I could be wrong, but i can't recall ever seeing this one done before. I
personally probably don't have time to do it, but if it catches anyone's
fancy...

~Eimii

<Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein are are the property of
GAINAX. I'm using them without permission, but i'm not getting payed for
it either, so pleeease don't sue me...>








Her travel bag falling heavily at her side, Katsuragi Misato seated
herself at the foot of the steps outside of the station with a weary sigh.
"I can't believe this!  First I miss my train out here, and then, right
before my last transfer, all of the lines shut down." Leaning back, Misato
regarded the clear blue sky. A small frown crossed her face as she
recalled evacuation warning that had been blaring across the station's PA
system just minutes before. *I wonder what the hell's going on...*

Reaching into her bag, Misato searched around for a few moments before
extracting a crumpled piece of stationary, flattening it out and holding
it up for inspection. It was a pretty simple message, giving and a time
and a place where she was supposed to meet her escort. After noting the
time, Misato stole a glance at the watch on her wrist. A groan escaped her
lips and she hung her head, a pained expression on her face. "Damn, three
hours late already. And the phones in the station aren't working either." 

*Well, I guess there's nothing for it...* With another sigh, Misato got
back to her feet and re-shouldered her bag. She took another look up at
the sky. "At least it's a nice day for a walk..." As she watched the
clouds roll by, a large gray fighter jet streaked across her field of
vision. Shading her eyes with her hands, Misato traced its path across the
sky. "Hmm... that thing was flying pretty low..." 

Suddenly, with a thunderous roar, a missile tore the air less than fifty
feet above her head, raising a cloud of dust in its wake as Misato
clutched her ears to block out the sound. *A- a cruise missile??!*

As she watched, the missile broke left, angling upward to gain altitude as
it turned, spearing towards the hills off in the distance, behind the
station. Or, to be more precise, towards something that was just now
appearing from behind those hills. Misato gaped in astonishment at the
colossal, green, vaguely ape-shaped... thing, that towered before her.
Several white, bone like protrusions, one of which looked vaguely like the
skull of a bird, decorated the forest-green skin of the monstrosity, the
only other hint of color being a giant, blood red sphere that was
positioned below the "bird-skull," in the center of the thing's body. The
cruise missile, as well as several others, approaching from different
directions, quickly converged on the creature, exploding against its body
without any visible effect. 

"W- wha- what the heck is _that_?!" Misato screamed, staring up at the
monster with a completely poleaxed expression on her face. 

A low whirring sound from behind her forced Misato to tear her gaze from
the creature, as she turned to look back. Approaching high and fast,
several hover-jets streaked overhead, all the while showering smaller
missiles upon the giant green ape-thing. None of this seemed have any
effect on it at all, until suddenly it drew one of its spindly,
three-clawed arms back, and then thrust it forward again, in the direction
of one of the jets still hovering over Misato's head. 

A beam of light streaked out from the center of the arm, lancing through
the jet with a bright flash. *Oh _Crap_!!!* With a strangled cry, Misato
scrambled away from the station as the crippled jet fell from the sky,
crashing upon the steps behind her. On impact, the plane exploded, sending
wreckage flying in all directions. Misato was thrown to the ground, where
she sat, desperately holding her arms in front of her face. 

Just as the cloud of shrapnel was almost upon her, the plaintiff screech
of abused tires rang out in Misato's ears, and a shadow fell across her.
Daring to open her eyes again, Misato found a large, black sedan
interposed between her and the flaming wreck of the jet. Misato couldn't
see who was inside of the car, as the windows were tinted, but suddenly
the passenger side door that she was facing popped open, just missing
Misato's legs as it swung out. 

Inside the car, the driver leaned across the seats to look down at her. He
was a young man, probably in his late twenties, wearing a black business
suit with a button-down white shirt and a black tie. A silver and red
tie-pin, bearing a peculiar half-leaf symbol and the letters NERV,
provided the only color that his clothing held. The rest of him, on the
other hand, was slightly more interesting. He had short cut, light brown
hair, and handsome, clean-shaven face with sharp, angular features. A pair
of narrow, oval framed glasses, with tinted lenses, balanced rakishly at
the end of his nose as he cast a harried glance in Misato's direction. 

Taking stock of the trembling young girl before him, the man pushed the
glasses back up on the bridge of his nose and gave her an appologetic
look. "Katsuragi Misato? I'm Major Ikari Shinji of NERV. I'm sorry about
this mess, but I was sent to pick you up. We have no time to waste, so
please get in the car."