Synchronicity, Part 4

Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English and German.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

Tokyo-3
First Municipal Junior High School, Backyard
Lunch time

"So, what's going on, Rei? Shinji and Asuka haven't been at school for three days." Toji asked as they ate their lunches. Next to him, Hikari and Kensuke nodded.

"We're worried for them. I know Asuka really doesn't need to come to school, but some of the other students are slacking." Hikari added.

It was Kensuke who asked the one question the group dreaded. "Are they okay? I heard some rumors that say the last Angel kicked their posteriors."

Rei regarded the group stoically. She had deflected their questions the previous days, citing regulations and need to know, but after a quick consultation with Captain Katsuragi the previous afternoon, she had received new instructions.

"Their health is satisfactory." The group sighed in relief.

Toji asked. "NERV stuff then?"

"Yes, special training. They have been working hard, but Captain Katsuragi thinks they would appreciate a brief distraction. If you are free later, you could come to see them."

Smiling, Toji spoke for the group, "We will be there, Blue."

Then he attacked the bento Hikari had brought for him. "I'm lucky you prepared too much food for your family!"

She smiled back and blushed.

Tokyo-3
Katsuragi/Ikari Apartment
Later

The group of students arrived to the Katsuragi/Ikari apartment, talking and speculating about just what could be that special training Rei had mentioned. None was prepared to the sight of Shinji and Asuka dressed with identical sets of tights, including a loose top with two musical notes stitched on. The only difference in their clothes was the color of their tops. Shinji's was light blue, with green musical notes; while Asuka's was pink, with red notes.

Both looked absolutely tired and miserable.

"Gah! Wasn't once enough, Shinji? You had to wear her clothes again? What's wrong with you?" Kensuke looked like he was about to faint.

"No! It's Misato's fault!" both chorused. "She's making us do everything together! Eat, brush our teeth, breathe, we even have to sleep together!"

Hikari was the next to protest. "You are living in sin!" She looked like she was about to cry.

"No! It's not like that, Hikari!" again, both pilots spoke in an eerie synchronization. "This was Kaji's idea! We have to do everything at the same time and in the same way!" At this point, Hikari was actually crying, burying her face in her hands. Toji had the sudden impulse to pat her back, but didn't dare to.

Misato's voice came from the living room. "Enough fun. Rei, let them in and I will explain what's going on!"

"So… this is the special training regime Rei told us about?" Hikari asked with relief, while holding a very happy Pen Pen. Toji looked at the penguin with some apprehension, worried he would peck Hikari. Had Pen Pen been able to talk, he would have said he had no intention of harming his second best provider of fish.

"Yep. But, as you can see…" Misato waved her hand towards the other extreme of the living room.

Meanwhile, Shinji and Asuka practiced on a set of matching mats, covered with circles. The goal of the exercise was to show them a sequence of lighted circles, which they had to press in synch. Otherwise, an Error message blinked on. As the machine demonstrated several times in a row.

"Enough!" yelled an annoyed Asuka, throwing her earphones to the ground, and pointing at her partner. "I can't lower myself to the pathetic level of this animated turnip!" Meanwhile, Shinji kept on pressing the lighted circles on his mat.

Misato thought about it for a moment, "Very well… Let's try something different. Rei? Are you up to it?"

"Yes."

"Shinji, take five. Let's see how well your friends can synch."

Asuka nodded at Rei, and both pilots took their initial positions. Rei was quite good, it took a while before the Error message flashed. "See, Misato? I can synch better with Rei than with… him!" There was anger in her voice. "I think it would be best to pair me with Wonder Girl here." Rei looked at Shinji and both raised an eyebrow at the last part, but neither said anything.

"Let me test a theory, Asuka; you take five. Shinji, you're back in."

The pilots changed places. Amazingly, Rei and Shinji lasted longer than Asuka and Rei. The redhead pilot looked at them, amazed by their harmony.

"Th-this can't be…" she mumbled. She was shocked. "No! I can't stand this! I can't take it anymore!" Anger got the best of the German pilot, and she stormed out of the apartment, looking like she was about to cry.

Toji commented acidly, "Even the devil cries sometimes."

Hikari stood up, pointing at Shinji, with an angry glare in her eyes. "Ikari! You've got to follow her! You made her cry! It's your fault!"

Shinji put the earphones down and went to the door. "Ok, Horaki. But you'll have to explain me later exactly how you got to that conclusion." He went after his colleague. Still wearing the ludicrously embarrassing outfit.

After both pilots had disappeared in the hall, Toji commented. "That should be a good explanation; you know, Class Rep?"

Hikari looked at him like he had said the most idiotic thing in the world. "Shut up.", she said, and crossed her arms, looking away from the confused jock.

Misato smiled behind her can of beer. 'Don't tease them, Misato.' she thought. 'Not yet. Waaaaait for it.'

Convenience Store
Half a Block Away
Four Minutes Later

It didn't take long for Shinji to find Asuka. She was squatting in front of the open door of a fridge, looking angrily at the bottles of soda and hugging her knees.

"(Shut up, Third. I know what you are about to say.)"

Shinji took a couple of cans out and offered his hand to her. "(Come with me if you wanna live.)" He said in English, affecting a heavy accent. He just didn´t have the voice to pull that off.

Anyway, it made Asuka smirk and blow away a lock of her hair that had fallen on her face. "(OK, you got me there.)"

"(Let's go somewhere else, I need to talk to you in private.)"

"(Yeah, sure, you just wanna perv out.)"

"(I just want to talk, away from anybody else who could see me with this. You make it look good; but on me, it's an embarrassment.)", he pulled on the top of his outfit to make it even clearer.

Asuka snorted, and almost laughed. "(At least you admit it.)" She took his hand to get up; and they went back out, having bought some food. On credit, of course, neither had their NERV IDs; luckily the shop owner knew Shinji and agreed to put everything on his tab.

Somehow, the old man managed to contain his laughter until both pilots were well away from the store.

Tokyo-3
On the Top of the Building Where the Katsuragi/Ikari Apartment is Located
Sunset

At the top of the building was a small lookout terrace, with a great view of Tokyo-3. Asuka stood on a bench, Shinji was sitting at the other end of the same bench. The bags of food they had brought were between both of them.

"(No matter what, I'll put Rei and Misato to shame! I won't be humiliated, Third!)" As always, both pilots had slipped into German for their private talks. Asuka would deny it, of course, but she was secretly glad to have the chance to speak her mother tongue; even if Shinji wasn't exactly the best conversationalist, not even in his native Japanese.

"(Well… The way I see it, Misato was only trying to motivate you. I doubt she would replace you with Rei.)" He answered, and calmly sipped from his soda.

"(Why not? She synchs much better with you than with me!)"

"(I'm sure it's only because her memory is very good; she has seen us work on it for days, she must have the whole sequence memorized by now. But her synch rate with EVA-00 is much lower than ours.)" Shinji took another sip of his soda, while Asuka attacked a sandwich as if it had personally insulted her whole lineage.

"(You don't get it, Third Stooge. The mere insinuation I´m not good enough is an insult! I must avenge myself, defend my honor; my pride; with blood if necessary!)"

"(Whose blood? Neither Misato, Rei, nor I are your enemies.)"

She looked at him as if he had grown antlers. After another sip of soda, Shinji continued.

"(Our enemy, our true enemy, is now healing from a N2 Mine blast to the face back in Suruga Bay. That's the one who is ultimately guilty of this affront against nature.)" He pulled at the outfit again. Asuka fought to contain her laughter. She wasn't completely successful.

"(…right… I hate to admit it, but you are right. Still, the problem is the same. We are not synching.)"

"(Yep, but I've been thinking.)" He paused for a second, "(Yes, it did hurt.)" He allowed her a couple of seconds to smirk again at his self-deprecating humor. "(Now, seriously, let me ask you a question. Are you trying to defeat the machine, or me?)"

Asuka stood still for a few seconds, thinking. "(…Damn…)" She shook her head.

"(I thought so. Let's keep the competition between us to the synch rates, OK? If we compete among ourselves in battle, we are gonna get killed.)"

"(What about your precious kill score?)" She asked, with a hint of petulance in her voice.

"(It can take a few hits.)" Shinji shrugged. "(What matters to me is that we send all those Angels back to wherever they came from. I don't really care who gets the kill shot, as long as there is a kill shot.)"

