Evas & Angels

by Epyon Zero

Shinji and Asuka find an interesting game in the arcade. In the course of playing Asuka realizes a few things about Shinji she'd never seen before, and Shinji puts a few demons to rest.

Disclaimer: I don't own Eva, GAINAX does, don't sue me.

Evas & Angels

by: Epyon Zero

It had been a typical day in the life of Shinji Ikari. He'd gotten up, gone to school, suffered boredom there, and now he was heading home. Well, maybe heading wasn't the best term. It was more like being dragged. His roommate and fellow pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu wasn't exactly known for her patience. Due to this fact she was dragging his person down one street after another.

"Asuka, isn't the apartment over that way." Shinji said as he timidly gestured over and down one street.

He had to brace himself since the sudden stop nearly bowled him over and dislocated his shoulder. "Yes, it is baka, but we're not going home yet." His fiery haired roommate retorted. This caused various delusions to run through Shinji's teenaged head, ranging from Asuka gutting him like a fish and leaving him for dead in an alley to her dragging him into an alley and making out with him. If asked he would have preferred the latter but no one ever asked for his opinion.

When she stopped however, it wasn't an alley. It was in front of a video arcade. "Come on baka, we're gonna play some games." Before he could make any objection, Asuka had dragged him into the arcade.

After getting tokens from a change machine both pilots began to sample the different games. Asuka tended toward the shooters and sim games, while Shinji played some of the sporting games and pinball. Spotting one game Asuka dragged Shinji over to see what it was.

The game was a first person shooter called "Evas & Angels." From what could be discerned the point of the game was to fight the Angels and try to get to the 'bonus level'. Arrayed around the black case were pictures of the first 10 Angels and of the three Evas in various poses and postures.

Asuka's face sprang a look that could put a stalking cat to shame. "Wunderbar. Baka, we're gonna play this one" she gestured towards the game.

Shinji looked slightly nervous. "I don't know Asuka . . . "

"What's wrong?"Asuka taunted "Is widdle Shinji scared that he'll get beat by a girl?"

That got a reaction. "No, I'm not. Lets play." Grabbing one of the two gun cons Shinji put in three tokens and hit start. An opening video sequence then ran accompanied by the song 'Cruel Angel Thesis'. Neither child really paid attention though.

(AN: I couldn't resist using the video thing, its too tempting to pass up)

As the screen flashed to life, the first thing Shinji noticed was that whoever had designed the game had a very good database. Sachiel, the Angel he'd fought on his first day in the city looked exactly as it did when he'd first seen it right down to the pair of heads. The black/blue giant raised a hand, and Shinji reflexively emptied the clip into it remembering the piledriver like spikes it had used on him. After repeating the process with the other hand Shinji then proceeded to blow apart the Angel. "That felt good." He thought. "Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

Loosening up Shinji then wiped the floor with Samshel and Ramiel, noting that with Ramiel he'd used something akin to the positron rifle he's used in real life.

Right next to him Asuka was also doing well. She'd watched Shinji kill the first Angel before she'd started and she could've sworn she saw something like a sadistic grin cross Shinji's face when he killed it. Playing through Asuka got up as far as the Eighth Angel, Sandalphon, before she lost. Asuka saw that her score was first place and that it had a little pin next to it that said 'Pilot first class'. "Ha!" she crowed in her mind. "There's no way baka-Shinji will come close to beating that score." Looking over however Asuka saw a different story.

Shinji still had every life and he was on the final Angel. Asuka's mind was in turmoil. "How . . . How did he get so far, I only go to the eighth and he's on the tenth." This made the German girl feel a bit insecure, as she'd always stated and been absolutely sure that she was Shinji's better in every way. Then again, he had killed the first two Angels on his own without backup, and he'd come back to kill the fifth even though it had nearly killed him. Then he'd helped her kill the sixth and the seventh. Hell, he'd jumped into a live volcano without protection to save her sorry butt from getting fried. Most recently he'd managed to catch the tenth Angel before it hit the ground, saving not only his fellow pilots but NERV and the whole city, again.

