Tohji Suzuhara wanted to kick his own ass very hard.

"Damn it!" He bit out as he ran across the city, "I just had to do another lap, should have gone home already!" He berated himself as he ignored the destruction around him.

Earlier this evening, Tohji had stayed after school to run laps around the school's track. He had an argument with his father the night prior and didn't want to go home yet. Of course, the argument centered around his father not being available for his kids. Tohji didn't mind so much, it was Sakura he was more concerned about.

After the sudden passing of their mother, Sakura had been more aware of things. He couldn't quite explain, but she started to notice the absence of their father more. Tohji had often brought this up to his dad, even his uncle when he could. Both had made promises they could not keep. Which would often lead to arguments between them, thankfully outside of Sakura's eyes and ears.

This time, their argument didn't start out bad, maybe something finally clicked. But the Suzuhara men were stubborn, and it didn't take long for their argument to turn into a raging typhoon. But this happened often, Tohji knew how to deal with it. The bad part was when Sakura heard. The two were mid conversation when they saw Sakura watching them argue. No matter how much they pleaded, Tohji and his dad could not console the girl as she went upstairs crying.

That's why he stayed behind after school to run, so he didn't have to deal with his father and wouldn't have to look Sakura in her eyes.

Track seemed to always be a great way for him to vent off a lot of his frustrations. It even doubled as a good excuse to come home late, who would think to chastise a boy like him for exercising.

But today would be the worst day to go and run.

Tohji stayed a little more late than usual, opting to go for another lap around the track. After that he started to head home, he wasn't too far from school when the sirens rang. He had to go to the shelters.

When he and his family moved to Tokyo-3, he had been drilled into about the importance of the sirens. Despite what many governments across the world would tell you, there was still a sense of unease concerning war. Tokyo-3 was built to handle such a scenario, but Tohji never expected it to happen.

When it did, he panicked, people started running to shelters, cops tried their best to guide the people, all the while Tohji tried to navigate the crowd. Unfortunately he had been swept up in it.

As he tried to navigate the crowd a cop had grabbed him, "C'mon get into the shelter!" He shouted over the panicked cries.

Tohji tried to resist, he needed to get to his sister but he couldn't resist being dragged away into the shelter.

Inside, Tohji could hear the distant rumbles of gunfire. Eventually a really big one rattled the shelter, and it was silent. For hours he and hundreds of others sat in silence waiting for the all clear. There were a million questions in Tohji's head as he sat waiting. Who attacked? Why? What happened? But most important of all, he hoped Sakura was okay. She, like everyone else, knew how to get to a shelter, but still anxiety plagued him.

His mind stopped spinning when he heard the next noise. It wasn't gun fire, the rumbles of military vehicles, or even the sirens telling them it was all clear. No, it was a roar. One that Tohji could never forget.

The fighting had continued, more rumblings shook his shelter, but strangely enough no gunfire. This strange limbo kept in place long enough for a good 10 odd minutes until one last big explosion rang out. About a half hour later, they were all free to leave. Tohji leapt out of his seat fast and ran across town.

He didn't care about the scattered remains of helicopters, or the destroyed building faces, or even the gargantuan hole in the city. No, his first thought was of Sakura. He didn't stop running until he was at the shelter closest to his house, where he was sure Sakura was. Only to see it in rubble. Thankfully there were already people pulling at the leftover remains of the building, but with each body they took out, his hopes started to wane.

It would take an hour before Sakura was pulled out of the rubble, he almost cried tears of joy. But finding her was only part one of his problems. She was battered from the building falling on her, thankfully she was one of the few survivors, but she wasn't clear yet. She was sent to the hospital where she was later declared to be in a coma.

While his father and uncle came and went, Tohji stayed by his sister's side for two weeks. He had hoped her coma wouldn't be long, but it was starting to become clear that this would last for a while.

Eventually, his father came into the room to talk, "You have to go back to school, Tohji." He told him.

"Someone has to be here." Tohji argued.

His father sighed, "Even if you stay here, she won't get better sooner. We just have to wait this out."

Tohji balled his hands as he looked down at his sister lying in the hospital bed, "I can't leave her alone, not like you."

His father didn't reply, silence ate up the room for a few minutes before his father continued. "The school called me, they said that if you don't return, you will be punished."

