NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: TELEPHONE BOOTH MEETING
CHAPTER 1: WEIRD AND FRUSTRATING DAY
Before we begin, I would like to explain some things. The sections begin with the names of characters because I like to just straight out tell who's point of view this is. These sections can be useful because these chapters can be really long so when you reach the end of a section you can take a break, think about what happened and what's going to happen while getting snacks and drinks, which I don't think anyone would do. With that said, let's truly begin the journey.
Disclaimer: Evangelion doesn't belong to me.
SHINJI IKARI
There's a voice on the loudspeaker. "As of 12:30 PM today, a special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district. All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately. Repeating: As of 12:30 PM today, a special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district. All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately."
Shinji ignored the warnings. He can't take shelter now. He needs to meet with his father today. He is at the telephone booth, trying to contact someone named Misato Katsuragi. But there is only a message on the phone. "We're Sorry. Due to the special emergency, all lines are currently unavailable. This is a recording."
Shinji sighs and puts the pay phone down. "It's no use. I shouldn't have come here, after all." He grabs his backpack and opens it up. "This sucks. I mean, am I supposed to meet somebody?"
He digs into the backpack and pulls out a picture. It's a picture of a lavender haired woman wearing a bikini. A lipstick kiss mark is stuck on the photo. There's a note.
TO SHINJI, I'm going to pick you up so please wait for me!
There's another note with an arrow pointing to her chest.
Attention here please!
This Misato person must be some sort of weirdo. Who would send this to a kid... besides another kid?
He sighs and puts the picture back in the backpack. He scoffed. "Shelter. Don't tell me a war has been declared." He puts the backpack on his back and looks at his watch.
He immediately glances away from the watch and spots two figures. There's a boy and a girl. The girl was short and she had short pale blue hair. The boy was taller than the girl and he had shaggy silver white hair. Both skins were fair. Both were in school uniforms. Both were standing in the same position.
Shinji looks at the two odd figures for a few seconds.
Then he was caught out of focus when he heard a voice call out to him. "HEY!" That wasn't the loudspeaker. It sounded like a girl, his age.
He turns around to see a girl running up to him. This is the first person Shinji has seen in this desolate city.
The girl was wearing a pale yellow dress, a lavender choker, and red shoes. She was carrying a red bag with her. She also has red hair that's twin tailed with a red weird looking headset on her head.
Shinji glances behind him to look at the two odd figures again. Oddly enough, they were gone.
Once Shinji looks back at the girl, who was standing in his face with an annoyed look on hers. "Woah!" Shinji made a small jump and stepped back a little because he didn't expect her to be that close to his face.
Shinji stared at the girl. Mostly because she was extremely beautiful. But one part was asking a question: why is someone as beautiful as this girl out here in the middle of nowhere when everyone is in their shelters?
The girl also stared at him. Why is she still staring? Is she lost or something?
The girl decided to say something first. "What are you doing out here when everyone is in their shelters?"
Shinji is confused. This girl is asking the same question he was mentally asking. "I was about to ask you the same question."
She frowned but she answered his question first. "Well, I'm trying to get to Tokyo-3, but apparently I'm lost."
Shinji blinks in confusion and points at the street sign above. The sign tells the direction towards Tokyo-3 and Gotemba.
The girl huffs. "Sorry but I can't read Japanese or English."
Shinji raises his eyebrow in confusion. "Then how can you speak perfect Japanese?"
"Because learning to speak the language was easy." The girl responded and she continued. "Learning to read and write in Japanese is really frustrating."
Shinji is finding this girl weird. "Really? I never had a hard time doing that."
The girl growls loudly. "Because you grew up in this country, Dumbass!" She yelled. "I came from Germany. I just got to Japan this afternoon." Her voice level lowered as she explained.
"Oh... sorry." He apologized meekly to the girl. Still though, she is beautiful.
"It's fine, you didn't really know. I really need to get Tokyo-3 quickly and I'm in a pretty big rush." The girl then stares at Shinji. "So, tell me. What are you doing out here?"
Shinji blinked. Oh yes, she asked the question before he did. "Well, I was on a train to Tokyo-3, until the emergency alarms hit, making the train stop in this city. I decided to make a call to the woman who's going to pick me up but there's only a message saying all lines are out."
The girl scoffed. "Bad luck, then." Her expression then brightened up. "Hey since we're out on the same destination, we should team up!"
Shinji didn't get that right. "Team up?"
The girl's expression doesn't change. "Yeah, since we're heading for the same place. We should stick together."
Shinji is pretty hesitant. "Um... okay. but I don't know your name."
The girl's eyes widen and then she laughs. "Oh, I'm sorry, we should introduce ourselves." She walks towards Shinji and extends her hand for a handshake. "I'm Asuka... Asuka Langley Sohryu."
