Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion (The 2nd Season): Forever Intertwined

Author/Writer: Malkin Rivera

Words from the Author:

I've been looking forward to writing this episode for a long freaking time! I've always had a vision of this episode and then I'd end up changing it a little bit in my mind. Now, I'm pretty confident what the image of it is and will write this episode with no regrets! Alright, I need to calm down before I annoy the crap out of my readers. On that note, I would like to thank again all who have read and review/comment/voted. It really means a lot. Also, thank the Great Anno for creating Neon Genesis Evangelion. Enjoy!

Episode 9: The Look Alike With A Different Mentality

Substantial time transgresses with the children having already started school, the exact one almost all of them had attended for 8th Grade but was rebuilt due to the damage it received in the past while retaining its general appearance. The teens ended up being in the same class together, which annoyed Asuka a little because of Mari's inclusion, however, tolerates it. This ultimately leads to the pilots experiencing enjoyment, compliments of having something as normal as school return to them since they were not doing much of significance anyway. After the children had a week of school, their life-style reverted to a familiar routine, with the exception of the children living together while having been ordered not to mention that detail in school. The reason for that is to avoid the risk of it complicating their social lives, considering how people tend to make assumptions.

During that entire period, Misato's been occupied with work, and it's now Saturday, as she recently got summoned to talk to Gendo. She promptly heads over to the Commander's office with Kaji, who's presently taking a small break from searching for SEELE, and both eventually arrive at their destination. Following their entrance, the duo depict Gendo standing in front of his desk, an uncommon sight thanks to how he's usually seated while Fuyutsuki's even absent. Not long after, Misato walks up to Gendo until halting at a small distance away from him with concern visible. "What did you want to discuss with me, sir?"

Meanwhile, Kaji situates himself to Misato's left as he calmly watches both her and Gendo.

Gendo gives the pair a plain look and says with a firm tone while mainly focusing on Misato, "I will need you to go pick up someone who will be transported halfway through the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, that person won't be taken farther than that."

Misato puts her right hand onto her hip while vaguely tilting her head towards the right. "Why is that?"

Gendo responds with no real emotion. "The people transporting this individual are the American Naval Forces. They merely agreed to a halfway meeting because they're trying not to get involved with the issues of Japan."

Kaji becomes a tad confused as he raises his left eyebrow lightly. "Isn't America already involved after they sent their last Eva and pilot though?"

Gendo closes his eyes, dropping his head prior to shaking it in disagreement, and then sets his gaze upon Kaji. "They just jumped ship. Being a part of the war that's between us and SEELE doesn't seem to benefit them anymore. They solely accepted transporting this individual due to owing me a favor." He briefly pauses to deeply inhale before firmly speaking. "From what I heard, the 1st Branch was abandoned by its personnel following Ms. Makinami and Unit 05's departure to here."

A serious demeanor envelopes Misato while asking, "And why did you need the American Navy to bring that person halfway through? Can't he or she take a plane?"

Gendo shifts his vision to Misato amidst him delivering a blunt retort. "The individual is our new pilot."

Kaji and Misato are instantly surprised as they quickly share a glance until turning their attention back to Gendo.

A moment later, Misato detaches the hand that was on her hip to lower it as she draws a bit closer to Gendo with stress portrayed. "When was this decided?! Why wasn't I told sooner?!"

Gendo replies in an indifferent tone. "Calm down, Colonel Katsuragi. Your questions are quite unnecessary."

Misato gets quite upset. "What do you mean?!"

Gendo instills his hands within his pockets while sternly stating, "Simply know that the new pilot is needed. He will be of great help to us."

Misato hurriedly thinks, eyeing Gendo with disdain, "This is just like him. He always gives us half-assed information and expects us to trust him without worry. He doesn't even tell me why we're receiving a new pilot." Her eyes abruptly widen as she realizes a certain detail while thinking, "Could it be because of Touji and Unit 03?!" Misato narrows her eyes with them locked onto the floor and attempts to regain her composure, "That can't be. I told Touji that he isn't useless. If he's replaced, he'll automatically believe that he is." The purple-haired woman peers at Gendo with a solemn conduct brimming and cautiously inquires, "Is he... Touji's replacement?"

Kaji navigates his concentration to Misato, sufficiently dumbfounded by her question.

At the same time, Gendo coldly stares at Misato and nonchalantly answers. "That is a possibility. Unit 03 has been rejecting him as of late. It may have something to do with him."

Misato responds in a defensive tone, striving to hold her anger at bay. "That could be the Eva though! We can't assume that it is Touji's fault!"

Gendo immediately comments, "We shall see. When you bring the new pilot, have him make the effort in synchronizing with Unit 03. Depending on the test's result, that determines whether it's the pilot or the Eva."

Irritation temporarily consumes Misato prior to attempting to relax via shutting her eyes and sighing. After doing that, the Colonel deviates her attention from Gendo while saddened by the chance that Touji's the problem. "Alright. I guess that will be for the best."

Kaji observes Misato with worry displayed until drawing his concentration toward Gendo while exhibiting a serious behavior. "Who's the new addition anyway?"

Misato's eyes widen from astonishment as she snaps her focus to Kaji and thinks, "That's right! I nearly forgot to ask that!" The jacket-wearing female diverts her gaze to Gendo with a bit of concern radiating.

Gendo sternly looks at the couple. "You'll see when you meet him."

Misato's momentarily bewildered prior to furiously yelling out, "Really?! You won't even reveal at least THAT much?!"

Gendo's expression grows cold during his vision's specification onto Misato. "Watch your tone. Remember who you are talking to, Colonel."

Misato tries to prevent herself from releasing another outburst while grinding her teeth a little, ultimately succeeding in her effort, and bows down to Gendo with her eyes shut. "Please forgive me, Commander." The purple-haired character straightens her posture as she issues a somewhat fierce stare at Gendo. "I spoke out of line."

Gendo nods at Misato, showing barely any emotion. "You are forgiven." He then turns his gaze away from her. "Katsuragi. When you go retrieve the new pilot, you will take the children considering it's the weekend. The pick up will be tomorrow so they'll meet him as soon as possible."

Misato's notably baffled by Gendo's words and inquires with minor stress quickly adding in, "Are you sure? You think it will be best that the pilots aren't here? SEELE can randomly attack."

Gendo lackadaisically rebuttals. "It's fine. I'm not too worried about that, considering it won't take you long to return." He veers his focus from both Kaji and Misato while saying with a somber tone, "All that matters is the pilots' safety."

Kaji and Misato are mutually surprised, compliments of Gendo's last statement, as their mouth hangs a little.

Fuyutsuki unexpectedly walks into the room as he goes right passed Misato and Kaji, who are presently watching him. After that, the Sub-Commander positions himself besides Gendo to whisper in Gendo's right ear, "The preparations are complete."

Gendo gazes at Fuyutsuki while sharply nodding before switching his concentration to Misato. "Also, we have decided to have Unit 03 be taken by cargo plane with you. This is in the unlikely chance you will be assaulted."

Misato's significantly caught off guard and frantically asks, "Why Unit 03?! Wouldn't another Eva be better?!"

Gendo comments in a plain tone, "Trust me, Colonel."

Misato emits a shocked demeanor as she thinks, "But isn't it too much of a risk to use an Eva that's been rejecting its pilot instead of a reliable Eva?!" She narrows her eyes as she stares Gendo down with a scrutinizing look while thinking, "Why does it seem that he has a lot of faith in the new pilot?"

Suddenly, Kaji places his right hand upon Misato's left shoulder while giving her a reassuring smile.

Misato hurriedly sets her sights onto Kaji with a fairly surprised conduct and gingerly questions, "Kaji?"

Kaji promptly speaks as his expression sustains itself. "If the Commander says trust him, we should listen. He's in charge for a reason." The former double agent chuckles a tad.

Misato continues her present reaction for a while prior to smirking at Kaji as she nods. Afterwards, the woman shifts her attention to Gendo with determination gleaming in her eyes. "Alright, sir."

Gendo faintly nods at Misato with a hint of content. "Good. Be certain that you and the kids are ready in time."

Misato maintains her behavior, accepting Gendo's order.

That pleases Gendo and nods at the pair. "Alright. You both are dismissed."

The couple deliver Gendo a quick bow until straightening their constitution as they turn away from him and Fuyutsuki to leave the room.

In the meantime, Fuyutsuki witnessed the duo's departure prior to mounting his vision toward Gendo. "It seems you got away without needing to tell them. Did you even inform them of any specifics about the pilot?"

Gendo looks at Fuyutsuki out of the corner of his eyes with seriousness showing. "Do you honestly believe I would? Realistically, my opinion of you has to falter to an unimaginable extent to say anything before letting you know."

Fuyutsuki softly laughs. "You're right." A cold attitude abruptly overruns the elder. "However, it persists to bother me that the only thing you told me about him is his name. Then, when I researched him, which you knew I would, there was no information. Not even a picture. How do we know that the person who called you is indeed him?"

Gendo deviates his concentration from Fuyutsuki to view the region ahead of himself. "I know it's him." He soon thinks with confidence radiating, "I could never forget that voice."

As Misato and Kaji walk away from Gendo's office, the pair chose to call it quits for the day and go home. Once they get there, the two adults tell the children about tomorrow while leaving out the detail that Unit 03 is going with them, so Touji wouldn't fear the possibility of replacement yet since it isn't entirely confirmed. Concurrently, Kensuke's obviously happy about the news of going to an American Naval Fleet, which is what will be transporting the new addition, thanks to still being a huge fan of the military. In the redhead's case, Asuka's not too excited because she remembers her bored experience when she was on Germany's ships as the others don't really care that much in general. The day continues to the point of the scene displaying all twelve Monoliths that represent the members of SEELE, having gathered for a meeting inside the same room from before.

SEELE 07 firmly talks to his companions. "I have just received some interesting information. There have been arrangements for the American Naval Forces to escort a pilot to NERV."

SEELE 04 chuckles and responds with arrogance in his voice. "Are they stupid?! Why are they getting involved with Japan?!"

SEELE 11 states with a serious tone, "Ikari probably called in one of his favors that America owed him. They most likely won't meddle after this. They're tired of becoming embroiled in other people's wars."

SEELE 06 retorts in a stuck-up manner. "That's pretty stupid by itself! Don't they realize their fate is in Japan's hands?!"

Keel sternly interrupts. "It doesn't matter! No matter what, we will be victorious!"

SEELE 03 promptly inquires out of concern, "What should we do about this new pilot?"

