Okay so here's Chapter 21! Lots of stuff here, some early work towards Unit-13, and of course, Israfel arrives and attacks! Very long chapter here, it ended up being about 25,000 Words! How did I manage that? It just happened I swear.

I should also note that alongside this new chapter update, Chapter 1 has also been rewritten! So, if you haven't already, go have a read of that as well, lots of improvements there!


September 2nd, 2015

A long day at school had come to a close, and Shinji, Asuka and Mari had been called to NERV for another Sync Test. Asuka's first since arriving in Tokyo-3.

"Ready for your first Sync Test in Japan, Princess?" Mari asked, skipping along the path towards the Geofront.

"Yes!" Asuka replied, her competitive nature coming out in full force. "Of course, I will have the highest score, seeing as I am the best pilot!"

"I don't know about that, Princess. The Puppy over here's been ranking pretty decently as well." Mari replied, keeping an eye on Asuka, wondering what the reaction will be. Mari had already gathered that Asuka was quite competitive, so she wondered what Shinji's more laid back attitude would provide.

"Oh really, Shinji!? Ranking decently, well, are we?" Asuka asked, getting up in the boy's face.

"Well yeah, I mean… it's alright." Shinji replied, staring at the ground.

"You can be so boring sometimes." Asuka bluntly said, causing Shinji to blush. Asuka started running then, glancing over her shoulder towards her fellow pilots. "Chase me, Third Child!" She cackled gleefully, dashing ahead. Shinji shrugged, before running after her. Mari grinned.

'They're so adorable!' Mari thought as she trailed along at a slower pace.


"Oh yeah! Asuka's the best!" Asuka cried out as she arrived as the NERV HQ entrance, revelling in her victory. Shinji came up soon after, panting slightly. "How's that, Third Child!?" She asked, turning towards the boy, who simply smiled at her.

"It's good, Asuka." He replied, giving her a good-natured smile. "You certainly are the best." He said, feeding her ego slightly. She gave him a smile, as Mari sauntered towards them.

"Wow! What a race!" She said, wringing her hands. "Obviously, you were both here before I was, so did you get up to anything… interesting… while you were waiting?" She asked with a cat-like grin adorning her face. Asuka blanched at Mari's question, as Shinji laughed behind her.

"What the hell are you implying by that!?" She said, getting up in Mari's face. "And why are you laughing Shinji!?"

"I'm just kidding. Geez, learn to take a joke, Princess." Mari replied, laughing slightly. Asuka huffed and turned towards the main doors, pulling out her ID Card and swiping it, opening the door, she entered quickly, grumbling something along the lines of Four-Eyes as the door shut again. Shinji sighed, turning to Mari beside him.

"Do you always have to rile her up?" He asked, wondering exactly why Mari continued to do this to Asuka. Mari shrugged.

"I can get reactions out of her, similar to you, Puppy." Mari replied, patting the boys head, stepping towards the doors and swiping her ID Card, entering the large pyramid herself. Shinji sighed, confused as he stepped towards the doors himself, pulling out his own ID Card and entering the large complex after his fellow pilots.


"LCL Filling. Starting Sync Testing. Voltage increasing to Critical Point. Voltage has passed Critical Point. Insert Synapses, Connect Junction. Transmitting Pulse. Connecting all Pilots to A-10 Headsets. All Circuits Operational. Sync Test has begun." Came the voice of Maya Ibuki over the intercom, as the four Children settled into their test plugs for their next sync test, their first after the retrieval of Unit-02 and the defeat of Gaghiel. The Children settled into their meditative states for the Sync Test, relaxing back against the seats as the Sync Test took full effect.

"Excellent, Maya." Ritsuko stated, standing beside Misato, who stood watching the four plugs carefully.

"How are they coming along, Maya?" Misato asked, wondering about her pilots and how they were progressing.

"Currently, all Pilots are settling slowly. Rei is slowing quickly, as usual. Settling once again at 50%." Ritsuko furrowed her brow.

"I've got to find some way to get Rei's Sync Ratio moving, it's been at 50 for a while now." Ritsuko noted, dotting something down on her clipboard.

"Maybe try to get her socialising with the others more." Misato suggested, thinking to herself. "Shinji developed a small group of friends soon after he arrived, and it seems that Mari and Asuka have slotted themselves right into that group as well. Rei seems to be friendly with them, but I don't know if she's actually considered a part of their group."

"I'm sure she is, Major." Maya replied, continuing to note the changes in the Synchro Graph. "Rei is just a very quiet and reserved person." She said, thinking back on the other times she'd seen and talked to the girl, which admittedly, wasn't very often.

"Yeah…" Misato replied, considering her idea once again.

"What about the others, Maya." Ritsuko asked, coming over to glance at the monitor over Maya's shoulder.

"Well, Shinji and Asuka are still fluctuating wildly, Akagi-sempai. But Mari is starting to settle, she's gone up, but only by a couple of points."

"Once we get an Eva that's suited for her we should see some better results." Ritsuko said, noting on her clipboard once again. "Let me know when Shinji and Asuka start to settle." She said, returning to glancing out towards the Test Plugs, sitting in the pool of LCL.

"What's the status on Unit-03?" Misato asked, as Ritsuko stood beside her. Ritsuko glanced over at her friend for a moment, before replying.

"It should arrive later this evening, unless something happens to the craft, but we haven't heard anything about that."

"It was going to be sent over by sea, wasn't it?" Misato asked, crossing her arms. "What happened?"

"The Over the Rainbow was supposed to pick it up, but the risk of an Angel threw off NERV-01, and they decided to send it over by air." Misato frowned.

"They were that concerned?" She asked, wondering what NERV-01 thought of the current situation.

"Yes, they didn't want anything to happen to their prized creation, so they sent it by air." Misato nodded, continuing to watch the sync test carefully.

"What about the Fourth Child? Have we heard anything from the Marduk Institute?"

"Not yet. But we are assured by the Commander that the Fourth Child will be found." Misato raised an eyebrow at her friend, confusion arising.

"What about Mari? Why can't she pilot Unit-03?" She asked, wondering.

"We've already been told that the Proto Child will not be applicable to Unit-03, we'll have to wait for a later Unit to arrive." Misato frowned, but chose not to reply as Maya spoke up, breaking through their conversation.

"Major, Sempai, Shinji and Asuka are starting to settle." Maya announced, bringing the attention of the Head of Operations and Head Scientist back to the Sync Test in progress.

"Excellent, Maya." Ritsuko replied, heading over to the technician, intent on seeing the current progress.

"What have we got, Maya?" Misato asked, watching the plugs carefully.

"Well, Asuka's raised herself a little bit, but only by a small percentage. Shinji is the same, although he is actually higher than Asuka!" Maya was surprised, thinking that Asuka, having been selected before Shinji, would have a higher sync ratio, not the other way around.

"I'm more curious to see what Asuka will think of this." Misato replied, knowing the girl prided herself on being the best of all the pilots.

"That'll certainly be an interesting conversation, so you can be the one to tell her, Misato." Ritsuko replied, giving her friend a small smirk. Misato gave her friend a glare in reply, knowing how prideful the redhead could be. "Let them sit for another couple of hours Maya, let me know if anything changes, I've got some work to do to prepare for tomorrow's test with both Shinji and Asuka."

"Of course, sempai." Maya replied, keeping an eye on the readings in front of her as Ritsuko left the room, the door sliding shut with a snap behind her.


"Hey, Makoto?" Shigeru asked, idly playing Air Guitar with his hands.

"Yes?" Makoto replied, actually paying attention to her desk, glancing over the readouts from the city. A necessary position of work, as knowing whether anything like an Angel attacking the city was a necessary precaution.

"I wonder what Maya's doing right now?" Shigeru said idly, continuing his imaginary plucking.

"Working, I'd think." Makoto replied, scanning his eyes over the readings. It was a pretty normal day. "You know, unlike you." He gave his friend a small smile, causing Shigeru to laugh idly in response.

"Hey, there's nothing going on right now, I think I deserve some downtime!" Shigeru replied, giving his friend a small smile. Makoto sighed, returning to the readings in front of him. "Anything interesting?"

"Nope." Makoto sighed. "Same as many other days. I wonder what the Major's doing?"

"I think the Pilots have a sync test?" Shigeru noted, scratching his head slightly. "That's probably where the Major and Maya are."

"That'd be a pretty good assumption." Makoto replied, turning around in his chair. "What about the Commander?"

"He's currently holed up in his office, some stuff of some sort. The Sub-Commander might come through at some point though." Shigeru said, indicating towards the rather empty Central Dogma.

"Who knows, although not many people are here, considering the current circumstances." Makoto said, returning to his board. Shigeru snorted, knowing that these situations should never be taken lightly, also returning to his own work after relaxing for a while.

The large Command Centre was silent for a while, as Makoto and Shigeru worked diligently, as much as they could given the circumstances. The silence was broken when the door slid open, and Kozo Fuyutsuki walked onto the main Command Centre. Makoto and Shigeru turned when the Sub-Commander entered the room, rising and standing straight for their superior.

"Afternoon, sir!" They chanted in unison, causing the old man to give a warm smile, indicating them to sit down.

"Afternoon, Lieutenants." Fuyutsuki replied, causing the Technicians to sit down and resume their work. "Anything of interest?" He asked, wondering what the current climate said.

"Nothing right now, sir." Makoto replied, flipping through some data. "Everything is very much normal.

"Good, Aoba, is there anything from the JSSDF?"

"No, sir. The JSSDF have been largely silent, especially since Major Katsuragi gave them a stern reply to their request to send an Evangelion out against the Fourth Angel." Fuyutsuki gave a small smile at that.

"Good, they will mostly be out of our way unless we desperately need them to be around." He said, relaxing slightly, but remaining stood at attention. "What about the Angels?"

"You mean the little ones that stick around the Pilots?" Makoto asked, glancing over at the Sub-Commander.

"Yes," Fuyutsuki said, concern about when the next Angel would attack striking him. The previous Angels had been very random in their appearance, including possibly appearing earlier than they meant to, and the reveal of the Eighteenth Angel at NERV's 5th Branch in Antarctica had set alarms going in both Gendo and Fuyutsuki's heads. It turns out there was far more to the Angels than they initially thought. "I'm wondering if they've been seen today."

"No, they haven't." Shigeru said, flipping up more data. "I think they were staying at the Major's apartment today, deciding to relax at home and bring the new Angel, the one defeated out at sea, the rundown on what was happening, and what they were doing."

"The Sixth is also here?" Fuyutsuki said, rubbing his chin in thought. "This could be interesting. Any idea what they're able to do with the Eva's?" He asked, wondering what the Computer Technicians thought.

"Not sure, sir. Although we know what three of them can do." Makoto said, bringing up the data on the Angel's while they were inside the Eva's. "They change what the Eva can actually do, and we definitely know what three of them can do, but not what the Sixth and Eighteenth can."

"So, it's simply a case of what the pilot decides."

"Correct, sir."

"Very good." Fuyutsuki said, turning away from the Lieutenants. "I will take my leave now, I continue to expect good work from you, all three of you." With a small wave, Fuyutsuki exited the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Yes, sir!" Both men stated, as the room fell into silence once more. Being broken only by the tapping of keyboards and screens from Makoto, and the occasional humming from Shigeru.


– Evangelion 2.0 OST – Disc 1, Track 4 – 2EM05_KK_B09 –

"So, Gaghiel. Welcome to the home." Sachiel started, strutting back and forth on the kitchen table, a ladle in his hand, as he indicated to the board that had somehow been procured behind him, aside from the chore list, which hadn't changed once since Shinji arrived, it was being used to instruct Gaghiel on his behaviour, and how to proceed with Gaghiel around the house.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Gaghiel replied, bringing a fin up to his head, before bursting into laughter. The entire group was there, while their pilots were busy with School and their Sync Test.

"Yes, very good, Gaghiel!" Sachiel replied, exactly what he wanted and expected from his brother. Shamshel just sat staring, unsure of what was happening.

"Okay, what exactly are you doing?" Shamshel asked, his head tilted slightly as he stared at his brother, with the ladle in his hand.

"Instructing Gaghiel, besides, we haven't seen him in a while! It's fun to be reunited with both new and old siblings!" Sachiel said, indicating to both Gaghiel, who was currently idly tapping Skeletal's bones, rattling around the table.

"That was fun!"

"Yes."

"Precisely!" Sachiel said, giving his brother and sister satisfied looks. "You just need to lighten up a bit Shamshel, Gaghiel's here! It's going to be fun!" Shamshel slammed a plasma whip against his head, wondering just what he did to deserve the ridiculous siblings he had.

"You seem to forget that Gaghiel is a bit… overly excited. Besides, why are you dressed like that?" He asked, indicating to the various bits and pieces from the kitchen Sachiel had thrown together to look somewhat like an army general.

"Because it's important!" Sachiel said, giving his brother a grin. "Orientation is a very important series of events." He said, waving the ladle around as he talked. "So, Gaghiel! Before we jump into the main orientation, we have to settle some things." Sachiel said, pointing at the board, which currently held a very crude drawing of Asuka. "So, Gaghiel, this is Asuka, she is your pilot, correct?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Gaghiel replied, bursting into giggles again.

"Excellent, sergeant!" Sachiel replied, giving his brother a salute.

"Why, sergeant?"

"Don't question my authority, Shamshel!"

"I would never…" Shamshel replied, sarcastically.

"Good! Now, Gaghiel!" Sachiel continued, pointing his ladle at the Angel in question. "First things first, you have the best situation of all of us. You are able to inspect Asuka, and understand just what it means to be a human female. However! Misato is off limits, only I have permission to inspect her."

"What does this have to do with setting the rules in this home!?"

"Quiet, Shamshel!"

"Yes."

"Oh god, you've got Ramiel doing it too!?" Sachiel gave his brother an exasperated look, before continuing.

"Don't worry, Shamshel!" Gaghiel said, floating over to his brother. "I will take on this role with precision, and triumph, and… um… some other word…"

"That's not really your job, Gaghiel!" Shamshel said, once again slapping his forehead.

"C-c-calm d-d-down, Shamshel." Skeletal said, twittering across the table. "Y-your just a-annoyed that we e-e-ended up with the f-f-f-female pilots and you got S-s-shinji!" Skeletal said, waving his bones at Shamshel, who rolled his eyes.

"Being with the female pilots does not give you permission to ogle them! Besides, Shinji is probably the best pilot we've got, and having us around is actually helping him, he's grown significantly as a person since Sachiel met him. Do you seriously think that he would have stood up to Asuka like he did the other day without us helping with his social abilities? Besides, you guys didn't see him after he defeated me!"

"Ogle? What does that mean?" Gaghiel asked, staring at Sachiel expectantly.

"Ramiel!" Sachiel called, causing the Blue Octahedron to float up slowly. "Definition!"

"Yes." Ramiel floated over to the nearby computer, staring intently at the screen, before floating back over to Sachiel, handing him a small piece of paper.

"Ogle. Stare at in a lecherous manner. Whatever that means." Sachiel said, throwing the paper away, and turning back to the board.

"What does lecherous mean?" Gaghiel asked, wondering. Sachiel turned quickly, intent on calling Ramiel once again.

"Can we just move on!?" Shamshel said. "So far, this entire orientation has been entirely pointed towards your weird science experiment, Sachiel! Can we move on to something more reasonable!?"

"My science experiment is not weird, it's top of the line information, that one day, everyone will be lining up to – "

"Get to the point."

"Fine!" Sachiel replied, glancing out at the room. "Doesn't like my ingenious experiment." He muttered to himself, before turning to Gaghiel. "Alright, Gaghiel!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Please, stop…"

"Anyway," Sachiel said, pointing at the board. "Living here is very simple, don't do anything stupid. That's it!"

"Really?"

"Yep!"

"This entire orientation, as you called it, led up to this one. Small. Rule."

"Yep!"

"You're insane." Shamshel said, slumping back against the chair. "Well, at least we can wait for the pilots to arrive."

– End –

"Isn't Unit-03 arriving later?" Sachiel asked, pointing the ladle at Shamshel.

"Yes, it is."

"We should go meet up with the pilots before it gets here." Sachiel said, the ladle continuing to flap around as he continued.

"Good idea." Shamshel commented. "Better meet up with them soon, what time were they finishing their sync test?"

"Yes." Ramiel said, floating away from the computer.

"So, now?"

"Yep!"

"Thanks, Gaghiel!" Sachiel said, floating quickly towards the door. "Let's get going, right now!"

"Sachiel!" Shamshel called, causing the other Angel to turn around immediately. "Put the ladle down." Sachiel glanced down at the ladle still in his hand.

"But I like it!" Shamshel rolled his eyes.

"Fine then, but if Misato finds out you have the ladle from her kitchen."

"Don't worry, Shamshel! She won't find out about the ladle!"


"Sachiel." Misato asked, glancing over at the Third Angel as it floated beside her. The wait for the arrival of Unit-03 currently taking place as Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Mari stood beside Ritsuko, who was currently running data.

"Yes!" He said, spinning around, his ladle flying around with him as he twirled.

"Why do you have a ladle?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the Angel, who flittered around in reply.

"No reason." Sachiel replied, deciding not to let the woman know what had been happening in the apartment before they had arrived here. She gave him a small smile, before turning to the pilots, who were starting to get restless, for different reasons.

Rei simply sat, staring up at the sky, getting restless simply because of how long it was taking for Unit-03 to arrive. "It should be here by now." She simply said, her uniform skirt fluttering slightly in the small wind.

Mari was ecstatic! She felt excited about the arrival of a new Eva! And while she knew that it wouldn't be her new Eva, she was still excited for whoever the Fourth Child would be! "Don't worry, Blueberry! I'm sure there're not that far away." Mari said, causing Rei to glance at her, before returning to staring at the sky.

Shinji was simply bored. He really couldn't care less about the arrival of a new Evangelion, considering his thoughts on the machine in general. To be fair, he had warmed to the machines, slightly. But that was mostly due to the Angels, and the fact that he now had fellow pilots and Evangelions available, in Rei and Unit-00, and Asuka and Unit-02. "So, wait. Sachiel created some big moment and went on and on only to tell Gaghiel that there was only one rule to living with us? Also, why is he living with us!?" He said, talking to Shamshel, who shrugged.

"I don't know, apparently Sachiel is an all-knowing god or something. At least, that's what he thinks."

"I heard that! I will have you know that I know everything!" Shinji just gave Sachiel a small grin, before returning to glancing at the ground, occasionally talking to Sachiel or Shamshel. He thought as he listened to the Angels bicker. 'Who will the Fourth Child be?' That one thought wouldn't leave his mind.

Asuka, like her fellow pilot, couldn't particularly care about the arrival of Unit-03, after all, she already had her Unit-02! No, Asuka was restless because she really wanted to know the sync scores after her first sync test in Tokyo-3. That, and she really wanted to hear another voice that wasn't Gaghiel going on about Sachiel's grand plan in her ear. "Please, Misato! I've got to know that I had the highest!" Asuka said, directed towards Misato, who grinned at her.

"Be patient, Asuka." She simply said, but Asuka grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head in annoyance.

"But I'm sure we all want to know!" Asuka replied, indicating to the rest of the Children, who weren't paying attention. Misato rolled her eyes, turning towards her colleague.

"Better just tell them Ritsuko, it'll please Asuka's ego I'm sure." Misato jokingly said, causing Ritsuko to glare at her for a moment, before pulling out some more notes.

"Alright, well… Here's the results that we got. Mari, you're currently at the bottom, but we have a feeling that also has to do with you testing inside of Unit-01 instead of your own Unit. You did mark a bit higher though, a good one percent higher. When you receive an Eva for yourself, we'll be expecting higher results from you." Ritsuko said, talking to Mari directly first. Mari simply nodded, understanding that she wouldn't be getting very far without her own Eva, specifically formatted for her.

"Understood, Doc!" She replied, giving the stern doctor a thumbs up. Ritsuko paid her no mind as she continued.

"Rei, you're currently right in the middle, still holding at fifty flat. You haven't changed since your last test."

"Yes." Rei replied, continuing to stare at the sky.

"Shinji, Asuka. You're both holding at the low-mid 60 mark. Asuka, you're currently sitting in the early sixties, and saw a little improvement. But still very good." Asuka grinned, happy that she was sitting considerably high. "However, you aren't the highest." Asuka's face fell. "That honour goes to Shinji, who managed to score around 65, he also saw a little improvement. Congrats, Shinji." Shinji managed a small smile at the compliment.

"Hey, good job, Shinji!" Sachiel said, his ladle pointed right at him.

"Sachiel's right, Shinji. You've put in a lot of hard work." Shamshel said, making the boy smile.

"Yes." Ramiel said, floating silently beside him. He laughed as Mari and Rei also congratulated him, Skeletal floating behind Mari silently.

"Hey, look at that Asuka, Shinji beat you!" Gaghiel said, floating over to congratulate Shinji.

"Yeah. I heard." Asuka replied, agitated. Shinji glanced up, staring over at her. She turned her head away, in frustration.

Shinji frowned, something was wrong. "Excuse me, Mari." Shinji said, as Mari tried to give him a celebratory hug. Mari pouted but moved out of the way. Shinji headed towards Asuka, intent on speaking to her. "Asuka?"

"Don't talk to me." She said, facing away from him. She didn't want to turn around to face him. No, she wouldn't give him the time of day.

"Asuka…" Shinji continued, placing a hand on her shoulder. She brushed him off, angrily.

"I get it, Third Child. You're better than me. Now, leave me alone!" She finished, finally turning to look him in the eye. Giving him a nasty glare, before turning abruptly and storming away. Shinji stared after her, as Misato came up behind him.

"She'll come around, Shinji." She said, glancing at her charge in concern.

"I just, did what I usually do. I didn't know I'd beat her." He said, continuing to stare at Asuka as she stood as far away from him as possible. "Maybe I shouldn't do this well. I only want her to be… happy." He finally said, staring after the girl. Misato sighed.

"Asuka's been piloting for pretty much her whole life." Misato said, as Shinji glanced up at her. "As such, she's grown very accustomed to it. She's very good actually, she was fully expecting to be able to beat you. When she didn't, to her, it probably felt like her world was crashing down." Shinji looked fearful.

"I don't want that to happen! Besides, I'm not that far ahead of her…" He said, glancing at his guardian.

"And it won't." Misato replied softly, as Shinji relaxed. "She just needs a bit of time. She'll realise that she's not far behind, and then she'll probably see you as a rival. That's just how Asuka is. Give it a day or two."

"Okay." Shinji replied, glumly.

"Cheer up, Shinji. We'll have good old Asuka back in no time!" Misato said, as a sudden gust of wind started to blow heavily. Ritsuko pulled out another set of notes, as a large jet settled down towards the Geofront. Unit-03 was proudly displayed on the underbelly of the jet, settling into place above them. The Unit looked a lot like Unit-02. It had the same general design as Unit-02. That made sense considering it was also a Production Model Evangelion, however there were small changes compared to Unit-02, and even Unit-01 and Unit-00. Unit-03 was largely black, although had quite a bit of White striped though, notably across it's chest, to offset this, it also had some dark red details littered around it. Its head was the notably different aspect, being more dinosaur-like, similar to Unit-01. What surprised most of the Children though was the glow that came from the dark red highlights.

"Unit-03 glows slightly in the dark! That's so cool!" Mari cried out, stepping forward. "I like this one!"

"I can tell, Mari." Ritsuko replied, as Unit-03 was lowered off its pedestal, and started to be manoeuvred away by nearby NERV personnel. "However, this is most definitely not your Eva. We've already concluded that Unit-03 is not fit for you." Mari simply nodded, knowing she'd get her own Eva eventually.

"It looks like Unit-02." Asuka stated, staring right at the Eva as it began to be manoeuvred away.

"That's because it's also a Production Model, Asuka." Misato replied, settling beside the redhead. "Just like your Unit-02."

"But my Eva's better, right!?" She said, staring hard at the Doctor.

"Well, actually, we think that both Unit-01 and Unit-02 are more battle-ready Eva's than Unit-03. We've done some extensive testing, and there's some things we'll need to fine-tune before we get the Fourth Child ready and testing."

"Fourth Child?" Shinji asked, fearing the worst.

"But of course." Ritsuko replied. "We have a new Eva, so there will be a Fourth Child." The Doctor said, sure of herself.

Misato stared at her friend in thought. 'I haven't received anything from the Marduk Institute… How can you be so sure, Ritsuko?' Misato frowned. There was something that felt… fishy about this.

Unit-03 continued to watch, as it was slowly taken into the depths of NERV HQ, into its new home for the foreseeable future. Pilotless, and stationary.


September 3rd, 2015

"In the first year of the twenty-first century, a large meteorite collided with the continent of Antarctica, creating the event that has become known as the Second Impact." The usual drawl of Class 2-A's Sensei became the known babble of the morning. As it usually was. "When the meteorite collided, the Ice Caps instantly melted, raising the sea level sixty meters."

"Hey Toji?"

"Yes, Kensuke?" Said boy, replied, glancing over at his friend.

"Do you think we could make some easy cash from the new girl?"

"The devil?" Toji replied, glancing up to pretend he was paying attention. "I mean sure, but Hikari will have our asses if we do anything like that. They've been best friends since she arrived."

"The Class Rep? You don't have to worry about that." Kensuke replied, giving his friend a small smirk. "Here's what I have planned."

"Do you think I have a chance?" One of the many males in the class said.

"Nope, none in a million. You're a dork, you've got nothing." Shinji sighed as he heard the conversations of his fellow classmates chatting to each other. It got him thinking though.

'I mean, I guess she's cute…' He thought, glancing at the back of the girl's head. 'But she's been annoyed with me ever since yesterday. I didn't even try to beat her in the Sync Test, it just… happened…' He thought

"An onslaught of heavy weather, and the economic panic that ensued…" The Sensei droned on, his talk about Second Impact continuing.

'Wow, this Sensei is really boring.' Shinji thought, glancing over at Asuka again. 'Oh, well. At least now we have more than one active Eva. Means I can share the work load.' He was spinning his pen around in boredom, in an attempt to ease it in some way. He only just noticed it flying out of his hand and landing awkwardly on the ground. He glanced up at Sensei, hoping he didn't notice anything. He glanced over at Hikari, who was currently giving him a glare for disrupting class. 'But I didn't disrupt anything…' He moved too slowly pick it up, when he found it being held in front of him.

"Here." Came Asuka's whisper, giving him a small smirk.

"Thanks." Shinji replied, giving the girl a wary look. He slowly took the pen, feeling a sticky substance on his hand. He glanced down at his hand, seeing the gum that had been stuck to the pen, and now his hand. 'Thanks for nothing…' He thought, giving the girl a glare. She simply gave him a glare back, before turning to the front of the class.

The bell rung soon after, signifying the end of the period, and the start of Lunch. The class quickly packed up their stuff and exited the building, heading towards the courtyards to hang out with their friends. The small group of Eva Pilots, and Toji, Hikari and Kensuke, headed out of the Classroom towards the Cafeteria.

"Lunch! It's the best time of the day!" Toji said as they entered the Cafeteria, heading towards a nearby table.

"Of course, it is!" Asuka started. "For a Stooge like yourself! Constantly eating food, you'll end up getting fat!"

"Oh yeah, and what's the Red Devil gonna do about it!" Toji replied, getting into the girl's face. Asuka scowled, glaring hard at the jock. "Who cares if I eat a lot!"

"Calm down, Toji! Asuka! Now's not the time to fight!" Hikari said, coming between them. "Asuka, just let Toji get his food. Toji, please don't take every chance to antagonise Asuka." Both individuals simply shrugged.

"My my, Princess is being very snippy today." Mari noted, glancing at said girl. "Is she, annoyed about something? Maybe, being beaten in the Sync Test?"

"Shut up, Four-Eyes!" Asuka replied, angry. "I should've been the best! I'd been doing this for much longer than any of you!" Asuka said, glaring right at Shinji, who hadn't spoken since they'd entered the Cafeteria. "The Amateur over here ended up getting the best score! It's obviously because his Eva is only a Test Type! That's how easy it is for him to sync with it!" Mari frowned over at Asuka, but declined to reply. Shinji was frowning, staring at Asuka.

"I didn't want to beat you, Asuka. I just did what I usually did." He said quietly, the redhead turned immediately and gave him a look, stepping over to him.

"Was war das?" Asuka asked, coming towards Shinji, staring him right in the eye. Shinji frowned, he didn't know what Asuka had just said to him.

"What'd you say?" Shinji asked. Asuka growled, cursing under her breath.

"I said… What was that?" She asked again, continuing to look the boy in the eye. Shinji stared defiantly right back.

"I said, I didn't want to beat you. I wasn't trying to beat you. I was just doing the same thing I'd done every other Sync Test up to that point." Asuka continued to frown.

"So, you think highly of yourself, Third?" She asked, a demonic grin on her face. "Probably gets glowing praise! Considering his own father is the Commander! That's it, isn't it? You're just a little Daddy's boy!" Shinji growled, stepping forward, so there was next to no room between them.

"My father…" He started, his voice dangerously low, staring right at Asuka. "Doesn't give a single shit about me. If he did, I wouldn't be living with Misato now, would I? So, no, Asuka. I'm not a little father's boy. It doesn't help that my mother is dead. So, my father thinks it's a good idea to leave his only son. No words. No letters. Nothing. Not until he had a use for me. So, if that's how you think it is, then you can leave me alone!" Shinji growled, shouting the last bit, crossing his arms and storming away. Leaving the girl staring after him in shock.

"Mein Gott…" She finally said, staring after the boy as he sat at a table, and pulled out his own Lunch. She softly started to walk over to the table, being stopped quickly by a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Hikari giving her a small smile.

"Maybe it's best to leave Shinji alone for a little while."

"No… I…" Asuka started, glancing over at him. Hikari gave her friend another smile.

"You'll see him again later, won't you? Don't you have that Sync Test thing this afternoon?" Hikari asked, remembering how her friend had made it quite clear her thoughts on that situation when they had become friends. Hikari then left, heading towards Shinji's table herself, Mari and Rei following behind. Toji and Kensuke soon made their way over as well, and the group settled down, as Asuka watched from afar. She decided to head over as well, but keeping to herself.

"I didn't know…" She muttered to herself as she headed towards the table, sitting on the end, wincing as Shinji glared at her. 'I deserve that. Hört auf, Dinge anzunehmen, Asuka.' She thought as she silently ate her lunch.


The group left school as one, before splitting off as usual. Mari heading back towards her quarters. Rei back towards her own home. Toji, Hikari and Kensuke back to their homes, and Shinji and Asuka towards NERV HQ for their first joint Sync Test.

"Well, have fun you two!" Hikari called as she left with Toji and Kensuke. Shinji just grunted in reply, as Asuka just smiled sadly at her friend. Shinji didn't speak as they headed towards NERV HQ, Asuka walking along beside him, she wouldn't look at him. She couldn't. She was incredibly disappointed in herself. Which felt weird to her, she didn't usually feel like this when she argued with someone. Yet, when she had her argument with Shinji, it didn't last very long, which was highly unusual. She was fully expecting it to be like Toji, who fought back aggressively, and she hadn't expected to back down as easily as she did. She knew what caused it, the words that he said. It stirred something in her that she had pushed to the back of her mind years ago. She realised then that there were some things that were very similar between the two of them. She sighed, fiddling with the hem of the school issued dress that the females had to wear. 'Get your act together, Asuka.' She thought, as she continued to scrunch up her uniform. 'You're not usually like this.'

– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST II – Track 4 – A Crystalline Night Sky –

"Shinji?" Asuka tried, glancing at the boy. He glanced back at her, giving a slight nod. He was still annoyed from earlier. "Es tut mir leid."

"Sorry?" Shinji asked, turning around and looking at the girl for the first time since he glared at her during Lunch. Asuka blushed under his look, but replied anyway.

"It means I'm Sorry." She said, this time so he would understand. "I keep forgetting that you don't know German." She idly noted, before continuing. "I shouldn't have argued with you about the Sync Test. I should've known you were just doing what you've always been doing with the Eva, and for that, I'm sorry." She finally got the words out staring down at the ground.

Shinji stepped forward, gently bringing her head up so she was looking at him again. "Asuka, it's fine." He finally said. "I don't care if I do better than you or not, and you shouldn't either, just because you don't have the highest sync score doesn't mean you can't be the best Eva Pilot." He said, giving her a small smile.

"You're right." Asuka replied, gently swatting his hand away and standing upright again. "I am the best Eva Pilot, and you know it!" She said, grinning broadly. Shinji smiled back.

"Now there's the Asuka I know! Besides, wouldn't want our first joint test to go badly due to a fight, right?" Shinji replied, the smile lighting up his face.

They continued their path for a bit, silence between them. Simply enjoying each other's company over speaking to each other. Asuka however, broke the silence. "I really am Sorry, Shinji. I shouldn't get worked up about something as trivial as a number."

"It's fine, besides, the real test comes against an Angel, right?" He said, giving her a sideways look.

"Absolutely!" Asuka replied. "Don't you worry, Shinji! I'll show you how to deal with an Angel quickly and efficiently when the next one attacks! You won't even need to be deployed." Asuka confidently stated.

"I don't know." Shinji replied, letting the words come slowly. "You might just need little old me for backup if the need arises." Asuka laughed slightly, glancing over at him.

"Or… I might just want you out there by my side." She said softly, so only he could hear. Shinji smiled at her, silence ensuing once again as they quickly arrived upon the giant pyramid that was NERV HQ. Both entered the complex quickly, their ID Cards allowing them access as the giant door shut loudly behind them. They quickly travelled the well-worn path towards the changing rooms, where their Plugsuits awaited them. As they travelled, Shinji spoke again.

– End –

"You know, if you're going to speak German a lot, maybe you should teach me some German?" Shinji said, glancing at his companion, who gave him a curious look.

"Sounds interesting. Why?" She asked, her hands relaxed behind her head.

"Well, you slip into German quite a bit, and you still fully expect us to know what you're saying. Like earlier, when you said I'm sorry in German. I didn't know that's what you said. So maybe, if you teach all of us a bit of German, we can actually understand what you're saying when you slip into it." Shinji said, having thought about this a bit since Asuka had arrived.

"You know, I'm surprised Misato didn't teach you any German, knowing I was coming over. She did look after me at NERV-3 for a while, before she got promoted and Kaji took over!" She finished, squealing slightly. "But yeah, I can do that. Maybe then we can have arguments in German and no one will know what we're arguing about!" Asuka laughed as she thought about that, chirping happily to herself.

"Or just so we can have conversations, just between the two of us, with no one else knowing." Shinji said quietly. Asuka blushed slightly, but nodded as they arrived at the changing rooms. They gave each other a small smile, before ducking in.

"Hey Shinji!" Asuka called out, from her side, as Shinji stripped himself of his clothing and gathered his plugsuit around him. "No peeking!" She said playfully, as both Plugsuits compressed themselves to their bodies at the press of a button. They met outside the change rooms as normal, as Ritsuko's voice came over the speakers.

"Shinji and Asuka, report to the testing plug please. Wait until we give you the go ahead to enter the plug when you arrive." Shinji glanced at Asuka, who shrugged at him, before they both wandered towards the newest test plug, designed specifically for Unit-13.

When they arrived, they noticed only one plug sitting towards the LCL, like they usually saw when they did individual Sync Tests. They glanced at each other as the loudspeaker came on again. "You will notice there is only one plug. We're still working on getting a dual-entry system working, so for now, we're going to be using one plug and purely seeing how high your combined Sync Score is, together inside the one plug. For today, we want to have Shinji sitting in the seat, with Asuka behind, to see if we can get any difference in a possible Sync Ratio. We'll test with Asuka in the seat, and Shinji behind in a couple days to get some solid Sync data, before we start testing the Dual Entry Plugs. You may now enter the Plug." Ritsuko's voice faded out, causing both Shinji and Asuka to look at each other.

"Where are the Angels?" Shinji called out, wondering where they could be.

"Hi, Shinji!" Came Sachiel's voice over the speakers. "We're up here!"

"We decided to come watch, I don't think it'll be overly interesting, but Sachiel and Gaghiel were really interested." Shamshel said, his voice echoing around the chamber.

"Yes."

"Hi, Asuka! Are you excited, Asuka? Oh, this is going to be so interesting!" Gaghiel fretted, causing Asuka to groan, making Shinji laugh. They both entered the plug, Shinji sitting down, Asuka hanging on the back of the seat beside him. The hatch closed, and the plug filled with LCL.

"Is Gaghiel usually like that?" Shinji asked, as he got used to the feeling of LCL once again.

"Yes." Asuka replied flatly as they both settled into a meditative mode. "I hate doing this more than three times a week." She said, as she glanced at her companion.

"I agree." Shinji said, relaxing back against the Plug's seat. "Three times is more than enough."

"Let's just hope we can get these tests done quickly, I want to go home and rest!" Asuka cried out as the speakers came on inside the plug.

"Quiet, you two." Came Misato's voice over the comline. "The test is starting, and I assume you'll be in there for a while." Shinji and Asuka grumbled as they started their test. Relaxing into a meditative position as the test officially began.

This continued for the next hour or so, with Ritsuko constantly checking in with Maya on where the two pilots where in the test. "Not much has changed since about half an hour ago, Senpai." Maya said, indicating to the readings in front of her. "They're sitting at about 75 percent, a drop from their reading of 125 percent against the Sixth Angel. However, that may be because of the adrenaline during the battle that caused the high sync, as well as getting used to a new Eva, and that Eva being in a production stage currently."

"Right." Ritsuko replied, noting something down. "So, when Unit-13 is in a more complete state, they should retain higher Sync Ratios?"

"Yes, Senpai." Maya replied, continuing to glance at the readings in front of her.

"Alright, Maya." Ritsuko said, turning away. Noting something else down on her notepad. She glanced down at it:

Evangelion Unit-13: High Priority


The room was silent, as it had been for the past month, before the large monolith with a Number 1 lit up for the first time in a month. As this happened, the other monoliths also lit up simultaneously.

"To what do we owe this meeting, Gentlemen?" 4 spoke, his voice resonating around the room.

"I must admit, I am curious about this. Why must we meet again? And so soon after we last met?" 9 said, his voice questioning in tone.

"Some developments have come to light." 1 said, his voice dripping with disdain and annoyance.

"What developments? Is this about the Sixth Angel?" 12 asked, his curiosity coming through in his tone of voice.

"No. I don't think so." 3 replied. "It seems there's more to this than we possibly thought."

"Yes." 5 said. "Unit-05 was destroyed as we predicted, but our attempt to get rid of the Proto Child failed. She lives, and has been spotted in Tokyo-3."

"That could be a problem." 8 said. "She should've never got out of the 5th Branch, we relied on her being killed in the ensuing destruction of the base."

"Maybe she should be… neutralised?" 7 asked.

"She can't." 11 said. "She'd in NERV territory now. We can't do anything to her without NERV knowing themselves."

"And we don't want NERV to know anything about our… plans." 4 said, a murmur of acknowledgement coming around the room in return.

"We can deal with the Prototype later." 1 said, directing the meeting back into place. "How goes the analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls?"

"Fine." 9 replied. "It's been slow, but we know of all the Angels, all Seventeen of them."

"Excellent." 3 said. "What of the Thirteenth? He needs a host? We spoke of this last time, but Unit-03 has recently arrived at NERV HQ. What are we to do."

"Not to worry." 11 said. "I know that there are quite a few more Evangelions being constructed around the world. Surely one of them would be a suitable candidate?"

"More than suitable." 2 said. "I believe the plan was to use one of these Units, either 07, 08 or 09 as the vessel when the time comes?"

"Correct." 1 replied. "03 has outweighed its usefulness due to the Americans persistence on getting the Unit to NERV themselves. They want to showcase to the world exactly what they can do with Eva technology. Unfortunately for them, I'm sure the wonderful Dr. Akagi is already tweaking the machine as we speak."

"Ah yes. I'm sure she will make the machine more powerful." 5 said.

"Anything to take down the Angels quickly so we can move forwards with our genius plan." 10 said.

"Anything else?" 6 said, wondering if there was anything else of note. "What about Commander Ikari? Or the Angels themselves? Are we still on schedule?"

"Yes." 12 said. "I hear that the Seventh Angel is already heading towards Tokyo-3, and if this keeps up gentlemen, we should be one step closer to Human Instrumentality by the end of the year!"

"Is that so? We are perfectly on track for The Human Instrumentality Project then. Unit-03 is just a bonus all things considered." 2 said.

"Yes, let's just hope we have no more situations like with Unit-03. We can't afford to let Unit-04 leave the Second Branch or else our plans will be disrupted." 12 said.

"Have no fear, gentlemen, for I have been informed by our men that Unit-04 is nowhere near completion, as the arrival of the S2 Engine has severely put back the completion of that particular Unit by quite a few months. We'll be able to put our plan into action before too long." 1 said, guiding the meeting to a close. "Well gentlemen, we should not need meet again until something quite pressing comes to pass. The Proto Child being alive doesn't hinder our plans in any way possible. The Angels are on track to be completely destroyed by the end of the year. By this time next year, we will be gods' gentlemen!" Each monolith shut off one by one, until only 1 was left. The monolith stared out at the now nearly empty room, shadows of where the monoliths once were. Behind the mask of the monolith, Keel Lorenz smiled. "All is going according to plan."


"Ikari." Fuyutsuki stated, staring out at the expanse of the Geofront lying before him. "What is this about Unit-13? Dr. Akagi has mentioned it to me a couple of times now. Why do you see the need to produce a new Evangelion? We already have four Units available here, and four pilots, soon to be five. Why another one?"

"Unit-13 is different Fuyutsuki." Gendo replied, staring at the dark corner. "I'm concerned about SEELE and what they're doing. The 2nd Branch has started work on the S2 Engine, and are planning on incorporating it into Unit-04."

"You have a feeling that SEELE are going to sabotage the test?" Fuyutsuki replied, turning towards the Commander.

"Yes, they've been very quiet lately, I haven't heard from them in a while, besides the meeting after the Third Angel's attack, they've been silent."

"I wouldn't put it past the Committee to plan in secret, they probably already suspect that we're not going to be following their scenario."

"Correct. As for Unit-13, I felt it would be necessary to move forward with a Dual Entry system. Unit-13 will be different Fuyutsuki. SEELE don't know about our plans regarding the Evangelion, in fact, they don't know about Unit-13 at all. To them, the last Evangelions being produced are Units 07, 08, and 09. They've stopped all production after that point."

"Suspicious, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki said, giving the man a small smirk.

"Those men want to become gods, Fuyutsuki. They'll stop at nothing to bring about the Human Instrumentality Project and become the gods they've always wanted to be. They see humanity as a meaningless race. They only want the best for themselves and themselves alone."

"So, you want Unit-13 to be a unique Unit?"

"Yes, that is the plan for the Unit. A powerful, Dual Entry Evangelion that will be able to take on whatever SEELE will be able to throw at it. SEELE will not know about Unit-13 until the time is right."

"So, you want Unit-13 to be a secret, one that few know about?"

"Correct, Fuyutsuki." Gendo replied, continuing to stare ahead.

"I do have one question. Why Shinji and Asuka? Why pick them to pilot the Eva?" Gendo stayed silent for a moment, his mind racing with various answers to Fuyutsuki's question, before finally settling on one.

"Because that's what Yui and Kyoko would have wanted." He said simply, glancing at his Sub-Commander.

"Is that what all of this is for? For Yui and Kyoko?" Gendo didn't answer, not looking at the other man. "If this is so, then why not be a father to Shinji? Why not be an Uncle to Asuka? I'm sure that's what my students would have wanted."

"I can't be a father to Shinji, Fuyutsuki. All we ever do is hurt each other. As for Asuka? I know Yui loved the girl, but I barely knew her. Kyoko has done what she could for her already, there's no reason for me to try and get close to her."

"Well, wouldn't it hurt to try? After all, that's what Yui and Kyoko would have wanted."

"I know, Fuyutsuki." Gendo replied, his eyes closed as he sat in thought. "But I can't. Shinji and I haven't had a Father-Son relationship in years. I couldn't look after him, I've never been good at that. That was what Yui was best at. That's why I sent Shinji to live with Major Katsuragi, she would be able to be a much better guardian than I would ever be able to be."

"So, Unit-13 is a way to develop the synchronisation between Shinji and Asuka because that's what their mothers would have wanted?"

"Yui was always very vocal to Kyoko about how she would love it if Shinji and Asuka ever fell in love with each other once the two children met for the first time. Kyoko gave Yui exasperated looks every time, but you knew just by looking at her that she would love it to. Unit-13 allows our two best pilots to work together. Even if they don't fall in love, they would be very close due to their job. Above all else, this is what Yui and Kyoko would have wanted. Their children to be together again."


September 4th, 2015

The usual hustle and bustle of a new School Day dawned on the students of Tokyo-3 Municipal High, but there was a new buzz about the school. That being the new girl, who'd only arrived days before. So of course, the gossip was all about her.

"Hey! Dude, did you see her yet?"

"Hell, yeah I did! Oh, she's so perfect!

"Wait, who?"

"Are you an idiot? The new foreign girl!"

"Foreign girl?"

"Yep! She's transferred into the Eighth Grade, Class A! She only arrived a few days ago!"

"Oh yeah! I know about her! She's hot!"

"Her name's Asuka Langley Soryu, did you know that?"

"Yeah, she's so cute!"

"Serious question guys, since she was raised over there, but born over here. Do you think she's matured early, you know, physically?"

"Matured early? Screw that! I wonder if she has a boyfriend already!"

"No, I don't think so. You know what I think. She probably had a massive breakup in Germany, and she's arrived here in a foreign land, with a heart so black it can't be mended."

"You guys are dorks!"

"Grow up, will you!"

"Geez, you're all a bunch of perverts!"

"Don't guys ever think of anything else?"

The commotion continued all day, every single day. It was common practice to come into the hallway containing the girl's locker and find a large pile of letters, having been stomped and crumpled under the girl's intense foot.

Kensuke sighed, as the pictures continued to develop, coming out one by one. "Oh man… Have you seen all the gossip? For once it's not just us guys, the girls are gossiping too. It's about one thing. Asuka, and Asuka!"

"I hear you, Kensuke." Toji replied, sorting out the photos in front of him. There were a variety of different images of the redhead in different positions. There were multiple of her coming into the school the last couple days, surrounded by people who wanted to chat with her, or in the case of most of the female population, wanting to burn her at the stake. There were also a couple photos of her drinking at the bubbler. Many photos of her in the skimpier female athletic wear, which was very popular with the guys of the school. Photos of her at her locker, with the letters which were sent to her on the daily, whether they be declarations of love or hate letters, falling out in spades. Some photos more close up to her, showing off as much of her face as possible. Finally, some very popular photos that not only captured Asuka, but also the rest of the female students, in various stages of undress in the changing rooms. Toji and Kensuke had started this business once Asuka arrived at the school, and to be fair, they got a lot of money. 30 yen per photo was about as much as they could get away with though… Toji sighed as another happy customer payed his 30 yen. "None of these guys know what she's truly like though. They're just ignorant."

"Thank you, come again!" Kensuke said, happily handing the boy his picture, before he walked away. Toji grunted as he held the produced photos up to the sunlight.

"At least these pictures don't reveal her personality." He said, scowling at the girl's image on the photos.

"So, Jock and Nut have started a business!" Toji glanced away from the images to find Mari giving both boys a cat-like grin. "Lemme see what they're selling!"

"No need, Mari!" Kensuke replied, quickly hiding all the pictures as best as he could. Mari just laughed.

"You're hilarious, Nut. I know exactly what you're selling!" Mari replied, a massive smile lining her face. "I think you'll find one particular person who'd be very annoyed that you're doing something like this. Aren't I right, Jock?" Mari asked, turning to Toji, who blushed hard, knowing exactly who she was talking about. "It'd be terrible if she were to find out, wouldn't it?" She asked, twirling her hair in her fingers.

"We'll do whatever you want us to do!" Toji replied, bowing towards the girl.

"Charming, Jock, but unnecessary." Mari replied, pulling out some cash from her pocket. "I want one!" Kensuke stared, wide eyed, his jaw dropping in surprise.

"You want one?" He asked in disbelief, Toji staring in shock behind him.

"Yes, of course!" Mari replied, picking up a shot of the girl's change rooms. "This picture captures my essence. You've really got quite a talent for photography, Nut." She continued, staring intently at the photo. "Just, maybe use it for more interesting stuff instead of perving on girls." Kensuke happily took the girls money, turning it over in his hands. Mari smiled and started walking away.

"Thanks, Mari! Come again!" Kensuke called out, causing Mari to stop, turning back to smile at them again.

"Oh, by the way!" She grinned at them. "These photos are incredibly popular among the male students. She found out, like, just now!" Mari had been glancing out of the corner of her eye, where the pony-tailed Class Rep was stomping towards the boys, a low-growl coming from her. "Bye!" Mari waved and walked away, intent on watching the spectacle from a distance.

"Suzahara!" Came the angry voice of Hikari Horaki, coming towards them quickly and swiftly.

"Ah… Hikari!" Toji replied, staring at the girl, intently. "I can explain!"

"You'd better start running, Toji!" Kensuke said, laughing at his friend, who'd quickly gotten up and started moving.

"Explain what, Suzahara! That you've been selling explicit photos of our new student, as well as occasionally, just accidently, having photos of other girls too! I swear, Suzahara! There'd better not be a photo of me somewhere in there or I! Will! End! You!" Hikari replied, rushing after the boy, intent on catching up with him and giving him a piece of her mind.

"True love, nothing can beat it." Kensuke commented, laughing at his friends' misfortune. He glanced up as Hikari pulled Toji back by the ear, letting him rest against the side of the building.

"Don't think you'll get off either Stooge! I know you're the one that took the pictures!"

"True, but see, we're making a great profit of all this!" Kensuke replied, trying hard, in vain, to somehow give their actions some sort of credibility.

"That doesn't make it better!" Hikari replied, balling her hands into fists, her hair waving around behind her, moving due to the girls' major agitation. "You both are going to go to every single student who paid you money for those pictures! You are going to pay them back for the photos! You will get every! Single! Photo! Back that you sold! You will destroy every last photo that you made! Then, at the end of the day, you will report to cleaning duty for the rest of the week! Do you understand!?"

"Yes, Class Rep! Sorry, Class Rep!" Both boys replied in tandem, quickly scrambling to move. Hikari sighed, returning to her more natural demeanour… Until she saw one Photo sitting near Toji's shoe. She growled as Toji glanced down, noticing that one photo. He gulped as the girl moved to pull on his ear all over again.

Shinji raised an eyebrow as he stepped over to the trio. "Wow, would you look at that. They got caught doing something stupid. Who here is surprised?" Shinji asked sarcastically with a good-natured smile on his face. Happy to see his two friends getting their comeuppance.

– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST I – Track 9 – Asuka Strikes! –

"Hallo! Guten morgen, Shinji!" Came the voice of Asuka Langley Soryu as she walked into the school grounds. A smile adorning her face. Shinji turned, smiling back at the girl.

"Guten… morgen…" Shinji replied, shakily running the words through his mouth, foreign to him.

"Hey! That was pretty good, Shinji. Just some work needed on pronunciation!" Asuka replied, happy that she was greeted in reply in her own native language.

"I… kind've just copied what you said." Shinji replied, ducking his head slightly.

"Don't look so gloomy, Shinji! The great, gorgeous Asuka Langley Soryu just praised you! Not to mention the most popular girl in school! Look a bit happier about it!" Asuka flicked Shinji's head playfully, causing the boy to smile back at her. "There, that's more like it!" She said, turning to the commotion happening before her. "What's happened here?"

Hikari frowned as she let Toji go and he collapsed to the ground. "Nothing, Asuka, just some stupid stooges doing their usual thing." She said, blushing hard. Asuka raised an eyebrow, indicating to the photos strewn across the ground.

"I can see the photos Hikari." Hikari blushed again, embarrassed that she hid something from her friend.

"I'm sorry, Asuka…" Hikari said, glaring hard at Toji.

"That's alright, Hikari." Asuka replied, turning her gaze towards Toji and Kensuke. "You two however, you're dead!" She said. She turned to Shinji flicking her gaze to the photos on the ground. "You weren't thinking of buying one, were you?" She asked teasingly, flicking his head playfully once again.

"N-no! Of c-c-course not!" Shinji replied, stammering as his face turned red. Asuka smirked right back at him, knowing exactly what he'd meant.

"Liar." She said simply, grinning as Shinji blushed more. She turned away from him and glanced out at the school grounds. "So, our little group isn't completed yet. Where's the other one?"

"U-uh. O-Other one?" Shinji replied, stammering out a response, still embarrassed that Asuka had figured him out before.

"What are you, stupid!?" Asuka replied, turning to Shinji abruptly. "You know who I'm talking about. The First Child! Our Co-Pilot!?"

"Oh, right!" Shinji replied. "You mean Rei?" Shinji said. He glanced past her, where the rather unusual girl currently sat. Relaxed against a bench, a book out in front of her. Asuka smirked and wandered over to her. She stood so that her shadow could be seen over the book Rei was reading. Rei shifted her book. Asuka moved again. Rei glanced over, wondering what was happening.

"Hello!" Asuka started cheerfully, as a crowd started to form behind the two Eva Pilots, Shinji watched from afar, Toji and Kensuke nearby. "You must be Rei Ayanami. The pilot of Unit-00, the Prototype. The First Child!" Rei continued to simply glance at the redhead, slightly wondering what was happening. "I'm Asuka! Asuka Langley Soryu! The Second Child and pilot of Unit-02! Let's be great friends!" Rei glanced back at her book, thoughts rushing through her head. They all came out to one word.

"Why?"

"Because, not only would it be convenient, it would be nice to actually know my fellow pilots."

"Okay." Rei replied, staring back down at her book. "If it pleases you."

"Great!" Asuka replied. "Are you going to come back with me? Your friends with the other pilots and those Stooges, right?"

"Yes." Rei replied, continuing to stare at her book. "But not now. I'm reading. Please leave me alone."

Asuka frowned slightly, but was mostly satisfied. 'What a weird girl…' She thought to herself as she turned and headed back towards Hikari, who had left the boys to their own devices.

"Hey Shinji?" Toji asked, indicating to the boy.

"Yeah?" Shinji replied, turning to his friend.

"Are only weirdos chosen to be pilots? You all are strange in some way." He noted. Shinji shrugged as the bell rung, signalling the beginning of class.

– End –


– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST I – Track 6 – Barefoot in the Park –

Misato usually loved her job… somewhat. But today was one of the days that she didn't like dealing with. The aftermath of an Angel attack. Reports and reports and reports on all the various damages that the Sixth Angel, Gaghiel, had caused when he attacked the fleet holding Evangelion Unit-02. The very proud captain of the Over the Rainbow, the battleship that led the fleet, had made it very known that he wasn't a fan of her plan, or anything that was going on. Misato sighed, leaning back in her chair as she thought this over. 'Well, I guess he gets to celebrate now.' She thought, as she stared at the stack of reports and damages that sat in front of her. 'He's probably gladly drinking a large beer right now. The smug jerk.' She thought, as she slowly got started on the boring and annoying part of her job.

"Wow! That's a lot of paper!" Sachiel said, hovering beside the woman.

'Oh yeah. Annoying Angel is here as well. Great!' Misato thought as she turned in her seat, facing Sachiel. "Yes, it is. It's normal stuff we have to do here at NERV, especially after an Angel has attacked. So, essentially, this is all your fault." She said, giving the Angel a smug smile, before grumbling and returning to her work.

"I resent that." Sachiel said, floating in front of the Major. Staring her in the face. "I'll have you know that we don't actually mean to destroy things."

"That's supposed to help, how?" Misato asked, raising an eyebrow at the Angel, giving him a small glare. "You still caused a lot of damage to the city, damage that I, and NERV as a whole, have to deal with."

"Yes, we did. But we didn't mean to cause all that damage." Sachiel replied.

"That doesn't change anything!" Misato replied, exasperated.

"Eh, details, details. Besides, we didn't do too much damage." Sachiel replied, giving her a smug look.

'So, he thinks he's won?' Misato thought, giving the Angel a large grin. "I beg to differ!" She said, pointing her finger at the Angel in a mock threatening way. "You caused damage to a lot of buildings, and put a young girl in the hospital. Shamshel caused damage to a lot of buildings, a mountainside, and caused my charge to run away for two days. Skeletal caused the destruction of both an Evangelion, and the 5th Branch of NERV, losing a lot of possibly valuable information, and the loss of many lives. Gaghiel caused the destruction of at least half of the United Nations Pacific Fleet, and severely maimed the majority of the rest. And don't even get me started on Ramiel, who destroyed all twenty-two layers of armour plating protecting NERV HQ, severely destroyed a segment of the city, and promptly paved the landscape, completely flattening a mountain! I'd say you all caused a lot of pretty destructive damage." Misato finished, giving the Angel a triumphant look.

"Eh. It can't have been that bad!" Sachiel said, giving Misato a thumbs up. Misato sighed, returning to her work in front of her.

"Right now, I just need to finish this load of work because god knows another one of your siblings is going to attack us any day now and that'll just give me even more reports to deal with. Can you guys just let me work for a bit? I'm sure you can hang out with Ramiel for a while." Misato said, exasperated, as the large pile of reports would only clear if she actually got to work.

"Yes." Ramiel said from her corner, moving slightly as she squirmed around, anticipation of anything happening building.

"But that's boring!" Sachiel drawled, letting the word roll out. "Besides, you know that you don't really want to be down here. Why can't we just go out and do something."

"Because, if I don't get this started now, it will build up and will only keep building as you guys keep attacking us."

"We're really good at that aren't we!"

"Yes."

"And you guys being sometimes, just a little too good at your job, has caused this mess that you see in front of you." Misato huffed as she slowly started to work through the pile of papers in front of her. Sighing and groaning in annoyance as she skimmed the work, signed it off and passed it on. About 5 minutes after she started, she leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Being Operations Director gives me control of the situation, and knowing that the kids will mostly follow my orders gives me a bit of courage in the face of danger. But being the Operations Director comes with its challenges, like coming up with intricate plans for fighting the Angels, or taking care of my charge. But the reports and the aftermath of the battles in the city are some of the worst parts of this job. They're so boring." She said to herself, running the words around in her head as she stared at the ceiling. "God, that ceiling just feels weird." She said, flopping back down to a sitting position, facing forward. She resumed, continuing to slowly pick her way through the pile, said pile getting smaller and smaller as she went. Sachiel continued to yabber on behind her, but she droned him out and settled on finishing as quickly as possible. She groaned, settling back as she came down to a few more reports sitting in front of her. Just one small pile to go. "I wish I had a beer right now." She muttered to herself, completing forgetting about the two Angelic presences in the room.

"That's great! That means we can get out of here and go get something!" Sachiel said, flying towards Misato in happiness. Any way to get out of this annoying room was a success in Sachiel's mind.

"Yes." Ramiel agreed, letting himself float beside her brother, morphing her body in excitement.

"Alright, I guess we can go get something to drink for a little while, besides, I need to go chat to Ritsuko anyway…" Misato said, grabbing her favourite red jacket and putting it around her shoulders. She headed towards the door, hovering beside the light switch. "You coming?" She asked, giving the Angels a wink as she shut the light off, sending the room into darkness. Sachiel and Ramiel flew beside her, leaving the room with the Major, the door sliding shut behind them. They started on their path, Misato knowing exactly where she needed to go. 'I just hope I don't come back to a larger pile of reports than before.' Misato begged, thinking to herself as the doors of the lift shut behind her.

– End –

As the doors opened at her destination, she stepped out and glanced through the window. She paused. 'Of course…' She groaned as she stepped slowly towards the window, watching the man currently situated on the other side.


BING

The Computer changed image.

BING

The Computer came up with an image of the Sixth Angel, Gaghiel, recently defeated out at sea during the acquisition of Unit-02.

BING

The Image inverted colours, Gaghiel's core still visible in its mouth.

BING

The image was gone, replaced by Gaghiel's Blood Pattern, noted as the Sixth Angel.

"Wow! That's what I look like!" Gaghiel said, zipping around beside Ritsuko, who tried to shoo him away. "I! Look! Great!"

"Yes, that's great Gaghiel." Ritsuko replied, indicating Shamshel over to shift his brother.

"W-What a-about m-m-me?" Skeletal asked, settling quietly beside the NERV Scientist. Ritsuko smiled slightly.

"Well," She started, hitting a couple of keys and shifting changing to readings to the Eighteenth Angel, Skeletal's Readings. "Your genetic makeup is different to Gaghiel, but it's still relatively Human-like, and you are, without a doubt, an Angel.

"O-Okay…" Skeletal replied. The Angel's had decided to stay around at NERV HQ today, as the Pilots went to School as normal. Ritsuko had been dealing with Gaghiel, Skeletal and Shamshel all day, while Misato dealt with Sachiel and Ramiel. 'A much better arrangement.' Ritsuko thought as she took a sip of her coffee sitting beside her. It'd been a long day. She returned to Gaghiel's readouts, and continued to search. She couldn't hear the steps coming up behind her, so when a set of arms wrapped around her, she gasped audibly.

"Well, well. Someone's lost some weight, haven't they, Ritsu." A distinctly male, suave voice noted from behind her. Ritsuko relaxed, knowing who the man was.

"Have I? I seem to think I've gained more than you think." She asked, wondering what the man could say.

"You must be enduring some… unrequited love. Maybe I should check for you? Maybe you should… remove some of those clothes." The man said, pulling her closer.

"How are you so sure?" She asked, freezing up for a moment. A moment that the man didn't feel. The man laughed, bringing his fingers up to turn her face towards him. Ritsuko smiled slightly as Kaji came into view. "Although, you have a very tempting offer. I'm afraid the room is monitored however."

"You see… A woman that has a mole on her cheek, sitting in the pathway of her tears, is destined to a life full of tears and sorrow… Besides, I've already replaced the footage with a Dummy tape. No one will ever know." Kaji replied, in a melancholy tone. Ritsuko smirked slightly, turning her gaze to the window nearby.

"Prepared as always aren't you. But I'm afraid you've already lost. If you're trying to make a move on me, you can't." She said, directing Kaji's line of sight to the window, where Misato stood, her face scrunched in annoyance against the glass. "As you can see, there's a very scary lady up there keeping her eye on us." Kaji laughed as he pulled away, watching as Misato huffed in annoyance and stomped away from the window. Ritsuko turned in her seat, glancing at Kaji.

"So, long time no see, Kaji." She said, looking up at her old, school friend.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Kaji replied, taking a sip of Ritsuko's coffee sitting beside her on the desk. "And I see some things have changed since I was last here." Kaji noted, nodding towards the Angel's relaxing nearby. "I see we have some… Angelic visitors."

"Yes." Ritsuko replied, briefly indicating to the Angels. "Here we have the Fourth, Sixth and Eighteenth. The Third and Fifth are currently with the woman who's contemplating coming in here."

"Hi!" Gaghiel stated, flying up to Kaji quickly. "I'm Gaghiel!" He said, indicating to himself with a finn.

"A pleasure." Kaji replied with a flippant smile. Casually acknowledging the Angel's existence.

"Not cautious, Kaji? I would've thought in your line of work that caution was always required."

"You know me too well, Akagi." Kaji replied, relaxing against the desk.

"You actually seemed quite careless there, Kaji." Ritsuko said, as the door to the room finally opened, Misato stomping in. "What happened to being discreet?"

"That idiot's never been discreet in his life!" Misato said as she walked in, giving the man a glare as she went. She stopped, turning towards him, a scowl playing on her face. "You've finished handing over Unit-02 from Germany, so what the hell are you still doing here!? Weren't you going over to Europe or something!"

"I've been reassigned." Kaji replied, letting the cup rest against his lips, the warm drink refreshing his mouth. "Received the orders this morning. I'll be staying here at Tokyo-3 on loan. So, gorgeous, we can hang out again, the three of us, just like we used to back in college." Kaji said, directing his gorgeous comment towards Misato, who growled in annoyance.

None of them noticed the Angel's starting to glance at each other. They felt something approaching.

"Um… Misato…?" Sachiel tried saying, having floated in with Ramiel slightly after Misato

"Don't call me gorgeous! You're just wanting me to flatter you, well too bad! Those days are over, Kaji! Don't flatter yourself! I don't know why I'd ever want to hang out with you! Stop thinking you can relive the glory days! Besides, I was down here to see Ritsuko! Why are you always like this, terrorising Rits!?" Misato said, glaring hard at the man across from her.

"Please, you two. Take this outside." Ritsuko said continuing to work.

"I'd have to say it's my prerogative. A way of life. Besides, why would you be so angry. What do you have to be angry about?" Kaji asked, hands in his pockets, an eyebrow raised. "You said there was nothing more between us. Unless…" Kaji smirked, his usual lady-killer as he liked to think of it. "This anger and aggression is all an act, and you still have feelings for me." Misato glared hard at Kaji, an aggressive scowl on her face. She moved quickly, punching the wall right beside Kaji's head.

"Fuck you!" She cried out as she did it, creating a decent hole in the wall. She groaned in agony, resting down against the wall. "I was young!" She said, staring up at him. "It was worst mistake in my entire life, going out with you." Kaji smiled down at her.

"Don't be so upset, gorgeous. Why… you'll stain that pretty face of yours with wrinkles." Misato blanched, turning around quickly.

"W-What? W-What are you… Just… Shut Up!" As Misato finished her tirade the alarms starting blaring red all around NERV HQ, the walls lighting up with Emergency signals. "An enemy attack!? Now!?" Misato cried out, quickly moving out of the room, cell in hand. "Alert the pilots! Get me a status report as soon as I arrive at Central Dogma!" Misato quickly shut the phone off, rushing towards Central Dogma.

Kaji stared after her as she left. A wistful smile on his face.

"She'll come around, Kaji. That was pure jealousy coming from her." Ritsuko said, patting to man's shoulder.

"Really? Are you so sure?" Kaji replied, shrugging slightly.

"I'm sure. Better go up to Central Dogma, better being there than here." Kaji nodded, turning to the Angels.

"What about them?" He simply asked, pointing over at the Angels.

"We'll find our pilots, make sure they're ready for battle against one of our brothers."

"Any idea who it is?" Ritsuko asked, turning towards them, kneeling slightly. The four siblings turned to each other.

"Israfel."


The doors to Central Dogma opened quickly, Misato rushing into the room as Maya Ibuki continued evacuation prep. Makoto Hyuga sat in the middle, running data in front of him. Shigeru Aoba sat to the left, receiving reports.

"Major, glad to see you've arrived." Fuyutsuki said, standing nearby. Misato simply nodded, stepping into her role quickly.

"Aoba, give me a Status report!"

"Report just received from the patrolling battleship Haruna. A huge, unidentified, submerged object has just been detected off Ki'I peninsula. Sending data."

"Roger! Hyuga, give me some good news!"

"Data has been received and collated ma'am." Makoto replied, bringing up the analysed data on the visual monitor. "Wavelength Pattern Blue, target confirmed as the Seventh Angel."

"Brilliant." Misato muttered to herself. "All personnel, prepare for battle stations, Level One. We have an Angel on our hands!"

"Major, we can't possibly tackle the Angel inside Tokyo-3! The battle against the Fifth Angel destroyed nearly all weapons' facilities! And the Armour Plates protecting NERV HQ are still in reconstruction, we only have 10 layers!" Maya stated, turning quickly towards the Major.

"Don't worry, I have a plan!" Misato replied, a large grin on her face.


'Mein gott, School is boring.' Asuka thought as her head rested on her desk, trying her hardest to stay awake throughout the spiel about Second Impact currently being told to the class by their Sensei. 'Ernsthaft? Lehrt dieser kerl nicht jemals etwas anderes?' She thought in her native language as her eyes started to droop slowly. She shook her head, clearing her mind and forcing herself to stay awake. She took the time to glance around the classroom, wondering what her friends were doing. Rei, her newest friend, and someone she'd only just met that day, was currently staring out the window. Shinji had mentioned that the girl tends to do this throughout the school day, and it wasn't really unusual at all. She wondered whether Rei was focussed on something or just staring out at the city itself.

She next turned her attention to Mari, who was very visibly fast asleep at her desk, not hiding the fact that she was asleep in any way shape or form. Asuka snorted quietly. 'Of course, Mari would be the one to fall asleep with no thoughts or concerns.' Asuka continued on her viewing of her friends, next glancing over at the Class Representative, and her best friend.

Hikari was at least trying to pay attention, but Asuka knew that, just by looking at her friend, she was just as bored as the rest of them. The brunette was just much better at hiding it than everyone else in the classroom, so to anyone watching her, she was listening to Sensei intently and paying complete attention. Anyone who knew her however knew that she was so close to falling asleep as well.

The three stooges were in varying stages of boredom. Kensuke was fooling around on his laptop, being as quiet as he possibly could, so he wouldn't get caught by Sensei. 'Not that he needs to worry about that. This sensei isn't very good at keeping tabs on his class…' She always felt a bit uncomfortable around the boy, and she had an idea why. His antics earlier that day had firmly confirmed her suspicions of him, and she was just fine with leaving the Military Nut to his own devices.

Toji was doing about as good of a job at hiding his boredom as Mari was. Meaning, he wasn't really putting in much effort at all. He was awake still, so that was one step above Mari, but not by much. As she watched him, his eyes slowly drooped shut, and he slumped forward slowly onto his desk. Sleep coming across the jock. 'Was für ein idiot...' She thought as her attention moved to the last of her friends. Shinji.

Shinji wasn't doing much better in her eyes. He was still awake, but he had already given up with his laptop, and was slowly drifting off to sleep himself. Asuka smiled slightly, knowing that the boy was trying so hard to stay awake. She thought to herself for a moment, an idea coming to her head.

Shinji blinked as his laptop was brightly flashing at him. He groaned glancing up, realising that he had a message, he opened it soon after, raising an eyebrow as he saw who it was:

Asuka: Hey, Dummkopf. If you stay like that Sensei will catch you!
Shinji: What-? Asuka?
Asuka: Yeah, it's me. Just thought I'd keep you from falling asleep to this fossil.
Shinji: Right. Of course. What about Mari and Toji? They're both fast asleep?
Asuka: Eh, they can be alerted to attention by the bell or Sensei catching them. I don't particularly care.
Shinji: You could try and be nicer to them, Asuka.
Asuka: Don't worry, Shinji. I'll be nice to them, Mari's just weird, but I can be nice to her. As for Toji, he's got to learn not to just take photos of me like that! So, I'm going to give him shit for a few days, but then I'll stop and be nicer to him.
Shinji: That's fair, I guess… I suppose that means you'll be giving the same treatment to Kensuke?
Asuka: Yep! But even worse cause he was the one who started the business. Toji kind've just followed along, so I'll give him even worse!
Shinji: So, you excited to be in Tokyo-3?
Asuka: Don't try and change the subject so fast, Third! I still know you were planning on buying one of those photos of me!

Asuka glanced over at the boy in question after her comment, she laughed to herself as the boy started to blush heavily. 'Point to Asuka.' She thought to herself as she returned to her keyboard.

Asuka: Ha-ha! You should see your face, Shinji! You're so red, you're like a tomato!
Shinji: I wasn't, Asuka! I wasn't going to buy one!
Asuka: Why, Shinji? Embarrassed of someone finding out about it? Embarrassed to see my body?
Shinji: What!?
Asuka: You're so easy, Ikari. You should still see the look on your face. I'm not going to do anything bad. Much.
Shinji: That doesn't help things.
Asuka: And it shouldn't! I don't particularly care if you got one of those pictures, because I know you wouldn't do anything indecent with it! Not unlike those other boys…
Shinji: How do you know that?

Silence

Shinji: Asuka?
Asuka: Was I wrong, Third?
Shinji: Wrong? About what?
Asuka: Telling you that I didn't care if you got one of those photos. Oh gott! Where you going to use my photos to please yourself!
Shinji: What!? No! I was just going to keep it… because…
Asuka: Don't even try and worm out of this one, Third! Oh, this is gold! You wanted one of those photos of me for your own reasons!

Shinji glanced up from the screen, glancing over at Asuka, who was currently giving him a rather feral grin. A large smile on her face. Shinji blushed hard, tearing his eyes away from the girl. Asuka laughed, revelling in the feeling. She felt happy that she was accepted. 'Yes, it feels good.' She thought, smiling to herself at the feeling.

It was cut off by the Angel alarm blaring all over the city. Asuka frowned as the Sensei finally looked away from the board, turning to the class before him. "Oh, is that?" He started, as Hikari immediately took to her job as Class Rep.

"Everyone, heading towards the Shelters immediately! You four!" She pointed at Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Mari. "Get to NERV as soon as possible! And please, take out this thing quickly so we aren't cooped up for hours!"

"Got it, Hikari!" Asuka replied, as she quickly gathered her things and headed for the door, Shinji, Rei and Mari on her heels. The majority of the class split from the pilots, heading towards the nearest shelter, while the pilots hot foot it to NERV HQ." Asuka glanced at Shinji as they ran, giving him a small smile. "Oh, by the way, Shinji?" Shinji glanced up, confusion on his face.

"Yeah?" He asked, wondering what the redhead would say.

"At no point did I say that I cared about it. Because I still don't." She gave him a smile, watching with satisfaction as his face turned red. She laughed as they continued their run, heading quickly and swiftly towards the Geofront. Rei and Mari simply looked at them in confusion.

"What was that all about?" Mari asked, watching the two pilots start to bicker, Shinji barely getting any words out.

"I don't know." Rei replied, as soft as ever. "It seems that Pilots Ikari and Soryu get enjoyment out of… quarrelling with each other." The girl stated, as they arrived at NERV HQ very quickly.

"Enjoyment huh?" Mari drawled, glancing at the said pilots with a wide smirk. "This opens up many teasing opportunities!" She cackled with laughter. Rei glanced at her, slight confusion in her features, but otherwise stayed silent, as they, one by one, swiped their ID's and entered the giant pyramid.

Miles away, a giant being stepped slowly onto shore.

Wow! Look, what a beautiful city! Just a shame we've got to destroy it really!

I wonder, brother, should we entertain these people?

I say we shall, sister! Got any genius ideas?

Give me a moment, I'll be able to come up with something legendary!

Will it be able to ignite excitement and cause a lot of happy feelings?

For sure!

Excellent!

The being was massive, and like Sachiel, looked vaguely humanlike. Like it's brother, it also had a face-mask, this time looking like a yin-yang symbol, sitting firmly in the middle of its upper body. The body was mostly a black colour, with a greyer colour on the top, and bottom. Its main body was large, but it's arms and legs were actually quite thin, both the arms and legs ended in small, three fingered patterns, with the arms being razor sharp. (For extra hilarity!) It stared at the city ahead, content on its purpose.

Israfel had arrived.


– Evangelion 1.0 OST – Track 35 – EM20_Rhythm_Full –

"Good, you're all here! Listen up, and listen carefully!" Misato said, as soon as all four children arrived in Central Dogma, wearing their usual plugsuits. Mari was, for the first time, wearing her plugsuit. Mainly a pink colour, with white bands crossing her chest, stopping in the middle. There was a large 08 sitting in the middle of her plugsuit, a symbol of her Evangelion Unit. "The target has been spotted just outside of the city itself. Unlike with previous Angels, we'll be engaging it outside the city limits, so prepare yourself for a possibly tough battle. It's just surfaced from the water at a nearby beach, and is moving quite slowly towards Tokyo-3." As the Major spoke, the large main screen flipped through various screens, showing the Angel's current location, a large-scale map of the surrounding area, and satellite footage of the Angel itself. "Shinji, Asuka! We'll be deploying Unit-01 and Unit-02 to intercept the target, take care of the Angel quickly, so we can all go home safe again! Understood?"

"Roger!" Came both Shinji and Asuka's reply, giving the Major a hard, but determined look.

"Miso! What about us?" Mari asked, pointing between herself and Rei.

"Good question! Rei, you will be waiting standby inside Unit-00. We will not launch you unless we absolutely have to, and the Angel gets into the city. The reason for this is Unit-00 is still not combat ready, while Unit-01 and Unit-02 are, despite Unit-02 still needing some patch-up work after Gaghiel! Is that Understood, Rei?"

"Yes." She replied, her hands hanging by her sides.

"Yay! I did that!" Gaghiel said, causing Asuka to swat at him. He laughed as he zipped out of the way.

"Not exactly something to be proud off, Gaghiel." Misato reprimanded, before turning to Mari. "Mari, we'll be keeping you here. If we need you to, we'll launch you in Unit-01 once we get both Units back to help Rei if the need arises. Just know that we won't necessarily be launching you much until you receive your own Evangelion. Which we don't have a mark on yet."

"Why not have me set in Unit-03?" Mari replied, giving the Major a confused look.

"Unit-03 is not ready for combat yet." Ritsuko said, as she stood at the side. "There's still a few things I need to check, and even then, as your plugsuit indicated, Unit-03 isn't even your Eva."

"Right, of course." Mari replied, rolling her eyes. "Spoil sport." She muttered, returning her full attention to Misato.

"That's all I will say right now! I'll tell you the plan of attack as we head towards the target's destination. Shinji, Asuka! Unit-01 and Unit-02 are already hooked up to the jets. Go get in and get ready to go!"

"Roger!" Shinji and Asuka said, bolting from the room, leaving Central Dogma together.

"Rei, go get into Unit-00 and wait. We may not need to launch you but we wanted you ready just in case."

"Understood." Rei replied, heading out towards the Eva Cages.

"Mari, wait here with me. You'll stay here while a few of us go out there in a remote station. You must be ready to launch if the need arises."

"Of course, Miso!" Mari said, giving the Major a salute.

"Excellent!" Misato replied, turning towards the door. "Maya, Makoto! You're with me!"

"Roger that, Major!" Came the voices of both Maya and Makoto, heading out of Central Dogma with the Major.

"Shigeru! Stay here and keep tabs on the Angel! Let me know if anything happens!"

"Of course, Major!" Shigeru replied, his eyes not leaving his station.

"Excellent! Alright, let's go take care of an Angel!" Misato finished, a firm grin on her face.

– End –


– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST I – Track 14 – A Step Forward into Terror –

The remains of Ramiel's crystalline body stood proud in the glowing sun as a series of Jets quickly flew by overhead. Their cargo? Evangelion Unit-01 and Unit-02, en route towards the location of the Seventh Angel, Israfel, who had arrived on the shores only mere minutes before. In another jet, a mobile command centre flew towards the Angel, Misato and a few techs inside, relaying information.

"Alright kids, listen carefully! The battle against Ramiel severely damaged Tokyo-3's intercept system. As of this time, only 26% of our defence capabilities have been restored. Finally, and this is on you two, our operational capability for the Eva's in actual combat are virtually nil. Therefore, we're going to use this plan! We'll intercept the target at the water's edge and crush it in one swift blow, just before it hits land. Unit-01 and Unit-02 will mount a coordinated attack on the target in waves, taking turns to attack the Angel. Closing in and protecting each other. Understood?"

"Roger!" Came Shinji and Asuka's reply from their cockpits, glancing out towards the shoreline.

"Rei! You'll standby inside Unit-00 in Tokyo-3 itself, if the Angel manages to get past Shinji and Asuka, you'll have to take care of it. We'll get Mari out in Unit-01 as soon as we possibly can!"

"Understood." Came Rei's quiet reply.

"Great! Pilots, move out!" Came Misato's final call, shutting off the comms.

"Don't worry Misato! I'll take care of the Angel quickly and swiftly!" Asuka said, beaming happily in the cockpit.

"Could you be any happier? Here comes Personality #2, just how many do you have?" Shinji rhetorically asked.

"I heard that!" Asuka growled, as she flexed her fingers in her Eva. "My first fight in Japan and Misato won't even let me handle it solo? Why'd she send you with me again?" She asked Shinji, bringing up a video feed to Unit-01, where Shinji sat giving her a small smile.

"Maybe it's because that's what Misato's strategy was?" Shinji replied, raising his eyebrow. "That's just procedure, you can't argue with that." Asuka growled slightly, forming something in her head.

"Fine, whatever. Let me tell you something though, Shinji. This fight is mine! This will be my first win in Japan! Bleiben sei mir aus dem weg!"

"I still don't know what you're saying." Shinji bluntly said, causing Asuka to frown at him.

"Stay out of my way, Third." She finally said, shutting off the video feed. "Geez, as much as he's my rival, how the hell did he get picked to pilot anyway." She wondered to herself, as she felt the Eva's holdings shift, sending Unit-02 out of place and into freefall towards the ground.

What's that, sister?

Must be the welcoming party!

Whoo! Partay!

"She's certainly prideful." Shinji commented, as Unit-01 was also shifted out of its locks and into freefall.

"She'll either be a really good asset, or get us all killed." Sachiel said, watching as Unit-02 rushed quickly towards the ground, landing in a crouched position. Shinji landed soon after, the two Evangelions crouched on the shoreline side-by-side. Both stood in tandem, grabbing the Umbilical Cords nearby and plugging them neatly into the backs of the giant mechs. They finally stood, ready for battle.

"Really? Two against one? Come on, this is hardly a fair fight!" Asuka said, staring out at Israfel, who stared back at them.

Oh boy! There's two of them, brother!

Let's give them something to remember us by!

"Really, Asuka? We have the case of life or death on our hands and you're going on about not having a fair fight?" Misato said, coming up on call. "We don't have a choice here, Asuka. This is about our survival, and anything we can do to get a lead on that is all good for me."

Suddenly a large splash of water rose from the usually calm sea. Unit-01 stood, Pallet Rifle in hand, staring the target down. Shinji had no intentions on approaching the target unless he absolutely had to. Asuka on the other hand, had other ideas, she had taken a Progressive Spear with her, so was ready to charge the Angel with Unit-02. She smirked as she watched the shore.

"Kommen sie und holen sie es!" Asuka said, staring the target down, as the water splashed once again.

"Here it comes! Any idea who it is?" Shinji asked the Angels, as a large figure emerged from the water.

Hello there fellow beings! To what do we owe your acquaintance!

Uh, brother? Those things are holding what look like weapons.

You're right, sister! Want to give them a nasty surprise!

It's our best prank!

Israfel rose quickly out of the water, rising high into the air, the water it had brought up raining down around it as it landed, splashing more water around. It watched them through its yin-yang face. Waiting.

"Commence attack!" Misato called, a growl in her voice.

"That's definitely Israfel!" Shamshel said, worryingly. "I'd be careful, Shinji!"

"Why? What's up with him that's different?"

"It." Sachiel said. "And let's just say that they aren't all they seem."

"They?" Shinji replied, staring at the Angel hard.

"Why do you sound so worried, Shinji!" Asuka said from Unit-02. "You just watch from there and back me up! I'm going to go and snag my Angel kill! Wish me luck!"

"Wish you luck? Back you up? Wait on a second! We're in this together!" Shinji replied, challenge in his eyes.

"Haven't you ever heard of Ladies first, Shinji!?" Asuka replied, moving Unit-02 ever closer towards the Angel. It still hadn't moved.

"That doesn't mean you can boss me around and give me orders! Don't forget, you're the one who's still the most inexperienced in battle here!" Shinji replied, starting to fire hard on the Angel. Throughout this conversation, Israfel still didn't move.

"What are they doing?" Shamshel said from Shinji's cockpit, questioning in his eyes.

Shinji continued to provide fire towards Israfel, who simply stood and took all the hits.

That tickles! Don't you agree, sister?

We could use this for a brilliant prank!

Asuka had stopped slightly, crouching in Unit-02. "There's only one way to go about this." She muttered to herself, fingering the Spear in Unit-02's hand.

"What's that, Asuka?" Gaghiel asked, floating slightly beside her.

"It's quite simple." Asuka replied, getting ready to sprint. "BERECHNEN!"

Shinji continued to fire, staring intently at the Angel. He noticed that the usual single red core was actually split into two. 'Wait? It has two cores!' Shinji suddenly ditched the Pallet Gun. "Shamshel!"

"Right!" Shamshel replied, diving into the Eva's core immediately, Unit-01 grew Sachiel's laser ships, and started running towards Unit-02.

"Wait! Asuka! There's more to this than you think!" Unit-02 didn't listen, continuing to run full pelt towards the Angel, who continued to stare. To emphasize it's point further, it glanced it's head up.

Hey look, it's blocking out the sun!

We should move…

That was not part of the plan!

Asuka gave a giant battle cry as she came down quickly, bringing her spear up and over her head, and coming down hard on Israfel. "Looking good!" She cried out as the Spear came down on Israfel's head, slicing cleanly through the body, splitting it right down the middle. Unit-02 stomped hard on the ground, standing in front of the clearly defeated Angel.

– End –

Unit-01 skidded to a stop, glancing up at Unit-02. Shinji simply sat, wide eyed, staring out at the supposedly dead Angel. "Well, I'll be damned."

"Beautiful, Asuka! Excellent shot!" Misato praised from the mobile command centre, a large smile on her face.

"You see that, Third Child." Asuka said, bringing up Unit-01's video feed once again. "An example of a good fight. Clean and elegant, without waste."

"You really believe that, don't you?" Shinji commented, causing Asuka to smirk at him. 'But wait, shouldn't it be exploding right now.' He thought. 'This felt a little too easy.'

"Guys, watch out!" Sachiel called, pointing out towards the Angel.

It was twitching.

"Wait! Asuka! It's still moving!" Shinji cried out.

– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST II – Track 5 – Angel Attack II –

"Schiesse!" Asuka said, watching as the Angel quickly shifted, splitting into two forms, staring intently at its two opponents. It twisted and turned, an annoying grinding sound occurring as it happened. The Angel shed its skin, revealing two identical beings, staring right at them. One Gold, One Silver.

Ha-ha! Did you like our party trick!

See that sister, that's our cue to take back control!

"What the hell! Oh, come on! What a load of bullshit!" Misato cried out, annoyance on her features, the phone she was holding creaking under the pressure she applying to it.

Asuka stared out at the now dual Angel, staring back at her. "All I wanted was a fair fight dammit!" Asuka cried out, standing right in the Angel's line of fire.

"Keep your head on, Asuka! Watch for any sudden movements!" Misato said, relaying information from the base. "Rei! Be prepared to engage the target, but stay where you are."

"Right." Rei replied, from Unit-00's cockpit. 'What is happening… to my friends?' She thought, as she heard the sounds of battle through the connected comline.

"So that's why it had two cores!" Shinji shouted, running towards the Gold Angel. "Sachiel, go help Asuka!" Shinji said, watching as Silver approached Unit-02 quickly. Shinji pulled his Progressive Knife, ready to attack. Sachiel nodded quickly zipping out of Unit-01 and phasing towards Unit-02.

"Gah! What are you doing here!?" Asuka cried out, as Silver continued to approach.

"I'm here to help you!" Sachiel replied, diving into the Eva's core. Asuka grinned as she felt her Eva's arms burn with powerful energy. Silver chose this moment to attack, bearing her razor-sharp claws forward to rush the Red Eva. Asuka grinned, using the Spear to block the attack. Using Sachiel's arm beams, she fired one straight through Silver's arm.

Ow! That hurt! Brother, this one's attacking me!

You can regenerate at will!

Right, I forgot!

Silver reformed its arm, returning to staring down Unit-02.

"What the hell! You can't do that!"

"You'll find we can, Asuka! Watch out!" Gaghiel called, as Silver brought it's claws down towards Unit-02. Asuka growled as she kicked the Angel off, glancing over at Unit-01 briefly.

Unit-01 parried Gold's attacks, aiming Shamshel's tentacle beams towards the Angel's core. It pierced around it, before finally impacting the core itself. "Yes!" Shinji cried, turning away from the Angel.

"No." Ramiel called from behind him, Shinji turned back around. Gold's core had healed.

"Dammit! What the hell is with these guys!?" Shinji asked, grabbing the discarded Pallet Rifle once again.

"Asuka! Aim for the core!" Gaghiel said, flittering around haphazardly.

"Yeah! Yeah! I know what I'm doing Gaghiel!" Asuka replied, swinging the spear around and impacting Silver's core, sending a single arm beam through afterwards to increase the damage.

You guys haven't learned yet!

That's another one of our magic tricks!

"Verdammt! It must have some sort of reflex healing system! Now what do we do!?" Asuka cried out, a growl on her face.

"I don't know!" Shinji replied, twisting around quickly, using Shamshel's tentacles to keep Gold at bay. "I can't keep this up much longer! It's coming closer!"

"Use Ramiel!" Asuka replied, her face clouded with worry.

"I can't!" Shinji replied, as he used the Pallet Rifle to parry Gold's attack. "It takes too long to Charge! Ahhhh!" Shinji said, dropping slightly as Gold picked up Unit-01, his razor-sharp claws buried deep into Unit-01's shoulders.

"Shinji!" Asuka cried out, turning Unit-02 to immediately head towards Shinji's location.

I won't let you get away!

Silver took this opportunity to grab Unit-02 from behind, digging it's claws deep into its chest. "Ah! Let me go!" Asuka shouted, twisting in Silver's grasp. As one, both halves lifted the Evangelions above their heads, and threw them swiftly away as one movement, sending both Evangelions flying through the air. Both Units collided in mid-air, sending both tumbling towards the ground. They collapsed in a heap, a giant dust cloud forming at the Eva's feet. Both pilots groaned from inside the Eva's, the collision causing both Sachiel and Shamshel to be forcefully ejected from the Eva's core. Misato stared, shocked.

– End –

"Send in the JSSDF. Get the Eva's out of there! Get the Pilots out and to the nearest NERV conference room! Transfer all command to the United Nations Secondary Force!" Misato growled in frustration. She felt so stupid, and disgusted.

She watched as the Eva's were picked up and transported from the area, as the JSSDF forces closed in and dropped an N2 mine on the target. Once the explosion cleared, the Angels were left standing, frozen, but still alive. She glanced down towards Makoto.

"Hyuga, what's the status on the target?"

"Pattern Blue still exists, ma'am. The target is still active." Misato sighed, pinching her head as she collapsed to the floor.

"Just how are we going to defeat that?"

Israfel stood in the middle of the shore, water to its knees, still split into two halves. Unmoving, but alive.


The mood was sour as the screen in the conference room showed the status of the battle that had just taken place. Shinji and Asuka sat, Plugsuit clad, at the very front of the small room, with Misato, Ritsuko and Kaji sitting behind them, mixtures of frustration and embarrassment on their faces. Gendo and Fuyutsuki stood at the back of the room, stern as always, pure anger on their faces. Rei and Mari stood waiting at the back of the room, not knowing what was going to happen between their fellow pilots. One thing stood out in both Shinji and Asuka's minds. 'I'm so embarrassed.'

Sitting off to the side, controlling the screen in front of them, was Maya Ibuki, who was relaying the information for the current meeting, and keeping everyone up to speed on what had happened. "Today, at 10:58:15 AM, Evangelion Unit-01 was attacked by one of the targets, nicknamed Alpha, who had split off from the other target, nicknamed Beta. Targets Alpha and Beta coordinated a simultaneous attack on both Evangelion Unit-01 and Unit-02. All movements from both Evangelions ceased function immediately. I believe the Head of Project E, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, summed it up best:"

"This is absolutely pathetic!" Came Ritsuko's recorded voice, embarrassment laced all through the woman's voice. Misato continued to watch, embarrassment in her features. Asuka growled as she saw the downed forms of Evangelion Unit-01 and Unit-02 on the screen, jumping up immediately to get her point out.

"Third Child! This is all your fault, you totally screwed up my debut battle in Japan! It was supposed to be great!" Asuka said, stalking towards the Third Child, watching as he started to get pissed off right back. She didn't back down as Shinji stood up himself, causing the two Children to stare daggers at each other, their body movements threatening to take the other down. Shinji stepped towards Asuka, causing her to reflexively take a step back with every step Shinji took.

"What the hell are you talking about!? How the hell is it my fault!?"

"It's pretty obvious really. Why, you were the slowpoke. You got caught by the Angel!"

"What!? And you weren't!?"

"No! Because I couldn't concentrate while you were getting caught by the Angel!"

"Couldn't concentrate!? You were the one who decided the plan of attack was to charge the Angel with no other idea of literally anything that could happen! You were reckless!" Asuka growled, stepping towards her opponent again, so they were mere centimetres apart, staring each other down.

"Reckless! Are you calling me a Dummkopf!? Where do you go about calling me that you pathetic excuse for a combat pilot! You absolute jerk!"

"Me! A jerk! You're the one who got us into this mess because you wanted to rush things and take out the Angel as quickly as possible! There's a difference between showing off and following procedure! Also, I'm the one with more experience here!"

"More experience! Ha! Don't make me laugh, Third! Look at Unit-01, why it looks like a drowned rat! How lame is that!" Asuka replied, pointing her gloved hand towards Unit-01 on the screen.

"You think you can talk to me like that! Unit-02 isn't looking much better!" Shinji retaliated, pointing his own hand towards Unit-02's downed form.

"I can talk to you however I want to talk to you!"

"At 11:03 AM," Maya continued, ignoring the ongoing argument between NERV's best pilots. "NERV abandoned the operation completely and handed command over to the United Nations Secondary Force." Shinji and Asuka stopped arguing for a moment and turned back towards the monitor. The screen had changed to show a fleet of UN Jets heading towards the Angel.

"We've been completely humiliated." Fuyutsuki gruffly stated.

Misato sat, finally speaking for the first time. "I'm… sorry."

'As much as I don't like him,' Shinji thought, as his attention was on the monitor. 'I didn't want my father to see me like that.' Shinji and Asuka were now both feeling quite disappointed with themselves.

"At 11:05 AM, UN forces attacked the target by dropping an N2 mine." Maya continued, not looking up from her laptop in front of her.

"You all know what this means, don't you?" Fuyutsuki said, "We'll have to completely redraw the map. Devise a new strategy."

"The N2 mine successfully succeeded in burning off 28% of the Angel's structural substance." Maya said, as the feed showed the Angel's currently dormant form. Target data was identified as 7a for Gold, and 7b for Silver. The screen noted this was information from the Department of Investigation, Division 2. Part of NERV's Scientific Investigation branch. Asuka glanced closely at the Angel.

"So, did we kill it?" She asked, turning towards the adults.

"No," Gendo said, his cold voice flying through the room. "It has simply immobilised them. A second attack will only take a matter of time."

"Well," Kaji said, twisting around slightly in his seat. "Look on the bright side, at least we have some time to regroup, you really can't ask for any more than that." Gendo paid Kaji no mind, continuing to focus on the pilots in front of him.

"You two." Shinji and Asuka stood to attention, staring at the Commander of NERV, who was currently giving them a very frustrated look. "What do you think your job here at NERV is?"

"To pilot the Eva…" Asuka said slowly, worry and shock in her voice.

"No." Gendo calmly stated, a cold disposition in his voice betraying his anger. "Your job is to defeat the Angels." Gendo stood, glaring down at the pilots. "NERV does not condone this sort of behaviour. We don't need any negative attention. Therefore, you two will learn how to cooperate. That is all. Come, Rei." Gendo turned and stalked out of the room, the First Child giving her friends a sad look, before following the Commander obediently.

"Work together!" Both Shinji and Asuka said, returning to staring each other down, getting as much into the other's space as they possibly could. "Why should we!?"

"Enough of this." Fuyutsuki said, leaving the room as well. As soon as the Sub-Commander had gone, the lights in the room returned, the main screen turning off. Asuka growled, stomping Shinji's foot as hard as she could. Shinji let out a massive help, hopping around on one foot as Asuka glared hard at him.

"Ow! Shit! What the hell was that for!?" Shinji asked, massaging his foot with his hand. "Geez, the Commanders leave for two seconds and suddenly you ambush me!"

"Halt den mund! Your actions caused the Commander to yell at me! Not only that, but he looked at me with such contempt! How am I supposed to be the best when not even the Commander cares!" Asuka huffed and sat down again, grumbling under her breath. "Why is everyone so touchy here?" She asked, causing Misato to give her a look.

"It's because adults like us hate not having credibility. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a large pile of reports to take care of because of your recklessness." She said, directing the comment towards the children, before getting up and leaving.

"Well, that was fun wasn't it!" Kaji said, as he got up to intervene before the two pilots got into another squabble. He patted Shinji on the back, and gave Asuka a smile. "We don't need any more of your squabbling right now, don't we?"

"Oh no! Of course not, Kaji!" Asuka said, switching modes immediately back to happy schoolgirl.

"Look at that, there's the quick change again." Shinji muttered to himself, as Mari came down the banister.

"Mari! Just who I was looking for! You'll be able to help me keep these two out of trouble, right?" Kaji said, as Mari wondered down the staircase, her Plugsuit still on, despite not getting into an Eva during the mornings events.

"Of course, I can Kaji! These two won't get into any trouble with me around!" Shinji and Asuka both gave Mari a small glare as Kaji laughed to himself.

"Well, why don't you go get showered and changed, grab all your Angelic buddies, and we'll go get some Lunch. What do you say?"

"Oh, Kaji! I would love to go out with you!" Asuka said, clinging on to Kaji arm with a large smile on her face. Kaji wrapped an arm around Shinji's shoulders, leading the three children out of the room.

"Say, Kaji. Where'd Misato go? Why not wait until she gets back from wherever she is?"

"Oh, I'm afraid that she most likely won't be getting any food soon. She's got to go do some cleaning up. As she's the one in charge, she's got to take care of that responsibility, taking the heat in a sense." Kaji laughed as he led the three children to the change rooms, where they all ducked in quickly and got to work getting showered and changed into more suitable clothes for a meal together. Which meant their uniforms, as they had nothing else on them.

Meeting the Children with the Angels outside NERV HQ, Kaji drove the small group of three pilots, (Minus Rei, due to Commander Ikari's call), to a small joint on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. They all ordered quickly, Shinji getting a bowl of Ramen, with many Vegetables. Mari got herself a plate of Chicken with Chips and Vegetables. Asuka got herself a nice red Steak, with Chips and Vegetables. Kaji settled on simply a drink, due to having a lot to eat earlier. Whenever they could, the Angels popped out and ate whatever they could from their Pilots plates.

Mari started the conversation, directing it towards Asuka. "So, Asuka, that wasn't exactly the performance you wanted, was it?"

"Of course, it wasn't!" Asuka aggressively replied, stabbing her Steak with her fork as Shinji used his chopsticks beside her. "That wasn't an accurate representation of my abilities at all!" She said, stuffing the piece of Steak in her mouth and chewing down. "Besides, I don't know about how Shinji felt…"

"Yeah, yeah. I have no talent at all. You made it clear…" Shinji said, idly eating his Ramen, not really caring about the conversation at hand.

"Don't put yourself down, Shinji!" Mari said. "Neither of you were bad at all!"

"Yeah!" Sachiel said, slurping some of Shinji's ramen. "Israfel is tough, and they completely got the jump on you guys, it was totally understandable."

"The Angel has a point." Kaji said, taking a sip of his drink. "You don't need to get so upset. The battle isn't over yet. The Angel isn't defeated yet. Unit-01 and Unit-02 will get repairs and you'll be able to get back out there and take it on again. You'll have the upper hand next time, I'm sure of it." Kaji said, winking at the two children.

"Thanks, Kaji." Shinji said, giving the man a slight smile.

"No problem, Shinji. Now, I think you guys should finish up soon, I've got to get you guys back to school at a decent time."


– Neon Genesis Evangelion OST I – Track 7 – Ritsuko –

Misato scowled as she inspected the pile of reports on her desk. Earlier that day she had significantly lowered her workload to only a small pile of reports. In the time that Israfel attacked, the subsequent defeat of Evangelion Unit-01 and Unit-02, and the conference afterwards showcasing the results of the defeat, the reports on her desk had piled up above her chest, and had completely covered the desk, not a single part of it could be seen.

Ritsuko chuckled as she entered the room, noticing her friends distinct scowl. "Well, here are all the internal protests and damage reports from the Angel's attack, and if you're concerned, here's a bill from the UN. Oh! You've also got a complaint from the PR department as well! I hope you have fun reading them all! As they all need to be read through."

"I don't have to read them all, I already know what they're all going to say." Misato replied, taking the bill from Ritsuko and tossing it away. "They're all saying: If you've got to fight, why can't you do it anywhere else!"

"I'd say that'd be a pretty good guess." Ritsuko replied, picking up her mug of coffee and taking a sip. Misato scoffed, collapsing against her seat, the reports completely obscuring the woman from view.

"I'll deal with it after we defeat this Angel. We still have to deal with Ramiel's remains as well, so I won't get into this until she's completely gone." Misato sighed, crossing her hands under her face in an impeccable imitation of Commander Ikari's favourite position to sit in. She relaxed slightly, still scowling at the pile of papers. "How are the Eva repairs going?" She asked, glancing at the Chief Scientist.

"It'll be five days before either Unit-01 or Unit-02 are combat ready." Ritsuko replied, leaning on the papers to look at her friend.

"Great." Misato muttered to herself, staring at the ceiling. "What about the Angel?"

"Currently regenerating. The MAGI predict that it will be six days before it attacks again."

"Six days." Misato said, running ideas in her head. "Six days to come up with a suitable plan to defeat the Angel. I guess it's a relief that both sides are out of action for now."

"The Commander doesn't show it very well, but he was completely livid. I'd be careful Major, I wouldn't put it past Fuyutsuki to demote you to Captain, or even Lieutenant. However, considering Commander Ikari was there, I wouldn't be surprised that you would be fired if you failed again." Ritsuko commented, giving her friend a small smile. Misato growled back at her.

"Don't talk like that, Ritsuko!" She said, fiddling with her red jacket.

"Of course, it would really save your job if a brilliant idea came by." Ritsuko said, reaching into her coat pockets, pulling out a floppy disk. "Like this one, for instance." Misato perked up instantly, grabbing the disk and running it around in her hands.

"Oh, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi! I knew you'd come through for me! Just what are friends for am I right? An amazing idea! I wonder how you thought of it!" Misato said, reaching over to hug her friend. Ritsuko moved back, out of the way, staring back at her friend.

"I'd love to take the credit for this idea, but unfortunately, it's not me who will be bailing out an old friend." Misato stared at her friend, confusion on her face.

"Then… who came up with the idea?" Misato asked, glancing down at the disk. It read three simple words: To My Honey. Misato started to dread the answer she knew Ritsuko would give her.

"It was Kaji!" Ritsuko replied, a small smile on her face. Misato scowled, chucking the disk out of her hands and onto the pile of papers in front of her.

"I don't want it!" Misato said, growling under her breath as she glanced at her friend.

"So, I'd take it you'd rather get fired by the Commander then?" Ritsuko rhetorically asked, knowing the Misato would take up Kaji's plan that the man had come up with after the initial Angel attack.

"Ugh, fine." Misato said, going back over and grabbing the disk, running it around in her hands again. "I'll use his plan, but that doesn't mean I'm taking him back! That jerk!" Misato said, as Ritsuko gave her friend a smile, turning away from her friend to leave the room. She glanced in once more as she stood in the doorway, and caught her friend staring at the disk sitting in her hands. Misato had a small but fond smile on her face, a reminder of memories from years past. Ritsuko smiled, knowing her friend was feeling conflicted on the inside, and left the room.

'You dork.' Misato thought about Kaji, for once not thinking of the man in some sort of scorn, but instead, amusement. Memories flooded her as she put the disk in and listened to the man's plan.

– End –


September 5th, 2015

– Evangelion 2.0 OST – Disc 1, Track 8 – 2EM09_YAMASHITA –

The early morning sun shone brightly against the tranquil dawn that was a new day in Tokyo-3. The shifting sands of the buildings turning, the solar panels on the sides the structures on the city's outskirts turning as the sun rose, the panels shifting so they could get as much of the morning sun as possible, the light reflecting of them in beautiful patterns, shifting towards the power for that day.

All around, men and women started their days, wondering about the city, heading towards their workplace for that day. Most were yawning due to the early wake-up call for most the city's occupants, but this was completely normal on a work day.

Shinji had started that day like any other. Misato hadn't been home that morning, and he'd thought that she wouldn't. He knew that she had a large pile of reports and bills to scroll through after the events of the battle the day before. In a change of pace, Sachiel, Shamshel and Ramiel were going to come with him to school today for a change, as they all felt that hanging around at NERV was getting boring.

Shinji smiled as he saw his friends waiting for him. 'Where's Asuka?' He thought as he stepped off the escalator and met up with the small group of friends. They all gave each other greetings and set off towards school. They entered the school early for a change, largely due to Hikari making completely sure that they would arrive on time for once, Toji, Kensuke and Mari had heavily objected to this idea, while Shinji and Rei really couldn't care less.

Their arrival at the classroom sparked the start of the long school day, one that they knew would be a complete waste of time, despite Hikari's common protests on the matter, and the knowledge that one of their number was absent that day, and unusually, it was not Rei, for she had returned to school again.

They all settled at their desks, returning to their usual tasks: Shinji, Toji and Kensuke talking about whatever they felt like. Mari just generally trying to be the most annoying person she could in any situation. Rei, who had resumed her favourite pastime of staring out the window. And finally, Hikari, who had assumed her Class Representative persona as soon as she stepped in the room, and had proceeded to start organising everything required of her before the day was up.

Overall, it felt quite normal, despite missing one of their number.

– End –

The day progressed as best as it could. The absence of their German comrade made the day quite a bit more normal for anyone who wasn't the Children and their small group of friends. Their Sensei arrived, Hikari stood and uttered her usual: "Rise! Bow! Sit!" And class started as normal. Their fellow students started to fall asleep from the boring lecture that continued to be the same day after day. To most students, Second Impact really wasn't that interesting anymore, especially to the pilots, who knew what the true story behind the event was.

So, the day progressed as usual. The bell rung. Lunch came and went, and they were right into their Physical Education class. The boys ogled the girls, the girls found it disgusting and made their comments known. The day soon came to an end after that, with Hikari finally giving the final call to allow every to head home for the day and finally relax after a long day's work at school.

The small group walked together out the school doors, chatting as they went. "Toji, you really should stop staring at us during PE. It's weird…" Hikari muttered as they walked, causing the jock to glance over at her.

"I wasn't looking, honest." Toji replied, fumbling over his words, causing both Shinji and Kensuke to laugh at their friend.

"Sure, you weren't." Shinji commented, with Sachiel popping out of Shinji's shirt pocket to give his own comments.

"Don't worry, Toji!" The Angel said, giving him a pat on the back. "We've all wanted to conduct that experiment at some point, haven't we?" Sachiel asked, glancing around at all the three male members of their group. All three blushing simultaneously. "See, told you." Sachiel simply commented, continuing to float in the air.

"Don't be so discouraged." Mari said, watching as Rei just looked in confusion, wondering what they were talking about. "It's only natural that they want to know what we're like underneath. Besides, we are the ones that have direct viewing at any point in the day!"

"Mari…" Hikari said, blushing brightly. "Could you maybe… not?"

"What's wrong, Freckles? Am I embarrassing you in front of your boyfriend?" Hikari once again blushed hard, hiding her face behind her hair.

"It's not… I'm not…"

"Cut it out, Mari." Toji commented, coming towards the point where they would split off for the evening. "Look, why don't we all just head home and relax, alright. We've got more school tomorrow anyway, so why not make the most of it?"

"Don't act like you don't care, Jock, but sure, I'll head home. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, you two!" Mari said, wandering away from the group, chuckling in Toji and Hikari's direction. As soon as the hyper girl had left, Hikari turned on Shinji.

"Please don't tell me you haven't given her any ideas!" She said, her eyes narrowed as she stormed on the boy.

"No. Never." Shinji replied, chuckling as he started to break away from the group himself. "That's all on her." He simply said, giving the small group a wave as he exited himself, leaving only Rei, and the three non-pilots left.

"Well, I will also leave now." Rei commented, her voice soft as she gently started to walk away, a calm look on her face. "I will see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rei!" Hikari said, giving the red-eyed girl a hug. Rei stood still for a moment, before softly returning the hug.

"That was… nice." Rei finally decided, smiling slightly to herself as she left the group of three.

"Well, we'd better get moving Class Rep." Kensuke said, heading towards where he knew the remaining members of their group lived. "As Toji said, we should make the most of it."

"Yeah." Hikari replied, giving her friends a small smile, leaving with them. As she walked beside them, she had a small smile on her face. Happy that she had a group of people she could call her friends again. Being the Class Rep created this reputation that you were hard to get along with, but as her friends repeatedly told her. She was worth a lot more than that.


The daylight was slowly fading away as Shinji walked home after parting ways with his friends. As he walked, his thoughts were on their newest arrival, wondering what she had done that day. He glanced to his left, as NERV trucks drove past. He stared after them, wondering just what they had been around the area for. 'Why are they here?' He asked himself, before continuing on his walk, his thoughts back on the red-haired pilot. 'Asuka… Langley Soryu… She's an interesting person. She must be the only person I've seen who's actually wanted to pilot an Eva…' Shinji stayed on this line of thought as he walked into the apartment complex, and quietly but quickly walked up the stairs to Misato's apartment. 'Still, she's definitely a massive help, actually having two working Eva's now. Although, she seems to have more thoughts of attacking an Angel directly, with no plan of attack…' Shinji sighed as he opened the front door to the apartment, entering the space to find it dark. "I'm home!" He called out, stepping quietly into the small place. "Not that anyone's here of course…" He said, walking down the hallway, noticing the boxes sitting on the side, blocking half the hallway. 'Weird…' He thought, stepping up to his room and opening the door… finding it filled with boxes. "Wait a minute! What the hell happened here!? What happened to my room! Whose crap is this!" He muttered to himself, watching as Sachiel flew out of his pocket, immediately followed by Shamshel and Ramiel. Sachiel glanced around, taking in the room itself.

"Well, it would seem that someone has been doing some renovating around here." Sachiel said, inspecting the boxes now in the room.

"We understand that, Sachiel." Shamshel replied, moving towards a nearby box and pulling out a distinctly yellow sundress.

"Yes."

"I think I have a feeling who it could be…" Shamshel stated, turning to Shinji who was staring in shock at the yellow sundress that he knew a certain Second Child wore only days before.

– Evangelion 2.0 OST – Disc 1, Track 6 – 2EM07_KK_B09_InDoor –

"Before you ask, that is not crap! Put my stuff down! To answer your question, those are my personal belongings!" Came the voice of Asuka, who was currently standing in the hallway watching the proceedings, drinking a glass of something, presumably whatever she had found in the fridge that day. She was obviously dressed casually, a simple but effective pink dress sitting on her figure, with some shorts to accompany it. Shinji turned, shock coming onto his face.

"Huh? Wait, what are you doing here!? At my house!? Where'd you put my stuff!?" Shinji asked, Asuka brought her glass down, tossing it to the floor, leaving it to sit on the ground.

"God, you can be an idiot sometimes. It looks like you've been replaced." Asuka replied, giving the boy a small look.

"Replaced?" Shinji asked, shock and confusion coming onto his features, he watched as Asuka smiled thinly at him.

"Yeah, you've been replaced by the new model." She replied, stepping forward, leaning against the door, watching as Shinji continued to watch her with shock. "It's rather obvious that Misato wanted to live with another woman, so you've been chucked out. Besides, it's obvious I would be the top pick for anyone considering my superior piloting abilities." Asuka said, watching as Shinji stared back at her in horror.

"You've got to be joking…" He muttered watching as Asuka immediately returned to a gleeful and happy mode.

"Although if I got to choose, I think I'd rather live with Kaji!" She said, squealing slightly, immediately returning Shinji to an exasperated look.

"Are you serious?" He asked, watching as she took in the look of the room.

"Of course!" Asuka replied, turning hotly towards him. "Why wouldn't I be? I'd rather live with a real man, and not a wimp like you…"

"You're still annoyed about the Angel are you." Shinji muttered, glancing at the hallway, where he saw more boxes.

"Although, I don't know how you guys can live with such small rooms. I couldn't even fit half of my stuff in here!" Shinji glanced at a single box in the corner, where he saw his own stuff.

"Okay, seriously, Asuka!? How much stuff do you even need!?"

"Also, don't you Japanese have any sense of privacy." Asuka continued, starting to slam open and shut the door repeatedly.

"She's not even listening to me." Shinji muttered, turning to the Angels, who simply shrugged in response.

"Look, you can deal with her, we'll go find Gaghiel. Cool? Cool." Sachiel said, before flying away quickly. Shinji spluttered, watching as they left.

"How do you even live in rooms without locks! It's like someone can just walk in on you! It's completely unbelievable!" Shinji frowned, turning around, and jumping back immediately, right into Asuka. Both of them stared in shock as Misato stood there, arms crossed and a stern look on her face.

"That's because it's the Japanese way to be considerate of the priorities and needs of others, before ourselves." She said, glancing at her charges out of the corner of her eye.

"Misato!" Shinji replied, staring in shock. Asuka grumbled at being pushed backwards against the wall, before pushing back hard against him.

"Hurry up and move your stuff out of here, dammit! I need to move my own stuff in!" Asuka said, ready to start another fight with the boy, who had turned to stare hard at her. Misato however, stepped in before anything could get out of hand.

"Now, now. Shinji is not going anywhere." Misato replied, a happy smile on her face.

"What do you mean!?" Asuka replied, her head coming up to rest on Shinji's shoulder, so she could get a good look at Misato. Shinji blushed slightly, trying not to stare at the girl beside him.

"Listen to me, if the two of you are going to work together, you need to work on your conversation skills. You're both fellow pilots now, so you two will live here together with me! So, you can learn to not get into petty squabbles like you did yesterday. Besides, it's also part of your training!"

"Say what?" Both Shinji and Asuka replied, staring at Misato in disbelief.

– End –

– NGE S2 Works – Disc 1, Track 5 – A-3 (NERV, Rhythm Only) –

"I know what I said, now come on! Before you unpack, Asuka, I have some things to talk about with you. Not only regarding your behaviour yesterday, but also our plan for counterattack. Understand?" Misato said, leaving no room for reply as she left towards her room. Changing into something that she found more comfortable for the evening, she sat down at the table and watching as Pen-Pen went towards the bathroom for his evening bath. She laughed to herself as Shinji and Asuka sat down at the table in front of her, listening carefully. "Now, listen carefully, because I'm only going to tell you this once. From our discussions at NERV and talks about our plan of attack, we've decided that there's only one way to defeat the Seventh Angel! Due to the way the Angel operates, we've figured out that even separated, the Angel acts as one, operating in perfect tandem." Misato said, slamming her local can of beer down at the table, just so the children knew that she was getting her point across. "We need to execute a simultaneous attack on the Angel's twin cores at the same time while the Angel is split in two. What I'm asking of you two is an attack by two Eva's, working in perfect synchronisation." Shinji and Asuka stared in wonder, turning to each other briefly, wondering just what Misato was possibly saying. "To succeed at this, we'll need cooperation from both of you. But, we also need you both to be in perfect harmony, or else the mission will be a failure." Misato said, looking between her two charges. "It is because of this, that you two will be living here together for the foreseeable future."

"What!" Asuka shouted out immediately, leaning forward on the table so she could glare hard at the Major. "It's always been said that boys and girls should no longer live under the same roof after the age of seven! This is ridiculous!" Asuka grumbled, crossing her arms under her chest as she slumped back in her chair.

"Well, then just be glad that I won't take no for an answer!" Misato replied, sipping her beer, giving Asuka a stern look.

"Misato's right." Sachiel said, floating onto the table so he could talk to everyone at once. "Israfel has always been the only one of us who can split into two copies of itself. It's always worked in perfect synchronisation as well, even when it's just pranking us. We agree with this plan. This is the only way you'll be able to beat Israfel."

"We'd love to help, Asuka!" Gaghiel said, floating beside the girl. "But even with our extra abilities, because we're all different, we'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Gaghiel's right. This needs to be done entirely up to you guys. Israfel is still out there, and if we know our siblings, they'll be using their unique ability to take as much of an advantage as possible. If we can remove that advantage, that gives us more of a chance to win, and bring Israfel to our side." Shamshel said, his little feet scratching his chin in an attempt to look like he was in thought, but it just looked utterly hilarious.

"Yes." Ramiel said, shifting her entire body to nod at the children.

"I still don't understand what you're so upset about, Asuka?" Misato asked, giving the girl a look. "What's the big problem of living with Shinji?"

"B-But…" Asuka started, but Misato cut her off immediately.

"I'm not finished, Asuka! This is an operational necessity! We need you both to be in perfect harmony for this to work! Simply training together is not going to be enough! So, we're going to be synching your biological rhythms as well. So, you're going to be sleeping together, getting up together, eating together, doing everything together, and you're going to be training together. Now I ask you, Asuka. What's the big deal?" Misato finished, staring directly at the girl.

"Okay, what if Shinji gets up in the middle of the night and is so horny that he attacks me!?" Asuka asked, pointing at the boy beside her, who just stared at her in shock. Misato however, promptly burst out laughing.

"You don't need to worry about that, Asuka! Shinji's not that type of guy. Although…" Misato then got up and whispered specifically to Asuka, but keeping it high enough so Shinji could still hear her. "Shinji really wouldn't have the guts." Asuka smiled slightly, giving Shinji an evil smirk. Shinji just turned away, muttering under his breath.

"And even if I did, she'd kill me." Asuka growled, hearing the boy, and moved to whack him. Misato promptly intervened.

"Don't kill each other before we have to kill the Angel." Misato stated, sitting back down. "To finish, the Angel is currently regenerating itself. It will pick itself back up and attack again in six days. We have no time."

"What you're asking us is impossible!" Asuka said, slumping back down. Misato grinned.

"Then be thankful that we have a way to make the impossible, possible." She replied, pulling out a single cassette tape. "In order for you both to be in perfect synchronisation, we've choreographed an attack pattern to the piece of music on this tape here. Follow it exactly, and you two will be in perfect sync, and you'll be able to completely destroy both targets. We begin tonight, and we attack in six days. Take some time to freshen up, as we'll be getting started as soon as dinner is over." Misato said, getting up and heading towards her own room, leaving the two children by themselves in the kitchen.

– End –

Asuka immediately put her head in her hands, mumbling to herself as she processed exactly what she had just been told. "Reality has become an illusion. This has to be a nightmare. Beating the Angel can't be worth this."

"Well, it is." Sachiel said, coming over to the girl. "Israfel has always been able to do this. We just need to exploit that. We can't help unfortunately. We've already tried. This is our last chance." Shinji got up and put his hand on Asuka's shoulder.

"So, I can have the first shower? Or do you want to have it?" He asked, glancing towards the bathroom door. "I'd just like to cool off a little bit."

"Nein!" Asuka replied, pushing Shinji's hand of her and immediately facing him. "Haven't you ever heard of chivalry Third Child!?" She asked, watching him carefully.

"Of course…" Shinji replied.

"You didn't have to answer that…" Asuka replied, stepping towards the bathroom door. "Anyway, it's ladies first! So, I'll go before you!" She said, stepping inside the bathroom, shutting the door quickly. Shinji turned away, heading towards the kitchen itself.

"Well, guess I'll start cooking some dinner then." Shinji muttered, starting to prepare some food for the evening when the bathroom door immediately opened again. He turned to look at Asuka, who was giving him a hard stare from across the room.

"One more thing, Shinji." She said, making sure he heard every word. "No. Peeking."

"Didn't you say yesterday you didn't mind if I had one of those photos of you?" Shinji asked, pointing out her words from the day before. Asuka blushed, growling back at him.

"Don't mistake what I say, idiot!" Asuka said, glaring at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Don't worry, I won't peek. Probably because the effort would kill me." Shinji muttered, returning to his cooking.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean!?" Asuka asked, preparing to step forward and get in the boy's face again.

"Just go take a shower!" Shinji finally said, waiting until the door closed, before finally releasing the breath he'd been holding in. 'Well, I should probably be glad that I'm doing this with Asuka.' Shinji thought, as he set the pan on heat and started chopping some vegetables. 'Although, I didn't think I'd be doing anything like this at NERV. Seems unreal that we'd be doing this. If it was Rei that I was doing this with, I'm sure it'd be fine, but I'd be trying desperately to strike up conversation. She doesn't seem the type of speak much. As for Mari, she'd probably be making constant innuendo's, and I don't think I'd be able to take much of that for six days straight. At least with Asuka, I might be able to have proper conversations. If she's not still annoyed at me.'

Misato had by this point returned to the kitchen, now adequately in home mode, she grabbed herself another can of beer and promptly settled down at the kitchen table. She cracked open her can of beer, and promptly went:

– Evangelion 1.0 OST – Track 10 – EM08_B17_Edit#070705 –

"YEEEEEEEHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHH!" She cried out as she knocked her can back and chucked it in the corner. "Yep, that's definitely still the stuff!" She said, turning to look at Shinji. "Oh, Shinji's cooking dinner again! What are we having tonight?"

"Just some fried vegetables, because you went shopping." Shinji replied from his spot in the kitchen, glancing over his shoulder at his guardian.

"Great! Anything you cook is good, Shinji! Now, where's Asuka?" Before Shinji could answer, an inhuman scream came from the direction of the bathroom. "Don't worry, Shinji. I know now." Misato smirked as Asuka came barrelling into the kitchen, baring all, pointing abruptly towards the bathroom.

"There's this thing! A weird creature! It was just sitting there in the bathroom!" Asuka cried out as Pen-Pen waddled out of the bathroom, settling himself at the kitchen table, his own can of beer in his fins. Asuka just stared at him as he walked by, shock and confusion on her face. Misato laughed as she picked up her next can of beer, watching the proceedings with interest.

Shinji laughed as she continued to cook by the pan. "Sorry, Asuka! I forgot about Pen-Pen! He's just a penguin!" Shinji turned around to apologise to Asuka in person, and promptly caught an eyeful of everything. Shinji turned red. Really red. Only a few thoughts going through his head.

'Asuka.'

'Breasts.'

'Asuka.'

'Naked.'

'Oh god.'

Asuka just glanced at Shinji in confusion, wondering why the boy had suddenly gone completely red. She glanced down at herself, and noticing her current state of undress, also proceeded to go completely red. "Oh shit…" Shinji muttered to himself, knowing exactly what was going to come.

Misato continued to watch in satisfaction, a large smile on her face. "Oh, look at that Pen-Pen! They match!" Asuka immediately ran forward and kicked Shinji in the face, causing the boy to crumple to the floor. Asuka immediately covered herself as best as she could, shouting obscenities in her native language as she went.

"Sie überlegt pervers! Letch! I thought I told you not to peek!" Asuka shouted, as she glared hard at the boy lying on the floor ahead of her. She quickly rushed back to the bathroom, shutting the door quickly.

Misato laughed from her position on the table, sipping her beer once again. "Well, you can certainly tell that they're getting more comfortable with each other, right Pen-Pen?" Said Penguin gave a satisfied wark in reply, leaving Shinji to get up on his own.

– End –

Misato smiled, before leaving the room again, and Pen-Pen went to his freezer to relax for a bit. "I've got some work to do, okay, Shinji? Let me know when Dinner's ready!"

"Okay, Misato!" Shinji replied, setting some final things on to cook and then returning to the table. He waited, watching the food in the pan from afar. He noticed the shower turn off, watching as Asuka stepped out of the bathroom, her hair a deep red due to how wet it was, her body wrapped in a towel.

"Hey, Shinji, I'm all freshened up now!" She said, coming into the kitchen, using loose bits of towel to dry her hair. "You can have a shower now, if you want." She said, stepping forward. Shinji was red all over again, trying to stammer out a response.

"W-what? W-Why aren't you dressed?" He finally asked, as Asuka came and stood in front of him, watching him with a baleful eye.

"I just came out of the shower." Asuka replied, using her fingers to run through her hair. "I had a question for you, by the way." She said, turning around in front of the boy. "What do you think of my body?" She asked, giving him a smirk.

"Didn't you already tell me not to peek?" Shinji asked, keeping his eyes on Asuka's face.

"I did, but considering you've already seen all of me. I figured what's the problem." Asuka replied, she decided to tease the boy, leaning forward a little. "You've seen my breasts. What did you think? I think they've come through quite nicely." Asuka said, giving him a good view of her cleavage.

"I-I don't know!" Shinji replied, turning away from her. Asuka sighed, deciding to sit down next to him. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising." Asuka replied, drumming her fingers on the table. "What's for dinner?"

"Fried vegetables. Misato went shopping."

"Boring." She replied, resting her head on the table.

"Aren't you angry at me?" Shinji asked, glancing at the girl, who gave him a puzzled look.

"No, of course not!" Asuka replied, sitting up immediately. "Why would you think that?"

"Because, it just seemed like you were really annoyed after the battle yesterday." Shinji replied, Asuka smiled slightly shifting slightly so she could face him.

"I was, a little bit. But I mostly just find it fun. I wasn't actually angry at you." Asuka replied. "Although, it is fun to keep you on your toes." Asuka grinned, causing Shinji to blush slightly.

"So, you weren't actually angry at me?" Shinji asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Of course, I wasn't! I just like fighting with you because you actually bite back. Not like the First, who doesn't speak much, or Makinami, who takes everything sexually. No, you're the only one who actually bites back."

"Kind've like Misato and Kaji." Shinji muttered, causing Asuka to blush.

"Yeah…" She simply said, watching the boy as he stood up and returned to the pan, preparing to serve the meal for the evening. Asuka also stood, heading towards her new room. She stopped briefly, turning back to the boy. "Hey Shinji?"

"Yeah?" Shinji replied, turning to face her, a questioning look on his face. Asuka gave him a smirk.

"I still don't mind." She said, blushing slightly. "Although I'm sure Misato enjoyed the show a lot more than you did." Shinji blushed right back, returning to his work so she wouldn't see how red he'd got. Asuka smiled to herself, entering her room. She glanced back over her shoulder, thoughts coming to her mind. 'I don't know why, but I feel so comfortable around you. It's weird, as I've never been comfortable around anyone else besides… mother.'


– Evangelion 1.0 OST – Track 17 – EMA_13_A –

Rei stared around her as she wandered the steps towards her home. The construction vehicles still around the place, as they usually were, just waiting patiently for the day that they would be able to take the place down completely. Considering half the dilapidated building was already destroyed, it certainly wouldn't be long before it would be taken down completely. 'I was told this was my home.' Rei thought, as she walked through her front door, stepping into the small dark space. 'Commander Ikari and Dr. Akagi told me to live here, yet this isn't going to be very suitable living soon.' She stepped past her sink, where some glasses sat unattended, just waiting for the day they would be cleaned. She went to the nearby cupboard and pulled out a small bottle, containing an assortment of pills inside it.

She gently dropped her school bag beside her bed, and sat in her single chair. Glancing down at the bottle, she let one of the pills fall out onto her hand. She stared at it. Hard. 'Why must I take these?' She asked herself continuing to glance at them. 'Dr. Akagi told me it was for my health. But is it? I feel… strange when I take these.' She glanced up, thinking it over in her head. 'I'll ask my friends about this. Maybe they know something.' She noted, moving over to her bed. She stripped down, knowing this was her preferred state, and proceeded to lie down under the thin sheet the bed had. As Rei slowly drifted off to sleep, the pills sat nearby, on the bed stand, unattended.

– End –


Sync Ratios:
Shinji: 64.8% (+ 0.5%)
Asuka: 61.1% (+ 0.4%)
Rei: 50.0% (+/- 0.0%)
Mari: 25.1% (+ 1.5%, In Unit-01/Test Plug)
Shinji/Asuka (Dual): 75% (- 50.0%, In Unit-13 (Half-Complete))

Current Shoulder Angels:
Shinji – Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel
Asuka – Gaghiel
Mari – Skeletal

Angels Defeated: 5 / ?

German-English:
Was War Das? – What Was That?
Mein Gott – My God
Hört auf, Dinge anzunehmen, Asuka – Stop assuming things, Asuka
Es tut mir leid – I'm Sorry
Hallo! Guten Morgen! – Hello! Good Morning!
Ernsthaft? – Seriously?
Lehrt dieser kerl nicht jemals etwas anderes? – Doesn't this guy ever teach anything else?
Was für ein idiot – What an idiot
Dummkopf – Idiot
Oh gott! – Oh god!
Bleiben sei mir aus dem weg! – So, stay out of my way!
Kommen sie und holen sie es! – Come and get it!
Berechnen! – Charge!
Schiesse! – Shit!
Verdammt! – Dammit!
Halt den mund! – Shut up!
Nein! – No!
Sie überlegt pervers! – You inconsiderate pervert!

So, there we go! The first half of Episode 9! Shinji and Asuka are now living together, and they have to work together to take down Israfel. I absolutely love this Episode, it's my favourite of the series, so I'm very excited to jump into the second half of this Episode in Chapter 22. Also, coming with Chapter 22 will be the rewrite of Chapter 2 as well, so two things to look forward to! Lots of content from the Manga and Rebuild 2.22 here as well, so great combinations of lots of content. With that being said, I'll catch you all next time!


Reviews!:

G-Matt: Thank you so much for the review! Yes I plan to use many major sources that I can fit into the usual Evangelion fiasco that I can, so you'll see more than just the Anime, Manga and Rebuild that's for sure!

LostUmbrella: Yes, you'll just have to wait and see! Glad you've enjoyed the story so far!

YourBlandestNightmare: That just gave me an image, now all I can see is Unit-02 with a slow drill coming out of it's ass. XD! I'll gladly take the time to make these chapters the best I can possibly make them. As for Unit-13? You'll have to wait and see!

Guest: Reactions to new Angels will probably start to die down a bit, now that the group knows they exist. The fun part will be the different personalities they have! And I have a lot of ideas!