Tohji could only scoff, right now his sister was more important than school. How could his father be worrying about that right now? Did he not care at all? "I don't care," Tohji told him as he turned away from the hospital bed, his eyes catching his fathers, "They can punish me however they like, but I'm not going to-"

Before Tohji could finish, his father spoke, "What would Sakura think if she woke up to see you skipping school for her sake." Tohji paused, "Don't you understand the pressure of that? To be responsible for someone throwing their life away?" Something in his fathers voice sounded...painful, but Tohji couldn't tell what.

Tohji looked back to the unconscious Sakura as a creeping thought invaded his mind. What would she think? For the last few days Tohji has been concerned about her condition, but never once thought of her opinion of him staying at her side to his detriment. The thought of her disapproval only grew every second.

His father sighed, "I asked them to give you another week to figure things out. After that...it's your choice." His father walked away, leaving Tohji to his thoughts.

The only sound out of the room was the occasional beep of the heart monitor and the muffled voices from outside the door, otherwise it was silent. His voice was the one that finally broke that silence. "Would you hate me for this?" Tohji asked, "Would you say I'm being stubborn again?" He wrapped his hand around his sisters, feeling for any response.

"Maybe you'd call me stupid for ignoring school for you. But what else am I supposed to do?" He tightened his grip. "Please, tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

Whatever Tohji wanted, he was left with nothing. No words came from her lips, no small gesture to tell him she was still conscious, nothing.

For the next week, Tohji spoke to Sakura. Asking how she felt, what she thought about the show he put on the TV, telling her what he ate...anything to have a conversation with somebody who couldn't respond.

It felt good talking to her like this, but everyday that gnawing thought his father left him grew more and more until he couldn't ignore it. He had made up his mind.

"I decided to go back to school," Tohji started, "You'd probably tell me 'No duh', but it wasn't easy." Tohji looked down at Sakura, "I thought by staying here with you I could...I don't know, maybe I could have helped you when you woke up. But the docs say to not expect to see you wake up for a few months, a year even. I don't know if I can handle seeing you like this for that long."

Despite his father and uncle coming in occasionally, he was usually alone with Sakura most days. He hadn't seen Kensuke since, or any of the usual classmates at school for that matter, needless to say it was damn lonely. "I promise, I'll come see you often. I'll tell you about my day, eat dinner with you...you'll never feel alone I swear." That night Tohji went home for the first time since his sister was admitted into the hospital.

The next day he finally headed to school, it was a bit jarring coming back to school after a week, he finally had a chance to see the wrecked remains of the city in daylight. Despite being in the day, he still couldn't get as clear a view as he'd like. The destruction was just too big, on top of that the military made sure that no one went near the ruined parts of the city. His only reference for destruction were the multiple building faces that were completely gone, and there were many.

The destruction didn't go away until he was half way to school, and by then he started to notice something.

"Where is everyone?" He asked himself.

There were cars on the road, people on the sidewalks, but there were just so few people. At any one point there was maybe a handful of people on the streets not counting the occasional military guy. This sense of emptiness pervaded the city even when he reached school. The entrance of the school was damn near empty save for the dozen handful of kids, a pittance compared to the hundreds that came last time he was here.

Walking the halls, there were only two points of conversation he heard. Everyone either talked about the big fight that happened, or how many people were leaving the city. It was no surprise, after all a big part of the city was pretty much reduced to rubble.

Tohji stopped in front of his class, despite worrying about his sister non-stop there was something else he dreaded returning to once he came back to school. Homework.

Tohji sighed, "Let's get this over with." And opened the door.

The classroom was mostly empty, where once almost thirty kids sat dwindled down to only a mere dozen. The empty seats emphasized just how many people were left.

"Tohji/Suzuhara!" Standing around watching him was his friend Kensuke and the Class Rep Hikari.

Tohji walked to his seat and sat his bag down, "I see half the class left while I was gone." He remarked.

"Where have you been man, haven't seen you in a week. Did you get caught up in that robot fight?" Kensuke asked, his camcorder pointed directly in his face.

"You weren't hurt…were you?" Hikari asked as she looked him up and down.

Tohji only frowned, "No, but kid-sis Sakura did. The shelter she was in collapsed during the fight, she was buried under the rubble." Hikari could put a hand to her mouth in terror, "She's in the hospital right now, docs say she's in a coma. My dad and uncle are too busy with their job, so I have to be there. I can't let her be alone."

"Tohji," Hikari started, "I'm so sorry."

Tohji's thoughts returned to his comatose sister, sitting in that hospital bed. It made him angry, "Damn it!" He punched his desk, "Every time I think about it I just can't help but get angry. What I would give to see whoever piloted that damn robot and give them a piece of my mind."

"Y'know," Kensuke started, "We just got a new transfer student." His bespectacled friend pointed him to a seat on the other side of class. "Came in when you were gone."

The kid didn't look entirely impressive, definitely not like one of those mecha pilots in those anime Kensuke watched. In fact he looked out of place.

Unlike the rest of the boys' uniforms, this kid looked like he was attending a formal dinner. He wore black shoes that gave an impressive shine, black slacks that looked professionally tailored, and a blue dress shirt rolled up to the elbows.

"Please don't spread rumors about your fellow classmate Aida." Hikari spoke in her scary 'Class Rep' voice, telling both of them to drop the subject.

Kensuke put his hands up, "H-Hey, no need to worry Hikari, just introducing Tohji to the new kid."

Hikari glared at him before relenting, "Show Ikari-san the same respect you would show any other fellow classmate and there will be no problem." She checked her watch before going to her seat, "It's almost time for class, be ready." She said before walking back to her seat.

The rest of the day, Tohji kept a spare eye on the new kid. Besides his strangely formal attire, he didn't seem all that different from the others. The kid didn't show any sign of being a secret undercover mecha pilot. Maybe Tohji was looking too far into it, no way would a mecha pilot go to a school like this. They would be insanely talented and at some military base running drills like in those foreign movies Kensuke watches.

Maybe he should stop watching shows Kensuke liked, it might have scrambled his idea of things.

Despite nothing confirming his suspicion, Tohji still needed to know. So he decided that the direct approach was needed.

Tohji pulled up the chat room for his class. Unlike most days it was very slow, obviously due to the mass exodus of students. Finding the new kid was easy, just had to find his name among the list of active users. He created a direct message between the two of them, and quickly typed out his question.

'Are you the pilot for the robot?'

With the quick press of a button the message was sent.

Tohji discreetly watched as the new kid opened and read the message, he looked around trying to find who sent the message before quickly typing an answer.

'Pilot?'

Tohji frowned, he couldn't exactly tell if the kid was lying but this was the best he was going to get.

'Nevermind'

He quickly closed out of the chat room and closed his computer, at the right time the bells for the end of the day rang.

"Rise! Bow." Hikari shouted as always.

The class barely listened, more intent on moving to whatever groups they were interested in. Kensuke slid up to him like usual, asking if he wanted to go to the arcade like they usually did.

"C'mon, maybe spending some time playing games will get you out of the mood." Kensuke suggested, "I'll even pay for you, my dad gave me some extra cash for emergencies but why let it go to waste?"

Tohji was about to decline, instead looking to head to the hospital to see Sakura, when the alarms went off. Just like the day of the robot fight.

"Everyone please proceed to the school shelter!" Hikari shouted to the class.

The remaining students were obviously phased by the alarms going off, but it seemed the class rep's steady voice was enough to calm them enough for her to guide them.

Kensuke stood up, looking annoyed at the sudden need to head to the shelter, "C'mon Tohji." He said as he followed the rest of class.

Tohji got his things, but before he left he caught a glimpse outside the window. Running away from school was that new kid and the weird girl with the blue hair (who also looked like she got in an incident).

"Where are you going?" Tohji asked, not expecting an answer, he walked away as the two kids ran out of his sight.

Like most public buildings, the school had specially made shelters to house hundreds of students in the case of an emergency. There were four in total spread across the multiple buildings, gyms, and courtyard. Each was built well below the surface with facilities for care and food to last a while. Unfortunately the place was damn boring.

The problem with making these shelters so far below the surface was that his phone couldn't get a signal. The only signal out of this place were the phones that connected to the other shelters and the appropriate government offices in NERV. So that left everyone inside without a clue to what was happening above until they were given the 'All Clear' to exit. That meant trying to pass the time by any means necessary.

"Yo, Tohji." Kensuke scooted up next to him, his camera still on him, "Say you'll come to the restroom with me."

Tohji turned to Kensuke confused, "Why would I go to the restroom with you? I don't even want to go."

Kensuke rolled his eyes, "Cuz Hikari won't let anyone go alone, and who better to ask than you?" He gave Tohji a look that said 'Please don't make me ask someone else.'

Tohji relented and followed Kensuke to Hikari who was currently talking to one of the teachers, "Yo, Class Rep, we are going to the restroom!" Kensuke said as they walked up.

Hikari briefly stared Kensuke down, her analytical eye trying to suss out any shenanigans from the two of them. "Be back in 10 minutes, we don't want anyone to be gone too long." She took a step closer to Kensuke, "Am I clear?"

