Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Macross Fan Fiction ❯ A Job of a Pilot ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A Job of a Pilot
a Neon Genesis Evangelion/Macross/Robotech crossover
by Bug-Chan

Chapter 7

A week has passed since the folding incident and the subsequent events that happened right after it, with the admittance of the residents from South Ataria Island and the disappearance of Shinji and Rei in particular. With the help of the workers who grabbed anything and everything that was folded with the fortress and within reach of the fortress, the residents have made remarkable progress in rebuilding most of the city and having a semblance of a normal life within a superfortress. Almost all of the citizens, amazingly, had proper housing with water and electricity running into them and save the two missing teens, everyone else was in the city, now simply known as Macross City.

"Ma'am, this is a letter from the citizens of Macross City. Since we couldn't find Admiral Gloval, we thought we should give this to you," a guard saluted, then gave her a letter. Claudia nodded her thanks and entered a staff room.

"This is interesting," mumbled Claudia as she drank her coffee and read the letter. She, with Misa and Misato, were taking a break from monitoring for any more invasions, even for a short period of time.

"What is it?" Misato asked, somewhat interested, as she got to one side of Claudia. After all, it wasn't every day when you received a letter from someone within the fortress. Misa sat on the other side, just as interested in the letter.

"It's from the residents. It says 'To whom this may concern, we first thank you for granting us space onboard the fortress to continue with our lives. There has been a problem, however, onboard this space fortress. Some parts of the city isn't getting any water, as if the supply was just cut and it is causing some difficulty in living for some residents. We hope you recieve this letter in a timely manner and you can resolve this issue as quickly as possible. On behalf of the residents, Aoba Shigeru.' Water problems?" Claudia looked up after reading the letter.

"We don't have any of the blueprints for the fortress onboard do we?" asked Misa.

"No, at least not that I know of," Misato answered.

"Hmm..." Claudia mused, before a beeping noise was heard from her watch. "Break's up, back to work," she groaned as she unwillingly got up. The others did likewise and headed back to the bridge.

BACK IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE (OR NOWHERE, DEPENDING ON YOUR NATURE)

"It's been a week since we broke this pipe and no one's come to get us," Shinji muttered, more to himself, though Rei picked it up.

"We will be fine," she said softly. This caused the timid boy to turn his head to her, wondering what she meant.

"At least we have water that'll last," he mumbled again. Rei silently agreed to that.

ON THE BRIDGE

"Current status?" Gloval asked as he entered the bridge. A chorus of "All clear" was his reply as he sat down. Then Misato remembered something.

"Admiral?" she started. Gloval turned to face her. "Do we have any blueprints of the SDF?"

"No. Why do you ask?" Gloval asked, quite confused as to why someone needed the blueprints.

"Well, we recieved a letter from the citizens of Macross City about how some houses were not getting any water," the purple-haired lieutenant explained.

"Interesting. Send out a couple workers to the city and have them look at it," the admiral ordered.

"Yes sir."

IN WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS MACROSS CITY

"It's been a week, haven't those people recieved our letter or are they just ignoring us?" asked Maya, now more worried than ever.

"I guess I'll have to write another one then," Shigeru sighed, and started to go get a pen and a piece of paper. Then a jeep with people wearing the UN Spacey insignia on their shirts came into the restaurant. One of them approached Shigeru.

"Are you Aoba Shigeru?" he asked, his other fellow workers behind him.

"That's me," the long-haired man said. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"You are the one who sent out a complaint about water problems?"

"Yes, you're here to fix that?" he started, somewhat excited and relieved.

"Yes. Please show us which houses are affected right now," the worker requested, and Shigeru took them outside the restaurant. "All these houses down this road have been affected," he said as he pointed down a row of houses and buildings down the street. The worker nodded and approached a road intersection closest to the restaurant. "Take out the roadblocks and cover the entire block," he ordered the other workers. They nodded, took out a bunch of roadblocks and took them to the ends of the streets that meet at the intersection. He then approached the curb and effortlessly took off a tile. Underneath it revealed a number pad and a display, apparently some part of a door of sorts. He punched in a number sequence and a second later, a slight rumbling was heard as a piece of the intersection slowly descended, then slid over to one side. By then, the group who went off to place road blocks were back and about to enter.

"This is crew group A4. We're about to descend in Section B9," he said over a radio he carried.

"Roger. Proceed A4," the radio blared back. The group slowly descended into the darkness.

AGAIN, IN THAT SAME MIDDLE OF SOMEWHERE (OR NOWHERE)

Shinji lifted his head as he heard a rumbling noise that sounded like it came from his right and the top.

"Did you hear that noise?" he asked, making sure he wasn't hearing anything.

"Hai," Rei replied quietly.

"Hope that's rescue workers," Shinji vocally hoped.

BACK TO THE WORKERS

The small group turned on their flashlights as they started walking, looking for any broken pipes or signs of one. It took a while as they kept on walking forward. Soon someone stepped on a puddle.

"Sir, found some water here. Looks like we have a trail," one guy pointed out.

"All right, good job," said the leader, who was also the one talking to Shigeru earlier. "Let's follow it," he said and the group started following it, making noise as they kept on going
.


SWITCH TO SHINJI AND REI

Both teens were now tired and hungry, but hopeful that someone might be coming to get them.

"I don't hear them," Shinji whispered, somewhat disappointed at the lack of action. Rei just looked on silently.

'So I might die here, without doing anything special. Without doing everything I wanted. Without loving...that special someone,' Shinji thought to himself, becoming depressed and bringing his kness to his chest. Seven days of lack of food and lack of heat was about to make him give in to the charm of sleep and most likely hypothermia. "I feel tired," he mumbled before closing his eyes and dipping his head forward.

Rei heard that and panicked. 'He can't sleep like this! He'll die!' "Shinji," she said, louder than usual. This did the trick as Shinji threw his head back in surprise and banged it on the wall behind him, keeping him awake longer than Rei anticipated. "Shinji," she repeated, back in her usual soft voice.

"Ow-ow-ow..." he replied, not hearing Rei call him again and rubbing his now-sore head.

"Shinji," she repeated, a bit louder this time.

This caught Shinji's attention. "Hai?"

"Do not sleep here."

"Why not?"

"You will fall into a coma."

"..." Shinji didn't know anything about hypothermia at all and kept silent in confusion. He then focused on something else and realized that he was cold. Quite cold indeed. He started shivering a bit. "Cold," he mumbled. He saw Rei's figure approach him and what happened next caught him by surprise. She sat behind him and hugged him from behind, her legs sticking out and her arms around Shinji, who was hugging his legs.

"Do not sleep," the albino girl whispered right next to Shinji's ear. Shinji soon overcame the shock and started to feel some warmth coming back to him and the sleep was going away bit by bit. He then did something that even he did not expect until he did it. He slowly got up, bringing Rei up with him, turned around to face her and hugged her in return, trying to return some of the warmth. Rei, somewhat surprised herself, stood frozen for a minute, then hugged the usually timid boy back, feeing warm herself, both inside and out. Both stood still, maintaining the hug for a while, sharing some body heat and feeling revitalized. Then both teens heard the sound of something walking on puddles, then lights from a flashlight on the pipes some distance away.

"They're here!" Shinji exclaimed. "Help!!! Over here!!!"

AROUND THE CORNER

The workers heard Shinji's cry and started running. Each person shone his flashlight in a different direction as they ran straight. Seconds later, they saw the teens hugging each other as Shinji waved his hand around.

"Can you help us out of here please?" Shinji asked, smiling wide.

"You guys start getting to work. I'll help these guys out and come back," the leader said. "All right, I'll lead the way, stay close to me."

"Hai!" Nothing more was said as the leader brought the two back outside into the city.

OUTSIDE THE HOLE

There was a small crowd that started developing when the workers went in, all mumbling among themselves.

"It's taking them quite a while," Shigeru whispered to his wife.

"Yeah...I hope they aren't lost or anything," Maya whispered back. Then her breath got stuck in her throat. Out of the hole didn't come out the group, but a man with Rei and a teenage boy she couldn't recognize. He was holding onto her, making sure she wouldn't fall over or anything. When they got onto the road, the leader let them go and went back down. Maya broke through the crowd and almost tackled Rei.

"Rei! Oh Rei! Are you all right?" she shouted, crying streams. Rei looked back and impassively answered, "Hai."

Shigeru came through the crowd, albeit slowly and calmly, gave the two a quick hug, and approached Shinji. "What's your name, young man?"

"Ikari. Ikari Shinji," he replied, timid mode back in motion.

"Well, Shinji, I'm Shigeru and that's Maya over there. We're her uncle and aunt and we'd like to thank you for taking good care of her," he said as he slapped Shinji in the back. The force almost knocked the quiet teen over but he caught himself.

"Ah, well, you're welcome," he said, smiling, and blushing, slighly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to head home myself." 'Wait...where's home?' he mentally panicked.

"I doubt you'll be able to find your way around here right now. Why don't you stay with us for the time being? After all, we do need to thank you properly for saving our niece's life, and some help will be appreciated," Shigeru suggested, as he put his arm around Shinji's shoulder and slowly ushered him towards the restaurant.

"Ah, no no no, it'll be too much of a hassle for you!" Shinji tried to back out politely but it was in vain.

"Don't worry about such trivial matter! Come on in!" Shigeru countered, smiling and this time ushering him even quicker. Shinji was left speechless and just followed him helplessly as Rei looked on. The crowd dispersed, talking among themselves and speculating as well as to what the two teens were doing down there, thoughts ranging from weird to possible to lecherous.

TBC

A/N - Sorry if this chapter is somewhat disappointing, I just have to get it out of my system. Think of it as a mental dump. Thanks.

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