Wish for Death, Hope for Life
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A Neon Genesis Evangelion and Mobile Suit Gundam story
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Disclaimer: If I owned either of these series, would I be writing this?
Italics signify speaking in a different language.
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Chapter 1 – Arrival
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Tokyo 3 Junior High School, Class 2A
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The school day had finally ended. It was also the last scheduled one for the week as the Angel that was in the bay was supposed to attack in a couple of days. It was a time of nervous rejoicing for the students as they were happy to get out of class but were worried about the coming battle. One Kensuke Aida didn't seem to be too worried about it though; he saw it as a chance to see something interesting. He had planned to go on a camping trip to see things, from a safe distance anyway. He had learned his lessons from the fourth's attack.
"So you're really planning on going through with this stupid idea of yours?"
"Come on Touji. I've just gotta see this! It'll be incredible! Besides, it might make for some interesting movies that we could use later."
Touji slouched down in his seat. "Jeeze, you really do have a one-track mind. You woulda thought after the last time you had seen enough. Although I do kinda like your idea of taping the battle. Might be able to sell some copies of it or something."
Kensuke perked up at this. "So does that mean you'll come with me then? I would really appreciate it."
"No. I don't want anything to do with those damn things. Sorry Ken, but I've learned my lesson and I don't want to deal with any of that again."
"Ahh…it's all right. I understand how you feel about it. Besides, you never really liked camping anyway."
"Good, I'm glad you understand. So when do you plan to leave?"
"I'm heading out just as soon as I get home, I've already packed everything. This way I'll be able to avoid the security and make it look as if I'm evacuating for the weekend."
Touji sighed. "Of course…you've planned it all out."
Kensuke grinned. "Of course. I'll call you Sunday night to tell you all about it."
"Cool. Hey, do me a favor and don't do anything stupid out there, ok?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you on Monday."
"Seeya."
***
Outside of Tokyo 3
***
Kensuke whistled as he picked up his pack and watched the bus drive away. It had been so easy to get out of the city; everyone believed his story about evacuating. He grabbed his map from an outside pocket of the pack and studied it.
'Let's see…about three kilometers across the hills, then another two through the fields, and finally a hike up the mountain. Shouldn't take more than about three hours to get to the mountain, I guess that I can camp there for the night and finish the climb in the morning. This spot's gonna be great, it's out of the way and has a great view of the entire area. I know that I'll be able to see everything and not have to worry about large purple things falling on me.'
He shuddered for a moment.
"Not gonna happen."
He started his hike.
***
About an hour and a half later, Kensuke was almost out of the hills and feeling somewhat proud of himself.
'I can't believe how fast that went, I might be able to make it all the way before it gets dark! Then again, I don't really want to climb when it's too close; I have the entire day tomorrow to get there. Yeah, I better stop, I'm not gonna make any stupid mistakes about this.'
He came to the last hill before the grassy fields and made it to the top without too much difficulty. Arriving there, he noticed something strange about half a kilometer away. Off near the edge of the forest was a giant red piece of metal. He couldn't really describe it other than the fact that the thing was reflecting sunlight his direction. He also noticed that whatever it was, it was leaning against some even larger white and blue thing. All thoughts of his plans quickly left his mind as he gazed at the object.
'What the hell is that! Is it some sort of NERV weapon? No, they wouldn't leave it just sitting out here in the open. Well, whatever it is, I'm gonna find out.'
Kensuke quickly ran towards the strange thing, at the same time keeping a close eye on it just to be safe.
***
As Kensuke got closer to it he was able to discern its features some. It was some sort of robot. He couldn't tell its size too well but could definitely see that it was less than half the size of an Eva. It held some sort of rifle in its right hand and there was a large red shield resting over its left arm. The majority of the thing was white, with some red on the feet and blue on the body. He couldn't see a good deal of it because of the way it was resting.
'Is that some new kind of Eva? No way, it's too small and…block-like. Maybe it's that Jet Alone thing that Shinji told me about. Wait, there's something not right about this, who would just leave a robot lying in a field?'
