********************TLoM Productions Presents**************************


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Herald of Death
Copyright 2001 - Ego trip
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The disclaimer's on the bottom in case you're wondering.
========================================================================
WARNING: It occurred to me that there really weren't that many spoilers
in the last chapter. There shouldn't be any in this one either. I
think. Wait, there is one. Really small though. You shouldn't mind it.
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One last note, this chapter has not been fully pre-read. If there are
screw-ups, they are mine and mine alone. I'll update a better version
latter. I mean later.
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Ikari_the_Stampede
Daniel Garth

Part Two: Troubled Night

The three boys ran. They didn't know exactly where, but they ran.
Fortunately for them, they were running in the direction of the city,
back the way they came. Only now, they were hoofing it through a dense
forest.

"Do you guys realize," Kensuke huffed as they navigated through an
endless sea of trees, "that we just made First Contact with aliens?"

"Yeah, and I doubt their intentions are completely peaceful," Toji said
as he rubbed a bruise on his ass. "What were they talking about? Dragon
balls? Immortality? How do they know how to speak Japanese? And those
two guys seemed human to me!"

"Yeah," Kensuke replied, "but they sure as hell didn't act human to me!
Did you see that green guy throw those things? The team could have used
a pitcher like that! Our last one threw like a girl!"

"Weren't you last season's pitcher?" Toji asked.

"Yeah-Hey shut up!"

Toji rolled his eyes in response.

"Toji," Shinji said, breaking his own silence.

"What?"

"I'm sorry... about Mari..."

Toji stopped running and gave Shinji a very surprised look. Kensuke
and Shinji stopped, as well.

"We just witnessed one of the most important events to mankind; we just
saw three freakin' UFO's land in front of us... and you're bringing up
something we've already settled millennia ago?"

"When... we all thought we were gonna die back there... I felt bad that
you didn't get to spend that much time... with your family. My father
and I don't get along very well... and I... I... just don't-didn't want
to take that away from you..." Shinji said, his eyes to the ground.

Toji gave him an amazed look. He was a bit angry to go over an issue
that they've already discussed a seemingly infinite number of times.
Beating a dead horse wasn't Toji's style, especially when that horse
came back from the dead, grabbed them by the collar and told them to
stop beating it. But then, his looks softened and he placed a hand on
Shinji's shoulder.

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault. I've already said that a
thousand times before. Now those guys looked like they were about to
beat the crap out of each other, and it's probably best that we get out,"
Toji said.

Shinji looked up and gave him a weak smile.

"You're right."

"By the way," Toji said before they could take off into a run. "Expect
me to kick your ass for bringing this up again!"

Shinji smiled and nodded.

So the three boys took off running again, trying to return to the
metropolis that was Tokyo-3. Suddenly, an explosion rocked their bodies
and a shock wave toppled them. As the smoke cleared, Shinji got up and
noticed that a large hill (or small mountain) on their right, a mile or
two away, was now a smoking crater in the ground. The large boulders
and chunks of the rock that plummeted to the ground came very close to
the boys but did not reach them. The dust and debris rained down on them
as they futilely tried to dust themselves off.

"What was that?" Toji asked.

"It couldn't have been a bomb," Kensuke coughed. The three broke into
another run. "It made too little noise to have that much power."

"Could it be the aliens?" Toji asked as he rubbed dirt out of his eyes.

"Possibly. To travel this far out into space, their technology must be
much more advanced than ours."

The three of them spotted a break in the trees. They ran through it and
ended up on the side of the road they were traveling on from the city.
Kensuke and Toji collapsed on pavement and tried desperately to catch
their breath. They had been sprinting for quite sometime and obviously
needed rest. However, Shinji only stood and looked back. He breathed
normally.

"What... the... hell?" Toji panted. He was lying on the dark pavement
with his legs sprawled out and his upper body supported by his locked
arms behind him. He was sweating profusely and taking large, deep breaths.
His jumpsuit looked crumpled and worn from all of his activity. Small
cuts and bruises were scattered across his body as a result of running
through a dense forest lined with sharp branches. He wiped a drop of
sweat making its way to his left eye and turned to face Shinji.

"You... were... drowning... on the way... here..." he panted. Having
trouble breathing, his speech was slightly hampered also.

"Yeah..." chimed in Kensuke. He was in a similar position and condition
as Toji, but was slightly more fatigued. He carried a small duffel bag,
reducing his speed, causing him to exert more energy to keep up the pace.
The tougher material of his camouflage gear protected him better than
Toji's silky jumpsuit.

Running at their full speed for the past few minutes, the fear and
adrenaline fueling their drive was slowly dripping dry and the soreness
in their muscles, as well as weariness, had set in. It had taken them
nearly two hours to get from Misato's to their campsite, being weighed
by Kensuke's equipment. But now, they were going more than twice as fast
and the city was barely over the horizon, two or three mile away.
The forest, though dense, did little to slow them down.

"Must be the adrenaline," Shinji shrugged.

"Your... in better... shape than... we thought..." Kensuke huffed.

However, Shinji was too busy enjoying the light show to listen. The
sky above was the playground for two spots of light, constantly dancing
around and colliding with each other.

"Look at that," Shinji said as he stared in awe at the active sky. He
followed the lightning fast movements quite well. The other two only
caught glimpses of as the two entities slowed down.

Kensuke brandished a small but effective pair of binoculars from his
magic bag and used them to magnify his view.

"I-it-it's them!" Kensuke stuttered. "It's the aliens! The green one
and the big guy! They're flying around but I ca-can't keep up. And
there's a light around them but I don't know what the hell that is either!"

"Let me see," Shinji said. He took the binoculars from him and pointed
it at the sky, following the rapid movements of the new arrivals. With
sharp twists of his wrists matched with the quick adjustments of his eyes,
he followed the action rather well, only falling behind a few times.
His speed was so great that he looked foolish as his neck suddenly cocked
upwards and brought down half a second later. To the other two, however,
it seemed like he was erratically shaking and jerking Kensuke's binoculars
around.

"What are you doing?" Toji asked.

"I'm watching them fight," Shinji casually said.

"What are you talking about?" Kensuke asked. "We can't even see them.
They're moving too fast."

"Can't you see them? They _are_ fast but..."

"NO!" the two responded simultaneously.

"That's kind of strange..." Shinji said as his eyes maintained their
current speed to view the two battling opponents.

There's something up with him... Toji thought as he watched Shinji's
wrist dance.

"Come on, let's go," Kensuke said. He stood up and dusted himself off,
yet again, not understanding the uselessness of his actions. Actually,
the last of the dust had settled down so it really wasn't that useless.
I'll shut up now...

Then, disaster struck. Or at least, it had tried to. A ball of light
plummeted from the sky with the force of God. Neither Kensuke nor Toji
had a clue of its presence. It shot through the air at about 200 miles
per hour, kind of like dodge ball only instead of bruise from the foam
ball, if you weren't smart enough to duck that ball of light you'd be
missing a few limbs or the upper half of your torso.

To Kensuke, it felt like an eternity, though in reality it was a small
half a second. But to him, the time allotted for him to take any action
was infinite. He could simply, casually move away. Nothing stopped him,
limited the span of his action. Yet, he did nothing. He simply stared
at the luminescent orb bearing down upon him.

To Shinji however, his perception of reality _was_ reality. His half a
second was an actual half a second; his small window of opportunity was
swiftly closing.

So he acted.

"GET DOWN!" Shinji screamed, shoving his friend violently to the ground.
His head lowered, he darted towards him and caught him in the midsection,
effectively knocking the wind out of him as he collided with the
unforgiving pavement. Shinji felt the heat emanating from the ball,
burning the small hairs on the back of his neck. The orb harmlessly
passed by, an inch or two above Kensuke's glasses, crashing into the
nearby forest. It exploded in a purple column of light, easily destroying,
ripping apart the trees surrounding the point of impact.

Recovering from the fall, Shinji rolled off his downed friend's body and
coughed from the harsh smoke generated a few lethal meters away. Kensuke,
groaning in pain but managed to upright himself, covered his mouth with
his scratched palm to alleviate the pangs of the smoke. He gasped
rapidly, trying to fill his shocked lungs with sweet air. After a few
seconds, he stood and held up his left arm bearing a messy, reddish gash.

"Thanks, Shinji," he managed to cough through the dying smoke. The smoke
had died down. "You-you saved my life," he said gratefully, hints of
tears forming on his stinging eyes.

"Sorry about that," he replied, motioning towards Kensuke's damaged arm.

"Hehe," Kensuke chuckled. "It's-it's nothing," he said and hugged him.

"Aaack!" was Shinji's response and he pushed him off. "Okay, okay, calm down."

"Hahahaha," he laughed. "Got ya!

"Sure..." he said, rolling his eyes.

The two burst out in laughter. Only Toji gazed at them, a look of total
shock on his face.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"Y-y-you-how did-what the-what are you-" he babbled. His mouth hung open
as he pointed directly at Shinji.

"Uh... what is it?"

"You did-moved-how did you-" he muttered. Until finally, he took a deep
breath and announced his gathered thoughts. "You blurred!"

After a short period of silence, Shinji wisely replied.

"Oooooooookay..."

"You moved so that-it was like you blurred!" Toji yelled. "You were
standing there, and then suddenly you were gone! It was a..." Toji
thought as he tried to find the right words. "Blur."

"Toji, are you feeling all right?" Kensuke asked.

"I'm fine!"

"It must have been the smoke," Shinji said, trying to find a plausible
explanation. "Or maybe something got in your eyes..."

"Whatever it is," Kensuke interrupted, "we'd have better get moving."

"R-right."

And so they went.

"So they're trying to hit us?" Kensuke asked as they ran.

"Actually, I don't think so," Shinji said. "I think it was a deflected
shot. An... accident."

"How would you know that?" Toji asked.

"Didn't you see them?"

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Toji and Kensuke exclaimed
together. They'd have taken the time to slap him around but other issues
were more pressing.

"All right, sorry!"

"Don't you have a cell phone or something," Kensuke asked, the thought
just now entering his mind.

"Oh, crap!" Shinji exclaimed, slapping himself on the forehead because
of his less than slight oversight. He slowed down to a jog and searched
his pockets for his phone. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?" he asked
himself out loud.

"Ballistic aliens who seem to take pleasure in the art of crater shaping
might have something to do with it," Toji answered.

"Good point," Shinji said. "I just hope Misato hasn't gone on one of
her all night drinking binges tonight."

========================================================================

Misato Katsuragi lay sleeping on her bed after an all night drinking
binge (like you didn't see it coming). After devouring Shinji's salty
stew, as well as consuming ridiculously high amounts of alcohol, she
slumbered on a messy bed in a less than organized room, knowing full well
of her day-off the next day. That is, of course, unless something really,
really, really important happened (okay, so not my best and most eloquent
writing to date).

"No, come on Kaji," she murmured somniloquently. She sprawled across
her futon, constantly tossing and turning. "Don't tell me you're takin'
Ritsu'," she mumbled giddily as she pulled her sheets closer up to her body.
"Take _me_ on the Ferris wheel..."

She turned once more.

"Whaddaya mean she asked ya first? Maya asked her but she didn't go..."
(I would like to apologize right now...)

A loud ring resurfaced her consciousness and engulfed the small room.

"Ugh... wha'?" she mumbled as she sat up. She rubbed her the sleep from
her eyes though she could do nothing about the grogginess. She yawned as
her reached for the phone, halting its incessant yelping.

"Yello?"

She felt around her low end table, her hand roaming for the hidden light
switch on a mini lamp.

"Shinji?"

She glanced at the digital clock across he dark room and rubbed her eyes
again in disbelief.

"It's midnight," she yawned, "what's up?"

She scratched the back of her head with her free hand. Her eyes widened
in response to what the boy said next.

"Aliens? What do you... What are you talkin' about? Have you been
drinking?" she said in a whisper. Well, she wasn't really too in control
of her voice as she was actually screaming for her whole building to hear.
Fortunately for her, the building compromised of her and the grumpy
redhead.

"Whath ish ith?" the queried grumpy redhead asked from the doorway.
Asuka was dressed in an oversized white shirt that came down an inch
above her knees. She was leaning against the door with one arm and
rubbing the sleep from her eyes the other hand.

"What? Ship? Green men? Here? What the--- You're gonna have to slow
down there Shinji-boy. Take a deep breath; get some coffee. You must
have hit the sauce pretty hard?" slurred a disoriented Misato.

A jarring explosion was heard over the receiver and loud screams were
heard soon after. A beacon of light penetrated the covered windows,
briefly illuminating the black room. Asuka awoke and rushed to the window,
pulling open the blinds and staring out into the distance. A small,
purple glow captivated her attention.

"SHINJI! WHAT HAPPENED?! IS EVERYTHING--- ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?!!!"
Misato yelled wildly into the phone.

"What was that?" a slightly worried Asuka asked.

"What?" Misato spoke into the phone, unwittingly ignoring her roommate.
"Shit! What's wrong? Section Two's what? Gone? Ran off? That's it,
I'm coming to get ya!!" Misato abruptly stood but fell when the effects
of the alcohol violently set in. She clumsily got back to her feet and
stumbled out the door, missing her target and walking into a wall on her
first try and tripping over a small end table on the second. On her third
attempt, success!

Asuka sighed and followed her out the door. She made it to the hallway
in time to see Misato stumble over her own foot and fall face first to
the floor. Asuka casually walked over to her drunken guardian and helped
her to her feet.

"Mishato, you' in no condishion to do anythin'!" Asuka announced.

"It's all right," Misato slurred. "I'm just a little hung over. I'll
be okay."

Asuka shook her head in disgust.

"You're noth hung overth. You're shtill dhrunk!"

Misato responded by forcefully shoving her out of the way.

"NO! Shinji-kun needs me!" She made her way to the door stopped when
Asuka pulled her arm back.

"I'm shoree to have tho do thish..." She grabbed Misato's other arm and
used her leverage to throw Misato onto the nearby couch with a clean leg
sweep. Misato gasped upon impact but fell back to sleep quickly.

Meanwhile, Asuka tried desperately to think of a way to address Shinji's
current situation. From what she had heard, he was probably in deep, deep
trouble. She was guessing that the glow in the window was an explosion
of some sort, a bomb. Were they under attack? From what? If that kept
up, then Shinji might---

No! she caught herself. Now was not the time to panic and letting the
mind wander was not a wise idea. She had to think clearly. So the stooge
and his cohorts were in danger, and the cowards from Section Two had
abandoned them.

Section Two! she thought. She took Misato's cell phone and looked at
the pre-programmed numbers stored. She found the one for herself, Shinji,
Rei, Kaji, and several other NERV staff numbers that she had no real use
for at the moment. After a few moments of searching, she found what she
was looking for.

"Hello, NERV Security. How may we help you, major Katsuragi?" a young
man said in a professional yet amiable tone.

"Thish ish the Shecond Shild. Sha Majaor whanths sha Thid Shil reshrived
immediately."

"I'm sorry?" the voice on the other line said back. The man could not
understand warped speech.

Asuka growled in frustration and resorted to screaming to get her point
across. Unfortunately for both of them, the man on the other line could
not understand _loud_ warped speech either.

"Thish ish Ashka Lanlee Sorhu! Geth that idioth Shinji outh of thayre
and geth him to bashe! Oh I'llh cuth ofh youth lehft nuth an dishplay
it on ah toothpick ash a waning to the otherh!"

"I'm sorry. I can't understand you!"

Asuka stamped her foot in anger and was about to add a hole in the wall
to the current decor with the phone, but she managed to control her
frustration and took a deep breath. What she was about to do was going to
hurt just a little bit. By the way, replace "little" with "a whole fucking
lot."

"This is... the Second Child," she said, gripping the phone very, very
tightly. "The third... is in danger." She squeezed the armrest of the
sofa, nearly tearing it off. She took another deep breath as tears of
pain formed on her eyes and stung her cheeks. "Get him... explosions...
I think... they're being attacked... get him back... safe... please..."

And with that, Asuka collapsed on the ground, clutching her mouth in pain.
A sickly salty taste had formed and did little to assure her. She stood
up once the pain had subsided and rushed to the kitchen, popping a few
ice cubes in her mouth to numb the remaining pain. She regressed to the
living room and watched Misato sleeping peacefully on the couch. She
doubted anything would awaken her so easily.

God forbid an angel attacks, she thought. She turned to the balcony.
She walked to the glass sliding door but hesitated from opening it. She
looked out into the forests and steeled her resolve. She grasped the
handle and gently opened the door. A warm, night breeze instantly met
her face and relaxed her tense body, making her lengthy golden-ruby hair
dance to the waltz of the wind. She took a deep breath and stepped out,
enjoying the warmth of the night. The temperature had risen, since she
was last out. The moon was high and large, though not quite full, and
its rays illuminated her light skin and brightened her soft, azure eyes.
She gazed at the vast expanse of jade forests visible by the calm moonlight,
not hinting any sign or evidence of disturbance. A patch of emptiness,
however, caught her attention when she spotted it in the near distance.
The skyline seemed to be missing a mountain or two. Her keen eyes saw
smoke rising in their place.

