Odd character
Disclaimer – I don't own NGE or it's characters
AN – Some sentences will be in Croatian. The translation for them will placed in italic parentheses. For example.
"Dobra. Dobra. Ta ti je dobra."
("Good one. Good one. That's a good one.")
Chapter 1
There is an old saying: No matter how much time you spend creating it or how detailed you make it, no plan is perfect. And right now, Misato was staring at the latest example of it.
Looking at the two piled up EVAs from the edge of the crater that was made by the dying Angels, Misato tried to figure out where it went wrong. The pilots were well prepared for the battle. The synchronized attack worked well enough to destroy the twin Angels. The updated power management system should have maintained enough energy in the internal batteries in order for the pilots to safely exit their EVAs. But none if could offer her any explanation as to why Asuka was able to exit her Unit, while Shinji wasn't.
The recovery crews, which were sent moments after the Unit haven't responded to any kind remote operation, were trying every possible way to move the protective lid that shielded the plug. After 20 minutes of various attempts, they managed to reroute enough power into the lid's motors and opened it, revealing the plug. Opening the plug's hatch, one of the medics went inside, while the other signaled the VTOL to land. The same second when she saw the VTOL started to descent, Misato's instincts got the best of her and ran towards fallen EVAs.
The medics strapped the unconscious pilot onto the gurney. Just as one them was about close the door and signal the pilot to return to base, Misato suddenly showed up, startling the medic.
"You are not-"
"He is my charge!" Misato yelled, silencing the medic. "And I'm coming along with him."
The medic, not wanting any kind of confrontation with a clearly worried woman, moved aside and allowed her to enter. Misato closed the door and told the pilot to return to base.
During the flight, Misato couldn't stop looking at her young charge. He was lying there, unconscious or probably in coma, with god knows what kind of physical and metal damage. She wanted to blame everything, from EVAs to Angels; but she couldn't. She knew who was the one most responsible for this. It was herself. She might have followed the instructions of plan that Kaji gave her, but she was the one who, despite the fact that prioritized their lives over the mission, ordered the young teens into doing the dirty work. And for what? A small payback against the Angels?
All those thoughts were making her sick and her most basic response kicked in, making her want to have a drink.
'God, I am a sick woman,' Misato thought to herself.
To everyone's surprise, Shinji moved his arm as he began to regain consciousness. The medics immediately began to test his responsiveness. During some of the tests, Shinji looked around cabin. The boy tried to ask something, but the breathing mask made it sound incomprehensible. One of the medics removed the mask from his face.
"Can anyone tell me what the fuck was I doing last night?" the boy whispered in English, before he went unconscious.
The result of too much drinking is alcohol poisoning. The only way to treat it is to pump out the contents of the stomach and let the patient sober up.
This simple set of actions should have been the explanation for both the nausea and, from his point of view, sudden change in location But, some things weren't adding up. For starters, the location itself. He knew that those that were brought in for alcohol poisoning, were sent of to the psychiatric ward where they would spend the next 24 hours sobering up. First off, he was the only occupant in the huge room, which was odd knowing how the rooms of every hospital is usually crammed with patients. He was having a pretty strong feeling that was far away from his town.
He stared at the ceiling, trying to remember what was he doing last night. He remembered going to a party to relax from all the exams that he was having. He then remembered going on a binge, which was quite odd for him since he always exercised self-control in those kinds of situations. The last thing that he clearly remembered was him yelling at his slightly less drunk friend that he won't turn his car into a low-rider. After that, everything became a blur.
Knowing all those stories about what people do when they are seriously drunk, made him wonder just what did he do. His mussing were stopped as the door the room opened, revealing a woman.
Her chin length hair and blues made her Asian features appear more exotic. Underneath her coat,
she wore a blue top and a short skirt. Her whole appearance reminded him of a certain character from his favorite anime.
'Kao da bi mi se to ikad moglo dogoditi,' he thought to himself.
('As if that would ever happen,')
"Ohayo, Shinji-kun," the doctor said. He immediately recognized the language as Japanese, but the only thing his woozy head understood was 'Good morning.'
"I'm sorry," he responded with slavenic accent, "but what did you said?"
The doctor was slightly confused, but she quickly regained her composure. To him, it seemed like she expecting something similar.
"I said good morning. How are you feeling?" she asked in English with a faint Japanese accent.
"Besides the headache, I feel fine."
The room went silent as the doctor began to write down notes onto her clipboard, while his head was filled with all sorts of possibilities as to what he did.
"I take it that I'm no where near Croatia?" he said, breaking the silence.
"No. You are currently in Tokyo-3, Japan," the doctor answered calmly. For a moment, he was confused with her answer, but he realized that he must have heard it wrong.
"Ohhh. Tokyo," he said, letting out a small chuckle. "For a moment, I though you said Tokyo-3."
"That's what I said." She replied.
"Wait. You're serious?"
The doctor nodded in response. He stared at her for a couple of moments in confusion, until he started to laugh.
"Dobra. Dobra. Ta ti je dobra."
