RPG Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Children [M-LV poss S]

[Retribution]

[center][b]Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Children
CHAPTER I[/b][/center]

[size=1][b][url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=51003]Underground (click here)[/url][/b] ? READ BEFORE POSTING

[b]Objective:[/b] Get through training; defeat Orion

[b]Notes:[/b] Please check the Underground Thread for further information about the RPG.

---

?Well, here?s your room, Keiji. You?ll be bunking with another young man by the name of Kazuki. I?m sure you two will get along! If you need anything, feel free to call,? said the bubbly voice of his caretaker. Her name was Ayame, and she would be taking care of the three pilots for their entire stay at NERV. By default, Keiji assumed they were a liability, not really a pleasure to have around. Therefore, he treaded lightly, nodding quietly to the information she gave him on the way in. Once inside the apartment, gave a sigh of relief.

[I]Sort of nice for a military organization? I was expecting a barracks.[/I]

He scouted out the rooms within the small suite before finally finding the one that he and Kazuki were to share. The room was comparatively small to that of the other pilot, Sakura, and he felt slightly jealous as a result. He unpacked his belongings and settled upon the upper bunk before wandering around. It was about another half hour before Kazuki arrived, and another forty-five minutes after that before Sakura came through the threshold.

?Hello. I?m Keiji. What?re your names?? he said to the other two watching television. Although he knew both their names, his father told him it was a good conversation starter. Apparently this time around, it wasn?t.

?Could you move, please? You?re blocking the TV,? Sakura mumbled offhandedly. Keiji apologized quickly, sidestepped, and continued to look at the two before Kazuki answered.

?I?m Kazuki. Nice to meet you,? he said. His eyes remained fixated on the screen. Another thirty seconds elapsed before Sakura chose to speak.

?Oh. I?m Sakura. How?re you?? Her response sounded genuine, but her eyes remained transfixed on the television.

?I?m fine, thanks. Do you know when our training commences??

?0600 hours tomorrow,? Kazuki said, finally rising from the couch and moving to the kitchen. He opened up the refrigerator, obviously searching for food ? it was nearly midnight, and they had been given nothing to eat. He frowned at the lack of contents, and went into his room quietly. Keiji sat around the room, hoping to build a bond between his teammates, but ultimately retired with no success.

[[One week later]]

?Please suit up immediately and enter the entry plug. I understand that this is only the second time you?ve done this, but relax as the LCL fills the entry plug. Panicking will fail you. Focus your entire mind on linking with your Evangelion.? The tech briefly spoke to them before scurrying to her console that gauged the sync-ratings of all three pilots. With a brief nod, he opened up the changing room air-lock doors.

The inescapable feeling of nervousness and anxiety filled Keiji as he undressed and put on his forest green suit. As he suited himself up, his mind darted off to images of the First Impact, and what type of enemy he would be up against. If he passed this sync-test, he would be in the line of very real danger.

His training had been a blur ? he had been briefed and educated in all the knowledge there was to have about the Evangelion in one day, and the rest of the time was devoted to a franticly paced training regiment. Every day had been grueling and merciless on their bodies and minds ? they had progressed by leaps and bounds since day one, but he was told it might not be enough quite frankly, by Ayame.

[I]?Please enter your entry plug.?[/I] The airlock door shot open, and the hiss of decompressing air encircled the trio. Keiji walked up to the plug reading a bold ?00? on its front, and entered it after keying in a twelve-digit password and retinal scan. His stomach convulsed with fear, and the overwhelming urge to puke swept over him. With the training of the past week, however, the urge was suppressed, and he shut his eyes as the warm LCL washed over his body and down his air-passages.

[I]?Synchronization will now begin.?[/I]

---

[b]OOC:[/b] So thanks for reading all that, and PLEASE read the Underground before posting.[/size]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]Sakura entered the threshold, her bag was slung over her right shoulder. She looked around and noticed two boys in the area, she guessed they were her fellow pilots. She walked past their room to get to hers, theirs was smaller than hers even though they were sharing it together. She shrugged and looked at her large bed, dresser, table, and everything else in her room. Sakura put her down on the bed and started to unpack, putting everything in the right places. When she was satisfied she left the room, closing the door behind her.

She sat in the main area where one of the other pilots was watching a show. Sakura raised an eyebrow and sat beside him, and soon realised the show was a documentary about wolves, her favourite animal. She watched it and didn't realise much as the other pilot came into the room. Sakura realised only when said pilot stepped in front of the TV, obscuring her vision.

[B]"Hello. I?m Keiji. What?re your names?"[/B] he asked.

Sakura was moving around, trying to get a view before she politely asked him to move away, it was just getting to a good part so she zoned out. She heard the pilot beside her introduce himself as Kazuki. The documentary came to a more lax part so she decided to be courteous.

[B]"I'm Sakura. How're you?"[/B] she asked genuinely, though she was watching the screen incase it became interesting again.

Keiji replied and asked when training was, it was at six in the morning. Kazuki got up to search for food, they were all hungry but there was no food. He grumbled at the lack of food and went to his room. The documentary finished and Sakura left too with a goodnight to Keiji, she entered her room and went to sleep.

[[One week later]]

Sakura was confident about the sync test. The three of them entered the changing rooms and changed quickly. Sakura slipped into her navy blue plugsuit and pressed the buttons on her wrists to fit the suit to her body.

They were told to enter their entry plugs. Sakura walked forward to the plug marked with the large bold numbers; [B]01[/B]. Her fingers flew across the keypad, entering the 12 digit code, then bending down slightly to allow it to scan her retina. She slipped in and closed the hatch, taking a seat as the warm fluid washed over her. Sakura forced herself not to panic as it surrounded her, she breathed normally and allowed it to enter her lungs.

Sakura tried to remember everything she had learned in that one day when they piled them up with tons of information on the Evas. She closed her eyes, her fingers were wrapped around the controls comfortably. Sakura reached out for a presence, anything that she could connect to. In her mind, she could see herself standing in a black void, she was searching, searching for anything, anyone.[/COLOR]

[B]OOC:[/B] I think I got most of what you wanted. Let me know if it's not right.

[Jokopoko]

[color=teal][size=1][b]?I knew your mother while she was here, did they ever tell you that??[/b] Fuyutsuki asked Kazuki.

[b]?No sir.?[/b] Kazuki replied stiffly.

He had arrived at NERV some two hours ago but unlike the other pilots he had been sent to Central Dogma for a debriefing of sorts. Kazuki, unlike the other two pilots, already had some form of connection with ?Project E? given that his mother had died during one of the early synchronisation tests with Evangelion Unit-02. The First Evangelion. Currently he was sitting in a chair in front of NERVs deputy commander, Kouzou Fuyutsuki who was looking thoughtfully at the boy.

[b]?It was more personal than professional you see, but she was dedicated to her work...and she did love you.?[/b] The old man didn?t seem to have any trouble talking to a boy he hardly knew about his long dead mother. Kazuki, however, was feeling distinctly uncomfortable and Fuyutsuki seemed to pick up on this as he wasn?t long before he dismissed Kazuki to meet the other pilots. A woman called Ayame took him to where he was staying, the journey was uneventful but the women persisted in asking Kazuki questions in an all too cheery voice.

He was thankful when he left her at the door.

Kazuki looked around the room, nothing impressive or unimpressive about it. He could here the shuffling of feet in one of the other rooms. ?Must be one, or both, of the pilots.? He thought. Quickly finding his room, a shared one apparently, he saw the top bunk had been taken although that didn?t bother him as he wasn?t here to sleep. Dumping his bag onto the bottom of the two he left the room and could still here the sounds of another person coming from one of the rooms.

He wasn?t in a mood to investigate who this person was so he headed back to the lounge area he had passed before. The sofa was comfortable enough so Kazuki figured he should stay there, the other pilots would eventually find their way here. He absentmindedly flicked the channels on the television as he waited for the others. A documentary about wolves caught his attention and he settled on it for now.

Soon a girl entered the room with her bags. She walked through the room and was gone for about six minutes and returned minus her bags, seemingly interested in the documentary she sat beside Kazuki as he watched the programme. He was only mildly interested in the television so when the other pilot asked the two there names he was first.

[b]?Hello. I?m Keiji. What?re your names??[/b] the boy asked.

[b]?Could you move, please? You?re blocking the TV,?[/b] Sakura mumbled offhandedly. Keiji apologized quickly, sidestepped, and continued to look at the two before Kazuki answered.

[b]?I?m Kazuki. Nice to meet you,?[/b] he said. His eyes remained fixated on the screen. Another thirty seconds elapsed before Sakura chose to speak.

