Answers:
Fanus: Don't worry, the Asuka bashing starts right...now!
Akuma: I've never understood any of the Kaji dislike. He's essentially James Bond, but it's shown that he completely loves Misato and is a real father figure for Shinji

Disclaimer: See Prologue
Chapter 12: Gravity

An SSTO Spacecraft was orbiting an international space platform built onto the moon.

"Here we are, 30 Meters from Tabtha Moon Base, and SEELE won't allow us to land. They can be nasty at times." Fuyutsuki observed.

Commander Ikari continued, "More importantly, Inspector General Kaji's report was quite accurate. It would seem that the Mark 6 is being completed at lighting pace. Unit 05 was a placeholder to design a simpler, more efficient Evangelion. The Mark 6 is the realization of that goal."

Fuyutsuki saw a grey figure on the Mark 6's hand. "...A person...out here? It's not possible."

"Pleased to meet you, Father".

"Ma'am, the object is on an intercept path with central Tokyo-3. Aerial N2 Bombardment is being absorbed by the AT field. It's moving straight through our defenses. Estimated time to planetfall is 122 minutes."

"How's the evacuation going?"

"Government and military are already out...no surprise there...civilian population is moving as we speak."

"What's the effect going to be?"

"The Eighth Angel seems to be willing to completely waste its own body in order to puncture the upper city and attack Dogma. With an AT field-magnified explosion, the GeoFront will burn until its surface is but glass..."

"Has the Commander been notified?"

"The Angel's AT field is blocking wireless communications."

Misato thought for a few minutes, before announcing "Then we're going to keep it from ever hitting the ground."

Ritsuko was about to explode. "Lieutenant Colonel Katsuragi! It doesn't matter whether we succeed here or not! Your solution ends with us sacrificing all three Evas in a single mission! And that's if we win! We'll have no protection for another attack! This isn't just a suicide mission, it's condemning every living thing in the world!"

"I know that. I also know that I'm the Acting Commander. It's my decision. We're moving forward."

"It's not your decision, it's your vendetta."

"YOU WANT US TO CATCH IT?!" Asuka screamed in disbelief.

"That's right. Before the Angel makes landfall, you're going to split up at three points and chase the Angel to its target. When you get there, you're going to overcharge the Evas' AT fields and catch it in midair. When its advance is halted, one of you will stab the core."

Asuka was getting hotheaded. "Please, you don't need these two! Send me out alone!"

"No, there are too many possible landing zones for a single Eva to track, Asuka. You're going to have to work as a team."

"You really think that that little of me?"

"That's not it. You're all equally skillful pilots, and I need every one of you online today."

Rei spoke up. "How do you know where to place us?"

"Just a woman's intuition."

Shinji didn't like those odds. "Misato! You've never even bought a winning lottery ticket! What are our chances here?!"

"Yeah, it's probably better if you don't know the answer to that. Now lets go, get these Evas on the rails."

'Evas 00 through 02, power connections established. Internal batteries charging. A-10 sync confirmed.'

For the first time in Shinji's career, he wasn't terrified of controlling an Eva Unit. = I don't get it, I used to hate even the concept of the Evas, but now it feels comforting...like being held by my mom...or like being with Rei... =

"All right, listen you three, we don't have any predicted target for the Angel. Everything depends on your ability to manually chase this thing. We're counting on you to keep up with it. Now get into your starting blocks, you launch when you feel the power cable eject."

"Target's altitude is at 20,000 feet."

"Power off in 5...4...3...2...1! Batteries on!"

The three Evas sprinted from their power stations, charging towards their target estimates. They tore apart roads, stepped on buildings, and flooded rivers as they covered kilometers of Japan in minutes.

Asuka got first sight of the falling spherical Angel, but she was nowhere near it. "The Angel's accelerating! It looks like it flying itself in manually! I can't keep up with it anymore! It's mutating!" The sphere opened up into a symmetrical eye-like creature, with wings sprouting from its sides.

Shinji, however, was keeping up. "Yeah, but it's headed towards my target. I can get it! Misato!"

"Bank the blast shields to the left! Stagger apartments 1072 to 1078. Build him a ramp!"

Unit 01 ran through the shields in a Four-G turn and sprung itself off the apartment buildings, landing downwards on a hillside and covering 350 meters every second, the sonic boom in his wake blowing aside anything not bolted to the Earth.

"Shinji, stop at that hilltop!"

Unit 01's massive boots dug into the terrain as it slowed to a halt as Shinji shouted into his A-10 headset. "AT FIELD MAX POWER!"

Orange hexagons expanded around Unit 01, tearing up the hilltop around it. The Angel slammed against the field with its own, crushing Shinji in his seat and pounding Unit 01's legs into the surface.

The Angel's center grew into a man-like being, who grabbed Unit 01's hands and speared through them with its own. Shinij screamed as his high sync transferred the injuries from Unit 01 to his own arms, the gasified LCL around his hands ignited and burned on his plugsuit.

"Asuka, hurry, I can't hold this weight!"

"I'M ON MY WAY! DAMMIT!"

Unit 02 made it up the hillside to join the fight, lit up her progressive knives and attempted to stab the core, only for it to start flying around the Angel's 'head' at hundreds of revolutions per minute.

"Asuka...please..." Shinji groaned out as he felt Unit 01 buckling under the weight of billions of cubic meters of Angel.

"I'm trying, dammit!" she said while trying to follow the core as it spun around, only to halt in between Unit 00's hands, as Rei brought it in to climb and stand on Unit 01's shoulders. The core began to glow red-hot and burned the armor and skin off of Unit 00's forearms, and those burns were sent to Rei's arms.
"Unit 02, stab the core!" Rei demanded over the radio, writhing in pain while at Unit 00's controls.

"I'm working on it! And you don't give me orders!" She drew her second knife and drove it into the now-stationary core and twisted the two knives into each other, tearing a slice of flesh away from the core and causing it to spray superheated Angel blood across the ground as the giant wings closed back up into a sphere. The Eighth Angel exploded in a tidal wave of blood, flooding the nearby lake and spilling into a large portion of Tokyo-3, causing billions of Yen in insurance damage.

The Eva batteries powered down and Shinji and Rei welcomed the release from the pain brought by their sync rates. Asuka was now the one hurting.

She started brooding to herself. "I was useless back there. I did nothing, all I did was stab the core that Wondergirl had trapped, and I know for a fact that Idiot is going to get all the glory for this. I'll show Misato; I don't need either of them!"

"Lt. Col. Katsuragi, we've made contact with the Commander."

"Good, bring him online...Apologies, Commander, due to an operation of my design, both Unit 00 and Unit 01 are extensively damaged-"

Professor Fuyutsuki interjected, "No apology needed, considering the magnitude of this attack, the damage we absorbed could be considered fortunate."

"I agree," stated Commander Ikari, "the objective was the destruction of the Eighth Angel, and that goal was accomplished without any total Unit loss. Having said that, the two Units will need repair, with Unit 01 on priority status, and both the pilots require medical care...In fact, patch me through to Unit 01's pilot."

Shinji shook himself out of his daze when Commander Ikari's channel opened in Unit 01 cockpit.

"I read what happened out there, today. You did very well, Shinji."

Shinji, shocked that it was his father praising him, stuttered out his gratitude. "Ye-Yes, thank you, Sir."

"Very well, Katsuragi, I'm giving you oversight of the recovery. Give priority to Unit 01."

Shinji was making his way out of the intensive care unit with both hands thoroughly wrapped from his simulated stab wounds, and Misato caught up to him there.

"Great news, Unit 01 is getting priority repairs, so you and Asuka are still ready to go. Unit 00 wasn't as extensively damaged, but it's having to wait for repairs. More importantly, Rei's being treated for burns on her hands and forearms, and I'd bet she'd really feel better if she got a visit from someone who cares about her!" Misato started giggling like a 12 year old.

"MISATO!"

"Shinji, when you act more and more embarrassed I get more and more proof that you really do like her. Maybe, just maybe, she'd respond well if you'd just do something about it!" She handed Shinji a card with Rei's hospital room and walked away.

As Misato sat down for her lunch that day, a ponytailed man slid into the chair beside her.

"So I've heard that Shinji cooks for you, now. That's good, he makes much healthier stuff than curry ramen."

"Yeah, unlike you I have actual work to do."

"You know, if you act like that everyday, you're going to have a hernia before you hit 30. You and Ritsy aren't supposed to fight, you're supposed to be best friends. Haven't you tried relaxing? A social life?"

"I don't have time to relax." She snapped. "And why do you care-" she turned to look at Kaji and found him gazing longingly at her. She hid her eyes and blushed deep red.

Shinji made it to Rei's room in the burn ward to find a nurse changing bedding and sheets.

"Umm, excuse me ma'am. Is this where Rei-, I mean, Pilot Ayanami is staying?"

"I'm sorry dear, she was just transferred to another wing a few floors down, obviously they don't tell us orderlies why..."

"Yes, thank you, sorry for your time."

"Oh, no trouble, I'm sorry you missed her."

'Blood Match: Code Blue Confirmed'

A/N: So I should have had this chapter posted 8 hours before I did, but I seriously spent that long trying to figure the best way to flow into chapter 13, so I went for a relatively weak ending that fits easily into any coherent storyline...writing sucks sometimes