And so the muchly delayed 10th chapter of A calling of Souls. Very sorry for the wit, to my what, 3-4 loyal readers out there? Ah well
Disclaimer - If I owned Evangelion I wouldn't be righting out a disclaimer now would I? I think Disclaimers hsould work the other way around. Only the people that DO OWN the subject should make them... save us 2 minutes of our lives. what could I do if I didn't waste my two minutes typing this... I'll never know now will I?
Enjoy!
DrunkDrake
A Calling Of Souls
Chapter 10 : Return to Normality / Our Champions
~~~~~~~~
Late night October 29th
It was sweet... not like sugar... but had a taste to it the kiss they shared. It was like jumping off a waterfall to land in the refreshing water below, the rush then the invigoration. It was the sweetest song and the sunniest day... Shinji and Asuka blinked after awards.
"Perhaps we should go..."
"Yeah let's..."
Neither knew who said what but Shinji paid the bill and they left walking side by side towards their apartment.
Amid the bushes near on the side of the street David stepped out pulling some natural camouflage out of his hair and clothing.
"I'm gonna feel like scum for this..." He looked at the camera that captured one frame of that perfect moment.
---
"All passengers boarding flight 197 please go to gate A - 21. I repeat, all passengers boarding flight 197 please go to gate A -21. Thank you"
"Will all announcers please go to through the gates of hell, I repeat, all announcers please go through the gate to hell..." grumbled Kaji as he looked over his plane ticket again. He hefted his rush packed briefcase back comfortably under his arm again and draped his coat over his right shoulder.
"I wonder why every announcer sounds the same..." mused Kaji as the person in question broadcasted again 'I swear they're all clones or something...'
Kaji shuffled ahead keeping up in line as it shifted maybe a step forward 'Who designed these places anyway?'
Due to the fact that Kaji's mission had been deemed secret he had to fly himself out of Chicago. Not really that hard, thinking back. Right now he was to offer his ticket as proof to a stewardess up ahead to get a package Gendo Ikari left for him.
"Next please" Kaji looked up and found the clerk smiling at him. Shocked for only a moment he offered his best lady killer smile and handed the airliner ticket over like it was made of fine China.
"O-one moment sir" The stewardess was only slightly caught off guard. Sure, a lot of guys tried to do the same thing before, but most of the earlier ones looked like they'd need a bath and some nicer clothing and maybe some teeth to fill gaps but Kaji was a mountain of a man. Well he told himself that. The stewardess checked the legality of the ticket then tore it.
"Well, mister D. Raike" the clerk/stewardess handed Kaji a small brown envelope with no markings "Here's your package, good day to you"
"Good day to you too" He nodded his head and left the line up 'This better be my ticket home'
Kaji sat himself in the middle of a semi crowded cafeteria and seeing how his business suit allowed him to perfectly blend in, he decided it be best to open his message now.
-Agent Kaji
-
-I have been informed of a new 'project' It'll require you to over see the operation. Your -VTOL is awaiting in hanger 14. Speed is of the essence.
-I.G
Kaji blinked and wondered how he's always the lucky one. The one to be stuck in the front line of the spying frontier.
Kaji made haste towards his contact point and hoped the trip wouldn't take all night. He did want to be home to enjoy the festivities he heard about.
--- October 30th
David sighed to himself. Rei was all for it, Shinji was on the fence and Asuka was holding strong against him...
Well only when it came to convincing them that he had a killer idea of what to dress up as for hallowe'en.
"Target approaching south east - two blocks" David spun around in time to see a red blur pass him, 4 green eyes crossing his vision.
"Hey baron, you might try stealth!" David tracked the dashing form until it was blocked by a stack of apartments.
It was then he noticed just what he shoot "Hey I can see my apartment from here!"
"Call me Baron again. I dare you!" Asuka scanned her surroundings only trusting her eyes. Her scanner was on the fritz thanks to an earlier hit from David's rifle.
"Sure, thing Baron" said David smirking. He never stood a chance as Unit -02 suddenly tackled him from the side. Not only that but once they stopped rolling he was looking straight into unit 02's right shoulder compartment.
"This could hurt..." he muttered as the compartment snapped open and a volley of spikes hit home across the upper chest and through the head.
His plug-simulator then powered down and the LCL drained out of tube. David coughed up some of the more reluctant drops of LCL from his lungs before accepting a helping hand from one of the technician's that was assigned to monitor the plug-simulator or plug sim, as some were referring it as already.
"Hard work out, kid?" David nodded absently as he rubbed his chest were the simulated pain was wearing off.
"Just a bit winded" David muttered clicking off a droplet of LCL from his left wrist before walking past the man "Eva takes a lot of of ya... even these 3D sims"
The tech grinned and lowered himself into the plugsim to do some modifications as were ordered by Ritsuko. David turned around and left the man to his work as Ritsuko waved over the other pilots. When she had them close enough she began he little explanation of what a plugsim was.
"These Plug-simulators, are state of the art Magi controlled Eva piloting programs" Ritsuko stated.
'Let's see, Asuka looks snide but probably is just as in the dark about this as I am. Shinji's probably more confused then I am and Rei... Well knowing my luck she probably knows what this is and doesn't really care all the same' David's brain rattled in the silence.
"Ritsuko, without the techno babble!" Misato said as she entered the plug-sim room just hearing the ending of her explanation "Some of us aren't day to day super brains"
"Says you..." muttered Asuka.
"They look like they understand perfectly Misato" Ritsuko pointed at the pilots who still didn't understand/care enough to respond "But if you insist..."
Ritsuko launched into a more simplified description with better explanations.
"The plug-simulators are modified entry plugs. These plugs are not directly connected to the eva, well not enough to control the eva" Ritsuko tapped a clip board she had picked up from a nearby desk.
"The plug-simulators are connected to the eva's link up network though. This is so that we'll be getting live updates as to your current sync ratio" Ritsuko grinned for a moment "The Magi were also programmed to make your simulated eva react like a normal eva also based on sync score"
"So that's why I still couldn't beat the Baron..." David mused
"Jerk" muttered Asuka under her breath.
"Anyway, the plugs then use all the collected data and form 3D worlds, or as in most of the cases we'll be using this for, battlefields for which to experiment the evas" Ritsuko looked up from her notebook and found more then one questioning gaze...
"Questions?" Ritsuko held her head up with her hand when more then the pilots raised their hands to ask.
"Fine, Misato you first..." It felt like it was going to be a long day.
---
"The reports show an increase in our current capabilities. This is obviously against the normal plan" questioned Fuyutsuki from Gendo's side.
Fuyutsuki was a man of few things, a simple man really. Not a puppeteer like Gendo, nor a power hungry old man like what made up SEELE. He was a man that preferred a simple quiet life, like his past one. As a university teacher, nothing fancy but something important that would contribute to the future. A man that wanted to leave a mark for the better meant of mankind even if it was only one student at a time. He was now at a position to do just that, but at a grander scale of more then one student. No, no. He now stood as second in command of one of the world's only hopes against the angels. The high life as second in command has some benefits as of special 'treatment', and able to make personnel dance the macarena at the snap of a finger if he really wanted to. However, he also felt the pressure of being second in command, constant meetings, budgets, deadlines, middle management, arguing with the upper brass and the fact that he was the second in command of defending all of humanity... Some days were nothing more then a headache for this man. But all that he was, he was just a simple man, thrust onto his position. Nothing but a simple man when seen by others.
However
A simple man can be quite dangerous, that danger is of the same reason he's simple. He has a goal, and has a will to strive towards achieving that goal.
"The normal plan has had to be... left behind" Gendo spoke from his covered mouth "Our new plan has at least as many benefits, though the cost may come quite high for everyone here"
The simple man just nodded as he felt his goal take a step further away from him.
---
"Ok, one more round kids" Misato spoke with an enthusiasm she didn't share just yet. Sure it was Sunday, but that didn't help the kids as this was supposed to be their only day off from school. She could almost remember the growls that came from 2 of the pilots when they were woken extra early for plugsim tests.
Misato sat on Hyuga's desk as she over viewed the 3D battlefield from a bird's eye view. It was quite spectacular some fights. Missile swarms soaring through the skies, prototype railgun weaponry flashing through the streets and bullets tearing through buildings like it was no bodies business.
However those were only added in when the Commanders had left and boredom settled itself on the minds of the crews and pilots.
Ritsuko had said to keep testing the pilots for 16 hours straight... she didn't speculate what to do, nor what to use.
"Hey, Shin-man" Hyuga spoke up and Shinji's video linkup connected with Hyuga's desk computer.
"Sort of busy" Shinji muttered through gritted teeth.
Busy he was, a three on one. Or really 00,02,04 vs 01. Stealth was the only thing going for Shinji at the moment. Unit 01 was peaking it's head around a corner eyeing the intersection up ahead.
"Well, would a positron accelerate cannon make it easier for you?" Hyuga grinned as he keyed in the appropriate codes in his computer terminal to pop open the nearby weapon hatch with the appropriate weapon. Shinji blinked for a moment stunned by the sudden occurrence.
"...Well, sure why not?" Shinji collected the rifle, detached the right shoulder fin and reattached the cannon's safety lock in.
In the command centre Aoba glared dubiously at Hyuga.
"What?" Hyuga spoke with a sloppy grin on his face.
