Once again I do hereby state that Ranma is not mine nor are the characters of the Matrix. The only thing I can take credit for is the hovership Argos and her captain.

RANMA UNPLUGGED

Chapter 3: The Next Lesson

Ranma didn't know how long he had been asleep, just that it hadn't been enough. The headache from all the information he had had pumped into his brain hadn't even begun to subside. The insistent knocking on his and Akane's door wasn't helping in the least. Groaning, he rose out of his bedroll and quietly walked to the door so he wouldn't wake up Akane as she slept in the bed. He would find a few moments later that it had hardly been necessary as he opened the door to find an equally exhausted Ryoga standing next to a grim looking Morpheus.

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but circumstances have forced us to have to accelerate your training," Morpheus stated. "If you will be good enough to awaken Akane, we will return to the control room."

"Tell you what," Ranma stated through drooping eyes. "How about you wake her up and I arrange your funeral instead?"

"This is not the time for this. The Oracle has made it clear that she needs to meet with all of you in less than 48 hours. You will be able to sleep tonight, but for now we must complete as much of your training as possible."

Ranma sighed at his fate and turned to walk towards the bed. Standing over Akane's sleeping form he gently grasped her shoulder and lightly shook her. When that didn't have an effect, he tried adding a little more force, this time only getting a slight moan as Akane turned to her other side. Finally, not being able to think of anything else, he reached over and gave her a pinch right on her rear end. He had been expecting the punch that she ended up connecting to his face. Ranma had remembered that her physical body in this world was not as strong as what it had been in the Matrix. Unfortunately' he had forgotten that the same was also true of his own. He was reminded of it as he sailed backward way from their bed. Ryoga just stood in the doorway, watching an angry Akane roll out of bed.

"Now, THAT he had coming," he said. Morpheus merely nodded in agreement.

Thirty minutes later, three forms that resembled human beings stumbled their way into the control room. As they were guided to the chairs they had come to dread, they each felt a pinch in their arms that caused them to flinch.

"What the hell was that?" Ryoga demanded as he turned to Neo, who just happened to be the on standing beside him.

"An injection to help you wake up," Neo said as he set the hypo down on a tray and helped Ryoga get settled. "It's a mixture of synthesized adrenaline and caffeine. We need you alert for what is coming next." With that, he connected the interface and activated the program.


All three were soon standing once more in the Tendo dojo, each feeling a wave of sadness hit them. Even Ryoga found himself fighting back a feeling of homesickness. This was easy enough to understand seeing as how he had spent a lot of his time in the last year and a half at Akane's house as her pet, P-chan. In fact, this place had been more like home to him than his own had. Now, standing in the middle of the dojo, he wondered if he would ever know that feeling again.

For Akane the feelings welling up in her were threatening to bring tears to her eyes. She recalled how Trinity had told her she could never see her family again, how she was essentially dead to everyone she ever knew. She thought of her family and wondered how they were handling her being gone. Kasumi, she knew, would be hurting as bad as anyone else though she would hide it behind her usual cheerful attitude as she went about the domestic duties that had become her entire life. Dinner would still need to be prepared, laundry would still need to be done, and the house would still need to be cleaned.

Her father, she imagined, was probably flooding the house with an endless supply of tears as he carried on and on about how his little girl was gone. He was probably also bemoaning, along with Mr. Saotome, the fact that without her and Ranma there was no way that their dream of the two family's schools being united would ever be realized. It was more likely that Mr. Saotome was more worried about being thrown out of the house and having to return to his wife and tell her how Ranma had disappeared without a trace.

Finally, Akane thought about Nabiki. There was no doubt in her mind that her older sister was even now using all of her contacts and resources to track down her and Ranma. Of course, she was also probably doing a lot of rumor control at the school even as she took bets from the students regarding the many possible explanations from elopement to their deaths.

Remembering all her loved ones she left behind finally brought the tears to Akane's eyes despite her best efforts to hold them in. Seeing her tremble, Ranma walked over to her and held her tightly as she cried into his shoulder. She finally looked up at him with red eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Ranma. I just miss them so much."

"I know, Akane. So do I."

"The hardest part of all of this," said Morpheus' voice from behind them, "is learning how to let go. For now, we must enter into the unarmed combat phase of your training." He gestured to the floor and all three teens sat on their knees. Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo took similar positions across the dojo floor. "To begin, we will gauge your current level of skill through one on one sparring. AKANE!"

Akane's back went ramrod straight. "Hai, sensei." Morpheus gestured to the dojo floor and Akane immediately took her place in the center. Morpheus then nodded to Trinity who rose and took her place on the dojo floor opposite Akane. They both bowed toward Morpheus, then to each other before assuming fighting stances.

"This match will be determined by knock out or submission," Morpheus declared as raised his hand into the air. Bringing it down, he shouted, "BEGIN!"

Akane immediately rushed Trinity, coming at her with a flurry of punches. Trinity was initially surprised by the suddenness of the attack, but quickly rebounded after being forced back a few steps. In little time, she was effortlessly blocking all of Akane's punches before she caught one of them and spun Akane around locking her arm behind her back. Akane struggled for several seconds before jumping up and sending her head back to collide with Trinity's nose. This was enough to daze Trinity into releasing her so she could once again turn to face her opponent. Seeing that Trinity was still recovering, Akane immediately launched a flying kick, impacting Trinity's chest and sending her flying back.

Akane's triumphant smile soon faded as she watched Trinity perform an aerial back flip and land on her feet, immediately crouching own to stabilize herself. Trinity lifted her head and eyed Akane from across the dojo. She cocked her head and gave Akane an evil grin. To Akane's astonishment, Trinity stood and came running at her at a full run. Akane braced herself and, when she felt Trinity was in range, launched forward with one her patented high octane punches. She was immediately shocked when she found that her target was no longer in front of her. She was even more shocked as she looked up and saw her opponent gliding over into a forward flip. Before Akane could turn around to counter her, Trinity extended her legs in mid-flip, to connect with Akane's back and send her sliding across the floor of the dojo.

Akane came to a stop when she hit the dojo wall, hitting just hard enough to cause her to take her time in getting up. Looking over to her opponent, she noticed that Trinity had barely broken a sweat while she was struggling to keep her own breathing under control. Seeing Trinity's goading smirk quickly caused Akane's temperature to rise as she felt her anger coming to head. Finally getting to her feet, Akane stared hard across the training hall before charging full speed towards her opponent. When she came in range, Akane quickly launched a double punch following it with a high sweeping kick, which Trinity easily ducked under. Going with the momentum, Akane spun into a leg sweep. When Trinity jumped over this, Akane decided it was time to try something different.

Continuing her spinning motion, Akane once more threw a high kick to Trinity's head. When Trinity ducked under the kick for a second time, she came up prepared to launch a counter-attack. She found herself unable to follow up on her strategy as Akane immediately reversed the direction of her kick, bringing her leg back to connect with Trinity's right ear, knocking her off balanced. Akane probably would have finished the match then if it hadn't been for what she heard next.

During the entire match, Ranma and Ryoga had looked on with a disappointed look as they saw Akane use the same moves over and over, becoming more predictable in her attacks. She surprised them though when she reversed her kick. Ranma, true to form, couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Alright, Akane," he yelled from the sidelines. "You finally look like a real martial artist."

Hearing this, Akane immediately turned to him with a look of murder in her eyes. "Just what is that supposed to mean?" she yelled, momentarily forgetting about her opponent.

"Eyes front, Akane!" Ryoga yelled. He was a second too late with his warning.

Akane turned back toward Trinity and was shocked to find her seemingly suspended in midair. She didn't even have time to bring her arms up before Trinity lashed out with a kick that caught Akane in her chest, sending her flying across the hall and crashing into the far wall. By the time, Akane landed on the floor, she was unconscious.

"Akane!" Ranma cried as he rushed to her side. Upon reaching her, he lifted her into his arms and checked to make sure she was still breathing. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Akane's chest rising and falling against his own. He lifted her up and carried her to their side of the dojo where he laid her down between himself and Ryoga.

Ryoga leaned over Akane to see for himself that she was alright and then turned to Ranma. "You do know that you're going to be feeling this as well from her later on."

Ranma blinked to Ryoga, looking puzzled. "Why?" he asked. "What did I do this time?"

"You idiot," Ryoga said, knocking Ranma in the head. "Where do you get off insulting Akane like that!"

Ranma winced as he finally realized what he had said to her. "Maybe she won't remember that part," he thought. Even as he formed the idea in his head he knew that that was wishful thinking at best. He resigned himself to the fact that he would be having an incredible headache from Akane later that night. Ranma just didn't know whether it would be from her fists in the real world or Mallet-sama in the Construct.

Morpheus immediately brought the two young men back to the task at hand with his next words. "That wasn't too bad. Akane did show good improvisation towards the end. It's quite obvious she needs to improve her speed as well as learn to control her temper. If she can learn to do this, then I pity the person who decides to challenge her in the future."

Morpheus stood and walked to the middle of the dojo floor as Trinity resumed her place at Neo's side. He motioned to Ryoga who took a place opposite him. Neo raised his hand. "This match will be as the last one. Winner will be by knock out or submission. BEGIN!"

For a moment nothing happened as both opponents sized the other one up, looking for an opening or hint as to the other's intentions. Finally, Ryoga leapt high into the air and began pulling bandannas from his head, sending them hurling in Morpheus' direction. Morpheus dodged, performing a series of back flips as he studied the attack Ryoga was using. After about a minute of this, he maneuvered himself close in to Ryoga and launched a series of kicks that caught him in the side. Normally, he would have seen his target go skidding across the room, but Ryoga just shrugged off the blow as if he had been hit with a feather. Morpheus was shocked to say the least.

"How are you able to take a shot like that?" he asked, incredulously.

Ryoga merely grinned. "Let's just say I had to toughen up pretty quick when I was learning THIS!. BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" With that, he lunged forward extending his finger to the floor at Morpheus' feet.

Morpheus was rocked backwards as he was pelted with the shrapnel that had once been the dojo floor. He recovered quickly, took a few steps, and then immediately launched a series of punches aimed at Ryoga's chest and face. Ryoga shrugged off each blow as he countered with a fierce roundhouse that Morpheus barely turned aside. He then followed up with a quick one two punch combination that ended with a hard foot sweep. Morpheus, in a desperate gambit, jumped up and over Ryoga, landed lightly behind him, and aimed a spinning kick at the side of Ryoga's head. Sensing this, Ryoga spun on his heel and blocked with a kick of his own then lunged out with a punch that Morpheus easily caught. Ryoga found himself in flight as the momentum of his last attack was used to send him across the room. He quickly twisted his body and managed to tumble to his feet. He looked across the room to see Morpheus with a smirk on his face.

"You're holding back," Morpheus stated. "How can I gauge your true skills if you don't take me seriously?"

Hearing this served only to add fuel to the fury that was brewing inside him. Ryoga charged forward with a rage that shown in his eyes. Reaching Morpheus, Ryoga threw punch after punch at him. Morpheus either dodged or blocked each of these but didn't strike back once. Finally, he locked Ryoga's arms in front of him and gave him a piercing look.

"C'mon, stop trying to hit me and HIT ME!" Morpheus soon came to regret these words as Ryoga broke his hold and nailed him with an uppercut that clicked his teeth and sent him towards the ceiling. Ryoga fell back several steps as he watched Morpheus hit the ground and roll onto his side "Yes!" Morpheus exclaimed as he wiped some blood from his lip "Just like that!"

Ryoga relaxed his stance and gave him a lidded stare that quickly shifted into a feral grin. "Serves you right, you know." His body was shaking as he began to walk off of the mat. He didn't even make it halfway before Morpheus exploded into action. Having caught Ryoga completely off guard with a wide spinning round house that impacted under his shoulder blade, Morpheus came to a stop with his feet straddling Ryoga's torso "I never yielded nor am I anywhere near unconscious."

"I didn't really want to use this, but I guess you've left me no choice," said Ryoga as he managed to hook his legs under Morpheus' arms and pitched him up and back while rising to a seated position. Crossing his arms, in front of him, Ryoga began to think about how he could never see Akari again as well as how Ranma had finally gained Akane's heart. As his soul sank deeper into depression, he drew his heavy ki through his arms, cupped his hands, and extended them forward. "SHI SHI HOKODON!"

Morpheus eyes widened in utter shock as the energy blast shot toward him. It was all he could do to bring his arms across his face in a blocking gesture as he was pushed back into the wall of the dojo. When the blast subsided, a smoking figure slowly emerged from the wall and stepped forward. Morpheus' gi was burned in several places and smoldering all over while he himself was breathing heavily as he managed to get back into a combat stance and face Ryoga, only to find that the young martial artist was rushing towards him in the hopes of finishing the fight with one final punch. Morpheus quickly raised a single hand in front of him.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled. Somehow the force in his voice reached Ryoga, who stopped his punch a mere inch from Morpheus' palm. Ryoga was surprised when Morpheus bowed to him.

"You are full of many surprises, Ryoga. I've never seen attacks like that before," Morpheus stated. "However, you will need to abandon this berserker mentality that you seem to possess, as it will do you more harm than good in the long run. You will need to bring up your speed as well."

Ryoga growled deep in his throat as he heard Morpheus' words. Even though it seemed like he had won his match, he had the suspicion that Morpheus had been holding back the entire time. There was no doubt that he had surprised Morpheus with his special techniques, but he knew that that had been his only advantage. Much as he hated to admit it, Morpheus was right. Ryoga Hibiki still had a lot to learn.

Ryoga walked back over to Ranma and Akane. Akane was still knocked out but was starting to show signs of regaining consciousness. As Ryoga sat down, Ranma gently lifted Akane's head from his lap and laid her down on the dojo floor, making her as comfortable as possible. It was his turn and by process of elimination he knew that he would be fighting Neo.

Neo met him at the center of the dojo floor. From the fights involving Ryoga and Akane, he knew that there was more to these young fighters than met the eye. Neo resolved to himself that he would be ready for any kind of attack that Ranma threw at him.

For his part, Ranma was trying to decide what to make of Neo. If he were to judge from looking at his physical appearance, Ranma would have dismissed Neo as only a midlevel martial artist and fighter. Having been told that Neo was this One person, though, made him think that perhaps he shouldn't underestimate him. He had all the confidence in the world of his own abilities, however. Inwardly, Ranma was looking forward to seeing just how good Neo really was. Ranma began to appraise Neo's apparent skill as he watched the unconscious grace with which he moved. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation as he approached the center of the mat. "Ya know, you don't look half bad, still not as good as me though."

Neo replied with his trademark lopsided grin. "Who knows, I might surprise you. You never truly know somebody until you have fought them."

Ranma tossed back his own grin and said, "That sounds familiar, like something the old ghoul would say."

"Old Ghoul?"

"Just a major pain in my neck."

"I can relate."

There was a loud cough from the side that drew their attention. They turned to see Morpheus baring a stern look on his face. "As entertaining as this exchange may be we are not here to trade life stories. If you would please make ready." As soon as he finished speaking he was pleased as he saw Ranma ease into some type of stance that seemed familiar yet he couldn't place the discipline, and Neo shrugged into one of his favored shotokan phases. "BEGIN!"

Ranma immediately threw his right arm out in a punch but at the last second pulled it back in towards him. As he expected, Neo immediately moved across his body with his arm in order to block the attack and was caught off-balance when he didn't have anything to connect with. Ranma used this to his advantage by placing a well aimed kick to Neo's side. Feeling the impact on his ribs, Neo spun with the momentum and lashed out with his arm, hoping to catch his opponent with a backhand across the face. Sensing his foe's next move, Ranma quickly caught his outstretched arm and wasted no time in giving the source a flying lesson across the room. He watched as Neo twisted his body quickly to recover, landing on his feet.

The opening volleys were more than enough to gather the undivided attention of all of the spectators including Akane who had only just regained consciousness. Now she looked on as she saw Ranma and Neo move around each other in an attempt to find an opening that could be exploited. She watched as Neo finally moved in and began attacking Ranma with a series of blows so fast that he was immediately put on the defensive, forced to block continuously with no opportunity to strike back. The brief interchange ended as Neo fired a punch to the throat of the young man in front of him only to have it caught a mere two inches from his intended strike point. Akane let out a sigh of relief only to have it turn into a gasp of shock as she saw Ranma suddenly reel back, grasping his throat.

"What happened?" she asked Ryoga. "Ranma blocked the attack, didn't he?"

Ryoga shook his head. "Not quite. He caught the punch, but it was close enough for his opponent to extend his fingers and strike his windpipe."

Akane's eyes widened as she turned her focus back to the two combatants. "I wonder if he might actually be able to beat Ranma," she thought.

Out on the dojo floor, the same thought was passing through the mind of the martial artist in question. It had taken Ranma a few moments to recover form the last blow and get his breathing back under control. He looked across the room only to see Neo assume a new fighting stance that appeared to be entirely defensive. His opponent then extended his arm out palm up and, with a smile, curled his fingers up and down beckoning the other combatant. Not one to back down from any kind of challenge, Ranma immediately charged forward. Just as he came into range, though, Neo immediately turned completely around and ran straight for a support beam with Ranma following closely behind. Reaching the beam, Neo shocked the new crewmembers by running up it three steps before he pushed of and sailed over Ranma's head, coming to a landing behind him before delivering a spinning roundhouse aimed for his adversary's head.

Fortunately for Ranma, his instincts kicked in. Rocking back his body, he supported himself on his left arm as he brought his leg straight up along Neo's chest and body, catching him off guard and momentarily stunning him. Pushing himself back up with his arm, he then steeled himself and let out a furious cry.

"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Neo fell back as he felt blow after blow impact his chest at speeds so fast that even he couldn't see anything more than a blur. As he was retreating, he looked up just in time to see Ranma soaring towards him with a flying dragon's kick aimed at his torso. This time it was Neo's instincts that saved him as he pivoted and grabbed Ranma's legged and used the momentum to send him flying through the wall of the dojo and out to the yard beyond. Neo paused to catch his breath when he suddenly heard a voice call to him from outside.

"Don't tell me that's all you got. I thought you were supposed to be the One or somethin'."

Not believing what he was hearing, Neo rushed outside to confirm that his ears weren't playing tricks on him. The sight that greeted him was enough to leave him dumbstruck. There was no way it should have been possible, but there in the middle of the yard was Ranma standing confidently in a new battle stance that Neo immediately recognized. It was the exact same one he had just used to goad Ranma into attacking him blindly, right down to the cocky smirk and "come and get me" gesture. Deciding it was finally time to end the battle, Neo rushed in with a furious onslaught of punches and kicks, all of which Ranma danced around effortlessly.

By now, their audience had come out to observe the renewed contest. Morpheus and Trinity stared in fascination at the graceful and fluid motion in which Ranma evaded each one of Neo's strikes, all the while not throwing a single counterattack or offering any resistance. It was almost as if they were watching a violently choreographed dance. Their attention was pulled away from the fight when they heard a gasp from Akane at their side. Turning their heads, they noticed that she and Ryoga were slowly starting to back away towards the safety of the dojo. The two of them had quickly recognized the spiral that Ranma was drawing Neo into

"What are you doing?" Trinity asked them.

"Moving away from ground zero," Akane told her. "You might want to do the same."

Morpheus smiled at her. "We are far enough back to avoid the fight at hand."

"Not for what Ranma is about to do," Akane replied, edging further back.

"And just what is that?"

This time it was Ryoga who answered. "Send Neo into orbit." Morpheus was about to question him further when a battle cry echoed across the yard.

"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!"

Morpheus and Trinity were immediately swept off their feet and thrown back by the violent winds that suddenly assaulted their bodies. Landing hard they looked up and were shocked to see what looked like Neo caught up in a powerful cyclone. As the winds died down, they then looked across the yard to find Ranma standing in the middle of a deep crater, breathing heavily, with his fist held high. Slowly, he lowered his fist and climbed out of the crater and turned to face the spectators. Seeing Akane his face immediately brightened into a triumphant smirk.

"Hey, Akane, what did you think of the flying lesson I gave him?"

Akane merely glared hard at him with her arms crossed in front of her chest. Ranma's smile started to fade as he watched her slowly raise her arm and point towards the sky. It was then that he realized that Neo had yet to come tumbling back down to the Earth. Slowly, he lifted his head in the direction that Akane was pointing to. Total disbelief crossed his features as he saw that Neo was now hovering several hundred meters above him.

Neo for his part had been totally taken by surprise by his opponent's last attack. All the time he had been throwing punch after punch at Ranma, he believed that his adversary had at last exhausted all his reserves seeing as how all he was doing was avoiding each blow. Neo never noticed the pattern he had been drawn into until Ranma had shot his arm into the air in a corkscrew manner, somehow creating a powerful vortex that lifted him off his feet and into the air. At first, he had been helpless against he strong winds that had assaulted him, but as they died down, he had been able to regain his focus enough to stabilize himself in midair.

"Whoa," was all he said as he looked down to see Ranma climb out of the crater he had created and yell to Akane. Neo grinned as he saw the smile disappear from Ranma's face when he looked up and discovered Neo's clear defiance of the laws of gravity. Seeing his chance, Neo dove towards the ground.

It was all Ranma could do to dive out of the way of Neo's descent. He felt the explosion behind him as Neo crashed his fist into the ground where he had been standing only moments before. He got on his feet and turned around to find that his opponent had already recovered and was now barreling towards him at inhuman speeds. This time Ranma was a split second to slow in raising his defenses as he was pummeled from all sides by a flurry of punches and kicks, the last of which sent him flying back. He was in the process of rolling his body to absorb the fall when he realized with horror just how accurate this recreation of the Tendo compound really was. With a resigned sigh, he splashed head first into the koi pond and went under.

Neo calmly walked over to the pond and leaned over. At first all he saw was a trail of bubbles that slowly died away. He was about to reach in to fish Ranma out when he was suddenly propelled up and back by a furious uppercut. After landing, he sat up and began rubbing his jaw. A second later that same jaw, as well as everyone else's, dropped when he saw a petite but gorgeous red head pull herself out of the pond.

"WHATCHA DO THAT FOR, YOU JERK!" Ranma-chan screamed.

Neo didn't have a chance to answer as he was suddenly assaulted by his now female opponent. He soon realized that there was not as much power behind the blows, but that was more than made up for by the increased speed and agility that Ranma seemed to possess in this form. Neo soon determined that he needed to back away from this girl and come up with a new strategy. He was about to attempt to push Ranma-chan back so that he could have some room when she suddenly performed a flying back flip and landed several meters away. He stared dumbfounded as the air around Ranma-chan seemed to warp and melt into her. Light began to coalesce into the visible spectrum as her battle aura flared. Ranma-chan shifted her stance as she brought her most effective weapon to the fore.

"EAT THIS! MOKO TAKABISHA!"

Neo was barely able to bring his arms up to block in time as a huge gout of golden energy lanced towards him. Despite his guard being effectively in place, he felt himself being pushed back several meters, leaving deep rents in the ground as the attack neared its peak. Squaring his shoulders he used his intrinsic knowledge of the Matrix and what it was to wrap several layers of perception around himself and cancel out the attack warping the landscape as he did so.

"What the hell!" Ranma-chan exclaimed "It's never been that weak before."

"RANMA NO BAKA!" Groused Akane from the sidelines. "You've never used that as a girl before!"

"Whatever." Ranma-chan said as she turned to face Neo who was still smoldering somewhat "Hey you! It's time to finish this."

Neo smiled and retorted. "I quite agree."

They rushed at one another, each with the intent of being the last man standing.

Ranma-chan launched her self into a flying kick aimed at the side of Neo's face while she saw her opponent rushing in preparing what appeared to be one helluva haymaker. She cried out in triumph as she saw her kick connect, but her glee was short lived as she saw the fist she was sure she had avoided come screaming at her face. Time seemed to slow down as she voiced the expression riding on the forefront of both of their minds.

"Oh shit!"

Time resumed at it normal unstoppable pace or maybe even a little faster as both combatants rocketed away from each other. Neo flew past his comrades to impact the side of the oft abused Tendo dojo. Ranma-chan, meanwhile, was not so lucky as she bounced off the ground and careened into the large unforgiving concrete wall that surrounded what she had for so long called her home.

The combatant's respective colleagues rushed to their sides. Akane with a surprising burst of speed made it to Ranma's side first, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Ranma you big jerk, why'd you have to go and show off like that? You could've been killed!"

Ranma-chan sat up with a grimace, spat out some blood, and wiped the remainder off her chin "Awww geez Akane, t'wasn't nuthin' I couldn't handle," she said as she wiped the tears off of Akane's face.

"But still," Akane managed to sniffle out, "I was worried about you. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Never been better." Ranma-chan replied as she stood only to swoon and land back on her rump seconds later. "On second thought, I think I'll stay down here for a minute."

"That was most impressive," they heard Morpheus say as he walked towards them. Looking beyond, they saw Trinity administering to Neo who was just coming to himself.

Morpheus drew their attention back to himself. "We will give you time to recover and then proceed with teaching you any remaining fighting styles you do not yet know."

"Wait a minute," Ranma-chan yelled. "You don't mean that you're gonna pump all these styles straight into our heads, do you?"

Morpheus nodded. "That is how we usually do things. You have an objection?"

"Course' I do. That ain't no way to learn the Art. I mean sure it'll give you the basics an' stuff but it ain't gonna teach you the spirit of the Art."

"I must admit I never have thought about it that way before. What about the rest of you?" Morpheus asked, looking at the other two teenagers. "Do you feel the same way?"

Akane and Ryoga looked at each other and nodded. They then turned back to Morpheus and the looks they had on their faces revealed their feelings on the subject.

"Ranma's right," Ryoga said. "The only way to truly know a martial art is to learn it through experience."

"Very well then," Morpheus stated. "As it so happens we do have another way of teaching you. It's not as efficient as the upload, but it is faster than doing it myself. If you would all follow me, please."

The three youths got up, albeit shakily, and slowly followed Morpheus across the yard and back into the dojo. They were amazed to find that all the damage that had been caused by the fights was now nonexistent. Morpheus halted them in the center of the dojo then walked over to join Trinity and Neo off to the side. He turned to face Ranma and the others.

"We shall take our leave of you for now. Your sensei will be with you momentarily."

"See you at lunch," Neo said as he, Trinity and Morpheus disappeared from the room.

Ranma, Akane, Ryoga just stared at the space where the three had been and were trying to decide what to do next when another image suddenly appeared in front of them. It took the shape of an elderly gentleman wearing glasses and grey and white priest robes, his long grey hair tied back into a ponytail that reached the floor. He looked over at his new students and smiled.

"Good morning. My name is Katsuhito 2.0 and I will be your combat instructor. First we will begin with Aikido…


"Are you okay?" Trinity asked Neo as she moved out of her chair to come beside him.

