Chapter 24: Aiming to Impress, Pt. 1
Shinji stopped at the opened hatch door. Moving to the side, he waited for the others. Asuka narrowed her eyes at him trying to figure out what he was doing. Ignoring that, she straightened herself and pushed her shoulders back. Lifting her chin up a little, she walked passed him and entered through the hatch door. The others caught up and saw the male pilot still standing in his spot.
Misato walked toward the hatch and looked at him. His stoic face never changed. She couldn't tell what was going though his mind. In looking at the redhead, she couldn't tell what the Second Child was thinking. Her normal behavior of asserting herself was there, but with the male pilot not reacting the Captain wondered if that was going to through Asuka off.
"We have here live from the battleship 'Over the Rainbow' with Shinji Ikari, the Third Child," Kensuke stated. He pointed his veidoe cam at the dark magenta eyed boy. Seeing him blink, the pilot's eyes slowly turned to him and stared.
"How did ya do it mate? Cooling the flames on the demon," Toji asked. Having an imaginary microphone in his hand, he pointed it in front of Shinji's face.
"..." the Third Child said. Blinking again, he spoke stoically. "...I didn't...do much."
Hearing his commanding officer up ahead, he slowly turned and walked through the open hatch door. The two male students got next to him and continued their mock interview. They arrived at the base of the stairs that would take them to the bridge. Looking up, the three saw the Second Child standing on a small platform where the stairs changed direction. Her hands were on her hips and she was looking down at them. Misato went up ahead.
"…" Asuka said frowning at them.
"…" Shinji said looking up with a blank expression. He started walking up the stairs straight at her.
"All right folks. The main event is soon to arise. The battle between the two Eva pilots of who is dominate," Toji whispered like a golf announcer. Kensuke smirking and continued filming the two.
"Will it be," the jock stated. Pointing his hand like a game show host, it was at the red-head.
"The firecracker princess. Or will it be..." he continued and pointed at the male pilot. "The stone cold Angel killer."
"The two opponents are now face to face. What heated developments will occur from this upcoming battle of the sexes!"
"Would you two dorks shut up!" Asuka shouted at them.
Seeing both of them smirk at her made her frown. Looking back, the Third Child had stopped two steps below where she was. His stark expression still got on her nerves. She pointed at him with her right hand.
"Listen up Third! Don't let those two cheerleaders of yours get into your head. When it comes down to Eva piloting, I am the real deal. Unlike you, I have been chosen from an earlier age and have more training than you."
"…" Shinji said with an impassive face.
'…who is she?' the copper-red eye voice asked sounding sane for a change.
"I, Asuka Langely Souryu, the Second Child of Eva Unit-02, will show you your place!" the red head stated ending with a smirk.
"…" the male pilot said with a blink.
'…wow…she's a babe,' the same voice stated. It caused the other voices to do double takes at him.
'hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey…tell her she's pretty or something!'
'…why...?' Shinji thought .
"You got anything to say Third?" she asked placing her hand back at her hips.
'Just shut up and compliment her stupid!' the voice stated and punched the back of his head hard. Though it was a pseudo blow, it did rattle the boy's brain a bit. Bowing internally, the Third Child walked to the platform. While walking passed her, he whispered something to her.
"…!?" she said looking a little surprised. Watching him pass her and go up the steps, her smirk stayed on her face feeling less irritated.
"About time you noticed idiot," she said walking up the stairs.
"...?" Toji and Kensuke stated. They were now curious of what the male pilot said to cool her jets.
All got to the bridge. Misato and the battleship's captain talked about the transferring of cargo from the fleet to NERV. Asuka and Toji stood to the side of Misato while Kensuke went around the ship's command center with his camera. Shinji leaned on the table that was behind Toji. He was facing the ocean view, but his sights were on his book. Putting his headphones on again helped drowned out the sounds around him.
The cargo that Misato brought was a back-up power plug if an Angel appeared. The ship's captain went on saying how ridiculous it was to have the entire Pacific Fleet mobilized for just a delivery of Eva Unit-02. He also told that the fleet was in charge of the sea and not NERV's delivery service. Misato corrected him in saying if an emergency came, NERV will take the authority.
"You're as courteous as ever…" a man said. Looking the direction of the hatch door to the bridge, a male entered. All looked except for Shinji who was still in his book. His voices told him of the new individual in the room; however, the pilot just turned the page indifferent.
"Kaji!" Asuka said cheery.
"Yo," he said.
