Author's Note: Welp, I said I'd be back soon with more stuff, and here I am a day later. This right here is a preview/demo type of thing for a longer idea. Rather different from my usual M.O but I thought it was interesting and had some fun writing it, though it is a bit of a long one. So I hope you will all get some enjoyment from it as well. Also a big thank you to Majestik Moose for beta reading.


Looking out over the waters, Asuka had a bit of a grin as she stood at the railing aboard the 'Over the Rainbow'. The aircraft carrier was the command ship for the United Nations Pacific Fleet, which had only earlier that day set sail. It was currently acting as an escort to both her and the production model Evangelion Unit, Unit-02, from Germany to Japan.

She and her assigned Eva unit were being sent there in response to the number of Angel attacks that had all been centered around the city of Tokyo-3, where Nerv Headquarters is based, of which the Evangelions units were designed as a means to combat such creatures.

Asuka had felt envious of how all of the action regarding the fight against the Angels was localized in Japan while she was stuck in Germany, unable to do anything, unable to convey her skills. She had been training for years to pilot her Evangelion with proficiency, and yet had to sit on the sidelines as amateurs stumbled about and got to have all the glory. It was infuriating to endure.

But no longer. As the pencil pushing stiff necks of the U.N. had finally done something productive for a change of pace and released Unit-02, and thus her, into the care of Nerv Headquarters to be utilized against further threats from the Angels. Now Asuka would be able to join the fight and show to everyone how amazing she is.

For that was the reason she found herself grinning as she peered over the railing of the ship, now looking at one of the other large vessels of the convoy that had a large tarp covering a substantial section of it, where she knew her Unit-02 was currently being transported on. Soon now would it finally be her chance to shine.

The German girl was so engrossed by the prospect that she didn't immediately notice another presence grow close.

"...Would that be the Evangelion Unit that's being transported?" A feminine voice asked as a person sidled up next to her.

The redhead girl was startled slightly and turned to see who the person that intruded upon her thoughts was. Looking at the person revealed them to be a girl in a white button up with leggings and a plaid skirt who Asuka guessed was about her age, one who had brown hair that came down into a pair of twin tails and wore a pair of slim red framed glasses over her teal eyes. Eyes that were looking out at the ship she had too had previously been gazing at, before turning to observe her.

"... Mm-hm, that's where Unit-02 is, the most advanced of the Evangelion Units currently created." Asuka answered with pride as she turned back towards the direction of the ship carrying it. Unfortunately, the tarp covering it really hid its splendor.

"Naturally, it is the most recent model they've completed." The other girl agreed before turning her head slightly towards the redhead while leaning against the railing, "And you must be the pilot for it, the Second Child, correct?"

"That's right, I'm Asuka Langley Soryu, the Second Child chosen to be a pilot for the Evangelion program," Asuka confirmed as she placed her hands on the waist of her dress with a slight straightening of posture and raise of her chin before glancing out of the corner of her eye towards the other teen, "And you are…?"

The brunette grinned slightly and turned to fully face the other girl as she raised a hand to her chest in a gesture of herself.

"Well, I would be the newest candidate selected by the Marduk Institute for the Evangelion Pilot Program, Mari Illustrious Makinami, the Fourth Child." She introduced herself, much to the German girl's shock.

"Huh?! The Fourth Child?!" Came the eloquent response.

"Yep." Was the succinct reply offered.

"But… how did you get selected so fast?" There was validity in asking, as the selection between herself as the Second Child and the Third Child had been years, with the latter having only been selected almost a couple of months ago. To then have a Fourth Child selected after only a couple of months in comparison to the years in between the Third and Second was quite the inconsistent variation.

"I'm not sure, " Mari said with a shrug, "All I know is that they selected me almost a month ago now. Though truthfully, I've been around Nerv's Fourth Branch for a while, and ever since I learned about the Eva's, I've been hoping that I'd get to become a pilot for them one day. Heh, how fitting for the Fourth Child to come from the Fourth Branch?"

The Second Child scowled as she crossed her arms. She didn't like that they felt a need to select a new pilot so soon, and that they sent them to travel alongside both her and Unit-02 caused the auburn-haired girl to think of some unappealing implications.

"I don't see why they needed to choose another one so soon, all the current Evangelion Units already have pilots. Though I suppose it's possible they've decided to replace the First or Third Child…" Asuka trailed off as she recalled some of the rumors she had heard about the other two pilots and some less than impressive displays on their parts; it'd be the only thing that would make sense as they shouldn't have any reason to replace her as Unit-02's pilot. The thought of such a thing made her clench a fist in anger.

"Actually, that's the thing, I haven't been assigned any Evangelion Unit. From what I understand, I've been selected to act as a reserve." The brunette clarified, which caused Asuka's stiff posture to loosen up a bit.

"A reserve pilot?" The other girl reiterated, to which she got a nod.

"Mm-hmm, from what I've heard, it's because of something that happened back before that first Angel attack a couple months ago. Apparently the First Child had been injured and wasn't able to pilot, which is what led to finding the Third Child whom they had to retrieve the day of the attack. I guess it must've worried some of the higher ups, as pretty soon after I got chosen as the Fourth Child to act as a reserve in case something like that happens again where they need another pilot." That did make sense to the auburn-haired pilot, as she had heard that some accident occurred with Unit-00 and that the pilot of it was injured. The explanation certainly helped to quell any insecurities she had about the situation, knowing she was there because of the blunders of others and not her.

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Well, they won't have to worry about me getting put out of commission; put me in Unit-02, and I'll be unstoppable." She glanced at the other ship out on the water as she said so.

"Oh? Have you done sync testing with it?" The bespectacled girl asked.

"Pfft, I've been doing sync testing in Unit-02 for a few years. Heh, last test I did, I managed to get my sync rate up to 40." Asuka bragged nonchalantly, she remembered how proud she had felt to finally crack into the forties.

"Oh wow, that's incredible! I've only been able to do mock testing using data collected from Units 00 and 01 from the Fourth Branch's Magi 08. Most I managed to get was a score of 27, nowhere near as impressive as yours." Mari had a look of some amazement as she spoke, her score was barely above the minimum requirement in contrast to the other girls.

"Well, what can I say? I've trained to be the best." The Second Child smirked as she set her hands on her hips.

"Heh, and I can see that you also kept your A10 connectors as well, I also snagged mine after my last test." The brunette raised her hands to touch her hairband, which Asuka now noticed had a pair of A10 connectors attached to them. "I mean honestly. we should keep them on our persons at all times. After all, we never know when another attack will happen, so we should be prepared at all times, right?"

The English girl grinned slightly at that, agreeing with the reasons to excuse their mischievous acts of not returning their connectors.

"Exactly, it's only sensible to be prepared for the unexpected." The German girl agreed with a huff of mirth.

"Although I kind of wish mine were clips like yours instead of a band, then I could use them to style my hair more like you do. Though I think you pull that look off better than I could, your hair is just such a lovely color, it really suits you." Mari complimented as she twirled a lock of her brown hair around a finger and stared at it before glancing at the other girl's hair.

Asuka was slightly taken aback, feeling a warmth to her cheeks, but felt rather flattered at the compliment. She couldn't help but flick some of her auburn red hair out, letting it catch on a light breeze and briefly display itself.

"W-well, yeah, it does. Anyways…" She looked at her red wristwatch and noted the time so as to change the subject. "It's past noon, so I was thinking about finding wherever they have food on this boat and seeing if there's anything good to eat."

"Sounds like a plan." Pushing herself off the railing as she spoke, the glasses-wearing girl turned to Asuka with a grin as she accepted the unspoken invitation.

"Then maybe I can find where Mr. Kaji is at." The redhead spoke with fondness.

"Mr. Kaji? who's that?" The brunette asked.

"Oh, he's my legal guardian from Nerv Third Branch, he's great and so mature… and handsome…" Asuka clasped her hands as she gushed before remembering the other participant of the conversation, who simply quirked an eyebrow, "...Ehem."

"I'll take your word for it." There was mirth in the English girls' tone.

"A-anyways, we can talk to him about maybe going over to the other ship. and then I can show you what a real Evangelion looks like." She suggested with a smirk, to which the other girl's eyes widened slightly.

"Really? Well, I certainly wouldn't say no to that." The bespectacled girl agreed.

"Then let's go get some lunch already." Asuka started walking off.

"After you, Asuka." Mari replied as she followed behind her.


Lifting up a part of the tarp that was deemed an entrance to the cargo of the freighter, Asuka revealed the sight of her crimson Evangelion Unit as it lay partially submerged in a liquid that gave off a purple hue.

"Oh wow… so that's Unit-02…" Mari said somewhat breathlessly with awe as she peered at the giant cyborg.

"Mm-hm, come on." Asuka ducked her head and maneuvered under the tarp opening, leaving it up just long enough for the other girl to quickly follow behind her before she dropped it.

The only way to get closer to the Eva Unit without going through the purple liquid that went a few meters deep was to walk across the multiple platforms floating on its surface that lined up to the head of the red giant. The weight of the platforms reduced the amount of sway caused by walking, but still they were best tread on with some caution.

The brunette let out a breathless sigh as she looked at the half-submerged face of the Eva, its green eyes faintly glinting with the light available through its overhead tarpaulin.

"It's incredible to see it up so close…" Reaching her arm out, the bespectacled girl touched the tips of her finger to the crimson armor surrounding the mech's cranium, "And of course it's this lovely shade of red… how fitting for the both of you."

The auburn just smirked slightly but didn't say anything in response, as she herself took a moment to take in her Evangelion Unit. Despite how much she's been around it, being up close to it always filled her with a sense of awe and pride.

"Heh, and look at that, it has four eyes like me," Mari looked at the German girl with a toothy grin as she swiveled her glasses while moving her eyebrows, causing the redhead to roll her eyes with a huff. "Hehe, but really, from what I've seen of the designs of Eva-01 in the Fourth Branch database, this one's design is pretty unique from its predecessor."

"Of course it's more unique." The Second Child stated as she then tensed up and jumped onto the head of the floating Evangelion.

"Oh, we're jumping on it now?" The rhetorical question came as the Fourth Child repeated the same action.

Upon seeing the other girl follow her onto the Eva's head, Asuka felt irked for a brief twinge at another stepping foot on her Unit, but it faded before she could even realize it. She then immediately started climbing up the steep slope that made up where the entry plug would be inserted below the back of the neck had the Unit been standing upright.

Mari meanwhile just watched with some amusement as the redhead perched herself at the top of the closed entry port of Unit-02, the German girl placing her hands on her hips as she stood atop it and looked down to the glasses wearing girl.

"This is the world's first real and official Evangelion Unit. Designed and intended to be used for combat operations, as the initial purpose for the creation of the Eva's was intended, unlike Unit's-00 and 01 which were created as the proto- and test type Units. A proof of concept. Really, it's incredible they even defeated three Angels with those obsolete buckets." Asuka boasted aloud as she threw an arm out to gesture to the Evangelion they stood on. "Unit-02 however, was designed with peak German engineering specifically for combating threats. It was made more versatile in that it is capable of switching from the standard B-type armor to any other variation required of it and can be made able to equip shoulder mounted weaponry. Speaking of, the pylons that come standard with it carry both a rack of needle projectiles that can be fired to provide support as well as a progressive knife mark two. Unlike the normal progressive knife, the PK-2 has an overhauled design with an extendable blade that is capable of providing a replacement should the blade be broken. It offers a balanced and adaptable support loadout to complement primary weapons provided to it. With this Evangelion Unit comes the tipping of the scales further in humanity's favor against whatever is thrown at it…"

The pilot of Unit-02 placed her hand on her hips and brought herself to full height while tipping her nose upwards with a small grin of pride and superiority as she finished her speech. To which the brunette below her began clapping, an action that in truth gave the redhead girl some gratification.

