Mabase: a city relatively untouched by the ravages of Second Impact—now, a city in ruin. With the Medical Mechanica plant destroyed and the vast majority of the country's—no, the entire world's—funding going to Tokyo-3, there was little to no chance of the city being restored to its former 'glory' any time soon… and that suited Naota just fine. At least it wasn't quite as dull here as it had once been, and the giant iron that was Medical Mechanica didn't spew out steam at regular intervals every day. Sure, there were rumors that MM would be back, and the city would prosper again, but Naota highly doubted it. They couldn't come back yet, not with crazies like Haruko and the Pirate King—Atomsk—running around out there somewhere, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

At the thought of the bizarre alien who had used him in the worst way, Naota gave a slight shrug and a smirk. "Like I care who she chases after," he thought, idly tapping the red bat he carried against his leg as he walked. School had been in session for the past three hours but Naota continued to walk the outer streets of Mabase, bored but not looking for entertainment. Up ahead, the familiar bridge and shallow stream greeted his eyes. He frowned, thinking back to the last time he'd been here, with Mamimi, yet another girl that had used him and then left. In her eyes, he was just a temporary replacement for his brother—Tasuku—her 'Takkun.' It disgusted him to think that, despite the fact that they had used him, he missed them both. "At least Ninamori is still here."

Turning around, he saw Canti following a short distance behind. "And why are you still following me? You've been doing it for the past week," Naota pointed out, making his way onto the bridge and looking out across the water and into the city. Canti stood beside and behind him, a silent sentinel. "Who cares, dumb robot can do whatever he wants," Naota thought, sliding Tasuku's red bat between the straps of his backpack so as to free his hands. To tell the truth, he didn't really mind the robot's silent companionship. Of all the people he knew, since coming into his life the malfunctioning robot had been the most loyal of all of them—besides Ninamori—for some reason… which was pretty sad, in a way.

Unknown to Naota, Canti had been following him for a very specific reason—namely, to stop a third attempt on the boy's life. Since the incident with the giant hand and the end of Medical Mechanica, there had been two previous attempts to eliminate the boy, both thwarted by his silent guardian. Canti didn't know who it was that wanted his young friend and partner dead, but in his own way, he was determined to see that it didn't happen—even if that meant following the boy everywhere he went.

It had been a day since the incident involving the Third Angel—well, a night and part of the morning at least. Sitting at his desk, Gendo Ikari—Supreme Commander of all NERV—regarded the file before him. Something, he knew not what, stood on the outskirts of his perception. His plan was going smoothly so far: the Third Child had been as easily manipulated by his placement of the First as he could have hoped for, the UN had quietly turned control of the greater part of the world over to him—and SEELE of course, all operations were running smoothly, and Rei was almost fully recovered. The only setback he could see was contained within the folder sitting on his desk. Inside, the folder contained several disturbing photographs and accounts of events that took place in a small city some distance away from Tokyo-3. Apparently, something akin to an Angel had been seen in this town called Mabase and was destroyed shortly after its appearance. The fact that it had been terminated without an Evangelion present, and no A.T. fields detected, negated the possibility that this had been an Angel attack.

Among the photos in the folder were those of a boy no older than the Children, an odd woman claming to be an alien, and a robot of some sort. Along with the photos were files containing detailed information about his family, acquaintances, and school mates. Section Two had been unable to recover any information about the redhead or the robot, and this worried them. To Gendo, it was of little concern. No, his main concern were the pictures of the boy—a symbol burned into his forehead in white and his skin glowing the color of blood—taking down the giant that destroyed Medical Mechanica. Seeing these, his orders had been swift and decisive: take out the child and leave no witnesses. There had been two attempts to eliminate the boy, both of which were stopped by the silent robot. Since then, Gendo had put a hold on the order for the boy's execution, and his orders had changed: watch them for now, if he shows any hostile activity, try again.

