A/N: Well, I've got my plot set. No, the other chapters were not pointless. The other chapters were something else leading up to where we are now.
And in two chapters time, we'll see the introduction of a new character.
The morning had started with a ruckus in the kitchen at 8:30am. Zack was up as it was his turn to make breakfast. While he was in the middle of making scrambled eggs and bacon for the others, Asuka had shoved him out of the way so she could make Shinji pancakes. This started a fight between the two.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm making Shinji something to eat!"
"Well don't you think to look what someone else is doing before you do something?"
"I can't believe you! You put yourself ahead of others! This is the kind of selfish attitude we can't afford to have!"
This would have kept up if Ivana didn't pinch their shoulders and stop the two from fighting. Their fighting also woke Misato from her hangover. She had passed out at the kitchen table last night.
So with Ivana acting as the peacekeeper for the Canadian and the German, the two finally finished creating their respective meals. Asuka made a very large pancake for her and Shinji to share, while Zack had made the eggs and bacon.
"YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Misato had officially gotten over her hangover.
Shinji woke up to Asuka poking him in the shoulder. So he wrote GOOD MORNING. WHAT'S UP?
"What do you think?" replied Asuka. "I brought you your breakfast idiot. And you'd better enjoy it too. You won't believe the trouble I went through just to get this."
Shinji, out of curiosity wrote WHAT HAPPENED?
"Well if you must know, Casanova decided to put himself above everyone else, especially you, and tried to hog the whole kitchen to himself. And since I have someone I had to look after, I had to be assertive and try to get some space so I could cook. Of course he can't see the difference between right and wrong, so he decides he wants to fight. I was going to kick his balls into his head but the Strong Lady stopped me!"
Shinji had a smile come to his face. He wrote THEY INCONSIDERATE.
Asuka liked it when someone would back her up even when she was in the wrong. "You bet they're inconsiderate. That's why I took the job of looking after you. Now let's eat! This one's big enough for the both of us!"
Misato looked over her NERV issued schedule. The sync tests were today. But not until 6:00pm. And tonight was a full moon, she had noticed on her calendar. On top of that, Shinji wouldn't be able to take the sync tests until he was medically cleared to do so. She only hoped Asuka wouldn't protest to her looking after Shinji while she did her sync test.
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NERV HQ - Sync Test room (Falling asleep during the test is prohibited for Zack Harper)
"So how are they doing?" asked Misato.
"Well Rei is always the same old, same old," replied Ritsuko. "Guess."
"75."
"You got it," said the doctor. "But look at this. Asuka's sync level has shot up to 77. What could cause that?"
"Oh you don't know?" said Misato. "Asuka has a new boyfriend. And they spend all sorts of time together."
"Who?"
Misato decided to beat around the bush. "Well let's say he can't talk right now, he's in a wheelchair, he's saved the world several times over, he has the highest Angel death count, his father is the world's biggest asshole, and he is the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 01."
Ritsuko turned to Shinji. Shinji by now was all red in the face. "Aww congratulations Shinji," she commented. "You made that girl happy. I'm happy for you too." 'Hopefully he could be a father one day and won't end up like you-know-who!'
The doctor then proceeded to check Toji's score. Only a dismal 54. It seemed that Toji and EVA didn't go together very well. Ivana's score registered a 73. And Zack's was a 69.
Suddenly, the alarm went off. This meant NERV was going to be attacked again. At least the pilots would be ready to go.
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NERV HQ - Battle station
"It's sitting outside Tokyo-3," said Makoto. "It's sending a transmission."
Suddenly, a visual com came on the screen. It was an American! "Ah, so you are NERV." Looks like he can speak Japanese too. "SEELE is giving you fifteen minutes for your pathetic commander to come up with the guts to surrender."
Gendo just stared at the man blankly. "Launch Units 00, 03, and 04. Have Units 02, and 05 on standby."
The American was surprised at the immediate refusal to surrender, but was ready to fight anyway. "Gendo Ikari, I'll have you know that your band of brats has no chance against a power that I possess. A power that's older than the Angels themselves!" The com went blank.
"A power older than the Angels?" said Misato. "What does he mean?"
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Outside Tokyo-3
The three EVAs had attached their umbilical cables and prepared to engage the EVA built by SEELE. This EVA looked just like one from the EVA Series. However, SEELE must have figured out that human pilots work better. It was a three-on-one battle, but the enemy EVA appeared to hold its own.
As the battle raged, the EVA appeared to be focusing most of its attention on Toji. Ivana figured out that it planned to systematically eliminate the weakest ones first.
"Toji. Retreat. He wishes to have you destroyed first."
Toji refused though. "No. I may not like piloting this thing, but I can't just leave you two out here!" He threw a punch at the EVA. It block and countered, sending his EVA flying. Toji was okay, but a tad dazed.