Shinji, she thought, I don't know what the hell kind of shit you've
gotten yourself into, but you had better come home alive...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Misato? Misato!" Shinji screamed into his portable phone. He had it
all along and could have called for help at any time, but evidently, he
forgot (though this really wasn't the type of thing that should be forgotten
in times like this).

"Shinji," Toji said, tugging forcefully, if not violently, on his shirt.
"I know your calling for help but can we keep moving?"

"Huh?" he looked up. "Yeah."

"Let's go," Kensuke said, a bit unenthusiastically. The long run had
taken the worst toll on him. His glasses were constantly slipping off
his nose, slick with sweat running from his brow. He sat on the ground,
arms draped over his knees and clothes mercilessly clinging to him in
the sudden heat. His sleeves were rolled and he was working on adjusting
he legs of his pants. "Standing around here just makes us targets, if
those things ever decide to shoot us. They've leveled a lot of things
in the area. They must have used some heavy weapons."

And the three ran off.

"Misato? Are you there?"

"I don't think they used any big guns," Toji said, thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Kensuke asked. "They've got to be using something."

"Yeah, but did you see them carrying anything? When we saw them land,
they weren't armed. And by the looks of things back there, they were
getting ready to rumble without getting anything out of their ships."

"If they can fly around like that, they must be using something similar to
jet-pack. But there's not an engine on Earth that fast that's small
enough to wear. But then again, we're not dealing with 'from Earth'
here, so I could be wrong; they might be wearing it. And they probably
don't necessarily have to have large weapons to cause massive damage."

"Misato! You've got to get us out of here!
Wejustsawsomethingcrashandtherewerealiensandonewasgreenandthentwomorecame-
andnowthey'refightingaboveusandtheyjustblewupasmallmountainorlargehilland-
Kensukealmostgotkilledandsodidme&Toji!" Shinji, er... said really, really
fast. His two companions ceased their discussion and stared at Shinji,
blinking ever so often to emphasize the awkwardness of the situation.
Then, Shinji looked at the phone, bewildered, and spoke. "No, I haven't
been drinking!"

Shinji spoke while he ran, unaware of the situation in the sky above him.

Suddenly, a strange feeling overtook him. It made him jump in surprise,
jolt in shock. It caught his attention, much like a gunshot would in a
dark alley or a flash of light, comparable to lightning, in a dim grassland
in a harsh rainstorm somewhere in Spain (looking back at the last sentence,
the author thinks "What the...?" and puts down the joint he was formerly
smoking. I'm kidding. Don't do drugs, kids. You'll only get stupider.).
It was like someone threw a rock at his head, the rush of pain and surprise
instantly grabbing his attention causing him to act. Like a mosquito
pricking his exposed skin, causing to him instinctively slap it away.
Like a toaster suddenly popping after being stared at for more than ten
seconds. These feelings caused him to do one thing: act.

It was an action he rarely did in most high-pressure situations, but
thought was, fortunately, not involved.

"GET DOWN!" he screamed. Loudly. In an instant, the three dove for the
ground, instinctively shielding their heads with their arms from whatever
danger was about to come.

They felt the heat tickle the hairs on the back of his neck as a ball of
destruction rocketed a few inches above their bodies. A massive explosion
scarred the earth a few meters away.

"SHINJI! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?" Shinji indistinctly heard on the phone
lying a few inches away, thrown to the ground but undamaged from the
impact. He was about to land face first but rolled into the fall, much
like he practiced in NERV's training facility. Shinji felt rocks and
debris violently pelt his fallen body. A cloud of rising dirt impaired
his vision and the loud explosion deafened him with ease. The heat was
intense, similar to volcanic magma. He had the sense to cover his eyes
to avoid being blinded and hoped Toji and Kensuke did so, as well.

He got to his feet with a soft grunt and took a deep breath.

"Kensuke! Toji!" he looked up to spot two figures lying still on the
ground. One was stirring while the other lie completely still. Shinji
coughed from the dust as he ambled towards his downed friends. He
covered his mouth with one hand and gently felt his bruised side with
the other. A rock struck him hard whilst he was airborne. Eventually,
the moving figure stood but the veil of soot masked his identity.

"Kensuke?"

"Yeah, *cough*" the figure responded.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Kensuke coughed back. He clutched his arm, putting pressure
on a wound that bled profusely. His glasses were now lopsided but that
was the least of his problems.

"How's Toji?" Shinji asked, slowly, fearfully moving towards Toji's
unmoving body. Kensuke reached him and knelt down for closer inspection.
Toji landed on his back, drops of blood trickling down his forehead,
though they originated much higher on his head.

"Oh, no," Shinji said under his breath. He grabbed him by the collar
and tried to shake him awake. "Toji!"

After a few seconds of shaking, Toji's eyes slowly opened, prompting
him to slap Shinji.

"Stop that!" he yelped. The other two sighed in relief. They helped
him up and looked back at the sky.

"Shit," Toji said as he glared at his hand. It was soaked with blood
after coming into contact with his head.

"Are you all right?" Kensuke asked.

"My head's bleeding but I don't feel a damn thing. Is that good or bad?"

"I'm not sure, but a bloody head usually isn't something to celebrate."

Shinji's eyeballs moved erratically in their sockets. If a person's eyes
were open in REM sleep, Kensuke believed that this was what it would look
like. But he was wide-awake.

"Can you really see them?" Kensuke asked.

"Kind of," he responded, without taking his eyes off of the action. "I
can't really see their bodies, but just fast-moving... blurs."

"Blurs? Don't start sounding like him," he said pointing to the
bloody-headed lad. "What do you mean?"

"It's like an afterimage... but, it's really more like their... traces.
Energy... traces."

"How do you know?" Kensuke asked.

"It's strange," Shinji replied. His gaze shifted from the seemingly
empty sky to Kensuke. "I just... do."

"Excuse me," Toji said, a little irritated. "Can we go? Unless some
of you may have forgotten, MY HEAD IS BLEEDING!"

"He's right. Let's go!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A young man in his early twenties fell into his chair, eyes closed, and
sighed in relief. He opened his eyes to the marvel that was his desk and
growled in frustration. Setora Mihone looked through the stack of paper
work cluttered around his normally organized table. When he had joined
NERV security, he had expected to be guarding high level technology or
acting as a bodyguard to NERV elite's. He was expecting to do something
important. Sifting through mounds and mounds of paper work had never
occurred to him.

Sure, he was Director of Pilot Security, but all that meant was a
glorified desk job. He was technically in command of all the MiB's
running around guarding the children, as well as the agent responsible in
particular for the Third Child (not to mention the Commander's son), but
he never really got to do anything... important. Everyone knew how to do
their jobs and they didn't need a suit behind a desk telling them to
shine their shoes or keep their uniforms pressed. And he knew that.
At least, he thought he did.

"Third Child Project E, daily log," he mumbled to himself. "8:30 AM,
left Katsuragi apartment, officially on duty." He didn't need this.
"9:00 AM, arrived at Junior High. Reading about a fourteen-year old's
day was pointless. "12:37 PM, left classroom, 12:38 PM entered bath
room, third stall on the left." At least this isn't that detailed, he
thought. "12:45 PM, exited stall and proceeded to wash hands on second
sink on the right of malfunctioning unit." Was all this detail necessary?
"12:46 PM, left bathroom; zipper remained in open position; portion of
toilet paper attached to left sole of shoe." After that little tidbit,
he skipped the rest and turned to the last page. The people who wrote
these things either took their jobs very seriously, or took great pleasure
in annoying the young head of security. Some of their most observant
entries included, "1:45 PM, lint on left shoulder brushed off with left
hand. 5:51 PM, tripped over right feet but soon regained balance; took
off into a jog presumably to save dignity (too late...). 3:35 PM, coughed
twice then sneezed." Or one of his personal favorites, "4:48 PM, blinked."
Pointless red tape. His job was to look for unusual patterns of behavior
and report anything that he deemed "uncharacteristic."

Though he was one of mankind's last hopes of survival, he was still only
a fourteen-year-old boy. He was at that age where he was bound to try
new things, act a bit differently, maybe start searching for himself, seek
his identity and all that good stuff that teenagers like to do. And his
job was to see if the kid would do anything "different," anything that
would negate his character profile. The Third had been described as shy,
quiet, and generally not aggressive. But if a guy pilots giant robots
for a living, he's bound to grow some balls, he thought. No one is
always going to act the same way in every situation. Things change as
they go through their experiences in life. If this was a story, it'd be
called character development. He laid back on his chair, his head
resting on his palms behind him. On the other hand, one can't deny one's
nature. He signed his name and flipped through the pages of the next
report, the events that took place from this morning to this afternoon,
skimming and not really reading. Unfortunately, he missed Shinji's short
lapse of heroism in what would be known as the Uncouth Bastard Battle.

After about another hour of more tedious paperwork, he decided to take
a break. He left his cramped, windowless office and headed for the
nearest coffee machine. He grabbed a donut and started wandering the
halls of the floor. His building was in the southwestern part of the
city, unusually distant from the Katsuragi residence. Half of the one-story
building was an office, complete with cubicles, copy machines, and people
who resented their jobs. He didn't necessarily dislike working in this
place; it was only temporary, but the underground HQ building was just a
bit more glamorous. Working from different stations, constantly moving
his things, was another "perk" of Mihone's dream job. But he didn't
mind working in this particular place. The other half of the building
was where an emergency station where agents could call in immediately to
report or request back up. It comprised of five or six telephone
operators that worked round the clock.

Mihone slowly, stealthily walked behind a particularly cute operator and
gently put his arms around her neck and rested his chin on her left
shoulder. The woman, surprised, almost jumped from the contact but immediately
calmed down and resumed tapping busily on her keyboard.

"You know," she said calmly, "this can be considered as sexual harassment."

"Really? Then what would offering you a promotion if you sleep with me
called?" he said smoothly. She chuckled and turned to face him.

"I'm not sure, but I think it'd be questionable to your moral integrity."

He laughed and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She returned it and
deftly stole the donut from his hand. She broke the kiss, turned back
to her computer terminal, and took a bite.

"So how was your day?" she asked.

"Okay," he sighed. "It was long, boring, and filled with enough paperwork
to make a man commit mass genocide. And yours?"

Rena Takeda brushed her short brown hair from her green eyes and turned
her head to face him.

"Not too bad. You've got mote reports, hot off the presses."

She handed him a stack of papers an inch thick. He groaned. She sneered.

"Suck it up, boss. It's lonely at the top."

"I told you not to call me that," he whined.

"I know. It's just fun to push your buttons."

"Really?" he said with a sly smile. "I'd rather undo yours." He came up
from behind with another hug, his hands working their way to the buttons
on her blouse. She slapped them away.

"Quit that!" she snarled, genuinely angry. "You can wait a few more
minutes." She now wore a devious smile.

He flopped down on an empty chair.

"I thought this day would never end," he muttered.

"Aw, that bad?" she asked.

"It's all this useless paperwork. It's killing me. I mean, is the
number of times the guy goes to the bathroom a day really that important
to international security? The day logs are the worst."

"It could have been worse," she said. "You could have been assigned to
the First Child. I heard that all it says is 'blinked, coughed, or
scratched.' And it's twice as thick as the ones I give you."

"It's just so boring. I thought getting promoted would mean something
else than this! I got tricked into a freakin' desk job!"

"Well, you have full reins if anything happens."

"That's the point! The last incident was over six months ago! No
runaways, no problems, not even a stupid fight at school! I don't want
anything bad happening to the pilots, we're defenseless without them,
and I don't want angel attacks, either but it's just been so dull! And
every time I read this, I feel like I'm invading their privacy."

"It's for their own safety," she said reassuringly. "Besides, this is
only whenever he's out in public. It's the same rule that news reporters
abide by. Well, the rule that they would abide by if they were allowed
to report but... anyway, it's for his own safety."

"Is it? Is it really? How is spying on someone and recording their
every action for their own safety?"

"You know what they say," she said. "It's better to be bored than dead."
He scrunched up his face.

"Who says that?" he asked. She shrugged in response.

"Just be glad that there hasn't been any trouble lately. You may be
bored enough to commit mass genocide but at least the Children are still
safe. And with the way things have been going, I doubt anything
catastrophic will occur any time soon."

Famous last words...

"I have a headache," Mihone complained.

"Let me help you with that," she said before standing up and pulling him
in a tight kiss. A few moments later, something inside Mihone's pants
sprung to life but, unfortunately, it wasn't because of the kiss.

"Hang on, I got a call." He reached into his pocket, wondered why he
set it on "vibrate" even though he let it ring, and took the call.

"Hello?"

He wore a confused look as he listened to the person on the other end
of the line.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, bewildered.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"I'm sorry but I can't understand you!" His eyes suddenly lit up once
he finally understood. He looked at Rena, who looked confused, as well.

"Who's on watch for the Third Child?"

She stared back in response.

"Rena, who's on watch for the Third Child?!" he yelled. She snapped out
of her daze and turned her attention to her terminal.

"Uh... Ko and Sato," she answered. She donned her headset and opened a
line. "Agent Ko and Sato, this is Station B-7, I repeat, this is Station
B-7. Please respond." She looked up at Mihone. "No response..."

"Pull up their locations."

She typed some more and the image on her screen changed to a map, a 3-D
line diagram of the city. The view zoomed to the general area around the
Katsuragi residence.

Ever since the incident after the battle against the Fourth Angel, a
tracer had been on the Third. His running away was a major spaghetti
stain on security's white shirt so this was an added precaution. It was
hidden or disguised; not even he knew where it was. It could be in
between the sole of his left shoe. It could be the third button on his
shirt. It could be in his cell phone.

Mihone was against it because of reoccurring privacy issue. He believed
security was necessary and had to be solid but things needed their limits.
Not even their guardian, the Major, knew about the tracers. Mihone at
least requested to tell her, but it was forbidden by the one and only
commander, the child's own father. And of course, NO ONE contradicted
the commander. And even though Mihone was against it, and hated being a
hypocrite, he had to use it now.

"Third Child is currently, 2.4 miles from the Katsuragi residence."

"And our agents?"

"Oh dear... thirty miles from the Third's location..."

"SHIT!" Mihone screamed; screamed loud enough for the entire building to
hear. Silence befell the office as everyone stopped whatever it was
they were doing and stared at the very pissed off young Head of Sec Ops.

"Uh... sir?" a man said who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "We just
received orders to gather the Second and Third Child along with Major
Katsuragi to HQ. It seems that the Third is not responding to calls and
the Major is currently... incapacitated. They said something about high
energy readings and explosions in that area, but said nothing about their
sources."

"It just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?" he asked himself
out loud.

"Be careful of what you wish for..." Rena muttered.

Mihone looked up and noticed that he was the center of attention. That
didn't really help the situation.

"What are you standing there around for? Get to work!"

The office came alive once more as the voices of the people and their
footsteps raised in intensity.

"Rena, have the agents in the Katsuragi residence retrieve the Third,
but leave two to retrieve the Major and the Second. Send back up as soon
as possible. This could be one of those fanatic groups."

Mihone was puzzled at the fact that several factions around the world
were hostile to NERV, especially to the pilots. According to their
"proclamations," NERV was a blasphemous organization that slaughtered
God's messengers and opposed His word. But these same documents also
mentioned that God's word could be found in words formed by the floating
letters of Campbell's Alphabet Soup. All they apparently ever did was eat
soup and stare at lava lamps for ten consecutive hours, sleep, play
ping-pong and stare at lave lamps some more. Of course, they did label
Jerry Springer as the antichrist, which somewhat improved their credibility.

"Guess this means our 'business' meeting's been canceled, huh?" she asked.

Mihone sighed.

"Apparently."

________________________________________________________________________

In a shoddy, run-down building across town, barely inhabitable by human
life, a lone figure stood on a concrete balcony overlooking the illuminated
city. Rei Ayanami gripped the rusted railing of the balcony as her crimson
eyes tracked the ebony heavens. Her light blue hair danced gently to
the beat of the cool night breeze, its somber rhythm controlled by the
twilight. She remained still, unmoving except for her skirt, which also
fluttered to the smooth sonata of the wind.

Suddenly, she drew an inward gasp as she saw three objects descend from
the sky. They barely flicker in the sky; only slightly brighter than
the few visible stars in the clouds though they moved at great speeds.
What scared her the most were the... sensations that she crept through her.
She felt something immense. Like hearing roaring thunder when a few
hundred feet in the air, on a cliff, perhaps, or a helicopter. It was
overwhelming, massive, and surprising. And dangerous. Definitely
dangerous.

Unconsciously, she gripped the banister even tighter and tighter until
her knuckles grew whiter and paler than they were before. Bone became
easily seen through her tightened fists. Tiny beads of sweat formed
along her brow, gleaming in the moonlight. Her calm, subdued breathing
was replaced by short, quickened breaths and gasps, causing her chest
to move erratically. Her knees weakened slightly and her body began
to feel heavier and heavier. Finally, a sinking feeling of dread made
itself apparent in the pit of her stomach. Physical symptoms of
anxiety surfaced.

Carefully, she released the banister with her right hand and carefully
inspected it with a budding curiosity. It quivered and shook, no matter
how hard she tried to hold it still.

Her gaze then shifted to the distance as she contemplated the reason for
her involuntary actions.

