$Id: Shadow.Music,v 1.1 1996/12/02 04:09:32 Graffiti Exp $

This is the (hopefully) final version of Shadow Music part 1.  If this
passes scrutiny, I'll post to r.a.a.c.  Also, I'm posting part 2 of the
fic to the ml.  Enjoy.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I lost my RCS directory, so I edited
and checked in a copy I had lying around elsewhere.  Thus the 1.1 in the 
Id field above.

Legal stuff: Bubble Gum Crash! and Neon Genesis Evangelion are Copyrighted
by their respective owners, whoever they are.  Shadow Music is Copyrighted
by me.

BEGIN:

Shadow Music: A Bubble Gum Crash!/Neon Genesis Evangelion X-over fanfic

	The red haze slowly faded from Priss' eyes.  The echo of water dripping
in the distance brought her about.

	"Priss, are you okay?"

	The faint, flickering neon light hammered at her eyes.  A dull ache was
rising in her head.  Focusing on the voice, Priss tried to clear her head.

	"Linna?"

	She felt Linna's arms around her, and looked up.  The worry reflected
in her eyes fades as she saw Priss come to.  There was an ugly gash down the
right side of her neck, and she looked like she bathed in blood.  There were
cuts and burns all over her.  Why did she look like that?

	"Oh Priss... I was so worried..."

	Linna sighed, exhausted, and fell on top of her friend.

	"Oooofff!", Priss gasped.  "Linna, get off.  You're lying on a bruise."

	She didn't answer.  Gasping in pain, Priss pushed Linna off her
and shooke her.  "Linna, wake up.  I said, wake up!  Hey!"  Then she noticed
that she wasn't breathing anymore.  "This isn't funny, Linna."  Priss shook
her harder.

	"Linna?  Linna?  Linna!"

	Her mind cleared.  The memories came back to her.  The destruction
of MegaTokyo by the Angel.  Their last, desperate stand against the enemy.
The uneasy alliance with Genom.  Their defeat.

	A ragged sob escaped Priss' lips.  She cradled her friend's lifeless
body as the tears streamed down her face.

	"Nooo!  Linna... not you too!"

	Noone heard her voice in the silent night... "Please don't leave me
alone...."

		*		*		*

	"Test Sequence One complete.  Systems performance, Fifty-nine percent."

	Dr. Akagi sighed and dropped into her chair.  Grabbing a nearby cup of
coffee, she drank deeply.  Or tried to.  "PPPBBTTHHHBT!  Gah!  Who made this?!"

	Misato looked at her flatly.  "I did.  You got a problem with that?"

	Putting the cup down, she shook her head.  "Never-mind.  My fault.
I should have asked before I took a sip."

	Misato sniffed indignantly and spun about... and the System caught
her eye.  "Will this work?", she asked softly.  "In all this time, we've
never used _this_ in actual combat.  And our main pilot is... well, less
than stable."

	Ritsuko looked at Misato curiously.  She saw the deep lines from
spending too much time worrying.  The face of a tired warrior.  A warrior
that knows she is useless in the field of battle.  The face of a warrior
who sees death, and can't fight it anymore.

	"I don't know.  But do we really have any choice?  Our former
pilots left when they found out the Truth.  I don't think they'll ever
come back.  No matter what happens to the world.  And while we're talking
about pilots, shouldn't you have more confidence in her?  After all, she's
the only family you have left."

	Misato looked through the armored glass window.  Her reflection
was crawling out of the System.  Her twin sister, being helped by their
younger sister.  Until last week, she didn't know she had any siblings,
much less a twin.

	An image of her father rose before Misato's eyes.  A cold, uncaring
man.  "Damn adulterous womanizing son of a bitch," Misato muttered.  "I knew
that he was a worthless, cheating, ...."

	Her twin, Sachiko, waved at her.  "Hey Misato!  I did it!  I
finally synched with the System!"

	Misato winked back at her and gave her a thumbs up.  But her
younger sister, Priss, just walked away; eyes on the ground, shoulder
slumped, her feet dragging on the ground.

	Sachiko looked toward Priss as well.  She gave one final wave to
Misato and trotted after her little sister to cheer her up.

		*		*		*

	"Priss!  Wait up!"

	Priss glanced over her shoulder and saw Sachiko jogging toward her.
Slowing her pace, she watched as her new partner caught up.

	"Priss, why the long face?  We did it!  We finally synched with
the system today!"  Sachiko's face beamed with joy, her eyes glowing as
she looked into Priss' eyes.

	"Oh... nothing," Priss said.  "I guess I'm just a little tired.
I'll just get some sleep and catch you later, OK?"

	Sachiko smiled, and gave her sister a hug.  "Don't worry Priss.
Soon, this will all be over and you can go back to singing," Sachiko said.
Then she winked.  "Hey, I'll get free tickets, right?"

	A forced smile seemed to re-assure Sachiko.  "Sure.  You'll get a
free ticket to my concerts.  And backstage passes too."

	Clapping her sister on the shoulder, Sachiko smiled and ran off
to the locker room to change.  "I'll see you later!", she called over her
shoulder.  "Gotta run!  I got a date in half an hour!"

	As Sachiko's footfalls faded away, Priss leaned against the wall,
closed her eyes, and sighed.  Just above her, a loudspeaker crackled to life.

	"Pilot 01, report to the ICU ward immediately."

	Priss' eyes popped open, and she breathed a single word: "Linna!"

		*		*		*

	*SLAM!*

	Startled, Linna jumped in her bed, and promptly doubled over in
pain as her stitches were pulled.

	"Linna!  You're alive!"

	Settling for an annoyed look, Linna sat up straight and tried
not to glower.

	"Of course I'm alive!  Did you think I'd be in a hospital if I were
dead?"

	"Uh... but..."

	"No buts.", Linna said.  "I'm alive.  Now, where is everybody?
And why am I in a hospital?  And why is that picture of me next to my bed
in black and white, and wrapped in a black ribbon?"  Then she blinked, seeing
the skin-tight suit Priss was wearing.  A very *wet* and *thin* skin-tight
suit.  "And _what_ is that... that... *thing* you're wearing?!", she gasped.

	Priss, trying to recover from Linna's onslaught, started to giggle.
"It's good to see you too, Linna."  She ran over the questions in her mind,
and her face fell.  "Linna... that picture next to your bed is like that
because you _were_ dead... and, uh, I forgot to get rid of it." 

	Linna blinked.  "Huh?"

	"You see, the people here found me shortly after our battle with the
Apostle.  They were able to revive you.  And... everyone's dead except us.
They..."  Priss faltered.  "They didn't make it."

	The memories of her final hours slammed back into Linna's mind.  She
put her hands to her mouth, eyes wide, as she recalled every nightmarish
detail of that fight.  By the time she realized that Priss was sitting next to
her, she was crying in her arms.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

	A crow settled on the ground in front of her.  It was just an ordinary
crow, really.  A perfectly ordinary, black, beady-eyed, ugly bird.  Just like
Eno-kun.  In fact, if her hook dress didn't keep her from running, she would
have rushed up to the bird on stomped on it.  Just like she would on Eno-kun.
If he ever came.

	The park's clock struck midnight.  Sighing, Sachiko got up and slung
her purse over her shoulder.  This was just an ordinary night.  Strap-less
hook dress, crimson lipstick, killer high-heels, and a date that didn't show.

	"I'm starting to become just like Misato," she muttered.  A dejected
sigh escaped her lips.  "Well, at least Misato's dates show up every once in a
while."

	High heels clicking on the stone walk, Sachiko started to walk home
after being stood up again.  And waiting for four hours.

	The crow gazed at her back, silent, unmoving.  Amused.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

	Blinking lights and soft, high-pitched hums from electronic equipments
shook the placid air.  A burnt, twisted mass of metal and flesh sat before a
glowing terminal, its fingers dancing above the keyboard.  Two bodies behind her
were lying on metallic slabs.

	Several robotic arms with various surgical implements at their ends
descended from the ceiling.  The ear-shattering whine of metal on bone filled
the room.  Lurching to its feet, the creature hobbled across the room.  It
stopped before a section of the wall covered with a meaningless jumble of
numbers.  Pressing one, the creature waited patiently as the wall section rose
into the ceiling, revealing a chamber filled with large cylinders of green
liquid.

	Three of the cylinders were bubbling, lit from within.  The creature
dragged itself toward the closest of the three, and a pair of robotic arms
descended from the ceiling.  It lifted the creature and lowered it into the
liquid.  Its eyes, two pale, oval disks, seemed to lose their shine.  The
ruined flesh slowly floated off of creature's mechanical frame.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

	Calmly sipping her coffee, Misato looked over Priss' records.  It
wasn't easy getting hold of them, considering she wasn't supposed to have
access to the genetic information of NERV employees.  That was why she was
hiding in the broom closet.  And sipping her coffee.

	"No records of her prior to our discovery?"

	Misato frowned.  In this age of information and computerization, there
should have been _some_ kind of data on her "sister".  She continued reading.

	"Genetic analysis of subject shows with conclusive evidence that she
is related to Chief Tactical Officer Misato [what was her last name? --
Graffiti].  It is the opinion of this doctor, therefore ...."

	"Doctor my ass," Misato muttered.  "He can't even tell the difference
between a cold and a plague."

	The image of the young Dr. Flight running from the examination room,
screaming of a plague, brought a giggle to her lips.  That was one of her best
jokes yet.  And she was docked two week pay.  It was worth it.  With a smirk
on her face, she continued to read through the rest of the report.

	"Having fun?"

	Startled, Misato fumbled the report, trying to hide it, and spilled
steaming coffee all over her shirt.

	"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

	Ritsuko stared at her friend coldly, and snatched the report out of
her hands.  "If you don't mind, these records are confidential," she snapped.
"If you want to take a peek, make a formal request.  If this ever happens
 again..."

	"My shirt!", Misato wailed.  "This was my favorite one!  Oh, what's
that? Umm...  OK.  It'll never happen again.  I promise."

	Grinning like an imp, Misato sauntered out of the broom closet
nonchalantly...  and tripped on a bucket, landing flat on her face.

	Sighing, Ritsuko put down the data file and helped her friend up.
"Now, why in the world were you looking at this?  What's in there that you
can't just ask her?  She *is* your sister, after all."

	"Sister," Misato sighed.  "Well, the `genetic analysis' says she's my
sister.  But there's no record of her anywhere.  At least Sachiko has records
indicating she was raised in an orphanage, and all.

	"But Priss...," Misato trailed off.  "She's a complete blank.  I can't
find a single medical, dental, school, police, or hospital record on her.
Hell, I can't even find a birth certificate!"

	A smile crossed Dr. Akagi's face.  "Well, you know that a lot of
official records were lost in the previous battles.  Maybe you can't find
anything on her because they don't exist anymore.  Don't think too much of it.
It's no big deal."

	Misato gave Ritsuko a flat stare.  "No big deal?  Remember that
Apostle Seele sent?  We couldn't find any real records on him, either.  No big
deal?  He nearly destroyed us!"

	Forcing a grimace from her face, Ritsuko led her friend out of the
room.  "As I said, don't worry about it.  We've stepped up our biological
scans of all employees, so there's no chance of anything getting past us again."

	As the door closed on the room, a darkness settled in.  The aroma of
coffee faded before something colder, something sinister.  A green and mottled
hand reached down and grasped Priss' data file...

		*		*		*

END
Part 1.
Hope you enjoyed it. -- Graffiti