Neon Genesis Evangelion
                          Higher Learning
                          ===============

                         Teacher's Edition
                       Lessons 41 through 45
                        Bonus Omake Section


                         Strike Fiss, 2002








Forty-First Lesson:  "Ballad"








Misato had slept in far into the evening.  Again.  And she still felt 
like the underside of a rock.  Her daily routine had always been to 
make it to the fridge for her morning beer while somehow managing to be 
presentable (i.e., not naked, half-naked, or smelling like something 
horrible). 

"God...what day is it..." she whispered to herself as she walked past 
the calendar.  She really had no idea.  Was she to work today?  Did she 
even care?  The answer, she would find out, was no on both accounts.  

A quick check into HQ made sure.  They were scrambling to check Unit-02 
over for damage.  Rei was still at base for quick response, but it 
seemed she too was just sitting around, watching tests.  Misato 
informed the technician that she would not be coming in today, and hung 
up the phone just in time to throw up into the sink.  

"Ugh."

"Waugh." Pen-Pen agreed, brushing by her leg in a show of support.  She 
realized she was wearing pants, at least.  She could worry about a 
fresh change of clothes when her head stopped spinning.

Misato smiled softly, kneeling down to pet him for a moment.  "Pen-Pen.  
How've you been, boy?"

"Waugh." He tugged at her pants.  Misato found that his food dish was 
already scattered with the remains of breakfast, but then saw that Pen-
Pen was leading her over to the table anyway.  

"What is it?" she blinked, then saw something out of the window.  The 
door was cracked open ever-so-slightly, letting a fresh breeze come 
into the apartment.  Not that Misato minded this (in fact, it had a 
very soothing effect on her hangover) but it was rare that anyone used 
the balcony for anything but between-garbage-day garbage storage.

Needless to say, she was more than a bit surprised to see Shinji and 
Asuka curled up together under a blanket they had brought out.  It 
didn't look like they were sleeping, though they had to be the most 
calm she'd seen them in one place at one time.  They just looked off at 
the sunrise, completely content.  

She honestly had to choke back the urge to start screaming, however, 
when she saw that they were both quite naked under the blanket.  

Instead, she walked into the kitchen again, past Pen-Pen (who was 
impressed at how well she was taking it, I might add) and started the 
day the best way she could.  With a beer and a prayer to the angels of 
birth control.  

Pen-Pen just walked back over to his guardian and leaned on her leg to 
show her he was supporting her.  Misato sighed.  "Pen-Pen, you're the 
only sane male I know."

"Wuaagh." Though Pen-Pen refused to comment on the sanity part. 

Outside, Shinji looked in and saw the lights had turned on.  He sighed 
lazily and turned to the dozing young woman wrapped around him.  
"Everyone's waking up."

"Mmm..." Asuka replied simply, refusing to let him go just yet.

Shinji agreed with a hum of his own.  "I guess we should get up 
soon..."

"Not yet." She whispered.  "They can wait."










The sun rising hurt his eyes.  Everything seem to hurt these days.  
"Why does it have to be today?" he asked out loud.  

Kaji sighed, taking small, shaking sips from his cup.  "What's so bad 
about today?"

"You really want to know?" Kaoru smirked, wincing as he remembered his 
bandages.  "Or are you just making small talk?"

"Small talk." Kaji admitted.  "I'd rather pretend that the end of the 
world isn't around the corner."  

"It won't be the end." Kaoru turned to him.  "I know you must hate 
them...but so long as the Evas exist, there won't be and end."

"Then why the hell does it seem like everything is going to hell 
lately?"  he sighed, looking down at his juice in his hands.  "Right 
after I get her back, too..."

Kaoru looked pained.  For once, it was not due to the wounds. "I'm 
sorry."

"I know.  And you have no right to be." Kaji frowned.  "She's a big 
girl.  She can do what she wants."

"No." Kaoru frowned.  "I should have known better.  I shouldn't have 
gotten so caught up in the act." He smirked. "Playing teacher...playing 
God.  Whatever it was, I realize now I was just playing." He sighed. 

Kaji turned away.  "Your game just happens to be our lives.  If you 
just give up now, you're no better than Gendo."

The other man smirked at the comment.  "I'm begging to understand the 
man, actually.  Once you get caught up in all this...it's impossible to 
stop."

The wind seemed unnaturally cold on the balcony.  

"How many more?"

"Two.  Then it will end.  Or start." He smiled. "Whatever you prefer." 

"Shit.  So soon..." Kaji sighed. 

"It's all going to come down to these two, you know." Kaoru sighed.  
"I've tried...I've tried to tell them what they need to know.  It 
wasn't a matter of testing and drilling.  But...if they do understand 
it all..." he smiled hopefully at the sun.  "We can stop this from ever 
happening again."

"Did..." Kaji looked down.  

"No." Kaoru shook his head slowly.  "Neither of you made it.  At least 
from what I know." He lowered his head.  "Shinji heard your final 
message on Misato's answering machine.  Poor kid was paralysed."

There was a long, empty silence. 

"You love them...don't you." Kaji looked up at the teacher.  

Kaoru nodded and turned away.  "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

The two men sighed and looked out over the horizon.  Suddenly, Kaoru's 
eyes narrowed.  

"He's here."

Kaji blinked, then looked at Kaoru.  "Who?"

"Almisael." Kaoru frowned.  "Angel of the Womb." 







The car was silent except for the road ahead.  Asuka didn't really seem 
to notice, though she was mostly focused on holding Shinji's hand, and 
the sky outside.  Shinji, however, was beginning to notice.  He began 
to get worried when Misato shot him a brief glance via the rear-view 
window.  

"Misato-san?" he asked quietly.  

Instead of a response, Misato pulled into a gas-station.  "I'm going to 
get some food.  Shinji, come with me."

Asuka looked distressed, but realized she wasn't going to be much help.  
"I'll have some beef jerky if there is any."

Shinji smiled and nodded. "Hai...Eeeep!"

He was then yanked from the car via Misato's claw-like grasp.  

The door closed and, to Misato's credit, she actually waited until they 
got to the side of the gas station before yelling.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT!!?"

Shinji cringed.  "Misato-san...It's not what you..." he blinked, then 
sighed.  Actually, it was probably exactly what she thought.  "Oh."

Misato began to shake.  "Oh?  OH?  That's all you say after...after..." 
she held her hands over her eyes.  "Oh god...I don't even want to think 
about...ARGH!  I JUST DID!" she pinned him to the wall and growled.  
"You are a smart boy, Shinji."

Shinji nodded...mostly out of fear for his life.  "Ahh...uh...hai!"

"Yes...that's right.  And therefore...I KNOW you wouldn't have taken 
advantage of Asuka's condition." She said...though it was far less 
angry.  

Shinji said nothing.

"PLEASE say you wouldn't..." Misato begged.

Shinji turned away.  "I wouldn't have taken advantage of her, Misato-
san. I promise."

She just looked more worried.  "Th...Then what happened?"

"It wasn't my choice." He said, looking down.  "It was BOTH our 
decisions."

Misato clenched her teeth, shaking.  

"We knew exactly what we were doing." Shinji said calmly.

Misato just sunk down and plopped to her butt on the curb.  "Why...oh 
why...did I choose to get so drunk last night..." she sighed.  
"Oh...that's right...because I thought things couldn't get any worse.  
Well, thank you for showing me otherwise..." she groaned.  

Shinji looked away.  "I know you probably think this is bad." He 
frowned.  "But you're not us." He blushed and turned away.  "Misato...I 
love her.  She loves me."

"She is not herself!" Misato yelled out, shaking.  "Right now, she has 
a million thoughts in her head and her heart's about to burst!  Of 
COURSE she's going to say she loves you when you're the only one 
nearby!  I don't want to see you hurt like this, Shinji...she has been 
through hell and back, and..."

"When she was five, her mother committed suicide, holding the doll she 
believed to be Asuka in her arms." Shinji said quietly.  "Not more than 
2 days after she learned she would be a pilot.  She said that a week 
later when they were cleaning out her mother's things, she could still 
smell the death in the room."

Misato listened, deathly quiet. 

"Or how about the way the Angel took all that day and made it last a 
lifetime in her mind?" Shinji said.  

"Shinji..."

"I know I wasn't ready to hear it, Misato." He said, looking up at the 
sky.  "But I'm glad I did.  You may think that we just had sex last 
night or something...but it's not like that." He shook his head.  "We 
just finally realized we were supposed to be together." He walked over 
to Misato and helped the taller woman to her feet.  "And now I know 
what I'm here for."

Misato sighed and looked away.  "Fine.  I'll stop worrying." She 
blushed.  "It really isn't my business anyway."

Shinji sighed, and hugged her.  Misato just hugged back, crying.  
"Thanks."

"I just wish I could have done more..." she sniffed.  "It's not right 
that you two had to get together after all this bad shit happening."

A bit later, they returned to the car.  Shinji smiled and kissed Asuka 
softly on the lips.  Asuka smiled softly back.  "Everything okay?"

"She's going to be fine." He blushed.  "I got you some beef jerky."  

Asuka giggled and gladly accepted the food.  "Thank you, Shinji-kun." 
She hummed and kissed him back before setting against his shoulder, 
munching away.  "You're so good to me."

Despite having previously thought that phrase to be impossible, Shinji 
was enjoying it greatly. 

It seemed to be such a fleeting dream, however, as the sirens began to 
sound as they reached the Geofront.  The city of Tokyo-3 was already 
retreating underground.  As he looked to the sky, he saw a small, 
glowing speck in the distance.  

Shinji held Asuka with a smile on his face.  He would protect her this 
time.  

They would never have to suffer again. 










Gendo found Rei floating in the LCL, as she always did.  He watched her 
quietly for a moment, being undetected.  It was rare when he could do 
this.  Rei seemed to have an unnatural sense about him.  Quite possibly 
due to Adam being along for the ride.  

He flexed his hand uneasily under his glove.  

It was almost done.  So close.  The Old Men were still playing their 
foolish, blind parts in his grand scheme.  Kaoru had been dealt with 
for now.  Despite Shinji's...fighting back...things have not changed.  

He should not have thought he could change the plan.  Gendo smiled 
silently as he reflected on the Plan.  And, at the centre of it all, 
the crowing achievement...the trump card.  Everyone knew...yet nobody 
dared to believe.  

Rei. 

Perfect Rei.  So simple...so wonderful.  His salvation.  His 
redemption.  His masterpiece. 

But she had been spoiled.  Dirtied.  He had been worried at first to 
see the Dead Sea Scrolls predict this.  But now, he saw that this was 
also for the best.  All part of his plan.  

Perfect timing. 

Rei turned her head and floated to the surface.  Gendo looked down at 
her.  

"There is an Angel."

"Hai."

"You will fight."

"Hai." 

"Good." 

She stood in front of him and followed naked out of the room, dripping 
LCL behind her.  








Misato was having a bad feeling all throughout the day.  Sure, her 
children charges had just completed the horizontal mambo.  Sure, Kaji 
hadn't been seen in a few days.  Sure, Angels were popping up left and 
right.  But what was really worrying her was the way Gendo 
was...almost...smiling. 

She wanted to ask Ritsuko, but she could tell her friend had something 
grave on her mind.  Maya and her were simply reciting orders like 
robots.  

That meant something was up. 

She sighed and turned to her communications panel.  "Shinji and Rei.  
You take point.  Asuka, try to stay back and focus on using your AT 
Field."

Toji cleared his throat.  "And me?"

Misato smiled and shook her head.  "After the first wave, take a crack 
at it.  I want this thing killed and gone so we can all go home early."

Toji and Shinji agreed in unison.

In their Evas, Toji opened up a line to Shinji.  "Do you think she 
remembers I'm here?"

Shinji smiled.  "I think she's just worried about more going wrong." He 
sighed.  "Be careful, okay?"

"You to."

Rei and Shinji were launched to the surface via the catapults.  

As they arrived, each manoeuvred their Evangelions over to the weapons 
buildings.  Each took rifles.  Shinji smiled.  "Let's go kick some ass, 
Rei."

Rei simply said "Hai."

Gendo smiled. 

Misato was getting antsy, and decided to focus on the mission.  The 
Angel was hovering just over the city now, moving at a slow rate.  It 
was in the form of a halo...yet another move to something more 
'angelic'.  

Misato dreaded seeing the next one.  If it had wings and a sword, she 
was going to start passing out.

"Give me a readout on the target." 

Maya turned to her screen.  "It's AT Field is the wrong code.  Scanners 
can't make anything out from it."

She sighed and turned to Ritsuko.  "Any ideas?"

Ritsuko shrugged.  "Kill it now?" she smiled hopefully. 

"Good plan." Misato chuckled back.  "Rei, move into position."

The blue Evangelion tensed up visibly.  "No..." she replied.  "It's 
coming."


It was lightning fast.  The Angel seemed to shift in it's place...the 
double-helix forming it's body now moving rapidly to form a solid, 
snake-like line.  

It broke apart and sped towards Unit-00.  

Rei barely had time to react, but what she did was true to the brutal, 
efficient fashion they had all glimpsed at during the Dummy Plug 
testing.  

Her free hand managed to grab hold of the Angel, even as it slid right 
through her AT Field and pierced her stomach like an arrow.  The gun in 
her other hand began to fire...pressed right against the snake-like 
attacker.  

Everyone gasped as it kept firing, refusing to let up.  Even though the 
Angel was eating it's way through the armour.  It was strange to watch.  
The bridge crew seemed stunned.  "REI!" Misato finally yelled out.  

The other two Evas arrived onto the battle scene.  Toji began charging 
out from his elevator, but then saw Asuka was still standing there.  
"Hey!  Red-Devil!  You coming?"

"I'm TRYING!" she yelled, but just ended up huffing.  "Baka!"  

Misato's heart sunk as she saw the sync-ratio for Asuka.  

Three percent. 

"Shit." She turned to Maya.  "Get her out of there.  She'll be canon 
fodder." 

As the red Evangelion descended again, it's pilot was shaking.  

"I hate you." She growled at her controls.  

The Eva didn't seem to be too worried at it's pilot's anger, and said 
nothing.  

"I hate you." She re-iterated.  "If ANYONE dies because of you..."

The Eva was silent. 

She screamed and kicked the handle.  It didn't break, but at least it 
made a satisfying crack before she curled up into a ball and cried.  







Rei didn't feel right.  She could remember something...the battle...the 
things before it...but...she was separate here.  

Her body...it felt like it was crawling with pain.  Infected.  Dirty.  
Broken.  The Eva was suffering.  She could feel it as well.  It made 
her sad. 

"Why are you sad?"

She looked around, shocked at the voice.

"I am not sad."

There was another her.

And...

Another.  

Two more Rei's, seated across from her.  

In turn, they were facing each other.  In fact, they seemed to be 
ignoring her quite effectively.  

She watched with avid curiosity.   The Rei on the left was sullen...yet 
smiling.  She had her head down, as if she hadn't learned how to use 
her head yet.  Her voice was quiet.  Precise.  

The one on the right didn't seem...right...however.  

She was frowning.  

Why would she be angry? 

"Why are you sad?" the one on the left asked.  

"I am sad for her." The one on the right said.  "And I am angry for 
me."

"Why are you angry?"

"You are my enemy." The right Rei said.

"But we are of the same kind." The Left said.  It's mouth moved, but 
it's head hung lifeless, like a puppet with nobody at the strings. 

"You are my enemy.  You are taking away things I love.  Therefore, I 
must fight you." The Right explained.  

Rei found herself confused.  She had never acted like this 
before...yet...she seemed to like the one on the Right best.  She 
seemed real.  The other...

It must have been the Angel. 

So...why was she there?

"What do I take away?  What do we take away that people around you do 
not?"

"Life." Rei said simply.  "I want to live.  You have killed before.  Is 
it not logical to assume you will kill me?"

"Yes.  Logical.  But not true." The Left said.  

Right stood.  They were all seated somewhere Rei had never seen before.  
Chairs were present.  But it was not the Classroom.  "Then you will not 
kill me?"

The left nodded.  "We wish to join."

And then something happened that scared Rei...the one who was 
watching...out of her skin.

The Rei on the Right laughed. 

Laughed loudly.  An angry, spiteful chuckle.  

"You wish to join with me?  Like you did with the Second?" she balled 
her hands up into fists.  "I would rather you take my life."

The Left seemed surprised just as the Rei watching did.  

"I do not with to be with you.  You are my enemy."

"Then why are you angry?  You will not be killed."

Rei began to worry.  

The one on the Right turned to her.  And looked away suddenly, as if 
ashamed.  "I am angry because I had to do this.  To trick you."

The Rei on the Left smiled softly.  "Yet we are still linked.  If you 
do not wish to Join, that is okay." She said.  "But it is too late to 
stop."

"I know." Right said, and then turned to her left...facing Rei.  "And 
that is why we must do this together."

Rei shivered as she saw the one on the Right walk up to her, and then, 
gently embrace her.  "Please...for all this...you must."

Rei gasped...eyes wide.  The feeling around her was like cold fire.  
All the pain suddenly dissipated and dissolved.  Her mind was witness 
to memories...dreams...love and despair...pain and honour.  All through 
it, she tried to resist.  It didn't seem real.  

But she knew it was. 

When her eyes opened again, they dropped tears in the liquid around 
her.  When her eyes opened, she could no longer see the world around 
her...only the memories.  The joy of being free.  The way people looked 
at her when she smiled...and made her want to smile more.  The sad, 
apology at the end of the memories that the Rei had given her in her 
mind...

That it was a going away present.  

It was all so amazing, though...she had no worries.  Only her duty now.  

She could hear the battle rage on outside.  Toji...a boy she had never 
met until a thought ago...screamed out a battle cry, trying to slice 
the Angel apart.  Shinji desperately trying to dodge out of the way of 
the whip-like attacker.  His gun shattering.  The mess on the intercom, 
telling her to retreat.  

"No...can't...must preserve AT Field..."

Misato gasped as she noticed Rei's activation of the Self-Destruct.  

Gendo said nothing.

She turned in her seat...

Just before the end...

And saw.

Saw it all.  

She wished she could have shared it with the Rei in her mind.  It would 
have been all so amazing.  She could have stopped it all from coming.  
All the bad stuff...all the pain.  

But it would come.  

She wished she could have given it to her.  As thanks for the memories.  

The way the teacher smiled.  

And then, the light. 








Everyone watched as Unit-00 obliterated the Angel. 

And itself.

Gendo just adjusted his glasses.







In the darkness of his entry plug, Shinji hung his head in shame.  
Another friend...hurt...or killed?  

He wished he could see what was going on, but the explosion took out 
his power cord.  Keeping the AT Field active had drained the rest of 
the power.  

Unit-01 rested.  Shinji looked up from his controls.  "Rei...please be 
okay..." he whispered.  "We have to get through this together...all of 
us."











Forty-Second Lesson:  "Chalk Outline"




The heat of the day was unnatural.  Sounds of helicopters and machines 
buzzed louder than the cicadas of the old summertime.  Orange suits 
animated through the dense trees to where a large, burnt scar cut 
across their path. 

Mist unlike anything they had ever seen blanketed the area with heat 
that could have boiled you alive if you were bare skinned.  Luckily, 
the NERV emerg teams were not so foolish.  

Ritsuko sighed as she looked across the landscape...now much different 
with a disturbingly large portion of Tokyo 3 now a crater.  

Most of the buildings destroyed were commercial and armament.  The 
numbers of casualties would probably be much less than expected.  

The number of people who would no longer have homes, work, or place in 
the city, however, would be much higher.  

"We found it!"

She followed the team to the end of the burnt groove in the trees.  The 
vaguely familiar cylinder of an Entry Plug was embedded in the earth.  
It was only a few moments until the entire team was surrounding it.  

EVA-00 it read on the side.  

"Open it." She said.

One of the men in big orange suits began to unseal the plug.  A long, 
orange hiss of steam added and swirled into the humidity.  The man 
stumbled back, a bit surprised, but did not seem to be hurt by it.  

Of course, Rei hadn't been wearing the big, orange anti-radiation suit. 

"Holy mother of..."

Ritsuko just sighed and looked inside herself.  The figure inside was 
not really that horrible...mostly intact...except for the blisters.  
"Well, at least she didn't suffer."

As she leaned inside to make sure, she noticed a small smile on Rei's 
face.  A quick check of a non-existent pulse, and it was done.  

"Burn it." She sighed, then walked away.  To the comm. channel she 
said:  "She's dead."

A small sigh on the other end.  Gendo.  "Prepare the Third."

"Hai." Ritsuko replied, then turned off the power.  

She smiled.








[ten hours ago]








In the old sector of the city, the traveling market moved again.  
Inside contacts at NERV had told the shopkeepers about various new 
developments in military and angel attacks.  They were now pushed back 
to nearly the end of the city limits. 

Rei watched from one of the alleys.  She had found some old blanket, 
and was using it like a cloak to hide her white and blue school 
clothing in the shadows.  

She smiled to herself as she found the shop she was looking for. 

The kids around the area called this shop the Dirty Boot shop.  Boot, 
as in Bootlegs.  It was a music store...or rather some kind of a 
traveling kiosk version.  As for the Dirty part, it referred to the 
owner.  

Nobody knew his name, but he was old, smelly...and he liked it when 
little school girls came nearby.  Old Dirty Hentai Man.  But, hey, he 
had some very hard to find music.  

Rei grinned as she watched the old pervert step out into the street to 
ogle some younger girls who were walking by.  

She ran over to the little booth and before anyone saw her, had grabbed 
a handful of MiniDisks and a tiny silver player that had been on his 
bench.  

Her heart raced as she ran down the street, shedding her cloak only 
after finding herself a few blocks away and entering the New City.  
Just before the cracked pavement gave way to newer armored 
plasticement, she stopped and hid in another alley.  

It took her a moment to find out how the controls worked, and another 
to get the right disk ready, but soon, she...

Had found she had no headphones.  

Rei slumped, then looked around.  There had to be somewhere she could 
get a pair from.  She looked around and spotted a footprint.

Well...one of Eva-01's footprints.  The building under it hadn't faired 
too well.  The police tape and barriers were still up from weeks of 
ignoring the smaller areas of destruction around the city.  She saw the 
flattened sign of a Sony store and gasped happily, running under the 
police tape to literally dive into the rubble.  

Minutes of searching finally paid off, and she returned to the surface 
with a battered, dusty box containing three hundred dollar headphones. 

She sat down in the midst of the rubble, popped in a disk, and adjusted 
the headphones.  The volume was too loud...but she didn't care.  A rich 
symphony of sound like she had never heard before began to flood 
through her mind as she closed her eyes and lived it.  

Maybe it was the mood she was in, but she didn't mind the way the dust 
was everywhere around her.  And how the sunset wasn't spectacular like 
some days.  Maybe it was just the feeling of being so free for once 
that she forgot all about that until all she could hear was the music.  
Her dusty blue hair fell in front of her eyes as she rocked back and 
forth to the overtures and movements.

It was some unnamed symphony.  But it was live...recorded from the 
audience.  With the digital quality of the disk and the high-end 
headphones, it was almost like being there. 

She could almost imagine it...

Dressed in a long, evening gown.  (Midnight blue, she supposed), with 
diamond ear-rings and a necklace that all the boys would be trying hard 
not to stare past.  (that always made her blush and smile)  She would 
be sitting there, alone in the seat of some random part of the theater, 
and after the music was over, she would notice (after all, fairy tales 
always work like this) the man of her dreams sitting next to her.  

They would smile, and he would be the gentleman and maybe ask her out 
to coffee.  She would try to make an excuse, but he looked so cute to 
pass up when he looked so heartbroken when she tried.

Glasses...yes...he'd have to have glasses.  Not the ones like Gendo 
had, though.  Just the right mix between intelligence and sharp design.  
For some reason, she imagined him to be blonde...maybe with a pony-tail 
for the 'rugged but civilized' look.  Maybe a memory from a passing 
meeting with a foreigner...maybe that system engineer that everyone 
called Tyler, who had been nice that one time and offered to get her 
some tea, simply because he was on his way to get some too.  

She felt a tear roll down her cheek as reality sprung back around her.  
It was just a thought, she sighed.  But it was a nice one.  