He came to within fifty meters of the robot and stopped. It was lying on its back with one leg propped up a little. It didn't seem to be too damaged but he couldn't tell too well. Kensuke started to walk in a wide circle around it to see the entire thing. He didn't hear any sounds coming from it so he assumed that it was off for the moment. Coming to around the head, he realized that whatever it was, it wasn't an Eva. There was no place for an entry plug, even though those two white poles on the backpack looked like plugs. They were way too small anyway. The head was strange to say the least. It had some sort of red chin on the face, with two vents that looked like a frowning mouth. It also had yellow eyes with red trim below them. There was some sort of red lens on the forehead above a V-shaped antenna. Maybe it was some kind of camera. There were also some strange yellow protrusions just below the antenna; he had no idea what they were.
Kensuke made his way around to the right arm, staring at the rifle. No doubt it could make short work of him. It was then that something caught his eye; it was a white triangle on the body. This marking was on the blue part, in the middle near the "stomach." Being a military nut as he was, Kensuke recognized it as a rescue sign. Whatever this thing was, it had a pilot and maybe there was a way inside the cockpit.
'Should I try it? It would be cool to get into it and all, but what if there's a pilot? I don't think they'll like it if they see me screwing with it. Ahh…who cares! I could say that I'm checking out if the pilot's all right. Yeah, that'll work. It wouldn't be a bad idea to see if this guy is ok anyway, he might need help. The only question is how do I get up there.'
Kensuke quickly looked for any way to get on top of the robot. Glancing to his left, he realized how to get there.
'Of course, the arm! I might just be able to get on top of it and can walk to the hatch.'
Kensuke dropped his pack and ran towards the right forearm of the robot. It was lowest there and he might be able to make it up. He got there in a few seconds and noticed something else about the robot. From a distance, it had looked as if the armor was smooth and new, but up close it was pitted and gouged almost everywhere. There were even burn marks and partially melted sections of armor. This thing had seen a lot of use but still looked to be intact. It also looked as if it was repaired quickly, as some of the plates didn't match the other parts' paint color.
Kensuke resumed his climb, getting his hands on the top of the arm and kicking his feet against the side. He managed to kick and pull his way up and sat down for a second to catch his breath. A minute later he got up and started to walk up the arm and around the shoulder to the main body. The metal plating clanked with every footstep, causing Kensuke some concern. He was worried that the pilot might hear him and attack but it was too late now. He was at the rescue sign. He noticed that there was an arrow pointing to a depression in the body. There was a small lever located there.
'Okay Kensuke, last chance to pull back now. You can just walk away and say that you never saw it. No, something about this feels right. I'm going for it.'
With that thought, he pulled the lever. He heard a whirring noise as a panel in the middle of the body, near the lower torso opened. Kensuke peered over the edge and down into the opening.
It was definitely the cockpit. There were some kind of monitors on the sides and control panels below them with tons of switches and dials. It was a lot different than an entry plug; that was for sure. Oh yeah, there was a pilot there too. It was kind of hard to miss the figure in the white uniform sitting in the seat. Judging from the person's build, that was a male. He didn't look too much older than Kensuke. The white flight suit had some red and black trim; it also had two badges on the chest. There was a circular one with some kind of anchor shaped symbol and another one with the words "Ray" and "Earth Federal Forces" written on it. The pilot also wore a white helmet with a green visor. Kensuke couldn't see his face through it though.
'Well, that answers the question about the pilot. It looks like he's asleep or something though. I guess that I should see if he's hurt.'
Kensuke took a deep breath and jumped inside. He made sure that he didn't hit anything when he landed though. He stood on the back of the cockpit just to the side of the seat and squatted down by the pilot. He noticed one more thing about this thing too. It stunk like you wouldn't believe. He could pick up the smell of sweat, oil, grease, and a faint trace of blood and vomit. It was almost too much to bear.
