Story: NGE Drive

 

This was stupid. This was so stupid. It was so obvious what was happening, and yet it seemed impossible to stop. That was the worst kind of plan to go up against, the most insidious trap. It was like seeing a tiger pit in the path ahead of you, and being unable to stop marching right towards it.

"Oh, hey Asuka. I found this delicious apple pie," another Rei said, holding it right up to her, and she couldn't help but scarf it right down. Suckling on the Rei's fingers, licking off the juices. While behind her was a Rei smearing ketchup on her breasts, and behind her was a Rei rubbing chocolate sauce around her belly, and another one who was literally just grating cheese into her own hair. Come on, what the hell? Why was it melting in there too, was it her way of showing she's too hot to handle or some bullshit?!

"Hey, who said I wanted a shoulder rub?" the other Asuka said. The one with the stupid big muscles. There were Reis behind her, clung to her back trying to give her a shoulder rub. A massage? Really? How obvious can you -

"Apple strudel?" a Rei asked, making use of an over the top German accent while offering it. Of course, Asuka couldn't exactly say no to that.

While she chewed, Asuka took her sweet time and thought the situation over. The Reis were multiplying based on their desires, knew what those desires were, but were also able to choose if they acted upon them. That was pretty sneaky. Like that, you could basically pamper anyone into submission. They were already badly outnumbered as it was, the Reis could probably simply hold them down and do whatever to them. But... Asuka wasn't going to give in anything like that easily. There had to be some way out of this!

"Cheesecake for the cheesecake!" a Rei quipped, and then... Asuka was struck by inspiration. They were feeding on Greed, right? In that case, what was the one thing that countered greed? The one and only thing that could be described as the opposite of greed in all its respects?

"Here you go," Asuka said, quickly handing off the cheesecake to another Rei. "All yours, free of charge."

That's right. The answer was: Charity! Yes indeed, Charity! Giving away things in exchange for nothing at all but nice glowy warm feelings in your chest! Tax write-offs barely count, by the way, because if you do it right you save money off giving things away. But still! Asuka wasn't doing anything except giving food to this Rei. Oh, sure, her <i>eternally hungry tummy</i> was griping a bit, but if she'd got this right then -

"Uh, no thanks?" Rei said, trying to pass it back.

"No, no, I insist!" Asuka said, stuffing it right into the Rei's big fat doll like gob. "There we go! That tastes amazing, doesn't it? That... Sweet flavour combined with the soft delicate creamy texture of the carefully prepared soft cheese, mixed with many, many eggs. The base, made of crumbly crushed digestive biscuits adding that satisfying crunch as you eat it! A true delight to the palette!"

"Yeah," Rei said after swallowing. "I guess it did taste kinda - Oh hey thanks."

It begins. Asuka watched in muted interest, as Reis appeared around that particular Rei, giving her cheesecake of various kinds. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, banana, you name it she was being handed it.

"Uh, this is a bit much guys, you can stop now," Rei said, but they kept on appearing, kept on offering. "Mmm, but they're all so good! I can't just try one. I've got to try <i>all of them</i>."

Perfect. They were centering on her, now! Reis still kept appearing to her, so Asuka kept on shoving the food they were offering right back in their mouths before she could feel tempted. They were turning on each other now. Bit by bit, piece by piece, she'd turned greed against itself through the power of charity.

"Hey stupid!" Asuka charitably yelled at Shinji. "Quite getting pampered into uselessness! We're hauling ass outta here, got it?"

"Huh, we're what?" Shinji grunted. No time for this! She grabbed his hand... stuck it in her mouth on reflex. Just to, you know, suck on it for a bit. Then shifted her grip to grab his upper arm, and hauled him out of there as fast as she could.

"This way!" the other Asuka called, waving them off while punching a Rei right in the face. "Come on, they're all distracted for some reason!"

"Yes, I know, you're welcome!" Asuka called back. They ran like hell down the hallway, had to get away from there, the last thing they needed was running into any of the Rei guards. Luckily, they were able to duck in a room and hide. The only unlocked room as it happened - 

And that room was the swimming pool. Yes, the Geofront had a swimming pool. What of it? There was also a gym and a recreation room, this place was chuffing enormous! It was the size of the city above, just about, you think it doesn't have at least one swimming pool? Come on, of course it did.

"Nobody here..." Asuka sighed in great relief. "Alright, phew. That's a rel-"

Splash! Without warning, Asuka was pushed into the pool by none other than Shinji Ikari. Who likely had some kind of a death wish, based on that action and the expression on his face.

"You idiot!" Shinji yelled. "You ruined it! I could've had it all! It was right there in the palm of my hands! I could have saved everything! Oh! The adulation I would have received! You just had to take it away, didn't you?"

"You dumkopff! They were corrupting you!" Asuka yelled back, tripping him up and dragging his stupid ass into the pool as well. "Remember? That's kind of the deal with this place!"

"You two, get out of the pool!" Muscle Asuka yelled, and the reason why became apparent as a large platform rose up out of the water, lifting both Shinji and Asuka alike. The wall slid aside, revealing an array of screaming Reis, cheering them on from the sidelines. What the hell...? "Oh Scheisse!"

"Welcome ladies and... Ladies!" a voice called out. Asuka felt herself hit by... something or other. When she looked down, her hands were bound behind her back and her clothes had changed into a swimsuit. Shinji, it seemed, had faced the same fate. Great! What now?! "We have a special event brewed up today! A surprise bout between Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley-Sohryu from universe 69! With Asuka from universe 96 joining us on commentary!"

The crowd broke out into applause, while a microphone was strapped to muscle Asuka's head. She pushed the Rei aside and tried to rush the pool, but ran into some kind of barrier. Wincing to herself, Asuka splashed some water with her feet to the corner of the pool and - Damn! Some kind of barrier!

"The competitors are now stuck inside the pool until one of them can knock the other into the water," the announcer said. "As a reminder! No use of hands to strike your opponent, nor hear or feet either. Only hips, chest and butt may be used!"

"What is this, horny sumo?" Asuka griped. "Urgh! This is stupid! So the barrier won't go down until one of us loses? Alright, fine. Then let's get out of here before - "

That was when Shinji hip checked her. Oh. Oh, okay. She could see how it was now. This little twerp wanted some action? Then he was gonna get some action!

And so, they had descended into the next Circle of Hell. From Greed they had escaped... Into Violence.