The next song was more upbeat.  It had more trumpets instead of 
violins.  She had never heard a trumpet in person...nobody in the 
school knew how to play one.  She began to walk away from the rubble, 
ignoring the odd look off the street that people gave her, observing 
her dirty appearance and huge, super-quality headphones.  

She was mildly disappointed as she observed that the city around her 
did not move to the music.  How it shifted and shivered unnaturally to 
the beat of humans only a century before them.  

The sun was almost gone now...only a sliver of the glowing red orb was 
left behind the man-made towers.  

"Red..." she whispered to herself, sitting down on a park bench she had 
wandered to.  "I hate red..."

She closed her eyes, just as the sun set. 

And saw red. 

At first, she felt the heat...a warm wave of air that rushed across her 
entire body, through her clothes and all around her.  Curious, she 
opened her eyes to see she was no longer there...that the city...the 
park...everything...had been replaced with just blinding, red light.  
Scorching and horrible...that kept growing.  

She didn't shield her eyes, though she imagined she would have to.  

In the center of the explosion, she could see something...a figure that 
she should have known.  A blue giant...one eye.  A baron of hell that 
was hers to command.   

It flickered away to something else...even though the light was 
blinding, it could not hide what the Eva truly was.  It looked right at 
Rei with eyes that matched her own. 

And smiled, just before it died. 





Most people would have screamed.  Rei only shed silent tears as the 
vision left her sight.  





She would die tomorrow.  

All of this...gone.  This music she could hear right now...it's rich 
texture and the way she felt when she heard it.  It would be gone. 

No.

No.

Why did it have to go?  Couldn't she keep it? 

Maybe.

She looked up from her lap, where the disk had finished.  As she 
pressed 'replay', the song and the image of the symphony came back to 
her, and she smiled as she saw her Dream Man.  

It was just a fantasy...but it was something belonging to her. 

She could be replaced.  But her dreams could not. 

Her mind could not.  Her emotions and music.  Rei would be replaced.  
SHE, however, could not be.

So...Rei did something she hadn't done for a long time. 

She came up with a plan. 

A good plan.  

A plan that would work.

As she ran down the street, headphones and music flung away in the 
pursuit of speed, she kept thinking to herself...

"If nobody sees Rei die...does she actually die?"

A badly drawn chalk outline of the moon came to mind, and she smiled. 

Yes. 

It would work.  But she needed help.







[eight hours ago]








Ritsuko knew this was bad.  

Very bad.

There were too many things that could go wrong.  She didn't want to 
destroy her friends more than she already had.  

And poor Maya was so innocent.  She didn't deserve this.  Especially 
after the stressful week.  It was a lot to handle, she surmised.  
Admitting to anyone...let alone your boss...let alone your hero...let 
alone your fellow gender...that you loved them...well...

And watching all the horrible things happening to the Evas and the 
Children.  

But mostly the gay part...  Ritsuko groaned inwardly and chastised 
herself for labeling it like that.  She didn't know if it was actually 
like that.  Hell, she had gotten all nuts over several people before.  
Admittedly (though rarely admitted) both genders.  She envied one of 
her fellow students to the point of obsession during high school.  Her 
mom actually thought...well...ANYONE would have thought so if they saw 
the file Ritsuko had collected on the poor girl.  She was pretty, 
though, so everyone assumed...

She sighed. 

Maya was just sitting in the car next to her...with God Knows What 
going through her head about the situation.  

WHY!??  For crying out loud!  It's not a big deal! She reminded 
herself.  She had been in her apartment before.  It wasn't anything 
new.  

They were just going for coffee and to talk. 

So why the hell was she more nervous than she had been on all the dates 
in her life combined?

It was embarrassing.

Maybe it was retribution for all the mistreatment she had dished out in 
her lifeti...

"SEMPAI!  STOPSIGN!"

She gasped and slammed on the breaks.  A large semi-truck just barely 
missed the front of the car, and the driver gave a hearty loud honk for 
her effort. 

Why was she so nervous?

Maybe it was because this was the only friend she had at the moment who 
didn't want to use, screw, or kill her.  Through some sick sense of the 
word 'companionship', she actually found herself reasoning that it 
really wouldn't be so bad to have Maya drooling...or whatever it was 
she did...over her so long as she wasn't alone.

"Are you okay, Sempai?" Maya asked, looking on with a worried face.  

"I'm fine." She sighed.  "Lot going through my head."

"Okay." Maya said, and then resigned herself to her seat.

And while many people would be shocked to know what was going on 
through Ritsuko's head, they would probably laugh...thinking it was 
impossible...that she was now considering just how nice it felt to hug 
Maya.  

Reflecting upon it, she hadn't been hugged in...well...years. 

Dear God!  Had it been that long?  Just simple human contact?  She got 
a darkly humorous look in her eyes as she drove: thinking about Gendo.  
He didn't classify as human contact.  

Oh, he was quite a man.  Shinji would probably get any, and all, of the 
charm from the man.  But he was Gendo.  It wasn't the same as how the 
one or two actual boy friends she had before were.  He was something 
all demanding and consuming.  The passion of the man, while hidden most 
of the time, was like a firestorm.  It could consume anything in its 
path. 

He was simply Gendo.  

And, while she normally didn't want to entertain the possibilities, 
Maya was not.  And damn...it felt good to hug someone again.  It felt 
good to have coffee with someone real.  Misato, bless the girl, was 
just too...too...critical.  Or not enough.  Never a happy medium. 

Maya had a life, she was begging to see, out side of Eva.  One that 
kept her sheltered from the horrors that Ritsuko faced every day.  Why 
would it be so bad to share in that a bit?

They parked.  And sat there. 

"Well, enough of this." Ritsuko steeled herself and got out.  "I 
promised you coffee, and the last thing you need is watching me being 
eaten out from the inside by my own thoughts."

Maya followed silently, though it was clear she had a lot on her mind 
too.  

Neither noticed the figure down the alleyway following them into the 
building.








The three old men who were assembled did not bother to use the security 
of the monoliths this time.  They were all so far into this that there 
was no need to hide.  At least, not from each other.  The other men 
were maybe, at best, loyalists to the cause.  But none of them believed 
as these three did. 

Chairman Keel knelt at the small table all of them had.  The others 
were empty.  On his right was a man who stayed mostly silent in the 
day's of these final battles.  The head of what was jokingly called the 
United Nations.  On his left, reclining against his seat was his 
contact in Germany.  

"How goes the war?" Germany asked hopefully to the U.N.  Keel never did 
ask...nor care for their names.  

"The same." U.N. answered.  "I pray you have not been squandering the 
money I've been sending to you."

"Of course not." Germany said, sipping his coffee.  "Waste is something 
the German People know not how to do.  Especially in these trying 
times." 

"Mmm." Keel said.  "The Human Compilation Project...I suppose you could 
look at it like a way to solve world hunger, couldn't you."

Germany smiled.  "It is perhaps the most noble of selfish plans I have 
heard of." He raised his glass to Keel.  "Therefore, I have no problem 
supporting it."

There were no pretends here.  They all knew.  This was their chance.  
The only way they would see Heaven.  Each of these men had committed 
horrible crimes.  Each of these men had caused the world to be a 
slightly more terrifying place.  

And each of these men were only a breath's width away from death.  

Desperate times called for...well...extreme measures.  And this, while 
extreme, would definitely pay off in the Heaven they sought. 

"You have no problems supporting it because you will no longer feel the 
pain of your body disintegrating under you." Keel said quietly.  While 
he was the worst off, each of the old men were dying in various ways.  
All their power, money, and lies would not be able to prevent it.  

Until Eva was realized.  

"I imagine it is hardest for you." Germany said, looking Keel over.  
"Having nothing left to live for here.  Waiting only for the Promised 
Day."

Keel smiled and shot him a raspy laugh.  "Oh?  And you have so much 
more to live for than I?"

"The thrill of the game?" U.N. offered with a smile.  "Or maybe the 
synthetic adrenalin you mix with your coffee every morning?"

Germany frowned, and suddenly looked embarrassed at his drink. 

"Some like caffeine.  I suppose, however, with your blood so thin that 
caffeine would be too weak to feel." U.N. said. 

"Perhaps.  I see no need in suffering needlessly." Germany shrugged, 
and then took a long sip.  "I've paid my dues...and I have no illusions 
of penance." He reached over and patted U.N. on the shoulder.

U.N. shrieked in pain and cowered away, holding his shoulder 
delicately, and causing Germany to laugh out loud.  Keel frowned at the 
display, but didn't care so late in the game.  "Now, let's all try to 
behave, Children." Keel grumbled. 

"You shouldn't have invited us here if we were just going to sit around 
and complain the day away." Germany smiled and tipped his 'coffee' back 
into his mouth. 

"If you would all mind your mouths, I DO have a purpose to this 
gathering." Keel said idly.

"How did the test go?" Germany asked, knowing exactly what the purpose 
was.

Keel looked at them all through his metallic eye.  Then...smiled.  
"What the Fifth lacks in skill, he makes up for in cruelty."

"Like all good Angels." U.N. nodded. 

"And a two-hundred percent sync-ratio can't hurt either."  Germany 
chuckled.  

"The Eva Series is being assembled for the final stage." Keel 
whispered.  "I must say...it is quite a sight to walk in the midst of 
those giants when they are in one room." His breath came raspy, but 
anxious.  "It reminds me why we started this all so long ago."

"A glorious revelation." Germany said quietly.  "Our ascendance is 
assured.  We've fought too hard to have it any other way."

"But...The Lance?" U.N. asked.  

"It is of no importance." Keel said.  "It was our last resort.  If the 
Fifth fails to deliver us, the Pilot of Unit-01 shall be our savior." 
Keel smiled.  "And if HE fails us, we will have the means to complete 
our goals with the Eva Series."

"And we can eventually retrieve the Lance anyway." Germany nodded.

"But not within our lifetimes." Keel warned.

"We have barely completed THIS plan in our lifetimes." Germany smiled 
and sighed, leaning back on his chair.  "It will be nice to leave this 
life for the next."

They all reflected on the past, enjoying the feelings that it would all 
soon be a memory...not a living hell.  

"But." U.N. whispered.

"But what?" Germany frowned. 

"The one the Sensei talked of..." U.N. sighed.  "We still know nothing 
of him."

"He is one unknown in a thousand variables we control." Keel said.  "We 
will tell our Angel dignitary to take care of this...other...soon 
enough." 

"The Fifth is hardly a warrior." U.N. said.

"We do not need a warrior." Keel smiled.  "Only to win."

The three old men nodded.  Hope was a strange commodity they all shared 
these days.  
 







Three words can say so much.  Technically, you can have a subject, a 
link, and an action quite easily in three words.  It's really all you 
need.  

Ritsuko was trying desperately to figure out the right combination.  

She knew it would be three words.  Her mind forced it to be simple.  It 
told her:  You can parse a three thousand gigabyte database with a 
biorhythm written on a napkin with big, thick crayon.  Why would you 
need more than the minimum three words? 

"Three little words." She chuckled as she thought to herself.  Her 
mother always told her that those 'three little words' could spell 
disaster.  That men and women always screwed them up.  

But would it be so bad if they were just two friends?  

"Can I help with anything?" Maya called from the living room.

"Nope!  Just a second!" Ritsuko called back, remembering the tea was 
almost ready.  

The hardest thing now would be to distinguish this for poor Maya.  That 
it wasn't a declaration of undying love.  She almost felt...bad.  She 
smirked.  Then again, if ANYONE would turn her into a lesbian, Gendo 
was that person.  

But that was not something she was willing to entertain for now.  
Though, Maya was rather cute...  

She gave her brain a mental slap.  Bad brain.  "Bad brain!" she said 
out loud. 

"Pardon?" 

"Oooh, nothing!" Ritsuko sighed and picked up the tea, loaded 
everything into a tray, and brought it out.  

Maya sat nervously, like she was scared to do or touch anything.  
Ritsuko prayed she was doing the right thing.  After all...

"Here you go, Maya." She said, pouring the tea for her friend.  "It 
should be better than the stuff we get at NERV, I hope." She smiled.

"I'm sure it will be, Sempai." Maya accepted gratefully, taking a sip 
after letting it cool in her hands for a moment.  "Domo!" 

"Mmm.  Good." Ritsuko agreed.  It had been a while, but at least Tea 
was not something one could easily screw up on.

"So."

"So."

Ritsuko sighed.  "Maya..."

"Sempai?" Maya leaned forward a bit.

"Is your tea..." she shook her head.  "Grrr!  No!  What I meant to say 
is..."

It was hard to continue under the big, puppy-dog eyes of Maya.

"I need you."

Maya blinked, but was still in 'puppy dog eyes' mode.  "Really??"

"Y..." she blinked.  "You're not disappointed?"

Maya blushed furiously.  "Why would I be disappointed?"

"Well...Uhm....I just thought that you might have wanted me to say 
something else..."

Maya smiled brightly.  "Sempai...sure, I suppose I was hoping for 
something else, but being told that you need me is just as good." 

Ritsuko blushed...something she hadn't done to this extent in a long 
time.  "Oh...that's good then!"

"Oh Sempai!" Maya finally lost it and leapt at her, arms wrapping 
around in a tight hug.  

Ritsuko sighed, then smiled and hugged back.  Why not enjoy it?  I 
mean, it's not like anyone was watching...

"If you want, I can come back later." 

Both women screamed as they realized there was a third voice.  Maya 
leapt behind the chair, terrified, as Ritsuko just glared and shook, 
recovering from the shock of seeing Rei pop out of nowhere wearing 
headphones and covered in dirt. 

"W...w...what are you doing here?" Ritsuko gasped, praying she would 
have a heart attack to get over the surprise.

Rei blushed terribly, then bowed deeply.  "Gomen!  Gomen nasai!"  I 
didn't mean to intrude!"

Ritsuko finally took in the situation and sighed.  "No, it's okay, Rei-
chan!" she smiled warmly.  "Would you like some tea?"

It took both Maya and Ritsuko a moment to realize Rei was crying.  

Maya stood and walked over to her as Ritsuko quickly put the tea off to 
the side so Rei could have a seat.  "What's wrong, Rei-chan?" Maya 
asked softly.  "Are you hurt?"

"No." Rei replied softly.  "But..."

Ritsuko blinked.  "But?"

"I think..." she shook her head.  "I'm going to die tomorrow."

Maya looked to Ritsuko worriedly.  "An Angel?"

"Hai." Rei nodded and sat down on the floor.  "I will die tomorrow." 
She looked up at Ritsuko.  "Unless you help me."

Ritsuko swallowed hard.  She already knew how.  Maya looked at her, 
wondering what was with the odd look on her face.  "Sempai?"

She knelt down in front of Rei.  "Rei...you want to stay you.  Don't 
you?"

Rei nodded quickly. "Hai."

"How...do you know you're going to die tomorrow?"

"I don't know." Rei whispered. "I just do."

Ritsuko turned to Maya.  "I know I just said so...but I need you."

Maya nodded without hesitation.  "Of course, Sempai!"

"We need to go to the lab." Ritsuko stood...then, almost like an 
afterthought:  "Rei...do you know what this could mean?"

"Hai." Rei whispered.  "It could mean Unit-00's destruction."

"Or us all." Ritsuko sighed.  

"No." she looked up.  "Ikari-kun will make sure everything is okay."

Ritsuko sighed, then nodded.  "Okay." She turned to Maya.  "We have to 
make a new Rei."

Maya blinked. 

Ritsuko cringed.  She had never hoped to involve her friend in this 
far.  

"We have to go to Central Dogma." She closed her eyes.  "Where all the 
other Reis are kept."

Maya's eyes widened at the thought.  "O...other?"

"I'll explain on the way." She said.  At first, she thought it was a 
show of good faith...but she knew that to be false.  Ritsuko hugged 
Maya warmly, catching the younger woman off guard.  "We should go."

Rei blushed and bowed her head.  "Domo, arigato, mina-san." 

"You can thank me when we're still all alive tomorrow." Ritsuko huffed, 
and went to get their coats. 








[now]







Gendo supervised from afar, watching Rei III resuscitate to life.  It 
was an odd thing to watch.  For a few moments, he wondered if he risked 
too much.  But, after a moment, the good Doctor had cleared the LCL 
from her lungs and she was soon breathing air for the first time. 

His Rei was now pure again. 

The white, shivering body on the bed made him think back to the first 
two times this had happened.  The second being almost an exact copy.  

How far they had come.  It only took one body this time.  Almost 
perfect, except the fact it had to be done in the first place.  

He pressed the intercom button, and was greeted by the gasping and 
crying of Rei.  Ritsuko and her medical team worked furiously to keep 
Rei stable those first critical moments.  He ignored the noise. 

"Alert me when she is ready."

"FINE!" Ritsuko yelled back, then cut the channel from her end. 

He walked off, smiling under his breath as he passed Misato, Shinji and 
Asuka, who were all waiting with worried looks.  "She'll be fine." He 
said.

They all gasped hopefully. 

Fools. 

Let's see them corrupt her again.  Impossible with such short amount of 
time remaining.  

As he walked off, however, Shinji had nothing but hope in his mind.  
"I'm sure she made it!  She had to have made it!"

Asuka hugged him tightly, nodding.  "I hope so."

Misato just tried to relax, trying not to have a heart attack.  "This 
is the worst week I have ever known."






It took many hours.  





Ritsuko and Maya waited patiently besides Rei's bed.  Hoping their act 
was convincing.  Praying Rei was not hurt by the drugs or tests.  

"Do you think he bought it?" Maya whispered in the near darkness.  Only 
an iridescent glow from the monitors let them see.  Rei's heartbeat was 
music enough to pass the time. 

"Yes." Ritsuko sighed.  "He wouldn't have left so early if he didn't 
think he had everyone under his control."

"Oh." Maya nodded, then swallowed hard.  "The...others..."

"Are all gone." She nodded.  "It will take him some time to find out.  
The body we put into Unit-00 probably never even knew her own name." 
She cursed under her breath.  "Disgusting..."

"No." 

They both jumped, then sighed as they realized it was Rei.  

The young woman looked up with hazy, but sharp, red eyes.  "I talked to 
her." She said quietly.  "She knew her name."

Ritsuko looked away.  "I'm sorry, Rei."

"She understood." Rei whispered.  "She knew why she had to die.  It was 
okay.  She thought like I used to..." 

They both looked down as Rei failed to choke back a sob.  

"She knew she was being replaced." Rei shivered, then curled around the 
pillow at her head.  "She didn't care."

Ritsuko looked up at Maya with tears in her eyes.  "Still think I'm so 
wonderful, Maya?"

Maya was still staring a hole in her lap.  "Sempai..."

Rei looked up at Ritsuko.  "It shouldn't matter." She smiled weakly.  
"She is your friend.  We are all forced to do bad things..." she 
trailed off for a moment.  "But...we can redeem ourselves."

Maya smiled, despite the tears running down her face.  "Hai."

Rei managed the strength to take Ritsuko's hand with warmth the Doctor 
didn't think would exist so early after her shock.  "Thank you, 
both..." she mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.  

Ritsuko looked down at the frail, yet alive hand and began to cry out 
loud.  "Thank you..." she shivered.  "that's my line, Rei..."

"I think it's all our line." Maya smiled softly.  







Rei gasped out loud as she opened her eyes.  The sunlight hurt...but it 
was something she could have endured a million times over.  

Sunlight. 

"Hey!  Sleepyhead!" 

She blinked away the blurriness and turned to see Toji smiling brightly 
at her side.  "T...Toji-san?"

He laughed and bowed his head.  "And she remembers me!  I do believe 
the girl's okay!"

"If she can remember a BAAAKA like you..." Asuka smiled softly, then 
literally leapt on Rei to hug the poor girl to death.  "Then I hope she 
remembers me." She laughed happily, though the joy was marked by tears 
of gratefulness.  

"Asuka-chan!" Rei hugged back, gasping out as she hugged a bit too 
hard.  

The redhead gasped, and backed off sheepishly, but was still smiling.  
"Glad to see you're okay, Wondergirl."

"I...I hope you don't mind us barging in like this..." a familiar 
mister Shinji Ikari said behind a large arrangement of flowers with a 
huge balloon sticking out of them that read "GET WELL, REI CHAN!" on 
one side. 

Rei blinked, having never seen flowers of that...that...magnitude... 
before.  "Ah...uh....wow...."

They all blushed and laughed.  "Well," Toji coughed.  "We figured it 
was the least we could do to repay the girl who single handedly 
destroyed the Angel."

"And the old School!" Asuka laughed happily.

Rei gasped.  "W...was anyone hurt???"

Asuka blushed. "No, no...just..." she smiled sheepishly.  "Well, Unit-
00 is..."

She hung her head, but then looked up at them all.  "It's okay.  I 
understand."

Shinji went over to Rei and hugged her gently.  "Thank you, Rei.  If 
you didn't do that...well...we might all be dead now.  Some of the city 
is a bit damaged, but it's nothing that some repair work will handle.  
You saved us all."

Rei blushed terribly and smiled.  "I...I'm glad I could help."

"Help?" Toji smiled broadly.  "you kicked that angel's ASS!" he 
cheered.  




Outside the room, Misato twitched...remembering the pile of damage 
reports she would have to go through in the morning.  "I hate my life."





"Let's celebrate!" Toji continued.  "I'm voting we get everyone 
together before they leave for the reconstruction."

Rei nodded.  "I want to apologize to everyone."

Asuka sighed and sat down on the bed next to her.  "It was unavoidable.  
And NERV is paying for everyone's houses and temporary shelter outside 
of town.  Everything will be back to normal once we get rid of the 
Angels."

Rei's eyes lit up.  "C...Can we go to a concert maybe?" 

They all blinked.  "What?  You a big Death Puppies fan too?" Toji 
asked.  "I know they're having a concert later in the year..."

"Death-Puppies?" Shinji blinked.

"They're a good band.  Lots of drums!" Toji smiled happily.

"Uhm...I mean...maybe a classical music concert?" Rei asked timidly. 

They all blinked, then laughed.  "Of course!" Asuka said.

Rei relaxed against her pillows and sighed happily.  "Arigato."  

"Well, we should let her get some sleep." Asuka said, nudging Shinji's 
arm.  

"Oh!  Right!" Shinji and Toji stood, then followed her out.  "We'll 
come visit tomorrow, Rei!"

"Okay!" Rei said happily, though it was clear she was still a bit 
tired.  "I'll see you then."

"Ja!" they all announced in chorus. 

As the door closed, Asuka jumped on Toji with a drop kick.  "DEATH 
PUPPIES??  Why would she want to go see anyone called Death-Puppies!??"

Toji just gasped and bled.  "B...But...they hav...ve good...lyrics!"

Shinji and Asuka just groaned and walked off without him.  

"Phhht." Toji stood and stuck out his tongue.  "See if I offer YOU two 
backstage passes."










Forty-Third Lesson:  "School's Out"








Kaji gazed at Misato with an odd expression.  It was a mix of both awe 
and concern.  Concern for the events happening of late, and the stress 
that she must be feeling.  However, he was also quite entranced with 
the woman across from him.  

Needing to talk, they agreed on a meeting place out side of town.  
There wasn't much left of Tokyo-3 anyway, so it seemed to be the best 
idea.  

The air was humid.  A million gallons of water had been evaporated in 
the explosion of Unit-00, and it was still hovering in the air like a 
thick misty blanket.  Misato kept complaining that it made her hair 
feel messy, but Kaji was tending to enjoy it.  

They had packed a small lunch and hiked up to the top of the mountains 
surrounding the city.  From below, it looked horrible.  Melted debris 
and the unfortunate few bodies left somewhat whole were still being 
pulled out from under some of the more...intact...buildings.  Rescue 
crews still dotted the landscape three days later, and the flashing 
lights were so common, you almost didn't notice anymore. 

From this point of view, however, the chaos was hidden.  The fog 
wrapped around everything with a warm, friendly embrace.  The sun lit 
it all up until it almost looked like ice on the water.  Buildings 
looked like trees branching out from the pond below, and the gentle 
flickering of the rescue lights made the scene alive in the way stars 
in the sky could.  

Sharing the moment with a beautiful woman and a good glass of wine made 
it all the better, and Kaji felt the days of stress leaving him almost 
completely.  

