Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, its characters, storyline, nothing. It's all the property of Gainax.
Author's Notes: I'll keep this short so you can get to the story. I came up with this idea and while I have no idea what made me think of it, I've decided to go with it.
So I usually listen to music while writing, and the song I've found that probably goes the most with the mood of meeting Shinji for the first time would probably have to be "Ain't no Rest of the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant, which DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN EITHER (it's rights and such belong to RCA/JIVE Label Group, a Unit of Sony Music Entertainment). Just some suggested listening.
And without further or do, I present "I Don't Feel a Thing"
**********
Gendo Ikari sat quietly at his desk, a folder in front of him. His eyes silently went back and forth across the page drinking in the words and letters. After a few moments he finally closed the folder with a gloved hand and pushed the folder aside, then his hand came back up to join his other in front of his face, still silent as a stone. Finally after a moment he reached for the phone and pressed the intercom button.
"Fuyutsuki. Come to the office."
After a while the double doors on the opposite side of the NERV commander's room opened and in walked Fuyutsuki. The older gentlemen's footsteps echoed in the large room as he walked towards Gendo's desk. "Yes sir?" he asked as he approached.
Gendo said nothing and simply pushed the folder towards Fuyutsuki. Fuyutsuki silently took up the folder and opened it to the first page. After a moment of reading the file he looked up. "Your son sir?"
"Yes," said Gendo. "It's time."
Fuyutsuki looked through the folder. "Would you like me to send for him sir?"
"Yes. The first angel attack draws near, and I want him ready to fight at a moment's notice when the angel appears."
"Will he comply?" asked Fuutsuki.
Gendo simply nodded. "He will. I've made sure of it. He will be as weak constituted as I've planned. It will be no problem getting him to do it."
Fuutsuki nodded. "Then I'll send for him immediately." He closed the folder and started out.
"Fuutsuki."
Fuutsuki paused as he got to the door and turned back to Gendo. "Yes sir?"
"Send the packet we'll be sending him to me before it goes out. I would like to add my own little message to him."
"Yes sir."
The double doors closed and the room became silent once more, Gendo still sitting at his desk, hands still held in front of him.
"And so it begins…"
**********
"We're sorry but all landlines are down due to a state of emergency. We apologize for the inconvenience…"
The voice was cut off roughly as the young man slammed the phone down on the receiver. The young man shook his head but a grin formed on his mouth. "Heh… This is what you needed me for eh dear father?" he said. He let go of the telephone and turned to face the street.
If you had asked anyone that had known Shinji when he was young if the young man before them was the same person, every single person asked would have shaken their heads vigorously and say "No!" over and over again. The young man they would have seen was not at all like the Shinji Ikari they thought he would grown up to be. The young man had the same brown hair true but he would never wear a black baseball cap with a white skull with wings on it on the left side of the cap, nor would the Shinji Ikari they knew be wearing a long piece of cloth around his head and down over his left eye covering it away from sight. The Shinji Ikari they knew wouldn't be wearing a short sleeved black buttoned down shirt with the rustic design of faded white skulls located on the bottom of the shirt, and neither would he wear a dark green vest over the shirt with the collar up and around his neck, a few various size pockets on each side of the vest. Shinji Ikari wouldn't wear cargo pants held up by a thick and wide tan cloth belt with a dull double silver buckle. He wouldn't wear black gloves and black heavy army boots tied up around the ends of his pants, and he wouldn't have large round black and metallic grey headphones around his neck. And he would NEVER EVER, have a large knife sheath with a thick black handle protruding from it strapped around him in the back hanging downwards at an angle.
No one would say this was Shinji Ikari. Well, everyone would be wrong. The young man was indeed Shinji Ikari, though he had long ago denounced his last name and refused to recognize or introduce himself any more with that part in his name ever again, and though he had grown up as a sweet young looking innocent boy, this young man seemed much more hardened by what life had given him. While many would have guessed that the Shinji Ikari at this age would be skinny, thin, and for lack of a better word "wimpy", Shinji actually had muscles. They weren't to the point of those ridiculous muscle builders mind you nor did it make his body seem all out of proportion, but it was enough to get people to throw a second glance at his good looks, and in some cases to DISCOURAGE that second look or thought for some of the worse people he had encountered. His face seemed to have grown into the grin that now showed on his face, the grin being a quiet one but one that if you starred at too long, would make you shiver and haunt your nightmares that night. His eyes, or visible brown eye in this case, no longer held the wide, innocent look it used too. The innocence had been replaced with a hardened look that seemed to almost reflect whatever you were thinking back at you and would only deepen the nightmares that you would have already gotten from his grin. Yes, the Shinji Ikari that everyone thought they would know at seventeen, no longer existed.
Shinji reached down to a backpack next to him and rummaged through one of the top pockets until he pulled out a few sheets of folded papers and a photo. His eyes quickly scanned over the first sheet of paper with the few words on it.
"Come. I have a use for you."
-Gendo Ikari
Shinji let out a snicker at the paper and pushed it to the back of the stack as he scanned over the next sheet giving technical details, information, and in Shinji's opinion, crap on certain things, and the piece of paper coming with an ID for something called NERV. He rolled his eyes and put the pieces of paper full of similar crap in the back and came to the last one.
He didn't bother reading it; he knew the just of it. A simple greeting, Instructions to come to a certain area for pickup but a certain Major Katsuragi and the usual "Look forward to meeting you" thing most first letters did in this case. Folded along with the letter when it came to Shinji was a picture as well, which Shinji took out from behind it. It showed a woman in her late twenties, maybe early thirties, posing in the picture, straight, long, dark hair bordering on being a very deep dark purple or dark black, with brown eyes, wearing a black tank top and jean shorts, bending over so that her "assets" were in plain view and you could clearly see down her cleavage. She of course had to top that off with a smile and cheeky wink, and with a handwritten note of "Hey, check these out!" , as though they would be causing him to rush down to Tokyo three as fast as possible.
If anything the idea of the military sending this woman to pick him up had only made him go slower.
"Pft. Slut."
Shinji turned his head to look at one of his traveling companions standing behind him looking over his shoulder at the photo. "No the words I was thinking were Sex Addict," he said the grin on his face widening as he turned to face the young man. The young man looked the same age as Shinji, same height. He had jet black hair, short; the front combed upwards in front and had hazel brown eyes. He himself wore a long black jacket that reached halfway down between his knee and waist hanging open and loose, the zipper undone, sleeves rolled up, and the straps that ran across that undone as well at the top of the coat. Under the coat he had a black button down shirt similar to Shinji's though on the front left side of the shirt in various colors and in a square formation were a spade, a club, a diamond, and a heart. He wore black jeans and black tennis shoes. Over his waist were two belts each one crossing each other like an X. One had a few pouches, the other one seemed bare. On his hands were black leather knuckle gloves, a watch on the left wrist, and on the other forearm was a white cloth wrapped around like a bandage and tied off in a square knot.
Shinji quickly examined the young man before him. His name was Arik Devens, seventeen years old, and one of the few of Shinji's best friends, and for that matter one of the few of Shinji's friends in general. Arik was someone that had mastered the "art" of being unreadable when he wanted too. If he ever met a stranger his face would immediately set straight and give no hint to what he was thinking or what he would do next. Even when he felt like he was being readable sometimes, Arik couldn't be read by the most professional and expert psychiatrists. Still, the young man had feelings, and would smile, grin, grimace, frown, and shoot one of the evilest, "You're going to die", looks anyone had ever seen. His unreadable features came in handy with one of his first and foremost hobbies. He was by all definitions of the word, a card shark. He had skills and talent that would rival that of the dealers of New Vegas, and would likely ban him from there from life while having his face plastered all over wanted posters in the security offices, law enforcement, the FBI, AND the CIA. He had on his person at all times at LEAST 3 decks, a standard deck, a marked one, and one of Arik's specialty rigged decks that he would guarantee a win to him and anyone he would hand it too. Coupled with that he would have dice on him as well, one pair of regular standard dice, another loaded pair, and a lucky set of dice the one side of the dice being skulls and each dot a fiery orange. Put him in any game involving cards or dice and Arik would win easily. When asked how he would win, he would simply say that lady luck loved him. The way Shinji saw Arik play at times he could swear that Lady luck existed, and really did love Arik.
Arik shook his head taking the picture. "She's a booze hound," he said. "One in the morning, one during lunch, one for each break she'll take during work, and three before bed."
Shinji continued to grin as he took the photo back not saying anything. He had learned long ago not to question Arik on such things; Arik was usually right on the dot with his analysis of people. Shinji motioned to Arik. "What time is it?"
Arik checked his watch. "10:15."
"Tch… late," said Shinji. His grin returned to his face. "Of course I won't mind if she doesn't show up at all." He looked around. "Where are Julie and Tyler?"
Arik had pulled out a deck of cards and was absentmindedly flipping through them. "They had gone to check something out."
Shinji looked down the street to see two figures walking towards them. "Speak of the devil," he said.
The first figure was a young woman once again the same age as Shinji and Aaron, a bit shorter then both. She had short, straight, fiery red hair down to her jaw, her bangs parted to one side, dark mascara being around her fiery red eyes. She was wearing a low cut dark red tank top, wearing a dark green bomber like jacket, the sleeves cut off leaving only short pieces of cloth to cover over the top of the shoulders, the collar once again pulled up. Her pants were black and form fitting along with black heavy boots with straps running across them. She wore a simple belt around her waist, and had long black gloves that covered her wrist, a padded area on the back of the gloves. The only thing that would have concerned people when they saw her, was the leather gun holster hooked on to her right thigh.
The figure next to her was yet another male. This young man had dirt brown hair under an olive green military cap. Over his eyes were two dark Aviator like sunglasses with reflective surfaces. He wore a white t-shirt with various designs over it, with a heavy cloth olive green coat over that the sleeves rolled up high on his arms and a red bandanna tied around his upper right arm. He had black jeans that hit the top of his tennis shoes. Barely visible under his jacket and over his t-shirt were two straps one having a pocket on it the other having a knife sheath with a knife in it. Over his shoulder he carried a backpack as well.
The two before Shinji were Julie and Tyler, the only other best friends of Shinji's beside Arik. Julie Embers was seventeen being as old as Shinji, and was a bit shorter then he was. She was a girl, but surprisingly enough she didn't seem to mind being in the constant company of three guys and do things they enjoyed. In that sense she could have been considered tomboyish to those that didn't know her, but she was far from such. Her good looks and interests screamed girl to anyone that got to knew her and the there had been times when Shinji had seen her use her looks and womanly charms to help her out when she needed it. However she was no slut, and any guy thinking of her as such or ever calling her that would often end up with the majority of their bones being broken in several areas. Yea, she wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with any guy or girl, and chances are she would be the one to win through a combination of wit, skills, and strength. But in all truth that was part of the reason she fit in so well with her group.
Tyler Long was of course the usual age of the group, him being seventeen as well but the youngest one in the group in all truth by a few months. He was probably the one with the most book smarts in the group and was the one that would crack a joke at an inappropriate time to lighten the mood though he didn't smile very much and when he did it seemed that Shinji's grin had worn off on him for his smile contained the same hints of disturbing thoughts as Shinji's grin did. He usually always wore his aviator glasses unless there was an absolute reason he had to remove them for the reasons of throwing people off. If anyone tried to look Tyler straight in the eye the only thing they would see would be their own reflection which would often annoy the person in question. And if that didn't the toothpick that was usually in Tyler's mouth would. Almost 24 hours of the day you would find a toothpick in his mouth which would either be still, or moving about either across his lips or jiggling about as he chewed silently on the end of it. No one knew exactly why he did that except for Shinji, Arik and Julie and no one talked about it either. It was a subject Tyler would rather forget.
"There you two are," said Arik putting his deck back in his jacket.
"Sorry," said Tyler reaching into his bag and pulling out a single wooden toothpick and placing it between his teeth. "Just checking out the city."
"Looking for something in particular?" asked Arik.
Tyler shrugged. "Thought I saw a store…." He began.
Shinji zoned out of the conversation as he looked at the three standing before him watching quietly. His mind slowly turned to a memory that had been burned into his mind, one that had happened what felt like an eternity ago… a different lifetime ago…
"You're hiding too huh?"
"…yea…"
"…mind if we hide here too from her?"
"…no…"
"Is that other guy your friend?"
"I just came in here to hide too…"
"Oh…"
"What's your name?"
"…Shinji… what's yours?"
"Julie…"
"I'm her roommate… Tyler…"
"…nice to meet you…"
"…what about your name?"
"…Arik…my name is Arik."
"… I'm scared…"
"She's mean today again…"
"Don't worry… she won't find us here."
"I hope not…"
"…trust me…"
"Why…?"
"Because who else is there to trust?"
"Arik's right... we only got each other and ourselves to trust…"
"…you mean like friends?"
"Yea… like friends. Do you want to be friends Shinji?"
"…I've… never had friends before…"
"Really?"
"…no…"
"Well… consider me one…"
"Yea… me too."
"… Me too…"
"…thank you…"
Shinji's mind slipped away from the past back to the present finding himself starring blankly off into the distance at a random object. So long ago… yet still fresh in his mind. He shook his head and his ears tuned into the conversation and to Julie who started to talk.
"Yea, whole place is deserted," said Julie putting her hands in her pockets and leaning to one side as she looked around the city. "Not a person in sight."
"Looked all over but have no idea why," added Tyler.
"State of emergency," said Shinji simply.
"Ah," said Tyler smiling and laughing quietly. "The puzzle only deepens. Your bastard of a father wants you for something big Shinji."
"I say we ditch while we can," said Julie motioning down the road. "Before that major whatever comes to pick you up…"
"At this rate I doubt she'll even show up," said Arik looking at his watch.
"I thought the military was supposed to be uniformed; organized," said Tyler. "Or are these jokers as screwed up as the world?"
Before anyone could answer, a sudden loud roar sounded shaking the ground beneath them. The four quickly turned towards the sound, only for all four to stare upwards in amazement and fright. A huge thing that could only be described as a mechanical monster was moving through the city demolishing anything in its path.
"What the hell is that?!" said Tyler as the group took a step back.
"Some monster or something…" said Arik. "Never seen anything like that before."
"I told you we should have bailed," said Julie.
"Not too late now is it?" asked Arik as the group turned around and started to run. Before they could make it very far however a red convertible screeched around the corner and spun to a stop in front of them.
Shinji instantly recognized the driver as the women in the picture. Major… Katsuragi? She was wearing a red military like coat with a black dress under that with sunglasses on. She quickly stood up in her seat. "One of you Shinji Ikari?"
"It's Shinji Itachi," said Shinji shortly.
"Yes yes, but you are the son of Gendo Ikari right?" she said quickly.
"Yes," said Shinji simply. "As much as I don't want to be," he added under his breath.
If the major heard what Shinji said she gave no sign that she did and threw open the car door. "Get in! We gotta get moving!"
Shinji looked back at the monster then at the group and nodded. The group started for the car but the Major stopped them. "Whoa! Hey, my orders are to only take Shinji Ikari no one else! You guys are going to have to wait!"
The group said nothing and Shinji shook his head. "Either they come with me or I don't go at all."
"I can't take them!" said the woman. "My orders are to just bring you!"
Shinji said nothing, slammed the door shut and he and the group started to walk away. A few steps away they heard the woman let out a loud angry yell through her teeth. "FINE FINE! JUST GET IN! WE DON'T HAVE TIME!"
The group quietly got into the car and as soon as the door was closed the group was thrown back into their seats as the car shot forward down the street. Shinji repositioned himself in the front seat and watched as the woman pulled out her phone and dialed a quick number. "Hey, its Misato, I have the third child with me… yea he's fine, but he came with three other kids and kinda forced me to bring them along… Well I'm sorry but he was going to walk!" She growled slightly and her fingers clenched tighter around her phone. "Fine! We'll be there soon!" She closed the phone with another growl as she threw the phone down onto the seat. "Damn it all, today isn't going well…" Shinji heard her mutter. She growled and clenched the wheel a bit harder. "I need a beer…"
Shinji couldn't help but grin as he heard Arik snicker behind them.
Misato turned to look over at Shinji breathing in deeply and forcing a smile. "Sorry, maybe we got off on the wrong foot there. I'm Major Katsuragi. I didn't mean to rush you there but as you can see something's up here." She motioned to the monster above them where Jets had suddenly appeared flying around the monster firing countless missiles at it though no visible damage was being shown.
"One of your government experiments gone wrong?" asked Shinji grinning.
"No, it's called an angel," said Misato as the car screeched around another corner.
