Neon Genesis Evangelion Higher Learning Strike Fiss, 2000 Twenty-Forth Lesson: "Barriers of the Soul" "So you two are going out?" Kaji said, sucking back another burp as they watched the slow sunset. "Yup." Shinji said, throwing his empty beer can out over the pavement. He was rewarded with a hollow 'thunk!' sound a moment later. "She's nice to me now...but..." "You still don't understand her?" Kaji nodded. "Exactly." Shinji sighed. "I mean...it's almost like there's two of her always fighting...one is mean and pompous and a total...bitch..." he giggled. "But...well, the other half of her is really nice. I think I'm falling in love with her..." "Whoa there, Shinji." Kaji shook his head. "Don't be in a hurry. The road to a woman's heart is not one you can just stroll down. And the faster you go, the easier it will be to trip over a beer can..." he illustrated by hurtling his off the balcony. Each popped another. "Mm, I guess..." he looked up at his friend. "Asuka did 'fall' for you pretty quick." Kaji said nothing, looking out over the distance with a slightly stark expression. "Gomen..." "No, it's okay, Shinji." Kaji shook his head. "I just feel bad for the girl...I could tell her to back off and she'd just try twice as hard. In fact I have told her to back off. I suppose it just proves that it's impossible to understand anyone any more than yourself." "Nani?" Shinji blinked. Kaji sighed and leaned against the rail. "Do you know why people have so hard of a time trying to figure each other out?" "No..." the boy admitted. "Not really." "It's impossible to know someone else unless you know yourself." Kaji said cryptically. "That is why. The world is full of people who are longing for another person's touch, yet they don't even know who they themselves are." "Mmm. Self-discovery, I guess." Shinji nodded. "It's hard, since you don't have a reference point that's unbiased." Kaji smiled. "Very good. You read that somewhere?" Shinji blushed and smiled. "No, we've been taking philosophy in school." "Ahhh." Kaji smiled. "That new Sensei, right?" "Hai!" Shinji nodded. "Do you know him?" "A little. We used to be friends...way back." Kaji said, taking a chug of beer. "Mmm." Shinji nodded. "So...how do you get across all that?" "I'm still trying to find out myself." Kaji chuckled. "With women especially. Some guys I can read pretty well...and most ladies would say I know my way around their heads too..." he shook his head. "But women are a great mystery." They nodded in silent reflection together, downing another few sips of beer. "I..." he sighed. "I just want someone to..." Shinji shook his head. "I don't know." "Make you happy?" Kaji wondered out loud. "Or for you to make happy?" Shinji looked up at him. "Both, I guess." he took another sip. "But...well...it seems like everyone's just my friend because of Eva..." "Asuka's different, though." Kaji smiled and nodded. "Isn't she." "Mmm." Shinji nodded quickly. "She's a pilot too...so it's not like she's just depending on me to pilot. And she's sometimes nice to me...and when she is, I know she's not faking it because she would just as easily yell at me." "She's a very honest young lady." Kaji admitted with a chuckle. "A bit too honest sometimes. I hope she hasn't tried anything with you yet..." Shinji turned bright red. "Ahhh. So she has." he smiled and turned. "So, did she succeed?" "N...no...but..." he swallowed. "I think we're going to..." Kaji considered his response carefully. "Well...just don't get her pregnant, okay? That's the last thing you two need at the moment. Wait till all this Eva stuff is settled and done with." "Mmm." Shinji nodded, then looked back through the window, seeing Asuka and the others laughing and chatting away, completely oblivious to the two men outside. "What's it like, Kaji-san?" "Sex?" Kaji shrugged. "Hai." "Well...it's different for everyone you talk to..." he smiled. "Just like love." "Oh." Shinji nodded and sighed. "But it's usually a lot of fun." he grinned goofily. "Just remember one thing, Shinji..." he leaned closer. "Don't do it in the water." Shinji blinked. "It takes away all the lubrication." Kaji advised. "Best try it out on dry land first." Shinji's nose began to bleed. "L...lubrication...?" "Yup." Kaji nodded. "Oh, and since you two are both clean...as far as I know...you might want to try it out with her on the pill. It's more convenient than a condom, and then you don't have to worry about anything breaking or slipping or spilling..." Shinji fell on his ass. "uh...okay..." Kaji laughed and