Disclaimer: First of all thanks to my prereaders and my lovely beta-reader: Worldmage.

OH NO! NOT THE PENGUINS (YES, THE PENGUINS! WE'RE BACK!--) [I'm not gonna do this...]

(Yes you are!) [NO!] (YES!) [NO WAY IN HELL!!] *(whips out .357)* (YES. YOU. ARE.) [Fuck you!]

*(Blam)* *[gurgle, thud]* (We don't own NGE or anything about it. No money's being earned and

disclaimers suck!) [Ha ha! REVENGE] (Oh my god! It's an N2-mine!)

*[BOOOOOM!]* [Ha! I am immortal!] *[brushes toasted penguin off clothes}*

See, the penguins made me do it. Between a .357 and a N2-mine, you really don't get

much of a choice-- and you can't escape them... they're everywhere-- talking in the corners.

Talking, whispering their dirty little secrets and scheming. But the time will come where they

shall pay... then the almighty dog-god CUJO shall come in all his terrible splendor and punish

them! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

...enjoy the fic and please review.




The Swords of Evangelion: First Impressions Part 1.


Waking was pain. The pounding in her head was multiplied by the pounding of a horse's hooves that

came closer and closer. Katsuragi Misato opened her eyes-- and shut them as quickly as light

pierced her skull with the force of a battering ram. "Ohh... god," she moaned in agony. She heard

a young man chuckle, and threw something at the sound. The crash of crockery only seemed to

intensify the pain in her head-- and his laughter. "If you opened your eyes you would hit closer

to the mark, Miss Katsuragi." Her eyelids parted in a tiny crack that showed her doe-like brown

eyes. "Go see who's coming, Ikari. And stop talking like a westerner!" She threw herself back

into the covers of her bunk once again and snuggled into the safety that it offered from her

headache.


The man dismounted quickly from his horse and saluted Shinji, who returned the gesture.

"Where can I find Captain Katsuragi Misato?" The man was dressed in an armor that Shinji could

not quite identify, but it did not seem important at the time.

"Is this a message from the High Priest of Adam?" Shinji queried. The messenger seemed surprised.

"Well, yes. How did you--" "Lucky guess," Shinji said offhandedly. "She's in the tent, I'll go

get her." Shinji sighed as he entered her tent once more to hear the sound of her snoring

reverberate within the confines of the little place. "Miss Misato." He waited a few moments, then

again. "Miss Misato."

He tapped his knuckles against a shield hanging off the center pole of the tent. Finally, a

response. "Die," she moaned. Shinji merely grinned and tried to stifle a laugh.

"There's a messenger here with an urgent message. It's for you specifically." She got up from her

bunk, moaning, groaning and growling all the way. Shinji turned and went to stand outside the

tent as Misato got dressed. Shortly thereafter she came out clad in full armor. The armor was

scarred with small dents and patched spots from the countless battles she had experienced. But

nonetheless she looked stunning. Shinji had found out, over the course of the years, that Misato

operated with two different 'personalities'. Not that she suffered from a multiple personality

disorder, but she changed when she donned her armor. She became Captain Katsuragi. Not Misato,

the wildcat who partied the night away and spent the day fighting hangovers. But the Captain

Katsuragi who had personally killed and wounded over onehundred and fifty men in combat in her

lifetime of service in the temple guards.

Now she accepted the letter with a crisp salute and a grim look. she looked the message over

thoroughly, then turned to Shinji. "Corporal Ikari. Tell Lieutenant Mashima that you and I will

be going to the Temple of Adam and Eva. We will be on a mission from both the council of SEELE

and his holiness Lord Gendo of Adam themselves; he will be the commanding officer while I am

absent. This is all he, and you, need to know. Now go."

Shinji saluted without questioning her orders and went to tell Mashima that he had been appointed

commanding officer for the time being.


"Your holiness, they have recieved the message."

Ikari Gendo looked up from the scrolls he had been studying on his desk. "Good. Tell Lord

Fuyutski to prepare for their arrival." The attendant bowed and spun around on his heels to

leave. "Make sure that I'm informed when my son arrives."

The attendant turned around, and bowed once more. "Yes your holyness. It shall be done." Then he

exited. About time, Gendo thought. The old men is getting impatient, though they think they

see the larger scheme-- but they will learn who sees the greater picture. In the fullness of

time, they will Gendo grinned unpleseantly and sat back in his chair to relax a little.


Shinji and Misato had been traveling for some days now, the advantage of being by the front, was

that the border to safety was not too far away. At least not for their division of the guard.

"We are to collect the persons listed in this message. The closest one seems to be in this town."

Misato sighed and put the paper back into its protective casing. "You said you had a sending?"

Shinji looked up from his duty of filling the canteens with water. "I don't know: vision,

sending... whatever. I don't really remember." Misato studied the young half-elf whom she had

raised as her own son since he had been delivered to her as a young child. He was definitely

hiding something from her, but he would tell her in time. He usually did.

"Do you know why fath... Lord Gendo wants us to pick up these persons?" Misato looked at Shinji.

"Huh?"

"Well," Shinji said, standing up from where he had squatted, "he must've given you a reason as to

why?" Shinji stared at her intently.

"I don't know," Misato said. "You must know something," Shinji pressed, "all I need to know are

my orders and how to best obey them. And that goes for you too!" she snapped, thereby ending the

conversation.


In the local dungeon of the Washiba township, Touji was having a great time describing how he had

single-handedly defeated seven men and an orc in an all-out fist-fighting bout at the local inn.

"Then this guy came at me from behind, see? And then I spun around and kicked him smack in the

face! Cleared out all of the upper level-- I promise you, that guy's not gonna be laughing

straight anymore." A raucous laugh reverberated up from the dungeons where he was sitting with

the rest of the scum the town guards had pulled in overnight.

Suddenly one of the guards came to his cell. "Suzahara Touji?" Touji stood up and brushed off his

clothes. "Yeah, who wants to know?" Touji was suddenly very suspicious of the situation.

"Just shaddap and follow me!" the guard snarled.

"Hmph. Can't a guy ask a question?" Touji muttered under his breath. But nonetheless, he followed

the guard out the cell and up to the ground level. "So? Who's asking for me?"

The guard went over to where one of the most beautiful women Touji had ever seen and some

half-elven guy stood. The woman was clearly one of the female Paladins of Eva, and she was

apparently an experienced warrior. The half-elf next to her seemed a bit--

preoccupied. He seemed very busy studying the wooden floor. He was dressed like an ordinary

temple guard.

Touji grinned as he approached the woman. "Suzahara's the name, love's my game baby, looking for

a real man to replace the puppet there?" He pointed to Shinji, who was still oblivious to what

was going on. "Suzahara Touji?" the woman asked incredulously. "The one, only and inimitable,

lady," he assured her.

She seemed to pull herself up a bit. "I am Captain Katsuragi Misato of the temple guards of Eva.

I have been assigned to take you to the Temple of Adam and Eva. You will follow us to the

destination." There was no question of his consent there; he just had to. But Touji was not going

to be trod upon. Temple guard or not, he still decided his own fate. "I'm not coming unless you

can grant me one thing." He snarled.

"What is that?" Misato was not thrown off her balance by the young man's sudden hostility.

"My sister is ill. I want the priests of Adam and Eva to take care of her. Understood? Or else

you'll have to kill me. 'Cause I'll be fighting you every step of the way if you don't!"

Misato pondered the options for a moment or two, then: "All right. Where is your sister

currently?" Touji heard a sigh of relief from Shinji as he elaborated the details of the

destination.


Misato sent Shinji with Touji to pick up his sister. Touji headed down to the inn.

"Weren't we supposed to pick up your sister?" Shinji asked, somewhat apprehensively.

"Yes," Touji answered. "This is where she is at. The barmaid takes care of her when I work. She's

been doing that for some years now, guess I won't be needing that anymore, huh?"

Shinji looked at the taller and more muscular human, studying him. "What do you do for a living?"

Touji cracked his knuckles and grinned. "I'm the man who keeps away unwanted trouble." From that

point on Shinji decided that he would be better off not asking more questions.

At the outskirts of the city they rendezvoused with Misato, who had gotten hold of a horses'

wagon.


"So, what's your name?" Touji asked the nervous half-elf. "Or are you a mute?"

Shinji looked at Touji. "No, my name is Ikari Shinji." Hey! He had gotten it right. Shinji smiled

as he reached out his hand to shake Touji's.

"Ikari? Like Lord Ikari Gendo?" Touji gasped. He had never thought that someone like the High

Priest would send his son to the battlefields. Shinji merely nodded, his face darkening. Touji

looked at to the back of the horse wagon Misato had 'acquired' for them. "I hope that the priests

will be able to do something for my sister. She had a real bad accident when she was younger.

