Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own Evangelion. Though I do wish I owned a Mari figure.
Artificial Evolution Laboratory, Hakone, Japan
2004 – Contact Experiment Test Day
Four year old Shinji Ikari hid nervously behind his mother's legs as they entered into the lab's observation room. Turning around, Yui Ikari knelt down in front of her son and smiled softly. "You don't need to be scared Shinji, Mommy and Daddy are here," she said reassuringly.
Young Shinji nodded slightly and hugged his mother. He watched as she straightened up and greeted the other researchers there. Shinji looked around the room, peering under desks and behind chairs. As he got further and further from his mom, he spotted a large object covered by a white sheet. Approaching the object, Shinji paused to gaze up at it. Curiosity quickly took over the little boy, and Shinji reached down and picked up the edge of the sheet.
Yui and the other scientists were surprised by the scream they heard. Rushing over, they found young Shinji cowering away from a covered maintenance equipment. Yui went over to her son and checked him over. "What's wrong Shinji?" she asked.
"A...a...a...," was all Shinji could get out. Concerned about what could have scared her son so badly. Gazing over at the sheet, Yui went over and lifted the sheet. "BOO!"
Jerking back in surprise at the shout, Yui fell backwards and pulled the cover off of the equipment to reveal a small brown haired toddler with glasses. The smiling little girl jumped up, clutching a stuffed dinosaur to her chest. "Did I scare you? Did I scare you?" she asked excitedly.
Placing a hand over her heart to calm the rapid beating, Yui took a deep breath and smiled at the child. "Yes you did, but what are you doing under there?" Yui asked.
"Daddy told me I had to stay out of the way, so we decided to hide under here and scare people," the girl replied, smiling brightly.
At this statement, Shinji, who had been hiding behind his mother, poked his head out and asked quietly, "We?"
The girl's smile widened as she stepped closer to Shinji. "Me and Mr. Teeth, of course," she said, thrusting the stuffed dinosaur towards him. Shinji examined the stuffed toy in front of him. It was a Tyrannosaurus-Rex made of green felt. It's mouth was open slightly and filled with many white felt teeth. Intrigued by the toy, Shinji took a step towards the girl.
Seeing the curiosity on her son's face, Yui nudged Shinji and said, "Why don't you introduce yourself, sweetie."
Nodding to his mother, Shinji came out fully from behind her back and bowed to the little girl. "Hello, my name's Shinji Ikari. What's yours?"
"Hiya Shinji, I'm Mari Makinami, and this is Mr. Teeth," the girl replied.
Happy to see that her son had made a new friend, Yui Ikari rose and dusted herself off. "Well, I have some work to do, so why don't you three play together?" she asked the children with a smile.
"Okay," the kids replied in unison. With that, the new friends ran off to find somewhere out of the way to play. Looking away from her son, Yui wiped a tear away from her eye and embraced her husband. Leaning in close, Yui whispered in Gendo's ear. "Please take care of Shinji, dear."
Gendo nodded and embraced his wife tighter. Releasing their hold, Yui stepped away prepared to start the experiment. She just hoped that Shinji would one day understand what she was about to do.
Tokyo-3
10 Years Later
"Due to the current state of emergency, all public services are suspended. Residents should make their way to the nearest shelter and wait for instructions."
Hanging up the phone, Shinji Ikari retrieved the 100 yen coin from the change slot and pocketed it. "Well, at least we're not the only ones with an emergency," he said to the open air around him. Shrugging his shoulders, Shinji hiked his duffel bag further up, making sure it was secure. Double checking that a faded green dinosaur was still seated in the outer mesh pouch of the bag, Shinji made his way towards, what he hopefully thought was, the nearest shelter. Stopping at an empty intersection, Shinji scanned the area for any signs of life. His eyes widened as he saw a girl about his age with blue hair staring at him from across the street. Hearing movement to his right, Shinji turned his head towards the sound, only to see a flock of birds winging away. Returning his attention towards where the girl was, he was surprised to discover that she was no longer there.
"Huh, I guess I just imagined her," he said. Readjusting the bag once again, he pulled a photo out of his pocket and looked at it. The provocatively dressed women was leaning forward, showing off her impressive cleavage. She had also included an arrow pointing to her breasts with the instruction to "look here". Laughing, Shinji read the note on the photo one more time. "Misato Katsuragi, huh? She said she'd meet us at the station, but I guess the emergency held her up. Oh well, I guess we should just head to the shelter then. Sound good to you?"
Shinji received no audible reply to his inquiry, but it did not bother him. His companion was usually silent anyway. Just as he was opened his mouth to speak again, he heard a low whistling coming from above him. Looking up, Shinji saw what appeared to be a tank flying through the air. "I must be more tired than I thought," he chuckled as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Looking back up, he was surprised to see that the tank was still there, and it appeared to be larger than before. The laughter died on his lips as the tank seemed to grow even larger right before his eyes. It was then that the realization struck him like a ton of bricks. "Oh shit," was all he could say before he was forced to dive out of the way of the falling tank.
Hitting the ground with a roll, he clutched the duffel bag to his chest, making sure to keep the stuffed dinosaur away from the ground. Rising, Shinji sprinted away from the wreckage only to find himself in the path of an oncoming car. The car screeched to a halt and he paused to admire the vehicle. It was a Renault Alpine A310, and it seemed to still be in good condition. Suddenly, the door flew open and a women's voice shouted, "Get in!"
Without hesitation, Shinji jumped into the car and laid the duffel bag across his lap. He glanced over at the woman driving the car and realized that it was the same woman from the photograph. As Shinji went to greet Ms. Katsuragi, he heard an explosion sound in the distance. Looking out towards the explosion, his eyes fixed themselves on a giant monstrosity that appeared to be heading towards the city. "What the hell is that?" he asked with a yelp.
Without taking her eyes off of the road, Misato replied. "It's what we call an Angel. It's what Nerv was founded for. Didn't your father tell you about it in his letter?"
"No, all the letter said was for me to come here. Ten years without so much as a word and suddenly he wants to see me. He needs something, I know it."
Shinji returned his attention to the Angel and noticed that the attack craft seemed to be pulling out. As he told this to Misato, she stopped the car and leaned over him with a pair of binoculars. "What are they doing?" she mumbled. Suddenly, she dropped the binoculars and shouted, "Oh shit! They're gonna use an N2 mine."
While he had no idea what that was, Shinji knew it couldn't be good. Squeezing the duffel bag tightly against his chest, he made sure the dinosaur was fully protected as Misato threw her own body over his. The resulting explosion rolled the car over several times before it came to a stop on it's side. Pushing herself off of the young boy, she asked, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Shinji replied. Misato gave him a curious expression, wondering what he had meant by "we". Shrugging it off, she pushed the car door open and pulled herself out. Extending a hand down to Shinji, she pulled the boy out of the car. Working together, the pair righted the vehicle and continued on to their destination.
"I think we've passed this place before."
Misato ignored Shinji's comment, still a little confused by the boy's demeanor on their trip down into the Geofront. He seemed to have been speaking quietly to someone, but Misato couldn't hear what he was saying. Since he didn't seem to be speaking to her, she brushed it off as his nerves. Nevertheless, she was concerned about Shinji's mental state, talking to people who weren't there was never a good sign.
A few turns later, the pair came to a stop in front of a set of elevator doors. As Misato went to push the button, the doors opened to reveal a blonde woman in a white lab coat. Shinji frowned slightly at the blonde's attire, the coat reminding him of his mother and her accident. Adjusting the duffel bag, Shinji made sure the stuffed dinosaur was as close to him as possible.
Shinji blocked out the two women's conversation, just waiting for the time when he would see his father. After ten years of being ignored and forgotten, Shinji would finally get the answers he needed. He would finally have a chance to reunite his two best friends. Shinji was so absorbed in his own thoughts, he almost didn't realize that Misato and the doctor, who's name he heard was Ritsuko, had stopped.
Grinding to a halt, Shinji looked back at the women as they directed his attention to the doorway in front of him. No light seemed to be able to penetrate the inky blackness that filled the room. Swallowing, Shinji steeled his nerves and entered the room. A few moments after entering, the lights snapped on and Shinji jumped back with a yelp. Staring at him seemed to be a giant purple monster. Getting his nerves under control, Shinji asked quietly, "What is it?"
"This is the Ultimate All-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Battle Weapon developed by humanity. The artificial human, Evangelion. That is Eva-01. Its construction carried out in complete secrecy, it is our – humanity's – final trump," Ritsuko replied.
"You will be the pilot," a voice from above said.
Shinji's head snapped upwards towards the sound of the voice. He found himself staring directly at the man he wanted to see, his father. "Hello Shinji," Gendo said emotionlessly.
"Hello Father, so this is why you called me here? To pilot your toy? I'll do it, but only if you answer my question," Shinji growled.
Gendo looked passively down at his son, not making any attempt to acknowledge his son's demand. Grinding his teeth, Shinji's anger bubbled up from deep within himself and he shouted, "Mari Makinami! Her father was part of Mom's experiment. I want to know if she's still alive."
Shinji waited silently for his father's response. A few moments passed and Gendo made no attempt to answer. "So that's how it's going to be?" Shinji asked. "Very well then, this is good-bye Father. I have no intention of trying to please you anymore."
As he turned his back on his father, Shinji heard him call a man named Fuyutsuki and tell him to wake someone named Rei. He fumed silently as his father told Rei that "the spare was unusable" and order her to come to the Eva cage. A minute or two later, a gurney wheeled it's way into the cage with a young woman lying on top of it. Shinji looked at her and realized that it appeared to be the same girl he had seen on the street earlier that day. He watched silently as she struggled to rise with her injuries. Suddenly, the cage shook violently, causing the occupants to lose their footing.
Shinji stumbled and dropped his duffel bag, causing some of the contents to spill out. His eye's widened in shock as he saw the stuffed dinosaur bounce across the catwalk towards the edge and the liquid below. Diving towards it, Shinji snatched up the dinosaur well before the edge and rolled over onto his back. As he skidded to a stop, he found himself directly in the path of the blue haired girl who had fallen off of the gurney as the cage shook. Throwing the hand holding the dinosaur out of her path, Shinji braced himself as the girl crashed down on top of him.
Checking to make sure she was okay, Shinji discovered that her fall had reopened some of her old wounds. Passing the girl to the doctors there, Shinji rose and dusted himself off. Looking up at his father once again, Shinji spoke coldly. "If you intended for this girl to raise my sympathy and make me want to pilot instead of her, it won't work. All you have to do is answer a simple yes or no question, and I'll pilot, but you've never been one to care about others requests. Good luck with your work Father."
Walking away from the girl, Shinji was startled when he heard his father speak again. It was just one word. "Yes."
Snapping his head back towards his father, Shinji's eyes shone with joy at that statement. "Well, then I guess you've got yourself a pilot. Let's do this then," he said, rolling his shoulders.
Making his way towards Misato and Ritsuko, Shinji noticed an expression of pity on Misato's face. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, when you dove for Rei, you accidentally kicked your bag over the edge, this is all that's left," she said, holding out a slightly worn SDAT player. Examining the player, Shinji shrugged and said, "Well, the important stuff is okay. Oh, and I wasn't diving for Rei, I was going for him."
Shinji held up the stuffed dinosaur for Misato to see. Chuckling at the incredulous expression on her face, Shinji held the dinosaur out to her and said, "Why don't you hold on to him for me for now? I don't think he'll like what comes next."
Nodding wordlessly, Misato took the toy and held it close to her chest along with the SDAT player. Smiling, Shinji allowed Ritsuko to lead him towards the entry plug of the Eva. Attaching the A10 neural connectors, Shinji seated himself in the plug's seat, and waited for the excitement to start. Taking a deep breath, Shinji thought to himself, You're alive, you're still alive. I promise, I'll reunite you two soon. I'm sorry it took so long, Mari.
AN: Wooo! This was fun. This story popped into my head recently and I knew I just had to write it. I'm a huge fan of Shinji/Mari, but there just aren't enough stories for them out there. As you can see, I'm not very good with naming stuffed animals, but I figured a little girl like Mari would come up with a name like that. Rest assured, the importance of Mr. Teeth will be explained next chapter. So anyway, thanks to anyone who is reading this, and please review. Remember, flames are always welcome.