Yes, I know its been forever! Dedicated to the woman who thinks she's a dingy old broad, even if she isn't: the incomparable Kanzen ne Tsuki, also known as the Dragon Lady! If you like RK, check out her work!
Work of Fanfiction
Holy shit. I just fell in love with him. Really fell in love this time. Asuka stood watching the two other original EVA pilots kiss. And there's no room for me. Damn does my life suck.
Shinji and Rei raised their mouths from each other's and looked at Asuka. "Are you alright, Asuka?"
"What are you talking about, baka?" asked Asuka, shaking off her stupor.
"Well, Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu isn't exactly normal everyday stuff…"
You baka. That's not a big thing at all. Not for you. You really are 'Invincible Shinji'. We all always knew it. I'm stunned that you realized it. And jealous that she was the one who let you learn it. Jealous that she will be your one and only love. "And EVAs are?" interrupted Asuka sharply
"For us," said Rei, "They are."
Asuka returned the comment in kind and the conversation went on, sounding like three long-time friends finally getting back together. To be fair, it almost was.
---
Misato sat hunched over a tactical map of the world. Only one word could describe what the computerized table was telling her. Chaos. Though 'fuck' might not have been a bad choice. She massaged her temples and took another cautious sip of the stuff that passed for coffee in any government agency. She looked across the map again and racked her brain for any flashes of brilliance. No such luck.
Misato looked up to the sound of approaching high-heels. "Hey, Ritsuko."
The false blonde sat down on the other side of the table. "Having trouble?"
"That's a nice way of putting it," sighed Misato, resting her chin in her folded arms.
"What's the big deal?"
"Oh," growled Misato, gesturing to the world map, "Just the fact that we can't get any reliable data. The only things that I can tell are what each 'base-state' entails." She drummed her fingers on the table. "Can't tell a region's alliances except to itself worth shit."
"So?" asked Ritsuko.
"So I can't make any decision other than to attack or defend, and where." Misato tapped a few keys, enlarging Japan and part of Asia.
"What are you leaning towards?" asked the scientist, lighting up a cigarette and taking a drag on it.
"Don't really know. Take a look." Misato tapped a few more keys, highlighting Japan. "We control pretty much all of Japan. As you know, Matsushiro decided to join with us. That gives us four EVAs." A quick clatter of fingers on a keyboard and the tabletop screen changed from the map to first-level schematics of the four EVAs. "Obviously 00-02. You know all about those. And there's MP 23. It's a 03/04 model MP."
"Misato, I know all that. I'm the world's expert on EVAs, remember?"
Misato waved that off. "Yeah, yeah. We've also got most of the JSSDF under our control as well as a bunch of UN troops. And our NERV troopies, for what they're worth."
"I take it by the sarcastic tone that you adopted, you don't think too much of them."
"C'mon, Rits! You know as well as I that they're rent-a-cops with SMGs. Hell, our techs are probably better fighters. Not the point." Misato tapped her finger on the image of MP 23 on the screen. "The point is that we only have three active pilots. I know we have our reserves. Activate them."
Ritsuko gazed evenly out from the cloud of blue smoke at Misato. "I'm not even going to ask how you knew that. Fine. Let's see. If we're looking for pilots with combat-worthy sync rates, I'm thinking Touji Suzuhara, Hikari Horaki, Kensuke Aida, and Mana Kirishma are our best bets. We have some others, but that should keep us supplied for a while. Now, tell me, what's your plan?"
"Well," said Misato, "Out of all the base-states, we're the best situation for defense. A bunch of EVAs and no immediate hostiles by land."
"So, you're thinking defense?"
"Have you ever played Risk?"
Ritsuko was taken aback at this. "No, can't say I have. What is it?"
"It's an American board game. The point is to conquer the world. We played it a lot at the Academy. In it, the best way to win was to conquer territories. Being defensive got you killed fast."
"Right."
"Well, at the moment, this is looking like a huge and really convoluted game of Risk. Call it EVA Risk, if you will. The EVAs are like armies in the game, because, let's be honest, an EVA in plain old induction mode can take down the world's military, so long as it isn't challenged by another EVA, given enough time. And the CFR packs certainly give a pilot that time. Damn the person who made cold fusion available for EVA use. Unlimited activation time in induction mode. If there weren't any CFR packs, this wouldn't be a straight EVA vs. EVA fight."
"Well, that keeps casualties down."
"Kinda. EVAs aren't exactly weapons for surgical strikes. Besides, think of what this is doing to all those kids."
"How many times did we have that conversation when the Angels were still around?"
"Three times, I think. But this is a little different."
"How so? Actually, it's less of a burden than the Angels. Its not like the world will be destroyed if they lose."
"Yeah, but the Angels weren't kids like them."
"EVAs do have ejection systems."
"Tell that to Klaus Weber." Misato sighed. "And Asuka."
---
Ritsuko had long since left when Hyuuga walked in with a pot of coffee. "Hey. You still not done?"
"Hey Makoto. No. But I almost am." She gratefully accepted another cup of coffee. "Tell me what you think." She brought up the world map again, slightly stylized, with EVA graphics denoting each base-state's forces.
"Whoa! Looks like a Risk board."
"You played that game, too?"
Hyuuga nodded as he surveyed the board. "I always had devilish luck with dice, and I wasn't half bad on the strategy side. Let's see. Well, one-on-one, we have the best three units in the world. So, I suppose we could think of that as a perpetually lucky roll. But combat isn't quite the same as in the game. Hmm. And a bunch of places have more EVAs than us. That's not good. And since EVAs are salvageable…we need to attack."
Misato nodded. "Beyond that, we need resources. EVAs aren't easy to keep running."
"Yeah, the upkeep on anything that large is never small. So where do we take over?"
"Japan had it right back in WWII." Misato stabbed her finger down on part of China. "We're heading to Manchuria!"
---
Touji stretched as he and Hikari awoke from the embrace they had been in for the trip back to Tokyo-3. The Section 2 agent driving the car glanced back and saw the two of them. "Just a few minutes to the city limits."
Touji yawned and brushed a hair out of Hikari's face, smiling down at her. "Wonder why we had to come back so soon?"
"Well," said Hikari, "yes. But it really doesn't matter too much, does it?"
"So long as I'm with you, no," said Touji, bending down to plant a kiss on her forehead
That probably saved his life. Two men opened up with machine guns, killing the driver and disabling the car. Broken glass sprayed everywhere. The heavy sedan swerved and skidded to a halt in front of the van that the gunmen were standing in front of. Touji peeked out the window, covering Hikari with his body. Another of the men was leaning up against the van, playing with a combat knife, and a fourth was behind the wheel. The two gunmen opened up the van's side door and threw the machine guns back inside, before moving as if to check the car.
Touji kicked open the far door, and dragged Hikari out with him, planning to lose the men in the nearby forest. A Chinese-accented voice and a sadistic grin stopped him.
"Hello, little boy, going somewhere? Nice girl. I'll have to rape her before I kill her." With that, the guy thrust his knife into Touji's forehead, with a big shit-eating grin on his face.
Or at least, he tried to. The knife point bounced off Touji's skull, leaving only a small scratch. Then Touji's fist smashed into the man's jaw, sending him flying nearly thirty feet, with a broken neck. Hikari threw a mechanical pencil and it stabbed into the neck of one of the other men, who was digging in his jacket, probably for a pistol. Blood spurted, smearing Hikari's cheek as she ran up and jumped into the air, before kicking the other man in the head. A pistol dropped from his nerveless fingers.
Touji ran after the final man, who had a riot shield and baton. A swift kick knocked the baton flying, and the man cowered behind the clear plexiglass shield. Touji punched the shield with his right fist, and after half a second, it shattered, a shard cutting open the man's artery. Blood sprayed out in a wide fan. Touji ducked to the side.
"Damn! What happened?"
Hikari walked up behind him and pulled out her cell phone. "I don't know, but I'm calling NERV."
---
"Hey, Rits."
"Yes, what is it Misato?" asked the scientist as she looked over a report on her desk.
"Can you make new weapons for the EVAs?"
Ritsuko looked up, surprised. "Yeah, but what for? The arsenal worked just fine against the Angels."
"Against the Angels. We're not fighting Angels. Besides, nearly every kill was with a blade or the EVAs hands. We're too biased on guns."
"Right. We have knives, axes, spears, and swords. We have blades, Misato."
"But we don't have a weapon the pilots have mastered. They're going to need that. Asuka has her weapons. But Rei and Shinji don't."
"Well, I can't make an EVA weapon for them if they don't have a weapon they mastered."
"Rits, they're both honest-to-god masters with katana."
"We have a katana, Misato!"
"With a funky, overlong handle, a flimsy blade, and no hilt. I'm quoting Shinji, by the way. He tells me that he can't fight with it." She sighed. "He was very insistent. He wants a real katana, scaled up, with a prog blade."
"Shinji?"
"Rei too, actually."
"No, no. I mean, Shinji was like this?"
"That training really gave him a bunch of confidence. And rightfully so. You want to argue with a kid with a sword at his side, when he knows exactly how to use it? And he dresses like a samurai."
"Misato, I think you've been hitting the beer a little too hard."
"I'm stone-cold sober, Rits, as I know far too well. I haven't even seen anything alcoholic since the alert came in." Misato sounded a bit frantic. "And you know what else? Shinji is in love with Rei! Not just going with her, in love."
"You sound like you did when you told me Asuka and Shinji were going out. I almost though they were engaged!"
"So I was happy that I wouldn't have to see them skirt around it! But I never said they were in love! Shinji isn't ready for that, and neither is Rei!" Misato started pulling at her hair.
"Its really a shame that you and Kaji didn't get hitched and have any children. You make a wonderful worried mother."
"Ha, ha. Yeah, I'm worried! Shinji and Rei live under the same roof!"
"I can't imagine the number of worried mothers that have been wrong in the last month. Give it a rest, Misato. I don't think you have to worry about those two following your and Kaji's example."
"You haven't talked to them since they got back."
---
Aoba leaned back in his bridge chair, listening to music and playing air guitar. For all the shit that was going on in the world, the monitors were nice and quiet. The most activity he had was getting up for a new cup of coffee.
Hence why he was rather surprised when Misato stormed in. "Aoba! Get the SMG you keep under your console."
"What the!?" He took his feet off the console and turned off his music. "My SMG? Why?"
"I just got a call from two of our new pilots. When they were being brought here, they were attacked by some men with Chinese accents. The agent was killed, but they managed to kill the attackers."
"May I ask how?" asked Aoba incredulously.
"Insanely powerful martial arts, it seems."
"Right. So you want me to go out and get them?"
"Yeah. You know the route, right?"
"Right." He ducked under his console, pulling out his 'gun box'.
"Three pistols and a SMG? You are a gun freak, aren't you?" Misato pointed at the box. "And just how much ammo do you have?"
"Yeah, yeah." Aoba slung the SMG over his shoulder and grabbed six clips. "I'm off."
---
"Dragon Leader to all transports. No anti-air defenses along the coast. Mission is a go. We have a clear path to Drop Point Charlie, 5 miles northeast of Tokyo-3."
"Roger. All F-type transports continuing on course Charlie. Approaching waypoint Baker."
"Copy that. Assault force is moving on Matsushiro. Good luck on your end."
"We don't need luck. Those Tokyo-3 idiots won't know what hit them! All pilots check in and synchronize."
"Roger. Janshi units 1-8 synced and ready for combat.
---
ALERT! ALERT! UNIDENTIFIED EVA TRANSPORTS HAVE INVADED JAPANESE AIRSPACE! ALL PILOTS, PREPARE TO SORTIE!
Shinji's hands slammed down on the table he and Rei were sitting at as he heard the message, shoving himself up. Rei stood up quickly as well, and they sprinted for the locker room.
