Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Crossroads ❯ Issues ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Isamu 
It's time to magma dive (sorry, I just couldn't think of anything really interesting to sell this chapter with...)
Anime/Manga: Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mecha | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.06.2001 | Pages: 12 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 325 | Status: Work In Progress
It's time to magma dive (sorry, I just couldn't think of anything really interesting to sell this chapter with...)
Anime/Manga: Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mecha | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.06.2001 | Pages: 12 | Words: 6.9K | Visits: 325 | Status: Work In Progress
Crossroads: an Evangelion/Rifts Crossover
Neon Genesis Evangelion is used without permission. It is copyright by
Gainix (wonderful folks!). Rifts®, Palladium Books®, Mechanoids® The
Mechanoid Invasion®, Rifts®, Megaverse®, RECON®, and After the Bomb®
Are registered trademark owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books, Inc. Cyber-Knight(TM), Coalition States(TM), Triax(TM)
Nightbane(TM), Nightlands(TM), Heroes Unlimited(TM), Villains Unlimited(TM),
Beyond the Supernatural(TM), Boxed Nightmares(TM), Ninjas & Superspies(TM),
Mystic China(TM), Palladium Fantasy RPG(TM), Mindwerks(TM), Vampire
Kingdoms(TM), The Juicer Uprising(TM), Phase World(TM), Wormwood(TM),
Psyscape(TM), Mega-Damage(TM), S.D.C.(TM), I.S.P.(TM), P.P.E.(TM), SAMAS(TM),
Splugorth(TM), Cyber-Knight(TM), Glitter Boy(TM), Juicer(TM), Mind Melter(TM),
Psi-Stalker(TM), Coalition States(TM), Northern Gun(TM), Erin Tarn(TM),
Naruni(TM), ... and other names and titles are trademarks owned and licensed
by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books, Inc."... and are also used without
permission. Please don't sue me; I am a poor college student! If you sue
me I won't be able to waste my money on your wonderful products! 8^)
Welcome back again to Crossroads! I know, I know, I said I would
try to get this done in a month or so, but I worked 70+ hour workweeks
for all of June and a week of July, so I haven't had a lot of time to
type. Worst thing is, I'm probably going to start working mildly
insane hours again in a few weeks... sigh. Anyway, on with the story!
When last we looked in on the life of our hero Shinji, things were
starting to look up for him a little. He has been made an official
Headhunter by Ferris and Kyle, had a fun night of drinking and dancing,
and is in the midst of his first real hangover. Life is generally
looking up for him. But other forces stir, and things can't stay this
way forever.
Chapter 7: Issues
Shinji stumbled out of the guest room and into an almost tangible
wave of blaring music. He clutched his head in pain as he made his way
to the kitchen the next apartment over. In moving from one to the
other, the music became almost tolerable. As he began to stumble
towards were he hoped the aspirin was kept, Melissa appeared by his
side.
"You look like shit warmed over Shinji. Come on, let me help,"
she said sympathetically.
Shinji couldn't do much more than grunt in appreciation and allow
himself to be led to the table. Once there, Melissa went to one of the
cabinets and took out a bottle of painkillers. She then took out a
glass filled it with water, and returned to the table. She handed
Shinji two pills and the water, which he accepted gladly.
After he had downed the medicine and finished the water, Melissa
asked, "So, feeling any better?"
"A little, yeah. Do all hangovers hurt this much?" He asked
weakly.
"Your first is definitely by far the worst; they get a little
more tolerable with experience. Course, Ferris playing his new
Metallica album this loud can't be helping. Let me tell him to turn it
down." Melissa stood up and left the room. A few moments later, the
music subsided and she returned, Ferris in tow.
["Sorry 'bout that, pup, I forget how hard that first hangover
is. Kyle's awake if you want to head home and be miserable there,"] he
added as almost an afterthought.
["No offence, but yes please,"] Shinji mumbled feebly. "It
didn't seem so bad when I was lying down in the dark and quiet..."
"Sure thing - let me get him." Ferris left and came back in a
few minutes with Kyle and Alister. Between the two of them, they got
Shinji and his stuff to the Benz and were able to drive him home
without incident. After making sure that he got to his apartment all
right, they waved goodbye and told him to stop by later that day if he
felt any better. Shinji nodded and stumbled into the apartment.
As the two mercs walked back to their car, Alister turned to Kyle
and asked, ["Think we should have told him that Amber could neutralize
the remaining toxins and sober him up?"]
Kyle though about it for a minute, then shook his head. ["Nah,
it's his first real hangover, we should let him enjoy it, savor it
even."]
Alister looked at his friend to see if he was joking. He wasn't.
["You headhunters are an odd lot..."] The two got back in the Benz and
drove home. As they crested a small hill, a shadow stirred ever so
slightly, before it crept away.
Shinji walked into the apartment and almost immediately regretted
it. Apparently, Asuka and her friends were already up and talking
about this and that and raiding the kitchen for brunch. Shinji sighed
as they put in a minidisk of some hot new idol singer or other (they
all sounded alike to Shinji), and began to talk in earnest about hair,
dresses, makeup, and at about this time Shinji tuned them out and
stumbled into the kitchen himself. He had noticed a jar of something
in there a while ago that was labeled 'sober-up-special.' He hoped to
God that there was some left and that it worked. As he stumbled in,
dropping his bag on the floor and heading directly to the fridge, he
didn't even notice a more then slightly bemused Misato. After a few
minutes of rather fruitless searching, Shinji sighed and turned around,
coming face to face with his guardian.
"So, have a good time last night?" she asked innocently.
"Oh yeah, a great time. Just stayed up a little too late so I'm
still kinda tired and..." Shinji started, not knowing how Misato would
react to even the small fraction of the truth that he could possibly
tell her.
"So, how much did you have to drink last night?" Misato said,
still grinning.
"Umm, well, I... really can't remember..." Shinji replied sheepishly.
Misato giggled. "Sit down, I'll mix up some of my 'sober-up-
special' for you." As Misato busily gathered ingredients and began
putting them, seemingly at random, into a blender she continued to
talk. "So, did you get one?"
"One what?" Shinji asked semi-miserably.
"You know what," Misato replied playfully.
Shinji just looked at her blankly.
Misato sighed, "A tattoo, Shinji. Did you get one?"
"Oh, well, yeah I did." Shinji said, once again noticing the
itch spot on his arm.
"Well, can I see it?" Misato asked as she put down a glass full
of some sort of reddish liquid in front of him. "Oh, and I'd plug your
nose when you drink it."
Shinji looked at the liquid for a second before he took a deep
breath and plugging his nose drank the whole glass down. The effects
were instant. His sinus cleared, his mouth watered (mostly from the
heat), his eyes watered up, and other horrible things. "Dear lord
Misato, what's in this?!" he asked.
"Little bit of this, a little bit of that. Just something I
developed in college with the help of a chem. major I was dating at the
time. Oh the stuff he could maaa... never mind. Now, let me see it,"
she almost whined.
"Ok, ok fine. Here." Shinji rolled up his sleeve and showed
Misato the tattoo now proudly displayed on his arm.
"Cool. How long did it take?" Misato said.
"A few hours," Shinji said, already feeling a little better.
"So, did you eat anything as you drank?" Misato asked as she got
up to make them some coffee.
"No, was I supposed to?" Shinji asked, puzzled.
Misato sighed. "You see, there was your first mistake."
Hikari continued into the main room were the other girls were.
She arrived right as Asuka was throwing out an offhand comment about
how boring Shinji was. She decided not to spoil her friend's views.
Now all she had to do was decided whether or not to tell Touji and
Kensuke.
Later that day, after Asuka's guests had left, Misato, Shinji,
and Asuka were sitting at the table having dinner (leftovers from the
night before, saving any of them the trouble of making something), when
Misato decided to break some news that she been patiently waiting to
break.
"Shinji, Asuka. About that school trip to Okinawa..." she started,
rather hesitantly.
"Yeah! Did I show you the new swimsuit that Kaji and I bought?
It's sooo cool! Although he thought it was..." Misato cut off Asuka
abruptly.
Misato interrupted Asuka mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, but you can't
go."
"...too mature, for, me... What?! What do you mean we're not
going?" Asuka asked angrily.
"Just like I said. You can't go. Neither can Shinji or Rei for
that mater. You are all on alert status, no unnecessary trips out of
the city," Misato said as she calmly sipped her beer.
"I can't believe this. Aren't you going to say anything about
this Third Child? Well, are you a man or not?" Asuka demanded.
"Actually, I kinda figured this would happen," Shinji replied
off-handily, intent on the book he was reading.
"Mien Got, I can't think of anything worse then a housebroken
male," Asuka shot back.
"I can," Shinji said under his breath. Before Asuka could grill
him on what he was implying, Misato again butted in.
