Words from the Author:

I'll be tying up some loose ends that were left in the last episode. I have big plans for the next several episodes and this one. I hope you all will have fun reading it. I don't own Evangelion and make no claim of such. Enjoy the episode, everyone.

Episode 14: The Reunion

The scene resumes in Nero's room as it's dark due to night-time having yet to conclude. Asuka's still with the male, both sleeping while there's a decent gap between their posterior. This doesn't last for that much longer though since Nero starts to exit his slumber.

Nero slowly opens his eyes after rustling around a little, watching the wall in front of him with a tired expression. Following that, the lad turns his head westward as he depicts Asuka continuing to lie beside him. Then, Nero confronts Asuka amidst exhibiting curiosity and whispers, "Asuka...? Asuka... Are you awake?"

Asuka fails to respond while calmly breathing, no real movement performed. 

Nero randomly yawns prior to getting onto his knees so he can eventually position himself on all fours. Afterwards, the black-haired boy crawls towards Asuka and stops right behind her while peering over her, discerning her sleeping. Because of that, Nero smiles out of amusement while gingerly remarking, "You promised you'd go back to your room before you fell asleep." He chuckles with his eyes briefly shut until viewing Asuka again. Upon internally contemplating his next action, Nero gazes at his door with minor intrigue as he ultimately reverts his vision to Asuka. The teenager soon carefully slides his hands underneath Asuka's body, trying not to disturb her. 

Having obtained a firm grip on Asuka, the Nero lifts her and gradually stands atop the bed prior to cautiously carrying Asuka out of his room. This required the 7th Child to improvise substantially with opening his door by utilizing his right foot, considering his arms are occupied. Once he leaves his room, Nero focuses towards the door of Shinji/Asuka's quarters while blankly thinking, "Maybe it'd be best if they don't snooze together tonight. After their argument, they might need some more space." The fellow commandeers his concentration to the living room as he walks into it, goes around the couch parallel to the television and halts ahead of it. With that, Nero gently perches Asuka onto the furniture, repairing his composition the moment he's finished.

Asuka maneuvers her person a tad to get comfortable as she remains asleep, confronting the ceiling at first. She suddenly turns eastward, inadvertently facing Nero with a passive demeanor portrayed.

Witnessing that, Nero smirks until veering himself towards the direction of his room to travel that way. Several seconds later, the guy comes back out with a silk blanket in his hands, knees down before the couch Asuka's on and covers most of her constitution via the object.

Simultaneously, Mari's slumbering atop her sofa, her being aimed towards Nero with her head poised near him, while her blanket only blots the lower part of her body. As a result, the chick's tits are moderately exposed, the upper sector of her breasts visible thanks to the yellow tank-top she's wearing. By sheer chance, Mari steadily commences to wake up, keying onto Nero's backside with a tired conduct until becoming confused and is unable to tell that it's him who's in front of her. Soon enough, the Problem Child registers that the individual's covering Asuka with a blanket, leading to her to assume that it's Shinji while questioning in concern, "Shinji...?"

Nero's eyes widen from surprise and steers his head westward to see Mari out of the corner of his eyes. The teen promptly clears his throat while mounting his attention towards the floor. An instance later, Nero draws his sight to Mari again, perfectly imitating Shinji's voice as he politely advises, "Go back to sleep, Mari."

Mari contentedly grins as she nods at Nero. "Okay, Shinji... Goodnight." She happily drifts to sleep while resting her head onto her couch's pillow.

Nero shuts his eyes while expelling a relieved sigh with his head slightly lowered. Following that, the boy administers his gaze to Asuka and smiles, thinking, "That was a close one. If Mari knew it was me instead of Shinji... Stuff could've easily gotten complicated. People do have the bad habit of jumping to conclusions after all." Nero stands up straight as he whispers, "Goodnight, Asuka. Sweet dreams... You deserve them." He deviates himself from Asuka to return to his room, shutting the door behind him via his left hand.

The night progresses until its morning as it's around 9:30 AM. Mari is the first to wake up, immediately going to the bathroom so she can shower and brush her teeth. Once she accomplishes that, the foreigner journeys back to her sofa while Asuka now begins to stir.

Confronting the couch she's on, Asuka steadily opens her eyes with a drowsy behavior before angling herself towards the ceiling. Then, the dame sits up with her feet planted onto the floor as her hair is quite messy and covers her mouth amidst haphazardly generating a loud yawn. After that, Asuka quickly focuses upon her hair while fixing it a little via passing her fingers through her strands as if they were a brush. Eventually, the teenager puts her hands down, drives her vision towards the right and depicts Mari.

Mari grins at Asuka with a smart-ass attitude, adjusting her hair into its usual style with her hairband and pins after tying it into twin tails. Also, the female's seated on her couch with her legs crossed while sarcastically inquiring, "Did the 'Great' Asuka have a good night sleep?" Mari giggles as she concludes the pinning her hair and places her hands atop her legs to hold them.

Irritation envelopes Asuka, glaring at Mari, prior to suddenly becoming shocked while scanning her surroundings with confusion brimming. "Why was I sleeping here in the first place?! I don't remember coming into the living room at all!" She solemnly stares at the floor and thinks, "The last thing I remember is that I was in Nero's room."

Mari parts her legs as she embeds each hand onto the sofa to contain some leverage while rising, continually watching Asuka with no alteration to her personality. "I don't know why you were, but I saw Shinji right there." The chick points to the area that Nero had knelt down via her left hand while viewing the spot until stationing that appendage upon her hip and concentrates on Asuka again. "It looked like he just put a blanket over you. That way you wouldn't be cold. Pretty thoughtful of him, don't you think?" The glasses-wearing girl lightly laughs.

Asuka swiftly snaps her head to Mari with disbelief presented, leaning forward a bit. "Really?! Are you sure it was Shinji?!"

Mari confidently nods. "Yeah. When I woke up, he told me to go back to sleep. I instantly recognized his voice. Shinji and Nero DO resemble a bunch, however, they still have the difference in how they sound."

