Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters from therein are the
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
The Thin Ice
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]===============[]
Book 1 Part 6
[]===============[]
Asuka was in high spirits when she
returned to the apartment. She still couldn't
really think of the place as 'home', in fact,
she hadn't thought of anywhere as being home
since she was a child. It was simply a place
where she dwelled until the morons at Nerv
realized that she was fully capable of living
on her own. On the upside it was much nicer
than the disgusting cell that they had shoved
her in at first. She pitied any other new
pilots who arrived; that was no way for the
saviors of Mankind to be treated.
The Katsuragi residence was small, but it
was nice by Japanese standards. As compact as
it was, even she had to admit that the place
was well planned out. When she had first seen
the room she was using she hadn't believed that
she could possibly fit even half her stuff in
it. After a closer inspection she discovered
how well managed the space was, and she had
only ended up sending about a quarter of her
belongings to storage.
Despite that, and fact that couches
seemed to be non existent in Japan, she liked
the place. It had a great view of the city from
the patio that was right outside her door. Her
only real complaints were her roommates. Misato
wasn't so bad, if she would try to find a
decent brand of beer Asuka thought that she
might be able to put up with the woman. Whoever
had hooked the poor lady on that disgusting
Russian brew should be shot. Sooner or later
she would have to get Misato some _real_ beer
so she wouldn't have to smell the stuff
anymore.
Her other roommate... was a bit more
annoying. How Shinji Ikari had lasted this long
was a mystery to her; the boy was hardly pilot
material. He was a fluke, he _had_ to be! There
was no way that someone as pathetic as that boy
having such a high synch ratio was natural. She
and Ayanami had worked for months and months to
get their ratios high enough for activation, to
synch on the first try...
'It has to be a fluke,' she thought as
she removed her shoes, 'no way they _picked_
him for this.'
Back in Germany, she had heard rumors
that he had even run _away_! What kind of loopy
selection process would pick someone who didn't
even want to be there? Well at least they had
her. She would show all of them just what a
_real_ Evangelion Pilot was capable of, and
after over eight years of training she was more
than ready to do just that.
At the moment however, she had better
things to think about. Her shopping trip had
been heavenly! Spending the whole day with Kaji
had been wonderful, and she couldn't wait till
the next time. He was so handsome and charming,
completely unlike the disgusting boys at
collage. If he didn't insist on pursuing that
ridiculous obsession with Misato he would be
perfect. She would have to remember to tell him
so on their next date.
That, of course, would have to wait until
after she got back from the class trip.
This was the other thing that had her in
such a good mood. She hadn't had a chance to go
scuba diving since the last stages of her pilot
training had begun two years previous, and she
missed it. Okinawa was supposed to be a nice
town in the first place, and with the high
ocean levels since Second Impact, there would
be many submerged buildings for her to explore
under the sea.
As she made the turn from the hall to the
kitchen however, something told her that there
was about to be some bad news. Misato was
sitting at the table with a beer in front of
her, but instead of being half-empty; the can
was unopened. She had only seen Misato do this
once before, and that had been when she was
instructing Shinji and herself on their synch
training. Also, Shinji was sitting at the table
listening idly to one of his tapes on SDAT.
So the obvious conclusion of this was
that Misato Katsuragi was about to get serious
on her. For Misato to do this at home was a
rare occurrence. At work the woman was amazing,
juggling task after task and still keeping up
with whatever the Angels threw at them. At
home... at home she reminded Asuka of some of
the frat boys back at collage.
Sure enough Misato gestured for her to
sit down, and what she had to say was more than
enough to ruin Asuka's mood.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"What do you _mean_ we won't be going?"
Asuka cried out as she stood from her chair.
"Your presence is required here in Tokyo
Three until the threat of the Angels is past,"
Misato responder calmly.
"No one ever told me anything about that!"
"Well now you've been told," Misato said
with a smile.
"Who's crazy idea was this anyway?" Asuka
muttered as she slumped back into her chair.
"That particular crazy notion would be
mine," Misato told her as she popped open her
drink, "as the operations planing manager it
was my decision."
Asuka seemed to simmer in her seat, and
Misato could feel the anger resonating off the
German girl like a tangible force. To her
relief-- and slight amusement-- Asuka decided
to direct it to the boy sitting beside her who,
until then, had been observing silently.
"Hey you, don't just sit there drinking--
say something! Stand up for yourself! It's your
rights she's trampling on too you know!"
"Well... I kinda figured we wouldn't be
allowed to go from the beginning," Shinji told
her-- doing an admirable job of not melting
under her glare in the process, "and she does
have a point, if an Angel attacks we do need to
be here."
"So you're just give up and let them strip
away your freedom?"
"It's not like that, it's just--"
"I can't believe that they housebroke you
so easily! You're pathetic!"
"There's no call for that Asuka!" Shinji
said indignantly. Actually, he had no idea what
the English term she had just used meant, but
he was sure it was not polite. Coming from
Asuka it was a safe bet anyhow.
"Don't take that tone of voice with _me_
you little twerp!" Asuka said, her eyes
burning.
"Will you make up your mind?" Shinji
demanded, raising his voice. She had been doing
this for weeks now, and he was starting to get
sick of it. One moment she would complain that
he let everyone walk all over him, the next she
was screaming at him for talking back to her.
"Stop it both of you!" Misato yelled,
slamming her beer can down on the table and
causing both of them to jump in surprise,
"Asuka I know how much you want to go on this
trip, but we just can't risk it, I'm sorry.
"Wait, wait, wait, _wait_, _WAIT_! That's
all we ever do around here!" Asuka shouted,
turning her anger back to her guardian, "any
_good_ solider will tell you that we should be
hunting _them_ not sitting around waiting for
them to come to _us_!"
"Asuka, if we could do that, believe me
we would," Misato told her as she took another
sip of her beer," but you do have to admit that
this will give you both a good opportunity to
catch up on your studies-- or did you think I
wouldn't notice your test scores?"
Shinji wished he could sink into his
chair. He had known that sooner or later the
absences and rushed makeup work was going to
come out in his scores... he supposed he should
be grateful it had taken this long.
"You do realize that all your exam
results were forwarded directly to my office? I
am very disappointed with both of your scores,
especially you Asuka... with your education you
should be doing much better than this."
"Hey, don't blame me if the grading
scales you Japanese use can't properly identify
my talents, " Asuka told her haughtily--
unfortunately for her point, she was making no
sense whatsoever," why are we even forced to go
to school? It's not like they could actually
_teach_ me anything there."
"When in Rome," Misato said with a grin,
"do as the Romans do... and get used to it
because you're signed up for at least the next
two semesters."
"This sucks!" Asuka screamed as she
stormed to her room and slammed her door.
Shinji looked at Misato and a
realization struck him. Living with the
redheaded girl had been difficult for him, he
had lost his room, the quiet, and a lot of
privacy... but Misato on the other hand had
seemed to take everything in stride. In the
proceeding 'conversation' however, Shinji had
detected a subtext to Misato's tone that was
just now becoming text to him.
"You enjoyed that," he asked his guardian
as she downed the rest of her beer, "didn't
you?"
Misato tossed the empty can expertly into
the recycling bin he had brought in awhile back
and winked at him, "now Shinji it would be
downright mean of me to take pleasure in
denying that _sweet_ young girl a trip she had
been looking forward to. Even if it was fully
authorized and I had no choice," she leaned
over onto her elbows and fluttered her
eyelashes innocently, " why would you _ever_
think I'd do that?"
Shinji chuckled at that; at least it
wasn't just _him_ that Asuka drove crazy.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Kensuke had been up most of the night.
Last time he'd looked at the clock had
been around one. Not that he really cared as he
was, at the moment, wrapped up in what might
have been the most fascinating conversation of
his life. Ever since Nerv had secured the UN's
undivided attention after the Jet Alone
disaster, information on the Evangelions had
been much easier to come by.
The lack of international funding had not
stopped other countries from developing war
machines-- in fact there were numerous projects
all around the world rushing robotic battle
machines into production. Part of this was
because the world feared what might happen if
the Eva's were ever turned against mankind, but
it also was a remnant of the twentieth
centuries cold war mentality. If one country
had a weapon, then the next largest would try
to match them. It was the 'red queen'
phenomenon. Everyone was running as fast as
they could to stay in place.
Kensuke ran a web page devoted to the
latest rumors of such projects. He meticulously
researched his leads, and only accepted new
information from trusted sources. His current
conversation was the result of an Email he'd
received earlier that day.
He was well aware that the Jet Alone
project had been mostly abandoned by the JSSDF,
but that the two prototypes had been sold to
China. At the moment, there was no official
word on the status of the JA's, and he had
about given up hope on it. However, the person
he had been conversing with most of the night
had relayed information concerning a new
project that had him very interested.
[TheMechSage] so it's a land sea and air
system?
[TetsuShojo] that's right, it's one of
the reasons they called it what they did.
[TheMechSage] this is great? How long
before they go public? Not that I
don't believe you, but I have to confirm
some of this before I can post it.
[TetsuShojo] I understand, but I just
don't know. They don't exactly tell us
much in my department
[TheMechSage] that's a shame, ever since
the American project fell through and
they joined Project E there hasn't been
much to report. If I didn't have such
great footage of the Eva's then my site
wouldn't be worth much.
[TetsuShojo] I think you're doing a great
job. That picture of Unit One under repair
is amazing. It's even better than the one
of it and Zero at sunset
[TheMechSage] oh, I can't take credit for
that one, it was a gift
[TetsuShojo] really? How did you manage
that?
[TheMechSage] well I don't usually tell
people this, but one of the pilots is a
pretty good friend of mine. His guardian
got the photo for me. I think she got tired
of my pestering her about it.
[TetsuShojo] you're kidding?
[TheMechSage] truth, truth! Check out my
'life in Tokyo Three' page for a pic of him,
he's the one with the sad look on his face
[TetsuShojo] hmmm he's a cutie, and you're
the sexy one with the glasses?
[TheMechSage] that's me in the glasses, I
don't know about 'sexy' though
[TetsuShojo] hey, I think freckles are
_way_ sexy on the right guy
[TheMechSage] you flatter me ^_^
[TetsuShojo] hey, while I'm thinking about
it, I heard something about an Australian
project today. I'll see what the word is
on that tomorrow
[TheMechSage] I really appreciate all the
information; you've been a big help
[TetsuShojo] it's my pleasure, when will
you be on again by the way? I've had fun
talking with you
[TheMechSage] well I'm going to Okinawa
for a few days, but I'll be back in a
week or so.
[TetsuShojo] glad to hear it, I look
forward to our next conversation
[TheMechSage] hey, before you go, what's
your name? I never did catch it
[TetsuShojo] ah, but that would be
telling... ^_^
[TheMechSage] a woman of mystery, I like
it!
[TetsuShojo] silly, it's late and I do
have to go... enjoy your trip
[TheMechSage] Thank you. I'll talk to you
soon. Nite!
[]====[]
[]====[]
"I still wish you could go with us,"
Hikari told Shinji as they walked back to the
airport terminal where everyone was waiting for
the plane to arrive. The rest of their class
was there as well; Asuka had even come to see
them off. The only person who was not there was
Rei, but Hikari didn't mind. She knew from her
dealings with Shinji that it was going to take
a long time before Rei could make anything
close to his progress in the social department.
"It's probably better that I stay,"
Shinji said with a weak smile, " I wouldn't be
able to go diving anyhow."
"Why not?"
"I can't swim," he replied with a slight
blush.
"Seriously? That's a shame... I could
teach you if you want."
"I don't know," he said apprehensively, "
I spend so much time breathing liquid in the
Eva that it doesn't appeal to me much."
"Well I kind of see your point there, but
you should still learn. You never know when it
will come in handy."
"I suppose... hey have you decided what
you're going to the dance as?"
"No, I still can't think of a costume...
the rules said that it has to ' represent an
aspect of your personality'. Interesting in
theory, but it makes picking one out a bit
difficult."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something,"
he said-- reaching over and squeezing her hand.
