MARCH 30th, 2015

8pm:

Aha beach was suddenly very packed, mostly by the other units and gear being flown in by helicopter. Several campfires were set up all around the beach, as all troops rested and re-energized for their day tomorrow. Without context, one might assume this was a massive beach party.

The sky was dark, stars were somewhat visible in the night. An unfitting atmosphere for the kind of hell Shinji had seen. He had been completely shell-shocked in a matter of less than an hour. This was his first taste of war.

Unit-01 were digging foxholes to bunk in for the night, their mission was far from over. They successfully secured Aha beach as a base of operations on the island, they would continue their trek tomorrow upriver on the Seikatsu.

Shinji sat quietly, barely eating the food rations from his can. He had just made two friends he began to feel very safe with, what he had just witnessed them to shook him to his core.

Toji and Kensuke felt very bad for the shock they caused him, and felt it was necessary to leave him alone for a bit, though they kept sticking around him. They wanted to explain themselves.

Toji smoked a cig as he watched the moon rise from the ocean. Shinji was obviously hurting from what he had witnessed; Toji's and Kensuke's actions haunted him, and of course his first battlefield experience.

"Shinji, I know ya may be really fucked up by what you saw us do. But, we wanna clear some things up with ya." Shinji didn't respond, his stare locked onto the horizon.

"Look man, about the Angels, what has NERV told you? Have they told you anything about them? Their origins?" He didn't respond for a few seconds until he shook his head.

"Angels are... well... they're..." Toji scooted up closer to Shinji. "...they ain't really human..."

Shinji's head turned to Toji, his face expressing utter confusion. Kensuke quickly scooted up next to Toji and Shinji, wanting to add important details to this explanation.

"First of all, this is all classified information. NERV doesn't tell newbies about this, they expect them to hear it from the rest of their unit." Kensuke explained.

"Yeah, so keep yer mouth shut about it outside the battlefield, alright?" Ordered Toji. Shinji was still completely lost on the topic. His friends easily read his confused expression, and carried on explaining.

"Well, they're bio-engineered humans, they're artificially made. NERV developed them a few years after the impact as a sort of slave labor since they're stronger than us. It didn't take long before they had begun to go absolutely apeshit." Explained Kensuke.

Shinji wasn't sure how he felt about that. After all, they still seemed and acted like human beings.

"Before the Second Impact, NERV were posed as a private multi-million dollar company exploring 'limb regrowth technology', hence the name 'NERV'. But it was all just a front, they were actually developing artificial humans that were going to be marketed as 'Angels', a sort of slave labor for the modern world. In 1998, they discovered something in Antarctica, something that seemed to be a giant human being. They kept experimenting with it until, in 2000, they conducted an experiment so catastrophic, it's responsible for the world you know today."

This sounded crazy to Shinji.

"Yes, Second Impact was caused by NERV. Not some meteor the history books keep telling you about." Shinji was almost too shocked to believe this was true, yet he wasn't doubting it.

"After that, just as the world was trying to adjust to the catastrophe of Second Impact, NERV saw this as an opportunity to rise to the top, by growing and selling artificial humans known as Angels. Of course, this was only what they had planned. The Angels began to revolt, which resulted in a bloody murder over in America. They decided to execute their remaining Angels, but a new line of Angels were created by this organization named SEELE. We don't know how they developed their artificial human technology, or why they are even growing an army of super-soldiers. We just know we have to take care of them before it's too late."

This all seemed so insane, it sounded like they were conspiracy nuts. He didn't know what to believe anymore. He didn't know if humanity was truly capable of this kind of cruelty, yet he could totally believe they had control of school education to further feed the lie.

Toji grabbed his helmet and dropped it on Shinji's lap. The large scribbled words 'Human Bacon' were still visible.

"When I was on my first tour; after the Nakatane standoff last year, I saw something I never forgot. It was my first big battle, we was in bad shape back then. I think we lost 3 souls in a day, a shitty fuckin' loss. Me 'n two other dudes were snoopin' around for any leftover Angels, when we came across the sight of a buncha burned cars. There were charred bodies inside of 'em, some of the victims looked like the size of children..." A tear made its way down Toji's face, the images of the horrifying sight flashing in his head.

"...and in the middle of all the burnt remains, stood a fuckin' sign... that read 'human bacon'."

Shinji saw how distraught the memory made Toji, he had just experienced a traumatic event himself.

"Those skinjobs thought of their mass murder as a joke, a big fuckin' joke... I wrote that shit onto my helmet so I could never, fuckin' NEVER forget the cruelty of the Angels."

Shinji, though still very upset, began to understand Toji and Kensuke's actions towards those Angels.

"We're ordered to kill all of 'em anyway, no matter what. Fuck 'em, they're all Satan spawns."

"I'm sorry, guys." Shinji finally spoke in a weak voice. "I'm just... not used to this, I guess."

Toji grabbed his helmet back from Shinji, removing his pack of cigs from the pack attached to the helmet's rubber band. He lit another one, his nicotine cravings were still not met.

"It's cool, man. We shoulda explained it to ya sooner. We hate to see a friend upset." The word 'friend' really resonated with Shinji.

Even though he had witnessed horror from them, they were still his friends. They were his only friends in the whole unit, and they were to guide him through it all.

"Try and get some rest, man. We're gettin' up early tomorrow." Shinji still felt uncertain about whether he would even be alive after this whole ordeal, his usual pessimism dragging him down into doubting himself at every turn.

But with these two, he felt he might just be able to survive.

MARCH 31st, 2015

6am:

Shinji's face felt so irritatingly itchy. Nothing about this place was comfortable, they slept in holes under this horrid tropical heat, while mosquitoes took advantage of their sleeping to suck some blood.

Even worse, the cicadas' chirping in the morning was even louder near the treeline, even though a lot of it was burned to hell. He sighed.

'This is unbearable...' He thought.

Most of Unit-01 seemed to be up and socializing already. Toji and Kensuke were still deep in their sleep, Shinji attempted to shake them into reality again to no avail.

'It probably won't take long for the Lieutenant to scold them.' He mused.

The beach was even more full than it was last night, more gear was being hauled in by choppers. The mouth of the Seikatsu River had vacant river patrol boats, ready to pack troops inside.

Still looking around, Shinji laid his eyes upon that strange girl again. He had noticed that every time he had seen her, she was always alone. This time, he decided he would try to talk to her.

He walked over to her foxhole, where she sat staring vacantly at the blue sky.

"U-um, hello." He said. She looked over at him with that same expressionless stare he began to recognize her for.

"Can I help you?" She asked, just like before.

"W-Well, I'm sorry to bother you... but I feel like I have seen you before." She seemed completely unfazed.

"Do you, perhaps, happen to remember me?" He added.

Shinji began to wonder why he even bothered coming to talk to her, she looked so disinterested. Though his question was genuine. He knew she strangely felt familiar to be around. He really wanted to know what it was about her that brought back such feelings.

"No, I do not believe I do." It amazed Shinji how she always seemed to speak in one note. It almost reminded him of his father's mono-tonal voice, yet she sounded even more hollow somehow.

"Ah, well alright. Again, sorry to bother you. I'll be on my way." Slightly disappointed, Shinji walked back to his foxhole. He felt so awkward after that encounter, somehow even more so than their first interaction.

When Shinji arrived back at his foxhole, he packed his shovel into his bag and readied his gear for action.

"Hey you! Ikarcass, or whatever!" Oh, boy. That voice again. The voice that never seemed to not yell. He sighed.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Asuka approached him until she stood in front of him, a tall and proud stance with her hands on her hips. It seemed she did this to everyone she scolded or even just talked to.

"You're gonna have to do a LOT better to wanna properly represent my unit! Here's a tip; try actually killing an Angel next time!" To the surprise of no one, she was only there to berate him with complaints again.

"Sorry Lieutenant. Yesterday was my first time in battle, and I haven't yet really coped with-"

"Well get on with it, then! We're trying to win this war, not wait for you to catch up with it!" He hated being yelled at so much.

Asuka spotted Shinji's friends still asleep, a lightbulb going off in her head. She grinned a devilish grin, and sprinted over to her tent. She came out of it with a bugle, everyone in the unit anticipating hilarity to ensue.

She stood in between Toji and Kensuke's foxholes and blew away at the instrument. Both boys were scared out of their minds, jumping out of their foxholes and almost reaching for their guns.

It didn't take long for them see Asuka laughing and pointing at the two, as well as the rest of the unit.

"God damn it! Fuckin' bitch! D'you always have to do that?!"

"Of course not, I choose to! Now pack up! We have orders from the Major to group up near the patrol boat!" She swiftly turned and walked on back to her friends, all of them still laughing from Asuka's little 'wake-up call'.

"Geez, ya think they'd pick someone cool to be the squad leader. She's a pain in the ass!" Toji said while sticking his pinkie into his ear, it ringing slightly from the loud blare of the bugle.

"Why are the hot ones always the bitchiest?" Kensuke asked

Shinji, although absolutely annoyed by Asuka, couldn't help but laugh a little at the situation. They were his friends, but this wasn't something he was used to. In a funny way, he almost enjoyed his interactions with Unit-01 more than he did than those in his old school.

"I tried waking you guys up, though her method seemed to have worked better!" Shinji joked. Toji playfully gave Shinji a middle finger, and began to pack his gear.

"Attention Unit-01! Grab you gear and head towards the patrol boat! We have a little meeting to attend!"

"Aw, is she tryin' to piss us off? I'm not even ready yet!" Toji whined. Shinji waited in place as the rest of the unit began to depart, following Asuka's lead.

"Just hurry up, I'll keep an eye on them and we'll run for it." Shinji said to his friends.

The patrol boat was a long and spacious vehicle, its main use being to transport a whole unit to their destination. The front of the boat was a ramp that could drop and be raised, so that the troops could quickly storm off into the shore.

When the unit had arrived, a helicopter was spotted in the distance. This was probably their guy, no one knew who was coming. All that Asuka was told was that they would be briefed on their next task.

As the helicopter came in to land, Asuka stood still, in her usual stance. Once the helicopter door opened however, it was a whole different story. A man with a flight helmet emerged from the back of the helicopter, and removed his protective wear.

Out came a ponytail, a composed and handsome man was revealed.

"KAJIIIII!" Yelled Asuka in absolute glee as she ran over to him. The rest of the unit was confused as to where her tough front had gone.

"Hey now, calm down there, Soryu." He said nonchalantly.

"Get a load 'a this shit, man." Whispered Toji to his friends. He was quickly elbowed by one of Asuka's closest friends, Private Hikari Horaki, who happened to be standing next to them. Asuka resumed her position in front of Unit-01, a smile on her face as she stared at Kaji.

"Hello all, I'm Ryoji Kaji." His voice was a very deep one, oozing of a 'cool guy' attitude even when he wasn't trying to sound like one.

He wore an olive green combat button shirt with matching cargo pants tucked into combat boots. He wore no green undershirt, and kept the top two buttons of his uniform unbuttoned. He was only there to command the unit, not join in battle with them. Every boy in the unit wanted to be like him, while every girl drooled over him.

"Now, Commander Ikari sent me here today with very specific orders, we're ambushing a small town-turned Angel camp for a valuable resource. Very valuable."

"You can count on me to lead this unit, Kaji! I won't let you down!" Asuka sounded almost childlike to Shinji, her mood seemed to completely change once some prettyboy came along.

"Well, that's the thing. We're not directly storming in and wiping them out, we take it they'll try to destroy said resource if they catch wind of a mass ambush. We need to go in quietly." Kaji said as he looked around at the unit, looking for someone specific.

"Is Commander Ikari's son here?" He asked. Shinji shyly raised his hand, as he did everything.

"Well well well! The artificial prodigy himself, hope this war hasn't messed you up too much yet. You're part of a scientific milestone, you know that?" Shinji grinned.

"Ha, I don't know if I would call myself a prodigy. Even if you mean an 'artificial' one." Shinji said, downplaying the compliment.

As Kaji and Shinji continued to chat for a bit, Asuka looked very displeased.

"Excuse me sir, what do you mean by 'artificial prodigy'?" Asked Hikari.

"Oh, haven't you heard? Young Ikari here was the test subject of Dr. Akagi's genetic coding experiment!"

Everyone in the unit were suddenly amazed at Shinji, wanting to ask him all kinds of questions. Shinji felt like a foreign exchange student having all kinds of questions thrown at him.

"Okay, let's not get too distracted... we still have a classified object we need to recover." Kaji went back to his previous position.

"This mission will require three of Unit-01's troops for the quiet invasion. The rest of you will stay a safe distance away from the camp as an emergency backup."

"But Mr. Kaji, we don't have any weapons capable of quiet shots. The most we can do is-" Kaji threw an olive-green bag at her feet, inside were three silencers.

"Those should fit onto your PKD pistols." He said. This didn't sound like it was going to be easy at all.

"Lieutenant Soryu, this will require a lot of planning. You will accompany the stealth mission in the camp, so choose your partners wisely. We depart at 1700 hours, and begin the mission at 2100 hours." He said. Asuka's right hand clenched into a fist.

"I'll choose wisely, alright..." She muttered under her breath.

5pm, SAME DAY:

The boat's ramp was being reeled in, all of Unit-01 (plus Kaji) were onboard. The three troops picked for the stealth mission stood in the very front, as they would be the first to advance.

Asuka lead Unit-01, so naturally she had to go. She picked Ayanami because she was also a highly skilled troop. Though out of frustration, she had decided to pick Shinji to be the third stealth troop.

Shinji knew she had picked him so that she could further scold him, so he tried to do the best he could to get her off his back. The river water was brown, muddied up from its constant flow.

Before Second Impact, the river was nowhere near as filled or as long. But with Japan's new tropical-all-year climate, the river flourished. It was now wide and deep enough for boats to safely pass through.

Shinji, Asuka and Rei all had to leave behind most of their gear. They were only allowed their PKD pistols (with newly-added silencers), combat knives, their utility belt (minus the suspenders), a single canteen, and camouflaged canvas hats.

This would cause less noise from all their metallic gear bouncing up and down, and it would make them weigh much less, in turn making them run faster. Shinji was yet again terrified, but he was better prepared.

"How far off are we?" He asked Asuka.

"About 5 klicks. The camp is deep within the jungle, so keep quiet and follow my orders, got it?"

He nodded. Though she was a pain in the ass, she was responsible when it came time for battle. He respected that about her.

The boat was really slow and the sun was still out, so everyone on board were pouring sweat. Kaji took a few gulps of water from his canteen, pouring a little on his hand to wet his face.

"Y'know Kaji, you can take your shirt off if the heat's too much for you..." Said Asuka in a flirty nature. The rest of the unit rolled their eyes.

"And become a mosquito magnet? Not gonna risk it." He said to her.

Shinji groaned mentally, wishing this day would just end.