Lost and Found
Chapter 2: Lost and Found
By Stalin
"Eh, Asuka, do you know where we're going," the nervous, thin, brown- haired boy asked the red-headed girl crawling in front of him.
"Of course I do," Asuka hissed, "we're heading toward the command center, idiot."
"Okay, what do you think Rei?"
The blue-haired girl took a minute to reply. "We should turn left at the next division in the tunnel."
"Oh I know that already, but say, how do you know these ducts so well?"
"I am simply estimating the distance we have crawled Pilot Sohyru", Rei said.
"Which duct do we take again, is it this one", Shinji asked no one in particular. "It looks kind of…well, dark."
"Look around stupid, it's all dark here, and no that's not the way", Asuka answered. "Get out of there, who knows what's in there."
"Okay, sorry, uh, one second", Shinji said. After a couple moments it became clear to Asuka that Shinji was trying to turn around in the cramped space.
"Oh just back out of there retard", Asuka suddenly screamed, breaking the silence that had reigned over the duct for the last several seconds. Needless to say, this sudden outburst startled poor Shinji, who was quick to jump in surprise and knock his head on the shaft ceiling.
"Ahhh, ouch, that hurt…", Shinji exclaimed for a moment before putting his hands back to the floor. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as if the floor suddenly disappeared beneath him and he went tumbling forward. "Aeeii, hmmph!"
Luckly for Shinji, Rei had noticed his sudden fall and had caught his foot before he went too far. Shinji was of course relieved that he had not dropped to wherever the shaft led.
"Thanks a lot Rei, that was too close", Shinji said upon seeing who his savior was. Rei struggled to pull him back up, but it was taking a while as Asuka was in no position to help and it was difficult to pull anyone up in such close quarters. Even though Shinji did not weigh much, this was quite a task.
While Rei was pulling him up from his would-be grave, however, something in the darkness caught Shinji's eye. There, on a small ridge, was a small disk, only visible because of the faint glint of its metal, which was different from that of the duct itself. He reached out and grabbed the small object and tried in vain to make out anything on it. He could tell something was written on its side, but could not tell what.
"I probably ought to just hang on to it, nobody's going to miss it if it was just sitting down here", Shinji thought. "I wonder how it got down here. What's on it?" While he pondered these questions, Rei had finished hauling him back up. Luckily, neither she nor Asuka took any notice of the disk Shinji now had. Thinking quickly he quietly pocketed the disk, got back into the line, and once again began crawling towards the command center.
The battle had been an interesting one. With no power, the Evas had to be launched manually, and found themselves in a peculiar situation. The new angel had the marvelous ability to excrete acid. Unfortunately, it was trying to use it against Asuka, Rei, and Shinji, who had other plans. From their unusual positions directly below the angel, they finally had destroyed it after overcoming some obsticals to their mission.
After some time, Shinji found himself in the dressing room, finally being able to see the disk clearly. It was black, and besides being labeled "top secret" there was nothing interesting about it. Obviously, it was the label that made Shinji curious about it, and he put it in his pocket once again. His time to think in the dressing room was, however, cut short by a pounding on the door, followed by the commands of a certain impatient redhead outside.
The trip back to Misato's apartment would have been boring if it wasn't for the Major's driving. Going around corners at nearly sixty miles an hour was not Shinji's idea of fun, and although Asuka would not usually mind, she had somehow developed a stomachache after the battle.
"I think I'm going to puke", Asuka groaned as Misato turned yet again, forcing Asuka against the side of the car. "If I do, it will be your fault Misato, take these corners slower, for the love of all things holy."
"I need to be there in five minutes Asuka", Misato replied, "I don't want to miss my show. It's the end of the season, I need to see the last show. You understand, of course, don't you? It wasn't that long you needed to get home after the sync tests to see your favorite show."
"So, you didn't complain, or have a stomachache, did you? The only problem was that the idiot here was late, and you didn't notice he was gone."
"Oh well, how could I through all your complaining, and with a huge stack of papers on my desk, I had other things to worry about", Misato retorted. "Why don't you learn to drive?"
"I'm not old enough yet, Misato."
"That didn't stop your complaining about alcohol, did it? I believe you said 'in Germany I was allowed to drink it, I should be able to here, too.' Am I right?"
"Maybe, but still…"
"No, I'm certain that if I asked Nerv would arrange it so you could drive and get lessons, hell, I could teach you both, I'm a perfect driver", Misato said bluntly. Asuka reacted to this comment by giving her guardian a cynical stare for a few long seconds. Needless to say, Misato was somewhat unnerved by Asuka's silence and went on rambling to no one in particular.
"Yep, that would be fun. I could teach you both to drive like professionals, just like me. I'm certain Nerv wouldn't mind, it would be to their advantage, right? I mean that's not all that---"
"That had to be about the stupidest idea anyone besides the idiot here ever conceived. While I know I could drive fine on my own, what about wondergirl and the baka? She would probably just stare out the side window until she hit a tree, and this idiot would probably be too scared to ever drive himself anyway. Oh sure, Nerv would love to waste time on such a load of crap", Asuka ranted.
Shinji really had no opinion in the argument that was going less than a meter from him. Even if he did, he would not dwell on it. If Nerv wanted its pilots to drive on their own, that would be his father's choice, not his. Unfortunately, his neutrality was about to be utterly destroyed when Asuka went on another offensive.
"Hey Shinji, what do you think of this?"
"Huh, what do I think about what", Shinji said in the hope that Asuka would leave him alone. This did not happen, and Shinji was soon dragged into the battle.
"See, I told you Misato that he doesn't realize what's going on around him. He would be a terrible driver, even if he was sixteen."
"You never said anything about Shinji's attention problem, you mentioned Rei's, but not Shinji's", Misato said. She was becoming rather annoyed by the whole conversation, which started as a joke as far as she was concerned.
"So, you admit that he has a attention problem! No one can beat Asuka Langley Soryu at anythi-"
"Okay, I've had just about enough of this, Asuka, just give it up. It was just short joking comment, I wasn't serious. Although now I'm starting to believe that I should just check on it. If it is okay, then not only will I be teaching you both, but you will no choice but to surrender to me as your superior officer", Misato stated in the hopes of getting the German pilot to drop the issue. Luckily for Misato, Asuka felt that she had annoyed her guardian enough for one day, and turned her attention towards her unfortunate roommate.
"So, Shinji, why didn't you stand up for Misato? I thought you always took her side, did you this time?"
Shinji noticed this change in target with no small degree of nervousness. With any luck he could say something that would flatly answer her question, and leave her nothing to continue with. "I don't know", Shinji instinctively said. "Oh way to go there Shinji, 'leave her with nothing to go on' you said, sure, great job", Shinji's mind sarcastically thought.
"Oh really, are you certain you don't know? Maybe what you really wanted to say is-", Asuka said before being cut off. Although most of her argument had taken place on a flat piece of road with no turns, Misato had decided to take a quick shortcut, with lots of turns. The last turn was taken rather fast, even for Misato, and in such a small car, Asuka was pressed completely against Shinji by the inertia of the turn. Even though she was in such close proximity with her target, she could only mutter a single phrase at first.
"I don't feel too good", Asuka groaned, suddenly revisited by her stomachache from earlier. Shinji would have been somewhat happy to be so close to Asuka without her attempting to attack him if it were not for several factors. One, she would beat him later, two, she might very well throw up all over him, and three, he too was caught off guard by the major's swift turn and had knocked his head against the window. It was not a soft knock, nor was hard enough to affect the glass, but hitting the same part of his head that he hurt earlier in the duct was not at all painless, or anything remotely close to it.
"Why twice in one day, what did I do to get this luck", he thought. Just then Misato took a turn in the opposite direction, relieving Shinji of his now-green roommate, and quickly pressing her up against the opposite side. Unfortunately for her Misato was not yet done, and made at least seven more turns in each direction before arriving at the apartment. Miraculously, Asuka had not thrown up, and she felt fortunate that she had not made such a spectacle; although it would be fun to see what Shinji would do if she vomited all over him.
