Shinji was expediently excavated from the Entry Plug, his LCL soaken clothing peeled off of him and thrown into biohazard bags. I heard the rescue crew mention they didn't know how much the inside had been contaminated by the damage Unit-01 had sustained, so they weren't leaving anything to chance. The poor kid was pulled out of the capsule, naked and unconsciously shivering, like a newborn from it's womb. He was thrown haphazardly onto a stretcher and quickly wheeled off into the depths of the facilities for testing, disappearing through a dark hallway in the company of a dozen faceless doctors, decked out in full protective gear.

Pushing the state of the boy out of my mind, I accompanied a noticeably shaken Dr. Akagi on a check of Unit-01's status. While she certainly seemed like she was perplexed, there was still something off about her attitude. She tapped repeatedly on a clipboard with the back of her pen.

"So… should I even try to ask what that was?" It was a bold thing to start with, but I wanted answers. She dodged around it.

"It was almost a critical failure. Let's leave it at that." She coldly brushed me off and continued with her checks.

A part of me couldn't leave things as they stood, however. "You saw the exact same thing I did, didn't you? You don't have anything you can tell me about what it was? You really expect me to-"

She turned on her heel, and glared daggers into me. "You don't need to know what it was. Just do your job and worry about yourself."

Why was I so intent on getting to the bottom of this? My own morbid curiosity, or was there something deeper motivating me? That feeling, perhaps? It had already faded from my chest, but I could now recall it with ease. A part of me, forgotten to time, lost in the mire of growing up and moving forward with my life, towards a goal I had never set. That passionate, fighting spark. Something that felt like it could finally set me apart from the emptiness I had been feeling. I didn't want to lose it forever.

"Dr. Akagi." I took a step forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, her clipboard and pen clattering to the floor. Her eyes, whilst keeping their glare, lessened in intensity by the unsuredness of what I was about to do. "I want you to know that I am more than willing to do whatever you need me to do here. But how am I supposed to work on the Eva if I don't even understand everything about it? I need to be met halfway."

"No, you don't."

I spun around to find myself staring at Gendo Ikari. His right hand man, Fuyutsuki, stood behind him at arm's length. They both had their eyes glued to me, so I released my grasp on Dr. Akagi. I offered her a soft apology as I turned to fully face the older men.

There was silence for a couple minutes. A deep, painful silence. There was a part of me that expected to be shot and disposed of on the spot. When Gendo spoke next, his voice was steady and clear. "Simply put, Dr. Akagi is correct. You don't need to know what exactly happened today. The reason for that, is that it's not something that anyone here can properly explain without mentioning things that are beyond your pay grade." I furrowed my brow as he turned to walk away. "Your job here is to do what is asked of you. Nothing more. If you can't handle that, you're free to walk away. But you won't find the answers to every question you have. You just have to live with that if you do intend to be a part of this."

They were gone.

Dr. Akagi bent down and picked up her clipboard and pen, brushing her hair out of her eyes once she stood. "I'm sorry, but that's as much as I think you should do here today, Hatsuyuki.", she offered a small, trite smile as I ran a hand through my hair.

"I… am tired."

"It's fine, I'll forget about your outburst; I can surely understand where you're coming from. Of course, as long as you come in bright and early tomorrow morning to assist with Unit-01's repairs." She pointed towards the exit and I nodded. It was only fair, I really was exhausted. Guess I just have to bury my questions, for now.

But the flame's echo still burned in my chest. I had something -something small- but something, regardless, to grab onto right now. That would have to be enough. I didn't know what Angels would appear next, or when, but I needed to be ready, I understood that clearly now. I needed to poise myself, and above all else, I needed to do my job.

It's what my parents and Tatsumi would've wanted.

The lonely air of my apartment was a welcome freshness after the day I had experienced. Luckily, the complex itself wasn't damaged in the Angel's chaos. I prayed deeply that I'd be able to get back to that good night's rest I had begun the night prior.

As I trudged my way into my shower, letting the scalding water tear holes in my back, I reflected on the day. It really all went by in a flash.

But somehow, the visual confirmation that the Evangelion wasn't actually just a machine calmed my nerves. Being something beyond that description, no matter how mysterious, would be a fact I came to find solace in. As I had previously thought, maybe I didn't need to fully understand it. Maybe it really was better this way.

I was no longer plagued by its visage. While its berserk, crudely instinctual actions chilled me, that chill was replaced now by this new resolve. Now that I have an idea of what to expect from this job, the rest should be easy. I'll let Shinji handle the Angels with that monster, and I'll make sure everything is up and running perfectly for him. We'll crush them.

With that thought leaving a smile on my face, I settled into my bed, and finally, finally, got a full night of peaceful rest.

The next few weeks were almost blur. Almost.

With an updated, seemingly more positive, outlook, I jumped into the repair of Unit-01, amongst other odd jobs around the base, with great fervor.

Commander Katsuragi took up the mantle of watching over Shinji while he lived in Tokyo-3. Since I lived in the same apartment complex, I was invited to have dinner with them one night, and I was surprised how quickly Shinji had adjusted to living here. The way he and Katsuragi bickered and fooled around with each other made me smile. Though, deep inside I also felt a distant pang of regret. After our meal (of awkwardly warmed TV dinners), Katsuragi attempted to 'see what I was like drunk', but ultimately, I excused myself before getting wrapped up in that. Letting my commanding officer drink herself silly alone might be seen as irresponsible by some, but something tells me she spends more nights like that than not. To each their own, I suppose, but I wasn't a heavy drinker, though I can understand the feeling of wanting to be after having a job like she has.

Every day since he awoke, I had also helped oversee Shinji's training. He ran combat program after combat program for multiple hours every day. On top of having to attend classes at the local school, and picking up after Katsuragi at home, I could start to see his lethargy shine through in his testing results. At a time like this, unfortunately, we couldn't afford to let him off the hook for even one day. We didn't know exactly when another Angel would arrive, and right now, Shinji was our only line of defense.

Well, I say right now. Shortly after the Angel's initial attack, I learnt of another pilot from Dr. Akagi, one that had been recovering deep in NERV's medical facilities for weeks...

Her name was Rei Ayanami. Like Shinji, she too was a pilot for the Evangelion, specifically the "prototype", Unit-00. When I first had a chance to meet her, it was a couple days after Shinji woke up, during prep for Unit-00's rebooting. According to Dr. Akagi, Unit-00 encountered some testing problems that put it out of commission before I had arrived, and because of this, Rei was injured, and development focus went towards the production model, Unit-01.

Sometime after the first battle, it was decided that testing would start up again on Unit-00. Having two Evangelion models to bolster our fighting force would be a boon, obviously, no matter how you sliced it. As long as we had two willing pilots and two working Evas, we'd be able to better protect humanity.

That was the first time I had met her, and I don't know how to explain it, but she had an oddly... calming presence. She was quiet, not saying a single word to me, even though we were in the same room for almost an hour, but strangely, I didn't find it creepy or unsettling. She just stood there, watching me as I did my busy work on Unit-00. She looked to be in rough shape, her arms and face covered in casts and bandages, but that didn't affect how she moved around all that much. Even though it felt strange, it also felt nice to not be lonely down there in the maze of identical testing rooms, and with Rei being the way she was, I never felt the need to force a conversation. We were both just content in silence for that short while.

I was in good spirits at the time, but soon we would have another problem staring us in the face.

Unit-00 was far from prepared when the next Angel attacked.

Luckily, Shinji was. Or at least, he should've been. When he entered the battle, he immediately started it by emptying Unit-01's Pallet Rifle ammunition into the beast, completely ignoring the battle plan that was agreed on, and forgetting his own training. Maybe we exhausted him, I thought to myself, but that was tomorrow's problem. Today's problem was getting rid of this thing.

The long, red, shimmering body of this... serpent certainly made it stand out from its predecessor. It's core was visible, but in a particularly tricky spot: under its head, but not quite in its neck. It also had two lengthy, thin appendages; like whips, they flailed around, creating sparks of electricity as they barraged Unit-01's, now defensive, stance. It was smaller in stature, but it was making a point not to be underestimated.

Unexpectedly, the whip-like arms of the Angel managed to sever Unit-01's energy supply, giving the Evangelion 5 minutes of back-up power before the machine would shut down. That shut down would prove fatal, so Shinji, without much choice, had to attempt a retreat. He had to, but he didn't. Unit-01 kept fighting desperately to destroy the Angel, as Katsuragi barked orders that weren't being listened to. I didn't know whose side to agree with, so I kept quiet. However, the Angel seemingly wasn't about to let Shinji get a head up, ramming into Unit-01 and knocking it flat onto a nearby hill.

I don't know what protocols should've been in place to prevent what happened next, but the monitors in Central Dogma began focusing on two young men currently trapped in the midst of Shinji's battle. In a heated moment, Commander Katsuragi ordered Shinji to allow the two boys into the Entry Plug. Once they were in, Shinji's sync rate began lowering due to the mental interference from the new entrants.

Things were looking grim, and Katsuragi pleaded with Shinji multiple times to retreat, but with only seconds left to Unit-01's power supply, he pulled a crazy move I wasn't expecting from the kid. Unit-01 bounded down the hill, releasing its combat knife from the sheath on its shoulder, and jumped into the creature. The Evangelion was pierced by both of its arms, but that was just the opening he needed. Letting out a bloodcurdling scream, Shinji jabbed the knife deep into the Angel's core, and as the power timer hit 0:00:00, the Angel's lifesigns ceased.

All was quiet for a moment, as everyone in the command center held their breath, awaiting a movement from either beast, but there was only stillness. As Shinji and the other two young men were left stranded inside the Eva's entry plug, we in the Central Dogma began celebration.

Shinji quit being a pilot after this battle.

It caused us quite a stir.

He made his intentions very clear to Commander Katsuragi when they were at home, which caused me to spend my day off in the labs with Dr. Akagi, doing medical exams on Rei in order to assess whether or not she was fine to become Unit-01's main pilot. Commander Katsuragi arrived shortly after we began to talk with Dr. Akagi.

"So he hasn't tried contacting you?" Dr. Akagi didn't sound particularly worried, she didn't even look up from the tests. I suppose we still had Rei, after all, but it was also the general aloofness I had come to expect from her, so I didn't think too much of it.

"Mm-mh, not at all." Katsuragi looked up towards the monitors, letting the warm light soak into her face. "Something tells me... he's not going to come back." She began fidgeting around with the side of her jacket as she looked on, deep in thought.

I took the bout of silence to pop in. "So, what are you gonna do?"

"Nothing. I mean, what can I do?" The Commander took a few steps forward, now crossing her arms. "It might even be better if he doesn't come back. For himself, anyway." The silence fell over us again.

"Why would you say that?" Dr. Akagi questioned, still looking over Rei's test readings. "He's your responsibility, isn't he?" We both looked up at Katsuragi expectantly for her answer.

"...it's because of what happened after the last battle." Her face flashed signs of regret, and I understood what she meant.

After the Angel was defeated and Shinji was retrieved, he was brought straight to containment, on Katsuragi's orders. They were in there for over an hour. I only heard about what was said second-hand, but apparently she really went into him about not following her orders. Shinji didn't give her the responses that she was looking for, and so he left looking more tired than I had ever seen him before. I had initially passed it off as after-battle fatigue, but looking back, I can understand that he was really hurting.

"If piloting the Eva is causing him that much pain, then yeah, I think he'll be better off if he doesn't come back." I could tell she wanted her words to sound angry, but all I heard was an older sister worried about her younger sibling, or something to that effect. "Otherwise… he'll probably just end up dead."

"We do need pilots, so you shouldn't just leave things as they are. You understand that, right?" Dr. Akagi probably knows Katsuragi better than anyone else at NERV. I guess that's why she wasn't worried. I think we both knew that she wanted to find Shinji, more than anyone.

"Of course I know that, but you understand what I'm saying, right? I don't want him thinking the only reason we have him around is to die for us or anything. With the way he was talking…" She trailed off.

A couple hours later, Shinji was found out on the countryside by NERV operatives. He was brought back to HQ for further questioning, and he was given his ultimatum by Katsuragi. He chose to quit, initially, and was escorted with his things to the train station.

But by some stroke of luck, he stayed on the platform as the train passed.

Then he just… accepted his duty, out of the blue, rejoining NERV.

If you ask me, it was a bit anticlimactic, what with the wrenches he so swiftly tossed into our plans, but with everything weighing on the kid, I couldn't fault him. At least he was back where we could keep an eye on him, and Katsuragi will probably try looking out for him a bit more properly from now on, er, hopefully.

Could this even be called a happy ending, though, considering how little time for R&R he got before the next Angel attack occurred? If there really is a God out there, they have a sick sense of humor.

All green.

After just a few days of revived testing on Unit-00, we reached a position where the prototype Evangelion could feasibly be fielded. All of Rei's sync tests were coming back good, and the unit itself was in peak condition. We couldn't ask for better at this time.

However, the speed at which the next Angel approached caught us all off guard.

A sleek, azure diamond.

Its form seemed harmless, but with it, came a mysteriousness. Unsettling was a more accurate description, I suppose. It was impossible to infer what it would be capable of as things stood, so of course, Shinji being on standby, we sent Unit-01 into combat immediately, hoping to get the jump on it.

We couldn't have made a worse mistake.

As the elevator carried the Evangelion to the surface, energy immediately began circling around the front.

"What the hell is it doing?" Commander Katsuragi whispered to herself, but the laser that exploded from the front of the creature answered her question in a split second. Like a jet of water, the energy collided with Unit-01, just as its elevator broke ground; the surrounding area turned molten from the heat, and the LCL inside the Entry Plug began boiling. Shinji's screams shredded the ears of everyone in Central Dogma, and barely over them, the calls were made to retract the Evangelion back to the base for us to come up with a better plan.

The Angel was drilling its way into the heart of Tokyo-3. We had a clearly defined amount of time before it would pierce all the protective plating between the surface and Central Dogma. We couldn't waste any time.

With the current positive status of Unit-00, Katsuragi arranged a plan around using both Evangelion units. Since not everything in Unit-00's specs were fine tuned yet, Unit-01 was to be given control of all of Japan's electrical power, through the use of a Positron Beam Rifle (borrowed from the Japanese military, seemingly for ship combat), as it's calibration for ranged combat had already been completed. A shield was crafted for Unit-00's use, made of hundreds of layers of thick plating. With the current calculations, if directly hit with the Angel's laser, the shield would stay intact for only 17 seconds. This gave us an astronomically small margin for error. Yet, surprisingly, Gendo allowed this plan, and the Japanese government accepted the terms. Katsuragi almost fainted when she got the news, but this gave us a fighting chance and we were going to take it with everything we had. These decisions had eaten a hefty chunk of our time to finalize, so the only thing left to do was put it into action, and pray that Shinji could handle its weight.

I saw Rei and Gendo talking during the launch prep. It was strange to me that they would be as close as they are, especially with Gendo's seemingly cold treatment of his own son, but seeing Rei's face light up in conversation with him, I chalked it up to things beyond my understanding and went about with the preparations. I had been doing that a lot lately, saying "it's probably something I can't understand anyway" and leaving things as they are. It has been refreshing, to a degree, but I couldn't help but start to feel like something was wrong with me, even now.

Deep down, I wanted something to happen. Something that would ignite that flame inside me again. I didn't care what. It was the first time I could say I truly felt alive, watching Unit-01 break it's restraints and go berserk, fighting with unbridled intensity to keep living. Is this how a normal, functioning human should think? I sighed under my breath and made my way to Central Dogma to assist with the effectual prayer circle we were putting in place for the battle plan.

Shinji's first shot missed. The Angel had fired at the exact moment the shot was released, and the energy swell caused both beams to go off course, slamming into the mountains on either side of Tokyo-3.

The positron rifle still had to wait in order to build up charge for a second shot, but the Angel had the luxury of firing it's follow-up shot almost immediately after. Unit-00 did it's job, jumping into the path of the energy, giving Unit-01 enough time to finish charging.

Unit-00's shield was hit with the full brunt of the energy stream, and the machine's plating began to melt, even with the increased resistance, but with a second shot just barely charged, Shinji fired again.

This time, hitting its mark perfectly.

As the diamond-shaped behemoth crumbled to pieces in the streets of Tokyo-3, the command center once again exploded in celebration for the victory, with Katsuragi doing the loudest shouts.

But with the technicians of NERV making noise and focusing on one another's excitement, I stayed off to the side, my eyes focused on the Evangelion units.

I watched as Shinji forcibly ejected Unit-00's Entry Plug, and with my eyes glued to the monitor in front of me, I followed him as he jumped out of his own Plug, making his way over to Rei's. He pulled the scalding hot emergency open latch, popping the side of Rei's Plug open. As he clambered inside, LCL pouring around him, I tapped my finger on the controls to zoom in.

He was crying, but also smiling.

What an interesting kid he was. Rei too, for that matter. From what I could tell, this entire operation was a success, so I turned the monitor off and smiled to myself, leaving the two kids to their privacy.

Lying awake tonight didn't feel so bad. I had been getting good rest lately, so I could handle staying up a little while now, to think about my place in all of this. It's been about a month since I joined NERV, and I think this experience has been extremely important for me. I had felt lost for so much of my life, I think I understand that now, and while I was slowly, but surely, coming around to experiencing life differently, there still felt like something was missing.

I recalled the night from a couple weeks back, before the first Angel's arrival, but right now it was nothing more than noises, echoing in my head without form. I had heard something, almost as if in a dream, but the exact words escaped me. Was it something important? Perhaps. If it was important, surely it would come back to me eventually.

Closing my eyes and letting the cool air of my room lull me to sleep, I thought of the Angels. We had defeated three of them so far without any major losses, but the last one pushed us to our limit. If we had been a minute late, or Unit-00's shield crumbled a second early, we could've…

No, I can't think like that. My mind had begun swirling, but I nipped that in the bud. I just have to keep looking forward, for now.

Until this is all over. Right?

No matter what lengths I saw my future at NERV going, the next job I was assigned never once entered my head as a possibility. The very idea of it confused me to my core.

Yet, there I was, with a brand new array of challenges ahead of me, and precious little time to prepare myself for them...

Author's Note: Hey all, this was a bit of a rushed chapter, and I apologize for that. Initially in my planning, this chapter didn't exist at all, but I decided to bring it in to bridge events for story progression purposes, and to give Matsuo a bit more development room before Asuka joins in properly. I hope it treats you all well.

Adapting about 6 episodes of content to a single chapter was a bit messy for me, certainly a hurdle I don't want to go through again, so hopefully, I never have to fit that much content into a single chapter again. In my plans, there will be a number of shorter, breezier, and more playful chapters (based on Raising Project events, or other scenes I think would be fun) added between the big story + angel fight chapters, so look forward to those.

Anyhoo, next chapter? You guessed it. The other central character will be making her debut! Stay tuned!