Author's Note: Before you read this fan-fic, check my last one, The Last
Gift She Expected. See that note up the top of every chapter? That bit
that says "I do not own Gainax or any of its creations"? You don't? Ah
well...anyway, I didn't then, and since then I haven't suddenly inherited a
small mint, so I don't now, either.
Where Am I? Chapter 5 -
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[I can't believe that this show's still running!] Cyan was sitting in front of the television, laughing his ass off at Takeshi's Castle, an old TV show that he used to watch before...that happened. The basic premise was 100 people running through a gruelling obstacle course, then made to storm a castle armed with water pistols. Cyan found it hilarious.
Shinji entered the room, and laughed as a businessman received a soccer ball shot from a cannon in the netheregions. Just then, the doorbell rang. Shinji went and opened the door, for a soaked Toji and Kensuke.
"Hey guys," Shinji greeted the duo. He turned and shouted. "Cyan, get some towels!"
"Thanks for letting us in, Shinji," Toji said as he and Kensuke walked into the kitchen, "That rainstorm came out of nowhere."
"So, where's Misato?" Kensuke asked, as Cyan walked in with two towels.
"Here you go," Cyan threw each of the boys a towel. "Misato? She's asleep. She's been doing a heap of night shifts lately."
"Well, I guess we better keep quiet so we don't wake Misato up, right?" Kensuke suggested.
"Well..."
"Shh!" Toji and Kensuke both silenced Shinji at the same time. Cyan couldn't help but stifle a laugh. A moment of silence prevailed, until an almost earsplitting cry came from a room marked with a sign saying "Do Not Enter Without Permission upon Pain Of Death!" in perfect German.
"Hey! Why did you let these dufuses in here!?" Asuka cried through the partially opened door.
After another "Shh!", Shinji replied. "Uh, drying themselves?"
"Oh, a likely story!" Asuka dismissed the claim. "Well, I'm changing in here, so if any of you peek, you're dead!"
This pissed off Toji immensely. "Why would anyone want to watch a snake changing its skin!?" he shouted. Just then, another door opened, revealing a fully uniformed Misato Katsuragi, minus shoes.
"Oh, Misato, did we wake you up?" Kensuke asked apologetically.
"No, I was already awake. Thanks for asking, though." She walked into the kitchen. "Shinji, Cyan, don't forget the Harmonics test this afternoon."
"Hai." "Yeah, sure."
"Did you get that, Asuka?" Misato shouted into the Forbidden Room.
"Yeah."
Just then, Kensuke noticed a slight alteration of Misato's uniform. Shinji and Cyan both noticed that Kensuke began to act extremely formal around Misato.
"Oh, Miss Misato," Kensuke stammered, "Congratulations on your promotion!" At this point Toji bowed as well.
Misato smiled gently. "Oh, you're too kind," she said.
"No ma'am," Kensuke said, "You deserved it!"
"Well, thanks," Misato said graciously. "Oh, Cyan, Dr. Akagi wanted to see you about something. She said to bring you along this morning. Are you ready to go?"
"Oh, hold on, I'll go put on something decent," Cyan said, commenting on his grubby clothes. He walked into "Heya Cyan" (Cyan's Room), and closed the door.
At this point, Shinji turned to Misato. "Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"What are the Angels, anyway? It's been bothering me for a while now..."
"What are the Angels? To be honest, I don't think anyone's too sure..."
Kensuke lifted his head, after the world's longest bow. "Aw, c'mon! Anyone can see that they're alien invaders!"
"Alien invaders!?" Asuka shouted from her room, "Gimme a break!"
"Well, why are they called Angels? They've got the names of Angels too...in the news, they're given names like Israfel, Sandalphon, Matariel...all Angel names..."
"He's right," Cyan said, exiting his room, wearing black cargoes, and a black casual shirt with red trim (as close as he could find to his favourite shirt from back home), "I did Bible-bashing for a few years back at school. They're all names of angels. The next few are going to be Sahaquiel, Ireul, Leliel..."
"Alright, that's enough," Misato ended the conversation, "Time to go, Cyan."
"Alright." He was about to walk off when he turned back around to face the boys. "You know, I can still remember a certain passage...'God created Man and Woman..."
He back-pedalled past Asuka's lair, glancing into the gap, and was given an unrestricted view of Asuka, reaching down to pick up a school shirt. "And He saw that it was gooooooood..." he finished, wincing in mock pain (well, the view was pretty hot, wasn't it?). He turned away, following Misato, leaving Shinji, Toji and Kensuke, watching half in amazement and half in pity for Cyan when Asuka found out what he did.
-------------
As the door closed behind Cyan, he followed Misato to the elevator.
"I suppose that makes you a Major now, doesn't it?"
