Hi everyone!
This is an Neon Genesis Evangelion fic.
This is an self-insertion Neon Genesis Evangelion fic.
[Pauses for the collective scream of the FFML to die down]
Anyway...
I came up with this idea after 1) seeing how there was so little
Eva fics out there, and 2) after reading a synopsis for the ending of
the TV and Movie version of Neon Genesis Evangelion. To put it bluntly,
I hated them both. So, I came up with this. And hopefully I can get it
finished.
This is also my first fanfic. (Gosh, I sure go for the easy one's,
don't I?) I'm not sure when Chapter 2 will be out, I hope soon. Not
only is there this annoying little thing called Real Life getting in the
way, I'm also working on another story that's even larger than this one.
C&C is more than welcome. Come on, I need the abuse. Flames will
be tossed, though.
Dedications: This fic is dedicated to my Mom, who got me
interested in Sci-Fi in the first place; to Jonathan Souza, who got me
interested in Anime in the first place after reading that story of his,
and is the sole reason I ever got into Anime; to Gene Roddenberry, who
showed me a better future; to George Lucas, who showed me that good can
conquer evil in the end; to J. Michael Straczynski, who proved to me
that there are still stories comparable to the likes of JRR Tolkien,
Susan Cooper, and who gave me JMS syndrome (writing stories that are
huge, sweeping sagas that last years on end, and take forever to
write!).
And now, to the future.
Micah Potasnik
potas@i-55.com
//Artist: Metallica Title: Elektra Track: "The Unforgiven"//
Oh-My-God-What-The-Hell-Was-I-Thinking Productions, Inc.
is proud to present
A Cyclone Production
Neon Genesis Evangelion:
Order and Chaos
By Micah D. Potasnik
a.k.a. 'Cyclone'
Chapter 1
Omega and Alpha
***************
"For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are
answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula,
the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions
and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a
dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the
church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We
are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our
lives so well that Death will tremble to take us."
--Charles Bukowski
***************
Micah slammed the door to his room shut, and began to tear of his
school uniform.
*Those goddamned bastards,* he thought vehemently as he slipped on
a pair of shirts and a comfortable t-shirt. *Those goddamn fucking
bastards.*
It had been, sadly, a extremely bad day for Micah at school, and a
good portion of it had to do with 95% of the schools population that had
somehow decided unanimously to annoy the hell out of him, and make his
day a living hell.
He tore the headphones off from their appointed place on top of
his stereo system, put them on, slapped in a Metallica CD at random,
pumped the volume to the max, and stabbed angrily at play.
He leaned heavily against the shelve where his stereo was, letting
the music relax him, draining his pent up anger and frustrations.
He let his head fall, hitting the shelf with a *thump*, his long,
golden blond hair falling around his gold wire framed glasses, sighing.
Micah was a loner, strong willed and stubborn. He had never had
any close friends over the years. He had friends, yes, but, in all his
life, he never had someone who could make dealing with those jackasses a
little easier. His solitary state was deeply ingrained into his psyche,
making it hard to interact with fellow humans, usually choosing to
escape into a book or computers instead, with gave them even more
reasons to ridicule him.
Micah's feeling of depression slowly lost there hold on him as the
music began to soothe him. Yes, he was a loner, and damn proud of it.
All those ignorant shit heads could go to hell for all he cared. Who
gave a shit what they though, it was *himself* that really mattered, in
the end.
Micah had just lost his bought of depression when he had just
switched over to Guns n' Roses CD and was listening to "Knockin on
Heavens Door", when somebody tapped him on the shoulder.
He jumped.
And said something to the effect of "AUUGGH!"
Micah whirled around, ready to go off on a tirade on his mother
for sneaking up on him like that, when he faltered. Mouth gaping wide,
Micah came to two realizations. One, that he doubted that John De Lance
would decide to visit him, and two, he seriously doubted he would wear a
red starfleet uniform while doing so.
"..." said Micah.
"Well, that was certainly original," commented Q. "Much better
than Picard. He usually goes of on a tirade of his when I show up."
"You... You're..."
"Yes, I am Q," said Q. "And the exact same Q you are thinking
about."
"And you are here for..." asked Micah, recovering his wits.
"I'm here for you," replied Q.
Micah simply stared at Q, wondering what the heck he was talking
about.
"All right, let me put it to you this way," said Q. "I need to
show you something. And, in doing so, you will get a rather large
amount of information for that head of yours. If you allow me to show
you what I need to show you. Deal?"
Micah considered it. For about .0005 seconds. "Sure!" With these
words, Q snapped his fingers.
*Flash*
"You show surprising patience and strength, Human." Said the
Minbari Ranger hovering just outside of Micah's attack range. "That is
good. For as Valen said, those who are strong within, are strong
without."
*Flash*
"Congratulation Cadet." Said Admiral Necheyev. "Most of the time
I don't pay much attention to cadets graduating, but you are a special
case. Graduating first in his class in Science, Engineering, *and*
Medical."
"Thank you Admiral," Said Micah.
*Flash*
"Sweet Mother of Mercy," murmured Micah. "That puts a entirely
new spin on the words 'information overload'."
Micah held his head as not to disturb the cascade of memories that
bounced around inside his skull. If he wanted too, he could recall with
crystal clarity each and every part of his training in Starfleet or the
Rangers. It was astounding.
Micah glanced around at his surrounding, and whirled his head
around in shock. He and Q were standing, quite literally, in the middle
of no where. He gazed out into the abyss, and Micah felt very small,
and very insignificant. His eyes straining, he could just make out the
faint outline of a type of shield protecting him from the more drastic
effects the Void could have on one not developed for it. Looking
around, Micah found that were he was wasn't as empty as he thought it
was.
Dominating a good portion of the Void that Micah stood motionless
in was a Orb of what Micah could best describe was of enormous energy
and power. One side of the Orb shined with a rolling, chaotic purple,
and the other side was a seemingly unchanging blue. Where the two sides
met was a shining outpouring of energy, the likes of which Micah had
never witnessed before, and most likely never would again. His eyes
hurt from watching the purple side, and the blue side didn't seem to
change at all, giving off a steady light. They also seemed to be
getting closer to it. Micah glanced over at Q. "What is that?"
"That," said Q, with a trace of awe and a tinge of fear in his
voice, "has many names. It is the source of the two main powers of
Existence, both alike and yet totally different at the same time, that
are present in the very fabric of Time and Non-Time, Space and
Non-Space, in every aspect of Existence, they are present. Two powers
that some beings occasionally use. This is the source of them. Even
your race has occasionally called upon them, though not without lasting
results. Some call it Alpha. Others call it The Beginning. Some call
it Creation. But the Q have always referred to it for what it truly
is. The center of all Existence. The Heart of The Storm."
Micah stared at him. "This," he said, gesturing at the glowing
purple and blue Orb floating seemingly in the middle of no where, and a
trace of awe entering his voice, "is the Heart of The Storm?"
"Correct," replied Q.
The two sentients continued to stare at the awesome might that was
the Heart of the Storm. Micah then noticed something odd about it that
struck him with a quite sense of unease.
Both sides of the orb began to flare up, the two powers extending
orderly blue and chaotic purple flames from the surface. The seemed to
be reaching out, searching for something. Or someone.
"Q," began Micah, "are we safe here?"
Quietly, Q said, "I hope so."
Micah turned his head to regard the omnipotent sentient beside
him. "That wasn't what I was hoping to hear."
"Most things never are," retorted Q.
"True," acceded Micah.
The two gazed at The Heart of The Storm for a little while
longer. Then, Q turned to Micah.
"Micah, there is something I need to say to you."
"I'm sorry."
Micah turned his head sharply at Q when he caught the last of the
sentence, about to ask what he meant, when the field that Q had been
using to counteract Micah's presence this near The Heart of The Storm
disappeared.
Two massive flares erupted from the two sides of The Heart of The
Storm, engulfing Micah. He screamed in terror and agony, pleading for Q
to help him. Then the two flares drew Micah fully into The Heart of The
Storm.
