HOOOWDY HO!
Thank you for all the reviews. I have to say that, considering all the flak I caught, I will NEVER misspell 'Misato' ever again.
As for anyone who is disappointed that I didn't give away more already, come now. Do you find out who the killer is in the first couple chapters of a mystery novel? Of course not. You flip to the end right away. Unfortunately for you, this medium doesn't give you that privilege….
Sorry about the fact that it's taken nearly a month for what I planned to be only one week of anticipation. On the plus side, the next two chapters after this have already been mapped out carefully, so once I sit down and get to it, I should be able to crank it out. And for all your unanswered questions, just bear with me for a little bit longer. I promise you won't be disappointed.
And rest assured, (if you haven't figured it out already) I plan on taking this seriously. I see no reason a crossover of the magnitude and scale I have envisioned is not possible, NAY, plausible. Hey, if Batman can defeat the Predator, Dracula, AND Superman, while still maintaining credibility, I should be able to pull this off.
Master Beta: Darkbusterrancher
Disclaimer: Only the Original Characters are mine. Anyone else that may pop up belongs to whoever they belong to.
DEATH AND REBIRTH. THEN DEATH AGAIN.
Rukia Kuchiki wasn't always the greatest judge of character, and she knew you should never base your opinions of a book by its cover. But despite all of this, the shinigami couldn't help but feel as if the new transfer student was slightly older than the typical high school girl. If she had to put a concrete number with her suspicions, she would have chosen around 20. The fact that she would transfer into the school so close to the end of the year was also out of the norm.
The new girl had been introduced as Sarah Grant. She was roughly 5'10", was slightly tanned, and wore conservative glasses. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it was somewhat difficult to peg her nationality. She bordered towards shy, rarely saying more than a few words to anyone, always with a heavy book in hand. And Rukia couldn't help the feeling that every single time she had her back turned, she was being watched. Sometimes she would turn casually, others were swift spins, yet not once had she ever caught Sarah looking up from her reading. There was something else about her too.
At first she just thought it was the girl's appetite: the girl could eat like Orihime, only with a greater ferocity. But whereas she once remembered a classmate suggesting Inoue kept here girlish figure by storing all that food in her breasts, the new girl's own assets were nowhere near as plentiful as the absent-minded redhead's plentiful assets. If she hadn't been paying such close attention, she probably would have never noticed the small flask that the new girl always poured into her drink at lunch, just as everyone around her had failed to catch on. Not that she was so strictly against the consumption of alcohol (if that's what it really was), but whatever.
It had taken a few days before Rukia could put her finger on it. It wasn't that the new girl's spiritual pressure was stronger than anyone else's, but it felt….somehow….denser. Like there were two souls residing in her body. The closest she could compare it to was the pressure emanating from a pregnant woman. But the baby's soul was far too developed. It was unsettling, to say the least. She had asked some of her fellow "gifted" classmates about this, but there seemed to be little concern overall, so she pushed it out of mind.
Things truly became interesting when the new student had been approached by Chizuru Honshō. The school lesbian had short red hair in a bob similar to Rukia's, large glasses, and a tall and slender frame. She also had absolutely NO qualms about hiding her sexual preferences from the outside world, going so far as to not only get particularly physical with poor naive little Orihime every chance she got, but to also openly proposition any member of the fairer sex she found attractive. Rukia herself had been the subject of this treatment more than once, and while she wasn't entirely sure she had understood ALL of the innuendo sent her way, she had to admit the subtle teasing could be fun, if not a little creepy. But now it was the new girl's turn.
They had been sitting outside under the trees during a break between classes when it happened. There was a general feeling of excitement hanging in the air, as summer break was less than a week away. The brunette was sitting by herself at a distance in the shade, her nose buried in a very thick book. Rukia could just make out the title after tilting her head: Atlantis Found by Clive Cussler. As Chizuru departed from the group and slinked towards her prey, Rukia wasn't the only one to cease her conversation; every girl in the group was leaning towards the point of impact to hear what happened next.
Chizuru dropped down to her knees in the grass beside the bookworm, never losing a beat as she smoothly blended a greeting with her proposition. "Hey there Cutie. I usually don't have a thing for older women, but lucky for you, I know how hard it can be to make new friends. What say you come over to my place after school?"
She merely glanced up in cursory acknowledgement before returning to her book. "With all honesty, I would love to, but I don't think it would be such a good idea." The horny huntress was left undaunted.
Chizuru put on her cutest pouting look. "What's wrong? Are you involved with somebody?" Her eyes flashed with a hungry gleam. "Or are you a little nervous about trying something new? I promise I won't leave any marks. At least, not where they'll be seen…"
Sarah's eyes left her reading once again, and they too flashed with something previously unseen by all those present: it was her own look of hunger and lust, albeit far more vicious than that of the predator hovering over her. "It's just that, to be perfectly frank, I don't think you could handle me…"
To say she was surprised would have been an understatement, but Chizuru hid her look of shock well. She recovered quickly enough, motivated not too lightly by the thought of some good clean, sweaty fun within reach. All that was needed was some subtle coaxing. She turned her eyes downwards while running her hands down her sides seductively, adding a pleasant little writhing motion to her body while she did so. "Come now….I'm sure this tight little body can stand up to whatever delightful tortures you have in mind….So how about it? Up for a 24-hour petting session?"
Her ploy seemed to be working as she now had her target's undivided attention: Sarah's eyes had followed every movement of Chizuru's hands on their fun little journey. "What, just petting?" She sounded genuinely disappointed. "But if you MUST insist, I do have some ideas of my own…."
Chizuru perked up like a cat who heard a can opener. "Really! Do tell! Do tell!" She bounced on her knees while clapping her hands together. She barely saw Sarah's hand lunge out and grip her by her tie firmly, simultaneously pulling her forward till their noses were inches apart. Her gasp of surprise at the turning tables brought a fog to her captive's glasses; while the other girl's lusty breathing had the same effect on her own. "Wha-?"
She was cut off by a slender finger pressed gently against her lips. "Relax sweetie, it's just that some of my plans may not be suitable for virgin ears." She glanced over to where Rukia and her cohorts were watching with rapt attention; after everyone turned away in embarrassment, she returned her own back to the lost looking girl that had naively wandered into this trap. "Now, here's what I have in mind… First, we could-" Her voice dropped to a whisper: both to make it impossible for the pair to be overheard, and to give her a reason for breathing onto the lesbian's neck as she directed her dirty little thoughts at the questioning ear.
