Well first of all I'd like to thank all the people who have added this to their favourites, I never thought I would get this sort of attention from this story. Here's hoping it keeps going the way its going. The next chapter after this will be another flashback chapter to Shinji's early years.
But here's the part you've all been waiting for his encounter with Asuka, I hope you all like it. I must of rewrote that section about five times. But this deals with Jet Alone and the first half of his trip to Over the Rainbow.
Shinji wasn't pleased when he was woken from his slumber at the crack of dawn and dragged out of the apartment with Misato and tossed into a Eva transport plane. In fact he was a little pissed.
"So tell me again why we're doing this?" Shinji asked irately from the back of the transport as he stared at Misato and Ritsuko sitting across from him, he was fiddling with his MP3 player since he hadn't been able to grab his SDAT, since he was half asleep.
"Because we were invited to this…thing. What is this all about again Ritz?", "Apparently the UN doesn't think that we are doing a good enough job with the Angels and the JSDF has built their own little toy to do the job, unmanned." both Shinji and Misato picked up on the venom pouring from the scientists words.
Shinji raised his hand, "Doesn't explain why I'm here?", "You're here in case things go wrong. Besides your missing school so don't complain." Misato said waving her finger at him.
"I take it that's why the big purple one is with us?" Misato nodded and went back to trying to calm the irate scientist down before she came up with a design for a portable death-ray and went full mad scientist on them.
They arrived at the summit in the outskirts of Old Tokyo, though Shinji didn't really care if he was here or at school both seemed to be a waste of time to him but at least he might be able to beat the crap out of some robot if things went sideways. Misato had said that he would be able to listen in on the summit to have an idea of what to expect, however he merely slumped down in his seat and put his earphones in, deciding to catch up on his sleep.
Misato was bored. Actually she was beyond bored. It had been an hour already and she was getting tired of listen to a bunch of middle aged men talk about some big robot with some jerry rigged nuclear reactor, 'Seriously a walking nuke that is designed for close combat. Great idea. Why not stick a couple of vials of anthrax into it as well.' she went back to chewing on a straw while the idiot on the podium began to talk.
Ritsuko stood and took her position in front of NERV's table which was just for the two of them, however it was when the head speaker mentioned the A.T field that both women took notice of what was exactly being said. "How do you intend to produce an A.T field?", "That is only a matter of time and money. NERV's day in the sun won't last forever." the picture of Unit-One going berserk appeared on the screen and chatter began from all around the room, "At least our project does not put mental and physical strain on the pilot. An out of control pilot is just like an emotional woman, completely unpredictable." laughter followed as Ritsuko fell silent.
"Damn it!" Misato yelled as she kicked the locker again, and again, "Just how did they find out the A.T field, intelligence must be dragging its ass again.", "It doesn't matter. They think they can reproduce it but it's a useless endeavour, those idiots will never know how far they are from it.".
Misato was still fuming as her friend began burning the file on the Jet Alone project, "I still want to stuff his head in this locker and kick it!" another round of kicking occurred until a large dent appeared in the door.
The phone began to ring, "Hello?", "Doctor Akagi. They are beginning the activation test for the Jet Alone project and request your presence at the command bunker." Ritsuko slammed the phone down, "Come on. Lets go see if this thing crash and burns.".
When things started going wrong Ritsuko thought about laughing her ass off, however when they realised that it was heading for a population centre things changed quickly, though thanks to Misato they were able to cut through the red-tape they had tried to hide behind and got the reset password for the reactor.
"Shinji you know the plan. Now get me alongside that damn thing." Misato said as she finished putting on the radiation suit as Shinji was busy getting his plug suit on, "I just hope you know what your doing. This plan is one of the craziest I've ever heard… and I've heard plenty." he pressurised the suit and felt the familiar tightening around, "I'm sure Shinji. Just make sure to slow it down, you are my knight in shining armour after all." this made Shinji go a soft shade of red.
