BOREDOM
by: Andross937
disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or Dragon Ball Z. I do not claim any ownership over any of the characters of either series. I am not making any profit off of this story, and am only writing it for entertainment purposes. If the owners of either series wishes it, I will remove this story from the internet. I do not wish to offend anyone with this story. If anyone is seriously offended by this story, please notify me of the material you found offensive and I will attempt to remove it from the story. If it is impossible to do so, I may leave the story off of the internet. I do own the character Andross. He is not patented, but it would be greatly appriecated if anyone that wishes to use him would contact me for permission to use him before using him.
Authors Note: Well people, welcome to another chapter of my story. From what I can tell, since I don't have word or any other program that counts words or pages, this is the longest chapter I have written yet! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up this trend of out doing myself every chapter in terms of words, but I'm going to try and keep the word count high regardless. I'm actually a little proud because I've managed to surpass the total word cound, and words per chapter count of some really good stories that I like out there. Anyways, please review with your opinion on the story, the chapter, any of the various scenes or situations, a rewiew saying you read it, or even something you would like to see happen, or maybe just a pairing you would like to see. See chapter two for the rules on pairings. Anonymous reviews are accepted! If you don't feel like reviewing, then just send me an e-mail! I enjoy seeing and reading those too! I can even reply to them! My e-mail is found in my profile, won't let me put it here.
One more very important issue. This is so important to me, that I will even put this again at the end. Has anyone noticed the name for the hospital room that I continue to send Shinji to? It happens more here in this chapter. That's right, its hospital room 404. I was kind of hoping someone would pick up on that one and mention it in a review or e-mail. Sadly, no one has. So now I am pointing it out, and offering something. If you recognise what it is reffering too, making a pun of, what the joke is about, then send me an e-mail or a review with the answer. Anyone that gives the correct answer, or at least comes close, then I will send a clip of a future chapter I went ahead and wrote before I should have. Believe me, this clip will be well worth it, and will hopefully get you interested in what the chapter's about. Just sign in for the review, or leave your e-mail in the e-mail section of the anonymous reviews, or leave it in your e-mail that you send, and I will e-mail you the clip along with my thanks. Don't cheat and read the reviews for this chapter before you have thought of the answer, though I will have no idea of knowing, and therefore will never find you out. Just as long as you have the correct or close answer, you will get the clip.
Thank you for your time, I now release you to the story.
-story begin-
Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke were still at the arcade when the sun was getting close to setting. They were currently playing multiple racing machines that were all connected to each other and a few others in the arcade. Each one of the machines were being used by someone, and all were racing each other. Shinji was the one in the lead, followed closely by Touji and Kensuke who continued to switch for second place. They were followed closely by a mob of cars that belonged to other players in the arcade.
"Watch yourself Shinji, I'm going to pass you here!" Touji exclaimed.
"No you're not! First place is going to be mine!" Kensuke exclaimed as he tried to ram his friend off of the road.
The virtual cars began to smash their sides together as they came onto a very narrow bridge, barely fitting the cars side by side. Shinji's car remained untouched just feet infront of their own. Suddenly Shinji's phone went off. Without looking away from the screen he picked it up and answered with one hand, easily able to drive the car with the other hand alone.
"Yes?" he asked into the phone.
"Shinji?" came Misato's voice. "It turns out that the boys can't come over tonight, and you have to come down to NERV to be examined, which could take the whole night. Sorry to bust up your party before it was able to begin, but rules are rules." Misato said.
"Alright, I'll be down there in a few minutes. See ya then." Shinji said, sounding only slightly dissapointed.
Shinji suddenly turned sharply and slammed on his brakes. Touji and Kensuke's cars slammed into his own and all three went flying off of the bridge. The virtual cars fell for several seconds before slamming into the side of a mountian, and then falling into the lava ocean below it.
"Ouch, that looks kind of hot." Shinji said as the three messages of YOU LOSE! popped on their screens together. "Oh well, you know what they say about talking on the phone while you drive. Just goes to show it's all too true." Shinji said with a smile.
"You're real funny Shinji..." Touji said as they stood up from the racing machine just as the crowd of other players passed over the finish line, crumpling into a massive heap of fire and twisted metal since their was a wall at the end that they all crashed into. It was a very realistic simulation of a real crash, minus the blood.
"Well guys, our little get together at my apartment is cancelled because of the angel attack." Shinji said with a sort of frown, but quickly recovered his smile.
"Yeah, it figures, you being a NERV employe and all. I'm actually surprised that this place is open so soon after the attack." Kensuke said looking around at all the various kids and young adults playing games.
"Yeah, it is a little weird." Touji said.
"Well, as you guys know very well, the attack happened on the complete other side of the city. They let people out earlier over here. Anyways, I have to go get my after-battle check up. Wish me luck." Shinji said.
"Why?" Kensuke asked.
"You don't really want to know. See ya!" he exclaimed before running into an alley way and then taking to the air.
-NERV infirmary, room 404-
Shinji sat uncomfortably on a large steel table. It wasn't the table that made him uncomfortable. It wasn't the room that made him uncomfortable. It wasn't even the slight chill in the temperature in the room that was making him uncomfortable. It was the fact that once again, he was alone with Dr. Ritsuko. At least he was awake this time, though in some ways that made it worse for him, since he would remember every moment.
"Okay Shinji, we're checking for obvious wounds first. Would you please take off your shirt." Ritsuko asked.
"Uh... can I just say that I feel fine and leave?" Shinji asked nervously.
"Shinji, I'm a doctor. Not only am I a doctor, but I am one of the top thirty most qaulified doctors to handle your health in the entire world. I am a complete professional, so let's just keep this professional. That means don't be so nervous, don't ask funny questions that you already know the answer to, and do what I tell you. If you do these things, the check up can be finished all the quicker. Now, take off your shirt or I will be forced to have it removed." Ritsuko ordered.
Shinji cocked his head to the side for a moment, before his nervous smile increased while his eyes took a look that seemed to shout that he had a question.
"Not meaning to be rude Dr. Ritsuko, but how would you do that?" Shinji asked.
"There are two possibilities Shinji. One is I have Misato come in here and remove it herself..." she said, her smile growing into a mischevious smile that Shinji never wanted to see her with ever again. "Or, I do something a bit more crude, but effective." she said, with her smile growing even more, though changing to a look of superiority.
