Sekhmet: FIRST FIGHT! Seriously I love the early Angel fights. Shamshel in particular is one of my favorite early Angels because I also like Planaria flatworms, which it looks like. It's also oddly cute, though that might just be me.

Susano-o: Also first showing of everyone's incompetence. Why did no one think to make a prog sword? A gun prevents them from getting close enough to remove the AT Field. Shinji was smart to not listen to them.

Sekhmet: I love how I'm gushing about the show's art and the Angels and being generally happy and you're so bitter about the characters right from the start. It's not bad, it's fucking funny. By the ending I'm going to be absolutely crushed. And not because I know how it all ends, but because I increasingly see your side of things.

Susano-o: The show drifted far into the psychological aspect in the later half, whether that's good or bad is subjective, personally I felt it was used the same wrong way the religious imagery was at some points. Basically it was used to make things fake deep (Same thing happened in the Rebuilds which is why the first two are so much better than the third). I like the show, I just think it has problems.

Sekhmet: I know, fights like Iruel were so boring to me, but I know you like that one in particular so I'll leave it alone. Blame me for being an adrenaline junkie. Also it's a shame that it went this way, because Anno got so much hate for it that he made the rebuild series. And we all know how that eventually went.

Susano-o: Well let's stop dwelling on the past and focus on the now. Let's go.

Chapter 4: The Fourth Angel, Shamshel

"Alright then!" Isabelle said excitedly as they entered the NERV bridge. Mary nodded in agreement and cracked her knuckles.

"Ok you two," Misato said in a much more professional voice than they heard before. "You two have never been in an EVA before, so you'll be in the back and Shinji will be on point," She explained.

"Yes Ma'am." Mary said.

"Yes Mo-Misa-Ma'am," Isabelle stuttered turning into a blushing mess halfway through.

"Umm ok," Shinji said nervously as the three went to their EVA's.

Mary's EVA, EVA Unit 05, was a standard build, grassy green with white accents and a decidedly rectangular head. It's mouth was clearly present, but stayed clamped shut. Two lit up eyes, not unlike the ones seen on Unit 01, bore into her soul, but she was not dissuaded.

Isabelle's EVA, EVA Unit 06, was a large brown and orange beast with visor covered eyes and a mouth-plate that curved up into a smile. It's most distinguishing feature however was a long and broad, sharp-ended horn extending from the top of it's head.

"This is gonna be a proper bloody rootin!" Isabelle said giddily as she ran over to her entry plug.

"This is going to be an ass blasting bitcheloid." Mary said, getting into the seat of her plug.

"...What?" Shinji asked confused. The bridge team decidedly ignored them.

"Misato," Ritsuko said from Maya's station. "We're ready."

"Alright, begin the operation! Remove primary locks!" Misato directed.

"Primary locks removed!" Makota answered as the EVA's docking restraints were released.

"Remove secondary locks!" Misato ordered.

"Secondary locks removed," Shigeru answered as the EVA's arm and leg restraints were released.

"Remove final locks!" Misato ordered.

"Final locks removed!" Makota answered as the final shoulder pylon restraints were removed, leaving the EVA's to slump forward unrestrained.

"Activate Units 01, 05, and 06!" Misato ordered.

"Connect to the main power supply," Maya said looking over her screen. "Transmit power to all circuits. The second contact is beginning. The connection of the A10-nerve is operational. Connect the mutual lines. All values of the harmonics are normal. Everything is under control!" She said happily. "Synch ratios are holding at 60.4%, 41.2%, and 30.5%."

"Right, Isabelle you've got to focus or you won't even be able to walk with a synch ratio that low," Ritsuko ordered over the intercom.

"Alright," Isabelle said nervously as she tried to calm herself, and stop her eyes from darting all over her entry plug.

"We've reached the borderline!" Maya smiled as the EVA's powered up completely.

"Cor Blimey," Isabelle whispered as the walls of her pod changed to show the world through the EVA's eyes and she could suddenly feel the weight of her unit's armor on her shoulders. "This is bloody amazing!"

"Speak for yourself." Mary muttered, trying to focus as hard as she could on the task at hand so as not to slip into a daydream at such an inopportune time.

"You three, get to the launch pads," Misato ordered. "Shinji you're on point with the pallet gun, Mary and Isabelle you are to remain in the back and only provide support if ordered, we've given you a basic overview of the progressive knives but not guns so that's all you're gonna be able to use."