picked him up by the hand. "Sorry...what I mean to say is everything will go fine. Just don't rush anything." "Hai." Shinji nodded, dazed. "So...you have Asuka...a woman who is in the same boat as you...the same class, so to speak." Kaji said. "And she has you. You two are more alike than you will ever know...and that..." he smiled. "That just might be enough for you to overcome all this unknown that separates most everybody." Shinji smiled brightly. "You think so, Kaji-san?" He nodded, then finished off his beer. "And if not, chances are you'll get a few rolls in the sack for your trouble." he grinned as Shinji promptly spit up all over the deck in surprise. "Kaji!" he coughed, trying to remember to breathe. Suddenly, the glass door opened up behind them. Asuka was standing there, hands on her hips. "And just WHAT are you two doing out here?" Shinji gasped and promptly threw his can over the edge. "N...nothing, Asuka-chan!" "He's right." Kaji nodded. "Just talking. You know, male-bonding stuff." They both hiccupped. Asuka eyed them suspiciously. "Mm. Well, get inside. We're going to watch some Godzilla. Kensuke was..." she cringed "'nice' enough to bring his collection." They smiled and followed her back in. "Thanks, Kaji-san." Shinji nodded as he tried to walk straight. "No problem, Shinji. Anytime." Asuka suddenly grabbed Shinji and pulled him off to the side. "You guys start. We're going to bring out some more snacks." she said, yanking him by the arm. "Yup." Shinji agreed wobbly. Once they were out of view of the others, Asuka frowned and looked him over. "You smell like beer." "I do?" Shinji hiccupped. "Uhm...Well, Kaji and I were just talking...and I guess it's a really old tradition to..." She leaned forward and shut him up with a kiss. A rather...intense kiss. She was still scowling as she let him go, though. "And you didn't invite me?" Shinji blinked. "Uh, gomen! I will next time!" She nodded crisply and turned to the fridge to retrieve more snacks. "You'd better." she winked, then walked out to the others. "Now grab the dip, baka." "Hai!" he wobbled. Toji and Hikari walked home together that night. While the street lights provided enough illumination, their conversation was dead silent. "Nice party." Toji said gruffly. "Yes. We'll have to thank Asuka and Shinji again for letting us come over..." Hikari responded quickly. Toji smiled and nodded. "I still can't believe they weren't fighting the whole time." "Well, Shinji was out of the room most of the night." Hikari giggled, then blushed as Toji joined in. They walked in silence for another block or two, knowing they would have to split up soon. "Hikari?" he asked suddenly. "Hai?" she beamed. "I..." he looked down at his feet for a moment. "I might be absent tomorrow...I have some stuff to do..." he looked up at her. "Would you hold onto my print-outs for me?" She nodded quickly. "Of course, Toji-kun!" she gasped when she realized she said that. They both blushed terribly. "Uh...I mean..." "It's okay..." Toji said quietly as they walked. "I...I guess I don't mind." She nodded, taking deep breaths to try to remain calm. "Hai..." "If..." he shook his head. "Maybe later this week, though..." he stopped in his tracks. Hikari stood next to him, still facing forward. "If you're not doing anything important...would you like to visit my sister with me?" Hikari gasped, then bowed her head. "I...I would be honoured!" she said worriedly. "But...are you sure you're okay with that? I mean, I'm not part of the family and..." Toji took a deep breath and smiled. "No...actually she's looking forward to meeting you." "Pardon?" Hikari blinked. "Well...I've...kinda..." he coughed. "Told her about you...and...well...that I was..." he grumbled at his own lack of poetry. "Well...that I like you..." Hikari's heart went into overdrive and her face lit up. "I...of course I'll come!" He scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. A goofy smile was on his mouth. "Gomen...I'm no good at this kind of thing..." Hikari shook her head. "You're doing fine." she smiled, ignoring her urge to turn an even deeper shade of red from that comment. They started walking again, reaching an intersection. "I suppose I should say goodnight..." Toji nodded, mustering up all his courage for a proper romantic moment. "Me too..." Hikari sighed, looking up at the night sky. "I'm just a street down this way..." "Okay..." Toji nodded, extending his hand for a handshake. Hikari blinked, but went with it, letting her hand into his. "Goodnight..." she gasped as