Asuka's stunned amidst thinking, "I can't believe after everything I said, Shinji would do something like that." The 2nd Child gazes in front of herself, where the television is situated, and thinks with worry radiating, "How did I end up on the sofa though?!"

A few seconds later, Shinji exits his room and notices Asuka, causing him to be stressed out due to their previous conversation not entirely finishing, as he reluctantly goes towards her. Upon arriving beside Asuka's left, the lad lowers his head with sadness plaguing him.

Asuka observes Shinji with curiosity briefly showing before growing fairly depressed as she gingerly utters, "Shinji..."

Shinji hesitantly applies his sight onto Asuka while keeping his head dropped with nervousness mixed in. "Um... About last night..."

Asuka issues Shinji a sincere smirk, her eyes glistening in the process. "Shinji, I still love you."

Shinji pulls his head to properly watch Asuka and is baffled.

Asuka continues her speech with some sadness in her eyes as she deviates attention from Shinji. "But I'm sticking to my guns. We won't be together 'cause of your feelings for Mari. I'd never accept being with you under that circumstance."

Mari's jaw hangs, compliments of hearing Asuka's explanation.

At the same time, Shinji's rapidly exhibits a disappointed expression while hanging his head again.

Asuka reverts her focus to Shinji, restraining tears, with a wholehearted conduct surfacing. "This doesn't mean you never loved me! I know that we care about each other!" Determination encompasses the German while hoisting her right arm a little as she wields it at its corresponding section. "We'll be friends, Stupid Shinji!" Asuka extends that same limb's hand towards Shinji and declares in a commanding tone, "So you better have my back when I need you to!"

Shinji brings his head upward to lock eyes with Asuka, bewildered prior to thinking, "Asuka... You're actually..."

Asuka abruptly smiles at Shinji, descending her eastern appendage, and tilts her head towards the left.

That action prevents Shinji from concluding his thought as he temporarily persists his dumbfounded state. Soon after, the boy gradually grins with his eyes closed while experiencing immense joy dwell within him and earnestly utters, "You can count on me, Asuka."

In the meantime, Nero's been spectating the duo's discussion through a gap he crafted by sliding his door open sufficiently to peek, listening from the point Mari informed Asuka about the detail she was deceived into believing that was Shinji's doing. He currently has a calm attitude, shuts his eyes while lowering his head a tad and mumbles to himself, "It's good they remained friends. I don't even mind that Asuka thinks that it was Shinji who covered her up." Nero reopens his eyes amidst spacing out with a smirk established. "This is for the best."

Following that, Pen-Pen waddles towards Nero's posterior while peering at him with a sleepy expression and lets out a random, loud squawk. 

Nero's startled by the noise and immediately closes his door via his left hand, shifting his attention to the warm-water penguin. Then, the male sighs with his eyes shut to regain his composure until delivering a grin towards Pen-Pen. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that Pen-Pen."

Pen-Pen releases a gentle squawk, possessing his left fin on his stomach to signal to Nero that he's hungry.

Nero easily registers Pen-Pen's plea as he nods out of amusement. "Okay, I'll get you some fish." He mildly pets the animal's head via his right hand and soon repairs his posture since he contorted himself to interact with Pen-Pen while confronting the door. Once he does that, Nero maintains his gaze upon Pen-Pen while asking in a jokingly, composed method, "Cooked or Raw, my feathery friend?"

Pen-Pen reverberates a big squawk while his eyes are closed with his fins extended rearward in a gesture, pleased by the options given to him. 

Nero takes Pen-Pen's reaction as his answer and smiles, depicting the door again. "Both it is, then." The teen opens his door to exit while Pen-Pen joyfully hops as he claps his fins together. 

The scene ends and the day continues, ultimately reaching early in the evening. It's around 5 PM as the focus is presently on Gendo and Fuyutsuki, conversing over the progress of the children. Soon enough, the focal point of their conversation involves Nero, considering Fuyutsuki is still left in the dark about the boy's past.

Fuyutsuki slams his hands on the opposing region of Gendo's desk while implementing an upset glare. "I'm sick and tired of this, Ikari! We initially agreed that I'd be loyal to you as long as you were honest with me about everything! It's one thing telling the others to trust your judgment, but when you neglect to inform me of anything concerning the 7th Child, then you can't expect me refraining from doing some extensive research! Research, which involved me coming into contact with people who are former associates of SEELE!"

Gendo calmly looks at Fuyutsuki as he leans against his chair, his right hand placed onto his desk. Concurrently, The Commander's repeatedly tapping his index finger on the object with seriousness displayed while his left arm dangles next to him. "And what exactly did you discover?"

Fuyutsuki grows cold and clenches his hands as they persist their placement. "To start, Nero and Keel have history. There was no specific information about their interaction, except that Keel met Nero when he was very young. Also, they had been seen together in North America, Europe and Asia on different occasions." He straightens his posture, stationing his hands behind his back. "This worries me in terms of how much we should rely on Nero."

Gendo haphazardly detains tapping his finger prior to standing up while intently witnessing Fuyutsuki. After that, he briefly clears his throat and leisurely comments, "I already knew about Nero's involvement with Keel. I'm confident they are no longer in cahoots though."

Fuyutsuki makes a confused expression, faintly pulling his head rearward. "Why is that?"

Seriousness returns to Gendo's face. "Do you remember the incident that wiped out both the 2nd Branch and the state of Nevada, the state that the 2nd Branch was located? Not to mention, all the inhabitants that were there at the time as well?"

Fuyutsuki sternly nods. "Yes. It was a Sea of Dirac that wiped it out. It occurred right when the original Unit 04 was going through its first operational test."

Gendo deviates his sight from Fuyutsuki by steering his head westward. "That there is a lie."

Fuyutsuki's eyes widen, a bit surprised. "What?"

