Chapter #2

Sirens began to wail around the school as Shinji was beginning to change out of his soccer gear from the game before. 'I knew this was too good to last very long' thought Shinji as his mind turned from finding his normal school clothes to finding his plug suit. 'Damn it, damn it, damn it, why is it that once I actually need to find it, it can't be found! Ah, here it is now just too...' But Shinji's train of thought was quickly derailed, crashed and burned as he noticed Rei standing in the doorway in her plug suit. Shinji once again began to blush uncontrollably not only at the sight of Rei in her plug suit but also at the fact that he was standing there almost completely naked. Not fully realizing the latter just yet, but completely aware of the former, Shinji made a mental note to himself to find whoever designed the plug suits and thank them profusely. Now Shinji began to wonder if Rei had a sunburn or if she was blushing, but once more his train of thought was lost as he realized why she had suddenly stopped.

"Um... Shin...Shinji; we need to report to headquarters now." Said Rei in an almost matter of fact way, only stumbling on his name. Then, before Shinji could reply or do anything, Rei left the doorway. 'I wonder if she was moving that fast because it really is important, or if it was something else' thought Shinji before he became aware again about the fact that Rei had just seen him almost completely naked. After a moment of extraordinary blushing, which no one was around to witness, Shinji hurriedly put on his plug suit and ran down the hall in the direction he was sure Rei had gone. Shinji secretly thought to himself, blushing even more at the thought alone, 'Maybe one day the tables will be turned on her, then we'll see how she reacts.'

"Hey Shinji! Hold up man, where you off to in such a hurry? Oh, yea the sirens." Touji said. "Hey, don't spend too much time at those tests," said Touji, "or looking at Rei," muttered Touji under his breath, "We need you to win for us again!" Touji said triumphantly. Little did he know that Shinji was too busy trying to find the way out of the school to notice a word he had said.

"Get in Shinji! There isn't any time for you to be playing around!" Misato yelled from her car.

"Hey!" started Shinji, "why does Rei always get the front seat?"

"Because, she is always here first."

"That's not very fair; besides, she startled me today and prevented me from getting in my plug suit in time."

"Really? Rei is this true?" said Misato. Rei just stared forward, emotionless as always,

"Please, we must go quickly"

"Oh... Oh yea! We can talk about your little adventures some other time, Shinji, but we've got to get to headquarters" said Misato as she began to drive the car down the highway.

"What do you mean my little adventures? It was all Rei's fault!" exclaimed Shinji, but that didn't stop an eerie silence from falling over the car for the rest of the trip.

'This is a pretty realistic test we're doing, Misato seemed really agitated. And it seemed like Rei knew what was going on, why am I always the last one to find out about important things? I mean, it had to be pretty important if Rei needed to come in and see me naked,' contemplated Shinji in his entry plug. 'Boy, it sure has been interesting these past few weeks. Come to think of it, a few weeks ago I thought giant robots were just things made up in sci-fi stories and anime. Wow, I must be having a flashback or something, because it looks like dad is standing there the same way he did when I did my first activation inside Unit-01.'

"Shinji," Gendo said over the intercom nearly startling Shinji to death, "if you have not already noticed, this is not a test."

"Then what is it? I was just getting out of class when..."

"Silence. An Angel is attacking and I don't need you or anyone to question me as to what my actions are. Now launch immediately and meet Rei on the surface, she'll be waiting. Commander Katsuragi will take over from there." Gendo replied just before walking off, leaving Shinji dumbfounded.

'How can he do that every time?' Shinji wondered to himself

"Launch Unit-01 now!" yelled Misato over the intercom as the purple giant streaked through the corridors up to the surface. Once Unit-01 got up above ground Shinji noticed Unit-00 and went over to her.

"Shinji...." Said Rei once her vid screen came up on Shinji's HUD

"Yes, what is it Rei?" Shinji hurriedly said, half expecting Rei to begin apologizing for what happened in the locker room.

"We must proceed to the north of Tokyo-3 in order to intercept the Angel before it gets to the city."

Shinji nodded; somewhat disappointed that Rei hadn't apologized. He made up his mind that he would ask her about it after the battle; maybe even have enough courage to finish what he started at the soccer field.

Shinji and Rei finally reached the north side of Tokyo-3. At this point Shinji was wondering if an Angel really was attacking or if Gendo was just messing with him. The latter seemed almost impossible. Then he saw it. Shinji wondered if something so big could even live, then, he would have hit himself, he remembered what he was in.

"The Angel has been code named Sachiel" Misato's voice crackled to life on the vid screen, "It is imperative that you destroy him before he reaches Tokyo-3"

'Well, at least we know the Angel's gender,' Shinji laughed to himself.

"Shinji, you will go over the mountain to attack the Angel from behind, Rei will attack it first to stall it for you to get around behind it. You only have your progressive knives, so don't get to cocky. Also, try not to get your power cables snagged or cut, they're pretty expensive. Now get to it!"

"Shinji," Now it was Rei's turn as Misato's vid screen disappeared, "I will hold the Angel as long as I can, move swiftly"

'That girl just seems so strange sometimes' Shinji thought as he and Unit- 01 began the accent up the mountain. About when he reached the apex, he noticed Unit-00 engaged in combat. Unknown to anyone else, Shinji had deliberately left the vid screen to Unit-00 open so he could watch Rei. He knew that she was beating the Angel fairly well, but he could also see that she was starting to lose ground to it and she was becoming more and more tired. Shinji and Unit-01 stood atop the mountain and leapt off it and onto the unsuspecting Angel. If Shinji had looked at his vid screen, he would have seen a sight very rarely seen by anyone. Rei was a mix of frustration, joy, and anger. She was glad that Shinji had come finally to help her, but his little jump onto the Angel had knocked her down.

She got up and pulled her progressive knife out of the Angel that was now wrestling with Unit-01.

"I could use some help here!" yelled Shinji over the comm. System.

"Move, Shinji," Rei said as she began to swing her progressive knife down toward Unit-01 and Sachiel.

"My god!" Shinji yelled as he rolled just out of the way of the incoming knife. The Angel wasn't so lucky. The knife drove down deep into the Angel until it wouldn't move anymore. Rei simply pushed harder. Shinji joined in and soon the Angel was split into three parts. Shinji slumped in his chair "Well, that's over. So, this is what real combat is like. Not to seem arrogant or anything Misato, but I was expecting more of a challenge." Shinji laughed, "How about you Rei?"

Rei was preoccupied with attempting to pull free her progressive from the lifeless body that was Sachiel. "Here," Shinji said as he moved Unit-01's hands around Unit-00's and began to pull, "let me help you with that." Rei's silence turned from an eerie silence to an unsure one as she began to blush. Although this wasn't the first time Shinji had helped her, Rei was still not used to so much help from someone. The one thing that stuck Rei as strange was that she seemed to like it when ever Shinji helped her. For a reason she did not yet understand, she felt more comfortable around Shinji than anyone else. 'It must be because he is a fellow pilot, maybe it is the same way with him, and will be the same with the other pilots.' Rei thought to herself. They finally retrieved the knife from the Angel and began to walk back to base when Rei suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong Rei?" questioned Shinji, "is your EVA malfunctioning?" Shinji looked down to the vid screen and saw the same emotionless face of Rei when he noticed something behind Unit-00. Just as Unit-00 turned to face the same direction as Unit-01 was facing, straight at the Angel, a large black blob that used to be part of the Angel's body shot at Unit-00.

"Shinji, Rei, the Angel isn't dead yet!" screamed Misato

"Really Misato?! I would have never guessed!" Shinji replied sarcastically. But his focus was now on the piece of Angel that was trying to attack Unit- 00

"Rei!" yelled Shinji as he forced his hands in front of Unit-00. Just before the blob hit Unit-01's hands and Unit-00's body, it was stopped by a strange yellow-orange field in front of Unit-01's hands.

"What the hell is this?" Shinji asked rhetorically. He really had no idea what it was, but he knew he had to keep it going otherwise Rei would be killed. He couldn't figure out why he was doing so much for Rei, she was, after all, a better pilot than Shinji and has had more practice in an EVA. But he knew he had to save her.

Shinji began walking around Unit-00 to push it away from Unit-00 when he heard something on the comm. System. "Shinji, stop the field on my Mark." It was Rei. Unit-00 had drawn its progressive knife. Shinji kept the field going until just before the knife made contact. Rei had thrown the knife, so now the Angel chunk was flying at the mountain with the progressive knife through it.

"What the hell? Hey, Rei, how do we know it won't attack us again?"

Rei replied surprisingly calm, "look at where the knife is."

Shinji turned his gaze to the black blob slowly dripping down the mountain and noticed the progressive knife sticking through some kind of sphere. "Oh..."

End Chapter #2