused, "That was a girl?"

"Got away? But wasn't the member of FAITH keeping an eye on her?" The guard seemed surprised. Whatever this FAITH was, its members seemed to be better than the usual soldier.

"Well, I guess I'd better go help Kari, then." Before Eryn could ask exactly what he planned to do, Ryoga simply brought his arms around from his back, easily breaking the handcuffs in the process.

"Whoa!" the guard cried. Before he could raise a significant defense, Ryoga had already plowed through him and taken out both him and the soldier at the entrance.

))o((

"Happy face."

"…Mommy… I mean, huh?"

Illyana smirked; it was fun tormenting this poor guard, even if it was kind of easy. After all, she had pretty much managed to break his psyche after the first few minutes of his "interrogation."

The guard seemed to have finally gathered some courage when he asked, "Now, we may go leaner on you if you, um, tell us who you and your comrades are working-"

"Happy face."

The guard nearly jumped out of his seat.

It was about then the door slammed open.

"I don't think this is it, either," the short blue-haired girl muttered to herself, looking around the tent.

"H-Hey!" the guard piped up, aiming his gun toward the intruder. "You're one of the prisoners!"

Kari looked over at the man. "I was," she replied evenly.

Illyana looked at the little boy that had just charged in and smiled. "Hey, be a dear and break me out of here, okay?"

Kari shrugged. "Sure."

The guard aimed his rifle more carefully. "You think I'll-"

His statement was cut short when Kari rushed forward and to the side, out of the way of his gun, and kicked him in the face. He fell down, out cold. "All you guys are the same," she muttered, "all talk with nothing to back it up." She drew the man's combat knife from his side. Before Illyana could ask what she was going to do with it, Kari used the weapon to slice neatly through the scientist's handcuffs.

Illyana looked down at the severed cuffs, then back up at Kari and commented, "Cool." Standing up, she asked, "Okay, where to?"

"I guess we'd just better head off and find the others," Kari replied. "If we're both here, then Ryoga and Sir Ruffles are probably here, too."

"Ok, then lets go."

The two girls made their way out of the tent. In the distance were a few soldiers, but it looked like the majority were searching elsewhere.

"All right," Kari said, "we should probably check-"

The sudden sound of gunfire in the distance stopped what she was going to say.

"Oh, crap," the ninja muttered, "please tell me that isn't Ryoga."

"I think we know where to check," Illyana commented idly.

"Indeed." The two made their way toward the sound.

The scene they arrived to was a bit odd. The gunfire had stopped, as it appeared the two soldiers at the scene had their weapons sliced in half by flying bandanas. Kari quickly took them down from behind.

"About time," Ryoga commented. "I looked all over the base for you."

Kari's eyes got wide. Ryoga, searching for her in an enemy base? That was cause for concern. That's when she noticed the silver-tressed boy next to her friend. "Oh, it's Sir Ruffles. I'm glad to see you're both together, less work for me."

Eryn sighed. "Please tell me your not gonna make that a habit..."

"No time to talk, Ruffles," the young kunoichi responded. "It looks like we have company." She grabbed Illyana's arm and started running toward where she could see some good cover, a cluster of large transport vehicles.

Ryoga did the same with Eryn. The silver-haired boy's protests were cut short when he heard the sounds of firing guns from behind them. One of the bullets grazed his shoulder. While it was painful, it could have been a lot worse. Not that it mattered for him, anyway, and he wiped the blood off idly to reveal unmarked skin underneath.

The four teenagers took cover behind one of the vehicles. "This looks bad," Kari said, peering around a corner. She pulled her head back when she heard another shot, the bullet knocking up the sand nearby.

An arid, rocky series of cliffs and canyons to the back, and a group of gun-wielding militants to the front, things seemed to be pretty bad today.

Eryn asked, with another sigh, "Should I play bait so you guys can get away?"

"No thanks," Kari replied. "We'll figure another way out of here."

The transport vehicles they were behind were large, treaded trailers with long beds, a good amount of tarp over the tops. Ryoga took a moment to peer under the covering. "What the hell is that?"

All the gathered teens took a moment to gaze under the tarp as Ryoga had done. Under it was a large green robot of some kind. It's chest appeared to be open, presumably leading into the cockpit, though they couldn't be sure from the angle.

"This... isn't any ordinary military," Ryoga breathed.

"Don't forget what brought us here," Kari responded. "It's possible this is yet another dimension, or even the future. But whatever the case is, we need to get out of here, and this is our ticket."

The four teens scrambled under the tarp. Approaching what they believed to be the cockpit, they all peered inside.

"It's not that big," Ryoga commented.

"Couldn't fit more than two people," Illyana agreed.

"The kid should probably go in, because she's the smallest, along with you, Illyana." Eryn sounded like he actually thought it out. "Ryoga and I can head toward one of the other vehicles, they probably have more of the same thing."