And Micah Potasnik plunged straight into Hell.
Q watched, a worried expression on his face as The Heart of The
Storm took its name to the extreme, the entire surface of it roiling and
boiling as flares emerged from the surface and shot off into the
nether-realm that was the Void.
It was insanity in itself, doing what Q was doing. Sending, of
all things, a human, into the depths of The Heart of The Storm. It was
a gamble, a very, very, very risky gamble, for the continued stability
of Existence was at stake.
If he was correct, then he would have a very, very good chance of
coming out on top, regardless that the Q continuum would perform the
equivalent of flaying him alive when they found out about this. They
probably knew about it all ready, although they were probably staying
the farthest away that they could possibly be. Ground Zero and all
that.
And if he wasn't correct...
Well...
Then he, and all of Existence, was fucked. Big Time.
Pain.
Anger.
Rage.
Existence.
What?
Where am I?
Who am I?
What is I?
I is me.
What is me?
Me is I
Paradox.
Micah floated through The Heart of The Storm. He had lost all
identity, all self, in the tides and currents that even Q could not even
begin to contemplate existed. He could not tell if all eternity
Eternity?
passed in a blink of an eye, or if all the agony and
pain of his soul, body and mind being torn apart lasted no more that a
billionth of a second.
Then, he encountered something.
By the time he met this entity/non-entity/sentient, his mind and
soul had been reduced to shreds of its former self, merely a babbling
sentient, and not by much. His body had long been destroyed by the
Chaos inherent in The Heart of The Storm. That he had not been totally
blasted into non-Existence, totally wiped from all that was, was merely
plain luck.
But then, Chaos favored the lucky.
But Order favored the wise.
{Who are you?} asked the entity/non-entity/sentient.
*hurtsstoppleasestophurtsagonypainnon-pain*
The entity/non-entity/sentient regarded the empty husk that was
once a human with interest.
{You have potential,} said It/He/She/Sentient. {But then, there
is no one else.}
*hurtsstoppleasestophurts*
{Yes.}
Micah's soul was then blasted with the two powers. He screamed,
but the scream shortly became one of a true Sentient, capable of
rational thought and feeling. His body was recreated with a mere
thought, constructed in resemblance of his old one as to minimize
psychological trauma. His soul died and was reborn under the direct
assault of Chaos and Order. His mind was repaired in an instant and all
eternity, changed slightly as to handle the power that he would need.
{Go then, my son. Speed well. And perhaps, we will meet again.}
[Yes, we shall. I can see it. Farewell.]
[Father.]
Q looked up, just as surface of The Heart of The Storm opened up.
It was open for barely a trillionth of a second.
A little bit long, yes, but what the heck.
Then, Micah appeared before Q.
Q's eyes (or the approximation thereof) widened slightly, as he
took a step back.
Then, he looked into Micah's eyes.
Inside those eyes, he could see Order and Chaos, both in conflict
and in balance. There was no insanity in those eyes. Fear, pain,
relief, understanding, and a slight hint of anger was present in those
eyes. But not Madness.
Neither of them spoke.
"I understand now why you brought me here," said Micah. His voice
was that of a teenager, not someone that had survived The Heart of The
Storm. Micah seemed to consider something. "Most likely I will have to
hide my memories of The Heart of The Storm," he continued. "Yes, this
will be nessicary. As will other things. Farewell."
The non-space around Micah seemed to explode. When the light was
gone, so was Micah.
Micah felt a whiteness envelop him, thinking it was part of the
transportation process. Then he realized it was the sun streaming in
his eyes, so he closed them to allow them to adjust. Blinking his eyes,
he slowly opened them.
Micah noticed that he felt... smaller, for some reason. He looked
down at his body, and discovered something very significant.
He was no longer in his own body.
It belonged to a person that was shorter then Micah, and much more
compact. His skin was slightly paler than his own, which was slightly
tanned over all the sun he got living where he lived. He was wearing a
pair of dark gray pants and a dark-green t-shirt. Looking around, he
noticed that he was in just outside a train station of a sorts. He also
noticed that everything around him was written in Japanese, yet he could
understand it perfectly. Looking around, he noticed his reflection and
stared at the face that was now his own.
For a minute, Micah almost didn't believe who he was looking at.
Then, his mind spit out a anserw.
Shinji Ikari. Pilot of the Evangelion unit 01. From the Anime
series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
"Ohhhhhhhhh Shhhhhhhheeeeeeeiiiit."
Micah looked at his new face with something between shock and
horror.
"My god," he murmured. "What the hell am I doing here?"
Noticing something in his pocket, Micah automatically reached in
and pulled it out. It was a picture, showing a women with dark hair, he
couldn't quite place the color, with message on it. "SHINJI-I'LL PICK
YOU UP AT THE TRAIN STATION." And with a footnote: "P.S.- lOOK AT
THIS". A small part of Micah's mind noted the "look at these" might
have been a bit more appropriate.
Sighing, he put the picture back in his pocket. Then he began to
think.
"What to do, what to do," he mumbled. Luckily, no one was around.
Striking this as somewhat odd, Micah began to pace.
His mind reeled when the full implications began to present
themselves to him. He sat down heavily on a bench that was, luckily,
near him.
When Micah sat down, the backpack that had been perched
precariously on his shoulder fell to the ground. Seeing something to
get his mind of his current predicament, he began to search through it.
"Werid," commented Micah. "How the heck did this stuff get
here?" His source of confusion was the fact that the backpack carried a
number of favorite books and CD titles of his.
"I seriously doubt Shinji likes Savage Garden, Guns n' Roses, and
Queen. Or Michael Crighton, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Piers Anthoney." A
thought crossed Micah's mind, and he dug deeper into the pack. A slow
smile formed on his face as his fingers closed around a metal cylinder
nestled in the bottom of the pack. Withdrawing it, Micah extended the
Denn'bok to its full length, twirling it around with a jubilant smile on
his face. Closing it, he put it in his pocket, making sure it wasn't
noticeable. It could come in handy.
Closing the backpack, Micah's thoughts came back to The Heart of
The Storm. *From what I could tell,* he thought silently, *There
appeared to be two different forces inside The Heart. Strange.*
Another thought occured to Micah. *The last time anyone tried to access
The Heart of The Storm, he was driven crazy. Why wasn't I?* Pondering
it, he came to a conclusion. *The two power's inside there must balance
themselves out somehow, or else they couldn't co-exist at all. Maybe I
achieved some semblance of the balance.* Micah shivered at the crystal
clear memory of the purple energy tearing him a part inside, and clamped
down hard on the memory. *Chaos. That's what the energy felt like.
Chaos... and Order. That's why they affected me the way they did.* He
paused mentally. *Q said that humans used them occasionally. If that's
true, then we must have a name for them. I wonder what they are...*
Micah was distracted suddenly when he noticed something. The far off
muffled sound of explosions. Getting up a shouldering the backpack, he
cocked his head, trying to get a better fix on the sound. He noticed
the strange whistling sound, as if something as falling very fast...
A small alarm bell began blaring in the back of Micah's mind. His
head shot up, looking at the sky. His worst fears were confirmed when
his eyes noticed the falling metallic figure of a Jet fighter...
...heading straight for him.
Oh Shit.
He began to run to the side, but he saw that it was to late. The
fighter was to close and moving to fast for Micah to get away from the
impact zone. *This is how its going to end?* thought Micah. *I travel
god-knows how many miles, dimensional planes, and get torn apart and put
back together by the source of all creation, only to die in a freak
accident of chance!?!?!?*
*No!!! I am not going to go this way!!! I WILL NOT ALLOW
IT!!!!!!!!!*
Something deep in Micah's soul stirred, called forth by
desperation and fear. For the first time since his powers had been
granted, Micah used them.
Stretching his hand out toward the rapidly approaching Jet, he
called forth his power. Concentrating, blue energy arced from Micah's
fingertips as he called forth what he needed most.
Protection.
