Tokyo-3 Arcana


Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

This time, the Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluid in D&D/Pathfinder, you probably wont need most of the notes.


Chapter 16

Making plans.


Tokyo-3
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 01:35 P.M.

"I agree with Kaji, this is hard to believe. Are you trying to imply that Shinji is a wizard?" Misato scoffed at the idea.

Asuka´s glared back at Misato. "No, he is NOT a wizard. He is a sorcerer. There is a big difference. Namely that he can cast spells more or less spontaneously. It is me who is a wizardress." She preened for a moment, before dropping the mask and continuing, "I have my own spell book and everything, and I need to choose my spells beforehand."

"Really? Now pull the other, Asuka." Misato leaned back on her chair. For a moment, she tried to cross her arms, until a pang of pain dissuaded her.

"Fine, don´t believe me." The red-headed pilot crossed her arms and turned her head away, her nose in the air. "Believe in proof." She took the small bottle, and pushed it towards Misato. "Drink this, and then tell me how you feel."

Misato took the bottle, and eyed it cautiously. "I don´t even know what´s in this!"

"I already told you. Spring water, honey, and herbs. It is perfectly healthy. Would the baka ever give you something that could harm you? Hell, would he knowingly harm anybody? He´d rather cut his own arm off rather than hurting anybody he considers a friend. Hell, he would put himself in harm´s way for somebody he didn´t know!" Asuka knew she was stretching the truth a bit. While it was true Shinji wouldn´t harm any friend or unknown people, any hostile would get a rather nasty surprise if they tried to hurt anybody in Shinji´s presence.

Misato hesitated. That was true. In the short time she had known Shinji, she had never, ever, seen him harbor any malice to any living being, even the Angels. He only fought them because there was no way to reason with them. About the only possible exception was Commander Ikari; but even then, Shinji wouldn´t actually wish harm to him. Just keeping his distance would be enough for the Third Child (1).

She took her decision, but just before tried to uncork the bottle with only one hand, Asuka put a make-up mirror on the table. "You have a bruise right on the side of your neck." She tapped the same place on her own neck, "Not too big, but noticeable if you look for it. Watch it." The girl opened the bottle, and held the mirror up. "Can you see it?"

The Chief of Operations nodded, sniffed at the bottle, and not finding any strange odor, she took a cautious swig of the liquid. It was cool and soothing. Just as soon it passed her throat, a warm feeling spread all over her body. The collection of pains, aches, and various discomforts dulled immediately. She decided to risk it, and drank the whole bottle as fast as if it was her breakfast beer. "Oooookay," she sighed, wiping her lips, "I do feel better. Some kind of fast-acting anaesthetic, or something, I guess. Even my headache is fading fast. (2)"

Smugly, Asuka pointed at Misato´s neck. "Look at the bruise."

A quick peek at the mirror soon left Misato with her jaw hanging. Right before her eyes, the bruise discolored, shrank, and almost disappeared. "Wha…? How? That´s several days of healing at the least!"

A smug smile spread on Asuka´s lips. "Magic. I told you. This…" she waved the bottle in front of Misato´s face, a single blue drop rolled at the bottom of the crystalline bottle, "is a healing potion. Shinji says it is a Cure Light Wounds one. There are stronger potions, for Moderate and even Grave Wounds; but he has precious few of those. I guess he thought you needed it, but couldn´t cure you completely in one go. It would be very suspicious."

Her room-mate wriggled her fingers carefully, expecting a shot of pain. There was some pain, yes, but not the sudden lance of hurt she had already gotten when she had accidentally hit her elbow on a piece of furniture.

"Gods above… I feel so much better..." She gasped. "What about you? Can you really do magic?"

Asuka shrugged, "Just a bit. Shinji had just started to teach me when that gott-damned EVA-Snatching Engel decided to pay us a visit. It had the gall to interrupt my magic lessons!" She kept silent about the exact circumstances. She was still a smidge angry about the clockwork cat/magic teacher bit.

"What can you do? Show me!"

"Just a bit of light. Nothing Earth-shattering yet. It's not even a real spell, just a cantrip. It's the only magic I can do at the moment. I´m not even first level, for goodness sake! Shinji is way more advanced." Asuka fumbled in her pockets for a dead firefly, and proceeded to turn Misato´s lighter into a small star. "I hope I can get something else to work instead of fireflies, carrying dead bugs around is not my style."

Misato´s head was almost spinning as she examined the luminous lighter. "Magic is real… What could we do with this?"

"Stop right there, Misato. Think. If the Commander gets word of this," she stabbed a finger on the table´s surface, "he will not hesitate to turn us into lab specimens for Dr. Akagi to play with. Shinji is deathly scared of that, with very good reason." Asuka paused, gathering her thoughts, "There is another problem."

Misato´s eyes shot back at Asuka. "What?"

"Creatures and persons are appearing here. Some are monsters, others are just people. Shinji and I have met a couple of the good ones, but…" she picked up the empty container Rei had left on the table. "…there are monsters too. A gang of small buggers almost attacked Hikari the other day. And now, a giant spider on Wonder Girl´s apartment? Somewhere in or around Tokyo-3 there is a door to that other place, and creatures and people are coming through it. (3)"

"Okay, let´s say I believe that, Asuka. What does Shinji know?"

"I´m not sure exactly what does he know. He keeps his cards close to the vest, and has only told me and a few others what he thinks is happening, he was waiting for the right moment to talk to you, I suppose. I won´t say much more about this until I have had the chance to clear things with him. But I think that until we get that chance, Wonder Girl shouldn´t go back to her place. Who knows how many spiders like the one she squashed flat could be around? Keep her here, I can share my room if it helps."

Misato nodded, running scenarios in her head. "I still will need to check this out. I know Rei lives in an apartments building, so maybe we have to evacuate it too." A sudden thought crossed her mind. "Heeeey… Since when do you trust Shinji´s judgement? And since when do you care that much about Rei?"

Asuka stood up, leaning on her knuckles over the table, a slight flush on her cheeks. "Since he came back from that stupid transdimensional Engel. Shinji and I had a long talk; a very civil talk, mind you. He showed me magic, and I want to learn more. Light shows are not going to be any use against Engels. When I came here to Tokyo-3, I thought Rei was a rival to defeat, just as I though Shinji was. Now I realize that was never the case. I can change my mind, you know."

Misato sat back on her chair. "He has changed too. He´s not as meek as before."

Asuka closed her eyes for a second. "Nope. Though he tries to not to be too assertive in public. He´s Clark Kenting, for gott´s sake!" She opened her eyes back again, and changed subject. "Speaking of own own mild-mannered pilot, did you get the recordings of the fight? I heard he mopped the floor with Unit-03 and I´d like to see it."

Misato rummaged in her purse, finally getting a data-stick out. "So do I! Kaji and Rei should watch it too."

The doorbell rang then.

"Speaking of the devil…"


Tokyo-3, GeoFront
NERV HQ; Commander Ikari´s Lair, 01:52 P.M.

"What do you think, Professor?" Gendo Ikari leaned back in his chair, while Vice-Commander Fujutsuki watched the recording.

"I think young Ikari has jumped up in combat effectiveness." He paused, straightened up, and continued. "This way of fighting actually reminds me of another."

The Commander tented his fingers in front of his face. "Indeed. This confirms that Yui´s consciousness is still in the Evangelion core; not merely as the soul interfacing pilot and EVA, or as an instinctive response in case of overwhelming danger.."

"Hmph. This also tells me something more." Fujutsuki clasped his hands at his back. "She is angry. And some of that anger might be affecting the Third Child. If he fights that way outside the EVA, he would be a fighter to be reckoned with. And I don´t want to be near him should he be provoked enough to fight."

"Indeed. The scars on his body seem to indicate a close combat specialist. Though he is hardly a long-term strategist. He lacks experience. The combat instincts he had shown must be due to Yui´s influence. His last synch rates were quite high. The Second Child has shown no changes, and Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was hardly a fighter."

"Still, don´t underestimate her. The girl is an accomplished fighter. The only reason her record in combat is lower than Shinji´s is Yui´s own viciousness in a fight. She played the meek nerd part, and had no real taste for fighting, unlike some." The exact some he was referring was left unsaid. "But when she had to fight, she was nastily efficient. As a few crippled thugs can attest. (4)"

"…Yes."

"Now, what are you planning to do? Shinji has been confined in the brig for a while."

"And he will stay there for a while more. Until I know for certain what he´s capable of." He smiled under his gloved hands. "I think it´s time to test him."

Fujutsuki glared at his once-pupil. But kept his own counsel. Yui´s kid would better be on his toes.


Tokyo-3
Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu Apartment, 02:03 P.M.

"..." No one present did speak a word. The images were amazingly vivid.

Misato was the first to recover. "I´m seriously thinking of never, ever teasing Shinji again or asking him to clean the apartment."

