Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is the creation of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
The Moments Before Battle
Shinji Ikari screamed. Shinji Ikari screamed as he had never screamed before.
This might have had something to do with the fact that he'd never been the target of a giant monster's particle beam before.
Go intangible, damn you! He commanded himself savagely, even as his screams continued unabated. However, he couldn't focus his mind well enough to do it; it was like that awful moment against the Third Angel all over again.
One of the benefits of the LCL, Shinji was discovering, was that the way it oxygenated his blood directly meant that he didn't have to stop shrieking in order to draw a breath.
However, when the amber liquid started to bubble furiously around him, Shinji decided he would gladly trade the LCL for good old fashioned air.
Oh god, this is hell! There has to be something I can do! Come on, Ikari, think! Think damn you!
But his mind remained frustratingly blank, and Shinji soon found himself flailing around wildly as the heat and pain ate away at his ability to think rationally. He knew his crazed movements weren't even remotely constructive, but he was in such agony that he was overwhelmed by the need to do something to try and diminish it.
Ice powers! He thought, abruptly realizing he had what he needed to combat the awful, awful heat. Even if he couldn't turn Evangelion Unit One intangible, he might be able to keep himself from getting boiled alive.
The pain making him momentarily heedless to the consequences of revealing his secret to everyone, Shinji desperately struggled to summon up the wintry powers he knew dwelled within him.
He almost managed to succeed, too. However, the stifling temperatures within his entry plug, combined with the pain he was receiving through his neural link with EVA, simply overwhelmed him.
Meanwhile, in the command centers, all the klaxons were blaring at maximum volume, and every screen in the place was displaying a red warning message.
"Unit One's armor is melting!" Aoba exclaimed. "The temperature of the LCL inside the plug is at 120 degrees and still rising!"
"The pilot's lost consciousness!" Maya added. "Synchro ratio is plummeting!"
"Shinji's core body temperature is becoming dangerously high," Makoto said grimly. "He's being cooked alive in there, Captain."
"Retrieve the EVA!" Misato barked. "Do it now!"
"We can't," Aoba said. "The lift is jammed."
The Operations Director grit her teeth. There was no way in hell she was going to let this kid die in their war, not without doing everything she possibly could to stop it.
"Then blow the charges! Just get him out of there," she commanded.
"Yes, ma'am," Makoto said at once, his fingers becoming a blur as he punched in the necessary commands.
Inside the Evangelion lift shaft that had taken Unit One to the surface, a series of small explosives suddenly detonated, destroying the various mechanisms that kept the carriage the test type Evangelion stood upon in place. It began to descend, but the safety mechanisms had been left untouched, and they ensured that the titanic war machine didn't enter an uncontrolled fall.
The budget people and base development are going to want to kill me, Misato mused, knowing that that particular Evangelion lift wouldn't be of any use until some very expensive repairs had been performed. Oh well.
The Angel kept its deadly beam weapon trained upon Unit One's chest as it sank back down toward the safety of the Geofront, until it was hitting only the street. It had shot straight through a building to hit Unit One, and with the termination of the beam, the remains of the structure collapsed into a pathetic looking heap of melted metal and glass.
"The target's gone silent," Aoba announced, amazed.
Misato couldn't blame him for being surprised, especially since she was confused herself. She couldn't see any reason for the Angel to halt its attack while it was clearly winning.
However, she had other concerns on her mind, and with the Angel deciding to give them a reprieve, she could turn her attention toward them.
"What's the pilot's status?" she demanded.
"He's alive," Makoto said. "But his brainwaves are extremely erratic. Cardiac readings are very weak."
"Increase power to the life support systems," Ritsuko commanded. "Give him a heart massage!"
Inside the plug, Shinji's unconscious body jerked as the small defibrillator built into the chest of his plug suit went off.
"Heartbeat stabilized," Makoto announced, clearly relieved.
Part of Misato couldn't help wonder if the lieutenant was relieved because Shinji—the fourteen-year-old boy who had essentially been blackmailed into piloting Evangelion—would survive, or if it was because the Third Child—the person who currently bore the brunt of the responsibility to protect mankind—would live to fight again.
