Pain and payoffs.

by Man in the shadows.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma ½ or Gundam wing. Sunrise owns the rights to Gundam Wing, as far as I know. Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. God Bless these people. I'm also low on cash. Please don't sue. God bless these people's lawyers.

I'll add other disclaimers at the end of the fic, if need be.

> < This is for thoughts. = = are for Transmissions.

WARNING: Spoilers, Foul language, Adult situations

CWG's homepage is at http://www.geocities.com/mitshadows/cgwhp.html

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Akane was sitting on the back of a truck used for transporting wide loads, like the Hurricane, that was under the canvas to her back. No one had bothered to wake her up that morning. Ranma and Ryouga were drilling Heero and Wu Fei in basic katas for the use of Chi'. Ukyou was in the middle of having Rain, Kate, Lisa, and Hal do their morning katas. In Akane's mind, it was unlikely that the others trusted her.

Ranma had bounced back with help from his uncanny healing abilities, as usual. Soon he would probably challenge Ryouga and show off before the newcomers. A bit of jealousy whelmed within her and Akane winced. She still could remember the vision that Wing Zero had shown her.

It scared her. It scared her a lot.

"After we're done, we'll start running you through the basic operations of the Chi' Gundams," said Ryouga.

The two pilots walked about 50 feet away as Ryouga and Ranma faced off. The waited a few moments and then Ryouga threw the first punch. Ranma ducked under and threw a three punch combo to Ryouga's gut. The other man didn't even flinch.

Ranma started to back off. Ryouga went for a simple strike at Ranma's chest. Ranma dodged to the side, and Ryouga quickly fired some chi' bullets at him. Ranma leapt over the spray of fire, and countered with the Moko Takabisha. The other man got blasted back a few feet. Ryouga quickly countered with his repeating Shi Shi Hokoudan. Ranma ducked under the balls of chi', rushed up to Ryouga, and used the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken.

Ryouga was set back a few feet, then Ranma stuck out his tongue. Ryouga rushed foreword and used his chi' bullet technique in tandem with a series of punches and kicks. Ranma seemed to weave himself around the assaults in an artful way. Wu Fei noticed Ranma was leading Ryouga into a sort of spiral pattern.

Then it happened. Ranma came to the center of the spiral, with chi' gathered at one of his hands. He brought up the hand in a uppercut that hit no one and shouted, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" To the shock of the original Gundam pilots, a tornado came forth, carrying Ryouga into the air.

Wu Fei was shocked. A look of interest had appeared on Heero's face, which was a miracle within itself. As soon as the move was completed and after Ryouga's unconscious form had hit the ground, Heero walked over to Ranma and asked, "Why didn't you use that in any of the other battles?"

"My opponent has to have a really hot chi' while I keep cool. The move is useless against Mobile Suits." At that moment it rained for five seconds, which is a common occurrence in the rain forest. "Damn it..."

A flash went off and Kate had captured the most improbable photo ever. A picture of Heero Yuy in shock.

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Duo moved his shoulder a bit. "Do I have to wear this heavy suit," he complained.

"Yes," said Cologne, as she handed him a helmet. "Attach this to your suit."

As he did so, Duo smirked. "Well, running along this track should be simple enough."

"Before we begin you must remember, this is a race, and you must win it."

"A race huh? Who am I racing against?"

Cologne whistled and three dogs ran over. "This," she said while petting a German Shepherd, "Is Sylvester." She pet the Doberman Pincher next to it. "This is Arnold." The next dog was a Bulldog. "And this is Tyson."

"No fair! They have four legs. They'll easily beat me."

Cologne looked Duo straight in the eye. "They're not here to win the race." Duo blinked. "Start running."

Duo shrugged. >Well, at least this will be better that that dumb meditation.< He started running along the track.

He was nine yards away when he heard Cologne call out, "Sic him." He looked back and all three dogs where racing towards him with their teeth bared while they were backing.

"Oh shoot!" Duo started running for all he was worth.

"This is insane," muttered Sally Po, whom was standing right next to her. "That woman doesn't even know what she's doing!"

"She knows what she's doing," assured Une. "But we don't have the time to waste on getting Duo ready. If the Cartels use those Mobile Suits against cities, we would be unable to keep them at bay."

Sally sighed and turned back to the monitors, where the dogs had knocked down Duo and were taking bites at him.

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Ranma sat in the cockpit of the Pheniox and relaxed. Wu Fei was still learning about how to use his chi', but Heero was already using an aura. It was probably due to the battle where he used the Pheniox.

The reason Ranma was sitting in his cockpit and meditating wasn't to explore the chi' system, this time. Ranma closed his eyes and brought his aura to life. His intent was to explore the Zero System. Heero had done a similar thing with a laptop, when he got Epyon and Wing Zero. He wanted to know what the agenda of the Pheniox was. Ranma didn't want to have a conflict with the Phoenix, in the middle of a battle.

With his mind, he could feel the Zero System going through it's dance. It was sending what it's sensors were picking up straight to Ranma's brain. The tracking system would track enemies within an area. It would also sense Ranma's thoughts, sort them out, do a bit of editing, and send them back to Ranma. And it's all done in nanoseconds.

One problem happens when a brain can't handle all the info. It causes pilots to go psychotic.

A worse one is that in a battle, when there are not physical targets nearby, the targeting system will look for potential targets. This leads the system to take anything that the pilot has a grudge or doubt about into a target.

Ranma had to try and master the system, otherwise he would become a danger to his friends. What Ranma's problem is that he knew squat about programming. So he closed his eyes and concentrated on the Zero System it's self. Ranma was going to have the Zero System explain itself to him.

"Ranchan, it's dinner time," called out Ukyou.

"I'm a bit too busy," called back Ranma. The scanners picked up Ukyo’s grip on her plate loosening, the plate falling to the ground, and the plate shattering on impact. It was shown in every detail.

Ranma sighed. It was going to be hard to keep the Zero System on itself.

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A week later Duo met Cologne at the track field, as he had been doing every day after meditation. He was still sore from the day before. And he still didn't understand what this training was supposed to do.

"The dogs don't seem to be helping," said Cologne, "So we won't be using them anymore."

The tired and beaten Duo Maxwell let out a sigh of relief as he pulled on the new weighted suit. "Good."

A smile crept across Cologne's face causing him to shiver. "A year ago I went to New York City and met a bunch of boys who showed respect and were very nice. I asked them to come and help you train." A bunch of guys walked out onto the track field. They were carrying poolsticks, bats, and a few pipes. "Duo, meet the Crips."

Duo was about to cry.

"Elder Cologne," asked a Crip who looked like the head honcho of the assembled gang members. He was using a respectable tone. "What do you want us to do?"

"Boys, Duo here is training in speed. I expect him to learn to use his chi' to give him large bursts of speed. Don't break his bones, or damages his eyes and teeth. Try to inflict bruises only." The Crips smiled and Duo shivered. "You may start running, Duo."

>Why me,< wondered Duo as he started running for dear life.

"You may go now, boys."

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"Lieutenant Fitz, you wanted to see me," asked Lady Une as she looked up from her desk.

David tugged on his collar a bit. At his side was a suitcase. He hated talking to higher-ups about his personal opinions. It brought up ugly memories of his drill Sargent. "Um... I'm having doubts as to if we should be hunting the Chi' Gundams, ma'am."

"And why is that?"

"Well, me and my team saw that unidentified Mobile Suit burst out of a Drug Manufacturing Site. What if this isn't an isolated event? What if there are more of those things and the Chi' Gundams are hunting them?"

Lady Une looked unconcerned. "We've already gathered that. Our searches for the Chi' Gundams are just that. We are not hunting for them. Your commanding officers should have told you that."

Suddenly David Fitz became concerned. "Standing orders at this moment are to alert Kuno and his Mobile Dolls and to gun down any Chi' Gundam pilots we run into."

This got the lady's attention. "Who gave those orders?"

Dave got a file from his suitcase and set it on her desk. "The orders have your signature."

Lady Une picked up the file and went through it. She quickly got up. "These are not my orders..."

"Looks like there's a problem then."

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Ranma had been having trouble. The Agenda for the Phoenix’s Zero System was to take down both OZ and White Fang forces. Without ether the Zero System had to find some new purpose. It had started to gain questionable goals. Some of which included killing Ryouga and killing cops.

He was presently trying to rewrite the system's goals using the Chi' System and the Zero System. And It wasn't easy. After a month of work, he was finally making a lot of headway.

At the present, Ranma was now just relaxing and getting used to the Zero System. He was doing sensor scans of the area and trying to sort out what the Zero System would tell him. Ranma still had a long way to go towards conquering the Zero System. Using it with ease when relaxing was one thing. Using it in combat, was a whole new ball game.

Everyone else were going bout their daily routines. Ukyou was making lunch. Ryouga was sparring with Wu Fei, and winning. Kate was talking with Lisa. Heero was working with Rain and Hal, on drawing up plans to put Chi' interface controls in the Wing Zero. The basic plans would make Heero's reaction times a lot faster and would allow a few chi' techniques. But it would not allow for the flexibility and major Chi' channeling that a true Chi' Gundam would allow.

Akane was busy doing Katas. With the Zero System, Ranma could make out each and every mistake she made. But he could tell she wasn't angry. She seemed to have something nagging on her mind. What ever it was, a martial artist who isn't thinking straight, can cause serious damage on herself and others.

Then the Zero System made Ranma aware of a sniper who had a rifle aimed at Akane. Ranma quickly fired a burst of shells at the area to the left of the man. "Guys, we got a sniper!" Suddenly several gunmen, that had been hidden around the camp, opened fire on the camp.

As soon as Ranma had fired the Phoenix’s guns, Lisa, Hal, Kate, and Rain took cover. Heero ran straight for the Wing Zero, while gunfire ripped up the ground behind him. Ryouga started firing chi' bullets and his Repeating Shi Shi Hokoudan as he and Wu Fei made their way towards their Gundams. Ukyou had been near the NightRaider and she was juat starting it up. Akane leapt to the cockpit of the Hurricane, but a errant shell clipped her leg, on the way.

Ranma moved the Phoenix towards the main concentration of gunfire, and took on some hits. Ranma fired at the area around the men who were attacking, sending some of the men scattering.

He stopped firing. "Hold your fire. They're SEALs!"

=What,= came Ryouga's voice. =They look like solders to me.=

"Baka! Navy SEALs are anti-terrorist personnel. Those guys work to protect the people who we're fighting for."

=They don't look like they want to talk,= commented Akane with a strained voice.

"Just stop shooting." Wu Fei turned on his Public Address system. "Hold your fire. This is Wu Fei of the Preventers. Hold your fire."

A voice answered. "Surrender now or we will fire again."

=Oh come on,= came Ukyou's voice. =Do you really think you can hurt us what those? Besides, we have a mission to finish.=

"This is your last chance."

Herro's voice was heard as he decided it was time to put it as it was. =You're weapons are useless against Mobile Suits. We're not giving up. You won't last against us. So, leave now, or die.=

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"This can't be happening," said Relena with a disbelieving look, as she, Sally, Une, Howard and David watched the monitors in Une's office. A news broadcast had gotten footage of the Chi' Gundams, Altron, and Wing Zero firing at SEALs, while some trucks in the clearing started to pull away.

"It's happened," said Une with a quiet tone. "Now we have to do damage control."

"After this," asked Howard. "People tend to believe their eyes. And Herro's voice was on the tape. How can we explain this?"

After a few moments of silence, Relena spoke up again, "We have to tell the truth."

"Great. One big media circus," mumbled David. "At least none of the SEALs got killed."

"We have no choice," said Lady Une, quietly.

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Duo walked onto the track looking a bit confused. "Hey Cologne, where's the suit and the Crips?"

Cologne sat on her staff, looking rather relaxed. "Today, we move onto the next part of your training. You will not need the suit, and the Crips have gone home." Duo let out a cheer and started jumping for joy. "Oh Mousse." Duo stopped and look over to see a guy in white robes, who was wearing glasses, enter the track area.

Then a purple hared girl bounced onto the track and gave Duo a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck." She then walked away. With her back turned to him and Mousse, she made a face. Duo only noticed that Mousse looked pissed.

"Start running," advised Cologne. Duo headed her advice and started running as fast as his legs could carry him. It wasn't long as several items, including a kitchen sink, started to sail by him. Duo didn't dare look back.

>If there is a god, he's probably doing this for revenge,< thought Duo.

Cologne sighed. "I needed Mousse to be angry, so Duo would move faster."

"Oh."

"And I don't want you showing disrespect to them. They may not be strong fighters, but it takes a lot of skill to use their Mobile Suits."

"Fight back," called out Cologne.

>She's got to be kidding,< Duo thought to himself.

"Use the meditation techniques while you run."

>Well, I'm a dead man anyway. Might as well.<

Duo started to control his breathing and zone out everything else. With some effort, he was able to even ignore his doubts. Suddenly, things seemed to feel a bit lighter for him. His feet didn't hurt as much as he ran. Rather then try and understand what was going on, he followed his training for using his Gundam, and used the advantage.

As he opened his eyes, he turned about and started running. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Quickly he closed in and started punching. He got off 3 hits before Mousse hit him with a duck shaped training-potty. Then two large scythe-like blades shot out of Mousse's large sleeve. Mousse started swinging.

Duo leapt over the first one, ducked the second, and then kicked Mousse between the legs. The male Amazon went to his knees and Duo put him away with a kick to the head.

After he knocked out Mousse, he fell to his knees, with exhaustion. He didn't know it, but from the view of the sidelines, Duo had a Chi' Aura during all that mess.

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Author's Notes:

Well, it's all about to hit the fan.

Duo survived his training with Cologne.

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