I Was a Teenage Dummy Plug
Part 3: The Pilot and the Plug
A Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic by Logan J. Goodhue
*** Disclaimer***
Neon Genesis Evangelion is � and � GAINAX, et al.
This story is for nonprofit entertainment only.
First Version, 15NOV2002: Revision, 15DEC2002
******
The Pilot and the Plug

	I will always treasure the look on Shinji's face when I walked into the EVA 
cages with my new sister, Rei. We were both wearing plug suits, presumably 
because she had synch tests scheduled after mine, and we both used the most 
efficient walk for our bodies. The skills I had attained from marching band 
had finally come to some use in walking in sync with her. While "oneechan" 
was blissfully unaware of the effect her walk would have on men, I was 
painfully aware of it. Judging by his blush and uncomfortable shifting, so 
was Shinji, the poor sap. He tried to stammer out a greeting past his 
confusion, but he didn't know to whom to direct it. Ritsuko came to his 
rescue.

	"Good afternoon, Shinji," she said, placing her hand on my shoulder. Rei 
stood passively to the side. "Permit me to introduce Emi Arizona Ayanami, 
the Fourth Child." She turned to me and gestured to Shinji. "Emi-chan," she 
said, making me wince, "this is Shinji Ikari, the Third Child and pilot of 
Unit One." He bowed, and I followed suit a heartbeat later.

	"Pleased to meet you," we both said simultaneously, setting off another 
round of blushing.

	"I-I didn't know Rei had a twin sister," he said nervously. I took a breath 
and made sure I had the story straight in my mind.

	"I didn't know either," I said calmly. "I just found out about her 
yesterday." I grinned wryly. "And all this time I thought I was unique . . 
." I gave a Gallic shrug. Doctor Akagi cleared her throat.

	"You can talk about this later," she said sternly. "Right now we have synch 
tests to run. Shinji, get in Unit One, while Rei and I help Emi into Unit 
Zero."

	"Yes, ma'am," he said and went to do so.

	Our little trio began the walk towards the EVAs, and I got my first good 
look at Unit Zero. I stopped suddenly, and Rei looked back in confusion.

	"Good Lord!" I whispered, awestruck. "I never expected her to be so big!" 
It was one thing to note a drawing of an EVA's scale compared to the 
buildings of a normal city. It was quite another to come face-to-face with 
one and realize just how tiny and inconsequential one is in comparison.

	"EVA's dimensions are quite clearly delineated in the pilot's manual, Pilot 
Ayanami," Rei said. I winced at how distant she seemed. I also noted the 
slight tinge of disapproval in her voice. I hurried to catch up with her.

	"I was just making a subjective observation, oneechan," I said gently as we 
walked. "And, please, call me 'imouto-chan', 'sis,' or even just 'Emi.' 
You're the only family I've got here, Rei." I hoped that was true. I really 
didn't want to think about what my real family would have gone through if 
they existed in this timeline.

	"Very well, Emi, I shall," she said. I looked over to Doctor Akagi who had 
a slight smile on her face. There was a slight wistfulness to her expression 
as well. I wondered briefly if she suffered from unused maternal instinct 
like Misato did. My train of thought was interrupted as we finally reached 
the entry plug.

	"Here we are," Ritsuko chirped. "Now, I've got to get up into the control 
booth. Rei, please assist your sister if she needs it." With that, she 
walked briskly off. I gulped nervously and began to head towards the open 
hatch in the plug. Rei reached out and held me back. She led me to a 
platform nearby.

	"This way is safer," she said as the platform swung and lowered on 
hydraulics directly to the hatch. I smiled at her and gave her a warm hug. 
She stiffened at first, and then seemed to relax a little.

	"Thanks, sis," I said, finishing the hug. I looked her in the eyes and saw 
her confusion. I smiled gently. "That was a sisterly hug. It represents the 
fact that I care for you and that I appreciate having you around. We may 
have just met yesterday, but I feel that I've known you for years." Her 
hesitant smile rewarded me. I guess Shinji's little talk with her after the 
battle with Ramiel was paying off. I climbed into the plug and wriggled my 
way into the seat. "Mm! Comfy!" I appreciated the design team's dedication 
to ergonomics. "Am I in here okay, Rei?" I called cheerfully. She looked 
quickly about the plug and nodded sharply.

	"You meet the normal requirements," she said. "I shall now go to the 
control room and observe with Doctor Akagi." I sighed. It was going to take 
a while to get her used to having a sister. The hatch slid closed and I felt 
the plug lower into position. I heard the trickle of LCL being injected. 
Ritsuko's voice crackled over an internal speaker.

