CHaPTeR 7 Is there a Tzara in the house?
Months passed by quickly as SEELE, Oakenfold, and company remained dormant. The EVAs were sitting in the storage containment units happily, no one was really interested in working at NERV while the months passed by, so a minimal crew was put on alert and the pilots got a well deserved break. Soon enough, May approached along with Tristan's birthday! Asuka's birthday was three days after Tristan's, but no one cared about that.
"Oh me oh MY!" Asuka fretted as she thought to herself as to what Tristan wanted for his birthday, never mind her own 22nd birthday which was absolutely nothing in comparison, I mean, Tristan was turning twenty two! You only turn twenty two once a lifetime. "What do I get for Tristan? What do I get?" Asuka thumbed through pages upon pages of electronic music equipment, auto parts, clothing articles, robotic arm parts, antiques, and other various bric-a-brac that may have some sort of meaning to the great Tristan Delecour.
Just when her perfect item seemed to be in the reach (A suitably beautiful MiniMoog, circa mid 1970's), her small cellular telephone rang with a set of chimes. "H-Hello?" Asuka stumbled out as her jaw dropped at the price, which was over 6000 yens, which was almost three whole months salary.
"Hey Asuka!" the voice of everyone's favorite blue haired EVA pilot beamed "You're not going to guess what I got for Tristan for his birthday until the day! It's the best gift you can ever get for Tristan and you'll be oh so jealous when I give it to him."
"What did you get him?" Asuka demanded, her finger hovering over the button to purchase the retro-instrument.
"Didn't you understand what I just said? It's a secret!" Rei giggled. "A really big secret to everyone!
Asuka could almost see the shit-eating smile that Rei had, content with the fact she had trumped Asuka in gift buying. But Asuka wasn't going to let that happen. She slammed her finger down and the MiniMoog was as good as hers. "Yeah right. Look, I've got to go and make sure that Tristan is going to not know about the super surprise party we're going to have for him."
"Fine, whatever. You're going to be just so jealous!'
---
Tristan Delecour sat in the sun with his eyes closed gently, the fresh smell of his after shave still pleasantly lingering from the cut he did that morning. "It's really too bad that I haven't had any chances to show off how cool I am lately," he remarked to no one in particular. The sun was shining, and Tristan, Misato, and Kaworu were out in the sun.
"You would think that, but I think you're more than showing enough!" Kaworu replied from the sun umbrella, sipping a cool margarita. "I never knew you could possibly have completed three world tours in just two months!"
Tristan shrugged and asked Misato where the phone was so he could call up Asuka and Rei. "Where are those two anyways? I hope they're not worried to death over my birthday!"
"Don't be silly," Misato chuckled, her own gift for Tristan hidden away at NERV. "I'm sure they've already had it planned out for months."
"But still, Rei's missing out on all the sun!"
---
Meanwhile, at NERV...
"Sir, profits are down this quarter, due to a total lack of monster fighting/DJ Battles the last few months," Fuyutsuki reported to Gendo, who was busily playing solitaire on the Magi system.
"So? We'll get into some, someday," Gendo replied, clicking the button for deal. "I'm busy right now! Go away!"
"Sir, if we don't have any money, they'll cut the power out, and we'll be doomed!" Fuyutsuki said in a bit more urgent tone. "What ever will we do then?"
"I don't know Fuyutsuki. Make a clip show?" he sat with his chin on his left palm, tapping his fingers against his beard.
"I suppose that could happen..." Fuyutsuki realized that he was getting nowhere with Gendo, and that maybe he should just reorganize the budget himself in his spare time.
"Aww, crap. Look at what you made me do, Fuyutsuki. I messed up because of your dumb mailbox head. Begone!" Gendo commanded Fuyutsuki out of the office, not even lifting his eyes from the computer terminal. "Come up here when you know what to do about Tristan's surprise party."
---
Days past, and May 6th was fast approaching. On the dawn of that very day that Tristan Delecour was born, the great one awoke to find the house empty.
"Misato? Asuka? Shinji?" Tristan called out as he rubbed his eyes. It was eight o'clock by the kit-kat clock on the wall, but there was still plenty of time left for him to get to classes. "Where is everyone?"
Tristan walked slowly through the sliding door, clad only in grey boxers that showed off his thin, yet muscular physique. As he went through the door, he saw PenPen wobble past with a beer in hand. This was a normal sight in the house, so he disregarded it as a desperate attempt of comic relief. As he went through the house more, looking through the rooms, he saw that there was clearly no one home. Shinji's room was flawless as usual, Asuka's room wasn't too bad, and Misato's room was knee-deep in dirty clothing. "Jesus christ...." Tristan whispered as he slid Misato's door shut. She did manage to keep the rest of the house clean, but her personal space was just abominable.
As Tristan headed into the kitchen, he saw a note plastered to the table: "DEAR TRISTAN: WE ARE ALL OUT WALKING. WE WILL BE BACK! -LOVE MISATO, ASUKA, SHINJI."
Tristan smiled at the note and grabbed a cup of coffee, turning the flat-screen television on to one of the many movie channels. There was Titantic on, right on the scene where Leonardo DeCaprio is sketching a topless Kate Hudson. "Meh, I've drawn better," Tristan snorted as he stirred the black liquid on the blue counter top. "I mean come on. She's so imperfect." He changed the channels a few times, only to find nothing that could satisfy his interest in film.
Tristan sighed as he gulped down the coffee, carefully walking over to the bathroom for a shower. "I really wonder where they are."
---
"Is everyone ready?" Misato yelled on the bullhorn, her cellphone in her hand and a pink party hat strapped around her head."
"HAI!" The entire NERV complex thundered in response.
"Launch Unit 01 and get it good and crazy!" Misato commanded, watching Unit 01 fly through the launch sequence, dummy plug active.
"Unit 01 launched!" One of the bridge bunnies cried out, his blue party hat perfectly centered.
"Girls, are you ready?" Misato turned to Asuka and Rei who were busy fixing the second real cake after they couldn't solve the issue of who was going to pop out of the fake cake naked. Asuka wouldn't back down and neither would Rei, and they couldn't find a cake that was big enough to fit them both in, yet small enough so they wouldn't start doing crude, fan-boy fantasy things to each other.
"HAAAAI!" Rei and Asuka chorused in a sing song voice.
"Kaworu, are the gifts in order?"
"Haaaai!" Kaworu sang, as he adjusted his own and Shinji's party hat to a suitably jaunty angle.
"Positions everyone, and make some noise, I'm going to call Tristan now!"
---
Tristan stepped out of the shower, fully refreshed, and wrapped a towel around his mighty waist after quickly drying off his hair. He hummed to himself as he brushed his teeth, thinking about his future rally championships in his Mitsubishi's. As he pulled on a pair of pants, his cellphone rang loudly and he stumbled over as he pulled up the UFO BRAND pants. "Moshi Moshi!?" he asked to the phone.
"Tristan! We need you now! Unit 01's gone crazy in a test run and we need you to stop it! It's breaking through the core and Unit 00 and Unit 02 are damaged beyond repair! I repeat we need you- No!" Tristan heard over the screaming of what seemed to be bridge bunnies getting crushed by Unit 01's massive feet. This call was more than enough to get Tristan to NERV, but only after he properly put on a pair of white Champion socks, white and blue Circa shoes, and a new grey element t-shirt.