"(Really? Then why are you even a pilot? If not for glory and pride, why?)"

"(I have my reasons. I'll show you later. Right now, we have a score to settle. You and me, with that Angel.)" he remarked, pointing vaguely; in the wrong direction, actually. "(No one humilliates my friends without paying the price.)" He crushed his empty can, underscoring his worlds.

"(So. What are we, hmm? Friends? Team mates?)" She extended her fist towards him.

"(A team of friends, I hope.)" He extended his own fist, bumping hers. "(Now, let's go back to Misato's and keep on dancing.)"

She grunted and nodded her agreement, and both pilots gathered the packaging of their meal, going back to the apartment.

Tokyo-3
On the Top of the Building Where the Katsuragi/Ikari Apartment is Located
Spiritual Plane

The Phantom Stranger and Deadman watched them, approvingly.

'(So, what do you think?)' Deadman jumped down from the railing.

"(They are on the road to heal their wounds, together.)"

'(The kid is a natural when he sets his mind to it, doesn't he?)'

The Phantom Stranger nodded.

Tokyo-3
Katsuragi/Ikari Apartment
D-Day Minus One. 08:32 P.M.

After their talk, they scores improved dramatically. Now that both had reached an agreement, the synchronization was smoother. Each day, they got better and better.

Asuka came out the bathroom, freshly showered and wrapped in a fluffy towel, with another wrapped around her hair. "Where's Misato?" she asked, looking around and adjusting the towel on her body.

Without interrupting his reading, Shinji answered. "At work. She called earlier. She will be there all night."

"So that means we're all alone tonight!" She squeed. "You know what that means?" She picked up her futon, pillows and blankets, taking everything back to her own room. "It means I don't have to sleep here with you! I can go to my own room and really get back my beauty sleep!"

Shinji looked at her as she slid close the door, 'Actually… that's my room…' he thought.

A few seconds later, the door was opened again by a kneeling Second Child, who looked quite annoyed. "This is the impenetrable 'Wall of Jericho', Third Child! Take one step over this wall and you'll be a dead man! Get it?"

Shinji looked at her, completely confused. "B-but Jericho had nothing to do with walls..." he said, "His power was to possess people's bodies and control them from the inside..."

"What in the Seven Hells name are you talking about?" was the angry retort.

Shinji stood up, picked up a magazine from the bookcase, flipped a few pages, and showed them to Asuka. He pointed at a kid with deep blue eyes and short and curly blond hair, wearing a strange set of clothing, with puffy sleeves and what seemed to be some kind of armor made of linked rings or scales. "This is Jericho. He was a Teen Titan. See?"

"Graaagrgh! I meant the one from the Bible, not this reject from the 80s, you idiot!"

Shinji opened his mouth. "Uh... I don't know about that..."

Asuka huffed again. "Forget it! Just remember, If you dare to go into that room, you're dead. Got it?"

Shinji raised his hands conciliatorily. "Look, I know you don´t trust me much. I got it. I promise I won't try to impose on you. Even though you are the prettiest girl I know, I respect your privacy. Okay? And I know for a fact that you punch like a runaway train."

Asuka blew a raspberry at him, and closed the door again.

Later, Shinji was still trying to sleep, the uninterrupted rant Asuka had been engaged on for the last half-hour was kinda entertaining, she had managed to complain about almost everything! Finally, she had quieted down.

He found sleep elusive. His mind kept on replaying the movements they would have to do. He was tempted to dig the SDAT out from the drawer he had put it on, when the door to Asuka's temporary room opened. He got very still, pretending to sleep; he had no wish to incur on the wrath of his colleague.

She went to the bathroom, and eventually, he heard the flushing of the toilet and the water running in the sink.

The light of the bathroom went off, and to his surprise, the German pilot plopped down next to him. Shinji blushed so much he felt like his whole face was on fire. Asuka was sleeping right next to him! During the previous nights, Misato had slept between the two pilots, a buffer to dissuade them from any shenanigans. But without her...

Shinji was completely paralyzed by the vision of the redhead, sleeping peacefully next to him. The fact that her shirt barely covered her chest only added to his paralysis.

She stirred in her sleep. She was so beautiful Shinji only wanted to burn the image in his memory. Her lips were temptingly open, it looked as if she was asking for a kiss.

Shinji closed his eyes for a moment. Then he heard her voice, softer than he had ever heard her. It was a single word, full of sadness, longing, and need. "...Mama..."

Shinji felt a lump in his throat. 'She's having a nightmare...', he thought. Her eyes welled with unshed tears. Seeing her pain shook Shinji out of his immobility. He craned his neck, and tenderly kissed her forehead. "Your Mama loves you, Asuka," he whispered, "I'm sure she does. Sleep well."

The German girl relaxed and started to snore softly. Shinji got up, and covered her body with a blanket.

He set his own blankets a few feet away from Asuka, and settled down for the night.

Sleep was slow to come.

GeoFront
Staff Bar
D-Day Minus One. 09:33 P.M.

Misato Katsuragi, tapped the nail of her index against the table. The previous days had been a strange emotional rollercoaster. Leaving aside that that damned Angel was about to get back on its feet and try to crush Tokyo-3, she had to supervise Shinji and Asuka during their synch training. And devise an attack routine they could synch to. She also felt strangely slighted by Kaji. True to his word, the scruffy man hadn't tried to reignite their relationship. Even more strange, he had refrained from chasing any other woman, at least, the ones at hand in NERV. Even Rits had been quite safe from his attentions.

Was it possible Kaji had changed so much in the eight years they had been apart?

And speaking of Rits, here she was. She put a cup of coffee near Misato's hand. "You're unusually sober today. Problems?"

"Yep. I'm feeling kinda... ignored... Kaji has been around for over a week, and he hasn't even tried to make a pass on me!"

"Well... He did promise not to. Didn't he?"

Misato huffed. "And since when does he keep that kind of promise?"

"Maybe he has matured during the last years." Ritsuko shrugged.

"Yeah, sure. I'll believe that when I see it."

"Maybe you should give him a chance."

"Don't be ridiculous! I was young then, and it's still the biggest blemish on my whole life. "

"He might still like you. Does that scare you?"

Misato shot her with a glare. "I've got to get to work. Tomorrow is D-Day!" She almost stormed out the place. Ritsuko Akagi was left behind, wondering if she should get involved in the complicated relationship her two friends had.

In Route to Tokyo-3
Next Day

The Seventh Angel stepped heavily on the road, ruining the asphalt with its sheer weight. In the route, it had crushed the road, a lot of trees, several cars, and who knew what else. Several VTOLs circled the air around it, like flies.

And like flies, they had no discernible effect on the creature.

GeoFront
NERV
Pilots Dressing Room

Shinji pressed the button on the wrist of his plugsuit, breathed deeply several times, and closed his fist. "I will not break." he repeated several times, with his eyes closed.

When he opened his eyes again, he realized the colors in the room had shifted. Next to him, the Phantom Stranger stood, his eyes hidden in shadows. The tall man tipped his hat to Shinji. "You'll do well."

Shinji felt a rush of confidence flow through his veins. The support and approval of the Stranger meant a lot to him. "Thanks. I'll do my best."

"Miss Soryu is in a better mental state, I see. I don't think you will need my help this time. Both of you are so much better. Still, I'll be alert."

"Thanks, Stranger." Impulsively, Shinji hugged the man. After a couple of seconds, he felt his arms wrap around him. A long moment later, he heard the Stranger's voice, "Go. It's time."

"Yes. I'd like to talk to you later. I mean, really talk. I have some questions."

"I'll do my best to answer. But there are some things you are not ready to know. You will be, soon."

Shinji felt reassured. The colors went back to normal as the Stranger faded from view.

GeoFront
NERV
Central Dogma

Calmly, Lt. Makoto Hyuga reported the advance of the Angel. The titanic creature had broken through the last defense line, at Gora, and was getting closer and closer to its target. High tension lines snapped at its ankles, no more substantial than a spider-web to a walking man.

Captain Katsuragi spoke, summing the thoughts of all NERV personnel. "Here he comes. We won't fail this time." She opened a channel to the two EVAs, waiting in their launch catapults. "Spread your AT Fields as soon as the music starts. Then follow the operation choreography."

