A/N: So yeah... this is a filler chapter before the magma diving part. All the kids are about to go to Okinawa, except the pilots, how sad, boo hoo. By the way, that angel bores me, so I'm skipping it, because I can. Anyway... let's see what happens next. Here... we go!

Chapter fourteen:

No Trip For You!

"give us a sign that tells us when to laugh"

-Kyon

The past week has been utter hell! Scorching heat, matching Haruhi's temper, and not to mention Haruhi's been texting me nonstop, from the time I get home to the time I go to bed! Haruhi and Mikuru both stopped wearing their Nerve clips, because Sohryu wears her's everyday, and speaking of the red devil, Sohryu is driving me nuts at home! She kicked me out of my own room because all her crap wouldn't fit in the spare bedroom! I am this close to strangling her! I'm not kidding! If Haruhi's mood doesn't let up, I will end up in the looney bin, this heat is killing me!

Finally on wednesday, the teacher anounced something that did manage to settle Haruhi down, thank god! The class was having a trip to Okinawa for the weekend, but I'd bet an entire paycheck that NERV wouldn't let me go, I was right by the way, maybe I should start making bets, I'd probably be able to buy NERV in no time.

At home, I sat at the table, finishing my dinner as Sohryu bitched about, you guessed it, not being able to go to Okinawa.

"You're telling me I can't go to Okinawa? I'm on permanant standby? Why?" She thundered, slamming her hands down on the table to emphasize her point. Her arm had recovered nnow and was out of the sling by the way.

"Because it's your job" Misato shot back non-chalantly.

"Well, what idiot decided that?"

"This idiot, your operation planning manager"

How does Misato manage to not kill this girl?

Sohryu turned to me angrily and yelled, "Ikari, Why don't stop stuffing your face and talk some sense into this woman! Act like a man!" She ordered.

Bitch, I don't take orders from you.

Nice one, Kyon!

Thank you.

I pushed my plate away, sighing, and faced the raving red head, "And just who would defend NERV if an angel decided to attack?" I asked, trying to inject some logic into her.

"Wonder girl obviously!" She declared, completely uncaring of anyone but herself.

"And why should Rei stay behind? Maybe she'd like to go too, or maybe your just so full of yourself that you could care less?" I shot back.

"Full of myself? Hah! Last I checked, my sync score was a eighty, while you and wonder girl are barely above sixty!"

"Then by that logic, you should stay behind while Rei and I go, since you're apparently the best"

Sohryu pulled her hair in frustration, "Ugh! I can't stand you and you're smart mouth!" She screamed running back to her room to sulk.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed again,

"You look down, Kyon-kun, want to talk about something?" Misato asked, putting her can of beer on the table.

There were certain things I wanted to talk about, but the only person who I could talk about it with wasn't here. I can't believe that I actually miss Koizumi.

"Not really..." I said, staring up at the ceiling.

"It's girl problems, isn't it?" Misato teased.

Ugh... why the teasing?

"Something like that," There is one thing I can tell Misato without sounding like a nut though, "I guess I'm just worried about Haruhi-"

"-Ooh~!" Misato cooed,

I rolled my eyes and continued, "You heard about what happened with Sohryu and Mikuru the other day, right?"

"That's one of the reasons that Asuka's living here, you know"

"Yeah... I know. It's just that Haruhi is pretty pissed about it, and she's in enough trouble with NERV as it is, I'm worried that she'll do something stupid and I'll never see her again"

"Aww~! You're such a sweety Kyon-kun~!"

"So I'm told" I said, leaning forward and facing Misato. Whoa, headrush!

"Just spend time with Suzumiya, that should keep her occupied and happy" Misato stated.

"There's nothing to really do until I get paid" I said, placing my head on the table, tired.

"Oh! That reminds me, here!" Misato pulled a black card out of her pocket, "This was in your mailbox today, it's your official NERV bank card"

I took it out of her hand and observed it, it had my name, pin number and a red NERV logo in the background,

"NERV bank card? So I don't have to deal with cash now?"

"Yep! Every month your money goes straight to your bank account"

This is awesome! I don't have to count money anymore!

I got up and stretched, asking, "Hey you don't mind if I go out for a while do you?"

"Just be back by midnight!"

I put my shoes on, "Alright" And headed out the door.

"Oh, Kyon!" she called after me before I shut the door,

"Huh?" I asked, poking my head back in.

"If you go into battle, put a helmet on that soldier!"

what does that mean? She then through a condom wrapper at me...Oh, shut up Misato!

I laughed, causing her to give me a deadly serious expression,

"I mean it Kyon, the last thing you need to worry about is getting a girl knocked up!"

I didn't plan it...

The night air was pretty refreshing, I like warm weather, but a guy can only handle so much heat. I walked down the street towards a nearby cofee shop and stepped in, taking in the sight of something I found incredibly comforting and nostalgic. It looked almost exactly like the cofee shop the brigade frequented in the old world, except slightly larger.

I sat down and texted Haruhi as I waited for some service.

I had invited Haruhi and Mikuru to come join me and gave them directions on where to find me, needless to say, Haruhi obliged immedietley when I told her it was my treat.

I took a sip of cofee and almost spit it out as Haruhi shouted, "Hi Kyon!"

"When did you get here?" I asked, motioning for them to sit down.

"So why did you invite us? Did something bad happen?" She asked cautiously

"No I just-"

"-Did Sorhyu die?" she asked excitedly

"I'm afraid not, I just-"

"-Oh my gosh! Did they make me a pilot!" She asked eagerly

stop interupting me!

"God no."

She slumped down in her seat sadly, "Then why did you invite us?"

If you didn't interupt me, you'd know already!

"I was just bored, I thought you two might have wanted to hang out"

"Oh... yeah, it's better than hanging around at home" Haruhi huffed

I turned to Mikuru and smiled, "Your eye is healing up"

She giggled and beamed at me, "Yeah, I'm hoping it goes away before we go to Okinawa though!"

Okinawa... too bad I can't go with them too.

"So what are you going to do when we go to Okinawa, Kyon?" Haruhi asked, looking through a menu.

"I can't go, we're on permanent standby in case an angel attacks"

She slammed the menu down, "What? Okinawa won't be any fun without you! Miku-chan and I are just going to walk around with nothing to do!"

"You don't get an allowance or anything?" I asked.

Mikuru looked sad when I asked that.

"No! My dad took our allowance away after that Eva incident! He was grilled at work for it... it's not my fault you let me in the Eva!"

It kind of is...

"Hold that thought", I said, getting up and walking over to a nearby ATM.

I came back with sixty nine thousand, eight hundred and fifty two yen, which is roughly about six hundred dollars American, for those of you who don't know the conversion rate.

"Here, split this between the two of you" I said, handing both girls the fat stack of cash.

"W-what? We can't take this, Kyon! That's your money!" Haruhi cried out, trying to politely reject it,

I chuckled, "That's barely a fourth of what I made this month, go on take it! What am I going need all that cash for anyway?"

"Th-that's s-still not right, Kyon-kun, you earned that!" Mikuru stated nervously.

"Just bring me back something cool from Okinawa, okay?"

"well... alright, if you insist" Haruhi said, giving up.

The three of us sat and talked for a while, I didn't mind at all, I quietly listened to them talk about what they were going to do when they went to Okinawa this friday. You know, before all this universe merging crap, I wouldn't have sat here and listened to Haruhi blab about her plans all night. I guess I had learned to appreciate times like this and all the memories it brought back. I'd give anything right now to have my world back to the way it was, I'd even put up with Haruhi's crazy schemes and metaphysical messes just for some normalcy, well normalcy for me anyway. I suppose the lesson here is don't take anything for granted, because you never know when something will be snatched away with barely a moment's notice.

The pilots were pulled out of school the next day for a sync test, I haven't made any mention of these because they're actually pretty boring and really not worth mentioning. We have at least two a week, but they aren't scheduled on any certain day, it's pretty random. We basically just sit in the Evas and meditate for an hour, not very interesting. The only thing that makes this particular test worth mentioning is Nagato.

I was just sitting quietly in my plug, minding my own bussiness when suddenly things got a little brighter. Normally the insertion plug is pretty dark, which makes it easier to focus, so when I can sense light through my eyelids, I'm going to notice.

I opened my eyes and found myself sitting alone in Nagato's apartment. Looking around, I found that everything was just as I remembered it. I stood up and looked out the window, noting the inky darkness outside, There was absolutely nothing to see.

'What's going on?' I thought to myself, before I heard soft footsteps behind me.

I turned around to see Nagato standing by the table, wearing her school uniform as she always did. I hadn't noticed it before, but I was wearing my North high uniform as well, blazer and all.

"What the? Wasn't I just wearing a plugsuit? Why am I in my school outfit?" I asked myself.

"It is something that you identify yourself with" She stated in her trademark monotone

I walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug, "I missed you Nagato"

She didn't hug back, but said, "I... have missed you as well"

I let go of her and looked around again, "This isn't really your apartment is it?" I asked.

"Correct, this is our shared absolute territory. You identify this place with safety, and I identify it as home, therefore our absolute territory takes this shape"

I frowned, "When you say absolute territory-"

"Correct, AT Field" Wow, Nagato rarely cuts me off.

"So you really are in the Eva..."

"Yes"

"What's it like? Are you alright here?"

"I do not mind, it is a unique expierience, please sit down."

I obliged and sat across the table from her,

"So is there something you wanted to tell me? Is that why you brought me here?"

"...No"

"You're bored aren't you?"

She didn't say anything.

"Do you want to talk about anything?" I asked.

"Yes"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I do not have any particular preferences" That's Nagato for 'I don't care', by the way.

"Alright..." I looked up at the ceiling, thinking about a topic, "...what are the angels?"

"I do not have sufficient data" She replied.

"Oh... okay then. ...Has Shinji been telling me the truth?" I asked

This seemed to catch her interest,

"Ikari Shinji is trustworthy, despite his lack of stimulation and over all annoyance factor"

"I don't know what that last part means, Nagato"

"He is bored and attempts to amuse himself by annoying you"

I knew that already...

"So what exactly is going on, when can I go home?"

"It is not time for you to know that"

"Am I going to be stuck here forever?" I asked nervously

"No, things will be placed back to the natural order eventually"

That's a relief. I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck in Bizzaro world for the rest of my life.

Conversation with Nagato is never very entertaining, but she is straight to the point, I'm thankful for that.

"So... out of all the universes out there, why this one?"

"Our universe was the optimal choice, and Ikari Shinji calculated that you were the best person in the multiverse to replace him. Your personality is best suited for this situation"

"I see, do I have time for one more question?" I asked, starting to feel my body calling back on earth.

"One more"
"What exacatly is this 'absolute territory'?"

"Absolute territory is your conciousness, or soul. It is what makes beings individuals. The physical field is refered to as the light of one's soul, as it is made of waves of light and controlled by one's force of will"

I was starting to fade away now,

"I think I have to go now, Nagato. It was nice talking to you" I said waving.

"Yes, I found this enjoyable as well. You will always be safe in unit one"

I opened my eyes and took a deep gulp of LCL, bleh.

Doctor Akagi's face popped into my vision,

"Kyon-kun, Are you alright?" She sounded worried

"Yeah, why?"

She looked over to something offscreen, "Your sync rate went over one hundred for a few seconds, are you certain you're feeling alright? Any dizziness? Numbness? Anything unusual?"

"I'm just peachy" I said, stretching in the plug.

"It must have been a computing error... Alright, tests are over, you can go home now"

Oh thank god! I hate being cooped up in these things!

I laid on my bed that night playing pokemon silver for gameboy color, I had tried to find a decent game system on my way home, but not one shop had much of anything more advanced than a Sega genesis, I asked for a PS2, but nobody seemed to know what I was talking about, so I settled for this. Maybe this second impact put a major damper on consumer technology? That would explain my laptop and cell phone. There was one good thing I noticed about the cell phone that was pretty cool though, it didn't have many features, but it could hold a charge for about three or four days and could get a signal anywhere, I learned that by forgetting to charge it. I guess NERV wants to be sure they could get a hold of us in any situation.

"Ooh! Is that pokemon?" Shinji asked, appearing out of nowhere again.

"Yep"

"Neat"

"So what's up?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the screen,

"Nothing much, just that Ryoko's Eva will be repaired pretty soon"

"That's good"

"I hope so..." Shinji trailed off.

I put the gameboy down and looked at him, who was sitting upside down on the ceiling. I'm not even going to snark.

"Why are you so worried?" I asked

"No reason really, I just subscribe to murphy's law"

Murphy's law is basically a philosophy that revolves around the phrase; 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong'. I've found this to often be true.

"You shouldn't be so pessimistic, Shinji. I'm sure it will be fine"

"I've been told that before, didn't do me much good"

This kid is pretty deppressing sometimes, I can't help but pity him.

"So is there anything else I need to know?" I asked.

Shinji looked down, with that far away look for a moment and then said, "Don't let Asuka die, there's some risky stuff coming up, so be prepared"

Risky stuff huh?

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, I have to go now, night"

"...night" I replied, left wondering what he meant.

Screw it, I rolled over and tried to get some sleep.