The one-sided conversation went on for several minutes, leaving those present to do little but wonder at what perverse techniques and creative positions were being suggested. From the way Chizuru was shifting back and forth in the grass, as well as the spreading redness in her face, it was obvious that their guesses weren't even close. At long last, she released her shaking prisoner and pulled back so as to meet her face-to-face. "Well kiddo? You up for it?"
Chizuru stared at her momentarily, blinking rapidly, before turning away with a furious blush. She was swallowing noticeably; both from embarrassment and to deal with the increased level of saliva production. "Um….I'll have to get back to you on that…." Shaking slightly, she struggled to stand on quivering legs that threatened to fail at the simple task of supporting her weight, before walking away at a brisk pace, disappearing into the bathroom where she could…collect herself. Orihime seemed as if she were about to ask her classmates what she was doing, but the sudden blush suggested she had just figured it out.
Those in attendance watched her leave before shifting their collective gaze back to the girl who had managed to out-pervert the biggest pervert in the school. She had returned to her book full heartedly. They continued to stare in shock for several moments before she noticed the distanced examination. She looked up long enough to answer their unasked questions before returning to the heavy tome once again. "What? I like to read in peace."
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The silence of the evening was shattered by what sounded like a thunderclap, the darkness pierced by a bright blue flash, and the deserted stretch of pavement was suddenly occupied by an enormous rumbling behemoth, still trailing ether streams of swirling mist from God knows where. The driver slammed on the brakes, sending the vehicle swerving sideways as it skidded to a halt. Her older sister sitting in the passenger seat activated a GPS system on the dash, while the teenage boy in the back seat trembled silently, still trying to figure out what the HELL had just happened.
One moment they were accelerating down the highway near NERV headquarters, being pursued by an enemy EVA while hurtling headlong into the mysterious blue orb. The next, they had crossed into its threshold and reality as he knew it seemed to have turned in upon itself.
The portal had been deep. Far deeper than it should have been, judging by the roughly thirty foot diameter. He wasn't sure what to expect would happen when they drove into it. Maybe they would come out the other side, still on the battlefield, and be crushed by the pursuing robot. He certainly didn't expect a spinning tunnel of flashing lights, curving and stretching off into infinity.
Then there was the sound. Strange twanging notes and rhythms, making him feel as if he were taking a bad acid trip. What the hell was it? Was this…dimension…producing such ludicrous noises as they were sent hurtling forward into the unknown? No. Glancing down, he saw that the shorter girl with goggles had put a CD into the player, smiling wide as her partner looked at her disapprovingly. They were spinning through the infinite, seemingly lacking any form of control whatsoever since she had taken her hands completely from the steering wheel, and she felt it was a good time to put on some music.
There had been no ground to speak of; just a darker wall of color that seemed to be solid as the wheels traveled over it. His feelings of nausea were only escalated by the whacked out perspective. There was no sensation of movement; they had been accelerating only seconds before, but now felt as if they were standing still, without being thrown out of their seats by the sudden braking and following inertia.
Yet, according to the fantastic array of multicolored strobe lights whipping past, they were going fast. Very fast. Too fast. All around them, the lights continued to intensify and pulse: the primary colors of red, yellow and blue, dancing about each other; the secondary colors appearing as sharp rips and tears where their parent components interacted. And there were other colors too. Colors he had never seen before. Frequencies of the light spectrum that shouldn't even exist in this world. This world. Dear God, where the Hell where they?
Then the singing began. A low, eerie melody. The driver was singing, the emotionless words made even more disturbing by the lack of emotion in her goggled eyes.
"There's no earthly way of knowing….Which direction we are going….There's no knowing where we're rowing, or which way the river's flowing….Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? Bah! Not a speck of light is showing…So the danger must be growing…."
She was still looking directly forward as she sang, her voice increasing in volume, pace, and insanity as she continued, a creepy smile spreading across her face. Shinji stole a glance at the girl in the passenger seat. She did nothing but look upon her partner with incredulous astonishment.
"Are the fires of hell a-blowing? Is the grizzly reaper mowing? YES! The danger must be growing, for the rowers keep on rowing, and they're certainly not showing, ANY SIGNS THAT THEY ARE SLOWING! AHHHHHHHHHH!"
As she finished her unsettling little poem, the girl spun around in her chair, looked directly into Shinji's frightened face, and screamed. He thought he might wet himself.
And then they were out. There was a squeal of locking brakes and screeching tires as the younger of his two kidnappers arrested their rate of travel, while the older blonde in the passenger seat unclenched her fingers from the handle above the door and quickly went about fiddling with something on the dash. The driver turned her goggled eyes to take in the terrified look on his face.
"FUCK YEAH! Some ride, huh kid?" Without waiting for his response, she turned her attention to the taller girl. "Well Sis, what's the damage?"
"Other than the emotional trauma of our passenger after that little display you call humor? The Pink Floyd was bad enough. But Willy Wonka? Seriously?" The girl called Liz seemed to be genuinely worried about his level of comfort and well-being, but her concerns did little to relieve his stress, as he was still feeling pretty messed up right now.
The driver, Gabby, only harrumphed indignantly. "You're just pissed because I wouldn't play your music. Admit it: you would have had us listening to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
The other girl merely glanced at her partner before refocusing on the small glowing screen in front of her. Apparently she had been accurate in her assumption. "We're a little under a mile south of the entrance. And don't even THINK of taking full credit for getting us this close! We both know it was mostly dumb luck."
"Aw, munch my rug…"
For the second time in fifteen minutes, the blonde's hand shot out and struck her younger sister upside the head. "If you're so good, why didn't you bring us out INSIDE the hanger?"
The foulmouthed girl behind the wheel steered with one hand as she restarted up the road, her free hand nursing the new wound. "MAYBE because the place we just left is, whether we like it or not, slightly different from the one we went to! Or maybe because one slight miscalculation would have us come out in the middle of a support wall? DAMN IT! I wish you'd remember this shit! Why don't YOU try programming the jump next time?"
"Just hurry up and get us inside. We still have a lot of work to do."
