Disclaimer: See initial chapter

SulliMike23 - It's Evangelion and Star Wars. Peace is almost guaranteed to go right out the window. It never lasts very long. Although I'm hoping to keep it up a bit longer before all heck breaks loose.

Chapter 2 - First Steps...

"Rise! Bow! Sit!"

With that call from Hikari and the actions that followed suit, the class began. And the moment after she took her seat, Ayanami Rei turned her head toward the window, gazing outside. The clear sunlit blue sky always appeared to the First Child, as the setting always allowed her to think. Generally it was nothing in particular, but the freeness of thought alone appealed to her. During the Angel Wars, it had been one of the precious few time where she didn't have to think about fighting the Angels, NERV, or even Commander Ikari.

Moments where she felt free...

Of course, now she realized that she had always been free. She had just never known it. She had her first inklings of it when Shinji first arrived to Tokyo-3, watching his personality affecting others and he being affected in return, then his growth upon meeting Qui-Gon and being trained as an apprentice. Then when he offered to help her learn about her own power, this realization grew. And as time went on, she felt herself grow, not as an instrument, but as a real person.

And then she 'died'...

But it seems, even that did not stop her. Her memories somehow bonded with her through the Force and as a result, she was reborn, in the body of the third. It seemed incredible, even impossible, even with the existence of the Angels, EVAs and everything else that had happened. But some time ago, Qui-Gon had told Shinji that rebirth was in fact possible. It was, after all, part of the purpose of both NERV and SEELE Instrumentality projects. But more than that, it was also possible through the Force somehow.

Qui-Gon was proof of that.

Her realization awakened, she defied the Commander and helped her fellow pilots stop another Second Impact from destroying the world. Feeling a loss of purpose, she soon applied herself to the Jedi path, learning under Qui-Gon the kind of person she was and the power she possessed. For that, she was grateful to the Jedi Master.

But as of late...

Rei was no stranger to secrets, so it wasn't a surprise to her that Qui-Gon seemed to have a few of his own. But in recent times, she felt that the Jedi Master was troubled by something. The others had noticed it too, but Rei felt there was something more in it. With regards to perception, Rei's senses exceeded Asuka and Shinji's. And as mentioned, she was no stranger to secrets, so she knew what it looked like to hide them.

Especially dangerous ones...

Returning her attention back to class (although her face was still turned toward the window), the azure-haired girl simply sighed to herself. At the moment, there was nothing she could do about whatever it was Qui-Gon was hiding, nor was there anything she should do. Right now, it was just something for her to keep in mind until it came to mean something. Whatever it was, it wasn't something she needed to worry about until the time came when she had to.

In short, patience...

She could do patience...

In the midst of the woodland area, the sole figure of Qui-Gon Jinn sat motionlessly, with knees bent on the floor and his eyes closed. So still and quiet was he, that he seemed to blend in with the environment, doing absolutely nothing.

But there was a great difference between being still and doing nothing...

The mind of the Jedi Master was focused on the task that he was setting himself for. It had been a long while since he had undertaken in anything that seemed like a mission and the nostalgic irony was not lost on him. He had managed to put it off for some time by focusing his energies into training Asuka and Rei. It was an challenging feat, training two Padawans at the same time, especially with the two girls with such extreme personalities

But, as it turned out, the key to teaching them lay in their opposing personalities. Qui-Gon worked to instill the traits of one into the other. With Asuka, he strove to instill Rei's calmness and reflective nature while with Rei, he worked to help her be more assertive and expressive. Both tasks proved difficult, as he wasn't that well acquainted with the girls.

That was were Shinji came in...

Workig as his assistant, Shinji aided Qui-Gon in their Jedi training, at which the Jedi master found him invaluable. He knew how to 'weather' Asuka's storms all the while bring Rei out of her shell more. This, coupled with Qui-Gon's own teachings and patience, allowed for both girls to become exceptional Padawans. But more than that, they became better people for it.

It was a new experience for Qui-Gon. Not only training two students at the same time, but having someone to assist him in doing so. It was certainly not an approved method of the Old Jedi Code. Sure, other masters assisted in the teaching of Padawans and younglings, but the responsibility for training was solely on the assigned Master. But as he had long realized that this wasn't the Republic or the Jedi Order. Heck, this wasn't even a problem that spanned across the galaxy or even a star system. It was one world.

Yet the threats were still the same it seemed...

With a slow breath, Qui-Gon's eyes opened and he smoothly lifted himself off the ground. Steadily, he moved toward and through the treeland path in front of him. Moments later, he moved out into a clearing and a more public roadway where a car was parked by the side, with the driver, a certain unshaven man, stood by the hood waiting.

"Ready to go?

"Yes."

NERV HQ, Commander's Office

"M-Misato!"

Shinji stammered helplessly as the Commander of NERV had enveloped him in a near crushing embrace, with Asuka and Rei standing on either side watching (Asuka shaking her head in disdain; Rei with an almost neutral expression). It was also something to note that all of Shinji's training on calmness seemed to fly out the window whenever Misato got like this.

"Oh I missed you guys so much!" she gushed.

"And yet, she goes straight for the baka." Asuka threw in, still shaking her head. "Seriously, Misato. This is not how the commander of NERV is supposed to act."

Finally releasing Shinji, Misato waved a hand at her. "Oh, please. Life's too short for me the acting that way all the time. Besides, it's been hell here and I need a break from being Commander Katsuragi for a while."

"Are we to start with the synch test now?" Rei questioned.

"Yeah." Rubbing her forehead, she sighed. "Honestly, I think it's just something to keep Maya and Ritsuko busy for a while, at least until I figure things out." With another sigh, she then perked up. "So, how did your Jedi training go?"

"Well." Rei answered. "We are official apprentices now."

Misato smiled, although mentally she took note of Rei's answer. No, not exactly her answer, but rather the fact that she did answer. In a moment like this, it would have been Asuka to normally answer such a question. But Asuka was strangely silent and Rei speaking more than usual. She was aware of the changes the two girls had undergone through Qui-Gon's initial training, just like Shinji. They were slight, but she saw them. And now they were present in the in a more subtle way.

They were the same, but different...

"That's great. Not too sure what it means exactly, but I'm glad for the two of you. Well, we better get this on with now." Turning around, she returned to her desk and sat down, placing her hands flat on the desk and looking at them solidly. The three saw the mood change in her and recognized that she was taking up her authoritive persona now.

Now she was Commander Katsuragi...

"Pilots Ikari, Ayanami, and Sohryu, report to the Eva cages for synch testing."

Standing straight, the three Children saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!"

Fifteen minutes later, the three Children were dressed in their plugsuits and entering the docking bay of the Evangelions. The three exchanged a single glance to each other before splitting off and heading to their individual Evas. The reason being, they knew what or rather who, remained dormant within each Eva. And although Shinji and Asuka were more than curious as to contacting their mothers within, Rei didn't have such a luxury with her occupant. So they opted to simply do what they would normally do during a synch test and calmly sit within the entry plug and focus on achieving synch with the Eva without going over the borderline.

In the observation booth, Maya looked out as the three Children entered the entry plugs of their Evas. Turning about, she then stood next to Ritsuko, who was seated in front of the monitor with a cup of coffee by her side. Musing once again about how their roles had reversed, Maya gave a nod to one of the technicians, who started the testing process. Within the Evas, Shinji, Asuka and Rei felt the startup of their machines and simply relaxed.

In truth, synch with an Eva wasn't an exact science, so they were unsure as to how they could improve their own scores. Often, they were told just to relax and concentrate on the Eva, so that was what they did. However, in doing so, they also began to sense each other through the Force, feeling each other and the life energy around them. And as such, this began to reflect on the percentage score.

"Look at this."

On the monitors, Ritsuko and Maya saw the synch ratio between the three Children evening out, matching each other right down to the decimal and all of reasonably high strength. Although this wasn't the first time this had happened, it amazed both women all the same that the Children could be on the same wavelength, linking not only with their Evangelions, but with each other as well.

"You are recording all of this, right?"

The tech nodded to Maya's question. "Yes, ma'am."

"What do you think, sempai?"

"I don't know." Ritsuko said thoughtfully. "This is more than I ever thought was possible."

There was more to the Children's link to the Evas than just the souls that inhabit them. Something that had to do with their Jedi training. She had already seen a bit of what they were capable of during the invasion, but was too lost in her own misery to take any notice. But now, this was something...something she could focus and take note of. Who knows? It might open a new avenue of science altogether. She realized that she was probably grasping at straws in an effort to occupy herself, but it was something worth pursuing.

"But you have some ideas." Maya continued.

Realizing that it was a statement rather than a question, Ritsuko smiled. Perhaps this pursuit would be worthwhile. If it worked out, she would have something for Maya to work on. Lord knows, the younger woman would need something to help the Eva project going. And now that she was an advisor, she would have time to pursue these things without the responsibilities as lead scientist to saddle her down.

"A few."