"Even so, I won't have much time if I
don't do it soon... anyway, what are you going
to do while we're all gone?"
"I think Misato has something planed with
your sister, but other than that I'm mostly
going to be studying for the make up exam."
"I'm sorry, I should have helped you
study more."
"It's not your fault, I doubt I would have
scored as high as I did if you hadn't been
there. It's the training and tests that keep
cutting into my time."
"Not to mention your roommate's music
tastes," Hikari said cringing in memory of the
German rock bands that Asuka favored. She liked
the girl, but was doubtful that she would ever
like her music.
"Well, it hasn't been so bad since Misato
threatened to throw the stereo out the window;
I think Asuka got the message. It's a very good
thing that we don't have neighbors."
They stood and walked back to where the
rest of the students were gathered. Asuka was
chatting away with Ichigo and a couple other
girls, Kensuke was fast asleep, Touji on he
other hand was wide-awake and waved them over
to where he was sitting.
"Where have you two been hiding?" he asked
as they sat down.
"We were over at the food court," Shinji
replied
"Cool, I think I might run over there
before the plane arrives. I doubt I can make it
the whole flight on just peanuts."
"Didn't you have breakfast before you
left home?" Hikari asked
"Yeah... why?"
"It was just two hours ago Touji," Shinji
said.
"So?"
"Never mind," the two sighed in unison.
"So what's shaking with the demon?" Touji
asked, "she didn't even insult me this morning,
I _almost_ miss the attention."
"Well she found out Misato was going to
let her use the natatorium to go scuba diving
and she's been in a good mood ever since. Come
to think of it she hasn't even called me stupid
once today"
"Gotta be some kind of record or
something," Touji said with a grin,
"Stop it you two," Hikari told them--
trying to keep from smiling as she did so.
"Shame you can't go," Touji told Shinji,
"not gonna be as much fun without ya."
Shinji almost blushed, Touji wasn't just
saying that-- he really meant it. He had only
known the other boy for a sjort while, but in
that time he had learned that Touji generally
said the first thing that came to mind. No
pauses to ponder the outcome simply thought to
deed in one electric leap. So for him to say
something like that, especially offhand like he
had, indicated that he meant it fully.
"Thank you Touji," Shinji told his
friend, " I wish I could go too, but I do have
a responsibility to be here."
"Well, I'll try to have fun for the three
of ya," Touji said with a grin.
"Suzuhara!" Hikari said-- crossing her
arms wit ha frown.
"What? I shouldn't try to have fun?"
"You're utterly hopeless, aren't you?"
Hikari said with a sigh
"Hey!" Asuka said as she sauntered over, "
whatcha talking about?"
"Not much," Hikari said, "just wishing you
Rei and Shinji could go."
"I know, and it's a damned shame that Nerv
won't go on the offensive, "Asuka said as she
leaned against a support beam and crossed her
hands behind her head, "if Misato didn't have
the highest tactical scores out of the last six
classes in Germany I'd think this organization
was run by idiots."
"Is she really that good?" Shinji asked,
this was the first he'd heard of this.
"Well Kaji was in her graduating class,
and he told me about it once," she said,
"apparently she even had to take the hardest
tests twice because they couldn't believe she
hadn't cheated. Then she beat her previous
score and they all flipped."
"Wow..." Touji said, he glanced over at
Kensuke who was still snoring in his seat. He
would have to remember to tease his friend for
missing out on this information about Goddess
Katsuragi.
"Yeah, the only reason she didn't graduate
top of her class was that she missed a week or
two in mid semester, I asked Kaji about that
but he said he didn't know why. I have to
admit, despite her sloppy housekeeping, she is
the best I have ever seen at what she does."
As they pondered the high compliment Asuka
had just given Misato, their flight was
announced and the other students began
gathering their carry on luggage. Shinji and
Hikari stood there for a bit each wanting to
say something, but not having the words.
"I guess this is it," Shinji said at last
as he looked down at his feet.
"I'll get the two of you something nice
while I'm there."
"Thanks."
They stood there for a few moments longer
before Hikari came to a decision. Taking a
determined breath she stepped forward, and to
the surprise of Touji, the newly awakened
Kensuke, and the completely befuddled Asuka--
she kissed Shinji deeply on the lips.
They had kissed once before, and it had
been nice, but this one shot it down in flames.
As Shinji overcame his surprise and began to
return her embrace, the others watched on in
shock. When the two finally came up for air and
saw the looks they were receiving, they both
blushed deeply. As Touji looked back and forth
between the two and scratched his head in
confusion, Kensuke pinched himself to make sure
he was really awake.
After a moment, Asuka threw up her hands
and walked off cursing in German about all
Japanese being perverts. This sent Hikari into
giggles and Shinji into an even deeper blush.
Finally the boarding signal was given and the
class began heading to the plane. As they made
their way down to their seats, Touji turned to
speak with Kensuke
"When did this start?" he asked his
groggy friend.
"I have no idea, but I kinda had a hunch
something was up."
"Really? I didn't have a clue."
"I _must_ be tired if I'm passing on a
straight line like that," Kensuke said with a
yawn, " why so shocked though? It's not like
they don't make a cute couple."
"I dunno, Shinji's kinda weird."
"He can be a little different, but that's
just because of how he was raised. Think about
how much he's changed since he started hanging
out with us and the class rep. I don't remember
him even talking to anyone for the first two
weeks, now he and Hikari spend almost every
spare moment together.
"You do have a point... but I dunno,"
Touji looked out the window at the terminal
where he could see Shinji standing against the
glass, "think he's good enough for her?"
"If I were any more awake than I am, I'd
suspect you were jealous Touji," Kensuke said
as he leaned his seat back a bit.
"Of course not!" Touji said defensively,
"but she _is_ our friend and we ought to look
out for her. It was a legitimate question."
"Well if he was still like he was when he
arrived, I might agree, " Kensuke said as he
settled back in his chair, " but he's come a
long way since that day at the train station...
I think there's hope for them."
Touji listened to that and thought about
it for a moment. He was about to ask something
else when he turned and found Kensuke was fast
asleep.
Farther back in the plane Hikari and Yume
were seated together. Naturally the other girl
wanted to know the hows and whys of what she
had just witnessed.
"I told you," Hikari repeated, " we're not
too serious yet, that was only our second
kiss."
"And you're not worried?"
"About what?"
"Leaving him alone with the other two
pilots. I'll admit that Ayanami isn't much of a
threat, but the German? I wouldn't leave my guy
alone within a mile of her."
"Shinji isn't interested in her, he told
me so."
"Hikari, I thought you were smarter than
that..."
"Smarter than what?"
"Boys don't exactly think with their
_brains_ all the time. Asuka isn't the nicest
girl I've ever met, she could melt just about
any guy's spine in half a second if she tried."
"I doubt she's even interested in Shinji,
she complains about him constantly."
"Hmmm maybe, but you never know..."
Hikari turned away and looked out the
window as they pulled onto the runway. She
trusted Shinji; he was practically the
definition of 'heart on his sleeve'. But Yume
did have a point and that point had actually
been one of the reasons behind the kiss that
had so surprised everyone. She had wanted to
leave Shinji with her on his mind in a big way.
In the end it came down to the fact she
trusted him, but even as she reminded herself
of the fact... Yume's words resonated in her
mind...
[]====[]
[]====[]
From the terminal, Shinji watched the
plane lift off.
As it sailed off into the clear blue sky
he sighed and thought back to that electrifying
kiss. He had never experience anything like it,
he had felt totally open for that moment, and
he hadn't been afraid. It was amazing how much
more intense it had been than the last one, and
that had been considerably intense. Almost
amazing as the intensity was the closeness he
felt to Hikari.
When he was around Hikari, he felt safe.
That was the best way to put it. He knew she
wouldn't twist anything he said into a joke, or
yell at him like Misato and Asuka did. He knew
she would listen to what he had to say, and
that she trusted him to do the same. He knew
that she enjoyed his company as much as he
enjoyed hers. Most importantly he felt that he
could be totally honest with her, and that had
been something he'd never been able to do
before.
When he had arrived in Tokyo Three he
had been alone. Since he had arrived he had
gained friends, he even had something like a
family- dysfunctional as it might be, and
now... a girlfriend?
"Hey! Let's go stupid," Asuka Shouted from
behind, " I want to go swimming sometime
_before_ they get back!"
He smiled, having suspected she wouldn't
last the whole morning without saying it at
least once.
[]====[]
[]====[]
He hadn't planed on going with them, but
Shinji had allowed Misato talk him into joining
Rei and Asuka at the natatorium. Her reasoning
had been sound enough-- if something happened
to Asuka while she was underwater, he could at
least shout for help and the Section Two guards
would come running.
Unfortunately what Misato hadn't taken
into account was the mindset he had been in
since Hikari's departure. Every time he thought
back to the kiss his mind became more muddled
and he found it harder to concentrate on his
studies for the makeup test. This was made even
more difficult by Asuka's new swimsuit.
He wondered if the designer of the suit
had crafted it with the sole purpose of
inciting lustful thoughts in males, it didn't
seem to be designed for _swimming_ that was for
sure. It was far too delicate to be able to
stand up to much vigorous swimming, or diving,
and had Asuka not merely been planing to use
the Scuba equipment it would have been a poor
choice in his opinion.
All that aside, the main problem he had
with the suit was the ridiculously big zipper
on the front. He could understand the need for
one with the design the suit had, but it was a
bit much. The idea was so blatantly obvious
that even he could understand it. The zipper
was supposed to catch a guy's eye, and he was
supposed to want to unzip it.
Clearly she had bought this particular
suit with Kaji in mind, but he wished she would
save it for when the older man was around-- at
the moment it was keeping him from
concentrating.
"Hey Shinji, whatcha doin'?" Asuka asked
as she wandered over
"I'm trying to get some studying done
before our makeup exam," he told her, trying
not to stare at her chest-- which was at the
moment almost shoved in his face as she leaned
over and read off his laptop.
"Oh you're such an _obedient_ student,"
she teased as she sat down in the chair beside
him and crossed her legs. Behind her in the
pool Rei was making her second lap underwater
without coming up for air.
"Well," he explained, grateful that she
had removed her cleavage from his face, "I
don't want to have to spend years catching up
to my studies when all of this is over."
"I suppose that makes sense... hey, what's
this one?" she asked as she turned his laptop
to face her. After a moment she pressed a
couple of keys and turned it back to him, "
there you go, all done. Its easy if you know
how."
"I don't understand Asuka, you can solve
a hard problem like this... but you failed the
exam?"
"Oh _that_" She said leaning back in her
chair and looking up at the ceiling, " I still
haven't mastered all these crazy little
squiggles that you call a written language over
here."
"You don't know the Kanji?"
"Not all of it, I didn't have to study it
in collage," she said as she twirled a few
strands of hair between her fingers.
"Y--you went to _collage_?"
"Yeah," Asuka said dismissively, " I
graduated last year, they said I was the
youngest graduate in like sixty years or
something... hey why are you just sitting
around up here anyway?"
"You mean why am I not swimming?"
"Yeah"
"I can't swim."
"Really? Why not?"
"Back where I used to live there wasn't
anywhere to do it, and like I told Hikari after
breathing LCL so much I'm not very eager to
float around like that."
"Well you're missing out if you ask me."
"What's so fascinating about it anyway?"
"Lets see, for one thing I like how the
echoes are all different when your down there.
Sound actually carries better under water. Plus
when you're floating down there its like
flying. The ocean is even better because its
like a whole other world suspended in midair."
" I see your point, but I still think I'll
stick to dry land for the moment, " he told her
with a frown.
"Your call, but I still say you're missing
out Shinji... anyway, what's this one say?" she
said pointing at the computer.
"It's a question about thermal expansion."
"Oh that's baby stuff, in short, things
get larger when they get hot and smaller when
they get cold."
"I know that but-" Shinji started to say,
however the redhead cut him off in mid
sentence.