"Is this..." she whispered to herself. Her eyes locked onto the area
where she witnessed the descent of the three objects, seemingly distant
yet it was not far enough. Whatever it was she felt, she was sure that
they were the cause.

"Is this fear?"

========================================================================

Gendo Ikari stared out the window to an unending sea from his personal
VTOL. His focus was on the thin line separating the sea of water and
the eternal sea of stars, the dark horizon a disfigured line and a poor
border. After a migraine-inducing meeting with the President of the UN
over budget affairs, he was glad to be a few thousand feet above the
Pacific and on his way home to good ol' Tokyo-3. Though he was somewhat
relieved, he did not show it. Or rather, he did what he usually did when
he was pleased by something non-sadistic: he wore an unreadable expression.
He reserved smiling-- no, the showing of any teeth-- for when he had drawn
a secret amusement from people like SEELE or perhaps his son. And when
he did, it couldn't really be categorized as a smile; a smirk or a sneer
perhaps, but it couldn't really be called a smile.

His concentration broke with the silence as his cell phone erupted with noise.

"Yes?"

Silence.

His eyes widened in surprise, a half a gasp appearing in his lings but
stiffled in his throat. Other than that, he showed no other reaction.

"Fuyutski, are you absolutely sure?"

More silence.

"I see. The old coots at SEELE must already know. They may argue
pointlessly but we both know what is to happen if this... incident were
to occur. This was so improbable that I do not believe that they would
cared enough to prepare on their own. They will not be able to configure
their scenario to meet these... sudden... turn of events. You say that
they were only recently spotted. None of their or our plans have been
affected so far. They will most likely prioritize damage control."

Yet more silence.

"No. Let us wait before we deviate our course of action. I admit that
I did not think that this was possible, either."

An image of the old professor fighting back a smile, or smirk, formed in his mind.

"But, of course, I am still prepared. Depending on the impact that this
will have before SEELE acts, we will take action accordingly. If we are
fortunate, this will have no effect on our scenario, whatsoever."

He had said it. He also wanted to believe it. But somehow, a nagging
thought in the back of his mind prevented him from it. It was like a
gypsy fortune-teller shaking her head as she looked at the tarot cards
before her.

And then, he smirked (not to be mistaken for an actual smile).

"So we shall be hearing from our old friend, Mabus, once again."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asuka, rested on the couch, not really sleepily and really more restless
than anything else. She'd have to give Shinji a good beating for keeping
her awake at this hour.

The doorbell rang.

She stood up, hurriedly threw on a robe to cover her naughty bits (which
was a tasking job, considering her age) and walked past the drunken,
unconscious Misato, who reeked of alcohol and constantly tossed while
muttering either Kaji's, Ritsuko's, or Shinji's name.

Not really wanting to explore the depths of Misato's dream, she continued
towards the door. Frankly, she was just thankful that she hadn't heard
her name in the fray.

"A-as--ka..."

Dammit! she thought. Now, she just hoped that whatever setting her
dream was in, it didn't involve whipped cream, ball gags, and raw leather
whips. Having found an S&M catalog lying around in the apartment,
her fear was somewhat justified.

She felt a small bit of pity towards the woman and pulled the loose blanket
over most of her body. After their, she let her sleep on the couch rather
than waking her. She was hard enough to deal with when sober. Asuka didn't
even want to argue with her running solely on fifty cans of Yebisu. So she
decided to let her be and force her to clean up any drool that she might
have left behind.

It was hard to believe that not only was she her commanding officer, but
also the closest thing she had to a mother in a very long while. She
fought angels with an almost reckless abandon, risking her life and the
lives of others. Asuka was fine with that. She was a decisive and
competent leader, able to make correct decisions even when the hounds of
hell breathed menacingly down her neck. She was cunning, quick yet she cared,
genuinely cared, about her and that idiot Shinji. She wasn't exactly the
model guardian but she cared about two people who had very little to do
with her outside of her profession.

She smiled as she looked upon her unconscious guardian. The way she
slept, one could mistake her for an overgrown infant. Asuka never planned
on having a baby. To be more precise, being a mother was the farthest
thing from her mind. But despite her current appearance, a peculiar thought
stuck in Asuka's mind. If by some twist of fate that Asuka bore life
into this world, she wished for one thing.

At least half the mom she didn't have to be she absently thought.

The knocking on the door grew louder. At this hour, loud noises were not
a good idea. Whoever they were, they had better have something important.
If they didn't, she'd have to repay them by way of her foot to their crotch.

If only I had brought by steel-toed boots with me from Germany she
thought. If it was Shinji, then her efforts to stay awake were fruitful
because she did it to be the first one to yell at him for waking them up
in the middle of the freakin' night. Of course, it didn't occur to her
that if she was the first one to yell at him, she'd be the first one to
see him safe. But she didn't think about that.

She opened the door to reveal two Section Two agents. One was a
foreigner, with short black hair, tan skin, and five feet four inches
tall. The other was a slightly taller man with thin eyes and auburn
hair. He was slightly younger and while the older man had a passive
expression, this one wore an idiot grin.

"Ma'am?" the older one said, in a deep voice. "I'm agent Juan and this
is agent Tuu."

Asuka blinked.

"We're here to escort you and the Major to HQ. There's an emergency
and your presence is needed immediately."

"Mishato's dwunk ofth her ash right nowth so goohd lukh gettin hehr up.
Andh the Thid?"

"He is currently being escorted by other agents. It is important that
you and the Major come with us."

"Can I ath leasht geth dessed?"

"Please hurry. We have little time. Where is the Major Katsuragi?"

"Onh the couch buth shesh hungh overh."

"Welh why don'th youth go geth her?" the other man said.

Agent Juan shook his head disapprovingly.

A few seconds later, Tuu was cringing on the ground after a vicous
Soprano-maker from Unit 02's pilot. She grinned and went to her room to
put on decent clothes.

"You shouldn't have done that," agent Juan simply stated to his crumpled friend.

"Yeah," he grunted back with an abundant amount of difficulty.

After getting dresses and reviving a more alert yet groggy Misato, Asuka
hurried put in more modest clothes into an awaiting vehicle.

Misato wore her crimson NERV jacket in an attempt to look more dignified.
It had little effect. The Hello Kitty T-shirt and matching shorts didn't
help the situation, either. Must have gotten mixed up when I met her in
the laundry mat. She sure has some strange taste in clothing.

Misato was still too drunk to drive so they obviously still had to be
escorted. Misato dragged herself into the backseat and Asuka followed.
Agent Juan, not under the influence of a nut shot, took the wheel.

And off they went.

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

"Toji, can you keep moving?"

"I'm fine, Shinji. Don't stop."

"Should your hair be red like that?"

"Really? Oh shit, run faster!"

Drops of blood trickled down the back of his neck. They crawled down
his tan skin, leaving a crimson stain down the back of his jump suit.

Kenshuk tore off a piece of his camo pants and bandaged his arm as well
as making a sling. Thankfully, neither of them felt too much pain except
for some swelling. At least it wasn't throbbing.

"Are you sure," worrywart Shinji asked once again.

Toji wiped of a drop of blood which he mistook for sweat, not actually
taking the time to look at everything dripping down his brow.

"I'M FINE! KEEP GOING!"

Shinji ran faster. A strange feeling gnawed at him from the pit of his
stomach. He felt guilty about being the only one in his group not
suffering from temporary paralysis or massive blood loss. He wasn't one
to welcome pain, but this seemed different. He inspected his right arm,
which burned with pain. He's heard of sympathy pains before, but this
couldn't be it. Could he have gotten hurt when he fell? Or did the shot
graze his arm? He shook these thoughts off when he spotted a pair of
lights in the distance. Head lights.

At first, he didn't recognize what they were; the binding darkness had
reappeared, the starlight engulfed by the smoke and debris. The dots of
light peered through the lightless night, holding him in a piercing stare.
It lacked the intensity of Ayanami, but it delivered the same impact on
a different level, not grasping the soul but freezing the body in their
light. As it approached closer he could see the outline of a figure, a
large figure. Without the presence of moonlight, it appeared to be a
gargantuan beast that would soon bear down on them all.

Shinji stopped in his tracks. Toji and Kensuke did the same.

"It's gonna it's gonna get us," he sputtered. He backed away in fear,
his eyes wide with terror.

"Shinji!" Kensuke yelled. "What are you-"

"We got to we got to" he managed to mumble. Someone placed a hand on
his shoulder.

"Calm down," Toji said. His face was hard but his eyes were soft, as
well as his voice. Shinji froze, shook his head, and looked around.
"It's a car," Toji said, "it's only a car."

Shinji, still shocked, nodded and seemed to get his senses straight once more.

He breathed heavily, though he wasn't as tired as he should be. His
calves and thighs ached, burning slightly underneath his clinging clothes.
Sweat dipped down his cheek at a snail's pace, following the trail of the
others that preceded them long ago. But he wasn't perspiring because he
was tired. A cool breeze replaced the warm air surrounding them and he
didn't feel overheated the least bit. It was probably from all the
anxiety caused by the random explosions, near-death situations (which tied
in with the random explosions pretty well), and his friends' injuries.

Something also contributed to his momentary hysteria. It was a feeling,
an emotion, if it could be called that because he couldn't be sure what
it was. It was a strange sort of eagerness that inspired strength,
courage, and bravery. But there something else to it. If he had let
himself embrace it, he wasn't sure what would have happened. He felt that
there was something more to it. There was something beneath its enticing surface.

"A car!" Kensuke exclaimed. He said it like a marooned man on a desert
island that just caught sight of a cruise ship after a good sixteen years
of coconuts and spear-fishing. He said like a man wandering the Sahara
desert who spotted an oasis in the near distance that he was sure wasn't
a mirage. He said it like an injured teenager who had just made contact
with two aliens and caught in a power struggle betwee-ooh, I'm getting redundant.

"Finally," Toji said wearily. He was out of breath, his knees were
quivering, and he seemed to have trouble keeping his eyes open.

The car stopped and a MiB stepped out.

"I'm secret service agent Kobe and the Third must come with me," he
impassively said.

"To tell you the truth Shinji," Toji said. "I feel like shit" His
eyes rolled up into his head as his legs gave away. He fell onto Kensuke,
who caught him before he completely hit the ground.

"Toji!" Shinji said and he came to his head. He helped Kensuke drag him
to the car. He looked down on his head and sure enough, his hair was a
darker color. Blood. They shoved him in the back seat and shut the door
with a dull thud. Before Kensuke could get in, the man stopped him.

"Sorry, kid," he said to Shinji. "I got orders to only get you. Your
friends are going to have to walk back to town."

Suddenly, a purple ball of light landed about fifty feet from where they
were into a grove of trees. Can the class tell me what happens when balls
of energy collide into objects?

KABOOM!

Chunks of rocks, bark, and leaves collided with the car's body, breaking
the windows and denting the jet black body. Luckily for Kensuke, he had
already dove into the car. Agent Kobe ducked under the car and shielded
his head with his arms. Shinji did the same. The barrage subsided. He
stepped out and jumped into the drivers seat. The boy ducked into the
passenger's side and slammed the door.

"On second thought," the man said, not just slightly shook from the
precious blast, "I think I can give them a ride."

He floored the car and careened down the road at a speed that Misato
would consider "not half-bad." Kensuke wasn't sure that it was possible
to break the speed of sound in a regular car but agent Kobe seemed to want
to find out.

________________________________________________________________________

Rei ran down the street in the clothes she usually ran in. Of course,
they were the same clothes as she walked in, ate in, went to school in,
snacked in, protested the killing of animals for food in (Okay, maybe not),
attended formal occasions in (or would,) attended casual occasions in,
turned down invitations to occasions in and practically lived in. That
would be her school uniform. The only times she didn't wear it were when
she was at work or when she was naked, exposing her smooth, luscious,
well-developed, fair, perfect, goddess-like body.

After the author shakily wiped off his nosebleed, Rei's cell phone rang.

"I'm on my way," she passively said, grabbing her phone, turning it on,
turning it off, and putting it back in her pocket without losing a step.

She knew that there would be trouble and that this could not be easily
resolved like how GAINAX shamelessly threw together episodes twenty-five and
twenty-six with crude crayon drawings and mind-numbing dialogue. Realizing
that Rei couldn't possible know this at this point in time, he decided to
use a different simile. easily resolved like how the Commander dealt with
any dissidents in the organization. Then, the author realized that if Rei
knew this, she must be either very innocent or a cold-hearted bitch. Having
reconsidered everything (with about a dozen or so Rei fans with guns to
my head and dull, rusted razors to my throat) the author decided to scratch
the simile and continue with the story.

And so, Rei ran.

To headquarters, in case any of you were wondering.

========================================================================

"Mm, that _is_ good, Maya," Ritsuko said.

"Do you want more, doctor?" Maya asked as she generously dispensed a tasty,
white fluid.

"Yes, please!"

"You like hot don't you, ma'am?"

"I like it at any temperature but yes, I like it hot. It tastes much
better than Misato's."

"I know, ma'am, I've taste some of her's, myself."

"I wish you could make some more."

"I can but I need a few minutes."

"Why, is something wrong? You act like Kaji. He's pretty good at this,
too, but I swear he takes a break after every time."

"I know, ma'am, but I have some work to finish up. I'll make more coffee
later." Maya put down the creamer that she was pouring in her own cup
(thus dispensing the tasty white fluid) and took a sip.

"Thanks, Maya. This is the best coffee I've had in a while. Keep it up."

"Thank you," she replied with a blush. She placed the empty coffee pot
back on the machine and walked back to her work station.

Ritsuko turned down the hallway, passing several male employees who were
furiously cleaning off blood-stains as a result of eavesdropping on the
previous conversation, and walked into her office.

She wiped the wetness on her lips that was Maya's doing (the coffee, perverts)
and examined the newly ordered research project ordered by the one and only
Gendo Ikari. Her eyes widened when she read the "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" label.
She had received numerous files with this same label before but she hadn't
expected to get one now.

Something was up.

She opened the folder and her curiosity was aroused.

"Instrumentality factors involving non-ENTITY based factors" she whispered.
This confused her slightly.

Why? she thought. Everything on Earth is somehow connected to Lilith but

Just as she was reviewing her last thought, the klaxons and sirens erupted
in fury.

"Doctor Akagi, please report to the control room. I repeat, Doctor Akagi
please report to the control room," the voice on the intercom announced.

Something tells me that I just found out why, she bitterly thought as
she grabbed her lab coat and set out for the control room.

========================================================================

"Herald of Death?" the Namek said thoughtfully. Nariko's statement
piqued his interest. There was talk of something similar to this back
on his home world, through out the Northern Galaxy. However, out of all
the powerful and righteous life-forms there were in the Northern Galaxy,
it just _had_ to be Saiyan. He knew Saiyans all too well. They were
scumbags, plain and simple. Powerful scumbags to boot. It was all in
the past. A group of them had arrived on Namek in search of the Dragonballs.

And they were under orders of a man named Frieza.

"Yes, Adama," Nariko calmly said. "It's true. Every word of it."

"You don't seem too worried," Adam said, still combing the horizon with
his scouter.

"Give up. You won't find any of them that way."

Adama looked to the shorter Saiyan, surprised.

"How do you know?"

"First of all, if any of them had their power levels raised, we would
have detected them the moment we touched down. Secondly, I doubt any of
them would be so conspicuous. I thought that that child was just an
ordinary earthling when I first saw him. But there was something more,
something he's hiding. He's a son and if he's alive, his brother and the
Herald are alive as well."

Adama just stared back, dumbfounded.

"How do you know? My scouter didn't-"

"Enough about that damned scouter!" Nariko responded fiercely. He was
more forceful in speech but was still short of yelling. "When will you
learn not to trust technology so much and have faith in your own senses?"

"Forgive me," the Adama said apologetically. This was a bit strange to
the Namek. He could sense that Adama's energy level was higher than Nariko's.
However, he was acting like a servant. His head hung low, bowing before the
shorter man.

"Get up. I'm not a prince," he sternly said and Adama snapped to attention.
"If you honestly plan on becoming stronger, then you need to learn to
increase the abilities of your mind. I only need this damn thing to find
the Dragonballs. Other than that, it's a of junk."

So he can sense power levels, the Namek thought. And he knows how to
hide his true power, too He did sense that the boy was different from
the others. It wasn't a high power level that he sensed but something
else. It was not definable. There was something there, something large,
uncontrollable, wild, and overwhelming. But there was no power level.
He was only as strong as the other two with him. But could he also be
hiding his power?

"Now take care of this pest," Nariko said coldly as if the "pest" wasn't
within earshot. He leaped of off one foot but did not stop ascending.
"I'll continue to search. Only half of this planet's inhabitants are
still living since the last time it was scanned. Frieza would want the
people here for the slave trade and the planet for its resources but since
the legend isn't just a legend, I doubt he'd want this place for anything
more than a battleground."

"Are you going to report it?" Adama asked.

"Not yet. And if we're lucky, the next time we deal with him, it will be
to crush his skull."

"But if all that crap ain't just bullshit, then why don't we ace this
kid now?"