As Asuka pondered Shinji finished off the Angel. This had caught the attention of a small crowd that was clustered around the game whispering about how the kid was doing and that he was the best player they'd ever seen. One even commented that he should be an Eva pilot if he was so good.

Asuka had to suppress laughter. Shinji was an Eva pilot. Still, she had to agree with the general flow of the crowd. Shinji really was that good, but he just never showed it much. He hid it behind a mild exterior that caused people to brush him off. She'd once heard Kaji say to Misato "Be glad he's on our side, if he ever cut loose there's not much that could stop him." At the time Asuka had snorted at the comment, now she had to agree. It wasn't just Shinji's Eva that was a killing machine, Shinji was too. Just he was more restrained, but when he let it out he was just as powerful as his Eva was when it went berserker.

Shinji, meanwhile, was waiting for the bonus level to load. He was sweating a bit by now, but he felt very good. Killing off the Angels without feeling any kind of pain that he normally associated with the task, he felt good. It was cathartic in a sense, it allowed him to get rid of some fears and emotions he'd kept bottled up inside of him. That was why he'd taken so much relish in dispatching the first two Angels. Both of them had given him a 'welcome' that he'd never forgive or forget. "Now though, I almost feel like I got even with them." That wasn't really rational though since he'd technically gotten even already, since they were dead and he wasn't.

After a few more seconds of darkness the screen came back to life. The words 'BONUS LEVEL' flashed across the screen, then dissolved into the screen, before the game resolved itself into an image of the city scape of Tokyo-3. Then a guttural roar was heard, one that caused people to shudder and raised the hair of the back of Shinji's neck. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

He quickly got his answer. Charging across the simulated screen was the form of Evangelion Unit-01, Shinji's Unit. But this wasn't the normal Eva-01, it was in a berserker rage. With terrifying swiftness a hand flashed out from the purple demon mecha and red marks flashed on the screen as it took one of Shinji's lives. The swipe caused the crowd to back away, as if they were fearful that the monster would escape the prison of the game and attack them.

Asuka was stunned. She'd seen the footage of when Eva-01 had gone berserk against the Third Angel, that had been mildly scary. But this, this was downright terrifying. As she watched Shinji's Eva, it looked like some Demon Prince of Hell come to destroy. The only thought her brain could manage was "Could that ever happen to me?"

Shinji himself was having another reaction altogether.

"Why? Why is it my Unit? What possible purpose could come from fighting Eva-01 in a berserker state?" Clearing his thoughts Shinji gripped the handle of the gun con a bit tighter. Running what he knew of his Unit in berserker and his Unit in general Shinji took aim. He knew that he'd have to kill it quickly since it would regenerate any damage near instantaneously in its current state Shinji spent one full clip destroying the chest, which revealed the inner workings of the Eva. It revealed a red core. "What the hell?" Asuka thought."Why does the Eva have an Angel core?" She chalked it up to programmers fantasy since the innards of an Eva had never been seen, except when they'd been built. And any people involved with that worked for NERV, not some video game company.

Now that he had a visible and known target Shinji focused in on the red core. Still he hesitated at pulling the trigger. Something within him didn't feel right dispatching Eva-01, even if it was part of a game. There was yet another part that said if he didn't kill it Asuka would belittle him forever and ever. That struck a chord. Living with the fiery red head was a constant test of will for the young boy. There were times when he wanted to do nothing more than throttle the life right out of her.

To add to the conflict inside of Shinji's head there was a third, more soothing presence that told him "Its alright, its just a game, go ahead and do what you must" Shinji decided to listen to the last voice and pulled the trigger. Simulated sparks flew as the core cracked, then dimmed, ans as it did so did the unholy light in Unit-01's eyes.