"I'll even make it easier for you," she
told him as she took her hands -- and to
Shinji's discomfort-- cupped her breasts.
"Now, " she said as Shinji's face reddened,
"if I were to warm my breasts with my hands
would they get larger or smaller?"
'What the hell is her problem?' Shinji
thought as he looked away, 'she spends weeks
calling me a pervert and now she does something
like this?'
"I don't know," he said quickly as he
tried not to look at the admitably interesting
scene before him, "I don't think about things
like that!"
"You are _so_ dull Third Child, " she
said haughtily as she stood and walked over to
her scuba gear, "I don't think there's anything
about you that's really interesting."
Shinji frowned. He had never pretended to
understand Asuka, take this for example; she
had come over to _him_ and started up the
conversation, now she was cutting it off and
complaining. If she didn't find him interesting
he wished she would just leave him alone and
stop teasing him.
There was a splash behind him and he
turned to see Ayanami climb out of the water
and start to towel off. Before he could
register this however, a shout echoed thorough
the natatorium.
"Hey Shinji! Lookie, lookie!"
Turning once again, he saw Asuka wave at
him as she fell back into the water.
'Oh, right,' he thought with a sigh and
turned back to his studies, ' you don't find me
interesting at _all_ '
'What is wrong with that girl anyway?' He
wondered as she finished the next few
questions; 'doesn't she realize that she's
contradicting herself all the time?'
As he considered this, he heard soft
footfalls close by and turned to find Ayanami
standing behind him.
"Hello Rei," he said politely, " did you
enjoy your swim?"
"Yes." She said simply as she sat down.
"I wish I could be as interested in it as
the two of you are," he told her, "Asuka tried
to explain it to me, but I still don't know..."
"Pilot Soryu finds comfort in water
because it isolates her from the world." Rei
said, startling Shinji with the depth of the
statement, "many have different reasons."
"Why do you like to swim Rei?" he asked
"Our bodies are mostly water and there is
a sense of oneness when I am immersed, also it
gives me the feeling of..." she paused and
frowned for a moment, "I do not know how to
further describe it, I am sorry."
"Its okay, I think I understand a
little... particularly Asuka's reason."
"Why is that?"
"Because, I do something like that
sometimes, only I use music instead of water."
"Music isolates you from the world?"
"It can," Shinji said as he looked out at
the Geofront beyond the window, "some music
draws you in if you let it. You can create
whole worlds in your mind if you let yourself
drift to the melody."
"I have never considered this," Rei said
thoughtfully, "does it occur with all music?"
"Everyone's taste in music differs Rei,
some you might like more than others... but for
me classical is the best for doing that. Would
you like to hear some?"
Rei nodded an affirmative and Shinji
pulled up his music file. He usually kept most
of his tracks on his hard drive and downloaded
them onto his SDAT when it was time for a
change. It only took a moment for him to find
his Beethoven collection and soon Moonlight
Sonata was drifting out of the laptops built in
speakers.
As Rei listened attentively to the somber
piano melody, Asuka surfaced, having heard the
music's echo from below the water. When the
piece was done Shinji noticed that Rei's eyes
had been closed. She opened them nodded at him,
then stood and walked out of the room. Back in
the pool Asuka shrugged and submerged.
'I guess that's her idea of a 'thank
you'...' he thought as he reloaded his homework
program.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Somewhere deep in the Geofront, there was
a room that only two men ever entered. This
room was not overly large; in fact Commander
Ikari's office was almost three times its size.
It was however large enough to accommodate a
complex holographic projection and recording
system. In the center of the room was a table
with six spaces, each of these was illuminated
in a different hue. At one end of the table sat
Commander Gendou Ikari, with his Sub-Commander
Kozo Fuyutski standing nearby.
The other five men in the room were in
fact miles away. Their images were also no
doubt altered to keep their identities secret
from even the other members. Each of these men
was a member of an organization known only as
Seele. It had existed for years, perhaps
centuries as a network of powerful men with one
outstanding goal in mind
The human instrumentality program.
At the moment however, the topic at hand
was only linked to that by incident. A few
hours previous a discovery had been made at one
of Japan's active volcanoes-- an Angel slept
therein. If captured it could be a tremendous
source of data for the numerous projects under
development around the world.
If they failed however...
"An A17?" one of the committee members
asked with more amusement in his tone than
Gendou cared to have directed at him.
"You wish to make a pre-emptive strike
then?" another asked, at least showing a polite
amount of interest
Gendou fought the urge to sigh in annoyance.
Seele was made up of some of the most powerful
men on the planet. Men who ruled nations sat in
it's committee. One would have thought that
some tact would have come with the job.
"Yes," he told them simply.
"Not acceptable! It's too dangerous!" one
of the other men sneered at him.
Unsurprisingly, it was the American, the
prideful fools never had forgiven the Japanese
for overtaking them as the dominant world
power, "don't tell me you've already forgotten
what happened when we tried this 15 years ago."
Gendou fought the urge to get up and
simply walk out. These sessions were more
dangerous to him than any Angel attack could
ever be. It seemed as if they were purposefully
trying to antagonize him sometimes, "It's an
opportunity to take an offensive posture, we've
been doing nothing but defending ourselves
since the beginning."
" I must agree with him Ikari" the man who
Gendou had known for years as Kiel said, "the
risk is far too great."
"Surely you admit how important getting a
sample of a living Angel is," he said keeping
his eyes fixed on Kiel.
A moment passed between the men in total
silence as Kiel considered those words. Finally
the visored man spoke "Failure will not be
tolerated," he told Gendou as the holographic
conference was terminated.
When the light of his place marker went
out and he was certain that they were alone, he
finally allowed himself to relax slightly. He
detested dealing with these greedy and
desperate fools, but if his goals were to be
realized then he had no choice. To leave them
to their own designs was _not_ something he was
prepared to do-- no matter how annoying their
bickering could be.
"Failure?" Fuyutski said with obvious
disgust, "If we fail, humanity will cease to
exist."
[]====[]
[]====[]
"So this is the Angel?" Shinji asked as
they looked at the projected image on the
screen. It didn't really look like an angel at
the moment... it looked more like one of the x-
rays that doctors took of an unborn baby. They
had called them in not half an hour ago and
they had been suited up and ready to go when
they had found out the nature of the mission.
Needless to say Asuka was happy about it.
"Yes," Ritsuko told them "this is
something like a chrysalis stage before
adulthood. I want you all to remember that the
top priority for this operation is to trap the
Angel, capturing it alive and preserving its
original condition as much as possible."
"And if we screw up?" Asuka asked
"Annihilate it as quickly as possible,"
Ritsuko answered, showing no reaction to the
insolent way Asuka had asked her question, "do
you all understand what I've told you?"
"Yes," the three pilots said in unison.
"Good, now the assigned pilot will be--"
She didn't get to finish before Asuka
began bouncing in her seat with her hand in the
air, looking for all the world like a teacher's
pet who knew the answer to a tough question.
"Me! Me! I'll go!" she cried excitedly.
They all knew that she had been craving a solo
mission since she arrived, and that she wasn't
about to let this one slide by without a
argument.
'But of course, they'll pick me as
usual,' Shinji thought as he slumped back in
his chair.
"The pilot will be Asuka" Ritsuko finally
finished with a roll of her eyes.
Shinji sat up with a start at hearing
that, for a change they weren't going to put
him in the hot seat...
As he thought about that with relief, Rei
spoke up
"And myself?"
"Unfortunately the equipment hasn't been
standardized for use with Unit Zero" Maya told
her, " we still haven't finished the upgrades
to the prototype."
"Correct," Ritsuko added, " but since it
is nearly fully repaired you will remain here
in case of emergency"
"Understood," Rei said.
"Awwww too bad," Asuka teased, " you
won't be able to join us at the hot springs I
guess"
Shinji frowned-- there was absolutely no
call for that.
"Ritsuko?" he asked, " once the Angel is
defeated is there any reason Rei shouldn't be
allowed to join us?"
" I suppose not, if she wants to go we
could arrange a transport... Rei?"
Rei looked around at the expectant faces
with a touch of surprise; she had not
considered the possibility of joining the
others once the condition of the prototype had
been explained. However she had never been to a
hot spring, and the idea did appeal to her.
"If it does not interfere with my duties,
then I would enjoy to go." She told Ritsuko who
smiled as she caught Asuka's reaction out of
the corner of her eye. The reaction in question
was one of great annoyance.
In the meantime Shinji sat there with a
smile on his face.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They had arrived quickly and set up at the
edge of the fiery pit. Shinji was to stand by
in Unit One while Asuka took the type D
equipment down into the inferno. He had to
admire how brave she was, if something went
wrong she would be not only roasted alive, but
feel Unit Two's pain long before the Entryplug
was affected by the heat. He knew _far_ to well
what that felt like, and did not envy her job.
As he sat above the rim of the volcano in
Unit One, he noticed a series of smoke trails
above, there normally weren't that many planes
in the area and it caught his attention.
Flipping on his communications he asked
Misato and the others what it was about.
"That's the UN air force," Ritsuko
answered
"Oh?" Asuka piped in from Unit Two, "are
they here to help us?"
"No," Ritsuko replied with a touch of sour
amusement, " they're here to clean up the mess
if we fail."
"What do you mean?" Asuka asked
"If we fail their orders are to saturate
the area with a N2 bombing run."
"That _sucks_!" Asuka screamed indignantly
from her Entryplug.
" Who would order something like that?"
Shinji wanted to know.
"Commander Ikari" Ritsuko replied
'You bastard...' Shinji thought angrily as
he looked up at the planes circle above like
vultures.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Other than the scissors dive as she went
in, Shinji had to admit that Asuka was totally
professional. It was strange... Misato was the
same way. Off duty the woman was a total slob,
constantly drinking and dressing in clothing
that would get her arrested anywhere other than
a beach. On duty Misato was just what Kensuke
and Touji called her-- a Goddess. Right now she
was completely in command of all aspects of the
operation and the very picture of professional
behavior.
A similar duality was at work with Asuka.
Thankfully she didn't have Misato's habits, but
the ones she _did_ have were almost as bad. But
now, as he listened to the exchange going on
between her and Misato, he respected her
understanding of procedure. It was something he
didn't have; for the most part he had to
struggle just to remember the proper procedure
for communications.
As she passed the recommended safety
depth, he was again impressed by her lack of
fear. Had it been him down there with the magma
he knew he would have turned back by now.
"Nothing detected, no one's home" Asuka
told Misato as she scanned the expected
location.
"The lava flow at that depth is faster
than predicted, we are recalculating the
location now" Misato told her.
A few moments passed and Shinji was
sweating despite the fact he was on the
surface, every few moments he could hear a
creaking sound over the radio contact, and he
knew it was the armor of Unit Two warping under
the heat.
"We are exceeding the maximum safety
depth, Asuka what is your status?" Misato asked
"So far so good, but I wanna get into a
shower first thing when I'm done, I feel nasty
in this damn weird Plugsuit"
"I know," Misato told her, and Shinji
could almost picture the grin, " when we're
done here we'll head off to the hot springs
okay?"
As the Eva continued its slow trek, Shinji
could still hear the creaking of the type D
equipment through the communication link. The
pressure down there was unbelievable; it had
even snapped the straps holding the progressive
knife in place. Every creak singled a step
closer to the armor's implosion, how Asuka
could stand it was beyond him.
Finally they found the target.
"Releasing magnetic field... no problems
detected, " Asuka told them from the bowls of
the earth, " capture successful"
"How are you down there Asuka?" Shinji
asked
"Oh this was nothing," She told him, "but
I definitely want to get the hell out of this
damn suit and into that hot bath."
Shinji grinned at that and sat back on
his seat. Nothing had gone wrong, she was ok,
and soon they would be at the springs. He
wished Hikari would be there, he missed her. At
least it would give him a chance to get to know
her sisters though. They had planned this trip
from the moment they had discovered that he and
Asuka wouldn't be going on the class trip.