Now though, things had changed a bit. Glancing at the file again, Gendo thought back on the Third Child's actions and reactions. There had been hate in those eyes—pure, unbridled hatred. It didn't matter that Shinji hated him, so long as the Third Child followed orders… and that was the problem. Gendo didn't think the boy would last much longer in his current state of mind. Knowing his son, it wouldn't be long before he ran again. He would need a new pilot soon. Opening a drawer in his desk, Gendo pulled a second file, this one containing information on NERV-02, its Evangelion, and their pilot. Through some odd quirk of fate the test pilot for Unit-04 was none other than Tasuku Namdaba, older brother to the boy in the first file. When he was first recruited, NERV-02 hadn't cared about his age, so long as he fit over half the profile required to pilot. Gendo knew better though. According to what his Head of Science Division told him, only 14-year-old children could become Children, Pilots of Evangelion. Finally making up his mind, Gendo reached out and picked up his phone, punching in a set of numbers from memory. "This is Ikari. Recruit him," he said, and hung up. He knew the experiments with Unit-04 wouldn't pan out, and when they didn't he would be ready. And besides, whatever unknown power this child possessed may be useful in his plans to reunite with his long-lost wife, Yui Ikari.

…

Ritsuko Akagi hung up the phone with a sigh. This was the perfect addition to her day. Not only was Unit-01 undergoing extensive repairs to its armor, Unit-00 would be undergoing reactivation tests soon—within the next month at least. And now, the Commander wanted her to recruit another child. "I don't have time for this shit," she thought, getting in the elevator and hitting the button for the command deck a little too hard. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and thought about the problems involved in training a new pilot. Not only would they have to train Shinji, but now they'd be working with some kid who didn't even have an Eva? She knew as well as the Commander that the boy would be given Unit-04 when his brother didn't pan out, but until then what use was he?

The elevator came to a halt, the doors opened, and inspiration struck. "Why not use him to attempt to stabilize the Third? Sure, the kid's a loose cannon but since Misato so willingly volunteered to house Shinji I'm sure she wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him, and that way there will be someone with a gun around—besides Section Two—in case the kid goes rogue." She smiled, pleased with herself for finding a use for the soon-to-be pilot in training. "And while he's here, we can find out just what happened in Mabase and what this boy has that his brother doesn't."

Walking into the command center, Ritsuko spotted Maya at her console. Beside her apprentice one of the other bridge crew—Shigeru Aoba—was silently playing air-guitar. Smirking, Ritsuko walked up silently then cleared her throat. The reaction was immediate and hilarious. Maya shot straight up in her chair, as did Aoba—or he tried to. Since he'd had his feet propped against the edge of his console, the net result of his attempt to sit up was his chair tipping over and landing him flat on his ass. "Uh… Ma'am," he said quietly, standing and picking up his seat in embarrassment. Maya attempted to resist giggling but failed miserably.

"Well," said Ritsuko quietly, giving the two a half glare. "It seems that the repairs to Unit-01 aren't keeping you occupied, so I guess I'll have to find something else for you to do."

"Ma'am?" Maya questioned fearfully, unsure what her sempai had in store for the two 'slackers.' She hadn't been slacking off—really—she was just carrying on a conversation while she worked. She was always telling Shigeru to stop playing around in the command center and he'd finally been caught.

"How do the two of you feel about taking a trip?" Ritsuko asked, grinning ear to ear.

…

Misato walked into the command center, giving the place a quick once over before taking up her usual position. Beside her, Ritsuko was grinning inanely. "I wonder what's made her so happy," Misato thought, giving her friend a suspicious look. "Ok, spill it. Why are you grinning like the cat that just caught the canary?" she asked, turning to regard the doctor.

Ritsuko ignored her for a moment, grinning wider, knowing it would both annoy and creep out the Captain. Finally though, when it seemed Misato would burst, she relented. "Just something that happened a few moments before you got here," she commented vaguely, knowing the ambiguity of the statement would drive the woman beside her further up the proverbial wall.

"Oh, you mean the thing with Shigeru and Maya?" Misato asked, smirking. She knew exactly what Ritsuko had been up to, and thoroughly enjoyed bursting her friend's bubble. "So, where are they going?"

Sighing, Ritsuko gave up her hopes of frustrating Misato for the moment. "They're going to Mabase to pick up a new pilot."

"WHAT?! The Fourth Child has been chosen already?" Misato yelled, outraged. "When did this happen, and why the fuck wasn't I told? What about the Marduke reports?"

"Don't be so loud. He hasn't been chosen as the Fourth, though he could be. He's just being brought in for training. He's pretty much useless without an Eva, but he'll probably be given Unit-03 or 04 if the American branches do as we request and send us a Unit. Until then, he'll train with the Pilots and observe combat from here, with the rest of the crew."

Misato was dumbstruck. "But don't both American Units already have test pilots?" she asked, wondering just what in the hell was going on.

"No," Ritsuko answered, shaking her head to emphasize her point. "Only Unit-04—and its test pilot happens to be the boy's older brother, which rules him out as a true candidate since he's too old. But leave it to the Americans to ignore Pilot selection qualifications. Idiots."

"I can understand the need to secure a spare Pilot until Unit-02 arrives—hell, even with Unit-02 here, we could probably use a spare—but who will look after him? Surely you don't plan to stick him in the same crap hole Section Two tried to put Shinji in yesterday," Misato asked, glaring at Ritsuko.

Grinning, Ritsuko shook her head. "No, we thought it would be better if we put him near you—in the apartment next to yours, actually. Aren't they connected anyway? That way, Shinji will have someone to relate to."

"You mean there will be a stabilizing factor in the Third Child's social life," growled Misato, seeing through to the heart of the matter.

"You could put it that way. Let's face it; Shinji isn't the most reliable of the Children, now is he?" Ritsuko asked, trying not to anger the Captain further, yet still get her point across. As the other woman's shoulders slumped, she saw that she had gotten it across. "Sorry Misato. Maybe with time Shinji will get better but right now he's just an unpredictable rookie, and he's bound to crack sooner or later with all the pressure we're going to have to put on him… and it'll probably be sooner, rather than later."

Several hours after standing on the bridge with Canti, Naota found himself actually sitting in class. If he didn't at least make some sort of showing, Ninamori would find him and probably cause him bodily harm. At least the robot hadn't followed him into the school, though Naota almost wished he had. Maybe then class wouldn't be so mind-numbingly dull. Glancing out the window to his left, he spotted the machine man in question, sitting on a swing on the small playground directly below his class. Yawning, he turned his gaze back inside the classroom, starting as he noticed Ninamori staring at him that way again. He could never quite figure out what that stare meant, but he wasn't sure it was good.

Usually, after only a few seconds of this, he would break eye contact with her and stare out the window, but this time he held her gaze. This continued for some time, until the teacher cleared her throat and called Ninamori's name again, more loudly this time. Smirking at the fact that Miss Proper had finally gotten in a bit of trouble, Naota leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. Today wasn't so bad after all.

That line of thought was cut off, however, by the sound of a jet engine. "That sounds like Canti," he thought, but then realized it was far too loud to be his mechanical housemate. Glancing back out the window—along with half the class—he spotted an odd looking aircraft set down in the parking lot. "V.T.O.L. Vertical takeoff and landing craft?" he thought, rationing out the initials stenciled along its side. The engines suddenly cut off and two people got out of a rear door and walked into the school through the front entrance. Glancing up, he saw that the teacher was trying to get the class's attention back on the subject at hand. "Oh well, so much for that."

Five minutes later though, a voice over the intercom interrupted the class again. "Naota Namdaba, please report to the principal's office."

Sitting up, Naota glanced around. "What'd I do this time?" he thought, wondering if they'd finally gotten tired of his skipping class. Standing he slung his bag over his shoulder and picked up his brother's bat. As he passed Ninamori's desk, she echoed his thoughts softly. "What did you do this time, Naota-kun?"

Naota turned back to her and shrugged. "Hell if I know," he replied, equally quiet, then left the room. Strolling through the hallways empty of students, Naota wondered if he should just skip out of this and go home, but a part of him also wondered if being called to the office had anything to do with the strange people from the plane. Making his way down the stairs he tapped his bat on every other one, in time to his foot hitting the next stair. "Maybe they're here to ask more questions about Haruko. I don't know why they would though, since she's been gone well over a week and a half." He was relatively certain that no one else on the face of the planet knew of the name 'Atomsk,' so he doubted they'd want to ask about the demigod who was known throughout this sector as the Pirate King.

