MARCH 19th, 2015

NERV HQ

2:20pm:

Shinji let Misato lead the way as they reached the massive gates of NERV HQ. The pyramid-shaped building's scale was only truly fathomable when one got this close to it. Looking up at it, Shinji was once again impressed, this time by the building's sheer size.

Although the rest of the world was aware of the Geo Front's magnificent technological advancements, hearing about was one thing. Actually seeing the Geo Front in person, was another. Shinji himself was having a hard time processing everything he had just witnessed. To him, it was just one new thing after the other. He even began to wonder how well he'd re-adapt to his much less modern hometown after he was done serving NERV.

That is, if he was even going to make it back alive.

"You'll need your NERV card key to enter the premises. So be sure to take good care of it, you seriously do not want to lose that." Misato told him.

"Okay."

2:23pm:

'How long has it been since I've seen him?' Thought Shinji as he and Misato waited for their elevator to get to their chosen level. 'I remember seeing him at mom's grave that one time, but that was it. We didn't even say anything to each other. And now this is how we see each other again? Through some mandatory military call?'

Shinji lightly clenched his fists.

'Like he ever cared in the first place... now he just expects me to accept him back into my life? He didn't even accept me back when we lived togeth-'

Suddenly a question came to mind. Shinji realized that he'd need a new temporary home in the city. He certainly didn't want to live with his father again, and he was definitely sure his father felt the same way.

"Um, Miss Misato?" Asked Shinji. "Do you know where I'm going to be staying at here in Tokyo-3?"

"I'm unsure. But you'll definitely be given a housing unit in the area. We can ask about that after the meeting, okay?" She said.

"Oh. Well I'm just asking because-" He began before stopping himself.

Shinji was going to explain that he was afraid of having to share a home with his father again, even if he knew that was highly unlikely. But he didn't want the conversation to get personal again. After the talk he had with Misato in the spinner, he was not about to make his question turn into another talk regarding his strained relationship with his father.

"-I was just wondering if I was going to be sharing a space with other people or if I was going to stay somewhere by myself." He rephrased.

But Misato seemed to take this the wrong way. To her, it sounded like he just didn't want to be alone. So she took to kind of feeling bad for him. Of course, she couldn't be more wrong about her assumption.

"Oh... well I can request that you live with someone if that would bother you so much."

"Actually, no." Shinji corrected her. "I wouldn't mind at all."

Misato raised an eyebrow.

"Are- are you sure? I mean, living all by yourself sounds kinda depressing..." She said.

"Not to me. I'd actually prefer it if it was that way. I've lived with my aunt and uncle this entire time, but we never talked to each other unless it was really necessary. I don't see how it would be any different from living somewhere all by myself. I can handle it."

But now she was just made more concerned about his state of being than before.

'He's so willing to isolate himself from the world. It's no wonder he was listening to his music in the Spinner, he doesn't want to be around anyone at all...' She thought.

*DING*

Shinji felt the elevator stop and the door began to open. As he and Misato stepped forward and out of the elevator, he found a blonde woman donning red lipstick and a white lab coat sitting on a bench just in front of the elevator door.

"Ah, you two finally made it." The unknown woman said.

"Ritsuko? What are you doing here? Have you been waiting down here this whole time?" Misato asked her, indicating to Shinji that they seemed to already know each other.

"For about 10 minutes or so." Said Ritsuko.

"So you were waiting for me to get here? I'm supposed to meet with Commander Ikari in just a few minutes."

"Well I'm actually attending that same meeting. It's why I waited here for you two." She said.

Then her eyes shifted over to Shinji, who she gave a kind smile to.

"So this is him?" She asked Misato.

"Oh yeah, this is him! Shinji, this is an old friend of mine... she and I go back all the way to our college days."

"I'm Shinji Ikari. Nice to meet you." He greeted, though with a flatter cadence than he intended to.

"My name is Ritsuko Akagi... from the First Engineering Division. I'm the supervisor of a little something we call 'Project E'." Greeted the blonde. "Pleased to meet you!"

Shinji nodded back at her.

"Looks just like his father, doesn't he?" Misato added, having unknowingly annoyed Shinji with her comment.