Misato knew that, as the Operations Director, it should be the latter that made her breath her own sigh of relief, but her emotions refused to cooperate and be professional on the issue.
"Unit One is secured inside cage number two," Aoba announced a moment later.
"Force eject the entry plug!" Ritsuko commanded. "Emergency LCL discharge!"
"Roger!" Maya said.
"Hyuga, what's the status on the Angel?" Misato asked.
"It's holding position, and the MAGI aren't detecting any energy spikes," he answered.
"Good," Misato said. "I'm going to the cage. Contact me if there's any change."
"Yes, ma'am," Hyuga said.
Misato barely even heard him acknowledge her. She had gotten onto a small, personal lift and was already on her way to the cage. Breaking out into a sprint as soon as she had arrived at the correct floor, the Operations Director reached cage number two just as a robot arm was removing the Third Child and his command chair from the entry plug.
"Oh, Shinji…" she said softly.
He looked terrible. His body was completely limp, and thin trails of blood streamed slowly from his nose. His skin was badly flushed, and Misato could feel heat radiating off of him as soon as she drew close.
He's not out of the woods yet, she thought grimly.
"Move it! Out of the way!"
The Operations Director turned to see a team of paramedics rushing up with a gurney. She quickly stepped away from the Third Child, allowing them to do their work. In moments, they were wheeling him away, conversing quickly in medical jargon she didn't understand.
Misato was now alone. As much as she wanted to follow the paramedics – to keep an eye on Shinji – she had a job to do.
All right, time to figure out how to kill that Angel, she decided, heading for the Strategic Analysis Room.
Hours later…
"Do you really believe this will work?" Ritsuko asked.
Misato didn't answer immediately, instead gazing out at the various members of Technical Division Three as they scrambled to assemble the massive weapon she had requisitioned from the JSSDF. Rei and Unit Zero had proved invaluable in obtaining the prototype positron rifle, both with the actual transportation and "persuading" the military to part with the weapon.
That thing was just a bunch of parts a few hours ago, and now it's actually starting to like an honest-to-god gun, she thought.
She was secretly more than a little flabbergasted by the results of her flexing her authoritative muscle; orders that normally would take months just to be cleared were going to be executed and finished in under a day.
All because the Angel attack meant that when she said "Jump!" people had to ask "How high?"
"I mean, sniping the Angel from the mountains outside the city, and using all the power in Japan to do it with?" Ritsuko's words brought the Operations Director from her reverie. "That's a wild plan even by your standards."
"It'll work," Misato insisted, then added, "assuming we'll have a pilot for Unit One."
Ritsuko arched an eyebrow. "You think Shinji will refuse to pilot?" she asked.
Misato sighed. "I think it's a definite possibility," she said. "That kid has been much more courageous than we had any right to expect him to be, given the circumstances. But we can't just assume an untrained, fourteen-year-old civilian we thrust into the entry plug will be able to keep that up forever. Especially if he endures hell every time he fights an Angel."
The Operations Director could still vividly recall Shinji screaming in agony at the climax of his battle against the Fourth Angel with depressing ease.
"There's no way Rei will be able to pull off this 'Operation Yashima' of yours alone," Ritsuko said. "Even if Unit Zero was equipped with battle-grade armor, Rei's lower sync ratio—"
"I know," Misato interrupted testily, then sighed. "Sorry, Ritsuko, you didn't deserve that. It's just—"
The Ops Director was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. Quickly fishing it out of her pocket, she flipped it open and held it to her ear. "Katsuragi here," she said.
"Captain, this is Dr. Ichijo, from the Medical Ward. The Third Child's regained consciousness."
"I see, thank you for informing me, Doctor," Misato said, then pressed the end button on her phone to terminate the call.
"Well?" Ritsuko asked.
"Shinji's awake," Misato told her friend as she started dialing a number into her phone.
"And you're not rushing down to the ward to comfort him?" Ritsuko asked, just the slightest trace of a mocking edge to her voice.
"No, I'm going to ask Rei to brief him on our battle plans," Misato said.
A tiny smirk appeared on the faux blonde's face. "Sending down the girl he piloted to protect in the first place, so as to remind him who will be taking his place if he bails on us now? I didn't know you had it in you, Captain Katsuragi."