Kari's mind said one thing; "No way in HELL am I getting stuck with that crazy chick." So, out loud, she spoke, "Well, good luck to you two." She shoved Eryn and Illyana into the cockpit.

Eryn blinked, "Or we could do it this way..."

Illyana looked around as the cockpit door finished closing up. "Flip for it to see who pilots?"

Eryn shrugged, pulling out a quarter he flipped it, Illyana shouting tail while it was still in the air. She lost.

))o((

Daisetsu ran towards the sound of gunfire, his own pistol drawn and ready. What he saw when he arrived were the soldiers, firing randomly towards the mobile suit transport vehicles. "What's going on here?"

"They've taken cover behind the mobile suit transports," one of the green-uniformed soldiers informed the FAITH member.

"Have they armed themselves?" Daisetsu asked. "Why aren't you pursuing them?"

"We don't know how they did it, but one of them can apparently cut through guns, sir. We don't know what they can do!"

The young man snorted. "So you're cowards, in other words." He ran forward. "I'll take care of this, then!"

He stopped short when the tarp was pulled away from the vehicle. The huge barrel of the Gunner Zaku Warrior's Orthros high energy long range beam cannon aimed directly at him.

After several very intense moments, the gun turned away from him as the Zaku managed to get to its feet. It took several unsure steps forward.

The soldiers began to run like chickens with their heads cut off. Daisetsu took it upon himself to take control of the situation. "Stop! All of you, go and ensure the safety of the Captain and Lieutenant !" He looked serious. "Get them to a safe position and hold them for five minutes. I'll be done by then."

"Yes, sir!" several soldiers said at once. All of them began to move to follow instruction.

Daisetsu quickly made his way toward the back of the camp. It'd only take a minute to reach his goal...

))o((

From the covered bed of two other mobile suit transports arose a large blue unit, a large shield attached to the left arm, and an equally impressive green unit, two large gattling guns attached to the shoulders.

Eryn and Illyana raced... well, no, it was more like they drunkenly stumbled away from the camp, doing their best to avoid tripping over sand dunes or rock outcroppings here and there. The Gunner Zaku Warrior kicked up a bit of sand as it did so.

Inside the blue unit, Kari looked frantically trying to find the right switch. "Why don't they label anything?" Spotting a likely target, she flipped the switch. "Ruffles? Ryoga? Either of you getting this?"

Eryn sighed. "Unfortunately, yes... It seems we're... or, more precisely, I'm being followed."

No sooner had he spoken that three laser beams came from behind the sniping unit. The three shots hit right between the feet of each unit. A face appeared on the screens inside of the three units. "Those were warning shots," the man on the screen intoned. "Cease operation of the stolen units and open your cockpits. Come out peacefully and I won't have to harm any of you."

"To hell with that, Daisetsu!" Kari yelled into the radio. "I'm not going to be turned into a prisoner just to be killed off later! We're blowing this joint!" She checked on the large screens around her to see if she could find the boy's unit.

There it was, on the edge of the encampment. A unit, similar in looks to the two units other than her own, except a midnight black with silver joints. It was holding what appeared to be a rifle in its right hand.

Daisetsu aimed the gun of his custom Zaku Warrior. "Don't say I didn't warn you." IN his head, he prepped himself for battle. He couldn't damage the units too much, unless he had no choice. He had to take them out with most of the mobile suit intact...

Eryn's unit brought its large gun to aim at the black unit, but the Zaku Warrior was already out of the line of fire before it had even come in position. A precise shot took off the arm of Eryn's unit at the shoulder, sending the arm and gun falling to the ground. Before the boy even had a moment to react, the black unit plowed right into it, using one of the shoulder guards to ram and knock the green unit to the ground.

Daisetsu's face appeared on the monitor again. "Stay down," he commanded. His unit dropped the rifle onto the ground a sufficient distance away from the other unit, then pulled out two large cylinders.

"What are those?" Illyana asked from inside the unit.

Her question was answered when two long red beam emerged, creating two mecha-sized lightsabers. Two swift cuts and Daisetsu leapt away, both of the Gunner Zaku Warrior's legs lying separated from the body.

Eryn grumbled, "Damn, I just got pwned..."

Daisetsu's next target was the Slash Zaku Phantom. Ryoga tried bringing himself to bear his shoulder mounted gattling guns at the black unit. His hands worked, trying to find the firing mechanism, but the Zaku Warrior was faster. Ryoga's unit fell to the ground, all four limbs cleanly severed at the joints.

"Are all pilots this good?" Kari wondered as Daisetsu's unit turned toward her.

The boy's face appeared on the screen again. "Are you going to come along quietly?" His Zaku Warrior turned to the Gouf Ignited, appearing very menacing to the young girl.

The ninja was silent a few moments. "Yes," she finally replied, albeit quietly. She clenched her fists. Damn him.

"Then power down the unit," the red-uniformed youth commanded.

