The Last Grandmaster Chapter 5
Disclaimer, I own neither series.
Many thanks to James Axelrad and Nysk for their assistance with this fic.
Note: I've been doing continuous subtle rewrites of this fic, the previous chapters are still the same for the moment. I'm doing this mainly because I think some readers are reading too much into the back plot of the story so I am trying to taper it down a degree. Reviews are welcome.
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A few days later after the events of last chapter
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"Oh come on Misato…" Ranma groused irritably, "The doc told me I could use crutches."
"Not exactly she said that you could use them, she didn't say anything about you actually using them… Seeing that she also told you to take things easy… And since you don't like to listen to things concerning your health…" Misato rattled off as she continued to push the girl through the hall.
"But a wheel chair?" The redhead protested before grumbling out, "And did you have to chain me to it?"
"It's for the best." The purple haired woman answered easily.
"You know I can snap easily these chains… Right?" The redhead questioned while leveling a baneful glare down to her waist.
"True… But then you won't get any ice cream later…"
"I'll be good." Ranma supplied quietly while mentally cursing the woman for knowing one of her few weaknesses.
Glancing down at her charge with a victorious smile only to take note of the way the girl was sitting with her legs parted Misato sighed out, "Honestly Yoiko, sometimes you are such a boy." Leaning over her charge and gently pushing her thighs together she finished, "You don't want all the boys trying to look up your skirt do you?"
Blushing from the feel of the older woman's chest briefly brushing against her face Ranma grumbled, "Shouldn't be wearing a skirt in the first place…"
"Ah, but you look so pretty… Misato teased before adding as she leaned forward to wring the bell, "Besides I figured that it would be easier to slide that over your cast."
"Hey I can open the door from here. No sense in having someone else get it.' Ranma stated as she made a move for the handle.
"Nope, let Shinji or Rei open the door." Misato stated as she pulled the chair back earning an indigent squawk from her passenger.
"…" Ranma tried as the door swung open and she was greeted with a loud shout of surprise.
Grinning lightly at the sight before her Ranma offered, "You guys didn't really need to do this."
Pushing the redhead through the door Misato offered, "Yes we did, it's been too quiet round here without you to liven the place up." After pausing to swipe an offered beer from Shinji the woman added, "Now let's get his party started… YEEE-HAWW NOW THAT'S THE STUFF…"
"Wow talk about being a lush Misato… You just got here and you're drinking already." Ritsuko teased as she swooped in behind Ranma and began to wheel her further into the room.
"Hey, all work and no play makes for a bad day." Misato cheered as she disappeared into the kitchen for another beer.
Stopping in front of Rei and another girl from the redheads school Ritsuko took the bag hanging off the handles and asked, "Rei could you put this stuff away in Yoiko's room.
"I'll help…" Hikari offered relieving the woman of the medium sized bag. as she correctly assumed that the blond woman wanted to speak to the redhead for a minute. "Which room is it Rei?"
"This way." Rei motioned as she stoically tried to ignore the floppy party hat that Misato had made her wear.
"Well she seems to be opening up a little…" Ranma noted as she watched Rei lead the brunette down the hall.
"It seems that way doesn't it." Ritsuko noted curiously before coming around to face the seated girl to say, "I'm going to unlock the chain. The way I see it you have two options, you can take my advice as a medical specialist and take things easy for now, or you can continue to disregard your wellbeing and next time I will chain you up and lock you in the darkest dungeon I can find at Nerv until I am satisfied with your health."
Sweating at the intimidating glare being shot her way Ranma conceded, "I'll take your advice.
"Good… I'm glad you've decided to see things my way."
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Taking a look around the sparsely decorated room Hikari asked, "This is Yoiko's room? Seems kind of empty."
Pausing to take in the room Rei once again re-evaluated her orders. She had not been having much success in finding Yoiko doing anything of a really suspicious manner. After doing a lot of research she had decided that perhaps the reason why she wasn't having any luck was that she did not talk very often and as such could not garner the information the commander wanted. To that end after the class rep had decided to approach her regarding Yoiko's and Shinji's health Rei had decided attempt to befriend the girl thinking that perhaps the other girl with her more talkative nature could unknowingly assist her in her own goals.
To that end Rei answered, "Yoiko does not have many possessions."
"Oh…" Hikari stated diplomatically before cheerfully adding, "Perhaps when she gets out of the wheel chair we can go shopping or something." Spotting an empty fish bowl she added, "Does she like fish?"
Tracking the other girls gaze Rei frowned marginally and answered, "Yoiko has two fish, I will be right back."
"What a strange girl… Though I am glad to see her finally opening up a little, she's always been so quiet." Shrugging to herself the brunette began to dig through the bag and arrange its contents in the room.
"Plushy Panda… Set that on the bed… Stuffed pig… Next to the panda… Socks… I'll just set that on the dresser… Two cards… Next to the socks… Deflated balloons… night stand…"
Splash
Looking up Hikari saw Rei emptying the contents of a plastic bag into the fish bowl. Curios as to what the other girl was doing she moved in a little closer to see that the previously empty fish bowl now had two fish in it.