Shinji once again noticed that her hand had never touched the gear shift. Looking out the windows, that was pretty much all he noticed. The headlights shining forward illuminated nothing but bare pavement and endless lines of evergreens on either side of the road. They had gone about ¾ of a mile, yet the aforementioned 'entrance' was still out of sight. He looked all around wildly as they began to slow, hoping a view of this 'hanger' might offer some clue as to where they were.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in any direction. The girl driving kept them in a straight course while the one who was obviously something of a superior punched some buttons on the first dashboard-mounted box: the one that had apparently brought them here in the first place. After all he had been through he wasn't quite sure why he was expecting something ordinary to happen. Of course he shouldn't have, as a long section of the road before them slid back upon itself, revealing a descending ramp that plunged forth into darkness.
This new path having prevented itself, the driver readjusted her grip on the wheel before pressing the accelerator, the Buffalo's thudding drop only jarring its passengers slightly as it started downward. No sooner had the roof of the truck slipped beneath the level of the road than the opening began to close again, missing the top mounted cargo by mere feet. The absolute darkness was only absolute for a split second before a series of wall mounted lights snapped on, revealing an extremely wide tunnel that continued to descend. They were about a quarter mile in and perhaps a hundred feet beneath the surface when the tunnel suddenly widened into a brightly lit room that rivaled the size of the EVA cages back at NERV.
The gigantic chamber appeared to be carved out of the Earth, and then reinforced by experts in the field structural engineering. The ceiling looked to be close to 50-feet high and excreted a field of fluorescent lights like the stalactites of a cave. The cavern itself was perhaps 200-feet wide and twice that long, with a dozen sturdy support columns aligned in two even rows, keeping the heavy roof from crushing them into dust. The place looked like it could survive a nuclear blast with ease. Shinji then realized that it had most likely been designed to do just that.
There were a dozen large objects lined up against the wall, covered with tarps. The first half, Shinji assumed them to be aircraft of some unknown design, what curves and shapes could be seen depicting an aerodynamic profile unlike anything he had ever seen in books or used against the Angels. The remainder varied in size and shape, and what could be seen caused the young pilot to greatly question the resources needed for such an armada: the treads of a massive tank and tail of an enormous helicopter were clearly discernable. They drove past the lurking masses on their left in silence, making their way across the sprawling floor space.
The middle of the floor was dominated by a large spherical machine. It was almost 30-feet across and resembled a globe with the skin peeled off, exposing the girder structure beneath. It appeared as though the numerous skeletal spheres were designed to spin within one another. A large red circle was painted on the floor around the sphere at a 60-foot radius. Thick, heavy cables ran from the base of the structure to the latter half of the covered vehicles Shinji had just noticed.
Glancing to the right, the Third Child saw an emblem painted on the wall, defaced by graffiti. White letters inside a black circle declared the name HANSO FOUNDATION. The black circle had been utilized as the O in the second word of a three word name scrawled in black spray paint, the first and last words centered above and below the second, respectively: LEGION OF DOOM.
The MRAP pulled to a stop in front of a large set of double doors, a wheeled stretcher sitting to the right, a conveyor belt disappearing into the wall on the left. Things began moving very quickly. Each of his captors leapt from their respective doors to the ground below.
While the taller blonde, Liz, ran over to the gurney by the door, the shorter girl with longish black hair jogged over to the conveyor belt and began busying herself with the control panel. A mechanical rumbling was produced from overhead, and from where he was sitting, the Third Child watched as the mechanical arm extricated itself and carefully lowered the Entry Plug onto the conveyor's tread. 'Wait…' he thought to himself. 'Who's controlling the arm?'
Presently, the taller of his captors brought the stretcher up beside the open door and busied herself with removing the body-sized bag from behind Shinji's seat. For the first time, he noticed the blood staining not only her uniform, but the bag itself. He wasn't sure why he said it. After all, these two had kidnapped him, stolen what was left of Asuka, and were doing God knows what to whoever was in the bag. Maybe he was just tired of feeling useless after everything he'd already been through today.
"Need some help with that?" He wasn't even sure if it had been his own voice he had just heard; from the way the older woman paused in her work to look at him, he guessed it probably was. She stared at him for a few moments, studying him up and down, as if his sudden input greatly surprised her. Well, true, it probably did go against his usual self, but how would she know that? She didn't know anything about him….
Finally, she smiled at him. Not the same sad smile from before they had driven through the portal; this one was filled with warmth and a little bit of surprise on her part. "Sure." He helped lower the heavy bundle down to her, the shape and feel confirming his fears that it was in fact a human body. Rather than freak out, however, he simply made a mental note to be gentle with it. 'Yep, I'm in shock…'
Shinji turned his head at the sound of more mechanical workings to watch as the massive Entry Plug began to move along the conveyor, disappearing into the wall. The shorter girl, having finished with whatever she was doing at the controls, walked briskly through the double doors. He turned to ask a question from the one remaining stranger, but she seemed to anticipate it by the look upon his face.
"Now then, Mr. Ikari, I really don't have time to explain everything to you in an adequate fashion, but rest assured you're safe now." Carefully setting the bundle on the wheeled cart, she took the lead and guiding them through the same set of double doors her partner had just used.
Liz led Shinji and the gurney to the first sliding stainless steel door on the right, which parted at her approach before halting at the threshold. "Now, I want you to wait in that room at the end of the hall. You can wander around if you want, but you'll find most of the doors are locked. Gabby should have another guest for you to talk to in a little while. In the meantime, try to make yourself at home."
And with that, she disappeared into the brightly lit room, the door sliding closed behind her.
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Elizabeth could feel her skin start to tingle the moment she stepped over the threshold. She unzipped the body bag, exposing the still face of Misato Katsuragi, her long purple/black hair fanning out around her head like a shimmering halo. This effect wasn't entirely one of visual irony, as the same electrical charge permeating the room that had caused her goose bumps was having a similar static effect on her subject's hair.
The room she found herself in could have been one of countless sterile operating rooms in any number of hospitals, with the sole exception being this: other than the centrally located padded dais that closely resembled a hospital bed, which she now worked on transferring her patient to, there was no medical equipment whatsoever. Rather, the single computer monitor and large viewing screen attached to the wall had a slightly different purpose. After removing the clothing from the still warm body and placing the blood-soaked garments in a wall mounted receptacle, Liz turned to the computers and flicked a single switch.
The screen flickered to life, where she was greeted by a small, boxy looking insect-like robot. It sat in the middle of what appeared to be a multicolored circuit grid, and looked for the entire world like a cheaply-made puppet from a low budget public access show. Then again, it could be difficult to design a streamlined machine when you were working at a near atomic scale. It was also because of these miniscule robots that the entire room was kept in a positively charged state, allowing them easy access to the electrons that they converted directly into energy.
