Flowers of Isolated Helpless
As Shinji walked from Rei's back to Misato's apartment, two sounds struck him suddenly, one after another. First, his cellphone rang and– before his could even reach for his pocket– the emergency alarm sounded.
"Huh!" Shinji scanned the skies for any sign of the Kute-class, but the armored-skyscrapers of Ciudades del Cielo blocked his view. Another ring of his cell phone, and he picked it up. "Yes–"
"Where are you?" Misato's voice thundered from the receiver.
"Uh, Three blocks down from Rei's apartment on the way back to your–"
"Right! Stay there, I'm on my way. And get Rei with you!"
"Misato, how'm–!" but Misato had already hung up the phone. 'Great. . .should I go back for Rei? No. . .She has to come this way to get to Nerv, and she'll probably be running.'
Sure enough, in a few minutes he saw Rei rounding the corner. But– 'Where's she going!' Rei was cutting across the street– 'A shortcut!'
"Rei, wait!" She didn't hear him. 'I'll never catch her.' Even as he said the words, Shinji's legs were hitting the ground as hard as his head could move them. He followed Rei into a back alley, but almost lost sight of her when his ears caught the deafening sound of LFO's overhead. But, unlike Rei, Shinji hadn't stopped running. He soon overtook Rei, who was looking up in stunned silence. "Rei, c'mon! Misato's gonna pick us up."
"They shouldn't be here," Rei said, unmoving.
"What are you saying? Let's go." Rei, still looking toward the sky, gave way and followed Shinji. The run back seemed much longer, but both of the pilots made it back to the corner in time to see Misato's blue car skid to a stop.
Misato threw open the passenger door to yell, "Get in!" Shinji closed the door behind himself and Rei, and without a seconds delay Misato speeded toward Nerv headquarters.
All around them, the two pilots heard shots being fired by enormous rifles, and the horrible screeching sounds of the anti-body coralians. "Misato," Shinji pleaded, "what's happening? Where is the Kute-class?"
Misato was silent for a moment. She had suspected for a time that the appearances of the Kute-class were engineered by someone. At first, she had thought it was obviously Seele, the bank behind Nerv– where the ideas of the Evas and mysterious Human Instrumentality Project came from. However, through more and more research, Misato was sure that someone else was pulling the strings: was it the Marduk Institute? or perhaps the United Federation? In any case, she was 100% sure now that the Kute-class coralians are engineered. The U.F.'s LFOs had been on route to Ciudades del Cielo 25 minutes before Nerv had any sign of a Kute-class appearing.
"It's above Nerv Headquarters," Misato finally answered.
"Commander," Rei spoke. "That isn't the problem." It wasn't a question.
"What's she mean, Misato?" No one answered Shinji. He remembered what Rei had said, "They shouldn't be here." Something clicked inside his head. "They aren't our back up– are they, Misato?" No answer.
Misato picked up her phone and reported to Dr. Akagi on the other line, "This is O.D. Katsuragi, in route to deliver Unit-01's pilots. Have the Eva prepped and–"
"Negative," Ritusko cut across her, "Plan Second initiated."
"What!" Misato let go of the wheel– which Shinji promptly grabbed– and stuck her head out the window to look up at the sky. "Asuka!"
Three hours later, Shinji, Rei, Misato and– oddly enough– Toji and Kensuke waited atop Nerv's premier fortress skyscraper, watching a red Eva being lowered into the Geofront.
Shinji had only caught snapshots of the pilot's amazing performance, but he could already tell that, whoever they were, this pilot was in a different league from himself, and maybe even Rei.
Unit-02– Misato had said this was the red Eva's designation– had fallen from the sky with a single rifle. Before it entered the LFOs' sights, the pilot had fired off rounds that wiped out nearly half the fleet. Next, Shinji was able to see– once they had pulled the car off of the main road, and gotten out and behind cover– that the remaining LFOs had surrounded the Eva. However, just when he thought that the pilot was done for, the Eva extended its AT field, causing half of the LFOs to loose balance and fall off their boards, and the other half to be incapacitated due to their own rebounding bullets.
After approx. 23 minutes, the Kute-class phenomenon disappeared, and the anti-body coralians died. Clean-up was still taking place three hours later.
Back in the present, Toji stood stoically as Kensuke geek-ed out over every little movement and action of the Eva and Nerv personnel. Rei, per usual, had a look of disinterested attention, as she stared across the horizon, looking at nothing in particular. Misato was looking expectedly toward the Eva, and Shinji wondered how the introduction of this new pilot would change the happenings at Nerv. 'Do they even need me and Rei anymore?' Alot of conflicting emotions lay behind this thought.
"Something wrong?" Misato asked, and Shinji looked up to acknowledge that he had heard her.
". . .So Unit-02 is red," Shinji said, hoping to steer the conversation off topic.
Suddenly, a loud and musical voice boomed from somewhere atop the Eva. "That's not all that's different about Unit-02!"
The whole company looked towards the Eva's head to see standing atop it the new pilot: a red haired, red clad girl about Shinji's age. She had a look of supreme self-confidence, and– if not for her proud, condescending look– was devastatingly beautiful. "Unit-00 and Unit-01 are a prototype and test type, respectively. But my Unit-02 is the first fully equipped, true Evangelion!"
As the red-haired pilot hopped down onto the platform, Misato gestured to her and looked toward the rest of the company. "May I introduce the ace of the United Federation Specialized Air Force: Captain Asuka Langley Soryu."
"Captain!" chorused the three boys. Rei remained disinterested, but turned to face her fellow pilot.
"Hi, Misato!" Asuka stopped to shake her hand, but quickly turned and ran over to Rei. "And you must be the Commander's pet: the first children: Rei Ayanami."
"Nice to meet you," Rei bowed and walked away.
'Ice Queen,' thought Toji and Kensuke.
"Ice Queen," muttered Asuka. She then marched over to where the three boys stood. One was looking at her with a look of mingled scrutiny and distaste. One was dumbfounded and embarrassed. The last looked equally embarrassed, but this peculiarity seemed to be apart of his natural demeanor, rather than a reaction to the red haired pilot's fierce demeanor.
"So. . .which one is the third children?" The last boy jumped and mumbled something. Asuka moved in on him, leaning over to inspect him thoroughly. Without warning, the girl tripped Shinji, who easily fell off his feet. To keep him from getting back up, the girl stood over him. "So where were you when the enemy attacked!"
"Muh-bie," Shinji stuttered and blubbered.
"It's pathetic! I guess its true that the famous Third Children is a daddy's boy!"
"That's enough, Soryu!" From the stairs through which Rei exited came a silver haired boy. He was dressed in a black military uniform with red trim, and wore an exhausted look on his face. Shinji saw that the soldier was older than himself and the new pilot, but not yet in his twenties. He had hard, handsome features, was tall, and with his build could easily pass for a star runner.
Asuka looked over toward him with a completely different expression on her face: it went from stern and cold to wanting and jubilant. "Hey, Dewey! Where've you been?"
Before Asuka could make her way over to him, the soldier marched passed her, walking over Shinji, and stopped in front of Misato. He saluted and declared, "Forgive me, Major Katuragi."
"Major!" Kensuke exclaimed. Shinji took a mental note that Misato had been promoted.
The Silver haired soldier continued. "I didn't report to Nerv when I arrived. I was assigned to Captain Soyru, and wanted to make sure–AHH!" Asuka had jumped on the soldiers back and began pulling at his face.
Through his grunts and shouts of protest Shinji heard Asuka say, "Don't. . .iiiiggnnoorrreee. . .meeeeeeee, DDDEEWWWEEEYY!"
Eventually, Asuka was shaken off, and the silver haired boy had noticed Shinji. He walked over determinately, stopped, and saluted Shinji– who was flustered at such a overly respectful gesture. He almost wondered if the soldier had mistaken him for someone else, when–
"Shinji Ikari, Pilot of Unit-01," for a moment Dewey broke eye contact with Shinji, to look over to Misato, who nodded her head in confirmation that this was indeed Shinji. He then held out his hand, and Shinji took it sheepishly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dewey Renton Novak III."
"Hi," Shinji managed after swallowing his nervousness. "I'm Shinji Ikari–"
"He already knows that, idiot." Asuka walked over and stood glaring at Shinji.