Not really feeling a need to explain her actions but realizing that if she wanted the other girls unknowing assistance then she should offer an explanation Rei supplied, "Yoiko's fish have been disappearing in her absence, Misato picked up several replacement fish and has been storing them in the hall closet."
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"Hey that smells pretty good." Ranma commented as she wheeled herself into the kitchen. "Who's cooking?"
"Out…" Misato commanded while pointing to the living room, "Shinji is, and dinner will be ready soon, so go find Rei and Hikari and ask Rei to set the table."
"I'll do it." Shinji stated as he began to rummage through the shelves to get everything ready.
Giving her friend an odd look Ritsuko commented, "You seem to have things well in hand. I would have never guessed that you were this good with kids."
Snorting in disbelief Misato returned, "Naw, when Shinji cooks I have to keep Yoiko out of the kitchen cause if I don't the food might not make it to the table. Haven't you ever seen the girl eat?"
Shaking her head the blond doctor replied, "No not really, just when I was in her room when meals were brought in… I guess she did sort of inhale it."
"That's putting it mildly." Misato stated back while giving a wave to Penpen and adding, "And you… Stay out of the fish bowl… I mean it or so help me no more beer for you."
"WAARK…" Penpen replied indignantly with a sniff as he made his way into his cooler.
"I heard that mister." Misato warned.
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A little later after dinner.
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"That was Really good Shinji." Ritsuko complemented easily before adding, "It's a definite change since last time I was over, instant ramen in beer."
"Hey, that was good stuff…" Misato defended.
Turning her attention to the redhead at the table Hikari asked, "Yoiko, Rei mentioned something at lunch today about you aggravating your injuries when you went to go look for Shinji?"
Still feeling embarrassed over his own decision to leave and then return Shinji bowed his head hoping to hide the flush of his cheeks.
Ritsuko looked before the brunette and then the redhead who seemed to be debating her answer. Having not yet received an answer from when she had asked the girl earlier that day she added, "You mentioned you used a secret technique and that it was supposed to be sealed or something."
"Yeah…" Ranma started out awkwardly with a tug to her pigtail, "It's a technique my grandfather came up with…"
"Right you mentioned that earlier, but why is it supposed to be sealed?"
Sweating a little bit from the curious looks she was getting Ranma finally relented, "Well originally, gramps, he well came up with them for stealing, and sealed them once he realized their full potential."
"But they're unsealed now?" Ritsuko prodded after glancing around the table and seeing the intent looks of interest upon the redhead.
"Uhhh… Not really, but I don't use any of them unless I think it's necessary, I was still sort of feeling that concussion when I used it so I probably won't be using that one again…"
Thinking that perhaps this information might be important Rei decided to ask, "How does probably infer that the technique will remain sealed."
Surprised at the fact that Rei was asking her that Ranma defended herself with, "Well… Some of the other sealed techniques have proven to be very effective in damaging the angels so far, so I really can't say that turning invisible won't help at some point. I know of a few other stealth techniques so it all depends on the battle."
"Yoiko? Might I ask a question, I don't mean to pry…"
Shrugging Ranma replied, "Hikari? I guess…"
"But did you say that your grandfather created techniques for the sole purpose of stealing?" Hikari blushed.
"Yeah…" Ranma replied, "I don't know what he was thinking back then but at least he wasn't like the grandmaster of the school."
"Ohhh… Do tell…" Misato pleaded wanting to know why her grandfather not being like the grandmaster of their art was a good thing."
"The letch created a lot of his techniques to make stealing girls underwear easier."
Snickering Misato shouted out, "Wait so the grandmaster of your school was a panty thief?"
"How… I mean what possible techniques are there that could possibly be used for that?" Ritsuko wondered out loud.
"More than what you would think." Ranma stated before continuing, "The technique that I was working on with the fish, originally was used to drain the angry ki from nurses at a hospital. And there's other techniques that go along with it but then there's several techniques that the letch would use to steal them off of the women wearing them…"
"Yoiko is this guy still around?" Ritsuko asked noticing that the girl seemed to have a small amount of personal venom leaking into her words.
"Not that I know of… He just used to always harass my mother and she would tell me stories… Still makes me angry…" Ranma muttered, remembering just how often the letch would seek her out just to cop a feel.
"Enough of about that…" Misato slurred slightly, "How was he taking them off the girls wearing them… Was he like…"
Shaking her head the redhead almost wanted to deny it outright but found herself saying, "Sort of, he was mostly harmless… Well not harmless, more irritating… But he basically limited himself to groping and stuff."
"Yeah but… How did he do it, it just seems that there's really only one way to do it and that's… well…" Ritsuko leaded wanting to know where the conversation would go.
"You really want to know?" Ranma asked as her shoulders slumped in defeat, "Cause I can show you if you really want to see."
"As long as it's nothing too explicit and Shinji-kun can watch…" Misato teased while batting her eyes at the sole physically male in the room.
"Fine…" the redhead finally conceded before adding, "Remember you all asked me to show you so no calling me a pervert… " Looking over at the purple haired women next to her she added, "And I really can't do this to myself, So I sort of need a volunteer."
"Yeah yeah…" Misato waved off, "Go ahead and show us this technique."
Flushing a deep scarlet Ranma shakily reached out with her hands before frowning in concentration to keep them still.
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Shinji's eye's nearly bogged out of his head while he watched Yoiko shamelessly and blatantly fondle his guardians breasts. Despite being transfixed by the motions the boy colored in embarrassment for his guardian, this was compounded with a face palm as he witnessed what happened once Yoiko withdrew her hands.
Slightly buzzed from drinking Misato's own cheeks colored in embarrassment and slight arousal as the smaller girls hands gently massaged and kneaded her breasts. Only for her eyes to widen in disbelief when she felt the hands withdrawal leaving her chest in their natural position. Unable to believe it despite knowing it to be true the woman looked down while holding her top away' from herself and exclaimed, "Wow… That is some hell of a party trick you got there kiddo!"
Holding the older woman's bra in her hand Ranma replied uncomfortably, "My mother said he was a lot rougher and would use a couple of pressure points in there… To maximize… Well… That's pretty much the technique."
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"I'll call you tomorrow Rei, maybe we can all do something." Hikari suggested warmly as she hugged the girl good bye.
Stepping in to the conversation Misato reminded, "Rei has an activation test tomorrow with her Eva so she might be busy."
"Oh…" Hikari blushed before adding, "Well good luck with that then and call me if you get done early." Seeing the girl nod at her the brunette then turned her attention to the chair bound redhead and stated, "And you Yoiko, you take care of yourself okay, we don't want you falling behind any further than what you already are in your school work."
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Wheeling into her bedroom Ranma paused and hit the lights to look around, for a brief second when she came in she could have sworn that she heard the scurrying of little feet. At first she didn't see anything out of place, everything seemed to be where it was the last time she entered. "Deflated balloons on the nightstand… check… plushy panda on bed… check… stuffed pig next to panda… check… realistic looking penguin in-between stuffed animals… check… one fish swimming in bowl…"
"Wait a sec…" Ranma thought to herself, "Did that penguin have a fin sticking out of its mouth…"
"Oh here you are." Misato interrupted unknowingly aiding her good friend in his endeavors to remain hidden.
"Oh hey Misato. I tried to help clean up but Shinji wouldn't let me and Rei pushed me into the hall before telling me that my 'presence was not required."
"That's fine, they know that you are supposed to be taking things easy."
"Yeah but…"
Shrugging the older woman replied, "If it helps just think of yourself as our little princess until I tell you otherwise." Concerned over the loud gagging noises coming from Yoiko Misato asked, "Are you okay?"
"No I'm fine…" Ranma stammered out nervously as she continued to mentally choke on the idea of being a princess.
"Okay then, well I guess its bath time then… "Misato said before switching to a faux British accent and adding, "My lady… The bath has been drawn and your handmaiden awaits."
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"Rei?" Shinji started while drying a glass.
"Yes Shinji?"
"Your sync test tomorrow are you scared?" Trying to clarify himself the male teen added, "You know, because of what happened last time with you getting hurt."
"I have faith in the commander…" After pausing to consider her next words Rei added, "Don't you?"
Shaking his head Shinji replied, "I… No…" the boy stated after a moment's consideration, "I don't think I ever will… I don't trust him, the only reason he even sent for me was because he had a use for me, not that he wanted me."
Rei paused, her first reaction was to smack Shinji seeing that she held an obviously higher opinion for the commander than what he did. However she also had to consider her orders, given that Yoiko was friendly with Shinji hitting him could have unforeseen consequences. Turning away to leave the room she chose instead to offer, "Perhaps you do not know the commander as well as you think."
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Later that night
Ranma lay in her bed wishing that she could sleep but the events in the bathroom with Misato had her distracted on many different levels. First and foremost on her mind was the realization that whatever was going on with her and leaving her without the abilities to tell certain truths seemed to have worked their way into at least some of her reactions.
At first she hadn't really thought that there was anything wrong, that Misato was just wheeling her into the washroom so she could wash herself. Then upon the command of strip by the older woman when Ranma herself had tried to resist she had instead found herself caving into the request. Sure she had been outright refusing mentally, and although she had managed a few spoken refusals they had been only token ones, something one would expect to come from a solely independent person being put in that type of position.
So much to her inner horror she had eventually stripped but that hadn't been the end of it. No once she had her clothes off the older woman had taken hers off as well. And while Ranma had tried to squeeze her eyes shut and look away lest she be accused of being perverted or something she had found herself looking. Not the usual flat footed blood is about to erupt out of my nose look the pigtailed current girl had become accustomed to from her time in Nerima but more of a shy demure look that spoke very softly of the sheer amount of awkwardness she had actually felt.
An awkwardness that was only made worse as she was gently moved from her chair and onto a washing stool by an equally naked apparently naturally purple haired bombshell whose hands then began to softy stoke her back in an effort to relieve some of the massive amounts of pent up frustrations the redhead had begun to feel.
The worst part was though now that it was over Ranma couldn't get the picture of a nude Misato standing over her or the soft gentle hands of the older woman as she pampered her. So while the initial experience had been somewhat mentally terrifying the memory afterwards was bringing other strange emotions into play. Emotions that were sending a weird tingling down her spine, making her heart flutter, and filling her with a need that she would have steadfastly ignored back in Nerima.
But she wasn't in Nerima. And the longer she thought about that night's later events the stronger the need became until she just couldn't resist anymore and allowed her hands to begin their own exploration of her own body.
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Several hours later
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Genma slowly crept through the halls carefully smothered within the wraps of the Umisenken as he looked for his child's room while keeping a mental clock running of just how much time he had. It had been almost too easy to get into the apartment as it seemed that the sliding doors on the balcony were kept unlocked, but then again as it was not on the ground floor no one probably saw that much of a need to keep it locked. However to a Panda of Genma's skills, locked or not that would have never been that much of an issue.
The main problem at the moment for the aged Panda was how much time he had before someone noticed that he had left his post and thus potentially interfere with what he was about to do.
"I have maybe another day or so before the others decide that I need to be brought back tightly into their grasp." Genma considered as he slowly slid open a door to reveal his current daughter sleeping peacefully on the bed. Sliding the door closed behind him as he dropped his technique the greying panda slowly approached the bed taking only a brief moment to silently reflect on his own failings before spotting the panda plushy.
"I know the old biddy suspects something, but for some reason I think most of us are in the same boat. Whatever they did to Ranma they did to all of us, Nodoka Soun, Konatsu, even the old biddy... I think the only reason why I'm able to fight it off if just barely is because I'm not human anymore. The other Amazons… Shampoo and Mouse… They're still asleep I'm not even sure that they were ever woken up, and after that first Angel battle they put Ryoga back to sleep…" Sighing as he made his preparations he added, "I just hope this helps… I'm too useful right now, but that can change real fast. I don't know when I'll get another chance or even if I'll get another chance…"
Scooping the stuffed panda off of the floor with his paw Genma took another moment to just stare at the plushy while channeling his ki and imprinting a multitude of emotions into it. Once he was satisfied with the results he took his free paw and reached out to gently wake his slumbering child.
Slowly with a sigh of regret Ranma returned to the land of the waking, she had been having a rather pleasant dream. For a while she had been back in Nerima sparring with her father, being a guy, and going off to college with Misato.
"Wait… That's not right. I went to school with Akane…" The current redhead thought as she stretched before moaning softly after having snaked one hand under her blanket, "Still though, it was nice, kissing Misato in the park in-between classes, right where I used to meet Akane."
Turning his head at his current daughters actions Genma let out a very light growl in an attempt to garner his progenies attention before she started to do something to make the situation awkward.
Jerking her hand back from its current course Ranma's eyes shot open as she realized that she wasn't alone, "Mr. Pan!"
/Quiet boy/ Genma signed as he dropped the plushy in favor of stuffing his paw over his sons face before she could finish what she was about to say, /You don't want to wake the others/
"Pops… What's he doing here? Is he going to tell me what's going on?" Ranma thought to herself while she waited for the panda to move its paw.
Seeing that he had Ranma's attention and that she wasn't making an effort to swat away his paw to yell at him Genma signed, /I don't have much time, the others will notice I'm gone soon/
Rolling her eyes while she motioned towards the paw covering her mouth Ranma settled into a annoyed glare.
/Right/ Genma began as he withdrew his paw, /As I was saying/
"You don't have a lot of time…" Ranma whispered with a heated glare, "Can you at least tell me what the hell is going on? Or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"
/What is your name?/
"Dammit Mr. Panda… Tell me what's going on!"
/Just answer the question/
Clenching her hands into fists Ranma growled out, "Fine… Yoiko Saotome…"
/Who am I?/
"Mr. Panda…" The redhead answered gritting her teeth while slinging both legs off of the bed.
/Good/ Genma signed, /You can still get angry at me. Do you trust me?/
"Of course I trust you…" Ranma muttered only to realize that she meant to say that she currently only trusted the panda as far as what Chibi Hinako could throw him.
/I want you to try something/ Genma replied as he tossed the ki filled plushy at his current daughter, /hold that/
Angry and frustrated over her limited ability to communicate she replied, "I don't need some stupid toy. I need answers…"
/Hold onto the toy and tell me what your name is/
"Fine…" Came the muttered reply, "I don't see how this is going to change anything. My name is…" Ranma started only to trail off as she noticed the panda holding another sign, "Ranma Saotome." Blinking in slight shock over being able to correctly state her name the redhead stated again, "My name is Ranma Saotome… I am Ranma Saotome! The sign say's my name is Ranma… What's going on?"
/Boy they did something to all of us/
Flip
/Put the toy down and try again/
Setting the toy down with a nod of her head the current teen replied, "My name is Yoiko Saotome… Dammit…"
/Again with the Toy/ Genma signed while holding the sign with his child's name on it behind his back.
"My name is…"
/fight it boy/
"Y… Y… Ranma…"
/So it can be broken/ Genma sighed in relief before continuing /It'll take time but if you stay away from the others you should be able to break out from underneath them/
Flip
/Don't trust any of us/
Staring down at the plushy panda in amazement Ranma replied, "I don't understand?"
/I don't either./
Flip
/I just know that when they woke me up something was different/
Flip
/I couldn't even bring myself to warn you before/
"But… Now?" Ranma tried as she looked back down at the bear, "What's so special about this plushie?"
/It's a Ki attack/ Genma replied with a sign, /Think of it as a more advanced form of the Hells Cradle./
"How is this going to help though? It's not like I'm some little kid and can carry some stuffed animal around?" Ranma asked as she stared down at the panda in her arms while trying to focus on the small slivers of ki that she could now sense coming off of it.
Holding out a blue notebook with a panda on the cover Genma signed back, /With this./
"You want me to keep a Dairy?" The redhead asked as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
/It's a journal/
Flip
/And it's the only way that I can think of to keep you separate from what they did/
Flip
/focus on the truth and write it down/
Flip
/Don't let anyone see it/
Flip
/Keep the journal on you at all times, don't let it out of your sight/ Genma signed quickly as he sensed someone else in the apartment waking up.
Feeling that her father was about to bolt Ranma asked, "Wait! This Ki attack? What is it? Maybe I can duplicate it."
Shaking his head as he took another step back Genma added, /It's everything I want for you/
Flip
/My pride/
Flip
/My faith./
Flip
/My desire to protect you/
Flip
/Someone's coming, I have to go now. I love you son./
Flip
/Next time you see me don't trust me./
Hearing the padding of feet coming down the hall the aged panda took a step back towards the door and once again called upon the full technique of the Umisenken to fade from view just in time for the door to slide open.
"Yoiko? I heard voices. Is everything alright?" Misato asked tiredly as she stepped into the room before feeling something brush up against her.
"Huh? Yeah…" Ranma muttered morosely to herself as her fathers parting words filtered through her, "Sorry, was just talking to Mr Panda… Didn't mean to wake you."
Putting off the feeling of someone else brushing against her as her just being tired Misato sighed at the depressed look radiating from the usually vibrant girl before sliding the door shut and approaching the bed. Plopping herself down next to the redhead and wrapping her arm around her she said, "You can talk to me… If you want."
"I know… I'm just confused and tired… I just need some time to think…" The redhead replied wearily as she hugged the bear tightly against herself before leaning into the older woman.
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Nerv the next day
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"Good luck Rei." Ranma cheered as she watched the girl get loaded into the entry plug of Unit 00.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Shinji asked Misato in concern.
"Yeah… Probably…" Misato replied unsurely, "Ritsuko's been working on it, but there's a lot of things about the Eva's that we don't understand."
"Really?" Ranma asked with only a faint blush showing on her face that had started showing up whenever she looked at the older woman from having woken up spooned alongside her, "Didn't you guys build them? How can you not understand how something works when you put it together?"
"Uhhh… Actually that's a really good question." Misato answered, "But I have no clue, you'd have to ask Ritsuko that. All I know is that they are Bio mechanical androids… I think, well I know the specs of them to a certain point so I can do my job but a lot of the information is classified beyond my clearance."
"Oh…" Ranma stated dubiously as she watched Rei's entry plug be inserted into the Eva.
"You know what…" The Nerv Captain started, "This window is really only good for watching, we should probably head on over to the control room so you guys can get a firsthand look at what goes on in the booth."
"Is my father going to be in there?" Shinji questioned unsurely, "I'm not sure…"
"Yeah… You're right… Besides we got a nice view right here." Misato said while mentally cursing herself for forgetting about the problems Shinji apparently had with his father. Switching the subject slightly she turned to the still seated pigtailed girl and asked, "Don't you agree?"
"Huh… right… wait…what… I wasn't looking…" Ranma denied uncomfortably while simultaneously tearing her gaze away from Misato to look back out the window while she listened to speakers giving her a play by play of Rei's activation test that was signified by Ritsuko coming over the loudspeaker and ordering, "Connect the main power supply."
"Main power engaged, voltage reaching critical point."
"Hey Misato, Who said that?" Ranma asked over the brief moment of silence in between orders before hearing the doctor speak again with, "Roger. Move the format to Phase II."
"Oh that was just Maya."
"Connect the pilot with Unit Zero."
"And that was Shigeru Aoba, you might not have met them yet." Misato added before being cut off by Maya with, "Open the circuits… The conditions of the pulses and harmonics are good… "
"There are no problems with synchronization. All nerve links are completed. Nerve center devices are operational… Recalculation shows no error modifications." The male voice from earlier stated.
"So does that mean everything is okay?" Ranma asked as she peered at the still Eva on the other side of the window.
"Not quite, but things are looking good right about now." as if to confirm her point Maya's voice once again came over the speakers to report, "Checked. Up to 2590 on the list satisfied. Until the absolute critical line, 2.5, 1.7, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and rising! Borderline cleared…. Unit Zero has activated."
"Now everything is good." Misato stated, "Rei just synced with her Eva."
"Oh…" Ranma stated unsurely, "Well that seemed anticlimactic…"
"Unidentified object is approaching, scanning now… Confirmation it is the fifth Angel."
"Stupid thoughts jinxing me…" Ranma mentally ranted before asking, "Fifth Angel?"
"Shinji, Yoiko come with me." Misato called as she took off towards the control room while calling over her shoulder, "Yeah you fought the third and fourth angels Yoiko."
Turning to Shinji as she wheeled herself along Ranma asked, "Did you fight the first two then?"
"Uh… No… Second impact was caused by an Angel." Shinji answered as he came to a stop.
"Wait what?" Ranma said as her tires skidded to a halt.
"They didn't tell you?" Shinji asked.
"First I'm hearing of this…" Ranma stated suddenly wishing she had been a lot more lucid when she had met her father.
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"Shinji… There you are, you need to go get into your plug suit to meet the angel." Misato urged as she ran back towards them, "Yoiko, come with me."
"Misato?" Shinji asked
Coming to a stop in front of the boy the older woman leaned down to where she was eye level with the teen to say, "Rei isn't ready to go out there and we really need you to do this."
Shinji nodded in understanding, he didn't want to do it but at the same time he knew he had to do it.
Seeing that Shinji was off on his way Misato turned to the girl in the wheel chair and said, "You're coming with me."
"You know I don't need to go to the infirmary to get this cast off right?"
"Yoiko…" Misato tried, "You're not going out there this time."
"What? Why not?" Ranma questioned clearly not happy with the decision.
"Your leg is still broken and you still need to finish recovering from the other injuries caused by the last angel." Misato fired back irritably.
"And you guys are going to send Shinji out there all alone. I can heal later. This is important."
"I don't have time to argue with you on this, but you promised not to engage an Angel until you were cleared by Ritsuko… Or did you forget?" Misato fired back before turning back to the central dogma, "Now you can either come with me or stay here but you are not going out there."
Grumbling at being forced to sit on the sidelines the redhead caved into Misato's orders.
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"Launch unit one."
"Unit one launched."
"Good, now Shinji…" Misato started
"High-energy reaction detected inside the target!" Aoba called out in alarm.
"What?" Misato stated in horror as the Catapult finished transporting the Eva to the surface, "Shinji move… Duck…"
"Shinji…" Ranma echoed as the boys screams of pain sounded over the comm.,
"Retract unit one now…" Misato called out while racing out of the room.
Worried for the wellbeing of her roommate Ranma rolled after the woman, listening as Misato continued to bark orders from over her shoulder.
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"Shinji is going to be okay." Ranma muttered to herself while watching Misato working with her team in an attempt to figure out the angels exact capabilities. She would have stayed in the infirmary to keep an eye on the poor boy but he wasn't due to be up for a few more hours and until then she had the choice of sitting in the infirmary and be angry or go with Misato and watch her as she tried to find a means to bring the angel down.
Of course to the pigtailed Martial artist the solution was rather simple, just take her cast off and send her on her way. But Misato would not allow it and the only reason she hadn't snuck out on her own was that she wanted to know more about the angel.
Shaking her head as another drone was destroyed Misato leaned back inter seat and said, "It's almost perfect both offensively and defensively. It fires with its cannon the moment a threat comes into view and it's AT field is just too strong to take out without doing more damage to us than it.
Ranma stared at the monitor in disbelief, Nothing was perfect and there was always a way to win, sometimes it just took a while to figure it out. The thing didn't even look that menacing to Ranma as she just thought it looked like a box sitting on its corner with a long drill coming out of it.
Shaking her head at thinking her plan wouldn't work but still feeling a need to find out Ranma asked, "Misato?"
"I'm Kind of busy at the moment, Yoiko." The woman replied as she stared at the monitors looking for an answer.
"That's fine… I just have a quick question."
"No I'm not sending you out there yet. Maybe later if Shinji doesn't wake up, but not now."
"That's not it actually," Ranma started, "I was just wondering on if the underside of the angel where the drill is coming down is covered by the AT field? And what the minimum distance from its base that the angel can fire unto?"
Furrowing her brow in thought the Nerv tactical officer asked, "Do we have that data?"
Looking up from his terminal Shiguru stated, "According to the data we have the underbelly is vulnerable but the minimum range of the Angels particle accelerator cannon is unknown. We can try to extrapolate it from the Angels overall shape and elevation but there'd be no telling how accurate the estimation would be."
Frowning Misato stated, "So the underbelly is vulnerable… That really doesn't change anything though, we still can't get close to the angel on the surface… there's no launch tubes… Makoto pull up a grid of the cites maintenance tunnels and sewer lines and tell me if any of the tunnels are large enough to accommodate a medium sized transport vehicle."
"Captain, there are two tunnels that dip within the estimated minimum range of the Angels weapon."
"Misato, if the underbelly of that thing is vulnerable I can go through one of the tunnels and take it out with a revised Hyru Shoten ha like I did with the last Angel… Or at least keep it distracted long enough for a Eva to be able close in on it."
"Yoiko we already covered this you're not going out there…"
"But…"
"No buts…" Misato stated as she considered the redhead, "I think I have something but I'm going to need to run it by the Magi first. What's the ETA on the angels drill breaching the Geofront?"
"A little over ten hours."
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Commander Ikari's office.
"A multi-tier attack while sending up decoys to distract the angel with the primary attack using a high energy convergence unit gives us the best odds at defeating the angel."
"And the Magi?" Gendo asked.
"All three agree and give it a 47 percent chance of success." Fuyutsuki stated while glancing down at a more detailed version of the plan.
