Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma in the Matrix ❯ Chapter 01 ( Prologue )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: stbays 
Ranma escapes and has help the others. Who can leave and who can't? Find out some of this...
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Martial Arts / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi / Supernatural | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.29.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Work In Progress
Ranma escapes and has help the others. Who can leave and who can't? Find out some of this...
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Martial Arts / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi / Supernatural | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.29.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 1 by Kevin Joe Bays* (this is my pen name)
Ranma sat in front of the computer trying to figure it out. His dad and Soun bought it at a local garage sale and, thanks to Nabiki, they almost ended up getting money for taking the system instead of paying. As it was, they still paid a very low price.
Ranma was getting frustrated with all the back slashes, coma's, and other stuff the book was telling him about. He was ready to call it quits when he noticed something on the screen.
"The Matrix has you."
What an odd thing for the computer to display. That's when he noticed it change again.
"Follow the white rabbit. Knock knock." He almost jumped through the ceiling when he heard someone knock on the door at the same time as the computer said that.
"Who is it?" he was kind of nervous, but decided the worst that could happen is another fight for his life.
"It's just me Ranma" Thank goodness, it was just Akane. "Want to hang out?"
He went out to tell her he'd wouldn't want to be seen in public with a tomboy like her when he noticed a strange pin on her shirt. It was a white rabbit. Spooky. "Sure, where we going?"
"Well, a new dance club just opened up and I thought it would be fun." Dancing, he hated dancing. Still, he wanted to find out if he was dreaming, so he and Akane headed out.
When they arrived, Ranma could hear lots of heavy rock being played. The inside was darkly lit with lots of strobe lights and spot lights flashing on and off. It didn't take long before the couple got separated inside. He started to look around for Akane when someone grabbed his hand.
"Good, you came." It was a woman's voice. She turned him around and pressed up very close to him and started to dance with the music while taking. "I need you to meet me at this address. There, I'll explain what the matrix is." As she said this, her hand placed a card into Ranma's.
"RANMA!!" Oh no. He quickly pushed the woman off of him.
"Akane, it's not what it looks like!" He said this, but knew the end result would be the same. His mind decided to shelter him this time and he blacked out seconds before Akane's fist made contact with his jaw.
The woman stared in wonder. 'How could these two do this if they were still connected?'
Later Ranma woke with a start. Had it been just a dream. He felt his face and it was still sore. But how'd he end up in his bed? He looked up and saw the answer. A giant man sized hole was in the roof above him. 'Well, there goes that theory. He felt the card that he still held. Should he investigate? If Akane found out, she'd accuse him of wanting to sleep with the woman. Still he could figure out why both the computer and this woman would mention this Matrix thing.
It didn't take long to find the address. He was just about to knock on the door when he heard a familiar voice.
"Now where the hell am I!"
"Hey Ryoga. Did you get lost again?"
"Ranma?" Before Ryoga could say anymore, the door Ranma was at opened up.
"Ah your here. I forgot to tell you my name yesterday. It's Trinity. Please come in." It was the same lady from the other night.
"Ranma, how dare you sneak off to another woman's house when you've got a fiancée like Akane!" Before Ryoga could hit Ranma, Ranma grabbed him and pulled him inside.
The two went up stairs and into a room with two chairs and a table. Sitting in one chair was a black man with an odd pair of sunglasses attached to his nose. Morpheus notice there were two people instead of just one. Normally this worked better on a one on one basis, but he figured that the other man deserved to know the truth
"Thank you for joining me. What I am about to tell you two is something shocking and I'm afraid that after I tell each of you, you'll both be asked to make a choice."
"Ok, I guess your that Morpheus fellow that Trinity mentioned."
"I am. Ranma, do you know what the Matrix is? " Before Ranma could ask him how he knew his name or to tell him that was why he was here, Morpheus continued. "The Matrix is holding you hostage and enslaved your mind here in this," He pointed everywhere, "Illusion."
"I have two sets of two pills. Take one of them, either the blue pill or the red pill. If you take the blue pill and you wake up and believe what ever you want to. Take the red pill and I show both of you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
He held out the two pills for Ranma to see. For a second, he considered this might be a new way for drug dealers to push their drugs onto people, but something about the way the man spook of the pills made him decide this was more the a drug lord pushing his stuff. He reached for the red pill, but Morpheus spook up.
"Remember, once you take it, there's no going back."
Ranma and Ryoga stood there for a second and then both of them reached for the red pill and took it. Morpheus and Trinity lead them to a room with a strange chair. They saw Morpheus call into a cell phone and saying something about loading up a second chair. Suddenly an identical chair appeared and the odd couple sat Ryoga down in one and Ranma down in the other.
Ranma heard them talking and he tried to focus on what they were saying, but he couldn't. He looked over at the broken mirror and saw that it was fixing itself. He reached out to touch it when a hand stopped him. He barely made out something about not touching it and that the last person to do that had a bad experience. Suddenly his world seemed to fall out of under him and he passed out.