[b]?Oh. I?m Sakura. How?re you??[/b] Her response sounded genuine, but her eyes remained transfixed on the television.

[b]?I?m fine, thanks. Do you know when our training commences??[/b]

[b]?0600 hours tomorrow,?[/b] Kazuki said, finally rising from the couch and moving to the kitchen. He could already feel the tell tale rumbles in his stomach, he hadn?t eaten since breakfast this morning. Finding nothing that looked snack worthy he frowned and went off to the boys sleeping area. He wasn?t up for sleeping just yet so he reached over to his bed side table and found a Evangelion pilots manual and began reading it.

[center][[One week later]][/center]

Feeling entirely confident in himself and his abilities Kazuki didn?t feel the need to engage in conversation with the other pilots as they got changed for their first synchronisation test. The training had prepared him for this and he?d spent almost every night religiously reading the pilots manual. He pulled on the last of the gun-metal grey gloves of his suit and activated the suction of the clothes feeling it get skin-tight in an instant.

Walking out into the Evangelion bay he saw Keiji and Sakura getting into their Units, his own was bright silver in colour with two numbers emblazed on the side [b]?02?[/b]. Showing no signs of hesitation of climbing into the Eva in which his mother had died Kazuki was soon fully locked into the entry plug and it was placed into the Evangelion. As the plug began filling with the LCL Kazuki began mentally reciting what he had read in the manual.

[i]?The Evangelion are controlled mainly by linking with the cranial nerves of the pilot. Of these, the most important is this A^10 nerve. ... It is associated with higher order brain functions such as memory, cognizance and the execution of movement, and with emotions such as anxiety, fear, happiness and pleasure. In addition, it is also said to play an important role in affection between parent and child, and between lovers.?[/i][/size][/color]

[Retribution]

[size=1]Keiji felt an alien presence appear in his mind as the sync-test began. It felt familiar, but distant and dangerous at the same time. He recoiled his mental link after a brief, shocking contact. For a moment, there was no distinction between him and his Evangelion, but there was an instant repulsion from both parties afterwards. He had no desire to continue playing with fire, and the Evangelion did not consider him with its time. After two more minutes of rising and falling sync levels, red lights activated within his entry plug, and the link was completely gone.

[I]?The test is over. Please exit your entry plugs after your LCL has drained. Follow proper exit-protocol to prevent contamination,?[/I] the intercom drone to him as the liquid drained out of his plug. He coughed up a bit of LCL, and stepped out of his plug with shaky legs. The three pilots exchanged similar glances of shock and awe over what had just happened. Sakura looked confused, while Kazuki had slightly enlightened countenance.

Ayame strode through the airlock, past the security guards after flashing her identification card to bypass the checkpoint, and saluted the pilots. They crisply returned the sign of respect, and held it until Ayame said otherwise.

?At ease, pilots.? The three put down their arms from their salutes, and let their faces return to their bewildered state.

?What you just experienced was synchronizing with your Evangelion. You?ve already received the information as to why and how this occurs, so if you will follow me to see your results.?

?Yes, ma?am,? they chimed in unison, then followed her back to the observation deck, where a huge screen declared their sync-levels.

[I][b]00-MIYAMOTO: 30.9% synchronization
01-CHIMÉITEKI: 0.061% synchronization
02-SHO: 61.01% synchronization[/b][/I]

?As you can see,? Ayame said as she gestured at the electronic board, ?Only Kazuki has adept control over his Evangelion. You two,? she said, pointing at Sakura and Keiji, ?require much more training if we are to combat the coming Angel, Orion.?

?When does he arrive?? Kazuki asked, not caring for the congratulations he had received over his skill.

?Approximately four hours, thirty nine minutes, and counting. As you can see, there is no more time for training. Only Kazuki and Keiji will be going to combat Orion. Sakura, you are until further notice deemed unfit to pilot.? Ayame?s eyes gave Sakura an unspoken ?sorry?, but her voice remained firm. Sakura?s fists clenched themselves involuntarily into fists as she tensed up with anger. Her teeth grimaced tightly behind her pursed lips.

?Why can I not pilot?? Sakura demanded, not accepting her failure.

