Way of the warrior
Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. Nor do I intend to. This right goes to other genial people and I will merely borrow their incredible works to expand upon as to provide further entertainment for fans.
No money is made from this, nor do I have any.
So please don't sue me, the four cent I have aren't worth it anyway.
Chapter 1
Tokyo 2 - Year 2004
A four-year- Shinji is seen crying while his father is walking away.
Little Shinji couldn't understand his parent's reasons, he only understood the elderly couple that was standing behind him was to take care of him. They were his aunt and uncle, but Shinji didn't really know them.
They seemed nice enough, but he would miss his mom and dad.
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Tokyo 2 - Year 2006
Little Shinji wasn't very happy the last two years. He only saw his father annually when he visited his mother's grave on the anniversary of her death.
The Elderly couple he was entrusted to may have housed him, but they never played with him or did anything fun. He was beginning to think that they didn't really like him.
Today he asked if they would buy him a bike. They declined rather rudely.
Shinji cried, but was ignored.
Right now he was looking on as they pulled out of the garage.
The next few seconds were right out of a movie: Down the street a big truck came careening on, not hitting his brakes when he saw the car pull out because the driver was obviously not watching the road.
With a mighty boom the truck hit the little van, crunching it up and slamming it into the next building.
Shinji ran out of the house and to his uncle and aunt . 'They have to be alive, please, let them be alive' ran through his young mind over and over again. However, when the car burst in flames he knew they were lost.
He sacked down onto the sidewalk he was running on and started to cry.
He was alone again.
10 minutes later Shinji was shook out of his stupor when a police officer spoke to him. He asked him a lot of questions. The only one he could answer was if he knew the people who died.
"They were my aunt and uncle, I don't have anyone else. I don't want to be alone, please help me!"
****************************
Officer Tanake smiled at the small child and reassured him they could find a new home for him in one of the orphanages.
When the last word escaped his lips Shinji suddenly stopped crying and an expression of pure horror grew on his face.
The next moment the little child was up and running into the crowd of bystanders, disappearing from instantly.
They tried to find him, but after 4 days of searching nothing turned up and the search was stopped.
********************************
Shinji thought this nice man would watch after him, but instead he said they would put him into an orphanage.
He didn't want to go there. His uncle always made him believe they would put him there if he wasn't a good boy.
They also told him that the other children and caretakers would be mean to him and make him miserable.
It was quite understandable that he was running like hell to get away from the man who wanted to out him there. He only stopped running when he was a good 3 miles away from home, the only thing he had being the clothes on his body....
*******************************
Tokyo 2 - Year 2008
8-year-old Shinji was creeping down a dark hallway in an even darker apartment.
The only thing on his mind was revenge, revenge for his friend Tsubasa.
FLASHBACK
2 years ago, when he started living on the streets Tsubasa was the one who helped him.
The first week Shinji tried to get by with begging, but he felt that he was slowly starving to death because people tended to avoid the likes of him. Not all of them, but most.
That was when he started stealing. He started stealing small things like watches to exchange them for food with some dubious characters. He knew it was wrong, but as long as it would help him survive, so it was alright in his book
On his third week on the street he was once again walking to the meeting point, only to be intercepted by two older boys around 8.
They tried to beat him up to get his valuables and he was sure if they succeeded, he would have starved.
However, as the tow older boys advanced on him a new voice called out.
"Stop!" It stated with confidence.
Of course when the boys saw the newcomer they didn't do that. Instead they advanced on him, leaving Shinji alone for the time being.
The following minute Shinji could only watch in awe as the newcomer made short work of the bullies.
Shinji was still sitting there unmoving when the newcomer offered him his hand with a friendly smile.
"Come on kid, they are gone. You should really watch your step a bit more around here."
Shinji nodded and took his hand. He thought he should do something for the first person who treated him nice these days and decided to offer to share today's catch with the stranger.
"Thank you, my name is Shinji Ikari. What's yours?"
The brown-haired boy smiled
"Name's Tsubasa kid. I take it you don't know your way around here very much huh? Maybe I should hang out with you a bit, show you what goes on around here."
Shinji nodded eagerly.
"We can share dinner together, I will pay for both of us, as thanks for saving me!"
Tsubasa's grin got even wider, showing his small fangs
"Thanks kid, haven't had company in a long time. Come on, let's go."
That evening their friendship was born. From that day on Shinji was 'living' near Tsubasa in the same alley. Tsubasa had lived on the streets for a good 2 years, ever since he was 6. He had good fighting skills), because he was trained by his father in various styles till he died in a plane crash, taking his mother with him.
Ever since then Tsubasa had been living on the streets because he didn't want to go to his relatives or a discipline center.
It wasn't long before Tsubasa started teaching Shinji what he knew. Shinji was, surprisingly enough, a quick learner.
In return Shinji tried to teach Tsubasa the basics of music with a stolen pair of flutes,
which was also going quite smoothly.
It was around that time, when Tsubasa showed him some meditation techniques (he was really good for his age), that Shinji first noted something of about his surroundings, but only when meditating and really concentrating. At first he couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it felt like some kind of background noise that varied in intensity and feel. It was also a lot stronger near a person.
One time, while he was meditating Tsubasa was trying a new piece with the flute.
As the feeling once again returned he finally figured it out.
At first, for a lack of better terms, the waves he was getting from Tusbasa were "happy" and "determined". When his good friend repeatedly failed to do it just right, the waves gradually changed from happy to frustrated, but the determination stayed. When he could see the frustration in Tsubasa's face the waves he got were nearly palpable, and when Tsubasa finally managed to do it, they suddenly cleared and where replaced with waves of pride.
At that time Shinji was with Tsubasa for a good 6 months and had learned enough from living on the street to know his ability was indeed unusual. Surely he would have heard of something like this before if it was common?
So he kept to himself and tried to improve his newfound skill secretly.
At first he could only access it when in trance, but after e few months he could do it on a normal basis, simply by concentrating hard.
Around that time he noted, that when in a trance, he could even 'feel' his surroundings, not only a persons position and their thoughts.
It wasn't much, but he was sure that with training he would be able to walk blindfolded, picturing his surroundings in his mind.
It took some time but eventually the two became quite a team and their names started to make the rounds, partly because Shinji was the born thief because of his new powers, and partly because Tsubasa was the best fighter in the age group of 8 to 14, with Shinji not far behind.
However, all good things come to an end some time. Their friendship was one of them.
In Tokyo 2 the Yakuza were active to some degree, and after 1 1/2 years partnership the duo robbed the wrong person.
It wasn't even very much, only a few thousand yen, but the man noticed them at the last moment.
They ran for half an hour, without losing him, his faster pace making up for their knowledge of the alleys.
Finally they lost him, or so they thought.
They made their way back to the camp, trying to catch some sleep after eating.