During the first years of the war it passed through our town, our house was set on fire and

a wooden beam fell down on her when she was trapped inside, I don't know who got her out, but she

survived." A wierd expression crossed Shinji's face. "She hasn't been right since then, though,"

Touji continued, "she hasn't spoken, or even reacted when someone spoke to her... "

He turned his head back to look at Shinji. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, I'm an only child. My mother-- my mother died when I was very young.

My father was busy as the head of the church..." He looked at Misato, who was riding next to the

wagon. "Miss Misato adopted me and raised me."

Touji gave Shinji a strange look. "You know, Ikari. You sound like a westerner." He commented.

"But you're lucky. You had someone to take care of you. My mother died in childbirth, and then my

father died when I was ten-- it's tough enough making your way alone. Fortunately, I've had some

help in raising sis." Touji sighed.

Misato whistled at Shinji. "Stop for a moment, I just have to check something." Shinji groaned as

he saw a tavern up ahead.

"What?" asked a confused Touji.

"If she goes in there now," an exasperated Shinji explained, "we'll have to carry her out after

she has been drinking intensively for at least three hours."

Touji gave Shinji another wierd look. "Come off it, Ikari." He laughed. "At the worst she'll have

a pitcher and a half, get a little tipsy and then wobble out after some time. And while she is

doing that we can get us some rooms for the night and grab something to eat. I'm gonna anyway,

and sis can't sleep outdoors; she'll catch a cold."

Shinji sighed. "You're right. Let's get the horses into a stable and arrange some lodgings for

tonight. But I'll wager you that Misato won't settle for anything less than drinking herself into

a blackout."

Touji grinned as he jumped down from the wagon and walked over to the hatch at the back

compartment. "I'll take that bet." Shinji grinned back, Touji was in for a lesson he would not

forget anytime soon.


And so it was that after four hours and five pitchers of strong northman mead, two gold

pieces changed hands. "Thank you very much," Shinji said to Touji, who merely scowled at him.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now." Shinji yawned. "See you tomorrow." Touji just waved dismissively at

him as he left.

"I might just as well turn in too." Touji muttered as he stood up from the table where Shinji and

he had studied Misato. He cast a last look her way and shook his head as he went to his room.


Rei looked at the sword in her hands. She could feel the hard metal underneath the leather straps

that entwined the handle. It felt-- familiar. But in a way she could not quite describe. Like

déja vu. She shrugged it off as another side effect of the usage of such an item. She lifted it,

the smooth steel of the blade glinting in the torchlight of the unadorned room, racks of weaponry

lined the walls, but only one weapon had her attention now. It was a katana. It had one cutting

edge and a slight, graceful curve. Runes of magic and decorative inscriptions ran down the

magnificient blade. She admired it shortly before entering her combat stance. She remembered how

she had been taught to bend just a bit in the knees so that the opponent could not kick the legs

from beneath her easily. She gripped the handle with both her hands, making sure that there was a

little space between them. Then she began to swing the sword in a sword-dance taught to her some

time ago.

Ikari Gendo looked at her while she practiced her skills. He felt a swift ache of sorrow: She

was so young, so innocent. Yet there were no other options left open to him. He had to do what

was neccesary. He closed his eyes and concentrated just a fraction of a second, calling forth an

image from within the depths of his brain, the part where all things tender and warm resided.

Then a glowing sphere with the picture of an elven woman appeared. She looked almost identical to

Rei, only she had the lustrous chocolate brown hair and deep, dark brown eyes of a high elf. This

was the image of her he kept in his heart of hearts-- he had bound the image of her to his memory

with the force of magic, the pain had granted him a small absolvation for what he had done,

though he could never repay Yui.

"Yui..." He sighed, and dismissed the spell. "Your holiness, Lord Fuyutski is here, as you

requested." One of the attendants said.

"Excellent. Now leave." Gendo poured the water in the scrying bowl out and replaced it on the

desk where he sat. The enchanted water evaporated as soon as its use had been terminated. A short

curt rapping on the door marked Fuyutski's arrival. "Enter," Gendo said, and sat forward on the

chair once more. He rested his head on his hands, which he folded in front of him. And adjusted

mentally to the side of him that got things done.




Author's note: So, as said, this is NGE in a fantasy setting and that means that there should be

fantasy races too, right? But I warn you. These races are on MY premises, and the way that I use

these races WILL differ from whatever TSR and Tolkien (All hail the boss!) have filled your heads

with. You will find peace much easier if you just settle for accepting that. *grins*

Hope you enjoyed my humble works and please remember to review my fic. ^_^