Disclaimers: If I owned Evangelion, do you really think that I would bother to write fanfiction? Or would I just make more episodes? Duh.
Warnings: Pretty much par for course, as far as Evangelion and my literary style go. There will be graphic violence, adult language, and sexual innuendo. What would you expect instead? Teddy bear EVA's? Not likely.
****************************************************************************
The New World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Episode 1
Shinji knew that it was trouble the second that the large group of burly men stepped into the bar. After having this scene repeated so many times, he was just growing weary of it all. He stood up so that the men could see him right away and hurry up with it, instead of wasting time searching for him.
Sure enough, the men stomped over to him the second that they saw him. They might as well have had the words "Lynch Mob" branded on their foreheads, for all the subtlety that they carried themselves with. As they came to Shinji and faced off against him, the contrast was perfect. Shinji's smooth and youthful features versus the rugged faces of the group. His bright and well-made clothes compared to their rough garments.
"You're German isn't very good." grumbled the apparent leader, distinguishable from the others only because he was bigger and dirtier.
"I know, I know. Look, can we please take this outside? I don't want the bar to get trashed." Shinji replied, with some difficulty. Like the man had said, his German was only barely passable.
Beside him, Misato looked up from whatever drink she was onto now.
"What?" she mumbled in Japanese. "Awww, not again. I'll help you, Shinji-i..."
"That's okay Misato. Why don't you stay here and guard our drinks instead?"
The last thing that Shinji wanted was his drunk friend to get clobbered, just out of some vain attempt to help him. Escorted by the leering mob, he made his way outside.
As soon as they were clear of the bar, the leader started to taunt him again.
"Where'd you get such fancy clothes, eh? How's about you tell us where you and your friends get all that advanced stuff?"
"We make it." Shinji said evenly, wondering where the first attack was going to come from.
A moment later he was answered when the leader let out a great bellow and charged forward, swinging his right arm in a mean arc. Shinji stepped under the wild swing and hit the man with an uppercut that sent the man flying. There was no time to savour his victory, however, as the rest of the mob took the signal and rushed him too.
Even as he dodged and counter-attacked, there were still far too many of them to make it a clean fight. He started to take more and more hits, even as more and and more of the ruffians got knocked down. After a rough couple of minutes, both sides backed off, regarding each other suspiciously.
Shinji's clothes were torn and ragged now, and he felt very bruised and abused, but he had managed to hold them all off. The men regarded him with familliar hostility and suspicion. How had one boy held off a dozen burly men? was undoubtably the thought that was at the forefront of each of their minds.
With a roar, the leader picked himself up off the ground and ripped the railing off of the bar's porch. Holding the length of wood like a big club, he took an overhead swing at Shinji, who made no apparent move to dodge the incoming attack. Instead, he just raised his arm to block it. Unsurprisingly, the railing shattered with the force of the impact. Surprisingly, Shinji's arm was only knocked back a couple of inches.
As everyone stood gaping at that, Shinji did a running dropkick and knocked the leader back against one of the wooden posts holding up the bar porch's roof. Blinking through the pain, the leader looked up in time to see and dodge the incoming fist aimed for his head. The follow-through of the punch went right through the post.
The leader stumbled back, not really wanting to fight this kid anymore. When you picked on little strangers, you didn't really expect them to turn around and kick the living bejeezus out of you. At that minute, he was saved the trouble of finding a face-saving way out when one of the kid's companions ran out of bar, shouting for him.
"Commander Ikari, sir!"
Shinji looked up.
"Yes, Madison?"
"The Yggdrasil is sending the pickup in a couple of hours.
"Thank you. Tell them that we'll be there." He looked around at the bruised and bleeding forms of the town's toughs. "We've overstayed our welcome at any rate."
"Ikari?" the leader growled, and there were murmers of anger from all over the square, even from people who had not participated in the fight. "As in the thrice-damned Ikari who caused the third impact?"
Shinji looked at the man, his eyes reflecting some great inner pain.
"No, I'm his son." he said softly.
