Old Friends, New enemies
Chap 7: Time For Battle!
Bucky: Hey has anyone seen my beer?
Misato: Nope, not since I drank it!
Bucky: Why you little!! (Grabs Misatos neck and chokes her Homer Simpson style)
Misato: EHH people…reading…too many…witnesses
Bucky (looking at readers): DOH!!!!!!!!
Asuka: IDIOTS
Shinji: Why are they idiots?
Asuka: That's not how you choke someone! You should know Shinji you did it to me twice in End of Evangelion!
Shinji (defensively): Not by choice Asuka you know that! It was the director and producer I tell ya!!
Asuka: Yeah! Damn that ANNO I'm gonna choke him when I see him next!
Anno: What was that Miss Soryu?
Asuka (wincing): N…Nothing sir
The sun rose like it always did in the morning, though this morning the light came at a different angle. The fiery young redheaded Asuka Langley Soryu rolled over trying to block the emerging sun from her view. In vain attempts to gain more sleep which she drastically needed Asuka pulled the set of white sheets up to cover her face. At this point of time her brain finally caught on to something. She sat up in the bed and looked out the window into the brightening day; this was strange as her bedroom didn't catch the sun for another half hour at least.
"Oh that's right" Asuka sighed in relief as she let her head drop back down to the pillow. "Damn Shinji your room doesn't allow for sleeping in" her eyes were closed and she waited for the sheepish response from the boy. After two minutes of silence she opened her eyes again "Shinji?"
Asuka rolled over to find herself the only occupant of the bed; she looked around the room trying to see if he was already up. She found the room in disarray which was something unusual for the Third Child. He was a very tidy person from what she remembered from childhood he hated messy rooms. But what the redhead saw in front of her WAS a mess. There were clothes thrown out on the floor SDAT tapes lying scattered among what looked like empty food parcels and a couple of boxes stuffed into an open wardrobe.
This was a startling discovery that her once clean friend had turned into a slob, if she didn't know better she would think Misato was his biological mother! Now that to Asuka was a frightening thought. "Where are you Shinji?" the redhead whispered almost to herself as she got out of bed.
Still dressed in her blue shorts and yellow tank-top, Asuka made her way through the mess toward the door. It was funny to her that the room looked like this now but she had no trouble getting in during the middle of the night when it was dark. Strange she could've sworn it wasn't like this last night.
After reaching the door the redhead decided to forget about it and made her way down the hall. She checked the bathroom first only to find an overflowing wash basket and a bathing Penguin. Next stop was the laundry, 'maybe he's getting it out of the way.' Like the bathroom there was nothing but dirty clothes in the laundry and no sign of Shinji.
"Where are you Shinji?" Asuka echoed her thoughts without realising she was talking to herself. Just then she heard a loud beep and then a thud from the living room, which was decided as her next destination. Upon entering the room Asuka found Shinji lying face down on a matt in the middle of the room.
The living room had been converted into a training room for the First and Third children while they 'tried' to synchronize. The TV and couch had been moved to the side of the room and in the middle where a coffee table used to be was a large plastic matt covered in dots of varied colours. The matt looked kinda like an old game from Pre-Second Impact called twister, although different Asuka could still see the similarities. She was once invited to a collage party where her friends all got drunk and played Twister; she chuckled at the memory of that night.
"What's so funny?" Shinji asked while sitting up on the matt, rubbing his sore face with one hand. His other hand was positioned in front of himself on the ground to steady him. He was staring up at the redhead who had just been laughing, supposedly at him, "hmm?"
Asuka flushed a bit red thinking she was a bit stupid for laughing like that, seeing as Shinji thought she was laughing at him. "I wasn't laughing at you!"
"Oh no, then what?"
"Um…would you believe nothing?"
Shinji just smiled and shook his head. Asuka thought for a moment them just smiled "ok maybe a little." She emphasised by making a pinching motion with her thumb and index finger on her right hand. She smiled again walked over to where Shinji sat and plonked down next to him. "Why are you up so early? No one is up yet so why are you?"
The young Ikari just yawned loudly, tried to cover his mouth with his hand, then laid down on his back. "You know" he started, "if someone had of told me a year ago that I'd be doing this, I would've called them crazy. I mean who am I? A nobody that's who I am, so why did I get pulled into this?"
Asuka was a little confused, she had asked why he was up early and he had dodged the question by asking his own. "Uh…I don't know, maybe they just see talent when they look at you, how the hell should I know?! And anyway that wasn't my question I asked what are you doing up so early?"
"Would you believe couldn't sleep any longer?" Shinji just chuckled when Asuka shook her head. "Ok maybe not" his face contorted into that of concentration and seriousness, "you know what happened last night. That nightmare was the most terrible I ever had, ever. We launched as planned and Rei and I engaged the angel, it was going well. But, our timing was off. Rei was the first to go down, after her I tried to fight, so did you. Then they…got you and I…I ran out of power."
"Shinji it was just a dream, damn you take everything so seriously. You were always like that. And that doesn't explain why you are down so early" the redhead gave Shinji a light slap on the shoulder hoping to beat some answers out of her friend.
The brown haired boy sat up and cleared his throat, "I didn't want it happening for real. I couldn't bare the thought of you, Misato, Rei or even…even my father, dying because I failed. So I got up and now I'm going to train if it takes me all day and all night. I'm going to learn this and teach those Angels how to dance like an Eva."
Asuka stood up and smirked wickedly; she moved her hands down to her hips and initiated the 'Asuka Stance™' (Copy Wright, Asuka L Soryu 2004-2040). "Shinji, you got the right spirit, so that's why I'm gonna help you…BUT…"
"But?"
"You have to do something for me in return"
"Does saving your life from the Angel count?"
"Nope!"
"DAMN!! What is it you want?"
"I'll tell you tonight. But until then let's turn you into….for lack of a better word ME"
"WHAT??!!"
"Well you wanna be the best pilot don't you? Well you have to be more like me."
Shinji scratched the back of his head thinking something along the lines of 'what did I get myself into?' He knew that there would be a heavy price to pay for Asukas help, there always was. Ever since she was little Asuka had prided herself on thinking of ways to spend her 'I owe u's'.
*********
A loud buzzing noise echoed through the darkened room causing the single occupant to stir beneath her sheets. On top of the futon in the centre of the room only a large lump could be seen under the white sheets of bedding. A moment of rustling about later and a slender foot slid out from its warm comfort, it stomped around a few times trying to find something. After a few more tries Misato Katsuragi was rewarded with the bliss of silence, she had effectively shut the alarm off without having to get out of bed.
This of course was a normal routine so the violet haired Major had much practice using her foot as a remote control of sorts. With the alarm now silenced Misatos foot returned under the blanket and she resumed her slightly hung-over slumber. She was just about to fall completely asleep when the alarms snooze function kicked in and the room was once more loud as a dance club, this time playing a radio station.
"GOOD MORNING Tokyo-3!! You're listening to 3.08 Angel, the station dedicated to those saviours of mankind down here at NERV. Of course this morning the sun is up and it will be a scorching day at a low of around 29 degrees and a high of 40."
Misato sat up letting the cover of her futon fall down off her back "ok I'm up, I'm up!" She stood up and groggily walked to her bedroom door, she knew that Shinji should already be up by now and that Rei would be over in a half hour. As Misato stepped through the door she began second guessing this plan of her friend Ritsukos. It wasn't working out so far so she couldn't tell if it would work at all, she doubted it, but also hoped it would.
Still dressed in her blue pyjamas the violet haired woman made her way down the hall and to the bathroom. She stepped in and groaned as she saw Pen-Pen was in there "how long have you been there?"
"WARK"
"Never mind, how much longer will you be?"
"WARK!!"
"ARGGHHHH stupid Penguin, I need a bath!"
Pen-Pen promptly stuck his tongue out at the Major of NERV, "WARK."
Misato exited the bathroom and slammed the door loudly "BAKA Pen-Pen." Unable to bathe she opted to go for her second morning routine, a beer. Misato walked the last stretch of the hall and entered the living room, she took a quick glance to the side to see Shinji and someone else running coordination drills.
"Morning Shinji, Rei" she yawned without facing them completely and continued to the kitchen. She stopped for a minute 'hold on! I didn't hear or see Rei come in.' she just shrugged it off and pulled a beer from the fridge 'hold on! Rei doesn't have red hair!!' This caught Misatos attention and she turned around ready to start yelling at Asuka for interfering.
Misatos eyes went wide as she stared at the sight before her, Shinji and Asuka both stood on the matt in the final stance of the moves. Above their heads a sign with LED lights read SCORE = 100%! She blinked. Blinked again. After a minute of just blinking Misato turned around to face the fridge. She popped the tab on her beer and took a giant swig, sloshed it around her mouth and swallowed. When she had repeated the process until the can was empty she turned around again, and there it was. Still highlighted above the two teens, who were now staring at each other, read SCORE = 100%.
"Ah…huh…ah" Misato tried to form a coherent word but all that would come were mumbles. The first plausible thing that came to her mind was FLUKE. She knew that had to be what she was seeing either a fluke or the machine was malfunctioning. Of course it had to be one of those, Rei and Shinji had been trying for almost four days to get that score and now on what was possibly the first try Asuka managed to do what Rei hadn't been able to.
Shinji Ikari stared directly at the redheaded German across from him, she was looking right back at him. At almost the same time they both looked up at the sign above their heads. Both teens turned back to each other with a mixed look of confusion and excitement. Shinji just let his eyes roam from the score to his friend and back again still not thinking of anything to say. "Ah…Asuka, what just happened?"
Asuka stared up at the score then back to the brown haired pilot next to her, "I…I don't know. I…I think we just…in a word…aced it!" She looked once more at the board and studied it as if she was checking every LED over twice. "I…I mean…we just…"
"Synched" Shinji added without consciously thinking it, "what does that mean? I mean Rei and I…it took us…days to get up to 80% and then we couldn't get any higher! And then you and I…just…just ace it on the first try!"
"I think the word is fluked it Shinji" Misato said making her presence known to the two bewildered teens. "There is no way that just happened, the machine must be busted" the violet haired woman walked over to the two and stared at them, then moved to the back of the machine. "How many times have you done this?" she asked while checking that the wires weren't crossed or something.
"Uh…well…twice to show Asuka the moves, with the machine off. And…then…" Shinji was interrupted by Asuka.
"One try with it on"
Misato soon emerged from behind the machine and sighed, "It's working properly." She moved back to face the two pilots staring at each of them individually. "I'm not going to punish you" she glared at Asuka "yet." She then shifted her features into neutral "first I want to see if it was a fluke, so…do it again."
The NERV Major backed up and allowed the pilots the room needed to perform the moves. The music started and so did the movements from the teens, bot completely caught up in the rhythm they hardly noticed they were moving simultaneously every second was on time accounted for, keeping perfect time. Misatos jaw promptly dropped to the ground as every two or so seconds the score board jumped in percentage, until it came to rest on 99.9% as the music came to a halt so did the Second and Third children. The exact moment they stopped the score clicked over to 100%.
"Shinji" Asuka gave him a light punch on the arm to get the boys attention, "look." She pointed to the board and the score once again read a perfect 100% "we did it again! Hi five Shin-man" the redhead raised her right hand and Shinji gave it a light slap in mid air. "You know Shinji; I always thought you and I made a good team. Huh Mr Soryu?"
Shinji looked at the girl confused for a second, then began to chuckle "oh god, you actually remembered THAT?!"
Asuka joined him in laughing "hey all girls remember the first time a guy asks them to marry them. You didn't think I'd forget did you?" She offered him a sly smile then burst out laughing.
"Asuka you're not going to hold me to that are you? I mean we were only seven and I only said it to stop them from taking you away!" Shinji defended himself jokingly remembering the day that Asuka left seven years ago.
It was early morning and they were at the air port where two men in black suits were waiting for Asuka. Shinji didn't want her to go, Asuka didn't want to go. It was a hard thing to leave the only real family you knew behind and go off with two strangers who looked as big as The Hulk. Shinji in desperation o keep his best friend in his life asked her if they were to get married would she come back, and of course Asuka said yes but she wanted to keep her name.
"I don't know Shinji, after all a promise is a promise" Asuka smiled again. She then turned her attention to her commanding officer and guardian, Misato. "So still think it's a fluke?" she grinned evilly at the violet haired woman as if to say 'if you want we'll do it again.'
"N…No, just a little…shocked that's all" Misato stared blankly at the score board then back down to Shinji who had a smile plastered over his face. "Shinji?" she waited till the boy turned around, "I'll leave it up to you. Do you want to stay paired with Rei or with Asuka?"
Shinji looked to the side at Asuka then back at Misato, "ah…" He had never had to decide something like this before. On one hand he didn't want to hurt Reis feelings because she worked so hard to succeed. On the other he didn't want to hurt Asukas feelings or see her get hurt because of him. He took one last look at Asuka who stared at him with what looked to be pleading eyes, "Asuka."
"YES" the redheaded pilot ran over and pulled Shinji into a fierce bear hug that could only be rivalled by Misato herself. "I swear Shinji you won't be disappointed, I'll make you proud" Asuka settled down for a moment 'did I just say that? Shit, do I really want to make him proud of me? Why?'
Misato turned around and headed off to the phone "now I have to get your grounded status revoked and tell Rei that she won't be piloting" she added something under her breath that the teenagers didn't hear.
Shinji gasped a little for two reasons, the closeness of himself and Asuka was providing a good vantage point to view cleavage. And two he was running out of air, "A…ASUKA….AIR!!!"
The redhead realising she was holding her friend too tightly released her grip and blushed a little, "sorry." 'SHIT did I just apologise? Oh well it's only Shinji I suppose it's ok if it's him.' She smiled again and turned towards the hall "I'm going to get changed then we can practice some more. And remember you owe me one!"
Shinji watched as Asuka retreated to her room then gulped loudly, "why does that sound like a bad thing?"
*********
Shinji sighed in relief as the day before had passed rather uneventfully, apart from waking up to find out that Asuka was able to synch with him in one shot. No real big deal, he chuckled thinking that.
Misato was a bit more than royally pissed off at the amount of paper work she had to go through to get Asuka back into operational status. Shinji, Shinji was just relieved that Asuka would be his partner and that they had a perfect synch score. He still had a hard time believing they had been able to get it perfect in one shot.
After Misato had made her few calls in the morning, and after Asuka had gotten changed, the two teens proceeded to practice. Each time they completed the routine with a perfect score, except the one they did a minute before lunch when Shinji and Asuka both caught the smell of what Misato had cooked. It was one of those god awful smells that made their stomachs turn and brains shut down. No wonder they got only 3.09%.
He was also relieved that Asuka was too tired to call in the 'I owe u' which she said he would have to fulfil another day. He still had a bad feeling about that little dept and it wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Although he couldn't come up with anything that would be that bad that she would make him do, at least Shinji hoped so.
"Well are you ready Mr Soryu?" Asukas smirking image appeared in Shinjis bottom left screen. The redhead was looking just about ready to burst out laughing.
He sighed and pressed a button enabling him to speak, "are you still going on about that?" Asuka just nodded and began to giggle, Shinji sighed again as he just knew that the bridge crew would be laughing at him. "And you were the one who said I take things too seriously!"
"Hey like I said, a promise is a promise!" Asuka had taken all she could and promptly released an entire nights worth of laughter, at once. A moment later when she had calmed down the redhead just smiled sweetly and turned the channel off.
Shinji sighed and opened a new channel to the bridge, "are we ready to do this thing?"
An image of Misato appeared and she was smiling something wicked, "why of course whenever you are ready…MR SORYU." Misato burst out laughing and Shinji could swear he heard some of the other bridge crew, including Aoba, Shigeru and Maya, join in.
"MISATO!!!" Shinji yelled while he turned a brilliant shade of scarlet. He shut down the comm and awaited the final countdown still blushing from his supposed friends jokes. "So immature" he sighed.
Another window appeared and Shinji let out a loud sigh, then the image of the First Child emerged. "What is the matter Mr Soryu?" Rei said in her stoic voice.
"Not you to Ayanami!"
"What is the matter with your new title?"
"It's not my title, I'm still Ikari. They're just playing a prank"
"A prank?"
"Yeah…you know a joke"
"I'm afraid I do not understand how this would be funny"
"Me neither Ayanami"
"I merely wanted to wish you and Pilot Soryu luck. I apologise that we were unable to become one."
"Become one?"
"Miss Soryu refers to it as sex"
"WHAT??!!!"
"I assume you and Soryu have become one?"
"HUH?! What the hell?! NO we have not become one!!!" Shinji turned bright red and started to stammer.
"Then why does she take my place in this operation?"
"Because we can synch!!"
"I see"
Reis image disappeared and Shinji was left alone in his entry plug unable to comprehend the enormity of Asukas prank or Reis questioning. Did Asuka somehow talk Rei into that as part of her joke? Shinji automatically shook his head; ever since she had arrived Asuka had hated Rei.
"This is going to be a long day…"
*********
AN: Yay I'm back ya! Oh well left u hanging again, well I just wanted to put the actual fight in the next chapter so it ties in with what will happen later. Well I think I did ok but well that's up to u guys.
Anyway next there will be the fight probably not too long as we all know what happens pretty much. Then there will be an emotional thingy afterwards then the next day at school which I'm aiming for a little comedy with the three stooges and introducing a few girls into the equation. For some reason I really enjoy doing this particular series so I might take it further than I had originally planned. Oh well catch the next chap 'A fight, a kiss and the day after'
Seya on da other side………………..
