A/N: Well, it's been a while since I got reviews for this fanfic. 4 days! OMG! I'm gonna go crazy! But hey, did no good reviews stop Colonel Sanders? Nope! And that's why I'll keep going! Meh, I know you people have busy lives and can't spend all your time focusing on me! Don't worry; when you come back here from doing whatever you do, there'll be nice chapters waiting for you. Now here's the introduction of the latest character! On with the story!
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Misato got a phone call from the NERV hospital. It was confirmation that Rei had made a full recovery from her concussion that she had suffered at the hands of her evil clone. That fact that she was the last surviving Rei gave her a new sense of identity. It really helped her recovery. At least that's what Ritsuko was saying.
After finishing her third beer, she decided to see what the kids were doing. Shinji and Asuka were watching a comedy show on TV. It was some silly show where young mothers who have slept with a few too many people were on the show trying to find out whom their baby's father was. Misato even thought it was funny to watch the alleged father's face of joy and the mother's shock when it was found out he was not the baby's father.
She looked outside. Ivana was outside practicing her martial arts. To her surprise, Pen-Pen was also outside AND practicing alongside her. 'What a penguin,' she thought. 'If we introduced him back to the wild, I would feel sorry for the other penguins.'
She then checked to see what Zack was doing. To her surprise, Zack was reading a very large book. After watching him for five minutes, she noticed Zack was making movements to turn a page, but he never turned the pages of the large book. So she decided to investigate.
"What are you reading Zack?" asked Misato curiously.
Zack seemed to be in a dire situation. The last thing he wanted was Misato to catch him looking at the content he was looking at that he had hidden within the large book. His brain collectively thought up ways to throw off Misato for even five seconds. An idea quickly came.
"Hey look! It's Kaji!"
"What? Where?" Misato suddenly ran out the door to look for the man she loved… sometimes. However, he was gone. When she came back, she noticed that Shinji, Zack, and Asuka were laughing at whatever was on TV. Luckily for Zack, thinking about Kaji had made Misato forget what she was doing in the first place. Zack was safe for the moment, with the secret magazine tucked underneath his shirt. He made a mental note to bury it somewhere deep in the garbage with the world never knowing what was hidden within its pages.
Later that day, Rei had come home from the hospital. Now that Misato was feeling better, she decided to call a family meeting.
"So why are calling a meeting?" asked Shinji.
"This had better be important!" said a frustrated Asuka. "I'm missing my favourite show just for this stupid meeting!"
"Just sit tight and I'll tell you all," replied Misato. The kids quickly shut up and listened. "You know, since the Angels appeared, our lives have been made a living hell by them. And 3rd Impact hasn't been help either. To top it off, terrorists are also trying to kill us too."
"So what are you suggesting?" asked Zack.
"I'm proposing that we should take a vacation!" declared Misato. "We all need some time to just get away from all of this shit for a little while."
"Really?" asked Shinji. "Could we really do that?"
"No guarantees though," said Misato. "But I will ask the commander for permission. If he's okay with it, we'll definitely do it!"
This got all the kids jumping for joy. Even Rei was somewhat happy about getting away from all the troubles EVA gave them and just be people trying to enjoy life for a short while. But would Commander Ikari allow it?
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NERV HQ - Commander Ikari's Office
Gendo looked over the information given to him. He was reading about Rei's medical reports. He was glad that SEELE's latest attempt to get rid of NERV using Unit 02's dummy plug had failed again. And he knew there was no way they could try the type of invasion they did on the day of 3rd Impact.
He took some time to remember the conversation he had with his son. He hated himself for being such an asshole to his son, who chose to pilot EVA just to earn his respect. Now that Gendo had seen the error of his ways, he hoped he could find any way possible to make up for it. He made some notes to have extra money put aside to cover any post-secondary education that Shinji and his friends may require. If he could find any other way to make up for what he did, he would do it. Any way…
Suddenly, Misato came into his office.
"What do you want Major?"
Misato saluted her superior. "Ah Commander. I have a special request of you."
"Go on."