"My/ what a rousing introduction. It certainly sounds like a force to be reckoned with, although it also seems like it'd be quite a bit to learn how to best utilize all those features in addition to incorporating and adapting them with the different equipment that varies from situation to situation." Finishing her applause, the English girl considered the possibilities of the Evangelions abilities; they certainly seemed daunting to her inexperience.

"Maybe it is a bit too much for a newbie to use effectively…" A nod came from the auburn-haired girl before she then smirked and clenched a hand to her chest, "But I've trained for years to pilot Unit-02. Even if they standardize and add some improvement to the design for future Eva's, my skill with Unit-02 would still outclass any amateurs regardless of how shiny their unit may be."

"In that case, it sounds like it's in the best of hands." An honest smile adorned the English girl's face as she spoke.

Asuka felt her cheeks warm up, yet she couldn't help but grin at the sincerity behind the words.

"Of course, I'm the best of the best, and soon enough everyone will know…" It was a promise that she intended to keep.

Letting out a subtle breath, she then glanced down, intending to get down from her perch and considering how she was to go about it. She could just climb back down, but a more dramatic part of her that had been stoked by having a receptive audience found that too anticlimactic. Her ego also agreed that a slow climb back down was too mundane. She thought about sliding down the slope of the armor she was on top of, though it could also drag her dress up. So she opted instead for a jump down, though the other girl who stood on the head took up some room for her to land in, and she didn't want to jump too close to the slope or else she would bounce off it.

"You need some help getting down?" The brunette offered as she noticed the hesitation from the redhead, who huffed in response.

"No!" The Second Child answered a bit too quickly with heat, "I can get down just fine on my own-"

Distracted, the German girl pivoted slightly and placed a foot too close to the slope, which resulted in her slipping forward with an "Eek!" and falling from atop the armor.

Luckily for Asuka, she fell in the direction of Mari. The English girl acting fast was able to move herself to catch the falling girl. The impact of a person into her arms did knock some of the air from her chest and sent her stumbling backwards a couple feet to her knees.

A brief moment of silence except for some quiet panting as the Fourth Child regained her breath overcame the two until interrupted by the previously fallen girl.

"...I could've landed from that…" A light blush grew on Asuka's face at the embarrassment of falling.

"Well… you could've still twisted your ankle if I didn't catch you, so why take the risk?" The brunette had a smirking grin as she spoke.

All the redhead did was just huff aloud and cross her arms.

"Besides, it's only appropriate to catch the princess as she descends from her tower, heh!" Chuckling, the bespectacled girl stood up, lifting the abashed girl up with a hand under her legs and back from when she caught her, causing her to sputter.

"S-shut up!" Came the quick retort.

"Hehe, your usual attitude certainly befits a princess." The English girl giggled while still holding her.

"Put me down already!" The embarrassed girl tried to shimmy out of the hold.

"Heh, as you wish, Princess." Mari replied with a Cheshire grin as she lowered her arms to let the redhead stand back up, to which the girl hurriedly did so.

"S-shut up, you… you… "Asuka stammered while flustered as she turned to look at the girl and noticed the glasses and remembered an earlier remark, "Four-eyes!"

The brunette blinked her eyes at the response, before she then started to laugh at the best the German girl could come up with for a name.

"Ahahaha!" Laughing, the English girl brought a hand to cover her mouth.

"Knock it off already!" The auburn-haired girl found herself abashedly stomping her foot.

"Hehe, I can't he-help it, hehe." It was lame enough to tickle her funny in an odd way that she had to wipe away a tear.

"Ugh, you're incorrigible!" Her use of such a sophisticated word caused another laugh to make it out of the English girl.

"Hehe oh, it's all in good fun, nothing like some friendly banter, Princess." Mari took a breath with a smirk.

"Hmph, Four-eyes." Asuka huffed as she turned to get off the head of the Eva with the other girl collecting herself as she made to follow. Though as the redhead hopped down onto a floating platform, she couldn't help as the corner of her lips slightly twitched upwards.


Letting out a breath as she leaned against a wall, the Second Child waited as her female companion had gone off to use a restroom, leaving her to wait for their return. She had been spending more time around the other girl, as there wasn't much else to do.

It had been over a week now since she had come aboard the 'Over the Rainbow' and it started becoming monotonous and dull fast. Though the presence of another member of the fairer sex her age on board did help mitigate the rate at which her boredom grew. So naturally she had spent a lot of time with the Fourth Child as they were the only one really available for her to pass the time with.

The only other person she'd want to be around, was her escort, Kaji. Though, unfortunately for Asuka, he still had his own matters to attend to often even while on ship. It caused disappointment though she understood as he was an adult who had responsibilities, a trait which furthered her infatuation, so of course he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with her as she wished. But that's where Asuka spending time with Mari became rather convenient to pass time even if she still wished to already be done with their voyage.

The sound of walking feet had the redhead glancing out of the side of her eye in the direction it came from. Two crewmen were passing by, neither noticing her, and both were going at a belated pace as they were engaged in discussion with one another.

"Oh, did ya hear what happened in Japan this time?" One of them asked, which piqued some of Asuka's interest.

"Yeah, bout that corporation or whatever and how Nerv had to save the day again. Honestly, I think I'd rather they'd have succeeded." The other man answered, unaware of the outside listener, who's curiosity they garnered.

"Really? Y'know they were just trying ta copy Nerv." This was the first the Second Child was hearing of this, though she would've preferred from a source she respected more than some miscellaneous crew.

"Well yeah, but maybe it could've been a blow to Nerv and if the U.N. started turnin' to alternatives other than Nerv, then that's a step to givin' back some more power to military, especially since the alternative's a lot more receptive to outsourcin' from it." The reasoning made the redhead girl roll her eyes.

"Psh, that's wishful thinking." The other crewman scoffed.

"Maybe, but Nerv havin' to fix their mess means that the UN' still gonna let them do whatever they want, and that we get reduced to some glorified boats." Their resentment was pathetic in the teen girls eyes, as it was not as though the UN's relegation of power from the military was unfounded considering how ineffective they were against the Angels compared to Nerv.

"Yeah, I get ya, bad enough making us their delivery service for that robot thing of theirs, but then we also gotta ferry their 'pilots' as well." They made quotations with their finger when saying the word pilot, which irked the one listening.

"Tch yeah, y'know. I saw those two pilots of theirs, just a couple of kids, and they seem like some weird ones at that." Now they were starting to irritate Asuka as she clenched a fist.

"Probably are, being with Nerv and piloting those wind-up toys of theirs, I'm sure there's probably something wrong with them up there." They gestured to their head with a finger, making the redhead grit her teeth in barely contained anger.

"Ah crap! Keep it down, there's one of them right there." The other man dropped his tone down, having finally noticed the girl as they walked past her, though she was still able to hear them.

However, despite the biting remarks on the tip of her tongue, Asuka stayed visually unmoved. She refused to acknowledge the two crewmen, as despite the insolence she felt from them, she also found them undeserving of her putting any effort or acknowledgement towards.

"Why should I care, I'm the one who actually belongs on this ship." Yet despite their attitude, they still spoke in hushed tones, which proved to the German girl that they were nothing more than craven plebs.

"You dunno, she might tattle to that scruffy guy Nerv sent with them, and who knows what kind of crap they'd try ta force. It's not like they haven't already made a mockery of us with all their other crap." The crewman cautioned while taking a glance at the Second Child who projected herself as stoic.

"Tch, didn't think we'd be playin' babysitters when we signed on." They were finally walking out of range of the teen, who conjured many unpleasantries towards the two crewmen in her mind.

"Yeah well, them's the breaks." The remark was followed with a sigh.

Asuka waited a moment and then glanced towards where the two men had been going and saw they were gone. Now alone, the auburn-haired girl allowed her anger to show as she clenched both fists and scowled. Lifting her foot and turning around, she stomped the bottom of her sole into the metal wall with a thud.

She mentally questioned how they dared to insult her, them being nothing more than some miscellaneous crewmen while she was an elite Evangelion pilot. They complain about being treated as a joke, but when compared to how her and Unit-02 were better and more useful than their pathetic navy in these times, she had to agree that they were.

"You seem bothered, Princess." The familiar voice brought the German girl out of her seething thoughts as she turned to see the girl she had originally been waiting for.

"You're back." Was all Asuka said in response.

"Mm-hm, and something got you riled up while I was in the loo." Mari pointed out again, to which her German friend clicked her tongue.

"It was nothing, just some idiot nobodies not worth my time." She explained before she started walking in another direction. "Let's go, Four-eyes."

"Mm, not all the crew has been so receptive of our being here because of Nerv." The brunette commented as she followed beside her companion, "But at least we've generally stayed out of each other's way, well, for the most part at least."

"I'd rather not have to deal with any of the idiots in general." The attitude of those two crewmen was not one found in them alone, for it reached even the higher-ranking officers from what she's observed. Thus to Asuka, they were all idiots.

"Well, what can you do when stuck on the same boat with them many nautical miles out on the sea?" Raising her hands up, the English girl shrugged in acquiescence.

"Hmph." The Second Child huffed but didn't refute.

Her demeanor then made a complete change as it immediately lit up upon seeing the form of her escort and guardian walking nearby.

"Mr. Kaji!" Asuka squealed as she barreled towards the man regardless of her companion's pace.

"Oh, hello girls," Kaji addressed as his arm was seized by the pilot of Unit-02 before nodding to her and the other teen girl, "Asuka, Mari."

Mari nodded in acknowledgement as she caught up right behind the German girl, not making any further acknowledgement to her fellow teens actions as she had already witnessed the infatuation the other girl had towards the scruffy man.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something, Mr. Kaji." The redhead tugged on his arm slightly.

"Could it wait until later, Asuka? I was actually going to speak with the Captain for a moment…" The slightly disheveled man tried to postpone but was denied by the girl still holding on to his arm.

"Did you hear anything about what happened with Nerv?" The auburn-haired girl continued, getting the attention of both the man and the other girl.

"Oh?" He prompted.

"Something happened with Nerv?" Mari idly asked with a tilt of the head.

"I heard it was something about Nerv embarrassing some rival who was trying to copy them…" Asuka specified as she recalled what she overheard earlier.

"Ah, I did hear about that, a few days ago one of Nerv's rivals, Japan Heavy Chemicals Industry, had an expo to showcase the most recent attempt at competing with the Eva's." The ponytailed man casually answered as he scratched the stubble on his chin with a finger.

"They really made something that could compete with the Eva's?" The bespectacled girl leaned forward a bit in interest while the other girl hanging off the man just scoffed at the notion.

"That's what they claimed at least; it was apparently some type of nuclear powered robot. Part of their selling point was that it was computer automated as opposed to being piloted like the Eva's, which them disclosing Unit-01's rampage during its first sortie certainly helped support their claim of the Evangelions being too unruly to be reliable." Kaji explained as he hooked a thumb into his pocket.

"Tch, figures the amateurs would go and make the Eva's look bad," The Second Child clicked her tongue in disapproval while still holding on to the older man's arm before continuing, "Besides, I don't see how sending something nuclear powered to get into combat and possibly close to populated areas is a much more reliable alternative, especially considering their history with that stuff."

"I mean, I didn't want to say it, but I also would have thought that they would be more reserved about the use of nuclear energy being used for combat." The brunette agreed with a small wince, the nuclear attacks and some power plant meltdowns that occurred after the second impact as a result of war and natural disasters had made nuclear energy overall very controversial, with nukes themselves banned if not heavily regulated and replaced with N2 weaponry, on top of Japan's already preexisting history with them.

"It still is a very useful source of energy. Take this ship for example; it's nuclear powered and is what's giving us transportation. But you're right that nuclear power still doesn't have the best of reputations nowadays, especially for countries like Japan." The dark-haired man had a small sad smile on his face, "Which wasn't helped considering how the worst outcome nearly did occur since their robot went on the fritz and started to have a meltdown while on course for one of the nearby cities. Thankfully, Nerv decided to step in and send Unit-01; they were able to stop it before it could do any damage."

