(BGM)

The alarm buzzed as Akio woke up and reached over to shut it off. Letting out a large yawn, he got out of bed. Smiling, he put on his clothes for the day, the events of last night still fresh in his mind.

Hopefully the test go's fast so I can go hang out with Tomoko again He thought cheerfully. But then again, what about? Never mind… I’ll worry about that another time… What’s important is that the test goes smoothly today

He proceeded to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. Valda was up and about, already in the kitchen preparing her breakfast. He smiled at her.

“Guten Morgen.” She said, nodding at him before concentrating on preparing her food. Akio fixed a bowl of cereal, sitting down to eat as Valda finshed cooking her breakfast, setting aside some of it. She joined Akio at the table, removing her mask, she began to eat.

“Hey, do you think we should wake Isaac up?” Akio said as they were finishing their respective meals.

“Yeah, that would probably be for the best. The last thing we need is that dummkopf making us late.” Valda commented standing up. Akio chuckled nervously as Valda marched off. Sighing he quickly finished his breakfast before following, making sure to grab her mask as he did.

He entered Isaac’s room as Valda began her wake up call.

____________

(BGM)

BOOT!

“Get your lazy ass up Kenny!” Valda demanded as Isaac recovered from being kicked into the wall.

“What the hell was that for!?!” He exclaimed, glaring at Valda, standing in nothing but his boxers.

WE have a test today remember? Now hurry up and…” Valda began but paused.

“Kenny…” She muttered angrily as Isaac tried to cover himself up.

”Dummer perverser Mensch! Deuten Sie jenes Winzige Ding irgendwo sonst!” Valda barked as she punched Isaac. She went on to give him a beating but stopped short of doing any obvious harm to him. As she walked by the concerned Akio she took her mask that he had brought for her.

“Thanks.” She said quietly before putting it on and adjusting it, leveing Isaac and Akio alone.

Akio wandered over to Isaac and looked down at the him. “Akio…the next time you need to wake me up…don’t have Valda do it!!!!” Isaac yelled, seething with anger while groaning from the pain that was dished out by the German girl.

"Ok.... I'm sorry.... I don't know what the hell her problem is." Akio nervously said while looking back to make sure that Valda wasn't there.

“It’s alright. Just get out of my room so I can change.” Isaac barked. Akio proceeded to walk out, apologizing on the way and joined Valda in the front room. Soon there was a knock at the door, It was time to go.

___________________


The car ride was intense. Valda asked Akio why he was so happy today. To which he only replied about hanging out with Raglan and not about what happened with Tomoko. Then Valda, and Isaac got into a heated argument. He attempted to defuse the situation but to no avail as the argument escalated until the car fell silent for the rest of the drive.

____________________

Upon arriving at Matsushiro the three were hurried into the changing rooms. The rooms were small, only a thin cloth barrier separated Akio and Issac from Valda.

(BGM)

“Urgh, this is what qualifies for changing rooms here? Tch, if either of you peak, I’ll freaking kill you, and it won’t be quick.” Valda snapped, extremely frustrated by the setup of the changing rooms.

Isaac let out a small chuckle “Been there, done that.”

“Last time you got off easy, don’t ever think that will happen again.” She snapped again.

Akio, perplexed by both Issac and Valda’s comments could not help himself. “Wait… you did what?”

Isaac blushed and let out a nervous laugh “Nothing! I was just joking around.”

“This pervert tried to sneak a peek while I was in the shower, and that’s just the start of his lechery!”

“Well maybe if someone knew how to lock a door that wouldn’t have happened!” Isaac yelled at the divider.

Akio sighed “Here we go again…”

“It was the girl’s shower room! The shower was on, you had no excuse!”
“Um is this really the time for this?” Akio nervously said

“There wasn’t a sign or anything! How was I supposed to know!” Isaac yelled, inching closer to the divider.

“Common sense and decency, I’d been there a DAY and I knew the difference, and even if it is believable that you’re dumb enough to make that mistake, you consistent acts of perversion do little to convince me.” Valda retorted.

“For the last time, I am not a pervert!” Isaac yelled. He took another step forward tripping; he fell into the divider, completely knocking it down revealing Valda, who was just about done changing.

Isaac looked up, blushing; Valda was all but a couple of feet away, growling in anger. “Shit…”

Valda quickly sealed her plug suit.

Akio tuning out the commotion had just stripped down to his boxers, he then looked to see Isaac on the floor and an extremely angry Valda looming over him. Valda clenched her fists, her face showing nothing but pure anger towards the two as she marched forward.

“Aw crap…” Akio muttered.

She began punching both of them, primarily focusing on Isaac all while screaming angrily in German, issuing a beating to both of them.

“What the hell did I do?” Akio exclaimed as blood dripped out of his nose.

“You looked dammit! Don’t look!” Valda snapped.

Valda stormed out of the changing rooms, leaving Isaac and Akio alone to finish changing.

____________________


“You okay?” Akio asked.

“Yeah it wouldn't be the first time I took a beating from Valda hehe.”
Akio gave Isaac a hand and helped him to his feet, Issac nodding in thanks.

“So are you scared?” Isacc questioned Akio.

“Yeah. I’m scared that somehow I’ll fail the test.” Akio said, sighing.

“Hey, If I can make the Evangelion move, I’m sure you can. You were trained for this.” He smiles at Akio while trying to wrap his head around how the plug suit works. “If anyone is going to fail, it will be me haha. I mean, you were trained for this. They wouldn't bring someone here if they saw failure being an option.”

“Thanks!” Akio held up his arm and pointed at it. “See these two buttons? Press them like this.” He pressed them, his plug suit sealing itself around his body. “You will be fine! You already made it move so you are not a failure.”

Isaac pushes the buttons and marveled at how the suit sealed around his body. After Akio’s answer, Isaac looks away with a serious look on his face. “I suppose you’re right.”

“We probably should get out there; Doctor Idle is probably waiting for us. Plus I sort of promised Tomoko that I would try to hang out with her after the test… I just said that out loud didn’t I?”

Isaac laughed, having no idea who Tomoko is. “I see Rag is rubbing off on you already hehe” He starts heading towards the door. “Don’t worry Akio, this will be over before you even know it.”

“If you say so.”

The two left the changing rooms and stood by next to Valda, Awaiting Doctor Idle’s briefing on the test.[/url]

The morning went by smoothly enough, the usual screams from the beast, with the physical abuse to follow, were not out of the ordinary to the others it seemed. Katla spent much time away from all of the pilots, so the outbursts were still unnatural to her, causing anxiety to settle in. The girl brushed by the scene in Isaac's room, trying not to pay any attention to them, covering her ears to keep them from bursting.

"Pathetic..."

Finally settling in the common area, she sat at the table, munching on white rice, and watching the others. No one seemed to notice her as usual, aside from a side glance from Qi and a warm smile from Raglan. She was hoping they would join her, but Qi seemed distant and Raglan was still getting ready for the day.

It was test day, a lot of the children would be missing from school, only a few would be around, and fortunately for Katla they we're ones she felt somewhat more comfortable around.
_____________________________________________________

The first half of the day went by somewhat smoothly, she sat in her desk, ignoring all insults that were thrown at her, and kept her head in her books. Katla's white webs of hair protected her from the outside world it seemed, but left just enough room for her Mother to give her some of the answers to the Vice Commanders questions. A sudden spit ball would be flung, and all she could do was wince in her seat and brush it off. Kat knew better than that, she knew any acknowledgment of the bullying would be seen as provocation, and she'd only be bullied more.

Better to just...let it slide...They don't mean it, they are all in danger and you're protecting them from the evils of angels. You love them Katla... you do this because you love them too.

The book on her desk suddenly hovered and immediately slammed down in front of her. All sounds droned out, building into a loud piercing roar that was reminiscent of her EVA. Her neck began burning, hotter, hotter, HOTTER. Her Mother appeared in front of her, pushing the girl back into her seat, screaming into her face. Her appearance changed into a hovering black decaying monster, eyes gouged out, blood trickling down onto Katla's hands. Her EVA's roar more distinct behind her Mothers blood curdling screams.
"No more of this! Stand up to them! Do you think Owen would allow you to just let this happen?! Stand up, march over to them, and get them back! Hurt them! Feed them lies about their impending deaths! STAB THEM! MAKE THEM BLEED! SLICE THEIR THROATS! WATCH THEIR BLOOD BOIL FROM THE FLAMES OF THEIR BURNING FAMILY! KILL THEM! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM!!!"

"NO! NO! STOP PLEASE!!" Katla stood up screaming at the tops of her lungs, her eyes streaming with tears, her cheeks scratched and dug into with her own nails.

"Miss Rökkvisdóttir! Are you...alright?" The Vice Commander stared at the child, chalk falling to the ground in shock. The room hung heavy, all of the children stared at the girl.. silence for but a few moments, then abrupt shrieks of laughter from all sides.

"I-I'm so... I'm so sorry!" Katla shook her head, hiding her face in her hands, about to run out of the room.. Until the lunch bell rang.

Ignoring her brush with sudden insanity, the student body ran gleefully out of the room, like their lives were endless and they were immune to pain.

Gathering her things quickly, she briskly walked out of the room, the Vice Commander calling after her about her well-being, and her medication. She brushed him off quickly "I'm fine, I'm fine..." and headed down the hallway.

She felt Qi's gaze as she walked past him, but didn't stop to acknowledge him out of sheer embarrassment. Her face felt warm from the small scratches on her cheekbones, she caressed them, looking for a water fountain to cool herself down.

"Katla!" Footsteps came jogging down the hallway, it was a Raglan..