The facial expression on Misato went from surprise to an emotion of not wanting to meet someone again. The unshaven man suggested heading down to the galley area to catch up and share information. The group left the bridge with Shinji trailing behind them with his nose in the book. Everyone was heading towards the elevator.
"Who would have thought those kids are going to save the world. What is the UN thinking?" the ship's captain expressed.
"The UN had high hopes for that robot replacement," his right hand man stated.
"If they're making the whole fleet come out for that toy, they need to pay us more," the older officer said looking at the covered cargo on another ship.
Back down the hallway that the large group was travelling, they reached the lifts. Entering one of the elevators, its doors closed and started to go down. It was pretty cramped inside. Almost everyone was either breeching their comfort zone or dangerously close to.
"What are you doing here?!" Misato asked finally in annoyance.
"I'm accompanying her as well as a business trip from Germany," Kaji defended.
Misato grumbled about something when both she and Asuka felt a hand. Both yelled and both Toji and Kaji made an excuse. When the elevator jolted to a stop, the doors opened. Everyone fell out landing semi-on top of each other. Looking around, there seemed to be something missing.
"Hey, where's Shinji?" Misato asked. Feeling a hand on her rear, she swiped it away. Turning her head, she glared at the unshaven man who smiled nonchalantly back.
All heard the elevator to their right ding and open. Strangely, nobody came out and the doors closed. Before Asuka said a degrading comment about the Third Child's intelligence, they heard fading footsteps in front of them. All turned and saw the male pilot walking away from them still reading his book. Getting to the hallway intersection up ahead, he stopped. Placing his book and headphones in side pockets, he continued walking and turned into the hallway to the right.
"…?" everyone one said with a blink.
Everyone looked back to the elevator that opened then back at where the boy came from. A door label of the stairs was nearby which answered their internal puzzled question. Getting up, they went to the galley. Once there, they found six cups waiting for them at the nearest table. They saw Shinji put down a plate under a pot which smelled like tea.
Asuka wondered something about the Third Child's behaviors and went to the middle seat. As she predicted, he walked to her and pulled the seat out for her. Smirking, the red-head sat and he tucked the chair in. Misato smirked and walked to the other side of the table. Going to the far end, Shinji walked over and pulled the chair out for her. Sitting down, he tucked the seat in.
"Thanks Shinji," she said seeing him bow a little. The other men snapped out of their gaze and took their seats. To Asuka's right sat Kaji while the male pilot sat to her left. To Misato's right was Toji then Kensuke. A few moments passed when no one was saying anything. However, the teens notice a small scene develop between the two adults.
Kaji was smiling a bit dreamily at Misato while she looked the other way with a scornful face. The two male students looked with semi-realization faces at the Captain while the redhead looked at the unshaven man with question. The Third Child sipped his tea and stared at a picture on the wall to his left facing forward. One adult voice was muttering jealous comments while the insane voice was gazing at the Second Child. The other voices were laughing at them. Unnoticed to the teens, Kaji was playing footsie with Misato foot which she ignored. She muttered something under her breath which made the man initiate the conversation.
"Are you seeing anyone?"
"I don't see why it's any of your business," she said sternly.
"You're so cold," he said leaning back. Sticking his foot out, the Captain instantly and silently closed her legs.
"You go to Katsurgai's residence don't you?" he asked and turned to Shinji. Blinking, the boy turned a little to look at him from the corner of his eyes. He nodded.
"Tell me, is she still wild in the sack?" he said with a pleased smile.
To the reactions he wanted, Asuka looked at him shocked. The two male students looked back and forth between the lavender haired woman and the Third Child with surprised faces. The one with glasses started video recording. To the unshaven man's surprise, the boy didn't even blink or express anything.
"W-W-WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?" she shouted in his face. Turning beat red, she slammed her fists on the table.
"So, she hasn't changed a bit. Has she Shinji Ikari?" Kaji said. Still wearing his smile, he was hoping to strike an emotion from the boy. He didn't get anywhere for his face was still stoic.
"I wouldn't know that Mr. Ryoji Kaji, NERV's new Special Investigator," Shinji said calmly. "You would have to ask the other resident in the household named Mr. Pen-Pen for that answer."
"Mr. Pen-Pen? Who's he?" he said. Surprised the pilot knew his position, he was confused by the other resident comment. Everyone turned to the male pilot who still had his eyes on the man. Misato was confused by what the male pilot said. A thought came across her mind wondering what he was going to do. She hoped the boy would turn the tables around.
'Do your worst,' Misato pleaded in thought.