he bent down to her hand and kissed it gently. Toji stayed like that for a moment, then looked up at her with a nervous smile. "Goodnight, Hikari-chan. Thanks again for the lunch, too. It was very good." She nodded, blushing impossibly deeper, but smiling with all her heart. "N...no problem..." And with a final bow, Toji walked off towards his house...desperately resisting the urge to skip or something equally stupid looking. Hikari just stood there with a funny little smile on her face as she looked at her hand. "Suzuhara, a romantic...I always knew." Misato sighed as she thumbed the piece of paper between her thumb and index finger. In her other hand was a clear glass with a dark amber- colored liquid in it. Half an ice-cube was left floating in the drink since she had been absentmindedly gnawing on it's brethren. It was a card. A nice card, too. Probably bought at a nice shop for people who needed to make an apology look sincere. "Dear Misato-chan. Emergency work came up. I'll try to catch up to you at the bar. I've made reservations for us. If I'm not there by midnight, I'll make it up to you some other time. Hope to see you soon, -Miyazaki Kaoru" she read it for the twentieth time, then sighed, and slammed back her drink. "Men..." she sighed. "Wear a fancy dress and they don't even show up..." It was already coming on 11 pm. "What the hell is he doing?" she grumbled. "School isn't THAT damn important." "This is Ecta 64 calling Neo Path 400..." the radio crackled to life for the first time in three hours. The commander sighed and lazily picked up the comm. unit as Ecta...a small weather monitoring station off the coast of Hawaii...continued their report about some clouds that they were about to enter. "This is Neo Path 400." he replied, doing another scan of the sky. "Cumulonimbus clouds confirmed. Barometer indicates no hazard. Will maintain course..." he checked their ETA "...expect to arrive on schedule." he smiled. "Tell the Major that we won't keep her waiting." "She'll be happy to hear that, Neo Path. Ecta 64 roger and out." the reply answered. The captain chuckled and hung up the radio set. A curious look from his co-pilot prompted an explanation. "Major Katsuragi is notorious for being a major bitch in the early morning. Mostly due to hangovers. She wasn't too happy to hear we were arriving so early on Tokyo time." "Ahh. My kind of woman." chuckled one of the bridge crew. They watched the massive white puffy cloud come closer. "Hopefully this will be the only thing of interest we encounter on the flight." the captain sighed, doing another sensor sweep. As the white vapour engulfed the giant winged structure, they were surrounded by a brief period of darkness as the sun slid behind the all encompassing clouds. If he had blinked just a moment earlier, he would have missed it. A bright, sun-yellow flash lit the cloud. The captain gasped, bracing himself for something...anything... but nothing came. A moment later, the clouds dissipated and the sky reappeared. His co- pilots looked at him with worried expressions, noting their captain looked shocked. "What is it, cap?" "Run another scan..." he said quickly. "Check that blasted monster we're carrying too! Someone get down to the observation room and LOOK at it. Make sure nothing's wrong." he turned to his second-in-command. "I saw some kind of a flash. I don't think it was lightning..." Everyone jumped into action, checking every system on board and then double-checking. The bridge crew closest to the door ran out, grabbing their tool kit as they left. He ran down the narrow hall that existed in between the crew-bunks and giant fuel tanks that comprised most of the wings. Then, he jumped onto the oil-rig style ladder and slid down the rungs that lead down to the lower cargo decks. The captain wasn't about to be seeing things, and this was exactly what he meant by keeping an eye out for ANYTHING. With a racing heart and unsteady hands, he used the power-drill to physically open one of the emergency escape ports half way, using it as a window to the underside of the aircraft. He carefully put his head down the hole, bracing against the sudden wind. Almost right next to him was the grimacing head of Unit 03, staring mutely into the space ahead of the aircraft. The pilot sighed and nodded, quickly re-fixing the hatch, then going over to three more to check all angles of the beast. Unfortunately, as his focus was on the Evangelion...he failed to notice the dark shapes under the cloud they just flew through a moment ago. The