Keel calmly replies. "Don't worry. It has already been taken care of." He chuckles in a menacing way.

The next day gradually arrives from the conclusion of that act while the children, Misato and Kaji are in a modified military helicopter, big enough to transport all of them. It flies towards the meeting point that was agreed upon as the aircraft's followed by the cargo plane that has Unit 03 inside. Kaji and Misato are seated in the first row, which there are 4 of them, as each can sit three people while the Colonel's sitting near the helicopter's window, with Kaji to her left.

The second row contains Shinji between the two girls after his heart, which Mari is on his left while Asuka at the opposing section with her being beside the window like Misato. The 3rd Child appears to be substantially uncomfortable, compliments of Asuka shouting at Mari because of the twin-tailed dame having her arms wrapped around Shinji's left appendage to snuggle up against him. In the meantime, Touji and Hikari are in the next row, trying not to laugh at Shinji's inconvenience as the jock's toward his girlfriend's western region and sits directly behind Shinji. This results in Touji's placement away from the window while Rei and Kensuke are situated at the last row with the latter doing his best to restrain himself due to how excited he is about the Naval Fleet.

During that, the male's gawks at the outside vicinity as Rei watches Kensuke from his left with minuscule amusement.

Misato glances out the window, registering the Naval Fleet's existence with no real emotion portrayed, as she utilizes her right hand to keep her head up via pressing it onto the cheek the limb corresponds to and thinks, "We're almost there." The purple-haired character stares at the ocean that wields a vague red color thanks to the 2nd Impact, but wasn't as bad as the Antarctic's sector until the 3rd Impact. This worsened the world's oceans to an extent that it's a bloody red color while Misato thinks with sadness filling her eyes, "I feel bad that I didn't tell them the new pilot is here to substitute Touji." She rapidly switches her negative mentality to positive and whispers to herself optimistically, "I can't assume that! We could discover that there's a problem with the Eva! That Touji isn't the issue!" Misato tenaciously nods.

Kaji bares witness to Misato's conduct with a grin amidst thinking, "Misato's attempting to think positive, apparently." He turns his head to the left so Touji can come to view as he's moderately worried and thinks, "I really hope for our fear to go unwarranted. If it doesn't, there might be divergence among us. It's already a pain with the constant war between Asuka and Mari. We won't have a lot of unity in NERV in the new pilot and Touji start too."

Asuka suddenly screams at Mari with an upset tone, "I TOLD YOU TO LET GO OF HIM!"

Mari giggles, sustaining her contact with Shinji, and momentarily contains her eyes closed until looking at Asuka while playfully uttering, "Make me."

Meanwhile, Shinji overflows panic with his eyes glued to the floor while breathing heavily a tad as he thinks, "Please, God, help me!"

Touji commences to laugh loudly as his head is slanted backwards and grabs onto his stomach.

Hikari observes Touji's enjoyment of Shinji's misfortune and strives not to join her boyfriend as she's smirking.

Rei temporarily depicts her friends' individual behavior prior to veering her focus to Kensuke with curiosity brimming while thinking, "Although they are being so loud, Kensuke seems not to be distracted. He must wield great affection toward the military." The pale-skinned girl smiles lightly.

Then, Kensuke sees how near the helicopter is to the Naval Fleet and shouts in delight, "We're here!"

That outburst forces everybody to verify Kensuke's claim with a good sum of interest as they find out that they have indeed reached the Naval Fleet. An instance later, the scene abruptly changes to a man in his late 50s as his Naval Uniform is clad by multiple medals while wearing a Naval cap. The adult owns a rugged beard while having a pretty thick mustache, his hair is grey, not that muscular and is approximately 5'7" with his eyes hazel colored. Currently, the gentleman's standing on the port of a Naval ship as he awaiting the arrival of the helicopter and cargo plane while gazing at them. At the same time, in the rear part of that exact ship, a boy peers at the two aircraft with his face shadowed by the sunlight, but can be seen grinning and wears a black, short-sleeved shirt as the jeans match it. After a few seconds, the unknown individual steadily begins journeying toward the front of the ship with a relaxed demeanor.

Ultimately, the helicopter lands onto that very same Naval ship while the cargo plane floats on the water that's ahead of the Naval ship. The pilots, Misato and Kaji soon get out and are greeted by the man from earlier, introducing himself as the Captain of the Naval Fleet via soluting them with his right hand. The elder then says in a professional tone without faltering, "I'm glad you all made it safely!"

Misato smirks as she solutes back at the Captain through her own right hand. "Thank you very much." She puts her hand down and asks with faint intrigue, "So, where's the pilot?"

The Captain's slightly dumbfounded and slowly lowers his hand before rapidly searching the surroundings with irritation radiating. "Darn it! I told him that he needed to be by my side when you all arrived!"

Kaji stations himself next to Misato's left while grinning at the Captain. "Don't worry about it. You understand how kids are." He glimpses toward the right to set his attention onto the children.

Kensuke's presently running around, excessively excited by the Naval ships, as he makes an effort in recording everything with his video camera. "Oh wow! This place looks so cool! Being a pilot seriously has its benefits!"

Rei nonchalantly sees Kensuke's enthusiasm with her hands poised at her backside.

Touji and Hikari stand behind Rei to watch Kensuke too as they're lightly laughing.

Kaji momentarily witnesses the quartet's action with equal amusement until directing his attention to the left to check on the other children. The former double agent immediately discovers that Asuka and Mari are positioned in front of Shinji while persisting their argument over him.

As that transpires, Mari's to Shinji's right while Asuka's at his left and both have each other's face close to the other, glaring at one another with determination.

While those two are arguing, Shinji aims his vision skyward and thinks with stress still consuming him, "Why me...?!"

Kaji hurriedly reverts his concentration to the Captain and cheerfully questions, "You see?!"

The Captain chuckles as he registers how the children are behaving prior to bringing his attention onto Kaji with a halfhearted smile. "You have a point." He instantly realizes something and hastily resets his gaze upon Shinji while overflowing disbelief.

Misato becomes a bit concerned due to noticing the Captain's expression, looks in the direction of the elder's focus and then makes eye contact with the Captain. "What's wrong?"

The Captain points at Shinji while significantly stunned. "His appearance... It's similar to..."

Amidst their observation of the Captain, Misato and Kaji's eyes quickly widening from surprise thanks to seeing a boy suddenly show himself beside the Captain's left, looking almost exactly like Shinji.

Right after that, the young individual peers at the Captain with a smirk, his hands presently inside his pockets, and asks in a joking way, "Spooky, isn't it?"

The Captain hurriedly snaps his head to the boy and shouts in a startled voice, "Nero!"

As a result of the Captain's cry, all the children turn their attention to the adult while immediately seeing the boy's presence with surprise engulfing them shortly after.

At the same time, Nero watches everyone with a nonchalant smile until keying onto Shinji with intrigue while casually advancing towards the 3rd Child as that involves him going between Mari and Asuka to reach Shinji.

With Nero and Shinji confronting each other at a close proximity, Asuka has her jaw hanging and quietly observes the duo.

Touji's the first to break the silence through shouting with his hands cupped around his mouth as he's smiling, "Hey, Shinji! I didn't know ya had a twin!" The teenage boy chuckles while dropping his hands.

Mari temporarily glimpses at Touji before suddenly smelling something, causing her to instill her vision towards Nero while in shock, and thinks, "This smell! It's so similar to Shinji's! But all people have their own distinctive smell!"

Concurrently, Shinji sheepishly looks at Touji, who's to his right, with nervousness displayed. "I don't though..."

Nero swiftly exhibits a solemn expression and stares at Shinji with intensity prior to lowering his head as a smirk arises. "Right... We just have a great resemblance, that's all." He lifts his head to focus on Shinji again.

Shinji reverts his concentration to Nero as he brims nervousness and nods with a mild grin. "Uh-huh..."

Touji folds his arms with a hint of annoyance while mumbling, "It was a joke, jeez. Ya don't have to take it so seriously."

With that said, the others who haven't contributed to the discussion get a tad closer to Shinji and Nero while poised at a small distance behind the new pilot.

Nero doesn't acknowledge their movement since he's more focused on Shinji before randomly commencing to inspect the blue-eyed lad's physique by journeying around him, invoking a timid behavior out of Shinji as he witnesses Nero's action. Without warning, the black-haired character abruptly stops in front of Shinji to examine his eyes for a few seconds until chuckling while commenting via an impressed tone, "We really do look-alike! Too much to be honest! Don't you agree, Shinji Ikari?!" He vaguely cocks his head to the right as he smirks again.

In response, Shinji's eyes widen as he's a little dumbfounded and hesitantly nods at Nero.

Nero unexpectedly issues Shinji an bland demeanor while tilting his head slightly towards the left now. "Of course... There are a couple of physical differences in contrast to the vastness our personalities are." He narrows the gap dividing their face with ferocity barely showing.

Shinji's nervousness increases and becomes fairly uncomfortable as he's looking back into Nero's eyes. Soon enough, the Japanese kid realizes a certain detail while thinking with bewilderment emitted, "His eyes... They're brown..."

Nero randomly laughs as he repairs his head's angling as he sustains his sight upon Shinji and says in a low volume with minuscule admiration, "You're lucky to have those eyes."

Shinji's caught off guard by Nero's statement while taking a couple of steps backwards.

In the meantime, Nero smiles amidst navigating himself according to travel towards the Captain, halts ahead of him and politely utters, "Thank you for bringing me this far." He pulls out his left hand from his pocket to salute the Captain via a composed demeanor.

The Captain's momentarily astonished before grinning as he reciprocates Nero's gesture with his right hand. "It was my pleasure." The adult and Nero lower their hand in unison.

Asuka's surprise retains itself for a brief period prior to noticing something while spacing out as she thinks, "His hair is black." The redhead hurriedly sets her vision to Shinji's hair and thinks, "But Shinji's is brown." Asuka smirks while whispering to herself, "They aren't totally identical."

Nero submerges his hands into his pockets and turns around to face the rest of the group while portraying a delighted conduct. "Hey, my name is Nero Akaya. I'm the 7th Child. Nice to meet all of you."

Touji has a confident smirk as he walks up to Nero and says proudly while pointing at himself with his right thumb nearby his chest, "The name's Touji! I'm the 4th Child!" The jock steers his gaze to Hikari and aims at her with his left hand's index finger while putting its counterpart down. "That's my girl, Hikari!" Touji mounts his focus back onto Nero while directing his left limb at him. "Don't get any ideas!"

Nero rolls his eyes while deviateing his concentration from Touji. "Like I care about that stuff." He peers at Touji out of the corner of his eyes, losing his smile with coldness resonating. "Plus, she's not my type."

Touji drops his lifted appendage, getting substantially aggravated, and fiercely yells, "Looking like Shinji won't keep me from kickin' ya ass! Show some respect, dammit!"

Nero reverts his eyesight to Touji with a slightly upset expression, although maintains the majority of his composure. "Please, don't do that."

Touji's confused by Nero's request. "Ya mean kick ya ass?"

Nero temporarily shakes his head with a serious glare established. "Refrain from comparing me to him. I'm me. I'll always be me. No one else." He pauses while viewing the sky without maneuvering his head. "I find it to be an insult, even if that's not your intent. You're simply ignoring who that person has worked so hard to become." Nero keys on the right region of the ship with a hint of sadness gleaming. "Try avoiding that."

Everyone's rendered speechless as they share a glance with each other for a moment.

Then, Asuka walks toward the side of the ship, which is the same side Nero's looking at, to lean her back against the rails with her elbows' resting on them while observing the brown-eyed guy and thinks in an intrigued manner, "He's definitely different from Shinji." She switches her attention to the left with her thoughts continually progressing, "I'll be sure to remember that."

Mari instills her sight upon Asuka with curiosity because of the redhead unprecedentedly going to that section of the ship before muttering, "Asuka actually left Shinji's side..." A devious grin instantly etches itself on the chick's face while thinking in excitement, "This is my chance!" Mari reverts her concentration to Shinji and quickly wraps her arms around his right appendage. After doing that, the Problem Child smiles at him and declares with enthusiasm, "Now I have you all to myself!" She giggles.

Asuka snaps her focus towards Shinji and Mari with some shock showing. A split second later, the German girl's consumed by rage while mildly removing herself from the rails as she shouts, "What did I tell you about touching him?!" Suddenly, there's a huge tremor that causes the teen to be dumbfounded while losing her balance with her rear running into the railing, invoking a cry of agony from Asuka.

The passengers of that ship had felt the powerful vibration as well and are all searching for the source due to the absence of any warning. Soon after, the crowd lock onto an enemy Eva that had recently launched an onslaught on one of the Naval ships via a giant spear in its grasp. The behemoth's currently perched atop the vessel it attacked while completely white as it's an aquatic type Eva. This is confirmed by the large fins that extend out of the mechanical beast's arms and having fin-like feet. Also, its has a vertical, oval-shaped head with a crescent blade protruding from its forehead as the weapon it carries specifically resembles a trident.

Following the assault, the Naval Fleet's alarm goes off to notify the rest of the fleet they are in danger.

In the meantime, Misato gawks at the SEELE Eva with a panicked expression while thinking, "That's just perfect! The exact thing we don't want to happen, does!"

Dummy Eva 09 abruptly jumps off the Naval ship it was on while driving the spear over its head, soon landing onto the ship that's next to the one Misato and the others reside. This allows the machine to impale the massive tool into the vessel's deck, resulting in an impact that creates a wave that collides against the nearby ships as everybody desperately try to maintain their footing.

Sadly, Asuka was still in contact with the railing, and because of the wave, is thrown overboard while screaming out in distress, "SHINJI!"

Shinji hastily steers himself to view the region Asuka had been with worry radiating prior to getting consumed by horror upon registering that the 2nd Child's gone as he fervently yells, "Asuka!"

After Shinji let out that cry, everyone except Nero rush to the side of the ship while witnessing Asuka having difficulty swimming in the water.

Misato promptly shouts while profoundly concerned, "What's going on?!"

Kaji responds as he remains focused on Asuka with his hands atop the railing, "She can't swim because of the strong current from the ship's movement!"

Shinji looks at his companions and declares in a panicked tone, "Someone's got to save her!"

The Captain places his attention onto the whole group while urgently remarking, "I'll tell my men to shut off the routers!" He quickly runs off.

Rei hurriedly yells to Asuka, "We will get you out, Asuka!"

Asuka retorts as she attempts to swim away from the current since it's on the verge of pulling her under the ship. "Hurry! I can't keep this up much longer!" She then unexpectedly sinks under the water.

Shinji passionately screams, "ASUKA!" The male swiftly tries to get on top of the railing with the thought of jumping after Asuka.

Mari suddenly wraps her arms around Shinji's waist to prevent that with her eyes shut. "No, Shinji! You won't be able to help her! You'll only put yourself in danger too!"

Misato sharply nods and says with a stern tone, "She's right, Shinji!"

Shinji desperately shouts while not giving up, "I don't care! I don't wanna lose her!"

Nero hears Shinji's outburst as he thinks with indifference, "That's beyond obvious." He smirks while quite content.

Shinji calls out again, "Asuka!" The Japanese boy veers his concentration to Mari with an enraged conduct. "Let me go, Mari!"

Mari shakes her head and administers her vision onto Shinji with worry brimming. "I can't do that! I want you to be safe!"

Nero abruptly runs up to the railing's left section that's just outside of the group's position, his hands out of his pockets, as he contains a composed expression. Afterwards, the brown-eyed teen hops on the border and leaps off the ship while diving towards the water, head first.

Misato gives off a shocked look. "Nero!"

The rest of the passengers immediately set their gaze toward Nero during his descent to the water and are immensely bewildered.

Nero takes a deep breath while entering the ocean with his eyes momentarily closed. Having done that, the lad frantically searches around as he swims in place until depicting that Asuka's below the ship, forcing shock while thinking, "Damn it! I have to hurry!" Nero swims toward her as fast as possible, which is assisted by the water's incredible current.

As Nero does that, the others continue to watch the ocean with Shinji thinking to himself, "Asuka... Please be okay..." Worry plagues each of them prior to seeing Nero ascend from the water while holding Asuka, surprising everybody in a good way while the 3rd Child yells out of joy, "Asuka!"

Mari lets go of Shinji to lean over the railing with a delighted smile. "Way to go, Nero!"

Touji joins in while somewhat hyper and does a small fist pump via his right hand, "Yeah! Good job, man!"

Nero instills his concentration upon everyone with his right arm encompassing Asuka's waist, meaning he's presently to her left, and is exhausted while shouting, "Hey!" The black-haired person pulls up Asuka's unconscious body a little so he doesn't lose his grip on her. "Can I get some help here?!"

Misato solemnly answers as she's also a tad over the railing, "Hold on!" She looks at the helicopter pilot, who's still in the aircraft, to signal him to go retrieve Asuka and Nero via a minor gesture involving her left hand.

The helicopter pilot nods with determination portrayed, starts-up the aircraft and has it go into the air.

Simultaneously, Kaji's quite amazed while focusing on Nero while thinking, "Incredible! It shouldn't be physically possible for him to be able to swim against such a strong current!"

Right after that, the helicopter gradually drops toward Nero and Asuka, releasing a rolled-up ladder to them.

Nero brings his vision to Asuka with a hint of concern as he chimes, "Asuka! Wake up, Asuka!" He promptly puts his right ear close to Asuka to check if she's still breathing, lets out a sigh of relief with his eyes shut and lowers his head. "Okay, she's alive." Nero reopens his eyes amidst commandeering his attention to the ladder, grabs a hold of it as he places his left foot onto the object and peers at the helicopter while yelling, "Now!"

The helicopter pilot nods at Nero and then gazes in front of himself, pulling on the controls to ascend.

While that occurs, the passengers cheer at the sight of the helicopter rising while flying above the ship they're stationed.

Unfortunately, Dummy Eva 09 notices the helicopter as the behemoth turns toward it and detaches its spear from the ship it's atop of while immediately aiming the weapon at the air.

Misato sees the enemy's action with horror enveloping her. "It's planning on attacking the helicopter!"

Shinji's greatly stunned, briefly gawking at Dummy Eva 09 until shifting his attention to the helicopter and shouts worryingly, "No, Asuka!"

Dummy Eva 09's about to strike the aircraft, however, is halted by the surrounding Naval ships that commenced firing at it, forcing the metal beast in diverting its sight toward one of those ships prior to swiftly jumping off the vessel it is on while drawing its lance backwards and beside its right cheek. After doing that, as it descends onto a ship bombarding the adversary, the SEELE Eva thrusts its spear into the vessel.

Although they know they aren't out of danger, NERV's personnel emanate relief since they weren't the next target.

Meanwhile, Nero gets off the ladder because of the helicopter being low enough for him to do that, and once he gains some balance from touching down upun the ship, calmly walks toward Shinji as he's carrying Asuka marital-style while both are soaked.

Shinji rushes to Nero, ultimately stopping ahead of the teen with stress overflowing. "Asuka! Are you okay?!"

Nero smiles at Shinji. "Relax, she's fine. Just unconscious." He outstretches his arms to give Asuka to Shinji, which the blue-eye boy indeed grabs onto her, and holds her up in the same manner as Nero for a little bit.

Sadly, Shinji can't maintain his strength for too long, so gently falls to his knees as he lies Asuka upon the floor as he watches the German female with a smirk.

Seeing that, Nero chuckles from amazement and thinks, "Somebody's lacking in muscle! Couldn't he have at least attempted to stay up longer!" The lad soon realizes that the enemy continues destroying the other ships, views it out of the corner of his eyes with a nonchalant expression and mutters, "I almost forgot about him."

Rei travels to Misato's left region before asking in a slightly worried voice, "Misato, what are we going to do?"

Misato looks at Rei with sadness in her eyes. "Well... We do have Unit 03 with us."

Kensuke's surprised by that revelating while hurriedly situating himself next to Rei with his camera in his right hand. "Really?!" He switches his concentration to the cargo plane with astonishment. "That's why that came with us!"

Nero veers his focus to the three who recently spoke with curiosity showing as he think, "Unit 03...?" He casually aims his attention towards the cargo plane and mumbles, "So, he made sure it'd be here." Nero faintly laughs from delight. "Who would've thought his instincts were so accurate?"

Touji dashes to Misato with worry displayed. "But Misato... Ya know I've been havin' a hard time with my Eva. Why bring it instead of another Eva?"

Misato eludes making eye contact with Touji until becoming greatly baffled when she registers Nero running pass her, lets out a minuscule gasp and then shouts in a commanding tone, "Nero, where do you think you're headed?!"

Nero ignores Misato's cry while eventually reaching the cargo plane and hastily enters it from the aircraft's dock.

Touji stares at the plane for a moment with confusion noted on before snapping his gaze to Misato as he brims dismay. "Misato! He ain't thinkin' of piloting my Eva, is he?!"

Misato's unable to deliver a reply from how stunned she is, but soon hears a sudden explosion that invokes her to instill her attention to one of the nearby ships.

At the same time, Dummy Eva 09 had demolished two Naval ships and is standing on a ship that's stationed in front of the ship everyone resides, currently observing that exact craft with malicious intent.

Mari gets extremely annoyed while poised beside Shinji as she's glaring at the white beast. "This is bad! We're sitting ducks over here!"

Kaji advances to Misato's right as he's watching the enemy too, although with substantial concern shown. "All it has to do is throw its spear and we're done for."

Misato's enraged by Kaji's statement and yells out without taking her eyes off Dummy Eva 09, "I don't need to hear that right now, Kaji!"

Hikari unexpectedly shouts while eyeing at the direction of the cargo plane, pointing at it via her right hand in the process, "Look!"

Each member of NERV concentrate on the cargo plane as they're promptly dumbfounded to witness that Unit 03 has exited the cargo plane from its roof that capable of opening up.

Presently, Nero sits upon the entry plug's seat, possessing a tight grasp of the controls through both hands, and wears his normal attired since there was no time to search for a plugsuit. In the meantime, the child exhibits a determined smirk with his eyes glued to Dummy Eva 09 as he gingerly utters, "It's been a while since I've piloted an Eva. Very few good memories are brought back..." Depression then gleams in his eyes. "And a lot of painful ones." Nero chuckles while contorting forth as he shut his eyes and hangs his head. "No use in complaining... I made the agreement to join. There's no running away anymore."

During Nero's speech, Touji emits despair while peering at Unit 03 amidst thinking, "It's actually workin' for him. I was the problem."

Misato commandeers her focus toward Touji, anxiety briefly exhibited, prior to switching it to the floor with sorrow arising.

Concurrently, Dummy Eva 09 sees Unit 03, pulling back its spear to ultimately throw the weapon with as much force as possible at the opponent.

Misato shows fear at the sight of the spear flying over the Naval ship she's stationed on and towards Unit 03.

Nero tries to deploy Unit 03's A.T. Field in response, but instantly realizes something as he curses out of panic, "Ah, shit!" He desperately pulls Unit 03's controls to make it move left via only weaving the black Eva's upper body, which concludes with the mechanical beast succeeding in its evasion of the spear while the tool plummets into the water. Following that, Nero temporarily peers behind himself while relieved as he leisurely utters, "That was too close for comfort." He shifts his gaze to the enemy with mild annoyance resonating. "Seems like Unit 03's still configured to Touji's mentality." Nero nervously smiles. "That's not good..."

Dummy Eva 09 suddenly launches itself from the ship it was atop of and goes over the vessel NERV's members are at so it can reach Unit 03.

Nero demonstrates tenacity while tightening his grip on the controls and braces himself. "This is really going to hurt!"

Dummy Eva 09 promptly thrusts the crescent-shaped blade that's on its head inside of Unit 03's stomach as the momentum of the aquatic Eva forces both of them to fall into the water.

While that transpired, Nero yells in agony due to the blade piercing Unit 03's mid-section, "Yep! Definitely hurts!"

Misato's in shock with her and the others watching the area Unit 03 descended before the Colonel shouted in a mortified tone upon realizing an important detail, "Unit 03 has Type B equipment on! It won't do well in the water!"

Unit 03 sinks a little bit deeper into the water as Dummy Eva 09 removed its crescent blade from the black machines's torso while Nero inspects the entry plug's confines with a calm demeanor. "By the look of it, this Eva's equipped with Type B." He chuckles while concentrating ahead, "That simply complicates things more. Not only am I having trouble synchronizing with the Eva because of its sub-par configuration... Now I got to fight in the environment that my enemy is at its best."

Dummy Eva 09 separates itself from Unit 03 a tad prior to deciding to swim farther away. Once it has reached a considerable distance, the SEELE Eva starts circling the black behemoth at an incredible velocity.

Nero pursues the adversary's mobility with a light grin while Unit 03 becomes motionless in the ocean and jokingly says, "Not bad... I wonder which one of us is the faster swimmer... Proportion wise..." The 7th Child laughs at himself as he slowly releases his possession of the controls. Having done that, Nero puts his hands together to crack his fingers and neck in unison, keeping his eyes locked onto Dummy Eva 09 with minimal emotion. "Enough messing around though. I have no other choice in this situation but to make Unit 03 go berserk. My normal synchronization would've beaten you easily. Too bad what I have to work with barely lets me get to a decent sync ratio." The male grabs a hold of the controls again. "And from watching the videos of NERV vs. SEELE, anything under 90% won't even leave a dent on you guys, unless I have another Eva backing me up." Nero shuts his eyes as he soft sighs with his head dropped. "It can't be helped though."

Meanwhile, Dummy Eva 09 stops encompassing Unit 03 without warning and floats in front of it at a substantial distance until hurling itself towards the foe at a remarkable speed.

Within that moment, Nero gradually opens his eyes to view the oncoming behemoth, a hint of excitement exhibited throughout. "Let's do this! Berserker, over 100%!"

Unit 03's eyes abruptly glow a vague orange color as Dummy Eva 09 nearlt collides with its opponent, although their contact is prevented thanks to Unit 03's A.T. Field expanding to a large extent.

Because of that, Dummy Eva 09 runs right into the barrier while sending it backwards from the pure strength it wields.

Nero sternly pushes upon the right control so Unit 03 could grab the SEELE Eva's head with its eastern appendage as this leads to Dummy Eva 09's cranium being crushed. Afterwards, for good measure, Unit 03's left hand is driven into the chest of the adversary and grasps its core as the teenager says in a relaxed voice, "Luckily for me, I didn't have to go any higher with my synchronization to beat you." Coldness promptly forms while intensity gleams in Nero's eyes. "After all, I'm not too sure what would happen after 200%." Unit 03 quickly destroys Dummy Eva 09's core, invoking a white light to illuminate from it while also shining out of Dummy Eva 09's midsection.

Right after that, the focus turns to Misato and the others as they're staring at the direction the combating Evas had gone underwater while Asuka remains unconscious. The group eventually witness a giant explosion arise from the ocean all of a sudden, resulting in everyone displaying bewilderment.

Ironically, the eruption wakes up Asuka as she slowly opens her eyes and gains view of Shinji. Thanks to that, the redhead smirks light while Shinji hasn't yet noticed her awakening and says to him while feeling a bit weak, "Hey, there."

Shinj's instantly surprised to hear Asuka's voice while navigating his concentration toward her with a relieved expression. "Asuka! You're up!"

Asuka nods amidst faintly uttering, "Yeah... Thanks for saving me again..."

Confusion rapidly consumes Shinji. "What are you talking about?"

Asuka giggles from amusement. "Don't be modest... I saw you swimming towards me before I passed out. It was blurry, but I recognized your face at the last moment."

Shinji's saddened by Asuka's words, looks away from her and mumbles to himself, something Asuka is unable to register, "It wasn't me though..."

Misato watches as the giant explosion dissipates with the water reverting back to normal, allotting her to inquire with concern showing, "What just happened?!"

To answer that, Unit 03 abruptly surfaces, grabs onto the cargo ship via its right hand, pulls itself out of the water and gradually stands on top of the craft as the roof is closed.

At the moment they see Unit 03, everyone become happy due to Nero obviously being alright as they figured that he was victorious against Dummy Eva 09, with some of the children starting to applaud him for his victory.

Nero wholeheartedly smiles while watching the crowd and thinks, "So much time since I had people cheer for me." He chuckles until dropping his head with his eyes closed. "I forgot this feeling."

Nero steadily reopens his eyes while moderately sad. "Maybe it should've stayed forgotten."

Meanwhile, Touji refrains from celebrating, considering it has been confirmed that Unit 03 actually works for Nero.

Kaji, on the other hand, temporarily has a content smirk and is attentive of Unit 03 until realizing something as concern takes over. After that, the male veers his eyesight to Misato with her presently happy as her focus is fixed onto Unit 03. Then, Kaji walks up next to the Colonel with seriousness brimming. "Misato."

Misato sets her gaze toward Kaji as she's still smiling at first, but becomes worried when she notices his conduct. "What is it, Kaji?"

Kaji responds in a firm tone, "Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence that Nero looks like Shinji?"

That baffles Misato while whispering to Kaji so the pilots don't listen to her, "You don't think he'd be related to Shinji, do you?! They both stated earlier that they aren't!"

Kaji shakes his head. "I wasn't thinking that. Nero could be a clone of Shinji."

Misato releases a mild gasp and then leans toward Kaji with concern emitting. "There's no way!"

Kaji nods. "Of course it would make more sense if they were related, but we need to have an open mind. Remember, you never thought there would be a storage room full of Reis in the lower level of Dogma before."

Misato makes a solemn expression as he briefly diverts her concentration prior to reverting it to Kaji. "You're right. However, we must ask Commander Ikari before we keep letting our imaginations run wild. And this time, I'm going to force him tell me everything."

Both Kaji and Misato nod at each other with determination demonstrated.

As Misato and Kaji had their conversation, Nero's looking towards their location while continually residing within Unit 03's entry plug. Soon enough, the teen laughs to himself while contorting onward and has his head elevated through the assistance of his right hand as the elbow of that appendage rests upon his curled right leg. "Their faces are really informative. Seems they're suspicious about me. I seriously want to learn how to read lips." Nero momentarily pauses as he turns his eyes away. "Whatever. I'm not that worried. They won't get much involving me unless I want them to." The lad grins amidst planting his rear against the seat and puts his hands behind his head. Once he accomplishes that, Nero aims his focus back to the couple while his left leg rests atop his right knee. "But let them try as hard as they desire. They'll be disappointed when they discern there's no information available." The black-haired boy grows silent for a bit with his vision presently in front of himself. "The only person with anything for them already promised me he wouldn't tell." A sinister behavior overcomes Nero as he glances towards the right. "He's not going to risk breaking a promise to me now."

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

Hope you all enjoyed this episode. To all of you who haven't read my 2nd Branch story, Nero Akaya is my personally created character that has invaded the world of NGE. He has a HUGE role in my second season story, precisely as he did in my first fan fiction. If you want to know more about Nero prior to this, read the 2nd Branch story, but I suggest you don't since that will add more to the suspense of who Nero really is. Even though, some of you may have figured it out. Yes, it is a spoiler to some of this, so be wary. By the way, I combined the story line of the rebuild movies with the original series a bit so if you notice that I put a detail that doesn't fit with the series, it's mostly because I got it from the movies.

That's it. Talk to you all later.