Shinji watched as the cockpit of Unit 01 filled with the liquid the technicians called LCL. Shinji had been told that it was through it that he was able to link with the EVA and pilot it. He did'nt like it. He had to fight back the idea that he was drowning. It also did'nt help that the LCL smelled like blood. That creeped him out a little bit.

A video window popped up in front of him, showing Misato in the control center. "Twenty minutes ago, an anomalous lifeform appeared in Japanese airspace 6.8 kilometers from Tokyo-3. It is on a direct course to this location. Your mission is to stop it. Are you sure you are familiar with the capabillities and weapons at your disposal? We are sending an armament storage unit alongside you. Inside are two Pallet Rifles firing depleted uranium tank shells."

"You got me the nicest toys. Send me up. I'm ready to test them out."

"One other thing. As you'll be in a combat situation, if you are unplugged from the power umbilical, you will only have sixty seconds to kill the Angel. Make every second count."

"Roger."

There was a harsh feeling of pressure and acceleration as Unit 01 was launched into battle.

"This isn't a good idea, Toji."

"Go back if you want to. I want to see what's going on. You heard it out there? Sounds like World War Three outside."

In the distance, there was the rapid-fire thumps of artillery. Even underground, shockwaves could be felt.

"We're going to hear it from Hikari over this..."

"So what? You know that girl likes to hear herself talk. Besides, don't you want to record this? For posterity?"

"Do you even know what posterity means?'

"Don't start, Kensuke. Help me with this blast door."

The two of them braced against a door that had been weakened by a nearby explosion. With one final shove, the door screamed open, and brilliant sunlight streamed into the deserted accessway Toji had found.

"Whoa..."

The two of them looked transfixed as the Angel, which looked like a giant purple penis, fought against Unit 01, which grabbed a rifle the size of a bus from an enourmous storage locker and opened up, full auto, on it. Kensuke recorded with his camera as the Angel activated some kind of field that deflected every bullet, which seemed to be some kind of high-explosive round. Smoke hid the Angel, and Unit 01 swept the area, looking for it's enemy.

The smoke parted as a shining tentacle spat out and cut through Unit 01's rifle, destroying it. Unit 01 grabbed another rifle from the locker, but another tentacle swept out of the dissapating smoke and batted the second rifle away. The Angel then rushed through the smoke, butting the EVA and knocking it high into the air. The EVA seemed to be connected to the ground through some large power cable. As the EVA flew further back, the power cable ripped up through the street, sending pavement flying.

"We should move, Toji..."

Toji looked up from the action to see that the EVA, which was several stories tall, seemed to be sailing through the air in slow motion toward them. It was too close.

The two of them began running, only to be sent flying as the EVA impacted with the earth, a shockwave knocking them off their feet.

Shinji banged his head and saw stars as he came back to earth. He tasted blood.

This was one sneaky devil. As soon as Shinji had entered the surface, he had grabbed a Pallet Rifle from the weapons locker and opened up on the fucker. Hardcore.

He had not been pleasantly surprised as a purple tentacle shot out and cut up his rifle. Misato was screeching something at him over the comlink about the Angel having an AT Field. He remembered being briefed that the EVAs also possessed an AT Field, but he had yet not figured out how to raise it. Godammit! They were cheating...

It had actually hurt when the thing had rushed him. His chest felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer, and his perception shifted as he sailed through the air.

I'm flying... and then he felt dull pain as the earth rushed up to meet him.

In the corner of his eye, he saw the Angel tear through the city to get at him. He must have really pissed it off.

He thought about flexing his hand, and the EVA's right hand flexed. He had to get back up, back into the fight. He stopped as he saw sudden movement near his right hand. He thought about focusing on that spot, and the EVA's displays zoomed in. Shit. He recognized that fucker in the black tracksuit. That other kid was with him, the one with the camera. They were supposed to be in shelters. Did'nt anyone follow directions?

Toji and Kensuke stopped backing away when the EVA's hand stopped moving. The EVA's head tilted town and looked at them. It looked frightening up close, yellow eyes and sharp edges.

A hatch on the EVA's neck opened with a loud POP and what looked like some big metal screw slid out. The screw had some kind of door in it, and it opened, releasing some kind of orange fluid to come streaming out. A hand grabbed the edge of the hatch and pulled up a body. It was the new kid. He was yelling something.

"Get your asses over here, godammit! You're in the way! You want to die?!"

Toji and Kensuke ran up the hill. Shinji was wearing some kind of flight suit, white and black with navy blue trim. He had some kind of white metallic devices on his head. He looked pissed.

"Why the fuck are'nt you two in a shelter? Get the fuck in. I don't have all day."

"In...?"

"Yes, in! Come on, it's getting closer. I can't fight it with you in my way!"

Toji and Kensuke climbed into the entry plug. The hatch closed and the Plug popped back into the EVA. The EVA's neck hatch resealed. Suddenly, from vents around the Plug, more of that orange fluid streamed in, refilling the cockpit.

"You trying to drown us?!" Toji yelled.

"Relax. You can breath it. Shut the fuck up and stop squirming around! I need to concentrate."

"My camera..." Kensuke wailed. The camcorder had shorted out from the LCL.

"I'll buy you another camera! Just be cool. If I don't beat this thing, your camera will be the least of your worries."

The EVA shook as Shinji guided it back to it's feet. There was a quick perseption shift, as the EVA stood at it's full height. Toji and Kensuke found it disorienting.

A sudden movement to the EVA's left, and the forth Angel was back. It's tentacles glowed a bright purple in the daylight, and electric arcs ran aling their lengths. it seemed to be challenging him.

"Round two, fucker." Unit 01 reengaged the enemy.

Shinji had again underestimated the Angel, and was paying for it. The creature, for it's mass, was quicker than it looked. One of it's tentacles became razor-thin and edged, and shot out, severing the power umbilical from NERV to Unit 01.

Alarms and flashing lights suddenly filled the cockpit, and a bright computer display with a timer began counting down. 59.59. Not a lot of time to do much of anything.

With blazing speed, the Angel had one of its tentacles wrapped around Unit 01's throat and sent an electric charge at it's opponent.

Inside the Entry Plug, the LCL heated up considerably from the Angel's electric attack. Shinji screamed and grabbed at his throat. An angry red welt had appeared there. He was also bleeding from his nose and ears. Keeping conscious was a significant achievement.

The Angel pulled Unit 01 in closer. A pair of red eyes seemed to be examining the EVA, probing it. The look in the Angel's eyes was completely inhuman.

Shinji looked at the Angel's chest. Behind some kind of armored carapace, there was a dull red glow. He had been told about this. The Angel's core. Kill the core, kill the Angel.

A port on one of Unit 01's shoulder guards popped open, revealing a holster for a knife. The...progressive knife. Someone had called it that.

A lateral slice at the carapace peeled it open, revealing a large, throbbing orb. It seemed to be pulsing with energy. Shinji looked at the countdown for the EVA's power levels.

12.34.

He drove the knife into the core, and then punched it, so it went in deeper. A brilliant red light surged from the destroyed core, and then it went dark. The core then began gushing a thick, red fluid. The Angel's tentacles powered down and detached themselves, dropping Unit 01.

Shinji had tapped a button, and the EVA's entry/exit hatch unsealed, and the Enrty Plug shifted to allow exit. He pressed the hatch controls, and the Plug was open to the world. Toji and Kensuke quickly climbed out, dripping with LCL.

They turned around as Shinji struggled to climb out. He finally fell in a heap on the ground, and struggled to get up. His breathing was ragged and irregular. Toji helped him to his feet, but Shinji collapsed again. He barely had the energy to think, much less move.

"Hey..." he said weakly. He took a deep breath. "Open that panel...on the side of the Plug and hand me the phone..."

Kensuke ran over to the exterior of the Entry Plug and saw a small metal box on the side. Opening it, he saw a wireless satellite phone. He took it and handed it to Shinji. Toji had moved him to a sitting position on a nearby rock. With effort, Shinji pressed a button on the phone and spoke into it.

"The Angel...is dead." Shinji wheezed. He stopped and began coughing heavily. He spat out blood. "I've been better, Misato. No, Misato. I had no choice but to let them into the EVA. Can we...talk about this later? I'm not feeling...too good." With that, Shinji dropped the phone and collapsed sideways onto the grass. Toji and Kensuke ran over. Why was everything getting blurry? In the distance, he heard something about staying awake, and saw Toji pounding on his chest. It became too hard to stay alert anymore.

Toji and Kensuke listened as down the hallway in a frantic voice, Misato was yelling at Shinji.

"Goddammit, Shinji! You have got to be smarter than that! What do we train you for, if you're going to disregard battle protocol like that? We need you, now more than ever! Unit 00 is still out of commission. it'll be at least a week and a half until it is operational and Rei can be tested in it again. Unit 02 won't be here for a while. You are all that stands between humanity and the Angels. Right now, there is no one else. You can't be taking risks like that."

There was the sound of rapid tapping of keys on a keyboard.

'It does'nt matter that you accomplished the mission! When you are in combat, your first priority if to kill the Angel. Everything else is secondary." More tapping of keys. "You could'nt leave them there to die? This is a war, and in a war, people die! You have to understand that."

Misato turned around to see Toji and Kensuke, dressed in clean clothes, standing in the doorway. "I'll come back later." Misato got up and left the room. The two of them could see that she had been crying, and her face was a mass of worry. They approached the hospital bed.

During the battle, in the moments when the fourth Angel had used it's electric attack against Unit 01, Shinji's synchronization rate had risen from 62 percent to over 80 percent. The trauma inflicted upon the EVA had been replicated on a smaller scale on it's pilot. He had been placed on life support, with a ventilator breathing for him until his trachea healed and the lining in his lungs was no longer bruised. The NERV doctors had called it a miracle that he had been able to function, mich less kill the Angel and be conscious for as long as he was after the attack.

"You've looked better." Kensuke said. The Third Child looked so weak, as if all of the fight had been taken out of him. His only significant injuries was to his respiratory system. Shinji held up a small computer tablet with a screen and keyboard. I FEEL LIKE SHIT, he typed. "THE DOCTORS SAY I'LL BE ABLE TO BREATHE ON MY OWN AGAIN IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. MY VOICE SHOULD ALSO COME BACK SOON. YOU GUYS ALRIGHT?

"NERV security were halfway ready to put out asses in solitary for life. They said that our actions 'endangered the Third Child's life and jeapordized the mission.' Finally they made us agree to never reveal what heppened to anyone. Then they let us go." Toji said.

NEXT TIME, STAY IN THE SHELTER. I DON'T WANT TO GET HURT A SECOND TIME FOR YOU GUYS.

"I'm sorry. About earlier. I shouldn't have gotten in your face in school. I'm-I'm not a bad guy. I was just worried about my sister. But I should'nt have gotten on you about something that wasn't your fault. You're sorry too, right Kensuke?'

"Sorry for what?" Toji hit him in the arm. "Yeah, man. I'm sorry too."

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, Shinji typed. LISTEN. GO TO MISATO AND TELL HER TO CHARGE TO MY NERV ACCOUNT THE COST OF A NEW CAMCORDER. GO TO THE MALL, GET ANY CAMCORDER YOU WANT. PRICE IS NO ISSUE.

"What? Why?" Kensuke asked.

I DID SAY I WOULD BUY YOU A NEW CAMERA. I DON'T MAKE A HABIT OF LYING TO MY FRIENDS. NOW GET OUT OF HERE AND TELL MISATO, BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND. I'LL SEE YOU LATER IN SCHOOL. I JUST WANT TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW.

"You consider us your friends/' Toji asked. He was surprised.

WHY NOT? NOW GET OUT. I WANT TO SLEEP.

Kensuke grinned. "You're all right, man. Get well soon." He gave a short wave and left.

"Be seeing you. Don't up and die on us, now." Toji left.

Shinji pulled the covers on his bed up and rolled over on his side. Those two might be more trouble than they were worth. But then again, you can never pick the peope you call your friends.

He tried to sleep. Breathing with that respirator was a pain in the ass. Two, three more days until he could leave. He could'nt wait.