"I'm sorry, but I have to ask, what's the second possibility?" Shinji asked, his voice small and nervous.
"This." Ritsuko said as she stepped back and snapped her fingers.
Suddenly a glass panel fell from the ceiling, cutting her off from Shinji. various panels opened up on the ceiling and walls. Shinji was confused as nothing happened, and made the mistake of letting his guard down. As soon as he had let his guard down, large flames shot out of the panels and covered his entire body.
"YEEEOUCH!" Shinji shouted out.
The flames stopped as suddenly as they had started and the panels closed. The glass panel remained as new panels opened up and vacuums sucked up the smoke. The panel lifted just as the smoke cleared. Shinji still sat on the metal table, now with most of his clothes burned off. He had created his aura in just enough time to save his underwear completely, but the rest of his clothes had literally been burned off of his body. Patches of smoking shirt remained, as well as part of a pant leg that was dissapearing in a small plume of flame that died quickly. His shoes had melted, and the rubber bits hung from his feet down to the floor. Shinji wore a frown, but didn't look mad enough to kill or anything.
"That wasn't funny Dr. Ritsuko." Shinji said when Ritsuko giggled a little. "Now I only have four school uniforms left. It's a good thing I decided not to wear anything fancy to the arcade, or I would actually be mad." he said, before the sudden realization that he was only wearing his underwear around a woman hit him. He instantly went to covering himself with his hands.
"Relax Shinji. Your boxers are perfectly intact. There's absolutely no reason to cover them. It only serves to draw attention to them." Ritsuko said.
With that last sentence, Shinji quickly drew his hands away. He still sat on the table as Ritsuko began to circle him. He didn't like the look that was in her eyes, despite the fact that he knew she was at least partially checking for wounds.
"Well, you're body certianly has developed more muscle since your last full check up." she said, sounding too much like she were admiring his body rather then observing a medical fact.
"It's a combination between my now daily exercises in the morning and my body changing to better hold the massive amount of ki that I have. It's going to continue to develop for another week or so from what I can tell, and then it's all up to my exercises to improve my physical shape." Shinji informed.
"Well, you're very well fit already." Ritsuko said, mostly to herself as her proffesional tone slipped for a moment.
Indeed, Shinji's body looked like that of an athlete that had been exercising for at least a few years under a strict schedule. He looked very athletic, but not overly bulky with his muscles like body builders. Ofcourse, he rarely showed his shape off as he wore the normal school uniform or something comfortable that covered just as much most of the time.
Now Ritsuko payed more attention to the slight burn marks on his arms, hands, and chest area. Shinji was far too strong for them to have been given to him by the flame throwers, so they must have come from the energy whips. She gently touched one, and Shinji only made the slightest of winces from the pain. She watched as the small burn mark began to slowly fade. It was so slow most people wouldn't notice it for several minutes, but her trained eyes caught it.
"Shinji? Are these healing?" she asked.
"Yeah. They'll be gone in a few minutes or so. I heal pretty fast because my body automatically directs my ki to enhance my healing. The worse the injury, the faster my body works to repare it. I could even heal a broken arm, or something like that, in only a day. It's rather usefull as you can imagine." Shinji said with a smile.
"Right, Shinji? Can I take a blood sample? The last time we tried, we couldn't get the needle to penetrate your skin. We had to settle with a sample of your saliva." Ritsuko said.
"You can tell all sorts of medical stuff from my saliva?" Shinji asked.
"Yes. Not as much as we can from a blood sample, but we can tell a lot. NERV has the most advanced medical technology at its desposal." Ritsuko said, a hint of pride evident in her voice.
"Cool. Anyways, the reason you couldn't get a needle to penetrate my skin is because I wasn't awake. I have to be awake and willingly weaken myself to harm for that to work. Otherwise my body automatically protects me. Sure, you can take a blood sample." he said with a smile.
"Alright, stay here. I'll be right back, and we have many, many more tests for you. Don't worry though, you'll probably be out of here by some time early morning." Ritsuko said with a smile.
"Great. It's a good thing that I don't have school tommorrow. Spending my day off catching up on sleep isn't my idea of a great day off. Oh well, the angel's dead at least." Shinji said, mostly to himself as Ritsuko had left the room already.
-several days later-
Shinji yawned as he got out of class before saying a quick good bye to his friends. He had been asked by Misato to come by NERV and to her office after school that day. He would have to be there all day since he had a synch test only an hour and a half afterwards, and she had let it be known that he would be there for nearly that long anyways. So he snuck into an alley way and began the slow flight to NERV headquaters.
As he flew at a slow pace towards the nearest entrance, his mind wondered. He wondered why Misato had asked him to come to NERV and see her. She didn't make it sound like a total emergency or anything, just something she would like him to be present for. He couln't really think of any good reasons, so he just kept flying on.
When he arrived he made his way straight to Misato's office, able to feel her ki signature half way in to confirm that she was indeed there. When he arrived and knocked on the door, she opened it immediately. Shinji smiled up at her, but she wore a more serious look to her face.
"Please come in and sit down Shinji." she said.
"Alright Misato. What's wrong?" Shinji asked becomming concerned.
"Just sit and watch that t.v. for a few minutes." Misato said as she flipped the t.v. on.
Shinji watched as the t.v. showed an activation for Evangelion unit 00. He had been through many virtually simulated activations during the synch tests. Because of this, he was quite familiar with what he was seeing, and was able to make some sense out of the techno babble that was being said all over the place.
That's why his eyebrows creased as the bridge crew and technicians began to panic. He watched as the Eva began to go berserk on the screen. He had never seen a berserk Eva before, and only heard the bare minimum about it happening. His hold tensed on the chair's arm rests to the point of crushing the wood to splinters as he watched the plug get ejected and smashed against the walls. The slightest bit of shock came over him as he watched his father burn his hands to get Rei out of the plug and make sure she was alright.
"Wow. If that had been less serious, and I actually cared what my father thought about me any more, I might be a bit jealous. I mean, he burns his hands to make sure that she'll be alright, and then drops an N2 mine on my head because it might slow the Third angel down." Shinji said.
"Still haven't gotten over it?" Misato asked.