"Finally some action!" Tristan cheered and ran out the door to his pearl white 1998 RX-7. As the engine screamed to life, Tristan jammed the gear into reverse, then first gear, making a super cool huge burnout out of the Advan Neova tires.
---
"He's coming! He's coming! Everyone get to their places!" Misato shouted as she shooed everyone on the bridge to the main hall, which had all of its lights turned out.
---
Tristan slid through the halls of NERV in the RX7 at speeds approaching 160 kilometers per hour, drifting every hairpin perfectly. "I've got to save NERV!" Tristan cried out as he stopped the car in the dead blackness of what he didn't recognize. Rather than turning on the lights, he stopped, not wanting his perfect RX7 to get any damage from a rampaging EVA. He opened the door and exited after removing the harness, not sure what to expect.
But the moment the door slam echoed through the hall, the lights turned on and a huge rumbling "SURPRISE!" thundered through the hall from every single Nerv employee, including a few non-employees as well.
"Wow!" Tristan said as he walked over to the magnificent crowd that was gathered together in his honor. "You're all here to see me?"
Everyone nodded with their party hats in place, which even Gendo had on. Tristan walked over to Asuka and Rei who were nervously fidgeting in matching skirts, but different shirts, white and black, respectively. "Did you guys all organize this?"
"Hai!" The two girls sang. "And if you look to your right, you'll see Nerv's gift to you!" Rei smiled and pointed down the hall.
Flourecent lights flickered down the hall and a giant EVA sized rifle showed up.
"Oh wow... Is that what I think it is?" Tristan gasped at the size of the rifle and the attaching clips.
"Yup, it's a particle-based, sub-atomic ultra-progressive Mega rifle!" Ristuko told Tristan. "Basically it fires off rapid energy pulsing progressive knife blades into the angel to penetrate their AT fields! It's a present from NERV to you and your EVA for all your hard work!"
"Well thank you so very much!" Tristan smiled and turned around to Asuka and Rei who had already pushed their gifts in front of Tristan.
"Open mine first!" Asuka demanded, picking up the large, heavy box. "I spent oh so much time and care choosing it!"
Tristan pulled out his keys from his army green pants and carefully cut the paper open to the box, then cut the cardboard to see the MiniMoog inside. "Oh wow, a MiniMoog! I've always wanted one of these! This is so elkhorn!!" He said as he pecked Asuka on the cheek, picking the MiniMoog out of the box and onto the floor.
"Just wait until you see my present!" Rei smiled, her teeth glistening from the overhead lights. "Follow me, that is, if you want it."
Tristan looked at the pile of presents that were still were there, and then at Rei. "I'm sorry Rei, can't you bring it out for everyone to see?"
"Oh fine. Come on out guys!" Rei called out to the command center. A few moments passed, and three figures emerged with bows on their heads.
"Oh my..." Tristan said as his mouth laid wide open, as did Gendo's, Ritsuko's, and Misato's. The three figures were indeed, Karl Hyde, Rick Smith, and Darren Emerson, of the British electronic group Underworld. Darren himself had a massive red bow on his head, while the other two had much smaller blue bows. "H-h-h-how did you know, how did you find, how did you get, how did you..." Tristan stuttered out as Rei gleefully skipped over to Tristan's side, opposite a very irate looking Asuka.
"Well, you know..." She said, looking down and blushing. "It took me a long time to get them back together again, especially after Darren wouldn't go back into the group..."
"I'll say, their album after Everything Everything sucked big donkey balls! One hundred days off my ass!" Tristan laughed.
"Corr blimey!" Karl Hyde said, embarrassed with his previous efforts. "After that argy-bargy with Darren... We bloody couldn't deal with that berk any more!"
"Oy! That's bollocks!" Darren Emerson said in his defense. "You were one daft cunt back then! Always wanting to have those trousers around your bloody blotto bum! Always drinkin' that plonk! All mouth and no trousers, ye were!"
"Mates, we're in the presence of Tristan Delecooo-ah here, let's not have another argy-bargy or there will be no ice-lollis at the end of the performance! I'm just over the moon that I'm with Tristan!" Rick Smith said, as he went over to the large equipment setup of synthesizers, mixers, and drum machines.
"Corr!" Karl Hyde said. "Let's take it from the top lads!"
Tristan was in awe with his favorite band actually back together as they were on their first holy trinity albums, but after 100 Days Off, Tristan could not like their works, due to the drastic change and rather mellowing out of the dance-floor filling sounds that had partially inspired Tristan to take his super-star DJ status.
"Wow Rei, I really must admit defeat in my gift to Tristan," Asuka admitted. "How did you get these guys back together?"
"It's a secret!" Rei said with a smile and a wink. "Let's just say they were more than willing when I mentioned the guest of honor!"
Underworld began playing, starting with great songs like Cowgirl, Born Slippy (Nuxx), Bruce Lee (Although Karl changed the lyrics from Bruce Lee to Tristan Delecour because he was so cool), and many, many more songs followed. Everyone at NERV loved it and started dancing when a big sign that said "TRISTAN DELECOUR AND UNDERWORLD RULE" behind Underworld showed up that Gendo had planned, and everyone started screaming when Tristan got up on stage with Underworld and sang with Karl on Pearl's Girl.
"This is the best party ever!" Misato said as she drank down a beer. "I wish Tristan's birthday was every day!"
"Me too!" Ritsuko cheered on as Tristan did what he does best.
---
The night passed, and so did many days as things went on, Asuka's birthday not getting quite the same treatment as Tristan, but she did get a white Lancer EVO 6 RS trim from Tristan, with a small amount of modifications like a chrome-alloy roll cage, JIC FLT-A2 coilovers, gunmetal powder coated Ray's Engineering Gram Lights 57F 18 inch rims with 18/30/245 Advan Neova tires, Apexi N1 exhaust, and an HKS blow-off valve, nowhere near as fast as Tristan's RX-7 or Eclipse, but quick, none the less, and a few other items from America, articles of clothing, and a new Tag-Heur watch from Rei.
June hit without incident, and Tristan started to wonder about the status of SEELE, and if he had truly defeated Oakenfold once and for all, despite what his clone said. He sat in his chair, listening to the computer fans whirr under his desk, when a gentle knock rapped on the front door. "I'll get it!" Tristan yelled as ran to the door, opening it.
"Hello, is Shinji there?" Two japanese men of around Tristan's age asked. "We're some old friends..."
"Who are you?" Tristan asked suspiciously.
"We're Toji and Kensuke. You might remember me as guy who was the pilot of Unit 03, that got smooshed,' The taller of the two males said.
"TOJI!" Shinji's voice shrieked as he ran to the door, running past Tristan, into Toji's outstretched arms. "Where have you been? I thought you died!? And lost your leg and arm?"
"Naw, I just sort of stopped breathing for a while," Toji smirked, embarrassed at Shinji's hugging. "And my leg got better thanks to modern surgery and growth formulas!"
"And Kensuke, I thought you joined the JSDF?!"
"Oh, well, I did, but they discharged me after a year, because I was making a video of JSDF Gone Wild, and I met my true love in life, a girl named Tomoyo. She's a little young for me, but lemme tell you how she.."
"Okay, that's enough," Tristan made a force grin and let the two in the house. "I'll tell Misato that you're here."
---
Deep with SEELE, problems were occurring. Tristan Delecour was too busy destroying all their giant monsters before they could even plow through any of Tokyo 3, never mind attack the core for Adam/Lilith.
"Slaves!" Oakenfold screamed while he pounded his fist angrily on the table. "I need new monsters that can defeat Delecour!"
"But sir!" Paul Van Dyk dared to respond in front of Oakenfold's tirade. "We have completely and totally run out of ideas for what we can make!"
Sasha looked up from his monitor in the back of the room, after watching a film. "How about Gamera?"
"Gamera?" Oakenfold's voice changed to one that was less angry than usual.
"Yeah, Gamera,"
"But Gamera is a friend to all the Children!" Tiesto said, "We couldn't possibly put him against the EVA's!"
"Tiesto, he's a friend to the CHILDREN, not the EVA's!" Oakenfold corrected the overrated DJ.
"You mean the DARK LORD'S song?" Tiesto asked.
"... Perhaps... Set the monster maker to GAMERA!!"
"You can't! You're insane, Oakenfold! Insane!" John "00" Fleming screamed, running in the room.
"Just watch me! Gamera is good, Gamera is really neat! Gamera is full of turtle meat!"
---
Tristan sat un-amused in a chair while watching the large, flat-screen television. Here he was, twenty two years of age, in mid-June, and still, no sign that his Eclipse's engine and new carbon fiber wide-body was going to be complete any time soon by the people at JUN. He had considered sending it to TODA, but he just wasn't sure anymore. He just wanted his car complete again so he could go on more road racing adventures through Japan. A small piece of lint made its way on to the deep gray silk shirt Kaworu had given him for his birthday, and he flicked it off towards the direction of Asuka, who was flipping through the stations.
"Can't there be anything on?" He complained, filing his nails. "It's like they purposely made all the TV shows suck."
Asuka sighed in agreement, hurling the remote over to Rei, who was playing with Tristan's MiniMoog. "Heads up!" she called out after the narrow black object pegged Rei in the back of the head.
"Owwww... What did you do that for?" Rei frowned as she dropped her hand from the resonance knob on the low-pass filter to rub her head. "I was coming up with something nice for Tristan!"
"So?" Asuka said, attempting lighting up a cigarette. "Your songs have no chance of even comparing to Tristan's love ballads."
"Now, now, Asuka, let's not crush Rei's dreams and hopes, as everyone has a chance to be a winner in the game of Life!" Tristan said before Rei could respond to Asuka's attacks. "We all have to start somewhere."
Just as Asuka was starting to almost get the cigarette lit, the door was rapped on three times, again. "Who could this be?"
"Could you get that, Asuka?" Tristan requested as he sat down behind Rei, his fingers intertwined over her's while over the MiniMoog's keyboard. "I'm a bit... busy right now," he continued as Rei ran her hand up his shirt.
"Fine, fine, whatever," Asuka gritted her teeth together, and went to the door. "If Shinji wasn't at that special "boy's only" bar with Kaworu, Toji, and Kensuke, I wouldn't have to get the door, therefore, my status in Tristan's eyes would go up, and I wouldn't be mitigated to merely opening doors and I think I should probably open the door now."
Asuka reached the door, and peeked through the crack. "Who might be here?"
"Yes, I'm here to see Tristan? I'm an old friend and I have something of his-" the man said, but Asuka closed the door on him before he could carry on. The man seemed to be really cool, but she just couldn't trust
Tristan looked up from Rei, who was busily mouthing Tristan's neck. "Who was that Asuka?"
"Some guy who claimed to be an 'old friend' of you," Asuka replied, trying to ignore Rei's activities. "I figured it was another dumb fan."
"Was he cool?"
"Hmmm... I'd have to say he was cool."
"You sure now?" Tristan pushed Rei's head down as she attempted to connect with his lips. "I mean, I knew someone who was pretty cool back in the day. He was just really cool and he built his own robot suit and fixed my cars. Also, in no way am I trying to foreshadow my relationship that I had with him, nor could I possibly guess that he's out there with my pet cat and ready to help me with my car, but I think you should go out and check his name for me, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Asuka raised her eyebrows as the setting sun spilled its golden light into the living room as Misato entered, yawning and drinking a beer at the same time. "I mean it's possible that no one could ever know him!
"Impossible!" Tristan shouted, as he attempted to wriggle away from Rei's grasp. "I don't think that it ever could be him, as he died a long time ago!"
"Uh," Misato quietly interjected in the argument in between a sip. "Why not just open the door?"
"That's not the point!" Asuka steamed as she clenched her clear-coat covered fingernails into her palms. "Anyone could open the door and absolutely anyone who is, very cool, could walk in this house and I'll have you know that I am quite the coolest here!"
"Huh?" Rei said as she removed herself from Tristan's waist. "I'll get it." Rei hobbled over to the door and opened it, to reveal someone who was pretty cool, and carrying a black and white tuxedo cat.
"Miss Pibble-chan!" Tristan cooed out as he saw his pet cat, who bounced from the unknown man's arms over to Tristan, and rubbed against his bare ankles. "Oh how I've missed you so much!" he continued as he picked the cat up and rubbed its head behind the ears with his chin stubble, to which the cat responded with a healthy purr.
"Hi, Tristan! The man said as he walked in the door. He certainly held his coolness by being very cool and taking off his shoes before he entered the room. "I told you I would be here!"
"Is that you?" Tristan said as he held his cat in his arms.
"Yup, it sure is me! For those of you in the room, my name is Tyler Losce!" he said as he fixed a leather jacket.
"That's nice," Misato nodded, then turned and walked out the room.
"Yeah, I guess," Rei said as she resumed her progress on the MiniMoog. "I guess I'll see you around here or something."
"What she said," Asuka mumbled and picked up the remote, clicking the television back on, Pibble-Chan hopping on her lap after she sat down on the couch.
"Well Tyler, you're here, I see," Tristan began awkwardly. "Where are you living?"
"Well, that's the thing..." Tyler began cooly before he was interrupted by the door flying open.
"Tristy-kuuuun!" Kaworu called out as he ran through the door with his arms full of many different colored bags. "You have just absolutely must try these new shirts I got for you at the French Connection! You'll be so absolutely stunning the whole world will chant your name in collective orgasm! I... Oh... Who's this?" Kaworu said after he saw Tyler. "He seems... Cool."
"I'm Tyler Losce!" Tyler said as he gruffly shook the long, delicate hand of the pale boy. "And you are?"
"I am Kaworu Nagisa, over there is Shinji Ikari, who is an EVA pilot, and his friends, Toji and Kensuke," Kaworu pointed at the boys who were holding many boxes of various sizes in their arms. Kaworu nudged a bit closer to Tyler to tell him a bit of a secret. "Shinji's a little shy, but don't let that take away from how much he can yell!"
"... Right," Tyler remarked cooly, not sure what Kaworu meant. "Anyone got a place I can stay at?"