It felt like he was in a shallow pool of warm water. He opened his eyes only to find he was completely under this water. He reached out and could feel a strange covering over the top of the water. As he broke it he noticed there was a breathing tube in his mouth. As he took it out, he gagged and realized how far down it really was. Once it was out, he took a deep breath. The air tasted stale to him. As he looked around he heard Ryoga's voice.
"Ranma, what have you gotten me into this time." He did his best to ignore Ryoga as he noticed there were more tubes attacked to him. Not to mention the back of his head felt heavier then it should. He reached back and felt something coming out of the back of his head.
He looked up just in time to notice a strange hovering robot dropping down towards him and it stopped right in front of him. He tensed and prepared himself for battle. Before he could react, it grabbed him and used on of it's arms to detach the tube from the back of his head. When it finished, the rest of the tubes started to explode off of him.
Now this was making him very mad. Before he could attack the flying robot, he was sucked down a pipe along with the water he was surrounded by. It didn't take long before he was dropped into a larger pool of cold water. As she tried to get her bearings, a giant claw came down over him. When it was close enough, Ranma grabbed hold of it and looked around to find Ryoga. It didn't take long to see the tiny black pig splashing about in the water. She grabbed Ryoga as the arm began to retract.
In the vessel, the crew starred in confusion as a nude female Ranma jumped off of the arm of her own strength.
"What are you guys starin at," Ranma never did like it when men stared at his girl side "Ain't you never seen a girl before? So where the heck are we?"
One of the older members of the crew spook up finally. "Your on the Newark."
Suddenly Ranma recognized the man and woman that turned the corner. It was Morpheus and Trinity.
"There you guys are," Ranma was furious and as far as he was concerned, this whole crew was in on it, meaning he'd beat them to a pulp if they didn't give him what he wanted. Morpheus and Trinity spotted Ranma and the black piglet and became as stunned as the rest of the crew.
"Who is this? And were did that pig come from?" Trinity had seen some weird stuff, but most of it was while in the Matrix. With the madness staring back at her in the real world, it was a wonder her brain managed what it did to ask her questions. Ranma heard these questions and realized they didn't know about his curse or Ryoga's for that matter. "We need to send the claw back down to find Ranma and Ryoga. If we don't hurry, their weakened bodies will give out and they'll die."
"Die, look lady, I'm not about to keel over any second and as for Ryoga, I'll need to give him some hot water before he can answer that for himself."
"Your Ranma?" Trinity looked helpless as she turned to Morpheus for answers.
"This is very unusual. Please come this way. We need to check out your body and make certain your ok." Morpheus lead them to a medical bed and asked them to sit down.
"Alright, but first, where's the hot water?" Morpheus pointed to a sink and Ranma went over and filled it up to the brim and dunked P-Chan in to it. To the continued surprise of Morpheus and Trinity, the pig turned into a man.
"Ranma, how dare you slam dunk me like that!" The angered man looked ready to fight.
"Chill out Ryoga, I'll kick your butt later," As she said this, she dunked her head into the hot water and came out a man like the pig did. "I've got a feeling these two have something they'd like to tell us."
Ranma and Ryoga turned to look at the stunned pair. Ranma decided not to wait for them to pull themselves together and laid on the medical table. Morpheus noticed and began to examine Ranma carefully, checking his motor reflexes, his bone density, heart rate, and anything else to make certain that this man's (or was it woman's) body was 100 percent. When he was done with Ranma, he did the same for Ryoga and was amazed to find that they were not only 100 percent ok, they were healthier then most of the crew that had their muscles reconstructed. Not knowing what to make of this, he figured it was time to proceed with the next step.
The arrived in the room with a set of odd looking dental chairs as well as a bunch of computer monitors and keyboards.
"This is where we upload information we need for combat and test those skills in a virtual matrix. If you will sit here, we will begin the uploads."
"Upload information? What they heck are you talking about?"
"We have compiled a large selection of various martial arts knowledge, as well as technical information for using everything you will come into contact with in the Matrix."
"No thanks, I don't need any more martial arts knowledge."
"I'm with Ranma on this one. We're fine as is." Ryoga really didn't understand any of what Morpheus said, but it sound dishonorable, so he would have not part in it either.
"Well then I guess I'm going to have to show you that you are wrong," Morpheus casually informed them. "Please Ranma, sit down and we will go into the virtual matrix where you can show me how prepared you really are. If you lose though, you will allow us to upload the needed skills ok?"
"If you can beat me, then sure. Heck, if you beat me, I'd marry Akane."
They two sat in the dentist chairs and he saw Trinity plug something into the back of Morpheus' head. Once Morpheus was hooked up, Trinity went over to Ranma and began to plug him in as well. As the plug went in, he felt a static shock and the odd sensation of leaving his body and then reentering it. He looked around and noticed they were not in that weird metal ship anymore, but in a traditional Dojo. The dojo wasn't quite as spacious as the Tendo dojo, but it was a lot taller. Perfect for his favorite style.
"This world you are seeing now is a construct. It follows all the same rules and laws that the Matrix does. What you will need to learn is that those rules, like any, can be bent and in some cases, completely broken. Prepare yourself!"
Bend or break the rules of the world. Ranma felt his confidence was at an all time high today and figure what better way to show off, then to start with a bang.
"Möko Takabisha" His Ki gathered into his hands and he held it there long enough to show Morpheus what he was up to. Ranma knew the Möko Takabisha was not his most powerful energy based attack, but would do the trick. He released it and it hit Morpheus directly, sending the poor guy flying back and through the wall. Morpheus landed with a loud thud. Morpheus got up very slowly. He was obviously in a great deal of pain. He then called out to the sky.
"Load the jump program!"
'Jump program?' As Ranma thought this, the ground seemed to fall out of under them and the top of a building rushed towards them. Before Ranma could react, they were back on solid ground.
"You passed the first test, but this one will take more then strength. The only way to make this jump is to realized that gravity does not apply." Morpheus smirked then added, "Don't feel too bad when you don't make it. No one has ever made it on their first try." He then turned and jumped at the edge and flew over 100 feet to the other side.
No one's ever made on the first try? That sounded like a challenge to him. He started to gather his Ki for a super jump when he thought about what Morpheus said. Gravity doesn't apply here. 'I wonder'
He gently put his foot up and pushed down on it and imagined that it hit a step. He then did the same with his other foot and noticed that he was walking in the air. He forgot to keep the image of a step there and he fell back down onto the roof, but still had a big grin on his face.
'What's taking this guy so long' Morpheus couldn't see Ranma very well and just figured he was to afraid to do this test. That's when he saw Ranma begin to walk towards the edge. He closed his eyes not wanting to see this poor fellow try to jump from the very edge. After a couple of minutes of not hearing a scream, he looked and saw Ranma casually strolling in mid air towards him. 'Who is this guy. First he uses some kind of energy attack and now he's walking on thin air. I think I must be having some kind of dream.'
"What's the next test going to be?" Ranma said jokingly. "Hope it's harder then the first two."
"We only have one left." He called out for another switch and they ended up in a crowded street. The two started to walk against the general flow of people. As the people hit Ranma, they were knocked on their butts. Ranma started to help one of them up, but Morpheus reminded him they were not real. The two just walked down the road. Suddenly a woman dressed in a tight red dress walked passed them. Suddenly, Ranma's senses went on overload as he started looking out for Akane and her Mallet. That's when he felt a shift and he turned and noticed a guy holding a gun at him. He noticed this guy was within arms reach, so he grabbed the guys wrist and spun him around, disarmed him and placed him a choke hold.
Morpheus never saw what Ranma had done and went about talking like he always did. "Are you paying attention or are you looking at the girl in the red dress? Freeze program." He turned and saw Ranma had the simulated agent on the ground and disarmed. Now he knew he was dreaming.
He called to have Ranma unplugged and to send in Ryoga. Morpheus waited in the Dojo and prepared himself for what would be another interesting fight. Ranma caught him off guard, but He'd be ready for anything with Ryoga. It didn't take Ryoga long to appear before him. Morpheus took a second to try and size this one up. He quickly noticed that Ryoga seemed very depressed.
"What's wrong?"
"If we were part of a giant computer simulation and now we're free, that means that my dear sweat Akane is skill in there right?" Morpheus simply nodded in reply. "Why didn't you just kill me and get it over with!"
Ryoga's depression was at an all time high and he dug deeply in it and prepared himself for his finishing move.
"Shishi Höködan!!" A giant ball of pure negative energy fell up out of Ryoga's hands and hovered above them for a second and then came barreling back down.
"Oh my god!" He starred at the ball of energy falling towards them. "Trinity, pull us out! Hurry!!"
Their world went black and Ryoga hoped this meant he would wake up as P-Chan in the loving embrace of Akane's arms and never see this nightmare again. He opened his eyes and saw that the horror was real. This thoughts immediately went to Akane.
"Morpheus, what can we do about Akane? Can we still get her out?"
"Yes, but doing so will be dangerous. There are hunter programs call Agents that are designed to stop intruders."
"I can handle any opponent you can throw at me."
"These will be unlike any you have faced before." Ranma felt the need to step in here.
"It's settled then. Get us in and we'll rescue the others."
"Keep in mind that some people may not be as lucky as Ryoga and you when it comes to their real bodies. For older people, they might not survive the process of rebuilding their bodies."
"That means we probably can't risk letting Cologne or Happousai out. Their both over 300 years old."
"300 years old!?" Just the thought of a normal person living over 100 was amazing. Morpheus knew he had to meet these people. "I wonder how they managed to live so long?"
"I'm not sure how the freak or the old ghoul do it either, but your welcome to ask them when you see them." Ranma knew he'd wanted to find out the secret to a longer life from Cologne, but he figured she'd only tell him after he married Shampoo. "I'm ready when you guys are."
"Actually we're ready right now."
"If you don't mind, I think I'll stay out here and hold the fort down." Ryoga said this hoping they would ask if he was certain. He wanted to go in and help Akane, but he knew he'd probably just end up getting lost, putting the whole crew in danger.
The others going in all took a seat and prepared to enter the Matrix. Ranma closed his eyes and grimaced as he heard them pick up the plug near him. It'll all be over in a second. I'll be ok. Ahhh!! He felt a static shock feeling and when he opened his eyes he was standing in the hallway of Furinkan High School.
"Take these pills," Morpheus handed Ranma a set of Red pills and Blue pills. "Remember, it is important to offer each of them a choice. Otherwise you will have robbed them of the life they were happy with."
"Right what ever, just be on the look out for a cat, a duck, and a panda." Ranma figured those were the ones they'd be likely to miss. "Oh and a couple of girls my age, a man about 30, and also an uncute tomboy."
Morpheus just starred for a second before remembering the rest of what he had to tell Ranma.
"Beware of the Agent programs. Anyone still apart of the Matrix is a potential foe. Also, if you die in the Matrix, you die in real life. I've contacted Neo before entering and he said he'll meet up with you shortly, but until then, be careful. Oh and take this." he tossed Ranma a cell phone. "When your ready to get out, use this and ask for the operator. Then ask for the nearest exit."
Once Morpheus felt Ranma knew all he thought he would need to know, he left the two to take care of some personal business.
Ranma sat for a second and thought about who to contact first.
"Ranma, where have you been!" That voice told him what he was wondering.
"Hi ya Akane."
"Don't 'Hi ya Akane' me buster! Where were you? You missed all of your classes today!"
"I'm not certain you'd believe me even if I told you," Akane was about to protest, but as she opened her mouth, she felt something enter it. She tried to spit it out, but it was too late.
"Ranma!!" Before she could punish him for what ever it was he feed her, she started to feel odd.
"Akane, hold on," He took her and tried to comfort her. "Soon you'll know where I was all day."
Suddenly her body disappeared and Ranma stood to find his next target. Before he could do anything he heard the last person he wanted to deal with.
"Ranma Saotome, you fiend, what have you done Akane!" Well, Ranma knew two ways to shut up Kuno and while beating him up usually made him feel better, he decided on a different course of action. He tossed a red pill into the mouth of the Kuno, who was still quoting some stupid poetry. He didn't even wait to make certain Kuno made it ok and went off to the Tendo Dojo.
A few hours, Ranma was able to give a pill to everyone he wanted free and even a few he wish he could have said no too. All that was left was Shampoo, her Great Grandmother, and Happousai. So far, he'd helped the others with little regards as to weather they wanted to go or not, but he knew the old ones would probably die as soon as they exit.
As he approached the front door, the cell phone rang.
"Hello Ranma, this is the operator. Just wanted you to know we've managed to pick up everyone you've set free so far."
"That's good. Are they all right?"
"Most of them are fine, though of few of them need to have their muscles rebuilt. The procedure shouldn't take to long though. Some of them will be ready when you get back."
"Sounds great. I'm at the last place I can think to go for today. I'll contact you when I'm done." With that they hung up and Ranma went in to talk to Shampoo and her great grandmother. His opening the door caught the attention of Shampoo. As soon as she realized it was Ranma, she lunged at him and gave him a huge huge.
"Ayea, Ranma come date with Shampoo?"
"Not what I cam here for, but I do want to take you someplace. Shampoo, do you want me to take you to the real world?"
Shampoo's mind only informed her of the 'me take you' part of Ranma's sentence.
"Shampoo go anywhere Ranma go."
"Great, now say ahhh."
"Ahhh." With his usual speed he tossed a red pill into her mouth like he'd done so many times already. As Shampoo started to exit, Cologne turned the corner. To her horror, Shampoo disappeared.
"Son in Law, what have you done to Shampoo?!" Ranma felt the old ghoul's battle aura flare.
"I just set her free." He called on the cell phone and told them to look out for a white cat with pink socks and ears. He then hung up and turned back to the old ghoul, who was still powered up. "Turns out, this isn't the real world and I found out how to get there."
_________________________________________________________< br>
Well, I've got chapter done. I was wanting to do more, but I got stuck on the subject of what to do with Happousai and Cologne. I've got a couple of ideas on what to do, but I can't decide. If anyone wants to hear my ideas, please let me know. Actually I have three different directions I could take this, but there all difficult.