"Nope." Shinji said simply. "Was that why she was hurt so badly?" he asked.
"Yes. The reason I showed this to you now, is because tommorrow Rei has another activation test. I want you to be present to try and hold the Eva back and catch Rei's plug, should it go berserk again." Misato said.
"Alright. I'll be there. By the way, when is my Eva going to be usable?" Shinji asked.
Misato laughed nervously for a moment before answering. "I can't really say. What their doing to it is highly classified, so I can't even give you a hint if I did know something." Misato said.
"No problem. I understand completely." Shinji said.
"Good. Now get on, your synch test has been rescheduled for twenty minutes from now. Go get ready." Misato said.
"Alright. See ya later." Shinji called as he left the office.
-school next day-
Shinji sat out from playing basket ball for a while. It was just cheating for him to play anyways. He could move so much faster and with so much grace then any of the other students, it was pitiful looking for them to go against him. It didn't help them that he could feel where each of them were every second and could easily keep track of their movements without distracting him in the least.
Instead he stared up at the pool high above them. Well, it wasn't that high for him, but that was just because he was used to flying over a hundred stories in the air. His vision was focusing on the girls, one of the girls to be precise. Rei Ayanami sat against the fence, curling herself into a ball agaisnt it, as she watched the other girls swim with a emotionless face.
Touji and Kensuke were also staring up at the girls. However, their vision was broader, and yet more focused at the same time. Drool escaped Touji's lips as one of the girls did a fantastic dive off of the high dive, just within view of the boys. Their eyes were roaming left and right, up and down, across all of the girls, before they tapped Shinji on the shoulder.
"What?" Shinji asked, not having been paying attention to his friend's viewing habbits.
"If we payed you, would you take one of our cameras, float up there, and take some pictures of the girls in action?" Kensuke asked, almost pleading.
"Not only would I say no, but I would return the money and possibly fry the camera's film." Shinji answered. "Besides, don't you think that someone would ask how you got an arial view of the girls swiming pool when there isn't anything around that's higher then it?" Shinji asked.
"Oh yeah. You might be right about that..." Touji admitted.
"So... what are you looking at so intently Shinji?" Kensuke asked.
"I'm looking at Rei..." Shinji could already see his friends about to start a rant about various female body parts he could be looking at, and feeling embaraced since Rei was indeed in her swim suite, he decided to cut them off before they started. "I was wondering why she's always alone."
His friends visibly paused at that. They sat back and thought for a moment. Finally Kensuke answered.
"I don't know. I don't think she's made any friends since she came here in the first grade. I think that she must seem... unfriendly or something. She never actively talks to someone or calls attention to herself in any way. It's like she doesn't exist as far as she's concerned."
"We actually thought you would know her the best out of all of us since you work with her." Touji said.
"Yeah, I should know her best, but I don't. I guess I'll have to correct that mistake." Shinji said.
-NERV synch test area-
Shinji watched from his test plug as Rei got out of her test plug. They were performing final synch tests before her activation later. It was for that reason that Shinji was out of school and at NERV before lunch time even. It was weird and even a bit unconveinant for him, since he would have to go home and make himself and Misato some lunch, and now Ritsuko too since Misato had invited her. Ofcourse, he actually liked the making food part, it was the flying back home, then back here thing he disliked. He could ride with Misato, but he thought it best if he didn't. He was still scared by her.
So there Shinji stood watching Rei from his plug. He was surrounded by over a dozen technitions, all of them babbling their technition speak which he couldn't really understand. However, their voices just blended into the back ground for him at the moment. He watched as his father, the man that never shows emotions, approached Rei. She looked up at him, and smiled a wide and rather beautiful smile that threw Shinji off his balance. He nearly fell over completely when he saw his father grin back at her and begin having a normal conversation with her. It was in Shinji's favor that he remembered he could fly, so he didn't fall down on his face.
When his father had left, Shinji decided to try out this socalizing thing with Rei, and see if he got any possitive results. He floated over the several hundred feet between him and her, wondering why they placed the plugs so far away from each other the whole way over. When he came near, she didn't acknowledge his presence if she even noticed him at all.
"Rei?" he asked.
She continued her walk for the showers, though she inclined her head towards him a full inch.
"Yes Pilot Ikari?" she asked.
"Hi! I thought I'd say hello. Also, could you call me Shinji, or even Pilot Shinji if you have to? I mean, Ikari makes me sound too much like my father, and that sometimes scares the workers around here since he's the commander." Shinji requested.
"Very well Pilot Shinji." she answered, her voice completely monotone.
"I was wondering, would you like to come over to Misato's and my apartment to have lunch? I mean, I'm already cookig for us and Dr. Ritsuko, so it wouldn't be a bother. We would enjoy your company if you decide to come over." Shinji offered.
"I am a vegetarian. I must return to my apartment and aquire a change of clothes and a proper shower. Perhaps... another time Pilot Shinji." Rei answered, her voice still monotone, her face completely emotionless.
"That would be nice Rei. Don't worry, I can cook many vegetarian meals. Well, I'll see you at your activation test. I'll be there to protect you if there is another problem." Shinji said with a smile.
Rei stopped in her tracks at Shinji's words. She didn't turn her body or face, but she seemed to be speaking more directly to Shinji then before.
"It is your father's work. Do you not trust your father?" Rei asked.
"The man holds little to no trust for me even now after I have defeated two angels with my bare hands. He left me alone when I was four years old to live with complete strangers. He made no effort to contact me my entire life, abandoning me in his heart and in life. He even transferred full responsibility of guardianship to Misato, giving up any claim over me as a father. I have had no personal experience with my father's actual work, and have seen what it can do when it gets out of control..." Shinji said, his tone getting darker as he went. "He doesn't trust me, care about me, or think about me as anything but a pawn in his games. I don't trust him. There's no way I could." Shinji said finally.
Rei turned with impressive speed and slapped Shinji as hard as she could. His head did not turn, nor did he show any sign of having felt it at all. He smiled a grim smile in comparresion to his usual up beat smile.
"You shouldn't do that Rei. You might hurt your hand." he said.
Rei walked away, leaving him floating there. Shinji shrugged lightly before turning away.
"There goes my chances of getting to know her as a good friend. Oh well, time may mend those wounds, and I'll try again." Shinji said before regaining his normal smile and heading for the showers.
