The huge lift transporting Evangelion Unit 01 reached the surface after only a few seconds. As soon as he noticed the newcomer, the third angel stopped his destruction of Tokyo-3 and focused his attention on EVA 01. Looking towards the new arrival, the hulking creature shifted slightly, his stance now making him appear as if in thought.
The size of the purple monstrosity, which easily towered over the buildings of Tokyo-3, and the fact that he could feel an enormous, even if it seemed kind of restricted, power radiating from the new challenger caused Sachiel to quickly rethink his modus operandi. He'd first have get rid of this obstacle, then he could continue smashing his way towards Adam.
-V-V-V-
The moment he reached the surface, Ranma tensed inside his cockpit and readied himself for the upcoming fight. This was a part of Neon Genesis Evangelion he was very familiar with. He had watched and re-watched all the battles of the series and knew every angel and their special abilities by heart.
“Heh, this is going to be so much fun,” Ranma said and focused his attention on his black, vaguely humanoid opponent, “I'm going to kick that monster's ass in no time.”
“Easy, Ranma,” came Ritsuko's voice over the radio. “This is your first time piloting an EVA. All we want you to do for now is to simply walk and get used to piloting it.”
“Feh,” Ranma snorted in response. “I ain't some wimpy little boy without a spine, who's gonna run away at the first sign of danger.” Images of that pansy Shinji flashed through Ranma's head; of how he was always whining and bitching and running away from his troubles. The former Saotome had always been disgusted by that little wimp's cowardly behaviour. “I'm Ranma Ikari. I'm the best! I don't need to get used to drivin' this thing!”
“This is no time for your false bravado!” Misato reprimanded the young pilot harshly. “If you don't beat that angel, our world will be destroyed. Now stop your boasting and do as we say!”
Ranma could see that the angel's eyes were starting to glow and knew it was charging up another energy blast. “Watch this. I'll show ya that I don't need to get used to drivin' this thing!”
He waited a little longer and, just as the angel's eyes flashed shortly, he willed Unit 01 to jump forward. Just in time to evade the energy blast that would have hit his EVA.
“Hahahaha!” Ranma laughed in triumph, while Unit 01 soared through the air. “Whaddaya say no-” The huge robot fell flat on its face as Ranma didn't manage to right it on time for the landing. “What the hell! This thing's really slow!”
“That's exactly the reason why we want you to get used to piloting it first,” Ritsuko informed him, and Ranma detected no small amount of frustration in her voice. “The EVA doesn't react instantly to your thoughts and nerve impulses. There's a delay of several milliseconds between your thoughts and the EVA's execution of them, which seriously hampers your coordination.”
“Why didn't ya say somethin' about that sooner? Ain't there any way to make this stupid robot move faster?”
“No. The delay is dependant on your sync ratio. The higher your sync ratio, the smaller the delay. And the only way to increase your sync ratio is through repeated and prolonged synchronisation between you and the EVA.”
“Watch out!” Misato interrupted the discussion between Ritsuko and the pilot.
Alarmed by the shout, Ranma focused his attention back on his opponent and saw the angel rapidly approaching his EVA. The black monster wound his long arm back in preparation for a punch, which Ranma tried to evade by strafing to the left and twisting Unit 01's torso. He was too slow, however, and Sachiel's punch hit Unit 01's right shoulder, spinning it around and sending it crashing into one of the surrounding buildings.
“Damn,” Ranma swore and shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears. “You're gonna pay for that.”
He willed the purple robot to stand and take on a fighting stance. “Now let's see what'cha got!”
As if he had heard Ranma's proclamation, Sachiel advanced towards EVA 01 again. Not wanting to give his opponent the opportunity for another attack, Ranma lashed out at the angel with a flurry of punches.
At least, that's what he wanted his EVA to do. Due to his still lacking balance and coordination, however, the purple giant only stumbled towards Sachiel while wildly swinging its fists.
The angel had no problem evading the clumsy attack and grabbed the EVA by its arms. Twisting slightly, Sachiel threw Unit 01 through the air and sent it crashing into another building.
Ranma rubbed the back of his head where it had collided with his seat. “Ouch! That hurt, damnit!”
“Ranma! Stop this nonsense now,” Misato barked. “Your trying to act tough isn't helping us! Will you just try to walk and get used to piloting the damn EVA!”
“Hey, it ain't my fault!” Ranma snapped back. “It's all this stupid tomboy of a robot's fault. If you hadn't built such a crappy robot, I could beat that monster without any problem.”
Unit 01's eyes shortly flashed white in response to its pilot's latest proclamation.
-V-V-V-
“Sempai, look!” Maya said and pointed at a computer screen that displayed the synchronisation data for Unit 01.
Ritsuko stopped rubbing her temples in an attempt to stave off the headache caused by Ranma's attitude and looked up. “Oh no. Ranma's sync ratio is falling.”
“Yes. It started decreasing as soon as the fight started,” Maya replied. “It's now only at 31.3%. If it falls any further, Ranma won't be able to pilot the EVA at all.”
“That's not good,” Ritsuko said, and suddenly her headache got worse. “Do you have any idea why it's decreasing?”
“I'm not sure. It might be caused by the stress of battling the angel.”
“Yes, it might. Or maybe the EVA simply doesn't like his attitude,” the blonde scientist murmured.
“What was that, Sempai?”
“Forget it, Maya.” Ritsuko waved her assistant off.
“How long until he won't be able to pilot Unit 01 anymore?” Misato asked. She had been listening to the discussion going on between Ritsuko and Maya in silence until then, and Ritsuko could see the worry and frustration in her friend's face.
“At the rate his sync ratio is decreasing, probably only a few minutes.”
Misato simply nodded, her expression hardening, and activated the radio.
-V-V-V-
“Ranma,” came Misato's voice. “You are to retreat immediately. I repeat, retreat to HQ immediately.”
“What?” Ranma asked in disbelief. “You want me to run away?”
“Your sync ratio is falling rapidly and in just a few minutes you won't be able to pilot the EVA at all. We can't risk Unit 01 getting destroyed, it's our only defence against the angels. Retreat to base and let another pilot take over for you.”
“No way! I'm gonna beat that thing. I'm Ranma Ikari and I ain't gonna lose!”
“Ranma! I gave you an order! Come back at once! Do you hear me? Ranma! Ran-”
“I'm gonna show them,” Ranma said with determination after he had turned off the radio. “This is all your fault,” the pigtailed pilot addressed the robot, “if you weren't such a clumsy gorilla tomboy, I woulda beaten that thing already!”
He willed his robot to stand up again and prepared to attack the angel once more.
“This time I'm gonna kick your ass!” He shouted and Unit 01 flew towards the angel with its right leg stretched out in a jump kick. Sachiel dodged the attack, which caused Unit 01 to land on its face again, and raised his right arm towards his opponent. The spike protruding from the angel's elbow drew back slowly and then shot forward, sending a blast of energy out of his right palm towards the purple monstrosity lying on the ground.
Ranma saw the attack coming and frantically willed Unit 01 to move out of the way, but the EVA didn't respond to his commands. “Move, you stupid thing, move! I ain't gonna let that monster beat me! Come on, you stupid, clumsy, gorilla tomboy! I'm the best, damnit! I won't let that thing beat me!”
All his cursing and swearing was of no help to the pigtailed pilot and his EVA was engulfed by the energy blast.
Soo uncute, were Ranma's last thoughts as Unit 01 was hit by the angel's energy blast and Ranma was sent into unconsciousness.
-V-V-V-
“The pilot just lost consciousness,” Maya reported.
“It's over. It's all over,” Misato murmured with her eyes closed.
“Oh my god! The EVA, it's moving. It's moving all on its own!”
Ritsuko gasped. “Berserker.”
-V-V-V-
Yui Ikari, the woman formerly known as Akane Tendo and who now only existed as a soul inside Unit 01, was angry. Really angry. So angry in fact, that she was able to pull her usually scattered consciousness together and concentrate enough to take over control of Unit 01.
How dare that jerk say things like that. I'm going to show him just how clumsy and stupid I am!
She let out an earth shattering scream and, thinking that he was Ranma, attacked the angel Sachiel with the savage fury only a severely insulted woman was capable of.
The poor angel never stood a chance.
-V-V-V-
“I knew it,” Gendo smirked in triumph, “She wants to protect him.”“Maybe. But to me it almost looked like she doesn't like being insulted and the angel was just a convenient outlet for her aggression,” Fuyutsuki mused.
“How did you arrive at that conclusion?” Gendo asked his assistant with his right eyebrow slightly raised.
“I could be wrong, but seeing how Ranma's sync ratio decreased rapidly as soon as he started insulting her, I don't think it's that far-fetched.”
Thinking back to when he had had the honour of tasting his wife's cooking for the first time, only to end up with serious a stomach ache, which in turn prompted his then girlfriend to think he had been insulting her abilities as a chef, and his subsequent beating, Gendo had to agree that it wasn't that far-fetched at all.
“You could be right.”
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:49)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.