"And what of the fourth child?"
Blinking as she wasn't sure what the man meant Misato stated, "Pilot Saotome is still recovering from injuries and will not be participating in this attack."
"I see, you may proceed with the plan Captain, you are dismissed."
"Yes sir…" Misato offered with a salute before heading back to central dogma to put the plan in motion.
Once the woman was gone Fuyutsuki turned to his former student and stated, "Even with the fourth child not actively involved in the assault the success percentages of the plan are only increased due to the Evangelions having extra support."
"True." Gendo nodded, "However there is a difference in this operation as our Eva's will be the deciding factors and be the ones that deal out the final finishing blow on the angel. Even if it is not our weapon it will still be wielded by our hands."
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Thunk… thunk… thunk… thunk…
Cracking his eyes open with a wince of pain from the headache he could hear pounding away in his skull Shinji muttered, "What happened?"
"Ah good you're awake… Hey Rei, Shinji's up hurry up with the food would you!"
"Yoiko?"
"Yeah, hey there. How're you feeling?" Ranma asked as she slipped a small rubber ball into a side pocket of her chair and wheeled herself over.
"You were aware that I was just retrieving the food from the hallway?" Rei asked as she pushed a cart into the room.
"Yeah but Shinji's probably starving so I figured that I would let you know."
"Actually, I really don't feel like eating now." Shinji muttered as he made an effort to sit up.
"You sure?" Ranma asked eyeing the plate of food, "I mean yeah its hospital food and all but eating something might make you feel better."
Shaking his head negatively while pushing away the plate Shinji affirmed, "No thanks…" Noticing the redhead eyeing the plate he added, "You can have it if you want, it'd just go to waste otherwise.
"Thanks' Shinji, I'm starved…" Ranma chirped happily as she left her chair to sit on the bed so she could reach the tray better.
"I have been instructed to give you this." Rei stated setting down a new plug suit down on Shinji's lap, we will be leaving in sixty minutes to prepare."
Noticing a scowl on the redheads face Shinji asked, "Yoiko? What's wrong?"
"They shouldn't be sending you out there." The girl ranted, "I should be out there, but they won't even let me try to sync until after my leg heals."
He had been about to say something about wishing she could go out there instead of him too when he remembered the conversation they had at the train station. He knew she didn't like pain either and that she had suffered greatly in the two previous battles and despite that she still wanted to go out there again and face this new angel. "I wish I was as brave as you Yoiko."
"You're doing fine Shinji…" Ranma said as she shifted positions on the bed so she could lean and ruffle the boy's hair, "I've been dealing with stuff like this a bit longer than you have that's all."
Shinji just nodded dumbly, normally he might have been able to make a reply but the shorter girl was still leaning in, having moved her hand to his shoulder leaving him with a spectacular view of the girls assets as they peeked at him from beneath her tight tank top.
"I would like to hear about some of this stuff." Rei inquired as she realized that there could be some valuable intel in the girls past if she had been in similar positions before.
"Some other time." Ranma deflected automatically while twisting to the side, parting her legs just slightly.
Suddenly aware of a potential awkward situation arising as he tried not to look up Yoiko's skirt, Shinji shuffled the unopened plug suit onto his lap while asking, "Could you guys give me a min or two so I can get changed."
"Yeah sure. . We'll be in the hall; Rei's been helping me with this new technique where I make a ki barrier like what the angels have. Doctor Akagi asked me if I could emulate it last night but I need someone to throw stuff at me to see if I can get it to work. Though it would probably work better if they were at least bladed weapons." Ranma awkwardly rattled off as she hopped off the bed after realizing why Shinji had moved his plug suit.
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Nerv briefing room
121
"Okay, Shinji, Rei… Listen up. At 12:06 the Angel will have breached the final layer of the Geofronts armor. We currently have about five hours left. Eva-01's armor has been repaired and we currently moving onto the final stages of the plan." Misato paused before bringing up a overhead map of Tokyo 3, "This is the Angel's position here. These two highlighted sections beneath the angel are maintenance tunnels that we will be using to spearhead our attack. At 12:04 we will detonate a series of small explosions that will expose the tunnels to the Angel, by 12:05 two modified Eva sized weapons, one special positron cannon and one pallet rifle will be moved into positron under the Angel and begin firing remotely."
Pausing to move on to a broader map of Tokyo-3 Misato continued, "At the same time we will begin launching Eva mock ups from the catapults in an effort to distract the angel from the real threat."
Bringing up a zoomed out map of Tokyo-3 and the surrounding countryside Misato pointed to a red x and started, "This is Mt. Futagoyama and will serve as our Snipers nest. Using a automatic positron cannon on loan from the JSSDF Unit 01 will begin preparations to fire with Unit 00 on standby with shield that our technicians have estimated will be capable of blocking the angels beam weapon for 17 seconds."
Shutting down the display Misato leaned onto the table and continued, "We don't know how long the Angel can sustain his beam or how long it takes for it to switch from target to target. Hopefully we will be able to keep it distracted but if we can't then you need to be ready to step in and keep Shinji covered until the positron cannon is charged and Shinji can take the shot."