"Besides, did you really think that I wouldn't find out about
these?" With that, the purple-haired vixen held up a pair of graded
disks. "All your grades are sent directly to my terminal at work."
Asuka crossed her arms and went on the defensive. "For God's
sake Misato, I'm a college graduate, why do I have to go to high
school?" she asked.
"When in Rome, Asuka..." Misato countered with a grin.
"Himmeldonnerwetter!" and with that, Asuka stormed off to her
room. Despite Shinji's mental block, he could still sense the edge of
her emotions, a jagged mix of anger, disappointment, betrayal, and
sadness. However, before he could do much more than briefly process
this information, Misato turned her attention to him.
"So, Shinji, what ya reading?" she asked him innocently.
Without really thinking he replied, "Oh, it's called 'The Still
River and the Raging Brook.' It's the English translation, they didn't
have a copy in Japanese." Shinji was really enjoying the book of
Wolfen poetry and philosophy (it was Kyle copy). He found it to be at
times profound, at other times humorous, but just as often confusing.
Ferris maintained that the entire work was profound.
"Huh, I don't think that I've ever herd of that book before,"
Misato suddenly got that look (you know the one), and in her sweetest,
most innocent voice, she asked: "Is it... dirty?"
"Wh, what? No! Of course not!" Shinji sputtered out.
"Oh, you're so easy to tease." Misato giggled for a few moments
as Shinji glared at her. "So, what is it about, then?"
Shinji was a little wary of this question. "Philosophy. Why do
you ask?"
"Just curious. So where did you get it from?" Misato continued.
"Melissa's roommate Kyle is letting me borrow it."
"That's nice of him. You sure do spend a lot of time over there.
What do you do?" Misato's seemed to be genuinely interested.
"Well... we hang out. Talk. Kyle's teaching me jujitsu. You
know, whatever." he skipped telling her about the other lessons in
psionics and tactics.
"Wow, jujitsu, that's pretty cool. How ya doing with that?"
"Pretty good. It's lots of, well, fun. He's really good at it."
"Well, it seems to be doing you some good, whatever it is. A
month or so ago, you never would have talked back to Asuka like you
did. Hey, I have an idea," Misato suddenly grinned. "Why don't we
have a party? Yeah, there's an idea!"
As Misato started to plan the party out, Shinji became more and
more concerned. Not with the party as much as the jumble of emotions
he felt from Asuka. His mind started reeling. Could he help her?
Amber was always telling him to use his powers subtly to make things
better for the people he cared about and himself, but could he?
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't... I won't.
"Hey, Misato." Shinji focused his senses on Asuka's room.
"Yeah Shinji?" Misato replied cheerfully.
"Shouldn't we be talking to Asuka about this too? I means, she
should have a say in this, right?" Asuka's emotions had suddenly
become clearly surprised, then curious. Shinji pushed on. "What if
Asuka wants to be involved, or maybe just wants some peace and quiet,
or wants to invite some of her friends here too. Shouldn't we at least
ask?"
Misato looked at Shinji for a minute, a little grin on her face.
"You're right Shinji, we should ask." She suddenly reached over and
ruffed his hair. "You are turning into such a little sweetie, you know
that?" Misato then turned towards Asuka's room. "Hey Asuka, you mind
if we have Shinji friends come over for a little party Friday night?"
"Yes I mind! I would like some peace and quiet if you expect me
to 'catch up' on my studies," Asuka shot back almost smugly.
"Well, OK... I think I might have to work that night anyway, some
other time then. Hey, maybe a big Christmas party!"
"Yeah, whatever..." Asuka was radiating smug satisfaction, and
maybe something else. This is not quite what Shinji had in mind, but
at least he defused the situation somewhat. Before Shinji could try
and figure out what else Asuka was feeling, his power gave out. As his
mind block faded he started to become aware of background noise again.
"I'm kinda tired too Misato, I'm going to go to bed. Good
night." Shinji stood and walked towards his room.
"'Night Shinji," Misato said. As Shinji closed the door to his
'Lovely Suite' Misato stood and went to the kitchen to get another
beer. As she was opening it she said under her breath, "Good job
Shinji..." She smiled and went to the living room, collapsing onto the
sofa and turned on the TV. A few minutes later, Pen-Pen joined her,
beer in one flipper, TV weekly in the other. The two drank and watched
TV far into the night.
The next week passed without incident, except for when Hikari
cornered Shinji and asked to see his tattoo. Friday morning dawned
bright and early, and not just for Shinji either. Today the class was
leaving for Okinawa on their class trip. While the rest of their class
was going to be boarding a plane, Asuka and Shinji would be simply
seeing them off.
"Well Shinji, too bad you can't come along. You're going to miss
a great time," Touji said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Yeah Shinji, it's really too bad. But don't worry, we'll have
enough fun for you too!" Kensuke said with a chuckle.
A little bit away, Asuka and Hikari were also talking about the
situation at hand.
"I can't believe that Misato won't let me go. I bought a new
swimsuit and everything. It's just not fair, stupid angels..." Asuka had
calmed down considerably since about the situation, but she was still
obviously upset.
"I still don't see how Misato can do that to you," Hikari said
with genuine sympathy.
"I guess it's just that Second Impact Generation mentality or
something," the redhead sighed and continued. "At least I'll only have
to deal with one stooge this week, you have to deal with the other
two."
"Yeah, I guess." Hikari looked over to the three in question.
Before she could say anything else on the matter, a voice announced
over the PA that the flight to Okinawa was now boarding. "Well Asuka,
try to have some fun this week. I'll try to find something cool to
bring back for you." With that, Hikari went to join the rest of the
class boarding the plane. A few minutes later, Shinji and Asuka were
the only ones from their class left in the terminal. Shinji stood,
shrugged, and began to walk from the terminal. Asuka stood there for a
few more minutes before she realized that the other was leaving.
"Hey Shinji, wait for me. God I can't believe how impolite you
are, leaving me alone like that!" Asuka strode over to where Shinji
was now standing, waiting. "Come along Shinji, if I can't go swimming
at Okinawa, I'll just have to do it here."
"Shouldn't we be trying to catch up on home... work..." Shinji's
voice trailed of as Asuka glared at him. "I guess I can do physics at
the pool."
Asuka sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stupid stooge," she mumbled.
"Come along Shinji." With that Asuka strode off. Shinji shrugged
again and followed - it just wasn't worth another argument.
["You see the two of them? The redhead and the boy."]
["Yes, the two just leaving the building."]
["The boy is the one they have... befriended."] Sir Dranos
Tralkor, Mystic Knight, order of the Black Rose, put down the
distancing binoculars and looked over at the Dragon Blood Juicer,
Claymore, and the Stranston twins, a pair of bounty hunters who were
also putting down their own distancing binoculars.
["Yes, what about him?"] one of the Stranston's asked, Dranos
couldn't tell them apart.
["Moron. We capture the boy and ransom him to the people with
the box, we get the box, go home, and get our reward,"] Claymore
snapped back.
["We could do that, but we have another option,"] Dranos said.
["What?"] asked the other twin.
["Just wait. We have time. Patience will yield the best
fruit."] Dranos smiled, stood, and strode away. The others silently
followed.
Shinji and Asuka returned home, Asuka to get her new swimsuit,
Shinji to get his schoolbooks. The two then headed for the pools at
headquarters. Asuka even had a specific pool in mind. The largest one
there, bigger then Olympic size by at least a category and had a locker
with SCUBA gear. Shinji was just following along, lost in his own
thoughts.
"Damn, what is SHE doing here?" Asuka suddenly mumbled.
Shinji looked around to find that Asuka had led him to one of the
aquatics rooms in HQ. However, they were not the only ones there. Rei
was in the pool swimming laps.
"She would be here, wouldn't she?" Asuka said. "Oh well." With
that, Asuka headed towards the locker rooms.
Shinji shrugged his shoulders and went over to a line of tables.
"Well, I guess one is as good as another," he said as he sat down at
one at random. Once situated, he took out his textbook and some other
supplies and began to struggle with some physics problems. He was
still at them when a shadow fell over his books. Looking up he found
that it was Asuka, which he had already guessed. What he hadn't
guessed was what type of swimwear she would be in. It was a red and
white striped two-piece that had a zipper down the front of the top.
It was all he could do not to stare, and was thankful that his nose
wasn't bleeding.
"So, what are you working on?" Asuka asked.
"Ahh, physics," Shinji forced out.
"Really? Let me see." Asuka leaned over slightly to look at his
book. Shinji was certain that at any moment his nose would begin to
spurt blood. He began to rack his brain. What would Kaji say? Or
Kyle... what would Kyle say? He suddenly had an image in his mind's eye
of Kyle with a stunned expression stammering "hubbada, hubbada,
hubbada, hoy!"... not much help. Before Shinji and the Kaji that exists
in his mind could try to figure something out, Asuka pointed at the
page in his physics book.
