Neon Genesis Evangelion:
Angel of Death
By: Ian Grimm
"The 6th child is coming today", Misato said over a bowl of ramen and a beer. "Oh really", Asuka said in that "I-Am-ssssoooo-Bored" type of voice. She was actually a little interested, but didn't dare show it. "Yeah, and he is staying here, since Shinji has moved next door", Misato replied. "Ugh, not another idiot boy in the house!" Asuka complained. 'If he is anything like Shinji was, this is gonna suck', she thought. "Well, I heard he is pretty good, and not that bad looking either, so I wouldn't be so mad quite yet. We had better get Shinji and go to the airport. He's coming in with his Eva there in about an hour", Misato said as she got up, threw the ramen she had been eating for breakfast in the trash, grabbed her keys, and headed for the door, "Come on". "Coming, coming, but does doofus boy have to come too?" Asuka replied as she got up from the table and followed Misato out the door and waited for her as she knocked on Shinji's door. Shinji poked his head out of the door, "What is it? Oh, hi Misato. Hi Asuka. I'm almost ready, and then we can go get the new guy. What's his name, Ian? Be right there", He ran back inside and in a few minutes came back out dressed and ready to go. They all got in Misato's car and headed to the Airport to pick up the new pilot. I stared out the window of the plane as we approached Toyko-3. I was here to help the three other Evangelion pilots in the fight against the increasingly more powerful Angels. NERV was becoming hard-pressed to stop every angel attack because of financial problems and only having three Evas. So the single Eva and it's pilot from the American Subdivision were coming to Toyko-3 to help out. I saw the Toyko-3 airport approaching out the window and shut my book, stuffing it in my backpack. The plane landed with a slight bump on the runway, then stopped and pulled into a specially prepared section. I filed off with the other NERV Support Staff and walked toward the lobby while they were unloading my Eva, Unit 04. Upon entering the lobby, I looked around for Major Katsuragi. I would be staying with her and Asuka Langley Sohryu, a fellow pilot, and she had told me that she would pick me up from the airport. I saw her walking toward me with two of the other pilots. I walked toward her, waving. She saw me and started to weave her way through the crowd towards me. We met and I extended my hand, "Ian Grimm, Major, it's a pleasure", I said. She shook it, saying, "You can call me Misato, and welcome to Toyko-3 Ian." I had read the bios on the other two pilots present, and also that of Rei Ayanami, who appeared to not be at the airport, and assumed that they had read mine. Asuka Langley, standing behind and to the left of Misato, was beautiful, with long, red hair and a perfect body, but I had heard that she could have a temper like a stepped-on cat sometimes. I had read also that Shinji Ikari, the quiet, dark-haired boy standing next to Asuka, was the best pilot at NERV. As we walked to Misato's car with a couple of NERV techs that were carrying my bags, Asuka asked, "So, I have heard that you are pretty good for not getting any action over in America. Are you?" "I'm OK, I can ace every training sim back home, but not having actually fought a live angel, we'll have to wait and see how good I really am", I replied, "I have heard that you are also pretty good, but that Shinji is better". "Baka, Shut up, Shinji is just lucky, that's all!" She yelled back at me, "Damn, why do I have to room with you anyway." I had obviously touched a nerve, and this was not the way I wanted to start things off. I almost apologized, but then thought better, and so I let her be and didn't say anything else. We walked out of the airport and the NERV techs threw my luggage into the trunk of Misato's car. We all piled in and drove off toward Misato's apartment, soon to be my new home in Japan.
* * * * * * * * *
Once we arrived at the airport, I got out with Shinji and Misato and walked inside. When we got inside, Misato looked around and then suddenly started waving in the direction of the plane exits. A tall, fairly handsome young man waved back. 'That must be Ian, his bio said that he was considered an ace in America, but had never fought a live angel. Misato was right on one thing though, he isn't that bad looking,' I thought. He walked up, and I studied him in closer detail. He was fairly tall, above average for any Japanese person, but then I was tall too, being of German-American descent. He was of average size for his height, maybe even a little skinny. He had deep blue eyes and close-cut, brown hair. He reached out and shook Misato's hand, and introduced himself. We started to walk to Misato's car, and I decided to test him, see what his personality was like. "So, I have heard that you are pretty good for not getting any action over in America. Are you?" He looked at me and replied calmly, "I'm OK, I can ace every training simulation back home, but not having actually fought a live angel, we'll have to wait and see how good I really am. I have heard that you are also pretty good, but that Shinji is better". "Baka, Shut up, Shinji is just lucky, that's all!" I yelled at him. 'Why am I yelling at him already?' I thought, 'He hasn't done anything wrong'. Shinji pointedly studied a potted tree that we were walking past. A look of apology flickered across his face, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but then fell silent and kept walking. We hopped in Misato's car and rode home. 'This will be interesting', I thought.
* * * * * * * * *
We arrived at the apartment, and we all piled out of the car. Shinji walked up the stairs to his room, and Asuka started for ours. Misato helped me carry my things up the stairs to the door. Some of my bigger things were arriving later, but I had brought the essentials with me. We walked in, and as I looked around, Asuka plopped down on the sofa and watched me. There was a hallway leading straight ahead, and then turning a corner to the right. The kitchen came off of the hallway to the right, while to my immediate left there was an open, living room, with a TV, the aforementioned sofa, and some half-dozen assorted pillows scattered on the floor. "Which room is mine?" I asked. "This first one here", replied Misato. "All right," I picked up my things and walked in. The room was sparse, but comfortable. There was an American-style bed, a desk built into the wall, a comfortable-looking chair, and a closet. For lighting there was a ceiling light, as well as a window that looked out the back of the apartment complex on a lake. I laid my stuff on the bed, and walked to the window. The sun was setting, and it cast a calming glow over the water. I stood watching the sunset, reminiscing of my home, a small oceanfront community. I turned around, and noticed Asuka watching me from the door. "Hey, welcome to my humble abode", I said. "You know, Shinji named his room 'Shinji's lovely suite'," She replied. "Oh, that's kinda odd, but I guess you can call your room anything you want" "Yeah" "You need anything?" "I was wondering if you needed any help with the unpacking of the items for 'Ian's humble abode'?" "Nah, I'm OK, thanks though" "OK, and, umm, well, I wanted to apologize for the way I yelled at you at the airport. I constantly have to deal with the 'Invincible' Shinji being better than me at piloting, and well, you touched a nerve there. I'll come get you when dinner's ready" "Oh, all right, well, thanks" With that, she left, and I finished unpacking the rest of my clothes and stuff. I made my bed and plopped down on it, just taking a second to collect myself. In the space of a few hours, I had traveled halfway around the world, met and discovered that I am rooming with two beautiful women, and I have already managed to get on the nerves of one. I have no luck with women. Oh well. The expected knock sounds on the door. "Yeah?" "Dinner time" "OK, coming" I got up and walked to the dinner table, where it looked like Misato was preparing dinner. "What's for dinner?" I asked, "Something good I hope" "Ramen and Beer!" Misato replied happily. "Ramen and Beer", Asuka replied dejectedly. "Ramen and.Beer?" I asked a little in disbelief. Misato went to the refrigerator and opened it, and I caught a glimpse of what was inside. There was nothing but Ramen and rows upon rows of beer. "Do.Do you drink just Beer?" I said to Misato a little tentatively. "Yep!" she replied, and she seemed quite serious. 'Oh god!' I thought. She pulled out a beer, and we all sat down at the table. Misato started shoveling down Ramen and guzzling beer like I had never seen, while Asuka ate silently, something obviously on her mind. "So Ian, how do you like Tokyo-3 so far?" Misato asked between mouthfuls of beer and ramen. "It's nice, I guess. The view from my room on the lake is amazing." I replied, trying not to sound absolutely disgusted by the manners of the woman sitting across from me. "What was your home like in America?" Asuka suddenly snapped out of her reverie and asked. "It was beautiful, a small ocean-side community, only maybe 400 people or so. There were only 86 kids in the whole school, and you got to know everyone. I remember getting up in the morning with my mom and dad when I was very little, and going out on my dad's boat to watch the sunrise." I replied as my eyes began to mist and I sadly remembered those days that were long gone and how carefree I had been. I had changed so much in the past 13 years that I hardly recognized that little boy who rode the waves on his dad's boat. I turned, wiped a tear from my eye, and bent my head, concentrating on eating my ramen. Asuka stared at me in stunned silence, not having expected my reaction at all. Misato looked at me with sympathy, swallowed, and asked one final question, "Where are your parents know?" "They're dead", I replied, "at least as far as I know. My mom and dad that raised me on the ocean weren't really my parents at all, just ones that had adopted me at birth. I have never seen or heard from my biological parents ever." Asuka jumped up from the table with a sob knocking her chair down, and ran to her room and slammed the door. Misato half-stood as if to follow her, but then sat back down with a sad look on her face. I was a little bewildered, and decided to go and talk to Asuka to find out what I had said to make her so upset. I stood up and walked down the hall to her door. I could hear heart-wrenching sobs coming from inside, but they died down as I raised my hand to knock. As my hand was coming down to knock on the door, it opened, and Asuka stood looking at me with a tear-streaked face. "Asuka, I.umm.I'm sorry, I didn't know my story would affect you like that", I said. She looked at me for a moment, then slapped me so hard I thought she had broken my jaw. She then walked back down the hall, a calm expression on her face. As she walked by, she whispered, "That's for saying you're sorry." I stood there with a stunned look on my face holding my stinging cheek before turning around and slowly making my way back to the dinner table to finish my dinner. When I got back to the table, I sat back down and an awkward silence ensued. Asuka very obviously didn't want to hear any shit from anyone, and I found discretion to be the better part of valor and kept my mouth shut. Misato was the only one who looked like she wanted to say something, obviously dying to know what had occurred in the hallway. But neither Asuka nor I wanted to talk about that at the moment. I finished my dinner in silence and cleaned up my trash. Asuka retired to her room, and I almost went back to her door again before Misato told me that that was what happened at night after dinner. I went into my room, shut the door, and started up my laptop. I sat there thinking, my laptop forgotten, about what had happened and how tomorrow would go. Tomorrow I was going to do my first training tests in Japan, along with sync. tests and the memorization of where all the reload stations are throughout the city. I figured I would need a lot of rest. So I shut my laptop off and climbed in bed. I quickly fell off to sleep, thinking of Asuka and tomorrow.
I woke up to the alarm clock ringing directly into my ear. I groggily opened my eyes and fumbled around trying to turn the damned thing off. I finally found it and pressed the snooze button, and plopped my head back onto my pillow, trying to regain a little of the calm atmosphere that had permeated my room before the noise of the clock disturbed it. All of a sudden, my door slid open, and a pillow came flying through the doorway and slammed into my face. I shot up, sputtering and looking to see who the devil had thrown the thing. Misato's face peeked around the corner of my door with a big grin on her face, and I heaved the pillow back through the doorway and was rewarded for my aim with a yelp and a crash. I got up and went out into the hall to grab a shower. Misato was in the kitchen "nursing" an "injured" arm and Asuka was nowhere to be seen. I presumed she was in her room. I grabbed a shower, got dressed and then went into the kitchen to grab something to eat before we left to go to NERV. "Good morning, ready for your tests?", Misato asked, with a slight smile on her lips. "As ready as I'll ever be", I replied, "I'm a little nervous, but I guess that's to be expected." "Yeah, don't worry bout it, you'll do fine", she said. "Yeah.", I mumbled, lost in thought. Misato got up and walked down to Asuka's door, "It's time to go Asuka!", she yelled. I couldn't hear Asuka's reply, but it must have satisfied Misato because she came back into the kitchen a little later dressed and ready for work. Asuka came out of her room a few minutes later and headed out the door to go get Shinji. I ran to my room as Misato headed out to grab my Mp3 player, and then ran down to the car. Asuka, Shinji, and Misato were already in it, and we headed off after I got in. Misato talked about little things on the way, but I really didn't pay attention as I was listening to my music. Asuka seemed very withdrawn, which was troubling Shinji I think. When we arrived at NERV, Misato gave me a packet containing my ID card, a NERV manual, and a map. Rei joined us as we walked around and Misato showed me where various places were in the massive complex. It was somewhat like the American complex, except on a much grander scale. As we were walking, I noticed that Asuka was stealing tiny glances at me when she didn't think I was looking. Then we arrived at what felt like a massive room, though I couldn't tell because it was pitch black. The lights suddenly flared and all four of the Evangelions lined the walls. Rei's blue Unit 00 was on our immediate left, it's single orb of an eye seeming to stare at us coldly. Standing next to it was Shinji's Unit 01, looking like a giant out of someone's nightmares. On our right was Asuka's Unit 02, which she was proudly beaming up at as it's 4 eyes looked at the wall ahead. And finally, standing next to it looking like a knight out of the Tales of King Arthur, resplendent in it's silver armor, was my Unit 04. "Alright, it's time for tests and the stuff we usually do, so you know the routine", Misato said. Asuka, Shinji, and Rei started for the locker rooms, and I followed them. "So, Shinji, what' it like fighting a real angel?", I asked while we were getting into our plugsuits in the locker room. "It's hard, a lot harder than the simulations. Each one is so different from the others that you can never establish a pattern of how to approach combat with one", He replied. We pressed the buttons on our wrists that shrunk the suit to fit our body and walked out of the locker room. Asuka and Rei were already waiting for us and Asuka started to look at me before she stopped herself and got up and walked down the hall with a "humph" and a toss of her head. Shinji gave me an odd look but, thankfully, didn't say anything. Rei just stared after Asuka blankly and started to follow her. We went back to the hangar and got in our respective Entry Plugs. They twisted into the backs of our Evas and each of us initiated the start-up sequence. The plug went dark, and then started to fill with LCL. Bright colors seemed to explode out of nothingness, and then the tube went stark white before fading into our visual display. Misato's face popped up and informed Asuka, Shinji, and Rei that they could proceed to the combat training hangar and begin, and that I would join them this afternoon after lunch, after I had completed my tests and my first lesson on the location of reload stations and the like. Asuka, Shinji, and Rei maneuvered their Evas out a door on one end of the hangar, while Misato directed me to the other door at the opposite end. I entered a white room that appeared to be padded, and directed me to stand in the middle. My tests had begun. As I stood in the middle of the white training room, Misato's face popped up on the display, "Alright Ian, I didn't want the other's to know, but your first test will be an actual combat situation. After you have either failed or completed this, Maya will proceed with the reload station locations. But, as I mentioned, I wanna see how you do against two angels in the simulator!", she said excitedly, with a little hint of a challenge in her voice. "Ok", I replied calmly. I grabbed the controls in front of me and tensed myself for the upcoming battle. The screen flashed, and then the white room disappeared and was replaced by a set of hills covered in tall pine trees. I pushed Unit 04 into a crouch, scanning the area around me. I noticed that even though this was supposed to be a wilderness simulation, there were no birds calling or insects chirping. All of a sudden, something tells me to leap to the side and milliseconds later a beam of rippling energy erupts through the trees aimed exactly at the spot that I had just vacated. I pulled out my pistol and waited for the second beam. Again, I jumped out of the way and noticed that the beam came from the 11:00 position and that it had come from the 12:00 position the first time. The beam fired a third time, but this time I pulled the Eva into a roll underneath it and came up with my pistol ready. I snapped off three shots at the 10:00 position and was rewarded for my observation with a giant explosion from the dead angel. I stood up and heard an odd whistling noise. I turned around and was confronted with two whips covered in blades coming at me impossibly fast, trees being sliced into bits at their passing. I put two shots in between the two whip-like things, and then pushed the Eva into a run. The whips whistled behind me, slashing the trees right behind me into pulp, but Unit 04's speed kept us ahead of them by a mere few meters. 'I need a plan', I thought as the things slowly gained on me. Misato watched as Ian runs with the whips from the plant-like Angel barely 4 feet behind him. This angel had been made up by the Magi as one of the possible angels. He had dealt with the first angel easily enough, and she had been impressed that he had vanquished it so easily. It had only been a level 4, but still. He was definitely good. As she watched, a resolution seemed to come over the Eva, and Misato watches Ian's face on the display as he proceeded to pull off a move that even Asuka with her incredible piloting abilities would have been hard pressed to match. He stopped, ducked, and spun around while the whips whistled past where his head had been moments before. He then put on a spurt of speed, running between the whips with blades passing inches from the Eva's head and arms. The angel tried to respond by constricting it's arms, but Ian was already on top of him. He pulled out his Progressive Knife and stabbed the angel in the core. The angel blew up, and the simulation ended. Misato and the rest of the tech crew in the control room stared at the display with stunned unbelief. That angel had been a level 7 angel, one of the hardest angels in the simulator, and Ian had dispatched it with relative ease. "Ian.uh.nice job.I need a beer", Misato told Ian vaguely. "No problem, Misato, that last Angel was actually a little tough. It wasn't on any of the simulators back home", I replied, satisfied with my performance but knowing that I could have done better. Misato's face flashes off as a new face pops up, "Ian, my name is Maya and I will be helping you memorize the reload points", she informed me, and then proceeded to rattle of a list of street names and block numbers, highlighting each one with a dot on my map. Quite frankly, I would have much preferred to be in the other room training with Asuka and the others, but I had to know where the reload stations were, so I sat and tried to pay attention. Finally, Maya finished her hour-long instruction session, and said that the others had already broke for lunch, and I could join them. I thanked her, and proceeded to pilot my Eva back through the door and into the dock beside Asuka's Eva. As my entry plug ejected and drained of LCL, massive hydraulic bolts locked my Eva into position as multiple levels of decks snaked across in front and sides of Unit 04. As I walked away from 04 toward the locker rooms, a tech came up and handed me a towel before proceeding past me to my Eva and joining the numerous other technicians that were already swarming over it. As I stepped out of the shower, drying my hair with a towel, I thought, 'Ahhh, that was refreshing. Now, time for some lunch.' I pulled out my map of NERV and discovered that the cafeteria was on level 23B, while I was on 27 C. 'I guess I have a long walk', I thought. As I stepped out of the locker room and started down the hall, a voice stopped me. "Where do you think your going, baka?" I turned and confronted a glowering Asuka, still dressed in her plugsuit. "I was heading for the cafeteria. Isn't that where we eat?", I replied, trying to ignore the fact that she was drilling a hole through my head with an intense gaze. "Nein, dummkopf", she replied sarcastically, "We esteemed pilots eat in the pilot's lounge, right down the hall". "Umm, thanks", I replied, before starting to walk past her down the hall. As I passed she stopped me with a hand on my arm. "A rumor has been going around that you did a combat sim this morning. Is it true?", she asked, the sarcasm and arrogance gone from her voice. "Yeah", I replied, "It was actually kind of hard.". "Well, what did you fight? How'd you do?", she asked, this time with a hint of interest and then the arrogance was back in her voice, "I've gotten as high as a level 6 angel". "Oh, that's pretty good. Let's see, I had to fight a level 4 angel from the long-range category, and a level 7 angel from the. umm, are you ok Asuka?", I asked. After "level 7" left my mouth, her jaw dropped and she stood there gaping at me. "Umm.a level 7.so you got crushed, right?", she replied, completely dumbfounded. "No, actually I beat it, and it was even a little bit hard", I replied truthfully. "That's impossible!", she yelled, still in disbelief that I had beaten a level 7 angel on the simulator. "Nah, it's not that hard, you could do it. Ask Misato for the tapes of the simulator and watch 'em if you still don't believe me", I said, before walking past her and down into the pilot's lounge, her furious gaze once again drilling into my back. When I walked into the lounge, only Shinji was there. "Hey Shinji, how are you?", I hadn't seen him since this morning when he went into the training room with Asuka and Rei. He looked up from his food, "Oh, hi Ian, I'm ok". I walked up to the soda machine and fished around in my pockets for some change. "Hey Ian, think fast!", Misato yelled as she flipped 50 cents at me. I caught it and replied, "Hey Misato, thanks". "Ian, you were incredible this morning", she said, and Shinji looked up from his food for the second time. "Oh, it was nothing, actually a little easy. Over in America, we didn't have any angel attacks, so all I did was sync with Unit 04 and train on our simulators", I replied. "Yeah, that's what your profile said. Still, that was amazing how fast you are.", she replied, a kind of awe-struck look apparent on her face. "What happened Misato?", Shinji asked, now very curious about why Misato was heaping praise on me. "While you guys were in the combat room, I ran him in a combat simulation against two angels, one right after the other. The first one was a level 4 from the long-range group. He beat it with barely any effort at all, I think. His bio said he was good, so we decided to test him. I had Maya load up a level 7 close-combat angel. He beat it too", Misato replied. Shinji gaped a little bit, because he hadn't gotten higher than level 6 either. "Wow.", was all that came out of Shinji. "Whoop-dee-FRIGGIN-doo", Asuka announced as she entered the room, shooting an arrogant look at me before continuing, "So the new pilot is better than Mr. Perfect Pilot Shinji here. Well Shinji, what do you think of this upstart knocking you from the top?", she asked as she bent towards Shinji over the table holding an imaginary microphone. Shinji gaped as a terrified look passed over his face, then replied very softly, "Sorry". "Akh, what a wimp, why the heck are you such a pansy all the time, mein gott!", she yelled in his face. I looked to Misato, to see if she would end the torment. I genuinely was beginning to like Shinji, and Asuka as well, but Asuka was going to far. The Major seemed content to let the two fight it out, but I wasn't, because it was apparent that Shinji wasn't going to fight back. "Hey Asuka, what's he done to you. Just because I beat you, doesn't mean you should take it out on Shinji", I really didn't care if I hurt her feelings or not right now, but what I said next I regretted instantly, "Besides, he's better than you at piloting an Eva and he's a heck of a lot nicer than you!" Now, that's a pretty weak insult in most people's books, but Asuka wasn't used to people standing up to her, and she just stared at me for a second, as did Shinji and Misato, none of the three having expected me to interfere in what must have been normal activity. Then Asuka's pride kicked in, and she glared at me before yelling, "You.you.you bastard!", and storming off out the door. Ouch, that one had hit home. Shinji looked at me with even more awe on his face, but that just made me feel worse at what I had done to Asuka. I resolved that I would make it up to her that night, because she was actually pretty nice, and incredibly beautiful. "Beautiful women make dangerous enemies" was some quote I had read somewhere, but now I saw that it was completely true. The rest of the day proceeded uneventfully, with Shinji acting like I was a god and Asuka acting like I didn't exist. I trained with Asuka, Shinji, and Rei, with the two-on-two battle ending kind of abruptly when my partner shot me in the back and then jumped on me stabbing me repeatedly. Asuka got a good tongue-lashing from Misato about not letting her feelings interfere in the missions, but I wasn't that mad at her because I think it had made both Asuka and I feel a little bit better. The trip back to the apartment was pretty boring, with Asuka still not even looking at me, but I could tell that she was battling with conflicting emotions. We got back to the house, and then I started my campaign to become friends with Asuka. "Shinji, listen, just because I beat a level 7 angel on the sim and I stood up to Asuka doesn't mean that I'm a superhero or anything", I said for about the eleventh time to an enraptured Shinji. I didn't like his "worship", for lack of a better word, and I didn't feel like the means that I had "earned" it by were very good ones. "Never mind, forget it, Misato, I'm going out for a bit, OK?", I said to Shinji before yelling to Misato in the kitchen. Asuka was in her room, just like last night. "OK Ian, be back.in a couple.of hours though!", the Major yelled/slurred back, which was followed by an incredible belch. 'Geez', I thought, before putting on my shoes and heading out the door. I was heading for the store, which was about 5 blocks down and through the park, or so Misato had told me. Tokyo- 3 was truly beautiful at sunset, and as I walked, there was such a sense of calm that I tried to imagine why the angels would want to attack. There were almost no cars on the road, and silence filled the air. I reached the park and started across it. Kids ran past flying kites, lovers sat on benches staring at each other, and the sense of peace was amazing. I saw the store up ahead, and crossed the street and entered. "How are you, young man?", the store clerk, an man who seemed to be in his late 50's, asked as I entered the store and the little bell rang. "Fine, thanks, and you?", I replied. There didn't appear to be any other customers, but it was a small store, so this didn't surprise me. "Pretty good, at least as good as an old man like me can be", he said with a weezing laugh. I laughed along with him for a second before proceeding back to the frozen foods section. I spotted what I had come to get, and proceeded up to the counter with the said item and had the old man ring it up. "Thanks", I said, "I'll probably be back here some time". "Your welcome, and good day to you, young man", he replied. I walked out the door and headed back across the park. I got back to the apartment and was greeted with the scene of Shinji in his room, studying, Misato in the kitchen asleep with drool running from her mouth, and about 9 empty beer cans around her. Asuka was in her room, hopefully. I went into the kitchen and grabbed two bowls, two spoons, and the box of ice cream I had just bought, and proceeded to walk a little apprehensively up to Asuka's door. I didn't hear any sounds from behind, so I knocked. One minute passed, then two, and I began to think that she was just going to ignore me. I turned to go and put back the stuff, when the door slowly opened. I turned. "Asuka.", I began, but the sight in front of me made me stop. Asuka was an absolute wreck, with her hair disheveled, and her cheeks puffy from where she had cried. "Asuka, umm.may I come in?", I asked, feeling miserable. "Why not", she whispered, before moving aside and letting me in. Her room was neat, tidy, well kept. I went over and sat down in the chair at her desk, placing the ice cream, bowels, and spoons on it. She moved and sat on the bed. "Asuka", I began, "I'm really sorry about what I said today.I.I shouldn't have said anything". She just sat there, looking at me with those big, blue eyes. Her silence confused me, so I continued, "Umm.I brought you some ice cream. I thought you might like it". No change. She still just sat there. "I'll just leave you alone now, sorry to have disturbed you", I said, and stood up to go out the door. As my hand touched the handle, she whispered, "Stay". I turned to look at her, her gaze still on me. "OK, if that's what you want", I replied, and sat back down in the chair. I waited for her to speak, but she sat there in silence for a minute. Then she spoke, her voice hardly above a whisper, "When I first saw you, I thought that you were just an arrogant American. I figured that you would be pathetic, horrible at piloting, and a complete wimp. How wrong could I have been.", she trailed off, her head bowed. I sat there, dumbfounded at what she was saying. I waited for more. None came. "Do you want some ice cream?", I asked, and started to spoon out a bowl when I say her head bob up and down ever so slightly. I handed her the bowl and she sat there, staring at the ice cream. "Asuka, I didn't want to hurt you, I just lost my temper. I didn't come here to beat you, or become a better pilot. I.I.I just want you to like me. I guess I'm not doing too well", I said, laying all my feelings bare. From the time I got off the plane yesterday, I had felt a connection between us, but I couldn't explain it. "Ian, come here", she whispered. I got up, and as I neared her, she threw herself into my arms. She started to cry into my shirt, whispering between sobs, "You're so mean". I stood there for a second, then wrapped my arms around her and whispered into her hair, "I'm so sorry, Asuka". Eventually her sobbing stopped, and I looked down to see that she had fallen asleep against my chest. I gently picked her up and laid her on her bed, covering her with the blankets before walking out and back into my room. I looked at my clock. It read 10:07. Tomorrow was Monday, the first day of school for me. I turned off all the lights, said goodnight to Misato, who was guzzling beer like the apocalypse was here, and went to bed.
"Ian", a voice said from somewhere above me. "Ian!", this time the voice was more persistent. "Wha.", I slurred, opening my eyes slowly and sitting up. I was confronted with Asuka standing over me. "Guten Morgen", she said, a slight smile playing across her face. "Ugh.what time is it?", I mumbled. "7:00, an hour before school starts", she replied. "Thanks", I said, before asking, "Umm.are you feeling better?" "Yeah, I'm feeling good. Thanks for being there last night", she replied, blushing slightly. "No problem, anytime you need anything, just ask", I replied, before getting up and going over to my closet to grab some clothes. I pulled out my school uniform, which consisted of a white, button-up tee shirt and a pair of blue pants, and headed to the shower. After my shower, I stumbled into the kitchen, murmured a 'g'morning', and thought, 'Damn, this is just like school back in America.I was hoping to get out of school over here.', before sitting down at the table. Misato was still in her room, as it was her day off and she had.surprisingly.gotten roaring drunk last night. Asuka brought over some toast and sat down across from me. "I can't remember what school was like over in America, but it's kinda different over here. At the beginning of each day, the Class Representative, Hikari, in this case, says 'Stand-up, bow, etc., etc.'. You'll need to do this. Once class actually starts, though, you don't really have to pay attention. The teacher just talks about Third Impact all day, so everyone emails each other and the like", she told me, before glancing over at the clock, "It's time to go, grab your stuff and I'll meet you outside." "OK, be out in a second", I reply as both of us get up from the table. She heads outside with her backpack while I run into my room and grab mine. When I get outside, she's already waiting for me, with Shinji leaning against the wall. "Good morning Shinji", I said with a nod in his direction. "Morning Ian", he replied as we walked down the steps. The journey through Tokyo-3 was uneventful, with Asuka and I engaged in conversation, and Shinji adding in every now and then. We arrived at school and walked into the class. A group of girls was in the corner, whispering and giggling about who knows what, and a couple guys were being dorks and hitting each other, glancing over at the group of girls every now and then. 'Ha, just like America.all the guys act like idiots to impress the girls.", I thought, before taking my seat on the side of the classroom with windows facing out towards the city. It wasn't much of a view, with the windows facing a row of apartments across the road and a concrete area up to the fence, but it was better than nothing. I looked in my desk, noticed a laptop, and pulled it out. I opened it up and a log- on screen came up. I typed in my name and my password, which Misato had given me at some point last night, and watched as it loaded up. I had mail, so I opened that up. There was a welcome letter from the principal of the school, along with some stuff about school activities. I exited out of the email and fixed my background and all my preferences so that it was as much like my personal laptop back at the apartment as possible. I leaned back in my chair, thinking, only to broken out of my reverie by Asuka coming up and leaning on my shoulder.
By: Ian Grimm
"The 6th child is coming today", Misato said over a bowl of ramen and a beer. "Oh really", Asuka said in that "I-Am-ssssoooo-Bored" type of voice. She was actually a little interested, but didn't dare show it. "Yeah, and he is staying here, since Shinji has moved next door", Misato replied. "Ugh, not another idiot boy in the house!" Asuka complained. 'If he is anything like Shinji was, this is gonna suck', she thought. "Well, I heard he is pretty good, and not that bad looking either, so I wouldn't be so mad quite yet. We had better get Shinji and go to the airport. He's coming in with his Eva there in about an hour", Misato said as she got up, threw the ramen she had been eating for breakfast in the trash, grabbed her keys, and headed for the door, "Come on". "Coming, coming, but does doofus boy have to come too?" Asuka replied as she got up from the table and followed Misato out the door and waited for her as she knocked on Shinji's door. Shinji poked his head out of the door, "What is it? Oh, hi Misato. Hi Asuka. I'm almost ready, and then we can go get the new guy. What's his name, Ian? Be right there", He ran back inside and in a few minutes came back out dressed and ready to go. They all got in Misato's car and headed to the Airport to pick up the new pilot. I stared out the window of the plane as we approached Toyko-3. I was here to help the three other Evangelion pilots in the fight against the increasingly more powerful Angels. NERV was becoming hard-pressed to stop every angel attack because of financial problems and only having three Evas. So the single Eva and it's pilot from the American Subdivision were coming to Toyko-3 to help out. I saw the Toyko-3 airport approaching out the window and shut my book, stuffing it in my backpack. The plane landed with a slight bump on the runway, then stopped and pulled into a specially prepared section. I filed off with the other NERV Support Staff and walked toward the lobby while they were unloading my Eva, Unit 04. Upon entering the lobby, I looked around for Major Katsuragi. I would be staying with her and Asuka Langley Sohryu, a fellow pilot, and she had told me that she would pick me up from the airport. I saw her walking toward me with two of the other pilots. I walked toward her, waving. She saw me and started to weave her way through the crowd towards me. We met and I extended my hand, "Ian Grimm, Major, it's a pleasure", I said. She shook it, saying, "You can call me Misato, and welcome to Toyko-3 Ian." I had read the bios on the other two pilots present, and also that of Rei Ayanami, who appeared to not be at the airport, and assumed that they had read mine. Asuka Langley, standing behind and to the left of Misato, was beautiful, with long, red hair and a perfect body, but I had heard that she could have a temper like a stepped-on cat sometimes. I had read also that Shinji Ikari, the quiet, dark-haired boy standing next to Asuka, was the best pilot at NERV. As we walked to Misato's car with a couple of NERV techs that were carrying my bags, Asuka asked, "So, I have heard that you are pretty good for not getting any action over in America. Are you?" "I'm OK, I can ace every training sim back home, but not having actually fought a live angel, we'll have to wait and see how good I really am", I replied, "I have heard that you are also pretty good, but that Shinji is better". "Baka, Shut up, Shinji is just lucky, that's all!" She yelled back at me, "Damn, why do I have to room with you anyway." I had obviously touched a nerve, and this was not the way I wanted to start things off. I almost apologized, but then thought better, and so I let her be and didn't say anything else. We walked out of the airport and the NERV techs threw my luggage into the trunk of Misato's car. We all piled in and drove off toward Misato's apartment, soon to be my new home in Japan.
* * * * * * * * *
Once we arrived at the airport, I got out with Shinji and Misato and walked inside. When we got inside, Misato looked around and then suddenly started waving in the direction of the plane exits. A tall, fairly handsome young man waved back. 'That must be Ian, his bio said that he was considered an ace in America, but had never fought a live angel. Misato was right on one thing though, he isn't that bad looking,' I thought. He walked up, and I studied him in closer detail. He was fairly tall, above average for any Japanese person, but then I was tall too, being of German-American descent. He was of average size for his height, maybe even a little skinny. He had deep blue eyes and close-cut, brown hair. He reached out and shook Misato's hand, and introduced himself. We started to walk to Misato's car, and I decided to test him, see what his personality was like. "So, I have heard that you are pretty good for not getting any action over in America. Are you?" He looked at me and replied calmly, "I'm OK, I can ace every training simulation back home, but not having actually fought a live angel, we'll have to wait and see how good I really am. I have heard that you are also pretty good, but that Shinji is better". "Baka, Shut up, Shinji is just lucky, that's all!" I yelled at him. 'Why am I yelling at him already?' I thought, 'He hasn't done anything wrong'. Shinji pointedly studied a potted tree that we were walking past. A look of apology flickered across his face, and it looked like he wanted to say something, but then fell silent and kept walking. We hopped in Misato's car and rode home. 'This will be interesting', I thought.
* * * * * * * * *
We arrived at the apartment, and we all piled out of the car. Shinji walked up the stairs to his room, and Asuka started for ours. Misato helped me carry my things up the stairs to the door. Some of my bigger things were arriving later, but I had brought the essentials with me. We walked in, and as I looked around, Asuka plopped down on the sofa and watched me. There was a hallway leading straight ahead, and then turning a corner to the right. The kitchen came off of the hallway to the right, while to my immediate left there was an open, living room, with a TV, the aforementioned sofa, and some half-dozen assorted pillows scattered on the floor. "Which room is mine?" I asked. "This first one here", replied Misato. "All right," I picked up my things and walked in. The room was sparse, but comfortable. There was an American-style bed, a desk built into the wall, a comfortable-looking chair, and a closet. For lighting there was a ceiling light, as well as a window that looked out the back of the apartment complex on a lake. I laid my stuff on the bed, and walked to the window. The sun was setting, and it cast a calming glow over the water. I stood watching the sunset, reminiscing of my home, a small oceanfront community. I turned around, and noticed Asuka watching me from the door. "Hey, welcome to my humble abode", I said. "You know, Shinji named his room 'Shinji's lovely suite'," She replied. "Oh, that's kinda odd, but I guess you can call your room anything you want" "Yeah" "You need anything?" "I was wondering if you needed any help with the unpacking of the items for 'Ian's humble abode'?" "Nah, I'm OK, thanks though" "OK, and, umm, well, I wanted to apologize for the way I yelled at you at the airport. I constantly have to deal with the 'Invincible' Shinji being better than me at piloting, and well, you touched a nerve there. I'll come get you when dinner's ready" "Oh, all right, well, thanks" With that, she left, and I finished unpacking the rest of my clothes and stuff. I made my bed and plopped down on it, just taking a second to collect myself. In the space of a few hours, I had traveled halfway around the world, met and discovered that I am rooming with two beautiful women, and I have already managed to get on the nerves of one. I have no luck with women. Oh well. The expected knock sounds on the door. "Yeah?" "Dinner time" "OK, coming" I got up and walked to the dinner table, where it looked like Misato was preparing dinner. "What's for dinner?" I asked, "Something good I hope" "Ramen and Beer!" Misato replied happily. "Ramen and Beer", Asuka replied dejectedly. "Ramen and.Beer?" I asked a little in disbelief. Misato went to the refrigerator and opened it, and I caught a glimpse of what was inside. There was nothing but Ramen and rows upon rows of beer. "Do.Do you drink just Beer?" I said to Misato a little tentatively. "Yep!" she replied, and she seemed quite serious. 'Oh god!' I thought. She pulled out a beer, and we all sat down at the table. Misato started shoveling down Ramen and guzzling beer like I had never seen, while Asuka ate silently, something obviously on her mind. "So Ian, how do you like Tokyo-3 so far?" Misato asked between mouthfuls of beer and ramen. "It's nice, I guess. The view from my room on the lake is amazing." I replied, trying not to sound absolutely disgusted by the manners of the woman sitting across from me. "What was your home like in America?" Asuka suddenly snapped out of her reverie and asked. "It was beautiful, a small ocean-side community, only maybe 400 people or so. There were only 86 kids in the whole school, and you got to know everyone. I remember getting up in the morning with my mom and dad when I was very little, and going out on my dad's boat to watch the sunrise." I replied as my eyes began to mist and I sadly remembered those days that were long gone and how carefree I had been. I had changed so much in the past 13 years that I hardly recognized that little boy who rode the waves on his dad's boat. I turned, wiped a tear from my eye, and bent my head, concentrating on eating my ramen. Asuka stared at me in stunned silence, not having expected my reaction at all. Misato looked at me with sympathy, swallowed, and asked one final question, "Where are your parents know?" "They're dead", I replied, "at least as far as I know. My mom and dad that raised me on the ocean weren't really my parents at all, just ones that had adopted me at birth. I have never seen or heard from my biological parents ever." Asuka jumped up from the table with a sob knocking her chair down, and ran to her room and slammed the door. Misato half-stood as if to follow her, but then sat back down with a sad look on her face. I was a little bewildered, and decided to go and talk to Asuka to find out what I had said to make her so upset. I stood up and walked down the hall to her door. I could hear heart-wrenching sobs coming from inside, but they died down as I raised my hand to knock. As my hand was coming down to knock on the door, it opened, and Asuka stood looking at me with a tear-streaked face. "Asuka, I.umm.I'm sorry, I didn't know my story would affect you like that", I said. She looked at me for a moment, then slapped me so hard I thought she had broken my jaw. She then walked back down the hall, a calm expression on her face. As she walked by, she whispered, "That's for saying you're sorry." I stood there with a stunned look on my face holding my stinging cheek before turning around and slowly making my way back to the dinner table to finish my dinner. When I got back to the table, I sat back down and an awkward silence ensued. Asuka very obviously didn't want to hear any shit from anyone, and I found discretion to be the better part of valor and kept my mouth shut. Misato was the only one who looked like she wanted to say something, obviously dying to know what had occurred in the hallway. But neither Asuka nor I wanted to talk about that at the moment. I finished my dinner in silence and cleaned up my trash. Asuka retired to her room, and I almost went back to her door again before Misato told me that that was what happened at night after dinner. I went into my room, shut the door, and started up my laptop. I sat there thinking, my laptop forgotten, about what had happened and how tomorrow would go. Tomorrow I was going to do my first training tests in Japan, along with sync. tests and the memorization of where all the reload stations are throughout the city. I figured I would need a lot of rest. So I shut my laptop off and climbed in bed. I quickly fell off to sleep, thinking of Asuka and tomorrow.
I woke up to the alarm clock ringing directly into my ear. I groggily opened my eyes and fumbled around trying to turn the damned thing off. I finally found it and pressed the snooze button, and plopped my head back onto my pillow, trying to regain a little of the calm atmosphere that had permeated my room before the noise of the clock disturbed it. All of a sudden, my door slid open, and a pillow came flying through the doorway and slammed into my face. I shot up, sputtering and looking to see who the devil had thrown the thing. Misato's face peeked around the corner of my door with a big grin on her face, and I heaved the pillow back through the doorway and was rewarded for my aim with a yelp and a crash. I got up and went out into the hall to grab a shower. Misato was in the kitchen "nursing" an "injured" arm and Asuka was nowhere to be seen. I presumed she was in her room. I grabbed a shower, got dressed and then went into the kitchen to grab something to eat before we left to go to NERV. "Good morning, ready for your tests?", Misato asked, with a slight smile on her lips. "As ready as I'll ever be", I replied, "I'm a little nervous, but I guess that's to be expected." "Yeah, don't worry bout it, you'll do fine", she said. "Yeah.", I mumbled, lost in thought. Misato got up and walked down to Asuka's door, "It's time to go Asuka!", she yelled. I couldn't hear Asuka's reply, but it must have satisfied Misato because she came back into the kitchen a little later dressed and ready for work. Asuka came out of her room a few minutes later and headed out the door to go get Shinji. I ran to my room as Misato headed out to grab my Mp3 player, and then ran down to the car. Asuka, Shinji, and Misato were already in it, and we headed off after I got in. Misato talked about little things on the way, but I really didn't pay attention as I was listening to my music. Asuka seemed very withdrawn, which was troubling Shinji I think. When we arrived at NERV, Misato gave me a packet containing my ID card, a NERV manual, and a map. Rei joined us as we walked around and Misato showed me where various places were in the massive complex. It was somewhat like the American complex, except on a much grander scale. As we were walking, I noticed that Asuka was stealing tiny glances at me when she didn't think I was looking. Then we arrived at what felt like a massive room, though I couldn't tell because it was pitch black. The lights suddenly flared and all four of the Evangelions lined the walls. Rei's blue Unit 00 was on our immediate left, it's single orb of an eye seeming to stare at us coldly. Standing next to it was Shinji's Unit 01, looking like a giant out of someone's nightmares. On our right was Asuka's Unit 02, which she was proudly beaming up at as it's 4 eyes looked at the wall ahead. And finally, standing next to it looking like a knight out of the Tales of King Arthur, resplendent in it's silver armor, was my Unit 04. "Alright, it's time for tests and the stuff we usually do, so you know the routine", Misato said. Asuka, Shinji, and Rei started for the locker rooms, and I followed them. "So, Shinji, what' it like fighting a real angel?", I asked while we were getting into our plugsuits in the locker room. "It's hard, a lot harder than the simulations. Each one is so different from the others that you can never establish a pattern of how to approach combat with one", He replied. We pressed the buttons on our wrists that shrunk the suit to fit our body and walked out of the locker room. Asuka and Rei were already waiting for us and Asuka started to look at me before she stopped herself and got up and walked down the hall with a "humph" and a toss of her head. Shinji gave me an odd look but, thankfully, didn't say anything. Rei just stared after Asuka blankly and started to follow her. We went back to the hangar and got in our respective Entry Plugs. They twisted into the backs of our Evas and each of us initiated the start-up sequence. The plug went dark, and then started to fill with LCL. Bright colors seemed to explode out of nothingness, and then the tube went stark white before fading into our visual display. Misato's face popped up and informed Asuka, Shinji, and Rei that they could proceed to the combat training hangar and begin, and that I would join them this afternoon after lunch, after I had completed my tests and my first lesson on the location of reload stations and the like. Asuka, Shinji, and Rei maneuvered their Evas out a door on one end of the hangar, while Misato directed me to the other door at the opposite end. I entered a white room that appeared to be padded, and directed me to stand in the middle. My tests had begun. As I stood in the middle of the white training room, Misato's face popped up on the display, "Alright Ian, I didn't want the other's to know, but your first test will be an actual combat situation. After you have either failed or completed this, Maya will proceed with the reload station locations. But, as I mentioned, I wanna see how you do against two angels in the simulator!", she said excitedly, with a little hint of a challenge in her voice. "Ok", I replied calmly. I grabbed the controls in front of me and tensed myself for the upcoming battle. The screen flashed, and then the white room disappeared and was replaced by a set of hills covered in tall pine trees. I pushed Unit 04 into a crouch, scanning the area around me. I noticed that even though this was supposed to be a wilderness simulation, there were no birds calling or insects chirping. All of a sudden, something tells me to leap to the side and milliseconds later a beam of rippling energy erupts through the trees aimed exactly at the spot that I had just vacated. I pulled out my pistol and waited for the second beam. Again, I jumped out of the way and noticed that the beam came from the 11:00 position and that it had come from the 12:00 position the first time. The beam fired a third time, but this time I pulled the Eva into a roll underneath it and came up with my pistol ready. I snapped off three shots at the 10:00 position and was rewarded for my observation with a giant explosion from the dead angel. I stood up and heard an odd whistling noise. I turned around and was confronted with two whips covered in blades coming at me impossibly fast, trees being sliced into bits at their passing. I put two shots in between the two whip-like things, and then pushed the Eva into a run. The whips whistled behind me, slashing the trees right behind me into pulp, but Unit 04's speed kept us ahead of them by a mere few meters. 