Shinji wants to step back. Every extended handshake he was offered, he refused all of them. But for some reason he's unable to refuse this girl with this level of beauty and the fact that she's as old as him.
Shinji took the handshake. "Um... Shinji... Shinji Ikari." He then blushes a little. Meeting an extremely beautiful girl. Having a conversation with her. Knowing her name. Shaking her hand. He might as well just fall in love with her... Wait, that's too early. He literally just met her.
The handshake ends and Asuka turns away to look at something. Shinji shakes his head trying to get the thoughts out of him. Luckily, Asuka didn't notice the blush and good thing she turned away.
Asuka turns back to face him. "So, you're my guide. Lead the way!" She said in a forceful voice, that's a sudden change of behavior.
Before Shinji could respond, there was a loud BOOM and a big earthquake. There's some metal shuddering, street lights blinking, and transmission cables swinging. Both Shinji and Asuka had their ears plugged.
Shinji slowly unplugged his ears. He turns to the direction where he thinks some noises are coming from. He sees some Heavy Fighter Jets V-TOLs backing up. Then a gigantic monster has emerged into view from behind a mountain.
This is a weird day.
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
The boy seems to be hesitating to take Asuka's handshake. Is he hesitating to have a handshake with such a beautiful girl? Oh, that's cute but it won't be cute anymore if he keeps standing there like an idiot.
The boy finally took the handshake. "Um... Shinji... Shinji Ikari." Asuka sees him blush, though it was small, it was big enough to notice. He's very cute when he blushes.
The handshake ends and Asuka turns away to hide her own blush. This has never happened before. She just met this cute boy. Had a big conversation with him. Got to know his name. Shook his hand. Found a very cute blush on him. She might as well just fall in love with him... Wait, that's too early. She literally just met him.
She had never had a full conversation with a boy, her age. The boy isn't even lusting over her. Instead she's kind of lusting over him. But she needs to suppress these expressions and stand superior. Because she is the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu.
She gets rid of the blushes on her face and turns towards Shinji. "So, you're my guide. Lead the way!" She said in a forceful voice.
Before anything else happened, there was a loud BOOM and a big earthquake. There's some metal shuddering, street lights blinking, and transmission cables swinging. Both Asuka and Shinji had their ears plugged.
Asuka decides to unplug her ears and she hears a noise. She turns to the direction where she thinks the noise is coming from. There are some V-TOLs backing up from something. Then a gigantic monster emerges into view from behind a mountain. It's not just any monster...
It's an Angel.
Two missiles come from behind, barely missing Asuka and Shinji. Both missiles hit the Angel. But it seems to already be recovering.
Asuka takes Shinji's wrist. "Come on! We've got to get out of here!" Shinji nods in agreement. They both start running from the Angel.
Asuka looks back to see the Angel raising its arm. The lance on the forearm pushes forward and a beam shoots out from the palm. The big beam blows through a V-TOL then the large jet falls to the ground.
Asuka realized they were both slowing down. Then she realizes that Shinji was also looking over his shoulder.
Asuka growls and begins to run faster, pulling Shinji's arm. "Don't look back!"
Shinji seems surprised at the force. "B-b-but you were also looking back!"
"Shut up!" She shouted in his ear as she heard the sound of an engine running. It's getting closer.
Asuka sees a blue sports car approaching. The car stops while turning sideways.
The car opens to reveal a lavender haired woman in a black dress wearing stylish sunglasses. She has a serious expression on her face. "There you are, Shinji! Quick get in! You too, A... WAIT ASUKA!?" She yelled, surprised to see her.
The both of them stop. "Um... yes?" Asuka asked in a sassy tone.
Misato Katsuragi looks at Asuka in surprise, more of a confusion actually. "What... What are you doing here?"
Before Asuka could answer that question, the ground shook. Both She and Shinji turned to see the Angel leap onto the crashed V-TOL, crushing it.
Asuka turned back to Misato. "We'll ask questions later, just get us out of here!"
Misato nods. "Get in the back!"
Asuka and Shinji walk towards the back seat door, crawl inside, put their bags on the floorboard, and buckle their seatbelts.
There was still some blasting and some explosions going on over there. Misato backs up, turns to the road she came from, and drives away from the Angel.
Asuka looks at the back window. She spots a missile approaching the Angel. That monster caught the object and tore it apart. The missile then explodes. As the smoke clears, the Angel just stands there unaffected by the attack.
The way that thing stands gives Asuka the creeps.
She slowly turns away. She then sits down in her seat facing forward.
She then hears a sigh from Misato. "What are you doing here, Asuka?" Misato's sudden question sounded like she was confused and annoyed.