He remembered that it would be a good idea to see how the pilot was and checked for any obvious wounds. There didn't seem to be any and he could feel a pulse from the guy's neck, so he was definitely alive and not hurt too bad.
'Guess I should try to wake him up now. I just hope that he isn't grouchy in the morning…er, afternoon.'
Kensuke started to shake the pilot by the shoulder to rouse him. The pilot groaned and tried to ignore it though. 'Damn. Guess I'll have to do it the hard way.'
"Hey! Wake up!"
That seemed to wake the pilot, as he stretched out his arms and yawned. He looked around until he caught a glimpse of Kensuke. The next thing Kensuke knew, he had a gun pointing at his head and the pilot was yelling at him.
"Who are you! Answer me now!"
Kensuke could only think of one thing to say at the moment. "Shit."
***
Amuro was somewhat startled to say the least. The last thing he remembered was getting back to the White Base and reloading Gundam's weapons. All of a sudden, this strange kid wearing glasses is waking him up. Amuro does the only thing that he can think of at the moment, he pulls out his gun and tries to figure out what is going on.
"Shit."
Amuro notices that the kid is about to piss his pants and decides to relax a little. He lowers his gun to show the kid that he won't hurt him. However, Amuro keeps the gun out, just in case.
'I shouldn't spook him too much; I need information here. Wait; was that Japanese that he was speaking? Oh…thank god Hayato taught me it. That could be trouble if I can't speak the language. Then again, why would someone use one of the old languages? They're just used by people to keep their culture intact. Oh…I guess I should talk to him now. It looks like he's about to faint. I might be able to get some answers too.'
"Hey, take it easy kid. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know who you are and what you're doing here."
The kid frowned and cocked his head to the side as if he didn't understand.
'Oh…yeah. I forgot about the helmet. He probably can't hear me through it.'
Amuro reached up with his left hand and pushed a button on the chin of his helmet. His visor whirred as it retracted into the top of the helmet. He repeated what he had said earlier and the kid seemed to relax quite a bit.
Kensuke sighed as he replied to the questions. "My name is Kensuke Aida and I just saw your robot lying here. I just wanted to see what was going on. What's your name, and what's the last thing you remember?"
"I'm Amuro Ray. I…I remember getting back to my ship after a…battle in the space near A Baoa Qu and loading up more ammo and weapons. Tell me, how did you get on the White Base?"
'Space? A bow a que? What the hell is he talking about?' "Look, I don't know anything about this ship or this 'White Base' but I can tell you that you aren't in space right now."
"The White Base is my ship. Oh, I'm on a Side then. Which one is it?"
"A side? Whatever that is, we're not there. We're on Earth."
"Earth? Weird. Can you tell me what the date is? I really need to know how long I've been out."
"It's August 9th."
Amuro's eyes widened at that news. "Are you sure? That can't be right. It was December 29th the last time I checked."
Kensuke nodded. "Wow, so you've been out for over nine months then. Welcome to 2015."
Amuro stared dumbly at that. "2015? What's the full date? Tell me it all!"
"It's August 9, 2015 AD. What's the big deal about it?"
Amuro muttered under his breath. "AD? I've gone back to the Middle Ages. What happened to me?"
"What was that?"
"Oh…it's just, where I came from, the year is Universal Century 0079. This is centuries in the past."
Kensuke blinked. "So you're from the future then. Could you tell me about it, like did we beat the Angels and what's this robot?"
"Angels?"
Kensuke sighed and slapped his hand against his forehead. "Hoboy…we've got a lot to talk about. I guess we should get comfortable first. You wanna get out and get some fresh air so we can talk?"
"Sure," Amuro replied, taking off his helmet. "It is kinda hot in here."
"You don't need the gun, I'm harmless."
Kensuke got a good look at Amuro's face. He was an average looking kid with blue eyes and a mop of red hair. 'Jeeze, he looks kind of like the demon. Seems to be nicer though, except she's never pulled a gun on me.'
"Well, let's talk."
