Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Today was the day. Of course, the young candidates didn’t know this. They had no idea what they’d been selected for. NERV had been monitoring them for quite some time, along with all their fellow students. Tokyo-3 required extensive defense, from the threat that had first appeared fourteen years ago, the result of Second Impact. The Angels.

Today, if all went as planned, then NERV would have its pilots, the Geofront would have its line of defense against the Angels.

The Evangelions.

NERV officers would soon get the order to seek these candidates out and bring them to NERV headquarters. They had little time to lose.

Slowly, the student looked up. There were people, other people his age, all around him. He walked through the crowd of students with a fairly single-minded goal, to simply get to the other side without interruption. He didn’t wish to talk to any of them, to meet a friend, in his mind that was unnecessary. He simply wanted to find a good spot to sit down and eat at.

Alone.

Fukui Akihiko looked away from his fellow students as he moved past them. Looking at them for any length of time could possibly initiate unnecessary interaction, which was simply something he didn’t want to happen. So he remained steadily focused on his goal, the other side of the crowd. His movements were slowly and precise, to avoid bumping into any other students. At most, he just barely would lightly brush against them as he moved. However, partway through his single-minded movements through the crowd, Akihiko couldn’t help but look up. For there was a small amount of curiosity.

He’d heard that the candidates may be brought in today. He didn’t know which of the other students they were, but they were likely here. Moments later, the young teenager’s curiosity subsided, and he continued on his way.

edited 20th Mar '12 10:19:02 AM by AnnoR

Out by the coastline, on a cliff overlooking the sea, Rachel leaned back on the hood of her car and sipped on bottle of lemonade, staring out into the blue. That's it. To some, it may seem like a pointless detour, but she'd actually come out here early just for this. This simple little ritual, a symbol of the endless summer.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket just then. Flipping it open, she read the message. It was the alarm she'd set for herself. A little reminder for a big day. So it's time already, huh?

Rachel tipped back the bottle, downing the last of the lemonade. Some of it escaped and ran down her neck, much to her chagrin, and she wiped it off, tossing the tissue and the bottle in her convertible's trash can. She buckled herself into the driver's seat, and picked up the dossier resting on the hood.

Fukui Akihiko. He looked like him, or perhaps how he would have been. Turning to face the sea one last time, she gave a parting look to the buildings submerged only feet under. Not this time. Not ever again.

edited 20th Mar '12 10:39:41 AM by KSPAM

"Hello Major." Gabe stepped up behind the vehicle, clad in his khaki uniform. He had tried to make a little extra time to get there right on time, and to his relief he was only a minute or two late. Perhaps he'd get used to finding his way around this cavernous geofront yet.

This CO of his, Rachel Suzuki, he'd known her since he first arrived in Tokyo-3 about a week ago. She seemed nice enough, not to mention easy on the eyes, but he was most surprised that she looked, well, American. Was this why his superiors sent him to work there?

"So we're off to meet the pilots. I admit I am a little nervous. At my last job, our sync testers never got to see me behind the one way mirror." Gabe seemed calm, but a little nervous was an apt description of how he really felt.

"Relax, it won't be that bad. Just do what you always do. People might judge you for who you are, but they will judge you for who you pretend to be. No one likes a mask, especially kids."

She turned the key in the ignition, bringing the convertible◊ to life. She leaned out the side door. "You getting in or not?"

"Uh, sure." Gabe climbed in. "I'm sorry, I know I come off as a little cold sometimes, but working for NERV is kind of an important job. Plus, I have never really been to Japan before this. I am kind of still getting to know everybody, not to mention the language thing."

He then looked out over the meeting spot Rachel had picked. "But it is beautiful out here. It almost reminds me of areas around my old town from when I was a little boy. Of course, it got a lot colder during the winter back then."

edited 20th Mar '12 2:45:20 PM by CombatC122

"No kidding. I don't think it's even fair to call this winter." She motioned at the green grass and incoming tide. "To think, these kids have never known anything but this. This endless summer..."

"Ha, I doubt there are a lot of people around here even born before Second Impact who have lived through a real New England winter though." Gabe allowed himself a small smile. He supposed it was good he was getting to know people around here.

"So how about you? You grew up around here?"

"Yup. Right here, actually." she said, as the flooded coastline zipped by off the side of the cliff. "My family and I had a house right along the coast. If anything's left, it'd be back by that hilltop."

The car passed from the ocean view into a shady swath of trees, blocking the remnants of the buildings from view, like memories long-buried.

edited 20th Mar '12 9:07:54 PM by KSPAM

"Your hometown flooded too. I guess we have more in common than I realized. You're even half American. I sure didn't expect that when they sent me to this assignment." Gabe sat back in his seat and felt the wind hitting his face. He didn't think he had ever driven in a convertible like this before.

"Still, I presume I won't have quite as much in common with these kids when I meet them. From what I understand, the schools and everything here in Japan are quite different. And that's not even taking into account the fact that I was kind of an outcast when I was their age."

"Yup. Straight in the soup. Mom and Dad... they didn't make it." she said, her voice losing its noticeable cheeriness. "... Wow that sounded depressing." Rachel laughed awkwardly.

"Anyway, change of subject. I've only actually been to America a couple times. Business mostly, and that was after Second Impact. What was it like?" Rachel said, genuinely curious.

edited 21st Mar '12 9:56:00 AM by KSPAM

"You mean the town where I grew up? Lots of beautiful coastline and some historic buildings, but otherwise it was a pretty typical suburban town. We lived close enough to downtown Boston for my parents to commute in for work. I suppose the city layout changed a little too, but it's mostly the same huge city that it was back then."

"Wish I could say the same for Tokyo." she said. "Whole city was either destroyed or abandoned, then moved. Twice." Rachel noted his frankly rather surprised expression. "What, you thought they called it Tokyo-3 because it sounded cool?"

"Anyway," she continued, handing him the dossier, "this is the First Child. Fukui Akihiko. He's the one we're picking up today."

Just hope this all goes smoothly, she thought to herself, biting her lip.

edited 21st Mar '12 10:35:51 AM by KSPAM

Gabe looked over the document, holding it down so the wind didn't blow it around too much.

"So this is the pilot of the prototype, Unit 00. Not a whole lot of information about him other than the basics here. ...Hold on, no permanent guardian? This kid lives by himself?"

"Not anymore." she said, sounding just a little bit satisfied with herself. "I've arranged for him to stay at my place."

"Well that's a good thing I guess. You seem like the kind of person who would be better at watching kids than I would." Gabe looked back up from the paper at Rachel. "But that still doesn't really explain what was going on with him before. I know when my parents died, the feds found me and sent me to live with my grandparents fairly soon after."

OOC: Of course, "the feds" being who Gabe was led to believe picked him up.

edited 21st Mar '12 2:16:08 PM by CombatC122

"Yeah, that caught my eye too. Apparently NERV took care of the kid..." she trailed off, fully aware of how many holes in the explanation such a blanket statement left. She sighed. It was certainly strange, but frankly, it wasn't her job to pry into such matters. All that mattered to her was the boy now.

"I haven't been given any info on the other pilots yet. Did they tell you about the other two?"

"I know they exist. Seriously, you would be surprised how little they told me before they shipped me off to here. At least they should be happy with how Luci has been running so far. I just hope she doesn't get too bored."

Gabe's cell phone rings. It's a text.

it reads.

As if on cue, Gabe's screen lit up with LUC-1NDES's message. Whose bright idea was it to design an artificial intelligence that could get bored? Gabe sighed and punched away on the keypad in English.

edited 21st Mar '12 5:56:09 PM by CombatC122

Gabe just sighed again. Technically, he supposed it was his job to entertain Luci to some extent, but right now they had to pick up those pilots. How long until they got there anyway?

As if on cue, "Here we are!"

The cityscape rocketed towards them as the car sped down the hill, shops and houses passing by without so much as a cursory glance. From there, the trip was short, and the two soon found themselves outside the school.

"Alright," Rachel said, checking her watch, "they should be getting out any minute now."

Gabe shot off one last text message to Luci.

And with that, he slid the keypad back into the phone and pocketed it.

"Sorry about that. I suppose you could say babysitting LUC-1NDES is the only official part of my job they told me about. Anyway, what else do you know about these kids? Personalities, anything? What about the pilots of Units 01 and 02?"