Obligatory Disclaimer:

I am not Jim Butcher, or anyone else who owns the legal rights to the Dresden Files. If I were, I would be utterly terrified of the reaction once people found out I was writing this instead of the next book in the series.

I am also not Hideaki Anno, or anyone who owns the rights to Neon Genesis Evangelion. If I were, I would be spending my time sleeping on top of a pile of money with many beautiful women instead of writing crossover fanfiction.

I'm still not even sure why I came to Tokyo-3.

Well, that's not actually true. I came because my father told me to. I guess I had some crazy idea that he might have changed his mind and decided he wanted to be my father after all. Ever since he cast me aside the only thing I've had to actually connect me to my father was an old SDAT player he left at my sensei's house, and now maybe I could have a chance to really get to know him. It was stupid, but I guess that even though I knew what he was like and how unlikely it was that he would suddenly become the sort of father I wanted him to be, I still hoped for it.

What I actually got was him telling me that he still didn't care about me, and he'd only summoned me because he had a use for me. Not only that, I was his backup plan; if the other pilot hadn't gotten hurt or anyone else could have taken her place, he never would have called me.

I'm sure a lot of people think that the reason I eventually decided to pilot the Evangelion was because I saw how badly Ayanami was injured. It's like the sort of thing a hero would do; valiantly going into battle to protect a wounded maiden. It makes for a nice story; I just wish I could bring myself to really believe it was true. I mean, I didn't like the idea of really hurt girl going off to fight, but at the same time I have to wonder how much of my decision to get in the Evangelion was because of her, and how much of it was because if she could pilot the Eva I wouldn't be of any use to my father.

I've always been unnecessary, just a burden on others. That's why father sent me away. To actually have people need me … felt nice. I guess that's why I'm still here; even if my father still doesn't care about me, at least I can feel like I'm doing something useful here, like there are people who care about me. Even if the only reason they care is because I can pilot the Eva, it better than not caring at all.

I'd been hoping that I would actually get to live with father once I moved to Tokyo-3, but I suppose I should have realized that wouldn't happen. Instead Miss Katsuragi took me in. She seems nice, although she can be a little frivolous, but I'm still not quite sure what to think of her. Plus when she was at the apartment she dressed in a strappy tank top and really short shorts that –

No. Bad thoughts. Stupid teenage hormones.

Mister Dresden's the same way. At least he's not rude and gun-crazy the way you always hear most Americans are supposed to be. Of course, Miss Katsuragi and Mister Dresden are probably only being nice to me because they have to, or because they think it will encourage me to keep piloting the Eva. Mister Dresden's dog is really nice though, and I'm pretty sure Mouse doesn't care if I'm a pilot or not. He just likes me because I'm me.

"Shinji." Dr. Akagi sounded like she was annoyed with me, but was trying to be patient and tolerant. "Try to concentrate on the training."

"Right. Sorry."

"Remember, Angels can only be killed by destroying the core. Just center in on the target, and pull the trigger."

"Yes. Dr. Akagi. Sorry." Stupid me; I'd been thinking about unnecessary things when I was supposed to be learning how to control the Eva. I still wasn't used to breathing the LCL, but at least now they had a plugsuit for me so my clothes wouldn't get ruined every time I piloted or trained. Plus, now they had a suit made for a guy instead of trying to make me wear one of Ayanami's spares; wearing a girl's plugsuit would be way too embarrassing. There were breasts on it. And I had to be completely naked when I put it on; they wouldn't even let me wear any underwear. Didn't that mean that when Ayanami put her plugsuit on she was also –

No. Bad thoughts. Stupid teenage hormones.

After I'd gone through the simulation a few times, Dr. Akagi's assistant contacted me. "Very good Shinji. Sempai said you should keep practicing for a while, to help you get used to operating the Evangelion."

I like Lt. Ibuki. Dr. Akagi wasn't mean or anything, but she could be a little cold at times, and she generally didn't bother pretending that I was anything more than just the pilot. In a way I didn't mind; at least she was honest about the fact that I was just a pilot instead of trying to pretend she actually cared about me. However, Lt. Ibuki was friendly and warm, and even though she was probably that way with everyone, it was still nice to have someone who at least tried to act like they saw me as anything more than the person who piloted the Evangelion.

It was a bit odd that she worked so well with Dr. Akagi when they had very different personalities, but it seemed like they made a good team and their different personalities balanced each other out. After all, if Dr. Akagi and Miss Katsuragi can be friends, then there's no reason that Lt. Ibuki and Dr. Akagi couldn't be friends too. Although, from what Miss Katsuragi said the other night after she'd had a few too many beers Lt. Ibuki wasn't interested in being friends with Dr. Akagi, but –

No. Bad thoughts. Stupid teenage hormones.

The problem with being in the entry plug is that there's not much to think about, and I didn't have my SDAT or anything to keep my mind occupied. It was hard not to think about perverted things or worry about what people thought of me when there was nothing else to keep me busy; the training was simple and repetitive; so I still had time to think. Maybe if I tried hard enough I could just focus on the training and shut everything else out.

"Center in on the target and pull the trigger."

"Center in on the target and pull the trigger."

"Center in on the target and pull the trigger."

*Break*

I was running late for school today; I'd overslept by a bit, and then I had to convince Miss Katsuragi that I could make my own breakfast and lunch. She means well, and I don't want to make her angry by telling her she's a bad cook or anything, but…

I got about a block down the street before I ran into Mr. Dresden taking Mouse for a walk. "Hey, Shinji."

"Oh, Mister Dresden. Hello." I was in a hurry, but it would be rude to just rush past him without even saying hello. Mouse noticed me, and came over to let me pet him, then leaned against me hard enough to nearly knock me over. He's a nice dog, but sometimes I think he forgets that he's also a very big dog. I just hope I don't ever do something wrong and make him angry.

"Just Harry is fine. You on your way to school?'

"Yes." I finished scratching Mouse's ears, and he turned his head a bit to lick my hand. I smiled at the dog, and decided to pet him a bit more. "It's not fair, having to pilot the Eva and go to school as well."

"A lot of things about your situations aren't fair." Mister Dresden agreed. "But you still need a basic education, and if you don't go to school you wouldn't have any chances to interact with kids your own age. Well, aside from Rei."

"Yeah, I guess." I reached over to run my other hand through the fur around Mouse's neck, and the dog let out a whuff of breath that hopefully meant I was petting him the right way.

Mister Dresden let out a chuckle. "Mouse seems to have taken a liking to you. I guess I better be careful, or you might end up stealing him away from me."

I stopped petting the dog, and quickly stood up. "I … I wasn't trying to … sorry."

Mouse looked over at Mr. Dresden, let out a very soft whine, and placed a paw on top of his muzzle and over his eyes for a few seconds.

Mister Dresden held up one of hands to forestall whatever I might say next. "Relax Shinji, I was joking. You can pet him as much as you want." Mr. Dresden sounded apologetic, even though it wasn't his fault that I had misunderstood him.

"Oh." I went back to petting the dog "Alright … sorry."

I was still petting Mouse when Miss Katsuragi's car drove up. The Lt. Colonel rolled down her window, and shouted out. "Hey Shinji, I thought you were running late for school?"

I froze. I'd forgotten completely about that.

"Hop in." Miss Katsuragi offered. "It's not too far out of my way, and I'll get you there faster than walking."

"Alright." I gave Mouse one last pat, and then started walking over to Miss Katsuragi's car. Right before I stepped in, I looked back to Mister Dresden. "Um, thanks for letting me pet your dog, Harry."

"No problem." Mister Dresden waved a casual goodbye. "Sorry I got you late for school, hope you don't get in too much trouble."

I got into the passenger seat of Miss Katsuragi's car, and once I was buckled up she set off towards the school. "Um. Sorry for the trouble, Misato." I still wasn't entirely comfortable being on a first name basis with her, but she had insisted pretty soon after we met, and I didn't want to offend her by saying no.

"It's no trouble Shinji. Just try not to make a habit of being late for school."

"Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize so much, Shinji."

"Sor –" Miss Katsuragi gave me a playful whap on the shoulder, and I quickly corrected myself. "Um … alright."

"Better." Miss Katsuragi grinned at me. "So, want me to tell your teacher you're late because of Nerv business, so you won't get in trouble?"

"No, that's fine. It's my own fault I'm later."

"Well yeah, but she doesn't need to know that."

"I wouldn't want to get you in trouble…"

"Don't worry about it." Miss Katsuragi waved my concerns away. "The only person who might notice and care is Ritsuko, and that's just because it would give her a reason to lecture me again. I need to give her a good excuse to yell at me every once in a while, it keeps her young."

"Um … well … okay then."

"That's the spirit!" Miss Katsuragi pulled out her cell phone and made a call to school's office to tell them I would be a bit late because of my duties at Nerv. By the time the phone call was done, we were pulling up in front of school. "Don't worry Shinji, it'll be our little secret." Miss Katsuragi winked and grinned at me, and I tried to smile back in response. "Have a good day at school!"

"Yeah, um … you have a good day at work." I stepped out of the car, and Miss Katsuragi waved goodbye before heading off towards Nerv. I guess Miss Katsuragi's not the most responsible guardian ever, but she does try to be nice to me in her own way. My old sensei never would have lied to keep me from getting in trouble at school.

School at Tokyo-3 was pretty much like school everywhere else; having a standardized curriculum will do that. The students and teachers had changed, but it's not like I really knew any of them all that well. The only other students who I knew at all were Ayanami and Class Representative Horaki, and I only knew Ayanami because of Nerv and Horaki because one of her duties as the class rep was to help transfer students get acclimated on the first day of school. A lot of students and teachers had left Tokyo-3 after the Angel attacked, so the classes were all pretty small, but I didn't mind. Fewer people to deal with.

I wound up being about fifteen minutes late for English class. Apparently the original teacher had left when everyone started evacuating, and the new teacher was another American like Mr. Dresden, which I guess made sense. They needed another teacher on short notice, after all. "Sorry I'm late, Raith-sensei." After a moment I remembered which class I was in, and then haltingly repeated myself in English.

"It's fine Shinji, Miss Katsuragi called and explained the situation. Take a seat." The English teacher smiled, and I had to quickly stop any perverted thoughts from springing up again. At least this time, it wasn't completely my fault; from what I'd overheard, a lot of guys liked the new English teacher, and it was generally agreed that she had a very pretty smile. Now that'd I'd seen it firsthand, I had to agree. So, at least this time I wasn't any more of a pervert than just about every other guy in the class.

I took my seat, and class resumed as if I hadn't interrupted it. I managed to keep up with the lesson reasonably well, and didn't make a complete idiot out of myself when the sensei called on me to answer a question. It occurred to me that perhaps I could ask Mister Dresden if I could practice my English with him sometime? I mean, he's an American after all. Or maybe Ayanami? I'd seen her reading a book in English once during lunch.

Math came after English, and went about as well as my Math class ever does, but then we got to History. I used to enjoy history back at my old school, but the teacher here wasn't very good. Unfortunately Tokyo-3 was short on teachers after so many had resigned and moved after the battle, and apparently it was especially short on history teachers. So, instead of getting a good teacher, we got a half-senile old man who rambled on and on about the Second Impact, and how he had been in Nebukawa when the Second Impact happened, and how kids these days didn't appreciate how hard things had been after the Second Impact and all the sacrifices the older generation made during the post-Impact years.

According to our textbooks we should have been discussing the Sengoku Period. Every once in a while someone would ask a question that dragged the teacher back on-topic, but within a few minutes the conversation somehow got turned back to the Second Impact again. For once, Ayanami wasn't the only person in the class who seemed to regard everything with a sense of bored disinterest; only class rep Horaki bothered to make an effort to look like a good, attentive student.

"Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempts to conquer Korea failed, and the failure weakened the Toyotomi clan. creating an opening that Tokugawa Ieyasu was quick to exploit . "The old man paused to clean his glasses, and his voice took an a distant tone. "I remember … It was shortly after the Second Impact when the Koreans destroyed Old Tokyo. Even though the water levels were already rising and the city would be underwater soon, the North Korean government chose to launch their experimental N2 weapon against our capital. The government had already begun evacuations several days ago to escape the rising waters, but the loss of life was still terrible. Of course, I was in Nebukawa at the time, so I didn't witness any of it myself, but I knew people who were there. In the aftermath of the attack, the JSDF and South Korean armed forces advanced to…"

I was on the verge of falling asleep when I got a message on my laptop. That surprised me; I knew people sometimes used their computers to chat with each other, especially in a boring class like this, but nobody had ever tried to start a conversation with me before. The message was short and to the point:

"Is it true that you are the pilot of the robot? Y/N"

I looked around, curious to see who might have sent the message. When I finally looked behind me, I spotted a pair of girls, one of whom smiled and waved at me while the other was typing away at her laptop. Seconds later, the words, "It's true, isn't it? Y/N" appeared on my screen.

I knew I probably shouldn't talk about the fact that I was the pilot; after all, as far as I knew nobody outside of Nerv knew that I was a pilot now, and from what I'd overheard nobody knew Ayanami was a pilot either. On the other hand, while I'd been extensively briefed on what I wasn't allowed to tell anyone outside of Nerv, nobody had ever actually told me I wasn't allowed to tell my classmates that I was a pilot. Obviously the school administrators must have known I was involved with Nerv, and word must have leaked out if people were asking me now. So it's not like confirming it would be that bad. Hadn't Miss Katsuragi said that what I did while piloting the Eva was a good thing, that I'd helped to protect Tokyo-3, and I should be proud of what I'd done?

Plus … well, normally girls don't ever talk to me. I'm used to it; I'm not the kind of guy girls like. I'm not that good looking, I'm a complete wimp, and while I'm not an idiot or anything, I'm not smart enough to really impress anybody with my intelligence. Not to mention the fact that girls scare me; if I actually tried talking to one I'd probably I'd probably just say something stupid, and then she'd laugh at me, then tell her friends how stupid I was so they could laugh at me too. Or I'd accidently say or do something perverted, and no girl would even look at me if I had a reputation for being a pervert.

But now I had two girls who seemed to actually be interested in me, just because I might be a pilot. Maybe if they knew I was a pilot girls might actually start to notice me instead of just ignoring me all the time. Even the guys would probably think it was pretty neat that I was a pilot. I could have friends. I could be popular. I could just imagine the scene:

Hey, I think Shinji is a pretty cool guy.

Yeah, he pilots a giant robot and doesn't afraid of anything.

I wish Shinji was my boyfriend!

I've been alone for a long time. I thought I was used to living that way, and yet now that I had a chance to not be alone, I couldn't bring myself to just let it pass by. So, before I could second guess my decision, I typed into the laptop that yes, I was the pilot.

It took less than five seconds for me to regret that particular choice.

In theory, everyone liking me and paying attention to me sounded great. In reality, having almost every person in the class suddenly swarm around me was terrifying. All these people I barely knew were crowding around me and getting way too close for comfort. Every one of them had half a dozen questions to ask, and they were all trying to shout over each other to get my attention. This was not what I had been hoping for.

There were only three people in the entire room (four if you counted the teacher, who hadn't even noticed that nobody was listening to him anymore) who weren't part of the mob around me. Ayanami obviously already knew I was a pilot, and was still staring out the window as if nothing unusual was going on in the classroom. Horaki, on the other hand, was busy yelling at everyone for disrupting class and trying to make us at least pretend we were actually proper students. The last one was this one guy in a tracksuit I don't remember seeing in class before. I would be getting acquainted with him soon.

Getting punched hurts.

"Sorry about that, new kid." Tracksuit Guy said, cracking his knuckles menacingly. "Thing is, you deserved it." He seemed to be satisfied with clobbering me once, since after that he walked off

One other guy had followed us out behind the school; he looked like a bit of a nerd, and if I remember right his name was Aida Kensuke. As Tracksuit Guy walked off, Aida stepped forward and offered me a hand up. "Sorry about Toji. He's a nice guy normally; it's just that his sister got hurt during the fight with the monster the other day. So … well … there you have it."

I guess I couldn't blame for being mad about that, but blaming me was hardly fair. "It's not my fault. It's not like I wanted to be a pilot."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Tracksuit Guy – Toji, turned around, shoved Aida out of the way, and yanked me up by the shirt. I was pretty sure I was about to get punched again. I guess I couldn't really blame him; I mean, even if I hadn't wanted to pilot the Eva, I'd still agreed to do it, and then made a mess of the subsequent battle. If I hadn't screwed up, his sister would still be fine. So, I guess I deserved to get hit.

Even if I didn't, the guy was bigger and stronger than me, and looked like he'd been in plenty of fights before, so it's not like I could actually do anything to stop him hitting me anyway.

Toji was winding up for his second punch when a single softly spoken word interrupted him. "Desist."

Toji pulled the punch short a few inches away from my face, and all three of us turned to look Rei Ayanami. For a minute, I think we were all just frozen in place with shock. Once Toji finally recovered from his surprise, and spent a few seconds looking back and forth between me and Ayanami. She was a pilot too … was he thinking of beating her up as well? I got my feet under me, and I could feel my hands curling up into fists

Of course, if I tried fighting this guy he would probably just beat me up some more. I mean, I've gotten some combat training since I became a pilot, but they've only been training me for two weeks, and that training was for fighting in the Eva, which probably wouldn't do me much good in a normal fight. A couple of the senseis I had lived with had also tried to teach me some martial arts, but the last one to try had been years ago, and I'd never been very good, so that wouldn't help either. Plus, Toji was a lot bigger and stronger than I was. However, while I might be a weakling and a coward, Ayanami had just gotten out of the hospital still had a patch over one eye and an arm in a cast. I might not be much of a man, but if he tried to hurt her I would have to do something. Maybe if tried going after this Toji guy I could keep him focused on just beating me up so he'd leave Ayanami alone?

Before things got violent, Aida stepped forward, and put a hand on Toji's shoulder. "Hey, Toji, it's not worth it. Just let it go."

Toji took a deep breath, and then released his hold on my shirt and stepped back. He couldn't just walk away without one final parting shot, though. "Some hotshot pilot you are, hiding behind a girl's skirt." As long as he was going to walk away, I was fine with letting him get the last word in.

So that just left me and Ayanami. I wouldn't have been surprised if a teacher had stepped in, or one of the students who had been so impressed by the fact that I was a pilot, and the Class Rep certainly would've intervened in a fight on general principle, but Ayanami? I mean, I know we're both pilots, but I don't think I've ever actually even spoken a single word to her. Not that I haven't wanted to, it's just … well, I don't know how to approach her. Like I said before, I don't know how to talk to girls, and girls don't want to talk to me, and Ayanami is pretty unapproachable even for a girl.

Before I could figure what to say, Ayanami spoke up again. "There is another Angel approaching. We should go." Her tone was about the same as how I would have responded if someone asked me about the weather. With that said, the girl trotted off towards Nerv.

It took me a bit to catch up with her, and a while longer to muster up enough courage to speak. "Um. Ayanami?" Ayanami said nothing but she turned her head to regard me with her one good eye. It took me a bit to speak up again. "I was wondering … why did you stop that guy from hitting me?"

"It is the tao of Peter Parker." The girl answered, her voice still completely flat.

That might have been a helpful answer if I had any idea who Peter Parker was. Judging by the name, he must have been some kind of American or English Philosopher. Of course, saying that I had no idea what she was talking about would probably just insult her, so I said nothing. However, either my body language gave it away, or she just guessed that I wouldn't be familiar with the man she referred to.

"You lacked the strength to resolve the situation on your own, so I assisted you." Ayanami elaborated. "It is my responsibility to do so."

The fact that her voice was still completely flat just made the words sting more. She didn't say it like she was trying to be mean about it, it was just a statement of fact. I was a weakling who couldn't take care of himself, so she had to protect me. Worse than that, someone had actually ordered her to protect me. I could just see my father saying that: 'Pilot Ayanami, despite the fact that you just got out the hospital and are still half-crippled and a girl, my son is such a useless weakling that I he will need you to protect him.'

"Well, thanks for helping me." I might be a worthless weakling who needed to be protected by a girl, but I wasn't going to be an ungrateful worthless weakling.

Ayanami blinked, and said nothing more as the two of us rushed to the GeoFront.

Father wasn't there when the two of us arrived. Ayanami went off to do whatever it is she was going to be doing while I was in battle, while I got changed into my plugsuit and ran to the cages. I had been hoping that Father would at least be there to witness my battle; I guess I was thinking if I did well enough, he would finally acknowledge me, but that wouldn't happen if he wasn't here to see me.

Who was I kidding? It's not like my father would suddenly start caring about me even if he was here.

Why was I piloting this thing? I knew I wasn't cut out for it, and everyone else probably knew it too, even if nobody except Ayanami would actually tell me that to my face. Then there were the people like that Toji guy, who hated me just because I was a pilot…

"Shinji, it's time to mobilize. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Misato."

"Alright. Remember, neutralize the target's AT Field, then fire a burst into the Angel's core. It'll just like we practiced. Understood?"

"Yeah. Center in on the target and pull the trigger." Just like all the practices, except that this time if I messed up I'd end up dead instead of just having to deal with Dr. Akagi being disappointed in me and Lt. Ibuki trying to encourage me to do better next time.

"Center in on the target and pull the trigger." I could do this.

The Evangelion launched, and then I was face-to-face with the Fourth Angel. I guess I'd expected it to look like the last Angel I'd fought, but it didn't. Instead of being humanoid it looked kinda snake-like, and it had a pair of glowing tentacle-type things along its sides.

"Center in on the target and pull the trigger." I did exactly that, just like all the times we'd practiced. Well, not exactly like all the times we'd practiced; Miss Katsuragi always told me I should only fire in short bursts, but I couldn't make myself let go of the trigger. In the simulations, the Angel always went down after I fired a few shots into it, nice and clean. This time, a big cloud of smoke from detonating shells and debris obscured the Angel, and I couldn't tell if it had gone down or not. I could hear Misato yelling at me stop shooting, but she didn't understand; I couldn't see the Angel, and for all I knew it could still be alive, so I held down the trigger until the magazine started clicking on empty.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down a bit. I couldn't see the Angel any more. I guess that meant I'd gotten it, right? That hadn't been so hard after all. I could do this.

Then an energy tentacle lashed out at me from behind the cloud of smoke. I tried to dodge and wound up just stumbling backwards and falling down, but that meant the tentacle went over my head instead of hitting me, so I guess it was good enough. Instead, the Angel's attack just cut the barrel off of my rifle, and carved the building I'd been standing next to in half.

Let me repeat that; it cut a building in half with a single attack. If I'd been a fraction of a second slower in dodging, it would have been me that got cut in half instead.

"We're sending out the spare rifle Shinji. Take it!" A map popped up on a part of the viewscreen, showing me where the rifle was and what the best route would be to get to it. There was just one problem; the rifle was almost a mile away from where I was; the Angel was a lot closer than that. It would kill me before I could get to the rifle. I was going to die.

I was going to die!

The Angel's tentacles lashed out, and I did everything I could to avoid taking another hit, to stay alive just a little bit longer. I wasn't really thinking or coming up with any kind of strategy; I was running on pure survival instinct, trying as hard as I could to just stay alive for the next few seconds. What else could I do?

Eventually, I tried going to the left when I should have gone to the right, and wound up getting smacked into one of the larger reinforced buildings that was actually solid enough to survive the collision with my Eva. While I was still stunned from the first hit, the Angel followed up on, sending my Eva smashing through the carved up remnants of the building. Alarms started blaring in the entry plug, and a clock popped up in my field of vision and started counting down from five minutes.

"Umbilical cable severed, Eva is operating on internal power." The rest of the bridge crew continued shouting various status updates, but I wasn't really listening any more. Now I was in really big trouble; not only was completely out of my league, but if I didn't find some way to win or at least get away in less than five minutes, I would run out of power and be a sitting duck.

While all this was going through my head, the Angel wrapped a tentacle around one of Unit 01's ankles, and casually flung me into the air. I had a blurred impression of the city and the sky spinning around me, until my flight came to abrupt stop when my back slammed into a hill on the outskirts of the city.

For a second I couldn't think about much beyond the fact that I'd just been tossed several miles through the air, and that really, really hurt. The good news was that I could hear the command crew saying that nothing had been seriously damaged; the bad news was that I was now even further away from any possibility of getting the spare rifle, or a fresh umbilical cable.

I realized I could feel something pushing against the palm of my hand, and since the Angel was still pretty far away I had no idea what it could be. I lifted my hand a bit and the pressure eased, and underneath it I saw a dome of solid rock. Once the Eva's hand was clear, the dome receded back into the ground, and revealed three people behind it. Two of them I recognized right away; that Toji guy who had punched me, and his friend Aida. The third was some older-looking European guy I'd never seen before, dressed in a grey cloak and carrying a European-style sword of all things.

"Hell's bells! What's Morgan doing here?" I guess that explains how this Morgan guy could call up walls of solid rock; he must be a wizard like Mister Dresden.

Before I had a chance to ask Mr. Dresden about this Morgan, the man in question yelled something at my two fellow students in English. Even if I hadn't understood what the word 'run' meant, I probably would have been able to figure it out just from the fact that it was the only sane course of action at the moment. Toji and Aida started running away from the area as fast as they could.

The two of them were still way too close when the Angel got here. I couldn't just get up and fight; if I did, I would probably end up stepping on someone in the chaos of the battle; I already would have squashed Toji and Aida if Morgan hadn't intervened, after all. Morgan growled something in a language I didn't recognize and thrust a fist towards the Angel. A huge chunk of solid rock ripped out from the ground and hurtled at the Angel, only to bounce ineffectively off of it's AT field.

In response to Morgan's attack, the Angel lashed out with its energy tentacles, sending one at my downed Eva, and the other in Morgan's direction. I couldn't dodge without the risk of crushing someone, and even if I dodged the attack aimed at me Morgan would still be in danger, so instead I grabbed both of the tentacles.

Grabbing the tentacles denied the Angel its only means of attack, but judging by the uncomfortable warmth spreading through my hands I was probably damaging them, and a stalemate was not a good situation for someone who only has three and a half minutes of power left. Morgan tried tossing some more magic at it, but nothing got through the Angel's AT field. That's when I came up with a desperate plan.

I cued the Evangelion's external speakers. "Um, Morgan, right? Aim for the big red thing in the center of its chest and hit it with your best attack when I tell you to." I tried to block out the pain in my hands, and concentrated on bringing my own AT field up, and using it to neutralize the Angel's defenses. "Now!"

I giant fist of stone burst out the ground between my Eva's legs and struck the Angel's core with an uppercut. As far as I could tell the attack hadn't actually damage the Angel's core, but it Angel did stagger a bit as if the blow had caught it off guard and actually hurt a little bit. I took advantage of the opening to plant a foot on the Angel's long torso and shove it away, while simultaneously throwing the tentacles back. The Angel floated back away from me, eventually coming to a rest about a mile away back in Tokyo-3 proper.

A warning alarm went off, and I saw that I only had a little more than a minute of battery power left. How had that happened? I'd had more than three minutes left just a little bit ago. Then I remembered that Mr. Dresden had mentioned that magic could mess with high-tech stuff; I guess those spells Morgan was using must have had some kind of effect on the batteries.

"Good work Shinji!" Miss Katsuragi's voice wasn't quite as clear as it had been at the start of the battle, probably another side effect of being anywhere near a wizard tossing spells around. "Now get out of there! Use extraction route 34! Fall back to the eastern side of the mountain!"

Miss Katsuragi wanted me to run? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Nobody thought I could actually handle this. Normally I would have agreed with them, but now, in the middle of this battle, I was thinking differently.

"I mustn't run away."

I would show them all I could be a real Evangelion pilot.

"I mustn't run away."

I would prove that I wasn't just a useless weakling.

"I mustn't run away."

I would show my father that I deserved his respect.

"I mustn't run away!"

I pulled out the progressive knife.

"Shinji! I gave you an order, now retreat!" Miss Katsuragi didn't sound happy. Once I won the battle and proved myself, she would understand.

I'm not sure if my shout was a battlecry or a scream of terror; maybe it was both. My Eva charged down the mountain at the Fourth Angel. When I was most of the way there the Angel lashed out with both of its energy tentacles, and with my speed tied in charging straight at it I couldn't hope to dodge in time. So I took the hits, screamed out my agony, and kept charging.

Through the pain, I saw that I'd finally gotten close enough to the Angel, and I thrust the progressive knife into its core. When the Angel didn't go down, I pulled the knife out, and stabbed again, and again, and again. I'm not sure how many times I stabbed it, but eventually went completely still. Seconds later, my Eva's power supply ran out.

And then there was just me, alone in my darkened entry plug. I suppose that was a good thing; nobody was there to see me break down crying as all the pain and terror of the fight finally caught up to me.