Rei Of Hope

by Gregg Sharp

=====

*THE BET- Krypton Exodus Evangelion*

"Nope, uh-uh. No way." Toltiir, still in the incarnation
of a little black cat, shook his head. "SMALL changes,
remember. Changing the Angels to Kryptonians does
NOT constitute a small change." The god of mischief
stopped and thought about it. "Though AT Fields as
an explanation for Superman's powers....hmmmm."

*THE BET - Evangelion Crash*

"I'm sure if I check, I'll find a Bubblegum Crisis/
Evangelion fusion. Try again."

*The Bet - Sailor Marionette Evangelion*

"Get real. The Senshi as Eva pilots, all of whom
are actually superpowered androids...like I said, 
SMALL changes, at least initially."

*sigh*
*The Bet- Tendo Genesis Eva.*

"Sorry, AT does not stand for Akane Tendo.
Otherwise the Evas would be clobbering things
with giant mallets."

*The Bet- Rei Of Hope?*

"..." Toltiir blinked. "Oh this IS...different.
The only time I saw something like this was
when Peorth altered Rumiko Takahashi's
past so that she actually had a decent boyfriend
in high school and through college, therefore
actually had some sympathy for her male
characters..."

*The change is just a tiny one, as you indicated.
We just manipulate the timeline here...and instead
of this ...*

"You get THAT."

------------------------------------------

	"He mustn't..." Rei turned and reached
towards the self-destruct switch. She would protect
him. The Angel must not be allowed to attack Shinji.

	"WHAT IS SHINJI DOING!"

	Eva Unit One broke from its restraints, reaching
the elevator platform even as the reports were coming back
from Asuka that her sync ratio was entirely too low.

	"Get Asuka down now, she's just a target.
Shinji, who authorized you to launch?!?"

	Eva unit One shot up from the shaft, activating
its AT Field. "Rei! Hang on!"

	"This is my mind and soul," Rei said as she
shuddered with the pain of contamination. "To become
one with Ikari..."

	"REI! Abandon Unit Zero." Misato's voice
sounded frantic over the intercom.

	The other end of the Angel struck Unit One.

	Rei looked up from where she held the handle
of the self-destruct device, she could FEEL Shinji. A
wordless communication passed between them.

	"Unit One and Unit Zero have just hit sync
ratios of 200%! How can this be?" Maya stared at her
readings and tried to make sense out of this.

	There was a ripping sound as Unit One and
Unit Zero played a tug of war, using the Angel's body
between them as they pulled and increased the force
of their AT Fields.

	The Angel came abruptly apart. The two
Eva units suddenly went dead. Maya frowned at the
readings. These were completely wrong.

----------------------------------

	Rei moaned and looked at the ceiling.
There was an answering noise from a bed nearby.

	"Rei! What were you trying to do out
there? Didn't you have any regard for your own
life?" Misato looked down at her.

	"Misato?" Rei's voice sounded odd.
"What are you talking about? Did I do it? Is Rei
OK?"

	Misato blinked. "Rei? Oh god, the 
mental contamination must have been more
severe than we thought."

	"Major Katsuragi?" Shinji's voice
came weakly from the other bed. "I feel...odd."

	"Shinji?" Misato turned towards
the other bed.

	"Yes, Misato?" Rei answered.

	Misato blinked. 1+1=3? Something
didn't add up and that was because she didn't
want to think about what it all meant. "Rei?" 

	"Commander?" Shinji slowly 
propped himself up in his bed.

	Misato twitched. She wasn't
sure if she wanted to fall over laughing
hysterically, cry, or simply go out and
proceed to get very, very drunk. Any
person who actually knew her would
lay heavy odds on the latter.

	Behind her, Rei propped 
herself up in the bed, turned towards
Misato and saw Shinji in the other bed.
"Wha..."

	Shinji blinked. "..."

	"This is a bad dream, right?"
Rei looked down at her chest and screamed.

	"Please don't do that," Shinji
said in a subdued tone of voice that was
entirely appropriate for someone else.

	"B-b-b-but..." Rei continued to
stare down at her chest. "...no...no...this
can't be happening."

------------------------------

	Off in his office, Gendo Ikari's
smirk fell off his face.

	"What does this do to the 
Scenario?" Fuyutski  said in a voice pitched
so that it wouldn't have been overheard
even if the room had been crowded.

	"The Scenario will...continue. As
planned." Gendo Ikari was rattled and
badly. Well, Yui HAD wanted a daughter.

--------------------------

	A nurse delivering tea 
smiled down at Shinji. "Oh my, this
sounds vaguely familiar somehow."

	Misato was still twitching.
She had decided. It was time to get
drunk. She was going to get so drunk
that any mosquito that had the misfortune
to come anywhere near her would 
suffer alcohol poisoning immediately.

	"Ikari?"

	"Rei?"

	"You have been staring
at my chest for a long time..."

	"Oh. Okay, it's just..."

	"I know." Shinji stared at
the ceiling. "I have to use the facilities,
but...I'm...embarrassed."

	"THAT'S IT!" Misato 
barrelled past Nurse Tendo and
was heading at Best Speed for the
nearest bar. As she ran down the
hallway the three in the room could
hear the occasional "I am not putting
up with THIS!"

	On the way though, she
put in a request that while Asuka
was in the hospital, that Rei be 
moved into Asuka's room in her 
apartment. It would simplify at 
least part of this mess.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

	where can it go from here?
Rei is in Shinji's body and alive.
Shinji is in Rei's body and going into shock.
Kaoru shows up as a backup pilot.
Kaoru is stopped by Rei in Shinji's body
and convinced not to go to Terminal Dogma
as the time is not right. Kaoru instead pulls the
plug on the dummy plug project.
Maya goes into shock when her security monitor
shows twenty naked Rei Ayanamis coming out
of Terminal Dogma.
Rei continues to experience life as Shinji.
Shinji continues to experience life as Rei.
Asuka hears about all this and decides she
doesn't want to come out of the hospital.
Rei and Shinji are spending time alone when
curiosity strikes. Rei and Shinji kiss.
Misato walks  in on this and freaks.
Each of the twenty "blank" Rei Ayanamis
begins to focus on a particular activity as
a Purpose in life. Scholarly Rei, Seductive
Rei, Hotshot Veritech(?) Pilot Rei, Rei The
Party Animal, whatever...