-Misato's apartment-
Shinji, Misato, and Ritsuko sat around the table, the feast of good food Shinji prepared covering the surface of the entire table. Misato was visibly drooling a little at the sight of the food. Ritsuko took a deep breath of the air through her nose, taking in the smells of the good food. It was completely alien to her while she was in Misato's apartment.
"Wow! Shinji, this really does smell good." Ritsuko said. "I never thought I'd smell such good food in Misato's apartment." she added.
"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" Misato asked, a little upset. "My cooking's good!" she exclaimed in defense.
"Misato, you'd have to have a cast iron stomach just to survive your cooking, and I don't even know what to enjoy the stuff. You can't cook anything but biological disasters, and I'm surprised that you and especially Penpen have survived this long." Ritsuko said back.
"Come now Dr. Ritsuko, Misato's cooking can't be that bad." Shinji said.
Ritsuko looked Shinji right in the eye with a dead serious look before responding.
"Yes Shinji, it is that bad. It's possibly worse. And, call me Ritsuko here outside of NERV." she said, smiling with the last part.
"Okay Ritsuko." Shinji said with a smile of his own.
Without further discussion, the three people and the one penguin all digged into the food, and there were many sounds of enjoyment within the house. It wasn't long at all before every scrap of the food was eaten and gone. The group all sat back as one and patted their full stomachs, only wishing they could fit more of the good food into their stomachs with out gaining weight. Suddenly Ritsuko's head shot up with a look of realization, before a look of slight embarassement passed over her features.
"Eh, Shinji? I have a small favor to ask you. I forgot to give Rei her renewed i.d. card today before she left NERV. She can't be let in without it, so could you run by... I mean fly by and give it to her before you go in yourself?" Ritsuko asked.
Shinji hesistated for a moment, before reaching out and taking the card. "Sure Ritsuko." he said, though his usual happy tone wasn't really present, and his smile looked fake while he stared at the photo of Rei for a moment.
"Hey, what's the matter Shinji? You're looking at that photo pretty hard there. Have you got a... crush on Rei!" Misato attempted to tease. Though, for some reason she just couldn't really get into teasing Shinji about having a crush on Rei. A thought popped in her head right about then. She didn't think that she could fully enjoy teasing Shinji about liking any girl.
"It's nothing like that Misato. It's just that..." Shinji started before his voice grew a bit more absent of his usual happiness. "Today I tried to befriend her, and I just ended up upsetting her. I got her pretty mad at me, and probably upset all around." Shinji said with the sound of regret to his voice. "I just thought that, since we're both Eva pilots, we should actually get to know each other and become friends."
"Don't worry about it Shinji. Rei's not the type to hold a grudge. She's probably over what ever it was already. She's a good girl, just a bit too much like your father. Not very good at..." Ritsuko started, but hesitated.
"What?" Shinji asked.
"Living." Ritsuko finished.
-Rei apartment building-
Shinji was looking at the directions he was given on the piece of paper he held in his hands. He had followed them to the letter, even going back and coming again to make sure he hadn't taken a wrong turn or flown too far. According to the directions, Shinji was at Rei's apartment building. He looked up at the condemmed building, floating so that he was at about half its height. No matter how Shinji looked at it, he could see nothing but a piece of trash building that would fall apart should he so much as breath at it, much less step onto it.
"Wow... I'm going to have to have a little talk with that guy that assignes living quarters if he picked this place out. This place is a giant piece of utter crap!" he exclaimed.
He floated over to the correct floor, but dared not even touch his feet to it.
"I'd rather not take the chance of causing the building to collapse." he whispered to himself as he floated around, looking for the right door.
When he found the right door, he was utterly shocked. The door itself was so beat up, it looked like it would fall off if he knocked. Slapping himself, Shinji remembered that he had a bad habbit of knocking healthy doors off their new hinges when he knocked. The mail box was over flowing to the point of making a large pile of nothing but junk mail on the floor and infront of the door. From the looks of it, Rei simply walked over them with out notice.
Shinji pressed the buzzer, and only felt enough to know that if here weren't as powerful as he was, he would have felt a powerful shock that would've numbed his arm quite a bit. He frowned at the offending buzzer button, before knocking on the door very lightly. He didn't like how it seemed to shake when he touched it.
"Rei?" he called out.
He slapped himself again as he remembered that he could feel ki signatures. He checked the apartment building, and found her signature. Thankfully, he felt only her signature in the building. After that thought, he wasn't so sure if he should be thankful that no one esle lived here, thus putting themselves in danger, or upset that Rei herself lived here in danger. The building could collapse in on her or something.
"Rei? I know you're inside, so I'll just wait!" Shinji called out, not restraining his voice. No one else lived for nearly a mile around, so who else would hear?
He stood there waiting. He knew she had heard him, for she started towards the door to the apartment. Rei opened the door to her apartment, and Shinji's eyes bugged out of his head for a second, before he whipped his body around fast enough to cause a good sized breaze. Rei stood there in the door way, fully nude except a towel she was using to dry her hair.
Shinji could do nothing but stutter for a moment, before forcefully clamping his mouth shut. He didn't trust his tongue until he could get a firm grip of control, and until there was no longer a naked girl standing behind him. Rei stood there, unnoticing to Shinji's embarressment, or the cool breaze that blew through the open air.
"What?" she finally asked in her completely monotone voice.
"I... I was asked to give you your renewed i.d. card. I didn't mean to show up at such a... bad time for you." Shinji said as he held back the card for her to take.
Rei took the card from Shinji's hand. Shinji breathed a sigh of relief as he now thought she would go back into her apartment and dress herself. He started to become more nervous though, when he felt that she hadn't moved an inch other then to hold the card.
"Pilot Shinji..." Rei started.
"Y...yes!" Shinji said nervously.
"I wished to... apologize for striking you earlier." Rei said, her voice a bit more... softer then normal.
Shinji's embarressment easied some, though it was still there. "That's no problem Rei. I apologize for getting you angry. I should have held my tongue more. Anyways... I should go now. I will see you at the reactivation test." Shinji said before quickly flying towards NERV, quite anxious to get out of the presence of Rei while she was nude.
