SELFLESS ACTION
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Eva because Misato out-drank me.
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Chapter 2
"So let me get this straight: you want me to wear a big, clunky suit, to go lava-diving in a volcano to capture an Angel that hasn't woken up yet?" Shinji asked as he looked at the monitor that had a vague thermo-image of said Angel.
It honestly looked like something had taken a picture of an embryo in an egg.
"That's the plan." Misato confirmed.
"Am I getting hazard pay out of this?" he asked.
"Hazard pay? Isn't the safety of mankind enough?" Ritsuko asked.
"Someone telling me 'thank you' doesn't pay my bills or put food on my plate. And since I'm the only pilot with a working Eva..."
"I'll ask the commander about it."
"So, that's a no?" he said sarcastically.
Ritsuko looked at the boy and smirked, realizing he was probably right. She went on to her work as Misato came over to the boy.
"Why the sudden interest in being paid, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked.
"I'm the only available pilot with a working Eva and you're sending me into a volcano to capture a live Angel. Guy needs some incentive to do this, right?"
"You agreed to pilot without wanting us to find the other pilot candidates." she pointed out.
"Yeah. I put myself out front so others wouldn't have to, but I'm not stupid enough to just do it for free." he replied.
"Why do I not believe that?" she smirked.
Shinji paused and smiled at the woman. "So what have you got to keep me alive in molten lava?"
"Let me show you."
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"You have got to be kidding me!" Shinji grumbled after adjusting the suit.
"Why? What's wrong?" Misato asked from outside the locker room.
"I look like that kid from 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. You know, the one that turned into a giant blueberry." he said as he walked out of the locker room, his plugsuit now expanded to an enormous spherical shape yet maintained his ability to walk.
Misato couldn't help but laugh a little at the image that waddled out.
"Would you like to wear this suit?" Shinji threatened.
"Sorry. But there is a reason for this Shinji." Misato said.
"Special insulation to keep you from sweating to death and overheating. And the special D-Type Extreme Hazardous Environmental Equipment we use on the Eva, while it looks like a deep-sea hard suit, is specially made for situations like this." Ritsuko stated as she wrote in her clipboard.
However, Shinji wasn't convinced. "There's something your not telling me."
Ritsuko smirked. Shinji had become more perceptive.
"The suit's were made for deep submersion in magma, the hardsuit to protect Eva, the new plugsuit to keep you from roasting. But even they have their limits. Go too deep and the pressure will collapse the hardsuit and the Eva." the blond explained.
"And how deep is deep?" Shinji asked.
"We... never had a chance to test it under extreme volcanic conditions." she said sheepishly.
"Already I love this!" he said sarcastically as he depressurized his plugsuit back to it's original body tight fitting pressure.
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Shinji and Unit 01 were perched at the mouth of the volcano. Actually they were hanging over the mouth of the volcano, the pool located several dozens meters down from the mouth.
"Commence Operation!" Misato shouted.
"And the monkey goes for a swim." Shinji chirped as his Eva was lowered into the pool.
While the descent continued, past the upper layer of the lava itself, the boy himself falling into a state of meditation. His thoughts drifting back to that day he had left Tokyo-3.
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"Welcome back, Shinji." the older man said as the boy stepped off the train in New Osaka.
"Hello, sensei." the boy said.
"Did you find what you were looking for?"
"...no." he said with obvious sadness.
"I see. Well, Sayuri and I kept your room."
"Thank you."
The pair drove back to the house where the middle aged woman met them, sweeping the boy into warm hug.
It was a couple days later. Shinji hadn't left his room. He had just been sleeping, reading, and crying.
So what now, little man? A strange figure asked as Shinji rose his head up to see that he was no longer in his room. But he was on a train of sorts. He was sitting in the middle of the car itself, across from another figure, dressed in a shirt and shorts. His head was down but his hair was combed like his.
What? Who are you? Shinji asked.
I am you. the figure said, not lifting his eyes up to meet him.
Me? Then... who am I?
Not even going to fight for your identity are we?
What do you mean?
You're weak, Shinji Ikari. That's why you really left everyone in Tokyo-3.
They didn't want me.
They needed you.
Misato told me to go.
Maybe there was a reason for it.
She didn't want me. She apologized for putting so much on me.
She needed you just like the rest.
The rest?
That injured girl, Rei. Those computer techs. That blond doctor. Misato's penguin. The kids at your school.
They're better off without me.
If that's what you believe, then it must be true.
It is.
Then you really will be alone, you idiot.
I am alone.
Come On! You are never alone. You just want to be because you think you deserved it. It wasn't your fault your mother died, but you believed it was. Your self-pity is pathetically overwhelming you know that? Your mother wouldn't have wanted this for you.
Mother...
Think about this, Shinji. Do you remember what kind of person she was?
I don't... I don't remember.
I think you do. You just chose to forget. You forgot your own mother!
No! I didn't... I ... I... mother! He thought as he began crying again.
What do you remember about her, Shinji?
Why do you want to know?!!!
BECAUSE YOU NEED TO!!!
His mind strained as to remember what he had chosen to forget all those years ago.
I remember... her smile.
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(Shinji! Scanners are blind up here. But you should be getting close to the estimated position of the Angel!) Misato said through the communicator.
"Right." Shinji replied as he got the Eva's external camera's up to full viewing.
The images were all red and there was little in the way of actual images, shapes or forms.
"It ridiculously blurry down here."
(How blurry is it?)
"It's so blurry you think the volcano was drinking your beer."
He heard laughter on the other end.
(Can you make out anything?)
"Nothing down here to make out with."
(Except the Angel.)
"Only if it's as pretty as you."
(Enough with the jokes you two!) Ritsuko's voice came across the comm. (You should be able to see something, Shinji.)
"Still not seeing..."
SQUEAL!!!
(What was that?) Misato asked.
"That would be the sound of the D-Type Equipment starting to buckle under the pressure of this boiling hot volcano." Shinji replied.
(Should we pull you up?) Misato asked, sounding panicked.
"Hold it! I see something. It's vague, but I think it's the Angel." Shinji replied.
(Can you get it?) Ritsuko asked.
"Just a few more meters."
Within seconds, Shinji was in position and had the electro-magnetic cage wrapped around the Angel.
"This is Shinji! I've got the Angel!"
(Roger! Bringing you up now!) Misato shouted orders to the crew.
However, within seconds of being lifted back up to the surface, the Angel started waking up.
(Shinji! We're detecting seismic activity!) Ritsuko shouted.
(What's going on?) Misato asked.
"The Angel's Waking Up!" Shinji shouted.
True to his prediction, the Angel exploded out from the electro-magnetic cage and started swimming around and towards him.
"ARGH!" he shouted as the Angel collided with his Eva.
(Shinji!) Misato shouted.
"I'm under attack!" Shinji shouted.
(We're bringing you back up!)
"NO!"
(WHAT?) The woman gasped.
"If This Thing Gets Out Of The Volcano, It'll Head Straight To NERV! We Have To Stop It Here!" he shouted at the woman as he dropped the capture cage and pulled his Prog. Knife.
(You're In It's Element, Shinji! It Has The Advantage!) Ritsuko shouted.
"ARGH!" he cried out as the Angel slammed into him again. "That's What It Thinks!"
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Back on the surface...
"Ma'am! Unit 01's AT-Field is spreading!" Maya Ibuki shouted from her console.
"Spreading? What is he doing?" Misato gasped.
"Is he trying to fight it in molten lava?" Ritsuko asked.
"Guess so." Misato said as a small earthquake shook the mobile headquarters.
"What that the volcano, or him?" the blond asked.
"MA'AM!" Maya shouted.
"What?"
"The pilots synch ratio is increasing! It's up to 70"
"WHAT?" both women clamored.
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Shinji's AT-Field spread past the point of the D-Type Equipment's restrictions, exploding the suit and encasing the purple Eva in a personal force field of sorts.
"Alright, baby! Come to Shinji!" the boy growled as the Angel advanced on him once more.
Though the visibility of the magma made it difficult to see, Shinji was able to see the vague outline of the Angel just before it struck him. Quickly maneuvering by use of both arms and legs, Shinji was able to make Unit 01 jump up just in time to avoid the large mouth of the Angel and grab onto it's back, enabling him to ride it like a man riding a shark.
"NOW I'VE GOT YOU!" Shinji shouted as he wrestled with the lava-borne Angel as it continued to thrash about inside the lava.
His AT-Field still holding, Shinji grabbed what he thought was the mouth of the Angel and turned it upwards to the surface.
"MISATO! Get Ready With The Coolant!" he shouted.
(Coolant?) The woman asked, confused.
"When I tell you, release all the coolants into the middle tube of the D-Type Equipment's suit, and cover your head!"
(Cover my head?)
Shinji steered the Angel towards the surface as it continued to swim at high speeds. The second it broke the face of the magma, Shinji pushed the Eva to leap off the Angel, and used the forward momentum to catapult himself back up to the rim of the volcano.
Like a performer at Sea World being propelled through the air by a trained killer whale as it broke the surface.
Shinji had also managed to steer the Angel directly under the harness that had lowered the Eva into the flow. Which meant that the coolant tubes were pointed directly at the Angel as it broke the surface.
"MISATO NOW!" Shinji shouted as his Eva flew up and landed on the ridge.
The purple hair woman slammed her hands into the console and flushed all the coolant into the tube, giving the surfacing magma-Angel a shower of super cold coolants. The intense cold washed over the Angel and froze it in an instant, straight to it's core.
It was frozen solid before falling back into the lava where it melted away completely.
"Ma'am! Angel's blue pattern has vanished!" Maya said.
Misato rushed out of the mobile command unit as Shinji ejected from the entry plug.
"Shinji?" Misato gasped as she ran up to the lava-less Eva. "Are you alright?"
