Hi all, a while back I posted a teaser for this idea, here's the real
thing.  It's an odd idea I was knocking around for a while and I decided to
see what would happen if I wrote it.  Any and all C&C is appreciated, asked
for, and needed.  I don't quite feel that I've got everything spic and span
for this one as it is and I want to know what I need to change.  So if you
say "So and so is OOC" or "This isnt that way" well then I'll see what I
can do to change things around.

As a warning this does contain some slight spoilers for later parts of Eva
in it, if you haven't seen some of the later episodes you may well get some
secrets spoiled.

I'd like to thank Octavian for pre-reading this.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the property of many people other then me.

On with the show.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion- A Ghost in the Eva
A different kind of self-insertion
By: Jeremy Thompson

Prologue- A wish gone awry

	It was a dark and stormy night.  I know, that's a clich�, but it was true.
 The last tape of Neon Genesis Evangelion was rewinding in the VCR and the
TV now showed nothing but snow.
	I mused for a while over the content of those last two episodes, mainly
wishing that they'd had the budget to do more then what they had done.  I
shrugged and checked the display function on the VCR, the tape was almost
done rewinding.
	After the tape finished rewinding I got up from my chair and started to
eject the tape.  As I did I said to myself, "I wish I knew what had really
happened."
	After that statement a few things happened at the same time.  I heard a
voice say, "Your wish is granted."  This was followed by a crack of thunder
as lightning hit the house and flew through the VCR and into me.
Everything went black after that, and when I awoke, I was somewhere else
entirely.

	The phone in Gendo Ikari's office rarely rang.  He was a busy man and had
a reputation for being quite strict with necessary interruptions.  So when
the phone did ring, he knew it was important.
	"What is it?" he asked in his normal blunt tone.
	"Sir," Dr. Akagi's voice replied, "I think you should come down to Unit
01's cage."
	"What seems to be the problem?"
	"Perhaps its best if you see for yourself sir."
	"Very well, I'm on my way."

	Ikari arrived in the observation deck above Unit 01's cage soon after
that.  Dr. Akagi greeted him and said, "I think you should take a look sir."
	He moved toward the window and what he saw astonished him.
	Unit 01 was scratching its head and looking very much like a confused
person would if they were trying to come to grips with something strange.
	"Is there anyone piloting it?" he asked, he hoped there was, the other
options were a great deal more complicated.
	"No, the entry plug isn't even in it sir."
	"What about the power supply?"
	"That isn't connected either," Ritsuko seemed as puzzled as Ikari and
wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening as soon as possible.
	"Then what is going on?"
	"I don't know sir."
	"Yui..." Gendo Ikari thought to himself, "Is that you?  Are you finally
awake after sleeping so long?"
	He turned to Dr. Akagi and said, "I'm going down there, if it starts to
attack sever all the limbs."
	She blinked at the command but understood his meaning, initiating its self
destruct would destroy it and most of the geo-front as well, if the limbs
would acknowledge the commands to release then the unit would still be
intact but relatively harmless.  It would also still be intact enough to
study it to see what had happened to it.  "Yes sir," she said.

	When I came to I felt strange to say the least.  I scratched my head and
tried to figure out just what was going on.  Something told me to look up
and when I did, I saw a face I had only seen before on my TV screen, Gendo
Ikari.
	He looked confused.
	I liked that, I always thought that he seemed like a person that needed a
good swift kick in the behind.
	I also realized that he looked quite small compared to me.  I also
realized that scratching my head caused a rather odd sensation, almost like
tapping on metal.  I looked down at myself and saw the familiar purple
paint job of Evangelion Unit 01.
	"This," I thought, "Had better be a dream, because if it isn't, I'm not
sure what the hell I'm going to do.  Not to mention that in the series Unit
01 gets beat up pretty badly quite a few times.  Although I suppose it's
better then being either of the other ones, they get beat up even more."
	I'll admit that at that my mind wandered a bit, I was in the oddest
situation I could ever recall being in.  I stopped moving entirely and just
tried to figure out how I got here.  The words I heard about a wish came
back to me then, and part of me kicked myself for making such a dumb wish,
if I had known, well, I don't know what I would have wished for, but it
wouldn't be this.
	While I was thinking this apparently Gendo had been in motion, he was now
standing before me on the walkway that goes just in front of the Eva's,
well, my chest.
	He looked at me from a closer vantage point.  His face had been reigned in
to its normal stony disposition and he frowned upwards at me.
	Gendo Ikari blinked and then spoke in a quiet voice, "Yui?  Is that you?"
he asked.
	That little part of the Eva mythos had escaped me for a moment, now I was
reminded once more.  I tried to look inside and said, "Yui, are you in there?"
	She didn't answer.
	Now I was faced with a decision, play with Gendo Ikari's mind by telling
him I was indeed his dear departed wife, or tell him the truth, or at
least, some of the truth.
	I discarded the first option quickly, even someone that seemed to be as
much of a bastard as Ikari didn't deserve that, besides, I'd most likely be
found out sooner or later.
	I started to say, "Nope, sorry, I'm not her," but didn't get much farther
then �Nope' when I realized that I didn't seem to have much in the way of
vocal cords.  What came out was a combination of a growl, a wail, and a
scream.  It wasn't very pretty.
	But it did have a nicely amusing effect on Gendo, he staggered backwards
to the rail and looked rather white-faced.  Apparently that wasn't the
answer he was expecting.
	My second try at communication was something much easier to understand.  I
shook my head.
	It seemed to work because he collected himself and asked me, "You're not
Yui?"
	I nodded.  Then I hoped his next question wouldn't be, "Yes you are Yui,
or yes you aren't?" things would be bound to get ugly from there.
Vaudeville bits and dreams/dimensional-traveling didn't mix very well.
	As he asked, "Do you know where she is?" I breathed a sigh of relief, this
wasn't going to turn into an Abbot and Costello bit.
	I shook my head �No' and realized that if a better form of communication
wasn't used I would be playing �Twenty Questions' for the duration of my
dream, or however long I was here, or whatever the hell was going on.
	Apparently Ikari realized this as well, he looked past me and said, "Dr.
Akagi, try to establish a computer link with the Unit, we need a better way
to communicate."
	I heard a voice behind me say, "Yes sir."
	It was then I realized that either one of two things was happening, either
I now knew Japanese, not much of a leap there since I seemed to be in the
body of a giant robot, or everyone was dubbed into English.  Either way I
wasn't reading any subtitles.
	Ikari left the walkway, apparently he figured that he could wait and see
what I had to say when whatever Dr. Akagi tried succeeded.
	When he mentioned a computer link I tried to �feel' around in my new body
to see if there was anything that would approximate it.  After a while I
felt the spot in my back where the entry plug is inserted, at the moment it
was filled with something else.  I couldn't remember it's name from the
show, but I knew it wasn't the entry plug.
	Around this area there seemed to be, for lack of a better word, threads.
I could feel them leading out of me to other destinations, although they
weren't physically there.  Where they lead wasn't obvious, I figured I
would need to follow them to their ends to see just where they went.
	"Probably the computer linkages," I thought to myself.  As if in reply to
my thoughts, one of these threads started changing.  It grew thicker and
began to connect with more of me.
	I sent out a mental feeler to the thread and was answered with a large
influx of information, I was now linked to whatever computers NERV used to
interface with the Evas.
	"Hello?" I asked along the line.  I waited for a reply, or to wake up,
whatever came first.


Chapter 1- Lines of Communication

	Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi were both quite surprised when their
attempts to open a channel with Evangelion Unit 01 were met with the
questioning reply of, "Hello?"
	Perhaps the reply it wasn't so surprising in itself, but the manner in
which it was received was.  It came through the computer consoles speaker
as a rather calm male voice.  Ikari was reminded of Hal from 2001 for some
reason but dismissed it as being irrelevant.
	Ritsuko looked over to him and said, "He must be patched into the Eva's
communications channels somehow."
	He nodded and asked, "Who are you?"
	"Well," the voice paused, "That's easy enough I suppose. My name is Arthur
Ford."
	Ikari turned toward Dr. Akagi and said, "Run a check on that name, find
anything you can on it."
	"Yes sir," she replied and sat down at a computer terminal nearby.
	"Very well then Arthur Ford," Ikari said, turning his attention back to
the conversation, "Would you care to tell us just how you came to be where
you are now?"

	When he asked that question I had to stop and think for a while.  Do I
tell the whole truth, some of the truth, or lie through my teeth.  I ruled
out the whole truth quite quickly, too many things could be used against me
that way, mainly any mention of the fact that I had some small bit of
foreknowledge of the events that would be or were occurring.  The only lie
I could think of off the top of my head was that I was a spy for SEELE, I
ditched that too, too many things that could go wrong.  If this was a
dream, and I hoped it was, death would still be unfavorable at the moment.
If for some reason, this was actually some sort of reality, it would be
even more inconvenient to say the least.
	I settled on trying to make up a semi-plausible blend of the two.  "I," I
started.
	"Yes?  You what?" Ikari replied.
	�Still the uptight bastard,' I thought to myself.  I continued with what I
was going to say, "Well, I'm just someone who made a wish."
	"A wish?"  He sounded puzzled and irritated, I suppose I would be too if I
were him, I was an unforeseen complication after all, most likely not in
the Dead Sea Scrolls at all.
	"Yes, a wish," I replied.  If he could be terse so could I.
	"What kind of wish?" he asked, perhaps slightly more irritated then
before, still not very much but I imagine that it was quite an event for
him to show it even this much.
	"I wished," I said, I paused to see how I could phrase this, then thought
of that ancient Chinese curse, "For an interesting life.  Yes, I wished
that I could have a more interesting life."
	"And to whom did you make this wish?" my bespectacled host replied.
	"No one at all.  It's one of those things that you say to open air, I said
it out loud, well, a while ago I guess, then I hear a voice saying �Your
wish is granted.'  Then everything goes black and I show up here talking to
you."
	His reply was some time in coming.  "You expect me to believe this Mr. Ford?"
	He didn't seem to buy it.  Not altogether surprising given the
circumstances, I probably wouldn't believe me either.  Hell, it was
happening to me and I still didn't believe it.  I was faced with a dilemma.
 Try to back up the fabrications of my half truth by stating that, given
the oddness of the situation, isn't any answer just as plausible to
receive?  Or tell the truth, the truth that I could back up with facts, or
at least enough facts to save my ass until more events occurred.
	I thought for a bit, and, coming to the conclusion that, while the truth
would not set me free, it would perhaps extend my life-span a bit and also
perhaps garner me some perks if I was to be here for any extended period of
time.  Someone possessing his Eva and knowing nothing was perhaps a
complication and a hindrance, someone possessing his Eva with knowledge of
things to come could very well be an asset.
	And so it came to pass that I said, "Well, the truth is rather more
complicated then that," and I proceeded to tell him, and Dr. Akagi who I
assumed was listening in at the time, just enough to back up my claims.
Mainly details about Rei and Yui's accident.  A few bits here and there
about SEELE and a glimpse or two of things to come.  I just hoped that it
would be enough.

	Gendo Ikari listened in amazement as the person calling himself Arthur
Ford related events that a very select few knew of back to him accurately.
Whatever the man's source was, it was accurate.  Gendo refused to believe
that his life was the subject of an anime in the twentieth century no
matter what was said.  He glanced over to Dr. Akagi to see that she too was
confused and astonished at the words being spoken.
	When he looked her way Akagi said quietly, "Nothing in our databases says
anything of note on an �Arthur Ford,' either the name is fake or it's
unimportant sir."
	Ikari nodded and was about to reply but anything he might have said was
cut off when Ford asked, "Have you burned your hands recently, Commander
Ikari?"
	Ikari frowned at the tone in which Ford said �Commander' and then blinked
as the question set in, "Why do you ask?"  He had burned his hands recently
in the activation test of Unit 00, but he wondered why that was relevant.
	"I'm trying to figure out _when_ I am," Arthur replied, "More specifically
I guess, have you burned your hands in an attempt to retrieve Rei Ayanami
from the ejected entry plug of Unit 00 after a failed activation test?"
	"_When_ you are?" Gendo asked quietly, then he said in a louder voice,
"Yes, I have recently burned my hands during that event."
	"So Rei is in the hospital and you've sent for Shinji to pilot Unit 01 in
the event of an angel attack?"
	Ritsuko started at the question but kept her silence, the commander was
handling this and he would most likely be displeased at any interruptions.
	"Yes, Major Katsuragi is to retrieve Shinji tomorrow.  Why do you ask?"
Gendo replied to the question.
	"So Shinji shows up tomorrow?"
	"Yes."
	"If I'm correct, the Third Angel will arrive tomorrow as well."

	After I said that they both became quiet for a time.  Then Ikari replied,
"We shall see."  The communication channel shut off and the thread between
the computers and I dimmed once more.
	The Third Angel arrives tomorrow, I thought to myself.  What if I don't
fight it?  Then perhaps it causes the third impact.  If it causes the third
impact, will I wake up?  Or will I die?
	Is this a dream?  Is this reality?  Or am I delusional somewhere in a
mental institution talking to the wall?
	In any situation I should act as if it is reality, just in case it might
be.  That means that death is not an option, which means fighting the
angels.  That means winning at any cost.
	I would try to make things better at times perhaps, some things that
happen are rather nasty toward the end.  But if I change what happens, then
doesn't that devalue any other knowledge I might have of what happens next?
 Should I do things exactly as they happened in the series and hope that my
own existence isn't enough to wreak havoc with the continuity of events?
	My thoughts continued in that manner for the rest of the night until I
somehow fell asleep.  I don't know that sleep is the best term for what I
did, but to say I deactivated is a less appealing option.

----

Well?  Tell me what you thought.

Thanks

Jeremy


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