When the fighter finally approached a level around 100 meters in
the air above Micah, it seemed to actually *skip* across the surface of
a unseen shield. It coasted harmlessly over him, then gravity seemed to
reassert itself once again on the fighter, and it crashed a good 300
meters distant.
Micah stared at mute astonishment at the burning wreckage, then
slowly brought his gaze toward his hand.
"Maybe The Heart of The Storm did change me a bit more than I
thought," he marveled.
His head snapping up, he could see a car rapidly bearing down on
him. Screeching to a halt, the car stopped and the driver stepped out
it.
"Jesus!" Exclaimed Misato. "Are you all right?"
Micah waved dismissively. "I'm fine." A wry smile formed on his
face. "Misato Katsuragi, I presume? I was wondering when you'd get
here."
Misato smiled and blushed slightly. "And you must be Shinji
Ikari. Sorry about not getting here on time. Hop in, we have to go."
"What's the rush? Anything to do with a certain flying object
that almost killed me?" Said Micah, cocking his head toward the flaming
wreckage.
"You could say that," Said Misato as she and Micah got into her
car.
"What's this?" Asked Micah when Misato handed him a rather large
handbook.
"The NERV handbook," explained Misato. "You're apart of NERV
now, so you'll be needing it."
"NERV," Said Micah, as he flipped through the handbook. It was
filled with a collection of blant propaganda, rules, regulations, and
the like. In short it said, "you screw up, your ass is cooked."
"That's the organization Professor Ikari runs?"
Misato gave Micah a curious look, when Micah realized what he had
said. He wondered if he should call him 'father'. *Naaah.* Thought
Micah. *At worst, all it will do is annoy him. Or flatter him.
Whichever.*
"Yes," Said Misato, anserwing his earlier question.
"Hmm," replied Micah, thinking. Rather than his thoughts being
on NERV, he was thinking back to the jet that had almost crashed into
him. He put his elbow on the door and his head resting on his hand,
gazing blankly out at the scenery. *I wonder what I did to make that
Jet miss me.* Thought Micah. *Whatever it was, it didn't seem to make
me tired. I would think that performing something like that would
weaken me somewhat.* Thinking back to when he made contact to The Heart
of The Storm, he reconsidered. *Or maybe not.* Micah sighed mentally.
This was getting him nowhere. He had no idea just how powerful he was,
or if the powers would manifest themselves in anyway he could
determine. It was driving him crazy. Looking out at the scenery, a
small part of his mind noticed the scenery was *moving*.
"What the hell is that?" asked Micah, brought out from his train
of thought by a huge lumbering Giant. It looked like some type of
monstrous hunchback, with only a vague humanoid shape. But what the
most unnerving to Micah was the creatures 'face', whose closest
comparison Micah could think of was one of those goddamned hockey masks
from the "Friday the 13th" movies.
He always hated those movies.
"An angel," replied Misato, literally standing on the accelerator
to get away.
The creature vanished from sight as the car arrived at a type of
transport pad in the tunnel they had entered, and the car started to
descend. As he watched, the transport pad exited the tube, and the
feeling of incredible speed he had felt a moment before was lost as the
pad entered the huge underground Geo-Front. "Impressive..." escaped
Micah's lips as he gazed out at the underground recreation of a
bio-sphere.
Misato grinned at Shinji. She had to admit, the Geo-front could
make anyone stop short with awe. "Welcome to Tokyo-3. Humanity's
fortress against the Angels."
"I'm impressed," stated Micah, a smile lighting his features as
he gazed at the artificial cavern around him. "Very impressed."
"This place is huge," remarked Micah as he and Misato walked
through Central Dogma.
"Yea, it is," replied Misato. Dammit, this is the third time she
had gotten lost! *I need a map of this place,* She thought.
While the two walked and tried to navigate there way through
Central Dogma, the large pyramid shaped building located inside the
Geo-Front, Micah studied Misato. He would have to be deaf, dumb, and
blind to see the most obvious thing, that she was quite beautiful.
Especially with that blue-purple hair of her's, and the friendly, open
way she could look at you, made her even more attractive, by Micah's
standards.
She and Micah rounded a corner, to come upon a women with blond
hair and green eyes, wearing a dark stockings, a black leather miniskirt
and a
tight blue zip-up top with a ring on the throat-high zip tab, and a
white lab coat, which seemed somewhat odd to Micah. She looked to be
around Misato's age and height, and she too, was a beautiful, but it was
a arctic sort of beauty, rather than Misato's friendliness and
cheerfulness.
"Err, hi Ritsuko," Said Misato sheepishly, blushing slightly.
Ritsuko sighed. "Misato, you realize that we don't have the time
nor the manpower to find lost NERV operatives." She leveled her gaze at
Micah. "Is this the Third Child?"
"Shinji Ikari," replied Micah. *God, I'm gonna have to get used
to that.* Slightly annoyed at the way that Ritsuko looked at him, he
gave her what best could be described as a 'roguish' smile, meeting her
gaze. "Pleased to meet you," he glanced at her name tag, noting the
doctor prefix attached to her name, "Doctor."
Ritsuko smiled slightly, barely noticeable, but it was there.
"I'm not exactly used to being called 'Doctor'."
"You'll have to get used to it then," replied Micah, smiling.
"Or shall I just call you Ritsuko?"
Ritsuko glanced at him as they entered the elevator, but decided
not to comment. She still supressed a smile at this young teen-agers
boldness. Micah leaned against the back of the elevator, tuning out
Ritsuko and Misato's conversation about a failed synchronization of
something or other, as he let his mind wonder. When they arrived at
there destination he followed behind them automatically, not really
paying that much attention. When the lights suddenly went out, his head
snapped up from his ruminations as he got ready, for, well, anything.
Then the lights came back on.
Micah would admit that it took a lot to impress himself. After
seeing most of the things he had seen in his lifetime, it took a rather
large and spectacular surprise to fully impress him.
However, right now, Micah was *very* impressed.
He was standing on a type of scaffolding, suspended above a sort
of pinkish liquid that he couldn't readily identify. Coming out of that
liquid was a head that, what looked to Micah, a giant mecha that, if his
scale was correct, rivaled the Friday the 13th Jonny wannabe rampaging
around above in Tokyo-3. It was colored in a combination of dull purple
and fluorescent green, and a huge horn came out from its head, which
Micah could see no apparent reason for.
"Nice," commented Micah. He looked at Ritsuko. "Does it come in
black and silver?"
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Misato and Ritsuko had
to hold in a smile from breaking out on both there faces. "This," said
Ritsuko, with a touch of pride in her voice, "is the ultimate Humanoid
fighting weapon. Evangelion."
"Ah." Stated Micah, gazing at the now named Mecha. He appeared
unpertured that the Evangelion appeared to be looking right at him. "I
take it it's built to fight that monstrosity on the surface?"
"Correct. And you're going to pilot it."
Micah arced his head above him to see a type of control room where
the voice had originated from. Through the thick looking glass of the
Control Room windows, he could see and recognize one man that apparently
spoken through the outside speakers, a tall, thin looking man wearing
glasses, and appeared to be wearing a permanent scowl on his face.
"Professor Ikari, I presume?" said Micah, although it was more a
statement, not a question.
Ritsuko's face turned quizzical as she turned toward Misato.
Misato merely shrugged. Ritsuko found it somewhat odd to refer to your
father that way. *Or maybe not,* She thought, *with all the things
between them. Shinji doesn't seemed intimidated by his father, either.*
"Yes," replied Gendou. He was not put off by the way his son was
apparently acting toward him. In fact, deep down, he was somewhat
pleased by it. "And you are Shinji Ikari, and you are here to pilot the
Eva."
What happened next transcended fear, or anger, or aggression. The
event that occurred next had reachings that the three humans that
surrounded Micah could only begin to fully understand the implications
off. Micah himself, at the time, didn't know *what* had happened, just
that it *had* happened.
Micah felt something, something that his soul seemed to shrink
away from and erect a barrier against, something that he had both known
and conquered and at the same time shied and hid away from. He felt it,
quite literally, slide up next to him, and then *push* him aside.
What the body of Shinji Ikari spoke next was not Shinji himself,
nor Micah speaking. It was something else.
"No! I won't! I don't want to, and you *can't make me*!!!!!"
Micah was in a state of turmoil as he felt something take control
of the motor skills of the body his soul was currently inhabiting. He
could feel the words come from his mouth, but it wasn't him speaking it.
Ritsuko, Misato, and Gendou were all taken aback by this sudden
and rapid change in attitude. A second before, a calm, cool, and
totally unintimitated person had stood before them, and now Shinji Ikari
seemed anything but those three things.
Gendou could feel a momentary flicker of anger. "You will do as I
say! You will pilot the Eva and defeat the Angel!"
"No! I won't! I won't! I won't! I won't!... Aahgh!"
To the three humans who stood watching him, Shinji seemed to end
his childish tirade as he collapsed to the floor, clutching his head.
Misato gazed at shock as Shinji clutched his head, kneeling on the
floor, his face contorted in a semblance of pain.
Gendou was taken aback by this turn of events. "Go get Rei," he
said to one of the technicians.
"Yes Sir," responded the technician obediently, even though his
order had just amounted to a death sentence for a 14 year old girl.
Inside Shinji's body, a war struggled between the two dominant
powers inside.
*You... have... no... right!!!* thought Micah as he spoke to the
other powerful entity inside Shinji's body. *Leave!!!! NOW!!!!*
*Right? I have no right, Micah Potasnik?* thought/spoke the other
entity. *You have very small leeway to talk. Invading a poor, small,
helpless child's body, displacing his very soul...*
*NO!!!!!* shouted Micah. *I had no choice! You do! Leave.
NOW!!!!*
*You have very little power here Micah,* said the Voice inside
Shinji's body, taking on a cold, emotionless tone. *I do. This
universe, and its inhabitants, are MINE, and mine to do as I please, you
have no sway here...*
Regardless of the Voice's words, Micah was slowly, very slowly,
getting back full control, pushing back the other entity's control.
*Get... Out... Of my... HEAD!!!!* thought Micah. With the last
word, he regained full control once more, and stood straight up
suddenly, taking in the entire situation in one broad sweep of his
head. Just as he had won, Micah saw a doctor wheel a girl in on a
gurney.
She looked about to be around 14, by Micah's guess, and was
covered in bandages, with a IV attached to her one arm not covered by a
cast. She was wearing a skin-tight suit of some kind, that Micah
guessed might have something to pilot the Evangelions in. She had the
palest skin Micah had ever seen, with matching pale hair that appeared a
silver-blue in the complex's lights.
Micah's eye's widened slightly, and then he realized what Gendou
was planning to do. His head whirled, to match Gendou's gaze with equal
intensity. His message was clear. Go and defeat the angel, or I'll
send this girl to die in your place.
Micah gazed down to look at Rei, as her startling red eyes met his
hazel colored, time seemed to slow for Micah. The moment seemed to
speak to Micah, as if saying that this is someone that you could tell
all your secrets too, your fears, to open up your heart to and be
supported, and have the same trust granted in return. He felt a sudden
wave of protectiveness wash over him, and he suddenly felt that, this
was someone that he would give his life for, without regret, and without
thought.
Time seemed to speed back up to a normal pace as he watched the
doctors wheel Rei to a stop, and he watched as her frail body, wracked
with pain, try to get up. Micah could take it no more.
"Stop," he started to say. "There's no need..." Whatever Micah
was about to say was suddenly cut off by a large *BOOM* that seemed to
originated from over head.
Misato, Ritsuko, and Gendou all stumbled, but Micah remained
planted firmly to the spot like the Old Man of the Sea. He watched in
horror as Rei was thrown off the gurney and emitted a gut-wrenching cry
of pain as she impacted against the floor. He ran over to her, so
intent on reaching her that he did not see the large piece of
scaffolding break off and plummet toward him.
While Micah's conscious mind was not aware of the danger, his
subconscious was. While it did not threaten his soul, the scaffolding
presented a rather serious threat to the body Micah currently resided
in. Reaching out into the fabric of the universe, it willed for Fate
itself to change the odds.
The Evangelion unit was suddenly seized, as its arm broke away
from its restraints, as it interposed itself between the scaffolding and
Micah. It crashed aside, harmlessly, the danger averted.
Ritsuko and Misato stared in shock, slow realization dawning on
there face what had happened. In the control room, Gendou smiled a
cold, vindictive smile.
Ignoring all of this, Micah knelt down beside Rei as he supported
her back using one hand, and brushed her hair aside from her brow with
the other, offering a small comfort from physical contact. Her face and
one uncovered eye contorted with the pain of re-opened wounds as blood
flowed hot and sticky onto the floor, seeping past her bandages and into
Micah's clothes. Micah felt as if he had been stabbed as Rei took
short, gasping breaths through the haze of pain. He brought he hand up,
and saw that it was now covered in Rei's blood.
Laying her slowly and carefully to the floor, Micah stood up. He
swept his gaze from Misato, to Ritsuko, and then Gendou. Ritsuko to a
voluntary step back, because for a moment she would have sworn that
Shinji's eyes were actually *glowing* a fierce, cold blue...
"There will be a day of reckoning, Ikari, for this," Micah said
softly. He spoke up. "All right you cold, heartless bastard. I'll do
it."
*You know,* thought Micah, *I wish I had a camera. Ikari's face
when I insulted him was hilarious.*
Micah was currently sitting in what appeared to be a large
cockpit, and, he had to admit, it was relaxing in the entry plug.
As he had thought, the suit Rei had been wearing was indeed
required to pilot the Eva's, because he was wearing a blue, green, and
white version of the skin tight 'plug suit', as Ritsuko had called it.
In Micah's opinion, it showed off a bit *too* much, yet, felt oddly
comfortable. He wondered idly *what* exactly *were* the requirements
for piloting the Eva's. *I would love to get a look at the systems for
this baby,* Micah thought. *Small chance of *that* happening. I bet
Ritsuko would be surprised that I could probably make a large number of
improvements to them, too...* Engineering had, after all, been Micah's
favorite and best class in Starfleet.
Micah was brought out of his musings when a thick, yellow-ish
liquid started pouring from vents in the side of the Entry Plug. Only
mildly concerned, Micah cupped his hand into the liquid and let it
slowly drain away. He began thinking as the Plug began rapidly filling
with the fluid. Suddenly his mind came up with a anserw. *Hi-Oxygen
Liquid! Of cource!* He frowned at the thought. *But why would a pilot
need to breath Liquid Oxygen? If this thing was designed for battle,
the Liquid would be heated far more faster than normal air. Even though
it gets oxygen to the organs faster, it could quickly turn deadly.* He
shuddered momentarily. The idea of his lungs cooking from the inside
out did not exactly appeal to him.
He watched, unconcerned, as the liquid slowly reached his head
level. Then, taking a deep breath, he slowly held it as the Liquid Ox
flowed up around his head, and then slowly let it out, and then sucked
the liquid in, emitting a small burp of air bubbles, but otherwise felt
fine.
"Shinji, can you hear me?" Asked Misato over the Plug's
speakers. "You didn't freak out when we flooded the Plug with the LCL
fluid. Very good."
Micah took on the same tone that he had heard his Vulcan Mentor
use when he had studied Science on a brief intern in the Vulcan Science
Academy. "It would be illogical to assume that you were trying to drown
me, considering all the trouble you took to get me here."
Misato got a quizzical look on her face, but didn't reply. "We're
beginning the Syncro process."
"Syncro rate holding steady at 41.5%," report Maya Ibuki, the
Room's brown haired chief operations technician.
"Impressive," commented Ritsuko, "considering the Eva he's using."
To Micah, it was as if someone had taken his soul and put it in a
much larger body, and he was adjusting to it. His perception widened as
he felt himself become larger, more taller than before. The sensation
was not at all unpleasant, it fact, Micah could learn to enjoy it.
If only the people running it weren't such jerks...
Most of them, anyway.
"Shinji, how do you feel?" asked Misato.
"When I find the word to describe it I'll tell you," replied
Micah. "I feel, just, taller somehow."
Misato nodded. She turned to Gendou, who was standing in the
back, highlighted by the red-on-black NERV emblem. "Can we really do
this?" she asked.
"Yes," replied Gendou. "If we don't, then humanity is doomed."
Misato turned back to the main command board. She nodded.
"Evangelion Unit 1, launch!"
With those word muttered, the platform that the Evangelion had
been standing on was suddenly rocketed up the launch tube. Micah could
feel the G forces affect both him and the Eva as they both sped toward
the surface.
In one of Tokoyo-3's many streets, a large portal opened up, as
the Eva was suddenly decelerated, and came to a rest on the surface
level.
"Releasing the Gantry Bolts," reported Maya.
On the platform, the massive bolts that had held the Eva secure
suddenly retracted, and the Evangelion stood slowly up. The Eva slowly
pivoted its massive head as it took in its surroundings.
"All right, Shinji, just concentrate on walking," said Misato.
"Right," replied Micah, sarcasm dripping in his voice. He slowly
closed his eyes. *All right, think,* he thought. *All the Eva is is a
very large body. If what I think Misato is talking about is true, then
all I *am* is nothing more than the brain of the Eva. So... all I have
to do is simply *move* as I normally would.* He sighed. *I hope this
works.*
The Evangelion took a very shaky first step, as the foot came
crashing down, impacting on the hardtop of the street. Gaining
confidence, Micah to a second step, then a third. *I was right,*
thought Micah. *I am the brain's of the Eva. Nothing more, nothing...
uh, oh.*
Something or other had apparently drawn the Angel away from its
attack, and it had found the Eva. The Angel and the Eva stood facing
each other, somewhat akin to two gunfighters, waiting for each other to
make the first move.
"Err, Misato?" asked Micah.
"Yes?" she replied.
"What onboard weapon systems does the Eva have?"
"None. The main weapon is your progressive knife, which you can
deploy..."
Micah glanced sharply at the speaker. "*Please* tell me your...
oh shit!"
A silent alarm bell began ringing in the back of Micah's mind, and
the Eva jumped up suddenly and came crashing down to avoid the strange
energy blast the Angel had sent toward him. He deftly avoided a second,
and a third, but, unfortunately, the fourth caught him, damaging his leg
armor. He could actually *feel* the sharp, shooting pain radiating up
his leg as the blast gouged into his armor. The Eva stumbled and fell
flat on its face.
"Shinji, get up!" cried Misato.
"Working in... urk!" Micah cried out as the massive Angel firmly
grasped Eva-01 neck. He could actually *feel* the hands, as if they
were actually squeezing his own neck. Firmly latching on, the Angel
began the methodical procedure of trying to tear either the Eva's arm or
head of, or both. Micah could hear a sickening snap as he screamed in
pain, the Eva's left arm hanging limp, useless. The Angel brought up it
hand and pounded the energy blast into Eva-01's head. A torrent of
images and pain that wasn't his own flooded Micah's mind as the energy
hammered into Eva-01's skull. He mind frantically tried to struggle out
of its grasp, but then the energy blast punched *through* Eva-01's head,
sending Micah screaming in a torrent of indescribable pain, as the Eva
flew back, slamming it into the ground with considerable force.
Micah slumped in the cockpit, dimly aware of Misato yelling into
the speakers, demanding a status report. He felt his consciousness
slipping, and he slowly closed his eyes, the energy draining away. The
last vestiges of counsiouness brought Micah's fall into the abyss short,
as he concentrated, he could actually hear soft *laughter*, mocking him.
//Artist: Kenny Loggins Title: Top Gun Soundtrack Track:"Into the
Danger Zone"//
Adrenaline surges through his, and due to the synchronization,
through Eva's veins as pure anger emerged from Micah's psyche. His head
snapped up, his hazel eyes glowing a faint blue. The face armor of the
Eva cracked and shattered, and both it and Micah drew there head's back
and emitted a inhuman shriek of rage that could be heard and felt
straight down into Central Dogma.
Eva-01 jumped up from its fallen position. Clenching it's left
fist, the arm was made whole once more. The Eva crouched to the point
where it's knees where touching the ground, then kicked off effortlessly
as it charged the Angel. The Angel saw the Eva and it fired off a
energy bolt at the charging juggernaut, only to be blocked by a type of
invisible shield of some sort that protected the Eva.
"Eva-01 has regenerated it's arm!" reported Maya. "And it's
deploying it's AT-field!"
Said Eva rushed the Angel, ignoring the energy blast that
deflected harmlessly of its AT-field. The Angel and Eva collided
together, as the Eva seemed to be trying to pull apart two stuck doors,
energy discharging as the two AT-fields met and collided.
"The Eva's AT-Field is neutralizing the Angel's phase space!"
exclaimed Maya.
"Amazing," muttered Ritsuko, commenting on both Shinji's fighting
skills and the fact that his syncro rate was steadily climbing as the
battle increased.
The Angel's AT-field suddenly disintegrated as Eva-01 penetrated
it. For the first time in a while, Micah spoke. "All right you
bastard," he growled. "Time to die." Eva-01 drew its fist back and
then rammed it home, penetrating flesh as it dug deeper. Micah
withdrawing the fist, a bluish liquid spraying from the wound. The
Angel screamed in pain, receiving a tight, wolfish grin from Micah.
Eva's arms lanced out, and firmly grasped the Angel's shoulders.
Gripping tightly, Micah heard a sickening *snap*-ing of what passed for
cartilage and bone in the Angel as he twisted the shoulder, inflicting
major damage to the Angel's bone structure. Releasing the shoulders,
Micah drew Eva's fist back and smashed it into the Angel's chest,
sending it flying through the air and crashing into the ground. The
Evangelion crouched to the points its knees were touching the ground,
and jumped, flew through the air, turned a complete somersault, and
smashed it's foot directly on the red orb in the Angel's chest. A
scream of pain and outrage came from the Angel, and with sickening
unease, Micah whatched the Angel suddenly became a black liquid,
wrapping itself around the Eva, and then exploded.
A cheer erupted from the Control Room as the Evangelion unit
emerged from the explosion. Although it was slightly damaged, and some
of the armor would have to be replaced, the Eva unit was fine, as was
the pilot inside.
Inside the Eva's entry plug, Micah felt pretty damn good. *That
wasn't so bad, all considering,* he thought. *I've been through worse.
*Much* worse.* Then Micah noticed the Eva's reflection in one of the
buildings next to him. Turning, he noticed that the Entry Plug's
perspective must have been from the head of the Eva, due to the fact
that he was now looking at the Eva's 'face' stare back at him. Studying
it, he watched in fascination as a real, honest to goodness eyeball
emerged and looked straight at him. Eyes widening, he got the distinct
feeling that he was looking back at himself.
He blinked.
And then, much to his annoyance, fell back into the seat,
unconscious.
As Misato shouted orders in the Control Room for a recovery team
to retrieve the pilot, Ritsuko's eyes widened in awe and a little fear
as the Syncro ratings suddenly peaked at 86%.
In the back of the Control Room, Gendou smiled.
Most definitely *not* a good sign.
Micah did not come back to the land of the living all at once.
Instead, he did so very, very slowly. At first his mind became
aware of the soft beeps and such from medical equipment, and the
antiseptic smell from anti-biotics that permeated the air.
When logical thought kicked in, he realized he was in a hospital.
He continued to listen, reaching out with his senses, and realized
he wasn't alone. Two other women, and from there voices, he recognized
to be Ritsuko and Misato, were in the room with him. He didn't dare try
to move, for fear of what state his body might be in. With limited
options, Micah tried the most logical course of action.
He opened his eyes.
That was a mistake, that one.
A sharp, agonizing glare pierced his retina, and Micah immediately
shut his eyes again. Squinting, he reduced the glare from agonizing to
only slightly painful.
"He's awake," said a voice that he identified as Ritsuko.