"I HAVE RIDDEN THE MIGHTY LAVA WORM!" the boy shouted as he pumped his fist into the air.
The woman grimaced a little. "Show off." she said, then smiled.
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As a reward for defeating the Angel, the NERV crew was treated to a relaxing day at a nearby hot springs. Misato had also arranged for PenPen to join them.
Shinji and Misato were the first ones there because the others had 'clean-up' work to do. The boy must have been tired because he found his way not to the men's side of the hot springs, but the women's side. He must have also not cared that you had to be naked to use these springs.
"Well this is nice." he said sarcastically as he rested his back against the rocks of the pool.
"Something wrong, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked as she hung her legs over the side of the pool where she sat next to Shinji, her upper torso exposed to the warm steam air. Misato was actually using this whole thing to tease the boy a little. She wondered if anyone would think her a slut for sitting here beside him with only a towel to keep her covered, but knew that Shinji was in the women's side and he had walked in on his own accord.
"First you dunk me in molten magma, then dunk me in boiling hot water." he said, as he sat up on the rock, his towel over his lap. He was almost sitting level with the woman.
"You complain too much." she said, patting his head.
"Yeah, I know. So why didn't Ritsuko and the others come by?" he asked, craning his neck to get the kinks out.
"They'll be by later. Why? Did you want to see them naked as well?" she teased.
Shinji then reached around and grabbed one of Misato's breasts.
"SHINJI!" she gasped at his boldness.
"I was right. They are real." he smirked.
"Why You Little...!" she clamored as she jumped at the boy, wrapping her arms around his head and tackling him under the water of the heated pools.
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"So, why did you do that, Shinji-kun?" she asked as she hugged him tightly from behind, her chest pressed up against his back. "After you calling me mother, I was a little shocked you started groping me."
"Well, I do think of you as a mother. Since you were kind enough to take me in and all." Shinji replied. "But... we're not related by blood, and I'm sure that my father isn't going to give me hazard pay, so I figured..."
"You'd take your reward out of me?" she interjected.
"It was well worth it."
"Why You!" she laughed as she put him in a tight headlock.
"I'm serious!" he gasped.
"Meaning?"
"You're a beautiful woman, Misato." he said, causing Misato to ease up on her headlock. No one had ever called her beautiful before. Not her mother, her father, even Kaji when they were dating in college. "Being with a beautiful woman like you, like this, right now, is something that every man and boy my age would kill for." he said as he turned around to face her, not blushing in the slightest. "You care about me like family, however close that might be."
"This is a little closer than most." she stated, reminding him of their nudity.
"This is a war, Misato. We fight to live, to continue to exist. But to forget what we fight for would be as bad as just giving up."
"So... you needed a reason to fight?" she asked.
"You're my family, Misato." he said seriously. "I'll fight for you." he said as she smiled warmly, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. The woman blushed a little, speechless. Suddenly, a splashing caught their attention as a penguin paddled past them. "And you too PenPen."
The pair laughed as the penguin continued swimming. Misato kissed the side of Shinji's head, just holding the boy to her tightly.
Yes, I'll fight for you, Misato. And PenPen. But also for Rei and the people of NERV. They're my family, after all. Shinji thought as he just enjoyed the embrace the woman gave him.
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Author's Notes:
It's been a while since I updated this story. For a time I was wondering myself if I would ever get this story updated. But after so many people kept sending in reviews, so I decided to add on to and make more of these. I'm probably going to be adding more chapter later on, but for now here's #2.
And I have made this so that people will see the changes that Shinji went through during his two months way from NERV and Tokyo-3.
This is mostly a Shinji/Misato chapter. The whole story I decided is going to be a Shinji/Rei/Misato story like some have suggested.
And as always, Read and Review.
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OMAKE!
Shinji then reached around and grabbed one of Misato's breasts.
"SHINJI!" she gasped at his boldness.
"I was right. They are real." he smirked.
"Why You Little...!" she clamored as she jumped at the boy, wrapping her arms around his head and tackling him under the water of the heated pools.
Naked wrestling in a hot springs with a sexy young woman would have normally made Shinji faint dead away. But he wasn't the same boy he was when he first arrived in Tokyo-3.
The pair struggled a bit before Misato brought them up to the surface, her arms wrapped around the boy as her chest pressed against his. She had stopped struggling under the water and the second she noticed this, she brought him back up.
"Are you alright, Shinji-kun?" she asked. "I didn't get water in your lungs, did I?"
"No, you didn't." he gasped. "Just in my mouth."
"Let me see." she asked as Shinji suddenly leaned in and kissed her flush on the mouth.
Her eyes opened wide as the boy kissed her.
He pulled back and just stared into her eyes. "Misato-chan?"
"Where did you learn to kiss like that?" she asked.
"Did you like it?" he asked.
"Yes, actually." she smiled as she touched her forehead to his, staring into his eyes. "Even Kaji never kissed me like that."
Shinji smiled as he leaned in and kissed Misato again, the woman reciprocating this time.