NAE: Shock Value by Reg This is an Evangelion fanfic. I took the original story and threw in a new character, totally screwing up all the events leading to the last episode in the anime series. This is a Self-Insertion fanfic so brace yourself for god-boy mayhem! Neon Genesis Evangelion is copyright Gainax. Here goes... NEON AVATAR EVANGELION: SHOCK VALUE Chapter II Yukio and Maya were eating dinner at a posh restaurant. This was their first date, in fact, this was Yukio's first date in months. He still couldn't think straight whenever Maya's around so he was often just looking into her eyes. "Is there something in my eye?" asked Maya. "What? Oh, no, there's nothing wrong with them," answered Yukio. "In fact, they're beautiful. I could spend a whole day just looking into your eyes, Maya. That's how beautiful they are." Maya just giggled at Yukio's flattery. "Thanks, Yukio. You really are sweet." Taking Maya's hand in his own, Yukio again looked right into Maya's eyes, her beautiful eyes, and said the words he had always wanted to tell her. "Maya, I love you." "What?" "I said I love you, Maya," Yukio repeated. "But what about me, darling?" "Wha...? Who...?" Yukio reluctantly opened his eyes, ending the most beautiful dream he has had in weeks. Instead of Maya, it was a giggling Asuka who was before him. "Asuka," said Yukio. "Don't you know it's rude to just barge into other people's rooms?" "Well, I'm *so* sorry Mr. I-love-you-Maya," answered Asuka. "Misato told me to get you so deal with it." "I promise Asuka, I'll get even with you one of these days," said Yukio as he entered the bathroom. "So, what's up?" "I don't know," answered Asuka. "Hurry it up Yukio or I'll leave you right now." "All right, all right, I'm almost ready," said Yukio. "C'mon, let's go." ***** When they arrived at NERV HQ, Rei and Shinji were already there, along with Misato and Commander Ikari. Yukio noticed that Shinji looked a bit uncomfortable in the presence of his father. "Sorry we're late," said Asuka, "but Yukio was dreaming about his darling Maya again and it took me a while to wake him up." "Shut up Asuka!" snapped an already reddening Yukio. He quickly glanced around to see if Maya was around to hear Asuka's remark. "Well, it's true!" said Asuka. "That's enough," said Commander Ikari. "So, you are Mr. Mori. I am Commander Gendo Ikari. Your first sortie was rather commendable Mr. Mori." "Thank you, sir," answered Yukio. "The mission was a full team effort Commander Ikari, and I think everyone deserves congratulations." "Quite right. Well, I congratulate all of you. You too, Captain Katsuragi, although sending an inexperienced pilot out to face an Angel when you already had three capable ones deployed was a foolhardy plan. Effective, but foolhardy nonetheless. I must get back to my more pressing matters. Again, congratulations," said Ikari. When the commander was out of the room, Yukio noticed that Shinji was able to breathe easier. "What's up with Shinji," he asked Misato. "He and his father aren't exactly close," Misato said. "Oh. So, Misato, what else is on our itinerary for today?" asked Yukio. "Well, I have another test lined up for you today." All heads turned around to the new arrival. Ritsuko had just entered the room with Maya. "Another test? Why?" asked Shinji. "Whiner," said Asuka under her breath. "Well, we've made some modifications to the Evas' body armor and I want to find out how they'll hold up in combat. We'll be running a simulation using the modified Evas. Now get changed. We're already behind schedule," said Ritsuko. Yukio noticed that Maya was still busy writing something on her clipboard so he decided to take a chance. Turning on his Aura of Smooth, Yukio approached Maya with a swagger to his step, his head filled with thougts of him and Maya getting married. His daydreams were cut short when he heard Ritsuko call Maya. "C'mon Maya," said Ritsuko. "Coming," Maya said. "Oh, hi Yukio." "Uh, yeah. Hi Maya," stammered Yukio. "Nice going lover boy," said Misato when Ritsuko and Maya had left the room. "Now snap out of it and get changed." ***** "Everything is in the green, Ritsuko," said Hyuga. "OK. Start the sim," said Ritsuko. ***** Yukio was daydreaming about Maya again when Ritsuko informed him over the simulator's commlink that the sim was about to start. Here goes nothing, he said to himself. Yukio then opened communications with the other Eva pilots. "How are you guys holding up?" "Fine," said Shinji. "Fine," said Rei. "I hate these tests," said Asuka. "What are we supposed to do now, Ritsuko?" "You'll be going up against a few opponents that will test just how your Evas' new armor will hold up in a combat situation. Hopefully, this sim will also teach you teamwork. You'll be notified when to engage your opponents. No one attacks until I say so. Got that?" Everybody answered affirmative. A few moments later, they all saw movement over the horizon. "What is that?" asked Shinji. "That's the enemy, Dumbo!" said Asuka. "Can't you think even for a while?" "That thing is big," said Yukio. Big was an understatement. The thing approaching them was larger than an Eva Unit. It had six appendages, two arms and four legs, and was closing fast on the Evas. "It's fast, too," said Shinji. "What do you think, Rei?" asked Yukio. he had noticed that Rei had said only one word all day. "It's big and it's fast," Rei said. "What an observation! Let's all give Wonder Girl a big round of applause!" said Asuka, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, do we engage it?" asked Shinji. "Ritsuko told us to wait. So we wait. It's not like it's gonna attack us without orders from Ritsuko or anything," said Yukio. ***** "Ritsuko, I'm detecting something in the Magi," said Aoba. "Weird, it seems to be interfering with Melchior's system." "What? That's impossible," said Ritsuko. "Melchior is one of the most advanced computers in the world. It can't be infected by a virus." "I don't think it's a virus, Ritsuko. Analysis shows that it's a living organism, blood type blue. It's an Angel and it's hacking into Melchior's system," said Maya, her nervousness showing in her voice. "Can't you stop it? What about the black ice we set up in the Magi?" "The black ice has no effect on the Angel, ma'am. It's rapidly evolving to counter all our defense programs," said Maya. "Shit. Abort the sim now!" Ritsuko said. "We can't! The system won't accept our commands." "Open communications to the Evas, then! We need to warn Shinji and the others immediately," said Misato. "Communications with them are down," said Maya. "They're on their own now." ***** "Funny, communications with Ritsuko are down," said Shinji. "Maybe something went wrong with the sim." "Stop being so paranoid, Shinji," said Asuka. "Maybe Ritsuko just screwed up or something." "Guys, that thing is still coming at us," said Yukio. "Do we engage or not?" "Ritsuko said that we should wait for her signal," said Rei. "But communications are down, Rei. How can Ritsuko contact us now?" asked Shinji. He was beginning to get nervous. "I say we take it on," Asuka said. "I'm with you on that, Asuka," said Yukio. "C'mon. Let's do this." The four Evas immediately spread around the oncoming juggernaut. Even though the Eva Units were unconnected to their umbilical cords, power was not a problem in the sim. With only Units 00 and 01 armed with sniper rifles, Units 02 and 03 moved into point position. ***** "The Angel has hacked into Balthasar," said Maya. "Oh shit," said Ritsuko. Balthasar held the system running the sim, and Ritsuko had no idea what would happen to the four children. "Can't we abort the sim yet?" "We can't. It's still not responding to our commands," said Hyuga. "Keep trying," said Misato. "We're doing everything we can, Captain, but we've also got our hands full trying to keep the Angel from Casper," said Maya. "Ritsuko, the Angel has taken over the sim. It reset the settings to maximum sensory input," Aoba said. "What does that mean?" asked Misato. "Whatever happens to Shinji and the others in that sim will affect their physical bodies. If they get hurt there, the sensory input will also hurt their physical bodies," answered Ritsuko. "We can only hope that they survive the simulation unscathed." ***** "Rei, open fire as soon as the Angel is within range," said Asuka. "The Angel?" asked Yukio. "Well, this sim is supposed to find out how this new armor would hold up in a fight against an Angel, right? So why not just classify that thing as an Angel?" said Asuka. "Besides, it sure beats calling that thing 'Thing'," added Shinji. "OK, OK, it's an Angel now. Let's just kick its ass and get this test over with," said Yukio. With those words, Unit 03 immediately started to close the distance between it and the Angel. "Yukio! Wait!" yelled Shinji. Too late. Yukio was only a few hundred meters from the Angel when it unleashed some sort of energy beam from its arm at Unit 03, hitting the Eva Unit squarely in the chest area. Luckily for Yukio, the new armor held, and the Angel's energy discharge only managed to burn through the first two layers of the Eva's new armor. Screaming in pain, surprise, and anger, Yukio immediately resumed his attack on the Angel. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Units 00 and 01 moving into better shooting position as Asuka' Eva slammed into the Angel's left flank, lifting its left legs up into the air. Unit 03 immediately rammed its progressive knife into the Angel's underbelly. When Yukio pulled it out, the knife was covered in gooey blue liquid. "Rei, Shinji! Shoot it!" shouted Asuka over the commlink. Units 00 and 01 immediately started to empty their weapons into the Angel. The Angel started thrashing wildly, and one of its legs hit Unit 03. The Angel's leg slammed straight into the side of Unit 03's head, sending a great wave of pain through Yukio's body. Unit 03 was soon on the ground, and the Angel was already up on its feet, blue liquid spurting out of its many wounds. "Yukio, look out!" shouted Asuka as the Angel lifted a leg, ready to trample the helpless Unit 03 under it. As the Angel put its massive foot down on Unit 03, the pain Yukio felt was so immense that he welcomed the darkness that followed it with open arms. ***** When Yukio woke up, he was in a strange room. He couldn't remember how he got here, but when he tried to move, his body was wracked with pain. "Aww, fuck!" "It's OK, Yukio. Don't try to get up," he heard Misato say. "Misato? What happened? Shit my body hurts! Where're the others? How long have I been out?" "They're here with me, Yukio," said Misato. It was only then that Yukio noticed Rei, Shinji, and Asuka were in the room too. With them were Ritsuko and Maya. "You were unconcsious for almost four days." "How'd the test go?" asked Yukio. "Well, it went fine, considering that you almost died because of an Angel attack," said Maya. "Angel attack?" asked Yukio. "What Angel attack." "An Angel infiltrated the Magi and screwed up with the simulation. That thing you went up against was an embodiment of the Angel," said Ritsuko. "We were able to stop the Angel from contaminating the whole Magi system in time though, and Shinji and the others were able to destroy the Angel in the sim. All in all, I think we all did a great job." "Why am I here, then? If it was just a sim, why does my body hurt all over?" asked Yukio. "The Angel reset the sim's parameters to maximum sensory input. That's why what happened to you in the sim reflected on your physical body," said Ritsuko. "You did a great job, though Yukio," Maya said with a smile. She took Yukio's hands in her own and looked into his eyes. Damn, thought Yukio, I could lose myself in those eyes. "Some hero. He wasn't even awake when I dispatched that Angel," said Asuka. "Can it Asuka. You all did a great job, even though you had no idea what you were up against," said Misato. "Was I the only one hurt?" asked Yukio. "Well, you were the only one who sustained injuries," said Misato. "Fortunately, you have no serious injuries, just deep exhaustion." "When do I get out of here then?" "I'll be picking you up here tomorrow at around 2:00 in the afternoon," said Misato. "By the way, a new Eva just arrived yesterday." "Oh? Who's the new pilot?" "We don't know yet," said Shinji. Since Misato was directly beside his bed, Yukio couldn't help but notice Misato's reaction to this. Yukio decided to ask Misato about this later. "We have to go," said Misato. "Yukio needs all the rest he can get. There'll be more time for this when he gets out of the hospital." "OK," said Shinji. "Bye, Yukio. See you tomorrow." "Yeah, bye Yukio," said Asuka. "Goodbye, Yukio," Rei said with a bow. "Bye, Yukio," said Misato as she and Ritsuko started for the door. "Bye, Yukio. Guess I'll be seeing you around tomorrow," said Maya. She then bent down and kissed Yukio's cheek. The feel of Maya's lips against his skin sent waves of pleasure throughout Yukio's body. Man, he thought to himself, now I can die! "Maya," he said, just before Maya reached the door. "Yes?" "Um, well, uh, thanks. For being here." "No problem. Now get some rest." "Sure." Yukio was asleep and dreaming about Maya even before the door to his room slid into place. ***** TBC Hope you liked that one. I'll be posting Chapter III soon. Chapter I is still available at Atomica (www.geocities.com/reg_01/). Send C&C to reg_01@yahoo.com.