Gendo calmly states, "Unit 04 was already operational. It was the main cause of the disappearance of the 2nd Branch in part to its experimental S2 Engine." He views Fuyutsuki out of the corner of his eyes. "Do you want to guess who the pilot of the original Unit 04 was?"

Fuyutsuki's confused once more at first, although promptly realizes who Gendo's talking about as he's greatly astonished and exclaims, "You don't mean...!"

Gendo gives out a sharp nod. "Yes. Nero was the pilot of that Eva."

Fuyutsuki contorts himself towards Gendo via perching his hands onto Gendo's desk again, disbelief consuming him. "But if he was in the Eva when that happened, how could he have possibly survived?!"

Gendo navigates his head to stare directly at Fuyutsuki again. "Nero isn't like the other children. His intelligence ranks among the highest in the world at this present period. Possibly the smartest of them. He's even both the First and the Last Child."

Fuyutsuki's awestruck before fixing his posture with concern brimming. "Explain that to me. Isn't Rei the 1st Child? And how can Nero be both?"

Gendo firmly retorts. "Nero had actually been recognized as the 1st Child by Keel during the time I had no idea of their relationship with each other. It was finally brought to my attention by Keel when he revealed to me about Nero being in his control. That has him as the Final Child, which in this case is the 7th. Even though we possessed many candidates to be considered as pilots, in technical terms, Nero's the beginning and the end."

Fuyutsuki's confusion escalates and thinks, "What does that signify?!" Realization suddenly sets in, quickly followed by a solemn expression aimed towards Gendo, as the older fellow says, "But you still haven't told me the reason you believe Nero and Keel wouldn't be working together anymore."

Gendo turns away from Fuyutsuki again so that he doesn't see the sadness demonstrated while remarking in a somber tone, "There was a girl by the name of Rivka Genster. She was the test pilot for the first version of Unit 05. The same one that Makinami is currently using. At the time, she was considered as the 6th Child, although Keel never accepted her to be. She was an expendable tool from his viewpoint."

Fuyutsuki's cocks his left eyebrow. "I don't understand. What does she have to do with all of this?"

Gendo rebuttals. "Due to Keel not caring whether Rivka lived or die, he gave Nero the order to destroy the 2nd Branch and kill everyone in it."

Fuyutsuki's instantly in shock as he's incapable of speaking. 

Gendo veers his head slightly to the left to watch Fuyutsuki out of the corner of his eyes with a stern look. "At first, Nero agreed to do just that, but he ended up betraying SEELE in the end."

Fuyutsuki tilts his head eastward a tad with seriousness noted. "Why?"

Gendo coldly examines the floor. "He fell in love with Rivka."

Fuyutsuki blinks in a baffled manner, repairing his head's posture. "He fell in love with her?"

Gendo issues a short nod. "Unfortunately, she died the same day Nevada was annihilated. With her death, and his betrayal, I doubt Nero would want to persist his involvement with SEELE. I doubt Keel would even want to risk trusting Nero again as well."

Some worry plagues Fuyutsuki amidst curiously talking. "Is that why you trust him? Because you think that he blames SEELE for the lost of Rivka, and that he may wish for revenge."

Gendo plainly says, "It'd be reasonable since he selected to call me back about the offer I had given him several months ago." The Commander then thinks with his eyes closed, "And, I believe he's the difference that was missing before." Gendo steadily reopens his eyes while peering at the ceiling and continues his thought process. "I just hope that he has forgiven me for what I've done to him."

Suddenly, the city's alarm resounds, resulting in the entire facility of NERV rapidly getting to work on where the enemy is located and await for Misato's group to arrive. 

Eventually, Misato enters Central Dogma while accompanied by Kaji and Touji. Once she situates herself at her usual spot, wielding a firm demeanor, the beauty observes the main screen as she shouts in a commanding voice, "Status report!"

Hyuga shifts his head to the right as he delivers a composed behavior towards Misato. "We've confirmed three Evas!"

Misato gets somewhat annoyed, thinking with her right hand tightly clenching her left arm, "Why can't they just give us more of a break?!" She navigates her concentration to Maya and Ritsuko, who are at the Lieutenant's post, while substantially serious. "How are the Evas?!"

Maya depicts Misato with dread resonating within her eyes. "Unit 00 has some damage left over from the last fight. It did suffer the most, after all."

Misato crosses her arms and retreats to her thoughts. "Rei will have to be careful. It's a good thing there's only three Evas we got to deal with this time." She resets her attention to the main screen while continually thinking, "I'll keep her and Kensuke together to back each other up."

Ritsuko interrupts Misato's mental dialogue with a hint of concern. "How will you be dividing them up? We don't have any information on which enemy will give us the most trouble."

Misato suddenly exhibits a depressed demeanor as she thinks, "I'd normally have Asuka and Shinji pair up, but since their relationship is over, they might not be at their best emotionally."

Meanwhile, Aoba's looking at his monitor with a focused conduct. "The pilots are ready!"

Misato glances at Aoba until redirecting her vision to the primary display, asking in a commanding tone, "Where are the coordinates of the enemy Evas?!"

Maya responds while examining her screen's information with worry brimming. "It seems like two of them are located at the outskirts of the city's southern region. The third one is due north, at the city's boundaries. This is very unusual."

Confusion can be noted on Misato as she stares at Maya. "How is it unusual?"

Kaji answers amidst standing to Misato's right with his eyes fixed onto her. "Probably because, instead of all three being in the same area together, or each separated, two of them are teamed up and the third is all by itself."

Misato instills a concerned personality towards Kaji. "That is something to find odd, but I think it just adds to our advantage. It's better that they aren't together."

Gendo abruptly appears upon that statement's completion, sitting down at his counter-like desk with Fuyutsuki standing towards his right, and has a serious conduct while intently viewing Misato. He then gets into his usual pose and firmly says, "Don't underestimate them, Colonel. We never know what they may have in store."