"Brilliant deduction Doctor," replied Micah, annoyed at the raspy
state his voice was in.
"Here," she replied, as Misato helped him sit up. "drink this."
She pressed something into his hand that he recognized as a glass of
some liquid or other. Over coming the first initial wave of nausea, he
drank the liquid in five large gulp. Once it was completely down, Micah
noted that he felt a lot better. Sitting up on his own, Micah was also
pleased that he could now make out Misato and Ritsuko.
"Argh," he commented as he slowly rubbed his eyes and brow. "What
the heck happened?"
"Neural feedback," said Ritsuko. To Micah's slightly sarcastic
look, she continued. "We weren't exactly prepared for how deeply you
were able to synchronize with Eva-01, and when you looked at yourself
through one of Eva's Sensor nodes, the reaction sent up a neural
feedback. We've done a complete scan, there's no permanent harm done."
*Sensor node,* thought Micah. *Interesting name for a eyeball.*
"Except for the large headache." Ritsuko nodded. "So I'm free to go?"
"Yes," She replied.
"Good," replied Micah, as if Ritsuko didn't have much say in it
otherwise. Getting up and walking over to were his cloths lay, he put
on the Dark Green shirt and dark-gray pants, ignoring Misato and
Ritsuko's presence. His brow furrowed in though, Micah suddenly had a
idea.
He glanced over at Misato, buckling his belt and shrugging on his
backpack, and asked, "This place wouldn't happen to have a gym, would
it?"
Micah stood in the middle of a empty training room, Denn'bok fully
extended, as he went through the moves that his Minbari teachers. His
mind was calm, centered, as he recounted the events of the previous
days, letting the tension flow from him as he carefully and preciously
went through the moves.
An hour later, the muscles in Micah's new body aching pleasantly,
Micah put the Pike away as he continued to think.
During the mock fighting he had discovered something. Apparently,
the memories that he possessed of the training in both the Ranger's and
Starfleet were false. Yes, the information was *there*, within Micah's
mind, and he was able to recall any memory he choose with simple ease.
But the *experience*, however, was not. Which meant that he would have
to practice quite a bit to become accustomed to the fighting techniques
that he had learned.
That however, could wait. Right now, he needed someplace quiet,
where he could continue thinking and sorting these memories of his.
Then a thought occurred to him.
*Yes, that's perfect. It would allow me to check on her, and I
doubt she would mind the company, either...*
Contrary to popular belief, Rei Ayanami was not bored.
Had she been able to grasp the concept of the term, she would
have, but she had never had the simple pleasures of a hobby or vice that
she could indulge in to relieve boredom. She lay in her private room,
awake, thinking about the encounter she had with the hazel-eyed
individual that had helped her the other day.
It was not something new to her to see in another's eyes a feeling
that she could identify, which was exactly what had happened when she
had looked at the boy who had helped her. But there was something...
else about him that made Rei stop and think. It was something that she
couldn't readily identify, something about his presence that made her
feel a certain way toward him. Not only his presence, but there was
something about him specifically that Rei had noticed. In fact, she was
beginning to feel the slight onslaught of annoyance as she tried to
figure out the enigma.
She was brought up from her musings by the sound of the door being
opened. She looked up and saw the same person that had helped her
yesterday enter, wearing a dark green shirt with dark gray pants, with a
backpack slung over his shoulder. Nodding in greetings, he went over
and looked at the clipboard that was at the foot of her bed. Glancing
up, she heard him speak for the first time.
"Rei Ayanami," he said, by way of greetings. "Shinji Ikari, the
Third Child."
"Hello," she replied, slightly interested. So this was Professor
Ikari's son.
He nodded again in return, then went over to one of the chairs
that was by the window to her room, and he sat down, letting the
backpack slide down on the floor. She watched with slight curiosity he
he seemed to gaze out at Tokoyo-3, but instead of looking out at the
skyline, his eyes stared blankly, lost in thought. She watched him
intently as a display of emotions that she couldn't identify played
across his face. After nearly thirty minutes of him doing nothing more
than staring out into space, a small, exasperated sigh escaped from his
lips, and then he reached into his backpack, pulled out a book, and
started reading.
Rei continued to study Shinji. His actions were odd... but not
unpleasant. Most people who met her had the tendency to trust back
silence like it was a monster to be kept at bay. Instead, he seemed
quite comfortable by their lack of conversation. To Rei, it felt oddly
comforting.
Shinji continued to read for another thirty minutes before Rei
over came her hesitancy and tentatively asked, "Why are you here?"
Shinji glanced up from from his book. "Am I bothering you?" he
asked. Rei shook her head. "Well, I needed a quite place to sit and
think, and I didn't think that you would mind the company. I also
wanted to check to see if you were all right." Shinji looked at Rei,
his hazel eyes meeting her red once again, and she felt that same
sensation pass over her. "Are you?"
Rei paused, slightly startled by the genuine concern that showed
in his voice. No one else had ever asked her that using that caring
tone of voice. Even Professor Ikari never spoke to her quite that way.
It felt... nice. "Yes. Yes, I am." She then paused, and then
hesitantly added, "Thank you."
Shinji smiled, a smile that seem to light up his face. "You're
welcome." He then returned to reading his book. He didn't mean it as a
snub, and Rei didn't take it as such. Already they had formed that much
of a link.
Rei's face had the slight trace of a smile as she laid back in her
bed to sleep.
Misato Katsuragi looked sourly at the information displayed on the
screen in her office. Letting a small sigh of exasperation escape her
lips, she picked up the desk phone, punched in the 8 digits, and waited
for the phone to ring on the other end. "Akagi," came the voice on the
other phone.
"Ritsuko, why do you have Shinji sleeping in one of the apartments
in C-block," asked Misato. C block was about as remote as you could
get.
"Misato, you saw how he acted toward his father. I seriously
doubt that Professor Ikari would want his son living with him, and I
have a feeling it's reciprocal," replied Ritsuko. Personally, she was
both appalled and impressed with Shinji. Appalled, because he treated
his father that way, and impressed because he had the guts to do so.
Misato no intentions of saying what she said next, but apparently
her subconscious had other plans. "I'll take care of him."
A pause. "What?" replied Ritsuko.
"I said, I'll take care of him. Come on, I have this huge
apartment with two spare rooms that I doubt I'm ever gonna fill.
Besides, its not like I'm gonna have a affair with the child."
"Of course not!!" replied Ritsuko, almost yelling. "How can you
even joke about something like that! That's just like you Misato!"
Misato held the phone at arms length away from her ear and
sighed. Ritsuko could *never* take a joke.
Consciousness overtook Rei as she slowly awoke from her nap. The
lights in her room where of and the windows closed, and she could see
Shinji reading by a small book lamp. The book he was reading was the
same, but he had gotten a good portion of the book read during the time
she had been asleep. In a moment of curiosity, she asked, "What are you
reading?"
Micah looked up from his book. "Its a book called 'The Hobbit',
written by one J.R.R. Tolkien."
A momentary frown crossed Rei's face, and she asked, "What's it
about?"
"Oh, its this story of a hobbit that goes of on a adventure with
13 dwarves and a wizard." To Rei's blank look he replied, "You don't
know what a hobbit or dwarves or wizards are, do you?" She shook her
head.
Micah got up, and crossing the floor between him and Rei, handed
the book to her. "Here. Its pretty self explanatory. If you have any
questions just ask me."
Somewhat surprised by the offer, Rei merely took the book and
looked at the cover. It showed what looked like a door in a small hill,
underneath the title "The Hobbit." She opened the book to the first
page and began reading. "In a hole in the ground there lived a
hobbit..."
Smiling, Micah watched with fascination as Rei began to read
perhaps one of the greatest fantasy works of all time. Leaning back
into his seat, he reached into the backpack and pulled out another book,
this one with a incredibly detailed orange-brown cover and titled
"Myst: The book of Atrus", and began reading once more.
Nearly an hour after Rei had started to read "The Hobbit", she was
interrupted. She glanced up to the sound of the door opening to be
greeted to the sight of Misato Katsuragi opening the door, sticking her
head in, and swing it from side to side, as if searching for something.
"Hello Rei," she said, her voice indicating that she was
preoccupied with something, then left.
Rei glanced over to were Shinji was reading, where he continued,
apparently too into the book that he was reading to notice Misato's
arrival and departure. Shrugging mentally, Rei returned to reading her
book, which was becoming quite interesting.
Ten minutes later Misato entered the room again, this time
entering it fully, still glancing around as if searching for something.
"Rei, have you seen Shinji?" asked Misato.
Shinji, looking up from his book, noticed Misato. "Hi Misato," he
said.
Rei had never seen anyone jump so suddenly before. Misato whirled
around, startled at Shinji's sudden appearance. She would have sworn he
wasn't there when she looked. "How long have you been there?" she
asked.
Looking of into space, Micah mentally tallied up the hours on his
fingers. "Oh, around three, four hours," he replied. "Why?"
Misato blinked. He had been here all this time? "Well, I hate to
disturb you both, but it's time for you to go."
Micah mouthed a silent "Ah" as he put the book in his backpack,
mentally marking the page. When he walked by the bed, Rei tried to hand
him back his book. He merely smiled and handed back to her.
"Keep it," he said. "Until your finished with it. I can come by
tomorrow, too, if you want some company while you recover."
Taken aback by the offer, Rei merely nodded. "Yes," she replied,
and Micah smiled again. Waving goodbye, he and Misato walked out of the
room.
When Misato and Micah where outside of Rei's room, her curiosity
got the better of her. "What where you and Rei talking about?"
"Nothing, actually," he replied. "We were reading."
"Reading?"
"Reading," Micah repeated, but then his curiosity got the better
of *him*. "Why, may I ask, did you react that way when I said 'hi'?"
Misato hesitated. "Well, ah, the reason is that I didn't see
you."
Micah blinked. "Kinda hard to do that, isn't it?"
"Yea," she replied. "Which was why you surprised me that much."
*Not to mention I didn't see you the *first* time I came in there
either.*
Micah's mind was spinning as he considered what Misato just said.
Thinking back to where he had been sitting, he concluded that it was
impossible for her *not* to see him. It was impossible. Unless...
Thinking back to when he had been reading, he recalled not wanting
to disturb Rei while she had been sleeping.
Could it be possible that he had actually made himself disappear?
No, that's foolish. But what if he had made it *appear* as if he
wasn't there?
He was going to have to find out exactly what he *could* do, and
fast. If his powers, although what *kind* of powers they were he had no
friggin idea, accidentally got out of hand...
"So?" asked Misato after they had walked a ways in silence.
Startled from his train of thought, Micah looked up. "So what?"
"So, are you going to stay here?" she elaborated.
Micah considered it. In all truth there really wasn't that much
of a choice. This place was as good a place as any where he could
practice these new abilities of his. Although, keeping them a secret
from everyone concerned would be a trick. Plus, there was Rei...
"I'll stay," he said, sealing it with a small smile.
Misato brightened. "Great! We really do need you here, you
know."
Micah merely continued to smile and nodded.
"So, are you hungry?" asked Misato.
Micah considered it. "Yes, actually."
"Well, lets get something! We're gonna have a party!" exclaimed
Misato.
"What for?" asked Micah curiously.
"For my new roommate, of course." Micah must have looked slightly
confused by now, because she continued, "You mean no one's told you?"
"Told me what?" he replied. "I spent around an hour in the gym
this place has, and then the rest visiting with Rei. Its been quite
peaceful."
"Well, what everyone had neglected to tell you is that you're my
new roommate," she said, smiling. "So, of course, we're gonna have a
party. But first, we're gonna have to visit someplace first."
"Visit were?" asked Micah, still wondering on wether this would be
good or not. But, how exactly was he supposed to refuse? Especially to
Misato?
"You'll see."
Micah and Misato stood in a open clearing poised on a cliff, at a
high enough elevation point to where he could comfortably see all of
Tokyo-3 at one time.
"I sometimes come up here, to think," said Misato.
"Yes," he agreed, "it is peaceful up here." Glancing around, he
mentally noted that it was remote to, except for the road that lead up
here. He could see the appeal of coming up here to be alone.
"Won't be long now," said Misato. Micah idly wondered exactly
what they were waiting for, but luckily he was a very patient person.
Suddenly he could hear the call of klaxons emitted from the city
below him, and as he watched, the building began to extend toward the
sky. His mind made a silent connection; the hanging building he had
seen in the Geo-Front were in fact the city's taller buildings,
retracted below ground for safety's sake.
"Nice," he softly commented as the buildings finished rising,
they're spires pointing proudly toward the sky.
"This place is a fortress," said Misato softly, "Designed to
protect it's inhabitants from the Angel's. And," she laid a hand gently
on Micah's shoulder, "It's the city you saved yesterday."
Gazing out at the city, a slight smile played across Micah's face.
Yes.
He could learn to like it here.
From the smells that Micah was getting from the take-out bag, the
deli that Misato had visited *had* to be good. Any other way would be
totally inconceivable.
Holding two bags, Micah waited as Misato maneuvered to unlock the
apartment. Flipping on the light, Misato made a wide sweeping gesture
to the apartment.
"Here we are!" she exclaimed. She head toward the bedroom to
change, while Micah took in the apartment, making his way to the
kitchen.
All in all, it wasn't that bad a place. While there were a large
number of both empty and full boxes lying around, giving a feel of
cluttered-ness to the apartment, Micah wasn't concerned. She had just
moved in, and besides, anyplace that he lived in tended to be
cluttered. In fact, it felt somewhat comforting.
Maneuvering past boxes, he walked into the small, yet efficient
kitchen. Glancing around, he noted that a good portion of the
counter-top space was taken up with beer cans. Setting down the food,
he looked around. Opening the refrigerator, he realized, with a wry
smile, that a *very* good portion of it was devoted to beer. He rolled
his eyes heavenward. Having tasted beer when he had been in his
original body and universe, he would never understand the reason people
liked the stuff. There were so many other alcoholic beverages out
there, too, that were a lot better. He also noticed, due to the
take-out and microwavable refuse in the trash can, that Misato either
didn't cook, couldn't or never had the time. He guessed it was a
combination of all three. He mentally began to make plans to put the
kitchen to its proper use.
"Hey Misato, what's this other fridge in here for?" he asked when
he noticed a separate and smaller fridge also in the kitchen.
"Oh, don't worry about that," she replied, busy changing into
something more fitting to be running around at home in than her
uniform. "He's probably still sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Micah softly wondered. "She has something sleeping in
a fridge. Why *doesn't* that surprise me?" Putting it in the back of
his mind, he began to set the food out on the table.
Misato emerged from the hallway, dressed in a pair of cutoff jeans
and a tank top. "Ready to dig in?"
"Of course," replied Micah. "I take it that you'll want beer to
drink?"
"How'd you guess?" replied Misato. Micah passed her a beer while
he got a glass of water to drink, which wasn't all that unusual for
Micah, to tell the truth. Micah watched, entranced, as Misato downed
the beer in a few massive gulps, letting out a "WAAAAAAAAAA!
YYYYYEAAAHHH!", which caused Micah to smile.
"You do that all the time?" he asked, amused by her behavior.
"Of course!" replied Misato. "Only way to drink beer."
Micah merely gave a "Whatever" shrug as he began to eat.
"Isn't this nice?" asked Misato after a while. "Two for dinner
instead of eating all alone?"
Micah nodded. "True. I haven't done this..." he trailed off,
and, just for a minute, he looked infinitely sad. He couldn't recall
ever doing this before, actually. Most of the time his family ate
whenever, at there leisure, it was very rare when he actually ate with
someone else. Thinking of his family made Micah think of his friends.
He didn't have that many, to tell the truth. And two that he did have
he didn't get to see that much. A thought occurred to him.
*I may never get home.*
The thought made Micah blink. In all the excitement, it never had
occurred to him. In that moment, he realized he might never get home,
that he would never see his family, or his friends, ever again...
"Well!" said Misato, forcing cheer into her voice. "Why don't you
have a bath and wash all those bad thoughts away? Bathing cleanses both
body and soul," she finished with an air of someone who knows.
"Right," replied Micah. He was suddenly aware that he felt
incredibly tired. "If you don't mind, do you have a extra towel I can
use?"
"Sure, they're under the sink," replied Misato.
"Thanks," said Micah, heading off to the bathroom. Closing the
door behind him, he stripped naked, and took a good look at this new
face that was now his own.
It was weird, to say the least. Every time he looked in the
mirror, he expected to see a 16-year old blond-haired teenager with a
large amount of mix ancestry wearing a roguish grin on his face.
Instead, he saw a 14-year old dark-brown haired Japanese teenager
wearing a roguish smile. Micah realized that, when his body smiled, he
looked very, very cute. Charming was another word he would use. Trying
out facial poses, Micah came to the conclusion that Shinji could have
been a very interesting person. Another idle thought was that Shinji
could have made a very wide range of friends, and a number of them among
the female variety too. Although, what he remembered of Shinji's
personality from what was left of the subject in his memory (apparently
he had lost a good deal of information due to The Heart of The Storm)
that Shinji was rather... timid. Shy. Micah sighed. He could
certainly sympathize with that. Although, considering his lot in life
Fate had given him, Micah could hardly blame him. It was rather similar
to his own life, in a ways. And his life had been rather miserable,
what portions of it he cared to remember. At least, the first 14 and a
half years of it had been. And most of it, no, nearly *all* of it had
been due to Fate. And other people.
But then he had changed. For the better, he hoped. And he found,
for the first time in his life, friends.
Shinji, on the other hand, never did.
And it was only in that that they were different.
Sighing, Micah slipped off toward the bath itself.
Micah was always one never to be surprised by anything. It took a
very startling thing to get a reaction from him. Which is why when he
pulled the curtain back, and very nearly ran into, of all things, a
penguin carrying a towel, he was merely confused. Cracking the door, he
asked Misato, "Did you know you have a penguin in here?"
Said penguin waddle out the door, walked over to the smaller
fridge--So that's what its for--pulled back the door, and, with a jaunty
wave goodnight, closed it.
"He's your other roommate," explained Misato. "His name is Pen
Pen. He's one of those new hot-spring penguins."
"Ah," said Micah thoughtfully as he closed the door to take a
bath.
Micah, relaxing in the bathtub, his eyes closed, his fingers
steepled on his brow, was thinking. Had he been more rested, he would
have been up to a bit more intense brainstorming session. Instead, he
was merely recounting the past two days events, and searching through
his crystal memory of Starfleet, Ranger and Shaolin training.
To say that his life had gotten interesting would have been a
massive understatement. To say that his life had totally and completely
stopped, shifted into reverse, done a 540, shifted back into drive, and
then smashed the gas pedal into the floor, popped a wheelie or two and
done a couple of flips for good measure would have fit *much* better.
There was all so much now to take in, Micah merely stopped trying
to comprehend and let his mind wander. Although, one of these days he
was going to stop reeling it back in and race after it instead.
Although, he sometimes wondered if he hadn't done it already.
However, each train of thought he conjured up led back to the
people he had met in the past two days.
Q.
Misato.
Ritsuko.
Gendou.
Maya.
And, of course, Rei Ayanami.
*This,* he thought, *is going to be *extremely* interesting.*
Misato, taking her turn after Shinji, was relaxing in the hot
water, talking on her phone.
"I don't know, Ritsuko, I'm just a little scared. I'm way out of
my depth, I don't know anything about kids."
"You took this as part of your responsibilities to NERV," Replied
Ritsuko.
"I know," responded Misato. "Its just that I had though of him as
a assets to keep watch on. I don't think I can do that, after tonight."
"Tonight? Why?" asked Ritsuko, a slight edge to her voice.
If Misato could have thrown something at Ritsuko, she would have.
"Nothing like that! Its just that... he's so different than what I
expected," she replied, her shoulder's slumping. "He's so kind, and
gentle... he's not exactly acting like I would have expected him to
have. Especially after I saw that fight in the Eva."
"Yes," agreed Ritsuko. She had been looking over the battle
reports herself. The scary thing was that Eva Unit 01 had gone
berserk. There was no other way to put it. The fact that the pilot had
been in full control of the Eva only made it even more scarier.
"Well," said Misato's old roommate. "If he gives you trouble, you
could always throw him out."
Misato glared at the phone in her hand. "You're a big help," she
replied as she slammed the phone down.
Soaking in the hot water, she though of when Shinji had smiled at
her with that warm smile of his when they had watched Tokyo-3 rise from
the ground.
*Maybe,* she thought, *this won't be as bad as I thought.*
Micah, toweled off and wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, was
too tired to search through any of the boxes that had 'his' name on
them. Instead, he merely walked to his room, and made sure his head was
aimed for the pillow. As he fell to the bed, one last thought occurred
to Micah as he hit the pillow.
*They think I'm a tool.*
Well then.
They were just going to have to learn, the hard, and painful way,
that Micah Dane Potasnik was no one's tool.
Misato walked toward Shinji's room, intent on congratulating him
on winning the fight with the angel. Receiving no response, she
carefully opened the door and peeked inside. There, lying prone on the
bed, was Shinji, asleep. Turning to go, she stopped herself as she
looked back at Shinji to make sure. There, on his face, seemingly
permanently affixed, was a small, pleasant smile.
And for the first time in a long time in her fight with the
Angel's, Misato found herself feeling happy.
In Central Dogma's infirmary, Rei Ayanami was having her finial
visitor for the night.
She looked up from her reading as Professor Ikari entered the
room.
"Hello, Rei."
"Hello Professor," replied Rei, with something approaching
cheerfulness in her voice.
"How are you recovering?"
"Very well Professor. I should be able to return to work sooner
than expected."
Ikari nodded. "Good, good." He noticed the book lying in her
lap. "Rei, where did you get that?"
"Shinji gave it to me to borrow," she replied.
"Shinji was here?" asked Gendou, intrigued. Rei nodded. "For how
long?"
"Most of the afternoon," replied Rei.
His brows furrowed in thought, he continued. "What was he doing
here?"
"Reading."
"Reading? Odd," Gendou stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully.
His son was somewhat of a enigma to him. His action's the other
day made it even more so. He was not put off by the impersonal way
Shinji had acted toward Gendou, in truth he was pleased. Before Shinji
had collapsed, he seemed extremely strong-willed. In fact, right now
Shinji could be a very useful ally, regardless of the fact he had
mysteriously collapsed before accepting to pilot the Eva, or a very
dangerous enemy.
Gendou didn't know on wether or not to be extremely worried or
extremely pleased.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Rei.
"Hmm? No, nothing." He paused. "Tell me Rei, what did you think
of Shinji?"
Rei seemed somewhat taken aback by his question. Pausing for a
few moments, she finally anserwed. "I guess I like him." She added
almost tentatively, "Is that wrong?"
"No," responded Gendou, not really noticing the tone of Rei's
voice. "I guess its time for you to have friends your own age." Had
Gendou been paying attention to Rei, he would have noted a extremely
slight undercurrent of relief to her actions. It was slight, but it was
there. "It's time for your sleep if you are to recover." Marking her
page obediently, which Gendou noted was rather far in the back of the
book, he walked toward the door and turned off the lights.
"Good night, Rei."
"Good night, Professor Ikari."
Rei remained awake for several minutes after Gendou closed the
door, contemplating the silence of the room, her mind wandering yet
again to that unusual feeling she had felt when she had been near
Shinji.
Her eyes closing, Rei slipped silently away to the land of wonder
and terror that only the human mind could have conceived.
And she slept.
And Dreamed.
***************
//Artist:Savage Garden CD:Savage Garden Track: "To the Moon &
Back"//
--
- Micah D. Potasnik
aka Cyclone potas@i-55.com
Home page at:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/9409/