Shinji popped awake with a groan. "Anybody got the number of the train that hit me?" He grabbed his head.

"Idiot! Get up! That Angel is headed to the mountain you slid down, on your left." Misato's harsh words got him to look over a shoulder towards a mountain. "Your other left, Shinji."

Seeing the mountain, he clearly remembered being flung into the air, only an outstretched hand catching the ground slowed his momentum forward. He spotted something near the apex of the landing site. "Who's up there?" Manipulating a 3d mouse, he zoomed in on the figures, "T-toji and Kensuke?"

Misato panicked and yelled at him, "Get up dammit! Move!"

The Purple Behemoth picked itself up from the new landing strip and something dropped off of the shoulder mounts. Two objects crashed into the ground. The boys on the mountain could feel the great rock below them shimmy for a split-second. Kensuke cringed, "Great, it's broken!"

Ritsuko's voice held excitement and a hint of panic, "He's lost the batteries! The lock bolts must have been damaged in the crash!"

Shinji saw his heads up display turn red and an energy reserve timer flicked on. Less than five minutes to save headquarters. He gave a sinister grin. You want a fight? Good. So do I.

Unit 01 sprinted to the side of the mountain, barely within twenty seconds. Shigeru sounded amused, "That's the fastest three-mile by a bipedal creature in history!"

Their humor was broken by Misato, "Shinji stop before the top of the mountain, you're going to pick up some passengers."

"What are you doing, Misato? That Angel is moments away, there isn't time for heroics!" Ritsuko was serious, but angry. Passengers? She doesn't mean in the... entry plug!?

She pointed at her colleague matter-of-factly, "You aren't authorized to let them into the Plug, Captain!"

Misato turned toward her friend as if facing an enemy, "This is a tactical, -military- decision, Doctor Akagi!"

The Angel didn't waste time floating up the mountain to its sluggish adversary. Unit 01 reacted in time to catch the tentacles, but they began burning through the armor protecting the Purple Behemoth's hands. Shinji yelped, but clung to his enemy.

"Shinji, hold Eva on your current commands and eject the plug!" Misato ordered. Without waiting for his response, she added, "Do it!"

After ejecting the plug and opening the hatch, Misato's voice boomed over the external loudspeaker. "You two, -get in-! No arguments!"

A minute later, Kensuke and Toji stepped into the LCL-flooded entry plug. "Oh gross! What's this muck I'm standing in?" Toji could have puked, but it didn't smell filthy, ... more like fresh blood.

The hatch secured and re-flooded, as both boys attempted to hold their breath within their surreal environment. "Breathe normal guys, it doesn't hurt for long." Shinji calmly stated. They heard him, quite clearly, and exhaled.

After a moment, the surface of the plug began the connection sequence. The view jumped a lot as the Angel became visible.

"The psycograph is going backwards! Nerve connections are unstable!" Maya was panicking, searching for anything within the data that could explain what she was seeing.

"It's thought noise. You've allowed two new, untrained, untested, UN-AUTHORIZED bodies into the matrix!" Ritsuko was really angry with Katsuragi and glared at the woman she called a friend.

Shinji focused on the target before himself and threw the Angel back toward Tokoyo-3 with excellent velocity.

"Shinji, retreat! Get those two to safety!" Misato kept stubbornly trying to overrule the boy.

"No." He was very quiet, not even looking up at the screen.

Toji put a hand on the pilot's shoulder, "Hey, new-ki... Shinji. She said to get out of here."

"That's an -ORDER-, you dumbass! RETREAT!" She couldn't be more clear in her entire life. He's gonna die and then we're -all- next.

The microphone barely picked up on the boy's voice, so Shigeru turned up the volume. "... ...ew me away, like HE did. But I'm not going anywhere."

"Progressive knife has been activated." Hyuga couldn't believe what was happening. "This is insane, he's going to attack!"

"Thirty seconds of battery power left! Now's a good time as any, Ikari!" Maya really was terrified. She gave another prayer, but kept it to herself this time. Everyone within the command center merely watched the colossal screen.

"I'm Shinji Ikari! Welcome to Tokoyo-3 you son of a bitch!" The purple behemoth gracefully drifted down the mountainside, followed by a massive dust cloud. Knife in-hand, Unit 01 was driving faster toward the Angel than it had to traverse the terrain behind the mountain moments ago.

Just as the foot was planted to strike, the Angel lashed a tentacle into the abdomen of the Evangelion. Instead of driving his quarry back, Shinji planted the other foot and made his steed jump. Grabbing hold of the Angel's "shoulder", Shinji drove the knife into the core of the target, showering Unit 01 in a rain of sparks. The three boys saw the energy drain from the core and die out, just before Unit 01's own power source depleted. All three stooges exhaled a sigh of relief. Their reverie was cut short as the two giants crash-landed on the side of Mount Tsukuba.

A/N: That would be around a 16 Km running long jump, if anyone's counting.