By the way, so far so good, but I figure I need to say this. Ranma is not being made to be the one. In the next chapter, I'm going to have Neo and Ranma spar for a bit. I haven't decided who will win yet, but I'm certain it will be close either way.
Ranma sat in front of the computer trying to figure it out. His dad and Soun bought it at a local garage sale and, thanks to Nabiki, they almost ended up getting money for taking the system instead of paying. As it was, they still paid a very low price.
Ranma was getting frustrated with all the back slashes, coma's, and other stuff the book was telling him about. He was ready to call it quits when he noticed something on the screen.
"The Matrix has you."
What an odd thing for the computer to display. That's when he noticed it change again.
"Follow the white rabbit. Knock knock." He almost jumped through the ceiling when he heard someone knock on the door at the same time as the computer said that.
"Who is it?" he was kind of nervous, but decided the worst that could happen is another fight for his life.
"It's just me Ranma" Thank goodness, it was just Akane. "Want to hang out?"
He went out to tell her he'd wouldn't want to be seen in public with a tomboy like her when he noticed a strange pin on her shirt. It was a white rabbit. Spooky. "Sure, where we going?"
"Well, a new dance club just opened up and I thought it would be fun." Dancing, he hated dancing. Still, he wanted to find out if he was dreaming, so he and Akane headed out.
When they arrived, Ranma could hear lots of heavy rock being played. The inside was darkly lit with lots of strobe lights and spot lights flashing on and off. It didn't take long before the couple got separated inside. He started to look around for Akane when someone grabbed his hand.
"Good, you came." It was a woman's voice. She turned him around and pressed up very close to him and started to dance with the music while taking. "I need you to meet me at this address. There, I'll explain what the matrix is." As she said this, her hand placed a card into Ranma's.
"RANMA!!" Oh no. He quickly pushed the woman off of him.
"Akane, it's not what it looks like!" He said this, but knew the end result would be the same. His mind decided to shelter him this time and he blacked out seconds before Akane's fist made contact with his jaw.
The woman stared in wonder. 'How could these two do this if they were still connected?'
Later Ranma woke with a start. Had it been just a dream. He felt his face and it was still sore. But how'd he end up in his bed? He looked up and saw the answer. A giant man sized hole was in the roof above him. 'Well, there goes that theory. He felt the card that he still held. Should he investigate? If Akane found out, she'd accuse him of wanting to sleep with the woman. Still he could figure out why both the computer and this woman would mention this Matrix thing.
It didn't take long to find the address. He was just about to knock on the door when he heard a familiar voice.
"Now where the hell am I!"
"Hey Ryoga. Did you get lost again?"
"Ranma?" Before Ryoga could say anymore, the door Ranma was at opened up.
"Ah your here. I forgot to tell you my name yesterday. It's Trinity. Please come in." It was the same lady from the other night.
"Ranma, how dare you sneak off to another woman's house when you've got a fiancée like Akane!" Before Ryoga could hit Ranma, Ranma grabbed him and pulled him inside.
The two went up stairs and into a room with two chairs and a table. Sitting in one chair was a black man with an odd pair of sunglasses attached to his nose. Morpheus notice there were two people instead of just one. Normally this worked better on a one on one basis, but he figured that the other man deserved to know the truth
"Thank you for joining me. What I am about to tell you two is something shocking and I'm afraid that after I tell each of you, you'll both be asked to make a choice."
"Ok, I guess your that Morpheus fellow that Trinity mentioned."
"I am. Ranma, do you know what the Matrix is? " Before Ranma could ask him how he knew his name or to tell him that was why he was here, Morpheus continued. "The Matrix is holding you hostage and enslaved your mind here in this," He pointed everywhere, "Illusion."
"I have two sets of two pills. Take one of them, either the blue pill or the red pill. If you take the blue pill and you wake up and believe what ever you want to. Take the red pill and I show both of you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
He held out the two pills for Ranma to see. For a second, he considered this might be a new way for drug dealers to push their drugs onto people, but something about the way the man spook of the pills made him decide this was more the a drug lord pushing his stuff. He reached for the red pill, but Morpheus spook up.
"Remember, once you take it, there's no going back."
Ranma and Ryoga stood there for a second and then both of them reached for the red pill and took it. Morpheus and Trinity lead them to a room with a strange chair. They saw Morpheus call into a cell phone and saying something about loading up a second chair. Suddenly an identical chair appeared and the odd couple sat Ryoga down in one and Ranma down in the other.
Ranma heard them talking and he tried to focus on what they were saying, but he couldn't. He looked over at the broken mirror and saw that it was fixing itself. He reached out to touch it when a hand stopped him. He barely made out something about not touching it and that the last person to do that had a bad experience. Suddenly his world seemed to fall out of under him and he passed out.
It felt like he was in a shallow pool of warm water. He opened his eyes only to find he was completely under this water. He reached out and could feel a strange covering over the top of the water. As he broke it he noticed there was a breathing tube in his mouth. As he took it out, he gagged and realized how far down it really was. Once it was out, he took a deep breath. The air tasted stale to him. As he looked around he heard Ryoga's voice.
"Ranma, what have you gotten me into this time." He did his best to ignore Ryoga as he noticed there were more tubes attacked to him. Not to mention the back of his head felt heavier then it should. He reached back and felt something coming out of the back of his head.
He looked up just in time to notice a strange hovering robot dropping down towards him and it stopped right in front of him. He tensed and prepared himself for battle. Before he could react, it grabbed him and used on of it's arms to detach the tube from the back of his head. When it finished, the rest of the tubes started to explode off of him.
Now this was making him very mad. Before he could attack the flying robot, he was sucked down a pipe along with the water he was surrounded by. It didn't take long before he was dropped into a larger pool of cold water. As she tried to get her bearings, a giant claw came down over him. When it was close enough, Ranma grabbed hold of it and looked around to find Ryoga. It didn't take long to see the tiny black pig splashing about in the water. She grabbed Ryoga as the arm began to retract.
In the vessel, the crew starred in confusion as a nude female Ranma jumped off of the arm of her own strength.
"What are you guys starin at," Ranma never did like it when men stared at his girl side "Ain't you never seen a girl before? So where the heck are we?"
One of the older members of the crew spook up finally. "Your on the Newark."
Suddenly Ranma recognized the man and woman that turned the corner. It was Morpheus and Trinity.
"There you guys are," Ranma was furious and as far as he was concerned, this whole crew was in on it, meaning he'd beat them to a pulp if they didn't give him what he wanted. Morpheus and Trinity spotted Ranma and the black piglet and became as stunned as the rest of the crew.
"Who is this? And were did that pig come from?" Trinity had seen some weird stuff, but most of it was while in the Matrix. With the madness staring back at her in the real world, it was a wonder her brain managed what it did to ask her questions. Ranma heard these questions and realized they didn't know about his curse or Ryoga's for that matter. "We need to send the claw back down to find Ranma and Ryoga. If we don't hurry, their weakened bodies will give out and they'll die."
"Die, look lady, I'm not about to keel over any second and as for Ryoga, I'll need to give him some hot water before he can answer that for himself."
"Your Ranma?" Trinity looked helpless as she turned to Morpheus for answers.
"This is very unusual. Please come this way. We need to check out your body and make certain your ok." Morpheus lead them to a medical bed and asked them to sit down.
"Alright, but first, where's the hot water?" Morpheus pointed to a sink and Ranma went over and filled it up to the brim and dunked P-Chan in to it. To the continued surprise of Morpheus and Trinity, the pig turned into a man.
"Ranma, how dare you slam dunk me like that!" The angered man looked ready to fight.
"Chill out Ryoga, I'll kick your butt later," As she said this, she dunked her head into the hot water and came out a man like the pig did. "I've got a feeling these two have something they'd like to tell us."
Ranma and Ryoga turned to look at the stunned pair. Ranma decided not to wait for them to pull themselves together and laid on the medical table. Morpheus noticed and began to examine Ranma carefully, checking his motor reflexes, his bone density, heart rate, and anything else to make certain that this man's (or was it woman's) body was 100 percent. When he was done with Ranma, he did the same for Ryoga and was amazed to find that they were not only 100 percent ok, they were healthier then most of the crew that had their muscles reconstructed. Not knowing what to make of this, he figured it was time to proceed with the next step.
The arrived in the room with a set of odd looking dental chairs as well as a bunch of computer monitors and keyboards.
"This is where we upload information we need for combat and test those skills in a virtual matrix. If you will sit here, we will begin the uploads."
"Upload information? What they heck are you talking about?"
"We have compiled a large selection of various martial arts knowledge, as well as technical information for using everything you will come into contact with in the Matrix."
"No thanks, I don't need any more martial arts knowledge."
"I'm with Ranma on this one. We're fine as is." Ryoga really didn't understand any of what Morpheus said, but it sound dishonorable, so he would have not part in it either.
"Well then I guess I'm going to have to show you that you are wrong," Morpheus casually informed them. "Please Ranma, sit down and we will go into the virtual matrix where you can show me how prepared you really are. If you lose though, you will allow us to upload the needed skills ok?"
"If you can beat me, then sure. Heck, if you beat me, I'd marry Akane."
They two sat in the dentist chairs and he saw Trinity plug something into the back of Morpheus' head. Once Morpheus was hooked up, Trinity went over to Ranma and began to plug him in as well. As the plug went in, he felt a static shock and the odd sensation of leaving his body and then reentering it. He looked around and noticed they were not in that weird metal ship anymore, but in a traditional Dojo. The dojo wasn't quite as spacious as the Tendo dojo, but it was a lot taller. Perfect for his favorite style.