"Heh heh," Shino said in Shinji's head. He made motions of rolling up his sleeves.
"Let me orchestrate this for ya!"
'...very well sir...' the Third Child thought with a slow blink.
"He has won a couple times against Miss Misato at their drinking games," he stated. Turning his head toward Kensuke, the male student was aiming his cam recorder at him.
"His physical description is a strong, flexible individual with red spiked hair. Both he and Miss Misato seemed to have good compatibility. Makes me wonder what activities they do when I'm not there visiting…" he stated then took a sip of his tea.
Kaji had a slightly scared face. Asuka listened with delight. It meant that this other male had Misato so she could have the special investigator. Toji and Kensuke listened with heighten attention. They wanted to know what the Captain likes in a man. Misato was doing her best not to laugh but was smiling. Putting his cup of tea down, the male pilot looked back at the unshaven man.
"He is a generous person giving Miss Misato the master room while he sleeps in a smaller room. He likes to eat seafood and is quite the gentleman. From what I have noticed," Shinji said. Turning his head toward her, he gave a slight tilt of his head.
"Mr. Pen-Pen is very infatuated with Miss Misato."
Everyone turned to Misato and saw her with an ear-to-ear smile. A small blush came to her as she had a slight dreamy look on her face. Inside her head, she was chuckling evilly at seeing Kaji's reaction and becoming slightly pale. The other three teens looked back and forth at the two adults. Oddly, the male pilot's atmosphere was becoming murky to them.
"Has she complained?" Kaji asked a little desperately. Everyone saw Shinji turn slowly to him.
"She does say something about it…" Shinji said which made Kaji relax a little. The three teens were glued on what he was going to say. Misato's large smile faltered a little but she felt that he was saving for the big storm.
"Miss Misato, may I ask what do usually wear in the morning,"
"Why, nothing at all Shinji," she lied with a dreamy look. It caused the male teens to turn red and Kaji to look tense.
"What do you usually have in the morning?"
"A beer."
Everyone one stared at Shinji hungry for an answer. Toji, Kensuke, and Kaji looked practically pleading for a response. Asuka had a hopeful look on her face. Misato changed her smile to a grin. She enjoyed the tension building that the Third Child was pulling.
Shinji felt Shino grinning in his head and told the red-blue eye voice to say a line. Confused, the voice nodded its head and asked the pilot to be allowed to take control for the line. The male pilot clenched his hands into fists. Shino promised to leave him alone after this if he could execute it. Sighing internally, he unclenched his fists.
"I went over one morning due to forgetting to pick up something. I heard from the door Misato saying quite proudly, 'Mmmmm…I had so much fun last night Pen-Pen. Let's do it again!'" the Third Child said seductively while mimicking Misato's voice.
"…!?" everyone said with surprised faces. From witnessing an out of character response from the pilot, it was very effective. All three teens were blushing from the innuendo the boy stated. The inflection in his mimicking sounded like someone very pleased. It reminded Toji of the porn videos he saw not so long ago.
'Whoa,' Misato said blinking in surprise at his stoic face. 'Do I really sound like that?'
"…That…was beautiful Ikari," both male students chimed at the same time. They had tears of joy going down their faces. Asuka smiled devilishly and looked at the Special Investigator who was pale. Misato blinked and looked over at the unshaven man. She put a hand on her mouth holding in the snickers.
"Excuse me everyone," Shinji said getting up and bowed. He left for the bathroom.
"...hee hee...ha ha ha...HAHAHAHAHAHA!" the Captain stated. She couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing pounding on the table. Tears of amusement came as her laughter rang through Kaji's ears.
'It…can't…be,' he thought feeling defeated. Getting up and leaving, he looked deep in thought. Asuka got up as well and followed him with a small spring in her step. After a short while, the Third Child came back. Misato was still giggling and wiping her eyes. Toji and Kensuke saw him and walked over.
"Man, do you know why she is like that?" Toji asked.
"Shinji!" a purple blur came and bear hugged him. She spun in circles while holding him. Both male students had dreamy looks in their eyes from where the Eva pilot's head was.
"…Miss Misato…" his voiced muffled in her chest.
His limbs started to tremble when they stopped all the sudden. Shino took over his senses with a greedy look on his face. She got him and herself into a dancing pose. Surprised and to her delight, Shinji went along with it a little. Smiling happily, she leaned back with his arms holding her. Pulling her back up, she tightly embraced him again while spinning around a couple of times giggling.
"…Miss Misato…" Shinji said again his voice muffled in her chest. She then smacked a kiss on his cheek and then let go quickly. The boy fell to the ground from her sudden release of her iron grip.
"…?!" both Toji and Kensuke said.
Watching the lavender hair woman skip out of the galley, she hummed while going into the hallway. The pilot got up and dusted himself a little. His face became stoic and ignored the joyous and pleasurable sighs of Shino. Thinking about what happened made his right eye twitch a little. Turning to the two confused male students, he reached into his pocket.
"Mr. Pen-Pen is Miss Misato's pet, a warm water penguin," he said. Pulling out a small photo of the bird from his wallet, he showed it to them. Both dropped their jaws to the floor.
"You mean all of it was…" the jock began looking at him.
"Afraid so gentlemen."
"..." Kensuke and Toji stated. Both bobbed their heads down knowing most of the information wasn't useable.
Outside on a small standing patio, Asuka was sitting on the railing dangling her legs. Kaji was leaning on it while staring out into the ocean. He had a serious look on his face.
'I must know more about this Mr. Pen-Pen,' he thought.
"So what do you think of the Third Child?" Kaji asked to break his obsessing thoughts.
"He's okay I guess, a bit weird and odd for my tastes," she said. Kaji seemed surprise that she didn't say anything bad about him yet.
"But he doesn't know how to pilot like I can!" she said with her ego backing her up.
"I heard from the recent Angel attack he jumped his sync ratio up by 70%," he said.
"What?! No way!" the redhead said in shock and disbelief.
"Some people say that he's the Executioner of Angels," Kaji stated in wanting to build up that ego of hers. Asuka frowned. Getting off the rail, she went to go find the Third Child.
On an escalator, Toji was staring at Misato who was humming happily. Kensuke was still ranting how great it was to be on the ship while filming it. The Third Child stood across from Misato looking at his watch.
"Thanks for the cover up Shinji," she said cheerfully.
"You are welcome Miss Misato," he said looking at her then back at his watch.
"Exactly who was that guy?" the jock asked. Misato's happy mood went down a few points.
"An old acquaintance of hers," Shinji said. Not looking up, the Captain was looking at him with raised eyebrows. He let his hand go to his side then looked at her with no expression. Slowly, he moved his eyes right and looked top of the escalator.
"Third Child!" Asuka spoke with a frown on her face. "Come with me."
Watching the group come up, they all stepped off the escalator. The male pilot nodded walked toward her. The Second Child turned around and he followed. Both headed toward a helicopter that would take them to where Unit-02 was being held. After the short copter ride, both got out.
Asuka led and Shinji followed behind her. It kind of bugged her that he didn't say anything, but was more irritated that he walked silently. She couldn't really tell if he was behind her or not most of the time. After getting toward the main cargo deck area, they headed toward a large object that was covered with a huge cloth. Reaching to a certain space, the redhead reached down and grabbed it.
Lifting the cover sheet showed a pathway to the Eva. She was met with silence, but that didn't falter her smirk. Both went through and traveled down the pathway to the Eva. Reaching a pooled area, there were floating platforms that would lead to the Unit. The substance it was lying in looked like LCL. The Second Child started jumping ahead on the platforms while the Third Child did so at a slower pace.
Getting to the red war machine, she climbed her Eva while he watched her on a floating platform. Reaching the top, she turned around. Smirking confidently at him, he just gave a blank expression back. Despite his lack of emotion getting on her nerves, she pushed them aside and expanded her arms outward.
"This is Eva-Unit 02. Unlike Unit-00 and Unit-01 which are just prototypes, this is the first true Evangelion. The one made for actual combat, the final model and replacement," she expressed with much pride. She then saw him look at the Eva and not her. It made her keep smirking thinking that he was impressed.
"I see," he said and turned around.
"…?!" she said with a confused expression.
He started walking away on the floating platforms jumping to the next one. Asuka's thoughts crashed trying to figure why he wasn't impressed. Her reboot system of ego kicked in moments later. Fuming a little, she clenched her hands into fists.
"IDIOT!" she yelled sliding down her Eva.
Going down small notches on her Eva, she got to a safe distance and jumped onto a floating platform. Landing, she looked up with irritation. Shinji got to the pathway to walk back to the place they came in. Running after him, she caught up with him shortly after. He was holding the cover up and looked at her with the same expression. For some reason, she slowed down and just stared at him. His unnatural eye color seemed to shine oddly the more she looked. Suddenly a rumbling shook the ground.
