Boy, am I lazy! Yes, I know the month of November is pretty much gone by the time this goes up, but what can I say? I can get caught up in the clutches of a new video game and procrastinate just as good as any of you out there! (By the way, Karsten, where's that last A-kon 12 tape? :)

Of course, Hotwire ended up making me work for it this month, drawing a sky in Chuck & Charles, so I had to figure out how to display speech...I managed to get it done, but it took time....hope you appreciate the effort. I know I appreciate Hotwire's efforts every month he takes my stick-figure storyboard and comes up with great artwork to support my dialogue.

So what am I thankful for? I'm thankful that after 5 years, we still have two stable, thriving chapters, and people around the country who are Anime Heretics in spirit, if not in an official club chapter. I'm thankful that anime is far more readily available, and a much higher quality now than it was when I first got into it 11 years ago. I'm thankful to have a wife that supports and participates in my anime habit, rather than trying to put it down as some kind of kid's hobby to grow out of. I'm thankful for the submissions I get every month to keep this newsletter alive. And of course, I'm thankful for every one of you that reads it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy this month's issue.

If you haven't already signed on the Anime Heretics mailing list, send a message to majordomo@lists.io.com with a message stating:

subscribe ah-l

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN....

Story by Throkda Jones (sprinkled with a couple suggestions by Qeorita)
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 discovered that America is just as funky to get used to after living in Japan for a long time, moved to Thailand, and opened his own anime company. And now, the continuation....

How to Live in Bangkok

For over a year I lived in an apartment downtown, near the good shopping centers. I could walk to Mahboonkrong Center (usually too crowded for me to bother with) or to Siam Square, Siam Center, Amarin Plaza, Panthip Plaza and when it opened, the World Trade Center—all within 30 minutes. It was expensive by Thai standards but really cheap by Japanese standards—about 30,000 yen a month. I learned how to live like a non-tourist in Bangkok

This is not to say that you can't go out and have fun. Festivals can be very fun and interesting. It's well worth the time to visit the temples and other places of historical interest. This is as a tourist though. When you live in the city every day you have different priorities.

When I first moved into the apartment, it was only a 20 minute (air conditioned) bus ride to my studio. Two years later, the same journey took more than two hours, one way! I finally got sick of the travel time and moved into my office room in the studio. It was my first time working "at home" and I got hooked for life!

My apartment was one big room with dirty white walls and an airconditioner that was on every time I was there and a small bathroom with beige tiles and a thin wooden door. There was a small balcony where I could view mostly nothing from my 8th floor perspective. Downstairs was a laundry that I never used and a little inconvenience store that I got drinks from.

My Funky Lifestyle

Sometimes I would off on spontaneous trips to weird places. Like Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Phuket in south Thailand. Sometimes I would shut myself in for an entire week and hide out and do storyboards, or write or watch movies.

I pretty much quit watching TV completely when I first started working in Bangkok. I didn't have a TV in my apartment and the one in the studio had no antenna. I couldn't figure out the rental shops and there wasn't much I wanted to rent anyway. I would wait until I got back to Japan and rent all the new movies that had come out while I was gone. To this day I watch about two hours of TV a week, if that.

Although I loathed the hot season I rather liked the rainy season. The clouds would gather in the afternoon and let loose huge gouts of rain for a couple hours and then go away. I loved to go up on the roof of my studio after it rained because the air would be clear enough for me to see the lights of downtown and the mosquitoes wouldn't come out for another few hours.

I ate the strangest variety of food that can be imagined. One day the hottest Thai curries for lunch and traditional Italian food for dinner, the next day fried rice for lunch and McDonald's for dinner. We were about a 20 minute walk from a 24 hours supermarket (there were only four in Bangkok) and they stocked both local and international items. No matter what I bought it was still cheaper than Tokyo.

More Digital Dreams

I developed a computer production control system and spent hours and hours learning to program, mostly in Visual Basic. I thought that computers could be used to color the images and this could be vastly superior to cel painting. I didn't know how this could be accomplished so I started talking to friends over e-mail about the idea. One cool graphics hacker guy at NeXT introduced me to Animo and I sent away for more information. Although unbelievably expensive by my standards at that time — $45,000 — I knew that it was a tool that could really make a difference in the animation industry.

I was faced with the problem of supply and support though. Although I would have been happy to use Silicon Graphics, (black) NeXTs, Suns or even Macs in production, there was no way I could afford enough of them to make a dent in my schedule and I couldn't get local support in Bangkok for any of them anyway. (There was no official Apple distributor in Thailand yet and machines were almost three times the US price.) PCs were the only reasonable option and there wasn't really any animation production software that was any good available for Windows at that time. Animo seemed like a great solution because it ran on PC hardware, albeit under NEXTSTEP Intel.

Oh no, not again!

I was in Bangkok for the democracy riots and all I could think was “Oh, no, not AGAIN!” I sandbagged the big metal shutters out front, loaded the H&K MP5K and my Glock and had to have all the news of what was going on relayed through friends via e-mail. I stuffed all the company documents in a backpack and was thinking of the Killing Fields constantly. Some of my staff members who lived close by came over and we stood up on the roof and listened to the shooting near the university. We went out to see if we could find any open stores and saw the bodies of two guys shot in the heads for breaking the glass in a phone booth. Not a pretty sight.

Anime Expo 94

Once more I made the pilgrimage to Anime Expo, this time sans wife. This was the first Expo in southern California, at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is my favorite of all the convention centers I've been to. (It's not so much the convention center but what's around it—Disneyland and lots of shopping an restaurants.)

I met Izumi Matsumoto, creator of Kimagure Orange Road, at the convention and we hit it off immediately. He had an idea to make a digital comic and release it on floppy disk but a group of us got together during the Meet the Guests Banquet and brainstormed up a whole new concept—a collection of manga on CD-ROM. This was the birth of Comic ON.

During the party some totally drunk guy wandered in and sat down with us. We thought he was some weird anime fan but it turned out that he was there for a different convention. Security had to lead him out. After Expo was over there was a Christian convention (I forget the exact name) and the guy showed up again, all apologetic. He offered to play a song on the piano in the lobby and I was waiting for a friend to pick me up so I had nothing else to do so I decided to listen. He was really good! He played a bunch of songs and a crowd eventually formed. He asked for requests and some guy kept saying, "Play some good ole tahm gospel!" Turns out he didn't know any. The crowd almost immediately disappeared.

A New Chapter

By this time Ishiguro had decided to buy an Animo system. We visited Cambridge (England) with two of the top Artland staff and saw the company (Cambridge Animation Systems), the software and the lovely city. It was my first trip to Europe and I felt more foreign in England than the Japanese did!

We came away impressed and ordered a license. I went back to Cambridge for the two week training course and tried to soak up every bit of knowledge I could about Animo. I brought my PC back from TAO and we installed it and I started months of 24 hour days to learn the system and all its secrets.

In April of 1994 the president of Cambridge Animation invited me to demonstrate the system at NAB in Las Vegas and I was very happy to do so. It was the first real tradeshow I had ever been to and also the first time I had been to Las Vegas. I lost my voice and won $250 from a slot machine in an empty casino at 5 am on my birthday. That night the Cambridge crew took me to dinner and made me wear a sombrero and drink some foul shooter things.

(to be continued....)

An Anime Fight I'd Like to See...

by Qeorita

SCENE

Kitchen Stadium (the Iron Chef set, for you poor uninitiated people...)

ANNOUNCER

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the event you've all been waiting for: Kasumi Tendo versus Sasami Jurai in an all-out cook-off!

Enter KASUMI, wielding her knives and cutting board, followed by SASAMI with RYO-OHKI on her shoulder.

THE CHAIRMAN

Today's secret ingredient, though seen as common by many, has a noble flavor and a texture that makes it a worthy addition to any dish. I present you with -- carrots!

KASUMI gets a big grin, while SASAMI groans, and RYO-OHKI runs for the carrots. The contestants hurry to fill their baskets and rush to their stations. RYO-OHKI munches away happily while SASAMI tries to shoo her away.

SCENE

KASUMI's station. She's busilly working on chopping and dicing carrots.

