"Why did you invite her along?" Asuka demanded. The three pilots were walking through the local mall - Shinji had invited the other two to go to the ice cream shop with him. An invitation he was now regretting.
"I thought that we should get to know each other a little. You know. Socially."
"Socializing is not beneficial." Rei replied.
"So go home then. You are not required here," Asuka retorted.
"I find that I desire ice cream. That is strange. Until you spoke, I had no interest in acquiring such an over-rich delicacy," Rei mused.
"Uhm, yeah, lets try to get along?" Shinji made a placating gesture as he pushed open the door to the ice cream parlor.
"If you desired tranquility, then inviting the Second Child was a poor decision."
"Hey, at least I have a pulse," shot back Asuka.
Shinji meekly went to get in line. He was about to ask what flavors the girls wanted, but then decided that would not be a safe line of inquiry.
"BAM"
"BAM"
"BAM"
Somebody was pounding on the storefront window - it was Toji, and now he was pointing at him. Shinji could just hear his muted voice as he called out to Kensuke "Dude! Look at that! Shin-man's on a date with both Fire & Ice!"
Asuka and Rei stopped their argument and slowly rotated to face Toji, "hold my spot, First. I need to talk to a certain stooge."
Toji's eyes got really big as he saw Asuka storming towards him, but he was too much of a man to run away.
Which is why he was still there when Asuka tore into him. Shinji couldn't hear all of it, but it involved phrases like: "are you a child?" and "disturbing the peace" and "harassment". Asuka soon had an audience for her beat down of Toji, who was really not very skilled in the Verbal Arts.
"Can I help you?" Shinji turned to find that he was at the head of the line.
"Probably not. But I'll take a small vanilla cone."
/\ PoC /\
"So tell me again, why are you friends with those two stooges?" Asuka asked as she dug into her mini sundae - one scoop cherry, one scoop chocolate. Hot butterscotch (NOT Caramel), nuts, (very) whipped cream and a cherry on the side (not on top).
"Kensuke is nice." Shinji's defense sounded weak even to himself. The three pilots were sitting at a picnic table on a grassy field behind he mall.
"I have caught him filming me as I swam on four occasions in the past week alone," replied Rei.
"He just needs a girlfriend."
"Don't even think about setting him up with me, Baka! Maybe Rei will consent to go out with him."
"I wasn't going to! He's my friend. I don't want to find him buried in a shallow grave somewhere."
Asuka froze as she considered what Shinji had said. For that matter, so did Shinji, 'Oh, this is going to hurt.' He instinctively closed his eyes. But then Asuka roared with laughter.
"I would not consent to go out with Kensuke," Rei replied, obviously still a few topics behind.
Asuka snorted, "First time you said anything that I agree with. Both of the stooges are, well stooges. Who would want to date them?"
"Your friend Hikari is interested in Toji," Rei corrected.
"Wait, what? Are you kidding me?"
Shinji watched as the conversation morphed into a weird version of 'girl talk'. He wasn't certain if this was any better than the screaming and threatening from before.
/\ PoC /\
"Today, in place of the usual harmonics tests, I want to try multi-syncing." Misato was standing in front of the three pilots, who were already dressed in their plug suits. "This is something that shouldn't be possible, but a few weeks ago, when Shinji and Asuka were both piloting Unit 02, they managed to not only pull it off, but they had a better than usual sync score. So we will first try to duplicate the results in a controlled environment. So Shinji, Asuka, you're first. We're going to use the actual Evangelion, in case there is some idiosyncrasy that is not present in our test pugs."
The two teens climbed into the entry plug. "Oh, I shouldn't have had all that ice cream," Asuka moaned, glancing nervously at Shinji, who was far too close. The problem was that the cockpit was designed for only one person. Only the cockpit in Unit 01 was larger (as it was designed for testing), and even then it was only a slight increase.
"Ok, you two are doing great. Activate the Evangelion and try to walk it around the room." Misato keyed off the radio, turning to Ritsuko, "they are doing better than great: I half-way expected Asuka to throw a screaming fit about letting Shinji into her Eva."
"Hmm. The two of them seem to be getting along pretty well." Ritsuko kept typing, not really paying attention to the conversation.
"Yeah. Shinji still has moments where he just withdraws, sitting with his SDAT and not doing anything, but he's been surprisingly social lately. And he deals well with Asuka's crazy. He's a lot more mature than I would have thought."
Inside the Eva, Asuka was laying down the law. "You're here to think good thoughts to help me sync with Unit 02. You don't touch anything, especially not me. No 'accidental' groping. Got it, third?"
"Yes, ma'am," Shinji was floating behind Asuka like some sort of specter.
Some few minutes later, Misato called a halt to the exercise. "Ok. Not as good as against the sixth angel, but better than we believed would happen. Shinji, your out, Rei, you're in.
And the Evangelion didn't move.
By the end of the day, they had determined that Shinji was the special sauce. With him, the combined sync score rose a few percentage point. It didn't matter which Evangelion they were in. But if the other two pilots tried to work together, the sync rate halved.
"Well, that sucks," Misato grumbled. She though she had discovered an interesting new facet of the Evangelion, but it now looked like it was an aberration. Possibly because Shinji was so mellow and easy to get along with.
"No, we can still benefit from it. I am going to have a second pilot seat installed in Unit 01, in case one of the Evangelions is disabled, like Unit 00 was until recently. That way we can have the extra pilot assist Shinji."
/\ PoC /\
For Shinji, the days dropped into a routine of school and then going to NERV for whatever training Misato dreamed up (or sometimes Ritsuko's favorite tests - he wasn't certain if those had anything to do with making him a better pilot, or if the blond scientist was just abusing her privileges to get data and torture people). After school, he often walked together with Asuka and Rei, though they did not make another foray to the ice cream shop. Shinji wasn't brave enough.
Shinji spent his evening after dinner chatting with Inia, but it was harder to find time. He did hear about her adventures in Kamchatka, where they had live fire tests with BETA.
'That particle beam weapon sounds really cool,' Shinji gushed after Inia described a close call with a swarm of BETA, which Yuuya had ended up obliterating single-handedly using a prototype beam weapon. 'The other thing that would be cool is the battery pack from it. I don't know what you guys use for batteries, but it seems like it's a lot more advanced than our Evangelions – we have only 5 minutes of power.'
'It's not a battery – it's a micro reactor. We're not allowed to operate in areas with lots of people for that reason, but usually, where you have BETA, you don't have any people, except what the BETA pooped out.'
'Huh. Well, not having to worry about running out of power is still a good thing.'
/\ PoC /\
Swipe.
No response
"Hey, my card doesn't work" Asuka looked puzzled as the door to the NERV entrance didn't open. "Shinji, try yours."
As Shinji waved is card before the sensor, Rei calmly remarked, "the power is off."
"So how do we get to our sync testing! Ritsuko said she had new A-10 connectors for us." Asuka tried her cell phone, but it was dead too.
"Maybe we should just go home?" Shinji asked.
Rei pulled a small pamphlet from her backpack, "according to the NERV emergency response manual, we are supposed to report to the control room if we ever lose contact with HQ."
"Oh, look at who's the nerd now!" Asuka grimaced.
"I though you said you had a college degree." Shinji interrupted,
"I took college classes. I did not get a degree, otherwise, I obviously wouldn't still be in secondary school." Asuka replied haughtily, "and beside, that was different. That was me."
"And everything you do is perfect in every way?" Shinji quipped.
"Duh." Asuka smirked, glancing at Shinji to see if he was with the program.
Rei ignored the byplay, apparently filing it under 'stupid teenage interactions I don't need to know about' and headed over to a panel on the left side of the door. "According to the notation here, this is a manual override for the door."
"Shinji, open it." Asuka commanded. At the boy's surprised look, she added, "Be a man."
With a sigh Shinji opened the panel to reveal a large crank hidden inside. With another sigh he began to turn it.
/\ PoC /\
"So which way now, oh imperious leader?" Shinji asked.
"What, you think you can do better?" Asuka demanded.
"What, no.." Shinji cringed back from her angry response, "I was just joking."
"Well, we need to find the emergency stairs to get down to the command center."
"There are no stairs in this section," Rei interjected calmly from behind the bickering teens.
"What?" Asuka turned in surprise, "Have you memorized the layout of NERV?"
"Yes."
"You mean you haven't? You have had several weeks here already." Shinji quickly interrupted before Asuka could say anything.
"Don't give me that, Third. I know for a fact that you aren't smart enough to have memorized the floor plan. " Asuka scowled, "Fine. Second, lead the way. But if you get us lost, I'm going to blame you."