Shinji tore his eyes away from the zipper (that couldn't have any
practical use, could it?), and looked at the page. "Oh, that ones on
thermal expansion."
"That's easy. In terms that are simple enough for you to
understand, thermal expansion means that things tend to get larger when
heated, and get smaller when cooled," Asuka said matter-of-factly.
"Sound's simple enough..." Shinji replied.
"Now, for example," Asuka paused for a moment before putting her
hands on her breasts, "if I were to warm up my breasts, would they get
larger or smaller?"
Shinji blinked once, then twice. A voice was screaming in his
mind 'Oh my God she's grabbing her tits!!' The young Eva pilot began
to quickly gather what few wits were left to him and began to focus
them into a coherent thought. He suddenly heard Melissa's voice say,
"... and you can always try to tell the girl what she wants to hear, we
usually like that so it might be a way to get in her good graces. Just
say it with some backbone!" But what would Asuka... "They would get...
bigger, right?" he said with only a slight stutter.
"Very good Shinji, you can learn something after all. Now, if
you ever think about my breasts again I WILL hurt you severely.
Understand?"
"Hey, you were the one that started it," Shinji countered.
"That's no excuse," Asuka rebuffed. She then sighed with
exasperation and turned away from Shinji and headed for the locker
where the SCUBA gear was kept. "But you're hopelessly a stooge, so
what should I expect?" Soon Asuka was lost in the task of arranging
and putting on the various gauges, tubes and tanks.
Shinji realized very quickly that his homework wouldn't get done
anytime soon as he watched Rei and Asuka out of the corners of his
eyes.
"Lookie, lookie Shinji. A perfect reverse entry!" Asuka
suddenly called
Not soon at all. He just couldn't seem to get his mind off of
Rei and Asuka... especially Asuka he realized with a sigh. Especially
Asuka.
Misato stood watching one of the screens at the Mt. Mashiro
research center. The readouts said that the probe was still descending
into the magma, but all Misato saw was red.
"Ma'am," one of the techs said, "we're almost at the theoretical
maximum depth tolerance and there's still no sign of it..."
"Lower it another one hundred meters, NERV will pay for the
damages," Misato calmly replied.
"Yes Ma'am." The probe continued its decent, beginning to buckle
under the extreme pressure and heat. Then, just before the probe
buckled under the stresses, the image Misato had been waiting for, and
silently dreading, came on screen.
"An angel..." Misato whispered. "This base is now under
quarantine, all these images are classified Top Secret by NERV."
"These images show what appears to be an Angel in a chrysalis or
embryonic form, probably the precursor to the adult form that we are
more familiar with. It is in the magma of the volcano Mt. Mashiro."
Ritsuko explained to Asuka, Rei, and Shinji as they looked at the
surveillance pictures of the volcano, the surrounding area, and finally
the angel itself.
"We have been allowed to declare an A17. The objective of this
operation is to capture the Angel for further study," Misato continued.
"To do this we will be using the D-type equipment to send an Eva into
the magma layer itself and, using an electro-magnetic cage, capture the
Angel."
Asuka suddenly started jumping up and down, waving her hands.
"Oh please, please let me!"
Shinji sighed softly and thought, "They'll probably want me to do
it, like always..."
"Well Asuka," Ritsuko answered, "since the equipment has only
been standardized for Unit 02, you will be spearheading this operation.
Shinji, you will be onsite in Unit 01 for support."
"What about me?" Rei asked evenly.
"Unit 00 is still undergoing repairs and upgrades, so you will
remain in Tokyo-3. Understood Rei, Shinji?"
"Yes ma'am," the two said in unison. Shinji could almost see an
aura of smug satisfaction coming from Asuka, and as it was, he could
barely hold it out of his mind. What he didn't notice was the way Rei
suddenly looked at him, a look of what could almost be vindication,
plain on her face, if only for a moment.
"I will ask pilot Ikari about this later," Rei thought to
herself.
Shinji was just about to enter the men's locker room to change
into his plug suite when he sensed someone behind him. Without really
thinking he turned and came almost face to face with Rei, who looked
like she was just about to say something.
Without missing a beat, Rei looked Shinji in the eye and said,
"Pilot Ikari, we must talk."
"What is it, Rei?" Shinji asked, slightly puzzled.
"How is it that you have awakened?" She asked simply.
"A... aw... awakened? Wh... what do you mean, Rei?" Amber and Hector
used the same term to describe his newly found powers.
"You were... consciously manifesting, some form of psychic powers
during your fight last week, and again during the briefing. I have
also noticed you sometime using powers while at school." Rei said all
of this in her usual, calm, monotone voice. Shinji was looking like
the proverbial deer caught in headlights. As Shinji continued to
stammer in an attempt to formulate some sort of an explanation, Rei was
becoming ever so slightly vexed (not that she showed this, mind you).
After waiting a few more seconds, she said, in an almost impatient
tone, "We will discuss this later, Pilot Ikari."
"O... okay..." Shinji turned and almost ran to the men's locker room.
Rei watched him leave, wondering what she had said to upset him
so much.
Shinji stood in the locker room, panting. How could she know?
How much did she know? Would she tell his father? What would he do if
he found out? These thoughts continued unabated for several minutes
with Shinji becoming more and more nervous as each one passed. Just
before his fears became a full-out panic, Shinji took a hold of
himself, and used some of his small reserve of inner strength to force
himself to calm down. He felt the power flow through him and his
heartbeat began to slow, his nervousness began to calm, and his
thoughts started to become more orderly. As he calmed down, he began
to think more clearly and attempt to rationalize the encounter he had
just had with Rei. He began to review the questions he had just asked
himself. How could she know? Simplest answer: she had awakened as
well. That would explain a lot, after all. From what Amber said,
people could learn to use what powers nature had given them without a
guide or teacher. As for whether or not she would tell his father... if
she was going to, she would have done so already, and he would be
having this conversation with father. Shinji nodded to himself,
reassured that he wasn't going to have a long father/son conversation
on this topic (or probably any other), and changed into his plugsuit.
Regardless, he needed to tell Amber and Hector about this. Maybe they
could help Rei like they helped him.
Asuka looked down at her plugsuit in horror as it puffed out,
giving her a strange resemblance to an apple. It was one of those rare
occasions when Asuka was speechless.
"This plugsuit will help to insulate you and keep your core
temperature from going to dangerous levels." Dr Akagi said evenly.
She was desperately trying to hide a grin.
"But it makes me look fat!" Asuka yelled in frustration.
As Asuka continued to rant about the indignity of it and so on,
Dr. Akagi thought to herself, "Wait till she sees Unit 02..."
"... Oh dear God... Unit 02, what have they done to you?" Asuka
whispered, a look of shock and horror on her face.
"This is the D-Type equipment. It is for high-pressure, super
hostile environments. It is necessary for this mission's success," Dr.
Akagi replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I refuse! I won't go out looking like this!" Asuka said,
virtually screaming (or maybe whining).
"That's too bad. I was so looking forward to seeing you in
action too..." Ritsuko's trump card, Ryouji Kaji, said from the catwalk
above where Unit 02 was being prepped.
Asuka jumped at the sound of Kaji's voice and ran back into the
hallway leading to the locker rooms followed by a stream of German
curses. She simply couldn't let him see her like this!
Ritsuko smiled smugly, and played her final card. "Well... I guess
we'll have to rewrite Unit 02's core data for Rei then..." This had the
desired result.
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!!" Asuka stormed into the chamber where Unit
02 was being prepped. As she walked past Dr. Akagi she mumbled
something along the line of "conniving bitch" in her native German and
finally stood next to Unit 02. She looked up at the D-Type equipment
that looked more like an outdated diving suit complete with a fishbowl
helmet. "I'm sorry baby..." She said as she patted Unit 02's foot. With
a sigh, she walked to the waiting entry plug.
The trip to Mt. Mashiro was rather uneventful; except for Asuka's
on-and-off-again bitching. Luckily, most of the people who had to
listen to her had learned to tune her out when she got like this. They
waited at the foot of the mountain as the last of the equipment was set
up; luckily for all involved, the wait wasn't very long. Soon enough
Asuka was being lowered into the Volcano (with a perfect "scissor
dive"). Then the waiting began.
Shinji was beginning to fidget nervously. Something was buzzing
in the back of his head. Not quite like what happened when his 6th
sense kicked in, but close. It got worse when Asuka lost her prog-
knife. On a hunch, he got his out, just in case she needed it. As she
was lowered deeper and deeper, his anxiety got worse and worse. "It's
just nerves, damn it. You're not even the one in danger here..." he
mumbled to himself. Finally, Asuka got to the Angel. A few tense
moments later the magnetic cage was engaged, and it was captured.
Asuka and Misato both sighed with relief, and began to chat as the Eva
and its prisoner were being slowly raised back to the surface. But as
everyone else's tension seemed to fade, Shinji's intensified. In a
sudden flash, he saw the Angel begin to awaken and break free. "Asuka!