"We do!" Toji and Kensuke chimed in together in a melodious harmony. "We have an extra room just for you!"
"Oh, thanks," Tyler thanked the pair... cooly. "I'll bring my stuff over later."
"So, you want to work on a project, Tyler?" Tristan asked as Asuka turned the volume up. "It's for my Eclipse."
"You know it! Best buddies forever!"
In the dark corner of the entryway, Shinji sighed when he remembered how much simpler his life was before all these cars, people, and robots showed up. Life was a lot more comical, but he wasn't sure if he needed to be around anymore.
---
"What do you mean you report a large flying turtle heading this way?!" Gendo shouted, his fists banging the desks in anger. "Get the EVA team on it now!"
"Right away, sir!" Fuyutsuki responded, pushing the big green button to call the pilots. It was a good thing that Fuyutsuki knew where the green button was, otherwise the whole operation would fall apart and everyone in Japan would die, and Fuyutsuki certainly didn't want that to happen.
"Coor blimey!" Karl Hyde said as he saw Gamera on screen. "It's just like one of them Godzilla pictures!"
"Why aren't you gone? And what are you doing in my office?" Gendo said as he turned his attention to the UK based graphic designer and electronic music composer.
"The bird with the big knockers said we could stay here for a dirty weekend!"
"Yah! Yah!" Darren Emerson and Rick Smith shouted gleefully when they heard the mention of "dirty weekend."
"Although, we seem to be missing the 'dirty' part of it, as all the birds are always on full-stop... All we're doing is playin' draughts.." Rick Smith complained as he hunched up from the TR-808 drum machine.
"Ya wouldn't mind if I bummed a fag off ya, would ya'?" Karl said, going closer to Fuyutsuki.
"Oouuuuut!" Gendo steamed as he pointed at the door.
---
"We've got a call!" Asuka screamed over Tristan's stereo system that was currently playing a mix CD that he had made for saving the rain-forests in Brazil. "It seems that Gamera is coming!"
"Gamera?" Shinji asked, looking up from his english papers. "Gamera is great though!"
"That's what they said!"
"Well, where's everyone else?" Shinji asked again, shuffling his papers together. "I don't know where Kaworu, Rei, and Tristan are."
"I think they're out, but we'll have to see them there," Asuka rapidly spat out as she pulled on a pair of black leather boots at the doorway to accent her khaki cargo pants and light blue shirt.
Shinji began to fret for his fellow pilots. "But what if they don't get the call? I'll be so afraid if they don't and oh so worried!"
---
Needless to say, Tristan did get the phone call, right when he was trying to find a decent parking spot for himself and Rei for the new modern-art museum opening. Rei was the first to notice the phone call as Tristan drove in vain.
"Yes?" Rei mumbled as the phone buzzed the new information about the latest angel. "You don't say!"
"What's going on?!" Tristan asked as he brought the car to a sudden stop.
"Gamera is attacking Tokyo 3!" Rei said flatly. Her red eyes stared directly into Tristan's as she slowly tightened the harness. The moments passed between them as neither moved.
"Should we get moving?" Tristan broke the gaze as he turned to the RX-7's Sparco steering wheel, starting the car once more.
"I believe so..." Rei sighed and looked down at her exposed knees.
---
"Surface armor plating depleted!" Aoba reported to the ones up above. Ritsuko calmly smoked a cigarette while the carnage could be felt almost directly above. As she lifted a cup of coffee to her mouth, she wondered where Aoba and Hyuga were all this time.
"Where are the children?" Misato demanded, throwing a beer can on the floor in frustration. "They should be here by now!"
"I don't know, you're the one in charge of them," Ritsuko said as she watched Gamera attempting to plow through the hardened layers of armor that protected Terminal Dogma from the outside world.
"Secondary surface armor will last approximately another ten minutes with the current rate of attacks!" Hyuga shouted as he rapidly typed into his terminal various commands for the defense droids to continue making the repairs to the sheets of armor. Gendo himself had told NERV to continue to fund the the project to have the droids around for such tragic events.
Just as Misato was going to call up the pilots again, she noticed on the security cameras that four figures were running to the entry pods. "Oh thank heavens!" Misato sighed as she slid down into a red, plastic chair. "If it wasn't for those pilots, we'd be doomed!"
"Misato, I think you mean, 'If it wasn't for Tristan Delecour, we'd be dead!'," Ritsuko corrected the buxom captain. "Not that it would be a bad thing," she added quickly. Maya was busily making another pot of coffee for her super sempai-sama-chan, as Ritsuko was downing cups of coffee faster than she could type. Obviously, the effects of the stress were hitting her hard.
"Preparing Units 00 through 04 for launch!" Maya dutifully reported as she juggled the portable keyboard and empty coffeepot before dropping them both on the freshly arriving Kaworu. This could not bother the former enemy of humanity in the slightest, as he gracefully picked them up and handed them to the blushing figurine that was Maya Ibuki. "Thank you.." she managed to stammer out in front of the pale man who was in simpleton terms; beautiful.
"My pleasure, however you may want to not run so fast with all those items," he chided with a grin, then breaking out in a full solo vocal of the theme of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
---
Rei calmly sat in the darkened entry plug in her skin tight, white and blue plugsuit of so many years old. True, it was a fresh plug-suit, but the design of it hadn't changed over the past five years. The cockpit of the unstoppable killing machine had not changed, and neither did her opposite mixed feelings of safety and uncertain death. While she was no longer the wreck-loose killing machine that was willing to sacrifice her life for the greater glory of Gendo, she had certain feelings that she might for someone special enough like Tristan.
The last remaining bubbles of air in her lungs exited and she began breathing nothing but pure LCL. She had become one with Unit 00 once again, the synch graph showing that she was holding steady, and the red lights dimmed into blackness, before being replaced by the bright lights of the underbelly of the NERV operations. No matter how many times she was on the launch pads, she always felt a small amount of fear dwelling inside her. Would she live to see Tristan's smile? Would she live to feel the touch of Asuka's thin fingers down her spine? Would she be able to have Shinji pick out her outfits when she went out? So many questions spun through her head as the EVA was dropped upon the launch pad, and the power cord connected.
Gloved fingers gripped the butterfly handles, with a slight apprehension to the coldness that only the feeling of cold steel against warm flesh could give. A slight jolt shifted the link fluid in the pod, and Rei knew that the time was coming soon. The dice were thrown, and it was just a matter of what the faces said when they looked up towards the sky.
---
"What the hell kind of fight was that?" Gendo demanded, stamping his white gloved hand on his desk. "Tristan didn't even get to kill it! He had to let Asuka kill Gamera. I feel ripped off!"
"Well, sir..." Fuyutsuki began to speak before Gendo went on a nuclear rampage. "It's still dead."
"But by Asuka? She sucks!"
"Hey!" Gendo's communications terminal lit with the face Asuka Langley. "I do not!"
"Oh you're right, Asuka! When you come back, you can have a pay raise!" Gendo told her, which to which she lit up with glee.
"Are you serious?"
Gendo laughed. "PSYCHE!!"
And everyone in NERV laughed at how Gendo psyched Asuka out despite her saving the entire world by killing Gamera.