Rei tilted her head ever so slightly as she watched him fly away. A strange felling crept through her body. It was a feeling she was unfamiliar with, but she had a name for it none the less. It was curioussness. She was wondering why Shinji seemed so... nervous around her. Was it possible that she had insulted him with her apology? She would simply have to do more research.
It never entered her head that Shinji might have been nervous because of her being naked. After all, she had weekily tests at NERV with Gendo and Ritsuko. At these special tests, she was always naked, and the Commander was never uncomfortable at that, nor was Ritsuko. Why would Shinji be?
-NERV activation test-
Shinji was ready. Rei was ready. The entire staff of NERV was ready for this. It was time to attempt to reactivate unit 00, and see how well Rei could control it. Shinji was the slightest bit nervous. He had never been around an activated Eva, and he might have to hold it down while it goes berserk. Ways of how to actually 'hold' the giant beast flashed through his mind. How could he actually hold it? He could overpower it for sure, but hold it down?
Shinji shook his head to clear himself of the confusion. His primary task would be to secure Rei's safety first, then stop the Eva from hurting anyone else. He listened as all the techno babble began as they started. He listened carefully for any indication, that he could actually understand, that things were going bad.
He could literally feel the ki rising in the Eva before him. It was slow at first, but it began to quicken soon enough. As the excitement in the the tech's various voices began to build, so did the speed at which the Eva was coming to life fully. Shinji prepared himself as he saw the Eva's eye glow brightly, almost menacingly at first.
Shinji called up his aura and prepared to do some serious powering up when he felt the Eva's ki shoot up suddenly, but he calmed as he felt the Eva's ki settle back down to a steady amount. The menacing glow if its eye turned to a simple light showing it could see. He felt that Rei was in control of the beast, and he could almost feel its own will waver and shrink back into an unreachable shell deep within the Eva itself.
"Don't worry Shinji." Ritsuko said over the intercomm into the room. "We had a bit of a fluctuation, but everythings fine now. We're preparing to begin some more tests. I think you're almost done in there now." she said.
Suddenly a dull sensation tickled Shinji's senses. He wondered what it could be, before concentrating on it harder. Suddenly a gasp escaped him as he felt its presence, its ki approaching the city above. It was larger then the others.
"No Dr. Ritsuko, there won't be any more tests." he said out loud.
"What?" Ritsuko asked.
"Interupt the test. All hands to first class alert." Gendo ordered just after Ritsuko's question.
"We can't use unit 00. It's not battle ready." Ritsuko said, a feeling of loosing control rushing through her body.
"What about unit 01?" Misato asked.
"It isn't ready yet. It's totally unusable at this moment." Ritsuko said, the feeling only intensifing from that.
"Third Child. You are ordered to engage the enemy." Gendo ordered.
"What did you think I was going to do!" Shinji shouted before flying straight for the nearest launch pad, straight towards it, going through solid steel walls as he went.
Shinji arived beneith the lift about the same time Misato arrived on the bridge. She was a little paniced and breathing hard, but none of this stopped her from seeing the look of frustration on Shinji's face. He was still floating under the shut lift. He was even going through the motion of tapping his foot, despite the fact that there was only air under him.
"Someone should open these doors before I have to break through them again!" Shinji declaired.
"What's got him so upset?" Misato asked to herself, before Gendo arrived on the bridge. She rolled her eyes at the obvious answer. Shinji didn't like the commander ordering him to engage the angels, as if he wouldn't do it without a direct order. That was teenage rebeliousness for ya! "Open the lift and let him through." Misato ordered.
Shinji began to fly up the lift so fast that the panels of thick steel barely had time to move out of the way.
"Mam, there's a high energy reaction detected in the target!" Shigeru shouted.
"What!" Misato shouted back.
Shinji's senses went off the map in a bundle of massive confusion as he felt the angel's ki rise and build incredibly fast. He didn't have time to think, move, or react in the slightest as he emerged out of the lift and was met with a beam that engulfed his entire body. It burned him so badly, he couldn't think at all as he was shot several miles away and slammed into the ground. Still the beam pressed on as it pushed him deep into the ground in a long path of ripped up and melted streets and buildings. Anything that got in the way had a perfect line cut into it, before it crumpled from the power of the beam's destruction. Shinji was still pushed further until it stopped, having sent him over twenty-eight miles.
Shinji lay at the end of the still melting and bubbling path of destroyed pavement. The cement was gooey and melted around him, bubbles of steam popping up everywhere. Shinji was unconscious, naked, his entire body in one giant burn, and he began to sink into the melted cement. Just as his face was going to go under, the cement stopped pulling him under, and it hardered all around his body, leaving only his face sticking out of the ground.
-NERV command center-
"Recover him! Hurry!" Misato ordered, she could feel the panic beginning to come over her.
"Dispatching medical teams now!" Makoto said.
"Target is now silent." Shigeru said as he monitored the angel.
"Dispatch a decoy to keep it from Shinji!" Misato said, her voice still in a panic.
"Decoy dispatched." Maya stated.
They watched as a high speed train sped as fast as it could on a track that ran parallel to the the angel, twenty miles away from it. As it sped on, seemingly unnoticed by the angel, a small explosion erupted off of its top. A huge full sized ballon of Evagnelion unit 01 suddenly inflated in five seconds flat, floating above the train as it sped. The next second the angel had fired on it, wiping the ballon and the train alike out of existence. The entire bridge breathed a gasp, thankfull that the decoys are unmaned.
"Medical teams have reached the Third Child. They are reporting difficulties in recovering him." Makoto said.
"What!" Misato exclaimed, her body still in a state of panic.
"He's been almost entirely encased in cement. They can't get him out without using jackhammers." Makoto stated, his voice sounding almost like he couldn't believe it.
"Get him out of there now!" Misato ordered.
-Shinji's perspective-
It hurt. It hurt a lot! Shinji was in a world of pain and hurt. He had never felt a pain this intense and bad. He was having trouble breathing, and something hard was constantly rubbing against his burned body all over, all over except for his face. It was pressing in on him. It was squeezing him tightly. It was squeezing the very life out of him. He had to get out... He had to get out now!