Rei nodded, "We need to go through the maintenance access shaft to a more central section. Here," she pointed to what looked like a grate over a ventilation shaft. "Through there."
"Third, open it!" Asuka commanded.
"What, am I your slave?" Shinji was starting to get a little irritated with Asuka's attitude. He knew she didn't handle stress well, but she was moving from being snippy to really obnoxious.
"Sorry." She didn't sound sorry, "Can you get it open?"
"Give me your ID card." Shinji took Asuka's ID card and used the edge as a screw driver to unscrew the grate from the access tunnel.
"Why couldn't you use your ID for that?"
"I didn't want to destroy it."
With an exasperated sigh, Asuka climbed in first, taking the lead again, with Rei following, and Shinji bringing up the rear.
"Um, shouldn't Rei be in the lead, since she actually knows where we are going?"
"Shut up, Shinji." Asuka didn't sound teasing anymore – she had had her fill of bantering. It was emotionally draining not yelling at Shinji every time he disagreed with her.
The three teens crawled down the access tunnel. It was obviously not intended for regular use, being just three feet by three feet. "Rei, which way?"
There was a pause, "we have to go either left or right."
"Oh, gee that's useful, First. I was so considering trying to tunnel through the steel wall with my teeth. I thought you had the map memorized."
"I do, but I have gotten turned around, and I am not certain where WE are on the map."
"Go left," Shinji volunteered, just to get them moving.
"Fine." Asuka turned right.
/\ PoC /\
"See, I was right." Asuka crawled out of the shaft into the small foyer area. "And that must be the door to the stair!" Asuka pulled it open.
To come face to eyeball with an Angel.
"Heilige Scheiße!" she slammed the door, "Back into the tunnel! Back into the tunnel!"
This time, Shinji ended up in the lead as he had been the last one out.
/\ PoC /\
"Well, at least that pervert didn't get the chance to look up our skirts," Asuka proclaimed loudly, as the trio of pilots stood waiting for orders. They had finally arrived at command, to find it a hive of activity as the technicians tried to manually prepare the Evangelions for launch.
Shinji cringed as several techs cast curious glances at Asuka.
"What's important is that you arrived promptly. Well done," vice commander Fuyutsuki commended them. "Once the Evangelions are ready, you will have to manually climb up to engage the Angel. You will go up elevator shaft 4, as that is closest to where we think the angel is. With the battery packs, you will have only 5 minutes of activity." Nobody was certain where Misato was – she had still not arrived, and there was nobody else with military experience present, so the vice commander had taken the unusual step of taking tactical command.
'It would be nice if we had the nuclear reactors from Inia's world,' Shinji mused. He missed part of the briefing, but vice commander was just killing time until the Evangelions were ready anyways – without power, nobody knew exactly what the capabilities of this Angel were, or where exactly it was. The one positive in this whole situation was that the Angel was slow moving.
"Ok, gentlemen. It is time. Get in your entry plugs." It was a good thing that the Vice Commander usually stood in the background and let other people do the talking. He really did not inspire confidence with his dry academic persona.
As Shinji's entry plug was sealed into the Eva, he was glad of the chats he had had with Inia about what all the systems on his control panel were. He flipped through, turning off anything that required feedback from HQ to operate, and he turned the life support down to minimal temperature regulation.
'I should probably tell the others to do the same,' Shinji frowned. Working with others (talking with others) still didn't come naturally to him.
"Launch!" Maya commanded.
They did. Sort of. The Evangelions turned and began the long climb to the surface. Elevator 4 was off to one side, so after a nerve wracking climb 500 meters up the main launch wall, they finally entered into a cross shaft.
"I think I see it!" Asuka said as her Evangelion peered around the corner, up along elevator 4. "That's one of it's legs!" Unit Two scrambled up into the shaft and began to climb, using her progressive knives as pitons, punching them into the side of the shaft and pulling herself up on them.
"Asuka, we should coordinate our attacks." Shinji followed, with Rei brining up the rear. Which is when the Angel shifted sideways, revealing a giant eye set into its underside. And the eye began to ooze acid.
"Ahh!" Asuka took the full brunt of the attack, screaming in pain. Her Evangelion plummeted towards Eva 01. Shinji managed to just catch the red behemoth, but at the cost of dropping his pallet rifle. And the acid poured over Unit 01.
As the acid began to etch itself into his consciousness, he swung them both down, back into the cross tunnel. Rei had ducked into the other side of the horizontal tunnel. Unit 00 was also the only one still armed with a rifle.
"Oh, sh.. that hurt!" Shinji gasped, "you ok, Asuka?"
"Bitch and moan later. Lets take that SOB out first!" Asuka snarled, "We need to get close enough to that thing to cancel out the AT field, so that we can destroy it. I think that eye thing is the core."
"It would match what we have seen before," Rei acknowledged.
Asuka ignored the comment, "But the Evangelion that gets the killing shot doesn't have to be the one that cancels out the AT field," she continued thinking out loud.
"So, teamwork?" Shinji asked.
"Teamwork," Asuka replied, checking her battery timer. A little over a minute left. "You and I will climb up, while Rei waits below. As soon as one of us is high enough to cancel out the AT field, she pops out of her little burrow and blows that SOB away. On the count of 3."
"1.. 2.. 3!"
The two Evangelions leaped out to opposite sides of the shaft and began climbing hand over hand. Shinji grunted as the strain was translated to his actual arms. 'I can do this.'
"AAGH!" he screamed, the acid poured down on him as the Angel changed position.
But now Asuka scampered up, taking advantage of the Angels distraction. She was almost to withing range when it shifted back to her side again, pouring acid over unit 02.
As soon he was free of the toxic rain, Shinji began to climb. He glanced at his battery timer. 0:00:57
"Now! Rei, now!' He hugged the Eva to the side of the shaft as Unit 00 swung out into the middle of the space and opened fire.
BRADDA BRADDA BRADDA.
The huge eye shattered.
/\ PoC /\
'That was so cool. We actually managed to work together.' Shinji was in his locker room. He had already changed into his civvies, and he was now gushing to Inia, 'and Asuka is a pretty good tactician'. Shinji was really happy to be working as part of a team. It made fighting the Angels a lot less scary.
'Yeah, I know what you mean.' Inia sent back, 'My TSF is one of the few models that takes two pilots, and I feel bad for those poor guys stuck in the single seaters. It's so much more stressful. When I am in my Su-37UB Terminator, I leave the piloting to Cryska, and I just handle the gunnery.'
"Hey, Baka. Are you wanking off in there?" Asuka pounded on the door, "Come out and let's go get something to eat!"
'I gotta go – Asuka is calling me to go eat.'
'Like... A date?'
'I don't... maybe.' Shinji grabbed his shoes and cut the connection to Inia, "coming."
/\ PoC /\
"So they finally found Misato – she was stuck in an elevator with Kaji this whole time." Asuka said around a mouthful of sandwich. The two of them were having dinner at the NERV cafeteria. So, not a date. The room was still almost empty as most of the staff was cleaning up from the attack.
"You seem to be ok with that." Shinji was surprised. Typically, whenever Kaji flirted with Misato, Asuka would lose it. Or at the very least, steam would come blowing out of her ears.
"Huh. Yeah," Asuka replied, a little surprised herself. "I guess I'm just really happy with how we performed, and nothing is going to 'harsh my mellow', as my gran used to say."
"So why not invite Rei? She contributed as much as we did."
Asuka waved her hand dismissively, "She wouldn't want to be here." So.. maybe a date? "After all, she's never interested in talking about how well my plans went of!" Not a date.
Shinji nodded, "well, I have to admit that it worked perfectly, which is pretty rare."
Asuka's eyes narrowed ,"What do you mean? Are you implying that my plans usually crash and burn?" Asuka saw no need to be reminded of past failures during her moment in the sun.
"No, nothing like that," Shinji cowered back, "I just meant that plans rarely survive contact with the enemy. A friend told me that."
"Well, that's true. I guess even Kensuke is right sometimes."
Shinji saw no need to correct her, "why do you dislike Toji and Kensuke so much?"
"Seriously? You ask what I have against 'drop trou' Toji?"
Shinji cringed, "Uh, yeah. I forgot. He's a little immature."
"And Kensuke.. he has the bad taste to hang out the big doofus."
"Well, I hang out with the big doofus too." Shinji protested.
Asuka was quiet, eating her sandwich, before finally replying quietly "Yeah, but you treat me like a person, not just a bunch of measurements. Not just a number."