"Your rigging the bet" Aoba muttered
"Oh? Gee, All I did was equip my little trooper on the field. I had no idea that it would affect our bet on who would win this match" Hyuga continued to grin as he watched Shinji slink from building to building cradling the massive weapon.
"Sure ya did..." Aoba muttered as Hyuga's grin got sloppier.
"Besides, don't think I didn't notice your, 'tactical & strategic updates' you gave Asuka in the last one after her Radar got blasted away" Hyuga continued unabated and Aoba shared a fraction of Hyuga's original sloppy grin.
---
"So, The plan is a go then?" Fuyutsuki continued his questioning of Gendo. Gendo's eyes shifted to better see his subordinate.
"Yes" was the reply
Fuyutsuki grinned as he wandered from beside Gendo's chair to the front of his desk to pick up the single folder left there. Turning open the folder to the first page, he rose an eyebrow.
"You really are going through with the plan. The Eva parade as I recall?" Fuyutsuki commented while Gendo watched him.
"Of course"
"It seems so unlike you. More like your previous self, then the man that's sizing me up right now" Fuyutsuki muttered as he flipped another page of the folder.
"..." Gendo didn't bother to reply, but his eyes continued to watch Fuyutsuki.
"I'm beginning to wonder why you started to go along with the Hallowe'en idea of..." Fuyutsuki's voice broke as he looked at the last page. Gendo rose his head above his hands and revealed a very slight grin as the sub commander thought of his next comment.
"Professor. Even you know that a school science lab needs funds to function" Gendo's voice silently rattled Fuyutsuki's voice box to function. It was unlike Gendo to refer to matters not directly related to Eva.
"Here I was thinking you were only using this to boost morale. Even I should have seen that you had another card up your sleeve" Fuyutsuki placed down the folder and one of the lines was highlighted red.
'Estimated tourist income as of result from EVANGELION participation'
Y x 5 black
Project funds - Black
Combat Maintenance - Black
Project E experiments - Black
Section 2 operations - Black
NERV 01 - Black
Status of 5 year quota.
---
"Ok guys, let's pack it up. Hit the showers " Misato commanded 'I've always wanted to say that'
A chorus of agreements and sighs of relief came flooding from the video link windows. Even the bridge crew stretched out, finally able to work off a few kinks from their backs, before they could make the trip back home.
The commanders still haven't returned but nothing serious was taking place, just the new sim plug tests and pilot physicals. Routine, nothing special, but one pilot was plotting away in the change rooms.
"Hey Shinji?" David propped himself in the doorway blocking the way out.
"Yeah, Cever?" Shinji seemed less then thrilled of being denied entrance to the male locker rooms but Cever didn't usually pose much threat.
"Ya decided on your costume yet?" David moved aside as he spoke and followed Shinji into the locker room.
Shinji blinked and remembered that tomorrow was supposed to be dress up day at school for the Hallowe'en party.
'It was a major thing after, the school doesn't just drop it's student dress code for just any occasion' Shinji's thoughts continued to spiral 'No, wait, there are still some rules... I think'
"Hey, Shinji anyone alive in there?" Shinji blinked and found David stared at him "You seemed lost for a second, dreaming of some one I know?" David gained a grin now to accompany his speech
"Perhaps a girl?" David waved over to the curtain that separated the locker rooms in two "Perhaps... REI?!"
Shinji had begun to blush as the one sided conversation spiralled towards another possible embarrassing moment. At the mention of Rei his expression flattened and his cheeks shone under the dim lighting.
'Rei is more then a partner from work... but She's not quite... Well, what I feel for her isn't love as anything more then as partners'
Shinji's mind then decided to drag the other occupant of his thinking into place.
'But I don't know what I feel for Asuka. If she truly does like me back... Then I really don't know where I stand. Yet she's acting like nothing happened...' Shinji looked up to see David maintaining his glance at Shinji.
"No, nono. Your wrong, I wasn't thinking of Rei!" Shinji's reply brought David's grin back so Shinji decided to steer the conversation elsewhere "I was trying to remember what costume I had ready!"
"Really?" David looked like he had doubts, he placed his right arm on his hip and had the left one hang limply at his side. All the while he watched over Shinji.
"Umm, really" Shinji's reply was lacking and David knew it.
"Well what are you going to go as?" David's question seemed out of place, well only to Shinji. Shinji wasn't quite used to people moving past teasing him about his love life, or lack there of.
"Umm, well. I don't know, I haven't had too much time to think about it" Shinji muttered as he pressed the release switch on his wrist. He watched as the plugsuit fell off his shoulders with a slight shrug, letting it join the slowly forming puddle of LCL underneath him.
David faced his locker before he unleashed his plug suit too "So you wanna help me or not?"
"This still about the costumes right?" Shinji muttered
"Yeah, of course Shinji" David pulled out his clothing "I'm going in my plug suit tomorrow, wanna bring yours along and we'll be the tag team pilots!"
Shinji blinked at David "That was your idea? Plug suits? David your weird"
"Hey! what's so wrong about that?" David turned around and faced Shinji's side "It's completely unique, unheard of and it comes with a total set of 4 suits!" David proudly held up his used one which was still dripping with LCL to better make Shinji understand his point.
"David... I don't know" Shinji replied, when David showed Shinji his suit earlier all Shinji saw was a used, LCL drenched plug suit, not some ingenious idea "It's just weird"
"Oh come on Shinji!" David threw his plug suit aside towards the bin for used plug suits. Neither Shinji nor David knew what happened to the plug suits placed in that bin. Washed, recycled or burned were the most sensible choices the boys shared about the fates of the plug suits.
"I don't know..." Shinji replied as he finished doing up his pants and reached for his shirt "I really don't..."
"Come on! I don't want to be the only one going like this" David prodded Shinji with his elbow as he finished doing up his shirt.
"But... wouldn't that be... secret materials or something?" Shinji responded closing the locker.
"Ritsuko approved for me to go in one, I have it back at home ready to go!" David started flinging his arms with his talking as he was getting frustrated from Shinji's evasive manuvers.
"Well..." Shinji looked almost beat.
"Well???" David mocked, he poked Shinji once in the side making the young Ikari step aside.
"Fine... I need a costume and this may as well do" Shinji held his used plug suit looking at it thoughtfully. David shook his head at that.
"No, no. That's a used one. Ritsuko will give you a spare one. Come on" David finished his own dressing and dragged Shinji behind himself. Shinji barely managed to get the plug suit in the bin before being dragged off.
---
"Bwahahahahahahahaahaha! you really are gullible you know that!" Asuka swatted Shinji playfully on the back as she had nearly doubled over from her laughing tirade. David walked just a few feet behind them.
"If it's such a bad idea then why did you agree to go along?" Shinji muttered loud enough for Asuka to hear.
"I never said it was a bad idea, just that you get sucked up in anything and everything" Asuka commented walking a bit ahead of him. David was only just behind them and decided to voice his opinion.
"Well, yeah Shinji's bad like that. However it's great fun for us eh?" David commented grinning. Asuka turned around and stood with both hands clasped at her hips and faced down David.
"Wha...?" mumbled David when Asuka leaned over him, over shadowing him.
"Stop bringing that annoying accent in your Japanese" Asuka frowned down on David.
"My accent?" David blinked stupidly
"Asuka? Why you fed up about that?" Shinji spoke up from his safe distance away.
"I don't know, something about him is bugging me lately" Asuka muttered walking back towards the far off apartment block.
"Well, I hope I can fix my accent for your pleasure... eh?" David spoke the last word with pride and Asuka glared over her shoulder as they continued to walk down the sidewalk.
"Well... remember, we wear the plugsuits to school tomorrow as our costume right?" Shinji tried to steer the conversation away from what would be another battle of words 'It's not that I'm all too comfortable with this Halloween thing either...'
"Yeppers! You betta be all dressed up in der plugsuit tomorra mornin!" David purposely chose the most mangled form of Japanese wording he could just to spite Asuka.
"Your very much an idiot, and if the stooges weren't already filled up, you'd fit in more then perfectly" Asuka shot back.
"Hey!" Shinji piped up when being referred to as a stooge.
"Stooge, smooge. We'll get together at my apartment first, remember to come all dressed up!" David twirled his finger to add more bounce in his giddiness.
"Where do you live David?"
"Oh, sorry. I guess I never told anyone. I live in the second nearest apartment to you. Floor 6 room 54" David replied to Shinji's answer before he turned down his street humming a song.
"What's he singing Asuka?" Shinji questioned when David's voice faded out of hearing.
"Your asking me? I don't know English dummkopf!" Asuka fumed as they made their way up to their shared apartment.
Shinji only wondered if this was a good idea. Going to school in plugsuits never sounded like a good idea, in the first place. Halloween or not Shinji felt jittery about the whole idea. Maybe Asuka didn't want to go to the school in her plugsuit either...
'If she isn't going in hers I'm not going in mine' Shinji made a statement in his head but once again doubt struck 'But, now I have to hope for a miracle to change her mind...'
'I'm doomed'
--- (October 31st) Official Tokyo-3 Halloween day
"Shut up" David muttered while the early morning sun poured down from his window.
"No..." He turned in his bed as the light beat down on him
'Wake up!'
"FINE!" David shouted as he leapt up from the bed. Not a wise move at the time, as his single almost paper thin light blanket was tangled around his legs.
"Ackk!" with a squeal and a crash David landed on the ground. Though his head hurt from the fall, the night table that he hit was doing worse as it was on the other side of the room.
"Ahh damn..." He slowly got up and picked up the table and wondered where the one single possession of personal value he owned disappeared to.
'Damn, where'd it go!!??' David searched the room over for his pendent. It wasn't until a quick look under the bed showed him where the little trinket disappeared too. It was just a quick reach over to get it.
'This is almost fun to watch'
"Shut up" He extended his arm to get it "Almost... there..." The door bell rang and another crash was heard as David smacked his head on the bed's frame.
---
"He's not much of a morning person is he?" Shinji said letting a single sweatdrop slide down his head when he heard the second crash.
"... I'm not too fluent with English but I'm pretty sure that's not happy language" Asuka muttered with a smirk while listening to the tirade that had erupted from the other side of the door.
"SHUT UP!" David's voice came from the other side of the door.
"I guess he knows we're here..." Shinji said adjusting his headset as he listened to stomping footsteps coming from the otherside of the door.
"Stop picking at those things..." Asuka glared at Shinji's hand as he fiddled with the headsets. For some reason it made Asuka almost self conscious and want to fix her own. It was a very annoying feeling.
"Ah good, your all set for today!" David burst through the door huffing the words from his mouth. It was slightly gargled with the half eaten piece of toast hanging out of his mouth, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Yeah, dummkopf. We were ready long before now" Asuka commented as she looked over her slim body now covered by the red and black plug suit issued from Akagi. Shinji stood in his with matching head set as did David.
"Good, then let's head out!" David said with mock enthusiasm pointing the way with his finger.
"Oh brother..." Asuka muttered as she followed the parading David, Shinji just kept his comments to himself as they waited for the elevator to take them down to the ground level.
It was an interesting site seeing three 14-15 year olds walking through the streets in skin tight suits of such odd varying colours. Asuka in her crimson-black mix, Shinji in his varying blue-white with black outlining and with David rounding out the group with his dark blue-black and red. Though a lot of speculation was cut sort as children of the Tokyo-3 school all were wearing rather interesting garments and costumes to celebrate the NERV Halloween day. However the group wasn't complete until they reached a corner 3 blocks away from school where a white plug suit clad Rei Ayanami stood waiting.
"Oh wonderful..." muttered Asuka seeing they had another to join in their little scheme.
"Hello Rei" Shinji spoke softly and Rei's red eyes scanned the group.
"So what is it that I am to do now?" Rei's monotone was directed towards David and he replied with a shrug. Seeing David's lack of reply frustrated her. Rei disliked doing something new unless she was ordered too. So she turned towards the other two pilots in hopes of understanding Hallowe'en traditions.
"I'm just learning this myself Rei... sorry" Shinji spoke with a hint of anxiety, so Rei swung her glance to Asuka.
"Oh brother..." Asuka held her head as Rei began to question her.
---
"Hello Asuka... ASUKA?!" Hikari's voice piped up from the back of the room, but when she had gotten a closer look at what the 4 pilots were wearing.
"Good morning Hikari" Asuka said as she fell into her chair looking rather worn out.
"What's with you?" Asuka commented as she looked up at her friend "Hikari?" Asuka coughed a giggle into her hand when she saw her friend wearing a silly witch outfit.
Long black ragged dress with a copper buckle at the waist and long reaching sleeves. In her right hand was a broom that fit the description of a witch and she had a massive big black witch hat to complete it.
"So you like it?" Hikari twirled to allow Asuka a more gracious full view before Hikari once again directed the conversation "And what are you wearing?!"
"Oh this?" Asuka pointed a finger at her collar with the stencilled 02 under her finger while giving a pouting look "Just my work clothes"
"Oh! I guess I don't need to ask Shinji, David and Rei the same question then" Hikari glanced at each of the other pilots before facing Asuka again "You actually wear that..."
Asuka nodded.
"But... It's skin tight... Don't you feel self conscious?" Hikari questioned in her semi boss like tone.
Asuka glared at her prude friend while on the other side of the room Shinji cowered in his seat.
'It may cover the whole body but I don't think I've ever felt this naked before' Shinji pondered as he sat with several of the girls staring at him from all across the room. He didn't see them directly but he could almost feel them sizing him up like a slab of meat.
"Geez..." Shinji muttered and lowered himself onto the desk. David slid in the seat behind Shinji, giving Shinji a breath of fresh air as he felt one side of the room lose sight of him.
"Look at the bright side. Least we make a pair" David spoke from behind him. David was also getting some of the attention but Shinji was drawing most of looks as he was better known.
While some of the other costumes were flashier, fancier and bigger, it was the pilots that were getting the attention.
"Shinji? Why you looking so nervous?" David prodded from behind him.
"Why are we getting the attention... like, look at these costumes" Shinji whispered and glanced at one of the costumes "That must have cost more then I'll make in a life time"
David glanced over at where Shinji glanced and nearly chuckled. Not every day you see someone dressed up in a Fuku.
---
Fuyutsuki grinned as he watched the technicians running rabidly across the Eva cages. His grey hair still neatly combed back and his suit nicely tucked in made him the picture perfect profile of an aged commander with far too many secrets and a wise eye. He sat in the observation booth of Eva cage 12, the very same spot that Gendo first looked down upon Shinji for the first time in 3 years...
Now it was Fuyutsuki's turn to watch from the position that had been the first move in this whole Angel versus Evangelion fiasco.
Since the Evangelions were to be seen in full public view, special considerations were being taken. First was that each of them were getting a brand new glossy paint job. A new paint job itself wouldn't be sufficient, as it would be dark out and the full impact of the Eva could be better understood if it's armour gleamed from the spot lights.
"Our creations are monsters but they are our pets and even saviours. Yet we can only feel right showing them on Halloween" Fuyutsuki muttered as he stood up from the single chair in that lofty deck.
He turned towards the camera feed and watched as one of the technicians on screen grinned ear to ear as he shared a joke with another nearby technician. A while ago that would have been unheard of, yet something about this just seemed to spark energy from all the crew. Maybe it was the fact that nothing related to an Angel has attacked for the past week or maybe it was because we would finally reveal to the world one of our worst kept secrets.
Fuyutsuki sighed and left the room leaving the technicians to finish the glossy purple Evangelion's new paint job.
---
It was dark. The night sky had descended almost too fast for the occupants of the city. Yet as the night over took the day, stars slowly twinkled to life under the blanket of sheer darkness. First they were man made stars. Stars created from light bulbs, car lights and lamps, but as the night grew older the night's stars begun to appear.
First it was one, dim and weak, but it grew and more followed it's example. The night was soon undaunted by the city below it as it's lights began to flicker off along stretches of the city.
However unlike previous nights of the year, most of the city was still awake watching the sky's natural lights flicker
"Hey look over there!" shouted the girl hanging off her daddy's shoulders. Indeed he looked.
The street intersection had suddenly lit up, all the cross walks regions there now glowed bright red with warning lights and the danger signs flashing.
"Woah, coool man!" shouted a costumed Dracula nearby. The costumed teenage watched with the other few thousand costumed spectators as the ground had lit up.
A slow dull hum started and the street opened up slowly, double layered doors moving aside and leaving a huge gaping hole where a main street once was. Some of the citizens gasped when they saw just how BIG a hole was under the intersection. Several drivers would always have some lingering doubts when going over that spot for the next few weeks.
"Hey, AWESOME!" exclaimed some groups of people as the dull hum increased and was followed by the sudden upheaval of 2 long poles that shot up to the level of most buildings in the downtown region. They abrupt stop made a loud resounding clang echo across the city.
"Dude, feel the rumble! It's like going crazy" muttered the Dracula to a nearby cohort when the dull hum started to turn to a growing roar.
The roar turned into a maddening rush of screaming wind in a matter of seconds. All the while the crowd peered deeper into the pit.
And all leapt back when the screaming wind came to it's pinnacle when a long horn shot upwards as fast as most ballistic missiles. Followed by two glowing green eyes, a diabolically wicked grin and an armoured chest.
Eva 01 came to a bone jarring halt when the track suddenly stopped, it's head snapping up to a position of smug cockiness with the jolt. It's purple armour almost masking it against the black starry night with it's green highlights almost as radiant as the spotlights which shone upwards. It's green eyes staring forwards.
Sounds of awe and hushed praise rose in level towards it, as many citizens of Tokyo-3 finally met their long time saviour.
Across the city several people with binoculars had witnessed the rise of Eva 01 and watched stunned at the awesome-ness of it's purple armour rising from the ground.
That was only until the intersection marked by the surrounding crowd nearby lit up with red lights warning all of it's incoming Avatar.
Again the awe and sheer magnitude was repeated by the crowd as they gazed into the depths while a low rumble made it's hollow echo.
At the rumbles apex, 4 green eyes framed by a red angular head shot up, supported by a red armoured and muscled body. It's long orange and black arms had Evangelion 02 framed in green wording along each. The rumble stopped with a solid bang as the eva's upward motion was ended by the lack of launch track to follow. It's head snapping up with the jolt, pointing it's chin proudly forwards.
Soon two more mighty Evangelions rose from the depths of the geo-front to stop standing proud in their launch rails.
The crowds all stared at the bio-mechanical defenders in awe, some with wide open mouths of shock as they'd never seen anything like them in their lifetimes while others had a wide range of faces, some showing joy others showing fear.
A voice came over the loud speakers announcing itself.
"Our defenders! The Evangelions!!!" Misato's voice roared across the city.
The crowds continued their expressions but a slow moan rose from the city. It slowly built up and it resolved into a loud city wide cheer.
Shinji only stared almost dumbly at the rows and rows of cheering crowds as he stared down from the cockpits viewing feed.
'They… they really do like me… They support me… they don't know me, but they trust me with the Evangelion?' Shinji turned his viewing feed around, making the eva's head also turn to face the direction he was viewing.
"Our First Evangelion, we shall let loose is our one and only…" each speaker boomed from it's respective place.
"Shinji" Shinji blinked when Misato's private video-linkup popped up in front of him "Your first up" Misato gave Shinji a thumbs up and clicked off the screen. David's screen popped up to replace Misato's.
"Go knock'em dead with your superior piloting skills!" cheered David as he grinned before being replaced by Rei's expressionless face.
"Good luck" Rei's video-link closed after her short encouraging ended. Asuka's popped up right away.
"He was only superior at hiding. If he stood up for a frontal assault I'd have been ranked best!" She exclaimed glared at where David's video-linkup was on her cockpit, from Shinji's view though it looked like she was speaking to a wall, she turned to face Shinji then "Don't make a fool of yourself! I'm sure there's over 300 camera's aimed right at you, so don't trip"
Shinji wiggled in his seat hoping to calm his frazzled nerves. It wasn't working too good, he only got more nervous.
"Hyuga, set the count down" Misato ordered from behind him. The command centre was still decked out in all the hallowe'en decorations. Hyuga flicked a switch and a small light started blinking on the console.
"Major, we're live, audio is up, put on your best radio face when the light goes solid" Aoba relayed the info to Misato who only nodded with a smile over her face. The light's flickering sped up then suddenly stopped at a solid red. Aoba then pointed at Misato to state they were on.
The little girl was still holding onto her fathers head for extra support. She stared up at the 40 foot tall purple Evangelion in front of her.
"Tokyo-3! Happy Halloween!!" came the female voice from the speakers. The girl had to scramble back to her perch on her father's back after nearly flying off after being spooked by the speaker.
"Evangelion unit 01! Lift off!" The voice came again as a sudden loud metallic clang sound came from the purple eva.
Several people backed away when they saw the eva lurch forward after being released from it's restraints, but the eva's slouch quickly turned into a proud stance.
"The original savour of Tokyo-3!!" Misato's voice echoed out of the microphone she held. A cheer had risen when Evangelion rose it's hands like it was parting the water.
Asuka's vid window popped up then "They're below you... stop making the eva act like it's doing the forward stroke" Shinji laughed nervously but made the eva resume it's tall position.
Unit two, zero and 4 were all released and very slowly made their way down towards the main street to join the parade.
Each one of them marching in their glossy shape colours against the shining stars of the night sky.
The morning after Shinji could still hear the joyous cheering that rose from the city's streets to greet each of the pilots that strolled the city.
'They trust me...'
---
Across the Pacific Ocean Kaji boarded a helicopter to speed his way home ahead of a super air-carrier which housed a new avatar. One made of black and to bring the curse of Evangelion to another child.
Evangelion 03
~~~~~~~~
I'll expect lots of flames, critisms and compliments. But before you do any of these... Gimme a review! Thank you.
I'll try to speed up production, but it can be hard. Writer's block hit me like a two ton tank rampaging through my skull. But I'm back in the game and I hope to present more to you.
Ohhhh... Did I just make the fateful move of putting this fic back on the original eva timeline? God I hope not... It might actually get respectable now. Can't have us do that now can we? Oh and it only took the evangelion world's hottest uber over sexed(under sexed?) spy to do that! *sigh* Ah well, the part we all live for... THE OMAKE SECTION!!!!
_~-Omake-~_
~And what was Maya doing during this time?~
"Your rigging the bet" Aoba muttered
"Oh? Gee, All I did was equip my little trooper on the field. I had no idea that it would affect our bet on who would win this match" Hyuga continued to grin as he watched Shinji slink from building to building cradling the massive weapon.
"Sure ya did..." Aoba muttered as Hyuga's grin got sloppier.
"Besides, don't think I didn't notice your, 'tactical & strategic updates' you gave Asuka in the last one after her Radar got blasted away" Hyuga continued unabated and Aoba shared a fraction of Hyuga's original sloppy grin.
'Cheating are we boys?' Maya glanced over her shoulder before turning back to her terminal. Her fingers hit the keyboard running the code off by the mile. Nothing compared to her Sempai but still impressive.
"Now watch as my Shinji blows away your Asuka" Hyuga pointed at the tactical map with the blinking dots and promptly Eva 02 was removed.
"Bah! Not like you won yet. Rei's still out there" Aoba growled dangerously.
"Just look for yourself, Shinji has Rei in his sights right now" Hyuga pointed at the tactical map again and the positron cannons recticle was dead on locked.
"Damn..." muttered Aoba as the shot hit dead on. What really surprised them though was that Eva 00 was unfazed and uprighted itself.
"What the?!" They watched as Rei charged Shinji's Eva taking hit after hit and not even slowing. Shinji's dot promptly disappeared from the tactical grid.
"Rei wins again... against all odds... and possiblities..." They muttered together... But who had money on Rei...
"Yeah Rei!"
'MAYA!' they glared at Maya.
" Since you guys were ^aiding^ the fight so much for Asuka and Shinji, As head of the scientific department I decided to implement a new substance into the Evangelion 00's design... Gundanium" Maya sneered at them.
"God Mode..." Both of the male senior technicians muttered at the same time.
(If you noticed, I based the cheating on what each of the techies primary functions were. Aoba is chief of communications, Hyuga the second in command of strategic deployment and Maya as the primary supervisor of the Evangelions functioning systems.)
*To those that don't know, Gundanium belongs the the Gundam Universe and is damn near invincible. Just watch Gundam Wing or any of it's near cousins to get the idea*
_~-Omake 2-~_
-The costumed menace-
"Look at the bright side. Least we make a pair" David spoke from behind him. David was also getting some of the attention but Shinji was drawing most of looks as he was better known.
While some of the other costumes were flashier, fancier and bigger, it was the pilots that were getting the attention, to a degree at least...
"Shinji? Why you looking so nervous?" David prodded from behind him.
"Why are we getting the attention... like, look at these costumes" Shinji whispered and glanced at one of the costumes "That one particularly makes me nervous"
David glanced over at where Shinji glanced and nearly passed out. Not every day you see someone dressed up as a tentacle beast. It looks so real... so vivid...
"What's it doing?" David inquired to Shinji as they watched the 'hopefully' costumed beast.
"I don't know..." He continued to watch it, suddenly they perked up at the same time.
"It's ummm... coming this way..." David murmurred nervously. Shinji didn't dare budge.
Shinji peered at the costume intent on finding out who the person was under it. What he saw...
was a pearly white smile...
Silver hair...
And Red eyes...
And he was coming right at Shinji...
Run Shinji run
_-~Omake 3~-_
-Why Gendo doesn't like parties with games-
"Hey, AWESOME!" exclaimed some groups of people as the dull hum increased and was followed by the sudden upheaval of 2 long poles that shot up to the level of most buildings in the downtown region. They abrupt stop made a loud resounding clang echo across the city. Followed by a long scream that rose then fell to the ground.
"Dude, feel the rumble! It's like going crazy" muttered the Dracula to a nearby cohort when the dull hum started to turn to a growing roar.
^Hey... I'm alive...^
The roar turned into a maddening rush of screaming wind in a matter of seconds. All the while the crowd peered deeper into the pit.
^I think I'm ok...^
And all leapt back when the screaming wind came to it's pinnacle when a long horn shot upwards as fast as most ballistic missiles. Followed by two glowing green eyes, a diabolically wicked grin and an armoured chest.
And up it went... and went and went... It soared right into the air. Shinji's vid window popped up and he looked rather unworried.
"You forgot to put the Evangelion proof safety locks on the launch rails huh?" Shinji's monotone voice came at Misato.
"Well, yeah... My oopsie. I forgot to put them back the way they were after I used them to launch Gendo out of the geo front" Misato said with a slight buzz running through her head.
^Why's it so dark?^ Gendo looked up with his broken body to see Evangelion 01 land... Right on him.
(Ha ha! Serves him right!)
_~-Omake 4-~_
-a past no wanted to see remembered...-
"You really are going through with the plan. The Eva parade as I recall?" Fuyutsuki commented while Gendo watched him.
"Of course"
"It seems so unlike you. More like your previous self, then the man that's sizing me up right now" Fuyutsuki muttered as he flipped another page of the folder.
'Will he ever put that one drinking binge incident behind, and let me forgot it happened... It was obvious I was drunk...' Gendo shivered ever so slighty 'I hated cowboys before... and now I hate them them worse'
"..." Gendo didn't bother to reply, but his eyes continued to watch Fuyutsuki.
'If only he didn't have those pictures... Then I just could have killed him all those years ago...'
"And what about this one?" Kozo turned the folder towards Gendo. Gendo turned his head away from the spectacle. It was a rather embarressing moment.
"Pink crotchless cowboy pants just don't suit you" Kozo muttered as he looked over the picture more closely "But that's how you beat me to Yui"
Gendo choose this moment to speak up "She always did like things weird... even in the college days"
_~-End Omakes-~_
Disclaimer - If I owned Evangelion I wouldn't be righting out a disclaimer now would I? I think Disclaimers hsould work the other way around. Only the people that DO OWN the subject should make them... save us 2 minutes of our lives. what could I do if I didn't waste my two minutes typing this... I'll never know now will I?
Enjoy!
DrunkDrake
A Calling Of Souls
Chapter 10 : Return to Normality / Our Champions
~~~~~~~~
Late night October 29th
It was sweet... not like sugar... but had a taste to it the kiss they shared. It was like jumping off a waterfall to land in the refreshing water below, the rush then the invigoration. It was the sweetest song and the sunniest day... Shinji and Asuka blinked after awards.
"Perhaps we should go..."
"Yeah let's..."
Neither knew who said what but Shinji paid the bill and they left walking side by side towards their apartment.
Amid the bushes near on the side of the street David stepped out pulling some natural camouflage out of his hair and clothing.
"I'm gonna feel like scum for this..." He looked at the camera that captured one frame of that perfect moment.
---
"All passengers boarding flight 197 please go to gate A - 21. I repeat, all passengers boarding flight 197 please go to gate A -21. Thank you"
"Will all announcers please go to through the gates of hell, I repeat, all announcers please go through the gate to hell..." grumbled Kaji as he looked over his plane ticket again. He hefted his rush packed briefcase back comfortably under his arm again and draped his coat over his right shoulder.
"I wonder why every announcer sounds the same..." mused Kaji as the person in question broadcasted again 'I swear they're all clones or something...'
Kaji shuffled ahead keeping up in line as it shifted maybe a step forward 'Who designed these places anyway?'
Due to the fact that Kaji's mission had been deemed secret he had to fly himself out of Chicago. Not really that hard, thinking back. Right now he was to offer his ticket as proof to a stewardess up ahead to get a package Gendo Ikari left for him.
"Next please" Kaji looked up and found the clerk smiling at him. Shocked for only a moment he offered his best lady killer smile and handed the airliner ticket over like it was made of fine China.
"O-one moment sir" The stewardess was only slightly caught off guard. Sure, a lot of guys tried to do the same thing before, but most of the earlier ones looked like they'd need a bath and some nicer clothing and maybe some teeth to fill gaps but Kaji was a mountain of a man. Well he told himself that. The stewardess checked the legality of the ticket then tore it.
"Well, mister D. Raike" the clerk/stewardess handed Kaji a small brown envelope with no markings "Here's your package, good day to you"
"Good day to you too" He nodded his head and left the line up 'This better be my ticket home'
Kaji sat himself in the middle of a semi crowded cafeteria and seeing how his business suit allowed him to perfectly blend in, he decided it be best to open his message now.
-Agent Kaji
-
-I have been informed of a new 'project' It'll require you to over see the operation. Your -VTOL is awaiting in hanger 14. Speed is of the essence.
-I.G
Kaji blinked and wondered how he's always the lucky one. The one to be stuck in the front line of the spying frontier.
Kaji made haste towards his contact point and hoped the trip wouldn't take all night. He did want to be home to enjoy the festivities he heard about.
--- October 30th
David sighed to himself. Rei was all for it, Shinji was on the fence and Asuka was holding strong against him...
Well only when it came to convincing them that he had a killer idea of what to dress up as for hallowe'en.
"Target approaching south east - two blocks" David spun around in time to see a red blur pass him, 4 green eyes crossing his vision.
"Hey baron, you might try stealth!" David tracked the dashing form until it was blocked by a stack of apartments.
It was then he noticed just what he shoot "Hey I can see my apartment from here!"
"Call me Baron again. I dare you!" Asuka scanned her surroundings only trusting her eyes. Her scanner was on the fritz thanks to an earlier hit from David's rifle.
"Sure, thing Baron" said David smirking. He never stood a chance as Unit -02 suddenly tackled him from the side. Not only that but once they stopped rolling he was looking straight into unit 02's right shoulder compartment.
"This could hurt..." he muttered as the compartment snapped open and a volley of spikes hit home across the upper chest and through the head.
His plug-simulator then powered down and the LCL drained out of tube. David coughed up some of the more reluctant drops of LCL from his lungs before accepting a helping hand from one of the technician's that was assigned to monitor the plug-simulator or plug sim, as some were referring it as already.
"Hard work out, kid?" David nodded absently as he rubbed his chest were the simulated pain was wearing off.
"Just a bit winded" David muttered clicking off a droplet of LCL from his left wrist before walking past the man "Eva takes a lot of of ya... even these 3D sims"
The tech grinned and lowered himself into the plugsim to do some modifications as were ordered by Ritsuko. David turned around and left the man to his work as Ritsuko waved over the other pilots. When she had them close enough she began he little explanation of what a plugsim was.
"These Plug-simulators, are state of the art Magi controlled Eva piloting programs" Ritsuko stated.
'Let's see, Asuka looks snide but probably is just as in the dark about this as I am. Shinji's probably more confused then I am and Rei... Well knowing my luck she probably knows what this is and doesn't really care all the same' David's brain rattled in the silence.
"Ritsuko, without the techno babble!" Misato said as she entered the plug-sim room just hearing the ending of her explanation "Some of us aren't day to day super brains"
"Says you..." muttered Asuka.
"They look like they understand perfectly Misato" Ritsuko pointed at the pilots who still didn't understand/care enough to respond "But if you insist..."
Ritsuko launched into a more simplified description with better explanations.
"The plug-simulators are modified entry plugs. These plugs are not directly connected to the eva, well not enough to control the eva" Ritsuko tapped a clip board she had picked up from a nearby desk.
"The plug-simulators are connected to the eva's link up network though. This is so that we'll be getting live updates as to your current sync ratio" Ritsuko grinned for a moment "The Magi were also programmed to make your simulated eva react like a normal eva also based on sync score"
"So that's why I still couldn't beat the Baron..." David mused
"Jerk" muttered Asuka under her breath.
"Anyway, the plugs then use all the collected data and form 3D worlds, or as in most of the cases we'll be using this for, battlefields for which to experiment the evas" Ritsuko looked up from her notebook and found more then one questioning gaze...
"Questions?" Ritsuko held her head up with her hand when more then the pilots raised their hands to ask.
"Fine, Misato you first..." It felt like it was going to be a long day.
---
"The reports show an increase in our current capabilities. This is obviously against the normal plan" questioned Fuyutsuki from Gendo's side.
Fuyutsuki was a man of few things, a simple man really. Not a puppeteer like Gendo, nor a power hungry old man like what made up SEELE. He was a man that preferred a simple quiet life, like his past one. As a university teacher, nothing fancy but something important that would contribute to the future. A man that wanted to leave a mark for the better meant of mankind even if it was only one student at a time. He was now at a position to do just that, but at a grander scale of more then one student. No, no. He now stood as second in command of one of the world's only hopes against the angels. The high life as second in command has some benefits as of special 'treatment', and able to make personnel dance the macarena at the snap of a finger if he really wanted to. However, he also felt the pressure of being second in command, constant meetings, budgets, deadlines, middle management, arguing with the upper brass and the fact that he was the second in command of defending all of humanity... Some days were nothing more then a headache for this man. But all that he was, he was just a simple man, thrust onto his position. Nothing but a simple man when seen by others.
However
A simple man can be quite dangerous, that danger is of the same reason he's simple. He has a goal, and has a will to strive towards achieving that goal.
"The normal plan has had to be... left behind" Gendo spoke from his covered mouth "Our new plan has at least as many benefits, though the cost may come quite high for everyone here"
The simple man just nodded as he felt his goal take a step further away from him.
---
"Ok, one more round kids" Misato spoke with an enthusiasm she didn't share just yet. Sure it was Sunday, but that didn't help the kids as this was supposed to be their only day off from school. She could almost remember the growls that came from 2 of the pilots when they were woken extra early for plugsim tests.
Misato sat on Hyuga's desk as she over viewed the 3D battlefield from a bird's eye view. It was quite spectacular some fights. Missile swarms soaring through the skies, prototype railgun weaponry flashing through the streets and bullets tearing through buildings like it was no bodies business.
However those were only added in when the Commanders had left and boredom settled itself on the minds of the crews and pilots.
Ritsuko had said to keep testing the pilots for 16 hours straight... she didn't speculate what to do, nor what to use.
"Hey, Shin-man" Hyuga spoke up and Shinji's video linkup connected with Hyuga's desk computer.
"Sort of busy" Shinji muttered through gritted teeth.
Busy he was, a three on one. Or really 00,02,04 vs 01. Stealth was the only thing going for Shinji at the moment. Unit 01 was peaking it's head around a corner eyeing the intersection up ahead.
"Well, would a positron accelerate cannon make it easier for you?" Hyuga grinned as he keyed in the appropriate codes in his computer terminal to pop open the nearby weapon hatch with the appropriate weapon. Shinji blinked for a moment stunned by the sudden occurrence.
"...Well, sure why not?" Shinji collected the rifle, detached the right shoulder fin and reattached the cannon's safety lock in.
In the command centre Aoba glared dubiously at Hyuga.
"What?" Hyuga spoke with a sloppy grin on his face.
"Your rigging the bet" Aoba muttered
"Oh? Gee, All I did was equip my little trooper on the field. I had no idea that it would affect our bet on who would win this match" Hyuga continued to grin as he watched Shinji slink from building to building cradling the massive weapon.
"Sure ya did..." Aoba muttered as Hyuga's grin got sloppier.
"Besides, don't think I didn't notice your, 'tactical & strategic updates' you gave Asuka in the last one after her Radar got blasted away" Hyuga continued unabated and Aoba shared a fraction of Hyuga's original sloppy grin.
---
"So, The plan is a go then?" Fuyutsuki continued his questioning of Gendo. Gendo's eyes shifted to better see his subordinate.
"Yes" was the reply
Fuyutsuki grinned as he wandered from beside Gendo's chair to the front of his desk to pick up the single folder left there. Turning open the folder to the first page, he rose an eyebrow.
"You really are going through with the plan. The Eva parade as I recall?" Fuyutsuki commented while Gendo watched him.
"Of course"
"It seems so unlike you. More like your previous self, then the man that's sizing me up right now" Fuyutsuki muttered as he flipped another page of the folder.
"..." Gendo didn't bother to reply, but his eyes continued to watch Fuyutsuki.
"I'm beginning to wonder why you started to go along with the Hallowe'en idea of..." Fuyutsuki's voice broke as he looked at the last page. Gendo rose his head above his hands and revealed a very slight grin as the sub commander thought of his next comment.
"Professor. Even you know that a school science lab needs funds to function" Gendo's voice silently rattled Fuyutsuki's voice box to function. It was unlike Gendo to refer to matters not directly related to Eva.
"Here I was thinking you were only using this to boost morale. Even I should have seen that you had another card up your sleeve" Fuyutsuki placed down the folder and one of the lines was highlighted red.
'Estimated tourist income as of result from EVANGELION participation'
Y x 5 black
Project funds - Black
Combat Maintenance - Black
Project E experiments - Black
Section 2 operations - Black
NERV 01 - Black
Status of 5 year quota.
---
"Ok guys, let's pack it up. Hit the showers " Misato commanded 'I've always wanted to say that'
A chorus of agreements and sighs of relief came flooding from the video link windows. Even the bridge crew stretched out, finally able to work off a few kinks from their backs, before they could make the trip back home.
The commanders still haven't returned but nothing serious was taking place, just the new sim plug tests and pilot physicals. Routine, nothing special, but one pilot was plotting away in the change rooms.
"Hey Shinji?" David propped himself in the doorway blocking the way out.
"Yeah, Cever?" Shinji seemed less then thrilled of being denied entrance to the male locker rooms but Cever didn't usually pose much threat.
"Ya decided on your costume yet?" David moved aside as he spoke and followed Shinji into the locker room.
Shinji blinked and remembered that tomorrow was supposed to be dress up day at school for the Hallowe'en party.
'It was a major thing after, the school doesn't just drop it's student dress code for just any occasion' Shinji's thoughts continued to spiral 'No, wait, there are still some rules... I think'
"Hey, Shinji anyone alive in there?" Shinji blinked and found David stared at him "You seemed lost for a second, dreaming of some one I know?" David gained a grin now to accompany his speech
"Perhaps a girl?" David waved over to the curtain that separated the locker rooms in two "Perhaps... REI?!"
Shinji had begun to blush as the one sided conversation spiralled towards another possible embarrassing moment. At the mention of Rei his expression flattened and his cheeks shone under the dim lighting.
'Rei is more then a partner from work... but She's not quite... Well, what I feel for her isn't love as anything more then as partners'
Shinji's mind then decided to drag the other occupant of his thinking into place.
'But I don't know what I feel for Asuka. If she truly does like me back... Then I really don't know where I stand. Yet she's acting like nothing happened...' Shinji looked up to see David maintaining his glance at Shinji.
"No, nono. Your wrong, I wasn't thinking of Rei!" Shinji's reply brought David's grin back so Shinji decided to steer the conversation elsewhere "I was trying to remember what costume I had ready!"
"Really?" David looked like he had doubts, he placed his right arm on his hip and had the left one hang limply at his side. All the while he watched over Shinji.
"Umm, really" Shinji's reply was lacking and David knew it.
"Well what are you going to go as?" David's question seemed out of place, well only to Shinji. Shinji wasn't quite used to people moving past teasing him about his love life, or lack there of.
"Umm, well. I don't know, I haven't had too much time to think about it" Shinji muttered as he pressed the release switch on his wrist. He watched as the plugsuit fell off his shoulders with a slight shrug, letting it join the slowly forming puddle of LCL underneath him.
David faced his locker before he unleashed his plug suit too "So you wanna help me or not?"
"This still about the costumes right?" Shinji muttered
"Yeah, of course Shinji" David pulled out his clothing "I'm going in my plug suit tomorrow, wanna bring yours along and we'll be the tag team pilots!"
Shinji blinked at David "That was your idea? Plug suits? David your weird"
"Hey! what's so wrong about that?" David turned around and faced Shinji's side "It's completely unique, unheard of and it comes with a total set of 4 suits!" David proudly held up his used one which was still dripping with LCL to better make Shinji understand his point.
"David... I don't know" Shinji replied, when David showed Shinji his suit earlier all Shinji saw was a used, LCL drenched plug suit, not some ingenious idea "It's just weird"
"Oh come on Shinji!" David threw his plug suit aside towards the bin for used plug suits. Neither Shinji nor David knew what happened to the plug suits placed in that bin. Washed, recycled or burned were the most sensible choices the boys shared about the fates of the plug suits.
"I don't know..." Shinji replied as he finished doing up his pants and reached for his shirt "I really don't..."
"Come on! I don't want to be the only one going like this" David prodded Shinji with his elbow as he finished doing up his shirt.
"But... wouldn't that be... secret materials or something?" Shinji responded closing the locker.
"Ritsuko approved for me to go in one, I have it back at home ready to go!" David started flinging his arms with his talking as he was getting frustrated from Shinji's evasive manuvers.
"Well..." Shinji looked almost beat.
"Well???" David mocked, he poked Shinji once in the side making the young Ikari step aside.
"Fine... I need a costume and this may as well do" Shinji held his used plug suit looking at it thoughtfully. David shook his head at that.
"No, no. That's a used one. Ritsuko will give you a spare one. Come on" David finished his own dressing and dragged Shinji behind himself. Shinji barely managed to get the plug suit in the bin before being dragged off.
---
"Bwahahahahahahahaahaha! you really are gullible you know that!" Asuka swatted Shinji playfully on the back as she had nearly doubled over from her laughing tirade. David walked just a few feet behind them.
"If it's such a bad idea then why did you agree to go along?" Shinji muttered loud enough for Asuka to hear.
"I never said it was a bad idea, just that you get sucked up in anything and everything" Asuka commented walking a bit ahead of him. David was only just behind them and decided to voice his opinion.
"Well, yeah Shinji's bad like that. However it's great fun for us eh?" David commented grinning. Asuka turned around and stood with both hands clasped at her hips and faced down David.
"Wha...?" mumbled David when Asuka leaned over him, over shadowing him.
"Stop bringing that annoying accent in your Japanese" Asuka frowned down on David.
"My accent?" David blinked stupidly
"Asuka? Why you fed up about that?" Shinji spoke up from his safe distance away.
"I don't know, something about him is bugging me lately" Asuka muttered walking back towards the far off apartment block.
"Well, I hope I can fix my accent for your pleasure... eh?" David spoke the last word with pride and Asuka glared over her shoulder as they continued to walk down the sidewalk.
"Well... remember, we wear the plugsuits to school tomorrow as our costume right?" Shinji tried to steer the conversation away from what would be another battle of words 'It's not that I'm all too comfortable with this Halloween thing either...'
"Yeppers! You betta be all dressed up in der plugsuit tomorra mornin!" David purposely chose the most mangled form of Japanese wording he could just to spite Asuka.
"Your very much an idiot, and if the stooges weren't already filled up, you'd fit in more then perfectly" Asuka shot back.
"Hey!" Shinji piped up when being referred to as a stooge.
"Stooge, smooge. We'll get together at my apartment first, remember to come all dressed up!" David twirled his finger to add more bounce in his giddiness.
"Where do you live David?"
"Oh, sorry. I guess I never told anyone. I live in the second nearest apartment to you. Floor 6 room 54" David replied to Shinji's answer before he turned down his street humming a song.
"What's he singing Asuka?" Shinji questioned when David's voice faded out of hearing.
"Your asking me? I don't know English dummkopf!" Asuka fumed as they made their way up to their shared apartment.
Shinji only wondered if this was a good idea. Going to school in plugsuits never sounded like a good idea, in the first place. Halloween or not Shinji felt jittery about the whole idea. Maybe Asuka didn't want to go to the school in her plugsuit either...
'If she isn't going in hers I'm not going in mine' Shinji made a statement in his head but once again doubt struck 'But, now I have to hope for a miracle to change her mind...'
'I'm doomed'
--- (October 31st) Official Tokyo-3 Halloween day
"Shut up" David muttered while the early morning sun poured down from his window.
"No..." He turned in his bed as the light beat down on him
'Wake up!'
"FINE!" David shouted as he leapt up from the bed. Not a wise move at the time, as his single almost paper thin light blanket was tangled around his legs.
"Ackk!" with a squeal and a crash David landed on the ground. Though his head hurt from the fall, the night table that he hit was doing worse as it was on the other side of the room.
"Ahh damn..." He slowly got up and picked up the table and wondered where the one single possession of personal value he owned disappeared to.
'Damn, where'd it go!!??' David searched the room over for his pendent. It wasn't until a quick look under the bed showed him where the little trinket disappeared too. It was just a quick reach over to get it.
'This is almost fun to watch'
"Shut up" He extended his arm to get it "Almost... there..." The door bell rang and another crash was heard as David smacked his head on the bed's frame.
---
"He's not much of a morning person is he?" Shinji said letting a single sweatdrop slide down his head when he heard the second crash.
"... I'm not too fluent with English but I'm pretty sure that's not happy language" Asuka muttered with a smirk while listening to the tirade that had erupted from the other side of the door.
"SHUT UP!" David's voice came from the other side of the door.
"I guess he knows we're here..." Shinji said adjusting his headset as he listened to stomping footsteps coming from the otherside of the door.
"Stop picking at those things..." Asuka glared at Shinji's hand as he fiddled with the headsets. For some reason it made Asuka almost self conscious and want to fix her own. It was a very annoying feeling.
"Ah good, your all set for today!" David burst through the door huffing the words from his mouth. It was slightly gargled with the half eaten piece of toast hanging out of his mouth, but he didn't seem to mind.
"Yeah, dummkopf. We were ready long before now" Asuka commented as she looked over her slim body now covered by the red and black plug suit issued from Akagi. Shinji stood in his with matching head set as did David.
"Good, then let's head out!" David said with mock enthusiasm pointing the way with his finger.
"Oh brother..." Asuka muttered as she followed the parading David, Shinji just kept his comments to himself as they waited for the elevator to take them down to the ground level.
It was an interesting site seeing three 14-15 year olds walking through the streets in skin tight suits of such odd varying colours. Asuka in her crimson-black mix, Shinji in his varying blue-white with black outlining and with David rounding out the group with his dark blue-black and red. Though a lot of speculation was cut sort as children of the Tokyo-3 school all were wearing rather interesting garments and costumes to celebrate the NERV Halloween day. However the group wasn't complete until they reached a corner 3 blocks away from school where a white plug suit clad Rei Ayanami stood waiting.
"Oh wonderful..." muttered Asuka seeing they had another to join in their little scheme.
"Hello Rei" Shinji spoke softly and Rei's red eyes scanned the group.
"So what is it that I am to do now?" Rei's monotone was directed towards David and he replied with a shrug. Seeing David's lack of reply frustrated her. Rei disliked doing something new unless she was ordered too. So she turned towards the other two pilots in hopes of understanding Hallowe'en traditions.
"I'm just learning this myself Rei... sorry" Shinji spoke with a hint of anxiety, so Rei swung her glance to Asuka.
"Oh brother..." Asuka held her head as Rei began to question her.
---
"Hello Asuka... ASUKA?!" Hikari's voice piped up from the back of the room, but when she had gotten a closer look at what the 4 pilots were wearing.
"Good morning Hikari" Asuka said as she fell into her chair looking rather worn out.
"What's with you?" Asuka commented as she looked up at her friend "Hikari?" Asuka coughed a giggle into her hand when she saw her friend wearing a silly witch outfit.
Long black ragged dress with a copper buckle at the waist and long reaching sleeves. In her right hand was a broom that fit the description of a witch and she had a massive big black witch hat to complete it.
"So you like it?" Hikari twirled to allow Asuka a more gracious full view before Hikari once again directed the conversation "And what are you wearing?!"
"Oh this?" Asuka pointed a finger at her collar with the stencilled 02 under her finger while giving a pouting look "Just my work clothes"
"Oh! I guess I don't need to ask Shinji, David and Rei the same question then" Hikari glanced at each of the other pilots before facing Asuka again "You actually wear that..."
Asuka nodded.
"But... It's skin tight... Don't you feel self conscious?" Hikari questioned in her semi boss like tone.
Asuka glared at her prude friend while on the other side of the room Shinji cowered in his seat.
'It may cover the whole body but I don't think I've ever felt this naked before' Shinji pondered as he sat with several of the girls staring at him from all across the room. He didn't see them directly but he could almost feel them sizing him up like a slab of meat.
"Geez..." Shinji muttered and lowered himself onto the desk. David slid in the seat behind Shinji, giving Shinji a breath of fresh air as he felt one side of the room lose sight of him.
"Look at the bright side. Least we make a pair" David spoke from behind him. David was also getting some of the attention but Shinji was drawing most of looks as he was better known.
While some of the other costumes were flashier, fancier and bigger, it was the pilots that were getting the attention.
"Shinji? Why you looking so nervous?" David prodded from behind him.
"Why are we getting the attention... like, look at these costumes" Shinji whispered and glanced at one of the costumes "That must have cost more then I'll make in a life time"
David glanced over at where Shinji glanced and nearly chuckled. Not every day you see someone dressed up in a Fuku.
---
Fuyutsuki grinned as he watched the technicians running rabidly across the Eva cages. His grey hair still neatly combed back and his suit nicely tucked in made him the picture perfect profile of an aged commander with far too many secrets and a wise eye. He sat in the observation booth of Eva cage 12, the very same spot that Gendo first looked down upon Shinji for the first time in 3 years...
Now it was Fuyutsuki's turn to watch from the position that had been the first move in this whole Angel versus Evangelion fiasco.
Since the Evangelions were to be seen in full public view, special considerations were being taken. First was that each of them were getting a brand new glossy paint job. A new paint job itself wouldn't be sufficient, as it would be dark out and the full impact of the Eva could be better understood if it's armour gleamed from the spot lights.
"Our creations are monsters but they are our pets and even saviours. Yet we can only feel right showing them on Halloween" Fuyutsuki muttered as he stood up from the single chair in that lofty deck.
He turned towards the camera feed and watched as one of the technicians on screen grinned ear to ear as he shared a joke with another nearby technician. A while ago that would have been unheard of, yet something about this just seemed to spark energy from all the crew. Maybe it was the fact that nothing related to an Angel has attacked for the past week or maybe it was because we would finally reveal to the world one of our worst kept secrets.
Fuyutsuki sighed and left the room leaving the technicians to finish the glossy purple Evangelion's new paint job.
---
It was dark. The night sky had descended almost too fast for the occupants of the city. Yet as the night over took the day, stars slowly twinkled to life under the blanket of sheer darkness. First they were man made stars. Stars created from light bulbs, car lights and lamps, but as the night grew older the night's stars begun to appear.
First it was one, dim and weak, but it grew and more followed it's example. The night was soon undaunted by the city below it as it's lights began to flicker off along stretches of the city.
However unlike previous nights of the year, most of the city was still awake watching the sky's natural lights flicker
"Hey look over there!" shouted the girl hanging off her daddy's shoulders. Indeed he looked.
The street intersection had suddenly lit up, all the cross walks regions there now glowed bright red with warning lights and the danger signs flashing.
"Woah, coool man!" shouted a costumed Dracula nearby. The costumed teenage watched with the other few thousand costumed spectators as the ground had lit up.
A slow dull hum started and the street opened up slowly, double layered doors moving aside and leaving a huge gaping hole where a main street once was. Some of the citizens gasped when they saw just how BIG a hole was under the intersection. Several drivers would always have some lingering doubts when going over that spot for the next few weeks.
"Hey, AWESOME!" exclaimed some groups of people as the dull hum increased and was followed by the sudden upheaval of 2 long poles that shot up to the level of most buildings in the downtown region. They abrupt stop made a loud resounding clang echo across the city.
"Dude, feel the rumble! It's like going crazy" muttered the Dracula to a nearby cohort when the dull hum started to turn to a growing roar.
The roar turned into a maddening rush of screaming wind in a matter of seconds. All the while the crowd peered deeper into the pit.
And all leapt back when the screaming wind came to it's pinnacle when a long horn shot upwards as fast as most ballistic missiles. Followed by two glowing green eyes, a diabolically wicked grin and an armoured chest.
Eva 01 came to a bone jarring halt when the track suddenly stopped, it's head snapping up to a position of smug cockiness with the jolt. It's purple armour almost masking it against the black starry night with it's green highlights almost as radiant as the spotlights which shone upwards. It's green eyes staring forwards.
Sounds of awe and hushed praise rose in level towards it, as many citizens of Tokyo-3 finally met their long time saviour.
Across the city several people with binoculars had witnessed the rise of Eva 01 and watched stunned at the awesome-ness of it's purple armour rising from the ground.
That was only until the intersection marked by the surrounding crowd nearby lit up with red lights warning all of it's incoming Avatar.
Again the awe and sheer magnitude was repeated by the crowd as they gazed into the depths while a low rumble made it's hollow echo.
At the rumbles apex, 4 green eyes framed by a red angular head shot up, supported by a red armoured and muscled body. It's long orange and black arms had Evangelion 02 framed in green wording along each. The rumble stopped with a solid bang as the eva's upward motion was ended by the lack of launch track to follow. It's head snapping up with the jolt, pointing it's chin proudly forwards.
Soon two more mighty Evangelions rose from the depths of the geo-front to stop standing proud in their launch rails.
The crowds all stared at the bio-mechanical defenders in awe, some with wide open mouths of shock as they'd never seen anything like them in their lifetimes while others had a wide range of faces, some showing joy others showing fear.
A voice came over the loud speakers announcing itself.
"Our defenders! The Evangelions!!!" Misato's voice roared across the city.
The crowds continued their expressions but a slow moan rose from the city. It slowly built up and it resolved into a loud city wide cheer.
Shinji only stared almost dumbly at the rows and rows of cheering crowds as he stared down from the cockpits viewing feed.
'They… they really do like me… They support me… they don't know me, but they trust me with the Evangelion?' Shinji turned his viewing feed around, making the eva's head also turn to face the direction he was viewing.
"Our First Evangelion, we shall let loose is our one and only…" each speaker boomed from it's respective place.
"Shinji" Shinji blinked when Misato's private video-linkup popped up in front of him "Your first up" Misato gave Shinji a thumbs up and clicked off the screen. David's screen popped up to replace Misato's.
"Go knock'em dead with your superior piloting skills!" cheered David as he grinned before being replaced by Rei's expressionless face.
"Good luck" Rei's video-link closed after her short encouraging ended. Asuka's popped up right away.
"He was only superior at hiding. If he stood up for a frontal assault I'd have been ranked best!" She exclaimed glared at where David's video-linkup was on her cockpit, from Shinji's view though it looked like she was speaking to a wall, she turned to face Shinji then "Don't make a fool of yourself! I'm sure there's over 300 camera's aimed right at you, so don't trip"
Shinji wiggled in his seat hoping to calm his frazzled nerves. It wasn't working too good, he only got more nervous.
"Hyuga, set the count down" Misato ordered from behind him. The command centre was still decked out in all the hallowe'en decorations. Hyuga flicked a switch and a small light started blinking on the console.
"Major, we're live, audio is up, put on your best radio face when the light goes solid" Aoba relayed the info to Misato who only nodded with a smile over her face. The light's flickering sped up then suddenly stopped at a solid red. Aoba then pointed at Misato to state they were on.
The little girl was still holding onto her fathers head for extra support. She stared up at the 40 foot tall purple Evangelion in front of her.
"Tokyo-3! Happy Halloween!!" came the female voice from the speakers. The girl had to scramble back to her perch on her father's back after nearly flying off after being spooked by the speaker.
"Evangelion unit 01! Lift off!" The voice came again as a sudden loud metallic clang sound came from the purple eva.
Several people backed away when they saw the eva lurch forward after being released from it's restraints, but the eva's slouch quickly turned into a proud stance.
"The original savour of Tokyo-3!!" Misato's voice echoed out of the microphone she held. A cheer had risen when Evangelion rose it's hands like it was parting the water.
Asuka's vid window popped up then "They're below you... stop making the eva act like it's doing the forward stroke" Shinji laughed nervously but made the eva resume it's tall position.
Unit two, zero and 4 were all released and very slowly made their way down towards the main street to join the parade.
Each one of them marching in their glossy shape colours against the shining stars of the night sky.
The morning after Shinji could still hear the joyous cheering that rose from the city's streets to greet each of the pilots that strolled the city.
'They trust me...'
---
Across the Pacific Ocean Kaji boarded a helicopter to speed his way home ahead of a super air-carrier which housed a new avatar. One made of black and to bring the curse of Evangelion to another child.
Evangelion 03
~~~~~~~~
I'll expect lots of flames, critisms and compliments. But before you do any of these... Gimme a review! Thank you.
I'll try to speed up production, but it can be hard. Writer's block hit me like a two ton tank rampaging through my skull. But I'm back in the game and I hope to present more to you.
Ohhhh... Did I just make the fateful move of putting this fic back on the original eva timeline? God I hope not... It might actually get respectable now. Can't have us do that now can we? Oh and it only took the evangelion world's hottest uber over sexed(under sexed?) spy to do that! *sigh* Ah well, the part we all live for... THE OMAKE SECTION!!!!
_~-Omake-~_
~And what was Maya doing during this time?~
"Your rigging the bet" Aoba muttered
"Oh? Gee, All I did was equip my little trooper on the field. I had no idea that it would affect our bet on who would win this match" Hyuga continued to grin as he watched Shinji slink from building to building cradling the massive weapon.
"Sure ya did..." Aoba muttered as Hyuga's grin got sloppier.
"Besides, don't think I didn't notice your, 'tactical & strategic updates' you gave Asuka in the last one after her Radar got blasted away" Hyuga continued unabated and Aoba shared a fraction of Hyuga's original sloppy grin.
'Cheating are we boys?' Maya glanced over her shoulder before turning back to her terminal. Her fingers hit the keyboard running the code off by the mile. Nothing compared to her Sempai but still impressive.
"Now watch as my Shinji blows away your Asuka" Hyuga pointed at the tactical map with the blinking dots and promptly Eva 02 was removed.
"Bah! Not like you won yet. Rei's still out there" Aoba growled dangerously.
"Just look for yourself, Shinji has Rei in his sights right now" Hyuga pointed at the tactical map again and the positron cannons recticle was dead on locked.
"Damn..." muttered Aoba as the shot hit dead on. What really surprised them though was that Eva 00 was unfazed and uprighted itself.
"What the?!" They watched as Rei charged Shinji's Eva taking hit after hit and not even slowing. Shinji's dot promptly disappeared from the tactical grid.
"Rei wins again... against all odds... and possiblities..." They muttered together... But who had money on Rei...
"Yeah Rei!"
'MAYA!' they glared at Maya.
" Since you guys were ^aiding^ the fight so much for Asuka and Shinji, As head of the scientific department I decided to implement a new substance into the Evangelion 00's design... Gundanium" Maya sneered at them.
"God Mode..." Both of the male senior technicians muttered at the same time.
(If you noticed, I based the cheating on what each of the techies primary functions were. Aoba is chief of communications, Hyuga the second in command of strategic deployment and Maya as the primary supervisor of the Evangelions functioning systems.)
*To those that don't know, Gundanium belongs the the Gundam Universe and is damn near invincible. Just watch Gundam Wing or any of it's near cousins to get the idea*
_~-Omake 2-~_
-The costumed menace-
"Look at the bright side. Least we make a pair" David spoke from behind him. David was also getting some of the attention but Shinji was drawing most of looks as he was better known.
While some of the other costumes were flashier, fancier and bigger, it was the pilots that were getting the attention, to a degree at least...
"Shinji? Why you looking so nervous?" David prodded from behind him.
"Why are we getting the attention... like, look at these costumes" Shinji whispered and glanced at one of the costumes "That one particularly makes me nervous"
David glanced over at where Shinji glanced and nearly passed out. Not every day you see someone dressed up as a tentacle beast. It looks so real... so vivid...
"What's it doing?" David inquired to Shinji as they watched the 'hopefully' costumed beast.
"I don't know..." He continued to watch it, suddenly they perked up at the same time.
"It's ummm... coming this way..." David murmurred nervously. Shinji didn't dare budge.
Shinji peered at the costume intent on finding out who the person was under it. What he saw...
was a pearly white smile...
Silver hair...
And Red eyes...
And he was coming right at Shinji...
Run Shinji run
_-~Omake 3~-_
-Why Gendo doesn't like parties with games-
"Hey, AWESOME!" exclaimed some groups of people as the dull hum increased and was followed by the sudden upheaval of 2 long poles that shot up to the level of most buildings in the downtown region. They abrupt stop made a loud resounding clang echo across the city. Followed by a long scream that rose then fell to the ground.
"Dude, feel the rumble! It's like going crazy" muttered the Dracula to a nearby cohort when the dull hum started to turn to a growing roar.
^Hey... I'm alive...^
The roar turned into a maddening rush of screaming wind in a matter of seconds. All the while the crowd peered deeper into the pit.
^I think I'm ok...^
And all leapt back when the screaming wind came to it's pinnacle when a long horn shot upwards as fast as most ballistic missiles. Followed by two glowing green eyes, a diabolically wicked grin and an armoured chest.
And up it went... and went and went... It soared right into the air. Shinji's vid window popped up and he looked rather unworried.
"You forgot to put the Evangelion proof safety locks on the launch rails huh?" Shinji's monotone voice came at Misato.
"Well, yeah... My oopsie. I forgot to put them back the way they were after I used them to launch Gendo out of the geo front" Misato said with a slight buzz running through her head.
^Why's it so dark?^ Gendo looked up with his broken body to see Evangelion 01 land... Right on him.
(Ha ha! Serves him right!)
_~-Omake 4-~_
-a past no wanted to see remembered...-
"You really are going through with the plan. The Eva parade as I recall?" Fuyutsuki commented while Gendo watched him.
"Of course"
"It seems so unlike you. More like your previous self, then the man that's sizing me up right now" Fuyutsuki muttered as he flipped another page of the folder.
'Will he ever put that one drinking binge incident behind, and let me forgot it happened... It was obvious I was drunk...' Gendo shivered ever so slighty 'I hated cowboys before... and now I hate them them worse'
"..." Gendo didn't bother to reply, but his eyes continued to watch Fuyutsuki.
'If only he didn't have those pictures... Then I just could have killed him all those years ago...'
"And what about this one?" Kozo turned the folder towards Gendo. Gendo turned his head away from the spectacle. It was a rather embarressing moment.
"Pink crotchless cowboy pants just don't suit you" Kozo muttered as he looked over the picture more closely "But that's how you beat me to Yui"
Gendo choose this moment to speak up "She always did like things weird... even in the college days"
_~-End Omakes-~_