Oh no... I forgot that we're suppose to have lunch together today...Oh no! He must think I'm insane even more so now! She turned slowly to face the boy, never making eye contact, face red from a combination of the self harm and the embarrassment.

Waking up later than usual, Raglan figured that this is how it probably feels to be up hungover in the morning, after a solid night out drinking - The memory of all the regrettable things done the night before coming to bare under the reason of sobriety. Of reality.

I... I was hardly myself last night, the way I acted. First telling Akio about those fucking dreams, and then... Then with Katla.

The Sixth's mind raced;

What was it that made him so intrigued about her? Why was he so different around her? And why? Why did the memory of that time at the GeoFront eat at him like it did?

"It's... my mother, I see my mother." Katla had told him in the smallest of voices.

And as absurd and utterly insane as it was, as it sounded; he didn't care. It was just... Something. Simply a fact.

"Don't worry Momma, we'll all be together soon..."

It wasn't important for the time being.

She is pretty, Raglan thought, recalling how he had held her hands. How he could feel his face breaking out in a blush, which had never happened before as far as he could remember.

He held her hands and she had looked up at him, those mismatched green and blue eyes staring almost questioningly. Waiting. Skin equally pale and stark as her long hair.

"Do you... Want to have lunch with me tomorrow at school?"

"I... Would like that..."

As much as a fool he felt for last night, just knowing that he would be able to see Katla today. To talk to her. Made him feel contented.

Sighing, he sat up on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes - Then running his hands through his hair. That semblance of content made him smile a small, private smile. The kind no one else would ever see.

She is pretty, but it's not just that. It's something else. Something more.

Pulling himself out of bed Raglan put on his headphones, selecting a track from the playlist, 'Ceremony' by New Order, and started getting ready for the day ahead.

His phone buzzed on the desk. A text message;

Oi, me and Izumi are out front.
-Sakamoto

He dressed quickly and left his room.

Downstairs in the common area, he stole another of the Major's liquid breakfast drinks from out of the fridge. Noticing Katla, he gave her a warm smile before making for the front door.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raglan found he'd been staring at Katla for quite some time when she suddenly erupted in class, snapping him out of his daydream - "NO! NO! STOP PLEASE!!"

The whole room went deadly silent, and he felt his heart skip a beat in concern for the girl.

Then came the mocking laughter.

Carter asked if she was okay, to which the Third seemingly apologised, but before Raglan could do anything the lunch bell rang, sending the room into chaos as the students exited en masse.

Katla departed in haste also.

"Tch, Katla, wait up!" Raglan voiced as he followed after her. Practically having to dash down the hallway to catch up. "Katla!"

She stopped and turned, face down, eyes averted.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Ugh, stupid question, idiot. Of course she's not!

Katla raised her head slightly and Raglan noticed the red marks on her cheeks, tiny welts of blood starting to emerge. He made a small sound through his teeth, seeing how painful the scores looked - Raising his hand, fingers to inspect. To touch. But just stopping short, realising how inappropriate the gesture could be.

"That... Looks sore. Here, let's get you fixed up hey." He said in a calming tone.

"Sorry... J-just some water, maybe." Katla replied.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After visiting a drinking fountain, Raglan showed Katla to a quiet lunch table out on the school-grounds. It was under one of the adjoining walkways of C-block in the shade, allowing a clear view of anyone coming from either side.

"Umm, I guess I better do something about lunch then, haha," he said, passing her another tissue for her face which she accepted gingerly. "You didn't give me a chance to get organised back there. You don't mind waiting a minute or two, do you? I'll be back soon, and I'll get you something nice."

Parting with a smile, Raglan set off to the cafeteria not noticing the figure watching from around the corner.

As soon as Raglan was out of sight - Kei strode up to the table, giving Katla a stern, unflinching look.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing with my boyfriend, Ghost?"

Qi went into the Dorms to see everyone preparing for the day. Passing the common room, he met Katla's gaze, the bowl of white rice in her hand drawing to mind how incredibly hungry he was. He gave her little more than a momentary glance before taking off, his mind still fogged when it came to the girl. Marching to his room, he closed the door behind him abruptly. He spent the next while sitting on his floor, laying out the many different pictures of himself around him, trying to make sense of them.

"Am... Am I a target? What is this?" He puzzled over them before a sudden knocking drew his attention. He whirled into a standing position, the sudden movement kicking up a gust that scattered the pages, the gleaming blade in his hand ready to strike. The others should have left for school already. Creeping silently to the door, he opened it a crack to look out, his knife behind the door to keep it concealed. Shirou's bright expression and a handful of electronics promptly took the wind out of the Fifth Child's sails.

"Want to play video games?" Shirou asked enthusiastically. Qi's face was pale and blank, like an ancient Greek statue, frozen in time.

"What's a video game?" He asked with a frown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matsuhiro crackled. The Makeshift buildings rattling as machinery moved back and forth. Tokei stood on the lower walkway beneath the Evas, observing the test.

"Pilots on standby. We're loading them into the entry plugs now." Cornelia reported, as her monitors came online. "Hmm, some emotional stress, oh well, teenagers huh?" she continued brightly. Johann groaned.

"All Evas read nominal," Bato began, but the lights suddenly shifted to a glaring red as alarms started to shriek. "What? We've lost read on Unit-02!" he announced urgently. The alarms cut out as quickly as they started.

"System restarting. Sorry everyone. The power draw on the generator reached critical and I had to restart. The system registered the failure and started the alarms. Won't happen again, I'm sorry Dr. Idle." Marilu explained as everything rebooted.

"If you need a restart, tell us in future. I thought that bloody girl was about to get us all killed." Johann wiped his brow.

"Yeah, system's back, got Unit-02 now. Everything nominal." Bato continued, much calmer now.

"Fantastic. Patch me through to them." Johann said gloomily. "Listen up you three. We'll be starting you up in sequence. We'll start with 01. Marilu."

"Yes Sir, finalizing connection."

Outside the observation room, 01 powered up.

"Everything green, or in this case, gold." Cornelia answered.

"Durante, one more horrible joke, and I pull my gun." Kiyoshi spoke up, watching the Evas. Johann glanced at her for a moment before turning back.

"Unit-01 stabilized. Moving on." he declared, ready for the next test.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Curse that electric rodent!" Qi exclaimed, sitting cross legged in front of the television. He and Shirou had started playing Smash Bros. It was a fun game, Qi consistently choosing characters with blades only to be beaten time and time again by Pokemon's mascot. Shirou laughed. "Does the simulation take magnetic attraction into account in drawing that thing's attacks to my character?" Qi pondered with frustration.

"Uh, no, I think you just need more practice." Shirou answered humorously. Qi turned to him and smiled. He was truly abysmal at this game, but Shirou was clearly having fun playing with him regardless. Qi's smile faded as his mind wandered back to Katla and the others.

"Shirou, I hope you don't find this too abrupt but... Are we, friends?" Qi asked, the word sounding strange to him. The idea of camaraderie was not foreign to him, but friendship implied something he didn't understand, a bond that Jié Qi had no concept of. He looked at the other boy expectantly, trying to gauge his reaction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Unit-02, stabilized. Valda, try and move the right arm please." Johann continued the testing.

"Understood." came the pilot's response with a semi-bored tone.

"Wow, no biting remark at how easy that is?" Johann asked with honest surprise as he looked around at Kiyoshi. "I wonder if she's sick?" he questioned as Unit-02 raised it's right arm, the fingers flexing a few times. "Alright, open channels again."

"Yes Sir."

"That's good Valda, drop it back into position, we'll move onto Akio next." The Eva's arm dropped, being locked back into place. "Start up procedure for Unit-03." Johann smiled. So far, so good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He's doing well Sir. Progressing pretty much according to simulation. It actually scares me how well you predict his reactions at times." Vander grinned.

"Good. Keep me informed of his progress. I shouldn't have to tell you he is the cornerstone of our plans." Owen's voice remained cold and distant. A snippet of music filled the empty space as Vander blushed slightly.

"Um, sorry Commander, I've got this." he reached into his pocket, answering his phone. After a short time filled with 'yes' and 'understood' Vander hung up and stared back at his employer.

"We've cracked it Commander. We're examining the interior as we speak." the Intelligence agent smiled.

"They won't want us to have access to it. Continue monitoring them, this is bound to flush them out." Owen gave a frightfully hollow smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Beginning Unit-03 system check. Finalize connections." Johann ordered.

"Yes Sir!" Marilu beamed. "Connections verified, Unit-03 should be online."

"Open Channel, Akio, can you hear me?" Static filled the line. "What's the problem?"

"Must've been the power trip earlier Sir, We're not receiving messages, but he should be able to hear you." Bato explained, trying to fix the problem.

"Okay. Akio, I want you to raise Unit-03's right arm." Johann tried to appear unaffected by the issue.The Eva moved slowly, its arm rising towards its head. "That's good, now lower it again, we'll lock it into position and try the support systems." The Eva continued to move. Johann frowned. "Akio, lower your arm. Did we lose reception?"

"It's still receiving Sir, I don't understand it either." Bato typed frantically.

"We've got a problem here. Akio must've took up diving, cause his plug is sinking fast!" Cornelia announced.

"What did I say about those stupid jokes!" Kiyoshi growled.

"I'm serious Ma'am, Akio's plug depth is entering the negative range, I've lost all interior read outs." the technician continued worriedly.

"Move aside." Johann ordered, stepping up to the console. "I'll sever the connection, he's probably lost consciousness in there, a shock from the power problems or something." he started to work furiously at the terminal. Kiyoshi stared out at Unit-03, it's arm still moving as its head turned to stare into the observation room.

"Johann... Something's wrong." The eva's eyes gleamed red. "Evacuate the facility, now!" Kiyoshi screamed.

The Matsuhiro base erupted. The sheet metal walls and cranes vaporized. The walkways and Tokei were swept away, the pilot and other observers being carried into the distance. The vans surrounding the site lifted into the air on the shock wave. A cross of light casting a brilliant glow across the landscape.

Shirou's enthusiasm was met by Qi's quizzical look.

"What's a video game?"

(Recommended BGM - Super Smash Brothers - Character Select)

Shriou's eyes and grin widened. He shifted the games from his right to his left, and whisked the other boy away to his room. He selected a cartridge - Super Smash Brothers - blew into it for good measure, and inserted it into the system. He handed Qi a controller and proceeded to explain the basics. To the other boy it might as well have been gibberish. At this point, it was best to simply start a match and get on with it. Shirou started to detail the movesets of each character - Qi almost immediately selected Link. Shirou grinned and chose Pikachu.

As time went on, it was readily apparent that Qi indeed was a newcomer to the world of electronic games.

(Recommended BGM - Super Smash Brothers - Sector Z Theme)

"Curse that electric rodent! Does the simulation take magnetic attraction into account in drawing that thing's attacks to my character," Qi asked frustratedly.

Shirou gave him an amused smirk. "Uh, no, I think you just need more practice." Shirou was having fun, and he was sure that Qi could become an intense opponent given enough time behind the controller. Shirou was puzzled when the grin mirrored on Qi's face began to droop.

"Shirou, I hope you don't find this too abrupt but... Are we... friends?"

Shirou had to mull over his response.

"Well... I want to be friends, yes. I mean, I want to hang out and get to know you and stuff. Ehe," he said scratching his head somewhat nervously, "Sorry, I'm not really good at this sort of thing."

"I can understand that. I'm not very familiar with the idea myself. After Katla called me her friend I've been distracted. It's disconcerting," Qi replied.

"Huh. You want to talk about it," Shirou asked curiously.

"It's very unnerving. If I suffered such a distraction at Golgotha I would have been eliminated by now. The priorities around here make no sense to me at all," Qi admitted honestly.

"Eliminated? You mean they'd fire you for something like that? Man, I think they're running a really rigid shift over there. Well, I guess if Katla said you're her friend, then you're her friend, simple as that," Shirou said with a light laugh.

Qi looked somewhat puzzled. "Fire? Yes, I suppose that would be involved somewhere in expunging my data. But what exactly do friends do?"

Shirou snorted at the first bit. Man, Qi has an interesting sense of humor. "I dunno. Stuff like this I guess. You know, playing games, or going on an outing, or talking like we are now."

A contemplative look washed over the other boy's face. "So, would friends make pictures of one another?"

Shirou thought on this. "Well possibly. I mean, if they're artistic and thinking about you, they might draw a picture of you." A lightbulb went off in his head. "Ohhhhh. Did Katla draw one of you or something?"

Qi nodded. "Yes. I was wondering what it could mean and if that was normal..."

"Well, I don't really know about girls so I can't help you too much with the meaning. But yeah, I'm pretty sure that's perfectly normal. Uh, maybe you should talk with her sometime," Shirou added thoughtfully. He figured that it couldn't hurt if the two talked about it.

"Hmm, I suppose if that's what friends do. Thank you Shirou. You've certainly helped clear this up for me." The smile returned to Qi's face.

"Hey, no problem. It's what friends do," said Shirou with a grin.

The door opened behind them, causing each to turn their head to look at the new arrival. It was Shiori. Shirou lifted his hand in greeting.

"Rider, Convict, it's good to see you," she said pleasantly.

Shirou blinked, stunned by this odd form of address. He wanted to find out about it. Instead... "Uh, where've you been all afternoon?" Damnit, wrong question Shirou!

"I went out. Do you know where everyone else went," she asked.

The alert from their phones cut off any attempt at response before Shiori said, "It's time," and walked out.

Leaving her violin case and shoes by the door, Shiori walked into the common room and found it empty.

"Curious," she said out loud. "I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder? I wonder where they've all gone."

From one of the rooms upstairs, Shiori could hear the sound of electronic impacts and explosions. She followed the sound towards a dorm room, and reached for the handle. She hesitated.

It's a boys' room…it's not proper…

With a deep breath, and dreading what she might find, Shiori opened the door…

…and found the completely innocuous sight of Shirou and Jie playing video games.

"Rider, Convict, it's good to see you," she said pleasantly.

"Uh, where've you been all afternoon?"

"I went out." She did not elaborate. "Do you know where everyone else went?"

Before either boy could answer, the several phones rang out at once. Each child grabbed a cell phone from some pocket. Shiori glanced at the screen, seeing the same message that, no doubt, Shirou and Jie now saw as well:

EMERGENCY
COME TO HQ IMMEDIATELY

She tossed it aside.

"It's time," she said, and left.

The entry plugs door closed and sealed with an audible hiss. Then a swift jerk was felt as the plug was inserted into Unit-03. LCL began to fill the plug as Akio relaxed and let it fill his lungs.

“Beginning synchronization”

The plugs walls were filled with flashing patterns of light as various nerve connections were being made, Akio feeling a tingling sensation throughout his body.

“So this is what it’s like synchronizing with a real Eva.” He muttered to himself.
Suddenly the plug went dark, a sharp pain shot throughout his body.

“What the hell is happening?” He yelled out hoping for a response.

His question was met with silence. A bright white ball light formed in front of him, the sounds of children laughing emanating from it as it slowly approached him. He began to panic as the pain became unbearable, screaming and pulling the emergency eject handle repeatedly with no result. The ball of light began to engulf him as one more scream was met with silence.

___________________________


Akio’s eyes shot opened as if he was awakening from a nightmare. Everything was white.

“Hello?” He asked as he slowly got on his feet “Is anyone here?”

Silence

“Where am I?”

Silence

He began to panic.

“Am I dead?”

Thoughts began to flow as a dark shadow began to form in front of him. He began to walk backwards in fear as the shadow gained form. First its legs, then torso and arms formed. Long hair could be seen as its head slowly came into existence, a pair of glowing red eyes stared at Akio as the shadow let out a grunt. Akio fell to the ground, shaking uncontrollably as the shadow completed forming.

He was staring at a mirror image of himself.

The shadow smirked, letting out a laugh “We have many things to discuss”

“Get away from me!” Akio shouted as he pushed himself backwards, away from the doppelganger.

“Is that how you are going to act? Pity” It said is it slowly approached Akio.

“Get away from me! Please don’t kill me!” Akio screamed.

“I’m not going to kill you” The doppelganger said with a smile.


__________________________


Unit-03 let out a menacing growl as it took a step forward, a blue, gel like substance dripping from its mouth and arms. It paused for a moment, raising both of its arms as several blades sprouted from the blue gel. The sprouts stopped and dissipated as Unit-03 sensed the presence of two others. Quickly turning as the dust and smoke from the explosion settled, Unit’s 01 and 02 came into view, both dazed by the event that had just transpired. Letting out a menacing roar, it charged at Unit-01, several blades forming from its right arm. Reaching forward, it grasped Unit-01 by its throat, squeezing with ever increasing pressure as it raised its right arm as a few blades formed from the blue gel, preparing to slash it's throat.

( BGM )

Valda was sitting in the entry plug sighing every now and then with a bored look on her face, her mask left behind so as not to ‘interfere’ with her synch rate; she had forgotten why she was excited about this test when it was so embarrassingly simple. Still she would act accordingly and get through it with expedience, moving unit 02’s arm as directed. There was no difference to the last time she was in unit 02, or the time before that, or the time before that or the time before that. If it were full movement tests maybe this would be more tolerable, though who knows, if Akio performed well enough they might get that chance. Once her Eva was locked into place, it was Akio’s turn, although it looked like he was having some trouble. Unit 03’s arm was moving though, which was a good sign, maybe they were in luck after all. Then it started moving its head towards the control room, its arm still moving oddly.

“Huh? What the heck is he doing?” Valda muttered to herself before the other Eva’s eyes lit up red and Valda felt an intense chill run up her spine. Tearing metal was heard as Unit 02 moved its arms up to shield itself on instinct a spilt second before everything exploded into a bright light. Valda was rocked around in the LCL as heat washed over her. When it stopped, she shook her head as she tried to figure out which way was up and what the heck just happened.

“What in the?" Valda muttered as her vision came back into focus, realigning with unit 02’s properly once more. Rubble and debris, a crater, what? “Huh?”

The was an odd noise, a growl both fierce and dangerous sounded to the side of her as unit 03 began walking forward with some weird blue goop dripping from it. It was difficult to see through all the dust and smoke still littering the area, but when unit 03 paused in its solitary advance Valda could’ve sworn she saw it shape shift. Unsure of what the hell had just happened, Valda opened her communications to both Kenny and Akio.

“Akio? What the hell are you doing? What happened here? Are we under attack?” she tried but received only static from his line. Something was wrong, very very wrong. As both unit 01 and unit 02 rose to their feet, the third Evangelion turned with its glowing eyes fixing on them. Valda got that same feeling of unease looking at it before it roared loudly and charged startling her with the abrupt movement.

“W-what are you…? H-HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!” She yelled fruitlessly as the rampaging Eva closed in, it’s arm now a mess of blue blades charging straight for… “KENNY MOVE!”

Her bellow fell on deaf ears though as unit 01 acted like a deer caught in headlights and stood as Unit 03 slammed into it and began applying the pressure on its throat with one arm. It’s other arm rising to strike a finishing blow on the red and gold Eva. Valda gripped her controls tight as her body began to quake, still trying to process what was happening.

Don’t just stand there, MOVE!