"Just one problem," Kari replied. "How do I do that?"

))o((

Daisetsu led the four prisoners into the large tent. They were all handcuffed, but there were still half a dozen other soldiers with their guns trained on them just in case. When he came to a stop, he saluted the Captain and Lieutenant . He heard the prisoners come to a stop just behind him.

The Captain was slightly intimidating. He was a tall man, which was apparent even when he was sitting in his chair. He had short, brilliant red hair that was slicked back and was puffing a cigar in his mouth. A healthy amount of stubble was growing, showing it had been a while since his last shave. The messiness of his face was a contrast to his clean white uniform.

The man pulled a cigar from his mouth before speaking. "So, these are the four. Managed to escape and almost made off with our three spare suits. Quite a feat." He took a puff of his cigar. "Quite a fucking feat."

"What'll we do with them, Captain?" the Lieutenant inquired from her position, standing at the Captain's left. She was a young girl, around Daisetsu's age, with medium-length blonde hair poking out from under a black beret, matching her black military uniform.

"What else?" the Captain asked. "We'll hold 'em prisoner until we reach Carpentaria. We'll let the brass decide what to do with 'em there."

"What then?" All eyes turned to Kari, who was glaring at the Captain. "They'll keep us prisoner, or even execute us? For what, being at the wrong place at the wrong time? Trying to rescue ourselves when we're being imprisoned for no damn reason?"

"Perhaps," the Captain replied. "Of course, that's assuming we make it to fuckin' Carpentaria at all. Maybe you'll get lucky and we'll be killed as we leave the Red Sea. It'll be the same result, just less of a wait on your part."

"Oh, joy," Eryn muttered. "This is turning out better and better."

Daisetsu cleared his throat. "If I may, Captain, I have some thoughts I'd like to share."

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

The youth nodded. "Indeed. It might be to the mutual benefit of the ship and the prisoners." Seeing the Captain nod for him to continue, he did so. "With the unfortunate casualties of Anchors, Kenny, and Flak, we're short three of our ship's four pilots. If it pleases the Captain, I can use my powers as a member of FAITH to temporarily appoint the prisoners as the pilots of their mobile suits."

"That's dangerous," the Captain simply replied.

"Yes," Daisetsu agreed. "However, should we be attacked... it wouldn't be difficult to overwhelm even a FAITH member should he be fighting alone." He paused. "On top of that, I'm fairly certain that these four aren't members of the Earth Alliance. They may be locals hired by Earth forces, or even just citizens of Earth in the wrong place, but they're not members of the Earth's military. In that case, this would go a long way to guaranteeing not only leniency but eventual freedom once we reach Carpentaria."

"I see what you're saying," the Captain agreed. "But are they capable of piloting the mobile suits?"

"They appear to be untrained," Daisetsu remarked, "but they were nonetheless able to get the basic operation of the mobile suits down without any instruction. I believe they might simply be naturally skilled pilots, with a little bit of training."

The Captain appeared to be deep in thought.

"And what's to keep them from escaping with our mobile suits?" asked the Lieutenant .

"Since there are only three mobile suits, a forth member will be remaining on board to ensure their cooperation," the Captain responded. "Simple."

"There's no guarantee they won't leave a forth member behind to make their own escape," the blond girl argued.

"We wouldn't do that!" Ryoga cried. He could see this might be a good idea, so he didn't want to see it squashed.

"We'll have to take that chance," the Captain replied, "we don't have much fucking choice." He took a drag of his cigar. "I'll let you do this plan of yours, Daisetsu. I'll leave the prisoners under your care, all right?"

"Fine by me, sir," Daisetsu responded.

The Captain turned to the four prisoners. "Any objections?"

A chorus of "No, sir!" were the response.

Kari began to plot. They could keep doing what they were told until trust was established... then they could make another escape. The difference is, by then they'd know how to pilot those large machines.

"Then I guess you'll be working for me," the red-haired man said with a grin. "I'm Jesse Hawke, Captain of the ZAFT battleship, the Aristotle. The young lady next to me is Rosemary Buckingham, our Lieutenant ."

There was a round of introductions among the prisoners, beginning with Kari and ending with Eryn.

Jesse nodded. "Well, you might be our pilots, but you're also fuckin' prisoners, don't forget that. But by the time we reach Carpentaria, I'm sure you'll be set free, so don't worry your pretty little heads 'bout anything." He waved his hand. "Well, all this excitement has got me fuckin' beat. I'll head off to bed. Take the prisoners to another tent and keep a three-man guard on them."

"Sir," Daisetsu said with a salute. He and the others left the tent.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rosemary asked when she and Jesse were alone.

The Captain put out his cigar and sighed. "To tell you the truth, I have no fucking clue. But I trust Daisetsu's intuition, so I'll go along with it." He stood up and began to make his way out of the tent. "It's already dark, you might want to get some sleep, too."

"Yes, sir."