Hearing Gendo's words, Misato turns her head westward to see the Commander seated behind her with mild surprise showing. Eventually, determination takes over as the purple-haired adult nods. "You're right, sir!" Misato steers her attention back to the main screen while sternly yelling, "Get ready to launch the Evas! We aren't going to underestimate these bastards, so launch Units 01, 02 and 05 to the two that are together! Afterwards, send the rest of our Evas to the third!"

Ritsuko turns her gaze from Maya's screen towards Misato with some bewilderment portrayed. "But why send more Evas to the one that's alone?"

Misato mounts her sight towards Ritsuko with a confident smirk. "Because of Unit 00's damage, it'd be best to have our three best pilots fight against the two that are in the southern sector. In the meantime, the other four will gang up on the one that purposely arrived by itself." She reverts her concentration to the primary monitor with a solemn look. "I got a gut-feeling that Eva is going it solo for a reason. It must be the strongest among the trio."

Touji stands to Misato's left, witnessing her with confusion emitted. "Ya said that the 'Three' best pilots will face the two in the south. But Nero is the second best 'cause of his sync, so why isn't he in Shinji's group?"

Misato smiles, refraining from deviating her depiction of the screen ahead of her. "That way he can keep his promise to you about not letting Hikari get hurt." She glimpses at Touji and winks via her right eye.

Touji's a little astonished prior to grinning. "Ya got that right! Thanks, Misato!"

Misato happily nods. "No problem." She navigates her vision to the main screen once again as she sternly orders, "Launch the Evas!"

The Evas are promptly driven to their designated area to face the enemy Evas with the focus now upon the machine that's by itself as Units 00, 03, 04 and the Extra Eva are properly confronting it. 

In terms of design, Dummy Eva 14's mostly navy blue with some black on the legs while the coloring is a darker shade of blue than Unit 00's as a whole. Additionally, it contains some silver on its chest where there happens to be a crescent moon gem on it, two positron cannons for arms that match its chest's color and both have three long prongs wrapping around the main barrel that's a tad thinner in comparison to them. The Eva walks on two legs as it wields a black visor covering its eyes, the top of the head owning a long blade extending from the center.

Kensuke watches the foe's positron cannons, worry apparent. "That looks scary."

Rei says with a reassuring tone, staring at the enemy, "Do not be threatened by it, Kensuke. Weapons such as those tend to require a large sum of energy to be utilized. If we can dodge the first attack, we can take advantage."

After listening to that, Hikari's demonstrated on Kensuke's left side screen amidst smirking. "She's right. Together, we'll beat it." 

Kensuke smiles at Hikari and nods with a fairly confident expression.

Simultaneously, Nero randomly cracks his right hand's fingers, containing it besides his Eva's right control. Soon after, the 7th Child grabs onto the contraption with a serious demeanor displayed and intently analyzes the adversary. 

Dummy Eva 14 suddenly angles itself in a sideways position as it slowly hoists its left arm and points the positron cannon at Unit 03.

Registering that, Misato's enveloped with stress while frantically parting her arms. At the same time, the dame takes a step forward via her right foot and yells in a commanding tone, "Nero, it's aiming at you! Get away!"

Nero narrows his eyes without removing his attention from the opponent, retaining his attitude in general, and leans forward. Before long, the boy unexpectedly grins while casually resting his posterior upon the entry plug's seat and comments in English, "I recognize that pose. It's been a while, Lucas."

Misato hastily pulls her body back somewhat, baffled, as she thinks, "Did he just talk in English?!"

Lucas' voice haphazardly comes from Dummy Eva 14 while making his Eva lower its left limb, his speech heard over the intercom as he laughs from amusement. Ultimately, the character replies back in English since he's a half American/half Canadian who doesn't know much Japanese. "It seems you haven't forgotten me, Nero! I'm honored!" He continues his laughter.

Misato's immediately shocked and exclaims, "What the...?! There's someone actually piloting it?!"

Rei's substantially dumbfounded as well while gazing towards Unit 03 from its left with her rear against the seat, eventually inquiring in a concern manner, "Are you acquainted with that individual, Nero?"

Nero radiates determination. "Yeah. His name is Lucas Valley. He's a pilot that SEELE has had in reserve for a long time. He possesses a bit of a grudge against me." The teenager chuckles.

Ritsuko's amazed from the information revealed while looking towards the main monitor and mutters, "That signifies they know each other personally! But if that's the case, then Nero is connected to SEELE!"

Lucas, sitting on the entry plug's seat with his arms crossed, confidently smiles amidst wearing a navy blue plugsuit that resembles the one Nero uses. Also, it has a crescent moon-shaped gem on the chest just like the male's Eva as he says in response to what Nero divulged to Rei earlier, "Bingo! Now we're going to settle things once and for all, Nero!"

Nero deploys vague skepticism, slightly tilting his head eastward. "This isn't fencing, Lucas. The stakes are much higher in this case." He straightens his head's posture and alters his behavior to emanate coldness. "If you can't even beat me in fencing, what makes you think you'll fair better in an Eva battle?"

Lucas uncrosses his arms and grabs onto the controls while maintaining his confidence. "That was the past. I've changed a lot since then."

Nero grins out of amusement as he bends forward a bit. "Is that so... Retard?"

Lucas' instantly surprised while pulling his head back, his eyes widened, prior to grinding his teeth a little as anger fills his being. After that, Lucas shouts with his eyes closed while hanging his head, "Don't call me that!"

Nero chuckles, gradually shaking his head. "You're still the same." He partially cocks his head to the left.

An irritated expression establishes itself on Lucas, diverting his sight from Unit 03. "You know I hate being called that... I didn't think you'd ever stoop so low. You never did it before."

Nero smirks with sincerity brimming. "Sorry. I promise, I won't call you that again."

Lucas deeply inhales and shuts his eyes once more until resetting his gaze onto Unit 03 with a determined smile surfacing. "Well, to make it up to me... Let's get started already. Me and this Eva can't wait to blast you to smithereens." The crimson-haired boy gingerly laughs.