"If the other ones already knew," Nariko said stopping 200 feet in the air,
"then _we'd_ have known it by now. Even if we did try to kill him now, the
outcome will be unknown. We'll also be attracting unwanted attention. You
can probably use your full power without being noticed. If they haven't
detected you yet, they'll never do. Some of the locals might mind. And don't
transform. That could be enough to get you killed," he said impassively and
glanced at the nearby city. He then turned his attention towards the green
figure. "He's hiding his true power. Don't be deceived."

And with that, he took off. He darted across the sky and into the horizon.

"Right, boss," Adama said with a chuckle. "I'm going to have fun shoving my
foot up your green ass, stupid Namek." He apparently wasn't one to take good advice.

"I have a name," the Namek calmly replied.

"Tell it to someone who gives a fuck."

"My name is Claws," he said, unnerved. He needed a good lesson and
Claws was just the one to give it to him. But first, he wanted to see
what he knew. "Come and get it."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After a hectic car trip filled with screaming matches, back-seat driving,
death threats, and cruelty to trash cans, Misato and Asuka tumbled wearily,
groggily, and sleepily into the control room.

Ritsuko awaited them with her hands buried in her lab coat and a stern
look adorning her face, making her look like a nut-smashing biddy usually
associated with fairy tales and stepmothers. She sighed disapprovingly
when she realized that Misato was drunk and wearing Maya's clothes. She
eyed the redhead and barked a shrill order.

"Asuka, suit up!"

Asuka nearly jumped in surprise, catching herself in time and nodded
determinedly before running for the dressing rooms.

Misato, with eyes half-closed (Yes, half-closed. None of that half-open
junk) and watched her leave. After consuming about thirty-five gallons
of coffee, stopping (or rather hitting, since they didn't really stop but
ransacked) every coffee machine between the garage and the control room,
in an attempt to consume more caffeine short of shooting up with a pure
unit. She still felt groggy.

"Your late Major!" the old biddy-er, Ritsuko said. "If you feel unable
to perform your duties then I'll take command of this-"

"That won't be necessary," Misato said, straightening herself out. The
caffeine did the trick and she was slowly becoming fully awake. Ritsuko
looked her over and nodded. "No excuses other than they picked a really
bad time to mess with us. Status report?"

"Have a look," Ritsuko coldly said and motioned towards the view screen.
It showed the view from one of the observation towers scattered all over
the city. The picture was remarkably clear and it was an image of one of
the mountains near the city. At least it did until it was engulfed in an
blinding explosion, tearing it apart and sending boulders, dirt and debris
into the sky. A large chunk of rock collided with the camera, giving the
illusion that it was about to wipe out the entire control room, effectively
destroying it. The static was soon replaced by an overhead satellite
view of the newly created smoking crater.

"Yay, new lake," Misato absently said.

The overhead view gradually zoomed in to the adjacent roadway and
revealed three figures sprawled out on the ground. Misato squinted at
the familiar body slowly stirring on the ground.

"Shinji!" she exclaimed. She didn't know whether the shock of seeing her
ward caught in a combustible battleground or the overdue caffeine high, but
she felt rather awake and sober. The figure stood up and dusted himself
off. He looked around and went towards his fallen companions. Though his
face was not visible, his clothes were quite recognizable. The tacky black
pants and white shirt confirmed it.

"Get him out of there!" Misato ordered.

"Calm down, Major," Ritsuko said coolly. "This feed is ten minutes old.
Section Two agents have already retrieved him and he's on his way. What we
have to worry about are the energy bursts that we keep reading around the city."

Misato both shook off her weariness, worry, and surprise and tried to focus.

"Right. What are these things?"

"We don't know what's been causing them but we've been picking up explosions
in that area and they've been gradually getting closer and closer to the
city," Aoba replied.

"There's enough energy flying around up there to light up a small country,"
Maya said. "But we can't detect anything that could possible be producing
such high power outputs. We've scanned for any weaponry or technology in
the area that can do that kind up damage but so far. We've found some
things, but"

"What?"

The view screen changed to an image of two small white dots and a large
oblong object sitting in a field.

"What are those?"

"We don't know," Maya said. "We can't get a team down there to investigate yet."

"Sensors don't detect anything that might suggest a human attack. No
emission traces left by long-range missiles, no heavy armament deployments,
not even radiation left by known bombs that can do that type of damage.
It's like the region just decided to blow up!" Hyuga exclaimed.

"No clue of what they are, huh?" she thought out loud.

"Orders, Major?" Ritsuko asked.

"Yellow alert!" she barked. "We don't know what were up against or even
if they're directly hostile against us, I don't think it's normal for
mountains to explode so suddenly and not have any traces of whatever caused it!"

Suddenly, a greenish blur caught her eye. It was only on the screen for
a second, perhaps even less. If she had blinked, it would have appeared
and disappeared before she could finish. Maybe it was luck that her eyes
were exactly on the right spot, and the light was just right, and the
angle of the camera was facing the cliff side, allowing the green to standout
against the jagged wall. Or maybe it was the will of God (I'd say me
that would be blasphemous). But she did notice something and it wasn't
the alcohol or the caffeine or her imagination.

"Freeze that image!" she barked.

Instantly, the view screen froze. A greenish, reddish blur appeared on
the right side of the screen and a bluish one materialized on the other
side. They were unfocused and barely smudges, like how something moving
very quickly would look like in a picture.

"Play back the last ten second, one frame per second!"

The view screen, like most televisions and other giant view screens that
respectable top secret organizations that are responsible for humanity's
safety, played at around thirty frames per second. If you're too lazy to
do the math, the control room crew watched in awe as the green smudge and
the blue smudge crashed, dodged, clashed, and clashed with each other for
five minutes. Even though the clip was incredibly slow, they moved with
astounding speed, too fast for anyone to make out what they actually were.
A flash erupted from the blue smudge and streak of light darted towards the
green smudge, missing and causing one of the many explosions that the city
was now experiencing.

"That's our mystery energy source!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "What else could there be?"

"Yeah, but what are they? Can you slow it down more?" Misato asked.

"Sorry. That's as slow as I can get it," Makoto said.

"What the hell is that?" a voice on the intercom exclaimed. A
picture-in-picture appeared in the top left corner of the screen and revealed
a very content redhead. NOT! Asuka was pissed and she didn't mind showing it.
"Whatever they are, I want them dead!" she screamed. Let me launch! No one
disturbs my beauty sleep!"

"Lord knows she needs it," a very ignorant Makoto said.

Fortunately, the author was in a good enough mood not to let Asuka hear him.

"Calm down, Asuka," Misato said. "What's the status of Shinji and Rei?"

"They've just arrived!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Drive faster!" Shinji screamed. After joy-riding with Misato for the
past few months, those were words he'd have to have himself committed to say.
But the situation was slightly affected by ballistic aliens and a friend
who didn't seem to have anything better to do than bleed profusely.
Every so often, a jarring explosion could be heard an seen around them.
The city had once again become a war zone.

"I am going as fast as the speed limit allows me," the man said.

"Forget about the speed limit, just floor it!"

"I was only kidding, kid."

"YEEHAW!" Kensuke yelped as the car sped up a slop and rocketed ten feet
into the air. The car landed with a thud, followed by four other thuds,
which would be the four passengers in the car, after it initially hit the ground.

"Ow! My coccyx!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"I believe an itchy penis is the least of your problems," agent Kobe said.

"My coccyx, not my cock's itch, you idiot! That didn't even made any sense!"

What's the author on? Kensuke might have thought if he knew this was a fan fiction.

"Hey, I will not tolerate any name calling in this NERV sanctioned vehicle.
Don't make me step out!"

"Just drive!" Shinji reiterated. A hunk of debris stuck the side of the
car, jarring it violently.

"I don't want to go school today, Mommy" Toji mumbled.

"He's reliving his childhood," Kensuke said, camera in hand tape recording
their jolly Sunday drive.

"No, I will not pick you up some tampons on the way from school. People will see me"

"Or is it this morning?" Kensuke said thoughtfully.

"o/~ My baloney has a first name o/~" Toji sang, drunkenly.

"Well that answers it."

"o/~ It's O-S-C-A-R o/~"

"It's this morning."

"We're here," the driver announced. Shinji looked out and saw a
checkpoint/entrance. "I'm afraid your friends are going to have to get
off here as well."

"But look at them! They can't get to a hospital by themselves."

"All right," the man said reluctantly. "The city has already been
evacuated and all civilians are in shelters. There was a shelter entrance
a few miles back with a fully equipped emergency medical station. I'll
take them there, assuming you can get to command on your own."

Shinji nodded.

"Good," he said. "By the way, this never happened or else the boss will
fry my ass."

Shinji nodded, again, and was thankful that this guy wasn't one of the
anal-retentive MiB's that his father oh so enjoyed having escort him around
whenever he threatened to run away.

He took off running towards an elevator as the car skidded away. He
opened the door, got in, and was about to close it when something pale,
blue, and beautiful caught his eye in the gleaming moonlight.

"Ayanami?"

It was. Rei was running full speed towards him, out of breath and
moderately fatigued. Shinji held the door, like a gentleman of course,
and patiently waited for her to arrive. However, she was no less than
fifty feet away when he sensed them. He didn't know what the sensation
was but he was sure that it was them. They were directly above. The
battle had followed him into the city. Then, he felt something similar
to what he felt right before he saved Kensuke from becoming energy ball fodder.

"Ayanami! Jump!" he yelled, unable to do much else.

Rei did and there was a large explosion just a few feet behind her. The
shock-wave and her momentum sent her flying towards a frozen Shinji and
she crashed right into him, knocking them both back further into the
elevator. The doors closed before the blast could reach them and slowly,
they descended.

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

"Are they in?" Misato asked. A random, nameless technician nodded.
"Good. Activate the intercom; I need to talk to them."

"Would you like to see them on camera?" the techie asked.

"Why not," she said, sure that there would be very little harm in that.

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

Rei laid on top of Shinji. Having landed completely on him, she was
generally unhurt. Her left hand rested on the floor above his left shoulder
while her right hand, miraculously, landed just below his stomach. Yes,
exactly where you're thinking. And she didn't intend it. It was really an accident.

Shinji, having experienced Third Impact with Rei as the huge ass meteorite
(actually, Rei has a nice ass), laid dazed and confused on the floor, unsure
of what was on top of him. He landed on his back and his eyes involuntarily closed.

He opened them slowly. Two soft objects hovered slightly above his face.
A hand which was not his own rested on his crotch. After establishing
the fact that he wasn't dreaming, he remembered his surroundings and his
situation.

It's Rei, he thought. I hope she gets off soon. I can hardly breathe.
The author, as well as a few of the readers, shook their heads and sighed
disapprovingly.

So he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And I'll stop this before too many people complain.

Time took its toll on the fourteen-year old boy and the sleeping giant
awakened in his pants. Rei, who was out of breath, making her body sway
gently up and down, and up and down, and up and down, and up and down, w
with Shinji's face at the epicenter, I mean epicenters of excitement.

"Uh Rei?" Shinji gulped.

"Yes?" she calmly asked. Her voice did not betray her thoughts.

"Will you get off?"

And with that, she stood up and backed away, letting him stand also.
After a few moments of awkward silence, the Ice Goddess surprisingly spoke.

"Ikari?"

"Huh?" Shinji asked.

"We are even."

I'd tell how Shinji reacted but that wouldn't be much fun for your imagination.
Think something along the lines of a face-fault.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though the main view screen showed much action, civilians rushing off to
shelters, helicopters and other vehicles rushing to wherever they were
needed, and explosions occurring here and there, the picture-in-picture
view pretty much held the control room's attention. It held them like a
dominatrix would show affection to her er, servant: by the balls and tight
as a vice. Shinji and Rei didn't really move too much for a few minutes.
And this was what intrigued everyone.

Rei panted heavily and laid on top of Shinji whose face was in a *ahem*
comfortable position in between Rei's melons, as Kaji would say.

"Shinji seems to be having a fine time between Rei's melons," said a late
Kaji who had recently walked in.

Thankfully for him, Misato didn't hear because she, along with the rest
of the control room crew, was suffering from temporary hearing loss. This
meant that Kaji would be spared from some unpleasant things such as a knee
from Misato, a disapproving sigh from Ritsuko, or Asuka's Nazi boot.

The crowd also noticed where Rei's right hand was placed due to the
magnificent security camera angle. After watching Rei breathe hard, her
chest gently bobbing up and down as she panted, they heard a muffled request
from the boy underneath her to get off.

The males, including Kaji, shook their heads in disappointment.

"Ikari?" they heard.

"Huh?"

"We are even."

Everyone had very little to say. Ritsuko fought to keep from fainting.
Maya tried hard to hide a blush. Makoto and Aoba slapped each other a
quick high-five. Misato's jaw dropped a good thirty inches. Kaji nodded
approvingly. Unfortunately, this Misato saw, kneed him in the unmentionables,
and went back to jaw-dropping. The silence seemed to last an eternity.

Asuka however, who was watching from Unit-02, was not at a loss for words
(but then again, whenever is she?).

"WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY MEAN BY THAT?" she screamed very, very loudly.

That pretty much snapped everyone back to consciousness.

"Calm down," Misato said, trying not to inspire the wrath of the goddess
of fire to the point where the entire facility would be in danger.
"Hey, your voice is normal."

"Don't change the subject! It's the LCL! That-that idiot!"

"Calm down!" Misato repeated. She was in no mood for arguments.

"You know what they're doing! You-You say what they did!"

"I guess Shinji is growing," Kaji said in a fatherly tone. "I didn't think
he'd be old enough for quickies in the elevator but"

"Shut up!" Misato pleaded under her breath. I am _so_ going to kick his ass later!

SO THEY'VE DONE IT BEFORE? SHINJI IS SCREWING A FUCKING DOLL?!

This had to stop. Now.

"Why do you care?" Misato said casually. If she had to embarrass her to
calm her down then it was her own fault. "Jealous?" she asked in a teasing
voice. Asuka's eyes lit up.

"No! It's just that isn't it your duty as a guardian to keep him doing t
hat kind of thing at his age?" she said. Lamely, I might add.

"Sure, Asuka," Misato said patronizingly. "Whatever you say"

Asuka growled in anger but promptly shut up.

Oh well, she sighed. So much for a full team effort.

========================================================================

Back in the elevator, Shinji's eyes widened in surprise.

Was that a a joke? he thought. No, it can't be! Hell didn't freeze
over tonight, did it? She doesn't joke! But I wonder why she didn't get
off of me sooner. She must still be angry with me from that time in the
apartment he thought, proving that no matter how dense lead was, it
still could not compare to Shinji.

No one will ever believe this! They'd have to see it to believe it!
Why do these things always happen to me only when I'm alone. Just like
that time in the second grade when I got a hole-in-one mini-golfing on a
par five, but did anybody see? Nooooooo!

========================================================================

Rei turned her back to him and stared at the elevator door, unsure of her
previous actions.

Why did I do that? she thought to herself (but who else would she think
it to?).

Don't act like that, the repressed part of herself "said." You know
_exactly_ why you did that.

A minute, small, microscopic, infinitesimal, yet existent smile curled her
sweet lips.

Exactly

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Open an intercom line," Misato ordered. "Shinji? Rei?"

"Yes ma'am?" the two responded. Shinji looked up and around for the speaker.

"You two suit up and report to your EVA's. We're not sure what these
things are but we'll probably need---"

"But I told you what they were already, Misato!" Shinji interrupted.
"They're aliens! They landed near our campsite!"

Is that what those things were, Ritsuko thought as she remembered the
white objects in the field. Ships capable of interstellar travel? If
we were to get our hands on that kind of technology, or worse, SEELE
This is what that report was about. What do you have in mind, Gendo?
Will we have to deal with _him_?

Normally, this the part where giant sweat-drops on the backs of everyone's
head in the control room but after what everybody had been through (falling
angels, mass evacuations, short-tempered redheads), this was only slightly
out of the ordinary.

"What?" Misato asked. "I don't remember."

"Of course she doesn't remember!" Asuka interjected. "It's hard to
remember anything when there was more alcohol than plasma in your bloodstream!"

"I told you!" Shinji said. "A thing we thought was a meteorite came
hurtling towards us! It stopped right before it hit and it looked like a
bug and a green alien came out and then two more came and they started
talking and we ran away then one of them flew above us and they spoke
Japanese for some reason."

Shinji was out of breath after his brief explanation and the said sweat
drops did for on the heads of everyone in the control room except for Asuka
because the LCL absorbed it immediately.

"Er right," Shinji panted. If the author keeps using run-on sentences,
I'm quitting this fiction

A sweat drop formed on the back of the authors head as he thought about
where the story might go without the main character. He promptly pressed
F7 to run spell-check and hoped for the best. He also had to wipe off the

"And the really strange thing was"

The techies wondered what could be the strangest thing after everything
else they heard.

"that I felt somethingstrange when they first arrived. It wasn't a
feeling as more of a sense."

Rei stole a quick glance at Shinji out of the corner of her eyes.

"And as we ran, they started I think fighting. They were too fast for
anyone else to see but I think I was able to see. They were really more
blurs than actual figures."

Misato glanced at the playing video where the green and blue blurs clashed
with each other. She squinted hard, trying to make sense of the images
that played before her. Something didn't feel quite right. She hadn't
even thought to plan to conceive to foresee a plan if something like this
ever happened. They've been bloodied hard by Angels before but this
was just impossible!

"What can we do to fight back? How do we even fight back? What's even
there to fight back?" Misato thought out loud.

"These things are too fast for external defenses to lock on. They don't
even register on the computers. We'd have better luck scattering shots
but even then only one or two might hit and we'd still have to be extremely
lucky!" Makoto answered.

"Any bombs detonated over the city would, as usual, would do more damage
to us than to the targets," Kaji finished.

"I was going to say that, you lousy woman-stealing hack" Makoto bitterly
muttered under his breath. "And that crap your growing on your face isn't
a beard, it's a freakin' sign that you hadn't hit puberty until the age
of twenty-six. *Grumble, grumble* stupid hippie *grumble* James Bond
wannabee"

"Misato," Shinji said. "We're not being targeted. They're fighting each
other and were caught in the cross-fire."

"That doesn't matter. If they were fighting somewhere else, I guess we
wouldn't bother because it wouldn't be our problem. But if we don't stop
them, the entire city would be destroyed."

"The three of them were talking about, uh immortality and uh dragon balls."

"Three of them? We only see two."

"One flew away. He passed right above us but we couldn't see what he
was using to fly. It could some weird alien thing but we didn't see anything."

"Could you describe their ships? These satellite photos only see overhead.
We can't see any details." Ritsuko asked. Her curiosity was winning over her worry.

"One was a big, oblong thing. It was whit and it kind of reminded me of
a bug." Makoto, Maya, and Aoba unconsciously shot each other glances.
The other two called the green thing a Namek. Those two looked kind of
human but I doubt it. They came in on those ball ships."

"Did you see anything that might resemble a weapon? If they can move
that quickly, it must be small but strong enough to cause that much
damage," Ritsuko said.

"That's the thing! We didn't see anything! The two that looked kind of
like humans wore vests that might be armor but that was it!"

"Impossible. Nothing on Earth is capable of this. Even the weaponry we
found in the Angels are at least five stories tall."

"Exactly," Kaji said. "Nothing on Earth."

So it is true, Ritsuko thought once more, letting it sink in her mind.
Even SEELE hasn't been able to develop anything this advanced. She
watched as explosions throughout the city jar the peaceful night.
Fortunately, all civilians were already underground in shelters capable
of withstanding N^2 mine attacks. The city lit up in a magnificent
fireworks display. It was as if God was reenacting Sodom and Gomorra.
They'll turn to Mabus.

________________________________________________________________________

In a nonexistent plain of existence (pardon the paradox) the monoliths
stood with the detachment of God in a field of jet black. The silence
screamed throughout the infinite space but was shattered by the voice of
SEELE 01.

"They have come."

"How could this have happened?" the worried voice of 03 echoed. "You
assured us that the possibility of this scenario was 0.00000000000002%!"

"It was an unlikely course of events," Kihl stated, "But it was still a
possibilty."

"How will this affect our plans?" a calm 06 asked.

"We are doomed. All we have worked for is in vain. The end of humanity
is at hand. If Lilith were to be defiled" said an eerily calm 08.

"Nonsense," came a loud voice from 04. "This will not affect
Instrumentality in any way. How can it?"

"Ikari is to blame," 09 said.

All but Kihl muttered in agreement.

"Be at ease," Kihl said reassuringly. "I have already implemented a
course of action. Unfortunately, it will mean one more pawn to deal with.
And possibly, more failures to remedy. This is Senriyu Mabus."

A man dressed in all black materialized in the center of the committee.
His short, silver hair outlined his hidden face. His small nose jutted
out slightly from his serious expression. He was at least six feet but
stood like a tower wherever amongst wherever he chose to be. He was
dressed in a fine trench-coat, which revealed the features of his body.
Two gleaming, emerald orbs shone brightly in the shadows that harbored
his face, strands of hair draped over his face and a cold stare firing
blindly for he only stared out in deep space.

"You are needed," Lorenz calmly stated.

"Yes," a deep, emotionless voice replied.

"You're place is to contain this problem. You may take any steps in
order to fulfill your duty, but you will under constant surveillance."

"I understand."

"And though we have no reserved sentiments for Ikari or for his toys,
do not get in his way."

He nodded.

"Take heed. Whatever grudges you may have against him or Gehirn are to
quelled. This is not the past."

"I understand," the voice said unfeelingly.

And the monoliths faded out of existence, leaving the lone figure, Senriyu
Mabus in the center of eternity.

"We shall meet again, Gendo ikari," and the shining green orbs disappeared
and the figure dematerialized into existence once more.

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

"Ikari?"

Shinji jumped back in surprise. Rei had spoken to him before, to the
shock of many of his classmates, but she had never actually initiated
long conversations. this day just keeps getting better he thought
bitter-sweetly.

"Yes?"

"When you said you felt something," Rei softly spoke without bothering
to face him, "what was it?"

Shinji, bewildered (how else would our boy be?) answered.

"It was like a it was like being it's almost indescribable. Have you
ever stood next to drums while they played. There's a pounding in the
chest, right in the heart. It's kind of like that, but only in your
head and when you first feel it it's like a"

"Snap?"

Shinji's eyes lit up in surprise.

"In a way, yes. I guess In can be called that. But after than initial
feeling, it becomes continuous."

"I see." She turned and faced him.

Shinji gulped in shock, for on Rei Ayanami's face was a very slight hint
of worry. I was minute and barely detectable but Shinji could tell that
this was not her normal expression after knowing her for some time. That
and he stared at her sometimes during class (what a perv).

"I am not sure but" Rei diverted her stare from his yes to the wall
behind him.

"But?"

The consuming feeling of that new emotion returned to her briefly. It
was gone as quickly as it came, but the effects were not so fast to leave.

"I feel an ending." Her eyes met his. "Death."

Shinji became uneasy and scratched the back of his head, avoiding her gaze.

"You shouldn't say things like that before leaving for a mission," he
found himself repeating. "It's just too sad."

"Perhaps you are right," she said faintly and turned back around.

========================================================================

"You son of a bitch!" Adama screamed at Claws as he threw another ki
ball. Claws batted it away, away from the city below.

It had been a while since they first started. Bone and sinew clashed
against one another as Claws tried to extract more information.

"Whoever this person must be, you seem pretty reluctant to face them
head-on. I guess weakness can cripple someone to that."

"Shut up!" Adam replied and he let fly a multiple energy attack, all of
which missed its intended target, destroying a tall building in the shopping
district.

"Does Frieza really don't know or is he just conveniently forgetting. Out
of sight, out of mind."

Adama charged with several punches, all of which were blocked. Claws
drew back his foot and unleashed it, connecting with Adama's stomach.
He flew back a few hundred feet but was generally unhurt.

"Do you even know who this guy is? Is he just some weakling who you're
too terrified to fight because of stories that old maids tell they're children
to make them behave?"

Adama flew in closely and decided to answer.

"Shut up!" he yelled and threw a kick to reiterate his point.. "Shut up!"
another kick. "Shut up!" and another kick.

Claws was sent plummeting to the ground but stopped himself three-fourths
of the way down.

"The Herald is a she, not a he!" He charged once again and his hands met
his in an intensified game of Mercy. "And it's not her that we fear.
Not as much anyway! But she has the power to destroy worlds without raising
her power. And her sons. The child of Light and Darkness. They have immense
power, one latent and the other uncontrolled!"

"So?" the Namek grunted back. "Even Frieza can destroy worlds," he said,
that fact all too true.

"But he has to gather energy. No matter what form the Herald is in, SHE CAN
ANNIHILATE ANY SPECIES!"

Claws was slightly surprised but he did not betray his emotions.

"And that child? What else is there about him?"

Adama head-butted him in the face, and, taking that moment of his imbalance,
elbowed his chest and kicked him a few hundred feet away.

"I ain't telling you anything!"

Claws believed him. He would end it now. In a sudden surge of power, Adama
charged and buried his fist into Adama's stomach. His shock was soon replaced
by pain as blood escaped Adama's mouth. Claws pulled his arm back and let
him free fall thousands of feet to the ground. He had only held back to see
what the ignorant brute knew. But he had said all that he could say and all
that he was willing to say.

Playtime was over.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Come on, come on! Shinji thought as he eyed the floor indicator on the
metallic wall. Damn it! We can build bio-mechanic robots to fight the
messengers of God but we can't even make a friggin' elevator that can move!
What's wrong? It's going slower than usual!

The tension was mounting between him and Ayanami. The only thing
penetrating the disturbing silence were the clicking gears of the elevator.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adama charged once more, a harsh, white aura surrounding his battered
body, bathing him in light. He drew his right fist back, his ham-sized
fists clenched in anger. The Namek needed a lesson and a severed head
just might jump-start his learning ability. Using his remaining strength,
he drove his fist into his opponents head with an immense amount of force
capable of turning sections of worlds into smoking craters and warships
into particles of metal. This was his final attack; anything it hit would
soon know the secrets of the after-life.

It connected with Claws in a massive explosion. There was a blinding flash
of light, which turned night into day for a few brief moments, and a
shock-wave that shattered all the glass in the city, rattling even a few
of those in the Geofront.

Technicians watched as their coffee rippled in their cups.

5000 feet above ground, Adama slowly opened his eyes as the explosion
subsided and night became night yet again. He tried to calm his breathing,
his last effort draining him greatly. What he saw shocked him. His jaw
dropped and his eyes were wide, his entire body quivering. His enemy had
blocked it, his face black of emotion, with his forearm. He showed no signs
of pain or difficulty. He simply floated in the air, his left arm raised
against the brute's now loosened fist. In fact, everything about Adama was
loosened. His expert form was reduced to fear and shock. His knees were
bent as though he were about to collapse in mid-air. His jaw hung a good
six inches. He may have soiled himself.

In an instant, Claws grabbed and viciously pulled Adama's extended arm and
introduced Adama's chest with his knee. More blood escaped his mouth and a
sickening crunch as if glass was breaking was heard. Claws backed away
and let Adama curl into a ball, his knees pulled closer to his chest.
But before he let him finish, Claws hammered the small of his back, slamming
him into the ground. His body burst through two buildings like a rag-doll,
debris and glass dancing and crumbling, and he landed on the ground,
shattering the pavement.

Adama fought through the intense pain and eyed the burning yellow light
in the sky. He had been fooled. He was holding back all along. The green
man had been mocking him all along, deciding his defeat and controlling his fall.

Poisonous anger corrupted Adama's mind.

Yes, he though maniacally. That's it. I'll use that. And he laughed
as he got to his feet. His body ached all over. His left arm practically
dangled while he was sure his chest was broken in several places. Small
bumps protruding from his skin, making an impression on his armor proved
that. But it was time for pay-back.

He threw his scouter to the ground and began to concentrate.

From above, Claws looked down upon Adama like a scholar would look down
a charlatan fool. A white ball of light formed in Adama's broken right
hand. When he throws it, Claws would simply dodge or bat it away. Adama
cocked his right arm back and threw it in the sky, not aiming for the green
target. It hovered 12,000 feet in the air.

With a sudden upward jerk of his arm, the small ball illuminated itself to
a greater degree.

Maniacally, Adama laughed as he caught great eyefuls.

Then, Claws felt it. The immense energy appearing in the ground came from
Adama. He was laughing uncontrollably as fur and hair grew all over his
body and he began to grow. His large mouth melted and molded into a hairy
snout, a thin absence of hair present in the center to promote symmetry.
His small, dark eyes enlarged until the pupil engulfed all white, now a
blood red color. His ears pointed and expanded, as well as the rest of his
body as fur enveloped every inch of hairless skin. His legs and arms bulked
up, bulging his outer clothing, and expanding it to fit their size. After
a mere thirty seconds of horror, Adama had grown to match the height of the
buildings around them. He had become a giant ape. After hi transformation
was complete, he threw his head back and unleashed a fearsome howl, revealing
his sharp teeth in the artificial moonlight.

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

In the control room, all watched in awe. The giant monkey reared its head
back and performed another inhuman howl, which ran the blood of everyone who
heard cold.

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

Claws watched in shock and quaked in fear. The creature, spotting him,
opened its mouth and howled. Only this time, a wide beam emerged from
the mouth rather than noise. Claws crossed his forearm in an attempt to
block. The force was not softened and it sent him reeling to the ground.
He stopped himself from landing as the newly transformed Adam fired again.
Claws, knowing that he would not survive another blast, focused all energy
on moving and barely escaped, keeping low to the ground.

The beam struck the earth and a large explosion commenced thereafter.
Instead of just a crater, the hole revealed three barriers of metal
guarding the forbidden underground.

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

Three layer three layers of armor in one shot," said a dumbfounded Aoba.

"Magi are detecting high energy levels from that thing! It's enough to
light up Japan for years!" Maya frantically announced.

"Pattern confirmed! It's not an Angel but I don't think that really
matters!" Makoto added.

"My" Misato stammered. "What is that?"

"It looks like we'll be answering the age old question of who would win
in a fight: an EVA or King Kong," Kaji said smoothly.

"Last time I checked," Makoto retorted, "King Kong didn't have explosive
breath."

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

In the elevator, Shinji and Rei simultaneously looked up. But not because
of what they heard, but because of what they felt.

Wh-what what is that? he thought with a look of complete and utter terror.
If Ayanami were facing him, he'd have had a heart attack. For on her
delectable face was an open mouth and widened eyes.

Ayanami showed fear.

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

Stay low, Claws thought. Adama fired again, with a greater power than
the last, and razed several buildings. This is very, very bad.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Six! Six layers of armor! And the northern Tokaido district is a
flaming hole in the ground!"

"Damn!" Misato yelled. "Open a line to the First and Third! SHINJI!
REI! MOVE IT!"

"Three minutes!" Maya said. "One of the blasts damaged the elevator and
it slowed down!"

Shinji couldn't answer anyway. He was too busy trying to keep from panicking.

"Let me up there!" a confident voice said. "Let me launch!"

The boy heard. Though he didn't exactly fear her anger, he disliked it very
much. He avoided confrontations, especially with her. But as he considered
the magnitude of the situation, he tried hard to protest. But he couldn't.
He felt his throat going dry. His lips dried together, leaving him unable
to open them. He wanted to give up, just to let her do as she pleased.
Even if it meant her dyi--. NO! he thought. I've got to--

He took a deep breath, and let his thoughts become words.

"No!" Shinji yelled from the elevator. "Don't! You don't know what that thing is!"

"He's right , Asuka," Misato said. "We have no idea what that thing is.
All we know is that it's strong enough to destroy six layers of armor-plating
in one-shot!"

"So?" she asked carelessly. "It isn't an Angel so we know it can't produce
an AT Field. Can it?"

"She's right," Aoba said. "No AT Field detected."

"Then let me up there!"

"Not without back up!" Misato sternly replied.

"Listen to her!" Shinji pleaded. "Wait a few minutes, I'll be right there!"

"No thanks!" she snapped, irritated. "I already owe you one. Owing you
two might give you the wrong impression."

"Nono," he pleaded. Once she set he mind to something, chances are she
would never give up. "Please! You don't know what it's capable of! Just
a few minutes!"

"Ten layers!"

"There isn't a few minutes! I can handle this. I'm not the fragile
little girl you think I am!"

"You don't get it!" he said shaking his head. "It will kill you! It's
power is incredible!"

"How do you know?" she asked incredulously.

"I just do!" he yelled, tears forming in his eyes, his voice breaking.
She was a stupid girl and would no doubt get herself hurt or even worse
and he couldn't do a damn thing to stop her. Facing this thing alone
would be her biggest and last mistake. "Damn it, Asuka! JUST FUCKING WAIT!"

"Fourteen layers! The city's coated with debris! The Magi predict that the
next two or three explosions could penetrate the Geofront!""

"I'm sorry, Shinji," Misato regretfully said. "We have no time left. EVA LAUNCH!"

"Best order you've given all night," Asuka muttered right before her EVA
rocketed to the surface.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"DAMN IT!" Shinji screamed very, very loudly. The acoustics in the cramped
elevator were very favorable. He drove his fist into the nearest wall.
His hand shot with a burning pain, his knuckles bruised from the impact.
He pulled his fist back and inspected his work. A large dent was where he
struck. He glanced at his knuckles and found them to be free of blood.
He fingered the dent, trying to discern whether it was real or just the
mental product of his frustration.

Rei glanced at him and nothing more. They stood in complete silence for
a few wasted moments until the door opened and they ran for the locker rooms.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gendo Ikari's phone rung once again.

"Yes?"

"It's me," a gruff voice responded.

"Fuyutski, how is our old friend?"

"Loquacious and lively as usual. He is being introduced to the UN council
as we speak. It's a shameless media circus here in Tokyo-2. Our friend is
actually not speaking much. He's delegated all questions to his spokesman."

"They are expecting him to play a more than nondescript role?"

"Yes. SEELE has a way of bending stone tablets as they see fit."

"How is Tokyo-3?"

"Under attack. A large primate is wreaking havoc on the city. The last
report indicated that it has already destroyed fifteen layers of armor."

"Major Katsuragi is competent enough to handle it. Have them salvage
whatever is useful and destroy whatever is useless. Monitor the skies
more frequently. There will surely be more."

"Isn't that Mabus' job?"

"Consider it a freebie," Gendo sneered. A smile formed on his ex-mentor's face also.

"And one more matter," the old man said. "How has your son been doing?"

"He is an able pilot and follows orders," he coldly responded, which was
normal according to the teachings of Gendoism. "Is there something that
you are implying?"

"No,no, no," the old man calmly said. "There is nothing to be concerned
about. Enjoy your flight, Commander."

"Of course," he said and place his phone back in his pocket.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her heart beat quickly, as it always did in times like these. Sweat and
tension was anticlimactically absorbed by her plugsuit or the LCL. She
felt the appeasing smoothness and texture of the control handle.

It was time to fight and time to win.

She let the G-forces overtake her and they lasted only for a few second.
The final locks were released.

"All right, Asuka, here's the plan. We detect no AT Field but artillery
batteries are too weak to do any real damage. Just grab the rifles and
unload them. No time for any fancy combat, this thing's too dangerous.
If it gets too close, retreat and if uses it's breath, raise your field.
Plain and simple so this should be an easy kill."

"Right!" she said. She was a bit disappointed. After her loss this
afternoon, she thought she could work off some frustrations on this
overgrown spider monkey. Pulling the trigger wasn't the best way to let
off steam. But she had seen what it could do and decided to use a little
bit of discretion. Stupid Shinji, she thought. It's just target practice.

Slowly, she crept up behind the creature. The beast seemed to be
attacking mice scattering on the floor. Asuka drew the grenade launcher
from the weapon's bunker and took a deep breath. She stepped out and
unloaded each and every shell into the creature's back.

The creature, stunned, collapsed on one knee and howled in pain. Smoke
enveloped the gargantuan beast as the red avatar continued firing and
firing. Silence soon came from the target and only explosions could be
heard as shot after shot after shot hit its mark. As soon as the weapon
was only able to produce dull clicks, she called for another.

"Next one!"

A building sprouted from the ground and its side opened completely,
revealing a large positron rifle. The redhead cocked the bolt and waited
for it to charge, its intensifying hum the only noise. As soon as it
reached its peak, she squeezed the trigger and a light-green beam erupted
from the muzzle, striking the center of the cloudy mass. A booming
explosion followed, deafening the ears of those that could hear it.

The Fire Goddess, unsatisfied, rested her rifle on the ground, waiting
for it to cool, and drew the pistol from the weapon's bunker. She aimed
at the center and continued firing.

After the pistol had outlived its usefulness, she drew the rocket launcher
and still fired. Explosion after explosion struck the mass, shrouded by
the darkness of the smoke and shielded from the human eye.

Finally, out of breath (and ammunition), she relaxed and took a deep breath,
throwing the weapons down.

"That was simple enough," she said, panting and a hint of a smile on her face.

"Energy pattern confirmed! It's still alive!"

"WHAT?" she screamed, as a red, pulsating energy beam bore down on Unit-02.

"Asuka! Watch out!"

She grunted hard as she commanded the EVA to fall back with all of her being.
A translucent wall deflected the shot, octagonal ripples surrounding its
point of impact, and it rebounded into the arms building, destroying it
completely. The dust free-floated in the air and danced in the breeze as
the heavier debris plunged to the Earth.

And with a frightening howl, the creature charged the fallen red heroine,
seemingly unfazed by her barrage of munitions, madder than a provoked Cerberus.

It barred its teeth as it careened towards her, but its efforts were halted
with the force of a brick wall by the fire maiden's AT Field.

"Asuka! Get up!" Misato screamed.

The beast pounded its fist at the unseen wall, causing octagonal ripples
to pierce the darkness. It howled in frustration and began to stomp the
ground maddeningly, cracking the pavement and utility pipes beneath it.

"Stupid monkey!" Asuka screamed as she scrambled to her feet.

========================================================================

"Asuka! Retreat! Move seven hundred meters south and grab the guns in
the bunker," Misato yelled.

"But that last barrage had no effect!" Asuka protested, ready to draw her
prog knife and end the battle that moment.

"Just keep it busy! I'm sending Unit-00 and Unit-01 to assist!"

"What?" she scoffed. "I can take care of this, myself!"

"Just do it!"

"All right," she whined. She ran to the bunker to draw the guns.
However, as the building became fully erect (don't think like that) it
was engulfed in a sea of light and heat.

"What the-" Asuka screamed.

"That thing targeted it! And it's taking out every structure in the
area! We can't launch the EVA's! All exit points are either destroyed
or will be! They'll be destroyed even before they can step out!" Makoto said.

========================================================================

"can even step out."

Adama heard. Large ears weren't just for show. And he could hear
everything from inside the red weapon. Apparently, the Earthlings
weren't as defenseless as they originally thought. The thing was piloted,
he was sure of it, because of the voice within. It was female. And oh,
how he wanted to hear it scream.

After destroying every structure in the area (and not just for pure
enjoyment either) she was apparently cut off from all support. Just one
more little thing to do

========================================================================

"The power cable's been destroyed!" Maya exclaimed.

"What?" Misato asked. This battle was beginning to suck very, very badly.
"Retreat!"

"No!" Asuka defiantly replied. "I can take it out without any back-up."

"Dammit, Asuka! You have four minutes and fifty-five seconds of power
left. It can't hurt you with an AT Field active, but you won't be able to
touch him, either. And you don't have much time to stand around and do
nothing! If you do fight, you'd better win quickly or it'll tear you
apart! Either way, time's already being a bitch and I don't need another
one striking my nerves so MOVE YOUR ASS BACK!"

After hearing Misato's motivational speech, Asuka began reconsidering her
decision. However, she made up her mind once the next person decided to
open his stupid mouth.

"She's right, Asuka," Shinji said from the docked Unit-01. "Wait for us to help you!"

So he thinks I'm weak, she thought angrily. "I won't need your help!"
she cried and charged her opponent.

========================================================================

Damn! Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn,
damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn! Shinji thought.

"Damn!" he said out loud. "Misato let us up there!"

Strange, Misato thought. He's never been this eager before

"Nearest launch point?"

"Five kilometers from Unit-02's present location. ETA: Five minutes
and thirty seconds," Aoba responded.

Damn, damn not enough time! Shinji thought. He looked at the view screen.
Beat him, Asuka!

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

So her friends are coming, Adama thought. All they'll find is a corpse

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

Her shoulder compartment opened and revealed her prog knife. She drew
the weapon and uncovered the blade.

"Let's go!"

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

"Ma'am! We just detected something strange!" Maya announced.

"What?"

"There's a phenomenon above the city, about 15,000 feet above ground.
It seems to be emitting unusual radiation."

"What is it?"

"Moonlight."

"Huh? What's so important?"

"The target didn't appear until the phenomenon was detected."

"Could they be linked?" Makoto asked, though the answer was pretty
obvious to everyone.

"There's something else, also. It's only emitting a certain type of
moonlight. A full moon."

"So it's a werewolf?" Kaji asked.

"DOES THAT THING LOOK LIKE A WEREWOLF?" a very intrigued, annoyed, and
somewhat jittery Misato asked. Loudly.

"Er I guess this falls under 'ask a stupid question, get a stupid
answer,'" Kaji said, trying to save face.

What an idiot, Misato thought as she assessed her options.

"Do we have anything left to target that moon?"

"We have several missile batteries still operational in the southern district-"

"Then take that sucker down!"

"-but that thing is out of range. These are just support units designed
for close-range combat."

"UN forces are denying us support," Makoto announced bitterly. Everyone
froze in shock.

"Well not rally, but they might as well be! They said the fastest they
can get troops in was in an hour."

"Wimps!" Misato exclaimed. "They only want us to soften it up before
taking it down, themselves!"

"Too many Godzilla movies?" Kaji asked.

"SHUT UP!" Misato exclaimed. The entire control room shared her sentiments.

After his ego deflated severely, Ryoji Kaji decided to take public advise
and keep his trap shut.

Interesting, he thought. SEELE nor Ikari won't keep sitting on their
asses for this. Things here, and probably everywhere, are going to get
lively

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

Asuka brought the knife down fiercely on the monkey's neck. It grabbed
her wrist and bent it back with unbelievable strength. She kicked it in
the ribs which causes pieces of white armor to shatter off the beast, and
return to it's original size.

The creature reeled back, grabbing its ribs, which were now bruised and
unprotected. Asuka charged once more delivering a fist into the creature's
stomach. However, it slapped her hand down before she could make contact
and viciously pushed her back. Asuka retreated five steps, but soon
regained her balance. She glanced at the timer, which was steadily ticking
down.

Four minutes.

She lunged again, extending both arms to strike her opponent but it met
her hands with its, challenging her to a brutal game of mercy. Asuka
focused all her energy into gaining the upper hand. The creature did the
same. Unit-02 kicked it in the stomach. The thing repaid the favor,
kicking her in the side. She continuously kicked it, maintaining her
strength in her arms to not allow herself to be beaten. The creature
took the full punishment of each blow, wincing every time the foot connected
with its body. Asuka glanced at the timer.

Two and a half minutes remained.

That idiot and doll should be on their way, she thought. Too bad
they'll have nothing more to do once they get here!

She drew her head back and slammed it into the overgrown primate's face,
in between the eyes. The creature cried in pain and its grip loosened, a
serious mistake.

Asuka twisted its hands down, in a way that hands were not meant to be
twisted. A few bones gave away with a wet snap and Asuka planted her feet
into its chest and pushed it away. The creature flew back and flattened
a few unfortunate buildings. As the beast lay still, Asuka walked over
to it, cautiously, to check for signs of life. She got one.

Near enough, the creature sat up and blasted its breath at her. Startled,
she was unable to erect an AT Field. Asuka fell back, barely avoiding
the attack as the tip of the beam barely grazed Unit-02's face. She glanced
at the timer.

1:45

The creature jumped up and straddled itself on Unit-02's body. It pummeled
her chest as it howled in victory. Asuka, a brief moment of Shinji's fight
relapsing in her mind, caught its left fist with Unit-02's left hand. And
started punching it with her right. Unit-02's fist were covered in blood
as it collided with the beast's mouth sending sharp teeth flying. Her
second strike cut the corner of its left eye, blinding it momentarily.
And with one final effort, she kicked the beast off of her, but not before
it could get in a hit at Asuka's side, the point of her injury.

Inside the plug, she grabbed her wound and winced. Her Eva did the same.
Unfortunately, the monster saw this. She glanced at the clock. One minute.

Asuka stood up and charged. It stood, ready to attack. She leaped into
the air, still moving towards it. Then, with her combined momentum, her
legs snapped out at the beast, the force of her kick immense. The creature
flew back a few thousand feet. Asuka landed and immediately ran after
her target. She caught up to it, the beast still airborne, and brought
down a fierce downward elbow strike. Her elbow broke through the armor,
breaking bone and skin and sending blood gushing from the wound and the
creature's mouth.

She straddled its fallen body and began hitting it in the exact same
spot every time.

Twenty seconds.

She kept striking it over and over and over, relentlessly, forcefully,
and viciously. She had won. The blood spraying form its body was a
telltale sign. The creature no longer screamed but seemed to cringe after
every blow. And finally, it barely moved.

Then, it happened. Asuka grabbed her wounds once more and yelled in pain.
Its tail had quietly wrapped around Unit-02's body and was squeezing hard,
taking special care to put as much pressure on her weak spot as possible.

Three.

Two.

One.

Zero.

Unit-02's body ceased moving, its activity silenced. The EVA hung lifelessly
in the creature's grip, a giant metal rag-doll. The creature eyed its enemy
curiously and concluded victory. It stood up, the EVA securely in its hold.

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

"Asuka" Misato said. "Eject the plug!"

"We can't" Maya said sadly. "Something's disrupting the signal. We
weren't able to disconnect the neural interface, either."

Misato gasped.

"Then that means" Misato said, eyes wide open as he slowly returned her
eyes to the view screen. "She's"

"ETA of Unit-01 and 00? Ritsuko asked, as much fear in her voice as Misato.

"Thirty seconds" Aoba answered.

"Damn" Ritsuko cursed.

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

Hurry up! Shinji thought to the platform transporting him to the launch
pad. He had watched Asuka's ferocity in battle and had not doubted her
victory, until now. It took another dirty shot to bring her down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji glared at the screen showing Rei in
her EVA. She sat upright and stared ahead, not showing any signs of emotion.

First normal thing that's happened all night, he though bitterly.

He turned his attention back to the view screen and watched helplessly as
the carnage unfolded.

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

The creature punched the lifeless EVA twice in the chest cracking its
armor with ease. A small piece broke away and drove itself deep into
Unit-02's chest.

Asuka grabbed her own chest, the pain also felt. She coughed and covered
her moth. She glanced at her palm as the LCL washed away the reddish stains.

The creature grabbed Unit-02's left arm with one hand and held the writs
with his other. It pulled. Bone, muscle, and sinew came under great
pressure as the veins expanded. Asuka screamed in pain, screams that a
shocked Shinji could hear over the communications line. As the muscle
stretched, the elbow cracked, getting more damaged and damaged. Finally,
with a sickening wet snap, Unit-02's arm was torn off from the elbow down.
Blue blood gushed out of the wound, painting the nearby buildings and
splattering it in the dark, blue color. The separation, however, was not
that clean. Chunks of bone also broke from the pressure and flew out to
crash into nearby buildings.

Inside the plug, no matter how hard she tried to stop herself, Asuka
screamed. Loudly. So loud that echoed inside Unit-01's entry plug,
grabbing Shinji's mind and attention. When he looked at that face,
twisted and distorted by torturous pain, his fear, shock, and horror
slowly began consolidating themselves into one emotion. Anger.

"EVA launch!" he heard Misato say. Her voice was clouded and muffled,
as if she speaking from underwater. Shinji was in a liquid but it had
never affected his hearing before. The sensation slowly became overwhelming,
consuming him to the core. Once he had reached the surface and the final
locks released, that feeling manifested itself into a physical, though
intangible, substance. Energy.

Shinji felt strength course through him, most likely from the adrenaline.
With his teeth bared and a vice-like grip on manual controls, he charged
like a madman at the very unfortunate monkey.

________________________________________________________________________

"Shinji! Wait for orders!" Misato yelled though not in time. "Who am
I kidding? What orders does he need?"

Unit-00 surfaced and Rei stepped out.

"Rei, grab the extra power cable an connect it to Unit-02. I have a good
feeling that Unit-01 will keep that ape busy for a while so you'll be safe
while you do it."

"Yes ma'am," Rei replied emotionlessly yet not so coldly.

"Ma-major, you should take a look at this!" Maya said.

"What?" Misato asked. "My God!" she sputtered. "His synch ratio has increased."

"It's likely to do that during battle," Ritsuko stated.

"By eighty points?"

"Eighty?" Ritsuko asked. "It can't be! The last time this happened
there was a berserker!"

"But the pilot is still in control.

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

The entry plug convulsed in motion. With step after step, the throne of souls
shook wildly.

Come on! Come on! Shinji thought. It was unlike the confrontation this
afternoon. Shinji was consciously acting. He was in control and chose not
to hold back.

In the distance, he could see them. A glimmer of red and a beast of
darkness, barely smaller than an inch. But their sizes grew as he got
closer and closer. In the view screen, he could see them. The giant
monkey's hand wrapped around the Eva's neck and was squeezing. The other
hand covered the EVA's face, trying to crush its head. It wasn't trying
to suffocate its lifeless opponent. It was trying to snap her neck like
a twig.

FASTER! he commanded himself. His EVA did move faster, a vacuum of air
swirling in his wake as he neared the speed of sound.

Just as the creature was about to twist, it heard him. An entity of flesh,
metal, and anger was enclosing on him from behind. But even before he
turned his head to look, it was too late. The EVA rammed into the beast
at an indescribable speed. Now kiddies, F=MV. Force equals Mass times
Velocity. Unit-01 weighs a shitload and it was moving pretty fucking fast
so it was bye-bye monkey.

The creature lost its grip on Unit-02 just before it was sent sprawling
to the edge of the city. It crashed head first into several buildings,
demolishing them. It also crashed into Rei's building, saving tax payers
a good amount of money as it was to be demolished the next week,
Unfortunately, no one had told Rei.

As the creature tried to get up, Shinji's attention returned to Unit-02.
After being used as a punching bag, it was not in the best condition. He
opened the com line to the red EVA, giving him a good view of the plug.
Inside, Asuka lay motionlessly in her seat, her red hair covering her face
and her right hand resting on her left elbow. She lay still. Unmoving.
Breathless.

"Asuka!" Shinji yelled. He sat in silence, in anticipation of an answer.

"We're not getting any readings from Unit-02," Makoto said. "We don't
know if she's"

But Shinji didn't care. He didn't even pay attention. He cocked his ears,
waiting for an answer and studied her fragile, lifeless body, searching for
any signs of life. The control room fell silent, also, inspecting the body
of Unit-02's pilot.

Shinji held his breath, the air sacs in his lungs filling with the life
sustaining LCL and refused to exhale. Only when she answers, he thought.
Only when she answers. All focus was turned to the silent Unit-02. Even
all the attention on the beast, trying to get up, was diverted.

The purple EVA looked down upon its maimed comrade, eyes cold and unfeeling.
They were the complete opposite of the pilot's eyes. They wide and ready,
anticipating, hoping, praying for any signs of life. They quivered in pain
as he fought back the pain that ushered tears. The dark blue orbs
communicated more than any other part of his body, his emotions an open
book. He fought back the pain, the sadness, the hurt, as long as he could.
But he could not hold on forever.

"Damn it," he whispered as he lowered his head, exhaling as the tears
escaped his eyes. They were immediately absorbed by the LCL but he could
still feel the sting on his cheeks. "Damn it," he said louder, though
still barely audible. "You should have waited." He gripped the handles
of the manual controls tighter. "Stupid fool."

"Watch your mouth."

Shinji's head jerked up in surprise. A bloodied hand brushed away the
hair covering Asuka's face. Her eyes were wide open.

"I'll have to kick your ass for saying that, you idiot," she said softly.

"Asuka!" Shinji said. Elated could not begin to describe him. "You'll
have to wait. There's a line."

Asuka began to laugh but bucked in pain at her injured arm. Suddenly,
Unit-00 picked up Unit-02 with one hand and stabbed it in the back.
Shinji gasped in surprise but calmed down once he realized it was a power
cable and not a knife. The EVA whirred in power and stood on its own.

"My sensors indicate that Unit-02 is still operational," Rei calmly stated.
Unit-00 placed its rifle down and picked up the positron rife dropped only
a few minutes ago. "We must attack it before it recovers."

"Belay that!" Misato interrupted. "Unit-02 and its pilot have suffered
massive damage and must return to the docking bay."

Asuka only took the rifle.

"Right!" she nodded. "Don't worry about me," she said. "I only need one
hand to pull the trigger."

Misato sighed in defeat.

"All right, then," Misato said. "Unit-01 will engage the target. You
two snipe at a nice, safe distance."

Shinji's serious, focused demeanor returned as he turned towards the
fallen ape. It had gotten to its feet but had not yet fully recovered.
In a surprising action, Shinji disengaged his power cable and took off
towards the beast.

"What the...?" Misato asked.

"It would have gotten in his way," Rei simply stated.

________________________________________________________________________

Shinji stopped an ample distance from the beast. It had now recovered
and readied itself for battle. Though injured, it was up for more punishment.

All right then! he thought. His breathing was sharp and fast paced.
Anxiousness and worry tried to take over his body. Unfortunately, they
were succeeding. Having seen its destructive power, his confidence began
to wane. Asuka had put up an incredible fight. She was the at hand-to-hand
combat and her EVA was much more advanced. Also, her last recorded synch
ratio was higher than his the last time they were tested. I mustn't run
away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't
run away.

He took a deep breath as beast and armored beast stared each other down.
The strange energy he had sensed had been reduced. Not by much but fainter
nonetheless.

And then, he noticed it. Perhaps it was his imagination, a cruel optical
illusion played by artificial moonlight, but Shinji Ikari noticed the
creature move. It moved back. Just a few feet, maybe, but it still moved
back. The pilot sensed fear. The clock read four minutes and thirty seconds.
He charged and sent a fist into the beast's chest. It took the punch but
also caught the EVA, flipping it brutally to the ground.

Shinji landed face up and had the wind (or LCL) knocked out of him. He
then felt something strike his ribs as the ape kicked him whilst he was
down. It would have struck him again had not the creature suddenly jerked
in shock.

From a distance, Unit-02 fired its positron rifle, aiming for the neck.
However, having only one functional arm, the EVA lost balance and struck
the monkey in the back. Shinji rolled away and quickly jumped to his feet.

It was expecting me, he thought. It timed its counter-attack just right
Wait a minute! How do I know this?

If Shinji had the time, he would have explored that question more deeply
(being the self-introspective protagonist that he was), but when you're
going one-on-one against a giant, beam-breathing, city-stomping monkey,
things like that didn't really demand much attention.

All right then, he thought. He stepped into a solid stance. Let's go!

========================================================================

Adama carefully watched his purple challenger. The red one had apparently
resurrected itself and was now causing him more grief. A blue one had
also appeared but had not done anything yet. It reminded him of a cyclops.
But he was not so worried with it as much as he was with his current opponent.
It's body structure, appearance, and strength had surprised him. If this
purple robot was only as strong as the red one, then it wouldn't have only
taken light damage from his last attack. The purple covering was only
slightly cracked. It's ace and protruding horn reminded him of stories
his grandmother had told him to scare him into cleaning his room. He was
as bad as he wanted to be but he kept that damn room spotless! She spoke
of beasts that could destroy cities with a flick of a wrist or defend them
with an iron will.

The one that would aid the unfathomable destruction of entire species.
It was simple to destroy a planet. The cries of billions could be
silenced with the flick of a wrist and a blink of an eye and a will of a
destroyer. But to do that, one needed energy. It was energy that only a
small ratio of warriors had. And the Herald was to have immeasurable
power to destroy, exterminate, and end. And it was said to be released
by a demon. Why did he have a sudden feeling that his enemy and the demon
were somehow connected?

Instantly, the violet monster charged. Adama prepared to counter with
the same technique he used only moments ago. A foe like this could not
be the Demon if he attacked with the same move twice in a row! This though
having entered his mind, he dropped his guard, 'Twas an unwise decision.

He readied himself to counter with the similar move, but the nanosecond
he expected to catch the purple giant, he felt nothing. What was worse
was that he saw nothing. The avatar had vanished. He had one moment to
deduce where the creature went. He looked up but was only greeted by a
sea of stars.

And that was not good.

A urge of pain swept through him, originating in his left knee. Sickening
wet pops were heard as it popped out of place. The massive weight of the
rest of his body crushed his lower leg. He howled in pain and fell to the
floor.

========================================================================

"Good job, Shinji!" Misato found herself cheering, proving that the alcohol
had not completely left her body.

"My God" Maya whispered. She had never seen the Eva move with such
precise accuracy before. Perhaps it was luck that the pilot was able to
evade the counter attack and incapacitate his opponent with a sweeping
kick, but what she had just seen was incredible. Even Ritsuko was slightly
intrigued.

"What did you say his synch ratio was?" Ritsuko asked.

"Huh?" a dazed Maya replied. "Over 160% ma'am!"

"I see"

Even Asuka cracked a smile when the brute went down violently. She hadn't
heard that his synch ratio had surpassed hers and that was probably for
the better.

========================================================================

Now! Shinji immediately thought. He drew his knife in a fluid movement
and dove for the beast, hoping to stab it between the eyes. He jumped at
the fallen foe quickly, if not a bit clumsily. However, with victory in
sight, he was bound to get careless.

The beast opened its mouth, a few mere seconds from coming into contact
with the blade. It looked up and aimed for the EVA's chest. Shinji was
unable to change course, currently in mid-leap. The creature fired. Shinji
was unable to concentrate his AT Field. The beam easily penetrated his
weak shield and met his chest, erupting in a fiery ball of light. The
explosion sent him hurtling back a few thousand feet. The EVA created
a crater as it impacted on the pavement. Shinji grabbed his chest, burning
with tremendous pain but was knocked unconscious upon landing.

"Pilot status?!" Misato yelled.

"He's alive!" Hyuga replied. "But unconscious. Three minutes of power
remain."

"Shit!" Misato said. "Rei! Engage the target before it recovers.

Unit-00 snapped into action drawing its knife and charging the fallen
monkey. Unit-02 took Rei's rifle and started unloading high-powered
automatic shells into the creature's hide.

The creature returned to its feet, bullets constantly pounding its face,
his fur matted with blood from wounds that spanned his entire body.
Before it could react, Rei slammed into it with all of her might, sending
it rolling backwards. Asuka kept her gun trained on it at all times,
every bullet put to good use.

"How's Unit-01?"

"Chest components damaged," Maya said. "Heavily damaged." Blood seeped
out in large quantities from Unit-01's gaping wound. The distinguishable
white frame of the EVA's ribcage was horribly visible in the artificial
moonlight, soaked and stained with crimson blood and exposed to the stuffy
night air. The armor had either melted off or shattered upon the explosion,
but served their purpose in absorbing some of the punishment. Unit-01
remained silent.

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

From atop an abandoned building, overlooking the gargantuan battle, Claws
watched in awe at the show of brute strength before him.

I never knew that humans could build this type of fire-power. The Earth
was examined a few years ago but nothing like this was ever detected, he
thought.

He gazed at the damaged Unit-01.

The child is in there! he thought, slightly bemused. He could feel his
lifeforce, which was strangely distinguishable from the rest. These
things must be machine. But how can a machine bleed? There's more to
this than meets the eye. Why would a child pilot it or control it?
Being a Son, its possible that he's a skilled warrior but the child is
still a child.

Then, his gaze moved quickly to the blue avatar, He felt something
similar to what he felt when he encountered the child. It was faint-distorted,
yet somehow, the same.

Another saiyan? he thought. He kept himself from showing emotion to
the specters of the night (which would be the readers) but was shocked.
Could this be the other one? But its different somehow. It's not the
same as the boy's. What could it be?

But before he could answer his question, a familiar presence returned.
The other saiyan! He's back! But why hasn't he transformed? Claws
looked closer at the figure flying in low. His eyes are closed. If I
attack now, I could

After a few moments of deliberation, he dismissed the idea.

No. What's he up to?

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

Nariko sensed what he had expected, he knew the Namek was holding back
a great deal of power and that Adama would most likely have to transform
to defeat him. He had discouraged him, but it would have had to come to
this. It came as a surprise to him that Adam a would be combating something
else.

Keeping his eyes away from the moonlight, Nariko made his way to an
inconspicuous spot to observe the beasts that Adama was fighting. He
sensed the Namek was above him but doubted that he would attack. He ducked
into a building to avoid the moonlight but still had a wide view of all that
was happening.

In the chest of the purple giant, he sensed it. Back in the field, he
recognized the same presence.

It was him. It was the son.

Lore of the Herald of Death flooded his mind. This was a recent event
though it had been predicted a very long time ago. He thought desperately
for any piece of literature that involved a giant robot. The boy was
inside; it was safe to assume that he was controlling it. Any accurate
piece of prophecy that told of a giant machine piloted by the children.
Then it returned. His mind became clear as the words returned to him,
piece by piece.

shall have the beast with the unfathomable roar. Its horridness a
beauty. It's tortured wail, a ballad. Its master the Light and the Dark.
Controlled by a leash held from both ends

And there was more, but he couldn't remember.

He watched as it charged the injured Adama and as they both clashed in an
explosion. The beast was thrown back, blood erupting from its chest.

Has he won? Nariko thought. But then the other two creatures came
into sight. The blue one rammed into the hapless Adama, sending him
skidding away.

He gasped when he felt it. Another Saiyan within the blue giant. For
a moment, he thought that it was a Dark one. However, there was
something peculiar about this presence. Something unidentified. He
couldn't fully tell what it was nor could he sense its power. What
else was there?

not what it seems, not what it speaks, pure and tainted

Adama stood and charged the blue machine. They grasped each other's hands,
trying to push each other back. With a swift tug, the blue machine pulled
Adama towards it and released a surprising head-butt. The saiyan opened
its mouth and bit down on the blue machine's hand. The machine seemed to
jerk back and drop the knife. Adama, with his opponent's leg still in his
arms, pulled forward and toppled it sending dust and debris cluttering.

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

Shit! Asuka thought, I can't see! If she fired, she might accidentally
hit Unit-00. Though the thought if wondering why that would be a bad thing
occurred to her she knew that petty rivalries would have to take a bad seat.
This thing _has_ to go down!

========================================================================

Rei was pinned down and her right hand badly injured. The monkey twisted
her a bit as it pummeled her body. Then, she moved in a way that gave her
enough leverage to kick with her free leg, stunning the creature for a few
seconds. Unit-00's arms felt around for the dropped knife and eventually
found her prize. Grasping the handle firmly, she slashed at the beast,
cutting a well-sized wound into the creature's side.

It howled and slapped the knife away from Unti-00's hand. It blindly
grabbed at Rei's neck and squeezed tightly.

In the plug, Rei involuntarily grabbed at her own neck, trying futilely
to alleviate the pressure. She yelped in pain as the beast picked up her
EVA by the neck, all of its body weight anchoring her head, causing
excruciating pain. Then, it viciously tore her cable.

She tried hard not to give in to the pain. She tried hard not to scream.
But she felt her head about to be ripped off and she could not take it
anymore.

========================================================================

Inside Unit-01's entry plug, Shinji's eyes slowly opened to something he
had not heard before. They were short, but they were loud. They constantly
kept getting stifled or replaced by static but they were unmistakable.
They were screams.

"Rei?" he groaned. He sat up and felt his throbbing head and chest. He
felt like a monkey blew up his chest. He looked to the side and saw Unit-00
hovering by the neck. He could see the muscle fibers stretching to their
capacity near the base, just wanting to break. Then, mercifully, the
juggernaut dropped her. But then, it picked its massive foot and slowly
placed it on the EVA's face, seemingly taking great pleasure in stepping down.

Shinji, not fully awake, could only watch helplessly.

Rei screamed again.

========================================================================

"Rei!" Misato said. "Asuka, go!"

"Right!" she replied quickly. Out of ammunition, she thought she could
put the rifle to good use. Holding it by the muzzle like a club, she ran
towards the beast and shattered the gun on its skull.

The monkey stepped back, blind-sided by the red EVA.

Asuka kicked the creature away from the downed Unit-00 and did a spin-kick
to cause real damage. Unfortunately, it also severed her power cable.
The strike connected with the creature's already injured knee. She drew
her hand back and punched the beast in the chest, However, before she
could pull it away, it grabbed her with one hand and back-handed her with
the other. She tried to block with her other arm but seemed to forget
that it was abruptly severed a few minutes ago. She was reminded, though,
when the beast struck her at the base of the stub. The monkey then grabbed
the EVA's face, and with immense brute strength, slammed the head down
on the ground.

Asuka felt an explosive pain in the back of her head and nothing more.

The creature took his hands off of Unit-02's face. Its four eyes dimmed
and the light faded.

The beast turned its face to see Unit-00 in the air, its legs outstretched
in a flying kick. It caught her by the heel with both hands and used her
momentum to slam her to the ground. It grabbed her by the neck once again
and twisted until he heard the loud, satisfying wet snap. Unit-00's glowing
eye dimmed and died out.

"MyGod," Misato said. Everyone in the control room was watching the battle.

"I I cut the connections to Unit-00," Maya said somberly. "I just hope
I wasn't too late"

"Unit-00 and Unit-02 have gone silent" Aoba reported. "Either the life
status systems are damaged and I can't get a reading or both pilots are"

"Send the recovery team!" Misato ordered.

"We can't," Ritsuko said. "Not with that monster out there"

"Rei Asuka" Misato said, fighting back tears with a shaky voice.
"What's Unit-01's Shinji's status?"

"Unit-01 is" Maya said, her voice trailing off. "OH MY GOD! He's he's"

========================================================================

Shinji watched helplessly as Unit-00 and Unit-02 were defeated He couldn't
move, though the timer said he had a good seventy seconds left.

"My God" he heard Misato say over the com line. His eyes remained on
the two downed EVA's, completely ignoring the looming primate in between
them.

"Unit-00 and Unit-02 have gone silent" he heard someone say. He couldn't
make out voices anymore. "Either the life status systems are damaged and
I can't get a reading or both pilots are"

NO! Shinji thought. His head was hung low, his bangs covering his
eyes. His breathing was quickened, each breath shallower than the last.
His hands gripped the manual controls tightly, then he released. Tightly.
Then released. Tightly. Then released. He couldn't think straight. He
felt exhausted and worn. He didn't feel too well nor could he breathe right.

"Rei Asuka"

Rei Asuka he repeated in his mind. Rei Rei Rei
Rei Rei Rei Rei His gaze shifted from each
silent EVA as he thought of their pilots. Rei Rei

Then, his gaze shifted to the beast in between them, seemingly celebrating
its recent victory.

You bastard he though.

"You bastard" he softly whispered, his voice unusually calm and controlled.

You bastard, he thought.

"You bastard" he softly whispered.

You bastard! he thought more intensely.

"You bastard" he softly whispered.

YOU BASTARD! he screamed in his mind.

"You bastard" he softly whispered.

YOU FUCKING BASTARD! he screamed in the depths of his brain. It was
the scream of a madman, beyond all reason and hope.

"You bastard" he softly whispered. Slowly, he commanded the EVA t stand.
Gone was the feeling of immobility. What replaced it was complete and utter
control. He took found himself unable to take deep breaths. He wasn't
panting, but breathing rather quickly all the same.

The beast spotted him. It barred its bloody teeth in a sadistic grin and
invited him to come and fight.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

The EVA took a few step forward and broke into a relentless run.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I swear to God, I'll kill you! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll rip your stomach out from your mouth! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll shove my foot into your fucking eyes! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

I'll rip your fucking heart out through your chest! he thought.

"I'll kill you," he softly whispered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Unit-01's condition?" Misato asked. "Approximately forty seconds of
activation time left," Maya responded quickly. "But Shinji Shinji is"
Unit-01 moved at a steady pace towards the beast. He ambled, taking
his time and not caring about the time limit.

"His heart-rate is over 170 beats per minute!" Hyuga exclaimed. "And
his brain waves are they're there's got to be some sort of malfunction!"

"Let me see," Ritsuko exclaimed. "It's ecstatic! It's a huge jumble!
I don't know what to make of it!"

"Open a line!" Misato commanded.

"It's already open," Aoba said. A small screen of Unit-01's entry plug
appeared on the large view screen. Shinji seemed calm, subdued. His
hair hid his eyes and his lips moved, as if he were whispering something
inaudible over and over again.

"Shinji?" Misato asked. He remained still. "Shinji? This is Misato.
Pull back until you can get a power cable. You're running out of energy."

He did not respond.

"Shinji! This is a direct order!"

Still no response. It didn't seem like he cared.

Only a few hundred meters from the beast, he suddenly sped up and grabbed
the beast's arms, not allowing it their use. The beast struggled, but
to no avail. Blood steadily dripped from Unit-01's open chest but the
pilot did not seem to care. It only pulled the beast closer and stared
deeply into its eyes.

The control room watched the EVA overpower that had defeated all three
of them only minutes ago.

"Is it a berserker?" Misato suggested.

Ritsuko could only shake her head.

Then, through the small video screen, the control room saw Shinji's mouth
stop moving. He remained silent for five seconds, which seemed like an
eternity. Then, he raised his head, hair still covering his eyes, to peer
into the crimson eyes of the creature. And then, he spoke, softly and
calmly and this time, audibly.

"I'll kill you"

Unit-01 drew its foot back swiftly and kicked the monkey with such a
force that it flew into the air a few hundred feet. Unit-01 slouched for
a brief moment. It crouched down, bending its knees almost meticulously
and leaped into the air after it.

The creature was tumbling wildly. Unit-01 caught up to it and hammered
it down with its combined fists, sending it plummeting to the ground in a
forty-five degree angle. It crashed into an unfortunate cluster of buildings.

Unit-01 fell to the ground, landing on its feet.

The beast did not.

"Twenty-five seconds of power!" Maya screamed.

The creature was in pain but still had enough strength to fight. It
slowly got to its feet, its blue armor ripped and tattered and its fur
matted with blood. Its left eye was closed, cut by the blow Unit-01 had
recently landed.

The monkey parted its lips and unleashed a fiery blast. The EVA remained
still. It bore down upon it until it would strike but its exposed chest.
But Unit-01's right hand came up and caught the beam's tip. It skidded back
from the force but showed no signs of struggle. Then, with a disgusted
callousness, it redirected the beam to the light to the left, destroying
several buildings in its path.

"I'll kill you"

The EVA ran at it, tackling it with full force. The beast tried to grab
at the exposed chest, trying to desperately strike the weak-point, but to
no avail.

Unit-01 struck its stomach three times so swiftly that it registered as
a lightning quick smudges on the view screen. Then, with a left hook,
Unit-01 shattered its jaw, the joints giving away easily and its sharp
teeth ripping from the gum-line. They were replaced by geysers of red blood.

Then, with the sickening taste in its mouth, the creature felt itself being
lifted by its most vulnerable appendage, the tail. Unit-01 took great
pleasure in listening to the muscles, sinew, and cartilage that were the
only thing attaching it to the aching body. The creature yelped loudly, in
tremendous pain, like the hurt animal that it was. Gone was the foreboding h
owl. It seemed to whimper as it was in mercy of the violet avatar.

Then, it snapped. There was a loud, sickening pope as tendon and muscle
ripped off, no longer being able to withstand the pressure. The beast
cried in pain once more, but became silent when Unit-01 drove its fits
into its chest, penetrating armor, skin, and bone. It mercilessly shattered
all outer defenses and broke through the rib cage, boring into the heart.

"I'll kill you"

"Ten seconds of activation" Maya could only whisper.

"My God" Misato repeated.

Unit-01 withdrew its hand from the creature's body; enclosed within was
a disfigured organ. The heart. It casually tossed it aside and made its
way to the red and blue Evangelions.

"Is he going after them?" Misato asked. She already knew the answer.

It loomed over Unit-00 and ripped open its armor plating that covered the
entry plug. He pulled it out and set it on the ground as LCL was flushed
out.

"Five second of activation"

It came over to Unit-02 and did the same.

"Twozero! Unit-01 has been deactivated!"

The EVA halted all movements and slouched down, seemingly slumbering.
The entry plug ejected. The door opened to reveal the boy pilot. He
stepped out and slowly mad his way down the EVA's body.

He ambled slowly towards Unit-00's entry plug.

"RECOVERY TEAM, GO!" Misato commanded.

"They're already on their way!" Makoto replied.

Several trucks, sirens blaring, were on their way to the fallen EVA's.
They arrived in time to witness Shinji open the hatch. He placed his
hands on the burning steel, but did not seem to flinch. He mechanically
pulled and twisted the door, coldly and unfeelingly. He entered the throne
to find her laying peacefully, a streak of blood running down her cheek from
her forehead. He picked her up gently and carefully, pulling her close to
his body. He exited the plug and walked over to the awaiting recovery team.
With her close, he could feel her breathing weakly. He handed her to an
awaiting medic, who set her on a stretcher.

Several workers opened Unit-02's entry plug and retrieved the pilot.

"She's alive!" he heard a worker announce.

"Hey!" a medic called out to Shinji. "Need any help?"

Suddenly, a blue orb was shot into the sky. It collided with artificial
moon and destroyed it in a fiery ball of light. The workers gasped in
surprise and looked up at the sky. Shinji however, turned to an adjacent
building that was heavily damaged from the fighting. Another blue orb was
launched, this one directly at the boy. Just as it was about to strike,
he simply sidestepped. The ball passed harmlessly by, a few inches from
his head which ruffled his hair, and destroyed another building. The workers
took cover from the debris but the boy only stood and continued to stare into
the building.

"So it _is_ you" a voice said from the darkness. A figure stepped away
from the shadows and revealed himself in the light. He was donned in a blue
body-suit and white upper-body armor with a singular eyepiece.

"What do you want?" Shinji coldly asked. His voice was cold and acidic.

"How about a challenge?"

Shinji only stared back and said nothing.

"Or would rather she take your place?" The figure extended his right arm,
his palm open, towards the ambulance that held Rei. "Or her?" He turned
his attention towards the cluster of people surrounding Asuka.

The boy took a stepped forward, body poised and ready to react at anytime.
In a fluid movement, he drew his arm back. A sudden gale seemed to surround
him, lifting his hair and revealing his face. He screamed loudly, voice
unlike it had ever been before. But what Misato noticed the most were his
eyes. They seemed to be slightly squinted, their sides curved into a point,
she could see their color easily. This was what surprised her. The pigment
was only a lighter color, but it seemed completely different. It was
completely different.

His eyes were ice blue.

In his palm formed a bright ball of light. It appeared out of nowhere
and grew by the nanosecond. It grew to the size of a basketball. Satisfied
by its size, Shinji hurled it at the stranger. It flew at great speeds,
the workers feeling the wind that it riled. The figure simply batted it
away. It landed in the distance, destroying a good portion of the highway.

"I accept," the boy announced.

The stranger grinned.

"You truly are a Saiyan," he said. "Good. But as you are now, you cannot
possible hope to defeat me. If we were to fight, it would be no contest.
You'll need time to awaken your power. And I know you're injured. Don't
try to hide it." He glanced at the sky and smiled. He turned his back
and started walking away. "Sixty days," he said. "Don't disappoint me.
It will be a good battle. And if you need anymore motivation, if you don't
beat me, then I'll go after your concubines next." He jumped and continued
to ascend. "Sixty days," he repeated. His body was then engulfed in burning
light. He flew off and disappeared into the horizon.

"I understand," Shinji said in a raspy voice. And then, he gasped, like
his lungs suddenly became devoid of air. He turned to the several
dumbfounded workers around him, grabbing his chest as he felt his strength
being sapped. From under the cover of his hands, blood crept through his plug
suit, swarming and devouring the white and blue material. The redness
expanded until it covered his entire chest. he coughed large amounts of
blood, running down his mouth or splattering on the cracked pavement.
His ice blue eyes rolled back into his head as his eyelids closed and he
collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

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

It's done, Nariko thought. The prophecy need a catalyst and I've taken
on that role. When he fought Adama, it was like he became a different person.
It's amazing how much his power suddenly increased. He didn't even need
to transform into any other form. I've never seen anything like that before.
If I'm right, then this will be the greatest battle of my life. The
thought of battle excited him like nothing else ever could. He smiled.
And I'll fight it as an immortal. Frieza will be next.

He flew back to his ship, unknowing of the danger he had just unleashed
upon the universe.

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

"Shinji!" Misato screamed. A group of workers swarmed his body trying to
revive him. After a few moments of silence, which, like all few moments
of silence that night, seemed like an eternity. They loaded him in an
ambulance and drove him away.

"Major!" Hyuga said. "The target the target is shrinking!"

"What?" Misato said. This had been a trying night and she had found
herself saying "what" too many times.

The monkey began to shrink. Its snout retracted, changing shape fluidly
and melting into a more recognizable nose. Its arms and legs retracted
into its body, getting smaller and shorter with each passing second. Its
large body shrunk and fell, the fur growing back into its skin, slowly but
surely becoming hairless once again. Until finally, the beast's body
completely transformed and shrunk into a man.

"What the hell?" Misato said.

The control room shared her sentiments.

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

In a safe shelter somewhere underground, two boys sat down against a wall
where few people were. One, wearing glasses and white bandages on his
arms, fiddled with a black camera. The other, with enough gauze wrapped
around his head to weigh it down considerably, remained silent as he
stared out into space.

"What do you think has been happening up there?" Kensuke asked.
"I hope all my stuff's okay."

Toji did not reply.

"All the racket has stopped. I can't hear anything anymore. You think
the EVA's were deployed?"

No reply.

"Toji?"

Silence.

"Come on, you've been like that since you woke up. What's wrong?"

Nothing (It's not in quotes because he said nothing. I just wanted to
clarify for all those finicky readers).

"All right then," Kensuke said. "Let's do it your way." He opened his
bag and reached in. He carefully withdrew a comic book, treating it like
it was handwritten by Shakespeare, the writer, Einstein, the genius, or
Bill Gates, the shadow hunter. He presented it to his companion, a halo
glistening the book in all its glory.

"I present to you, noble lad Sailor Moon!"

He was surprised to find that he could not incite a reaction from his
friend, considering how much attention he gave the manga only about three
hours ago.

"Okay, okay, so you're not in a mood to talk. That's understandable
considering how much blood you lost."

Toji turned away and planted his hands in his jacket pockets. His eyes
suddenly lit up when he felt something that should not have been there.
He let it roll in his palm, still unsure of what it was. It felts smooth
and cold against his skin. He withdrew it from his pocket and gasped loud
enough to catch his companion's attention. Kensuke looked at what Toji had
in his hands and dropped his camera.

"Holy" Toji said.

"Is that what think"

The two marveled at the smooth, round, orange ball with a one small red
star imprinted on the surface.

________________________________________________________________________

From above, Claws saw the Saiyan glance at him. He heard every word of
their conversation.

Does he expect me to train that boy? he thought. The sudden energy
increase had surprised him also. He could tell that there was more power
in that boy than he was letting on. Nariko still wants the Dragonballs.
I'll stop him and let this planet live in peace. He had also sensed
something deeper in the boy. Something that he did not want to disturb.
As soon as Nariko flew away, he silently followed.

________________________________________________________________________

Misato sat next to Shinji's unconscious body. The hospital room was an
immaculate white, draining it of life and color. Misato dozed in and out
of consciousness on the small, leather chair with her red jacket draped
over her.

She instinctively jerked upright when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She looked up, pupils still dilated and sensitive to the bright fluorescent
light, and saw the silhouette of a woman with short hair.

"Good morning," Dr. Ritsuko Akagi greeted. She handed Misato a cup of
coffee which she thankfully accepted.

"It's three in the morning," Misato said groggily.

"Exactly," Ritsuko said. "Morning. And how did you sleep?"

"Great," Misato said wearily. She looked down at the dark liquid and
hesitated. "Just great."

"It's Maya's blend. I didn't make it." Misato took a sip.

"Good," she stated.

"You'll be happy to know that all pilots are in stable condition."

"I'll be happier to know that all Children are in stable condition"

"Well, the doctor said that they'd all recover soon. Asuka and Rei should
be waking up soon, but they're not too sure about Shinji. Don't worry,
though, he's fine."

"That's good to hear."

"But there's something you should know Ritsuko said. Misato gave Ristuko
her full attention, knowing that she had important things to say when she
used that tone of voice.

"What is it?"

"We don't know but"

"Yes?"

"You saw how Shinji threw that ball of light at that man, right?"

"Of course! How could I forget? How did he do that?"

"The MAGI detected high energy readings from the man. All human and living
things have energy. That's how things stay alive. It's simple biology.
But Shinji his rose incredibly No human has ever had that much It was
like 500,000,000 volts of electricity ran through his body. But it wasn't
electricity. We're not sure what it was."

"And you have no idea how?"

"We don't! If what Shinji said was true and that man was an alien then
he could have technology which would have allowed him to do that. We
scanned him but the only device he had was that eyepiece. But he had enough
of that energy to power Japan for a few days. Hell, maybe even more."

This conversation woke Misato up as well as confused her.

"And when Unit-01 defeated the target It was just as strange. The pilot
was in control but his synch ratio"

"Rose?"

"No," Ritsuko said, barely believing her own words. "It remained constant.
From its initial increase, it stayed the same."

Misato's jaw dropped slightly.

Do you know what it means Ritsuko thought. Gendo?

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

End
Play the Frank Sinatra version of Fly Me to the Moon here
Began: 08-26-01
Initial completion Version 1.0: 11-24-01
Revised (more or less) V 1.1: 12-8-01

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Preview of next episode or chapter or whatever:

Asuka walks onto the stage where the Author is waiting.

Asuka: You know how long this chapter took to finish?!

Author: Er sorry.

Asuka: And you even had to cut it in half from your original plans,
didn't you?

Author: Uh yeah.

Asuka: And you said you were going to finish, what, A MONTH AFTER YOU
COMPLETED THE LAST CHAPTER!

Author: Guess I got kind of off schedule, didn't I?

Asuka: And you want me to do this for you after you let Misato do the
last one and you didn't even pay her?

Author: (Sweating) Relax, relax I've got your payment right here.

The Author pulls a large box out of nowhere.

Asuka: Good.

Author: Phew.

Asuka: (Cheerfully) On the next chapter, Shinji has dreams about the
weirdest things. Rei starts acting strangely while Hikari tries to get
me to ask out Shinji to the fair. Yeah right! Like I'd want to go out
with a twit like that!

Hikari: But if he doesn't ask you, you know who he _will_ ask

Asuka: (Annoyed) I'll guess we'll see what's going to happen, now won't we?

Author: So, you gonna ask him?

Asuka: Well, you're the Author, aren't you?

Author: Oh yeah

Rei: If you do not, then I will.

Asuka: What? Never!

Asuka: On the next chapter: Fair Days! The real one, this time!
You won't wanna miss it!

Author: That was great!

Asuka and Hikari: Now what's in the box?

Author: Have a look.

Author opens the box.

Asuka and Hikari: Yay! Pokemon!

Rei: I am not familiar with this... Pokemon.

Asuka: Of course...

=======================================================================
Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned by the great, albeit depressed, H. Anno
and all the crazy people from Gainax. ADV and Viz have something to do
with it, too. DBZ is owned by the nutty playa' Akira Toriyama and the
butchers of Funimation (who has forever condemned DBZ into a silly child's
show targeted at ten-year old children in America from the awesome silly
child's show aimed at audiences of all ages that it was in Japan). All
elements, characters, situations, and some vocabulary are used without
permission. Please don't sue me, I had to borrow this keyboard from a
friend. Only replace "borrow" with "steal" and "friend" with "hobo".
========================================================================

Author's notes/rants/ramblings/pointless chatter/bitchings:

Note to self: WRITE SHORTER CHAPTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was long, now wasn't it? Like Asuka said, I originally planned this
chapter to be longer but after seeing how much paper I used even before I
finished, I figured it was better to split it up a bit. All of the events
in this chapter happened only in about one or two hours. Imagine if I had
kept writing

I'm sorry that this took a real long time to write. I had schoolwork
and I procrastinate often.

I'm not sure what the pilots' synch ratios were in the series so the
numbers I gave were only estimates.

This chapters dedicated to all the victims of September 11. It's one of
those days where you'll never forget where you were and what you were
doing when you heard about it for the rest of your lives. I was in
Spanish class. It was about nine in the morning and I overheard a few
people talking about it. I asked them what movie it was. Boy, was I wrong.

I know Shinji is out of character. That's for the plot. What the hell?
There's a plot?

And yes, I do like country.

A few more things.

Thanks to Vorax for pre-reading the first half of the chapter.

Thanks to Gotenks154 for motivating me to continue. Though I don't
think threatening to break my legs with rattan sticks if I didn't finish
counts as motivation

Visit the TLoM website http://members.tripod.com/gotenks_154/ if you want
to waste a few minutes of your life.

Flame the author to your heart's content at ikari_the_stampede@yahoo.com

That it? Good.

PEACE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When angry, count to four; when very angry, swear."
-Mark Twain.