It's going to break free!" he suddenly called out over the radio.
"What are you, stupid? It's... shit, it's starting to move!"
Asuka said.
Suddenly, a warning buzzer went off and one of the bridge bunnies
announced that the angel had broken free.
"Asuka, I'm sending you my knife!" Shinji said as he threw his
blade into the magma.
"Thanks! Where the hell did it go?" Asuka mumbled.
Shinji could do nothing but stand at the rim of the volcano and
listen to Asuka's panicked comments and the buzz of the command staff
as the fight happened far below them and they tried to figure out how
to kill something that could open its mouth in molten rock.
"Shit! One of my coolant hoses broke!" Asuka suddenly said.
"Wait a second... coolant. Shinji, you are about to get another lesson
in thermal dynamics! Quick, Misato, transfer all coolant to the number
one hose!"
"Right, transferring all pressure to hose one." Misato answered,
Asuka's plan becoming evident.
After the coolant had been redirected, Asuka grabbed the line and
shoved it into a cut made earlier in the fight. Suddenly, the Angel
screamed and began to bulge. A few moment later it began to break down
and melt into the magma, but not before it used one of it's claws to
slash the remaining coolant hoses. It might be dying, but it was going
to take its killer with it.
On the surface, the buzz in Shinji's head had reached a mentally
deafening roar. As another flash showed the lines that linked Asuka to
the surface snap, he suddenly sprang forward and jumped into the
volcano.
Below. As the D-type equipment began to collapse under the heat
and pressure, Asuka looked blankly at her view screens. "Is this how
it's going to end?" she whispered to herself. As the last bits of pipe
tore and she began to slowly fall deeper and closer to her death, she
felt a sudden jerk. She looked up to see the form of Unit 01, one hand
hanging on to the coolant tubes, the other to her Eva. She suddenly
smiled. "Show off..."
After the two pilots had been retrieved from their plugs, Shinji
was taken to where the medical unit had set up a tent. He was only
there a few minutes before Misato rushed in.
"How are they?" she asked.
One of the medical staff walked over to her. "Well, Asuka has a
few bruises and a bit of a burn, about the same intensity of a mild
sunburn in fact. Not too bad all things considered. As for Shinji, he
has a nasty little first degree burn covering about sixty percent of
his body. But considering we thought that he would have third and
second degree covering most of his body, this is excellent. It's like
the heat just didn't affect him as much as it should have. He's a very
lucky young man. We'll give him a burn ointment that ought to help
speed up the healing and release him. We'll give Asuka some of the
same and both of them will be back on their feet in no time. I'm just
glad we didn't have to use the burn unit we brought along." With that
he turned and walked to a computer and began typing.
Misato sighed with relief and walked over to where the two pilots
were sitting. They seemed to be glaring at each other. "Good job,
both of you. However Shinji, next time wait for my orders before
jumping into a live volcano, ok?" Misato said pleasantly. Shinji just
nodded his head and blushed a little. "Now, I think it should be all
right for the two of you to have a nice relaxing soak before we go back
to Tokyo-3. How about it?"
"Count me in! A hot spring sounds like just the thing!" Asuka
said as she hopped off the examination bed.
"Great! How about you Shinji? A nice long soak might make those
burns feel a little better," Misato said as she turned to the other
child.
"What? Oh, yeah, sure sounds great." Shinji said.
"GREAT! Let's head out then, time's a-wasting!" Misato said
cheerily.
As they left, Asuka and Shinji were both given jars of burn cream
as well as some instructions for symptoms to look out for that might
indicate burns on the throat or in the lungs. As the three left, a
member of the burn unit approached the doctor that had treated them.
"It's incredible that Shinji got out of that with so few burns.
I guess those bots of theirs are more heat resistant then we thought,"
he said.
"Yes, I guess they must be." the doctor replied as he walked
towards the transport that would bring him back to Tokyo-3. "They must
be..."
The hot spring was all the children and their guardian were
hoping for and then some. Spacious, relaxing, and vacant except for
them. After Pen-Pen arrived (mailed every-so-thoughtfully there by
Kaji) the four settled into the hot spring to soothe away tension and
to soak damaged skin.
"Ahhhhh, this is nice." Shinji said to himself contently,
letting the pleasantly warm water soak into his burned skin. He was
just starting to drift off when Asuka called out from the other end of
the bamboo divider.
"Shinji? Can you please pass the body shampoo? We're out on
this side," Asuka said sweetly.
"Sure thing," Shinji answered. He waded over to the divider,
bottle in hand and with a shout of "incoming," he tossed it over.
"Owww, it hit me in a most sensitive place...…" Asuka moaned.
"Oh, let me see," Misato said.
"Wait, don't touch me there, it tickles," Asuka said with a
giggle.
This continued back and forth while Shinji stood frozen in place,
not quite sure what to think of this. He suddenly noticed Pen-Pen
looking at him oddly and a moment later realized why. As he ducked
down under the water all he could think was "Thermal expansion, how
embarrassing..."
Pen-Pen looked at his human friend with confusion for a few
minutes. "Why would he be embarrassed? They are probably only teasing
him. I'll show him that in fact..." (Note: due to the experiments
conducted on him, Pen-Pen has exceptional intelligence as well as some
minor psionic abilities - in Palladium I would 'build' his character
with the Bio-E system - he also has a bit of a mischievous streak and a
lack of comprehension about some human niceties. This makes the next
part that much more amusing. -Isamu). With a determined flap of his
wings, Pen-Pen was at the bamboo wall. With a small push in the right
place, the wall fell down (towards the men's side if that helps at
all). With a dash Pen-Pen expertly dived under the water and swam to a
safe distance to watch.
"EEK!! Shinji, you pervert!!!" Asuka shouted as she ducked
under the water.
At this, Shinji turned to see what the commotion was. He was
rewarded with a wonderful view of Misato and Asuka. This was only
hindered by the sudden loss of consciousness due to a bucket hitting
him square in the head. That last thing he heard as consciousness fled
him was Misato whistling and saying, "Would ya look at that?"
As the two looked at the unconscious form of Shinji floating face
up in the water, Asuka suddenly asked, "Misato, since when does Shinji
have a tattoo?"
The trip home from the hot spring was rather pleasant, despite
the havoc that happened the day before. Misato and Asuka were chatting
back and forth in the front seat of the car while Shinji and Pen-Pen
were dozing in the back. Well, at least, it looked like they were both
asleep; Shinji was actually meditating. This allowed him to not only
speed up healing his burns and the large knot on his head (he got that
when the divider fell on him apparently, he couldn't really remember),
but to get away from the pain as well. It also allowed his mind to
enter a state very similar to REM sleep. This meant dreams, and while
he was learning to exert some small control over his dreams, he
couldn't seem to get away from the one he was in. He was again at Club
Freak, only this time he wasn't dancing with Cat, he was dancing with
Asuka. When they finally got back to Tokyo-3, Asuka shook Shinji
awake. "We're home, now come on, I'm not hauling all this stuff Misato
and I bought up to the apartment. Come on, hop hop!" With that she
turned and walked toward the elevator, carrying the smallest two bags
of the bunch. Shinji sighed and shuffled toward the back end of the
car, thankful that his trance had healed most of the burns and that
Misato's trunk was small. As he looked into the trunk and saw it
crammed with far more bags then should fit into that much space (most
looking rather heavy), he sighed again. "Why her, God, why her?" he
mumbled as he grabbed an armful of bags and followed Asuka to the
elevator.
Shinji failed to notice how close Misato was to him. However,
Misato didn't fail to notice Shinji's comment. "Well, well, well.
This is an interesting development, eh Pen-Pen?"
"Wark..." the penguin said.
"Of course I won't. That would just be mean." Misato answered
as she gathered some more of the bags in the trunk (the lighter ones of
course).
"Waark." the penguin responded.
"Well, I MIGHT do that..." Misato answered.
"Waaarrk..." Pen-Pen mumbled as he two grabbed the last fliperfull
of packages and followed Misato to the other elevator. This is going
to be interesting, he thought to himself.
...to be continued
Well, first off I would like to apologize for the delay in
getting this chapter out, but other things kept coming up and getting
in the way. I hope to get the next chapter out in about a month, so
please bear with me... If anyone is wondering what was with Shinji not
being cooked like a lobster when he dived into the volcano, he used the
"resist heat" psionic power obviously. Due to the nature of the Eva,
some of that protection even affected it as well. But that will be
gone into next chapter. As for the conversation with Rei, I hope that
people saw something like this coming. It will also be developed more
in the next chapter. If you would like to contact me, I can be reached
at Isamu@nerv-hq.zzn.com and my ICQ # is 20130664. Till next time!