"Oh, I see, so Nerv having to clean up their mess after they talked themselves up has effectively humiliated them." Mari summarized.

"Essentially, it's safe to say that Nerv's capital has been secured for the moment." He concurred with a nod of his head.

"So the Third Child saves the day again…" Asuka remarked with a frown.

"Actually he and Unit-01 acted mostly as support to slow it down, as the only way to turn off the robot was for someone to slip inside and use the system on board." The elucidation surprised both girls a bit.

"Woah, that sounds… crazy." Was all the Fourth Child could think to call it.

"What kind of idiot would jump into a radioactive robot?" The German girl questioned incredulously.

"That would be someone you know, you remember Misato Katsuragi, right?" Kaji asked with a slight quirk of his lips in mirth.

"Huh?! Misato?!" The redheaded girl repeated in disbelief.

"Mm-hm, she was quite heroic, wasn't she?" The scruffy man nodded.

"Who's Misato Katsuragi?" The English girl inquired with a little bit of confusion in regard to her fellow teens reaction.

"She's Nerv headquarters head of tactical operations, and she'll be the one directing you two when you're fighting in the Eva's… and now I'd love to stay and keep chatting, but I really should get going." Kaji disentangled his arm from Asuka's hold, much to her disappointment.

As the disheveled man walked off, the redhead couldn't help but let out a sigh for her departing escort. After a moment, the glasses-wearing girl then turned towards said redhead.

"So Princess, how do you know this Misato?" Mari queried, getting a look from the other girl.

"She used to be at the Third Branch, she was part of the tactical operations division, she was also involved in some of my combat training and would usually oversee the simulations I'd go through. She was pretty good at running me through them, I suppose, but she was also lazy and a total slob outside of her work…" Asuka recalled the woman and her habits she would see when she was not on duty before then letting out a sound of frustration, "...Hmph!"

"Something still wrong, Princess?" The bespectacled girl asked.

"Tch, yet again I miss out on all the action, and it all goes to those amateurs at Headquarters." The auburn-haired girl scowled .

"Well, to be fair, it wasn't an Angel this time, just people causing more problems for others, nothing new…" The brunette pointed out with some cynicism that seemed a bit odd to the other girl, but she didn't comment on it as she was caught up in her own frustrations.

"Still, it was another moment where I could have shined if I had just been there…" The German girl groaned.

"Don't worry, Princess; soon enough you'll get to debut and show off what you can do." Mari placated as slung an arm around the redheads' shoulders which got her another look but no comment.

"Hm, I guess you're right…" Asuka agreed with a huff. She did know that already, that her time was close at hand. But it also still felt out of grasp, and it irked her to have her opportunity so close yet she couldn't seize it yet.

All she needed was patience. Soon enough she would get to finally show everyone her prowess with Unit-02 and why she is the best. It was all a matter of waiting. Though she wasn't sure how much longer she could put up with waiting.


"Ugh, I can't take it anymore!" Asuka loudly groaned.

It had been over two weeks since she first boarded 'Over the Rainbow', and the redhead had become fed up with being on it. She was sick and tired of being surrounded by nothing but the ocean and having to traverse the same ship halls every day. It was also so dreadfully mundane and monotonous that it felt as though it was getting to her psyche.

"I feel like I'm going crazy on this damn boat!" Gripping the deck railings tightly, the girl let out a huff.

"Yeah…" Mari commiserated from when she was leaning back against the rails with her elbows up next to the other girl, "The first week was a bit exciting to be on a naval aircraft carrier, but that's pretty much worn off by now."

"Another Angel can show up in Japan at any moment, and the amateurs would get to deal with it again while I'm stuck on a damn boat in the middle of the ocean." The redhead lamented.

"I can see why you'd be upset, you've been waiting a long time for this, huh?" The brunette questioned with understanding.

"I've been waiting years for my chance to show my skill. All there was to do was train until the day the Angels arrived, and now they finally have. Yet despite how long I've waited, it's still not enough, I still have to be patient and wait even longer. I'm sick of it. I'm so close, and the final stretch seems to be doing everything in its power to make it feel as long as possible." The Second Child bemoaned.

"I can't imagine how redundant it must feel having to wait so long, but that's all you can do—wait and be ready. I know I can't wait to see you in action…" The bespectacled girl had a small smile as the other girl's shoulder slumped in reluctance at the solution, "But I wonder… do you… ever get tired of it?"

"Of what?" The auburn-haired girl asked.

"Of all this Eva stuff." The English girl elucidated.

"I haven't even gotten started, why would I be tired?" Asuka scoffed incredulously.

"I mean, not just piloting, but just with all this stuff with the Eva program with all the pressure and expectations." Mari explained as she put her hands on the rails and straightened up from her learning, "I know I'm not even a real pilot and having been in the program nearly as long as you, but ever since I agreed to it, people at the Fourth Branch had started looking at me… different. Once they heard I was now in the Eva program, they started looking at me with expectations and disappointment every time my sync scores in the simulations were poor. I'm glad to be away from there now, as the pressure was starting to get to me, but there were still a couple points where I started to reconsider being a pilot. I was just tired of their expectations. You probably never had to deal with having abysmal sync scores with how great you are, but… I just wondered if you ever also got tired of it."

The initial automatic reaction for the redhead was to say 'of course not' but it was stopped by a faint feeling that shot through her for a moment. Sympathy. It had appeared due to an involuntary resonance with some of the English girls' experiences. Particularly being looked at differently.

The redhead looked towards the sunset as it glowed over the ocean waves and then looked over to the freighter that still held Unit-02 before closing her eyes for a moment.

Asuka could remember her being looked at differently, she had experienced it ever since her youth. Not just the expectant ones but the disappointed ones as well. She recalled her first sync test, only weeks after her mother… passed, and the sync ratio for it was, well, poor to put it lightly. She could remember what they would tell her every time: 'keep trying Asuka, you can do better than that.' They would say in condescending tones that were meant to sound encouraging, but she could hear the undertone and see they only meant 'do better'.

Then she could remember the talking, always behind her back. They would talk about how she wasn't normal and how her mother would say she was an elite, yet her performances were disappointing, something they would then credit to delusions from her mother's poor mental health, believing her to be a prodigy when she wasn't. How she wished to prove those people wrong.

With those memories came the recollection of the times where she would resent being a pilot. How she would wish for her old life, before she was a pilot, when she had her mom, when she could be a normal little girl. But that wasn't possible for her. She could never return to that life from before; she could only move forward.

But still, a part of her that's been pushed far below the surface still reminisced and wished for that impossibility. So it was that part of her that made a brief miniscule breach to the surface before falling back down below that answered the question.

"...Yeah, I have…" Asuka spoke as she opened her eyes and looked out over the ocean.

Mari glanced at the other girl and saw her face, before concluding that she was being truthful.

"I see." Was all she said before letting out a sigh.

Both girls simply stood in the light of the sunset in silence as the sound of waves hit below them.


"Great, rain…" Asuka's mumbled complaint was mostly obscured by the sound of persistent rain pelting the flight deck of the ship and roof over her head.

A brief shiver went through her from under the shelter provided as a gust of cold air blew into the crook of her neck, causing her to cross her arms. The weather wasn't intense enough to be a thunderstorm, but the rain was still quite persistent.

From her side, Mari leaned forward and took a whiff of the air and made a humming sound.

"Ah, I love the smell of rain…" The brunette remarked with a smile as she breathed in the scent again, "Though it's quite different out here on the ocean, but I suppose that's to be expected with the lack of soil."

Reaching her arm forward, the bespectacled girl pushed her hand into the rain, turning it to let the droplets hit her palm.

"What do you think, Princess?" Mari asked as she flexed her hand in the rain.

"I think I could go without all this rain." She answered dispassionately.

"Well, to each their own." Retracting her arm from the rain as she spoke, Mari dried the appendage off on her skirt.

The redhead then watched from the corner of her vision as the glasses wearing girl bent down slightly and started to pry her shoes off with a finger. Once she had gotten both of her laced shoes off, the brunette then began working her socks off.

"What are you doing?" Inquired the Second Child at the oddity of the other teen pilot.

"Oh, I don't like to get my socks wet." The nonchalant answer came as Fourth Child set her socks and shoes off to the side.

"Huh? What are you talking-" But the auburn-haired girl was cut off as she watched the bespectacled girl move forward, stepping out from under the overhead shelter that shielded them from the rain.

The initial shock of walking into the rain had a shiver run through the brunette's body, but Mari just let out a happy noise reminiscent of a chuckle and walked further into the rain, doing a spin as she did which sent a few droplets Asuka's way, the redhead still staring incredulously.

Watching as the other girl pranced about barefoot on the wet deck as the downpour continued to drench her, Asuka found herself shaking her head in disbelief at the antics. It started to set into her how odd the Fourth Child really was. At times they seemed to be quite normal. yet as she was viewing, they also had more unusual tendencies. It wasn't something that bothered her really, just something that she had overlooked.

Like the brown-haired girl had earlier said, 'to each their own', and if she wanted to frolic about in the rain without inhibition, then she wasn't going to bother with telling her otherwise.

The German girl just snorted as she continued to watch the English girl. She then noticed that the brunette's clothes were getting completely soaked, which paired with her white button up caused it to become semi-transparent, making her bra somewhat visible to see. Upon realizing what she was staring at, the redhead averted her eyes with a small blush and a huff.

The bespectacled girl saw her companions shaking her head and grinned.

"Why don't you join me, Princess?" Mari stuck a hand out towards the redhead in a gesture of offer.

"And get soaked like you? Yeah right." Asuka dismissively replied.

"C'mon, are you really worried about that?" Said soaked girl taunted.

"Hmph, you're weird." Was all the auburn-haired girl responded with, which made the other girl let out a laugh.

"Heh, I prefer the term eccentric," The brunette put her hands on her hips and grinned a mirthful smirk before then chuckling, "And you're only realizing this now?"

"Oh, I was already able to see it, Four-eyes, but this was just definitive proof of it." The redhead shook her head again.

"C'mon Princess, join me." Mari requested with a hum.

"No, I don't think I will." Asuka said as she used a hand to swipe at her hair with some playful haught and a smirk on her face as she tilted her nose upwards.

The drenched girl just looked at her unimpressed for a moment before then getting a mischievous grin on her face.

Before the German girl could react, the other teen kicked some water towards her, getting the hem of her outfit wet and causing her to let out a yelp, the elicited sound just made the brunette laugh.

"Ah! How dare you-" But the brown-haired girl cut her off by kicking more water at her.

"Hey!-" Another splash of water hit her.

"Knock it off!-" The plea was ignored as another splash followed.

"That's it!" Having the front of her waist now covered in wet spots, the redhead had gotten upset and so extended a leg out from under cover and tried to kick some of the water back at the other girl, though it proved ineffective as it missed and lacked sufficient power.

The English girl simply laughed more and took a few steps back to be further out of range from the irate redhead as a form of taunting.

Asuka tried to splash her back again but failed to do so, leaving her open for Mari to get her again. If she wanted to get retribution, then she would have to step out from under her cover from the rain.

She realized that this was all intentional on the brunette part, a way to goad her into joining her in the rain and that she'd be playing into. It also logically would not have the same impact for Asuka to splash her as had happened to herself as the glasses wearing girl had already been drenched by the rain. But Asuka disregarded all that, as she wanted the satisfaction of landing a blow as payback.

Wrenching off her shoes and socks and leaving them under the shelter, the Second Child stepped into the rain. A brief shiver ran through her from the sudden temperature change, but she hastily strode forward and delivered a kick, sending water forward at the other girl.

Mari, upon being splashed, just giggled and jerked some water back at her companion. Asuka huffed and sent another splash, no longer caring about her clothes getting soaked. The eccentric girl quickly sidestepped before retaliating with her own.

