This is basically Shinji choosing to pilot EVA unit 03 instead of Asuka doing it. And it’s set in the Rebuid universe, so you can expect Shikinami in this. And this takes an interesting take on reasoning behind the creation of the Shikinami series of clones, and why the original Asuka was cloned to begin with.

I'm pretty sure the Item that was installed into the Dummy Plug is Shinji's brain.

It started with Shinji and his battle against Sachiel. While he was down, two mini versions of Asuka appeared before him, one resembling Soryu in her plugsuit and the other resembling Shikinami(complete with hat and eyepatch). And then a horde of them showed up to take down the angel. This fic gets weirder and more absurd each time in an entertaining way.

Gendo orders Ritsuko to transfer Shinji’s soul into a Rei clone, and becomes designated as the Fourth Child

(Hope this isn't too long for this kind of thing) So there are two main reasons I recommend this one. The first is admittedly a bit of a personal one. Rei's my favorite character in the entire franchise, and I think a lot of that affinity is rooted in how I relate to her. I won't get too much into it, but the main things I relate to her most on are her loneliness and isolation from others, her lack of self esteem that leads her to feel like she's replaceable and worth so little, and how (at least near/at the end of her character arc in Rebuild) she's looking for what her place/purpose is in the world is after having assumed for the longest time that that was something decided for her. And with all that in mind, I'd say this story captures that perfectly about her, and along with that, I think it manages to transpose those aspects of her into this version of her as elements of her depression rather well. And to a certain extent, the story does almost feel somewhat therapeutic in that regard (At the very least I'd probably recommend this as like a palate cleanser if you've read a bunch of Kadmon's other stories right before).

The second reason, and partially why this is in a spoiler tag, is that I think it's one of the best depictions of what makes Rei and Shinji's dynamic work (mainly from Rei's side of the equation). As another preface (since this is like my first real post here so nobody knows me), I've read a lot of Rei/Shinji stories in my time as an Eva fan and their dynamic is probably one of my favorite in media (and also, yes I am an LRS fan, but I would uphold that it's more in a "I'm a fan of their dynamic as characters" kind of way than a "I need them to make out or whatever" way). That being said, I wouldn't really call this an LRS story, but funnily enough I think it manages to capture what the actual appeal of it better than a lot of stories that are actively romantic. A lot of Rei/Shinji stories kinda just bank on how they're similar in personality and demeanor, how their dynamic is a whole lot more stable than say Shinji and Asuka's, and/or how Rei develops feelings for Shinji due to him being the first person to genuinely care about her/treat her as a person. And I mean yeah, all that is true, but I feel like that's really just scratching the surface (or alternatively, they just arbitrarily make Shinji like Rei more. Which I mean, that's fine, but I also consider it kinda lazy as opposed to building off/up to that from their base friendship in canon). By contrast, I really like how Patient focuses more on how the reason they're able to bond is how Shinji is able to empathize with Rei: he's been where she is before, he knows what it's like to feel isolated and alone in your struggle. And because of that he's able to offer Rei what no one else up to that point really could: understanding. What Rei was looking for in her search wasn't a miracle cure, or to hear that she can "reinvent" herself out of her depression, it was for someone to finally be able to connect with her. Someone who accepted her for who she was, metaphorical hedgehog spines and all, and offered compassion and empathy without judgement. Someone who gets where she's coming from, and could sincerely give her hope that she could be free of her pain, that she could be happy as the person she wanted to be, and it's this empathy that's finally able to lead her to making that first real step forward.

They're kindred spirits, and they understand each other. Perhaps not in each other's entirety, but at least where it matters. And this story "getting" that about them and their bond (even if a bit abstracted from it's original form) is I think what made this of my favorite Eva fanfics of all time

TLDR: if you like Rei and you like her relationship (platonic or otherwise) with Shinji, you'll probably like this. Also if you've ever dealt with depression or have just been feeling down in general, maybe this could help give you insight. I know it did for me.

