Answers:
Ch 4 Guest: That compliment really means a lot to me. I write reports for college regularly, but I wasn't a particularly good creative writer for years (hence this being my first big project).
Fanus: Funny you should say 'Rational Real pilot' because I started taking flying lessons at age 14 (what a coincidence, right?) and complete rationality is the exact behaivor required when you're at the controls of an expensive machine. I've never really played the sly cooper games, but you've got me reading your story now, you clever racoon...

Disclaimer: See prologue
Chapter 4: First Fight

Shinji put on the strange headset that Ritsuko gave him.

"That's your A-10 neural network connection. It allows you to control the Eva with your thoughts and voice. Now I need you to follow me up to the Entry Plug. It functions both as your control room and the Eva's spinal cord."

Shinji settled into the seat and took hold of the twin joysticks.

"Shinji, you have Eight degrees of motion. Four with your headset for your view controls, so that wherever you look, the Eva will look as well. Your joysticks provide the other directions. Pull them back towards you in unison and you'll walk forward, push them away and you'll go backwards. Rotate them in opposite directions and you'll turn left or right."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense."

"You don't have a rifle right now but you do have a combined knife and plasma torch. It's stored in your right shoulder holster and can cut and burn away an Angel's flesh."

"For now, at least, we'll have a direct connection between the Eva and HQ, so we'll handle the Eva's defenses. When you get out there; just focus on getting close to the Angel and stabbing the core. If everything goes well, you'll be back in 15 minutes."

"This is Akagi, close the plug and insert."

Shinji watched the heavy door close and felt a hard drop as the plug was forced down Unit 01's spinal column. Without warning, the cylinder filled with a red liquid, and Shinji gasped and held his breath.

"Ionize the LCL. Just breathe Shinji, we're running an electrical current through the chamber. It converts the LCL from liquid to gas; it's going to provide you with more oxygen than regular air."

Shinji breathed and noticed that the gas smelled like blood.

"Prep the catapult!

"Cat Shot in 3…2…1…Fire!"

Shinji felt crushed in his seat as the Eva rocketed upwards on the Maglev rails, coming to a rapid halt somewhere in upper Tokyo-3. He was restrained in the launch sled, but got his first look at his opponent. Gray-brown skin and a beak-like face obscured a large red sphere in the center of the Angel's body. = I guess that's the core I need to stab…=

"Shinji, Misato here, are you ready?"

"Not really, let's go."

"Fair enough. Release the clamps! Join power coupling! Evangelion Unit 01: MOVE OUT!"

"Okay, Shinji, it's Ritsuko. Just focus on smoothly operating the controls. Try walking forward."

= Sensei told me not to fight unless it's to defend myself, I guess I can defend other people too… =

Shinji pulled the twin sticks back towards him…and promptly dropped the Eva flat on its face.

"Oww…" Shinji felt his nose smash against the ground…and then get lifted up by the head as the Angel grabbed Unit 01 around the neck. The Angel started twisting his arm, and Shinji felt his shoulder dislocate. Misato reacted with anger; "SHINJI! The pain is not real! Your arm is not injured!" Ritsuko reacted with shock; "Maya, where's the AT Field?!"

"It failed to deploy! He's a sitting duck inside that thing."

The Angel dragged the Eva along the ground and started repeatedly striking Unit 01's helmet.

"Armor cracks! The blunt trauma is exceeding the helmet standards!

Shinji felt himself receive a concussive blow to his head. He choked on the LCL and passed out.

Shigeru Aoba spoke up, "Sync Loss! Pilot vitals falling, we've lost comms with Shinji!"

"Alright," Misato determined, "Scrub the mission, tow the power cable and get Unit 01 back here."

"Too late, Unit 01 just force ejected the power cable! It's operating on internal." The human-built nightmare rose from the ground, one punctured eye bleeding down its face.

"Then is Shinji still piloting!?"

"No," Ritsuko predicted "It's going berserk! I thought I wrote that behavior out of its programming!"

Unit 01 charged towards the Angel, its injured arm rapidly healing itself.

Maya read the long-range sensors, "AT Field is online!"

Unit 01 punched into the chest of the Angel, the two fields burning and sparking against each other. With a powerful forward kick, the Angel was knocked backwards and mangled itself against the remains of a skyscraper. Unit 01 crawled on top of it, clawing and scraping at the Angel's core until a combination of boiling blood and superheated plasma erupted from it.

With a last act of defiance, the Angel grabbed Unit 01 and held it against itself as it exploded in a low-yield nuclear radius.

Unit 01 simply walked away.