Nero tenaciously nods. "We'll see about that." He steadily replaces his attitude with calmness during him turning his head westward to view his fellow pilots' Evas. "Hey, guys. I wish to fight him by myself, okay?"

Misato's immediately bewildered. "What?! That's not part of the plan! All four of you are supposed to work as a team!"

Nero's voice swiftly comes through the intercom. "I'm aware of that, Misato. But, I have quite a bit of history with the guy piloting that Eva. I know I can beat him. Simply worry about Shinji, Asuka and Mari. They're facing the other two threats, after all."

Misato temporarily shows stress, however, soon grows serious as she switches her attention towards Maya. "How are Units 01, 02 and 05?"

Maya types while firmly focused upon her screen. "They're doing pretty good." She elevates her vision to the primary screen. "Displaying it right now."

The main monitor promptly demonstrates Unit 01 amidst fighting an enemy Eva and is roughly three miles from its two companions, who are battling the second foe. Both Dummy Evas look exactly alike while containing the color turquoise and are physically comparable to the Mass Production Evas, but their mouths are completely covered by a large metal plate. The only way to differentiate the two of them is that Dummy Eva 15 has wings and Dummy Eva 16 doesn't. Additionally, the duo carry the same large weapon that the Mass Production Evas wielded, although this time they aren't the duplicates of the Lance of Longinus in disguise. They're merely large, bladed weapons with black coloring.

Misato observes the immense screen with worry resonating as the screen shows that Mari and Asuka are working in tandem to fight an opponent. At the same time, Shinji's busy contending with the other machine while the sight of this causes Misato to be baffled as she yells, "They're actually cooperating?!"

Touji remarks to himself in disbelief, "It's the end of the world. There's no way they coulda' agreed to that."

Shinji contentedly talks through the intercom while the purple behemoth rapidly maneuvers around Dummy Eva 15. "They really did. They said it'd be for the best that they got used to each one another." He chuckles.

Amazement quickly overtakes Misato and thinks, "I never thought they'd agree to that." She then smirks while joyfully thinking with her right hand clenched next to her face, "This is great! Now there won't be any more issues among the children!"

Asuka pulls Unit 02 away from Dummy Eva 16, detaining it at a small distance, as she appears on Central Dogma's enormous monitor with concern established. "Misato! I overheard what was going on with Nero and the Eva that has a pilot. Are you sure it's fine to let Nero go it alone?!"

Misato gives Asuka a sad expression, her right arm entwined with her left. "It's his request. Seems they have a score to settle. I guess, I'll allow him handle it." She faintly smiles. "But don't worry, Asuka. If things get bad, I'll have the others assist him."

Asuka grins while nodding until her image disappears from the main screen.

That having occurred, Misato emits a curious demeanor and thinks, "It's weird that Asuka's stressing over Nero so much, considering the situation with Shinji. I thought she'd be more focused on that." The female closes her eyes while taking a deep breath with her head dropped.

Concurrently, Unit 01 parts from Dummy Eva 15 as Shinji has the machine pull out its Prog Knife via its right hand. After doing that, the lad watches the left side screen displaying where Unit 02 is located. Shinji's image then portrays itself on Asuka's right monitor with minor concern noted. "Are you alright, Asuka?"

Asuka abruptly opens her eyes while moderately caught off guard. Ultimately, the German peers at Shinji and confidently smirks. "I'm fine, Shinji! You don't need to worry about me! Don't forget who I am!" Asuka laughs a little.

Shinji delightfully nods. "I know, but I can't help it. You weren't lying next to me this morning. You usually wake me up when you get up."

Asuka becomes confused, slanting her head eastward. "Shinji... You knew I was sleeping in the living room though."

Shinji's dumbfounded and loses his smile before rebutting while momentarily shaking his head. "No. I didn't even know you slept there. When I first saw you, I thought you got up early and went to the living room so you could talk to Mari."

Asuka raises her tone as she strives to convince Shinji while contorted towards the screen. "But Mari said you covered me up with a blanket last night! She even heard your voice!"

Shinji retorts in a pleading manner. "Believe me, Asuka! I don't remember doing that! I'm sure I didn't wake up at all last night! There's no way I could've done it!"

Asuka's stunned while thinking, "If it wasn't Shinji, then who..." Her eyes promptly widen out of realization as she thinks, "Of course...! It had to be Nero!" Asuka's soon overcome by intrigue while peering downward, her body directed towards the entry plug's main monitor, and thinks, "How could Mari get their voices confused though? They definitely sound different."

Mari haphazardly exclaims through the intercom, urgency presented, "Asuka, heads up!"

Asuka gets startled a little until shifting her gaze forward, resulting in the 2nd Child witnessing an airborne Dummy Eva 16. This instantly baffles the pilot while flinching and shouts, "Mein Gott!"

Persisting its travel towards Unit 02, Dummy Eva 16 pulls its weapon back over its head and swings the tool southward once it's close enough to the red behemoth. 

Unit 05 suddenly positions itself in front of Unit 02 prior to deploying its A.T. Field to block the enemy's attack, with the collision invoking a loud sound upon contact. 

Thanks to that, Dummy Eva 16 lands its feet onto the terrain as it sustains its weapon connected to Unit 05's A.T. Field.

Mari grins while looking up at the foe as it's notable that she's no longer wearing the neural helmet, compliments of her not finding the importance of using it per how she was previously instructed. After that, the 6th Child yells amidst leaning onward a tad, her eyes gleaming from determination, "Pay attention, Asuka! We need to beat these assholes before you can get down to the mystery of who covered you up!" Mari giggles at her own quip.

Asuka makes a slightly annoyed expression, glaring at Unit 05 from behind, and then briefly rolls her eyes. Afterwards, the beauty concentrates on Unit 05 again with seriousness showing while mentally stating, "Although, I'm pretty sure that it was Nero. I'll ask him later to be sure." Asuka confidently smirks as she views the battlefield's right section while fervently declaring, "Here I go!" She tightens her grip on her controls and has Unit 02 dash towards the right. After a few seconds of running in that direction, the red-head hurriedly manipulates her Eva to dash towards the opponent while building up momentum.

The second Unit 02 draws near the Dummy Eva, it jumps up into the air while doing multiple, curled-up front flips. Following that, the mechanical beast stops to thrust its right foot down onto the enemy while aiming for its head. 

Dummy Eva 16 peers at Unit 02 as it generates its A.T. Field and successfully blocks Unit 02's foot, also causing a loud noise's fluctuation. At the same time, the velocity compels Dummy Eva 16's feet to become submerged under the ground significantly. 

Then, Unit 05 swings its right javelin and hits the adversary's weapon to deflect it eastward. After that, the green machine jabs its left javelin towards Dummy Eva 16 while having pulled its right javelin rearward as Mari releases a war-cry.

Unfortunately, Dummy Eva 16's A.T. Field shields it from the attack prior to glaring at Unit 05 while commencing to swing its tool in a sideways angle towards it. 

Seeing that, Asuka grits her teeth for a minuscule period as she grows agitated. "Oh no you don't!" Unit 02 rapidly thrusts both of its hands onto the enemy's A.T. Field, remaining on top of it throughout, and gives birth to a small shock-wave as another loud sound arises.

Dummy Eva 16 gets distracted by Unit 02's action and stares at it while still doing the swinging motion that it had already started. 

Mari immediately navigates Unit 05 back to dodge the attack until her Eva rushes the foe while pulling both javelins behind itself. Eventually, the mech drives the javelins towards the same spot it collided with the first time and shatters Dummy Eva 16's A.T. Field, leading to Mari joyously shouting, "I did it!" The teen's Eva then follows through with that, stabbing the opponents's stomach via both javelins.

Right after that, Dummy Eva 16 moans in agony as its A.T. Field begins to dissipate. 

Asuka smiles at the sight of that amidst Unit 02 commencing to descend due to the enemy's A.T. Field deteriorating and is leaning towards the enemy with its right arm brought backwards. Accomplishing that, the red machine throws a powerful punch, hitting Dummy Eva 16 right on the face. 

In conclusion, Dummy Eva 16 starts to fall rearward from the might of the punch while inadvertently releasing its weapon.

Without hesitation, Unit 02 swiftly grabs the adversary's neck via its right appendage, commandeers Dummy Eva 16's head towards itself and prepares to administer a blow onto the Eva with its left fist. Before doing that, Asuka declares with tenacity gleaming in her eyes, "You should've never messed with me, Hündin! (Bitch)"

Unit 02 relinquishes its grip, thrusting its right fist towards the enemy Eva. It then punches Dummy Eva 16 in the face with as much force as possible. 

Thanks to the grand force of the strike, Dummy Eva 16's face was completely smashed in as it's body crashes upon the landscape, forging a fairly big crater while multiple debris are flung into the air.

Mari gives out a long whistle, impressed, with it being quite obvious that Dummy Eva 16 has been defeated and smiles with her eyes set on Unit 02's posterior. "Way to go, Asuka. That was pretty intense."

Asuka has her Eva crouching over the foe while retaining its right fist placed onto Dummy Eva 16's smashed up head. Following that, the girl responds to Mari's praise with a cheerful grin while veering her head westward to view Unit 05. "Appreciate the compliment, Mari."

Mari persists her conduct until realization dawns on her, uttering in curiosity as she bends forth a little, "Hey... Did you notice that the enemy's mouth was plated shut?"

Confusion appears on Asuka before slowly turning her attention back to the defeated opponent and thinks, "Now that she mentions it..." She tilts her head slightly towards the left while muttering, "But why was it covered up in the first place...?"

Suddenly, a high pitch sound is heard, compelling Asuka to plant both hands upon her ears while cringing in pain with her eyes closed and then yells with her posture slumpled forward, "What the hell is that?!"

Mari's leaning against her seat, blotting her ears too from discomfort. "I don't know! It came out of nowhere!"

Simultaneously, everyone in Central Dogma's also covering their ears with the high pitch reverberation continuing. 

Immediately after, Misato shouts as she's contorted ahead, "What's going on?! Where is that noise coming from?!"

Hyuga fights through the agony ailing him during his searching of the source. Soon enough, the male brims a shocked expression and shifts his chair westward to see Misato. "It's coming from the Eva that Shinji's fighting!"

Misato snaps her head to Hyuga, greatly surprised. "What?!"

In the meantime, Shinji cringes and is slanted towards his left with his eyes shut amidst exclaiming with an exasperated tone, "Misato! What do I do?!" He gradually opens his left eye to look at the adversary. "It took off the plate that was on its mouth after I was able to make it lose its weapon! Then that strange sound suddenly came out!" Shinji closes his left eye again and pulls his head onto the seat. "It hurts so much!"

Misato's now standing upright while her hands remain on her ears with worry resonating. "Shinji!" She gazes at Ritsuko with irritation detectable. "What's up with that noise?!"

Ritsuko sternly locks eyes with Misato, her hands blotting her ears as well. "The Eva is using a high pitch frequency! If this keeps up, there could be permanent damage to the pilot's eardrum, and to even ours!"

Kaji places his left hand atop Misato's right shoulder and makes her face him with a bit of pain showing. "Tell Shinji to attack! He can't let this go on!"

Misato's somewhat unsure while temporarily observing Kaji, however, determination ultimately overtakes her. Right after that, the woman puts her hands down, turns her vision towards the main screen and yells in a commanding manner, "Shut that thing up, Shinji! We can't take any more of this!"

Shinji reopens his left eye to depict Dummy Eva 15 as he nods. "Alright!" The 3rd Child then steadily reaches for the controls via both hands. Once he manages to get a hold of the controls, Shinji courageously yells while Unit 01 run towards the opponent, and the moment it succeeds in narrowing the gap, the purple machine will try to hit the threat with its Prog Knife. 