"Well, yesterday, I noticed that I was leaving Germany early. I didn't have very much time to pack. And my guides to Tokyo-3 left me behind." Asuka realizes something for a second. "How do you know Shinji?"
"I was ordered by Commander Ikari to bring him to NERV Headquarters."
Asuka raises an eyebrow. Shinji's... related to the Commander of NERV? Though she has never seen the Commander before, who can she judge?
Asuka knew Misato a long time ago. She was in Germany before Kaji was. The way she lives is so affected, though. That was one of the reasons why she doesn't like her. Another reason is that she has a split personality. One point she is professional, serious, and inspiring. At others, she is sloppy, lazy, and irresponsible.
Misato snickered. "There was a Tank Battalion waiting near the ocean. That thing wiped those guys out."
"High explosive armor piercing missiles don't seem to affect it, either." Asuka added.
"So... um... what is it?" Shinji quietly and meekly asked.
Asuka is annoyed with Shinji's calmness. "You're awfully calm given the current situation."
Shinji tilts his head. "Y-you think so?" Damn it! Why is he so cute!
Misato suddenly and quietly answered Shinji's question with composure. "That thing... is an Angel."
Misato suddenly pulls over and stops the car.
Asuka is confused. "Wait, what are you doing?"
Misato leans to the passenger seat. She opens the front seat drawer and pulls out a bag. "I need to see how the battle is going over there." She points at the right window where the Angel is walking on the mountains surrounded by dots that are most likely V-TOLs.
"Shouldn't we be farther away from that thing?" Shinji's right. They should be as far away from that thing as possible, actually.
"Oh come on, Shinji." Misato pulled the binoculars out of the bag. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Oh, my sense of adventure, huh?" Shinji said in a sarcastic tone. "Let me tell you something. How can I have a sense of adventure when there's a monster the size of Godzilla and we're trying to avoid-"
Misato cut him off. "Can you be quiet! I'm trying to focus." She looks into the binoculars. Shinji sits down with a pouty face.
Shinji had kind of an attitude there. For some reason, Asuka keeps finding more reasons to like him.
Asuka hears some muttering from Misato until she yells. "Aw shit! they're going to use an N2 mine!" She turns to the other two. "You two, get down!" She ducks on the seat and covers her head.
Asuka and Shinji do the same.
There was a loud BOOM and a large mushroom made of flames.
The impact was big and a massive shockwave pushed the car, blowing it away. Shinji screams in terror. The shockwave settled the car on its left side.
Once the Impact was over. Asuka was the first to get up and she sees Misato on top of Shinji. Her chest in his face. Asuka felt disgusted and jealous at Misato. For some reason she wishes it was her in Misato's place, having Shinji's face in her own chest. She doesn't even know why. She blushes, trying to get rid of that thought.
This is a frustrating day.
SHINJI IKARI
A pouty Shinji hears some muttering from Katsuragi until she yells. "Aw shit! they're going to drop an N2 mine!" She turns to the other two. "You two, get down!" She ducks on the seat and covers her head.
Shinji and Asuka do the same.
There was a loud BOOM and a large mushroom made of flames.
The impact was big and a massive shockwave pushed the car, blowing it away. Shinji is terrified to death of this so he screams. The shockwave settled the car on its left side.
It was long but the impact was finally over. Shinji had tried to warn Katsuragi about this and she cut him off. He hates it when his caution is ignored.
He then realizes Katsuragi is on top of him and her chest is squishing his face. He does not want to be in this position. "Get off me!" He barked.
Katsuragi is slowly getting off while putting a hand on her forehead. "Ow... that hurts!" She then gasps when her eyes are on Shinji. "Oh! Sorry about that." She said apologetically as she got off of Shinji.
Shinji takes a deep breath. He did not enjoy that. He felt disgusted by being in a woman's chest. He's a kid! He's not ready for that stuff.
Shinji gets up and looks around to see both Asuka and Katsuragi. Asuka is glancing a frown at Misato. Misato still has a hand caressing her forehead.
He sighs and then looks at the banged up car that's on it's side. "Well, now what?"
Katsuragi takes a deep breath as her hand leaves her forehead. She turns around to look at what Shinji is seeing. She sees the bang up car and screams. "OH MY GOSH!"
Shinji and Asuka both cover their ears from Misato's screaming.
She runs towards the car and caresses it. "What did that N2 mine do to my Alpine! I still got thirty-three payments left and it's all wrecked up already!" She then picks on her dress. "This was my favorite dress! It cost a fortune! Now it's all ruined!"
Shinji snarled this dramatic woman crying over a car and a dress. There's other things that are needed to be worried about than just a car and a dress being banged up. He walks towards Misato, raising his palm.
