Neon Genesis Evangelion Higher Learning Strike Fiss, 2000 Seventeenth Lesson: Digging Graves Kaji swallowed hard in the dry air, shivering with the effort of holding on as the line retracted back into his grappling pack. He clung onto the side of a double-helix of illuminated metal that stretched up and down for what seemed to be infinity. What little light there was came from the shaft of 'DNA' he hung on to, and a similar glowing tunnel that spiralled around the edges of the cavern he was descending down. How it all hung like this in mid air, he dared not guess, because he was currently survived only by hanging on for dear life. "If..." he gasped. "...This doesn't pay off...I'm goinna KILL that asshole!" Finally, he heard a small 'thunk!' His backpack shook slightly, and he reached around with his free hand and found the hook that had finally managed to reel itself up to him again. It was the only way to descend the shaft without using the elevator...an action that was no doubt recorded, even with security clearance. Kaji attached the hook onto the metal where he was, secured it with the electronics and magnetic lock, and then, for the sixth time, let himself drop off of the shaft, trusting his fate to the mechanics of his gear. After about twenty seconds of sheer acceleration, the backpack began to slow him down before the end of the line was reached. A few seconds later, it stopped abruptly, and he swung himself over to the next part of his ladder, holding on as he disengaged the hook above thanks to the electronics. About twenty seconds later, the hook passed him, safely out of reach so as not to ricocheted off his head, and the backpack began to reel the line in so he could make another descent. It was terribly time consuming...but really, the elevator would have probably taken longer anyway. He had made this journey three times before, each time learning more about the systems so he could proceed deeper into Dogma. To his dismay, the last leg of his journey had always been interrupted, as there was a solid-state computerized lock on the final chamber's entrance. Kaji cursed himself for leaving Kaoru. He should have brought the bastard into Gendo and watched the fun. Still... If Kaoru was telling the truth... Then that was worth the risk. He had to know. "This is going to make a very interesting journal entry." he sighed, dropping the final leg of the route. This time, the backpack sensed the ground coming up and began to slow him down early. By the time his feet touched down on the ground, he was almost hovering. The hook above disengaged and dropped with a muffled 'THUNK!' next to him before reeling back into his pack. Kaji took the climbing gear off and stretched his shoulders, finally able to relax until he had to go back up. With the soft glow around him, he saw he was at the entrance to a hallway. The door seemed to appear out of nowhere thanks to the strange light and darkness. He walked through the door...it only being guarded by an unlocked knob. The hall was short and dank. Most of the florescent lights above had been long burnt out, and the floor was probably the dirtiest he'd seen in all of the NERV complex. The other end of the hall, however, had a REAL door. Polished stainless steel and whatever other alloys that composed it's structure spelled strength against even the most persistent intruder. The computerized lock was also much different than the usual. While NERV had these locks all over the place, often they would have diagnostics and programming ports that Kaji could use to bypass the codes or discover what they were. This lock was a chip built into the door, filled with concrete to provide no access except for a keypad. Last time he had brought a scanner, and almost gave up when he saw the structure of the door and lock. If he destroyed the lock, the door would never move again until technicians arrived to replace it. If he tried to hack into it...well...how would he be able to do that? Even the keypad only had input...no I/O port to use. And so, it was with all this in mind that he wondered how Kaoru could possibly be telling the truth. When only Ritsuko and Commander Ikari probably had access to this door. He walked up to it and typed in one word: S-A-M-A-E-L_ Samael. A fitting password, he supposed. Another name in a long list for Lucifer, the Devil, or whatever else you wanted to call him. The programmers for NERV weren't without their sense of irony, he supposed. Fallen Angels to combat the enemy of Angels. He pressed 'enter'. The door began to open. Kaji watched the door as if it was the most incredible sight he had ever seen. In a way it was. It meant that teacher had told him the truth. Even if it was just a small part. The impact of that truth hit him as he peered into the next chamber and almost fell to his knees. "Oh my god..." "Today, I have a few new points to bring up in class." Kaoru yawned as he sat down on the edge of his desk. The class listened patiently, sensing the poor guy had a rough night. "Guns are bad." he said with a smile. "And always remember to get a home security system." The class blinked. "Anyway." Kaoru laughed as he