Shinji awoke in a hospital bed. = Was that a dream? I remember my arm feeling like it was getting ripped off of me. =

He wasn't connected to an intravenous device or a pulse monitor, so he simply got out of the bed. After walking out to the window, he heard another hospital crew transporting a mobile bed…That blue haired girl was on it, again. = She looks even more hurt than before. = He had no clue where he was, and he returned to bed. = At least this place doesn't really smell like hospital. =

After surveying the blast zone, Misato gave the Commander a call. "Katsuragi here, no sign of the Angel's core; it fully detonated…Yes sir, we will take blood samples. Thank you."

Ritsuko walked up to her; "I've got some good news, hospital orderly found Shinji awake and active."

"That's great and all, but the Commander wants us to bottle dead Angel blood."

Ritsuko simply deadpanned, "I love cleanup."

"Wakey Wakey Shinji!"

Shinji awoke to Misato hovering over him.

"Misato, what happened to me?"

"You beat the angel, Second Lieutenant Ikari!"

"…Who, Ikari"

"You've been officially instated as a Pilot Officer in NERV's Evangelion Program. With that comes the base rank of 2Lt. and a monthly stipend of 300,000 Yen."

"I don't get what you guys are talking about. I'm 14! Since when are kids allowed to fight in wars?"

"Well, the UN rescinded the Child Defense prohibition when the Evas' started activating; something about an adult's mind being too clouded and impure to operate an Eva's neural net."

"So with that out of the way, you're getting your new schedule, an apartment, and a new school with lots of opportunities to meet pretty girls…Oh! That reminds me, it was So Chivalrous to protect and comfort Rei like that, Prince Charming!"

Shinji stuttered, "M-m-Misato! I wasn't thinking of hitting on her, she was covered in blood and bandages! What was I supposed to do?"

"Shinji, I'm teasing you, and to answer your question, you're supposed to do whatever you feel is right. Helping Rei was a kind and noble thing; you shouldn't be embarrassed. Now, come with me, let's get your housing arrangements settled!"

"The 117 building!? Those are the lousiest dorm rooms this complex has!" Misato was chewing out the human resources representative when Shinji got his assignment.

"Misato, don't worry, I'm fine wherever they send me."

"Not here, you aren't. If they won't give you a decent hangout, you're staying with me in the upper city. I've got a four-bedroom apartment with 3 empties, so there's plenty of room for two new roommates to get along! Ooh! I've got it! We're gonna go buy a bunch of junk food and have a housewarming party!"

= Misato can go from a Military Officer to acting less mature than I am in the blink of an eye… = Shinji sarcastically thought to himself.

"So I asked him to live with me…It's not like I'm going to seduce him or anything." Misato was on the phone with Ritsuko when she took one joke a little too far…

"WELL I CERTAINLY HOPE YOU WOULDN'T YOU SHAMELESS NYMPHOMANIAC HE IS A 14 YEAR OLD BOY I WOULDN'T BE OUT OF MY MIND IF I TURNED YOU INTO THE POLICE RIGHT NOW!"

"…You really need to learn a sense of humor…"

"Let me stop us on this turn here…"

Misato had Shinji get out of the car on a cliff overlook at the edge of Tokyo-3.

"Look out over the city, Shinji, there are 133 Milllion people in Tokyo-3, and you just protected them all."

A siren sounded. The earth shook. The massive towers of Tokyo-3 grew out of the flat dome.

"That really is incredible, Misato."

= But why do I feel like I didn't help anybody? =

They made it back to Misato's apartment, and she showed Shinji inside, where his skin paled to a ghostly white upon seeing the piles of junk and random boxes everywhere. She had to shove him into the largest of her empty guest rooms before ushering him into her kitchen, piled high with takeout boxes and empty beer cans.

"Welcome home, Shinji! So the place is a chaotic mess, but it's only like that because I just moved in before I picked you up. Now let's get this stuff cooked up and dig in!"

= Chips and beer? Chips and beer everywhere! = "Are you sure that this microwave stuff is healthy, Misato?"

"Of course it isn't! It's party food! If you're that worried about eating right then you do the cooking for us and I'll wash dishes, but I expect it to taste really good. On the matter of health, your new schedule requires you to go to Advanced Junior High Class 2-A during school hours. Each afternoon you'll be training with NERV. You have Simulator time twice a week and Eskrima three times."

"Eskrima?"

"It's a Filipino martial art that specializes in knife-fighting. You'll need it to use the Progressive Knife well during a combat sortie. Ever done any sport fighting, Shinji?

"Sensei had me practice Aikido until I came here, but I didn't do it for sport."

"Well then, the exercise shouldn't be too difficult or different. And that makes it settled, you start school tomorrow, comprehensive training in the afternoon, and you crash in bed late at night just like I do!"

A/N: The Eskrima mention, besides being awesome, was included to set up a few 'peacetime' scenes in the future, so that's some shameless padding right there.