"Just as we rehearsed!" the voices of the two pilots echoed in the open channel.

Asuka looked intensely at the image of the Third Child shown in her plug. "Just remember, Shinji. Full power, maximum performance."

"Roger that. We will finish in sixty-two seconds."

The umbilical cables were released from their sockets at the back of the fully charged Evangelions.

The music started.

The two twin catapults rocketed upside.

Both EVAs were released from their moorings, launching themselves, hundreds of feet into the air.

At the apex of their trajectories, both titans took the measure of the Angel.

They released and extended their progressive glaives, and with a deadly, simultaneous grace, they spun back down, gathering momentum.

The glaives were thrown; one in front, the other behind the Angel. An energy field extended between the shafts of the glaives, neatly bisecting the Angel into two halves, each one turning into a new Angel, as expected.

Two armory buildings opened before the EVAs landed with deceptive ease. The Evangelions took the awaiting weapons. EVA-01, the pallet rifle; EVA-02, the positron rifle. Both giants opened fire. The firing rates of the different weapons were the only thing in the whole plan that wasn't synchronized to the last fraction of a second.

The Angels answered the shots with their own. A series of compacted energy capsules that blew up at contact, exploding with tremendous force. However, not even one impacted the EVAs, they had thrown away their weapons, and free of any impediment, they tumbled away with such grace and elegance that Deadman was clapping and whistling to his heart's content from the Spiritual Plane. As a professional acrobat, he was always happy to watch an excellent performance. And this was one for the books!

If only his old friends in Haley Circus could see this! Heck, if only he had a bowl of popcorn!

Away from the Angel, both stepped on a pressure plate, their weight activated the release of a heavily reinforced shield. The last energy pellet crashed against it, buckling and melting the surface. The shield was never meant to take that punishment for long. It was only a delaying tactic, a respite for the pilots, to take new weapons from the armory buildings hidden behind the shield.

The EVAS stepped out from behind the shield, firing their new pallet rifles in perfect tandem.

The Angels, annoyed by the impacts, took flight on their AT Fields as the projectiles flew around them, and their steely claws slashed the shield into useless strips.

From Central Dogma, Misato barked orders, and all of the hill-mounted batteries, tanks, and missile silos set in or around Tokyo-3 released their projectiles against the twin Angels.

Distracted by the literal rain of high explosives around them, the Seventh Angel twins didn't realize the two EVAs had closed distance, each one threw a devastating uppercut on one half of their enemy, launching them into the air. The Angels didn't rose far from the ground. The EVAs spun to kick them back down to ground.

All the synchronized attacks had left their mark on the twins. As they received the attacks at exactly the same time, their energy exchanges were effectively neutralized. Their mutual healing was useless.

Desperate, both Angels fused back into one.

That was their last mistake.

Before their twin cores could turn back into one, Units 01 and 02 launched themselves into the air, spinning like twin, deadly arrows fired from a single bow.

Their feet hit the Seventh Angel with such force, that at the same time the cores cracked into fragments, the Angel's body was thrown back, digging a deep trench into the ground; all the way into one of the mountains that surrounded Tokyo-3.

As the Angel hit the side of the mountain, it exploded. The detonation was apocalyptic.

They would have to re-draw the maps again. But Vice-Commander Fujutsuki didn't really care about that at the moment.

Israfel Crater
(Just Formed, Still Smoking)

Unit-01 fell down like a puppet without strings. Shinji ejected the plug to wait for the recovery teams. Next to him, Eva-02 had performed a perfect three-points landing with the poise of an Olympic athlete.

He smiled at himself. Undoubtedly, the Second Child would mock him relentlessly for days.

All was well with the world.

Somewhere near, a phone rang. 'What? Who put a phone in the back of an EVA? And why?' he asked himself. Anyway, he picked it up. As he had thought, the voice at the other side of the line collapsed into laughter.

In different circumstances, he would have been deeply hurt by that laughter. Now? It just made him glad.

Yep. All is well with the world.

His smile only grew.

Author Notes

I'll be honest. I was dreading to write this battle even more than, you know, the 16th Angel's.

But that's because I already have a plan to deal with Arael.