( BGM )

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!”

Before the final blow could be struck, a green and black giant tackled the attacking Eva and broke its grip on unit 01, carrying the black and silver monster a good distance, exiting the crater and crashing through several of the nearby buildings before unit 03 brought an elbow down on its attacker’s back. Valda flinched from the powerful impact and unit 02 lost its footing, causing the two to tumble and sending unit 03 crashing into another building.

Standing up once more unit 02 looked to the rubble where unit 03 was, Valda breathing heavily after yelling so much. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with Akio, but she wasn’t about to let him kill another pilot, even if it was Kenny. The rubble suddenly got pushed away as unit 03 rose from the shallow tomb, all questions vanishing from Valda’s mind as her eyes widened trying to make sense of what was before her.

“…. Huh?” she muttered softly

( BGM )

A magnificent shining Halo floated ominously about the former Evangelion unit 03. Valda recognized it for what it was now, the attack, the odd actions and the ferocity. This was an Angel, it was the enemy she had come to fight, the being she had sworn to destroy. And yet, even as she realised this she also understood a cold reality of this angel, it had unit 03 as its weapon and it’s hostage… but that meant it also had Akio. One of her subordinates, the meek kid who said he’d try hard for her sake and everyone else’s. This Angel had Akio as its hostage, and Valda couldn’t think of what to do.

Are you just going to stand there? MOVE!

“Kenny, listen up!” Valda barked through the Com channel once more. “I want you to get to the other buildings and locate some power supplies.”

“I-I’m sorry… I just…” came the soft, shaken reply. The boy was clearly not handling this very well.

“It’s just a test facility, but there should be some supplies around here we can use. Get moving.” Valda tried again as the Angelic Eva stared in her direction. She tensed, getting ready for the coming conflict.

“O-ok, right.” He responded sounding a little better but still too shaken to be of any real use. Growling Valda patched the visual communications through to him as well and glared, though this one was different than any previous glare. The usual blaze was replaced a steely look, her focus not being dulled in the slightest despite her clear anger.

“Kenny, listen to me. Our opponent is an Angel, an Angel that has taken over Evangelion unit 03…” She started lowly in an even tone before it picked up into a loud and powerful voice filled with fury. “This Bastard has dared to take one of ours, one of mine! So look at me and listen up! Not only are we going to annihilate this cowardly monster, We are going to save Akio! NOW MAN THE HELL UP AND DO YOUR DAMN JOB! I’LL BE DAMNED BEFORE I LET THIS SON OF A BITCH TAKE ANY OF MY PILOTS! THAT INCLUDES YOU! SO GET MOVING AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!”

“R-right!” Isaac responded and began moving to look for supplies. Valda fixed her glare on the Angel before her.

“All right you damned Angel, bring it!” Valda challenged and was greeted with a roar as the monster charged for her.

( BGM )

Valda gritted her teeth as the first blow hit, knocking unit 02 back and leaving her chin feeling the pain. The enemy had thrown a beastly left hook and knocked her off balance before sweeping in with its right arm, still coated in blades. Throwing all her weight to the side, Valda made unit 02 duck down and prop itself against the ground with its left forearm lashing out and elbowing the metal monster just behind its knee, buckling it slightly. Using the opportunity unit 02 scrambled to its knee before delivering a powerful uppercut with its left arm further pushing the angelic Eva back.

“Come on come on come on!” Valda yelled as her Eva delivered several more blows to the head of her enemy. Suddenly it moved again slding past one of Unit 02’s jabs and head-butting the green and black giant staggering it before unit 03 followed up with a vicious shot to the gut. Valda gasped for breath as the feeling came through to her and her eyes widened again as that bladed right arm followed with an uppercut of its own.

“GRAAAH!” Valda cried out as her head tilted back and pain raked across her chest where the blades had connected knocking unit 02 through the air and landing on its back. Quickly looking down, her armour seemed to still be intact, so what was with that unusual sensation? Rolling over Valda pushed unit 02 into a sprint start position and charged the enemy angel tackling it once again and crashing into another building. Once again throwing blow after blow at the beast’s head and shoulders, trying to debilitate its fighting ability without directly attacking the chest where the pilot was located. At this point though, Valda wondered if her blows would even crack that armour. Pain lanced through her arms as unit 02’s blows were caught right after one another by unit 03’s dripping blue arms.

“W-what is this? I-is this… Pain? Why? What? How is this?” She questioned supressing the sounds trying to escape her throat as her hands felt like they’d been stabbed, burned or some weird concoction of the two. Looking at the enemy she felt her arms being pulled to the sides, that blue gloop seemingly trying to melt the armoured hands of unit 02 off. The next thing Valda knew was an incredible pain in her chest as the Angel kicked her across the street into another building with unit 03’s powerful legs. The front of her armour was definitely cracked after that one and Valda briefly wondered if that might of included a rib or two, her synch rate was all over the place. The Angel got up ready to continue while Valda scrambled in the rubble looking for something to get the angel off of her.. Pushing some of the rubble off, Valda found a supply box for an Eva and quickly pounded on it to open it.

“Come on come on! Pallet rifles? Oh ja!” Valda grinned grabbing one of the weapons and firing at the angel’s legs on full auto. In response the monstrous enemy leapt back lashing out with its arm as a tendril of blue goop lanced through the air and snapped the pallet gun in half, smashing what was left of the building behind unit 02 as it did so. The green and black Eva rolled out of the way in response, and then back to its feet, once again standing off against the Angel. Valda noted the ticking timer that represented her remaining power with a grimace, Kenny better find those cables soon. The Angel began charging again and Valda growled.

“Scheiße!”

Sitting in the entry plug, Isaac felt his heart beat faster than usual. "Calm down...it's a damn test." Isaac said to himself while letting out a few deep breaths. Strangely while the idea of piloting was nerve wracking, sitting inside the entry plug was very soothing. Isaac closed his eyes and felt his body slowly drift in the entry plug which felt like he was becoming unified with Evangelion. The feeling was unreal.

Opening his eyes, Isaac looked over to see Valda go through some simple movement exercises that from the looks of it was rather boring for the girl. She was probably already used to stuff like this so how could Isaac blame her. After Valda was done, Akio was up to begin his performance. He moved his arm with ease, followed by a few more movement. Seeing Akio move around so fluidly was impressive to Isaac. Without even realizing it, Unit 03's eyes lit up red and all that Isaac could remember was a bright light and a source of heat which boiled the LCL inside the entry plug. "What the hell!?!?!" Isaac yelled as he felt the Evangelion fall to the ground.

Opening his eyes, Isaac saw dust and smoke fill the area but was lucky enough to see both of Akio and Valda fine. Isaac felt his heart race as he looked side to side to see what attacked them. “Akio? What the hell are you doing? What happened here? Are we under attack?” Valda said as Isaac noticed that she opened a channel to all the pilots. With no response from Akio, Isaac noticed that Unit 03 was still standing which gave Isaac some form of relief. Oh good. Akio's alrig- Isaac thoughts were cut short as he stared into one of the most horrifying things. “W-what are you…? H-HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!” Isaac subconsciously heard Valda shout as Unit 03 let out a roar, charging towards Isaac. His eyes seemed to fixate on the Angel that made it's way over to him. “KENNY MOVE!” Valda yelled as Isaac's sync ratio started to go wild. Unit 03 physically looked the same minus the blue goo that seemed to move around the Evangelion.

Without moving, Isaac was grasped by Unit 03's hand and was lifted up from the ground like a helpless rag doll. He could fell his own neck get crushed as Isaac was receiving the same amount of pressure that his Evangelion was feeling. Isaac tried to breath, but his efforts was futile. The corrupted Unit 03 lifted up it's other hand as blue blades started to arch back in preparation to finish Isaac. Clenching his eyes shut, Isaac hoped that his death would be quick and painless.

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!”

As Valda tackled the Angel, Isaac felt the enemies grip instantly removed as he gasped for air. Looking up Isaac saw Valda carry the Angel away from him. I'm so useless. Why am I here? Clenching his eyes shut, Isaac gripped his head and brought it towards his lap. He began to feel his heart raise as the com link between Valda and him opened up.

"Kenny, listen up!” Valda shouted. “I want you to get to the other buildings and locate some power supplies.”

“I-I’m sorry… I just…” Isaac softly replied as he felt ashamed for being like this.

“It’s just a test facility, but there should be some supplies around here we can use. Get moving.” Valda replied once again, trying to obviously get Isaac away from the battle.

“O-ok, right.” Isaac responded as he slowly started to snap out of the daze that he was in. After a few moments, the visual com channel between him and her opened up. Isaac looked away as he could feel her calm eyes stare down at him.

“Kenny, listen to me. Our opponent is an Angel, an Angel that has taken over Evangelion unit 03…This Bastard has dared to take one of ours, one of mine! So look at me and listen up! Not only are we going to annihilate this cowardly monster, We are going to save Akio! NOW MAN THE HELL UP AND DO YOUR DAMN JOB! I’LL BE DAMNED BEFORE I LET THIS SON OF A BITCH TAKE ANY OF MY PILOTS! THAT INCLUDES YOU! SO GET MOVING AND STAY THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!”

“R-right!” Isaac responded and began moving to look for supplies. While running away from the battle taken place behind him, Isaac could felt his emotions get the best of him. As Isaac maneuvered his way through the smoke, he eventually found some supplies luckily enough. Noticing his Evangelion's battery starting to drain, he managed to find a power supply to plug into. While plugging himself in, Isaac's thoughts about leaving Valda started to mock him. "She was right...what am I doing here?"

"Heh, if you hate it here so much. Why don’t you go on home..."