	"Emi," she said. "The liquid filling the plug is LCL. Please don't worry, 
you'll be able to breathe." By now, the LCL had reached my waist.

	"I'm aware of that, Doctor," I said testily. "I did read my manual." I had 
also had intimate knowledge of LCL from waking up in the Room of Gauf. "I'm 
just having to deal with an instinctual desire not to drown." I closed my 
eyes and held my breath as the blood of Lilith covered my head. I exhaled a 
stream of bubbles and inhaled. I fought off the drowning panic as best I 
could. I opened my eyes and marveled as the control interface came online. 
My heart stopped racing and my breathing evened out as I noticed both the 
smell of blood from the LCL and another, intangible feeling. A vague . . . 
presence. It was definitely feminine, but I couldn't place it.

	"Synch ratio at ten percent and rising," a feminine voice said over the 
communicator.

	"That was very good, Emi-chan," Doctor Akagi said on a vid-window. I winced 
at her use of 'chan' for the second time today, and noticed her smile grow 
wider. "You should be able to pilot at least as well as your sister."

	"Thanks, I think," I said. I tried a meditation technique that I 
half-remembered from a martial arts magazine. It seemed to work, as my 
nervousness slowly faded. The presence was still there, but it seemed 
puzzled. I thought a moment then tried to think at the EVA. 'Thank you for 
letting me synch with you, Ma'am. I really appreciate it.' The presence's 
puzzlement gave way to surprise, then gratitude. I felt a phantom hug around 
my shoulders.

	"Synch ratio at twenty-five percent, and holding," the unidentified voice 
stated.

	"That will be all for today, Emi," Ritsuko said. "Initiate ejection 
procedure."

	A few minutes later, I was stepping out of the plug, dripping LCL. A 
technician handed me a towel, and I dried off a little. I murmured my thanks 
and spotted Rei and Doctor Akagi coming towards me. An attractive brunette 
in a tan "bridge bunny" uniform who held a satchel demurely in front of her 
followed them. As they drew nearer, I finally recognized Lieutenant Maya 
Ibuki.

	"Well, Emi-chan," Ritsuko said. I winced yet again. "You have little to 
worry about. Your synch ratio guarantees that you'll be the pilot of Unit 
Three should the U.S. government ever decide to release it to us." I was 
thankful for my newly pale skin. She couldn't see me blanch.

	"I'm sure they'll see reason soon enough," I said with false bravado. I 
knew what would happen when EVA Three arrived. She had just signed my death 
warrant. "In the meantime, what will you have me do?"

	"The Commander wants you as a backup pilot," she said smoothly. "Living 
quarters are being arranged as we speak, as well as your registration in the 
local school." I frowned slightly. I had already finished high school once, 
and I really didn't want to return to that institutional hell. I cleared my 
features a little. Asuka had a degree, and she was being forced into the 
same situation. I nodded.

	"Understood," I said. "Is there anything else?"

	"Not really," she said, "but Lieutenant Ibuki here has your school satchel 
and a couple changes of clothes for you. It should help make up for some of 
what you lost in that fire." I almost blurted a question like, "What fire?" 
I quickly realized, however, that it was part of my dossier I hadn't been 
able to read. I nodded, and she continued. "She will also bring you to the 
locker room so you can shower and change. I rather imagine you'd like to get 
the LCL out of your hair." I fingered a few damp and sticky strands, and 
grimaced.

	"Yeah, I rather think so myself," I said. I looked at Rei for a moment, and 
my grimace melted into a warm smile. "Well, sis, do your best, eh? I'll see 
you later." I walked over to Maya and gestured for her to proceed. "'Lead 
on, MacDuff,'" I quoted. She looked at me a little strangely, but shrugged 
it off. We began the trek, and I looked back over my shoulder to see Rei 
getting into the plug. It may have been my imagination, but she seemed a 
little more vibrant. Maybe I was having a positive effect on her. I hoped 
so.

	Maya seemed to be nervous around me for some reason. She didn't really say 
much, but I attributed it to the fact that, while I looked like Rei, I 
didn't act like her. Actually, I found her nervousness alluring. If I'd been 
in my original body, or at least in a male body, I might have tried to hit 
on her. Aw, who was I kidding? I would have been entirely tongue-tied and 
presuming that a girl as cute as she was already had a significant other. 
Knowing what I did about the staff at NERV, I actually had a better chance 
at a romantic liaison with her now. She was at least bi, if not entirely 
lesbian. Unfortunately, I needed to get used to my new body before I could 
even think about a serious relationship with anyone. I wasn't even likely to 
get the time necessary before Bardiel showed up.

	"Here we are, Miss Ayanami," Maya said, derailing my train of thought. We 
had reached the locker and shower rooms in record time. We hadn't even 
needed to use a single elevator or escalator. She showed me how to use the 
palm-locked lockers, and set the satchel in one. I locked it and acquired 
some bathing supplies.

	"Thank you, Lieutenant," I said cheerfully. "Where does Doctor Akagi want 
me to go after I'm done? I'm sure you have more important things to do than 
play nursemaid to the new kid." She blinked a few times in surprise, and 
then smiled. Good, I was getting her past her nervousness around me. If I 
couldn't romance them, I might as well befriend them.

	"There's an employee's lounge just down the hall," she said pointing to the 
left. "Doctor Akagi wants you to meet Captain Katsuragi there."

	"Gotcha, Sempai!" I said, nodding. She smiled more broadly and walked 
briskly from the room. I sat down on a bench and shucked my plug suit. I 
folded it somewhat neatly and set it on the bench as I went to the showers. 
I've never been comfortable in communal showers and today was no exception. 
I intended to wash myself and get out quickly. The path to Hell was paved 
with good intentions.

	I started easily enough, turning on the shower and adjusting the 
temperature. I got myself wet, and began lathering up with soap. I started 
to feel . . . odd. Oh, no. My subconscious was telling my body that I was in 
a shower, naked, with a beautiful woman. Never mind that I was the beautiful 
woman in question. The subconscious was not to be bothered with such 
trivialities as logic. So, in its infinite wisdom, it activated the lizard 
brain and signaled that a potential opportunity to further the species was 
in the offing. Thus, blood was shunted to certain sensitive areas, 
stimulating certain nerves, which in turn sent signals to the brain. My 
conscious mind, and my subconscious had been written for a male nervous 
system. They were in no way prepared for the signals coming from my new, 
female nervous system. Confused, they triggered emotional response. Tears 
started to form.

	The past day had been fairly traumatic, but I hadn't really had to deal 
with my gender change totally.  I hadn't yet had to go to the bathroom. I 
had studiously avoided touching anything that might be sensitive. Most of 
what I had done and felt was universal to both men and women. Now, it was 
all crashing down on me.

	My consciousness was absorbed in finishing the shower, shampooing the LCL 
out of my hair. My subconscious, the clever bastard that it was, remembered 
that I was in a typical fanfic situation. Where before my reading of Ranma � 
fanfic had helped me deal with it, it was now hurting a lot. I had been 
turned into a girl. Therefore, I could remedy this situation by dousing 
myself with hot water. Never mind that this was the world of Neon Genesis 
Evangelion, where Jusenkyo curses don't exist. My subconscious knew what it 
knew, and to Hell with logic. I was currently under a stream of hot water, 
rinsing industrial-strength shampoo out of my hair, and I was still a girl. 
It was more fuel for emotional response. I began to cry in earnest.

	About this time, my subconscious began picking through short-term memory. 
Oh, GOD! I had about five Angel attacks before I was going to at least be 
seriously mauled, if not killed, during Bardiel's attack. That could be as 
little as five days, or as much as five months, away. Even worse, I could 
die in any of the other attacks, and Touji Suzuhara would be the Fifth 
Child. Realizing my own mortality, on top of everything else, left me 
huddled in a ball in the corner, bawling my eyes out.

	In my distraught state, I almost didn't notice the slender form 
approaching. Wrapped in a towel, Asuka looked at me in stunned disbelief.

	"Mein Gott," she whispered. "Wondergirl's . . . crying?"

***Author's notes***
	Anyone who's wondering where the lighthearted humor from Chapter One went, 
don't worry, there will be plenty in future chapters. Hopefully, I've 
explained away the angst-fest properly.

	I also hope that I've maintained the "PG-13" rating. Or at least a "TV-14 
(V, S, L)." It's difficult to realistically deal with an involuntary gender 
bender without verging on "R." Sorry to disappoint a few of you out there, 
but I don't intend to do any heavy citrus in this story. *Looks up at a 
section previously written about "good intentions," and shuffles feet 
nervously. * If I'm able to control this story (instead of it controlling me 
;�), there should be some S&A WAFF coming soon.

	Thanks to Lord Deathscythe for pointing out continuity errors in the 
original version of both this and the previous chapter. I can only hope that 
my repairs don't leave an even greater hole in continuity.

	NEXT: Asuka officially meets Emi for the first time and  Emi's first day of 
school. It's I Was a Teenage Dummy Plug, Part Four: The Corsican Sisters. 
Plus, more fan service!

***New Notes***
Please forgive the fanfiction.net author's notes. I've grown a little since 
then, but I can't bear to hack up my baby without good reason. (Like C&C 
from the "good" authors on FFML ;) )

_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee� 
Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963


             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'