Shinji strained hard to shout out, and it scared the medical teams so much that they backed away quickly. It was a good thing that they had, because the next second, Shinji's ki erupted around him. He called up an aura of power around him and let his ki flow rapidly out of him, tearing the cement to shattered pieces all around him. The pieces didn't fly out like shrapenel from a grenade, but rather floated up around Shinji as he floated a few feet off of the ground. Suddenly Shinji's ki died away, and the pieces of cement, and his body, fell to the hard ground beneath.
"Uh... yeah." one of the medical team members said into a cell phone. "We've got him."
-NERV command center-
"High energy pattern detected!" Maya shouted.
"Is it the angel!" Misato shouted.
"No, it's Shinji!" Makoto said. "Medical teams are reporting that he's broken free of the cement on his own. He's now unconscious again. They're bringing him in. Estimated arrival time, three minutes."
"I'm going to check on him. Take over for me..." Misato said as she literally ran from the room.
-NERV infirmary room 404-
Shinji lay in his bed, sleeping in what seemed to be a very uncomfortable sleep. His body was still burned, and the medical staff had done all they could for him. They couldn't do any more for him, even to stick an i.v. in him to keep him hydrated. It was still impossible for them to stick a needle in him because his body would protect itself from it. Now it was all up to him to heal from the injuries.
He lay there in his hospital room, but he was not alone in the room. Misato leaned against the wall, just watching him sleep there. It hurt her deeply to not be able to do anything to help him. Still, there was hope in her eyes. Ritsuko had already told her of Shinji's increased healing, and how he said that he would heal faster the worse the injury was. Well, his injuries were rather severe.
Still the hope remained in her eyes, slowly seeping through her entire body. She watched over him, and was almost awed to see the burns begin to heal. They were still there yes, but they weren't as bad as they had been when he was brought in. Ritsuko had already confirmed this, saying that he should be completely healed in a matter of hours at his current rate of healing. That was good, because they would need him. She sighed slowly as she stood from the wall and left the room, being needed in the command center.
-NERV command center-
"Enemy's particle accelerater firing." Shigeru said.
They watched the screen to see the angel fire on another drone.
"Drone vapourized." he said in a joyless voice.
"Dispatching the twelveth type automatic mortar cannon." Makoto said.
They watched the screen again. A train pulled out with a large mortar cannon on its back. It turned and fired at the angel. It hit the AT-field and bounced away into the air. The AT-field shimmered for a few seconds, before the angel fired on the train.
"Twelveth type automatic mortar cannon annihilated." Makoto said in dissapointment.
An idea popped into Misato's head, but she kept her tongue silent. Normally she would have exclaimed that she had an idea, but after watching Shinji get so viciously attacked, she wasn't as enthuisastic as usual. She decided to wait and let the techs tell her more information.
"According to the date we've collected so far, it is presumed that the enemy automatically attacks objects within a certain range." one tech said.
"The particle accelerator cannon will always target and fire at any object invading this area." Shigeru said.
"Closing for combat in an Eva is too risky" Maya said.
"AT-field status?" Misato asked.
"Active. A strong enough field is present to make it visible by its phaseshift space." Shigeru said.
"Inductive cannon bombing or similar attacks would only be an exercise in futility." Makoto said with a sigh.
"Both offense and defense are very slick... The thing's a flying fortress. And the enemy shield?" Misato asked.
"The target is just above us, penetrating the Tokyo-3 City Zero Area. A gigantic Shield with a diameter of seventeen point five meters is heading for NERV head office in the geofront." Shigeru said.
"The enemy is going to attack NERV headquarters directly..." Maya said in shock.
"Crap! What's its ETA?" Misato asked, getting more upset by the minute.
"Just past midnight, at 0:06:54, it will have breached all 22 levels of defensive armour and will penetrate NERV headquarters." Makoto said.
"Less then ten hours left..." Misato said.
"Enemy Shield has contacted the first defensive armour!" Shigeru exclaimed.
"Is unit 01 usable?" Misato asked.
"No. It won't be usable for at least another week." Ritsuko said.
"Understood. What about unit 00?" Misato asked.
"No problems with restarting it, though a detectable error in the feedback remains." Maya said.
"So, an actual battle is..." Ritsuko started.
"Impossible. How's Shinji?" Misato asked, a small amount of urgency detectable in her voice.
"He should be healed in three hours twenty minutes." Ritsuko said.
"Nine hours, fifty-five minutes until the enemy's arrival." Makoto said glumly.
"This is a bad situation to say the least." Misato said, mostly to herself.
"Want to show a flag of truce?" asked Makoto, meaning it as a slight joke.
"Before that, I've got one itty-bitty thing left to try..." Misato said.
-Commander Ikari's office-
"Long-distance direct firing from outside the target's range?" Fuyutuski asked, almost in disbeliefe.
"Yes. A single point attack with a high energy convergence unit, without first neutralizing the target's AT-field. There's no other way." Misato said with confidence.
"And what do the Magi say?" Fuyutuski asked.
"Two of the Magi supercomputers say it can work, while the third gives a conditional affirmative." Misato said.
"The probability of success is eight point seven percent." Fuyutuski said, a grim look to his face.
"That's the highest value we have out of any option." Misato said, her own look was not too optomistic either.
"Then that is what we will have to use. Proceed, Captian Katsuragi." Gendo said.
"Yes sir." Misato said before leaving.
-NERV infirmary room 404, three hours later-
Shinji moaned as he stirred awake. The light was shining in his eyes. He opened them to see something that he hadn't been expecting to see. Rei sat in the chair next to his bed, just looking at him with her red, emotionless eyes. He was quite confused to find her there.
"Rei?" he asked.
"I am here to infrom you of the schedule of Operation Yashima. It will begin at 0:00 Am, midnight. Pilot Ayanami will scramble at the cage at 17:30 today. At 18:00 PM, she will ready unit 00. At 18:05 PM, she will launch accompanied by Pilot Ikari. At 18:30 PM, they will arrive at the Emergency Base on Mt. Futagoyama. They will then wait for further instructions." Rei said, all in her perfectly monotone voice.
She then tossed a plastic wrapped plug suite onto Shinji's now completely healed chest.
"Here is something to wear." she said.
"Ah!" Shinji exclaimed as he realized that he wasn't wearing a hospital gown. He made a mental note to speak sternly with Ritsuko about that as he covered his exposed chest with the blanket, before beginning to unwrap the package that held the plug suite.