Tsubasa fell asleep almost instantly, snoring softly.
Shinji would have too, if not for the fact that he had felt the mans hatred even without concentrating on using his special ability. He was deeply disturbed that someone could be that fired up because of a few thousand yen.
His sleeplessness was the only thing that saved him that night when the Yakuza thug struck.
With one quick motion the big man had Tsubasa grabbed and slammed his still sleeping form into a wall, snapping his best friends spine.
Shinji shot straight up the moment he heard the thug and was 5 feet away when Tsubasa died before his eyes.
Now he could see a sadistic smirk on the mans face
"Stay here little kid, I'm not finished with you, I think I'm going to kill you after I had some fun."
Rage was boiling in Shinji that moment. This thug had killed his best friend just like that, and he would meet the same fate.
However, Shinji also knew he didn't stand a chance right now and ran away, planning the revenge of his friend.
This time the thug didn't give as much chase, seemingly satisfied that he killed one of two brats.
However, Shinji was still keeping track of him from the dark, following him at a good 150 feet distance.
Already his mind was planning to kill the thug in his sleep, just like he had done to his friend.
After spying his house, if it could be called that, he walked back and packed up, moving the camp.
***************************
Ever since that moment Shinji was living to destroy this man, who took his only friend. He did only three things: eating, training and sleeping.
And now, after 6 months the moment was finally there. he was now good enough to sneak around in total darkness, only using his mysterious skill to keep track of his pitch black surroundings.
He already knew his prey was behind the next door and he readied his weapon.
He checked on the thug's aura to make sure he still slept and crept forward some more.
With a creek the door was opened and the child stepped in. With a fluid grace, born from sneaking around for over two years, he neared the head of the bed.
He could smell and hear his enemy's regular and stinkin breath now.
He lifted the knife and brought it over his head, he wouldn't give this pig a chance to survive.
*****************************
Milliseconds later an earsplitting scream, that died down almost the moment it began, echoed through the streets around an old apartment building in Tokyo 2
5 minutes later an eight-year-old boy calmly walked out the backdoor, his old worn shirt splattered with fresh blood.
His mind still going over the scene over and over again, and finally coming to the realization, that he took a life, the first time in his young life.
The next morning a middle-aged man was found dead in his bed, his head cleanly split in half.
While checking through his belongings the police discovered that he was working for a yakuza ring and through the findings they were able to capture his boss and lay waste to a small crime syndicate.
********************************
2010
The last two years had gone by in a blur for Shinji.
Without a close friend to get the day around all he could do was improve his abilities so he could survive the next years on the street.
The most important were still his fighting abilities. By spying on a local fighting course using his sixth sense, as he dubbed his supernatural ability, he managed to improve his techniques quite a bit, but without someone to practice with, aside from the occasional thug who thought he was easy prey, he felt he lacked training. You could only do so much by yourself.
His sixth sense itself was now strong enough that he could read every single emotion without even half trying on a person.
As for feeling his surroundings, he could only keep reading them up for about an hour, but that was good enough.
The drawback of all this was, that he had to eat a lot. It seemed like using his abilities was also using up quite a bit of energy.
Form that he got another idea. If it was really energy he was using, he should be able to use it for other things and so he started to experiment.
After a lot of futile attempts he managed to not simply send the energy out to get a reading on his surroundings, but to pump it into his body instead.
That made him faster and stronger for short periods of a few minutes. However, the serious advantage in strength and speed enabled him to take out fighters 6 years older than him without many problems, as long as they weren't too good in fighting.
That was why he was standing here right now, in front of a steel door, in some trashed alleyway that was stinkin like hell.
He knew inside was a fighting area where kids from all ages were ducking it out, all for the fun of the audience and of course, the money that came with it.
Usually the participators were over 12 years, but he was sure he could make up for it with his sixth sense.
Here was the best way to make a lot of money to live from without stealing from people. That would be a very nice rest for his guilty consciousness.
Shinji knocked three times and a small window in the middle was opened.
He had to stand on his toes to look through it.
The sleazy old man behind it looked at him critically.
"Go away kid, you have no business here!" He rasped out.
"I'm here to fight old geezer, let me in already!"
The man laughed out loud and looked at him disdainfully
"I somehow doubt you will stand the slightest chance kid, leave!"
With that he closed the small outlook.
However, when the old man, still snickering, turned around a loud 'thung' echoed out from behind him.
He turned around to see a dent in the metal plate that represented the door and sweatdropped. He really didn't give that one enough credit.
He immediately opened the door, to find the kid standing behind it, smirking at him as if to say 'I told you geezer'.
"Um, I think you can go in!" The balding man said sweating slightly. He didn't want to get on this ones bad side.
Shinji nodded and proceeded forward. It didn't take long before he found himself in a small office where he filled out a few forms, on computer of course. Shinji could write, because he and Tsubasa decided early on to try and stay up to date by reading from the newspapers and various books.
All around people were giving him funny looks. It wasn't everyday a 10 year old participated in the tournament.
When he handed his papers back the secretary, an old lady with a lot of make up, looked at him critically.
"You sure you want to do this small one. It's pretty hard out there you know?"
Shinji only grinned "Of course I will do this, I'm not about to back out now."
The old women nodded and clicked on her computer a few times
"Ok, your first fight will be at 20:00. I wish you luck." 'If you have any you will survive the beating this one will give you without broken bones' she added silently.
Shinji nodded his thanks and walked down the hall. Now he wanted to watch a few fights and grab something to eat. Hopefully his reserves would be full this way, because he had to fight in 5 hours. To put a 5-inch deep dent into that metal door he had to use nearly half his reserves at once, now he had to get them back.
**********************************
Shinji was finally standing in the ring, facing of against a 14 year old kid who looked quite strong.
A few murmurs were going through the crowd; probably all having to do something with him going to be beaten, judging from the reactions after the announcer said their names.
When his was said they laughed, but they cheered for his opponent.
He didn't care; he would win, no matter what they said.
His opponent was smirking at him with an air of superiority around him. That would soon change
************************************
Up in the ranks a man with an air of dignity about him was watching Shinji with a keen eye. His name was Masaru Lee and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about that kid, aside from the fact that he was far younger than normal for these circles.
"Sir! Your bet please?"
"Set on the new kid, Shinji was his name if I remember correctly. 1 Million Yen"
The bet-taker's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets
"Sir! That is quite a sum to place on a 10 year old, only 3 others have placed their trust in him, with far less money."
"Do it already, I have a hunch."
"Very well."
When Masaru was unobserved again he turned his attention back to the ring
"Now, lets see what you can do Shinji." he whispered.
***************************************
At last the fight started. Both combatants stepped forth and bowed.
"Ok you two. Beltline downward is off limits. If someone is knocked out, victory for the other; you yield, victory for other party. As for the rest, anything goes."