Thanks again to my prereaders:
Sarevock
Thresher Doom
Qut Killjoy
Alen Slaughter
and last but not least, my editor: Annie the Laughing Kookaburra
Rough Draft v 1.0 08-24-2001
Rough Draft v 1.1 08-27-2001
Final Draft v 2.0 08-30-2001
Neon Genesis Evangelion is used without permission. It is copyright by
Gainix (wonderful folks!). Rifts®, Palladium Books®, Mechanoids® The
Mechanoid Invasion®, Rifts®, Megaverse®, RECON®, and After the Bomb®
Are registered trademark owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books, Inc. Cyber-Knight(TM), Coalition States(TM), Triax(TM)
Nightbane(TM), Nightlands(TM), Heroes Unlimited(TM), Villains Unlimited(TM),
Beyond the Supernatural(TM), Boxed Nightmares(TM), Ninjas & Superspies(TM),
Mystic China(TM), Palladium Fantasy RPG(TM), Mindwerks(TM), Vampire
Kingdoms(TM), The Juicer Uprising(TM), Phase World(TM), Wormwood(TM),
Psyscape(TM), Mega-Damage(TM), S.D.C.(TM), I.S.P.(TM), P.P.E.(TM), SAMAS(TM),
Splugorth(TM), Cyber-Knight(TM), Glitter Boy(TM), Juicer(TM), Mind Melter(TM),
Psi-Stalker(TM), Coalition States(TM), Northern Gun(TM), Erin Tarn(TM),
Naruni(TM), ... and other names and titles are trademarks owned and licensed
by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books, Inc."... and are also used without
permission. Please don't sue me; I am a poor college student! If you sue
me I won't be able to waste my money on your wonderful products! 8^)
Welcome back again to Crossroads! I know, I know, I said I would
try to get this done in a month or so, but I worked 70+ hour workweeks
for all of June and a week of July, so I haven't had a lot of time to
type. Worst thing is, I'm probably going to start working mildly
insane hours again in a few weeks... sigh. Anyway, on with the story!
When last we looked in on the life of our hero Shinji, things were
starting to look up for him a little. He has been made an official
Headhunter by Ferris and Kyle, had a fun night of drinking and dancing,
and is in the midst of his first real hangover. Life is generally
looking up for him. But other forces stir, and things can't stay this
way forever.
Chapter 7: Issues
Shinji stumbled out of the guest room and into an almost tangible
wave of blaring music. He clutched his head in pain as he made his way
to the kitchen the next apartment over. In moving from one to the
other, the music became almost tolerable. As he began to stumble
towards were he hoped the aspirin was kept, Melissa appeared by his
side.
"You look like shit warmed over Shinji. Come on, let me help,"
she said sympathetically.
Shinji couldn't do much more than grunt in appreciation and allow
himself to be led to the table. Once there, Melissa went to one of the
cabinets and took out a bottle of painkillers. She then took out a
glass filled it with water, and returned to the table. She handed
Shinji two pills and the water, which he accepted gladly.
After he had downed the medicine and finished the water, Melissa
asked, "So, feeling any better?"
"A little, yeah. Do all hangovers hurt this much?" He asked
weakly.
"Your first is definitely by far the worst; they get a little
more tolerable with experience. Course, Ferris playing his new
Metallica album this loud can't be helping. Let me tell him to turn it
down." Melissa stood up and left the room. A few moments later, the
music subsided and she returned, Ferris in tow.
["Sorry 'bout that, pup, I forget how hard that first hangover
is. Kyle's awake if you want to head home and be miserable there,"] he
added as almost an afterthought.
["No offence, but yes please,"] Shinji mumbled feebly. "It
didn't seem so bad when I was lying down in the dark and quiet..."
"Sure thing - let me get him." Ferris left and came back in a
few minutes with Kyle and Alister. Between the two of them, they got
Shinji and his stuff to the Benz and were able to drive him home
without incident. After making sure that he got to his apartment all
right, they waved goodbye and told him to stop by later that day if he
felt any better. Shinji nodded and stumbled into the apartment.
As the two mercs walked back to their car, Alister turned to Kyle
and asked, ["Think we should have told him that Amber could neutralize
the remaining toxins and sober him up?"]
Kyle though about it for a minute, then shook his head. ["Nah,
it's his first real hangover, we should let him enjoy it, savor it
even."]
Alister looked at his friend to see if he was joking. He wasn't.
["You headhunters are an odd lot..."] The two got back in the Benz and
drove home. As they crested a small hill, a shadow stirred ever so
slightly, before it crept away.
Shinji walked into the apartment and almost immediately regretted
it. Apparently, Asuka and her friends were already up and talking
about this and that and raiding the kitchen for brunch. Shinji sighed
as they put in a minidisk of some hot new idol singer or other (they
all sounded alike to Shinji), and began to talk in earnest about hair,
dresses, makeup, and at about this time Shinji tuned them out and
stumbled into the kitchen himself. He had noticed a jar of something
in there a while ago that was labeled 'sober-up-special.' He hoped to
God that there was some left and that it worked. As he stumbled in,
dropping his bag on the floor and heading directly to the fridge, he
didn't even notice a more then slightly bemused Misato. After a few
minutes of rather fruitless searching, Shinji sighed and turned around,
coming face to face with his guardian.
"So, have a good time last night?" she asked innocently.
"Oh yeah, a great time. Just stayed up a little too late so I'm
still kinda tired and..." Shinji started, not knowing how Misato would
react to even the small fraction of the truth that he could possibly
tell her.
"So, how much did you have to drink last night?" Misato said,
still grinning.
"Umm, well, I... really can't remember..." Shinji replied sheepishly.
Misato giggled. "Sit down, I'll mix up some of my 'sober-up-
special' for you." As Misato busily gathered ingredients and began
putting them, seemingly at random, into a blender she continued to
talk. "So, did you get one?"
"One what?" Shinji asked semi-miserably.
"You know what," Misato replied playfully.
Shinji just looked at her blankly.
Misato sighed, "A tattoo, Shinji. Did you get one?"
"Oh, well, yeah I did." Shinji said, once again noticing the
itch spot on his arm.
"Well, can I see it?" Misato asked as she put down a glass full
of some sort of reddish liquid in front of him. "Oh, and I'd plug your
nose when you drink it."
Shinji looked at the liquid for a second before he took a deep
breath and plugging his nose drank the whole glass down. The effects
were instant. His sinus cleared, his mouth watered (mostly from the
heat), his eyes watered up, and other horrible things. "Dear lord
Misato, what's in this?!" he asked.
"Little bit of this, a little bit of that. Just something I
developed in college with the help of a chem. major I was dating at the
time. Oh the stuff he could maaa... never mind. Now, let me see it,"
she almost whined.
"Ok, ok fine. Here." Shinji rolled up his sleeve and showed
Misato the tattoo now proudly displayed on his arm.
"Cool. How long did it take?" Misato said.
"A few hours," Shinji said, already feeling a little better.
"So, did you eat anything as you drank?" Misato asked as she got
up to make them some coffee.
"No, was I supposed to?" Shinji asked, puzzled.
Misato sighed. "You see, there was your first mistake."
Hikari continued into the main room were the other girls were.
She arrived right as Asuka was throwing out an offhand comment about
how boring Shinji was. She decided not to spoil her friend's views.
Now all she had to do was decided whether or not to tell Touji and
Kensuke.
Later that day, after Asuka's guests had left, Misato, Shinji,
and Asuka were sitting at the table having dinner (leftovers from the
night before, saving any of them the trouble of making something), when
Misato decided to break some news that she been patiently waiting to
break.
"Shinji, Asuka. About that school trip to Okinawa..." she started,
rather hesitantly.
"Yeah! Did I show you the new swimsuit that Kaji and I bought?
It's sooo cool! Although he thought it was..." Misato cut off Asuka
abruptly.
Misato interrupted Asuka mid-sentence. "I'm sorry, but you can't
go."
"...too mature, for, me... What?! What do you mean we're not
going?" Asuka asked angrily.
"Just like I said. You can't go. Neither can Shinji or Rei for
that mater. You are all on alert status, no unnecessary trips out of
the city," Misato said as she calmly sipped her beer.
"I can't believe this. Aren't you going to say anything about
this Third Child? Well, are you a man or not?" Asuka demanded.
"Actually, I kinda figured this would happen," Shinji replied
off-handily, intent on the book he was reading.
"Mien Got, I can't think of anything worse then a housebroken
male," Asuka shot back.
"I can," Shinji said under his breath. Before Asuka could grill
him on what he was implying, Misato again butted in.
"Besides, did you really think that I wouldn't find out about
these?" With that, the purple-haired vixen held up a pair of graded
disks. "All your grades are sent directly to my terminal at work."
Asuka crossed her arms and went on the defensive. "For God's
sake Misato, I'm a college graduate, why do I have to go to high
school?" she asked.
"When in Rome, Asuka..." Misato countered with a grin.