Misato's eyes flashed. "Don't act like what I'm doing is praiseworthy," she said. "It's not. Not even close, and if there wasn't so much at stake, I would never do it."
"But everything's at stake," Ritsuko pointed out.
Misato might have made some retort to that, but the First Child chose that moment to answer her phone.
"Hello, Rei," the Ops Director said. "I need you to do something for me…"
Shinji Ikari lay in his bed in the NERV Medical Ward, not quite fully conscious, and gazed up at the ceiling sightlessly. On some level, he knew that he should probably force himself to get up and find out what had happened after he'd almost gotten boiled alive. However, he was in the grip of a bone-deep weariness; one he didn't have the will to overcome at the moment.
It was the sound of a squeaky wheel that finally gave him the motivation to pull himself out of his stupor. Realizing that someone was coming, he sat up and shook his head to clear out the cobwebs.
The realization that he was naked beneath the blankets caused Shinji to pale; he barely pulled the sheets up just as Rei walked in. She was pushing a cart that had the squeaky wheel he'd heard.
Shinji very abruptly remembered that the second time he'd seen Rei, after the First Battle of Tokyo-3, a pair of orderlies had been pushing her through the medical ward on a bed that had a similarly squeaky wheel.
There might be something deep and philosophical I can read from that. But then again, probably not, he mused idly as he inspected the cart. A plastic tray with a meal upon it sat on top of it, and a fresh plug suit sat on a small shelf near the bottom.
"Hello," she said simply.
Shinji was able to muster up a small smile in response. "Hello, Rei," he said. "So, did I win?"
The First Child didn't realize the joke for what it was. "No. You were attacked by the Angel and would likely have suffered irreversible injuries had Captain Katsuragi not recalled Unit One," she said.
"Ah," Shinji replied, his voice a little faint. Her no-nonsense response had thoroughly killed any humor he had felt. "So, what's the Angel been up to?"
"It has warped part of its body into a drill and is currently tunneling toward the Geofront," Rei answered. "It will breach the final armor layer by approximately midnight, so we must stop it before then."
"And, um, how are we going to do that?" Shinji asked.
"Captain Katsuragi has devised Operation Yashima in order to combat the Angel," Rei said. "She will brief us fully on the plan of attack later, but I have been instructed to give you an overview of the mission now."
Shinji nodded, and Rei took out a small, pocket sized notebook and started to recite the plan to him. The Third Child felt a pit of dread open up in his stomach as she spoke, but he paled when she told him that Unit Zero would be using a heat shield from an old space shuttle to protect him from the Angel.
Finishing up, the First Child put her little notebook away. "You should eat," she said, gesturing to the tray of food she'd brought. "We need to be ready to depart for the provisional base within the hour."
Shinji chuckled mirthlessly. "I don't think I ever felt less like eating," he said.
"You will require nourishment," Rei said.
"Oh, I'll eat it, I just won't enjoy it," Shinji grumbled.
Apparently deciding that his enjoyment or lack thereof was not relevant, the First Child gave him a small nod and turned to leave.
"Rei," Shinji called after her just before she made it to the door.
"Yes?" she asked, turning back to face him.
"You don't have to do this, you know," he said quietly.
A frown appeared on her face. It was very slight, but it was there.
"The thing with the shield, I mean," Shinji elaborated. "You don't have to get in the path of the Angel's death beam to protect me. I'm sure I'll be fine."
"The presence of a second Evangelion to defend the sniper triples the odds of the mission ending in success," Rei pointed out.
"Um, well…" he fumbled for some good reason why Rei should sit this battle out.
"Have you devised some strategy that would make Unit Zero's contributions unnecessary?" Rei asked, looking neither offended nor even curious about Shinji's desire to keep her out of the battle.
Oh, well, if the giant positron rifle thing doesn't work, then I can just make Unit One intangible. After the beam harmlessly goes through me, I thought I'd walk right up to the Angel, reach into it, and then rip its core right out of its body, Shinji thought.
"…no," he said quietly.
"I will see you when it is time for us to depart for the Mount Futago base," Rei said, then left without another word.
Watching her go, Shinji felt like the biggest coward on the face of the Earth. It had only been a few days since Rei had been able to remove the last of her bandages, and now she was going right back into the line of fire. He had the ability to make that unnecessary, but he wasn't going to use it.