'I need a plan', I thought as the things slowly gained on me. Misato watched as Ian runs with the whips from the plant-like Angel barely 4 feet behind him. This angel had been made up by the Magi as one of the possible angels. He had dealt with the first angel easily enough, and she had been impressed that he had vanquished it so easily. It had only been a level 4, but still. He was definitely good. As she watched, a resolution seemed to come over the Eva, and Misato watches Ian's face on the display as he proceeded to pull off a move that even Asuka with her incredible piloting abilities would have been hard pressed to match. He stopped, ducked, and spun around while the whips whistled past where his head had been moments before. He then put on a spurt of speed, running between the whips with blades passing inches from the Eva's head and arms. The angel tried to respond by constricting it's arms, but Ian was already on top of him. He pulled out his Progressive Knife and stabbed the angel in the core. The angel blew up, and the simulation ended. Misato and the rest of the tech crew in the control room stared at the display with stunned unbelief. That angel had been a level 7 angel, one of the hardest angels in the simulator, and Ian had dispatched it with relative ease. "Ian.uh.nice job.I need a beer", Misato told Ian vaguely. "No problem, Misato, that last Angel was actually a little tough. It wasn't on any of the simulators back home", I replied, satisfied with my performance but knowing that I could have done better. Misato's face flashes off as a new face pops up, "Ian, my name is Maya and I will be helping you memorize the reload points", she informed me, and then proceeded to rattle of a list of street names and block numbers, highlighting each one with a dot on my map. Quite frankly, I would have much preferred to be in the other room training with Asuka and the others, but I had to know where the reload stations were, so I sat and tried to pay attention. Finally, Maya finished her hour-long instruction session, and said that the others had already broke for lunch, and I could join them. I thanked her, and proceeded to pilot my Eva back through the door and into the dock beside Asuka's Eva. As my entry plug ejected and drained of LCL, massive hydraulic bolts locked my Eva into position as multiple levels of decks snaked across in front and sides of Unit 04. As I walked away from 04 toward the locker rooms, a tech came up and handed me a towel before proceeding past me to my Eva and joining the numerous other technicians that were already swarming over it. As I stepped out of the shower, drying my hair with a towel, I thought, 'Ahhh, that was refreshing. Now, time for some lunch.' I pulled out my map of NERV and discovered that the cafeteria was on level 23B, while I was on 27 C. 'I guess I have a long walk', I thought. As I stepped out of the locker room and started down the hall, a voice stopped me. "Where do you think your going, baka?" I turned and confronted a glowering Asuka, still dressed in her plugsuit. "I was heading for the cafeteria. Isn't that where we eat?", I replied, trying to ignore the fact that she was drilling a hole through my head with an intense gaze. "Nein, dummkopf", she replied sarcastically, "We esteemed pilots eat in the pilot's lounge, right down the hall". "Umm, thanks", I replied, before starting to walk past her down the hall. As I passed she stopped me with a hand on my arm. "A rumor has been going around that you did a combat sim this morning. Is it true?", she asked, the sarcasm and arrogance gone from her voice. "Yeah", I replied, "It was actually kind of hard.". "Well, what did you fight? How'd you do?", she asked, this time with a hint of interest and then the arrogance was back in her voice, "I've gotten as high as a level 6 angel". "Oh, that's pretty good. Let's see, I had to fight a level 4 angel from the long-range category, and a level 7 angel from the. umm, are you ok Asuka?", I asked. After "level 7" left my mouth, her jaw dropped and she stood there gaping at me. "Umm.a level 7.so you got crushed, right?", she replied, completely dumbfounded. "No, actually I beat it, and it was even a little bit hard", I replied truthfully. "That's impossible!", she yelled, still in disbelief that I had beaten a level 7 angel on the simulator. "Nah, it's not that hard, you could do it. Ask Misato for the tapes of the simulator and watch 'em if you still don't believe me", I said, before walking past her and down into the pilot's lounge, her furious gaze once again drilling into my back. When I walked into the lounge, only Shinji was there. "Hey Shinji, how are you?", I hadn't seen him since this morning when he went into the training room with Asuka and Rei. He looked up from his food, "Oh, hi Ian, I'm ok". I walked up to the soda machine and fished around in my pockets for some change. "Hey Ian, think fast!", Misato yelled as she flipped 50 cents at me. I caught it and replied, "Hey Misato, thanks". "Ian, you were incredible this morning", she said, and Shinji looked up from his food for the second time. "Oh, it was nothing, actually a little easy. Over in America, we didn't have any angel attacks, so all I did was sync with Unit 04 and train on our simulators", I replied. "Yeah, that's what your profile said. Still, that was amazing how fast you are.", she replied, a kind of awe-struck look apparent on her face. "What happened Misato?", Shinji asked, now very curious about why Misato was heaping praise on me. "While you guys were in the combat room, I ran him in a combat simulation against two angels, one right after the other. The first one was a level 4 from the long-range group. He beat it with barely any effort at all, I think. His bio said he was good, so we decided to test him. I had Maya load up a level 7 close-combat angel. He beat it too", Misato replied. Shinji gaped a little bit, because he hadn't gotten higher than level 6 either. "Wow.", was all that came out of Shinji. "Whoop-dee-FRIGGIN-doo", Asuka announced as she entered the room, shooting an arrogant look at me before continuing, "So the new pilot is better than Mr. Perfect Pilot Shinji here. Well Shinji, what do you think of this upstart knocking you from the top?", she asked as she bent towards Shinji over the table holding an imaginary microphone. Shinji gaped as a terrified look passed over his face, then replied very softly, "Sorry". "Akh, what a wimp, why the heck are you such a pansy all the time, mein gott!", she yelled in his face. I looked to Misato, to see if she would end the torment. I genuinely was beginning to like Shinji, and Asuka as well, but Asuka was going to far. The Major seemed content to let the two fight it out, but I wasn't, because it was apparent that Shinji wasn't going to fight back. "Hey Asuka, what's he done to you. Just because I beat you, doesn't mean you should take it out on Shinji", I really didn't care if I hurt her feelings or not right now, but what I said next I regretted instantly, "Besides, he's better than you at piloting an Eva and he's a heck of a lot nicer than you!" Now, that's a pretty weak insult in most people's books, but Asuka wasn't used to people standing up to her, and she just stared at me for a second, as did Shinji and Misato, none of the three having expected me to interfere in what must have been normal activity. Then Asuka's pride kicked in, and she glared at me before yelling, "You.you.you bastard!", and storming off out the door. Ouch, that one had hit home. Shinji looked at me with even more awe on his face, but that just made me feel worse at what I had done to Asuka. I resolved that I would make it up to her that night, because she was actually pretty nice, and incredibly beautiful. "Beautiful women make dangerous enemies" was some quote I had read somewhere, but now I saw that it was completely true. The rest of the day proceeded uneventfully, with Shinji acting like I was a god and Asuka acting like I didn't exist. I trained with Asuka, Shinji, and Rei, with the two-on-two battle ending kind of abruptly when my partner shot me in the back and then jumped on me stabbing me repeatedly. Asuka got a good tongue-lashing from Misato about not letting her feelings interfere in the missions, but I wasn't that mad at her because I think it had made both Asuka and I feel a little bit better. The trip back to the apartment was pretty boring, with Asuka still not even looking at me, but I could tell that she was battling with conflicting emotions. We got back to the house, and then I started my campaign to become friends with Asuka. "Shinji, listen, just because I beat a level 7 angel on the sim and I stood up to Asuka doesn't mean that I'm a superhero or anything", I said for about the eleventh time to an enraptured Shinji. I didn't like his "worship", for lack of a better word, and I didn't feel like the means that I had "earned" it by were very good ones. "Never mind, forget it, Misato, I'm going out for a bit, OK?", I said to Shinji before yelling to Misato in the kitchen. Asuka was in her room, just like last night. "OK Ian, be back.in a couple.of hours though!", the Major yelled/slurred back, which was followed by an incredible belch. 