During that, Dummy Eva 15 persists the excruciating sound via its mouth and reveals that it has razor-like teeth, formerly covered by the metal plate. After doing that, the mech flies away to a safe distance without ceasing the noise as it confronts Unit 01 while in mid-air. 

Shinji promptly stops his Eva while peering at Dummy Eva 15 with agitation presented. "Darn it! I almost had it!"

Dummy Eva 15 keeps flapping its wings as it momentarily detains the deafening sound. This doesn't last long though, suddenly producing the high-pitch noise again and seems to be even louder than before. As a result, a shock-wave heads directly towards Unit 01 with incredible speed and ultimately collides upon the purple machine while inciting a thunderous reverberation.

The power of the wave is so strong that Unit 01 is immediately hurled rearward into the sky, inadvertently letting go of its Prog Knife. When Unit 01's back crashes onto the ground, Shinji screams in pain from the impact and his synchronization.

Misato's consumed with worry, frantically shouting, "Shinji!" She hastily shut her eyes while putting her hands over her ears again because of the high-pitch sound growing louder. After that, Misato yells out of irritation while mildly tilting her head back, "Damn it! I can't take that annoying noise anymore!"

Ritsuko looks at Misato with her hands still shielding her ears, attempting to maintain her composure. "Colonel Katsuragi! You need to send Units 02 and 05 to assist Unit 01! Shinji can't defeat the enemy by himself as long as it stays at a far distance from him and continues hitting him with that shock-wave!"

Misato glares at Ritsuko. "I know that!" She resets her attention to the main screen, puts her hands down and says via a commanding tone, "Asuka, Mari!"

Both Asuka and Mari hurriedly appear on the primary monitor with their hands covering their ears, discomfort brimming from both. 

After seeing the pair, Misato firmly instructs them, "Go give Shinji a hand! He's having a hard time against that Eva!"

The two teenage girls nod with a hint of determination taking over prior to their image disappearing from the main display, allowing everyone in Central Dogma to witness Shinji's current situation. 

Following that, Misato calmly says to Shinji, "Shinji, listen. Asuka and Mari will be there soon to help you. Just hold on."

Shinji maneuvers his Eva to stand up, his eyes locked on Dummy Eva 15 while very exhausted. "So, all I have to do is wait for Asuka and Mari. Together, we can definitely beat it." The lad's eyes widen as he suddenly remembers Nero's statement about him being weak. This leads to Shinji exhibiting sorrow as he gazes downward and mutters, "What am I doing? Am I so pathetic that I can't win on my own? I'm supposed to become better, not worse."

That said, Shinji shuts his eyes as he's extremely upset and tightly clenches his hands with them poised near his chest. "What would happen if everybody was relying on me to defeat an enemy and there was no one to back me up?! Would I just let them all down because of how weak I am?!" He issues Dummy Eva 15 a fierce glare while strongly grasping onto the controls amidst exclaiming, "I don't want to be weak anymore!"

Due to Shinji's outburst, Central Dogma's personnel are all surprised with Touji watching the immense screen, a stunned expression portrayed, and thinks, "Was that really Shinji sayin' that?! He sounded pissed!"

Unit 01 abruptly dashes towards the foe with incredible speed while Shinji passionately yells.

In conclusion, Dummy Eva 15 halts the high pitch sound's reverberation as it swiftly ascends higher. 

Shinji quickly reacts by making Unit 01 jump skyward and goes right above the adversary. 

Dummy Eva 15 focuses on Unit 01 while covered by its shadow before opening its mouth to let out the high pitch sound again, causing a shock-wave to head towards Shinji's robot.

Unit 01's A.T. Field instantly establishes itself as it blocks the assault. It then descends onto the enemy, the momentum driving both upon the ground pretty fast. 

Dummy Eva 15's now lying on its back, having stopped making the noise, and stares directly at Unit 01. 

Suddenly, Unit 01 opens its mouth, its eyes lighting up, while crouching atop of the opponent. Not long after, the purple mech rises to an upright posture, tilts its head back to depict the sky and generates a loud roar.

Maya gasps out of horror from watching her screen until trying to regain her composure as she shouts, "Unit 01 has gone Berserk! Shinji's synchronization is increasing! It's already well over 100%! At the rate it's going, it will be reaching 200% in a matter of seconds!"

Kaji looks towards Maya with a hint of worry and thinks, "Let's just pray that he doesn't reach 400%. We don't want a repeat of what happened during the battle against the 14th Angel."

Dummy Eva 15 temporarily continues observing Unit 01 prior to letting out the high-pitch sound again while this one is the loudest yet. 

Because of that, the pure strength of the shock-wave recently invoked hits Unit 01 right in the face, sending it flying rearward like the attack did previously. In contract though, Shinji's Eva does an arching back-flip and lands on its feet at a small distance from the enemy. After that, Unit 01 contorts itself onward while staring Dummy Eva 15 down.

Meanwhile, Dummy Eva 15 gets up as it stands on all fours and soon releases a huge screech, producing the high pitch reverberation too. This summons forth a giant shock-wave that rapidly expands across every angle at an amazing speed. 

Unit 01's immediately hit with a part of the shock-wave, although is able to hold its ground. Afterwards, the robot dashes towards its foe while expelling multiple grunting sounds.

Dummy Eva 15 promptly stops screeching and stretches out its wings to ultimately launch itself towards Unit 01, flying while expanding its A.T. Field. 

Shinji ignores the enemy's deployed A.T. Field by running Unit 01's head into it, now putting them at a stand-off while his Eva places both hands onto Dummy Eva 15's A.T. Field and clutches it.

Misato takes a step forward with stress radiating as she yells, "Shinji!" She briefly pauses while waiting to hear some sort of response, but doesn't receive any as Unit 01 and its adversary remain in their stand-off. After witnessing that, Misato inquires with no alteration to her conduct, "Can you hear me, Shinji?!" Once again the female doesn't obtain a reply and turn her attention to Maya with a solemn demeanor shown. "What's the status on him?!"