And then he went back inside, leaving a slightly confused group of townsfolk outside.
****************************************************************************
Inside, things weren't much better. Some macho guy was hitting on Misato, and in her condition, she was trying to flirt back. Except that all that was coming out of her mouth was a set of random syllables. Slapping his forehead, Shinji set about the task of getting her out of there before she did something that she would really regret.
"Excuse me," he said, putting his arms around Misato's shoulders and lifting her gently to her feet. "but I think that the lady's had enough to drink."
"Just who do you think you are?" the guy protested indignantly. "We were just getting to know each other better."
"I'm sure you were." Shinji said drily.
"That does it!" the stranger said, rising to his feet. "You want to take this outside?"
Shinji thought of the situation that he had left behind in the town square.
"Not right now." he replied.
"Fine then. I'll meet you at midnight, in the glen south of the old mill."
"Whatever..."
"What was that? You'd better be there, or else!"
"I'll be there, dammit!" Shinji snapped, losing his patience. "Now get off my case, I've got places to go!"
The man sniffed derisively and sauntered off, his long blond spikes bristling as he went. Oddly enough, the blond locks almost seemed to have black stripes across them, but people's hairstyles were there own business, Shinji reflected.
He hoisted Misato over his shoulders, then turned and tossed a couple of coins to the bartender.
"That's for the damage to the porch." he explained. "Now, which way is the back door?"
The bartender pocketed the change and smiled understandingly, while surreptitiously pointing towards the washroom area. Shinji nodded back in thanks, then gathered up his crew and beat a hasty retreat.
****************************************************************************
Unsure of what form of duel exactly the stranger wanted, Shinji brought along his combat dagger and his pistol to the glen with him. It would not do for him to get killed just because the other guy had brought weapons and he hadn't.
When he got there, he stood in the glen for a couple of minutes, waiting for his opponent. Then, one of the shadows detatched itself from the base of a large tree on the clearing's edge. Shinji noticed the pair of knives at his belt, and made ready to draw his own.
"Hmmpf. So you are here." the man said bemusedly. "I was unsure whether or not you'd remember."
"I remembered, but I'm not particularly keen on fighting you unless I have to." Shinji replied. "Why do you want to fight me?"
"To teach you that no one messes with my affairs!"
"Look, I was just trying to help my friend get out of a situation she might later regret."
"Are you saying that anything to do with me is regrettable?"
"Ummm, no..."
"Then what ARE you saying?
Shinji growled in frustration.
"She was drunk, alright? Had she been sober I wouldn't have intervened. Now, are we going to do this or what?"
And with that, he drew his dagger. To his surprise, the other man discarded both his knives.
"I thought that we'd to this with our bare strength and skill." he said, smiling wickedly.
"Suits me." Shinji said, dropping both of his weapons.
The two circled each other for a minute, measuring how well they could expect the other to fight. Then the stranger launched himself through the air, his legs snapping in a scissor kick. Shinji caught both his ankles and whipped him into the ground. Shinji attempted to follow up with a kick to his prone opponent, but the other man grabbed his feet out from under him.
They rolled around on the ground for a trading blows with their knees and elbows, before they broke apart and rose once again to their feet.
"Not bad, kid." the stranger said. "You are actually pretty tough. It's a pity, really."
"What are you rambling about?" Shinji said, in the mood for fightning, not talking.
"I'm saying that you don't have a chance... against... THIS!!!"
The last word turned into a primal, perhaps even feral, scream. It echoed throughout the forest, driving fear into the hearts of any and all beasts that heard it. What happened next would have given Shinji nightmares for the rest of his life had those nightmares not already been guaranteed by the compound horrors he had experienced whilst fighting against the Angels. Before his eyes, the stranger's clothes strained and ripped apart under the stress of the rapid muscular expansion going on as his body seemed to grow to about three times its original mass. Tiger-coloured and -patterned hair sprouted all over his body, and even the bone structure seemed to rearrange itself to allow the final form to look something like a huge, superpowered tiger standing on its haunches.
"Damn!" Shinji exclaimed, just before it leapt at him, fangs and claws bared.
Realizing that it would be almost impossible to defend himself against this monster, Shinji switched to full offense. As it descended upon him, he swung around and connected a full roundhouse kick on the side of its head, throwing off its attack. Still, the claws swiped at him and opened bright crimson gashes where they struck. Shinji fell back, and it tried to get on top of him, but he caught it on his feet and sent it flying.
Looking around desperately for a weapon, Shinji alighted on a tough old branch. It probably wouldn't be strong enough to use as a club, but if he snapped off one end... Without hesitation, he got back to his feet and did so, and just in time too. The weretiger was charging back, once again relying on its overwhelming advantage in speed and power. Just before it reached him it jumped slightly, so that it was cannoning right at him.
Shinji braced himself and caught its forelegs, whipping his head to the side to avoid the snapping jaws, but he hadn't counted on the beast's cunning. Using his grip on its forelegs as leverage, the weretiger swung its backlegs up and under and delivered a spiky kick to Shinji's chest, knocking the young man to the ground.
But Shinji wasn't done yet. He gripped the makeshift spear tightly and rammed it through the creature's thigh. Even as it roared in pain, Shinji connected a hard punch with its head, knocking it off him once again. He leapt immediately to his feet, but the were-tiger was faster. It cuffed him on the head with one mighty paw, raking its claws across his face.
Shinji was knocked once again to the ground, but this time fortune was with him, and his weapons were within reach. He grabbed them and whirled on the creature, which was just starting another attack. The beast seemed to realize that something was wrong, but couldn't move nearly fast enough to avoid the volley of bullets that pierced its thick hide and raced through its body.
"Gotcha!" Shinji cried triumphantly.
Indeed, the weretiger, badly wounded, collapsed pretty quickly. Unable to maintain its more powerful state, it reverted to human form. For a minute, both the combattants just lay there, unmoving, trying to recover some part of their strength. Eventually, Shinji dragged himself over to the stranger.
"How ya holding up?" he gasped.
"Just fine." the other wheezed. "Pretty much the same as you."
"Can you walk?"
The stranger snorted, and indicated the length of wood sticking out of his thigh.
"With this? I don't think so."
"There's a boat waiting to pick me up." Shinji tried to explain. "All we have to do is make it to the edge of the bay, and then we'll get proper medical treatment."
The stranger considered this for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"I'll help you if you help me."
Shakily, the pair dragged themselves to their feet. Leaning on each other for support, they staggered off towards the bay and the waiting boat.
"You know what?" Shinji said after they had walked for a bit.
"Do tell."
"You never told me your name.
"You never told me yours either." the stranger pointed out.
Shinji let out a wracking wheeze that may have been a chuckle under other circumstances.
"Good point. I'm Shinji Ikari."
"Maxmillian Kleitel. Call me Max."
The introductions belatedly completed, the two continued their uneven pace. After another while, Max let out a couple of bloody coughs of his own.
"You okay?" Shinji asked, even though he personally felt just as badly off.
"Yeah. I just thought of something. I ripped up all my clothes. I'm naked."
"Well, so you are. I hadn't really noticed, the pain was kinda getting to me."
"Tell me about it."
"Anyway, don't worry about it. Survival first, clothes second."
"Sounds good to me."
****************************************************************************
Madison leaned against hull of the landing craft, fretting about the delay. What the hell is taking the Commander so long? she wondered. It's not like he doesn't know how to handle self-righteous macho fools..
Li, the other crew member operating the launch, was busy scanning the forest edge for any sign of their erstwhile superior officer.
"There!" he cried suddenly, indicating a point not too far down from where they waited.
Sure enough, a form could be seen moving uneasily through the moonlight. Upon closer inspection, Madison realized that it was actually two forms, leaning on each other for support. Her worries about the Commander's health foremost on her mind, she rushed forward.
Surely enough, there stood Commander Ikari, his shirt shredded and blood-soaked. Multiple slash wounds covered his face and arms, and he looked as if he had just been to hell and back. His companion wasn't much better off, bleeding from what appeared to be a dozen gunshot wounds, and with a large stake sticking out of his thigh.
It was as she stared at the stake that Madison realized just how much of the stranger she could see. Fortunately, the poor light hid her furious blush.
****************************************************************************
When Shiji came to, the first thing that he saw was the happy, smiling face of Shana, the Yggdrasil's ship-board doctor.
"Good to see you Commander." she said brightly. "You know, those were some nasty wounds you had there. All told, you had a total of thirty-seven puncture, slash, and crush wounds. And a mild concussion."
"How long have I been out?"
"All week."
"WHAT!"
Shana giggled, and Shinji realized that she was only joking at his expense.
"Actually, Commander, you were only out all of last night. It's currently eleven hundred hours."
"Urg. That's better. I've got work to do."
Shinji tried to get up, but it was at this point that he found himself handcuffed to the bed. Rattling his chains, he glared at Shana.
"Okay, what gives?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry sir, but you have a habit of wandering off when you should be resting and recovering."
"I order you to remove these handcuffs!"
Shana merely grinned impishly.
"No can do, Commander. Major Katsuragi was the one that ordered it."
Grumbling, Shinji settled back. It was then that he looked over to the next bed and saw the recumbant form of Max Kleitel. He too was handcuffed to the bed, although he was about twice as bandaged as Shinji was. Noticing the direction of his gaze, Shana spoke up again.
"I don't know what the two of you were up to," she tsked, "and I don't really want to know either, but I'm curious as to why you saw fit to shoot him so many times."
"How do you know that I shot him?" Shinji said weakly.
"Because the half-dozen bullets that we pulled out of his body matched exactly those that were loaded in your gun. Honestly, give us some credit here, Commander."
"We were just having a wrestling match, and things got a little out of hand." he said, closing his eyes. If he was going to be stuck here, he might as well get some sleep instead of spending all his time being berated by the angry ship's doctor.
Shana harumphed and turned away to tend to other matters. Looks like the Ikari understatement strikes again. she thought. Shinji was not known for being exactly the most forthcoming person.
****************************************************************************
"He what?" Ritsuko's face was a mixture of amusement and incredulity.
"He comes back, half-dead and bleeding all over, dragging the other guy, who's in just as bad shape and naked to boot, at well past midnight. I swear, these macho things just seem to be absolutely crazy." Misato was shaking her head at the pointlessness of it all.
Onscreen, her best friend and confidant grinned maliciously./p.
"So what's this other guy look like?" Ritsuko asked.
"I don't know! Madison was smart enough to cover the guy in a blanket as soon as she found him."
"And you didn't peek?"
"Ritsuko!"
"What? I thought you said that Shinji had to separate you two earlier."
Misato blushed bright crimson.
"That doesn't count. I was drunk at the time. I don't even know the guy's name!"
"Whatever. Well, it was good talking once again. Keep me posted."
"Will do. Bye!"
The screen went blank. Misato let her head fall to her desk. If anyone else, even Shinji, had just said what Ritsuko had, they would have been prying themselves off of the wall by this point. If they were still alive, that is. All the same, it was good to chat to her longtime friend, even if she always came out on the worse end of the conversations.
A beeping sound indicated that someone was outside her door and wanted to talk to her.
"Come in! she yelled.
The door slid open to admit Shana.
"What is it?" Misato asked.
"Commander Ikari is demanding that we have the restraints removed."
Misato rolled her eyes. It figured. Shinji was always trying to get out of the hospital, or medical bay, as the case may be, as quickly as possible.
"Tell him that I ordered them placed there."
"I did. He wants to see you. He's quite insistent about it."
"Alright, I'll be right along. I just have to tend to our navigation first."
Shana nodded and stepped back out. Chuckling to herself about Shinji's irrepressible nature, Misato set about plotting the Yggdrasil's course.
Around her, the quiet hum of machinery subtly announced that all was well in her new base of operations.