"Yea, I can totally see where you got that name for it," said Tyler grinning as well, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"It's complicated," said Misato. "You have your papers that were sent to you right Shinji?"
Shinji nodded. "In my backpack."
"And your ID?"
"Yea."
"And did you read the handbook?"
"No."
Misato rolled her eyes. She quickly popped open the glove compartment and pulled out a small book and handed it to Shinji. "Well here, should help you understand a bit more."
Shinji absentmindedly flipped through a few pages then closed the book. "No thanks," he said.
"What why not?!" asked Misato.
"Because I'm here for one reason and one reason only and it sure as heck isn't to join your little scouting group," said Shinji pulling out his knife testing the sharpness of the edge with his thumb. He only grinned wider as he saw Misato blink worriedly at the knife out of the corner of his eye. "Shouldn't you be keeping your eyes on the road Major?" he asked flipping the knife in his hand.
Misato shook her head muttering under her breath even more as they continued.
"Hey, why is your scouting group pulling out Major?" asked Julie.
"First off those jets aren't a part of NERV and second…" began Misato turning to glance up at the Angel above them. The jets had suddenly seemed to throw on their backburners and were speeding away. She shook her head. "They planning to give up so quickly?" she muttered.
"A brave one is coming up," said Tyler pointing at a larger jet coming in.
"What do you mean…" began Misato turning to look up at the jet increasing in size with each second. "OH SHIT! THEY'RE GOING TO USE AN N2!" She quickly grabbed Shinji and pushed him down. "GET DOWN!"
As the group got down in the car a moment of silence was occurred then a deafening explosion was heard followed with a wave of heat washing over everyone in the car, then a feeling of weightlessness as the car was thrown forward off its wheels for a few seconds then a loud crash and crack as the car landed with a sickening jolt back on the pavement. What had really happened in relatively few seconds had felt like an eternity for the events to occur, and many had felt sure that the car was going to crash or land turned over when it left the ground.
Everyone stayed silent and motionless in the car for a few moments until finally Shinji's voice could be heard. "Get… off… me." Misato had thrown herself over the young man in order to protect him, and had held him down as the events had transcribed. She got off him breathing heavily as she turned to look at what had transcribed behind them. Shinji quickly sat up shaking himself off as the others did the same.
"What the hell were they thinking?!" said Misato angrily. "Using an N2 mine?! In a city?!" The whole city was covered in smoke and dust which was dispersing quickly, the monster and the city obscured from view because of it all.
Julie sat up pushing her hair back out of her eyes. "That was fun," she said brushing herself off.
"Yea, looked like Angel had fun too," said Arik. The smoke cleared away to show the monster still standing, no visible damage shown. It let out a loud roar to the sky and continued forward.
"God damn it," said Misato. She quickly slammed her foot on the gas pedal and the car shot forward once more. "I knew it wouldn't work but I still hoped…" she muttered.
"You're not impressing me much here," said Shinji grinning. "Can't even handle your day to day monster. So what now Major?"
"We pray that what we have planned works…" said Misato grimacing.
***********
Author's Notes: Well, I hope I at least some people enjoyed it. This is my first fanfic, or at least the first one I've posted up so I'm kinda… fine, REALLY nervous to hear what people have to say about it. First off, I know that in the original story Shinji, Rei, Asuka, were fourteen or around that age and I've made them seventeen. Reason is first off, the idea just makes more sense to me, second off, it allows me to make the characters a bit more mature, and it fits a bit better with the story I have planned. Second, I know that I described Arik, Julie, and Tyler in terms of personality but I didn't give you guys any background about why they're there or how they met Shinji except for that little dialogue flashback. I meant it that way of course because I'm going to reveal their lives and story with Shinji throughout the story, bit by bit. Gotta keep you coming back right? Also, I know I didn't follow what's been happening with the original story line very well at all, but this is a fanfic and so yea I know I didn't follow it very well, but I kept what I think I needed too and that it does pretty well without over following the original story.
Anyways, please if you guys can review for me. I want honesty but at the same time this is my first so if you guys could go easy on me… I'm begging you. They don't even have to be reviews. Seriously, they can be guesses, theories, ideas, anything. Thanks you guys. Plan to have Chapter 2 up soon.
