If this has been done before, I can't find any evidence of it. Shinji,
Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo, Rei, et cetera belong to whoever they belong to, and
the Chinese guy and the Jusenkyo curse belong to Rumiko Takahashi; don't
worry, folks, I'll wash the stains out.
This is the first fiction I've sent to this list. Or any list. If it goes
over well - and if I can figure out what else I want to do with it - and if
I have the time - there might be more.
C&C is, of course, welcome.
Evangelion 1/2
an NGE/Ranma 1/2 crossover fic
by EDG
Shinji Ikari looked around him. The street was empty, except for a flock of
birds sitting on the power lines far above him. He glanced down at the
picture in his hand - an attractive woman in a provocative pose, with the
note that she'd be the one to pick him up - and back up at the street. He
had yet to see anyone who looked anyone like her, and he'd been standing
there for an hour.
"It's getting late," he muttered to himself. "I guess I'll have to go to a
shelter." The 14-year-old shivered slightly and lowered his gaze once more.
A flicker at the edge of his vision caught his attention, and Shinji whipped
his head around. A girl, about his age and in a school uniform, was
standing on the street a few hundred feet away; he couldn't make out her
expression, but he got the distinct impression that she was watching him.
The birds overhead fluttered quietly, then burst off the power lines in a
frenzy of wings and beaks, and when Shinji's attention returned to the
street, the girl was gone, and he wondered for a moment where she'd gotten
to.
Then the ground started shaking.
Shinji watched as military helicopters backed out from behind a mountain,
followed by what he could only describe as a giant monster. Huge and green,
with exposed ribs, bony shoulderpads, and a beaked face in the center of its
chest, the beast lumbered after the helicopters, shrugging off their
combined firepower as if they had been shooting pieces of cereal.
Suddenly a second giant monster leapt from somewhere within the city, toward
the first creature. It was considerably more anthropomorphic, and seemed to
be tethered to something within the maze of buildings. As it landed, a blue
sports car pulled up in front of Shinji, its brakes screaming against its
axles, and the woman in the picture popped her head out of the driver's side
window. "Shinji, get in!" she shouted, and opened the passenger-side door.
The boy wasted no time in getting himself and his bag into the car, and she
gunned the engine, speeding off before he'd even fully shut his door. Shinji
didn't pay attention to what she was trying to tell him as she drove; his
eyes were glued to the battle going on outside. "What's that?" he asked
after a few minutes, interrupting her.
She made an irritated sound. "The Third Angel."
"Angel?" Shinji knew of the Angels who had attacked fifteen years ago, but
he'd thought that they were long gone. He watched the battle for another
few seconds, then asked, "Which one? And what's the other one?"
"The big green ugly one is the Angel," the woman replied, her brow furrowing
in frustration. She had tried to tell him what was going on - again - but
he'd interrupted her - again - before she'd even really gotten started. "The
big orange ugly one is ..." She paused, obviously waging a battle of her
own in her head. It never got a chance to finish, though, because the
battle outside had just reached its climax: the Angel leapt onto the other
beast, grappled it, and shifted somehow - Shinji's brain reeled - into a
strange sphere, which promptly exploded. The sports car was flung from the
road, flipping side-over-side across an expanse of dirt and settling on its
side as the dust from the explosion started to fall gently over the city.
"Are you okay?" The woman looked over at Shinji, who was spitting out dirt
and trying unsuccessfully to get out of his seat. She smiled wryly and
pushed her door open, then climbed out and helped Shinji do the same.
Together they pushed the car back to its wheels, and with a little prodding
the engine came back to life.
Before Shinji could speak, the woman interrupted him. "We didn't really get
a chance to get introduced back there. I assume you're Shinji Ikari?"
Shinji nodded. "I'm Misato Katsuragi. It's nice to meet you."
"Somehow I'd gathered that," said Shinji quietly, uncrumpling the photograph
that was still clenched in his hand and comparing features with the woman in
front of him. "Ah," he said a little more audibly, "nice to meet you."
Misato smiled. It was cute, the way the kid was uncomfortable. She opened
her mouth to make conversation, and the words died in her throat as Shinji
continued his earlier line of questioning. "So what was the other...
thing?"
Misato sighed. "Your partner, Rei Ayanami. Sorry 'bout that."
"Huh?" My partner is a giant monster?, he didn't add.