"Yep," Misato said, rather shortly. Cyan picked up on this.
"You don't sound to happy about it..."
"You're right. I don't."
"Jeez, just trying to start a conversation..." Cyan waited in vain for a response. [Better change the subject...]
"So what's the deal with Toji and Kensuke? I think they want you..."
This got a laugh out of Misato. "Hah! You're right, they've always been so bloody polite, and they're always pointing that bloody camera at me!"
"Knowing Kensuke, I'd bet he has, uh...other footage of you..."
"...what?" Misato's tone changed slightly, moving closer to lightly peeved.
"Let's just say if I were you I'd watch what I do in front of a surveillance camera..."
"What are you implying!?" Moving again to angry.
"Remember the blackout a few days ago? You were stranded in an elevator, weren't you?"
"Yes..." Staying steady at 'Angry'...
"Remember thumping against the service hatch with your fists, asking it to open?"
"Yes..." Staying at 'Angry'...
"With your chest facing the camera?"
"...Oh..." Misato stopped walking, clearly pissed. Cyan also stopped. [I do NOT want fourteen-year-olds beating off to the tune of my bouncing tits...] "Uh, Cyan...how good are you with computers?"
"Good enough. Why, Major?"
"You couldn't...get it back, could you?"
[Ha! I knew she wouldn't want those fourteen-year-olds whacking off over her chest!] "Maybe...I haven't seen Mr. Aida's security features yet."
"I would go to Ritsuko, but I don't exactly want to tell her..."
"I see..." Cyan thought it over. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, Cyan," she smiled, before going for the elevator again.
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"Dr. Akagi, you wanted to see me?"
Ritsuko turned around. "Ritsuko's fine, Cyan. Come on in." Cyan walked into Ritsuko's office, and took a seat.
"So, did you find out anything wrong with me?"
"Well, yes and no..." Ritsuko began, "I received a print out of your brainwave patterns during your battle against the Eighth Angel, and it did shed some light on what it could be."
"Really?" Cyan's interest perked.
"I can only explain it in complicated terms, so bear with me. As you know, an Angel emits an AT field, much like your Eva can. What most people don't know is that AT stands for Absolute Terror; the enemy simply cannot gather the bravery to penetrate this barrier. Do you follow?"
"Yeah..."
"Whenever the Angel activated its AT field, you felt a peak in that anticipation feeling of yours, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did... What does it mean?"
"It seems that people with certain molecular structures are drawn to the power of the AT field, exactly the opposite of what it is intended. I can't tell you exactly what this means, because there's only two other things I know of with the same phenomenon...and it can't be the same problem..."
"Why not? What other things?"
"One is the Eva itself, and the other...I can't say, but I can assure you that you don't have the same problem as...this person."
Cyan sat back in the chair, after hanging on the edge of his seat, in anticipation of an answer. [Looks like I have to wait more for an answer...]
"You want to get a coffee or something? You've still got two hours until your Harmonics test."
"Yeah, why not?" They both rose from their chairs, and walked to the office.
"Asuka tells my you're pretty good at Unreal Tournament..."
Cyan grinned. "Pretty good!? I owned her!"
"You know about the Magi? You know their processing speed?"
[I know it's bloody fast...] "You play Unreal Tournament on THOSE!?"
"Yup. Pretty clear graphics...I'm not bad myself, you know..."
"Is that a challenge?" Cyan asked, adopting a very Asuka-esqe tone.
"If you're up to it..."
-------------
[Breathe in...Breathe out...Breathe in...Breathe out...]
Cyan was focusing on his harmonics with his Eva, and trying not to think about how stupid it sounded. Meanwhile, Ritsuko was monitoring the pilots' results from the Pribnow Box.
"Looks like Units Zero and Two are on the edge of the contamination zone," Maya said.
"Unit Five is lagging a little behind, but it can still take a little more, as well as Unit One. Lower the graph depth another 0.3%."
Shinji and Cyan almost immediately felt this extra pressure, but rose to the occasion, each maintaining their steady sync ratios.
"Shinji's almost reached the contamination zone," Maya reported, "but the graph drop has had no effect on Cyan whatsoever."
"That's odd," Ritsuko said, "It's almost as if it's her all over again...Lower his graph depth another 0.2%."
Maya gasped. "But that takes him onto the Ego borderline!"
"Just do it, Maya," Ritsuko said. Maya shrugged, and obeyed her superior's directive.
Cyan started to see things...things he didn't want to remember, such as images from his old life...his old friends...his mother... He started to show signs of stress, the emotional strain was beginning to take hold...
"Okay, that's enough, guys," Ritsuko said hastily, before Cyan suffered any more, "Take five and then we'll get you out."
"God, finally!" Asuka ranted, "I thought we'd never get out of that one!"
Cyan opened his eyes. [Whoa...that was tough...] He kicked back. [Why do they test us like this? Don't they think that trying to fight an Angel is enough emotional stress? That Angel fight was intense...yeah, nothing like a earth-killing giant creature from God-knows-where to get the adrenalin pumping...I gotta admit, it was fun...]
--------------
Meanwhile, Maya and Ritsuko were discussing the results of the harmonics test.
"Shinji's definitely improving," Maya commented, "His sync ratio is rapidly catching with Asuka's."
"It's almost as if he was born to pilot the Eva..." a techie said.
"There's no denying it," Ritsuko said, "He does have talent. Cyan, though..."
"He's got a relatively low sync rate, but he can maintain it, even in cases of extreme mental pressure. If he worked on improving his sync ratio, he would be a great pilot."
Down in the pool, the plugs opened, and Asuka exited her entry plug in a spectacular pike dive. Cyan, while going into the LCL, was content with sliding in quietly.
"Hey, Cyan, you know you can breathe this stuff, don't you?" she said.
"Yeah, so?"
Asuka grinned as she let herself drop in the water. Cyan followed. As his ears entered the water, he heard a voice, a very deep voice, but still completely recognisable as Asuka's.
"I need to talk to you about something," Asuka confessed.
"Well, talk." Cyan said, but in a much lower voice. [Weird...]
"Have you met Kaji yet?"
"No, who's he?"
"Oh, he's this really cute guy," Asuka said, in a lovey-dovey voice, which just sounded wrong really low-pitched, "but whenever I try to put the moves on him, he doesn't seem to notice..."
"Oh...you want to talk to ME about that?"
"What?! I'm not gonna talk to Shinji about it, am I!?"
"What about Misato?"
"Um...Kaji used to be with Misato..."
Cyan's image of Kaji suddenly matured a lot. "He's Misato's age?"
"Yeah, but he's so cute..."
"Well, there's your problem!" Cyan said.
"Huh?"
"If he's Misato's age, then he probably thinks you're too young for him. I mean, he's what, thirty, thirty-five? And you're fourteen, fifteen?"
Asuka sighed (very hard to do underwater). "I guess you're right..."
Asuka began to resurface. "Oh, and one more thing..."
"Yeah, Asuka?"
"I know what you did this morning. You will die."
Cyan laughed as he swam back for the surface.
--------------
"So, what were the results of his first harmonics test?" Gendo asked with his usual steely cold voice.
"At first I thought that the incident involving the Sixth Angel had had an adverse effect on him, as what had happened to her," Ritsuko reported, "During the harmonics test, he did not respond at all to drops in the sync depth. Only when he was pushed to the very limits of the Ego Borderline to place stress on his cerebral cortex did we receive any reaction."
"It hasn't begun yet," Gendo said, "but it will, very soon. Keep a close eye on him, Dr. Akagi."
"Yes sir."
Gendo hung up the mobile phone. Fuyutski spoke up.
"And to think in our day it was rare to be able to keep in touch with someone by mobile phone between cities..."
Gendo smiled. "Science is what makes us strong, Professor. Science has enabled us to reach the corners of the globe..."
Fuyutski looked around outside the ship they were aboard. "Once this was a living continent, Antarctica. Now it's an ocean of death." He felt repelled by the unnatural red ocean, as if it was red with blood. "The pole, not just another name for hell..."
"Nonetheless mankind has returned to this wasteland. In the midst of death, we still live."
"Still, we can only return under the protective veil of science..."
Gendo rebutted his former mentor's argument. "Science is what makes us powerful."
Fuyutski shot right back, "That type of arrogance is what caused the tragedy of fifteen years ago. And this," he said, waving his arm around to refer to his surroundings, "is the end result. The original Dead Sea. This is a punishment mankind far from deserved."
"This is merely a world purged of the original sin."
"I'd rather live in a world with people." Fuyutski decided to change the subject. "I suppose the council is angry that NERV has accommodated for that stranger."
"It is still in accordance with the scenario."
"Ours or theirs?"
"Both."
Fuyutski changed the subject. "Do you think it's possible that he could become a threat?"
"His internal examination after the treatment revealed no trace of foreign tissue in his body. There's no threat whatsoever."
Fuyutski wasn't convinced. "What we're doing is too risky..."
-----------------
Cyan was sitting in Heya Cyan, at his desk, looking over the homework.
[And to think two weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to read a word of this... But then again, it wasn't really two weeks ago, was it? It was twelve years ago...that makes me twenty eight...Hm, Misato's age...] Cyan smirked, then went back to him homework.
The problems that he was covering in maths weren't that much different from the stuff he used to do in his old maths class, the same with most of the physics work. The only thing he really needed to go over in depth was Kanji and History.
[Hmph. Half of this never happened in my time.] Cyan reviewed the textbook.
"...The Second Impact was caused by the Guggenheimer comet, which crashed into Antarctica..." [A lie. Adam caused Second Impact...Not some comet...] Cyan's thoughts soon turned away from homework, and went instead to the strange feeling he experienced inside the Eva.
[Asuka never mentioned it, and nor did Ritsuko...so what is it? Is something wrong with me?] These subtle differences between his experience in an Eva and Shinji's or Asuka's were starting to disturb him.
-----------------
"Congratulations, Misato!" the gathering of people cheered.
Misato, adorned with a sash proudly reading "Major", smiled broadly at the reception she received from Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Cyan, Toji and Kensuke, in celebration of her promotion.
"Thank you guys!" she said, elated. "And thank you, Toji, for organising all this."
"No, no," he shrugged, "This was Kensuke's idea."
"That's right!" Kensuke shot to his feet. "I, Kensuke Aida, am the mastermind behind this dinner!"
"Oh, well I suppose I should thank you, Kensuke!" Misato thanked the boy.
A humbled Kensuke sat back down. "Oh, it was nothing..."
"Hey, just what is Hikari doing here, anyway?" Toji asked.
"Don't be so rude!" Asuka snarled at Toji, "She's my guest!" She smiled, as the two girls looked at each other. "Ja!" they said in unison.
"Did you invite Rei as well?" Misato asked the Second Child.
"I invited her," Asuka explained the First Child's absence, "but she doesn't really seem like a party person, does she?"
"Who else was coming, Kensuke?" Cyan asked.
"Uh, apart from us, Ritsuko, Maya, Hyuga, Aoba, Kaji..."
Hikari perked at the sound of Kaji's name. "Kaji? You mean that really cool looking guy who never shaves?"
"Yeah," Asuka sighed, "After having to put up with these dorks all the time, it's nice to know what a real man is like," she said referring to the Three Stooges.
"A real man!? What do you mean by that!?" Kensuke growled.
"I'll show you a real man!" Toji stood up, ready to demonstrate his case with his fists. Asuka was already up on her feet, fists clenched and presented to Toji.
"You want some of this?!" she shouted angrily. Cyan laughed as the argument engulfed everyone but he, Shinji and Misato.
"So, kid," Misato asked Shinji, "Still uncomfortable in this kind of situation?"
"Yeah, a bit. I'm just not used to being around so many people..." Shinji looked at Misato. "You don't seem really happy you were promoted..."
"I have my reasons..."
"Misato...why did you join NERV?"
"To be honest I can't exactly remember, it was so long ago..." Cyan listened to this normal conversation instead of the rabble that had broken out in front of him, only to find his attention snatched by Asuka's shrill voice.
"Maybe you'd be more of a man if you weren't obsessed with your non- existent muscles! Isn't that right, Cyan!?"
Cyan leaned back, hands raised. "Ye...I mean n... Hey, don't drag me into this!"
Toji and Asuka both leaned in threateningly toward Cyan. "What!?"
Fortunately for Cyan, the doorbell saved him. Asuka brightened. "That's gotta be Kaji!"
She ran for the door, opening it in a hurry. Kaji and Ritsuko greeted her, much to her dismay.
"I came directly from Headquarters," Kaji explained his company, "We just happened to meet on the way."
Asuka and Misato had equally scornful expressions. "A likely story," they said bluntly.
"You aren't jealous, are you?" Ritsuko teased.
"Absolutely not." Misato said, Asuka keeping quiet.
"I'd like to give you my sincerest regards, Major Katsuragi," Kaji said formally, bowing in respect, "I suppose I'll have to be polite to you from now on."
"Hmph, and just what does that mean?" Misato said into her beercan.
"Well, Commanders Ikari and Fuyutski have never left Japan at the same time before. I guess they must really think that old Katsuragi here is dependable."
"You mean that my father's left Japan again?" Shinji asked Ritsuko.
"That's right," Ritsuko replied, "He's at the South Pole." She then redirected her conversation to Misato. "Is this everyone?"
"No," Misato said, "Hyuga and Aoba were coming, and we invited Rei as well..."
"Rei? Is she coming?"
"I don't know," Asuka said, "She never called back..."
---------------
Rei was still in her flat, lying on her bed. She had decided not to accept Asuka's invitation of a party in honour of Misato's promotion. She didn't know why Commander Ikari forbade her from attending such occasions, nor did she care. She wasn't ordered to care; she was only ordered to defeat Angels...
Suddenly she felt her stomach turn slightly, a sign to her that another presence was approaching. Thirteen years of NERV defence training kicked in as her eyes shot open, darting around the room. No one was there, which told Rei one thing:
"The next one." Without another word or thought, she dressed, left her apartment and ran for NERV headquarters.
