This is a fanfic, 'nuf said

This is a fanfic, 'nuf said.

I don't own N.G.E. and everything about it. If I did, then I wouldn't be writing fanfics and I'll be up on my ass making another movie and all that mess. Sue me about about legal stuff and you'll just end feeling embarrassed with a hand full of pennies ( 1 cent, USA currency...) for compensation for your troubles.

Give your comments at raiden_x_@hotmail.com

Pre-ramblings: For those who are curious, I was inspired to make this fanfic series after watching a music video of Neon Genesis Evangelion by the song of 'The Adam song' by Blink 182.

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Project Messiah - codename: Shinji

Another frigging Eva alternate reality by Raiden_X_

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Chapter 5 - Against a Sky-bolt

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[Battle site]

"So, this is our enemy up close, isn't it?" Shinji asked no one in particular.

The 4th angel was stored inside a makeshift facility. The young Ikari and his guardian was staring up at the corpse of their retired quarry.

"I see... Parts other than the core have been left intact. This truly is an ideal sample." Ritsuko remarked to her assistant. She and Maya Ibuki were up on a platform, analyzing their specimen.

"Thanks! This will be a great help!" Ritsuko exclaimed to the two below.

"Well, do you know anything new?" Misato asked.

Soon, the three were in front of the computer. After much calculation process, it displayed '602'

"What's this?" Major Katsuragi was at a loss when it comes to scientific mumbo-jumbo.

"That's the code number for 'Undetermined'. " The doctor replied.

"In other words, you don't know anything new at all?" Misato deadpanned.

"You are correct. But we do know the Angel is composed of matter which has the properties of both particles and waves, just like light." all three sipped their drinks in unison.

"Well, you did find its power source, didn't you?"

"*Sigh!* Only something like that. And I've got nothing on its working mechanism."

"We've finally found something completely outside our experience, haven't we?"

"Well, the world is full of mysteries. Look, this is the Angel's inherent wave pattern." Ritsuko moved away from the monitor so that the two could see clearly.

"Let me see it." Misato moved closer while Shinji tried to see with his guardian blocking most of the view.

"This may be... "Misato stood up straight so that Shinji could get a better look at it.

"Right. Although the constituent elements are different from humanity's, the arrangement and coordinates of the signals are extremely like humanity's genes: 99.89% "

The Commander and the Sub-commander passed them by. Only Shinji seemed to notice.

"99.89% means ... "

"This proves how shallow our knowledge is."

"OK. All right. Stop it." An engineering staff ordered the cranes to place the core on the ground.

Shinji moved to a corner and peeked to see what's going on.

He saw the commanders cop a feel at the huge fractured ruby-like button. Gendo took off his gloves so that he could touch it with his skin to get to know the real texture of the Angel's core. Shinji saw that the hands were scarred.

"This is the core... How is the rest?" Kozou asked a staff member.

"The degradation is very serious. It isn't suitable for a sample. "

"That is not problem. Discard the rest." The commander commanded (that's part of the job prescription).

"What's the matter?" Major Katsuragi asked the boy why he was acting weird.

"Ah... No, nothing's wrong." The young Ikari managed to stutter.

"*Sigh!* Shinji, do you know that when you say 'nothing' in that tone of voice, you might as well have screamed for us to give you attention?" She scolded.

"Well, Father seems to have burned his hand..." He explained.

"Burned?" Misato obviously didn't know about that.

"I was just wondering what happened to him."

"Burn... Do you know anything anything about that?" Katsuragi asked her friend.

"It's before you came to this city, Unit-00 went out of control during the activation experiment. Have you heard about that?"

"Yes." Shinji nodded.

"The pilot was locked inside it."

"Rei was the pilot, wasn't she?"

"Your father helped her escape from it. He had to force open the overheated hatch."

"Father did..."

"That's how he burnt his palms."

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[School sports-grounds]

The girls were having another swimming session. As usual, Asuka is manifesting another exhibition to impress others, and make the male species from the basketball court below drool, as she shamelessly display how sexy her nubile body is in her swimsuit.

Well, there's no denying that fact as the benched group stared above at the fences and watch the girls.

"They've all got incredible breasts!" One would say.

"Oh yeah!" Another would agree.

"Asuka's Hot as Hell!" One would exclaim to another.

