EVA:PNT - Episode 1

EVANGELION:
THE PATH NOT TAKEN

Though Earth and Moon were gone
And suns and universes ceased to be
And thou wert left alone
Every Existence would exist in thee.

Emily Bronte

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Episode 1: The Calm Before the Storm / Judgement Day

Shinji: So, you ready?

Touji: Huh? Oh....yeah, just let me put my backpack on.

    (Shinji Ikari stands on the front porch of a quaint Japanese-style house located some 5 kilometres from the centre Tokyo-3. A gust of wind blows down the empty, unoccupied street. The dead leaves littering the front lawn are sent through the air in messy spiral patterns. The sky is full of dark, brooding clouds. The sun is nowhere to be seen.)

Shinji: (frowning) You know, you really should rake your front lawn. It's kinda getting messy......

    (Touji mumbles something incoherent as he fidgets with the straps on his bag.....)

Shinji: Sorry.... what was that?

Touji: (turning around to face him) I said it won't matter what the front lawn looks like if today doesn't go as planned!

    (Surprised and confused by his friend's intensity, Shinji takes a step back. He stands for a few seconds in bewilderment. It then suddenly dawns on him....)

Shinji: Oh! I ... I suppose your right.

Touji: (spitefully) Of course I'm right. I'm always right.

Shinji: (wincing) Of ... of course you are.... (thinking) Geez..... an attitude over THAT?

Touji: (Impatiently) Well c'mon. Lets go.

    (With this, Touji slams the door to his house with a vigour that someone who knew, deep inside their heart, they may never return....)

Shinji: I.... I understand. If you stuff up today, you'll.....

Touji: ........

Shinji: (questioningly) What will you do, Touji?

Touji: (snapping) Don't you think I've been wondering? Don't you think that it's been the only thing on my mind for the past month?

    (Touji pauses, and seems to calm.)

Touji: (mumbling softly) They'll kill me if I screw up again.

Shinji: .....

    (The mumble was loud enough for Shinji to hear. For a few minutes, there is an uneasy silence between the two. The wind picks up again, sending leaves up onto the front porch of the house, where they are standing. Shinji finally gathers the courage to speak again......)

Shinji: Well ... we ... we aren't going to achieve anything just standing here. No sense in wasting any more time.....

Touji: ......

Shinji: (thinking) I don't believe this guy! It's not that big a deal.....

    (As he starts down the path, he looks back to Touji, who is still standing in the same position as he was two minutes ago. Touji opens his mouth as if to say something, but, seemingly deciding on the contrary, closes it abruptly. He follows Shinji towards the road.)

    (The two of them walk down the lifeless, empty street. Touji can feel the familiar sense of dread nearing closer and closer, its cold grasp tightening his already stressed-out nerves.......)

    (He looks to the sky, but no salvation can be seen. Only the tumultuous clouds, caught in a high-altitude storm off in the distance, provide a few minutes of escapism for him. The frighteningly large lightning bolts, the different shades of grey, and the vulgar shapes of the clouds silhouette the large city before them which is, ultimately, their goal. The uneasy rumble of thunder warns of the approaching storm....)

    (Touji's reverie is interrupted as Shinji interjects, seemingly in an effort to calm him.....)

Shinji: Well....what's the worse that can happen, anyway? Kensuke'll laugh, Aoi and Lyn will be too busy with each other to notice, and......

Touji: (cutting him off) That.... that DEMON!

Shinji: You shouldn't call Asuka a....

Touji: But she IS! You can never have a conversation with her without her saying something in that stupid language of hers!

Shinji: But she....

Touji: (imitating Asuka's voice) Dumkopf! Mein Gott! Ich Lebe dich!

Shinji: Do you even know what ich lebe dich means?

Touji: I don't CARE, Shinji! Don't you get it? Nothing EVER pleases her.

Shinji: That's true...

Touji: She ALWAYS wants to be number one! Whenever anyone else is, she freaks out! I really don't know how you can live with her, Shinji.

Shinji: It's not that bad....

Touji: Oh, so now you're going to lie to me? Don't tell me you're on HER side?

Shinji: I didn't say....

Touji: Even REI is more sociable than that beast.....

Shinji: ...........

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Asuka: He's denser than the densest element in Denseville!

Hikari: ........

    (Meanwhile, in the school playground, some 2 kilometres away, Hikari and Asuka are sitting down enjoying a --somewhat-- peaceful break before classes begin for the day. The storm seems to be getting ever closer to the unsuspecting metropolis....... )

Asuka: Out of the 4 Stooges, he is definitley numero uno.

Hikari: ...... You just don't understand.

Asuka: (shocked) How on earth can that jock be anywhere even near compassionate, as you keep reminding me?

Hikari: ...... His sister.....

    (At this, Asuka rolls her eyes)

Hikari: His love for his sister...... you remember, the only reason why he agreed to be an Eva pilot was....

Asuka: (cutting her off) Pfft. A lot of good he did.

    (Hikari, shocked by Asuka's apparent lack of sensitivity, gets up off her seat.)

Hikari: (Looking down at her) I can't believe you just said that, Asuka!

Asuka: (Flatly) If you can't handle the truth, Horaki, then maybe you need some growing up to do.

    (Seemingly insulted, Hikari turns and starts to walk towards the main school building......)

Asuka: (calling after her) --!-- Where do you think you are going?

Hikari: Somewhere else........

Asuka: (standing up) Come back here, class-rep!

Hikari: (mumbling) I really don't know what Shinji sees in you....

Asuka: What was that?

Hikari: .........

    (Hikari disappears into the building, leaving Asuka standing by herself in the middle of the playground....)

Asuka: (quietly) Humph. I can amuse myself.

    (Looking at the playground before her, and the inhabitants that occupy it, all Asuka can do .....)

Asuka: Oh, nein!

    (....is groan.)

Asuka: (shouting) Am I the only human in this school who's not a Dumkopft???

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    (Walking towards the door with the familiar '2-A' sign above, Hikari, oblivious to mindless chatter of those about her and the approaching thunder outside, is lost in thought...)

Hikari: (thinking) How could she say those things about Touji? What is wrong with her? Maybe it is because of the.....

Voice: Hi class-rep!!!!

    (Hikari's vexing thoughts are shattered as a thin figure comes into view. She has long black hair and a huge, contagious smile on her face. It is, of course, Aoi Tamashii.......)

Hikari: (startled) --!-- Oh! Good morning, Aoi.

Aoi: (calling behind her) Come on, class is about to begin!

Voice: Ok, ok! I'm coming!

    ( Following is an obvious stranger to these lands, a boy with brown hair and a noble English air about him. His arm has been broken, and in a cast, the result of a rather nasty incident involving his Eva. He is Lyn Anouilh, an Eva pilot.)

Lyn: (puffing, and in a strange Englo-Jap mixture accent) H.... hi Hikari. Aren't you usually with Soryru?

Hikari: She...... she's acting a little strange today.

Lyn: (smiling) Must be that time of the month, eh?

Hikari: --!--

Aoi --!--

    (Aoi, with a swift move, smartly slaps Lyn in the back of the head.)

Lyn: Ow! I was only joking!

    (Aoi is not impressed by the excuse and points a finger at him....)

Aoi: Don't they teach boys ANY manners in England??

Hikari: (Giggling) Apparrently not......

    (Aoi, with a swish of her long hair, turns and heads into the room, as Hikari, stifling a laugh, heads in after her.)

    (Rubbing the back of his head, all Lyn can do is wonder.....)

Lyn: Females.....

(A loud crashing noise finds it way to Lyn's ears. Curious, he turns to its source from down the hall.....)

    (Lying face down is the prone form of Kensuke. In one hand he holds a model warplane, and in the other hand, his ever-present cam-corder.....)

Kensuke: Coulda sworn those stairs weren't there last time I walked down here.....

    (Lyn cannot help but smile as he walks over to help his friend up.)

Kensuke: (Receiving his help) Thanks....... One minute you're making a documentary on World War 2 warplanes and the next.... you're nose is attached to the floor!

Lyn: I'll bet.....

Kensuke: (composing himself) Have you seen Ikari or Suzuhara today? They should have been here by now....

Lyn: They ... must be late. You don't think Touji has chickened out do you?

Kensuke: Touji 'The Stomach' chicken out? He wouldn't run away from anything short of sleeping with Asuka!

Lyn: (smiling) I suppose you're right.....

Kensuke: Speaking of which, where's Aoi? You two are virtually attached to one another....

    (Suspicious, Lyn raises an eyebrow and looks Kensuke in the eye...)

Lyn: And what is that supposed to mean?

    (Kensuke, with his warplane in one hand and his camera in the other, says nothing as he walks, smiling, into the classroom....)

Lyn: (Sighing) Japanese.......

    (Rubbing the back of his bruised head (and ego), Lyn leaves the vacant hallway and enters the door existing underneath the familiar '2-A' sign ......)

    (As the scene ends, we are left with the image of the empty corridor, and the sound of occasional, ever-loudening thunder outside........)

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This episode is to be continued.....

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