For real, read the story first before reading this

So this is one I really wanted to talk about (as you can probably see by the post length), but again I find it hard to do so because as I said before, I feel like explaining it ruins the surprise of it and takes some of the fun out of the initial experience (though maybe that's just me). But anyways, there are two main sub-reasons why I really liked this one, the first being Asuka herself, and more specifically, how she's portrayed as an awful person. Now ok, I know how that sounds, but I swear I'm not trying to bash Asuka. What I mean is that Kadmon writes her a lot like how he wrote her in Electioneering, where all of her character flaws are amped to 11: she's stuck up, she believes she's god's gift to mankind, and she's condescending and dismissive to everyone else, viewing them as either objects that orbit her or as puppets that she can manipulate to do her bidding; and that makes her a great unsympathetic comedy protagonist. She's written a lot like the characters from Always Sunny are, where the comedy mostly comes from watching them be total jerk to everyone else in pursuit of whatever highly questionable goals they're trying to achieve, and then laughing when things don't go their way because, well, they kinda had it coming (again, just wanna reiterate that I don't hate Asuka). Which adds another layer of irony in how not only does she end up succeeding in bringing Rei and Shinji closer together, but also in the fact that this is a Kadmon story and could've gone a whole lot worse for her and all the other characters. And yet because (or in spite) of her, somehow it ends up working out.

Which brings me to the second reason I thought this one worked, and the main reason why I'm so adamant about not spoiling it: the way that I did not see the ending or several of the events leading up to it coming. Which is to say, I did not expect it to go from "parody/affectionate satire of Eva fanfiction (specifically LRS stories)" to a genuinely kind of sweet and wholesome pseudo-start to what would otherwise be an honest to god LRS story. At multiple points I kinda just assumed I knew where it was going (the end of the first half, the scene in the beginning of the second half, several midpoints in the second half, etc.) and expected it to veer off into an Asushin story or something...and then it never does that and ends up committing fully to the idea of Asuka trying to set up Shinji and Rei together. Which in and of itself is an amusing concept, even setting aside Asuka's actual motivations for wanting them to get together, but the way the story so firmly commits to this idea of Rei and Shinji getting closer through/despite Asuka's shenanigans (and despite the multiple points at which it could've just gone with an Asushin route and then decided not to) is just really funny to me. Also, as a quick tangent, another funny thing I've noticed: Kadmon mentioned preferring Rei and Shinji as a pairing in that one parody he wrote, and mentioned shipping in regards to other stories he's written about them, but I always sorta assumed he was just being sarcastic about that. But this coupled with Patient kinda leads me to believe that he was actually being sincere when he said that, which I find hilarious.

While we're on the subject, another thing I find interesting about this story is how it's kind of a case of having your cake and eating it too. The first part is essentially half composed of snippets of an actual, sappy, self-indulgent LRS story, liberties taken with Rei and Shinji's characterization and all, but it manages to get a pass due to the fact that it's even more fictional than the story around it by virtue of it being in-universe fanfiction. Then in the second part where Asuka enacts her plan to get them together like in "Impact of Love", it doesn't actually go her way as Shinji and Rei are still Shinji and Rei, and their characterizations of being extremely timid and excessively indifferent respectively are fully intact. But then by the end of it all, for completely canon-compliant reasons, they do end up genuinely growing closer and start opening up to one another. Of course it does ultimately end here with them just starting to become better friends, with the epilogue showing that they continue getting to know each other better (and I guess the slight implication that they might be more than that now, but that's more up for debate), but again, considering who wrote this and the nature of how the story started out, it going from parody to somehow heartwarmingly played straight was...well, certainly unexpected.

Also just as one last thing that I found funny that didn't really fit into the above two reasons: I like how "Impact of Love" is written like a real, sappy romance novel with tension and build up as it gets progressively spicier as it approaches it's... uh... "payoff". And then meanwhile, "Love Strikes" (the one with Asuka in it) is written more like the start of a porno that's pretending to have a narrative. Which again, going back to how Adam Kadmon of all people is apparently a fan of this pairing is just very funny to me