Author's prerant:       Okay, time for an apology.  I know I said that I was going to release both versions at the same time, but it's taken me long enough just to write this one, so I've decided to upload it now.  I hope to have the other version out within a week's time, and when I do I'll upload it as a different story.  I'll name it 'The Price of Victory (alternate)' or something like that, so you'll know when it's out.  It'll be less confusing for you lot as well as for me to segregate the plots this way.  Again, sorry for the delay, but if you want me to write a decent alternate version then you will have to bear with me.  I have to make it up as I go along, more so than with my original since I want it to be different, so it takes time.

I always thought I had decent spelling and grammar, so thanks KevinEC for shattering that little delusion...  Seriously though, it's a big help.  Maybe you'd like to consider prereading for me since you have such a sharp eye for details?

Thanks too to everyone who has reviewed so far.  Funny how since my statement of twin plots, the number of bad reviews seems to have dropped...  Damn vocal Rei fans... ;)  Thanks especially to Optimus Magnus and Dennisud for your continuous reviews.  It means a lot you guys, sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going...

The usual big thanks to Steve the megalomaniac (or at least at the way I keep praising him he will be soon!) for prereading and generally keeping me in line.  Equally big thanks to Alexei Seranov for also prereading for me and making sure that I don't do something stupid like delete my work and try to start from scratch...  Things are looking up indeed.

Anyway on with the story.  I'll warn you now that this chapter is big.  In fact it's bigger than big.  Excluding my numerous notes and thanks, the story itself weighs in heavily at 17078 words.  Don't say I didn't warn you.  I'll stop babbling now.

Chapter 5 – The New Arrival

Darkness, the absence of light, the great concealer.  In perfect darkness one can not see a thing as the human eye requires a moderate measure of illumination in order to map out everything within its field of vision.  Even those animals with the greatest night vision would not be able to see anything in this situation, as even they require some measure of illumination to see.  Anything could be happening nearby but alas, one would not be able to see it, such are the limits of the optical senses.  A fear of the dark is something which has long been inbred into the human psyche, and yet it has often been declared as an irrational fear.  Humans fear things that they can't understand and things they can't perceive, and most rely on sight more than the other senses.  Therefore when they are deprived of their sight they are uneasy.  This uneasiness is different for everyone, some are paralysed with fear, some deal with the fear but are still anxious, but a select few overcome their fear and won't let it affect them.  One such individual was currently immersed in the nothingness of total darkness and yet it didn't bother him in the slightest, on the contrary, he felt quite comfortable.

Were one able to see into the pitch black of the sealed room the individual occupied, then they would be in awe of its dimensions.  Considering the nature of the room one could be forgiven for thinking that the size was far out of proportion, but this wasn't the only strange thing about the room.  The chamber was completely void of any furnishings or decorations aside from a single desk, a matching chair and the unmistakable arcane pattern of the Sephirothic System adorning the ceiling.  The archaic symbol normally lit the room with an eerie glow, but at this time even it offered nothing which would illuminate the room in the slightest.  Such was the will of the single occupant.

Gendo Ikari sat in the pitch blackness of his office in the standard Gendo position, and he stared directly ahead at nothing.  Even he couldn't see a thing as the darkness swallowed everything from view like a tsunami sweeping out of the ocean and consuming anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.  Yet this complete absence of light had no effect on the Commander in Chief of NERV.   He was merely biding his time before the meeting due to commence momentarily.  Suddenly a shaft of light speared into the room from the far side and attempted vainly to fill the monstrous confines of the office.  The darkness was not to be defeated however, and as such the penetrating luminescence only reached several metres before being absorbed by the nothingness.  The silhouette of a tall, lanky figure could be made out in the doorway for a moment, before it moved into the room and crossed the floor to stand behind and to the right side of the Commander.  After his entrance the door slid silently shut and the two figures were engulfed in the all consuming black.

Ikari paused for several seconds before he pressed a button on his desk and the darkness of the room was again shattered, this time by the emergence of five people seated behind five desks, each illuminated by a different colour.  Ikari looked at the five figures, yellow and blue to his left, red and green to his right and white at the end.  None of them had a pleasant expression on their face as they commenced the meeting.

"Ikari, we are concerned with this recent incident in which the MAGI were compromised," began the figure illuminated in white without preamble.

"Yes, it seems that you have been lax in your responsibility of protecting the valuable data and resources entrusted to you," continued the figure in yellow with a pompous, arrogant tone of voice.  Ikari made no effort to respond.

"We may have entrusted NERV to your leadership, but do not think for an instant that you are anything more than an expendable asset," growled blue with an unpleasant expression on his time weathered face.  Ikari slowly turned his head and simply regarded the older man with an unconcerned glance before returning his attention to the figure directly opposite.

"I assure you gentlemen that this matter is being looked into by my finest people.  Whilst we were caught momentarily unaware, there will not be any further situations like this in the future," he said in a deadpan tone with no expression on his face. 

"And just how appeasing do you think your assurances are?" inquired green mockingly.  Again Ikari merely graced the SEELE member with a dismissive glance without offering a response.

"I'm sure that you are aware of the numerous groups whom are not happy with what NERV are doing.  Whilst most of them are not to be worried over there are a few major players who could disrupt our plans," intoned red with less hostility than his counterparts.

"This is so.  It's too late in the project to be letting our guard down; we can not afford mistakes at this time," informed white forcefully. 

"I couldn't agree more," assured Gendo.  "Steps have been taken to prevent any further interruption.  We will find the intruders and deal with them appropriately."

"See that you do," growled blue menacingly.

"And what of the nature of the information stolen?" asked yellow.

"That still has not yet been ascertained," Ikari replied.

"This is unacceptable!  We have supplied you with more than enough resources to see our plans to fruition.  If you are not up to this task then perhaps we should find someone who is..." green threatened with a raised voice clearly portraying his anger at the Commander of NERV.  Ikari didn't even flinch at the threat, for he knew that there was no one better than he for this job... at least in the minds of his superiors...

"I expect no further slip-ups Ikari.  We have invested too much time and money to let inconveniences like this hinder our progress.  Just be sure that this is an isolated event," ordered white with a no-nonsense tone.

"You have my assurance," Ikari replied almost mockingly.

"That's all we need from you at this time.  Do not make us have to contact you like this again," and with that the five figures and their desks disappeared from the room.  Neither of the two remaining figures made any effort to move, as both were considering the outcome of the meeting.  For SEELE to go out of their way to contact Ikari was a cause for concern.  The old men never went out of their way unless the situation was critical enough to demand them to do so.  This fact wasn't lost on the two silent men and neither was the underlying threat of replacement.

"That could have gone worse..." Fuyutsuki offered after a period of silence.

"Indeed," was Gendo's one word response.  He was far from intimidated by the old men of SEELE, but this problem with the intrusion was still something to concern him.  That is of course, until he can devise a way to turn it to his advantage...

"I wonder why they desired my presence as well?" mused Fuyutsuki out loud.

"Perhaps they think that you would be a viable replacement should I be deemed unworthy of continuing," Gendo offered emotionlessly.

"Perhaps," he replied quietly before starting on his way across the empty expanse towards the door.  Thankfully Gendo hit the switch to remotely open the door so the older man didn't have to make his way over blindly.  After the door was shut the room was once again enveloped by darkness and Gendo sat in silence for a long time, before he triggered the opening of the large armoured shutters concealing the windows.

* * * * *

The azure depths of the expansive ocean, offset by the cloud streaked vivid blue sky were all Shinji could see out of the small window beside his seat. In fact that was all he had been able to see for the past ten minutes, since he was currently stuck in a large transport helicopter en route to rendezvous with the pacific fleet transporting Unit 02 to Japan.  The ride was most uncomfortable as the chopper was obviously designed for transport, not crew comfort, and he was knocked around quite a bit by the wind and turbulence.  His discomfort was nothing compared to Misato's though.  She was still nursing bruised ribs and every time the large transport shuddered she grit her teeth in pain.

Shinji wasn't oblivious to her situation, but since there was nothing he could do for her he tried to push aside thoughts of how much pain she was in... with no success.  The longer the flight, the more pain she felt until eventually she was unable to contain the odd wince or gasp of pain.  Looking around the small, cramped crew compartment Shinji once again confirmed that aside from the pilot, co-pilot and Misato he was the only one here.  Misato had tried to get permission for Touji and Kensuke to come along but the action was blocked by the Bastard King.  So, much to Kensuke's disappointment, they instead would have to settle for meeting them at the docks when they finally returned.

After another twenty-odd minutes of flying, Misato called out to Shinji and he looked through the cockpit window to witness an impressive sight.  The entire pacific fleet in all its glory were sailing towards Tokyo III in battle formation.  Misato pointed out the largest of the aircraft carriers and informed him that that was where they were going to land, the super-carrier Over the Rainbow.  With admirable skill, the pilot brought the bulky transport chopper down in a relatively smooth landing, though the impact certainly didn't go unnoticed by Misato who issued a low groan of pain.  Shinji frowned at her situation and determined to do something; he gently slipped her arm over his shoulders and helped her out of the recently secured helicopter.  She managed a small smile at his considerate action before the duo unsteadily made their way across the slightly swaying flight deck towards the command tower. 

Shinji was so busy watching the ground before his feet in order to keep his balance that he didn't notice the figure standing before them until Misato stopped.  Shinji looked up and did a double take, as instead of being greeted by navy personnel as he was expecting, they were instead confronted by a dazzling young woman.  Shinji took in her profile immediately.  Long legs, well toned and developed body with a figure to die for, covered by a knee-length yellow sundress, and an absolutely gorgeous face framed by a long mane of red hair which was held back by what he recognised as being A-10 Neural connectors.  Her piercing blue eyes looked over first at Misato, then strayed to Shinji where they remained for longer than with his guardian.  Shinji met her gaze and found himself taken in not only with her beauty, but with the depth of her crystal eyes.  Shinji was surprised when her carefree expression darkened somewhat into a trace of a frown as she stared at him.  Misato watched the display, clearly as confused as the two children.

"Hey Asuka, it's been a while..." she said finally in an effort to break the stalemate.  The redhead turned her attention back to Misato, but the small frown she wore didn't fall away.  What the hell was that?  She wondered as she tried to identify what it was about this boy that made her feel... confused.  A similar reaction could be witnessed from Shinji as he too looked quite confused.

"Yeah, it has been a while hasn't it?" she answered as the confusion started to dissipate.  "How are you anyway Misato?  You don't look so good..."

"I've been better," she said with a half smile.  "Actually I'm lucky to be alive but we'll talk about that inside.  First I'd better introduce you two.  Asuka, this is Shinji Ikari, the Third Child.  Shinji, this is Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child." 

"Uh... hi" Shinji offered shyly.  He watched her nervously as she seemed to assess him with a critical eye before she donned a slightly disappointed expression.

"So you're the famous Third Child huh?" she asked rhetorically whilst quickly giving him the once over.  "Not exactly what I was expecting," she continued with disappointment mixed in with a trace of confusion.  Shinji allowed a slight frown at the suggested insult, but let it be at that.  There was just something about her...

"Well it's... nice to meet you," he said with the frown disappearing as he once again took in the beauty of her face.  He quickly dropped his gaze however when she narrowed her eyes at him, and he could clearly hear her scoff of contempt at his actions. 

"I suppose I should go meet the Admiral now," Misato said half heartedly, after witnessing the exchange between the two young pilots.  Not another word was said between them as Asuka led the way with Shinji still supporting Misato, to the bridge.

* * * * *

Back in the futuristic fortress city of Tokyo III, Shinji's two closest friends were sitting glumly in their seats at school.  Ever since Kensuke had found out about the transfer of Unit 02 he had been bugging Shinji to ask Misato to let him come along and see it.  Finally Shinji relented and Misato would have agreed, but the action was immediately blocked by none other than the Commander himself.  Misato was well aware of the futility of arguing with the man so she just left it at that.  So it was that the duo had to endure another day of school whilst their friend was off saving the world... again.

"Man, this is so unfair," whined Kensuke from his position of having his chin resting on the desk before him.

"Yeah..." muttered Touji absently.  The athletic youth was currently leaning back almost against the wall with his chair balanced precariously on two legs in that position which every single teacher seemed to hate so much...  He was also disappointed by not being allowed to go, but his reasons were different.  He didn't really care about the EVAs like his military-nut friend, but he did however care about Misato... 

"Shinji gets all the luck," the dejected wannabe EVA pilot continued.  "He gets to skip school so that he can go and see the new EVA and its pilot, whilst we get stuck here again."

"Yeah..." muttered Touji once again.  Kensuke raised his head to look over at his long time friend and was quite surprised to see the contemplative state the normally ignorant boy was in.  Shaking his head once more at this injustice, he simply lowered his head back down to the desk and muttered to himself about how he never had any luck.  A heavy silence settled over the two of them as they ignored the rest of the lecture.  Both were simply lost in thoughts about how cruel and unfair this world was.

Lunch time came around and even Touji 'the stomach' ate his meal half heartedly.  The boy with the voracious appetite barely managed to get through his standard lunch which, mind you, was approximately equal to the lunch brought by three 'regular' students...  Regardless, for any of those who knew Touji they could instantly tell that something was wrong.  Hikari was one of those people.

She had been keeping a discrete eye on the two boys since they had entered the room just before the start of the lesson with less than happy expressions.  She could plainly see that something was troubling them and when she noticed Touji's lack of enthusiasm for lunch, she assumed the worst.  Curiosity had been eating at her the whole lesson and this was the final straw... she was going to have to find out what was troubling him.  Assuming her alter-ego as the confident, no-nonsense class rep, she strode over to the dejected duo and stood before them.

"Alright you two, what's going on here?" she demanded in her official class rep voice.  Neither of the two even bothered to glance up at the intrusion.

"The new EVA is arriving today," Kensuke whispered reverently.  "And Shinji gets to skip school to see it and meet the new pilot, whilst we get stuck here."

"Yeah..." chimed in Touji, though he didn't really hear a word the smaller boy said.  He was still oblivious to everything, even the imposing figure of the class rep.  Hikari's eyes widened at the news.  She, like just about everyone else had no idea that they were going to receive a new EVA and pilot.  Her curiosity quickly turned to worry though.  What if the new pilot is like Ikari or Ayanami?  She wondered to herself.  No one considered either of the pilots as 'normal,' so what if the new arrival was just as weird?  Regardless she vowed to herself that she would reach out to the new pilot.  She still hadn't forgiven herself for what happened to Shinji and although he and Touji became friends, the fact was that he didn't have anyone for the first couple of weeks he was here.  No one deserved to be so alone...

"So you mean they're here now?" she asked excitedly.

"The UN assigned the entire pacific fleet to guard them.  Shinji and Misato are probably already on board the flagship by now..." he muttered resignedly. 

"Yeah... Misato..." Touji whispered dreamily, and fortunately for him he was oblivious to the hard glare Hikari shot him at his comment.  This only served to further annoy the pigtailed girl however, and so she picked up the empty wrapping of his former lunch and after balling it up, she hurled it at him.  Though she hadn't intended it to, the projectile struck the unaware boy squarely in the face and knocked him out of his daydreams.  His surprise at being struck in the face by an unknown object caused him to react by flinching from the contact, and his perilous balancing act was shattered as he toppled over backwards.  This also was not planned by Hikari...  The now fully awake jock hit the floor hard and was catapulted out of his chair, landing beside it in a sprawled heap.

"Oh my God!  Touji!" Hikari shouted with a horrified look on her face, before quickly rushing to his side to see if he was okay. The prone boy had a surprised look on his face as his addled mind was still processing the events that led to his current position.  Finally, he blinked a couple of times and the first thing he saw was Hikari leaning over him with concern evident in her expression and eyes. 

"H-Hikari?" he asked, not expecting the attractive girl to be leaning over him like this...

"Are... are you alright?" she asked with much less confidence then she had displayed just moments before.  She could never forgive herself if she hurt Touji...  He took a few moments to gather his scattered thoughts before venturing a reply.

"Uh... yeah, I'm fine," he finally managed.  He found himself in an interesting position.  He was lying on his back with his fallen chair on one side and the class rep on the other.  Not only that but since she was leaning over him he couldn't exactly move anywhere.  In all honesty the arrangement didn't seem so bad to him... until he noticed the curious gazes of his fellow classmates.

"Uh, Hikari... can you uh... let me up?" he whispered to her.  She blinked at him in surprise for a moment before he gestured with his eyes, and she noticed the throng of staring faces.  She blushed straight away and moved aside to let Touji up.  Once the pair had managed to get to their feet they both looked uneasily at the floor before them, quite obviously embarrassed.  Kensuke was shaking his head with amusement at the whole situation, and the group of students still in the room started whispering amongst themselves. 

"Thanks..." he uttered in an effort to break the awkward moment.

"S-sure," she replied.  Another awkward silence reigned as yet again, the two couldn't think of anything to say to one another.  Kensuke sighed audibly at the stalemate and decided to interject before the situation became any more uncomfortable.

"So...  You want to come along when we meet up with Shinji after school?" he asked of the class rep.  If he won't take the step then I'll take it for him...  The pair looked at him in surprise.

"What time?" she asked with more confidence ebbing into her voice.

"Well... the fleet is supposed to arrive at about 1600," he told her.  "That's four o'clock," he quickly added after seeing her confused expression.

"Well yeah I don't see why not.  I'd like to meet the new pilot."

"Well, we're gonna head over straight after school so you might as well come along with us."  Hikari thought about it for a moment and remembered that she didn't have cleanup duty.  Shouldn't be too hard to convince Ayumi to supervise for me... she thought as a smile began to break out on her face. 

"Sounds good," she stated with a smile, and Kensuke couldn't help but be amused by the unidentifiable expression which Touji wore.  He'll be thanking me later he thought smugly.

* * * * *

Meanwhile back on the super-carrier, three somewhat less than happy people finally made their way through the labyrinthine confines of the ships numerous corridors and found their way to the bridge.  Misato was feeling fractionally better now and so entered the command, control and communications centre for the Pacific Fleet under her own power.  The room was quite large, unlike most other places on the cramped vessel, and there were officers everywhere attending to the numerous monitors and control interface.  At the far end they spied the admiral gazing out of a large reinforced-glass window.  They crossed the busy room and stood a respectable distance behind the commander of the pacific fleet and waited for him to address them. 

"So you are the people from NERV are you?" he asked after turning around.

"Yes sir, I am Captain Katsuragi, Operations Director of NERV," she voiced in a respectful tone whilst standing stiffly at attention.

"And what about this... boy?" he inquired with obvious displeasure at having another child on his vessel.  Shinji was instantly uncomfortable and withered before the intense glare the old admiral sent him.

"This is Shinji Ikari, the Third Child," Misato answered for him.  Asuka frowned at his lack of response and shot him a disapproving glare, but neglected to comment given the current situation. 

"Humph, well how considerate of you to bring yet another child aboard for us to baby sit," he muttered loud enough for all to hear.  Asuka could think of a myriad of insults to direct at the man but again kept her mouth shut.  Shinji just kept staring at the ground, hoping that they could leave this most uncomfortable situation as soon as possible.

"Yes, well thankyou for your hospitality Admiral," she said with considerably less respect than before.  He frowned at the Captain when she handed over a folder for his perusal.

"These are the technical details of the auxiliary power supply socket we brought along," she informed, seeing the pending question in his expression.  After hearing her explanation he slammed the file shut and looked at Misato with a menacing expression.

"I'd never authorise the activation of that toy.  EVA Unit 02 and its pilot have been entrusted to this fleet to escort, and until we reach Tokyo III my word is law," he growled, getting his point across very clearly.

"That may well be, but I'm sure that I don't need to remind you that in the event of an angel attack my authority as the Operations Director of NERV supersedes your own," she stated with confidence.  Asuka smiled smugly at the statement whilst Shinji looked up at her and saw the familiar 'work face' of Misato.  He quickly looked away as he never did like seeing the commanding aspect of her personality; it was too much like his fathers...  The Admiral merely growled quietly at her boldness.  He was about to lecture Misato on the proper way to show respect for one's superiors when another presence made itself known on the bridge.  The tense atmosphere was suddenly shattered by a feminine shriek.