Undeterred, the redhead quickly followed up with another couple of splashes that had the other girl beginning to make distance between them, resulting in Asuka starting to chase after her.

The brunette started to laugh as she played keep away from the German girl who pursued hot on her trail intent to splash her more, who was unknowingly letting out a laugh of her own as the two played in the rain without a care.


"This is all your fault." Asuka blamed from underneath her bundle of blankets, "If it wasn't for you, then we wouldn't have gotten wet and cold."

Eventually her guardian Kaji had called out for them to come inside the ship, where he handed them towels to dry off. With her body temperature lowered, the Second Child made sure to get as many blankets as she could and made off to the quarters she had been provided on the ship.

Once in her quarters, she flopped onto her small mattress and cot and wrapped herself up in all the blankets she gathered. Though any solitude she was expecting was dashed when the girl she held responsible for getting her soaked entered her quarters carrying the small mattress, blanket, and pillow from her own cot. Asuka didn't say anything initially as the brunette set her items down on the floor next to her own cot.

"Sure, sure." The Fourth Child replied lackadaisically as she held her red framed glasses in her hands, focused on cleaning them with a lens wipe after they had gotten wet from the rain.

"And why did you bring your stuff in here? The redhead asked in regard to the other girl's bedding.

"I wanted to have a sleepover." A shrug accompanied the brunette's answer.

"Why?" The Second Child huffed.

"Thought it could be fun." They shrugged again,

"Fine." Asuka acquiesced, not really feeling up to the amount of energy it'd take to tell the girl to leave, which would inevitably turn into banter.

The currently un-bespectacled girl hummed as she cleaned her glass.

The German girl's eyes felt heavy, and so she kept them half-lidded as she huddled under her covers, still wanting warmth.

"I swear if I get a cold because of this, then you're gonna pay." The auburn-haired girl threatened, though not with too much heat.

"Eh, I doubt you will, you're a tough Princess." Mari responded nonchalantly before glancing at the resting teen with a small smirk. "Besides, I seem to recall you choosing to join me in the rain."

"Because you kicked water at me, I was just trying to get even." Her excuse only made the brunette smirk more.

"Well, you certainly seem like you were having fun, what with your laughing." The girl donned her glasses back on her face as she turned to face the German girl with a smug grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about, you were the one laughing like the so-called 'eccentric' you are." Asuka denied, which got a laugh out of her companion.

"Heh, c'mon Princess, just admit you enjoyed yourself." Said eccentric girl leaned against the foot of the other girl's cot.

"Mm, I don't feel like lying." The redhead retorted, which caused the glasses wearing girl to roll her teal eyes.

"Admit it, you enjoyed it, you had fun being 'weird', Princess." Mari smirked and flexed her eyebrows.

The smug expression didn't last long as Asuka decided to throw her pillow at the other girl, nailing her right in the face with it.

Mari chuckled as the cushion bounced off her face, leaving her glasses slightly out of place. The Second Child reached down and took the English girl's pillow from her bedding and used it to replace the now vacant spot under her head before snuggling under her blankets in order to hide the small grin she had on her face.


"Well girls, we should be arriving in Japan tomorrow morning. We'll make a stop in Sasebo before then heading to New Yokosuka to finish the delivery of both of you and Unit-02, and from there, Headquarters will handle the rest." Kaji told the two teen pilots, getting a reaction from both of them.

"About time we get there." Asuka huffed, but her shoulders slumped in some relief at the prospect.

"I can't wait to finally be in Japan and see Nerv Headquarters." Mari clasped her hands together, "And it'll be nice to meet the other pilots as well, not that your presence has been lacking, Princess."

The Second Child rolled her eyes with a puff but couldn't interject with anything before her escort spoke up again.

"Actually, you might be meeting the Third Child tomorrow as well; I've heard that he may be accompanying Ms. Katsuragi, who will be flying over to supervise the final stretch of the delivery, as well as sign off and finalize all the extra details." The scruffy man divulged, causing the redhead girl to stand straighter.

"So, we'll finally get to meet the Third Child? Unit-01's prodigal son." The German girl crossed her arms with a scoff.

"I'm looking forward to it." Grinning a bit, the Fourth Child's eyes held some anticipation.

"I just look forward to showing them what a real pilot looks like." Asuka remarked, which made the other girl playfully roll her own eyes.

"It'll certainly be interesting to meet him after hearing all they've accomplished." Kaji nodded in some concession before rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyways, duty calls; I'll see you two later."

"Huh, I wonder why Nerv gives him so much work to do." Mari wondered aloud as the man walked off to wherever, "Oh well, we'll finally be in Japan."

"Yeah, finally. I can't wait to get off of this relic." The auburn-haired girl replied, only having heard the second sentence from the other girl as she was distracted watching the older man leave, before then walking herself towards the flight deck.

"Y'know, I think I'm going to miss this." The brunette's comment as she followed had her companion glancing at her with a nonplussed look.

"Somethings got to be wrong with your head if you'll miss being stuck on these damn boats; it must be stockholm or something." The German girl shook her head at the notion as they neared some of the deck railing.

"I don't mean the boats, but stuff like this." Gesturing to the both of them caused the other girl to raise an eyebrow at the English girl's words.

"Standing around doing nothing?" Asuka questioned, which made the brown-haired girl give a huff with false exasperation.

"No, I mean just the two of us spending time together. No obligations or anything, just knocking about all day. Even though it was dull to be stuck on the ship, I still enjoyed hanging out with you." Mari explained with a sincere smile.

"It's not like we aren't both going to the same place once we get on land." The redhead huffed, but didn't comment further.

"Yeah, but it'll be different. We'll have different housing and be spending a lot more time doing pilot duties, not to mention anything else that might come up. Just, I don't think we'll be able to spend time together like this so much when we get to Japan." The bespectacled girl leaned against the railing and stared over the U.N fleet.

"That's because we won't be crammed like sardines in a tin when we get there. It's not like it's the end of the world." The Second Child attempted to assuage, while also trying to seem as though she didn't care.

"Heh, you're right." With a smile, the Fourth Child agreed, "Yeah, it definitely won't be as cramped in Tokyo-3."

"And there should be more to actually do there than there is on this bucket." Asuka added.

"True, we can see what it has to offer. Maybe we can find a mall or something to visit." The brunette suggested.

"Well, I've never been to Japan before, so it'd only be right to have a shopping trip and maybe splurge a bit." Placing a hand to her chin in mock consideration, the auburn-haired girl smirked at the idea.

"Well then, how about we set up a day where we can get together and knock about Tokyo-3? We can sightsee, shop, and even eat some authentic Japanese cuisine." Mari suggested as she looked at the other girl.

"I'm game." The redhead nodded along at the idea.

"Great, it's a date then." Sticking her hand out to her, the eccentric girl offered her palm in a clear gesture for a handshake.

Taken slightly back by the terminology, the German girl huffed with exasperation and a small blush on her face but rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Asuka answered as she grasped the offered hand and shook it in agreement with the planned future excursion. The other girl gave a smile before then letting go, the both of them taking a brief glance across the sea that would take them to the Land of the Rising Sun come the next day.


Getting up from their cots was rather easy for the two girls, with anticipation brimming in them even despite it being early in the day. So it was that they both began to get ready for the day ahead of them.

Asuka brushed her auburn hair with and used her connector clips to have her usual twintails on display. Her companion also brushed prior before pulling her own hair back into a much lower pair of twintails using some hair ties before putting on her connector band. Having once again slept in the redhead's room, Mari was getting herself dressed on the other side of the quarters.

Slipping on a nice yellow sundress she had been saving, the German girl looked at herself in a medium-sized square mirror she had brought into her quarters. She then put a pale baby blue velvet neck choker on and looked at herself again, deciding the pale blue made a nice contrast between her hair and dress. The redhead wanted to look presentable for her arrival to Japan and meeting with Misato and the Third Child.

"You look nice, Princess." Mari called to her from behind her, prompting the other girl to take a brief glance at her.

"Good." That was Asuka's intention after all.

"Although, if we go to meet with that Misato lady on the flight deck, then there'll likely be a draft that might blow your skirt up." The brunette pointed out, causing her companion to purse her lips.

"I know…" The Second Child looked back in the mirror at her legs before frowning as she looked at the dress, "But I don't want anything that would clash with my dress."

"Well, what about something white? I think that'd work with the yellow." The bespectacled girl suggested, which made her friend raise a finger to her chin before they frowned again.

"I didn't pack any in my case." The redhead clicked her tongue as she remembered how any of the white pairs of pants she had would be in the rest of her wardrobe that she wouldn't have until they were onshore and settled in.

"Hmm, I think I might have a pair of white leggings in my trunk; let me check." Turning to her own case of luggage she had brought into the room for her sleepover, the Fourth Child began to dig through the contents of it, which were mostly clothes but also a glasses case and a picture frame Asuka could see well before the eccentric girl then pulled out a pair of white pants. "Aha! Here we are."

She gave them a cursory once over before then tossing the legging over to the auburn-haired girl who caught them and gave them a look for herself.

"Alright, I'll try them." Having determined they were good, Asuka decided to put them on. She stuck a leg in them, followed by the other. before pulling them up under her dress and to her waist, fixing the dress skirt afterwards.

Taking another look in the mirror, the redhead checked out the white legging under her dress. Moving her legs to the sides to pose her calves, she found the leggings to be snug in a good way, and as her companion told her, the white worked with the yellow. She found herself nodding at her reflection.

"See, Princess? They look great on you." Mari told her, "Now you don't have to worry so much about pulling a Marilyn Monroe."

The Second Child rolled her eyes at the old reference, but they lacked any real mockery.

"Thanks, " Asuka replied before then looking at the other girl's apparel and raising an eyebrow, "Though, why aren't you wearing a dress too? Because of some wind?"

The English girl wore a casual outfit consisting of a pair of jeans, a dark pink t-shirt, and some laced shoes. It was very mundane apparel in comparison to the dress the German girl wore.

"Oh, I didn't pack any, I didn't see a need to," Shrugging, the bespectacled girl continued. "And I like to wear casual clothes; they're comfy."

"Whatever." Shaking her head, Unit-02's pilot started putting on her socks. While her shoes were slip-ons that could be worn without them, the socks would match the leggings.

"Besides, Princess, with how you'll be turning heads with your outfit, I'll be able to get away with some low effort." The eccentric girl added with a grin.

Asuka just snorted slightly with a huff and a smirk before putting on some red shoes that had minimally elevated heels.

"Well, let's go get something to eat, then we can wait for them to arrive." The German girl decided as she exited from her quarters.

"Yeah, might as well." Mari agreed as she followed beside the other girl, "Though honestly, I'm a little disappointed we won't be meeting the First Child of the Eva program as well."

"I guess, but from what I've heard, the Third Child is apparently the more… effective of Headquarters' two pilots." Asuka begrudgingly stated.

"That is what the record would show…" Though she dare not point out what the redheads own record would show in comparison with her admission.

"Though that all probably says more about First than it does the Third," The Second child added before relenting slightly. "But I guess I'll have to see for myself what the Third Child's like."

"I suppose you will." The Fourth Child agreed as she followed behind, wondering for herself about their fellow child pilots.


Standing on the top deck of the PriFly tower of 'Over the Rainbow', the two teen girls watched the incoming silhouette of a bulky transport helicopter as it entered the airspace of the U.N. fleet.

"So that must be them." Mari commented from where she was resting her crossed arms on the railing as she observed.

"Mm-hm," Her companion confirmed before smirking and pointing at the large rectangular part of the helicopter as it came into better view, "And it looks like they've brought an umbilical cable with them."

"Hm, likely as a precaution in case of an Angel attack, though I wonder if they're anticipating one?" The bespectacled girl hummed as she raised a hand to her chin.

"Heh, I'd like to see one try to pull anything with me and my Unit-02 around." Asuka gripped the railings with a grin as she considered the possibility.

"I'm sure you'd make them regret it, Princess." There was solace to be had that in the case of an attack, they now had everything they needed to defend themselves with the arrival of a power cord for the Eva Unit.

The redhead nodded at the words as she watched as the transport helicopter bearing the Nerv insignia descended on the flight deck below them with a bustle of the naval crew members that made way for its landing.

"Well then," The Second Child pushed off the railings, "We should go down and introduce ourselves."

With a nod of confirmation from the other girl, the pilot of Unit-02 started her own descent down some of the railing stairways, with the reserve pilot following close behind, a smirk growing on her face as she did so.


The two girls managed to get down in time for the passengers of the transport chopper to still be exiting from it. Standing a suitable distance away, Asuka's smirk turned to a scowl as she noticed the group of people who got off the helicopter, that being a group with two more than she was told there was to be with it totally to three teenage boys accompanying Misato.

"Oh, I thought it was just supposed to be the Third Child arriving…" Mari commented as she too saw that the group of two they were supposed to meet had ended up being a group of four, "So which one do you think is the Third Child?"

Part of what made it even more annoying that there were more people in the group than they had been told was that they couldn't be sure from a distance who was the pilot of Unit-01. Looking at the three boys, the Second Child was less than impressed with what she could already observe. Of the three, one of them had a recording camera of sorts pressed into his face as he seemed to glance at every inch of the aircraft carrier while acting like a kid in a candy store; the other seemed to be not very bright as they started bumbling about chasing a baseball cap that had blown off of their head; and the final one seemed disinterested and somewhat lethargic.

"I'm not sure I want to know…" Asuka mumbled to herself with a huff as she set her hands on her waist.

"Well, they're coming our way so we can at least get introductions quickly." And indeed, the group was heading their way. Though none of the boys were paying attention, distracted with their own worlds, with the one chasing after his hat effectively leading ahead of them with Misato and the other two trailing behind.

Glancing at the bumbling boy who was fixated on his cap from the corner of her eye, the redhead couldn't help but hold some disdain at the displayed incompetence. Eying the object that had caused his chase, the hat just so happened to stop next to her foot.

Though any relief that darker boy would have felt at seeing his prized hat finally still from being blown away was quickly crushed when the foot it landed next quickly raised and stomped back down onto the headwear in a gesture of contempt.

Before they could voice their visible frustration and anger at the disrespect, Asuka fully ignored the boy by then calling out to the adult escorting the group.

"Hello Misato, how have you been?" Came the casual greeting from the Second Child as the group now stood before her.

"Not bad. Though you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you." The woman answered as she swept a hand along the side of her indigo hair, clutching a folder to her chest with the other.

"Mm-hm, I'm now 156 centimeters, and my figure has been filling out in all the right places too." The girl boasted as she disregarded the boy on the ground trying to pry his hat from under her foot.

"Allow me to introduce the Second Child, Eva Unit-02's pilot," Misato announced to the group of boys she was escorting, "Asuka Langley Soryu."

As she stood tall at being introduced with her titles, the girl was unprepared for a sudden gust of wind to catch under her skirt and cause it to briefly fly upwards. Though the only sight that greeted the wandering eyes looking under the blown skirt was the pair of white leggings worn underneath it.

Though regardless of nothing substantial being shown, the German girl still felt quite irked at the gazes that went towards her skirt. Particularly the boy on the ground in front of her proved to be one who she felt most annoyed at.

So lifting her foot, and in doing so allowing the darker boy to finally retrieve his hat, the girl then roughly pushed the boy back away from her with the heel of her shoe in a type of kick to his shoulder.

"Da hell was dat for?!" The dark-haired boy cried out as he rolled the shoulder he had been kicked by, clutching his baseball hat tightly.

"Consider it the price for trying to catch a peek up my skirt; just be grateful you didn't actually see anything, or else it would have been heftier." With her threat, the pilot of Unit-02 glowered at the offending boy, who had picked himself off the ground.

"Well, to be fair, you were standing on his cap when he peeped, Princess." Interjected the other teen girl, making Misato and the group of boys finally notice the other teen girl.

"Oh, are you a friend of Asuka's?" Nerv's head of tactical operations inquired as she regarded the casually dressed girl.

"I am, but I'm also the Fourth Child, Mari Illustrious Makinami, Nerv's new reserve pilot." The bespectacled girl introduced herself as she stood right next to her companion.

"O-oh." The female captain was taken slightly aback by the information that was new to her.

"I didn't know that Nerv had already chosen another pilot, or that they had reserve pilots…" The brown-haired boy that had seemed slightly apathetic before now seems somewhat interested and surprised by the introduction of the two girls.

"Me neither…" Misato remarked to him as she blinked.

"Ah well, I was only selected over a month ago now. I don't have much any experience, but I'll strive to make myself a useful reserve pilot." Mari explained with some resoluteness.

"I see." Was all the dark-haired woman responded with, still reeling from the new information she hadn't been made privy to prior.

"So, which one's the Third Child I keep hearing about?" Asuka asked as she got the group's attention to turn back to her, stepping towards the older woman before glowering again at the boy with the cap, "Don't tell me it's the sleazebag…"

"Nope," Clapping the apathetic boy on the shoulder, the indigo-haired woman indicated to him with her head, "This is him, Shinji Ikari, the Third Child."

Leaning towards him and giving a once over with her eyes, noting his brown hair and the school uniform white button up with black pants that he wore, before she then made an unimpressed face at his appearance.

"Doesn't seem like much." The Second Child determined, the statement caused the boy to furrow his brow in irritation at the remark.

"Well, who knows, Princess. It's the ones you dont assume much of that can surprise you the most." Setting a hand on her friend's shoulder, the bespectacled girl glanced at her fellow brunette. "I personally think it's nice to meet you, Shinji Ikari."

"Oh, thanks… it's nice to meet you too, Makinami." The somewhat apathetic boy blinked with his irritation going away and being somewhat mollified and even a bit surprised at the Fourth Child's willingness for consideration rather than making assumptions based on demeanor and appearances.

"Though we haven't been introduced to your friends yet, are they also with Nerv?" Mari questioned as she gazed at the other two boys.

"Oh, this is Touji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. They're just Shinji's friends from school that I figured we could invite along." Misato informed as she gestured to the dark-haired athletic boy and the dirty blond camera-wielding otaku respectively. before then clapping her free hand over her other one, "Now that introductions are out of the way, we should go meet with the captain."

With no refusals offered, not that any of them would do so, she then started to lead the group of boys to the bridge that would be located in the PriFly tower with Mari and Asuka trailing along as well.

"Man, I wish I could be an Eva pilot, even if it was as a reserve." Kensuke muttered as he continued to be filming with his camera from the back of the group alongside his two friends.

"I dunno, I think d'eres some sorta requirement for it. I mean ain't it sorta strange how da other pilots are girls?" Touji remarked as he shoved his baseball cap in his pocket, before then glancing at his brown-haired friend, "Please don't tell me you're some sorta fruit, Shinji."

The boy scowled at insinuation from his friend.

"... Maybe I should've just gone with Misato alone…" Huffed the Third Child as he shook his head.

"An' let ya hog her to ya self? No way." The rebuttal just made Shinji sigh and slump his shoulders.


"Hmph, I was under the assumption you were some tour guide escorting boy scouts." The grizzled man that was the Captain of 'Over the Rainbow' remarked dryly as he examined the Nerv ID handed to him by Misato, "But it seems I was wrong, I apologize for the misunderstanding."

Said group of boys as well as the two girls who were already present on the ship were in the room as well, standing to the side of Misato, watching her with some disinterest, aside from Kensuke who had been enamored with the bridge and was wandering about with his camera still firmly placed against his face.

"Thank you for being so understanding, Captain." The indigo-haired woman replied, keeping a constant polite smile on despite the insincerity and derision laced in the older man's words.

"Not at all, I haven't had the pleasure of having to watch somebody else's children in ages." Their voice carried an undertone of disingenuousness as they spoke, the man's gray mustache twitching with each word they spoke.

"Thank you for your cooperation in transporting Unit-02," Snapping open her folder, the woman pulled out a handful of papers and handed them towards the man, "Here are the specifications for the emergency electrical plug."

"Hmph, I never received any type of official request to allow that toy to be operated out here on the sea." The commanding officer spoke after briefly glancing at the forms.

The snide remark had Asuka crossing her arms briefly with a small frown, which didn't go unnoticed by her female companion.

"Perhaps you can consider it as a precaution, in case of an emergency." The head of tactical operations for Nerv still maintained her polite smile.

"The Pacific fleet is escorting it in case of an emergency." The rebuttal caused a discreet eye roll from the Second Child, while the Third Child still looked disinterested with the ordeal, but their female escort kept up an impassive polite face, "When did the U.N Forces become a delivery service?"

"As I recall, it was just after a certain agency was founded, sir?" The Captains second in command answered the lamented question from beside him.

Even the Fourth Child had to bite the inside of her cheek at the obvious displays of thinly veiled causticity from the high position naval officer towards Nerv.

"This is quite an escort for your toy, they had us bring the entirety of the Pacific fleet with it." The Captain gave a huff of some displeasure at the situation.

"Given the amount of importance the Evangelions are, I'd say that it isn't enough." Misato's remark was followed by her pulling out another document and offering to the older Captain, "Now then, if you would sign these release forms…"

"Not yet." The refusal caused the polite facade of the woman to briefly crumble into a pinched expression of annoyance, "Eva-02 and its pilot, as well as the reserve pilot, were entrusted to the Pacific fleet by Germany's Third Branch and the United Kingdom's Fourth Branch respectively. I won't stand for you trying to order me around!"

"So, when will you relinquish them to us?" Taking a breath, the indigo woman replaced her facade.

"After they've been unloaded at New Yokosuka." The Captain spoke with finality, "The high seas fall under our jurisdiction, and you will do as we tell you while here."

"Very well," The Nerv branch head closed her folder with a snap as she returned the documentation to it before continuing, "But remember that in the case of an emergency, Nerves authority will supersede yours regardless of any of your jurisdiction or power while on the sea."

"What a badass." Touji gushed as the group of teens she was with looked at her with some respect.

"She's acting like Ms. Ritsuko…" Shinji mumbled as he looked at his guardian.

"Huh, I wasn't expecting her to hold her cool so well considering how juvenile they've been acting." Mari quietly remarked to Asuka as she leaned toward the girl.

"I'm a little surprised too." The German girl admitted as she recalled how in the past, the indigo woman had been one to show quite a temper when provoked.

"Dignified as ever I see, eh Katsuragi?" Came the voice of Ryoji Kaji. The slightly disheveled man leaned into the bridge through the open door with a grin on his face and a hand raised in greeting.

"Ah, Mr. Kaji!" Asuka cried in excitement at seeing the man.

Meanwhile the previously collected Misato had her expression turn to one of surprise before changing to one of exasperated annoyance as she dropped her folder.

"Kaji, I don't recall inviting you up to the bridge." The Captain commented as he sent an eye towards the man.

"Ah right, my apologies." The scruffy man placated as he ducked back out of the room, with the redheaded teen then quickly following after with her brunette companion tailing behind.

The head of tactical operations for Nerv watched where the man had just left with her irked expression for a moment longer before being snapped back to reality.

"Was there more that needed to be discussed, Ms. Katsuragi?" The older man asked her with some annoyance of his own.

"Um no, that was all." Misato picked up her drop folder and began herding the three boys with her out of the bridge, before giving a salute in the doorway, "Please see us to New Yokosuka."

As she started walking down the stairwell away from the bridge, she let out a sigh before then letting out a groan as she and the three boys got to the bottom to see Kaji holding open an elevator door for them with the two teen girls already waiting inside.

"Going down, Katsuragi?" Kaji asked with a small grin, which made the woman groan again.

"Ugh, fine." The agreement got a look of incredulity from the group of teens as they looked to their respective escorts, having realized before them that the elevator on the ship was not intended to be used by so many at once.

But in the face of insistence from adults who are determined to prove their own points, the teens were forced to bear with it and follow after the adults, cramming themselves into the small elevator.

"What the hell are you even doing here?!" Misato questioned with heat as the elevator door closed, causing everyone in it to squish together.

"I'm Asuka's plus one, the Third Branch sent me along." The scruffy man explained.

"How could I have overlooked this? I should've known this situation was plausible." The woman muttered to herself in reprimand.

"Hey! Watch the hands!" Both Misato and Asuka yelled at both Kaji and Touji respectively, who were next to them.

"I can't help it." Kaji told the indigo-haired woman in reference to how cramped it was.

"It wasn't me!" Touji muttered from where his face was pressed against the door of the elevator.

"Ehe, sorry, Princess." Mari meekly apologized from where she was beside Asuka.

The auburn-haired girl just let out an exasperated sigh.


After they had finally gotten themselves out of the small elevator, the group had ended up in the dining hall, where they had found a table to sit at and have some drinks.

The seating of the table was uneven as the ponytailed man had pulled a chair from another table to accommodate the seven person group they had, leaving it with four chairs on one side and the three on the other, with Kaji, the two girls Asuka and Mari, as well as Shinji sitting on one side where across from the sat Misato and the other two boys.

An awkward silence had engrossed the teens for a moment as they stared at the adults who seemed to have tension between but didn't say anything, with the scruffy man opting to try and play footsie under the table with the woman across from him who aggressively tried to stomp his foot down.

Asuka had a bit of irritation as she looked at the two adults with her escort leaning on his hand as he looked at the indigo-haired woman across from him that had her arms crossed. Shinji looked on with disinterest, while Mari was taking a sip from her cup she'd been provided with her pinky raised.

"So… Katsuragi," Kaji finally broke the silence. "You seeing anyone?"

"And just how would that be any of your business?" She questioned while still maintaining no eye contact with him.

"Ouch, why the cold shoulder?" The man leaned back into his chair and raised his cup to drink from it as he asked.

Upon not getting an answer, the ponytailed man then leaned forward again and looked to the brown-haired boy down the table from him.

"So I hear you're living with Katsuragi?" He asked the Third Child.

"Um, that's right." The boy answered, slightly surprised at being prompted.

"Tell me, does she still roll around in her sleep?" The scruffy man asked, his innuendo apparent and causing most of the others aside from Shinji, who seemed unaffected by it, and Mari, who just leaned in with some interest and mild amusement, to be taken aback by the question.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Misato demanded as she slammed her hands on the table and leaned towards the man with her face covered in a full blush, spilling her drink in the process.

"I take it she hasn't changed a bit, has she, Shinji Ikari?" Kaji had a smug grin as he continued to talk to the male pilot.

"Uh no." Shinji agreed absentmindedly as he realized something, "Hey, how did you know my name?"

"Well, why wouldn't I? You're a bit of a celebrity in our world." The man replied as he held up a finger, "You're the Third Child, the boy who managed to pilot an Evangelion without any prior training."

Asuka frowned and turned her head upon hearing her escort give praise to the boy, glowering at the brown-haired boy from the corner of her eye. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the other brunette next to her.

"Well, um, that was just luck, really." The Third Child dismissed somewhat abashedly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Luck is just a part of destiny. You have talent, pure and simple as that." Kaji assured him before then standing up from the table, "Well, I'll see you later."

"See you around, sir." Shinji bade farewell as the man started to walk away from the table.

"This is a sick joke, a nightmare." Misato mumbled to herself from where she had put her head in her hands and clenched at her hair.

Standing up as well, Asuka followed after her escort with her companion not far behind.

"See you around, Shinji Ikari." Mari told the boy as she followed after her friend, waving a hand at him.

"Oh, okay." The boy blinked and waved a hand back as she left.

Turning to look at his friends who sat across from him, they shot him some envious stares from seeing him interact with a girl, causing him to just let out a sigh in response.


Having gone up to above the flight deck to get some air, Kaji leaned against some railing while Asuka stood next to him, dangling her feet through the same railing as she also leaned a bit over it with Mari just putting an elbow onto it. Both girls glanced at the water below.

"So what did you two think of Shinji Ikari?" The ponytailed man prompted suddenly.

"He's a letdown," Asuka immediately responded before continuing, "They really picked a guy like to be the Third Child? Honestly, I think I'm fully disillusioned now."

"And you, Mari? What did you think of him?" Kaji turned to look at the brunette, who put a finger to her chin.

"I think… he seems like just an average guy, but I also think that there's more to him than meets the eye." The teen didn't want to make many assumptions based on appearances but rather would like to do so based on actions.

"I'm inclined to agree." The scruffy man nodded his head, getting the redhead girl to then place her feet back on the ship at his response, "He may look like just another boy, but when he got tossed unprepared into that first fight, his sync rate managed to easily top 40."

"Wow, topped 40 with his first time piloting…" Mari repeated the number with awe, considering that they topped it. Even she couldn't help but feel a little envy.

"No way!" The Second Child blurted in disbelief but then realized there was no dishonesty or exaggeration from the man.

With a huff, the German girl pushed herself from the railings and started to head back the way they had come up.

"Oh, where are you heading, Princess?" The other girl asked in regard to the sudden departure.

"I'm going to have a talk with the Third Child." Was all she said, making her companion let out a small sigh.

"I'll go after her and make sure she doesn't hurt him or damage anything she shouldn't." The Fourth Child told the older man as she started after her friend.

"Your efforts are appreciated, Mari." Kaji genuinely spoke as he nodded at her as he pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He truly did appreciate that there was now someone else to help handle Asuka, as he had already done more than his fair share of handling the girl on top of attending to his own… work activities.

Catching up to the girl, Mari fell into stride beside Asuka. The redhead said nothing as she listened out for the group that the Third Child was with.

Eventually they heard the voices of the other group coming from below an escalator that was heading up to them. So Asuka merely chose to stand and wait for them to reach the top of the escalator.

As the group came into their view, Asuka then spoke up.

"Third Child!" The pilot of Unit-02 announced, getting the attention of the group and particularly Shinji. "Come with me for a minute."

Without giving him time to refute, the redhead pulled him from the escalator and started dragging him off, with Mari following behind them and shooting Misato an apologetic look for stealing her ward.


Having taken the boy over to the freighter ship carrying the cargo the fleet was transporting, Asuka lifted up part of the tarp to show off said cargo, revealing the sight of her Evangelion Unit-02 from where it lay partially submerged.

"Oh, so Unit-02 is red; I didn't know that." Was all Shinji said at the sight of the Unit.

The rather lacking reaction had Asuka purse her lips in a bit of a frown.

"I think it's a really nice shade of it, don't you?" Mari asked the boy, prompting him to scratch at his cheek.

"Um, I guess…?" The boy replied, sounding unsure.

"There's more to it than just a paint job that makes it special." Asuka huffed before ducking under the tarp, not bothering to leave it up for the boy to follow through.

"Um…" The Third Child wasn't sure if he was supposed to stay or follow, as the girl hadn't told him anything.

"Come on, it's amazing up close." The bespectacled girl still with him lifted up the tarp and held it for him, gesturing with her head, "Go on."

"Okay…" He yielded as he stepped through the made entrance with the other brunette ducking inside after him.

She then walked past him and jumped onto a platform that was suspended in the liquid that partially submerged the Evangelion. Upon her looking at him expectantly, the boy followed her after her and stepped on the platform, sticking behind her as she led him closer to Unit-02's head.

Upon realizing he didn't see where Asuka had gone. The boy looked around before spotting that the redhead had managed to get on the back of the Eva Unit where it would open for access to the entry plug.

Seeing that her audience was now in a suitable position to watch her, the Second Child began to speak.

"Eva Unit-02, beyond being unique for its design and color scheme, is also the most advanced of the Evangelion models produced." Asuka swung an arm out to gesture to the red giant, to which Mari looked bemused with her arms crossed while Shinji just watched impassively, "Unit's-00 and 01 are really just a developmental use prototype and test type. The fact you could operate and sync with yours without any training proves it. But my Unit-02 is different, better even. Mine was built with the expressed intent to be used and adaptable for combat operations. Made able to do so more effectively with the most advanced technology available, it fulfills the purpose for the creation of the Eva's, making it the world's first real official Evangelion Unit."

Upon finishing her speech that she had trimmed, the Second Child took a breath and looked down at the brown-haired boy with a smirk. However, her smirk quickly turned to a frown as the boy looked on without any expressed interest.

Before she could open her mouth to ask if he was too stupid to grasp anything she just told him, Asuka was stopped by the other person present who started to lightly clap. The gesture slightly easing some of the irk she felt, she at the very least could depend on her companion for some validation.

"You have to admit that she does have something of a knack for presenting." Mari told the Third Child as she glanced at him.

"Oh, um.." The boy was saved from having to answer as a loud rumbling sound slightly shook the ship and the platform he was standing on, causing alarm in the three teens, "What was that?!"

"An underwater shockwave?" The Fourth Child proposed.

"That blast was nearby." Asuka noted as she began descending from Unit-02. "We need to check it out."

The three teens quickly rushed out from under the tarped cargo hold and ran to the railing to look out over the ship in the direction the blast had come from. Asuka leaned over the railing as Mari and Shinji stood by her and grabbed onto it, scanning to see what had been the cause of the disturbance.

"Over there!" Shinji gestured to one of the ships that appeared to have had a part of it blown off before it was then engulfed in an explosion.

From the wreckage of the ship, water started to erupt in massive bursts from the waves, with a large silhouette underneath trailing beneath them, moving in a pattern as it weaved between the other ships of the fleet.

"Oh no, an Angel?!" The Third Child assumed as he witnessed its great destructive capability, much like the other ones he had encountered.

"That's an actual Angel?" The sight of this possible Angel was new to the Second Child

"Oh my…" Mari breathlessly muttered in awe.

"What do we do? We have to get back to where Misato is!" Shinji knew that his guardian would know what to do.

"I don't know how we'd be able to get to the other ships right now; the Fleet's going to be on the defensive…" The brunette girl mentioned.

"Now's my chance." Asuka muttered, while the other two teens looked on in shock and worry. The German girl only grinned and looked back at the tarp that covered her Evangelion Unit. It was finally her time. Her opportunity to show off her abilities. Her time to shine and save the day.

All she needed to do was seize her moment.


After making a brief detour to grab a dark red duffel bag she had on board the freighter, Asuka started to look for an area that was hidden from possible eyes as she dragged the Third Child along while her bespectacled companion followed close by.

"H-hey, where are we going?!" Shinji questioned as he tried to keep up with the redhead as she dragged him but got no answer.

Upon seeing them pass a door opening for a stairwell, the German girl quickly backtracked and let go of the boy.

"Wait up here. I'll be right back." The Second Child told him and prepared to go down the stairwell before then hesitating as she looked at the Fourth Child.

The glasses-wearing brunette just looked at her a bit confused as Asuka considered what she had planned. She looked between both brown-haired teens, once at the boy before then looking back at the girl. The auburn-haired girl thought about how she wanted to personally show up the Third Child in front of him, but also thought about how the other girl had been the one by her side for the past couple of weeks before then realizing that it would be best if she altered her plan a bit.

"Actually, come with me for a moment, Four-eyes." Asuka insisted as she grabbed the girl's wrist.

"O-okay." The English girl blinked at the sudden request but allowed herself to be dragged into the stairwell.

"But what about…" The Third Child tried to speak, but the two girls had already gone, leaving him up there alone to sigh, "Why can nobody ever explain anything?"

The two girls having gone into the stairwell did not hear his lamentation, as Asuka led them both down enough to wear their privacy.

Unzipping the duffle bag, the auburn-haired girl revealed it to contain a red plugsuit, which she pulled out.

"Ah, I figured you were planning to go fight the Angel." Mari spoke as she looked at the apparel item, "Guess, you'll be debuting today, won't you?"

"Mm-hm, and you'll have the best seat to watch it from, so put this on." Asuka threw the red plugsuit at the other girl, taking her by surprise as she was caught.

"Huh?!" As the brunette was eloquently expressing her confusion, the redhead produced another red plugsuit from the duffel bag as she had brought two with her. "Y-you want me to go with you… in Unit-02?"

"Yep, we'll take the Angel together." The Second Child explained as she began removing her yellow dress from her person.

"But… I've never even been inside of an actual Eva…" The Fourth Child pointed out with some nervousness.

"Well, you need to get actual experience with one sometime, so why not now?" Shrugging, the redhead removed her undergarments as she continued, "Besides, I'll be the one doing most of the work and making sure your first time isn't a complete embarrassment. Though just try to not drag me down, okay, Four-eyes?"

The other girl clutched the red plugsuit that she had been thrown, holding it to her chest for a moment. Her cheeks had heated up slightly at the wording from the redhead, but still she appreciated the gesture and took a deep breath.

"Thank you; I'll try my best to not let you down, Princess." Mari spoke with resolve as she started to undress as well.

Huffing, Asuka shook her head at the sincerity from her companion but nonetheless grinned slightly as she pulled her red plugsuit on before then noticing that the boy they had left up the stairs had peeked his head over the railing. He seemed as though he was about to say something but was stopped before he could.

"Don't peek, you pervert!" The German girl cried out, causing the boy to quickly duck back from the railing, before she then huffed, "Ugh, why are guys always so dumb and horny?"

"It's a primal part of their brains…" The eccentric girl offhandedly mentioned as she finished getting undressed, "Though I'm pretty sure he was just curious about what we're doing and wondering what's happening, just wanting some direction rather than a peep."

"Hmph, well, I'm not going to hold his hand for him like some kid, he should be able to make decisions for himself." Asuka grunted as she crossed her arms.

"Some people don't really know how to; they never had a guide to help show them how to do so. They're like puppies who always look to others for direction and need help learning how to be independent." Mari explained as she pulled on the red plugsuit she had been provided.

"Whatever… it's showtime…" The auburn-haired girl dismissed as she clicked a button on the wrist of the plugsuit, causing the baggy suit to tighten up to fit seamlessly against her body with her bespectacled companion doing the same. "You good to go?"

"Mm, the chest is a little tight, but I can manage." Grabbing at the area to emphasize it, the eccentric girl pushed on it slightly to try and adjust the chest.

Having looked at the other girl, the redhead noticed that indeed her chest was slightly bigger and thus made the suit tighter around it. A small dash of envy as well as a warm rush briefly appeared within Asuka, but she shook it off as she grabbed the duffle bag they had both placed their normal clothes in and started heading up the stairwell.

"Alright then, let's go." The German girl announced as the other girl followed behind her.

Walking past Shinji as he sat against the wall of the stairwell waiting, the pilot of Unit-02 called out to him.

"Well, don't just sit around Third, get moving." Asuka reprimanded as she and her companion stepped out of the stairwell.

The brown-haired boy sighed but made no argument as he got up to trail after the two girls.


"Hey, so why did you two get changed into plugsuits?" Shinji asked as he watched the two girls jump onto the head of Unit-02.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to go take care of that Angel." Asuka answered as she climbed onto the Evangelions back with the other girl right behind her.

"Seriously?! Both of you are going to pilot the Eva?" He blinked in surprise.

"That is what I said, isn't it?" The redhead huffed as she pulled a latch on the Evangelion's back that caused it to manually open and release the entry plug, causing it to shoot halfway out.

"Is that okay? Shouldn't we ask Misato first?" The boy suggested, unsure of their course of action.

"Sometimes, it's better to ask forgiveness than permission." Mari quoted as the auburn-haired girl opened the entry plug.

"Wait! What about me?" The Third Child questioned with some worry.

"What about you?" Asuka repeated as she hopped into the entry plug with her chosen co-pilot also hopping down.

"Well, am I supposed to just stay here?" A shockwave caused the ship to shake again, emphasizing his point.

"He's right, we shouldn't leave him here." The Fourth Child agreed with him as she turned to her companion.

"We're not bringing him in here; two people is already pushing it if I want to fight effectively." Crossing her arms, the Second Child was adamant about it.

"We can carry him in Unit-02's hand." The suggestion had merit but still made the other girl frown.

"I'm going to need my hands to fight." The German girl pointed out.

"We'll only need to carry him for a bit. After all, we still need to get the emergency umbilical cable from 'Over the Rainbow', so we could drop him off there when we go get it.

"Ugh, fine." Asuka relented before then turning to look down at Shinji, "Be ready, Third."

"Huh?" But he would not get further elaboration as the two girls sat inside the entry plug and closed it.


The entry plug retracted back into the Evangelion as the dark interior lit up.

"LCL Füllung. Anfang der Bewegung. Anfang des Nerven Anschlusses. Auslösung von linkskleidung. Synchro-start." The German girl spoke as she concentrated with the screens all around the interior lighting up in various patterns during start up.

After a moment, the screens then all started flashing red 'Fehler' messages.

"An error?" Mari muttered as she looked at the screens.

"Cognitive noise, I told you not to cause trouble, didn't I?" Asuka huffed, switching back to Japanese.

"Ah, sorry, Princess, what do I need to do?" The brunette sheepishly asked.

"You need to be thinking in German." She informed the English girl, which caused them to wince.

"Um, well my German is kind of… rusty to put it nicely." Rubbing the back of her head, the glasses-wearing girl was somewhat abashed and meek.

"Ugh, well, you think in Japanese, right?" The redhead questioned with a groan.

"Mm-hm." Was all the Fourth Child replied with.

"Alright, change cognitive linguistics! Set basic to Japanese!" The screens flashed through the startup once again, this time completing it fully. "Evangelion Unit-02, Activate!"

The entryplug began filling with LCL as the screens changed to show the visuals through the Evangelion Unit's eyes, displaying a confused and worried looking Shinji who was standing off to the side of the pool of liquid the Unit was partially submerged in.

Taking a deep breath as the breathable orange liquid enveloped them completely, Mari let out a sigh.

"Ah, there's something about the smell of LCL that I find invigorating." The brunette commented, getting her a raised eyebrow and a shake of the head from her companion.

Focusing on controlling the Evangelion, Asuka had the unit begin to rise from where it had been laying. In doing so, it shifted an arm from its side to set an open palm facing upwards by where the Third Child was standing.

"Well hurry up, Third!" Asuka called through the speakers of the Eva, with the boy complying and hopping into the open palm. The red giant's fingers then furled slightly in order to cup around the boy before the hand was then brought to the chest of the Evangelion, so as to reduce the chance of the teen falling.

Now the redhead began to try and make the Evangelion stand up, the pylon of its shoulders starting to stretch against the tarp above it as it moved into a kneel.

"Stop! Abort activation! Power it down!" The voice of 'Over the Rainbow's Captain spoke through a connected feed to the fleet's command ship.

"Forget him, Asuka!" Now Misato's voice came through the feed, telling them to do what they already intended on, "Launch!"

The sounds of commotion briefly played over the communication feed before the Captain's voice reappeared.

"We have jurisdiction over the Eva and its pilot! You will do as you're told!" They got out before more commotion started to obscure the feed.

"Is she serious? Unit-02's still in its B type loadout." The voice of the second in command was heard despite the racket made by the U.N, Captain and the head of tactical operations from Nerv.

"Hmm, well that's inconvenient considering we're surrounded by water." Mari hummed at the information.

"We'll need to just not fall in then." Asuka quipped with a smirk.

"Huh? You're in there too, Mari?" The indigo-haired woman asked.

"Mm-hm." She confirmed.

"We might as well test it… wait, where's Shinji then!" Misato's voice turned somewhat frantic.

"Don't worry, we're gonna carry him over." The brunette quickly assuaged.

"Alright then, Asuka! Launch now!" The woman commanded.

"We're on our way." Asuka grinned as she grasped her controls, ready to finally have her moment, giving one message of warning to the boy they carried in the Eva's hand. "Hold on tight, Third!"


Unit-02 leapt from the freighter it was on, bringing the tarp that had covered it with as the aquatic Angel suddenly tore through the ship; cleaving it in half.

The red Evangelion Unit landed on a guided missile destroyer ship, standing at full height on top of it while the tarp it had been covered in now wrapped around it like a cloak.

From the hand that was curled into its chest, Shinji held on tightly to one of the fingers that cupped around him.

"Ugh, at least Misato didn't have to deal with me jumping around in Unit-01…" The boy commented while feeling a little queasy.

"We got 58 seconds, Princess." Mari pointed out, referencing the internal battery of Unit-02. The battery had been drained already from the full five minutes of power due to not having been refilled in weeks and due to the amount of time spent on the startup sequence.

"I know, Four-eyes." Asuka examined the fleet and the positions of the ships, "Misato, have the emergency power cable waiting on deck!"

"You got it!" Her voice came through the communications.

"Right, time to fly." The Second Child muttered.

"Oh?" The prompting from the Fourth Child received no verbal answer.

The Evangelion then crouched, still holding its hand and the Third Child carefully to its chest, and leapt off of the ship and landed on another before jumping from it as well.

"Hehe, I see, it's kind of like hopscotch!" The reserve pilot cackled as the Evangelion jumped across to another ship while ripping away the tarp that had wrapped around it, showing off the entirety of the red Evangelion Unit.

They continued to hop across the fleet, getting closer to the command ship.

"Eva-02, coming in for landing!" The pilot of said Unit announced as the Evangelion plummeted onto the aircraft carrier.

Upon landing, the red giant caused the 'Over The Rainbow' to rock significantly in the direction they landed from, sending many of the aircraft and other items that had been on the runway into the ocean before the ship stabilized.

The Evangelion then lowered the hand it clutched to its chest to the bridge tower and opened its palm so that the Third Child could hop onto the ship and rejoin his group, looking a little worse for wear as he did.

"Switching to external power!" Grabbing the emergency umbilical cable, Asuka had Unit-02 plug it into the back of itself, allowing the Eva to rely on the nuclear powered aircraft carrier for energy.

"Switchover complete!" Asuka confirmed as the alarm for the low battery turned off, with it now relying only on the power provided to it through the cable.

"Target at nine o'clock, closing in fast from!" Looking out on the water, the two female pilots could see the eruption of water signaling the Angel approaching the ship fast.

"You've told me Unit-02's equipped with a mark two prog knife, right Princess?" Mari mentioned with a small grin.

"Already ahead of you, Four-eyes." The Second Child answered with a smirk.

The Evangelion's left shoulder pylon opened up and ejected out a handle. Taking hold of the handle, they extended their arms fully and brandished it, the blade extending out of it. The shape was reminiscent of a box cutter though much longer.

The head of the Angel rose out of the water as it continued to rush towards the ship, revealing it to almost look whale-like except for some notable alien-esque features with a pale and pasty color to its skin.

"It seems like you got quite a big catch." The reserve pilot remarked at the sight of the angel.

"Heh, just like I hoped it would be." The designated pilot of the Unit grinned as she braced for the behemoth to strike.

Briefly diving under, the Angel leapt high out of the water and crashed into the red Eva on top of the ship's flight deck. The Evangelion stopped it before it could knock them both overboard, but dropped the progressive knife it had been holding before it could deal a blow with it.

"Way to stop that thing, Asuka!" Misato cheered over the communications.

Unfortunately, as the Angel pushed harder against the red giant in order to return to the water with it, Unit-02 accidentally stepped on an aircraft elevator. It, not being designed to support so much weight, gave way, causing the Evangelion to stumble and fall overboard with the Angel.

"Asuka! You can't fight underwater in the B type configuration!" The Nerv officer reminded.

"You never know until you try, right?" The redhead responded.

"Not that we have much choice either." Mari muttered from beside the other girl.

The red Eva Unit held on to the Angel as it started to writhe under the water, trying to get it off. The aquatic being slammed itself into the ruins of sunken city that filled the ocean below, dragging Unit-02 with it. Tearing through old sunken buildings caused debris to fly everywhere in the water, but the Angel did not relent.

"You're almost out of cable!" The indigo-haired woman warned them through the feed, "Brace for impact!"

The umbilical cable attached to the back of the Eva Unit suddenly went taut, allowing the Angel to escape its grasp as it continued barrelling through the water.

"Damn it!" Asuka cursed at losing her grasp on the target, watching as it then made a turn and started coming back towards them, "Here it comes again! This time I'll get it for sure!"

The Second Child clenched the controls and jerked them to make the Eva brace itself, but nothing happened.

"What the hell?!" She cried out at the lack of movement, "It's not moving!"

"Oh no, the B type gear." The other girl mumbled with a grimace.

"What are we going to do?!" The redhead asked slightly panicked.

"Um, I'm not sure…" Mari gave a panicked look of her own.

The Angel rapidly approaching them opened its maw, revealing it to have a mouth full of sharp teeth and a single red orb suspended in the back of it, currently rushing to snap at them with.

"A mouth?!" The designated pilot yelped at the sight.

"But what's that thing inside of it?" Squinting her eyes at it, the Fourth Child considered its significance.

But before either could wonder more about it, the Angel snapped them up into its mouth, impaling the Eva Unit through the stomach with its sharp teeth, causing a superficial stinging pain to resonate with the two female pilots inside the Unit.

Looking through the feed, Mari could see the red orb inside the Angels mouth much clearer as it was much closer.

"That looks like it's important." The bespectacled girl noted, "If only we could reach it."

The brunette recalled that the progressive knife had been dropped on board the 'Over the Rainbow' meaning they could use that to try and hit the orb with. Glancing at the left pylon of the Eva through the screen, Mari then suddenly remembered the contents of its right pylon.

"Hey, Princess, you got a rack of needles in that other pylon, don't you?" The reserve pilot asked.

"Yeah…" Asuka nodded as she stopped wincing from the resonated pain from the Angels bite, which she had felt more significantly than the other girl.

"How about we fire them off at that." Mari pointed her finger towards the red orb, with the redhead also considering it as likely important.

"Alright, but we need to line up our shot, and this damn thing doesn't want to move." Jerking the controls to emphasize her point, the Eva would indeed not move.

"Here, I'll help." Leaning over the other girl's waist, the brunette grasped at the controls as well.

"Fine." The Second Child relented.

Both pulled at the controls, and after a moment, the Evangelion started to shift its shoulders in the intended manner the pilots wanted. The right shoulder began to face the center of the orb until it was lined up.

"Fire!" The yell from both girls was accompanied by the right shoulder pylon opening and firing off a rack of needle projectiles like missiles toward the red orb.

However, they did little more than stick into the orb, causing the Angel they were inside to writhe and clench its teeth tighter in pain, but no more than that.

"Damn it! They don't have enough power under water!" Slamming her hand against the controls, the redhead swore, "We need to break free from it somehow!"

"Asuka, do you read me?" Misato's voice came in over the communications channel. "Whatever you do, don't let go!"

The instructions caused both girl's to blink with some confusion.

"We're going to start to reel you up along with the Angel; what we need you to do is pry its mouth open so we can send two evacuated ships we're gonna sink into it to blast it point blank." The woman explained to the pilots the idea she had come up with, "Do you two understand the plan?"

"Yeah." Asuka nodded.

"We'll make it work." Mari confirmed as well.

"Good luck." Misato wished them as the Unit started to get pulled by its power cable.

With the Evangelion Unit being pulled, so too did the Angel also get pulled along by it. It did not resist being pulled; it just wanted to hold the Eva in its bite and so allowed itself to be tugged along so as to keep it within its mouth.

"Damn, it still doesn't want to move." The redhead grit her teeth as she tried to budge the Eva Unit from the bite, "It was just moving before…"

"Because we were both moving it together…" The brunette concluded as she realized it was the only difference, "So we just need to do it together again."

"Alright, then grab on and concentrate!" The Second Child told her.

Placing her hands over Asuka's, Mari helped grip the controls and pushed forward. The Eva Unit started to move. Setting an arm on the mandible and upper jaw, the Evangelion Unit started to push against them as they braced their feet against the lower jaw and tried to stand.

The weight of the water and the Angels jaw kept pushing down on the red giant, making it a struggle to lift itself upright.

"There's not much time! Hurry!" Misato warned them.

"C'mon, Four-eyes, concentrate!" Asuka insisted as she clenched the controls.

"Right!" Mari grit her teeth.

Both continued pushing against the Angels jaw. Both wanted only one thing to happen. Both only thought of one thing, for its jaw to open.

With their will combined, the Evangelion suddenly stopped trying to get itself upright, and did get itself upright.

The struggle to open its jaw became less and less, until its jaw did open as Unit-02 extended its arms and forced the maw to open up at their behest. It occurred just in time too, as not a moment later did the two destroyers that had been sunk barreled their way into the open jaw of the aquatic Angel.

Sinking into the mouth of the beast, the two ships then fired inside it. The red orb inside the Angel was shot point blank by various cannons, causing the body of the Angel to bloat before then erupting into a massive explosion that sent a huge blast of water to erupt on the surface.

Unit-02 was flung up from the water and into the air, from which it then landed upon one of the remaining ships in the fleet, before further collapsing on it; having had the power cable detached from it during the explosion.

The back of it then opened to eject the entry plug. From it, the two girls emerged, dropping down from it to the deck of the ship below them.

Mari stood somewhat shakily with both excitement and a little bit of terror as she looked back at the Eva and then to Asuka who also seemed to be in a similar if more controlled state.

"We… we did it!" The brunette uttered before then starting to cackle, "Haha, we did it! That was incredible! We won!"

"Damn right, we won!" The Second Child joined in with the excitement, having a self-satisfied grin plastered on her face.

"That was like the most intense amusement park ride I've ever been on. But even that doesn't do it justice." The Fourth Child compared as she recalled the whole experience in the Evangelion, "It was amazing. You were amazing, and brilliant, Princess!"

The bespectacled teen then pulled the other girl into a hug while jumping in place, cackling all the while.

"Get off of me, Four-eyes!" The redhead told her, despite the fact she wore a slightly abashed grin, and let out a huff, "I guess you were a decent co-pilot. You did good for your first time in an Eva."

Her words caused the reserve pilot to still for a moment as she looked at the German girl and blinked, before then giving a genuine smile.

"Ah, thank you, Princess." Mari gave the girl a squeeze as she hugged her, making the other girl slightly blush before huffing.

"Alright, now get off of me already, jeez." Asuka told her as she pushed at the eccentric girl's shoulders as she tried to continue the embrace, all the while unable to stop herself from smiling as well.


Sitting in the back seat of an open top military Jeep, Misato let out a sigh as she leaned her head against the seat. The vehicle was being driven across the port of New Yokosuka, which had formerly been Odawara, as the U.N. fleet had docked in order to unload the Evangelion Unit and let it officially be relinquished to Nerv Headquarters.

"I should've been informed that there was a Fourth Child." She bemoaned to her friend and fellow Nerv department head, Ritsuko Akagi, as she sat next to her. Nerv's chief scientist had come to analyze the data collected from Unit-02 during the fight against the Angel.

"It was something of a last minute decision from the Marduk institute in order to appease some of Nerv's financiers who felt uneasy about us nearly being short a pilot when we had only retrieved the Third Child during the first Angel attack, then hearing about his near refusal only served to deepen their fears." Ritsuko explained as she continued to look over the clipboard of data she had been given, "With such short notice, it was decided we would be informed via the delivery of the Fourth Child."

"Still would've been nice to know beforehand." Misato sulked, "Like how it would've been nice if I had factored in the possibility of underwater combat…"

"Oh? That's unusual, do I hear regret?" The faux blonde commented as she glanced at her friend.

"It's all good, at least we got some valuable data from it."

"That's true," Looking back at the clipboard and flipping the page up, the scientist stared at what she saw, "Misato? This really is valuable data."

"Mm-hm." Was all she got in reply.

"This is a new synchronization record." Ritsuko noted

"It was just for about eight seconds, so it was probably just an adrenaline rush." The indigo-haired woman dismissed.

The faux blonde just hummed.


The two girls still clad in red plugsuits descended from the now docked ship via an escalator. The brunette just leaned against the handrail while the redhead was looking around to see if they could find where their escort had gone off to.

Once on the ground, the girls went up to the Jeep that Misato and Ritsuko sat in as it came to a stop.

"Hey, where's Mr. Kaji?" Asuka asked as she leaned on the side of the Jeep.

"He ran off without us! He's already back at HQ, that jerk!" Misato bit out as she sat up.

"Aww, I wanted to ask him what he thought of my debut." The redhead's shoulders slumped at the news.

"I guess he must've had some work to do, I'm sure he'd be proud of you." Mari suggested in an effort to try and relieve her friend's disappointment.

"Ah so, you're the Second and Fourth Children." Ritsuko spoke up from where she was sitting, "Asuka and Mari, correct?"

"Yeah, that's us, who're you?" The Second Child answered.

"I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv's chief scientist." The faux blonde introduced, "I'll be working a lot with you and the Evas at Headquarters."

"Oh, speaking of, are we going to be staying at Nerv headquarters?" The brunette girl asked as she set her arms on the side of the vehicle.

"For the moment, yes, you'll be residing at headquarters." The scientist confirmed.

"Though we can discuss setting you up with other living arrangements," Misato spoke up, "Especially since you'll both be attending school, starting tomorrow."

"Huh?!" Both girls incredulously uttered at once.

The indigo-haired woman just grinned at them.


"Y'know, they both were pretty cute looking." Kensuke remarked as he leaned back in his seat.

"Eh, sure d'ere easy on da eyes, but dat one with da glasses seemed like a weirdo, and dat red was such a shrew, rubbed me da wrong way." Touji crossed his arms as he looked at his glasses wearing friend while discussing the pilot girls they had encountered before, the athletic boy was still upset with how the latter had stepped on his hat.

"Well I like a girl who can be feisty, hehe." The otaku boy shot back with a grin, "Besides, it doesn't really matter since we won't really see them ever again. Well, except for you, Shinji."

"Yeah, our sympathies, you're stuck with d'em cause of ya job big guy." The darker boy said to the brown-haired boy with a pat on the shoulder.

Shinji just huffed at his friends' antics. In truth, he found himself with a bit of awe and respect towards the two girls after watching their performance from the bridge of 'Over the Rainbow'. Though he also found himself agreeing that the Fourth Child was odd and that the Second Child was rude, but as his friends said: he'd only have to see them at Nerv.

There was then a clap from the front of the room as the teacher spoke up.

"Settle down class, we have two new students joining us today." The old teacher gestured at the open door, "Why don't you come in and introduce yourselves."

Touji's expression turned to one of horror as he saw the two new students that walked in, Kensuke grimaced, and Shinji blinked in surprise.

Asuka and Mari both walked into the room wearing the matching girls uniform of the school that consisted of a white button-up and a dark teal skirt and suspender straps. They both walked up to the chalkboard and grabbed a piece of chalk before writing their full names on the board and turning around.

"I'm Asuka Langley Soryu." The pilot of Unit-02 introduced.

"And I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami." Nerv's reserve pilot followed.

"It's nice to meet you." They both spoke at the same time.

Shinji just let out a sigh.


Author's Note: Well, that's what I got so far for this idea. But I'm thinking about writing more for it, what do you guys think? Anyways, I just wanted to share this idea, leave a comment and tell me what you think if you're inclined. See ya.