"Here," she said, tossing a spiral-bound booklet into his lap. The logo on
the front read "NERV". "This won't tell you anything about that, but it's a
start." Shinji gave her a strange look, then shrugged and started to read.
**
Thirty minutes later, the car had pulled up in front of what looked like a
garage - not that Shinji noticed, as his nose was buried in the NERV manual.
He was about a quarter of the way through the booklet - on his second
read-through, Misato noted - and seemed to have no interest in the outside
world. The garage door opened; Misato drove in and put the car in park, and
in a moment the vehicle had dropped onto another platform, which was
starting to move. The heavy bass rumble as the train started up caused
Shinji to look over at Misato questioningly. "Where are we?" he asked, then
"There's no information on Rei in here," before she could answer the first
question.
"We're headed toward headquarters," she said, and mentally chided herself
for sounding so inane. "You won't find information on ..." She paused
again. "You won't find information on Rei in that handbook. It's just a
starter guide, rules and regs for the organization. We don't /have/ printed
documentation on ... on her." That we can give out, she added silently.
Shinji nodded, apparently satisfied with this answer. "Will I find out when
we get to headquarters?" he asked.
Misato nodded. "The current threat seems to be over, so there's no real
urgency." She stopped herself before she told Shinji what exactly they'd
had planned for him before Rei had agreed to fight the Angel. "You can take
a nap, a shower, get acclimated before you meet our newest line of defense."
"So my partner is.."
Misato nodded, embarassed. "A giant monster. Kind of. I think you'll warm
to her. She takes a little getting used to."
"No kidding." Shinji smiled - the first time Misato had seen him do that -
and went back to reading through the NERV handbook.
**
"I think we've been here before," said Shinji as he and Misato rode yet
another moving walkway across a vast expanse. "I remember the mural on the
wall."
Misato scowled. "Don't get smart with me, Shinji." He shrunk a little
further into his uniform, and she scowled more - this time at herself. What
was it about this boy that made her regret nearly everything she said? Her
tone turned cheery as she tried to lighten the mood. "At least this way
you'll get used to the walkways."
Shinji nodded glumly. Misato had to refrain from hitting herself in the
forehead with the heel of her palm.
**
EVA-00 settled down in the docking bay and glanced at the window of the
control room, where Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi stood, watching. "You did
well, Rei," said Ritsuko, a smile on her face. "Your first real test
against an Angel, and you were barely scratched. Good work." Gendo nodded.
The ponderous head of the giant beast nodded slowly in return, and a young
woman's voice crackled over the intercom. "Thanks. Hurt like hell. Can I
come out now?"
Ritsuko nodded. "Whenever you're ready," she said, and nodded to the
control staff, who in turn started instructing the technicians on the floor
to begin their work. As a team of workers unhooked EVA-00's umbilical power
supply, another started up the hoses designed to wash off the enormous
living weapon.
Another voice came over the intercom. "Dr. Akagi, Major Katsuragi needs
your help."
Ritsuko shook her head sadly. "She got lost again, didn't she?"
"Discretion forbids my saying so, Dr. Akagi."
"Very well. I'll find her as soon as possible."
**
"I know we're on the right track now." Misato tapped the pad by the door,
and it slid open with a *whoosh* that Shinji was finding typified the doors
in the building. It wasn't loud enough to be disturbing, but neither was it
quiet enough to be ignored, and it got on his nerves.
"I think we've been here before too," he said quietly. Misato merely gave
him a look to freeze a volcano, and proceeded through the door.
She was about to open the next one when it slid open for her, revealing a
blonde woman about her own age, dressed in a lab coat and an outfit that
looked, to Shinji, like it perhaps belonged in one of the "goth clubs" of
the late 20th century that he'd read about. "Major Katsuragi, I'm glad I
found you. Is this the Child?"
Misato nodded. "Shinji Ikari, I'd like you to meet Ritsuko. She's in
charge of - "
The other woman interrupted. "Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, if you please, Major
Katsuragi. You got lost again, I see?" Misato blushed furiously, and
Ritsuko smiled at Shinji. "Come on, Shinji, I'll take you to your quarters.
You'll be sharing them with your partner. Call me Ritsuko."
Shinji blinked. Hadn't she just insisted on being called...? He paid it no
more mind as he was hustled along a corridor, pulled along by Ritsuko with
Misato about twenty feet behind him.
**
Rei Ayanami stepped out of the locker room, feeling cleaner than she had in
days. Something about the fight with the Angel had felt... purifying to
her, and for once she didn't feel like her skin was crawling. She hadn't
felt right since that trip with Dr. Ikari, the one where they'd had her
training at a special installation they'd set up. Involuntarily she thought
back to that dreadful day.
Gendo Ikari stood on a raised platform, built on poles sunk into the marsh
as well as the sturdy reeds that already grew there. Glasses glinting in
the clear sunlight, he shouted up to the control deck, really a hut on
stilts, raised about forty feet above the ground. "Are you ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be, Dr. Ikari," came the reply. The form of EVA-00
towered over both of them, its umbilical power supply hooked to a powerful
generator that would afford it two minutes of activity before the supply
would need to be cooled off. A dummy plug was inserted into the unit so
that the control deck could remotely test its abilities; they'd been unable
to find any of the Children before the project needed to go through its
testing phases.
The development team had selected the most out-of-the-way place they could
find to complete testing. This had been a marshy section of China, once a
training ground for martial artists but now just a tourist attraction. The
caretaker was an older Chinese man who spoke only a bit of Japanese, and
none of the development team spoke /any/ Chinese. From what Gendo could
understand, the man was concerned that they were testing their "giant robot"
on these sacred grounds - actually he hadn't quite understood that
second-to-last word, and had promised himself he'd look it up when he got
back to NERV headquarters - but grateful that a large chunk of NERV's budget
was being diverted to pay him for his trouble.
EVA-00 stood ready, its monstrous feet planted firmly on either side of one
of the springs that dotted the land. Control looked up at the head, then
down at Gendo. "Five," she said, "four, three, two, one, go!" The
Evangelion hummed as power streamed into it from the generator; on a screen
in the control deck, a timer began counting down from two minutes, and the
Evangelion began going through its test run. It leapt, spun, performed
somersaults that Olympic gymnasts would have envied, and finally - with five
seconds of power left - landed sloppily, its left foot slipping on the muddy
ground, and fell backwards into a spring that was actually a respectable
lake. Water splashed everywhere; even Gendo, standing as he was several
hundred feet from the EVA unit, got a few drops on him.
When the mist had finally fallen from the air, Gendo wiped his glasses on
his coat, and stared at the blue-haired girl who was climbing out of the
lake. Already a technician was running over to offer her his coat. The
Chinese caretaker was shouting agitatedly - in Chinese, naturally - and
Gendo Ikari began to sweat. This was going to take a lot of explaining.
Rei shook her head violently to clear the images out, and immediately
regretted it; her brain was now complaining of bruises in several different
places, and she decided to head back to her bedroom to get some
well-deserved rest.
**
Shinji yawned and leaned against his door. Finally Ritsuko and Misato had
left him alone so that he could get some rest. After a large argument
between Ritsuko and Misato, it had finally been agreed that he would share
living quarters with his partner, and /not/ his commanding officer. Shinji
remembered questioning that, but not a lot else; his brain had been starting
to shut down for a nice, long nap. In fact, it had been pondering the old
American tale about Rip van - Wrinkle? Tinkle? whoever, and thinking that
that sort of thing might not be such a horrible idea after all.
His bed was made, and for that he was grateful. He started to slump toward
it when he heard the ubiquitous hiss of a door opening, and his brain -
already half-asleep, and fully paranoid - prompted him to find out just who
the hell was in his apartment, so that they could kill him already and let
him get some decent rest.
Shinji crept into the hallway. A light was on in the kitchen, and he heard
the sound of someone going through the refrigerator. Peering around the
corner, he came face-to-face with the girl he'd seen on the street earlier.
He blinked.
She blinked.
He ran screaming.
It was lucky for him, he thought later, that Misato's apartment was directly
next to his own. NERV probably didn't appreciate its personnel running down
its halls, screaming and waving their arms. Misato looked up, startled, as
Shinji nearly took the door down trying to get in. "M-M-M-Misato!" he
cried. "Who - what - there was someone in my room!"
Misato laughed as Rei peeked around the doorframe. "Relax," she said, "it's
your partner, Rei."
Shinji hadn't thought his eyes could grow any wider, but then he was
learning many new things that day. When his pupils were roughly the size of
saucers, he managed to stammer, "B-b-but she's a j-j-giant robot! Isn't
she?" He turned to look at Misato, who pointed back at the door.
Rei stepped into the room, looking at her toes. "Yeah... I'm Rei Ayanami."
She sighed. "Sorry 'bout this."