Angel howled in anger. It's tiny, twisted 'mouth' was agape and outstretched for the escaping Unit 03. Every time it tried to snap it's jaw's, however, the bright, flickering yellow flash held it back. While it looked almost as a leach, all along it's back were feathery outcroppings and four 'pods' that gave it the look of some kind of plant...perhaps a snaking vine. It's dark purple and black flesh pulsed in anger as it tried to escape once more. Vein-laden 'hands' lashed out, but were nowhere near as long enough to threaten Neo Path 400's flight. Finally, as it realized it would not have a chance to fulfill it's mission, the Angel turned it's snake-like body to it's captor. White, glowing eyes were narrowed in an evil looking frown. The beast...almost three times larger than the Angel...opened it's angry jaws and growled a deep, animalistic rumble that could have rivalled the thunder from the nearby clouds. The plain of orange-yellow light flickered off, releasing the Angel's path; but even with the A.T. Field gone, it would be useless to chase after Unit 03. Unit 04 reached up to it's shoulder, unconsciously drawing it's Prog- Knife. Much like Unit 02's, it was based on a disposable-utility knife design. If the blade broke, it could easily be extended to expose more useful edge. It stood on it's own A.T. Field, a few metres above the water. The Angel would have easily escaped if only it could fly away, but Unit 04 had appeared even higher in the cloud, almost as if it had been waiting. The battle resumed without more than a moment's rest. With a primal shriek, the Angel shot forward with it's 'hands' and branches extended. Most looked sharp enough to slice rock. The Evangelion leapt at the Angel with it's own wolf-like howl, extending the blade of it's knife to maximum, and swinging at one side of the attacker. The Angel's head ducked under the blade, and it's jaws melted into the Eva's right shoulder with a bloody CRUNCH! However, the blade slid into the Angel's body, producing a clean, razor-cut all the way through. Now that the Angel was off balance, Unit 04 ripped it away from it's armor, ignoring the bloody mess dripping down it's arm. Screaming in pain, or anger, or both, the Angel raced forward again in desperation. Unit 04 was ready this time, however, and swiped it's good arm up at an angle with a massive GRRRRRRROOOOOOOOO! sound. The air split on it's very atoms as a new A.T. Field deployed, slipping into the Angel's mouth on it's side. The sub-atomic width of the field was sharper than any man-made blade by a factor of twenty. The Angel's core, while usually being fairly durable and withstanding to the elements, was completely ripped in two. The Angel barely had time to bounce off of the Eva's chest when it was engulfed in an explosion. As the fire dissipated, Unit 04 replaced it's knife back into it's holster, then let it's A.T. Field collapse under it's feet. A moment later, it was sinking back down into the ocean, out of sight To Be Continued.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the end of Lesson 24! It's 7:12 am and I've been up all night. :P Whee! There are two empty Jolts next to me, and the sunlight is getting fairly bright. Accursed Day Star! Anyway, I'm off to sleep in a moment (I hope) before my room gets too warm to sleep in. I really need better air conditioning. So, I'll keep this brief. -Time Discrepancies: The arrival times, test times, and hell, even the 2nd Branch's disappearance, were all a little muddled in Higher Learning compared to the series. I explain any problems with the fact that things ARE changing... so live with it. ^_^ -Whee! I got to make up an angel! Anyone (read as: begging) wanna make fan-art of what you think the mysterious angel that Unit 04 fought looks like? I tried to keep it vague, but also added reference to that cool pod-thing that popped out of Unit 03's back in Ep 18. -Everyone say hi to Unit 04! -Did Kaji tell Shinji about Asuka's past? Nope. Just some tidbits about her life as he saw. Nothing about the suicide and her mom. -Dual A.T. Fields. Unit 04 was standing on one, and manipulating another/extension of the first. I think this is agreed upon in End of Eva. Any other times an A.T. Field was used on two 'plains' by one eva/angel? -mmm, that's about it. ^_^ And now... -------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!!!" ------------------------------- e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110 Strike Fiss, Ninja Crowbotics 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF.