A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

by juandelacruz

Fifteen years into the future, a wandering Ranma and his companions stumble upon the first battle between Nerv and the Angels. Chapter 2 up. Ranma and company join up and gets a taste of what's it's like fighting the Angels.

2. Starting Over

Fan fiction Title: Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

A Ranma½ – Neon Genesis Evangelion cross-over.

by Alex Tomas aka juandelacruz

Disclaimer:

Ranma½ and Neon Genesis Evangelion are owned by their respective copyright owners. No profit is being made from this work of fan fiction.

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Chapter Two: Starting Over.

Revision 1.0

13 August 2005

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Ranma sat to one side of a rectangular wooden table together with the girls in one of the numerous conference rooms found in Nerv HQ. Their packs were leaning against the wall near the door where they left them. Opposite them sat Misato, Ritsuko and Maya while Sergeant Fujiwara and the two privates waited outside. On the table were some refreshments Ritsuko had ordered brought up from the officer's cafeteria.

The only male in the room began the meeting. "So, what's up, doc?" He asked Ritsuko while reaching for a hamburger, some fries and a can of soda. The girls shook their heads in amusement at his bottomless appetite.

The blond woman answered. "Captain Katsuragi has already told you that you are in the headquarters of Nerv." The transformed adults nodded. "What do you children know about Nerv?"

"Nothing much, Dr. Akagi." Shampoo answered. "But you seem to be the only people who know anything about those Angels as you call them."

Ritsuko nodded. "Yes, Nerv is a special organization under the U.N. It's sole purpose is to fight the Angels."

Kodachi raised her right hand. "Pardon me, Dr. Akagi, but what exactly is an Angel?"

The scientist answered with what every Nerv personnel was told. "We don't know exactly for certain, Kodachi. There are many things we do not know about them. We do know they are weapons of some kind and if they are not stopped they will destroy mankind."

"They?" Ukyou repeated. "How many of them are there?"

"Eighteen."

"How do ya know exactly how many of 'em there are, doc?" Ranma asked after swallowing a fistful of fries followed by a mouthful of soda. That's pretty good intel.

"Are you a religious person, Ranma?"

"Um, no. Not particularly. Why?"

"Have you heard of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls'?"

Ranma thought for a moment. "Well, I think I've kinda heard of them before, not sure where though. Do they have some kinda special martial arts technique ta defeat the Angels? Heh, learnin' a technique that can beat those things would be cool."

"I have heard of them, Ranma-sama, and I do not think they contain martial arts techniques."

"They don't?" Kodachi shook her head. "Dang!" He took a bite from the hamburger. "So what do they got ta do with us, doc?"

"While the scrolls do not contain martial arts techniques they do have important information about the Angels." Ritsuko said. "They are ancient scrolls. The scrolls themselves are at least two thousand years old, the information written on them perhaps much older, discovered in the area surrounding the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan."

"And?" Ranma prompted when the scientist paused and reached for a BLT sandwich and orange juice.

"From what have been deciphered of them, the scrolls prophesized the coming of the Angels to destroy humanity. That is how we know how many Angels there are."

The children blinked. "Wow."

"So what does it have to do with us, Dr. Akagi?" Ukyou asked.

"The special abilities you have shown when you sparred were interesting. You see, only persons with certain qualifications can fight the Angels. We want to determine if you children have those qualifications."

The group of teenagers were quiet for a while as they looked at one another while they absorbed the new information.

"How exactly are you going to determine that, Dr. Akagi?"

"We will need for you children to undergo some tests, Shampoo."

"What kinda tests, doc?" Finish off sandwich and orange juice. Grab some doughnuts and iced tea. The three Nerv women stared at the amount of food being consumed by the boy. "Hey, I'm a growing boy."

"Um, I think we're going to need more snacks, Dr. Akagi." Maya suggested.

"Yes, I think you're right, Maya. If you please?" The lieutenant nodded and stood while Ritsuko returned her attention to the teenagers. "Well, they will include medical, IQ, psychological and physical tests, Ranma. They will be thorough to determine with as much certainty as possible if you have the ability and capacity to fight the Angels but nothing dangerous, I assure you."

"How long will these tests last, Dr. Akagi?"

"Probably one week, two at the most, Kodachi."

"That's a long time for tests, doc."

"Yes, but I assure you we will only do the necessary tests and Nerv is willing to provide board, lodging and a stipend for the time it will take the tests to be completed."

The boy looked at his companions who all shrugged back. Aside from looking for the mushrooms their calendars were clear. Besides they might learn something more about the Angels and this Nerv organization. He nodded.

"I suppose we should do the tests if ya think we'll be able ta help fight those Angels. How soon do ya need ta do the tests, doc?" Ranma mumbled around a slice of apple pie.

"Right now if possible, Ranma."

Ranma blinked and paused from stuffing his face. "That's kinda sudden, doc. Can the tests wait for a week or two? There's just somethin' we need ta do first."

"If you do not mind me asking, Ranma, may I inquire as to what that something be?"

"Nothin' ya guys'll be interested in. We just need ta look for somethin' before we get tied down here for that long." Ranma answered evasively while waving his right hand dismissively. Besides not believing him, the three women would probably think he has a screw loose in the head if he said they were looking for magic mushrooms.

"Look for what?" Misato asked. "What can be more important than helping us save the human race?"

"Mushrooms." Ranma answered half-truthfully, not in the mood to lie outright at the moment.

The Nerv personnel in the room blinked.

"Mushrooms? You're putting off helping us so you can go look for mushrooms?" Misato asked in disbelief.

"Well, yeah. Like I said, it's not something ya'll be interested in." Ranma replied.

Misato glared across the table at the boy. "That's the dumbest reason I've ever heard!" She couldn't believe he would put looking for mushrooms over destroying the Angels and saving mankind.

Ranma frowned back. "Hey, what's your problem, lady? We basically agreed ta do the stupid tests like ya asked. All I'm askin' for is a week or two before we do." He couldn't understand why the woman was getting all worked up.

"We might not have a week or two!"

"Why wouldn't ya have a week or two?" Ranma was puzzled.

"Because we don't have any pilots!" Misato retorted angrily before realizing what she just said. She almost slapped herself.

"Ya don't have any pilots? Ya gotta be kiddin' me. There are lots of pilots around."

Misato bit back her retort. Anything she said would reveal too much.

Ritsuko frowned inwardly. The boy was proving difficult. If they weren't in desperate need of Evangelion pilots she would have abandoned any attempt at recruiting them as being too risky to their secret agenda. If only the other candidates had more potential. She thought. Then we wouldn't have this problem. Ritsuko cleared her throat before addressing the teenagers again as she tried to regain control of the meeting. "Ranma, may I ask for the reason why you need to find those mushrooms?"

The male martial artist fidgeted. "Um, I'd rather not."

"Why not?"

"Because ya'll think I'm crazy."

"I already do, jackass." Misato muttered under her breath earning a dark look from Ranma.

"Misato, please. You are not helping by making those remarks." Ritsuko turned back to Ranma. "I will not press any further." Ritsuko paused as she contemplated what to say. "I will be frank, Ranma. I will tell you as much as I can so you can make an informed decision on whether looking for the mushrooms is more important than agreeing to undergo the tests now." She paused again as she crafted her next sentence. "As you already know, Shinji was the one who fought and defeated the Angel and is at present recovering from the fight in our base hospital."

"Did he pilot a fighter plane against the Angel, doc? Was that how he beat the Angel?"

"Something like that, Ranma, although I cannot reveal exactly what he piloted at the moment." Ritsuko paused once more and continued when the teen-agers nodded. "The reason Shinji was the pilot who fought the Angel is because he is special as I have already mentioned. He has an ability that allows him to fight the Angels with a reasonable chance of success. Unfortunately he is currently incapacitated leaving us with hardly any capability to fight the Angels."

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me! Are ya tellin' us Shinji is the only one here that has that ability? He's the only one ya've got who can fight the Angels?" Ranma gestured around him. "All this and ya have ta rely on a fourteen year old kid?"

"Hey! It's not like it's our choice!" Misato retorted in their defense. "If it was up to us we wouldn't need to depend on fourteen year old brats like you!" It was a sore point with her. If it was up to her she'd destroy the Angels with her bare hands.

"Misato, please. You're making things more difficult than it already is." Ritsuko waited for the captain to cool down before carefully wording her reply. "No, he is not the only one but I cannot say how many there are for security reasons, Ranma. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, not one of them is available to us at the moment leaving us practically helpless against the Angels."

The teenagers blinked. "It's that bad, Dr. Akagi?"

"Unfortunately yes, Shampoo. I apologize if we were not as forthcoming as you would probably have liked but everything we do here is highly confidential. I cannot tell you exactly what that ability is at the moment but we are hoping to see if you children also has it. If you children prove to have the ability like Shinji then we might ask you to join Nerv as pilots."

Ranma frowned again. "You should have said so in the first place, doc." He rubbed his temples. "Sheesh, doc, not tellin' them anythin' isn't a very good way ta get people ta join, ya know."

"Again, I apologize but it is a necessity."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, can we talk ta ourselves in private? I can't decide this on my own."

"Of course, you can talk among yourselves here. How much time do you need before coming to a decision?"

"Not long. Ten, fifteen minutes."

"Very well." Ritsuko looked at her companions before rising and walking out of the room. She was followed by Misato and Maya.

"Do you think they'll agree to do the tests now?" Misato asked once they were out in the corridor and the door closed.

"Probably."

"Why do you say that, Dr. Akagi?"

"If they were going to decline they probably would have done so already."

Misato paused as she digested what her friend said and then shrugged. "Do you think we said too much?" The violet haired woman asked with some worry.

"No. We only gave them enough information to make an informed decision. They may know we do not have that many pilots but I suppose it could not have been avoided. I do not see any other way to convince them to agree to undergo the tests immediately otherwise."

Misato frowned. "Yeah, Ranma was pretty full of himself, wasn't he? The jackass!"

"Perhaps."

"What's that supposed to mean, Ritsuko?"

"Nothing in particular, Misato."

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Ranma and the girls waited for the door to close before talking.

"Well, what do ya girls think? Should we do the tests now? If we do, we might never find those mushrooms."

The girls sighed.

"I don't think we'll ever find those mushrooms again, Ranma. We looked for more than three weeks and we didn't even find a single clue." Akane said in resignation.

"Yeah, Ranchan. If we were going to find them we would have found them already."

Ranma nodded in agreement. Whatever the reason, they were probably stuck as they were. "So we should do the tests now?" He went back to his question. The girls nodded.

"I think we should, Airen. Besides looking for the mushrooms we don't have anything important to do and they did say we might be very important against the Angels."

"I suppose ya've got a point, Shampoo, but I'm not exactly happy with the way they talked ta us."

"I think that's to be expected, Ranma-sama. It's a secret organization, after all."

"And it might be nice to stay in one place for a while before we move on again, Ranma. I don't think we've been here before."

"Hell of a time for us to play tourist, Akane." The boy frowned then nodded. The girls were right. They didn't have anything more important to do anyway. Beside, two can play the game of having and keeping secrets. It might be interesting to see what they could learn about Nerv before going to see the old man. Ranma shuddered at that.

Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou looked at their male companion speculatively. He had that gleam in his eyes that told them he was up to something.

Shampoo finally couldn't hold her curiousity any longer. "What are you thinking, Airen?" She asked vaguely.

"Oh, nothin', Shampoo." Her Airen responded casually while appearing to scratch his right ear. The girls understood the signal. "So ya girls don't mind stayin' here for a while?"

The four girls followed his lead and nodded.

Ranma rose and went to open the door.

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"What have you decided, Ranma?" Dr. Akagi asked once they were seated again around the conference table.

"Well, I suppose we can put off lookin' for the mushrooms for one ta two weeks."

"So you agree to take the tests now?" The blond woman clarified.

"Yeah."

"Excellent! Very well then, we shall arrange for sleeping quarters to be assigned to you children so you can rest well tonight. We will begin the tests tomorrow morning at, shall we say, nine o'clock?" She wanted to start earlier but she and Misato were going to check on the recovery of Unit-01. Ranma and the girls nodded. "Maya?"

"Yes, Dr. Akagi?"

"Please have them issued temporary Nerv IDs as soon as possible, by tonight if you can manage it."

"Yes, Dr. Akagi."

"Misato?"

"What?"

"Please arrange with security to have someone with the children at all times so they will have someone to assist them at all times."

Ranma nodded. It was obvious the guards were also there to keep an eye on them. "Thanks, doc, we'd appreciate that. Your HQ's big so we might get lost a lot." He played along.

"If you do not have further questions I will start on the arrangements needed. Misato, please keep the children company..."

"Hey, why do I have to be the one to babysit them?" Babysitting the girls isn't so bad. It's the boy that's getting on my nerves.

"Because I need Maya's help making all the arrangements. Or would you rather do those than 'babysit' as you call it?"

"Er... I think it'd be better if you and Maya do the arrangements, Ritsuko." She never was good with paperwork.

"I think so, too."

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"Dr. Akagi, what do you have to report about the children?" Gendo asked from behind his desk in his office. Fuyutsuki stood behind him.

"Our meeting went as well as can be expected, Commander. They agreed to undergo the tests to determine if they can synchronize with the Evas. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the tests should be completed within one week, two at the most. We will also have preliminary background checks on them by tomorrow morning. At present Lieutenant Ibuki is checking their names with the Magi and Captain Katsuragi is escorting them to their quarters."

"Good. Keep me updated on any progress."

"Yes, Commander." The blond woman nodded but added quickly. "There is one more thing about the children you should know, Commander."

"What is it?"

"We may have problems making them do what we want them to do."

Gendo frowned. That wasn't news he wanted to hear. "Explain."

"Aside from the fact they do not come from the pool of candidates we have been monitoring for years, Commander, they appear to be more strong-willed than most fourteen year olds."

The Nerv commander continued to frown as he digested the information. "Reason for such?"

"Unknown at the moment. Perhaps it has something to do with their martial arts skills. Until I interview and examine them thoroughly I cannot be certain."

"Are they willing to follow orders?"

"As long as they feel the orders are reasonable, I believe so, Commander."

"Explain."

"They appear willing to help in the fight against the Angels. If following orders is part of that then I believe they will. They did volunteer to undergo the tests after we explained the reasons to their satisfaction."

"I see." Gendo again weighed the pros and cons and came to a decision. The bearded man frowned some more. They were not ideal pilot candidates but they had very little choice in the matter. At present, defeating the Angels was the overriding objective and Evangelion pilots were needed to do that. He didn't like it very much but he didn't really have a choice. "Very well, proceed with testing the children, doctor."

"Yes, Commander."

"Unit 01?"

"Recovery is proceeding on schedule, Commander. Captain Katsuragi and I will go to the site tomorrow morning to check on the operation."

Shinji's father nodded. "The pilot?"

"Still unconscious but no physical injuries. He is under observation in the hospital at present."

"Good." With another nod Gendo dismissed the woman. Fuyutsuki came to the front and sat at one of the chairs.

"Do you still think it is a good idea involving those children, Ikari?"

Shinji's father frowned again. "We have no choice but to find and make use of pilots until the dummy plug system becomes operational, Fuyutsuki. If we cannot defeat the Angels then all we have planned and worked for these past fifteen years will come to nothing."

Fuyutsuki nodded.

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"Well, this is where the girls will be staying for the duration of the tests." Misato said as she opened the door to one of the rooms in one of Nerv's dormitories. She let the youths enter first before entering also. The two-man security detail stayed outside.

"How do you girls like it? It's rather plain but it has all the modern conveniences you can think of." Ritsuko had arranged for a radio, television, an electric fan, a small electric thermos and a small refrigerator to be provided.

Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou looked around the room. It had two double decker beds, four full length cabinets, four desks that doubled as vanity tables and one low table in the center. Central airconditioning was cooling the room.

"It's okay, I guess." Akane commented. "At least we'll have a real roof over our heads and real beds to sleep in."

"Not to mention running water and a bathroom." Shampoo added as she peered down one hallway. The other teenagers nodded in agreement.

"Where will Ranma-sama be staying, Captain Katsuragi?"

"Please, call me Misato. Except for you." She pointed at Ranma.

"I wouldn't call ya that even if ya beg me to on your hands and knees, lady."

Misato twitched a little. Damn it. He always has a comeback. I'll get one over you yet. You can count on it. "Anyway, Kodachi, your friend will be staying in the room next door."

"Will Ranchan be there all by himself?" Ukyou asked as innocently as she could. She didn't miss the way the three other girls leaned in to hear the answer.

"I think so. This floor doesn't have all that many people on it."

"Really, now. That's interesting..." Shampoo said speculatively before trailing off and giggling. Kodachi, Ukyou and Akane followed in the giggling.

"Eh?" Misato blinked. The way the girls were giggling was a bit disturbing.

Ranma sweatdropped. "Um..." He saw the heavy lock on the door. "Captain Katsuragi, do all the doors have those kind of locks?"

"Yes."

He heaved a sigh of relief with the answer.

"That's not going to stop us, Airen." Shampoo sang. "It's been almost a month."

"And whose big idea was it ta ignore me for almost a month, huh?"

"We're not ignoring you now, Ranma-sama." Kodachi joined in the singing.

I hate it when they start singin'. "Hmph! Well, too bad, 'cause I'm not in the mood tonight." He crossed his arms defiantly across his chest. He knew it wouldn't do much good but he had to show he was upset at them for ignoring him.

"Oh, I think we can get you in the mood, Ranchan." The girls giggled together.

Misato looked back and forth between the girls and Ranma with a puzzled expression. Must be an inside joke or something. "Uh, if you girls don't have any other questions I'll show your boyfriend here to his room."

"Can we see his room also, Misato?" Akane asked sweetly.

"Um, sure. Why not?" The Nerv captain answered before leading Ranma out the door and into the room next door.

The girls left their packs in the room before following. Along the way Shampoo unobtrusively broke the lock to Ranma's room.

A few minutes later Misato gazed at the broken lock in puzzlement as she stepped out of the room. "That's funny. The lock was fine when I opened it a few minutes ago."

"Gee, I wonder why?" The pig-tailed boy sarcastically asked. The Amazon whistled innocently as she rocked back and forth on her feet with her hands behind her back.

"Anyway, you've got nothing to be worried about. You're still safe. Nerv HQ has very good security and we have two men just outside your room." She reassured the boy.

"That's not what I'm worried 'bout." Probably ain't gonna get any sleep tonight.

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

"Nothin', Captain Katsuragi. Just mumblin' ta myself."

"Ho-kay. You can stay here tonight and I'll see about transferring you to another room tomorrow."

"Nah. This is fine. Ain't got anythin' that's worth stealin' anyway."

"Suit yourself." Misato handed over the room keys before turning to leave. "I have to go but if any of you have any questions or need anything you can ask one of the men." She pointed to one of the guards. "He's Private Yamaha and the other's Private Kawasaki. You kids should all get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"Uh, Misato?"

"Yes, Akane?"

"Do you think we can visit Shinji while he's in the hospital?"

"Hmmm. I'll have to clear it first but I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks."

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"So whose turn is it tonight?" Ukyou asked the girls assembled around the low table in their room. She was wearing a long white t-shirt with no shorts.

"Do you think it's a good idea to... you know, here?" The one wearing pajamas asked.

"Why not, Akane?"

"Well, the guards might hear."

"I guess they might. Especially you. You tend to bang around, Akane."

The short-hair girl blushed furiously.

"Well, if you are too embarrassed, Akane, I certainly am not and will gladly take your turn." Kodachi said in her nightgown.

"Hey, I didn't say that!"

"Ohohohohooho!"

"Stop that, Dachi! You know how that laugh of yours bothers the rest of us."

Kodachi giggled. "I know. Why do you think I do it?"

"Anyway, going back to my question, whose turn is it tonight?"

"Mine!" Three voices chorused. The four looked at one another before giggling.

"Yeah, right. Like that's ever going to happen. Ranchan's never going to take on three girls at the same time."

"Why not? Airen took on all four of us before."

"Ranchan was drunk at the time, Shampoo."

"Yeah. Amazing how Ranma's alcohol tolerance never went up. Imagine, getting drunk just by eating a box of chocolates with brandy."

"And one would think that incident would have taught Ranma-sama to dine in a more leisurely manner. I doubt he even chewed the chocolates before swallowing."

The girls laughed at the memory.

"But, you know, that was some of the most incredible sex I've ever had." Shampoo said.

"Mmmm..." Agreed the rest.

"So what do you say we try it again?"

"And just where are we going to get chocolates with brandy inside right now?"

In answer, Shampoo pulled a plastic jar out of her pack. "Ta-dah! I was saving this for my birthday but... I really need some heavy and intense loving tonight."

"Are those even still edible?"

"Yep. Bought them last month and vacuum sealed them."

"Oh."

"So?"

"Let's do it."

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Kawasaki and Yamaha glanced at the girls as they exited their room.

"Uh, may I ask where you girls are going?" Yamaha politely inquired.

Shampoo answered as innocently as she could. Last thing they needed was for their guards to stop them. "We just want to, um, watch some TV with our boyfriend before going to bed." It was true. That was their plan. Watch some TV while feeding Ranma the chocolates. She held up the jar. "Midnight snack."

"Oh. I suppose that's okay, then." Yamaha answered. The two of them watched the girls enter the boy's room.

Kawasaki grinned lecherously at his buddy. "You know, Yamaha, if four cute girls came into my room this late at night, you can bet we'd do much more than just watch TV."

Whap!

"Ow!"

"Idiot! Not every guy is a pervert like you, Kawasaki! Now keep your dirty mind on the job!"

"Yeah. Yeah." Kawasaki grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head. "You're no fun, you know that, Yamaha?"

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"Hey! This chocolate has brandy in it, Shampoo!"

"Darn it! You chewed! You're not supposed to chew!"

"So that's it! So that's what ya girls have planned! Watch TV, my butt! Hah! I guess I outsmarted all of ya this time!"

"Oh, come on, Ranchan. Don't be like that!"

"Yes, Airen. Please? I really, really need it tonight!"

"Well, ya girls should have thought of that before ya all decided to ignore me for almost a month!"

"Oh, come on, Ranma. Don't make us beg. Please?"

"Hah! When I say I'm not in the mood , I'm not in the mood! Now go! Shoo! Hey! Watch where you're putting your hands, Dachi!"

"Oh, please, Ranma-sama? I implore you."

"I said no and I mean no! And... hey! No fair! Don't touch me there, Ucchan! Ya know I'm sensitive there!"

"Oh, come on, Airen. We all want to make love to you tonight."

"No!"

"Please? We'll do anything you want."

"Anythin'?"

"Anything." Shampoo purred sensously. She rubbed a certain part for effect.

"Then go to sleep."

"..."

Sniff. Sniff.

"No, don't cry! I was just jokin'! Honest!"

Sniff. Sniff.

"Honest?"

Sigh. "Yeah. Cross my heart."

"Then kiss me."

"No."

"Oh, come on, Airen! We already said we'd do anything! Please?"

"Yeah, even that... thing you keep bugging us to do, Ranma."

That got the boy's interest. "Really?"

"Really. But you'll have to make love to all four of us afterwards, Ranchan."

Gulp. "Ya gotta be kiddin' me, Ucchan. I know I have the stamina but... all four of ya?"

"We'll do it for an entire hour."

"Deal."

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"Aaahhh! Havin' your ears cleaned while gettin' a full body massage is the best. A little lower, Dachi. More ta the left, Ucchan. Gentler, Akane. Ooohhh... ya don't hafta use your tongue, Shampoo. Ooohhh... but I guess if ya wanna, who am I ta complain? Juice please."

"Remember your promise, Ranma." Akane said as she got up to fetch the boy more juice as he requested.

"Ya know what, girls? Those maid's uniforms really look good on all of ya."

The girls sighed. "We know, Airen. You already told us that a thousand times." Who knew seeing them in their JSSDF uniforms would finally fully unleash Ranma's libido? Or that it would develop into a cosplay fetish(1)? They certainly didn't. Oh, well, at least it's the only fetish he has.

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Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

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"What the hell is that sound?" Yamaha asked his partner.

"You know, that sounds like two people screwing."

Whap!

"Ow!"

"For God's sake, Kawasaki. Be serious for once!"

"I am serious, Yamaha! It's not my fault you don't know what two people screwing sounds like because you're still a virgin at your age!"

"I am not a virgin!"

"Oh, yeah? Then tell me what that sounds like to you?"

"They're just fourteen years old, Kawasaki! They can't be hav..."

"Oh, God! Yes, Ranma! I'm coming!"

"..."

"Told you so."

Whap!

"Ow!"

"That's not something to be proud of!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Whap!

"Ow! Now what?"

"Stop looking so smug and help me think what to do!"

"What to do? What can we do? We can't just walk in there and interrupt them!"

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothing either!"

"Tell you what. Just call it in to the sarge and let the brass worry about it."

Yamaha thought for a moment before nodding. "Pass the buck. I like that." He clapped his friend on the back. "Good thinking, Kawasaki, old buddy!"

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"They're doing what?" Misato screeched into the phone. She was just about ready to call it a day and go home to a well earned bed rest when the sergeant in charge of the security detail for the new children called.

"Um, well, from what Kawasaki and Yamaha can hear way out in the corridor, the teenagers are engaging in sexual intercourse, ma'am." Sergeant Honda answered as professionally as he could.

"Why the hell did those two let them?"

"Um, ma'am, Yamaha said the girls told him they were just going to watch TV. He never thought they'd do something like this and you never ordered us to keep them apart."

Misato gnashed her teeth, the telephone receiver groaning from the pressure of her grip. "I'll be right over! Make sure they don't go anywhere!"

"Uh, yes, ma'am. I don't think they intend to go anywhere anyway."

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"Oh, yes, Ranchan! I'm coming!"

The screamed stopped Misato's knuckles barely a hair's breadth away from the door. She blushed deeply and whirled around to face the sergeant and four of his men.

"Um, what do we do now, ma'am?" Sergeant Honda asked the red faced captain. He shrunk back when Misato scowled at him.

Well, I'm be damned if I'm the only who's going to be embarassed here. She whipped out her cell phone. "Ritsuko! Get your butt over here right now!"

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"Oh, God! You're the best, Ranma-sama!"

Ritsuko sweat dropped as she stood in front of the door. She could not help but hear the scream of intense passion through the door. Maya looked ready to faint beside her.

"Me again, Airen! Me again!" They heard the voice of the girl named Shampoo squeal.

"God Almighty." The guards muttered in awe among themselves behind the three women. "They've been going at it for over an hour already. That boy ain't human."

"And the girls sure sound like they're enjoying themselves."

"Yeah, that's their second round already."

"Damn. That boy ain't human." The guards muttered again in awe.

"Will you guys shut the hell up!" Misato bellowed at the guards. Fortunately for the eavesdroppers, the eavesdroppees were too busy to take notice. "We don't need a running commentary here!"

"So, what do we do now, Ritsuko?" Misato asked her college friend when she calmed down.

"What can we do?"

"Don't tell me we'll just going to let this go?"

"Well, what do you suggest, Misato? Go in there and pull them apart? From what I can hear they will not appreciate us doing that."

"No! That's disgusting, Ritsuko!"

"Yes, Airen! Faster! Harder! Deeper! Yesss!" The sounds obligingly increased in volume and tempo.

Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud! Whud!

"Oooooohhhhhh!"

The three Nerv women blushed deeply while the guards whistled in appreciation.

"We-" Ritsuko croaked before she cleared her throat. "Well, what do you suggest, Misato? We're not even their guardians so we can't tell them what to do in their personal lives."

Misato ground her teeth together again. "I guess there's nothing we can do tonight but tomorrow morning I'm going to give Saotome a piece of my mind!" Especially for reminding me I haven't had any in months! The violoet haired woman growled out before stomping off down the corridor, the guards wisely parting to give way.

"Is the captain going to be all right, Dr. Akagi?" Maya asked as they watched Misato recede down the corridor.

"Yes, she is. She's just... frustrated." Ritsuko answered in a somewhat amused tone of voice.

"Will there be problems between her and Saotome, Dr. Akagi?"

"More than there is already? No, I don't think so. She just needs a cold shower and a good night's rest. Now I think we shou..."

"Oh, yessssss!"

Ritsuko and Maya sweat dropped again at the scream of ecstasy. The older woman cleared her throat with difficulty. "Ahem. As I was saying, I think we should also leave now, Maya." Maya nodded dumbly and simply followed Ritsuko in a daze.

xxxxxxxxxx

"..."

The two guards looked at one another. They haven't heard as much as an "eep" come from the room the last five minutes.

"Hey, Kawasaki, do you think they're finally finished?" Yamaha dared to asked.

"Man, I hope so. It's been over two hours already. I can't take hearing much more." Kawasaki adjusted his pants again. Sometimes pulling guard duty really sucked. He couldn't wait for his shift to end and go somewhere private.

"You're a pervert, you know that?"

"And proud to be one. Man, I pity the guys who's gonna clean the sheets tomorrow."

"Ewwww. That's disgusting, Kawasaki."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ranchan?" The okonomiyaki chef asked from the coveted position of cuddling in the crook on the boy's right arm. Beside her with her arms wrapped around her waist lay Kodachi. On the other side of the boy Shampoo and Akane mirrored their positions. They had finished their activities just a few minutes ago and were simply enjoying being together.

"Yeah, Ucchan?"

"What are we going to say tomorrow? You know they're going to ask us about ourselves."

Ranma looked at the radio and waited for Kodachi to switch it on before answering. "I've been thinking about that, Ucchan."

"And?" Akane asked after raising her chin from the purple-haired girl's shoulder.

"It's a secret."

Bap!

"Ow!"

"Stop kidding around, Ranchan! We're serious! What are we going to say to them?"

"Okay! Okay!" The man turned boy grumbled. "Well, why don't we pretend we're really fourteen year old kids like Shinji? It's not like they're gonna believe us if we told them the truth anyway. They'd probably lock us up in the loony bin and throw away the key if we did."

"Won't they investigate, Ranma?"

"Well, that's a given, Akane, but think 'bout it. What would they find? Only bits and pieces. We haven't really put our records in order since the old Tokyo was destroyed," He paused as the words caught in his throat. "was destroyed in the nuclear explosion(2)."

The girls fell silent as they contemplated on Ranma's plan. Yes, it would work. They never had any reason to put their records in order as they never stayed in one place for more than a couple of months, and that was in an isolated mountain shrine, before moving on. And their time in the JSSDF were under the highest encryption in the Defense Ministry super computers as per orders of the then Prime Minister.

"And even if they did find somethin', what would they believe? What they see right in front of their eyes or some old records?"

"I see what you mean, Ranma-sama. From what I can see and feel, our younger bodies will stand up under all medical and physical examinations."

"Yeah, even Airen's scar on his ass from having the tattoo removed is gone."

"You noticed that, too, huh, sugar?"

The four girls giggled while Ranma reddened. It was another thing he'd rather forget. He should never have let himself be talked into drinking with those American SEALs they helped extract from Manchuria. His alcohol tolerance never did went up and he was the first one to pass out. The SEAL team members proved to have had a twisted sense of humor when under the influence.

He only learned he had a tattoo on his ass when he was asked by one of his fellow officers in the JSSDF Special Forces why he had a tattoo of a widely grinning black seal flipping the finger with the words "Bad Ass" on his right butt cheek while the two of them were taking a shower.

By that time the SEAL team was long gone and well beyond his reach for vengeance.

"Um, let's get back on track, girls."

"Hey, wait a minute! I just thought of something. If our bodies' problems have been fixed do you think Airen's sterility has been cured as well?"

The girls' eyes grew wide at that.

"Do you mean we can finally have babies! He can finally give us babies?"

Ranma didn't like the way their eyes were sparkling. He better head things off before they degenerated into another free-for-all. Not that he didn't enjoy himself but even he had his limits. "Um, girls, we don't know that yet. Maybe we can ask Dr. Akagi ta check tomorrow but now we really need to get our stories straight, right? Girls? Ack! No, wait! Girls!"

"DIBS!"

xxxxxxxxxx

"Good God! They're at it again?"

xxxxxxxxxx

"What were we talking about?" Akane asked just over an hour later.

"Ya mean before ya girls jumped my bones?" Ranma grumbled.

"What are you complaining about, Ranchan? You enjoyed yourself as much as we did."

"That's not the point!" Ranma sighed as he looked down his body. "I think ya girls broke it. I can't feel anythin' down there anymore."

"Oh, does it hurt, Airen? Do you want me to kiss it and make it feel all better?"

"Uh... No thanks... er, I mean, not right now, Shampoo. Um, maybe later."

"Anytime, Airen." The girl throatily replied making the boy swallow.

"So what were we talking about?"

Ranma sighed. "We were talking about what we were going to say to Dr. Akagi tomorrow." And they say boys are the ones who think with their balls.

"Oh." Four feminine voices chorused.

"So we're going to tell them we're really fourteen year olds, Ranchan?"

"Yeah. We'll just tell them we started wandering after we ran away from the orphanage we were stuffed into when we were... eight I suppose. We lived by scavengin' and stealin' what we could. There must be millions of kids who has that kind of story."

"What about our families, Ranma-sama? What shall we say happened to them?"

"Simple. We just say our parents were killed in one of the food riots that broke out when we were around one year old."

The girls nodded again. Keeping things simple was always the best policy to follow. It took them half an hour to fine tune and memorize their stories.

"And if we're ever busted, we'll just ask them what would they have said in our place." Ranma grinned at his own cleverness.

xxxxxxxxxx

Ritsuko looked at her watch. "We should get back to Nerv HQ now."

Misato looked at her from where she was sitting watching TV and drinking coffee inside the tent the recovery team had set up as their command post. She was feeling grumpy as she had little sleep the night before and she knew exactly who to blame for that. She looked at her watch also. "I guess we should. We don't want to be late."

"Yes." The Director of Project E looked around. "The recovery operation is going well. The team should be able to handle things on their own." She exited the tent and walked towards one of the humvees.

The female captain stood up and stretched a little before following the scientist.

xxxxxxxxxx

Ranma, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou were trying out the various gym equipment in Gym E where they were waiting for the appointed time. They had quickly gotten bored listening to the radio and watching television they decided to try exploring the base a little. Unfortunately their guards almost always said no whenever they asked if could go down a particular corridor. In frustration they simply asked to go back to Gym E.

"Hey, it's Shinji!" Ukyou exclaimed where she was skipping rope when she recognized who was walking beside Misato. "Shinji!" She shouted and waved to the boy. The rest followed in greeting their new friend. They went to meet Misato and Shinji halfway.

"Well, here's Shinji, girls. He woke up early so I thought I'd bring him to see you instead."

"Are you all right, Shinji?" Ukyou asked worriedly as they surrounded the boy. "They told us you got injured fighting the Angel."

"Um..." Shinji blushed, not used to all the attention he was getting. "I'm okay now. Sorry for making you worry."

"No problem. We're just glad you're okay."

"Uh, thanks."

"So, how'd ya beat the Angel?" Ranma asked.

"Sorry, but Shinji can't say." Misato quickly interrupted.

"You're a real sourpuss, ya know that? I'll bet at your age ya don't even have a boyfriend."

The guards barely suppressed their grins but Shinji smiled openly.

"Why you little..."

"Um, sorry, Captain Katsuragi, but we can't let you shoot any of the children. Even him." One of the new guards, Hitachi, said as he blocked Misato's line of sight. "Dr. Akagi said to keep the children safe, especially him from you." Ranma gave Misato the red-eye when he heard that making Misato steam some more. "Please put away your firearm, ma'am."

"Ranma, it's not nice to say those things especially if it's true." Ukyou admonished.

Misato twitched some more. That does not make me feel better! She wanted to scream at Ukyou.She settled for trying to bore holes into Ranma with her eyes.

"So watcha gonna do now, Shinji?"

"Um, I was supposed to go to my room in one of the dormitories..."

"Hey, we're staying in one of the dormintories, too!"

"Really?" Shinji perked up a little. Ranma was one of the friendliest persons he'd ever met even though Ranma teased him a lot. It was definitely better than being ignored or left alone. The fact that the other boy had four cute girls who treated Shinji nicely always with him didn't hurt either. Then he remembered what the captain had done and his face fell again. "But Misato asked for me to stay with her in her condo instead."

Ranma flinched. "I feel for ya, man. I mean I'd rather have all my teeth pulled out without anesthesia than live with someone like her."

"I'm sorry, captain, but I really can't let you shoot him." Hitachi turned to Ranma. "Kid, please stop ticking off the captain."

Shinji just shrugged. "Maybe."

"Ranma..."

"Hey, she started it by callin' me a jackass and embarassin' me in front of everyone."

"You already got back at her with interest."

"Okay, okay. I'll lay off annoyin' her."

"What about you guys? I thought you were going to leave right away. Why are you staying in the dormitory?"

"We were but they asked us to stay for a while. They said we might be able to do what you did to beat the Angel. We might end up working together."

"Really? You're going to be Evangelion pilots, too?" Shinji said before Misato could stop him. Maybe it won't be so bad if they pilot, too.

Ranma stopped himself from grinning. He faked puzzledment instead. "Evangelion? What's that? Some sort of new fighter plane?"

"Ah, Shinji can't answer that." The captain was quicker this time.

The Eva pilot looked at her before shrugging. "Maybe I can't say what it is but I can tell you you don't want to pilot it."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I'd... rather not talk about it."

The remaining members of the NWC looked questioningly at Shinji. They decided to let it drop.

"So after moving in with Misato what are you going to do, Shinji?" Shampoo picked up the conversation.

"I don't know yet. I guess I'll do whatever they tell me to."

"You don't sound happy about it."

"Not really."

"If you're not happy 'bout it why are ya just gonna do what they tell ya to?"

"Why not? I've got nothing else better to do anyway." Shinji answered causing the other teenagers to look at one another. Misato looked away in guilt.

Before they could talk more, Matsushita, the other guard, interrupted. "Excuse me, but Dr. Akagi just called for the children. She's waiting for them at Lab E."

"Oh!" Misato looked at her watch. "You kids better get going or you're going to be late. You can talk some more later after the tests."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Impressive." Ritsuko commented to Maya as the two watched the pseudo-children jog on the threadmills. After some basic questions about themselves, getting baseline physical statistics and obtaining some body fluid samples the examination began in earnest. "They could give the U.N. Special Forces a run for their money."

"Yes, Dr. Akagi. I don't remember being this fit ever. They're not even breathing harder after five kilometers."

"Yes. Living mostly outdoors and traveling by foot for over six years have given them great dividends. Their stamina is outstanding."

"Do you believe what they said during the interviews, Dr. Akagi?"

"Which part, Maya?"

"Well, everything I guess, Dr. Akagi."

"It's a common story, Maya, considering the orphanages are low on the list of priorities by the government."

"What about receiving their martial arts training from wandering martial arts masters they met on their travels?"

"We will check on that to verify but if they were wandering martial arts masters we will probably not find anything."

"What about the school records we found on an 'Ukyou Kounji', Dr. Akagi?"

Ritsuko frowned. While she didn't doubt the abilities of herself and the Magi supercomputer she couldn't say the same with the people and systems outside. "Those records were pre-Second Impact and state the gender of that 'Ukyou Kounji' as male. The 'Ukyou Kounji' in front of us is very much female. All the medical and physical tests prove that. And I doubt she is more than fifteen years old, Maya, much less thrity two. All tests confirm their biolgical age. Their bodies have not reached adulthood yet and I don't believe anyone, not even us, has the technology to reverse the aging process down to the cellular level. Not yet, anyway."

"So you think the records the Magi found so far aren't theirs, Dr. Akagi?" After an overnight search, the Nerv supercomputer unearthed some scattered records. One look at the results and Ritsuko ordered a repeat search which turned up the same records.

"User error is the most logical explanation, Maya."

Maya went silent for a moment before asking another question. "Do you think the Magi will come up with anything more on them?"

"We'll see. We'll expand the search to include more government agencies. The ones we didn't include in our initial search."

Maya nodded. "What about their claims that their abilities comes from building up and harnessing... Ki?"

The older woman looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I admit I thought Ki was merely a myth, Maya, but from what we have seen so far, the tests confirm they are one-hundred percent human. It is the only explanation I can think of for their abilities. Unfortunately I do not think we have the necessary equipment to test for Ki."

"I guess you're right, Dr. Akagi." Maya sighed before she closed the files and concentrated on the readings they were getting. "I just thought of something, Dr. Akagi."

"What is it, Maya?"

"You know, if the school records we found were correct, Ukyou would be two years older than you, Dr. Akagi."

That made Ritsuko smile.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Um, doc Akagi?" Ranma asked as they sat in the cafeteria for lunch while he paused in between his third and fourth tray.

"Yes, Ranma?"

"Uh, d'ya think after the tests are over for the day we can go out into Tokyo-3? Being cooped up the whole day in here with nothin' ta do and nowhere ta go is kinda gettin' on my nerves."

"Oh. I guess I could arrange for you children to go around the city with your escorts for a few hours."

"Cool."

xxxxxxxxxx

"It's a bit messy but come on in." Misato invited Shinji into her condo.

Shinji sweatdropped at the sight that greeted him when he stepped into his new home. A bit messy she says. Yeah, right. And I thought girls were supposed to be the neat ones. What a slob.

xxxxxxxxxx

Pin-Pon!

Shinji and Misato looked up from their TV dinners at the sound of the door bell.

"I wonder who could that be?" Misato asked before rising to answer the door. She was a bit surprised to see Ranma, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou standing outside accompanied by their two guards, Ritsuko and Maya.

"Ritsuko! What are you doing here?"

"We finished the tests early and since the children asked if they could go out to see Tokyo-3 I decided to accompany them." Ritsuko waited for a moment before asking. "Aren't you going to invite us in?"

"Oh! Sorry! Come in! Come in!"

"Ranma!"

"Hiya, Shinji! Watcha been doin'?"

"Nothing much. I'm just settling in."

"Eh? Why are you eatin' instant dinners?"

"That's all Misato has."

"I knew it! I knew she couldn't cook!"

"Misato, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to shoot the jackass." The captain answered as she took aim with her handgun. And here I was telling Shinji to be more of a man. What was I thinking?

Ritsuko sighed. "Misato, you can't shoot Ranma. Please put your gun down." The scientist pushed down the gun with her right hand.

"Ranma-sama, we're guests in her home."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." The apology severely lacked sincerity. He took a taste of Shinji's dinner. "Yuck! How can anyone eat this stuff? Hell, what they serve in the cafeteria tastes better."

Misato raised her gun again only to have it pushed back down by Ritsuko. She glared at the scientist.

"Hey, Captain Katsuragi, d'ya have anythin' cold ta drink around here?" Ranma asked.

"You've got some nerve asking for something to drink from me, jackass."

"Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

Misato twitched. "No!"

"Com'on. I'm really thirsty. Ya've gotta have somethin' cold ta drink with two fridges. Ya don't want your Evangelion pilot candidates ta be thirsty, do ya?" Ranma asked with a mischievous grin.

Ritsuko rounded on Misato. "How did he know about the Evangelions, captain?"

"It's not my fault! Shinji blabbed it out before I could stop him!" The violet haired woman twitched again when he saw Ranma give her another evil eye. Why that little fart. He did that on purpose!

"Shinji's supposed to be under your supervision, remember? It's bad enough we have all the leaks from the lower echelons but to have leaks from the top as well?"

Ranma, seeing the diversion he created was working the way the two women were bickering, began rummaging in the refrigerator without asking permission. He repeated Shinji's litany earlier.

"Beer."

"Hey! Who said you could go through my refrigerator, jackass?"

"Snacks."

"Ice."

"..."

"Man, what kind of life are ya livin', lady?" Ranma was a lot more vocal than Shinji.

"That's what I thought, too."

"It's none of your business, jackass." The captain turned to the scientist and pleaded. "Can I shoot him, please? I'm begging you."

"No."

"Just in the mouth to shut him up? Please, Ritsuko? I swear I won't hit his pea-brain if he has one. You can put him back together again, can't you?" Misato began batting her eyelashes.

"No."

"Livin' with her is goin' ta ruin your health, Shinji."

"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are? I'll show you who's fit! I bet I can whip your ass any time!"

"Um, I don't think it's a good idea to challenge Airen, Misato." Shampoo warned.

"Yes, Misato. I agree with Shampoo. Challenging Ranma to a fight would be very bad for you. Remember what you saw them do?" Ritsuko reminded her feisty friend.

The captain ground her teeth together in frustration. She settled for poking Ranma in the chest. "You better remember one thing, Saotome. If, by any miracle, you become an Eva pilot, I'll be your superior officer." She threatened ominously although she had no idea what she could do to him. It was just a way for her to release some steam. Someday, somehow I'm gonna get one over you, Saotome.

"Damn, talk 'bout losin' half the battle before it's even started." He turned to Ritsuko. "Don't worry, doc, when, not if but when, I become an Eva pilot, I promise ta fix all her screw-ups no matter how many or how bad they are."

"AAARRRGGGHHH! RANMA SAOTOME, PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma blinked before he smirked and sidestepped the lunging Misato. Damn. That brought back memories. Almost feels like home. "Hah! Too slow, Misato! Ya'll never can't catch me movin' slower than a snail! Ya really need to lay off the beer and lose that beer belly of yours!"

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

Off to the side, the more mature persons shook their heads in resignation.

xxxxxxxxxx

"You know, Dr. Akagi, I wonder why Shinji agreed to be a pilot after what happened?" Maya asked early the next day as she and Ritsuko supervised the Third Child's training.

"It would seem he simply does what he is told to do. I suppose that's his way of getting through life."

Behind them Misato silently watched the training, one part of her brain plotting revenge against Ranma.

"I am a bit surprised though." Ritsuko added after a while. Both listeners tilted their heads at the admission.

"About what, Akagi?"

"Shinji is handling the experience better than I expected based on his profile. I expected him to be more withdrawn in dealing with the trauma."

"What do you think is the reason for that, Dr. Akagi?"

"Most probably the presence of the other children. Shinji seems to like them. Not surprising as they saved his life even though they only met less than an hour before. It also helps that the new children seem to sincerely like Shinji as well."

"That's good, right, Dr. Akagi?"

"I suppose. It should at least raise Shinji's morale."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Any progress on the children, Dr. Akagi?" Gendo Ikari asked on the third day of testing.

The woman nodded. "Shinji's training is proceeding smoothly, Commander, while the five new children have proven capable of synchronizing with the Evangelions, especially Ranma. He has the highest sync ratio among the five at thirty-two percent. It is lower than Rei's at fourty-nine percent and Shinji's, which is now at forty-five percent and still rising, but much higher than our next best candidate at twelve percent."

"I see." Gendo mulled over the information. The news about his son's training was good but the one on the other children... "Doctor, I find that highly unusual. Can you explain why these five chidlren have proven capable of synchronization while countless others have not or just barely so?"

"I only have a theory, Commander."

"I am listening, Dr. Akagi."

"As I have stated in my previous report, Commander, the children claim their extraordinary capabilities come from their higher levels of Ki and their ability to manipulate such which they say they were able to achieve due to their physical lifestyle and extensive martial arts training."

"Were you able to verify their claims?"

"Unfortunately, Commander, we do not have the equipment or the information to test for Ki."

"Their martial arts training, where did they get it?"

"They say from displaced wandering martial arts masters they met on their travels." Gendo raised an eyebrow at that. "I have made inquiries with our security people who practice martial arts and showed them the video of the children's sparring session. To put it mildly, all of them were... thunderstruck. None of them have ever seen such martials arts skills as exhibited by the children although one of them, the oldest and highest ranked, did say she had heard of such from her old teacher but dismissed them merely as... ramblings of a senile old man. I attempted to locate the teacher but all information I found indicated he perished during Second Impact."

The commander of Nerv frowned. "I see." He paused. "And your theory is?"

"My theory, Commander, is that there is a correlation between Ki, which is roughly equivalent to life force if we are to believe the writings about it, and souls. Greater Ki or life force might lead to a more powerful soul hence their higher ability to synchronize with the Evangelions than most children. Unfortunately, as I have stated, we have no methodology of testing my theory."

Gendo nodded. That was unfortunate. "Have you turned up any other information on the chidlren?"

Ritsuko sighed deeply. "No, Commander. Many records were either lost, destroyed, misfiled or sloppily recreated during and after Second Impact."

"What about the records you found on Miss Kounji?"

"We found records on a Mister Kounji, Commander." Ritsuko tiredly corrected and sighed deeply again, partly in frustration, partly from fatigue. She had slept very little over the past four days as she hacked into various computer systems as she tried to get more information. The only ones she left alone were those associated with security and defense agencies. The relationship between Nerv and the JSSDF were rocky at best and if they discovered Nerv tried to hack into their systems... best to let sleeping dogs lie. From the systems she did hack into, Ritsuko only found more instances of dubious records.

"The most logical explanation would be either human error or they are two entirely different persons, Commander. I am inclined to believe the latter."

"What do the children say?"

"They have not changed their stories and I have found no evidence to suggest the children fabricated their stories, Commander."

"I see." Gendo frowned. If there was something he hated more than anything it was a lack of information.

Gendo pondered his dilemma for a moment before coming to a decision. In the end his decision came to assessing risk to benefit ratios. The Angels posed a more immediate and concrete threat. They will just have to handle the new children with more caution. Whoever the children were and where ever they came from, he felt confident he would be able to control them.

Besides if he could keep Seele, arguably the most powerful organization in the world, in the dark about his agenda then keeping five fourteen year old children also in the dark should be a simple exercise.

"Designate the children as the fourth through eight children with Saotome as the fourth child and primary reserve pilot. The first, third and fourth children will have priority in training. I leave the details of the arrangements to you, Dr. Akagi."

"Yes, Commander."

"Why all of the children, Ikari?"

"We do not know when we will be presented with such an opportunity again, Fuyutsuki. Best to reap what we can now."

"May I make a suggestion, Commander?"

"What is it, Dr. Akagi?"

"The Americans are nearing completion of Units 03 and 04 but they do not have pilots for them while we have more pilots than Evangelion units."

Gendo nodded approval. "Open negotiations with the Americans. See if they will be willing to release one or both of their units to us. Their Evangelions are useless without pilots."

"Yes, Commander."

xxxxxxxxxx

Ritsuko, Misato and Maya walked into the conference room where Ranma, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou were waiting.

While the scientist and lieutenant were smiling, the captain was grumbling. Misato was still sore over the events in her apartemnt two nights past, at how easily Ranma evaded all her attempts to tag him and also how quickly she found herself out of breath. To add insult to injury, she had to clean up the mess she made of her apartment in her clumsy attempts.

When everyone was seated, while the blond woman smiled directly at the teens the violet haired one glared at the single male in the room.

"Well, I have good news. All of you have been confirmed to have the same ability as Shinji."

"You mean we can pilot that Evangelion thingy Shinji mentioned?"

"Yes, Ranma, and now I have been authorized to invite you children to join Nerv as Evangelion pilots. What do you say?" The scientist looked at Ranma.

"First, what exactly is an Evangelion, doc? Shinji wasn't exactly thrilled pilotin' it. He even advised us against becomin' Evangelion pilots."

"I see." The blond woman looked sideways at Misato, who shrugged, before facing Ranma again and nodding. "Very well. As you may already have guessed, we use the Evangelion to fight the Angels. To fully appreciate what an Evangelion Unit is, I think it is best if I show one to you." She stood. "If you children will follow me."

Ranma and the girls nodded in return and stood as well.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Whoa!" Ranma said in awe as he stood before the head of Unit-01. "That's an Evangelion?" He asked as he pointed.

"Yes. What do you children think?" Ritsuko barely hid her sense of pride at the awed looks on the children's faces.

"Wow! Ugliest damned robot I've ever seen but wow! And we get to pilot somethin' like that?"

The head of Project E blinked. "Ugliest?" That was the first time she ever heard that word used to describe an Evangelion. Most people were usually too awestruck to say anything, much less something negative.

"Yeah. And what's the deal with the huge horn? Don't tell me a robot like that is gonna fight like a bull."

The question made Ritsuko pause. I never really thought about the horn before. I always took it for granted that the horn was designed to be a weapon but it would be an awkward weapon at best as Ranma pointed out. But what other explanation is there? Perhaps it served a similar purpose as the horns on the helmets of the Samurai. "I think it was designed for psychological effect against the Angels."

"Really? You're serious? Ya mean Angels get scared when they see a horn like that?"

Now that she thought about it, what she said sounded very silly. "Ah..." Ritsuko was at a lost for words on how to answer.

"Mebbe the designer was compensatin' for somethin'." Ranma mused out loud as he continued to stare at the horn.

"Ah. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case when Unit-01 was designed." Ritsuko replied, understanding what Ranma was referring to. "The head scientist of the project then was a woman."

"Oh, that explains the color scheme then."

"Color scheme?" Ritsuko dared to ask.

"Yeah. I mean, only a girl would paint their robot purple and green."

Ritsuko blinked. She never considered that before as well.

"So what's it for?"

"Excuse me?" The sudden shifts in topic was making even Ritsuko off balanced, much to the amusement of their audience, especially Misato.

"The horn. What's it for?"

"Ah," Ritsuko was at a lost on how to answer so she settled for evading the question. "I'm sorry but it's not really important, Ranma."

"Why not? I mean, puttin' somethin' that big on the head... it must be important. Mebbe it's an antenna or somethin'..."

The blond woman began to sweat drop as Ranma continued to look at the horn intently, leaning from side to side to get a better look.

"A periscope? Snorkel? Launch tube? Lightning rod to attract lightning and use it to zap the Angels? Oh, wait! I know! I know! It's a flag pole! There's nothin' more inspirin' than ta see the flag when goin' inta battle. Of course, the robot's gonna look kinda silly with a flag flappin' on it's head." Ranma laughed at his own joke. The rest just groaned.

"Uh, Dr. Akagi, exactly how do we pilot an Evangelion?" Ukyou asked before they were sidetracked even more. Trust Ranma to ask all those silly questions.

Ritsuko breathed a sigh of relief. There is simply no predicting the boy. "First I need to know if you will join Nerv. If you join then I will be more than happy to start your orientation."

"If we join, doc, are ya gonna tell me what's the horn for?"

"Ah, no." Stubborn as well.

"Why not? If we're gonna pilot the robot we should know what it's for, right? Right?"

"Because..." The blond woman tried to stall.

"Because what?"

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"Because it's simply not important, Ranma!" Ritsuko snapped causing everyone to blink. She slowly counted to ten to recover her composure. Why can't he be more like Shinji and just do as he's told?

Misato leaned over with a smirk. "Heh, that's the first time I've seen you lose your cool, Ritsuko. So, having second thoughts you didn't let me shoot the jackass?"

Ritsuko sighed and wondered what she had done to be surrounded by immature people. "I apologize for losing my patience, Ranma, but what you are asking is simply not important."

"Ya don't know, do ya?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said ya don't know what the horn is for either, do ya?"

For the first time since she first knew her, Misato saw her friend do a full body twitch.

"Well, if ya don't know then ya shoulda said so. I wouldn't have bugged ya then, doc Akagi."

Ritsuko took several deep, cleansing and calming breaths. "May I ask again if you will join Nerv, Ranma?" She asked as calmly as she could.

The teenagers looked at one another.

"You're not givin' us much information ta work with, doc." Ranma replied.

Ritsuko took another deep breath. "I'm sorry, Ranma, but that is the way it must be. I cannot tell you more without compromising security. Do you need time to decide?"

"I guess. You're not exactly askin' us ta join a school club, ya know."

"I understand. How much time do you need?"

"A few hours I guess."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Saotome."

The boy and his female companions turned away from looking at the cityscape of Tokyo-3 from an observation deck where they found themselves after wandering around for the last couple of hours. Their two guards stood a respectable distance away. He was surprised at the person who called him. She was the last person he thought would look for him.

"Captain Katsuragi." Ranma watched the woman come to stand beside him on the observation deck and look over the city as well.

"I know we've gotten off on the wrong foot, Ranma."

"Ya can say that again, captain."

Misato chuckled. "I guess I could."

"So what d'ya want with me?"

The woman sighed. "I'll get straight to the point." She turned and looked at the teens. "I want all of you to join Nerv, Saotome."

Ranma blinked. "Eh? Why? I thought ya couldn't stand me."

"Yes, I can't stand you but what I feel doesn't matter. You children have something no one else has. Nerv... no..." She waved her hand to indicate their surroundings particularly the city below them. "...everyone needs children like you. Without you, everyone will die."

Ranma nodded. At least the woman was being honest. Or at least he thought she was. Misato didn't seem the type to lie. Not much anyway. The captain seemed too natural, too spontaneous to be a liar. Dr. Akagi on the other hand... the woman scientist was too cool for comfort.

As if on cue, air raid sirens began blaring from loudspeakers before the buidings of Tokyo-3 began rising from the ground.

"Wow." Breathed the teens, awestruck once more.

"Magnificent, isn't it? I've seen it dozens of times already and the sight still takes my breath away." The group watched the spectacle in silence.

"That's a lotta load you're puttin' on the shoulders of kids, captain." Ranma continued once it was all over, still looking over the city.

"Do I have a choice? If it was up to me, I'd leave you children out of this and tear those Angels apart with my bare hands!" The captain said with bitterness and anger. "But I can't. I have to rely on Shinji, on children like you, to do it for me." The last was said in a helpless tone of voice mixed with anger, frustration and hatred.

"Misato, why do you hate the Angels so much?" Akane asked.

The lone survivor of the Antartic expedition smiled crookedly. "Aside from the fact that they'll kill every human being, I can't tell you for security and personal reasons."

She turned to look over the city again. "You know, it's funny, before I brought Shinji home to my apartment for the first time three days ago I took him here to this exact same place. I showed him Tokyo-3, the city he helped protect..." Misato stopped and then corrected herself. "No, that's not right, it's the city he saved, as it rose from the ground to raise his spirits because he was really depressed after his battle with the Angel."

She turned to one of the guards. "Private Tanuki, right?" The guard nodded. "Do you have children of your own?" She didn't notice Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou looking away at the question.

"Two, ma'am. My son, who's the eldest at four and a baby girl, born just last year."

"I'm sure they're your pride and joy."

Tanuki beamed with fatherly pride. "That they are, ma'am. That they are."

"What about you...?"

"Private Tanaka, ma'am. I just got married three months ago. We're expecting our first baby by the end of the year."

"Good for the both of you."

Misato took a deep breath and turned to face the teens again. "I guess what I'm trying to do is give you children good reasons to join. You don't have to join us in our fight. We won't force you. We can but..."

"No, ya can't." At least not without a tank battalion or two with air support.

"Yes, we can."

"No..." Ranma trailed off as he noticed the withering glare the woman was giving him. "Uh, sorry. Don't mind me."

"Does it give you pleasure tormenting me, Saotome?" And I was just on a roll there with my speech.

"Um, well, now that ya mention it..."

"Never mind." The Nerv Captain interrupted, exasperated. "Anyway, we won't force you since you probably won't be effective pilots that way. But I hope you'll join for their kids' and for everyone else's sakes, not just in Tokyo-3. The world..." Misato waved her right arm over the newly risen Tokyo-3. "is just getting back on it's feet but without children like you, the world doesn't stand a chance." She turned to go. "I think I said too much already."

"Captain Katsuragi?" Ranma called out before the captain could open the door to her Nerv issued Toyota Cololla. He held out his hand when the woman turned. "I'm sorry if I... teased ya. I really didn't mean any of the things I said. What do ya say we start over? I promise not ta tease ya anymore. Not as much anyway."

Misato looked at the outstretched hand. "What do you mean, start over, Saotome?"

"Well, when ya put it the way ya did, how can I say no without really becomin' the jackass ya think I am?"

Misato smiled widely when understanding dawned on her. She walked back towards where the teens stood. "Sure, why not? And I'm sorry for calling you a jackass, too, Saotome." She took the offered hand and shook it. "Here's to starting over."

Ranma smiled in return. "Let's get this right. Ranma. Ranma Saotome. Pleased ta meet ya!"

"Misato Katsuragi. Call me Misato, Ranma. All my friends do."

xxxxxxxxxx

Tanuki wiped a tear from his left eye. He heard sniffles beside him. "You know," He said to his friend. "I wish I have a video camera right now."

"Yeah, me, too." Tanaka said between sniffles. "That was so beautiful." He blew his nose.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ritsuko!" The Operations Director boomed as she swept grandly into the control booth where the blond woman and her protege sat watching Shinji train in the Eva simulator, startling the two and causing Shinji to fire wildly.

Ranma, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou followed her in.

"Misato! You don't have to shout!" Ritsuko replied irritably as she looked at the coffee stain on her clothes. "And what are you doing bringing the children here? They're not authorized to be in here yet."

"Oh, yes, they are. They just agreed to join Nerv. Isn't that right, children?"

Ritsuko blinked. "Really? I thought they would have needed at least a few more hours to decide."

"Well, I'll tell you later how I convinced them to join when you buy me dinner to thank me." Misato said while she rubbed her fingernails on her chest, preening like a peacock.

"Yeah, Misato cried her eyes out and begged me on her hands and knees. She looked so pathetic and was wailing like a banshee I had ta agree ta join."

"Hey! I thought you wouldn't tease me anymore, Ranma."

"I said not as much as before, Misato. I'm having too much fun teasin' ya ta give it up completely." The Nerv captain gave him a flat look. "Well, it's true."

"Oh, on first name basis with Ranma now, Misato?"

"Erk! Well, um, yes. It's only natural since we're pals now, aren't we, Ranma?" She looped her right arm over the boy's shoulders to emphasize her point. She squeezed a bit harder than necessary.

"Does that mean I can freeload offa ya from now on? All my friends let me do that."

The violet haired woman twitched before answering. "No."

xxxxxxxxxx

Ranma and the girls stood behind Ritsuko and Maya as they watched Shinji finish his training for the day as Ritsuko decided to start their orientation by showing them what pilots did to train. As a group they went to entry plug simulator to meet Shinji.

"What the hell are ya wearin', Shinji?" Ranma asked as soon as Shinji stepped out of the entry plug simulator.

"Eh?" Shinji asked as he blinked and then looked down at himself.

Shinji never thought about it much before, it was what they told him to wear when he started his Eva pilot training, but now... He covered his private parts with his hands as best as he could from everyone's eyes. He started to blush when he heard Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou start to giggle at his clumsy attempts to preserve his modesty and dignity.

Ranma turned to Ritsuko while pointing at Shinji. "Don't tell me I have ta wear somethin' like that?"

"Well, yes, Ranma..."

"Ah, hell, no! Misato never said anythin' about wearin'..." He looked at Shinji again and the skintight suit he was wearing. "...tights!" The poor, mortally embarrassed boy reddened even more at the description and tried to shrink into himself. "Maybe it's fine for girls..." He looked over to his companions "... but if I have ta wear somethin' like that as an Eva pilot then I'm outta here! Guys don't look good in tights! Just look at him!" He pointed again to Shinji who was now trying to fold himself into as small a ball as possible. Ranma blinked. "Shinji, what the hell are ya doin' still wearin' that thing? Do you like wearin' tights?"

"N-no."

"Then take the damned thing off! You're makin' my eyes hurt!"

"S-sorry! I, I'll take it off now."

"Not here!"

"S-sorry!" The mortified boy scrambled away.

"Poor Shinji. I think he's been traumatized."

"Yeah. He might not wear that again."

"You were a little hard on him, Ranchan."

"He hurt my eyes, damn it!"

"Now, Ranma, let me explain everything first before you decide to quit." Ritsuko tried to calm the new Eva pilot. She wasn't sure if the boy was serious or not. With him, she could never be certain of anything. "There is a very good reason for the design of the plug suit."

"Doc," Ranma said in a tone as if patiently explaining something painfully obvious to a child. "No reason can be good enough ta justify puttin' a guy in tights. Guys and tights just don't go together. Trust me on that."

"I wouldn't be so hasty, Ranma-sama. I think you would look delicious in the suit." Kodachi gave him a leer.

"Yeah, although Airen in something like that might distract women from their duties. I know I will be." Shampoo snickered followed by the rest.

"Yeah, it wouldn't hide much." Akane said.

"Har har. Very funny. Perverts."

"Excuse me?" The chief scientist asked just as the door opened and a bearded man wearing tinted eyeglasses walked in, attracted by the commotion.

The man surveyed the scene. "What is happening here, Dr. Akagi?"

"Thank God! Another guy! Hey, you! Lemme ask ya a question!" Ranma yelled to the newcomer making Misato and Maya cringe while the man and Ritsuko raised their eyebrows. "Would ya be caught dead wearin' somethin' like the... whatchamacallit... plug suit?" He asked Ritsuko, who nodded. "Yeah, plug suit! Ya do know what a plug suit is, right, buddy?" The boy asked the man.

Gendo Ikari gave Ranma a once over that would have had most people quivering in their boots. "Pilot Saotome, I assume." Ranma simply looked down to check if his fly was open.

"Ya know me? Who the heck are ya?"

"Ranma, he's our commander, the commander of Nerv, Commander Gendo Ikari." Misato informed him in a squeaky voice.

"Oh." Ranma's ranting was stopped temporarily before he recovered. "Well, in that case, can ya explain ta me why we have ta wear somethin' like the plug suit? Why can't we wear the usual flight suits fighter jocks wear?" Ranma narrowed his eyes as he thought of something disturbing. "Ya guys don't happen ta be a buncha perverts who enjoy oglin' fourteen year kids wearin' tights, are ya?" Misato's and Maya's eyes went wide at the impertinent question while Ritsuko's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.

"It is the most efficient interface design for optimal control of the Evangelion Unit by the pilot." Gendo didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Oh. Ya mean... " Ranma began before Misato was able to clamp her hands over his mouth.

"Ranma, I'm sure Ritsuko can answer all your questions about piloting the Eva during the orientation. The Commander is a very busy man." She turned to Shinji's father while still clamping Ranma's mouth shut. "Thank you for your time, Commander. We'll handle it from here."

Gendo nodded before turning and walking out the door. When he was gone Misato breathed a sigh of relief.

"That person was your commanding officer, Misato?" Kodachi asked.

Misato nodded. "Our commanding officer." She corrected.

"Damn, he's creepy." Ukyou commented. "He didn't even blink. It's like he gets asked questions like that everyday." Akane, Kodachi and Shampoo nodded.

"I've never seen anyone talk to the Commander that way before." Maya commented in a daze. "It was... unreal."

"You can say that again, Maya." The Nerv Captain agreed wholeheartedly. She turned to the boy whose mouth she still covered with her right hand. "What the hell were you thinking asking the commander a question like that, Ranma?"

Ranma removed the hand from his mouth. "What? It was a valid question, Misato."

"Asking the commander if we're a bunch of perverts who likes to ogle teenagers wearing tights is a valid question?"

"Well, that, too, but I was referrin' ta my first question."

"First question?"

"Yeah. The question why we have ta wear somethin' like the plug suit."

"Oh."

"Well, are ya?"

"Am I what?"

"A buncha perverts who likes ta make teenagers wear tights so they can ogle 'em."

"Of course not!"

"Just makin' sure, Misato. One can never be too careful about these things. Perverts are everywhere." Ranma said in all seriousness, the girls nodding in agreement, making Misato twitch some more before he turned to the head of Project E. "So, doc, what else do we need ta know 'bout pilotin' an Eva?"

Ritsuko sighed. It was going to be a long day.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Saotome!"

Ranma looked up from the bench in the male locker room of Gym E to see Sergeant Fujiwara approaching him with another man he didn't recognize. After the orientation, he and the girls decided to get a light workout before having dinner and going back to their rooms. Shinji sat beside him, still in awe of the "light" workout he just witnessed.

"Yeah, sarge?"

"I heard from Private Tanaka how Captain Katsuragi convinced you to join, Saotome. You may be a snot-nosed punk but I want you to know I appreciate you and your girls joining. So if you need anything, just ask me or any of my men and we'll see what we can do." Shinji looked at Ranma curiously.

"Um, I appreciate the offer, sarge, but no need ta do that."

Fujiwara sat down next to Ranma on the bench. His companion, Sergeant Honda, just stood. "No buts, it's something I want to do, Saotome. You're just kids who should be in school goofing off with your friends like what my kids are doing instead of being here going through God knows what. I really appreciate you and your girlfriends volunteering."

"Um..." Ranma scratched his head in embarrassment. From what he learned during the orientation, piloting the Eva wasn't all that bad. Except for wearing the plug suit. I guess it's still better than being naked. Even when the LCL was mentioned he wasn't all that disturbed, he had used something like that in the past. Of course they haven't seen Rei yet and what she looked like after a 'training' accident. Or been in a fight to the death with an Angel.

The sergeant ignored the boy's embarrassment and continued. "I have two kids of my own, Saotome, a daughter one year older than you and a son two years younger than you. Should be three but I couldn't keep my eldest son alive." He frowned at that. He could still taste the bitterness of failure. He clenched his hands into fists. Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!

Ranma went silent at that. He could see the man struggling with his emotions. One thought did go through his mind, though. You're older than me? Damn. Never woulda guessed.

Fujiwara cleared his throat, rose and dusted off his pants. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Give those Angels hell, Saotome."

"Um, yeah, sure, sarge. I will."

"Oh, one more thing."

"What's that, sarge?"

"Just don't even think about getting into my daughter's panties and we'll get along even better."

"Huh?" Ranma sat there dumbfounded as he watched the two men leave.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ranma?"

"Yeah, Shinji?"

"What was the sergeant talking about back in the locker room?"

"What about?"

"The sergeant said you volunteered. I mean I can't imagine anyone wanting to become an Eva pilot and fighting those Angels."

The pig-tailed boy looked at the third child while they continued to walk towards the cafeteria where they were supposed to meet the girls and Misato. He shrugged. "I guess we're just like ya, Shinji. We had nothin' better ta do so we decided ta join. Of course gettin' ta eat all I can from their cafeteria didn't hurt any." Ranma finished with a grin.

"Oh."

"Ya have a problem with that, Shinji?"

"Uh, no. Of course not."

"Sounds like ya do."

Shinji sighed. "I just don't understand why you guys would agree to pilot the Evas, Ranma."

"Ya agreed ta pilot, Shinji, so why wouldn't we?"

"I had no choice! If I didn't pilot the Eva they were going to force some girl to pilot it!"

"Who's they and what girl?"

Shinji looked away. "My father." He said bitterly. "He was going to force some girl named Rei to pilot Unit 01 if I didn't agree to pilot and fight the Angel."

Ranma frowned. "So why didn't ya just let the girl pilot?"

"I couldn't. She... she was so badly injured she was brought in on a gurney with tubes sticking into her and bandages all over her body. She could barely sit up, much less pilot." Shinji paused before continuing in a lower voice. "She tried though."

"What was that?"

"You should have seen her, Ranma. She couldn't move without crying out in pain but she still tried to get up to pilot the Eva."

"She must have a pretty damned good reason ta try that hard." The two walked in silence for several steps. "Ya know, I never woulda put ya down as that kinda guy, Shinji."

"What kind of guy?"

"Ya know, the kind of guy that likes ta hit on every girl he sees." Ranma smirked. "So that's the reason ya piloted the Eva, huh? Ta impress a girl?"

"Wha?" Shinji sputtered, caught off guard by the question. "No! Of course not!"

"Just playing with ya, Shinji." Ranma waited for his friend to calm down. "So why didn't ya just let the girl, Rei?" He asked and continued when Shinji nodded. "go and pilot? I mean if she wanted ta pilot that badly ya probably shoulda just let her."

"I couldn't! She probably would have died."

"Ya could have died, too, ya know." When Shinji looked away Ranma chuckled. "You're a good man, Shinji."

"Yeah, right."

"I'm serious. Not every guy would have done what ya did especially knowin' ya had a very good chance of dyin' doin' what ya did. That took a lot of guts."

Shinji remained silent.

"What's buggin' ya? Ya should be happy and proud of yourself for what ya did."

"That's what Misato said, too."

"And she would be right. So what's eatin' ya?"

"Only... only I wish it was my father who said that to me."

"Your old man, huh? Don't know why he wouldn't say that to ya. I know I would." Ranma blinked as he made a connection. Ikari? "Wait a minute, your old man don't happen ta be the Commander now, would he?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Well, how 'bout that? I'm friends with the commander's son. Think ya can get us ta eat what your old man eats, Shinji? I'll bet he eats really great stuff."

Shinji shook his head. "I, I don't think so, Ranma. Sorry."

"No, huh? That's too bad. So what's the deal with you and your pop?"

"I... I'd rather not talk about it."

"Suit yourself. It ain't healthy though, keepin' things like that ta yourself."

Shinji shrugged and the two walked on in silence for the next several seconds.

"So, was she cute?" Ranma suddenly asked out of the blue, changing topics .

"Wha-what?"

"I asked if that Rei chick was cute."

Shinji looked at his new friend to see if Ranma was serious or not. He noticed the grin and blushed. "I, I think so but her face was almost half covered with bandages so I couldn't really tell." A chill went down his spine when he saw his new friend's eyes gleam.

"Hey, d'ya think she's still in the hospital?"

"I don't know. Probably."

"Then I've got an idea. Why don't we visit her in the hospital? I'm sure she'd appreciate a visit from her knight in shining armor. Maybe even thankful enough ta give ya a kiss, Shinji."

Gendo's son blushed even deeper as the two of them entered the cafeteria where they agreed to meet the others.

xxxxxxxxxx

"So how did you girls find your first day as Eva pilots?" Misato asked in the locker room where Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou were changing.

"Not bad." Ukyou allowed. "The plug suit is kinda neat, the way you only have to press a button and it'll fit you like a glove. Not to mention you got it in the colors we like." She said as she folded her brown and white plug suit.

"You know, now that you mention it, I never asked why we have plug suits in different colors."

"Although piloting while being immersed in LCL gives me the creeps." Akane said while putting her yellow and pink suit away.

"Oh, why?"

"She has some bad memories about water."

"Hey! It's not my fault if it took me a while to learn how to swim!"

"You don't know how to swim?"

"I do now. I just had a hard time learning how."

"She used to sink like a stone." Shampoo snickered.

"Even with eight rubber tires around her." Ukyou added causing Shampoo and Kodachi to giggle loudly.

"Hmph! Well, excuuuuuuse me!"

Misato smiled at the younger women. The four seemed so relaxed and carefree. "So aside from the LCL, you don't have any complaints?"

Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou looked at one another and shook their heads.

"It is hardly the most difficult experience we have been subjected to, Misato."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Silence reigned as the girls continued to dress.

"Can I ask you girls a personal question?" Misato asked.

"Sure." Shampoo replied.

"How long have you kids been together?"

Shampoo's eyes flicked briefly towards her companions before she answered. "More than six years already. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious I guess." She paused before continuing. "So you girls have been with Ranma for six years?"

The four teenaged girls nodded.

"How do you put up wit him? I mean, doesn't he drive you girls crazy? I know if I spent even a month with him I'd probably end up in the loony bin. Or strangling him."

"Ranchan has a tendency to grow on you."

"Tendency to grow on you? You mean like a cancer?"

The girls laughed. "Well, I wouldn't exactly describe it like that, Misato, but just like you, we all at some point wanted to kill Ranma."

Misato breathed a sigh of relief. "So it's not just me then?"

"Yeah. Ranchan also has a tendency to rub people the wrong way."

"But once you know more about Ranma-sama you'll realize he really is a good person."

"So you girls don't want to kill him anymore?" Misato asked.

"Yeap, not anymore." Akane answered for them. "He's still annoying sometimes but when the going gets tough, Ranma'll be there for you. Especially when you need him most." Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou nodded in agreement.

"Dependable, huh?"

"Very dependable."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, why is Shinji all red, Ranchan?" Ukyou asked as they neared the table where the two boys were waiting.

"You haven't been teasing him again, have you, Ranma?"

"Of course not. I was just askin' if Shinji would like ta visit his girlfriend in the hospital."

"Um..."

"Girlfriend?" Misato asked. It was the first she heard of it. Maybe she was worrying about Shinji a bit too much. After all it was less than a week since she gave him the cellphone.

"Yeah. So I guess ya'll just have ta find some other kid ta seduce, Misato."

The woman blinked before she was able to sputter. "What?"

"Nothin'."

"What the hell gave you the idea I was trying to seduce Shinji?" The Director of Operations said loud enough to attract the attention of the neighboring tables. Heads and bodies tilted to hear more clearly.

"Well, ya did send him that picture of yours where ya were wearin' short shorts and a tank top with no bra while leanin' forward and tellin' him ta look at your cleavage. If that's not tryin' ta seduce him then I don't know what is. Not that I can blame ya tryin' ta seduce an innoent kid. I mean, ya gotta be gettin' desperate still being single at your age."

Murmurs were heard as the answer was relayed from table to table. Shaking of heads followed.

Misato made like a goldfish before exploding. "I wasn't trying to seduce him, you jackass! And mind your own damn business!" She yelled at the eavesdroppers who suddenly found their dinner more interesting. "For your information, Ranma, the reason I sent that photo with those words instead of me standing at attention in my Nerv uniform to Shinji was to make him comfortable with me before we even met. And there's nothing wrong with me being single at my age! I am not getting desperate!"

"Yeah, yeah. That's what they all say. Anyway, ya sure have a weird way of doin' things, Misato. No wonder ya still don't have a boyfriend."

Misato twitched. "Like I said, what's wrong with me not having a boyfriend?"

"Well, nothin', really but... ya know. At your age," Twitch. "biological clock and all that stuff. Unless..."

Misato didn't want to ask but she couldn't stop herself. "Unless?"

"Ya happen ta like other women."

"I DO NOT LIKE OTHER WOMEN! I AM A NORMAL, HEALTHY, RED-BLOODED WOMAN!"

"Hey, are you saying women who likes other women aren't normal, captain?"

"Erk!" Misato turned to the one who asked and got a surprise. "Maya?"

"Well, Captain Katsuragi? Are you saying women who likes other women are not normal?" Ritsuko asked who stood beside Maya. The two had just entered the cafeteria and was attracted by the commotion.

"No, of course not! I have nothing against them. It's just this..." She pointed at Ranma as she struggled not to call the boy the "J" word again. "person keeps making me lose my temper!"

"He seems to be enjoying doing an exceptional job of it." Ritsuko drily commented as Ranma snickered where he sat.

"Airen, stop teasing Misato before you make her have a stroke or something."

"Aw, do I have ta, Shampoo? It's so much fun teasin' her. She gets all riled up so easily. Almost as easy as Akane when I first met her."

"Hey!"

Misato twitched. "Why you..."

"See?"

"Yes."

"Phooey. Oh, well. I guess I'll hafta settle with teasin' Shinji then."

"Urk!"

"So, Shinji, wanna go visit your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?" Asked the new arrivals, Ritsuko and Maya.

"Yeah. Shinji here became an Eva so he could impress some girl named Rei."

"No, that's not true!"

"Oh? Didn't ya just tell me ya only piloted the Eva when they brought a cute girl in?"

Misato and Ritsuko looked at one another. That's an interesting way of putting it.

"No!" Shinji cried out as he defended himself. "That's not the reason I piloted the Eva! Yes, they brought a girl in but they were going to force her to pilot the Eva! I couldn't let them! She was so badly injured she was covered in bandages and could barely move! That's why I piloted the Eva! I didn't do it to impress her! I swear! I couldn't even tell if she was cute! You've got to believe me!"

"We believe you, Shinji. Don't mind Ranma-sama too much. It'll be better for your sanity."

Everyone looked at the pig-tailed boy who was snickering.

"Who's them, Shinji?" Ukyou asked when Ranma settled down. "You said some people were going to force the girl to pilot the Evangelion."

Shinji looked sharply at Misato and Risuko. "My father, Dr. Akagi, Misato. Everyone."

"Is this true, Misato? Dr. Akagi?" Akane questioned.

Misato looked at the teens, her gaze unwavering. "We did not force Rei to pilot. We ordered her to. She was obeying orders of her own free will."

"That was heartless of you, Misato, considering the condition the girl was in."

"We had no choice, Kodachi. We had no other pilots and if no one piloted the Eva to fight the Angel she'd be dead anyway. Along with everyone else." The Nerv Captain's voice was even. They made a decision and that was that. "If I have to do it again, I'd do it without thinking twice."

Ranma and the girls narrowed their eyes. It left a bad taste in their mouths but they could understand the reason for Nerv's action. In fact, if they were in Misato's shoes they probably would have done the same. War was war. It was always ugly and it brought out either the best or the worst in a person. They knew that from first-hand experience.

"So you piloted the Eva to save the girl, Shinji?" Ukyou asked softly.

"That was very sweet of you, Shinji." Akane praised.

"And brave." Shampoo added.

"That's what I told him."

Shinji just looked away.

"Is something the matter, Shinji?" Kodachi asked. That was not the reaction they were expecting.

"He said he wished it was his father who said that ta him. Doesn't that make ya feel so inadequate, girls? I mean, here ya are praisin' Shinji ta high heaven and he acts like it doesn't matter. Like he doesn't want anythin' ta do with any of ya. Like ya ain't worthy of his attention."

Shinji's eyes widened at that. "NO! It's not like that! I appreciate you girls being nice to me! I really do!"

"Then why don't you smile a little to show you do, Shinji?" Shampoo suggested with a smile of her own.

The boy forced himself and smiled crookedly.

"Damn, that's one ugly mug ya've got there, Shinji."

"Ranma!"

"But it's true!" Ranma pointed. "See? Now try smilin' like ya mean it, Shinji."

Shinji tried smiling again.

"Damn. Still ugly as a bulldog, Shinji."

"He is obviously simply not used to smiling yet. Give him time, Ranma-sama, and I am certain Shinji will have a wonderful smile."

"Well, if ya say so, Dachi. Anyway, do ya feel better now, Shinji?"

"I, I guess so."

"Ya'd better be or you're gonna hurt the girls' feelings." Ranma looped his arm around Shinji's shoulders and grinned. "Anyway, think you're up ta visitin' your girlfriend in the hospital, Shinji?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

xxxxxxxxxx

Ritsuko led the way into Rei's hospital room, Ranma, Shinji, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou following with Misato and Maya bringing up the rear.

"Rei?"

"Yes, Dr. Akagi?" The pale girl asked from where she was lying on the hospital bed. She sat up, still flinching but no longer crying out in pain.

The remaining NWC blinked at the sight of the girl.

"Damn." Ukyou muttered.

"Yeah, if she looks this bad now I don't want to know how bad she looked like when she got injured." agreed Shampoo.

"How do you feel, Rei?"

"I feel better, Dr. Akagi."

"I'm glad to hear that. There are some people who would like to speak with you, Rei."

"Who are they, Dr. Akagi?"

"Your fellow Eva pilots." Ritsuko did the introductions. "Rei, this is Shinji Ikari, you've met him before during the Angel attack. The others are Ranma Saotome, Akane Tendou, Kodachi Kunou, Shampoo and Ukyou Kounji. Children, this is Rei Ayanami, the first child." The teenagers politely bowed to one another.

"What do you wish to speak to me about?" Rei asked the other pilots in her monotone voice.

"Nothing in particular. We simply thought since we are going to be working together, it was best to introduce ourselves to one another." Kodachi replied.

"I understand, Pilot Kunou ."

"Uh, d'ya always talk like that? It's kinda creepy."

"Ranma!"

Rei blinked. "I do not understand, Pilot Saotome."

"Um, don't mind Ranchan, he's just teasing you. And you can call us by our first names, Ayanami. Makes it easier to talk to one another."

"I will try to do so, Pilot Kounji."

"Um, okay. Anyway, how do you feel?"

"I feel fine, Pilot Tendou. The doctors expects to discharge me from the hospital in two days. I should be able to pilot in a few more days after."

"That's good right?"

"It is satisfatory."

"Looks ta me like ya need at least a couple more liters of blood in ya. Either that or ya need mo' time under the sun. Never seen anyone as pale as ya before. Are ya sure you're 'bout ta be discharged?"

"Ranma-sama, I think she has a condition known as albinism."

"Oh. So mind if we call ya Rei, Pilot Ayanami?"

"If that will be better for you, Pilot Saotome."

"Yeah, it'll be easier for me, Rei. Don't wanna call ya Pilot Ayanami all the time. Takes too much breath. Harder ta shout when you're annoyed also. Anyway...," Ranma reached back and pulled Shinji to the front.

"Wha?"

"... Shinji here wants ta talk ta ya."

"Ah, um, well..." Shinji blushed furiously as he twiddled his thumbs in front of him.

Oh, man. Do I hafta do everythin'?

Nudge.

"Wha?" Shinji cried out as he suddenly found himself nose to nose with Rei on the bed. The two blinked at one another before Shinji quickly scrambled to stand up, blushing harder. "Um, so-sorry!"

"Yep, she's Shinji type alright."

"Ranma!"

"What? I was just tryin' ta help Shinji out."

"I do not understand. What do you mean I am Pilot Ikari's type?"

"Damn, she's really creepin' me out. Hey, Shinji, ask her out already."

"Wha-what?"

"What d'ya mean 'what'? Didn't we come here so ya can ask her out? At least get her phone number!"

"No! I came along just to see if she's all right!"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Does she look alright ta ya?"

"Ah, um, well, yes. She looks better than when I saw her last."

"Well, Shinji, without all the bandages and just the eye patch, is she cute or what?" Shinji colored again while Rei only stared back.

"Ranma, stop teasing poor Shinji."

"Okay, okay."

"Anyway, nice ta see you're doin' better, Rei. Hope ta see ya out of the hospital soon."

"I wholeheartedly agree. I look forward to working with you, Rei."

"Thank you, Pilot Kunou."

"Any of ya girls wanna say somethin' more?" The girls shook their heads.

"If that's all, chidlren, let's leave Rei so she can rest and recover faster. Rei." Ritsuko nodded towards the girl on the bed as she herded the other children out.

"Good bye, Dr. Akagi."

"Well, see ya around, Rei. We'll be seein' ya."

"Yes, we hope to see you soon, Rei."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Damn. That Rei is one weird chick." Ranma said once they were outside the room. "I mean the way she talks and how her expression never changed..."

"How was she injured, Misato? Was it in the fight against the Angel we saw?" Kodachi asked while they walked.

The pilots' superior officer shook her head. "No. Rei got injured in a training accident two weeks before you all got here, Kodachi."

"Training accident? She got hurt more in a training accident than Shinji did fighting the Angel?"

Misato shrugged her shoulders. "We don't know what happened, Shampoo. When we tried to activate Unit 00 with Rei as the pilot, the Eva went berserk."

"Wait. I do not understand, Misato. How can a robot go berserk? Was it not under your control?"

Ritsuko answered. "There are still many things we do not completely understand about the Evangelions, Kodachi. What we are doing here is the first of its kind."

"Doesn't surprise me seein' ya guys don't know what the horn is for." Ranma mumbled to himself.

"Isn't that dangerous, Dr. Akagi? You're using a weapon you don't fully understand."

Misato answered. "Believe me, Akane, I wish we could do without the Evas but so far they're the only things that have proven effective against an Angel."

"So let me get this straight, Misato. Nerv is usin' a weapon they don't fully understand and control, a weapon that can level a whole city, and puttin' 'em in the hands of fourteen year old kids?" Ranma asked incredulously.

Misato nodded. "Got it in one, Ranma." She said wryly.

"I might be wrong but doesn't that sound stupid ta ya?"

Misato sighed. "Like what I said before, Ranma, we don't have a choice. The commander, Ritsuko, everyone who worked on the Evas say so."

Ranma frowned. He definitely didn't like the whole setup. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ranma, may I have a word with you in private?" Ritsuko asked as their group left the hospital.

"What 'bout, doc?"

"I will explain when we reach my office."

Ranma looked at his companions who shrugged back. "Uh, sure, I guess. Ya girls go on ahead ta the dorm. I'll catch up as soon as I can."

"Okay, Ranma."

"Don't take too long, Airen." Shampoo winked suggestively at the boy.

"Uh, sure."

The group split up and went their separate ways. Ranma followed Ritusko to her office.

"What's this 'bout, doc?" He asked once they were seated. "There ain't any problems, is there?"

"You could say that, Ranma. I am a little concerned about your... nightly activities with the girls."

The boy frowned. "Ya haven't been peepin' on us now, have ya, doc? 'Cause if ya are, it ain't a nice ta do."

"Ah, no. Of course not. We respect your privacy."

"Then how d'ya know we have been havin' 'nightly activities' as ya put it?"

"Um, well, your girlfriends have been rather... extremely vocal during the... activities. Your guards could hear them all the way out in the hallway."

"Oh... your dormitories ain't soundproofed?"

"I'm sure they are."

"Ya sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Lousy soundproofin' then. Ya oughta sue the contractor. So what 'bout what we do at night, doc? Ya want me ta tell the girls ta be a bit more quiet? Are we botherin' the other residents? If that's it, I can even ask the girls ta mebbe skip some nights. I could use the rest anyway. Ya wouldn't believe how demandin' the girls can get, doc. I mean, I think I got the stamina of a horse but even I need ta rest very once in a while."

The woman blinked. She didn't need to hear that. "Ah, no. That is not what I wanted to discuss."

"Then what do ya wanna talk 'bout, doc?"

"You do know what possible consequences may come about having sexual intercourse with girls of their age, do you not, Ranma?"

"Ya mean the girls gettin' pregnant, doc?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's their idea."

"Excuse me?"

"I said that's the girls' idea. They wanna get pregnant."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when we just started doin' the tests they asked ya if ya could test me whether I was sterile or not? Why d'ya think they asked? They wanna have my babies. And since the test turned out okay... ya can't believe how happy ya made 'em."

"I... see."

"Anythin' else, doc?"

"I will be frank, Ranma. I do not think that it is a very good idea at the moment. The girls becoming pregnant, I mean."

"Why not?"

"Before, we were not certain you would all become Evangelion pilots but now that you are, I am not certain what effects becoming pregnant might have on the girls' performance. Perhaps when after all the Angels have been defeated."

Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment before becoming serious. "Doc, I understand what you're sayin' and you're probably right but I'm not gonna deny my girls this. They want this. I want this, doc."

Ritsuko frowned. "I do not think you completely comprehend the implications of the girls becoming pregnant, Ranma. They might not be able to pilot and..."

"We'll be shorthanded. I know, doc, but I'm not gonna let anythin', not even an Angel, get in the way of my girls' happiness. Ya got me, doc?"

"Ranma, if we do not defeat the Angels, your girls' happiness will not mean anything."

"Then I'll just hafta make sure I beat the Angels, don't I, doc?"

Ritsuko blinked. The sentence was said so casually it was like he was simply buying groceries. He can't be serious? She glanced at his face. My God, he is serious. "Ranma, I admit I am impressed by your abilities but against an Angel I am afraid they are woefully inadequate. To even have any hope of defeating an Angel we need the Evangelions and for that we need pilots such as the girls. Right now they comprise half of our total Evangelion pilot complement worldwide so we must take any and all precautions to ensure they continue to be able to pilot. For us to lose half of our pilot complement at this point would be courting disaster."

"I said I understood, doc. It's you who don't understand."

"Then would you care to enlighten me, Ranma?"

Ranma sighed. How could he explain twelve years of pain and heartbreak? Twelve years of seeing the girls look longingly at other women who had children? Twelve years of their hopes being crushed temple after shrine after church after sacred ground after holy place praying and hoping for him to give them children of their own? Twelve years of hiding their pain and refusing to leave his side even when he told them to? And all 'cause I became careless for one fuckin' moment. "Ya wouldn't understand even if I tried ta explain, doc."

"Ranma, I..."

"Doc, no matter what ya say, I ain't gonna change my mind. Ya can't make me. Only the girls can."

Risuko opened her mouth to argue some more but the set look on her guest's face told her it would be futile. "Very well. May I speak with the girls then, Ranma?"

The boy stood up. "Sure. I don't think it'll do any good but why not? I'll tell 'em ya wanna talk ta 'em." He said before turning to leave.

xxxxxxxxxx

"What is it you wish to speak to us about, Dr. Akagi?" Kodachi asked once they were seated in the scientist's office. "Ranma-sama seemed upset and refused to say why you would summon us."

"Yeah, Dr. Akagi, and why do we have to talk here in your office?" Ukyou followed up.

"It is a rather sensitive and personal matter, you see."

"It's not going to take too long, is it, Dr. Akagi?" Shampoo asked anxiously. "We have, um, things to talk about with Airen. Very important things."

"Down, girl." Akane joked.

"Well, if you're going to be like that then I suppose you wouldn't mind me taking your turns tonight, Akane."

"Hey! I never said that!"

Ritsuko sweat dropped as Akane and Shampoo began to argue about taking turns with Ranma. The blond woman cleared her throat before the argument became too graphic for her taste. The teenagers returned their attention to her.

"Um, girls, it is exactly that subject which I wish to speak to you about."

"Taking turns?" Akane frowned. "You don't want a turn yourself, do you, Dr. Akagi?"

Blink. "Ah, no. What I meant was having sexual relations with Ranma."

"Oh." The four girls heaved a sigh of relief. "For a moment there I was a bit worried."

"So, um, what about us having sex with Ranchan, Dr. Akagi? There isn't a problem, is there, Dr. Akagi?"

"Well, you could say that. You girls might get pregnant and I am not sure what effect pregnancy might have on your performance as Evangelion pilots. Not to mention the hazards of training and the dangers of going into battle to a pregnant girl."

"You're not asking us not to get pregnant, are you, Dr. Akagi?"

"I am afraid I am, Shampoo."

Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou all shot to their feet.

"Hell, no, Dr. Akagi! You're not going to take this away from us!" Shampoo nearly shouted. Her protests were joined by the other girls.

"Girls, please calm down."

"Calm down? How can you expect us to calm, Dr. Akagi? You don't know what you're asking us to do!"

"Akane, I'm asking for a very good reason. You do know how important the four of you are to defeating the Angels. If the four of you get pregnant, we lose half of our present global Eva pilot complement. It will be a major setback in our campaign against the Angels."

The girls frowned. "Is this what you spoke to Ranchan about, Dr. Akagi?"

"Yes and he refused as well."

"Not surprising."

"May I ask why all of you are in a hurry to have children? You're children yourselves. You are all young and..."

"Dr. Akagi, can you tell us when we'll defeat the Angels?" Shampoo asked politely.

"No."

"Can you assure us nothing will happen to any of us while we fight the Angels?"

"No."

"You understand, don't you, Dr. Akagi? We can't let this chance slip away."

"And if we are not able to defeat the Angels, what then? Your children will die as well."

"I guess we'll have to make sure we defeat the Angels then, Dr. Akagi."

That made Ritsuko blink. It was eerie the way they said the same thing as Ranma in the same way. How could these children be so casual about defeating the Angels? "By becoming pregnant?" She asked. That earned Ritsuko glares. "Girls, you know I'm right. Whether we like it or not,our lives are on hold until all the Angels have been defeated."

The four continued to glare making Ritsuko sigh.

"Will you girls at least think about it?"

"Fine! Is that all, Dr. Akagi?"

"Yes." With that, the four girls whirled around and marched out of the office and slammed the door shut. Risuko slumped in her seat. I'm too old for this.

xxxxxxxxxx

"I'm guessin' your talk with doc Akagi didn't go too well either." Ranma commented from where he was sitting on the floor watching television as he watched the girls stomped angrily into his dormitory room. Their shoulders shlumped before Akane answered.

"No, it didn't."

"How could she ask us something like that, Airen?"

"Cause it's the smart thing ta do, Shampoo." That caused their shoulders to slump further. "Hey, come here, all of you." Ranma waited for them to sit next to him before engulfing the depressed girls in a bear hug. "Of course, I never did always do the smart thing."

The girls blinked. "What do you mean, Ranchan?"

"Do you wanna have a baby, Ucchan?"

"Only if it's yours, Ranchan?"

"How 'bout the rest of ya?"

"Is that a trick question, Airen?"

Ranma chuckled. "Just makin' sure, Shampoo. Ya want babies, I want babies. So we're gonna have babies. Simple as that."

"But..."

"Let me worry 'bout the Angels, Dachi. Ya girls just worry 'bout how we gonna go 'bout havin' a family."

"What do you mean, Ranma-sama?"

"Ain't it obvious? We'll need all those things a family needs. Like a house, for example."

"Oh, Ranma!"

The hugs and kisses he received convinced Ranma he made the right decision. Now all I gotta worry 'bout is beatin' the Angels. Hah! Piece of cake! He noticed the hungry looks he was receiving. But that's for later. Right now I'm gonna get lucky tonight. He took advantage of the situation. "Ya know, girls, I think ya'll all look cute in a nurse's uniform..."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Misato?" Ritsuko poked her head into her friend's office early the next day.

"Yeah?" The violet haired woman turned from her desk.

"I have a favor to ask." The blond woman answered as she entered.

"Sorry, Ritsuko, I don't have any money to lend to you."

"I'm not here to borrow money from you."

"Then what are you here for?"

"Ranma and the girls have requested to transfer out of the dormitory."

"Oh? Why?"

"It may have something to do with what I spoke to them about yesterday."

"And what might that be?"

"That the girls shouldn't get pregnant until all the Angels are defeated. It is the most sensible thing to do after all."

"Oh, I see. I take it they didn't agree with you."

"No, they didn't."

"Well, coming from you, I don't find that surprising."

Ritsuko frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you know."

"Know what?"

"You know."

"No, I don't know, Misato."

"Well, it's the way you talk."

"What about the way I talk? I talk fine."

"It's too... clinical. Too detached. Too aloof. It's hard to sympathize with you, especially on sensitive matters like pregnancy."

"The way I speak is perfectly acceptable!" Ritsuko almost snapped.

"See? There you go again and you know what, Ritsuko? I've noticed that ever since the new children got here, your temper's been kinda a bit short."

"If it is, it is probably because I am surrounded by immature people."

The jibe went right over Misato's head. "Too bad since you have to deal with the children everday like I do. But you should learn from me. I don't let them get on my nerves."

"Says the person who wanted to shoot Ranma."

Misato twitched. "What is it you're here for anyway, Ritsuko?" She ground out.

"I'm here to ask you to take Ranma and the girls under your supervision like Shinji."

"Ah, hell no! Absolutely not!"

"Why not? You volunteered to take in Shinji."

"Shinji's different!"

"How so?"

"How so? You do know what the five of them do every night, don't you?" Ritsuko nodded. "Well, I'm not about to let them do that every night in my apartment! I won't be able to get any sleep! Not to mention the effect on poor Shinji!" And me.

"That is exactly my point, Misato. You're not going to allow them to have sex in your apartment."

"Nice try, Ritsuko, but my answer is still no."

"Why not?"

"Look, why don't you take them into your apartment, Ritsuko? You shouldn't be affected as much as me anyway."

Ritsuko sharply arched an eyebrow. She did not like the way Misato phrased that sentence. "And may I ask why you think I shouldn't be affected as much as you?"

"Well, you know."

"No, I don't know."

"Well, for one thing, you haven't had a boyfriend so you shouldn't know what you're missing" Twitch. "And even if you did know what you were missing, you're frigid." Twitch. "So even if you do hear them doing the nasty every night, you shouldn't be affected as much as me."

TWITCH. "I am not frigid!"

"Oh, no? Then tell me one person, not even a guy mind you, that turned you on?"

"My private life is none of your business!"

"Hah! I thought so!"

TWITCH. Call me frigid, will you? I'll show you who's frigid! I'll show all of you!

xxxxxxxxxx

In his private lavatory, Gendo looked up from washing his face as he felt a chill go down his spine.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Be that as it may, Misato, what do you say if I request they give you a bigger apartment?"

"Trying to bribe me, huh?" Misato looked thoughtful. "I don't know... but if it comes with a jacuzzi I might think about it."

"How about if I request for a new car to be given to you along with the new apartment?"

"An apartment with a jacuzzi and a new car?"

"Yes."

"Fully paid and tax-free?"

Twitch. "Yes."

"My choice of car?"

"Yes."

Misato thought some more. "Nah. The car'll probably just get blown up right away again."

"How about a raise in pay then? You could buy more beer then."

Damn, she can't take a hint, can she? "Why are you so insistent, Ritsuko? Why can't you just let them stay in their own apartment like Rei? They can take care of themselves, you know."

"They need supervision, Misato! We can't let them live on their own unsupervised! The girls will probably get pregnant within the month!"

"If they aren't already, you mean." Misato mused out sending a chill down Risuko's spine. "Like I said, if you think they need supervision, why don't you take them?"

"Because they might not agree since I am against the girls becoming pregnant!"

"Well, find somebody else to babysit them because I'm sure as hell won't!"

"You're not going to change your mind, Misato?"

"Hell no. I don't need the distraction." Or the frustration.

"But who else can I depend on to supervise them?"

Knock! Knock!

"Come in!"

"Um, Captain Katsuragi, have you... Oh! There you are, Dr. Akagi! I've been... " Maya trailed off as she noticed the way the two women were looking at her. It made her want to run. "Um, I can come back later if this isn't a good time, Dr. Akagi."

"Oh, no, no. This is a perfectly good time, Maya."

Maya squirmed and sweated. "It is?" Any other time and she would have welcomed the predatory smile the older woman was giving her.

"Why, yes it is. It is indeed. Now how do you feel about moving to a larger apartment, Maya?" Ritsuko asked sweetly.

Maya brightened. So that's why she was smiling at me like that. "With you, Dr. Akagi? I'd love to!"

Blink. "Huh?" That was totally unexpected. Ritsuko opened her mouth to correct Maya.

"That's a great idea, Maya!" Misato clapped Ritsuko on her back. "I'm sure with the two of you watching over the kids, nothing could go wrong!" She gave her friend a wide grin.

"..."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Ya don't give up easy, do ya, doc?" Ranma said as he stood at the door to the apartment they were going to share with Dr. Akagi and Maya.

"Only when I deem it necessary, Ranma. Please come in. I'm sure you'll all find this apartment to your satisfaction."

"I'm sure." He stepped inside with his pack followed by Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou with their own packs. They looked around and had to admit it was a large and very nice apartment. "So where do we bunk?" He asked as he shrugged off his pack and placed it on the floor.

"You, Ranma, will sleep in the second bedroom downstairs..."

"In between yours and Maya, I'll bet."

"Of course, while the girls will each have their own room upstairs."

"Ya know that's not gonna stop us, don't ya, doc?"

"We'll see."

"If we didn't need ta save up on cash, I'd never let the girls convince me ta shack up with ya." Ranma noticed the cat figurines in the boxes Ritsuko was sorting. "Ya like cats, doc?"

"Yes, I do."

"Me, I don't like 'em. I don't hate 'em like I used ta but I still don't like 'em. Ya don't happen ta have a pet cat, do ya, doc?"

"Um, no. I do not have the time to care for a pet."

"That's good. Don't need the aggravation."

"Why do you not like cats, Ranma?"

"Let's just say I had some bad experiences with 'em when I was a kid, doc."

"When you were a kid, Ranma? It must not have been that long ago. You're only fourteen years old, after all."

Ranma grimaced at his slip. Whoops. Damned cats still 'cause me trouble. "Ah, well, what I meant was if ya've practically had ta bring yourself up, ya tend ta think you're older than ya actually are."

"I see." The woman didn't seem totally convinced.

Shampoo thought quickly. "Ah, Dr. Akagi, could you show us to our rooms?"

"Of course. Follow me, please." Ritsuko began leading the four teenagers towards one side of the living room where the stairs and a hallway were.

Along the way, Ranma sniffed the air. "Somethin' smells delicious." He licked his lips.

"Maya is in the kitchen preparing dinner."

"From the smell of things she must be a great cook." He followed his nose to the kitchen. "Hey, Maya, what's for dinner?"

"Roast beef. I hope it's all right with you."

"Don't worry. Ranma will eat almost anything, Maya." Akane replied as she stepped into the kitchen behind the boy.

"And if it tastes as great as it smells you can be sure he's going to ask for seconds."

"And thirds."

"And fourths."

"Har. Har. Anyway, I'll just unpack and settle in."

"Dinner should be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Gotcha. And by the way, Maya, ya look cute in that apron."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Shampoo?"

The Amazon turned from drying her hair. "Yes, Dachi?"

"I would like to inquire if you still have an adequate supply of waterproof soap." Kodachi asked after she closed the door into the other girl's room.

Shampoo thought for a moment. "I still have fours bars left."

"And your anti-waterproof soap?"

"Two."

"I see. Taking into consideration we shall be immersed in LCL frequently I estimate your supply will last another two weeks at the most. Ranma-sama's is most probably the same." Shampoo nodded in agreement. "I shall procure the needed ingredients tomorrow so we may make some more. It should be a simple exercise in a city such as Tokyo-3."

Shampoo smiled. "Thanks, Dachi."

"No need to thank me, Shampoo."

xxxxxxxxxx

"School?" The high-pitched shriek was heard throughout the cafeteria

"Yes, Ranma. You'll all be going to the same school as Shinji. As a matter of fact, you're all in the same class. He's been going there for just over a week now."

"Ya gotta be kiddin' me, doc!"

"I'm afraid not. The paperwork is already done and they expect you tomorrow morning, Ranma."

"Ah, hell no! I don't need ta go ta no school!"

"Oh? Why do you say that, Ranma?"

"I already know all they teach at school!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"Could have fooled me. You don't strike me as the brainy type, Ranma." Hah! Finally got one over you!

Ranma's right eyebrow twitched. Ritsuko interrupted before he could think of a retort.

"Ranma, even if you already know everything they teach at school you should still go."

"Why?"

"School isn't just for studies, Ranma. It gives you a chance to interact with children of your age and to do something else besides just train as Eva pilots. It will be good for your moral." And hopefully provide a distraction from your sex life.

"My moral's just fine, doc! I don't need ta interact with children my age!"

Ritsuko changed to a different tack. "Well, how about you girls? How do you feel about going to school?" She asked innocently.

"Well, I suppose we could at least give it a try." Shampoo tentatively offered.

"What? Ya can't be serious, Shampoo!"

"Oh, come on, Ranchan. What's the worst that could happen?"

Ranma gave Ukyou an incredulous look like she had grown a second head. "Do ya even hafta ask that, Ucchan?"

"I must agree with Ukyou, Ranma-sama."

"Not you, too, Dachi!" He gave the gymnast a hurt look.

"Yeah, Ranma. It might be fun to go back to school."

Fun. Yeah, right. Ranma thought sourly as he looked at the faces arrayed against him. He brightened as something occurred to him. "But we don't have uniforms or school supplies! We can't go without those!"

"Already taken care of, Ranma. Your uniforms and school supplies are being delivered to our apartment as we speak. Isn't that right, Maya?"

"Yes, Dr. Akagi. I made all the arrangements as you requested."

"See?"

"I'm beginnin' not ta like ya, Maya."

"Well, that's settled then. Misato, please have Shinji pass by tomorrow so he can accompany them to school."

"It'll be my pleasure, Ritsuko." Hah! Suffer, Ranma, suffer!

xxxxxxxxxx

"What's with Ranma? He's been sulking all morning." Shinji asked as he glanced back at the other boy lagging behind them.

"He's grumpy because he doesn't want to go to school."

"Really? Why?"

"Says it's a waste of time."

"Oh. Um, is that the reason why he isn't in uniform?"

"Partly but mostly because he never liked wearing uniforms." Although he likes us wearing them.

"Yeah, and after all the fuss he made yesterday."

xxxxxxxxxx

Kensuke looked up from his terminal as his elderly homeroom teacher cleared his throat.

"Class, today we have more transfer students joining us." The announcement instantly perked up the class who were resigned to another boring day in school. They followed their teacher's gaze to the door. "Please come in and introduce yourselves."

The boys of the class brightened further at the sight of four cute girls coming into the class and all straightened up as they put on their best smiles. They ignored the boy trudging along sourly behind the four.

"Good morning!" Akane perkily greeted which was seconded by her companions except by Ranma. "It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Akane Tendou." She was followed by Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou in introducing themselves.

Ranma merely raised his left hand and unenthusiastically said, "Yo. Ranma Saotome, pleased ta meet ya."

"Well, you may all take a seat and we'll begin class."

xxxxxxxxxx

Kensuke looked over to where his classmates were gathered around the new female students, the boys asking the new girls out which were politely declined one after another while the girls were simply trying to get to know the new ones as their teacher continued to drone on. He made notes on his observations in his terminal now and then.

When he tired of watching his male classmates get rejected one after another he turned his attention to the new boy, Saotome was it?, in his class, seated next to the other new boy, What was his name again? Oh, yeah. Ikari, and seemingly bored out his skull as yawned widely now and then at his desk oblivious to the glare he was receiving from the class rep. He grinned at that. Saotome reminded him a lot of his best friend Touji. From the way he wasn't wearing a uniform to the way he carried himself. Thoughts of his best friend earned a frown from him.

I wonder what happened to Touji? He's been absent for more than a week already.

"Hey, Shinji!" Ranma whispered loudly to his seatmate.

"Yes?"

"Is he always like this?" Ranma pointed at their teacher with a thumb.

"Uh, I think so. At least that's what he's been like ever since I started here."

"Damn, and you haven't hanged yourself yet?"

"I guess I just got used to it."

Ranma looked at Shinji with newfound respect. "Man, you're tougher than I thought. One week of this and I'd probably hang myself."

Kensuke grinned wider. Yep, just like Touji.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Rei?" Ritsuko asked the girl as Rei sat on the exmining table in her office.

"Rei?" She asked again when the girl didn't respond the first time.

"Rei!"

The raised voice finally garnered Rei's attention. "Yes, doctor?"

"Rei, is something the matter? You're distracted today."

"I was contemplating on what Pilot Tendou demonstrated for me today in school."

"Demonstrated what?"

"How to stop Pilot Saotome from poking me while in school."

Twitch. "He's doing what?"

"For some reason, Pilot Saotome persists on poking me with his pencil eraser while in school despite my insistence he desist." Rei showed some emotion by frowning. "It is very distracting."

"Oh." Ritsuko said, feeling a bit silly at herself for what she was thinking just then. "Why would he do that?"

"He said he was measuring my tolerance level but he did not specify tolerance for what."

"I see." Ritsuko sighed. The boy was probably just playing with Rei. "So what did Akane demonstrate to you to make Ranma stop?"

"I am not sure how to describe it, Dr. Akagi."

"How about demonstating it for me then."

"Of course, Dr. Akagi." Ritsuko watched the girl get off the table and approach her.

Whap!

"Ow!" Ritsuko clutched the back of her head. She stared at the albino with bulging eyes. The scientist was so shocked she wasn't able to say anything more.

"Ranma no baka!" Rei shouted startling Ritsuko even more. She put her arm down. "That is what Pilot Tendou demonstrated." She went back to the examining table.

"I... see."

"It has proven to be very effective in dissuading Pilot Saotome from poking me with his pencil for a time period ranging from half an hour to two hours when performed correctly."

"There's a right and wrong way of doing it?"

"Apparently, yes, Dr. Akagi. When I first attempted it, Pilot Saotome only shook his head before he resumed poking me."

"I... see." Ritsuko made a mental note to keep a closer watch on Rei from now on, especially around the pig-tailed boy. "Well, let's begin your examination."

"Yes, doctor."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Shinji!" Kensuke called to his new friend as he entered the classroom a week later.

Shinji turned from staring at Rei whose head was swiveling from left to right and back again like a radar as if searching for something. He saw Ukyou approaching the girl with a box lunch. He grinned. Probably apologizing for Ranma bugging her again. He thought before turning to the new arrival. "Oh, hi, Kensuke. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Still no luck with Ayanami, huh?" Kensuke asked as he noticed who Shinji was just staring at. "Man, you sure know how to pick them. I'll admit she's cute and has a nice fgure but she's cold as a fish. Well, except when Ranma starts poking her with that pencil of his. Man, Ranma could drive anyone up the wall if he wanted to. Anwyay, you'll probably get rejected before you even open your mouth to confess to her."

Shinji blushed. "It's not like that!"

"Oh, no? Then I suppose you wouldn't mind it if Ranma gets her too, then. Speaking of which, Ranma's still not around again?" Kensuke asked as he looked around and saw no sign of the pig-tailed boy. In the week since Ranma and his girls came into the school he had made friends with Ranma and then with Shinji. It wasn't hard as Ranma was almost like Touji and with Touji not being around he needed someone else to talk to. So far he hadn't been able to confirm the rumors of his new classmates being Eva pilots. Not that he was about to give up trying.

"Probably on the rooftop again."

"Can't blame him. It's not like he's missing anything."

"Yeah."

"And even if he was missing something, he has four cute girlfriends taking notes for him in class! Man, I wish I was him." The military nut sat down at his desk next to Shinji's.

Shinji grinned. He had heard of Kensuke's lament before. Ranma was the envy of the whole male school population, him included, ever since it became clear the four new girls only had eyes for him.

"Aida!"

"Urk!" Kensuke turned around to face their class rep. "Uh, good morning, class rep. How may I help you?"

"Have you given Suzuhara his print outs liked how I asked you to?" Hikari asked sternly.

Kensuke sweat dropped. "Er... yeah! Of course I have." He replied while surreptitiously pushing the print outs in question deeper into his desk.

"Suzuhara? Who's that?" Shinji asked.

"Um, he's my best friend but he's been absent for more than two weeks now. Ever since that battle in the city."

Shinji flinched. "Oh. He didn't get hurt in the battle, did he?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't really know what happened to him."

"You call him your best friend and you don't know? What kind of a best friend are you?"

"Hey, it's not like that! Touji's a very private person and I respect his privacy." He sweat dropped some more as Shinji continued to look at him skeptically. "No. Really. Honest. Look, to prove it to you, why don't we visit..." The door sliding open stopped his clumsy explanation.

Touji strode into the room with a frown on his face. He sat down on his desktop.

"Hey, Touji! Long time, no see!"

"Yeah. Looks like the class population dropped a lot while I was gone."

"Yeah, you can't blame them after that battle. But our class got some new transfer students while you were gone."

"Oh?" Touji looked at Shinji for the first time. "Who's he?"

"He's Shinji Ikari, one of our new classmates. There's another guy but he's not here right now. We also have four new girls in the class and they're really cute." He indicated the gaggle of girls clustered in one corner of the room. "Too bad they only have eyes for Ranma."

"Ranma? Who's that?"

"The other new guy in our class. Another delinquent like you. Always late for class and never wears a uniform. Anyway, Shinji, this is Touji Suzuhara. Touji, meet Shinji Ikari."

"Uh, hi."

"Yo."

"So, what happened to you, Touji? You've been gone for more than two weeks. You weren't hurt in the battle, were you?"

"No, I wasn't but my little sister was. Hurt pretty bad. She's in the hospital right now. I had to watch over her or she'd be all alone since my father and grandfather can't leave their work in the lab. That's the reason I was absent." Touji replied. Thoughts of what happened to his sister making him angry.

"What happened?"

"She was crushed under some debris the damned robot knocked over! The idiot! How stupid can the pilot get? Damagin' our own city! Now my baby sister will never be a babe! If I ever meet the fuckin' moron I'm gonna knock some sense inta him!"

"Um, Touji?"

"What?" The bigger boy glared down at his friend.

"Uh, well..."

"I'm sorry."

"Huh? Did ya say somethin', new kid?"

"I said I'm sorry."

"What are ya sorry 'bout, new kid?"

"I, I was the pilot of the robot when your sister got hurt."

"Shinji! Are you nuts? Do you want to die?"

"Oh, are ya now?" Touji grabbed Shinji by the collar. "I think ya and I need ta talk." He dragged the unresisting Shinji out attracting the attention of their other classmates.

"Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, shit!"

"Aida! What's wrong?" Hikari asked.

"Shinji's gonna die!"

"What? That's not a nice joke, Aida."

"No, I'm serious! Touji's gonna kill him!" He went to Shampoo, the nearest one near him. "You have to find Ranma! He's the only who can stop Touji!"

"Calm down and tell us what happened!"

"No time! Just find Ranma and find us. I'll follow the two and try to stop Touji!" With that Kensuke ran out to follow the other two boys.

Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou looked at one another.

"I don't know what's going on but it sounds serious. Akane, Ukyou and I will look for Ranma. You and Kodachi follow Kensuke and see what you can do." The girls nodded and quickly ran out.

With nothing to do, the rest of the class soon followed.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Eh?" Ranma asked when he saw an unfamiliar boy pass by dragging Shinji along by the collar. He was whistling along the stairs on his way down from the roof towards his classroom when he saw the two pass by outside the window. He quirked an eyebrow when a panicked Kensuke followed and decided to see if there was any trouble.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Touji! What are you doing?" Kensuke shouted in alarm as his friend hit Shinji in the face. He tried to grab his friend's arm and got an elbow in the face for his effort.

"Stay outta this, Kensuke!"

"Have you gone crazy, Touji?" Kensuke tried to reason, ignoring the blood coming out of his split lip. "It's not Shinji's fault your sister got hurt in the battle, Touji!"

"I said stay the fuck outta this!" Touji snarled before turning back to Shinji. "Sorry, new kid, but I hafta beat ya up. Ya hurt my baby sister with your stupidity." He explained before kicking Shinji in the stomach.

"I'm sorry, Shinji. He's not usually like this. He's just really protective of his baby sister." Kensuke apologized from behind Touji. "Ranma!" He yelled in the hope the pig-tailed boy was within hearing distance.

"Ranma, what are you doing hiding behind here?" Akane asked when she spotted the boy peeking around a corner of the school building. "Com'on! Shinji might be in trouble! We have to find him!"

"Already found him." Ranma pointed around the corner. He looked back and saw their classmates coming to join them. "I'll handle this. Ya and Dachi keep the others away." He stepped out into the open just as Touji finished beating up Shinji and began to walk away.

"You don't have to apologize, Kensuke. I should have known something like this would happen. Story of my life. I didn't even pilot it by choice." Shinji muttered bitterly as he wiped the blood off his lips with the back of his hand.

Touji whirled around and lifted the smaller boy by the collar. "What was that, new kid? Are ya sayin' it's not your fault?" He cocked his fist to deliver another blow.

Ranma flicked the small pebble he had picked up.

SPLAT!

A look of surprise came over Touji's face. "Ow!" He dropped Shinji and clutched his forehead where the pebble impacted like a pellet from an airsoft rifle. "What the fuck hit me?"

"Touji!" Kensuke cried in alarm. He looked around and brightened when he saw Ranma. "Ranma! Thank God you're here! You've got to stop Touji!"

"Already am, Kensuke." Ranma replied as he stepped in between Shinji and Touji. "Ya okay, Shinji?" He asked over his shoulder while keeping an eye on the bigger boy.

"Never better." Shinji replied tonelessly as he sat up.

Ranma frowned at the sound of Shinji's voice. "Kensuke, ya help Shinji up and get out of the way."

"Uh, sure!" The freckled boy scrambled to comply. He went around his friend to pick up Shinji. The two of them went to where their classmates were watching.

"Who the fuck are you?" Touji spat.

Ranma stared impassively back. "Touji is it? Look, I know you're angry and ain't thinkin' straight right now 'cause someone ya really care 'bout got hurt but you're blamin' the wrong person here. If it wasn't for Shinji there, you, your baby sister, everyone here'd be dead. If ya gotta blame anyone, blame the Angel."

"Fuck you!"

"Somehow, I knew ya'd say that. Guess I'll hafta convince ya the hard way."

"Ranma, don't hurt him!"

"Don't worry, Akane, I don't intend ta."

"Akane! Dachi!" Hikari cried out as she looked worriedly at the coming fight. Worried for Touji. She'd already seen what the pig-tailed boy was physically capable of during gym class. "You've got to stop them!"

"It's better this way, Hikari, it'll be settled faster. That's just the way boys are especially like those two."

"But Touji...!"

"Don't worry. Ranma already promised he wouldn't hurt him."

"But..."

"Excuse me."

"Rei?"

"There is an alert. I am going back to the base."

"Now?"

"Yes, Pilot Tendou."

"Um, okay. We'll follow as soon as we can."

"I will go ahead."

Akane watched the light-blue haired girl leave passing Shampoo and Ukyou who were just coming.

"We couldn't find Airen."

"He's already here. And we have an alert."

"Ranma-sama! There is an alert!"

Ranma glanced back incredulously. "Now?"

"Yes!"

"Aw, shit!" He looked back at Touji. "Well, com'on then. I don't have much time. I'll give ya the first shot." He watched the other boy charge towards him. A split second later, Touji was lying on the ground, unconscious. The class never even saw Ranma move.

"Yo, Kensuke!"

"Yes?" The bespectacled boy ran up and looked down at his friend. "Um, what did you do to him? I don't see any bruises or injuries."

"I just tapped his sleep spot and not too hard either. He should wake up in 'bout half an hour. Ya and another one of our classmates over there help your friend here into the nearest shelter. When he wakes and he still wants ta fight, tell him we'll fight when the alert's over."

"Um, okay."

"Good. Now me, Shinji and the girls need ta get ta Nerv HQ."

xxxxxxxxxx

Touji slowly opened his eyes as consciousness returned to him. He blinked several times to let his eyes adjust to the bright flourescent lights overhead. He turned when he heard a voice to his left.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Touji."

"Kensuke?"

"Yeah."

Touji groggily sat up. "What happened? Where am I?"

"Ranma beat you, that's what happened and we're in a shelter."

"Suzuhara?"

Touji swiveled his head to the right. "Yo, class rep."

"Are you all right?"

"Just peachy." He did a double take when he saw the worried look on Hikari's face. "No, really, I am. Ya shouldn't worry 'bout me."

"I'm glad, Suzuhara. Well, I'll go back to the others now since you're okay." Hikari quickly turned and left before the two noticed the blush on her face.

"Um... thanks, I guess." Touji called out awkwardly, he wasn't used to getting that kind of attention from the class rep. She was usually on his case for something he did. He frowned when he remembered the fight. "How'd he beat me?" He asked his friend.

"Ranma said he just tapped your sleep spot, whatever that is. The nurse who examined you said there's nothing wrong with you."

"The bastard just got lucky! This fight isn't over yet!"

Whap!

Touji clutched the back of his head. "Ow! What d'ya do that for, Kensuke?"

"Because you're being an idiot, Touji."

Tohi grabbed Kensuke's shirt front. "Why you..."

"What? You're going to beat me up now also, Touji? You want to give me more than what you already gave me?" Kensuke accusingly pointed to the cut on his lip.

The bigger boy growled in his throat before letting go. He crossed his arms. "What?" He asked irritably when he felt his friend's gaze still on him.

"We've been friends for a long time now, Touji, but I have to say you were wrong beating up Shinji and you know it! I'll bet if your kid sister heard what you did, she'd chew you out and bop you upside the head to set you straight."

Touji simply growled again. Now that he had time to cool off and think things clearly he had to admit his friend was right. His sister would probably chew him out and bop him upside the head. He winced at that. That would be humiliating, more so because he deserved it. "Well, so?"

Kensuke grinned as he knew he had his friend now. "Come on, I need to take a leak."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Yo, Misato, doc Akagi, what's happenin'?" Ranma asked as he and the girls stepped into the Command Center wearing his black and red plug suit.

"We're just about to launch Shinji in Unit 01."

"Can we watch it from here?"

Misato nodded. "Sure. It'll probably be good for all of you to see the Eva in actual combat."

The teenagers quietly approached the two women standing behind the three operators. They took a quick glance behind them where Fuyutsuki stood alone before giving their attention to the monitors.

"Shinji, are you ready?"

"Yes." Shinji replied in that same toneless voice.

Ranma frowned behind Misato.

"First neutralize the enemy's AT field and then fire a volley." Ritsuko coached. "Do it just liked we practiced. Can you handle that, Shinji?"

"Yes." The voice might as well have come from a corpse.

"Misato, I don't think it's a good idea ta send Shinji out."

The Nerv captain and scientist turned and frowned at the sentence. "Why do you say that, Ranma?" Misato asked.

"Shinji just got in a fight in school. A classmate of ours was blamin' him for his baby sister gettin' hurt in the last battle and beat him up some. I don't think Shinji's right in the head right now."

The two women looked at one another.

"It's too late to do anything now, Ranma." Ritsuko answered. "The Angel's already in Tokyo-3 and it will take time to reprogram Unit 01 for you or Rei." As she spoke an explosion sent a shockwave into Nerv HQ. "Even then, I am not sure if you will be able to pilot it effectively at your present sync ratio and Rei is hardly in any condition to pilot, much less engage the Angel in combat."

"Ritsuko's right, Ranma. I don't like it but we don't have a choice as usual. We'll just have to hope for the best." Misato turned back to the waiting operators and gave the order. "Launch!"

Ranma gritted his teeth, his hands clenched tightly into fists. The girls looked worriedly at him. Standing around doing nothing was not what he joined up for.

"Are you okay, Ranma?"

"Just peachy, Akane."

"Perhaps it would be better if we do not observe the battle, Ranma-sama." Kodachi suggested quietly.

"No. I'll watch, Dachi. We have to watch this." It was said through tightly clenched teeth, the girls almost feeling his frustration like a physical force. They looked at one another and bit their lower lips in worry.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Shinji got fuckin' lucky and ya know it, Misato!" Ranma shouted in the woman's face. "Ya saw what I saw! Ya saw what happened! One second! Just one goddamned second more and Shinji would be dead! And probably along with all the rest of us!" They were in the gym where he had gone to vent his frustration at his helplessness. The loud noises he had made had attracted a large audience, some of whom had gaped at the bent machines and embedded steel barbell plates in the walls and floor before calling for Misato and Ritsuko.

"Ranma, calm down." Misato tried to reason while trying not to flinch at the intensity of the boy. Behind her stood Ritsuko, Maya, Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo and Ukyou. "We're all upset at what happened but it all turned out all right. We beat the Angel." Not that it would save the three boys presently being extracted from Unit 01 from getting a royal chewing out from her.

"How d'ya expect me ta calm down when I can only stand and watch and do nothin' while Shinji gets his ass handed ta him, huh, Misato? Ya asked for my help and I'm givin' it ta ya! Now give me an Eva ta help ya with!" He was fighting to keep his anger in check and not to take it out on the woman.

Ritsuko stepped in at that point. "Ranma, I understand how you feel but it's not that simple. And Misato is right. Being angry isn't going to help. You have to calm..."

"THEN GET ME A GODDAMNED EVA!" Ranma roared in Ritsuko's face in his commanding officer's voice, his frustration with his helplessness finally boiling over, and angrily flaring his battle aura to fill the whole gymnasium. It was a far more intimidating version of Soun's Demon Head Technique. Those within sight and sound would have run off to comply with the order were they not frozen where they stood like a mouse facing a cobra. "You're the one who told me what's gonna happen if we don't beat those things, doc, so give me somethin' ta beat 'em with!"

It took several moments for the always composed scientist to gather her wits. "Ra-ranma," Ritsuko cleared her dry throat, annoyed at the shaking of her voice from what she instinctively knew was fear. It was the first time she ever felt the emotion and it annoyed her even more to know a fourteen year old boy was the one to elicit it from her. She tried not to flinch under the intense glare of the younger looking person. "Ranma, we are already negotiating to acquire more Evangelions for you and the girls to pilot but it is not a simple matter. Please be patie..."

"THEN MAKE IT FUCKIN' SIMPLE!"

"We-we're doing everything we can, Ranma. I assure you of that."

Ranma eventually relented, satisfied he had made his point, and turned away from the head of Project E. "Three days, doc. When I come back in three days, ya'd better have an Eva for me ta use or I walk." He quickly strode out of the gym, Nerv personnel parting like the Red Sea before him.

"Come back? Come back from where? Where are you going, Ranma?" Ritsuko moved to follow but a restraining hand stopped her.

"Let him go, Dr. Akagi."

"Airen needs some time to cool off. He hates being helpless, Dr. Akagi."

"But..."

"Don't worry. If Ranchan says he'll be back in three days, he'll be back in three days. You should worry more about where you're going to get another Eva in three days, Dr. Akagi, 'cause if you don't, he's going to go look for something to fight the Angels with himself than stand around doing nothing but train."

Ritsuko looked around at the girls before sighing. "I see. Very well. I will trust your judgment on this."

In the Command Center, Fuyutsuki switched off the video monitor on the Commander's console.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Quite a day, huh, Misato?" Ritsuko said to her friend as the two sat in her office drinking coffee. They just finished most of their duties for the day.

"Yeah." Misato said tiredly. "Quite a bunch of pilots we have." She didn't want to admit it but she had been badly unnerved by the incident with Ranma in the gym. She had never seen such anger before. It also came as a shock to see the usually easy going boy so intense. The only consolation she had was that she wasn't the only one in that as she had clearly seen Ritsuko both badly shaken and shocked as well. And then she was emotionally drained when she had to reprimand an apathetic Shinji. One's angry enough to kill while the other doesn't give a damn if he gets killed or not.

Ritsuko barked a small laugh at that. "Yes. Quite a bunch indeed." She paused to sip from her cup. "How did your talk with Shinji go?"

Misato sighed. "Not good. I thought he was getting better but after what happened today... I don't know. He might be worse off now than after the first battle." She shrugged helplessly. And they say girls are supposed to be the moody ones.

"I suppose it would be worse to have your spirits raised and then crushed than not to have it raised at all. Being blamed and then beaten for something he was beginning to have some pride in must have affected Shinji rather badly." Ritsuko took another sip. "Were the girls able to talk to him?"

"Yes. Same result with me. He just said yes and nodded. Like he didn't care anymore. And with Ranma gone, I'm really worried about Shinji. I don't know how he'd react when he hears Ranma just suddenly left."

"Shinji might leave as well."

Misato sighed heavily. Great. Just great. "How about you? Where are you going to get another Eva in three days?"

"I'll... think of something. If we haven't acquired an Eva by then, I might allow Ranma to pilot Unit 00 if it's ready or 01 against the next Angel. I just hope that will satisfy him for the time being."

Misato grunted before standing up. "Wanna have a drink? I could use one." She invited her friend.

Ritsuko shook her head before smiling in resignation. Why not? I think I could use one as well. She stood up as well. "I think I'll take you up on that, Misato."

"Where's Maya?"

"I think she's still in the Command Center. Why? You're not thinking of inviting her to drink with us, are you?"

"Heck, no! We just might need a designated driver, that's all. It'll be pretty embarassing if Nerv Tokyo's Head of Project E and it's Operations Director got killed while driving under the influence."

Despite herself, Ritsuko laughed. "We're a sorry pair, Misato."

"Why do you say that?"

"We're two thirty year old women allowing two fourteen year old boys to drive them to drink."

If Misato wasn't so tired she would have bapped her friend upside the head.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Senator McDonald?"

"Yes? What is it, Wendy?"

"Dr. Sanders is here for his appointment, sir."

"Send him right in, Wendy."

"Yes, sir."

"What's this emergency meeting about, doctor?" The senator asked once the scientist was seated across him without preamble.

"The Japanese branch is making an urgent request. It is also very unusual."

"How urgent? How unusual?"

"They're asking us to release Units 03 and 04 to them. And they needed the answer yesterday."

The senator blinked. "Say again?"

"They're asking us to release Units 03 and 04 to them."

"They must be joking."

"No, sir. I have the request right here. It's from Dr. Akagi herself with approval from Commander Ikari." Dr. Sanders handed over a folder. The request arrived on his desk less than two hours before through secure channels.

The member of the US Senate frowned as he reached out to accept the folder. "They've got some nerve asking something like this. Did they say the reason why?" He opened the folder.

"It seems they suddenly have a surplus of pilots."

"Oh, really? How did that happen?"

"They didn't say but they did include some details on the new pilots. Their sync ratios range from twenty-four percent up to thirty-six percent. Much higher than our current best candidate at eight percent. They're all included with the request."

"Damn."

"That's what I said also, Senator." The scientist waited for the senator to peruse the documents. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the politician doing a double take. "Is something the matter, senator?"

"Um, nothing, doctor." The chairman for oversight committee on Nerv raised a sheet of paper. "I assume the information in here are accurate?"

"Those are the documents sent by the Tokyo branch, Senator."

"How soon do they need an answer?"

"You're not seriously considering their request, are you, Senator?" The head of Nerv North America asked in alarm.

"Tell me, doctor, in your honest opinion, what are the chances of our pilot candidates actually piloting our Evas?"

"But still...!"

"And without pilots, what good are the Evangelions?"

"You know the answer to that as well as I do, Senator."

"Yes, without pilots the Evangelions might as well be six inch action figures." The scientist bristled slightly at that but couldn't deny it. Well, not as long as the dummy plug system remains non-operational. "Do not worry, doctor, if I ever do agree, there will be strings attached. The decision will be in our country's best interest."

"Of course, senator."

"Tell Nerv Tokyo we'll give our decision in a few days. If their request is as urgent as they say, let them stew a bit so they'll be even more agreeable to our terms. It's not like they can get an Evangelion from the nearest seven-eleven."

"Yes, sir." The scientist rose, knowing the discussion was over and he was being dismissed.

When the door to his office was closed , Senator McDonald buzzed his secretary.

"Yes, Senator?"

"What's next on my schedule, Wendy?"

"Your schedule's clear until five, sir."

"Good. I don't want any interruptions until then."

"Yes, sir."

Once the connection was cut, the burly senator leaned back into his plush chair, staring intently at a photograph he held above him in his right hand. One by one he looked at the photographs of the new pilots. After several minutes, he placed the photographs back into the folder and dialed an outside line.

"Yo, Carl, it's me, Big Mac." He said once the other line was picked up.

"Hey! Long time, no hear! You haven't forgotten about your old buddies now, have you?"

"Of course not." Big Mac replied defensively.

"Good. We were starting to get the feeling you were beginning to think you're too good to hang out with us since becoming a senator."

"That'll never happen and you know it, Carl."

"Yeah, yeah. So what's on your mind, Big Mac?"

"Can you get the old team together again, Carl?"

"From Five?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, but why?"

"There's just something I need to ask you guys, something to confirm. Can we meet at the old place?"

"Sure. Give me a week to get the boys together."

"That's good. So, see you then?"

"Yeah. Oh, before you hang up. What's this I hear about budget cuts again? You know we can't do our jobs right with rubber bands and paper bullets."

Big Mac laughed. "Don't worry, Carl. I'll make sure that bill is deep sixed."

"Ah, yes. The perks of having a senator for a friend."

"Yeah, yeah. Just buy me a beer when we meet."

"Will do, senator."

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End Chapter Two

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Author's notes:

Well, here's chapter two. Finally out after six months. Hope you all like it like chapter one.

(1) Three guesses which anime I got the inspiration for Ranma's cosplay fetish.

(2) In the NGE manga (Book 5, Issue 2), it was mentioned in one of the notes that a nuclear weapon of unknown origin exploded in Old Tokyo one week (September 20, 2000) after Second Impact (September 13, 2000) killing half a million people. I don't remember it being mentioned in the anime.

Wonderbee, JetFlash, Bluedragon81

It's not sure yet if I'm going to make this into one future of "A Mother's Tale." I might if I can write it without giving away too much of "A Mother's Tale." And even if this will be one future, it won't affect "A Mother's Tale." It'll be the other way around.

About Kasumi and Nabiki, I'm not telling! You'll all have to wait to learn what happened to them and the rest of the Ranma cast.

dennisud,

Well, some of your questions have been answered here with hints to the others. I'll leave revealing the answers to future chapters.

MacrossVF1,

Well, Kodachi will play a major role here as well as the other girls. You'll just have to wait.

Ahye,

I don't know. I tried reading Sic Semper Morituri several times, before and after you mentioned it, and I never was able to get past the first chapter. I really don't know why. About Ranma's and Shampoo's Jusenkyo curses, well it's been explained here. They have some "control" over it due to the waterproof soap but it's a kludge at best. If they're not careful, the curses might trigger at the worst possible time.

Akuma-sama,

Of course no one is going to believe they're in their thirties. And it's going to work in their favor. For now anyway. Oh, your wish is granted. Ranma and company are staying with both Ritsuko and Maya. I'm sure yopu can imagine what might happen with that arrangement, can't you? What about Ranma's fear of cats? Why is it just down to really not like? Well, you'll just have to wait.

dennisud, Bluedragon81,

Well, Rei's learned a new trick care of Akane. What else is she going to learn? Let's leave that up to Ranma. About Asuka... Ranma + Asuka. You guys do the math.

James Hanson,

I'm glad you liked the first chapter. Hope you like the second as well. Yes, the aging mushrooms do exist in Ranma canon. Nifty plot device, aren't they? About your story ideas, I've been meaning to write to you about them, only I've always been sidetracked by one thing or another and I don't know if my comments and suggestions would be any good since I've never played DOA or read fanfiction about them. The most I've seen about DOA is from the Hentai Encyclopedia CD I downloaded over the internet. I'm sure that won't be much help. But if still want my help, sure, I'll see what I can do. 8)

siete,

Well, the Ranma here has a temper. I don't know if that'll be good enough for you, though.

Innortal,

Yes, there is a multiple relationship thing going on with the NWC. You'll learn more as we go along.

darkwoofe, Ne-oX1, Jerry Unipeg, otakufanatic, Zhuyou, dragon-game, MadHat886, Rubel, sandcrawlr,

I hope you liked this chapter as well. Thanks for the nice reviews. Just what my fragile ego needed.

Jace,

I don't think the bomb was set off in Tokyo-2 since Tokyo-2 is still around in the end.

With those out of the way, let's go to the teasers.

Here we see more tidbits about the remaining NWC's past and hints about what happened to the others. It answers some questions but raises others (or so I hope). For one thing, are the others really dead?

The Americans will be involved early. What part are they going to play? What Unit will they release to Tokyo-3? And yes, I am a fastfood junkie. Ah, fastfood, the greatest legacy of America. Also if you guys can give me more names of fastfood restaurants, I'd appreciate it since I'm running out of names to give to the American characters. It'll awkward to give them names like Pizza Hut or Burger King.

Where did Ranma go?

Will Asuka and Unit 2 be called to Tokyo-3? Will the two be needed at all?

Will Ranma get the girls pregnant? If he does, what will the consequences be? And what other costumes will he ask them to wear? Suggestions are welcome!

Ritsuko and Maya are living together. Oooooohhhhhh! Yuri lemon! Yuri lemon! Go get her, Maya!

Ritsuko is determined to prove she isn't frigid. Will Maya help? Will Gendo survive?

Ranma and Gendo has finally met face to face. Anti-climactic, wasn't it? Bwahahahahahaha! But don't worry, there'll be more meetings between the two.

Answers to those questions, serious or not, will come in the succeeding chapters.

Of course, comments and suggestions are always welcome. If I screwed up something, please tell me.

Lastly, thanks again to dennisud for pre-reading this. Your comments really helped.