AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realize that the story might feel like it's moving slowly. My intention is not to just throw Riana into an Eva. I want her to have to deal with all the intricacies of becoming an Eva pilot, of training, of getting to know the characters of Evangelion, and dealing with a culture that's really different from hers. This way, I can also drop some hints at future events. I've posted two chapters this time, to get the story moving a little faster.

The Geofront

Tokyo-3, Japan

18 October 2015

"Ah, there you are," Ritsuko Akagi said cheerfully as the three of them came off the very long escalator that led down into Central Dogma. "Any problems so far, Riana?"

"A few, ma'am. A little culture shock, that's all." It occurred to Riana that Ritsuko just might know about the incident with the wasabi. "I'll do better tomorrow."

"I know you will." Riana was not quite sure if Ritsuko was making a threat or not. "Rei, will you show Riana to the locker room? She needs to get on her plugsuit for today's training, and she'll probably need your help. No need for you to suit up. Shinji, follow me."

"Yes, Doctor." Rei turned and walked down another passageway, leaving Riana to catch up. Riana was glad the locker room was not far; she did not want to try and engage Rei in conversation. The other girl seemed so cold, though Riana supposed it could be shyness.

Rei showed her into the locker room. It was no different than any other locker room, except that only three of the lockers had names on them, in both English and kanji: AYANAMI REI, LANGLEY-SORYU ASUKA, and finally ARASHIKAZE RIANA. Riana took that as a good sign, since her name was actually embossed on a nameplate. It gave a sense of permanence. The door to her locker swung open on newly oiled hinges, and Riana remembered Misato's words about there being no locks on doors in Japan. Then again, there was only the three girls attached to the Evangelion Project, though there were twenty lockers in the room. She put her bookbag on the floor of the locker, and pulled out what she supposed was the plugsuit.

It was made of a slick, light material that Riana did not recognize, and was a solid, gray color, except for the upper arms, cutouts on the hips and trim, which were black. It was reinforced in places with high-impact plastic, along the chest, knees, shoulders, and upper back. The reason why it was called a plugsuit was obvious: there were hookups on the suit for hoses. Riana also noticed there was an 04 printed front and back. That made sense as well: she was the potential fourth pilot. It also confirmed her grandmother's suspicion that there were only three other Evangelion pilots.

It was obvious as well that she was not going to put it on over her schoolgirl outfit. Feeling more self-conscious by the moment, Riana stripped down to her underwear and hung up her uniform. She sneaked a glance at Rei, but the latter's expression was as stonelike as ever. Riana held the plugsuit in front of her, both for Rei to inspect and to hide her near-nudity. "So, um, Ayanami-san? I just step into it like a jumpsuit or something?" Rei nodded, but when Riana sat on a bench and began to pull on the suit, Rei shook her head. Riana aped the motion. "What am I doing wrong?"

Rei pointed to her. "Your underwear. We do not wear those with the suits." Her voice was matter of fact.

"You're kidding."

"I am not."

Riana's face turned as red as a stop sign. "You mean…I have…to be naked?"

"Is that a problem?"

Riana almost said yes, very loudly, but she bit her lip. Stop it, Riana, she thought. This is Japan. Nudity's no big deal here. Rei is another girl just like you and she's built exactly the same. Well…close, anyway. "No…no problem…" Riana summoned up her courage and began to unstrap her bra. Rei sensed her embarrassment and turned away. Her underwear was tossed into the locker, and blushing furiously, Riana shimmied into the plugsuit. It was not as easy as it looked. Without warning, Rei turned around and began helping her; she made no mention of Riana's nakedness, and Riana wondered what it would take for an adverse reaction from Rei Ayanami. Between the two of them, they got the plugsuit over arms, legs and torso, but it fit too loosely: Riana kept her arms raised to keep the top from falling down around her waist. "This isn't going to work," she almost cried.

Rei almost looked irritated for a moment, then touched an amber button on the reinforced wrists of the plugsuit. With a hiss of pressurization, the suit shrank to fit solidly around Riana. The sudden tightness caused her to gasp in surprise, but after the initial shock, she found it was not all that uncomfortable. She squatted up and down, and the suit moved easily. She looked at Rei and smiled. "Arigato, Ayanami-kun."

Rei returned the smile—slightly, almost imperceptibly, but it was there. "Nani mo, Arashikaze-kun." It is nothing. "Follow me," she said, and led Riana out of the locker room.

Two corridors later, they entered a large briefing room, with stadium-style seating and a large projection room. Ritsuko Akagi and an older gentleman that Riana did not recognize waited there. Ritsuko nodded and smiled. "Good, it fits. Excellent. Any problems?"

"Just feels a little tight," Riana replied, adding in her mind And I feel like I'm standing here stark naked. The plugsuit was more than form-fitting: she was quite sure that every fold and projection of her anatomy was on display for all to see.

"That's normal. So are the feelings of nakedness." Riana wondered idly if Ritsuko was a telepath. "We had to make sure there was as little as possible between skin and the LCL." She motioned to the older man. "This is Doctor Kozo Fuyutsuki." Riana recognized the name and bowed, but Fuyutsuki had already put out his hand. She quickly straightened up, but now Fuyutsuki was returning the bow, leaving Riana grasping at empty air. Finally, they shook hands. Fuyutsuki smiled, to show he was not offended. "Take a seat," Ritsuko instructed, and Riana hurriedly did so before she committed another cultural faux pas. To her surprise, sitting in the plugsuit was not uncomfortable.

Five seconds later, Gendo Ikari walked into the room. Riana remembered the rules of the convent and sprang to her feet, to show respect for an adult. Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki looked a bit surprised, but Gendo gave her the closest thing to a pleased look she had seen so far. When he sat, so did she, though he was now behind her. The lights dimmed slightly, and she turned around so she could see the Commander.

Once more, Gendo was right to the point. "Yesterday, Riana, I asked you if you knew why you were here. Do you remember what I said?"

"Yes, sir. To defeat the Angels."

"Excellent. Do you know what the Angels are?"

Riana shook her head. "No, sir. I was under the impression that no one really knew what they were, or what they want—or why they keep coming here."

"We don't know all of the details," Gendo replied. "We do know there seems to be something here in Tokyo-3 that they want. That is why the Geofront was built. As to what they are, there are only theories, among with they are alien beings."

"Did they cause Second Impact?" Riana remembered Asuka's words.

"That is entirely possible." He paused and looked at Riana through his glasses that sent shivers up her spine. "Do I need to remind you that any information I share is secret?"

"No, sir."

"That includes your grandmother."

"She'll understand, sir."

Gendo graced her with a nod. "Are you aware of what Angels look like, what they are capable of?"

"I've seen some pictures. Some videos on the internet," Riana said.

"Those were the sanitized versions." He pointed a controller at the front of the room. On the screen ahead of them appeared a shot of the forested hills that Riana recognized as the western side of Tokyo-3. A few aircraft appeared from behind the hills, moving backwards, firing rockets. There was no sound. The camera zoomed in as a great, shambling mass of black followed the aircraft; the outlandish figure was broken up by spikes of white around its waist, elbows and shoulders, and a huge red orb on its chest. As it turned, Riana could see that it had something of a face, almost like a doll's, with no discernible eyes. It was not terribly frightening, though Riana changed that assessment when a spike fired from its hands and blew one of the aircraft apart.

"This is Sachiel," Gendo explained. "The first Angel we fought."

Riana watched as the UN's conventional forces fired everything they could: artillery-delivered rockets, air-to-ground missiles, tank shells, antitank missiles, even a small ballistic missile. Nothing worked. Sachiel shrugged off the hits like mosquito bites. The UN forces, their numbers reduced, pulled back. Then the screen turned white, enough to be painful. It faded to a mushroom cloud that rose from an orange fireball. When that dissipated, Sachiel was still there—scratched up, damaged, perhaps even crippled, but not reduced to the ashes it should have been.

Gendo froze the image. "The United Nations' and Japan's forces were completely ineffective, as you saw. They tried everything against Sachiel, including an N2 mass-focus bomb, with the equivalent force of a tactical nuclear weapon. Angels are protected by what we call an AT Field—AT standing for Absolute Terror. The reason why it is called that is not relevant," Gendo continued, which stopped Riana's next question before she could say it. "We are not sure how they generate it, but it essentially makes them impenetrable."

Absolute Terror. Charming thought, Riana mused. "How do the Evas beat them, then?"

It was Ritsuko who spoke. "Evas can generate their own AT Field. When properly focused, it can penetrate the Angels' field. There are also conventional, though experimental, weapons we are working on that are somewhat effective at slowing and even stopping Angels."

"How do the Evas generate their own—"

"Enough." Gendo cut her off. The viewscreen switched to another view of Sachiel, this time at night and in the middle of the city. From offscreen came something else—taller, purple, not as broad, but if anything more hideous. Riana recognized it from news reports as EVA-01. The two grappled, then Sachiel sent EVA-01 backwards with a bolt of energy. The Angel walked forward and began beating the Eva, but without warning 01 reacted, bared its teeth, and smashed Sachiel to the ground. 01 withdrew a knife, stabbed Sachiel, and moments later the Angel exploded, in a disturbingly cross-shaped blast. EVA-01 showed little damage.

"Your assessment of the battle?" Gendo asked suddenly.

"Um, the Angel—Sachiel—looked like it had EVA-01 on the ropes there, but then the Eva came back and won the fight." Gendo's expression did not change, so Riana added lamely, "The pilot looked a bit inexperienced. Don't you have more than one Eva?"

Fuyutsuki answered that one. "Only recently have we been able to field more than one. We're building more."

"Oh, that's good," Riana said. "Gramma says you really need more than one, because you don't have much of a reserve and…" Her voice trailed off as she realized Gendo's expression had changed, but it was not friendly.

"What else does your grandmother say?" Gendo said harshly. "What is her tactical assessment of what we're doing here?"

Riana swallowed. "Well…" The words came out quickly. "She thinks that NERV's been damn lucky so far, sir. Her words, not mine!" she quickly added.

Gendo's mouth actually moved, and it looked—for a moment—that he was fighting down laughter. "She's right," he replied, and from the looks on Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki, they were not expecting that answer. "We have been lucky, Miss Arashikaze." He shut off the projector and brought up the lights. "Each time we have succeeded through a combination of luck and skill. We cannot afford to trust in luck. You are here, Miss Arashikaze, in the hope that you might prove of some worth as an Evangelion pilot. If Pilot Ikari, Pilot Soryu, or Pilot Ayanami is debilitated or killed, you will need to step in immediately. You must have no fear, no regrets, and no compassion. Do you understand?"

"Completely, sir," Riana answered.

"See that you do." Gendo stood, and Riana followed a half-second later. "Dr. Akagi, why don't you show Miss Arashikaze her…training wheels, as you put it. Then I think that is enough for today." Another half-smiled. Ritsuko motioned Riana to follow her, but as they left the room, Gendo called out, "Miss Arashikaze?"

"Sir?"

"Try not to screw this up as well. Your performance at school today was not reassuring. Such an outburst was childish. If you act like a child, you will be treated like one. Are you a child?"

Riana turned red, but this time it was anger. "No, sir."

"It will not happen again. Wakarimasu ka?"

"Hai." Despite herself, she could not help but almost spit the word at Gendo. The door slid shut behind her.

"Was that necessary?" Fuyutsuki asked as he followed Gendo out the opposite door.

"Which part, Doctor?"

"That final jibe about what happened at school. You said it was a minor incident when Dr. Akagi reported it, nothing to worry about. That made her angry."

"Good," Gendo said as he turned the corner and left Fuyutsuki behind. "That is exactly what I wanted to do."