"I can't go home. I have to..." Isaac's words were cut short as he almost lied to himself. He wasn't a protector. He was a coward who was afraid to do the right thing.

"...you’d be doing us all a favour if you just went home to your happy little ‘Family’ and left protecting this world to those who both can and want to.”

"...I know...I'm so useless."

"heaven forbid you ever manage to get something right

Isaac stopped what he was doing and felt tears fill up his eyes. "She's right. She's fucking right!" Isaac yelled as he hit the two joysticks in the entry plug. "I can't do anything right. I'm such a god damn mess! I should of never come back! I'm so damn worthless..."

The world jittered through the girl’s eyes. They were flickering, unable to focus on anything. Though her gaze was fixed in one place, her pupils vibrated from side to side and turned the world into a blur. Her breath came short and fast, shallowly inhaling a lungful of burning, fetid air only to expel it almost immediately in a short gasp. Her limbs shuddered uncontrollably.

Her plugsuit glowed red as it dispelled the immense heat that it had just been subjected to. It had been built to withstand nearly 473 degrees Kelvin of heat, but it had been pushed to its limits by the blast. It had taken nearly all of the impact and heat, since Tokei had been right next to the Eva unit when it exploded. Now it slowly faded back to grey as it cooled.

Tokei continued to shiver as she lay on her back. She managed to slightly- ever so slightly- rotate her head a few degrees to the right. There was something right next to her: a tech laptop, the screen only attached to the base by a few thin wires. The plastic had partially melted, giving an unpleasant liquid, flowing effect to the laptop.

Tokei attempted to sit up. A moment later, she cried out as every muscle in her body protested with a wave of pain harsh enough to make her retch. Her plugsuit had hardened upon impact with the ground, but the shock to her muscles and skeleton had still been enough to crack three of her ribs. The gasp elicited an even more painful retort from her face. It had been severely burned by the blast. Gasping and clutching her chest with one hand, she managed to drunkenly stagger to her feet and survey the landscape.

Everything was a hellish red color. The air was scorching, as if somebody had opened a massive oven. Small flakes of ash and wispy fragments of burned clothing fluttered through the air. The earth was scorched, black streaks lining the concrete, and beyond the testing zone, the dirt. Vans from the site were scattered every few hundred meters or so, along with the bodies. Too many bodies. Everything was burnt to cinders. Tokei surveyed the scene, wide-eyed and scared out of her mind. She remembered standing in front of the Eva, hearing the first strains of an alarm, and then… nothing. There had been an immensely bright light, and then the world had simply disappeared in a cacophony of light, sound, and shaking. Tokei couldn’t see the test site. Everything for at least a mile around had been leveled.

Something dripped onto her face.

Tokei froze, waiting. It happened again. Something was dripping off the right side of her face. Shaking as much in fear now as in shock, Tokei detached the glove from her left hand. She brushed the left side of her face, wincing as her mostly unharmed fingertips made contact with her bruised, burned, and battered face. The left side was fine. Tokei shakily moved her fingers to the right of her face. Her first impression was that something was very wet. Wet, painful and sticky, actually.

It took Tokei several seconds to realize that the right side of her face was missing.

Queuing in line at the school cafeteria, which bustled with its usual lunchtime activity, Raglan was dealing with some serious business;

...Nah, that'd probably be too spicy. Or maybe she likes spicy foods? I love spicy food, but it's not for everyone. Tch, I should've asked. Why didn't I just ask her? Ahh, man...

He could see Tomoko lined up in front of him with some other girls, she said something but it failed to break him out of his own little dream world.

What's she going on about now? Pfft - Nothing intelligible, surely. Actually I'm surprised Kei isn't around. She's never usually far apart from her groupies.

Trying to turn his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Raglan suddenly felt a finger tap him on the shoulder. He turned, facing a short and astoundingly unremarkable young man, who he guessed was probably around the same age as he. "Hey J, did you read that new seinen ongoing in Dazed Youth this week?"

"Umm, what..."

"Oh, uh, I heard you're into comics. That's what you said in that piece in the school paper anyway." The strange boy said, handing a small leaflet to Raglan, which was apparently what passed for a 'newspaper'. He remembered doing the interview on his very first day here at school. A student spotlight column.

"Ah, yeah, I'm really into comics man. It's that new series from Mizuichi you're talking about, right? The sci-fi one? Yeah, I saw it. Pretty cool, huh." Raglan replied as he looked over the article. "Hey can I hold onto this?"

"Sure! And I'm not too impressed by Mizuichi's new one yet to be honest. Pretty boring first chapter. But not as boring as one of Carter-sensei's lessons, right?"

"Umm, Carter's lessons..." Raglan folded the paper and slid it into his jacket, noticing the casual and friendly manner of the kid he was addressing. "Do I know you, dude?"

"Haha, it's me; Kaimu. Kaimu Gengai. I sit next to you in homeroom, and in maths."

Raglan drew a complete blank.

"..."

"Uh, you even ask me questions in maths sometimes. Remember that theorem from the other day?" The boy Kaimu said, looking a little... Unsettled.

Raglan could feel the awkwardness in the air stiffen further.

"Oh. OH! Yeah, umm, Kaimu. Right. Hey man."

"..."

"..."

"You still don't know who I am, do you?"

Raglan shifted about uncomfortably, looking at his watch - Something to do to keep composure. It was almost ten past one in the afternoon and he couldn't recall ever having seen Kaimu Gengai before in his life.

Just as he was about to stagger a reply, Raglan's phone went off. And not the usual notice sound, which would be muted in silent mode, but the built-in emergency alarm tone.

The message read;

EMERGENCY
COME TO HQ IMMEDIATELY

"Shit!" He muttered violently under his breath, breaking into a quick sprint away from out of the cafeteria. Carrying him away from lunch. Away from Kaimu Gengai.

Of all times! The Angels just do not let up, do they?

He rushed through the hallways with a resounding speed. Other kids looked at him oddly, wondering what it was the kid they called 'J' was up to. It was already well known throughout the school though, in a kind of unspoken manner, that the regular rules just didn't apply to the Nerv pilots. The Children selected by fate.

Raglan quickly found himself back at the table under the walkway outside of C-block. Katla standing stiltedly in front of a furious Kei, frozen in place.

Kei was raising her hand, he could see, drawing it back to strike the Third Child.

What the hell?

Having no clue as to what was going on, Raglan quickly stepped up behind Kei - Grasp firmly clamping her hand before it could move. He must've looked somewhat flustered, as he sure felt quite out of breath from his short run - His face an almost bothered, confused expression;

"I have no idea what's going on here but we got to go. Now." He said in his most commanding voice.

He pulled Kei aside, out of the way, noticing the expression of hurt and shock plain across her face. Then taking Katla by the hand, he broke into a hurried pace but also taking care not to jolt her from the force of it.

Raglan could see that Katla looked perturbed.

"I'm sorry. You'll have to tell me about it later. There's an emergency notice from HQ. Something's happened and we need to be there."

When they got to the front a black car was already there, waiting.

"Sir, we've lost contact with Matsuhiro." Hibiki began the instant Owen stepped into the room. He promptly took his seat.

"What's the available data?"

"The Matsuhiro Magi system began transmitting 140 seconds ago Commander. Incoming data shows Unit-03 malfunctioned. A massive surge in energy suggests there might have been an explosion. I've tried back tracing the system, but it stops at the Magi Sir, none of the connecting systems are responding and we can't contact the staff." Senyu reeled off the information.

"Scramble the emergency response team. Have aid sent directly to Matsuhiro. Until we have more information we are to assume the worst, that Unit-03 has detonated." Owen handed down his commands coolly. "Have emergency procedures been enacted?"

"Yes Sir, all pilots and on-call staff have been alerted. Section Two is picking them up now." Saito cut right to the point. "Estimated arrival time, eight minutes with traffic permitting."

"Commander, confirmation from Matsuhiro Magi. Pattern Blue. It's an Angel." Senyu reported dutifully.

"What's the status of the other two evas?" Owen looked down at his monitor.

"Unknown Sir."

"What about the Evas in storage?" Light glinted off his glasses, his expression imperceptible.

"Um, well, Units 07 and 00 are still damaged after their last battles Sir, neither one has fully regenerated." Hibiki answered hesitantly. "Unit-04 reads clear from the diagnostic run this morning and Units 05 and Alpha should be clear to launch. But Sir, wouldn't that be against the Vatican Treaty?" Hibiki's voice was small and weak.

"It is entirely possible that neither Unit-01, nor Unit-02 are currently active. So the action of deploying more Evangelion Units in light of the situation cannot be said to be against the Treaty. Now, remove Unit-03 from the active roster. Designate target, the Sixth Angel. Prep the three functioning Evas for launch from the J-3:16 connecting tunnel." Owen's voice rang clearly through the room.

"Y, yes Sir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Raglan and Katla were bundled into the car, they found Vice-Commander Carter already seated in the front, his hands folded over the book in his lap.

"Today of all days for something to go wrong." the older man muttered to himself. Glancing in the rear view mirror, he addressed the pilots without turning around. "You two best be prepared. We wouldn't have been called if we weren't needed. Odds are Katla, you may have to go into battle again." his voice was strained and tired, clearly unwilling to accept such a conclusion as the car started on its way towards head quarters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the dorms, the remaining pilots were shuffled into the car before it took off at speed, the driver apparently determined to make record time. Qi stared at the message on his phone before looking out the window. The other pilots would be gathering also. His mind drifted once more to Katla, his grip on the phone increasing, his knuckles somehow managing to turn whiter than they already were. He tried to distract himself, tried to focus on another topic, and only one sprung to mind.

"Pardon me, Shiori, but, what was the purpose behind those designations you gave us? Rider and Convict? I'm afraid I don't understand." he smiled his hollow smile as they raced towards HQ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dr. Idle, Dr. Idle, can you hear me?!" the deep guttural voice bellowed as Johann slowly stirred. His eyes opening lazily, he looked up into the wide concerned face of Bato Oshiro, Eva Monitor.

"Either there really is a hell, or God hates me enough to let me live." Johann spluttered. He tried to move, but the instant he upset the status quo his body had set with the ground, he felt an uncomfortable shift inside and doubled over in agony. There was more than a few things wrong, he could tell that much. His arm was broken along with several rips. Something might have herniated and as far as he could tell there was about ten inches of steel and glass inside him in different places.

"Wh, what happened, where are the others?" he gasped for air.

"I found Marilu, she's in shock, but she's alive. Come on, I'm gettin' you out of here before they come this way again." The massive bulk of the man easily cleared aside the debris of the observation room before carefully hoisting the doctor into his arms. Despite the injured man's protests and anguished hissing, Bato carried him away from the destruction. As he was cradled in the single most awkward and terrifying moment of his life, Johann looked back to see the Angelic being that had once been Unit-03 battling the other Evas. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his hand held, remarkably unharmed.

"I'm so glad Kiyoshi made me take the shock resistant one." he mused to himself as he raised it to his subordinate. "When we're clear, contact base. Give them all the details, everything, there's no time to waste!" he hissed, pressing the device into the larger man's chest. Bato nodded solemnly as he continued to march through the battlefield.

( BGM )

Valda gritted her teeth once more as she was knocked away, unit 02 bouncing off the ground before tumbling over its head onto its back. She wasn’t sure if it was the angel or unit 03’s strength but it was impressive. Valda wasn’t going to back down though, not even for a moment. She still had to defeat this thing; she still had to save Akio. Rising once more, unit 02 began moving away, keeping low to hide behind the various buildings dotted around though they only provided so much cover as they weren’t the tall skyscrapers of Tokyo 3. The angel followed her at its own pace seemingly unconcerned with her attempts to gain distance. Valda looked around hoping to find the tell-tale signs of a container, so she could get something to use. With the main building destroyed it wasn’t like she could ask for directions to what she needed.

“I never expected a battle here, dammit, I should’ve been more prepared.” Valda complained to herself before she caught sight of what she was looking for; a metal container that was marked with a few warnings and had a release lever that could only really be used by an Eva. Unlike the previous one she’d smashed into, this one was still fully intact so she didn’t need to smash it open. Pulling the lever the container opened to reveal a large plug and cable which brought a grin to Valda’s face. It may not have been a weapon, but she’d take the ability to continue fighting for longer over a weapon any day.

“Now to deal with-“Valda began turning to face her opponent only to find it hovering over her, arm poised to strike. Hastily she brought up unit 02’s arms to block feeling the painful blow as it connected. Unit 02 was forced to take a step back before another blow was thrown and then another and followed by more. Each blow Valda was forced to back up step by step as the angel continued its assault. After losing a good amount of ground, Valda finally retaliated sidestepping one of the bows and throwing a punch of her own, forcing the angel’s head to tilt back a bit. She threw another blow but it was caught by the angel and soon Valda found herself slammed into the nearest building rubble falling everywhere around and on top of her.

The monstrous former Eva stepped moved forward to deliver a finishing blow until unit 02 made a swing, smashing a large section of the building into the side of the angel knocking it aside. Unit 02 pulled itself out of the rubble and began running off again as the Angel got to its feet and following after it’s foe with a vicious growl. Unit 02 came closer to the crater, where there was still rubble and debris before finding what she came for. Kneeling down she began pulling on something as the roaring angel charged at her.

( BGM)

“Essen Sie dieses Ungeheuer!” Valda yelled before pivoting whilst swinging one for the cranes used to help maintain the Evas that was still relatively intact. Connecting with a large clunk, the possessed Evangelion was sent spiralling to the ground a distance back unceremoniously. Unit 02 hefted the now extra dented heavy lifting device over its shoulder before charging forward at the enemy getting back on its feet, Valda growled some more as she slid into another swing. “Haben Sie eine Wüste!”

With the evangelised unit knocked back to the ground once more, Valda pressed her advantage and dived on top of the other machine, using the crane to pin it without having to touch it directly. With its arms pinned down it was effectively trapped until she could figure out what to do with it. Suddenly her lower chest exploded into searing pain and Valda cried out in both pain and shock. Looking down she saw unit 03’s progressive knife buried into unit 02, where had that come from? Valda backed up a bit and her opponent used the momentary release of pressure to yank out the knife push up the crane somewhat and display the cutting power of a progressive knife by cleaving right through it.

“What the hell? Its knife wasn’t in the pylon?” Valda growled vaguely remembering something Akio had said about special features and secrets. Next time she got the opportunity, she was going to hound him until he told her everything about unit 03. Heck she may do that for all the Evas just in case. As if it wasn’t bad enough already, the blue goop began to drip more, the Eva’s arms beginning to look more blue than its previous colour scheme.

“Dammit, this just keeps getting worse doesn’t it?” Valda muttered, hand still clamped on the area she’d been stabbed. She wanted to look at her hand to check for blood, but dismissed the notion as silly before wondering again. It hurt, it hurt so much. She was ignoring it though, as best she could, pain was a distraction, it wasn’t needed, it wasn’t wanted. She didn’t need pain, so she pushed it aside. But it hurt, it hurt so much. Valda as so frantic in her dismissal of that feeling she barely dodged another swing of the progressive knife, it’s arc cutting a thing line on her chest armour.

Valda did the thing that made the most sense to her right there and then, she turned and ran desperately looking for something, anything to use against the Angel. She needed something, a weapon to grasp, an idea to latch onto. She needed to find something, anything something to fix this and make everything better.

Fleeing In the face of pain? What a coward, as always

Valda stopped, what was she doing? She needed to fight, she had to win, she must save unit 03’s pilot. She couldn’t run hoping for something to come up, she had to do it herself. All by herself, she’d have to defeat it, save the pilot and complete her aims. All she had to do was think, how was she going to win? She looked around only seeing the various empty buildings used for storage and other such things at Matsuhiro and… that was it, it was a bit extreme but it’d do.

“Ich werde gewinnen, werde ich nicht verlieren, WERDE ICH GEWINNEN!” Valda chanted to herself as she kneeled down digging her hands into the ground around the building. Valda strained with her teeth grinding against each other, her muscles aching under the strain of her current action. The angel was approaching fast but it wouldn’t matter. Valda would win, she had to win, she had to save the pilot, she had to save the world! Nothing else mattered, she HAD to win! While these thoughts flooded her mind, the Angel approached, knife in hand and its arms covered in malicious blue blades.

“RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!”

With a roar of effort and strain, Valda uprooted the building in front of her, roughly 10 metres taller than her Eva and several times wider, form its foundation and swung it over her head straight down onto the awaiting angel and her own power cable severing it. Cement shattered as the building came down with a vengeance, smashing the angel into a new crater, one of Valda’s making. She breathed heavily after the assault, seeing the once threatening progressive knife fallen to the side of the mess she’d just made. The pilots were fairly safe deep within the Eva, so Valda doubted that she’d harmed him, but that last blow should’ve messed up the Eva’s body rather badly.

“Heh, hehehe, hehahah, hahaha, HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ich gewinne! Hahaha! Ich gewinne!” Valda cheered to herself raggedly. She took a few steps back and leaned against the side of a building as she caught her breath again. That was starting to look bad, but of course she pulled through, it was a natural outcome after all. Her prideful thoughts were interrupted as some of the rubble began to shift. It hadn’t given up yet? Tenacious, but it didn’t matter. Right now she had the advantage.

CRASH!

“W-was? WAS SIND SIE?!?” Valda yelled, her eyes widening at the horrifying sight before her.


( BGM )

What stood before her was barely recognizable as unit 03 anymore, most of it’s body being surrounded by pulsing tendrils of that sickening blue stuff. Fron its back and arms were a spider web of inhuman appendages that could only barely be classified as arms, even the beginnings of extra heads seemingly sprouting from the evil blue substance. The monster’s halo was back with; only to Valda it looked brighter and more ominous than before. She wasn’t sure what damage she had done to unit 03, but she realised it didn’t matter anymore, what was in front of her was the angel in its truest sense. While before she had called unit 03 a hostage, now it seemed more like a stage for the angel to launch its true offensive from. It roared once more and tears came to Valda’s eyes unbidden, her body was shaking from sheer terror.

“Fear… I… No I… I don’t want this… I don’t want to be afraid… Not again, never again… No… Please… Go away, go away!” Valda babbled out as she backed away from the monstrous angel before her. She wanted it to go away; she wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want to have to deal with it or anything else anymore.

I’LL BE DAMNED BEFORE I LET THIS SON OF A BITCH TAKE ANY OF MY PILOTS!

That was right, that was what she said, she swore it to herself. She couldn’t run away now, she mustn’t give up. She would fight on and win this, she had to fight on and win this. There was no going back, this was why she was here. Fear, pain, she didn’t want them, she didn’t need them. Those feelings just got in the way, she had to ignore them, push them away. She had to.

The angel charged at her, the kaleidoscope of blue arms flailing around as it approached. Valda held her hands forward whilst focusing all of will into her A.T Field, hoping to stop the angel‘s attack there and then. The blue coated Eva slammed against the octagonal multi-coloured wall projected by the green and black unit, before beginning to tear through it with its multitude of arms; them ripping and tearing the last wall between Valda and the monster apart.