"Hai!" came the simultaneous reply
"FIGHT!"
****************************************
Shinji's opponent didn't waste any time after the announcer declared the fight started.
He came at the much younger boy with a straight punch that packed his full power, hoping to knock the new kid out in one swift movement.
To the audience and his surprise Shinji simply leaned his head to the side, the punch missing by mere millimeters. He grabbed hold of the now overextended boys arm and threw him over his shoulder with seemingly no effort.
Everybody gasped when the boy hit the ground. Masaru simply raised an eyebrow; that kid packed more power than he should be able to pack.
Shinji's opponent, Makoto, eyed his enemy with new respect. He used a straight punch expecting him to simply dodge. It shouldn't have been possible for the smaller boy to throw him like that.
This time he came at Shinji, who was smirking, with a combination of fast jabs and kicks, trying to pin him for the knockout.
No such luck, the small boy evaded him seemingly without any effort.
What was worse, Shinji even slipped a few punches through his defenses.
Makoto was getting frustrated and started to get more fierce in his offense, leaving himself wide open but knowing his opponent was too focused on blocking to do anything.
He was once again proven wrong when Shinji burst forth with ridiculous speed and sent a full powered punch to his solar plexus.
When Shinji felt his fist sinking into the other boy he smirked even more, sure that he had won after powering his punch with his energy effectively making it 4 times stronger than normal.
Dead silence reigned when Makoto, the clear favorite in this fight, crumbled to the ground unmoving.
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10... KNOCKOUT. And the winner is Shinji Ikari"
The announcer said, himself not fully believing what he saw with his own eyes.
Once again it was dead silent when someone broke out clapping. This one was no other then Masuru, who was clearly impressed with the new lad.
Soon the whole audience joined him and cheered for the winner, who was basking in the attention he was getting.
*************************
5 hours later the final match was held. Not surprisingly it was Shinji against the 15-year-old champ.
After his first win Shinji had to win 2 more matches, just like his last and strongest opponent.
He was all that stood between him and the first prize of the tournament.
Shinji had seen him in action and knew he wouldn't stand a chance in a straight fight. He was sure that he would have to use all his reserves to win, which he planned on doing. Up to that point he always used defensive tactics to lure his enemies out to knock them out with one well placed punch or kick.
He resolved to change that now, hopefully throwing his opponent off balance to win this one fast. Surprise was his only advantage here.
The betting was now a bit more outbalanced this time since the audience knew what to expect from both fighters. The majority of the audience still placed their money on Jonny, the champ. He was a big fellow from America.
Masaru decided it was best not to bet anything on this fight. He had already decided to speak with Shinji later on, maybe he could win him as a student for their private fighting school. They took only the best ones and made them better. They could afford it because of the money their members regularly won in tournaments like this one. Most of the time they even brought more money in than they cost, so it was quite a promising business.
He came here in hopes of finding new material, and obviously he found it. The current fight however, was uncertain in his eyes. Jonny may have been the better fighter, but he could tell the new kid was holding out here, only waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim when it wasn't on his guard.
This was the sort of fighter he searched, someone who used everything he had, just like the rest he had found. Their students weren't famous for nothing in these circles after all.
Jonny for his part was VERY reserved about this fight. His opponent sure didn't look like much, but he took out 2 boys at least 4 years his elders without problems before. He wasn't sure why, but somehow he knew he was in for a few more surprises.
*************************
"FIGHT" It echoed once again.
In one flash Shinji was on top of Jonny, who had barely time to react in time, getting hit with a few hammer strikes into his face and rips before he managed to put up a defense.
He blocked to his best ability, but found to his dismay that Shinji was still getting through.
One especially hard kick bruised his right side, leaving him gasping.
'Time to stop this' he thought, and lashed out. He got hit once more, but caught Shinji square in the face in return.
For a moment the two only stared at each other, not sure how to proceed, their rapid breathing from their minute exchange drowned out by the cheering and applauding crowd.
'SHIT! Not fast enough. Well, lets at least give a good show with what we have left.' Shinji cursed his rotten luck. It worked just fine, simply rushing his opponent. Unfortunately Jonny was able to take quite a beating and therefore still stood, albeit shaking.
Shinji didn't want to risk a broken arm or something, so he only attacked with mediocre strength, which obviously was not enough. Now he had to save his last strength to give a good show lest somebody gets suspicious of his powers.
They met once again, this time at a much slower pace than before, both trying to outlast their opponent. After a good 10 minutes of punching, kicking, blocking and throwing Shinji started to tire and Jonny got more and more hits in.
Shinji tried to retaliate one last time, putting his last reserves to the front. He ducked under a right cross and struck upwards with all his might, catching Jonny under the chin and knocking him of his feet.
Jonny rolled with the blow, his head spinning. He still had the mind to sweep Shinji's feet out from under him when he came at him, standing up in the same movement, and faster then Shinji could react Jonny was on top of him, his fist only inches from a panting Shinji's face.
"Give up kiddo?"
Shinji closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Yes, I yield, you win." The fight was over.
Jonny grinned and was promptly declared the winner of the tournament therefore getting 50000 Yen. Shinji couldn't complain though, as the second best he still got half of that, enough to feed him over two weeks.
****************************
Shinji was just walking out of the host's office when someone got his attention with a tap on his shoulder.
He turned around to see a middle aged man of average height and figure. He looked loaded judging from the expensive looking suit he was wearing.
Shinji frowned slightly, whatever this man wanted couldn't be good, and considering that Shinji was still hurting all over from his last fight, he did't feel like talking. It could be excused that he was a bit irritated when spoke :"What is it?"
The man answered with a disarming smile, showing a perfect set of teeth.
"Now, now, no need to be so abrasive. I'm here to make you an offer."
"Oh, and what offer is it?"
"My name is Masaru Lee, pleased to meet you. You see, I was watching you fight, and frankly I'm impressed with your abilities. I'm a representative from a renowned martial arts school and we're always searching for talents like you to train. If you join you would get a roof over your head, all the food you want and more training then you can take. So are you interested?"
Shinji was really interested, but he couldn't believe they would just give that all for free, there had to be a catch. He said as much.
The man just nodded:"I can see what you mean, but don't worry it's nothing much. The only thing we except you to do is to fight for our school in some tournaments when we say it. Usually the winnings are enough to make up for your costs. So what do you say?"
Masaru knew he had Shinji long before the boy replied. For somebody like him , opportunities like this didn't come everyday.
"Yes, I think I will go Lee-san. Where are we headed?"
"We will stay here in Tokyo 2. Our Base is on the other side of the city."
"That's a long walk, are you sure we shouldn't wait till dawn?"
Masaru chuckled a bit.
"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji, We're not walking, I came here by car. Come on now."
Only 2 hours later Shinji's contract for his stay was signed by both sides and without further ado he hit the sack
***********************
The next morning Shinji found himself clad in clean clothes and freshly bathed for the first time in over 4 years. It had been so long since his last bath, he didn't even remember how good it felt to sink into the warm water anymore, or sleep on something other than hard concrete.
Right now he was sitting opposite of a woman about 35, her name was Minako Misune. Masaru said she was to be his new martial arts teacher, but for some reason she decided to evolve their first meeting into a staring contest.
Unfortunately he couldn't make out any emotion from her that could give him a hint as to why.
On the other side of the table Minako Mitsune was simply waiting. She always tested her ) students' patience before teaching anything. Right now Shinji was nearing the 40'th minute of silence and she knew it wouldn't be much longer before he broke. Actually it was quite surprising he had lasted even that long.
Exactly at that moment Shinji had enough
"Miss, what are we doing here staring at each other? I'm getting tired of this you know?"
Minako grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
"Simple young one, I wanted to test your patience. Your act of speaking showed it just ran out, but don't worry, you held out quite long. That's surprising considering how young you are. In chase you're wondering, I'm doing this to test your control. Control is very important for martial artists like yourself, but that's beside the point. Do you know any meditation techniques?"
Shinji nodded
"Yes I know some basics but nothing too fancy. I only learned a few when I was 6. Ever since then I tried to improve upon them by myself."
"Very well, I see you tried what you could. I'm sure you'll make a good student. Now for your training plan..........."
************************************
After meeting Minako and laying out his future plans for training Shinji was introduced to his own private teacher. Couldn't let the students get stupid now, could they?
His name was Toshio Umura and he was quite a nice fellow who always had a smile on his face.
Shinji was to be taught by Umura-sensei in every subject to the best of his abilities. At first he didn't want to, but it was part of the contract, so he had to. Besides, his teacher seemed like he could make it interesting, hopefully.
After a short introduction and setting the time for the first meeting Shinji had the day off to explore the grounds.
As far as he could tell the resort he was now living in stretched for a good quarter-mile.
The living quarters were located in west. They were nothing special, just a few rooms with a bed in each, to allow privacy for the schools students. Nearly 25 students had permanent rooms, but from his short talk with Minako he also gathered only half of them were here right now. Often they were gone to one tournament or another, as would he once he was trained enough.
Deeper into the compound, nearly on the opposite of the front portal there was a massive dojo, spacious enough to train a small army at once. It was divided into the main hall, where the majority of the students trained, and the back hall, where the more skilled students like him where trained in private.
On the east site of the compound there stood a large complex that was housing the kitchen and mess hall, as well as various rooms with additional training devices. It even had a pool for swimming, something Shinji resolved to learn. He didn't enjoy the thought of drowning very much and it embarrassed the hell out of him to know he couldn't swim.
The rest of the compound was made up with mostly paths and a simple lawn that had a few tree groups in each corner. While wandering around, searching for a nice secluded spot near the compound wall, Shinji saw another boy sitting on a low branch, playing the flute, of all things. He hadn't thought anybody else was playing any sort of instrument around here, so he resolved to get to know this one.
Shinji waited patiently till the boy stopped playing, just listening to the happy tune that was played.
When the boy looked up in his direction Shinji noted he was well over 13.
"You play incredibly good. My name's Shinji, what's yours?"
The boy stood to his full height, towering nearly a head over Shinji in the process
"Name's Akira kid, thanks for your compliment. I've already been playing for 8 years now."
"That's neat. I play the flute too, but I didn't have anybody to play with lately. Want to play together sometime? You could even give me some pointers."
Akira seemed to mull that over shortly, and then he nodded hesitantly.
"Yeah, sure, I think I could do that. I'm always here when we don't train so if you want to, just come over. It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Thank you Akira-san. See you tomorrow!" When Shinji finished his sentence the older boy was already gone, leaving Shinji standing in the small clearing.
Shinji decided that he would better get going too; he still had enough time to explore his new neighborhood, which he promptly did.
**********************
Shinji soon noticed that Akira was the silent type. He was always polite, but it took Shinji a good 4 weeks of prodding until he finally managed to get Akira's trust to some degree and from that day on Shinji and Akira soon fell into a pattern. They would eat breakfast, then train, eat lunch, take lessons, train some more, eat dinner and finally, after a long day, they always met at the same place where Shinji saw Akira playing the flute the first time.
There they would play a few pieces to relax and exchange some stories.
Shinji soon learned that Akira was from the street as well, but for different reasons. It seemed that his parents abandoned him, simply throwing him out on the street. From there on Akira was always rather sketchy. He said he had a friend who betrayed him, which was why he didn't let anybody near him so that it wouldn't happen again.
Shinji accepted Akira's choice not to tell details; after all, he didn't speak about his past all that much either. It was only fair.
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The next four years flew past in a blur involving a lot of training, learning, tournaments and of course victories on their part. (Revise sentence. My suggestion is "The next four years flew by in a blur. Shinji was involved in a lot of training, learning, and of course, tournaments which he had his fair share of victories in. ")
It would have continued that way if not for a fateful day when a simple letter changed Shinji's world forever......
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Authors notes :
Ahhh, finally I have finished the first chapter. It wasn't even planned as a chapter at first, but I don't think I can call it a prologue either. Still, Hope you like it up till now
Anyway, now we will finally begin the story arc of the series, with a lot of twist thrown in, of course.
Some of you might wonder: Why has Shinji all these neat powers now?
The idea is rather easy. It's a sure bet something is special about the children; after all, there are only a few who can pilot EVA. As far as I can tell they pilot it by 'thinking' to it, so they may be dormant telepaths or something. Now, I believe with training they could probably use it outside Eva for things like reading auras or thoughts, maybe even minor telekinesis, but we will see just how much power Shinji will get. At maximum he will, if at all, be able to bring himself to hover in one position when meditating, otherwise only lifting a pencil or a glass of water.
Some of you might wonder when I will catch on the EVA story arc. It won't be long now. Once Shinji is 14 everything will proceed as normal as possible with a Shinji that was changed to this degree, okay, actually I will probably screw the story arc even more, but I will try to hold at least the listing of the angels. Only problem is I haven't seen the series in a long time and I'm not sure which angel comes at what point. So, if someone has the time: Could you please tell me?
I also plan to strew in some flashbacks to clear up more of Shinji's time in the compound, so that's why I kept it short at the end.
I'm in dire need of a few pre-readers right now. You are interested? Just mail me at master_meister@gmx.de.
For all the others, at least Review and tell me what I did wrong or right OK.
I don't have anything against flames, as long as they are reasonable.
That's all for now, bye!
Last but not least I want to thank my pre-reader SuPeRnOvA145 for making this story readable.