walked up to the board. "As some of you may know now, the program listing of our concert is finally finished." he turned with a smile. "I'm very impressed with your suggestions." he told the smiling students. "You all chose some excellent songs." "I told ya he'd like 'Ride of the Valkyries'!" Kensuke smiled proudly. "Best war music ever made, in my humble opinion!" "There's nothing humble about it." Rei stated quietly, prompting numerous chuckles. She smiled briefly as Kaoru turned to her. "Ladies and gentlemen! The amazing Miss Ayanami just made a joke!" he beamed. "And at the Stooge's expense." Asuka added with a smile. "Good job, First Child." More chuckling, of course, Kensuke was now curled up in a ball. "Now Rei's picking on me...I swear this is a conspiracy..." he grumbled. Shinji patted his friend on the shoulder. "You'll get used to it." he smiled. "At least Rei insults you quietly." "We will be setting up the school's sound system to play any parts of the tracks we don't have instruments for." Kaoru continued, writing down some of the information on the board. Ride of the Valkaries Symphony no 9 (9 minute edit) Parita III fur Violino Solo Kanon D-Dur Air Suiten fur Voiloncello "Also, I'm going to give you each a copy of the songs we'll have playing or be playing. That way, you all can do the next assignment." A collective grumble erupted. "You should know by now not to worry about my assignments." Kaoru spun on his heel with a smile. "You kids have done MAYBE three essays in a month. Don't complain or I'll triple that number." The complaining stopped. "Better." he laughed. "Now, Shinji, Asuka and Rei will be in the concert, as well as whoever still wants to play the non-lead instruments. I know Keiko, Hikari, Tiobie and Kenada have been practicing as well." he turned to the board. "But since you all can't be playing instruments, I want everyone else to help out with the visual aspects of the concert." Kensuke was promptly sitting in his seat, ready for anything. "I'm going to get one of the multimedia projectors for the concert to display your projects during the music." he wrote down the list of songs. "You'll each get into groups and work on your favourite song, or help out with another group if you have any ideas." he smiled at Kensuke. "Yes, that means you can have war-footage." "YES!!!!!!" "I want you all to use your graciously-provided computer terminals to compose short graphic and movie clips. Even if you just want still pictures, that would be okay, so long as they fit the songs." Kaoru said, moving over to his desk to sit on the corner again (ignoring the odd grins of 2 or 3 of the girls in the front rows). "You should all listen to your songs until you get a nice, clear mental image of what you want. Let them inspire you." Shinji raised his hand. "Sensei?" "Yes, Shinji?" "What if we have different ideas about the same song?" he turned pink. "I mean...if it's just our own personal views on the songs...they might be...conflicting." "Excellent question." Kaoru smiled to Shinji's relief. "I don't mind if one song makes you think happy things, while another person may get depressed...I want you all to put your personal ideas into these projects. We'll display them at random, and they'll all get some time. That way, our audience can see what we've been trying to show them, and consider the music only as inspiration...not just as is." Toji raised his hand. "Can we have clips of other students in our presentation?" "So long as they're tasteful." Kaoru said carefully. "Try not to get any butt-crack this time, okay?" Everyone laughed out loud, but Toji just nodded with a smile. "Everyone write down the songs you'd like to add to, and I'll tell you if you can do it or not. Remember, we have five songs to fill up." he pointed at the board. "We have to make sure everyone doesn't just choose one or two." Asuka blinked, not even raising her hand. "But there are six songs." Kaoru nodded, looking at the board. "Yes. However, the last song will be a music-solo." he smiled at Shinji. "Mister Ikari and I will play the Cello piece." Shinji looked up at his teacher nervously, but nodded. Rei suddenly raised her hand. "Yes, Rei?" Kaoru asked. "May we also add to the presentation?" she asked quietly. Kaoru blinked, not expecting it. Rei, however, was obviously practiced enough with her instrument... "I don't see why not...so long as you think you're ready to play the music first." "Hai." she nodded. "Anything else?" Kaoru looked out over the class. "Good. Remember! Only a week away! This will be the only homework you'll have." he smiled and erased the blackboard. "And now, math." Everyone groaned. Asuka and Shinji walked home that afternoon, watching as the sun started turning the sky pink and red, instead of the pure blue overhead. "Sorry about last night..." Shinji said suddenly. "It wasn't your fault." Asuka smiled quickly. "I...we shouldn't have been moving that fast, I guess. Maybe it was all for the best." He nodded solemnly. "Of course," she grumbled. "I'm still goinna KILL Misato for that. I was having fun!" Shinji laughed, earning the same from Asuka before turning completely pink again. "Uhm...thanks." he smiled. "Tell ya what." she said with a determined nod. "You promised to get me drunk on my birthday, right?" Shinji nodded with his blush getting deeper. "We'll behave till then." she winked. "But if we decide to, I'm going to invite you into the bathroom with me again." "T...t..." he swallowed hard. "Okay..." "That's a good boy." Asuka smiled brightly as she put a little bounce in her step. "Of course...that doesn't mean you're goinna get away from your duties in the meantime." "D...duties???" Shinji almost passed out. She chuckled and grabbed his hand. "Relax, baka. All I meant is that, well, if you're trying to seduce me, you can't be completely boring." she smiled coyly. "You still have to obey me without question." her voice softened. "But I also expect you to be able to kiss me now and again..." she leaned over to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. Shinji nodded quickly, trying to keep calm. "O...Of course, Asuka- chan!" "And stop getting all nervous." she sighed. "You make ME nervous when you get like that!" she winked. "You weren't too nervous last night..." "Asuka!" "Hehe. Sorry." Shinji watched her skip ahead with a sigh, but a smile on his face. "Maybe she's right. I just gotta rel..." "SHINJI! Hurry up!" "Hai!" When Kaoru opened the door to his apartment, he wasn't surprised to see Kaji sitting on his couch, having a cup of coffee. Still, he sighed. "Make yourself at home." Kaji looked up, but didn't smile. Kaoru smiled, though, as he hung up his coat and put his briefcase down on the table. "I assume the password worked?" "Yes." Kaji said simply. His thoughts were still very distant. "You know..." Kaoru said, walking back from the kitchen with a coffee of his own. "I never did have a chance to see them in person." he took a sip and sighed contently. "Was the Eva Graveyard as spectacular as I told you?" "...you...you could say that." Kaji nodded weakly. "Though I personally would say it freaked the hell out of me." "You haven't seen anything yet." Kaoru sighed as he sat down across from the older man. "Unfortunately." "What do you want?" Kaji asked, looking up. "The same thing as all of us." Kaoru smiled grimly. "And I need your help, Kaji." "But can you do anything?" Kaji frowned. "A password or two doesn't change the situation or anyone's plans. Especially the old men. You could have fucked Ritsuko and gained that information for all I know." "I can assure you, I did not." Kaoru nodded, taking a sip. "And I know more than passwords." he shook his head quickly. "But I can't tell you everything, my friend. If I did, then everything we're working for could be in jeopardy." Kaji regarded the man with a long, hard glare, but finally nodded. "Can you tell me one thing?" "That depends." Kaoru nodded. "But ask." He smiled tiredly. "Does Misato survive all this?" Kaoru looked up from his coffee. His eyes seemed haunted. Kaji said nothing for a long time, then nodded. "And will she if your plan works?" "I hope so." Kaoru nodded. "Then what do you need me to do?" Kaji said without hesitation. Kaoru sighed, then stood, walking over to his briefcase. A moment later, he returned with an envelope. It was sealed, and plain looking. He handed it to Kaji and smiled. "Nothing much yet..." there was a sudden smile on his face. "But you can run this little errand for me." "An errand?" Kaji frowned, looking at the envelope. Kaoru nodded. "Yes." he looked up and out the window, taking in the sight of Tokyo 3. "Get the Commander to come to parent teacher interviews." "Are you crazy?" Kaji almost laughed. "He'd never come. That bastard is colder than..." "Give him the envelope the night before. Mention the interviews in the same breath." Kaoru explained, looking back at Kaji as he edged his glasses up on his node. "He'll come." "One week from now?" Kaji sighed. Kaoru nodded. "Okay." he stood and walked over to the kitchen to put his cup in the sink. On his way out he turned to Kaoru. "You better not be fucking with me." He shut the door softly on the way out. Kaoru sighed and nodded to himself. "Don't worry, good man." he walked back over to the window. "I have more important things to do." To be continued... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Oooooh! The spooooookyness of it all! ^_^ I hope you all enjoyed! Not much to say this time around. Been working on a few other projects, but at least I got this one out a day early for a change. To those interested in the "Whassup" Omake last Lesson, it's a parody of a Budweiser commercial. (some people asked what it was about, since this fic gets read internationally in some countries that don't yet have the "Whassup" fetish). If you're interested in seeing what it's all about, go to the Media section on Crystal Canada, my homepage and fanfic website. Also, you should be able to find it by going to: http://www.adcritic.com/ A website that has a bunch of commercials that you can download. Enjoy! That should be it for now! Till next time, peeps! e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110 Strike Fiss, Ninja Crowbotics 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF.