Well, it took me a few days extra, but I finally got this month's issue up. First announcement, and of big importance is the

That's right, our 5th Anniversary/6th Halloween Party is this month! It takes place on Halloween night, of course, starting at 7:00, and going as late as people care to stay. Remember, it's preferred if you show up in costume, though not absolutely necessary.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed this month (after all, the more contributions I get, the less likely I am to burn out trying to come up with articles. Because I didn't have to write anything this time, the puzzle section makes a return.

That's it for announcements! Enjoy this month's issue.

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QUALITY FANSUBS

Story by Throkda Jones
Artwork by Hotwire

A Look Back at Fifteen Years of Madness and Adventure

by Scott Frazier

"Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference." -- Frost

When last we left our hero, he got married, spent a little longer than one night in Bangkok, and broke the record for cel-checking. And now, the continuation....

The Dawn of the Anime Information Age

One of my ideas was to computerize Artland’s production system and cut out a lot of the dog work and pain of the production workers jobs. I researched and studied and finally bought a notebook PC and began the long, arduous process of building a production management system. The real problem then was software. The Japanese software that was available was really weak and the price of English software in Japan was really high, sometimes four times the US list (not street) price. In Thailand pirated software was everywhere and unbelievably cheap but real software was almost non-existent. When I would call mail-order companies in the US, they would not ship to me in Thailand and some wouldn’t even ship to Japan. If I did manage to get it shipped to Thailand, Customs would hit me for 100% duty on everything including the price of insurance and shipping, and I still had to wait 2 weeks to get it out. The worst was buying some software, paying a ridiculously high price for it, registering it then being refused upgrades and support for it by the software company. (In my opinion, if a software company isn’t going to support their product—no matter who buys it and where they are—they deserve to get pirated.)

Sometime in here I got online (CompuServe) and re-established long silent links to the outside world. As most everyone with a computer knows, e-mail is a real life-saver. Since then my normal printed/written correspondence has dwindled to New Years cards and I am late even with them.

Teaching

At that time I was also hunted by companies opening studios in Asia who wanted me to trains their staff. I taught inbetweening, keys, cel painting, camera and management in China, Vietnam, Thailand and Korea.

Beijing, 1991

I always enjoy teaching, particularly when I can help out a group of animators (or cel painters) who want to streamline and optimize the way they work. Introducing new people to the animation world is interesting as well but it gets really stressful. I don't have a set course for such things, although I do keep a lot of examples on hand, because every group is different and has different aims and different needs.

Beijing, 1991

The Great Quest

Ishiguro and I had been talking about opening up a studio in SE Asia somewhere for quite some time and we made a few trips through the region, trying to figure out where the best place would be. I really wanted to build in Cambodia, a place I truly love, but it was still too dangerous then. Ishiguro wanted to build in Indonesia most but I didn’t know anybody there and we weren’t investing the kind of money that attracts TV stations and famous graphic artists. We took a tour around the area and, other than finding a really pretty secretary at a hotel in Jakarta and being scared to death after somebody offered to see us drugs in Kuala Lumpur, we didn't decide much of anything. I saw the recession hitting the US and didn't know what would happen in Asia so I wanted to get started as soon as possible. I settled on Thailand because I knew enough people there that I could get a studio going quickly.

A Studio of My Own

After months of chasing around getting everything setup, I opened the door of my own studio, TAO Corporation Limited, on March 9, 1992.

I rented a section of a three part shophouse (kind of like a low-rent condominium) for US $1000 a month, fixed all the doors, put in airconditioners and made it a nice studio. It was in the deep suburbs and reasonably quite at night. We had 4 floors—the background room and storage room on the lowest level, half a floor for the office, the cel painting room (later my office), kitchen and bathroom on the third floor and the animators' room and main storage room on the 4th. We also had a nice flat roof we could wander around on.

The top staff of KAB made a mass exodus to my studio but this was not a major disaster for them as they were closing up anyway. (The staff was not told until the day before they closed though.)

We did inbetweens and cels at TAO but our real strength was backgrounds. I was hot off working with some of the best background talent in Japan and my crew picked everything up very quickly. Within months we were doing actual subcontracting work and response was very favorable. We worked on Genocyber, Diary of Mikan, Moldiver, Swat Kats, Southern Wind, and others.

One of my goals was to produce animation for the Thai market that my staff would design, animate and direct. I felt that there was definitely an interest in it, although the market was rather small and that we could support this endeavor through the money we made from doing the Japanese work.

I was invited to be a Guest of Honor at Anime Expo 93 and I returned to the US, wife in tow, for the first time in three years. Talk about reverse culture shock! I had a whopping good time though. Some of the guests—my friends of course— cancelled out at the last minute so it was rather embarrasing. Nobody was overtly angry about it and they invited me back the next year. I got to judge my first costume contest and all the contestants got to beat me to death on the stage at the end of the group skit.

Thailand was a very interesting place to work and to be an employer. The labor laws were pretty decent but the tax laws were totally insane and changed monthly. The government wavered between totally anal-retentive and total incomprehensibility with a side of irrationality but always wanted their bribes tea money to do anything. Seeing it as corruption is not the right way—you have to see it as putting up the necessary funding to improve performance.

(to be continued....)

Review : Jubei-chan

by Admiral DVD

Title: Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl
Genre: Um....no.
(this review and all following will be Spoiler Free)

This is something I picked up a long time ago, basically a very lucky random choice off the racks at my local Suncoast. My reason for the lack of a genre is that this anime is all over the map. It's magical girl, but it isn't. It's comedy, but not all the time. It's dramatic and touching, but not seriously...and when a company tries to make something this variegated, it usually ends up with viewers saying 'what was THAT?' Not so with Jubei-chan. This is some Good Stuff.

Audio/Visual -- Rating: 9.0
Beautiful. Art here takes so many styles, it sometimes made me think the artists were doing a scene a certain way JUST to say "I can draw this way, too!" However, the art style fits extremely well with the tone of the story. But it is the music of this show that really catches me. The opening sequence of this story is just...cool. Simple, no lyrics, it just oozes cool. All the music in the show is likewise, just being sweet.

Story Continuity -- Rating: 8.5
It's a wonderful story, and if you just watch it you will enjoy it. However, the story can be deeper then is seems at some points. Again, this was a VERY well constructed anime.

Pure Opinion
Whenever I'm feeling down, I throw in Jubei-chan, and within 30 minutes, I'm all happy again. This is the kind of anime that never ceases to please. And it never gets old, either. You can watch it a million times if you like(and I do like) This is, of all series that I own, the most watched anime. As such, I am a little biased, I admit. But the story is beautiful, the villains...well, you can learn for yourself. In fact, do learn for yourself. Go out and buy this right now... What are you still doing here? Go! Buy! To paraphrase a collegue, if you are any kind of Otaku, you have no reason to not like Jubei-chan. You still need more motivation to stop reading and go get this? Fine.

Overall Rating: 10.0 (If that doesn't do it, I can't do anything else more)
(Yes, the overall rating is Pure Opinion, because that's what it is, my opinion.)

My scale of Overalls (Blue AND Green):

1.0 - Pure poopy!

Own this and smites will be coming.

2.0 - Ech...

...and I dont mean in a good ecchi way.

3.0 - Major problems

Still, it has one or two redeeming qualities that make it good to rent.

4.0 - Not bad at all

Some problems, but nothing that can't be looked through to see gold shining through.

5.0 - Average

Flaws bring this down, but you won't be pulling your hair out and screaming like Mimaren after it.

6.0 - Nice

Any flaws are made up in some regards by simple goodness.

7.0 - Nummy

Good stuff here. Flaws are more then made up for, this is anime that delivers.

8.0 - Dang Yummy!

This stuff is the goods. Good to see. Flaws are VERY minor, and easy to not even notice.

9.0 - Essential Collection

This is where the goods start. IMHO, if you havent seen the few and far between Essentials, you ARE NO OTAKU until you do.

10.0- By Kami-Sama, I think it has it!

Masterpieces. NO flaws, a story that will leave you changed for life, these are the few, the proud, the amazing works that transcend being anime for being...indescribably sugoi.

...

...Haven't you gone and gotten it YET??

Haruna was sitting on a floating chair, much had happened since the last time she was seen. Instead of the vicious glare of a cold-hearted murderer in her eyes it was fright and worry. You see her best friend had possessed a young man & demanded to marry her or he'd kill Magus, the man she loves & Tao, her adopted son. Even though Tao often said she was the blondest town-bike he ever knew, Haruna had slept with only four men in her entire existence.

The first man was Parn, a demigod who soon died after impregnating her but she was restarted so to forget Parn and not have his child. The next wasn't by choice but Haruna saved a young boy about 10 or 15 years before from being crushed by a carriage, when Toshiro (the boy) had grown up he found her and drugged Haruna into believing she was married to him, therefore Haruna slept with Toshiro.

The third man is Magus, the man Haruna wants to spend eternity with, being engaged to him and Magus told her you didn't have to be married to make love, so she slept and sleeps with him.

The last man is not a real man at all but Haruna's best friend, L-sama, in the body of a young man by the name of Lon, in a forced marriage to save the ones she loves Haruna married Lon and is made to sleep with him every chance possible, damn leech.

Haruna continued to sit on her chair, she looked different than usual also having been bit by her former affiliate, Robin, an antro wolf vampire wanted for multiple homocides and extreme larceny.

Confessions of a Cel Collector

by Deanna Baran

A flat, cardboard package arrives in the mail, and hubby looks at it suspiciously.

He doesn't need to look at the "DO NOT BEND" sticker. He doesn't need to check to see if the postmark is from Japan, Switzerland, or the US. He doesn't even need to see if the return address is an individual, or something like CELGA or ANIMANGA.COM or HASHI.

He just sort of knows.

"You bought cels again?"

And I have to nod guiltily, before rescuing my newest babies from his clutches, and scurrying off to open the package in private, so I can ogle them happily for a few minutes before wiping the drool off my face and getting back to what I *had* been doing, like making dinner or folding laundry or something. I can scan them in later, of course.

My cel collection isn't even that good, compared to some of the droolworthy galleries out there, although I quite enjoy my cels. The first series I started collecting was Flame of Recca, and unlike some of Studio Pierrot's other works-- say, Fushigi Yuugi comes to mind-- that show doesn't really have the intricate artwork that goes along with a to-die for Miko cel, or quite the same flowing-ness of lines, or even the same vibrant colors. Still, there's something about it that makes my brain say, "Bid! Bid! Bid!" if I see a good one, meaning a character that I like, or a spot from a meaningful scene that I recognize, or even just enjoying the colors of a character. Over time, the collection has spread to include light samplings from Sailor Moon, Violinist of Hameln, Weiss Kruz, Kodomo no Omocha, and Legend of Basara. Lately, I've gotten a lot pickier, and I've been eyeing my "children", mentally culling the lesser ones, like my closed-eyes Sana-chan, which had been cute at the time, or my orange-sweatered Aya and cheesy-looking Recca, who I only got because they came with a goshdarned nice Kai-Mikagami as part of a lot.

But I haven't been able to abandon them on Ebay. Not quite yet.

A fellow collector, Cal-Tan, made a very astute comment. "Acetate is made of crack. That's pretty much the only possible explanation for why we slaver to spend hundreds of dollars on 8x10 sheets of painted plastic."

And they're absolutely right. What is it about cel art that makes people-who-could-pass-for-sane systematically go searching through Ebay, the Yahoo!Japan auctions, and all their favorite cel galleries and cel vendors late at night, checking to see if something new and worthwhile has popped up? What makes them squander the majority of their monthly Mad Money on accumulating these little plastic sheets? What makes them wait for a five-month turnaround from Anime Shop Pocket, or dish out 20% extra to get a proxy bidder to buy something off a Japanese auction site that the seller wasn't going to ship internationally?

Is it a love of the show, or the characters, that you would want to own a piece of them? Is it the same madness that causes people run around in cosplay costumes, obsess over epic-length Alternate Universe fanfics, or draw fanart in the margins of their class notes? Is it just normal adults reverting to a "Gimme, gimme, gimme, I want, I want, I want" mentality, that makes them ooooh with envy when they see just-the-perfect shot of just-the-perfect character on someone else's site?

Or maybe it *is* just crack in the acetate.

Who knows?

But if you try to smoke one of my cels, I'll beat you up.

Haunted Heretics

Click here for a print-friendly version of the puzzle.

WORD LIST
Adventures of Kotetsu	Iczer One
Akira	Iria
Angel of Darkness	Kite
Baoh	La Blue Girl
Blue Seed	Laughing Target
Combustible Campus Guardress	Lily C.A.T.
Curse of the Undead Youma	Mamono Hunter Yohko
Cutey Honey	Perfect Blue
Dagger of Kamui	Petshop of Horrors
Darkstalkers	Phantom Quest Corp
Demon City Shinjuku	Urotsukidoji
Devilman	Ushio and Tora
Genocyber	Vampire Princess Miyu
Ghost Sweeper Mikami	Wicked City
Guyver	Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Anime Anagrams

Here are a few horror anime titles, scambled into new words (there are some pretty cool software tools out there :) How many can you figure out?

MEND A HURT VIPER

HINT: SHORT FAT FOREST

GLITCH! AMIGA WILT...

UNTRUTH? SEEK A BAR

Fan Art!

Here are just a few images that were submitted for your enjoyment:

Halloween Maniko, by Fran

Kenshin, by Nick

Vash the Stampede, by Nick

We now continue with Hotwire's Together We Stand....last chance to avoid spoilers!

     Neon Genesis Evangelion and all characters from therein are the 
property of Gainax. They are used without permission and we beg the 
kind and benevolent creators of the glorious show not to sue us. ^_^



     Chain Lightning Studios Presents
            Together We Stand
              By T. L. Webb



   Tell me is something eluding you sunshine?
   Is this not what you expected to see?
   If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes?
   You'll just have to claw your way through the
   Disguise
                   In the Flesh?
                   Pink Floyd, The Wall 


[]================[]
   Book 1 Part 5       
[]================[]


     Hikari had been waiting at the docks for 
over an hour now and the fleet was finally 
arriving. She was there to meet her friends who 
had flown out with Misato to meet the pilot of 
Unit Two. She would have gone with them, but 
her sister Nozomi had needed someone to take 
her to the dentist. Wanting to meet the second 
child, and see an Eva up close without a war 
going on, she had opted to meet them at the 
docks. 

     Making her way down the stairway from the 
observation center, she saw a familiar person 
pull up in a Nerv Jeep. She only knew a few 
people who worked for the organization, and 
only one who dyed their hair blond. That person 
was Misato's friend and coworker Doctor Akagi. 
She had met the woman two or three times, but 
had only caught her name a week or two before 
when she had stopped by to help Shinji with a 
homework assignment. 

     As she neared the Jeep, she saw the 
largest ship, and aircraft carrier, slowly pull 
up to the dock. She knew from Kensuke that the 
'over the rainbow' was an old ship, but she 
hadn't expected it to be in such bad shape. 

      A closer look revealed that the damage 
wasn't old, the scratches and torn plates 
revealed fresh metal beneath. Odd that she 
would notice that, perhaps it was Kensuke's 
influence. As the other ships neared the wharf 
she saw that many of them displayed similar 
scars of battle. 

     Something had happened.

     "Good afternoon Miss Horaki," Doctor Akagi 
called cheerfully, "here to meet Shinji and the 
others?" 

     Hikari breathed a sigh of relief. The 
doctor was rather high up in the Nerv chain of 
command, and if she was unworried then everyone 
must have made it safely. 

     "Yes, " she said as she walked over to the 
jeep, "I couldn't go with them earlier, and 
from the looks of things I think I'm glad. What 
happened?"

      "An Angel attacked the fleet in route, 
fortunately the Second and Third Children were 
able to defeat it in Unit Two."

     "Really? I bet Kensuke was happy to see 
that!"

     "I imagine he was. Too bad Misato already 
confiscated the disk with the battle. I 
remember how upset he was when we took that one 
after the Fourth Angel."

     "Poor Kensuke, well he should know better 
by now... um, Miss Akagi?"

     "Yes?"

     "What's the Second Child's name? I want to 
try to make her feel at home."

     "That's nice of you Hikari. Her name is 
Asuka Langley Soryu."

      "Is that German? It doesn't sound quite 
Japanese."

     "Asuka has an unusual heritage. 
Technically she's American, because that's 
where she was born, but speaking in terms of 
genetics she's mostly German with about a 
quarter Japanese blood. She was raised in 
Germany however so its probably best to think 
of her as a native of that country."

     "Wow," Hikari said as she took that in.

     "I told you it was unusual," she said as 
the gangplank was lowered from the ship, "But 
then again unusual is a term that often comes 
to mind when I think of Asuka."

    "Thank you Doctor," Hikari told her with a 
polite nod, "I'll keep that in mind."

     "It's not a problem, now go say hi to your 
friends." 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     She saw it coming the moment Kensuke came 
down the escalator with Misato and Touji. 

      Having known him since first grade, 
Hikari was well aquatinted with his fascination 
with all things military, or perhaps fetish was 
a more accurate term. She was also familiar 
with his tendency to go completely off the 
handle about it. Having apparently just been a 
front row seat witness to an Evangelion Battle, 
it was no surprise to her whatsoever when 
Kensuke Aida began telling her about it at 
approximately a few hundred words a minute.

       Later she was able to piece together 
what he had said with the aid of a more 
coherent description from the others. 
Apparently while Asuka had been showing Shinji 
'her' Unit Two, an Angel had indeed attacked 
the fleet. From his description it sounded like 
some bizarre four hundred-foot long cross 
between a shark and a stingray. Shinji and 
Asuka had tried to fight it, but the equipment 
they had wasn't set up for underwater combat. 
Having bitten into the Eva, the Angel was held 
fast by the Umbilical cable and unable to 
escape as long as it held onto Unit Two

     Misato had saved the day by putting 
together another seemingly insane, but workable 
plan. They had sunk two of the battle ships in 
line with the Umbilical, and as they reeled the 
angel back in, Unit Two had opened the 
creature's mouth in time for the Battleships to 
slam into it and open fire from within. 

      As the crews from Nerv arrived and began 
unloading Unit Two from the Carrier, the Second 
Child came down the escalator. 

     Touji immediately turned away with a look 
of great annoyance as Kensuke filmed her 
descent. Hikari made a note to ask about that 
later, for the moment she stepped forward and 
smiled at the new arrival.

      First noticeable thing about the girl 
was, of course, the red hair. The second was 
the uniform she was wearing. It was what Shinji 
had referred to as a Plugsuit, and like the one 
she had seen Shinji wear it was skintight and 
appeared to be some synthetic material. Unlike 
the one Shinji had been wearing it was bright 
red, and Hikari couldn't help but feel a little 
jealous about the girl's figure, which was well 
displayed in it. As she reached the bottom of 
the lift, however, Hikari brushed all this from 
her mind, bowed and began to greet her.

     "Hello Miss Soryu, welcome to Japan. My 
name is Hikari Horaki, and-"

     "Oh, hello," Asuka interrupted as she 
looked around distractedly, "um, nice to meet 
you... could you give me one moment? Be right 
back." With that the redhead hurried over to 
the jeep. 

     'Well... she's rude enough to be an 
American,' Hikari thought with more than a bit 
of annoyance. She didn't have long to ponder 
this line of though, however, as Kensuke and 
Touji began shouting and giving wolf whistles 
at a figure descending from the ship. Turning 
to see what had caught their attention, she saw 
Shinji coming down the lift with a deep blush. 
This was mostly due to the fact he was wearing 
an identical Plugsuit to Asuka's. 

      It was no where near as flattering, but 
Hikari had to agree with her friends-- it was 
one of the funniest things she had seen in a 
long time. Trying not to laugh, and failing 
miserably, she waved hello to Shinji, who 
probably wanted to sink into the concrete about 
that moment. 

       "Nice figure!" Touji hollered, as 
Kensuke zoomed in his camera. Shinji's face 
approached the color of the Plugsuit while 
Hikari started to get a grip on herself. 

        "Knock it off you two," she said as she 
reigned in her giggles, "sorry about that 
Shinji." 

     Shinji shook his head and smiled, letting 
her know it was all right as they headed over 
to the jeep. 

     "It's ok," he said, " I do look kind of 
ridiculous in this thing."

     "No arguments there."

      "Shut up Touji or I'll make you trade 
outfits." Hikari shot back with a mischievous 
grin. 

     "I'll be good."

     "That's better, now what happened up there 
and where did your clothes go?"

      "Well, Asuka said that my being in the 
entry plug was going to be bad enough, and that 
the suit would smooth the thought noise out a 
bit. So I had to leave my clothes back on the 
ship... they're probably at the bottom of the 
ocean about now."

      "Hmmm that's right," Kensuke added, 
"Doctor Akagi said something about 'thought 
noise' when we were in Unit One"

     "I don't know how much it helped tough. 
She started the activation in German, and had 
to reset when she found out I didn't know more 
than three words in that language."

     "So it even matters what language you 
think in," Kensuke muttered as they reached the 
Jeep, "interesting"

     Asuka had apparently found out whatever 
she was trying to learn and walked back over to 
them, "Sorry about that," she said, "I was 
trying to find out what happened to my Sensei."

     "He jumped ship like a rat is what 
happened." Touji said under his breath. Sadly 
he once more underestimated just how good the 
female of the species' hearing was, and 
received what Hikari later found to be his 
third slap of the day. Nursing a fresh bruise 
to both his face and ego, he and the other two 
boys climbed into the jeep, giving the girls a 
moment alone.

      "Now, once again, sorry about that," 
Auska said, "My name is Asuka Langley Soryu, I 
think you said yours was Hikari?"

     "That's right, Hikari Horaki."

     "Well nice to meet you, so are you with 
Nerv too? Or are you just along for the ride 
like them?" she asked nodding in the direction 
of Touji and Kensuke.

      'She doesn't waste time does she?' Hikari 
thought as she answered, "No I'm just a friend 
of Shinji's like they are, I thought I'd come 
out and meet you since you wouldn't know anyone 
when you arrived."

      "I 'preciate it," Asuka said as she 
tossed a few strands of her hair back over her 
shoulder, "its going to be hard enough getting 
around with the culture shock and all.  I gotta 
say though, why you'd hang with those three of 
your own free will is beyond me." 
    
      Before Hikari could ask what the problem 
was, Misato hollered over at them announcing 
that it was time to go. Asuka, refusing to sit 
between or beside the boys, stood and held onto 
the roll bar the entire way back. 
      

[]====[]
[]====[]


      "Tell me your kidding!" Hikari said later 
as the four were relaxing at Misato's 
apartment. 
 
      "Afraid not," Kensuke said as he looked 
over the two disks he had been allowed to keep, 
"Touji got an up close and personal look by 
accident."
   
      "Oh great, no wonder she slapped him."

      "Well she did it the first time because 
of that, the second time was because he flashed 
her back."

      "You did _what_?" Hikari yelled at Touji, 
"I thought you had better manners than that 
Suzuhara!"

     "Well excuse me, but _she_ was the one who 
mashed my special hat into the deck! If you 
want to talk about manners you should take it 
up with the demon."

      "That's not fair Touji, you take that 
back!

      Shinji had been watching all of this with 
a combination of amusement and unease. He had 
only recently become comfortable with joining 
into the groups conversations, but when they 
turned into yelling matches like this he always 
got lost again. 

     'They really don't have to be so loud,' he 
thought as he wondered what he could do try and 
calm the group down. 

      Salvation came in the form of a warm 
water penguin named PenPen. 

     When the small avian waddled into the 
room, Hikari and Touji's yelling match didn't 
so much stop as die a painful death as the two 
stared bug-eyed at the new arrival.

     "Um... Shinji?" Hikari started to say as 
Touji finished her question with an equally 
unnerved tone, "what the hell is that?"

      "That's PenPen, he's my other roommate." 
Shinji said with a smile. Somewhere along the 
line it had completely slipped his mind to tell 
them about the Penguin.
     
     "Roommate?" the three asked 
simultaneously. The roommate in question 
waddled right up to Hikari and looked her up 
and down before sitting beside her and picking 
up the TV remote. Whatever grip on reality the 
three had lost when a penguin had walked into 
the room slipped dramatically as the little 
bird turned on the TV.   

      "Shinji..." Kensuke asked as he tried to 
comprehend what had just happened. "Is it 
watching TV?"

      "Yes," Shinji said as he tried not to 
laugh at the expressions on his friend faces. 

      "How?" Touji asked.

      "Why?" Hikari added as she stared at the 
bird.  

      "Well," Shinji said, " he was apparently 
being used in an experiment back when Misato 
was living in Germany. She found out they were 
going to put him to sleep once the experiment 
was over and adopted him. He's pretty smart 
too."

      The three of them nodded as they 
continued to stare at PenPen. 

      PenPen looked up at the humans and said, 
"Wark."


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Hey Hikari!" Came a cheerful voice from 
across the campus as Hikari walked towards 
class.

     Looking toward the sound, she saw Asuka 
jogging towards her waving. Stopping and 
letting the German girl catch up she chuckled a 
bit. Asuka was wearing a uniform and Hikari 
could only imagine how annoyed her friends 
would be to find that she would be in their 
school. 

       "Morning Asuka, what can I do for you?" 
she asked as the other girl caught up. 

      "Guten Morgan! I was hoping you could 
show me around?" Asuka asked, "you kinda 
offered the other day."

     "That's no problem at all Asuka, and 
welcome to our school. By the way, how did they 
get you transferred so quickly? It took almost 
a week before Shinji started."

      "Humph, well I heard he wasn't even found 
till a day before he arrived. _I_ on the other 
hand have been training for almost ten years 
now."

     "Oh, well that makes sense I guess, I'll 
probably have the paperwork in my laptop when I 
get to class then."

     "Oh that's right, monkey-boy called you 
class rep or something didn't he..."

      "Monkey boy?"

     "The one in the sweats."

     "Oh that's Touji Suzuhara, and I'm sorry 
about what happened when you met. He's usually 
much better behaved than that."

     "Its nothing to worry about, typical male 
behavior."

     "Well I can't speak for the idiot duo, but 
not _all_ boys are perverts.

     "Pffft! Name one!" Asuka said with a roll 
of her blue eyes.

     "Well Shinji is very nice."

     "_What_?" Asuka said loudly, "He's the 
worst of those Three Stooges! He kept peeking 
on me while I was changing and then he couldn't 
keep his grubby little paws of me in the Eva. 
No Hikari, trust me; all boys are perverts."

      Hikari didn't know what to think of that-
- it just didn't sound like Shinji at all. She 
would have to talk with him about that later. 
For now she needed to change the subject, and 
something Asuka had said gave her a perfect 
idea.

      "Three Stooges?" She asked, confused by 
the English term.

      "Oh that's right, you Japanese don't 
import much American stuff anymore. It was an 
old black and white show from the mid nineteen 
hundreds about three morons. Mostly slapstick, 
they'd hit each other on the head and have pie 
fights and stuff. I'll see if I can get a tape 
for you sometime, its silly but it has its 
moments."

      "I guess... it kind of fits though, and 
since Shinji started hanging around them I 
can't quite keep calling them the idiot duo."

     "Trust me it fits better than you 
realize," Asuka said as the two made their way 
up to class. 

 
[]====[]
[]====[]


     "I feel sorry for Shinji though," Touji 
said as he and his friends sat by the window, 
"he has to work with her... poor guy"

     They had been discussing their horrific 
encounter with the Second Child and how 
fortunate they would be that they would never 
have to see her again. Shinji hadn't said much; 
he seemed to be lost in thought as usual. 
Kensuke was still reviewing what little footage 
he had left from their trip. 

      This was naturally the precise moment 
that the Second Child stepped into the room. 

      Touji fell out of his desk.

      Kensuke dropped his camera.

      Shinji sighed; he had expected this.

     As she wrote her name on the chalkboard 
the redhead turned around and beamed at the 
class of stunned students. Most of them had 
never met a foreigner, much less as 
devastatingly gorgeous a one as this. A few had 
heard Touji and Kensuke relate their horror 
story from the carrier and cringed in fear at 
the alleged Demon. Some of the girls bristled 
as their boyfriends looked on in awe. 

      "My name is Asuka Langley Soryu. Charmed, 
huh?"

      Hikari walked to her desk with a chuckle, 
things would be getting quite interesting if 
nothing else. As she pointed Asuka to her desk 
she sat down and booted up her computer. Sure 
enough Asuka's file was there. It was quite 
impressive as well-- the girl was a genius! 

      'Why is she here if she already graduated 
college?' she wondered as she looked though the 
impressive academic history. The only reason 
she could think of was that Nerv might feel 
that she could use a normal childhood while she 
was here. It had certainly done Shinji a lot of 
good. 
 
      'Wonder why she hasn't been assigned a 
guardian yet?' Hikari wondered. Then again if 
this was anything like Shinji a lot of stuff 
might be absent from her file. It didn't even 
list a place of residence, which was very 
strange since she needed that to deliver 
paperwork. She would have to ask her about it 
at the first opportunity. For now however the 
teacher was due to arrive and Asuka most likely 
wouldn't be used to her laptop for at least an 
hour or so.

      For the moment that was fine, as she 
needed to talk with Shinji. So as the teacher 
began his morning roll call she punched up a 
private message window.

     [Hikari] Morning Shinji

     [Shinji] Hi Hikari, something I can help 
     you with?

     [Hikari] yeah, I needed to ask you 
     something 

     [Shinji] sure, what do you need to know?

     [Hikari] Asuka said something about you 
     peaking on her when she was changing, 
     what was that about? I just wanted to 
     get your side of it.

     [Shinji] oh, that *blush* I was afraid she 
     would take that the wrong way. When the 
     fight started she dragged me to a stairwell 
     and told me to wait there while she went 
     inside. After a few moments I got worried 
     and took a look to see if she was ok, and 
     she was half into her Plugsuit. She yelled 
     at me and I ducked back. If Asuka'd just 
     told me she was changing there wouldn't have 
     been a problem. And then she drags me into 
     the Eva-- you remember how little room there 
     is on those seats right?

     [Hikari] yeah, I remember.

     [Shinji] well I had to sit right up there 
     because she insisted I pay attention. Then 
     she starts complaining every time I so much 
     as brush against her. Not one of my better 
     moments.

      [Hikari] I thought it sounded a little 
      unlike you. So while we're on the subject, 
      did you know she was going to be in our 
      class? You didn't seem as surprised as the 
      other two when she walked in.

     [Shinji] well I was a bit surprised that 
     she got placed here so soon, but not that 
     she was actually sent here. They made me 
     go despite all the work they have me do so 
     it was a safe bet that she would be here 
     as well.

     [Hikari] good point, well I better start 
     taking notes, thanks for clearing that up

     [Shinji] I'm glad you asked, I'd hate 
     anyone think I did that on purpose.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "He does that _every_ day?" Asuka asked in 
shock.

     They were having lunch at the spot Shinji 
had found under one of the trees in the 
courtyard. Hikari had found it to be a much 
more restful place than the classroom, and on 
days that it wasn't raining she had taken to 
eating there. As she and Asuka ate she was 
explaining some of the nuances of their class. 

     "I'm afraid so, there'll be another one 
just before the last bell," She explained, "it 
usually takes him about a week an a half to 
tell the whole story, then he starts over."

     "Mein Gott! How can you stand it? That 
would drive me insane!"

     "Well for one thing I let the class use 
the chatroom," Hikari explained, "Sensei is 
very nearsighted and hard of hearing so he 
doesn't really notice."

     "Um... are all your laptops set up for 
Kanji only?" Asuka asked a bit hesitantly.

     "Yeah, why wouldn't they be?"

     "Oh nothing... Just wondering," Asuka said 
as she changed the subject, " so what do you do 
for fun around here?"

      "Well I haven't had much free time until 
recently, but we have an entertainment district 
downtown. I'm sure Shinji wouldn't mind showing 
you if I can't find the time."

      "I'd rather wait if it's just the same," 
Asuka said, "I know you say he says it was an 
accident but that's not the point. Besides, if 
I _have_ to go with a guy; I can just ask 
Kaji."

      "You mentioned him before, is he you're 
guardian?"

      "I wish he was," Asuka said with a 
wistful sigh, "but he travels a whole lot. I 
don't get to see him as much as I wish I 
could."

     "So who are you living with?"

     "Ooh," Asuka said with disgust, " they 
have me stuffed in this little one room cell 
down at the Geofront. They say its just 
temporary, but if I don't get better 
accommodations I'm going to have to show them 
just how obnoxious I'm capable of being."

     "Then you're not living with anyone at 
all?"

     "No, why would I be?"

     "But you're only 13!"

     "I've been living alone since I was nine 
Hikari, its no big deal."

     "What about your family?"

     Asuka's face seemed to cloud over, and she 
looked away. "I'd rather not discuss them if 
it's all the same to you."

      'Rei... Shinji... and now Asuka... don't 
any of the pilots have a normal family?' Hikari 
thought as she changed subjects to something 
more lighthearted. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "So what do you think of her?" Hikari 
asked Shinji as they walked home that 
afternoon.

     "She seems... lively" Shinji replied.

     "Define 'lively' Mr. I-think-I'm-going-to-
dodge-the-question" Hikari shot back with a 
grin.      

     "Um... well she seems so loud and brash, 
like she has to have everyone's attention. 
She's energetic, and I can't deny she's pretty. 
I think Kensuke said something about developing 
some still shots he took of her today."

      "Oh no... not this _again_" Hikari said 
as she closed her eyes and let out an annoyed 
groan.

     "Not what again?" Shinji asked a bit 
concerned.

     "Well, we got a new girl earlier this year 
and Kensuke was taking pictures and selling 
them to the other boys. He and Touji made quite 
a bit before I busted up their little racket."

      "Are you serious?"

      "I'm afraid so."

      "I hope Asuka doesn't hear about it... 
she might hurt them for that."

      Hikari grinned as she contemplated 
telling the German about it herself. Deciding 
_against_ being an accomplice to murder, she 
dropped the idea.

     "So have you decided what we're going to 
do on our date yet?" she asked

     "Well I have a few ideas, but I don't know 
how far ahead I can plan anything... after all 
we did agree that this should be more than just 
a trip to the movies."

     "I might have an idea if you don't mind 
waiting a while." She said with a smile.

     "What?"

     "Well if you can't make the school trip 
like we figured, the school is having a dance 
at the end of October... we could try for that. 
It would give you time to clear your schedule."

      "That would be fun, but aren't we still 
trying to keep this a secret from the evil 
twins?"

      "Well I think that by then we should be 
able to deal with the teasing," Hikari said, " 
I mean, we can't avoid if forever and its not 
like they don't suspect something already."

     "Good point, I think if I tell Ritsuko she 
might be able to help, she won't mind keeping 
it from Misato."

      "That leaves my sister, I think I can 
handle her... well I hope I can anyway."

       "They are a little easier to deal with 
one on one" Shinji said with a grin.

      "Emphasis on 'little'" Hikari said with a 
giggle.

 
[]====[]
[]====[]

    
      "Where did you get that?" Hikari asked 
Denki a couple of days later. She had caught 
him looking at a picture of Asuka drinking from 
a water fountain, and she had more than a hunch 
who'd taken said picture. 

      "Um... well I um... Icanttellyouthat," he 
said quickly as he looked down at his shoes. 
   
      "Denki, I know who took the picture," She 
said, trying very hard to keep her patience, 
"and I would like to remind you that I already 
busted up this little racket twice. And I might 
add that what I have planned for those two is 
probably nowhere near as violent as what Asuka 
will do to anyone she catches with those 
pictures on their person..."

     This was a perfect threat, made effective 
by an incident the previous day. Kiri had tried 
to ask Asuka out, and had been shut down hard. 
Apparently the fact that he was two years older 
than anyone else in the class did not impress 
Asuka in the least. Then again it probably had 
more to do with his trying to put an arm around 
her that had triggered the now famous incident. 
Asuka's face had darkened when the arm was 
placed upon her, and seconds later Kiri had 
discovered just how much hand to hand combat a 
fully trained Evangelion Pilot was taught. The 
morning Email had included an update on his 
condition, and fortunately he had not required 
a cast or any stitches.

      Strangely enough this had not dissuaded 
any of the other boys from clogging the poor 
girl's locker with love letters. Asuka had 
explained to her at lunch that day just how 
annoyed she was by the behavior of the boys in 
words that Hikari had not even known existed. 
It was fascinating just how much dirtier some 
words sounded in German than they did in 
Japanese. 

       Right now however she needed to find 
Kensuke and Touji before Asuka found out about 
their little project. 

      "Come on Denki, you know I won't do much 
more than assign extra work to the blockheads, 
where are they hiding?"

     "Okay, okay, they're over by the 
escalators."

     "Thanks, and if I were you, I'd hide that 
photo."

     "Oh... thanks."


[]====[]
[]====[]

    
      "Guten Morgen Shinji!"

      Shinji turned to find the girl his 
friends had taken to calling 'the red demon' 
heading his way. He was still unsure just what 
to make of Asuka; she definitely had talent for 
Eva, and sadly made a habit to insure everyone 
around her knew that. What mostly bothered him 
though was that she seemed to have taken a 
dislike for him… which made her cheerful 
demeanor at the moment more than a bit 
suspicious. 

    "Gut... guten morgun" he tried, sadly 
butchering the greeting. He didn't know how 
anyone could speak German; it sounded so harsh 
and cold. Not to mention that it was almost 
noon and he didn't know why she was saying good 
morning anyway

     Asuka on the other hand had mastered it at 
a young age, as she had her Japanese.  Walking 
up next to him she rolled her eyes at his 
pathetic attempt at linguistics.

     "Hey, why are you so gloomy?" she demanded 
as she thumped him on the nose, "after all I'm 
the most popular girl at school as well as the 
best pilot Nerv has, you should enjoy the fact 
I even allow you near me."

     'Does she _have_ to brag about it all the 
time?' he wondered silently as she paused and 
looked around.

     "Hmm isn't the other one here too? I 
didn't think to ask before."

     "Other what?" He asked as he rubbed his 
nose.

    "What, are you stupid? The other _pilot_ of 
course! Doesn't she go to this school too?"

    Shinji looked around, trying to remember 
where Rei usually took her lunch. Remembering 
that Hikari had once found her at the base of 
the escalators once he nodded in their 
direction, and was just in time to see Touji 
and Kensuke rapidly gathering several plastic 
sleeves with something he couldn't make out 
inside. 

     He dropped that from his mind, however, as 
Asuka headed over to the escalators and the 
rest of the entire class seemed to appear out 
of nowhere to see what was going on. (He would 
find out much later that the class had been 
under the impression that Asuka had stumbled 
onto Kensuke's photo racket) as she headed down 
the moving steps, he joined his friends and the 
three watched as the Redhead closed in on the 
Albino. 

      From their vantage point, they could just 
barely hear the Asuka's side of the 
'conversation'. Later the entire school would 
be repeating it in its entirety.

     Standing on one of the stone pillars 
beside the bench where Ayanami sat, Asuka had 
blocked the light Rei was using to read. When 
she finally had the girl's attention she 
smiled.

     "You're Rei Ayanami right?" she asked 
loudly, " Pilot of the prototype? I'm Asuka 
Langely Soryu; designated pilot of Evangelion 
Unit Two. Lets be good friends!"

      "Why?" Rei asked simply.

      To her credit, this didn't throw Asuka 
off track-- as it had most people. With a bold 
smile and a wave of her hand she had replied.

      "Because it would be... convenient!"

       "If I am ordered to, I will do it."

       " Freak _a_ ziod..." Asuka muttered as 
Rei returned to her book. Jumping off the 
pillar, Asuka wandered off; more than a little 
creeped out by Rei Ayanami. 

     "Hey Shinji?" Touji asked, " how come they 
only select weirdoes as pilots?"

      Shinji had been about to tell his friend 
to be quiet when Hikari had arrived. Kensuke 
began sweating as soon as he saw her, and when 
Touji turned he let out a very small yelp that 
was apparently a expression of great fear 
(although he would deny that for a long time)

      To Shinji's shock and amusement, Hikari 
had begin chewing the two out for their little 
business. Then she proceeded to assign them 
chores that Shinji hadn't known the school even 
had. 

     Latter on as the two walked home from 
school, he asked about that.

     "Oh, I had a talk with my sister, she 
knows all kinds of evil little punishments that 
I have the authority to dole out."

       "I hope I never have to find out," 
Shinji said nervously

      "Oh don't worry, I'll only save those for 
special occasions. Like what I did with the 
other two stooges."

     "Stooges?" Shinji asked, as confused, as 
Hikari had been when she heard the term

     "Yeah, Asuka started it and I already 
heard a couple of the other kids call you Touji 
and Kensuke that, apparently the 'idiot duo' 
has officially become 'the three stooges'' 

      "I doubt this is something I should be 
thanking her for," Shinji muttered.

     "Oh its okay, kinda cute actually." 

     "Well this is where we split, I'll see you 
tomorrow?"

     "Assuming there are no attacks," Hikari 
said jokingly. She would regret saying that a 
few hours later.


[]====[]
[]====[]


      As the powerful fighter planes carried 
Eva Units One and Two, Shinji and Asuka were 
briefed on the current state of the situation 
by Misato.

      "Since the interception system was 
heavily damaged in the previous battle, only 
26% has been restored. The amount of operable 
equipment in an actual battle is almost nil, so 
we must destroy the target before it lands on 
the waterfront. Unit One and Unit Two, close in 
and take turns!"

    "Roger!" both Pilots responded completely 
business-like. However as Asuka switched to 
private communications, she let Shinji know 
that she was far less than satisfied with the 
orders they had just received. 
 
     "And another thing!" She said, continuing 
the rant that had been going on most of their 
trip, "this is my debut fight over Japan, why 
wont she let me tackle this dumb thing on my 
own?"

     "Its just procedure Asuka" Shinji told her 
for the tenth time. 

      "Whatever, you had just better stay out 
of my way Third Child!"

      Shinji shrugged and switched off again. 
He didn't need to hear her complaining the 
entire time if they were about to face an 
angel. It was hard enough to be back in the 
Eva, dealing with that and the increasingly 
obnoxious Second Child would be a task he 
doubted he was up to. 

     As they deployed and fell to earth he 
reopened communications and prepared to battle 
the enemy again. He could see it in the 
distance, a hunched shape that was slowly 
making its way toward shore. 

     He could still hear Asuka complaining as 
the Umbilical cables were attached. 

    "Two of us against this puny thing? This is 
pathetic, I should be allowed to take it 
myself."

    "We don't have the resources to waste while 
you show off Asuka," Misato replied hotly, 
"just get in there and take it out."
     
      "Here it comes," Shinji said as the shape 
under the water grew closer.

      As Misato gave the order, Asuka launched 
her Eva into a run toward the ocean, her 
progressive spear at ready. 

     "Cover me third child, I'm going in!"

     "_What_?" Shinji shouted as Unit Two leapt 
over a building

     "Yeah, its ladies first!"

      "Don't talk to me like that you damn 
rookie!" Shinji shouted as he opened fire with 
the palette rifle. Asuka jumped high into the 
sky as the slugs from his weapon ricochet 
around. Bringing the spear down in an arc, she 
struck the Angel dead on and to everyone's 
surprise, split it in half.

      As she surveyed the damage, Shinji 
couldn't help but be impressed, that had been 
the shortest fight yet. 

     "A fight," She explained as her Eva turned 
to face him, "should be clean and elegant, 
totally without waste."

     "Oh my God..." Shinji said as he looked 
beyond her. The angel's body was moving.

As Misato screamed at them to move, the remains 
of the Angel suddenly fell away revealing two 
smaller versions of itself who rushed in and 
struck the Eva's before their pilots could 
register what was happening. 

    Being farther away, Shinji had the split 
second he needed to react. 

   Bringing his pallet rifle to bear he opened 
fire as he leapt back. The angel was faster, 
however, and before he could blink it was upon 
him. He realized as he tried to weave out of 
the way of the Angels attack that it was 
undamaged.

    "Misato!" he shouted, "I can't scratch it!"

    Behind him, Asuka had apparently scored a 
direct hit only to discover the same. As she 
pulled the progressive spear from the Angel's 
core, the wound closed as if it had never been 
made. The two Angels were almost eight times 
faster than they had been as one, and their 
attacks were with such force and precision that 
neither pilot could react in time.

    Shinji didn't have time to registered that, 
however, as the Angel stepped on his umbilical-
-slicing it open with it's razor sharp feet. As 
Shinji ducked and dodged as best as he could, 
the Angel continued it's relentless attack. 
Suddenly, Shinji suddenly found his Eva lofted 
into the air and sailing through it.

   He impacted against something, and as he 
crashed to earth, his power readings hit zero. 
The last thing he heard before the power shut 
down was Asuka's furious cursing.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Hey class rep!" Touji called as he 
stepped out of the elevator at the apartment 
complex that Shinji shared with Misato, "what 
are you doing here?"

     "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," 
she told him and Kensuke a little nervously. In 
truth she was more than a little nervous. That 
morning she had received and update for Asuka's 
file and unless there was some mistake... well 
she didn't really want to think about it.

     "Well I'll assume it's the same reason 
we're here," Kensuke said, "have _you_ heard 
from Shinji since the attack?"

     "No, but that's just part of why I'm 
here..." Hikari looked away, and Kensuke 
wondered if something was wrong

    "Ok, well how about the demon, have you 
heard from her?" Touji asked

     'Is it me or is Hikari blushing?' Kensuke 
wondered. Of all the times to be without his 
camera...

     As they made their way to Shinji's place 
Hikari seemed to grow even less at ease, and 
Kensuke was beginning to worry. Something was 
on her mind, and whatever it was, it was not a 
good thing. Obviously it had something to do 
with Shinji, it was clear that something was 
brewing between the two. And they continued to 
make it even more obvious with their constant 
and passionate denials that anything was going 
on.

       Now, to do some detective work. 
Something was going on between Shinji and 
Hikari. She was here and apparently worried 
about him, so hypothesis A; he had been hurt in 
the fight. However had that been the case she 
would have said something by now to at least 
lesson the blow when they reached the door.   

   All right then, other clues included a very 
nervous reaction when he had mentioned Asuka. 
Shinji worked with Asuka, and despite her 
annoying personality, she was a major babe. So 
hypothesis B... Shinji and Asuka were hooking 
up?

     As if.

     He decided he simply didn't have enough 
data to work with, and brushed the speculating 
from his mind as they reached the door. 
Pressing the buzzer they stepped back and were 
soon greeted to a sight that would produce 
nightmares for months.

      "They're dressing alike _again_!" Was all 
Kensuke could think or say; and indeed Shinji 
and Asuka were wearing almost identical 
outfits. Black workout suits and a colored top, 
Shinji's blue and Asuka's pink. Additionally 
they were both wearing headphones, and had they 
not looked miserable about it; Kensuke would 
have thought it a betrayal of all the three 
held sacred. 

      Touji apparently had not noticed the fact 
that neither looked like they were enjoying 
their new attire, as he immediately shouted 
"Shinji! You've betrayed us!"

     There was a thump beside him and as 
Kensuke turned, he found Hikari had fainted.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Okay, explain this to me again?" Hikari 
asked Misato a short time after she woke up.
      
     "It's simple really. If we can't get these 
two to work in total unison, then we have no 
chance of defeating the Angel. A coordinated 
two-point attack on each half is the only way 
we can beat it. So we're training Shinji and 
Asuka to work in tandem... I just wish we had 
more than four days left."

      "But do they have to _live_ together 
too?" Hikari asked with obvious unease at the 
concept. In fact, had Misato possessed the 
ability to read minds she would have found a 
powerful streak of jealously had taken root in 
the young girl's thoughts. Misato did not 
posses such abilities, but she did know Hikari 
better than the girl thought she did.

     "Don't worry Hikari, I'm here constantly 
to chaperone. Nothing's going to happen."

     "But... it's still not right for a boy and 
girl to live together like this," Hikari said, 
pouting a little.

     "Look Hikari," Misato said in a comforting 
tone, "I know you don't like this, but we don't 
have a choice if we're going to defeat the 
angel. It will have regenerated in three days 
and we _must_ be prepared to defeat it."

     She would have said more, but at that 
moment the doorbell rang again. Getting up to 
answer it the two women walked to the door and 
were surprised to find Rei Ayanami standing 
there. Rei was almost equally surprised 
herself, she had come to Misato's home after 
trying Hikari's. To find both of the people she 
was seeking out in the same place was an odd 
coincidence. 

      "Good afternoon Captain Katsuragi, Miss 
Horaki," she said as the two women regained 
their composure, "I would like to speak with 
you please."

     Still shocked that Rei had arrived 
unannounced like this, Misato could only nod as 
the girl stepped in and removed her shoes. The 
three of them made their way to the living 
room, where Shinji and Asuka were still 
practicing their synch training. As Kensuke and 
Touji watched on with much amusement, Shinji 
tried to keep up with the rapidly changing 
colors on the pad he stood upon. There were 
several red circles in rows and as they changed 
he had to follow the pattern and step or place 
a hand on them accordingly. Next to him Asuka 
went through the patterns over and over again, 
setting the pace. 

     As Hikari, Rei, and Misato sat down, 
Shinji slipped and fell for the third time in 
the last hour. Asuka turned and angrily cursed 
him out in German as he got back up and they 
started over.
  
     "So how _are_ their synchronization drills 
coming?" Hikari asked as she picked up PenPen, 
who had waddled over to her again wanting 
attention. He had taken a liking to her almost 
immediately. 

     "Well, see for yourself," Misato said with 
a sigh as Shinji fell yet again. 

     "I can't believe you think I could 
possibly bring myself down to this bumbling 
oaf's performance levels!" Asuka shouted as she 
threw her headphones across the room, 
"obviously he could never bring himself up to 
match _my_ talents, but still, this is 
impossible!"

     "Then you're giving up?" Misato asked with 
a cryptic smile.

     "Well, its not like you have anyone else," 
Asuka said as she tossed her hair over her 
shoulder again.   

     Misato's smile became a grin as she turned 
to Rei Ayanami who was sitting beside her.

     "Rei?"

     "Yes?"

     "Why don't you give it a shot?"

     "Yes," the albino girl said as she stepped 
over to the electronic training pads. Shinji 
took his position, and as he began going 
through the patterns, Rei matched him move for 
move in perfect harmony. The rest of the room, 
save Asuka watched this in something resembling 
awe. As Hikari looked over at Asuka, she saw 
that the girl looked like she had taken a kick 
to the gut. 

     "Hmmm, " Misato said, "Maybe we should 
alter the operation parameters for Rei..."

     However, instead of the eruption that 
Hikari expected, Asuka turned and ran from the 
room, slamming the door on the way out. 

      "I didn't know demons could cry..." Touji 
muttered as Hikari stood up. She ignored this 
and turned to Shinji who was looking around 
trying to figure out what had just happened. 

     "Shinji," She said as she headed out the 
door, " don't just stand there, lets go!" 

     He nodded and they both headed after 
Asuka.

     "So, you wanted to talk about something 
Rei?" Misato asked as she popped open a beer.

    About thirty seconds later, she decided 
she'd better make that a six-pack. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "I know," Asuka said as the two approached 
her in the convenience store, "I know I have to 
pilot it, I'll do it." They paid for drinks in 
silence and headed back home.
         
      "I'll work harder Asuka," Shinji told her 
as the three made their way back to the 
apartment, "I'm sorry for screwing up."

     "Well its not like I can expect someone 
like you to match my grace and form in a measly 
three days."

     Shinji frowned and took a few paces faster 
to leave the two girls alone for a moment as 
Hikari had asked him to on the way down. 

     "Maybe you two should just select a slower 
pace and stick with it. I mean trying to lead 
one another like that wasn't working... how 
about you get Kensuke to tape Misato or you 
doing the proper pattern and watch it on the TV 
as you go. You could use that to set your 
pace."

     "Hmmm that might just work Hikari..." 
Asuka said thoughtfully, "we might make faster 
progress like that. I know this slug can't keep 
up with me as things are."

     "Leave Shinji alone, he hasn't had the 
training you have."

     "I'll admit you have a point, but why are 
you defending him?"

     "Um... well... " Hikari said as she tried 
to think of something, "someone has to, he 
isn't really the type to say anything back."

     "There is that..."

     "Never mind, " Hikari said, "Just try to 
go easy on him."
           
      "If he actually makes an effort to keep 
up, I'll try."

     Well, it was better than nothing Hikari 
figured as they reentered the apartment. They 
arrived to find Touji and Kensuke in a state of 
shock and Misato on her ninth beer. Rei was 
siting in the middle of this with a thoughtful 
expression on her face.

     "I see," Rei said, "so because he wishes 
to respect a females privacy, but at the same 
time seeks to view the female form, he feels 
torn between the two desires."

     "Um... Misato?" Asuka asked with total 
confusion, "what are you talking about?"

     Rei turned to her and answered for the 
intoxicated Captain. 

     "Captain Katsuragi was assisting me in 
understanding why Pilot Ikari felt disturbed 
over seeing me without clothing."

    Asuka's eyes narrowed and as she turned to 
injure her fellow pilot, she found the spot 
Shinji had occupied moments before was now 
vacant. Towards the front of the house the door 
slammed, Shinji smartly having decided it was 
time that he be somewhere else.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "So how are you feeling?" Hikari asked 
Shinji over the phone a couple of nights later.

     "A little nervous, the fight is tomorrow 
and I think we're ready, but I'm still jumpy."

     "Just remember its natural to be 
frightened. My Uncle told us that some of the 
bravest men he had ever met in battle actually 
broke down in tears before a fight sometimes."

     "I'll try to remember that."

     "You're going to do fine Shinji-- just 
concentrate on the moves and the music. Asuka 
doesn't seem to be worried at all."

     "I think that's because Mr. Kaji came up 
with the plan."

     "That's the guy she has the crush on 
right?"

     "I think so, I've only met him the once."

     "Well just trust in Misato, from what I 
heard you tell me she's a tactical genius." 

     "I do trust her, its _me_ I don't trust. 
What if I screw up?"

     "Shinji, you've been training hard all 
week, you're not going to screw up."

     "I'll try Hikari... and thank you."

     "For what?"

     "For believing in me like this."

     "You've saved my life three times already 
Shinji, every time you fight you save us all. 
Remember that there are a lot of us who believe 
in you."

     "I better go, Asuka's almost done with her 
shower," Shinji said, "I'll try to call you as 
soon as I can. Goodnight Hikari."

     "Good night Shinji... and good luck."


[]====[]
[]====[]


     Once they had been released from the 
shelters, Hikari couldn't wait to congratulate 
her friends on their victory. The Misato called 
to tell her they were home she hurried over.
 
     However, when she stopped by the Katsuragi 
home she was in for a bit of a shock. 

     "Then you're going to be staying here 
_permanently_?" Hikari asked as she blinked in 
surprise.
 
     "Not my idea, I assure you," Asuka said 
from her spot in front of the TV.

     Not wanting to even think about that for 
the moment, Hikari changed tracks and asked how 
the battle went.
   
     "Oh we pulled it of almost flawlessly." 
Asuka said proudly, "even I was impressed with 
idiot boy over here... he managed to keep time 
perfectly right up till the end. If he hadn't 
screwed up the dismount I'd give him a 9.95" 

     "That's wonderful!" Hikari said, as Shinji 
frowned and tried to decide if that had been a 
cheep shot or not, "I'm glad all that training 
worked out."

     "Of course it worked, Kaji came up with 
it," Asuka said, "he's taking me out shopping 
in a week or two to celebrate the victory"

     Shinji stood up for a moment and went to 
his room. When he returned he had his SDAT and 
headphones. As Hikari wondered what he was 
doing (and Asuka ignored him) he ran through 
the tracks till he found what he was looking 
for. Placing a finger up to his lips, he handed 
the headphones to Hikari. 

     As she put them on and he pressed a 
switch, a foreign song began to play. It took 
her a while to translate the lyrics. Her 
English was spotty at best, and it wasn't until 
the third verse that she managed to place the 
song. 

     Once she understood the words, she turned 
to Shinji with a bemused smile and saw him 
grinning. As the music played, they both began 
to laugh. Hearing the snickering behind her, 
Asuka turned to see what was going on.

     "What's so funny back there?" she 
demanded.

     The response was more laughter, and after 
a moment she just rolled her eyes and ignored 
the two as the music played on. 

     o/~ don't stand, o/~
     o/~ don't stand so, o/~
     o/~ don't stand so close to me, o/~


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "She wouldn't even give my room back..." 
Shinji muttered as he walked Hikari to her 
house. She reached over and gave him a friendly 
hug. She was nowhere near happy about the 
situation herself. It had been bad enough when 
they were training together... she knew she was 
jealous of the fact that Asuka would be 
spending so much time with him. 

     "At least you _do_ have a room," Hikari 
said," it could have been worse. I do agree 
though, this just isn't fair! How can they make 
you live with her after all this?"

     "They don't want us to lose whatever 
teamwork we gained from the synch training... 
that and Misato decided that Asuka shouldn't 
live alone."

     "It's still not fair..."

     "It'll be okay Hikari, don't worry."

     "No its _not_ okay Shinji!" she told him 
hotly, causing him to pause for a moment.

     "Hikari... are you jealous?" he asked 
carefully.

     "Is it _that_ obvious?" she replied sadly 
as she examined her shoes, "I tried not to be, 
I know it's a work thing... but I can't help 
it."  

     "Hikari... I don't think anyone but 
possibly Misato is happy about the arrangement 
at the moment. I understand why your worried, 
but something happened last night that I think 
you might want to know about."

     "What's that?"

     "Well it was after I let you go and turned 
in for the night. Misato had to stay at the 
Geofront while they finished sequence 
programming the Evas for the fight. Asuka was 
sleeping in her room and somewhere around 
midnight I heard the door open and shut. I 
figured she was going to the restroom ,so I 
closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep. 
A few moments later there is this thump right 
next to me and there she is, on the futon."

     "_What_? Hikari shouted, she couldn't 
believe what she was hearing!

     "Hear me out," Shinji interjected before a 
rant could begin, "I freaked for a moment, 
mostly because her face was even with mine and 
all I could see at the moment were her lips. 
I... well I... I thought about kissing her, but 
as I was thinking of doing that I realized 
something."

     "What's that?" Hikari asked; a little hurt 
and confused by what she was hearing.

     "She's not the one I want to kiss." He 
said with a smile, "I spent the rest of night 
on the other end of the room. I don't deny that 
Asuka's pretty Hikari, but she's not the one 
I'm interested in; you are."

     Hikari heard this, and her pulse 
quickened. She stopped walking and stood there 
for a moment, letting it sink in as Shinji 
stood beside her looking nervous. She felt a 
bit light headed... had he just said he wanted 
to kiss her?

     "I don't know what to say..." She 
whispered.

     "Neither do I," Shinji said, "this is all 
so completely new to me. I keep having to 
convince myself I'm, not imagining all of it. I 
want you to know though, I'm not interested in 
Asuka, and nothing is going to happen there."

     "I feel bad about it anyway, I mean, here 
I am; probably her only friend in the whole 
country and I'm getting jealous. It isn't the 
way a friend should act." 

     "I think Asuka might need friends more 
than I did," Shinji said, " I don't really know 
her, even after all that training. She talks 
non stop, but doesn't seem to _say_ anything."

     "Could you vague that up for me?" Hikari 
asked with a raised eyebrow.

     "It's hard to put into words... she can 
talk about herself for an hour, and still you 
won't learn a thing about her. I don't know 
anything about her parents, her friends, or 
anything else from her life. But then again 
that might just be because after five minutes 
or so I start to tune her out"

     "No, I think it makes sense... I asked 
about her family once and she all but bit my 
head off."

     As they walked through the quiet streets, 
Hikari reached out and took Shinji's hand. They 
walked the rest of the way in silence, thinking 
about what they had said. If he was as 
committed to her as he had implied, then there 
was no real reason that she should worry, but 
the fact that Asuka was living under the same 
roof still bothered her. 

     The following week she would be over a lot 
to help him catch up with his studies, and it 
would be interesting to see what Asuka would 
make of that. She had seen friends try to keep 
relationships secret before, and she had no 
illusions that she and Shinji would be able to 
fool Misato or Kodama forever, or even that 
they had so far. It was probably about time 
that they went ahead and just told everyone.

     This was still on her mind as they reached 
her house. 

     "Thanks for walking me home Shinji," she 
told him with a smile.

     "It was nothing," he replied, "I was glad 
you stopped by."

     "Well before I go in there is one more 
thing I need to talk to you about."

     "What's that?"

     She looked around for a moment and 
gestured for him to lean in so she could 
whisper it in his ear. Intrigued by whatever 
might be so delicate a topic she didn't want to 
say it aloud, he complied. 

     As she told him what was on her mind, a 
warm blush took hold of his face, and his ears 
felt like they were on fire, but as he leaned 
back he nodded in agreement. Indeed he figured 
he would have to be a lunatic _not_ to agree. 
They stood there for another moment, each 
trying to gather the necessary courage before 
finally Shinji took a step forward.        
       
     Both blushing, they leaned in and their 
lips met. 

     It was not a passionate kiss in the 
traditional sense. It was a bit clumsy, their 
lips remained closed and it only lasted a few 
short moments, but to them it was like an 
electric charge had gone off between them. The 
rest of the world seemed to fade away for a 
short moment and there was nothing but the two 
of them. 

     When they parted and opened their eyes 
they could only stare at one another with an 
identical loopy grin plastered on their face 
for awhile. Finally Hikari realized how late it 
was and broke the moment.
    
     "I better go in..."

     "Oh..." Shinji said, his mind still not 
working at full capacity. 

     "Thank you Shinji... good night." She said 
with a small sweet smile and she opened the 
door and stepped inside.

     "Good night Hikari," Shinji told her as 
she shut the door. He stood there on the patio 
for a few moments, trying to convince the 
little voice in the back of his mind that he 
hadn't dreamt the last few minutes. Finally, 
with several warm and fuzzy feelings running 
though him, he turned and headed home. 
 

[]===================[]
  To Be Continued…
[]===================[]


Authors Incoherent Babbling


     A quick word of defense to all you Asuka 
fans before you launch the mailbombs; this is 
_not_ a Shinji / Asuka fic! With her closer 
relationship to Shinji, Hikari will naturally 
take much more offense to Der redhead's 
treatment of her hunny. She will still be the 
girl's friend, but she will see her a bit 
differently than in the show. I want to warn 
Asuka fans _now_ that our favorite German gal 
is gonna be in for a rough trip. While it won't 
necessarily be much worse than what she 
experienced in the original timeline, it will 
still be a rough read for an Asuka fan. (Also; 
keep in mind I'm a registered member of the 
Asuka Fans United-- I'm not doing any of this 
out of spite)

     Oh, about the age thing, well Asuka was 
born on December 4 2001, and since she arrives 
early in September 2015 (rough estimate based 
on synch training schedule) that would put her 
at 13 until December 4 2015. According to the 
calendar, it was still September during the 
training incidentally.

     About that bit with the Police song, I was 
driving around awhile back when that song came 
on the radio. Now, in the literal translation 
scripts, Asuka refers to Kaji as 'Sensei'. The 
connection was made and I couldn't stop 
laughing for at least fifteen minutes. 

     Next chapter we're going to finally have 
another Angel fight in the story, I plan on 
doing the entire Eighth Angel from Shinji POV. 
Be interesting to see how that comes out. More 
Rei and more of Hikari's sisters' next chapter 
as well, gotta keep it moving while Hikari's in 
Okinawa. Also; Kensuke's mysterious friend on 
the Internet... ^_^

     Well that's all I got at the moment 

Hotwire 
Chain Lightning Studios

http://www.chainlightningstudios.com