A/N: Oh my. What a hectic few days it has been. I'm kind of in a grumpy mood as I type this. But perhaps it's for the better, as it will help set the mood for the opening chapter. Let's go!
Slight warning: Some sexually related content in this chapter. You've been warned. No lemons/limes though.
Zack Harper was definitely feeling like he was in the hot seat. Even though it was just an average kitchen chair, it was now the hot seat. Sitting right across from him was the Big Bad Wolf, usually known as Misato.
"Since I have figured out that you know a LOT more about sex than I first had thought," began Misato, "I'm going to cut to the chase. As angry as I am, and as much as I'd like to keep you and Elly from going at it like lowland gorillas ever again, I am not completely without mercy."
"So what are you going to do then?" asked Zack who Misato noticed was shaking nervously.
"We're going to play a little game Zack," answered Misato who lips slowly into a grin. "I am going to give you three options, one at a time. If you choose the option I put before you, you will be able to neither hear the others nor be able to retract to a previous option. And if you refuse all three options, one will be chosen at random." She glared at him. "Are you ready?"
"Yes…"
"Good. The first option is that we will both walk away from this table as if this never occurred, however you and Elly will be absolutely forbidden to have any sort of contact period. Do you select this option?" asked Misato.
"No."
"Careful, don't push your luck too much," teased Misato. Oh boy she was going to have fun making him squirm. "Now for your second option. The second option is that we both get up from this table, and you are to be grounded for a total of exactly three weeks. And after that, you will be permitted contact with Elly again. Do you select this option?" the guardian asked again.
Now Zack had to be nervous. This game could potentially cost his relationship with Elly. 'Aww dammit! Why the hell did I choose to get some? We only did it because we honest to God thought we were gonna die against the Black Angel!' Zack pondered the situation. 'Well, the first option is obviously out. So now I can either take the safe one and go on a 3-week hiatus, or do I risk it all on the third option?'
"Zack. Answer me now."
'Screw this! What fun can you have in life if you take no chances? Bring on the third option!' Zack said to himself. "No."
"Very well then," replied Misato. "Now I'll present the third choice. You reject this and I'll choose one at random. And that will be the punishment you will receive, for better or for worse."
"Then let's get this over with."
"Very well, I present to you what I will call Pandora's box," said Misato.
"What?" shot back a surprised Zack. "That could be anything!"
"That is correct. When it was opened, all its contents were freed from the box. But one thing remained. Hope. And within that box is your hope to be able to maintain contact with Elly. So do you take the third option and whatever it may hold?"
"Yes," was Zack's answer He had come this far and was not about to let his relationship with Elly be subject to a game of chance. "What's in the box?" he sighed.
"Very well. The first content of the box is this," declared Misato. "Your moment with Elly, what was it like? I want you to tell me. She took his wrists and held them in her hands. I can make a very good lie detector. I can sense if you're lying. And if you lie to me and I catch you, you won't be near Elly ever again. I'm going to ask you some questions. You will answer with either yes or no. You will only need to answer further if I demand it so. Are you ready?"
'Oh my god, what a bitch,' thought Zack. 'Ah well, may as well tell her. Elly would probably tell the story anyways, then give advice to people on sex.' "Let's do this."
"Okay," began Misato, "first off, when you and Elly had sex, did she feel any pain at the start?"
Zack was silent for a moment, analyzing Misato's question. It was rather obvious, as Misato wanted to know if Elly was a virgin or not when they first did it. "Yes."
"Good, you're telling the truth… so far." Misato kept going. "Next question. Did you use any form of protection when you had sex?"
'Oh man Asuka and the others were right. Misato is a pervert. And now I'm stuck playing this game.'
"Yes."
"Now for my next question: did she make a lot of noise while you two did the deed?"
'You are sick,' "Yes." 'I'll bet you're disappointed you didn't bloody hear it!' roared Zack in his mind.
"Fourth question," snapped Misato. "Did you two have any other forms of sex while you were at it?"
'Who do you think we are? Porn stars? I at least like to think we're teens that are in love, but made a wrong decision.' "No."
"And now for your final question," said Misato. "Answer this truthfully, and you'll be halfway through Pandora's box to grasp the hope you are looking for. Your last question is…"
Zack was now very worried. He knew right away that Misato was not going to hold back with her last question. She had already done a ton of damage with her first four questions, and now she was about to deliver the final blow.
"… Did she climax?"
'Whoa! Talk about way over the top! She doesn't need to know that! I bet she's killing herself laughing knowing that she's making me squirm like this. Someone kill me now. I guess I have no choice.'
"Yes."
"I see," said Misato. "And I believe you have answered me truthfully, which gets you past the first stage of Pandora's box. And now, for the second part of this box."
Misato then handed Zack a sheet of paper. Zack looked at it for a moment before his face turned to pure horror. "You want me to fight in a martial arts tournament?"
"That's correct," smirked Misato. "By agreeing to fight in this tournament, I'll allow you to have contact with Elly again. Refusal means no Elly. And oh, by the way the grand prize is an imported blue BMW. They're all the rage right now."
"So you want me to fight for you against a bunch of other go-hard black belts just so you can have a car?" asked Zack who wished to confirm his fate.
"Yes exactly. I think this will teach you not to fuck around on my watch," declared Misato. "I was going to just ask Ivana to fight, but I think I like this better," she finished with a smirk.
Zack placed his head down on the table and moaned, 'Why me? Why me? And why do I got this feeling that Elly got off easy?'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NERV HQ - Elly's Room
"Oh my god, what a bitch. She made you tell everything? You should ask her about her casual romps with Kaji." Elly wasn't too amused about Zack spilling to Misato the events of that time before the 6th Black Angel. And what she got from Dr. Akagi was nothing compared to what Zack got. All she got was a simple pregnancy test and not so pushy questions. All this happened because she had caught the flu the night before.
"Hmm. So she's making you fight in a martial-arts tournament? So she can win a car? That sounds like fun." A pause passes while Elly listens in. "C'mon Zack, how hard can that be?" Zack says something else. "Oh okay. And hey look at it this way, you can beat people up. You'll even get a shot at Ivana." Elly listens some more before speaking again, "Oh don't worry, I'm sure you'll do just fine. I'll be there to cheer you on. I gotta go make dinner for the NERV blokes. Love ya! Bye!"
Once she hung up, she sighed in frustration. Why would Misato be getting bent out of shape over sex that was thought through thoroughly and that had no accidents? "Damn her! She's a real believer in the saying 'Do as I say, and not as I do'. Why would she want to know if it bloody well hurt or not? It did hurt though. Ah well, time to make dinner now."
She looked around her room for a cookbook. It was time to feed some hungry bellies. And not many could do it better than she could. 'Hmm, perhaps something from the English delicacy would interest them tonight,' she thought. 'Now where's that book? Damn! It's coloured pink and I got so many pink things.' Peeking over the microwave, she located it. It was a pink book said to be full of great English dinners that one could make.
Thumbing through the book, Elly was shocked at what she saw. "Damn! There's enough grease in these dinners to give my Unit 06 a lube job!" She quickly flipped through some more pages, "Okay, let's find something old King Charles would eat for dinner!"
After looking through the entire book, she frowned at the selection in front of her. Well it wasn't much, but it would have to do. Tomorrow is definitely something from the Australian menu. Going into her closet, she donned her white (surprise!) apron and chef hat. As she walked into the NERV cafeteria's kitchen, the other cooks in there greeted her.
"Hello Elly," one of the female cooks said to her, "it's your turn to decide what to make tonight."
"I know, I know," replied Elly. "It's going to be easy tonight. I picked this one out of an English cookbook."
"So what'll it be?" asked a male cook."
"Fish and chips."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coffee Shop
Loneliness was beginning to take its toll on Kensuke Aida. He hadn't really spoken to the others in the past three weeks. Since the others had joined NERV, he felt like the others were going to leave him out of the loop. Since he didn't want to feel the burden of having to accept that, he pushed the others away. But now after three weeks, he wondered if he was making the right decision by staying away from the others.
Since it had suddenly begun raining heavily, he decided to seek temporary refuge in a coffee shop. Sitting in a booth with a coffee in front of him, he felt it could be easier to brood over his thoughts.
His thoughts drifted to his first memories with Toji and Shinji, and how this whole thing began. It was definitely strange how Shinji had befriended them indeed. Then all the other hectic events took place. And along the way, his friends had eventually joined the ranks of Evangelion pilots. All the while he had been left out to dry. And from what he gathered, Toji and Shinji both hated piloting, and Elly had other reasons as for why she was piloting. While Kensuke on the other hand would be the first volunteer in line if NERV ever needed pilots.
"It's just not fair," he muttered.
"What isn't fair?" asked a voice.
"Huh?" Kensuke's head shot up and looked around for the source of the voice. It came from a figure, clad completely in black from head to toe. This person had a glass of coffee in his hand and apparently was completely soaked because of the rain.
"I'm sorry, did I startle you?" asked the person in question. The person had a female's voice, so Kensuke assumed she was a woman, despite the black hood covering her head and the top half of her face. From the information he had, Kensuke estimated her to be somewhere in her early twenties.
"N-no not at all," replied Kensuke.
"Ah that's good," said the woman. She stared at him as if she was staring into his soul. Kensuke still couldn't see her eyes, but she could see two light brown braids in the back of her hood. "You look troubled, care for some company?" she asked sweetly.
"Sure, not at all. I warn you though, I'm not in the best of moods though."
"That's alright," replied the woman in the hood. "I've associated with many people in my lifetime. And they've had all sorts of moods, from being downright depressed to where they look like they're about to erupt." She sipped her coffee before speaking again. "I'm curious, what makes your condition so special that you can't converse with me?"
"I'm feeling down at the moment. Angry with my for- err friends and sort of with myself," sighed Kensuke.
"Why would you be angry with them?"
"Have you ever heard of the Evangelions?" Kensuke asked this woman.
"Of course I have!" answered the woman. "They're what people say are what will save this world from so-called damnation from God's Angels."
"Well all my friends eventually have been chosen to pilot those things. And the Evangelions look so cool too. I've always wanted to pilot, but I've never been chosen. It just isn't fair. And then I blew up at one of my friends because he got to be a pilot even though he hated it, and I keep getting passed over again and again."
"Would you really want to risk your life like that? I hear fighting Angels are very dangerous," the woman asked.
"Yes I would," replied Kensuke who had no doubt in his eyes, "I would put my life on the line for a chance. It's what any soldier would do."
"Hmm I see. So let me ask you a question. Would you fight for NERV and pilot their Evangelions if they were fighting for the wrong cause?"
"Why do you ask that?" Kensuke wasn't too sure where this was going.
"Well say you wanted to become a soldier more than anything in Nazi Germany, back over 70 years ago. And you found out about the atrocities that the Nazis were found to have committed. Would it make you change your mind about becoming a soldier?" the woman clarified.
"No I wouldn't want to become a soldier then," declared Kensuke.
"That's my point. But what if your friends were working for someone who was a madman who would do anything to get what he wanted. Would you want to be of 'use' to him?"
"No I wouldn't. But I heard that Shinji's father isn't the madman Shinji alleges he once was!" said Kensuke. "I've actually seen him defend Shinji from a psychotic gym teacher."
"Hmm, interesting indeed," replied the woman. "Perhaps my information is outdated. It's been a while since I have been to this area." She took another sip. "You are definitely an interesting person for one of your age. One who is willing to fight, but at the same time, will not fight for the wrong cause. You have a strong sense of justice indeed. It's quite inspiring to say the least."
"You really think so?" asked Kensuke. He was quite amazed that with a few words, he could gain the respect of a stranger who started up a conversation with him.
"I can say that without a doubt. But now back to my original question, why would you be angry with your friends because you were passed over? Do you feel that they were just using you for their entertainment purposes? And now that they're part of the in-crowd, that you are nothing to them?"
"I don't know. This has made me confused," answered Kensuke. "I don't know whether to go back to them, or not to because they left me out to dry."
"That's a choice that definitely tests the soul in every one of us," said the woman. "And it will be a choice you have to make. I found myself having to make that choice long ago myself."
"Really?"
"Yes I did." She then looked outside. "Oh look the rain has ended. I think it's alright for you to go now and not worry about being soaked." She gulped down the rest of her coffee. "I'll be going now too. Perhaps we'll meet again someday. May I get your name, so that I can remember this conversation?"
"My name is Kensuke. Kensuke Aida."
"I see. Well, it was very nice talking to you indeed Kensuke. I bid you good day. And keep with you that sense of justice. It would be sad if that goodness in your heart got tainted." And with that she made her way out of the shop.
"Hmm, that was strange indeed," said Kensuke aloud. 'Wait! I never got her name!' He charged out of the shop to seek her out and find out her name. But as he looked down the street, there was no one there.
"Damn! She disappeared! Who was she?" he wondered. Not really knowing what else he could do, but feeling better than he had been in previous days, he made his way home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unknown Place
The woman walked through the facility she had been in recently. She was looking for the older hooded man to tell him how it went. But she couldn't find him.
"So what's your take on what happened?" asked a voice that came from behind her.
She turned around to face the voice. It was her master in his usual garb of black clothing to go with a black hood. "It didn't go too well my lord."
"Be at ease. It is quite an interesting task you've undertaken, attempting to corrode the heart of one of Ikari's closest friends," said the man. "If your goal was to mess Aida up completely on the first go, then you're lucky it went like it did."
"How so Master?"
"By carrying out a conversation as you did, you showed him that he has a strong sense of justice and that he's a good person. Something he didn't realize himself. The next time you converse with him, he'll likely be more open to you. And with the right touch of words, we can corrode his heart, and he'll think Ikari and his friends are the evil ones. Nothing does happen in one sitting. Something happens after many sittings."
The woman had another question. "Where are we going to get another EVA? Unit 10 is already in use for the little one's project."
"I have contacts in China," replied the man. "When you are ready to bring Aida before me, I'll have some strings pulled. He will pilot Unit 08."
"Ikari and Suzahara won't believe it when their opponent is their best friend."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Misato's House
"Humph! I knew it! You whore humping Canadians have no goddamn fucking morals!" roared Asuka. "And you're letting him get off the hook for this Misato?"
"He's not getting off the hook Asuka," sighed Misato who was into her third beer of the night. "It was coincidental. This tournament is coming up, and I want to win this car. And I can punish him at the same time."
"Yeah," said Zack. "So if you want to get in Shinji's pants, not that he'd object, just sign up for this tournament."
"I can't believe you! Sex is supposed to be something you treat with care, not that you two would know anything about that!" Asuka stomped off.
"She has a point you know," called out Ivana who was in the middle of a book. "You two don't know anything about love. All you two are obsessed with is getting in someone's pants."
"Hey!" shot back Zack. "If you had one last chance with your lover, whoever he may be knowing you, and you thought you were going to die, wouldn't you want one final or perhaps only time with the love in question?"
"No, because I am not the type of person you are," she answered putting down her book. "And I sure hope we will be facing each other in that tournament," her angry face began turning into a grin, "because I am going to enjoy punishing you." She then proceeded to crack every bone in her knuckles, and then in her neck.
Ivana's gesture scared the hell out of Zack. 'Oh my god, she's not human. I still can't crack my knuckles.' "I'm hitting the showers. Maybe the steam will help clear my mind."
Rei, who had been sitting on the pullout couch reading the book 'Learning How to Smile', now spoke up with a question of her own, "When is this tournament Misato?"
"Oh it's in a week from now. So Casanova has a week to do everything he wants before he gets his Canadian ass handed to him."
Asuka, after taking a brief walk after stomping off earlier found herself back at Misato's residence. The reason she blew up like she did was because she knew her period was going to begin soon, and well… it can make even the most pleasant girls bitchy.
She opened the door, and the first person she saw was… Wondergirl? Ah well it was better than Zack any day. She quickly made her way into her room, assuming that's where Shinji was. Once she opened, stepped inside and closed the door, she was surprised the room was completely dark. No lights on or anything. In the darkness however, she could make out a figure sitting up against the wall. And there was a faint noise in the background. She opened the door a crack to let some light in. It was Shinji indeed, but he was sleeping while sitting up against the wall. And he had that SDAT on.
Closing the door again, she decided to find out exactly what he was listening to for herself. She sat down next to him and pulled out one of the earphones and stuck it in her ear. To her surprise, it was… classical music. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and let the music take her away.
As Asuka was slowly being soothed by the music, she forgot all about Casanova, her period, and Misato's poor excuse for punishment. All she could think about was how good of a shoulder Shinji had, and the music of Ode to Joy.
A/N: And that's another chapter under wraps! I've been quite busy over the past week. Prepping for a golf trip, battling a NASTY cold, and more forum wars (This time, fighting on the right side too. And this is the 3rd one too!). Not too big on the ending myself, so please don't hurt me!
A/O/N: I can't believe it's been a year now since I started this! May have slowed up a bit, but I'm still going strong! And I will till the very end! HAPPY ANIVERSARY from all the crew at Misato's apartment!
Shinji: Wow. It's been a year already. I can't believe it.
Asuka: I wish this were already over! Because I can't stand Casanova.
Rei: It has been 365 days. And the author has decided to alter my appearance.
Zack: Aha! One year of me! Let's hope the next year of me is even better!
Ivana: Dare to dream.
Misato: I need a beer.
Elly: Yay! It's been a whole year!
Gendo: Definitely not in the scenario.
Omake
"Fourth question," snapped Misato. "Did you two have any other forms of sex while you were at it?"
'Who do you think we are? Porn stars? I at least like to think we're teens that are in love, but made a wrong decision.' "Geez Misato. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!"
"Oh no," muttered Misato snapping back her arms.
"What?" asked Zack. "What is it Misato?"
Suddenly, a bunch of crazy people burst through the door and charged into the kitchen, nearly trampling Pen-Pen in the process. They stopped at the table where Misato and Zack were. "NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!" one of them said before leaving as fast as they came.
Zack looked at his guardian who had her head held in her hands. "Uh, are you gonna keep firing questions at me?"
"Just leave," moaned Misato. "I got a headache now. This is why I broke up with Kaji. The Spanish Inquisition."
Until 64, be cool!
PS- Now for your sneak preview!
Something is coming.
More powerful than the EVA Series…
More powerful than any Black Angel so far…
More powerful than Kirishima…
He is coming. Very soon. Very, very soon.
Strap yourselves in for the upcoming Project V Saga. It will be a real blast from the past. A past only one knows about. And only one knows how dangerous he really is. And what will they do when even Shinji is no match for this terror? Find out how this unfolds in Project V: The Awakening.