Katsuragi then kneels down holding up her sunglasses. "My sunglasses, my Dior Shades! What the hell..." She was then cut off by two slaps in the face by Shinji. She strokes both red hand marks. She looks really surprised.
Shinji glares down at her. "You're the reason, we're in this mess anyway! If we kept moving along, this whole thing could have been avoided. Next time, listen to the advice and caution of others." He sighs. "Besides, it doesn't look too banged up. I'm no car expert but I think it still works. Come on, let's get this car back on its wheels."
Shinji walks to the car's roof side, leaving both Katsuragi and Asuka dumbfounded.
Shinji tries pulling the car up but to no avail. But once Katsuragi and Asuka joined in, they progressed. They eventually get the car back on its wheels. Katsuragi tests the car and confirms that it's still working. Both Shinji and Asuka get in the back seat. The car drives its way back on the main road.
During the ride, Shinji looks at the window. He begins to think about something. He nearly died twice while meeting two beautiful females. Though, he's more interested in the one that's his age or close to his age.
All of this is happening while he's trying to meet with his father. After all this time... what in the world could he want from him? The man abandoned him more than ten years ago by just dumping him at a train station. He waited for hours for his dad to come back but his relatives came to pick him up.
Shinji was snapped out of his thoughts when Katsuragi called on him. "You know, Shinji. You'd be more cute if you didn't have that kind of attitude."
"Oh really?" Shinji said in a sarcastic tone. "You'd be more beautiful, if you were more mature, Miss Katsuragi."
"WHY YOU..." Katsuragi growls and jerks the wheel around, swerving the car in left and right while entering a tunnel. Both passengers are freaking out over the aggressive driving.
Katsuragi then stops and reduces herself to making some grumbles that Shinji couldn't hear very well.
His shoulder is tapped by Asuka. He turns his head at her. "You probably shouldn't upset her. I knew Misato back in Germany and she takes things... personally." Asuka implied.
Shinji nods in agreement. "I'll keep that in mind. She's still immature… and a weirdo."
Asuka blinked. "Weirdo?"
Shinji realized and then he laughed. She hasn't seen that questionable picture. He digs into his backpack and brings out that picture Katsuragi sent. He showed it to Asuka. "She sent this to a kid."
Asuka observes the picture and she chuckles. "She must be really desperate for a boyfriend. So she's a pedophile now."
Both children laugh.
Katsuragi growls and reaches her arm to grab the picture from Shinji's weak grasp. "You know Shinji, some men would've been satisfied with that picture." She tears the picture in half.
"I'm a kid, not some men."
Katsuragi scoffed. "Whatever."
Katsuragi turns her car to a much smaller, less longer tunnel. The car begins to approach a hatch with a logo that says NERV. There's a small note below the logo. It was small but Shinji could read it clearly. God's in his heaven, all is right with the world.
The hatch opens. On the other side is a car train. The vehicle enters through the hatch. It stops once on board the car train. "The gates are now closing. Please stand clear." The voice in the loudspeaker said. The hatch closes and locks twice. The car train begins to move slowly through a darker tunnel. "C-22 Special Express now departing for G33-1. This train will bypass all other stations."
Katsuragi sets the car in park. She takes a deep breath and relaxes herself.
Shinji speaks up. "So, NERV."
"Yeah." Katsuragi answered. "It's a secret organization under the United Nations Confederacy."
"That's where my father works, right?"
"Well, yeah." Katsuragi turns over the seat's shoulder to look at Shinji and Asuka. "I work for NERV too. I'm an international government official." She sat back down in her seat.
"So you're working to protect Humanity?" Shinji asked. He's a little confused.
Asuka frowns at him. "Are you being sarcastic again?"
Shinji turns his head to a frowning Asuka "Huh... no... no... that's just what my uncle has told me."
Asuka scowls and turns away.
"Oh I almost forgot, do you have the ID card, your father sent you?" Katsuragi asked.
Shinji digs into his backpack and brings out the letter from his father with a card attached to it. He hands it over to Katsuragi who takes it. "Thanks." She reaches for the front seat drawer and grabs out a booklet. She then hands it to the boy. "Here, read this."
WELCOME TO NERV: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
He stares at the guide book. He then looks up at Katsuragi. "Hey... Miss Katsuragi?"
"Oh... call me Misato. I prefer that." Misato responded to Shinji's call.
"Why did my dad send it to me?" Shinji asked. "I thought, he completely forgot about me."
"Maybe you should ask him in person." Misato answered.
Shinji doesn't feel satisfied with the answer. "I'm more likely going to work for him. He wouldn't have sent me that letter if he didn't need me for something."
"You're not comfortable with your father, are you?" Asuka asked. She has no idea.