Ignoring her, Dewey continued, "I hope you and Captain Soryu will work well together, Mr. Ikari."
"Ah–well," Shinji looked over at the new pilot. Toji and Kensuke exchanged meaningful looks filled with a the response to the silver haired boys words– 'doubtful', they seemed to say. "You both can call me Shinji."
"Idiot Shinji," Asuka muttered. Shinji heard her, and its likely that Dewey heard as well, though he pretended not to and said, "Shinji, then. Feel free to call me Dewey."
"C'mon, Dewey!" Asuka pulled the soldier away by the arm. "Let's go register, and do all the boring stuff."
He allowed himself to be dragged by Asuka, and Misato gathered up Shinji and the boys. "Time to go: especially you Shinji. We should probably get home soon."
"Misato! What is all this!" Shinji had lagged behind at the car, while Misato went ahead up to the apartment. When Shinji had entered, before even looking up from the floor, he knew something was off. The usual smell of cooking and beer was masked by a faint layer of cardboard or– Shinji didn't know what. As he entered the hallway, Shinji saw boxes and boxes lining the walls. He made his way to his room and, sure enough, it was also filled with boxes: all marked "Asuka Langley Soryu."
"My room!"
"I thought it'd be obvious," Shinji heard a familiar, condescending voice to his left. It was the red haired pilot. "You've been replaced with the newer, better model!" Shinji stammered and stuttered, as Asuka cut across him. "I don't like it either Third Children! Why should I need a guardian! And look at these rooms!" Asuka took hold of the door and began sliding it open and close. "They're so small! I couldn't even fit half my stuff in it. And why are there no locks! Do the Vodarak have no modesty or what!"
"Our way is to consider others before ourselves, and I suggest you get use to it." Misato's sudden appearance gave both of the pilots a shock. "You'll be living with us, Asuka, because its important that all the pilots get along. No, Shinji, your not being kicked out. So live peacefully with each other." Misato's tone was sweet, but the two pilots eyed each other with a look that said, 'doubtful'.
"That's an order," Misato added.
The rest of the night was spent moving boxes, cooking dinner, and cleaning up the apartment. Well, at least, Shinji did all of these things. Misato spent the night in the shower, drinking beer, and catching up on paper work, while Asuka shouted complaints and orders at Shinji. But even Asuka couldn't find a problem with the food– which, of course, Shinji made.
Surrounded by boxes, Shinji tried to get some sleep on the floor futon. His mind was flooded with thoughts about Rei, his father, Dewey Novak. . .and the second child. 'Asuka Langley Soyru. She's not a bad person; but I don't think she thinks much of me.' Why should she? Just cause Rei gave him some attention doesn't mean he was worth anymore than he was before Eva came into his life. 'She's probably just pitying you, anyway.' With this comforting thought, Shinji drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, since it wasn't Shinji's turn to cook, by the time he was out of bed Asuka was gone. Slothfully, Shinji got ready for school, saying goodbye to a passed out Misato on his way through the door.
He reached the school quickly enough, but did not run into Rei along the way. Like always, Shinji entered the classroom to see Rei staring out the window. "Good Morning," Shinji announced.
"Hey, Shin-man!" Toji called out. Shinji walked over to both him and Kensuke, setting his things down on his desk.
"We got a new transfer student today," Kensuke informed him. "Yeah," Toji added dreamily, "hope its a babe."
"Stand!" The class rep. demanded as the door flew open to reveal the homeroom teacher. "Bow. Be Seated."
The teacher was an old man, much too qualified for his high school teaching position, yet enjoying his retirement as a simple, homeroom teacher. "Now, let's see," he said to himself as he put on his reading glasses and read his notice schedule for today. "Ah, yes. We have a new transfer student. Please Miss, come in and introduce yourself."
The door was flung open and before the class could breathe, Toji and Kensuke chorused, "NO WAY!"
"Keep it down, you apes!" shouted Hikari.
The red haired transfer student didn't stir. Her radiant smile and confident demeanor seemed to eclipse everyone else in the classroom. "I'm Asuka Langley Soyru. Charmed, ya?"