"I have to tell Asuka today." Misato whispered as she laid her head in 
his lap.

"Oh?" he asked, gently tracing his fingers through her hair.  

"With Unit-00 gone, we'll have to find a new pilot for Unit-02.  If we 
don't..."

"I know." Kaji nodded.  "She's not going to take it well...but I don't 
think she'll hold you responsible."

"That's what I'm worried about." Misato groaned.  "You know what she's 
going to do?"

"What?" Kaji smiled, humoring her, even though it was pretty obvious.

"She's going to start crying, and then Shinji's going to make her feel 
better, and then she's going to want to repay him and they'll be 
shagging like rabbits by the time I get home." She screamed.  "ARGH!"

"It will be okay." Kaji said, lying back so they were both looking up 
at the hazy blue sky.  "Shinji's a good man.  He's been taught by some 
of the best in our generation.  Me, for example." He smiled as Misato 
snickered.  "And you, Misato.  Remember, while you insist you're just a 
roommate and guardian, you're also his friend.  You're family to him."

"That's the scariest thing I've ever heard." She smiled.  "I don't want 
to be related to Gendo."

"He's a good teacher too, you know." Kaji said.

"WHAT?" Misato sat up and glared at him.

"Of course." Kaji smiled.  "Just don't act like him, and your life will 
turn out okay."

She sighed and curled up around his side again.  "I suppose.  But the 
kids are so young."

"Sixteen isn't too bad, Misato." He sighed.  "Our country posts the 
limit at fourteen years old before marriage."

Misato smirked at him.  "Ah, so explain to me this, Dr Math...Asuka and 
Shinji were both born in 2001.  How do you explain that with it being 
2015?"

Kaji just shrugged.  "Then why did they both know their sweet sixteens 
were coming up?"

There was a long silence.  

"That isn't funny." Misato sat up and looked at him.  "What did you 
do?"

"Nothing." Kaji shrugged.  "The Magi are also correct.  During their 
last physical, they were confirmed at sixteen years of age, more or 
less." He smiled at her as her eyes went wide.  "Why do you think I've 
been busting my back trying to find out this secret's answers?"

"Two years?" Misato blinked. 

"Two years we don't remember." Kaji corrected her.  Then, shrugged.  
"Of course, the Magi also say it's the year 2015.  The stars agree.  
I've done my own calculations, as well as talked with several people 
around the globe.  It's quite a conspiracy if it's not actually 2015."

Misato looked at him, then herself.  "What about us?"

"Just the Children.  Everyone in Shinji and Asuka's class shares the 
same thing, however.  Everyone thinks it's their sixteenth birthday." 
Kaji looked out over the fog.  "With cloning technology the way it is, 
who knows.  But, I do have a theory."

"Let me guess...Eva?"

"Exactly." Kaji sighed.  "Now, first of all, I'm no expert." He looked 
at her with warm eyes.  "I've been talking to that Kaoru character for 
the last few months.  From what I've been able to coax out of him, I 
think I know what is going on."

"He's...not from here, is he." Misato whispered. 

"I don't know." Kaji said, looking down at his lunch long enough to 
pour them both another glass of wine.  "But...I don't think he's an 
angel."

"You mean you're not sure?" Misato blinked.

A long pause.  

"I tried to shoot him the other day." Kaji said quietly.  "An AT Field 
came up and saved him." He looked at her.  "I think he's the one that 
saved my life earlier."

"When was this?" Misato gasped.

"Four days ago."

"But..."

Kaji smiled. "I know.  There were no AT Fields detected." He shrugged.  
"But I know what I saw, Misato.  You don't get a flashlight beam in the 
eye, or muzzle flash, and think it's a giant wall of orange-red light."

"This is one big nightmare.  Isn't it?" Misato sighed and looked up at 
him.

"Maybe." Kaji sighed, then shrugged. "But we just might be waking up 
from it soon."







The Three Stooges sighed as they looked out over the ruined city.  

Toji had his arms crossed...though Hikari was hanging onto one of them, 
peering past him.  "Wow."

They all nodded.  Kensuke shook his head.  "This is horrible."

Rei blushed and sighed.  

Shinji smiled.  "He's talking about all the military hardware that was 
blown up."

"Damn rights!" he smiled happily to Rei.  "Next time you wanna blow up 
the city, please tell me so I can go looting just before you do."

Rei just blushed more and bowed her head.  Asuka grumbled.  "Don't 
listen to them, Rei.  They're just stooges.  They wouldn't understand." 
She humphed and stuck her nose up in the air.

Rei smiled and shook her head.  "I'm just glad nobody was hurt."

"And Misato's apartment is far enough away from the main city it was 
unharmed." Asuka smiled happily.  "You can come stay with us for a 
while if you want, Rei."

Everyone almost gasped.  Even Shinji, who hadn't heard such a noble, 
selfless gesture from Asuka...well...ever! 

"Stop gawking." Asuka grumbled, then smiled happily to Rei.  "I mean 
it.  You're welcome to stay with us."

Rei smiled.  "I can stay at least for tonight, I guess."

"Perfect!" Asuka said, triumphantly.  "Let's go!"

As they started walking back to the train station...one of the few that 
hadn't been destroyed on the outer Tokyo-3 Monorail, Toji and Hikari 
leaned into Shinji.  "Well, so much for that." 

Shinji smiled. "Well, we won't have to worry about getting everyone in 
one place now.  And Misato is almost done I'm sure."

"It amazes me." Hikari blushed and smiled brightly.  "Asuka seems so 
much happier now."

The group all had their suspicions about Asuka and Shinji, but everyone 
was polite enough to leave it alone.  However, Shinji wasn't so sure.  

"She's trying to keep busy." He said quietly.  "She doesn't want to 
think about Eva."

"Well, I'm sure the party will be a nice distraction." Kensuke smiled, 
then adjusted his glasses.  "Even the Devil shouldn't be ignored on her 
birthday." 

"SHHHH!" Toji and Shinji clasped their hands over his mouth.  "Not so 
loud!" Toji said.

"Besides, her birthday was last week." Shinji whispered.  

"Well, still, it's her party." Hikari smiled. "And besides, I bet 
Shinji and her wanted to spend time together."

Toji smiled a bit...too...cool.  "Yeah, I bet they had fun."

Shinji prayed nobody saw how red he got. 










Gendo walked down the steps, past the tiny grate marked 'drain' and 
into the LCL Tank Observation Deck.  As he walked, he spoke out into 
the darkness.  

"Life is not a random direction, Rei." He stated, circling the tanks 
slowly.  "There are several points of change that, by their very 
nature, make it hard to predict."  He smiled.  It was no a creepy, 
controlling smile, rather, it was kind, proud and familiar.  

"I'm proud we could come this far." He whispered out to the room.  

"To make life behave like it has a purpose...a goal...it takes a lot of 
planning.  Effort." He said softly.  "Sacrifice."  

"Ahh, but I suppose you're an expert on that part." 

Gendo blinked, looking around, wondering what just happened.  He had 
been so caught up in his speech to Rei, that he didn't quite expect to 
hear another voice respond.

Finally, though, as he walked around to the Reiquarium, he saw a lone 
figure standing causally, leaning against the amber fish-globe like 
glass.  He looked entirely surreal in the resulting light from the 
tank...and looked much more devilish with the echoing shadows of limbs, 
heads, and other body parts floating over his skin. 

Gendo rushed up, at first, trying not to betray his horror...but it was 
apparent he had yet to see the good Doctor's work.  

Kaoru stood there, thumbing his glasses gently with his shirt to clean 
them.  "Life isn't fair.  I figured why should you be exempt from that 
truth?" he smiled, looking into the tank.  "Now, your little doll is 
gone.  Only Rei remains.  One Rei.  No more backups."

"You..." Gendo hissed, standing amazingly still for a man with the 
amount of emotion and thought raging through him that he did.  "What 
are you doing here."

It was not a question, and Kaoru felt no obligation to answer.

"I have spent years in preparation for this moment." He said, putting 
back on his glasses.  They shone in mirror-like crispness under the 
shadows of intestines and amber.  

"You..." Gendo took a step back.  "You are going to kill me."

"No." Kaoru smirked.  "Though it would do me great pleasure...I once 
promised that I wouldn't."

"Then..." the confused old Ikari blinked.  

"This is the moment where everything is reset." Kaoru said slowly, 
letting the meaning of the words impact on his prey.  "Everything you 
have done will be undone.  Everything you control will have it's 
strings cut.  Everyone you've ever hurt..." he grinned.  "Will now be 
able to fight back."

Gendo watched behind his glasses as Kaoru walked around him, circling 
like a shark.  "What is it that you want."

"You don't care what I want." Kaoru said softly.  "I only want this to 
go the way it was supposed to.  I have heard too many stories, and seen 
too many examples of your work to let it continue." 

Carefully, at first, but then with a grin, Kaoru placed his hand on 
Gendo's shoulder from behind.  

"I want you to know that it wasn't easy..." Kaoru hissed.  "I do owe a 
bit of respect to you in that.  And...you may actually still win this.  
You may just get exactly what you want."

"I always do." Gendo warned, trying to ignore the hand on his shoulder.

Kaoru smirked.  "Ahh, yes, I suppose you might." He leaned forward 
slightly, whispering right in Gendo's ear now.  "Of course, now, it 
will be everyone's choice.  Not just yours."

Gendo was silent. 

"But...I must go on a brief vacation." Kaoru said quietly.  "Your son 
is about to face his most difficult hour." He said.  "I know he will 
triumph."

"And if he doesn't?" Gendo smirked back.  "You place too much faith on 
that boy."

"So do you." Kaoru replied.  "You should be careful not to trust him to 
make the same mistakes you have."

"Mm." Gendo just grumbled.  

"I've taught him better than you have."

And with that, Gendo was suddenly alone again.  He turned around, 
looking for the intruder, but could find nobody.  

He cursed himself for not remembering his gun.  

But then again...he doubted it would do any good.  Kaoru had been 
standing on his own too feet.  

With a sudden gasp, he ran over to the central LCL tank.  The MAGI had 
said Rei was still here, hence why he came down. 

He knelt down to the tank, seeing the floating, ghostly figure of the 
cobalt-haired young woman.  She didn't respond to his presence.  
Desperate, Gendo reached into the pool.  He grabbed onto her hair and 
pulled.  It was more than a bit disturbing to watch her head pop off 
into his arms, dripping with bloody LCL.

The Rei in his hands looked horrible...with strange, vein-like lesions 
all over her cheeks.  However, she had the most peaceful smile on her 
face.  

The loud, squishing crack of the imposter Rei's skull echoed out in the 
nightmarish room as Gendo threw it against the wall. 

He stormed off, determined not to let it all fall apart.  He just 
wished he knew how far it had gone.  

The bits of Reis in the tank never offered their sympathies.  








"I hate you all." Asuka grumbled through gritted teeth.  

Of course, that was probably due to the fact she looked completely 
silly with the birthday hat on her head.  Kensuke filming the event 
wasn't making her feel any better.  Both Kaji and Misato tried hard not 
to look amused, but failed.   

"Oh, come on, Asuka-chan!" Hikari giggled, hugging her friend for the 
nth time that day.  "You're ALLOWED to have fun."

"I know." Asuka protested, trying to look completely non-happy.  
However, the shimmer in her eyes as she was handed her presents 
betrayed her true emotions.  

Nobody blamed her for wanting to be in a bad mood, but everyone was 
very glad that she was able to have a bit of fun.  They didn't even 
mind the threats.  

"I hate you a..." she gasped.  "OOOH!  THE NEW RAMMSTIEN CD!  THANK YOU 
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" she leapt at Hikari and toppled her 
over in a hug right back.  The poor Class Rep just gasped out for air. 

Toji smirked.  "It's a bunch of angry Germans making music about ants 
marching.  We figured it was 'you'." He turned to Rei, who was 
blushing.  "And, besides, Rei said you'd like it."

"Rei?" Asuka beamed.  "Thank you!" she hugged the poor girl.  "This 
really is an awesome gift!"

Rei blushed and hugged back.  "I like ants too." 

Asuka blushed and smiled back at the Class Rep  "Thank you too.  I 
really appreciate it.  I haven't had the chance to listen to much music 
other than classical lately."

"Nothing wrong with classical." Shinji piped up.

"True, but I was getting all these mental images of Napoleonic wars in 
my head when we were fighting angels." She winked.  "It was very 
strange."

"Ooh!  Ours next!" Kensuke said happily.  He pointed to the box next to 
her on the carpet."

"Who's?" Asuka blinked, opening it up.  She looked at Toji, Kensuke and 
Shinji...noticing their grins.  "Oh god...not..."

Sure enough, it was a Three Stooges Classic DVD Box-Set.

Asuka stood up, and gave them all noogies.

After the fiasco, the three boys were holding their heads painfully, 
trying to smile.  "Ow." They said in unison. 

Asuka stuck out her tongue.  "Well, I must say, it suits you all." 
Finally, she sighed and bowed her head.  "Thank you, bakas."

"Haai!" they all chorused happily. 

"Now now...let's not forget old Misato!" Kaji smiled, ignoring the 
grumbling from Misato at the 'old' comment.  

Asuka sighed as she was handed a crudely wrapped object...in the shape 
of a bottle.  "Uhm...thanks, Misato." She smirked.  "Is it a pony?  
I've always wanted a pony."

Misato sighed.  "Hey!  I've been busy!" she smiled.  "Just be glad you 
have someone to buy quality sake for you under-aged brats. 

Pen-Pen seemed to get slightly angry at the undermining comment about 
HIS choice of sake.  After all, it wasn't this third rate crap that 
Misato bought.  

"Wuaagh!" 

"See?  Pen-Pen agrees." Misato smiled happily, not noticing Pen-Pen 
giving her the 'flipper'.  

Everyone turned to see Shinji smiling, holding a box behind him.  Asuka 
eyed him suspiciously, but was smiling.  "Oh?  And does Baka-kun have 
something for me?"

Hikari instinctively elbowed Toji just before he commented on that.

Shinji handed her a shoe-box sized present, holding it carefully.  When 
Asuka took it, she could feel it was delicate, and looked at him in 
surprise.  The other gifts were nice, but this must have been something 
special.  "I...It's nothing much, but I hope you like it." Shinji 
blushed.  "I remembered the promise we made, and, well..."

Misato reasoned it was way too big to be an engagement ring, and tried 
to relax a bit.  "Go ahead, Asuka!" she beamed.  "Open it!"

Speechless, Asuka opened it up.  There was a nice, brown-paper box 
under the paper wrapping, and she carefully removed the top.  After 
ruffling through the white packing tissue inside, she gasped, looking 
at Shinji.  "T...this is..."

Hikari walked behind her friend, unable to resist curiosity any longer.  
"Oh my!  A sake set!"

Everyone but Shinji crowded around as Asuka pulled out the set.  
Traditional sake serving sets consisted of a larger jug-like ceramic 
vase, with any number of smaller clay or ceramic sake cups that would 
hold a few sips (or one good shot) for whoever was drinking it.  

This set was beautiful.  Deep, stormy plum colours mixed with warm 
grays and midnight blues.  Everything was set with a tasteful gold trim 
around each edge and the bottoms of the cups.  Patterns of feathers and 
leaves gave definition to the colours, while a simple, yet equally 
beautiful wooden serving tray stood as an amazing, oak-red base for the 
array.  

Asuka seemed almost afraid she would break them.  They looked so thin, 
yet would be able to withstand years of use.  The clay was masterfully 
crafted, and protected all via a thick, deep glaze.

It was only this caution that made her remember to carefully put it 
down back in the box before ignoring it so she could leap up at Shinji 
and hug him as tight as she could, tears already wetting his shirt.  
"Shinji...you are wonderful..." she whispered, trying not to sob.  
"Thank you..."

Shinji just hugged back, blushing a bit due to everyone staring, but he 
didn't seem to worry too much about it.  "It's my pleasure, Asuka-
chan." He whispered back.  "Happy Birthday!"

Kaji smiled and bowed his head.  "To Asuka!  On her sweet Sixteen!"

Everyone except the two adults rushed the two and they all group 
hugged.  Even Rei, who, in the back of her mind, was cataloging the 
experience with quite a level of interest.  After all, they don't 
usually teach about group hugs in school.

"Would you like me to warm up the sake?" Rei offered as they parted.  

"Not yet." Asuka blushed.  "I promised Shinji we'd share a glass or 
two.  But for now, I think I just wanna hang out with everyone."

"I'm just glad we're all here together." Misato smiled, walking over 
and hugging Rei, before hugging all of them.  "It wouldn't be fair if 
someone was left out."

Rei nodded happily.

"It's a wonderful life." Kaji smirked.  "Just don't start singing 
Christmas carols yet, or I'm goinna get cavities."

Misato was about to retort when there was a knock on the door.  

She walked over and opened it up.  Nobody stood on the other side.  
However, she noticed a small package, resting at the doorstop.  








"Asuka is not going to be very happy." Maya sighed as she looked over 
the report.  

"Asuka is more concerned over not being suicidal." Ritsuko shook her 
head.  "I think a break will do her good." She shrugged.  "Hell, the 
Fifth Child might even be an excuse for her to fire up that sense of 
competition she used to have."

"But...the big question will be if he can sync with Unit-02." Maya 
said.  "And will he want to after Asuka complains about it."

They stood, looking at the same screen.  It was a message via the NERV 
network.  SEELE would be sending them the next pilot in a few days.  

"We're so close to something big." Ritsuko whispered.  "I'm worried 
more that we'll have to baby-sit another new pilot.  Toji is good, but 
even now, he's nowhere near Asuka and Shinji's level."

Maya smiled.  "But he might have the same heart that Shinji and Asuka 
have.  Training doesn't seem to matter all that much."

"Maya?" the Doctor turned to her.  "Are you getting all sentimental on 
me?" a small smile followed.  "The human spirit has nothing to do with 
our project."

"Quoting Gendo?" Maya mumbled to herself.

Ritsuko blinked, then blushed.  "Sorry."

"No need." Maya shrugged it off, then sighed to herself.  "You know, 
you could use a bit of sentimentalism..."

"Maybe after we stop the angels, I'll read up on it." Ritsuko 
joked...but it was clear Maya didn't think it was funny.  

"And you could definitely get a sense of humor..." Maya continued.  

Ritsuko pouted.  "Yes, dear."









Shinji found himself up later than usual that night.

Despite Misato's subtle hints that she'd be 'checking' in on them once 
in a while, Kaji managed to remove the good miss Misato from the 
apartment for that night.  Shinji and Asuka were finally abandoned by 
their friends as well, by feigning sleep.  Finally, they had been left 
alone.  

As promised, they did share sake.  It would probably become another of 
their shared practices.  It seemed to taste so much better this time 
around.  Maybe it was the way they used the actual sake set instead of 
just plastic cups.  Or maybe it was the kiss or two stolen between 
drinks.  Whatever it was, Shinji was happy.  

Asuka slept lightly on his chest, curled around his waist, refusing to 
let go completely to their lovemaking, taking the feeling of them 
together to protect her dreams.  Shinji never bothered to move, even 
though he had stayed awake this night, long after his redheaded partner 
had succumbed to sleep.  

He managed to get his SDAT player without waking Asuka, or moving 
enough to part from her form.  It must have been curiosity that lead 
him to put in the tape.  Indeed, it was why he had stayed up this late.  
The box Misato had found on the step contained two items.

The SDAT tape, and a small, handmade metal bracelet.  Asuka wore the 
latter of the two...now as warm as her skin, he could feel it next to 
his side on her wrist.  It was beautiful, and clearly one-of-a-kind.

The tape was battered, but looked playable.  They both assumed it was 
for his ears, and Asuka was too much under the spell of comfort and 
love to ward off sleep long enough to find out for herself before 
Shinji did. 

On the side, where there was a small, newly-made label, it read:

Train Tracks. 

Turning down the volume so as not to disturb Asuka, he quietly clicked 
'play' and listened intently. 

There was something in the background of the sound.  Maybe 
static...rare on an SDAT tape, but not unheard of if it was recorded 
with non-digital equipment.  Other than that, he heard the familiar 
voice of Sensei Kaoru speaking.

"Hello, Shinji.  This is your good ol' teacher." A small chuckle.  
"Hopefully, I was a good teacher, anyway.  I suppose this will all be 
determined soon."

Shinji smiled.  "Hai."

"I am hoping this message finds you happy and healthy.  And while I 
must be brief, I knew you might not forgive me if I didn't say a few 
words before I had to go.  The school is gone, and it may be a while 
before we meet again.  I pray we can face each other as adults once 
again.  Not as student and teacher.  It reminds me too much like 
'father and son'.  Something I know you will understand when I say I 
want to avoid it."

Shinji found himself nodding silently. 

"My father was a great man, Shinji.  I'm glad you will have the chance 
to meet him.  But one thing I could never forgive myself about was 
that...we were always too separate.  I didn't realize what a good man 
he was until much later on in my life.  By then, we were too old and 
stubborn to admit..." he sighed.  "Whatever.  I want you to know that 
you remind me of him.  You are not a student in my eyes.  You are just 
as much a teacher.

"It may be hard for you and Asuka to survive together in these next few 
years.  I know that your love is true, but I also ask you both to be 
patient with each other.  Be good to one another."

Shinji smiled down at the young woman sleeping around him.  "We will." 
He whispered.  Asuka hummed a silent response.

"I leave with you this one, final lesson." Kaoru said with his clear, 
'teaching voice'.  "And that is of the hearts of other people." A small 
chuckle.  "Take notes...this is 100% of your final grade in my class, 
Mister Ikari."

"I always do." Shinji smiled back.

"There will be people..." he said.  "Who you love.  Who you trust.  And 
sometimes, for no reason, they will turn around and hurt you right 
back.  I know you know this...but I offer this advice to you.  Instead 
of hating them...instead of running...you must save them."

"Kaoru...?"

"You have the power to do great good, or great harm, Shinji.  And 
sometimes, the results will be opposite of what you think they should 
be.  Sometimes, it is good to give up.  Sometimes, it's good to be 
angry and let fear take over.  Sometimes...you have to run away.  
Sometimes, when everyone else is running, it will be your job to stop 
yourself...and everyone else." A long, deep breath.  "You must face 
each challenge.  Don't let your heart be clouded over by your feelings.  
You MUST do what's right."

Shinji nodded, silent.

"And with that, I can say only one thing.  That the world will be in 
good hands." 

He blushed silently to himself.  "Arigato."

"I apologize...but I cannot stay to help.  I will be back, though.  
Please, keep everyone safe.  If you need anything, talk to Kaji or 
Misato-chan." A small pause.  "And tell everyone I will miss them."

"I will..." Shinji sighed, but hugged Asuka warmly out of reflex.

Asuka hummed softly.  

"Ja.  Shinji-sempai."  




And the sound was gone. 



With his mind full of worry, but also trust, Shinji fell asleep a fee 
minutes later.  

Unfortunately, he missed the next part of the tape.  His nightmares 
didn't.











Forty-Forth Lesson:  "Alone"






Asuka watched herself in the car, almost as if she was having an out of 
body experience.  Like she was watching an all-too real dream, waiting 
for herself to wake up and be happy, jump around, and thank her darling 
Baka Shinji for making her the extra lunch she usually wined about and 
never thanked him when he did, but would promise to herself to thank 
him for remembering today.   

But she didn't.  She couldn't.  It was hard even to make her body move 
anymore.  Mentally, or physically, she was too exhausted to move.  Damn 
body, she exclaimed to herself, internally.  Of course, this was a 
hopeful thought, as she knew her body was fine.  The only time it 
seemed to work right was in the warmth of passion.  But, even then, she 
felt control slipping away from her mind every time.  

Even now in the car, surrounded by Rei, Toji, Shinji and Misato...she 
felt dead to the world.  

They talked to her.  Smiled.  She must have answered back, but she 
couldn't remember the question.  They gave her those annoying worried 
smiles.  They didn't want to act like they could see her world 
collapsing.  Maybe they didn't want to. 

She probably looked pathetic.  

Inwardly, she cursed their support.  Raking herself over the coals had 
been so much easier before their damning friendship.  Before...she 
could just push it all back and yell at herself.  But now, she 
entertained the notion that this wasn't her fault.  That she was still 
a good person.  That she wasn't totally pathetic.  

Maybe, if she thought differently, she could have raged out of this out 
of body crap and gone back to living.  It scared her that she couldn't.  
She didn't dare wonder if, even before, she could have broken out of 
this melancholy prison. 

What if she couldn't? 

What if this was just a matter of time?  

The hundreds of hours of university courses came screaming back to her.  
Each hour analyzed herself, and all came back with bad news.  That she 
was lost.  A gonner.  Denial and depression.  

Why?  Why, she begged.  There had to be a reason.  She had good 
friends.  She was in love.  She had been saved from the hell of the 
Angel by that love...even if it still haunted her.  

The reason came to her as they entered the car-train to fall into the 
Geofront.  

She could still see the scars of battles still being repaired.  She 
could still see the nearly hidden blood of her Evangelion's failures.  
If she had the capacity to do so, she would have gotten sick.  

But she didn't.  She just sat there, gazing out the window.  Her mind 
smirked at the body.  She couldn't even get sick right.  She would have 
to work her way UP to 'pathetic.' 

Lovely.

And soon, she would get to slide into that same, bloody goo, and try to 
get her puppet to move again.  She would try to make it move when she 
couldn't even get her own body to move right.  She would fail.  She 
would cry and scream when nobody could hear or see her.  Then, she 
would exit the plug, wash herself in stale water, and go back home so 
she could pray for just a moment of peace, sleeping next to Shinji.  

Her dreams hadn't helped.  They were no nightmares.  Not in the 
conventional sense.  Rather, they were images of her epic...tries. 

And they were amazing.  But even after ignoring the outcomes, she began 
to fear just watching herself.  She was powerful, commanding, strong 
and fearless.  She would ride into battle first, and never exit unless 
they dragged her away.

She wanted to be like that again.  Even if she could never win.  She 
wanted to fight and fly through the air, head-first.  She wanted to 
feel the wonderful recoil on a semi-automatic pistol the size of a bus.  
She relished the strange, semi-wet feeling of ripping apart an Angel 
with her prog-knife with a yell.  

She missed the sound of the entry plug syncing to 80%.  The way it 
would make that electronic yawn and echo until her skin had Goosebumps 
on it and she could feel the excitement as a tangible force in her 
blood.  

She tried to remember the last time she felt physical pain.  Maybe a 
broken bone.  The annoying itch of a fiberglass cast now seemed a 
blessing.  

She just wanted to feel something again.  Her heart was alone.  It 
could feel all this...but it couldn't share it with her mind.  Her 
body.  Her soul.  

And she didn't want to leave Shinji alone, either.  Maybe he couldn't 
feel it yet...maybe he could.  But she didn't want to make him alone by 
feeling this way.  She wanted to connect again.  To laugh and cry and 
touch and punch.  

She begged herself to try again.  

She tried to remember all these reasons.  Even as she saw the looks on 
Ritsuko and Maya's faces.  She tried to believe that today, she could 
do it.  

She could see Misato fight for her.  She yelled and pointed and 
gestured.  Shinji held onto her hand for support.  It was the only 
warmth in a sea of dead cold.  The cold turned from icy, to the sheer 
absence of feeling as she was told that Unit 02 was already in a sync 
test.

She entertained the idea that maybe this out-of-body thing had gone too 
far, and she was already trying the sync test, but watching herself 
arrive just now.  

The camera showed different.

A young man, maybe a bit older than they, with light gray hair and 
the...most...calm, pleased expression on his face sat in her seat.

The sync ratio was already up to seventy five.  Asuka took until last 
year to get that high.  

The feeling around the room was relief.  Relief that the red Eva would 
be able to protect them once more.  Technicians around the area all 
watched the read-outs hopefully with smiles to give away their 
satisfaction. 

Only the blasted doctor and her tag-along-puppy of an assistant gave 
her apologetic looks.  

She must have said that last bit out loud, because both of them turned 
bright red and Ritsuko began to look angry.  She watched herself rip 
her hand from Shinji, then turn to storm off.  

She assumed she was going to the tank to rip the asshole intruder out 
of her Eva.  She must have looked even angrier as she saw Commander 
Ikari there.  In fact, with some satisfaction, she felt her fist begin 
to swing up.

And then the world went black as she was smacked in the head by a large 
man next to the Commander in a black suit.  

The bastard was smiling, too. 







She woke up next to the most unlikely bedfellow.  

Toji sighed and helped her up.  "Hey, Langley, are you okay?  That 
asshole threw you against a wall."

She cringed, now feeling her body and mind back together.  At least her 
wish to feel pain had been granted.  It wasn't nearly as romantic and 
sweet as she remembered it being...but she savored every last breath of 
it.  "Yeah, I'm fine..." she hissed.  

They were sitting now on the hard metal 'bed' that had been the only 
furniture besides a toilet in the corner.  Asuka looked around with 
heavy eyes, realizing they were in a cell.  "What happened?" she 
blinked, then turned to Toji.  "And why are you here?"

"You lunged at the Commander.  He was about to cart you off to a 
holding cell so you could 'calm down', or so he said." Toji grumbled.  
"I wanted to help.  Ended up just getting the cuffs on myself."

"Baka!  Why the hell did you step in!" Asuka hissed, wanting only to be 
alone in this wonderful misery.  "Nobody asked you to!"

Toji seemed to find the concept funny.  "Because, if I didn't interrupt 
him, Shinji was about to pick up a chair to lob at his father."

Asuka blinked, then slumped down a bit.  "Oh." She smiled weakly.  
"That would have been a lot worse, I suppose."

"Don't mention it." Toji smiled brightly.  After all, this was Asuka's 
version of a heartfelt apology, and it was nice to have 'earned' one, 
even if he would never admit it. 

The images came back to her slowly, and soon, she was sitting back up 
again, straight.  "W...did I imagine the new kid?"

Toji sighed and shook his head.  "No.  I guess they found the Fifth 
Child.  I didn't get a chance to ask his name, but the test seemed to 
be going just fine."

Asuka sighed and nodded. 

"I'm sorry." Toji said gruffly.  "I know it must be a bitch to watch 
some little punk in your Eva.  It's not right what they're doing, and I 
just needed to tell you that now." He paused, then sighed. "I'm sorry 
if you didn't want me to say that." He added. 

Asuka smiled up at him.  "It's okay.  I figured it out on my own." 
Then, a bit softer.  "Thanks, though.  I was getting worried that I was 
the only one who thought it was a bad thing."

Their conversation was interrupted by the loud clang of the door 
opening, and a white light flooding their eyes, drowning out the giant 
red glow of the NERV logo behind them.

"Second and Forth Children will report to Commander Ikari immediately." 
A loud, annoying guard said, snapping his movements into crisp 
perfection as he vacated the door for them to exit.

"Ahh, shiest." Asuka hissed as they both got up.  "Another trip to the 
'principal's office'."  

Toji nodded, crossing his arms and doing his best to intimidate the 
guard with a glare as they walked by.  The guard smiled inwardly.  Good 
kid.  Maybe if he was a foot taller, it would have worked.  






Shinji felt like a caged animal as he paced back and forth in the hall.  
Rei watched him with an almost (for Rei) worried expression.  Misato 
just tried to look indifferent and wished she had a beer, rather than a 
can of soda.  "There's not much we can do for now." She mentioned out 
loud. 

"She's going to get kicked out." Shinji said, resting his head against 
one of the metal lockers with a loud 'CRACK!'.  "My father is going to 
kick her out and then she's going to get depressed and run off 
somewhere I'll either never find her, or she's goinna do something 
stupid and..." he cringed. 

"Ikari-kun." Rei said.  "Asuka will not do anything stupid."

Misato and Shinji looked at her.  "You don't know that for sure." 
Shinji frowned, then began to pace again.  

"I do." Rei said quickly.  In fact, it was a rather forceful tone (for 
Rei) and it gave him pause.   "She will be fine.  Also, Toji-kun is 
there with her."

Misato smiled softly as Shinji sighed and sat down between them.  Rei 
even looked slightly relieved (well, for Rei).  "This day got off to a 
bad start." She sighed.  "We really should try to make the best of it, 
Shinji."

He glared at Misato.  "And how do we do that?"

"Try to be nice to the new guy, for one." Misato said, glaring him back 
down.  "I know full well you want to tear anyone a tracheotomy if they 
hurt Asuka, but this poor guy probably just came in on a midnight 
flight, hasn't eaten or slept yet, and it is VERY probable he hasn't 
even been told he's replacing anyone."

Shinji sighed again, and relaxed another level in his little onion-
layer ball of anger.  "You're right."

"Everyone is talking like we might actually be able to go home soon." 
Misato sighed and stretched her head and shoulders back.  "And with the 
last two Angels almost ripping us apart, I think that everyone just 
wants the job done, and over with." She sighed.  "You know we can't 
count on Asuka right now, and if that means we all die, I think causing 
her a little bit of job insecurity is acceptable."

"That's cruel, Misato." Shinji said.

"But you know I'm right, don't know." She replied.   

It was a moment of silence, but Shinji finally nodded his head.  "Hai."

"The whole reason we're here, Shinji, is because we all play a part to 
get the job done." Misato continued.  "I'm sure there are many people 
better for my job than I am.  However, I know what we're up against, 
and therefore, I think differently than some asshole off the job-pool 
who has a decade more experience than I have and three degrees on the 
wall." She smiled softly.  "Asuka is an amazing pilot.  But right now, 
she can't handle the mental pressure.  So, in a rare move, she will be 
held to the side so she doesn't die like everyone else seems to do in 
this bloody organization."

"Hai.  I agree." Shinji said, looking up at his roommate.  "I don't 
want her to die.  I just feel angry, I guess."

"We all do, Shinji." Misato sighed and stood.  "The fact your father 
seems to have so much...fun...pointing out everyone else's mistakes 
doesn't help.  But when this is all over, I want to be able to visit 
you and Asuka when you're all grown up and married and have little 
chibi-versions of yourselves running around." She winked.  "Got it?  No 
more sad stories after this job.  I want you two to be happy."

"As do I, Ikari-kun." Rei smiled warmly.  "I have heard that baby-
sitting is a rewarding experience.  I would enjoy helping out."

Shinji smiled and blushed. "Arigato, Rei-chan."

Misato laughed.  "Now that would be fun to watch."

"Yes.  I have heard that it is important to have a reliable babysitter 
so that the married couple can still have time for sex." Rei said 
casually.  

Both Shinji and Misato felt their jaws drop. 

"Uhm...where did you hear that?" Misato blinked. 

"I was reading one of your beauty magazines." Rei said with a smile.  
"I also learned one hundred and four new...uhm...'sex-tips'.  The one 
with the cold rock behind his..."

"AHH!" Misato clasped her hands over the younger woman's mouth.  "Rei, 
it's not polite to talk about these things in public."

Rei smiled brightly.  "I was just kidding, Misato."

Misato began to get very worried that Rei now had the sense of humor to 
fake her out.  Shinji just laughed. 

"I'll tell you what, Shinji.  You go and get some food, and we'll stay 
here and wait for the new kid, and also keep an eye out for Asuka and 
Toji.  Sound okay?"

Shinji nodded, glad to have a task he could keep his mind busy with, 
and began to walk down the hall.  "I'll bring some instant ramen for 
everyone." He promised.  

"And beer." Misato called after, hopeful, but not really expecting it.








  


Somehow, he wasn't entirely surprised to see a giant bowl of water 
where the ramen stand used to be.

The cafeteria had been closed for the day, so Shinji had left NERV in 
hopes of venturing to the ramen stand were they had, so far, shared 
some of the nicest, peaceful meals he had remembered.  Unfortunately, 
it was a bit closer to the site of the Unit 00 explosion than he 
remembered. 

"I wonder if the owner got out okay." He whispered out loud.  The man 
who owned the store seemed like he was always there, and there were 
several people in Tokyo 3 that ignored the evacuation alerts when they 
came.  

Many had realized a bunker would not save them if the end really wanted 
to come and take their lives.  

He had only dared glance over the shoulders of Maya once or twice as 
she had been preparing reports, or reading them from the Magi.  From 
what he could tell, this last Angel caused more deaths in the city than 
the others all combined.  It had been so quick...and the results so 
finite.  

Would the next Angel kill them all?  

And all the while, he wondered to himself, what he was doing wrong.  
What he was doing right.  There had to be a way to tell besides his own 
heart that he didn't entirely trust.

Even scarier, what would happen if the next Angel died and they were 
done?  Would he take this all to heart?  Would he learn, or suffer?  
Would peace come after?  Or would it only bring the chance for the 
nightmares he knew were waiting in the cracks of his mind...?

What use were all these lessons...learning them...taking them to 
heart...and believing in them...

If everything stayed the same.

And yet, he begged himself to remember.  Everything.  Lessons he saw 
from his childhood.  The way other children seemed to learn in these 
strange new ways he did not know yet.  The ones of most recent.  The 
ones that contradicted the ones he made up himself, but seemed to be 
such a natural fit that he embraced them with open eyes and an open 
mind.  

What if he died tomorrow?

Shinji had long since told himself that it wouldn't matter if he died 
tomorrow. 

But...

He needed to prove something, first.  He had to show himself this was 
all worth something.  That he wasn't just a forgotten lesson.  

He couldn't die.  Not just yet. 

The crater in front of him, however, seemed to disagree.  He could die 
anytime.  And he would.  If he was unlucky, he would die with many 
people he wished to see alive on his deathbed.  

Death was not playing favorites, and Shinji knew he was hardly worth 
the favoritism.  Not even to kind, ramen-selling old men.  

All of a sudden, he imagined the explosion.  But, instead of a thing of 
terror, it seemed amazing.  It was focused in on a white giant, far off 
from his tiny eyes.  She seemed wrapped in a snake, pure light.  It's 
movements seemed edgy and strained at first, but then, as the light 
expanded, the giant flowed.  

At first, terrible.  Then graceful.  The bindings melted off Unit 00, 
and for a brief moment, it was a free creature.  Shinji felt blinded by 
the light, refracted around in his tears, as it washed over him 
silently.  While he could feel the ground solid on his feet, he 
imagined the cataclysmic shockwave follow on the heels of the light.  A 
wall of vapor clouded his view, but lit up the sky, far outclassing the 
noon sun.  

As he blinked, only the calm water remained; ruddy in the evening 
light.  Some familiar song seemed to float on the wind as he woke from 
the vision.

That would be how he would die, if Eva was to be his death.  He felt 
slightly humbled that such an amazing sight should herald the death of 
an un-amazing life. 

Shinji sighed, looking down at the shore, watching the gentle waves 
come up to tap his shoes.  All of a sudden, though, he realized the 
song he was hearing was not in his head.  

Symphony Number Nine.  An Ode to Joy.  

In his reflection, he saw another young man.  One with grey hair, and a 
strange air about his posture that made him think of Rei.  

As the humming of Ode to Joy stopped, the boy looked over to him with 
the kindest of smiles.  "The view is improved with song, is it not?"

His voice seemed familiar, yet alien to Shinji.  It was a fine voice.  
Soft, but intelligent.  He couldn't help but smile.  "The view?" he 
turned to the crater.

The boy was perched on top of a large piece of debris that once made up 
a telephone pole and transceiver.  Now, it was simply a handy lawn 
chair to watch the water go by.  He slid down to the ground, but 
remained leaning against the rubble.  "A song is the greatest 
achievement of the human soul." He explained. "How could it not improve 
a sunset such as this?"

Shinji nodded, looking up at the sunset he had, until now, not seen.  
"It seems to help a lot." He admitted.  

A laugh.  "Your view seems entirely too clouded, Ikari Shinji-kun.  I 
am glad you could have a song to help you see through it."

Shinji blinked, then turned to him.  "How do you know my name?  I 
haven't met you before."

The boy smiled widely, walking over to him.  "It is much nicer to think 
that we have all met somewhere before, and will all meet again." He 
shrugged.  "That way, you never have to say 'good-bye', and only 
'hello, friend!'"

Shinji smiled and bowed his head.  "Well, then, hello again!" he said 
with an amused chuckle.

"I am Nagisa Kaoru." He raised his hand to shake.

"Nagisa-san..." Shinji blinked.  "You have a very good name."

The other boy paused, then smiled.  "As do you, Shinji-kun." He turned 
to the water.  "So, if your name means 'Truth', I know you will tell me 
why you are here, instead of relaxing at home."

"I went to get ramen..." Shinji looked down at his watch, and tried not 
to cringe.  "But, if my friends were hungry, they have probably eaten 
by now."

"Then we should go back to NERV and find some food for ourselves." 
Kaoru advised.  

Shinji was a bit surprised.  "You work at NERV as well?"

"Yes." The boy smiled and began walking off.  "I am Nagisa Kaoru... 
Fifth Children."

Shinji stood there for a moment, watching the boy walk off.  Something 
seemed wrong.

"Are you to join me for dinner?  Or would you like to be left to gaze 
at the sunset?"

He sighed, ignored the feeling gnawing inside his brain, and followed.  
"Coming!"










"Obstruction of the Project." Commander Ikari said, hands folded.  Eyes 
shining behind those glasses.  "Assault on a superior officer.  Breach 
of protocol." He turned to Toji.  "And another charge of assault on a 
superior officer, as well as the special security division."

Toji and Asuka stood still, their hands bound.  They shed no emotion.  

"These are serious charges." Gendo said.  "NERV is not a daycare for 
children who cannot behave."

Asuka fought back a dozen biting replies to that statement.  Most of 
them were stopped, not out of fear of reprisal, but respect for Rei 
(who had been a well of good anti-NERV jokes in her mind until 
recently) and Toji, who would more than likely feel any wrath she 
stirred up in the next few minutes.

"Have you anything to say, Miss Langley?" Gendo stood, walking over to 
her.  Always with the cold wall of separation, but with a glare that 
could do physical harm if you let it.  "We were under the impression 
that you were a mature, learned young woman.  Not a foolish baby."

Asuka looked up at him without fear.  "I plead insanity."

Gendo blinked, then smirked.  "Is that so.  You seem perfectly fine at 
the moment."

"Since when were you the expert on the human condition, Old Man?" Toji 
snapped.  "I don't see your employees throwing you parties for your 
'wisdom'."

Gendo peered to the boy with the same smirk.  "And you, Mister 
Suzuhara."

"Yeah?  What about me." He smirked back.  "Your guard threw my friend 
against the wall.  I just wanted to make sure the damn ape didn't do 
anything else."

"May I remind you that we now have an overabundance of Evangelion 
Pilots." Gendo said, then walked back over to his desk.  "Rei is quite 
able to replace you."

Now came Toji's turn to grit his teeth.  "If you think that you are 
threatening me, you're full of..."

"That's exactly right." Gendo said with a dark voice.  "I am 
threatening you.  The moment you cease to exist as a useful entity to 
me, the sooner you will cease to exist."

Toji faltered.  At first, he couldn't believe this asshole just said 
that to him.  But then, the cold reality around him...this room...the 
guards with semi-automatics outside...and the only witness also 
'expendable'.   

Gendo smiled, noting the reaction was sufficient. 

Toji stepped forward.  "I will pilot to protect my friends.  If you 
wanna stop me, then go the fuck ahead." He grumbled, clenching his 
fists together.  "Otherwise, let us go and stop wasting our time."

Gendo turned to Asuka.  "Very well.  Mister Suzuhara may report to the 
Major for his next training assignment."

Asuka flinched.  

"However, the Second is unstable.  She is a danger to herself, and 
others." He said in that way he could smile, and not smile at the same 
time.  "You will be escorted to Ward Three of the NERV clinic for 
evaluation."

The guards appeared as if they were waiting for the cue.  They probably 
were.  Toji gasped and was about to lunge at one of them when Asuka 
turned to him and shook her head.  "No."

"But..."  he watched helplessly as they grabbed her by her handcuffs 
and began to pull her out the door.  She offered little resistance. 

"Tell Shinji...that I'll try to get better." She whispered.  "I'll try 
to help.  Just tell me when the next Angel comes.  Okay?"

The door shut before he could say anything.  

Toji turned, now facing the Commander.  "I hate you." He whispered.  

Gendo just smiled.  "Don't worry...it will pass."

The door opened once more, but nobody was on the other side.  Only an 
empty hall.  Toji turned from the doorway and shook his head.  "I don't 
want it to pass.  I want to hate you forever."

The door closed swiftly behind him. 

Gendo leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling.  "I have no 
time for hate anymore." He whispered at the patterns around him.  "Time 
is growing short.  The final Angel will be here, and we will eradicate 
it."

A long, long pause.  

"Please...hold on just a little longer, Yui."










"You look troubled, Shinji-kun."  Kaoru said, looking up from the soup 
he was eating.  "Is there anything you wish to tell me?"

"Yes." Shinji sighed.  "And no.  But...I suppose it is okay, so long as 
you don't get offended."

After a long, futile search for food at the cafeteria, and finding that 
Misato had been called away on some official business, Shinji and Kaoru 
had decided on a vending machine and the empty cafeteria, now only 
populated by them and a lone janitor off on the other corner.  

"I thought that I would hate you." Shinji said, looking up with a small 
smile.  "I was worried that, because you were replacing one of my 
friends, I would be mad at you, and maybe lash out."

Kaoru blinked, then smiled as always.  "I understand.  It is hard to 
get to know new people...especially if they push friends away."

Shinji sighed and nodded, working on a sandwich of his own.  "But...I 
guess this is good, because I get to meet a new person.  And it doesn't 
mean any of my friends are gone.  Just..." he looked up.  "Is it hard 
for you to meet people too?"

"It is the nature of humans." Kaoru said.  "They do not want to be hurt 
by others, and so, build walls around themselves.  Friends are walls 
too...they keep familiar in, and unknown out."

"But...they also need you to act as a wall, then." Shinji looked up and 
sighed.  "It's hard being a wall, or hiding behind walls all the time."

"So..." Kaoru shrugged nonchalantly.  "Then what am I?"

Shinji raised his eyebrow, then looked at the boy for a moment.  "You 
are someone who slipped through a crack, but does not seem to be a bad 
unknown."

He laughed.  "Then you see me as an intruder.  A thief, perhaps?"

Shinji blushed and sat up straight.  "Not at all!  I was simply... 
making comparison." He smiled.  "Maybe you are a thief...but I have 
nothing to steal."

Kaoru thought about it for a moment.  Even then, though, he always 
seemed to have pre-fabricated answers.  "What if I am a locksmith, 
then?"

"Pardon?"

"What if I am here to help you break out of your wall that you feel 
comfortable behind, yet do not want to be in?" he paused to take a long 
sip of the broth, finishing it with a happy sigh.  "What if we were 
destined to meet, Ikari-kun?"

Shinji considered it for a while, then smiled.  "And what if we 
weren't?"

Kaoru laughed happily at the response, then stood.  "Then our futures 
have no barring on each other.  I may go about my business, and you may 
yours." He walked over to the trash and deposited his meal's left-
overs.  

Shinji shrugged. "Maybe."

"But..." Kaoru turned.  "I believe that fate has put us together." He 
smiled happily.  "I look forward to talking to you later."

Shinji jumped as his watch beeped, alerting him to the time.  "Ahh!  I 
should get back home!  Misato and the others will be worried!"

"It must be nice to have a home you can go to." He smiled softly.  

Shinji blinked, then nodded as he packed up his things. "Well, 
uhm...where are you staying?"

"NERV provides a dorm." Kaoru explained, then shrugged.  "I do not 
require a place to sleep, Shinji-kun." He paused, then smiled.  "Unless 
you would like to join me."

An almost audible twitch sounded in Shinji's head, but he just laughed 
it off.  "Well, I'll tell you what...Maybe I will talk to you later." 
He shrugged and smiled.  "How does that sound?"

"Perfect." Kaoru bowed his head.  "You can ask reception on my room or 
phone number." He smiled.  "Feel free to come by anytime.  I like 
talking with you, Shinji-kun."

Shinji considered his response.  He didn't want to sound too quick to 
answer, or fake.  But, he finally smiled and nodded.  "Me too.  Thank 
you, Kaoru-kun."

He watched the gray-headed boy walk off, then did so himself, shaking 
his head.  

"Another Kaoru..." he sighed, then smiled.  "Maybe they're good luck."








Major Katsuragi felt the need for something a lot stiffer than beer as 
she tried to digest the news of the day.  What a fucked up day.  

Inside, huddled around the television, sat Maya, Toji and Kensuke.  
Maya was trying to put on a good face, but both boys looked grave.  
Pen-Pen watched the TV, but even he seemed worried about something. 

Two people shared her balcony with her.  Misato turned to Ritsuko and 
Makoto.  The older woman seemed content to stare out at the night's 
sky.  The younger man was watching Misato nervously.  "What do you 
think of all this, Major?"

"It seems odd that the last few attempts of the Angels have been to get 
Asuka away from her Eva." He whispered.  "And...if...if the Fifth 
really is an Angel..." she shook her head.  "We cannot allow him to 
pilot.  Not even for tests.  We must watch him, just to be sure." 

"What if we need him to pilot?" Makoto asked.  

"Then we let him.  If we have to fight another Angel, that means he's 
not." Ritsuko said.  "I am quite certain that there is only one more.  
Ikari's plans are all based on it.  Even the plans from the old men at 
SEELE seem to be coming to a climax."

"And, Asuka?" Misato turned.  "Were you able to find out where they are 
keeping her?"

Ritsuko nodded, then looked inside to Toji, who seemed deeply 
reflective at the moment.  "The kid did good.  Third Ward is all brain-
related.  It was easy to track her down.  The Commander didn't order 
anything beyond her being confined in her room...but...some of the 
doctors there might go above his head and order medication." She 
paused.  "Especially if Asuka fights it."

"Oh shit..." Misato shivered in the warm night's air.  "Please don't 
tell me that...I have enough things haunting me." She paused, then 
looked up at the blonde.  "What about the other thing."

Ritsuko looked away.  "At...well...at first, I thought you were insane 
for asking.  And, normally, I would have passed it off and gone for 
more coffee."

Misato grumbled.  "Then why didn't you?"

"Because...the Magi were hacked into a while back, and I thought that, 
maybe, that was the bit that was changed." She smirked.  "It seems so 
foolish, that someone would hack a super-bio-computer just to change 
the ages of a few children, but it was a start.  A pointer.  Somewhere 
I could look, instead of guess."

"And?" Misato blinked. 

"Nothing." She laughed.  "As far as anyone but the actual Children 
know, they're fifteen, but only after their birthdays this year."

"Shit." She sighed.  "So much for that."

Ritsuko shook her head.  "However, Maya and I found some other 
interesting things while we were looking." She looked around.  "The 
Fifth Child has no records.  Much in the same way as Rei.  The 
Commander, or maybe even SEELE, did not want anyone to know where he 
came from.   I'm guessing SEELE, since Ikari seems to think he's got 
another wonderful, expendable pilot." She cleared her throat.  
"But...the kicker is the test results from the boy."

"They were pretty high from what little I saw of them." Misato nodded. 

"No.  That's not it." Ritsuko shook her head.  "You see...at first, 
they were just nice, high sync rates.  But...after the first minute, it 
was like he could control the actual sync ratio through his will."

Misato blinked.  

"Think of the Eva like this...You have a huge monster with this big 
void of consciousness and soul.  It NEEDS to connect to a soul and a 
mind to function.  And then you have the pilot...who is normally not 
used to sharing their soul, but will learn...and sometimes...can 
naturally." Ritsuko said, then took a moment to think of how to 
continue.  

"When the pilot wants to connect to the Eva, their soul is amplified so 
it can fill that huge void in the Eva, and hopefully, cause it to 
move...fight...do whatever.  Right?"

"I'm with you so far." Misato nodded. 

"But, the technology is still new...and as you saw with the dummy plug, 
it is not perfect.  Even in it's most pure form of the dummy 
plug...amplified to 100% Sync, the Eva knew it wasn't real, and failed 
to activate." She grinned...a little bit spooky.  "However, when you 
get someone like Shinji...who has all this soul, and this natural 
ability to give it to the Eva...mad enough, we have seen the ratio past 
400%, meaning the void is not only filled, but it actually permeates 
itself, flooding the pilot AND Eva with this supercharged....uhm... 
soul." she laughed.  "I'm not making any sense, am I."

Misato smiled.  "You're doing fine."

"While this new kid cannot reach the amazing numbers that Shinji and 
Asuka can, he..." she paused, then sighed.  "I can't explain it...but I 
believe that he can bypass the Entry Plug."

The Major blinked.  "What do you mean?"

"He's able to share his soul with the Eva like it was like popping 
bread in a toaster." Ritsuko said, then shook her head.  "He doesn't 
need to amplify, or change any signals or bullshit like that.  He 
just...syncs at whatever he wants to.  If he wants to sync at 40% so he 
doesn't feel much more than a pin-prick when Unit-02 gets shot, he 
could.  Then, he could ramp it up to 90%, explode through an AT Field, 
then rip whatever is behind it apart."

Misato shook her head and exhaled.  "Damn."

"And that's not all." Ritsuko smiled, shaking a bit.  "We found out, 
finally, what was changed in the hack.  You see...all this...this is 
real.  It hasn't just been placed in the Magi to frighten us."

"Then..." Misato swallowed hard.  "What was changed?"

"Maya and I found out that the only thing changed was a personnel file.  
A birth record, and a working history.  That's all." Ritsuko looked up 
and shook her head.  "Some guy named Kaoru.  The exact same name of 
this new Child...but he's almost twice the age.  Even had the picture 
to prove it.  For a while there, I thought I was onto something."

Misato turned away.  "Shit."

Ritsuko sighed, then turned her eyes to the sky.  "I get the distinct 
feeling that I'm watching a very, very, bad soap opera, and I can't get 
out...and I can't change how it's going to end."

"That's it.  Everyone's here now...I was so blind..."  The Major walked 
over to her coat, and to everyone's surprise, pulled out her pistol and 
checked it for it's ammo.  "It's going to happen tomorrow."

Makoto walked up behind Misato and placed his hand on her shoulder.  
"Misato-chan...what's going to happen tomorrow?"

She turned to him, trying not to show how much she was shaking.  "The 
beginning of the end." She said softly.  "The final Angel will attack 
tomorrow."










The gray headed young man was walking down the hall, aimed towards the 
dorms, but in no hurry, it seemed, to get there.  He began to hum "Air" 
to himself, almost as if on a whim.  As he did, he changed his course 
so he was in the middle of the hall, not on the very right. 

It was a good thing he did, because he might have tripped over the 
blue-haired woman there, waiting for him.
 
"Stop." Rei said softly.

Kaoru already had.  He turned to her with sharp, red eyes.  "First 
Children.  Ayanami Rei.  It is good to see you again."

Rei frowned, then cocked her head to the side slightly.  "We have not 
met."

"We have.  So I will simply say 'hello, friend'." Kaoru said, stepping 
past her. 

"Stop." Rei ordered once more.  

Once again, Kaoru stopped and turned to face her.  "Yes?"

"We are not friends." Rei said.  There was something in her voice that 
she hadn't expected on having.  Almost...anger.  "I am sure of it." She 
added to bolster her confidence. 

Kaoru peered at her for a moment.  Then, the smile came back.  "Maybe 
you are right...but we are the same, nevertheless."

Rei frowned more, then walked up to him.  "I will not allow you to hurt 
Ikari-kun."

Kaoru blinked, then watched Rei walk away, back down the side-hall.  
For Rei, it was her version of storming off, even though she never even 
slammed the door behind her. 

Kaoru turned, continued on his path despite the interruption, and 
continued to hum.












Forty-Fifth Lesson:  "Where Angels fear to Tread"







"Tell me again why I have to follow your bitch-ass around the 
wilderness?" Kaji yelled out as he slipped down the hill once again. 

He was getting rather good at it, Kaoru smirked.  Even had enough time 
to yell out that phrase before he hit the bottom.  "Because I know 
where I'm going!" he called back.  

Kaji dusted himself off and with an angry grunt, threw himself up onto 
the cliff-face and ran up as far as he could before the incline forced 
him to hang on and take the next bit with more patience.  "I know 
exactly where you're going.  Straight to hell, and you're goinna take 
us all along with you!"

Kaoru sighed.  "You know, after the first thirty times you said that, 
it was amusing.  Now it's just dull." He reached into his backpack and 
pulled out a rope.  "Now hold still and I'll pull you up...wuss." He 
added after a beat.

"Maybe that's why I hate you so much...you remind me too much of 
myself." Kaji grumbled.  

"I'm touched!" The other man smiled happily as he lowered the rope.  
"That's very nice of you to say, Kaji-san!"

With a sigh, Kaji took the rope and waited for Kaoru to tie it to a 
tree.  "Can't you just fly down here or something?  Or use an AT Field 
to lift me up?"

"Of course not.  That would be silly."  Kaoru said frankly.  "Besides, 
I'm still pretty rusty when it comes to AT Fields.  You wouldn't want 
me to mess up.  I'm not nearly as good as you think."

Kaji sighed and climbed the rope.  It took the man a good five minutes, 
and he was gasping by the time he got to the top.  With the weather not 
only hot, but humid, it was a hard climb in the thin, wet air.  This 
would be the last part of the trip they would have to go 'up', though.  
They were standing on the very tip of the Japanese Shield, the mountain 
ridge that made up most of the inner country's defence against the 
rising waters.  A whisper of a road with a ragged old sign betrayed the 
true nature of the ridge...that it was once only a lonely hiking trail.  
Barely wide enough for a Jeep even back then, it was now a hazard on 
the most steady of foot.  

The view, however, was amazing.  Behind them, they could see the great 
Tokyo valleys clouded in mist.  They were huge...mostly due to the use 
of N2 mines the last decade or so.  Even then, they were more than a 
day's travel away...and most of that had been by a NERV truck.  

In front of them lay a steep bed of wild forest, and beyond that, the 
ocean.  It seemed clear and blue...stretching on forever in all 
directions.  Kaji's breath was caught, but not by fatigue.  It was one 
thing to see the ocean...and another to actually trek towards it.  
"Wow..." he whispered.

"I knew you'd like it." Kaoru smiled, then shook his head.  "We should 
reach it by tomorrow evening." He pointed off to a tiny little speck.  
The last remaining Izu island.  The others had long since disappeared 
under the water.  Lucky for them, it was also the closest to shore. 

"If you knew this was so important..." Kaji huffed as he began to tie a 
rope to another tree, then prepared to repel down the first bit of the 
cliff.  "Why are we only now heading there?"

Kaoru smiled.  "Because, I don't want to interrupt the final exams."

"I hate teacher humour.  So why do I have to come?" Kaji sighed, then 
jumped.

Just before Kaoru did the same, he turned to the direction of Tokyo 3.  
"The last angel..." he sighed.  "I hope I've taught him enough." He 
paused and smiled.  "I hope both of us have.  Good luck."

The decent was quick, but the journey was just beginning.










"Asuka..." Shinji whispered, looking through the glass.  

He seemed to be doing this all too much lately.  This was not a 
recovery room, however.  It was, what familiars in the area liked to 
call it, the 'shrink ward'.  There was a bandage on her left arm, 
sleeve pulled back.  Under it snaked an IV that was keeping her sedated 
and alive.  

For now, anyway.

The doctors all had left for the evening.  It was only by sheer luck 
that the guard was able to be convinced to let him see her.  Even then, 
the door was to be kept locked.  No amount of badge-flashing had 
convinced the man otherwise.  

"What happened to her?" Shinji asked, looking up at the man.  

He was an elderly gentlemen...kind enough to sympathize, but trained 
(and in fear of losing his job) not to break the rules set out for him.  
"Uhm...I think she and the doctors had a fight.  She punched one of 
them and then they had to sedate her."

"But she's not crazy." Shinji shook his head quickly.  "Why is she in 
here?"

"She pleaded insanity to the Commander." The man shook his head.  "But 
I don't think they've run any tests yet."

Shinji let his head press against the glass as he tried to think of 
what to do.  It was hopeless...this was not like a recovery room where 
one could just walk out when they felt the need to.  If he tried, and 
failed to convince his father to let her go...the tests would be 
mysteriously pushed back for a few more days...or weeks...or...months.

He shivered, thinking of all the things she told him.  About her 
mother...the hospital.  It was too similar for it not to be hurting her 
inside.  

Toji had explained the whole thing to him.  Asuka diverted the wrath of 
his father so at least Toji would be able to pilot.  But, at what cost?  
Her actual sanity?

"Asuka...I don't want to lose you..." he whispered, praying for a 
reaction. 

Asuka just lay there...looking like she was almost asleep.  In fact, 
she looked a bit too peaceful.  She never slept like that.  

"Asuka..." he leaned against the glass.  "ASUKA!  WAKE UP!" he yelled 
out, pounding on the glass.  

There was no reaction...only the arms of the old security man dragging 
him away from the glass.  "Please!  Young sir!  Don't get me in 
trouble!" he begged.

Shinji slumped, still looking for futile hope in the sleeping form of 
the room's occupant.  "I'm sorry..." he whispered.  

The guard mistook who it was for, and said, "It's okay..." even as 
Shinji stormed out into the hall, before breaking into a run.

"Poor kid..." the guard sighed, then walked back over to the door to 
lock it.













Shinji felt like running.  

Fast.  Forever.  Away from himself.  Away from life.  The pain.  The 
pleasure.  It really didn't matter that much anymore.  He just needed 
to run.

"Why are you running?" he could hear a voice in his mind speak to him.  
It seemed impossibly wise and angry for the situation, and it came with 
the clarity that almost shook him to his senses. 

The halls of NERV were deserted, yet he still felt foolish, considering 
the answer out loud.  

"I don't know..." he gasped, still moving.  His voice now hoarse from 
it.  It was more like jogging...except he couldn't bring himself to 
actually take off and run. 

Eventually, he found himself nearly colliding with a wall.  The effort 
to dodge was enough to finally make him stop...mentally exhausted, 
though his body only seemed to follow suit. 

"Running from the pain, are you?" Kaoru-Sensei seemed to say.

He sunk to the floor slowly, gasping as he did.

"No." Shinji whispered back...slightly scared that the voice was 
continuing to become clearer in his mind.  

"Then where are you going?"

FLASH!

Back, way back...he was in a classroom now.  His legs didn't jerk with 
the sudden lack of movement, even though he expected them to when he 
looked at the desk caging him in.  

"FINAL EXAM" was written on the board in hasty, big kanji.  

In front of him was no paper, no pencil, no calculator, and no laptop.  
Only the Sensei, tapping his legs annoyingly on the side of his 
teacher's desk as he sat on the edge.  

"It doesn't matter if you choose the right answer if you don't do the 
work to get to it." He sighed, shaking his head.  "Haven't I taught you 
anything?  Or will you just guess through the test?"

"I know the answer." Shinji said back.  "I...I don't know how I got to 
it...but I have the right answer!  You can't tell me that isn't worth 
something!" he yelled.

Kaoru sighed, then shook his head.  "Very well...you have the right 
answer.  The one, final, all defining point.  But this is not a math 
problem, Mister Ikari." He adjusted his glasses as he turned away to 
the sunset outside.

Always a red sunset, it seemed.

"This is life.  You don't get points for the end of it.  Otherwise, 
everyone would get one hundred percent just for dying." He continued.  
"If you don't do the work, then your final answer is worthless." He 
paused.  "Of course, you may have already done the work...you just 
haven't written it down yet."

The empty desks around him seemed to fill with the overwhelming 
presence of everyone in the class...watching him.  Waiting for the 
right answer.  The right question.

Anything...

Shinji looked around the otherwise empty room.  His second home for the 
last half a year.  It felt strange as he remembered it was now under a 
new lake with half of Tokyo 3.  Finally, though, he turned back to 
Kaoru.  

"I want to protect Asuka.  My friends.  I want them to be happy.  I 
want to share that happiness." He said finally.  "That is the only 
answer I need."

Kaoru slid off his desk, then slammed his fists into Shinji's desk.  
The jolt almost threw him free of his seat.  "How."

"H...how?" Shinji blinked.

"Damn rights, 'How'." Kaoru shook his head, then hunched over his desk, 
glaring right at the boy.  "You think just because you want something 
it will happen?  You're not a God...and even if you had the power, your 
mind is hardly able to comprehend something of that magnitude." He 
paused for a moment, then leaned back a bit.  "So...how will you save 
her?  How will you save the woman you love?  Run away?"

"NO!" Shinji screamed.  All of a sudden, the room rocked around him.  
Kaoru seemed not to notice.  "I won't run!  Not now!"

"Fight?  Die?  What will you do, Mister Ikari?" Kaoru smirked.  "You're 
low on time, and you're not even most of the way through the test."

"I'll...I'll..." Shinji blinked, then was silent.  

The room was still.  The light seemed to fade, and he found himself in 
an uncomfortable spotlight with his Sensei. 

"Mmph.  Guessing again?" Kaoru sighed, then shook his head.  He reached 
into the darkness just beyond the little circle of reality to pull out 
a chair so he could sit as well.  

"Yes." Shinji admitted, then slumped in his own seat.  "I don't know 
the answer."

"How about Eva?" Kaoru smiled.  "Why not take Eva."

"I..." Shinji glared at his teacher.  "You're bating me."

"Who?  Me?" Kaoru smirked.  "I'm just offering you choices."

Shinji nodded.  "And at the very bottom, for 'd', you have 'none of the 
above'.  Is that it?"

Kaoru laughed.  "Maybe." He sighed.  "Maybe that's what you want to 
hear.  Maybe it's what I want to hear." He leaned forward a bit.  "But 
what answer is the one you need?"

"Eva." Shinji sighed.

"Mmm." Kaoru slumped, then nodded.  "I understand."

"No...I don't think you do." Shinji smiled softly, suddenly feeling 
clear.  "Mother...she is in Eva.  Right?"

"You know more than I do." Kaoru nodded, then leaned forward.  

"Mother is the first other.  The first person you attach to, right?  
But also, the first teacher." He said, then looked up at his Sensei.  
"And yet, I cannot use you to destroy a city." He smiled.  "But...you 
both have one common bond in my mind." 

Kaoru nodded, then smiled.

"Eva is a teacher." Shinji whispered.  "I won't use it for things it 
wasn't meant for."

Kaoru sighed, then leaned back in the seat.  "Very well.  That's still 
not much of an answer...but I suppose it will have to do." He stood.  

The classroom once again seemed whole.  He walked over to the 
blackboard.  Taking the brush, he began to erase the words on the 
board.  "You still need to answer it, though.  If you don't, you can 
never pass."

"I know." Shinji nodded, then sighed, resting his head on his desk.  

"What will you do now?"

As the words echoed in his mind, Shinji found himself on the floor, 
curled up in a ball.  The cool, smooth metal was soothing to his ragged 
mind.  

"I need to find a new point of view..." he whispered to himself.  "I 
have to find the answer..." he sighed, then stood slowly.  

He felt his way along the walls, walking to somewhere familiar.  

"I need to think..." he said to the empty halls.  











Kensuke sighed as he watched the horizon for the sunset that had yet to 
come.  "This sucks." He said.

Toji nodded.  He turned to his friend and shook his head.  "I think 
everyone wants this to be over.  I want to go far away from here and 
forget about everything for a very long time."

"You too?" Kensuke smiled.  "We should all go for a vacation."

Rei, who had been relatively silent that evening, smiled at the 
thought.  "I have always wanted to go to the mountains.  I think it 
would be fun."

"They have good hotdogs." Kensuke nodded.  When Rei and Toji looked at 
him strangely, he laughed, then shook his head.  "Sometimes, when I'm 
out playing around in my army gear, I'll head on up the Tokyo 
Valley...past all the wreckage and destruction...and there's a little 
town on the edge of it all that has this one burger joint I like.

"It's called Fran's Food or something cheesy like that.  Their food 
isn't even all that good...but one day I took a chance and ordered a 
hotdog." He continued.  "It came on a paper plate, and the bun was 
nothing more than a thick slice of bread wrapped around it...and even 
that was soaked through by this horrible looking red and green sauce 
and grease mixture." He smiled.  "But I was hungry, and took a big 
bite."

A long pause.

"And?" Toji blinked.

"Best damn hotdog I ever had." Kensuke smiled happily.

Toji laughed and shook his head.  "Sounds good.  We'll have to go."

Rei nodded.  "I would also like a hotdog."

They were all silent after that as the last few lights of the city 
turned off, if they were in buildings and homes, or on, if they were 
streetlamps.  

"It's late." Toji sighed.  

"Ikari-kun won't be back tonight, I think." Rei whispered. 

Kensuke nodded.  "Do you think we'll survive this?"

There was a long pause, but finally, Toji nodded.  "Yes.  Shinji just 
needs some time to figure out what to do.  How to save Red-Devil."

Kensuke seemed to approve the answer, because he nodded, and said 
nothing.  

Finally, one by one, they walked back into the apartment.  Each going 
to sleep a moment later once they had found their allotted futons, and 
hoping dreams would be kind to them that night.









Night gave way to Shinji opening his eyes to a harsh, artificial 
happiness that was the sunlight.  In the large, bay windows that were 
built on the side of a pyramid, he wondered how it could be so bright 
under the Geofront and it's cold, metal shell.  

Humans needed light and dark to function, he reasoned.  Day and night 
were balanced so the human animal could sleep and work at the right 
times according to their biological clocks and devices. 

Is that why they took Asuka from him?  Is that why everyone went away?  
So he would pilot Eva?  And yet, like threatening a child to go to bed 
without desert, they also threw in the rule that if he did not pilot 
Eva, Asuka...everyone...would go away forever. 

Either way, it would still become night time.

Days like this made the wait for morning almost impossible.  

"You're up early, Shinji-kun." A familiar voice came behind him as he 
sat up on the couch.  The hard foam plastic had been his nest for the 
night.

He turned, eyes still fluttering in the barely-new sun, and saw Asuka's 
replacement...er...Kaoru-kun.  "Ohay...ooh..." he yawned, then shook 
his head, looking at the time on the wall.  "Early?  I hadn't noticed." 
He sighed.  It was just coming on five a.m..

With Shinji sitting, instead of laying, the grey-haired boy smiled and 
took it as an invitation, plopping down right besides him.  "You should 
have came home with me, Shinji-kun.  It's not very good to sleep here."

Shinji blushed considerably, then turned away.  "I did go home...but... 
my friend is in the hospital, so I had to come back."

Kaoru nodded, genuinely concerned.  "What has happened to them?"

"They angered the Commander." Shinji whispered.  "She is now alone in 
the hospital.  They think she's sick in the head...but I know it's 
because of my father."

The older boy nodded, then shook his head.  "You do not agree with your 
Father?" he shook his head.  "That is a sorry thing...but hardly 
uncommon."

"Mmm, is it now." Shinji stood, stretching as he walked over to the 
windows.  The Geofront seemed indeed to be much happier than he was.  
The forest below seemed tranquil and peaceful.  "Most people my age 
like their fathers.  They may even love them." With a long, tired 
breath, he shook his head.  "I'm tired of hating my father...but he 
doesn't seem to want to change."

"Fathers do not change easily." Kaoru said, walking up behind him.  
"That is why boys must learn from them."

Shinji turned to Kaoru.  "Do you...hate your father?" he blushed.  "I 
mean..."

"It's okay." Kaoru smiled brightly, as if it was impossible to offend 
the young man.  "No, I don't hate him.  I love him dearly.  But I do 
not agree with his choices sometimes."

Shinji smiled slightly, hopefully.  "Really?  What do you do, then?"

"I take his judgement in good faith." Kaoru said happily.  "He has 
worked many miracles for me...and to doubt him would be foolish.  I 
don't pretend to be as wise as he is, so I must admit...a leap of faith 
is what helps me accept him."

The young Ikari sighed, then nodded.  "My father...he's like that 
sometimes." He looked up at the sky outside.  "But...he hurts so many 
people, and takes away things I love.  Even if I don't know what he 
knows, I can't accept that he is doing good."

Kaoru nodded, then began to walk.  "Come with me?"

Shinji followed, catching up.  "Has your dad...ever...done bad things?" 
he sighed.  "I mean...horrible things?"