"Misato?" Shinji asked as he nervously raised his hand.
"Yes Shinji…"
"Shouldn't I be the shield and Rei operate the cannon?"
From her position in the corner Ritsuko piped in, "Operating the automatic positron cannon requires a lot of precision, due to your higher sync level you need to be the one to take the shot,"
"But I've never done anything like this before…" Shinji started.
"It's fairly simple to operate. All you really need to do is line up the shot and get a lock on the target once you do that the computers will do the rest of the work."
"Now Shinji…" Misato started, "Because of the energy output demands to penetrate the Angels AT field we are going to be taking all the power from across Japan and putting it at your fingertips… Read the cannons manual, ask any questions and when the time comes stay calm, this is our best chance to defeat the Angel." Pausing to look around the assembled group she then added, "Any questions?" Not seeing any hands raised Misato nodded and finished, "Good, go get changed we will be moving into position shortly.
"Misato?" Do you have a minute?" Ranma asked once Shinji and Rei had left the briefing room.
Glancing down at her watch Nerv's Chief tactical officer nodded, "A few minutes… What's up?"
Frowning as she glanced down at her hands the redhead started, "I really don't see why you guy's couldn't have tried to put me out there. At the least you know that I can take a lot more punishment that Rei. I'm not saying that piloting an Eva is simple or anything like that cause I have no idea what it's like but if all I needed to do is get in front of an energy blast and hold a shield I know I can do that."
"Yoiko, why is this so important to you?"
Shaking her head Ranma tried to put her thoughts into words, "I would rather it be me out there instead of Rei and Shinji, they're just kids… I've been training nearly my whole life… Sitting around like this… When others are out there fighting…"
"Yoiko…" Ritsuko stated as she stepped into the conversation, "Sometimes you have to let others fight in your stead. Like it or not. Your broken leg would interfere with your sync ratio and the output of the angels beam cannon is too high for even you, one little misstep and you'd be vaporized and in your current condition there would be a very high possibility of that happening."
Chewing on her lip Misato considered her words carefully, before Ritsuko had stepped in she had been about to call Yoiko a kid too but despite her physical age Misato knew better. She knew that despite her physical age the girl probably had a better head on her shoulders than a lot of older kids. Squatting down to be eye level with the teen the woman confessed, "Yoiko, Ritsuko's right, sometimes you can't fight…" Leaning forward and offering the redhead a smile she added, "Besides it's not like you didn't contribute. Originally I was thinking about just having Rei as the shield and Shinji with the laser. But thanks to you asking questions when we were analyzing the angels capabilities I added the distractions to the plan and increased our probability of success by over 36 percent."
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On the other side of the door
121
Rei listened intently from the other side of the door. She wasn't completely sure as to how relevant the information was but she was sure that it was valuable insight into Yoiko's personality. Turning away from the doorway so she wouldn't be caught ease dropping the blue haired girl couldn't help but feel something akin to the faith that she held in the commander for the redhead. After all if the other girl's mere presence and questions had led to a 36 percent increase in the mission outcome being a success, then that was a good thing.
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Mt. Futagoyama 12:00:34
"Okay people, we only get one shot at this so let's do it right. Start first connection."
Looking down to double check her readings Maya replied, "First through 80th tank, starting power transfer. "
After flipping through a series of readings Makoto added, "Voltage up. Powering up the water exchange unit. All cooling systems at full power… Temperature stable."
Looking up from his screen Shigeru added, "Positron charge is nominal."
Misato, "Time is 12:03, start second connection. And prepared to detonate shafts."
"Starting all accelerators. All power supplies to the submission station on Mt. Futagoyama."
Nodding Misato commanded, "Detonate tunnels in 5... 4.… 3.… Detonate now."
"Shafts detonating, moving weapons to engage target." Makoto supplied.
"Release all final safety systems, begin firing secondary weapons and begin sending up catapults 4,7, 13, 14, 18. Three second delay between launches…"
"The angel is taking fire within the AT field, no response from target." Lt. Aoba called out…"
Speaking directly into his mic to Shinji Makoto rattled off, "Adjustment for the gravity field and revolution of the Earth is minus 0.0009. 0.2 to the critical voltage."
"Ma'am…" Shigeru called out, "Getting a reaction out of the Angel, it has begun charging… It's firing, Catapult 7 has taken light damage Balloon has been vaporized, the Angel is charging again, Catapult 4 has been damaged… Sensors show that the angel's charging rate is being affected by the secondary weapons fire… Ma'am the diversion is working… The angel is targeting the decoys…"
Nodding Misato commanded, "All energy to the positron rifle... Shinji prepare to fire in 3... 2... 1... Fire, Shinji fire now…"
"Positron laser cannon is firing on target… Angel is still distracted… It's stopped firing and is charging again, laser cannon impact…" Shigeru hurriedly reported, "Target is down… Repeat… Target is down and showing no signs of regeneration."
"Confirmed, Angel is down… Readings are showing that the core was destroyed." Makoto reported with a sigh of relief.
"Yes… We did it…" Misato cheered before commanding, "Alright let's start getting things packed up, Withdraw Units 00 and 01... Good job everybody…"
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