END CHAPTER 7
Months passed by quickly as SEELE, Oakenfold, and company remained dormant. The EVAs were sitting in the storage containment units happily, no one was really interested in working at NERV while the months passed by, so a minimal crew was put on alert and the pilots got a well deserved break. Soon enough, May approached along with Tristan's birthday! Asuka's birthday was three days after Tristan's, but no one cared about that.
"Oh me oh MY!" Asuka fretted as she thought to herself as to what Tristan wanted for his birthday, never mind her own 22nd birthday which was absolutely nothing in comparison, I mean, Tristan was turning twenty two! You only turn twenty two once a lifetime. "What do I get for Tristan? What do I get?" Asuka thumbed through pages upon pages of electronic music equipment, auto parts, clothing articles, robotic arm parts, antiques, and other various bric-a-brac that may have some sort of meaning to the great Tristan Delecour.
Just when her perfect item seemed to be in the reach (A suitably beautiful MiniMoog, circa mid 1970's), her small cellular telephone rang with a set of chimes. "H-Hello?" Asuka stumbled out as her jaw dropped at the price, which was over 6000 yens, which was almost three whole months salary.
"Hey Asuka!" the voice of everyone's favorite blue haired EVA pilot beamed "You're not going to guess what I got for Tristan for his birthday until the day! It's the best gift you can ever get for Tristan and you'll be oh so jealous when I give it to him."
"What did you get him?" Asuka demanded, her finger hovering over the button to purchase the retro-instrument.
"Didn't you understand what I just said? It's a secret!" Rei giggled. "A really big secret to everyone!
Asuka could almost see the shit-eating smile that Rei had, content with the fact she had trumped Asuka in gift buying. But Asuka wasn't going to let that happen. She slammed her finger down and the MiniMoog was as good as hers. "Yeah right. Look, I've got to go and make sure that Tristan is going to not know about the super surprise party we're going to have for him."
"Fine, whatever. You're going to be just so jealous!'
---
Tristan Delecour sat in the sun with his eyes closed gently, the fresh smell of his after shave still pleasantly lingering from the cut he did that morning. "It's really too bad that I haven't had any chances to show off how cool I am lately," he remarked to no one in particular. The sun was shining, and Tristan, Misato, and Kaworu were out in the sun.
"You would think that, but I think you're more than showing enough!" Kaworu replied from the sun umbrella, sipping a cool margarita. "I never knew you could possibly have completed three world tours in just two months!"
Tristan shrugged and asked Misato where the phone was so he could call up Asuka and Rei. "Where are those two anyways? I hope they're not worried to death over my birthday!"
"Don't be silly," Misato chuckled, her own gift for Tristan hidden away at NERV. "I'm sure they've already had it planned out for months."
"But still, Rei's missing out on all the sun!"
---
Meanwhile, at NERV...
"Sir, profits are down this quarter, due to a total lack of monster fighting/DJ Battles the last few months," Fuyutsuki reported to Gendo, who was busily playing solitaire on the Magi system.
"So? We'll get into some, someday," Gendo replied, clicking the button for deal. "I'm busy right now! Go away!"
"Sir, if we don't have any money, they'll cut the power out, and we'll be doomed!" Fuyutsuki said in a bit more urgent tone. "What ever will we do then?"
"I don't know Fuyutsuki. Make a clip show?" he sat with his chin on his left palm, tapping his fingers against his beard.
"I suppose that could happen..." Fuyutsuki realized that he was getting nowhere with Gendo, and that maybe he should just reorganize the budget himself in his spare time.
"Aww, crap. Look at what you made me do, Fuyutsuki. I messed up because of your dumb mailbox head. Begone!" Gendo commanded Fuyutsuki out of the office, not even lifting his eyes from the computer terminal. "Come up here when you know what to do about Tristan's surprise party."
---
Days past, and May 6th was fast approaching. On the dawn of that very day that Tristan Delecour was born, the great one awoke to find the house empty.
"Misato? Asuka? Shinji?" Tristan called out as he rubbed his eyes. It was eight o'clock by the kit-kat clock on the wall, but there was still plenty of time left for him to get to classes. "Where is everyone?"
Tristan walked slowly through the sliding door, clad only in grey boxers that showed off his thin, yet muscular physique. As he went through the door, he saw PenPen wobble past with a beer in hand. This was a normal sight in the house, so he disregarded it as a desperate attempt of comic relief. As he went through the house more, looking through the rooms, he saw that there was clearly no one home. Shinji's room was flawless as usual, Asuka's room wasn't too bad, and Misato's room was knee-deep in dirty clothing. "Jesus christ...." Tristan whispered as he slid Misato's door shut. She did manage to keep the rest of the house clean, but her personal space was just abominable.
As Tristan headed into the kitchen, he saw a note plastered to the table: "DEAR TRISTAN: WE ARE ALL OUT WALKING. WE WILL BE BACK! -LOVE MISATO, ASUKA, SHINJI."
Tristan smiled at the note and grabbed a cup of coffee, turning the flat-screen television on to one of the many movie channels. There was Titantic on, right on the scene where Leonardo DeCaprio is sketching a topless Kate Hudson. "Meh, I've drawn better," Tristan snorted as he stirred the black liquid on the blue counter top. "I mean come on. She's so imperfect." He changed the channels a few times, only to find nothing that could satisfy his interest in film.
Tristan sighed as he gulped down the coffee, carefully walking over to the bathroom for a shower. "I really wonder where they are."
---
"Is everyone ready?" Misato yelled on the bullhorn, her cellphone in her hand and a pink party hat strapped around her head."
"HAI!" The entire NERV complex thundered in response.
"Launch Unit 01 and get it good and crazy!" Misato commanded, watching Unit 01 fly through the launch sequence, dummy plug active.
"Unit 01 launched!" One of the bridge bunnies cried out, his blue party hat perfectly centered.
"Girls, are you ready?" Misato turned to Asuka and Rei who were busy fixing the second real cake after they couldn't solve the issue of who was going to pop out of the fake cake naked. Asuka wouldn't back down and neither would Rei, and they couldn't find a cake that was big enough to fit them both in, yet small enough so they wouldn't start doing crude, fan-boy fantasy things to each other.
"HAAAAI!" Rei and Asuka chorused in a sing song voice.
"Kaworu, are the gifts in order?"
"Haaaai!" Kaworu sang, as he adjusted his own and Shinji's party hat to a suitably jaunty angle.
"Positions everyone, and make some noise, I'm going to call Tristan now!"
---
Tristan stepped out of the shower, fully refreshed, and wrapped a towel around his mighty waist after quickly drying off his hair. He hummed to himself as he brushed his teeth, thinking about his future rally championships in his Mitsubishi's. As he pulled on a pair of pants, his cellphone rang loudly and he stumbled over as he pulled up the UFO BRAND pants. "Moshi Moshi!?" he asked to the phone.
"Tristan! We need you now! Unit 01's gone crazy in a test run and we need you to stop it! It's breaking through the core and Unit 00 and Unit 02 are damaged beyond repair! I repeat we need you- No!" Tristan heard over the screaming of what seemed to be bridge bunnies getting crushed by Unit 01's massive feet. This call was more than enough to get Tristan to NERV, but only after he properly put on a pair of white Champion socks, white and blue Circa shoes, and a new grey element t-shirt.