"Like killing people?  Giving orders?  Taking away your freedom?" he 
stopped, then grinned.  "Things like that?"

Shinji nodded.  "Yes."

"Yes." Kaoru nodded, then continued.  "But, has YOUR father done things 
good?  Very good things?  Grand things?"

"I..." Shinji nodded.  "Yes.  He has."

"Like what?" Kaoru pressed.  

Shinji had to think for a moment, then smiled.  "Well, he's saved 
everyone by forming NERV.  And I suppose he's given me a purpose in 
life."

"Even if you don't agree with the purpose." Kaoru offered.  "Do you 
still thank him for that gift?"

Shinji sighed, then nodded sheepishly.  "Yes.  I suppose I do."

They walked for a moment, before Kaoru stopped and opened up a door to 
their right.  "In Ancient Greece, men would commune in a most divine 
way." He said.  "Would you like to join me?"

The door said "Men's Spa" on it.  Shinji blushed for a moment, then 
sighed, nodding his head.  "Sure.  Actually, a bit of water might clear 
my head."

They entered and found they were the only ones who dared brave the 
morning so early.  It took a moment for the automatic lights to switch 
on, but soon they were in the change-room.  

"You know, I've never been in here before." Shinji smirked as he dawned 
a towel quickly. 

"It is one of the great privileges of age." Kaoru said happily, not 
seeming to mind the fact he was completely naked at this point.  "I 
dare say that this is the best method of male bonding." He walked over 
to the showers.  

"Actually, I like getting drunk much better." Shinji sighed to himself, 
trying to look away without seeming too embarrassed.  "Less water, and 
you can always pass off whatever embarrassing things you say as being 
drunk."

"Scared you'll tell me something personal, Shinji-kun?" Kaoru called 
after him, amidst the sound of water spraying. 

"A bit." He sighed, shaking his head.  "It's not every day I tell 
complete strangers about my father." He walked to a separate shower 
stall and turned on the hot and cold all the way.  The rivets of water 
seemed dull in their attempts to pierce through his numb mind.  

"Don't be silly." Kaoru smiled.  "We're much alike.  If you know 
yourself, you know me well."

"Maybe that's what I'm scared of." Shinji admitted.  

The comment was left blissfully untouched as the two finished their 
showers and walked to the main spa.  The large screen above the bath 
was showing a nice, peaceful view of Mount Fuji, while the lights were 
turned off, instead letting in the warm, foggy glow from the daylight 
outside. 

The echo of their splashes resounded for a long while.  Kaoru simply 
lay against the side, while Shinji waited out the awkward silence, 
trying to shake this uncanny feeling of deja-vu.  

"What would you like to talk about?" Kaoru asked finally, as the 
occasional drip of water and their breathing remained. 

Shinji sighed to himself.  He knew he should say something.  He didn't 
want to be rude, and for the sake of everyone, he wasn't about to let 
his feelings about Asuka's replacement get in the way of friendship and 
teamwork.  Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he should just 
pretend this Kaoru was like Sensei Kaoru.  

"I wish I knew if what I know was correct." Shinji said finally, 
looking up at the giant mountain before them.  "I don't want to wait 
until everyone dies for me to know it's wrong."

"Why would it be wrong?" Kaoru asked.  

"Not...wrong." Shinji sighed.  "I just don't know if it's what I need 
to know.  It seems so vague and impractical." He groaned and leaned 
back.  "I have more questions about myself than answers, and the world 
around me isn't helping me find those answers."

"Well, what do you want to know about yourself?" Kaoru said.  

"Why can't I be happy." Shinji mumbled, looking up at the mountain.  
"Why can't I be happy and live life like everyone else does." 

For some reason, he thought of Asuka.  An image of her ranting about 
something pierced his mind.  

"What is happiness to you?" Kaoru asked, turning to him.  "Is it a 
loving father...a safe and caring girlfriend...a purpose?  What is it?"

"Yes...but...that's not all." He sighed.  "I don't know if it has 
anything to do with other people.  Maybe it's me.  I don't know."

Kaoru smiled and laughed out loud.  "Human-kind has been trying to find 
those answers forever, Shinji-kun.  It is human destiny to question 
happiness and themselves."

Shinji shook his head.  "I just want to know where to look for 
happiness.  I know what I want...I just don't know the answers."

"Happiness is as free-will.  To some people, it is treasured and 
desired above all else.  Others take it for granted, yet fight when 
they lose it." He relaxed in the hot water for a moment.  "And yet 
others desire to be away from it.  To be led and controlled." He turned 
to Shinji.  "You may desire the idea of happiness, but feel most 
comfortable in sadness."

The young Ikari nodded humbly.  "But...what if I want to change?"

"How will you change?  What do you want to change into?"

"I...don't want to be alone.  I want to be happy." Shinji sighed, 
making a futile little splash with his hand in the water.  "I'm tired 
of being hurt."

"Then you should wish to be alone." Kaoru said.  "If you are ignorant 
of everyone around you, it is impossible for you to be betrayed."

Gendo Ikari...sitting alone at his desk.  The echo of his breathing 
impossibly loud.

"However, if you do that, you will never be rid of the feeling of 
loneliness." Kaoru continued.

Rei Ayanami...floating in a pool, fighting the urge to breathe in the 
water and explore what was next.  Fighting even harder the urge to look 
up to the sky and see that nobody was there to care if she did or not.

"True..." Shinji whispered, lost in the visions.

"A person cannot erase sadness forever." Kaoru whispered.

Asuka Langley Sohryu...laying face down in the hospital bed.  Tears go 
unseen to all but his eye.

"And it is hard to hide from pain by drowning it in false happiness." 

Misato Katsuragi...crumpled up to match her futon, surrounded by beer 
cans and old keepsakes.  Her face showed that her dreams were not being 
as kind to her as the alcohol.

Shinji turned to the young man with a sad frown.  "That's not really 
much of an answer."

"It wasn't supposed to be an answer, Shinji-kun." Kaoru smiled 
thoughtfully.  "It's meant to show that your heart is delicate...like 
glass.  You must be careful to take care of it, because it is worthy of 
love and admiration."

Shinji looked away, into the water so he could see himself.  "Then why 
does it feel cracked and broken already?"

"Maybe you just haven't been told these things." Kaoru smiled softly, 
putting his hand on Shinji's shoulder.  "That you're worth being 
loved."

Shinji looked away, not sure how to take a comment like that.  "What 
about you?  If people should be so scared of each other, why are you so 
friendly to me?"

"Because," Kaoru turned to him.  "I love you."






Maybe it was the combination of words and confusion.  Maybe it was his 
brain finally having pity and deciding to unlock...even if just for a 
moment.  

It was enough for him to see a situation similar to this.  

And the image of him battling Unit 02 right after. 

Asuka, comatose...NERV erupting around him.  The order to hunt down the 
final Angel. 

This boy.





Shinji felt his heart stop as the world seemed to crack around 
him...this time, showing reality.  

Kaoru was still talking, looking up at the giant screen above the pool. 

"To open your heart is the best way to understand another.  The moment 
I saw you, I knew our meeting was fated." The grey haired boy 
continued. 

Shinji nodded slowly.  "Is that right..." he found himself shaking from 
the images his brain gave him.  Images of that boy's head being popped 
off like a toy.

At first, he didn't know what to make of them...they were already gone, 
yet...he couldn't deny what he felt. 

Kaoru turned to him, noticing something was wrong.  "Are you okay, 
Shinji-kun?"

"Don't call me that..." he whispered, standing out of the water with 
slow determination.  

A lie...it had to be a lie.  Maybe the sleep deprivation was catching 
up to him...His imagination.

No.  Not this time.

The bile in his throat wouldn't go away as he kept reliving those 
words.  "You...you said my heart is fragile.  Like glass." Shinji 
turned around and exited the water.  

"Yes." Kaoru's smile returned.  "It is pure, and un-clouded like most 
people.  Fragile, maybe, but worthy of love and protection."

Shinji glared at him darkly.  "But if you step on it...you'll get cut."

A hand stopped him.  "Shinji-kun...what's wrong?"

Shinji spun, and his fist connected right into the boy's stomach.  
Kaoru looked surprised as he fell back into the water.  Shinji looked 
down at his fist, at first, a bit shocked.  Then, the guilt 
disappeared, and he turned on his heal and stormed off. 

Kaoru was left for a moment as Shinji went for the change rooms.  He 
sighed, then smiled, following quickly with a splash. 







Shinji had already almost finished changing when he felt a hand on his 
shoulder. 

The young boy looked at him with impossibly clear eyes.  "Shinji-kun."

He turned away, cold all over.  "Why are you here?  To taunt me?  To 
kill me?  To kill us all?"

"I think you know the answer." Kaoru sighed softly, then took away his 
hand, as if seeming to realize how inappropriate it was.  "I'm here to 
give you a choice, Shinji-kun.  Just you.  You're the only one that can 
decide."

"Decide what?" Shinji asked.

"If you pass or fail." Kaoru smiled thoughtfully, then turned to get 
dressed himself.  "When you decide, I'll be waiting." 

"I should kill you now." Shinji shivered, scared for a moment at his 
own resolution. 

"No." Kaoru said, walking out.  "After all, the stage is not yet set.  
As I said, when you are ready, I'll be waiting." 

The door closed. 

Shinji's breath stopped.  The images were no more...only the 
understanding of what he had to do.  His eyes went wide, and he bolted 
for the door.










Shinji ran down the halls, feeling them close in around him.  At first, 
he didn't know why, or where he was running. 

He wasn't really surprised when he found himself in Unit-01's cage.  

"MOTHER!" he yelled out to the empty room.  The day's work crews were 
still another hour away, safe and happy in their beds.  Nobody but the 
giant purple face and he could hear the echo.

However, it stayed motionless. 

Shinji huffed, glaring at the face.  "What happened..." he swallowed 
hard.  "What happened last time?"  

No answer. 

"I KNOW I SAW IT!" he screamed.  "Tell me, Mother!  Did I fail us last 
time?  Is that why we're going through this hell again?!?"

As if to answer in some kind of strange way...there was a horribly loud 
crashing sound.

A few cages away.   Unit-02.  

"Asuka..." Shinji whispered.  "No..." he closed his eyes...almost able 
to see the glow of the boy.  "Kaoru." 

The crimson lights began to flash, a loud klaxon cut through the air, 
and the end of the world began.









Misato wasn't really surprised when the NERV jump-jet landed on their 
condo's front lawn...smashing several of the tenants vehicles.  (The 
assholes from 119 deserved getting their annoying little Volkswagen 
trashed, anyway) The rest of the group followed with no questions or 
words as the pilot said it was an emergency, and that they all had to 
get to HQ as soon as possible.  

The flight seemed to pass as a dream.  Around her, her fellow partners 
in this nightmare had grim faces.  

Maya and Ritsuko were pouring over data from the younger woman's 
laptop, trying to get caught up on the morning's events.  Unit-02 had 
activated without a dummy plug, and was smashing through the first 
three layers of armour at the moment to get to Lilith.  

Misato wondered if she was the only one musing that Maya was flirting 
with Ritsuko.  

Kensuke and Hikari had to be left behind.  Toji had been brought his 
plug-suit, and was already changed by the time they landed at NERV.  
Determination seemed his whole world at the moment.  She smiled.  He 
was a good kid.  A fine man.  After spending the night with his friend 
and girl, he would sure to be a formidable opponent to any Angel.  

Rei was also changed, and seemed slightly more anxious than normal.  It 
was a bit scary to think that anything could creep out Rei.  However, 
the girl had gotten a brain, and some sense, so Misato couldn't blame 
her. 

She felt a bit hung over herself, but watched herself with detachment, 
gearing herself up for the day ahead.  Possibly, her last one ever.   

Rushing into the control room with Ritsuko, they were greeted to a 
strange sight.  The three dimensional holographic display was showing a 
cross-section of Central Dogma.  A bright pin-prick of red, labelled 
Unit-02 and "Pattern BLUE" was hitting layer after layer of protection 
in the bubble down to the core. 

"Status Report!" she demanded.

"Unit-01 is already in chase!" Maya said.  "Asuka is still in the ward, 
she can't be controlling Unit-02.  It's Kaoru!" 

Misato sighed, then despite herself, let out a small smile.  "Even gave 
us a warning about the name, eh, Sensei...?" finally, she sighed.  
"Keep all sensors open!  Send Unit-03 directly into Central Dogma when 
Toji is ready!"

"It may be too late by then." Ritsuko sighed, but made the 
preparations.  

All the while, Gendo and the Sub-Commander watched from their lofty 
seats.  

"It's happening quickly, isn't it."  The old man said.

Gendo nodded.  "Yes.  But it is all according to plan."

"Let's just hope it's not according to SEELE's plan too." 








It all seemed to go by so fast.  

Shinji could almost watch it all from a third persons point of view.  
He saw himself speak the same words he knew he would.  He remembered 
how Misato seemed to anxious, and scared on the comm. yet he knew he 
would catch the Enemy in time.  

The Enemy.  The Angel.  He remembered how he saw Kaoru with such 
fondness in the images.  With blushing thanks and gratefulness that 
someone had finally said those words to him. 

He wanted to go back into his mind and smack himself. 

"I know what I have chosen." Shinji whispered as he felt the air whip 
by him, descending faster and faster, catching up to the giant red 
monster below him...and the much more dangerous boy controlling it.  "I 
will not be fooled by false love.  I am not going to let this happen 
ever again." He could see Kaoru now...a tiny glowing speck. 

"I'm tired of this." He said out loud.  "I want to go home.  I want to 
be with people I love and trust." He gritted his teeth.  "I don't need 
you, Angel!  I don't need you, Sensei!" he felt the satisfying solid 
grip around his Prog-Knife as he engaged it.  "No more lessons!  No 
more tests!  I'm done!  Pass or Fail, I know who I am!"

He saw the little boy smile as the knife came down with the full 
momentum of Unit-01's falling force, completely severing Unit-02's 
shoulder-wing, and hence, taking away it's own Prog-Knife. 

"Shinji-kun!" Kaoru spoke, clear as day.  "I'm glad you're here."

Before Shinji could do anything else, Unit-02 grabbed his arms, holding 
him fast.  Shinji growled and strained, but could not break free.  
"KAORU!  What are you doing?  I know what you're planning!  I can't let 
you do it!"

The four of them plummeted past another barrier.  It gave way easily 
under the combined weight and AT-Field forces.  The world opened up 
around them, no longer just a dark, vertical shaft.

With a grunt, Shinji felt the crash as he and Unit-02 fell on top of 
each other, sending a mountain of salty-sand and LCL rocketing 
everywhere.  

Things were back in focus.  He forced himself to see the world as it 
was now...not in his vision.  Shinji could feel Unit-01 clawing back up 
to it's feet.  It was instinct.  The tiny bright dot was already 
escaping.  "Kaoru!  COME BACK HERE!" he yelled, and was about to run 
after when an impossibly tight grip held his leg fast.  

Unit-02, glaring at him with four, angry eyes. 

And then, suddenly two black streaks seemed to come from nowhere, out 
of the darkness around him, and smashed into Unit-02.  Shinji was 
amazed when he saw the bright, yellow eyes of Unit-03, and it's rubbery 
arms pinning the red Evangelion to the ground.  

"Shinji!" Toji said, causing a little intercom window to come up.  "Are 
you okay, buddy?"

"I am now!" Shinji said, huffing as he got back up to his full height.  
"Make sure you don't break Unit-02.  Asuka will kick your ass."

"I'll just be a baby-sitter." Toji grunted, then laughed, straining to 
keep the Eva in check.  "Go take care of that Angel bastard, will ya?  
I can't do everything at once."

"Shinji!  HURRY!" Misato's voice interrupted them.  "He's past the 
final gate!"

Shinji took a deep breath, already knowing what he would see inside the 
pool of LCL.  He ran.  Unit-01 ran with him. 







Kaoru sighed as he looked up to the giant, marshmallow like figure.  
"Lilith." He whispered.  "Again, I am confronted with your foolish 
visage."

The sounds of battle, and running approached.  He knew he didn't have 
much more time left. 

"What of the Sensei and his Partner?" Kaoru asked, then smiled.  "Yes, 
it looks like they did his job well.  Humans are fools beyond any...and 
yet, they seem always willing, and deserving of redemption."

Lilith said nothing.  Just stared past it's mask at the tiny man. 

"I will miss Shinji-kun." Kaoru told her.  "Yes.  But it is no more a 
sacrifice to me than last time."

A hand wrapped around him.

"Kaoru!" Shinji yelled, tightening his grip so the little man could not 
escape. 

Kaoru smiled up at him.  "Shinji-kun.  I am sorry we are not as friends 
like last time...but I carry with me that joy.  And I'm sure you do 
too."

Shinji gritted his teeth.  "Why have you done this?  Again, of all 
things?  Why must you cause us humans pain?"

"Shinji!  Are you alright?  What's doing on?  We're getting strange 
readings..." Misato's voice was suddenly cut off as Shinji turned off 
the comm..

Kaoru sighed, then smiled up at him.  "Shinji-kun, your Father has 
given you second chances before, correct?"

Shinji glared at the Angel.  "Yes."

"But not without you deserving them...and wanting them." Kaoru 
continued.  "My Father is much like yours.  He is willing to let his 
children try again when it means the fulfillment of his plans."

A long pause.  "But...why not just...change everything?" Shinji asked.  
"I...I saw this fight...how it will end..." he gasped, suddenly aware 
of how close his hand was to the trigger.  Instantly, Unit-01's hand 
relaxed, and opened up slightly.

Kaoru stood on it's palm, no longer grasped, but still caged by the 
huge fingers around him.  "It is the same reason why you Lillim must 
fight and hurt each other." Kaoru smiled with a simple, Zen-like grin.  
"You know that as well as anyone.  That without the pain, you can never 
learn to accept the happiness."

"But...the deaths?  The pain!  Why must it all repeat?" Shinji lowered 
his head.  "Do I have to kill you a million times?  Do I have to love 
you, or hate you?  Do we have to do this over and over?"

Kaoru shrugged.  "That is up to you.  Up to the future.  Still, your 
Sensei has done well.  Many deaths were prevented.  Much pain was 
eased." He smiled upwards at an invisible source.

Rei gazed back down, relaxing.  He would not hurt Ikari.  Not now.  

"And he did indeed teach you what you need to know to survive this 
time." Kaoru continued.  "I wish I could meet him again.  He was a 
great man." He smiled back to Shinji.  "I'm sure you'll be glad when 
you meet him again."

A long...long pause.  

Shinji could feel the tiny bit of pressure on his hand.  His fingers 
relaxed, and the Eva followed.  "I don't want to kill you." He 
whispered.  "Not because of how I felt last time...I just am tired of 
it."

Kaoru sighed, but still looked peaceful and happy.  "Shinji-kun, this 
is the one part of the story that can never change." He paused, 
considering what to say.  "I will still have to destroy you.  Unless 
you stop me.  My purpose was to test you.  To test Humanity.  I give 
myself to you.  I will not fight.  Not because I am tired, but because 
this time...and the last...you have earned my love and respect."  

Shinji glared, turning his head away a bit.  "Your father is too much 
like mine."

"And yet, we love them." Kaoru said.  "And so, we cannot disobey so 
easily." He laughed softly.  "I wish I could see you when you become a 
father, Shinji."

Shinji blinked, then blushed slightly.  

"You will be a fine father.  I should be honoured that...well...we'll 
leave that for now.  The future is not written in stone." Kaoru smiled 
and turned in Unit-01's hand.  

"Kaoru-kun..." Shinji shook his head.  "You could stay!  You could help 
us!"

"I cannot." Kaoru said, looking back at him.  "This is it, Shinji.  You 
wanted to know if you were taught correctly.  If you will pass or 
fail." He said.  "This is the test.  The first of many, but an 
important one."

Shinji closed his eyes.  "I know."

Kaoru watched the fingers flex slightly.  He smiled.  "I am glad to 
have known you, Shinji Ikari.  Even more so this time."






Rei left her balcony, knowing she would not need to intervene.  




Toji had finally managed to pull out Unit-02's battery packs, and 
watched the scene from the chamber entrance.  At first, he had been 
worried Shinji would let the Angel go...his hand was open, as if 
carrying something delicate. 

But he knew Shinji.  He knew Shinji was not going to let them down.  

With along sigh, he closed his eyes.  

After an impossibly long moment of silence, there was a quick, simple 
squishing sound.

Unit-01's hand opened once more to let the broken body of Kaoru Nagisa 
fall to the pool below them.










Unit-01 now held another cargo in it's hand.  Shinji stood on the 
dormant monster's limb, watching the body of the last Angel floating 
just a stone-throw away.  

"What now, Ikari?" Toji asked, yelling down from the ejected plug on 
top of Unit-03.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Shinji looked up with a confident smile.  "I don't know.  I 
don't know what's next."

Toji laughed, and shook his head.  "I didn't mean that.  I meant, what 
are we going to do tonight?"

The young Ikari looked down, at Kaoru's body.  Even with the brief 
pressure from the Evangelion, most of it was now pulp.  He tried not to 
stare too long.  "Misato will be mad...we're not answering our comm.."

"Ahh, who cares." Toji said.  "What is she going to do?  Fire us?" he 
laughed. 

Shinji looked up.  "We won...didn't we."

Toji nodded.  "More or less."

Shinji smiled.  "Then I'm going to take Asuka home."

Toji nodded, then sighed.  "They might not let her out yet, though."

"I don't care." Shinji said.  

As he did, Unit-01 reactivated.  Toji gasped as the giant Eva lifted 
it's own pilot up to it's neck, without any command.  "Damn..."











Gendo sighed as he surveyed the damage.  "Children."

The NERV hospital had a nice, thick, messy hole in it's side at the 
moment, where Unit-01 had punched through.  Around him sat five very 
terrified doctors and nurses, all shivering, and mumbling something 
about boys throwing around walls of light.  

"I should ground him for this." He continued.  Fuyutsuki couldn't hold 
back a little laugh. 

Just outside, in the Geofront, the abandoned, dormant forms of Unit-01 
and 03 hovered over the building with glaring, disapproving eyes. 

Gendo smirked at them.  "He always did take after you, Yui."

Unit-01 didn't move, but seemed to give him an impressive scowl. 

"What now?" Fuyutsuki said, trying not to smile as he and the Commander 
surveyed the damage. 

Gendo shook his head, then turned to him.  "It's not over.  SEELE will 
not stand for this.  We should expect the attack within forty-eight 
hours."

"Not much time to prepare." Fuyutsuki shook his head.  "Unit-02 will 
have to have some repairs.  Central Dogma too."

"It must be done.  On time." Gendo said, walking away.  "We have no 
choice in the matter."

"What about your son?" Fuyutsuki asked finally, dreading the response, 
but needing to ask anyway. 

Gendo didn't bother turning to his older friend.  

"Unit-01's pilot did well today.  I suppose a day off is the standard 
reward.  Then, I'll ground him."

The Sub-Commander smirked, turning to Unit-01 outside before following 
the Commander.











"Shinji-kun..." a tired, sleepy voice asked as they walked across the 
empty street.

The young Ikari turned to Asuka, and smiled.  "Yes, Asuka-chan?"

"How did I get out here?" she blinked, looking around.  The sunset was 
almost upon them as they were on the last street to Misato's condo.

Toji was helping Shinji carry Asuka on their shoulders, and he shook 
his head.  "Baka-Shinji saved your ass from the bad doctors."

Shinji blushed.  "Kinda."

Asuka smiled sleepily, looking up at him, stopping so she could give 
him a big hug.  "Thank you, Baka-Shinji-kun."

Toji politely looked away, pretending to find the cicadas more 
interesting. "Actually, he threw around some AT-Fields.  Scared the 
shit out of me.  Where the hell did you learn that from?"

"Not sure." Shinji admitted as they continued to walk.  "I think it was 
all a test or something.  Maybe it was meeting Kaoru...the Angel.  I'm 
not sure."

They walked for a bit more in silence.  

"A test, huh?" Asuka said, breaking the silence.  "Did you pass?" she 
asked sleepily.  

With a long, deep breath, Shinji nodded.  "I think so."

Asuka grinned mischievously.  "What?  You think so?  That's no way for 
the great Shinji-sama to speak."

Toji laughed and nodded.  "Damn rights.  So?  Did you pass? Or what?"

Shinji sighed, then turned to them both with a smile.  "We'll see."
















The stage is set.  The band is ready.  I don't know where my life is 
right now.  I don't know if I'm going to fail again.  I don't know if I 
will let everyone down.  I don't even know if I love or hate myself.  

But I can't help but look forward to the future. 

  














Please prepare for End of Evangelion: Higher Learning. 











The End.






==========================================================


Hello!  Fiss here!  And now the part all you sick bastards
have been waiting for!  ^_^ 

OMAKE CENTRAL!

----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------

[Lesson 6]


<Chibi Hentai Kaoru>:  "Yeah, that's right!  Take it off!  Take it all 
off!
<Chibi Hentai Rei>:  "Oh no!  No!  I don't...wanna...ohh...feels 
sooo...NO!  I mustn't!
<Chibi Hentai Kaoru>:  "You like that, don't ya?  You little slut!"
<Chibi Hentai Misato>:  "Oh oh...we ran out of KY Jelly"
<Chibi Hentai Kaoru>:  "Just use some LCL.  You can use it for 
ANYTHING!"



[Lesson 7]


Class Presentations Outtake (by Alain Gravel)
---------------------------------------------
Rei: "At 7h00 PM Saturday, Kaoru-sensei and I shared a meal. An hour 
later, we shared a bed. Then the kitchen table. Then the refrigerator. 
Then a bath. Then..."

<In the background, Kaoru started to sweat, while looking for the 
nearest exit. Shinji did the same, but it was because he had some 
problems involving thermal expansion>




[Lesson 11]

---------The Secret Adventures of the missing Unit-04!!!---------------  

<Gendo Ikari is standing in line in a restaurant, waiting patiently for 
the man in front of him to pay for his taco and leave the line.  The 
food is greasy but smells good.  As he walks up to the counter, he is 
met by a pimply sixteen-year-old skinny man in an outfit that is 
probably more degrading to him than the job could ever be>

Young Man:  Welcome to Taco Bell-3.  Can I take your order?
Gendo:      <examining the menu carefully>  Yes.  Yes you may.
Young Man:  <blinks>  Ahh...okay.  So what would you like, pops?  
Gendo:      I will have one of your so-called 'crispy meat burritos'.
	    As well as one of your so-called 'taco supreme' meals.
Young Man:  <quickly pressing the cash register buttons>  Anything to
	    drink, pops?
Gendo:      <assuming 'pops' is soda>  No thank you.  I will have a 
            large water to drink.
Young Man:  <sighs>  Er...yeah.  Okay.  <looks down at the till>  That 
            will be...
Gendo:      <adjusting his glasses>  I was not done yet.
Young Man:  <sighs>  Okay, what else do you want?
Gendo:      <smiling slightly>  I will also take three dozen of your 
            'taco-kiddie' meals.  The ones with the toy.
Young Man:  <jaw drops>  Are you going to eat all of them?
Gendo:      <frowning>  Of course not.  A purely LCL diet is not good 
            for my clones.  I like to treat them to tacos once in a 
            while.  They seem to like playing with the toys as well.
Young Man:  <blinking>  You...y...you CLONE yourself??
Gendo:      ...Of course not.
Young Man:  <relaxing>
Gendo:      They are of my... <smiles> ...daughter...yes...
Young Man:  <almost passing out>
Gendo:      Is all this necessary to process my order? <frowns>
Young Man:  <hurrying>  Uh, no, sir!  That will be one hundred and 
            fifty-three dollars and two cents, please.
Gendo:      <reaching into his wallet> Excellent...

<Suddenly, the restaurant begins to rock violently.  Even Gendo is 
surprised as the walls begin to bend in and the entire floor rumbles as 
it's ripped free of it's supports.  The other customers are screaming 
as the entire structure begins to tilt on it's side.>  

Gendo:      This was not foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls...Mmm...

<Cut to outside where a giant black and silver colored Evangelion is 
picking up the entire building.  It growls menacingly at the tiny 
restaurant as bits of metal, concrete and siding flake off it's sides 
and bottom.  Flames from the kitchen burst out as the cooking gas 
explodes under pressure.  Finally, the Eva lifts the structure to it's 
mouth in both hands and begins to savagely eat it!  

CRUNCH!  CRUNCH!  SLUSH!  CRACK!  

The sounds of the carnage cross out over the city as people run in 
terror.  Finally, the Eva swallows the last bit of the Taco Bell-3, 
burps loudly, and turns to the camera>

Unit-04:    "Yo quiero taco bell..." 


       The end...





[Lesson 12]


OMAKE!  Courtesy of Jonathan Gaters

SCENE: In Terminal Dogma, Gendo stands inside the Reiquarium, now
emptied of LCL. To his right stands Ritsuko, giving orders to the
technicians walking around with scrub brushes, cleaning the walls and
floor of the Reiquarium. To his left stands Rei II. The Rei clones 
stand around looking ahead with empty smiles on their faces.

Rei XIV: (Suddenly becomes animate as her facial expression turns from
an airhead smile, into a serious expression) Umm...

Rei II: Yes?

Rei XIV: Well... It's just that... you're me. I feel closer to you than
anyone else. You're more than just a sister figure to me, you're more
like a part of me! You understand me like no one else does. I feel a
since of sisterhood with you that can't be equalled!

Rei II: You're not getting my soul.

Rei XIV: (Turns to Gendo)

Gendo: Don't even think about it. Wait your turn.





[Lesson 14]


Omake by Jonathan Gaters------------------------------------

SCENE: In the war room of NERV headquarters.

Misato: So that's the plan. You got it?

Asuka/Rei: Hai.

Misato: Ritsuko, are you sure that we're going to have enough 
protection?

Ritsuko: Don't worry about it. Me and Maya took care of it.

Misato: Okay, then let's go.

------------------------------------

SCENE: Shinji is sitting in a confession booth in one of the few 
Catholic churches in Tokyo-3.


Shinji: Father, I must tell you this!

Priest: Go ahead my son.

Shinji: (Taking a deep breath) This afternoon was going just like any 
other. I had just got home from school and was wondering where my 
roommates were, when in through the front door walked Misato, my 
guardian, Asuka, my other roommate, Rei, my fellow Eva pilot, Ritsuko, 
the head scientist at NERV, and Maya, her assistant. I asked them why 
they were all here, and they said that they all had a crush on me 
because I was so sweet and they all wanted to make love to me! For the 
next six hours they proceeded to make passionate love to me, sometimes 
one at a time, sometimes multiple women at once! Whenever one would 
move another would take her place! I don't think I'll ever be able to 
have sex again! 

Shinji: (Taking yet another deep breath) Finally at the end of it, 
Ritsuko, Maya, and Rei went home, and Misato and Asuka went to bed. I 
took a shower and came here.

Priest: Well, my son, I'm glad you came here. Recognizing what you did 
was wrong is the first step.

Shinji: I don't think what I did was wrong.

Priest: (Sounding puzzled) Then why did you tell me this?

Shinji: I just had sex with five women for six hours, I'm telling 
everybody!!





[Lesson 16]



-----------The Secret Adventures of the missing Unit-04!!!-------------


<Misato is sitting on the couch with a beer in her hand.  She casually 
takes a sip before turning her attentions back to the television 
screen.  She stays like that for a moment, until...>

Phone:      BEEEEEP!  BEEEEEP!
Misato:     <picking up the receiver>  H'ello.
Ritsuko:    <on the other end, having a smoke>  Hey, what's happening,                                   
            Major?
Misato:     Nuffin.  <still watching TV>  Watchin' the propaganda.  
            Havin a Yebisu.
Ritsuko:    ...true...true...
Shinji:     <walking into the room>  WUUUHHAAAZAAAAAAAHHH!!!!
Misato:     <raising her beer> WUUUUHZAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
Ritsuko:    Yo!  Who's that?
Misato:     <to Shinji>  Yo!  Pick up the phone!!!
Shinji:     <walks over to kitchen, picks up other line>  Hello?
Ritsuko:    <to Shinji> WUUUUHHZAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!
Shinji:     WUUUHHZZZAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!
Misato:     <joining in>  ...AAAAAHHHH!!!
Shinji:     Yo!  Where's Unit-04???

<scene cuts to lab at NERV>

Ritsuko:    Yo, Unit-04?? <Looks at Maya expectantly>
Maya:       <gets up from under the desk and between Ritsuko's legs, 
            wipes mouth, and walks over to the window, yelling outside>  
            YO!  UNIT-04!

<Unit-04 looks up away from Lilith (staring at her with little pink 
hearts floating about it's head), picking up the NERV battleship that 
is floating in the LCL ocean...revealing it to be, in fact, a giant 
Cell-Phone!>

Unit-04:    <in a deep voice>  Yo!!??
Shinji:     <Extra happy>  WHAAAAAAZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!
Unit-04:    WhuuuuuuuZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhh!!!
Ritsuko:    <continuing>  ...AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
Misato:     <continuing>  ...AAAAHHAAAAAA!!!
Unit-04:    ...Ahahahaaha!!
Shinji:     ...Hahaha!!
Phone:      BZZZZZ!  <this time announcing someone wanting to gain 
            access to the apartment>
Shinji:     Hold on... <presses a button>  Hello?

<outside on the street>

Rei # 2:    <to the intercom speakers, shaking her arms in the air> 
            WHUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

<back inside>

Ritsuko:    ...Ahhahaha!!!
Misato:     ...Aahhhh!!!
Unit-04:    ...Aaaaaahhhh!!!
Shinji:     ...AAaaahahAAA!!!
Ritsuko:    <as Maya returns to her 'duties'>  OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!
Unit-04:    <hangs up the 'phone'>
Shinji:     <hands up the phone>

Ritsuko:    So...Whassup, Major?
Misato:     Nuffin.  Watchin the propaganda.  Havin a Yebisu.

           <cut to a black screen showing a Yebisu can>

Ritsuko:    True...true...





[Lesson 21]


Guest Omake by KatarnX2B!
-------------------------

SCENE: Shinji and Kaworu are sitting in chairs, with a monitor. The 
Words "Men On Fics" are stencilled on a sign above them. Kaworu is 
wearing a very revealing cowboy costume (neon pink chaps, matching 
thong and vest, and a small pink cowboy hat strapped to his head), 
while Shinji is wearing a Sailor Scout outfit (namely Uranus). They 
both sit with their legs crossed in a very effeminate manner.


Shinji: (In a perky voice) Welcome to "Men On Fics"!

Kaworu: (In an equally perky voice): Tonight's first fic is made by 
Eyrie
Productions.

Shinji: Yes, the story of DJ Croft, his adventures through the 
supernatural world of Evangelion.

Shinji/Kaworu: (with a simultaneous, broad finger snap) Hated it!

Kaworu: They spent the first third of the series hinting at a DJ-Jon 
relationship, then they brought in all those floozies!

Shinji: You should have known, Dj's too short to be gay!

Kaworu: (Pushing Shinji's shoulder) Oh stop! You're so bad!

Shinji: I know! I need a spanking!

Kaworu: Anyway, did you see how they had me dressed! No coordination at 
_all_!

Shinji: They need to stop by Fran‡ois' and get some advice because they
need it bad! *SNAP*

Kaworu: You go girlfriend!

Shinji: Our next fic is "The One I Love Is..." by Alain Gavel.

Shinji/Kaworu: Loved it!

Kaworu: Now this is a man who knows his fashion!

Shinji: I guess we finally got together!

(Both... err... boys laugh.)

Kaworu: Unfortunately, that's all the have time for today!

Shinji: Come back next week when we'll review "Child of Love" by Axel 
Terizaki, and "The Death of One" by Godsend777.

Kaworu: Until then...

Kaworu/Shinji: Save a seat for us!


(No characters were harmed in the making of this [though we did poke 
one with a stick until they cried].)





[Lesson 22]




SCENE:  Sensei Kaoru stands at the front of the class, trying to keep a 
straight face as he looks over all the students assembled around him.  
He is dressed in a white lab-coat, and has oddly reflective (even for 
Eva), thick-lensed glasses, framed by wild hair that's much more-so 
than usual.  

Sensei:     <chuckling to himself>  Good morning class!  I see you all 
            finished your homework!
Class:      <grumble grumble>
Kensuke:    <raising his hand...showing it to be...green???>  Can I be 
            first, Sensei?
Sensei:     <nodding>  Of course!  <writing on the board as 
            Kensuke...waddles up...>  As you all can see, Kensuke chose 
            'Godzilla', the Anime Series. 
Kensuke:    <jumps up onto Kaoru's desk and roars, dressed in a rubber 
            'Zilla costume!>  I AM GODZILLAAA!  I am indestructible, 
            radioactive, and able to shoot fire from my mouth!
Class:      YEAH!  GO GO GODZILLA!!!!!!!!!
Asuka:      <to herself as Kensuke sits down>  Oh god...please don't 
            let me get picked next...
Sensei:     <smiling brightly>  Asuka, why don't you come up next?
Asuka:      <mumbling as she walks up to the front...in a Totoro 
            costume>  Gwaaar...I am the giant Totoro.  I live in an
            enchanted camber tree and eat acorns.  Sometimes I like to
            steal umbrellas and fly around on a spinning top.  Then I 
            go back home and hoot on a rock flute that I'm sure is some 
            kind of a bong in disguise.  I usually invite little kids 
            to join me, because I'm a sick...
Sensei:     <coughing>  That's fine, Totoro-chan.
Class:      <laughing hysterically as Asuka sits back down>
Shinji:     <smiling timidly>  I think Totoro is pretty cool, Asuka...
Asuka:      <grabbing him by his...dress...>  Tell anyone of this and
            you DIE, Third Child! 
Sensei:     <starting to laugh like a mad scientist>  WHOO HOO HOO HOO!  
            Who wants to come up next???  I see Shinji is ready!
Shinji:     <walking up, with his broom and stuffed cat>  Who are you 
            supposed to be again?
Sensei:     <mock-offended>  Why, I'm Professor Tomoe from Sailor Moon!
Shinji:     Oh yeah!  Cool!
Sensei:     You may continue...Kiki.
Shinji:     <turning around in his dark purple dress with a blush>  
            Uhm, Hi!  I'm Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service.  I fly 
            around on my broom helping old ladies cook and delivering 
            bread and stuff to people.  My cat sounds like Phil 
            Hartman.
Class:      <blinking>
Shinji:     <pouts and sits back down>  Nobody watches the classics 
            anymore...
Sensei:     Uhm...very good Shinji.  <looking around class>  Okay, how 
            about you, Hikari?
Hikari:     <sighs and walks up to the front of the class, wearing what 
            looks to be a Ninja-Mask over her face, a small gee, and 
            carrying a large sack of panties and bras over her 
            shoulder>
Class:      <scared> ...
Hikari:     <sighs...again...then enthusiastically:>  SWEEEEEEEEEEEETO!  
            I am Happosai, the perverted, dirty old man from Ranma 1/2!  
            I run around getting into stupid fights and stealing nubile 
            young women's underwear for my massive collection!
Sensei:     <stepping away carefully>  Hikari...did anyone tell you 
            that you are a natural Happosai?  I'm impressed!  ...  and 
            scared!
Toji:       <smiling>  HEY!  I LOVE HAPPOSAI!  He's my HERO!
Hikari:     <fuming, and using her panty-sack to club Toji on the way 
            to her seat>  HENTAI!
Sensei:     How about if you come up next, Toji?
Toji:       <immediately cowering>  Uhm...no...actually I was just 
            goinna stay here and hide...
Hikari:     <still mad>  GET UP THERE NOW, PERVERT!
Toji:       <jumps out of his seat, receiving many whistles from the 
            girls in the class as he sighs, accepting his fate, and 
            walks up to the front as...>  I AM SAILOR MOOOOOOOOOOOOON!  
            And in the name of the Moon, I will punish YOU!
Girls:      <whistling>  Oh yeah!  Show us them legs!
Toji:       <standing in his little Sailor Moon pose, showing off his 
            hairy legs under a WAAAY too short skirt>  Yeah, uhm, I'm 
            Sailor Moon...I take orders from talking moon cats, use 
            weapons I pull out of my ass, and run around chasing
            monsters that show up one every day.
Sensei:     <sternly>  And.....?
Toji:       <remembering>  Oh yeah!  And I lust after men in tuxedoes.
Sensei:     <nods>  Good.  I was about to dock you marks.  You may sit 
            down.  HOO HAAA HAAA HOO HOAAAOOAAA!
Class:      <sweat-dropping>  ...
Sensei:     <smiling>  Well, now that concludes our Anime-Character 
            unit on media and...
Rei:        <raising a 'hand'>  May I present my costume too?
Sensei:     <nods> Oh!  Of course, Rei!  I forgot you picked a 
            character too!  Go ahead!
Rei:        <nodding and standing up, walking over to the front in a 
            Cat-Girl costume>
Class:      <drooling> ...
Asuka:      <mad>  How come she picked the cat-girl!?!
Shinji:     <trying not to nose-bleed over his desk>  Uhm...but a 
            Totoro kinda looks like a cat...
Asuka:      <grabbing him again>  I LOOK LIKE A LAND-OWL!
Class:      <completely ignoring Asuka, watching Rei 'slink' up to the 
            front of the class>
Sensei:     <sighing>  Oh dear...I'm going to have to pick up more
            tissues tonight.
Hikari:     <sighing>  Me too... <gasps and blushes>
Toji:       Sweeeeeeeeeto!
Kensuke:    <taping the scene>  Godzilla HAPPY!  Godzilla STOMP TOKYO 
            TONGIGHT!  
Shinji:     Uhm...I'm going to bleed to death...<gurgling on his own 
            blood>

Rei:        <decked out in a light-brown-fur, skin-tight cat-outfit 
            with a tail and perky little ears.  She smiles, then licks 
            her paws>  Meow.


DEDICATED TO CAT-GIRL LOVERS EVERYWHERE.  ^_^  You're welcome, Tozetre.





[Lesson 23]




SCENE:  Asuka's room.  Dark outside, but the soft glow of candle light 
eminates from within.  Clothes are strewn about in an amazing mess, 
including a boy's school outfit.  The trail leads over to the bed, 
where two figures are resting after vigorous sex.

Asuka:      Oh my...that...that was very....wow....
Kaworu:     <wiping his gray hair away from his eyes and lighting up a 
            cigarette>  You said it, babe!
Asuka:      ...
Kaworu:     <blinking>  What's wrong?
Asuka:      Uhm...well...<embarrassed>  It's just that...
Kaworu:     It's okay, you can tell me! <grinning his standard Angel-
            Boy grin>
Asuka:      Well...it's just that I thought you were...GAY!
Kaworu:     <chuckling>  Gay?
Asuka:      <frowning>  Yeah!  You and Shinji!  You were always hitting 
            on him!
Kaworu:     Ooooooh!  THAT!  <smiling>  Naw, I'm not gay, I just 
            pretend I am to get chicks!
Asuka:      <wide-eyed> ...
Kaworu:     <shrugging>  Don't look so surprised.  Shinji's the one who 
            taught me!  He's down at NERV right now boning Maya and 
            Misato!
Asuka:      <blinks, then passes out>
Kaworu:     <turning to audience and winking>  It always works.





[Lesson 24]




-------THE ADVENTURES OF THE (not so) MISSING UNIT 04!!!!!!!!--------  



Major Katsuragi sighed as she looked out the window. 

The destruction was horrible and vast.  A deep trench had been cut from 
the ocean all the way to the city.  Powerlines lay scattered and 
fizzling useless on the ground, cut down by some impossibly massive 
force.  Trees were uprooted and crushed; their remains peppered the 
landscape.

One of NERV's reserve power generators that operated in the suburbs of 
Tokyo 3 had been cut almost in half by a huge foot-print.  The smoke 
from it's fire was already trailing high into the sky for miles.  Not 
too far away, two armament buildings had been cut down like they were 
nothing but traffic pylons.  

"This is horrible." Misato grumbled, turning to Asuka and Shinji, who 
were looking very guilty, hanging their heads.  

"We know, Misato-san..." they both said in unison.  "It's...it's not 
our fault!"

"HOW is this not your fault!?!" Misato grumbled, pointing at the path 
of destruction.  "If you two would stop goofing around instead of 
WORKING, this wouldn't have happened!!!"

They hung their heads in shame. 

"But..." Asuka pouted.  "...he just kinda...followed us home."

Unit 04 raised it's head to the apartment window, doing it's best to 
look 'cute' by smiling.  It began to pant after a moment.  

"You KNOW this apartment doesn't accept pets!" Misato yelled. 

"What about Pen-Pen?" Asuka yelled back.

"Er...he's different!" Misato defended, not noticing as Unit 04 ran off 
for a moment.

"But...we found him at the beach!" Shinji whimpered.  "He doesn't have 
a home!  We checked...he doesn't have a collar...and...he's so cute!"

Misato sighed, closing her eyes to think for a moment.  Suddenly, a 
loud "CRASH" echoed outside.  They all ran to the window.  "Now what 
did it do..."

Unit 04 sat next to the beer-factory it had just carried over and 
placed next to the apartment.  It had a pitifully cute smile on it's 
face.  

Misato blinked.  "Uhm...Is it house broken?"

The Children nodded happily.  "Hai!  Can we keep him?!??!?"

"Well..." Misato sighed.  "Maybe just for a while..."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!"






[Lesson 25]



Omake!  (by, yes, you guessed it, Jonathan Gaters!)
-----
SCENE: Shinji and Kaworu are sitting in chairs, with a monitor. The 
Words "Men On Fics" are stencilled on a sign above them. Kaworu is 
wearing a very revealing cowboy costume (neon pink chaps, matching 
thong
and vest, and a small pink cowboy hat strapped to his head), while 
Shinji is wearing a Sailor Scout outfit (namely Uranus). They both sit 
with their legs crossed in a very effeminate manner.


Shinji: (in a perky voice) Hi! And welcome to "Men on Fics"!

Kaworu: (in an equally perky voice) Only when we're not on each other!

Shinji: (giving Kaworu a friendly push) Oh, stop it! You're -so- bad!

Kaworu: Yes I am!

Shinji: (getting serious) Our first fic tonight is "Last Embrace, My 
Angel". A tale of love that could never be.

Kaworu/Shinji: Loved it!

Kaworu: This one gets an around-the-world-and-back snap!

(Both Shinji and Kaworu move their arm in a large circle, and snap at 
the
end of it.)

Shinji: I just love how this author...

Asuka: (bursting on stage) STOP!! What have you done to my Shinji!?!?!?

Kaworu: (in an aloof manner) I've set him free, girlfriend! *SWAP*

(Kaworu now has an imprint under his right eye in the shape of Asuka's 
fist.)

Asuka: (grabbing Shinji and dragging him offstage)  Come with me! I'm 
going to undo whatever that pervert did to you!

(Time passes and suddenly Shinji's voice rings out.)

Shinji: (yelling at the top of his lungs) OH GOD -YESSS-!!!!

(Asuka leads Shinji back on stage, his hair slightly mussed. Asuka 
herself is slightly mussed. Shinji is no longer in his Sailor Uranus 
outfit, but in his normal school uniform.)

Kaworu: (near crying) Shinji! What did she do to you?!

Rei: (walking on) The same thing I'm going to do to you.

Kaworu: (trying to get a handhold on anything as Rei drags him off) 
No!!
Let me go! HELP! NOOOOOO!!

Rei: (in her same monotone) Do not worry, we are the same. You will 
enjoy becoming one.

(Time passes then Kaworu's voices rings out.)

Kaworu: SCREW THIRD IMPACT!!!! I WANT MORE OF THIS!!!!!



(No characters were harmed in the making of this fic, though one was 
tied up with leather and spanked till his bottom was red, at his own 
request.)





[Lesson 26]




The two stood next to the chalk board, currently blank.

"Wrong." Kaoru took Shinji's hand and firmly yanked him over so the 
chalk hit the board.  Shinji stumbled, but caught himself.  "This is 
existence.  But it is also the start of your life."

Shinji looked at the chalk, now leaving a tiny white mark.  "But...it's 
just a dot."