“Dammit? It’s getting through my A.T. Field so easily? Valda questioned barely believing what she was seeing. This thing was managing to get through the Eva’s greatest defence and it was doing so with relative ease. It was one thing when she wasn’t actively focusing on the A.T. field, but to be able to get through it when she was giving her all to project it? No choice then, she was going to have to deploy the S.A.M.

“Seele anreicherung maschine; grenze entlassung!”

( BGM )

Just as the Angel looked like it was about to fully tear through, the multi-coloured barrier fluctuated before blasting the angel away with enough force to blow off a number of its blue arms. The light from Valda’s A.T field had grown bright enough to obscure the green and black Evangelion behind it. Valda herself felt stronger than ever, like she was utterly untouchable now.

“Heh, HEHEHEHEAHAHAHA! YES! THIS IS WHY WE’RE THE BEST!” Valda boasted as the Angel got up and tried once more to break through the A.T field before it, only to be met with similar failure to before. Valda couldn’t contain the mad grin that was on her face, watching the once terrifying angel falter and fail against her unbreakable wall. Now all she needed to do was finish the job

Warning alerts sprung up all around Valda suddenly, as she wondered what was going on. Suddenly she began to spasm as her vision blurred and her hearing dulled and her other sense began to flicker between hyper sensitive and dull as could be.

“The system became unbalanced? I didn’t expect the backlash to be this bad!” Valda muttered as the emergency protocols shut down her unit’s trump card. But at this point she could barely register it as unit 02 began to stumble backwards like a drunkard.

( BGM )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

”Ahahaha look at this, look at this!” A young voice called out and a Woman smiled. She walked forward and picked up the owner of the voice.

“That’s great dear.” The woman said.

What is this? Memories? Why, why now?

”Mamma, look at my cape, I made it myself. Doesn’t it look cool?” A young voice spoke again, but it was slightly older this time. Again that woman was there, with a man this time. He was smiling, she frowned.

“You look like a proper superhero now.” The man said cheerily.

“Are those my curtains?” The woman asked. The room was filed with Laughter save the woman who just frowned.

Why am I… what is going…?

”Hey hey, come and play with me, please, come and play sis!” again a young voice.

“Wait for me, hey don’t run off!” the slightly older voice, caped and wearing a poorly made mask of some sort.

“Be careful you two, and Valda take care of your sister.” The woman was there, watching over them.

That was? Was that when?

”WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?” The man yelled.

“That’s enough! This is hard enough without you yelling!” The woman was angry but her voice wasn’t raised. Someone was crying.

No, no ,no, no,no NO NO NO NO!


The woman walked out the door, it closed tight behind her.

Mamma, where are you going? Come back! Please!

“DAMN YOU LOTZE! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!” The woman screamed.

“SHUT UP! YOU DON’T GET A SAY IN THIS ANYMORE!” The man yelled.

Don’t fight, why won't you hear me? PLEASE!

“This is Evangelion unit 02, this is the machine you will use to save the world.” A blonde man said standing next to a masked girl.

“It looks cool enough, but I hate the smell… You expect me to use this? Well whatever, it doesn’t matter in the end.” She said looking up at…

Wait, wasn’t that me… but why was I…?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valda was snapped back to reality by an intense pain as the Angel grabbed Unit 02 by the head and pinned it to a building, more blue arms grabbing the rest of the Eva’s body sending Valda into a fit of screaming agony as the goop began trying to eat through the armour. Valda could barely see clearly from all the pain wrought tears streaming from her eyes. Physical pain, emotional pain, she couldn’t tell what started it but she couldn’t stop.

“Mamma, where did you go, please come back! Don’t fight with Papa, please, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, please don’t. Oh please, make it stop already. It hurts, it hurts it hurts. STOP STOP STOP!” Valda yelled and screeched. Sorrow began to turn to rage as Valda’s pain numbed mind rebelled against what was happening. “STOP IT! I SAID STOP DAMMIT!”

Unit 02 suddenly purged all of its F-type armour which broke the angel’s grip on most of the Evangelions body. An incoherent yell accompanied the release of both of unit 02’s progressive knives, two kukri blades. Taking them in hand the seemingly renewed unit 02 began a frenzied charge through the mess of blue appendages, cutting and slicing recklessly driving forward closer and closer to the Eva hidden underneath the mess, the numbers denoting her remaining power once again flashing dangerously low.

“STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP! DAMN MONSTER! I WON’T LET YOU DO AS YOU PLEASE! I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL FREAKING KILL YOU!” Valda screamed as she continued hacking towards the monster. One of her progressive knives got knocked from her hand but she pressed on regardless. Hacking again and again until unit 03’s form was somewhat visible again. She surged forward with the knife once more when two loud Cracks filled the air and Valda felt immense pain again. Her progressive knife fell to the ground shattered and unit 02 fell back, one of its legs a mess of blood from the sudden attack. Valda glared at the smocking barrels from unit 03’s shoulder pylons. Yet another nasty surprise she hadn’t known about. The vicious angel began to bear down on her again but her body wouldn’t respond, the overload of pain taking its toll as she struggled to remain conscious.

“Move dammit… why won’t I… move?”

Looking forward, Isaac stared away from the battle taking place behind him. His eyes were bloodshot from the tears that he shed as he rubbed them one last time. While looking at the supplies in front of him, the silent rumbles from the buildings being knocked down was oddly soothing. It was like listening to a babbling brook if you were trying to sleep. Curled up with his knees to his chest, Isaac began to do some soul search at an very inconvenient time.

"Why did I come here?" That was a rather silly questions as Isaac already knew the answer. He wanted to be needed. After only talking to his father once a year for a few minutes, he received an invitation to come out for a vacation. He left his home thinking his own father needed him. While it wasn't a lie that his father needed him, it was his motive to why he was needed that made Isaac mad. To become a tool for his father made him absolutely livid, but admittedly great as well. He has always wanted to be needed by his father. That is why he was still here. The more his thought about the reason to why he even came back was a bit too harsh to admit. He wanted to be needed by the others. He wanted the glory from being a pilot. He wanted to be hero.

"I'm so pathetic." Isaac said to himself from his thoughts as he closed his eyes while memories of the dreams he had flashed before him. Images of all of the mangled pilots that continued to haunt his sleep. Images of the woman that looked like his mother that seemed to die at the end of each dream. The feeling of being alone began to devlope. He hated being alone. Clenching his fists, Isaac tried to push them out of his mind. The thoughts of being a told he was a coward continued to tumble through his mind to the point of where it started to be an actual audible noise.

Opening his eyes Isaac could see his mother holding a child while looking at him with a mask of despair on her face. “Why did you leave?” She said trying to cradle the child in her arms. The baby started to cry and although no sound was produced, the expression on the child's face indicated otherwise.

"I didn't leave..." Isaac looked with shame painted across his face.

"Why did you leave?" His mother said as though Isaac said nothing in the first place.

"I'm not capable of doing this! I'm afraid and I'm useless! Valda she..." Isaac stopped speaking. Valda was willing to fight this monster. Valda was willing to sacrifice her life for others. Valda was alone against the beast.

"They will die if you do nothing. Do you want to live your life knowing-"

"Stop" Isaac yelled trying to interrupt the woman's words.

"-that people died because you were selfish?" More images of dreams that he had forgotten came into his mind. He witnessed each of the pilots deaths one after another. He started to shake his head in denial.

"I'm not responsible for them! I'm not needed! Isn't it obvious!?" Isaac shouted as he looked at the woman's face as she gave a genuine smile. "Why are you smiling!? Stop!"

The background changed as they were both standing in the train, watching a previous memory of Isaac speaking to Vander. "You remember this don't you?" She said as she brought the child closer to her chest.

"...running away won't help the others. They'll still be broken, and you'll still feel guilty. I told you, I'd pilot if I could, but I wouldn't do it because it's good for me. I'd do it for other people. Now, now I help people the only way I can. You, you can do both. You have the chance to save the world in the Eva, but you've also got the chance to save those kids..."

The words seemed to hit Isaac like a ton of bricks. How did he forget the man's words so soon? He looked away from the scene knowing why this memory was brought up. He felt some arms fold around him as a gentle hug was given. "It's alright to be afraid." the woman said while resting her chin on his head. "Remember, you are always needed."

Isaac opened his eyes and found himself in the entry plug again. Letting out a deep breath, Isaac looked around at the supplies that he had in front of him. A few pallet rifles which from Isaac's memory didn't really do anything. There was a rather large sniper rifle and a few handguns. Grabbing the sniper rifle and hand gun, Isaac looked over to where battle was being fought and started to make his way over to the wrecked city.

Unit-03 grabbed the kneeling Eva by its head once more, lifting it onto its feet before delivering a series of quick blows to its head, followed by a swift kick sending the Unit flying into an adjacent building. It let out a shriek and charged the building in which the Eva had landed, sending debris flying hundreds of meters away as it slammed into the building with brutal force, sending Unit-02 tumbling along the ground before it came to a stop against a hill side.

Without skipping a beat Unit-03 pounced on Unit-02, grabbing its neck with both hands, it began to repeatedly slam the Eva into the hillside, letting out a forceful grunt with every slam. It coughed as the blue goop began to run from its mouth, covering Unit-02’s torso, sizzling as it ate at the Eva’s armor. Its onslaught was unrelenting and brutal as it punched Unit-02 repeatedly in the head and chest. Unit-03 then grasped the Eva by its throat; it grew a massive blade on its free arm. Drawing it back, Unit-03 let out a roar as it prepared to deliver the final blow.

__________________


“I’m here to enlighten you.” The reflection said with a smile.

“What the hell do you mean?” Akio asked with a confused yet terrified look on his face.

“Oh you will come to find out in time. I have a feeling we will get along just fine. But for now I will leave you”

Akio looked at his reflection with confusion as he felt drowsy, his eye lids becoming too hard to keep open.

“Who are you?” Akio slurred

"Well who are you?" The reflection asked in return with a grin as Akio passed out.

As Isaac made his through the city, every foot step that he took made the battle sounds louder and louder. At first he wasn't sure where to find Valda and the Angel, but Isaac just followed the chaos in the city. After turning a corner, Isaac saw Unit 02 getting slammed against a hillside by the infested Unit 03. "Valda!?" Issac yelled into the comm system. After a few moments of silence, Isaac stared in horror at the attack. "Valda!?!" He yelled again trying to get in contact with the fellow pilot.

"...." Nothing.

In Isaac's head, his vision replicated the dream where Valda died before him. His heart started to pound as he remembered her reaching for him. He began to grit his teeth as her scream echoed in the back of his mind. Pulling up the sniper rifle, Isaac looked through the scope and noticed the Angel's blue appendages forming into a giant blade that began to raise in preparation to execute. The dream and the current battle began to merge into one. He had failed everyone in all of his dreams. This time he wouldn't let that happen. "GET AWAY FROM HER!!" Isaac shouted as he shot a round at Unit 03. The bullet pierced through Unit 03's shoulder where the massive blade formed. Blood mixed with the blue goo shot out of it's shoulder as the blade continued to draw back. Isaac aimed at the blade shot another bullet into the creature. "COME ON YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Isaac screamed as he fired a shot into the blue blade. As the bullet flew through the blade, the blade separated into a few strands and started to to point into Isaac's direction.

Drawing the Angel's attention, The beast let out a shriek and started to run towards Isaac. A few rounds fired by Isaac missed the rampaging beast as it progressed closer to him. Running out of bullets, Isaac threw the sniper rifle on the ground and drew the hand gun. Isaac paused from pulling the trigger as the Angel began to gain speed towards him. Taking in a deep breath, Isaac closed his eyes as the raging beast started to get closer. Opening his eyes, Issac raised the hand gun and shot a bullet into the beast's knee cap causing it to lose it's footing and tumble down to the ground. "Now that I have your attention. Let's finish this." Isaac said with a new found confidence towards the corrupted Evangelion.

Reccomended BGM: Numb

Tokei numbly pulled her fingertips away from the right side of her face, ignoring their now crimson color. Her hand fell limp by her side. Something in her brain was shutting down, ceasing to function. She took a shaky step forward, then another. Then another. Slowly, she began making her way across the crater towards one of the upended tech vans.

Various pebbles and rocks crunched under her feet as she continued her slow, monotonous trek. A constant stream of blood was running off of her face, plip-plip-plipping into her collar and down her front. The pain was dull, somewhere in the back of her mind. Tokei was vaguely aware that she was probably going into shock, if she wasn’t there already.

Then Tokei wasn’t looking straight ahead anymore, but to her left and directly across the ground. A wave of pain tore through the left side of her burned face and her ribs. She had tripped on something, falling onto the ground. Tokei winced as she looked behind her to determine the obstacle she had failed to see.

It was a body. It was clad in what remained of its standard bridge uniform. No part of the body had fared as well as hers had; most of the skin was charred or burnt all the way down to the bone. A raw face looked at her, deep red muscle and teeth split in a hideous grin. Tokei vomited.

After several painful seconds, wiping the remnants of her lunch from her mouth, Tokei continued towards the overturned van on all fours. Her progress was slow. The van seemed to be taunting her, moving away just as fast as she could crawl towards it. Several more bodies were scattered along the path, not all of them with a full complement of limbs. Some of them were anatomically complete, but had bone structures that resembled Jell-o from being smashed through walls. Tokei tuned out the outside world, concentrating on the sound of the scorched earth crunching beneath her.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the overturned van. She found the door, crawling into it on all fours. She pulled her knees into her chest, lamenting the comfort of her lab coat, and wept. The tears scorched salty, burning paths down the right side of her face. Tokei remained in the fetal position, crying.

Her vision went monocular. Red slowly obscured the sclera of her right eye, creeping downwards over her field of vision. Tears still leaked from it as the red slowly chased away the last vestiges of the original white color.

"Hmm?" Shiori had been staring out the window, only brought to attention when Jie spoke.

"I was asking why you called us 'Rider' and 'Convict'," he said calmly. It was unnerving how he smiled as he spoke, but Shiori did not seem perturbed. She merely shrugged.

"It's all in the cards," she said. "Nine cards, nine pilots…seems logical, don't you think?"

"Cards?" Jie asked, bemused.

Shiori reached for her tarot deck, but found to her dismay that she had not brought it along. "A deck of fortune-telling cards, based on the European tarot…they were a gift from my father." She looked sideways at him. "Do you know my father? A man named Genbu Takatsuki? I believe he worked at Golgotha for a time…"

[insert Jie's response here, as well as Shiori's reaction]

"So," Shiori continued, looking out the window and narrowing her brows, "that's our target."

It was merely a pinhead in the distance, but it stood out from the rest of the countryside without a doubt.

"If it's gotten this far," she said, "we don't have much time. It's a pity I can't fight."

She looked at the other boy, who had been observing their conversation with interest.

"You'll protect me…won't you, Shirou?"

"Odds are Katla, you may have to go into battle again..."

Katla just stared out the window, this new back up plan didn't worry her. If anything, she was eager to get back into the comforts of her EVA... She has been spending much time away from it, this was very unorthodox for the girl. She has been neglecting her personal guardian.

She sensed Raglan next to her, but the moment at hand was filling her mind compactly to the brim with the new angel. She cherished these far in-between moments when she had full clarity of her surroundings and situations. What an opportune moment for an angel... Pilots conveniently testing their units...Mankind has the gift of living another day... Her mind flew with the possibilities and scenarios of what could be happening at that moment in surgical fashion. She unknowingly began tapping her finger on her knee, humming the same happy tunes her Mother and Father sung to her as an infant. She looked over at Raglan and smiled, a smile so genuinely happy despite the chaotic atmosphere, that it was enough to send a cold shiver down someones spine. She knew Raglan would once again not have the fruitful gift of piloting EVA, and she felt sympathy for him. He will soon enough... Then maybe we will have more to talk about..

"I wonder where Qi is..." Katla said aloud to no one and everyone. "I hope he is enjoying this as well."

"Wow, I didn't know Akio was an Artist."

"What?"

"Look Major, he's already in his blue period."

"Durante, if you don't want to be a casualty you will shut your damn mouth and help me!"

Kiyoshi and Cornelia wandered through the wreckage looking for survivors. As they passed more bodies from the site, Cornelia continued to crack dumb jokes in an attempt to distract herself from the horror. Kiyoshi continued to look for signs of life. At the edge of the crater she saw an overturned truck, a figure crawling into it.

"Durante, there's someone over there. Come on!" she ordered as she began to sprint through the mayhem to her target.

Skidding to a halt at the back of the truck, she flung open the door to find Tokei curled up at the bottom sobbing miserably. It barely took any investigation at all to tell the girl was injured, and Kiyoshi felt her spirits plummet almost as soon as they had risen.

"It's Tokei, she's hurt. Help me." Kiyoshi said gloomily. Climbing into the truck, she placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "Tokei, are you awake? We need to leave. I know it hurts, but we can't stay here. Can you walk?" the Major's voice was soft and consoling as she regarded the injured girl before her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shiori's explanation confused Qi for the most part. He couldn't understand how cards and fortune had anything to do with the pilots. It was only when the subject drifted to her father that he was back in friendly waters he understood.

"Do you know my father? A man named Genbu Takatsuki? I believe he worked at Golgotha for a time…" she asked dreamily.

"I can't say I do. I rarely interact with people at Golgotha beyond my direct superior and siblings." he explained simply.

"So," Shiori continued, looking out the window and narrowing her brows, "that's our target." Qi looked in the direction she was staring. The sky in the distant hills shone. The unnatural light could be made out from the distant sun and Qi suddenly remembered his last battle. He remembered the intense light that engulfed his Eva and he glared. He wished he could fight again.

The signs of the distant battle vanished as they entered the tunnel, the Geofront mere minutes away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Central Dogma, Owen sat observing the monitors as sporadic data flashed across the displays.

"Sir, incoming message, it's Dr. Idle's hand held." Senyu called out.

"Put it on speaker." The speakers crackled.

"Hello, this is Bato Oshiro at the Matsuhiro Site. I've been ordered to forward all data by Dr. Idle. Unit-03 has become an Angel. Units-01 and 02 are still fighting it using local power, but things aren't looking good. I'll send everything else in file format." Bato's voice boomed through the empty space.

"Good work Oshiro. Emergency Relief is being established three kilometers south of the testing site. Anyone who can be moved should evacuate to there as soon as possible. JSSDF personnel are also moving to intercept. I shouldn't have to tell you it's no longer safe at Matsuhiro. The entire site is to be abandoned as soon as possible." Owen outlined the situation.

"Thank you Sir, I'll grab who I can and find a working truck if possible." The line went dead.

"Senyu. Don't forward that data to the Magi." Owen added bluntly.

"What?!" Senyu spluttered.

"You heard me. The Data forwarded from Idle's hand held is not to be run through the Magi system. Instead forward it to my terminal including the audio file from Oshiro."

"But, why Sir, we always back up the data on the Magi..." Owen glanced at the technician before turning his eyes back to the screen.

"Continue prepping Units 04, 05 and α for combat." he ordered. The doors slid open behind him, Vice-Commander Carter walking in as one group of the remaining pilots arrived.