"Cross my heart we won't do anything." Kensuke said as he literally crossed his heart.

Hikari turned to Tohji, "Please come back quick." The look on her was a little sad, likely reminding herself of Sakura.

"We won't be gone long." Tohji reaffirmed.

Hikari nodded and they were allowed to go to the restroom. Kensuke gave a quick thank you before walking out of the room. The trip to the restroom was cut short when Kensuke stopped.

"We should be far enough." Kensuke looked down the hall they came from, they were a few meters away from the rest of the class, "Alright, follow me." Instead of turning right to the restroom, Kensuke turned left.

"Where are you going?" Tohji asked as he stopped him.

Kensuke looked at Tohji as if it wasn't clearly obvious, "I'm going to watch the fight, duh!" He thumbed to the stairway down the left hallway that led back outside.

Tohji was starting to get irritated, "Why do you want to go outside and watch a robot fight?"

Kensuke held up his camcorder, "No one has seen the thing in action, at least no civilian. It's all classified by the military. If I can get a good recording of the fight, do you know how much cash I can make? Plus, all my military contacts say it's so huge it won't even notice us, we'll basically be ants."

Tohji rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Okay, let me rephrase it. Why would you ever want to go out there and potentially get yourself killed? Did you see the hole it left behind last time it got in a fight?" Technically Tohji didn't know if the robot was responsible for the blast, but he couldn't imagine what else could be.

"Look, when I sell this off I'll let you in on the profits." Kensuke's offer wasn't budging Tohji, "Okay, well if cash isn't enough of a motivator think of this. You'll finally get to know who the pilot is."

Tohji thought about it for a moment, "Alright, let's do this."

The two of them ran up the stairs and to the sealed door leading to the outside, "How are we gonna get out?" Tohji asked.

"Simple," Kensuke asked as he pulled out his phone, "I downloaded the suppliers instruction manual, gimme a sec to pull up the passcode reset." Kensuke read the instructions off of his phone and followed it to the letter.

"After three beeps, you will know the password has been reset." Kensuke reiterated. Just as he said, the door gave off three beeps. "Yes!" He congratulated himself before pressing the factory passcode.

The door opened easily and the duo stepped out.

"So, where are we going to record all this?" Tohji asked as the two left the school grounds.

Kensuke pointed up to the nearby hills, "Already scouted out the area, it should give us a good view of the city." Kensuke turned onto a patchy dirt road leading up the hill.

Off in the distance, Tohji could hear the muffled explosions of missiles and artillery but whatever they were shooting at was still out of sight.

"Any idea what it is?" Tohji asked.

"What what is?" Kensuke asked as he practically glued his face to his camcorder.

"What they're fighting doofus!" Tohji clarified, "No one would make a huge robot if it wasn't meant to fight something. So it either has to be another big robot or…or…oh." Tohji stopped as he looked back to the city and got his answer.

Flying above the city was…something. Tohji couldn't quite understand what he was looking at. It was like some big space worm thing.

"Holy..." Tohji started.

"...Shit, that's so cool!" Kensuke shouted as he turned his camcorder to the weird monster currently flying over Tokyo-3.

"Kensuke, please tell me I'm dreaming." Tohji pleaded, but Kensuke ignored him as he kept his eyes on the monster.

"Look," He pointed to one of the nearby buildings, "I think they're about to release the robot!"

Sure enough, the side of the building opened to reveal a purple and green robot with a really mean look to it. As the robot walked out of the building Tohji noticed a cable connected to its back. Kensuke was squealing, "It looks so cool!"

The robot effortlessly turned out of cover with a rifle in hand and started firing at the monster, precise bursts of gunfire impacted the creature without any visible hits. "It's got some kinda shield!" Tohji pointed out.

Sure enough, as the smoke blew away there was a red octagonal energy in front of the monster. This did not deter the monster as it raised up two glowing tendrils. The tendrils shot out towards the robot faster than Tohji could blink, the building that brought up the robot was cut in half. The robot rolled away while still firing his gun, none of the bullets did any damage still.

"Why does he keep shooting that thing, it's not doing anything." Tohji asked.

"Dunno, but I have a few ideas." Kensuke started, "Could be he needs to wear it down, the monster might have to use energy to keep the shield up. Eventually it might go away. That, or he's simply toying with the thing. Testing it to see what it can do."

Tohji turned to Kensuke in disbelief, "You really think so?""

Kensuke shrugged, "Can't tell yet, just watch."

The robot continually walked back as it fired away, not phasing the monster as the rifle batted against the monster's shield. Once again, the monster shot out a whip that the robot easily dodged, but another one slithered on the ground and caught him by the ankle.

"That's not good." Kensuke noted as the robot dropped its gun.

The monster effortlessly swung the robot around and tossed it. Unfortunately it was coming towards them.

"RUN!" Tohji screamed as he followed his own advice.

The hill shook as the skyscraper tall robot landed on their side of the hill, Tohji closed his eyes, hoping that his death would at least be quick.

"Tohji, are you okay!?" Kensuke called to him.

Tohji slowly opened his eyes and realized he was not dead, breathing a sigh of relief Tohji turned around. "I'm good, you?" Kensuke simply nodded.

They weren't out of it yet, not that far away from them was the neck of the robot, above them up the hill was the robot's arms, and coming their way was the monster looking to finish the job. And it was coming fast.

"Watch out!" Tohji yelled as he grabbed Kensuke and pulled him to the ground.

The monster jumped on the robot and attacked with its laser whips. The robot held back against it, using both hands to hold the monster at bay. Tohji looked at the robot and could see it was looking right back at him. They were spotted.

"Aida-San, Suzuhara-San, what are you doing here!?" A boy's voice rang out from the robot.

"New kid is that you!?" Kensuke asked.

Before he could respond, the monster yet again pushed down on the robot eliciting a cry of pain.

"Hey kids!" A woman's voice spoke up this time, "Get inside the pod!"

The bridge of the neck opened up and a pod extended out, inside Tohji could see the new kid in a spandex suit. "Get in!" He yelled from his cockpit.

Kensuke and Tohji ran for the pod and hopped in, "What the hell is this water?" Tohji asked as he got in.

"My camcorder!" Kensuke complained.

Suddenly the pod closed and lights turned on around them. The new kid sat in a fancy looking chair with joysticks on either side. With a shout the new kid raised the robot's legs and kicked the monster off of him. It landed down the hill from them.

"Good job Shinji, now get back here so we can re-strategize." The same woman's voice told him.

Shinji didn't respond, pressing a couple buttons on his chair, a screen popped up on his right. "I still have an umbilical cord, I can still fight." The robot stood up and looked down at the monster below.

"Pilot, you have two passengers with you. Your ability to fight will be hampered, come back now!" Another woman's voice urged him.

"You should listen to her new kid!" Tohji said.

Shinji shook his head, "I will never run away, not again."

Shinji raised his fist, once again transferring into his Komaki fighting style. Below him the Angel designated Shamshel raised itself up to meet him. Everything before this moment was mere preamble, now the fight truly began.

ANGEL OF THE MORNING

SHAMSHEL

THREAT TO MANKIND

Shinji yelled as the two titans clashed in an epic battle.

To Become A Dragon

The fight wasn't going the best for Shinji. His first engagement with the Angel had basically been a wash, the rifle he had been given did nothing and the A.T. Field was still up. It didn't help that this Angel was radically different from the last, so he would have to change how he fought. Whereas Sachiel's humanoid figure made fighting it routine, Shamshel was almost like an alien centipede with laser whips. It moved slowly, sure, but those whips struck out at incredible speeds. There was just no knowledge he could pull from that could influence how he interacted with this opponent.

"Watch out!" Kensuke warned as one of Shamshels whips aimed for his chest.

Shinji jumped to his left just in time to watch the whip sink into the hill he was just on. The other whip was not far behind, as it swiped in front of the Angel hoping to slam into Shinji's side. Shinji ducked out of the way and pushed forward, with both whips outstretched, he could finally get a hit in.

"Shinji behind you!" Misato yelled in his ear.

He didn't bother to check where the attack was coming from, Shinji rolled again as both whips sailed over him in an attempt to skewer him.

"Holy crap that was fast." Tohji remarked as Shinji stared down the Angel.

Shinji's head hurt, having to think for the EVA while having two others on board was making this hard. But nothing was ever easy, certainly not fights with big aliens, he would endure.

"That thing has insane recovery and attack speed, I don't think you're going to be able to keep up with it." Kensuke noted.

The comm in his ear sprung to life, "As much as I hate to say it, the kid has a point." Dr. Akagi told him, "The Angel has remarkable control over its weapons."

"This is like some overpowered boss character, speed, damage, and reach? That's cheating!" Tohji shouted, even slamming his fist onto the side of the chair. "It's gotta have some kind of weakness, right?"

Shinji stayed silent as he paced around the Angel, thankfully outside of its reach. But their stalemate wouldn't last for long. If his opponent had reach, speed, and could hit hard, what could he do to oppose it?

Before Shinji could think about it more, Shamshel started moving just enough to strike at him. Both whips targeted him, and Shinji ducked underneath. The whips hung just above him, that's when it hit him.

Shinji grabbed the extended whips, the super heated surface boiled his hands, the armor of the EVA was already gone so the pain was even worse, but Shinji pushed through. With a yank, Unit-01 moved into Shamshels guard and delivered a blow to the core. It wasn't enough to break it, but there was a small crack at its surface. Shamshel pulled back, wrangling its whips free of Shinji's grip.

"If I can't attack him from afar, I'll just have to push through!' Shinji yelled as he rushed the Angel.

"Are you insane!?" Kensuke asked as he gripped his chair in fear.

Shamshel seemed to understand what Shinji had planned as the Angel started to swipe at him furiously. Shinji ducked and weaved out of the way of each swing. Just as he thought, Shamshel had incredible reach and could certainly keep Shinji on his toes, but once Shinji moved up close the Angels greatest weapon turned into its greatest weakness.

The Angel overshot its strikes, needing to recoil them took too long and gave Shinji an opening.

"Got you!" Shinji yelled as he delivered a strong blow to the Angels midsection, the red core once again was struck creating an even larger crack.

Shamshel was sent reeling, it must have started to realize the predicament it was in as it started to move away from the EVA in hopes to get into a more favorable position.

"You got him!" Tohji pumped his fist.

"Not without it getting a hit on us though." Kensuke said, pointing to the side of the screen.

The EVA's countdown timer had started, it had severed the Umbilical Cord in their last scuffle. Only a minute remained.

"Shinji." Misato's voice came over his comm, "Do you have this?" She asked in that stoney voice he rarely heard. She wasn't his guardian right now, she was his commander.

Shinji raised the EVA's hand to his shoulder and grabbed the Progressive Knife, "Yes ma'am." He nodded.

"Finish it." She commanded.

Shinji lowered himself to the ground, ready to sprint at the Angel. Both titans stood ready, waiting for the other to move.

Shamshel was the first to move, striking out with both of its whips aimed directly at his chest. Shinji ran and dodged the first whip, only feeling it graze the side of his abdomen, he only grit his teeth as he pushed forward to evade the second whip. The next he ducked under as it sailed over his shoulder. He took one more step and was finally within reach of Shamshel, Shinji put both hands on his knife and thrust forward.

"Rear guard!" Misato screamed.

It was too late, Shinji was already in mid-thrust to avoid the whip piercing the EVA's chest. Shinji cried out, it felt like he too had been stabbed in the chest. But that didn't stop him, in fact it would only make his counterattack that much better.

ESSENSE OF DEMON

Shinji shoved the knife into Shamshels core, a wound made even deeper with the moment gained from Shamshels own attack. But the Angel was not dead yet, he would have to push a little bit deeper. Both he and the Angel were in a desperate race to kill the other. Beside him, only second remained, he was running out of time.

"RAAAGH!" Shinji yelled as he jerked the knife one last time before the EVA shut off.

The Angel cried out, a death scream that certified that Shinji's job was complete. Shinji leaned back into his chair exhausted, but assured that today would not be his last.

"Holy shit, you did it." Kensuke said in disbelief, "Holy shit you did it!" He cried out before hugging him. "I thought I was going to die, but you actually beat that thing!" Kensuke laughed.

Tohji could only look at the new kid with a new perspective. This was the guy he blamed his sisters comatose on. As he remembered the absolute dread that came over him when he saw that monster, how could he think less of some kid fighting monsters the size of skyscrapers.

That night, after being scolded by the military and locked up, Tohji would think hard about the experience he had. Maybe Shinji Ikari wasn't that bad a guy.

"Hey, Tohji." Kensuke called his friend.

Tohji would have looked at Kensuke but the two were currently in a dark cell with no lights, so there wasn't really any way to see the military nerd. "Yeah Kensuke?"

"...That new kid is a badass." Was all Kensuke said.

Tohji thought for a moment before answering, "Yeah, he really is."

I feel like it is a missed opportunity that I have not seen anyone depict Tohji during this time in the anime so I did it. Also I should probably make note at some point that I am using the Netflix version of the show as a basis for this fic, simply because it's the newest iteration of Evangelion and I don't want to hunt down the script for the show. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed.