This fic is somewhere about halfway finished, I was going to finish it before posting it but RL got in the way. Some poeple might also reconize this from a forum posting from months ago but I have made a few minor adjustments since then.

Thanks to James Axelrad for his help with this fic.

Disclaimer I do not own Ranma 1/2 or NGE.

The Last Grandmaster

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Making small adjustments to her slightly off kilter balance in an effort to close in on a monstrous form that was slowly advancing through the city, Ranma tried to make sense of things. Her balance issue would probably work itself out and likely was related to having just woken up from nearly a decade and a half sleep. She still wasn't completely sure what had happened all she really knew was that the end result had left the most powerful of her friends, rivals and family in a coma as well as leaving anyone afflicted with a Jusendryo curse in locked their cursed forms.

That news had been shocking and more than a bit horrifying and the implications were just something that she did not want to think about. So she tried to put it out of her mind and focus at what she needed to do. Which was at the moment was hop rooftop to rooftop to close in one the gaint monster strolling through the city. She had always been good compartmentalizing things before to focus on the task at hand during the times she had been locked before. However the Kinjakan her right hand and the Gekkaja strapped across her back were like whispers, constantly reminding her that something had happened. What exactly she wasn't quite sure but something bad none the less.

Of course things had only been further hammered into place when Akane, the sole person there to greet her when she woke up started to explain things to her. Even worse is that she could definately detect a definate change in her. Gone was the sweet but decreasingly violent maniac that she had spent several years awkwardly courting through countless adventures. The person left in her stead was a woman in her mid-thirties, one that had been short and to the point about how things stood, barely giving her a chance to process one thing before moving on to the next.

She didn't want to believe it, missing out on fifteen years in a blink of an eye, where the last thing she did remember was sparring with Ryouga with Akane watching patiently in the background. Yet somehow she knew, the older Akane, Saffron's staffs, even the strange city she was leaping through were telling her something was different.

"Of course seeing some sort of giant Kaju strolling through the city, shrugging off damage like Ryoga is kind of a big hint… That this isn't Nerima… Doesn't look like any section of Tokyo I've ever been to before…" Ranma muttered to herself before coming to a brief stop to figure out her next move. She was rapidly approaching a section of the city filled with sky scrapers and due to her unfamiliarity with where ever she was the last thing she needed to do was jump herself into a dead end where she would then be forced to backtrack and lose time.

Having mentally traced a new route, one that would allow her to intercept the creature while maintaining the higher ground, the redhead started moving again with a small frown of worry on her face. Not worry for herself, despite the situation and her having just woken up after a decade and a half she felt great. No the worry was more for her fiancée, friends and family. She had only seen Akane so far but had been assured that the others were out there somewhere waiting for her to arrive.

"Not sure what good they're going to be able to do… If their curses are locked like mine… I guess for once I'm lucky to just turn into a girl…" Ranma thought to herself while holding back a shudder over the fates that had befallen her friends, "Akane said that they were working on a way to unlock the curses… But that they needed time… Time they didn't have if that thing out there wasn't stopped…"

"Akane…" Ranma muttered to herself with a shake of her head, "There's something wrong with her… She's older and a lot taller than I remember… That's not quite it though, there's something else, something I'm not seeing... Sure it complicates things but we've already been through so much together… We have history... And I can tell that there was just something off about her, something about the way she asked me to go fight the giant monster… Like it was an order, something that I was supposed to do just because she told me to."

Bracing herself as she came in for a landing several floors beneath the rooftop she had just left the pigtailed martial artist mentally griped, "Even if she hadn't told me to go fight it I probably would have anyway… I mean that thing is massive and I doubt it just decided to pop in for some sushi…"

Cutting herself out of her musings the redhead took a moment to notice a single aircraft making its way to the monster. Stalling on the rooftop she was currently on the cursed boy watched in a sort of detached curiosity as to what this single plane was going to do when the amassed forces she observed fighting it had been unable to stall the creatures advance.

Of course that curiosity quickly turned into alarm as soon as she saw a single bomb fall from the plane.

"No they wouldn't…"

"Sure nothing else seemed to be working…"

"They're going to nuke the city… Of all the day's to wake up…"

Panicking over the possibilities of being at ground zero of a nuclear strike the redhead tried to make a hasty retreat only to be caught mid stride as the bomb detonated sending shockwaves throughout the city.

Moments later

"Uhhhggg… Owe that hurt…" Ranma complained loudly to no one in particular as she began to shift herself out of the rubble she was now buried in only to pause in shock as a thought occurred to her.

"I'm alive?" Stepping out of the rubble while examining herself looking for any sign of the horrid injuries that were burned into her mind from the history books the redhead could not help but feel a little bit of overwhelming hysteria at the fact that she just took a nuclear blast head on and was still alive coming away with nothing but a few small cuts and bruises.

"I didn't even lose consciousness… well for very long anyway… but hey, I'm alive… In your face you damm dirty nuke… You can't kill me… Ha… Nothing can bring Ranma Saotome down." Staggering slightly to the left the redhead amended, "Okay so I'm a little queasy… But at least that monster is taken care of. I mean sure, I survived but that bomb hit that thing dead on… there's no way it survived that."

Slowly as if to directly spite the pigtailed teen the dust began to settle and the monstrous hulk of the Godzilla reject was revealed slowly moving forward seemly unhindered by the blast.

"Damm…" Ranma muttered instantly sobered due to the now even more daunting task at hand, "If that thing can take a nuke…"

/THWACKKK/

"Hey what did you do that for?" Ranma instantly griped before she looked up to see a very familiar panda, "Pop? That you?"

/GET A MOVE ON IT BOY/

flip

/THE OTHERS ARE NEARLY IN PLACE/

"Others?"

/YES OTHERS/ Genma signed with a sigh, he had been told of the difficulties involved with awaking his son and had even resigned himself to not having his boy's help when the monster arrived but a phone call from their base of operations had informed him that he was awake and heading towards them. However as the thing continued to make its way through the city unhindered he had grown concerned over Ranma having not yet arrived only for that concern to double when that bomb hit. Sighing again as he began to draw a rough map of the others locations while trying to express the plan on how they were intending to deal with it the aged panda just hoped that his son wouldn't have to ask many questions. Because those questions he could not answer and he did not want to lie.

Letting out a bitter snort at the sudden revelation of how five years of being awake and trapped as a panda while watching his only child sleep seemly frozen in time while others toiled away to free him had changed his views on what was important the cursed man tossed the sign to his son and made a gesture to follow him.

Ranma followed reluctantly wanting to further engage her father in conversation, to at least get some answers to the many questions that were floating through her mind and although most of them were fairly serious in nature her mind kept going back to the fact that somehow the large panda looked even larger than what she remembered.

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A few minutes later Genma came to a stop and hastily scribbled, /This is as far as I go boy/

"Pops?" Ranma asked in slight confusion and relief as she had thought that the panda had actually intended to fight alongside her. But if he was going to go and leave her then that put her more on familiar ground.

/The plan boy/

"Oh right…" Ranma muttered before gazing back down at the sign held in her left hand that had buildings and locations marked on them.

/Boy remember your training and don't hold anything back/

Flip

/Anything and everything goes/

Flip

/And I mean everything/

Ranma almost snorted in amusement at that if not for the now not even a block away monster in her path she just might have. Only to pause slightly in further consideration as her panda-fied father utilized the Umi sen ken to disappear from sight.

Sighing as she realized she wasn't going to be offered anymore information on what was happening the pigtailed martial artist set both staffs down at her feet and mustered all of her confidence for an opening attack.

"Moko Takabisha…" She called out, launching a medium sized blast down the street right into what she assumed was the creatures face. Wanting to capitalize on her momentary distraction she reached down retrieved the staffs at her feet and leapt forward, spring boarding off of a nearby flagpole in an effort to land on the beast.

Unfortunately for her though her shot to the beasts face didn't do anything but agitate the creature as it retaliated with a swing of one of its massive arms in a attempt to swat at her as if she was some annoying little mosquito.

Realizing that if she didn't do anything the massive arm was going to send her flying Ranma stabbed out with the Gekkaja and impaled the beasts arm intent on gaining a handhold. Almost immediately she realized her folly as the surface of the creatures arm slowly began to be encrusted in ice.

Now swinging one handed from the beasts arm Ranma managed to drive the Kinjakan into the creatures arm, stabilizing her position. Noticing a shadow rapidly descending from above the pigtailed martial artist kicked out with her legs, taking both staffs with her as she flew back through a blown out window of a building.

Rolling to her feet the redhead noticed right away that the instant freezing of the Gekkaja and the dehydrating powers of the Kinjakan had combined with the force of the monsters swatting down on its own arm to shatter off a good sized chunk of itself.

For a moment she just stood there watching in grim fascination as large chunks of flesh rained down onto the streets below. "Well… Whatever you are… You're not invulnerable…" Ranma muttered to herself before pressing her advantage by dropping both staves again and launching another Moko Takabisha, this one double the size of her last one.

This time instead of impacting how she expected it to, a semi translucent orange shield appeared in front of the beast. Before Ranma could vent her frustration though the demon lifted its undamaged arm and let loose with a swing, unleashing a long red beam that seemed to be acting like a sword.

Not wanting to get caught in whatever the thing was doing Ranma launched herself out and under the creatures swing, letting herself flow under it by the barest of margins as she brought up both staves in a gamble to relieve the thing of its glowing sword.

Fortunately for her, her gamble paid off, the powers of both staves once again combining with the creatures momentum to result in the thing losing a large part of the appendage and sending it flying out of sight. On the down side of her little gambit though she was now in an uncontrolled spin that left her rapidly approaching the rooftop of a five story building.

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Meanwhile in Nerv

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Gendo Ikari stood silently as he watched the UN leadership debate on their next move. He knew what that should be as there was only one way to defeat the angels and realistically should have already been given the go ahead to set NERV up as humanities last line of defense against the angels. However, there appeared to be a little hang-up with the chain of command. A little hang-up in the form of what appeared to be a young redheaded girl wielding two staffs. Apparently the higher ups wanted to wait and see what this new development would bring into play.

One very important thing he did note though was that none of the aged generals seemed to be bothered about the girl's presence, uncaring as to whether or not a new angel had been added to the playing field.

Under the cover of his glasses Gendo narrowed his eyes, while it was true that the old generals had not asked if the girl was an angel they at least had acted surprised enough to show that they had not been expecting this turn of events either.

"I bet you are wondering what is going on down there, Eh Ikari?"

"What I am wondering holds no relevance, only NERV is set up to properly combat the threat posed by the angels. All we are doing is wasting valuable time that could be best utilized with me attending to my duties."

"Be that as it may, allow me to indulge myself."

"General." Gendo signaled back holding back his irritation for the man.

"Do you perhaps remember a few years prior to second impact when Mt Horia suffered from a major landslide?"

"Yes, as I recall it was due to the fact of a previous unknown fault line within the earth's crust rearranging itself. This is Japan these things happen often enough."

"Ah, yes well, that's not entirely true. You see Ikari, there was a cover up. It was no fault line. What happened back then was the end result of a battle between two extremely powerful martial artists. The government at the time had decided that the majority of the population was not quite ready to know that there were others out there with the ability to topple mountains and so a cover story made, and as long as civilian collateral damage was kept to a respective minimum these high powered martial artists would remain to be rumors and myths to the majority of the populace."

Keeping his doubts about the girl's questionable humanity to himself Gendo asked. "If these so called martial artists were a viable asset why was I not briefed on the matter?"

"Because it was believed that none of them survived second impact." Gesturing to the large screen behind him the man added, "What we are witnessing could very well be the last grandmaster of a lost art."

Sensing an opportune moment Gendo replied, "Well then if I may suggest handing over control of this operation to me so I can reinforce this last tribute to a legacy to insure her survival."

Shooting a glance over to the two other leaders of the task force the aged general replied, "Very well Ikari, Control of this operation is being handed over to you."

Not allowing his smirk over his victory to show Gendo turned his head and nodded to a member of his staff resulting in the podium in which the UN task force leadership sat upon being lowered out of the room.

"Oh and Ikari, do try to keep that girl alive. It would be a shame is such a valuable asset and part of our rich cultural history were to be lost because of a mistake or misunderstanding."