("Good one. Good one. That's a good one.")
"Excuse me?" The woman asked in confusion.
"That's a good one, doctor," he said, feeling his wooziness fade away. "And next thing you'll tell me that your name is Ritusko Akagi and that you work for an organization called Nerv."
"Yes I am," the woman answered calmly, almost making him roll of his bed from all the laughing. "What is so strange about it?"
"Oh, come one. If you wanted to screw with some foreigner, you could have picked an anime that wasn't that popular."
"Excuse me?" She said, making mental notes on his diagnosis.
"Neon Genesis Evangelion," he said. "Wait, Shin Seiki Evangelion. I know that I come from middle of nowhere, but that doesn't mean that I never watched it."
"I see," the doctor said as she made a couple of additional notes onto her clipboard. "I will return shortly." And with that she left the room.
He remained on the bed, letting out a chuckle as their conversation replayed in his head.
"Izgleda da sam stvarno bio naroljan," he said to himself.
("Looks like I was really wasted,")
Feeling that his blather began to reach it's limit, he got out of the bed and walked into the small bathroom. While he was relieving himself, he noticed that his body felt different to the touch. After flushing the water, he looked under the hospital-gown. The first thing he noticed was that his stomach was flat. He was never an obese person, but he that didn't meant that he didn't had some fat. And the moment, that fat was not there. He then noticed that his arms were a bit skinnier than usual. All this didn't made any sense. He turned his head towards the mirror and his eyes went wide as he saw not the reflection of himself, but that of Japanese teenage boy.
"Koji..." he whispered.
("What the...")
Misato paced in front of the door, waiting for Ritsuko to give her any kind of news on Shinji's condition. After an unknown length of time. The doors of the room opened and Ritsuko stepped out. The initial relief of seeing and hearing Shinji laugh were instantly stopped by the concerned look on the doctor's face.
"Ritsuko," Misato said as she walked towards her friend. "How is he?"
"As you can tell, he has regained consciousness," Ritsuko said, but Misato could tell that the news weren't good. "But, I'm afraid he has suffered mental contamination."
"Mental contamination? How could it happen." Even though she knew that it was one of the risk of piloting an EVA, Misato had little to no idea as to how damaging it can be. "The EVA was out of power. It shouldn't be possible."
"I know, Misato. All that I can tell you is-"
Before she could finish her sentence, a shout came from the room.
"KOJI KURAC!"
("WHAT THE FUCK!")
Reacting on pure instinct, Misato rushed pass the doctor and entered the room. Seeing that he was not on the bed, she quickly turned her head and saw Shinji starring at his own reflection with a look of pure horror.
"Shinji-kun," she said as she ran towards him and hugged him. The boy, still in shock for seeing his reflection, slowly turned his head toward Misato and looked at her with confusion. "Doushita?" After several moments, the boy responded by pushing her away from him, confusing the woman.
"Što ste mi to napravili?" he asked in a language that neither Misato or Ritsuko understood.
("What did you do to me"?)
"Please calm down," Ritsuko said in English as she moved to Misato's side.
"What did you do to me?"
"All will be explained, but please calm down." Ritsuko slowly walked towards him, but he backed away. He didn't know what was going on, but only one thing was clear: he had to get out of here. He suddenly sprinted forward, running past both women. As he exited the room, he ran into someone, sending both him and the person tumbling towards the nearby wall. Before he could get up, someone grabbed both of his arms and pinned him to the ground. He saw that the one who pinned him down was an orderly and that the person he ran into was also an orderly, who immediately got up and grabbed him by the legs.
"JEBO TI PAS MATER!" he screamed while trying to break free.
("YOU MOTHERFUCKER!")
"PUŠTAJ ME!"
("LET ME GO!")
Suddenly, he felt a sting his arm. Turning his head, he saw the blond doctor injecting him with something. His body began to feel tired As his vision began to darken, he felt guilty as he looked at the woman that was standing behind them and saw fear and sadness in her eyes.
"What did just happened?" demanded Misato as she glared the blond doctor.
"Exactly what I was trying to tell you before it happened," Ritsuko began. "Shinji has most likely suffered mental contamination; and as a result of it, either his personality has been severely damaged or he has developed a new personality."
"What are you going to do?" Misato asked, furrowing her brows as she remembered what on the last know victim of EVA induced insanity.
"First, we'll need to run tests, to see if the mental contamination's effects are profound as they appear to be. After that, we'll try to determine if there is a possibility of treatment."
"And if the results aren't good?" Misato asked, her concern starting to show off.
"He will remain NERV custody for safe keeping," Ritsuko said in calm manner, almost making the Captain slap her.
"So, he's is now a specimen?" Misato asked, clenching her fists.
"I think you should go home Misato," Ritsuko said, not changing her tone. "You are too stressed to make a rational decision, and I believe that Asuka's examination is over."
Knowing that Ritsuko was right, Misato let out a groan as she walked pass the doctor to pick up her other charge.
Auska tapped her foot, waiting for Misato to pick her up.