"You got that right!" Another would reply.

"Man! I wished she would answer my letters..." Someone would wistfully dream out loud.

"........." Some guys would get offended.

"What?" Someone would break the sudden silence.

"I sent some too..." Someone else would explain why there is a silence.

"Oh man..." Someone would feel awkward among the others... (those whom probably 'sent some' too)

Shinji however, was staring at Rei while scratching behind his right shoulder.

"Hey hotshot! Who are you starin' at?" Touji inquired mischievously.

"He's ogling Rei!" Kensuke answered for Shinji, imitating the Cheshire Cat's grin.

"I didn't know you were into incest!" Touji prodded his friend with an accusing finger.

"NO!" Shinji furiously shook his head.

"C'mon, we're just shaking you up a bit! You're too serious!" Aida noted mock sagely.

"I was only wondering why she's all alone..."

"Oh... Come to think of it, she never did had any friends around here since the first grade." Suzahara pointed out.

"Your sister must've have a bad personality like yours then..." Kensuke surmised

"Was I really that taciturn?" The young Ikari asked.

"You still are... but at least, you're working on it."

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[Classroom]

The pupils were back again on their seats and the sensei is in his usual 'Drone-endlessly-about-Second-Impact-so-you'd-take-the-hint-that-I'm-not-totally-alright-upstairs-cause-I'm-still-probably-in-shock-over-that-incident' and in 'Desperate-need-of-a-life-so-I'll-drain-you-of-yours' mode. The students were quite attentive today... well mostly anyway. The senile lecturer was facing the class today instead of the window. They couldn't get away with their rude behaviors (as Hikari would put it), The old man may be semi-deaf, but he got eyes of an owl.

All in all, it's just a normal day...

or is it?...

Shinji was having a bad feeling about today.

I'm having a bad feeling about today... Shinji thought, unknowingly repeating what the author had just written and thus made the Magnificent *Cough, cough!* Raiden X squirm while writing this sentence.

Out of habit, The young Ikari scratched the back of his shoulder. This annoying tendency of his was also noticed by his friends. Touji picked this time to hold another private chat room conference with their laptops.

Touji: There! He did it again!

Kensuke: That's the 23rd one today.

Touji: Most of the time, he would scratch that spot five times a day.

Kensuke: Your gym locker's near Ikari's when we change uniforms for Gym class, does he have a scar there or something?

Touji: Nope. He's got nothing. Not even a bruise.

Kensuke: Heh! A confession that you're checking him out?! Wait till Hikari hears about this!

Touji: I'm not gay, you moron!!! And don't bring Hikari into this!!! I'm going to make you bleed later for that!!!

Kensuke: Calm down, will you?! I'm just joking!!!

Touji: You'd look too if you got fed up watching him scratch one more time at the back of his shoulders!

Kensuke: Maybe we should ask him.

Touji: Yeah, he must've been very suspicious by now.

A few more hours later, The sensei's head lurched forward lazily, slamming on the pile of his desk, after boring himself to unconsciousness.

"We're free!" a student would exclaim.

This of course started another session of anarchy in the classroom, with Hikari giving up on their rudeness and joining in with her friends at gossip superhighway.

Another irritating habit of Shinji's was dosing off. The weird thing about it is that whenever the sensei wakes him up and asks if he heard what he had just said, the boy could narrate the whole lecture without leaving any detail. In short: He could hear and memorize anything while he is asleep. He still gets detention though.

The girls who sat near him had no problem him daydreaming, They could steal glances better that way (He can hear, not see). Rei would just let him be of course, she knew that his quirks had reasonable explanations. Asuka however, would scowl as the girls 'studying' the young Ikari's unconscious figure and giggle at his angelic and innocently-soft snore. With a small grin, the little miss Sohryu could stealthily throw a blunt object from her desk and into the back of Shinji's head, resulting with the desired effect of disrupting the class in his wake.

"Ouch!" a thick eraser bounced off at his scalp.

He didn't really notice it, but the word 'ouch' and such had always been uttered out involuntarily. He was too deep in sleep to let his brain figure out that he should wake on that signal.

Irritated, the red-head tried another one. The others couldn't stop her in fear of being her next target (They really were very moral and good people, it just that... well, it's amazing how people will leap in great lengths just to 'look-away-over-on-the-other-side-and-pretend-you-didn't-see-it' because they believed that "If you didn't see it, then your life might stay as long as it is.").