Mastermage
Disclaimer: I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion or any of its characters. Nor do I intend to. This right goes to other genial people and I will merely borrow their incredible works to expand upon as to provide further entertainment for fans.
No money is made from this, nor do I have any.
So please don't sue me, the four cent I have aren't worth it anyway.
Chapter 1
Tokyo 2 - Year 2004
A four-year- Shinji is seen crying while his father is walking away.
Little Shinji couldn't understand his parent's reasons, he only understood the elderly couple that was standing behind him was to take care of him. They were his aunt and uncle, but Shinji didn't really know them.
They seemed nice enough, but he would miss his mom and dad.
******************************
Tokyo 2 - Year 2006
Little Shinji wasn't very happy the last two years. He only saw his father annually when he visited his mother's grave on the anniversary of her death.
The Elderly couple he was entrusted to may have housed him, but they never played with him or did anything fun. He was beginning to think that they didn't really like him.
Today he asked if they would buy him a bike. They declined rather rudely.
Shinji cried, but was ignored.
Right now he was looking on as they pulled out of the garage.
The next few seconds were right out of a movie: Down the street a big truck came careening on, not hitting his brakes when he saw the car pull out because the driver was obviously not watching the road.
With a mighty boom the truck hit the little van, crunching it up and slamming it into the next building.
Shinji ran out of the house and to his uncle and aunt . 'They have to be alive, please, let them be alive' ran through his young mind over and over again. However, when the car burst in flames he knew they were lost.
He sacked down onto the sidewalk he was running on and started to cry.
He was alone again.
10 minutes later Shinji was shook out of his stupor when a police officer spoke to him. He asked him a lot of questions. The only one he could answer was if he knew the people who died.
"They were my aunt and uncle, I don't have anyone else. I don't want to be alone, please help me!"
****************************
Officer Tanake smiled at the small child and reassured him they could find a new home for him in one of the orphanages.
When the last word escaped his lips Shinji suddenly stopped crying and an expression of pure horror grew on his face.
The next moment the little child was up and running into the crowd of bystanders, disappearing from instantly.
They tried to find him, but after 4 days of searching nothing turned up and the search was stopped.
********************************
Shinji thought this nice man would watch after him, but instead he said they would put him into an orphanage.
He didn't want to go there. His uncle always made him believe they would put him there if he wasn't a good boy.
They also told him that the other children and caretakers would be mean to him and make him miserable.
It was quite understandable that he was running like hell to get away from the man who wanted to out him there. He only stopped running when he was a good 3 miles away from home, the only thing he had being the clothes on his body....
*******************************
Tokyo 2 - Year 2008
8-year-old Shinji was creeping down a dark hallway in an even darker apartment.
The only thing on his mind was revenge, revenge for his friend Tsubasa.
FLASHBACK
2 years ago, when he started living on the streets Tsubasa was the one who helped him.
The first week Shinji tried to get by with begging, but he felt that he was slowly starving to death because people tended to avoid the likes of him. Not all of them, but most.
That was when he started stealing. He started stealing small things like watches to exchange them for food with some dubious characters. He knew it was wrong, but as long as it would help him survive, so it was alright in his book
On his third week on the street he was once again walking to the meeting point, only to be intercepted by two older boys around 8.
They tried to beat him up to get his valuables and he was sure if they succeeded, he would have starved.
However, as the tow older boys advanced on him a new voice called out.
"Stop!" It stated with confidence.
Of course when the boys saw the newcomer they didn't do that. Instead they advanced on him, leaving Shinji alone for the time being.
The following minute Shinji could only watch in awe as the newcomer made short work of the bullies.
Shinji was still sitting there unmoving when the newcomer offered him his hand with a friendly smile.
"Come on kid, they are gone. You should really watch your step a bit more around here."
Shinji nodded and took his hand. He thought he should do something for the first person who treated him nice these days and decided to offer to share today's catch with the stranger.
"Thank you, my name is Shinji Ikari. What's yours?"
The brown-haired boy smiled
"Name's Tsubasa kid. I take it you don't know your way around here very much huh? Maybe I should hang out with you a bit, show you what goes on around here."
Shinji nodded eagerly.
"We can share dinner together, I will pay for both of us, as thanks for saving me!"
Tsubasa's grin got even wider, showing his small fangs
"Thanks kid, haven't had company in a long time. Come on, let's go."
That evening their friendship was born. From that day on Shinji was 'living' near Tsubasa in the same alley. Tsubasa had lived on the streets for a good 2 years, ever since he was 6. He had good fighting skills), because he was trained by his father in various styles till he died in a plane crash, taking his mother with him.
Ever since then Tsubasa had been living on the streets because he didn't want to go to his relatives or a discipline center.
It wasn't long before Tsubasa started teaching Shinji what he knew. Shinji was, surprisingly enough, a quick learner.
In return Shinji tried to teach Tsubasa the basics of music with a stolen pair of flutes,
which was also going quite smoothly.
It was around that time, when Tsubasa showed him some meditation techniques (he was really good for his age), that Shinji first noted something of about his surroundings, but only when meditating and really concentrating. At first he couldn't pinpoint what it was, but it felt like some kind of background noise that varied in intensity and feel. It was also a lot stronger near a person.
One time, while he was meditating Tsubasa was trying a new piece with the flute.
As the feeling once again returned he finally figured it out.
At first, for a lack of better terms, the waves he was getting from Tusbasa were "happy" and "determined". When his good friend repeatedly failed to do it just right, the waves gradually changed from happy to frustrated, but the determination stayed. When he could see the frustration in Tsubasa's face the waves he got were nearly palpable, and when Tsubasa finally managed to do it, they suddenly cleared and where replaced with waves of pride.
At that time Shinji was with Tsubasa for a good 6 months and had learned enough from living on the street to know his ability was indeed unusual. Surely he would have heard of something like this before if it was common?
So he kept to himself and tried to improve his newfound skill secretly.
At first he could only access it when in trance, but after e few months he could do it on a normal basis, simply by concentrating hard.
Around that time he noted, that when in a trance, he could even 'feel' his surroundings, not only a persons position and their thoughts.
It wasn't much, but he was sure that with training he would be able to walk blindfolded, picturing his surroundings in his mind.
It took some time but eventually the two became quite a team and their names started to make the rounds, partly because Shinji was the born thief because of his new powers, and partly because Tsubasa was the best fighter in the age group of 8 to 14, with Shinji not far behind.
However, all good things come to an end some time. Their friendship was one of them.
In Tokyo 2 the Yakuza were active to some degree, and after 1 1/2 years partnership the duo robbed the wrong person.
It wasn't even very much, only a few thousand yen, but the man noticed them at the last moment.
They ran for half an hour, without losing him, his faster pace making up for their knowledge of the alleys.
Finally they lost him, or so they thought.
They made their way back to the camp, trying to catch some sleep after eating.
Tsubasa fell asleep almost instantly, snoring softly.
Shinji would have too, if not for the fact that he had felt the mans hatred even without concentrating on using his special ability. He was deeply disturbed that someone could be that fired up because of a few thousand yen.
His sleeplessness was the only thing that saved him that night when the Yakuza thug struck.
With one quick motion the big man had Tsubasa grabbed and slammed his still sleeping form into a wall, snapping his best friends spine.
Shinji shot straight up the moment he heard the thug and was 5 feet away when Tsubasa died before his eyes.
Now he could see a sadistic smirk on the mans face
"Stay here little kid, I'm not finished with you, I think I'm going to kill you after I had some fun."
Rage was boiling in Shinji that moment. This thug had killed his best friend just like that, and he would meet the same fate.
However, Shinji also knew he didn't stand a chance right now and ran away, planning the revenge of his friend.
This time the thug didn't give as much chase, seemingly satisfied that he killed one of two brats.
However, Shinji was still keeping track of him from the dark, following him at a good 150 feet distance.
Already his mind was planning to kill the thug in his sleep, just like he had done to his friend.
After spying his house, if it could be called that, he walked back and packed up, moving the camp.
***************************
Ever since that moment Shinji was living to destroy this man, who took his only friend. He did only three things: eating, training and sleeping.
And now, after 6 months the moment was finally there. he was now good enough to sneak around in total darkness, only using his mysterious skill to keep track of his pitch black surroundings.
He already knew his prey was behind the next door and he readied his weapon.
He checked on the thug's aura to make sure he still slept and crept forward some more.
With a creek the door was opened and the child stepped in. With a fluid grace, born from sneaking around for over two years, he neared the head of the bed.
He could smell and hear his enemy's regular and stinkin breath now.
He lifted the knife and brought it over his head, he wouldn't give this pig a chance to survive.
*****************************
Milliseconds later an earsplitting scream, that died down almost the moment it began, echoed through the streets around an old apartment building in Tokyo 2
5 minutes later an eight-year-old boy calmly walked out the backdoor, his old worn shirt splattered with fresh blood.
His mind still going over the scene over and over again, and finally coming to the realization, that he took a life, the first time in his young life.
The next morning a middle-aged man was found dead in his bed, his head cleanly split in half.
While checking through his belongings the police discovered that he was working for a yakuza ring and through the findings they were able to capture his boss and lay waste to a small crime syndicate.
********************************
2010
The last two years had gone by in a blur for Shinji.
Without a close friend to get the day around all he could do was improve his abilities so he could survive the next years on the street.
The most important were still his fighting abilities. By spying on a local fighting course using his sixth sense, as he dubbed his supernatural ability, he managed to improve his techniques quite a bit, but without someone to practice with, aside from the occasional thug who thought he was easy prey, he felt he lacked training. You could only do so much by yourself.
His sixth sense itself was now strong enough that he could read every single emotion without even half trying on a person.
As for feeling his surroundings, he could only keep reading them up for about an hour, but that was good enough.
The drawback of all this was, that he had to eat a lot. It seemed like using his abilities was also using up quite a bit of energy.
Form that he got another idea. If it was really energy he was using, he should be able to use it for other things and so he started to experiment.
After a lot of futile attempts he managed to not simply send the energy out to get a reading on his surroundings, but to pump it into his body instead.
That made him faster and stronger for short periods of a few minutes. However, the serious advantage in strength and speed enabled him to take out fighters 6 years older than him without many problems, as long as they weren't too good in fighting.
That was why he was standing here right now, in front of a steel door, in some trashed alleyway that was stinkin like hell.
He knew inside was a fighting area where kids from all ages were ducking it out, all for the fun of the audience and of course, the money that came with it.
Usually the participators were over 12 years, but he was sure he could make up for it with his sixth sense.
Here was the best way to make a lot of money to live from without stealing from people. That would be a very nice rest for his guilty consciousness.
Shinji knocked three times and a small window in the middle was opened.
He had to stand on his toes to look through it.
The sleazy old man behind it looked at him critically.
"Go away kid, you have no business here!" He rasped out.
"I'm here to fight old geezer, let me in already!"
The man laughed out loud and looked at him disdainfully
"I somehow doubt you will stand the slightest chance kid, leave!"
With that he closed the small outlook.
However, when the old man, still snickering, turned around a loud 'thung' echoed out from behind him.
He turned around to see a dent in the metal plate that represented the door and sweatdropped. He really didn't give that one enough credit.
He immediately opened the door, to find the kid standing behind it, smirking at him as if to say 'I told you geezer'.
"Um, I think you can go in!" The balding man said sweating slightly. He didn't want to get on this ones bad side.
Shinji nodded and proceeded forward. It didn't take long before he found himself in a small office where he filled out a few forms, on computer of course. Shinji could write, because he and Tsubasa decided early on to try and stay up to date by reading from the newspapers and various books.
All around people were giving him funny looks. It wasn't everyday a 10 year old participated in the tournament.
When he handed his papers back the secretary, an old lady with a lot of make up, looked at him critically.
"You sure you want to do this small one. It's pretty hard out there you know?"
Shinji only grinned "Of course I will do this, I'm not about to back out now."
The old women nodded and clicked on her computer a few times
"Ok, your first fight will be at 20:00. I wish you luck." 'If you have any you will survive the beating this one will give you without broken bones' she added silently.
Shinji nodded his thanks and walked down the hall. Now he wanted to watch a few fights and grab something to eat. Hopefully his reserves would be full this way, because he had to fight in 5 hours. To put a 5-inch deep dent into that metal door he had to use nearly half his reserves at once, now he had to get them back.
**********************************
Shinji was finally standing in the ring, facing of against a 14 year old kid who looked quite strong.
A few murmurs were going through the crowd; probably all having to do something with him going to be beaten, judging from the reactions after the announcer said their names.
When his was said they laughed, but they cheered for his opponent.
He didn't care; he would win, no matter what they said.
His opponent was smirking at him with an air of superiority around him. That would soon change
************************************
Up in the ranks a man with an air of dignity about him was watching Shinji with a keen eye. His name was Masaru Lee and he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about that kid, aside from the fact that he was far younger than normal for these circles.
"Sir! Your bet please?"
"Set on the new kid, Shinji was his name if I remember correctly. 1 Million Yen"
The bet-taker's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets
"Sir! That is quite a sum to place on a 10 year old, only 3 others have placed their trust in him, with far less money."
"Do it already, I have a hunch."
"Very well."
When Masaru was unobserved again he turned his attention back to the ring
"Now, lets see what you can do Shinji." he whispered.
***************************************
At last the fight started. Both combatants stepped forth and bowed.
"Ok you two. Beltline downward is off limits. If someone is knocked out, victory for the other; you yield, victory for other party. As for the rest, anything goes."
"Hai!" came the simultaneous reply
"FIGHT!"
****************************************
Shinji's opponent didn't waste any time after the announcer declared the fight started.
He came at the much younger boy with a straight punch that packed his full power, hoping to knock the new kid out in one swift movement.
To the audience and his surprise Shinji simply leaned his head to the side, the punch missing by mere millimeters. He grabbed hold of the now overextended boys arm and threw him over his shoulder with seemingly no effort.
Everybody gasped when the boy hit the ground. Masaru simply raised an eyebrow; that kid packed more power than he should be able to pack.
Shinji's opponent, Makoto, eyed his enemy with new respect. He used a straight punch expecting him to simply dodge. It shouldn't have been possible for the smaller boy to throw him like that.
This time he came at Shinji, who was smirking, with a combination of fast jabs and kicks, trying to pin him for the knockout.
No such luck, the small boy evaded him seemingly without any effort.
What was worse, Shinji even slipped a few punches through his defenses.
Makoto was getting frustrated and started to get more fierce in his offense, leaving himself wide open but knowing his opponent was too focused on blocking to do anything.
He was once again proven wrong when Shinji burst forth with ridiculous speed and sent a full powered punch to his solar plexus.
When Shinji felt his fist sinking into the other boy he smirked even more, sure that he had won after powering his punch with his energy effectively making it 4 times stronger than normal.
Dead silence reigned when Makoto, the clear favorite in this fight, crumbled to the ground unmoving.
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10... KNOCKOUT. And the winner is Shinji Ikari"
The announcer said, himself not fully believing what he saw with his own eyes.
Once again it was dead silent when someone broke out clapping. This one was no other then Masuru, who was clearly impressed with the new lad.
Soon the whole audience joined him and cheered for the winner, who was basking in the attention he was getting.
*************************
5 hours later the final match was held. Not surprisingly it was Shinji against the 15-year-old champ.
After his first win Shinji had to win 2 more matches, just like his last and strongest opponent.
He was all that stood between him and the first prize of the tournament.
Shinji had seen him in action and knew he wouldn't stand a chance in a straight fight. He was sure that he would have to use all his reserves to win, which he planned on doing. Up to that point he always used defensive tactics to lure his enemies out to knock them out with one well placed punch or kick.
He resolved to change that now, hopefully throwing his opponent off balance to win this one fast. Surprise was his only advantage here.
The betting was now a bit more outbalanced this time since the audience knew what to expect from both fighters. The majority of the audience still placed their money on Jonny, the champ. He was a big fellow from America.
Masaru decided it was best not to bet anything on this fight. He had already decided to speak with Shinji later on, maybe he could win him as a student for their private fighting school. They took only the best ones and made them better. They could afford it because of the money their members regularly won in tournaments like this one. Most of the time they even brought more money in than they cost, so it was quite a promising business.
He came here in hopes of finding new material, and obviously he found it. The current fight however, was uncertain in his eyes. Jonny may have been the better fighter, but he could tell the new kid was holding out here, only waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim when it wasn't on his guard.
This was the sort of fighter he searched, someone who used everything he had, just like the rest he had found. Their students weren't famous for nothing in these circles after all.
Jonny for his part was VERY reserved about this fight. His opponent sure didn't look like much, but he took out 2 boys at least 4 years his elders without problems before. He wasn't sure why, but somehow he knew he was in for a few more surprises.
*************************
"FIGHT" It echoed once again.
In one flash Shinji was on top of Jonny, who had barely time to react in time, getting hit with a few hammer strikes into his face and rips before he managed to put up a defense.
He blocked to his best ability, but found to his dismay that Shinji was still getting through.
One especially hard kick bruised his right side, leaving him gasping.
'Time to stop this' he thought, and lashed out. He got hit once more, but caught Shinji square in the face in return.
For a moment the two only stared at each other, not sure how to proceed, their rapid breathing from their minute exchange drowned out by the cheering and applauding crowd.
'SHIT! Not fast enough. Well, lets at least give a good show with what we have left.' Shinji cursed his rotten luck. It worked just fine, simply rushing his opponent. Unfortunately Jonny was able to take quite a beating and therefore still stood, albeit shaking.
Shinji didn't want to risk a broken arm or something, so he only attacked with mediocre strength, which obviously was not enough. Now he had to save his last strength to give a good show lest somebody gets suspicious of his powers.
They met once again, this time at a much slower pace than before, both trying to outlast their opponent. After a good 10 minutes of punching, kicking, blocking and throwing Shinji started to tire and Jonny got more and more hits in.
Shinji tried to retaliate one last time, putting his last reserves to the front. He ducked under a right cross and struck upwards with all his might, catching Jonny under the chin and knocking him of his feet.
Jonny rolled with the blow, his head spinning. He still had the mind to sweep Shinji's feet out from under him when he came at him, standing up in the same movement, and faster then Shinji could react Jonny was on top of him, his fist only inches from a panting Shinji's face.
"Give up kiddo?"
Shinji closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Yes, I yield, you win." The fight was over.
Jonny grinned and was promptly declared the winner of the tournament therefore getting 50000 Yen. Shinji couldn't complain though, as the second best he still got half of that, enough to feed him over two weeks.
****************************
Shinji was just walking out of the host's office when someone got his attention with a tap on his shoulder.
He turned around to see a middle aged man of average height and figure. He looked loaded judging from the expensive looking suit he was wearing.
Shinji frowned slightly, whatever this man wanted couldn't be good, and considering that Shinji was still hurting all over from his last fight, he did't feel like talking. It could be excused that he was a bit irritated when spoke :"What is it?"
The man answered with a disarming smile, showing a perfect set of teeth.
"Now, now, no need to be so abrasive. I'm here to make you an offer."
"Oh, and what offer is it?"
"My name is Masaru Lee, pleased to meet you. You see, I was watching you fight, and frankly I'm impressed with your abilities. I'm a representative from a renowned martial arts school and we're always searching for talents like you to train. If you join you would get a roof over your head, all the food you want and more training then you can take. So are you interested?"
Shinji was really interested, but he couldn't believe they would just give that all for free, there had to be a catch. He said as much.
The man just nodded:"I can see what you mean, but don't worry it's nothing much. The only thing we except you to do is to fight for our school in some tournaments when we say it. Usually the winnings are enough to make up for your costs. So what do you say?"
Masaru knew he had Shinji long before the boy replied. For somebody like him , opportunities like this didn't come everyday.
"Yes, I think I will go Lee-san. Where are we headed?"
"We will stay here in Tokyo 2. Our Base is on the other side of the city."
"That's a long walk, are you sure we shouldn't wait till dawn?"
Masaru chuckled a bit.
"Shinji, Shinji, Shinji, We're not walking, I came here by car. Come on now."