So it was up to Rei and Ivana. The two attacked in synchronization. With a punch to the gut, punch to the face, and kick each sent the EVA flying. It seemed that pure girl power had prevailed.
Suddenly, the EVA snapped up and fired a rifle at Rei. She was caught completely off guard and Unit 00 took some serious damage. So now it was just Ivana all alone against the American.
Ivana decided to give the American a stern warning. "I'll let you know I specialize in one-on-one combat. If you know what is good for you, you will end this hopeless battle and surrender peacefully."
The American looked like he went crazy. "Correction. This battle is hopeless for YOU! Why should I surrender when I can do THIS?"
He began muttering something that Ivana could not understand.
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EVA Launching Bay - Inside Unit 02
Asuka didn't like the fact that she was ordered to stay behind in the launching bay. But then again, she could be in the same state as Shinji is. She watched the fight from her entry plug on the visual com. She watched as Toji and Rei were taken out of the fight. And now Ivana was alone against him. And now the American was muttering something.
"Strange. I've heard that somewhere before," she said aloud. And then it came to her. "MEIN GOTT!"
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Battlefield
Ivana was boggled at whatever the American was muttering. But then the unthinkable happened. A large pillar of fire appeared behind him. This pillar began to circle them both, creating a wall of fire as it moved. Then it completed the circle. Next a raging line of fire burned through the ground. The lines created a five-point star.
Ivana was a tad frightened. "What the hell is going on?" The EVA in front of her looked like it was being possessed. Suddenly, a mark appeared on its forehead. It was the same mark the fire created. And when she looked at the cockpit of the enemy EVA, the American's eyes had turned blood red and he also had the same mark on his forehead.
His voice alone could tell you that he was now pure evil. "Like it little girl? It's a spell called the Seal of Diablos! And we're trapped in here until the fight between us is over. And only the winner goes free! The loser's body and soul will burn in hell for eternity!"
"This seal you have conjured does not frighten me. Let's fight," declared Ivana.
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NERV HQ - Battle Station
"I don't get this!" said Shigeru. "It read like an EVA, but once that weird fire pattern showed up, it now reads a black waveform pattern."
"The MAGI are unable to determine what that Seal of Diablos is," reported Makoto. "It would be witchcraft for we know."
'This doesn't make sense,' thought Gendo. 'After 3rd Impact, there should be no more Angels or anything of the sort.'
Shigeru spoke up again. "The MAGI does say that if Ivana defeats the EVA, it is highly likely that the Seal may disappear, as its caster is dead."
Gendo gave his order. "Unit 04, destroy it."
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Ivana attacked. Usually, the battle would be over in a matter of seconds. But however, Ivana had a lot to learn about the Seal of Diablos. Apparently, not only did it give the user an ugly makeover, but also it gave the user an immense amount of power, and a guaranteed 100 sync ratio. It knocked her over to her surprise.
But she wasn't scared. In fact she didn't mind at all. The fact that he had the upper hand meant she would get the challenge she wanted.
"Okay American. Are you ready?"
The clash within the satanic seal continued. Neither refused to give an inch. Ivana decided to resort to her Russian Commando Style Martial Arts. She countered a punch, took the enemy EVA's head and smashed it into the wall of the seal.
The enemy EVA went down, but was far from out. It attacked again. The enemy pilot decided to use martial arts too. But he only knew simple basic karate. But each hit felt like a train hitting her. She decided to just play defense. Ivana knew that even with the power of the Seal of Diablos, a human being still had its limits.
To make her plan work even further, she decided to taunt the American. "Is that the best you could do? Wait till all of America finds out you were beaten by a kid."
Ivana's plan worked. The enemy attacks were still powerful, but Ivana could dodge them with ease as rage brought sloppiness. Ivana then struck back, sending the tired out enemy flying with another brutal hit from her Commando style attacks. Ivana drew her knife and went for the finishing blow. It was over.
Suddenly, the size of the Seal of Diablos shrunk. Shrunk until it just contained the enemy EVA. Ivana was outside the circle! She could hear the American's plea for help.
"NO MASTER! PLEASE SPARE ME! AHHHHHH!"
Next, the Seal opened up a portal to another dimension. A dimension that looked like a fiery inferno. Ivana could see the American's soul be shredded from its body by the Seal and get sucked into that dimensional rift. But as soon as it appeared, it had disappeared, along with the Seal.
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After the incident on the battlefield that night, everyone was still dumbfounded on the origins of the strange technique used by the enemy EVA pilot. Gendo Ikari decided that the best thing to do would be to see if there were any more scrolls like the Dead Sea Scrolls or anything else that would prophesize anything similar to this.
After getting cleaned up and changed, the kids all went home, as it was rather late. All the kids wanted Misato to drive them home, but Asuka wanted to push Shinji home in a wheelchair.
As she pushed him home, he handed her a note.
WHAT'S WRONG?
"Huh? Oh nothing's wrong."
SEE IN EYES
"Oh all right," she said. "I'll tell you what's been bugging me." She began to tell her story. "Remember the time I was in the hospital after the Jet Alone Battle?"
Shinji nodded. So she continued. "I had this weird dream. And it felt more real like than dream like."
She then told him about Hikari-Asuka and Yami-Asuka. And how they showed her how bad of a person she was.
"And when I saw that you still cared despite how horrible I was," she continued. "It made me want to cry."
BLACKED OUT AGAIN
"Yeah. After my second blackout, I was back in the dream world. This time, I wanted to kill my dark side. And yes, I found her. She accepted my challenge."
THEN WHAT HAPPENED?
"Right as we started to fight, she started chanting something I couldn't understand. Then that circle of fire appeared, with the star and all. And Yami-Asuka looked worse then she already did. It was tough, but I killed her."
HAPPY FOR YOU
"Thank you. Now I've done enough rambling on this subject. Let's get going home." If Misato happened to stop by a bar, we'll still be the first ones home."
Unfortunately, Misato still had a sense of responsibility when it came to driving kids home. Shinji and Asuka were the last ones home. Zack decided to bug them again.
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU TWO? MAKING OUT IN THE PARK?"
Everyone paused for a moment while Zack got his head handed to him by Asuka.
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By the next day, Shinji was feeling much better. So much better he thought he could make breakfast for everyone. But when Asuka caught him, he was marched off back to bed, and she finished the cooking.
The rest of the week carried on like normal. Shinji had finally been able to talk and walk on his own again. And he had Asuka holding his hand the entire way too. So recovery went smoothly, unless Asuka thought someone was going to get in her way.
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NERV HQ
Ritsuko was frustrated. The MAGI were unable to come up with an answer for what happened on the battlefield. Hopefully the NERV archaeology team could find some ruins like how the Dead Sea Scrolls were found to try and explain what's going to happen next.
'The Seal of Diablos,' pondered Ritsuko. 'It sounds evil. It's as if a twisted cult is going to try and rise up to wipe out NERV using some sort of black magic.' She continued her research.
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That secret meeting room I still can't find!
SEELE wasn't mad at all that their plan failed for some reason.
SEELE 03: This however, was to be expected.
SEELE 05: Yes. He was just some stupid human who could drive a robot and knew the words.
SEELE 11: But who will the next pilot be to challenge NERV?
SEELE 01: We are currently working on it. Our infiltrator is currently acquiring our pilot as we speak.
SEELE 04: The Seal of Diablos specializes in awakening the darkness in a human's soul.
SEELE 09: And if it worked that well with a mere human, imagine the effect it will have on one with Angel DNA!
All SEELE computers laugh.
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NERV HQ
After three more hours of trying to decipher the mysterious seal, Ritsuko gave up. She then decided to follow the usual EVA checkup procedures. Unit 00 was a little banged up but okay as soon as repairs were complete. Unit 01 was back in top form after the nuclear scare. And then she checked Unit 02. But what she saw shocked her.
"What the hell!" She hit the alarm and called Commander Ikari.
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Misato's apartment
"WHAT? Unit 02's dummy plug has just disappeared? How is that possible?" A pause. "Okay. Don't worry, she's right here." Another pause. " I'll be sure to."
Of course, Misato was one of the last to know that the dummy plug was taken from Unit 02. She remembered how the dummy plug was once used in Unit 01. And how that was removed so Rei could be replaced. Dummy plugs were never put in Units 03, 04, and 05.
Asuka was definitely shocked when she learned about the dummy plug. But on the contrary, she seemed happy that the dummy plug was no longer in Unit 02.
On another note, Misato wanted to take the kids on a vacation at the start of July. It was almost the end of June. She decided to spend some spare time looking for a location to go. She also pondered if Commander Ikari would even let the kids go on vacation.
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NERV HQ - Commander Ikari's Office
"Gendo, the Section-2 agents have doubled their watch over the First Child," reported Fuyutski.
"Good. With the current situation, we cannot afford to let her out of our sight. When the next attack comes, it will be the toughest battle yet."
Fuyutski spoke up again. "Do you think SEELE will use the same tactic they did last time?"
Gendo replied. "Without a doubt. But this time, it won't be a human. It'll be a Fallen Angel who will conjure the Seal of Diablos."
A/N: Well, a little short and possibly a bit rushed, but cut me some slack. I've been feeling sick for a week now, and my mind is short on ideas. But I've got a fantastic battle coming your way next chapter. It'll be out by sometime next week I hope. Well, until 17, be cool!