"Don't come with that sleepy appearance." Rei said.
"Oh, sorry. I'll be sure to take a shower before I come." Shinji said, before realizing that he still smelt of burnt flesh. He crumpled up his nose at the horrible smell.
"There is a meal there." Rei said as she looked towards a tray of hospital food on the other side of Shinji's bed.
"Thanks." Shinji said.
"You are welcome. I must leave, Captain Katsuragi and Dr. Akagi are waiting for us." Rei said.
She left the room. As soon as she had turned her back, Shinji had changed into the plug suit with lightning speed. It was a good thing that he had, because Misato entered almost the instant Rei left. She looked at Shinji standing there with confused eyes. On one hand, Shinji could see the incredible relief in her eyes, but he could also see the look of worry, and something else he couldn't identify.
Almost before Shinji could react, Misato had snatched him up in a tight hug. He couldn't feel any unfomfortability from the tightness on him, but he could feel his face tightly smushed between Misato's... bust line. His blush was very intense as he wondered where he was getting this kind of luck with the women around him.
"Misato... suffocating me." he pleaded, as he couldn't very well breath through... her.
"Sorry." she said as she released him.
A blush was on her cheeks too, so she stepped back and took a seat in the chair Rei had been sitting in. Shinji sat pulled the tray around the bed before sitting on the bed and beginning to eat. He ate the food with incredible speeds, finding himself quite drained of energy after what he had been through. Before they could even begin a conversation, he had eaten all the food on the tray, and was still hungry.
"Want to grab a bite to eat?" he asked Misato.
Misato hesitated for a moment, before smiling and nodding.
"Sure." she said, her smile growing some. "As long as you agree not to drug me." she said, a segestive tone to her voice, finding herself unable to resist using it. She began to blush more as she remembered how from Shinji's point of view, he was just having a meal with her, and the next thing he knows, he wakes up in a bed without any clothes on. The thought of ending up in a reversed situation with him made her blush grow even more intense.
"Hey, you're the one that drugged me!" Shinji exclaimed, not noticing how her blush only grew larger from that statement.
-NERV food lounge-
The two sat at a table, eating the food. Misato wasn't really eating with any effort, while Shinji was so hungry that he had already eaten two servings more. Despite this, they mostly ate in silence for the moment. Shinji was scarfing the food down, while Misato looked like she had something on her mind. Finally she decided to speak up.
"Why do you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?" Shinji asked.
"Continue to fight without second thoughts, even with what you've been through. You almost died today, and you haven't given a second thought to going back out there and fighting again. Why do you do it?" she asked again.
"Who else would? Rei? Her Eva isn't even in top working condition, and she can't beat this angel alone. The Second Child isn't even here yet, and there's no one else to pilot, or any more Eva's to pilot yet. I have the power to make a difference, and the responsability to use it. If I don't it will be no one's fault but mine when every human on the planet dies." Shinji said. "It's the right thing to do, and I've been treated well since I came here, made friends, and had some good fun times, so why should I complain If I get hurt a little?" Shinji asked, his smile still present.
"Hurt a little! Shinji, you almost died! You're entire body was covered in one giagantic burn! Numerious bones were broken and shattered, and you had a concussion! I'd hardly call that being hurt a little!" Misato exclaimed.
"Yes, you wouldn't. But! Do you see any injuries now?" Shinji demanded as he stood up and waved over his body. "No! If anyone else had sustaned those kind of injuries, they would probably be dead, but I'm already healed. I had three hours of intense pain, but already its fading from my memories, so I can only recall a little of it. Why should I complain about that when anyone else would have died instantly!" he demanded, before going back to eating.
Misato shut her mouth, and sat silently for a moment. She was confused, and worried about Shinji. She didn't want to see him get hurt again, or worse. She didn't know why, but she felt an extreme pain in her chest with that feeling, more then she had ever expected to feel about anyone.
"I'm sorry Misato. I shouldn't have shouted. It's just that, I have the power to make a difference. A lot of people don't get that experience any more then once in their life, and I've had it twice already. I just, I have to continue making the difference. If I don't, then I don't deserve to have the power." Shinji said before going silent again.
"It's okay Shinji, I understand." Misato said before smiling, trying to get over the pain in her heart. "I just don't want to see you get hurt." she said
"Thank you Misato." Shinji said with a wide smile. "I'll try not to get hurt, okay?" he asked.
Misato nodded, before digging into her own food, her enthuisasim returned. Shinji too dug back into his food, trying to regain the energy he had spent. The two sat there eating and making light conversation until it was nearly time to go. With that, they stood and headed off to begin preparing for the operation.
-Tokyo-3 school rooftop-
"This is boring, let's go home." Touji said as he and Kensuke waiting on the roof along with several other kids.
"I checked my dad's data, the timing is precise. I can't be wrong." Kensuke assured him.
"But they haven't arrived yet..." he started to say, but was interupted.
"Look at that!" one of the boys shouted.
The side of a nearby mountain slid downwards to reveal a giant entrance to NERV. Evangelion unit 00 came walking out and towards the Emergency Base. It took a few moments, but soon everyone saw Shinji sitting calmly on the side of the Eva's shoulder wing.
"Yeah! Go Eva's!" one of the boys shouted.
"Get the angel!" Touji shouted.
"Go for it!" Kensuke shouted.
The students continued to shout and cheer for Shinji and Rei. Shinji looked over and gave them the peace sign, before giving several more signals for them to go to a shelter. They sighed in dissapointment, but packed up and left for the nearest shelter.
-NERV Emergency Base-
"Enemy Shield has broken through the seventeenth defensive armour. Three hours, fifty-five minutes until its arrival at the head office." came the annoucement over a loud speaker at the base.
More techno bable began from several techs who were working with the SSDF's prototype positron rifle. Shinji ignored most of it as he tried to listen to Ritsuko.
"This wasn't meant for field battle yet, if I'm correct. Will it really work?" Shinji asked.
"There's no other way really. This is an emergency, and we have to use it." Ritsuko said.
"Will everything be okay?" Shinji asked.
"Theoretically, yes. However, I don't know if the accelerator itself and the cannon will withstand the blast. It's the first time firing with so much power." Ritsuko said, worry writen on her face.
"These are the arrangements for the operation. Rei..." Misato began.