Gendo almost growled but thankfully was able to keep his composure together long enough for the floor to seal back up, turning to another member of his staff he coldly stated, "Bring Unit 01 online and prep it for its pilot. And get me Doctor Akagi, I want confirmation that this girl is not an angel and I want it now."

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Ranma panted in exhaustion, her running battle spanning roof tops to street level and back again was starting to take its toll on her and despite her earlier success the creature seemed to be getting faster in generating its shield and now it seemed like the beast was starting to regenerate its damaged tissue.

But despite her being tired she already had a plan of action to take the thing out. It seemed that while the creature could spring up some sort of shield Ranma herself could pass through it as long as she wasn't attempting to launch an attack. The two keys she held clenched in her hands also seemed to be able to harm the oversized B movie reject if they made contact. "Alright… I got a plan… All I need to do is get ontop of the thing…" Looking up at the large form towering over her and the city she added with a grumble of irritation, "Easier said than done… I could have sworn that there were some really tall buildings around here…"

"HURRY THIS WAY… QUICKLY…"

"What?" Ranma questioned as she spun around only to gape in shock upon seeing the child form of his teacher hiding in a nearly collapsed building motioning for her. Fortunately her preservation instincts kicked in causing her to dash forward while yelling, "MISS NINOMIYA? What? YOU GOTTO GET OUT OF HERE…"

"RANMA DOWN… Happo Fifty-Yen Satsu…" Barely making it inside the makeshift bunker she was forced flat on the ground while her former teacher shot off one of her signature draining techniques. Continuing to roll further out of the way the redhead placed herself well out of range of the technique before taking a moment to look back at the creature whose advance had begun to stall to a crawl.

"Ranma, I will buy you some time for you to rest up, pay attention to me, there are others hidden along this demons path, use them to help but DO NOT allow them to be seen in the open."

The redhead nodded dumbly while she watched her teacher continue to age while absorbing the creatures energy. Seeing an aged Akane in the dark had been surreal but now watching her teachers face slowly begin to wrinkle as she pressed her technique was only hammering it home that she was missing a lot of information.

Grunting in exertion as she continued to absorb energy and age at an accelerated rate Hinako managed to grit out, "You need to pay attention to this technique and duplicate it if need be… I might not be here next time…" Finally unable to hold anymore the teacher shot out a menacing glare and growled out, "Happo No-Yen Coin Return…"

Putting aside the comment about a possible next time Ranma gawked at the size of the blast that shot forth from their hideout to hit the beast dead on sending it staggering backwards.

Seeing that the beast wasn't down and out and that she was still swirling with the energy she had absorbed Hinako repeated, "Happo No-Yen Coin Return…" Seeing the beast stagger back once more the aged English teacher screeched out, "I DO NOT LIKE DELINGQUINTS IN MY CITY. HAPPO NO-YEN COIN RETURN… GO RANMA… DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME… GO…"

This time Ranma stumbled in awe over the size of the attack coming from his teacher and was relatively sure that he would have been a sure goner if she had ever directed such a blast at him. As it was the blast had only managed to stall the creature somewhat as it was already restarting its advance. Taking only a brief moment to ensure his teacher was okay Ranma went back out into the open and picked up a nearby chunk of concrete, roughly the size of a small car, and proceeded to hurl it at the monster with all her strength to get its attention.

/thwack/

"Ow hey…" Ranma muttered as she felt a small pebble impact the side of her head. Glancing in the general direction that the stone had come from the redhead had to force herself to not call out. Instead she leapt up onto a light post before bounding up and through a window on a five story building. "Hey Pcha…" She started before trailing off in shock at the sight of her rival/friend, "What happened to you… You're huge…" this…"

"Bwee…" Ryoga growled out in irritation before biting down on Ranma's thigh.

"Hey… Geesh… Sorry Ryoga, I just woke up I haven't really had much of a chance to really think about things." Ranma muttered as she continued to stare at the now very not a piglet cursed form of her friend.

Grunting a reply that was lost in translation to human ears the currently locked pig leapt onto a nearby counter and began to glow with a sickly green energy.

Snapping out of the self-imposed daze she had been in due to the apparent changes that had happened from her perspective overnight Ranma asked, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble try to hit one of that damm things knee's, I got a plan but I need to bring that thing down to a more manageable level before I can do it."

"BWEE BWE BWEEEE…"

"Call me crazy but I think I understood that." Ranma shot out before the whole building was rocked with shockwave that sent her flying.

Recovering in midair the pigtailed teen shot a concerned glance behind herself only to sigh in relief that while Ryoga had been hurdled through the air just the same as she had someone managed to stealthily intercept the porcine. Muttering a thanks to her father, she allowed herself to tumble back down into the street where she was forced back on the defensive so as to not give the thing another chance to hit her with one of whatever in the hell she had nearly just been hit with.

"What I really need to do is stop running and bring this thing down." Wanting to test the things reflexes Ranma proceeded to use a zig zagging stop and go maneuver that would hopefully give her some idea as to how fast the creature could aim the not so little exploding trick it had dealt out.

Pausing just briefly to glance back the redhead was again caught nearly off guard as the behemoth sent an explosion within a hundred yards of herself consequently sending her skidding across the pavement and down the street. Jerkily climbing back to her feet the current girl grinned. While it was true that she had been caught up in the explosion she had also managed to plant the Gekkaja in the creatures path leading to a rapid spread of thick heavy ice beneath the monsters feet.

Feeling her confidence swelling over the fact that she had the thing right where she wanted it Ranma cried out a determined, "MOKO TAKA BISHA" Mere nano-seconds away from following up her attack the ground beneath her feet began to rumble and shake, causing her to pause and look down only to see a seam in the pavement rapidly spreading open. She stood there teetering on one leg for just a brief moment before being able to regain her balance and retreat to somewhat higher ground.

"What the heck was that?" The redhead griped to herself as she attempted to swing behind the massive beast to retrieve the Gekkaja from its place in the ground, with the hopes that whatever the thing rising out of the ground behind her was on her side. Unfortunately in the time she had managed to double back to retrieve the staff the creature had begun moving again. This time though instead of coming after her like she had expected it to, it shifted targets in favor of attacking what looked like some sort of giant robot with an extension cord coming out of its back.

Not one to let the opportunity pass her by Ranma dashed forward with all her speed, spring boarding off the side of a building to land directly on the back of the creature's leg. Focusing her ki in the hopes that the giant would not feel her she slowly climbed around to the monsters front and put herself in position right at what she guessed was the things knee joint.

With a look of grim determination in her eyes Ranma buried both staves into the creatures flesh before letting loose a cry of, "Saidaikyū Kijin Raishū Dan…"

Wave after wave of compressed vacuum blade slammed down at point blank range right on top of the already weakened joint. Not finished with her attack the pigtailed martial artist then used the two keys as hand holds to keep herself steady as she prepared to twist herself around in a motion that would hopefully sever the already weakened leg in half.

Just as she finished the motion and was about to leap to relative safety Ranma's eyes went wide because within the edge of her peripheral vision she caught sight of a young girl inside one of the buildings going down a stairwell with the protective layers of glass already blown out from the battle. Realizing that the giant robot was off balance and on a collision course with the building that girl was in Ranma leapt into action intent on getting to the little girl before it was too late.

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"SHINJI THE ANGEL IS DOWN… MOVE IN AND FINISH IT OFF!" Misato Katsuragi chief of NERV's tactical operations yelled after only a moment's pause at the shock of seeing an Angel brought down with normal human sized mêlée weapons.

He had been distracted, after falling on his face in an attempt to make a second step with the Eva Shinji had spied a red-haired girl fighting the angel. He just couldn't believe that there was anyone out there brave enough to be out on the street at the same time as the angel, hell he was inside a giant robot and he didn't even want to be out there. Right before the angel had started to fall just as he was starting to get his balance again he had seen the girl launch herself towards him and he flinched. Causing him to further lose his balance and crash into another building, the same one in which the mysterious girl had just propelled herself into. A look of pure horror filled his face as he realized just what he had done.

'NOOO… NOOOOO…. I KILLED HER…."