"Damn it," he whispered, feeling a wave of self-loathing sweep over him. Despite this, he was still unable to convince himself to reveal his powers, even just to use them in battle against the Angels.
If it becomes common knowledge that I'm the Ikiryo, if Uncle Ichigo finds out…I can't go home, he thought.
Shinji wasn't stupid or naïve enough to believe for even a moment that he'd still be welcome in his uncle's house if the man knew he was a ghost. And if he couldn't return to Ichigo Ikari's house, he couldn't return to Shinjuku-2, the only place he'd ever felt he really belonged. Tokyo-3 was a wonder of modern technology, but the whole city was clearly his father's kingdom. He couldn't make such a place his home.
The Third Child frowned as this line of thought caused a new problem to occur to him.
What's going to happen with Rei after the war's over? He wondered.
He would like it if his sister could come back to Shinjuku-2 to live with him; he felt quite sure Uncle Ichigo wouldn't mind, if the man even noticed he had one more person residing at his home than normal. However, would Rei be willing to relocate to the madhouse that was the Ikari residence, which happened to be located smack dab in the middle of the "Most Haunted Town in Japan?" And even if she was, would his father let her go?
For god's sake, worry about this later, he told himself, rubbing his forehead.
He dressed, somewhat reluctantly donning the plug suit Rei had brought. His skin felt tender from the abuse he'd taken earlier, making the tight garment uncomfortable. Then, with even greater reluctance, he began to eat, despite his lack of an appetite. However, he refused to touch the red stuff, which he couldn't even identity. He eventually finished the meal and was ready to head out.
All right, Ikari, he told himself silently as he felt the hospital room, you can try to have your cake and eat it, too, but if it comes down to your secret being exposed or Rei dying, then it's time to make everyone aware that you're the Ikiryo.
The vow thus made, Shinji headed out, hoping he could keep it.
About an hour later, Shinji and Rei found themselves with nothing to do but sit around until it was time for the mission to commence. The Third Child felt more than a little annoyed upon realizing that NERV had given them "hurry up and wait" orders.
If there was one thing he hated doing before he had to undertake a dangerous task, it was nothing. Idleness just gave the perils he'd have to face time to grow and multiply in his mind, until they seemed insurmountable.
"It's really something, isn't it?" he asked, more to break the oppressive silence than anything else, as he gazed out at the hundreds of workers scrambling to make sure all the hardware they'd need to execute the plan was ready on time. They looked almost like ants from a distance.
Unfortunately, Rei didn't respond, apparently seeing no need to. Shinji held back a sigh and tried to keep his nerves under control, but it was difficult.
And I have to use a gun on this damn mission, too, he thought dourly. Kamiko was always the gun person in the group, not me.
"Rei?" he spoke up, feeling like he'd go crazy unless they started something that at least resembled a conversation.
"Yes?"
"Can you really do this?" he asked. "Put yourself right into the line of fire with nothing but an old heat shield from a space shuttle that never took off?"
"Yes," she replied, as if there was nothing extraordinary about that at all.
"You don't have to, you know," Shinji said. "It would be okay if you just…didn't get into position to protect me with that shield if the Angel fires."
Her blank expression shifted into a slight frown. "We have already discussed this," she said. "It would be foolish for me not to participate in this battle."
"Rei, forget about the numbers for a second," Shinji said. "If I told you that I could be sure of winning without you having to risk yourself, would you sit this battle out?"
He was careful to make the question an obviously hypothetical one, but it was still closer to admitting he had ghost powers than he really wanted to get. However, Shinji felt he had to make at least some effort to keep her from leaping into the path of the Angel's death beam if it fired.
"But you cannot be sure of victory, even if I do protect you," Rei pointed out.
"But if I could—" Shinji pressed.
"Such questions are irrelevant," Rei interrupted him. "I must protect you."
Shinji looked away, unable to meet her eyes. Unable to tell her that such questions really weren't as irrelevant as she believed they were.
"Do not worry," she said, and her tone seemed just a bit more gentle than before. "While I cannot guarantee my survival, or even the success of the operation, I have faith in the mission."
"Because you trust my father?" he asked, not quite able to keep the anger out of his voice.
"Yes," Rei answered simply. "But if you cannot trust him, then trust me. Your attempts to keep me out of danger are…flattering, but do not forget I am a pilot as well."
"How can you be so strong?" he asked, dismay and confusion mingling in his voice. "Is EVA—your bond to all people—really enough?"
"Yes," Rei answered.
"How?" he asked quietly. "How can it be?"
"It has to be enough," Rei said. "I have nothing else."
"Rei, that's not true. What about me? We're friends, aren't we?" Shinji asked.
The words sounded spectacularly corny to the teenage boy the moment they escaped him, but they caused Rei to blink, a charming expression of surprise and confusion appearing on her face.
"Are we?" she asked.
"Well, I'd like us to be, so if you would, too, then I guess we are," he said, the words feeling very awkward to him. However, he managed to direct a small, hopefully friendly smile at her.
"I would…like that," she said.
"Then, we're friends," he said matter-of-factly.
This, Rei realized, was mission accomplished. The Commander had told her to get close to the Third Child and befriend him, and now Shinji himself had just said that they were friends. She felt a small amount of satisfaction, the kind that came with a job well done.
However, she also felt an unexpected warmth in her chest. Was it because she now knew that he cared for her? How…odd.
"It's time," she said, wanting to get away from him so she could deal with these unexpected emotions in private. "We should go."
"All right," he said, getting up.
"Good-bye," she said.
He stopped on his way to Unit One, struck cold by Rei's words. "Don't say that," he told her softly.
"Why not? It is entirely possible that one of us will not survive this battle," she told him.
And of course, if one of us croaks, it'll probably be you, the shield bearer, Shinji thought nervously.
"A friend once told me that if you're headed into a possibly lethal situation, you should act like you're certain you'll come back alive, even if you're not," Shinji said. "Because even if you do get killed, it's still impossible for anyone to say 'I told you so' later."
This nugget of wisdom had come from Kamiko, in an attempt to curb what she saw as her brother's "excessive pessimism."
Fumio had not been impressed, and he had contended that if they all got killed then "The Universe told us so."
Rei, however, greeted the bit of philosophy with a thoughtful expression. Then the corners of her mouth quirked upwards in what Shinji abruptly realized was her approximation of a confident smile.
"I will see you after we defeat the Angel," she said.
Shinji grinned back at her. "See you then," he replied.
The next day…
Shinji strode through the long, winding hallways of NERV headquarters with long, purposeful strides. This felt perfectly appropriate to him, since he definitely had a purpose that morning, namely getting Rei moved into a better living space.
It's the least I can do, after last night, he thought guiltily as he recalled the battle.
The Angel had fired its beam weapon at him sooner than NERV had expected it to, and Shinji had only just managed to get off a shot from the positron rifle as it did. The two beams had distorted one another's paths, and nobody had gotten hit in the first round.
Naturally, the Angel had been able to ready itself to attack again before his rifle could recharge, and Rei had had to use that shield to protect him.
Shinji could vividly remember how his plug had been utterly flooded with light while Rei held back the beam; he was practically still seeing spots whenever he closed his eyes.
Good thing I'm apparently better with guns than I thought, Shinji mused. He had just been able to get a hard target lock on the Angel and kill it before Rei's shield had given out.
So, the Angel was dead, his secret remained just that, and Rei was uninjured. All in all, it was night to put into the win column, but Shinji wasn't feeling very pleased about it.
If I'd been just a few seconds slower, Rei could have died, he thought guiltily, increasing his pace.
It was at this point that he arrived at the door to NERV's human resources department. Taking a deep breath, Shinji strode inside.
He was somehow surprised to discover that the place looked like a perfectly normal office, with copy machines, cubicles, and everything one might expect of such a place. The Third Child hesitated, not entirely sure how to proceed.
Meanwhile, the paper pushers were looking up at him with curious expressions, wondering why in the world an Evangelion pilot would venture to their small corner of the base.
"Can we help you, Pilot Ikari?" one of them asked.
"Ah, yes," Shinji said. "I want to talk to someone about Rei's, um, Pilot Ayanami's living arrangements. The apartment she lives in right now is dirty and unsafe."
The atmosphere in the room abruptly became very uncomfortable. Shinji could almost feel the pall his words had cast across everyone, and the place almost immediately went dead silent.
"Um, I'll, um, I'll go get our supervisor," the man who'd spoken up before said, then quickly got up and rushed to a small, nearby office.
Before Shinji even had a moment to ponder this turn of events, a thin man wearing a dark suit and a large, obviously phony smile emerged from the office.
"Ikari-san, how good to see you. Congratulations on your victory last night," he said grandly.
"Thank you," Shinji said. "But I couldn't have done it without Rei."
The supervisor's smile grew brittle. "Ah, yes, Pilot Ayanami. Well, I'm afraid anything related to her is well above my pay grade. You really need to speak with Yoshimora in the Personnel Department."
"Where is that?" Shinji asked.
"Floor 3, Section J. That's well on the other side of the base."
"Of course it is," Shinji sighed.
Unfortunately, when Shinji reached the Personnel Department, he was told that he had to go speak with the head of Section One. And the head of Section One told him he needed to speak with someone else.
This went on for hours, until Shinji, his feet killing him from tromping all over the base, figured out that he was being given the run around.
With this realization, he had decided to go straight to the top, and now he stood before the head of NERV's human resources, Haru Oshiro. The man was, as far as Shinji could gather, the king of the organization's civilian pencil pushers.
And he was as annoying as hell.
"The First Child has never complained about her living arrangements to us," Sakai said, not even looking up from the papers on his desk.
"You could fill Rei's place with a swarm of African killer bees and she probably wouldn't complain," Shinji responded. "That doesn't mean that it's okay to make her live in a place like that."
"You keep saying that her home is unlivable, but you've yet to provide any proof," Oshiro said. The man's voice was becoming more and more distant, which gave Shinji the strong impression that he was paying less and less attention to the conversation. "Am I supposed to drop everything because a fourteen-year-old boy tells me something is wrong?"
Shinji gritted his teeth and seethed. When NERV needed him, he was the most important person in the world. When they didn't, he was just a stupid kid. The injustice was staggering.
"I would expect you to show some interest when one Evangelion pilot accuses you of completely failing in your responsibilities to another Evangelion pilot," the Third Child replied. "Especially when the pilot doing the accusing has half a mind to go to the Operations Director or even the Commander about this issue if you don't do something to fix it."
Shinji had hoped that the threat would finally motivate at the man to actually do something, but it didn't have the effect he intended. Rather than showing fear, Oshiro became indignant.
"Well, now, someone thinks he can throw his weight around," the man said testily.
"Hey, I—"
"Mr. Ikari, you may be Unit One's pilot, but that doesn't mean that I answer to you," Oshiro said. "I won't be bullied by a child, so you can just remove yourself from my office. This conversation is over."
This all but confirmed it for Shinji. Oh, Father is definitely responsible for Rei's living arrangements, he thought. There just no other explanation for Oshiro being so unmoved by the EVA pilot's threat to go even higher up NERV's chain of command.
"All right," Shinji said. "Goodbye."
The bureaucrat didn't so much as grunt in way of response; he was apparently already lost in his paperwork.
Shinji spun on his heel and left the office without another word. He moved with quick, angry footfalls, and some of the people he passed by stared after him. A few of those were some of the people who'd given him the runaround earlier. They just shook their heads, knowing he hadn't hit pay dirt. They hoped he'd given up, since success was not achievable.
But Shinji was too tenacious for that.
The direct approach is never the only way, he thought as he ducked into one of the base's restrooms.
After a quick check to make certain that no one else was in the men's bathroom, Shinji entered one of the stalls and willed himself to change. The white rings of energy appeared, sweeping over his body and changing him into his spectral form.
Thank goodness Father at least didn't put cameras in the bathrooms, or I'd have to leave the base to go ghost, he thought as he willed himself to become invisible and intangible.
As undetectable as…well, a ghost, Shinji exited the bathroom, flying back toward Oshiro's office. Floating through the wall, the Ikiryo saw the man still bent over the papers he'd been working on. There was no one else in the room with him.
Perfect, Shinji thought.
Without further ado, the ghost boy flew directly into the form of Haru Oshiro. The man's eyes briefly glowed an eerie green as Shinji overshadowed him, taking control of his body from him.
"Testing, one, two…no, that's not right," he said, when the voice which came out of Oshiro's mouth was that of a fourteen-year-old boy rather than that of a full grown man. He cleared his, or rather Oshiro's throat and spoke again. "One, two, three."
This time he sounded like Oshiro rather than himself.
Perfect, Shinji thought.
The ghost boy knew that this was easily his creepiest and most unnerving power, so he had always limited his use of it as much as possible. Generally, he only overshadowed someone in order to get the twins out of trouble they'd incurred for abandoning whatever they were supposed to be doing at the time in order to fight ghosts with him.
Using his overshadowing ability like this was further than he was usually willing to go, but he'd sworn not to let Rei remain in that unsafe dump of an apartment if he could do something about it.
Wearing Haru Oshiro's body like a coat, Shinji strode out of the man's office, soon locating the man's secretary. The Third Child belatedly realized that he'd never picked up her name, so he was forced to hover over her awkwardly until she realized he was standing there.
"Hello, Oshiro-san," she greeted him after a moment. "What can I do for you?"
"I want you to see to it that Pilot Ayanami is moved to a better residence," he said.
She frowned. "Sir?"
"The First Child's apartment is inadequate," he said. "I want her moved to someplace nicer. A building that's actually up to code, at least, and one in a better part of the city."
"But, sir, you said…" she hesitated, then shook her head, as if thinking better of arguing. "Of course, sir. I'll assign someone to the task right away."
"Good," Shinji replied, "that will be all."
With that, he turned on his heel and walked back into Oshiro's office. After sitting the bureaucrat back in his chair, Shinji released his hold on the man, carefully keeping himself invisible as he vacated Oshiro's body.
Freed, Oshiro blinked and looked around, clearly dazed. However, when he didn't detect anything amiss in his office, he shrugged and went back to work, completely oblivious to the orders "he" had just given.
Well, that's one thing done, Shinji thought with satisfaction as he quickly departed, heading back toward the restroom to change back into his human form.
The next day found Shinji Ikari engaged in far more mundane pursuits. It was the lunch period at school, and Kensuke was enthusiastically grilling the Evangelion pilot for every possible detail about the latest battle.
Shinji was doing his best to play up how painful his first clash with the Angel had been, as well as how nerve-wracking the second confrontation had been. He wanted to dissuade the otaku from trying to become an Evangelion pilot.
Yet somehow, the Third Child didn't think he was succeeding.
"Wait, so you sniped the Angel from outside the city? Using all the power in Japan?" Kensuke asked. "Awesome!"
Shinji gaped stupidly at the bespectacled boy for a full three seconds before turning a desperate look at Toji.
The jock just shrugged. "Just forget it, Shin-man," he said. "The little nerd here is completely incorrigible. He's never gonna stop thinking that anything related to combat or the military is cool, no matter what happens."
Toji clearly hadn't meant this as a compliment, but Kensuke chose to treat it as one anyway.
"That's right!" he exclaimed. "I'll never surrender my love of all things military!"
"See?" Toji asked Shinji. "It's completely hopeless."
Kensuke ignored the jock's remark and turned his attention to Shinji. "Hey, speaking of military stuff, have you heard anything about the Jet Alone?" he asked eagerly.
The EVA pilot shrugged. He had heard several people at NERV mention the thing, and he'd noticed that many of them seemed afraid of the implications it had for Project-E. However, he had far too much on his plate to worry about the Jet Alone.
"Isn't it some kind of giant robot that's supposed to be a rival to Evangelion?" Shinji asked.
A brief look of disappointment passed over Kensuke's face, and Shinji realized that the otaku had been hoping he might know things about the robot that weren't public knowledge.
However, Kensuke quickly became cheerful again as he realized that he would now have the pleasure of rambling about the new anti-Angel weapon.
"The Jet Alone is a pure robot, and, unlike the Evangelions, it has no pilot. It's remote controlled," he said, reaching into his backpack and plucking out a newspaper clipping to show Shinji. "It has a nuclear reactor that allows it to function continuously for up to 120 days, though why it would need to operate for that long is…"
The otaku trailed off as he realized that his friend wasn't listening to him, or even pretending to listen. Instead, Shinji was staring intently at the newspaper. He was holding it up close to his face and squinting, apparently trying to make out some detail in the photograph that went with the article, which showed several of the Jet Alone's creators standing at the robot's feet.
