"My sins have been bound into a yoke;
by his hands they were woven together.
They have come upon my neck
And the Lord has sapped my strength.
He has handed me over
To those I cannot withstand."
- Lamentations 1:14
I awoke to the sun streaming down annoyingly into my face. I rolled over, and dropped right onto my suitcase, causing its metal reinforcements to hit me in the head.
"Ouch!" Yoko and Walker, already awake, were in the next room, I could hear their voices, and now they came quickly to see what had happened. I sat up, rubbing an aching forehead. Yoko was stifling a laugh. Walker chuckled. I glared, and stumbled off to the shower.
Coming to breakfast, I found a bowl of fermented soybeans, eggs, and a few cans of beer in the fridge. I ate some of the beans. Walker and Yoko helped themselves to eggs. We dressed in our suits, and set out to the NERV office. My cell phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Yes, Pilot Kai Li?"
"Uh, Yes."
"You are to report in twenty minutes to NERV HQ. Is that understood?" A man's voice, matter of fact, and to the point.
"Yes, Sir." He hung up.
"We've gotta get there quick. I called up a map on the min-computer. It showed us a red path directly to the Geofront. After following it for ten minutes, we came to a numbered door, and proceeding through, went down a sloping hallway, all painted white. We emerged from it at another numbered door, with a card-slide. I slipped my card through, the others did as well, and we found ourselves in another hallway when the door opened. We emerged from a door at its end onto a small landing. Two escalators were attached to it, one arriving, and one departing. We boarded the departing one. Now that I was awake, NERV was pretty fantastic. We descended the long escalator for floors to a landing. An elevator was the only way off the landing other than the escalator back up. I pressed the button, and it slid open. It was small, and lit with a yellow tinted light. We pressed the button for the floor that the computer said the main offices were on. The elevator shot down at an alarming rate. We were jolted to a halt at the floor and the doors slid open with a ding.
We were in a dark hallway, done in stained mahogany, with a floor of polished black stone. The floor was carved with religious symbols, some of which I recognized as Jewish. We proceeded along it, to a black door. Looking back through the poor lighting, I couldn't even see the elevator. The door slid open. A man wearing glasses was seated behind a desk in the middle of the room facing us. I recognized him as the man who was yelling at the boy in the room that we had passed the previous day. Behind him stood another man. The gazes of the two seemed to drill through me, and into my companions behind me.
"My name is Commander Ikari Gendo. I am NERV's Commander-In-Chief. Because of your present situation, and because of your respective talents, you will be working for NERV until such time when circumstances present themselves in such a way as to terminate your contracts." I wanted to look at how my friends reacted to these words, but somehow I was unable to turn my eyes from the mirrored glasses of our new Commander.
"You three are to report to Eva operations meeting in thirty minutes. Also, you will find the name and address of your school available from any of the current four pilots. Yes, you are expected to go to continue school and study as well as working at NERV. You are dismissed, take the door behind me to the main chambers. Ayanami Rei will be waiting for you."
"Yes, Sir." We walked down the aforementioned passageway, which was just like the one we had entered from. Sure enough, when we exited it, a girl with short blue hair was waiting.
"Hello. Welcome to the Geofront." Her voice was coldly emotionless, and was very soft, yet seemed almost perfect in intonation. She fixed me with red eyes, and I stared back. She nodded, the icy fire breaking from my face. I shook my head, trying to clear it. She led us to another room, down the hallway, which was now white. Her footsteps made no sound as she padded down the hallway. A door slid open to her, and we found ourselves in a large conference room. The other children were there, along with Misato, a blond scientist, and several people in beige suits, which I assumed were techs. Next to Misato sat a man with brown hair in a ponytail. Misato introduced us. The redhead, Asuka, muttered something about beating me any day. It looked like her temper was as fiery as her hair! Ayanami was sitting alone on one end of one of the benches. On the other end was the first boy, Ikari Shinji. Suzahara Touji was leaned back, hands behind his head on the foremost bench. Misato introduced them all, and they stood and bowed, except Asuka, who gave me an irreverent nod. I found that the blond scientist was Akagi Ritsuko. The Techs were Maya, a cheerful woman with cropped brown hair, and two men whose names I soon mixed up and then forgot. I proceeded to call them both 'computer dudes.' Touji showed us to a room containing vending machines, and I helped myself to real food. Yoko was shown to the tech center by Maya and Ritsuko, and we didn't see here for the rest of the day. Walker stayed with me. First, we pilots were put through a synch test. It was basically for me, seeing as I'd never been through one before. Asuka seemed angry when my synch score was only three points below hers. Shinji seemed surprised. I didn't know how to feel, it was just a number to me, and besides, Misato and Ritsuko talked me through it. Asuka seemed pretty pissed anyway, and I wondered what her problem was. Touji was kind enough to explain.
"Yeah, I see you have met the fiery side of Asuka. Congratulations," He said.
"Yeah, what's she so pissed about?"
"You, my friend," he clapped me heartily on the back, "are in her way. She has always been top dog around here. Did I say dog? Well, that's true too, she is kinda bitchy about everything, and I mean everything. But, hey, she's cute. But, seriously, Kojiro, she's trouble. Stay outta her way, dude. Shinji's gotten in her way before, consequently, he is repeatedly beaten. Don't go down the Shinji path."
"Hmm. She's always like that huh?" I asked.
"Uh huh, she's always giving me a hard time," Shinji said, his voice quiet next to Touji's. He seemed like the kind of guy who was always nervous. He didn't talk a lot either, I guess he just didn't want to open up much. Rei was strange too, I guess perhaps they'd have made a good couple. There were a few more things that I would have asked, but we arrived at the hand-to-hand combat class now. It was being taught by a thin, lanky guy called Ken. He looked me up and down, and then asked me to spar against him, to evaluate my skills. He bowed, I did too, and we dropped into fighting stances. He flung a high roundhouse kick to the head. I grabbed it and pulled. He fell to the mat.
"Slippery mat," he muttered, Touji nearly burst out laughing. He kicked again once he stood up. Again, he found the mat. Every time he fell, he got angrier, and that made him less exact. Soon enough, he stopped using kicks. He came at me with a hard lunge punch. Instead of blocking and stepping back, I blocked, and went towards him, driving a punch into his solar plexus quickly. He fell over, gasping. Gendo walked into the room, and handed him a paper that announced his immediate transfer to another sector of NERV, maintenance. Walker entered the room, just as Ken left. He introduced himself, and I noticed that Gendo had disappeared.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of Gendo, for he is in charge and pays your salary."
Walker gave a lesson about correct stance, and ways to use it to turn opponents attack against him. Touji seemed to like the lesson. Shinji looked on in bored interest. Asuka had a look of superiority on her face that I realized was all too common. Ayanami Rei sat, attentive yet relaxed, in the front row. Walker finished the lesson, and we were ushered to our plugs again for a riflery test. I was submersed again in LCL, a feeling I didn't like too much. It was like water filling your lungs, except it was warm, and tasted like blood. It cleared as the Eva activated. Now it was as clear as air, and it didn't really feel like I was breathing liquid. Targets popped up in the simulated environment. I picked up the guns, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The target fell, hit by Asuka's shot a second before mine. She laughed over the comm., and blasted another.
"You can't beat me now, new guy!" She yelled. I targeted another target, and fired. It fell, but I had hit it, not Asuka. She set her face, and fired at more, her machine guns blazing, rattling, spitting bullets at targets. I had pistols, not as powerful, but still enough. I'd seem James Bond do this on TV, and figured it wasn't that hard. Besides, I'd already hit one. I sighted again, pulled the trigger, the target fell. Asuka was rattling off more shots. She had gotten quite a few, and I didn't know if I could beat her. I cranked off a few more shots. I missed quite a few to begin with, but once I had learned to adjust for the kick of the gun, I hit quite a few more. Asuka was still beating me. She had incredible aim. The simulation ended, Asuka ahead of me still. The final count showed her with thirty targets, me with twenty two, Shinji with eighteen, Touji with nineteen, and Ayanami with eighteen. Asuka smirked at me. It was time for our break, and we were allowed to use a room near the changing rooms to sit and talk, although we were not permitted to take off our plugsuits yet. I knew better than to try and strike up conversation with Ayanami. So, instead, I turned to Touji. He seemed like he was someone I could get along with, he was a fighter, and he didn't seem as messed up as the rest of them.
"So, what's the school like here?" I asked.
"Well, the rest of the pilots attend. There some pretty cool guys in the class, but the teacher drones on about second impact a lot. Sports is cool enough, though, the teacher's alright. Young guy. And besides, we're in view of the pool, which is where the girls have sports, and we get a good show from the sidelines, if you know what I mean." He nudged me rougly in the ribs with his elbow.
"Yeah, I hear ya." Okay, so maybe he wasn't exactly like me, but he was cool enough. Shinji walked over to us. He was holding a hadnful of snack packets from the vending machines in the corner. He tossed some to Touji and I, and some to Asuka and Rei, safely from his end of the table.
"I don't know why you're so nice to her!" Touji said.
"To who?" asked Shinji.
"Asuka, look how's she's always treated you! You really don't stand up for yourself."
"Really, Touji, she's sufferable," said I.
"Yeah, sure, to you. You don't even try!" Shinji looked dismayed at this. Touji clapped him on the back.
"Hey don't get down, dude. It's all gonna be all right in the end."
"Yeah, sure," said Shinji, having not as much faith in it as Touji. We would have talked longer, but that was when the bells rang. Sirens, rang, klaxons blared, it was like a weird sci-fi movie. The others dissapeared out the door. I wondered where they'd gone. Ayanami appeared in the door.
"We are to report to the Eva cages. There has been an Angel sighted," she said. I followed her to the 'cages', which were giant holding bays for the Evas. Unit-00 stared down at me from one, Ayanami pointed to Unit-04 down the way quite a bit, and then climbed to her entry plug. I ran to Unit-04, and climbed hesitantly towards the plug. I wondered if I would end up as Angel food in this, my first battle.
"Finally, a battle!" Asuka sounded optomistic. The Evas had been revealed to the public earlier, in order to raise support and morale, but they'd never been tested in actual battle. All the pilots had done was run simulations so far. Now an Angel had penetrated the defensive barrier of Tokyo-3. Though we were all told to report to the Evas, only Shinji and Rei were sent up. Everything was silent, except for Asuka whining about how she should have gone. Only once did we get communication from the service. It was a muffled scream. Moments later, we were given orders to launch. As I shot up the launch shaft I could see floor numbers ticking away. Sunlight flooded my view suddenly, and I was able to see the destruction. 00 was on the ground, it's body showed signs of heavy impacts to it. Shinji was locked in combat with what seemed to be a giant human. It had a peculiar head that came to a sharp point below it's collarbone area. It was green and gray mostly, but I could see a red circle in its chest. It grabbed Shinji's head and a pink beam shot out of its elbow. The beam retracted quickly, and shinji's head gave a jolt. He screamed. The beam came out and smashed back in. Shinji was whimpering now. It came out again but, before it could smash Shinji again, Touji tackled it, knocking it off the disabled Unit-01. I realized I had been standing idly, and rushed in to help Shinji. Asuka was rigth behind me. I hit the button corespondiong to the Progressive Knife. It souned like a weapong, and I could use any I got. A large handle shot out of Unit-04's shoulder fin. It was curved, and was very ornate. Asuka had her knife out, but it had a shorter, less fancy handle. I caught the handle, and just as my hand clamped, a blade shot from it. It continued on past the length of Asuka's knife, and, when finished must have been eighty feet long. It wasn't a knife. It was a sword. I grabbed the handle two-handed, and rushed to the aid of the other two. It now had Asuka in the same hold as it had held Shinji. She struggled, pulling at the hand gripping her head. Touji was hit with a particle weapon as he came to her aid. The pink energy beam knocked him back into a building. His head snapped into a building, and he went limp. I swung the long, curved blade down at the Angel's arm. The hand dropped off, and Asuka fell backwards, she wrenched it off her head as she rolled up into a fighting stance. The stump on the Angel's arm regrew into a hand.
"Shit, Kojiro." She looked at me. Her eyes flared, and she rushed in. I followed, charging, sword held ready. Asuka dove in, rolled and pounded a fist at the red circle on its chest. The KOA, Asuka had explained, was it's power source, if we destroyed that, we won. She punched hard, and the angel caught her hand, garbbed her head, and prepared to brain hammer her. I couldn't hit the Koa with the sword, I might hurt Asuka. Then I spied her Progressive Knife, lying on the ground where the Angel had knocked it from her hand. I rolled on my way towards the Angel, garbbed it, and came up. The Angel was concentrating on Asuka. I dove in, hit the Angel, and drove the Knife at its Koa. The Angel let go of Unit 02 in a hurry. Asuka took that chance to kick out it's legs, sending me toppling on top of it. My hand was still on the knife, and it was lodged shallowly in the Angel's Koa. I felt Asuka's hand on top of mine, even though the hand on top of mine weighed more than a frieght locomotive, the armor translated through only her touch. It felt as if she'd normally laid her hand there. Then the other hand came down, and drove the knife into the Koa. We were jolted backwards in the ensuing explosion. Everything was enveloped in white light, and I felt myself land hard, and something large hit me I could make out the shillouette of Unit-02 on top of me. Then the blast stopped. Asuka was herself again.
"Get off me, you little pervert!" She yelled, even though she clearly had landed on me. I pushed her off, and stood up shakily. The adrenaline had left my system, and my knees felt weak. I felt chilled and light-headed. Soon after, salvage crews arrived to bear the other Evas to the cages for repair.
"You performed well, Kai Li, Soryu. My commendations to you both. You saved this city a lot of destruction," Fuyutsuki said. Gendo only nodded. We were in debriefing. I was worried, since Rei had been so badly pounded that she was in hospital as we spoke. Shinji was also pretty bad off. Touji was sitting in the debriefing room, an icepack on his head. He looked bruised, but was alright, nothing broken, said Ritsuko, but she wasn't really a doctor, so we couldn't be sure. We were all a bit shaken, I certainly hadn't expected the Angels to be this tough. It had been beatne, sure, but it had also taken out three Evas. It had been to close for me. It was impossible to tell what Asuka was feeling, she always gave me a look of seething anger, when she looked at me at all. Fuyutsuki seemed happy, in a way, except that you really couldn't see it on his face. You could tell though, that he was proud of the Evas, the work he'd done for years on end to make them ready. Now they were.
We were dismissed to go home, and tommorow, being Sunday, was a weekend, and I wanted to sleep in. Misato drove Yoko, Walker, and I home. It was quite crowded in the car, as she was also driving Shinji and Asuka home with her. Yoko and Asuka ended up scrunched together in the passenger seat, seeing as Asuka didn't want to sit with "pervert boys." Misato sped dangerously along the highways, and, several red lights and mail box later, we were confronted with our apartment. The three of us piled out, and walked wearily up to the door of our apartment, floor 11. I collapsed on the sofa, Walker made it to his bedroom, and Yoko slumped in a chair in the kitchen. I fell asleep.