The crowd around Shinji held its breath. They'd just seen someone kill off ten Angels and the scariest thing any of them had ever seen or imagined. Many were afraid that if they exhaled all of it would vanish away like a mirage in the desert. The game itself seemed to pause as if it had never expected anyone to complete it. Then the initial screen showed up. Shinji merely entered 'SI' and hit end. As it changed over to the top scores Shinji saw his score. Three and a quarter million, which put him well above Asuka, who'd gotten only one and a half. Also next to his initials was a little golden pin that said 'Elite Class Pilot'. Knowing how competitive Asuka was Shinji expected her to throw a tantrum and hit him.

Silence.

From the corner of his eye Shinji could detect the merest hint of a tremble from Asuka. Shrugging it off to the air conditioning he turned and headed for the door. After a few seconds Asuka demurely followed, still in a state of awed shock at the boy in front of her, who could at one turn kill Angels and Evas, and at another be deathly afraid of her.

The End.

Omake:

Sitting in a room several kilometers from the arcade a man looked up from his task. The computer that sat on the desk on the other side of the room had just beeped. Walking over he looked at the screen, blinked and looked again. "Jesus Christ! Ed come look at this!" Ed, the mans partner cam over, looked at the screen and let out a low whistle. Then he turned and picked up the phone. "Un huh. . . un HUH. . . Ok thanks Gerry." Ed lowered the phone. Forget about those readings Pete, they belong to the Second and Third Children. Since there already on the roster we can delete the info. Pete then deleted the scores, not before he murmured, "Sure as hell glad I ain't an Angel." Sitting back down he looked over at Ed and asked. "Got any twos?"

So ended another day for the men of the Marduk Institute, the people charged with finding the next pilots of the Evangelions.

And now because I love you sweet people so much.

Omake 2:

After a few more seconds of darkness the screen came back to life. The words 'BONUS LEVEL' flashed across the screen, then dissolved into the screen, before the game resolved itself into an image of the city scape of Tokyo-3. Then a guttural roar was heard, one that caused people to shudder and raised the hair of the back of Shinji's neck. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

He quickly got his answer. Charging across the simulated screen was the form of Asuka Langley Sohryu, Shinji's roommate. But she was Angel sized. With a demonic and slightly deranged laugh Shinji pulled the trigger and the crowd watched as he took exquisite pleasure in blowing the beejeezus out of the simulation of his roommate. As he finished his gruesome task he let out another deranged laugh which caused the crowd to back away, as if they were fearful that the boy would tire of the game and attack them.

Author's Notes: ok, first I'll cover the fic then the omakes. This fic I got the idea for when I was in the arcade. If you want a good sense of what its like cross "Virtua Cop' and "Time Crisis 2' with "House of the Dead' and you get the game I envisioned. I also figured that it would make a good engine for the sort I wanted to tell. Which I believe it did. One of the things Shinji never got over was the trauma that the successive Angel attacks caused on his psyche. Yes, he grew as a person but the damage that was done never truly healed. So I figured what if he could kill them minus all the pain and anguish. Like I put in it would be cathartic, allowing Shinji to kill off his demons at the same time feeling good about doing it.

For those of you who noticed, the line "Be glad he's on our side, if he ever cut loose there's not much that could stop him." doesn't belong to me . It was taken from the Battletech 'Blood Legacy' by Michael Stackpole, who on another note is one of my fac authors.

Now for the omakes.

Throughout the series we never do learn how the Marduk Institute picks the Children, so I came up with my own way, video games. It's the perfect cover for a person to see what kind of child can take the stress of different kinds of attacks, without actually putting them through the experience. Its also incredibly amusing, and it explains the bonus level. I mean if a layperson can kill off ten Angels and then kill a berserker Evangelion you know there special. In a literal sense something akin to this happens in real life. When the US develops new kinds of military simulators for pilots, tanks drivers, etc, they sometimes use study groups of Children to test them for realism.

As for the second omake I have realized that through looking back through my body of work I have the unhealthy tendency to cause Shinji to hurt Asuka. I don't really know why this is and if various of you don't like it TOO BAD! I'm the author, you can't stop me since none of you know where I live. SO THERE *raspberry*

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and talk to someone from Namco or Konami since I have an excellent idea for a video game, its called Evas & Angels.....

Epyon Zero