"Yes mam." Rei responded.
"You will be the gunner. Shinji, you will have to defend her with the shield we have provided." Misato said, gesturing towards the giant shield.
"Yes mam." Shinji said as he nodded.
"Don't worry Shinji, they made special hand holds for you that won't break." Misato assured. She could see Shinji relax some with that.
"Thanks." he said with a smile. "What if Rei misses and the enemy shoots at us?" Shinji asked.
"Don't think like that. Rei must hit it on the first shot." Ritsuko said.
"We're in a tight pinch. Don't worry though Rei, I'll protect you." Shinji said, trying to reassure Rei.
-Emergency Base, ten minutes before the operation-
Rei sat on the platform that was raised up next to the plug for unit 00. Shinji floated beside her in the air just off of the platform. He didn't know why, but he seemed to feel the most comfortable while he was flying. At the moment, he wasn't thinking about that though. He was wondering something.
"Rei?" he asked.
"Yes." she answered.
"Why are you doing this?" Shinji asked.
"Because it's my link." she said.
"You're link?" Shinji asked in confusion.
"Yes, my link." she said again.
"Link to my father?" Shinji asked, a little down about that.
"To all people." she said.
"You're a strong person Rei, don't ever think otherwise." Shinji assured her.
"I have nothing else." she said, almost as if to herself.
"Yes you do. You have me." Shinji said.
That made Rei's eyes widen a bit, but she kept herself calm. She would have to think about that more. She stood and turned her head to Shinji a bit.
"It's time. Good bye..." she said before stepping half-way into her plug. Shinji spoke, and she paused to listen for a second.
"Don't worry Rei. I'll protect you." Shinji said, before heading to pick up the shield.
Rei still paused in the hatchway. She hesitated, before speaking out loud, perhaps to the wind.
"Thank you." she said in a quite tone before entering the plug and shutting the hatch.
-Operation Yashima beginning-
"It is now midnight!" came the annoucement over the loud speakers of the base.
"Begin the operation." Shigeru ordered the various techs.
"Rei, you are using energy from all over Japan. Hang in there, okay?" Misato attemtped to encourage.
"Yes mam." Rei said in her monotone voice.
The techno bable began again as Shinji floated next to Unit 00. Unit 00 layed on the ground holding the rifle pointed at the angel. It hadn't reacted to their position yet, but Shinji was ready to jump in the way should it fire on them. Shinji looked a little silly, and a little awe inspiring at the same time, being a short fourteen year old boy holding up a giant Eva-sized shield that had been taken off the bottom of a space shuttle.
The count down began, starting from ten and going down. Suddenly Shinji gasped. The angel was building up ki again. A second later the techs detected this, but it was too late. Rei fired the rifle at the same time the angel fired at them. Shinji was about to jump in the way when the beams passed within feet of each other, throwing each other off their course.
Shinji sighed in relief as the angel's beam passed them and exploded somewhere in the mountains. However, his sigh was caught in his throat as he felt the angel building its ki again as their blast passed by it harmlessly to explode somewhere else too.
Right then the enemy shield penetrated into the geofront.
"Hurry for the second shot!" Misato shouted.
The angel fired again at Rei as the rifle was cooling and they were exchagning fuses. The light of the beam lit up Unit 00's body, getting ready to explode onto it. Suddenly the beam was intercepted by Shinji holding the shield up. The blast washed over the shield as the beam continued to push against it and Shinji, but he held it in place. He had to hold it long enough for Rei to fire again.
Misato cried out as she saw Shinji and the shield get hit, and the beam continue to push against it. She turned to one of the techs in panic.
"How much longer!" she shouted.
Fifteen seconds!" the tech reported.
"The shield won't last that long!" Ritsuko exclaimed.
"Hurry!" Misato shouted.
"Ten more seconds!" the tech said again.
The shield was melting away in Shinji's hands. It would only last a few seconds more, and then he would be struck. But more then that, unit 00 would be struck from the blast that would wash over him. It would destroy the rifle, ruining their chance to attack. It might even destroy unit 00, and possibly kill him too. He had to do something. He had to stop it.
Shinji let out a shout of power and rage. His aura came to life again, this time it was blood red in his anger. He let go of the shield and pushed out with his power, causing a huge shock wave to ripple out and tear up the ground beneath him and behind him. The shield was caught between the blast and Shinji's ever growing power, quickly being crushed and melting away from the stress and heat.
The blast struck Shinji's aura directly now, and was held back. Shinji continued to shout as his vision blurred and went completely red as his aura turned even darker red. His power continued to flow outwards and build, causing more damage to everything around it. Shinji shouted even louder as he held his hands in front of him and began to power up a blast. At first it was small, the size of a marble. Suddenly though, it built up to well over twenty times as large as he was, and let let the blood red beam fire off towards the angel.
The blast cut right through the angel's particle beam and struck the angel right through its core. It cut through it and came out the other side. Shinji's mind suddenly worked fast, and he took further control over the beam as he caused it to suddenly turn upwards and fly high into the sky, hurtling out into outer space.
Everyone was awe struck, until they realized that they had to power down the rifle or it would explode. Everyone worked quickly to power it down and shut it off. When it was done, they all relaxed as it dawned on everyone that Shinji had killed another angel. He had more power then the angel, and it caused everyone to pause as everyone realized it on their own.
Shinji still floated in his spot. His blood red aura shifted to his usual steam aura as he calmed down. Soon he relaxed enough to let himself drop to the ground lightly next to unit 00. Unit 00 ejected its entry plug and the hatch opened. Rei stepped out and jumped down to the ground, landing gracefully.
Shinji smiled at her, but she looked puzzled.
"Don't say good bye before going on an operation. It's much too sad." Shinji said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do in this situation. I owe you my life..." Rei said quietly.
"Just try smiling Rei." Shinji said with a smile of his own.
Rei looked more puzzled for a moment, before looking up at him. She smiled a beautiful smile that nearly knocked Shinji out of his socks. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen her smile, even more so then the one she had given his father. She smiled at him, even as he lost consciousness from using up so much of his energy.
To Be Continued...!
Authors Notes: Remember, if you can tell me what the hospital room 404 joke is about, or even come close, I'll send you a clip of a future chapter! So send those reviews and e-mails!