****************************************************************************
End of Epsiode 1
****************************************************************************
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
ragnar_murray@hotmail.com
Warnings: Pretty much par for course, as far as Evangelion and my literary style go. There will be graphic violence, adult language, and sexual innuendo. What would you expect instead? Teddy bear EVA's? Not likely.
****************************************************************************
The New World
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Episode 1
Shinji knew that it was trouble the second that the large group of burly men stepped into the bar. After having this scene repeated so many times, he was just growing weary of it all. He stood up so that the men could see him right away and hurry up with it, instead of wasting time searching for him.
Sure enough, the men stomped over to him the second that they saw him. They might as well have had the words "Lynch Mob" branded on their foreheads, for all the subtlety that they carried themselves with. As they came to Shinji and faced off against him, the contrast was perfect. Shinji's smooth and youthful features versus the rugged faces of the group. His bright and well-made clothes compared to their rough garments.
"You're German isn't very good." grumbled the apparent leader, distinguishable from the others only because he was bigger and dirtier.
"I know, I know. Look, can we please take this outside? I don't want the bar to get trashed." Shinji replied, with some difficulty. Like the man had said, his German was only barely passable.
Beside him, Misato looked up from whatever drink she was onto now.
"What?" she mumbled in Japanese. "Awww, not again. I'll help you, Shinji-i..."
"That's okay Misato. Why don't you stay here and guard our drinks instead?"
The last thing that Shinji wanted was his drunk friend to get clobbered, just out of some vain attempt to help him. Escorted by the leering mob, he made his way outside.
As soon as they were clear of the bar, the leader started to taunt him again.
"Where'd you get such fancy clothes, eh? How's about you tell us where you and your friends get all that advanced stuff?"
"We make it." Shinji said evenly, wondering where the first attack was going to come from.
A moment later he was answered when the leader let out a great bellow and charged forward, swinging his right arm in a mean arc. Shinji stepped under the wild swing and hit the man with an uppercut that sent the man flying. There was no time to savour his victory, however, as the rest of the mob took the signal and rushed him too.
Even as he dodged and counter-attacked, there were still far too many of them to make it a clean fight. He started to take more and more hits, even as more and and more of the ruffians got knocked down. After a rough couple of minutes, both sides backed off, regarding each other suspiciously.
Shinji's clothes were torn and ragged now, and he felt very bruised and abused, but he had managed to hold them all off. The men regarded him with familliar hostility and suspicion. How had one boy held off a dozen burly men? was undoubtably the thought that was at the forefront of each of their minds.
With a roar, the leader picked himself up off the ground and ripped the railing off of the bar's porch. Holding the length of wood like a big club, he took an overhead swing at Shinji, who made no apparent move to dodge the incoming attack. Instead, he just raised his arm to block it. Unsurprisingly, the railing shattered with the force of the impact. Surprisingly, Shinji's arm was only knocked back a couple of inches.
As everyone stood gaping at that, Shinji did a running dropkick and knocked the leader back against one of the wooden posts holding up the bar porch's roof. Blinking through the pain, the leader looked up in time to see and dodge the incoming fist aimed for his head. The follow-through of the punch went right through the post.
The leader stumbled back, not really wanting to fight this kid anymore. When you picked on little strangers, you didn't really expect them to turn around and kick the living bejeezus out of you. At that minute, he was saved the trouble of finding a face-saving way out when one of the kid's companions ran out of bar, shouting for him.
"Commander Ikari, sir!"
Shinji looked up.
"Yes, Madison?"
"The Yggdrasil is sending the pickup in a couple of hours.
"Thank you. Tell them that we'll be there." He looked around at the bruised and bleeding forms of the town's toughs. "We've overstayed our welcome at any rate."
"Ikari?" the leader growled, and there were murmers of anger from all over the square, even from people who had not participated in the fight. "As in the thrice-damned Ikari who caused the third impact?"
Shinji looked at the man, his eyes reflecting some great inner pain.
"No, I'm his son." he said softly.
And then he went back inside, leaving a slightly confused group of townsfolk outside.
****************************************************************************
Inside, things weren't much better. Some macho guy was hitting on Misato, and in her condition, she was trying to flirt back. Except that all that was coming out of her mouth was a set of random syllables. Slapping his forehead, Shinji set about the task of getting her out of there before she did something that she would really regret.
"Excuse me," he said, putting his arms around Misato's shoulders and lifting her gently to her feet. "but I think that the lady's had enough to drink."
"Just who do you think you are?" the guy protested indignantly. "We were just getting to know each other better."
"I'm sure you were." Shinji said drily.
"That does it!" the stranger said, rising to his feet. "You want to take this outside?"
Shinji thought of the situation that he had left behind in the town square.
"Not right now." he replied.
"Fine then. I'll meet you at midnight, in the glen south of the old mill."
"Whatever..."
"What was that? You'd better be there, or else!"
"I'll be there, dammit!" Shinji snapped, losing his patience. "Now get off my case, I've got places to go!"
The man sniffed derisively and sauntered off, his long blond spikes bristling as he went. Oddly enough, the blond locks almost seemed to have black stripes across them, but people's hairstyles were there own business, Shinji reflected.
He hoisted Misato over his shoulders, then turned and tossed a couple of coins to the bartender.
"That's for the damage to the porch." he explained. "Now, which way is the back door?"
The bartender pocketed the change and smiled understandingly, while surreptitiously pointing towards the washroom area. Shinji nodded back in thanks, then gathered up his crew and beat a hasty retreat.
****************************************************************************
Unsure of what form of duel exactly the stranger wanted, Shinji brought along his combat dagger and his pistol to the glen with him. It would not do for him to get killed just because the other guy had brought weapons and he hadn't.
When he got there, he stood in the glen for a couple of minutes, waiting for his opponent. Then, one of the shadows detatched itself from the base of a large tree on the clearing's edge. Shinji noticed the pair of knives at his belt, and made ready to draw his own.
"Hmmpf. So you are here." the man said bemusedly. "I was unsure whether or not you'd remember."
"I remembered, but I'm not particularly keen on fighting you unless I have to." Shinji replied. "Why do you want to fight me?"
"To teach you that no one messes with my affairs!"
"Look, I was just trying to help my friend get out of a situation she might later regret."
"Are you saying that anything to do with me is regrettable?"
"Ummm, no..."
"Then what ARE you saying?
Shinji growled in frustration.
"She was drunk, alright? Had she been sober I wouldn't have intervened. Now, are we going to do this or what?"
And with that, he drew his dagger. To his surprise, the other man discarded both his knives.
"I thought that we'd to this with our bare strength and skill." he said, smiling wickedly.
"Suits me." Shinji said, dropping both of his weapons.
The two circled each other for a minute, measuring how well they could expect the other to fight. Then the stranger launched himself through the air, his legs snapping in a scissor kick. Shinji caught both his ankles and whipped him into the ground. Shinji attempted to follow up with a kick to his prone opponent, but the other man grabbed his feet out from under him.
They rolled around on the ground for a trading blows with their knees and elbows, before they broke apart and rose once again to their feet.
"Not bad, kid." the stranger said. "You are actually pretty tough. It's a pity, really."
"What are you rambling about?" Shinji said, in the mood for fightning, not talking.
"I'm saying that you don't have a chance... against... THIS!!!"
The last word turned into a primal, perhaps even feral, scream. It echoed throughout the forest, driving fear into the hearts of any and all beasts that heard it. What happened next would have given Shinji nightmares for the rest of his life had those nightmares not already been guaranteed by the compound horrors he had experienced whilst fighting against the Angels. Before his eyes, the stranger's clothes strained and ripped apart under the stress of the rapid muscular expansion going on as his body seemed to grow to about three times its original mass. Tiger-coloured and -patterned hair sprouted all over his body, and even the bone structure seemed to rearrange itself to allow the final form to look something like a huge, superpowered tiger standing on its haunches.
"Damn!" Shinji exclaimed, just before it leapt at him, fangs and claws bared.
Realizing that it would be almost impossible to defend himself against this monster, Shinji switched to full offense. As it descended upon him, he swung around and connected a full roundhouse kick on the side of its head, throwing off its attack. Still, the claws swiped at him and opened bright crimson gashes where they struck. Shinji fell back, and it tried to get on top of him, but he caught it on his feet and sent it flying.
Looking around desperately for a weapon, Shinji alighted on a tough old branch. It probably wouldn't be strong enough to use as a club, but if he snapped off one end... Without hesitation, he got back to his feet and did so, and just in time too. The weretiger was charging back, once again relying on its overwhelming advantage in speed and power. Just before it reached him it jumped slightly, so that it was cannoning right at him.
Shinji braced himself and caught its forelegs, whipping his head to the side to avoid the snapping jaws, but he hadn't counted on the beast's cunning. Using his grip on its forelegs as leverage, the weretiger swung its backlegs up and under and delivered a spiky kick to Shinji's chest, knocking the young man to the ground.
But Shinji wasn't done yet. He gripped the makeshift spear tightly and rammed it through the creature's thigh. Even as it roared in pain, Shinji connected a hard punch with its head, knocking it off him once again. He leapt immediately to his feet, but the were-tiger was faster. It cuffed him on the head with one mighty paw, raking its claws across his face.
Shinji was knocked once again to the ground, but this time fortune was with him, and his weapons were within reach. He grabbed them and whirled on the creature, which was just starting another attack. The beast seemed to realize that something was wrong, but couldn't move nearly fast enough to avoid the volley of bullets that pierced its thick hide and raced through its body.
"Gotcha!" Shinji cried triumphantly.
Indeed, the weretiger, badly wounded, collapsed pretty quickly. Unable to maintain its more powerful state, it reverted to human form. For a minute, both the combattants just lay there, unmoving, trying to recover some part of their strength. Eventually, Shinji dragged himself over to the stranger.
"How ya holding up?" he gasped.
"Just fine." the other wheezed. "Pretty much the same as you."
"Can you walk?"
The stranger snorted, and indicated the length of wood sticking out of his thigh.
"With this? I don't think so."
"There's a boat waiting to pick me up." Shinji tried to explain. "All we have to do is make it to the edge of the bay, and then we'll get proper medical treatment."
The stranger considered this for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"I'll help you if you help me."
Shakily, the pair dragged themselves to their feet. Leaning on each other for support, they staggered off towards the bay and the waiting boat.
"You know what?" Shinji said after they had walked for a bit.
"Do tell."
"You never told me your name.
"You never told me yours either." the stranger pointed out.
Shinji let out a wracking wheeze that may have been a chuckle under other circumstances.
"Good point. I'm Shinji Ikari."
"Maxmillian Kleitel. Call me Max."
The introductions belatedly completed, the two continued their uneven pace. After another while, Max let out a couple of bloody coughs of his own.
"You okay?" Shinji asked, even though he personally felt just as badly off.
"Yeah. I just thought of something. I ripped up all my clothes. I'm naked."
"Well, so you are. I hadn't really noticed, the pain was kinda getting to me."
"Tell me about it."
"Anyway, don't worry about it. Survival first, clothes second."
"Sounds good to me."
****************************************************************************
Madison leaned against hull of the landing craft, fretting about the delay. What the hell is taking the Commander so long? she wondered. It's not like he doesn't know how to handle self-righteous macho fools..
Li, the other crew member operating the launch, was busy scanning the forest edge for any sign of their erstwhile superior officer.
"There!" he cried suddenly, indicating a point not too far down from where they waited.
Sure enough, a form could be seen moving uneasily through the moonlight. Upon closer inspection, Madison realized that it was actually two forms, leaning on each other for support. Her worries about the Commander's health foremost on her mind, she rushed forward.
Surely enough, there stood Commander Ikari, his shirt shredded and blood-soaked. Multiple slash wounds covered his face and arms, and he looked as if he had just been to hell and back. His companion wasn't much better off, bleeding from what appeared to be a dozen gunshot wounds, and with a large stake sticking out of his thigh.
It was as she stared at the stake that Madison realized just how much of the stranger she could see. Fortunately, the poor light hid her furious blush.
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When Shiji came to, the first thing that he saw was the happy, smiling face of Shana, the Yggdrasil's ship-board doctor.
"Good to see you Commander." she said brightly. "You know, those were some nasty wounds you had there. All told, you had a total of thirty-seven puncture, slash, and crush wounds. And a mild concussion."
"How long have I been out?"
"All week."
"WHAT!"
Shana giggled, and Shinji realized that she was only joking at his expense.
"Actually, Commander, you were only out all of last night. It's currently eleven hundred hours."
"Urg. That's better. I've got work to do."
Shinji tried to get up, but it was at this point that he found himself handcuffed to the bed. Rattling his chains, he glared at Shana.
"Okay, what gives?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry sir, but you have a habit of wandering off when you should be resting and recovering."
"I order you to remove these handcuffs!"
Shana merely grinned impishly.
"No can do, Commander. Major Katsuragi was the one that ordered it."
Grumbling, Shinji settled back. It was then that he looked over to the next bed and saw the recumbant form of Max Kleitel. He too was handcuffed to the bed, although he was about twice as bandaged as Shinji was. Noticing the direction of his gaze, Shana spoke up again.
"I don't know what the two of you were up to," she tsked, "and I don't really want to know either, but I'm curious as to why you saw fit to shoot him so many times."
"How do you know that I shot him?" Shinji said weakly.
"Because the half-dozen bullets that we pulled out of his body matched exactly those that were loaded in your gun. Honestly, give us some credit here, Commander."
"We were just having a wrestling match, and things got a little out of hand." he said, closing his eyes. If he was going to be stuck here, he might as well get some sleep instead of spending all his time being berated by the angry ship's doctor.
Shana harumphed and turned away to tend to other matters. Looks like the Ikari understatement strikes again. she thought. Shinji was not known for being exactly the most forthcoming person.
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"He what?" Ritsuko's face was a mixture of amusement and incredulity.
"He comes back, half-dead and bleeding all over, dragging the other guy, who's in just as bad shape and naked to boot, at well past midnight. I swear, these macho things just seem to be absolutely crazy." Misato was shaking her head at the pointlessness of it all.
Onscreen, her best friend and confidant grinned maliciously./p.
"So what's this other guy look like?" Ritsuko asked.
"I don't know! Madison was smart enough to cover the guy in a blanket as soon as she found him."
"And you didn't peek?"
"Ritsuko!"
"What? I thought you said that Shinji had to separate you two earlier."
Misato blushed bright crimson.
"That doesn't count. I was drunk at the time. I don't even know the guy's name!"
"Whatever. Well, it was good talking once again. Keep me posted."
"Will do. Bye!"
The screen went blank. Misato let her head fall to her desk. If anyone else, even Shinji, had just said what Ritsuko had, they would have been prying themselves off of the wall by this point. If they were still alive, that is. All the same, it was good to chat to her longtime friend, even if she always came out on the worse end of the conversations.
A beeping sound indicated that someone was outside her door and wanted to talk to her.
"Come in! she yelled.
The door slid open to admit Shana.
"What is it?" Misato asked.
"Commander Ikari is demanding that we have the restraints removed."
Misato rolled her eyes. It figured. Shinji was always trying to get out of the hospital, or medical bay, as the case may be, as quickly as possible.
"Tell him that I ordered them placed there."
"I did. He wants to see you. He's quite insistent about it."
"Alright, I'll be right along. I just have to tend to our navigation first."
Shana nodded and stepped back out. Chuckling to herself about Shinji's irrepressible nature, Misato set about plotting the Yggdrasil's course.
Around her, the quiet hum of machinery subtly announced that all was well in her new base of operations.
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End of Epsiode 1
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Comments and suggestions are welcome.
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