---
Asuka met them there, and the pilots stripped quickly, dignity forgotten in the urgency to change into their plugsuits. Never before had they been so rushed. Against the Angels, there was always time to prepare. Not so now.
Shinji was still settling the neural interface headband on his head as he sprinted towards the plug marked '01'. He jumped into the plugseat lying on the decking next to the plug. The crane placed it in the open top of the plug, and the sliding top hatch closed off Shinji's view of the outside world. His hands dropped onto the butterfly handles, still accustomed to the feel.
The plug jolted, and Shinji could tell that soon the plug would swirl around him while the gyro-stabilized chair stayed rock-steady. There. Soon LCL would start filling the plug. Now. He transitioned from breathing air to the strange orange liquid. And it was time to sync.
The familiar light show flashed across the screens. A little meter showed him at 87.53%. The screens in the plug showed the third EVA bay. He could feel the tension on the EVA's body lessening as locks were released. From the feeling he was getting, he would start moving towards the catapults in roughly three seconds. Yep, there he went.
Three com windows opened, the other pilots filling two of them, while Misato took up the last one. "Okay guys, we've got eight EVA transports inbound. We know they can't be as good as you guys, but that's not good odds." Her image looked to the side, at something outside the camera's view . "Right." She looked back at them. "They're dropping outside the city, and seem to be forming groups of two. Asuka, we've got your EVA swords ready to deploy in the weapons building next to your emergence point but we don't have real katanas for you. Sorry. We'll get Techdiv on that as soon as this is over."
Shinji nodded. "Right. We'll engage using the old weapons. Anything else?"
"No. Sorry, but I don't really have a tac plan for you. But you guys are veterans. You'll do just fine."
"Roger. Unit 02 ready!"
"Unit 00 ready.
"Unit 01, ready."
"EVA LAUNCH!"
---
Janshi 1 and 2 crept forward, cradling pallet rifles in their EVA's arms. They were 02 style MPs, and each carried an advanced melee weapon in addition to the rifle. 1 had an axe, and 2 had a katana. The other pilots constantly badgered 2 about using a Japanese weapon, but he was good with it. Their pilot's heads swiveled from side to side, searching for a flash of red, blue, or especially purple. The original EVAs.
An alarm beeped in the entry plugs of the Chinese EVAs. Approaching heat source. A pair of artillery rockets slammed into 1's back, splintering armor, and driving him forward. Unit 02 rose from hiding, and emptied the other four rockets in her bazooka's clip at them. The inexperienced pilots forgot to even raise their AT fields, taking the full brunt of the attack. Asuka cursed. "Damn, didn't get a CFR pack. Shinji, Rei, they're all yours. And I think one of them has a proper katana."
"Thanks. Right, let's go Rei!" Unit 01 spun out from behind a hill, and started running at the two Chinese Evangelions. Shinji had armed himself with a pair of pallet rifles, one for each arm, and he held them at full extension, spitting fire and transuranic slugs at the enemy. This time the EVAs did put up their AT fields, not that it gave them more than a moment's respite. Shinji easily neutralized their fields, and kept on firing. The rifle fire blew the enemy EVAs' rifles apart, and turned most of their armor into memory, but it did not score any telling hits. A few wounds leaked blue blood, but nothing that would really help Shinji.
Rei jumped over her hill with the jump jets mounted on her shoulder pylons as well as her EVA's muscles, firing shots from an upscale sniper rifle. One of her shots tore off 2's left shoulder pylon, spinning the other EVA to the ground. She landed and bounded into the air again, firing more shots.
Shinji's rifles ran dry and he tossed them to the side, burying them in the ground. 01's arms went up to it's shoulder pylons, and Shinji drew a pair of progressive knives, diving at 2. 2's pilot barely saw him coming, and was just bringing his EVA to its feet to counter when Shinji's first blade rent the EVA's chest, causing both pilot and biomecha to scream in agony. But that wound would not take the EVA down, not quickly enough. That was why Shinji's other knife flashed around in a flat arc, stabbing into the side of the EVA's head.
Explosive bolts blew, a huge slab of armor fell away, and an entry plug went rocketing out of the Chinese Evangelion's back.