"Jimmy here. What can I do ya for?"
"Hey Jimmy, it's Elizabeth. Is Mikey there?" Liz treated the treated the screen as a videophone, speaking into it as though she were conversing with someone in another state, rather than a microscopic mechanism in this very room.
"Afraid Mikey's out sick. But as assistant foreman, I am fully capable to direct, orchestrate, and pretty much carry out any and all tasks set out before me. As long as you file the proper paperwork in triplicate."
Elizabeth was one step ahead of him, signing her name to several electronic records and waivers on the pad before her, simultaneously cursing her youngest sister's sense of humor. Giving the nanobots artificial intelligence and personalities, that she could understand. Considering the intricate levels of work they were required to perform, making it easier to interact by having an actual conversation seemed like a great idea. But then she had made them too human. They started to pick up slang from somewhere. They started to hold meetings. And then, they had unionized.
There had been several tense minutes in which the sisters were left wondering if these little creations of theirs would break free in a tiny reenactment of Frankenstein's monster, sweeping across the land while dismantling everything they came across atom by atom. But then they had come forth with their demands. They wanted workmen's benefits.
Although they could power themselves by absorbing the electrons around them into their internal reactor units, it was not a passive action. It was an actual task for them to collect, and then convert, this form of energy. So, they demanded a meal plan in the form of an electrically charged work environment. On the down side, any and all nanobot work had to be carried out in one of these rooms, or a mobile electron field had to be erected for fieldwork. On the plus side, the Nanites' hesitancy to leave their comfort zone prevented a tiny apocalypse from sweeping the material world. Civilization was safe due to laziness.
"As long as you can do a repair job for me…"
"Sure thing boss. What'cha got for me today? Animal, vegetable, or mineral?"
"Somewhere between animal and vegetable…"
"Cripes! This little lady's kicked the bucket! You can't just waltz in here with a stiff, fill out Form 4-8-15, and expect me to play God! You need Form 4-8-16 for that."
"Surely you must be able to do something with her."
"Oh, don't get me wrong. We can heal the bullet wound, any damage to internal organs, and repair the dead brain cells. Then I can have my boys replace lost blood, we'll get the heart started again, and she'll be kept in your standard comatose state, maintaining blood flow and preventing any further damage. But don't call me Shirley."
"I suppose, if that's the best you can do."
"You know as well as I do that there's around a ten-minute time limit on resurrection. Sure, we can fix any and all brain damage resulting from lack of oxygen flow, but after that, something gets lost that we can't put back. Just don't start in on me with any of the Spirituality crap. I'm dealing with the building blocks of the Universe down here and I've never ONCE come across a crate stamped 'SOULS' on the side."
Elizabeth knew better than to discuss semantics with a robot. Thankfully, the foreman wasn't one to waste time on idle chatter when there was a job somewhere that needed doing.
"Alright, we can get the motor running again. Any body work?"
"Yeah, now that you mention it…Do a tummy tuck, tighten up the waist and thighs…." She paused a moment to take in the Major's ample breasts. "Bust size should be fine. The poor woman doesn't need back problems to go along with what she's been through already. How's her liver looking?"
"Let's see…liver….liver….Wowza! This chick drank like a fish!"
"Go ahead and do a refurbish. Lungs too." She thought to herself for a few seconds before changing her mind. "On second thought, repair any and all brain damage and internal trauma, then give her the works. Make her 18 again."
"…Everything?"
She knew what part of the female anatomy he was referring to. "Yes, EVERYTHING. Just leave the memory intact. We'll call this a little bonus for what we want her to do."
"Aye aye, Sir. Course, this is a major job we're talking' 'bout here. Could take awhile…"
"How long?"
"Let me check." He paused for a few seconds. "It's done."
Liz spun around to look at the nude form lying on the slab. She had worked with the Nanites for years. Nothing they were capable of should have surprised her. Still, she couldn't suppress her gasp of shock. They did their work well.
When she had initially undressed the Major upon setting her on the table, she had to admit that the woman in her early thirties was beautiful. It seemed unnatural how well she kept her body maintained when one considered her usual food and drink. The only visual blemishes had been the angry gaping wound in her side and the still-visible scar between and below her breasts. But if she had originally been beautiful upon entering the room, she now looked angelic. It wasn't as though the young woman had travelled back in time, as her mind, memory, and knowledge would be left intact. An extra safety feature was from the paperwork kept the miniscule workforce from putting back things that had been purposely removed, say, tonsils or the appendix. Besides her developed personality, Misato now looked exactly like she did when she was 18, right down to-
Shit. The scar. She had forgotten to tell the Nanites to leave the scar. Ms. Katsuragi's impressive bust was now, in fact, perfect. Elizabeth had read the files on their guests. She knew how Misato had come about that disfiguring slash. She also knew who she had lost on that fateful day. Damn imbedded personalities. The stupid little things worked too well. In running their full scan of the patient in question, saturating her every cell, analyzing and refurbishing her every tissue; they had come across an unnatural discrepancy and repaired it without question or hesitation.
For a brief moment, she considered turning back to the viewing screen and telling Jimmy to put it back just the way it was. Then she caught herself. She'd let Misato decide whether or not she wanted to keep the constant reminder she had been walking around with for 15 years. Consulting the output summary, Elizabeth saw that her mistake wasn't a complete loss. While taking care of the visual blemish, they had also taken care of a little matter concerning her ability to have children.
That is, if she ever woke up again.
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Across the hall, Gabby was making much more progress. Her subject had still been alive, albeit barely.
The diminutive rocker's first order of business had been extracting the patient from the capsule. Her own operating room had been prepared with this particular situation in mind, the conveyor belt recessed into the floor and allowing the clean room to be shut off and made airtight. She had already changed into a sterile liquid proof suit, not so much out of thoughts of maintaining a sterile environment, but instead to keep her good clothes from getting soaked with LCL.
Garbed from the neck down in a blue suit she had based off the designs of the spacesuits in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but still wearing her green goggles, Gabby braced her booted feet against the grated floor and began spinning the hatch cover. The pilot's last battle had resulted in significant stress to the Entry Plug, the stressed metal making it more difficult to open the door. Any other girl of her size and build would have had to resort to using a metal bar for leverage, but she merely shifted her posture and applied more force, succeeding in breaking the seal. The girl fought her natural instinct to jump back out of the deluge, instead standing her ground in front of the open door as the coppery-tasting liquid flooded out of the metal cylinder, cascading against the smooth material protecting her legs before it drained out of the room and into the underground storage tanks. No need to dump this stuff into the water supply.
Taking a deep breath, she reached in for the unconscious body, carefully extracted it from the pilot seat, and placed it gently on the table behind her, marveling at how light she was. She stepped back and looked down to see what she had to work with. Damn.
The Second Child looked like hell. Her right arm was shredded and useless, a textbook case for amputation in the outside world's medical journals. Her left eye was bloodied and forced closed, her ribs obviously broken beneath the shear fabric of her Plug suit, the blood from the slashes across her stomach soaking through the clothing. It was a miracle she was still alive, a true testament to how tenacious the German girl could be when clinging to life. Being submerged in LCL probably helped a bit too. For a brief moment, Gabby wondered how the pilots were able to talk to each other if they were sitting in a can of liquid. Oh well.
Despite her love of blood and gore in any flick she watched, this was a ghastly scene set out before her, and the only way to make it better was to get to work. Gabby picked up a scalpel and busied herself with removing the suit, placing the garment in a wall mounted cubicle the same as her sister's. She glanced at the nude form on the table as she strode to the view screen on the opposite wall. The brave young pilot was definitely beautiful, in a particularly tragic kind of way. She'd have to fix that.
The screen flickered to life, where she was met by a duplicate of the tiny robot her older sister was conversing with in the room across the hall. The only difference was the color of the neon running lights on its cubist body and the voice; this one had something similar to a surfer accent, clashing drastically with the compliments and formality he used to converse with her. "Morning Creator. How may I be of assistance on this glorious and most righteous day you've chosen to bless us with?"
Gabby smirked; pleased with herself over how well her little inventions had turned out. This was why people spent so much time playing with model trains: the God complex. There was something about being able to create a miniature world that was purely to your liking, then destroying and recreating it on a whim. It was kind of like that, except once the little buggers got going they would build the world for her. "Just one, but it's pretty big. Gimme the Rocky Horror special on the little lady behind me.
"Any alterations? Beef up what's under the hood? Trick out the chassis? Simply ask and you shall receive, oh Supreme One." Being the one who created the miniscule robotic creatures carried with it the benefit of not having to fill out all that paperwork. It would have been like Noah asking for a shipping invoice before he loaded the Ark.
She thought to herself for a few seconds. To the Nanite before her, it must have felt like an hour. "Just fix any problems they may have missed in her physicals. Make sure she's ready for what we have planned."
"She's one of your pilots? Lucky her."
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The first thing she had been aware of was the unfamiliar ceiling.
She was naked, staring up at the stainless steel ceiling tiles, randomly interspaced with lighted squares giving the sparse room illumination. The raised slab she was lying on felt like metal, but without the characteristic cold that should have gone hand in hand. The alternative of lying on a 'cold, metal slab' kept her from wondering when the aliens had abducted her and wondering when the probing would begin. Rather, the metallic surface with a soft pad beneath her head felt warm to the touch; a godsend when considering what parts of her body were making contact with said surface. Speaking of God…
For a split second Asuka's mind spiraled into a panic. The memories of her last battle against Units 05 through 13 came flooding back to her. Her last acts on Earth? With growing dread she tried to lift her head and look down at herself. The effort was too much. Lacking the strength to lift her skull from the padded surface now cradling it, she focused her efforts into raising the arm up in front of her, fingers reaching for the light above. The action spurred dim stirrings of déjà vu.
Her arm was fine. Intact and in one piece, safe and sound, without a single blemish displaying the horrors she had endured. It was then that she realized she was viewing this through two fully functional eyes. The Second Child brought her trembling hand up to her face, just to make sure. No impalement, no stab wound. The young thanatophobe's worst fears had been realized. She was dead. Dead. Deceased. Ended. Liquidated. Offed. Kicked the bucket. Goin' up to the Spirit in the Sky. Become one with the Universe. Shed her mortal husk. Returning to the loam. Her bones turning to dust, spreading in the infinite breeze across the lifeless plains. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
She was dead. Fucking. Dead.
And she didn't care.
For as long as she could remember, the thought of Death gave her a taste of what it was to slip into madness. Not just her own death. Anything dead. But hey, finding your mother's body when you're a little kid will do that to you. And now here she was, finally at the threshold, looking into the white light of infinity. And it really wasn't that bad.
In fact, she felt completely and utterly awesome. It wasn't that stereotypical 'floating' crap, either. Instead she felt, for lack of a better word, buzzed. Every square inch felt tingly and warm, like putting a 9volt battery on your tongue. Except she felt it everywhere. Taking a deep breath, she ran her tongue along the roof of her mouth and swallowed. Then she ran her tongue back along her upper jaw, to test something she thought she had picked up on. Sure enough, there was the molar she had chipped during one of her countless battles against alien behemoths of unknown origin and motivation, her teeth clenched to fight the pain that was only felt by less than half a dozen others in the history of man. As her tongue probed and explored her own mouth like she had never felt it before, the reality of the situation could not be denied. Her tooth was fine. Perfect, in fact.
She wasn't sure how long she lay there on the table, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, thinking about nothing in particular, and overall just grooving on the sensations running through her. Then a face appeared upside down in her field of vision, and it was without a doubt the weirdest looking angel she had ever seen. And she had actually met a few.
"Welcome back Turbo! Did the Devil have any messages for me?" asked the unknown entity, her eyes hidden behind green wrap-around goggles.
"Who are you?" was all she could think to ask.
"I suppose you could think of me as a God. The little guys I used to bring you back to life already do. But since I'm not big on formalities, my name is Gabby."
Asuka could only look at her in confusion. The girl standing over her seemed to pay her no mind as she helped her into a sitting position before handing her some pills and a glass of water. "Here, these will help clear your head." Asuka swallowed the pills with slight difficulty, thankfully taking great gulps of water. Almost instantly, the pills began having an effect on her mental facilities, as she realized she had just taken unknown medication from a complete stranger.
"First things first: red, black, or grey?"
"Huh?"
The mysterious girl held up several folded t-shirts. "What color do you want? I just grabbed some stuff at random. There's more in your room, but we certainly can't have you walking around in the buff, can we?"