"It's not that. It's... just practical. Besides..." Shinji's voice grows weaker. "We'll end up fighting even if we do meet. I know that."
Asuka had a look of surprise on Shinji, like she's looking at a ghost. "You sound like me with my own father."
Shinji raised his eyebrows and looked at Asuka. He was about to ask something to her before light took over from the dark tunnel they were in. Shinji forgot the fact that he was going to ask Asuka a question.
He notices the buildings attached to the ceiling. When he hears Asuka say "Awesome!" like she was amazed, he crawls to look through the other window where Asuka's looking to see a big lake and a large field filled with trees. Inside the field, there is a giant pyramid surrounded by a few small buildings.
Shinji is in awe. "This is one big chamber."
Asuka also sounds amazed. "This is... the Geo-front?"
"Mm-hm. It is." Misato responded. "And down there is NERV Headquarters. The key to rebuilding the world. The fortress of mankind."
Shinji wasn't paying attention to Misato. He still looked in awe of how amazing this place looks. He can't believe that his father works in a place like this.
Then he suddenly restrained his excitement and amazement when he thought of his father.
He's not looking forward to meeting the man, though he's getting closer and closer. He doesn't even know why he's even coming to see him. He should have thought harder and harder on why his father would ask him back since he already knew for sure that he could rule out a happy homecoming.
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
"Shouldn't this be the right way?" Misato groaned as she laid down the map of NERV Headquarters. Asuka, Shinji, and Misato are on a moving walkway bridge, approaching an opening hatch. On the other side is a large shaft that goes down pretty low. The wind, when entering the shaft, blows both Asuka's dress and Misato's dress up.
"This is why I hate wearing skirts in here." That's what she said the last two times, they've been through this shaft.
Asuka is pretty irritated with Misato. This is her first time being in NERV Headquarters. This place is huge! It felt like a dream looking at the Geo-front. She's never felt so small when walking in the base. How did people build all of this in fifteen years?
But it had to be ruined because of Misato's lack of direction in this place, causing them to be going in circles.
Misato sighs. "I'm sorry you two, I've only been here for less than a week, so I'm not used to this place."
"That's what you said earlier. We've been here already."
"Yep, twice. We're definitely lost." Shinji pointed out.
Misato frowns. "Oh shut up! We'll get there eventually…" She looks closer to the map.
Shinji huffs and begins to walk manually. Asuka grins at Shinji's bright idea and walks manually.
Misato looks off the map. "Hey! Where are you two going?!" She begins to run slightly to catch up with them.
They went through another hatch and found an exit to a hallway. They didn't turn here before so Asuka decides to turn to the exit. Shinji and Misato follow suit.
As they wandered through the hallway, they found an elevator.
Misato makes a dramatic sigh. "Oh, thank goodness."
The elevator door opens and Misato goes in. Asuka and Shinji follow. Misato decided to go down.
The elevator begins to descend deeper into Headquarters. Misato was standing in front of the doorway. Asuka and Shinji were both leaning on the same wall. It was pretty quiet until the elevator suddenly stopped.
The doors open to reveal a woman who looks about as old as Misato.
The woman is wearing a lab coat, under that is a blue sleeveless shirt, a mini skirt, dark stockings, and high heels. Her blonde hair looks fake and her makeup seems too much for Asuka.
Misato looks scared of her. "Oh... hiya Rits." She said in a scared friendly voice.
The woman walks in the elevator before the door closes while Misato backs up to give some room for her, with a troubled laugh. The elevator starts to go down again.
"What are you doing, Captain Katsuragi. Don't you realize that we're short on time and manpower?" Ritsuko said with irritation in her voice.
Misato laughs quietly and whispers apologetically. "Sorry!"
The woman sighs and then turns to Asuka and Shinji. "So, these are the love birds that we ordered here?" She makes a big grin.
Shinji's eyes widen. Asuka gasps in disgust. Both their faces fill with red.
They both look at each other. Shinji slides a few inches away from Asuka.
He turns his head towards the woman. "We just met."
The woman chuckled. "Sorry, I couldn't hold it in for very long with the way you two were standing. I just had to joke about it."
The Misato chuckled. "You know, they do act like a couple. From what I saw during our drive here, they get along pretty fine already."
Both women laugh for quite some time. Both children blush in response.
"Sorry. I haven't introduced myself to you two." The woman stopped laughing but she kept her smile. "I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, the head of Project E and the MAJI Project. It's a pleasure to meet you both, Second and Third Child."
"Wait... what?" Did this woman say Third Child. Shinji is the Third Child.
"Oh yeah I forgot, according to the Marduk Report, Shinji Ikari is the Third Child." Misato explained. She then looks at Shinji who looks very confused. She looks at Akagi who is frowning. "I'm saying too much. Am I?"
