“Where IS that idiot?” Asuka grumbled aloud, swinging her book bag angrily as she stalked out of the school. “Where could that spineless Dummkopf have gone?” She groused.
The day was not going well for Asuka. It wasn’t exactly BAD as of yet. Just.. . . Very odd. Right from the very beginning that morning . . .
**************
Asuka had always been a light sleeper. It hardly took more than a whisper to wake her up during the night. So she was used to being awoken whenever Misato had to make a midnight pit stop in the bathroom, or when that idiot Shinji got up to start making breakfast. Usually she had no problem dosing off again after having her sleep interrupted. Anyway, after living in the apartment for so long, the usually daily patterns of her roommates were drilled into her hind brain.
This morning however, things seemed a bit off schedule.
Asuka woke up as soon as she heard Shinji moving in his room. The thin rice paper doors didn’t do much to block the sounds. She grumbled a bit at the interruption of her sleep, and glanced at the clock near her bed.
~~Shinji’s up early this morning.~~ She could hear Shinji grumbling and getting to his feet in his room. He seemed to be talking to himself, and none too quietly either.
“God hates me.” She heard Shinji sigh.
~~If that Dummkopf doesn’t shut up, he can add me to that list next to God!~~ Asuka thought to herself viciously, tugging her covers over her head and letting sleep pull her back under.
As she drifted back into the land of dreams however, part of her mind mulled over Shinji’s comment. Sure he was whiny. And lazy. And incompetent. And completely spineless. But somehow his words seemed a bit out of place. Not something she’d expect the Third Child to say.
Shrugging mentally, the redhead rolled over and returned to sleep.
********
Asuka seethed as she recalled the rest of the morning. When she woke up fully a few hours later, the apartment was still a mess, Shinji was nowhere to be found, and BREAKFAST HAD NOT BEEN MADE!
“Dummkopf!” Asuka growled, kicking at a stone on the sidewalk.
Asuka didn’t use an alarm clock. She was used to the sound and smell of Shinji making breakfast waking her up in the morning. Or (thankfully) rarely, the sound and smells of Misato ATTEMPTING to make breakfast. Without him around, she had slept late, and had to rush off to school. Without breakfast.
That was actually a mixed blessing of sorts. Rushing out the door for school meant she avoided Misato’s efforts at a balanced breakfast. But it also meant she was hungry. AND late to class.
“Argh! Stupid Shinji! This is all his fault! I’ve waited long enough!” Asuka stomped her foot and grumbled, walking away from the school, a scowl on her face.
~~Damn that Shinji! First he makes me hungry and late for school, and then he doesn’t even show up himself!~~ A small part of her pointed out just how ODD it was for SHINJI of all people to skip class. She squashed it mercilessly. ~~And I bet the magical Third Child won’t even get in trouble for it either!~~ She seethed.
Misato HAD been upset about Shinji’s early departure. Well, actually, she was split between being upset he left without saying anything and somewhat impressed that he HAD left without saying anything. When Asuka departed she was still waffling between deciding how to punish him, sighing over the fact that he was growing up like a normal rebellious teen, and pondering what sort of trouble he might be getting himself into that he was sneaking around. Asuka had tried to tune most of it out.
Asuka’s feet carried her away from the school, towards NERV HQ. Her classmates were wise enough to give her a wide berth as the building emptied. Her mood could not have been clearer if storm clouds were gathered over her head.
*****
Three hours later Asuka stomped through the halls of NERV, and her mood had improved not one bit. She, Shinji, and Rei had had another synchronization test that afternoon. Wonder girl had shown up, but once again Shinji was nowhere to be seen! Ritsuko hadn’t know where he was either. She’d been quite annoyed at Shinji’s absence. She had called Misato, but the Operations Director hadn’t known where the Third Child had disappeared to either. Both had seemed a bit concerned, but not enough to call for a search.
~~Stupid Shinji! Thinks he’s too good to show up for tests like the rest of us, huh? Wait until I... HEY!~~ Asuka stopped in mid stride as she saw a familiar white shirted boy turn a corner in front of her.
“SHINJI!” She called out, but the other pilot didn’t even slow down, and she hurried around the corner angrily. “Hey! Third Child! I’m talking to you!” She growled. But Shinji didn’t even turn his head. He just continued walking sedately down the hallway, a drink in his hand, sucking on the straw.
“Damn. My timing must be off.” Shinji muttered to himself, glancing at his watch. “I guess I shouldn’t have stopped to get a shake. Oh well.” He shrugged and put the straw back in his mouth when Asuka finally caught up to him, grabbing his shoulder.
“Shinji! How dare you ignore me!” She growled. Flames were practically dancing in her eyes. “Why did you skip classes this afternoon? And our synch tests!” She demanded.
Shinji shrugged. His bored, unconcerned attitude just served to infuriate Asuka more. “I had better things to do. It’s the same thing every time anyway.”
“It’s ALWAYS the same thing at school! That doesn’t mean you can just skip it you idiot!” she yelled. But Shinji was already turning away from her in disinterest. “HEY! Turn around and face me when I’m talking to you!”
“Whatever. Why don’t you go play with some toys or something Doll Girl.” Shinji replied, his voice completely disinterested as he waved his hand negligently back at her, dismissing her.
It was Shinji’s attitude as much as his comments that caused he to take a step back in shock. For a moment she was speechless and off balance. What could possibly have possessed the other pilot? But her confusion was quickly replaced with the more familiar feeling of anger, and she balled her hands into fists, practically quivering in rage.
“WHAT did you call me...?” She began to demand, but her comments were interrupted as klaxons began to wail across the base.
“Angel detected inside defensive perimeter! All pilots report to your Evas! This is not a drill!”
“Oh. Wow. Look at that. An Angel attack. Who would have expected that?” Shinji asked in a bored voice.
“We’ll finish this discussion LATER third child!” Asuka growled, grabbing Shinji’s collar. “For NOW let’s get to our Evas so I can show you how a REAL pilot fights.” She growled, practically dragging Ikari along.
“Oh. Joy.” Shinji replied listlessly, allowing himself to be tugged along, still sipping his shake.
**********
Fifteen Minutes Later The Outskirts of Tokyo 3
“We still won’t know how this Angel slipped in so close before being detected, so be careful out there! Engage at long range until we know what it can do.” Misato ordered over the comm.
“Ha! No worries Misato! Asuka Langley Soryu has everything under control.” She smirked, then glared at the second face on her comm. screen. “Just keep Shinji out of my way while I show him how it’s done.”
“Whatever.” Shinji’s face on her console looked... Not depressed exactly. Just completely disinterested. No fear, no worry, no excitement. Just boredom and apathy.
“Are.. You okay Shinji?” Misato asked, sounding very concerned.
“Yeah yeah. Fine. Let’s just get this over with. Doll girl can take point. I’ll just do the backup thing.” He struggled to contain a yawn.
“WHAT did you call me?”
“Angel sighted!”
Asuka’s attention was drawn back to the matter at hand. Unit 01 and Unit 02 were at the edge of Tokyo 3. Before them lay a large field of rolling hills and a few trees. One stand of trees in particular was of interest, as it provided the backdrop for the Angel's arrival. Several trees toppled to the ground, pushed over easily as something large and round pressed forward, temporarily silhouetting itself against the sky. Asuka wasted no time engaging the enemy.
“All right!” Asuka replied, bringing her Eva’s rifle up. “Beginning attack!”
*********
"Gott im Himmel!" Eva Unit 2 flipped backwards, doing a one handed handstand, the rifle in it's other hand barking out a short burst before Asuka completed the maneuver and set Unit 2's feet back on the ground. A blunt pseudopod smashed into the ground where she had been standing a few brief seconds ago.
The latest 'messenger of the gods' was a strange cross between a horror movie monster and a textbook drawing of an amoeba. It appeared to be little more than a blob of semi-transparent fluid in a thin skinned bag. It's red core floated near the center, moving around inside the body randomly. A few bits and pieces of debris floated along with it: Pieces of trees, lampposts, cars, bricks. The Angelic blob appeared fairly harmless at first. But it was stretching out blunt psuedopods with surprising speed, trying to smash the attacking Evas.
Well, the attacking Eva, singular. Shinji seemed to be taking Asuka's command to leave it to her literally for once.
"Asuka, the Angel is changing its body's density to deflect projectiles! Your rifle won't work!" Misato called out over the radio.
"I noticed!" The red headed pilot barked back grunting as the angel landed a solid blow. She used her rifle to block the strike, but still found herself sailing backwards through the air, shattered weapon in her hands.
"OOPH! Shinji you idiot! How about some backup here!" She growled, struggling to right her Eva as the angel approached.
"Yawwwnnn... I thought you wanted to take care of it yourself." Shinji replied, prefacing his response with a jaw cracking yawn, and making no move to help.
"Shinji! What's gotten into you! This is no time for games! Help Asuka!" Misato ordered.
"Fine, fine. Like it makes any difference. I'll take care of it."
Asuka would have added her own two cents, but she was a bit distracted as the Angel managed to slam her into the ground again, and followed up by rolling over her, trying to crush her Eva and pull the machine into itself.
"Ugh! It's trying to eat through my AT field!" Asuka growled, mostly to herself. Her attention was focused on her enemy, not paying any attention to what Shinji was doing. She focused her will into maintaining her AT field, but she could hear Misato and Ritsuko over the radio.
"Shinji! What on earth are you doing??" "How is he doing that? An AT field shouldn't be able to fold like that!"
~~ I just need to overpower it's AT field!~~ Asuka thought to herself, gritting her teeth viciously as her blood pounded in her ears, drowning out the sound of the radio. With one last surge she threw all her strength into generating her AT field.
Something struck her. Something from Shinji's direction. Something BRIGHT.
And then...
Darkness.
*********
Darkness.
Asuka's eyes shot open, and she sat straight up in bed. Something was wrong. Something had happened. Something had... Why was she in bed? Hadn't there been an angel? And a flash of light? But she was in bed and the clock told her it was FAR too early to be up.
~~A dream?~~ she thought to herself as she laid down on her futon again, eyes closing as sleep quickly reclaimed her. The last thing she heard was a mutter from Shinji's room...
"Life sucks..." Came the sigh from the third child. Something about his words seemed strange, but Asuka was already half asleep again.
The last thought to pass through her mind was ~~You got that right.~~ before sleep overcame her.
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(Posted Sun, 23 Sep 2012 03:59)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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