Maya glimpses at Misato with concern reflected. "His synchronization has reached 200% and it's still increasing! I'm having a hard time determining if Shinji's conscious in there or not!"

Misato displays despair and thinks, "If this keeps up, he'll be at 400% and then the same thing will happen again! He'll lose his physical form! He might not even be able to come back!"

With the completion of that thought, Misato switches her concentration to the main monitor while exclaiming in a pleading tone, "Shinji, please!" She closes her eyes, momentarily hanging her head, before looking up with tears starting to form. "Defeat the enemy and come back to us!"

Shinji's voice haphazardly comes through the intercom, tenaciously declaring, "Don't worry, Misato!"

Misato's quickly engulfed by surprise as she recedes a tad. "Shinji?!"

Shinji analyzes Dummy Eva 15 with determination. "I'm not going anywhere! I won't run away! I'll protect everyone!" Unit 01 pulls on the enemy's A.T. Field and tears it apart. 

Central Dogma's personnel are effortlessly amazed amidst Unit 01 kicking Dummy Eva 15 via its right foot in the stomach with a lot of force. This causes the threat to stumble backwards, and as it does that, Unit 01 rushes it while situating its face extremely close to Dummy Eva 15's once the gap has been depleted sufficiently.

Dummy Eva 15 slowly opens its mouth in the attempt of using the high pitch noise to assault Unit 01 again. 

Unfortunately for the opponent, Shinji predicted that, so he manipulated Unit 01 into delivering a forceful uppercut with its right fist and punches the foe in the jaw. 

Dummy Eva 15's mouth slams shut due to the strike, its head cocking backwards for the same reason, while striving to sustains its balance. 

Unit 01 takes a step behind itself as it also pulls its right arm that way and swiftly throws a straight-punch aimed at the enemy's face.

Dummy Eva 15 locks upon Unit 01's appendage and generates its A.T. Field to block the punch. To its disappointment, the adversary's A.T. Field isn't able to hold off the might of Unit 01's fist, especially when the purple Eva's A.T. Field is neutralizing it. With that, the defense immediately shatters as Dummy Eva 15's struck, resulting in its head commencing to fall rearward.

Unit 01 instantly grasps both of the enemy's arms to prevent it from falling. Doing that, the purple machine pulls Dummy Eva 15 towards it and hastily lets go of the foe's arms. Then, Shinji's Eva grabs the winged robot's head via both hands while applying pressure on it. 

Dummy Eva 15 eventually drops to its knees while clutching Unit 01's hands as it desperately tries to break its grip. After a couple of seconds, the enemy opens its mouth and lets out the high-pitch sound.

Shinji grits his teeth from irritation, enduring the pain promptly invoked, prior to forcefully pushing his controls and shouting, "Shut up, already!" Unit 01 implements more pressure to Dummy Eva 15 as it's seen that part of the metal of the opponent's cranium is beginning to crack.

As that transpires, Asuka and Mari had just arrived while the former is still annoyed by the enemy's noise, however, doesn't keep her from worrying since she heard Shinji's outburst. "The last time Shinji was like that was during the simulation."

Mari mounts her sight westward, compliments of Unit 02 being poised in that direction, while somewhat confused by Asuka's comment. "Simulation?"

Asuka suddenly presents herself on Mari's left side screen and nods with seriousness radiating. "Uh-huh. We went through a bit of training to prepare ourselves to fight SEELE." She deviates her vision to Unit 01 while concern resurfaces. "Shinji lost it sort of like this. It was because the simulation Evas we fought resembled the Mass Production Evas that hurt me."

Mari calmly nods. "I understand." She instills her attention towards Unit 01 and smiles. "For the people he loves, he'd go insane if it means he can protect them."

Asuka smirks to herself as she nods and thinks, "He sure would."

Dummy Eva 15 stops expelling the sound while the mechanical beast's head cracks further. Randomly, the enemy points its wings towards Unit 01 and attempts to strike Shinjis's Eva with them.

Unit 01's A.T. Field easily blocks the attack though amidst Shinji fiercely yelling, "It's useless! You can't beat me!" Unit 01 abruptly crushes the adversary's head, causing it to blow up. 

Following that, Dummy Eva 15 lets go of Unit 01's hands, dangling its arms towards the landscape. At the same time, its wings dropped to the ground as well while the threat steadily sways from side to side a little, finally collapsing on its left side.

Touji suddenly starts cheering out of delight and throws his left hand up to do a fist-pump. "Way to go, Shinji! Ya got that bastard good!"

Misato expresses a relieved sigh as she plants her left hand at the middle of her chest, her eyes closed in the process while lowering her head. "Thank, God." She slowly reopens her eyes, grinning. "He did it."

Unit 05 walks up to Unit 01, Mari's image appearing on Shinji's top screen while smiling. "Shinji..."

Shinji's head hangs as he tries to catch his breath until peering at Mari with a gleeful smirk. "I won, Mari."

Mari giggles before shutting her eyes and contentedly nods at Shinji. "You sure did."

Misato temporarily watches the primary monitor prior to focusing towards Kaji while fairly pleased. "That's two down and one to go."

Kaji nods as he smirks at Misato. "Yup. We're on a roll." He chuckles.

Unfortunately, Maya interrupts the good mood by gasping out of terror during her observation of her screen. Soon after, the dame turns her head eastward to look at Misato and frantically exclaims, "Colonel!"

Misato quickly views Maya with fear demonstrated. "What is it?!"

Maya urgently rebuttals. "It's Unit 03! Its synchronization has gone over 200%!"

Misato's stunned while pulling back a little, but pushes that aside to become attentive of the main screen with stress exhibited. "Not him too!"

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

Well, I left you all with a major cliffhanger. Right now, I imagine there might be some death threats coming my way, but I had to leave it there. Simply look forward to the next one and thanks for reading.

That's it. Talk to you all later.