Evangelion Ressurection: Hell on Earth

The place Asuka had called "just the place" had turned out to be a small restaraunt that specialized in European cuisine, more specifically German food. As soon as the pair had entered a burly man had scooped the diminutive Asuka up, and called out in a rather jovial tone, "Guten tag Frauline Sohryu!" Asuka looked to Shinji as if asking him to help, and the man noticed Shinji as well. The man looked at Shinji for more than a few heartbeats before calling back into the kitchen, "Eh eh, Wilhelm come here."

"Ja? Hallo Asuka!"

Asuka wasn't sure what was going on, Wilhelm and Jan were the owners that had immigrated from Germany to Japan. Wilhelm had to be amongst the top cooks that Asuka had ever had the pleasure of meeting, but even though he was slight of frame his tongue was normally quite sharp. Normally Jan was the one to greet people out front and act as a waiter in this small cafe, but something was different this time, they were acting out of the norm for them. "Guten Tag Wilhelm, Jan."

"Wer ist das, Asuka?"

"Das ist Shinji."

"Ihre neue Liebe, eh Asuka?"
Asuka looked at Shinji, her cheeks glowing red as the pair proceeded to tease her. Shinji was about as lost as he could be at that moment, he wished he could speak German and understand what was being said that made Asuka blush so badly.
"Nein Jan.."

"Betrachten Sie sie erröten, Jan!"

"Jawohl Wilhelm!"

The pair of Germans broke into raucous laughter before Jan led the pair off to a table in the utterly deserted place. After seating themselves Shinji looked at the menu, but couldn't help watch Asuka squirm under the gaze of the two underhanded Germans that had ambushed her like that. Slowly he put the menu down, and cleared his throat as if expecting Asuka to understand. When she proceeded to ignore him and look at the menu Shinji leaned forward and asked his question, "So what exactly was that about?"

Asuka's cheeks flushed red again and she placed the menu in front of her face, hiding the cherry color before she called to the pair, "Schauen Sie, was Sie begannen." It was met with another bout of laughter from the pair, and Asuka gave up on them and looked to Shinji, "They... they asked if you were my new love."

In the middle of taking a drink of the water set on the table, it took all of Shinji's willpower to keep from sending a shower of water spitting through the air towards Asuka. Instead he swallowed the water with visible problems before he looked at the pair, "I do know Nein is no.. so I'm guessing you told them I wasn't. What was said after that?"

Asuka set down the menu and looked at Shinji with something that bordered on fascination and irritation. After drumming her fingers for a moment, "Did we come here to eat, or to talk about what some nosey Germans are gossiping about?"

"Actually I would kind of like to do both?"

"Mein Gott in himmel, Shinji. Fine, Wilhelm responded by saying, look how she's blushing, and Jan agreed. And when you asked me about it, I yelled to them, look what you started. There, fine? Now I'm hungry, let's eat."

"I would, but I have no clue what anything on this menu is, it's written almost completely in German, there's little to no kanji.."

Asuka suddenly thought back several years to the time that she had to explain thermal expansion to Shinji, just before Sandalphon. About when he had asked her if she had graduated college, then how was it that she had failed the tests. "Now you know how I felt about the tests the teachers gave in high school. Let me order for you, I think I can come up with something you'll eat."

Shinji swallowed another drink of water, he had serious reservations about this, but he finally nodded his agreement. He had no choice but to leave this to Asuka. And that demonic grin that she had plastered across her face wasn't helping his feelings of uneasiness in the least.

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The sun had dipped below the horizon several hours before, but it had been a relatively quiet day in Tokyo-3. Shinji came walking back into the apartment at nearly thiry minutes past nine that evening, and had dropped himself onto the couch. He could hear Misato's snores in the other room, and within moments he'd fallen asleep, not a fit and restful sleep.

All around him the darkness was torpid, save for the faint pulsing rythym in the distance. Every moment the pulsing sounded again, lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub. -I feel so warm here.- The type of warmth wasn't like from coiling up near a fire on a chill night, nor was it the sort of warmth that came from curling up alongside a loved one. This warmth was best explained as a feeling that starts in the center of your body and works its way outward until it consumes all the limbs in the warmth.

The darkness remained, and Shinji brought his arms wrapping around his stomach, he wasn't afraid, but a preternatural chill came upon him. That feeling of warmth he had was gone, like a thunderstroke the cold had spread through him. A gale force wind picked up, it sounded like the breathing of some unearthly giant, and Shinji fought his way through the darkness. The pulse distant pulse became faster, every pulse was also followed now by a small tremor through the ground, lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub.

As if someone had ripped away a curtain, two points of light opened before him, twin holes ripped in this black fabric of darkness. Each hole was as large as he was, and he couldn't help but look out of into the light which contradicted the darkness so. His breath caught as he saw Asuka standing there, oblivious to Shinji watching her from behind. Once and then again Shinji tried to pass through each rip in turn, but something prevented him from doing so. That chill that had spread to his limbs increased tenfold, no longer did he feel just cold but to stand still meant that his body burned as if on fire though it was so cold.

Shinji watched, horrified as another form showed itself into that perfect world of light. It was a being of meager darkness, almost as if it were a shadow created of nothing. Hazy around the edge, it had no discernable form that Shinji could make out, but it was creeping silently towards Asuka's turned back. The shadowy form moved as though it was gliding over the unseen ground, low to the ground and like a snake ready to strike it reared back. By that time Shinji was pounding on the invisible barrier between the two words, one of light and one of darkness.

Before the assailant struck Asuka, the world went to utter darkness once again. Impenetrable darkness, the rasping wind and the distant pulse became audible again this time far louder LUB-DUB LUB-DUB LUB-DUB. Shinji felt some how disembodied, he had his mind and he could feel limbs attached to his body, but somehow they didn't feel right. Once again the twin points of light opened, and Shinji was looking through them as though they were his eyes. No longer was there a perfect world of light to behold upon the other side, the world was tainted with a red sheen to it.

Shinji's mind forced those disembodied hands in front of his eyes, and for the first time he felt as if he were clutching something in both cupped hands. When he looked at those hands, he realized they weren't his own, they were covered in purple splashed with blood and from inside there seemed to leak the source that had tainted this world red.

A moment later Shinji sat upright on the couch, panting after a scream had been ripped from his lungs. Misato's snores continued uninterrupted in the next room, and Shinji gripped at the front of the black t-shirt he'd fallen asleep in. Gasping at the air Shinji realized it was only 6:12 am, and he leaned forward pulling an ashtray towards him that Misato had left out. After such a sight in his dream, Shinji lit a cigarette and sat there trying to remove the image of what had been in those dream hands.

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Ten minutes after Shinji had woken up in a panic, Misato came shuffling out of her room and saw Shinji leaning forward on the couch a cigarette which had burned almost all the way through sat between his fingers. The cigarette didn't seem to have been touched, and Shinji had a glazed and distant look in his eye. Misato walked over silently, and put a hand on Shinji's shoulder which caused him to jump with a gasp before he looked over his shoulder at Misato.

"What's wrong Shinji?"

"No..nothing, just a dream that's all."

"Well, if you want to talk about it give me a chance to get a shower."

"I'm fine Misato."

Misato shuffled into the kitchen, and pulled a golden can from the fridge and downed a few swallows before she let out an exuberant shout, "Now that's better. So where were you at last night Shinji? I got home around seven and you were no where to be found."

"I got in about nine last night.. I was out with Asuka."

Misato suddenly plopped into one of the chairs across the living room her legs crossing in front of her. For the first time Shinji got a look at the can in Misato's hand, he'd expected it to be a Yebisu can, but there was actually the markings of some kind of soda. He was about to point out the fact and ask just what was going on with her when she cut him off from speaking before he'd even started.

"So what were you and Asuka doing last night, huh Shinji?" The meaning of the words was clear and he popped a cigarette betwen his lips, this one he had every intention of smoking. She was trying to bait him into saying anything that might have told her the truth of what happened last night as compared to what he said happened. He didn't look the least bit bothered by the question as he stood up and stretched. There was a method to his avoiding the question, and she spoke up after nearly a half minute of silence, "Alright alright, I get the point. There's nothing going on with you two, so where were you?"

"For the most part we sat in that spot over looking the city, you remembe the place you first brought me when I arrived, don't you?" Misato nodded, "Spent some time up there talking about what we've been up to the last few years. That's all."

As Misato rose to her feet she threw her hands up in a sign of defeat and walked off with an exasperated sigh. Shinji watched her go and shook his head wondering what that was about until Misato popped her head back into the room and managed to scare Shinji more by what was said than by the unexpected happening, "Geez Shinji, you two get some alone time and ALL you do is talk, that's really pathetic Shinji."

Shinji instantly blushed and was on his feet standing on the couch and over the back chasing her towards the bathroom, "Our relationship isn't like that Misato!" She stepped inside and slid the door closed, and couldn't help but laugh at Shinji's reaction. Misato realized she was more like a big sister to Shinji than anything, even motherly affections couldn't explain how she felt, it was certainly maternal instinct, but there was more to it.

Misato slid the door open, and peaked out giving a rather evil little grin right to Shinji's face before she made her accusation, "So you admit there's a relationship!" Before Shinji could respond Misato was in the bathroom with the door closed. Soon the steam was rolling under the doors, and Shinji busied himself with breakfast. He gave an evil little grin, if Misato wanted to play like that, he knew just the way to get back at her. Her idea of a typical Japanese breakfast was rice and miso soup, Shinji remembered that all too well because it was the last time he had eaten Misato's cooking. Just the memory made him slightly nauseous as he began to prepare the same for Misato.

By the time she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, Shinji was waiting to use it next, and slipped inside mumbling as he entered, "Breakfast in the kitchen." Soon he'd slid the door closed and couldn't help but give his own little smile, he could only wonder how much Misato liked her rice with wasabi mixed into it. Soon the shower was running, and he could hear her suddenly yelling about, "hot hot hot."

After Shinji came out a very red faced Misato was standing outside the door glaring at him. Shinji gave an apologetic shrug and a grin, "What's wrong Misato, you look a little... hot under the collar."

"I'm gonna kill you Shinji.."

"Just remember, don't piss off the cook, they might mix in the wrong ingredients and not notice until it's too late, if at all."

The pair shared a good natured laugh and when they had entered the kitchen Shinji pointed to a covered pan on the stove, "There's some normal rice in there, I guarantee no wasabi flavoring." Misato looked at the rice and placed some into a bowl before lowering herself to the table.

She was shovelling the first bite into her mouth when the question came, "Got any plans today Shinji?" He glanced up and shook his head before he slipped on a pair of shoes, "Well in that case take the day off. Kensuke will be out of the infirmary tomorrow, and everyone else has their synch tests. Go ahead and get some rest today Shinji." The comment about the synch tests made her remember something and she flipped a pager across the table to Shinji, "No matter what Shinji, wherever you go take that with you. It's our warning system for you pilots. No need to try to connect with a phone, hit a button and all the pagers flash and buzz."

"Oh, one other thing before I forget Shinji, we've finally opened lines with the military. They have no say over us, but all the same I'd just like to be sure that they're on our side before we go and consider them friends. The liaison's name is Taichi Kaji, Ryouji's twin brother."

Shinji looked up in silence, somehow he felt a tearing inside of him at the mention of Kaji. If it hadn't been for Ryouji, there was no telling where Shinji would be now. The man's words at that time had brought about a change to Shinji, and made him see the use of the Evangelions, even if it was for his father's personal gain. Shinji nodded and clipped the pager to his belt before Misato turned back for a moment, "See you later Shinji."

-All alone again, this is going to be a boring day, but I suppose I could relax and turn this into a movie day or reading day.... the choices of a boring life. More importantly, that dream.. why did I dream I was trapped in the Eva and had killed everyone? When I opened my hands all I saw were the heads of the people I cared about most..."

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In the command center of SOUL Hyuga sat bored out of his mind. Every morning he arrived promptly at 8 am, and sat in the command center for most of the day through. Things rarely ever happened, but when they did things happened big. In this case there was nothing happening, and they were usually allowed to be a little bit lax in their watch. When the boredom reached a point he couldn't stand he kicked back in the chair with a manga magazine and propped it open.

There had barely been enough time to scan through the first picture of a bikini clad well endowed woman before it was snatched away. His eyes followed the magazine and came to rest on the face of Kaji, who stared at the magazine a moment before he looked at Hyuga. Taichi looked perfectly calm, but Hyuga sensed something deeper to that calm than he had anticipated.

"You know Hyuga... things are going to change around here a little bit. Maybe I'm not accustomed to the way things are run around here, but then again you know I don't think that's it." The tone of voice that Taichi used was slow and deliberate, something about it reminded Hyuga of how a cat toyed with a mouse before finally devouring it, "No, that's not it. You two slackers Aoba and yourself must not be accustomed to how I run things. I think that's more like it. Neither of you seems to know what work really is, so I think I'm going to have to keep an extra close eye on the pair of you. Now, if you find there's nothing to do, instead of looking at women you absolutely have no chance with, you ask me what you can do. Do you understand?"

Hyuga nodded, and turned back to his computer console with a sour look on his face. This new Kaji had been on the job less than twenty minutes and had already managed to get under Hyuga's skin. He took a few moments to key up the information on the Evangelion repairs, it seemed that Unit 05 repairs were complete, and Unit 00 needed another eight hours to finish the regeneration cycle on the arm.

However it was Aoba's voice that sounded like a clear bell across the command center as he leaned forward looking at his screen, "I've got a pattern blue here! No wait it just shifted to... red?! What the hell does red mean? No.. it's not red pattern is now green! What the hell?! Would you stop shifting colors and choose one already you bastard, I think it's a new Angel!"

Hyuga looked to Kaji who merely nodded, and things began to go from being an uneventful day to a big day. After a moment a siren in the command center went off as Hyuga called out, "I have the location, three miles north of Kyoto. Direction indicates Tokyo 3 is the target, estimating time until arrival.. eight hours thirty four minutes! Activate the pilot beacons."