Akagi nods and looks at the other two. "You'll get more information when we get to where we are going. For now..."
The elevator stops and the door opens. Ritsuko walks out of the elevator. "Come, Shinji there's something I want to show you before you before you can meet with your father."
Shinji looks confused and has a figure point at himself. "Something... to show me?" He walks out of the elevator anyway.
Asuka has no idea where this is going. There's so many questions running through her mind. She leaves the elevator right after Misato walks out.
The four walk towards a small boat on a river of orange liquid.
"Attention. All personnel, assume battle stations, Level One. Repeat. All personnel, assume battle stations, Level One. Prepare for ground unit interception." The situation must be pretty serious.
Everyone hops on the boat and Akagi starts the engine. The boat begins to speed through the pool of orange liquid. Asuka can see the wall at the end of this small LCL river, if she can call it that. What's at the end is an Evangelion shoulder pylon, attached to walls.
As they get closer, Asuka can see a boat dock with some stairs that lead to a door right next to the Pylon. The boat slows down and stops right next to the dock. Everyone got out and climbed upstairs to the doorway.
Akagi opens the door. On the other side is just pitch black. "Watch your step. It's pretty dark." Akagi warned as everyone walked through.
Pretty dark is an understatement. Asuka can barely see anything in this place. "Hey! can you turn on the lights?!"
That's when the lights hit. Asuka sees a gigantic face. As big as Unit-02. It's purple with some green detailing. "Woah!"
"Ah!" Shinji yelped.
Asuka has gotten the answers to all the questions that popped in her mind. Why did they call Shinji the Third Child? Are they going to see the Evangelion? Is that why his father called him here? Those are three most important of all of them. All of them are answered in one sentence...
It's Evangelion Unit-01.
SHINJI IKARI
The boat stops right next to the dock. Everyone got off of the boat and climbed upstairs to the doorway next to some sort of metal in the middle of that wall.
Akagi opens the door. On the other side is complete pitch black. "Watch your step. It's pretty dark." Akagi warned as everyone walked through.
Shinji can barely see anything in here.
"Hey! Can you turn on the lights!?" Asuka echoed
That's when the lights hit. Shinji sees a huge face. So big that kind of scared him. "Ah!"
"Woah!" Asuka echoed in amazement.
Shinji looked at the face and observed it a little more. "This... looks like a robot but... at the same time there's something... different about it." He opens up the guide book, trying to find if he missed something.
"This is top top top secret so you won't find this in there." Akagi told Shinji, making him lower the guide book. "To us, this is the last card, our species has to play. Our ultimate multipurpose decisive weapon. This is a synthetic android and an adaptable human. It's code name is Evangelion. You're looking at Unit-01."
Shinji listened to that information. Why are these people showing him this? Is there something important about him that involves this? "This is what Father was working on?" He asked out loud.
"Correct!" A voice that sounded stoic and also familiar hollered out. He hopes that isn't who he thinks it is. His bones are shaking while he looks up slowly to see a shadowy looking figure. Shinji gasps. "It's been a while." It's Father.
Father doesn't look happy. He's never happy to see him. Though, Shinji was expecting that.
What he's not expecting is what his old man is going to say. "Shinji... listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. You're going to pilot this EVA. You're going to fight Sachiel."
Shinji blinked. "Wha?" This is why he was called here?
"Wait a moment Commander!" Misato exclaimed. "Rei took seven months to synchronize with her EVA. The boy just got here. It's impossible!"
Father doesn't change his expression. "He only needs to sit inside." He continued. "I'm not expecting more at this point."
"But..." Misato was about to say something else but Akagi cut her off.
"Our priority is to defeat the Angel, Captain Katsuragi!" Akagi said very coldly. "We need someone, anyone who may have the ability to sync with the EVA!" She crossed her arms. "Or do you have another option to suggest? I'm free to take anything that works."
Misato remained silent and frowned.
Akagi turns to Shinji and reaches for his arm. "Come Shinji, this way!"
"Wait!" Shinji yelled. Akagi stops before grabbing his arm. He looks up at Father and clenches his fist. He's not believing what is going on. "I... I'm... I'm going to pilot this... thing and... fight what that nearly killed me out there? You're... kidding right?!" He raises his voice. "There's no way I can do something like that!"
"Just accept this explanation." Father responded. That's not satisfying at all! "You're the best candidate for this EVA... no... you are the only candidate for this EVA."
Shinji is still not satisfied. "But why me?! This doesn't make any sense!"
"It doesn't need to make sense..." For the first time he actually raises his voice. "Just get in the EVA!"
"NO!" Shinji roared immediately. "I don't know what you're talking about! How do you expect me to..." Shinji stopped. He realized that Father could be doing this for personal reasons. He feels infuriated. "IS THIS WHAT YOU CALLED IN HERE FOR?! TO ORDER ME TO MY DEATH?!"
The commander remains calm. "If you don't do it, all of humanity will perish. As of now, the survival of the human race rests..."
"NO!" A Shinji's roar echoed through the entire room. "YOU CAN GO TO HELL FATHER BECAUSE I WON'T DO IT, NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY!" He has never yelled that loud before. He's never been this angry before. He begins to breathe heavily, exhausted of how much energy he used to yell at that bastard.
"I see..." Shinji looked up when he heard his father start talking. He had a look of disappointment. "All right. Then I have no need for you, anymore. Go back to your relatives..." He turns away from Shinji. "...you coward."
Shinji twitches. Those are the harshest words he has ever heard from his father. What's worse is that those words were directed to him. He never thought that a father would think so lowly of his son. He begins to sob and his voice breaks. "I knew it..."
He felt a hand touch his shoulder. Another hand on the other. He looks behind both shoulders to see Asuka and Misato with sympathetic looks on their faces.
His father never needed him. No one did. That's the reason why he never minded dying. Because no one would care if he lived or if he died. Not even his damn father.
Akagi starts walking away. "Reconfigure Unit-01's system to Rei, then reactivate!" She hollered.
"Roger. Call off all present work, then begin re-activation." A voice on the intercom responded.
A few moments later, a door slides open. Shinji slowly looks to his left and sees two doctors rolling a hospital bed into the bridge. When the bed is passing through beside him, he looks at the patient.
The patient looks like the girl that he saw right before meeting Asuka. The only difference is that she is instead wearing a sleeveless bodysuit. She's pretty frozen and looks expressionless, like she's dead.
"Rei, our spare is a useless coward. You will pilot Unit-01." Shinji heard his father say.
"Yes sir." The girl weakly answered. She sat up and turned her legs off of the bed. Every movement she makes. Her expression, her breathing, and her cries, Shinji can tell that the girl is clearly in pain.
Shinji begins to rethink his decision. How can Father send someone in this condition?
Then there was then a loud BOOM and the whole place was shaking rapidly. The girl fell off the bed, slamming to the floor. Shinji falls but he quickly gets up.
Shinji heard some wobbly cable noises above. He looked up to see heavy lights. They are right above the girl.
There was another loud BOOM. This earthquake was stronger than before. Shinji kept himself still looking at the lights. Apparently, the cords that hold those lights break. The lights begin falling down on the girl.
Shinji gasped and ran towards her. "SHINJI, WAIT!" He heard Asuka holler but he still proceeds. He covers the girl, protecting her from what's coming from the above. Right after, a hand emerges from the orange liquid and moves over him. The lights crash into the hand. Some of them break apart.
Shinji looks up and is shaken at what he's seeing.
Shinji looks at the EVA's face and sees its eyes glowing. Did... that thing just... protect him?
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
Asuka notices heavy lights hanging from the ceiling are beginning to fall. They are right above the First Child. Shinji suddenly begins running towards the girl.
Asuka tries to grab a hold of Shinji's arm to stop him. But he ran so far that she was unable to reach him, so the only thing she can do is call out to him. "SHINJI, WAIT!" Doesn't that idiot realize that he'll just be killed just trying to protect her. The fact doesn't stop him from giving her some cover.
Shinji shields the First Child from what's falling above them both. Then a large hand rises from the orange liquid and moves over the two. The lights crash into the hand. Some of them break apart.
Asuka gasps in shock. That's... an EVA's hand. She looks to see that its eyes are glowing. Did it try to protect Shinji?
"The EVA moved!"
"What do you mean it moved?!"
"It activated itself and broke the arm restraints!"
Akagi hollered out. "No, that's impossible! There's no entry plug inserted! There's no way it could have moved!"
Shinji was holding the First Child carefully with a look of worry. He whispered. "Hang in there."
"It moved with no interface and it hasn't been reactivated..." Misato stood up, looking at Shinji. "Was it trying to protect him?" The woman smiled and whispered. "This could work."
Asuka looked up. She knows that the Angel is up on the surface trying to make its way down to the Geo-front.
She looked at the EVA. It needs to get up there and fight that monster. But it needs a pilot to do the job. There are three pilots on this bridge.
She then looked at Shinji and the First Child.
The First Child can't pilot with the condition she is currently in. She can't even move because of the pain she is in. She would die, trying to fight that thing.
Asuka can't do anything because there's no way for her to synchronize with Unit-01 since she's only synchronized with Unit-02. Unit-02 isn't in Japan yet, so she can't fight out there with her own EVA.