***
Some time later, Amuro and Kensuke were sitting in the shade by Gundam's right arm. They had both traded stories about their timelines and had found out a few interesting things. Right now, Kensuke was quizzing Amuro for some clarification.
"So you never had a Second Impact or an Angel attack?"
"No, I didn't even know something like that was possible. We did have the One Week battle though; that was a little like what you described about what happened here."
"I guess that it means that you're from a different universe then if you've never heard of Second Impact. It's kinda hard to forget when about half the human race dies."
"Yeah…"
"So…about you. You fight in this war by piloting this…mobile suit you call the Gundam. Are you any good at it?"
Amuro stared off into space for a moment before answering. "I guess so. It's not exactly a fun thing to do; I've lost a lot of friends because of the war."
"Still, it's gotta be cool to pilot that thing!"
"I thought so at first, but now…I don't know. It's a big responsibility."
Kensuke looked down. "I don't know. I really just want to be a pilot too."
"Oh well…so what were you doing here in the first place? I doubt that you came all the way out here to find me."
This reminded Kensuke of his earlier plans. "Oh! I was out here so that I could see the battle two days from today. I was gonna watch it from that mountain over there, but I kinda got sidetracked with you."
"Battle?"
Kensuke slapped his head again. "Of course, you don't know about the last Angel attack. The Angel got hurt bad a few days ago but managed to live. Apparently the Evas have to use some sort of synchronized attack to defeat it and the attack is scheduled for two days from now. That's when the Angel wakes up."
"Oh, well I'm sorry about screwing up your plans. I gotta say though, I really want to see these Evas you were talking about. You mind if I join you? I don't have anywhere to go and I could use some help getting used to this world."
"Yeah, sure. I don't mind at all. I would really appreciate the company. I'll show you around town when the fight's over too. Hell, I'll even see if I can get my dad to let you stay with us." On one condition though, you teach me to pilot Gundam.
Amuro frowned. "I guess I could, but no weapon training. I don't think that I can get any ammo here and I want to keep what I have."
"That's all right. I just want to get behind the controls and pilot it around a little."
"Good. Thanks for the offer to take me in too. I don't think that I'd be able to fit in well here."
"Hey, it's not a problem. I'll just say that you're a friend from the Internet who needs some help for a while. I might even be able to get you into my class at school. That way, it'll be easier for you to fit in. I can guide you around town and stuff."
"Thanks. Hey, you got any food."
***
The next morning found the two waking up in Kensuke's tent. The fire from last night was now just smoldering embers. Kensuke had woken up first to get some breakfast. He was a little shocked to see Amuro there at first but had remembered last night. Reaching into his pack, he grabbed some breakfast bars and started to eat. A few minutes later, Amuro got out of the tent and stretched before sitting next to Kensuke.
"Morning."
"Morning. Here's breakfast; I know it isn't that good but it's all I have."
"It's all right. I'm so hungry right now, I can eat anything."
Kensuke nodded. "Good. Lunch will be a little better though." He then noticed that Amuro was still wearing his flight suit. "Hey, do you have any other clothes? You might be just a little noticeable wearing that around."
Amuro looked down and realized this. "Yeah, you're right Kensuke. I don't thing that I can walk around town in a normal suit. I think that I have some stuff in the cockpit that I can use. I like to keep some things around just in case."
"That's good, cause I don't think that you can fit in much of my stuff."
"Yeah, I guess so. I'll be back in a minute."
With that, Amuro finished off his bar and walked to the Gundam.
Kensuke sat there waiting and looking at the Gundam while he finished his bar. He heard a few noises from the cockpit now and then. A few minutes later he saw Amuro walking back towards camp. He was wearing a pair of boots, jeans, a yellow shirt, and had a bag over his shoulder.
"So, what's the plan for today?"
Kensuke brushed his hands off on his pants before responding. "Well, after we pack up the tent and stuff, we should probably climb up to the top of the mountain. But, now that I'm looking at it, I really don't want to climb that."
Amuro looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that is a bit of a climb. However, there is some good news about it. There are plenty of trees and valleys that I can use to hide Gundam. I think that we can get up there fairly quickly, depending on the terrain. So, you want to get going? It would be best if we get up there before it's too late in the day, I don't want anyone to see anything."
Kensuke got a huge smile across his face. "Do you mean that we're gonna take a ride up there."
"Yep, just as soon as we finish packing up. Oh…before I forget, here's something that you might want to read."
With that, Amuro reached into his bag and pulled out a large book.
"What's that?"
"You want to pilot Gundam, right? This is the manual for it. It'll give you something to read today."
Kensuke was practically ecstatic. "Cool, Cool, Cool! Let's get going!"
He quickly got up and began packing up his tent.
Amuro sighed. "Okay."
Kensuke packed up his camp in record time. A few minutes later, they were both standing by the Gundam's right arm, wondering what to do. Kensuke broke the silence.
"So, how are we gonna do this. I don't think that you have much storage in your cockpit or anywhere else."
"Well, I think that you can fit in the cockpit, behind my seat. As for our stuff, I have an idea. I can store the shield and beam rifle on the back and carry the bags in one of the hands."
"Cool, let's do it."
Amuro got into the cockpit and started to activate the Gundam. Kensuke could hear whining and whirring noises from it as steam appeared from its chest vents. He stared as it stood up and placed its rifle on the back of its waist. It then put the shield on a mount on its backpack and kneeled on one knee. The right arm reached toward Kensuke and Amuro yelled from the cockpit.
"Put the bags on and then climb on yourself! I'll move so that you can get in here!"
Kensuke complied and got onto the hand. It slowly moved toward the cockpit opening and he jumped in when it had gotten close enough. He got behind Amuro's seat and braced himself against the back wall.
"So how long do you think that it'll take us to get to the top?"
Amuro grinned. "Bout a minute or two. This isn't too high a jump."
"Jump?"
"You'll see."
With that, Amuro closed the hatch and rammed the joysticks forward as he smashed the middle pedal to the floor. Kensuke could hear a whining sound behind him before he felt himself being smashed into the floor. He looked at the front screen to see the ground flying in front of him. Gundam was practically skimming the treetops as it flew up the mountain. They came up to a ledge and Amuro pulled back a little on the controls, allowing them to land.
"Wow…"
"We're not done yet. Where do you want to set up camp? I need to know where I can hide this thing."
"Oh, just the next plateau. I think that there's a valley with some tall trees right behind it."
"I see it. Hold on!"
Amuro made his next jump and landed on the area that Kensuke had pointed out. He then maneuvered Gundam onto one knee again and brought the right arm towards the cockpit again. He opened the hatch.
"Kensuke, get off now. I need to hide this now."
"Sure."
Kensuke quickly got into the hand and Amuro moved it toward the ground. Kensuke pulled the bags off and waved to Amuro. Gundam then stood and moved to hide in the valley. Kensuke could hear it stop and saw that the head was sticking out from the valley. A couple of minutes later, Amuro appeared from the trees. He looked back for a moment before continuing on to Kensuke.
"It's not the best hiding job I've ever done, but it'll have to do."
"You've done this before?"
Amuro paused before responding. "Yeah…a couple of times. I really don't like to think about it though. I made a really stupid decision."
Kensuke frowned. "Ok, I guess that I won't ask about that now. I do want you to tell me about it later though."
"Thanks Kensuke. Let's just say that I've seen a lot of good people die; it isn't fun to think about."
Kensuke paused. "All right, I guess that I can understand that. Oh…call me Ken, all of my friends do."
"So I'm a friend?"
"Yeah, of course you are. I mean we've got some common interests. Mecha and computers."
Amuro chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose so. What do we do now Ken?"
"Let's set up camp. After that, I'm gonna read that manual you gave me and I have a portable TV you can watch. It wouldn't hurt to catch up on recent events."
"All right."
With those words the two teens began to set up their tent and prepare for the next day. Both were eager to see the battle, but for different reasons. Kensuke thought that it would be an important event to watch. Amuro wanted to see what the Angels and Evas were. He also wondered if there was a chance he could help out or at least find a way back to his world. As they began to assemble the tent, Amuro thought of what was going on back there.
'I just hope that White Base will be okay without me.'
***
To be continued
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Author's Note:
Well, that's it for the first chapter. As you can see, I've decided to bring Amuro in during the fight with the seventh Angel. I chose this time for several reasons. First, the existing cast is all in place; I want them to at least know each other before I screw with the story. This timeframe also makes it easy to get Amuro in without arousing too much suspicion. Any energy spikes found could be written off as being the Angel healing itself. It's also early enough in the story that I can work with it enough.
As for Kensuke, I think that my use of him was acceptable. At this point, he is still extremely interested in the Evas and could be seen as doing what I have had him do here. He still wants to be part of the action and it makes sense that he might try to watch the fight. I think that his reaction to finding the Gundam is still in character. His curiosity takes over and he has to investigate what he has seen. I chose him to encounter Amuro first due to his nature. He would be most likely to help and not tell anyone about what he has seen (with a little blackmail of course).
As I read in one of my reviews, there are a lot of Eva/Gundam stories. I have read a great deal of them. For starters, they mostly involve Gundam Wing. While that's a good series in it's own right, I really don't think that it matches well with Eva. The original series has a great deal of themes that are similar with Eva, like I said in the Prologue, and I've never seen anything done with it like this. I guess that I want to do something a little different. That is also the reason that I've had the casts meet like this. In most of the stories, the gundam(s) appear out of nowhere and the Evas are launched to intercept. It then either goes into a fight between the two groups or the gundam(s) manage to communicate that they aren't a threat. I want to introduce Amuro and company through the back door; something that I haven't seen much.
Now, about the gun scene; it is understandable for Amuro to pull it out like that. He is (or was) in the middle of a war, and reacts like he is still there. As for the reason that he puts it down so fast, he could see that Kensuke wasn't much of a threat. He could either see Kensuke's body posture and behavior or could feel that Kensuke wasn't trying to hurt him. Remember that Amuro is a Newtype; odds are that he could feel Kensuke's emotions or see that he wasn't in any danger. Amuro also probably wanted to find out what was going on too.
You may have noticed that I didn't go over what the two told each other. That was intentional; I think that if I did so, this chapter would be about another two or three thousand words long. Besides, you most likely know about the back-story anyway. Kensuke obviously doesn't know all about what is happening so the information that he gives Amuro is spotty at best. Amuro has most likely glossed over certain parts of his life too. You may be able to notice that he is skittish around what he last did, and on his experiences with the war. You see, Amuro has a tendency to bury his emotions some. After Lalah's death, he became emotionally dead for the remainder of the war and was unable to do anything for seven years afterwards. He's not a perfect soldier or anything; he just doesn't want to remember painful things.
I had originally planned to cover up through the battle in this chapter. However, the length was getting a little long for my tastes. This chapter itself is about 4,500 words and any longer might turn off readers. And to think that I was worried about things being too short… Due to my writing style (I didn't even know I had one) these chapters will take a while to get out. After reading Steve VADER's review, I realized how many of these kinds of fics are unfinished. Granted, some of them aren't that good, but some of them deserve to be finished. That convinced me that I need to finish this, I owe it to everyone who reads this. I also want to be able to say that I finished something that I started. It might be a month at most between the updates, but I will finish this. The next chapter might be a while though; I've been neglecting my classes some and really need to focus on them right now. I also plan to repost the Prologue with this chapter; fixing some of the obvious grammar and spelling mistakes that I missed earlier.
Anyway, thanks go to Kim, Steve VADER, and Jacob for taking the time to review. To the rest of you reading this, please take the time to review. I don't care if it's a flame; I need some feedback on this. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated though; my fragile ego could use a little help. Oh well, I hope that you've enjoyed or at least liked reading what I've wrote.
***
Next Chapter: The battle against the seventh Angel, and maybe a welcome to Tokyo 3