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Well, there's Chapter Five, see you next time.
Where Am I? Chapter 5 -
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[I can't believe that this show's still running!] Cyan was sitting in front of the television, laughing his ass off at Takeshi's Castle, an old TV show that he used to watch before...that happened. The basic premise was 100 people running through a gruelling obstacle course, then made to storm a castle armed with water pistols. Cyan found it hilarious.
Shinji entered the room, and laughed as a businessman received a soccer ball shot from a cannon in the netheregions. Just then, the doorbell rang. Shinji went and opened the door, for a soaked Toji and Kensuke.
"Hey guys," Shinji greeted the duo. He turned and shouted. "Cyan, get some towels!"
"Thanks for letting us in, Shinji," Toji said as he and Kensuke walked into the kitchen, "That rainstorm came out of nowhere."
"So, where's Misato?" Kensuke asked, as Cyan walked in with two towels.
"Here you go," Cyan threw each of the boys a towel. "Misato? She's asleep. She's been doing a heap of night shifts lately."
"Well, I guess we better keep quiet so we don't wake Misato up, right?" Kensuke suggested.
"Well..."
"Shh!" Toji and Kensuke both silenced Shinji at the same time. Cyan couldn't help but stifle a laugh. A moment of silence prevailed, until an almost earsplitting cry came from a room marked with a sign saying "Do Not Enter Without Permission upon Pain Of Death!" in perfect German.
"Hey! Why did you let these dufuses in here!?" Asuka cried through the partially opened door.
After another "Shh!", Shinji replied. "Uh, drying themselves?"
"Oh, a likely story!" Asuka dismissed the claim. "Well, I'm changing in here, so if any of you peek, you're dead!"
This pissed off Toji immensely. "Why would anyone want to watch a snake changing its skin!?" he shouted. Just then, another door opened, revealing a fully uniformed Misato Katsuragi, minus shoes.
"Oh, Misato, did we wake you up?" Kensuke asked apologetically.
"No, I was already awake. Thanks for asking, though." She walked into the kitchen. "Shinji, Cyan, don't forget the Harmonics test this afternoon."
"Hai." "Yeah, sure."
"Did you get that, Asuka?" Misato shouted into the Forbidden Room.
"Yeah."
Just then, Kensuke noticed a slight alteration of Misato's uniform. Shinji and Cyan both noticed that Kensuke began to act extremely formal around Misato.
"Oh, Miss Misato," Kensuke stammered, "Congratulations on your promotion!" At this point Toji bowed as well.
Misato smiled gently. "Oh, you're too kind," she said.
"No ma'am," Kensuke said, "You deserved it!"
"Well, thanks," Misato said graciously. "Oh, Cyan, Dr. Akagi wanted to see you about something. She said to bring you along this morning. Are you ready to go?"
"Oh, hold on, I'll go put on something decent," Cyan said, commenting on his grubby clothes. He walked into "Heya Cyan" (Cyan's Room), and closed the door.
At this point, Shinji turned to Misato. "Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"What are the Angels, anyway? It's been bothering me for a while now..."
"What are the Angels? To be honest, I don't think anyone's too sure..."
Kensuke lifted his head, after the world's longest bow. "Aw, c'mon! Anyone can see that they're alien invaders!"
"Alien invaders!?" Asuka shouted from her room, "Gimme a break!"
"Well, why are they called Angels? They've got the names of Angels too...in the news, they're given names like Israfel, Sandalphon, Matariel...all Angel names..."
"He's right," Cyan said, exiting his room, wearing black cargoes, and a black casual shirt with red trim (as close as he could find to his favourite shirt from back home), "I did Bible-bashing for a few years back at school. They're all names of angels. The next few are going to be Sahaquiel, Ireul, Leliel..."
"Alright, that's enough," Misato ended the conversation, "Time to go, Cyan."
"Alright." He was about to walk off when he turned back around to face the boys. "You know, I can still remember a certain passage...'God created Man and Woman..."
He back-pedalled past Asuka's lair, glancing into the gap, and was given an unrestricted view of Asuka, reaching down to pick up a school shirt. "And He saw that it was gooooooood..." he finished, wincing in mock pain (well, the view was pretty hot, wasn't it?). He turned away, following Misato, leaving Shinji, Toji and Kensuke, watching half in amazement and half in pity for Cyan when Asuka found out what he did.
-------------
As the door closed behind Cyan, he followed Misato to the elevator.
"I suppose that makes you a Major now, doesn't it?"
"Yep," Misato said, rather shortly. Cyan picked up on this.
"You don't sound to happy about it..."
"You're right. I don't."
"Jeez, just trying to start a conversation..." Cyan waited in vain for a response. [Better change the subject...]