"An explosion?" she asked which he nodded still staring at her. She got out and ran to the railing to see a flagship explode in half. Something huge was in the water and moving fast.
"An Angel," Shinji said to her side as she kept looking at it.
"What do you wish to do Miss Souryu?" he asked watching the Angel go to another ship. Asuka grinned evilly the other way.
"Chance," she said to herself the looked at him. "Come with me Third!"
"Very well," he said.
Both made a running dash back to the command tower of the cargo ship. The captain on the 'Over the Rainbow' battleship ordered evasive actions. He also ordered the fleet to use their weapons to try defeating the monster of the sea. Misato popped in offering her services but was ignored. Torpedoes from multiple ships were fired. They hit the Angel causing large explosions; however, they had no effect. Misato thought the creature's skin must be pretty durable to withstand weapon explosions. No AT-Field was seen when the torpedoes hit.
Back on another battleship, Asuka found her bag with her plug suit. In searching for a place to change, a staircase nearby was satisfactory. At the top, she started descending them and heard him follow.
"Wait over there," she said pointing back at the top.
Nodding, he turned around and walked back. Shinji stood with his back to the wall and stared out the door. She went down the steps to change into her red plug suit. Throughout her changing, she didn't feel any eyes prying on her which she just continued to suit up. Finished, she pressurized her suit and turned toward the stairs.
"Hey Third!" she called and saw him start heading down. He didn't reach the bottom when she threw a red plug suit at him.
"Put it on."
He held his left arm out a little which the plug suit draped over. Blinking, he looked at it, at her, and then gave a small bow. He didn't express anything which made her irritated. Watching him turn around, he began going up the stairs.
"Move it you slug!" she yelled.
Gritting her teeth, yelling at him didn't make him move any faster. Out of her sight, she crossed her hands over her chest and impatiently tapped her foot. About thirty seconds went by which she felt like minutes did. She made her way up the steps.
"You done yet Third?" Asuka asked. Getting to the top, she saw him in her spare plug suit about to press the wrists for pressurization. His shoes and cloths were folded neatly in a pile next to him.
'Neat freak,' she said in her mind.
Hearing the suit pressurizing, she looked at him and stared. Her mouth parted in surprise that his physical body appearance was something opposite of what she thought. She watched him bend over picking up his clothes and shoes seeing the muscles tightening in his legs. He stood back up and turned around walking down the stairs. She stood still facing where he changed still not believing what she saw.
"Miss Souryu," his voice came from the stairs. Asuka blinked and turned toward him getting his front view. Now she had the outline view of his semi-overly developed athletic body. As much as she felt attracted to it, she killed the thought instantly.
"Shall we?" he said gesturing toward the door. She smirked seeing that he understood what she wanted. Both ran to her Eva. Air strike missiles were fired from the fleet ships. Hitting the Angel, massive explosions were seen. However, they didn't have any effect on the target.
"Why won't it sink?" the Captain stressed through his binoculars.
"So only Eva can defeat it," Toji said which got him glares from the two fleet officers.
Reaching the entry point of the cover and entering, both Eva pilots rushed down the pathway. Quickly jumping on the floating platforms, they climbed to back of the red war machine's neck. The Second Child reached it first and input a command to eject the entry plug. It came out spiraling a bit until it stopped. Asuka opened the entry plug.
"I'll show you how skillful I am…just don't disturb me," she stated. Seeing him only nodding, both climbed in.
The Angel swam around the large ships. Despite large projectiles hitting it, Gaghiel continued searching for something. It was very faint yet very familiar. It detected the huge inactive humanoid on one ship; however, it wasn't the one drawing the Angel. Continuing the search, Gaghiel also felt another small being on one of the ships. It gave it a sense of foreboding which it didn't comprehend. Ignoring it, its search continued.
Asuka started the systems sequence in the pilot seat while Shinji stood behind her to her right. He heard her use German. A flashback about two older adults came that were in his childhood. They used German off and on. As a child, it made him curious but at the same time afraid what they were saying. He learned small amounts of the language from them, but it came at a cost. A couple of scars on his body start to tingle as if something was drilling into his skin from multiple locations.
"Synchro-Start," Asuka said and the synchronization went. She was expecting errors, but the computer went on smoothly and the Eva activated. She never saw anything in his profile that said he learned German. She wondered if he was trying to impress her, she returned the favor.
"Seit wann hast du deutsch gelernt?" she asked while turning to her right.
"Als kind," he stated moving his eyes a little to look at her.
"…" Asuka said narrowing her eyes before turning back forward.