Shinji's the only one that's capable of syncing with Unit-01 and he's physically fine. He's the only one that can fight up there. The problem is that he's refusing to do it.
Asuka turns to Misato and whispers. "Shinji needs to get in there. We can't just let him walk away from this."
Misato turns her head to Asuka and nods. The nod meant that she was thinking the same. "You're right. The world is at stake. But getting him in there unwillingly won't do us any good."
"Then what do you suppose we do to convince him to get in there?"
Misato turns her head to Shinji. "I think we both know what to do."
Misato slowly walks towards the boy. She stands in front of him, staring down on him. After being silent for seconds, she speaks up. "Shinji, do you know the situation we're in now?" She whispered. "Do you know that we need you? If you're not going to pilot, you'll just be in the way. You see that as well, right?"
Shinji still looked at the girl but his expression changed to humbleness.
"Don't waste any more of your time on him, Captain Katsuragi." The Commander suddenly ordered.
Misato remained silent but she didn't move.
Asuka walked to Shinji to also stand in front of him. "Shinji, you knew this wasn't going to be a happy reunion with your father."
She kneels on both knees to reach a hand for his shoulder. "There's a reason, you came this far. And you're just going to leave without another word, out of everything he's said to you. If you don't pilot the Eva, this girl will and she will die."
Asuka can see his eyes. Those eyes look conflicted. Shinji pinches them shut for a moment.
"Don't you feel shameful for letting her go out there and die?" Asuka whispers.
"Enough!" The Commander suddenly hollered, making Asuka flinch. "Second Child, I don't have to tell you as well."
Shinji finally brings up his head to look at both Asuka and Misato. The expression on his face wasn't filled with fear, conflict or humbleness. It was an expression of determination.
He offers the First Child. Asuka and Misato pick up the girl, putting her arms around their shoulders. They back up from Shinji, carrying the injured girl.
Shinji stands up and looks at the Commander. He and his father just stared at each other for a while.
The Commander was the first to speak. "If you're going to go home, don't dawdle or just stand there. Leave! Never come back!"
Shinji doesn't yell back or cry like a baby in response. He still stared until a smirk grew on his face. "You need a pilot, don't you?" He asked in a cool tone. "You just got yourself one."
It was pretty silent until there were heels clicking coming from behind.
Akagi walks to the middle of the bridge, smiling at Shinji. "Well said, Shinji!" She puts her hand on his shoulder. "Now come this way! I will give you a simple lecture on the programs. You still need to put on the appropriate clothing for the EVA. So, we will need to be quick."
Shinji turns his head to Asuka and smiles. Asuka smiles back.
She watches as Doctor Akagi escorted Shinji out the room. She is still smiling that Shinji had made the right decision. She looked at Misato who was also smiling.
Asuka looks up to see if the Commander is still here. He's not anymore.
Some doctors came in, rolling a new hospital bed beside Asuka and Misato to put the First Child on. They lifted her on the bed. There were only a few cries and grunts from her but she didn't take it very badly.
Before they left, the First Child stared at Asuka. She had an expression that looked unreadable. The doctors rolled the girl out of the bridge, leaving Asuka confused. Why did the First just look at her like that?
Misato tapped Asuka's shoulder. "Come on. We need to get to the Command Center."
Asuka nods and they both leave for the exit. They are the last ones to exit the bridge in front of Uni-01's face. The EVA's eyes are still glowing.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Some notes from the author...
A lot of scenes in the chapter were adapted from Manga. There will be a LOT of scenes adapted by the manga. The Rebuilds however, I'll be avoiding those for two reasons. The first reason is I want to watch Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time and form an opinion on it first before I can start writing Rebuild stories. The second reason is that the Anime and Manga are structurally similar.
The names on top of the sections are telling who's perspective we're following. I put them there just to tell everyone, immediately. This is how the story will be structured. After Chapter 3, my plan will go further than just Shinji and Asuka, like following Misato, Rei, Kaji, Gendo, and a whole lot more characters. The story is just starting with Shinji and Asuka. This is only the beginning. I don't want this story to completely revolve around just two characters. I want to focus on other characters as well; especially Kaji.
Shinji and Asuka are meeting under different circumstances. The relationship starts as a one of friendship but also a lot of attraction to each other. Asuka is a lot nicer to Shinji because her pride is lowered. Asuka believes that Unit-02 is her way of getting attention from others. But without it, she thinks she's nothing. I'll put Episode 24's bathtub scene as an example. But Shinji doesn't even know about the Evangelions and he acknowledges her existence and has a conversation while first meeting her.
I will come back and change some stuff in Chapters to fix some grammar or story errors.
Please review. I am more than happy to hear some criticism from other people. I like improving my work.