Man… these author's notes things are getting harder to write… I'm seriously running out of things to say… Hmm… something… yeah, that's not very… interesting… I wonder though… why do I keep writing if I'm completely blanked out right now? Oh well, that's enough I think… Here's nine.
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"So how does it feel being back in Unit-01, Rei?" Ritsuko asked her. It was several days after the battle with the last angel and Rei was currently in the middle of a sync test.
"There are no problems." She replied.
"Like last time, her sync rate is similar as in Unit-00." Ritsuko told the commander.
"Unit's 00 and 01 have always had similar persona patterns. This means we can implement the plan soon…" he said. "Reverse-check the sync using the Unit-01 pilot in Unit-00. I'll leave it to you."
"Yes, sir." She replied as he left the room.
"The dummy system? Dr. Akagi, I don't want to be blunt but…" Maya told her.
"I know you don't like the idea. In truth neither do I, but… we need to be prepared for the possibility… this could very well mean our survival."
"Doctor Akagi?" Rei called out to her.
"Yes, what is it Rei?" Ritsuko answered.
"How long is this test going to take?"
"Why? Do you have anything to do after this?"
"No I do not but, it is cold in here."
"Didn't you say there weren't any problems?"
"There's nothing wrong with the temperature, doctor." Maya reported as she looked at the readings.
"Are you sure, Rei?"
"Yes. Although it doesn't seem to be a physical coldness. It's more of a sense of complete solitude…"
"Hmm… I wonder what that could mean…?"
"There is also something else." She then told her.
"Like what?" Ritsuko questioned.
"It's a sort of though in the back of my mind. It almost like when Ikari partially insults me and I haven't quite figured out what he meant by it yet…"
"Oh, then it could just be an imprint of the pilot. There's nothing to worry about. Let's just keep going."
"An imprint?" She asked.
"It's nothing, just forget about it for now."
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"'Old flames blazing anew'… yeah right…" Asuka grumbled as she sat in her seat at school. Misato and Kaji had gotten drunk the night before and, when Asuka had walked in on them, were about to kiss. This, obviously, infuriated her and her bad mood had not dissipated yet.
"Who's an old fart?" Shinji asked as he overheard her on his trek out of the room.
"Shut up!" She shouted. "It's far above your clearance level!"
"Hmm… no wonder you can't figure it out, then." He retorted.
"Just shut up already!"
"Fine, fine… but if you do have gas problems, there is medicine for that you know."
"I wasn't talking about farts!" she yelled at him.
"Ha ha… nice one!" Toji commented to him as he walked towards the door.
"I'm starving, yo! How 'bout some okonomiyaki!" he asked his sidekick as he walked into someone. "Yow!"
"Where do you think you're going? You guys have clean-up duty!" the freckled, pig-tailed, class representative also known as Hikari demanded of them.
"Why bother? It's clean enough." Toji complained.
"Yeah! It's fine!" the sidekick added.
"That's not how we do things here in class 2-A!" She yelled until she noticed Shinji standing by. "Oh, Ikari! It's okay, you can go home."
"Just take this." She then told him as she handed him a stack of papers. "It's all the handouts… the teacher wants Ayanami to get them."
"Oh… okay I guess…" Shinji said. "Well, later then Toji, sidekick…"
"Did… did he just call me 'sidekick?'" Kensuke asked as Shinji left.
"Yeah… I think he did…" Toji told him.
"Stop standing around and get to work, Suzuhara! You too, Sidekick!"
"Why am I a sidekick…?" The sidekick lamented.
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'Hey, so I did remember where this place was…' Shinji thought to himself as he arrived at the huge apartment complex Rei resided in. 'I haven't been here since… well… then…' Stopping for a second to clear his mind of unwanted thoughts, he continued the long trek up the stairs. 'Damn… so… many… steps… How the hell does Ayanami do this everyday…?'
As he reached the door to her apartment again, he pressed the small button before him. 'Still broken…' he though and knocked on the door, "Ayanami? Are you here?" he called out.
Waiting a few seconds, he was surprised as the door opened.
"What do you want?" A sleepy Rei asked him.
"Oh… uh, sorry. Were you sleeping?" he asked her.
"The restart test took all evening." She told him.
"So Unit-00 is fixed, then? That's good for you, then."
"Yes…"
"Here…" he told her as he handed her the papers he was given. "These are all the handouts from school… not that I ever do them but… oh well. Get some rest, I'll see you later… Sorry I woke you up."
As he was walking away she called out to him, "Why don't you come in for a while?"
"Oh… alright…" he answered and followed her in.
"Holy…" Shinji muttered as he saw her apartment. "This is… wow…"
The room was not even remotely similar to the apartment he had visited before. There was a huge, comfortable-looking bed in place of her old one. The checkered-tiled floor was completely covered by a gigantic plush carpet, as well as a book-case with at least a solid hundred books on it. The final, and most impressive addition, was the television on the wall which was far larger than Shinji.
"So… you really changed the place a bit, huh?"
"Yes." She replied. "I have been receiving an incredibly large sum of money from NERV. It seemed appropriate to furnish my room with my earnings. Which does remind me, if I am being paid that amount and I have only piloted in battle twice, just how much money are you getting since you have defeated three of the angels?"
"How much?" he asked her. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes." She replied. "Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."
"Hmm… the best way I can put this is by telling you that NERV's operating costs have quadrupled and the amount you receive is about a half percent of the old budget."
"Are you serious!"
"Definitely… assuming I survive the angels, though."
"So, financially, you no longer have a reason to pilot?"
"Well… I suppose not, but if I don't pilot, the world's gonna end and that would really suck."
"I… I see…"
"Don't worry… I forget about the giant bio-mechanical machines we have to pilot in combat to the death against even gianter abominations, which some idiot decided to call angels, whose sole purpose is the eradication of the human race and the end of all life on earth, every once in a while too.."
"Moron." She said and punched him in the face.
"Do you want some tea?" She asked his fallen form.
"Uh, yeah… okay." He answered as he lay on the carpet. 'Man… seeing Ayanami just standing in her kitchen is really weird…'
"How many tea leaves do you use to make tea?" She wondered to herself a little too loudly.
"What the hell! You don't even know how to make tea!" He yelled towards her. "What kind of moron offers tea without even knowing how to make it! Gah!" he then shouted out as he rolled across the floor to avoid the knife she had thrown at him.
"Hey! Watch where you're throwing those kinds of things! That could have hit me!"
"I missed…" she replied.
'Holy crap! She's getting worse!' "So, you want some help?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.
"Well, I have tea here but I've never made it before…"
"Come on, it can't be that hard can it?" he asked as he took the small package.
"Wow…" Shinji muttered five minutes after attempting to make the tea himself. "I had no idea water could ignite that way…"
"I thought you said it wasn't hard?" she asked. "I'm glad I don't have to rely on you for food…"
"Yeah well… that's what microwaves and canned drinks are for." He informed her. "Who needs cooking skill when pushing a few buttons is a whole lot easier…?"
"Assuming you could even do that…" She muttered.
"Hey! You want me to show you my elite button pushing abilities, then!" he demanded.
"NO... no, that won't be necessary…" She replied quickly. 'I like that microwave…'
"Anyway…" Shinji continued as he walked back out into the main room. "This place seemed pretty messed up the first time I came here… Must have been drafty and with a whole lot of bugs all over the place, huh?"
"No." She replied. "The walls are very solid, probably soundproof… And as for bugs, I made sure to get rid of all of them…"
"All right." He said, the playful pretense dropped. He walked over to her and started whispering to her. Rei, for her part, replied in the same low tone, occasionally nodding or shaking her head.
"Do you understand…" he asked her.
"Yes, I know exactly what to do."
"Make sure of it, otherwise we could end up dead."
As she nodded in reply, Shinji closed the small gap between them and seemed to be hugging her. He pulled a narrow silver tube from his pocket, placed it at her neck, and pressed the small button at the top.
"Goodnight, Ayanami." He said as she passed out in his arms.
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"Have a nice day, kids!" Misato called out to them as they left to school.
"Later…" Asuka muttered.
"You sound like a mom when you say that." Shinji added.
"Ha ha…" Misato laughed at his comment. 'I guess Asuka's still upset over the other night… A mom, huh?'
"Hey, Shinji…where are you going? That's the wrong way." Asuka told him as she realized he was walking in a different direction.
"I got somewhere to be." He told her.
"Fine. Do what you want." She responded.
"Try not to miss me too much!" he called out once he was a safe distance away.
"Why you!" She shouted as he ran off.
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'So this is where she's supposed to be…' Shinji thought to himself as he stood before her grave. 'My… mother…'
"I thought you'd be here." A voice called out to him.
"Huh…?" Shinji muttered as he turned towards the source. "You!"
"Glad to see you still remember." The man answered. He was not old, perhaps twenty at most, and wore a dark suit. His hair was short and black while his eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses.
