ALTERNATE FUTURE

By: James Lee

Disclaimer: The following characters are not mine. They belong to other people who could destroy me if they wanted to. Please don't sue me!

PART 14

            "So, what do you think of the future so far?" asked Misato, as she drove at her usual break neck speed.

            "I don't know. Seem not much different than world I left." Said Shampoo, who was sitting in the passenger seat. She was a little scared at the speed they were going, but she wasn't about to admit it. Besides she had other things on her mind, namely what to do when she met Nabiki. Part of Shampoo was glad to be seeing her friend again. However, she was a little put off that Nabiki hadn't included her in the wish.

            "It good to be in Japan though. Sh-I can now understand what most people are saying. Still don't know what I'm going to do." Misato nodded. They had a few ideas, but nothing was set yet. "Don't worry we'll get something set up."

            "What do you guys..." asked Misato turning to the back seat. She stopped however, at seeing the scene before her. Ranma was asleep on the back seat and Asuka was lying against his chest also asleep. {Aww isn't that cute} thought Misato. {Poor guy, she must have dragged him all over Berlin.} Misato then frowned as another reason for them to be tired came to her mind. She however, quickly dismissed that idea. NERV security had been watching them the whole time they were in Germany and it wasn't like Asuka could hide something like that from her parents in their own home.

            Nabiki, Ritsuko, and Gendo waited in front of NERV headquarters.  Cologne was also there talking with Fuyuzuki, trying to come up with a suitable job for her granddaughter. Unknown to the group, someone else waited for Ranma's arrival as well.

            NERV headquarters was still under repair from the damaged incurred in the last Angel attack. Two large tower cranes were moving heavy steel beams into place. Inside one of the cranes was Ichiro, an agent of SEELE. Just a few days ago he had just been another construction worker, earning what pay he could. That was until a man approached him offering an incredible amount of money. All he had to do was arrange a little accident, and he would be rich.

            [They're coming.] Said the voice on the receiver he had been given. Ichiro looked down to see a car approach the front of the building.

            Rei and Shinji stepped out of the headquarters as the car came to a stop. The first to get out were Misato and a teenaged girl with long purple hair. Shinji noticed the look of nervousness that came over Nabiki.

            "Umm, hi Shampoo." Said Nabiki stepping forward.

            Shampoo looked down at her now little friend. She was at first taken aback that the same thing that had happened to Ranma had also happened to Nabiki. She then looked into the girl's eyes and saw how nervous she was. Sighing Shampoo replied, "Hello Nabiki, we talk later."

            Ranma and Asuka, who had since woken up, then exited the car. As they stepped onto the sidewalk, Ranma felt something. Looking to the left, his eyes suddenly widened.

            "Look out!" yelled Ranma as he grabbed Asuka and jumped out of the way of the incoming steel beam. Just missing the two, the heavy beam slammed into Misato's car, sending it flying.

            "My car!!" cried Misato as she watched her vehicle once again become trash.

            "It's coming back!" screamed Ritsuko. Looking up, Shampoo could see the steel beam was indeed coming back towards them. This time at such an angle that could hit everyone on the sidewalk. Shampoo quickly started making a plan. She figured that Ranma, her grandmother, and even Nabiki could jump out of the way. Thus she decided she would grab the nearest person next to her and jump to safety. They may not be able to save everyone but at least they could save some of the non-combatants.

            Shampoo was just about to grab Ritsuko when a very pale girl limped to the front. Shampoo started to shout to the pale girl to get out of the way when suddenly some sort of orange field stopped the steel beam.

            Bouncing off the field, the beam went straight into the supports of the crane it was attached to. Ichiro died screaming as his crane suddenly collapsed.

            Back on the ground, Shampoo noticed everyone was now looking at the pale girl. Her great-grandmother looked curious. The blond woman and both of the older men there looked nervous.  The others, Ranma, Nabiki, Misato, Asuka, and the other boy, looked outright shocked at what had just happened.

            "An AT field? R-Rei's... an Angel?" said Misato. Suddenly memories of the thirteenth Angel came to her mind. What if that Angel hadn't been destroyed? Had it been hiding in Rei all this time?

            Shinji just stood there, stunned at what had just happened. Rei the girl he l...cared about was an Angel? How could this be? Rei took a tentative step toward him and Shinji took a step back. Seeing this, the pale girl turned and fled.

            Shinji watched as the girl hobbled away before he suddenly found himself face-to-face with an angry Nabiki. "What are you waiting for? Go after her, you idiot!"

            The boy just stared at her. "B-but she..."

            Nabiki growled and pushed Shinji down. Turning around, she then ran after Rei. Shinji just sat there until his father walked up behind him. "Shinji, come with me."

            "What?"

            "You too Katsuragi, if fact everyone."

            Misato just looked at the NERV commander as he started to walk away. He then stopped. "You want to know the truth don't you?"

            Nabiki found Rei a short distance away. She knew the girl wouldn't make it far with her leg. Approaching the girl carefully, Nabiki could see that she was crying. It was the most emotion she had ever seen from her friend. "Rei?"

            "H-he he hates me," sobbed Rei.

            "No, he's just surprised. We all were."

            "He can't care for me. I'm not even human."

            Nabiki grabbed Rei's shoulders and shook her. "Stop it! You’re human to me."

            "How can you say that after what just happened."

            "You made an AT field, so what? Ranma turns into a girl; does that make him a monster?" Rei couldn't seem to answer as Nabiki continued. "Rei, I have seen too much weird shit to judge someone by one little incident. You know that girl that got out of the car with Misato? She turns into a cat. And don't even get me started on that little ghoul..."

            "B-but angels are the enemy." Nabiki simply gathered Rei in a hug.

            "Rei, shortly after I came here they showed me all the angel battles that had happened until then. I know there was girl who threw herself in front of a particle beam to protect unit 01. Would the enemy do that?"

            "But Shinji..." Nabiki just kept hold of the blue haired girl.

            "You have a beautiful heart Rei. If Shinji can't see that, then the hell with him."

Several days later...

            Asuka looked around the storeroom she and Ranma were in. "You know, it will be real embarrassing if someone was to walk in on us."

            "What, afraid someone's going to barge in? I don't think they even use this part." Asuka nodded. It was kind of odd; the only place that they could escape NERV's prying eyes was in NERV headquarters itself.

            "Still, what if Misato was to suddenly appear an yell 'stop right there'."

            Ranma smiled. "If we were lucky, we could get her to join in."

            "Pervert," said Asuka as she playfully slapped him. Her face then sobered.

            "Ranma, do you think Rei's going to be all right?" asked Asuka as she leaned against Ranma. She found it somewhat odd, but she was really concerned for wonder girl. In the week that followed Rei's revelation, Shinji had become somewhat distant from her. As if he was afraid of getting too close. It was really infuriating to her for some reason.

            "I don't know Asuka." Said Ranma. "At least she has Nabiki to help her."

            Asuka nodded her head. Since the incident Nabiki had kept close to Rei, providing some much needed support. Shampoo, who was now part of NERV security and assigned as one of the pilots’ bodyguards, seemed to be a friend of Nabiki's. As a result she too had also become rather close to the 'too pale girl' "I still think Shinji's being a real idiot. I mean, so what if she's part Angel?"

            "I think he's just having trouble dealing with the fact."

            "And what do you think about Rei?" asked Asuka as she snuggled up to Ranma.

            "Well, some time back, Ritsuko told me that there was only a .02 percent DNA difference between humans and Angels." Asuka nodded her head; she had learned the same a long time ago. Ranma continued. "If they're so much like humans and Rei is also half human then I think that makes her more human than angel.

            "I guess you're right..." said the redhead, she then frowned. "Ranma, what do think of all that other stuff?"

            "You mean that human whatever project?" Asuka nodded. In addition to revealing Rei's origin, Commander Ikari also told them of the Human Instrumentality Project, and the origin of the EVAs. It had nearly put them all in shock. Ranma might not have even believed it if Dr. Akagi and Fuyuzuki hadn't been there to confirm the commander's story.

            Ranma and the other pilots weren't happy to hear that NERV was in fact created to help bring about 3rd impact. NERV however was also the only thing that could stop it. "I-I don't know. I know the Angels have to be stopped. I just wish I had known about this before hand."

            Asuka nodded. "Would it have made a difference?"

            The pig-tailed boy shook his head. "Probably not. Like I said, the Angels have to be stopped and the EVAs are the only thing that can. That and everything I have is here."

            Asuka smiled and kissed him.

            Elsewhere Commander Ikari waited in his office. Yesterday SEELE had stopped fooling around and asked outright for pilot Saotome. Either him or Rei, neither of which Gendo could surrender. Thus after some discussion Ritsuko volunteered to go instead. The NERV commander was now waiting for her return.

            When Ritsuko entered the office she immediately grabbed hold of Gendo and began to cry.

            "Ritsuko?"

            "I-It was awful." Those demented dominoes, as she thought of them, had made her stand before them naked for hours as they interrogated her.

            "It's alright now. It's over." Said Gendo, as he gently guided Ritsuko to the couch and sat her down.

            "Y-You were right. They tried to turn me." Commander Ikari had warned Ritsuko that SEELE would try to get her to go against him and they had. Making it looked as if Gendo had feed her to the wolves to protect Rei. Unfortunately for them they had mistaken her anger to be directed at Ikari. Instead she was infuriated that they would think she was that stupid. They had then heaped praise upon praise on her for her service to the council.

            As Gendo held Ritsuko, he realized there was one more thing to address. What was he to do with Dr. Akagi? Did he really want to do something? After fifteen years, maybe it was time for he himself to move on as well. For once in his life Dr. Ikari wasn't so sure.

            The next day started quite enough until the alarms went off signaling an Angel attack. Ritsuko still unsteady from the events of last night, watched as personnel ran back and forth. Gendo had been very different last night. There had been no sex and he had just held her all night, but it was still very nice. It didn't however help her face the inquisition in the morning. Ritsuko had gotten past Rei easy enough, but that seemed to be where her luck ran out. Ranma and Nabiki, almost immediately realized something was wrong with her. She tried to convince them as best she could that everything was fine. Ritsuko scowled, as she didn't see Misato anywhere. It was starting to look as if she would be commanding this battle. She then heard her cell phone ring.

            "This Dr. Akagi."

            [Ritsuko, it's me.]

            [Where the hell are you Major?] Misato winced, as Ritsuko seemed to pop out of the phone and yell in her ear. 

            "I'm coming in on the E-36."{Come on move faster! Stupid loaner.}

            [There's an Angel approaching.]

            "I know, I can see it," said Misato, looking out her car window at the giant glowing ring. It was currently flying straight for NERV headquarters. "Make sure you have gates open. I'll be coming in pretty fast."

            {I should just let her crash into a wall.} Thought Ritsuko as she closed her phone.

            "The Angel has come to a stop." Said Aoba. "It's directly over the Geo-front."

            Ritsuko looked up the scene. Now that it was hovering over headquarters, she could see that it looked like a rotating ring of DNA. Some reason it sent a chill down her spine. Turning around, she looked up to Gendo.

            "Which units are available?"

            "We have units 02, 03, and XX standing by."

            "Launch all of them."

            Ritsuko nodded her head and turned back to the command crew. "Launch EVAs!"

            Units 02, 03, and XX, shot up to the surface. Both Ranma and Nabiki moved out as fast as possible, but Asuka's EVA unit remained still.

            [Asuka move out!]

            The German girl was nearly in a panic. "It-It won't move!"

            Suddenly the Angel shot towards unit XX. Nabiki yelped, using her flight modules she shot away from the oncoming Angel. She then had to take flight again as the Angel pressed its attack. Ranma shot into the air in an attempt to shoot down the Angel or at least draw it's attention.

            Misato entered the command center ignoring Ritsuko's glare. Looking up at the screen, what she saw was reminiscent of a World War One dogfight. With Nabiki dodging the Angel in all directions.

            "That Angel seems real determined to get unit XX."

            Ritsuko nodded and frowned. "Yes, it's completely ignoring the other two units."

            Maya looked back to Ritsuko. "Do you think the angels have singled out unit XX for destruction."

            "If so we better do something."

            [Nabiki, retreat.]

            "W-What?" Said Nabiki as she dodged the Ring yet again. She didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. It didn't help that the thing kept changing forms, sometimes becoming a lance.

            [That Angel on your tail is trying too hard. There's an emergency retreat point in the hills to the North. We'll open the doors long enough for you to get in]

            Nabiki saw the large doorway in front of one of the hills open. Unit XX dove in at top speed. Behind the EVA the door slammed shut just as the Angel was about to enter.

            Misato watched as the Angel smashed into the hill then ricocheted off. "Where's it heading now?"

            "It's heading straight for the Geo-Front again." Replied Aoba.

            Misato nodded. "Ranma, get ready it's heading back your way.

            "Roger." Replied Ranma, getting ready. As soon as he saw the ring, he open fired. Spiraling around the on coming tracer rounds, the Angel straighten into a rod that slammed into the EVA's chest. Ranma tried to shoot into the Angel, but the bullets seemed to have no effect.

            "Arrgh!" yelled Ranma as pain suddenly coursed through his body.

            "Ranma!" screamed Asuka from her helpless EVA.

            "We're picking up contamination!" Yelled Huga.

            "How bad?" Asked Ritsuko.

            "30%, 40%, 50%! My god it's moving fast." Said Maya.

            Ranma was having trouble concentrating, as the entry plug now seemed a lot warmer all of a sudden. He closed his eyes for only a moment. When Ranma opened his eyes again he found himself facing a version of himself. "The Angel I presume."

            "How very perceptive of you." Said Ranma-A. "I was suppose to kill the lance user, but I guess you'll have to do for a start."

            Ranma grimaced, "I think you'll find me hard to kill."

            "Oh I don't think so."

            "Contamination now at 70% and raising." Said Huga.

            "Oh my god, Asuka!" yelled Misato, mentally kicking herself in the head. She had forgotten all about the girl. "She's a sitting duck out there. Get her back in now!"

            "We can't, her EVA's off the launch pad."

            "What!" Both Misato and Ritsuko looked up to see unit 02 lurching slowly forward.

            [Asuka get back to the launch pad. You can't battle an Angel with that low of a sync ratio.] Asuka ignored the command. Sweat coming down her face, she continued to put all her effort into moving forward. {Damn it, he's always there me. It's high time I was there for him.} The fact that Asuka could even move her EVA was incredible. She was still however an easy target.

            "Well since I've already won. I guess I could have some fun." Said Ranma-A as an image of unit 02 appeared next to him. Ranma watched horrified as the other end of the Angel slammed into unit 02 and the image was replaced with Asuka.

            "You bastard. If you try anything with her, I'll kill you!"

            "Oh please. Hmm...I wonder which part of her I should rot off first. Ah what's this..." Ranma eyes widen, as tears start to come down Asuka's face. "I think I'll start with this. Who knows maybe if I destroy the both of you, it might draw the lance user out."

            "Meeeeoooow." Ranma-A turned to see Ranma now on all fours, with his eyes glowing.     

            "Oh this is amusing." Suddenly Ranma lashed out with his hands. Four claw marks appeared on Ranma-A's chest. "What!"

            Misato blinked as claws of energy suddenly burst out of unit 03's fingertips. She then gasped as the EVA slashed the Angel producing a surprisingly large amount of blood. The EVA then began to tear the thin Angel apart sending blood and gore everywhere.

            "The Nekoken." Said Cologne entering the control room.

            "The Angel has been completely destroyed." Said Aoba.

            "Right, start raising the pressure in unit 03 entry plug."

            "Ma'am?"

            "Do it!" yelled Misato, the last thing she need was Ranma tearing apart the town in his wild state. "What are you, waiting for?"

            "I-I've started ma'am. It doesn't appear to be working, he's already under a enough pressure knock out an elephant."

            "Keep raising the pressure until he's knocked out."

            "Yes ma'am." Eventually, much to Misato's relief, the EVA did stop as Ranma passed out. "What's Asuka's status?"

            "She's unconscious too. No contamination in unit 02."

            "Right, recover both units. Lets get them to the infirmary."

            "So there's no trace of the contamination in either of them?" asked Misato.

            Ritsuko nodded her head. "Yes, it was wiped out when the angel was destroyed."

            "Good. Umm, are you sure it's safe for her to be in here with him?"

            "Yes, I don't think Ranma would harm her." Replied Ritsuko, looking at the two children at each end of the room.

            "But, what if he's still thinks he's a cat?

            "That's the reason I put her in here," said Ritsuko. "If he's still in Nekoken I want her to be the first thing he sees. Hopefully it will keep him from destroying the place."

            "I most certainly agree,”  said Cologne walking up to the two. "Relax, Major. If what Nabiki said is true and from what I've seen today, it is, then Ranma will never harm Miss Soryu even if he is in the Nekoken. In fact he is likely to kill anyone who does try to harm her."

            Ritsuko nodded. "Well they both need their rest so let's leave them be for a while."

            The others nodded and left the room. A short while later Asuka opened her eyes looking around she noticed Ranma lying in the bed across from her. {What happened? Oh yeah, the angel. It got Ranma, then it-it got me, and then it...} Asuka suddenly gulped and then looked nervously at Ranma. His eyes fluttered for a moment, and then he suddenly shot up

            "Asuka!"

            "I'm over here Ranma."

            Ranma saw Asuka and let out a relieved sigh. Ranma then remembered what the Angel showed him and his eyes widened as Asuka took a deep breath.

            "Ranma," Asuka started. She then said four words feared by men everywhere. "...we have to talk."

            To be continued