ANNOUNCER

Great move by Ms. Tendo! The "Julienne of Doom!" She seems to be making carrot salad, carrot stew, carrot loaf, and carrot cake.

SCENE

SASAMI's station. She's copping and dicing away, trying to fight off RYO-OHKI.

ANNOUNCER

Well, it looks like Ms. Jurai is having some difficulties with her pet eating the ingredients.

SASAMI screams in frustration and has one of her cooking assistants hold RYO-OHKI back.

Wonderful comeback by Ms. Jurai!! Perfect use of the "Dice'n'Chop of Peril!" She is trying to catch up with opponent by making carrot loaf, carrot wellington, pickled carrots, and carrots in syrup.

At KASUMI's station, she's putting the finishing touches on her presentation

30 seconds to go. Can Ms. Jurai come from behind to win it? Or will Ms. Tendo take it all?

At SASAMI's station, she's crying because she's only managed to pull off two of her four dishes. RYO-OHKI fights to break free.

Time is up! Time for judging!

RYO-OHKI breaks free and heads for the unused carrots. SASAMI is still crying. KASUMI is nervous about the judging.

Ms. Tendo's dishes will be judged first. Great presentation of four dishes: carrot salad, carrot loaf, carrot stew and carrot cake. The carrot salad is perfect, pleasing to the palate. The carrot loaf is a little tart, but leaves the mouth happy. The carrot stew is a great blend of carrots and spices -- the tastebuds want more. Ah, and now for dessert, carrot cake. A perfect compliment to a perfect dinner.

KASUMI bows and grins

And now for Ms. Jurai's presentation. Oh, my. It looks like she only managed to complete two of her four dishes. Let's see how she fares. After several difficulties in the beginning, Ms. Jurai has managed to successfully prepare pickled carrots and carrots in syrup. The pickled carrots are very tart, leaving the tastebuds wanting more. The carrots in syrup, however, is far too sweet, and in my opinion could put a horse into diabetic shock!

SASAMI wails. RYO-OHKI keeps munching away.

And now for the final judgement. Ms. Tendo gets a perfect score of 100. Ms. Jurai, however, gets a 50 point penalty for not completing all her dishes, and is awarded 30 points for her efforts. The winner is Ms. Tendo!

KASUMI

Arigato!

KASUMI smiles and bows.

SASAMI

But it's not fair! I want a re-match! No pets allowed next time!

SASAMI continues crying.

ANNOUNCER

That's all for today. Be sure to tune in next time for Akane Tendo vs. C-ko in a pitched battle to determine who is the true fiance!

RANMA -- (off-stage)

When did I get engaged to C-ko??

AKANE -- (off-stage)

RRRRANMAAAAAAA!!!!!

This month on Oh Shit Son... "It isn't cheap being a single mom! Haru-sama's double shift" you might want to read it or i'll really cause some trouble.

Haruna walked into the Virgin Music and Books Megastore quietly as a few heads turned to look at her, a small crowd of people almost passed out even. She walked to the check-out desk, " Do you have the CD 'Burn Up! O.K' by Haru-sama?"

The young man at the desk nodded vigorously and pointed towards a large rack just for Haru-sama merchandise.

"Thank you sir" Haruna whispered as she walked over to the rack, her own face was on each thing she saw on that rack, even on a Haru-sama bra and panties set. She shook her head a bit and put on her goggles, walking out of the store. Haruna looked at the floor as she accidently bumped into a teenage girl wearing a Haru-sama T-shirt.

She continued walking and when she reached her car, had trouble finding her keys, apon getting in she revved the engine a bit and sped off towards the Lifestyles Clinic of Irving. Haruna was early as she always was for her shift as head nurse of the pediatric ward. All of the paintents she attended were male though, Haruna hated girls, especially young girls. Her first appointment was with a 6th grade boy who needed his second and third Hepatitus B vaccine. But suddenly everything stopped, space itself stood still.

Martina woke up and hopped out of bed yelling, "I'm late, i'm late, i'm late dammit...DAMMIT!!" Changing from her nightshirt to her school uniform while she runs down the stairs is one of Martina's few skills. Stuffing a peice of halloween candy, still wrapped in her mouth and grabbing her bookbag she sped out the door. "Professor Hatter'll kill me if i'm late again, this is the seventh time this month!"

To Be Continued.... .... if Silent Goblin sees it fit -_^

You Know You're Hooked on Cels When...

compiled by Deanna Baran
A/N: This is a compilation from a recent discussion on the Animanga board.

Sorry...no puzzles this month (I was running late enough as it was... :)

Haunted Heretics

Here's the key to last month's word search puzzle...

Anime Anagrams

Here are a few horror anime titles, scambled into new words (there are some pretty cool software tools out there :)

And now, the solutions....how many did you get?

MEND A HURT VIPER = Vampire Hunter D

HINT: SHORT FAT FOREST = Fist of the North Star

GLITCH! AMIGA WILT... = Magical Twilight

UNTRUTH? SEEK A BAR = Bakaretsu Hunter

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



    Don't be surprised, when a crack in the ice
    Appears under your feet
                         The Thin Ice
                         Pink Floyd, The Wall



[]===============[]
  Book 1 Part 6
[]===============[]


     Asuka was in high spirits when she 
returned to the apartment. She still couldn't 
really think of the place as 'home', in fact, 
she hadn't thought of anywhere as being home 
since she was a child. It was simply a place 
where she dwelled until the morons at Nerv 
realized that she was fully capable of living 
on her own. On the upside it was much nicer 
than the disgusting cell that they had shoved 
her in at first. She pitied any other new 
pilots who arrived; that was no way for the 
saviors of Mankind to be treated. 

      The Katsuragi residence was small, but it 
was nice by Japanese standards. As compact as 
it was, even she had to admit that the place 
was well planned out. When she had first seen 
the room she was using she hadn't believed that 
she could possibly fit even half her stuff in 
it. After a closer inspection she discovered 
how well managed the space was, and she had 
only ended up sending about a quarter of her 
belongings to storage.   

       Despite that, and fact that couches 
seemed to be non existent in Japan, she liked 
the place. It had a great view of the city from 
the patio that was right outside her door. Her 
only real complaints were her roommates. Misato 
wasn't so bad, if she would try to find a 
decent brand of beer Asuka thought that she 
might be able to put up with the woman. Whoever 
had hooked the poor lady on that disgusting 
Russian brew should be shot. Sooner or later 
she would have to get Misato some _real_ beer 
so she wouldn't have to smell the stuff 
anymore. 

       Her other roommate... was a bit more 
annoying. How Shinji Ikari had lasted this long 
was a mystery to her; the boy was hardly pilot 
material. He was a fluke, he _had_ to be! There 
was no way that someone as pathetic as that boy 
having such a high synch ratio was natural. She 
and Ayanami had worked for months and months to 
get their ratios high enough for activation, to 
synch on the first try...

      'It has to be a fluke,' she thought as 
she removed her shoes, 'no way they _picked_ 
him for this.'

      Back in Germany, she had heard rumors 
that he had even run _away_! What kind of loopy 
selection process would pick someone who didn't 
even want to be there? Well at least they had 
her. She would show all of them just what a 
_real_ Evangelion Pilot was capable of, and 
after over eight years of training she was more 
than ready to do just that.  

     At the moment however, she had better 
things to think about. Her shopping trip had 
been heavenly! Spending the whole day with Kaji 
had been wonderful, and she couldn't wait till 
the next time. He was so handsome and charming, 
completely unlike the disgusting boys at 
collage. If he didn't insist on pursuing that 
ridiculous obsession with Misato he would be 
perfect. She would have to remember to tell him 
so on their next date.

     That, of course, would have to wait until 
after she got back from the class trip. 

       This was the other thing that had her in 
such a good mood. She hadn't had a chance to go 
scuba diving since the last stages of her pilot 
training had begun two years previous, and she 
missed it. Okinawa was supposed to be a nice 
town in the first place, and with the high 
ocean levels since Second Impact, there would 
be many submerged buildings for her to explore 
under the sea. 

      As she made the turn from the hall to the 
kitchen however, something told her that there 
was about to be some bad news. Misato was 
sitting at the table with a beer in front of 
her, but instead of being half-empty; the can 
was unopened. She had only seen Misato do this 
once before, and that had been when she was 
instructing Shinji and herself on their synch 
training. Also, Shinji was sitting at the table 
listening idly to one of his tapes on SDAT.

      So the obvious conclusion of this was 
that Misato Katsuragi was about to get serious 
on her. For Misato to do this at home was a 
rare occurrence. At work the woman was amazing, 
juggling task after task and still keeping up 
with whatever the Angels threw at them. At 
home... at home she reminded Asuka of some of 
the frat boys back at collage.   
     
      Sure enough Misato gestured for her to 
sit down, and what she had to say was more than 
enough to ruin Asuka's mood.


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


     "What do you _mean_ we won't be going?" 
Asuka cried out as she stood from her chair.

      "Your presence is required here in Tokyo 
Three until the threat of the Angels is past," 
Misato responder calmly.

     "No one ever told me anything about that!"

     "Well now you've been told," Misato said 
with a smile.

     "Who's crazy idea was this anyway?" Asuka 
muttered as she slumped back into her chair.

     "That particular crazy notion would be 
mine," Misato told her as she popped open her 
drink, "as the operations planing manager it 
was my decision."

    Asuka seemed to simmer in her seat, and 
Misato could feel the anger resonating off the 
German girl like a tangible force. To her 
relief-- and slight amusement-- Asuka decided 
to direct it to the boy sitting beside her who, 
until then, had been observing silently.

     "Hey you, don't just sit there drinking-- 
say something! Stand up for yourself! It's your 
rights she's trampling on too you know!"

     "Well... I kinda figured we wouldn't be 
allowed to go from the beginning," Shinji told 
her-- doing an admirable job of not melting 
under her glare in the process, "and she does 
have a point, if an Angel attacks we do need to 
be here."

     "So you're just give up and let them strip 
away your freedom?" 

     "It's not like that, it's just--"

     "I can't believe that they housebroke you 
so easily! You're pathetic!"

      "There's no call for that Asuka!" Shinji 
said indignantly. Actually, he had no idea what 
the English term she had just used meant, but 
he was sure it was not polite. Coming from 
Asuka it was a safe bet anyhow.

     "Don't take that tone of voice with _me_ 
you little twerp!" Asuka said, her eyes 
burning.

      "Will you make up your mind?" Shinji 
demanded, raising his voice. She had been doing 
this for weeks now, and he was starting to get 
sick of it. One moment she would complain that 
he let everyone walk all over him, the next she 
was screaming at him for talking back to her. 

     "Stop it both of you!" Misato yelled, 
slamming her beer can down on the table and 
causing both of them to jump in surprise, 
"Asuka I know how much you want to go on this 
trip, but we just can't risk it, I'm sorry.

      "Wait, wait, wait, _wait_, _WAIT_! That's 
all we ever do around here!" Asuka shouted, 
turning her anger back to her guardian, "any 
_good_ solider will tell you that we should be 
hunting _them_ not sitting around waiting for 
them to come to _us_!"

      "Asuka, if we could do that, believe me 
we would," Misato told her as she took another 
sip of her beer," but you do have to admit that 
this will give you both a good opportunity to 
catch up on your studies-- or did you think I 
wouldn't notice your test scores?"

     Shinji wished he could sink into his 
chair. He had known that sooner or later the 
absences and rushed makeup work was going to 
come out in his scores... he supposed he should 
be grateful it had taken this long. 

        "You do realize that all your exam 
results were forwarded directly to my office? I 
am very disappointed with both of your scores, 
especially you Asuka... with your education you 
should be doing much better than this."

       "Hey, don't blame me if the grading 
scales you Japanese use can't properly identify 
my talents, " Asuka told her haughtily-- 
unfortunately for her point, she was making no 
sense whatsoever," why are we even forced to go 
to school? It's not like they could actually 
_teach_ me anything there."

     "When in Rome," Misato said with a grin, 
"do as the Romans do... and get used to it 
because you're signed up for at least the next 
two semesters."

      "This sucks!" Asuka screamed as she 
stormed to her room and slammed her door.

       Shinji looked at Misato and a 
realization struck him. Living with the 
redheaded girl had been difficult for him, he 
had lost his room, the quiet, and a lot of 
privacy... but Misato on the other hand had 
seemed to take everything in stride. In the 
proceeding 'conversation' however, Shinji had 
detected a subtext to Misato's tone that was 
just now becoming text to him.

     "You enjoyed that," he asked his guardian 
as she downed the rest of her beer, "didn't 
you?"

    Misato tossed the empty can expertly into 
the recycling bin he had brought in awhile back 
and winked at him, "now Shinji it would be 
downright mean of me to take pleasure in 
denying that _sweet_ young girl a trip she had 
been looking forward to. Even if it was fully 
authorized and I had no choice," she leaned 
over onto her elbows and fluttered her 
eyelashes innocently, " why would you _ever_ 
think I'd do that?"

      Shinji chuckled at that; at least it 
wasn't just _him_ that Asuka drove crazy. 
      

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

     
    Kensuke had been up most of the night.

     Last time he'd looked at the clock had 
been around one. Not that he really cared as he 
was, at the moment, wrapped up in what might 
have been the most fascinating conversation of 
his life. Ever since Nerv had secured the UN's 
undivided attention after the Jet Alone 
disaster, information on the Evangelions had 
been much easier to come by. 

      The lack of international funding had not 
stopped other countries from developing war 
machines-- in fact there were numerous projects 
all around the world rushing robotic battle 
machines into production. Part of this was 
because the world feared what might happen if 
the Eva's were ever turned against mankind, but 
it also was a remnant of the twentieth 
centuries cold war mentality. If one country 
had a weapon, then the next largest would try 
to match them. It was the 'red queen' 
phenomenon. Everyone was running as fast as 
they could to stay in place. 
 
      Kensuke ran a web page devoted to the 
latest rumors of such projects. He meticulously 
researched his leads, and only accepted new 
information from trusted sources. His current 
conversation was the result of an Email he'd 
received earlier that day.

      He was well aware that the Jet Alone 
project had been mostly abandoned by the JSSDF, 
but that the two prototypes had been sold to 
China. At the moment, there was no official 
word on the status of the JA's, and he had 
about given up hope on it. However, the person 
he had been conversing with most of the night 
had relayed information concerning a new 
project that had him very interested. 

      [TheMechSage] so it's a land sea and air 
      system? 

      [TetsuShojo] that's right, it's one of 
      the reasons they called it what they did.

      [TheMechSage] this is great? How long 
      before they go public? Not that I 
      don't believe you, but I have to confirm 
      some of this before I can post it.

      [TetsuShojo] I understand, but I just 
      don't know. They don't exactly tell us 
      much in my department

      [TheMechSage] that's a shame, ever since 
      the American project fell through and 
      they joined Project E there hasn't been 
      much to report. If I didn't have such 
      great footage of the Eva's then my site 
      wouldn't be worth much.

      [TetsuShojo] I think you're doing a great 
      job. That picture of Unit One under repair 
      is amazing. It's even better than the one 
      of it and Zero at sunset

     [TheMechSage] oh, I can't take credit for 
     that one, it was a gift

     [TetsuShojo] really? How did you manage 
     that?

     [TheMechSage] well I don't usually tell 
     people this, but one of the pilots is a 
     pretty good friend of mine. His guardian 
     got the photo for me. I think she got tired 
     of my pestering her about it.

      [TetsuShojo] you're kidding?

     [TheMechSage] truth, truth! Check out my 
     'life in Tokyo Three' page for a pic of him, 
     he's the one with the sad look on his face

     [TetsuShojo] hmmm he's a cutie, and you're 
     the sexy one with the glasses?

     [TheMechSage] that's me in the glasses, I 
     don't know about 'sexy' though

     [TetsuShojo] hey, I think freckles are 
     _way_ sexy on the right guy

     [TheMechSage] you flatter me ^_^

     [TetsuShojo] hey, while I'm thinking about 
     it, I heard something about an Australian 
     project today. I'll see what the word is 
     on that tomorrow
     
      [TheMechSage] I really appreciate all the 
      information; you've been a big help  

     [TetsuShojo] it's my pleasure, when will 
     you be on again by the way? I've had fun 
     talking with you

     [TheMechSage] well I'm going to Okinawa 
     for a few days, but I'll be back in a 
     week or so.

     [TetsuShojo] glad to hear it, I look 
     forward to our next conversation

     [TheMechSage] hey, before you go, what's 
     your name? I never did catch it
 
     [TetsuShojo] ah, but that would be 
     telling... ^_^

     [TheMechSage] a woman of mystery, I like 
     it!

     [TetsuShojo] silly, it's late and I do 
     have to go... enjoy your trip

     [TheMechSage] Thank you. I'll talk to you 
     soon. Nite!


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


      "I still wish you could go with us," 
Hikari told Shinji as they walked back to the 
airport terminal where everyone was waiting for 
the plane to arrive. The rest of their class 
was there as well; Asuka had even come to see 
them off. The only person who was not there was 
Rei, but Hikari didn't mind. She knew from her 
dealings with Shinji that it was going to take 
a long time before Rei could make anything 
close to his progress in the social department. 

      "It's probably better that I stay," 
Shinji said with a weak smile, " I wouldn't be 
able to go diving anyhow."

      "Why not?"

     "I can't swim," he replied with a slight 
blush.

     "Seriously? That's a shame... I could 
teach you if you want."           

     "I don't know," he said apprehensively, " 
I spend so much time breathing liquid in the 
Eva that it doesn't appeal to me much."

      "Well I kind of see your point there, but 
you should still learn. You never know when it 
will come in handy."

     "I suppose... hey have you decided what 
you're going to the dance as?"

     "No, I still can't think of a costume... 
the rules said that it has to ' represent an 
aspect of your personality'. Interesting in 
theory, but it makes picking one out a bit 
difficult."

      "I'm sure you'll come up with something," 
he said-- reaching over and squeezing her hand.

      "Even so, I won't have much time if I 
don't do it soon... anyway, what are you going 
to do while we're all gone?"  

     "I think Misato has something planed with 
your sister, but other than that I'm mostly 
going to be studying for the make up exam."

      "I'm sorry, I should have helped you 
study more."

     "It's not your fault, I doubt I would have 
scored as high as I did if you hadn't been 
there. It's the training and tests that keep 
cutting into my time."

      "Not to mention your roommate's music 
tastes," Hikari said cringing in memory of the 
German rock bands that Asuka favored. She liked 
the girl, but was doubtful that she would ever 
like her music.

      "Well, it hasn't been so bad since Misato 
threatened to throw the stereo out the window; 
I think Asuka got the message. It's a very good 
thing that we don't have neighbors."
      
     They stood and walked back to where the 
rest of the students were gathered. Asuka was 
chatting away with Ichigo and a couple other 
girls, Kensuke was fast asleep, Touji on he 
other hand was wide-awake and waved them over 
to where he was sitting.

     "Where have you two been hiding?" he asked 
as they sat down.

     "We were over at the food court," Shinji 
replied

     "Cool, I think I might run over there 
before the plane arrives. I doubt I can make it 
the whole flight on just peanuts."

      "Didn't you have breakfast before you 
left home?" Hikari asked   

     "Yeah... why?"

     "It was just two hours ago Touji," Shinji 
said.

     "So?"

     "Never mind," the two sighed in unison.

     "So what's shaking with the demon?" Touji 
asked, "she didn't even insult me this morning, 
I _almost_ miss the attention."

     "Well she found out Misato was going to 
let her use the natatorium to go scuba diving 
and she's been in a good mood ever since. Come 
to think of it she hasn't even called me stupid 
once today"

     "Gotta be some kind of record or 
something," Touji said with a grin,

     "Stop it you two," Hikari told them-- 
trying to keep from smiling as she did so.

     "Shame you can't go," Touji told Shinji, 
"not gonna be as much fun without ya."

     Shinji almost blushed, Touji wasn't just 
saying that-- he really meant it. He had only 
known the other boy for a sjort while, but in 
that time he had learned that Touji generally 
said the first thing that came to mind. No 
pauses to ponder the outcome simply thought to 
deed in one electric leap. So for him to say 
something like that, especially offhand like he 
had, indicated that he meant it fully.

      "Thank you Touji," Shinji told his 
friend, " I wish I could go too, but I do have 
a responsibility to be here."

      "Well, I'll try to have fun for the three 
of ya," Touji said with a grin. 

      "Suzuhara!" Hikari said-- crossing her 
arms wit ha frown.

      "What? I shouldn't try to have fun?"

      "You're utterly hopeless, aren't you?" 
Hikari said with a sigh

     "Hey!" Asuka said as she sauntered over, " 
whatcha talking about?"

     "Not much," Hikari said, "just wishing you 
Rei and Shinji could go."

     "I know, and it's a damned shame that Nerv 
won't go on the offensive, "Asuka said as she 
leaned against a support beam and crossed her 
hands behind her head, "if Misato didn't have 
the highest tactical scores out of the last six 
classes in Germany I'd think this organization 
was run by idiots."

       "Is she really that good?" Shinji asked, 
this was the first he'd heard of this.

       "Well Kaji was in her graduating class, 
and he told me about it once," she said, 
"apparently she even had to take the hardest 
tests twice because they couldn't believe she 
hadn't cheated. Then she beat her previous 
score and they all flipped."

      "Wow..." Touji said, he glanced over at 
Kensuke who was still snoring in his seat. He 
would have to remember to tease his friend for 
missing out on this information about Goddess 
Katsuragi.

     "Yeah, the only reason she didn't graduate 
top of her class was that she missed a week or 
two in mid semester, I asked Kaji about that 
but he said he didn't know why. I have to 
admit, despite her sloppy housekeeping, she is 
the best I have ever seen at what she does." 

     As they pondered the high compliment Asuka 
had just given Misato, their flight was 
announced and the other students began 
gathering their carry on luggage. Shinji and 
Hikari stood there for a bit each wanting to 
say something, but not having the words.

     "I guess this is it," Shinji said at last 
as he looked down at his feet.

     "I'll get the two of you something nice 
while I'm there." 

      "Thanks."

     They stood there for a few moments longer 
before Hikari came to a decision. Taking a 
determined breath she stepped forward, and to 
the surprise of Touji, the newly awakened 
Kensuke, and the completely befuddled Asuka-- 
she kissed Shinji deeply on the lips.

     They had kissed once before, and it had 
been nice, but this one shot it down in flames. 
As Shinji overcame his surprise and began to 
return her embrace, the others watched on in 
shock. When the two finally came up for air and 
saw the looks they were receiving, they both 
blushed deeply. As Touji looked back and forth 
between the two and scratched his head in 
confusion, Kensuke pinched himself to make sure 
he was really awake. 

    After a moment, Asuka threw up her hands 
and walked off cursing in German about all 
Japanese being perverts. This sent Hikari into 
giggles and Shinji into an even deeper blush. 
Finally the boarding signal was given and the 
class began heading to the plane. As they made 
their way down to their seats, Touji turned to 
speak with Kensuke

      "When did this start?" he asked his 
groggy friend.

     "I have no idea, but I kinda had a hunch 
something was up."

     "Really? I didn't have a clue."

     "I _must_ be tired if I'm passing on a 
straight line like that," Kensuke said with a 
yawn, " why so shocked though? It's not like 
they don't make a cute couple."

      "I dunno, Shinji's kinda weird."

     "He can be a little different, but that's 
just because of how he was raised. Think about 
how much he's changed since he started hanging 
out with us and the class rep. I don't remember 
him even talking to anyone for the first two 
weeks, now he and Hikari spend almost every 
spare moment together. 
  
      "You do have a point... but I dunno," 
Touji looked out the window at the terminal 
where he could see Shinji standing against the 
glass, "think he's good enough for her?"

      "If I were any more awake than I am, I'd 
suspect you were jealous Touji," Kensuke said 
as he leaned his seat back a bit. 

      "Of course not!" Touji said defensively, 
"but she _is_ our friend and we ought to look 
out for her. It was a legitimate question." 

      "Well if he was still like he was when he 
arrived, I might agree, " Kensuke said as he 
settled back in his chair, " but he's come a 
long way since that day at the train station... 
I think there's hope for them."

       Touji listened to that and thought about 
it for a moment. He was about to ask something 
else when he turned and found Kensuke was fast 
asleep.

     Farther back in the plane Hikari and Yume 
were seated together. Naturally the other girl 
wanted to know the hows and whys of what she 
had just witnessed.

     "I told you," Hikari repeated, " we're not 
too serious yet, that was only our second 
kiss."

     "And you're not worried?"

     "About what?"

     "Leaving him alone with the other two 
pilots. I'll admit that Ayanami isn't much of a 
threat, but the German? I wouldn't leave my guy 
alone within a mile of her."

     "Shinji isn't interested in her, he told 
me so."

     "Hikari, I thought you were smarter than 
that..."

     "Smarter than what?"

      "Boys don't exactly think with their 
_brains_ all the time. Asuka isn't the nicest 
girl I've ever met, she could melt just about 
any guy's spine in half a second if she tried."

     "I doubt she's even interested in Shinji, 
she complains about him constantly."

     "Hmmm maybe, but you never know..."

     Hikari turned away and looked out the 
window as they pulled onto the runway. She 
trusted Shinji; he was practically the 
definition of 'heart on his sleeve'. But Yume 
did have a point and that point had actually 
been one of the reasons behind the kiss that 
had so surprised everyone. She had wanted to 
leave Shinji with her on his mind in a big way.  

      In the end it came down to the fact she 
trusted him, but even as she reminded herself 
of the fact... Yume's words resonated in her 
mind... 


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


      From the terminal, Shinji watched the 
plane lift off. 

      As it sailed off into the clear blue sky 
he sighed and thought back to that electrifying 
kiss. He had never experience anything like it, 
he had felt totally open for that moment, and 
he hadn't been afraid. It was amazing how much 
more intense it had been than the last one, and 
that had been considerably intense. Almost 
amazing as the intensity was the closeness he 
felt to Hikari. 

     When he was around Hikari, he felt safe. 
That was the best way to put it. He knew she 
wouldn't twist anything he said into a joke, or 
yell at him like Misato and Asuka did. He knew 
she would listen to what he had to say, and 
that she trusted him to do the same. He knew 
that she enjoyed his company as much as he 
enjoyed hers. Most importantly he felt that he 
could be totally honest with her, and that had 
been something he'd never been able to do 
before.

       When he had arrived in Tokyo Three he 
had been alone. Since he had arrived he had 
gained friends, he even had something like a 
family- dysfunctional as it might be, and 
now... a girlfriend?

     "Hey! Let's go stupid," Asuka Shouted from 
behind, " I want to go swimming sometime 
_before_ they get back!"

      He smiled, having suspected she wouldn't 
last the whole morning without saying it at 
least once.       
       

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


     He hadn't planed on going with them, but 
Shinji had allowed Misato talk him into joining 
Rei and Asuka at the natatorium. Her reasoning 
had been sound enough-- if something happened 
to Asuka while she was underwater, he could at 
least shout for help and the Section Two guards 
would come running.         

      Unfortunately what Misato hadn't taken 
into account was the mindset he had been in 
since Hikari's departure. Every time he thought 
back to the kiss his mind became more muddled 
and he found it harder to concentrate on his 
studies for the makeup test. This was made even 
more difficult by Asuka's new swimsuit. 

      He wondered if the designer of the suit 
had crafted it with the sole purpose of 
inciting lustful thoughts in males, it didn't 
seem to be designed for _swimming_ that was for 
sure. It was far too delicate to be able to 
stand up to much vigorous swimming, or diving, 
and had Asuka not merely been planing to use 
the Scuba equipment it would have been a poor 
choice in his opinion. 

     All that aside, the main problem he had 
with the suit was the ridiculously big zipper 
on the front. He could understand the need for 
one with the design the suit had, but it was a 
bit much. The idea was so blatantly obvious 
that even he could understand it. The zipper 
was supposed to catch a guy's eye, and he was 
supposed to want to unzip it. 

     Clearly she had bought this particular 
suit with Kaji in mind, but he wished she would 
save it for when the older man was around-- at 
the moment it was keeping him from 
concentrating. 

     "Hey Shinji, whatcha doin'?" Asuka asked 
as she wandered over
     
     "I'm trying to get some studying done 
before our makeup exam," he told her, trying 
not to stare at her chest-- which was at the 
moment almost shoved in his face as she leaned 
over and read off his laptop.

      "Oh you're such an _obedient_ student," 
she teased as she sat down in the chair beside 
him and crossed her legs. Behind her in the 
pool Rei was making her second lap underwater 
without coming up for air.

     "Well," he explained, grateful that she 
had removed her cleavage from his face, "I 
don't want to have to spend years catching up 
to my studies when all of this is over."  

     "I suppose that makes sense... hey, what's 
this one?" she asked as she turned his laptop 
to face her. After a moment she pressed a 
couple of keys and turned it back to him, " 
there you go, all done. Its easy if you know 
how."

      "I don't understand Asuka, you can solve 
a hard problem like this... but you failed the 
exam?"

     "Oh _that_" She said leaning back in her 
chair and looking up at the ceiling, " I still 
haven't mastered all these crazy little 
squiggles that you call a written language over 
here."
    
      "You don't know the Kanji?"

      "Not all of it, I didn't have to study it 
in collage," she said as she twirled a few 
strands of hair between her fingers.

     "Y--you went to _collage_?"
  
      "Yeah," Asuka said dismissively, " I 
graduated last year, they said I was the 
youngest graduate in like sixty years or 
something... hey why are you just sitting 
around up here anyway?" 

     "You mean why am I not swimming?"

     "Yeah"

     "I can't swim."

     "Really? Why not?"

     "Back where I used to live there wasn't 
anywhere to do it, and like I told Hikari after 
breathing LCL so much I'm not very eager to 
float around like that."

      "Well you're missing out if you ask me."

     "What's so fascinating about it anyway?"

     "Lets see, for one thing I like how the 
echoes are all different when your down there. 
Sound actually carries better under water. Plus 
when you're floating down there its like 
flying. The ocean is even better because its 
like a whole other world suspended in midair."

     " I see your point, but I still think I'll 
stick to dry land for the moment, " he told her 
with a frown.

     "Your call, but I still say you're missing 
out Shinji... anyway, what's this one say?" she 
said pointing at the computer.

     "It's a question about thermal expansion."

     "Oh that's baby stuff, in short, things 
get larger when they get hot and smaller when 
they get cold."  

     "I know that but-" Shinji started to say, 
however the redhead cut him off in mid 
sentence.

    "I'll even make it easier for you," she 
told him as she took her hands -- and to 
Shinji's discomfort-- cupped her breasts.

    "Now, " she said as Shinji's face reddened, 
"if I were to warm my breasts with my hands 
would they get larger or smaller?"

     'What the hell is her problem?' Shinji 
thought as he looked away, 'she spends weeks 
calling me a pervert and now she does something 
like this?'

       "I don't know," he said quickly as he 
tried not to look at the admitably interesting 
scene before him, "I don't think about things 
like that!" 
    
      "You are _so_ dull Third Child, " she 
said haughtily as she stood and walked over to 
her scuba gear, "I don't think there's anything 
about you that's really interesting."

     Shinji frowned. He had never pretended to 
understand Asuka, take this for example; she 
had come over to _him_ and started up the 
conversation, now she was cutting it off and 
complaining. If she didn't find him interesting 
he wished she would just leave him alone and 
stop teasing him. 

     There was a splash behind him and he 
turned to see Ayanami climb out of the water 
and start to towel off. Before he could 
register this however, a shout echoed thorough 
the natatorium.

     "Hey Shinji! Lookie, lookie!"

      Turning once again, he saw Asuka wave at 
him as she fell back into the water. 

     'Oh, right,' he thought with a sigh and 
turned back to his studies, ' you don't find me 
interesting at _all_ '

     'What is wrong with that girl anyway?' He 
wondered as she finished the next few 
questions; 'doesn't she realize that she's 
contradicting herself all the time?' 

     As he considered this, he heard soft 
footfalls close by and turned to find Ayanami 
standing behind him.

     "Hello Rei," he said politely, " did you 
enjoy your swim?"

     "Yes." She said simply as she sat down. 

     "I wish I could be as interested in it as 
the two of you are," he told her, "Asuka tried 
to explain it to me, but I still don't know..."

     "Pilot Soryu finds comfort in water 
because it isolates her from the world." Rei 
said, startling Shinji with the depth of the 
statement, "many have different reasons."

     "Why do you like to swim Rei?" he asked

     "Our bodies are mostly water and there is 
a sense of oneness when I am immersed, also it 
gives me the feeling of..." she paused and 
frowned for a moment, "I do not know how to 
further describe it, I am sorry."

     "Its okay, I think I understand a 
little... particularly Asuka's reason."

      "Why is that?"

     "Because, I do something like that 
sometimes, only I use music instead of water."

     "Music isolates you from the world?"

     "It can," Shinji said as he looked out at 
the Geofront beyond the window, "some music 
draws you in if you let it. You can create 
whole worlds in your mind if you let yourself 
drift to the melody."

      "I have never considered this," Rei said 
thoughtfully, "does it occur with all music?"

      "Everyone's taste in music differs Rei, 
some you might like more than others... but for 
me classical is the best for doing that. Would 
you like to hear some?"

      Rei nodded an affirmative and Shinji 
pulled up his music file. He usually kept most 
of his tracks on his hard drive and downloaded 
them onto his SDAT when it was time for a 
change. It only took a moment for him to find 
his Beethoven collection and soon Moonlight 
Sonata was drifting out of the laptops built in 
speakers.

     As Rei listened attentively to the somber 
piano melody, Asuka surfaced, having heard the 
music's echo from below the water. When the 
piece was done Shinji noticed that Rei's eyes 
had been closed. She opened them nodded at him, 
then stood and walked out of the room. Back in 
the pool Asuka shrugged and submerged.  

     'I guess that's her idea of a 'thank 
you'...' he thought as he reloaded his homework 
program.

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

  
      Somewhere deep in the Geofront, there was 
a room that only two men ever entered. This 
room was not overly large; in fact Commander 
Ikari's office was almost three times its size. 
It was however large enough to accommodate a 
complex holographic projection and recording 
system. In the center of the room was a table 
with six spaces, each of these was illuminated 
in a different hue. At one end of the table sat 
Commander Gendou Ikari, with his Sub-Commander 
Kozo Fuyutski standing nearby. 

      The other five men in the room were in 
fact miles away. Their images were also no 
doubt altered to keep their identities secret 
from even the other members. Each of these men 
was a member of an organization known only as 
Seele. It had existed for years, perhaps 
centuries as a network of powerful men with one 
outstanding goal in mind

      The human instrumentality program.    

      At the moment however, the topic at hand 
was only linked to that by incident. A few 
hours previous a discovery had been made at one 
of Japan's active volcanoes-- an Angel slept 
therein. If captured it could be a tremendous 
source of data for the numerous projects under 
development around the world. 

     If they failed however...

     "An A17?" one of the committee members 
asked with more amusement in his tone than 
Gendou cared to have directed at him.

     "You wish to make a pre-emptive strike 
then?" another asked, at least showing a polite 
amount of interest

Gendou fought the urge to sigh in annoyance. 
Seele was made up of some of the most powerful 
men on the planet. Men who ruled nations sat in 
it's committee. One would have thought that 
some tact would have come with the job.

     "Yes," he told them simply.

     "Not acceptable! It's too dangerous!" one 
of the other men sneered at him. 
Unsurprisingly, it was the American, the 
prideful fools never had forgiven the Japanese 
for overtaking them as the dominant world 
power, "don't tell me you've already forgotten 
what happened when we tried this 15 years ago."

     Gendou fought the urge to get up and 
simply walk out. These sessions were more 
dangerous to him than any Angel attack could 
ever be. It seemed as if they were purposefully 
trying to antagonize him sometimes, "It's an 
opportunity to take an offensive posture, we've 
been doing nothing but defending ourselves 
since the beginning."

     " I must agree with him Ikari" the man who 
Gendou had known for years as Kiel said, "the 
risk is far too great."

     "Surely you admit how important getting a 
sample of a living Angel is," he said keeping 
his eyes fixed on Kiel.

     A moment passed between the men in total 
silence as Kiel considered those words. Finally 
the visored man spoke "Failure will not be 
tolerated," he told Gendou as the holographic 
conference was terminated. 

     When the light of his place marker went 
out and he was certain that they were alone, he 
finally allowed himself to relax slightly. He 
detested dealing with these greedy and 
desperate fools, but if his goals were to be 
realized then he had no choice. To leave them 
to their own designs was _not_ something he was 
prepared to do-- no matter how annoying their 
bickering could be.

     "Failure?" Fuyutski said with obvious 
disgust,  "If we fail, humanity will cease to 
exist."


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


     "So this is the Angel?" Shinji asked as 
they looked at the projected image on the 
screen. It didn't really look like an angel at 
the moment... it looked more like one of the x-
rays that doctors took of an unborn baby. They 
had called them in not half an hour ago and 
they had been suited up and ready to go when 
they had found out the nature of the mission. 
Needless to say Asuka was happy about it. 

     "Yes," Ritsuko told them "this is 
something like a chrysalis stage before 
adulthood. I want you all to remember that the 
top priority for this operation is to trap the 
Angel, capturing it alive and preserving its 
original condition as much as possible."

     "And if we screw up?" Asuka asked

     "Annihilate it as quickly as possible," 
Ritsuko answered, showing no reaction to the 
insolent way Asuka had asked her question, "do 
you all understand what I've told you?"

     "Yes," the three pilots said in unison. 

     "Good, now the assigned pilot will be--"

     She didn't get to finish before Asuka 
began bouncing in her seat with her hand in the 
air, looking for all the world like a teacher's 
pet who knew the answer to a tough question.

     "Me! Me! I'll go!" she cried excitedly. 
They all knew that she had been craving a solo 
mission since she arrived, and that she wasn't 
about to let this one slide by without a 
argument.
   
      'But of course, they'll pick me as 
usual,' Shinji thought as he slumped back in 
his chair. 

     "The pilot will be Asuka" Ritsuko finally 
finished with a roll of her eyes. 
      
     Shinji sat up with a start at hearing 
that, for a change they weren't going to put 
him in the hot seat...

      As he thought about that with relief, Rei 
spoke up

     "And myself?"

     "Unfortunately the equipment hasn't been 
standardized for use with Unit Zero" Maya told 
her, " we still haven't finished the upgrades 
to the prototype."

     "Correct," Ritsuko added, " but since it 
is nearly fully repaired you will remain here 
in case of emergency"

     "Understood," Rei said.

      "Awwww too bad," Asuka teased, " you 
won't be able to join us at the hot springs I 
guess"

     Shinji frowned-- there was absolutely no 
call for that.

     "Ritsuko?" he asked, " once the Angel is 
defeated is there any reason Rei shouldn't be 
allowed to join us?"

     " I suppose not, if she wants to go we 
could arrange a transport... Rei?"

     Rei looked around at the expectant faces 
with a touch of surprise; she had not 
considered the possibility of joining the 
others once the condition of the prototype had 
been explained. However she had never been to a 
hot spring, and the idea did appeal to her.
 
     "If it does not interfere with my duties, 
then I would enjoy to go." She told Ritsuko who 
smiled as she caught Asuka's reaction out of 
the corner of her eye. The reaction in question 
was one of great annoyance.     

     In the meantime Shinji sat there with a 
smile on his face. 


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


     They had arrived quickly and set up at the 
edge of the fiery pit. Shinji was to stand by 
in Unit One while Asuka took the type D 
equipment down into the inferno. He had to 
admire how brave she was, if something went 
wrong she would be not only roasted alive, but 
feel Unit Two's pain long before the Entryplug 
was affected by the heat. He knew _far_ to well 
what that felt like, and did not envy her job. 

     As he sat above the rim of the volcano in 
Unit One, he noticed a series of smoke trails 
above, there normally weren't that many planes 
in the area and it caught his attention.

     Flipping on his communications he asked 
Misato and the others what it was about.

     "That's the UN air force," Ritsuko 
answered

     "Oh?" Asuka piped in from Unit Two, "are 
they here to help us?"
     
    "No," Ritsuko replied with a touch of sour 
amusement, " they're here to clean up the mess 
if we fail."

     "What do you mean?" Asuka asked

     "If we fail their orders are to saturate 
the area with a N2 bombing run."

     "That _sucks_!" Asuka screamed indignantly 
from her Entryplug.

    " Who would order something like that?" 
Shinji wanted to know.

    "Commander Ikari" Ritsuko replied

    'You bastard...' Shinji thought angrily as 
he looked up at the planes circle above like 
vultures.      
           

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


     Other than the scissors dive as she went 
in, Shinji had to admit that Asuka was totally 
professional. It was strange... Misato was the 
same way. Off duty the woman was a total slob, 
constantly drinking and dressing in clothing 
that would get her arrested anywhere other than 
a beach. On duty Misato was just what Kensuke 
and Touji called her-- a Goddess. Right now she 
was completely in command of all aspects of the 
operation and the very picture of professional 
behavior. 

      A similar duality was at work with Asuka. 
Thankfully she didn't have Misato's habits, but 
the ones she _did_ have were almost as bad. But 
now, as he listened to the exchange going on 
between her and Misato, he respected her 
understanding of procedure. It was something he 
didn't have; for the most part he had to 
struggle just to remember the proper procedure 
for communications. 

      As she passed the recommended safety 
depth, he was again impressed by her lack of 
fear. Had it been him down there with the magma 
he knew he would have turned back by now. 

      "Nothing detected, no one's home" Asuka 
told Misato as she scanned the expected 
location.
    
     "The lava flow at that depth is faster 
than predicted, we are recalculating the 
location now" Misato told her.

     A few moments passed and Shinji was 
sweating despite the fact he was on the 
surface, every few moments he could hear a 
creaking sound over the radio contact, and he 
knew it was the armor of Unit Two warping under 
the heat.

      "We are exceeding the maximum safety 
depth, Asuka what is your status?" Misato asked

      "So far so good, but I wanna get into a 
shower first thing when I'm done, I feel nasty 
in this damn weird Plugsuit"

      "I know," Misato told her, and Shinji 
could almost picture the grin, " when we're 
done here we'll head off to the hot springs 
okay?" 

     As the Eva continued its slow trek, Shinji 
could still hear the creaking of the type D 
equipment through the communication link. The 
pressure down there was unbelievable; it had 
even snapped the straps holding the progressive 
knife in place. Every creak singled a step 
closer to the armor's implosion, how Asuka 
could stand it was beyond him.   

      Finally they found the target.

      "Releasing magnetic field... no problems 
detected, " Asuka told them from the bowls of 
the earth, " capture successful"

     "How are you down there Asuka?" Shinji 
asked      

     "Oh this was nothing," She told him, "but 
I definitely want to get the hell out of this 
damn suit and into that hot bath."

      Shinji grinned at that and sat back on 
his seat. Nothing had gone wrong, she was ok, 
and soon they would be at the springs. He 
wished Hikari would be there, he missed her. At 
least it would give him a chance to get to know 
her sisters though. They had planned this trip 
from the moment they had discovered that he and 
Asuka wouldn't be going on the class trip. 
Misato had even arranged for Kodama to bring 
Rei with them when she and Nozomi came up 
later. When she wasn't teasing him, Kodama 
could be nice enough, and Nozomi was just fun. 
The younger girl was smarter than most of the 
people he knew, when she grew up she just might 
make good on her desire to take Misato's job.

      As he drifted along to his thoughts, he 
heard a beep from the com, then an alarm.

     Sitting up quickly he checked his readouts 
and saw that there was a problem with the EM 
field around the angel... it was waking up!

     "Abort the capture," Misato yelled over 
the com, "drop the cage!"

     "No!" Asuka cried as the beast tried to 
free itself

      "Our operation is now altered," Misato 
ordered, "annihilation of Angel is the number 
one priority. Unit Two, withdraw and prepare 
for battle."

      "Understood!" Asuka said from below, 
"I've been waiting for this!"

     However a few seconds later, Shinji's 
hairs stood on end as he heard her next 
transmission

      "Oh, shiest!" She cried, "I forgot that I 
dropped the knife! The enemy is approaching 
from the front! Releasing ballast's."

       "Asuka," Misato yelled as Ritsuko 
relayed Shinji's new orders, "Unit One will 
drop its knife. Try and catch it!"

      Shinji threw his progressive knife into 
the bubbling lava, but his concern didn't ebb a 
bit. Switching on a private line to Misato, he 
asked permission to join the fight.

     "Negative Shinji, we need you up here in 
case the angel defeats Asuka."

     "But Misato--"

     "I said _no_ Shinji and that's an order, 
you are our last line of defense"

      'Gee, no pressure," he thought bitterly 
as he watched the churning mass of molten rock 
below. 

     The battle was tense for all of them. 
Visibility was nil and without weapons, Asuka 
was reduced to dodges for the moment. Her depth 
was rising rapidly but it just wasn't fast 
enough. 

      As the progressive knife arrived Shinji 
let out a sigh of relief... that was until what 
he heard next.

     "I'm not getting any use out of this damn 
thing!" she cried as she tried to cut into the 
Angel who was trying to _eat_ her. Ritsuko 
reported that the Angel's mass was too great 
and that the heat was preventing the 
Progressive knife from making even a scratch.

     'Damnit I can't just _sit_ here' Shinji 
thought as the others tried to come up with a 
plan, the answer came to him in a flash as he 
heard Maya report that one of the coolant pipes 
had been damaged.

      "Asuka!" he shouted, trying to slow his 
mind down enough to make sense "think Physics!"

      "Thermal expansion!" She yelled as she 
realized what he was saying, "transmit all 
coolant pressure to pipe three!"

      As they followed the directions, Shinji 
leaned over the edge and looked at the lava 
again, no sign of the battle below could be 
seen from there, despite the fact they were 
only a few hundred feet below the surface now. 

     " Heavy damage to all pipes!" Makoto 
yelled suddenly, " structural integrity down to 
three percent!"
   
     "I'm going in!" Shinji shouted as he 
realized that Asuka's lifeline was about to 
snap.

    "No Shinji!" Misato yelled back, " this is 
an order, you sta-" 

    Whatever she might have added to that was 
lost as Shinji switched off all communications 
and leapt into the volcano. 

      The first thing he noticed was the pain. 
The searing heat all around him transmitted 
through the neural interface he shared with 
Unit One. It was not, however, as bad as what 
the fifth angel had done to him, and he felt he 
could take it for a while.

     The second thing he felt as he sunk 
rapidly down into the magma, was the pressure. 
It felt like every inch of his body was being 
crushed more and more as he went deeper. Had 
this been the same for Asuka? How could she 
stand it?

    As he activated the CT monitor, he saw that 
Asuka was only a couple of meters away now, and 
as reported the piping was about to give out. 

     Switching his communications back on he 
could hear her.

     "I defeated the Angel," she said softly, " 
but I'm done for..."

     'No!' he thought as the pipe snapped just 
below him. Grabbing the end, he threw Unit One 
forward and reached as far as he could, 
grasping the edge of Unit Two's piping at the 
last possible second. 

     Unit Two's descent stopped with a jerk, 
and he heard a surprised gasp come over the com 
link. As he breathed a sigh of relief, he heard 
her let out a short laugh.

    "Show off" she said.


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

   
      "Do you have any idea how much trouble 
you are in Shinji?" Misato demanded once he 
returned from the shower. He was painfully 
reminded of a similar situation just after the 
fourth angel. That had been about he same 
thing-- disobeying orders. 

      "I gave you a direct order to hold your 
position and you ignored it. Not only that you 
shut off communications and placed Unit One at 
great risk." Misato told him, her voice was 
like steel trimmed with ice, "the price of 
repairs for Unit Two alone could feed a small 
nation, but you went down there with no 
protection at all. We're going to be clearing 
lava out of Unit One's armor for weeks!"

     Shinji stood there and listened to what 
she had to say. He didn't care really, he had 
saved Asuka and that was the important thing. 
How Misato seemed to be missing that point was 
beyond him.

     "I will have you know Shinji Ikari, " 
Misato said, " that we are in a time of war, 
and during war solders who disobey orders can 
be executed at the whim of the commanding 
officer. What you did back there can be 
interpreted as treason _very_ easily. Am I 
making myself clear?"

     "Crystal" Shinji said, and while he did 
understand, he didn't really care. The angel 
was dead and he had not been about to let 
someone die like that if there was something he 
could do. It felt... good to have saved 
someone's life, and he was not going to let 
anyone take that away. Even Misato.

     "Good," she told him, her voice suddenly 
softening" because now I want to thank you 
Shinji."

     "W--what?" he stammered, completely caught 
off guard, "why?"

     "For saving her life," Misato told him, 
"Shinji, I don't want you to think I chewed you 
out like that because I was mad you dove in 
there after Asuka. Don't get me wrong, I am 
angry that you disobeyed my orders, but there 
is a reason for that. If you don't follow 
orders in this job then people die Shinji, and 
that's what we're trying to prevent. You have 
to learn that I'm not telling you to do these 
things for the hell of it. Calls like the one 
today have to be made sometimes. It sucks, and 
I hate myself for it, but sometimes you just 
have to bite the bullet and do it anyway."

     "You never asked for this," she continued, 
"and I curse myself and your father every day 
for forcing you into it. But if we don't do 
this then too many people will lose heir lives. 
We don't have a choice Shinji, do you 
understand?"

    "I'm trying to Misato..." he told her as 
tears threatened to flow, "I really am, but I 
just don't want people to get hurt" 

     She walked over and gave him a hug, "me 
either Kido, me either... hey, what's say we go 
spend a few dozen hours at the finest hot 
springs in the country and forget about all 
this bullshit?"

     "That sounds good," he told her as they 
stepped out of the truck that held the lockers 
and into the sunlight.

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


     Later that night after the others arrived, 
they sat around a fireplace in the Hot spring's 
best suite and laughed as Misato told them 
about the Plugsuit they had made for Asuka's 
dive. Asuka of course was not happy about this 
and proceeded to tell everyone about the night 
Misato had tried to sing while drunk, complete 
with impressions.

     Nozomi had taken over the show at that 
point and had managed to not only embarrass 
Asuka, but had managed to bring up a couple of 
incidents that had Kodama and Misato blushing 
as well

      Shinji sat in his robe watching the 
proceedings with a smile. For so long he had 
hated piloting the Evangelion, but after today, 
he was realizing that there just might be a 
purpose and reason for him to continue. 

      "Hey Ikari," Kodama said suddenly, "I 
need to talk with you a moment."

      "Okay..." he said as he sat up, and they 
walked over to a corner.

     "I heard about the kiss." Kodama said 
getting straight to the point.      

     "Oh..." Shinji replied with a gulp

     "How do you feel about Hikari?" she asked 
him as she crossed her arms.

     Fighting to keep from blushing, he tried 
to answer as truthfully as he could.

     "I like her a lot Kodama, she makes me 
feel like I'm actually worth something."

     "Okay... well look, other than the fact 
you need a serious self esteem implant, I don't 
have any problems with you, but the first sign 
that you're not treating her right and I'm 
going to make sure you regret it."

      "Um..." Shinji said, his eyes wide at the 
threat, " I'll do my best."

     "S'all I wanted to hear. As long as you're 
good to her, then you're alright in my book 
Ikari."

     "Thank you," he said, as he wondered if 
other guys got this from their girlfriend's 
families. 

      "So, what's the deal with Rei?" She asked 
him as she nodded where the girl sat by the 
window watching the rising moon, " is she your 
cousin or something?"

    "Huh?" Shinji said as he glanced at the 
pale girl, "no, I never even met her till I 
came here, what gave you that idea?"

    " I was just wondering. You two kind of... 
never mind, my bad call okay?

     "Don't worry about it," Shinji told her as 
they joined the others. 


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

   
      As Asuka lay on her futon that night she 
thought back to that moment between the pipe 
snapping and her rescue. 
   
      The reason this was so dominant in her 
mind was that for that instant, she had been 
relieved. 

      'Why?' she wondered, 'why would I ever be 
_glad_ that I was about to die? That just 
doesn't make sense. I'm the best Pilot in Nerv, 
what could possibly make me want to leave 
that?'

       It was confusing to her, and bothersome 
because it threatened to bring out some things 
that she didn't want to remember. Rolling on 
her side she decided that there was too much 
pain in her past to dwell on this crap; it only 
brought back bad memories 
      
       Across from her, she could see Nozomi 
and Rei sleeping silently. Rei wasn't exactly a 
talker, and Asuka didn't care for her attitude 
much anyhow. Nozomi on the other hand... Asuka 
was glad she had come, hanging around with her 
had given her an excuse to conveniently 
'forget' to thank Shinji for saving her life. 

      It was frustrating that the little twit 
had overshadowed her greatest triumph. Not that 
she wasn't glad he had been there to pull her 
fat out of the fire, but she had wanted to 
complete the mission by herself. His having 
interfered had marred what should have been her 
total victory.  

     To make matters worse he kept sinking his 
claws into her life! First she had been forced 
to share the apartment with him, and that had 
been survivable. But now she was being forced 
to deal with the fact that her only friend in 
the country had some kind of disgusting crush 
on him! 

     She had _no_ idea what that was about, he 
wasn't much to look at, he had no personality 
and to top it all off he was a grubby little 
pervert. How Hikari could ever feel anything 
for someone like him was beyond her 
understanding. She had tried to figure it out 
that day at the natatorium, but still hadn't 
seen whatever it was in there. She had even 
seen Rei talking to him once or twice, and 
_that_ had to be proof enough that he was 
weird.  

     As she tossed back to look out the window, 
she rolled her eyes and tried to get to sleep. 
She would have to have a long talk with Hikari 
when she and the others got back, that boy was 
nothing but trouble. 

     Hopefully Hikari would be smart enough to 
realize that before anything disgusting 
happened.


[]====================[]
  To Be Continued...
[]====================[]



Authors Incoherent Babbling:

  
      Some quick trivia: I was going through my 
(Webster's) English-Japanese dictionary looking 
up words and stuff and I found Hikari in there. 
The word translates as "ray or beam of light". 
Appropriate huh? Oh, and Nozomi means "hope, 
wish or a desire"... kinda cool stuff. I like 
how Japanese names do that. Occasionally in the 
English speaking countries you will run across 
a similar thing (generally with girls) where 
their name is Hope, or Crystal, or Willow. This 
happens in a few other cultures; I know Native 
Americans have names like that, but I don't 
know about others... the more I learn the more 
I discover I have yet to learn. 

     On that note, anyone with a handle on 
Japanese might have caught the identity of 
Kensuke's new friend. I know it's not a cannon 
character, but I couldn't resist. Besides, I 
have a very good reason for doing it. And also 
on that note, I seriously doubt they just 
junked the JA's, selling them makes more sense 
in the starving world economy of post second 
impact. 

   About the beer thing ... well I'm just 
guessing here, but chances are that Misato 
started drinking in collage and it just might 
have been Kaji that started her in on the 
Russian beer. *Snicker*

    And for the music, that one is just a 
guess, but if that's _his_ laptop it makes 
sense. Shinji only has the one bag and we never 
see a collection of music, but he has to record 
this stuff _somehow_ so I figure he keeps it on 
the laptop and mix and matches to suit his 
current mood. 

     One more thing, and this is another 
attempt to dodge mailbombs from Asuka fans. If 
you don't like the portrayal of her here that's 
fine. I'm trying to portray her as someone who 
is very confused, but doesn't realize it. She 
lusts after Kaji, but every time she sees 
someone makin' with Der smoochin' she rolls her 
eyes and thinks 'how disgusting'. I don't think 
Asuka understands the difference between love 
and lust (or knows that there is one), and it's 
something I'll be exploring in Book 2.   

     Well its late and my brain is fried from 
too much sugar and caffeine, off to sleep.

     

Hotwire 
Chain Lightning Studios