He climbed in and began the start up sequence as Misato climbed on Unit-One's left hand and held on tightly to the finger, "Five seconds!" the crewman shouted as the Eva transport approached the rampaging Jet Alone, "Release!" the safety locks slide out of place and gravity took over as Unit-One slide away and began its free fall. "Incoming!" Shinji yelled with a grin as he fell through the air, landing in a crouch and took off in a sprint soon gaining ground with the fast walking robot.
"Get ready Misato!" he said when he got into arms reach, "Now Shinji!" he reached forwards and grabbed the back and pulled, quickly getting dragged along the ground. He was able to place Misato onto the back and watched her disappear into the depths of the reactor, "Stop moving you bastard!" he got in front and began to push against it. What made it more difficult was he couldn't do as much since it was carrying both a nuclear reactor and Misato so all he could do is pull and push it, he couldn't attack its legs or anything to stop it completely.
But in his head was simply chaos, Misato was trying to shut down the reactor which was flooded with radiation and it could go critical at any moment, 'Don't you dare die Misato!' part of Shinji shouted as the out of control robot continued to march forwards, and she said he would be safe inside the Eva as if it was nothing.
The warning tone beeped again as Misato finished inputting the password for the shut down sequence, "Hope." she typed it in again and received another warning beep, "Damn it! Looks like there isn't anything else to do." she moved over to the dozen control rods which would shut down the reactor if they were pushed inwards.
She began pushing and felt like she was pushing a wall, the heat and the radiation suit she was wearing didn't help matters either. She charged it several times with her shoulder before renewing the push and tired not to loose her focus as she felt the control rod begin to move, slowly.
"Come on!" she yelled through clenched teeth, "I'm not going to die here!" she felt her feet sliding along the metal floor of the control room but she kept on pushing not wanting to fail Shinji.
She felt the whole place shake from an impact as the control rods continued to sink into the wall at a snails pace, until she felt them give way and fall into place as the entire room was flooded with green light just as her legs gave way and she dropped to the floor exhausted.
"Misato it worked! Misato!?" she heard Shinji call over the radio, she didn't answer at first because she was just to tired but the second wave of worried yells from Shinji snapped her out of nearly falling asleep, "I hear you Shinji-kun. I'm just so tired, I must be more out of shape then I thought.", "The retrieval team is on route now. You'll have to go through a decontamination shower but you had to have that anyway wouldn't you?" Misato sighed as she relaxed on the floor, "Do you want to see me shower then Shinji-kun?" the following stammering made her laugh.
Misato stood in the shower letting the warm water soak her body, "That was stupid really now that I think about it. Ritz could of told me how stupid it was without all the shouting. But Shinji-kun did good." she thought back to when she stepped out of the decontamination shower and Shinji just gave her a big hug without saying a word, it was beginning to be harder and harder to not think about how life would be if she was his age now.
Shinji began the walk to school with a spring in his step, he was just glad that Misato was alright after the whole Jet Alone incident. They still hadn't found out how the thing ended up out of control in the first place, but he didn't care because nobody was hurt during the incident.
Upon reaching the gates of the school he stopped when he felt a familiar presence, it was like a cold hand brushing up his spine, "Oh this isn't good." he mumbled looking around so quickly, he almost gave himself whiplash, 'I know she's here I can bloody smell her!' he screamed in his head.
Feeling the blood drain from his face and most of his body he began to wish that he could just vanish from the area.
"Where are you Sawyer?" he mumbled as he scanned the groups of students for any signs of the dark haired butcher, "Shinji-kun." he heard a artificial voice say from behind him. He didn't turn around but just froze on the spot as a pair of pale arms wrapped around his chest and someone nestle their head on his shoulder, "Oh crap." he whispered as his head slowly began to turn and saw that it was Sawyer.
"Sawyer-Chan what are you doing here!?" he said trying not to stutter in front of the older woman, she was dressed in a knee length skirt and a long gothic shirt that seemed to big for her along with her traditional knee length boots which was actually wasn't so strange a sight to see as she rarely went out without them. "Going to school Shinji-kun. Why is there a problem?" the sound of her artificial voice would make others shiver or feel strange but to Shinji it was pretty normal.