'Dammit,' Asuka thought. 'I have to go through all this crap because that idiot tripped at the last part of the routine.'
Hearing loud footsteps, Asuka turned around and saw an obviously pissed Captain heading towards her.
"Let's go, Asuka," Misato said, trying her best to look calm. Asuka, too eager to get out of the hospital followed her guardian to the nearest elevator. Moments later, she noticed that Shinji was nowhere to be found.
"So, where is the idiot?" Asuka asked.
"Shinji won't be coming home today," Misato said. Seconds later, the elevator doors opened and the two entered it.
"What happened? Did he sprained an ankle or something? Or some kind of horrible injury that is preventing him from taking responsibility?"
The stress that accumulated from today's events made Misato press the stop button, bringing the elevator to a sudden halt.
"Asuka," Misato said as she faced the red-haired pilot, "Shinji has suffered mental contamination."
"WHAT?" Asuka yelled in shock. "How?"
"I don't know," Misato said, trying to not only console the girl, but even herself. "All I know is that Shinji has experienced severe mental trauma."
To Asuka it all seemed impossible. During the entire operation, she had a direct lni to Shinji until the batteries ran out. After that it would be impossible for the EVA to have any kind of influence on him. Knowing all this, Asuka's mind went through all the possibilities, only come up with single explanation..
"Maybe he is faking it? Maybe he-"
"I saw him Asuka!" Misato yelled, cutting of the German. "He was terrified and confused. He didn't even recognized me."
The elevator went silent as the two stared at each other, one hoping that this whole thing was a joke, while the other hoped that this nightmare would end soon. After several moments, Misato pressed the button again, returning the elevator back into working state.
"Let's hope that Ritsuko will come up with a way to treat him."
He stared at the far end of the room for God know how long, until he decided to look around. The scenery seemed familiar.
The huge, void-like room.
The folding chair.
A stage-light that was shining his position.
All these things culminated in a single thought. ' Krasno.' ('Perfect.')
"Look like he finally came around," a female voice said.
Suddenly, a stage light was turned on and it illuminated a woman that was standing about 3 meters away from him. She wore a white kimono with purple butterflies all over it. Her long black hair and beautiful and exotic face, along with red irises, seemed familiar.
"Looks like you ended up in quite a situation. Don't you agree?" the woman said tone that was playful, and reprimanding at the same time. That's when he finally realized who she was.
"Yuko," he said.
"The one and only."
From all the questions that filled his head, only a couple of words came out of his mouth. "How? Why?"
"Isn't that obvious?" A deep male voice said, moments before another stage light illuminated a man at an almost equal distance from him as Yuko was. The man's tall stature, along with the wide red hat and the red swallow-tail coat made him remember who the man was.
"Alucard," he whispered.
"Was it all the way you wished for it to be?" Alucard asked as a small grin appeared on his face.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, surprised with Alucard's question. "I doubt that I wished to have a mental breakdown."
"But that's only because you didn't wanted to go with the flow," Yuko said as she started to smoke her pipe. "After all; isn't it true that every otaku wants to be in their favorite show, making all sorts of interactions with the characters?"
"Yeah, but that's not point here. I...uh..." He trailed of as their words began to make sense. Like most fans of Evangelion, or any other anime, the though of interacting with the characters had crossed his mind on several occasions; but those thoughts were simply fantasies, not his true desire.
Or were they?
Realizing this, he leaned forward, placing both of his hands on his head.
"Looks like you are already in your role," Alucard commented, making Yuko let out a faint giggle.
Suddenly, he felt a slight weight on his left shoulder, but he paid no attention to it.
"Excuse me," said a voice in an annoyed manner. He looked at his left shoulder, only to find a small, gray squirrel with an irritated look on it's face. "I hate to interrupt your breakdown, but you're fucking sick bastard!" Suddenly the squirrel moved out of his sight, only to, almost instantly, reappear at his right knee. "Don't you realize? It's just an anime! It doesn't exist, just like you." Again, the squirrel moved out of his sight, only to reappear on his right shoulder. "With that being settled, I'll leave you to your angst." And with that the squirrel vanished.
"C-Can...Can anyone tell me why is this happening to me?" he asked as he leaned back against the chair, causing Yuko to raise an eyebrow.
"Well, it's obvious," Yuko said, exhaling the smoke from her pipe. "It's because you..." For reasons unknown, everything became silent, but Yuko's lips continued to move, telling him the reason behind it all.
"What are you saying?" He asked, but before anyone could answer, the whole world began to fade, until darkness was all that there was left.
End of Chapter
AN – Yes. I went and did it. I wrote an SI fic. The idea for it has been going through my head from quite some time. The reason why I opted for a 3rd person point of view, instead of the usual 1st person point of view, is probably my need to be a bit different from the rest. As for the translation of Croatian, you'll notice that some of my translation won't match the translation from Google Translate. That's because in some sentences I use or will be using Croatian slang. And, some things cannot be literally translated without loosing the original meaning, so I'll translate some of the phrases into the nearest equivalent in English.
Please comment and review.