Shinji felt safe now that they had returned to the apartment safely, and much to his delight found Kensuke and Toji waiting for him at the door. "Hey guys, what are you doing here?"
"We just decided to check up on ya, after a battle n' all", Toji said, speaking for both boys. "We ran all the way here from the shelter as soon as we were let out."
That came as no surprise to Shinji, who even in the fairly open air could smell their sickening body odor. Just then Asuka and Misato got up to the door. Misato entered first, but Asuka was stopped by a quick comment from Kensuke.
"Here's the demon once again, back to plague us with her presence", Kensuke said flatly to Toji.
"Yeah, Shinji, why can't you do something about the red devil, she's only a stuck up bit-", Toji said before being cut off by an annoyed Asuka. Shinji said nothing and backed out of the battleground.
"What were you going to say there stooge, huh idi-", Asuka stopped and took a sniff of the air. She was still feeling unwell from earlier in the car, where she had decided to attack Shinji later, but the combined stench of the two sweat-soaked boys finished the job.
"Oh god", Asuka choked out while yet again turning green and running for the bathroom in the apartment. The three stooges simply stared at the scene wondering what just happened. Shinji had a pretty good idea, but his thoughts were interrupted by Misato's scream coming from the bathroom, quickly followed by a puking sound, and then Asuka's scream. Shinji couldn't help but smile at the new turn of events, and while his friends left and he went in, his thoughts turned back to the disk he had retrieved earlier that day.
I have no idea how well this will be received. I still would like to get some more reviews, and some more ideas, seeing that the prologue had few reviews or ideas. Anyhow, please give me some feedback, negative or not, just express your thoughts, and of course read the first half, it is fairly important. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope to continue with this fic. See ya!
P.S. Please point out grammar errors if you know the subject well. I have no pre-readers (yet, maybe, who knows) and think my spell-checker is broken. It would be very much appreciated.
Chapter 2: Lost and Found
By Stalin
"Eh, Asuka, do you know where we're going," the nervous, thin, brown- haired boy asked the red-headed girl crawling in front of him.
"Of course I do," Asuka hissed, "we're heading toward the command center, idiot."
"Okay, what do you think Rei?"
The blue-haired girl took a minute to reply. "We should turn left at the next division in the tunnel."
"Oh I know that already, but say, how do you know these ducts so well?"
"I am simply estimating the distance we have crawled Pilot Sohyru", Rei said.
"Which duct do we take again, is it this one", Shinji asked no one in particular. "It looks kind of…well, dark."
"Look around stupid, it's all dark here, and no that's not the way", Asuka answered. "Get out of there, who knows what's in there."
"Okay, sorry, uh, one second", Shinji said. After a couple moments it became clear to Asuka that Shinji was trying to turn around in the cramped space.
"Oh just back out of there retard", Asuka suddenly screamed, breaking the silence that had reigned over the duct for the last several seconds. Needless to say, this sudden outburst startled poor Shinji, who was quick to jump in surprise and knock his head on the shaft ceiling.
"Ahhh, ouch, that hurt…", Shinji exclaimed for a moment before putting his hands back to the floor. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as if the floor suddenly disappeared beneath him and he went tumbling forward. "Aeeii, hmmph!"
Luckly for Shinji, Rei had noticed his sudden fall and had caught his foot before he went too far. Shinji was of course relieved that he had not dropped to wherever the shaft led.
"Thanks a lot Rei, that was too close", Shinji said upon seeing who his savior was. Rei struggled to pull him back up, but it was taking a while as Asuka was in no position to help and it was difficult to pull anyone up in such close quarters. Even though Shinji did not weigh much, this was quite a task.
While Rei was pulling him up from his would-be grave, however, something in the darkness caught Shinji's eye. There, on a small ridge, was a small disk, only visible because of the faint glint of its metal, which was different from that of the duct itself. He reached out and grabbed the small object and tried in vain to make out anything on it. He could tell something was written on its side, but could not tell what.
"I probably ought to just hang on to it, nobody's going to miss it if it was just sitting down here", Shinji thought. "I wonder how it got down here. What's on it?" While he pondered these questions, Rei had finished hauling him back up. Luckily, neither she nor Asuka took any notice of the disk Shinji now had. Thinking quickly he quietly pocketed the disk, got back into the line, and once again began crawling towards the command center.
The battle had been an interesting one. With no power, the Evas had to be launched manually, and found themselves in a peculiar situation. The new angel had the marvelous ability to excrete acid. Unfortunately, it was trying to use it against Asuka, Rei, and Shinji, who had other plans. From their unusual positions directly below the angel, they finally had destroyed it after overcoming some obsticals to their mission.
After some time, Shinji found himself in the dressing room, finally being able to see the disk clearly. It was black, and besides being labeled "top secret" there was nothing interesting about it. Obviously, it was the label that made Shinji curious about it, and he put it in his pocket once again. His time to think in the dressing room was, however, cut short by a pounding on the door, followed by the commands of a certain impatient redhead outside.
The trip back to Misato's apartment would have been boring if it wasn't for the Major's driving. Going around corners at nearly sixty miles an hour was not Shinji's idea of fun, and although Asuka would not usually mind, she had somehow developed a stomachache after the battle.
"I think I'm going to puke", Asuka groaned as Misato turned yet again, forcing Asuka against the side of the car. "If I do, it will be your fault Misato, take these corners slower, for the love of all things holy."
"I need to be there in five minutes Asuka", Misato replied, "I don't want to miss my show. It's the end of the season, I need to see the last show. You understand, of course, don't you? It wasn't that long you needed to get home after the sync tests to see your favorite show."
"So, you didn't complain, or have a stomachache, did you? The only problem was that the idiot here was late, and you didn't notice he was gone."
"Oh well, how could I through all your complaining, and with a huge stack of papers on my desk, I had other things to worry about", Misato retorted. "Why don't you learn to drive?"
"I'm not old enough yet, Misato."
"That didn't stop your complaining about alcohol, did it? I believe you said 'in Germany I was allowed to drink it, I should be able to here, too.' Am I right?"
"Maybe, but still…"
"No, I'm certain that if I asked Nerv would arrange it so you could drive and get lessons, hell, I could teach you both, I'm a perfect driver", Misato said bluntly. Asuka reacted to this comment by giving her guardian a cynical stare for a few long seconds. Needless to say, Misato was somewhat unnerved by Asuka's silence and went on rambling to no one in particular.
"Yep, that would be fun. I could teach you both to drive like professionals, just like me. I'm certain Nerv wouldn't mind, it would be to their advantage, right? I mean that's not all that---"
"That had to be about the stupidest idea anyone besides the idiot here ever conceived. While I know I could drive fine on my own, what about wondergirl and the baka? She would probably just stare out the side window until she hit a tree, and this idiot would probably be too scared to ever drive himself anyway. Oh sure, Nerv would love to waste time on such a load of crap", Asuka ranted.
Shinji really had no opinion in the argument that was going less than a meter from him. Even if he did, he would not dwell on it. If Nerv wanted its pilots to drive on their own, that would be his father's choice, not his. Unfortunately, his neutrality was about to be utterly destroyed when Asuka went on another offensive.
"Hey Shinji, what do you think of this?"
"Huh, what do I think about what", Shinji said in the hope that Asuka would leave him alone. This did not happen, and Shinji was soon dragged into the battle.
"See, I told you Misato that he doesn't realize what's going on around him. He would be a terrible driver, even if he was sixteen."
"You never said anything about Shinji's attention problem, you mentioned Rei's, but not Shinji's", Misato said. She was becoming rather annoyed by the whole conversation, which started as a joke as far as she was concerned.
