Ghost Hunting
What could have happened 4 !!!
Hello out there! I'm sure you have noticed it now, I'm going to change the original Evangelion story line in some major points.
The relationship between Shinji and his father was through the whole story for me quite hard to swallow. I don't say that such a situation is not possible, but personal I can't stand the thought. So I decided for me to alter the personas of Shinji and Gendo Ikari. Although I'm changing the character of Asuka in quite some ways, for example, she will be more open with her feelings for Shinji, but she still has her temper 'cause that's something I really liked on her.
As I mentioned in the last chapter a book about mental changes of soldiers in war situations made me think about Shinji's mental constitution. In the original story Shinji had all necessities at hand to hold on a stabile mental condition. For example, he had Misato who cared for him as if he was her own child, although to a lesser degree he had in Kaji some kind of surrogate father, so expect a slightly different Ikari Shinji in the oncoming story's.
Chapter 4 Ghost Hunting
Location: Major Katsuragis Apartment
Time: 6:30 AM
The persistent sound of an extremely loud alarm clock brought a real sleepy Asuka out of her, quite enjoyable, dream state.
"Mmh, what's wrong?"
The gentle touch of a hand on her cheek assured her that everything was OK in their world. Bathing into the warm feeling of Shinjis hand onto her face Asuka snuggled a little deeper into her covers, grateful that she and Shinji were able to convince Misato that the two could sleep together from time to time.
AN: No they are not having sex. They just sleep in the same bed, FULLY CLOTHED. As strange as it might seem, you can enjoy the company of a young lady in your bed without f*****g each other brains into the next dimension.
"Go back to sleep Asu-cha, everything is OK. I leave you some breakfast for later. Bye darling."
"Bye, bye" Asuka replied sleepily, not quite registering what was happening around her this early in the morning.
Laughing quietly to himself Shinji left the room he shared with Asuka currently to get the things he would need for today out of his old room. As quietly as he could he tapped around the apartment, slightly cursing to himself whenever he stumbled over an empty beer tin, courtesy of Misatos drinking marathon the evening before. As usual now for two weeks he prepared himself for another day of training with his father, and every day he would become better and better in handling his Fireblade (Honda CBR 650 Fireblade - A Motorbike). Together with his driving ability his spirit was growing day by day. Things went quite good for him, there was no point in denying it. After years of loneliness he was truly reunited with his father, both of them discovering new levels of, what would be described by most as a 'normal' family live.
Putting his special suit once again on, for at least the 100th time, Shinji watched the appearance shifting ability which made the suit currently look like his usual school uniform. The only bad thing was that the suit was really formfitting, just like his usual plug suit. Smiling to himself Shinji remembered the first time he and Misato picked up Asuka after school.
Kensuke, like the technical freak he is, could barely restrain himself from inspecting every square centimetre of this piece of high-tech equipment. Unnecessary to mention that he felt as if he was in heaven.
This in itself wasn't bad, bad was the reaction of the female school population. For the first time Shinji noticed that almost every girl in the vicinity was checking him out. He felt like a small kitten in front of a hungry pack of wolves. Chuckling a bit to himself he remembered Asukas reaction when she noticed what was going on. To say that she handled it bad would have been the understatement of the century, it was like a local re-living of the second impact. Even now, six days after the incident, he could still feel a dull pain below his left shoulder blade were she had hit him quite forcefully. Lucky pal that he was, the make up session in the evening made him forget the pain and the whole incident almost instantly. 'Asuka is quite the pain reliever.' He thought.
Noticing that he better hurry up to make it in time to NERV-HQ, he prepared a quick breakfast for himself and his flat-mates. When he had finished his meal he made a quick check on Asuka, smiling at the peaceful look she had on her face. In his eyes she looked now like a true angel, not like one of those monsters they were fighting.
She was radiating the aura of a goddess, with her golden-red hair surrounding her head, partly covering her face. With a last look Shinji left his beloved angel and made his way toward NERV for another secret meeting with his father.
Location: Abandoned Airfield, 20 KM-SW Tokyo-3
Time: Around 5 PM
Watching his son speeding up and down the old runway, training the manoeuvres he was shown, Gendo felt a for him unfamiliar feeling. He had tried to analyse this feeling for quite some time and after a discussion with Sec.-Com. Fuyuzuki he thought he had found his answer.
'Fatherly pride! So that's the way it feels. I never deemed it possible to feel that someday, but here I am watching Shinji mastering his machine and I'm proud at his skill. Yui was right after all, our lives are truly full of surprises. Oh Yui, I really made a mistake with Shinji all those years ago. Leaving him behind 'cause I was unable to deal with my grief and his questions about your absence. I'm so sorry, but I'm trying to correct that failure, I really do and I hope you will be able to forgive me someday my beloved Yui.'
Gendo was so enclosed in his thoughts, that he didn't notice Shinjis return and was startled by his voice when he asked, "Hey dad, what are you hiding under that cover behind you?"
After a few second of gathering his thoughts Gendos face displayed a small smile. "Nothing special Shinji, just my old machine."
"Your old machine? You mentioned her a few times, so give, what kind of machine is she?"
Still smiling Gendo lifted the cover and revealed a silver-grey Hayabusa. (A Superbike with a Vmax of 310 KM/H) "I thought it would be finally time to test your skills on the road, so I planed a little trip for both of us. Interested?"
"You bet I am! What have you planed?"
"Just a short trip around Tokyo-3 and afterwards we might have a little fun with Major Katsuragi and the young miss Soryu."
Any observer of the scene would have now begun to fear for his live, because both Ikari's faces were showing their trademark smirk which would made even the cold-bloodiest assassin think about a different job career.
"What have you in mind father? Something good I presume."
"You're familiar with the driving stile of the Major, right?"
"Stile? Father, Misatos way of driving is almost as lethal as her cooking!"
"Lethal cooking? Mmh sounds like an interesting idea for our weapon department."
"Dad, you're kidding right? Her cooking would even make Unit-01 in her berserk mode shriek away in fear, it would be absolutely inhuman to expose any sentient being to her cooking."
"OK I got your point Shinji. No experimenting with her cooking, but back to were we started. My security told me that the Major planed to take Miss Soryu to a little café after school. What do you think about the idea that we stop at the café and tease her a bit so that she goes on a little hunt for us?"
"Do you think I'm ready for that kind of street race dad? I mean Misato is a really reckless driver and once she's on the hunt nearly nothing can stop her."
"Already taken care of. NERV Security and myself have planed a route back to the Geofront with planted hindrances for the Major. So what do you think? Still interested?"
"Let's go dad."
"All right Shinji, but before we start let us upload a new appearance for your suit. So that the lady's wont be able to recognise you at first sight."
"Good idea father, I haven't thought about that. What will I look like afterwards?"
"Your suit will look like a plain black leather combo, the same as my original combo."
After the upload of the new appearance mode for Shinji's suit and after Gendo put on his own suit, both Ikaris started their littler round trip. During their trip they encountered a police patrol which chased them first not knowing that they had the supreme commander of NERV in front of them. Now near the café where they had planed to met Misato and Asuka, Shinji still had the shocked faces of the police officers in his mind, who looked as if they had wet their pants instantly. 'Poor guys, I have to remember to calm dad down before he orders their execution.'
Looking over his left shoulder Shinji could see his father driving his Hayabusa in a tight formation with his Fireblade. It was a lot of fun for Shinji to handle his machine during their trip and he had learned one or two more neat tricks by observing his father handling his bike. Now he was looking forward for a little bit of fun with his guardian and his girlfriend. 'Girlfriend? Were did that come from? I haven't talked with Asuka about it, but it just seems natural to think about her that way.'
Six minutes later the two Ikaris stood in front of the little café were they could see Misato and Asuka sitting at a table near the entrance, both of them with a large portion of ice-cream in front of them. They had agreed that Gendo would do the teasing because he had simply more knowledge in that field of living. Now Shinji was glad that his father had given him a helmet with a dark tinted windshield, there was no way that the girls would recognise his face under the shield. Parking the bikes right in front of the café Gendo gestured to Shinji to wait by his machine and to keep the motor running. Now Shinji watched his father walking to the window were the girls sat behind, his helmet still on so that they wouldn't recognise him.
After knocking hard at the window to get their attention Gendo said. "Is one of you little girls the driver of that damned blue scrap car with the NERV number plate?" With that little sentence he had insulted both women. Asuka, because she hated nothing more as to be called a little girl and Misato, because she loved her blue Renault Alpine.
"If you don't want to lose a few teeth in the near future you better apologise right away." Misato barked back.
"Or what? Will you call your security or one of your little EVA-Units to chase us?"
"Hey G leave them alone. Everybody knows that those NERV people are a bunch of losers especially those EVA-Pilots." Shinji tried his best not to laugh out loud. His father was right after all, this was absolutely funny.
"That's enough you stupid idiots!" Asuka screamed. "No one insults us this way and just walks away unpunished."
"So come and get us you little hussy's." Gendo said while walking back to his bike.
"You asked for it pal. Don't hold us responsible for any damage to your person afterwards." Misato said.
Before one of the enraged woman could lay one hand on the two men, both Gendo and Shinji had speed away from the café and after a few seconds Misato was in hot pursuit of them in her car.
Afterwards the surveillance teams from NEARV reported that they had never before seen such chase through the streets of Tokyo-3. The three drivers totally ignored any rules and were racing with deadly speed through the streets.
Using a micro radio-set the two Ikaris were having a light discussion while they speed trough the traffic of the city.
"Shinji, you have to better co-ordinate your braking. At the last turn your rear tire nearly locked and if that had happened you would have lost the control and an accident would have been unavoidable."
"Roger that father, I'll keep it in mind at the next turn. You better watch out for Misato at the last crossing she nearly got you at your rear tire."
"Yeah, she's quite a dangerous opponent on the road. Heads up Shinji at the next crossing sharp right and than direct left after that just straight ahead until we reach the emergency entrance Gamma-Beta-Nine from there I will take the lead.2
"What have you planed dad?"
"There is an emergency route right from the surface to central command. It was built that in the case of a total power failure the command could still be reached. We will use it today to shock the Major a little bit."
"Do you mean Misato has no knowledge about that route?"
"Normally she should know that route, but you knew her sense of direction. She would get lost in a circular room with one door."
"You have a point there dad. There's the entrance you better take the lead now dad."
At the same time, roughly three meters behind the two Ikaris, two really pissed of woman in a blue Renault Alpine Sportscar were getting a bit worried about the direction they were headed.
"Is it just me Misato or are we headed toward NERV-HQ?"
"It's not just you Asuka, those idiots are really headed toward NERV, but don't ask me why 'cause I don't know."
"They may drive like hell, but at the gate they are finished and we can beat the living daylight out of their stupid heads!"
"You got that right Asuka! No one insults my little baby and lives long enough to tell about it."
"Misato, what the hell is happening?! Those dam gates open op for them!"
"That doesn't bode well Asuka. Only high level clearance codes are able to open those emergency gates."
"Are you implying those jerks work actually for NERV?"
"Haven't you listen? It needs HIGH clearance codes to bypass those gates. As far as I know only the command staff has the necessary level to obtain the needed codes."
"You're right Misato, that's scary."
While the three vehicles speed down the corridor toward the heart of NERV, the central command section, the security department was having a field day keeping their path clear and free of bystanders. It was quite a feat for the agents considering the speed at which them were speeding down the tube.
Using their intercom, both Ikaris were co-ordinating their manoeuvres. "Shinji. Are you all right back there?"
"Everything's fine here dad. How long until we reach central command?"
"Just about two more minutes Shinji. Are you prepared for the encounter with the two lady's afterwards?"
"Prepared? I thought you had a plan?"
"Easy son, don't go ballistic! Of course I have a plan, you don't expect the Supreme-Commander of NERV to go unprepared into battle?"
"Battle?!" Shinji shrieked.
"Just kidding Shinji, but I'm expecting those two lady's to threw quite a fit after we reveal our identities to them."
"Sounds reasonable to me, but you better have a few section two agents and several medics ready when we talk to them."
"Roger that Shinji. After the next turn we have a straight lane for about 900 meters before we reach central command. I have several officers on stand-by so don't worry to much about those two."
"It's your call dad ... here it comes."
Rushing trough the last pair of heavily re-enforced security doors, the small convoy of racers reached the observation platform above the command deck, were the three vehicles came to a screeching stop. In the case of Misatos Renault Alpine the wheels produced a thick cloud of smoke. As soon as the three stood still a group of security agents rushed in and formed a safety line between Misato & Asuka and Shinji & Gendo. That surprised the two woman immensely because they expected them to be arrested immediately. Stepping out of the car the two furious woman tried to approach the mysterious bikers, but were effectively hindered by the security agents. That had only the effect to rise the anger of the lady's whose expressions told about barely contained rage & anger.
Damn!!! First I don't update for more than two months and than my mind went blank near the end of the chapter. Gomen nasai folks, I'm really sorry (Bows deeply).
As usual is every constructive critic highly appreciated, and please remember that English is only my second language. I'm German for Gods sake, so don't expect perfect English from me.