For a moment the entirety of the command center was quiet as realization hit them as to what the young lad was talking about.

"Get up and dispose of the Angel before it has a chance to finish regenerating." Gendo ordered from his position overlooking central dogma.

Shocked her back into action by the Commanders cold words Misato added, "Shinji, you need to get moving."

"I killed her Misato… I killed her…"

"Yes you did, and unless you want everyone else to die you will climb out of that rubble and finish the Angel off."

Misato resisted the urge to berate the commander mostly out of fear of his reprisal and instead focused on getting her pilot back into the fight with, "Shinji you need to get moving, don't let the girls sacrifice be in vain, use the distraction she provided to take the Angel out before anyone else can get hurt.."

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/Boy where are you/ Genma signed franticly as he began to dig through the rubble of the partially collapsed building.

/Dammit Ranma stop playing around./

Flip

/This is no time to take a nap./

Flip

/Can you hear me/

Flip

/If you can bang on something and I will dig you out./

Clang clang

Moving in the general direction of the noise Genma paused and looked up at his sign.

"You know pops…" Ranma called out hoarsely as she tried to stifle a hacking cough, "People generally can't hear written words.

/Son this is no time for joking around./

"Yeah yeah, I got a fight to get back into…" Pausing as she slowly began to stand up revealing the form of a small 8 yr old girl curled up beneath her the teen added, "But before I do, You think you can carry escort this pretty young girl out of here?"

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Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga had been monitoring the feeds closely looking for any sign of movement from the red-haired girl that had so far nearly managed to single-handedly incapacitate the Angel. Just as he was shifting the feed to a different angle to scan another area of the rubble he caught sight of movement on the roof. Zooming in on the figure he exclaimed. "Captain we have movement on one of the partially collapsed roofs, it's the red-haired girl… she's alive and looking like she is getting ready for another attack."

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Sachiel knew that it was about to be defeated, the tiny Lilum had proved to be a formable foe, despite that he had still felt confident. Then though he had sensed something else and began to worry, the Lilum had thus far proved to be an elusive enemy but the new combatant was much larger and more likely to be able to prevent him from reaching his goal. So he immediately discarded the small Lilum as the primary threat and moved on to a new target in the hopes of neutralizing it in time to crush the tiny Lilum.

However the new target had not proved to be much of challenge and suddenly Sachiel began to suspect that the tiny Lilum was the true threat as his own momentary distraction gave the Lilum enough time to seriously damage him.

There had been a brief respite afterwards but now he could feel the small Lilum coming again and he knew that this was going to be the end. Wanting to clear the way for his brothers the third being of a race called angels went with a final solution and opted to self-destruct.

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"Right, it's time I finish this. I'm going to send a Hyru Shoten Toppa so far up you your grandkids in whatever hell that spawned you are gonna feel it." Ranma muttered to herself as she moved onto the buildings ledge. Reaching the point of no return in her commitment to jump the pigtailed teens eyes widened in shock as the Godzilla reject suddenly shifted forms into a large ball that then wrapped itself around the giant robots upper body. Unable to do anything but comically wave her hands about in a off balance attempt to recover her lost footing Ranma started to shout, "Ohh…."

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The entire bridge crew watched in shock as the unknown girl comically flapped her arms moments before the Angel self-destructed sending the girl flinging across the sky.

Looking down at the view screen from his position in his balcony Gendo ordered. "Begin salvage operations." Then as an afterthought he added. "That includes finding the body of that girl.

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"Elder over here."

"How is she?"

"It's faint but Ranma-sama has a pulse… I'm worried elder these injuries are quite severe, Ranma is in dire need of medical treatment."

"Help will be arriving shortly, she must hold out on her own until then."

"Elder cologne I must protest, Ranma-sama is in critical condition and might not last."

Signing Cologne replied, "Very well, I will attempt to keep her stable enough until help is closer, contact Genma and tell him we have the Kinjakan and for him to find the other."

"Elder?"