"Yeah, great if you don't count the fact that I feel like I just went ten rounds with about fifty or so Agents. That Ranma packs one hell of a punch." Neo eased out of his chair and started walking around despite the soreness of his body. He stopped when he saw Link come up to them.

"I just got a call from the Argos. They're about ten minutes away." Link paused to look at the three teens still plugged into the Construct. "Patch said he has a new crew member for us."

Morpheus looked confused. "I didn't approve any new transfers to my ship."

"Actually this was kinda my doing, Morpheus," Trinity answered. "It's not official unless you sign off on it, but I don't think you'll object when you see who it is."

"Very well," Morpheus sighed. "Link, keep an eye on our new recruits here. We'll be back soon."

Morpheus, Trinity, and Neo walked aft to the hatch leading to the outside. By the time they got down the ramp, the Argos had already arrived and opened her own hatch to reveal Captain Patch as he walked out to greet them. His wounds from his ship's encounter with Ryoga had begun to heal, but some of the damage was still evident. The two captains met and shook hands.

"How are you feeling, Patch?" Morpheus asked.

"Well, I'm still a little sore when I wake up in the morning, but aside from that, I'm getting better. How's the training going?"

"They're going through the combat training as we speak. We are actually using the AI program this time."

"You're kidding. I've never known anybody to ever do that before. Why now?"

"They insisted. Ranma said something about not being able to truly know the Art unless you go through it first hand. I admit he's got a point, in a philosophical sense.

"Maybe. Link said something was up and you needed our help again."

"Well, I received a message from the Oracle. Our new recruits are going to see her tomorrow," Morpheus answered. He looked around and saw Trinity waiting by the ramp to the Argos. He also noticed the grin on her face as someone came down the ramp. Trinity immediately wrapped the new arrival in an embrace. "Who's that?"

Patch looked over to the ramp and smiled. "That's your new transfer. Come on, I'll introduce you."

An introduction turned out to be unnecessary when Morpheus was finally able to get a look at the face of the new arrival. His face immediately turned to shock as he mumbled, "I don't believe it."


Two hours later, Morpheus and the others began unplugging their newest recruits. All three hobbled uneasily from their chairs. As Ryoga looked on, Neo and Trinity helped Ranma and Akane out of the room towards the mess hall. He looked over to Morpheus and shrugged.

"So uh, I guess I'm stuck with you."

"Actually, I'm handing you over to someone else," Morpheus stated with a grin.

Ryoga was confused. "Who? You mean Link?"

"Not quite." Morpheus let his gaze shift as he noted the person coming up behind Ryoga. Seeing this Ryoga followed his eyes and turned around. What he saw caused him to go pale.

"Ryoga, don't you know you can always lean on me?"

"A-Akari?" With that, Ryoga promptly fainted.

END CHAPTER 3

OK OK I know it's another short chapter. I was going to write more. I swear it. You gotta believe me.

Anyway the reason for this is quite simple. I just got tired of all the people begging for the fight scenes especially between Neo and Ranma. BesidesI really couldn't think of a better place to stop than having Ryoga pass out from shock.

Seeing as how I already had things written out farther beyond this I hope to have the next installment done soon, but for now I am taking a few days off. I have the wonderful opportunity to visit Hong Kong for a few days and there's no way I am passing it up. I mean come on I haven't been here since I was eight.

I must say that there is no way that this would ever have gotten done if not for the great help I have gotten from A. Harnum. Without him I don't think I could have gotten the last part of Ranma's fight done. I doth take my hat off to you, sir. AND I AM NOT A LITTLE RUDDLING.

Thanks to all those who have sent in reviews. It makes me proud to see thatI have been keeping people intrigued in this story to the point that you are all trying to guess what happens. Bet you never expected Akari to have already been unplugged long ago.

The only problem I now have is that I am down to only one prereader left as mt others have gone on to other projects. In other words: HHHEEEEELLLLPPPPPP!

AnywhoTTFN and keep on reading.