January had become early February and Kensuke, Evelyn, Olga, and Lars were huddling inside from the snow and playing Heroes of Lankhmar; they’d just logged in when Olga stared at her character. “Hey, I somehow got pants!”

Kensuke grinned. “I hacked the system and now it will put you in that outfit whatever your theoretical outfit. And Evelyn can design a different outfit if you want.”

Evelyn smiled. “It was Ken’s idea; I designed the outfit, he hacked in so you could use it.”

“Thanks, Ken,” Olga said to him.

Kensuke smiled. He hoped that meant he was past the outer wall of Olga’s defenses; not that he had any real plan to somehow seduce her; he just fantasized about it at times when his ego was unstoppable. Or his libido was up.

Or right now, but he didn’t really mean it. He just wanted to be on better terms with her.

They soon were on a ship heading out to the six Isles of Crystal, where they would be stealing gems from goblins if all went well. Kensuke was, as usual, the raid leader. He loved playing this game with a group because it was usually the only time in his life he got to be in charge.

But also, Olga, Lars, and Evelyn were basically everything he ever wanted in a raid team: hard-working, disciplined, intelligent and able to learn from their mistakes.

It made him wish he could be a pilot more than ever, but also partly assuaged those pangs.

Why Shinji and Touji got to be pilots and these two had to wait, he didn’t know. They were good buds but if this game had taught Kensuke anything, it was the value of teamwork.

“Okay, this is the plan,” Kensuke said to them as they now marched across the third island towards the high hill which contained the goblin gem mine. “Lars, you and I will kite the goblin front guards out of the cave and away from the entrance. Olga, you sneak in and get the gems. Evelyn, you need to block the guards from going back in with a web spell; Olga’s magic boots will let her move through your web. Our goal is to steal the gems, more than killing monsters, so Lars, fight defensively.”

Lars was more oriented towards dealing damage while Kensuke soaked up attacks with his huge muscular half-ogre warrior clad in heavy armor.

“You sure we can handle this?” Lars said. “This is supposed to be a six-man.”

“Well, Shinji and Kameko decided studying came before raiding,” Kensuke said. “Despite us spending a damn week trying to schedule this!” He felt quite irritated. “Also, Evelyn and I are overleveled for this.”

Heroes of Lankhmar level-rated every dungeon and scenario. If you were too low, you probably got slaughtered. But if you were too high, the game would reduce your base bonuses down to the max level of the instance. You still got your gear benefits. This gave higher level players an advantage but not a game-breaking one. And it meant Kensuke and Evelyn could help Lars and Olga and Shinji and Kameko catch up to them without having to make new characters. And Touji and Hikari when they played, though they were both often busy.

##Kenshin: HEY GUYS WE ARE COMING TO SUB FOR SHINJI AND KAMEKO WHILE THEY STUDY LIKE YOU OUGHT TO BUT I NO LONGER HAVE TO SO THERE##

##Luthien: Misato, you need to turn off caps lock. And use punctuation as appropriate, like this.##

Their group channel went off with these two messages and Kensuke jumped. Who… okay, Misato was running Shinji’s character but who was running Kameko’s?

##Jalil of the Green Ruby: Hi, this is Kensuke, where are you?##

##Luthien: In an inn room in some hellhole of a city. This is Dr. Akagi and Misato is running Shinji’s character and neither of us really have any clue what we’re doing and probably shouldn’t be doing this. Also, how can a Ruby be Green and be a Ruby?##

##ThePinkPanther: This is Lars. You should be in the Green Dragon Inn in Lankhmar. You’re going to have to go down to the docks and sail out to meet us unless someone has a Unity Ruby.##

##Luthien: Does my character actually have 30 days of hashish????##

##Kenshin: To the docks! Which way is that?##

##Carolyn: This is Evelyn. You actually have 30 days of ‘hash’, which is a kind of trail ration. Technically, it’s a mix of dried meat and potato in an airtight little pouch.

##Luthien: Won’t we get scurvy from that diet?##

##Kenshin: Wow, Kameko’s character believes in flaunting it.##

##Luthien: I… what on earth? Kensuke, did you steal Kameko’s character’s clothing?##

##Jalil of the Green Ruby: It’s the game! I have a hack but I’d have to install it on your machine.##

##Miera of the Wind Dance: Hey, this is Olga, stop typing so fast, I can’t keep up.##

##Kenshin: Dammit, my character is buried in clothing. Can I give my tunic to Luthien?##

##Carolyn: Yes but it will change how it looks on a woman; I went on a quest for my nice robes. Sorry.##

##Luthien: The design crew were all fifteen, I see.##

##Jalil of the Green Ruby: Hey, I’m fifteen and I don’t make Evelyn dress like that!##

##ThePinkPanther: We can argue over nakedness later. We have limited time and they’re going to have to get to us.##

##Miera of the Wind Dance: Aaargh, half the dialogue is scrolling before I can read it!##

Finally, Kensuke got things under control and the four already on the islands spent the time killing crystal elementals for small amounts of treasure, crystal shards, and XP while Kensuke talked them through to their location and through three fights on the way. Then they rested. Unfortunately, Hikari’s wise woman, the only healing expert in the party, wasn’t here. Neither was Touji’s thief, but they needed healing more.

Then Misato and Dr. Akagi got jumped by a horde of crystal elementals and they had to run down to the beach and help them survive.

##Kenshin: Hmm, I have used up Shinji’s stock of healing potions.##

##Luthien: Running into the middle of the enemy is probably not the best strategy.##

##Kenshin: It worked for Sigurd!##

##Luthien: In your imagination, maybe, but I remember the army of three thousand ogres quite well.##

Kensuke laughed nervously. Then he went over everyone’s job. Lars could shield better than Shinji’s char, so Misato would flank foes to do extra damage while he and Lars shielded against their foes. Dr. Akagi would provide fire support and Evelyn would block any retreat or reinforcements while Olga went a’thievin’.

##Kenshin: What happens if the goblins have shamans? Can’t they dispel or burn the web?##

##ThePinkPanther: Ken and I will kite the front door guards out; we’re trying to avoid fighting the shamans.##

##Carolyn: I have a water burst spell I can put out flames with.##

##Miera of the Wind Dance: I have some extra healing potions but I bet you’re all on to some other topic by now, dammit.##

“Olga, do you have lag or just type slow?” Kensuke asked.

“Yes,” she said.

He had to straighten that out, and then they were ready to go.

Kensuke savored the feeling of adrenalin, then he and Lars’ characters slid forward and engaged the goblins at the cave entrance, then fell back; Evelyn webbed over the entrance and now they all took on the guards; to Kensuke’s relief, Misato was very good with Shinji’s character, darting in and out to stab monsters and avoid counter-attacks and helping them slowly whittle down the creatures while Dr. Akagi burned them up, one by one and Evelyn dazed them with a glittering powder.

Finally, their foes were down and Olga came back with the gems triumphantly.

##Kenshin: THIS… This would be easier with voice chat.##

##Jalil of the Green Ruby: The four of us are all in the same room, and normally Shinji and Kameko come over to play so I haven’t got it set up but I think I had better.##

##Luthien: Burning things is strangely satisfactory.##

##Carolyn: Yes, it is. ^_^##

They got back to Lankhmar so they could log out safely, then everyone logged out for the evening. Kensuke considered this a success, but hoped Shinji and Kameko would not hand over their characters to newbies ever again. That could have easily gone to hell.

He kissed Evelyn goodnight, walked her home, then staggered off to bed, feeling satisfied.

****************

“Not bad,” Misato said to Shinji and Kameko, who were doing homework. “Sorry to force you to let me play but I wanted to observe him in action.”

“He was a good leader, right?” Shinji said to her.

“Yes,” Ritsuko said, sounding surprised. “Good planning, adapted to circumstances, dealt with us not knowing what we were doing well.”

“Are you contemplating him getting pilot training?” Shinji asked. “It would really make him happy.”

“I was just curious but now I want to see if we can exploit those talents,” Misato said. “He’s been working with you and Commander Ikari, right, Kameko?”

“Yes,” she said. “They’re trying to figure out how to extend old methods to modern media.”

He does like to film things, Misato thought. Maybe he could make some kind of ‘day in the life’ film for us. We need to put his talents to full use. Even if it means more work for the children.

But they seemed to be flourishing from it, which made her feel less guilty. And people in old times took on adult responsibilities by their age. And they did fine, right?

Misato really wished now she’d paid more attention to history. It was strange; as she got older, she increasingly regretted how much she’d flaked her way through high school and college.

I’m growing up, she thought. The idea made her feel strange. She liked being young.

“Am I old?” she said, then wished she hadn’t said it.

“Ancient. Old, withered, shrunken,” Kameko said flatly and Misato cringed. “I was just teasing,” Kameko said more kindly, patting her shoulder. “You’re not old.”

Being told that by Kameko made Misato feel old.

“We’re not old,” Ritsuko said to Misato.

“I think you were born old,” Misato said, then sighed.

“Well, we are both adults but we have a long way to go in order to be old,” Ritsuko said to her. “I can dunk your head in the toilet if it will help you feel young, though,” she said teasingly.

Misato laughed, then said, “Thanks for helping, Ritsuko. I should do my homework.”

Ritsuko smiled. “I’ll see you later, Kameko. Enjoy your linguistics, Misato. It pleases me to see you studying it so hard.”

“The better I get at it, the more I enjoy studying it,” Misato confessed. “If we eventually make contact with the Eldar, I’ll be ready.”

“So will Rei,” Shinji said. He knew she’d be eager for it.

Ritsuko laughed ruefully. “Too eager.” She sighed. “Anyway, I’m heading home, see you all later.”

She headed out and everyone got down to studying.

*****************

Rebuild of Neon Genesis Silmarillion

A Tolkien Legendarium / Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover

By John Biles

Book 3: The Long Game

Chapter 2: Fire in the North

*****************

It was early February and snow still gripped the land, in Europe, anyway. Shinji, however, was outside doing something he’d never done before. He, Kameko, Evelyn, Kensuke, Rei, Lars, Touji, and Hikari were busy making snowmen; it had been Evelyn’s idea; the rest of them had never actually done it before. Most of them had never lived in a really snowy area until they came to Germany; Shinji was used to snow but snowmen were not really a thing where he came from.

“You’re not fifteen yet?” Evelyn said to Hikari, surprised.

“There’s lots of people in our grade who aren’t fifteen yet,” Hikari mumbled, embarrassed. She hated being reminded she was the ‘baby’ of the group.

“It’… hey, wait, why is Kevin in our grade? Isn’t he April? Shouldn’t he be a year ahead of us?” Touji said.

“Back home, the year changes in April, so he would have been in our grade anyway,” Shinji said hesitantly.

“Yes, but this is Germany,” Touji said. “As Ingrid can’t stop reminding me.” He sighed, then rolled his giant ball of snow into place as the base of he and Hikari’s snowman, then worked on the middle ball, while Hikari made the head.

Evelyn, who was carefully crafting a head for her snowman, said, “My parents held me back so I wouldn’t be the tiniest person in my class all the time. Maybe his did the same; it would guarantee he’d be one of the tallest and strongest in his class.”

“I’ll be fifteen later this month,” Hikari said, then sighed.

“You are still taller than me,” Rei said tightly.

Everyone turned and saw she and Lars had sculpted a fairly realistic human out of snow; how it held together, the others didn’t know but Lars looked quite pleased. “Wow, that’s great,” Evelyn said. “Can you show me how you made it hold together?” Her inner artist was thrilled.

“Of course,” Rei said to her and began showing her how to do it.

Touji shook his head, wondering how much weirder the world was going to get.

*************

Ray Cuvak was bored out of his mind. He was hauling furniture into the Geo-Front. In theory. In actuality, he was sitting around on his ass while paranoid guards searched the truck in front of him.

Then he heard gunfire in the main body of his eighteen-wheeler and shouting. Followed by armed guards hauling him away and locking him in an interrogation room.

And then the head of NERV showed up, backed by two thugs with guns.

“I have rights, you know!” he said angrily.

“Not here. You were hauling four men with explosives,” Commander Ikari said coldly, sitting down across the table from him. “This is a military installation and you may be involved in treason against humanity.”

“I’m just a trucker!” he said desperately. “I thought I was hauling furniture!”

He found himself caught in Ikari’s gaze and interrogated so thoroughly, he confessed to cheating on his wife and stealing candy when he was ten.

Then he was let go, but Ikari called his wife and told her about his adultery. And that would make trouble for him for the rest of the year.

He also resolved to get a new job.

****************

“What exactly is ‘the Anti-Christ’, anyway?” Misato asked Commander Ikari at the security conference which soon ensued. They had the Ainarilsen on the base under security just to be sure. She, Captain Berg, and Commander Ikari were meeting in Commander Ikari’s office.

“One way of interpreting part of the Bible asserts that Satan will send a fake Christ, an evil ‘messiah’ who will lead the world astray in its final days. There’s a lunatic preacher in America who calls Commander Ikari the Anti-Christ,” Captain Berg said, frowning deeply.

“Butterfield,” Commander Ikari said, frowning. “But he is not behind this. The four would-be bombers were guided by dreams to try and pull this. They’d been part of a vaguely revolutionary group of disgruntled young men, then all began dreaming of angels talking to them.”

“Maybe Rei and Shinji can find something out?” Misato asked. “They’re not possessed, right?”

“Just fools,” Commander Ikari said.

“I’ll work on ensuring they don’t even get this close in the future,” Captain Berg said, sighing. “Sorry, sir.”

“No need for apologies. Your men caught them just as they should,” Commander Ikari said and Captain Berg relaxed. “And yes, I think we should try that, Katsuragi.”

Misato nodded and they now discussed how best to do this.

****************

Shinji was nervous and excited at once. Nervous because who knew what might show up or what the man’s dreams would be like. And excited because Father wanted him to do this.

They would have to find the four men’s dreams, but it was a short trip from the room they went to sleep in. Going to sleep in a cell was a strange feeling, though.

This posed a problem they had not anticipated, in part because Rei rarely entered other people’s dreams and especially not without their consent. Or when they were locked in a cell. Entering the world of dreams outside the cells the four men were in meant appearing inside dreams of the cell block. Which included the men being locked in and them being without the keys to unlock the doors in the world of dreams.

While a few shadows lurked inside the four men’s cells, they quickly could tell there was nothing lurking around the men in the world of dreams right now, though.

“Can we go get the dream of the keys?” Shinji asked.

“The cells are locked electronically so that you can’t overwhelm a jailer, get keys and set people free,” Rei said. She frowned. “I should have thought of this.”