"Move it." Kaoru offered with a light shrug.

"But...I don't know where?" Shinji frowned.  "I can't even draw!"

"Draw a line." Kaoru offered.  "Draw the ground you're standing on."

With a drawn out sigh, Shinji Ikari drew a line. 

"Now what?" Shinji asked.

"What would you like to do?" Kaoru shrugged.

Shinji closed his eyes, concentrating...then began to move his hand, 
dragging the chalk around on the blackboard.

Kaoru smiled, nodding approvingly...but soon his smile began to fade.

"Uhm...Shinji?"

Shinji was lost in the moment, however, and kept drawing.  "Mmm..."

Kaoru began to get a nosebleed as Shinji began to draw what looked like 
a sheep.  "Uhm...Shinji?  You can stop now..."

Shinji started giggling, still drawing with his eyes closed and letting 
his mind control the chalk.

Kaoru would have said something after the third butt-plug and the 
midget were drawn, but he was having a hard time not passing out, 
wondering if indeed, could Asuka bend like that?







[Lesson 28]




All four Evangelions stood at the ready...their elevator cages 
retracted and their power supplies linked up and solid.  

"Okay, kids." Ritsuko interrupted their musings.  "Unit-03 has also 
been equipped with the test equipment we've put into Unit-01 and 02.  
Rei will be standing by for backup in case we need to restrain anyone, 
so play nice, kids."

"What exactly will we be doing?" Asuka asked over the intercom, her red 
Evangelion taking an anxious step past the other three.

"Very simple." Ritsuko smiled, then motioned to Maya to activate the 
test.  "You're all going to be playing Hop-Scotch."

Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Rei all blinked as they noticed the giant, 
numbered squares off in the distance.  "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?!?" 
Asuka yelled.

"I'm afraid that's not all, Asuka." Misato sighed, dreading her 
assignment.  "Each Eva has been retrofitted with the H-Type Equipment."

For the first time, all the pilots gasped, and did a system's check.  
Shinji almost screamed as he realized Unit-01 was wearing a long, 
school-girl skirt and bow.  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

"Y...You've GOT to be kidding!!" Toji gasped. 

"Oh, that's right." Ritsuko said with a cough.  "To calibrate your new 
sensors, I'm afraid you'll all have to pair up and play Patty-Cake."

All four Evangelions fell over.  The crater was quite impressive. 



Gendo Ikari just smiled behind his gloves.  

"Did anyone tell you that you are one sick bastard?" Fuyutsuki sighed.

"I warned Yui when we started going out." Gendo shrugged.  "I have a 
school-girl fetish." he turned back to the screen, now zooming up onto 
a 'panty shot' of Unit-01.  "Now who has the last laugh, Yui? 
Whhaa!!!!"

A large sweat drop slid down Fuyutsuki's hairline. 







[Lesson 30]




"LET ME PILOT IT!"

A long pause as he caught his breath, desperate for oxygen and life.  
His body aching to be replaced by the Evangelion, desperate to let the 
beast's muscles and power be it's own.  

Gendo Ikari looked down and saw his son.  "Why are you here." He 
demanded.

"I..." Shinji gasped.  "I...I AM THE PILOT OF EVANGELION UNIT ONE!"

Gendo did not smile.  The flashing red of the refused dummy plug still 
reflected off his glasses.

"I AM SHINJI IKARI!  Now LET ME PILOT!"

Gendo sighed, then realized he must concede to his son, even if it was 
just this one time.  "Very well.  I admit...I need you, Shinji.  You 
must go out there and prove yourself."

Shinji's eyes glittered.  "Father??"

"Yes..." he sighed.  "I admit, I've been short-sighted...I have failed 
to see your value and your inner abilities."  It was obvious Gendo was 
telling the truth.  There was no way he would allow himself to squirm 
so much under anyone's eyes...especially his own son's.  

"You...you mean this...don't you, Father!" Shinji's eyes were tearing 
up with joy.  "Papa!"

Gendo felt his heart lose itself to the moment, knowing he may never 
get another chance to say these things...so he continued.  "You have 
always made me proud, Shinji...every time you've gone into Eva, I knew 
you were worth all this trouble.  All the pain.  The torture of having 
to be away from you for so long.  A father never forgets how much they 
love their son."

The elevator activated, letting Gendo descend down to Shinji's level on 
the walk-way.  Shinji watched with glittering eyes and a smile so wide 
he could have made a believable Pac-Man stand-in. 

They ran to each-other and embraced in a warm, fatherly-son hug that 
was so long overdue.  "I love you, my son.  I'm so sorry for everything 
I've done." Gendo wept openly against Shinji's hair.  "Your mother 
would have been so proud too...I know she can see you now."

"Thank you, Father." Shinji whispered, hugging his dad tightly.

A moment passed, and they were interrupted by an explosion somewhere in 
Headquarters.  

"I guess you'd better get going, son." Gendo smiled, taking off his 
glasses so he could dry his eyes.

"Hai!" Shinji beamed, raising his fist.  "I'll make you proud, Father!" 
he extended his hand expectantly. 

Gendo blinked.

Shinji blinked back.  "Dad?" he kept holding out his hands.

"What?" Gendo asked, honestly not knowing.

Shinji shrugged.  "Well, I need the keys to pilot Unit-01."

Gendo blinked.  "But...you took them with you.  That's why we couldn't 
get Rei or the Dummy Plug to work."

Shinji's eyes went wide.  "Uh...you mean...I didn't give them to you??"  
he gasped as he realized they were still in his other pants...in the 
green backpack he dropped on the way.

Gendo looked down at Shinji, then smacked him upside the head.  "Anta 
baka!?!?  I take back everything I said.  You're a fucking moron."



The Third Impact was very pretty at such close range.  ^_^ 







[Lesson 31]






Misato:  "I...I still can't believe he's been in there so long."

Ritsuko:  <sighs>  "Misato...you knew that this would be a very hard 
thing for him to recover from.  He might be in there much longer."

Misato:  "But the Magi have all agreed that Shinji won't be in there 
much longer, right?"

Ritsuko:  "Yes, but even the Magi have been wrong from time to time.  
Especially involving matters like this.  It's just too soon to tell..."

<the two women pace around the hall, looking very grave.>

Misato:  "I should have never..."

Ritsuko:  "You know Shinji...he would have willingly done this, even 
without your encouragement.  And now, because of his own foolish 
nature, he's been stuck in there for a month now!"

Misato:  <looking to the door>  "I feel horrible...what if the Magi 
were wrong and he's stuck in that place FOREVER?!?!"

Ritsuko:  "Well, he'll either be okay soon...or dead.  His soul will be 
lost to the horrors of..."

<the toilet flushes>

Ritsuko:  "Your cooking."

<Misato blushes>

<The door opens slowly...Shinji Ikari crawls out of the bathroom on all 
fours, no longer able to stand correctly.>

Shinji:  "Misato-san...forgive me...but I'm never eating your re-fried 
bean-salad again." <collapses on the deck>

Ritsuko:  <sighs>  "Well, at least he didn't get swallowed up by Unit-
01 like last month."








[Lesson 33]




---
two weeks ago
---
Maya slid into the chair slowly, quietly...not wanting to risk being 
caught in her Sempai's place.  It felt so nice...the soft leather 
melting against her body and back.  "Ahhh...Sempai...you have such 
wonderful taste in furniture too..."

Her thoughts were cut short when her hand felt something by the right 
arm.  She blinked and felt along the material, finding that it had a 
few small buttons.  "What on earth?" she blinked, then, looking around, 
decided to press the first button. 

The back of the chair suddenly fell back, scaring the hell out of Maya, 
but she laughed as she realized it was just an automatic recliner.  "Oh 
my!  This is a nice chair!  It's full of surprises." She blushed 
happily.  "Mm...just like my Sempai..."

Her finger wondered to the second button, and she pressed it.  Sure 
enough, the chair sunk down a bit, and a leg-rest extended out from the 
base, gently picking Maya's feet off the floor and letting her 
straighten out and relax.  "Wow...this is so nice!" Maya yawned 
happily.  "No wonder Sempai spends so much time in her office."

Wondering what the third and final button could possibly be for, she 
decided to press it.  Maya's eyes went wide as the entire chair began 
to vibrate.  

She blushed bright red.  "Oh....my...."

--
three minutes later
--

Asuka was walking down the hall.  Her eyes were low and sullen as they 
had been for the last two weeks, but she walked with a purpose.  She 
had come to the office area to check up on Ritsuko, and see if she 
could help out with the recovery of her darling Baka Shinji. 

She raised her hand and was about to knock on the door when she heard 
the low hum of something vibrating.  

Asuka shrugged it off and was going to open the door when she heard...

"Oooh!  YES!  YEESS!   SEEEEMMMPPAAAAIIIIIIIIII!!!!"

Asuka fell over, gasping.  "Uhm...maybe I'll just go home tonight..."

She ran.

---
the next morning
---

Dr. Ritsuko hadn't gotten much sleep that night.  Gendo had called her 
up twice and asked if she wanted to "entertain" him.  She had refused, 
knowing it would be another long day at the office anyway.  She needed 
her sleep.  

A smile crossed her lips as she thought about her special chair.  Maybe 
she would tell Maya to go get coffee, lock the door, and spend some 
'quality time' with that third button.  Gendo be dammed.  Mankind was 
at the mercy of it's own technology.  That chair could do more for her 
than Gendo ever could. 

As she opened the door to her office, though, she gasped.  

Behind her desk...

EMPTY!

A small, wooden stool replaced her wonderful chair.  She ran over to 
it, gasping.  "What...Where?!??!"  there was a small note on it. 

Ritsuko picked it up and opened the neatly folded letter.  A shaky hand 
had written it, but she recognized the writing as Maya's.  "What on 
earth!?!?"


    Dear Sempai, 

      If you are reading this, you no doubt notice that I have left.  
Forgive me for taking your special piece of furniture with me, but I 
have discovered that an inanimate object could give me more love and 
pleasure than you ever could.
      We're running away together, and will probably be getting married 
in the Bahamas by this afternoon.  

                        -Your former admirer, Maya.
  
	P.S.) Thanks for nothing, you frigid bitch. Ha ha ha ha!  

	P.P.S.) "Chair-y" sends his regards.

Ritsuko gasped, looking up at the heavens.  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

---
somewhere in Tahiti
---

Maya and her new husband are lounging out on the golden sun-soaked 
beach, both in skimpy swimsuits.  A blue, two-piece for Maya, and 
large, makeshift boxer-trunks for Chair-y.  

"Mmmm...I never knew sex with furniture could be so fulfilling..." she 
murmured, kissing the chair's material. 

While it's physically impossible, passers by would swear they saw the 
chair smiling. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------


God damn I need more sleep. :P  







[Lesson 34]





Gendo lay, defeated on the floor.  A light, bloody scent filled his 
senses, due to the fine LCL mist that Lillith had caused by dropping 
into the ocean around her, before transforming into Rei-Lillith-sama 
and ascending away from him.

The Third Impact had occurred...and it had all been for nothing.  Rei 
forsook him for his own son.  SEELE's foolish crusade to force their 
way into Godhood had succeeded.  Humanity would slowly become one.

But, at least he would see Yui for one last time.

"I've waited for this moment for a long time..." he whispered out loud 
as the apparitions came to him.  "I'm glad to see you, Yui."

A 20-ish young Yui Ikari was standing next to him, casting a shadow in 
the lonely, harsh light.  She looked down at him...not with love...but 
rather pity.

Gendo couldn't bare to look her in the eyes. "When I'm without you, all 
I do is hurt Shinji." He sighed.  "It's better to do nothing."

"You're afraid of Shinji-kun, aren't you?" Yui finally spoke.  Her 
soft, loving voice echoed in the lonely expanse.  

"I can't believe that others love me." Gendo said.  "I don't have any 
qualities for that."

He looked up to see a young boy with gray hair and red eyes.  The Last 
Angel, Kaworu.  "You've been running away." He observed sadly.  "Before 
you hurt yourself, you rejected the world."

"But between one another, there is no barrier." Yui said, now 
accompanied by one of the Rei's that had been judging each of 
humanity's members, readying them to return to the Dark Moon.  "You're 
scared, therefore you close to close your heart to him."

"He will judge you." Kaworu nodded with silent agreement.  

All of a sudden, Gendo felt the crushing grip of something around his 
body.  

The massive, purple fist of Evangelion Unit-01 lifted him up in mid-
air, revealing not the usual, docile grimace of the Beast...but rather 
a look more fitting.

This demonic, baron of Hell, was the true form of Unit-01.  Humanity's 
only defence against Angelic Beings.  Wide, white eyes burned with 
intense anger at the man, and already, he could see the animal-like 
teeth being barred in the Eva's mouth.  

"So..." Gendo nodded, accepting his fate.  "This is the end result of 
my behaviour.  I'm sorry, Shinji." He closed his eyes and waited for 
those teeth to rip him in half.


...


But they never came.

The Eva glared down at him, though, still very mad.  Shinji's voice 
came through it's mouth.  "I'm going to teach you a lesson, Father." He 
growled.  Anger was all too apparent in the boy's voice, and it took on 
a frightening power with the Evangelion around it. 

"A...A lesson?" Gendo blinked, fully expecting his body to be in pieces 
by now.  

"Yes." Shinji/Unit-01 said, slowly setting the man back down next to 
Yui, Kaworu, and the Reis.  "I want to teach you the truth."

"What truth?" Gendo asked, hopeful for redemption. 

"Repeat after me." Unit-01 demanded. 

"Ah..uh...Hai!" Gendo nodded, confused.

"This land..."

"Th..." Gendo blinked.  "This land??"

"THIS LAND!" Unit-01 repeated, angry at Gendo's hesitation.

"T-t-this land!" Gendo said quickly.

Unit-01 nodded, then reared back it's arm.  "This land is made 
from...LOVE AND PEACE!!!!!!"

Gendo, Yui, Kaworu, and the Reis all fell over in surprise, as a 
sliding electric guitar riff filled the air.

"LOOOOOVE ANND PEAAAAAAAACE!" Unit-01 exclaimed proudly, thrusting it's 
hand out in a "Peace" symbol.

A small, black cat trotted onto the scene, just long enough to mew 
"Nyaaaa!" before it too, turned into LCL.

----
Dedicated to Vash the Stampede!!  ^_^  And also to Mal, for lending me 
the first four DVD's of Trigun.  Domo-arigato, LOVE AND PEACE!!!!!!!
----







[Lesson 36]



   ***********THE ADVENTURES OF THE MISSING UNIT-04!***************


SCENE:  We open to the blue sky, then pan down as the roar of a crowd's 
cheer fills our ears.  The camera zooms in finally to show a giant 
arena, with each and every one of it's seats all packed full of fans of 
all ages!

Not everyone is happy, though.  One young boy in particular who seems 
to have a ball-cap surgically implanted over his eyes, and wild hair 
sticking out of the sides.  His clothes are simple, but he does have a 
long vest on, with several round objects on them, hanging via Velcro.

BOY:  "NOOOOOOOOO!  Butterfree!  Don't charge at him!!!  What are 
you...ARGH!"

We cut to the arena, where too small monsters are battling it out in 
the ring, that is shaped much like the round white-and-red balls that 
many of the younger children seem to have on their clothing.  

A tiny, abet, bouncy yellow rat-thing is on the ground, while a 
smoking, fluttering giant butterfly is in the air, getting ready to 
attack.  Sure enough, Butterfree charges...but the yellow Pikachu 
simply discharges another round of electricity, knocking it's opponent 
out of the sky and into the dirt. 

PIKACHU:  "Pika Pikaa!"

We now scan back to besides the boy with the weird hat, to see Ash, the 
up-and-comer in the Pokemon battle circuit this evening.  

ASH:  "Hah ahahahaa!  I win again!  You rule, Pikachu!"

The other trainer retrieves his battered Butterfree as he walks off.  
Ash's name, along with a picture of his winning Pokemon is put up on 
the board as the new champion so far...with only one more challenger 
before he takes home the prize.  

ASH:  "All right!  Just one more, Pikachu, and we've won the cup!"

PIKACHU:  "Pikaaaaaaa!"

ANNOUNCER:  "And finally, the last match of the day...for the title of 
Pokemon Master!  Will the challenger please step forward!"

Everyone is a bit surprised as an older man steps out of the crowd with 
a big, metal suitcase in his gloved hands.  

GENDO:  "You are Ash, are you not?"

ASH:  <smirking>  "That's right, old man.  You think you can win 
against me and my best buddy?"

GENDO:  "Yes."

ASH:  "Hey!  Pikachu!  This old grandpa thinks he's goinna win!" 

PIKACHU:  <laughing>  Pikkkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

GENDO:  <his glasses reflecting the light>  "Shall we begin?"

ASH:  <nods>  "Okay, let's fight!"

GENDO:  <grins, then opens his case, pulling out a Pokeball> 

                  "I CHOOSE YOU, EVA-UNIT-FOUR!"


Pikachu is dwarfed by a giant shadow that blocks out the sun as the 
Pokeball deposits it's contents onto the battle.


PIKACHU:  "P...Pika?"

ASH:  "Holy...mother...of...Christ..." <shakes out of it>  
"Uhm...Hurry, Pikachu!  He can't be all that tough!  FIGHT!"

Suddenly, the Sub-Commander is seated besides Gendo. 

FUYUTSUKI:  "Looks like we've won."

GENDO:  "Mmm..."

Pikachu steels himself and unleashes a massive explosion of electricity 
unlike anything he had ever done before!!!

UNIT-4:  "Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

PIKACHU:  "P..."

A massive, yellow, cross-shaped explosion vaporized everyone within a 
10 mile radius, except Gendo and Fuyutsuki.  

GENDO:  <surveying the desolate wasteland that was the arena>  "Yui 
never thought I'd become a Pokemon master."

FUYUTSUKI:  <sighs>  "You really want to impress her, don't you."

GENDO:  <adjusts his glasses>  "Now...if only I could beat Final 
Fantasy VII.  That Sepharoth guy is one tough fucker."

Both the Sub-Commander, and Unit-04 fell over, creating large amounts 
of dust. 







[Lesson 40]





"Nothing ever is with human emotion." Ritsuko sighed and turned her 
back to Maya.  "If it was just a matter of teamwork, I'd say Shinji is 
in love with Unit-01, and Asuka with Unit-02. "

"Or the Commander and Fuyutsuki-Sensei." Maya said.

The mental image of the Commander and Sub-Commander 'making out' 
finally cracked the cold in Ritsuko's belly, and she began laughing 
hysterically, completely caught off guard.  "MAYA!  That's HORRIBLE!"

Maya soon joined in, laughing until both of them were wiping tears off 
their faces.

***

Three levels up, Gendo and Fuyutsuki both sneezed.  

Gendo blushed and hugged the older man across the waist...that was 
currently bare.  "Oh my!  I hope I haven't given you my cold..."

His older friend just shook his head.  "If I recall, you haven't given 
me anything cold lately...big boy..." he grinned a spooky grin.

Gendo grinned back and took out the jar of Vaseline again.  "Well, 
that's only because you make me so hot."

"Do I now?  I don't think you should talk to your Father like that.  
Let me spank you..."

"Oh!  Spank me, Big Daddy!  Spank me!"

The two of them took a handful of the jelly and proceeded to do unheard 
of things with it...making rhythmic squishing sounds...while embraced 
in a passionate kiss.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere outside this universe, a young man at a keyboard 
laughs evilly...cackling about how much fun it is to get everyone back 
for bugging him about being so late with the latest Higher Learning 
episode...and then, once he calms down, decides to edit out the scene 
with Gendo and the bucket of Soapy-Frogs...after all...the author isn't 
THAT cruel.  ^_^ 









[Lesson 42]





[Back in the car]

They parked.  And sat there. 

"Well, enough of this." Ritsuko steeled herself and got out.  "I 
promised you coffee, and the last thing you need is watching me being 
eaten out from the..."

She blinked as she noticed Maya had a grin on her face.

"Uh...from the..."

Maya turned bright red, but her grin just increased to a toothy smile.

Ritsuko glared at the writer. 

The writer shrugged and apologized for using the phrase 'eaten 
out'...but then chuckled, and kept writing.  "After all, we need SOME 
lemon spin-offs.  All good stories have them."

Ritsuko began to get worried.  "Are there any vats of whipped cream in 
the next scene?"

The writer looked ahead a few pages and then nods.

"Dammit!"  Ritsuko sighed and began to pop some pills.  "I'm lactose 
intolerant."

Maya smiles brightly and waves her arms around happily.  "I'm not!"

Ritsuko growls at the author.  "I'll kill you."

The author is seen running into the night (laughing madly), Ranma 1/2 
style with Ritsuko, then a half-naked Maya (with a lobster bib and 
whipped cream) running after her Sempai. 




=======================================================================


AND, because you've all been so nice, waiting for me during the 
vacation I took....


============The Adventures Of The Missing Unit Four!!!!!!!!============

By: Rion

	Jun Tsurumaki sighed in boredom while resting his head in the 
palm of his head.  Working at Tokyo-2 McDonalds was proving to a boring 
job, especially since he was always on drive through duty and being 
that most of the city traveled by mass transit he spent hours between 
each order just staring at the wall in front of him.  Suddenly he 
received a small beep from his headset signaling that someone was at 
the box outside.

	"Welcome to Tokyo-2 McDonalds.  May I take your order?"  He 
recited with practiced ease.

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"It's an offense to tease the box sir."

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"Do you have an order or do you want me to call the cops?"

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"No, I don't know which way Tokyo-3 is.  Now are you going to 
order or not?"

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"Okay.  Five thousand quarter pounders, two thousand McNuggets 
and a large Coke."

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"Sorry, Diet Coke.  Would you like any fries with that?"

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	"Thankyou, drive through sir."

	The roof of the fastfood store was torn away like carpet and a 
large eye peered in.  Jun looked up at the Eva nonchalantly.  "There 
will be a few minutes wait on the McNuggets sir."

	"GWARHALLLL!!!"

	The roof slammed back into place.  The young attendant just 
adjusted his cap.  "Nothing interesting ever happens around here."







[Lesson 43]






        Gendo stood silently before Rei.  The naked girl looked puny 
before the vast might of Lilith, but Gendo knew she was the key to all 
his plans.  And like any good doll, she would follow his instructions.
        "Now, take me to Yui."
        He extended his hand for her naked chest, but stopped as Rei's 
red eyes came up and stared into his own.
        "I am not your doll."
        Without warning the clone let out a Xena yell and slammed a 
karate chop into Gendo's neck.  He grunted painfully as he fell to the 
floor, then grunted again as Rei planted a foot somewhere sensitive.
        "I am not your doll.  I am... an action figure!"
        Rei went off to show the army her kung-fu fighting action, and 
Gendo moaned quietly.
        "If only Yui hadn't rejected the name Barbie..."

Darren Demaine






[Lesson 44]





Misato winked.  "Got it?  No more sad stories after this job.  I want 
you two to be happy."

"As do I, Ikari-kun." Rei smiled warmly.  "I have heard that baby-
sitting is a rewarding experience.  I would enjoy helping out."

Shinji smiled and blushed. "Arigato, Rei-chan."

Misato laughed.  "Now that would be fun to watch." She paused...then 
thought about it.

The image of Rei sitting down at the table of the Shinji/Asuka 
household filled her mind...

Rei sat there, staring at the small baby.

The baby watched back, drooling slightly. 

The baby then blinked.

Rei would smile, slowly, and stand up.  "I win again."

The baby would then cry, until Rei promised him a rematch staring 
contest.

Misato shivered.  "Never mind...I don't wanna see that...it would be 
too eerie."






End of part 5


=======================================================================


Welcome to the end of the Collected Editions #5!   Yet more craziness
and a lot more plot.  All in all, a good mix up until the End.  

What are you waiting for?  READ END OF HIGHER LEARNING! ARGH!  MOO!
Also, as promised, I didn't drop the Omakes. ^_^  I'll also be
posting the original group of single-Lesson files on my site soon.

Please check it out!  Enjoy!



  e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com
homepage: http://www.studioshinnyo.com
mirror 1: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110




Strike Fiss, Studio Shinnyo 2002.  Khattam-Shud, EOF.