"Himmeldonnerwetter!" and with that, Asuka stormed off to her
room. Despite Shinji's mental block, he could still sense the edge of
her emotions, a jagged mix of anger, disappointment, betrayal, and
sadness. However, before he could do much more than briefly process
this information, Misato turned her attention to him.
"So, Shinji, what ya reading?" she asked him innocently.
Without really thinking he replied, "Oh, it's called 'The Still
River and the Raging Brook.' It's the English translation, they didn't
have a copy in Japanese." Shinji was really enjoying the book of
Wolfen poetry and philosophy (it was Kyle copy). He found it to be at
times profound, at other times humorous, but just as often confusing.
Ferris maintained that the entire work was profound.
"Huh, I don't think that I've ever herd of that book before,"
Misato suddenly got that look (you know the one), and in her sweetest,
most innocent voice, she asked: "Is it... dirty?"
"Wh, what? No! Of course not!" Shinji sputtered out.
"Oh, you're so easy to tease." Misato giggled for a few moments
as Shinji glared at her. "So, what is it about, then?"
Shinji was a little wary of this question. "Philosophy. Why do
you ask?"
"Just curious. So where did you get it from?" Misato continued.
"Melissa's roommate Kyle is letting me borrow it."
"That's nice of him. You sure do spend a lot of time over there.
What do you do?" Misato's seemed to be genuinely interested.
"Well... we hang out. Talk. Kyle's teaching me jujitsu. You
know, whatever." he skipped telling her about the other lessons in
psionics and tactics.
"Wow, jujitsu, that's pretty cool. How ya doing with that?"
"Pretty good. It's lots of, well, fun. He's really good at it."
"Well, it seems to be doing you some good, whatever it is. A
month or so ago, you never would have talked back to Asuka like you
did. Hey, I have an idea," Misato suddenly grinned. "Why don't we
have a party? Yeah, there's an idea!"
As Misato started to plan the party out, Shinji became more and
more concerned. Not with the party as much as the jumble of emotions
he felt from Asuka. His mind started reeling. Could he help her?
Amber was always telling him to use his powers subtly to make things
better for the people he cared about and himself, but could he?
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't run away...
I mustn't... I won't.
"Hey, Misato." Shinji focused his senses on Asuka's room.
"Yeah Shinji?" Misato replied cheerfully.
"Shouldn't we be talking to Asuka about this too? I means, she
should have a say in this, right?" Asuka's emotions had suddenly
become clearly surprised, then curious. Shinji pushed on. "What if
Asuka wants to be involved, or maybe just wants some peace and quiet,
or wants to invite some of her friends here too. Shouldn't we at least
ask?"
Misato looked at Shinji for a minute, a little grin on her face.
"You're right Shinji, we should ask." She suddenly reached over and
ruffed his hair. "You are turning into such a little sweetie, you know
that?" Misato then turned towards Asuka's room. "Hey Asuka, you mind
if we have Shinji friends come over for a little party Friday night?"
"Yes I mind! I would like some peace and quiet if you expect me
to 'catch up' on my studies," Asuka shot back almost smugly.
"Well, OK... I think I might have to work that night anyway, some
other time then. Hey, maybe a big Christmas party!"
"Yeah, whatever..." Asuka was radiating smug satisfaction, and
maybe something else. This is not quite what Shinji had in mind, but
at least he defused the situation somewhat. Before Shinji could try
and figure out what else Asuka was feeling, his power gave out. As his
mind block faded he started to become aware of background noise again.
"I'm kinda tired too Misato, I'm going to go to bed. Good
night." Shinji stood and walked towards his room.
"'Night Shinji," Misato said. As Shinji closed the door to his
'Lovely Suite' Misato stood and went to the kitchen to get another
beer. As she was opening it she said under her breath, "Good job
Shinji..." She smiled and went to the living room, collapsing onto the
sofa and turned on the TV. A few minutes later, Pen-Pen joined her,
beer in one flipper, TV weekly in the other. The two drank and watched
TV far into the night.
The next week passed without incident, except for when Hikari
cornered Shinji and asked to see his tattoo. Friday morning dawned
bright and early, and not just for Shinji either. Today the class was
leaving for Okinawa on their class trip. While the rest of their class
was going to be boarding a plane, Asuka and Shinji would be simply
seeing them off.
"Well Shinji, too bad you can't come along. You're going to miss
a great time," Touji said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Yeah Shinji, it's really too bad. But don't worry, we'll have
enough fun for you too!" Kensuke said with a chuckle.
A little bit away, Asuka and Hikari were also talking about the
situation at hand.
"I can't believe that Misato won't let me go. I bought a new
swimsuit and everything. It's just not fair, stupid angels..." Asuka had
calmed down considerably since about the situation, but she was still
obviously upset.
"I still don't see how Misato can do that to you," Hikari said
with genuine sympathy.
"I guess it's just that Second Impact Generation mentality or
something," the redhead sighed and continued. "At least I'll only have
to deal with one stooge this week, you have to deal with the other
two."
"Yeah, I guess." Hikari looked over to the three in question.
Before she could say anything else on the matter, a voice announced
over the PA that the flight to Okinawa was now boarding. "Well Asuka,
try to have some fun this week. I'll try to find something cool to
bring back for you." With that, Hikari went to join the rest of the
class boarding the plane. A few minutes later, Shinji and Asuka were
the only ones from their class left in the terminal. Shinji stood,
shrugged, and began to walk from the terminal. Asuka stood there for a
few more minutes before she realized that the other was leaving.
"Hey Shinji, wait for me. God I can't believe how impolite you
are, leaving me alone like that!" Asuka strode over to where Shinji
was now standing, waiting. "Come along Shinji, if I can't go swimming
at Okinawa, I'll just have to do it here."
"Shouldn't we be trying to catch up on home... work..." Shinji's
voice trailed of as Asuka glared at him. "I guess I can do physics at
the pool."
Asuka sighed and rolled her eyes. "Stupid stooge," she mumbled.
"Come along Shinji." With that Asuka strode off. Shinji shrugged
again and followed - it just wasn't worth another argument.
["You see the two of them? The redhead and the boy."]
["Yes, the two just leaving the building."]
["The boy is the one they have... befriended."] Sir Dranos
Tralkor, Mystic Knight, order of the Black Rose, put down the
distancing binoculars and looked over at the Dragon Blood Juicer,
Claymore, and the Stranston twins, a pair of bounty hunters who were
also putting down their own distancing binoculars.
["Yes, what about him?"] one of the Stranston's asked, Dranos
couldn't tell them apart.
["Moron. We capture the boy and ransom him to the people with
the box, we get the box, go home, and get our reward,"] Claymore
snapped back.
["We could do that, but we have another option,"] Dranos said.
["What?"] asked the other twin.
["Just wait. We have time. Patience will yield the best
fruit."] Dranos smiled, stood, and strode away. The others silently
followed.
Shinji and Asuka returned home, Asuka to get her new swimsuit,
Shinji to get his schoolbooks. The two then headed for the pools at
headquarters. Asuka even had a specific pool in mind. The largest one
there, bigger then Olympic size by at least a category and had a locker
with SCUBA gear. Shinji was just following along, lost in his own
thoughts.
"Damn, what is SHE doing here?" Asuka suddenly mumbled.
Shinji looked around to find that Asuka had led him to one of the
aquatics rooms in HQ. However, they were not the only ones there. Rei
was in the pool swimming laps.
"She would be here, wouldn't she?" Asuka said. "Oh well." With
that, Asuka headed towards the locker rooms.
Shinji shrugged his shoulders and went over to a line of tables.
"Well, I guess one is as good as another," he said as he sat down at
one at random. Once situated, he took out his textbook and some other
supplies and began to struggle with some physics problems. He was
still at them when a shadow fell over his books. Looking up he found
that it was Asuka, which he had already guessed. What he hadn't
guessed was what type of swimwear she would be in. It was a red and
white striped two-piece that had a zipper down the front of the top.
It was all he could do not to stare, and was thankful that his nose
wasn't bleeding.
"So, what are you working on?" Asuka asked.
"Ahh, physics," Shinji forced out.
"Really? Let me see." Asuka leaned over slightly to look at his
book. Shinji was certain that at any moment his nose would begin to
spurt blood. He began to rack his brain. What would Kaji say? Or
Kyle... what would Kyle say? He suddenly had an image in his mind's eye
of Kyle with a stunned expression stammering "hubbada, hubbada,
hubbada, hoy!"... not much help. Before Shinji and the Kaji that exists
in his mind could try to figure something out, Asuka pointed at the
page in his physics book.
Shinji tore his eyes away from the zipper (that couldn't have any
practical use, could it?), and looked at the page. "Oh, that ones on
thermal expansion."
"That's easy. In terms that are simple enough for you to
understand, thermal expansion means that things tend to get larger when
heated, and get smaller when cooled," Asuka said matter-of-factly.