"Kaaaaajiiiiii!" squealed Asuka with joy as she took off and enveloped the new comer in an all consuming hug.  Shinji turned around in surprise at the girl's reaction and eyed the man before him.  The man was quite tall for a Japanese male and wore a respectable shirt with tie and long pants in a most unrespectable manor.  The most noticeable features however were the long brown hair tied back loosely in a pony tail, the several day old stubble growing from his chin, and the roguish smile on his face.  The man just oozed positive energy and charisma and Shinji felt relaxed in his presence, a definite first for the shy boy.  Were it not for the 35 odd kilos of affectionate redhead clinging to him, Shinji imagined that he would be leaning casually against the wall in a very carefree manor. 

More interesting than his arrival however was Misato's reaction to him.  Shinji watched with obvious amusement as her face initially displayed surprise, before changing to shocked recognition, and then proceeded briefly through anger before resting on resigned disappointment.  Kaji simply smiled impishly at her reaction.

"Mr. Kaji this is the last time that you will invite yourself onto my bridge!" boomed the irate Admiral at the unwanted visitor.  Kaji merely offered the admiral an insincere bow of his head, since the rest of his body was current being restrained. 

"Well, hello Katsuragi. Long time, no see?" he asked with his smile widening slightly as he disengaged himself from the redhead.  Misato was shaking her head and had her eyes closed muttering to herself.

"It's a bad dream... it's a nightmare!"

The distraught Captain was receiving many a strange look from the bridge crew at her overreaction to Kaji's entrance.  Asuka and Shinji looked at their respective guardians with confused expressions, before turning to the other adult.  Seeing no answer on the other's face, they turned back to their guardians expectantly.  Neither adult though was willing to divulge any clues on the matter to their young charges.  The Admiral took this brief lull in conversation to order the foursome off the bridge and forbade them from ever returning to his sanctum.  The four of them quickly found themselves being escorted out into the corridor, and with nowhere else to go they decided to head to the officers mess to get a meal. 

Surprisingly they were the only ones attending the small eatery, and since none of them were really all that hungry they just settled on a round of drinks each.  Misato was none too pleased to discover that since it was a military vessel they didn't have any alcohol... or at least none they were willing to share with a Captain from NERV...  They each collapsed into their seats with Shinji and Misato sitting opposite Asuka and Kaji.

"So how are you Katsuragi?" the unshaven man asked with a playful smile.  His smile was met by a scowl.

"Why the hell should you care?" she hissed venomously.  The unhappy woman quickly became the focal point of attention for the three others.  Both Shinji and Asuka wore slight frowns at her hostility.  It was quite apparent to the both of them that there was some history between these two...and it didn't seem to be all pleasant.

"I'm hurt that you feel that way," he replied with mock rejection.  He sighed to himself before turning to Shinji with an engaging smile.

"So you are the famous Shinji Ikari, it's an honour to finally meet you."  Shinji looked over at the man in surprise.  No one had ever been 'honoured' to make his acquaintance before...

"Uh, it's nice to meet you too Mr. Kaji," he replied slowly, unsure of what to make of the praise.  His uncertainty turned to concern though when he glimpsed a dark scowl from Asuka in his peripheral vision.

"Please, call me Kaji," the long haired man replied casually.  "I've heard of your exploits and I must say that I'm impressed."  Shinji could only nod dumbly at the older man's comments. 

"You've defeated an angel in your first fight with no training, defeated your second angel in one on one combat, defeated the third with a precision shot, and also saved an entire city from a catastrophic nuclear meltdown.  That's quite a list of achievements for one so young."  By this point Asuka was trying to cause the young Ikari to spontaneously combust by her will alone.  Why the hell does Kaji have to praise him so much? She wondered angrily.  Shinji shifted in his seat uneasily.  All three of his companions were awaiting his response... and not all of them looked pleased.

"Well... I guess I was just lucky..." he finally managed to reply, making every effort not to look at the fuming redhead for fear of what he would see.

"Luck is part of your destiny.  It's your talent." 

The conversation died down after that as Misato was busy avoiding Kaji's gaze, Shinji was trying not to look at anybody, Kaji was trying to get Misato's attention and Asuka was trying to get Kaji's...  Finally after an indeterminable amount of time Kaji sighed and turned his attention back to Shinji. 

"So Shinji," he began with a devilish smile.  "I understand you're living with Katsuragi now."  Shinji nodded at the unkempt man.

"So tell me, is she still so... wild in bed?"  His question was met by a horrified scream from Asuka, a bright red blush from Shinji and a similar reaction from Misato... except her face was red from anger.

"Just what the hell are you implying?" she demanded whilst quickly rising to her feet.  She instantly regretted the action though, since her ribs throbbed with pain at the sudden movement.  She grimaced at the pain and slowly sunk back to her chair with both arms wrapped around her chest.  Both Shinji and Kaji were on their feet in an instant asking if she was okay.  

"I'm fine," she uttered through clenched teeth.  Even Asuka looked worried about her condition, as it was quite obvious that she was nowhere near fully recovered from her brush with death. 

"Tell you what," Kaji said after turning his gaze to Asuka.  "Why don't you go and entertain Shinji while I take Misato down to the infirmary?"  Asuka narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why the hell would I want to waste my time with him?" she asked indignantly. 

"Because I asked you nicely?" he ventured, flashing his best lady-killer smile which never failed...  Asuka was far from immune to his charms and smiled adoringly at him.

"Okay, Kaji... but only for you."  Her response elicited a wink from the man before he stood by Misato's side.  Misato looked up at Shinji pleadingly, but this was countered by Kaji's reassuring smile.  Indecision wracked the Third Child as he wasn't sure what he should do.  Should he stay by Misato who was obviously begging not be left alone with Kaji?  Or should he leave her in his care and endure whatever it was that the Second Child had in store for him?  One look at the glaring redhead was enough to make his decision.  He opened his mouth to voice his desire to assist Misato when he was cut off.

"Well what are you waiting for Third Child?  You're coming with me," Asuka said in her ever confident tone.  Shinji closed his mouth and shrugged at Misato in defeat before falling in behind the proud German and leaving the room.  Misato brazenly looked up at Kaji and was greeted by his trademark smile.  However, the smile quickly fell when he saw the dangerous look in her eye, and he again sighed in defeat. 

* * * * *

After a short flight by helicopter in which not a word was spoken between the two, Asuka and Shinji finally reached the massive transport which was hauling Unit 02.  Shinji continued to follow Asuka down to where the EVA itself rested, and she pulled back on the end of the cover so that they could access the beast.  They entered the large bay which was housing the Evangelion, and with Asuka still leading, they stepped onto the platform floating on the coolant fluid before the biomachine.  The first thing Shinji noticed was the colour, blood red.  Asuka had a broad smile on her face as she gazed upon her pride and joy.

"That's... an interesting colour," Shinji said in order to break the silence. 

"That's not all that's different about my Unit 02," she whispered with barely contained excitement.  "Unlike your primitive Unit 01 and the antiquated Unit 00, my Unit 02 is the first true Evangelion.  It's the first EVA designed solely to combat the angels and is the final production model..." she trailed off as a massive explosion could be heard from somewhere and the ship shook violently.  The two teens both struggled to maintain their balance and avoid falling into the coolant fluid underneath them since they were completely unprepared for the event.

"What was that?" Shinji asked apprehensively after regaining his balance.

"An undersea shockwave..." Asuka whispered.  "Come on!" she yelled and grabbed Shinji's wrist, hauling him back out on to the deck and over to the railing.  The sight that greeted them made Shinji's blood run cold.  Something massive was moving just below the surface of the ocean with frightening speed, and changed its direction to set itself upon a collision course with the nearest destroyer.  Shinji gasped at the horrific screech of tortured metal, as the ship had a massive gash torn into its underside after the angel's impact.  The screaming was quickly followed up by a horrific explosion as the stored fuel was ignited, and the entire centre of the ship erupted violently outwards.  The stricken vessel was torn asunder from the explosion, and with sickening speed the two halves sank below the surface.  Shinji couldn't see any survivors.

"What the hell is that?" whispered Asuka with a trace of fear.

"It's an angel," Shinji replied quietly as the leviathan changed course to gut a guided missile frigate, sending the vessel to the bottom of the ocean just as quickly as the previous warship.

"An angel?" Asuka asked with surprise as she surveyed the carnage.  "You mean a real one?"  The aquatic angel was moving erratically from vessel to vessel, shredding their thin armour below the waterline and sending them one after the other, to the bottom of the ocean.  Some of the ships exploded spectacularly before slipping swiftly from view, whilst others merely yawed heavily to one side before slowly taking on water and sinking below the surface.  There were very few survivors from the former, as the ships sunk so rapidly that they sucked down the unfortunate seamen like a whirlpool.  Many managed to escape their watery fate from the latter vessels though, since they had time to prepare several lifeboats and get themselves a safe distance away from their stricken vessels.

"This is all wrong," whispered Shinji, still in shock from what he was witnessing.  Asuka looked at him and could feel his apprehension.  She quickly pushed all thoughts of the Third Child out of her mind though, and her concerned expression swiftly changed into a sly half-smile, as she realised what she had to do.  This was her chance.  Again grabbing Shinji's wrist she hauled him away from the deck and back into the EVA storage bay. 

"What are you doing?  We have to tell Misato!" Shinji pleaded as he was forced to follow the taller girl back to the EVA.

"Don't be stupid, we'll take care of this ourselves."

"What do you mean?" he asked apprehensively.  Asuka stopped once they were before the EVA and turned around, gracing him with a cunning smile which instantly made Shinji even more fearful. 

"We're going to use my Unit 02 to defeat the angel," she stated simply.

"We?" he asked weakly.  She continued to smile at him like a predator would its prey, and Shinji suddenly found his throat very dry.

"I'm going to show you what a real pilot can do," she purred smugly.  Shinji audibly gulped, and the fact that Asuka's smile only widened at his reaction didn't reassure him in the slightest.

Without another word the confident girl spun around, and headed to a nearby locker from which she extracted two bright red plugsuits.  Shinji meanwhile was staring after her and rubbing his wrist absently.  He could still feel the warmth from where her hand had gripped his wrist, and although she had been dragging him around forcefully it felt... reassuring.  A similar feeling to when he was in Rei's presence only somehow... different.  He blinked when she appeared before him and almost failed to notice the way her arms moved, and an object started sailing through the air towards him.  Reacting quickly, he caught the plugsuit she threw at him.  He studied the suit for a moment before his eyes went wide as he looked at where the chest plate should be and discovered that it was absent... this was a female plugsuit.

"Umm... Asuka... this is a female suit..." he whispered hesitantly.  Asuka frowned at his hesitation.

"We can't all be picky Third Child.  In case you didn't notice we don't have much time, so stop complaining and put the damn thing on!"  Her voice rose in a slow crescendo until she was virtually screaming at him.  He retreated from the volatile girl and looked around for somewhere to change.  With no obvious changing facilities, he started heading around to the far side of the EVA, and he was aware of her gaze upon him the whole time. 

"Don't you even think about peeking, Third Child," she growled, and Shinji only just managed to suppress a shudder at the suggested price he would pay for not heeding her words.  He managed, after quite a bit of effort to get the suit on and pressurised.  Once the air was expelled he gasped as the suit clung tightly to areas which needed the extra space, and it took him several moments to attempt to get used to the suit.  Looking down at the skin tight red covering, he couldn't control the blush consuming him since this suit was far more figure hugging than his usual one.  Turning around he glimpsed Asuka heading towards the EVA, already suited up, and she ejected the entry plug.  Walking was a painful exercise for Shinji, and so he took it very slowly, step by gentle step until he was below the entry plug.  The effort wasn't made any easier by his attempts to cover himself due to his embarrassment.  Asuka though, was watching his slow trek with a bemused expression.  Finally their gazes met.

"Get ready for an amazing display of piloting, Third Child." 

What the hell am I getting myself into?  He wondered as he tentatively climbed up the inactive EVA and into the entry plug.  Asuka was already in the pilot's seat and she quickly inserted the entry plug once he was aboard.  Shinji looked around the enclosed cylinder and noticed that the pilot interface was different to his Unit 01s.  Such thoughts were quickly abandoned though, as Asuka initiated the start up sequence.

"Uh Asuka, isn't it dangerous having me here?  What about the thought noise?" he wondered, as memories of his battle with the 4th angel and the Jet Alone made their way to the fore.

"Just don't think too much, shouldn't be too hard for you," she muttered loud enough for him to hear.  Before Shinji could formulate a response, he felt the tell tale signs of the first stage connection.  Closing his eyes, he concentrated on synchronising with the EVA and cleared all other thoughts from his mind.  He could hear Asuka chanting her pre-launch checklist, but he was concentrating so hard that he didn't even notice she was speaking in German. 

This was his first time in a different Evangelion, and he wasn't entirely sure what to expect.  Once the second stage connections commenced he started to feel the familiar presence which he always identified with being in an EVA.  Just as he would with Unit 01, he focused on the presence and opened his mind up to it.  It felt comfortable and reassuring, but not to the same extent as Unit 01.  Asuka finished her checklist and the third stage connection was started.  Shinji opened his eyes as he felt his senses expand and take on those of Unit 02.  Asuka was looking around and was surprised to find her connection as sharp as ever.  She was honestly expecting some sort of resistance from the EVA with Shinji in the entry plug with her.  She turned to him and found him already looking at her. 

"Ich wusste nicht das du Deutsch sprichst," she said, but Shinji just looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"What?" he asked with a slight shake of his head, and watched with surprise as Asuka's expression mirrored his own confusion.  She studied him for a couple of seconds to see if he was playing with her, but his confusion looked genuine.

"You don't speak German?" she finally asked in his native language.  Shinji shook his head at her.

"Not a word."  Asuka's confusion turned into bewilderment at his confession.  She had the language interface set for German... so how could he synchronise with Unit 02 if he was thinking in a different language?  There should have been a critical error and the EVA shouldn't have been able to start.  Apparently the same thoughts suddenly dawned on Shinji, for his confusion also made way for bewilderment.

"You have the language interface set for German?" he wondered in shock.  Asuka simply nodded her head, too confused to venture a proper answer.  Both pilots continued to stare at each other in confusion before Asuka quickly turned away.  Something like this shouldn't be able to happen.  Just who the hell is the Third Child?  She wondered. 

Shinji's thoughts mirrored the Second Child's.  How can I synchronise with Unit 02, I don't know a word of German...  Is it... could it be the presence?  Is it helping me?  He continued to ponder this possibility as Asuka unfolded Unit 02s AT Field and prepared for combat.

"We'll work this out later," she said, and Shinji could only nod an affirmative and concentrate on her actions.

* * * * *

Anarchy reigned supreme on the bridge of the Over the Rainbow.  Once their sonar detected the massive object closing on the fleet they sounded the alarms and prepared for combat.  However, since they weren't anticipating an assault their reaction time was lax, and it wasn't until 4 vessels had been sunk that they were ready to return fire.  At the Admirals order all remaining ships unleashed their payloads of guided surface to surface missiles, torpedoes and even depth charges at the submerged enemy.  The angel continued on its reckless rampage and impact after impact smashed into the monolithic creature only to have no effect.  Massive geysers of water shot high into the sky with each explosion, but the angel wasn't even slowed by the multiple impacts. 

Its next target was a battleship, and performing an identical attack as its previous ones, it slashed the bottom of the huge warship which immediately began taking on water.  As if in slow motion, the floating fortress of a ship started sinking lower into the water before its centre buckled and bowed, causing both ends to rise out of the water and break the back of the formerly sturdy vessel.  People could be seen leaping over the edge in their desperation to flee the carnage, but unfortunately not a single one would escape the pull of 40,000 tonnes worth of displaced water. 

The angel was moving too rapidly to be targeted by the main batteries of each ship, but the guided weapons continued to rain down on it like there was no tomorrow... only to explode uselessly against its AT Field.  Misato by this time had managed to stumble onto the bridge and took in the situation in an instant.  Crossing over to the Admiral she decided to offer her expertise.

"Admiral, your weapons will not affect this enemy."  The Commander of the Pacific fleet spun around at her words and fixed her with a withering gaze.

"This is a combat situation, get the hell off my bridge!" he roared in reply, and Misato narrowed her eyes dangerously at the man.

"Admiral, your weapons will not be able to affect the target because your enemy is an angel," she said in a dangerously low voice.  "If you want to live through this encounter then I suggest that you listen to what I have to say."  The older man's eyes widened slightly at the news but he quickly reigned in his surprise and turned back around to the communications console.

"All ships continue the bombardment!" he bellowed into the microphone.  Misato let out a frustrated sigh.  It's useless you old fool.  Yet another barrage of projectiles was launched from the still floating ships, and predictably had no effect on the target whatsoever.

"Damn it! Why won't it sink?" he wondered out loud.

"Admiral!" an excited voce from elsewhere on the bridge shouted.  "EVA Unit 02 is activating!"

"It's what?!" he yelled in reply.  Upon hearing the news Misato broke out into a smirk which would have made Gendo Ikari proud.  Way to go Asuka.  Misato looked out the armoured window, and sure enough the shroud covering the red war machine started moving, and then it bulged obscenely before Unit 02 emerged, wearing the covering like a cloak.  The air visibly shimmered around the quad-ocular EVA as its AT Field was unfolded, and this instantly drew the attention of the angel.  In the blink of an eye, it abruptly veered away from the carrier it was about to dismember and zeroed in on the transport Unit 02 was riding on. 

"Here it comes!" yelled Shinji apprehensively as he witnessed the trail of erupting water which followed in the angels wake.  He was holding onto the side of Asuka's command chair with a death grip whilst leaning over her shoulder to better see things.  The Angel tore through the water like a torpedo, although how something which was obviously extremely large could move that fast underwater was a mystery to all present. 

"Uh... Asuka?  We only have fifty five seconds of power left..." he whispered to the redhead who was concentrating on the angel.

"I know that," she growled in annoyance at being interrupted.  "Misato, get the external power socket on the flight deck," she demanded.

"Right," came the swift response from the NERV Captain.

"Admiral, I'm going to ask you to cooperate with me.  If we don't get that power socket on the flight deck then we will loose Unit 02 as well as Shinji and Asuka," Misato said in a level tone.  The Admiral looked at her with disapproval, but grudgingly nodded his head and ordered the deployment of the power socket.  A swarm of activity was centred on the flight deck as the flight crew attempted to secure the power supply and hook it up to the super-carriers onboard nuclear reactor.  Misato watched nervously as the angel was almost upon the still unmoving EVA.

"How are we going to get to the carrier?  We're using the B-type equipment which won't function underwater," Shinji wondered with a worried look.  Asuka merely smirked at his concern.

"How about a little hopscotch?" she asked Shinji.  He was just about to ask what the hell hopscotch was, but before he had the chance Asuka dropped Unit 02 into a crouch, before launching the red EVA high into the air.  Less than a second after they vacated the transport, the angel tore through its submerged hull, and the stricken ship swiftly joined its other unfortunate sister ships at the bottom of the unforgiving ocean.  Shinji increased the pressure of his death grip on the seat and held his breath as Unit 02 soared high into the sky, before it came crashing down heavily on a destroyer which was flanking the transport.  The impact of such a massive object landing on the stern helipad of the vessel was almost catastrophic.  Unit 02s size 16000 feet hit with all the fury of a comet, and the stern of the ship immediately dropped below the surface of the water. 

With an incredible display of balance, Asuka kept Unit 02 from falling forward and managed to swiftly leap off the near sinking ship and land on the next, a frigate.  The stern of the destroyer quickly vaulted out of the water once the unimaginable weight of the EVA was withdrawn, and through an amazing amount of luck the ship stayed afloat, though with two unbelievably large footprints on the now unusable helipad.  The frigate faired even worse.  Unit 02 came down heavily near the prow of the smaller ship and a horrible crunching sound was heard, as the high grade metal failed to deal with the phenomenal weight of the EVA.  With less room to land, Asuka was forced to lash out with Unit 02s left hand and gently grab a hold of the main superstructure in order to not fall forward into the ocean.  She swore savagely as the prow of the frigate began to separate from the remainder of the ship, and Shinji found himself glad that he didn't study German.

In desperation, Asuka placed both hands on either side of the superstructure and managed to gently shift Unit 02s weight onto its hands before moving its feet one at a time, to the centre of the ship.  The savaged vessel was already taking in water from its twisted prow, and so once she had balanced herself, Asuka leapt off the ship and again soared through the air towards her next landing vessel.  The crew of the now doomed frigate were frantically trying to evacuate, but the angel had other plans.  With unholy fury it tore through the already crippled ship and cut it clean in half without even slowing in its pursuit of Unit 02.  Asuka's next choice of landing was a battleship and she had no trouble in bringing her beloved Unit 02 down on top of the 18 inch bow turrets. 

As she had done previously, she absorbed the impact by crouching and with the much sturdier construction of the dominating vessel, she immediately launched into the air with a grace that belied the size of the giant construct.  Midway through her flight she finally discarded the cloak-like cover which had been along for the ride, and Unit 02 was now on display in all its glory.  Shinji was nervously looking between the timer and the next vessel Asuka was going to land on, and it was he could do not to close his eyes in fear.  They continued their most unorthodox manoeuvres, leaping from ship to ship until the super-carrier was the next in line.  The gap between them was larger than with the previous vessels though, and Asuka crouched low before leaping forward at a more horizontal angle to maximise the distance. 

"EVA Unit 02 coming in to land!" she warned with a smile still gracing her features, whilst Shinji looked considerably less comfortable, as he prayed that they would make it through this alive.  Those who were still on the flight deck scattered like ants, and desperately tried to find somewhere to hide from the impact.  Unit 02 finally came down heavily upon the monstrous flight deck, though because of the distance jumped, the impact jarred the flagship badly, and it yawed dramatically to its right side.  Millions of dollars worth of attack aircraft slid over the edge of the listing vessel and it was all Asuka could do to keep Unit 02 from following them.  Using the superior weight of her EVA, she counter leaned to her left in order to prevent the carrier from capsizing.  Once the ship managed to level out she was again forced to counter lean, this time to her right, and it took a good twenty seconds before she felt sure that there was no further threat of falling overboard. 

With less than ten seconds remaining on the timer, she crossed over to where the power socket was securely mounted to the flight deck and hocked the end into Unit 02s back.  The timer immediately ceased its countdown as the EVA switched to external power, and Shinji breathed a sigh of relief. 

The Admiral looked at the remains of his flight deck and groaned audibly.  More than three quarters of his aircraft had been lost overboard, and the massive footprints of Unit 02 guaranteed that no non-VTOL aircraft would be taking off or landing on its scarred surface for some time.  He looked over at Misato whom was still wearing a slight smirk and wondered if she was actually enjoying this.

"What now?" he asked in a tired voice. 

"Admiral!  The target is closing rapidly!" yelled one of the officers hysterically.  Everyone had seen what the angel had done to the other ships in the fleet and they all feared for their lives, with good reason.  The Admiral looked out the thick window and saw the telltale wake of the angel's movements as it barrelled in towards the super-carrier.  Obviously the pilots of Unit 02 also saw the angel, as the left shoulder pylon suddenly opened up and the hilt of an EVA sized knife dropped forward.

"What the hell are they doing?" he wondered out loud.

"Hand to hand combat is the most effective method of combating the angels," Misato informed in her commanding voice.

"But that's crazy!  How the hell are they going to kill that thing with a knife?"

"Because they are EVA pilots," she replied in a confident tone.  The whole bridge crew just looked at her like she was insane, but she simply ignored them.  "Alright Asuka, whatever you do, don't fall in the water.  You're B-type equipment will be useless in an aquatic environment," she said into the microphone.

"Yeah, yeah," was the disinterested reply. 

"Uh Misato... what's the backup plan?" Shinji wondered.  Misato narrowed her eyes as everyone on the bridge turned to look at her in anticipation.

"Nothing at this stage Shinji, just make sure it dies on the first go."

"Count on it," interjected Asuka.

Not again... the brown haired pilot thought as the words echoed Ritsuko's during the battle with the fifth angel.  He watched as Asuka took the knife in her right hand and held it before the EVA horizontally in a defensive position.  Unlike Unit 01s knife, the production model variant had its blade retracted when not in use, and so Asuka extended the blade into Unit 02s cupped left hand before she dropped the EVA into a crouch, finishing the defensive stance.  The blade rapidly began to glow white hot as the sonic oscillations superheated the business end of the weapon. 

No sooner had Asuka set herself, the angel finished its approach.  Sensing that Unit 02 had nowhere else to go, it elected to use a different method of attack.  Like a monolithic flying fish, it erupted out of the water, getting its incredible bulk fully airborne before it came crashing down onto the flight deck of the super-carrier.  Reacting quickly, Asuka willed Unit 02 to leap into the air, and the angel missed the red machine by less than a metre as it evaded its grasp.  The bulk of the angelic behemoth spread over the entire deck of the carrier and quickly covered the power socket, cutting the slack from the EVA.  Fortunately, Unit 02 had already reached the zenith of its arc and it came down feet first onto the back of the angel. 

With both AT Fields having been deployed long ago, the phase space was already neutralised, so there was nothing stopping Asuka's attack.  There was a sickening squelching sound as Unit 02s legs tore straight through the apparently not so tough skin of the angel, and they sunk up to their waist in angel gore.  Shinji was sickened by the current position they were in, but Asuka didn't hesitate in the slightest.  She continued with her attack and brought the progressive knife down into the angels back, and began carving massive chunks out of its skin.  Horrific amounts of dark blue blood erupted from her numerous slashes, and soon Unit 02s red paint job was converted to blue.  The Over the Rainbow didn't fare any better, as every part of its exposed surface was also drenched in angel gore.  The angel started thrashing around madly in an effort to dislodge the EVA but to no avail.  Realising its plight, the leviathan began sliding toward the edge of the carrier to return to its preferred environment. 

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted in warning as he began to panic at the thought of being dragged into the ocean.

"I know," was her reply through clenched teeth.  Struggling mightily she tried to free Unit 02s legs from their position inside the angel, but was extracting them far too slowly.  The angel continued to slide towards the edge of the carrier, and the massive vessel was starting to lean heavily to that side, accelerating the angel's departure.  Asuka growled in frustration and resumed carving though the angel with her prog knife until she could move her legs more freely.  Finally, she managed to wrench one leg out of the angels back just as it toppled back into the ocean.  Another eruption of dark blue blood sprayed out of the now gaping hole on the angels back, and it coated the flight deck in a sickening mess.  With few options open to her, Asuka lunged across the flight deck and managed to grip the far side of the carrier just as the angel submerged, and her other leg was violently jerked from its confinement. 

With the weight of the angel lifted, the carrier jumped out of the water somewhat, but due to Unit 02s current position, it was still leaning extremely dangerously to one side.  Taking a gamble, Asuka hauled Unit 02 up onto the deck, resulting in it leaning almost to the point of capsizing, before the weight of the EVA managed to rest in the middle of the flight deck and balance out the unfortunate ship.  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after they picked themselves up from the deck, as it seemed that the carrier would stay afloat. 

"So how about that plan B Misato?" Asuka asked as she brought Unit 02 unsteadily to its feet on the slick surface.  In her desperation to keep the EVA from going under, she had dropped the progressive knife and so now the giant biomechanical mecha was weapon less.  Misato frowned thoughtfully for a few moments before turning to the Admiral. 

"Admiral I'm going to need your cooperation," she said simply, and the older man visibly paled.

"What do you have planned?" he asked nervously.

"This ship is equipped with N² depth charges is it not?"  His eyes narrowed at her question.

"Yes..." he replied slowly.

"Then I need you to get one onto the flight deck.  I'm going to have Unit 02 force the mine down the angel's throat and wait until there's enough distance between it and us before we detonate it.  With Unit 02 nullifying its AT Field it won't survive an internal explosion."  The entire bridge crew just stared at her dumbfounded. 

"We don't have any time to waste," she pointed out.  The Admiral considered her request for several long seconds before he nodded his head and made the arrangements.

"Asuka, Shinji, did you hear that?" her question was confirmed by both children.  Without wasting any time the crew set to work, frantically trying to get the mine ready before the angel came back for another strike.  Both Shinji and Asuka were waiting impatiently for the mine to be positioned, and Shinji noticed Asuka tapping her fingers nervously on the butterfly controls.  Whist he could only see the left side of her face from his vantage point, he could see that she still had a look of concentration and perhaps a touch of nervousness.

"Um... that was really impressive... the way you handled Unit 02 I mean," he started in an effort to ease the tension.  Her face softened into a small smile at his words of praise before changing to that familiar smug look.

"Well of course it was impressive; you think I became the best from sheer luck?" 

"Well... uh... no..." he whispered in a quiet voice, surprised at her gloating.  She turned around to look at him noticed his worried expression. 

"Relax Third Child, as long as I'm at the helm we won't be defeated," she said with more confidence then she felt.  Truth be told, she was pretty worried herself, though she was a master at hiding her true feelings.  Just how the hell were they going to get the N² mine inside the angel anyway?  With fear accelerating their efficiency, the carriers' crew had the non-nuclear warhead up on the deck in less than 3 minutes.  Just as they had shifted the hellish device to the deck, the sonar operator reported the target returning and once again the flight crew scattered. 

"Asuka, quickly!" shouted Misato.  Unit 02 made its way towards the N2 mine, but had to take it slowly since the deck was slippery from the copious amounts of blood that soaked it.  They were scant metres away when the carrier shuddered violently and knocked the humanoid mecha sprawling.  Though she struggled valiantly, there was no way that Asuka could keep Unit 02 on its feet with the surface so slippery, and so the pilots found the flight deck quickly rushing up to meet them.  The pair braced themselves for the impact, and both grunted in pain with the force of Unit 02s face smashing against the hard surface of the carrier.  The worst it seems was yet to come though.  With the carrier swaying wildly from the angels attack, Unit 02 found itself sliding towards the edge, and the slippery surface gave them nothing to hold onto. 

In desperation, Asuka jammed the fingers of her EVA's right hand through the flight deck and halted their ocean-bound movement.  Glancing over, Shinji was horrified to see the unmistakable shape of the N² mine sliding towards the edge.  Asuka saw it as well, but in their current position they were just too far away to intervene, and so could only watch on helplessly as it disappeared over the edge and into the depths of the ocean.  At precisely the same moment, both pilots turned and looked at each other with resolute expressions.  They shared a silent nod to each other, and Unit 02s fingers released their grip on the flight deck. The formerly red painted Evangelion slid the remainder of the way to the edge and dropped into the ocean, creating a colossal geyser of displaced water. 

"Asuka!  What the hell are you doing?  You can't fight underwater with B-type equipment!" Misato wailed in shock at witnessing the suicidal event. 

"You know what they say Misato... you'll never know until you try," she replied with the familiar air of confidence. 

"We can do this Misato," Shinji chimed in with a serious expression.  Maybe he had been in close proximity with Asuka for too long, for he felt some of her confidence rubbing off on him.  If they can't defeat this angel then it would all be over, so they had to try.  Misato could only shake her head and pray that through some miracle everything would work out. 

The Evangelion sunk so fast that it was quite unnerving for the two pilots, particularly for Shinji since he couldn't swim.  The stark change between the two environments was also disconcerting, since their visibility was now very limited and they had no idea of where the angel was.  Focusing on the sonar readings, Asuka found the sinking warhead directly below them, and within seconds she caught it in Unit 02s right hand.  They continued their rapid descent and both children were surprised to find the submerged remains of a city some distance below them, with a scattering of recently sunk vessels as well.  A warning message snapped them both back to reality though, as the sonar picked up the angel flanking them on the left. 

"Let's finish this," whispered Asuka as she willed Unit 02 to turn and face her adversary.  The angel continued to draw inexorably closer and Asuka started to panic, as they hadn't moved an inch.  She jerked the controls as hard as she could and focused all her will on moving the EVA, but alas it still failed to respond.  With all her efforts she only managed to turn Unit 02s head to look at the leviathan as it moved in for the kill.

"Damn it!  It won't move!" she growled in frustration with a definite note of fear creeping into her voice.  Shinji just watched the image of the angel as depicted by Unit 02s optical sensors and sighed.

"Its B-type equipment," was all he said as the angel was virtually upon them.  His confidence of only seconds ago was already shattered, and now he could only feel fear and foolishness at their actions.

"What are you going to do?" asked Asuka in a moment of weakness.  Her comment caught Shinji completely off guard, as it was the first time the Second Child had shown so much as a hint that she was uncertain about anything.

"What do you mean what am I going to do?" Shinji wondered at her, and noticed her almost fearful expression revert quickly back to one of bravado.

"Well you're the famous Third Child..." she taunted, and Shinji just gaped at her.  The angel decided that this would be the perfect moment to demonstrate just how it was going to deal with them.  To the horror of both pilots, the monstrous entity opened its cavernous mouth, revealing it's all too numerous glittering, razor sharp...

"Teeth!" wailed Asuka in fear.  Each tooth must have been at least 3 or 4 metres high and there were just so many of them...

"This is going to hurt," Shinji whispered as he crouched down beside the chair and held on tightly.  Asuka cringed before the onslaught and unconsciously leaned closer to Shinji as the angel closed the remaining distance between them.  The angel snapped its jaw shut around the unfortunate Evangelion like a snare around a trapped animal.  Its horrifically big teeth burrowed through much of the lower torso and right shoulder armour, and Unit 02s head, left arm and most of its torso were completely inside the mouth of the monster.  Twin screams of intense pain erupted over the communications link, as both pilots were still currently linked with the biomachine and it continued to report the feedback to their central nervous systems. 

Shinji was no stranger to the pain of piloting the Evangelion, and truth be told he had felt far worse from Ramiel, the fifth angel.  Still, it took him many seconds to push through the pain barrier and regain his senses.  Asuka on the other hand, whilst being well trained in the operation of Unit 02, was not as familiar with the pain of piloting and was almost completely overcome by the agony.  Not only that, but her synch ratio was far higher than Shinji's so the pain was much more pronounced for her.  She clutched her midsection and continued screaming as the pain of being virtually torn in half was forced through her link with the EVA. 

On the bridge of the Over the Rainbow Misato slammed her fist into the console before her as hard as she could.  A loud crack could be heard as she fractured the bones along the right side of her hand and smallest finger.  The screams of the children tore through her being as surely as a knife would tear through flesh and sinew, and the fact that she could do nothing for them yet again only made her feel worse.  Not a single person on the bridge could contain a look of horror or grief at the obvious agony the children were enduring, and yet there was nothing anyone could do.  Truth be told, they were all guiltily happy that it wasn't themselves being attacked.

"Misato..." Shinji weakly whispered over the comm. link, still in serious pain.  Misato reached over to grab the microphone, seemingly oblivious to the damage done to her hand.

"Shinji, how bad is it?" she asked with a surprisingly clear voice.  They were still in a battle situation and so her mission to destroy the angels took priority over pitying her soldiers.  That's not to say that she wasn't worried... just that at the moment she had to be their commanding officer, not guardian or friend.

"We're... stuck... inside the angel," he continued, quite obviously still in a hell of a lot of pain.  Asuka by this time had managed to push through the intense pain and clamp her jaw shut to stop herself from screaming.  Her eyes were still squeezed tightly shut though, and her breathing was short and laboured.

"Have you deployed the weapon?" Misato asked.

"Can't... right arm still... outside the target," Shinji grunted in reply.  Misato closed her eyes and visibly slumped.  Even with the angels AT Field nullified there was no certainty that it would be destroyed by an external blast.  Of course they couldn't even be sure if Unit 02s AT Field was even deployed...  On the flight deck the reel containing what was left of the power cable for Unit 02 was quickly drawing towards its limit, as the angel continued to pull away from the carrier.  Misato was staring at the portable device, trying to think of how they could use it to their advantage, when movement off to the side caught her eye.  Turning her attention to the movement, she was surprised to see one of the carriers elevators rise to the surface of the battered command vessel, and an aircraft unfolded its wings before easing onto the flight deck.  Two people could be seen in the cockpit, one being the pilot and the other an all too familiar figure for Misato.

"Kaji?" she wondered out loud, unaware that she had the microphone on.  The longhaired man looked up at the bridge and waved with a superior smile. 

"Hey there, Katsuragi.  I have to be off, so I'm leaving things here in your more than capable hands.  Take care of the children and I'll see you back at headquarters."  Misato looked on with disbelief clearly written all over her face, as the VTOL aircraft rose into the air and raced off towards the coast of Japan.  That cowardly bastard!  I am so going to rip him a new one when we get back! She promised herself before forcing the charismatic lady's man out of her mind.

"Misato?" Shinji grunted again over the radio.  She quickly focussed her attention back on her charge's voice.

"Shinji... you and Asuka are going to have to somehow get the angels mouth open and force the mine down its throat.  We're out of options and we're out of time.  I'm sorry Shinji... but there's nothing we can do to help you."  Shinji couldn't contain the shock at her order.

"But... but how?  The EVA won't respond."

"Look... just do whatever you did with Unit 01..."  Shinji's shock changed into complete and utter bewilderment at her latest order.  He was sure that he had nothing to do with Unit 01s strange actions... so how the hell was he supposed to emulate them with Unit 02?  When he didn't answer, Misato sighed softly and leaned heavily against the control panel.

"I'm sorry Shinji... I wish there was more I could do for you.  Once you deploy the weapon we will haul the power cable back in and get you back onto the carrier.  The rest is up to you two."  Shinji looked over at Asuka and found her still clutching her stomach with her eyes tightly closed.  Seeing her pained expression tore him up inside, just the same as when he saw Ayanami's pain during the 3rd angels attack.  She won't be able to pilot... I'll have to do this myself.  With his resolution firm, he forced the pain from his mind and moved himself to sit in front of Asuka, so that he could grip the controls.  Whilst he didn't know the Second Child very well, he was certain that his current position wouldn't be well received by her, and so he found himself hoping that she was unconscious... otherwise he could be in for even more pain.

Gripping the controls tightly, he closed his eyes and focussed on his link with the EVA.  He could sense a presence, not as familiar as Unit 01s, but inviting and comforting nonetheless.  Though the presence was there and he was synchronised with the Evangelion, he just couldn't get the mecha to respond.  The limitations of the B-type equipment thwarted his every attempt to move.  He thought back to when Unit 01 had protected him, to when it had gone berserk, even to when he had heard the voices, but he couldn't think of anyway in which he had caused such a reaction from the biomachine.  Damn it!  I could pilot Unit 01 with no training to save Rei, so why I can't I pilot Unit 02 to save Asuka?  He wondered desperately.  Shinji hated to see people in pain, to see them suffering, and he would do anything in his power to prevent it.  But here he was powerless to help, and it ate away at him.

Suddenly he felt something slide over the top of his head, and without warning it grabbed hold of his hair and yanked his head back.  Shinji let out a startled cry before he found himself face to face with a furious looking redhead.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my EVA?" she growled slowly in a quiet, but nevertheless dangerous tone.  Shinji could still tell that she was in great pain, and the arm which wasn't grasping him was still wrapped tightly around her midsection.  Her grip on his head had weakened slightly and her eyes were only half open, but he had no doubt that she could do some damage if he didn't respond correctly. 

"We have to break free and place the charge in the angel's mouth," he finally said in response to her question.  "Misato said that she can't help us...we have to do this ourselves."  She considered his words silently for a few moments, but due to the pain she found herself unable to argue the point.  She released him and he turned his torso to better position himself for conversing with the other pilot.

"Fine...but don't you ever try to operate my EVA without my permission again," she ordered.  Shinji could only nod an affirmative.  "Alright Third Child.  Move aside and I'll get us out of here..." she whispered weakly.  Shinji looked at her and couldn't hold back a frown at her confidence.  Even though she was barely conscious, she still thought that she could do this by herself.  When Shinji didn't move she decided to be more forward with him, and slugged him over the head.  Fortunately for Shinji, there wasn't any power in the blow and he hardly even flinched from the contact.

"Listen pervert, if you think that you are going to stay where you are you've got another thing coming."  Shinji knew exactly what she was getting at.  Since he couldn't occupy the pilot's seat due to the presence of Asuka, he had plonked himself down right in front of it, sitting very close to the redhead and snugly between her long, shapely legs.  He felt quite sure that were it not for the pain distracting her, he would be a dead man by now.  Summoning his courage from a previously untapped source, he flat out refused to move.

"We can't do this by ourselves.  I've already tried and in your state I doubt that you could do much better.  We're going to have to work together if we want to make it out of this."  Asuka just stared at him.  There was definitely merit to his words... but she was Asuka Langley Sohryu, she didn't need anyone.  She opened her mouth to voice this belief but paused.  Perhaps because of the pain, or maybe it was because of the strange comfort she felt being inside Unit 02, regardless of what it actually was, she didn't argue with him.  She saw his determined look, an expression she had only glimpsed once so far since she met the boy, and decided that their best chance was by working together. 

"Let's do this," she said quietly, but with confidence, and Shinji smiled gently at her before turning around.  He gripped the controls and shifted them back so that Asuka could also reach.  She grit her teeth against the pain as she leaned over Shinji and placed her hands over his. 

"Shinji, Asuka!  Brace yourselves, the cable is about to run out," Misato warned over the communications line.  Asuka swore quietly and pressed herself against Shinji whilst resting her chin on his head, so that when the impact occurred they wouldn't hurt each other as badly.  Shinji couldn't help but blush as he felt her body all but mould to his own.  He could feel everything, her well toned legs against his, her flat stomach against his back, the swell of her breasts against his shoulder blades, her delicate chin on his head and her soft hands over the top of his own.  His mind was instantly bombarded with arousing thoughts of how much closer they could get, but he fought against them.  He had to keep his mind on the EVA if they were going to make it through this, but there was also the fact that the plugsuit he wore was already tight enough as it is...

Mere seconds after her announcement, they came to a jarring halt as the cable reached its end.  Both pilots cried out in pain at the abrupt arrest of momentum, but managed to come through uninjured, thanks to their position and the buffering effect of the LCL.  The angel was caught completely unawares, but its jaw was so tightly locked around Unit 02 that it didn't let go.  It started thrashing around in an attempt to tear the four-eyed EVA away from the cable, but without success.  Since now was their best chance, the two pilots kept their eyes closed and focused on moving the EVA.  They willed with everything they were worth in an effort to make the impossible happen... but it remained exactly that... impossible.  Neither gave up however, since their very survival depended on their breaking free.  For an indeterminable amount of time they strained with everything they had to get Unit 02 to move, but still without success.

Sensing that something else was needed, Shinji opened his mind up to everything he was experiencing.  He could feel his own body, wrapped tightly in his borrowed plugsuit, as well as Unit 02s body with the angel's teeth impaling it, and yet there was also something else.  There was warmth.  He quickly identified it as the warmth of Asuka's body pressed against his own, and despite the seriousness of their situation he found himself relaxing.  He focussed on the warmth, on the comforting reassurance that she was here with him, that he wasn't alone.  He felt a sense of inner peace, the likes of which he had ever experienced before.  With this revelation in mind, he focussed on the foreign girl as well as the EVA, and a gentle smile slowly graced his features.

Asuka on the other hand, wasn't taking things as well as Shinji.  She was facing the bitter possibility of defeat, of loosing her first battle against the angels.  She had devoted her entire existence into being an EVA pilot, and yet here she was staring down at her own imminent death.  She concentrated all of her will, thoughts and emotion on moving the EVA, but it wasn't enough... she wasn't enough.  Distress slowly began to creep over her as the possibility of failure was rapidly becoming more definite.  She'd rather die then admit defeat... though could she say the same for Shinji?  Just why did she insist of him being here with her?  She convinced him as well as herself that it was just so she could show him her superior piloting skills, but was that the real reason?  A part of her conscience whispered that it was because she was afraid, but she quickly tried to silence it.  The voice wasn't so easy to silence this time however, and it continued on its previous course.  It taunted her with possibilities; that she was afraid, that Shinji was a veteran and could help her if she was in trouble; that she couldn't fight by herself.  She mentally screamed for it all to stop and found it harder and harder to focus on her synchronisation with Unit 02.

She could feel herself slipping away and struggled to concentrate on her one and only purpose in life, to pilot Unit 02.  The taunting voice started to fade and she recognised the calming presence of Unit 02, and yet this time there was also something else.  Another presence.  It called to her, beckoned her to join with it, to relax and release all her worries.  Naturally, she was quite suspicious of this, especially because it felt so... natural.  She needed no one, she was a pillar of her own strength... but what it offered was so enticing.  Then it offered that which she craved most... victory over her enemies.  Though still filled with uncertainty, Asuka opened a portion of her mind to the second presence and straight away felt more comfortable and relaxed.  The corners of her lips slowly turned up into a small smile and she felt something she had never felt before... she felt comfortable and relaxed, a state of inner peace which she had never thought possible.

Unit 02 slowly raised its head and a blinding white light suddenly erupted forth from its four eyes.  The inside of the angel was illuminated by the unnatural glow and then the massive humanoid began to stir.  Like the slumbering giant that it was, the red EVA slowly moved its left arm and placed its hand firmly against the bottom jaw of the angel.  With its right arm positioned uselessly on the outside, as well as being encumbered with the N² mine, it had to make do with just one.  With unnatural strength, Unit 02 began to push down with its left arm and slowly but surely, the angel's mouth began to open.  The angel naturally was not pleased by the sudden turn of events, and struggled to keep its colossal jaw locked shut, but found itself being overpowered by the rejuvenated EVA.  Once the teeth started to part, the right arm of the production model was jammed into the mouth and began forcing the jaw further open. 

At the will of its two pilots, the EVA freed itself from the teeth which were holding it in place and added its massive feet to the struggle, repositioning its left hand to the top jaw, so that the right arm was free.  Unit 02 slowly pulled itself into an upright position and managed to stand at its full height inside the mouth of the angel.  Whist the size of the leviathan's mouth was far larger than anything else on the planet; it was being torn open wider than it was designed to.  With violent force, the right arm of the newest Evangelion was thrust forward and it released its cargo deep into the centre of the angel.

"Misato, bring us in," the two pilots commanded in perfect synch, their timing, tone and expression were all exactly the same.  Misato hesitated for several seconds to process this unexpected event, before her tactical mind kicked in and she yelled at the officer to retract the cable at its maximum speed.  For a half a second Unit 02 remained standing inside the angel's mouth, but then it was suddenly jerked backwards, and the only thing keeping the angel's mouth open was removed, causing the immense jaw to snap shut with horrific pressure.  The angel thrashed about in obvious pain at the violation, and immediately began to pursue the culprit.  Analysing the situation, the synchronised pilots came to the same conclusion at the same time. 

"Misato, detonate the mine," they said in unison. 

"Do it," she ordered to the bridge officer, but he hesitated. 

"What about the Evangelion and the pilots?" he wondered, with doubt etched all over his face.

"They are a hell of a lot safer than us, and if you don't detonate the charge now then the explosion might be too close to us," she retorted.  Still seeing hesitation, she narrowed her eyes in anger.  "DO IT!"

Her order left no room for arguing and so the officer hit the button to detonate the weapon of mass destruction.  A muted rumbling could be heard from off to starboard, and everyone watched in anticipation of the explosion.  Not to disappoint, a gargantuan eruption of water vapour exploded vertically from over a kilometre away, and reached several hundred metres into the sky.  Every single drop of water in the immediate vicinity instantly flashed to steam due to the phenomenal heat, and that water which was closest to the blast and survived in its natural state flew outwards in a large wave which quickly washed over the fleet, causing severe damage to some of the smaller ships.  After the wave had subsided, the nearby water quickly flooded in to fill the suddenly empty space the former occupied. 

Everyone looked on anxiously for any signs of Unit 02.  They didn't have to wait very long though, for the demonic warrior plummeted from the sky and crashed into the flight deck shortly after the explosion.  For the umpteenth time that day, the carrier shook violently from the impact, and yet another large dent was made in the flight deck.  Unit 02 remained on its knees for several seconds before it face planted onto the deck and went silent, though its eyes continued to glow dimly.

* * * * *

Inside the entry plug, both pilots blinked a couple of times before coming back to their senses.  The pair were each trying to figure out exactly what just happened.  That they managed to reactivate Unit 02 and destroy the angel was obvious, but what about the strange experience they shared?  Looking around the enclosed cylinder provided no answers and so they turned to each other.  Looking deeply into each others eyes revealed something.  The answers were there to be seen, but Asuka quickly broke the stare.  She saw something unnerving in Shinji's gaze, she saw care and concern.  With the pains of Unit 02 no longer being transferred to her brain, she felt her strength return, and when she looked back at Shinji she found he was still staring at her.  The same look was in his eyes and it continued to unnerve her, so she did what came naturally.  She whacked him over the head.

"Pervert!  Why are you still sitting in my lap?" she demanded, and smiled in satisfaction when he quickly but awkwardly retreated from his position, after apologising multiple times.  With the departure of his body also brought about the departure of his warmth, and much to her surprise she found it less comfortable.  She quickly wrote it off as residual effects of the traumatic battle, and with a shake of the head the thoughts were banished to the back of her mind.  Once he had moved to the side, Shinji started staring absently at the ground before him, deep in thought.  He too was concerned with whatever it was that they experienced, though he remembered that it felt so... right.  They had connected in some fashion, though it was obvious to him that she was denying it.  He was well aware of her confusion and when he looked into her eyes he saw unease, or perhaps even fear.  Why she would fear something that felt so right was beyond him... unless she didn't feel what he felt.  But just what did he feel?

Sighing to himself he leant back against the side of the plug and closed his eyes.  He immediately felt a presence near him and quickly assumed it was Asuka, though why she would approach him after what she had just said was confusing.

Look out for my Asuka, Shinji; she's not as strong as she pretends to be.  Shinji's eyes snapped open at the unfamiliar voice and he quickly looked around him in search of the identity of the speaker.  He quickly realised that it was only him and Asuka in the plug, and she was still in the command seat, staring at the ceiling.  With sudden clarity he realised that he heard the voice in his head, and that it addressed him by name.  Not only that, but it did sound kind of familiar.  Why did he keep hearing voices inside the EVAs?  Was he really loosing his mind, or was there a greater power at work?  He considered the words.  'Look out for my Asuka, Shinji.'  As far as he could tell she didn't need, nor would she want anyone to look out for her.  She was very self-sufficient and commanding, and he doubted that she would accept a helping hand except in the direst of situations. 

'She's not as strong as she pretends to be...'  That might explain a lot about her character.  She always seemed to have an air of confidence about her, but when things were at their worst during the battle, she turned to him for help and guidance.  And when they looked into each others eyes she quickly broke the stare, and that's when he saw the fear.  This is a hell of a lot to take in...  I'm going to have to do serious thinking about this he thought to himself, and felt a wave of fatigue sweep over his body and mind.  This was truly one of the strangest days of his life, but not in a totally bad way.  Look out for Asuka?  Whilst he had no idea what that would entail, he knew that they would be fighting together and he would do whatever he could to protect her, just like he would for Rei.  She is, after all, one of only three people who knew what it was like to pilot an EVA, therefore even though they have only known each other for a couple of hours, they have a bond.

With his realisation he felt a sense of peace settle over himself, and he was sure that he heard an almost silent 'thankyou' whispered through his mind.  Turning to Asuka he found her subconsciously rubbing her left hand gently across her stomach.

"We should get out of here now," he said, loud enough to get her attention.  She turned to look at him with her vibrant blue eyes.

"Yeah," she finally said quietly, and with that she initiated the plugs ejection sequence and Shinji opened the manual hatch.  Stepping aside he let her out first, before following afterwards to be greeted by a barely standing Misato.  No one noticed the light in the eyes of the red EVA finally extinguish as its pilots left the entry plug.

* * * * *

The battered remains of the United Nations Pacific Fleet slowly limped its way into the Tokyo III port, at approximately 1700 hours.  Three junior high students were sitting around waiting anxiously for the late armada, and they let out a collective gasp as they witnessed the condition of the vessels which made it thus far.  Only one third of the formerly massive fleet were still afloat, and of that third only half were unscathed.  The super-carrier Over the Rainbow, flagship of the entire Pacific Fleet was the first to dock and begin to offload its passengers.  Dozens of ambulances and transport vehicles were already waiting at the pier, and the hundreds of wounded seamen whom were fortunate enough to survive the destruction of their vessels were quickly taken away to the UN base for medical treatment.

Hikari stood with both hands held to her mouth as she witnessed the spectacle in mute shock.  She had never seen so many wounded people before.  Some were walking off the ship under their own power, some were unconscious on stretchers, and others still were being helped off by their comrades.  Every single survivor had a dismayed look on their faces as they filed onto the emergency vehicles, and not a single one so much as glanced at the three students.  The pain that these men and women went through was so obvious in their expressions, and it horrified Hikari.  The class rep had lived a rather sheltered life, and was one of those naïve people who believed in the reports that always said that no one was injured.  Witnessing the aftermath of a battle first hand was a new experience for her, and so she leaned against Touji for support.

Touji had been watching the procession with a grim expression, as he was fully aware of how ugly the aftermath of a battle could be.  His sister after all, was still in a serious condition in hospital after she was injured during the first battle for Tokyo III.  He had never seen this much suffering firsthand before though.  When Hikari leaned against him he jumped slightly in surprise, and was going to move away before he saw the horrified expression she wore.  It pained him to see her in such a state, and so acting on instinct he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and she leaned more heavily against him.

Even the military nut Kensuke wore a sober expression as the beleaguered survivors were taken away.  His omnipresent camera was inactive for the first time ever.  He may be obsessed with anything military, but he was still a human being and had enough respect for these brave warriors to leave them be.  The procession lasted a good twenty minutes, and in that time not a word was spoken between the stunned trio.  They were all thinking the same thing... what happened to these people?  And more importantly, what happened to Shinji?

Unit 02 could clearly be seen from their vantage point, sprawled facedown on the torn and cratered deck.  The purple blood which had been oozing from its savaged lower torso had long since stopped, and the flight deck had been mostly cleaned of the bloody mess with which it had been coated with.  Kensuke made sure that he had every single little detail of the red EVA on tape, and once he was satisfied, he began scanning every inch of the carrier, not overlooking anything.  The horror of the wounded was quickly replaced by his excitement at the spectacle before him. 

Once it was apparent that there were no more injured to be offloaded, the trio moved closer to the docked vessel and waited just near the ramp.  It wasn't long before the unmistakable figure of Misato appeared at the other end of the ramp, and she tenderly made her way over to the students.  She was followed by two shorter figures, both dressed in skin-tight red suits, though since they were behind the older woman the trio couldn't make out their identities.  Touji and Kensuke both let out a heartfelt sigh of relief when Misato waved at them with a smile, and they both stared shamelessly at her as she closed the final metres between them.

"Hey gang," she said cheerfully before stepping off the platform and revealing the two figures behind her. 

"Hello Misato," the two cooed together and both bowed very deeply out of respect for her.  Hikari also bid her welcome with a respectable bow, but not to the exaggerated extent of the idiot duo.  The figures trailing Misato finally stepped off the platform and the three students focussed their attention on the new comers, which was initially hard for two of them...

The three stared in awe at the two people before them.  They recognised Shinji straight away, as he was standing before them blushing bright red.  His embarrassment at being seen in this tighter than normal plugsuit was making him very self-conscious, and he couldn't meet the gazes of his classmates.  Hikari couldn't control a blush herself as she admired Shinji's figure, and so she quickly shifted her attention to the other figure, hoping Shinji didn't notice her staring.  Touji and Kensuke also shifted their gaze quickly to the other figure and their jaws dropped open at the sight. 

A red haired girl of about their own age stood before them with her hands planted firmly on her hips and a confident expression adorning her face.  The two guys couldn't help but gawk at the way the plugsuit clung to every gentle curve of her body, and even Hikari couldn't help but admire her figure.  Truth be told she was quite jealous, and found her blush intensifying as she realised she was also staring.  Whilst Asuka thrived on attention, she was well aware of which parts of her body were receiving too much attention from two certain boys, and so her famous anger rose to the fore.

"Perverts!"  She screamed before stepping forward and lashing out twice with open palmed slaps, and both boys reeled from the impact.  Both Shinji and Misato cringed from the impacts, as a hand-shaped red mark was left on each boys face, but Hikari made no reaction at all.  She was actually thinking about doing the exact same thing, and so she graced Asuka with a small smile and nod of approval when their gazes met.  Asuka returned the gesture and turned to Shinji to gauge his reaction.  Shinji immediately averted his gaze from her and prayed that she wouldn't find a reason to inflict the same damage upon him.

The two assaulted boys both had a hand on their burning cheeks and it was only the presence of both Misato and Hikari that stopped them from doing anything foolish.  Or rather, stopped Touji from doing anything foolish...  Any further action was interrupted anyway, as a vehicle quickly pulled to a stop before the group.  Dr Akagi was sitting in the rear of the vehicle and she beckoned Misato over to her. 

"Well guys, I'll leave you all to acquaint yourselves."  With this said she turned to Asuka.  "And play nice Asuka."  A scoff and hard glare were her only response.  Misato sighed in defeat and left the children so that she could join Ritsuko in the vehicle.

"So how did it go?" asked the fake blonde scientist once the vehicle was moving.  Misato leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes.  Memories of the battle instantly flooded over her, and she had to force herself to listen to her friend's words.

"It was bad.  We almost lost them both when they went into the ocean."  She said as she continued to look at the insides of her eyelids.   Finally she sighed audibly.  "We should have been more prepared.  I should have seen it coming."  Ritsuko cocked an eyebrow at her confession.

"So you're shouldering all the blame for this?  That's not very realistic.  Or are you just apologising in anticipation of being chewed out?"

"Forget it.  We defeated the angel, and both the pilots and the EVA survived.  Not only that but we recorded plenty of interesting data."  Ritsuko turned her attention to the file she was holding and couldn't contain a look of surprise.

"Misato... this really is interesting data.  Their synch ratios both exceeded their previous maximums," she said in awe.

"Only for a short time, but that's not even the most interesting part."

"Oh?"

"They synchronised with both the EVA and themselves... perfectly."  Ritsuko looked over at her longest serving friend with wide eyes.

"That's not possible."

"Check the data.  Their synch ratios were exactly the same, their heart rate, blood pressure and even their body temperature were all exactly the same.  And just look at their brain waves."  Ritsuko flicked through a couple of pages until she found the desired data.  Their brain patterns, though still unique to each other were changed.  They were both somehow a combination of the two different patterns, a happy medium.

"Do the children know?" she wondered.  Misato frowned at the question.

"I think that they suspect something, they've been acting strange around each other ever since they first met.  Then after the fight they pretty much avoided each other.  Asuka seems to be back to her normal self but I can't tell with Shinji, he's always so reserved with his feelings."

"Isn't it your job to make him open up?"

"Back off Ritsuko.  The last thing Shinji needs is for someone to force him to open up.  He needs gentle nudges, not a forceful push."  Misato put more force into the words then she intended and noticed her friend visibly flinch.  The two eyed each other for a second before both averted their gazes.

"I suppose you'd know best..." Ritsuko finally said quietly.  Misato made no reply.

Author's notes:          Well, that was a long one.  This chapter really took off once I started the battle scene and there was just no looking back.  Just a few notes here, I know you're exhausted after reading such a long chapter, but I'm not forcing you to read them or anything...

If you can't figure it out Ich wusste nicht das du Deutsch sprichst means: 'I didn't know you speak German.'  Thanks to Steve for the translation.

The battle with Gaghiel was very different from the other battles in the series.  Firstly it was fought on water, secondly Asuka and Shinji fought the angel inside the same EVA, and thirdly there were horrendous UN casualties.  This last point I really tried to emphasise, as in the series they take a very light-hearted look at the battle.  Many, many people would have lost their lives with their vessels, and I hope I accurately portrayed just how bad the situation would have been.  With well over 8000 words in the battle alone, I should have been able to do this.

There were a couple of scenes that I didn't include in this chapter due to the fact that I already have more words than I anticipated.  They weren't major or anything so their loss won't really make a difference to the story.  I was going to expand upon a couple as well, but I think that I'll just refer back to them in the next chapter. 

Anyway that's about it.  The battle is really the focal point for this chapter, as well as the strange bond which Shinji and Asuka share, and I hope that it wasn't just a monumental waste of words.  Next chapter we will likely see more of the after effects...or maybe I'll just cut to the next battle... I don't know.  We'll see what my inspiration reveals to me.  Gotta finish the other version first anyway...

Oh well...  I'll be waiting eagerly for your thoughts, praises and criticisms about this chapter; unless of course I don't get any... then I'd feel kinda stupid for waiting for nothing.  But I often feel like that so it shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary for me...  I'll stop now. 

Ezstarius.