"One down," reported Shinji, as he took the katana from the inactive EVA's hip. "And I've taken the katana."
"Touché!" crowed Asuka. "Another one down. That's two. Six more to go."
"Five," corrected Rei, as her carefully aimed shot blew apart 1's head, "Five more to go."
Shinji turned and headed towards the next group. The two EVAs fired on him with their rifles, trying desperately to neutralize his AT field, but it was no use. Shinji easily countered the rookie pilots' attempts to strip him of his protection, striding slowly towards them, holding his katana in his preferred grip: loosely, at the middle of the handle. He could almost see the pilots' shock when their rifles ran dry, their EVAs seemingly as impotent as infantry against his Unit 01. It was almost like he was an Angel now. A little flicker in the back of his mind distracted him, a flash of anger and the words 'Heaven's Justice' on a blood-smeared sheet of paper, and next he knew, the two aggressor EVAs were charging towards him with drawn blades. One had a Chinese broadsword, while the other had a spear.
The spear-EVA thrust his weapon at Shinji viciously, and sloppily. Shinji simply sidestepped it and sliced off the spearhead before decapitating the EVA. He sighed. That had been far too easy.
The now-disabled EVA's consort swung its broadsword in a flat arc which Shinji jumped over, flipping over the enemy Evangelion. He kicked backwards, but the enemy EVA wasn't there. Ah. Now this guy is better. Shinji spun about, sword ready to block any attack, only to see that the pilot had overbalanced and was lying on the ground. "Or…not?" Shinji stabbed his katana through the EVA's back and twisted it, ripping it out the side. Though Shinji knew EVAs could take far worse damage and 'survive', he was willing to bet…yep, there went the entry plug. Shinji stepped back so that it would not hit him. "Two more down."
"Finishing up my last one," said Asuka, "Wondergirl, you want help?"
"Yes." Rei's voice was strained. "Shinji, some help would be a very good thing." Shinji looked over to where Rei was dodging sword swings from two EVAs. Amazingly, she was still getting in unarmed combat moves, even though they had the 'advantage'. Shinji's 01 was off and dashing as soon as he saw it. The first Chinese EVA never saw what hit him, so fast was EVA 01 moving. A full-scale Ryu Kan Sen Arashi cut the EVA into two pieces before 01 leapt into the air. It didn't actually separate until Shinji had come down in a Ryu Tsui Sen on the other EVA, cutting straight through the sword the other pilot had put up to block the strike. That Evangelion fell into two uneven horizontal pieces, as Shinji had scrupulously avoided hitting the entry plug.
"Are you okay, Rei?"
"Yes, just fine, Shinji."
Asuka walked up in Unit 02. "Nice work, baka," she whistled appraisingly, "Hey, Misato, all enemy EVAs have been forcibly deactivated."
"Good. Come on home. The JSSDF is just finishing up beating off an assault by the Chinese Army on Matsushiro. Guess they got a little more than they bargained for, huh?" The EVA pilots all nodded. "Well, we'll probably be attacking them soon, but get some rest for now."
---
The first thing Shinji and Rei did when they climbed out of their entry plugs, still slippery with LCL, was to walk right over to the other, and give each other a big kiss. They broke off, wiped their mouths, and then went at it again. Asuka watched them, her mind a mixture of sadness and happiness. They love each other. It's so obvious. And that means I have to let go. Shinji, I love you enough to know that this is what you need, and I can take two lost loves for the world's sake, and yours. Asuka smiled and turned away, walking towards the locker room, not noticing that she had just referred to Klaus as a 'love'. Now I just have to keep those two from sharing a shower. Misato would go nuts.
A/N: I'd say eight pages is pretty good. Sorry this took so long, but I've had tremendous writer's block on this. Anyway, sorry for the OOCness, but it's been a while since the series now, and they've had some pretty big things happen to them, as well as a lot of small things. So, next chapter, new EVA pilots, and the EVA Invasion of Manchuria! And perhaps a small glimpse of who is behind this all. Ja na!