"I've been talking with the kids today. They have been through a lot. Angels, 3rd Impact, terrorists, twisted cults, and near-death experiences. They may not show it, but I can sense that their morale is slowly shaking."
Gendo wanted Misato to get to the point. "What do you want me to do about it?"
Misato gave her proposal. "I hereby request your permission that I take the children outside of Japan somewhere for a vacation. I believe a vacation away from all of this would be a good boost for their morale."
Gendo listened and said nothing for a while. After about two minutes of dead silence, Misato figured that the commander was thinking it over. Misato had a good belief that this would work, as Ritsuko said that Gendo had changed a lot since the dunk tank incident. He was still the calm and cool commander, but he seemed a lot more reasonable that he used to.
After another minute, Misato decided to break the silence. "Commander?"
"Australia."
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"Really? He's gonna let us go?" Asuka was all excited.
"Yup," said Misato with a wink. "Myself, you kids, Pen-Pen, and Toji all get to take a two-week vacation with all expenses paid for to Sydney, Australia. Commander Ikari's gonna let us go!"
"WOOHOO!" Zack was excited. "Time to leave the land of the noodles and go Down Under!"
"The body needs to be relaxed to be able to function at full strength. I believe this vacation will be good for all of us," said Ivana.
In about two hours, the kids had packed everything they needed with Asuka packing by far the most stuff. Zack had the largest thing packed which was a surfboard, which he pulled from a storage room in NERV.
They brought all of their briefcases to a NERV airplane. Yes, they would be flying first class all the way there. Toji was there waiting for them.
"Hey guys! What took so long!" he asked when they got there.
"Pilots Harper, Ikari, and Sohryu wanted to stop at a store and buy sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun," said Rei in a monotone voice.
"Well in any case, let's get going. Onto the plane!" shouted Misato.
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Commander Ikari's Office
"Are you sure letting them go to Australia was the right thing to do?" asked Vice-Commander Fuyutski.
"I saw no problem. If in the event of an emergency, we can have the children back here in one hour. On top of that, we have a NERV base in Australia. This will be a good opportunity as well for them to meet the Seventh Child."
"Are we acquiring the Seventh Child?"
Gendo folded his hands the way he always did. "Yes. And Unit 06 as well."
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Not long after the kids got onto the plane and got buckled up, the plane took off. Once it had, Misato handed out brochures.
"Here's some brochures," said Misato. Australia is dominantly English, so Zack and Ivana, you will have to be our interpreters. It's taking me a little longer than I thought to learn English. So wherever you go, make sure you are either with Zack or Ivana, as they understand the language better than any of you can."
Shinji, Toji, and Rei took it fine, but Asuka did not like having to depend on Zack or Ivana for guidance. "Why do we have to have one of them be with us? I can handle just fine on my own!"
"Oh really Asuka?" asked Zack in English.
"What the hell did you just say?" asked a confused Asuka.
"He said "Oh really Asuka" in English," said Ivana. "That alone shows how lost you will be should you get lost in Australia."
Ivana only got a loud "Humph!" from Asuka. Zack decided to try hitting on the female flight attendants with some actual success. Rei chose to read a book on how to learn English. Shinji listened to his SDAT. And Toji played a handheld video game. Misato used a laptop computer to keep trying to improve her English. She had gotten the idea to start learning English after not being able to talk to anyone in America unless they knew Japanese or German.
It would take about 3 hours to reach Sydney, as this was a pretty fast plane. When they were 15 minutes from landing, Misato had some final instructions for each of them. "Shinji, you are very famous around the world for saving mankind during 3rd Impact. Try not to attract much attention."
"Yes ma'am," said Shinji in a somewhat bored voice.
"Ivana, if possible, refrain from beating up anyone."
"I will try my best to avoid conflict," said Ivana.
"Asuka, remember to stick with either Zack or Ivana."
"Fine," the German said.
Toji, avoid conflicts with anyone. We don't want you getting hurt either." This resulted in laughs from everyone else.
"Hey shut up!"
"Zack, please don't sleep with any of the girls here. The last thing NERV needs is five different girls pregnant because of your behaviour around them."
Zack reacted with mock shock. "What? You actually think I would just get five random girls pregnant just like that?"
"YES!" shouted everyone else in unison.
"Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention," continued Misato. "We're landing at the NERV base here in Australia. Everyone at the base speaks Japanese and English, so communications here won't be a problem. On top of that, the Seventh Child is here too."
"Really?" asked Shinji. "What's this person like?"
"Not someone I found impressive in the lines of personality."
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As planned, they landed in the NERV base in Sydney. They got quite a reception from the NERV employees here. Mostly because Shinji was with them.
"Hey, that's Shinji!"
"Shinji! You rock man! You saved us!"
"Can I have your autograph?"
Shinji wasn't sure what to do. If Asuka didn't drag him away from the mob, he would have been swarmed. After getting away from the mob, they went deeper into the NERV with Zack guiding them as he read the signs to where the person in charge was. After a few minutes of walking, they found the Australian Commander's room.
They heard a booming voice from outside the door. "Come in." And so they entered. There was a man sitting behind a desk. This room was well lit, unlike Commander Ikari's room, which was usually very dark.
The man stood up. He was huge! "I'm Commander Rainer Von Croy," the man said. "As you have likely figured out, I'm the commander here. He looked at Shinji. "So you are the famous Shinji Ikari." He shook Shinji's hand. "Am I glad you saved our sorry asses during 3rd Impact." He faced everyone now. "Now, how was our greeting? Be honest."
Zack spoke up. "We got mobbed the minute we came in."
"WHAT?" Von Croy boomed. He went to his phone. "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? THAT'S NOT THE WAY TO TREAT GUESTS SHITHEADS! NOW GO RUN LAPS AROUND THE FACILITY!"
He hung up the phone. "I apologize."
"No problem," said Misato. His sudden yelling freaked everyone out. "By the way," Misato continued, "is the Seventh Child here?"
"Ah yes the Seventh Child is here," replied Von Croy. "Come on in."
A door behind him opened. A figure appeared in the doorway, and then walked into the room.
"So these are the EVA pilots huh mate?" said the figure. It had a girl's voice with a touch of attitude to it.
"Major Katsuragi and EVA pilots, I'd like you to meet the Seventh Child: Elly Simpson."
Everyone just stared at her for about 10 seconds when Asuka said: "Why are you wearing that in here?"
"I can wear whatever I want bitch," she replied. In the eyes of everyone, the males defintely, she was drop dead hot! She was slightly short than the other girls, being no more than five feet two inches and weighing no more than a hundred and ten pounds. She had sparkling blue eyes which gave off a sense of openess and joy. Her strawberry blonde hair matched her pink bikini which concealed an alarmingly large pair of breasts. "I think it goes great with my pink plugsuit and my pink EVA. But you couldn't see that because you're a crazy psychobitch!"
Asuka wasn't happy one bit about being insulted by a newcomer. "Easy now," said Von Croy. "No fighting between you two. Anyway, Elly was born and raised here. She's the pride and joy of Australia. A great kid, despite her faults."
"Why?" asked Zack. "What'd she do?"
"She was the one who stole the tank and took it for a joyride," said Von Croy with a frown.
"Oh yeah," said Zack. "I read about that. She's the one who tore through the downtown area!"
"Hey! That was an accident!" replied Elly. "Some pervert attacked me one day and I hid in the tank, and accidentally started it up!"
The rest of the kids laughed while the adults had a look of disgust. "Talk about Grand Theft Tank!" Zack had said.
"More like a freak accident gone freakier if I say so." Elly decided to get acquainted with them, starting with Rei. "Let's see, you are Rei Ayanami. First Child and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 00."
"Yes," said Rei.
She looked at Asuka next. "You're the bitch known as Asuka Sohryu. Native of Germany Pilot of Unit 02. And you got beaten by 3 Angels in a row."
Asuka was sure mad now. "SHUT UP!"
"Heh. I can see why you're the Devil-Incarnate." This only got more growling sounds and muttered death threats. Next she went to Ivana. "Ah you are Ivana Kharlamov. A native of Russia. Fifth Child and pilot of Unit 04"
"Correct," replied Ivana. "I am glad we will be working together."
After Ivana, she faced Toji. "And your Toji Suzahara, star of the school basketball team at your high school AND going out with a girl named Hikari Horaki. Fourth Child and pilot of Unit 03."
Any talks about him and Hikari could usually make Toji blush pretty fast. "Hey we're not going out!"
She ignored Toji and looked at Zack. "And you are Zack Harper. Canadian. The Sixth Child and pilot of Unit 05."
"Yup. Canadian and proud of it," said Zack speaking in English.
"Wow! You speak English! That's so cool!" said Elly with excitement in her voice. She could also speak English and Japanese.
She then looked at Shinji. "And last but definitely the best: Shinji Ikari. Savior of mankind. Third Child and the pilot of Unit 01."
"Uh yeah, that's me," said Shinji. Shinji wasn't that big on being seen as a hero for aborting 3rd Impact.
Elly continued. "And according to my reports, your current squeeze is Asuka Sohryu. But honestly, if you get tired of her, you KNOW where to find me."
Now Asuka was really mad. "IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU, KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY SHINJI YOU SKANK!"
"My, my. Aren't we the tempered one?"
This may have gone on a bit longer if Misato didn't get them all out of the room. "Okay, let's go to our hotel rooms."
Elly made one more announcement. "Yup. I got everyone registered into the rooms. You'll get your keys at the front desk. Now if you'll be on your way, I gotta hit the beach for a late-night swim. Laters!" She blew a kiss to Shinji and took off. And Asuka looked like she blew up.
And off they went. Shinji knew how to cool down Asuka quickly. By paying lots of attention to her! And it worked, Asuka was brought back down to earth and was busy talking about herself and how she was probably much better than Elly at piloting EVA anyway.
After walking along a path and with careful navigation by Zack, they arrived at their hotel. It was huge. Shinji asked Ivana what the hotel was called. Ivana told him it was called "The Starlight Paradise" It was 35 floors high! The kids, penguin, and Major went inside. It was luxurious! Commander Ikari had reserved them a five star hotel!
The receptionist seemed to recognize them when they went inside. "Ah, you are Major Katsuragi, and these are the EVA pilots," said the receptionist in Japanese.
"Yes, that's us. Commander Gendo Ikari reserved rooms for us."
"Ah yes. And the Seventh Child had the generosity of choosing which rooms everyone would be best with. I have your names on the keys here. I'll call your names out and you'll get your key."
The first called was Toji Suzahara. He received his key. "Alright. They're on the top floor! Wahoo!" He took off for the elevator.
Next was Rei Ayanami. She received her key and left for the elevator. Ivana did the same. Zack also did the same, except he stopped to flirt with a pretty girl. He got slapped this time. He walked back to the group. "Okay. I deserved that one," he said before going to the elevator. Misato got hers after that, and left with Pen-Pen.
"And here's the last one," said the receptionist.
"What? Only one key left?" asked Asuka.
The receptionist had a smile on his face. "Yes but it's the best room. Picked out specifically by Elly Simpson. It's for Shinji and Asuka Ikari."
Shinji winced. He knew Asuka wasn't ready to be called Asuka Ikari just yet. Asuka took the key and said "Come on Shinji. We need to set up the ground rules!" And off they went to the 35th floor!
The room the two were given was huge! There was a kitchen, with an entire kitchen set. There was a stove with pots and pans, and even a refrigerator. In the bathroom, there was a shower, AND a large hot tub. There were dressers too to put Shinji clothes and Asuka's many clothes in. There was a TV and to top it all off, a king sized bed.
The two took some time to unpack before Asuka went into the bathroom to change into her nightclothes. When she came back, she already found Shinji sleeping.
"Dork," she said teasingly even though she knew he couldn't hear her. "I was going to share the bed anyway." She crawled into bed and snuggled up. She rested her head on his chest so she could hear his heart beating slowly as he slept.
"Goodnight Shinji," she whispered. She kissed him once, and went to sleep.
A/N: And there you have it! Meet Elly Simpson everyone! Please review if you get the chance! Until 19, be cool!