"This world you are seeing now is a construct. It follows all the same rules and laws that the Matrix does. What you will need to learn is that those rules, like any, can be bent and in some cases, completely broken. Prepare yourself!"
Bend or break the rules of the world. Ranma felt his confidence was at an all time high today and figure what better way to show off, then to start with a bang.
"Möko Takabisha" His Ki gathered into his hands and he held it there long enough to show Morpheus what he was up to. Ranma knew the Möko Takabisha was not his most powerful energy based attack, but would do the trick. He released it and it hit Morpheus directly, sending the poor guy flying back and through the wall. Morpheus landed with a loud thud. Morpheus got up very slowly. He was obviously in a great deal of pain. He then called out to the sky.
"Load the jump program!"
'Jump program?' As Ranma thought this, the ground seemed to fall out of under them and the top of a building rushed towards them. Before Ranma could react, they were back on solid ground.
"You passed the first test, but this one will take more then strength. The only way to make this jump is to realized that gravity does not apply." Morpheus smirked then added, "Don't feel too bad when you don't make it. No one has ever made it on their first try." He then turned and jumped at the edge and flew over 100 feet to the other side.
No one's ever made on the first try? That sounded like a challenge to him. He started to gather his Ki for a super jump when he thought about what Morpheus said. Gravity doesn't apply here. 'I wonder'
He gently put his foot up and pushed down on it and imagined that it hit a step. He then did the same with his other foot and noticed that he was walking in the air. He forgot to keep the image of a step there and he fell back down onto the roof, but still had a big grin on his face.
'What's taking this guy so long' Morpheus couldn't see Ranma very well and just figured he was to afraid to do this test. That's when he saw Ranma begin to walk towards the edge. He closed his eyes not wanting to see this poor fellow try to jump from the very edge. After a couple of minutes of not hearing a scream, he looked and saw Ranma casually strolling in mid air towards him. 'Who is this guy. First he uses some kind of energy attack and now he's walking on thin air. I think I must be having some kind of dream.'
"What's the next test going to be?" Ranma said jokingly. "Hope it's harder then the first two."
"We only have one left." He called out for another switch and they ended up in a crowded street. The two started to walk against the general flow of people. As the people hit Ranma, they were knocked on their butts. Ranma started to help one of them up, but Morpheus reminded him they were not real. The two just walked down the road. Suddenly a woman dressed in a tight red dress walked passed them. Suddenly, Ranma's senses went on overload as he started looking out for Akane and her Mallet. That's when he felt a shift and he turned and noticed a guy holding a gun at him. He noticed this guy was within arms reach, so he grabbed the guys wrist and spun him around, disarmed him and placed him a choke hold.
Morpheus never saw what Ranma had done and went about talking like he always did. "Are you paying attention or are you looking at the girl in the red dress? Freeze program." He turned and saw Ranma had the simulated agent on the ground and disarmed. Now he knew he was dreaming.
He called to have Ranma unplugged and to send in Ryoga. Morpheus waited in the Dojo and prepared himself for what would be another interesting fight. Ranma caught him off guard, but He'd be ready for anything with Ryoga. It didn't take Ryoga long to appear before him. Morpheus took a second to try and size this one up. He quickly noticed that Ryoga seemed very depressed.
"What's wrong?"
"If we were part of a giant computer simulation and now we're free, that means that my dear sweat Akane is skill in there right?" Morpheus simply nodded in reply. "Why didn't you just kill me and get it over with!"
Ryoga's depression was at an all time high and he dug deeply in it and prepared himself for his finishing move.
"Shishi Höködan!!" A giant ball of pure negative energy fell up out of Ryoga's hands and hovered above them for a second and then came barreling back down.
"Oh my god!" He starred at the ball of energy falling towards them. "Trinity, pull us out! Hurry!!"
Their world went black and Ryoga hoped this meant he would wake up as P-Chan in the loving embrace of Akane's arms and never see this nightmare again. He opened his eyes and saw that the horror was real. This thoughts immediately went to Akane.
"Morpheus, what can we do about Akane? Can we still get her out?"
"Yes, but doing so will be dangerous. There are hunter programs call Agents that are designed to stop intruders."
"I can handle any opponent you can throw at me."
"These will be unlike any you have faced before." Ranma felt the need to step in here.
"It's settled then. Get us in and we'll rescue the others."
"Keep in mind that some people may not be as lucky as Ryoga and you when it comes to their real bodies. For older people, they might not survive the process of rebuilding their bodies."
"That means we probably can't risk letting Cologne or Happousai out. Their both over 300 years old."
"300 years old!?" Just the thought of a normal person living over 100 was amazing. Morpheus knew he had to meet these people. "I wonder how they managed to live so long?"
"I'm not sure how the freak or the old ghoul do it either, but your welcome to ask them when you see them." Ranma knew he'd wanted to find out the secret to a longer life from Cologne, but he figured she'd only tell him after he married Shampoo. "I'm ready when you guys are."
"Actually we're ready right now."
"If you don't mind, I think I'll stay out here and hold the fort down." Ryoga said this hoping they would ask if he was certain. He wanted to go in and help Akane, but he knew he'd probably just end up getting lost, putting the whole crew in danger.
The others going in all took a seat and prepared to enter the Matrix. Ranma closed his eyes and grimaced as he heard them pick up the plug near him. It'll all be over in a second. I'll be ok. Ahhh!! He felt a static shock feeling and when he opened his eyes he was standing in the hallway of Furinkan High School.
"Take these pills," Morpheus handed Ranma a set of Red pills and Blue pills. "Remember, it is important to offer each of them a choice. Otherwise you will have robbed them of the life they were happy with."
"Right what ever, just be on the look out for a cat, a duck, and a panda." Ranma figured those were the ones they'd be likely to miss. "Oh and a couple of girls my age, a man about 30, and also an uncute tomboy."
Morpheus just starred for a second before remembering the rest of what he had to tell Ranma.
"Beware of the Agent programs. Anyone still apart of the Matrix is a potential foe. Also, if you die in the Matrix, you die in real life. I've contacted Neo before entering and he said he'll meet up with you shortly, but until then, be careful. Oh and take this." he tossed Ranma a cell phone. "When your ready to get out, use this and ask for the operator. Then ask for the nearest exit."
Once Morpheus felt Ranma knew all he thought he would need to know, he left the two to take care of some personal business.
Ranma sat for a second and thought about who to contact first.
"Ranma, where have you been!" That voice told him what he was wondering.
"Hi ya Akane."
"Don't 'Hi ya Akane' me buster! Where were you? You missed all of your classes today!"
"I'm not certain you'd believe me even if I told you," Akane was about to protest, but as she opened her mouth, she felt something enter it. She tried to spit it out, but it was too late.
"Ranma!!" Before she could punish him for what ever it was he feed her, she started to feel odd.
"Akane, hold on," He took her and tried to comfort her. "Soon you'll know where I was all day."
Suddenly her body disappeared and Ranma stood to find his next target. Before he could do anything he heard the last person he wanted to deal with.
"Ranma Saotome, you fiend, what have you done Akane!" Well, Ranma knew two ways to shut up Kuno and while beating him up usually made him feel better, he decided on a different course of action. He tossed a red pill into the mouth of the Kuno, who was still quoting some stupid poetry. He didn't even wait to make certain Kuno made it ok and went off to the Tendo Dojo.
A few hours, Ranma was able to give a pill to everyone he wanted free and even a few he wish he could have said no too. All that was left was Shampoo, her Great Grandmother, and Happousai. So far, he'd helped the others with little regards as to weather they wanted to go or not, but he knew the old ones would probably die as soon as they exit.
As he approached the front door, the cell phone rang.
"Hello Ranma, this is the operator. Just wanted you to know we've managed to pick up everyone you've set free so far."
"That's good. Are they all right?"
"Most of them are fine, though of few of them need to have their muscles rebuilt. The procedure shouldn't take to long though. Some of them will be ready when you get back."
"Sounds great. I'm at the last place I can think to go for today. I'll contact you when I'm done." With that they hung up and Ranma went in to talk to Shampoo and her great grandmother. His opening the door caught the attention of Shampoo. As soon as she realized it was Ranma, she lunged at him and gave him a huge huge.
"Ayea, Ranma come date with Shampoo?"
"Not what I cam here for, but I do want to take you someplace. Shampoo, do you want me to take you to the real world?"
Shampoo's mind only informed her of the 'me take you' part of Ranma's sentence.
"Shampoo go anywhere Ranma go."
"Great, now say ahhh."
"Ahhh." With his usual speed he tossed a red pill into her mouth like he'd done so many times already. As Shampoo started to exit, Cologne turned the corner. To her horror, Shampoo disappeared.
"Son in Law, what have you done to Shampoo?!" Ranma felt the old ghoul's battle aura flare.
"I just set her free." He called on the cell phone and told them to look out for a white cat with pink socks and ears. He then hung up and turned back to the old ghoul, who was still powered up. "Turns out, this isn't the real world and I found out how to get there."
_________________________________________________________< br>
Well, I've got chapter done. I was wanting to do more, but I got stuck on the subject of what to do with Happousai and Cologne. I've got a couple of ideas on what to do, but I can't decide. If anyone wants to hear my ideas, please let me know. Actually I have three different directions I could take this, but there all difficult.
By the way, so far so good, but I figure I need to say this. Ranma is not being made to be the one. In the next chapter, I'm going to have Neo and Ranma spar for a bit. I haven't decided who will win yet, but I'm certain it will be close either way.