New Perspective Evangelion.
There's always a first time...
I don't own NGE, someone else does.
A lot of stuff might be mentioned that's copyright
I don't own it either
It's just a bit of fun anyways
I...I
Saturday morning and I felt sick.
The caterpillars had pupated overnight, and emerged as a flock of ravenous, biting butterflies, each one fluttering in my stomach, gnawing away at the lining of my belly. I winced as each one nipped deeper. It wasn't nerves, as least I don't think it was. It was more like a bad morning hangover, but without the benefit of the night before. Lurching to the bathroom with my hand on my belly, the fact that today would most likely be my first Angel was the furthest thing from my mind.
Damn Misato's cooking.
Damn whatever drugs Ritsuko had pumped my body with.
"Morning Noriko," Shinji greeted sunnily while I slouched towards the bathroom.
"Yeah," I mumbled sourly. "Morning"
The smell of cooking breakfast turned my stomach, the butterflies making a bid for freedom up the back of my gullet. I swallowed them back each time, but still they came. Just let me reach the toilet in time. Please, don't be locked. Please Misato, stay away. I can't wait half an hour!
Well I can, but she's paying the cleaning bill.
I'd never been so glad to reach those cold white tiles as I was right then. Why was it, I wondered, that you'd only ever get sick on your time off, or on the one day you just didn't want to be stuck in bed? Ugh, why did I have to feel like this the day of my first Angel?
The answer was given by a piece of tissue. I stared at it the way Long John stared at the black spot. It had that same air of terminal finality about it, that same lingering fear of impending suffering. It stared back defiantly at me, somehow rock steady in my leaf-quivering hand.
"Oh hell," I grimaced.
There was only one person who could help with this problem.
"Misato!" I screeched at the top of my lungs.
God knows the last thing I wanted was for anyone to find out about my little problem, but I knew only Misato could solve it. Outside, there came a patter of rapidly approaching bare feet on polished wood, the door bursting open.
Misato stood there, with a groggy, but concerned look on her face. I wasn't sure how to explain it to her, it was too embarrassing, too disgusting for me to do anything but show the offending tissue to my guardian. A confused look passed over her, and she looked at me like a curious puppy for a moment. Please don't make me explain, I begged mentally. I whimpered, and looked pleadingly up at her, praying that she would understand.
"What's wrong?," the woman asked gruffly, still half asleep and irritated at being summoned, destroying my hopes utterly.
Okay, I just had to tell her. I just had to say it to her. It was a simple word, a dirty word. How could I say it to her without usingthat word? How could I use a euphemism with my knowledge of Japanese.
"It is my..." I gulped, a butterfly biting deep, derailing my sentence train. "It is my..."
A sudden wave of compassionate understanding washed over her features.
"Oh, it's your first," she beamed, drawing me into deep into a hot, sweaty bearhug. "We'll have to have a party tonight, just ourselves, in our pyjama's with ice cream, pizza, some drinks and some films."
"Please no," I pleaded, but my words were smothered by a c-cup. "No Ya-ya's"
Anything but the Ya-ya's.
"Ritsuko might want to come. I'll have to tell her anyway, since this might affect your piloting, so it'd only be polite to invite her. And I can't have a party without my drinking buddy can I?"
Finally, she allowed me a breath of cool fresh air
"No!" I barked.
"Of course not," My guardian smirked.
"No! No party!"
I glared her down, her face dropping.
"And why not?"
I shrunk back, another cramp taking hold.
"I em...em... I want private. I want keep private."
A painful pause. I hadn't offended her, had I?
"I understand," she sighed, disappointment flashing across her features for a moment. "But you're first time only comes once, you know." Misato smiled.
She still wanted that party, and I got the feeling that somehow, nothing I said or did could stop her. I groaned, promising myself an early night whatever happened.
"Anyway, I guess it's up to me to show you how to keep clean then. Normally your mother would, but she's not here..."
I watched with increasing worry as she busied herself in the medicine cabinet, rooting in a pastel pink box for something. Whatever it was, it came in a small sugar packet wrap. Oh no...
"Just relax Noriko, and watch closely, you'll have to do this yourself from now on."
She smirked evilly, a demented, psychopathic grin, the sadistic kind that could only come from the obscene pleasure taken in the suffering of another.
Eep.
I was reminded of a scene from the Alien films, where the alien queen had Ripley trapped, and it's chitinous ovipostor slowly raised itself upward...
It was at that moment, that I screamed. It was a piercing scream of utter violated terror that clung desperately to the drywall and doors in it's attempt to escape it's bathroom prison. Misato just laughed her ass off, offering no words of support, comfort or apology, before leaving me seated on the cold toilet lid quivering, with hot shame and embarrassment racing through my body. Slowly, I cleaned myself as best as I could, before slipping back to the safety of my bedroom. I still felt dirty somehow. Shinji stared at me, before glancing at a smirking Misato, then back at myself.
"What happened?" he questioned innocently.
"Kimochi warui." I answered, clutching at my gut.
I guess, I finally knew what Asuka had meant by that final line. It was a phrase that described the violated, disgusted nausea curdling in the pit of my stomach to a tee.
"What?"
"It's just a teenage girl thing Shinji," Misato said, waving it off.
I glared, then slouched through my bedroom door, intent on returning to bed and sleeping off my latest mental scar, but Asuka was already getting dressed.
"What was that scream, getting me out of bed like that?" she huffed.
Lie... I had to lie.
"Shinji...em...Misato walked in on him."
She blinked.
"Yeah, right," she batted it away.
As if Shinji could scream that loud or shrill. But the question was moot, and that was all that mattered to me.
"Anyway, the pool's open at headquarters, and it's pretty deep, so I thought if I can't swim at Okinawa, what's the difference in swimming in a clean heated pool? It's something to do anyway"
"Sure," I muttered.
I could float in a giant chlorinated bath and just let my biological troubles drift away. Even if I still had a mornings work to do beforehand.
"I'll get your swimsuit out and everything."
Asuka dangled the yellow striped bikini set before me, and I suddenly felt sick all over again.
I...I
My foul mood persisted all the way to the Geofront, and it wasn't helped by Asuka's insistence that the bikini suited me better than the bathing suit, even with that ragged pink scar running across my belly. I wasn't in any mood to argue with her either. In fact, the only thing I was in the mood to do was lay back and float in the pool. Warm, chlorinated water washed away the taint of the Katsuragi touch.
I followed Asuka out of the locker room, feeling horribly self conscious. It didn't help that Shinji happened to be standing outside, The boy gulped, his eyes darting between the pair of us in our striped swimwear. I was painfully aware of the fact that the stripes served only to accentuate the natural curves of the female form.
Why else would Asuka have bought them? Why else would she adjust the straps in plain sight of the poor boy?
"Stop staring you pervert!" she slapped him hard across the cheek with a sharp crack of skin against skin, and leaving a hot red handprint behind.
It's not as if he had to actually go out of his way to look for them, my minds voice remarked.
Shinji frowned. "Sorry,"
I followed a little behind, quietly stewing while I pondered the hypocrisy of having an obvious crush on Shinji while simultaneously teasing him, demeaning him and generally being an outright bully towards him. Watching Asuka berate the poor child for some minor transgression, I resolved to make it my mission to see those two together before the famous kiss.
They just needed a hammer to break the walls.
"You're actually planning on doing your homework! What a boring child,"
"Well, it's homework, it's meant to be done at home, not secretly in class,"
"My how proper you are. Well, I get bored in class because I already know what he's talking about, so I buy myself a little relaxation time."
Not so much a hammer, as a rather large industrial wrecking ball then.
The pool though was heaven. Heedless of the world around me, I lay there, allowing the hot water to soak to the very core of my body and wash away any 'womanly' issues. My self consciousness dissolved away into the clear water, drifting away along with a crinkled plaster from some previous swimmer.
Ew...
Rei passed beneath, running silent and deep like some sort of hunter killer submarine, before surfacing at the other end of the pool. A trail of bubbles lazily breaking the surface marked Asuka's passing some moments afterwards.
Heaven indeed.
Even while the redhead was explaining the ins and outs of thermal breast enhancement to Shinji, I was paying more attention to counting the lights on the ceiling above.
"All pilots please report to briefing room. Repeat, all pilots please report to the briefing room. Order A-dash-seventeen is now in effect,"the tannoy announced in crackling tones.
"What?" Asuka looked up, "What could that be,"
"Angel," I said, before paddling to the ladder.
"You can't be serious!" Sohryu snorted. "It's got to be a drill or something,"
"We don't normally have drills," Shinji said, "It would be kind of ironic wouldn't it, especially since you said there wouldn't be an attack today,"
A sly smirk crossed his lips.
"Who asked you?" Asuka bit back,
"Sorry,"
"Tch, even so, Wondergirl and Nori' would've been here, so it would've have been a problem."
Nori? That horrible seaweed stuff?
Another wave of nausea crashed over me. Just don't think about the hundred squirrels swarming in my stomach. Swirling and tumbling over each other, brushy tails tickling and tingling, claws pinching and grabbing at each other.
Ugh...crap...
By the time the four of us managed to get to the briefing room, Doctor Akagi, and the cute Maya, were already waiting for us. All I was sure of was that it would've been better to just have gone and changed into my plugsuit, rather than stand there, dripping wet in a bikini.
"Well, now that we're all here," the Doctor said, snidely glaring at me. Well, that's the way I felt about it anyway. "Three hours ago, a research team studying Mount Asama discovered an unknown object within the volcano's magma chamber."
At my feet, projected onto screens built into the floor, a fuzzy, black and tan image came into view. It was marked as the Eighth Angel alright, but, what surprised me about it was, it looked more like a Chernobyl gecko than the embryo-like image I'd expected.
"It's tiny," Asuka remarked. "Are we sure it's even an Angel?"
"Pattern Blue has been confirmed. This is most likely just it's embryonic form."
We all reeked of chlorine, while Shinji standing beside her had his eyes on her breasts, rather than the floor. It served her right, I thought, for wearing that candy-stripe swimsuit. All it served to do was make the already busty redhead look just that little bit larger and rounder.
It'd serve him right, if he's caught staring into valley of death. Fidgeting with my own straps, I made damn sure I was covered as much as possible.
Ugh...at least he wasn't staring at me.
"So, it's a baby Angel then?" Shinji questioned, forcing his eyes on pain of death to stare at the lizard.
"What are you, stupid? That's what she just said." Sohryu bit
"Asuka," Akagi cut her off, while her brunette assistant reverently handed her another clipboard. "That was essentially correct. It seems to be still sleeping, which means, we should be able to capture it."
"Capture it?" a pair of voices questioned in disbelief.
I smiled. Rei stood there, completely unperturbed.
"Yes, capture it."
"The plan," Ritsuko started, reading from the new board. "Is quite simple. One of you will be equipped with D-type armour, and descend down into the volcano's magma chamber, where you will trap the Angel inside an electromagnetic cage."
The lizard image shimmered, before being replaced with a hasty flash animation illustrating a volcano, an EVA, the Angel and a net.
"If it breaks out?" I asked, knowing full well, that it would.
"Then, we'll have to destroy it," Akagi stated.
"It sounds very dangerous," Shinji commented, before whispering something on his exhaling breath.
"Not especially," Akagi said calmly. "The D-type extreme environment equipment will be more than up to the job, though, it's not compatible with either the Test type, or the Prototype."
A light turned on behind Asuka's eyes.
We were both thinking on parallel tracks, though, with perpendicular intent. I did not want to go down a volcano. No way in hell was I going down there to die a fiery Gundam death.
"Unit 03 is the most heavily armoured, and would better be able to resist the temperatures..."
Asuka glared at me. I prayed for my safety, both from her and the volcano.
"But, Noriko, you aren't experienced enough yet, so.."
Relief...soothing relief.
"Pick me!" Asuka demanded. "Pick me! I love to go diving."
As if there could be a third, unknown production type EVA, possibly coming down from the moon.
"We will use Unit 02 and Asuka. Shinji and Unit 01 will go as surface backup, and Noriko, yourself and Unit 03 will deploy with Unit 01,"
I smiled. I was going on the mission, but I wasn't going into combat. I was in the safe place, in case something went wrong. Which, it pretty much wouldn't. This had been a relatively straightforward Angel after all, how hard could it be?
Famous last words...
"Rei, you will remain here to defend the city," The Doctor finished.
"Understood," the pilot of Unit 00 answered.
"Aww, little Miss Honour student not getting to have any fun," Sohryu teased, leaning across Shinji, giving the boy another free view.
What was she on about, doing things like that? And why wasn't anybody else noticing?
"We must move quickly, since an A-seventeen has been ordered. Get yourselves ready, we move out in one hour. Dismissed." Ritsuko abruptly ended the matter anyway.
Things did move quickly after that, my senses aflame with excitement. This was it, this was the real deal, and, I wanted to remember each and every minute detail for the rest of my days. The jog to the changing rooms had me barely breaking a sweat. I fumbled with my underwear a little in my haste, while my other two comrades undressed themselves with practised ease.
Well, it wasn't just haste.
Asuka being naked I could handle. It seemed so strange, but I'd gotten well used to her while sharing a bedroom. Also, it had quickly become apparent that she didn't really have anything that I couldn't see in a mirror myself any time I wanted to.
Not that I did, of course.
Rei, on the other hand, was different, and fascinatingly so. It took all my willpower to keep my eyes on my own locker and not her. Rei's body was of perfect proportion, as if machine-cast in a mould just to be beautiful and nothing else. Her skin tone, for example, was completely uniform, like she'd been held by the neck, then dipped in a vat of paper coloured paint. There were not spots, blemishes, nothing imperfect. Her breasts, her nipples, her toes, her feet, everything pri...
"So, what's so interesting about the First then?" sharp tones invaded my thoughts.
I squeaked and snapped my gaze towards my own toes. Caught staring by Asuka, how could I have been so stupid?
"Nothing," I mumbled, my cheeks burning as bright as her plugsuit.
Please, just drop it.
"Didn't seem like nothing, you were staring right at her."
And after this would come the inquisition, the interrogation, the final revelation of myself as the wolf in sheep's clothing. I would be ostracised, ignored, forever stranded on a little boat bobbing somewhere in the centre of the ocean between male and female. I wanted desperately to plead the second, but Asuka begged an answer.
"She is weird," I said, speaking to the plugsuit hanging in my locker.
"You can say that again," Asuka responded. "I mean, look at her body. It's so artificial, like she's a rubber doll or something,"
Relief! I could have hugged her for it. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Rei was looking at us. A slight guilty pang rose up. We'd been talking about her while she was right there. I thought to apologise for a moment, but she just returned to dressing herself, completely unbothered. She had already slid halfway into her own white suit. I forced a chuckle, then fixed my eyes on a rusty spot on the back wall of the locker. The torches and pitchforks would stay away for another day. Lesson learned. Change the subject.
"You been on mission before?"
The plugsuit didn't answer, but Asuka did.
"Twice, didn't I tell you? Anyway, just watch and learn Fourth Child, let an expert Pilot show you just how this is supposed to be done." she blustered, as her plugsuit sucked tight to her skin.
Again I chuckled hollowly. I just wished I could have her confidence, or, that today wasn't my special lady's day. I especially didn't want Doctor Akagi to burst in on us, but, following the days pattern, the door hissed open, and in stepped the ersatz blonde with her clipboard.
I hid behind my locker door.
"Asuka, that suit's been designed with added thermal resistance." she said.
"Doesn't feel any different," Sorhyu noted.
"Push the right-hand switch to activate it,"
There came a plastic click, followed by shriek of embarrassment as the red suit ballooned out to
Santy Claus proportions and beyond. It was Asuka's turn to turn red, and I was thankful for it. Thank God it was somebody else's turn today, I'd had my fill. Even so, I couldn't laugh. It just wouldn't be right. She didn't laugh at me.
"I can't go out like this!" Asuka squealed. "I look like a communist Michelin man."
No..Don't...laugh. Must...not...titter.
"You weren't supposed to activate it inside."
"But you told me too!"
"No, I told you what button to push when the time came,"
I squeaked, grimaced, chewed my own gums, desperate to bite back on the growing giggle. It hissed from the corners of my lips, desperate for release. It shimmied, it squirmed, tittering and rasping between my lips. I knew just how that one Roman guard felt from Life of Brian. In fact, I envied him, all he had to face afterwards were a few gladiators and maybe the odd rabid lion. He wouldn't have to deal with a very annoyed and very embarrassed Bavarian.
No good...It came out, not so much an explosion of laughter, as a strangulated yapping squeal.
I winced.
"Oh shut up," she spat, her face tinted the same shade as her suit. "At least I don't have a string dangling from my.."
"Hey!" I screamed.
That one was below the belt.
"Oh, about that Noriko," Akagi chimed in like an unwelcome houseguest. "Misato told me of your 'difficulty'."
Oh, she savoured my embarrassment alright, and I hated her for it.
"Just take it out, and set your suit's sanitation systems to constant exchange. It'll do the job."
"Uh..Right," I nodded, ashamed.
Asuka chuckled "I knew there was a reason you were so moody all morning."
"Stop it! That not fair!"
"You did scream pretty loud. Is it your f.."
"Stop!" I screeched, tears welling up.
"Or was it Misato giving you a fin..."
"Stop it now!"
Why was she being so horrible? We were supposed to be friends weren't we?. Ritsuko was somewhat kind, at least she tried to hold herself back from laughing. But Asuka, she was cruel, she cackled as she waddled penguin-like to the doorway. Sniffling, trying to clear my eyes, another cramp bit deep, and I felt like just throwing up over the pair.
Right up until the moment Asuka got stuck in the doorway. She stressed and strained, creaked and pulled, but the bloated suit was jammed fast.
Justice.
"No," she whined. "This isn't fair!"
"Rei," Akagi said simply.
"Yes ma'am," The First child nodded, understanding, before she stepped up behind the struggling Second, and gave a sharp push.
"Stop it!" Sohryu protested, "I can get out myself, I don't need you to push. Stop it!"
She tried to swat the albino away but failed to reach back far enough. Asuka popped free, tipping forward, threatening to roll over, before stumbling back upright like an ungainly batman villain.
"Make sure Sohryu makes it to the cage," the Doctor directed.
"Understood," Rei answered simply and followed, the ends her lips had curved up ever so slightly as she did so. She was enjoying it.
"Get her away from me! I don't need to be pushed. I don't need your help!" Sohryu's voice tailed away as she was 'guided' down the corridors.
I listened for a moment, before becoming aware of the chill air blowing through my nether regions.
"Just be quick, or Rei will have to take your place,"
I cringed, just nodding so I wouldn't lose my lunch. She left me alone, and I stared into the locker mirror, at my own feminine reflection. Still a bit thin, but toned by three weeks hard exercise and training. Just when I thought I could get used to seeing that, something new always had to come up, didn't it?
I sighed, then took a deep, steeling breath and prepared myself. I'd have to do this eventually, I couldn't rely on Misato doing it for me forever. Best just get it out of the way. Close your eyes. Steady there. This won't hurt a bit.
Ugh...I soon felt sick all over again.
I...I
"So Asuka, what were you saying yesterday about there being no chance of an Angel attack while you were away?" Misato teased.
Angry silence answered.
It took an hour or so to airlift Unit 03 to Asama. It was long enough for my mind to entertain each and every niggling fear for the forthcoming battle. The omens weren't good. I'd already flattened a shopping centre landing my EVA. What next, an orphanage, the Mt. Asama visitor centre? Controlling an Evangelion was easy, Piloting one on the other hand, was hard. You had to be so aware of the world beneath you, of how wide the road was, what buildings were nearby, or where your support vehicles or power-points were located. And that's before I'd gotten around to dealing with the enemy, or the fact that I'd been standing around for an hour and a half with only my monthly discomforts for company.
Just don't do anything and leave the professionals to it, that way I won't screw anything up by mistake.
Only the occasional question from Asuka, repeatedly wondering where her precious Kaji was, and why he hadn't come to witness her greatest triumph, or a quick radio instruction from the Command team at the Volcano observatory five miles away broke the monotony. For a moment, I almost wished to be the one wearing the Michelin man armour, if only to give myself something to do beyond playing chess against Unit 03's computer system. It may have been the most advanced operating system of all the EVA's, but it still hadn't realised that a Queen can't move the same way a Knight does.
I watched Unit 02 being positioned onto the crane, while 01 marched itself around the crater rim, taking up a station opposite my own. The sinister looking purple machine somehow seemed to be staring right at me as it stood there, its yellow eyes burning with baleful fire. Of all the EVA's, it certainly looked the most malevolent and demon-like. A mental afterimage of episode eighteen, lingered for a moment and I shuddered.
Purple people eater indeed, I thought, remembering a fannish description before forcing my attention to something else.
"Drilling complete. Unit 02 is in position and ready to be lowered." Maya's sweet voice tickled my ear.
Through a radio speaker system of course.
"Very well. Eva Unit 02, move out!" Misato ordered.
Asuka's face appeared beside my shoulder, announced by a single electronic chime
Sorhyu; "It's about time! Now watch this scissor dive!"
Gently, I leant my machine ever so slightly over the edge, getting a good look down into to caldera, and the burning lava lake below. Hundreds of feet above, and with maybe another fifty feet of flesh and steel armour between myself and it, I swore I could still feel it's molten heat on my cheeks. I could smell the brimstone, feel the ash scratching my eyes and drawing tears. Only then did it occur to me that maybe, the depth of an EVA's sensory feedback might be a little more than just balance and pain.
That was kind of cool.
The Bibendum shaped EVA 02 spread it's legs as it splashed into the liquid rock. I'd been secretly hoping for something a little more impressive from the Eva combat genius. The white machine appeared to bob for a moment in the dense fluid, before it slowly sank, liquid fire closing in over it's head until only the cable remained, slowly reeling out.
It reminded me of fishing for a moment, the eighth Angel definitely the ultimate in deadliest catches.
Shinji's face appeared in a window to my left.
Ikari; "Is Asuka okay?" he asked.
Sorhyu; "Of course I am. It's nice and toasty down here," the reply came back "But," she groaned, "I can't see a thing. The vision systems don't work right,"
Akagi; "Use the false colour mode, with filter set to the infra-red band."
Sorhyu; "Roger," the response came after a few moments,
"One hundred meters, " a technician's voice announced. "Rate of drop: three meters per second,"
Well, this was going to take some time then. It was once said, that being a passenger jet pilot, was ninety-nine percent utter boredom, followed by that one percent of absolute terror right before you hit the ground. I wondered if EVA piloting wasn't going to be the same.
It took nearly twenty minutes to get Unit 02 to its target depth, and they kept going. Deeper and deeper, it kept going, past the safety limits of the armour. Even across the radio, I could here it creaking and groaning beneath the stress.
Sorhyu; "Jeez, it's getting to be a sauna down here," Asuka complained, just to inject some life into some otherwise dead air.
Katsuragi; "There's a hotsprings resort near here. Complete the mission and I promise we can have a nice relaxing dip when it's over," Misato answered, switching back to motherly guardian mode for a moment.
Ikari; "Ah, Hot springs, it sounds like heaven, all that hot water." said Shinji.
I giggled, as the recollection of that infamous thermal expansion joke struck home.
Sorhyu; "Liar! All you want is to see my naked body, all glistening and wet, lathered up with soap,"
Shinji gulped, grimaced with pressing discomfort, then cast his gaze down at a spot off camera. A quick titter past my lips as I realised just why he was grimacing. Hehe, thermal expansion.
It was an awful joke, laced with cheese, yet somehow, it became the funniest thing in the world. Even as there were arguments over the radio over whether to drop Unit 02 further below the red line I was still sniggering away into my own clenched fist. Something was making me giddy all right. Maybe the oxygen fraction in the LCL had gotten too high? Wouldn't be the first time anyway.
Ibuki; "Unit two has lost it's progressive knife,"
I switched open the compartment in the shoulder guard. The prog-knife jerked out, still locked into its holster. Well, I had to do something beyond standing there, and sure, it'd be needed soon enough anyway.
"Unit 03 has activated it's progressive knife," a tech stated
Katsuragi; "What are you doing Noriko?" the Captain questioned.
"In case...Unit 02...will be needed it,"
Comm- Katsu: "Good, standby then."
"Roger,"
Now I just had to wait. And wait. Was it just boredom, or a desire to grab some small slice of glory for myself? It was Shinji's job in the episode, so why shouldn't I just leave it to him? I really was being an little selfish, wasn't I?
Not really. there had to be something to do other stand stand here
I flicked the switchblade style knife open. I could feel it buzzing up my arm, a knuckle-whitening low amp electric current running into my hand and up through my shoulder. I gripped the throttle, but that just made it worse.
Just don't drop the knife too early.
And more waiting. My arm going numb, my stomach tying itself in knots, and Asuka below slowly approaching the target. My gaze fixed on that little point far below, where the lava had begun to crust over again around the life support cable.
The cable swayed somewhat, stirring itself around a cherry-red hole. A technician began the countdown.
"Point oh-three."
She catches it, then it goes crazy. Only a few seconds before my party-piece. Deep breaths then, remember those breathing exercises.
"Point oh-two."
Keep your eyes on where you want the blade to go. Picture how you want to throw the knife. Remember the words of Alan Shepherd.
"Point oh-one."
I drew the blade back, ready to throw. Oh Lord, please don't let me fuck this up.
"Capture!"
My arm jerked, Unit 03 acting in sympathy. Hold the knife, don't throw it! What happened? Did she actually capture it this time?
Katsuragi; "Good work Asuka,"
Sorhyu; "This was easy. Now can I get out of here? My suit's like a sauna."
Glancing between my displays, I was wondering just what was going on. Beside me, the crane jolted, before the cables began to reverse. I watched it for a few minutes, a little bewildered and taken aback, as still glowing slugs of molten rock were knocked from the cable, splashing and cooling into black crusty cowpats on the ground beneath.
Wasn't it supposed to attack when she caught it?
And still the cable was wound up.
Sorhyu; "So Fourth Child, I hope you were watching closely. That's how you're supposed to complete a mission. Quick, efficient and without waste,"
"Em...sure," I smiled nervously.
Ikari; "I'm just looking forward to that hotspring," Shinji said, falling into a trance with the thought of it.
Something was going to happen, something had to happen, it just didn't seem right otherwise. Okay, so it had been one of the most boring episodes, but still, there had to be a challenge, and Angel fight in there somewhere?
What was going on here?
Okay... Go through it in you head. What do you remember from the series?
Asuka goes down, captures the angel, then it attacks her. There's a fight, and Shinji ends up having to rescue her. But, it hasn't attacked her. So what then? What's it waiting for.
I stared at the cable, slowly spooling up on the winch.
"All the tension released at once," a voice commented.
All except for that straining , twisting in my gut, folds of intestines tying themselves into knots while I squirmed in my chair. Unit 03 tensed sympathetically, the pair of us going as taught as a drumhead. I was quivering, wondering when...no if something was going to happen. The cable continued to reel itself onto the drum, a few meters every second. Minutes seemed as if they were hours, a cheerful banter coming across the comm's. Those hot springs did sound like paradise alright. I tried to relax. Unit 03 helped as best she could, as she usually did. She was a pair of soft arms, wrapping around my body like a winter duvet. Shinji's EVA though, still glared from the other side of the caldera.
Still reeling the cable in.
Still fucking waiting.
Why don't you just hurry up an attack? What the hell could you be waiting on? I want to get sick. I want to go to those hotsprings now.
That was the benefit of a half hour TV programme. All the boring bits like this could be edited out. How silly, to think being a giant robot pilot would be a thrill-a-minute ride. The reality couldn't be more different. There were procedures, there was training, there were more procedures, more training on top of that. Medical, synchronisation, physical tests, all before I was even allowed try and move the thing.
And then the drills, the missions, all spent sitting, breathing this disgusting blood of Lilith. That was one plot point of the series I could've done with forgetting. The cable beside me, jerked and slackened for the briefest of moments. Weird.
Sorhyu; "Hey, this thing's going crazy down here!" Asuka's sharp voice cut through my thoughts.
Akagi; "It's evolving rapidly. The cage can't take it, it's going to break free,"
Katsuragi; "Drop it Asuka, then prepare for combat." Katsuragi ordered, her face cast from iron beside me. "It must be destroyed,"
"It's about bloody time," I remarked privately, before realising the comm-channel was still open. They rest of my words were quickly swallowed before I drew any more strange looks from those who understood them.
Sorhyu; "Shit, I dropped my knife."
My cue? I looked to the image of Misato for the order.
Sorhyu; "No, Get away from me. Get away!" Sohryu shrieked.
A crunching impact drummed across the radio, punching hard from the headrest speakers. I winced away from it, the thought that Asuka might just have died flashing through my mind for the briefest of instants.
Sorhyu; "Godamn, I can't even see it!"
Um...
"Should.. I throw knife?"
Katsuragi; "Yes!" she barked, "Do it now!"
"Roger!"
Don't screw this up, I'd look like such an idiot if I did. Draw back, then throw forward as hard as I can down the hole, and hope.
"Uploading targeting data to Unit 03," a tech reported, while the HUD before me locked onto a single point below.
I had to hit that dead on.
And that poor choice of words wasn't helping.
Why did I want to do this again? Okay, focus, lock on. Ready...
Steady...
THROW!
The knife launched forward, a silver streak slashing through the black crust, leaving only a cherry-red crater to mark it's passing.
Comm-Maya: "Noriko's prog-knife is on it's way down,"
Sorhyu; "Well it can damn well hurry up!" Asuka blasted.
Another shriek of fright followed by a crashing impact echoed over the radio, tightening another knot in my gut. I'd never be able to go to the bathroom again if this kept up. I didn't screw it up. I couldn't screw it up. God I hoped I hadn't screwed it up.
"Thirty seconds to knife arrival," some tech intoned impassively.
Sorhyu; "Damn You! Get away from me!"
Beside me, the crane pitched and buckled, shifting on it's struts as the cable pulled taught once more. The malevolent frame of Unit 01 stared down into the crater, its pilot glancing quickly between screens in his cockpit.
"Twenty seconds,"
Another crunch, a long creaking wrutch announcing that the Angel had taken hold of Unit 02. Had I fucked it up? Had I hit the wrong spot? Had I thrown too hard, or too soft? Had I waited too long?, Would Asuka be crushed before the knife could reach her? Don't be stupid!
"Ten seconds,"
Sorhyu; "Damn, I've lost it. Where did this thing go?"
Shinji's gaze darted between what must've been the volcano in front of him, and an image beside him. He was thinking about something, no, he was planning, considering, wrestling with himself over whether to do it or not.
Sorhyu; "Fall faster damn you!" an alarm. "Sheiss... Get Away!"
A hard impact, the loudest so far, followed by an intermineable silence. I was sure...certain in fact, that that was it. Asuka was dead, and it was my fault. It hung heavy on my shoulders, like the hissy, snowy static the built over the radio. Time stretched to an eternity. It could only have been a few moments, a single heartbeat at most before a new Asuka's voice split the airwaves.
Sorhyu; "I got it! But damn, this thing's got me,"
Relief. That was it. The Angel would be defeated, and I'd gotten my own little piece of the action too. Nothing was left for me to do but sit back and watch everything unfold. Excitement buzzed through my veins as I listened to the battle, the drumbeat rhythm of Asuka smashing the prog-knife into the Angel sounded loud and hard, an animated picture of the battle deep below clear in my mind.
I could see the shape of Sandalphon clearly latched on to the Kenny-like hood of Unit-02's armour, it's ring of teeth scratching at the glass before Asuka. Beside me, her video image she grimaced as she drove another stabbing blow into the monster.
Sorhyu; "What's this thing made of? The knife keeps scratching off its back. I should've brought my own, this one's useless."
Akagi; "It's not the knife, it's the Angel. It's molecular structure has become too distended with the extreme heat,"
Katsuragi; "Can we pull it too the surface and finish it off?"
Comm-Aoba: "Negative, the armour won't last long enough."
I waited, a smirk crossing my lips as I did so. It was that same smirk I always wore each time I'd rewatched this episode.
Sorhyu; "I know how to beat this. Just like this morning..." Asuka announced.
Ikari; "I get it," Shinji answered.
"Thermal Expansion!" I mouthed along with that famous line in that way only a true girlfriend-needing fanboy would. Of course, I wasn't just watching it this time, I was actually taking part in it.
A flush of giddy excitement.
Sorhyu; "Shunt all the coolant to line three, now!"
Katsuragi; "Do it!"
A gaseous roar announced itself over the radio, Asuka screaming along with it as she drove that knife home for the last time. For a moment, I thought I could hear the Angel's death scream as it died.
Then, the words came.
"The target has gone silent. All field emissions negative."
Sorhyu; "But, I think I might be done for, the cable won't survive if we try to winch it."
Something snapped inside Shinji. Before I had time to figure out what or why, Unit 01 had launched itself across the crater, taking what seemed like one giant, leaping step before it crashed hard into the cable. Instantly overloaded, the crane structure buckled beneath the stress, overloaded tie rods exploding from between truss beams.
The whole machine dropped five feet, maybe more before it held steady.
The pain washed over Shinji's features as Unit 01 drilled itself through the lava crust. It was just that final scene where we see through Asuka's armour at the moment she realises that maybe Shinji does have some courage.
More than I would have anyway.
Even with the heaviest armour of all four Evangelion, there was no chance I'd be following him down there. No way. I'd sink like a stone for one thing, and judging by the agonised expression on Shinji's face, it would be like a bath in flame. It wouldn't have done much good anyway for me to have jumped down there anyway, I was still only the new pilot. If I'd have gone down there instead of him, there would've been two deaths instead of none.
I wasn't skilled enough yet.
A fair justification then, so why was there still this acrid feeling of shame on me?
Katsuragi; "Cut his sync ratio, now! Before he boils alive,"
She was a stunned as everyone else, her voice taking on a sharp edge of fear.
Katsuragi; "Follow the cable down Shinji. Do not let go of it or you'll sink and we won't be able to recover you,"
She was afraid for him, for the both of them even. I knew of course that he would be successful, but she didn't. Tense, silent minutes passed, nobody really say much aloud beyond a technician's depth countdown.
Finally, we heard Shinji's voice.
Ikari; "I found her! I've got her!"
Misato smiled a soft, relieved smile.
From Katsuragi; "Hold on tight, we're going to start reeling you in,"
Sorhyu; "You idiot," Asuka chided in venomless tones.
The drum behind me began to slowly winch in the cable, running gently so as not to jar the two EVA's loose. The crane began to tilt slightly, straining against it's guy ropes as it tried to flop over like a dead fish beneath the weight.
They couldn't not no about it, I told myself. So there was no use bothering about it. It looked to be holding anyway. Besides, if I did say anything they might just decide to order me down into the crater to pick them up.
I wasn't going down there if I could help it.
Nothing in the episode mentioned a collapsing crane anyway, so it probably wouldn't go anyway,
But something nagged at me.
One of the first thing I'd been taught, was that if I thought something should be reported, then it should be reported, regardless of how insignificant it seemed. Even if that crane wasn't going to fall, I still had to mention it.
"Um," I cut open the channel. "Has anybody...saw crane damage?"
A few confused faces answered, taking a few moments to work out what I'd said. Misato glanced away for a moment, while Asuka scowled.
Sorhyu; "You idiot!" she shot, "You're half assed heroics are going to get us both killed now."
It didn't take too much for her to change her tone.
Shinji answered with a nervous grin.
Ikari; "Sorry," he muttered, opening his mouth to say something else, before deciding it would be healthier not to.
Sorhyu; "Sorry won't cut it if you kill me!" Asuka cut loose a quick storm of fury "So help me God if I die because of you I'll...I'll.." she paused... "I'll haunt you,"
A quick chuckle escaped my lips.
Katsuragi; "Don't worry Asuka, if the crane goes, you won't be waiting too long for him to join you." Misato reminded with a humoured smile. "Besides, Hyuuga says it should hold long enough to pull you guys up anyway, as long as it doesn't take any more strong jolts."
So that was that then. Mission over. The crane damage didn't mean anything after all. It wasn't going to collapse and in another hour or two, we would be safely stewing in a steaming hotsprings resort.
Fate must've been reading my mind. And it decided it wasn't going to be taking any orders from a teenage mecha Pilot.
Slowly, the crane began to topple sidewards and collapsed down into the crater...
I...I
To be continued... I can't believe I actually did that.
Chapter 7:
Shinji's rescue attempt backfires in the most horrible manner possible. Can Noriko do anything on the surface, or will Shinji's rash actions condemn both himself and Asuka to a fiery death? Find out in the next exciting Chapter of New Perspective Evangelion. Out of the Frying pan...
Plus, there'll be more Fanservice!