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[Dreamscape (Shinji's train of thoughts)]

"Something bad is going to happen, I just know it!" Shinji proclaimed.

"Shush! I'm trying to think!" Lucifer took his chance to slip a card from his sleeve into his hand as the attention was briefly diverted to the captain.

The four beings sat around a square table. Lucifer had once again tempted the chief and Adam into playing a friendly game of poker. They don't have any money so they stuck to shredding papers as token pieces. Lucifer was losing to Adam, the 1st Angel was very good at everything. Fortunately for the the fallen angel, Shinji was an easy prey; the poor guy never did have a 'poker-face', emotion is what he does best.

Christ however, was very busy listening to the lectures that the ear receives at it's unconscious state. He always covers up for Shinji whenever he is 'off-duty'.

Lucifer was too lazy to listen to a boring class and Adam was prohibited to be 'on-the-loose' out in the real world (for serious reasons of course).

Everybody is wide awake today rather than the usual groggy group whenever the chief visits during class time. All of them felt a great foreboding about the future.

Adam KNOWS what is going to take place. Of course, he knows everything. He couldn't say anything to the others in fear of disrupting time and space itself. It gave him comfort to know that his brothers haven't realized it yet. He also got the gut feeling that Christ knew all along, but he could never be too sure. Nobody could ever read the Messiah's thoughts nor it's pattern. He could read Lucifer's, but his thought pattern is completely random, chaotic as one would say.

"Asuka's throwing stuff at as again..." Adam stated dispassionately. The monitor hooked up on the ceiling was displaying 'Danger! Heavy blunt projectiles has created five more lumps!'"

"Maybe that the odd feeling we're having right now is that she will throw a heavy object soon, and you know that this body is extremely fragile. 4-OF-A-Kind!" Lucifer triumphantly yelled out, placing down one queen of hearts, and three queens of spades.

"I fold..." Shinji groaned, not noticing that there seemed to be more of the same kind of cards from one deck.

Adam chuckled. It's common knowledge that Lucifer always cheats, but who is he to viciously point that out? Nobody could stop the fallen one from his quirks, it's what makes him he.

"Heh! With me around, this body could regenerate instantaneously!" Adam said as he placed down on the table a 'Royal-Flush', winning his 46th victory in a row

"You cheated!" Lucifer sulked.

"Whatever." Experience has unraveled to Shinji and his other colleagues years ago that Lucifer will never own up to anything wrong he ever did and often throws the blame on someone else when the opportunity arises. Arguing with him was pointless as teaching a sloth to fly like an eagle and study to become a fruit fairy.

"It's not fair if you cheat, you won't truly win anything in the end." Christ stated. It may be useless, but Christ believed that everybody has a chance at anything. Unfortunately, his passion for 'righting-the-wrong' had made him unaware of the bell that rang in the real world.

"Well I have to! I couldn't even get any chance against 'Mr.Know-it-all' here!"

Suddenly, Shinji's consciousness got yanked (teleported) back at the pilots' seat and the body-link reconnected.

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[Classroom]

"Shinji you Idiot!!!" A thick textbook whacked Shinji into consciousness.

Everyone stared at the poor boy's cringing form. They felt sympathetic to him, being the subject of scrutiny under Asuka's sadistic paws. But they were glad that he would (yet unwillingly) sacrifice himself so that others may roam 'harassed-free'.

The Second and Third Child were dubbed as the 'Newly Weds' because of the way Shinji got henpecked all the time.

The rumors had generated unofficial explanations upon why Asuka had focused her legendary rage at the young Ikari.

Some rumors were:

1)They were ex-lovers, Asuka keeps on beating him up for leaving her but doesn't want to acknowledge that a relationship had ever existed.

2)Asuka was into 'Submission and Domination' sex games and Shinji was her (unwilling) partner and hurts him during the day also so that he won't blurt out any sleazy info.

3)Asuka was just plain sadistic and picks on Shinji 'cause he's easy to hurt.

4)Shinji was just plain masochistic and tolerates whatever Asuka has to throw at him (see rumor#3).

5)Asuka has a crush on Shinji and that's how she expresses her love.

6)Shinji was her master at night (see rumor#2) and she gets back at him during the day.