Ritsuko could tell he wasn't happy at all for having to be there. She was sure the pressures of this brutal war and the upcoming meeting with his estranged father had put him in a bad mood. She couldn't really blame him for that. Nonetheless, she had to do her job, so she focused on doing just that. And only that.

"Well, we should probably be on our way, then. Come along, Shinji. There's something I'd like to show you before we go see the Commander." She told him.

"Something to show me?" He asked.

GENETICS PLUG LABORATORY

2:32pm:

As soon as they entered the lab, Shinji had gotten his first taste of what a normal day at NERV HQ was like. This room was a lot more busy than the few he had seen on his way there. The personnel inside the lab either wore their standard-issue NERV uniforms, or a white lab coat like the one Ritsuko had on. There was so much going on in there that it felt like the whole room was alive.

The first thing Shinji noticed was the strange pool of an orange liquid-like substance. The long platform they were walking on acted as a bridge, but most of the room was filled with this strange liquid.

Next, there was a white metallic cylindrical object sticking out of the pool, slightly inclined to one direction. It also had a hatch, meaning it was probably designed to fit a person inside. Opposite the cylinder, there stood an elevated control room. Shinji could see loads of workers and scientists standing in place discussing whatever project it was they were working on.

Shinji and Misato followed Ritsuko to the middle of the platform, stopping right in front of the cylindrical object he had noticed upon entering the room.

"So... is this it? Is this what you wanted to show me?" He asked Ritsuko.

"Yeah. It's a little project we've been developing for a little while now." She said. "I've dubbed this machine the 'Genetics Plug'. We've yet to try it, but I'm fairly certain this project has a 100% chance of success."

"Is this part of that 'Project E' thing you mentioned earlier?"

"Actually, no. But this is somewhat related to that project." Ritsuko explained.

Shinji looked around the room one more time, his eyes landing on the orange pool again. Though he couldn't see too deep inside the pool itself because of its murkiness, he could make out what looked like pipes linked directly to the base of the cylinder. It was easy to piece together that the strange device was linked to the liquid.

"What is this orange stuff?" Shinji asked her. "It smells kind of funny..."

"This substance is something we call L.C.L. It's an experimental liquid we've been studying the properties of for a while now." She described.

"I'm assuming that this 'plug' uses this liquid in some way... So, what exactly does it do?"

"That is for you to witness with your own eyes." A familiar voice blared from behind them.

Shinji knew exactly who that was. As soon as he turned around, he looked upwards at the windows of the control room and saw him. Fitted in a unique and much darker uniform, with two white gloves on his hands, and an orange-tinted pair of glasses, it was undoubtedly one man and one man only.

Gendo Ikari.

An uncomfortable tension creeped into the room. Even the workers who were off minding their own business had noticeably gone more quiet. Father and son, finally reunited after all these years. Shinji was frozen in place as he looked at the man who so easily abandoned him all those years ago.

"F-Father..." He uttered.

"Hello Shinji. It's been a while."

Misato could only watch as she saw the awkward exchange unfold in front of her. This was probably the most vulnerable she'd ever seen Shinji that day, as before he was just very blank. But right now she could see his emotions overwhelm him. The reserved boy she met earlier that day had seemingly turned into a lost child.

She could see his hands open and close in a kind of fidgety manner, highlighting just how uncertain he was feeling about the situation..

But what threw her and Shinji off was that some of the workers were inching closer to them, as if they were also part of this meeting with Gendo and Ritsuko. It was an odd choice for a place to set up a meeting, after all.

'Something's not right about this...' Thought Misato.

"Shinji, listen carefully to what I'm about to say to you." Gendo began. "That plug that Dr. Akagi just brought you to... you are going get inside of it."

This alarmed both Shinji and Misato almost immediately.

"W-What?! Why? What's all this about?"

"Hold on just a second, Commander... surely you aren't being serious about this?" Misato tried barging in.

She was absolutely flabbergasted and just a little outraged. She was told to bring Shinji in for a meeting and nothing more. But what this was turning out to be was just some crazy experiment that this man wanted to run on his own son. Now she felt absolutely pitiful for Shinji, and partly responsible for this mess despite not being briefed on what they were going to do to him.

"Major Katsuragi, Shinji is here for one reason and one reason only. He is going to join the battle against the Angels." Gendo stated.

"Yeah, but what does this machine have anything to do with that? Shouldn't he have been at least notified that he was going to be tested on or something? This is just crazy, sir!" She tried reasoning.

"Misato, this machine was designed to give Shinji the means to fight the Angels without the need of any real physical training." Ritsuko explained.

"What?" Asked Misato. "How is that even possible?"

"This plug has body-manipulating abilities. With the help of this pool of L.C.L, we can break down every one of his molecules and atoms to do basically whatever we want with it. What we want to do here is to 'code' his training into him, if you will. We won't even need to send him into boot camp. He'll be ready in a matter of just 10 minutes or so."

"His molecules? Are you guys insane? This doesn't sound very safe at all!" Misato argued.

"You have no say in this, Katsuragi. The decision to run this project has already been made. Besides, Dr. Akagi is a most trustworthy engineer. I would not have entrusted this machine with my son's life if I was not absolutely sure this experiment would be a success." The Commander told her.

Ritsuko looked up at Gendo and nodded slightly with a slight grin.

"Thank you, Commander Ikari."

But Misato was still not having it. Even for her, someone who had known Ritsuko for years and trusted NERV with protecting all of Japan, this scenario was pure insanity in her eyes.

'You wouldn't have risked your son's life in this crazy guinea pig experiment... but you'll send him off to fight our nation's battles without hesitation?' She thought.

Misato looked back at Shinji, who had been noticeably quiet while all the adults talked about what he was going to be put through. Once again, Shinji felt like things were just happening to him, and that everything was completely out of his control. He wasn't even being given a choice in this matter, and it was beginning to really get to him.

But instead of shrugging it off with his usual bad attitude like he usually did, he was actually close to breaking down in front of everyone. Shinji knew everyone in the lab could see it, too.

"Y-You... Y-" He quietly struggled to get his words out.

Although Ritsuko could see this was a great emotional struggle for Shinji, she tried to handle the situation herself for now.

"Come on now, Shinji. Right this w-"

"NO! I'm- I'm not going in there!"

Now everyone in the room was looking over at his direction, most not even trying anymore to hide that they were paying attention to the drama that was unfolding.

"Shinji, this is not a negotiable matter. Get inside the machine now." Gendo demanded of his own son.

"You don't even care, do you?!" Shinji shouted at him once more. "You didn't take my name out of the draft! You don't even care that I might die out there! You neglected me, abandoned me... and now the only time you need me is so I can be sent to my death? None of this makes sense! Are you that much of a sick-?"

He noticed his tears hitting the platform he stood on. His rage had turned into a full-on tantrum.

"...F-FUCK YOU! I WON'T DO IT!"

Misato felt like she was a fly on the wall, invading in on personal issues that didn't relate to her whatsoever. And as she watched Shinji shed his tears in front of everyone, she felt an aching in her heart.

'I see now...' She realized. 'He reminds me of... me. When I was around the same age he is now.'

"Shinji, listen to me-" Ritsuko began. "-this machine... it holds the key to ending this war."

"H-How? What does that even mean?!" He angrily questioned.

"I-"

She stopped. There was still a lot of information she was not supposed to let out about NERV's intentions with the machine. Ritsuko knew she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, but was quick to try and rationalize her reasoning for why Shinji should get inside the experimental machine.

"Look, I'm legally not allowed to disclose such information right now... all I need for you to understand is that this machine can signal the end of this horrible war. We're talking about the fate of humanity here... it all rests on your shoulders now, Shinji."

Shinji refused to even look at her as she tried to rationalize all of this to him. So she tried coming up with another selling point.

"Your chances of survival in the field will greatly increase with the help of this machine, as well. By now, you are already legally required to serve in combat. You might as well just make this easier on yourself and get inside." She said.

Shinji still appeared to be unfazed by her words. But deep inside, the pressures of what she had just told him began to eat him up.

"Fine then." Said Gendo. "If you truly are this much of a coward, then we will have you go through standardized boot camp just like everyone else."

It was the use of the word 'coward' that snapped something inside Shinji.

"Major Katsuragi, take Shinji over to-"

"So this machine will help end the war?" Shinji suddenly asked in an unexpected twist.

Finally, he looked back up at his father despite his tears, but only for a second. The resentment still ran deep, so he turned his attention to Ritsuko.

"If I do this... will you guys really be able to put a stop to this war?" He asked her.

Even though it wasn't a guaranteed means of an end to Japan's conflict, Ritsuko decided to go with the story anyway. She felt that if she said otherwise, they could risk Shinji rejecting it again.

"Yes." She answered.

"And... if this machine works in the way you said it would, will I really be ready for combat?"

"Yes. You'll be fully trained in no time." She answered once more.

Shinji wiped the tears from his face and sniffled. Even though Ritsuko was reassuring him that this was the right thing to do, he still wasn't quite sure what to do. His father still didn't seem to care that his son was going into combat. But in his head, Shinji thought about the possibility of finally gaining his father's respect.

'If I do this... maybe he'll finally see the error of his ways.'

He didn't even know whether he actually wanted his father's approval at this point. Maybe he was just trying to prove to himself that he could do it. Having been called a coward by his own father filled him with anger. Anger he had never felt before, even towards the very man who left him since he was only 4 years old.

'If I do this, maybe I'll finally be able to gain some control over my life. And things won't just happen without me doing anything...'

Shinji finally looked back up at Gendo, a frown hanging above his eyes as he finally made his decision on the matter. Gendo looked back down at him from the control room. Shinji couldn't see it from how far he was, but Gendo was actually smirking a little.

He had gotten exactly what he wanted, and he knew already knew it.

"I'll do it." Said Shinji, in a fake confident and half-defeated tone. "I'll get inside that thing if it means this war can end."

"Very well. Gendo said back to him. "Dr. Akagi, run the plug through its startup procedures."

"Yes sir." She responded.

The room was full of movement again, the same workers who watched the uncomfortable scene unfold in front of them now preparing everything for the Genetics Pod to run properly. Ritsuko walked up to the control room where she would spit out her commands and lead the experiment. Misato stayed right where she was, however. She was still not sure about Shinji's decision, or at least the grounds of which he decided to go through with the experiment, anyway.

She could tell by his body language that he wasn't completely sure about this himself. Shinji didn't do this because he truly believed in it, he only did it out of the pressure that was just put on him by Ritsuko and his father.

"Are you going to be alright?" She asked him.

Shinji was still looking down as both his hands remained closed tightly. He himself was now questioning whether he had made the right choice.

"I don't know."

Before Misato could say anything else to him, four workers rushed to the pod and propped up a ladder for Shinji to climb up on. Before he knew it, the stage was set for him to enter the strange machine. Ritsuko made her way up the stairs into the control room, having been followed by Misato shortly after.

"Okay Shinji, we're going to need you to climb up that ladder and to just sit inside the plug." Ritsuko instructed via microphone.

Without a word, Shinji followed her instructions. He placed his hands and feet on the ladder and began his climb into the pod. To him, nothing about this felt right. But he was doing it anyway. Not only was his father watching, but there were tons of workers waiting on him to do this. And with the added pressure of Japan's fate on his hands, he couldn't help but climb up despite wanting nothing to do with this experiment.

Even though he was the one who chose to go through with this, and was the one climbing the ladder himself, it was as if his body was on autopilot. Halfway up the ladder, Shinji found that he wasn't in control of this decision at all.

Just as he reached the top of the ladder, the Genetics Plug opened itself up for him to sit inside of it.

The interior of this machine looked advanced, but strangely had no seat or any kind of object for Shinji to rest on. As soon as he stepped inside of it, he felt very uncomfortable. He briefly thought about jumping out of there. But he didn't. He had already made his decision.

"Okay Shinji, we'll be closing the plug now. Stand by-" Ritsuko said to him.

Just then, the hatch door came down automatically and closed. For just a second, it was completely pitch black in there until the interior lighting system came on. All around him, Shinji could hear electrical mechanisms make little noises here and there.

"Hello... testing, 1, 2. 1, 2. Shinji, can you hear me?" He heard Ritsuko's voice come from a speaker inside the plug.

"Yes." He replied.

"Good. Now, I'm going to need you to relax for the first step in this experiment. This might be a little... unusual."

"What do you-"

Shinji was suddenly put off by what sounded like pouring liquid inside the plug. So when he felt his shoes get soaked in something, he looked down in a panic. It was the same orange substance he saw in the pool just outside the machine itself, and he went into a little bit of a panic.

"W-Wait! What's going- ah-! Brrblb-!"

The plug was almost completely full of the stuff now. It had filled up much quicker than he had expected, and he began to frantically bang on the walls inside the machine. His body was reacting to this as if he were drowning, but strangely enough the speaker system worked despite being surrounded by the liquid.

"Take it easy in there, Shinji" Ritsuko warned, not wanting him to damage anything inside the plug. "The L.C.L has suitable levels of oxygen for your body, so you can breathe it all in. I know it's going to hurt, but it's either that or you suffocate in there..."

He shook his head vigorously. Without the ability to speak, he couldn't voice the absolute confusion going through his head at that moment. In a panic, Misato pulled the microphone closer to her and urged him to do the same.

"Just breathe that stuff in, damn it!" She barked.

With much hesitation, he finally inhaled the L.C.L into his nostrils and felt it ravage his lungs. The pain was even more intense than he expected it to be. It felt every bit like he was drowning, and his screeches of pain could be heard by the workers and scientists up in the control room. Misato herself winced upon hearing Shinji's muffled screaming.

As his lungs had reached their full capacity, he still held onto his chest in great pain. Shinji strongly regretted his decision and wanted out, but couldn't even communicate it to anyone outside the plug.

'What the hell did I just get myself into?!'

Ritsuko turned over to Maya Ibuki, her trusty protégé, who sat in her office chair beside her.

"Are the readers inside the plug picking anything up, Ibuki?"

"His pulse has been detected and the psychograph is up and running. It's picking up high levels of stress from the subject, Dr. Akagi." Maya replied.

"That's no surprise. He's just panicking a lot right now, it shouldn't interfere with the experiment."

Misato was a little unsettled at how nonchalantly Ritsuko referred to Shinji's stress, as it seemed like a really cold way to talk about someone's discomfort. But she wasn't going to question any of it. She figured the quicker this process was over with, the better it would end up for Shinji.

"Sync rate is currently at 13% and climbing, doctor." Said Maya. "L.C.L pressure is nominal."

"Alright. We jam the synchronization increase and start the molecular process once the rate reaches 75%." Ritsuko responded.

As the minutes passed by, Shinji's sync rate increased steadily. Over time even he calmed down, and his heart rate had slowed to just above its normal levels. He still wasn't entirely at ease inside the plug, though. It was very claustrophobic in there, but he was more glad that the pain in his chest had mostly subsided.

'So just how exactly are they going to get this thing to make me combat-ready?' He pondered. 'Won't I still need to practice my aim? Or to exercise? Just what the hell are they going to do to me?'

Back in the control room, Misato was wondering the exact same thing. Just as Shinji's sync rate reached 66.3%, she realized that the main part of the project was about to start soon enough. Misato's advantage was that she wasn't inside the machine with that strange liquid inside her lungs, so she could actually ask Ritsuko herself about what the process would do to him.

"So what exactly is the science behind all this, Rits?" She asked. "How is this thing going to magically turn him into a fully-trained soldier in just a few minutes?"

Ritsuko reached into her pocket in search for her box of cigarettes, pulling one out and placing it into her mouth.

"Like I said, it's like we're 'coding' his body instead of having him spend two months or so at boot camp. The machine is hooked up to a core that's directly underneath it."

"A core?" Asked misato.

"Yes, a blood-red spherical object we have positioned inside the L.C.L pool. We've learned how to control it, as well as using the L.C.L in tandem with it to manipulate the subject's body and to basically do what we want with it. His body will become malleable, to an extent. What we plan to do is to insert muscle memory into Shinji's body, as well as implant fake memories inside his brain."

Now Misato was even more puzzled.

"Fake memories? Just what are you guys planning to achieve with that?"

"Don't worry, we're not pulling any kind of trickery here. These fake memories we're inserting are those of boot camp training. That way, he'll know exactly how to aim his firearm, use evasive maneuvers, and all the standard combat skills he'll need out there. That way both his body and mind are ready for combat. All without him needing to do any of those physical activities in reality." Explained Ritsuko.

"That's..." Misato paused, still taking all the information in. "...pretty amazing, Ritsuko. I gotta say, you're one hell of a miracle worker."

The renowned scientist blew the smoke from her lungs.

"These were all the concepts of my mother, actually. I wish I could've come up with something like this. I'm just the one who was able to bring it to life."

An uneasy silence came between the two women.

"Sync rate has reached 75%, Dr. Akagi! We're ready to carry on with the experiment!" Maya stated.

"Perfect, jam the signal and begin the molecular process!" Ordered Ritsuko without missing a beat. "Insert ionization rods 1 through 4!"

Maya entered a number of commands into her computer and pulled a lever.

"Ionization rods inserted! His molecular structure is beginning to weaken!" She said.

Even though Misato couldn't understand one bit of the science jargon going on between Ritsuko and everyone else in the control room, she couldn't help but wonder what the process would actually feel like. Was Shinji just not feeling any of this? Or was he feeling excruciating pain as the machine did its work on him?

"This isn't going to hurt him, is it?" She asked.

Ritsuko grinned a little.

"Oh no, Misato... I think he'll find it's quite the opposite."

Shinji began to feel some of the strangest sensations of his life. At first he thought he was just getting lightheaded, as he found he wasn't quite feeling so awake anymore. But then his entire body just stopped feeling all the was around him for a bit, and he found himself floating inside the liquid, as opposed to when he was settled at the bottom of the plug's interior.

'What's... going... on...?'

He knew he should've been worried about feeling strange like this. At first he feared that he was passing out, but soon all his worried began to fade. Shinji's body felt like it wasn't even there anymore, and surprisingly it felt great.

'Am I even... here anymore?'

It was as if everything around him faded into obscurity. The concept of time, and the physical world around him blurred as he felt his body get more numb.

'Where is here, actually? Where am I? Or... where was I?'

Shinji even began to wonder what he was worrying about anymore. Then that concept soon faded away as well, as his body and mind entered a state of pure bliss. He couldn't feel anything, see anything, or even think about anything after a while. And he was enjoying it.

'This is... nice...'

If his body hadn't been under the complete control of the machine, his face would be smiling.

'I like this.'

In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel as if someone was in there with him. Some kind of greater presence, and strangely enough it was a familiar one.

'Is anyone there?'

No response.

'Can you even hear me?'

Still nothing. But Shinji felt compelled to keep asking. This familiarity he was getting from this presence was drawing him in, as if it was calling to him. Yet he heard nothing, and didn't understand what was so alluring to him about it.

'Who are you? And why do I feel so... safe around you?'

His comfort only continued to increase, getting to the point where he wasn't even questioning it anymore. The peace was too great, and he was even beginning to think of staying here forever. Shinji felt safe. He felt at peace in his own mind. But most of all-

'This feels really, really good.'

-he felt protected.

Up inside the control room, Ritsuko and Maya kept a close eye on the state of his molecular structure. It had reached the exact level they needed to code the combat training into Shinji.

"Okay, we're going to need to do this carefully..." Instructed Ritsuko as she looked over to the rest of the scientists and workers. "We can't implant the memories before the muscle memory or vice versa. This needs to feel as real as possible to the subject's mind, so we'll need to implant them simultaneously. If we do them separately, we risk the memories feeling fake, rendering the implants useless."

Ritsuko faced her computer screen once more.

"Memory Banks Transfer 1 and 2, are we go?" She asked.

"We're go, doctor." A man replied from across the control room.

"Muscle Memory Banks Transfer 1 through 3, are we go?"

"We're a go, Dr. Akagi." Another worker said.

"Ibuki, are we a go for synchronization of the implants?" Ritsuko asked her protégé. "Remember, they have to go in at exactly the same time. I'm trusting you on this..."

Maya confidently nodded at her higher-up.

"We're go for synchronized implants, doctor. You can count on me!"

Ritsuko nodded back at her.

"Begin the implantation process!"

Everyone immediately went to work on their computers, occasionally giving each other feedback on their progress. Misato watched from the distance, still not understanding what any of them were saying. But she knew all was going well so far, and she had high hopes that this experiment would actually end up working. She glanced at the machine once more.

'All of this must be a lot for him.' She thought. 'I'm sure he's going to want to isolate himself even more after this is all over and done with... that'll just makes things worse.'

Then Misato looked over at the Commander, who stood at the front of the glass watching over the experiment. He held his hands neatly behind his back as he watched it all unfold, almost as if it wasn't his son inside that machine, all alone as the subject of the machine. She never knew much about the man, and neither did anyone else in the organization. But there was only one thing she could feel for him now.

Resentment, as this story was all too familiar to her.

And from this, an idea began to scratch at the back of her mind. And though she wasn't sure if anyone else would agree with said idea, she now felt more obligated than ever to run it through her higher-ups. And she figured it wouldn't hurt to give her idea a shot.

'Shinji can't be left alone. It'll kill him. And if his own father can't bring it upon himself to supervise him, then maybe...'

Misato decided she'd see about it in the morning.

Meanwhile, inside the plug, Shinji's was hit by a barrage of random images. He still felt a great deal of comfort inside the machine as the images flashed through his head. Somehow it was all so quick, but he could discern every bit of it.

'Who are all these people?'

Though he was still aware that he was inside the machine, he had gotten so lost in the sensation of nothingness that he almost forgot all about it and himself. Had the memories not been implanted, he would've completely lost his sense of self.

'These aren't my memories, are they? I don't remember doing any of this...'

But the more he witnessed the images, the more it felt like these were truly his own memories. He began to remember sensations of aching arms, blistered feet, and cramps from all the physical activities he supposedly partook in.

'No, this can't be. Can it? Why do I... actually sort of recall some of this?'

Being ordered to do running cadences with his training squad, chanting old military tunes.

'Did I just... forget all these moments?'

Midway through 150 push-ups.

'Maybe I did...'

A drill instructor throwing out the most hurtful and vile insults at his face.

'I didn't like that...'

Crawling through thick, muddy ground under rusted links of barbed wire.

'That was so stressful...'

Firearm training and target practice.

'And that was really loud...'

Disassembling and reassembling a rifle.

'No... I didn't like any of that.'

Night watch.

'I was so... exhausted...'

Earning the title of soldier and being assigned to what his Drill Instructor referred to as 'Unit-01'.

'What's going on? Why am I suddenly remembering all of this?'

Shinji had just unknowingly gained an artificial memory. It all consisted of the toughest combat training, and it was beginning to take him out of that bliss he felt just seconds ago. None of this was anything he ever truly experienced, yet his body and mind had taken to fully believing it.

'I don't want to think back to those moments. I just want to rest...'

And just as he thought that, the strange presence he felt before the memory implants had come back.

'You again... why is it that you make me feel so... good?'

Shinji was calming down once more.

"Ikari's stress levels had a bit of a jump here, Dr. Akagi." Warned Maya. "It's steadying back down now, though."

"Perhaps it's a mere side-effect of the process... it's possible his body found the upload of new information a little perplexing, leading his brain to go through a sort of overload." Ritsuko surmised.

"Should this be something of concern?" Maya asked her.

"No, we've already completed the implants. All we really have left to do is to take an evaluation on him to see if he truly believes these memories to be his own. Start pulling back all ionization rods and begin de-synchronization."

Maya complied and started on the reversal process.

The memories having all finally faded away, and Shinji felt at ease once more. At last, he could just forget about the real world again. No pain, be it emotional or physical. No more worries, and no more discomfort. Reality was fading away once more, and he couldn't be happier.

'Yes... I like this.'

He wondered who, or perhaps even what this strange presence might be. The sensation he felt was that of a hug, although nothing about it felt physical. It was like he was wrapped in an eternal warm blanket. By now, he had associated this feeling with this unknown presence he could sense inside the plug with him.

'Who or what are you?'

Once more, there was no response.

'And why do you remind me of... such a long time ago?'

But then a strange tingling sensation started to surface, like that of a numb limb slowly regaining its blood flow.

'What?'

At first he wasn't even sure where he could be feeling this. But eventually he was able to feel his arms and legs once more.

'What is this?'

The feeling only got worse and worse, spreading from his limbs to his entire body. He was beginning to feel once more, and soon his vision was beginning to return as well.

'What is this?'

And as the tingling feel intensified, a horrible aching of his muscles was also being felt. That too worsened over time.

'What... is...'

Then, before he knew it, his senses were slowly coming back to him. And now all he felt throughout his body was an excruciating pain. All the comfort and bliss dissipated as his sense of self returned.

'No...'

He was waking up again.