Changing the Scenario, Evangelion

[Azure_Ghidorah]

The usual disclaimer, If you recognize it from a show, its not mine.

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

Surprises

The Third Impact, despite the efforts of the Evangelion pilots, had occurred. Thought to have been averted when the seventeenth Angel, Tabris, who had taken the form of Kaworu Nagisa, the Fifth Child, and was later crushed in the palm of Evangelion Unit 01, the truth was far more sinister as the very disaster thought to have been averted was caused by the very man running the organization that destroyed the Angels, Gendo Ikari. It hadn’t occurred like he had originally intended though. Instead of him becoming god-like by using the First Angel, Adam, and the Second Angel, Lilith, his efforts were undermined, and the power given to Unit 01, which in turn meant the use of that power currently laid in the hands of Shinji Ikari.

Now, at fourteen years of age, he was forced to make a decision that would affect all of humanity, to accept or reject Instrumentality. In the end, the boy rejected Instrumentality, allowing humanity the chance to regain physical form. Shinji himself already had his physical form still, protected from the effects of Third Impact by the undamaged Unit 01 which was the focal point for the Tree of Life. One of his fellow pilots, Asuka Langley Soryu, was the first person to regain her physical self, having died in the battle against Evangelion Units 05-13 after her Unit 02 ran out of energy, minutes before Third impact occurred. Unit 02 was severely damaged, and therefore incapable of protecting Asuka like Unit 01 had protected Shinji. At that point in time, they were the last humans on the apocalyptic Earth. Shinji, still angered with Asuka for reasons his own, had tried to strangle the German to death, but ceased before her breath ran out.

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

(A/N: POV change here, mine now)

“Argh! Aside from that scene with the MP Evas going into a feeding frenzy on Asuka, this is the scene I hate the most!” I screamed to myself, seeing as I was home alone and had decided to re-watch the End of Evangelion.

“Seriously, does he want to be alone that badly!? Does he not realize that by killing her he is stuck alone until some one else decided to come back out of the LCL, which may not even happen!? That idiotic Shinji!”

Contrary to how most people usually respond the first time the watch the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, I had understood a good deal of it, only getting messed up on Episodes 25 and 26, but even then, after watching End of Evangelion and seeing some similarities between it and those episodes, it all cleared itself up in my mind, granting a nearly perfect understanding of the series. I had yet to watch Death and Rebirth, mostly because I couldn’t be bothered with finding it on Youtube, and I couldn’t view the whole thing on Veoh, despite one of my online friend’s suggestion.

“And why the hell did the producers suddenly hate Asuka enough to kill her off, and then nearly do it again!?”

If it wasn’t clear by now, Asuka was my favorite character it the series. Rei was just, well… too unemotional… and Shinji was, as Asuka directly or indirectly stated, I could never remember, ‘a spineless, perverted coward,’ even though I don’t think the perverted part was true. Unfortunately for me, during my little rant, one of my sudden jerks sent me onto the floor, seeing as how I tipped my chair to the side like the leaning tower of Pisa, something I had a knack, and fetish of sorts, for doing.

It wasn’t my first time falling like that.

“Ow… You’d think I’d learn to be careful after doing that at least five times already…” I grumbled, rubbing my head and standing back up, righting my chair as well.

”Argh! I just can’t take it anymore!” someone suddenly screamed, who I didn’t know.

“AH! What the hell!?”

Had I been on one of the various online RPG sites I tend to visit, I would have decided to use a more… colorful word instead.

”I know what you mean, Asuka, this is getting way to repetitive.” some one else replied to the earlier of the two out bursts, this one distinctively male while the previous one was female…

…

…

Whoa… hold up… Asuka?

Now enraptured by curiosity, I looked up at my computer screen, at the Youtube video I was looking at. This had been the exact same video I watch the last part of End of Evangelion on, but it was Japanese with English subtitles, and now I was hearing plain English from none other then Asuka and Shinji!

I was seriously freaking out here.

They were going completely out of character, series wise, and had apparently managed to eschew the credits! Asuka was now sitting up, her bandages and wounds completely, and mysteriously, gone, while Shinji was sitting next to her cross-legged.

”Repetitive is right, I’m going insane from the boredom of doing those scenes over and over again!” Asuka growled in the changed video, crossing her arms and huffing afterwards.

”Asuka… You’re already insane, I’m the one who should be worried about going insane…” Shinji replied, and cried out in pain when Asuka socked him in the jaw.

”Care to repeat that?” the red head growled threateningly. Shinji, whether through some stroke of wisdom or just his usual personality, backed down with out a word. The red headed German sighed to herself.

“This cannot be really happening… can it?” I asked myself, not expecting a response, Asuka, however, quirked an eyebrow and, apparently, looked at me through the screen. Her eyes widened, and she got up onto her feet, before silently dragging a rather confused Shinji ‘off screen.’

Before I could say anything to this, I heard Asuka screaming at Shinji about something, I couldn’t really tell what she was mad about, if she was mad at all… scratch that, this was Asuka I was talking about, of course she’s mad about something. Finally, she slapped Shinji back ‘on screen’ with her trademark phrase of ”Baka-Shinji!”

The Eva pilot in question rubbed his reddening cheek. ”Ow… Asuka, don’t you know how much that hurts?” the boy groaned.

”You’re the idiot who let some one see what can go on when we’re not enacting the scenes in an episode or movie!”

”How was I suppose to know?”

I cleared my throat, reminding the two that they had an ease dropper. Asuka glared at me through the screen, but never-the-less let poor Shinji off, as much as I secretly wanted her to keep pounding on the boy who had eventually turned into the character I hated the most…

Ok, Gendo was the character I hated the most, if only for the fact that he’s colder then Rei emotionally and abandoned Shinji when he was young… But that wasn’t the point.

“Could some body please explain to me what’s happening here?” I asked the two Eva pilots, still mentally freaking out. If it wasn’t for my unintentionally putting on the ‘mask’ I wore while role-playing the emerald wyrm Solranous, I would be screaming my head off right now.

Asuka blinked in shock, noticing how calmly I was taking this in, even though my mind was whirling like a hurricane, not like she knew. ”Why aren’t you screaming like crazy?” she asked.

“I’ve seen weirder things before…” I answered, my voice going into the deep tone I imagined Solranous having while I mouthed the words he spoke as I typed them. It was… semi-true… I had seen, and role-played, weirder situations before.

Asuka sighed. ”Ok… I’ll just tell it to you straight, since you can apparently handle it. Gainax, with out realizing it, created a completely different dimension when they made the show ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion.’ Normally, we’re not allowed to do this, but the times we can are usually those when we’re not being watched by people in your world.” the red headed German said.

I mulled this over in my head for a few seconds, “Yep, I’ve definitely seen weirder.”

Asuka grinned, ”That’s good, last time we had to deal with this, the poor guy was probably put into an asylum… Huh… I wonder…” She trailed off, looking at the sky, before frowning as she looked at the impaled MP Evas. ”Can we please have a scene change here!? The skewered Evas don’t do much for the sights. And don’t get me started on Ayanami’s giant head!”

At once, the scene they were in shifted into the command bridge of NERV, and the other main characters walked in, who were then followed by…

…

…

Were those human-sized Evangelions!? As I looked more closely… yep, Units 00-03, all human-sized, walked in behind Gendo Ikari, who had his right arm back. A slight twitch made me shudder unnoticeably, the embryonic Adam was still grafted the commander’s right hand.

Misato giggled, ”You know, Asuka, for a moment there I thought you were going to try to do ‘something’ with Shinji.” She had stressed the ‘something’ for a reason…

Asuka and Shinji blushed, before shrieking, ”Misato!” in sync, they were probably still trying to recover from that crazy machine used to co-ordinate them against the Seventh Angel.

Unit 01 looked at Misato, before sighing and muttering something. To which Unit 02 responded by swatting Unit 01 on the back of the head and saying, ”Speak up now if you want to say something!”

Unit 01 growled threateningly, and everybody suddenly backed away at least thirty steps from the Evangelion, including Gendo, who still held a straight face through all of it, but had enough common sense to keep away if the Eva went berserk for whatever reason.

The purple cyborg, however, suddenly laughed at them, and they quickly realized they had been played for fools.

I blinked in shock, “Unit 01’s got a sense of humor despite being half machine?”

The purple Evangelion seemed to take offense at this, because it… he? She? Whatever, all that mattered right now was that I was receiving the most threatening death glare that I had ever seen in my entire life.

”Don’t tempt me to come over there and go berserk…” the Evangelion warned.

”Empty threat, Unit 01, you can’t cross dimensional borders without having the powers you gain in End of Evangelion, which means you have to stick to the scenario lest you wish to raise suspicion.” Gendo countered coolly for me. Why he did that, I’ll never know… Either way, it made Unit 01 glower, but drop the subject either way, so I was happy.

”As if we’re not raising enough suspicion when we’re talking so casually with an inter-dimensional ease dropper.” Unit 03 noted, crossing its arms over its chest. ”Not that I’m complaining, considering it means I get more time on screen after being brutally destroyed.”

At that last comment, not noticing how Toji shuddered at the memory, Unit 03 glared at Unit 01, who retorted, ”Well excuse me if you got possessed by the Thirteenth Angel. I really don’t see how that’s my fault.”

”How was I suppose to do anything about Bardiel being in that damn cloud when I wasn’t even active!? You could have at least just tried to disable me!”

”You wanna start something, 03?” Unit 01 growled, crouching down.

”Bring it!” Unit 03 got into a battle stance. The two lunged at each other, only for Unit 00 to restrain Unit 03, and Unit 02 to restrain Unit 01. Unit 01, however, entered berserker, so it took Unit 02, Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, Ritsuko, and Toji to restrain the now much stronger Unit 01 until it calmed down. Thankfully, Unit 03 didn’t go berserk as well, despite clearly being able too after Bardiel possessed it.

After that mess was cleared up, sparks still seemed to fly between Units 01 and 03, but that quickly ceased when I thumped my head on my desk.

“Lord… Who knew Evangelion Units could act so childish off screen…”

”What was that!?” Units 01-03 roared at me, Unit 00 remaining as emotionless as its pilot, and I ignored them.

“Whatever, why is it that you guys apparently want me to listen in, or do you just want some one to vent to?”

”Well…” Shinji began.

”We’re bored! We need some kind of change to the usual script!” Asuka yelled, fuming.

”Some of us are, not all of us are so enthusiastic to change the scenario.” Gendo corrected, only to realize from the looks he was getting from the others that he was probably the only one who agreed with this notion. Well, besides him and SEELE, but they weren’t important. At least… they weren’t important to me.

”You can honestly look at us all in the eye and say you’re not bored of the same thing again and again?” Kaji asked.

”Yes.” was Gendo’s cool response, completely ignoring all the looks he was getting.

”Well, that doesn’t matter, since you are the only one who thinks that way here.” Ritsuko said.

”Yeah, hopefully if there’s a change, I won’t get destroyed again!” Unit 03 added.

”Why do you keep fixating on that!?” Unit 01 roared/asked.

”Maybe because I didn’t like getting only one episode to appear in before getting hauled off to the scrap heap?” the black Eva retorted.

Unit 01 groaned exasperatedly, while the other Evas just shook their heads.

”At least you weren’t disemboweled.” Unit 02 grumbled, and was unfortunately loud enough to be heard by Asuka, who quivered in disgust and fear at the feeling of her own body getting torn apart by what amounted to savage animals. Being eaten alive can do a lot to traumatize someone…

“Sooo…” I began, dragging their attention back to me, “What do you expect me to do about your boredom? It’s not like I can just ‘poof’ over there at the start of the series.”

“You can’t alone, but I can for you.” A deep voice said behind me, making me go rigid at the sound, it was the same as the voice I was mimicking for all this time, and I turned around in my chair to come face-to-face with the scary, but attempting-to-be-friendly-looking face of none other then Solranous.

“Um… Why and how are you here?” I asked, returning to my normal voice while adding an ‘eep!’ at the end. In my mind, Solranous already looking fricken ferocious, but in real life… did I mention I very suddenly had a phobia of fangs that looked like they could pierce into one side of my body and out the other?

Yeah, that’s how long Solranous’ fangs looked. And the fact that they gleamed with his smile didn’t help either, I’d swear he looked absolutely sinister!

“I have Gendo and a few of the Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion to thank for that.” is what Solranous cryptically replied with.

”The Fifteenth Angel allowed us to find out about him in the first place, and the Twelfth, with aid from your own dragon, helped bring his body into physical shape, and Adam gave him the necessary energy to exist. There are a lot of things you don’t know about the Angels. Oh, and Kaworu should almost be there.” Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki explained.

“Kaworu!?” I yelled, stunned. “As in, ‘Seventeenth Angel Tabris’ Kaworu? That Kaworu!?”

“There’s nobody else bearing the name, so wouldn’t that be certain?”

I yelped in shock, jumping up onto my chair, and glared at Kaworu for surprising me like that, “Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear, or should I say, Angel?”

Kaworu let off a short chuckle, “You seem to be so much fun when your definition of reality is blowing up in front of you.”

“HEY! No stealy my lines!” I cried, I had used that line way too many times for him to just waltz in and throw it back at me like it was no body’s business.

Solranous, to my surprise, whacked me over the head, “Shut up already…” he grumbled.

“Ow… No abusing the guy who made you…” I grumbled back. I then blinked, the true weight of the situation being presented to me finally sinking into my mind.

”Whoa! Wait a dog-gone-tail-waggin’ moment! Just why are you two here again?”

Solranous just jerked a thumb to the assembled cast on the screen, “Need I have them explain again?”

“So You guys actually want me to go into the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Do I get a choice in this?”

“Yes, you do, you can chose to go through with this, and live another life in our world, or you can refuse right here, and Solranous will make use of his talents to make you believe this was all a dream.” Kaworu responded.

’Huh… Wonder if I’ll get my own Eva if I accept…’ I thought, putting a finger to my chin.

“Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that…” Solranous replied to my thoughts.

“Sometimes I regret making you telepathic…” I muttered.

Solranous just grinned, before Kaworu asked, “Your decision?”

I mulled it over a few more seconds, before asking, “Exactly how do you plan on getting me there?” It was a question that, after I thought of it, was quickly eating at my curiosity.

“Microscopic Instrumentality that would only affect you, Solranous would then contain the LCL with telekinesis until we open up a dimensional gate with help from Leliel.” Kaworu answered. “Obviously, whether you had a strong enough sense of self or not, you’d still regain your physical self, another aid from Solranous.”

Solranous laughed, “You make it sound like I can do anything I think of, Kaworu!”

Kaworu laughed with him, “You’ve made the appearance that you certainly can.”

Solranous stopped laughing, and just smirked now, “I know I’ve made it seem like I’m omnipotent, and while this is well within my power, I most certainly am not omnipotent.”

“You’re strong enough to go through with it, that’s all that matters right now.” Kaworu then returned his attention to me. “Well? All we need now is your approval. It is your life we’re talking about here.”

Once more, I mulled it over, before grinning, “Alright, lets go, I can use a little more excitement in my life! Question though… Wouldn’t you need the equivalent of Third Impact to occur here to generate an Anti-AT Field?”

“I’d only need Third Impact to do it if it was going to be world-wide. Since its only you, I’m certain I can manage a strong enough Anti-AT Field. I have, after all, displayed the strongest AT Field in the entire series.” Kaworu explained, and then closed his eyes in preparation of generating the Anti-AT Field.

“Wait!”

“What?” the two of them asked.

“Before you go ahead with the Anti-AT Field… Could some one at least knock me out first? I don’t like the thought of feeling my body splatter into liquid.”

Solranous shrugged, “Sure, I get what you’re saying, G’night.” And with a bit of telekinetic pressure in just the right place, I was out cold.

Solranous then looked at Kaworu, and nodded, bringing up a visible telekinetic barrier that he would need to protect himself from also getting turned into LCL, knowing he would have to be there the second Kaworu’s usage of the Anti-AT Field peaked for a small task like this or something could go very wrong.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

AN: I should note that, because this is a self-insert, it’ll all be from my POV, save points where I am not involved in the story.

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

The Third Vs. the Fourth

“Ugh… What a trip…” I groaned, waking up against a wall on the streets of a city, which I quickly identified as Tokyo-3. Just as they said, it worked, and now I was in the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, year 2015, the time when the Third Angel, Sachiel, arrived, the first Angel to appear since Second Impact.

The sounds of distant thuds seemed to accompany my thoughts, and were just small enough to pass off as my imagination, but I knew better. Seeing as I had plenty of time before my rendezvous with Shinji and Misato, I took the chance to gaze at a mirror to look at my reflection.

Solranous had apparently deemed it necessary to make changes to my physical body. Instead of being, regrettably, mildly over-weight I had a slimmer figure, the fat converted into a miniscule amount more of muscle mass then I had previously. I was by no means heavily muscled, but I wasn’t looking like I didn’t get out of my house much, which was true. A major difference that I had noticed was that my body was also regressed by a year back down to fourteen… Huh… I wonder if there is a subtle hint Solranous meant to go for with that…

’coughAsukacough’ I thought, the dragon obviously knew she was my favorite character, and was apparently trying to indirectly set me up with her, or at least give me the chance to set myself up with her. Anyways, back to my appearance in this universe. I was wearing a pair of jeans that were slightly too long for me, completely hiding my feet and shoes from view, but not providing a tripping hazard. They were gray, and the outer sides of the leggings were flayed open up to my thigh, something I found to be to my liking in the ‘flare’ department. My shirt was black, with emerald flames all over my sleeves, along with various tattoo-like markings on the front and back of it, with some white sparks sprinkled about almost randomly. It seemed Solranous remembered my trait for being taller then most kids my age and set my height at five foot six inches. To finish it all off, I had my usual hair and eye color of blondish-brown and hazel, respectively.

’Solranous, my friend, you have an exquisite taste for the wild side in clothing, maybe I should role-play a short story where you open your own clothing line for whatever reason… Assuming things go the way I think they will and send me back after everything is said and done. Actually, I hope they let me stay… Oh well, I’ll worry about that when the time comes.’

I sighed, before noticing a series of far off explosions. When I turned to the source, my heart jumped into my throat, despite my already anticipating it.

There, in all its massive one-hundred-thirty-one foot tall glory in the distance, was Sachiel, the Third Angel. That thing was very non-threatening on screen, when you knew it couldn’t hurt you… but seeing it without that whole dimension between us, and I quickly found its rather mild features to be quite scary.

Knowing I had over stayed my welcome, I used what knowledge I had of the area to search for Shinji, hoping I hadn’t missed him or Misato before they took off for NERV, until I remembered they didn’t do so until after the N2 Mine went off. Now less panicky, but still swift in movement, I ran as fast as I could. Also knowing they were close to the Angel before heading for NERV, I made my advance in Sachiel’s general direction, despite all common sense screaming at me to go away from the Angel.

I didn’t expect Misato to come to me, though, until I had to make a reflexive dodge to avoid being flattened by a certain blue car. Looking up at Sachiel, I could now make out the far off, but sharp images of the VTOLs futilely attacking the Angel, who in response lifted his arm and extended an energy spear from his palm, destroying one of the super advanced helicopters.

“Hey! Are you gonna stare at it all day or are you gonna get in?” I heard the voice of Misato say. I hadn’t noticed her get out of the car and move to my side until she had spoken, but none-the-less I hastily got myself back to my feet, took a short second to dust myself off, before getting in the back seat of the car.

“Sure, don’t ask if I’m alright when you very nearly run me over.” I grumbled as Misato sent the car into motion again, making me cringe from the speed. I knew from the first second that I would never get used to these speeds since Misato was at the wheel…

“I did ask, but you didn’t say anything back.” Misato countered. I cringed.

“My mistake, I sometimes zone out and can’t hear anything. I don’t know about until some one tells me what I should have heard already.” This was completely true, I did zone out at times and normally for no particular reason at all.

“Bad timing to zone out then," Misato commented.

I sighed, and then noticed the VTOLs pulling away from Sachiel. Knowing what was about to happen, but playing ignorant, I asked, “Why are they retreating?”

Misato slowed, err, skidded, to a stop to see, before blinking under her sunglasses, “Now wait a second… They’re gonna use an N2 mine!? Get down!” She then grabbed Shinji, who I had already known was in the car, and pulled him down to try and cover him. Following her lead and advice, I bent over as far as I could, and clasped my hands over my head, as the deafening explosion went off, lifting and sending Misato’s car tumbling. Lord! I never thought getting hit like that could make such a bumpy ride!

Regardless, after the wave passed, the car, like in the actual episode, found itself tilted on its side. Groaning, I shook my head of the stars dancing around it, undid my seat belt, and managed to haul myself outside of the car.

“Ugh… this is bad…” I groaned, seeing Shinji and Misato also get out. The captain spoke to Shinji, likely confirming if he was alright or not, but I tuned her out as I got up against its roof and started pushing with all my might. Misato seemed slightly shocked that I would be so quick to try and shove the car upright again alone.

“Can some one help me out here…?” I strained, and thankfully Shinji came up and helped me. Together, we got the car back onto its wheels. Misato looked at us like we shouldn’t have been able to do that, but didn’t ask questions, seeing as she still needed to get Shinji to NERV. This fact, though, perked another question in my mind that I wanted to know the answer to.

“Hey… Why did you pick us up if you don’t even know us?” I asked Misato as she was finishing up with the last battery she had ‘borrowed’, again feigning ignorance.

“Well, I’m here to pick Shinji up, but half way to finding him after he nearly avoided the Angel’s foot, I was called and informed to find another boy about five and a half feet tall, with gray jeans and a green and black shirt.” Misato explained, casting a quick glance behind her to look at me, before returning her eyes to the road and gunning the engine.

“Urk!”

“Sorry, too fast for you?”

“I’ll… be fine… really…” I wasn’t convincing anybody though, but Misato knew she didn’t exactly have time to slow down to compensate for my sudden motion sickness. Deciding to wander about within my own mind, I tuned out everything around me just as she mentally complained about her car and outfit, and if the two of them had any conversation at all, I didn’t notice it. I didn’t want to speak, for fear of vomiting. I was, unfortunately, forced to swallow it back down after a few completely intentional jerks of the car shook me and Shinji around as we entered a tunnel.

I recognized this as the express car train Misato calls for in the episode, and now know that we are within NERV. I uninterestedly listened in as Misato spoke to Shinji, deciding not to draw to much attention to myself.

“Hey, what do you think about all this? You’ve been quiet ever since your little objection to high speeds.” Misato asked me. I looked up, figuring out we were now in the GeoFront, and that I had indeed been silent for quite a while.

“I personally think that the very existence of the GeoFront is a marvel worth paying attention to at the exclusion of everything else. Despite this, I still listened in on what you two said. However, I won’t say anything about NERV itself until we are actually inside the complex.” I responded.

“Just be careful of my father…” Shinji grumbled as a warning for me. I nodded solemnly, knowing the history of the two.

We were soon on the ‘esca-walkways’ as I called them, and Misato was looking at some sort of map.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” I asked Misato as I looked back at her as we passed through another door, putting on my mask as Solranous. The sudden change in my voice and my expression made Misato jump slightly, before answering,

“N-No we’re not… We just… uh… Don’t know where we are exactly?” the captain tried.

“Worst excuse for trying to hide the fact you’re lost, and I’ve heard a lot. I would ask you to give me the map, but I sincerely doubt I could do a better job.” I scoffed at her, before sighing.

“Ok, what’s going on with you?”

“Hmm?”

“One moment you seem like every other child, and the next, you give the impression that, and carry yourself like; you’re an adult in a child’s body. What is with that?”

“The me you see right now is but one of my many masks, different characteristics that exist within my mind come to the fore front when I put on these masks. Should I ever get into a fight, this is likely the mask that I would put on. It is also the mask I use for formal meetings.”

That was a bald-faced lie in my book, I never went to formal meetings, and if I ever did, I kept to myself, remaining as invisible as possible, existing only when some one notices me and speaks to me. Not that they would ever know that…

“Weird…” Misato mumbled. I heard it, but I didn’t really bother to respond to it.

The captain, using the intercom’s automated voice, called for Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, who joined us in the elevator in nothing but her swim suit, seeing as she just came out from diving for a reason I never knew and personally thought I wouldn’t understand, and her lab coat.

“H-H-Hi, Ritsuko.” Misato stuttered, just like she did in the episode. If the series changed like I thought it did, I knew that I should listen in closely on this.

“Why are you wasting my time, Captain? Don’t you know we’re short on time and man power?”

“Eheh… Sorry…”

Ritsuko sighed, and then turned to Shinji and myself, “So, are they the two boys?”

Misato nodded, “Right, according to the Marduk reporter, Shinji here is the Third Child… I don’t know why NERV wants him though…” the captain accented her statement with a gesture towards me.

Ritsuko smiled at her friend, “Why, because Devon is the Fourth Child.”

I silently mused on this, ’Toji’s suppose to be the Fourth Child, but I guess because of my appearance, he’s been bumped back to Fifth Child, meaning Kaworu will be the Sixth Child. Interesting turn of events…’

“Eh!? But I thought only the Third Child would be present!” Misato exclaimed.

“We didn’t know of his whereabouts until after you left, hence why we called you on the way to pick up the Third Child.” Ritsuko explained in response.

“Ahem, can we please get straight to the point with you telling us just why we’re here?” I snapped, growing annoyed by the fact that they were hiding something from us, even though I already knew ahead of time at least part of the reason. I wasn’t sure if my appearance had changed anything else though. Shinji cringed at my words, probably thinking that I’m an idiot for speaking so harshly towards elder people. Misato and Ritsuko, however, were completely stunned by this.

“What happened to his ‘be quiet unless spoken too’ temperament?” Ritsuko asked Misato, who shrugged, saying,

“I don’t know, this is the first time he said something first without asking for help.”

’Eh, great. Not only do you put me in this world, which I did agree too, but you made a whole flipping history for me here? I wonder if I’m missing anything important from this history or if just acting like myself is enough…’ I mentally mused, certain that emerald wyrm could hear me, as I looked at them sternly.

Ritsuko frowned at me soon though, “You’ll just have to wait until we get there…” she said in a scolding tone, to which I clenched my hands, cracking the knuckles, but said no more. Do to my speaking up, the rest of the trip to the Eva cages was almost completely silent, aside from Ritsuko standing close to Misato as to continue about their conversation in a hushed tone, knowing I wouldn’t hear them, but not knowing that I already knew what they were saying… mostly… I was also mildly decent at reading lips, allowing me to learn some extra bits and pieces I would other wise be ignorant too. I couldn’t make any conclusive decisions though, but one bit caught me completely off guard after they finished talking about Unit 01. Misato’s eyes suddenly widened, before whispering something to Ritsuko. All I had caught though was ‘other Eva’ making me mentally quirk my eyebrow in curiosity, I knew they weren’t talking about Unit 00, and Units 02 and 03 weren’t here yet… so what could they be talking about? Unfortunately, because of my musings, I missed everything else that I might have picked up on.

Nothing else was said until we got into the Eva cages, and the doors closed behind us, making Shinji protest, “H-Hey! Why’s it so dark in here!?” I had forgotten that he was reading a book, and obviously the darkness would make it hard to read.

“I get the feeling we about to see something more important then that book…” I mused off handedly, drawing Dr. Akagi’s questioning gaze upon me. damn, I nearly blew my cover of having minor knowledge of events that are going to happen. If Gendo finds out I know about SEELE, he may very well see my use as being expendable in the effort of keeping things under ropes. I needed to be more careful about my cover… because if he knows that I know about SEELE, he may think that I know a lot more then that. Much, much more then I let off knowing, and enough to prove as a dangerous wild card that can change the scenario over time. Dangerous enough that he might decide to sic Section 2 on me to make sure I don’t spill out his secrets. I personally liked living, thank you very much, so my common sense was telling me to keep my mouth shut unless it was safe to speak otherwise.

My musings had again made me miss out on the conversation up until Gendo said “Correct” drawing the attention of both Shinji and myself towards him, though I only acknowledged his presence by rolling my eyes up to see him.

“It’s been a while.” Gendo continued.

“F-Father…”

“We’re moving out.”

“Moving out!?” Misato exclaimed at Gendo’s words, “Unit 00’s still in cryo-“ the captain paused, unlike in the episode, as the realization dawned on her, “You’re going to use Unit 01!?”

“It’s one of our two only ways.” Ritsuko replied… Wait… Two? Does that mean another Evangelion is here that I don’t know about? It would make sense, seeing as Misato mentioned another Eva, and the others couldn’t be candidates. God, I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner.

“Wait! Rei can’t do it yet, can she? We don’t have any pilots!”

“We just received two pilots.” Ritsuko’s reply hung in the air for a few seconds, before she looked at Shinji, “Shinji Ikari, you will pilot it.”

“But it took Rei seven moths to synchronize with Unit 00! He can’t do it! He just got here!”

“We only expect him to sit in the seat, nothing more, but defeating that Angel is our top priority. If we have some one who has the chance of synchronizing, then we have to take the risk. Do you understand that, Captain Katsuragi?” Ritsuko said.

“…Yes ma’am…” Misato sighed, defeated.

“Wait.”

Everybody turned their attention to me.

“What’s the other way? Is it another Evangelion?” I asked, looking at Ritsuko, then Misato, and finally up to Gendo.

Gendo narrowed his eyes at me, “It is… Unit 04 has been recently completed here.”

’That’s new, it was suppose to be created in America, and then destroyed by a malfunction in an S2 Engine. That’s what sends Unit 03 here to be possessed by Bardiel… But if it was created this early, then that means there is no S2 Engine to malfunction.’

Thankfully, this musing was very short in reality this time, but at that point, the GeoFront suddenly shook with the attack of the Angel’s energy cross. I was, to my credit, unfazed; even though the Angel attacked earlier then it originally did in the episode.

“Then if Shinji Ikari will not attempt to pilot Unit 01, I will make the attempt to pilot Unit 04.”

Gendo locked eyes with me, as if trying to see if I had some ulterior motive for offering my assistance to NERV so willingly. “I’ll keep that in mind, but Unit 04 is to be used as a last resort as of now.”

“Understandable, if its just recently been completed.” I replied, nodding. I then stepped back, just listening to the words exchanged by the other four people, paused only by a second attack by the Angel.

“I-I know, but I-I just can’t!” Shinji finally exclaimed. I sighed, knowing he would say that, and looked up at Gendo.

The commander of NERV soon spoke, “Prepare Unit 04, the Third Child is of no use to us.”

“Yes sir,” Ritsuko and Misato said. Ritsuko put her hand on my shoulder.

“Follow me, we’ll get you ready.”

I just nodded as my response, realizing that if I kept talking that my inner voice of common sense would talk me out of fighting.

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

It didn’t take too long before I had gotten myself into a green plug suit with gray details, which, in my mind, seemed to create a soothing mixture that hid a potential beast underneath. Visually, aside from color, it looked exactly like Shinji’s plug suit, but resized to fit me. I looked up at Unit 04. It was essentially a silver twin to Unit 03, with black and red detailing. Why my plug suit was green instead of silver was beyond me, but then again, the plug suit color was closer to Unit 04 with its detailing then Shinji’s plug suit was to Unit 01, having no color co-ordination between suit and Eva, so I wasn’t going to complain. Besides, green was my favorite color and I hadn’t gotten over how much the gray seemed to go with the green so nicely.

I sighed, “Ok Devon, don’t back down; take the challenge by to horns and meet it head long.” I whispered to myself as I got into the entry plug. I, unlike Shinji, didn’t need to constantly repeat a phrase in my mind in order to steel myself for the challenge ahead.

“Ready when you are,” I said over the comm. link.

“You’re not quite ready, but you will be soon.” Ritsuko replied, before giving a command.

I mentally groaned, knowing LCL was about to fill the plug, and that it was breathable. It reached up to my neck, and on instinct alone I lifted my head up to keep the liquid away from my face as long as possible. A futile endeavor, obviously, but you couldn’t hurt a guy for trying.

“Ugh… It just had to taste like blood…” I grumbled as I quivered.

“You want to back out?” Ritsuko asked.

”Hell no! I’m already in this way to far to back out now!” I shouted, then gagged on the taste of the LCL again, “I can deal with this…” I finished in a much less convincing voice.

Misato audibly gulped, before giving the necessary commands. I felt the Eva unlock from the binders, as it backed up onto the catapult.

“What’s his sync ratio?” Misato asked a technician, I’m certain it was one of the main characters but I couldn’t tell right now.

“Not good, it’s just above the minimum to move the Eva.”

“Craaaaap…” I groaned. “Oh well, I’ll have to work with that…”

Misato looked back to the commander, whose gaze said everything she needed, “Unit 04, launch!”

The sudden force of being launched up the catapult made my stomach lurch, but was relatively uneventful. In a matter of seconds, the catapult reached the surface and jerked to a stop, making me grunt.

“Releasing the locks.” A technician said, I think it was Maya, but that didn’t matter to me right now as the locks holding my Eva in place hissed and opened, allowing the cyborg to stand on its own two feet.

“Ok Devon, just focus-“

“Sorry for my rudeness, but don’t tell me what to do, I learn better from experience.” I cut Ritsuko off.

I heard her growl over the comm. link, but she didn’t finish her sentence.

’Ok… Let’s get this show on the road.’ I thought as I tried to will Unit 04 into motion. My low synch ratio, however, was making Unit 04’s movements jerky, but despite it, I still managed to take my first step in the Evangelion.

“Don’t get too cocky…” I warned myself, taking another shaky step. That sealed it, I officially did better then Shinji on his first try, because I didn’t count the berserker as Shinji’s actions, all he did was take one step and fall flat on his face. Although, one thing I had as an advantage over him was a very imaginative mind that was already compensating for the increased size. Sachiel was in front of me, turning it’s head left to right like a door knob, as if to figure out if I was a threat to it or not.

The more I advanced, though, the more the Angel viewed me as a threat, as it soon raised its arm. Knowing what was coming, I shifted Unit 04’s body out of the way just in time for the energy spear to scream past me. A mental sigh followed, before I realized what was likely the problem of my low synch ratio, I was anxious, I knew because my entire body was shivering. Taking multiple deep breaths, while keeping my eyes on the Angel, I managed to calm myself down. It seemed that indeed was the problem, as it was confirmed by the technicians.

“Pilot’s synch ratio is rising! Stabilizing again at 23.9%!”

“Well, its better then the absolute minimum…” Misato said.

’damn it… 24% isn’t enough! Please, Unit 04, I know you can hear me… Please, we have to work together to defeat the Angel!’ I mentally pleaded with the war weapon, swerving out of the way of another energy spear attack from Sachiel.

Sachiel was getting annoyed now and opted to engage in melee, where I would have less time to react. Not good…

But, as if answering my silent plea, I could feel the Eva become more of an extension of myself. I didn’t need the technicians to tell me that my synch ratio was rising again, now at 30%. Eh, it could be better, but it should be enough. Now with greater capability of battling the Angel, I gladly met Sachiel in melee combat, thundering towards the Angel. Sachiel’s arms bulged as it increased its offensive power, before swinging a punch at me.

“I don’t think so!” I said as I projected Unit 04’s AT Field to block the attack, which still made me stumble back, but left me otherwise unhurt.

“How’d he know about the AT Field!?” one of the un-named technicians asked.

Gendo, however, was now suspicious of me, and I didn’t know it. His thoughts were, ’That boy is more then he appears to be… He knows too much with out being told of it…’

Obviously, I didn’t know of these thoughts.

“YARGH!” I yelled, punching at Sachiel. Now on the defensive, it did the exact same thing I did, defending itself with its AT Field. Unit 04’s fist was thrown back, and I felt a minor burn on my left hand, but the Angel raised its AT Field, and fell into my trap. I raised my own AT Field again while Sachiel’s was still active, forcing my now protected hands into the center of the Third Angel’s field. Repeating what the Berserk Unit 01 did, I dispelled both of our AT Fields.

“AT Field neutralized! Just how does he know about these things?”

But as soon as it got a clear view of Unit 04’s chest, Sachiel’s eyes glowed.

”Scryaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!” I roared as Unit 04’s chest was damaged badly by the Angel’s energy cross. The Eva fell onto the floor, and I desperately tried to raise it again. Sachiel was quicker though, grabbing Unit 04’s head and left arm and lifting me up. Sachiel’s muscles bulged again, and my eyes widened. Opening the left shoulder pylon, I deployed the Progressive Knife and activated it, and desperately stabbed at Sachiel’s core, just as began to try and either tear Unit 04’s head off, or break the left arm.

Screaming in pain, and snarling like a wild animal, I kept hacking at Sachiel’s core, fighting through the pain to the best of my ability, but I was fighting a losing battle, as Unit 04’s arm snapped, just like Unit 01’s did in the show. Now blinded by pain, I couldn’t hold on any more as I dropped my Prog Knife. Sachiel, taking advantage of my weakness, began to pummel it’s energy spear into Unit 04’s face, specifically it’s right eye, ironically just like the show. My instinct to survive now being the only force driving me, I renewed my assault and Sachiel’s core with Unit 04’s fist alone, causing cracks from the Prog Knife to widen. Realizing that it may very well die before it finishes piercing Unit 04’s head, Sachiel threw me back into a building, and I slumped down against it, afraid to make any movement lest I provoke the energy cross attack from Sachiel.

“What is the pilot’s status!?” Misato shouted, desperate for an answer, hating the fact that she had to send a teenager out to do what should be an adult’s job.

“Injured, but alive.” A technician replied.

“Energy build-up detected!”

A cry of pain echoed through the command bridge before any body could respond to that reading… My cry of pain, as Sachiel’s energy cross further ravaged Unit 04’s chest.

“Eva status!”

“Left arm damaged, moderate damage to the brain casing, severe damage to the chest, I’m surprised the pilot’s still conscious!”

Indeed, I was still awake through all this hell, panting as I tried to regain my breath. My lungs were burning from the neural feedback sent by Unit 04. My left arm hung limply at my side, I couldn’t move it ever since Sachiel snapped Unit 04’s arm, but every nerve there was burning just as badly as my chest was. I felt like I was having the migraine from hell, probably from the Angel’s energy spear attack. And yet… I got Unit 04 to rise. In hurt to will the Eva into motion again, but I knew that if I didn’t, the Angel would just kill me while I was down and living in pain was better then dying if I had a chance to recover. Sachiel’s eyes flashed again, and I instinctively raised the Eva’s right arm to shield its chest…

If only that was Sachiel’s target. I felt a burning feeling in my leg quickly explode, traveling up my left side as the cross formed. It also had another adverse effect.

“Umbilical Cable severed! Unit 04 is switching to internal battery!”

Crap that meant I only had five minutes max left before I was sentenced. I cast a quick glance at the clock, yep; five minutes max, having already ticked down to four minutes and forty-five seconds.

All the odds were against me, and I had to beat them, because I doubted Shinji would, or even could, come to my rescue. It was all or nothing. Even with my leg screaming at my mind in protest, I willed Unit 04 into a run to Sachiel, leaning down to scoop up my dropped Progressive Knife with my good right hand. Roaring at the Angel from within my entry plug, I made Unit 04 jump up, and with good timing too, for Sachiel just released the ground version of its Cross. It still caught my shins, making me scream again in pain, but because I was jumping, I couldn’t be stopped by a glancing blow like that even if I wanted to be. I reeled Unit 04’s arm back, intending to drive the Knife all the way through the Angel’s core.

I would have succeeded too… if it weren’t for the one thing I currently hated right now…

Sachiel had raised its restored AT Field, blocking my attack.

’No…! I came… so close!’ I screamed mentally, feeling the energy slowly slip from Unit 04’s body. Three minutes left… and not a plan in sight.

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

A/N: Muhahahaha! Evil cliff hanger! Will I die (how am I even conscious?)? Will Shinji save me with the Berserker? Will I hatch a plan in time to defeat Sachiel on my own? Also, I figured that an AT Field could reform if left alone for a certain amount of time.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

No note, straight to the action.

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

Conclusion of Third Vs. Fourth, and new living arrangements

I continued to glare at Sachiel through my Unit 04’s remaining eye for the next few seconds, the AT Field still raised as if to taunt me…

Until I remembered what happened when the battle against the Fourteenth Angel occurred. Rei’s Unit 00 only had one arm when it pierced Zeruel’s AT Field! I could still win this! Once more, I reeled Unit 04’s arm back, before thrusting it forward, stabbing the Progressive Knife into Sachiel’s AT Field. It didn’t get repelled, because I was now deploying my own AT Field again. I was half-way through when I casted a glance at my timer. One minute and thirty seconds left, it had already taken a minute to get this far, which means that when I pierce the Field I would only have thirty seconds to land a killing blow.

My time had now dwindled down to forty-five seconds when Sachiel realized it couldn’t just wait me out… or did it even know I had a time limit? Either way, the Angel lifted its arm. I didn’t pay it any heed; I would just swerve out of the way when I neutralized the AT Field again, thinking that the Angel couldn’t attack with its field up. I was therefore caught completely off guard when Sachiel’s energy spear passed through the weakening AT Field, and impaled Unit 04 in the chest, mercifully missing my entry plug, but now sending a brand new wave of pain through my body, as the spear pushed me away from Sachiel.

’No!’

I slammed into the building again, and the Angel retracted its energy spear. Weakened, I limply dropped the Progressive Knife again. There was no time to get back up and charge again… it was all over…

I heard something though, and when I looked to see, I saw the last thing I ever thought would happen, do to my appearance.

Unit 01 stood there, still clamped by the shoulder pylons. It was soon released, and one of the most mind boggling things happened, something that definitely didn’t occur the first time Shinji piloted.

The purple Eva broke out into a run after taking its first step, and it seems Shinji was watching the battle, considering he had apparently taken notes from my performance. Sachiel launched its energy spear, which Shinji just swerved out of the way of, not losing a bit of his speed.

Where the hell did he get the backbone to pull this off!?

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

(Shinji’s POV, back tracking to the start of the fight)

I couldn’t believe it. Why would he agree to pilot something he’s never seen before!? Why would he even offer to pilot that… that… thing!?

