Episode 3 begins! Shinji is slowly settling into Tokyo-3 as the company of Sachiel starts to become helpful. However, the battle is far from over yet.


August 2nd, 2015

Shinji was at NERV, going through some testing and training for the various weapons that an Evangelion can use. After a long week at school, relaxing was what Shinji wanted. Alas, that was not the case, especially for an Eva pilot. Now wearing his own Plug Suit, a white and blue form-fitting suit that supposedly helped him sync to the Eva, Shinji prepared for training. As the Entry Plug around him flashed a multitude of colours, the space around him formed into a makeshift Tokyo-3. Obviously fake, but good enough to do its job for the time being. The Entry Plug finished flashing, and Shinji was able to view the fake city.

"Good morning, Shinji! How are you today?" Came the voice of Ritsuko over the com line.

"I'm fine."

"That's great. How's it going in there?"

"No problems. I think I'm getting used to the Eva. It's not... bad or anything."

"That's good, Shinji. Have you memorised the positions of all the Eva's emergence points, emergency power junctions, armament points, and recovery zones in Tokyo-3?"

"I think so..."

"In that case, let's review it one more time. Normally, the Evangelion runs off electricity, powered by an Umbilical Cable. In emergencies, for example, if the Cable comes out, the Eva can run off of internal batteries. Unfortunately, this only has enough power for one minute of activation at full power, with no more than five minutes in minimal activation mode. The reason for this is because of limitations in our current technology. Do you understand this, Shinji?"

"Yes." Shinji replied, in a very bored tone.

"Excellent. Now, let's continue where we left off yesterday. We'll initiate induction mode." Suddenly, a timer started counting down from five minutes as the umbilical cable came out the back of Unit-01. In the simulation, Unit-01 stood with a pallet rifle, standing across from him, far away, was a simulation of Sachiel. The Angel wasn't moving, simply staring across at Shinji, the real Sachiel, currently sitting on Unit-01's controls, voiced his concern.

"That's really creepy. It's like looking at yourself."

"Well spotted, Sachiel. Now, Shinji, position the target in the centre, then squeeze the trigger switch 'on'." Shinji's first attempt to shoot down the fake Sachiel ended with no damage to the target, as the flurry of bullets flew above the head of the fake Sachiel. Sachiel winced as the bullets flew past, remembering how much bullets had hurt, even if they didn't do much. "Calm yourself, Shinji. Now, position the target in the centre, and pull the trigger." The time the shot was successful. The fake Sachiel got hit right in the core, falling over and collapsing to the ground, fake blood spraying through the air. The fake Angel exploded, giving a small light show to Shinji in Unit-01. "Good job, Shinji. Just keep going." Ritsuko said as the fake Sachiel appeared again, and Shinji repeated the process.

In a room overlooking Unit-01, Ritsuko and Maya ran the simulation, while they couldn't see it themselves, Shinji definitely could. Unit-01 moved in the room itself, while Ritsuko and Maya watched, shrouded in darkness.

"You know, I am surprised that Shinji agreed to pilot again." Maya stated as fire continued to ring through the area.

"It seems he simply does as he's told. I suppose it's just his way of getting through life." Misato stood at the back of the room, listening to Ritsuko speak, not saying anything, simply watching her charge.

"Position the target in the centre and pull the switch." Shinji repeated to himself as he kept gunning to fake Angel down. Sachiel watching in awe as Shinji continued to kill a fake version of himself over and over again. It was quite surreal actually.

"Great job, Shinji. Now, let's try with a Gatling Gun now."


August 6th, 2015

The Apartment was silent. Not a single soul was moving. Misato was currently lying under a den of blankets, in an obvious state of 'I don't want to move.' Shinji appeared at the door, opening it slightly, where Misato was still dead to the world. "Misato? It's morning already."

"I just got back from night duty." Misato replied, heavily sleepy. "I don't have to go back to work till this evening, so please let me sleep."

"Okay then. I'll go. See you this afternoon, Misato."

"Hey!" Shinji turned back to Misato as her arm waved out of the blanket. "Isn't today, Thursday?" Shinji made a noise of confirmation as Misato continued to only use one arm. "Can you take the trash to the garage, please."

"Yes, Misato." Shinji replied as he prepared to leave.

"So, how is school?"

"It's fine."

"Okay. Well, you go now. Have a good day!"

"I'll see you later, Misato." Shinji replied with a small smile on his face. Shutting the door so Misato could sleep, Shinji left with the trash.


Misato groaned as the phone started ringing, debating whether to leave it or not, Misato finally grabbed the phone and answered it. "Hello? Oh, it's you, Ritsuko."

- Neon Genesis Evangelion OST I - Track 5 - Hedgehog's Dilemma -

"How's it going?" Ritsuko replied in a much cheerier manner than Misato did. "Are you getting along with your boyfriend?" Ritsuko teased as Misato took a second to figure out what she meant.

"Boyfriend? Oh, you mean Shinji. Well, he transferred into school a couple weeks ago and he hasn't really changed that much. Sachiel speaks to him a lot but aside from that, not much has really happened with him. I don't know if he's made any friends, he never gets any calls. It seems like he's scared to make friends."

"Calls him?"

"Well, I figured that, since he'd need one, I gave him a cell phone a while back. I don't think he's ever used it though, or received any calls."

"I'd guess that Shinji's the sort that doesn't make friends easily. Might be a previous experience or something."

"Mhmm."

"Do you know the fable, the Hedgehog's Dilemma?"

"Hedgehog? Those animals with the spiny hair?"

"Basically, even though a hedgehog might want to get close to another hedgehog, the closer they get, the more they injure each other with their spines. It's the same with some humans. Shinji is most likely afraid of pain, and has closed himself off to others."

"Well, he'll eventually learn that growing up means getting closer to others, and distancing them, finding that distance where you can avoid hurting each other too much."

- End -


Leaving the trash outside the incinerator, Shinji set off on his way to school. Staying mostly silent, and to himself, as he wandered the streets. When he arrived, he made his way to the classroom as quickly as possible. Entering the room, he gave a slight wave to Hikari when she smiled at him, before finding his seat. For a quick moment, he glanced over at Rei staring out the window, before settling himself down.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrngggggggggg. Dadadadadadadadada, bweeeeeeech. Rrrrrrengh, chchchchchchchch. Bobobobooosh." Hikari frowned at the boy playing with a model VTOL, not noticing that she was there. As she made to clear her throat, the boy noticed. "What's up, Class Rep?" The boy asked, he wore glasses and had quite shaggy blonde hair.

"Did you deliver the printout I gave you yesterday?"

"What? Well, you see..." Behind the boy, he was busy stuffing the obviously not delivered printout into his desk. "There wasn't anybody home at Toji's place."

"Kensuke Aida. You are good friends with Toji Suzahara, right? Aren't you even just a little bit worried that he's been out of school for just over two weeks?"

"You don't suppose he was injured, Class Rep?"

"What? In that robot incident? I hope not..." HIkari muttered the last bit to herself, no one was to ever know. "The television report said that nobody was injured!"

"Do you seriously believe that? You saw the explosion site on Mount Takanosu, didn't you?"

"Not all of us are military buffs, Mr. Aida." Ignoring her, Kensuke continued.

"Not only were Iruma and Komatsu dispatched, they also brought in troops from Misawa and Kyushu. I'll bet well over a dozen people were injured, and there had to be some casualties as well." The door suddenly opened, standing there, in a black tracksuit, was a tall boy with dark hair. "Toji!"

"Suzahara!" Hikari murmured as the boy entered the room, a massive frown on his head. Slamming his stuff on the table next to Kensuke, the boy glanced around the room.

"Where is everybody? Did the class population drop overnight or something?"

"They've all either evacuated, or transferred to other schools." Kensuke replied, as Toji sat on his desk. "After all, no one wants to stay in the city after that battle that happened a couple weeks ago."

"Yeah, you're probably the only one who's actually enjoyin' the chance to see a real war."

"That's true. Speaking of which. Where have you been, Toji? You were gone for so long. Did you get caught in the crossfire or something?" Kensuke stated, a large grin on his face as he whipped his camera back and forth.

"No, but Sakura did." Kensuke lowered his camera, a frown on his face. "She got trapped under some rubble. She survived, but she's been in hospital ever since. Both Dad and Gramps work at the lab, and there's no way they can leave their posts right now. So if I'm not there, she's alone." Toji muttered in sadness, before changing his tone completely. "The pilot of that robot was complete shit! Why the hell did they wreck the city!? What did that fucking idiot think he was doing!?"

"Speaking of the pilot, did you hear the news, we have a new transfer student."

"What transfer student?"

"Him, over there." Kensuke replied, indicating to Shinji, sitting on his own a couple rows ahead. "He transferred in while you were absent. He arrived right after the robot incident. Don't you think that's a bit suspicious?"

"Leave the boy alone, Mr. Aida!" HIkari stubbornly replied, making both Kensuke and Toji jump.

"Class Rep!" Toji said, a frown on his face.

"You'd better remember it, Mr. Suzahara! Now sit down, sensei's here!" 'Toji... why did you become this way?' As she thought this, Nebukawa no Sensei entered the room, prompting Hikari to assume her duties. "Rise! Bow! Sit!" A flurry of activity occurred as everyone rushed to their seats, sensei beginning the lesson.

"And so, humankind was about to face its greatest trial." And immediately, everyone started to fall asleep as soon as Sensei began his spiel. "In the last year of the 20th Century, the massive meteor from outer space slammed into the continent of Antarctica. The continent's ice cap melted almost instantaneously. The water level of the oceans rose, and the Earth was thrown of its axis, and new, abnormal weather patterns threatened the lives of all living things. Several thousand living things, and half the Earth's population was wiped out. This was the Second Impact. The survivors had to live in the hell of economic collapse, ethnic conflicts, and civil wars." Shinji tuned sensei out as a notification appeared on his laptop. Pressing enter, he read the message.

Is it true you're the pilot of that robot? Y/N

Shinji frowned as he looked around him, trying to figure out who was speaking. A couple of girls at the back of the room grinned and waved at him, giving him an answer.

It's true, isn't it. Y/N

Shinji sat in thought for a moment, he wasn't sure whether to answer or not, but not really knowing the consequences, settled on a decision.

Yes

Chaos emerged as basically every single student in the class stood up at once to talk to Shinji, feeling overwhelmed, Shinji attempted to hide himself as everyone tried to talk to him. Hikari stood up abruptly and headed towards the commotion to sort everything out.

"Come on, you guys. Leave him alone!" Shinji looked up at Hikari gratefully as she gave him a small smile, before resuming her duties. "Sit down! We still have class you know!" No one listened. Instead, Shinji got a barrage of questions regarding his pilot status, whether he knew how to be chosen, the Eva itself. Unfortunately, Shinji either, couldn't answer because he didn't know, or couldn't answer because it was classified information.

Only a few students didn't stand to harass Shinji. Rei continued to stare out the window, Hikari continued to try to get everyone to calm down, to no avail, Kensuke glanced over, craning his neck to try and get any piece of interesting information from Shinji. Sensei didn't notice that his class was not paying attention, instead continuing to go on about Second Impact. However, Shinji would be saved very quickly, when a bell sounded, signifying the end of class.

"Oh... That's all for today."

"Rise! Bow! Come on guys, at least show some manners at the end of class!"

Toji watched the huddle from the back of the room. A big scowl on his face.


Shinji fell backwards as he was punched in the face. Toji stood above, massaging his hand. Kensuke stood to the left, only really watching.

"Sorry, new kid. But I gotta beat you up! I wouldn't feel right until I popped one on your face." Shinji scowled, memories of his previous school life before Tokyo-3 popping into his mind.

"Sorry," Kensuke interjected, as Toji started to waltz away. "His younger sister in that incident a couple weeks ago, when you and your robot fought that battle. Well, that's his excuse anyway."

"I didn't have a choice!" Shinji started, standing up and staring Toji down. "They made me pilot the damn thing!" Toji turned and waltzed right back to Shinji, shoving Kensuke out of the way, he grabbed Shinji by his shirt, and lifted him up. Toji glared at Shinji, Shinji stared defiantly back. "Do it. I dare you." Toji growled and punched Shinji again, sending the boy back to the ground. Shinji stood up immediately, he ran towards Toji, his arm ready to send the other boy flying...

"Mr. Ikari! Mr. Suzahara!" Shinji and Toji turned to see the angry face of Hikari Horaki coming towards them, her hands on her hips. When she arrived, she pushed the two boys away from each other.

"But Class Rep!"

"Shut it, Suzahara! Attacking the new student is not a way to spend a break!"

"But..."

"He did nothing!"

"Yes, he did! He was piloting the robot that hurt my sister!" Hikari growled as she pulled on Toji's ear.

"Maybe I should put you on cleaning duty this afternoon, how's that sound, Suzahara!"

"Yes, Class Rep. Sure, Class Rep."

"Apologise, now!"

"Sorry, Ikari." Toji stated, before strutting away, not really meaning his apology. Kensuke smiled slightly, before leaving as well. Hikari frowned, before turning to Shinji.

"You shouldn't return the favour, Shinji. I really ought to put you on cleaning duty as well. But not with Toji, he'll just continue as if nothing happened here."

"Thanks, Hikari."

"You're welcome." She smiled slightly, before noticing his lip, it was slightly cut. "We'd better get you cleaned up." Shinji said nothing as Hikari led him through the school to the nurses office. Sitting him down, she started to clean the small wound quietly.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's what a friend would do. Don't mind Toji, he'll calm down, he just... needs time..."

"Sure, but I don't want to get beat up again."

"I'm sure you won't. There, all done." Shinji touched his face, before smiling over at Hikari.

"Thanks, Hikari."

"No problem!" As they were leaving, Rei appeared in the doorway, staring right at Shinji, she only said a few words.

"There's an emergency. Come. I'll report in first." Right afterwards, an alarm klaxon started blaring throughout the city. Turning to Hikari, Shinji apologised quickly, before they went their seperate ways, Hikari towards the shelters, Shinji and Rei towards NERV.


Far out at sea, a creature was flying across the water. A long red being floating across the water. Two long arthropod like arms extended from the sides. Underneath, lots of small white legs were constantly moving, never stopping. On its head, two red eyes stared straight into the air. A red core sat in the middle of the moving legs, the small amount of protection doing its job. The being didn't stop, and continued on its course.

Shamshel was approaching.


Shamshel is on his way! You'll have to wait until next chapter though for the battle itself. Anyway, Toji and Kensuke make their entrance! Albeit, not in the friendly way. Hikari continues being Shinji's friend by tending to his wounds after the fight between him and Toji. And of course, School! Until the 7th, Ciao!

Changes to Original Series:
Shinji stands up for himself when Toji punches him, planning on returning the favour. This is Shinji's Manga Personality coming out.
Hikari interupts the fight and escorts Shinji to the nurses office, where Rei finds him.
Shamshel's design is based on Rebuild 1.0.