"You're still alive?" Shinji asked him.
"Ha ha ha… of course I am… I'm not so weak as to be killed off by…" the man's tone hardened as he said, "you."
"…"
"I've seen some strange things…" he continued. "It seems as though you're getting soft…"
"Soft or not, there is still no way you can beat me."
"Is that so…" in a heartbeat, he stood before Shinji, a knife pressed against his throat. "You are getting weak… the old you would have killed me if I ever tried that."
"Don't be so sure I still won't." Shinji said, standing behind him, the same knife now at the base of the man's skull.
"What do you want from me?" Shinji demanded of him.
"Heh heh… Nothing. I just came to give an old friend a warning."
"Oh? And that would be…?"
"They know you're still alive. It's only a matter of time before they figure out who you are."
"So they figured it out?" he asked, backing off.
"Yes. You could still go back, you know." The man turned to face him.
"No. All the solitude, death, everything… I'm tired of it… I won't."
"How pathetic… I remember you killed one of ours for spouting off the same lines… and here you are saying them yourself."
"Perhaps…"
"How long do you think you can keep playing around? Time's running out."
"That is not your concern. I do what I want when I feel like it."
"So why are you still following orders?"
"…"
"Fine. It's none of my concern. I just hope your little 'family' never figures out what you are."
"Which side are you working?" Shinji asked him, ignoring his previous comment.
"Ha ha… there's so many to choose from, but… As I've told you before, I'm with you to the end."
"… Do you have any idea what you're getting into?"
"Of course… I'm sure you'd have the other's support as well."
"They're still around?"
"Come on! Give us a little credit here… you know as well as I do that getting rid of them is something even you couldn't do."
"All of them?"
"Every single one."
"Are they willing to help?"
"It would be harder to keep them from helping."
"Ha ha ha… That's not surprising…"
"What do you want us to do…?"
"For now, just stand back, I'll call you when I need you."
"Of course." The man bowed, when he looked up, Shinji was already gone. 'One of these days I'm gonna figure out how he does that…'
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"What the hell!" Shinji shouted at Misato from the briefing room. He had just been informed of the plan drawn up to combat the angel and he seemed to… disagree somewhat. "Are we seriously supposed to catch that huge ass thing!"
"Yes, Shinji…" she muttered in reply.
"Are you crazy! There's no way in hell that's possible!"
"Sigh… Rei?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am." She replied. She walked towards Shinji, stepped past him with one leg behind his and shoved forward with her right arm, driving the back of his head into the ground.
"Thank you, Rei." She told her.
"So… how are we supposed to do this, Misato?" Asuka asked, not really wanting to yell after witnessing what had happened to Shinji.
"Can one of you two tell him what were doing when he regains consciousness?"
"Fine…" Asuka muttered. "So?"
"We're going to place the Eva's in the estimated drop zone, and then you just have to catch it before it hits the ground."
"What if it doesn't fall where you think it will?"
"Then there will be a little boom."
"And if the Eva's can't handle it?"
"They'll all be blown to the moon."
"Sounds great…" Shinji muttered as he lifted himself up.
"What the…? I thought for sure that one would have kept you down for at least five minutes…" Misato said.
"No way… maybe if you dropped a truck or something on my head…"
"I will try that next time, then." Rei said.
"Uh… yeah… So anyway, what are the chances of us succeeding?"
"I have no idea… probably really bad, though…"
"If we pull this off, it'll be a miracle…" Asuka muttered.
"I'm sorry but, this is our only chance…"
"How can you call something this crazy a plan!" She demanded.
"I guess I can't really…" She admitted. "You can refuse to do it, if you wish…" she said.
"That's an even worse suggestion than the first." Shinji added.
"I see… So are you three okay with it?"
"No way in hell." Shinji said.
"It seems stupid." Asuka added.
"I have no wish to be flattened." Rei put in.
"So I guess we have to come up with something else…" Misato said.
"Don't be stupid." Shinji told her. "None of us have said we won't do it."
"Okay then… Well, NERV regulations state the three of you have to write out a will, have you done that yet?" She asked them.
"I don't need to write one." Asuka stated. "Because I'm not going to die."
"Neither am I." Rei added.
"Yeah, no way." Shinji said. "Besides, it would be more interesting to watch you and PenPen fight over my vast fortune!"
"Vast fortune… yeah right…" Asuka taunted. "You're as poor as the rest of us."
"Does she not know?" Rei asked Shinji.
"Ha ha ha… I suppose not…"
"Know what! What are you talking about!"
"Okay then." Misato told them as she ignored Asuka. "But when this is all over, I'll treat you guys to a steak dinner!"
"A steak dinner!" Asuka asked, forgetting that which Shinji and Rei were keeping from her.
"Yup." She confirmed.
"Wow…" Shinji exclaimed, trying his best to sound as though he cared. 'What the hell?'
"You won't forget, right?" Asuka demanded.
"I swear I won't." She promised.
"A steak dinner is supposed to be impressive…?" Shinji wondered as Misato left.
"Does she really think we'd go crazy over a single steak dinner…?" Asuka complained.
"Maybe it is because that is the most expensive thing she can afford…" Rei told them.
"Well… seeing it that way, it's a bit more than I can afford…" Asuka admitted.
"I think I could probably scrounge up enough money to pay for that…" Shinji said. 'Man… I probably have way more than that forgotten in the pockets of my other pants…' he thought afterwards.
"Come to think of it… Just why do you claim to have so much money!" Asuka shouted as she remembered his comment about his 'vast fortune'.
"Hmm…" Shinji muttered to himself loudly. "Perhaps you should know… it all began in 1926…"
"What did?" She asked, confused at the sudden forced flashback.
"Heck if I know… Something's bound to have happened back then though, right?" He asked her.
"So how did you do that earlier?" Asuka turned to Rei.
"Like this." She told her and demonstrated.
"Argh!" he shouted out as he was slammed backwards again.
"Let me try…" Asuka muttered as she lifted Shinji. "I think I got it…"
"Ugh…" Shinji moaned out as his head slammed into the steel floor again.
"That's the last time I buy you a fighting game, Ayanami!" He shouted out as he rolled over to cradle his injured head.
"Just shut up already." She commanded and stomped on the back of his head, slamming his face into the ground. "Just stay quiet from now on and I won't have to hurt you… much." She counseled him as she ground her heel into his skull.
'Man… I'd better not annoy her too much… it might be me on the floor next time…' Asuka thought.
----------
"The angel's ECS jamming has caused us to lose track of it again." Misato was informed.
"Since it's impossible to calculate the exact location, the magi have created a probable drop-zone radius from the little data we've collected. This is it." She told them as she motioned towards the mostly highlighted map of Tokyo-3.
"That's a huge area to cover!" Asuka complained.
"Probable drop zone?" Shinji asked. "It seems as though the Magi had no idea either so they decided to choose the entire area…"
"Given the side of the target, a hit on any part of the orange map could wipe NERV out completely." Ritsuko added.
"So, well disperse the Evas to these three points." Misato told them.
"What is the dispersal based on?" Rei asked.
"A guess!" Misato announced.
"We're doomed." Shinji claimed. "I'd be safer playing Russian Roulette that trusting Misato's instincts…"
"It's women's intuition!" She informed him.
"She plays those little scratching-lottery-things a lot." Shinji told Asuka. "She has never won anything…"
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"The target has been sighted!"
"Distance approximately twenty-five thousand."
"The falling angel's been sighted!" Misato announced. "All Eva's get on your marks!"
As she commanded, the three Units took to one knee, preparing to sprint once they knew where the angel would fall.
"The Magi will guide you until you are within ten-thousand meters from the target, after that, you're on your own." Misato told the three pilots. "Begin the operation."
"Right…" Shinji muttered. "Move out!" He shouted as the power cable detached itself from him. At his order, the three began a mad sprint toward the enemy. Across rivers, through city streets, even over whole hills which were easily jumped across by the three great beasts. It was the newly repainted black Unit which, upon reaching even terrain in the last sprint towards its target, became a dark blur as it rocketed trough the streets, its long black cloak trailing it like a shadow. It was that very one which was the first to stand beneath its descending enemy.
"You bastard!" Shinji shouted out as the angel made contact with his outstretched hands.
"No way … Asuka's Eva is heavier than this…" he then muttered as the weight of what he carried began overwhelming him. The surge of power from the angel's A.T. field, contrasting against the small yet powerful fields unconsciously formed on the black Unit's hands caused a blast of wind from the two clashing powers to crush the surrounding area.
"Unit two, expand your field!" Rei commanded Asuka as they reached the target site.
"I'm already doing it!" She responded.
"As the blue and red ones stood by the black one the combined strength of the three behemoths was enough to counter the crushing force of the angel's fall.
"Do it!" Shinji shouted out as he regained his footing.
As the blue Unit-00 slashed open the angel's A.T. field, the red Unit-02 lunged forward and pierced the angel's core with her knife.
As the angel died, the crushing force of its A.T. field vanished and it fell towards the three below it again.
This time, as the first Unit grabbed it again, it tossed it upwards; the full weight of its colossus might brought to bear.
As the angel's body was flung upward several dozens of meters, Shinji yelled out to the other two, "Run you idiots!" as he himself ran from it.
They cleared out from beneath it and were in the process of running the hell away, when it detonated.
The force of the blast sent them flying forward, as well as obliterating the hill on which they had recently stood.
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"Heh heh heh…" Asuka laughed as she stood before Misato.
"Our wireless communication has been restored." Misato was then told. "We're receiving communication from commander Ikari in Antarctica."
"Connect him please…" Misato requested.
"Yes ma'am." They agreed and a small window labeled 'Sound Only' opened to the side.
"I apologize, sir." She began. "Because of my irresponsible judgment, Unit-01 has incurred some damage. I take full responsibility sir."
"No, destroying angels is an Eva's purpose. It was fortunate that the amount of damage made was minimal." Commander Fuyutsuki's voice came over the line.
"Excellent work, major Katsuragi." commander Ikari added.
"Thank you commander." She replied.
"And on that subject, is the pilot of Unit-01 there?" he asked.
"Tell him I'm not here." He told Misato loud enough to be heard by the commander. "I doubt he'd have anything interesting to say anyway." He then added as he walked out of the bridge.
"Umm… I'm afraid he's gone…" Misato told him.
"I see…" he replied. "Very well, I will leave the rest of this matter in your hands, Katsuragi."
"Yes, sir." She replied.
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"So, now you're going to have to fulfill your promise!" Asuka told Misato as they rode the train.
"Well of course I will…" Misato claimed. "I went and pulled out some large bills from my account so I could cover everything." 'Of course, I'm broke now…'
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"A Ramen place?" She asked incredulously as they stood before their destination.
"Yeah well… It was all Shinji's idea… I wanted a steak, but Shinji here claimed that the taste of a good bowl of Ramen couldn't be matched…" Asuka recounted their argument in the elevator towards the Eva units to Misato.
"And you agreed to it?" Misato questioned.
"Not right away. We all voted for it and apparently, Rei here agreed with him. That and he promised to pay the bill if we all went."
"Really?" Misato exclaimed, turning towards Shinji.
"Yeah, yeah… let's just eat…" he said as he sat down.
"I'll have one garlic Ramen with no roast pork." Rei ordered.
"I'll have shark's fin Ramen with roast pork." Asuka told the guy.
"I'll pay you ten times whatever the bill is if you can make it spicier than I can handle!" Shinji challenged the Ramen-guy as he placed his order.
"Is that so?" Ramen guy accepted.
"Try this!" he said as he placed the bowl before Shinji.
"Good… But for little kids…" Shinji muttered as he downed the whole bowl in one shot.
"Try this one then!" Ramen-guy said as he placed another.
"Still not good enough…" Shinji commented.
"That's it!" Ramen-guy shouted as he proceeded to make a likely-lethal bowl of Ramen. Heavily infused with the essence of spiciness itself, the smell alone was far more than most could even handle.
"Hmm…" Shinji muttered as he savored the latest bowl. "Now this is good Ramen!"
"That is beyond amazing…" Ramen-guy muttered as he saw Shinji casually eat the
Ramen.
"You want some?" he asked Ayanami.
"Sure…" She answered and took a single noodle with her chopsticks. Upon eating said noodle, she dropped them and turned a bright red color.
"Here!" Ramen-guy shouted out as he gave her a glass of liquid to dissolve the spiciness in the food.
"Too much for you?" Shinji mocked her as he finished the rest of the food before him. Placing a huge wad of cash before Ramen-guy, he said "here you go" before Rei stood behind him and practiced yet another way to test the floor's durability with Shinji's head.
To be continued….
How was that? Any better? Well, I tried my best to do this as good as possible… If it's still bad then… oh well. I guess that's too bad. If anyone noticed, I decided to bounce back and forth between the anime and manga. I actually found some more somewhere… so I'm able to use it for the rest of volume five… After that, I'm still not sure… I also decided to put the falling angel before the black out one because… well… just because I can. And in my opinion, man's greatest edible creation is undoubtedly Ramen! And the spicier the better! On another note, I finally got a job, what this will to my update schedule I'm still not certain about but I hope it won't slow me down too much… That's it I guess… Review if you feel like it.
Later!