Misato had even arranged for Kodama to bring
Rei with them when she and Nozomi came up
later. When she wasn't teasing him, Kodama
could be nice enough, and Nozomi was just fun.
The younger girl was smarter than most of the
people he knew, when she grew up she just might
make good on her desire to take Misato's job.
As he drifted along to his thoughts, he
heard a beep from the com, then an alarm.
Sitting up quickly he checked his readouts
and saw that there was a problem with the EM
field around the angel... it was waking up!
"Abort the capture," Misato yelled over
the com, "drop the cage!"
"No!" Asuka cried as the beast tried to
free itself
"Our operation is now altered," Misato
ordered, "annihilation of Angel is the number
one priority. Unit Two, withdraw and prepare
for battle."
"Understood!" Asuka said from below,
"I've been waiting for this!"
However a few seconds later, Shinji's
hairs stood on end as he heard her next
transmission
"Oh, shiest!" She cried, "I forgot that I
dropped the knife! The enemy is approaching
from the front! Releasing ballast's."
"Asuka," Misato yelled as Ritsuko
relayed Shinji's new orders, "Unit One will
drop its knife. Try and catch it!"
Shinji threw his progressive knife into
the bubbling lava, but his concern didn't ebb a
bit. Switching on a private line to Misato, he
asked permission to join the fight.
"Negative Shinji, we need you up here in
case the angel defeats Asuka."
"But Misato--"
"I said _no_ Shinji and that's an order,
you are our last line of defense"
'Gee, no pressure," he thought bitterly
as he watched the churning mass of molten rock
below.
The battle was tense for all of them.
Visibility was nil and without weapons, Asuka
was reduced to dodges for the moment. Her depth
was rising rapidly but it just wasn't fast
enough.
As the progressive knife arrived Shinji
let out a sigh of relief... that was until what
he heard next.
"I'm not getting any use out of this damn
thing!" she cried as she tried to cut into the
Angel who was trying to _eat_ her. Ritsuko
reported that the Angel's mass was too great
and that the heat was preventing the
Progressive knife from making even a scratch.
'Damnit I can't just _sit_ here' Shinji
thought as the others tried to come up with a
plan, the answer came to him in a flash as he
heard Maya report that one of the coolant pipes
had been damaged.
"Asuka!" he shouted, trying to slow his
mind down enough to make sense "think Physics!"
"Thermal expansion!" She yelled as she
realized what he was saying, "transmit all
coolant pressure to pipe three!"
As they followed the directions, Shinji
leaned over the edge and looked at the lava
again, no sign of the battle below could be
seen from there, despite the fact they were
only a few hundred feet below the surface now.
" Heavy damage to all pipes!" Makoto
yelled suddenly, " structural integrity down to
three percent!"
"I'm going in!" Shinji shouted as he
realized that Asuka's lifeline was about to
snap.
"No Shinji!" Misato yelled back, " this is
an order, you sta-"
Whatever she might have added to that was
lost as Shinji switched off all communications
and leapt into the volcano.
The first thing he noticed was the pain.
The searing heat all around him transmitted
through the neural interface he shared with
Unit One. It was not, however, as bad as what
the fifth angel had done to him, and he felt he
could take it for a while.
The second thing he felt as he sunk
rapidly down into the magma, was the pressure.
It felt like every inch of his body was being
crushed more and more as he went deeper. Had
this been the same for Asuka? How could she
stand it?
As he activated the CT monitor, he saw that
Asuka was only a couple of meters away now, and
as reported the piping was about to give out.
Switching his communications back on he
could hear her.
"I defeated the Angel," she said softly, "
but I'm done for..."
'No!' he thought as the pipe snapped just
below him. Grabbing the end, he threw Unit One
forward and reached as far as he could,
grasping the edge of Unit Two's piping at the
last possible second.
Unit Two's descent stopped with a jerk,
and he heard a surprised gasp come over the com
link. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he heard
her let out a short laugh.
"Show off" she said.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Do you have any idea how much trouble
you are in Shinji?" Misato demanded once he
returned from the shower. He was painfully
reminded of a similar situation just after the
fourth angel. That had been about he same
thing-- disobeying orders.
"I gave you a direct order to hold your
position and you ignored it. Not only that you
shut off communications and placed Unit One at
great risk." Misato told him, her voice was
like steel trimmed with ice, "the price of
repairs for Unit Two alone could feed a small
nation, but you went down there with no
protection at all. We're going to be clearing
lava out of Unit One's armor for weeks!"
Shinji stood there and listened to what
she had to say. He didn't care really, he had
saved Asuka and that was the important thing.
How Misato seemed to be missing that point was
beyond him.
"I will have you know Shinji Ikari, "
Misato said, " that we are in a time of war,
and during war solders who disobey orders can
be executed at the whim of the commanding
officer. What you did back there can be
interpreted as treason _very_ easily. Am I
making myself clear?"
"Crystal" Shinji said, and while he did
understand, he didn't really care. The angel
was dead and he had not been about to let
someone die like that if there was something he
could do. It felt... good to have saved
someone's life, and he was not going to let
anyone take that away. Even Misato.
"Good," she told him, her voice suddenly
softening" because now I want to thank you
Shinji."
"W--what?" he stammered, completely caught
off guard, "why?"
"For saving her life," Misato told him,
"Shinji, I don't want you to think I chewed you
out like that because I was mad you dove in
there after Asuka. Don't get me wrong, I am
angry that you disobeyed my orders, but there
is a reason for that. If you don't follow
orders in this job then people die Shinji, and
that's what we're trying to prevent. You have
to learn that I'm not telling you to do these
things for the hell of it. Calls like the one
today have to be made sometimes. It sucks, and
I hate myself for it, but sometimes you just
have to bite the bullet and do it anyway."
"You never asked for this," she continued,
"and I curse myself and your father every day
for forcing you into it. But if we don't do
this then too many people will lose heir lives.
We don't have a choice Shinji, do you
understand?"
"I'm trying to Misato..." he told her as
tears threatened to flow, "I really am, but I
just don't want people to get hurt"
She walked over and gave him a hug, "me
either Kido, me either... hey, what's say we go
spend a few dozen hours at the finest hot
springs in the country and forget about all
this bullshit?"
"That sounds good," he told her as they
stepped out of the truck that held the lockers
and into the sunlight.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that night after the others arrived,
they sat around a fireplace in the Hot spring's
best suite and laughed as Misato told them
about the Plugsuit they had made for Asuka's
dive. Asuka of course was not happy about this
and proceeded to tell everyone about the night
Misato had tried to sing while drunk, complete
with impressions.
Nozomi had taken over the show at that
point and had managed to not only embarrass
Asuka, but had managed to bring up a couple of
incidents that had Kodama and Misato blushing
as well
Shinji sat in his robe watching the
proceedings with a smile. For so long he had
hated piloting the Evangelion, but after today,
he was realizing that there just might be a
purpose and reason for him to continue.
"Hey Ikari," Kodama said suddenly, "I
need to talk with you a moment."
"Okay..." he said as he sat up, and they
walked over to a corner.
"I heard about the kiss." Kodama said
getting straight to the point.
"Oh..." Shinji replied with a gulp
"How do you feel about Hikari?" she asked
him as she crossed her arms.
Fighting to keep from blushing, he tried
to answer as truthfully as he could.
"I like her a lot Kodama, she makes me
feel like I'm actually worth something."
"Okay... well look, other than the fact
you need a serious self esteem implant, I don't
have any problems with you, but the first sign
that you're not treating her right and I'm
going to make sure you regret it."
"Um..." Shinji said, his eyes wide at the
threat, " I'll do my best."
"S'all I wanted to hear. As long as you're
good to her, then you're alright in my book
Ikari."
"Thank you," he said, as he wondered if
other guys got this from their girlfriend's
families.
"So, what's the deal with Rei?" She asked
him as she nodded where the girl sat by the
window watching the rising moon, " is she your
cousin or something?"
"Huh?" Shinji said as he glanced at the
pale girl, "no, I never even met her till I
came here, what gave you that idea?"
" I was just wondering. You two kind of...
never mind, my bad call okay?
"Don't worry about it," Shinji told her as
they joined the others.
[]====[]
[]====[]
As Asuka lay on her futon that night she
thought back to that moment between the pipe
snapping and her rescue.
The reason this was so dominant in her
mind was that for that instant, she had been
relieved.
'Why?' she wondered, 'why would I ever be
_glad_ that I was about to die? That just
doesn't make sense. I'm the best Pilot in Nerv,
what could possibly make me want to leave
that?'
It was confusing to her, and bothersome
because it threatened to bring out some things
that she didn't want to remember. Rolling on
her side she decided that there was too much
pain in her past to dwell on this crap; it only
brought back bad memories
Across from her, she could see Nozomi
and Rei sleeping silently. Rei wasn't exactly a
talker, and Asuka didn't care for her attitude
much anyhow. Nozomi on the other hand... Asuka
was glad she had come, hanging around with her
had given her an excuse to conveniently
'forget' to thank Shinji for saving her life.
It was frustrating that the little twit
had overshadowed her greatest triumph. Not that
she wasn't glad he had been there to pull her
fat out of the fire, but she had wanted to
complete the mission by herself. His having
interfered had marred what should have been her
total victory.
To make matters worse he kept sinking his
claws into her life! First she had been forced
to share the apartment with him, and that had
been survivable. But now she was being forced
to deal with the fact that her only friend in
the country had some kind of disgusting crush
on him!
She had _no_ idea what that was about, he
wasn't much to look at, he had no personality
and to top it all off he was a grubby little
pervert. How Hikari could ever feel anything
for someone like him was beyond her
understanding. She had tried to figure it out
that day at the natatorium, but still hadn't
seen whatever it was in there. She had even
seen Rei talking to him once or twice, and
_that_ had to be proof enough that he was
weird.
As she tossed back to look out the window,
she rolled her eyes and tried to get to sleep.
She would have to have a long talk with Hikari
when she and the others got back, that boy was
nothing but trouble.
Hopefully Hikari would be smart enough to
realize that before anything disgusting
happened.
[]====================[]
To Be Continued...
[]====================[]
Authors Incoherent Babbling:
Some quick trivia: I was going through my
(Webster's) English-Japanese dictionary looking
up words and stuff and I found Hikari in there.
The word translates as "ray or beam of light".
Appropriate huh? Oh, and Nozomi means "hope,
wish or a desire"... kinda cool stuff. I like
how Japanese names do that. Occasionally in the
English speaking countries you will run across
a similar thing (generally with girls) where
their name is Hope, or Crystal, or Willow. This
happens in a few other cultures; I know Native
Americans have names like that, but I don't
know about others... the more I learn the more
I discover I have yet to learn.
On that note, anyone with a handle on
Japanese might have caught the identity of
Kensuke's new friend. I know it's not a cannon
character, but I couldn't resist. Besides, I
have a very good reason for doing it. And also
on that note, I seriously doubt they just
junked the JA's, selling them makes more sense
in the starving world economy of post second
impact.
About the beer thing ... well I'm just
guessing here, but chances are that Misato
started drinking in collage and it just might
have been Kaji that started her in on the
Russian beer. *Snicker*
And for the music, that one is just a
guess, but if that's _his_ laptop it makes
sense. Shinji only has the one bag and we never
see a collection of music, but he has to record
this stuff _somehow_ so I figure he keeps it on
the laptop and mix and matches to suit his
current mood.
One more thing, and this is another
attempt to dodge mailbombs from Asuka fans. If
you don't like the portrayal of her here that's
fine. I'm trying to portray her as someone who
is very confused, but doesn't realize it. She
lusts after Kaji, but every time she sees
someone makin' with Der smoochin' she rolls her
eyes and thinks 'how disgusting'. I don't think
Asuka understands the difference between love
and lust (or knows that there is one), and it's
something I'll be exploring in Book 2.
Well its late and my brain is fried from
too much sugar and caffeine, off to sleep.
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^
Chain Lightning Studios Presents
Together We Stand
By T. L. Webb
Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice
Appears under your feet
The Thin Ice
Pink Floyd, The Wall
[]===============[]
Book 1 Part 6
[]===============[]
Asuka was in high spirits when she
returned to the apartment. She still couldn't
really think of the place as 'home', in fact,
she hadn't thought of anywhere as being home
since she was a child. It was simply a place
where she dwelled until the morons at Nerv
realized that she was fully capable of living
on her own. On the upside it was much nicer
than the disgusting cell that they had shoved
her in at first. She pitied any other new
pilots who arrived; that was no way for the
saviors of Mankind to be treated.
The Katsuragi residence was small, but it
was nice by Japanese standards. As compact as
it was, even she had to admit that the place
was well planned out. When she had first seen
the room she was using she hadn't believed that
she could possibly fit even half her stuff in
it. After a closer inspection she discovered
how well managed the space was, and she had
only ended up sending about a quarter of her
belongings to storage.
Despite that, and fact that couches
seemed to be non existent in Japan, she liked
the place. It had a great view of the city from
the patio that was right outside her door. Her
only real complaints were her roommates. Misato
wasn't so bad, if she would try to find a
decent brand of beer Asuka thought that she
might be able to put up with the woman. Whoever
had hooked the poor lady on that disgusting
Russian brew should be shot. Sooner or later
she would have to get Misato some _real_ beer
so she wouldn't have to smell the stuff
anymore.
Her other roommate... was a bit more
annoying. How Shinji Ikari had lasted this long
was a mystery to her; the boy was hardly pilot
material. He was a fluke, he _had_ to be! There
was no way that someone as pathetic as that boy
having such a high synch ratio was natural. She
and Ayanami had worked for months and months to
get their ratios high enough for activation, to
synch on the first try...
'It has to be a fluke,' she thought as
she removed her shoes, 'no way they _picked_
him for this.'
Back in Germany, she had heard rumors
that he had even run _away_! What kind of loopy
selection process would pick someone who didn't
even want to be there? Well at least they had
her. She would show all of them just what a
_real_ Evangelion Pilot was capable of, and
after over eight years of training she was more
than ready to do just that.
At the moment however, she had better
things to think about. Her shopping trip had
been heavenly! Spending the whole day with Kaji
had been wonderful, and she couldn't wait till
the next time. He was so handsome and charming,
completely unlike the disgusting boys at
collage. If he didn't insist on pursuing that
ridiculous obsession with Misato he would be
perfect. She would have to remember to tell him
so on their next date.
That, of course, would have to wait until
after she got back from the class trip.
This was the other thing that had her in
such a good mood. She hadn't had a chance to go
scuba diving since the last stages of her pilot
training had begun two years previous, and she
missed it. Okinawa was supposed to be a nice
town in the first place, and with the high
ocean levels since Second Impact, there would
be many submerged buildings for her to explore
under the sea.
As she made the turn from the hall to the
kitchen however, something told her that there
was about to be some bad news. Misato was
sitting at the table with a beer in front of
her, but instead of being half-empty; the can
was unopened. She had only seen Misato do this
once before, and that had been when she was
instructing Shinji and herself on their synch
training. Also, Shinji was sitting at the table
listening idly to one of his tapes on SDAT.
So the obvious conclusion of this was
that Misato Katsuragi was about to get serious
on her. For Misato to do this at home was a
rare occurrence. At work the woman was amazing,
juggling task after task and still keeping up
with whatever the Angels threw at them. At
home... at home she reminded Asuka of some of
the frat boys back at collage.
Sure enough Misato gestured for her to
sit down, and what she had to say was more than
enough to ruin Asuka's mood.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"What do you _mean_ we won't be going?"
Asuka cried out as she stood from her chair.
"Your presence is required here in Tokyo
Three until the threat of the Angels is past,"
Misato responder calmly.
"No one ever told me anything about that!"
"Well now you've been told," Misato said
with a smile.
"Who's crazy idea was this anyway?" Asuka
muttered as she slumped back into her chair.
"That particular crazy notion would be
mine," Misato told her as she popped open her
drink, "as the operations planing manager it
was my decision."
Asuka seemed to simmer in her seat, and
Misato could feel the anger resonating off the
German girl like a tangible force. To her
relief-- and slight amusement-- Asuka decided
to direct it to the boy sitting beside her who,
until then, had been observing silently.
"Hey you, don't just sit there drinking--
say something! Stand up for yourself! It's your
rights she's trampling on too you know!"
"Well... I kinda figured we wouldn't be
allowed to go from the beginning," Shinji told
her-- doing an admirable job of not melting
under her glare in the process, "and she does
have a point, if an Angel attacks we do need to
be here."
"So you're just give up and let them strip
away your freedom?"
"It's not like that, it's just--"
"I can't believe that they housebroke you
so easily! You're pathetic!"
"There's no call for that Asuka!" Shinji
said indignantly. Actually, he had no idea what
the English term she had just used meant, but
he was sure it was not polite. Coming from
Asuka it was a safe bet anyhow.
"Don't take that tone of voice with _me_
you little twerp!" Asuka said, her eyes
burning.
"Will you make up your mind?" Shinji
demanded, raising his voice. She had been doing
this for weeks now, and he was starting to get
sick of it. One moment she would complain that
he let everyone walk all over him, the next she
was screaming at him for talking back to her.
"Stop it both of you!" Misato yelled,
slamming her beer can down on the table and
causing both of them to jump in surprise,
"Asuka I know how much you want to go on this
trip, but we just can't risk it, I'm sorry.
"Wait, wait, wait, _wait_, _WAIT_! That's
all we ever do around here!" Asuka shouted,
turning her anger back to her guardian, "any
_good_ solider will tell you that we should be
hunting _them_ not sitting around waiting for
them to come to _us_!"
"Asuka, if we could do that, believe me
we would," Misato told her as she took another
sip of her beer," but you do have to admit that
this will give you both a good opportunity to
catch up on your studies-- or did you think I
wouldn't notice your test scores?"
Shinji wished he could sink into his
chair. He had known that sooner or later the
absences and rushed makeup work was going to
come out in his scores... he supposed he should
be grateful it had taken this long.
"You do realize that all your exam
results were forwarded directly to my office? I
am very disappointed with both of your scores,
especially you Asuka... with your education you
should be doing much better than this."
"Hey, don't blame me if the grading
scales you Japanese use can't properly identify
my talents, " Asuka told her haughtily--
unfortunately for her point, she was making no
sense whatsoever," why are we even forced to go
to school? It's not like they could actually
_teach_ me anything there."
"When in Rome," Misato said with a grin,
"do as the Romans do... and get used to it
because you're signed up for at least the next
two semesters."
"This sucks!" Asuka screamed as she
stormed to her room and slammed her door.
Shinji looked at Misato and a
realization struck him. Living with the
redheaded girl had been difficult for him, he
had lost his room, the quiet, and a lot of
privacy... but Misato on the other hand had
seemed to take everything in stride. In the
proceeding 'conversation' however, Shinji had
detected a subtext to Misato's tone that was
just now becoming text to him.
"You enjoyed that," he asked his guardian
as she downed the rest of her beer, "didn't
you?"
Misato tossed the empty can expertly into
the recycling bin he had brought in awhile back
and winked at him, "now Shinji it would be
downright mean of me to take pleasure in
denying that _sweet_ young girl a trip she had
been looking forward to. Even if it was fully
authorized and I had no choice," she leaned
over onto her elbows and fluttered her
eyelashes innocently, " why would you _ever_
think I'd do that?"
Shinji chuckled at that; at least it
wasn't just _him_ that Asuka drove crazy.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Kensuke had been up most of the night.
Last time he'd looked at the clock had
been around one. Not that he really cared as he
was, at the moment, wrapped up in what might
have been the most fascinating conversation of
his life. Ever since Nerv had secured the UN's
undivided attention after the Jet Alone
disaster, information on the Evangelions had
been much easier to come by.
The lack of international funding had not
stopped other countries from developing war
machines-- in fact there were numerous projects
all around the world rushing robotic battle
machines into production. Part of this was
because the world feared what might happen if
the Eva's were ever turned against mankind, but
it also was a remnant of the twentieth
centuries cold war mentality. If one country
had a weapon, then the next largest would try
to match them. It was the 'red queen'
phenomenon. Everyone was running as fast as
they could to stay in place.
Kensuke ran a web page devoted to the
latest rumors of such projects. He meticulously
researched his leads, and only accepted new
information from trusted sources. His current
conversation was the result of an Email he'd
received earlier that day.
He was well aware that the Jet Alone
project had been mostly abandoned by the JSSDF,
but that the two prototypes had been sold to
China. At the moment, there was no official
word on the status of the JA's, and he had
about given up hope on it. However, the person
he had been conversing with most of the night
had relayed information concerning a new
project that had him very interested.
[TheMechSage] so it's a land sea and air
system?
[TetsuShojo] that's right, it's one of
the reasons they called it what they did.
[TheMechSage] this is great? How long
before they go public? Not that I
don't believe you, but I have to confirm
some of this before I can post it.
[TetsuShojo] I understand, but I just
don't know. They don't exactly tell us
much in my department
[TheMechSage] that's a shame, ever since
the American project fell through and
they joined Project E there hasn't been
much to report. If I didn't have such
great footage of the Eva's then my site
wouldn't be worth much.
[TetsuShojo] I think you're doing a great
job. That picture of Unit One under repair
is amazing. It's even better than the one
of it and Zero at sunset
[TheMechSage] oh, I can't take credit for
that one, it was a gift
[TetsuShojo] really? How did you manage
that?
[TheMechSage] well I don't usually tell
people this, but one of the pilots is a
pretty good friend of mine. His guardian
got the photo for me. I think she got tired
of my pestering her about it.
[TetsuShojo] you're kidding?
[TheMechSage] truth, truth! Check out my
'life in Tokyo Three' page for a pic of him,
he's the one with the sad look on his face
[TetsuShojo] hmmm he's a cutie, and you're
the sexy one with the glasses?
[TheMechSage] that's me in the glasses, I
don't know about 'sexy' though
[TetsuShojo] hey, I think freckles are
_way_ sexy on the right guy
[TheMechSage] you flatter me ^_^
[TetsuShojo] hey, while I'm thinking about
it, I heard something about an Australian
project today. I'll see what the word is
on that tomorrow
[TheMechSage] I really appreciate all the
information; you've been a big help
[TetsuShojo] it's my pleasure, when will
you be on again by the way? I've had fun
talking with you
[TheMechSage] well I'm going to Okinawa
for a few days, but I'll be back in a
week or so.
[TetsuShojo] glad to hear it, I look
forward to our next conversation
[TheMechSage] hey, before you go, what's
your name? I never did catch it
[TetsuShojo] ah, but that would be
telling... ^_^
[TheMechSage] a woman of mystery, I like
it!
[TetsuShojo] silly, it's late and I do
have to go... enjoy your trip
[TheMechSage] Thank you. I'll talk to you
soon. Nite!
[]====[]
[]====[]
"I still wish you could go with us,"
Hikari told Shinji as they walked back to the
airport terminal where everyone was waiting for
the plane to arrive. The rest of their class
was there as well; Asuka had even come to see
them off. The only person who was not there was
Rei, but Hikari didn't mind. She knew from her
dealings with Shinji that it was going to take
a long time before Rei could make anything
close to his progress in the social department.
"It's probably better that I stay,"
Shinji said with a weak smile, " I wouldn't be
able to go diving anyhow."
"Why not?"
"I can't swim," he replied with a slight
blush.
"Seriously? That's a shame... I could
teach you if you want."
"I don't know," he said apprehensively, "
I spend so much time breathing liquid in the
Eva that it doesn't appeal to me much."
"Well I kind of see your point there, but
you should still learn. You never know when it
will come in handy."
"I suppose... hey have you decided what
you're going to the dance as?"
"No, I still can't think of a costume...
the rules said that it has to ' represent an
aspect of your personality'. Interesting in
theory, but it makes picking one out a bit
difficult."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something,"
he said-- reaching over and squeezing her hand.
"Even so, I won't have much time if I
don't do it soon... anyway, what are you going
to do while we're all gone?"
"I think Misato has something planed with
your sister, but other than that I'm mostly
going to be studying for the make up exam."
"I'm sorry, I should have helped you
study more."
"It's not your fault, I doubt I would have
scored as high as I did if you hadn't been
there. It's the training and tests that keep
cutting into my time."
"Not to mention your roommate's music
tastes," Hikari said cringing in memory of the
German rock bands that Asuka favored. She liked
the girl, but was doubtful that she would ever
like her music.
"Well, it hasn't been so bad since Misato
threatened to throw the stereo out the window;
I think Asuka got the message. It's a very good
thing that we don't have neighbors."
They stood and walked back to where the
rest of the students were gathered. Asuka was
chatting away with Ichigo and a couple other
girls, Kensuke was fast asleep, Touji on he
other hand was wide-awake and waved them over
to where he was sitting.
"Where have you two been hiding?" he asked
as they sat down.
"We were over at the food court," Shinji
replied
"Cool, I think I might run over there
before the plane arrives. I doubt I can make it
the whole flight on just peanuts."
"Didn't you have breakfast before you
left home?" Hikari asked
"Yeah... why?"
"It was just two hours ago Touji," Shinji
said.
"So?"
"Never mind," the two sighed in unison.
"So what's shaking with the demon?" Touji
asked, "she didn't even insult me this morning,
I _almost_ miss the attention."
"Well she found out Misato was going to
let her use the natatorium to go scuba diving
and she's been in a good mood ever since. Come
to think of it she hasn't even called me stupid
once today"
"Gotta be some kind of record or
something," Touji said with a grin,
"Stop it you two," Hikari told them--
trying to keep from smiling as she did so.
"Shame you can't go," Touji told Shinji,
"not gonna be as much fun without ya."
Shinji almost blushed, Touji wasn't just
saying that-- he really meant it. He had only
known the other boy for a sjort while, but in
that time he had learned that Touji generally
said the first thing that came to mind. No
pauses to ponder the outcome simply thought to
deed in one electric leap. So for him to say
something like that, especially offhand like he
had, indicated that he meant it fully.
"Thank you Touji," Shinji told his
friend, " I wish I could go too, but I do have
a responsibility to be here."
"Well, I'll try to have fun for the three
of ya," Touji said with a grin.
"Suzuhara!" Hikari said-- crossing her
arms wit ha frown.
"What? I shouldn't try to have fun?"
"You're utterly hopeless, aren't you?"
Hikari said with a sigh
"Hey!" Asuka said as she sauntered over, "
whatcha talking about?"
"Not much," Hikari said, "just wishing you
Rei and Shinji could go."
"I know, and it's a damned shame that Nerv
won't go on the offensive, "Asuka said as she
leaned against a support beam and crossed her
hands behind her head, "if Misato didn't have
the highest tactical scores out of the last six
classes in Germany I'd think this organization
was run by idiots."
"Is she really that good?" Shinji asked,
this was the first he'd heard of this.
"Well Kaji was in her graduating class,
and he told me about it once," she said,
"apparently she even had to take the hardest
tests twice because they couldn't believe she
hadn't cheated. Then she beat her previous
score and they all flipped."
"Wow..." Touji said, he glanced over at
Kensuke who was still snoring in his seat. He
would have to remember to tease his friend for
missing out on this information about Goddess
Katsuragi.
"Yeah, the only reason she didn't graduate
top of her class was that she missed a week or
two in mid semester, I asked Kaji about that
but he said he didn't know why. I have to
admit, despite her sloppy housekeeping, she is
the best I have ever seen at what she does."
As they pondered the high compliment Asuka
had just given Misato, their flight was
announced and the other students began
gathering their carry on luggage. Shinji and
Hikari stood there for a bit each wanting to
say something, but not having the words.
"I guess this is it," Shinji said at last
as he looked down at his feet.
"I'll get the two of you something nice
while I'm there."
"Thanks."
They stood there for a few moments longer
before Hikari came to a decision. Taking a
determined breath she stepped forward, and to
the surprise of Touji, the newly awakened
Kensuke, and the completely befuddled Asuka--
she kissed Shinji deeply on the lips.
They had kissed once before, and it had
been nice, but this one shot it down in flames.
As Shinji overcame his surprise and began to
return her embrace, the others watched on in
shock. When the two finally came up for air and
saw the looks they were receiving, they both
blushed deeply. As Touji looked back and forth
between the two and scratched his head in
confusion, Kensuke pinched himself to make sure
he was really awake.
After a moment, Asuka threw up her hands
and walked off cursing in German about all
Japanese being perverts. This sent Hikari into
giggles and Shinji into an even deeper blush.
Finally the boarding signal was given and the
class began heading to the plane. As they made
their way down to their seats, Touji turned to
speak with Kensuke
"When did this start?" he asked his
groggy friend.
"I have no idea, but I kinda had a hunch
something was up."
"Really? I didn't have a clue."
"I _must_ be tired if I'm passing on a
straight line like that," Kensuke said with a
yawn, " why so shocked though? It's not like
they don't make a cute couple."
"I dunno, Shinji's kinda weird."
"He can be a little different, but that's
just because of how he was raised. Think about
how much he's changed since he started hanging
out with us and the class rep. I don't remember
him even talking to anyone for the first two
weeks, now he and Hikari spend almost every
spare moment together.
"You do have a point... but I dunno,"
Touji looked out the window at the terminal
where he could see Shinji standing against the
glass, "think he's good enough for her?"
"If I were any more awake than I am, I'd
suspect you were jealous Touji," Kensuke said
as he leaned his seat back a bit.
"Of course not!" Touji said defensively,
"but she _is_ our friend and we ought to look
out for her. It was a legitimate question."
"Well if he was still like he was when he
arrived, I might agree, " Kensuke said as he
settled back in his chair, " but he's come a
long way since that day at the train station...
I think there's hope for them."
Touji listened to that and thought about
it for a moment. He was about to ask something
else when he turned and found Kensuke was fast
asleep.
Farther back in the plane Hikari and Yume
were seated together. Naturally the other girl
wanted to know the hows and whys of what she
had just witnessed.
"I told you," Hikari repeated, " we're not
too serious yet, that was only our second
kiss."
"And you're not worried?"
"About what?"
"Leaving him alone with the other two
pilots. I'll admit that Ayanami isn't much of a
threat, but the German? I wouldn't leave my guy
alone within a mile of her."
"Shinji isn't interested in her, he told
me so."
"Hikari, I thought you were smarter than
that..."
"Smarter than what?"
"Boys don't exactly think with their
_brains_ all the time. Asuka isn't the nicest
girl I've ever met, she could melt just about
any guy's spine in half a second if she tried."
"I doubt she's even interested in Shinji,
she complains about him constantly."
"Hmmm maybe, but you never know..."
Hikari turned away and looked out the
window as they pulled onto the runway. She
trusted Shinji; he was practically the
definition of 'heart on his sleeve'. But Yume
did have a point and that point had actually
been one of the reasons behind the kiss that
had so surprised everyone. She had wanted to
leave Shinji with her on his mind in a big way.
In the end it came down to the fact she
trusted him, but even as she reminded herself
of the fact... Yume's words resonated in her
mind...
[]====[]
[]====[]
From the terminal, Shinji watched the
plane lift off.
As it sailed off into the clear blue sky
he sighed and thought back to that electrifying
kiss. He had never experience anything like it,
he had felt totally open for that moment, and
he hadn't been afraid. It was amazing how much
more intense it had been than the last one, and
that had been considerably intense. Almost
amazing as the intensity was the closeness he
felt to Hikari.
When he was around Hikari, he felt safe.
That was the best way to put it. He knew she
wouldn't twist anything he said into a joke, or
yell at him like Misato and Asuka did. He knew
she would listen to what he had to say, and
that she trusted him to do the same. He knew
that she enjoyed his company as much as he
enjoyed hers. Most importantly he felt that he
could be totally honest with her, and that had
been something he'd never been able to do
before.
When he had arrived in Tokyo Three he
had been alone. Since he had arrived he had
gained friends, he even had something like a
family- dysfunctional as it might be, and
now... a girlfriend?
"Hey! Let's go stupid," Asuka Shouted from
behind, " I want to go swimming sometime
_before_ they get back!"
He smiled, having suspected she wouldn't
last the whole morning without saying it at
least once.
[]====[]
[]====[]
He hadn't planed on going with them, but
Shinji had allowed Misato talk him into joining
Rei and Asuka at the natatorium. Her reasoning
had been sound enough-- if something happened
to Asuka while she was underwater, he could at
least shout for help and the Section Two guards
would come running.
Unfortunately what Misato hadn't taken
into account was the mindset he had been in
since Hikari's departure. Every time he thought
back to the kiss his mind became more muddled
and he found it harder to concentrate on his
studies for the makeup test. This was made even
more difficult by Asuka's new swimsuit.
He wondered if the designer of the suit
had crafted it with the sole purpose of
inciting lustful thoughts in males, it didn't
seem to be designed for _swimming_ that was for
sure. It was far too delicate to be able to
stand up to much vigorous swimming, or diving,
and had Asuka not merely been planing to use
the Scuba equipment it would have been a poor
choice in his opinion.
All that aside, the main problem he had
with the suit was the ridiculously big zipper
on the front. He could understand the need for
one with the design the suit had, but it was a
bit much. The idea was so blatantly obvious
that even he could understand it. The zipper
was supposed to catch a guy's eye, and he was
supposed to want to unzip it.
Clearly she had bought this particular
suit with Kaji in mind, but he wished she would
save it for when the older man was around-- at
the moment it was keeping him from
concentrating.
"Hey Shinji, whatcha doin'?" Asuka asked
as she wandered over
"I'm trying to get some studying done
before our makeup exam," he told her, trying
not to stare at her chest-- which was at the
moment almost shoved in his face as she leaned
over and read off his laptop.
"Oh you're such an _obedient_ student,"
she teased as she sat down in the chair beside
him and crossed her legs. Behind her in the
pool Rei was making her second lap underwater
without coming up for air.
"Well," he explained, grateful that she
had removed her cleavage from his face, "I
don't want to have to spend years catching up
to my studies when all of this is over."
"I suppose that makes sense... hey, what's
this one?" she asked as she turned his laptop
to face her. After a moment she pressed a
couple of keys and turned it back to him, "
there you go, all done. Its easy if you know
how."
"I don't understand Asuka, you can solve
a hard problem like this... but you failed the
exam?"
"Oh _that_" She said leaning back in her
chair and looking up at the ceiling, " I still
haven't mastered all these crazy little
squiggles that you call a written language over
here."
"You don't know the Kanji?"
"Not all of it, I didn't have to study it
in collage," she said as she twirled a few
strands of hair between her fingers.
"Y--you went to _collage_?"
"Yeah," Asuka said dismissively, " I
graduated last year, they said I was the
youngest graduate in like sixty years or
something... hey why are you just sitting
around up here anyway?"
"You mean why am I not swimming?"
"Yeah"
"I can't swim."
"Really? Why not?"
"Back where I used to live there wasn't
anywhere to do it, and like I told Hikari after
breathing LCL so much I'm not very eager to
float around like that."
"Well you're missing out if you ask me."
"What's so fascinating about it anyway?"
"Lets see, for one thing I like how the
echoes are all different when your down there.
Sound actually carries better under water. Plus
when you're floating down there its like
flying. The ocean is even better because its
like a whole other world suspended in midair."
" I see your point, but I still think I'll
stick to dry land for the moment, " he told her
with a frown.
"Your call, but I still say you're missing
out Shinji... anyway, what's this one say?" she
said pointing at the computer.
"It's a question about thermal expansion."
"Oh that's baby stuff, in short, things
get larger when they get hot and smaller when
they get cold."
"I know that but-" Shinji started to say,
however the redhead cut him off in mid
sentence.
"I'll even make it easier for you," she
told him as she took her hands -- and to
Shinji's discomfort-- cupped her breasts.
"Now, " she said as Shinji's face reddened,
"if I were to warm my breasts with my hands
would they get larger or smaller?"
'What the hell is her problem?' Shinji
thought as he looked away, 'she spends weeks
calling me a pervert and now she does something
like this?'
"I don't know," he said quickly as he
tried not to look at the admitably interesting
scene before him, "I don't think about things
like that!"
"You are _so_ dull Third Child, " she
said haughtily as she stood and walked over to
her scuba gear, "I don't think there's anything
about you that's really interesting."
Shinji frowned. He had never pretended to
understand Asuka, take this for example; she
had come over to _him_ and started up the
conversation, now she was cutting it off and
complaining. If she didn't find him interesting
he wished she would just leave him alone and
stop teasing him.
There was a splash behind him and he
turned to see Ayanami climb out of the water
and start to towel off. Before he could
register this however, a shout echoed thorough
the natatorium.
"Hey Shinji! Lookie, lookie!"
Turning once again, he saw Asuka wave at
him as she fell back into the water.
'Oh, right,' he thought with a sigh and
turned back to his studies, ' you don't find me
interesting at _all_ '
'What is wrong with that girl anyway?' He
wondered as she finished the next few
questions; 'doesn't she realize that she's
contradicting herself all the time?'
As he considered this, he heard soft
footfalls close by and turned to find Ayanami
standing behind him.
"Hello Rei," he said politely, " did you
enjoy your swim?"
"Yes." She said simply as she sat down.
"I wish I could be as interested in it as
the two of you are," he told her, "Asuka tried
to explain it to me, but I still don't know..."
"Pilot Soryu finds comfort in water
because it isolates her from the world." Rei
said, startling Shinji with the depth of the
statement, "many have different reasons."
"Why do you like to swim Rei?" he asked
"Our bodies are mostly water and there is
a sense of oneness when I am immersed, also it
gives me the feeling of..." she paused and
frowned for a moment, "I do not know how to
further describe it, I am sorry."
"Its okay, I think I understand a
little... particularly Asuka's reason."
"Why is that?"
"Because, I do something like that
sometimes, only I use music instead of water."
"Music isolates you from the world?"
"It can," Shinji said as he looked out at
the Geofront beyond the window, "some music
draws you in if you let it. You can create
whole worlds in your mind if you let yourself
drift to the melody."
"I have never considered this," Rei said
thoughtfully, "does it occur with all music?"
"Everyone's taste in music differs Rei,
some you might like more than others... but for
me classical is the best for doing that. Would
you like to hear some?"
Rei nodded an affirmative and Shinji
pulled up his music file. He usually kept most
of his tracks on his hard drive and downloaded
them onto his SDAT when it was time for a
change. It only took a moment for him to find
his Beethoven collection and soon Moonlight
Sonata was drifting out of the laptops built in
speakers.
As Rei listened attentively to the somber
piano melody, Asuka surfaced, having heard the
music's echo from below the water. When the
piece was done Shinji noticed that Rei's eyes
had been closed. She opened them nodded at him,
then stood and walked out of the room. Back in
the pool Asuka shrugged and submerged.
'I guess that's her idea of a 'thank
you'...' he thought as he reloaded his homework
program.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Somewhere deep in the Geofront, there was
a room that only two men ever entered. This
room was not overly large; in fact Commander
Ikari's office was almost three times its size.
It was however large enough to accommodate a
complex holographic projection and recording
system. In the center of the room was a table
with six spaces, each of these was illuminated
in a different hue. At one end of the table sat
Commander Gendou Ikari, with his Sub-Commander
Kozo Fuyutski standing nearby.
The other five men in the room were in
fact miles away. Their images were also no
doubt altered to keep their identities secret
from even the other members. Each of these men
was a member of an organization known only as
Seele. It had existed for years, perhaps
centuries as a network of powerful men with one
outstanding goal in mind
The human instrumentality program.
At the moment however, the topic at hand
was only linked to that by incident. A few
hours previous a discovery had been made at one
of Japan's active volcanoes-- an Angel slept
therein. If captured it could be a tremendous
source of data for the numerous projects under
development around the world.
If they failed however...
"An A17?" one of the committee members
asked with more amusement in his tone than
Gendou cared to have directed at him.
"You wish to make a pre-emptive strike
then?" another asked, at least showing a polite
amount of interest
Gendou fought the urge to sigh in annoyance.
Seele was made up of some of the most powerful
men on the planet. Men who ruled nations sat in
it's committee. One would have thought that
some tact would have come with the job.
"Yes," he told them simply.
"Not acceptable! It's too dangerous!" one
of the other men sneered at him.
Unsurprisingly, it was the American, the
prideful fools never had forgiven the Japanese
for overtaking them as the dominant world
power, "don't tell me you've already forgotten
what happened when we tried this 15 years ago."
Gendou fought the urge to get up and
simply walk out. These sessions were more
dangerous to him than any Angel attack could
ever be. It seemed as if they were purposefully
trying to antagonize him sometimes, "It's an
opportunity to take an offensive posture, we've
been doing nothing but defending ourselves
since the beginning."
" I must agree with him Ikari" the man who
Gendou had known for years as Kiel said, "the
risk is far too great."
"Surely you admit how important getting a
sample of a living Angel is," he said keeping
his eyes fixed on Kiel.
A moment passed between the men in total
silence as Kiel considered those words. Finally
the visored man spoke "Failure will not be
tolerated," he told Gendou as the holographic
conference was terminated.
When the light of his place marker went
out and he was certain that they were alone, he
finally allowed himself to relax slightly. He
detested dealing with these greedy and
desperate fools, but if his goals were to be
realized then he had no choice. To leave them
to their own designs was _not_ something he was
prepared to do-- no matter how annoying their
bickering could be.
"Failure?" Fuyutski said with obvious
disgust, "If we fail, humanity will cease to
exist."
[]====[]
[]====[]
"So this is the Angel?" Shinji asked as
they looked at the projected image on the
screen. It didn't really look like an angel at
the moment... it looked more like one of the x-
rays that doctors took of an unborn baby. They
had called them in not half an hour ago and
they had been suited up and ready to go when
they had found out the nature of the mission.
Needless to say Asuka was happy about it.
"Yes," Ritsuko told them "this is
something like a chrysalis stage before
adulthood. I want you all to remember that the
top priority for this operation is to trap the
Angel, capturing it alive and preserving its
original condition as much as possible."
"And if we screw up?" Asuka asked
"Annihilate it as quickly as possible,"
Ritsuko answered, showing no reaction to the
insolent way Asuka had asked her question, "do
you all understand what I've told you?"
"Yes," the three pilots said in unison.
"Good, now the assigned pilot will be--"
She didn't get to finish before Asuka
began bouncing in her seat with her hand in the
air, looking for all the world like a teacher's
pet who knew the answer to a tough question.
"Me! Me! I'll go!" she cried excitedly.
They all knew that she had been craving a solo
mission since she arrived, and that she wasn't
about to let this one slide by without a
argument.
'But of course, they'll pick me as
usual,' Shinji thought as he slumped back in
his chair.
"The pilot will be Asuka" Ritsuko finally
finished with a roll of her eyes.
Shinji sat up with a start at hearing
that, for a change they weren't going to put
him in the hot seat...
As he thought about that with relief, Rei
spoke up
"And myself?"
"Unfortunately the equipment hasn't been
standardized for use with Unit Zero" Maya told
her, " we still haven't finished the upgrades
to the prototype."
"Correct," Ritsuko added, " but since it
is nearly fully repaired you will remain here
in case of emergency"
"Understood," Rei said.
"Awwww too bad," Asuka teased, " you
won't be able to join us at the hot springs I
guess"
Shinji frowned-- there was absolutely no
call for that.
"Ritsuko?" he asked, " once the Angel is
defeated is there any reason Rei shouldn't be
allowed to join us?"
" I suppose not, if she wants to go we
could arrange a transport... Rei?"
Rei looked around at the expectant faces
with a touch of surprise; she had not
considered the possibility of joining the
others once the condition of the prototype had
been explained. However she had never been to a
hot spring, and the idea did appeal to her.
"If it does not interfere with my duties,
then I would enjoy to go." She told Ritsuko who
smiled as she caught Asuka's reaction out of
the corner of her eye. The reaction in question
was one of great annoyance.
In the meantime Shinji sat there with a
smile on his face.
[]====[]
[]====[]
They had arrived quickly and set up at the
edge of the fiery pit. Shinji was to stand by
in Unit One while Asuka took the type D
equipment down into the inferno. He had to
admire how brave she was, if something went
wrong she would be not only roasted alive, but
feel Unit Two's pain long before the Entryplug
was affected by the heat. He knew _far_ to well
what that felt like, and did not envy her job.
As he sat above the rim of the volcano in
Unit One, he noticed a series of smoke trails
above, there normally weren't that many planes
in the area and it caught his attention.
Flipping on his communications he asked
Misato and the others what it was about.
"That's the UN air force," Ritsuko
answered
"Oh?" Asuka piped in from Unit Two, "are
they here to help us?"
"No," Ritsuko replied with a touch of sour
amusement, " they're here to clean up the mess
if we fail."
"What do you mean?" Asuka asked
"If we fail their orders are to saturate
the area with a N2 bombing run."
"That _sucks_!" Asuka screamed indignantly
from her Entryplug.
" Who would order something like that?"
Shinji wanted to know.
"Commander Ikari" Ritsuko replied
'You bastard...' Shinji thought angrily as
he looked up at the planes circle above like
vultures.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Other than the scissors dive as she went
in, Shinji had to admit that Asuka was totally
professional. It was strange... Misato was the
same way. Off duty the woman was a total slob,
constantly drinking and dressing in clothing
that would get her arrested anywhere other than
a beach. On duty Misato was just what Kensuke
and Touji called her-- a Goddess. Right now she
was completely in command of all aspects of the
operation and the very picture of professional
behavior.
A similar duality was at work with Asuka.
Thankfully she didn't have Misato's habits, but
the ones she _did_ have were almost as bad. But
now, as he listened to the exchange going on
between her and Misato, he respected her
understanding of procedure. It was something he
didn't have; for the most part he had to
struggle just to remember the proper procedure
for communications.
As she passed the recommended safety
depth, he was again impressed by her lack of
fear. Had it been him down there with the magma
he knew he would have turned back by now.
"Nothing detected, no one's home" Asuka
told Misato as she scanned the expected
location.
"The lava flow at that depth is faster
than predicted, we are recalculating the
location now" Misato told her.
A few moments passed and Shinji was
sweating despite the fact he was on the
surface, every few moments he could hear a
creaking sound over the radio contact, and he
knew it was the armor of Unit Two warping under
the heat.
"We are exceeding the maximum safety
depth, Asuka what is your status?" Misato asked
"So far so good, but I wanna get into a
shower first thing when I'm done, I feel nasty
in this damn weird Plugsuit"
"I know," Misato told her, and Shinji
could almost picture the grin, " when we're
done here we'll head off to the hot springs
okay?"
As the Eva continued its slow trek, Shinji
could still hear the creaking of the type D
equipment through the communication link. The
pressure down there was unbelievable; it had
even snapped the straps holding the progressive
knife in place. Every creak singled a step
closer to the armor's implosion, how Asuka
could stand it was beyond him.
Finally they found the target.
"Releasing magnetic field... no problems
detected, " Asuka told them from the bowls of
the earth, " capture successful"
"How are you down there Asuka?" Shinji
asked
"Oh this was nothing," She told him, "but
I definitely want to get the hell out of this
damn suit and into that hot bath."
Shinji grinned at that and sat back on
his seat. Nothing had gone wrong, she was ok,
and soon they would be at the springs. He
wished Hikari would be there, he missed her. At
least it would give him a chance to get to know
her sisters though. They had planned this trip
from the moment they had discovered that he and
Asuka wouldn't be going on the class trip.
Misato had even arranged for Kodama to bring
Rei with them when she and Nozomi came up
later. When she wasn't teasing him, Kodama
could be nice enough, and Nozomi was just fun.
The younger girl was smarter than most of the
people he knew, when she grew up she just might
make good on her desire to take Misato's job.
As he drifted along to his thoughts, he
heard a beep from the com, then an alarm.
Sitting up quickly he checked his readouts
and saw that there was a problem with the EM
field around the angel... it was waking up!
"Abort the capture," Misato yelled over
the com, "drop the cage!"
"No!" Asuka cried as the beast tried to
free itself
"Our operation is now altered," Misato
ordered, "annihilation of Angel is the number
one priority. Unit Two, withdraw and prepare
for battle."
"Understood!" Asuka said from below,
"I've been waiting for this!"
However a few seconds later, Shinji's
hairs stood on end as he heard her next
transmission
"Oh, shiest!" She cried, "I forgot that I
dropped the knife! The enemy is approaching
from the front! Releasing ballast's."
"Asuka," Misato yelled as Ritsuko
relayed Shinji's new orders, "Unit One will
drop its knife. Try and catch it!"
Shinji threw his progressive knife into
the bubbling lava, but his concern didn't ebb a
bit. Switching on a private line to Misato, he
asked permission to join the fight.
"Negative Shinji, we need you up here in
case the angel defeats Asuka."
"But Misato--"
"I said _no_ Shinji and that's an order,
you are our last line of defense"
'Gee, no pressure," he thought bitterly
as he watched the churning mass of molten rock
below.
The battle was tense for all of them.
Visibility was nil and without weapons, Asuka
was reduced to dodges for the moment. Her depth
was rising rapidly but it just wasn't fast
enough.
As the progressive knife arrived Shinji
let out a sigh of relief... that was until what
he heard next.
"I'm not getting any use out of this damn
thing!" she cried as she tried to cut into the
Angel who was trying to _eat_ her. Ritsuko
reported that the Angel's mass was too great
and that the heat was preventing the
Progressive knife from making even a scratch.
'Damnit I can't just _sit_ here' Shinji
thought as the others tried to come up with a
plan, the answer came to him in a flash as he
heard Maya report that one of the coolant pipes
had been damaged.
"Asuka!" he shouted, trying to slow his
mind down enough to make sense "think Physics!"
"Thermal expansion!" She yelled as she
realized what he was saying, "transmit all
coolant pressure to pipe three!"
As they followed the directions, Shinji
leaned over the edge and looked at the lava
again, no sign of the battle below could be
seen from there, despite the fact they were
only a few hundred feet below the surface now.
" Heavy damage to all pipes!" Makoto
yelled suddenly, " structural integrity down to
three percent!"
"I'm going in!" Shinji shouted as he
realized that Asuka's lifeline was about to
snap.
"No Shinji!" Misato yelled back, " this is
an order, you sta-"
Whatever she might have added to that was
lost as Shinji switched off all communications
and leapt into the volcano.
The first thing he noticed was the pain.
The searing heat all around him transmitted
through the neural interface he shared with
Unit One. It was not, however, as bad as what
the fifth angel had done to him, and he felt he
could take it for a while.
The second thing he felt as he sunk
rapidly down into the magma, was the pressure.
It felt like every inch of his body was being
crushed more and more as he went deeper. Had
this been the same for Asuka? How could she
stand it?
As he activated the CT monitor, he saw that
Asuka was only a couple of meters away now, and
as reported the piping was about to give out.
Switching his communications back on he
could hear her.
"I defeated the Angel," she said softly, "
but I'm done for..."
'No!' he thought as the pipe snapped just
below him. Grabbing the end, he threw Unit One
forward and reached as far as he could,
grasping the edge of Unit Two's piping at the
last possible second.
Unit Two's descent stopped with a jerk,
and he heard a surprised gasp come over the com
link. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he heard
her let out a short laugh.
"Show off" she said.
[]====[]
[]====[]
"Do you have any idea how much trouble
you are in Shinji?" Misato demanded once he
returned from the shower. He was painfully
reminded of a similar situation just after the
fourth angel. That had been about he same
thing-- disobeying orders.
"I gave you a direct order to hold your
position and you ignored it. Not only that you
shut off communications and placed Unit One at
great risk." Misato told him, her voice was
like steel trimmed with ice, "the price of
repairs for Unit Two alone could feed a small
nation, but you went down there with no
protection at all. We're going to be clearing
lava out of Unit One's armor for weeks!"
Shinji stood there and listened to what
she had to say. He didn't care really, he had
saved Asuka and that was the important thing.
How Misato seemed to be missing that point was
beyond him.
"I will have you know Shinji Ikari, "
Misato said, " that we are in a time of war,
and during war solders who disobey orders can
be executed at the whim of the commanding
officer. What you did back there can be
interpreted as treason _very_ easily. Am I
making myself clear?"
"Crystal" Shinji said, and while he did
understand, he didn't really care. The angel
was dead and he had not been about to let
someone die like that if there was something he
could do. It felt... good to have saved
someone's life, and he was not going to let
anyone take that away. Even Misato.
"Good," she told him, her voice suddenly
softening" because now I want to thank you
Shinji."
"W--what?" he stammered, completely caught
off guard, "why?"
"For saving her life," Misato told him,
"Shinji, I don't want you to think I chewed you
out like that because I was mad you dove in
there after Asuka. Don't get me wrong, I am
angry that you disobeyed my orders, but there
is a reason for that. If you don't follow
orders in this job then people die Shinji, and
that's what we're trying to prevent. You have
to learn that I'm not telling you to do these
things for the hell of it. Calls like the one
today have to be made sometimes. It sucks, and
I hate myself for it, but sometimes you just
have to bite the bullet and do it anyway."
"You never asked for this," she continued,
"and I curse myself and your father every day
for forcing you into it. But if we don't do
this then too many people will lose heir lives.
We don't have a choice Shinji, do you
understand?"
"I'm trying to Misato..." he told her as
tears threatened to flow, "I really am, but I
just don't want people to get hurt"
She walked over and gave him a hug, "me
either Kido, me either... hey, what's say we go
spend a few dozen hours at the finest hot
springs in the country and forget about all
this bullshit?"
"That sounds good," he told her as they
stepped out of the truck that held the lockers
and into the sunlight.
[]====[]
[]====[]
Later that night after the others arrived,
they sat around a fireplace in the Hot spring's
best suite and laughed as Misato told them
about the Plugsuit they had made for Asuka's
dive. Asuka of course was not happy about this
and proceeded to tell everyone about the night
Misato had tried to sing while drunk, complete
with impressions.
Nozomi had taken over the show at that
point and had managed to not only embarrass
Asuka, but had managed to bring up a couple of
incidents that had Kodama and Misato blushing
as well
Shinji sat in his robe watching the
proceedings with a smile. For so long he had
hated piloting the Evangelion, but after today,
he was realizing that there just might be a
purpose and reason for him to continue.
"Hey Ikari," Kodama said suddenly, "I
need to talk with you a moment."
"Okay..." he said as he sat up, and they
walked over to a corner.
"I heard about the kiss." Kodama said
getting straight to the point.
"Oh..." Shinji replied with a gulp
"How do you feel about Hikari?" she asked
him as she crossed her arms.
Fighting to keep from blushing, he tried
to answer as truthfully as he could.
"I like her a lot Kodama, she makes me
feel like I'm actually worth something."
"Okay... well look, other than the fact
you need a serious self esteem implant, I don't
have any problems with you, but the first sign
that you're not treating her right and I'm
going to make sure you regret it."
"Um..." Shinji said, his eyes wide at the
threat, " I'll do my best."
"S'all I wanted to hear. As long as you're
good to her, then you're alright in my book
Ikari."
"Thank you," he said, as he wondered if
other guys got this from their girlfriend's
families.
"So, what's the deal with Rei?" She asked
him as she nodded where the girl sat by the
window watching the rising moon, " is she your
cousin or something?"
"Huh?" Shinji said as he glanced at the
pale girl, "no, I never even met her till I
came here, what gave you that idea?"
" I was just wondering. You two kind of...
never mind, my bad call okay?
"Don't worry about it," Shinji told her as
they joined the others.
[]====[]
[]====[]
As Asuka lay on her futon that night she
thought back to that moment between the pipe
snapping and her rescue.
The reason this was so dominant in her
mind was that for that instant, she had been
relieved.
'Why?' she wondered, 'why would I ever be
_glad_ that I was about to die? That just
doesn't make sense. I'm the best Pilot in Nerv,
what could possibly make me want to leave
that?'
It was confusing to her, and bothersome
because it threatened to bring out some things
that she didn't want to remember. Rolling on
her side she decided that there was too much
pain in her past to dwell on this crap; it only
brought back bad memories
Across from her, she could see Nozomi
and Rei sleeping silently. Rei wasn't exactly a
talker, and Asuka didn't care for her attitude
much anyhow. Nozomi on the other hand... Asuka
was glad she had come, hanging around with her
had given her an excuse to conveniently
'forget' to thank Shinji for saving her life.
It was frustrating that the little twit
had overshadowed her greatest triumph. Not that
she wasn't glad he had been there to pull her
fat out of the fire, but she had wanted to
complete the mission by herself. His having
interfered had marred what should have been her
total victory.
To make matters worse he kept sinking his
claws into her life! First she had been forced
to share the apartment with him, and that had
been survivable. But now she was being forced
to deal with the fact that her only friend in
the country had some kind of disgusting crush
on him!
She had _no_ idea what that was about, he
wasn't much to look at, he had no personality
and to top it all off he was a grubby little
pervert. How Hikari could ever feel anything
for someone like him was beyond her
understanding. She had tried to figure it out
that day at the natatorium, but still hadn't
seen whatever it was in there. She had even
seen Rei talking to him once or twice, and
_that_ had to be proof enough that he was
weird.
As she tossed back to look out the window,
she rolled her eyes and tried to get to sleep.
She would have to have a long talk with Hikari
when she and the others got back, that boy was
nothing but trouble.
Hopefully Hikari would be smart enough to
realize that before anything disgusting
happened.
[]====================[]
To Be Continued...
[]====================[]
Authors Incoherent Babbling:
Some quick trivia: I was going through my
(Webster's) English-Japanese dictionary looking
up words and stuff and I found Hikari in there.
The word translates as "ray or beam of light".
Appropriate huh? Oh, and Nozomi means "hope,
wish or a desire"... kinda cool stuff. I like
how Japanese names do that. Occasionally in the
English speaking countries you will run across
a similar thing (generally with girls) where
their name is Hope, or Crystal, or Willow. This
happens in a few other cultures; I know Native
Americans have names like that, but I don't
know about others... the more I learn the more
I discover I have yet to learn.
On that note, anyone with a handle on
Japanese might have caught the identity of
Kensuke's new friend. I know it's not a cannon
character, but I couldn't resist. Besides, I
have a very good reason for doing it. And also
on that note, I seriously doubt they just
junked the JA's, selling them makes more sense
in the starving world economy of post second
impact.
About the beer thing ... well I'm just
guessing here, but chances are that Misato
started drinking in collage and it just might
have been Kaji that started her in on the
Russian beer. *Snicker*
And for the music, that one is just a
guess, but if that's _his_ laptop it makes
sense. Shinji only has the one bag and we never
see a collection of music, but he has to record
this stuff _somehow_ so I figure he keeps it on
the laptop and mix and matches to suit his
current mood.
One more thing, and this is another
attempt to dodge mailbombs from Asuka fans. If
you don't like the portrayal of her here that's
fine. I'm trying to portray her as someone who
is very confused, but doesn't realize it. She
lusts after Kaji, but every time she sees
someone makin' with Der smoochin' she rolls her
eyes and thinks 'how disgusting'. I don't think
Asuka understands the difference between love
and lust (or knows that there is one), and it's
something I'll be exploring in Book 2.
Well its late and my brain is fried from
too much sugar and caffeine, off to sleep.
Hotwire
Chain Lightning Studios
http://hotwire182.freeyellow.com/chainlightning.html