I looked on from the command bridge as Unit 04 evaded the Angel’s first few attacks, then pressed forward when the Angel starting advancing on him. I cringed in sympathy as Devon’s pained scream echoed as the Energy Cross tore at his Eva.

Why!? Why did he agree to it!? Why did he agree to weather this pain!? What motivates him to do this?

Does he have some one to protect? Does he want to be recognized as a hero?

Devon’s action were confusing, what would drive him to fight so hard? What could let him be able to push the pain aside and rise again? Unit 04 jumped up, avoiding the brunt of another Cross, only to have his efforts defeated by that same field.

’I mustn’t run away. I mustn’t run away. I mustn’t run away. I mustn’t run away! I mustn’t run away!’

“Alright…” I finally said just as Unit 04 nearly broke through the field again, “I’ll pilot it… I’ll pilot Evangelion.” I met my father’s cold gaze.

“Very well, prepare him and Unit 01. It is clear that Unit 04 is defeated.” My father said with no emotion in his voice.

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

There wasn’t any time for me to get into my own ‘plug suit’ as they called it, so they just gave me some strange devices that clipped into my hair as I sat in the entry plug of Unit 01. The technicians ran through the procedures quickly, and that strange orange liquid started to pool in the plug. Despite knowing how Devon took it, I still panicked and held my breath before it passed over my face.

“Shinji, relax, the LCL is perfectly breathable.” Dr. Akagi said just as I ran out of breath and had to inhale the LCL.

“Oh god, I’m gonna be sick…” I moaned.

“Nothing we can do for you on that account.” Maya said.

“Synch ratio?” Misato asked.

“Amazing… It’s at 41.3%! Harmonics are normal.” Maya replied.
“Unit 04 has gone silent!” another technician cut in and I gasped. Was Devon already dead?

“Then this is our last chance,” Ritsuko began, and the turned to Misato, “Lets do this!”

“Begin launching sequence!”

The noises going on around me never reached my ears when I heard that Unit 04 was silent. If he was dead… then it would be my fault! It would be my fault because I ran away and let him take my place! He only went through that pain because I ran away! No… I won’t run away anymore… I won’t run this time.

I hadn’t noticed that Unit 01 was already on the catapult until Misato cried, “Unit 01, launch!”

“Ah!” I cried as the catapult fired Unit 01 to the surface.

Looking at the situation, I saw that the Angel was just now retracting its energy spear from Unit 04’s body, and I saw a spray of blood from the Eva, but I couldn’t tell where at this distance, because the Third Angel was between us. I clenched my fist, almost certain now that Devon was dead, and that it was my fault…

Maybe he knew he would die, so he piloted Evangelion first to give me an idea of what to do and how to do it. It looks like I had to try and put the skills he used for my own use. Knowing that, and after I took my first step off the catapult, I ran. The battle was on again.

(My POV again)

damn, he managed to punch the Angel’s face in metaphorically before it could raise the AT Field to stop him. Did my appearance and performance suddenly spark this ‘new Shinji’ to come out of hiding? I had to admit, I liked this Shinji more then I did the old Shinji.

The purple Eva slammed its other fist into Sachiel’s secondary face, knocking the Angel back. Sachiel’s eyes flashed though, striking Unit 01’s head with the Energy Cross and eliciting a pain-filled scream from Shinji as his Eva started to fall back, only to be gripped by Sachiel’s hand and lifted up.

Oh shit…

Shinji screamed again as Sachiel started to pound the left side of his Eva’s chest with the energy spear. Two hits already went off, and I looked at my timer… Ten seconds of power were still in Unit 04’s internal battery, and I intended to make use of it to try and give Shinji the upper hand.

I forced Unit 04’s arm to once again pick up the Progressive Knife, lifting it over my head. I tried to gauge how far Sachiel was from me, and then threw the Knife at the Angel, hoping for once in my life that my aim was true.

And true it was, just as Sachiel pulled the spear back for a third hit, my Progressive Knife stabbed itself into Sachiel’s elbow, preventing the spear from sliding forward. Sachiel grunted in confusion when its spear didn’t strike again, and it looked at its elbow, spying my Progressive Knife.

A comm. link opened between Units 01 and 04, started by Shinji, who was shuddering from the pain.

“Y-You’re still alive!?” Shinji asked me, surprise evident on his face.

“Yeah…” I panted, and cringed, “But I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse, given my current situation… What? You thought I up and died back there?”

“You weren’t doing anything for the last thirty-five seconds, even though your Eva had power! What were we to assume!?” Misato screamed at me after hearing my voice, answering for Shinji.

“Point well made, sorry to- Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I started, but was cut off when Sachiel blasted me with an energy cross. I slumped over in my entry plug, panting from the loss of breath as Unit 04’s battery finally ran dry. The comm. link, though, was still connected.

“Shinji…” I began, cringing as my lungs burned once more, “I… It’s all you now… Finish what I started. Don’t back down… Meet the challenge head on… And defeat it.” As my words finished, I finally allowed the dark grip of unconsciousness claim me.

(Shinji’s POV)

‘Finish what I started’… He had to be referring to the battle against the Angel. He now trusted his fate to me… If I lost here, the Angel would kill both of us. I couldn’t let that happen. I brought Unit 01’s arms up, and pounded them down on the Angel’s arm, snapping it and sending a spray of azure blood, forcing it to release me. The Angel’s attention returned to me as I drew my own Progressive Knife, following Devon’s example when he retrieved his own. Reversing my grip on it, I dragged the Knife up the Angel’s un-wounded arm, spraying large amounts of the azure liquid up and onto Unit 01’s body. Now with both of its arms damaged, the Angel would probably try to blast me with that energy cross, so I smashed Unit 01’s free hand against its face, while I prepared to stab the Knife into the red organ on the Angel’s abdomen that Devon had seemed so intent on destroying, and thrust forward. The Knife struck, but it still wasn’t a fatal blow, I think… However, the Angel made a strange grunt and started wrapping itself around Unit 01’s head and chest! What’s going on!?

“It’s going to self-destruct!” I heard Misato cry just as the red organ glowed, and my world was enveloped in white.

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

(Third Person Perspective)

Everybody stared as the Angel made its explosive exit from this world, a large cross forming from the blast. They wouldn’t cheer until they knew of Unit 01’s condition and, more importantly, the condition of Shinji Ikari. They were also hoping that Unit 04 wasn’t caught in the blast, knowing it wouldn't survive in its mangled state. As the blast cleared, they could see the vague silhouette of Unit 01 in the blast, its armor heavily damaged, but still attached…

Well, most if it, after the helmet slid off, revealing Unit 01’s biological face. The Eva’s eye seemed to regenerate, now that the helmet was gone, and looked around, but other wise there was no movement from the Eva.

Turning their attention to the far right, they could see Unit 04, covered in a bit of dust, but beside that completely unchanged. Everybody breathed a collective sigh of relief, save Gendo, who only smirked as the Third Angel was confirmed dead.

’Just one of the many steps, before the scenario is complete.’ Gendo thought. ’And then… I will see Yui again…’

“What’s the status of the pilots?” Misato asked.

“Both are unconscious, but alive. The Fourth Child may need medical treatment when he gets back though.” Shigeru Aoba replied.

Gendo mentally frowned at the mention of the Fourth Child, ’He may have to be dealt with… If he starts changing the scenario, he will not live to see it.’

The commander beckoned Fuyutsuki over.

“What is it?” Fuyutsuki asked in a hushed tone.

“We need to keep tight surveillance on the Fourth Child. He knew too much about the Evangelion on his first fight. I want Section 2 to monitor him at every possible minute.” Gendo replied.

The sub-commander sighed, “Very well…” ’I don’t think this is a good idea, Gendo, whose to say he doesn’t already knows about Section 2 and will be careful of where he treads?’

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

(My POV)

’Ugh… damn, how long have I been out? Well, Shinji killed the Angel, because I wouldn’t be here if Third Impact occurred yet…’ I thought as my mind was greeted by the dull aching of my body. I pried open my left eye, my right eye having been bandaged over, and looked at the ceiling, knowing that I was now in the hospital. That wasn’t the only thing that I saw. That small mat of brown hair told me that Shinji was currently at my bedside… I must have been at for at least a few days if he’s up and ok, going by what happened in the episode. I grunted to get his attention, seeing that he was staring off into space.

“O-o-o-oh… Y-you’re awake…” Shinji began, stammering. He probably didn’t expect me to wake up then.

“I see you… took the Angel out…” I croaked, a grin spreading on my lips. “Argh… How long have I been out?” I continued, after my chest reminded me that it was burning like it took three energy attacks all in one day which, in a sense, it did.

“Um… four days, I just got cleared yesterday after waking up.”

“Ouch… What’d the Angel do to you to rough you up so badly?” I asked him, already knowing the answer.

“It blew up on Unit 01…” Shinji replied.

“That smarts…” I dully commented, before noting my left arm was in a cast and sling. “Ugh… so that’s why I couldn’t move my arm for the rest of the battle…”

“Yeah, the doctor said it could have been a lot worse though, and that you got off lucky.”

I snorted at that, “Lucky my ass, I feel like someone started a wildfire in my lungs…”

Shinji cringed in sympathy, before offering me a glass of water, “Maybe it’ll help?” he tried.

“Regardless of whether it’ll help or not, I am thirsty, thanks.” I replied, taking the glass and swallowing the entire content of it in one gulp.

“So… Um… How’d you know what to do when you fought the Angel?” Shinji asked me, and I mentally cringed, of course my battle capability would rub some peoples’ suspicious sides, thankfully, I was capable of making up a story on the dot.

“If you heard it, do you remember how I said I learn better from experience?” Shinji nodded at my question. “That’s true, but I get experience from instinct. It was mostly the adrenaline fueling the flight or fight response. Seeing as how I couldn’t just turn tail and run the other way, I had to stay and fight, especially if I get cornered.”

Shinji seemed to buy my story, and let the issue drop. I sighed, as I looked up at the ceiling, and my eye twitched.

“I wonder if it’s ok for me to stand up, just laying here is getting on my nerves. I hate not doing anything…” I complained, looking around. The room was rather plain, not having much except for my bed, a chair for a guest to sit on, and a tray table. The door opened, and as he had heard me from wherever he was, the doctor walked in and checked up me.

“Ah, so the boy is awake now?” he asked, looking me in the eye.

“Yeah, waking up into a world of pain…”

“I can understand, seeing as you faced that monster first all by yourself. You seemed to have recovered well after these past four days. Tomorrow you should be cleared to move again, but not to pilot.” He said as he finished.

“Eh, moving is almost more then I could ask for at this point.” I said calmly, “Not to mention appreciated.”

“We get that a lot, the appreciated part.”

I sighed to myself, letting my mind wander to amuse itself.

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

It was the next day, and while I still had the cast on my left arm, and the bandage over my right eye, I was otherwise looking as normal as could be.

“Aaaah! Always nice to get out of the hospital after being cooped-up in there for five days, even if I was unconscious for most of them.” I said.

“Good to see you up and about again, you had us worried when you didn’t wake up.” I heard Misato say as she greeted me at the counter.

“Good to be up and about again.” I replied, grinning. I stretched my right arm up and sighed. “ So… What now?”

Misato grinned, “Well, I managed to convince NERV to let you two stay with me! If you want to that is, it’s either that, or you live alone.”

’Saw that coming half a mile away…’ I thought and was half tempted to say, ‘I’m never alone; the other personalities in my head keep me company.’ But instead I decided to reply with, “Given my current condition, and the fact that I can’t stand not having any contact, I’ll take you up on that offer, Misaro.”

The captain blinked, “Its Misato…” she corrected.

I realized my mistake and laughed, “Oy! Maybe I got smacked to many times in the head while in the Eva and had some kind of very short term amnesia.”

Misato couldn't help but laugh with me, “Oh boy where’d that come from?”

“From the vast chaos that is my mind…” I replied. “Well, let’s get going then…”

I sweat dropped as I looked at Misato, who had collapsed with laughter, “Woman down, woman down…” I commented. This only caused Misato to experience another laughing that would make you think I had found the most ticklish spot on her body and kept exploiting it. I shook my head and let off a few chuckles of my own, before going to wait for her at the elevator, thinking that she would recover sooner if I wasn’t in sight.

Thankfully, she did, and we had soon made our way into the car again, seeing that Shinji was there, waiting for us.

“What took you?” Shinji asked.

“I messed up Misato’s name and then said something that made her laugh out loud.” I summarized so Misato wouldn’t have another laughing fit. The two of us got into the car and Misato sped off for her apartment.

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

“Hmm, definitely has that ‘home sweet home’ air too it.” I commented when we were all inside Misato’s home.

“It was a lot worse when I first came in here.” Shinji grumbled, remembering how he had to clean up the place. “There were Yebisu beer cans everywhere.”

“Eek.” I ‘exclaimed’ weakly, already knowing what kind of state it was in previously.

“Aw, come on Shinji, it wasn’t that bad.” Misato said.

“You’re delusional.” Shinji replied.

I quirked an eyebrow at that, normally he wouldn’t have said something like that… Maybe my presence is helping him grow a backbone. Good, I didn’t like scrawny ‘it’s all my fault, I’m sorry I’m sorry’ Shinji. I learned already that sorry doesn’t get anyone anywhere, especially when one says it when the thing they are apologizing for isn’t their fault.

“Um… Devon?”

“Hmm?” I acknowledged.

“Look, about what happened in the fight-” I stopped him right there with a punch from my good hand on his chest.

“If you’re going to say ‘I’m sorry’ or any variation there of, I swear I will come so un-manufactured on you you’ll be wondering what the hell hit you so hard. It’s. Not. Your. Fault. Got it?” I growled at him.

“B-But I-I ran away a-and just let you go out there first. You nearly died out there…” Shinji said in response.

“Answer me this, did you go into my mind and manipulate what I said?” I asked.

“N-No…”

“Did you force me into that entry plug and lock me in?”

“No…”

“Did you give the Angel the idea to blast me as soon as I neutralized its AT Field?”

“No! Why would I do something like that?” Shinji snapped at me, and I grinned.

“Then it’s not your fault. You need to grow a spine some day. Got it? Don’t be so quick to apologize for something that couldn’t have been avoided.”

“But-”

“But nothing. If you had gone out there first, you probably would have been hurt pretty badly, meaning I would likely have still entered the fight and gotten hurt. The way I see it, it was better this way.” I finished, mentally telling myself this wasn't true, that the Berserker would have saved Shinji instead, and then stamped my foot when Shinji opened his mouth to argue further about it. I sighed, mentally noting that there was one more spare room then normal.

’Obviously, the series would have to adapt for a new addition,’ I thought.

Misato tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention, “Don’t you think that was a little harsh?”

I looked at her and responded, “I know it was, but I’ve got about ten years of insecurity and taking the easy way out to undo. If you wanna try a gentler approach, feel free to.” I sighed, entering what would now be my room in the apartment, and took things easy where I could.

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

A/N: Eh, I don’t feel like writing any more in this chapter. So that's how it ends, I get saved by Shinji without him needing the Berserker, do to him taking some notes in the unscheduled Eva Piloting 101 class, headed by yours truly in such short notice.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Startling Revelation... and Here We go Again...

The next day found me sitting up in my futon, my right arm bracing me up. I had little rest last night, the thoughts of the upcoming Fourth Angel in my mind. If it went according to the timeline, my Unit 04 wouldn’t be repaired in time to take the Angel out, or weaken it so Shinji can finish it off, not that I liked the idea of being beaten to the punch by that pansy…

Seeing as how I wasn’t Japanese in origin, I had to stomach putting up with Japanese foods that I had never even laid eyes on, and never really ate much, just enough to stave off hunger. Both Misato and Shinji had expressed their concerns over this, but I just waved them off, and telling Shinji that I did not mean to insult his cooking…

Had it been Misato’s cooking though, I probably would have just excused myself before having a single nibble, after hearing accounts in the series of how the captain had managed to mess up on some of the easiest of foods. If I recalled correctly, she even burns cold cereal, which automatically set off a ‘Wtf?’ alert in my mind. I mean, really, if its called cold cereal, why the hell would you use heat?

No matter, I had figured that, like Shinji, I would be enrolled in the some school as him, meaning I would meet the other main, and side, characters of the series, and maybe a few people who weren’t mentioned. Including Toji Suzuhara, who will likely pull one or both of us Eva pilots to the side and punch us in the face for indirectly harming his sister, assuming that still happened. If push came to shove, and he did try to punch me, then despite my left arm being in a sling, I would defend myself.

I stood up, and poked around for a spare set of clothes, realizing that Solranous had generated an entire closet-spaced worth of various clothing for me to wear, like he and everybody else had been planning this out from the very start.

‘You sly devil, Solranous, you had to have had this planned… Do you intend for me to stay for as long as I want? Or is this a permanent movement? It sure gives off the air of being me staying for as long as I want, or until I pass away, which, if things go well, won’t be until the very end of the series.’

I heard some one knocking on my door just as I finished changing into a casual day clothes wear, similar to the clothes I had when I arrived, but instead with the shirt being a ruby red, and the flames, sparks, and designs being replaced by the image of an Asian Lung dragon snaking it’s way up my body. The blue slacks I currently had were, again, flayed open on the outer side of my leggings up to my thigh; it seemed that emerald wyrm had a fetish for this kind of thing… Regardless, back to the matter at hand.

“Come in.” I called to the person behind the door, revealed to be Misato, “Good mor... ning… Oh jeez…” I put my head in my hand as I realized that Misato didn’t change her habit for being scantily clad in her home even if there were others around. Well, the way I see it, Misato just wouldn’t be Misato if she didn’t have a good deal of her usual quirks. It also seemed that the captain had yet to have her morning beer, easily determined by her sagging facial expression, and was probably coming in to get me to the table so that she could get said beer without seeming disrespectful towards me.

“Good morning… Shinji’s making breakfast, so…”

“I understand.”

“Thanks…”

With that, Misato left, and I mused a bit longer on how things might go with me here. Well, if there are two things I’m definitely, with out a doubt, changing, it’s the parts in End of Evangelion where Asuka dies, and where Third Impact happens…

That means I would have to keep Asuka from going into a catatonic coma, and somehow prevent Adam from being delivered to Gendo. Either that or destroy Rei completely, by first destroying her clones and then murdering the half-Angel personally.

This was out of the question though, because Rei is the reason that Shinji was able to kill the Seventeenth Angel. If I destroy her clones prematurely, there wouldn’t be a Rei to take the place of Rei II to disable Kaworu’s AT Field. So I leave destroying Rei and her clones as a last resort, in case I don’t stop Kaji from successfully delivering the First Angel to Gendo.

Here is where it gets tricky though. I have to find a way to cover my tracks so Gendo can’t link the loss of Adam back to me, knowing he would end my life if he did link it back to me. That’s pretty hard to do, considering he has the MAGI on his side to calculate the probabilities of what happened to Adam, should something happen. I would have to get some agents of my own to help me cover said tracks, but that’s next to impossible for me because of my age. That, or just be extremely paranoid when I do commit the crime so that I can try to spot Section 2 coming. Yet another hard thing to do… Then again, if I can completely destroy enough of the MP Evangelions when the battle finally starts, then I might be able to stop them from forming the Tree of Life. That may, or may not, stop Third Impact, and it’s a major gamble. A gamble I might not be willing to take, especially if I risk Asuka’s life in it.

Not to mention I have to be careful of SEELE, who will be breathing down my neck if the catch whiff of what’s going on. This is potentially the only area in which Gendo might be able to help me; he’ll want to give the impression that he’s still guiding everything according to the Scenario.

But then again, there’s another way out of Third Impact. In order for it to occur in the movie, Unit 01 has to devour Zeruel’s S2 Organ previously, giving it both the ‘Fruit of Life’ and the ‘Fruit of Knowledge’ which would allow it to become the equivalent of a god, and therefore capable of carrying out the Human Instrumentality Project, which is later rejected. If I can take over that portion of the fight, and defeat Zeruel without Unit 04 devouring its S2 Organ, it should put the strongest possible dent into SEELE’s back-up plans, especially if I can make sure Rei still uses the Lance on Areal, thereby eliminating that possible version of Third Impact. That’s guaranteeing-ly the best way to do, if not the second hardest way. That way, neither Gendo nor SEELE would be breathing down my back, ready to spill my blood at the first possible moment…

Until I remembered something, Gendo didn’t need the Lance to cause his Third Impact, because he had Rei.

damn, that would mean I would still have to either murder an innocent life, or stop Kaji from delivering Adam… Either way, I’m screwed… whether it is by my own consciousness weighing heavily on my mind at killing Rei, or by Gendo trying to kill me…

Unless I managed to get my hands on a sniper rifle, set up a good distance from Gendo’s house, and snipe Adam to death so he couldn’t be used to cause Third Impact… But then again, I don’t know if Adam can regenerate while grafted to Gendo’s hand or not. If he can, then I’d have to kill the commander of NERV to achieve my goals, something I don’t have the resources, or will power, to do… Perhaps if I can change Casper so that it won’t side with Gendo when Ritsuko tries to kill him… No, the head scientist wouldn’t let me get that close to the supercomputer, not to mention I don’t know which line of coding made Casper side with Gendo instead of Ritsuko. That idea’s gone… And the problem with the earlier idea is that I can’t get my hands on a rifle period, let alone one with great enough range…

Wait a minute… maybe I can appeal to Misato to give me what I need, in exchange giving her what information I have on NERV’s deepest, darkest secrets… But I’d have to watch myself, Section 2 will probably be on my tail, not to mention Misato’s house is most likely bugged by now… I might be able to convince Kensuke to try and sweep through the apartment, taking out the bugs NERV set up… But there is always the chance that he might miss something…

damn it! So many things I can do, and so many ways for all of them to go wrong! Most of them involve me dying a likely swift, but painful death at the hands of Gendo, Section 2, or SEELE’s agents. What I really needed was inside aid… something that wasn’t accessible to me.

I needed more time to think on this, so I put my musings aside and went to the dining room table, which Shinji and Misato were now sitting at, a can of Yebisu beer in the latter’s hand.

“Sorry, did I keep you all waiting?” I asked, sitting down as well.

“Not really…” Shinji replied. Misato then took that time to chug down her beer, before letting out a shriek like no other, so high in pitch my ears ached and I tried to cover them, only to curse my lucky because I could only protect one from the hair-raising sound.

“WHOO YEAH! There is nothing better in life then a good can of beer!” Misato said after her shriek, to which I was rubbing my hand against one of my ears.

“Huh? I didn’t hear you; I think you’re going to make me deaf…” I moaned.

“Eh? It wasn’t that loud…”

That statement just made me come unglued. “Not that loud!? You could have heard that shriek from the remains of Antarctica!” I roared at her, standing up and leaning across the table.

Misato cringed painfully, clenching her hand, before getting up and taking her food to her room. It was then that I realized my mistake, and instantly deflated. I had just brought back the memories of Second Impact, of which she was a survivor. I slumped back down in to my chair. I shouldn’t have said that, but misplaced anger had clouded my mind. There was no making fun out of this to get her spirits back up. I poked at my food a little, but I had lost my appetite from guilt, until I just left it there, got up, and walked to Misato’s door, softly knocking on it.

“Who is it?” Misato grumbled.

“It’s me…” I replied back in a soft tone.

“Go away…”

I could understand that response… “Look, Misato… I’m so-“

“Go away!”

Now cringing, I sighed in defeat.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” I said as quickly as I could to avoid getting interrupted again, while trying to sound as sincere as I was feeling. I knew it wasn’t so much as Second Impact itself, but the fact that it reminded her of her father. That was the reason she broke up with Kaji, if I recalled correctly, because he reminded her too much of her father. Misato slid the door open, and threw a pillow at my face, another response I was expecting from a person who was distraught. Lightly tossing the pillow back in, I left her to her peace, and returned to the table.

“Feel free to save my plate for later, I’m not going to eat a thing right now…” I told Shinji as I went over to the couch. I looked over and saw the second fridge door opening from with in as Pen Pen came out, looking around. Seeing my guilt-ridden face, the warm water penguin was certain that something was wrong now. What, however, was beyond its comprehension right now…

I sighed, things were rather hectic.

“Um… Devon, we’ve sort of been enrolled in the school nearby… starting tomorrow.” Shinji informed me.

“So I figured… we are only fourteen after all…” I replied, the guilt on my mind still evident in my words.

“So… um… what happened to make Misato react like that?”

“I think I brought back some… discomforting memories. It is neither your place nor mine to pry any farther then that, just drop it unless she brings it up first, that’s the best thing to do right now.” My words were soft still, but held enough of a commanding air to get the point across to Shinji, who just nodded.

‘I should have watched what I said… shouldn’t have let my anger get the better of me… I flew off the handle for no good reason, and look where it landed me…’ I sighed. The rest of the day was very quiet, with Misato avoiding me as much as she could. She quickly learned that I had quite a way with words, which I displayed back at the hospital when I sent her into that laughing fit, and then here, where I unintentionally drug up old memories and re-opened old wounds… with not even two complete sentences. I had tried at least three more times to show that I regretted what I did, but she either told me to leave her alone, go away, or completely ignored me.

‘Yep, you really landed yourself in a big pile of shit, Devon…’

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

Two weeks…

Two weeks had already passed by after that day, and no sign of Toji at the school, meaning his little sister must have been hurt in the battle. Thankfully on another note, though, Misato seems to have forgiven my little slip up, but hasn’t fully gotten over it. This should also be the day that Shamshel will appear, and I could only hope that my Unit 04 has been repaired in time, though given the circumstances; they likely fixed Unit 01 first, as it was quicker to get back onto the field of battle and nobody knew when the Angels were going to appear, accept for me though, but even still it was only a vague idea. If they were smart, which I know they were, they would take care of Unit 01 and likely forsake my Unit 04 until Unit 01 was completely operational again…

Wait a minute… Shamshel should have already come and gone by now. I forgot that Shinji spent more time in the hospital for the first battle then he did in the series, because Unit 01 went berserk and regenerated, meaning Shinji wasn’t badly wounded. But since Unit 01 failed to go berserk, Shinji was stuck with the damage to his chest and head, which while not as severe as mine, was still able to knock someone on their rear end for a while. See what I mean? My interference has changed the timing. Shamshel’s appearance has been post-pone… I wonder what effect this will have on the rest of the adapted series.

No time to ponder it though, as unless something majorly drastic occurs, it’s not a problem. Meanwhile, I’ve had plenty of time to think of how I’m going to adjust events so that I can undo SEELE’s and Gendo’s precious scenarios. I managed to get my hands on a large trench coat tailored for an adult, so that I could cover myself completely and, with enough effort, pass myself off as a completely different person, which included getting my hands on some contacts.

However, if Kaji got suspicious, I would need something to, ahem, ‘convince’ him to keep his mouth shut. I know, I know, I’m starting to sound like someone who manipulates people for his own gain on a daily basis, but when I’m playing against the bastard King Gendo Ikari, I’ve got to fight fire with fire. I needed some sort of weapon as a back-up in case my enticing offer of inside information on NERV is passed up. Something that’s very real with Kaji… seeing as how I’m under-aged, even without being regressed a year, I would need some underhanded tactics to get said weapon. I know Misato has one, but she’s not careless enough to leave it out in the open, despite how she acts. I would have to take it from her when she’s not expecting it, and not until we get close to meeting up with Asuka, not to mention I honestly don’t have a clue how to operate one. Well… Mostly, I know how to fire the shot, but I won’t know if the safety is on of not, and if its with Misato when I snatch it, it likely will be, because she wouldn’t want something accidentally triggering a shot to go off and wounding her or someone else pretty badly. Again, she’s careless, but not that careless.

Then again, I can hit sort of hard if I really tried, but while I could probably send a teen my age on his rear end, I wasn’t so certain that I could really faze Kaji with that strength. Not to mention he was likely skilled in close range altercations, being a triple agent and all.

damn it all… Some deity up there must be finding this funny… Ok fine then, if something goes wrong with this, I’m killing off Rei… Well… Destroying her clones is the easy part, and will be done for me as long as I don’t interfere down there. It’s killing the current, soul-filled Rei that’s the problem. I don’t know if I can really bring myself to do it. Even if she is a clone, she’s still a person… and in a sense she’s not even a clone, because she isn’t someone else’s complete genetic pattern, she’s two halves. damn it… Even if parts of her genes are those of Lilith, I just can’t view her as an Angel that I have to destroy…

“-on… Devon… Come on or we’re gonna be late.” Huh? Late? Oh!

“Oh, um… Right, sorry Shinji, I kind of zoned out…” I replied to the Third Child.

“Again? That’s the sixth time this week… Well… Come on already.” He returned.

Yeah, every time I thought so deeply on this matter, I didn’t hear anything that was going on. I find it a bad trait that I don’t really like about myself. But that’s who I am, so I can’t really do anything about it. Oh well… Shinji and I left the apartment, Misato having complained wearily about having another long night at NERV… Wait, this almost exactly what happens when Shamshel appears in the show… Oh boy… here we go again.

The walk from Misato’s house to the school was a rather uneventful trip; the two of us were silent the whole way. Another thing that I didn’t like about myself, if I didn’t have anything with which to strike up a conversation, then I remained silent and invisible, never approaching, but rarely rejecting, either. It was like that with my old school back home, I didn’t know any of my classmates there, and made no real attempt to learn about them. Shinji and I seem to share that trait; he doesn’t make an effort to learn about the other classmates either. Unlike me though, he seems to reject any advances made by others, and usually makes every effort to stay out of the spotlight, while I merely let it come to me if it wants to. We’re alike because we’re passive in making friends, but different in how we receive attempts made by others.

Unfortunately for Shinji, today is the day we get put in the spotlight… big time… No matter, I wouldn’t let him run away, not that he could in any case. During the remainder of the walk, I merely let my mind wander, letting instinct control my actions to stop at the right times.

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

School was abuzz with gossip, the students of class 2-A welcomed us as we came in, before returning to their conversations. Kensuke, predictably, was playing with his model VTOL and recording what he did with it using that camcorder of his. I didn’t have anything against fanatics, but geez, aren’t the lengths that he’s going to a little insane? Well, then again… I can’t exactly say I don’t go to such lengths as well while role-playing my characters… scratch that, he was definitely more extreme, getting fake military weapons and camping out in the hills… even I didn’t go to that great of an extreme.

And as if he predicted our arrival, not five minutes after we sat down, in strode the jock. Toji Suzuhara looked, more or less, rather irritated with mild hints of rage. Oh boy… And he would likely single me out because my Eva was the only one to drop rubble from a building. Well, I’ll get it over with when it happens. He was gonna be pissed off when he figured out I was the indirect cause of his sister’s injury. The jock went over to the otaku and talked with him a bit, something I decided to tune out for reasons my own. I wouldn’t have to dwell on it for too long, as the teacher came in, and the class representative, Hikari Horaki, went about with her usual commands.

Thankfully we used a computer for the lesson, because my left arm was still in a sling, and it just so happened that that was my writing arm. I had, however, shed off the bandage over my eye, with it having been completely healed now. Actually, the sling and cast were the only reminders left of my battle against Sachiel, which made me marvel at the medicine they could use in this time. The loss of a big chunk of the human race can really set them on a path to quickly develop powerful treatments to make sure those left have the best chance of staying alive, I guess.

“Who’s that?” Shinji whispered to me seeing our desks were right next to each other. I followed his gaze and found none other then Rei Ayanami… I flinched mentally. She wasn’t as thoroughly bandaged as she was in the series, which I attributed to my intervention removing the need for her to be woken up in order to get Shinji to pilot Unit 01. There were a lot of things I was now responsible for, now that I think about it…

“Don’t know,” I lied. “Looks like she got into a pretty bad fight though…”

“Yeah… She looks almost as bad as you did…” Unit 01’s pilot commented lowly. Before I could reply, both of us got the same call on our laptops almost simultaneously.

Knowing what was coming, I opened it up.

Hey, are you two the pilots of those giant robots? Y/N

Oh boy… Shinji and I looked around, seeing a certain girl wave to us, before the girl she was standing next to started typing again.

The rumors about you two being the pilots are true, aren’t they? Y/N

I put my right hand on my head and shook it as Shinji replied ‘yes’, causing the whole class, save some individuals, to tense up, anticipating my answer. I decided to give them a vague one and see if they were stupid or not.

You know how that silver robot got its left arm snapped, and how my left arm is in a cast? Coincidence any body? Take this answer as you will. I typed back, half surprising myself at how fluidly my fingers danced over the keyboard. I was by no means capable of keeping up with the likes of Maya or Ritsuko, but it was decent none the less.

“What!?” the scream pierced my ears a minute after I typed that. They were sharper then they looked, or I gave too much away. Either way, the two of us were now being crowded by every kid in the class, being bombarded with various questions on the Evangelion Units and ourselves, with Hikari failing to calm them down. Seeing that Shinji wouldn’t be able to process so many questions in such a short amount of time, I took over answering as safely as I could for him.

“So how were you two chosen?” one girl asked.

“Your guess is as good as ours,” I replied, half lying to her. I knew why Shinji was chosen, but my own choosing was beyond my own comprehension, not that I was complaining.

“Were there any tests you two had to take?”

“Classified…”

“Weren’t the two of you scared?”

“I can’t speak for my friend here, but I wasn’t.”

“What’s the cockpit like?”

“Again, classified…”

“Aw, then what are the names of the robots?”

“Evangelion Units 01 and 04, the former is purple while the latter is silver.”

“What are their ultimate attacks?”

“Evangelion wasn’t designed to fight with style; it was designed to fight effectively. There is no ultimate ‘finisher’ move for either of them.”

“Hey, if they’re called 01 and 04, then where are the other two?”

“Unknown, I don’t have that kind of information…”

I glanced over at Kensuke after that answer, seeing that he was typing down answers I had given that had actual information in them. The bell started chiming, right on time even though there was an extra question. The teacher noticed it soon after.

“Oh… That’s all for today…”

I still didn’t get why today seemed so short, both in the series and when I was living it… maybe it was the fact that Neon Genesis Evangelion is apparently allowed to break rules on time at some points to get to where it needs to go faster.

“Hey! Where do you two live?”

“You really expect us to tell you that?”

Hikari was again trying to calm them down so that they could end the day like they ended any other, but again her cries feel on deaf ears.

“Stop bothering right now, Hikari, they’ve got a new source of gossip material, of course their going to try prying as much as they can out of it.” I told her, making her sigh dejectedly.

“Fine… but I won’t be so lenient tomorrow.”

“As I would expect from the class representative,” I finished, beckoning Shinji to follow me with a gesture. Curious, he followed me until we came to the spot where Toji would have punched Shinji’s lights out. He was likely going to try punching my lights out now… Speak of the devil; there he is, followed by Kensuke.

He came right up to me and we looked each other face-to-face in the eye. Next thing I knew Toji’s fist was flying at my face. Not about to let that go unhindered, I caught said fist with my right hand, grunting mildly with the impact. Toji growled at me, and tried to uppercut me with his free hand. This time I stopped him with my left leg, balancing perfectly on my right as I took the blow.

“damn you!” Toji growled at me. Using his leverage, he grabbed my upraised leg and my right wrist, lifting me off the ground momentarily before throwing me down, thankfully on my back. I was still jarred from the throw though, making me hiss as my left arm seared painfully. Distracted, I couldn’t Toji from punching my face in while I was down, causing a streak of blood to leak from my nose.

“Sorry, new kid, but I had to sock one too ya… I just wouldn’t feel right until I did.”

“The circumstances of whatever incident that is causing you to be so hostile made it impossible for me to avoid it. I’m sorry for what happened, but there was nothing I could do.”

“That’s bull!” Toji roared, smashing his other fist into my face as I was picking myself up, sending me to the ground again. “My little sister is dead because of you!”

My whole world froze right then and there… Mari Suzuhara… was dead?

“You don’t know? She got wounded in that fight, and nobody could get to her in time. She bled to death because of you, you bastard!”

As Asuka would say, ‘Mein Gott…’ I had just now recalled that the battle was longer then it was in the show, more then enough time for someone buried under rubble with severe wounds to bleed until they could bleed no more.

“Lord…” I breathed. How could my coming here have such a negative side effect? I scolded myself mentally for thinking only good things would come from my arrival. Toji would likely refuse to pilot Unit 03 so Bardiel can take it over because of its uncanny resemblance to Unit 04… I do believe I’ve screwed things up badly… What are we going to do to fight the Thirteenth Angel if Toji won’t pilot Unit 03? Would it possess my Unit 04? And if so, how badly would the Dummy Plug system tear me up? Would it kill me like it killed Toji in the manga? I mentally shivered at the horrifying thoughts of my own potential, and brutal, death. Being the pilot of a one-hundred-thirty-one foot tall cyborg really messed up one’s brain… and their views on life when you take into account how easily you can wound those you’re trying to protect and not even know it… even kill them…

I heard Toji growl at me again, and he sent one last punch into my face for good measure. I didn’t notice it though, my thoughts to greatly shrouded from what happened. She was dead… and she would have survived if I didn’t appear. Still, however, I blamed her death on the now destroyed Sachiel, seeing as how there was no way I could stop the rubble from collapsing onto her. After a few minutes, I got back up and looked at Shinji. He was quivering for some reason.

“How?” he asked me.

“How?” I echoed, not understanding what he was meaning by that.

“How… can you just find out that some one’s dead because of what happened with that battle, and just get up like its nothing?” he explained, lifting his face up to look me in the eye. I figured that by now I was starting to remind him of his father.

“… I’m not one to express feelings of sadness… not all the time at least. I’m sorry for his loss; I truly am, but… I barely knew the girl… I can’t feel overly grieved for some one who I barely knew. It’s sort of an emotional habit that keeps me from breaking down and crying a river over every little death…”

To my shock, Shinji thrust his fist at me, which I barely caught. “Little!? That was a fellow human being! I know you said I had to grow a spine someday, but that’s just inhumane!” Shinji screamed at me.

“At least you don’t have to know that every day one of your parents goes through intense agony because of a disease they have. I know you didn’t exactly have a good relation with your father, and I’m not sure what happened with your mother, but at least you don’t have to go through the torment of living life while knowing one of your parents could double over in agony at bumps that wouldn’t faze any body else.” I shot back, tears threatening to escape my eyes. Shinji’s face quickly contorted to one of shock. “I don’t expect you to be as cold as me when it comes to seeing someone else in pain, or suffering the loss of a loved one. True, it wasn’t for very long in my life, but it was long enough. Back home, I know my mother is probably suffering right now from pain. And what kills me is that nothing I can do could possibly help her.”

Shinji backed away when I let go of his hand.

“If I seem like I’m cold hearted, there’s a reason for it.”

“I… I’m sorry… I didn’t know.”

“You couldn’t have known, you have nothing to apologize for…” I sighed, deciding to let my walls down and shed a few tears. I had pride as a warrior now, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew that if I just held it in, it would seek escape through some other outlet. I cried there, looking at the ground, for a few minutes, until the feeling of sadness left me, and I wiped my eyes and stood tall again. The burning in my arm was dull right now, something I was thankful for, and I glanced at Shinji. Strangely, Rei hadn’t come yet. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to appear in this changed timeline. I waited a few more minutes, and still no sign of the blue-haired girl. Noting this, I looked out to the ocean, and blinked a few times.

“I have a bad feeling about something…” I said. Shinji looked at me curiously.

“About what?”

“Something that will be easier to explain if we get to NERV.”

Not questioning me, the two of us made our way to NERV HQ.

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

Right on time, the Angel Alarm went off as Shamshel was detected over the Pacific Ocean. We had just entered the command bridge, thanks to my ‘feeling’ and Shinji decided to speak up.

“Did you just predict the Angel’s arrival?”

“No idea, I just got a strange feeling and followed it. It’s kind of like my short notice sixth sense.” As those reading will know, this was a bunch of bull on the part of sensing Angels. I have, however, had instances were I’ve had a bad feeling about something that was justified. It just made me wonder if I really did have some sort of sixth sense or something…

“Good timing you two, but its not as good as we hoped…” Misato told us when she noticed us. “Unit 04 hasn’t been repaired enough to be considered combat ready, not to mention you’re still recovering and haven’t been cleared to pilot. Shinji, you’re on your own for this one.”

I scowled, it was as I thought. Do to the damage I took, I would have to sit this battle out.

‘Gendo’s not here…’ I noticed. ‘Just like in the series.’

“B-But I only beat the last one because it was weakened!” Shinji cried out.

“Don’t doubt yourself Shinji. The challenge has been laid down. You are the only one capable of meeting it head on. Don’t back down now, not when I’m beginning to think you’re finally getting some self-confidence.” I said in response. Shinji swallowed a lump in his throat, and nodded hesitantly. I smiled at him, showing that I wouldn’t hold it against him if something went wrong.

“But… on the off chance that something does go wrong… We should probably get Unit 04 prepped and hope I can compensate for any damage that’s still there.” I continued, growing stern again, “Never hurts to be too cautious, what with the power the Third Angel displayed.”

“Agreed, but only as a last resort,” Misato replied.

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

This was the first time I was looking at a battle from the command bridge, and it clearly built up a lot of stress. The final launch preparations were being made just as the Angel reared up and released its energy whips. By now, Kensuke and Toji, or maybe just Kensuke, were/was outside and had seen the Angel in real life.

“Unit 01, launch!” Misato cried out. Seconds later, the ‘building’ that served as a deployment mechanism opened up one of its walls, revealing the purple Evangelion with a pallet rifle.

“Be careful out there, Shinji…” I said when the communications between Unit 01 and the bridge were opened.

“I know…” the boy replied, shivering at the thought of fighting an Angel completely on his own.

‘shit… He’s gonna lose it… Hopefully the Berserker will come out unexpectedly.’ I thought. This was going to be tough…

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

A/N: Thought I was gonna go straight into the fight, huh? Naw, I wanted to have this be purely development.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Fourth vs. Third

Shinji took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and raised his Unit 01’s AT Field before shooting out and around the building, firing a short wave from his pallet rifle. Shamshel grunted, and turned around to face Shinji, who fired another wave from the rifle. Shamshel retaliated by whipping at Shinji, who reflexively lurched back, accidentally falling over, but evading the attack. His weapon, and the ‘building’ he came out of, weren’t so lucky, both being cut in half.

“Ah!”

“Hang on Shinji, we’re sending you a spare rifle!” Misato told him.

“Don’t bother, the Angel won’t let him out of his sights, and will use its whips to keep him there.” I countered. Misato ignored me, sending the rifle anyway.

Shinji, seeing the replacement, went to grab it, not thrilled by the idea of engaging Shamshel in melee. The Angel, however, had other plans, lashing out with a whip and curling it around Shinji’s leg and pulling him back, just as I expected. Misato shot me a ‘how did you know?’ look. I didn’t respond.

Shinji suddenly screamed as the twin whips pierced his Eva below the chest… the hell? Shamshel only does that after the Umbilical cable gets severed and it’s about to die! Wow, I really messed up the timing of things. Shinji managed to pull the whips back out, burning his hands in the process, and punched the Fourth Angel back. Shamshel wasn’t really fazed, but it had given Shinji enough time to get the rifle and start shooting again… this time he didn’t pause, completely veiling Shamshel in the smoke from his own weapon.

’You fool…’ I thought as Misato said the same thing.

Shamshel used the smoke screen to lash out again, striking Unit 01’s right eye and effectively blinding Shinji there, who screamed bloody murder from the sensitive organ getting seared and carved. Shamshel then wrapped the other whip around Unit 01 entirely, before reeling it back, carving into Unit 01’s arms, chest, and back. Not to mention…

“Umbilical Cable severed! Unit 01 has switched to internal battery!”

Shamshel wrapped another whip around Unit 01’s leg, digging in and lifting the Eva up, and hurling it towards the mountain… Wait a minute… Its trajectory was slightly off compared to the series… Oh god… If Kensuke didn’t move… he would be crushed! I could only pray he wouldn’t just stand there stupidly while Unit 01 flew right at him… The Eva crashed into the hill, and I cringed, hoping beyond all hope that the otaku was alright. Honestly, I didn’t like the guy, but that doesn’t mean I want him dead!

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

(Shinji’s POV)

Owww… Now I know how Devon felt when he got man-handled by the Third Angel… not the most enjoyable experience. I’m surprised he’s willing to pilot Evangelion again after feeling this… I tried to look around, but the Angel’s attack had left me half blind. I could still see out the left eye well enough though, and I barely noticed a quivering form near Unit 01.

Oh god… it was Kensuke, who was quivering in fear under Unit 01’s cupped hand. The reason for the poor boy’s shivering was quite clear. A few more inches down and I would have crushed him under Unit 01’s arm… The thought that he could have died right then and there didn’t sit well at all with me. I was so preoccupied with the near death, though, that the Angel was able to creep up on me without my notice, and screamed again when the Fourth Angel speared the left side of Unit 01’s chest with one of those whips again, quickly followed by repeating the action on the right side.

God, it hurt so much, feeling like your body’s getting cooked from within. I couldn’t think straight, which resulted in the Eva just laying there and taking the punishment.

“Come on Shinji! Don’t give up!” I heard Kensuke cry as he got away from Unit 01 and the Angel. At least he wasn’t stupid and knew to keep his distance. The Angel, however, didn’t seem to take kindly to Kensuke’s running away, and pulled a whip out to lash at him.

“Ahh!” the boy cried, ducking out of the way just in time. The Angel whipped again, and with Kensuke on the ground now, I knew he wouldn’t make it. I launched Unit 01’s hand out, and grabbed the Angel’s whip before it hit him, and pulled it away. Using the other hand to pry out the Angel’s second whip, I heaved back, and then tossed the Angel back into the city. Willing the Eva up, the massive purple cyborg shakily got to its feet. Unit 01 charged down the mountain, while I had it draw the Progressive Knife at the same time. As I approached the Angel, I jabbed Unit 01’s Knife out, stabbing the Angel below its core. The Fourth Angel didn’t like that, and flayed Unit 01’s arms in half with its whips, before throwing me away again. The unbearable pain slammed into my mind, and that tempting embrace of unconsciousness was just too great to resist…

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

(My POV again)

Cries rang out all through the command bridge as Shinji passed out, like he should have against Sachiel. I cringed in sympathy when the arms of the Third Child’s Eva where cut vertically in half just enough to leave them on. I just knew that, even when he woke up after the battle, he was going to be in a world of hurt. My eyes then narrowed as I gazed at Unit 01’s silent form, which had ironically landed on the hill again. If Kensuke was still alive, I’m certain he was well out of range this time.

“Synchrographs are reversing! The pulses are flowing back!” a technician cried out

“Block them then!” Misato responded.

“No good, the signals are being rejected!”

“damn…” Misato cursed, “Abort operation with Unit 01! The pilot’s survival is our top priority! Force eject the entry plug!”

“We can’t! Unit 01 won’t respond to any commands!”

“What’d you say!?”

Still disbelieving, Misato ran over to the console to confirm the technician’s words.

“damn it! Prepare Unit 04!”

“Belay that…” I cut in. Misato glared at me.

“You don’t have any authority here, why would you try and give a command out?”

“Because maybe I can read the signs better then you can. Remember last time I put my two cents in?”

She couldn’t argue with that, but she was still miffed, “Then what’s Shinji going to do out there if he’s unconscious? Do you want him to die?”

“No…” I answered her, then looked at Unit 01 through the screen, and continued as if I were talking directly to it, “You’re going to protect your son… aren’t you?”

“Who are you talking to?” Misato demanded of me. I ignored her as the purple Eva’s eye glowed seemingly in response to my question.

“Unit 01 is re-activating!”

At that announcement, all hell broke loose in the command bridge about that ‘being impossible’ and so on and so forth. I just stood there like a monolith of calm amidst the chaos.

“Berserker…” was the only thing I whispered, smiling in recognition. Unit 01 broke its jaw restraints, letting out a blood curdling roar as it rose again. Its arms twitched, before healing back to the way they once were.

“Unit 01’s arms have regenerated!”

“Amazing…”

Ritsuko glared at me with suspicion, “How do you know so much about Eva? How do you know things that even we have yet to disclose to anybody?” I could tell from the doctor’s words that she might try and kill me for acting so arrogant, and if I didn’t answer her.

I looked at her, hardening my own gaze, “I have inside information.”

“Impossible, we would have known about any spies in this facility.” Dr. Akagi retorted.

‘How ironic that Kaji semi proves that statement wrong…’ “Its from a source you would never expect.”

“… Then what is this source?”

My eyes narrowed, “Unit 04”

Ritsuko didn’t believe me for a second. “Impossible, we’ve never seen any variation in your brain waves that would indicate you were being contacted telepathically, and we never heard any conversing occur when you were in the entry plug during your fight or during the synch tests.”

Yeah, even though I was banged up, I was fully subject to under going synch tests. Let me tell you now. If you, for whatever strange reason, find yourself as an Eva pilot, you’ll quickly find that you hate synch tests. Just sitting there for various amounts of time while concentrating on synching with your Evangelion made me very jumpy when I finally got out, the first person to say something to me afterwards, almost always Shinji, received a shocked scream as I jumped into the air from surprise. Sometimes I jumped higher then a human should be able to jump, almost giving myself a concussion or two from contact with the ceiling. Before you laugh, yes, I’m dead serious. That really almost happened twice now.

“Wouldn’t synching with Eva make our brain waves almost identical?” I shot back. “To me, it would seem that way when you synch with someone or something else on such a deep level.” Ritsuko had apparently over looked that tiny detail, as she didn’t come back with another retort. I could understand why they over looked it, they never conceived the idea that an Evangelion could converse with its pilot.

This was true in and of itself, but Unit 04 hasn’t told me anything, just introduced me to the other spirits of the Evas. Meeting Yui in person was a rather… interesting, to say the least. She was clearly intrigued by the fact that I came from another dimension in reality and had some major help in shifting this dimension so that I could fit in, even though she technically already knew it from outside the series. Seeing as we were inside the series, she wasn’t allowed to have that beforehand knowledge. Which perked another question in my mind, why was I allowed to keep my memories of what should happen in Neon Genesis Evangelion? Is it because I didn’t get that knowledge because I lived it? So many questions had occurred in my mind back there, and I had no answers for any of them.

Anyways, meeting Unit 00’s soul was uneventful, as she kept to herself almost permanently. We haven’t even gotten her name from her yet. Apparently the Units could contact each other from anywhere like this, as the soul of Unit 02 was also present. Kyoko was another interesting person to meet, a little more on the wild side then the calmer Yui, but the devotion she had for Asuka was clearly there, and she regretted knowing that the part of her in her own body had caused Asuka mental anguish which she was now hiding behind the ‘holier then thou’ attitude she displayed. After informing her that I intend to comfort the German teen and coax her into letting her true feelings show so that they wouldn’t be the death of her, Kyoko was practically ecstatic. Again, it was easy to understand why. ‘Why’ ironically being the question the mother asked me when she realized that I had yet to meet her in person. Seeing as how it couldn’t hurt any more then letting Yui in on my secrets, who, by the way, was absolutely furious when I informed her that Gendo had abandoned their son, I told her what I had knowledge of ahead of time all the way to End of Evangelion and Asuka’s death, before assuring her that I had every intention of preventing that gruesomely painful death. The soul that resided in Unit 02, at first, was horrified, but tried to show that she was reassured by my words.

She wasn’t convincing anybody… No matter, by the end of it all, she had, for whatever reason, finished with a warning: ‘Don’t you try and use her if she falls into that coma, or I swear I’ll crush you with Unit 02’s foot!’

As if I would think of taking advantage of my favorite character in the whole series. Then again, she is a mother; it’s only natural that she’s paranoid about her daughter’s safety.

Some one is probably wondering who is the spirit of Unit 04, huh? I’m feeling cruel today, so I’m going to leave you all hanging. You won’t know until I deem it fit for you to know… that is… if I even remember to tell you…

Oh… sorry, I got majorly side-tracked, best get back to the battle. Right now, I pity the Fourth Angel, who is now receiving the pain that should have been unleashed on the Third Angel as the Berserk Unit 01 crouched low and roared again as it leapt at Shamshel, smashing into its head before the beast had a chance to respond. Being not as stable as Sachiel was, Shamshel was knocked down when Unit 01 crashed on to it. The berserk Eva started pounding on the Angel’s core, only for Shamshel to retaliate by whipping the Eva’s shoulder, disabling its arm again, which just quickly regenerated again as it resumed beating the Fourth Angel into submission. The purple berserker then reached a hand back and picked up the Progressive Knife that had been dropped the second time the Eva was thrown away, and proceeded to stab the Fourth Angel’s core, much like I had stabbed Sachiel’s core. Very nearly destroying it, Unit 01 then stopped, chucking its Progressive Knife a short distance away, still well with in reaching distance should the Eva want to use it again, and grabbed one of the whip emitters, twisting it around before completely tearing it off in a massive gout of blood and gore. The Eva repeated the action on Shamshel’s other whip emitter, leaving the Angel weaponless. One final blood curdling roar later, and Unit 01 smashed Shamshel’s core to pieces, killing the Angel… and then promptly deactivated again, now that the need for the Berserker was gone.

“You know, I actually pitied that Angel…” I commented. Misato nodded numbly.

“I can see why…”

I sighed and closed my eyes, and went down to the Eva cages while Misato barked out orders to retrieve Unit 01.

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

Two days have passed now, and Shinji had yet to wake up from his most recent battle. I could understand why, being traumatized that much, even if it was later healed, was always enough to knock some one out for awhile. Thankfully, I didn’t have to deal with Misato’s cooking for those two days, having instant foods. I still didn’t eat the whole meal, but over time I was growing more accustom to Japanese foods and was eating more now-a-days. Humans were always very adaptable beings, given enough time…

I heard Shinji stir from his lace on the bed, and blinked in curiosity.

“Ow…” the Third Child groaned as he woke up. The boy didn’t move much, but still grumbled something about unfamiliar ceilings.

“Good to see you’re up…” I commented, and he looked at me in surprise.

“Devon? Did you take out the Angel?” he asked. It was a reasonable question, seeing as he passed out mid-fight.

“No, I gotta hand it to your Eva; it can overkill when it wants too.” I replied. Shinji contorted his face into one of confusion.

“Evangelion moved on its own?”

“Yep, I actually pitied the Angel, Unit 01 tore into it like a savage.”

Shinji gulped audibly, imagining what things Unit 01 could have done to Shamshel that would be considered ‘savage’ by me.

“Anyways, the past is behind us now, just let bygones be bygones.” So got that from my friend at ELL…

Shinji nodded hesitantly, as if not entirely certain that it was all going to be alright. ‘It isn’t,’ I silently mused, ‘the last time that the Berserker should surface. I hope for Shinji’s sake that it will if I can’t stop Leliel from absorbing his Eva into its body…’

When I started thinking about it, I figured that was something I shouldn’t change. Major things happen there, which might be vital to the story. So I would let the Twelfth Angel battle progress as it should…

damn it, thinking about Angels after the Sixth starts making me think about Asuka. We only have to take out Ramiel and stop Jet Alone before Asuka makes her appearance. I won’t be making any changes to the Sixth Angel battle, because I’ll be focusing on something else. Namely, trying to stop Kaji from bringing Adam to Gendo…

However, knowing the chances… I really shouldn’t bother… and just help Ritsuko kill him in the End of Evangelion timeline. I’ve already given her enough of a reason to believe that I already know what’s going to happen, due to the Evas playing a big part in it. It’s unlikely that she would approach me though… seeing as how I’m just a teenager.

I suddenly felt something hit the back of my head, “Huh? Wha? Who?”

“You zoned out again…” Shinji numbly said, and I saw that he had hit me with his hand, which was mildly bandaged up. When the hell did he get the guts to hit some one? I must be having more of an effect on him then I originally thought.

“Sorry about hitting you, but you weren’t responding to anything else.”

I take that back… “Eh, it’s alright, you gotta do whatcha gotta do, huh?”

I then remembered something the doctor had said, ‘He’s pretty exhausted, but thanks to his Evangelion spontaneously regenerating, that’s the only thing he has to worry about. His arms might be a bit sore, but otherwise, he’s cleared to leave as soon as he wakes up.’

I relayed the doctor’s words to him, and he seemed a bit cautious, but none-the-less sat up in the bed, finding he wasn’t in pain anywhere anymore.

“Wow… Eva really regenerated?”

“Almost to fast for the eye to track” I confirmed. The boy, now certain I wasn’t spewing a bunch of bologna, stood up from the bed, and looked at his lightly bandaged arms.

“It would have been nice for you if your Eva regenerated too, wouldn’t it be?”

“Yeah, you got off lucky there, Shinji. I’d take being tired for a few days over having a cast for about three and a half weeks. Well, if you’re ready, let’s go. I’m sure Misato’s on her way to check-”

There was a sudden screech of tires outside the hospital, almost too faint to hear, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation.

“Did she read my mind or something?”

“I don’t know, but it’s convenient.” Shinji replied, walking out with me.

“True.”

We walked in silence after that, coming up to the reception desk just as Misato walked in.

“Oh! Shinji’s awake now?”

“Yeah, just woke up a few minutes ago.” I answered, sighing to myself.

“Hey… why the gloomy look?” Misato asked, curious.

“… I feel like I may have said too much back at the fight against the Fourth Angel. I think Gendo will suspect me of something soon… And maybe even try to kill me…”

Misato frowned at my answer, not really knowing what to say. She wasn’t sure if my assumption of Gendo was correct or not. The commander was cold, but she didn’t think he was that cold…

“Don’t worry about it… It’s probably just paranoia setting in.”

I narrowed my eyes, “I hope so… for everybody’s sakes, I hope so…”

Both Misato and Shinji blinked at me in confusion at that, but they figured they weren’t getting any answers from me right now, so they dropped the subject.

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

The drive was uncharacteristically silent, my words still hanging in all of our minds. I had created a sense of dread when I had spoken, and no body wanted to talk since they knew somewhere the conversation would be dragged in that direction, making everybody go silent again. Much easier to just say nothing at all…

The silence continued, even as we walked into the apartment. To most, it would have become sickening, but to me… I was indifferent to it. My whole life was usually a silent one. That wasn’t to say I was mute, clearly I wasn’t, I just didn’t really have a reason to talk to anybody almost all the time. Misato turned to me, looking as if she were going to try to say something, but after a pause that lasted a few minutes, she sighed and gave up, not being able to say what she wanted to say.

I just retired to my own room, seeing it was late. The awkward silence had caused Misato to drive more slowly then usual, likely because she was trying to figure things out. Shinji sighed, disturbed by the fact everyone has mysteriously lost the ability to speak. Misato groaned to herself, and cooked another tray of instant food, got herself a beer, and started eating, leaving Shinji to fend for himself.

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

‘Poor Kensuke…’ I thought next day at the school when I saw the otaku. He clearly had not gotten any sleep, as was evident by the slight dark circles under his eyes… I think he had a nightmare about the Berserk Unit 01. The boy was also staying as far away from Shinji as possible… well, that sucked for him. My appearance has left Shinji without any friends outside of myself and our guardian. We hadn’t had any contact from Rei at all, but she had healed up completely now.

The teacher was droning on again about Second Impact like he did almost everyday. Really, this was fricken annoying. Its amazing that kids these days know anything worthwhile! I was very tempted to pass the time by sleeping, but seeing as Hikari was keeping an extremely strict watch on us and would bust me in seconds when she found out, I fought said temptation off. I mentally sighed, and typed up something to Shinji, seeing that Hikari would notice us talking as well and bust both of us.

Oy, Shinji. Look, what I said yesterday doesn’t hold any importance. I was just rambling to myself when I said it.

Shinji glanced in my direction with as much of a murderous look as he could muster, which wasn’t much.

Well why didn’t you tell us? I swear I’ve never heard such a foreboding silence before.

Nit-picking, but you used an oxymoron there. Anyways, I wasn’t exactly in a talkative mood back there. I didn’t mean to make you two think I was serious there.

‘Which I was…’ I added to myself.

Well… Ok… as long as you don’t do it again.

I make no guarantees Shinji. I make no guarantees.

Well, we better tell Misato that when we get home.

Yeah… It was mildly depressing to see her not be talkative or bubbly…

I agree on that.

Regretfully we became silent again after that, seeing as I had no idea on how to keep it going any longer. I sighed silently and tuned out the teacher’s words, seeing as I already heard them before. My mind wandered as I looked to future events that may happen. I had realized now that I had to abandon the idea of stopping Kaji from delivering Adam. I had no way of acquiring the means to enhance my chances of securing the First Angel from the triple agent.

Unless, of course, if I was willing to knock Misato unconscious to pilfer her weapon. I, to my own surprise and horror, found that, if it came to such measures, I was indeed willing to do so, trying to justify the betrayal with the fact that I would rather hurt some one now in order to prevent their death later, then stand by and see them die because I was too cowardly. Lord… what is wrong with me? Is the fact that I’m trying to undo the scenario of the bastard King making me cold enough to take such measures? Would I, if this went on too long, honestly be willing to take another human life to achieve my goal? I shivered fearfully at the thought. If this went on to long, I would be no better then the man I’m trying to defeat.

There was a call on my computer soon after my shuddering, from Shinji, which I opened up.

Hey, what’s wrong? Is something big on your mind?

He didn’t know just how right he was. I couldn’t, however, tell him anything. Naw, it just got a bit chilly for me here. I’m strange like that. I’m alright now though.

… If you say so… The tone I imagined him using while typing that made me think he didn’t believe me. Thankfully he didn’t press the subject any further, and school let out.

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

Back at Misato’s place, I tried to keep my air of calm about me as I spoke to Misato, telling her the same thing I told Shinji, that my words yesterday held no importance. She nodded, a relieved look on her face as she went back to her normal bubbly, alcohol-addicted self. Dinner proceeded normally with Shinji cooking our meals, and I, as per usual to them now, excused myself from the table early to have some privacy in my room.

‘Come on, Devon, think! There’s got to be another way to get the First Angel from Kaji without resorting to knocking Misato out! There’s got to be something- AHA! Why didn’t I think of that sooner!?’ I grinned to myself at the ingeniousness of what I planned to do. I wouldn’t have to knock out Misato, so she can come up with the plan to defeat the Sixth Angel, and because I will be disguising myself as some one else, nobody will suspect it was me! As much as I mentally despised the idea of posing as a young girl, I was desperate to stop Third Impact from occurring. Humanity can surprise others with what individuals would do to and for others when they were desperate. And right now, posing as a girl was more then acceptable, considering the alternatives. In body, I’m young enough that as a girl or as a boy I would more or less look the same, and there are plenty of girls who like to cut their hair short, so I was clear on that end too. The only thing that bothered me was that I still had to hurt someone to get what I wanted. As much as I personally disliked Kaji in the show, I still didn’t exactly favor the idea of wounding him physically, but hell, it was better then trying to threaten his life with a gun, and was more fail safe, because I knew that it was difficult to kill someone the way I intended to attack the triple agent, should things start getting out of hand. It is possible, but unlikely still. That gave me some piece of mind.

“I still can’t believe that I’m turning into that kind of person, though…” I said out loud.

“Turning into what kind of person?” asked none other then Shinji Ikari from outside my door, making me freeze up as I looked at him when he opened it.

shit… Busted… No way you’re going to sweet talk or lie your way out of this one, Devon…

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

A/N: Yipe... Looks like I gotta let the cat out of the bag now, huh?

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Arrival of the Fifth, Faliure of Jet Alone

“Well?” Shinji pressed, the tone in his voice telling me he wasn’t going to back down this time. My eyes narrowed at him, before I closed them and sighed.

“The less you know about me, the less danger you’ll be in later,” I replied cryptically.

“In danger from whom?” the Third Child pressed.

“Gendo Ikari.”

“Wha-? Why would my father be dangerous to me?”

“I can’t tell you.” To make my point clear, I let off a short growl in Shinji’s direction.

“Why are you insisting on hiding secrets!?” the boy didn’t take the hint, instead continuing to press for details I was not ready to give out. At least… not entirely yet. I walked over to him, grabbed his shirt and pulled him as close as I dared, whispering into his ear,

“Because if I tell you all of my secrets now, the world is doomed.” I released the boy after that, taking no joy in the horror-filled expression. “Do me a favor; don’t bring this up again unless I give you the okay. If it makes you feel any better, my gut is wrenching itself at the thought of having to hide a secret from my friend.”

Shinji nodded numbly, and left the room awkwardly, only to bump into Misato, who gave a quiet ‘excuse me’ and walked by him, looking at me through the door that was still open.

My heart clenched, and I was certain that Misato had likely heard almost the entire conversation, as evidenced by her disapproving look.

“We may not be on the premises of NERV, but I’m still going to use my authority as captain to order you to reveal these secrets you’re keeping.” Misato said to me, a ‘no-nonsense’ tone in her voice.

My eyes closed for a few seconds, before I sighed and looked Misato in the eye, “That’s not an order I can obey. I’ve already said too much.”

“I’m not giving you an option in this.”

“I never indicated that I thought you were.”

“You would openly defy a higher authority!?” The purple-haired woman, understandably, was shocked.

“For the preservation of life on Earth as we know it? I’d do it a hundred times over. Good night, Ms. Katsuragi.” I gently pushed the woman out of the doorway and closed the door, returning to my bed and going to sleep. Misato opened the door again afterwards, seeing me under the covers.

“I know you’re not asleep yet. Know this, I will find out what you’re hiding. Secrets kept by our own pilots can be dangerous.” The captain said, waiting a few minutes.

“The question is: Is the danger of the secret greater then the danger of the truth? You will have to answer that question if you truly intend to seek out my secrets.” I responded, my eyes remaining closed.

“I’ll start by saying this though; I lied back there… when I said my words held no meaning… I urge you to just let me reveal my secrets as time passes, instead of snooping them out.”

Misato frowned at my words, no longer able to make heads or tails of my reasoning anymore, and had to admit to herself that I held a good point. She sighed sadly, and left me too my peace. I silently cried myself to sleep, despising the fact that I had to; essentially, betray the trust of my only friends here. It was that, or die before I could actually make a difference. I think, though, if they were in my shoes, they would understand…

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

My rest was not so restful, as I was plagued by a nightmare. Which was strange for me, as I never had any dreams or nightmares. It started out just fine; time seemed to have skipped ahead in this dream, because Asuka was involved in it too. The background was pitch black, so I couldn’t tell where this was taking place, but Asuka and I were back-to-back in our Evas, snarling at some unseen foe. A whistle in the air made the two of us jump apart, just in time for something to pass through the space we once occupied. Two more whistles made me perform some tricky maneuvering to avoid getting shis-kabobbed. The dream Asuka roared as she charged at one of our foes, only to break off at the last second to avoid a fatal blow.

“damnit!” Dream Asuka screamed, trying to attack again, and having to perform similar evasive tactics.

“There’s too many of them! And their guerilla tactics aren’t helping the situation!” I heard myself respond, swerving away from another attack. I realized now that the umbilical cables for both Units 02 and 04 had long since been severed meaning they both had only a few seconds of power left. Unit 04 ran out of energy first and slumped over, and I spoke again as if I was another person, “Crap!”

Another whistle, I knew my dream self couldn’t dodge it this time… Everything went black. A shove, a scream…

And twin roars that could wake the dead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” the scream was heard through out the apartment as I snapped back to consciousness. I panted, noting the cold sweat on my face, and that it wasn’t even the start of morning yet.

“Lord… I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep after that… What the hell happened after that scream though?” I said to myself as I tried to recover.

Something told me I would have to put up with little sleep, regardless if I wanted to or not.

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

“Morning, Devon.” Shinji said to me as I trudged out of my room, looking even worse then Misato did when she woke up.

“Morning…” I grumbled unintelligibly as I sat down at the table.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” the Third Child pressed as I let my head fall against the table with a loud thump.

“Nightmare… couldn’t sleep after it…”

“I thought I heard something last night…” Misato cut in, having apparently already had her beer. When she saw me, she gasped slightly, “Wow… you look like an Angel chewed you up and spat you back out…”

I managed to shift my head enough to glare at her, grumbling something too low for them to hear.

“Uh, he’s probably not ok to go to school today after that…” Shinji said. I threw the nearest thing I could get my hand on at his face, which turned out to be Misato’s most recent beer can which was thankfully empty.

“No duh, Sherlock Holmes, how’d you figure that one out?” I grumbled, having hit my target even though I wasn’t looking. Shinji mumbled an apology, rubbing his nose. Too tired to care that Shinji was being wimpy, I let it off this time.

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

It was after school now, and Hikari glared at me, not impressed at all.

“So, you have anything to say for yourself for sleeping through the entire school day?” the class representative asked me, managing to keep her cool, but stressing the ‘entire’ part to get her point across, which was unneeded.

“Yeah, excuse me for having a nightmare that kept me up since one o’clock in the morning. I wasn’t aware humans could control what they saw when they were asleep.” I snapped back sharply, and with enough anger to get a slight flinch from the middle Horaki sister. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that I could see the slight shift. I clenched my hand and sighed.

“Sorry, I was out of line there. This nightmare really bothered me, and kept my brain going for the whole night, trying to sort through it, to see if there was some meaning behind. I know I should like I’m spouting idiocy, but I don’t think people get dreams where some one dies normally.”

Hikari loosened up slightly, obviously unaware of what had me so exhausted.

“I didn’t think it was something like that… I honestly thought you were starting to slip up in your studies and I was just trying to stop it before it got out of hand.” The brunette responded.

“Eh, it’s not that much of a problem. Shall we just let this be water under the bridge?”

“Only if you promise not to have another day like this, and you catch up on the work you missed.”

“Erm… the first I can’t guarantee, given the nature of my problem, but the second I’m certain I can do.” I sighed to myself after I said this. I wasn’t very certain I could even do that. If this was what I thought it was…

I need to find a way to step things up…

However… something had put up a little red flag in my mind, like something had changed, coming sooner then I originally expected.

“I have to go… now”

Hikari quickly protested, but I tuned her out and bolted out of the school, blowing passed a confused Toji and Kensuke, along with many other students, and leaving Shinji baffled as I grabbed onto his arm and yanked him along.

“H-Hey! What’s the rush!?” the pilot of Unit 01 protested.

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure!?”

“Look, I’m just following a bad feeling I’ve got, bear with me here.”

“You rely on these bad feelings of yours too much.”

“And they’ve saved me quite a bit of pain before.”

“Ok…” the Third child ceased speaking after that.

‘This doesn’t make any sense though…’ I began thinking to myself, ‘Ramiel’s not suppose to show up yet… and I’m not getting a bad feeling… I’m getting two bad feelings… Something’s majorly wrong with the timeline…’

I figured, however, that I’d get my answer if we got to NERV. The Angel Alarm, however, sounded as we made our way to NERV.

‘Ok, seriously, that’s creepy. I shouldn’t be able to do that. At least not twice in a row, even though the first I was prepared for.’ I thought to myself as I began to see the tip of Ramiel over the mountain. The Angel of Thunder was still quite a distance off, though, so Shinji and I still had plenty of time to get to our Evas, even though it shouldn’t make a difference the first time. I looked back and saw that Rei was trailing behind us now. The half human/half Angel hybrid pressed on the speed to catch up to us, before looking at me.

“How?” the nearly albino girl asked.

“‘How?’” I echoed, “How did I know about the Angel?”

The First Child nodded back to me.

“Honestly… I didn’t…”

Rei frown unnoticeably, but didn’t press the subject further. Knowing her, she was probably going to report my advanced notice of the Angel to Gendo, which would raise more suspicion from the commander…

Joy… as if I didn’t have enough on my metaphorical plate already.

No matter, we were mere minutes from diving into the depths of NERV once again.

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

Shinji and I were now in our respective Evas, ready to launch to the surface. They had finished Unit 00’s reactivation test, but hadn’t guaranteed that it was fit for combat again, so it remained behind.

“Hey, Shinji,” I began over a secure channel to Unit 01, “We don’t know what this Angel’s got up its metaphorical sleeves, but its shape suggests a powerful long range attack. It might be wise to raise your AT Field as we go up there.”

I hope I didn’t make it sound like I had prior knowledge to the Angel’s power ahead of time by how I worded that, seeing as I made it seem as though I was using logic to deduce this. Shinji nibbled his lower lip a bit, but didn’t respond. I sighed, not really certain if he decided to take my advice or not. Oh well, he should survive either way.

Units 01 and 04 were launched up to the surface, the latter fully repaired in the drastically shortened time between the Fourth and Fifth Angels. Following my own advice, I primed my AT Field in case Ramiel decided I was the bigger threat.

“Massive energy reaction detected inside the target!” Shigeru called out seconds before we reached the surface.

“What!?” Misato cried back, disbelieving.

“Confirmed! It’s accelerating and amassing upon itself!” another technician said.

“It can’t be!” Ritsuko cut in, eyes widening as she realized what was about to happen. By then, we had already hit the surface, waiting for orders.

“Both of you; look out! Dodge!” Misato yelled.

“Too late!” I responded back as Ramiel fired. The energy blast impacted on my AT Field, thankfully holding the blast back to some degree, though my Evas armor was still suffering, and it felt like I had just been dunked into a river of lava.

To my utter shock, I heard Shinji screaming in pain, Ramiel was attacking both of us simultaneously!

“Retrieve them! Hurry!”

They pulled Unit 01 back down first, seeing as Shinji didn’t raise his AT Field to take the attack, before pulling me out of harms way as well.

“The target’s gone silent!” Shigeru reported.

“Argh… that hurt… I can only imagine what kind of agony Shinji just went through… that scream didn’t do the pain any justice…” I groaned, slumping over in my entry plug, but otherwise making no major movements.

“What’s the status of the pilots?” Misato inquired to the technicians.

“Both are alive.” Makoto answered.

“Units 01 and 04 have been recovered, send 01 to the seventh cage and 04 to the sixth cage!”

Misato ran over to the lift, informing, “I’m going to the cages, take over for me please!” before the lift descended. Already knowing what would be said after this, I turned the communications to HQ off and reopened the Unit 01 comm. link, trying to get a look at Shinji.

The poor boy was passed out and bleeding heavily from his nose. I saw his chest arch up, and knew that Ritsuko had ordered for a heart massage to stabilize him. I felt nothing happen for myself, so the must’ve deemed that my vitals were still green.

The comm. link to Unit 01 went dead as the plug was force ejected. In the same manner, my own plug was ejected, the hatches to both being pulled open simultaneously. I gritted my teeth and made to exit the plug, but felt my legs buckle, still being weak from the pain that coursed through me. Deciding not to try any more strenuous movement, I just let the mechanical arm lift the seat out of Unit 04’s entry plug after they finished getting Shinji onto a medical bed to wheel him away to an emergency room. To my surprise, when I managed to get out of the seat and stand up on my legs, which threatened to buckle again, Misato was at my side and caught me before I fell flat on my face. I looked up at the operations director and smiled a silent thank you, before looking in the direction Shinji was taken. Misato understood me from that, and helped me over to where Shinji was, as far as the closed doors at least.

“He’ll be… alright… won’t he?” I asked, afraid my appearance changed something else for the worse.

“Yeah… Yeah he will be…” Misato replied after some hesitation.

“… You’re just telling me what I want to hear, aren’t you?”

Misato cringed, not thinking that I would pick up on it.

“It’s ok… I can understand why…” I cut in as she was about to respond, smiling at her.

“Come on, tough guy, you need to rest.” Misato chided almost playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

“I do not…!” I protested weakly, not really meaning it, and letting Misato lead me anyway.

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

About two hours had passed now, as I lay in my bed, recovering from the neural feed back from Unit 04 being damaged. By now the armor should have been replaced assuming they worked on both Units 01 and 04 simultaneously. It was a stretch, but I’m sure they could. The door to my room opened, and I looked over to see the First Child, Rei Ayanami, in the doorway. Tentatively sitting up, as to not agitate my nerves and cause them to put me out again, I greeted the albino girl.

“Hello, Rei… What brings you by?”

“We’re developing an attack strategy to defeat the Angel, I’m here to inform you of what we’ve designed so far.”

I quirked an eyebrow in minor surprise, “And why would they want you to brief me on it if it hasn’t been finalized?”

“Captain Katsuragi believes that after demonstrating your almost otherworldly ability to accurately predict what an Angel will do twice, you should be included in the speculation for your own input.”

“Twice? I just had quick reflexes the second time.”

“The communications records between 01 and 04 speak otherwise, and the MAGI are in unanimous agreement that it would be impossible for a human with the best possible reflexes to react in time.”

I managed to hide my surprise that someone had gotten curious and had the MAGI crunch the numbers, which for the super computers would probably take less then a nanosecond, and that those communications had been monitored. Mostly, it was the former that shocked me more.

“Ok, you’ve got me there, but that still doesn’t warrant my participation. I’m positive Ritsuko or some one else would have been able to discern what I figured out with her own logic as well. And what if I had just gotten lucky both times?”

Rei let her eyes do the talking this time, and they clearly said, ‘It was impossible for someone to get a prediction correct twice with luck alone’

I sighed to myself, consenting. Rei still added on though.

“Captain Katsuragi also believed you would like to see what happened in these past two hours.”

My ears perked up at that, and I stared Rei down.

“Something important happened? All right then, as the old saying goes, ‘that’s the straw the broke the camel’s back.’ I’ll join in.”

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

After I had gotten dressed and joined Misato in the conference room, I looked at the screen which looked like a news broadcast without all the annoying additions included was paused.

“So what’s up that you decided to call for me?”

“It seems another organization tried to replace Evangelion with their robot, and decided to try and succeed where we had failed, even though we’re not finished yet.” Ritsuko answered from behind me, and almost made me jump, if my attention hadn’t been caught by what she said.

“What robot?” I asked, while thinking, ‘Could it be Jet Alone?’

“The robot was called Jet Alone, just look at this.” Misato replied, un-pausing the video. I looked at it, and my suspicions were confirmed. Trudging towards Ramiel was none other then the nuclear powered Jet Alone. The Fifth Angel seemed to ignore it, even as the robot entered the autonomous firing range of the Angel. Jet Alone switched to combat mode… and was instantly incinerated by Ramiel’s beam. The Fifth Angel hadn’t ignored it, it just wanted to get the robot dealt with in too seconds flat, so it super charged its positron beam. There wasn’t even a hunk of scrap metal left. Needless to say, the muted commentary from Jet Alone’s designers was filled with embarrassment and swearing.

I was honestly surprised that Jet Alone didn’t detonate and take the whole city with it, but Ramiel’s beam must have been so powerful that it completely vaporized it before it could blow.

“I can see why you said ‘was,’ not ‘is.’” I stated dryly.

“Anyway, now that that’s over with, we should finalize our attack strategy. We plan on using a sniper to take out the Angel outside of its attack range, which is burrowing into NERV HQ. We’ll need all the energy from Japan to break through the AT Field, which we’ve tested with a Type 12 Mortar cannon.” Misato continued.

“We’re intending to take the Angel down in one shot.” Ritsuko added, though her tone of voice clearly stated that she did not like input being given by a teenager.

“That’s all good, but do we have any contingency plans in case the ‘one shot, one kill’ attempt doesn’t work? A way to fire a second shot in time?”

“The best we can hope for is the bottom of a space shuttle modified to be used as a shield. It’s got electromagnetic plating on it which is guaranteed to withstand the enemy’s beam weapon for at least seventeen seconds.” Ritsuko replied to my question.

“Normal… or the super charged variety that decimated Jet Alone?”

“…Normal…” Misato grimly admitted.
My eyes narrowed, “I have a bad feeling that, if we can’t guarantee a second shot, we might be screwed pretty badly. We can still do this if there’s a chance of a second shot… but if we can guarantee it, we can compensate if the Angel pulls an unforeseen ability out. I still honestly don’t understand what you would want me for, you’ve been perfectly fine at making strategies before.”

“Well, it never hurts to have more input.” Misato stated.

“It does when it’s from a fourteen year old child.” Ritsuko growled, still disbelieving that Misato wanted me here.

“Dr. Akagi, please just drop it. You’ve already made up your minds on what we’re going to do, so I was never needed here.”

“True, I actually just called you here to tell you that if Shinji doesn’t recover in time, or refuses to pilot again, that you’ll be the gunner. We’re hoping for Shinji, seeing as he has the highest synch ratio, but you’re almost as good as him and have demonstrated that having a high synch ratio isn’t entirely necessary to use Evangelion effectively, and also to see if you knew about the robot.”

“Never saw it before in my life…” I replied. “Is that all?”

“Yes, dismissed.”

I nodded, leaving the room again thinking about just how much of a waste of time that was. No matter, all we had to do now would be to wait until midnight. Then, either Shinji or I would be designated as the sniper to take down the Fifth Angel, with Rei guarding said sniper.

The fact the chance for success was under ten percent, to my surprise, didn’t daunt me at all. As a matter of fact, it made me even more eager to pull off the miracle.

And, seeing as I got my tail kicked in the first battle, and had to sit out the second battle entirely, I really wanted to be the sniper. Is it really so selfish of me to want to kill one of the angels to regain a little warrior’s pride? Eh… whatever…. I’ll see how this turns out when Rei briefs Shinji on the plan.

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

I lost track of time, but when I saw Rei walk by me with a rolling tray table, I knew Shinji had recovered and the albino girl was going to brief him as well as bring his dinner. I trailed behind her, making sure she knew I was following her by a loud thump of my shoe every nine steps. She never stopped to tell me to stop following her, or at the very least stop stamping my foot at a rhythmic pace. The two of us entered Shinji’s hospital room. I waited over to the side, as the other two Eva pilots conversed. Shinji, unfortunately, never really got to know Rei beyond her name and her standing as First Child.

“Ayanami…”

“Pilot Ikari, I’m here on orders to brief you on the timetables of Operation Yashima,” Rei explained, and then pulled a small note book out of a pocket in her skirt. Why the hell she had a pocket in her skirt, I’ll never know… maybe its suppose to give Rei more places to put the things she needs somewhere were she could easily access them.

“Operation Yashima will begin at midnight, 00:00 hours. Prior to that, pilots Ikari, Ayanami, and Devon will arrive at the cage at 17:30.”

‘5:30 PM, huh?’ I thought to myself quickly, having some knowledge of military time.

“At 18:00 Units 00 and 01, or 04, will activate. At 18:05, two of the three units will be deployed. They will arrive at the temporary base stationed at Mount Futago, at 18:30. Once there, they will await further orders.”

Finished with her hand book, Rei replaced it in her pocket. She then reached to the lower shelf on the trolley she held, and picked up something I couldn’t see, but already knew what it was.

“Here, it’s a new one.” Rei said to Shinji as she tossed him the packaged plug suit. As Shinji lifted himself to a sitting position, I averted my eyes, giving him as much privacy as I could without leaving the room, seeing as he was naked.

“Don’t show up looking like that, pilot Ikari.” Rei told him, alerting him to his nakedness, which he franticly covered up.

“Sorry…” the boy moaned after he placed his head on his sheet-covered knees. Shinji sighed, and then looked at the tray that was on the trolley.

“Your meal,” Rei explained, handing it to him.

“I don’t want to eat anything…”

“We will be departing in sixty minutes.”

‘Eh!? It’s already 4:30 PM!?’ I thought, my eyes bulging.

“Do I… really have to pilot Eva again?”

“No, we still have Unit 04 and pilot Devon.” Rei replied, looking at me, her emotionless expression never changing, but I could sense that she was asking if I would pilot in Shinji’s stead, should he refuse.

“She’s right, if it hurts you that badly, let me pilot Unit 04.” I said to Shinji, and then walked over to him, grabbing his chin and raising it up so his eyes met mine, “But answer yourself this: Do you want to leave your fate in the hands of another willingly? To let them decide whether you live or die? When you pilot Eva, you directly control the outcome of the battle, and in turn, you control your fate. Do you want to relinquish that control, and sit on the sidelines?”

Shinji pulled his head out of my hands and looked down, muttering something.

“I’m sorry, Shinji… I didn’t hear you, could you please repeat that?” I asked him sincerely.

“No…”

“No what?”

“No… I don’t… want to leave… my fate in the hands… of another… but it hurts so much…. It hurts to pilot Eva… you know that as much as I do.”

“Life can’t always be easy, at some time; we’ll have to face our fears. One day, you may not have a choice except to pilot Eva again. Do you want to be too scared to do what you must do when the time comes?”

Shinji gripped the sheets tightly, “No.”

I smiled at him, laying a hand on his shoulder, “Then you have to take the challenge laid down before you head on.”

“Ok…” the boy looked back up into my eyes, allowing a slight smile to tug his lips, before he grimaced and slowly clutched his chest with his left hand. My eyes widened rapidly at this.

“The phantom pain is still there?”

“Yes…”

“Then rest for now. It would do no body any good if you over worked yourself while still in pain. If you hurt yourself, you’ll be hindering yourself more then you would help yourself. Rest, Shinji, and I will pilot Unit 04 against the Fifth Angel.”

Shinji nodded to me, grateful that he wouldn’t have to pilot Eva again, at least not now.

I turned to the albino girl and said, “Lets go, they’ll be expecting us…” Rei nodded understandingly, and we both trekked for the Eva cages.

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

The time was 8: 13, Misato and Ritsuko finished briefing us on the final positioning for the operation, and we were now in the changing room, suiting up for the ‘battle’ against Ramiel. I cracked my knuckles just by clenching them after I pressurized my plug suit, and glanced over at the silhouette of Rei, deciding to strike up some sort of conversation.

“Is there anything that’s daunting you about this operation?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if I was the only one. I’m anxious about this mission. The odds are stacked against us, and we have to overcome it… I’m afraid of missing that first shot…”

“Do not be afraid of dying.”

“Hmm?”

“I… will protect you. You will not die.”

I smirked as she finished pressurizing her plug suit, “Thank you for the reassurance. I’m certain that you are a woman of your word. It’s helping to calm me. In the end, it will steady my hand, so that I can do what I must do.”

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

It was now only a few minutes to the beginning of Operation Yashima. Unit 04 lay on its stomach as it took up the rifle, ready to shoot at a moments notice when the preparations were complete.

The clock struck midnight, and I inhaled, trying to calm myself down enough to focus.

“Commencing operation,” Makoto said.

“Listen up Devon, the entirety of Japan’s electrical power will be at your finger tips soon; we trust you to take out the Angel.” Misato informed me.

“Understood… I’ll give it my all.” I replied, steeling my courage.

“Initiate primary connection now.” The captain said with more force then normal.

“Power transmission from districts 1 through 803 underway,” Makoto reported.

“Voltage is rising. Water exchange unit is reaching pressure zone.”

“All cooling systems are operating at maximum capability.”

“Temperatures are stable. Zero anomalies detected”

“Positron charge is nominal”

“Understood, initiate second connection.”

I heard the ‘snap’ that indicated another lever was switched, and could practically feel the energy begin to flow into the cannon that would act as my sniper rifle in time with the reports of the technicians.

“No problems reported with third connection.”

“Release final safety systems!”

“Release final safety lock.”

In time with this, I armed the cannon with its first shot, just as the visor came down over my head, granting me a H.U.D. with which to lock onto Ramiel.

“Error correction for Earth’s rotation and gravity is 0.0009.”

The twin indicators began to home in on Ramiel as I narrowed my eyes.

‘Tonight, you die, Ramiel.’

“Voltage is 0.2 short of critical.”

“Seventh through tenth connections engaged!”

“Transmitting all energy to the positron rifle.”

The technician started to count down from ten, at which time I would press the trigger and hopefully blast Ramiel to death, though I knew this shouldn’t be the case. At six and five, Maya turned around, saying,

“High energy output detected inside the target!”

“No, not again!” Ritsuko cried out in dismay.

The countdown reached one, exactly as I achieved a lock on.

“Fire now!”

“Take this!” I roared as I pulled the trigger, firing my positron cannon at the same time as Ramiel unleashed its own attack. The two beams met in between the two of us, halting for a second, then corkscrewing around, and finally throwing each other off course. Ramiel’s beam landed behind us, thankfully not damaging anything important, and my beam struck out against a defenseless building in Tokyo 3. I gritted my teeth as the beam rocked me and everyone in the mobile base.

“damnit! How long until I can fire again!?”

“It’ll take at least fifteen seconds to cool the rifle and recharge!”

“I don’t have fifteen seconds!” I cried out, seeing Ramiel preparing another attack, which was confirmed by a technician, I forget who it was.

“Not now!”

Ramiel fired again, but the beam never reached me. In my panic I had forgotten that Rei was on stand by with a shield, ready to defend me with her life if need be. I growled as the reticule seemed to take an agonizingly slow time to lock on again, but it did so in time, and I roared once more.

“damn Angel! This time you die!”

Time, for some reason, froze right there, I couldn’t move a muscle; Rei’s shield and Eva seemed to stop melting.

“I know.” an unknown, powerful voice echoed into my mind.

‘Wha- who’s there?’

“Of course you would not know the voice of the Angel of Thunder immediately. You have never heard it before.”

‘Angel of Thunder? Ramiel!?’

“Indeed, young Lilim, it is I, Ramiel, the Angel of Thunder.”

‘But… why would you want to speak with me now of all times?’

“You are different from the other Lilim, physically. Be careful when this secret surfaces. Farewell.”

I couldn’t ask him anything else, because time had resumed and I had already pulled the trigger, killing the Fifth Angel right there and then. Seeing Unit 00 collapse after the beam ceased, I pulled the H.U.D. back up and swapped Unit 04’s mode so that it could move its body again, prying the hatch sealing the entry plug in off, which allowed it to come out, discharging LCL. I pulled the entry plug out of Unit 00 and set it on the ground, before rushing out of my entry plug and down to it as fast I physically could, taking a hold of the release handles and straining to turn them. I did have a physical advantage over Shinji, so it didn’t take me quite as long to pry the door open and look inside.

“Rei! You alright in there?” I called out to her, seeing her twitch, and lift her head up to look at me.

“Thank goodness… It’d be a real morale killer if someone died in this. But barring that… every human life is precious…”

Rei blinked at me confused as I sighed in relief.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I should do or feel at a time like this…” Rei admitted, something I had been waiting for when I replaced Shinji as the gunner, knowing I would have to take his place in this situation too.

“Well, I can’t tell you what to feel… but as for what to do, try smiling for the sheer fact that you made it through this alive.” I responded, getting the same smile she should have given to Shinji.

“Shinji will be overjoyed when he hears that you survived.” I mentioned, extending my hand out to her. She took it, and let me lead her out of the entry plug. I hadn't realized it, but I had bothered Rei with a particular set of words dealing with human life...

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

A/N: The plot thickens as I betray the trust of both Shinji and Misato… And what the hell did Ramiel mean by his words?

[Azure_Ghidorah]

A/N: For the part with Asuka’s German at one point, I resorted to a subbed Japanese episode of NGE. Forgive me if there are any mistakes

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

Meeting the Second, attack of the Sixth

It was thankfully the beginning weekend the day after Ramiel was destroyed, and the Angel of Thunder’s words were haunting me. Yesterday, after I got back to HQ, Ritsuko was apparently miffed over something, and had immediately forced me to undergo certain tests with out explaining why. After they were over, I was thoroughly pissed off, and was about to tear Ritsuko a new one verbally, and maybe physically, until she had told me that about three to five nanoseconds before I pulled the trigger and killed the Fifth Angel, I had apparently lost synchronization with Unit 04, and my brainwave patterns had altered drastically. Right as I pulled it though, my synchronization magically restarted just in time for Unit 04 to respond to my command.

I was, understandably, slack jawed at the revelation, and dropped all hostilities towards NERV’s Chief Scientist, understanding now why she put me through those tests. When I had inquired on the results, making sure to tell her to put it in ‘as simple and non-scientific terms as possible,’ the faux blonde explained to me that the tests revealed that there was nothing wrong with my mind, and should not be incapable of piloting Unit 04 in future missions. I was tempted to inquire about my physical status, but seeing as she only performed tests on my mind, I decided not to.

I had already deduced that Ramiel’s unexpected contact with my mind that caused this strange flux, seeing as time had ‘frozen’ to allow for the Angel of Thunder to say what he wanted to say in that short amount of time. But that didn’t keep me from thinking back to the Angel’s words.

‘I’m different from the others… physically… What could Ramiel mean by that? If it was a physical difference, why hasn’t anybody noticed? Well, he did say when this secret surfaces, which implies that it hasn’t effected me yet… so now the question is… when will it affect me?’

It was late, but Ramiel’s words still echoed through my head, granting me no rest.

‘Well… this sucks, am I starting to develop a case of insomnia?’

I laughed quietly at my own joke, before trying to sleep once again.

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

“Good morning!” Misato greeted as I walked into the living room. Great, I woke up so late that Misato was already perked up with her beer, err, sake, as I just now learned it was, and had finished eating by the time I was moving.

“‘Orning…” I grumbled, not even saying the entire word.

“Nightmare again?”

“I’d prefer that to not being able to sleep at all… At least that way I’d get some rest…” I responded, my head thumping against the table as I sat down.

Misato gave me an evil grin, and I could almost quote what was coming, “You know, with these sleepless nights, I’d almost think you’re-“

“Finish. That. Sentence. And you die.” I growled, not in the mood for any teasing. The venom that was in my voice made Misato worried that I wasn’t joking around, and promptly shut up. I sighed and poked around at my breakfast, before just getting it over with and eating the whole thing.

“Sorry… lots of things on my mind… I wasn’t serious about that threat, I’m just in no mood for any teasing…”

“I can tell…” Misato then paused, rubbing her chin. “Um… would you kill me if I told you that you’re booked solid today with synch tests?”

My eye twitched, and I fell over off of the chair, mumbling various curses.

Misato sighed, and then picked me up. “I’ll tell ‘em you’re not up to it today, ok? You just rest.”

“Thank you…” I groaned sincerely, going back to my room and falling flat on my face, exhaustion finally allowing me to sleep.

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

A few weeks had passed since that day, nothing important happening, except for Ritsuko chewing me out for avoiding synch tests that one day, even though I explained that I had no control over the situation.

Thankfully, it was growing easier to fall asleep again, so I didn’t have any more nights where I just laid in bed wide awake. My nightmare hadn’t repeated at all, but I still didn’t dismiss it as being nothing. In this reality, you couldn’t dismiss something as nothing, regardless of the circumstances. It could kill you.

However, I remembered something. Soon, we should be going to meet Asuka on the ‘Over the Rainbow…’

Naturally, I was silently overjoyed at seeing my favorite character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion series… but this also meant that Kaji should deliver Adam to Gendo on the same day, something I couldn’t let happen. I had lucky managed to acquire a set of brown contact lenses to disguise my hazel eyes. When questioned by Misato as to why I would want colored contacts, I merely responded that I felt curious as to how I’d look with eyes of a different color, and that I did not plan on keeping them. Which was half true, after the day we go to the ‘Over the Rainbow,’ I’ll have no further use for them… God, I sounded like Gendo there for a few seconds…

I mentally shuddered at the thought of being anything similar to that mad man, but I also deemed that it was inevitable when you had to fight fire with fire against the bastard King. Still, that didn’t ease the disgust.

I sighed to myself as I got ready for the day. Shinji was already at the table, munching onhis toast while Pen Pen gulped down fish one after the other.

“Mornin’ Shinji,” I greeted.

“Good morning.” The Third child responded, a slight smile on his face. Whenever I could, I spoke with him about his confidence, slowly building it back up, being harsh if the situation called for it. The boy wasn’t as good as he could have been, but given the fact that whoever Gendo left him with was ordered to break the boy’s will and make him reclusive had succeeded, I was marveled at Shinji’s progress back to being as normal as a kid who piloted a super cyborg against alien invaders could. The boy had even made an attempt to pursue a friendship from Toji and Kensuke, but wasn’t having much success. Kensuke’s reluctance was obvious, seeing as he was scared shitless by Unit 01 when it berserked and tore apart Shamshel, and the otaku was still recovering from that. I wasn’t sure why Toji didn’t want to accept a friendship from Shinji though, seeing as the jock was blaming me, not Shinji, for his sister’s death, something I’m not sure I’ll ever forget. They were slowly coming around though… Maybe us Eva pilots won’t be the only friends we have for each other. I had also noticed a minor change in Rei, the First Child now seemed to be perpetually frowning. It was very small, and unless you looked closely, there was nothing different in her…

I half wondered what was giving her such trouble, but I was reluctant to approach her without an ulterior motive due to the air of danger that seemed to surround her so thickly. It saddened me that the First Child was so difficult to approach, but it was not something I could change even if I had a whole army of assistants in the matter. Because of this fact, I regrettably haven’t tried, still unaware that I was causing this change in her.

“Good morning…” I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I almost missed the fact that Misato had come out of her room and walked over, cracking open a can of sake.

“Morning” “Good morning” We gave our respective greetings, the first coming from me while Shinji gave the second. We finished our breakfast, no accustomed to Misato’s screech every time she wakes up fully with that one can of sake. It still puzzled us why she didn’t use coffee instead, but we settled on the fact that it was because she was so much of an alcoholic.

“Oh, by the way, we’re going to be taking a little trip, and I figured both of you would want to go.” Misato informed us.

I nearly spat out my drink, and actually started to choke, but cleared it up with a few beats to my chest.

“Say that again, please. I don’t think I heard you right,” I requested after I got back my breath.

As Misato repeated what she had said, I listened word for word, careful not to take another drink incase I reacted to the news the same way I did the last time.

“So… where are we going?” Shinji asked.

“Eh, you’ll see when we get there.”

I frowned at that answer, but didn’t say anything.

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

For once, I was thankful for Kensuke not being around. I don’t think I could have handled his constant ranting and military obsession when we got close to the Pacific Fleet. Given his absence, I decided to fill in for his lines, with much less enthusiasm.

“Hmm… I don’t know if my eyes are deceiving me, but I see one, two, three, four… five aircraft carriers in total. And those are backed up by what appears to be four destroyers… A decent fleet, no doubting that…”

“Yep, it is. And we’ll be taking a little cruise on that cute little boat down.” Misato replied, and my eye twitched.

“That carrier is not little, nor is it cute. I must ask, are you blind to details at times?”

“Hey!” the captain shouted back, reaching back and lightly smacking me on the head. “Anyways, it’s the super carrier known as the ‘Over the Rainbow.’ Personally, I’m surprised that such a crusty old relic is still afloat.”

“Personally, I think it has a stupid name, but I’m sure that ship’s got at least another year to its name before it gets scuttled.” I said, speculating the last bit. Nobody decided to respond, allowing silence to prevail save for the omnipresent hum of the helicopter’s blades. I could imagine the admiral’s curses about our arrival going through my head, and snickered. I don’t know why, but I took some sick pleasure out of seeing various people angry.

Oh well, I guess that’s just me… back to the matter at hand, the three of us walked about the deck of the ‘Over the Rainbow,’ eventually coming across a particular red headed German girl wearing a loose-fitting yellow sundress.

“Hello Misato! How have you been?” Asuka asked as she grinned at the older woman.

“Just fine… Goodness, you’ve grown some, haven’t you?” Misato noted as she returned the grin.

“Uh huh,” Asuka began, her already enormous ego inflating a bit more, “And I didn’t just grow taller; my figure’s filled out as well.”

“Someone’s taking a vain pride in her physical condition.” I muttered just loud enough for Asuka to hear. The German girl glared at me, but otherwise didn’t respond.

“Both of you, I’d like to introduce the designated pilot of Eva Unit 02, Asuka Langley Soryu.”

I felt the wind pick up as she finished this statement, and immediately clenched my eyes shut as said wind lifted up Asuka’s dress, flashing all who didn’t close their eyes as well. The German was quick to react to this, slapping Shinji before attempting to slap me as well.

The keyword being ‘attempting,’ I heard the slight ‘whoosh’ as her hand sang through the air and caught her wrist with my own hand.

“H-Hey! Let go, you pervert!” Asuka growled, trying to pull her hand free of my iron-like grip.

“If I were a pervert, would I have closed my eyes when your dress was lifted up by the wind?” I countered coolly, and the red head finally realized that I had indeed closed my eyes.

“Um… Well…” Asuka tried to come up with a reason, but begrudgingly admitted to herself that I had a good point. At this point, I let go of her hand and opened my eyes again. The German girl walked back a few steps, before asking, “Say, which of these two is the famous Third or Fourth Child?”

“Actually, both of them are here.” Misato responded, placing a hand on Shinji’s head, “He’s the Third Child,” Misato the gestured to me with her folder and notebook, “and he’s the Fourth Child.”

Asuka looked over Shinji for a few seconds, before narrowing her eyes, “Not much to look at…”

Shinji frowned at this, likely insulted, but hesitant to act on his annoyance, given the red head’s fiery nature. She then looked at me and arched an eyebrow.

“You, however, have a sense of flare. Not much, but it’s there.”

“I’m not sure whether to take that as a compliment or be insulted by it… Besides, you’re less decked out then I am.”

“Watch it, Fourth…”

“Oh? What are you gonna do about what I said?” I grinned at her, she was getting mad, and her expression was just priceless when she was angry. Don’t think of it the wrong way, the fact that I’m digging my own grave here is not lost on me. She threw a punch at my face, which I avoided, gripping her wrist again as well as the underside of her other arm, using her momentum to throw her over my head. She rolled a bit, and shook the stars from her head made from the slight impact. I felt another smack on my head and looked back at Misato.

“Why’d you go and do that?” Misato asked me.

“I wanted to know how much it took before she flew off the handle. With her volatile nature, I’m shocked she was picked as a pilot.” I responded, and heard an unholy shriek behind, twisting my arm behind my back to catch Asuka’s fist before she hit me. I had gambled on that one, because I didn’t look at where she was aiming, but I got lucky there. I looked behind myself, and said, “You know… If you wanted to strike me in the back, you’d do better to not shriek before you do so…

“Don’t you dare insult my piloting ability.” Asuka growled back, ignoring what I said as her whole body quivered from anger.

I half contemplated laughing at her and sarcastically saying ‘Well sooooorry for pointing out the obvious! Does the truth really sting you that badly?’ Instead, I hardened my gaze, creating an air of strength around myself, and replied, “I never intended to insult your skill as a pilot, but skill is worthless if you can’t control your temper. If I was an Angel and you were fighting me with your Eva, you would already be dead because of your temper.”

Asuka flinched at the level coldness in my words, but still kept growling at me, “Just how much do you know about piloting Eva?”

“A bit, considering I was involved in two of the three fights that occurred before this day. The Angels are cleverer then their appearances would suggest. They will use your anger against you. Remember this, and you should survive.”

I let go of her still clenched hand, and she drew back, spinning around with a ‘humph!’ It wasn’t as strong as she had clearly intended, and I was certain that my words had shaken her up pretty badly. Someone had to shove her off her high horse for a bit, and seeing as I was the only one who had the guts, or stupidity, to do so, I did.

“Don’t we have a meeting with the admiral of this vessel?” I asked Misato, still using my cold tone of voice. Misato snapped out of her slight stupor and confirmed what I said, before leading us up to the bridge.

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

“Hrmph… NERV… From your antics on the deck I could have sworn that you were the leader of this Boy Scout troop, and had an unruly member you had yet to tame, but obviously I was mistaken.” The admiral grumbled as he held Misato’s NERV ID card.

‘Uncalled for…’ I thought, knowing he was referring to me.

“Thank you for all your gracious hospitality, Admiral.” Misato replied to him, keeping up her professional air.

“Oh no, thank you for giving me the opportunity to babysit more children.” The admiral, however, made no attempts to hide his sarcasm.

“And thank you for your assistance in the marine transport of Unit 02.” Misato then reached into her folder and pulled out some documents, handing them to the admiral. “You’ll find the specifications for the Emergency Power Supply here.”

“Hmph, your time is wasted, I’ll never authorize the activation of that child’s toy at sea in the first place.”

“Even if the worst comes to worst and an Angel attacks?” I cut in before Misato could give here ‘just in case’ line. The admiral turned his shadowed gaze to me, clearly not impressed that I had cut in like that. I was definitely rubbing this guy the wrong way; thankfully I would never see him again.

“The Pacific Fleet can handle any threats at sea. Which reminds me, is that toy really so valuable that the entire fleet has to be pulled in for guard duty? And when did we get re-commissioned into a budding cargo service!?” The admiral said while turning his last question toward what I assumed was the first mate.

“If memory serves me correctly, it was just after a certain organization was established.” The ‘first mate’ answered, and I snorted at the blatantly obvious reference to NERV.

The admiral glared at me again, but continued anyways, “Guarding that toy, what a ridiculous assignment for the entirety of the Pacific Fleet!”

“Its still not enough, when you consider the importance of Eva.” Misato pulled out one last document to hand to the admiral, “Sign these transfer documents please…”

“Not. Yet.” The admiral cut in, stressing both words. Misato was clearly ticked off by this, as her eyes narrowed and twitched. The admiral ignored this and continued, “Eva Unit 02 and its pilot were entrusted to us by the third branch in Germany. You will not waltz in here and do as you please, Captain Katsuragi.”

“When will you transfer them to us, then?”

“When we unload in New Yokosuka” the first mate answered.

“The ocean is our jurisdiction. You will follow our orders here.”

“I understand,” Misato replied, snapping the folder shut, “But remember that in an emergency, NERV’s military authority overrules your own.”

Shinji turned to me and noted, “She sounds just like Ritsuko.”

“I know, but sometimes you have to be serious in order to get your point across.” I whispered back to him.

“Well… you’re as confident as always.” I almost groaned at hearing that voice.

Asuka, predictably, shot into a ‘fan girl’ mode, “Kaji!”

“Mr. Kaji, I insist that you stop inviting yourself onto the bridge!” the admiral said to the unshaven spy sternly, just as Misato let out some indescribable noise of horror at seeing Kaji.

“Oh, sorry about that.” The agent said unconvincingly.

Misato quickly ushered Shinji and I through a door before saying, “Please excuse us. Transport us to New Yokosuka as ordered.”

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

I sighed as Shinji, Misato, Asuka, Kaji, and I were all squished into one of the elevators on the ship.

“What are you doing here?” Misato all but growled at her ex-boyfriend. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care that Shinji’s head was between her breasts, the poor boy looking like he would sprout a nose bleed any second now.

“Accompanying her. I’m on a sort of business trip.” Kaji responded

“Tch, talk about careless. I should have anticipated something like this…”

“Everybody makes mistakes,” I offered to her as some sort of comfort. It was likely just me, but the elevator seemed smaller then it was in the show, meaning I was uncomfortably close to Asuka, and any shift I make could cause her to scream in protest.

“Hey! Watch where you’re touching!” Misato and Asuka screamed at the same time.

“I can’t help it!” Kaji replied to Misato.

“There is little I can do given the cramped state we’re in.” I growled shortly after. Remember that I said even the slightest shift might cause Asuka to scream? Yeah, that’s what happened.

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

“Finally out of that elevator…” I said silently, relieved as we were sitting down at a table made for six. I sat to Misato’s right, who was at the edge of the table. Kaji sat on the other side of her, with Asuka next to him, consequently the German red head was caught between both Kaji and Shinji. Right now, the Second Child was alternating between swooning over Kaji silently and throwing me some of the most evil death glares.

“So… Do you have a boyfriend right now?” Kaji asked Misato, who looked rather angry at the moment.

“Gee, I don’t think that’s any of your business, now is it?” Misato responded, not meeting Kaji’s gaze.

“I’m hurt. Ow.” Kaji spoke sarcastically, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of whatever drink he had right now. He then leaned back forward, folding his arms all to similarly to Gendo as he looked at Shinji and I.

“Well, I understand the two of you are living with Katsuragi.” He began, and I rolled my eyes, seeing where this was going.

“Yes, we are, what about it?” I asked him, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

“Tell me then, is she still so… wild in bed?”

Misato, Asuka, and Shinji shrieked in surprise, backing away a bit from the unshaven man. I mentally awed at how much more priceless Asuka’s expression was in real life then in the show, before replying.

“Well, since she always seems so exhausted even after-” Misato pounced on me before I could finish, dragging me away from the table and into a more secluded area, before yelling,

“Don’t you dare give that creep any ideas! It’s bad enough I have to stay on the same ship as him, I do not want him to be getting any perverted thoughts!”

“And yet you denied nothing.” I coolly responded.

Misato’s face flushed crimson extremely fast.

“You really do things like that?” I asked in shock. “I was just teasing, I didn’t think-“

“Just shut up, we’ll go back to the table, and pretend nothing ever happened…” Misato gritted out, leaving.

“You should probably wait for the blush to fade, or Kaji will get false ideas.”

Misato turned to a wall and laid her head against it, muttering, “It’s a bad dream, a nightmare…”

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

(Asuka’s POV)

It had been about half an hour since Misato dragged the Fourth Child off somewhere, and I had walked out to the deck, gripping the top of the bars and swinging my legs through two bars, just hanging there. The Fourth Child also just so happened to be the focus of my thoughts right now.

‘Just who does he think he is? He actually dared to insult my piloting skill!

…

But he proved a point there… He… stopped me so easily… Took advantage of my anger, just like he says the Angels will do… He even stopped me from hurting him twice without even looking… I have to admit, the Fourth is more then he appears to be…

And that voice… gott, it feels like he could have frozen someone’s heart with his voice alone. The words he spoke with it sting more because of that…

…

No, I’m not gonna let this get me, the great Asuka Langley Soryu, down at all! I’ll show him I’m the better pilot! I’ll show them all!’

“So, what do you think about Shinji and Devon?” Kaji asked me.

“Oh, the great Third and Fourth Children, they aren’t all that good. The Third’s boring, and the Fourth is down right creepy.” I answered.

“And yet both of them held synch ratios of 30% and higher in their first battle with no prior training.”

What the hell!?

“Mein Gott!”

“Not to mention the Fourth Child was piloting a production model Evangelion.”

I went slack-jawed at that. He got at least 30% on his first battle with no prior training in a production model Evangelion!? It took me at least a year to get a synch ratio that high! I was so shocked that I almost lost my grip on the bar of the fence.

‘W-Who is this kid!? I worked my ass off to get my synch ratio that high and he waltzes in and makes it look like child’s play!’

I clenched my hands, determined to show him that, despite his little stunt, I was still the superior pilot. However, a twinge of doubt rose in my mind, telling me that I was playing against someone who could crush my attempts at every turn, someone who might as well be some kind of super beast. The larger portion of my mind smothered this twinge though; there shouldn’t be any doubts that I was the best! They told me I would be an elite pilot, above all others! If that is so, then why can this kid make all my efforts seem pointless!? It wasn’t fair!

I needed to speak with the Third and Fourth children, now. And I needed to drive ot through their skulls that I was the best. Leaving Kaji in confusion, I stormed off, looking for my twin quarries.

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

(My POV again)

“The attitude of the admiral was most certainly not professional…” I mused as Misato, Shinji, and I were ferried up by an escalator. Why there was an escalator in a ship would baffle me for years to come, but I ignored it right now.

“He’s full of himself, too much pride is going to make him cynical.” Misato answered.

“’Pride goeth before a fall,’” I quoted in response.

“That Mr. Kaji fellow is, uh… pretty interesting, isn’t he?” Shinji asked Misato before she could respond to my quote.

“He hasn’t changed at all, that pig!” Misato replied with a grit of her teeth.

“Hey! Third Child, Fourth Child!” I heard a certain red-headed German call from the top of the escalator. I looked up at her, my gaze hardening again.

“You two are coming with me.” Asuka stated, leaving no room for debate.

But debate I did.

“I’m certain that whatever it is you want to tell or show us is not quite as important as the matter I have to attend to.” I replied calmly as we reached her.

“It’s pretty damn important, and you’re not gonna sweet talk your way out of this.”

“Whoever said anything abo- ack!” I yelped, as Asuka literally started dragging me and Shinji to her Unit 02. This was bad; I hadn’t counted on Asuka being so forceful. I’ll never be able to ambush Kaji now… I mentally sighed in defeat. I’ll have to stop Gendo later…

It wasn’t too long before we reached the Othello, and Asuka turned to me.

“Look, I don’t know what the hell lets you do what you do, but it doesn’t matter. At the first chance I get, I’ll show you that I am the better pilot.” Asuka said to me, almost growling.

“Drop it, Asuka, this isn’t a competition.” I responded.

“You know what? You’re half right. It wasn’t a competition until I found out that you waltzed in onto the playing field and indirectly make me look like a worthless fool!”

“And how did I do that?”

“Don’t play dumb! I’m sure you remember that 30% synch ratio on your first battle, don’t you?”

“What about it?”

“It took me a whole year to get my synch ratio that high, and I’m suppose to be an elite pilot! You’ve made all my effort look like child’s play, and I intend to prove that everything you accomplished is all thanks to luck!”

“There is no reasoning with you, is there?”

Asuka arched an eyebrow, not expecting this. After a short silence, Asuka humph-ed and picked up the tarp.

“Well… I didn’t know Unit 02 was red…”

“That’s not the only thing that’s different.” Asuka replied as we all filed in underneath the tarp, “Units 00 and 01 were created as the prototype and test type models respectively. However, my Unit 02…” she paused as she looked at me, obviously despising what she was about to say, “And the Fourth Child’s Unit 04, are two of the first three production model Evangelions, the final model designed for actual combat pur-r-r-r-rposes!”

A shockwave had rocked the Othello as Asuka was speaking, Shinji panicking and asking what just happened, with Asuka telling him what I had already deduced. The three of us rushed out to see what was going on, just in time to see a battleship explode as a dark shadow passed underneath it.

“No way… it’s an Angel.” Shinji breathed.

“A real Angel? Here?” Asuka asked. I nodded in confirmation. The German red head looked back at her Unit 02 saying, “Vundevar*…” with an evil grin.

‘Oh boy…’ Asuka grabbed both of our hands and dragged us off again, somehow along the way picking up the bag that held two of her plug suits. The German pulled us into a stair case, telling us to stay here while she went down further. She was gone before Shinji could ask why.

“Hey, Devon, why do you think she wanted to be out of our sight?”

“It’s obvious. She’s changing into her plug suit to battle against the Sixth Angel.” I answered, before I reached into the backpack I also had.

“H-How long have you had that?

“Since we were heading up the escalator, after I had retrieved it from the helicopter because I forgot about it there, to which I am grateful for said helicopter not leaving, you were in front and focusing on Misato, so you never saw.” I explained. It was true. I just never mentioned it before now because it was unimportant.

Shinji shrugged, realizing I was right on those accounts. He then checked up on Asuka, even though he knew she was changing into her plug suit, causing her to shriek various German words to which I could only guess the translation and Shinji to scramble away before she decided to attack him.

“Why do all boys have to be perverted jerks!?” I heard Asuka ask as she finished zipping up her plug suit.

“I resent that, Asuka!” I roared down to her. She ignored me as she pressurized her plug suit and came up to us, holding two plug suits identical to her own. She tossed one to Shinji, and looked at the second, as if thinking about something, and then made to throw the second to me. I had, however, pulled out my own plug suit from my backpack. Shinji looked at me, hoping I had decided to be merciful and bring his as well. To be honest, I had lied; I did anticipate the possibility of Asuka being forceful…

“Sorry buddy, I thought you would have anticipated a potential Angel attack at sea.” I told him, and he almost cried at having to put on one of Asuka’s spare plug suits. Shinji and I, the former reluctant for obvious reasons, went to the most private place we could get to on such short notice to get suited up.

I looked at Shinji with a frown that said, ‘Don’t worry; I won’t say a word about this. I know you are very embarrassed right now.’ Shinji nodded thankfully, as we trekked towards Asuka’s Unit 02. She opened up the entry plug and sat in the pilot’s seat, claiming that she would show us who was the better pilot again, before ushering the two of us in as well… the look on her face though told me she instantly regretted it though. She had forgotten that entry plugs weren’t made for two people, let alone three. We were decidedly cramped as the entry plug closed and slid back into Unit 02. Asuka sighed to herself, mentally deciding to get this over with now.

“LCL Fullung, Anfang der Bewegung, Anfang des Nerven anschlusses, Ausloses von links-Kleidung… Synchro-Start.”

The familiar color changes signifying that Unit 02 was beginning activation occurred, but was interrupted by the plug being ringed with what I assumed was the German word for ‘error’

“An error? What’s wrong?” Shinji asked.

“Based on what Asuka said before this happened, I would think that the base thought language is German, of which neither of us speak or think fluidly. Asuka, you’ll have to change it to Japanese.” I replied. I had to catch myself from saying English, even though that’s what I heard, but I knew that it was just heard in English and was actually Japanese.

Asuka growled in annoyance, but none-the-less did so, allowing the Eva to fully activate.

“What!?” we heard the admiral over the newly established comm. link. “Abort the activation! Put it back!”

Misato, however, came on at that moment, “Don’t listen to him Asuka! Launch!”

“No! Both Unit 02 and its pilot are under our-”

“Admiral, drop it, we’re taking off and there’s nothing you can do to stop us!” I cut in.

“Eh!? Devon!? You’re in there too?”

“It’s not just Asuka and I. Shinji’s here too and all three of us are ready to kick some Angel tail!”

“I’ll be doing the kicking here!” Asuka yelled at me, whacking me upside the head.

‘Yeesh, I hate it when Asuka get’s physical…’

“Still intending on helping her?” I heard a voice in my mind say, and I grinned mentally, knowing it was the spirit of Unit 02.

‘Must you ask, Mrs. Soryu?’

“Please, we went over this already, you can call me Kyoko.”

‘I know, I know, I just feel the need to give proper respect to one older then I am. Anyways, I still intend to protect Asuka… By the way, how come the others aren’t hearing this?’

“Because I don’t want them to hear it, it would shock them too much.”

‘True… sorry to cut this short, but Asuka’s getting impatient.’

“We’ll have plenty of time to talk later.”

‘Again, true.’

“Are they serious? Unit 02 is still configured with B-Type equipment.” The first mate noted.

“If we fall into the water, we’re done for…” Shinji continued worriedly.

“Then we simply won’t fall in.” Asuka replied, grinning.

“Simple on paper, not in real life,” I warned.

“Shut up…”

Asuka whipped her hair about, and shouted, “Here we go!” as Unit 02 launched off of the Othello seconds before it was sunk. The crimson Eva landed on the roof of a destroyer, three holes torn in its tarp for its head and shoulder pylons.

‘Kyoko, is it just me, or does Unit 02 almost look… sagely?’

“It does.”

‘Good, I’m not the only one who thinks that.’

“Only 58 seconds left!” Shinji noted.

“I know that! Misato, prepare the emergency external power supply!”

“On it, Asuka.” The captain responded.

“Ok, I’m gonna jump now.” The German warned us.

“Of course you are; how else would we get around? Swimming?” I snapped back.

“I told you to shut up!” Asuka cried, willing Unit 02 to jump, and also throwing off the tarp.

‘Well, there goes the sagely appearance…’

We essentially played a dangerous game of hopscotch as Unit 02 made its way to the Over the Rainbow, and more importantly, to the external power socket.

“All hands, prepare for impact!” I heard the first mate bark as the admiral moaned that this was nonsense.

“Eva Unit 02, landiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!” Asuka cried out almost joyously as the crimson titan smashed into the flight deck of the Over the Rainbow. Knowing that Asuka was off balance, I enforced my will immediately after impact to make Unit 02 lean against the heightened side of the Over the Rainbow, quickly re-stabilizing the super carrier and avoiding the loss of several fighter jets. Asuka, sensing that I had done so, looked back at me and shrieked, “Don’t operate my Unit 02 without my permission!”

“You gave us permission when you let us into the entry plug!” I countered. Asuka just shrieked again and went to swap Unit 02 to external power.

“I can tell from the shadow that this Angel is going to be massive.” I said as Gaghiel approached.

“How massive?” Shinji asked, a slight twinge of fear in his voice.

“Massive as in ‘This-Eva-doesn’t-even-take-up-a-quarter-of-its-mouth’ massive.”

“Who cares how big it is? I’ll still kill it!” Asuka proclaimed as she drew the Progressive Knife, extending its first set of segments just as Gaghiel partially surfaced.

“My god, it really is big…” Shinji muttered. The Sixth Angel sped towards the Over the Rainbow with great haste. Seeing as Unit 02 wasn’t jumping away this time, Gaghiel dove under partially, then shot back up, beaching itself on the Over the Rainbow to get to Unit 02, crushing all the jets I had saved from being lost under the waves. Asuka lost her Progressive Knife, which cut one of the lucky jets in half. Guess it’s not so lucky anymore, huh? Unit 02 gripped a hold of Gaghiel’s neck, trying to hold it in place while Asuka searched for the core.

“Uh oh…” I said as I felt Unit 02’s foot touch a lift, which collapsed under the pressure, dunking the crimson Eva and Gaghiel back into the sea, where the Sixth Angel had the advantage.

“Asuka! Underwater combat can’t be done with B-Type equipment!” Misato warned.

“We won’t know that’s a fact until we try.” Asuka said, waving off the warning.

“It is possible, but it requires great amounts of luck.” I continued, still as cautious as ever. The three of us grunted as Gaghiel tore through the sunken city with Unit 02 in tow for a few minutes.

“The cable is about to run out. Brace yourselves for the impact.” Misato informed us.

“This is gonna hurt…” I said solemnly, just as Unit 02 was jerked off of Gaghiel. All of us cried out in pain, but Asuka was the worst off, seeing as she was the one with the A-10 nerve connectors.

“Unit 02 has lost the target.”

“Don’t worry yet, it’ll come back to us. If it had a ranged weapon, it would have used it by now.” I said; narrowing my eyes as Gaghiel paced around us. When it came in front for the third time, the whale-like Angel redirected itself towards us and surged forward. About half way, it’s massive jaws parted, revealing its core, and its intentions.

“T-Teeth!” Asuka cried out, as if she wasn’t expecting the Angel to have them.

“What’d you think it had when I mentioned a mouth? Baleen?” I snapped at her. “If you’re so scared by a few hundred teeth, let me take over then.”

“NO! It’s my Eva! I’m going to be the one controlling it!” Asuka growled, bracing herself. The Angel smashed into Unit 02, eliciting a grunt from all three of us, as Unit 02 was caught in its jaws.

“Unit 02 has entered the target’s body!”

“Asuka, we have to pry these jaws open and get to that red orb! It’s the core of the Angel!” I informed her.

“You want to go inside this death trap!?” Shinji exclaimed.

“If you have a better idea, I’m open to suggestions.”

Shinji quieted down, and the three of us started working together to pry the Angel’s jaws open. With three pilots instead of two, Unit 02’s power was already great enough to force said jaws open, and we slipped inside Gaghiel’s mouth entirely, using one hand to keep the Angel’s jaws open so it didn’t chomp off our umbilical cable. Gaghiel writhed angrily at the feeling of having the equivalent of a living jack in its jaws, as we slowly made our way to the core. Asuka grinned when it was in range, and started pounding on it with Unit 02’s fist. The first seven hits didn’t leave a mark, making it seem impenetrable to this kind of attack, but the eighth let small cracks in it, slowly growing with each successive hit. By the twelfth hit, Gaghiel, quite literally, spat us out and swam a short distance away.

“damn…” Asuka growled as we were left to hang in the water again. Gaghiel came around again, opening it’s jaws one more time, revealing its damaged core once again.

“Asuka, we only have one more shot at this before it wizens up and severs the cable. After that, it’ll just be a waiting game that’s rigged in its favor…” Once more I narrowed my eyes as Gaghiel closed on us. Then, at the last second, Gaghiel twisted around and smacked us with its tail.

“What the hell!?” I cried out, Shinji and Asuka still grimacing in pain. Gaghiel closed on us again, and slammed its jaws down on Unit 02’s waist, making all of us cry out in pain. Being the only one who could move the Eva while being seared with pain, I once more took over, trying to force Gaghiel’s jaws open again. The Angel didn’t relent as easily this time, seeing as I was alone now. Asuka quickly recovered though, and took control again. Now it was two on one, and we were beginning to win. Asuka and I forced the Angel’s jaws open again and slipped inside once more. Gaghiel wasn’t stupid though, and tried to spit us out again, but we grabbed a hold of what served as his tongue, allowing us to whether the water pressure rushing past us until Gaghiel had to take another breath, at which we made our move, launching forward again, mostly thinks to Gaghiel’s own momentum.

Asuka screamed and I roared, as Unit 02’s hands smashed against the core one last time, shattering it. Without its core, Gaghiel writhed around a bit, and while on his metaphorical death bed, detonated, launching Unit 02 up to the surface. Asuka managed to right Unit 02 in mid air before it impacted on the Over the Rainbow again. Then, comically, Unit 02 collapsed from having run out of power due to the loss of its umbilical cable at some point.

‘Aww, Kyoko’s so tired she passed out.’ I taunted.

“Shut up…” the spirit of Unit 02 growled.

‘Gee, I don’t think anybody in the Soryu family line likes me.’

We climbed out of the entry plug, and Asuka glared at me, rage in her eyes.

“That was my kill, you had no right to intrude as much as you did.” The German growled.

“The way I see it, neither of us had the necessary power to defeat that Angel alone. If you had not worked with me, and vice versa, we’d all be fish food by now.”

“I don’t need anybody’s help!” Asuka declared, disgusted by what I had implied.

“She’s going to take a lot of time to get through too…”

Shinji just blinked dumbly at the short spat that took place.

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

It was the next day, and we were finally back in Japan, and also at the school.

“Asuka was a bit mean, wasn’t she?” Shinji asked me.

“Indeed, good thing we won’t see her again.” I responded, knowing how wrong I was.

At that moment, the German decided to walk through the door in the normal school uniform. Class started, and Asuka introduced herself.

“Hello! My name’s Asuka Langley Soryu. Charmed.”

She then saw me though, and looked like she wanted to face fault right there. Obviously, she still didn’t like me that much…

Sigh…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* = I have no idea how to spell this word, so I don’t want anybody complaining that its spelling is wrong.

A/N: Asuka finally joins the group, but I am incapable of even intercepting Kaji, let alone stopping him. Gendo now has Adam, and things look like they’re going his way. Will I be able to pull off a back up plan in the far future?

[Azure_Ghidorah]

The Second's pain, the Seventh's Dance of Death

It had now been six days since Shinji and I first met Asuka on the ‘Over the Rainbow’ and subsequently destroyed the Sixth Angel. The German red head hadn’t made any friends in school yet, but that was to be expected, given her volatile nature and the fact it was her first day. She managed to keep her temper under control for the most part. Also, she was being asked out on hundreds of dates from the other boys in the school, including Toji, who didn’t know Asuka’s true personality this time. She wasn’t impressed, ignoring each and every one of them.

We were walking out on the campus during a break when Asuka came over to us. This immediately sent off warnings in my mind, after my interference in the Sixth Angel battle, Asuka had distanced herself from me, and in turn Shinji, trying to avoid me as much as possible.

“Guten Morgen.” Asuka greeted in German. Shinji was surprised by her appearance and, probably in an attempt to stay on her good side, feebly tried to repeat what she said. After a bit of fumbling, he managed to say it, and I rolled my eyes.

“Guten Morgen.” I replied to Asuka with no hesitation after Shinji made his attempt. It was easy for me to return the words when she had given me a basis to follow, that’s just how I worked.

Asuka didn’t look very happy, but tried to hide it. I’m certain she didn’t like the fact that, even though I wasn’t fluent in German, I could repeat what she said in it as faithfully as a trained parrot. Maybe she saw it as another strike against her that there was something else she couldn’t stop me with. I don’t really know, and I probably never will.

“What brings you to us? Certainly not an act of friendship, if one considers your attitude on the ship towards me.” I asked her.

“Stow it, Fourth, I just want to know who the First Child is, I know she goes to school here.” Asuka growled at me, deciding to just drop her act, seeing as she wasn’t holding it up very well.

I rolled my eyes, and motioned for her to follow me, knowing where Rei would be at this time. Since we were already nearby, I didn’t have to walk far to get to the stairs that led down to the bench Rei was sitting on, reading a book.

“That’s her down there. Don’t expect too much of a response though.” I told Asuka. She ignored my second statement and went down to greet the First Child. Upon her shadow blocking Rei’s view of her book, the blue-haired girl shifted it back into the sunlight, only for Asuka to move her shadow into the way again and introduce herself to get Rei’s attention.

The conversation went as it should, and Asuka finished with “Freak-a-zoid…” before leaving the First Child alone.

“I don’t want to rub it in your face, but I told you so.” I said to her when she was in hearing range. Asuka glared at me, not wanting to admit that I was right. The German sighed exasperatedly and left Shinji and I to our own devices. I knew Israfael would be coming around soon. As with the actual episode, the rest of the day was uneventful.

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

The Angel Alarm, which I had read in a viewer’s fanfiction that he or she had cutely dubbed it the ‘Messenger of Judgment,’ had gone off. Shinji, Asuka, and I were quickly suited up and in our respective Evas, being transported to the bayside by three enourmous carrier plans that had a similar resemblance to stealth bombers. We were air-dropped onto the beach, where trailer trucks rolled up and attached external Umbilical cables to our Evas, allowing them to operate without the five minute time limit. We had already been briefed on the plan, which was for all three Evas to alternate waves of attacks on the Angel to keep it off balance.

“This sucks! My first battle in Japan and I’m not allowed to go solo! Why do I have to bring you two along?” Asuka complained.

“The Angels are tenacious, and getting stronger each time. A lone Eva can’t take out an Angel anymore. Even if it could, tipping the battle into our favor by mounting two-on-one or three-on-one attacks is still saner then letting one Eva charge in at a time.” I chided her

“Well let me tell you both something, Fourth Child, Third Child. Don’t get in my way!” Asuka growled. My hand met my face at her arrogance. Shinji muttered something unintelligible and closed the connection.

“His selection for being a pilot must have been a joke, right?” Asuka asked me.

I shrugged, “I don’t know, the kid’s got great potential. He just doesn’t have the confidence to tap into that potential all the time.”

Asuka growled at me but our connection remained open. She then started talking again, “Three-on-one isn’t what I call a fair fight, not fair…”

I rolled my eyes at her, “What did I just say about it being saner to send two or more Evas in at once?” I reminded her. She growled again, and this time closed the connection.

I frowned, however, when I realized I was apparently supposed to make due with a Progressive Knife alone, when I saw that I wasn’t equipped with anything and both Asuka and Shinji had weapons that suited their particular styles, the former holding a long spear, which I assumed had similar properties to the Knife, and the latter holding a Pallet Rifle.

“Hey, Misato… Not to sound selfish, but are you really gonna just let me fight it with my fists alone? It sucks that I’m apparently left out in the arming.”

“Don’t worry about that, your weapon’s coming up along the other side. It was too heavy for the ship to lift both your Eva and its weapon.”

“Huh, what could be so large that it needs separate transport?” I wondered, and looked to the side Misato had mentioned. My eyes bulged when I laid them on the weapon.

It was a saber shaped exactly like the ones the MP Evas utilize. Mentally, I broke out into a grin as I picked it up from the trailer.

“Oh… I’m gonna have fun with this thing…” I growled possessively as I tested out its weight and how it handled. Unlike the MP Evas and Unit 02, I could swing this thing around effectively with one hand, though it left me a little more off balance. No matter, I could easily compensate for it.

“HEY! Why does he get that big-ass sword while I get stuck with this puny-looking spear?” Asuka asked, her arms quivering at the indignity of it all.

“Is the fiery red-head going green with envy?” I taunted. Screw the fact Asuka was going to kill me after this; I had to taunt her with this.

“Shut up, Fourth!”

“Um, Asuka, Devon? The Angel’s almost here.” Shinji informed, hoping not to get caught in any cross fire.

I sighed, my time for taunting Asuka was over way too quickly. “Fine, Fine…”

At that point, the water burst up, revealing the rubbery-looking, purple body of Israfael.

“I’ll handle this Angel! Both of you cover my back!” Asuka declared, charging forward.

“Cover you!? You have no sense of caution! It should be you covering us!” I yelled at her.

“Whatever! Ladies’ first!”

“damnit, don’t you talk to us like that, you dumb rookie!” Shinji said, not exactly yelling but not quiet either.

Asuka heard this and screeched to a stop, wheeling on him, “What’d you call me!?”

“You really want me to repeat that? You’re a dumb rookie!”

“I’ll throttle you for that!”

I shook my head in embarrassment and then crouched down, and jumped at the Angel like Berserk Unit 01 did, with the front flip. I was right side up half way to Israfael, my blade poised carve the Angel in half. Like it did when Asuka should have attacked it, Israfael stood there stupidly, not bothering to move as I cut it in half down the middle.

Shinji and Asuka blinked rapidly at my display, having stopped when they saw my Eva’s shadow over them.

“Well that was easy…” Shinji said.

Asuka then returned her attention to the Third Child and all but shrieked, “This is your fault! It’s your entire fault that I missed another chance to prove my status as the best pilot NERV has!”

“Don’t celebrate, or complain, yet… I don’t think its dead…” I muttered as I backed away from the Angel’s ‘corpse’ just in time for it to start writhing before the two halves shed their skin to reveal gold and silver clones, each with a separate core.

“That’s a load of bull!” Misato cried in outrage, crushing her head set in her hand. Huh, I wonder where I’ve seen that before from a certain Saiyan prince… Also, I was certain she was tempted to add another word to the end of that which began with ‘s’ and ended with ‘t.’

Alpha, the gold ‘clone’, and Beta, the silver ‘clone’, attacked me simultaneously, forcing me to guard with my saber, holding it with both hands now. I grunted against the impact as I was pushed back, before throwing them off with a herculean effort from Unit 04. I growled, and charged, attempting to strike Alpha with my blade. The gold twin was quick to evade, his silver other copying the movement in perfect synch. Shinji started to shoot Beta, and scored hits thanks to my AT Field neutralizing their own defenses. Asuka, gleeful that she could still try to show me up, charged in recklessly against Beta when Shinji paused to avoid covering the enemy in smoke like he did against the Fourth Angel.

Beta, seeing that Asuka was the easier target, parried her lance away and smacked Unit 02 to the left. Alpha blasted me in the face which disrupted my sight for a few seconds and went to the aid of its twin. Israfael knew there was strength in numbers, and knew it was weaker because we still out numbered it by one. Alpha joined Beta side-by-side as Asuka recovered, and simultaneously upper cut the crimson Eva high into the sky.

Asuka screamed in mingled pain and anger as she crashed into the ground head first a good distance away, nothing but her Eva’s legs sticking in the air. The hit had jerked her hard enough that the Umbilical Cable was severed, leaving her Eva on internal power with no ability to free itself. Shinji desperately tried to fend the Angel twins off, but when he fired at one as they advanced, the other blasted him until they reached him and did the same to him as they did to Asuka, throwing him into the water, also cable-less.

My eye twitched as the Israfael twins turned to me now, and I decided to open communications to the other two.

“Shinji, any chance you can recover?”

“Unit 01 won’t respond because it’s in water… sorry,” the Third Child informed sadly.

“Asuka?”

“I’m buried to my waist in dirt here, what do you expect me to do!?” Asuka snapped at me, obviously angry that she lost so easily.

I gulped; the Angel had the advantage now, so I was pretty much screwed here. Alpha and Beta jumped over to me, intending to incapacitate me the same way they took out Asuka and Shinji. I wasn’t about to have that though, and kicked Beta away as they were winding up. Afterwards, I swerved away from Alpha’s attack and slashed him. The Angel began to slowly regenerate, but was slowed down slightly. I then noted my saber’s double-sided property again, and grinned. The only way to defeat the Angel was to destroy both cores at once, and I had a weapon perfect for doing that.

“Oy, Misato! I’ve got an idea to take out the Angel. It’s risky, but I think I can pull it off!”

“Really? Let’s hear it then!”

“I’m going to use my saber to stab one of their cores, and then impale the other end into the second core, thereby killing both Angel twins and ending the threat of the Seventh! I need to keep the first impaled though, because I think these two can heal each other, cores included. It would make sense if they were two halves of one whole.”

Misato smacked her own head, “Now why couldn’t I think of that!? Go for it, Devon!”

“Roger.”

“Noooo! That’s not fair! It’s my debut! I should kill the Angel!” Asuka complained.

“Shut up, Asuka! I’m trying to concentrate here!” I snapped at her, shutting the red head up because she hadn’t encountered some one her age who had the guts to tell her to shut up before. The Angel twins took that time to attack in waves as well, one coming close to attack, only to retreat as the other came in from behind, trying to get a free shot. Thankfully for me, I had good reflexes and was able to keep them from dealing too much damage to me, but this was starting to wear on, and I was starting to get tired.

Finally, both twins decided to attack me at once, Beta charging from the front and firing beams while Alpha closed in from behind.
“Two-pronged attack, huh?” I mused, jabbing my blade back as Alpha got in range. It hit, but I didn’t check to see if I hit the core. I reached behind myself to grab Alpha’s ‘head’ to stabilize his position on my saber, before I jabbed at Beta with it, striking its core.

“Yes!”

“Uh… Devon… You didn’t hit the core of the first one…” Misato informed

My eyes were as wide as saucers as I looked back. Sure enough, I had missed Alpha’s core by a few meters. Not wanting to get caught in a beat down between the two, I shoved Beta away with my hand after I let go of Alpha, and kicked said gold twin back off of my saber. Just as I had predicted, Beta’s core glowed and healed almost instantly. I snarled at them, they would likely be more careful now. Beta charged forward again while Alpha stayed back. Roaring, I thrust my saber at Beta again, once more stabbing its core.

That was what it wanted though, because Alpha then blasted my sword hand, forcing me to release my blade while Beta removed the saber from its core and threw it behind itself.

“Oh crap…” I muttered, just before I was blasted in the face again by both Israfael twins and soundly defeated in the same manner as Asuka and Shinji.

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

Asuka, Shinji, and I sat in a conference room after our defeat at the hands of Israfael, the video projectors displaying various scenes as commentary was given. Also in the room were Kaji, Fuyutsuki, and a few technicians.

“Today, at 10:58, 15 seconds AM,” said commentary began, “Unit 02 was attacked by both targets, Alpha and Beta, which had separated from the original target that was engaged by Unit 04.” The screen changed to display Unit 02 waist deep in the ground, just as Asuka said she was. “Twenty seconds later, Unit 01 was also incapacitated, leaving Unit 04 alone in the fight.”

Another scene, which was that of Unit 01 waist deep in the water, was now shown next to Asuka’s Unit 02.

“Unit 04 miraculously held off both targets when they started to alternate attacks. After ten minutes of defending itself, Unit 04 tried to make a decisive attack against both targets, but failed, losing its saber in the second attempt. Unit 04 was then incapacitated.”

Two new screens were shown, one being a still shot of my Unit 04 shoving away Beta, already turning to block the upcoming Alpha, the other being a shot of Unit 04 waist deep in the ground, ironically right next to Asuka.

“I believe the project chair person summed it up best.”

The voice paused, and an audio clip played, “This is pathetic!”

My eye twitched, but I couldn’t bring myself to be outraged at that, even though I lasted many times longer then both Asuka and Shinji combined.

Asuka stood up and cried out, “This is all your fault! You two screwed up my debut battle!”

Shinji stood up as well, “What are you talking about? You’re the one who charged in there recklessly!”

“Both of you cease this bickering at once. As much as I hate to admit it, all three of us are equally at fault.” I growled at them.

“Not really, if you think about. You came close to defeating the Angel.” Kaji told me.

“Coming close is the same as failing spectacularly in my book when it concerns the Angels,” I informed him. The unshaven man shrugged as his response.

Asuka and Shinji glared at me, the latter much weaker then the former, but both eventually went back to their spat, “You were in such a rush to show off that you almost disregarded procedure!”

“Excuse me!? You looked like a drowned rat out there!”

“Y-You can’t- Ow!” Shinji was cut off by someone smacking him on the head hard.

“Ow!” Asuka echoed as she received the same hit.

They turned to the source of their pain, me, and were about to yell at me until they saw my arms quivering.

“This pointless chatter is wearing my patience thin. Do not make it snap, lest you like having your faces rearranged.” I stated coldly and venomously as I left the room. Shinji was quivering, and Asuka, to her credit, was just standing there stunned.

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

I lay on the couch in the living room of Misato’s apartment, waiting for the Captain and the Third Child to arrive home. I was puzzled at why Fuyutsuki didn’t stop me to give me the whole ‘do you know what your job is’ lecture. Whatever… Wait a minute, Asuka comes into Misato’s apartment first… Oh goodie… Well… it should take Shinji quite a while to get in after Asuka shows up… I should probably use that time to at least try to crack her shell to release the pain she’s holding onto.

And as if she were given some cue, Asuka walked through the door, a few men helping her move in her stuff, of which the amount makes me think of her as a pack rat… No matter, I get off the couch and approach her, asking,

“You need any more help to bring that stuff in, or are your current aids sufficient for you?”

Asuka glared at me when she saw me, obviously not expecting me to be home alone.

“I’m fine; they’ll be able to take care of everything. You might want to move your stuff out though, considering Misato’s dumping you and Shinji for the new model.” Asuka replied, and I shook my head at her statement, looking her dead in the eye.

“What? Don’t believe me?” she continued.

“No. It isn’t in Misato’s personality to throw out two kids to live on their own just to accommodate one other child. Since you said that they are able to get it done on there own, I want you to come with me. There is something I’d like to speak with you about.” I explained, stepping closer to her.

“Well, personally, I don’t want to speak with you at all.” Asuka growled back. I rolled my eyes, swinging my arm around and clasping my hand over her mouth. Asuka’s eyes widened in panic and she started to flail, but my other arm trapped hers at her sides as I pulled her out of view and into my own room, closing the door so that nobody looked in to see what was going on.

“Look, I need you to be quiet.” I told her, she glared at me hatefully in response, and even managed to bite my hand, which I should have seen coming. I winced, but didn’t relent. I had faced far worse at the hands of Sachiel, so this wasn’t going to slow me down.

“I won’t let go until I have your word that you won’t start screaming like a banshee.”

Asuka’s response was to clench her teeth down on my hand harder, but still failing to make me relent. After strengthening her bite force one last time she let out of muffled growl of annoyance, before begrudgingly nodding her head. I kept my word, releasing her mouth, to which she was mildly surprised, but didn’t show it. Seeing as I was truthful, the girl decided to hold up her end of the bargain as well, even though she was likely planning to shout if I didn’t let her mouth go immediately.

“What the hell do you want with me, Fourth!?” Asuka hissed in a forced whisper. “You know you don’t have a chance at a relationship with me so you’re gonna rape me!?”

“No.”

Asuka face faulted as much as she could at that, seeing as I was still clenching her arms at her sides with my other arm.

“Wha-?”

“This is, actually, more for your own benefit then mine. I knew you wouldn’t agree regardless of what I said, so I had to use force. I know you are hiding away pain. I know you’ve been hiding it for a long time.”

“I-I am not!”

“Your body language speaks to the contrary of your words. Your eyes are burning with that smoldering pain. Which should I believe: Your words, or your eyes and body language?”

“Th-there’s no pain!”

“Now you’re just trying to fool yourself. If you keep hiding it, it’s going to consume you. It will destroy you. Holding it in isn’t the answer; rather, it is the exact opposite.”

“You don’t know anything about me!”

“You lost someone close to you when you were young.”

Asuka froze at that, not expecting me to even know that much.

“Unit 02 has told me that much for the short amount of time I was synched with it.”

“It’s a robot, how could it tell you anything!?”

“You know not the true essence of Evangelion. You are ignorant to the reality of those great beings. Could a robot move as fluidly as a human does?”

“…”

“You say nothing because you know I’m right, aren’t you?”

“Alright then, smarty pants, what are they!?”

“They are living beings, almost like you and I, but have no soul of their own because they were man made. Unit 04 told me this when I was first contacted by it.”

“And why would the Evas contact you and not me? Huh?”

“Lets say I have a certain affinity with the one serving as the soul of Unit 04.”

“I don’t believe you…”

“Understandable… Tell me, what would it take for me to convince you that I know more then you think?”

Asuka resumed glaring at me. “There’s nothing you could say… or do, to convince me.”

“Oh? Not even the fact that I spoke with your mother? The part of her that still cares for you?”

“That’s impossible, she’s dead…” Asuka said sadly.

“Its not, or I wouldn’t have said anything. I swore to her that I’d help you over come this mental pain.”

“I told you, I’m not in pain!”

“And again I say that you are only failing to convince yourself.” At this, I loosened my grip on her arms and shifted her around, sitting down and placing her on my lap, gently laying her head on my shoulder.

“It takes great strength to stand on your own… but it takes even more strength to realize that you can’t at times. Your consistent, weakening denial shows me that you are weakening mentally and maybe even physically.”

I heard a strained sniff; Asuka was starting to break down, her control slipping as she tried to restrain the tears that were bottled up inside her in the form of pain and sadness.

“Stop it…” She said, her voice beginning to crack.

“No, you need to let go of your pain.”

“I’m… not in… pain…”

“You’re stubborn Asuka… you refuse to acknowledge that you’re just trying to fool yourself, no matter how many times I tell you.”

“Stop it… Stop talking!”

I started stroking her hair as I continued, “Your mother regrets what she knows you been through…”

“You don’t know what happened!”

“You never knew your father, your mother as you saw her took a doll, her insanity making her believe it was you…”

“Shut up!”

“So young… and yet so traumatized.”

“Stop it! Don’t drag those memories back up!”

“You felt abandoned, you started to fear being alone. You wanted to be strong so you didn’t have to fear being alone… you don’t want anyone to get close, because you think they’ll leave you, and your heart, in shambles.”

“Sh-Sh-Shut up!”

“Let it all go… Let the pain flow away… It’s okay to cry.”

Asuka was now quivering now. Her strong exterior was breaking from my comforting actions and my words together.

“Humans can’t make it on their own forever, they need to find someone to lean on, to be their pillar of strength when they are weak.”

“Stop! I’ll never be weak!” Asuka swung a hand at me, attempting to slap my cheek.

Her resurfacing pain made it into nothing more then a brush of fingers.

“Again your actions speak differently. You’re pained, and it’s weakening you. You can’t go through life alone. It’s physically impossible; you’ll go mad from your pain.”

“I’m… I’m not…” Asuka choked out.

“Stop denying it, let it flow out. Let all the pain out…” I pulled her fully into the embrace I had started when I sat her down on my lap, while still stroking her hair. Both actions were filled with that caring gentleness that she had barely known from her mother, and never saw from her father. As it were, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Asuka’s shell finally shattered as she cried her heart out into my shoulder.

“It’s okay to cry. It helps us deal with pain. I’ll always be there to hold you.”

We stayed like that for what felt like hours, me just holding her close and stroking her hair as she let every bit of sadness flow. Every time I thought she was finished, I found out that she was just catching her breath before it renewed once more. It must have been hours, because I hadn’t noticed the door open until she had finally finished crying out all her pain.

“Whoa… what happened in here?” I heard Misato asked, causing me to freeze and Asuka to jerk her head up in horror. The Second Child shoved me onto my back, breaking the embrace I held her in, and got up, charging past both Misato and Shinji to get to her new room.

Misato and Shinji were holding various levels of confusion in their expressions, before turning back to me, noticing the giant damp spot on my shoulder. I got up as calmly as I could, following Asuka’s path at a walk as I brushed past Misato and Shinji, walking to her room, of which was closed. I knocked on it, only to hear a distinctly muffled “Go away!” Reluctantly, I left her to her peace, walking back into my own room.

“Tell me when she comes out please.” I told them as I closed my own door.

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

(Asuka’s POV)

‘What the hell just happened to me there!?’ I thought as I clutched my head under a pillow. ‘I swore I’d never cry again! And yet… a few minutes ago I was balling like some kind of baby! What the hell had happened to the Fourth Child to make him act the way he acted!? How does he know so much about my past!?

How could he break me like that? Mein gott… he broke me down in there… That wasn’t the Fourth Child I met on the Over the Rainbow, or the one I fought alongside with twice already… The one on the ship was almost cruel in his words, a stinging light of truth. The one I fought alongside was so serious and devoted to the task of defeating the Angels… This Fourth Child… was acting like the father I never knew… Only Mama cared for me like that… and she’s gone now. He couldn’t have talked with her… but it does explain how he knew so much about my early life…

He brought all those horrid memories up again! Made me relive my nightmares in real life!

But why… do I feel better now? I don’t understand… I shouldn’t be feeling better; I should be feeling worse… I’m hit with the cold truth that I’m not strong anymore… but I’m not afraid…

Why!? Why do I feel this way, when I know it shouldn’t be like this!? Why…!?

I’ll always be there to hold you he says… I don’t believe him… But why does it give me comfort? Why does it comfort me when I know it’s a lie? Why, when I know he’ll leave me when he gets close enough?

And… just who is the Fourth Child? Which face is the real him? Why… when I feel I understand him more, he then comes out of no where with something new that makes hundreds of new questions in my mind!?

Just how much do I really know about the Fourth Child? And how much of what I think I know is false?

Why do I even care!? And why am I afraid to approach him again? I shouldn’t be afraid of anything…!’

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

(My POV again)

I was starting to get worried about Asuka. I regretted having to shatter her shell so thoroughly, but it was necessary for her to let go of the pain to start healing from it. I had no doubt in my mind that it had already scared her for life, but at least I can numb the pain. I heard someone knocking on the door, which made my eyes brighten. Asuka must have come out now.

“Come in.” I called; the door opening to reveal Shinji as the one who knocked.

“Hey, Asuka’s out of her room, and Misato wants to see all three of us.”

“‘Kay, be out in a sec.” I responded, running over last minute responses for Asuka’s attitude. With that done, I left my room and joined Asuka and Shinji at the table with Misato.

Asuka, upon my sitting near her, stood up, went to the opposite side of Shinji, shoved the Third over, and took his place, putting Shinji between the two of us. She was, obviously, still aggravated that I had broken her. Misato took notice of Asuka’s avoidance of me, and her head sagged, sighing.

“Well, now that all three of you are here, we can get on with our plan. As Devon so readily deduced, the Seventh Angel can only be destroyed by an attack on both cores while the target is separated. We all know that he’s already tried and failed to destroy the Angel by attacking one core at a time, so we must launch a simultaneous two point attack on each target’s core while they are separated. In other words, this will be an attack with two Evas with perfectly synchronized timing. Co-ordination between two of you present will be vital to the mission’s success. To that end, we’ve had Asuka move in here to synchronize with one of you.” The captain explained.

“What!?” Asuka screeched, making me wince, “No way! A boy and a girl should not sleep under the same roof after the age of seven!”

Misato sighed, ignoring Asuka’s out burst, and then turned to the Second Child. “Asuka? Who would you feel more comfortable working with?”

The German slinked back a short distance at that question, and was alternating glances between both of us. This didn’t go unnoticed by me.

“It seems that Asuka isn’t comfortable enough with any of the other pilots. May I suggest that Shinji and I be paired together? We’ve already been living in the same apartment for quite a while, which would help promote the synchronization of our timings.”

“NO!” Asuka cut in, horrified at the thought of missing her now third chance to kill an Angel. “I don’t want to be left out again!”

I looked at her while taking a sip of a drink I had, “Then who will you work with: Shinji or me?”

Asuka swallowed a lump in her throat. She didn’t want to work with either of us, and ‘Wonder girl’ as she had soon started calling Rei was out of the question. She continued to glance between us, clenching her fist continuously. My eyes closed as I took another sip of my drink, hearing Asuka sigh.

“Well… the Fourth isn’t nearly as worthless as the Third, so I’ll work with him…” My eyes shot open at this and I stared at her in shock.

“You certain?” I asked her. She hit my face with her full and un-opened can, giving me a nasty bruise on my right eye… Seriously, when ever somebody attacks anybody’s face around here, they always go for the right eye first. I find it rather strange. First Ayanami, then me, then Shinji, and now me again, which makes me wonder if the volatile characters/Evas/Angels have something against right eyes… No matter, the fact still remained that my right eye was bruised, and Asuka had picked me over Shinji.

This fact shocked me… I had honestly expected her to pick Shinji to be her partner… No, I couldn’t say that, she clearly thinks badly about the boy that piloted the purple colossus. And if the ninth episode of the series was any indicator, Shinji couldn’t pull it together enough in the first three days and only did so when Asuka practically forced him too so she wouldn’t get left out in the fight.

“Very well, Units 02 and 04 will be paired together for the operation.” Misato confirmed, nodding. “Devon, since you weren’t there to hear it, I’ll tell you here, the UN has dropped an N2 Mine on the Angel, which burned away about thirty-five percent of its mass. Its regenerating, but it’ll take about eight days for its next attack to come.

“Eight days? When were N2 Mines so effective on the Angels?”

“You did soften up their skin a lot with the slashes you managed to get in. Otherwise we wouldn’t have those extra two days.” Misato explained, and I nodded in understanding. I had gotten a few hits on them, but never enough to really make a difference.

“Very well, when and how do we start?”

“When: we’ll start now, as for how, that is where the music on this tape comes in, which the master attack plan is choreographed to.”

“So we’ve got eight days to pull this off, huh?” I asked mostly to my self. The others seemed to know that this was a rhetorical question, for they did not respond.

“But… it’s impossible for us to do this in eight days…” Asuka moaned. I turned to look at her, the serious air I adopted while piloting Unit 04 taking over now.

“Doing the impossible is my specialty.”

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

Needless to say, I had seriously underestimated the difficulty of synchronizing our timings. The first three tries had me messing up pretty badly only seconds in, which enraged Asuka into repeatedly kicking me for each failure. By now, Misato had left to get some more work at NERV done.

“goddamnit! Stop being idiotic!” Asuka shouted in her native language of German, which meant I had almost no idea what she had said. However, putting the words and the actions that accompanied them together allowed me to get a basic idea though.

“Geez! We’ve just started and you’re already giving me bruises for a few slip ups! We’ve still got a whole eight days!” I reminded her.

“If this keeps up, we could take eight years and not be prepared enough!” Asuka shouted back, returning to Japanese.

“Now that’s a low blow! I’ll show you, by the end of these eight days, you’ll be wondering how I got so good!”

“Is that a challenge?”

“You bet it is! As a matter of fact, ten and a half thousand yen says I can!”

“Where the hell are you hiding ten thousand five hundred yen!?” Asuka screamed in shock that I would bet such a massive amount.

Another thing I had forgotten to mention was that I had what amounted to a bank that only I and people I trust my pass code to could get into it. I had it sitting on a shelf in the corner of my room. It was bigger then I originally remembered it, and it was because the one hundred seventy-nine dollars, twenty-three cents in it had been converted into eighteen thousand eight hundred forty yen, taking away thirty-five cents.

“I’ll bet you don’t even have that kind of money!” Asuka continued.

“Want me to prove it?”

“Go ahead!”

I shrugged, went into my room, got my bank, placed the specially made card for it in, entered my pass code, bringing it the main screen where it said ‘Display Account Balance,’ ‘Make Deposit,’ and ‘Make Withdrawal.’ I pressed the button corresponding to the first, and then went to show Asuka. I swore that, if they could, Asuka’s eyes would have fallen out when I proved that I did have as much yen as I was betting with, and a little less then that same amount again.

“Ok, Ok, you’ve got me there, but I can’t bet with that kind of money! I’ll take your bet, but only if you make something that won’t leave me broke if, God forbid, I lost.” The red head confessed, and I laughed.

“Relax, I was never intending to force you to up hold your end if you lost! That was all for fun and games. If we loosen up with a bit of humor, we’ll work better!”

Asuka blinked in surprise, and her shoulders slumped down a bit. Despite herself, she let out a short chuckle at how I managed to play her for a fool, realizing she charged head on into that one.

“Besides, you have the funniest horror expressions.” I commented afterwards, enticing the wrath of Asuka as she jumped at me. I fell back as she slammed into me, and the German tried to punch my lights out, only for me to swerve my head away from her fist just in the nick of time. I shoved her onto her back, and both started to brawl with one another. This kept up for about an hour until Asuka started to slow down as she realized I was laughing again. She stopped completely and I stopped my evasive tactics as well.

“Aw, why’d ya stop?” I asked her.

“You weren’t taking me seriously…”

“Sorry I gave the impression, but for me this was just a game and I was starting to have fun. I wasn’t laughing at you.”

Asuka face faulted, before getting back to her feet, “A game? That’s all this was for you?”

I nodded, smiling at her. She found herself unable to retain her anger, and also managed a very small smile.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to give the synchronization another shot now.” I told her.

“Yeah… let’s put your theory to the test.” She replied, and the two of us walked over to our respective maps, and placed our headphones on, which were synchronized by machinery to play the song simultaneously to help us. The music began, and the mats started lighting up in various positions. True to my theory, I was doing better now that I had had my fun. The lights seemed to blink into existence more slowly now, giving me plenty of time to respond.

Right hand. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Left hand. Right hand. Left hand. Left foot. Left hand. Right foot. Right hand. Right foot. Left hand. Right hand. Left foot.

We did well, getting about a third of the way through the song before I slipped up.

“Ack!” Asuka grunted, annoyed, lifting herself back up and taking her head phones off.

“Now what is it? Still think you can pull this off?” Asuka taunted. I let out a bark of a laugh.

“Of course I can! We got this far on the first day, so we should be fine by the time the Seventh can get off its fat and lazy rear end and come after us again!”

Asuka and I both laughed at that, but the German’s laugh seemed to be forced. I figured she was starting to re-evaluate her opinion on me again. It was then that a thought hit me.

“Uh… Asuka? You do realize we’ll have to sleep together, right? And not in the perverted sense of the word…”

Asuka gagged, and looked at me like I had grown two serpentine heads and tried to pass myself off as a King Ghidorah rip off.

“You better be lying, Fourth…”

“I, regrettably for your sake, am not.”

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

It had been three days now, and I was certain that Hikari was coming soon. It wasn’t difficult for me to see the signs that the two are starting to become friends like they did in the series, that and the class representative was probably going to check up on me as well, seeing as we both had stayed home for this entire time.

The doorbell rang and, synched as we were so far, Asuka and I both called out, “Be right there!”

Ignoring the fact that we were both going to answer the door when only one of us were needed, Asuka and I pressed the button that made said door slide to the side, allowing us to see Hikari, but noting the absence of Toji and Kensuke. Hikari’s face contorted with an emotion I wasn’t sure of.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hikari asked us.

“It’s co-ordination training to help us defeat the newest threat to all life on Earth.” We replied plainly. The class rep blinked, losing that emotion I mentioned earlier.

“Oh… So exactly how is this suppose to work?”

“You’d have to see it…”

“Hello everybody!” Misato called, standing alongside Rei.

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

“Well… this is… interesting to say the least.” Hikari commented as she watched us perform another training drill. “How’s it coming along?”

“Well… there was some excellent progress on the first day… but we haven’t gotten any farther since then.”

The buzzer sounded as I slipped up again at the same point as I had been for the last three days.

“Schisse!” Asuka cried out, throwing her headphones at the ground near the group. She looked at me and growled, “Why do you keep messing up there!?”

“I don’t know! Give me a little more time and I should get by it… I need a break…”

With that, I got up, and sat down at the table with Shinji, Rei, Misato, and Hikari. Asuka growled at me again, obviously thinking I should take my training more seriously. She stopped though, remembering that I made a major leap between training drills if I unwound a little. Asuka sighed, then walked over and sat beside me.

Misato blinked. “Don’t you get how serious this is? You can’t just take a break because-“

“Please let it go Misato.” Shinji interrupted her, drawing the woman’s surprise. “You’ll see how this helps.”

Misato was now very suspicious, and looked at me. “There’s some new secret you’re keeping from me?”

“It’s no secret; I/he do/does better when I/he isn’t stressed out.” Asuka and I replied in sync.

The captain sighed, wondering if she’d ever figure me out entirely.

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

The days past quickly, and Misato saw the fruits of what Asuka and I had claimed. We had perfectly synced together within three days of the Angel’s next attack, and further practices were used only to make sure we didn’t lose that synchronization. Speaking of the Second Child, Asuka and I haven’t grown any closer yet, nor did I expect us to. No matter, it was night now, and Asuka and I were sleeping near each other with our beds, Misato nearby to make sure we didn’t separate or, something only she could conceive us doing, getting a little too close to one another, if you know what I mean.

It was now the day before the Angel’s attack, late afternoon.

“Hey, where’s Misato?” Asuka asked us as she came out of the shower room in her night clothes.

“At work, she called earlier to tell us she’ll be gone all night.” Shinji answered, somehow hearing her through his SDAT player head phones.

“So, that means the three of us are all alone tonight huh?” Asuka speculated a bit cheerfully.

“Asuka, I never thought you would subtly suggest such a thing.” I teased as a sinister grin formed on my face. Asuka’s expression turned to one of pure horror, which I again found hilarious, as she started spurting randomly about how that wasn’t what she meant, and was again silenced by my laughing. She then became furious and most likely wanted to ring my neck now. Shinji had passed out from a nose bleed at what I implied.

“Oh, come on, Asuka. You walked right into that one with the way you worded that.” I continued after I stopped laughing. Asuka screamed the German word for ‘pervert’ before picking up her sleeping bag and dropping it on the other side of her door so she could finally sleep alone.

I sighed, lying back on my bed as I waited for her to come out with her ‘Jericho’s wall’ ‘speech.’ True to timing, the door slid back open as I looked away, because the way she was standing on all fours and the way her shirt was loose allowed one to see her cleavage.

“This is the impenetrable wall of Jericho, Fourth Child. Take one step passed it and you’re a dead man,” the German growled.

“That’s nice, stop trying to seduce me by creating moments where its rather easy to get a good view, its annoying me that I have to avert my eyes so often to give you your privacy.” I shot back, still averting my gaze to the ceiling. Asuka looked down her own shirt, realizing I was right and shrieked, slamming the door shut.

“Bed time children!” Asuka declared from behind the door.

“Who are you to give orders when you are but a child yourself?”

The Second Child didn’t respond or didn’t hear me, only griping about the Japanese sleeping on the floor. Before I knew it, the night had found us asleep, or trying to fall asleep in my case.

I heard Asuka’s door slide open and cracked my eyelid open a sliver as well, watching her as she slept walked to the bathroom. With that done, the German walked back out of said room, and I decided to keep my eyes completely closed now, determining where she was by the sound of her footsteps. I heard a soft ‘th-thump’ that signaled that Asuka had collapsed onto the bed. Opening my eyes again, I saw Asuka laying beside me, proving what I thought about what happened in the series.

I had thought that, because Asuka was sleepwalking, she had no control over where she laid, or rather fell, down at, and only went to Shinji’s bed because her sub-consciousness was synched with his. Now that I had taken his place, something I had hoped my previous actions would weave into this, Asuka had landed next to me this time. My eyes watered up at how fragile she looked when she was asleep. The poor girl was still having troubles with her nightmares, not that I expected my comforting words and embrace to completely remove that with in the week. She curled up somewhat, and I sighed, edging an inch closer to her.

“Mama…” the German girl whispered. That was my cue, as I took a hold of her shoulder with my hand and pulled her into an embrace, laying her head down on my chest. With her sub-conscious mind in control, she instinctively clung to me like I was some sort of lifeline to her when I pulled her close. Asuka would scream to the high heavens that I had defiled her in some way after this, and I would likely be sporting non-Angel inflicted bruises some time after the battle, but that was worth it to give her refuge from her nightmares. I waited until I could confirm that she was sleeping soundly, before drifting off into the land of dreams myself, remembering just then that Asuka shouldn’t wake up before I did.

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

It was D-Day. Time to do, or die trying. Asuka and I were already in our respective Evas and synchronized to them.

“Target has broken through the final defense line in Gorra.”

“Here it comes... We won’t fail this time.” Misato spoke, before addressing us.

“Spread your AT Fields as soon as the music starts, then follow the operation choreography. Are you two ready?”

“Yes,” we answered in sync.

“Just remember the moves Devon, full power, maximum performance.” Asuka said over the comm. link between Units 02 and 04.

“That goes double for you, Asuka, we’ll have this Angel toasted in sixty-two seconds flat.”

“The target is entering ground zero.” Shigeru informed.

“Detach external power.”

At Misato’s command, the Umbilical cables were ejected.

“Eva launch.”

We were sent up the catapult as ‘Both of You, Dance like You Want to Win’ started playing. Seven seconds past and we were high above Israfael, the locks on our shoulder pylons having not been engaged as to allow us to be flung high for the first part of the operation. A spear came out of the hatch on the two Evas hands, extending as we curled into a silver and red ‘ball’ each, spinning once, and then uncurling to throw the spears down behind and in front of Israfael, separating the Angel into its twins. A Pallet Rifle was revealed in one of the buildings, which I took, running along side the Angel and peppering it with shells meant to be used by tanks. Asuka was also firing with what appeared to be a mortar cannon. We joined up with one another again just as the Israfael twins tried to blast us, but we continually back flipped out of the way, until we hit a pressure plate that raised a temporary shield in front of us, blocking an attack from the twins. We got our hands on two more Pallet Rifles, and tried to pepper the Angel twins again, only to have them jump up and try to make mincemeat out of us. We dodged to our respective sides as the UN military started to unload on Israfael, blasting the twins with hundreds of missiles. We came in again just as the smoke cleared, delivering an upper cut to both twins, before drop kicking them away, making them reform into one whole. The cores started to slide towards each other, which prompted us for the coup de grace, jumping into the sky, twirling, and then delivering a simultaneous kick to both cores seconds before they fused again. Israfael was pushed back to a mountain by the impact, where it detonated right as the timer hit zero.

The smoke started to clear… and I was no more successful in getting the last part right then Shinji was, evident as Unit 02 lies atop Unit 04. I ejected from the entry plug, grumbling to myself, and heard the sound of a ringing phone, before another hidden compartment on Unit 04 opened up to reveal the ringing telephone. Mentally bracing myself for the tirade of Asuka, I picked up the phone.

“You jerk! What are you doing on my Unit 02!?” Asuka screamed as her hologram appeared.

I calmly replied, “Says the one who is currently atop my Unit 04.”

“Dummkopf! You lost the timing first! Why’d you have to be so slow today!? And why’d you stay up so late last night?

“I did not stay up.”

“Yeah, like I’ll believe that! You probably tried to kiss me!”

“FYI, you sleep walked into my bed while induced in one of your nightmares. I merely pulled you into an embrace to try and ease away that nightmare.”

“Oh go- What!?” Asuka had apparently though I had admitted to kissing her in her sleep, until the rest of my words processed through her brain. “Well… Um… Come to think of it… I didn’t know why it was so nice to sleep for once…”

“You haven’t had a good dream before?” I asked, shocked. Asuka shook her head no. “Poor girl…”

“I don’t need your pity!” Asuka cried out, hearing that. Somehow, she managed to smack me with her hologram. To this, I responded by taking advantage of the apparent solidity of the hologram to poke her eyes out, making her shriek in the pain as she clutched said organs.

I could almost hear Fuyutsuki saying, “Those darn kids are humiliating us again…”

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

The Seventh hands our asses to us before we do the same to it, taking it out of the picture. Ten Angels remain, and time is growing shorter by the second. I’m going to have to make my move somewhere, but the question is how and when?

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

I was originally going to save this for my ‘Changing the Scenario: Omakes and Bloopers’ but I felt that this was comedic gold, and wanted to make sure I didn’t lose it. Therefore, here’s ‘Changing the Scenario’s’ first official Omake.

Fiendish Asuka

“Hey, where’s Misato?” Asuka asked us as she came out of the shower room in her night clothes.

“At work, she called earlier to tell us she’ll be gone all night.” Shinji answered, somehow hearing her through his SDAT player head phones.

“So, that means the three of us are all alone tonight huh?” Asuka speculated a bit cheerfully.

“Asuka, I never thought you would subtly suggest such a thing.” I teased as a sinister grin formed on my face. Shinji passed out from a nose bleed at what I was implying. The grin I had quickly disappeared when a glint of lust filled the Second Child’s eye. Asuka licked her lips slowly, her hands wringing together as she slinked towards me. It was now my turn to fall prey to the Anime Nose Bleed™.

Asuka pouted, “Aw shucks… Oh well, there’s always a next time.” With that, the now sexually active Second Child slept in her room that night, plotting. While I was passed out, I feared that I had somehow unintentionally awakened a perverted side to the fiery red head. And with her volatile nature… my mental self shivered in fear.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

A/N: I have no idea how Japanese schooling works… so I’m going to take creative liberties…

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

Beast of Magma

Two weeks passed since the destruction of Israfael, and sipped on a soda as I lay on my back. Asuka had already come home from shopping for a new swim suit, stupidly believing NERV would let her, Shinji, and I on that trip to Okinawa. This was fine by me though, I was never one for trips. Staying in an unfamiliar place for to long tends to get under my skin, not to mention I would be homesick after day one.

Speaking of being homesick, my mind was often drawn back to my old home in the dimension where this was nothing but a teen’s anime show. Just goes to show how limited humanity’s understanding of the cosmos was. I started to miss my old friends, and if I ever saw them again, I knew they wouldn’t believe me when I told them I had experienced the Evangelion story-line up close and personal, and even made changes to it. I sighed to myself, thinking of all of them. My online friends too, doesn’t matter if I never saw them face to face, they were still good friends. We had role-played a lot of fun, crazy, and down right stupid situations for our characters. However, when I thought of that role-playing, I had to wonder… was that area another dimension as well?

Well, seeing as Solranous appeared at my house, it probably was. Oh well, no point in speculating now. I glanced over from my spot on the couch while Asuka, Shinji, and Misato were all seated at the table, and Misato had just given the news.

“What!? Did you just say I can’t go on the trip!?” Asuka screeched, slamming her hands on the table.

“Yep,” was Misato’s simple reply.

“Well why not,” Asuka asked.

“It is part of your job.”

“You mean I’m on permanent stand-by?”

“You got it.”

“Well what idiot decided that!?”

“This one, the Operations Planning Manager.”

Asuka lifted herself up; placing her hands on her hips as a slight sucking noise of Shinji finishing off the last of his tea was heard.

“Shinji, why don’t you quit hiding behind that cup of tea and talk some sense into this woman? Act like a man!” Asuka said to him with her expression as solid as stone.

“Well… I kinda expected that we wouldn’t be allowed to go.” Shinji answered.

“So you’ve already given up?”

“Ah huh.”

“How pathetic, there’s nothing more useless then a house-broken male…” Asuka said, raising her hands into the air, and completely ignoring Shinji when he said, “Hey, don’t talk about me like that”. The fiery red-head then turned to me, “What about you? Are you hiding too?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “One would have to be the stupidest person on the planet to not anticipate the very real possibility that our status as Eva pilots would restrain us here.”

Asuka completely transformed from sarcastic teen to raging death machine as she stormed over to my couch. Seemingly oblivious to the impending danger, I continued to guzzle away at my soda until she came right next to my head and raised an arm to pummel me. I just crumpled the now empty soda can against her forehead, the force of doing so shifting her enough so that she was off balance, making her flail her arms insanely to try and regain her balance. Sitting up now, I turned to look at her, and flicked her nose, sending her toppling like the tower in that one game where people try to remove pieces from it without making it fall over, and whoever did make it fall over lost. Asuka rubbed the back of her head as she recovered from the fall. The fiery red head glared at me, but made no more moves to inflict physical harm. She did not like being humiliated in two moves like that, and desired not for that to repeat itself.

“Anyways, it’s like Devon said. You three are Eva pilots and must remain here in case an Angel should appear.” Misato said as she smacked her can of sake down.

“Told you…” I said to Asuka, who growled something angrily, then continued in an audible voice, “So I get stuck here on standby while everybody else gets to go have fun? Why do we always have to be ready to defend against them? Any good officer knows that the best defense is a good offense! Why can’t we take the fight to them!?”

“Because it’s next to impossible to find them in vulnerable states and the fact that the Angel detection system only extends a good fifty miles out to sea, if that.” I cut in sharply before Misato could respond. The captain silently nodded at my answer, then continued by speaking again, “Besides, think of this as a chance for you to get a head for once. You can catch up on your studies while all your classmates are away.”

Misato then held that devious grin that I knew, thankfully, was impossible to direct towards me. “Or did you not think that I didn’t see these report cards?”

Shinji grimaced, and Asuka was expressionless at the two data cards in Misato’s hands.

“I guess you thought I wouldn’t know about your test scores yet, but all of that information is forwarded directly to my terminal, and I am very disappointed in both of you.”

“Both of us? Not all three of us? Why does he get off the hook?” Asuka asked, jabbing a finger in my direction.

“Because he seems rather competent at making good grades, almost straight A’s for him.” Misato responded.

This was nothing new for me, I was usually a straight A student in any school I went too. This Japanese one, thanks to the kanji being written in English for me, was no different. It was actually easier because of the computers and I could dance my way through the text ‘books’ with ease.

“What!? But I barely see him do any homework!”

“Just because you don’t see me do the homework doesn’t mean I’m a complete slouch at it, I just prefer to be alone when I work. It gives me more space to think, despite how stupid that sounds.” I responded, waving off Asuka’s anger.

“This sucks!” Asuka growled, gritting her teeth.

“But was very predictable,” I added, just to get the last word, and last laugh, in. Asuka pelted me with an empty can, knocking me out.

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

It was the day of the trip, and the three of us watched as the plane flew high into the sky, remembering the words of various classmates who had spoken with us before boarding. Well, Shinji and Asuka were remembering their words; I completely ignored it, focusing on what I had to do.

Gendo had Adam, as was already confirmed. The commander probably had the First Angel attached to his right hand by now. This was bad, because the only chance I had to get at Adam now was to wait until the very end and somehow intervene when Ritsuko tried to end his plot. That, or kill Rei a few days after the Seventeenth Angel is killed, which is still something I’d rather not resort to. I can’t be in two places at once though, so if I help Ritsuko take out Gendo, I can’t get to my Eva in time to come to Asuka’s aid when her Eva runs out of power and is rend to shreds by the Mass Produced Evas.

Dang, everything’s looking down for me… too many variables for a child like me to weave a scenario that feels almost as elaborate as Gendo’s on such short notice. After all, he and SEELE needed fifteen years to prepare their own scenarios; I had a minute fraction of that time to weave something together. I could probably do it, but I’d burn myself out trying. Pilots without a sharp mind in Eva are gonna get killed in battle, and after that it doesn’t matter what scenario I managed to weave, because I won’t be able to set it into motion after my death.

I guess I have to do what I do best: make it up as I go along, and adapt to the situation. I always was one for planning in the here and now when the battle was raging; I always managed to find myself sailing smoothly under pressure. Sure, it gets to me at times and I freak out, but on a normal basis I’m as cool as ice when it comes to working under pressure.

Still… I had my moments where I could plan ahead and work many steps far into the future. I just didn’t have them often, and at times, they tend to come crumbling down if even one gear falls out of place. Plans that delicate almost never work, because the planner, or planners, would have to be able to control every conceivable variable. It is simply next to impossible for the human mind to do so without some very serious outside assistance, and even then, its tough. Though, I’m certain one day that I role-play as Solranous, I’m gonna have him spew the line “I make the impossible possible every day.” Yeah, I can see him saying that at one point.

“Hey, Devon! Come on already!” I heard Asuka call out, drawing me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at her, seeing that she and Shinji were looking at me.

“Huh? What for?”

“If I can’t go diving in Okinawa, then I’m gonna dive into the pools here! It’s not as good, but I don’t have anything else to work with.”

I shrugged at that response, already knowing why she wanted to get moving. “Alright already, calm those darn horses of yours, it’s not a race!” I answered, faking the tone of a Wild West cowboy, making Shinji chuckle. Asuka rolled her eyes and walked away towards the swimming pool. Shinji and I shared another laugh before we followed her.

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

Shinji and I sat down at the same table, the Third Child having his laptop so that he could work on his school work as he was instructed. A splash of the water told me that Rei had dived in, making her usual laps in the pool. I saw Asuka start to walk towards our table, but pretended to ignore her. I found it hard, though, to avoid staring. She had to pick that red-and-white striped two-piece… didn’t she? Well, it was obvious both in real life and the anime that she had the right to brag about her looks.

“Mmm, What do you have there, Shinji?” Asuka asked, her hands behind her back as she stopped by our table.

“Basic physics primer.” Shinji replied, not looking up from the screen.

Asuka shook her head in annoyance, “You’re such an obedient student.”

“Well… I’ll have to study it anyway, I mean I – ugh!” Shinji’s eyes bulged when he looked up at Asuka.

“Like I said, if I can’t go diving in Okinawa, let’s do it here. Hmm… Lets see what you’re working on. You can’t solve an easy problem like this?” Asuka had leaned in close to Shinji while she typed on his computer, making the poor kid blush. “There, all done. It’s easy when you know how,” she finished.

“Good, now stop essentially shoving your breasts into Shinji’s face, I thought you hated perverts, but obviously you yourself are one.” I cut in, my back facing them.

This was a big mistake, I realized, as Asuka grabbed my head, and gave me a very forceful invitation to join Rei in the pool.

Put simply, I was thrown in head-first. Having not gotten a decent breath as I hit the water, I scrambled to the surface again and gasped for air. Soggy with a head of now matted hair, I glared back at Asuka.

“I’d ask what the hell you did that for, but the reason is rather obvious.” I said as I swam to a nearby ladder to haul myself back out. Then, I decided to steal Shinji’s line to poke at Asuka’s pride a bit more. Again, I know I’m digging my own grave, but I just can’t help it when Asuka’s so damn hilarious!

“Say… Asuka, if you could make that problem look like child’s play, why do your grades suck?”

I could see the fiery red-head clench her fists at the comment, but answered calmly none-the-less, “Sometimes I can’t figure out what the question is.”

“You can’t read the kanji?” I was one to talk… if it weren’t for some kind of other worldly force allowing me to see Japanese as English, then I’d be getting F’s every time.

“Not all of them. Why should I bother when I already passed college back in Germany? I didn’t have to study it there, after all.” She was definitely bragging there, and what sucks is that we never find out if she could make good on that claim.

“Oh really? Then why’s it so hard for you to learn the Japanese written language? A person with a college degree shouldn’t be taking this long to learn a new language, so I’m starting to think you’re just trying to cover up for yourself.”

Asuka face faulted there, but regained her composure quickly, “What!? You dare accuse me of lying to cover up some sort of fault that I supposedly have!?”

I grinned like a fox at her angered expression; she was so much fun to poke at like this. “So what if I am?”

“You… you… Argh!” she growled and threw her hands up, exasperated. She clearly couldn’t think straight with all the anger I’ve been stirring up in her. She stormed away from the table and I realized I had averted the part where Asuka mentions the whole ‘warming up her breasts’ after explaining thermal expansion to the boy. Dang it! I had such a good line to throw at her too! One that would have really riled her up! Again I say: dang it!

Oh well, if Shinji knew what would have come if I hadn’t cut in, he would be thanking me for saving him the embarrassment. I looked over to Asuka again, and saw that she was bending over to get what I assumed was her diving equipment. Hmm… maybe I should go get my swimming attire as well… I’m already soaking wet as it is… and I think there’s a bit of water in my ear… I heard the water splash as Rei climbed out, and dried her hair off with a towel, which she then hung around her neck. This, in combination with her red eyes and facial expression, made me think of the stereo-type vampire.

“Hey, Shinji! Lookie, lookie!” Asuka called out, catching the Third Child’s attention as she sat at the edge of the pool with her back facing the water, “Back-roll entry!” The splash after that call was all I needed to hear.

“Geez, Asuka, could you have come up with something more stupid-sounding if you tried hard enough!?” I cried, but because she was under the water, she didn’t hear me. I shrugged to myself and went to get changed as well, figuring that if I’m wet I might as well take a swim myself, and I always did have a fascination with the water. I never figured out why. Water and sky, these two planes that sea and feathered beasts respectively inhabited always held some pull on me. If I get running fast enough and then jump, I feel like I could really fly if I tried hard enough and had the wings to do it with. I wasn’t nearly as thrilled by water, but the feeling of weightlessness some how lead me to connecting it with the sky. Strange as it was, that was just how my mind worked for these two elements that are home to aquatic and aerial creatures.

While I was musing to myself about the habits I had in the world that looked into this one, I had changed into a long pair of blue and black swim trunks, and a black diving shirt. When I had put said shirt on, I sighed to myself, muttering “Old habits die hard…” The dive shirt was mostly for helping to conceal my state of being over weight back at home, and it was obvious that this wasn’t a problem, what with the changes Solranous made to my physical appearance when I first came here. Still, I didn’t feel comfortable going shirtless, what with a female teen with potentially raging hormones and a very foul temper back at the pool, so I left it on. I wasn’t sure what Asuka’s reaction would be if she saw me shirtless, since Solranous’ changes did more then make me more normal in appearance, it made me look like I had spent a good deal of time at the gym every week to stay fit, for which I felt guilty, because other kids had to work to get what I was handed on a silver platter. So guilty, that I’d rather hide it then flaunt it like Asuka does with her assets.

No matter, I was back pool side and had dived in, joining Asuka temporarily under water before I came up for a breath. After that, I flipped onto my back and just floated there, closing my eyes and letting my mind wander while my limbs spread out in a vaguely star-like fashion. I was never one for actually swimming. As I had said before, the feeling of weightlessness was somewhat intoxicating for me.

“I could fall asleep like this…” I murmured quietly, my eyes still closed. Of course, with Asuka still apparently looking for revenge on my most recent attempt of ribbing her pride, she splashed my face with water, causing me to flail back into an upright position and try to wipe my face off, even though my hand was wet as well.

“Dang it, Asuka!” I growled, shaking my head like a dog before I could finally see clearly. I glared at the red head in question who resumed breathing on the mouth piece, to which I regretfully had forgotten the name of, as she dove under again, frolicking in the waters, though it was obvious that, as she had stated, she would rather be doing this in Okinawa…

The thought of Asuka frolicking suddenly brought a very out of character scene into my mind of a meadow of flowers that the German red head was skipping through, acting like a young school girl should act. My eye twitched and I slowly shook my head.

‘The day I see Asuka acting like that in reality is the day I know I’ll fail to stop Third Impact…’ I thought. Ignoring the fact that Asuka might splash me again, I laid on my back in the water like I had been moments before staying like that until it was time for us to leave.

Asuka and I walked parallel to one another, with a few feet of distance between us, back in our normal clothing.

“Hey… Asuka…” I began, closing my eyes again.

“Hmm?” she replied, ready to deck me if I decided to insult her again.

“To be honest… you looked pretty in that bikini…” I said truthfully; causing her to freeze up with surprise as I continued walking. Because I had my back to her, I didn’t notice the slight blush on her cheeks.

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

Asuka, Shinji, Rei, and I had all been summoned to a briefing room, in which pictures of the cocooned Sandalphon where displayed on the floor.

“Is that an Angel?” Shinji asked.

“Yes, its some sort of chrysalis form that precedes the adult stage that we’re familiar with.” Ritsuko answered, before continuing on with the briefing, “This operations prime objective will be to capture this Angel, we must capture it alive and in a form as close to its original state as possible.”

“And if we fail?” Asuka asked.

“You must destroy it immediately, understood?”

“Roger!” We all answered simultaneously.

“The designated pilot will be-“

“Oh! Pick me, please! I love to go diving!” Asuka interrupted. Shinji looked sad, and I knew he was thinking it was going to be him. I decided to add in my own two cents.

“I agree with letting Asuka take this mission. Mostly it’s been Shinji and I who have been shining, so give one of the girls a chance, I say.”

“We were already planning on have Asuka be the pilot for this mission.” Ritsuko confirmed.

“Yes!” Asuka pretty much cheered. “It’s gonna be easy!”

“And me?” Rei asked.

“The special equipment we’ll be using hasn’t been standardized for use on the proto-type.” Maya explained.

“Rei and Unit 00 will remain here on stand by,” Ritsuko ordered.

“I see” was Rei’s response.

Asuka leaned over and looked at the First Child.

“Aw, poor Rei, she doesn’t get to ha- Ow!” the Second Child was cut off when I elbowed her in the ribs.

“Something tells me you won’t be so ecstatic when you see the special equipment, so pipe down already.” I hissed at her.

Ritsuko seemed to contemplate scolding me for that for a second, before deciding she would rather let me shut the red head up then listen to her rants, not to mention she needed to get Asuka, Shinji, and I out the door and too the volcano ASAP.

“Now that an A-17 has been ordered, we need to roll out immediately. Get ready.”

“Roger!”

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

“Noooooo! No way! How could you!?” Asuka screamed, wearing a very bloated version of the normal plug suit as she looked at her Unit 02, which had bulbous white ‘armor’ covering it from head to toe, with a face plate being the only view inside the exo-suit.

“This exo-suit is designed to protect you. Type D equipment is made for combat under extreme environmental stress, not high fashion.” Ritsuko explained to Asuka.

“That’s my Unit 02...? Poor thing…” Asuka moaned in sympathy for the Eva. If Unit 02 could make a facial expression right now, I’m sure that Kyoko would have made that expression into a disgusted frown by now. Not that I could blame either of them. The plug and exo suits looked absolutely hideous to me.

“Forget it, I won’t do it! I’m not appearing in public with this thing, this is the sort of thing you have Shinji and Devon for!”

“I can’t blame you for hating it Asuka, I’d be disgusted too if I were in your shoes…” I said to her in undeniable sympathy. Just then, Kaji made his appearance.

“I’m so disappointed.”

“Huh!?” Asuka gasped, turning to the unshaven man, growing more horrified by the second.

“I was looking forward to seeing you in action.” Kaji continued.

Asuka cried something in what I assumed was German as she ran as best as she could through the doorway she had first appeared in, before sticking as little of her body as possible back out.

“Doctor Akagi, I just can’t let Kaji see me in this awful looking thing!”

’Too late for that…’ I mused.

“Are we having problems down there?” someone asked over the intercom.

“Sort of, yes.” Ritsuko replied.

“Excuse me, but I could-“ Shinji began, but got cut off as Rei raised her hand.

“I will go in Unit 02.” The First Child said, as emotionless as ever.

Asuka looked like she had turned part werewolf as I could have sworn her canine teeth had grown a bit as she smacked Rei’s hand back down.

“Oh no you don’t! The only way you’re using my Unit 02 is over my dead body!” She then turned to Ritsuko, determination burning in her eyes. “I’d rather do it then let her take my place!” Finally, the red head looked up at her Eva, “I’m sorry lekin, they made me do it…”

I was half tempted to say ‘nobody made you do it,’ but I figured it was best to just keep quiet this time.

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

What always irked me, is that if they like having as much back up as mentioned at some point in the past, is why they made Rei and Unit 00 stay at the base. I could never understand why they did that. It must be one of those things that I’ll never understand about NERV…

There were various announcements and orders thrown around, the latter mostly from Misato, who had been the one to request the A-17. Pretty soon, Shinji and I were standing beside the crane that was to lower Unit 02 into the lava, speaking of which, the crimson Eva was already being hooked up to the crane so that when they fired the laser for whatever reason, they could bring Unit 02 into position to commence the mission.

“Hey… Is Kaji here yet?” Asuka asked.

“God’s gift won’t be coming; he’s got no business here.” Misato said irritably, and then cut the connection off just as fast as she started it.

“No? But I wanted him to see me in my greatest triumph today.” Asuka said in a tone between her normal voice and a moan.

However, I noticed her furrowing her eyebrow in confusion over something, so I decided to cut in, “Hey, Asuka, you aren’t having any second thoughts about this… are you?”

The red head growled in response, “No I’m not! What gave you that idea!?”

“Well, the fact that your eyebrow is furrowing for some reason is a good bet…”

“I’m not having second thoughts; I have to prove to everybody that I’m the best!” Asuka reaffirmed, glaring at me.

“Then if it isn’t about this mission, what is it about? Best get it off of your mind so you don’t get distracted.”

Her shoulders slumped a bit, and she bit her lip, and then looked back at me through the screen. “Back at the pool… How did you mean those words that you said…?”

My eyes closed and I sighed to myself before responding. “Asuka… I meant it the way I said it. That’s just how it is.”

“No second meaning to your words? I know I don’t know you that well, but that’s surprising… You always come off as cryptic…”

“It wasn’t my intention, but this time, there is nothing hidden in the words. What I said is how I meant to say it. You did look pretty with that swim suit on.”

Asuka looked down with… was that a look of shame? To me, that wasn’t possible, she couldn’t be ashamed over something, this is Asuka we’re talking about, and Asuka isn’t ashamed of anything…

Unless she’s thinking of how she bashed me around a bit, what with the can, throwing me into the pool, punching me with the hologram back against Israfael, well, that I already paid her back for...

“Hey, if you’re thinking about how badly you treated me, don’t worry about it, most of those hits I deserved for what I said. I did take a few stabs at your pride after all.” I said, trying to get her back into a good mood. She didn’t respond, but the shameful look was gone, to my relief. To be honest, Asuka looking shameful was out of character to me, and I didn’t like it when Asuka looked shameful.

“What are those, jets?” Shinji asked as he saw a few dots in the sky that were moving.

“The UN and the Air Force will be standing by, until this mission’s over anyways.” Ritsuko answered.

“Are they here to help us?” Asuka asked.

“No… They’re here to clean up the mess, just in case we fail.”

“Uh, what do you mean?

“They’ll use N2 Depth Charges to destroy the Angel, and us as well.”

“This job sucks!” Asuka screeched.

“You just now figured that out?” I had to ask.

“Shut it, Fourth!”

“What kind of a jerk would order something like that?” Shinji asked, holding his rage in.

“Commander Ikari.” Ritsuko replied to the Third Child. I clenched my fist at that.

“What a bastard! He’s giving that kind of order even though his own son’s out here!? How low can that man go?” I growled, even though I already knew the answer to both Shinji’s question and my own. It still gets me steamed every time. I growled again to myself, before settling in and waiting for the operation to commence.

Soon, the laser was fired into the volcano, for whatever reason I never figured out. Various chatters from the technicians were going on as Unit 02 was hoisted into position, before being lowered past the surface of the volcano.

“Aw man, talk about hot!” Asuka complained as Unit 02 neared the lava.

“It’s lava, what’d you expect?” I snapped.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut it, Fourth?” Asuka snapped back.

“Good to see the Asuka I know is back. You looked rather… pathetic just before they started lowering you in. That doesn’t suit you at all.” I finished with a grin. Asuka blinked in surprise, grumbled, and shut off the connection between Units 02 and 04. I tuned Asuka out when she got Shinji’s attention again and then spread her Eva’s legs like it was caught mid-step while running, seconds before vanishing under the lava. I saw Shinji sigh, and mentally agreed with him, Asuka was an attention addict, if some one like that even existed. We waited a few more seconds, before Asuka come on the comm. link again.

“Current depth, 170, rate of decent, 20, no problems detected, visibility is zero” Asuka reported. She then grumbled and continued to herself, “I can’t see a thing… switching to CT monitor.” She frowned, unimpressed by the results of the switch, “Even with this I can barely see a thing…”

I was tempted to bring my fist up to my face and chew on a finger from how nervous I was. My presence may change the whole operation and Asuka may even get killed here because of the change. This was out of my hands and I had little idea on what to expect, which was sending shivers up my spine.

“You really do care for her, don’t you?” the soul of Unit 04 asked me, who was someone I knew rather well… and a certain character who belongs to another author also happens to know this person very well… but I’m going to shut up about that before I give away too many hints on who it is.

‘Yeah, and I’m scared that my being here is gonna screw everything up.’

“Oh ye of little faith, you doubt her ability to pilot?”

‘It’s not her piloting I’m worried about, she’s easily one of the best, if not the best… It’s her ego that’s making me scared. She might get in over her head this time… And what if Sandalphon has changed?’

“Sometimes, you just have to ride out the storm… gotta go, Akagi’s watching your brain waves a lot more closely in case something happens like against the Fifth, and if I talk too long, she’ll know something’s up.”

‘Well then, see ya later, alligator.’

“In a while, crocodile*.”

And with that, the Entry Plug of Unit 04 was silent once more.

Seems she timed that just right, Maya started talking.

“Depth is 400… 450… 500… 550… 600… 650…”

My mind started playing cruel tricks on me by conjuring up horrible ways for Asuka to die today, most of which have her caught in a crumpled up Eva at the bottom of the volcano, as an unrecognizable mass of flesh and blood.

“… 900… 950… 1000… 1050… We’re over the maximum safety depth.” Maya informed, but no one responded to it. “Depth is 1300; Unit has reached estimated target level.”

“Asuka, what do you see?” Misato asked the Second Child.

“I’m not detecting anything, its not here.” Asuka replied.

“The lava currents must be faster then we thought.” Ritsuko speculated.

“The target’s velocity certainly doesn’t match our predictions.” Makoto continued.

“Hurry up and recalculate. Descend further, continue the operation.”

Makoto looked up from his console in surprise with a ‘Huh?’

I nibbled on my lip, and released one of the control yokes so I didn’t accidentally trigger anything from Unit 04 when I clenched my fist.

“Depth is 1350… 1400…”

Cr-crack!

I winced at the sound needlessly

“A crack has occurred on the second coolant pipe, depth is 1480… We have exceeded the maximum allowed depth.” Maya finished, hiding her worry with expertise.

“But we haven’t made contact with the target yet…” Misato said, “Keep going. How’s it going Asuka?”

“Nice and toasty, I just wanna finish this and take a shower.” The red head replied.

‘I am so tempted to respond to that with something along the lines of making an Asuka sandwich…’ I thought at the ‘nice and toasty’ phrase from said German.

“There’s a nice hot spring near here, we’ll go there once this is over. Just hang in there a little longer.” Misato assured her.

‘And who the hell, besides Misato, would suggest a hot spring as a place to go after a mission in a volcano!? I mean really… if I were Asuka, I’d want to hide myself away in a nice freezer like Pen Pen does! Hot place for mission, hot place for reward, it makes no sense! I grumbled mentally, rolling my eyes, smothering the thought that a hot spring would be a nice place to go to after this…

I jumped when the comm. link carried over another loud ‘crack!’ Thankfully, my Eva didn’t respond to this and make everything shake.

“What’s wrong, Devon?” Misato asked me, opening up a window so I can see her face.

“I’m scared, to be honest… She’s going down pretty deep… anything could happen and nobody would be able to get to her in time…” I replied, letting myself shiver at those thoughts. “I’m not saying she can’t handle herself, but she is in a compromising condition…” I quickly added, knowing the German could hear me and would love for an excuse to verbally chew me out.

Misato looked away, and sighed, unable to offer any words of encouragement, she knew I’d see right through them. Silence prevailed again.

The ‘snap’ of the belt holding the Progressive Knife broke that silence though, along with Maya’s report.

Once the depth had reached 200 over the maximum allowed depth, Makoto couldn’t take it any more and spoke up, “Captain Katsuragi, you’ve got to stop this! Have you forgotten that there’s a human being in there?”

“I will manage this operation as I see fit, continue to descend.” She replied, and I winced at the potentially imagined heartlessness of her words.

“I agree with Misato, I’m ok. I can go on.” Asuka added.

“damn it… just promise you won’t get yourself killed down there!” I spoke up.

There was a pause, and I assumed Asuka was surprised by my now displayed care for her. If I was in her position, I would be too, considering, I think, no one ever showed that they give care if she lived or died before coming to Tokyo-3. I might be wrong on that; I was still a little fuzzy on the details of Asuka’s past.

“O-Okay… I promise…” she responded, her voice wavering somewhat.

“Depth: 1780, Unit has reached the corrected target depth.” Maya informed.

A small pause, and then Asuka blinked, “Wait… I see it.”

“The target is in sight,” Makoto relayed to Misato.

“Prepare for capture,” was the order given.

The bar that Unit 02 was holding extend out, the two bars on either end unfolding to provide most of the skeletal structure of the cage.

“Alright, because of the convection current that is moving both you and the target, you’ll have just one chance to make contact.” Ritsuko informed Asuka.

“I understand, just leave it too me.” She replied to the scientist.

“Thirty meters to contact.”

“Relative velocity, two point two, on the axis.”

The ‘skeleton’ of the cage surrounded Sandalphon’s cocoon and activated.

“The electromagnetic cage has been spread, no problems detected. The target has been captured.”

Makoto sighed in relief while Misato praised Asuka for her job well done…

Except that I knew it wasn’t over yet.

“Hew… the operation is complete, I’m beginning my ascent.” Asuka said, just as the crane started reeling her back in with her catch, reminding me of a mechanized fishing pole, which should have been mentioned back against the Sixth Angel.

“Asuka, are you alright?” Shinji and I asked simultaneously, and then looked at each other through our screens with minor shock.

“Well of course I am, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This was easy.”

“Don’t count it finished until your safe above the surface, Asuka…” I told her.

“For the last time: Shut it, Fourth!”

I grumbled at how careless she was, but she ignored it, continuing on, “Man… This isn’t an Entry Plug Suit, it’s a sauna bath… Oh, I just wanna go take a cold shower…”

“Sounds like the tension let loose all at once… for most people.” Ritsuko commented, looking at the screen that displayed my face inside Unit 04.

“Yeah, but he seems to be on edge a lot for no reason.” Misato continued, her eyes softening.

“Makes you think he knows something about all of this that we don’t doesn’t it?” Ritsuko finished in a whisper below my hearing range. “Anyways, were you scared about this operation? I sure was.”

“Well, yeah… If something had gone wrong, it could have been another…”

“I know, Second Impact. All over again.”

The alarm suddenly blared, catching the attention of everybody.

“Its going crazy!” Asuka screamed as the Angel started screeching vaguely like a human baby.

“Oh no! It’s starting to hatch! It’s earlier then we predicted!” Ritsuko cried out.

“Asuka, get ready for a fight, the cage can’t contain the Angel anymore! Just be careful, its got the field advantage!” I called to the red head before Misato could demand a status report on the cage from Makoto.

The Angel’s ‘hand’ started pushing through the electromagnetic barrier that held it in.

“Abort the capture! Jettison the cage!”

“damn!” Asuka screeched as she complied.

“We’re changing the operation; we’ve got to destroy that Angel!” Misato commanded, leaving off the second part seeing as I already got the point across.

“Wait! She doesn’t have a Progressive Knife, remember?” I reminded them, Asuka’s eyes widened as she reach down to double check, confirming my words, “damn! He’s right!”

An alert on her Eva blared, dragging Asuka’s attention back to Sandalphon, “The Angel!” Sandalphon surged forward, intent on capturing Unit 02, or slamming into it. “Releasing holster.”

The belt of weights around Unit 02’s waist jettisoned, allowing the Eva to ‘jump’ out of the way. Before Unit 02 had returned to its normal position of weightless suspension in the lava, I had already taken my Progressive Knife, sheath and all, out of Unit 04’s shoulder pylon before anybody could even think of ordering one of us to do it.

“Asuka, I’m sending my Prog Knife down to ya!” I informed her, then threw said knife into the lava with all my strength.

“Okay!” Asuka replied, keeping an eye above her for the Progressive Knife. Sandalphon had swam out of sight while the Progressive Knife was falling, but because I had acted so quickly, the German red head already had the Knife before the Eighth Angel had begun its second pass.

“Alright ya over-grown monster, just try that again, I dare ya.” Asuka growled as Sandalphon began to charge at her again. The Angel jabbed at Unit 02 with its hand/fin, and Asuka blocked it with the Progressive Knife, but couldn’t do anything when the second one came around and grabbed her leg.

“What the hell!?” Asuka screamed, seconds before Sandalphon clench it’s leech-like jaws on Unit 02’s helmet.

“No! How can it open its mouth in molten lava!?” Ritsuko asked, stunned.

“The same way it can live in lava without turning to ashes.” I answered, before addressing the red head, “Asuka, the Knife’s clearly useless right now if the Angel’s internal organs can take exposure to lava without flinching!”

“No way!” Asuka screeched back at me, just as the left leg was crushed, and then removed.

“Die, damn you!” Asuka screeched again, breaking the lock between the Knife and Sandalphon’s hand before trying to stab it in the head, only to find that it was indeed useless.

“Any bright ideas, Fourth!?” Asuka sarcastically growled at me.

“A source of extreme cold might do the trick in weakening its armor.” I answered back, and I could see that Asuka was tempted to face palm herself for not figuring it out sooner. She pulled the Progressive Knife back and cut one of the coolant pipes on her Eva’s left arm, before grabbing it with the free hand, and then jabbing it into the Angel’s mouth, causing Sandalphon to writhe in pain.

“The coolant, of course!” Ritsuko said, understanding what the two of us were getting at.

“Transfer all internal coolant pressure to cable number three, do it!”

A technician tapped a button on his keyboard, fulfilling Asuka’s request. Coolant started spraying from Sandalphon’s mouth and a muffled scream of pain could be faintly heard as its writhing increased.

Asuka roared with fury as she stabbed the Angel again, successfully penetrating its armor and dealing a fatal blow.

In a last ditch effort to take Asuka with her, the Eighth Angel brought a hand around to cut the coolant pipes that were keeping Asuka from falling into oblivion. The German gasped in realization and fear when Sandalphon did so, and the sound reminded me of what happened in the show. Acting again without much actual thought, Unit 04 was thrown into motion, its cable detaching at my mental command. Just as Sandalphon began to cut the cables, my Eva had already submerged under the lava, causing screams of panic to echo across the mobile command bridge. I did everything I could to speed up Unit 04’s descent, a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach urging me on words despite the fact that the lava was slowly eating away at my Eva’s armor.

It was a good thing I acted before Shinji would have again, because Sandalphon was more thorough this time, cutting all the pipes completely before letting go, but because of my faster action, I was able to catch the would be victim of Sandalphon’s final move before she was out of reach. Sandalphon, however, was still whole enough to see this, and screamed in impotent fury as it perished, dissolving into nothingness.

One look at the screen of the comm. link between Units 02 and 04 told me that Asuka was trying to calm her now racing nerves, even as the D-type equipment partially imploded. She had yet to see who her savior was, and finally looked up to see.

“Devon?” Asuka asked in shock. Then, she gave a minute smile, “Idiot… you show off…” I snickered back at her after that.

“What? No thank you for saving your life? Do ya realize how much it hurts dunking yourself into lava?” I asked her, then shifted my gaze over to the link with the mobile base. “‘Subtle’ hint there, Misato.” I finished. Misato jumped a bit, and then started barking orders left and right to get us out of the lava ASAP, which her subordinates were happy and willing to comply with.

I closed all of my connections except the comm. link with Unit 02 as we were pulled back up. Asuka seemed to understand that I wanted to speak with her privately, and did the same.

“You really care… don’t you?” Asuka asked me.

“Yeah… I don’t know what I’d do without you. Sure, we just met only a few weeks ago… but still… I can’t imagine living without you… verbal and physical beatings included.” I answered.

“But why… why do you take such… interest in me… is it just cause I happen to be the best looking girl in all of Japan?”

“Despite the fact that I can’t argue with you on that point, no, it’s not the reason.”

Asuka blinked in surprise at how I worded my response, “Wow, agreeing with me on my looks while some how managing to not sound like a total pervert… I didn’t know any boy besides Kaji could do that.”

I rolled my eyes, “Is Kaji like some kind of idol to you? All I hear about him from you is high praises, not to mention you’re obsessing over him.”

“Well he is only the best man the world has to offer.”

“A man who is at least twice your age, if not more, you really think you have a chance with a man that much older then you?”

“…”

“Didn’t exactly take that in to consideration, did you? Hell, he’s old enough to…” I trailed off; knowing that mentioning her family in any way at all, even implying it indirectly, might stir her anger and sadness. “Sorry, Asuka… I didn’t want to take into personal matters like that.”

She hung her head, mulling over what I had said, “So you think Kaji only thinks of me as a kid?”

“Yeah… At least, if I were his age, I would… What I’m trying to say is… It’s not going to go anywhere with you and him, he doesn’t take your advances seriously.”

Asuka sighed, downcast now. “If it was strength that got you to start liking him, I can prove to you that he isn’t the strongest.”

She looked up at me when I said that, “Oh? And who else could be stronger?”

“You’re looking at him… if this isn’t enough proof, I don’t know what is. Well, there is that battle against the Third Angel that I fought, I took a lot of damage there…”

“I say you’re bluffing.” Asuka challenged.

“Oh really? Talk to Misato about it then, she’ll tell you.” I finished.

Silence dominated the last comm. link we had opened after that, seeing as we were almost at the surface.

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

Despite what I had thought earlier during the mission, I found myself relaxing at the hot springs. Shinji had yet to join me on the men’s side, and he was further held up by picking up the package that had Pen Pen in it.

Speak of the devil, the penguin has charged for the springs and had dived in beak first, and was now splashing about. Shinji soon came in as well, noting that my eyes were closed.

“Hey, Devon, you aren’t asleep over there, are you?” Shinji asked me. I cracked an eye open to look at him in the face, replying, “No, but if you hadn’t said something I might be…”

Shinji chuckled at that before settling into the spring himself, a cloth over his forehead.

“Ahh… this feels like Heaven… Oh boy, I never thought a bath could feel this good.”

“We agree on that point, Shinji.” I sighed with my words, sinking in more up to my neck.

“Shinji, can you hear me?” Misato called from the women’s side.

“Y-y-yes ma’am!” Shinji stuttered, startled.

“Would you be a dear and throw me the body shampoo?”

“We ran out of ours!” Asuka explained.

“Sure…” Shinji replied, getting up and grabbing the bottle before I came over and grabbed his hand.

“Let me toss it, if they try and embarrass you incase it lands somewhere… awkward, you can blame it on me.” I told him, he nodded, really not wanting to be on the receiving end of Misato’s teasing. I took the bottle from him and walked over to the divider.

“Oi! Incoming!” I called, chucking the bottle over the wall. While I had done this to avoid hitting Asuka ‘down there’ with the bottle, it seems I just caused it myself.

“Ow! You idiot, Devon! Watch where you’re throwing, you dork!” Asuka cried out.

“How can I watch where I’m throwing when there’s a big ‘ole wall in the way of my sight, unless you’d rather give a free show.”

“IYA! You pervert!” Asuka screamed, and I could just imagine the blush on her face.

“You’re fault for wording your sentence the way you did.”

Asuka grumbled, and then moaned, “Ooh… he hit me in my most private spot…”

Shinji blushed profusely at that, and I hung my head to hide my own blush… then…

“Oh! Watch your fingers!”

I clenched my fist when I heard that and cringed.

“Oh, your skin is so soft and smooth, Asuka,” I heard Misato coo.

“Dagnabbit, Misato, cut it out with your teasing before you kill us with nose bleeds!” I roared over to them, before sinking under the water up to my nose.

Misato, being the horrible tease that she is, refused to relent on it, so I tried my best to tune her out. Unfortunately, my ears decided to betray me here… Shinji soon joined in diving down as well.

‘I hate thermal expansion right now…’ I thought.

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

(Asuka’s POV)

Misato and I sat on the shore near the hot spring, having finished up with it and dried off. I thought back to what the Fourth said back at the volcano. It’s true that diving into something like that with no protection, and not even showing any physical signs that it really bothered, or hurt, him was a sure sign of his strength, but I honestly think that was a one off thing…

But then he mentioned his battle against the Third Angel, and that Misato could tell me details if I asked her.

Speaking of said guardian, I looked over, about to ask, when I noticed something right below her chest… like a scar…

Misato noticed, and looked at me, “Hmm? Oh, the scar, it’s a little something that happened during the Second Impact.”

I looked away at that, ‘Misato was there at Second Impact?’

“You know my past; about everything, don’t you?” I asked her.

“Well… its part of my job. It’s all ancient history now though. We really ought to let it go,” the purple haired woman replied.

“That’s exactly what Devon said, when I moved in… he knows about my past too…”

“He does?”

“Yeah, I thought you might know how…”

“This is news to me… he didn’t hurt you with his knowledge, did he?”

“No… I thought he was trying to… but I felt better then I ever did after that… It makes me wonder if he’s really trying to help… Actually, there are a lot of things I wonder about him. Do you think he’s strong-willed?”

“If he isn’t considered strong-willed, I don’t know who is. Why do you ask?”

“Just something that came across my mind, back at the operation after I killed the Angel… I thought that dive into the lava was a one-off.”

Misato barked a laugh, “You really don’t know him then…”

“Say… just what did he go through in the battle against the Third Angel?”

Misato grimaced, then described exactly what the Third Angel did to the Fourth Child, making sure to stress at one point that he still got back up and charged at the Angel again. I went slack jawed at the amount of punishment he took, and that it was only the time limit that actually put him down. The fact that he’s fine and normal again amazed me even more.

I seriously had to rethink my opinion on the Fourth Child…

Again…

I found myself doing that a lot in the short time I knew him… but just how well did I know that enigma that is the Fourth Child? He jabs at my ego, then risks his neck to save mine… not to mention he complements on my looks without sounding like a pervert…

‘Gott… just who are you really, Devon? What are you trying to do or get?’

I never knew that said Fourth Child just sneezed…

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

Eh, blah ending, wasn’t really trying that hard on it, I wanted Asuka to find out what happened in the beginning, and this felt like the best time to do it.

Will her attitude toward me change? Unlikely… at least, not obviously… might be a subtle change here and there… nothing major. She probably won’t start really warming up until the very end, assuming she does at all.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

A/N: I’m relying on re-watching the series to make sure I get the dialogue of certain places right. The English dub, which I was using up until part way into this chapter, got pulled so I have to use the Japanese version to continue. Until further notice, I’ll be using the Japanese/English subbed lines.

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

Decending Darkness, Surgical Strike.

Same usual day, it felt like to me. Disregarding Angel attacks and training for Eva piloting, that’s all that’s really been happening. Shinji and I were walking to NERV for the routine tests, when he had spotted a payphone.

“Hey… Devon…” Shinji began, looking at me. I took a glance at the phone, and grimaced, shaking my head.

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you, Shinji… he’s clearly done everything to separate himself from you… as far as I see things, he’s only your father by blood, not by emotion.”

Shinji hung his head a bit, knowing I was right. “But maybe… maybe he was just trying to protect me from something…” he said, hoping that I would tell him his father isn’t all bad, try to instill some hope in him that his father isn’t as cold as an iceberg.

“I know this isn’t what you really want to here, but I’m not going to sugar coat anything. I can tell he sees you almost solely as a part required to have Eva operate properly, another gear in the machine that is NERV. In a sense, that’s the only thing he sees any of us as, and the only exception to that I can see is Rei… I’m sorry Shinji, but whatever your father says to you in praise, take it with a grain of salt. I won’t stop you if you decide to call him anyways, but I won’t say I didn’t warn you either. And remember, you’ll have to start standing up for yourself at some point, so that you aren’t as easily pulled into a false sense of acceptance by your father.” I finished for him, and kept walking. After a short few seconds of not hearing footsteps beside me or behind me, I stopped and looked back to see that Shinji was indeed calling his father on the phone. I closed my eyes and sighed. I couldn’t blame him though, despite how much of a spine he’s already grown, he still a teen ravaged by emotional disaster, and needed his only living relative by blood for support. That support was something Gendo refused to give out, time and time again.

I waited, leaning on the pole opposite the phone until Shinji finished his call, clenching my fist at Gendo’s words. I looked back at the end, surprised to see Shinji with a minor expression of anger. The boy’s mouth opened to let Gendo know his anger, when the phone cut out after crackling for a few minutes.

“What the?” Shinji started. I narrowed my eyes, nodding that I suspected the same thing.

“Seems the line got cut out…” I voiced our thoughts.

“Yeah…”

“We should probably meet up with Asuka and Rei; see if they noticed anything out of the ordinary as well.”

This time the Third Child only nodded, and that was exactly what we set out to do.

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

Shinji and I had soon met up with the female pilots Asuka and Rei, and Shinji was content for now to explain how his phone call with Gendo Ikari went.

“Maybe Commander Ikari was just really busy.” Asuka offered as an explanation.

“I don’t think so, it isn’t like he hung up; it sounded more like the line had failed.” Shinji replied.

“On that point, both of us can agree.” I added in.

“Hey, are you a man or what? Why do you let every little incident get under your skin?” Asuka asked Shinji, ignoring me.

I rolled my eyes, and I could tell that Shinji was annoyed as well by Asuka’s words. From there we traveled in silence.

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

’Oh boy, here’s one of the days miss bossy tends to lose her cool…’ I thought as we came to one of the doors that admitted us into NERV.

Shinji slid his card through the reader, only to pause as nothing happened. “Huh?” he wondered, and glanced at his card, which was perfectly fine. He noticed Rei coming up to try her card, so he stepped aside. The First Child was met with the same results. Rei looked at me, and I furrowed my eyebrows, trying my own card as well, despite knowing the futility of it.

Nothing.

“Something’s obviously going wrong in the GeoFront, its not likely for three of the four cards we have to all fail at the same time…” I surmised.

“A logical assumption,” Rei concurred.

“What are you all doing!? Here, let me.” Asuka growled, shoving me out of the way and running her card through the reader, to the same result. “Wha?” the German then proceded to run it through many times in an attempt to gain some reaction, and was met with none.

“Stupid thing, it must be broken! damn it!”

“Didn’t we just agree on that not one minute ago?” I asked Rei, she nodded, and I sweat dropped as I looked at Asuka.

“We better get moving, nothing will be accomplished if we just stand around here.” I growled, figuratively lighting a fire and running down the halls nearby. Shinji, Rei, and Asuka all followed suit, though the red-head clearly desired to be in command.

We started trying all of the doors we came across, moving in a systematic pattern in order to use as many as possible in as little time as we could.

“Mph… This one doesn’t work either,” Asuka semi-yelled.

“None of the facilities are working,” Rei added.

“Ok, that just cements it, Something bad has happened in NERV.” I finished.

“Yeah, but what are we suppose to do?” Shinji asked.

“Certainly NERV’s constructors would have anticipated a black out like this, even with such nearly fool proof electrical systems. Rei, are there any manual entrances into HQ?” I inquired, seeing as the First Child likely knew this place like the back of her hand.

“There is.” She responded.

“Then please lead the way, the faster we find those entrances, the faster we can figure out just what’s going on…”

“H-Hey! I should be leader! I have the best qualification!” Asuka protested. My only response was to shoot her an icy glare, which surprisingly shut her up.

“I’ll bet you didn’t even know there were manual entrances.” I finished, just as Rei was up and walking, I kept my gaze on the German for a few more seconds before breaking off to catch up to the albino pilot.

‘Burned’ I thought when I noticed that Asuka was still holding her silence. As per the usual in a situation like this, nothing was said amongst us until we reached the first door on route 7.

“Shinji, help me out with this, it’ll be faster if both of us work together.” I said, though thinking back it probably came off with the tone of an order. The Third Child was quick to join in, and we gripped the handle on started turning, opening the door at a steady pace while Asuka and Rei stood back.

“Heh, this is why we have guys like you around.” Asuka commented.

“Shut up before I rip your throat out.” I hissed at her, and the sudden out burst made her flinch unnoticeably.

‘Ok… that was unneeded… I’ll have to apologize for that later after we kill the Ninth…’ I thought to myself, cringing mentally as Shinji and I finished with the door. We continued on it silence, a silence which was only broken by Rei giving us directions when we came to a fork in the path. Even when we made to open more manual doors, Asuka didn’t make any more comments.

The silence, however, was broken again not by Rei, but by something else, something Asuka and Shinji failed to notice because it was so far away.

“Anybody else hear that?” I asked, glancing around, Rei nodded to me, and the sound was getting closer until we could make out the words being said.

“An Angel is approaching! Repeat; an Angel is approaching!” Hyuga called over the speaker of the van he had commandeered.

“An Angel is approaching!?” Asuka and Shinji asked in shock.

“damn it! We must make haste!” I growled.

“I know a short cut.” Rei informed us.

“Again, lead the way.”

Rei ran in the direction of the shortcut, something that caught me by minor surprise. Nevertheless, I still followed suit, casting a split-second glance over my shoulder to make sure Shinji and Asuka were keeping up. A few minutes later and we were crawling through a ventilation shaft. Asuka had stubbornly insisted to lead into it, and after what felt like hors of arguing, I relented.

“damn… Even if this is a shortcut, I look so bad.” Asuka moaned.

“Aw, quit bitching, no body else is gonna see you like this, so you got no reason to complain. Rei is normally as silent as a wall, Shinji’s still at least some what scared of your wrath, and I personally don’t care about ruining some one’s image in public. There’s nothing to worry about.” I snapped at her. She cringed again, but nobody saw it.

‘Gah… What is with me today? I’m not normally one to snap at people so much…’ I asked myself.
“Hey, Asuka… What do you think the Angels are?” Shinji asked, hoping to break the tension between the red head and myself.

“What’re you talking about?” Asuka returned in a softer voice then she did in the show.

“Angels are messengers of God… but our enemies carry the name of Angels… Why are we fighting them?”

“Are you stupid? Unknown enemies are attacking us… It’s natural that we have to ‘get rid of sparks raining down on us.’” Asuka finished, and I mentally sighed to myself.

Once more, there was silence until we came out to a fork lit by an orange light.

“Hmm… I say right.” Asuka declared.

“To the left, in my opinion.” Rei objected.

“Devon, Shinji, what’d you two think about this?” Asuka asked, turning to us.

“I’d have to agree with Rei on this, she’s lead us in the right path so far.” I answered.

“I don’t know, really…” Shinji replied.

“Two for left, one for right, and one undecided, majority wins.” I intoned after that, and walked down the left path before anybody could respond. Silent as ever, Rei continued with me. However… I only heard one set of footsteps behind us, I looked back to see that we had ‘lost’ Asuka.

“Oh damn it… that stubborn little… Carry on without me until you get to another fork.” I ordered, and then bolted back to the ‘Y’ section we had just left, banking around the other direction when I reached it. The passage led up, just as I remembered, so running was a bit more difficult for me. Catching up to Asuka, though, was pretty easy, seeing as she already reached the door. She hadn’t kicked it open yet, I could tell because she was just now setting up.

“What? Come to snap at me again or something!?” She hissed. I shrank back regretfully.

“No… but this is as good a time as any… I’m sorry for snapping at you those last two times… the stress from the power going out, and the Angel arriving is getting to me, and because you and I have feuded the most, I just let loose on you. It doesn’t excuse my actions, nor does it take away the sting I can tell you are feeling. I could apologize a hundred times… and I know it wouldn’t make anything better…” I replied to her, hanging my head.

“Feel free to hit me if you want to… Maybe that could help you feel better…”

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but apparently the offer was enough, she swung around and socked me one right to side of the face. I hit the wall from the impact, cringing, but I just bore the pain and waited for the likely coming second blow.

It did come, in the form of Asuka kneeing me in the gut. I coughed as the air was forced out of my lungs and dropped to one knee. My eyes were clenched shut so I didn’t see when she went into a spin kick that connected with the side of my head. I was sent sprawling on the floor entirely from that last blow, and I didn’t notice Asuka’s heavy breathing, like I didn’t notice that she screamed with each attack.

I gritted my teeth, and forced myself back to my feet, even though my body was now crying out in protest.

“Whoever… invented the phrase… ‘You hit like a girl,’… obviously didn’t… meet you…” I coughed out with the faintest hint of a smile, even though I was rapidly bruising from the blows. Asuka blinked in surprise; just in time for me to crack my eyes open to see her.

“Any normal kid would have been floored by that for a while…” Asuka commented numbly.

“I’m not any normal kid… Neither of us is… Pain is an aspect of our lives just as much as happiness. We’ve taken a lot of it, whether emotionally or physically, and we’ve eventually become strong enough to just tough it out… Besides… we have to get to the cages to stop that Angel…” I continued in response, breaking out into a full on smile.

Asuka looked at me with shock as I stood up normally, as if I had never been hit.

“Are you gonna stand there and gawk all day, and let Shinji and Rei have all the glory?” I asked her, walking back down the hall. She snapped to, and jogged up to meet me.

“Let us make haste…” I finished, and the two of us broke out into a run.

We met up with Shinji and Rei, who did indeed wait for us at the next fork in the path.

“What happened to you, Devon?” Shinji asked.

“Nothing… I just had a bout of clumsiness while checking up on Asuka.” I lied. Asuka’s eyes widened mildly in surprise, she had not expected me to lie to protect her.

“O…kay…” Shinji relented, but I could tell he didn’t believe me.

“This way,” Rei informed us, and we set out on the move again. Strangely, Asuka didn’t take the opportunity to jab at the First Child. This surprising turn of events completely omitted part of the dialogue I was used to hearing, so she must have had too much on her mind to care. The uncomfortable silence seemed to follow us everywhere until we reached a door that was apparently welded shut and splayed out with multiple beams of metal and planks of wood.

“We can’t open this by hand,” Shinji noted.

“That can’t be helped; we’ll force open a duct and go through that.” Rei answered.

“Whatever gets us to the Evas…” I trailed off, going with Rei to pick up a beam and bang the duct in.

“The First and Fourth are scary…” Asuka began, “They’re the kind of people who stop at nothing to reach their goals. She’s a self-righteous one… but as for him… I just don’t know what’s up with him…”

Shinji said nothing as he watched us finally succeed.

“Hurry along now!” I called, and we all crawled in, first Rei, then me, then Asuka, and finally Shinji.

“Don’t you dare look ahead Shinji, if you do I’ll kill you!” Asuka threatened to the poor boy. As how reverse psychology goes, that’s exactly what he did.

“You idiot! Idiot, idiot! I told you not to look!” Asuka roared as she kicked him.

“What could I do, if I don’t look ahead…” Shinji started.

“Whoa!” I cried out, accidentally cutting as the vent gave out underneath me instead of Asuka and Shinji. This resulted in me greeting the floor rather painfully.

“Ouch!” I finished, unfortunately, Asuka was so close that she didn’t realize why I yelled until she, too, had fallen, somehow managing to drag Shinji with her. The two of them landed on my back, and I cough as the air in my lungs forcefully escaped me again. Rei, the only one who seemed to be coordinated out of the four of us, landed on her feet behind the pile up of Asuka, Shinji, and I.

“Get off… my back…” I groaned. The Second and Third Children were all too eager to comply.

“Thank you,” I muttered as I stood up again, trying to readjust my back after the incident.

“You guys are finally here.” Ritsuko said somewhat happily.

“Yeah… for better or worse,” I rasped in response.

“Prepare all Evas for manual launch!” Gendo ordered when he saw us.

“Roger! Open the hatches manually!” a worker replied.

“How are the Evas?” Shinji asked Ritsuko. She pointed her thumb back.

“They are all ready,” she responded. Shinji looked where she gestured in shock, seeing that the Evas were waiting for them.

“But the power’s out…” Shinji began.

“We did everything by hand, it was Commander Ikari’s idea.”

“Father’s…” Shinji looked up to see Gendo assisting his workers with opening the hatch to the plug.

“He’s been preparing, believing that you’d come.” Ritsuko finished.

Not long after that, we were all in out plugs, the now familiar twisting entry going on, though much slower because of the fact that they were using a diesel engine.

“Plugs inserted,” one technician said.

“All units were activated with auxiliary power sources,” another reported.

“Remove the first lock bolt,” Gendo ordered.

I could here the grunts of the workers as they swung their axes to cut the cables that were making the lock bolts hold our Evas in place.

“Release hydraulic locks 2 through 32.”

“Pressure zero, they’re free!” Maya finished.

“Ok. Everyone remove the bindings by force, and move out!” Gendo barked again.

That was our cue. As if we were one being in four bodies, Units 00-02, and 04, lifted their arms and pressed against the bindings. I proved to be the strongest currently because my Eva was the first to free itself sufficiently. This puzzled me slightly, because my synchro ratio was lower then both Asuka’s and Shinji’s… huh, I guess each point I get counts for more then what theirs do.

They waited until Units 00-02 also freed themselves, before attaching the external batteries

“Emergency batteries attached,” Maya reported with a megaphone.

“Good. They’re ready… Move out!”

I grinned, and all but jumped out of the cage, going for the nearest available hatch that the Evas could crawl through. There was only one… so it was rather easy to deduce that that one would lead us to the Ninth Angel.

“Ooooh, I look so un-cool…” Asuka moaned. I decided to let her bellyache about it, worried that I might say something that would really hurt her.

“We’re nearing the pit.” Rei informed us.

Lo and behold, there was the ‘door’ that would get us into the shaft that Matariel was using as an attack route.

“Take this!” I roared, gripping the floor with Unit 04’s hands and spinning around like a dial, smashing both feet into the door. It only barely survived getting blown off its hinges from that move, but one more kick sent it flying.

“Asuka, Shinji, Rei, stay here and wait, I’m going to do some recon so we know what we’re up against. We can’t risk all of us at once if the Angel has a trick up its sleeve, and I have arguably the best reaction time of all of us.” I order as I prepared for the climb up.

“I understand,” Rei answered.

“You’ve got a point, Fourth…” Asuka grumbled.

“Be careful…” Shinji cautioned.

“Don’t worry about me,” I responded back, and started climbing up.

‘Yeah, I need to stay on the side lines… let the others have a little glory…’ I thought to myself, ending just in time to see what was apparently red lights drop in front of my Eva.

“Acid…” I whispered, before pulling Unit 04’s arms and upper torso away from the brunt of the acid. Some of it hit Unit 04’s foot and made it slip. I screamed as I started falling with no way to stop myself, roughly landing on the ground with an ungraceful ‘THUD!’

“AaAaAaAaAH!” I quickly jumping back into the makeshift corridor before Unit 04’s torso, myself included, got dissolved by another salvo of acid.

“Are you alright, Devon!?” Shinji asked, panic gripping his voice.

“Let me have a heart attack for a few seconds and I’ll be just fine…” I replied, shyly chuckling at the end. Shinji sighed, but whether it was in relief or annoyance I’ll never know.

“Any ways, as for what I can tell about the Angel, you’ve already seen the strong solvent it’s using to attack the base directly. Its AT Field is weak, easily neutralize-able from this distance, and its body structure seems poorly reinforced. We should be able to kill it from down here with the Pallet Rifle.” I relayed to them.

“Seems pretty weak for an Angel…” Shinji noted.

“Agreed, but the situation we’re in makes it a difficult foe, one that would take expert strategy to kill. Asuka, you got anything?”

Asuka grinned, “I do have a plan.”

“Then by all means, spit it out already!” I playfully ordered.

“Gladly, There will be three positions. Offense, defense, and back-up: defense’s job is to protect offense from the Angel’s solvent liquid and to neutralize the AT Field. Offense is to set up and destroy the Angel after defense has moved out of the way. Back-up will stay on the ground and catch the rifle in case something happens to make offense drop it.”

“Okay. I’ll be defense.” Rei volunteered.

“Sorry, but I’m playing defense.” Asuka countered back.

“But that’s so dangerous,” Shinji protested

“You think I want to be indebted to any of you?” Asuka shot back. “Anyways, Shinji will be offense, and Wonder Girl will be back-up. Alright?”

“Okay.” Rei intoned.

Shinji looked like he was going to say something, but only nodded.

“Be safe… Asuka…” I whispered just high enough to only she would hear it.

“Alright… Let’s go!” Asuka cried out, as her Eva flipped out into its defensive position. Rei dropped down to the floor ready to catch the rifle should it be required. The acid came pouring down again, striking Asuka’s back and making her grunt in pain. This was bad, it seemed to be worse then it was in the show, and she was clearly having a hard time concentrating on neutralizing Matariel’s AT Field as well. I extended my own just to give any little push in the right direction that might be needed. Shinji flipped out as well, just underneath Asuka, planting his feet on one side, while letting his shoulder pylons anchor him on the other side. The Third Child un-holstered his Pallet Rifle and aimed for Matariel.

“Get out of the way, Asuka!” Shinji cried out.

Asuka responded quickly, pushing off with one arm and leg and clearing the path. Shinji the blasted Matariel with everything the Pallet Rifle was worth, piercing the Angel’s body with ease. Its core either damaged or destroyed, Matariel could no longer sustain itself and collapsed, dying right there. Asuka’s Eva, no longer supporting itself on the walls, fell down the shaft, only to be caught by Unit 01, who was firmly in place.

“Another one bites the dust,” I commented with a grin.

‘Nine down… eight to go… and then… EoE…’

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

It was the end of this long and hectic day, and was lying out on the grass with my fellow pilots, gazing at the stars.

“Its ironic that the stars look so beautiful when there’s no artificial lights…” Shinji said.

“That may be true, but it feels like a ghost city when the lights are out…” I commented, stealing Asuka’s line.

As if on cue, the power grid came back on.

“There, now it feels like its alive again.” Asuka continued.

“Mankind fears the darkness and scrapes it away with fire to survive.” Rei spoke

“Truer words have never been said…” I concurred.

“I wonder… is man a special creature because of that? Is that why the Angels are attacking us?” Shinji inquired.

“Are you stupid? How’re we supposed to know?” Asuka replied.

“Questions desire answers… Answers spawn more questions. It is a never-ending cycle… and some questions… are not meant to be answered…” I finished, sighing into the temperate night wind.

For now… this was paradise…

[Azure_Ghidorah]

The Crushing Tenth

I sighed, leaning against the slider door that lead to the porch with my eyes closed, silently playing audience to the pitter-patter of the pouring rain. I thought back to the scenes I had witnessed back in my dimension, where Misato witnessed the horror of Second Impact. I regretfully admit that I cannot understand why it hurts her so… but then again… I never had the misfortune of having my family stripped from me at the age where a child needs parental guidance the most. Those four wings of hellish energy that have forever burned themselves into the captain’s, now major’s, mind, are still clear within my own eyes, however, they do not hold the same terror, the same pain as they do for our guardian.

Last night, however, was rather restless for me; I had little to no sleep, resulting in a late day waking up. I vaguely recalled waking up twice, one on my own in the late afternoon, and once earlier in the morning, before school hours, to which I remember mumbling something and promptly passing out again, which explains why I hadn’t gone to school. By the time I woke up, school would be over before I got there, why should I make the trek for nothing except getting reprimanded by Hikari?

I noticed the front door open, and none other then Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke walked in, all three drenched by the rain.

“Thanks for letting us stay, Shinji… but where’s Misato?” Kensuke asked.

“She might still be slee-“

“She’ll be out soon in full uniform.” I cut into Shinji’s response. “She works rather hard as you know… I’m surprised she hasn’t dropped like an ox yet from all of it…”

“Yeah, makes you wonder what keeps her going.” Toji responded.

“To those who know her past, it’s no mystery…” I cryptically replied back. I couldn’t bear to look Toji in the face though, and was thankful that I had my eyes closed from the get go… Marie… I’ll always regret being even just the indirect instrument of her death… It’s not something you forget very easily, and it weighed heavily on my conscious even after all this time.

That conscious was rather abruptly shattered when Asuka let out some strange mix of a scream and a moan. Well, that’s what it sounded like to me.

“Hey! What’re you guys doing here!?” the German all but screeched.

“Getting out of the rain…” Shinji replied simply.

“Huh… Oh, sure. You’re after me, aren’t you? I’m changing clothes, if you peek, I’ll kill you.” The venom we all heard in her voice made us wonder if she was really serious about that…

“Dun worry about a thing Asuka. However unlikely the chances are, I’ll make sure nothing happens.” I reassured her, getting up and walking over to the wall which half the curtain separating her from us hung. She, however, kicked me away as I got close.

“I don’t trust you either, you pervert…” Asuka growled at me, before hiding away behind the curtain.

“That bitch! Who’d want to see her changing clothes!?” Toji whispered in outrage.

“She’s to conceited,” Kensuke continued.

“She didn’t have to kick me…” I grumbled, rubbing my stomach where she hit.

Right then, Misato opened her bedroom door and glanced at the four of us.

“I…I…I…” Toji stuttered.

“Sorry if we disturbed you!” Kensuke finished for him.

“No, I’m glad to see you. Welcome home Shinji, You and Devon have a harmonics test tonight. Don’t be late. Especially you, Devon.” Misato replied, before directing her attention to us. I cringed at the last bit.

“Okay,” Shinji responded.

“Yes, ma’am,” I chimed afterwards.

“Asuka, you know that, don’t you?” Misato asked, directing it towards the fiery red head.

“Yeah…” Asuka droned, not amused at all.

Kensuke blinked, then leaned in to get a closer look at the collar of Misato’s vest, noticing the change in the badge.

“Wah! Congratulations on your promotion!” Kensuke praised while bowing.

“Co-Congratulations.” Toji repeated, unsure of what had happened.

The major turned to them and smiled, “Thanks…”

“Oh, don’t mention it!”

“Well, I’m off…” The purple-haired major opened the door, heading for NERV.

“Take care!” Kensuke and Toji called after her.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to Misato?” Shinji asked dumbly.

“So you’re the only one who didn’t notice the second line on Misato’s badge. It signifies that she’s a Major now, instead of a Captain.” I commented.

“Wha? Misato’s a Major now?” Asuka asked while she and Pen-Pen poked there heads out, the former drying her hair with a towel.

“I stand corrected, two people didn’t notice…” I sighed, tilting my head, with my eyes still closed, to avert being hit by what ever was thrown at me.

“I wonder when…” Shinji trailed off, which apparently ticked off Toji for some reason or another.

“Are you serious? How pathetic.”

“Don’t you guys have any sympathy!?” Kensuke continued where Toji left off, “It’s not so easy for a woman her age to take care of not two, but three junior high students.”

“’We’ are the only ones who have human hearts.” Toji finished.

“Shut it you.” I growled, just as a shoe hit the jock’s face. “For the record, it’s not as hard as you think because I’m around. Misato doesn’t have to keep an eye on me, or Shinji for that matter. Asuka’s the only one who is really a problem, and besides, she’s mellowed out… somewhat…”

I sighed afterwards, feeling Asuka’s confused gaze on my back.

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’m gonna get going to NERV so I don’t wind up being late. I don’t mind getting yelled at by Hikari, but Ritsuko? That’s a whole ‘nother story…” I told them as I got my shoes, one of which being the weapon I used against Toji.

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

Have I told anybody lately that harmonics tests are boring as hell? I’m sure I have, so I’ll spare you the unneeded recap… I don’t know if it was intended, but we could hear what was being said outside. I only half-listened; I was trying to keep focus on synching with Unit 04 from this test plug.

“Numbers 0 and 2 have reached the contamination border, that’s the limit. Number 4 is nearly there as well…”

To be honest, she was right, it was starting to get foggy and even somewhat painful for me to do this, but compared to what I’ve already been through, this was just a dull ache all but ready to subside.

“Number 1 seems to be able to take it. Decrease plug depth by 0.3”

I couldn’t see it, but I could tell Shinji’s plug was being lowered farther. While I didn’t care for being the best, I never really liked it when Shinji was the best of all of us. No matter, as far as I could tell, it couldn’t be helped.

Wait… that dull ache I mentioned was going away…

“Number 1 is almost at the contamination zone, but Number 4 is apparently building some kind of resistance to it, he can take more at this rate…”

“I see… Decrease Number 4 by 0.2, if he’s resisting contamination at this rate, he should be fine there.”

Almost unnoticeably, my own plug shifted as well, and I mentally cringed. The ache was back with a vengeance now…

“Number 4 is at contamination zone, that’s his limit…”

“The readings from Number 1… he’s incredible… Number 4’s readings… are rather lacking to be honest.

“Sempai… we already know, though, that we can only see Number 4’s true potential in a real combat situation though, he seems to display even more prowess with piloting Eva there.”

“True, but it’s difficult to get readings in that situation…”

“What bugs me though… is that his synchronization and harmonics ratings are at less then half of Asuka’s… How is he so good with such low ratios?”

“None of us will know, I think… but maybe its his talent… to turn weakness into greatness… Just like its Shinji’s talent to achieve such great synch and harmonics ratings.”

“They’re both born to pilot Eva, that’s for sure.”

“Shinji doesn’t want to be that way though, he won’t be happy to hear that. And nobody knows what Devon will think of it…”

There was a short silence, and then the test plugs were opened up. We all opened our eyes, and I shook my head for a short while.

“Shinji… Good job.” Ritsuko told the Third Child.

“What do you mean?” the young boy asked in response.

“Your harmonics value has risen 8 points from the previous test. Nice increase.”

“But it’s still fifty points lower then mine.” Asuka reminded them.

“Nearly ten points in this kind of time? You better watch yourself Asuka, or you won’t be the best on the charts anymore… not that the points really matter in my case.” I shot back at her, subtly reminding her that I had performed better then she had, even though I was far below both her and Shinji, and just barely above Rei. Asuka just glared at me, the snotty comments she would have thrown Shinji’s way lost now.

“I’m going home now.” Asuka growled, “You idiots…” she finished venomously towards Shinji and myself.

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

I was left to my own thoughts for quite some time for the trip home, time I spent conjuring and eliminating potential ideas to overthrow Gendo and SEELE. This was getting tougher; time was starting to crack down on me. The Tenth would be coming soon, and after that, only a few more months would be left to put the finishing touches on my plan before Kaworu infiltrates NERV.

“Ummm… Congratulations on your promotion…” Shinji said to Misato.

“Thank you, but to tell the truth, I’m not that happy.” She responded.

“ I understand. When I was praised, I wasn’t so happy either.” Shinji paused a few seconds before continuing. “It only made Asuka angry… I wonder why she got angry? What made her angry?”

“She feels threatened. Her position at the front of the group is being upstaged, whether intentionally or unintentionally, by your progress. She’s highly competitive, desiring to be first in pretty much everything.” I answered him.

Shinji glanced back at me, understanding that there was truth to my words.

“Does it bother you? Misato unexpectedly asked Shinji.

“Huh? Oh, yes…”

“Its because you always consider what others think.”

Our journey back to the apartment fell into silence, and I allowed my eyes to drift shut to pass time.

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

The house… was freaking wild with Misato’s congratulations party… I’ll just leave it at that…

Oh, right, you want details… fine…

“Congratulations!” Everybody, ‘cept me, who was trying to stay unnoticed, but failing because I had literally been dragged to the table by one irate red head, and Misato, who was on the receiving end of all this. We all toasted after the shout, the majority of us with various juices and soda, with Misato being the only odd ball with a can of beer.

“Thank you. Thank you, Suzuhara.” Misato said.

“No, no, he was the one who planned this,” Toji replied, shoving the credit Kensuke’s way, who graciously accepted it.

“Yes, the planning and scheduling were done by Aida Kensuke, Aida Kensuke!” the otaku proclaimed.

“That’s nice, but you don’t have to repeat your name…” I said with a sigh, trying my hardest to enjoy the party.

Misato ignored my demeanor and replied to Kensuke, “Thank you, Aida.”

“Oh, you don’t need to thank me for it. This is what comes naturally.”

“But... why is the class rep here?” Toji asked as he looked at Hikari.

“I invited her.” Asuka replied. The two girls then looked at each other, echoing “Right?” simultaneously, almost like they were as synched as Asuka and I were for the Seventh Angel Battle…

“What about Rei?” Misato asked.

“I invited her, but she doesn’t seem to get along with others.” Asuka answered.

“Bull crap!” I coughed loudly. Asuka gave me the most venomous glare I had seen in my entire life… and I just whistled like nothing happened.

Either way, she sighed and muttered, “Kaji’s late…”

“Is he cool?” Hikari asked the German.

“He sure is. Kaji’s completely different from these lumps of potato, like day and night. It’s an insulting comparison.”

‘Yeah, you say that a loud… but I can tell in your now forced tone that you don’t believe it… not entirely anyway,’ I thought as I stared in her general direction, but not directly at her.

“What’d you say!?” Toji said, outraged.

‘In his case though, I have to agree with you…’ I finished in my mind.

The two of them started a verbal feud that I made no effort to break up as I would normally do. Why? Couldn’t be bothered, and Toji somewhat had it coming to him…

“Is it still difficult for you to be in situations like this?” I overheard Misato whispering to Shinji.

“No… I’m not used to being around this many people… but it’s not horrible… Why’re we making such a fuss?” Shinji replied, looking to Misato, who was sipping on her beer.

“Promotion… It’s because your work is recognized by others, right?”

“Well, probably…”

“That’s why we’re celebrating, but you don’t look happy.”

“No, I don’t mean I’m totally unhappy. I’m a little happy. But that’s not why I’m here.”

“Then, why’d you join NERV?”

“Well, its been a long time. I’ve forgotten.”

‘Again, bull crap, you had dream about it while you were asleep the night before…’ I thought to myself as I continued to listen, eyes closed.

The door bell suddenly rang, breaking up the argument as Asuka assumed, “It must be Kaji!”

However, as soon as the unshaven man opened the door, her smile turned upside down faster then a roller coaster. The reason for this was because that Ritsuko was with him.

“I came directly from HQ. I met her on the way.” Kaji offered as an excuse.

“I doubt that…” Asuka, Misato, and I all said, with various types of stares aimed at him.

Ritsuko’s response, though, was only directed at Asuka and Misato, “Jealous?”

Misato answered this by picking up her beer and drinking it. Somehow, she managed to say “Absolutely not” while doing so.

Kaji and Ritsuko bowed after that though, gaining a somewhat serious air, “Anyhow, congratulations, Major Katsuragi. I have to be polite to you from now on.” Kaji said.

“What’re you talking about, you idiot?” Misato asked him.

“Well, it’s unprecedented that both the Commander and Sub-Commander left Japan. That means the trust Katsuragi.”

“My father’s gone?” Shinji asked. Unlike the series though, he didn’t sound nearly as interested as he was then. That seems to be good, he’s learning not to rely on his father’s false praise… or will he crumble to that cold hearted man’s whims again after the Tenth Angel battle?

“Commander Ikari is at the South Pole right now.”

Cue Sahaquiel, the Tenth.

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

“What!? Catch it by hand!?” Asuka screamed, holding up said part of her arm and staring at it like she was mad.

We were now in the briefing room, lined up side by side in order of number at time of designation, and facing Misato, standing atop what appeared to be a projected map of the internal ground of the Geo-Front.

“Yes, position the Evas at the estimated impact point and stop it with a full AT-Field.” Misato replied.

“What if the Angel has changed its course considerably?” Shinji asked.

“Then, it’ll be over.” Misato replied with frightening calm.

“What if the units can’t withstand the shock?” was the next inquiry, made by Asuka.

“Again, it’ll be over.”

“The probability of success is…?” Shinji started

“Only God knows, so to speak.” Misato finished.

“If it succeeds, it’ll be a miracle.” Asuka noted.

“Miracles have value only when we make them happen.” Misato responded.

“In other words, you’re saying that we must manage to do this somehow?” Asuka summarized.

“Sorry, but in this operation, there is no other way,” Misato answered solemnly.

“How can you call this an operation!?” Asuka protested.

“You’re right, I can’t. Therefore, if you don’t want to, you can refuse.” Misato informed us.

“I’m going,” I answered immediately afterwards, catching everybody off guard. “If I don’t, I’m going against the reason I pilot. To assure that those people who are hiding in the shelters, likely fearing they will die any second now that they will have a home to return to. I know I can’t save every last building from being destroyed, but I know I can save the vast majority of them, and that’s what counts. Not to mention… I’m still sore about Marie’s death… That was a casualty that could have been avoided… I won’t let any more avoidable tragedies happen like that. Even if I go alone, I’ll use every bit of power I have to stop that Angel…”

Shinji, Asuka, and Misato all stared at me after that explanation, various thoughts running through there heads.

The German to Shinji’s left nibbled on her lip unnoticeably.

Misato gulped, and held out a clipboard, trying to keep a positive attitude as she readied herself to speak. Before she could though, I held up my hand and shook my head.

“Don’t need a will… I won’t die…” I stated firmly, shifting to the mask of that old emerald dragon of mine.

“I’m not gonna need a will either, if the freaky Fourth says he won’t die, none of us will.” Asuka continued.

“I won’t, it is unnecessary…” Rei continued in what felt like her eternally robotic voice.

“I won’t either.” Shinji finished; eyes hardening.

Misato’s expression softened, “I’m sorry… when the operation is over, I’ll treat you to a steak.”

“Really?” Asuka asked?

“I promise.” Misato confirmed. I do recall though… that she won’t have enough money… oh well.

“Wow…” Shinji gaped.

“Don’t forget.” Asuka playfully warned.

“Look forward to it.” Misato finished as she turned to walk away.

When she was out of ear shot, the Second and Third Children returned to their normal expressions.

“Steak means a gorgeous dinner…?” Shinji asked.

“Does she really think that today’s kids would be glad to get steak? Ow!” Asuka continued, before crying out in minor pain.

“Ow!” Shinji’s cry soon followed.

“Idiots, be glad she’s offering us anything at all for all the danger we’ll be going through soon.” I reprimanded them with harsh glare as they turned to me. I then turned to Rei, “Though… I hear you dislike meat… Pity…”

She didn’t respond with words, but she did glance away, hiding her face with her hair.

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

I sighed mentally with my eyes closed as the chatter of the technicians’ calculations rang through, mostly being muted to my ears, until it got to a part not filled with what felt like babbling.

“… And… this is it.” Ritsuko finished, turning to us.

“Is it this wide!?” Asuka exclaimed.

“The radius is huge…” Shinji breathed.

“The targets AT-Field will completely destroy HQ if it falls anywhere within that radius.” Ritsuko informed.

“Devon… you might want to look at this…” Shinji stuttered, shaking me.

“Ah… how bad could it… Holy shit!” I started, but practically died when I saw the radius…

It was at least half again the radius displayed in the show… that meant Sahaquiel either had a stronger AT-Field this time, or it was a lot bigger.

I held a fearful expression for a short time, which likely started to unnerve two of the other pilots, before shaking it off and changing back to my sound and certain mindset.

“No matter how big it is… that Angel won’t succeed…” My eyes narrowed, I wasn’t going to let Sahaquiel succeed… no way, no how.

“Under these conditions, we’ll place an Eva unit at each of these four points.” Misato informed us.”

The screen changed to indicate four blue circles, overlapping each other at various points.

“What are those locations based on?” Rei asked.

“My intuition,” Misato replied.

“Intuition?” Shinji and Asuka questioned.

“Yes, it’s a woman’s intuition.”

“How vague… I feel the miracle fading away…” Asuka murmured.

“Misato’s never won much.” Shinji commented.

“Ack…” Asuka finished, before we all made our way to the elevator to the Eva Cages.

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

“Hey…” Shinji asked, turning to Asuka as we road on the elevator.

“What?” the irate red head asked.

“Why do you pilot the Eva?” the Third Child returned.

“It’s obvious. To show my talents to the world.” Asuka responded.

“To show you exist?” Shinji summarized.

“Something like that,” Asuka confirmed. She then looked over to Rei, “Why don’t you ask that girl?”

“I wouldn’t bother; she wouldn’t give a straight answer anyways. She always is rather… quiet.” I said before Shinji could respond.

There was a short silence in the elevator, before Asuka threw the question right back at the only other male pilot, “How about you, Shinji?”

“I’m not sure…” Shinji responded, closing his eyes.

“You’re not sure? Are you stupid?” Asuka wondered.

“I might be…”

“You’re really stupid…” Asuka said eventually, before facing forward as the Evas came into view.

“120 minutes to estimated impact,” a voice said over the intercom.

‘Well… here we go…’

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

I stared up through the eyes of Unit 04, awaiting the word of Sahaquiel’s approach. It came sooner then I felt it should have.

“Target in sight, maximum magnification,” Shigeru reported.

“Distance, approximately 25000!” Makoto continued.

“Here it comes…” Misato said grimly. “All Eva units proceed to the start position.”

“Here goes nothing…” I said as we kneeled down into a professional starting stance, one knee down with our hands barely brushing against the ground.

“The target’s trajectory can only be calculated using optical observation, so the MAGI will guide you to a distance of 1000. After that, you’re on your own. I trust you all.” Misato informed us.

“The Angel’s approaching, distance approximately 20000!”

“Then, begin the operation.” Misato ordered lightly.

“Let’s go.” Shinji said.

“All or nothing,” I continued.

The girls nodded to this, and we all ejected our umbilical cables.

“Start!” Shinji barked, which I found unusual, but acceptable, and we all took off like bats out of hell. However, baring better aerodynamics tips then the other three; I bent my Eva down as low as I dared, reducing the amount of mass the Eva had to push air out of the way of, and thereby increasing its speed. Unit 01 was the first to reach an obstacle, jumping over a hill. Just as the amethyst beast landed, Units 02 and 00 both jumped over a set of power lines. Seconds after they continued on, I jumped over a set myself, fumbling somewhat with the landing, but otherwise doing just fine. I rarely took my eye off the readings being fed to me by the MAGI, and even when I did, I still had an eye on it, adjusting ever so slightly to stay in accordance with the readings.

“Distance, 12000!”

I didn’t bother to remember who said that, and just kept going as fast as I could. I risked a glance to Unit 01 because if I recalled correctly… yep, Unit 01 just became a purple streak tearing through the city. I think I even saw a building fly up when the Eva passed it.

Sahaquiel was now in the lower atmosphere, and the sudden speed boost was needed, because 01 just barely made it to the impact point with about a minute to spare.

“Maximum field!” the Third Child cried, and in response, buildings and foliage that were nearby were blown away by Unit 01’s field just as Sahaquiel collided with it, taking away its momentum and thereby lessening the impact if it for whatever reason got through.

I was right, Sahaquiel was much bigger then I remembered, and Unit 01 was already starting to buckle under the pressure.

‘Faster…’ I thought, grinding my teeth, I wouldn’t let him get killed by the blast Sahaquiel would make if it detonated now…

I almost didn’t realize that I was surging up the hill right after wards, when I had still been a good mile and a half off. damn, talk about a rush…

No matter, as soon as I got to the stop, I spread my field with a thought and slammed Unit 04’s hands against Sahaquiel’s field, taking away mass from Unit 01.

“You ok Shinji?” I asked the Third Child as we struggled to hold up the Tenth Angel.”

“Been better…” the brown haired boy managed, still pushed to his limits from what pressure I couldn’t take from him.

“Asuka, Rei! ETA now!”

“ETA ten seconds.” Rei responded.

“Same!” Asuka chimed.

“We might not have ten seconds!” I growled as Units 01 and 04 were starting to buckle again.

“Unit 02, Maximum field!” Rei ordered of the Second Child.

“I’m doing it!” Asuka cried out in response, rushing to our aid.

Two seconds after that was said, Units 00 and 02 reach the top of the hill and joined us, our combined strength pushing Sahaquiel back up to a standstill.

“Now!” Shinji called.

Rei had a look of anger on her face as she took out her Progressive Knife and cut open Sahaquiel’s field with the precision of a surgeon and the speed of a racer.

“Finish it Asuka!” I roared.

“bastard!” Asuka screamed at the Angel, slamming her own Progressive Knife into Sahaquiel’s S2 organ. The Angel’s field abruptly died and collapsed on top of us, before self destructing, leaving a crater for us to fall into, drained of battery power.

“Why me?” I asked, my Eva was at the bottom of the unintentional pile up.

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

The four of us stood before Misato, a grin on Asuka’s face, passive stares from Shinji and Rei, and an embarrassed look adorned my features, as we were debriefed. Nobody said anything for a while, content to let silence prevail. Sadly, it was not meant to last.

“Communications restored, there’s an incoming message from Commander Ikari in Antarctica.” Shigeru reported.

“Put it through.” Misato ordered.

“Yes Ma’am.”

A box with the text ‘Sound Only’ on it suddenly appeared, and I new this was the true test.

“I’m very sorry. Due to my actions, Units 01 and 04 were damaged. I take full responsibility.” Misato said to the commander.

“Its alright, the Evas’ mission is the annihilation of the Angels. It was fortunate that the damage was so light.” Gendo responded.

“Yes, well done, Major Katsuragi.” Fuyutsuki continued.

“Thank you very much.” Misato returned.

“By the way, is the pilot of Unit 01 there?” Gendo inquired, refusing to use his son’s name. Well Shinji, here’s your test… I hope you pass.

“Y…Yes.” The Third Child responded uncertainly.

“I’ve heard the story. Well done, Shinji.” Gendo praised hollowly.

“Y…Yes…” Shinji answered, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Guess I need to wait for his ‘test scores.’

“Major Katsuragi, I leave the rest to you.” Gendo finished.

“Yes, sir.” Misato answered.

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

“The next station is Shin-Miyanoshita, Shin-Miyanoshita. At the station the exit is on the left side.” The intercom of the tram chimed silently.

“You must fulfill your promise.” Asuka exclaimed quietly, while looking at Misato.

“Okay, okay,” Misato replied, waving her hand, “I’ve withdrawn big bucks and can pay for a full course dinner…”

“Pay day isn’t until two days from now though…” I reminded her, which made her expression go sour.

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

I mentally sighed as we found ourselves at a ramen cart.

“Relax, I know what’s inside your wallet. Miss Honor Student said she’d come if its ramen.” Asuka said.

Rei made her order right after that, “I’ll have garlic flavor without the baked pork.”

“I’d like a shark fin with baked pork, a large.” Asuka continued.

Shinji, Misato and I made our orders, and we were all served soon after, the bowls steaming from what I assumed was freshly cooked ramen.

“Say, Misato…” Shinji started in a familiar tone. Two big red flags shot up in my mind and I paid closer attention to what was being said.

“What?”

“I thought… I’d find my reason for piloting Eva if I heard Father praise me for it…” Shinji started explaining. Ok, red flags are turning yellow and lowering… “But… just barely… I can tell he doesn’t mean it… they were words with no meaning… I’m truly starting to think he doesn’t care about me…”

Phew… flags have retracted completely. Shinji my friend, you’ve scored an A+.

“However, I don’t want to abandon Eva, I still feel I have a reason to pilot it…” the Third Child finished.

“What? You still don’t know why you pilot?” Asuka asked.

“Drop it before I decide to drop you, Asuka; don’t berate others because of a personal opinion.” I half growled, half hissed at her. Asuka glared at me, but said no more. Rei and I had finished our meals last, and we returned the empty bowls to the tender of the cart. Misato was about to gather us together to bring us home, before Rei spoke up, “Please wait, there is something I wish to speak with Pilot Devon about…”

I quirked an eye brow in confusion, but none-the-less I allowed her to bring me to a more private area nearby.

“Ok Rei, feel free to speak openly,” I told her after we sat down on the ground.

“I am… bothered by something…” Rei began, “I’ve been bothered for a long time now.”

“If you were bothered, why didn’t you talk to anybody?” I asked her.

“I felt you were the only one who could explain, seeing how it is your words that have started this feeling. I only got my chance to speak with you alone now.”

“Ok… What is it you want me to explain… or at least try to explain…”

“You said, after the Fifth Angel’s death, that every human life is precious. Would you say the same for an altered clone of another human?”

I closed my eyes, thinking for a short time, finalizing that my answer was truthful. “Yes… even the life of a clone is precious.” I started, “I know how you came to be, Rei.” I said, dropping a major bomb on her. Her eyes widen unnoticeably. “I view you as another human being, an equal, even though you are half Angel. Every life is precious, and every human must discover there own destiny.”

“My destiny was already deci-“ Rei began, but I interrupted her.

“No.”

“What?”

“You shouldn’t listen to everything that madman says. Don’t let him dictate your life, live for yourself, live to fulfill goals you yourself have made and want to do, not the goals of another.”

“But Commander Ikari…”

“Commander Ikari has blinded you from birth, twisted your mind so you would see him as good and right in all respects. It’s not too late to come out of the reclusive shell he’s forced you into… You are your own person; you should control your own destiny.”

“…”

“I’ll help you, just like I helped Asuka and Shinji, but I need you to work with me if we’re going to make any progress in freeing you from these chains.”

Rei sat impassively, thinking on what I just said. Perhaps… perhaps I don’t have to interfere directly… Rei would be there when Gendo tries to start Third Impact, as she is an essential part of the commander’s scenario. If I can sway his single most valuable servant away from him, his scenario would be so irrevocably compromised he’ll have no way of recovering. Because once he finds out, if this works right, it’ll be D-Day already, and there wouldn’t be time to make adjustments.

“Thank you… I think I understand now…” Rei told me, getting up.

“Wait, please…” I beckoned to her, standing up as well.

“Yes?” she asked.

“I know this is a lot to ask of you, and you don’t have to answer me immediately, but I need to ask a favor of you, a very big favor.”

She stayed silent, waiting for me to voice my request.

“I… don’t want humanity to be turned into one united being… It is these separate bodies, these feelings we have, pain, love, sadness, joy. These are what make us who we are. It’s what makes us human; it’s what makes us unique, each human to another…” I clenched my eyes shut, hoping this would help sway her, “What I’m asking is… when the commander tries to use you to start Third Impact… the favor I need of you… is to defy him… Don’t let him have his way; don’t let him destroy humanity as we know it. It would be horrible to be nothing but one ocean of memories, devoid of… everything… memories are to be cherished by those who have them, and should only be know to the ones we trust, but they are not meant to be spread out across nearly three billion minds. Most of which the person in question had never met before.”

Rei’s eyes were wide at what I was asking, and I finished with what I hoped would be the final nail in the coffin that would hopefully belong to Gendo’s scenario.

“I do not expect you to do as I ask without question; I’m not ordering you to do anything. I’m not trying to replace Gendo as some kind of master, but I speak as a fellow human being… No, ‘speak’ isn’t the right word… I’m pleading to you, don’t let the world suffer from one man’s insanity… But no matter how much pleading I do… the decision is ultimately yours to make… at the very least… think about it… If you want to speak with me again, you need only ask for me.”

Rei’s eyes narrowed in contemplation, and she began to walk back to the group. This was a major gamble, but one I had to take… it’s either I don’t take this gamble and guarantee the destruction of humanity… or I take the gamble and give humanity a chance through luck, and fate.

Now… I can only work to fight the remaining Angels, and pray that Rei decides to do what I’m begging her too. I’ve left the decision in her hands, I’ve made it absolutely clear that there is no kind of order hidden in the words, and I hope I’ve planted the seeds of silent rebellion in time.

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

A/N: The plot thickens… find out what happens next time, on the strike of Iruel… >.< Expect that chapter to be short like Matariel’s though…

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Boredom Strikes...

I… was simply dreading this day when I remembered what Angel was coming next…

Iruel, the Eleventh, and the only Angel undefeatable with an Eva…

‘Which was also the time for the test that would…’ I began, then blushed furiously at the thought as I glanced while walking down the hallways of NERV while approaching said test… I hoped they didn’t notice that I was lagging behind for the sole reason of prolonging my life, if only for a few more seconds.

…

Asuka’s wrath was something I dearly wanted to avoid, yet it was all but unavoidable today…

Oh well, I’ll just beg her to not kill me and hope she listens… however unlikely that was.

“Uh… can’t we… erm… hang back a little more? It’s not like they set a specific dead line for us to be there… Right…?” I all but begged of them. “And… do they really need all four of us?”

Nobody decided it was worth the effort to answer me and just kept walking

‘Be that way then…’ I thought with a huff. Mentally, though, I was crying a river and begging whatever god exist that Asuka would have mercy on me. I’m too young to die…

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

“What!? Undress again!?” Asuka said disbelievingly. I shuddered mentally, my fears all but confirmed.

“It’s a super clean room from there. Just taking a shower and changing your underwear isn’t enough.” Ritsuko explained.

“Why do we have to do this for testing the auto-pilot?” Asuka wondered.

“Time isn’t simply passing. The technology for the Evas must keep improving… We always need fresh data.”

“EH!?” Shinji and Asuka cried out, before they resigned themselves to their fates, essentially.

The ‘elevator,’ if it could be called that, dropped us off at the floor, and the doors open, my hand cupped against the right side of my face with a furious blush.

“See? I did what you said. Cleaned seventeen times!” Asuka half growled.

“Then, all four of you, go through this room and enter the entry plug.” Ritsuko said.

“Eh!?” Asuka squeaked in shock and what I assumed was embarrassment, due to the building blush I knew was there.

“Don’t worry. The visual monitor’s turned off. Your privacy is protected.” Ritsuko assured us.

‘How can someone be so smart, yet so… stupid? Doesn’t she get that Asuka’s reaction is because there are two boys in the same room in the exact same state?’ I thought bitterly.

“That’s not the point! I’m not comfortable with it!” Asuka returned.

“This is a direct harmonics test without the support of the plug suit.” Ritsuko replied, completely ignoring the red head.

“Asuka, that’s an order.” Misato cut in.

“Geez, just don’t watch, okay?” Asuka finished with a huff, and then, as fate would have it, glanced over at me, and assumed the worst at seeing my hand cupped against my face.

She wasn’t the only one noticed I was tall enough to peek over the frosted glass separating us with little movement…

“You peeked didn’t you!? You pervert!” Asuka screeched suddenly, and before I had a chance to say otherwise…

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

Misato and Ritsuko’s eyes widened at the screech, and winced as the very audible sound of a clenched fist connecting with an unprotected face, followed by a scream of pain. Misato jumped when a loud ‘thud’ reverberated over the speakers, her eyes slowly growing in size with horror as the screaming continued for another minute, before abruptly stopping.

“Um… Asuka? You… didn’t kill him… did you?” Misato asked tentatively, as if fearing one wrong word would redirect the German’s wrath towards herself.

“No, but he probably won’t be a father.” Asuka growled. The eyes of every male technician in the room suddenly shrank at the very implication of the words, most silently giving sympathy for what just happened.

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

After that little fiasco, the four of us climbed into the entry plugs of the simulation bodies.

“Each pilot’s ready for entry.” A technician commented.

“Start the test.” Ritsuko ordered.

“Start the test. Auto pilot, start recording.”

“Insert the simulation plugs.”

I sighed as the familiar spin was felt. To be honest, I was scared Asuka could some how kill me from her plug…

“Connect the system to the dummy bodies.”

“Simulation program has handed over control to MAGI,” Maya reported

“Oh, it’s pretty quick. It’s truly MAGI.” Misato commented. “It’s hard to believe the first test took a week.”

“The test is expected to be completed in three hours.” Shigeru informed.

“How do you feel?” Ritsuko asked us.

“Something’s different” Rei replied.

“Yeah, it’s different from usual.” Shinji agreed.

“It’s a different sensation. The right arm is clear, and all the rest is dull.” Asuka noted.

“At least you got something that’s clear… it’s all a haze to me… It just doesn’t feel… right…” I muttered just high enough to be heard. A strange, almost sickening sensation had suddenly gripped me. This wasn’t my usual bad feeling, no, this was far worse. Something would change drastically today. I’d have to keep my wits about me if I wanted to catch the change.

“Rei, imagine that you’re moving the right arm.” Ritsuko ordered.

“Okay,” was the simple response.

Rei clenched her right hand on the controls, and in response, the fingers of the simulation body twitched. That was the first alarm that should go off in someone’s head if they saw it, because the simulation bodies supposedly couldn’t move.

“Data collection’s going well.” A nameless technician reported.

“There seem to be no problems. Change MAGI back to normal.” Ritsuko said.

The supercomputers reverted, and Misato turned to the display, “Dilemma…?” she wondered.

“You can guess the personality of the person who made it, can’t you?” Ritsuko asked Misato.

“What are you saying? You made it, didn’t you?” Misato returned.

“You don’t know anything…” Ritsuko answered.

Misato turned to the side and crossed her arms, “Well, unlike me, you don’t talk about yourself.”

“True,” Ritsuko conceded. “I upgraded the system. My mother created the logic base and architecture.”

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

After a while, Shigeru and Makoto reported back to the command center, leaving just Maya to aid Ritsuko.

“Water leak again?” Ritsuko asked after Maya got her attention.

“No, its corrosion on the protein wall above us…” Maya responded.

“That’s bad, will it affect our test?” Ritsuko inquired.

“At this moment, no,” Maya answered.

“Then continue. I can’t stop this test easily,” Ritsuko ordered, “Commander Ikari’s so picky.”

“Alright, synchronization point normal.” Maya reported.

“Connecting the simulation plugs to the Eva units via the simulation bodies.”

“Eva unit 00, contact confirmed.”

“Generating AT-Field at normal output.”

‘Cue virus,’ I thought. What perfect timing, the alarm started blaring.

“What happened?” Ritsuko asked while turning to the technicians in the room.

“Contamination alert has been issued in Sigma Unit, floor A,” a voice replied over the intercom.

“87th protein wall has degraded, its heating up.”

“There’s a problem in No.6 pipe.”

“The corroded area’s expanding rapidly!” Maya finished the reports.

“Abort the experiment, disconnect No.6 pipe!” Ritsuko ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!” Maya complied, pressing a button that flipped multiple switches simultaneously. Just barely, I could hear the whirling machinery the signified the pipe’s disconnection.

“60, 38, and 39 are isolated!”

“More corrosion in 6-38!”

“It’s not working; it’s spreading from wall to wall!” Maya finished the reports.

“Prepare the Polysome.” Ritsuko ordered calmly. Strange mini ‘subs’ swam through the openings in the wall that were made, coalescing at a particular point. I felt a slight twinge of pain from one of my fingers, but it was small enough that I passed it off as nothing.

“Set the laser at max power. Fire as soon as it reaches there.” Ritsuko continued.

“Corrosion’s reach 6-58. Its coming!”

We waited in silence, expecting the Angel, even if only I knew it was an Angel. However, I remembered that there was one other thing that happened first.

“Ritsuko, get these plugs out of here!” I suddenly roared, catching the scientist’s attention.

“But why…?” Ritsuko began, but was cut off by a scream, “Rei!?”

Rei’s simulation body slammed its right hand against the wall it was anchored to, trying to free itself.

“Rei’s simulation body is moving.” Maya reported to those who didn’t see.

“That’s why! Get us out of here in case all the simulation bodies start acting up!” I continued.

Ritsuko was thinking about how this was impossible, as Rei’s simulation body continued to struggle for freedom. That’s when Iruel appeared on the pipe.

“Corrosion’s still expanding. It’s destroying the water circulation system of the simulation body.” Maya added on. The stress of the situation must be getting to them, because they haven’t gotten us out of the pribnow box yet.

The moving simulation body suddenly lunged its right hand out for the window, which Misato was still standing by, as if something was paralyzing her.

Somebody smashed open and emergency lever with their fist, then pulled that lever, causing the arm to blow of and slam against the window, which survived most of the impact.

“What about Rei!?” Misato asked as she stepped back from the window.

“She’s alive.” Maya answered.

“Eject all plugs, fire the laser, quickly!”

The four plugs suddenly launched out of the simulation bodies and all of us where sent to the lake within the geo front. I knew that Polysomes were firing there beams by now, and pretty soon it would be deflected by an AT Field.

“Well, we’ll be here for quite a while I think…” I muttered as we all reached the surface. I opened a sound-only communication to Rei, “You alright, Rei?”

“I’m… fine…” she sighed, though she sounded like she was in minor pain. She recovered swiftly though, something I knew only by the sound of her breathing, which was mellowing out again. Seeing there was nothing left to do, I left my eyes drift shut.

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

After what felt like hours of napping, a faint mechanized voice called out,

“R alert was cancelled. R alert was cancelled. All personnel, go to first alert.”

“Hrmph…” I grunted, waking up fully. “Did I miss anything?” I asked rhetorically.

“No, but I wonder what’s really going on.” Shinji answered.

I noticed that Rei was as silent as ever, she must have started resting in a nap soon after I did.

“Geez! I can’t go anywhere ‘cause I’m naked! Someone help me now!” Asuka screamed.

“Shut up, Asuka! In case you haven’t noticed for some reason, we’re all in the same problem!” I roared back at her. She probably wasn’t expecting that, so she might have backed away from the screen that my picture would have normally been displayed on.

“In light of that, let me re-phrase your words. Someone help us now!” I finially screamed as well, much to the likely annoyance of some of the other pilots. “Geh…” I finished; waiting for us to get towed back to shore.

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

A/N: Hate… This… Chapter…

[Azure_Ghidorah]

AN: Note that I am under the impression that all the testing is going on more-or-less simultaneously. If two or more people believe otherwise, I can edit the chapter.

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

Tense Interlude

The fiasco of the Eleventh Angel had been ended, thanks to Ritsuko’s ingenious and swift work with the Magi Computer Casper, we all soon learned after they recovered the test plugs from the GeoFront’s lake. They didn’t know that I already knew what had happened, but I played along with being ‘surprised’ that an Angel was killed without an Evangelion. I could feel myself getting more high strung as time passed, for more then one reason. Something felt dangerously off… but I couldn’t place my finger on what it was. Whatever it was, I had to be that much more careful, which would put me on the verge of being paranoid.

Days were uneventful, to my surprise. Everybody must have been busy compiling that report up on the angel attacks, modified accordingly to conform to the new timeline. If he hasn’t already done so, Gendo must be in that meeting with SEELE where he denies the invasion of the Eleventh Angel. If that’s so, then the mutual compatibility experiment would be going on in the near future, leaving me to just wonder if they would have Asuka and I switch Evas as well for the experiment, or if that part would go as it should, with one extra pilot in the mix. Time will tell, as the old saying goes.

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

The latter is what occurred during the test, Asuka and I were just performing routine sync tests with our respective Evas. I get the feeling that this was made so do to vehement protesting on Asuka’s part. While we were taking our sync tests, Rei was undertaking the first unit mutual compatibility experiment. The hybrid pilot had just finished her mental musings apparently, as Ritsuko questioned her.

“What is your impression of being inside of the Unit 01 for the first time?” the blond scientist asked her. The First Child seemed to pause for a moment, as if considering her answer.

“It smells like Ikari.”

I had to mentally roll my eyes at that one, because there was such a good chance to tease Shinji on that, but I really didn’t want to, because I knew he would give the same response when he worked with Unit 00. Speaking of that…

“Synchro ratio is almost the same as Unit 00.” Ritsuko commented.

“Because the personality patterns of Unit 00 and Unit 01 are similar.” Maya added.

“That’s why she can synchronize.” Ritsuko concluded.

“Error is plus minus 0.03. Harmonics normal.” Maya supplied to the blond.

“I can’t find any problems in the compatibility between Rei and Unit 01. The test is complete. Rei, you can come back.” Ritsuko spoke.

“Okay” was Rei’s only response.

I sighed and rested as much as I could while the focus moved to Asuka somewhat.

“The data bank of Unit 02 is complete”

“Harmonics normal.”

“The pilot has no problem.”

“Of course not…” the red head muttered at the last part.

The chatter seemed to become increasingly blended together as I tried to pick out certain sentences from the mess. It was quite a failure until it resided back down to a single person at a time, now focusing on the experiment between Shinji and Unit 00.

“What about the subject?” Ritsuko asked after the chatter died down.

“He’s a little nervous, but there’s no problem in his nerve pattern.”

“It’s natural because this is his first time in Unit 00.” Misato commented after the technician’s report.

“How stupid… He should forget about it and relax.” Asuka mentioned.

“Put yourself in his shoes then,” I started, “He’s only use to piloting one Eva, and not even entirely calm about that, and now all of a sudden he’s being thrown into another Eva for the sake of science. Not exactly good for calming someone down…”

The German furrowed her eye brows, just as Misato contacted her, “That, and Shinji isn’t a boy who can do that.”

“I know. That’s why he’s stupid.” Asuka retorted. Then a thought seemed to come to her mind. “By the way, this compatibility test… I don’t have to join in?” she asked Misato.

Thanks for shooting down my thoughts, Asuka…

“You have no intention of piloting the other Eva, right?” Misato returned.

“Well, that’s true.” Asuka answered.

“The entry’s begun.”

“LCL charged.”

“Start the first contact.”

“How do you feel about Unit 00’s entry plug?” Ritsuko inquired of the Third Child.

“I feel strange…” Shinji replied.

“Are you uncomfortable?” Maya asked with a hint of worry.

“No, it just smells like Ayanami…” he answered.

“Smell…?” Asuka wondered disgustedly, “Is he a pervert or what?”

I decided not to remind her of the fact that Rei had a very similar response while she was in Unit 01’s entry plug.

“Data reception, confirmed.”

“Pattern, green.”

“Main power’s connected.”

“Each binder has no problem.”

“Alright. Then, shift the compatibility test to the second stage.” Ritsuko in toned once reports were filed through.

“Second contact begun with Unit 00”

“How is it?” Misato inquired of Ritsuko.

“As expected, he doesn’t show as high a synchro ratio as with Unit 01.” The bottle blond replied.

“Harmonics are all normal.”

“It’s an acceptable figure. We can start the project.”

“You mean the dummy system? Honestly speaking, I’m not really…”

“I know you are not in favor, but we have to be prepared in order to survive.”

“I respect you, and I’ll do my job, but I don’t understand.”

“It’s difficult to live with people if you are fastidious. You’ll understand that once you discover that you’re ruined”

“Start the third contact.” A technician ordered, and I heard Unit 00 power up and lift its head, its single crimson eye, so similar to its pilot’s eyes, staring emotionlessly at the window.

“Self psychology graph’s stable.”

“What do you think of mo-“ Asuka started, but I wasn’t about to let her finish.

“Don’t patronize him Asuka; he needs all the concentration he can get so that the readings are accurate.” I chimed in with my own connection to Unit 02 and, by extension, Unit 00, and jumped back out just as quickly, so I didn’t hear Asuka’s response.

“Start connecting A10 nerve system.”

“Harmonics level, plus 20.”

I could just imagine Shinji gripping his forehead, now that he was connected to Unit 00. While I can’t describe what was happening to the boy, I knew it couldn’t be pleasant. I mentally snapped my fingers, just as the alarms went off and Unit 00 went berserk.

“What happened!?” Misato shouted with worry.

“There’s a problem in the pilot’s nerve pulse.”

“Psychological contamination is in progress!” Maya reported, panic-stricken.

‘Shinji… you better live through this, we need everybody to fight though the Angels…’ I thought grimly, having been reminded time and again that the further I went, the less I knew what would happen… at least specific details.

“That can’t be, it’s impossible at this plug depth.”

“It’s not from the plug, it’s from the Eva.”

At that point, the prototype decided that it was a good time to break the restraints. My stomach churned and my chest tightened at just how… human its roars sounded while it was berserk.

“Unit 00 is out of control!”

“Shut down all circuits and cut the power.” Ritsuko ordered. They quickly complied, and the umbilical cable was ejected, but soon Unit 00 predictably switched to the back up batteries, accompanied by a report informing everybody of such.

“How’s Shinji?” Misato asked Makoto.

“The circuit’s cut off. I can’t monitor him.” was the slightly distressed reply.

“Unit 00 rejected Shinji?” Ritsuko wondered.

“It’s no use; the auto-ejection isn’t working!” Maya reported frantically.

“Is this going to be the same? Is it going to absorb Shinji?”

Unit 00 suddenly lashed out at the wall, of which Rei was standing near, several times, even causing shards of glass to fly out. Rei, however, was miraculously unharmed by the flying shards.

“Rei, get out of there!” Misato ordered, but the azure-haired girl didn’t budge. “Rei!”

“Unit 00 will be immobilized in ten seconds!”

The seconds passed agonizingly slow as Unit 00 started smashing its head against the wall. Thankfully though, any fear of Unit 00 breaking through this time was unfounded; it failed to break through again. I let a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“Hurry and rescue the pilot!”

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

A few hours after Unit 00’s freak out, I sat in a chair beside the hospital bed where Shinji was resting. The ordeal had taken a lot out of the kid, and I wanted to make sure he was alright. It also gave me more time to think out my strategy for over throwing Gendo and SEELE, and as such I completely ignored the little television that was playing.

My thoughts were interrupted as Shinji suddenly gasped awake, and I took a quick glance at said TV, right on time, for waking up.

“And so he joins the waking world again,” I jested to the Third Child, “But enough of my jokes, how are you feeling Shinji?”

“Oh, uh… ok, I guess.” He responded wearily.

“Well, seeing as the ordeal you went through was major, that’s pretty good.”

We sat mostly in silence now, as Shinji contemplated the events.

My eyes minorly widened as I remembered another important event that was supposed to happen.

‘Well, assuming it hasn’t changed… the Lance of Longinus is now a part of our arsenal… That means the Twelfth Angel can’t be far behind.’

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

It was the next day in class 2-A, and I noticed that Asuka was dialing a number on her cell phone. As a matter of fact, it was the same number I had seen her dial many times.

‘Again? Even for as much of a fan girl as she is for Kaji, this is insane…’

I sighed to myself, barely hearing the tone of Kaji’s answering machine message. As the tone came, I plugged my ears.

Sure enough, just like the show, Asuka suddenly screamed into the receiver, causing me to wince. “Help me, Kaji! What’re you doing you pervert!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” And just like that she calmly ended the message.

“You do realize how much that is not a good thing to do in the even that you are confronted with a rapist, right?” I asked her while her back was turned, startling her a tiny bit.

“What’d you mean, Fourth?” she responded as she turned.

“Apparently someone hasn’t heard of the story of the boy who cried ‘wolf.’”

She narrowed her eyes at me, not amused by the joke, assuming she understood it.

“Basically, I’m saying nobodies gonna take you seriously if you do that enough times, and when you are serious, you won’t get the help you need, then bam, your hurt beyond belief and left on the floor for dead, or maybe the guy would be merciful and just kill you on the spot. There’s-“

“I get it, Fourth! What are you trying to be, my father!?” she screamed, and I leaned away from it somewhat.

“I’m just trying to look after your well being. After all, rape is traumatic… if you won’t consider your own safety, then at the very least realize how it would effect your sync ratio.”

“Shut it, Fourth, I don’t need or want to listen to anything you have to say!”

“So harsh… and yet I can see it’s not the real you talking.

“I said shut up!”

I sighed and walked past her, “This doesn’t change anything for me, you know…” I said as I passed. I was mildly surprised to hear the date conversation between Asuka and Hikari behind me after what I had just mentioned, but I didn’t give it much thought. After all, I hadn’t done anything to affect this friend of Kodama’s, so reasonably nothing should change… Oh well…

And then I remembered there was a sync test today… joy…

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

After various monitoring reports were made that I never paid any attention to, I noticed minor chat about a wedding reception, between Misato and Ritsuko, but seeing as I would never be there, I ignored most of it.

“All four of you can come back now, good job.” I suddenly heard, and sighed with relief.

“I’m tired of tests.” Asuka commented.

“For once, we agree…” I replied humorlessly.

“Can it, Fourth…” the reply came just as the plugs powered down and we exited.

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

I had forgotten just how uneventful trips home could, but I remembered how much the time spent there could be wasted away. As for how Misato overlooked the fact that by leaving there would only be three teens, Asuka, Shinji, and myself, even if the Third Child would seclude himself into his room, in the house unattended, I’ll never know. Perhaps she trusted me enough not to take advantage of the situation… or perhaps she thought I couldn’t because of Asuka’s training… Regardless, we were home alone. Seeing as Asuka had taken to the floor with her book and a bag of chips with no complaint, or request from me, I holed up on the couch, taking a bit of a cat nap. I didn’t know how long we were home, nor did I really care, but it soon ended with an announcement from said guardian.

“I’m home!” Misato called as she entered the apartment again.

“Welcome back,” Asuka and I echoed at the same time, a lingering result of our sync training way back against the seventh.

“Get to bed, you have a date tomorrow, don’t you?” Misato said as she walked by, and I took the chance to fluster Asuka.

“Oh ho, what’s this now? I didn’t hear about any date.” I cooed with a teasing tone to my voice. Asuka merely threw the bag of potato chips into my face.

“Can it, Fourth, before I kick you in the balls. Again.” Asuka threatened, and that shut me up. The last one had hurt like hell, and I’d much rather not have a repeat experience…

The red haired German suddenly sat up and looked at Misato. “But that reminds me, can I use your lavender perfume?” she asked of the Major, who was changing clothes out of sight. She was still decent, so Misato still leaned back into sight.

“No,” was her simple response.

“Che, you’re stingy.” Asuka accused.

“It’s not for children.” Misato rebutted, “Is Shinji still in his room?”

“He hasn’t come out at all. He doesn’t seem to want to see his father.”

“Can’t blame him for that, in my opinion,” I cut in half way through Asuka’s response, effectively cleaving it in half. I looked at Misato, who had finished changing into casual clothes, and got up and followed her when she walked to Shinji’s room. She glanced back, noticing me, but did nothing to stop or persuade me to leave as she stopped by the door.

“Shinji… I’m coming in.” she informed him, and slid the door open. Inside, Shinji appeared to be fast asleep, but both of us knew better.

“Are you afraid of seeing your father alone? You shouldn’t keep running away… but you have to step forward or nothing will change.”

“I know” the boy responded.

“You’ll discover the importance of going forward once you take the first step. Anyway, be confident tomorrow. You’re going to see your mother as well. Well, good night.”

Leaving it at that, she cast a quick glance at me, almost appearing to wonder what I would add, and then walked off to her bedroom. Taking it for what it is, I mentally sighed, then slipped into the room.

“Shinji… I’ll come with you tomorrow if you want me to. Having a friend nearby, even if he doesn’t say anything, is always helpful.” I informed him, kneeling down next to his bed.

“Thank you… but I need to go alone.”

Nodding at that, I replied, “Very well, I’ll respect your desire. But if you have a change of heart tomorrow, the offer still stands. Personally, though, I’d just go long enough to pay Mother the respect she deserves, and leave after that, if I were in your situation. I stand firm in my belief that, regardless of blood ties, he is not your real father. A real father wouldn’t abandon his son. Take my words as you will, and I hope they help you in the near future.”

I went to leave as silently as I came, but then I heard the rustling of sheets. Turning to the sound, I noted that Shinji was now sitting up on his bed, casting a grim smile towards me.

“Thanks. For everything you’ve done and said. Some days… I truly wish I could be like you in that aspect.”

I smiled at that, “Ah, but then you’d just be me 2.0 and Asuka would never get any peace from the teasing. That and I’d rather you not be too much like me. I’d rather you make your own destiny, forge your own path in life, then live in my shadow. I’m me, and you’re you, that is the way it should be. Anything else you want to talk about?”

The Third Child shook his head, “No, but still, thank you.”

“Any time, old pal, any time. Good night now.”

I left it at that, leaving the boy’s room and retiring to my own, completely ignoring the talk between Misato and Asuka.

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

“Well…”

“we’re…”

“going…”

Those three words were echoed by each person as the looked at me and Pen Pen, and I recreated the scene in my mind. Pen Pen gave a confused warble as he stood by me, the door closing for the last time.

“Well,” I began, directing my attention to the genetically engineered penguin, “It’s just you and me holding down the fort while those three are away.”

To my surprise, the penguin suddenly waddled over to his fridge, opened it and leapt inside, closing the door afterward.

“… Ok… I guess its just me holding down the fort…” I corrected myself at the turn of events, eye mildly twitching. Then again, could I really have expected anything less from the water fowl?

“Might as well fix up something to eat for myself… I wasn’t entirely full with breakfast…” I turned away and walked towards the kitchen, moving to get out one of the cookbooks that I assume Shinji had bought, when I felt something poke my thigh sharply.

“Ow! What the… oh…” I muttered, as I realized it was Pen Pen again. “Did we forget to feed you, or are you playing me for a fool?”

“Wark!”

“And obviously, I have no idea what that means…”

I sighed to myself, setting out a few sardines for the penguin, which were gulped up heartily, as I returned my attention to my original task.

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

Note to self: Never try to cook Japanese food again, even with a cookbook…

I don’t know if it was something I did, or if Japanese food was just that finicky, but I had managed to mess it up all the same. It was still edible, I wasn’t that bad, but I’m no Shinji when it comes to cooking. Ah well, I managed to stomach the food, but I would rather order lunch or wait for Shinji to come home, whichever came first.

And I felt as if that damn penguin was secretly laughing at me for my blunder. No matter, things wouldn’t get that bad ever again. It was then that my eye fell upon another book…

A book on Western food, which I was more familiar with…

I groaned, smacking my face and wondering if some deity of karma was paying me back for something, and how many people were laughing at me because they some how knew this…

Like you readers… ah crap, breaking the Fourth Wall… uh, forget I said that… or did I ‘say’ that in the general term? Whatever, must fix the fourth wall before it’s completely vaporized…

Anyways, fuming over my now even greater blunder, I curled up on the couch and tried to find something good to watch as I waited for everybody to return home.

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

The next thing I knew was happening, I was being shaken around.

“Devon? Devon, wake up, this isn’t the time for a nap.” A voice said, who I couldn’t tell.

“Mrph…”

I heard the voice sigh, even though I was only semi-conscious, then a low “Sorry,” before my body thumped onto the ground, waking me up.

“Ack, hey! What was that for?” I yelped as I sat up, rubbing my head.

“Sorry,” Shinji said, “but you weren’t responding to anything else after you feel asleep.”

“… Meh, that happens every now and then. But next time, just get cold water and splash it on my face, please.”

“Ok…”

I nibbled my lip, hesitant to ask. However, I felt it had to be done.

“So… how’d it go over? The graveyard visit that is.”

The boy turned away for a few seconds, before relaying to me the majority of the details of what happened. To my expectations, it proceeded about as I thought it should.

“Shinji… I’m serious, you need to stop trying to earn that man’s affection. He’s dead to the world in that aspect.” I told him. He glanced down much like he was being scolded.

“However, I hold nothing over you, I can’t decide what you will and won’t do, all I can do is to try to help you along and guide you in the right direction…”

Shinji left without a word, and I made no move to stop him from leaving, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to come to me…” I called lightly to his retreating form.

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

I had curled up on the couch again, having settled on something to watch while I waited about an hour ago, but then I noticed sound coming from somewhere other then the TV. Muting said appliance, I listened more closely, and quickly determined that it was Shinji play his cello. My god, the show doesn’t do such a heavenly sound justice. I turned the TV off, having lost interest in the show I was watching, and I made towards the dining room, where Shinji sat with his cello, playing the notes on the cord with beauty only true artists could possess. All this without a lyric sheet to guide him, he was merely playing from his heart. I smiled at the display, making as little noise as possible so as to not disrupt whatever trance Shinji appeared to be in while he played.

Alas, such music had to end at some point, and such was true with this. I made to congratulate the boy on a masterful performance, but a certain German red head semi-beat me to the punch with a clapping of her hands, bringing Shinji’s attention to her.

“Not bad at all. I didn’t know you could do stuff like that.”

“I can only play this well because I started when I was five… I don’t have much talent.” Shinji replied to Asuka’s comment.

“Bullshit you don’t.” I cut in, alerting the two to my presence, “Don’t be so modest with that talent, Shinji. You could probably beat out a few dedicated musicians with that.”

Shinji mildly blushed at the comment.

“I agree with the Fourth for once, and don’t they say persistence is a virtue? I have a better impression of you now.” Asuka added.

“The phrase is “Patience is a virtue” but persistence suffices as well.” I corrected.

“I only started playing because my teacher suggested it. I could have given it up.” Shinji muttered lightly.

“Eh!? And let that talent rot away? Unless you don’t really like playing the cello, you shouldn’t stop. And from what I saw of your performance, that’s not an issue.” I continued, cutting off Asuka and her question.

“Thanks… and your home early Asuka, I thought you were going to eat supper.” Shinji returned, before commenting to Asuka.

“He was boring, so I left him while we were waiting for the roller coaster.”

“How rude…” I said, scowling.

“Kaji’s the only nice guy…” Asuka claimed, and I sighed at her fan girl tendencies…

With that over with, the three of us just waited for what felt like hours, until the phone rang late at night. Asuka was just finishing up her shower, and I already knew what would be said, so that left Shinji to pick up the phone.

“Hello? Oh, Misato… Okay… okay… bye.”

“Misato?” Asuka inquired as she left the shower room in her night clothes when Shinji hung up the phone.

“Yeah, she said she’ll be late and to go to bed.”

“Eh? She’s not coming home tomorrow morning, is she?”

“She can’t be… Kaji’s with her.” Shinji replied.

“Poor naïve Shinji,” I cut in just before Asuka could respond, “Misato and Kaji used to be closer then any friends could get. As much as she denies it, I can see that Misato still has feelings for Kaji. He’s going to be the reason she’ll be late. I know you don’t have a lot of experience in things like this, but I have enough to see some of the signs.”

“Oh…” the boy finished, hanging his head lightly in thought.

I don’t know how much time passed, but Asuka had soon taken up a chair and was lying on the table, and Shinji was in the doorway to his room, listening to music.

“Hey Shinji, do you want to kiss?” Asuka suddenly asked.

‘Uh oh, cue tense situation.’ I thought, keeping my eye on the two. It wasn’t because I was jealous of Shinji, but I wouldn’t let this turn out the way it did before. However, I can’t stop here, I feel that I need to wait for the situation to come close to the breaking point before I intervene. After all, given my current position on the couch, they’re thoughts of me are likely that I’m napping lightly. It’d be very strange if I shot up and shot Asuka’s question down right here.

“What?” Shinji replied in confusion, taking the headphones out of his ears.

“Kiss, you know, a kiss. You haven’t kissed, right?”

The boy just nodded.

“Then, let’s do it.”

Shinji reeled back, whether in shock or something else I wasn’t sure. “Why?”

“Because it’s boring.”

“‘Boring,’ you said…!?” Shinji began, then trailed off.

“You don’t want to kiss on the anniversary of your mother’s death, do you? Do you think she might be watching us from Heaven?”

“No.”

“Are you scared?”

“Hold up,” I interjected rising to my feet and glaring at Asuka, who looked back at me in surprise. “Don’t think I didn’t hear the conversation just now. What’re you thinking, toying with him like that?”

“Devon…” Shinji began. He stopped of his own accord, realizing that what I said was true, and clenched his fist at the thought.

“Taunts to fluster people for fun like Misato does I don’t mind. This, however, I have a huge problem with.”

“You’ve got no business in this.” Asuka snarled.

“I do when my friend’s emotional state is possibly in jeopardy.” I hissed back, literally. The tone took Asuka aback slightly. “If this is something you absolutely have to do tonight, then either let him do it of his own accord, or not at all. Goading him into doing something like this is wrong.”

“Oh look at you mister hypocrite, you’ve goaded me before!”

“Not for personal reasons.”

Asuka’s eyes narrowed at that. Then her face contorted with disgust.

“Ugh! You just want to take Shinji’s place don’t you!? You pervert!”

My eye twitched, and I decided to slam my head against a wall because of that statement. “You idiot! Have ever once considered the possibility that I’m not doing everything for personal gain!? That I’m not a stereo-typical pervert who would jump at every chance with a girl!? Have you!?”

Asuka leaned away in shock as I closed in on her, all the while putting myself between her and Shinji.

“Ugh, the point I’m trying to make here is that it’s wrong to manipulate some one just to further your own goals or establish some kind of authority over another person.”

I sighed as stepped back, letting Asuka right herself as she continued to look at me with shock. Shinji also seemed stunned at my outburst. I turned away, smashing my fist down against the table as my body shuddered. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, before redirecting my attention to my fellow pilots.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean for my tone to be so harsh… Good night.”

I retired to my own bed at that, rethinking what had happened this night. I knew that I could have possibly changed it so that it would be Asuka and I who kissed… but… it wasn’t the right setting for something like that.

“Everything has its time… If I keep my patience and my cool, it will come to me if I’m meant to have it.”

With that, I drifted to sleep, clueless as to what transpired after I left.

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

(Asuka’s POV)

Neither of us expected Devon to blow up like that… He was so fierce, and while I’d always deny it if asked, I was a bit scared by the anger, and the power that seemed to flow from him with that anger.

And yet, even when angry, he can still make sense of his actions, berate me for mine’s, and even try to set straight what I realized in hindsight to be a situation quickly spinning out of control. It was a metaphorical smack to the face that I probably needed, whether I realized it or not.

“Please… don’t look at him badly because of this…” Shinji pleaded with me.

“Wha…?”

“He only gets mad like that when he feels it’s necessary. I know because he’s gotten mad at me when I really screw up. Not to that extent, but he’s gotten mad before.”

So this wasn’t the first time, huh? It seems the longer I’m around him, the more confused I get over him. Again, I couldn’t help but wonder just who the Fourth Child really was. It seems like anyone of the sides he’s shown could be the real one, and they all somehow coexist perfectly. Hell, I could almost consider him the personification of mood swings if they were more rapid.

We heard the door open suddenly, and Shinji quickly went to see who it was.

“Hey, were home, hang on.” I heard, and the voice could only belong to Kaji. Ignoring the fact that Shinji had already given a greeting, I ran to see the man, not noticing the almost sickly groan coming from Misato.

It took a bit of time, but the three of us got the wasted Major to bed. Kaji silently closed the door and turned to us.

“Well, I’m going home.” The agent said to us.

“Why don’t you stay?” I inquired, smiling innocently to him.

“They’ll laugh at me if I go to work looking like this.” He responded, indicating the tuxedo he was wearing. He turned to walk away after that.

“It’s okay!” I continued as I jogged over to him and clung to his arm. “Right, Kaji?”

He chuckled a little bit, and I let go, noticing a familiar scent on the man, even as he replied with a “see ya.”

The same scent I had requested for my date…

“The smell of lavender…” I whispered.

But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t feel truly disappointed that Misato and Kaji were together again.

“You two take care of Katsuragi, okay?” Kaji requested.

“Okay.” Shinji replied obediently.

“Good night.” He then left for the night.

What was wrong with me? Kaji was the man of my dreams, and now that I’ve lost my chance, I’m not even batting an eye at it? Did I never really want him in the first place?

I then glanced down the door to the Fourth Child’s room… perhaps he has something to do with this…

‘No way.’ Discarding that idea, I retired to bed without another word.