MARCH 30th, 2015:

A high-pitched and dissonant alarm went off, instantly waking every troop up. There was a speaker attached to a corner of each room, ready to wake up or yell commands at each private.

Shinji was startled, and immediately covered his ears. "Fuck! What is that?" His bunk mates didn't seem to alarmed, they had been through this hundreds of times.

"You'll get used to it, we're being summoned up by the Major." Replied one of them. "Ah, shit. That's right, it's my first battle today." Shinji removed his bed sheets, and reached for his combat boots.

"And what a battle to start off with..." The boy said again, holding the curtains to his pothole open. Once Shinji was done tying his bootlaces, he stepped down from his top bunk and he took a look outside.

There was an island that wasn't there before, the one used to be known as Okinawa. They were a safe distance away from it, so they weren't in harm's way yet. They could hear the haunting sounds of distant explosions, though.

The battle had already started long ago, their ship only had only arrived now. The room's speaker blared; "This is Major Katsuragi speaking. All units report to their designated helicopter."

They could all hear the engines going off up on the deck, there were a lot of them. Their door suddenly opened, revealing Toji on the other side. "Yo Shinji! We got a spot reserved for ya in our ride!"

"Oh, cool! Which one is it?" He asked. "Follow me, man. I'll lead ya to it." Shinji quickly grabbed all his battle gear and followed Toji up to the main deck.

As the two arrived, they were both beginning to put their gear on. Shinji clicked his utility belt, and checked to see if everything was secure on it. He strapped his helmet, and then lined up with the rest of Unit-01.

The rest of the unit were all suiting up too, as well as checking their weapons. Voices were overshadowed by the loud whir of the helicopter blades. The two met up with Kensuke and the three friends would share the ride.

"Oh shit, I forgot!" Screamed Toji, trying to yell over all the noise. Shinji walked closer to him to actually be able to hear him. "What is it?" Toji pointed at the Lieutenant. "Miss Uptight is flying with us too."

Shinji would just ignore her for the time being. In the meantime, Shinji noticed Toji's helmet had a phrase on it written in black ink. "Hey Toji, what's your helmet say?" He asked. "Human Bacon."

Shinji laughed. "HA! What's that even mean?" Kensuke lightly socked Shinji on the arm. "Hey man, not a good topic to joke about." Shinji looked at Toji, afraid that he had offended him.

"Nah it's cool Kensuke, he doesn't know. Don't worry about it, cherry." Shinji nodded, thinking of the possible meaning behind that strange term.

Asuka was patrolling around Unit-01, checking to make sure everyone was properly gearing up. She hadn't expected to see Shinji there, though. She thought he was going on the second helicopter.

"What's the new kid doing here?" She asked aggressively. "Don't worry Lieu, he was allowed a ride with us." Asuka stormed over to Toji. "Bullshit! We're not sneaking your little friend in just 'cuz you're buddy-buddies!"

"Well ask the Major, then! We talked it out with her..." Of course, Misato was probably thrilled to hear of Shinji developing friendships. She wouldn't have turned a chance like that down.

Asuka crossed her arms and scoffed. "Well alright, then." She stared directly into Shinji's eyes, who was just now scared like he had never been scared before. "Don't do something stupid like dying in your first battle, Unit-01 can't afford to look bad 'cuz of some newbie!"

"Look bad? What about fighting for the cause?" He snapped back. "Ha! You naive child, still believing in a cause of some sort." She turned around and stormed off, locating her next victim.

Shinji had no idea what her deal was, he hadn't even talked to her before she had decided to apparently hate him. Shinji was never one to be quick to anger, but she was really beginning to test him.

"Little piece of advice, Shin; people like that are seeking a reaction. Just... try to be as passive as you can about it. They want to upset you." Said Kensuke. Shinji watched angrily as she walked off.

"Yeah sure, okay." He hadn't really paid attention to what Kensuke said, he was too into his own thoughts to care at the moment. As he looked up to the sky, Shinji spotted three objects in the sky approaching them at a very high speed.

"Eeyyy the Zoomies are here to kick some ass!" Exclaimed Toji. They passed by directly above them, making everyone jump at the sudden sound of a jet blast.

"WOOHOO! Get those fuckers!" Yelled Kensuke, an expression of amazement on his face similar to that of a child in a circus. "Fuck, man. If only I had the chance to get in one of those..."

"How come you didn't join the Air Force, then?" Asked Shinji. "They denied me that option, no clue why! Those jets are my dream, man!" He answered. Shinji found his fascination of the aircraft amusing, being that this was someone who actually wanted to be there.

Shinji was suffering already, he didn't even fight his first battle yet. But one look at his two friends, and he saw two different cases; someone who willingly signed up for war, and someone who didn't want to be there but was just dealing with it.

Misato was making her way to the front of the unit, she was ordered to deliver them a message by the Commander. Everyone stood straight up as she demanded they do so.

She was provided a microphone and a small amplifier so she could easily speak to her unit against the aircraft's loud engines. "Attention! Unit-01! Commander Ikari has a message he'd like to give you!"

Shinji tightened his hand into a fist, the mention of his father deeply upset him. Misato plugged an electronic device to the amp, reciting the Commander's prerecorded message.

"Greetings Unit-01. The success of this mission is vital, failure is not an option. Once you claim Aha Beach from the Angels, you are to travel up the Seikatsu River, a ride will be provided."

"The river holds a key essential to the end of this war. You are the only unit heading into this dangerous mission, all of humankind is depending on you. Good luck to all of you." The message ended.

'A bit dramatic there, father.' Misato unplugged the device and grabbed the microphone again. "The Commander has orders to keep your findings down that river classified! NERV and only NERV personnel will have any knowledge of your findings, is that clear?"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

"We are now Operation: Seikatsu River Offensive! I'll brief you when we secure that beach! Good luck, and move out!" Unit-01 split into two groups, 8 of them were passengers in the first helicopter, and the leftover 7 were in the other one.

As Shinji took his seat, that blue-haired girl passed in front of him. She sat about 3 seats away, so she was in his sight at all times during the ride. He still felt very strange around her.

He strapped on his helmet, and made sure his rifle's magazine was filled to the brim. Even though the doors were still open and the inside of the chopper was very windy, he seemed to sweat profusely.

On the deck, all units had entered their helicopters and were set to move out. When the call finally came, all doors were shut. The deck's floor seemed to rumble violently as all the helicopters took off one after the other.

Carnage awaited.

It had been more than 10 minutes, and they were nearing the beach. They had to go a further distance away from the northern point of the island to avoid any firepower from their enemy.

Whereas the invasion of the north was already violent and chaotic, Aha Beach was calm. The Angels hadn't predicted a surprise attack on that side of their territory, so they were completely unprepared.

Asuka cleared her throat. "We're approaching the beach! The mouth of the river needs to be cleared of enemies or any obstruction! Air support is gonna engage first! Then once there's an opening, we land and proceed on foot!"

Shinji's heart was now racing more than ever. His hands were shivering, his mind plagued by fear. As Shinji was way too deep into his own thoughts, he felt a tap on his shoulder from Toji.

"Ey Shinji, jus' follow me and keep yer guard up, alright? Being the sniper means I have to take position in low-key spots. You can be my backup, man." Shinji nodded, feeling too anxious to say any words.

A loud bang was heard outside of the helicopter, the missiles were being fired in an attempt to stun the enemies for a quick drop-off. All of Unit-01 got that adrenaline rush again, just as Shinji felt that rush for the first time.

"You feeling it?" Asked Kensuke. "Yeah, I do..." The mounted miniguns began going off too, followed by the sound of bullets impacting with the helicopter.

Shinji looked out the window and saw what looked like a village. They had anti aircraft weapons with them, and they were firing round after round. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit-" He kept whispering to himself.

Kensuke grabbed his cross and kissed it, praying quietly to himself. A few other troops did the same, everyone had their own way of coping before the battle.

In the village, the choppers managed to get two good hits out of three. The first rocket strike wiped two men out. The second one missed, but the third made collateral damage to a runaway vehicle.

The Angels were now all alerted. But with no preparation for this attack, they were scrambling around everywhere. All they could do was shoot at the attack helicopters.

Asuka clicked her earpiece. "Major Katsuragi! Do you read? What's the situation looking like from there?" Misato observed the footage the drones were broadcasting to her screen back at the aircraft carrier.

"They're gathering up pretty quickly, I don't think you'll have enough time to make a direct landing at the beach." Asuka looked out the window. "Damn it, still outnumbered..."

Meanwhile, Misato found a possible blindspot for the Angels. "Lieutenant, try pushing them into the treeline with more firepower and attempt a landing on that grass patch at the rock."

"How would that help us?" Asked Asuka. "If you push them into the treelines, they'll be further from the beach and they won't be able to open fire on you guys while you're on foot. More air support is on its way to aide you."

"Affirmative." Asuka clicked her earpiece once again, turning it off this time. She turned to the co-pilot to give him the commands. They did just as she told. They came from a different angle and shot at the Angels.

Having no cover from that angle, they all backed up while trying to fire back. They naturally ended up in the treeline, desperately trying for cover. "Okay! Turn as back around! The other units are providing us covering fire!"

Almost immediately, the helicopter took a very swift 180 turn, and headed for the large rock on the shore. "Weapon check! Lock and load!" Everyone in the helicopter cocked their rifles.

The ground came closer and closer, sand and dirt being kicked up everywhere. "Hands on your camo buttons! We wanna blend in!" The chopper seemed to bounce a little as soon as it came in contact with the floor.

The doors opened quickly, all troops rushed out of the vehicle. It all happened so fast, it was overwhelming. Dust being kicked all over the place, the helicopter's loud propellers taking off, distant explosions and bullet ricochets.

Everyone pressed their camo buttons and their suits became a tropical green with leaf patterns all over. Unit-08 had successfully landed on the other side, though they were receiving heavier fire so that Unit-01 could make the advance to the village.

The Angels caught wind of their invasion maneuver, so they sent a few troops back up to the frontline MSGs to fend them off. It didn't take long for bombs to begin to drop around the team.

Shinji was running on the adrenaline, he felt like he was crazy. He was just following Toji like he had asked him to. Their worry now was to charge at the end of the beach so they could rid of the enemy.

The sound of bullets passing one by was insane. It all sounded sudden and dry, Shinji's ears were not yet used to it, so his hearing took a small toll during the offensive.

"Suzuhara! Take cover behind that fallen stump 10 'o clock!" Toji quickly spotted it, and began running over as fast as he could. "Shinji! Over here!" The two ran over to the stump, it was bigger than they thought it would be.

They quickly dove behind it and laid down for cover. Toji had to study his situation. "Stay low and watch out for anyone appoachin' us, I'm trynna plan my strategy here." Shinji stayed low but readied his rifle.

Toji peaked through the cracks of the stump and was able to see what they were dealing with. He saw that from his angle, he could see the all the Angels bundled up in the treeline, as well as the few ones firing the miniguns at the top of the hill.

He reached out for his sniper rifle, and adjusted his scope for his distance and the wind. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He didn't shoot yet, as he had things to discuss with the Lieutenant, but he kept an eye on them.

Toji clicked his earpiece. "Lieutenant! I could try to pick out the gunners up front for you guys to advance! And with all the Angels pushed into the treeline, whaddya think about an airstrike?"

Asuka grunted as she fired off multiple rounds at the gunners he had just mentioned. "I was gonna do that already! Just try to hold them off while I call in the coordinates!"

NERV HQ, COMMAND CENTER:

"We got Lieutenant Soryu requesting an airstrike at Aha!" Said Maya Ibuki, one of NERV's many personnel. "That can be done, we got three jets with no current task patrolling the island right now. They may be able to provide firepower." Said Shigeru.

"How's the battle looking?" Asked Makoto. Maya brought up a holographic scanning of the battle's current state. NERV's Battle Command Center was a vast, technological marvel.

"Contact the fighter jets and give them those coordinates, this is our only window of hope at a successful wipeout." Said Misato through a muffled speaker. Maya grabbed her phone and called the pilots. "Affirmative."

"Tango 60-847, do you read? Requesting an air strike at a treeline in Aha Beach Unit-01 is receiving heavy mortar fire. Can you get that? Over." The pilot received the coordinates, and entered it into his digital travel map.

"Yes ma'am, we're on it. Over." "Perfect, over and out."

BACK AT AHA BEACH:

Toji struck an Angel right on the pelvis, causing them to immediately collapse. "Got that fucker!" He exclaimed as he loaded another round. Shinji was on his feet, ready to fire at any potential enemy.

The sound of jets returned, they were circling the area. "Aah, well damn Shinji. You got off to a somewhat easy start." Shinji, still horrified, look over at Toji. "How's that?"

"We got the zoomies' firepower." The three jets flew overhead, and they dropped their packages, unleashing a fiery hell upon the once beautiful coconut treeline.

Even from far, the explosion was loud and deafening. "Suzuhara, get your ass up here! We're going for the leftovers!" Screamed Asuka into her earpiece. "Yes ma'am!"

Toji quickly stood up and gestured for Shinji to follow him again. The enemy had begun to fire at them, each bullet ricochet making Shinji flinch for his life. The fire quickly spread through the trees, turning the whole place smokey.

As the sun's light shined through the thick black smoke, the whole place was given a hellish-orange hue. Shinji and Toji managed to regroup with the rest of Unit-01 right before they were to charge at the village.

The bigger half of Unit-01 were now grouped up, taking cover behind a dune before the village. From their angle, the enemies couldn't spot them, they were focused on shooting down the surrounding helicopters.

Asuka rolled over to Ayanami, trying not to expose Unit-01's position to the Angels. "Miss Perfect! I need you to fire a couple of rounds to push 'em all one way! Think you can handle that?"

"Affirmative." She crawled behind most of Unit-01, until she was able to reach a safe distance where she would not be seen. She was in charge of an automatic rifle with a grenade launcher attached onto its handle.

Her technique was to fire a few rounds into the left front left side of the village, if all went according to plan, they would effectively push the enemy into a sort of corner.

The rest of the unit awaited her cue. She took her time when aiming, often revealing successful results. Ayanami loaded her launcher, carefully aimed upwards, and took a deep breath.

From behind the dunes, the unit kept their eyes on the village in front of them. Shinji kept his eyes on Ayanami, admiring her composure within all this chaos. Toji slapped the back of Shinji's helmet.

"Not the time, horndog!" He said. The crimson-eyed wonder shot her first round into the village, severely damaging a strawhouse yet taking out no one. The Angels began falling back.

Ayanami thought one more round would do the trick, and she gestured toward the Lieutenant that she would shoot once more. She did so, wiping out two Angels in the process and pushing the enemy back even further.

Ayanami cued the rest of Unit-01 and progressed into the village. "We're in business! Enter through the left side, flank the enemy!" All of Unit-01 rushed forward, firing rounds into the Angels as soon as they caught sight of them.

Shinji followed suit, but ran a little slower out of fear. As he reached the village along with his unit, most of the work was already done. He aimed his weapon at the enemy, but couldn't stomach the guts to shoot.

He watched in shock as his unit gunned them all down. He had never seen anyone die before, watching a whole group of them be shot to bits was extremely vile to him.

His mouth hung open, not understanding what it was that he was seeing. He watched as two Angels willingly dropped their weapons and held their hands up. They begged for mercy, and looked scared out of their minds.

Kensuke and Toji approached them carefully. "Down on your knees! C'mon!" The Angels followed his orders. "Check them for weapons, Kensuke."

Shinji walked over to Toji to see what was going on. As he got close enough, he too aimed his weapon at the Angels. Once Kensuke was done searching them, all he had found was a pack of smokes, extra rounds and a single photograph.

"Alright, now say bye to ya mothers!" Screamed Toji. The two Angels panicked, not knowing what he was going to do to them. Toji raised his rifle. "Do it!" Before they could say anything, Kensuke and Toji fired at them.

Shinji was appalled by the sight. Two people had just surrendered, followed every order, yet were still killed in cold blood. Toji and Kensuke simply laughed at the matter, being happy that they were both alive.

When Toji turned though, he saw the look on Shinji's face. "Oh, shit. Look, sorry Shin. You'll uuuh... get used to this." Shinji didn't say anything, no words could express his grief. He just walked forward at a slow and awkward pace.

"This is Lieutenant Soryu of Unit-01, Aha Beach is secured. Land the aircraft to hold a front down here." She looked at the gargantuan fire, spreading throughout the treeline.

"Oh, and we need a lot of fire retardant dumped here."

Shinji sat at the now-conquered village, observing the beach. The sand was an ugly, dark brown color. The horrid smell of bomb fuel was unavoidable, as he watched the smoke-filled sky.

Distant gunfire and explosions were still heard, probably some leftover Angels sharing the same fate as the two he saw up close. 'They surrendered...' He couldn't begin to understand what went through his new friends' minds.

He even pondered if he should still talk to them, he thought they were monsters now. He unstrapped his helmet and set in on the ground, his hair soaked from sweat.

He watched as all accompanying units made their way to the village Unit-01 had just massacred. The helicopters had all landed and were now turning their engines down.

Kensuke approached Shinji slowly, not wanting to upset him. "Shinji, I know what you saw was extremely upsetting." Shinji didn't respond. "Look man, I've got some explaining to do."

To Shinji, there was no explaining to do. Nothing could explain the senseless killing of another human being to him, and neither the joy his two friends found in doing so.

But Shinji wasn't ready for the truth Kensuke was about to reveal to him. Nothing could prepare him for it.