Chapter VII

Newcomers

Commander Gendo Ikari was not a pleasant man.

Unsociable, introverted, constantly in a negative mood, and seemingly keeping things from every single person he possibly could, he was most definitely not pleasant. He was resentful, spiteful, and very, very cold. And Ritsuko Akagi was now faced with the tough prospect of convincing him to take two random civilians in to NERV HQ on extreme short notice. She knew this would not go down well.

Why had she even agreed to this? She had just walked in on a man from a parallel universe with a box that somehow had more space on the inside than the outside, and she was treating that as normal. Even she was amazed at her stoicism. Still, she had fainted for it, so perhaps now she had paid her dues.

Nervously, she knocked at the door. One of the very few things she feared was upsetting Commander Ikari.

'Come in.'

Ritsuko entered and walked up to the desk quite calmly.

'Uh, good morning, sir. How are you?'

'What is this about, Dr. Akagi? I have much to do.'

'Well, I just wanted to come and ask you politely if you may hire two new members of NERV to help in technical or tactical areas?'

'Two new members, you say?' Commander Ikari paused. 'Dr. Akagi, who exactly are these two members?'

'Hellooooooo, Commander!' the Doctor shouted, running into the room. Ikari's eyebrows lowered.

'Dr. Akagi, is this some kind of schoolgirl practical joke?'

'No, sir. These people may be able to help us. I have the full, okay maybe half, perhaps quasi-support of Captain Katsuragi. They can help.'

'Well, they are going to need training,' Ikari said, in an attempt to brush it away.

'Already have it,' the Doctor said, holding up a wallet with what was clearly a NERV training certificate inside.

'I, er, get around.'

'Well, one of them is going to need—oh, come on.'

The Doctor held up another piece of paper for Amy. 'Are we quite done here, Commander?' The Commander pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Very well, Doctor. You may work with Dr. Akagi. But one mistake, and you are leaving. Do you understand?'

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically.

'Good. Now get out of here at once before I change my mind. All of you.'

The Doctor and Ritsuko bowed according to Japanese custom, with Amy awkwardly attempting to join in, before the three left the room quickly and efficiently. Ritsuko quietly shut the door behind them.

'Well, that went well,' she said. 'Where did you get the training certificate?'

'Psychic paper,' the Doctor said, placing a finger to his nose and tapping it. 'But you didn't hear it from me, okay?'

'Okay...' Ritsuko was confused, but managed not to show it on her face. 'Well, I'll take you down to the Command Center and introduce you to everyone, and you can begin working with me at once.'

'It'll be a pleasure, I'm sure,' The Doctor replied, with a suave smile.

'Great,' Ritsuko said. 'Let's go.'

Shinji arrived at school the next day feeling remarkably well-rested. Not bad for someone who had nearly died a few days ago. He sat down at his desk calmly, and proceeded to get out his laptop from his desk in order to get to work. Suddenly, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around.

'T-Toji?' he said, nervously.

''ey, new kid,' the jock, the one who had punched Shinji the other day, said, in his Osakan accent. 'I just wanted to say...y'know...sorry for what happened the other day. I feel like a total douche.'

'Oh, that's okay, Toji.'

'You, me, outside, after school today.'

'Wh-what?'

'Keep it quiet, dammit. Don't freak out or nothin'. I just wanna see you after school this evening. Be there.'

'Um, okay, Toji.'

'Thanks, Shinji.'

Shinji turned back around. What did Toji want him for? He flipped open the laptop screen and turned on his computer. The teacher entered the class room, and the class representative, Hikari Horaki, ordered everyone to stand, bow, and sit, as usual. Shinji did so without any fuss.

'Okay, class, today we will again be discussing the nature of the Second Impact. The Second Impact was caused by a meteor collision in Antarctica which caused rapid changes in sea levels as you all know—'

Shinji tuned out by the end of the first sentence. It was propaganda, he knew. Just the government trying to keep kids under control. Most of the kids probably didn't see that. Or did they? Shinji wasn't too good at reading people. Well, not that it mattered. Shinji simply went back to looking over his notes for the past few days. Second Impact, Second Impact, Second Impact, mathematics, Second Impact, Second Impact, Japanese grammar, Second Impact...

'Now, here are our three main computer technicians, Lieutenants Makoto Hyuga, Maya Ibuki, and Shigeru Aoba.' Ritsuko pointed her open hand at each person, for the Doctor and Amy's convenience.

'Dr. Akagi?' Shigeru asked. 'What are they doing here?'

'They've just been hired as new members, and I'm showing them around,' Ritsuko said.

'Just been hired?' Makoto cried. 'It took me months to get to here? You mean they start work today? But I just saw them two days ago...'

'Now, now, Lieutenant Hyuga,' Ritsuko said. 'The other day they were just visiting as a kind of open day, when they had the misfortune of seeing an Angel attack. They have already been trained.'

Maya was the only one who stood up politely and came over.

'I'm glad to be working with you,' she said, with a sweet smile. Her voice was quite a small one, definitely higher in pitch than Amy's. She sounded quite young.

'Thank you,' the Doctor replied. Amy once again attempted to do the respectful bow, getting it done a little better this time. Maya reciprocated.

'Shall we move on?' Ritsuko said, turning them away, as Maya stood behind them. Amy felt odd. It was like work experience back in secondary school, except with more potential chance of dying. Well, what was life without a thrill?

'These are the MAGI computers,' she said, pointing down to three massive boxes, each one with a red "roof". 'MAGI-1, Melchior, MAGI-2, Balthasar, and MAGI-3, Casper.'

'Ooh, Biblical,' The Doctor commented.

'They are the center of the computing grid of not only NERV, but the whole city.'

'The whole city? All of Hakone runs off of this?' the Doctor asked, intrigued.

'Hakone? Doctor, this city is now called Tokyo-3,' Ritsuko explained.

'What? You're kidding me! Why didn't anybody tell me? How embarrassing!'

'If you'll allow me to return to what I was saying, Doctor,' she said, indignantly, 'They are all tasked with making important decisions within the city by voting. Kind of like your British Parliament, in a way.'

'I see,' the Doctor remarked. 'So, where will Amy and I be working?'

'Here!' Ritsuko replied. Makoto turned.

'What.' he said, flatly.

'Oh, don't be such a baby, Hyuga. We can easily install extra screens.' Ritsuko turned to the other two. 'Don't mind Hyuga. He's just a little peeved at stuff when it changes.'

'Hey, shut up!' he said.

'Well, I think it's wonderful,' Maya replied. 'Welcome to NERV. May I ask your names?'

Amy stuck out a hand. 'I'm Amy Pond. I'm Scottish. Can you tell?'

'No, actually, your Japanese is flawless,' Maya responded, taking the hand and shaking it.

'Well, thank you!' Amy replied. The wonders of the TARDIS.

'And who are you?' she asked.

'I'm the Doctor.'

'Doctor...'

'Just the Doctor. I make things better. You know. 'cos I'm a Doctor.'

'I think we're going to get on really well,' Maya replied, and with that, she returned to her seat.

The Doctor leant over and whispered in Ritsuko's ear. 'You know, you're going to have to tell them what we are at some point.'

'Later. I don't want them to get over-excited. Let them have their fun.'

Shinji stood in the school yard. He checked his watch. Toji was late. Ten minutes late. It was getting dark. He felt like he should go.

'Shinji, ya made it!' Shinji turned. There was Toji. The jock who punched him the other day, now asking him a favour. Why? 'Sorry 'bout showin' up late, had to go to a detention. Class Rep woulda been on my ass otherwise, y'know.'

'That's okay, Toji. What did you want?'

'I want you to hit me.'

'Wh-what?'

'I want you, to hit, me.'

'Why?'

'I'm so guilty about hittin' you the other day, man. It's like, when I saw you fighting that Angel thing...man, you saved our lives. And I'm not gonna be satisfied until you hit me back.'

'Where's Kensuke?'

'I told him, I want this to be just me an' you. Now, I got places to be, so have you. Let's get this outta the way. Hit me. Go on.'

'But...Toji...'

'Hit me, Shinji! Go ahead.'

Shinji clamped his right hand reluctantly into a fist, and drew it back. He began to make a motion to hit Toji.

'WAIT!'

Shinji stopped. 'What?'

'Don't hold back. In the face. You're nervous. Just go ahead.'

Shinji drew his fist back.

In one swift motion, he punched Toji in the face. Toji hit the ground. His nose bled. He struggled to breathe for a few moments.

'Thanks, Shinji.'

Shinji looked at his fist in horror. 'Sorry, Toji.'

'Don't be, Shinji.' Toji stood, picked up his bag, and prepared to walk out.

'Toji!'

Toji did not answer.

Shinji was alone in the school yard again.

Distant from the shore, there was a tiny speck. It floated above the horizon, disturbing nothing. It was peaceful. It seemed, unassuming, unthreatening. And it hung in the air in the way that a speck in the distance generally doesn't. Suddenly, it became slightly larger. A bluish glint shone off of the speck's side from the setting sun. Yet nobody was around to observe this sight.

And suddenly, the silence at the beach, aside from the sound of gently lapping waves, was broken. The sound was beautiful, but also, in a way, horrifying.

'Auuuhhh. Auuuhhh.'

The speck became larger. It was moving.

All characters, settings, and boxes of a blue time-travelling nature are owned by Studio GAINAX and the British Broadcasting Corporation, and other affiliates. I own none of these things. Please don't sue me. I don't like being sued.