Only 2 hours later Shinji's contract for his stay was signed by both sides and without further ado he hit the sack
***********************
The next morning Shinji found himself clad in clean clothes and freshly bathed for the first time in over 4 years. It had been so long since his last bath, he didn't even remember how good it felt to sink into the warm water anymore, or sleep on something other than hard concrete.
Right now he was sitting opposite of a woman about 35, her name was Minako Misune. Masaru said she was to be his new martial arts teacher, but for some reason she decided to evolve their first meeting into a staring contest.
Unfortunately he couldn't make out any emotion from her that could give him a hint as to why.
On the other side of the table Minako Mitsune was simply waiting. She always tested her ) students' patience before teaching anything. Right now Shinji was nearing the 40'th minute of silence and she knew it wouldn't be much longer before he broke. Actually it was quite surprising he had lasted even that long.
Exactly at that moment Shinji had enough
"Miss, what are we doing here staring at each other? I'm getting tired of this you know?"
Minako grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
"Simple young one, I wanted to test your patience. Your act of speaking showed it just ran out, but don't worry, you held out quite long. That's surprising considering how young you are. In chase you're wondering, I'm doing this to test your control. Control is very important for martial artists like yourself, but that's beside the point. Do you know any meditation techniques?"
Shinji nodded
"Yes I know some basics but nothing too fancy. I only learned a few when I was 6. Ever since then I tried to improve upon them by myself."
"Very well, I see you tried what you could. I'm sure you'll make a good student. Now for your training plan..........."
************************************
After meeting Minako and laying out his future plans for training Shinji was introduced to his own private teacher. Couldn't let the students get stupid now, could they?
His name was Toshio Umura and he was quite a nice fellow who always had a smile on his face.
Shinji was to be taught by Umura-sensei in every subject to the best of his abilities. At first he didn't want to, but it was part of the contract, so he had to. Besides, his teacher seemed like he could make it interesting, hopefully.
After a short introduction and setting the time for the first meeting Shinji had the day off to explore the grounds.
As far as he could tell the resort he was now living in stretched for a good quarter-mile.
The living quarters were located in west. They were nothing special, just a few rooms with a bed in each, to allow privacy for the schools students. Nearly 25 students had permanent rooms, but from his short talk with Minako he also gathered only half of them were here right now. Often they were gone to one tournament or another, as would he once he was trained enough.
Deeper into the compound, nearly on the opposite of the front portal there was a massive dojo, spacious enough to train a small army at once. It was divided into the main hall, where the majority of the students trained, and the back hall, where the more skilled students like him where trained in private.
On the east site of the compound there stood a large complex that was housing the kitchen and mess hall, as well as various rooms with additional training devices. It even had a pool for swimming, something Shinji resolved to learn. He didn't enjoy the thought of drowning very much and it embarrassed the hell out of him to know he couldn't swim.
The rest of the compound was made up with mostly paths and a simple lawn that had a few tree groups in each corner. While wandering around, searching for a nice secluded spot near the compound wall, Shinji saw another boy sitting on a low branch, playing the flute, of all things. He hadn't thought anybody else was playing any sort of instrument around here, so he resolved to get to know this one.
Shinji waited patiently till the boy stopped playing, just listening to the happy tune that was played.
When the boy looked up in his direction Shinji noted he was well over 13.
"You play incredibly good. My name's Shinji, what's yours?"
The boy stood to his full height, towering nearly a head over Shinji in the process
"Name's Akira kid, thanks for your compliment. I've already been playing for 8 years now."
"That's neat. I play the flute too, but I didn't have anybody to play with lately. Want to play together sometime? You could even give me some pointers."
Akira seemed to mull that over shortly, and then he nodded hesitantly.
"Yeah, sure, I think I could do that. I'm always here when we don't train so if you want to, just come over. It's not like I have anything else to do."
"Thank you Akira-san. See you tomorrow!" When Shinji finished his sentence the older boy was already gone, leaving Shinji standing in the small clearing.
Shinji decided that he would better get going too; he still had enough time to explore his new neighborhood, which he promptly did.
**********************
Shinji soon noticed that Akira was the silent type. He was always polite, but it took Shinji a good 4 weeks of prodding until he finally managed to get Akira's trust to some degree and from that day on Shinji and Akira soon fell into a pattern. They would eat breakfast, then train, eat lunch, take lessons, train some more, eat dinner and finally, after a long day, they always met at the same place where Shinji saw Akira playing the flute the first time.
There they would play a few pieces to relax and exchange some stories.
Shinji soon learned that Akira was from the street as well, but for different reasons. It seemed that his parents abandoned him, simply throwing him out on the street. From there on Akira was always rather sketchy. He said he had a friend who betrayed him, which was why he didn't let anybody near him so that it wouldn't happen again.
Shinji accepted Akira's choice not to tell details; after all, he didn't speak about his past all that much either. It was only fair.
************************
The next four years flew past in a blur involving a lot of training, learning, tournaments and of course victories on their part. (Revise sentence. My suggestion is "The next four years flew by in a blur. Shinji was involved in a lot of training, learning, and of course, tournaments which he had his fair share of victories in. ")
It would have continued that way if not for a fateful day when a simple letter changed Shinji's world forever......
*************************
Authors notes :
Ahhh, finally I have finished the first chapter. It wasn't even planned as a chapter at first, but I don't think I can call it a prologue either. Still, Hope you like it up till now
Anyway, now we will finally begin the story arc of the series, with a lot of twist thrown in, of course.
Some of you might wonder: Why has Shinji all these neat powers now?
The idea is rather easy. It's a sure bet something is special about the children; after all, there are only a few who can pilot EVA. As far as I can tell they pilot it by 'thinking' to it, so they may be dormant telepaths or something. Now, I believe with training they could probably use it outside Eva for things like reading auras or thoughts, maybe even minor telekinesis, but we will see just how much power Shinji will get. At maximum he will, if at all, be able to bring himself to hover in one position when meditating, otherwise only lifting a pencil or a glass of water.
Some of you might wonder when I will catch on the EVA story arc. It won't be long now. Once Shinji is 14 everything will proceed as normal as possible with a Shinji that was changed to this degree, okay, actually I will probably screw the story arc even more, but I will try to hold at least the listing of the angels. Only problem is I haven't seen the series in a long time and I'm not sure which angel comes at what point. So, if someone has the time: Could you please tell me?
I also plan to strew in some flashbacks to clear up more of Shinji's time in the compound, so that's why I kept it short at the end.
I'm in dire need of a few pre-readers right now. You are interested? Just mail me at master_meister@gmx.de.
For all the others, at least Review and tell me what I did wrong or right OK.
I don't have anything against flames, as long as they are reasonable.
That's all for now, bye!
Last but not least I want to thank my pre-reader SuPeRnOvA145 for making this story readable.
Mastermage