"Finally some action!" Tristan cheered and ran out the door to his pearl white 1998 RX-7. As the engine screamed to life, Tristan jammed the gear into reverse, then first gear, making a super cool huge burnout out of the Advan Neova tires.
---
"He's coming! He's coming! Everyone get to their places!" Misato shouted as she shooed everyone on the bridge to the main hall, which had all of its lights turned out.
---
Tristan slid through the halls of NERV in the RX7 at speeds approaching 160 kilometers per hour, drifting every hairpin perfectly. "I've got to save NERV!" Tristan cried out as he stopped the car in the dead blackness of what he didn't recognize. Rather than turning on the lights, he stopped, not wanting his perfect RX7 to get any damage from a rampaging EVA. He opened the door and exited after removing the harness, not sure what to expect.
But the moment the door slam echoed through the hall, the lights turned on and a huge rumbling "SURPRISE!" thundered through the hall from every single Nerv employee, including a few non-employees as well.
"Wow!" Tristan said as he walked over to the magnificent crowd that was gathered together in his honor. "You're all here to see me?"
Everyone nodded with their party hats in place, which even Gendo had on. Tristan walked over to Asuka and Rei who were nervously fidgeting in matching skirts, but different shirts, white and black, respectively. "Did you guys all organize this?"
"Hai!" The two girls sang. "And if you look to your right, you'll see Nerv's gift to you!" Rei smiled and pointed down the hall.
Flourecent lights flickered down the hall and a giant EVA sized rifle showed up.
"Oh wow... Is that what I think it is?" Tristan gasped at the size of the rifle and the attaching clips.
"Yup, it's a particle-based, sub-atomic ultra-progressive Mega rifle!" Ristuko told Tristan. "Basically it fires off rapid energy pulsing progressive knife blades into the angel to penetrate their AT fields! It's a present from NERV to you and your EVA for all your hard work!"
"Well thank you so very much!" Tristan smiled and turned around to Asuka and Rei who had already pushed their gifts in front of Tristan.
"Open mine first!" Asuka demanded, picking up the large, heavy box. "I spent oh so much time and care choosing it!"
Tristan pulled out his keys from his army green pants and carefully cut the paper open to the box, then cut the cardboard to see the MiniMoog inside. "Oh wow, a MiniMoog! I've always wanted one of these! This is so elkhorn!!" He said as he pecked Asuka on the cheek, picking the MiniMoog out of the box and onto the floor.
"Just wait until you see my present!" Rei smiled, her teeth glistening from the overhead lights. "Follow me, that is, if you want it."
Tristan looked at the pile of presents that were still were there, and then at Rei. "I'm sorry Rei, can't you bring it out for everyone to see?"
"Oh fine. Come on out guys!" Rei called out to the command center. A few moments passed, and three figures emerged with bows on their heads.
"Oh my..." Tristan said as his mouth laid wide open, as did Gendo's, Ritsuko's, and Misato's. The three figures were indeed, Karl Hyde, Rick Smith, and Darren Emerson, of the British electronic group Underworld. Darren himself had a massive red bow on his head, while the other two had much smaller blue bows. "H-h-h-how did you know, how did you find, how did you get, how did you..." Tristan stuttered out as Rei gleefully skipped over to Tristan's side, opposite a very irate looking Asuka.
"Well, you know..." She said, looking down and blushing. "It took me a long time to get them back together again, especially after Darren wouldn't go back into the group..."
"I'll say, their album after Everything Everything sucked big donkey balls! One hundred days off my ass!" Tristan laughed.
"Corr blimey!" Karl Hyde said, embarrassed with his previous efforts. "After that argy-bargy with Darren... We bloody couldn't deal with that berk any more!"
"Oy! That's bollocks!" Darren Emerson said in his defense. "You were one daft cunt back then! Always wanting to have those trousers around your bloody blotto bum! Always drinkin' that plonk! All mouth and no trousers, ye were!"
"Mates, we're in the presence of Tristan Delecooo-ah here, let's not have another argy-bargy or there will be no ice-lollis at the end of the performance! I'm just over the moon that I'm with Tristan!" Rick Smith said, as he went over to the large equipment setup of synthesizers, mixers, and drum machines.
"Corr!" Karl Hyde said. "Let's take it from the top lads!"
Tristan was in awe with his favorite band actually back together as they were on their first holy trinity albums, but after 100 Days Off, Tristan could not like their works, due to the drastic change and rather mellowing out of the dance-floor filling sounds that had partially inspired Tristan to take his super-star DJ status.
"Wow Rei, I really must admit defeat in my gift to Tristan," Asuka admitted. "How did you get these guys back together?"
"It's a secret!" Rei said with a smile and a wink. "Let's just say they were more than willing when I mentioned the guest of honor!"
Underworld began playing, starting with great songs like Cowgirl, Born Slippy (Nuxx), Bruce Lee (Although Karl changed the lyrics from Bruce Lee to Tristan Delecour because he was so cool), and many, many more songs followed. Everyone at NERV loved it and started dancing when a big sign that said "TRISTAN DELECOUR AND UNDERWORLD RULE" behind Underworld showed up that Gendo had planned, and everyone started screaming when Tristan got up on stage with Underworld and sang with Karl on Pearl's Girl.
"This is the best party ever!" Misato said as she drank down a beer. "I wish Tristan's birthday was every day!"
"Me too!" Ritsuko cheered on as Tristan did what he does best.
---
The night passed, and so did many days as things went on, Asuka's birthday not getting quite the same treatment as Tristan, but she did get a white Lancer EVO 6 RS trim from Tristan, with a small amount of modifications like a chrome-alloy roll cage, JIC FLT-A2 coilovers, gunmetal powder coated Ray's Engineering Gram Lights 57F 18 inch rims with 18/30/245 Advan Neova tires, Apexi N1 exhaust, and an HKS blow-off valve, nowhere near as fast as Tristan's RX-7 or Eclipse, but quick, none the less, and a few other items from America, articles of clothing, and a new Tag-Heur watch from Rei.
June hit without incident, and Tristan started to wonder about the status of SEELE, and if he had truly defeated Oakenfold once and for all, despite what his clone said. He sat in his chair, listening to the computer fans whirr under his desk, when a gentle knock rapped on the front door. "I'll get it!" Tristan yelled as ran to the door, opening it.
"Hello, is Shinji there?" Two japanese men of around Tristan's age asked. "We're some old friends..."
"Who are you?" Tristan asked suspiciously.
"We're Toji and Kensuke. You might remember me as guy who was the pilot of Unit 03, that got smooshed,' The taller of the two males said.
"TOJI!" Shinji's voice shrieked as he ran to the door, running past Tristan, into Toji's outstretched arms. "Where have you been? I thought you died!? And lost your leg and arm?"
"Naw, I just sort of stopped breathing for a while," Toji smirked, embarrassed at Shinji's hugging. "And my leg got better thanks to modern surgery and growth formulas!"
"And Kensuke, I thought you joined the JSDF?!"
"Oh, well, I did, but they discharged me after a year, because I was making a video of JSDF Gone Wild, and I met my true love in life, a girl named Tomoyo. She's a little young for me, but lemme tell you how she.."
"Okay, that's enough," Tristan made a force grin and let the two in the house. "I'll tell Misato that you're here."
---
Deep with SEELE, problems were occurring. Tristan Delecour was too busy destroying all their giant monsters before they could even plow through any of Tokyo 3, never mind attack the core for Adam/Lilith.
"Slaves!" Oakenfold screamed while he pounded his fist angrily on the table. "I need new monsters that can defeat Delecour!"
"But sir!" Paul Van Dyk dared to respond in front of Oakenfold's tirade. "We have completely and totally run out of ideas for what we can make!"
Sasha looked up from his monitor in the back of the room, after watching a film. "How about Gamera?"
"Gamera?" Oakenfold's voice changed to one that was less angry than usual.
"Yeah, Gamera,"
"But Gamera is a friend to all the Children!" Tiesto said, "We couldn't possibly put him against the EVA's!"
"Tiesto, he's a friend to the CHILDREN, not the EVA's!" Oakenfold corrected the overrated DJ.
"You mean the DARK LORD'S song?" Tiesto asked.
"... Perhaps... Set the monster maker to GAMERA!!"
"You can't! You're insane, Oakenfold! Insane!" John "00" Fleming screamed, running in the room.
"Just watch me! Gamera is good, Gamera is really neat! Gamera is full of turtle meat!"
---
Tristan sat un-amused in a chair while watching the large, flat-screen television. Here he was, twenty two years of age, in mid-June, and still, no sign that his Eclipse's engine and new carbon fiber wide-body was going to be complete any time soon by the people at JUN. He had considered sending it to TODA, but he just wasn't sure anymore. He just wanted his car complete again so he could go on more road racing adventures through Japan. A small piece of lint made its way on to the deep gray silk shirt Kaworu had given him for his birthday, and he flicked it off towards the direction of Asuka, who was flipping through the stations.
"Can't there be anything on?" He complained, filing his nails. "It's like they purposely made all the TV shows suck."
Asuka sighed in agreement, hurling the remote over to Rei, who was playing with Tristan's MiniMoog. "Heads up!" she called out after the narrow black object pegged Rei in the back of the head.
"Owwww... What did you do that for?" Rei frowned as she dropped her hand from the resonance knob on the low-pass filter to rub her head. "I was coming up with something nice for Tristan!"
"So?" Asuka said, attempting lighting up a cigarette. "Your songs have no chance of even comparing to Tristan's love ballads."
"Now, now, Asuka, let's not crush Rei's dreams and hopes, as everyone has a chance to be a winner in the game of Life!" Tristan said before Rei could respond to Asuka's attacks. "We all have to start somewhere."
Just as Asuka was starting to almost get the cigarette lit, the door was rapped on three times, again. "Who could this be?"
"Could you get that, Asuka?" Tristan requested as he sat down behind Rei, his fingers intertwined over her's while over the MiniMoog's keyboard. "I'm a bit... busy right now," he continued as Rei ran her hand up his shirt.
"Fine, fine, whatever," Asuka gritted her teeth together, and went to the door. "If Shinji wasn't at that special "boy's only" bar with Kaworu, Toji, and Kensuke, I wouldn't have to get the door, therefore, my status in Tristan's eyes would go up, and I wouldn't be mitigated to merely opening doors and I think I should probably open the door now."
Asuka reached the door, and peeked through the crack. "Who might be here?"
"Yes, I'm here to see Tristan? I'm an old friend and I have something of his-" the man said, but Asuka closed the door on him before he could carry on. The man seemed to be really cool, but she just couldn't trust
Tristan looked up from Rei, who was busily mouthing Tristan's neck. "Who was that Asuka?"
"Some guy who claimed to be an 'old friend' of you," Asuka replied, trying to ignore Rei's activities. "I figured it was another dumb fan."
"Was he cool?"
"Hmmm... I'd have to say he was cool."
"You sure now?" Tristan pushed Rei's head down as she attempted to connect with his lips. "I mean, I knew someone who was pretty cool back in the day. He was just really cool and he built his own robot suit and fixed my cars. Also, in no way am I trying to foreshadow my relationship that I had with him, nor could I possibly guess that he's out there with my pet cat and ready to help me with my car, but I think you should go out and check his name for me, okay?"
"Are you sure?" Asuka raised her eyebrows as the setting sun spilled its golden light into the living room as Misato entered, yawning and drinking a beer at the same time. "I mean it's possible that no one could ever know him!
"Impossible!" Tristan shouted, as he attempted to wriggle away from Rei's grasp. "I don't think that it ever could be him, as he died a long time ago!"
"Uh," Misato quietly interjected in the argument in between a sip. "Why not just open the door?"
"That's not the point!" Asuka steamed as she clenched her clear-coat covered fingernails into her palms. "Anyone could open the door and absolutely anyone who is, very cool, could walk in this house and I'll have you know that I am quite the coolest here!"
"Huh?" Rei said as she removed herself from Tristan's waist. "I'll get it." Rei hobbled over to the door and opened it, to reveal someone who was pretty cool, and carrying a black and white tuxedo cat.
"Miss Pibble-chan!" Tristan cooed out as he saw his pet cat, who bounced from the unknown man's arms over to Tristan, and rubbed against his bare ankles. "Oh how I've missed you so much!" he continued as he picked the cat up and rubbed its head behind the ears with his chin stubble, to which the cat responded with a healthy purr.
"Hi, Tristan! The man said as he walked in the door. He certainly held his coolness by being very cool and taking off his shoes before he entered the room. "I told you I would be here!"
"Is that you?" Tristan said as he held his cat in his arms.
"Yup, it sure is me! For those of you in the room, my name is Tyler Losce!" he said as he fixed a leather jacket.
"That's nice," Misato nodded, then turned and walked out the room.
"Yeah, I guess," Rei said as she resumed her progress on the MiniMoog. "I guess I'll see you around here or something."
"What she said," Asuka mumbled and picked up the remote, clicking the television back on, Pibble-Chan hopping on her lap after she sat down on the couch.
"Well Tyler, you're here, I see," Tristan began awkwardly. "Where are you living?"
"Well, that's the thing..." Tyler began cooly before he was interrupted by the door flying open.
"Tristy-kuuuun!" Kaworu called out as he ran through the door with his arms full of many different colored bags. "You have just absolutely must try these new shirts I got for you at the French Connection! You'll be so absolutely stunning the whole world will chant your name in collective orgasm! I... Oh... Who's this?" Kaworu said after he saw Tyler. "He seems... Cool."
"I'm Tyler Losce!" Tyler said as he gruffly shook the long, delicate hand of the pale boy. "And you are?"
"I am Kaworu Nagisa, over there is Shinji Ikari, who is an EVA pilot, and his friends, Toji and Kensuke," Kaworu pointed at the boys who were holding many boxes of various sizes in their arms. Kaworu nudged a bit closer to Tyler to tell him a bit of a secret. "Shinji's a little shy, but don't let that take away from how much he can yell!"
"... Right," Tyler remarked cooly, not sure what Kaworu meant. "Anyone got a place I can stay at?"
"We do!" Toji and Kensuke chimed in together in a melodious harmony. "We have an extra room just for you!"
"Oh, thanks," Tyler thanked the pair... cooly. "I'll bring my stuff over later."
"So, you want to work on a project, Tyler?" Tristan asked as Asuka turned the volume up. "It's for my Eclipse."
"You know it! Best buddies forever!"
In the dark corner of the entryway, Shinji sighed when he remembered how much simpler his life was before all these cars, people, and robots showed up. Life was a lot more comical, but he wasn't sure if he needed to be around anymore.
---
"What do you mean you report a large flying turtle heading this way?!" Gendo shouted, his fists banging the desks in anger. "Get the EVA team on it now!"
"Right away, sir!" Fuyutsuki responded, pushing the big green button to call the pilots. It was a good thing that Fuyutsuki knew where the green button was, otherwise the whole operation would fall apart and everyone in Japan would die, and Fuyutsuki certainly didn't want that to happen.
"Coor blimey!" Karl Hyde said as he saw Gamera on screen. "It's just like one of them Godzilla pictures!"
"Why aren't you gone? And what are you doing in my office?" Gendo said as he turned his attention to the UK based graphic designer and electronic music composer.
"The bird with the big knockers said we could stay here for a dirty weekend!"
"Yah! Yah!" Darren Emerson and Rick Smith shouted gleefully when they heard the mention of "dirty weekend."
"Although, we seem to be missing the 'dirty' part of it, as all the birds are always on full-stop... All we're doing is playin' draughts.." Rick Smith complained as he hunched up from the TR-808 drum machine.
"Ya wouldn't mind if I bummed a fag off ya, would ya'?" Karl said, going closer to Fuyutsuki.
"Oouuuuut!" Gendo steamed as he pointed at the door.
---
"We've got a call!" Asuka screamed over Tristan's stereo system that was currently playing a mix CD that he had made for saving the rain-forests in Brazil. "It seems that Gamera is coming!"
"Gamera?" Shinji asked, looking up from his english papers. "Gamera is great though!"
"That's what they said!"
"Well, where's everyone else?" Shinji asked again, shuffling his papers together. "I don't know where Kaworu, Rei, and Tristan are."
"I think they're out, but we'll have to see them there," Asuka rapidly spat out as she pulled on a pair of black leather boots at the doorway to accent her khaki cargo pants and light blue shirt.
Shinji began to fret for his fellow pilots. "But what if they don't get the call? I'll be so afraid if they don't and oh so worried!"
---
Needless to say, Tristan did get the phone call, right when he was trying to find a decent parking spot for himself and Rei for the new modern-art museum opening. Rei was the first to notice the phone call as Tristan drove in vain.
"Yes?" Rei mumbled as the phone buzzed the new information about the latest angel. "You don't say!"
"What's going on?!" Tristan asked as he brought the car to a sudden stop.
"Gamera is attacking Tokyo 3!" Rei said flatly. Her red eyes stared directly into Tristan's as she slowly tightened the harness. The moments passed between them as neither moved.
"Should we get moving?" Tristan broke the gaze as he turned to the RX-7's Sparco steering wheel, starting the car once more.
"I believe so..." Rei sighed and looked down at her exposed knees.
---
"Surface armor plating depleted!" Aoba reported to the ones up above. Ritsuko calmly smoked a cigarette while the carnage could be felt almost directly above. As she lifted a cup of coffee to her mouth, she wondered where Aoba and Hyuga were all this time.
"Where are the children?" Misato demanded, throwing a beer can on the floor in frustration. "They should be here by now!"
"I don't know, you're the one in charge of them," Ritsuko said as she watched Gamera attempting to plow through the hardened layers of armor that protected Terminal Dogma from the outside world.
"Secondary surface armor will last approximately another ten minutes with the current rate of attacks!" Hyuga shouted as he rapidly typed into his terminal various commands for the defense droids to continue making the repairs to the sheets of armor. Gendo himself had told NERV to continue to fund the the project to have the droids around for such tragic events.
Just as Misato was going to call up the pilots again, she noticed on the security cameras that four figures were running to the entry pods. "Oh thank heavens!" Misato sighed as she slid down into a red, plastic chair. "If it wasn't for those pilots, we'd be doomed!"
"Misato, I think you mean, 'If it wasn't for Tristan Delecour, we'd be dead!'," Ritsuko corrected the buxom captain. "Not that it would be a bad thing," she added quickly. Maya was busily making another pot of coffee for her super sempai-sama-chan, as Ritsuko was downing cups of coffee faster than she could type. Obviously, the effects of the stress were hitting her hard.
"Preparing Units 00 through 04 for launch!" Maya dutifully reported as she juggled the portable keyboard and empty coffeepot before dropping them both on the freshly arriving Kaworu. This could not bother the former enemy of humanity in the slightest, as he gracefully picked them up and handed them to the blushing figurine that was Maya Ibuki. "Thank you.." she managed to stammer out in front of the pale man who was in simpleton terms; beautiful.
"My pleasure, however you may want to not run so fast with all those items," he chided with a grin, then breaking out in a full solo vocal of the theme of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
---
Rei calmly sat in the darkened entry plug in her skin tight, white and blue plugsuit of so many years old. True, it was a fresh plug-suit, but the design of it hadn't changed over the past five years. The cockpit of the unstoppable killing machine had not changed, and neither did her opposite mixed feelings of safety and uncertain death. While she was no longer the wreck-loose killing machine that was willing to sacrifice her life for the greater glory of Gendo, she had certain feelings that she might for someone special enough like Tristan.
The last remaining bubbles of air in her lungs exited and she began breathing nothing but pure LCL. She had become one with Unit 00 once again, the synch graph showing that she was holding steady, and the red lights dimmed into blackness, before being replaced by the bright lights of the underbelly of the NERV operations. No matter how many times she was on the launch pads, she always felt a small amount of fear dwelling inside her. Would she live to see Tristan's smile? Would she live to feel the touch of Asuka's thin fingers down her spine? Would she be able to have Shinji pick out her outfits when she went out? So many questions spun through her head as the EVA was dropped upon the launch pad, and the power cord connected.
Gloved fingers gripped the butterfly handles, with a slight apprehension to the coldness that only the feeling of cold steel against warm flesh could give. A slight jolt shifted the link fluid in the pod, and Rei knew that the time was coming soon. The dice were thrown, and it was just a matter of what the faces said when they looked up towards the sky.
---
"What the hell kind of fight was that?" Gendo demanded, stamping his white gloved hand on his desk. "Tristan didn't even get to kill it! He had to let Asuka kill Gamera. I feel ripped off!"
"Well, sir..." Fuyutsuki began to speak before Gendo went on a nuclear rampage. "It's still dead."
"But by Asuka? She sucks!"
"Hey!" Gendo's communications terminal lit with the face Asuka Langley. "I do not!"
"Oh you're right, Asuka! When you come back, you can have a pay raise!" Gendo told her, which to which she lit up with glee.
"Are you serious?"
Gendo laughed. "PSYCHE!!"
And everyone in NERV laughed at how Gendo psyched Asuka out despite her saving the entire world by killing Gamera.
END CHAPTER 7