And many more...

If one would ask the Second Child, she would deny any relation to the Third Child. If someone would ask the young Ikari, he would get throttled and bashed into a wall by miss Sohryu before he could hysterically deny anything.

Deep down, Asuka really doesn't know what she feels for the boy. The only rational explanation she often tell herself is that she considers him as a threat to her status as the best pilot of Evangelion. Even Rei couldn't beat her sync rate, but this guy! The nerve of him to beat her starting sync by 46%!!! She couldn't even move Unit-02 at her first try of 8%. The only way she had thought that could keep the boy from breaking her previous sync record was making him feel inferior. And besides, he was so easy to pick on. He just takes any berating (or any animate/inanimate object for that matter) she could hurl.

She wouldn't admit it but, after just a few weeks being around the boy, she had grown a place for him in her heart.

She would have to hit him again for that later. Still, the guilt keeps adding up everyday...

Clutching his head, he looked back at his assailant. She was fuming mad.

"Why did you do that for?"

"You idiot! it's dismissal already!" She pointed at the clock on the wall.

The girls were giggling at dazed form as they filed out through the door, much to Asuka's annoyance. The other boys just winced in sympathy.

"Hey! He ain't daft! Leave him alone b*tch!" Touji defended his comrade.

"Suzahara!" Unfortunately for him, Hikari heard that and dragged him off by the ear for after-school punishment.

"Hmmph!" The red haired girl harrumphed and left. Her hair trailed after her like a majestic wildfire.

"Uh, Shinji... I got to ask you something..." Kensuke asked.

"What now?" The young Ikari is still incoherent from the recent blow to the braincase. His gaze wondered around, searching for his sibling.

She had left already... the boy felt disappointed.

They had never been able to sit down and have a decent conversation for weeks with her schedule being full all the time.

"What's with this constant 'back scratching'?"

"Uh, what do you mean?" Shinji scratched his back, as he always do when confused.

"See! There you go again!"

"Oh, this? It's nothing, it's just a, er... an irritation! Yeah, that's it! Heh, heh!" the young Ikari grinned nervously.

Somehow, I don't buy that... Aida pushed his lens up the bridge of his nose thoughtfully.

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the next day...

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[Misato's apartment]

It's Saturday.

Ritsuko had come over for lunch, unfortunately... it was Misato's turn to cook.

Asuka, being a genius and all, managed to remember that fact and made pre-emptive plans to go out with Hikari to the mall (and eat in a nearby restaurant of course).

Shinji on the other hand, forgot about it and it was to late to scoot.

The three were in the kitchen and Shinji was busy setting up the table.

"What's this?"

"It's curry!"

"You're still eating that instant junk?!"

Ritsuko grimaced as she looked down on her 'meal' and prodded at it to see if it might combust.

"Hey! You're a guest here! You have no right to complain!" The major replied.

"Uh, Miss Misato? You don't have a plate..." Shinji was carrying a cauldron with his left hand and a ladle on the the other.

"Oh! Here! Tadaaaaa! Slop some of that stuff here!" Misato held out a bowl of instant noodles for Shinji to serve some of the curry from the cauldron.

"In an instant bowl of ramen?" Dr. Akagi asked incredulously.

"You're not serious, right?" Shinji checked to see if she's drunk already.

"Yup! Heh, heh, heh! The trick is to put less water in it to make the slushy texture. Now that's a real 'Curry flavored' Ramen! Good stuff!" Katsuragi beamed at the brilliance of her new found recipe.

Shinji reluctantly obeyed. Misato's culinary achievements could really worry him sometimes. But then again, the beer probably evened that out, poison could kill poison anyway.

The other two took a spoonful, and that was enough to destroy the tongue.

"Misato cooked, right?"

"Oh, You noticed?" Misato inquired in between mouthfuls of noodles.

"*Gulp* It's easy." Ritsuko replied, chocking on the taste.

How could anyone make an Instant food taste so bad?! She thought.

"Misato, if you're going to invite me here for lunch, please make sure that it's Shinji's turn to cook." The doctor deadpanned.

"Shinji, how could you put up with this... blasphemy! You should move out! Don't let a bad roommate ruin your life like this!" Ritsuko added.

From the other room, a *Thud!* sound of a stiff warm-water penguin fainting due to food poisoning was heard by Shinji.