"Yes Ma'am." Mary replied.

"Right," Isabelle nodded. "-But you do know I have training with guns right?"

"Launch EVAs 01, 05, and 06!" Misato ordered not answering Isabelle's question.

The pads rocketed up and up, towards the surface at breakneck speeds and carrying the EVAs with them. Mary swore she could feel her teeth chatter, and grit her mouth to avoid biting her tongue off.

Mary braced for the sight of the monster that came for their blood, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. What she was met with was what looked like a giant red Planaria with frog eyes and relatively small arms. Briefly, she considered it to be cute, but quickly refocused on her mission.

"Misato, why does it look like a giant flying umm...?" Isabelle asked over the radio, confused by the massive flying phallic creature that had stopped in front of them.

"Not the time to be immature." Misato quickly answered.

"I'm not trying to be!" Isabelle countered. "I literally have no other way to describe it!"

"I see a planaria." Mary offered.

"What is a bloody planaria?!" Isabelle asked as Shinji got into position, pallet gun raised to fire.

"I'll tell you later. We gotta kill this thing first." Mary said, refocusing on the task at hand.

"Alright then," Isabelle said sliding into her position and drawing her progressive knife. Mary did the same.

"Fire!" Misato ordered.

Shinji let loose a volley of depleted uranium rounds into the large flying planaria, emptying the whole clip and obscuring the angel in smoke.

"Ok you definitely need some more trigger discipline," Isabelle quipped nervously as she slid up beside a building for cover. "Now we can't even see the big beastie."

"Hold positions until the smoke clears, and be cautious. There's no way it went down that easily." Misato ordered.

The smoke slowly cleared, revealing that the angel had risen up on dozens of tiny hind pods, revealing it's glowing purple underbelly and hollow chest cavity full of chattering bone mandibles and arms all connected to a central spine and topped by it's blood red core.

"Well then," Isabelle said nervously. "That's a thing."

"Not so cute anymore." Mary said. "That glassy sphere, that's what we've gotta hit, right?"

"Exactly. Get rid of the core, and the Angel dies." Misato said. "But it's not so simple."

"Ma'am we're detecting a high energy spike inside the angel!" Maya shouted over the intercom.

Shinji watched in fear as the angel's two wings detected and two glowing whips formed out of the ends, with a quick flick it tore through his pallet rifle like it was made of paper.

"Get out of there you three! Shinji, I'm sending up a spare rifle. Take it!" Misato ordered. Seconds after, one of the structures opened up to reveal another rifle.

"Right!" Shinji shouted running towards the revealed weapon with Isabelle and Mary hot on his heels.

"Can I get one too!?" Isabelle asked as she looked behind her at the slowly skittering angel, despite its slow movements its glowing whips had a large reach and was constantly nipping at their heels.

"It's on it's way soon!" Misato said. A few seconds later, the rifle was unveiled.

"Yes!" Isabelle smiled as she grabbed the rifle and turned around, firing the rifle in bursts she quickly realized the problem. "We're too far away, its AT fields still up," She said over the intercom.

"I can fix that." Mary said.

"W-wait what are you doing?" Shinji asked nervously as he and Isabelle fired at the whips to keep them back.

"Get it's arms, I can create an opening!" Mary said.

"Don't, it's way too dangerous!" Misato ordered.

"But it would give us the opportunity we need, right?" Mary asked.

"And get you fried, do you not see what these things can do?" Isabelle asked before having to duck out of the way of another whip slash.

"Well what's worse, me getting fried or the world ending?" Mary asked, dodging a whip herself.

"Both!" Isabelle yelled before she was impaled through the stomach by one of the whips. White hot pain spread through her body worse than any venom she had ever been injected with, liquid fire and electricity coursed through her torso from the impact sight shorting out all her nerves for a brief moment as a high pitch sound rang faintly in her hears, when her senses came back she realized the sound was her screams of pain.

"Ritsuko Isabelle's synch ratio is going wild!" Maya yelled as her computer went wild.

"Lower her connection now!" Ritsuko ordered. "Cut it if she gets worse!"

"Get out of there!" Misato ordered. Mary tried to help Isabelle away as best she could, but dragging the extra weight severely limited her movement.

Shinji grabbed his knife and slashed at the tendrils. "Over here!" He yelled drawing it's attention to him, and getting impaled and thrown against a nearby mountain for his troubles. Mary had decided that she had had enough of this. She propped Isabelle up on a nearby structure, took a deep breath, and ran after the Angel.

"Wait what the hell are you doing?" Isabelle asked as she grabbed her discarded rifle and leaned as much on the building as she could to prop herself up. Mary didn't respond and just kept running.

"Mary, what are you doing?!" Misato demanded.

" Something stupid, I bet!" Mary responded. She caught up to the Angel and trying her best to lift it up into an approximation of a full Nelson, getting stabbed through a leg and the opposite shoulder as a result. Although it was the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life, like ribbons of skin were getting flayed off with a dull vegetable peeler, she held on as best she could.

"Damn it you bloody idiot!" Isabelle screamed as she set up and started firing at the angel's core. "And damn you! You bloody bogan Angel! I'm gonna blow the inside of ya head all over four counties!"

Suddenly Shinji's screams filled the radio as he came charging down the hill, prog knife at the ready to stab the angel through the back.

"All of you disengage now!" Misasto ordered, and was subsequently ignored. Mary also started screaming, the pain seeping into her bones like molten iron. Still, she refused to let the Angel go.

Shinji jumped and grabbed the Angel by it's wing while stabbing it in the eyes with the knife, sending it into a frenzy of pain.

"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away!" Shinji screamed over the intercom as he kept stabbing. Mary's screams started to peter out.

Isabelle felt the world fade away as she lined up her shot, running on pure adrenaline and anger she lined up the sights and fired a three round burst right into the core, shattering it into pieces. "Now I gotta make a necklace outta your teeth, bushman's rules." She muttered as she finally passed out from the strain. Mary followed as soon as the pain slowed enough.

"Ma'am both pilots have passed out, the three inside Unit-1 are still conscious, everyone is ok though," Maya said with a relieved sigh.

Misato sighed in relief and slight exasperation. "Begin the retrieval process." She ordered.

….

Isabelle groaned as she slowly came too. "Did anyone get the number of that kangaroo that hit me?" She asked trying to focus on anything in the room.

"There was no kangaroo pilot Watanabe," Rei deadpanned from beside her.

"Oh joy," Isabelle muttered before laying back down for some more rest.

…

Mary slowly opened her eyes. "That was the best sleep I've gotten in months." She thought. "Too bad it was injury induced." She raised her fist in the air, softly "whoooo"ed to herself, and tried to go back to sleep.

…

"What were you three thinking?!" Misato shouted at the three teens. "You could have gotten killed out there!"

"We're sorry," Isabelle said nervously threading her fingers together. "We handled it as best we could."

"It doesn't matter how well you think you handled it. The Angels are not to be taken lightly. If it had been any stronger or any smarter you might not be here! You need to listen when I tell you to do something in battle!" Misato argued.

Isabelle sighed and leaned back against the wall, she knew they had disobeyed orders, but considering they had been thrown into the fire without any warning she thought they had made the best of a bad situation still it hurt to hear Misato say that. Mary wasn't saying anything at all, waiting for everything to be out on the table before attempting to make a counter argument. Shinji was basically catatonic, having never seen this side of Misato before it was shocking to him.

"Look, just follow orders from now on, and don't argue back. We're doing this in the interest of keeping you alive." Misato said. Everyone nodded and Misato left them on their own.

"Well that's exactly what I wanted to hear after just waking up," Isabelle muttered leaning back against the wall from exhaustion.

"Yeah. I know I did bad, I don't need to be feeling more guilty about it." Mary agreed, and put on her headphones.

Shinji said nothing as he left the room, looking like he had just lost everything.

"Hey Shinji," Isabelle said sighing. "What's got you so down?" Shinji didn't respond.

"Yeah, come back." Mary agreed. "No one should be alone at a time like this."

Shinji continued to ignore them, so Isabelle grabbed him by the arm. "Look I'm going out to find a fast food place to gorge myself on tacos and fried chicken, and I want you to come with me."

"And so am I." Mary said, getting up.

"That was a given," Isabelle said smiling.

"Right how silly of me to assume otherwise." Mary laughed. Shinji said nothing, but seemed to loosen up a little as he was pulled through the halls of NERV to the surface lift.

…

"Who knew there was still a KFC Taco Bell combo out here?" Mary said in delight.

"Me," Isabelle said biting into her taco. "I checked for one before I left."

"You're lucky KFC is so big in Japan, and you're even luckier that there's a combo place still around." Mary said.

...

Shinji slowly ate a few scoops of potato as he sat in the booth with them, not saying much to either of them. Mary was thoroughly enjoying her chicken sandwich, small as it was, and Isabelle was going to town on an order of tacos and gorditas.

"So two down, and an unknown amount to go," Isabelle said as she tapped Shinji's foot. "You did a bloody good job out there, jumped on it like a true bushman," She said smiling.

"Hell yeah, you were awesome!" Mary agreed, also tapping his foot instead of smiling with a mouthful of chicken.

Shinji looked at the two and finally gave them a small smile. "T-Thanks you guys," He said with tear filled eyes. "You're good friends."

Isabelle gasped, then with a smile she reached over and grabbed Shinji's hand. "Yeah," She said happily. "We're definitely friends now."

Mary smiled, tried not to fawn too hard over the sentiment, and passed some napkins. She didn't say anything, afraid to ruin some sort of cathartic moment.

"So then," Isabelle said her smile not disappearing. "Let's go do something to celebrate, if NERV wants to be stiffs about this then we'll celebrate on our own."

"I'll drink to that." Mary said, toasting an imaginary drink. "In fact, if there's an end to these Angels, we should have a party after we beat the last one. Pull out every conceivable stop."

"Yes, sounds awesome!" Isabelle said smiling.

"What do you say? Party the fuck out of our minds when we win?" Mary asked Shinji.

"Y-yeah sure," He said smiling.

"Yeah! A right bloody piss up!" Isabelle laughed.

"I don't know what you said but it sounds like a great time." Mary agreed.

"It means a party," Isabelle said rolling her eyes smiing.

"Alright good to know." Mary replied. "I don't know Australian slang."

"Well you should learn it," Isabelle chuckled. "And British, too."

"Maybe someday. I mean, American slang is pretty basic, it's not something that's too complex if you speak English." Mary said, not sure where her sentence was going.

"We'll crikey mate, NERV is choc a bloc full of bloody drongo bogan's, if it wasn't for the gnarly mate's i'd be going off and getting pissed up," Isabelle smirked. "Ya wanker, now come on, I need a new pair of thongs," she giggled.

"I can only put together context clues, I can't read your mind!" Mary said.

Shinji went bright red. "Umm I don't want to go underwear shopping with you," He said covering his face.

"Thongs aren't thongs," Isabelle said rolling her eyes. "You're thinking of g-strings or bum floss, thongs are slips."

"What are slips?!" Shinji said exasperatedly.

Isabelle just chuckled at her friends confusion before dragging the poor boy away. Mary started laughing too.

…

"Finally!" Isabelle said hold up a pair of white and pink flip-flops. "Why are slips so hard to find here?"

"Who knows?" Mary said, still somewhat amused at the situation. Her legs swung back and forth playfully on the bench she was sitting on.

Shinji just looked at his hands in exasperation, but compared to earlier he was much less tense, which was a win in Isabelle's book. Mary was also relieved that the atmosphere was a lot less tense. It was easier to focus.

"So then," Isabelle said looking through the rest of her purchases. "I think I got everything I needed, anywhere else anyone want to go?" She asked.

"I'm good!" Mary chimed.

"Yeah me too," Shinji said nodding before looking over at the setting sun. "We should probably get home too, it's getting late."

"Yeah, good idea. It's a school night anyway, right?" Mary asked.

"Considering what happened are they really gonna make us go to school?" Isabelle asked and Shinji cringed a little.

"Probably, they made me go the day after the battle," He said shakily.

"Well that sucks, but life goes on I guess." Mary sighed. "You'd think there'd be a recovery period or something."

"Misato said if we aren't in the hospital they're not gonna pull us out," Shinji said with a sigh.

"I mean I get it and all, we're saving the world here, but geez." Mary sighed.

"I can't believe it," Isabelle said annoyed. "We're not just pilots," She said crossing her arms.

"I'm gonna sound really old when I say this, but we're young and impressionable too. Whatever happens now will stick with us for the rest of our lives." Mary said.

Isabelle sighed. "Let's get going then," She said walking down away.

"Umm Isabelle," Shinji said softly. "The train station is that way," He said pointing the opposite way. Isabelle blushed and let Shinji lead her the right way.

...

"There you three are, I was starting to worry where you went off to." Misato said as the teens walked through the door.

Isabelle blinked as she saw the worry in Misato's eyes, the contrast between her home attitude and her at work attitude was so different it was giving her whiplash. Mary on the other hand, was immediately suspicious. Back at home, her dad used to put up an unusually calm front when she got in trouble. She tried her best not to show it though, because Misato was obviously not her dad. Shinji was just shocked that an adult cared enough about him to worry.

"I got us dinner," Misato said smiling, Shinji cringed hard. "Take out," She continued. "Chinese."

"Ok then," Isabelle said slowly walking to the table.

"Well, uh, thanks." Mary said, following with increasing suspicion.

"Thanks Misato," Shinji said taking his spot as Misato dished out the paper cartons full of food. "Itadakimasu," He said softly before grabbing a helping of rice noodles. Mary followed suit and started picking at the beef bits at the top of a container of lo mein. Isabelle was going to town on an order of salt and pepper chicken.

"So where were you guys?" Misato asked, trying to make conversation.

"Around," Isabelle said deciding to play the part of a bratty teenager if she was gonna act like nothing had happened.

"Like…?" Misato asked, trying to pry a bit.

"Places," Isabelle said cryptically. Mary's dead awkward silence wasn't helping.

"Well alright, if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine." Misato said, giving up for now.

Shinji sighed. "We went out for lunch and then to the mall," He said giving his fellow pilot a glare, much to their shock at seeing the quiet boy being angry.

"Ok," Isabelle said setting her fork down. "Look here," She said looking at Misato. "I'm not normally like this, but your personality flip is setting off all my radars."

"I try to keep work and home life separate. In retrospect I probably should have told you earlier." Misato admitted.

"Yeah," Isabelle said annoyed that she would try that after yesterday. "Considering we were in the hospital and then got yelled at after waking up, this is quite a big switch."

"I didn't want to bring this up now, but you did some crazy things back there. It may have worked out this time, but you won't always be so lucky. Despite how I seemed back there, I do care about you." Misato said.

Mary was starting to daydream to avoid this conversation. Though everything appeared to be the same, the voices around her were muffled. From under the table, a small thread hooked onto the edge. Up climbed miniature people no taller than her thumb. She watched as the people started looking around for tiny objects, things that wouldn't be missed, to take home and use themselves.

"Fine then, but I reserve the right to make suggestions," Isabelle said staring down Misato. "Last time I let you make all the decisions I got impaled because no one realized the obvious fact that guns don't penetrate AT fields."

"You can make all the suggestions you want, but in the end it's my job as Captain to give finalized orders." Misato replied. Mary continued to daydream.

"Fine," Isabelle said dropping back into her seat pouting.

Shinji looked at the two. "Now please stop fighting," He asked in heartbroken tone that instantly made Misato and Isabelle cringe in shame.

"Ok," Isabelle said nodding at Misato. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." Misato agreed.

"Ok then," Shinji said smiling as he returned to eating.

Mary, snapping out of her daydream state and noticing the more somber atmosphere, went back to picking at her lo mein without a word.

….

"Well that was...awkward," Isabelle said sighing as she lounged in her massive pillow fort/bed.

"Incredibly." Mary said as she snapped an admittedly scary cat's eyes sleep mask over her eyes.

"That is so weird," Isabelle said looking into the eyes of the abyss.

"It helps me sleep, sue me." Mary laughed, lifting her mask to see again.

"Well alright then," Isabelle said cuddling into a ball in the center of her fort. "G'night," She said closing the front cushion.

"Good night." Mary said, and prepared for another sleepless night. As the light went away, the cat eyes glowing in the dark. She walked down the hall to a slightly disorganized bedroom and crashed on the futon, hoping that tonight would just be a little bit easier.

Isabelle curled up inside her fort clutching her favorite stuffed sloth to her chest, and giggled when it let out a baby sloth like squeak. The air inside was getting hot but all it did was serve to remind her of her home country and the van, back when she got to see her dad for at least part of the day. "He didn't come to see me," She muttered before letting out a sigh of disappointment she tucked herself in and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Mary on the other hand welcomed the cool air. They didn't get a lot of cool days in California, so she welcomed it. She curled against a plain pillow, trying desperately to just go to sleep. Unfortunately, she could tell that it wasn't gonna be an easy night. Her mind flew to her dad. Was he here yet? If so, where was he? Why hadn't she seen him? As the night wore on, the questions plagued her mind.

This week's outro: Bayonetta's Fly Me To The Moon