"Well yeah there is a slight problem, there is no reason for you to even go to school anymore…." the look she was giving him stopped him in mid sentence, it was one of not being interested on what he was actually saying, "Shinji-kun I've already filed the paper work. I'm in your class as well… I'm your substitute teacher." Shinji wanted to run and not stop until he reached Roanapur.
But she just hugged him again, this time swinging him gently from side to side, "Sawyer-chan we'll be late if we don't stop hugging." she let him go suddenly and grabbed his hand, dragging him off to class.
The head-teacher had stopped Sawyer just before she entered the classroom and took her off to one side to fill her in on the lesson plan, quite clearly she had all the paperwork she needed, which tipped Shinji's curiosity. She would have to ask Eda what the hell she was thinking.
Shinji hurried into it taking his usual seat, "Hey Shinji. What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Touji asked from his seat, looking at Shinji's pale features, "Maybe he's seen the new student we're getting." Kensuke suggested, "I have…and its not a student…" he shivered again and sat at his desk, resting his head on the table.
"Well? What are they like?", "Sawyer. It's Sawyer…" Shinji began to mumble as the teacher entered and asked for everyone's attention. The class rep called for silence and very quickly she got her wish, "Alright everyone we have a new teacher taking over for us today for a few weeks while your usual teacher is on vacation. Her name is Frederica Sawyer and she is from Thailand, I must ask you to treat her with the same respect that you would give me." there were a few poorly hidden laughs popping up around the room but the head-teacher was unfazed and continued, "Just be nice to her, or else you can all just head down to my office. No body wants to go then? Good, shut up." he waved Sawyer in and there was murmurs and gossip instantly going around.
'Dude what's that around her neck? Does she think she's a dog or something?' Touji whispered to Shinji and Kensuke, "No. That's her ultra voice, she can't speak without it so for god sake be nice." he replied a little annoyed at how rude that was to say, and what she could do to them if given half the chance.
Needless to say the rest of the school day was sheer hell for Shinji especially at lunch when Sawyer followed him onto the roof and sat down next to him. Most people would of told her to get lost but Shinji knew what she was capable of and just let her sit next to him, she fed him some of her lunch and she 'convinced' him to do the same buy means of the puppy eyes.
He ignored any and all questions from his classmates and even from the class rep as he was not in the mood to put up with any awkward questions, he just wanted to get home and try and wake up from this nightmare.
"I'm home! Misato are you here?" he called out closing the door and taking his sandals off, "In the kitchen Shinji-kun!" he heard the purple haired captain reply, "You'd better not be cooking anything, CDC would be on us in a minute.", "Very funny but remember I can cook anytime I want." Shinji stopped chuckling as he realised what she was threatening him with.
"Sorry Misa-chan." he entered the kitchen and found her sitting crosslegged on a seat in her usual at-home clothes. After a moment of silence between the two Misato spoke up with a huge grin on her face, "Guess what?", "What?" she giggled and Shinji knew it couldn't be good, "We are going to be picking up the second child tomorrow.", "And…?", "You'll be missing school or the day and I'll let you bring your friends with you. They'll love this." Shinji shook his head in disbelief, "What is the second child like?" Misato went silent and fiddled with her beer, "You'll find out tomorrow so go do your homework if you got any." Shinji did what he was told and thankfully didn't have any to do, but he was still thinking about what the second child was going to be like. But considering Misato's reaction to the question he could only guess from experience that it was going to be a pain to some degree.
"This is so awesome! So totally awesome!" Kensuke yelled looking around him and out the windows as they travelled through the air in the NERV cargo helicopter, Shinji and Touji merely rolled their eyes as they watched him jump about like a child who had sixty cappuccinos .