Jumping off the last few steps, he turned right at the next corner and walked quietly down the corridor to the main office. Approaching the door, he couldn't hear any conversation from inside—nor could he hear the normal sounds of papers being printed, stacked, and stapled or other sounds one would associate with a school office. "Odd," he thought, opening the door and stepping inside. Looking around, the only people visible were a man and woman, both in uniforms. They stood as he entered, giving the boy cordial smiles and tossing out a greeting.

"Hi," said the woman—"She's kind of cute."—giving him a small bow. The man on her left however offered his hand, which Naota shook, giving them both an inquiring look. "You're Naota, right?"

Nodding, he switched the bat back to his right hand, tapping it against his shoe nervously. "Yeah. Who are you people?" he asked, noticing the insignia on their uniforms. "NERV, oh shit. What could they want?"

Sensing his nervousness, Shigeru introduced himself and Maya. "I'm Shigeru Aoba, this is Maya Ibuki. Why don't you sit down? I think they said there was a coke machine around here somewhere, do you want something?"

"No, thanks," Naota answered, thinking back to all the times Mamimi, Ninamori, or even Haruko had forced him to try sour, spicy, or any number of odd tasting drinks. It was if they all had this secret agenda to destroy all of his taste buds as quickly as possible, but he couldn't figure out why. Also, it got on his nerves, the way the man—Aoba—had both answered and avoided his question. "These people want something, and they want it bad."

Maya cleared her throat, glaring at Shigeru out of the corner of her eye. Of course he would leave the tough part up to her—that was just like him. Deciding to cut to the chase, she gave the boy a smile, sat down, and began to explain just what they were asking of him.

"Tokyo-3. They want me to leave Mabase." He didn't care much about the rest—not like there was much to care about at the moment. They couldn't tell him everything until he agreed to accompany them but he didn't have a problem with that. Grinning, he stood and brought his bat to his shoulder. "When do we leave?"

Standing as well, Maya nodded at Shigeru, indicating he should answer. "Just as soon as you're packed and ready."

The bell signaling the end of school rang and the halls became cluttered with children. Naota wanted to leave Mabase as soon as possible, now even, but there were things that had to be taken care of first. "I'll meet you back here, in the parking lot, in an hour," he said, opening the door.

Shaking her head, Maya followed, Shigeru close behind. "Err… Sorry, but we'll have to go with you. Security, you know?"

Naota nodded. Whatever worked for them was fine with him—as long as they were still willing to get him the hell out of this town an hour from now. The trio made their way out of the school and into the school parking lot. Glancing around, Naota spotted Canti and waved him over. The robot made its way through the crowd, stopping to pick up a dropped notebook and hand it back to a stunned girl, before meeting up with Naota. Seeing the expressions of the NERV agents, Naota shrugged. "Don't mind him," he said, and the foursome hit the streets, making its way through Mabase on foot to the store Naota had called home for the past thirteen years.

Opening the door and walking in, Naota spotted Grandpa kneading bread dough at one of the back counters. "Hi Gramps, is Dad home?" Naota asked, getting a nod from his grandfather. Still grinning, he opened the door into the main part of the house. "Grandpa, maybe you should come in here for this too."

Naota found his dad sitting in the middle of the living room, pounding the keys of his typewriter. He greeted Naota without looking up, his fingers moving in a blur. "Dad, we have visitors. They have some things they want to tell you. I'll be in my room, getting my stuff ready," Naota said, getting his dad's attention, and then walking up the stairs to his small bedroom.

"Ahh, government people. Is this about Haruko-chan?" he asked, moving to the couch and offering the two NERV representatives seats. "Robot-boy, go get us some tea."

…

Emptying his school bag out onto his bed, Naota turned and opened his closet and drawers and began digging out clothes. Several pairs of shorts, boxers, shirts, socks, a few hats found their way into his bag. Satisfied that he had enough clothes to last a week, Naota closed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. Picking up the bat, he was almost out the door when he paused, turning around. Standing there in the corner, next to his bunk beds, was Haruko's blue bass guitar.

The Rickenbacker called to him, drawing him forward. Since Haruko left, he hadn't touched the bass, except to strum it a few times and keep it properly tuned. Setting the bat on his bed, he grabbed the leather strap near the guitar's neck and hefted it into his hands. The bass was heavy, much heavier than the white Flying-V guitar that had sprung from his forehead when the entire city was on the line and he was the only one who could swing the bat, as Haruko had put it. That same guitar that had merged with Canti's during his battle with the alien girl to form Atomsk's weapon of choice—which Haruko probably had slung over her own back at this very moment.

Absently, he played with its strings, smiling as he felt a bit of power—Haruko's power—radiate from it, as if welcoming his touch. "I can't just leave it," he thought, shouldering it and picking up the bat. He had to bring it with him, his one tangible gift from Haruko. "Besides, it may come in handy."

…

The foursome made their way back to the school parking lot—Canti having insisted in his own quiet way that he accompany Naota, and Naota understood. Ninamori was there, waiting for them. Seeing the group, she frowned. Naota paused and then handed over his bag and the bat to Canti, keeping the guitar for himself. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up." Maya and Shigeru nodded, getting into the V.T.O.L.

Ninamori wasted no time. "So, you were going to leave without saying a word, just like that?" she asked quietly, stepping closer to Naota.

Naota hung his head, suddenly remembering a similar incident, not so long ago. After staying in his home and looking after him for so long, Naota had grown comfortably attached to Haruko, only to have the girl run off without so much as a word—and then do it again, not soon after she returned. "At least she said goodbye that time," he thought morosely. "I'm sorry Ninamori. I didn't think you'd care."

She glared back at him. "That's your problem Naota, you don't think much at all," she said, accusation still clear in her eyes. "What are you going to do? Just leave us to rot here in this hole in the ground? Are you even going to come back?"

Naota shrugged. "Not if I can help it. They offered to take me away from here, to Tokyo-3 actually." She cringed. Obviously, Ninamori knew something he didn't. "What?"

"Don't you watch the news Naota? There was some kind of attack there yesterday—it's a war zone."

"So?" Naota asked, undaunted. "Mabase has been a war zone up until almost two weeks ago." He stepped closer to Ninamori, lowering his voice. "At least this time the enemies won't be popping out of my head and there will be a whole army there to stop them."

Ninamori sighed, giving up her anger and slipping her arms around his middle. "Idiot," she whispered, shaking her head against his shoulder. "I'll try to visit."

Naota was floored. Since when did Ninamori have feelings for him? She was always bossing him around, telling him what to do, and making him drink things he didn't like. Still, he had to admit that he would miss her a little, and looked forward to her visiting. "Sure, come by any time you want. I'll call you when I get there," he said, giving her a pat on the back and attempting to step away, blushing all the way to his hair.

"Sure," Ninamori laughed, releasing Naota. "You do that."

Flustered, Naota idly played with the guitar strap on his shoulder. "Well," he said, at a loss for words, and finally giving up. "I guess I'll be seeing you."

Smiling, Ninamori stepped back in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, then turned and started walking away from the school. "Be seeing you, Naota-kun," she called back over her shoulder.

Naota pulled the Rickenbacker from his back, stepped into the plane, and the engines started. He played with the strings, idly plucking out a short tune. Beside him, Shigeru eyed the guitar. "Nice bass. You play?"

Shaking his head, Naota smiled. "No, I don't know that much about them, actually. This was a gift. I've been afraid to pick it back up until today."

Shigeru nodded his understanding. "I can teach you, if you'd like. I'm not great, but I know a few things."

Shrugging, Naota consented. "Sure, that'd be great." He didn't mention that Haruko had already taught him all he'd ever really need to know about the bass in his hands. He winced as he hit a sour note. "Maybe it won't hurt to learn to play it, though," he thought, sitting back and getting settled in for what was sure to be a long flight.