'Geez', I thought, before putting on my shoes and heading out the door. I was heading for the store, which was about 5 blocks down and through the park, or so Misato had told me. Tokyo- 3 was truly beautiful at sunset, and as I walked, there was such a sense of calm that I tried to imagine why the angels would want to attack. There were almost no cars on the road, and silence filled the air. I reached the park and started across it. Kids ran past flying kites, lovers sat on benches staring at each other, and the sense of peace was amazing. I saw the store up ahead, and crossed the street and entered. "How are you, young man?", the store clerk, an man who seemed to be in his late 50's, asked as I entered the store and the little bell rang. "Fine, thanks, and you?", I replied. There didn't appear to be any other customers, but it was a small store, so this didn't surprise me. "Pretty good, at least as good as an old man like me can be", he said with a weezing laugh. I laughed along with him for a second before proceeding back to the frozen foods section. I spotted what I had come to get, and proceeded up to the counter with the said item and had the old man ring it up. "Thanks", I said, "I'll probably be back here some time". "Your welcome, and good day to you, young man", he replied. I walked out the door and headed back across the park. I got back to the apartment and was greeted with the scene of Shinji in his room, studying, Misato in the kitchen asleep with drool running from her mouth, and about 9 empty beer cans around her. Asuka was in her room, hopefully. I went into the kitchen and grabbed two bowls, two spoons, and the box of ice cream I had just bought, and proceeded to walk a little apprehensively up to Asuka's door. I didn't hear any sounds from behind, so I knocked. One minute passed, then two, and I began to think that she was just going to ignore me. I turned to go and put back the stuff, when the door slowly opened. I turned. "Asuka.", I began, but the sight in front of me made me stop. Asuka was an absolute wreck, with her hair disheveled, and her cheeks puffy from where she had cried. "Asuka, umm.may I come in?", I asked, feeling miserable. "Why not", she whispered, before moving aside and letting me in. Her room was neat, tidy, well kept. I went over and sat down in the chair at her desk, placing the ice cream, bowels, and spoons on it. She moved and sat on the bed. "Asuka", I began, "I'm really sorry about what I said today.I.I shouldn't have said anything". She just sat there, looking at me with those big, blue eyes. Her silence confused me, so I continued, "Umm.I brought you some ice cream. I thought you might like it". No change. She still just sat there. "I'll just leave you alone now, sorry to have disturbed you", I said, and stood up to go out the door. As my hand touched the handle, she whispered, "Stay". I turned to look at her, her gaze still on me. "OK, if that's what you want", I replied, and sat back down in the chair. I waited for her to speak, but she sat there in silence for a minute. Then she spoke, her voice hardly above a whisper, "When I first saw you, I thought that you were just an arrogant American. I figured that you would be pathetic, horrible at piloting, and a complete wimp. How wrong could I have been.", she trailed off, her head bowed. I sat there, dumbfounded at what she was saying. I waited for more. None came. "Do you want some ice cream?", I asked, and started to spoon out a bowl when I say her head bob up and down ever so slightly. I handed her the bowl and she sat there, staring at the ice cream. "Asuka, I didn't want to hurt you, I just lost my temper. I didn't come here to beat you, or become a better pilot. I.I.I just want you to like me. I guess I'm not doing too well", I said, laying all my feelings bare. From the time I got off the plane yesterday, I had felt a connection between us, but I couldn't explain it. "Ian, come here", she whispered. I got up, and as I neared her, she threw herself into my arms. She started to cry into my shirt, whispering between sobs, "You're so mean". I stood there for a second, then wrapped my arms around her and whispered into her hair, "I'm so sorry, Asuka". Eventually her sobbing stopped, and I looked down to see that she had fallen asleep against my chest. I gently picked her up and laid her on her bed, covering her with the blankets before walking out and back into my room. I looked at my clock. It read 10:07. Tomorrow was Monday, the first day of school for me. I turned off all the lights, said goodnight to Misato, who was guzzling beer like the apocalypse was here, and went to bed.
"Ian", a voice said from somewhere above me. "Ian!", this time the voice was more persistent. "Wha.", I slurred, opening my eyes slowly and sitting up. I was confronted with Asuka standing over me. "Guten Morgen", she said, a slight smile playing across her face. "Ugh.what time is it?", I mumbled. "7:00, an hour before school starts", she replied. "Thanks", I said, before asking, "Umm.are you feeling better?" "Yeah, I'm feeling good. Thanks for being there last night", she replied, blushing slightly. "No problem, anytime you need anything, just ask", I replied, before getting up and going over to my closet to grab some clothes. I pulled out my school uniform, which consisted of a white, button-up tee shirt and a pair of blue pants, and headed to the shower. After my shower, I stumbled into the kitchen, murmured a 'g'morning', and thought, 'Damn, this is just like school back in America.I was hoping to get out of school over here.', before sitting down at the table. Misato was still in her room, as it was her day off and she had.surprisingly.gotten roaring drunk last night. Asuka brought over some toast and sat down across from me. "I can't remember what school was like over in America, but it's kinda different over here. At the beginning of each day, the Class Representative, Hikari, in this case, says 'Stand-up, bow, etc., etc.'. You'll need to do this. Once class actually starts, though, you don't really have to pay attention. The teacher just talks about Third Impact all day, so everyone emails each other and the like", she told me, before glancing over at the clock, "It's time to go, grab your stuff and I'll meet you outside." "OK, be out in a second", I reply as both of us get up from the table. She heads outside with her backpack while I run into my room and grab mine. When I get outside, she's already waiting for me, with Shinji leaning against the wall. "Good morning Shinji", I said with a nod in his direction. "Morning Ian", he replied as we walked down the steps. The journey through Tokyo-3 was uneventful, with Asuka and I engaged in conversation, and Shinji adding in every now and then. We arrived at school and walked into the class. A group of girls was in the corner, whispering and giggling about who knows what, and a couple guys were being dorks and hitting each other, glancing over at the group of girls every now and then. 'Ha, just like America.all the guys act like idiots to impress the girls.", I thought, before taking my seat on the side of the classroom with windows facing out towards the city. It wasn't much of a view, with the windows facing a row of apartments across the road and a concrete area up to the fence, but it was better than nothing. I looked in my desk, noticed a laptop, and pulled it out. I opened it up and a log- on screen came up. I typed in my name and my password, which Misato had given me at some point last night, and watched as it loaded up. I had mail, so I opened that up. There was a welcome letter from the principal of the school, along with some stuff about school activities. I exited out of the email and fixed my background and all my preferences so that it was as much like my personal laptop back at the apartment as possible. I leaned back in my chair, thinking, only to broken out of my reverie by Asuka coming up and leaning on my shoulder.