"Just were are we going anyway Misato?" Shinji asked taking his shades off, he had opted for his usual long black coat with the shirt Sawyer had given him, it was the same outfit he wore when he first arrived in Tokyo-3, something he wished he hadn't done sometimes, "Just on that little boat down there." she pointed down through the clouds and their gaze fell upon a huge fleet of ships.".
"Oh my god. That's the UN pacific fleet, with the super carrier Over the Rainbow." looking down there was four battleships and a super tanker which made up the more larger ships in the fleet, "I just hope this goes off without a hitch. We're only here for Unit-2 and its pilot." Misato said locking gaze with the bridge of the super carrier.
Meanwhile a red headed girl in a yellow sundress stood next to the railing as a cargo helicopter descended onto the deck.
Making their way through the busy deck crew the three stooges were stopped when Misato suddenly came to a halt and they all bumped into her, "Hello Misato, longtime no see." a girls voice said, "It has been hasn't it Asuka? You've grown haven't you?", "Yes and my figure has grown out too." the red headed girl stood proudly in front of them, clearly of European origin she just had an aura of arrogance around her.
"Everyone I'd you to meet the pilot of Unit-2. Asuka Langley Shoryu." Misato introduced the trio to the young girl who all three of them thought the same thing, 'She's hot but a bitch', this was reinforced by the sudden gust of wind which blew her sundress up giving the three of the boys a front row view of her panties. Getting screamed at in German and then slapped wasn't on Shinji's to-do list that morning, but of course Touji decided to pour gas onto the fire and dropped his pants to flash her, earning him another slap but sparing him and Kensuke from another.
"Please don't tell me that perv is the pilot of Unit-One." Asuka asked looking over her shoulder at Touji, "No this is the pilot, Shinji Ikari." Misato pointed to Shinji in his long coat and shades, "Is this him? Doesn't look like much." she said distastefully as she gave him the once over, "Same to you bitch." he deadpanned as he watched her face quickly change to one of pure shock.
"WHAT!?" she screamed loud enough for some of the ground crew to cover their ears, even with their ear protectors on.
"What did I shutter? Loose the attitude, we're meant to be on the same side aren't we and your judging me like a piece of bloody meat." he walked after Misato who had quickly made her getaway with Kensuke and Touji after Asuka screamed.
She stood in the middle of the flight deck, frozen in a mix of shock and surprise, "He did not just call me a bitch!?" she hissed turning and following at a distance.
"Are you sure that was smart Shinji? Asuka has a very short temper." Misato asked as they made their way up a stairwell, "I noticed that after she slapped the three of us and make me deaf after screaming in my face, within about a minute of meeting her. Remind to find an icepack after we've finished here my cheek is still throbbing." the trio rubbed their cheeks and looked around for the angry red head.
"Hello Admiral. I am Captain Katsuragi of NERV I am here for the sign off of Unit-two and its pilot." Misato politely asked the white haired old geezer in charge of the fleet, "Out of the question, I cannot sign off on this. This is my fleet not a bloody cargo service, the ocean is our domain captain not NERVS." as her eye began to twitch, Shinji stepped forward and politely addressed the admiral. "Surely Admiral it would be better for you to get rid of Unit-Two now rather then later, then you can go back to doing your duty and not as you said, run a cargo service." he turned to Misato and smiled, "You should of told me instead. My family could of gotten this for us for the right price.", "Hello Katsuragi." a man said from behind them.
Behind them standing in the doorway to the bridge was a tall man with a ponytail and unshaven face with a cheerful look on his face as he waved, "K-K-Kaji?" Misato said as her face fell and she dropped the clipboard she was holding, "Mister Kaji you cannot just invite yourself onto my bridge." Misato quickly shoved him and the others off the bridge and into the elevator.
Misato was shooting Kaji a glare which could kill the man, "Just what are you doing here!?" she hissed, "I'm here on a business trip of sorts." they were all cramped inside an elevator as it descended into the bowls of the ship, "Hey watch it!" she said in surprise as Kaji apologized as they reached the cafeteria were Asuka was already waiting for them. "So Shinji I hear your living with Katsuragi now. How is that going?" Kaji asked as they sat down and got something to eat, "It's alright I guess, I do miss my hometown though.", "I would of thought that anywhere would be better then Roanapur. And I've only been there once." Shinji looked at him with a look of annoyance, "Why is it that everyone talks bad about the city. Yes it's a cesspit of criminals but its been my home for ten years and I have family there!" he ended with a slightly raised voice but calmed himself.
Misato stared at Kaji and why he would say something bad about Shinji's home just after meeting the boy, "I meant no disrespect Shinji. I apologize.", "Good move." Shinji said looking away from the unkempt man as Asuka went slightly red with anger but was interrupted by Kaji before she could cut loose.
"So tell me. Is she still so, wild in bed?" Misato eyes quickly turned to the size of dinner plates as she leant back into her chair, "Just what are you implying by that!?" she screamed suddenly a foot away from the calm man, "No she's pretty much the same.", "Misato's been nice to me so I would like it if you didn't talk about her like that." if there was one thing that Shinji inherited from his father was his glare, "This isn't happening it's a nightmare." Misato mumbled holding her head in her hands.
"So Mister Kaji why do you know so much about Shinji?" Touji asked, "Well he's very well known in the defence business. He beat an Angel on his first time piloting an Evangelion." everyone watched as Asuka shouted something in German and walked off, "What crawled up her ass?" Shinji asked, "Asuka has been a pilot for nearly ten years. She's looking to prove herself to the world.", "That's all well and good but do you think she could loose the attitude?" Kaji just shrugged as the group began to eat.
Asuka stormed through the corridors screaming mentally at the rudeness of the Eva pilot, and he had the nerve to insult her the second they met. "Wait until he sees me in action. I'll show them all and then Kaji will see how great I am." she started think about her handsome guardian who she had a major crush on. Just because that boy had killed three Angels by himself didn't mean a thing to her, and she would prove it to him.
Shinji was lost. He had rushed off to use the bathroom and couldn't find his way back so now he was lost in the many decks and corridors of the super carrier, with an angry red head out for his head. "Hey Third Child.", 'Speak of the devil' he thought as he looked up a staircase and saw her pointing at him like he was the chosen one or something, "What do you want Asuka?" placing his hands in his coat pockets he wasn't in the mood to put up with her.
"Your coming with me!" she grabbed him and dragged him through the maze of corridors to a waiting helicopter which she told to fly to the super tanker, much to Shinji's annoyance.
"Just were are we going?", "To see my Unit-Two of course. Aren't you excited?" her reply was Shinji drifting off to sleep, "Wake me up when we land." he mumbled wanting to get in a quick powernap before continuing to listen to the red heads boasting.
"What is with you? Do you just hate everyone or what?" she asked nudging Shinji with her foot so he wouldn't be able to sleep, "I hate it when people try to sweet talk me like that Kaji. Misato's a very nice woman, he had no right to say that to her." he said before closing his eyes once again.
"Wake up baka. We're here." Asuka kicked him gently in the leg and woke the sleeping pilot, "I swear you'll loose that leg if you kick me again." Shinji mumbled shaking head clear of sleep, "Yeah, yeah baka. Come on." she dragged him out of the helicopter and down into the cargo hold which didn't take long, seeing how most of the ship was taken up by Unit-Two.
It took them a few minutes to go through a seemingly endless maze of bulkheads and watertight doors before they arrived in the main cargo hold.
Asuka rushed down to the coolant filled hold were something was wrapped in tarp, "Here it is. My lovely Eva Unit-Two." Shinji stared at the Eva with very little interest, "Its red." he let out a yawn and began to walk away but was stopped when Asuka threw a rag at him, "Don't ignore me like that. Your test type is nothing compared to my Unit. This is the worlds first real Evangelion." tossing the rag into the coolant he looked up at the very annoying girl, "How many Angels have you killed again?" before she could bring up a reply the entire ship shock with the force of an underwater explosion.
"Great an Angel." Shinji deadpanned as he rushed back up to the deck with Asuka following close behind. They reached the deck just in time to watch a destroyer get split in two by something under the waves which was to big to be normal, "Yeah that's an Angel. Can't see what it looks like though." his thoughts were broken when Asuka dragged him back down to the hold, "Do you mind!?" he said loudly, pulling his arm free of Asuka.
"What do you think your doing? We've got to beat that Angel." Asuka said pointing outside, "So suit up" before he could say anything he had a red and orange plugsuit thrust into his arms, "Your not serious…", "Go down there and change and don't you dare peek and me you pervert." she rushed down a small flight of stairs and Shinji couldn't help but think 'Who'd want to see you change your skin?'. Stripping off his clothes he put on the spare suit and pressed the pressurise button, not knowing just what was going to happen to a certain part of his body. Letting out a grunt of pain he braced himself against the wall as the pain slowly subsided, "What's wrong with you?" Asuka said appearing next to him, "This… is a female plugsuit. If you haven't noticed I'm a guy!" he pointed down to his lower parts and began to walk to the Eva, awkwardly.
Asuka followed and deep in the back of her mind was thinking about how big he actually was since he was in so much pain.
Inside the entry plug warnings were going off all over the cockpit, "Damn it! If your going to be in here can you think in German or is that to hard for you?", "Switch to Japanese then!", "Why should I? I thought you were the amazing pilot of Unit-One?" Shinji shook his head as he adjusted his position in the cramped cockpit, earning him a smack round the head, "Watch what your touching!".
"Just switch to Japanese! Unless you know Russian or Chinese!" he said trying to knock her down a peg, "Fine!" he smiled to himself as the Eva activated successfully.
The entire fleet was stuck between watching out for the Angel and watching the Eva activate, standing on the deck of the cargo ship in wore the tarp as a kind of cloak.
"Why to go Asuka!" Misato shouted through the comms, "I need the power cable! I've got just under five minutes.", "Watch it here it comes!" Shinji shouted as the waves shot through the water towards them, "Asuka is Shinji in there with you?", "Yes Misato!" everyone watched as the Eva jumped from the super tanker and landed on the rear deck of a frigate taking out a helicopter in the process, "Lets play hopscotch!". They jumped from ship to ship as the cable was prepared, "Incoming!" Asuka shouted as she landed on the carriers' deck, "Well Katsuragi it seems its time for me to go." Kaji said over the radio as he appeared in the back of a two seater jet and waved as he left.
"I can't believe it. He left us." Touji said dumbstruck as Kensuke quickly tried to change the tapes in his camcorder, "Kaji you rat!" Misato screamed as the jet quickly disappeared, "What are you doing!?" she heard Shinji yell in the plug, "Shinji!?", "Misato, Asuka is thinking about fighting the Angel, without D-type equipment.", "Asuka that's stupid let the Angel come to you!" just as she said that the Angel jumped from the water. Shinji noticed it wasn't like the last two, it just looked like a giant white fish without any eyes but a lot of teeth.
Just as it tackled them from the carrier they were able to catch a glimpse of its core which was about halfway down its gullet, not really the easiest place to reach in an Eva that can't move. "I told you to watch out, but no! What do I know?" Shinji stated with much sarcasm, 'We're fish food.' he thought as the Angel began to circle them. "Misato any ideas would be helpful! I'm getting flashbacks of when Revy took me fishing!" he still got shivers at the memory.
"That's it! Fishing!" Misato shouted loud enough for everyone around her to wince, she turned to the admiral with a look of authority and determination, "Admiral we can beat this but I need to burrow the remaining battleships.", "I thought you said covenantal weapons were of no use.", "Against an A.T field. But if we can hit its core then its as good as dead." she began to explain the plan to him and everyone watched as the Admiral face change to one of disbelief, "Do what you need to do.".
There will be a reoccurring theme of Asuka trying to one-up Shinji at every turn, and him responding in Roanapur fashion. Things will get better from here on out, even more so when Mari arrives too.