"Sound's simple enough..." Shinji replied.
"Now, for example," Asuka paused for a moment before putting her
hands on her breasts, "if I were to warm up my breasts, would they get
larger or smaller?"
Shinji blinked once, then twice. A voice was screaming in his
mind 'Oh my God she's grabbing her tits!!' The young Eva pilot began
to quickly gather what few wits were left to him and began to focus
them into a coherent thought. He suddenly heard Melissa's voice say,
"... and you can always try to tell the girl what she wants to hear, we
usually like that so it might be a way to get in her good graces. Just
say it with some backbone!" But what would Asuka... "They would get...
bigger, right?" he said with only a slight stutter.
"Very good Shinji, you can learn something after all. Now, if
you ever think about my breasts again I WILL hurt you severely.
Understand?"
"Hey, you were the one that started it," Shinji countered.
"That's no excuse," Asuka rebuffed. She then sighed with
exasperation and turned away from Shinji and headed for the locker
where the SCUBA gear was kept. "But you're hopelessly a stooge, so
what should I expect?" Soon Asuka was lost in the task of arranging
and putting on the various gauges, tubes and tanks.
Shinji realized very quickly that his homework wouldn't get done
anytime soon as he watched Rei and Asuka out of the corners of his
eyes.
"Lookie, lookie Shinji. A perfect reverse entry!" Asuka
suddenly called
Not soon at all. He just couldn't seem to get his mind off of
Rei and Asuka... especially Asuka he realized with a sigh. Especially
Asuka.
Misato stood watching one of the screens at the Mt. Mashiro
research center. The readouts said that the probe was still descending
into the magma, but all Misato saw was red.
"Ma'am," one of the techs said, "we're almost at the theoretical
maximum depth tolerance and there's still no sign of it..."
"Lower it another one hundred meters, NERV will pay for the
damages," Misato calmly replied.
"Yes Ma'am." The probe continued its decent, beginning to buckle
under the extreme pressure and heat. Then, just before the probe
buckled under the stresses, the image Misato had been waiting for, and
silently dreading, came on screen.
"An angel..." Misato whispered. "This base is now under
quarantine, all these images are classified Top Secret by NERV."
"These images show what appears to be an Angel in a chrysalis or
embryonic form, probably the precursor to the adult form that we are
more familiar with. It is in the magma of the volcano Mt. Mashiro."
Ritsuko explained to Asuka, Rei, and Shinji as they looked at the
surveillance pictures of the volcano, the surrounding area, and finally
the angel itself.
"We have been allowed to declare an A17. The objective of this
operation is to capture the Angel for further study," Misato continued.
"To do this we will be using the D-type equipment to send an Eva into
the magma layer itself and, using an electro-magnetic cage, capture the
Angel."
Asuka suddenly started jumping up and down, waving her hands.
"Oh please, please let me!"
Shinji sighed softly and thought, "They'll probably want me to do
it, like always..."
"Well Asuka," Ritsuko answered, "since the equipment has only
been standardized for Unit 02, you will be spearheading this operation.
Shinji, you will be onsite in Unit 01 for support."
"What about me?" Rei asked evenly.
"Unit 00 is still undergoing repairs and upgrades, so you will
remain in Tokyo-3. Understood Rei, Shinji?"
"Yes ma'am," the two said in unison. Shinji could almost see an
aura of smug satisfaction coming from Asuka, and as it was, he could
barely hold it out of his mind. What he didn't notice was the way Rei
suddenly looked at him, a look of what could almost be vindication,
plain on her face, if only for a moment.
"I will ask pilot Ikari about this later," Rei thought to
herself.
Shinji was just about to enter the men's locker room to change
into his plug suite when he sensed someone behind him. Without really
thinking he turned and came almost face to face with Rei, who looked
like she was just about to say something.
Without missing a beat, Rei looked Shinji in the eye and said,
"Pilot Ikari, we must talk."
"What is it, Rei?" Shinji asked, slightly puzzled.
"How is it that you have awakened?" She asked simply.
"A... aw... awakened? Wh... what do you mean, Rei?" Amber and Hector
used the same term to describe his newly found powers.
"You were... consciously manifesting, some form of psychic powers
during your fight last week, and again during the briefing. I have
also noticed you sometime using powers while at school." Rei said all
of this in her usual, calm, monotone voice. Shinji was looking like
the proverbial deer caught in headlights. As Shinji continued to
stammer in an attempt to formulate some sort of an explanation, Rei was
becoming ever so slightly vexed (not that she showed this, mind you).
After waiting a few more seconds, she said, in an almost impatient
tone, "We will discuss this later, Pilot Ikari."
"O... okay..." Shinji turned and almost ran to the men's locker room.
Rei watched him leave, wondering what she had said to upset him
so much.
Shinji stood in the locker room, panting. How could she know?
How much did she know? Would she tell his father? What would he do if
he found out? These thoughts continued unabated for several minutes
with Shinji becoming more and more nervous as each one passed. Just
before his fears became a full-out panic, Shinji took a hold of
himself, and used some of his small reserve of inner strength to force
himself to calm down. He felt the power flow through him and his
heartbeat began to slow, his nervousness began to calm, and his
thoughts started to become more orderly. As he calmed down, he began
to think more clearly and attempt to rationalize the encounter he had
just had with Rei. He began to review the questions he had just asked
himself. How could she know? Simplest answer: she had awakened as
well. That would explain a lot, after all. From what Amber said,
people could learn to use what powers nature had given them without a
guide or teacher. As for whether or not she would tell his father... if
she was going to, she would have done so already, and he would be
having this conversation with father. Shinji nodded to himself,
reassured that he wasn't going to have a long father/son conversation
on this topic (or probably any other), and changed into his plugsuit.
Regardless, he needed to tell Amber and Hector about this. Maybe they
could help Rei like they helped him.
Asuka looked down at her plugsuit in horror as it puffed out,
giving her a strange resemblance to an apple. It was one of those rare
occasions when Asuka was speechless.
"This plugsuit will help to insulate you and keep your core
temperature from going to dangerous levels." Dr Akagi said evenly.
She was desperately trying to hide a grin.
"But it makes me look fat!" Asuka yelled in frustration.
As Asuka continued to rant about the indignity of it and so on,
Dr. Akagi thought to herself, "Wait till she sees Unit 02..."
"... Oh dear God... Unit 02, what have they done to you?" Asuka
whispered, a look of shock and horror on her face.
"This is the D-Type equipment. It is for high-pressure, super
hostile environments. It is necessary for this mission's success," Dr.
Akagi replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I refuse! I won't go out looking like this!" Asuka said,
virtually screaming (or maybe whining).
"That's too bad. I was so looking forward to seeing you in
action too..." Ritsuko's trump card, Ryouji Kaji, said from the catwalk
above where Unit 02 was being prepped.
Asuka jumped at the sound of Kaji's voice and ran back into the
hallway leading to the locker rooms followed by a stream of German
curses. She simply couldn't let him see her like this!
Ritsuko smiled smugly, and played her final card. "Well... I guess
we'll have to rewrite Unit 02's core data for Rei then..." This had the
desired result.
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!!" Asuka stormed into the chamber where Unit
02 was being prepped. As she walked past Dr. Akagi she mumbled
something along the line of "conniving bitch" in her native German and
finally stood next to Unit 02. She looked up at the D-Type equipment
that looked more like an outdated diving suit complete with a fishbowl
helmet. "I'm sorry baby..." She said as she patted Unit 02's foot. With
a sigh, she walked to the waiting entry plug.
The trip to Mt. Mashiro was rather uneventful; except for Asuka's
on-and-off-again bitching. Luckily, most of the people who had to
listen to her had learned to tune her out when she got like this. They
waited at the foot of the mountain as the last of the equipment was set
up; luckily for all involved, the wait wasn't very long. Soon enough
Asuka was being lowered into the Volcano (with a perfect "scissor
dive"). Then the waiting began.
Shinji was beginning to fidget nervously. Something was buzzing
in the back of his head. Not quite like what happened when his 6th
sense kicked in, but close. It got worse when Asuka lost her prog-
knife. On a hunch, he got his out, just in case she needed it. As she
was lowered deeper and deeper, his anxiety got worse and worse. "It's
just nerves, damn it. You're not even the one in danger here..." he
mumbled to himself. Finally, Asuka got to the Angel. A few tense
moments later the magnetic cage was engaged, and it was captured.
Asuka and Misato both sighed with relief, and began to chat as the Eva
and its prisoner were being slowly raised back to the surface. But as
everyone else's tension seemed to fade, Shinji's intensified. In a
sudden flash, he saw the Angel begin to awaken and break free. "Asuka!
It's going to break free!" he suddenly called out over the radio.
"What are you, stupid? It's... shit, it's starting to move!"
Asuka said.
Suddenly, a warning buzzer went off and one of the bridge bunnies
announced that the angel had broken free.
"Asuka, I'm sending you my knife!" Shinji said as he threw his
blade into the magma.
"Thanks! Where the hell did it go?" Asuka mumbled.
Shinji could do nothing but stand at the rim of the volcano and
listen to Asuka's panicked comments and the buzz of the command staff
as the fight happened far below them and they tried to figure out how
to kill something that could open its mouth in molten rock.
"Shit! One of my coolant hoses broke!" Asuka suddenly said.
"Wait a second... coolant. Shinji, you are about to get another lesson
in thermal dynamics! Quick, Misato, transfer all coolant to the number
one hose!"
"Right, transferring all pressure to hose one." Misato answered,
Asuka's plan becoming evident.
After the coolant had been redirected, Asuka grabbed the line and
shoved it into a cut made earlier in the fight. Suddenly, the Angel
screamed and began to bulge. A few moment later it began to break down
and melt into the magma, but not before it used one of it's claws to
slash the remaining coolant hoses. It might be dying, but it was going
to take its killer with it.
On the surface, the buzz in Shinji's head had reached a mentally
deafening roar. As another flash showed the lines that linked Asuka to
the surface snap, he suddenly sprang forward and jumped into the
volcano.
Below. As the D-type equipment began to collapse under the heat
and pressure, Asuka looked blankly at her view screens. "Is this how
it's going to end?" she whispered to herself. As the last bits of pipe
tore and she began to slowly fall deeper and closer to her death, she
felt a sudden jerk. She looked up to see the form of Unit 01, one hand
hanging on to the coolant tubes, the other to her Eva. She suddenly
smiled. "Show off..."
After the two pilots had been retrieved from their plugs, Shinji
was taken to where the medical unit had set up a tent. He was only
there a few minutes before Misato rushed in.
"How are they?" she asked.
One of the medical staff walked over to her. "Well, Asuka has a
few bruises and a bit of a burn, about the same intensity of a mild
sunburn in fact. Not too bad all things considered. As for Shinji, he
has a nasty little first degree burn covering about sixty percent of
his body. But considering we thought that he would have third and
second degree covering most of his body, this is excellent. It's like
the heat just didn't affect him as much as it should have. He's a very
lucky young man. We'll give him a burn ointment that ought to help
speed up the healing and release him. We'll give Asuka some of the
same and both of them will be back on their feet in no time. I'm just
glad we didn't have to use the burn unit we brought along." With that
he turned and walked to a computer and began typing.
Misato sighed with relief and walked over to where the two pilots
were sitting. They seemed to be glaring at each other. "Good job,
both of you. However Shinji, next time wait for my orders before
jumping into a live volcano, ok?" Misato said pleasantly. Shinji just
nodded his head and blushed a little. "Now, I think it should be all
right for the two of you to have a nice relaxing soak before we go back
to Tokyo-3. How about it?"
"Count me in! A hot spring sounds like just the thing!" Asuka
said as she hopped off the examination bed.
"Great! How about you Shinji? A nice long soak might make those
burns feel a little better," Misato said as she turned to the other
child.
"What? Oh, yeah, sure sounds great." Shinji said.
"GREAT! Let's head out then, time's a-wasting!" Misato said
cheerily.
As they left, Asuka and Shinji were both given jars of burn cream
as well as some instructions for symptoms to look out for that might
indicate burns on the throat or in the lungs. As the three left, a
member of the burn unit approached the doctor that had treated them.
"It's incredible that Shinji got out of that with so few burns.
I guess those bots of theirs are more heat resistant then we thought,"
he said.
"Yes, I guess they must be." the doctor replied as he walked
towards the transport that would bring him back to Tokyo-3. "They must
be..."
The hot spring was all the children and their guardian were
hoping for and then some. Spacious, relaxing, and vacant except for
them. After Pen-Pen arrived (mailed every-so-thoughtfully there by
Kaji) the four settled into the hot spring to soothe away tension and
to soak damaged skin.
"Ahhhhh, this is nice." Shinji said to himself contently,
letting the pleasantly warm water soak into his burned skin. He was
just starting to drift off when Asuka called out from the other end of
the bamboo divider.
"Shinji? Can you please pass the body shampoo? We're out on
this side," Asuka said sweetly.
"Sure thing," Shinji answered. He waded over to the divider,
bottle in hand and with a shout of "incoming," he tossed it over.
"Owww, it hit me in a most sensitive place...…" Asuka moaned.
"Oh, let me see," Misato said.
"Wait, don't touch me there, it tickles," Asuka said with a
giggle.
This continued back and forth while Shinji stood frozen in place,
not quite sure what to think of this. He suddenly noticed Pen-Pen
looking at him oddly and a moment later realized why. As he ducked
down under the water all he could think was "Thermal expansion, how
embarrassing..."
Pen-Pen looked at his human friend with confusion for a few
minutes. "Why would he be embarrassed? They are probably only teasing
him. I'll show him that in fact..." (Note: due to the experiments
conducted on him, Pen-Pen has exceptional intelligence as well as some
minor psionic abilities - in Palladium I would 'build' his character
with the Bio-E system - he also has a bit of a mischievous streak and a
lack of comprehension about some human niceties. This makes the next
part that much more amusing. -Isamu). With a determined flap of his
wings, Pen-Pen was at the bamboo wall. With a small push in the right
place, the wall fell down (towards the men's side if that helps at
all). With a dash Pen-Pen expertly dived under the water and swam to a
safe distance to watch.
"EEK!! Shinji, you pervert!!!" Asuka shouted as she ducked
under the water.
At this, Shinji turned to see what the commotion was. He was
rewarded with a wonderful view of Misato and Asuka. This was only
hindered by the sudden loss of consciousness due to a bucket hitting
him square in the head. That last thing he heard as consciousness fled
him was Misato whistling and saying, "Would ya look at that?"
As the two looked at the unconscious form of Shinji floating face
up in the water, Asuka suddenly asked, "Misato, since when does Shinji
have a tattoo?"
The trip home from the hot spring was rather pleasant, despite
the havoc that happened the day before. Misato and Asuka were chatting
back and forth in the front seat of the car while Shinji and Pen-Pen
were dozing in the back. Well, at least, it looked like they were both
asleep; Shinji was actually meditating. This allowed him to not only
speed up healing his burns and the large knot on his head (he got that
when the divider fell on him apparently, he couldn't really remember),
but to get away from the pain as well. It also allowed his mind to
enter a state very similar to REM sleep. This meant dreams, and while
he was learning to exert some small control over his dreams, he
couldn't seem to get away from the one he was in. He was again at Club
Freak, only this time he wasn't dancing with Cat, he was dancing with
Asuka. When they finally got back to Tokyo-3, Asuka shook Shinji
awake. "We're home, now come on, I'm not hauling all this stuff Misato
and I bought up to the apartment. Come on, hop hop!" With that she
turned and walked toward the elevator, carrying the smallest two bags
of the bunch. Shinji sighed and shuffled toward the back end of the
car, thankful that his trance had healed most of the burns and that
Misato's trunk was small. As he looked into the trunk and saw it
crammed with far more bags then should fit into that much space (most
looking rather heavy), he sighed again. "Why her, God, why her?" he
mumbled as he grabbed an armful of bags and followed Asuka to the
elevator.
Shinji failed to notice how close Misato was to him. However,
Misato didn't fail to notice Shinji's comment. "Well, well, well.
This is an interesting development, eh Pen-Pen?"
"Wark..." the penguin said.
"Of course I won't. That would just be mean." Misato answered
as she gathered some more of the bags in the trunk (the lighter ones of
course).
"Waark." the penguin responded.
"Well, I MIGHT do that..." Misato answered.
"Waaarrk..." Pen-Pen mumbled as he two grabbed the last fliperfull
of packages and followed Misato to the other elevator. This is going
to be interesting, he thought to himself.
...to be continued
Well, first off I would like to apologize for the delay in
getting this chapter out, but other things kept coming up and getting
in the way. I hope to get the next chapter out in about a month, so
please bear with me... If anyone is wondering what was with Shinji not
being cooked like a lobster when he dived into the volcano, he used the
"resist heat" psionic power obviously. Due to the nature of the Eva,
some of that protection even affected it as well. But that will be
gone into next chapter. As for the conversation with Rei, I hope that
people saw something like this coming. It will also be developed more
in the next chapter. If you would like to contact me, I can be reached
at Isamu@nerv-hq.zzn.com and my ICQ # is 20130664. Till next time!
Thanks again to my prereaders:
Sarevock
Thresher Doom
Qut Killjoy
Alen Slaughter
and last but not least, my editor: Annie the Laughing Kookaburra
Rough Draft v 1.0 08-24-2001
Rough Draft v 1.1 08-27-2001
Final Draft v 2.0 08-30-2001