If she poisons the people she loves, what will she do to me if she got really angry? The boy shivered slightly.

"I don't know... I kind of got used to it by now." He half-lied, fear of divine retaliation from his commanding officer was instilled in him. He knew she could maim people in multiple ways with only the aide of an empty beer can.

"Yeah! Don't ever underestimate the power of man's ability to adapt to their environment, and besides-" Misato shook her can of Yebisu and found out that it's empty.

"Eh? Uh, Shinji? Could you please toss me another can? That's a dear..." She requested from the teen.

"As I was saying, even if he would move out, he'll have a lot of trouble going through red tape. Shinji-kun-chan had just received his formal security card, you know." She stated out to her blond-dyed friend.

"Oh! I almost forgot again!" Dr. Akagi exclaimed.

"Shinji? I need a favor. Could you please give this to your sister later before going to the base for sync testing? I keep forgetting to deliver this to her... She's probably heading back here in an hour or so from Swimming practice." She took an ID card from her bag as the young Ikari came back to deliver Misato her beer.

"She's in the Swimming team?" Shinji was surprised. She might be a quiet lass, but she really could go places if she really wanted to.

"Yes, and Asuka's into gymnastics." Ritsuko added.
Thinking of both girls in either leotards or swimsuits almost made Shinji nosebleed. He clamped a hand over his nostrils just in case.

The young Ikari reached for the Nerv security card.

Action speaks louder than words... words that she would rather keep. He noted as he stared at the small picture laminated unto the plastic card. Rei's blue-dyed hair and red contact lenses could really turn some heads. He had asked her about that before. She didn't really wanted any attention. Blue was the color of her sorrow, for the death of her mother and the division of her family and for humanity. She kept the reason for the red contact lenses a secret, but Shinji knew that Rei had hated the color red from back when they were kindergartners-

"Hey! Why are you starin' at her picture like that for?" Misato broke his reverie with one of her prized teasing subject.

"What? Hey, I-It's not like what you think!" Shinji defended himself.

"Oh! So you don't think of her as your sister then, Huh?" The major added with a playful smirk, opening her can.

"Aaarrghh!!! STOP TEASING ME!!!!" the young Ikari shouted in frustration as he sat down defiantly.

"But I like teasing you! You're so ballistic!" Misato winked as she gulped down some more beer.

"Yes, just like Misato." Ritsuko countered for the verbally defenseless boy.

Katsuragi nearly spilled the beer allover the table.

"It's just strange that even though we're siblings, I really don't know much about her at all. We haven't been able to get together for a while."

"She's like her father in that regard, they're not adept at...er-" Akagi's brow furrowed, trying to find the word she's looking for.

"Not adept at what?"

"Living, I guess."

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An hour and a half passed by...

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[Rei's apartment]

Shinji knocked on the door, the door bell still doesn't work.

There's no reply.

I heard Rei come in thirty minutes ago... where is she? He thought nervously.

He then noticed that the door was unlocked.

"..........?"

He went inside, knocking again just in case.

"Rei? Are you here? I'm coming in..." he inquired as he took off his shoes at the side.

The apartment was clean. So clean that it seemed more monotonous than his room.

It was not as big as Misato's and could only hold one tenant, and the only rooms inside were a kitchen, a bathroom, a terrace, and a living room/bedroom.

Hey, I haven't seen this one here before... Shinji went over at the bureau and picked up a pair of broken lens.

"...This isn't hers, it's too big for her."

He read the engraving on one of the arms of the glasses.

It belonged to Gendo Ikari

I remember this! These were his old glasses! he reflected.

Memories of being left all alone crept up at the young Ikari.

It's alright, he thought. That was before... I know the reason now...

Back at his uncle Keichi's and aunt Belldandy's place (well it's not really a house... they owned a shrine with some dormitories used by monks who had lived there years ago...), he had been treated as their own. Yet, it was he who was distant. Since the day that his father had sent him away, Shinji felt that he has no important purpose in life.

He doesn't care about me... who would? I'm a freak, a boy with these hideous wings! Now I'm stuck with strangers and that I have to keep these things secret for the rest of my life... he would sulk.

His aunts would often try to cheer him up by either sending him in dance classes (Aunt Urd's idea for easy encounters with girls *Wink, wink! Nudge, nudge!*) and helping aunt Skuld in her workshop (She would wail whenever Shinji fumbled over something due to his nature of being very squeamish and easily surprised. The boy is a total klutz!), with extremely embarrassing results. Uncle Keichi would take him for a ride on his motorcycle, if only the boy would try to relax (Shinji had a very nasty experience as a test pilot with aunt Skuld's experimental 'Mach-666' mountain bike. He only wanted to learn how to fix and ride the broken bike he found, not having aunt Skuld fix it and upgrade it into a rocket The poor kid wouldn't go near any transportation equipment that only has two wheels attached to it after that event). Aunt Belldandy was the most successful... well, partly anyway. The boy was eager to help out in any way he could, it's his way of paying them back for their kindness. So, the blonde haired woman taught him how to scrub the floors, sweep properly, rake the leaves, dust the furniture, do the dishes, mop the floor, clean the ceiling, cook, etc...

He was very good at it too. It was great to see that all your chores are done by someone else but Belldandy is having thoughts that she may have created a monster (sometimes, a woman can't help but feel jealous when her daily chores were done perfectly in record time by someone else).

She also taught Shinji to play the cello. The cello was his mother's. His father had left it to him, something to remember mom by.

Sad memories surfaces whenever he touched the instrument, yet somehow, playing it made him feel hope... to be at home again with his real family like it had always been before it broke apart.

Music became his passion, and the SDAT was his lifesaver. He would listen to it's soothing music for an easy escape from the harshness of his existence. Life with his weird relatives had been... freaking him out, yet they manage to keep him from getting sad all the time.

His relationship with his father had been re-established when he got dragged back to Tokyo-3. The not-really-a-very-good-father-figure had certainly made things easier to bear, yet they still agreed in keeping their previous apathetic behavior towards each other as a false face for protection against devious people who might use their closeness as an advantage against him and the surviving members of their family (there's always people who want to jump someone who has power and means so that they could gain those powers for themselves. Being a commander of a blood stained/spilled organization, he probably did the same things to get where he was right now and definitely knows the whole deal. Especially if you get harassed by by an assassin every freaking morning/afternoon/night)

Somewhere in a dank room, Raiden X laughed madly after being able to write all that crap from Gendo's stupid old glasses. A righteous smack on the back of the head by his twin brother made him get back to the story( after hitting him back, of course).

Now where did I left off? the author thought after beating the crap out of his bro.

.....Oh yeah right! That one... and so he continued...

Shinji wore the broken lens. It doesn't fit him very well, and the broken pieces keep dragging his eye to look painfully at different angles all together in one glance.

*Tap, tap, tap!* someone tapped him on the the shoulder.

As always, Shinji's nervousness forced him to act chicken and got scared shitless.

The next few moments happened like this (on Shinji's point of view):

1)He turned around abruptly.

2)His eye managed to see that a person was going to grab at his face.

3)He backed away from the figure and suddenly hit the bureau.

4)One of his bag's straps entangled with a knob on one of the drawers.

5)The figure snatched the lens from his eyes as he stepped back some more, forgetting that he was on a dead end.

6)His brain told him in a split second that "If you can't move back, move to the side!".

7)And he did.............well, tried anyway. the bag got him stuck.

8)But, his feet were already in dash-away mode. He tumbled forward instead.

9)The strap of his bag took the drawer with him.

10)The world turned topsy-turvy afterwards.

Shinji shook his head to clear out the stars that were spinning around his head.

When his vision started displaying correct data, He found Rei at last... but she was not in a good mood.

"Will you get off me?" She asked in annoyance.

The young boy realized that:

1)He fell on top of Rei.

2)There were panties flung all around them

3)Rei was naked.

4)His left palm was holding on to her right breast for support.

#1 was embarrassing, #2 was really embarrassing, #3 was awkward and #4 wasn't right with the world at all.

Add them all together and you got a lot of explaining to do.

Shinji squeaked in fear and stood up as fast as he could.

"I-I-I-I ah, Rei! I-I'm so sorry! Um, there was no answer when I knocked and since the door was unlocked..." He managed to stutter after that shock.

"It's ok." She probably had no idea that brothers and sisters weren't suppose to see each other naked after becoming 9 or more years of age.

She shamelessly strode over to her bed, where her school uniform was neatly unfolded.

Shinji looked at his palm, the texture softness still kept haunting it.

"What brings you here?" The blue haired girl brought him back from his straying mind.

"Oh!" He tensed up and looked away, his sister was dressing up.

"I um, ah was told to come and uh... what was that again?" The boy frantically checked his pockets, trying to recall what the heck he was doing there in the first place.

"The card!" He remembered. "Your card! I was suppose to deliver *Gulp!* your card! Your Nerv ID has been renewed, so..."

"Well, let me have it then." Shinji turned around and Rei was already clothed, reaching out a palm for him to give the card.

He opened a pocket from his bag and fished out her new security card.

"Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later...

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[Nerv HQ]

"Um, sis?" The boy tried to make conversation to overlap the escalator's eerie humming underneath their feet.

"Hmm?"

"It's er, your first time you'll be in your Eva for weeks, right?"

"That's correct."

"...Aren't you afraid?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" The girl seemed to appear unfazed by anything.

"Well, your Evangelion might go berserk again... I heard that they had to send Asuka to try and calm it down-"

"..........."

"-They also had to ship Unit-02 back to Germany for repairs..."

"Don't you have any faith in our father's work?" Her question hit a sore spot.

The Evas were something alien to him. He disliked to be violent but it brings out the worst of him. A thing like that would definitely make him cower away. Yet, he has never felt as safe as he was inside the entry plug, when there's no Angels around of course( when there is an Angel... well, he can't decide because he felt extremely safe and extremely terrified at the same time).

"...I...I'm not sure what I feel anymore..."

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[Evangelion experimental testing cage]

Evangelion Prototype Unit-00 was standing in a similar room that it had once trashed weeks ago. Rei was already inside, waiting for further instructions.

"Rei, do you hear me?" Gendo asked his dauther through the communications link.

{Yes.}

"We're commencing Unit Zero's reactivation experiment now. Start the first connection."

"Connect the main power supply." Dr. Akagi ordered the technician beside her.

"Voltage has exceeded the critical point." Maya reported.

"Roger. Move the format to Phase II." Ritsuko commanded.

"Connecting the pilot with Unit Zero." Shigeru stated.

"Opening the circuits." Maya flipped some switches.

"The conditions of the pulses and harmonics are good." She reported.

"There are no problems with synchronization. All nerve links are completed. Nerve center devices are operational." Shigeru said from his post.

"Recalculation shows no error modifications." a technician reported.

"Checked. Up to 2590 on the list satisfied. Until the absolute critical line, 2.5, 1.7, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and rising! Borderline cleared." Maya was relieved that it was successful this time around.

"Unit Zero has activated." She stated proudly.

{Roger. Now I'll start an interlock test.} Rei reported from the entry plug.

"Ikari, an unidentified object is approaching. I think it's the fifth Angel." Fuyutsuki hanged up the phone he used earlier.

"Interrupt the test. All hands on first class alert." Gendo ordered the staff.

"Are you going to send Unit-00 to battle? " Kozou inquired.

"It's not yet ready enough for battle. How is Unit One?"

"It will take 380 seconds to prepare it." Ritsuko informed her superior.

"Sortie!"

"Roger."

The commander faced the pilot screen.

"Rei, we've completed the reactivation. You can rest now."

"Yes."

Unit-00's power went off and Rei slunk back at her seat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Main operations bridge]

"The target has cleared Tonosawa." A staff member reported.

"Unit One is beginning preparations for launch. Release the first lock bolt."

"Release confirmed." Shinji acknowledged."

"Roger. Release the second binding. "

"Roger. The target is in the area over Lake Ashino." Another technician informed the group.

"Eva Unit One is ready for launch." Ritsuko stated.

"Eva, Launch!" Misato ordered.

Unit-01 was now being elevated to the surface.

"High-energy reaction detected inside the target!" Shigeru exclaimed.

"What?!" Misato got caught off-guard with the turn of events.

"Its circumferential parts are increasing speed and amassing upon itself!"

"That means... a particle beam!" Ritsuko concluded gravely.

"Oh no!!! Shinji!!! Dodge it!" Misato screamed at the com-link.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Battlefield]

"What?" Shinji was confused on what's going on.

Unit-01 reached the surface. Suddenly a massive laser hit the Eva by the chest.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Shinji was being boiled alive inside the plug.

The power of the beam was so intense that the restrains gave up and the purple crusader was sent careening over the streets. The laser ended for a while and the Angel was preparing another blast.

"SHINJI!!! Can you hear me?! Respond!!!"

"Pilot vital signatures are weak and is currently unconscious!"

"Retrieve it quick!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Dreamscape]

"Damnit! Get him out off, there you useless dorks!" Lucifer commanded the others.

The other two dragged Shinji away from the fried cockpit.

"How is he?" Christ was concerned for the chief's welfare.

Adam placed a hand over the Chief's heart. He could feel the energy getting weak.

"He got catatonic on us!" Adam yelled out, totally annoyed that he forgot to tell Shinji that this was going to happen.

"To hell with him! I'm taking that bastard, Ramiel, out!" Lucifer snarled.

"No! The cockpit is still out of order!" Adam stated, he knew that this would be the result but he stuck to the script of fate.

"I don't care! I'll make it work!" Lucifer cracked his knuckles as he sat on the cockpit.

He then took over the situation...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Battlefield]

"Ugh..." The pilot stirred in his seat.

{-uick! Retrieve it!} the com-link kept blaring the events from the HQ.

"Pfff!" Lucifer sneered at the screen. He was clutching at his chest, the pain from the blast was still there. Some parts of his body was paralyzed, but that won't be a problem.

"I'll teach you for disrespecting me!" He shouted at the image of the 5th Angel.

{SHINJI!!! You're awake!} Misato said from the com-link.

"Hmmm..."

{Are you listening to me?! Get out off there!!!}

Lucifer ignored her ranting and proceeded immediately towards his mission.

The purple titan stood up and genuflected on the pool of LCL, the lifeblood that it's chest had bled. Lucifer willed the Evangelion to bury it's arm in the pool. The arm pulled out a dark scimitar. The monstrous blade was made of unholy black metal and it's edge was the sharpest there is (If you could see microscopically, you'll be able to see air molecules being severed clean in half when they touch it's edge). An amethyst-like orb glowed with unholy light like a full moon at the hilt. Power flowed on every particle of the unworldly weapon.

"Eat this, bitch!!!" The fallen one shouted as he threw the demonic artifact at the diamond shaped Angel. The blade ripped through it's immensely strong AT-field like a hot knife on a slab of butter. It hit the angel as it released another particle beam. But instead of cleaving the Angel in half, the sword bounced on it's surface and made a dent. However, the power of the weapon's momentum made the blue diamond angel spin and rotate chaotically, disrupting it's perfect shot.

The beam was intended to hit the purple demon at the bleeding chest, but it was redirected and grazed Unit-01's forehead and the rest of the blast flew up and decimate the nearby structures. The laser knocked Unit-01 back to the floor, the horn was melted into a small stump and some parts of the brain was exposed.

"I forgot... My sword can't kill my brethren, only my legions..." Lucifer realized before he got catatonic as well.

While the angel was still occupied trying to stop itself from twirling like a slow tornado, the recovery teams managed to drag the synthetic life form back underground...

__________________________________________________________________________________

End of Chapter 5

Next Chapter 6 --- Adam comes out and play! (The Mega-playboy way!)

Author's Jiba-jabah:

Nope, I'm not revealing anything else about the next chapter. It's a surprise!

I'm sorry if there are any grammatical or spelling errors (I'm always on a rush to finish things, you see? People are hunting me down already, forcing me to write faster than I could think), I'm really a flunky when it comes to grammar. I'm not really a writer but I'm the kind of guy that likes to draw. Sometimes you can't draw something but you can do it in writing (only that it's really hard to picture stuff with words), that's why I started writing these pathetic excuses for fun.

Please send any comments or suggestions at raiden_x_@hotmail.com.

I'm a good sport when it comes to bad reviews but sending them to me (you know, the ones I don't really care about like grammar problems and whatnot...) usually doesn't affect anything, it just most likely add up to the reviews counter.

You can also get weekly updates (I usually update it every Friday/Saturday...) of my plight on fanfiction writing at: http://raiden-x.tripod.com/raidenxsfanfics/ (construction in progress!)

Special thanks to Jake Shappy for pre-reading this chapter!

See ya!