Asuka gulped, she had first-hand experience with how fast and devious could Shinji be in a friendly game, but seeing him rescue the Fourth Child, and then fight and kill the Thirteenth Angel like he did... Well... that put to rest her own ideas about who was the best fighter at NERV. It was a hard blow to her pride, but one she could take now that she had magic. The higher-ups could take her EVA from her, but they could never take her magic away.

Rei sipped her tea, "Efficient." That was her only comment.

Kaji simply leaned back on his chair, and wiped a slight sheen of sweat from his brow. "Aoba was amazed about that. Now I know how he felt. Are you sure this was Shinji?"

Asuka looked at her hands. Closing them to fists, she hissed, "I have to learn to fight that that, you know." She shook her head as an idea came to her. "Wait. Misato, rewind the fight. Can you track EVA-01´s hands? I though I saw something."

Misato nodded, and restarted the video, she used a function of the software to track the bio-mech hands. Once the video played, they had a close-up of each hand in a lateral window on the laptop screen.

Asuka looked at the screen with hawk-like intensity. When the moment came close, she ordered, "Slow-motion."

Misato did as asked. Eva-01 grabbed the Angel, and for a few frames, a light came from its hands. "What was that light?" she whispered.

Asuka didn´t answer her question, "I knew it. Go back a few frames and mark this one, where the hands glow." Once that was done, she asked "Fast forward. Pause." Another light in EVA-01´s hands. "Okay, restart, and pay attention to how EVA-03 moves after the light."

The four watched the image. Kaji was the first to talk. "It looks stunned! It moves like a boxer about to fall!"

Asuka smiled smugly and pumped her fist in the air once. "Ha! I bet Shinji did cast a spell at the Engel! He told me he thought he could cast magic through EVA-01. Even if it didn´t go down, it was quite groggy!"

Speechless, Misato closed the laptop. "That might be the reason Toji hasn't woken up..."

"What? No one told me that. Suzuhara is an idiot, but he doesn't deserve to stay unconscious."

"I have to talk with Shinji again, he must know how to wake him up."

"Yeah. He must know how to cancel the spell. Light is easy to end, I just need to say Nox and it ends." The lighter went dark again. Kaji gasped, but Rei simply watched it without comment.

"I wish I knew how to contact my magic teacher." Asuka sighed. "He might know how to cancel the spell. It´s not Shinji, it´s... another."

Misato shook her head, "Wait, Shinji said something weird, did you two bet laundry duty?"

"Yeah, but he said I wouldn't have to do it."

"He told me to remind you of that, and that you should check behind his bed, that something could have fallen there."

Asuka stiffened for a moment. "Sneaky bastard. A secret message!" A smile appeared on her face, "Misato, I need your data stick, quick. I need to replay the fight." A few seconds later, the stick had been ejected and given to Asuka.

After a quick stop in her own room,the German raised pilot had her own laptop in her hands, and opened the door to Shinji's small room. "I'll be back in at least five minutes, no one is to enter, is that clear? If I delay more than that, don't enter until the fifteen minutes mark."

They all nodded, before leaving, Asuka turned to Rei. "Okay, Wonder Girl. I´m taking a big risk with you, mostly on Shinji´s behalf. Should anybody else know about Shinji and magic, we will end up as lab specimens somewhere."

Rei furrowed her brow. Her loyalty to the Commander had been steadily eroded for several months. Shinji had treated her with the dignity and care she had been denied all her life. Not even her conditioned obedience to the Commander could stop her from taking her own decisions now. She kept silent for a moment, considering her own feelings about the unending series of tests and procedures she had been subjected to all her life. "I shall keep your secrets."

Both Misato and Asuka sighed in relief. "Good, I'll come back soon. Five minutes, fifteen tops. Don't even think of going there, clear?" She disappeared into Shinji's Lovely Suite.

Misato looked at Rei. "Now, we cannot allow you to go back to your apartment, Rei." She said, taking Rei´s hand in hers. "Not until and unless we know its safe. I insist you stay here, at least for a few days. I will manage to get an evacuation order for the whole building with some pretext or another."

"Unnecessary. I'm the only tenant. The whole building is empty."

The other two gasped a simultaneous "What?"

"Commander Ikari's orders. He said it was for my protection."

"Rei. Exactly where do you live?" Misato asked, a small tic was making itself known on her lower left eyelid.

She told them their address, Misato's tic was accompanied by a pulsing vein in her right temple. "Protection my ass! That section of town is a demolition zone! No wonder Shinji was so rattled off after he delivered you your new ID card!"

"Was that the reason he bolted off?" Rei asked innocently.

"Probably, but why didn't he tell me about it?" Misato tapped her index finger against her chin, thinking.

Kaji intejected. "Well, he probably didn't want to cause Rei any problem or something. We will have to ask him. But we are getting off-track here." He coughed into his fist. "Asuka said there were some others. They already know about this stuff. I say we contact them and ask for help. Or at least for advice. Unofficially and on the side."

Misato leaned back. "Do we have any other option?"

Kaji passed his hand over his hair, "I don't know. Waiting could be dangerous, if there are more spiders, they could overrun the whole city."


Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.
Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.

Laveth opened one locker after another. One contained rough clothes with a strange style. There was a belt, but no money bags, at least, not separate bags, the weird tunic had several hidden bags, sewn into the cloth. "Hmm… stinks like human, but this is too good for a slave." She decided to put the strange clothes on, it wouldn´t do to go around naked, displaying her otherworldly perfection for all to see. She found several sets of clothes, including strange shoes made of a fabric she wasn´t familiar with, especially the soles. It didn´t felt like any kind of leather she knew. And instead of laces, they were fastened to the feet with curious strips of cloth, which made a ripping sound when separated from the shoe. Still, they were quite comfortable, and Laveth decided to keep them until she found better to replace them with.

Her exploration of NERV´s hideout continued. And she found many boxes made of thick paper. Most showed food. Human food, judging from the writing and pictures on the boxes. Disgusting human food.

But hunger was gnawing at her again, the spiders she had eaten were just enough to sustain her for a little while.

Laveth ripped open a box, it contained several metalic pouches, the metal itself was very strange, it felt thin as paper, and it wasn´t particularly cold to the touch.

Each pouch was clearly labeled with strange letters. But she was able to read them easily. Though the meaning of some words sometimes escaped her. In smaller text, instructions were provided.

"No fresh flesh to rip to shreds, pathetic." She examined all the pouches one after another. The closest to real food she could find was chicken... nuggets? Miners? Were the humans mixing their blood with useless dwarves?

She decided to follow the instructions printed in the pouch, at the bottom, she could felt a hard bar, in a diferent compartment. According to the instructions, she shouldn´t take it out, but add a small measure of water to the bigger compartment, break the bar, close the pouch, and wait five minutes, or count to 300 if lacking a wrist watch. Mistrustful, she checked her wrists, finding nothins unusual.

Laveth followed the instructions, and a 300 count later, she opened the pouch again, and a deliciously spiced smell assaulted her senses. She took a small piece of flesh flom the pounch, it was soft and easy to chew, not remotely as hard as a nugget should be.

She quickly ate the whole content of the pouch, and went on to examine and eat all the food contained in the box. Some were disguntingly sweet, like the pink bar of chewing gum, supposedly flavored artificially with strawberries. She chewed it for a long time, but the damned thing never was ready to swallow, so she spit it out when the flavor was gone. "Only humans could be so fool to make food like this."

Once her hunger was sated for a while, Laveth turned her attention to exploring her new domain, she would rip it from NERV´s cold and rigid hands if neccessary; but first, she would find this wizard and torture his secrets from him. For it must be a him, no wizardress nor priestess would be foolish enough as to make this kind of absurd place.


Author Notes:

(1) Obviously, Misato is a bit off the loop concerning Shinji´s attitude towards Commander Ikari... Asuka doesn´t know either.

(2) In D&D, healing potions work more or less instantly, in the first Justicar and Escalla novel (White Plume Mountain), the potions work over several minutes. And human potions are even slower for a faerie, as Escalla can attest. The Justicar´s healing spells work faster, but he tends to reserve those for last, as he prefers to use disposable resources first. Must as in survival school, you are instructed to use your disinfecting pills for water as a last resource, only if you can´t make fire and boil it.

(3) There is not a single door, as Asuka thinks. The Shadow manifests in random places and times, depositing random creatures.

(4) Yeah, I´m taking the fanon idea that Yui was actually a good fighter. After all, the savagery EVA-01 displayed had to come from somewhere, the EVA alone would be a savage fighter, but not an strategic one. Just compare how the two berserk EVAs behaved. Unit-00 was just a wounded animal, while EVA-01 was sadistically deliberate (as Sachiel´s and Zeruel´s arms can attest.)