"So, you admit that he has a attention problem! No one can beat Asuka Langley Soryu at anythi-"
"Okay, I've had just about enough of this, Asuka, just give it up. It was just short joking comment, I wasn't serious. Although now I'm starting to believe that I should just check on it. If it is okay, then not only will I be teaching you both, but you will no choice but to surrender to me as your superior officer", Misato stated in the hopes of getting the German pilot to drop the issue. Luckily for Misato, Asuka felt that she had annoyed her guardian enough for one day, and turned her attention towards her unfortunate roommate.
"So, Shinji, why didn't you stand up for Misato? I thought you always took her side, did you this time?"
Shinji noticed this change in target with no small degree of nervousness. With any luck he could say something that would flatly answer her question, and leave her nothing to continue with. "I don't know", Shinji instinctively said. "Oh way to go there Shinji, 'leave her with nothing to go on' you said, sure, great job", Shinji's mind sarcastically thought.
"Oh really, are you certain you don't know? Maybe what you really wanted to say is-", Asuka said before being cut off. Although most of her argument had taken place on a flat piece of road with no turns, Misato had decided to take a quick shortcut, with lots of turns. The last turn was taken rather fast, even for Misato, and in such a small car, Asuka was pressed completely against Shinji by the inertia of the turn. Even though she was in such close proximity with her target, she could only mutter a single phrase at first.
"I don't feel too good", Asuka groaned, suddenly revisited by her stomachache from earlier. Shinji would have been somewhat happy to be so close to Asuka without her attempting to attack him if it were not for several factors. One, she would beat him later, two, she might very well throw up all over him, and three, he too was caught off guard by the major's swift turn and had knocked his head against the window. It was not a soft knock, nor was hard enough to affect the glass, but hitting the same part of his head that he hurt earlier in the duct was not at all painless, or anything remotely close to it.
"Why twice in one day, what did I do to get this luck", he thought. Just then Misato took a turn in the opposite direction, relieving Shinji of his now-green roommate, and quickly pressing her up against the opposite side. Unfortunately for her Misato was not yet done, and made at least seven more turns in each direction before arriving at the apartment. Miraculously, Asuka had not thrown up, and she felt fortunate that she had not made such a spectacle; although it would be fun to see what Shinji would do if she vomited all over him.
Shinji felt safe now that they had returned to the apartment safely, and much to his delight found Kensuke and Toji waiting for him at the door. "Hey guys, what are you doing here?"
"We just decided to check up on ya, after a battle n' all", Toji said, speaking for both boys. "We ran all the way here from the shelter as soon as we were let out."
That came as no surprise to Shinji, who even in the fairly open air could smell their sickening body odor. Just then Asuka and Misato got up to the door. Misato entered first, but Asuka was stopped by a quick comment from Kensuke.
"Here's the demon once again, back to plague us with her presence", Kensuke said flatly to Toji.
"Yeah, Shinji, why can't you do something about the red devil, she's only a stuck up bit-", Toji said before being cut off by an annoyed Asuka. Shinji said nothing and backed out of the battleground.
"What were you going to say there stooge, huh idi-", Asuka stopped and took a sniff of the air. She was still feeling unwell from earlier in the car, where she had decided to attack Shinji later, but the combined stench of the two sweat-soaked boys finished the job.
"Oh god", Asuka choked out while yet again turning green and running for the bathroom in the apartment. The three stooges simply stared at the scene wondering what just happened. Shinji had a pretty good idea, but his thoughts were interrupted by Misato's scream coming from the bathroom, quickly followed by a puking sound, and then Asuka's scream. Shinji couldn't help but smile at the new turn of events, and while his friends left and he went in, his thoughts turned back to the disk he had retrieved earlier that day.
I have no idea how well this will be received. I still would like to get some more reviews, and some more ideas, seeing that the prologue had few reviews or ideas. Anyhow, please give me some feedback, negative or not, just express your thoughts, and of course read the first half, it is fairly important. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope to continue with this fic. See ya!
P.S. Please point out grammar errors if you know the subject well. I have no pre-readers (yet, maybe, who knows) and think my spell-checker is broken. It would be very much appreciated.