Winning Vote:
[X] Arcade
[X] PLAN: Men of Destiny
-[X] Bond with a copilot
--[X] Lucia
-[X] Get to know the crew of the Archangel
-[X] Sharing the GN Love
--[X] The Romefeller Foundation
-[X] Paging Ikari
-[X] The Handover
-[X] Tattered Ribbons
-[X] Cracks in the Unicorn's Horn
-[X] FD-03 Gustav Karl
-[X] Greatest hits of the AEUG
-[X] Suzaku Kururugi
-[X] Destiny Gundam
July UE 0083
Akihabara, Tokyo
You are Shinji Ikari, and you are currently in the company of two beautiful young women as they take you to an arcade in Akihabara. You're pretty sure Kenji would have an appropriate comment for this situation.
The three of you enter the arcade, and the sounds of the games wash over you. At first all of the beeping sounds the same to you, but after a few seconds, you're able to tell at least tell the difference between the sounds of the crane games and well...everything else in the arcade.
While Kurara goes to get tokens, Aoi turns to you and smiles.
"So, what did you want to start with?" She asks.
After some deliberation, you decide to start with a rhythm game.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jC5j97STXo
How well does Shinji do?
DC 6 to have a good time
Roll 1d10 + 1 (good company) - 2 (Medium difficulty song)
Roll 2
2 + 1 - 2 = 0
Although you enjoy the song itself, you seem to have two left feet. You manage to finish the song, but your life bar consists of what you're pretty sure is a single pixel. When the score comes up, you have a rank of C. Aoi, by contrast, has at least twice as many points, with a ranking of A.
"Maybe not this one, eh?" Aoi says jokingly.
The three of you decide to try a fighting game next. Rather than play against each other, however, the girls decide to see how far you can get in single player.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdbR0jnfvQ
How far does Shinji get?
DC 6 to have a good time
Roll 1d10 + 1 (Encouragement) + 2 (Easy to use character) - 1 (Relatively complex controls and inputs)
Roll 6
6 + 1 + 2 - 1 = 8
Result: Shinji clears the single player mode, but loses to the secret boss
At the advice of Kurara, you pick a character she says is relatively easy to use for a beginner. After a crash course from her in your character's moveset, you do surprisingly well. After stumbling through the first stage while still getting used to the controls and a close shave on the second, you manage to get a perfect victory on the third. Although you struggle a bit after that, you manage to push through and beat the final stage, albeit with less than a quarter of health remaining.
Then the screen flashes purple, 'Danger, new challenger approaching!" flashes on the screen.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4fwuQrtqQ
Looks like you've stumbled into one of the game's secret bosses by accident.
Unfortunately, you don't do very well after that, as your AI opponent is relentless, absolutely pummeling you in the first round without you managing to land a single hit. The second round goes almost as badly, although you are at least able to land a five-hit combo before the secret boss finishes you off with his super move.
As the cabinet flashes 'Game Over' and rolls credits, Aoi consoles you by tapping your shoulder.
"Don't take it too badly, I hear even pros have trouble beating that boss. Besides, the only way to get to that boss in the first place is to clear the entire single player mode without using a continue! Not a lot of people can do that on their first try." She says.
Huh, isn't that something.
After grabbing drinks, the three of you take a short break while discussing what you should play next. Kurara suggests one of the light gun games. You and the girls take a look at what the arcade has to offer, and you eventually decide on Chrono Disaster 3.
You are Aoi Hidaka, and you pull Kurara aside for a moment before putting in the tokens.
"Hey, go easy on Shinji for this would you?" You say.
"Whatever do you mean?" Kurara asks with feigned innocence. You roll your eyes.
"We both know you're a crack shot. If the two of you beat the game but you absolutely demolish him in score, it might have the opposite effect of what we're going for." You explain.
"Fair enough. I'll hold back a bit then." Kurara nods.
"You'd better."
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY90T2lvsRY
How well does Shinji do?
DC 7 to have a good time
Roll 1d10 + 3 (Palette Rifle marksman) + 1 (Kurara holding back) - 1 (Series known for difficulty)
Roll 4
4 + 3 + 1 - 1 = 7
Result: Shinji and Kurara beat the game, although they have to burn a lot of tokens in the process.
Shinji actually does better than you anticipate at the start of the first level, although as expected of a first timer, he takes a few hits early on. When Shinji realizes that he can switch weapons, he switches over from the default handgun to the machinegun, and uses it excessively, only switching out whenever he runs out of ammo or is practically forced to use a different weapon by different enemy mechanics. Kurara, in contrast, sticks with the default handgun most of the time, only switching to other weapons when she and Shinji get mobbed by enemies. Despite Kurara's skill even when holding back, and Shinji's surprising adeptness, the two of them still run out of lives a few times, the most notable instance being the boss of the second level, when at one point both Shinji and Kurara see the continue screen at about the same time. Nonetheless, the two of them manage to beat the game, although it uses up all but one of your tokens in the process. After the credits roll and the final results are tallied, their scores come up. You breath a silent sigh of relief; Kurara's score only exceeds Shinji's by around 100,000. And they both made it to the leaderboard, 3rd place in fact.
After entering their initials into the leaderboard, Shinji turns to you.
"Thanks for taking me out Aoi. I...I think I'm ready to go back now." Shinji says.
"You sure?" You ask.
"Yeah, I think I know what I want to say to Misato now."
You're not sure if Shinji would respond well to a hug, so you instead settle for placing a hand on his shoulder. That seems to have been the right call, as he immediately starts blushing.
"If you think so Shinji-chan. Come on, we'll take you back to your place then. Oh! Before I forget." You toss him your trio's last arcade token. "A keepsake." You explain.
Shinji nods in understanding.
OZ Headquarters, Amsterdam
You are Lady Une, and you are in desperate need of some aspirin.
On the orders of Treize, you had investigated the flow of resources that Anaheim Electronics, or more specifically the parts of Anaheim Electronics under control of the Vist Foundation, that were being sent to Industrial 7. All of the resources in question were related to mobile suit development, more specifically a psychomachine of some kind, if the sheer amount of psychoframe in the cargo manifests was accurate. The problem is that to the best of anyone's knowledge, the Federation is not commissioning a new type of psychomachine, not even the 'successor' to the Flanagan Institute.
On a whim, you had ordered a covert unit to tail some of the cargo shuttles after they left Industrial 7. Most of them went back to their point of origin, but a few took a roundabout path to space colonies known to harbor Neo-Zeon remnants. Furthermore, a spy you have in the Vist Foundation broke cover to inform you that he saw a video conference between Cardeas Vist and a known leader of Neo-Zeon Remnants. The spy couldn't provide any details as he got the impression that the meeting was private, but it seems like there's some kind of deal between the Vist Foundation and certain elements of Neo-Zeon remnants. Unfortunately, you have no idea what that deal could be, aside from involving some kind of new psychomachine. You hope it isn't a successor to the Zeong.
You can't move openly against the Vist Foundation, they're too deeply intertwined with Anaheim Electronics, and open conflict with them could prove disastrous.
What do you do?
[ ] Appeal to the stars above
-Station a Gundam Meister around Industrial 7 at all times. If something happens, you'll have an asset on hand to mitigate things until the Solar Vanguard can get there in force.
-Each turn until the Unicorn Gundam plot starts, one Gundam Meister (randomly selected from Setsuna, Tieria, and Allelujah) will be unavailable to assist in planetside combat
[ ] Power of the Zodiac
-Station a unit from OZ aboard Industrial 7 for 'security' reasons. You'll have some legitimacy there, although you're expecting the unit to be stonewalled at every turn until something happens.
-When Unicorn Gundam plot starts, will have a mobile suit unit of your choice on hand to deal with things
-Pick a unit to send:
--[ ] Leo Platoon
--[ ] Taurus Platoon
--[ ] GM III Platoon
[ ] Privatized Help
-Station a unit from S.M.S. aboard Industrial 7. They'll likely face distrust from the Vist Foundation there, but it's better than nothing.
-Isamu Dyson and his VF-25 wing will be unavailable until the start of the Unicorn Gundam plot. Will have use of a generic VF-25 wing until then.
[ ] Nothing
-The Solar Vanguard already has too many irons in the fire. Adding another will stretch the organization thin.
Results
Shinji Ikari's mental state has improved (Lamenting the unfairness of life -> sedate)
Shinji Ikari's accomplishments in the arcade have improved his own skills. Will receive a boost to Ability when stats for Evangelion characters are determined.
A/N:
Not too proud of the last part, but I wanted to include something that wasn't just the event with Shinji. Please discuss, vote, and give constructive criticism!