"So what's the deal with Toji and Kensuke? I think they want you..."
This got a laugh out of Misato. "Hah! You're right, they've always been so bloody polite, and they're always pointing that bloody camera at me!"
"Knowing Kensuke, I'd bet he has, uh...other footage of you..."
"...what?" Misato's tone changed slightly, moving closer to lightly peeved.
"Let's just say if I were you I'd watch what I do in front of a surveillance camera..."
"What are you implying!?" Moving again to angry.
"Remember the blackout a few days ago? You were stranded in an elevator, weren't you?"
"Yes..." Staying steady at 'Angry'...
"Remember thumping against the service hatch with your fists, asking it to open?"
"Yes..." Staying at 'Angry'...
"With your chest facing the camera?"
"...Oh..." Misato stopped walking, clearly pissed. Cyan also stopped. [I do NOT want fourteen-year-olds beating off to the tune of my bouncing tits...] "Uh, Cyan...how good are you with computers?"
"Good enough. Why, Major?"
"You couldn't...get it back, could you?"
[Ha! I knew she wouldn't want those fourteen-year-olds whacking off over her chest!] "Maybe...I haven't seen Mr. Aida's security features yet."
"I would go to Ritsuko, but I don't exactly want to tell her..."
"I see..." Cyan thought it over. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, Cyan," she smiled, before going for the elevator again.
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"Dr. Akagi, you wanted to see me?"
Ritsuko turned around. "Ritsuko's fine, Cyan. Come on in." Cyan walked into Ritsuko's office, and took a seat.
"So, did you find out anything wrong with me?"
"Well, yes and no..." Ritsuko began, "I received a print out of your brainwave patterns during your battle against the Eighth Angel, and it did shed some light on what it could be."
"Really?" Cyan's interest perked.
"I can only explain it in complicated terms, so bear with me. As you know, an Angel emits an AT field, much like your Eva can. What most people don't know is that AT stands for Absolute Terror; the enemy simply cannot gather the bravery to penetrate this barrier. Do you follow?"
"Yeah..."
"Whenever the Angel activated its AT field, you felt a peak in that anticipation feeling of yours, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did... What does it mean?"
"It seems that people with certain molecular structures are drawn to the power of the AT field, exactly the opposite of what it is intended. I can't tell you exactly what this means, because there's only two other things I know of with the same phenomenon...and it can't be the same problem..."
"Why not? What other things?"
"One is the Eva itself, and the other...I can't say, but I can assure you that you don't have the same problem as...this person."
Cyan sat back in the chair, after hanging on the edge of his seat, in anticipation of an answer. [Looks like I have to wait more for an answer...]
"You want to get a coffee or something? You've still got two hours until your Harmonics test."
"Yeah, why not?" They both rose from their chairs, and walked to the office.
"Asuka tells my you're pretty good at Unreal Tournament..."
Cyan grinned. "Pretty good!? I owned her!"
"You know about the Magi? You know their processing speed?"
[I know it's bloody fast...] "You play Unreal Tournament on THOSE!?"
"Yup. Pretty clear graphics...I'm not bad myself, you know..."
"Is that a challenge?" Cyan asked, adopting a very Asuka-esqe tone.
"If you're up to it..."
-------------
[Breathe in...Breathe out...Breathe in...Breathe out...]
Cyan was focusing on his harmonics with his Eva, and trying not to think about how stupid it sounded. Meanwhile, Ritsuko was monitoring the pilots' results from the Pribnow Box.
"Looks like Units Zero and Two are on the edge of the contamination zone," Maya said.
"Unit Five is lagging a little behind, but it can still take a little more, as well as Unit One. Lower the graph depth another 0.3%."
Shinji and Cyan almost immediately felt this extra pressure, but rose to the occasion, each maintaining their steady sync ratios.
"Shinji's almost reached the contamination zone," Maya reported, "but the graph drop has had no effect on Cyan whatsoever."
"That's odd," Ritsuko said, "It's almost as if it's her all over again...Lower his graph depth another 0.2%."
Maya gasped. "But that takes him onto the Ego borderline!"
"Just do it, Maya," Ritsuko said. Maya shrugged, and obeyed her superior's directive.
Cyan started to see things...things he didn't want to remember, such as images from his old life...his old friends...his mother... He started to show signs of stress, the emotional strain was beginning to take hold...
"Okay, that's enough, guys," Ritsuko said hastily, before Cyan suffered any more, "Take five and then we'll get you out."
"God, finally!" Asuka ranted, "I thought we'd never get out of that one!"
Cyan opened his eyes. [Whoa...that was tough...] He kicked back. [Why do they test us like this? Don't they think that trying to fight an Angel is enough emotional stress? That Angel fight was intense...yeah, nothing like a earth-killing giant creature from God-knows-where to get the adrenalin pumping...I gotta admit, it was fun...]
--------------
Meanwhile, Maya and Ritsuko were discussing the results of the harmonics test.
"Shinji's definitely improving," Maya commented, "His sync ratio is rapidly catching with Asuka's."
"It's almost as if he was born to pilot the Eva..." a techie said.
"There's no denying it," Ritsuko said, "He does have talent. Cyan, though..."
"He's got a relatively low sync rate, but he can maintain it, even in cases of extreme mental pressure. If he worked on improving his sync ratio, he would be a great pilot."
Down in the pool, the plugs opened, and Asuka exited her entry plug in a spectacular pike dive. Cyan, while going into the LCL, was content with sliding in quietly.
"Hey, Cyan, you know you can breathe this stuff, don't you?" she said.
"Yeah, so?"
Asuka grinned as she let herself drop in the water. Cyan followed. As his ears entered the water, he heard a voice, a very deep voice, but still completely recognisable as Asuka's.
"I need to talk to you about something," Asuka confessed.
"Well, talk." Cyan said, but in a much lower voice. [Weird...]
"Have you met Kaji yet?"
"No, who's he?"
"Oh, he's this really cute guy," Asuka said, in a lovey-dovey voice, which just sounded wrong really low-pitched, "but whenever I try to put the moves on him, he doesn't seem to notice..."
"Oh...you want to talk to ME about that?"
"What?! I'm not gonna talk to Shinji about it, am I!?"
"What about Misato?"
"Um...Kaji used to be with Misato..."
Cyan's image of Kaji suddenly matured a lot. "He's Misato's age?"
"Yeah, but he's so cute..."
"Well, there's your problem!" Cyan said.
"Huh?"
"If he's Misato's age, then he probably thinks you're too young for him. I mean, he's what, thirty, thirty-five? And you're fourteen, fifteen?"
Asuka sighed (very hard to do underwater). "I guess you're right..."
Asuka began to resurface. "Oh, and one more thing..."
"Yeah, Asuka?"
"I know what you did this morning. You will die."
Cyan laughed as he swam back for the surface.
--------------
"So, what were the results of his first harmonics test?" Gendo asked with his usual steely cold voice.
"At first I thought that the incident involving the Sixth Angel had had an adverse effect on him, as what had happened to her," Ritsuko reported, "During the harmonics test, he did not respond at all to drops in the sync depth. Only when he was pushed to the very limits of the Ego Borderline to place stress on his cerebral cortex did we receive any reaction."
"It hasn't begun yet," Gendo said, "but it will, very soon. Keep a close eye on him, Dr. Akagi."
"Yes sir."
Gendo hung up the mobile phone. Fuyutski spoke up.
"And to think in our day it was rare to be able to keep in touch with someone by mobile phone between cities..."
Gendo smiled. "Science is what makes us strong, Professor. Science has enabled us to reach the corners of the globe..."
Fuyutski looked around outside the ship they were aboard. "Once this was a living continent, Antarctica. Now it's an ocean of death." He felt repelled by the unnatural red ocean, as if it was red with blood. "The pole, not just another name for hell..."
"Nonetheless mankind has returned to this wasteland. In the midst of death, we still live."
"Still, we can only return under the protective veil of science..."
Gendo rebutted his former mentor's argument. "Science is what makes us powerful."
Fuyutski shot right back, "That type of arrogance is what caused the tragedy of fifteen years ago. And this," he said, waving his arm around to refer to his surroundings, "is the end result. The original Dead Sea. This is a punishment mankind far from deserved."
"This is merely a world purged of the original sin."
"I'd rather live in a world with people." Fuyutski decided to change the subject. "I suppose the council is angry that NERV has accommodated for that stranger."
"It is still in accordance with the scenario."
"Ours or theirs?"
"Both."
Fuyutski changed the subject. "Do you think it's possible that he could become a threat?"
"His internal examination after the treatment revealed no trace of foreign tissue in his body. There's no threat whatsoever."
Fuyutski wasn't convinced. "What we're doing is too risky..."
-----------------
Cyan was sitting in Heya Cyan, at his desk, looking over the homework.
[And to think two weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to read a word of this... But then again, it wasn't really two weeks ago, was it? It was twelve years ago...that makes me twenty eight...Hm, Misato's age...] Cyan smirked, then went back to him homework.
The problems that he was covering in maths weren't that much different from the stuff he used to do in his old maths class, the same with most of the physics work. The only thing he really needed to go over in depth was Kanji and History.
[Hmph. Half of this never happened in my time.] Cyan reviewed the textbook.
"...The Second Impact was caused by the Guggenheimer comet, which crashed into Antarctica..." [A lie. Adam caused Second Impact...Not some comet...] Cyan's thoughts soon turned away from homework, and went instead to the strange feeling he experienced inside the Eva.
[Asuka never mentioned it, and nor did Ritsuko...so what is it? Is something wrong with me?] These subtle differences between his experience in an Eva and Shinji's or Asuka's were starting to disturb him.
-----------------
"Congratulations, Misato!" the gathering of people cheered.
Misato, adorned with a sash proudly reading "Major", smiled broadly at the reception she received from Shinji, Asuka, Hikari, Cyan, Toji and Kensuke, in celebration of her promotion.
"Thank you guys!" she said, elated. "And thank you, Toji, for organising all this."
"No, no," he shrugged, "This was Kensuke's idea."
"That's right!" Kensuke shot to his feet. "I, Kensuke Aida, am the mastermind behind this dinner!"
"Oh, well I suppose I should thank you, Kensuke!" Misato thanked the boy.
A humbled Kensuke sat back down. "Oh, it was nothing..."
"Hey, just what is Hikari doing here, anyway?" Toji asked.
"Don't be so rude!" Asuka snarled at Toji, "She's my guest!" She smiled, as the two girls looked at each other. "Ja!" they said in unison.
"Did you invite Rei as well?" Misato asked the Second Child.
"I invited her," Asuka explained the First Child's absence, "but she doesn't really seem like a party person, does she?"
"Who else was coming, Kensuke?" Cyan asked.
"Uh, apart from us, Ritsuko, Maya, Hyuga, Aoba, Kaji..."
Hikari perked at the sound of Kaji's name. "Kaji? You mean that really cool looking guy who never shaves?"
"Yeah," Asuka sighed, "After having to put up with these dorks all the time, it's nice to know what a real man is like," she said referring to the Three Stooges.
"A real man!? What do you mean by that!?" Kensuke growled.
"I'll show you a real man!" Toji stood up, ready to demonstrate his case with his fists. Asuka was already up on her feet, fists clenched and presented to Toji.
"You want some of this?!" she shouted angrily. Cyan laughed as the argument engulfed everyone but he, Shinji and Misato.
"So, kid," Misato asked Shinji, "Still uncomfortable in this kind of situation?"
"Yeah, a bit. I'm just not used to being around so many people..." Shinji looked at Misato. "You don't seem really happy you were promoted..."
"I have my reasons..."
"Misato...why did you join NERV?"
"To be honest I can't exactly remember, it was so long ago..." Cyan listened to this normal conversation instead of the rabble that had broken out in front of him, only to find his attention snatched by Asuka's shrill voice.
"Maybe you'd be more of a man if you weren't obsessed with your non- existent muscles! Isn't that right, Cyan!?"
Cyan leaned back, hands raised. "Ye...I mean n... Hey, don't drag me into this!"
Toji and Asuka both leaned in threateningly toward Cyan. "What!?"
Fortunately for Cyan, the doorbell saved him. Asuka brightened. "That's gotta be Kaji!"
She ran for the door, opening it in a hurry. Kaji and Ritsuko greeted her, much to her dismay.
"I came directly from Headquarters," Kaji explained his company, "We just happened to meet on the way."
Asuka and Misato had equally scornful expressions. "A likely story," they said bluntly.
"You aren't jealous, are you?" Ritsuko teased.
"Absolutely not." Misato said, Asuka keeping quiet.
"I'd like to give you my sincerest regards, Major Katsuragi," Kaji said formally, bowing in respect, "I suppose I'll have to be polite to you from now on."
"Hmph, and just what does that mean?" Misato said into her beercan.
"Well, Commanders Ikari and Fuyutski have never left Japan at the same time before. I guess they must really think that old Katsuragi here is dependable."
"You mean that my father's left Japan again?" Shinji asked Ritsuko.
"That's right," Ritsuko replied, "He's at the South Pole." She then redirected her conversation to Misato. "Is this everyone?"
"No," Misato said, "Hyuga and Aoba were coming, and we invited Rei as well..."
"Rei? Is she coming?"
"I don't know," Asuka said, "She never called back..."
---------------
Rei was still in her flat, lying on her bed. She had decided not to accept Asuka's invitation of a party in honour of Misato's promotion. She didn't know why Commander Ikari forbade her from attending such occasions, nor did she care. She wasn't ordered to care; she was only ordered to defeat Angels...
Suddenly she felt her stomach turn slightly, a sign to her that another presence was approaching. Thirteen years of NERV defence training kicked in as her eyes shot open, darting around the room. No one was there, which told Rei one thing:
"The next one." Without another word or thought, she dressed, left her apartment and ran for NERV headquarters.
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Well, there's Chapter Five, see you next time.