"Shinji?" Toji spoke up. "You okay, man?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he answered, but he sounded worried and distracted. "Kensuke, can I borrow your glasses for a second?" he asked the otaku.
Though confused by the request, Kensuke shrugged and handed them over. Shinji held them up to the article, but it only took him a few seconds to realize that this wouldn't work.
"Thanks," he said, handing Kensuke his glasses back, "but I need a magnifying glass or something."
Toji and Kensuke exchanged a brief look. They were both confused, but Shinji suddenly seemed so dead serious that it stifled their urge to question him immediately.
"There's one in the library, I think. And we should have just enough time to head over there before the lunch period ends," Toji said, checking his watch.
"Cool," was all Shinji said as he got up and headed for the library.
The trio didn't exchange a word as they walked toward their destination. Something had clearly rattled the half-ghost and Evangelion pilot, and though they would never admit it, the other two boys were a little scared of whatever could do that.
The school librarian was apparently on lunch break, because they found the library empty. Unbothered by this, or by the stifling heat in the room, Shinji quickly found the desired magnifying glass laying on a table in the far corner.
The Third Child muttered something unintelligible after studying the picture for a few seconds. It might've been a curse.
Toji's curiosity finally overcame his trepidation. "What's up?" he asked.
"Take a look," Shinji said, offering him the magnifying glass.
The jock did so and soon spotted what had so riled Shinji. An odd looking man with bushy white hair, dark, square glasses, and a gray trench coat stood in the background, apparently unnoticed by everyone else in the shot. Toji thought his skin color seemed odd, too, but since the photo was in black and white, he couldn't tell for sure.
"Who the heck is that guy?" he asked Shinji as he handed the magnifying glass over to an eager Kensuke.
"That's Technus, the technology ghost," Shinji said grimly. "And if he's poking around the Jet Alone, that can only mean that he plans to take control of it for himself."
Author's Notes: I think I hate the Fifth Angel. It's way too damn early for Shinji to be using his ghost powers in combat, so I was forced to go with what was basically the canon version of the battle. Which is why I eventually decided to skip the actual battle entirely.
Originally, I hadn't planned to have Technus show up until much later, but let's face it: the Jet Alone practically begs for him to make an appearance. So expect some delightful mayhem next chapter.
Anyway, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta readers as well. Now enough of my rambling, let's have some fun.
Omake
Too Much is Never Enough! (Except when it is)
The Angel kept its deadly beam weapon trained upon Unit One's chest as it sank back down toward the safety of the Geofront, until it was hitting only the street. It had shot straight through a building to hit Unit One, and with the termination of the beam, the remains of the structure collapsed into a pathetic looking heap of melted metal and glass.
"The target's gone silent," Aoba announced, amazed.
"What's the pilot's status?" Misato demanded.
"He's alive," Makoto said. "But his brainwaves are extremely erratic. Cardiac readings are very weak."
"Increase power to the life support systems," Ritsuko commanded. "Give him a heart massage!"
Inside the plug, Shinji's unconscious body jerked as the small defibrillator built into the chest of his plug suit went off.
On a readout before Makoto, a series of lines showing Shinji's EKG readings jerked abruptly, but then quickly flat-lined again.
"No response!"
"Again!" Ritsuko barked.
Once again, Shinji's body jerked.
"No response!"
"Again!" Ritsuko practically screamed.
His plug suit shocked him for a third time, finally having results. Shinji took a deep inhalation of LCL and opened his eyes, groaned.
"Wow," he said. "Thought I was a goner there for a second. Thank you, Ritsuko—"
"Again!"
"Gah!" Shinji screamed, just before passing out again.
"Damn it, Ritsuko!" Misato roared. "Why the hell do you always have to overdo everything like that?"
"Heh, heh, sorry," Ritsuko said sheepishly.
"And you!" Misato said, whirling to glare at Makoto. "Why the hell did you actually shock him again when she told you to?"