"Child it's one growl for yes he has it two for no he doesn't, any other answer tell him we will handle it later and that Ranma will remain stable." Cologne snapped testily while leaning forward to take in the full extent of her former son in laws injuries, noting that they were just as severe as her temporary partner had claimed she muttered, "I'm sorry I can't do much more for you Ranma but a lot of things depend on you being found as you are. We have our orders to keep our involvement hidden for now, which is why I apologize for what I am about to do. No doubt you will be pissed about it but it has to be done. At least you're still going to be you… well for the most part…"

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Several minutes later

"Elder, NERV security vehicles have just pulled into view, we will be surrounded within minutes."

"Good, come let us get out of here before we blow our cover."

"Yes elder. Shall I send out the signal for the final phase."

"Not necessary, I'm already here." Came a gruff reply. "I will deliver the Kinjakan after I complete the final phase."

"Cologne shook her head in acknowledgement as she was scooped up by Konatsu, "Just make sure that you are convincing."

Once the others had left the masculine figure moved the Kinjakan near Ranma's prone body and got to work. Muttering a gruff but fond, "Jackass… " the person began staging the body in preparation for the arrival of their guests.

The orders had been clear, the body needed to be staged a certain way for whatever Cologne had done to Ranma to have its full effect. She wasn't sure what effect it was supposed to have other than to hide the fact that the others had been at the scene.

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Misato panted as she ran up the steps following closely behind the security detail tasked with recovering the body of the red haired girl that had taken on the angel. Originally she had planned to go out to supervise Shinji's extraction but after hearing from the recovery team that he was alive just unconscious she had settled for going with NERV security to bring in the girl. And despite the odds on finding her alive she was holding out hope.

She had been suspicious at first about the girl actually being human then though fact that Ritsuko had confirmed it combined with the magi agreeing with the General's assessment of the girls humanity had gone a long way in easing whatever fears she had had that there girl was an angel in disguise.

Noting that the lead of the detail had come to a stop at a the landing of the floor that they had traced the girls trajectory to Misato shot a glance over her shoulder to the EMT's they had brought along. "Keep the guns down." She barked, "We don't want to spook her, we're here to help."

Moving herself foreword she continued, "I'll go in first by myself, the medics will follow once I give the all clear." Motioning to the security team she added, "You guys stay out here and secure the area."

Cautiously she moved forward and slowly swung open the door while calling out, "This is Captain Misato Katsuargi of NERV and I am here to render any medical assistance you might require."

Not hearing a reply the woman slowly stepped out of the stairwell to look around. The entire floor was abandoned at first glance a outer rim of vacant offices encompassing an inner maze of cubicles making it difficult to find their target. Realizing that time was of the essence she glanced back to the security detail and ordered, "Fan out, find the girl but don't approach her."

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Ukyo sighed in relief as she heard the woman's voice calling out. She had finished with staging the scene and now was just staying there in silent support for her former fiancée until help would arrive. "I wish they would hurry up…" She fretted to herself while idly adjusting the scraps of clothing covering the redhead beneath her, "Ranchan just hang on a little longer…"

Hearing footsteps heading in her direction Ukyo stood up and loudly brushed up against a cubical wall.

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Hearing the sound of movement Misato immediately looked up and noticed a figure standing in one of the darkened cubical. Unsure of the person's identity she called out, "OVER HERE…" Motioning towards the person standing she added, "We're just here to help…"

Ukyo slowly turned to the voice before reaching down to grab the Kinjakan and exploding into movement away from the prone body of what had been her best friend from nearly a lifetime ago.

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Misato went to give chase only to pause once the figure's silhouette was illuminated by the moonlight. Whomever the person was wasn't the girl they were looking for but did have one of the girls weapons. That much she could tell in the dim lighting as the blade shone in the moonlight. Hearing the sound of the security detail rushing in her direction she called out, "After him, he has one of the weapons. I'll find the girl."

Unsure and a little uneasy about what she would find the purple haired woman hurried back to the spot that she had first spotted the figure only to momentarily freeze in place as she spotted the battered form of the girl laying still on the floor surrounded by debris that seemed to have been neatly cleared away from the body. Swallowing hard Misato cautiously approached the body before catching sight of the slight rise and fall of the girls unbound chest.

"MEDIC… OVER HERE, She's breathing…" Kneeling down to grasp a hold of the girls hand she added softly, "Don't worry, help is on the way…"