Misato was waiting when Shinji steped into the galley of the ship. What was the name of this ship, the UN flagship, again? Oh yeah, the Over the Rainbow. Misato gently, but firmly pulled Shinji over to the side.
"I'm not apologizing." Shinji said, looking Misato square in the eye.
"So stubborn-the both of you. Asuka is ready to cook your balls for breakfast, you know that? You're number one on her shit list, five minutes after meeting her. That's some kind of record."
"What can I say? She seems like a very...physical person. Well you know what? I'm physical too." Shinji cracked his knuckles for dramatic effect. "And as for her cooking my balls for breakfast, all I can say is that the day that happens, you will be in for quite a show."
"Be that as it may, can you at least be civil? You two have to work together, after all."
"I can't make any promises."
"Just...look. If you see she's going to blow up, don't poke her, for God's sake. I'm the one that had to deal with...the unpleasantness afterwards. You should have heard some of the things that came out of her mouth...! She is certainly not the same girl I met in Germany all of those years ago."
"Was she a bitch then too?"
"That's what I'm talking about! Can you keep things like that to yourself? If the two of you are going to beat the shit out of each other, just don't do it today. Please? For me?"
"Fine. For you." Shinji took a seat at the dining table where Kaji, Toji and Kensuke had already taken a seat. Misato went into a side room. Everyone pretended not to hear loud, muffled yelling behind the door. Seconds later, Misato came out, followed by a seething Asuka. They took seats at the table, with Misato at the head, and Asuka taking a place directly across from Shinji, who leaned foward and returned Asuka's stare.
The silence was broken by a server who wheeled forth a cart and placed several platters of food on the table. Half of the platters were Western dishes,the other half were Japanese dishes. Asuka stood up and unveiled one platter, a steaming roast ham, honey glazed. She then picked up a carving knife and fork. Looking straight at Shinji, Asuka began to slide them back and forth over one another, creating a low metallic scraping sound. She continued to look at Shinji as she did this, a small grin appearing on her face.
Shinji took a sip of water, seemingly unconcerned. "Is there a problem?" he asked. The scraping stopped. "Please," he gestured at the ham. "cut it up before it gets cold. Even slices, please."
With gritted teeth, Asuka began cutting the ham, her slicing becoming more and more violent. She finally finished, and motioned to take the first slice. She was intercepted by Shinji's fork, which took the first slice. He bit into it, chewed, and swallowed. "Very good," he said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "My compliments to the chef. Something wrong?" Asuka was snapped out of staring at him with murder in her eyes. "Eat up. It's very good." Asuka took a slice and began absentmindedly eating, still fixated on him.
"So, Shinji," Kaji broke the silence. "Is Misato...still good in bed?"
Misato had an extreme reaction to Kaji's question, turning beet red and gritting her teeth. Toji and Kensuke both looked as if they were about to have aneurysms. Asuka's expression never wavered.
Shinji looked at Misato, who was mouthing don't answer.
"Still good in bed?...hmmm. That's a tough one. When was she not? I'll have to say this. She is good, but she could be better. Drinking Yebisu beer all of the time puts her out like a light, which is a real downer for me..."
Misato looked as she was trying to hide and burrow into her seat. She was so embarrassed...
Kaji clapped again and chuckled. "I like you. You know your way around words, which is always a rare gift. You should watch this one, Misato. He's a keeper." Kaji got up and went to the bathroom.
"Why the long faces, everyone?" Shinji asked. "We have this feast in front of us here, let's dig in." Shinji began serving himself from the other platters, and soon everyone else did the same.
After a lunch that was puncuated by awkward silences, everyone went their own way to wander around the ship. Toji and Kensuke went with Misato, as they were civilians and areas of the ship were barred to them. Kaji seemingly disappeared, and Shinji found himself in the lower levels, outside the cargo bay.
Stepping into Cargo Bay 01, Shinji saw a red EVA, suspended inside a stasis tank. The tank was filled with a red liquid that was supposed to stabilize the EVA's biological components. Shinji could see the word '02' painted n the EVA's right arm. The EVA had a slightly alien look to it, with four eyes mounted.
"Impressed?"
Shinji turned around to see a barefooted Asuka coming towards him, arms crossed.
"I think the question is, has it been battle tested?"
"I have undergone training with Unit 02 for most of my life. It is...an extension of my will. This is unlike your unstable prototypes at NERV. The 'mistakes'of the past have been rectified, and all flaws in teh design addressed. This EVA has onboard weaponry, and superior armor and targeting systems. The...pinnacle of technology."
"The pinnacle of technology? You don't say? Well all that training you've done in the past, presumably against conventional forces in exercises, doesn't mean anything. An Angel will not come at you the same way as a human would. Piloting an EVA against an Angel...it requires you to...think on your feet. Can you do that?"
Before Asuka could respond, the ship was rocked by an impact. The hull groaned and shrieked against the opposing force. The reinforced glass of the stasis tank began to crack. Quickly, Shinji grabbed Asuka and ran towards a ladder leading up to the upper levels of the cargo bay. Asuka momentarily struggled, unsure as to what Shinji was doing, but stilled when the stasis tank broke and the cargo bay's lower level was flooded.
Climbing up to the catwalk, Shinji set Asuka down, and headed to a nearby ship's intercom. He punched in the code for the bridge.
Misato and everyone else on the Over the Rainbow's bridge turned towards the beeping intercom. Misato activated it.
"This is Shinji." came out. "I'm trapped in the cargo bay with Asuka. The lower level is flooded. Is this an Angel attack?"
The captain consulted with his officers, and then whispered to Misato.
"That is confirmed, Shinji. Radar has scanned a mass, organic, moving at high speeeds beneath out fleet. It rammed the ship. It's already taken out three battleships."
"Send us out to engage it."
What are you doing? pulsed through his mind. The EVAs were NOT designed to fight underwater. We'll drown!
"I have a game plan." Shinji said. "Transfer power down here so Unit 02 can activate."
"I will not." the captain said. "I will not endanger this fleet for some half-baked idea." Just as he said this, another ship exploded and sank.
"As Operations Director of NERV, I am taking emergency command of this situation." Misato said. "Transfer power to the cargo bay in order to activate Unit 02."
The captain gave Misato a dirty look, but complied.
There was a crackle of power and Shinji saw the EVA's eyes light up with electricity in the stasis tank.
"This way," Asuka pulled Shinji toward a side locker room. She opened one, and too out two red plugsuits. She tossed one to Shinji. "Put that on."
Examining it, Shinji saw the suit had been reinforced around the breasts and the groin. Definitely a female plugsuit. He would have to swallow his pride. Disrobing, as you had to wear a plugsuit naked, he gently placed his suit in a locker. He saw asuka stealing a look at him when she thought he wasn't paying attention. He could tell she liked what she saw, even if she hated him.
He adjusted the controls on the wrist, and the plugsuit tightened. As he thought, it was too tight around the groin, and loose in the chest. "Something interesting you looking at?" he asked Asuka. She snapped away from looking at him. "This way, baka." They ran back outside and around the catwalk towards the back of Unit 02. Pressing a control, Unit 02's Ebntry Plug opened, and they climbed in.
Shinji drifted in the LCL behind Asuka, who took her pilot's seat. She began activating the EVA, but suddenly Japanese letters began showing up on the displays.
"Idiot!" Asuka yelled. ""You're thinking in Japanese! The EVA is set for German!"
"All right!" He shot back. "Lederhosen, strudel, sauerkraut..."
"Never mind." Asuka tapped a control, and the readouts switched into Japanese language mode. Bitch, Shinji thought. Why did'nt you do that in the first place?
Unit 02 stood up. Asuka disengaged it's progressive knife from it's shoulder holster and cut a hole in the cargo bay ceiling, and then leapt out onto the main deck. She then pulled up a good length of power umbilical cable from below.
The sky was suddenly darkened by a shadow, as the sixtrh Angel, which looked like a fish, leapt out of the water and opened it's maw, grabbing Unit 02 and pulling it into the sea.
The pressure monitors inside the EVA were increasing and blaring alarms as the Angel dragged Asuka and Shinji farther and farther below the water. Asuka was frantically trying to move her EVA, banging on the controls.
"You said your EVA has weapons." Shinji yelled. Asuka looked at him.
"Yeah, a needle gun and a grenade launcher."
Shinji looked outside. The creatures mouth was immense. Lodged inside it's mouth, stuck in it's teeth were pieces of the battleships it had already destroyed. Shinji had an idea. Perhaps the ammo for those battleship's guns were still viable.
"Shoot a grenade at that battleship," Shinji said, pointing at a ship lodged the closest to the Angel's core, which was imbedded in it's throat. Unit 02's arm raised, and a compartment opened. There was a miniscule explosion as the grenade was shot at the disabled battleship, but when it struck, the effects were immediate. The ship went up like a bomb, shooting hot metal everywhere. The Angel's core was pitted and fractured, until it stopped glowing and the beast became still.
Misato, Toji, Kensuke, and the bridge staff were silent, waiting. Finally, the Angel broke the surface and began drifting. A cheer went up as it was seemingly dead. Suddenly, a circular cut appeared in it's side and out climbed Unit 02, covered with viscera, but intact and victorious, holding it's progressive knife.
A boat was sent to retrieve the two pilots, and several tender ships were sent to retrieve Unit 02.
As Misato waited in the deck for the boat to come back with Shinji and Asuka, she spied in the distance Kaji getting into a plane at the far end of the ship, holding a black box. Where had he gone to, all this time? The plane sped off, but Misato would have to investigate this more in the future.
"Not a goddamm word." Shinji said, as Kensuke taped him with his camera wearing Asuka's spare plugsuit, and Toji was trying to keep a straight face, as was Misato.
Shinji and Asuka stalked off to the cargo bay to get their clothes. Asuka ran ahead of Shinji and nearly knocked him down.
Enough of this shit. Shinji ran after her.
Shinji walked in and shut the locker room door behind him.
"What the fuck is your problem?"
"What the fuck is my problem? What the fuck is your problem? All I heard about, last couple weeks was about the great Third Child. Trashed an Angel first time out. Incredible synch ratio. I was sick of it. After meeting you, I'm not impressed."
"This is not about impressing you. This is not a competition."
"Bullshit! Everything is a competition! Man against Angels, me against you."
"You against me, huh?' Shinji grabbed Asuka's arm and slammed her against the lockers, shaking them. "You want to come at me? You want to throw down? Let's get to it then. I just might surprise you."
Asuka pushed against the lockers, launching herself and Shinji towards the other side of the room, slamming him into the lockers on the other side. She grabbed his balls and began licking his neck in an extremely sexual manner. She stopped after several seconds.
"You better treasure that." she said, straightening her dress. "That's the only time in your pitiful life that will ever happen."
"Like I would want that again," Shinji said, wiping off his neck. "You're one fucked-up bitch, you know that?"
"We'll see," she said, a loopy smile on her face. "you're the one wearing a woman's plugsuit." She opened the locker room door. "Auf Wiedershen, fucker." She then slammed the door behind her.
Shinji cupped his balls. Blue balls, after ten seconds of stimulation. How embarrassing. He took off the plugsuit and threw it in a corner. He had some difficulty putting on his pants.
Asuka Langley Soryu...she seemed determined to beat him, whatever that was worth. If blue balls and shaking her ass at him was all she had to fuck with him with, he would'nt have much of a problem. But she did have some moves, that was for sure...