To be perfectly honest, Asuka was feeling so good right now that she could have walked through a crowded mall right now and not given a damn. Despite her internal objections, she allowed Gabby to help her into the supplied panties and bra, followed by a pair of jeans. She selected the black t-shirt, vaguely wondering what INVADER ZIM was. The redhead was surprised by how everything fit her limber frame so well.
The girl wearing the blue spacesuit helped her unsteadily to her feet. After a few tense seconds it was clear that her legs would support her. Gabby seemed pleased with herself. She had no way of knowing the girl was feeling something similar to a parent watching their child take its first steps. Of course, if she had been able to peg the emotion, she would have cranked up some Flogging Molly and tried to ignore it.
"Now you're probably going to be feeling a bit unlike yourself for an hour or so. That's to be expected, considering what you've been through today. Now, while it's true we're going to keep you here despite your feelings on the subject, unlike most terrorist organizations, doers of villainy, and anyone else who dabbles in super science and affronts to nature, we treat our guests like family. We've got a REC room down the hall for you to get some rest. Just sit tight and I'll be right in for your debriefing." And with that, the girl turned her back to Asuka and started to shut down the equipment and perform a quick cleanup, letting the baffled German girl see herself out.
As she left the room, so did the tingling sensation she had been feeling. It was a drastic change, similar to leaving an air-conditioned room on a hot summer day. It sent a chill down her spine. She made her way down the hall, still feeling a little dazed while vaguely trying to recall what had happened and how she had gotten here. Glancing to the left, she became aware that the walls were not the solid monotone colors she had grown used to in Tokyo 3.
This section was adorned with a mural of four men walking to the right across a deserted street. The procession was led by a man dressed in white, followed by one dressed in black. The third man in line wore a dark grey suit and was barefoot. The last individual was wearing denim. The cars visible parked on the side of the street, as well as the hairstyles being sported lead Asuka to the assumption that the scene being depicted was from a decade long since passed, though she couldn't quite place it. Reaching out and running her fingers across what she expected to be the glossy surface of a poster, the Second Child was surprised to find that the image was painstakingly painted by hand. What kind of government base let its employees paint on the walls?
Asuka spent a few moments standing before the mural, trying to name the emotions she was currently feeling. The girl who introduced herself as Gabby had perhaps sold those pills a little short: to be honest, she couldn't remember a time when she could concentrate and think about something so clearly. As she studied the image of the four unknown men crossing an unknown road, the mere simplicity of the scene stirred pangs of envy within her mind.
Damn, did her life suck. Sure, she was a college graduate at the age of 14. True, she was one of the select few on the face of the planet with the ability to pilot an Evangelion. But at what cost? Look at the dangers she encountered on a day to day basis. Look at the trauma she had gone through in a childhood preparing her to battle hostile monstrosities on behalf of mankind. Look at the spineless wimp and sleazy drunk she was forced to live with.
Look at everything she had been forced to endure.
Subconsciously Asuka raised her right arm to her left eye, just to be sure. It felt fine. But there was no possible way it had all been a dream….could there? No. You weren't supposed to be able to feel pain when you dreamt. And the memory of being ripped apart by those monsters was far outside the possibilities of her imagination.
It had really happened. She had fought the winged EVAs. She had lost. And for a few moments, she thought she may have been dead. Was Gabby telling the truth? Did she really owe her life to the blunt speaking young woman wearing the weird wrap-around goggles? Who was she? Why had she saved her, and how? Where had she taken her? All these thoughts instantly left her mind as she stepped through the sliding door at the end of the hall and saw that the room was not empty.
Shinji.
Her rage wasn't like a quick burning fuse. That comparison still implied some small amount of time between ignition and detonation. No, turning the ignition key as the vehicle you were sitting in was vaporized by the planted car bomb provided a more suitable metaphor for the way her body was consumed by fury.
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Even though he knew absolutely nothing about her, Shinji couldn't help but feel a little lonely and dejected as the tall blonde girl named Elizabeth left him in the empty hallway. He walked sullenly down the hall, paying little attention to the artwork adorning the walls of the subterranean facility. The room he now found himself in was luxurious when compared to what he was used to. Thick, plush carpeting covered the entire floor, the middle of which was taken up by several large leather sofas and a coffee table. One corner held a stainless steel refrigerator; the walls opposite were lined with bookshelves sagging under the weight of DVDs and hardback volumes. The main wall held an enormous flat screen TV hooked up to a video game system. To the right of the doorway was a large jukebox outlined with neon bubble lights.
Shinji barely took in anything of the room as he made his way to one of the sofas, sat down, and pulled his knees up to his chest. A bloody metal cross attached to a chain was still clutched tightly in his hand, creating an indentation that may well be permanent if he squeezed it much more tightly. Suddenly, he was aware of the fact that he had been clutching it desperately ever since Misato had forced it into his trembling fingers, and everything that had occurred in the last few hours came crashing down upon him.
They were gone. All of them were gone. Misato was dead. Rei was left behind. His captors were doing God-knows-what with Asuka's body. Asuka….The promise he had broken when he had allowed himself to be abducted by the girl with black hair and glowing green eyes not only shattered any remaining faith his guardian had had in him, but at the same time he had managed to abandon Asuka in her time of need. The sight of the bent and twisted Entry Plug resting atop the girls' truck was finally starting to sink in. They were all gone. The Third Child didn't know what it would feel like to be the last person alive on Earth, but he couldn't imagine it feeling much lonelier than he did now.
Shinji turned his head at the sound of the sliding door to see which of his captors had entered, only to be met with the newest in a long list of surprises as Asuka glanced about the room momentarily. Her eyes fell on him, and she stalked forward purposefully, her face an unreadable mask.
Shinji leapt up off the couch and started towards her, incredibly relieved by the sight of a familiar face. He had never thought he could possibly be so happy to see the disagreeable young woman. "Asuka, you're okay!"
The words had barely left his mouth before he stumbled backwards and tripped over a coffee table, the side of his face still stinging from the impact, and looking up into Asuka's fiery gaze, her fist still extended from delivering said impact.
"No thanks to you, asshole." There was little anger or volume in the insult. Rather, it came out as a forced whisper, her voice shaking with disgust.
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Elizabeth leaned against Misato's table with her left hand, the right holding the phone to her ear. "It's like we thought: she's too far gone. I'll catch the earliest flight I can, and then we can go ahead with it."
"Don't bother. I think I've tracked him down. I can take care of this myself."
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! There is no way I'm letting you go in there on your own! Just wait for me at the airport, and we can go together." Liz was pacing back and forth now. She had been afraid her second-youngest sister would try to pull something like this.
"You've done enough already Sis. I begged you to add her to the List in the first place. You kept me from going to Tokyo 3 with you guys, now let me take care of things at this end. Don't worry, I'll be fine. See you soon."
The line went dead, Elizabeth staring at the device in her hand like she had never seen it before. Damn. She was going to have to move fast. There was little chance of stopping her, but she might be able to follow close enough to stop her from getting killed. Probably.
She had just finished dialing the airline service she favored due to their lack of background checks when the voice behind her stopped her cold. "It's not your fault you know." Turning around she found her youngest sister changing out of her blue spacesuit. Gabby motioned to the form on the table with a gloved hand. "You said it yourself: we couldn't grab her any sooner if we didn't want to fudge things up too badly. This is the only way."
Elizabeth turned off the phone with a regretful sigh. "It's not that. I'm not supposed to make you guys do all the rough stuff."
"You're not 'making' us do anything. Or did you miss the fact that you just failed to talk her out of going it alone." Gabby bent over to remove her blue leggings. Elizabeth didn't have anything to say to that, so her youngest sister continued. "Mom wouldn't have done what she did if she expected you to take her place. She's gone because she knows we can take care of ourselves. ALL of us. And if you're going to do everything yourself, there's not much point in gathering anybody from the List at all."
"But the Sereitei is far too dangerous. What if her glasses break? She shouldn't go alone." Liz knew she was struggling for an argument, but she was one to keep struggling no matter what.
Gabby sat down and started to change out of the turquoise space boots, favoring her usual black leather footwear. "Bullshit. You just wanna see Mom again." Her oldest sister tried to hide her blush. She acted like she hadn't noticed. "Besides, she's not alone you know. And she never will be again. Out of all three of us, she's probably the most capable of handling herself if things go bad. My partner's sitting out there in the hanger, and he's more than proved his usefulness today. When you come right down to it, you're the only one who doesn't have someone watching their back 24/7. You're the one who needs to rely on us from time to time. Don't feel ashamed to do so."
Liz was feeling a little choked up. Everything Gabby said was true, no matter how much she didn't like to admit it. And there was no reason for her to need to be reminded of this stuff by someone half her age. But she couldn't help feeling at least some tinge of personal failure if she couldn't be the solid foundation her family needed. Being told flat-out that you weren't the vital lynchpin of the group you should have been didn't help one's ego either.
Gabby finished readjusting her Flogging Molly t-shirt as she stood up with her arms outstretched. "Don't be like that. Want a hug?" Her older sister groaned solemnly as she embraced her. "It's creepy seeing you all vulnerable and shit. Come on, turn that frown upside down! Didn't you get to kill a whole bunch of bad guys today?"
"Yeah, that was pretty cool." The corners of Elizabeth's mouth crept up into a smirk of embarrassment. "Thanks munchkin."
"Piss off! You and your freakish Amazonian height!" Gabby was more than a full head shorter than both her sisters, an aspect of herself that she was somewhat unhappy with, as it lead others to view her as less intimidating than she hoped. She could still hold her own in the wildest mosh pits.
"Nice job on Katsuragi by the way. Still surprised by how well my little guys do their job?" The girl walked over to the table and ran her fingers through Misato's long dark hair. Her own was of a darker shade, but the volume made her slightly envious. She couldn't help but wonder how this would look thrashing to some hardcore Metal. Then something occurred to her. "Wait, what did you do?"
"What? What's wrong?" Elizabeth carefully avoided making eye contact, favoring to look at the floor in an effort of hiding her sheepish smile.
"The scar's gone…Damn, she's got some nice boobs." Gabby, like her sisters, had gone over these peoples' files repeatedly. However, being her, the first thing she ever checked were records of discerning marks, namely tattoos. Misato's scar had always caught her eye, even more so once she had researched its origin. Satisfied that she had sufficiently lured her oldest sibling into a false sense of security, the young woman lunged forth with what was actually on her mind. "Oh, and now that I think about it, she's A DECADE YOUNGER!"
Liz threw her hands up into the air with exasperation. "Oh, COME ON! Did you really think I wouldn't do something like this for her?"
"I just thought we were going to try and not affect the target worlds too greatly. Think anyone will notice this? Not to mention, how will she react when she wakes up and finds out all of her clothes don't fit?" Gabby wore her goggles constantly for several reasons, one of which being the prevention of other people reading her emotions through her eyes. All she needed to do in order to make someone think she was pissed was keep the humor out of her voice. Her older sister knew this trick all too well.
"I can't imagine it will be that much worse than coming back from the dead, can you?" Liz removed a light sheet and draped it gently over the still form. "You really think this'll work?"
"Relax. All Sarah has to do is find that drunk Shinigami who's lugging around the double Ds. Besides, you knew Mom longer than any of us. Do you really think she'd be opposed to what Sarah's trying to do?"
Elizabeth thought for a few seconds before looking at her kid sister with a wide smile. Remembering their mother always brought a warm feeling to her chest. "Not a chance in Hell."
"And if it doesn't work, I could always just dance in a circle around her while chanting 'Arise, Chicken, Arise!'" Gabby started for the door. "I've already sent the Chopper and the Tank back to their positions until we want to power the next jump. Why don't you go take a nap? She's not going anywhere. I'll go check in and see how the Asuka and Shinji are doing."
Liz spun around at that. "Asuka's up already? And you left them ALONE together! Smeg….Hurry up and get in there before she strangles him!"
Gabby made her way out the door at a leisurely pace.
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Flipping the cellular phone closed, Sarah adjusted her shoulder bag as she surveyed the establishment before her. The shop had a decidedly Eastern feel to it; even more so than most of the buildings she had encountered in this Japanese city. She started up the path when she was halted by the sight of two children, a boy and a girl, the latter of which seemed to be having a great deal of trouble. Her broom lay at her feet, where she had dropped it after being attacked by her companion.
The glow surrounding the two as she watched them through the special lenses of her glasses told her this must be the place. Sarah Grant really didn't need glasses; her vision actually a little better than 20:20. Recently her vision was growing even sharper, but she preferred not to think about the unpleasant cause behind that. The reason she chose to wear these things was their ability to let her see spiritual pressure.
Sarah, Elizabeth, and Gabby were all slightly more in tune with the spiritual world around them than most individuals, but did not match up to those special individuals who could see spirits as clearly as flesh and blood human beings. Elizabeth and Gabby were both stuck in the same boat, only being able to sense whether or not a spirit was nearby or if an individual's spiritual pressure was greater than normal. Sarah's own sixth sense let her see faint shimmers of the dearly departed, but if she closed her eyes and stood still, she was able to sense and precisely pinpoint such a presence if it was within about fifty feet. Hence the lenses Gabby had created.
What few people realized, probably because so few even knew of its existence, was that spiritual pressure could be thought of as a form of radiation. The lenses in Sarah's glasses used the same technology Gabby had incorporated into her own goggles to make it possible to not only see ghosts as clearly as the living people next to them, but those living individuals with greater-than-usual levels of spiritual pressure were seen as emanating a soft glow, the intensity of which was based on the magnitude of power. While Gabby preferred to compare them to the glasses in John Carpenter's 'They Live', only without the headaches and in color, Sarah jokingly referred to her invention as the 'Menger Sponge'.
Humor or no, she was greatly thankful of the awesome little device. It would be vital for what she had planned, and had succeeded in providing quite a shock when she had entered the local high school. Within minutes, she had counted FIVE individuals with visible wavelengths so great that they themselves must have been capable of viewing the spiritual world unhindered. And without the glasses, the two children involved in a one-sided scuffle would have looked just like any other rowdy adolescents. The thick golden aura she could see around each argued otherwise.
Sarah removed the glasses and folded them carefully into her shirt pocket while calling out to the pair. "Excuse me, but would you kids be so kind as to tell me if the manager is in?"
Ururu Tsumugiya and Jinta Hanakari ceased in their brawling long enough to give the stranger the once over. "He's in the back of the store, Ma'am. Would you like me to escort you?" Ururu's voice was decidedly calm, despite Jinta's failure to release her twin locks.
"No thanks, dear. I know the way." The duo watched as she disappeared inside before Jinta continued his assault, much to the frail-looking girl's chagrin.
Kisuke Urahara was lying on a futon behind the counter, fast asleep. A sharp kick to the side resolved this. Mr. Hat&Clogs stared up blearily to see who had disturbed him, readjusting his white-and-green striped hat and brushing his messed blonde hair out of his eyes. Once his vision was clear, recognition was instantaneous. Surprise didn't quite cover his reaction, but he did his best to hide it. "Well, well! Long time no see! And to what do I owe this pleasure, Ms. Grant?"
"I'm afraid this isn't a social call Urahara." Sarah watched him casually, carefully observing every movement he made despite being on friendly terms.
He seemed not to hear her. "How are you and your lovely sisters doing?"
"I'm rather peachy. You can ask them yourself once they show up. I'm sure they'll be coming after me soon enough." She kept a careful eye on his cane, balancing herself on the balls of her feet. She knew what he had hidden inside, and friendly acquaintance or no, the unwelcome little voice in her head that told her to treat everything as a possible threat kept her at the ready, prepared to lash out like a coiled viper should he reveal the Zanpoktou secreted within.
"Done something naughty, have you?" The humorous tilt of his voice masked his apprehension. He knew where she was headed with this.
"Not yet I haven't." The shopkeeper braced himself. Here it comes.
"I need to go to the Soul Society." And BAM! There it was.
Urahara took a deep breath, releasing it as a low sigh as he extricated himself from behind the counter. "Haven't you heard the news? The city's LOADED with Soul Reapers nowadays. Why not go bother one of them and leave me to my thriving business?" He motioned to the empty store around them.
"I'd rather not draw too much attention to myself. 'Hey, there! You don't know me, but I've heard through the grapevine that you're a warrior from the afterlife, and I find myself in dire need of passage to said land of ghosts and goblins. Mind doing me a solid?' Yeah, I'm SURE that'll work just fine. Besides-" She paused midsentance as the watch on her list began to beep, glancing down at the face. The shopkeeper noticed a slight tremble to her fingers as she turned her back to him, reaching into her bag and withdrawing a silver flask. She unscrewed the top and tilted it back, taking a deep swig before turning back to him and finishing. "Besides, I'm somewhat in a hurry."
Urahara kept trying to build his case, knowing full well she would likely be ready to rebuff him at every turn. "You know how much trouble I can get into for this? It's really gonna cost you."
Sarah removed a small cardboard box from her shoulder pack and set it on the counter. With a nonchalant movement, Urarhara reached out and flipped open the lid, before staring at the contents questioningly: a dozen crisp-looking apples, carefully packed with protective tissue. "Are those…Afal Enlli?"
Sarah grinned widely before launching into her sales pitch. "Fresh picked this morning from the private orchard of a very close family friend. The mother tree was identified as the only one in existence in 1998, where it is believed to have grown on Bardsey Island since the 1300s. These apples are, officially, the rarest in the world."
Hat&Clogs tried desperately to recover his composure. His mouth was already starting to water. "It's a start…"
His visitor rolled her emerald green eyes with a mix of exasperation and amusement, resorting to bring out the big guns. "AND, I'll buy you a new hat."
That was the breaking point. Urahara had no doubt she would win in the end; she always did. All he could hope to do was get the most out of the bargain while he had the chance. "You drive a hard bargain, Miss. Follow me downstairs and let's see what we can do."
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Wow, another chap up, SO many to go….
Where have the EVA pilots found themselves? What business does Sarah have in the Soul Society? How badly is Asuka going to kick Shinji's ass? What was Chizuru doing in the bathroom? Find out next installment!
Okay, so I'm not even gonna go there on the Chizuru issue. If you can't figure out the innuendo yourself, you're probably too young to be reading this, as this story is going to get a lot more complicated than the inner workings of an excitable lesbian schoolgirl. If you still don't get it, go ask your parents. Seriously. 'Cause that would be AWESOME.
For people who are enjoying this, I thank you kindly. In case you haven't noticed, as classes escalate for me the length of time between updates has increased. Sooo, let's see how much I can give you each time, shall we?
Also, please keep in mind that if I miss something that I really wanted to put in sooner, or I feel the story as a whole will benefit, then previous chapters may be revised. There's not much sense in putting so much work into this project if people won't enjoy it. I have already done this to the previous chapter, so feel free to brush up on my little yarn.
And if you TRULY enjoy what you've read, but don't like waiting so long for updates, there's something you can do to help:
Stroke the artist's fickle ego. Give him motivation to write, rather than watch anime, play C&C 3, or do his homework. This can be down by scrolling down and clicking on that little button right, down, THERE.
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