?Because you will be killed if you do. You have almost nil control over your Eva. You?d be a sitting duck. This topic is not open for discussion. You are dismissed, Sakura. As for you two, follow me to Central Dogma.? Without further conversation, Ayame sharply turned away from Sakura and strode off towards an elevator to Central Dogma. Kazuki and Keiji followed quickly, not bothering to look back at their comrade.

The lift ride down to Central Dogma was a silent one. Keiji stared at the metal wall in contemplation and utter fear of Orion. Kazuki looked neutral, uncaring, and aloof from the situation as he gazed at the digital number showing their current level. When the lift stopped, they were met by ten armed guards, and their captain who demanded their identification. Ayame flashed her identification card, and the two boys followed suit immediately, for fear they would be shot.

?Welcome to Central Dogma. It is here that the MAGI you were told about are held.? The place was vast and expansive, full of rushing techs and supervisors, all of which had a vital purpose in serving NERV. A huge hologram display hovered in midair, easily three stories high. Above it all was a platform, where the MAGI were held and its operators. They keyed in the commands to control the various holograms. On one of the many windows was a clear image of Orion maliciously orbiting Earth ? the image made Keiji?s heart sink with doubt and fear.

For the next four hours, Ayame bombarded the two with as much information on tactics and strategy for their Evas, as well as information on Orion. Their orders were to eliminate it by any means necessary, even if that meant self-sacrifice. Their talk with Ayame was interrupted by a horrifying message.

[I][b]?ALL PERSONELL REPORT IMMEDIATELY! ORION IS ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE! REPEAT: ALL PERSONELL REPORT IMMEDIATELY! ORION IS ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE!?[/b][/I]

?But it wasn?t predicted for another fourty minutes?? Keiji thought out loud.

?It was only an educated guess. Move it! We have no time to talk about why it came early. Get to your stations!?

There was an immediate scramble all throughout Central Dogma to prepare for the coming threat. Tokyo-3 had been transformed ? it?s skyscrapers were now retracting into the ground to minimize the damage, warning messages had been dispatched through every possible medium, and techs were rushing to finish their service on Evangelions 00 and 02. Kazuki and Keiji sprinted through the madness onto the loading-dock, already suited up into their plug suits. Without a word exchanged, they entered their cockpits.

?Evangelion 00 ready for launch!? Keiji declared after running the automated safety protocol. Without another second?s hesitation, he was shot up the catapult and into Tokyo-3. Two seconds later, Kazuki joined him. They equipped their assault rifles, and stepped out of the loading platform and onto the streets of the city.

High in the sky, Orion descended like a black sun setting in the sky. Keiji willed his body to remain calm, and fought down the constant urge to puke as he contemplated his oncoming death.

?Keiji ? flank him on the right and open fire at one of the eyes. I?ll be diverting him,? Kazuki ordered, then spared no instant waiting around. He charged down the street directly at the leviathan, opening up with his assault rifle. The shells ricocheted harmlessly off Orion and back into Tokyo-3, crumbling a few small buildings. Keiji?s movement was sluggish and cumbersome ? he had a very low sync level with his Eva, and his fear was only dropped it lower.

?Dammit, Keiji! Move it! This is no time for cowardice!? Ayame screamed at him in carnal rage. His mind snapped back, and his adrenaline kicked in as he moved to the right, peppering Orion?s eye with his small-arms fire. There was no response, save for the eye opening up and locking onto him. An orange glow filled it ? and Keiji realized it was readying its beam weaponry directly at his head.

It fired with the brilliance of one thousand suns, and nearly killed Keiji. His reflexes saved his life, and instead of the Evangelion?s head being destroyed, his arm was now lying severed in the middle of an intersection. Needles of pain shot through his physical arm, and he screamed in horror. He could not hear the voice speaking to him through his headset ? he overpowered all communications to him with his agonized cries.

?GET THE FUCK UP! I?M GOING TO DIE, KEIJI!? Kazuki screamed back at Keiji, who was lying in the fire of the incendiary beam, which was burning through a formidable section of Tokyo-3. Summoning his strength, his screams died down, and receded to a constant whimper as he scanned the skyline for his comrade. He only saw Orion repeatedly firing a beam at the same general area, and guessed it was aiming for Kazuki.

He could not stand, but rather adjusted his useable arm, and fired upon Orion with his assault rifle once more. His diversion was in vain, and instead resulted only in one of the other eyes swiveling towards him and firing once more. Keiji rolled to the side, crashing into another building, and stood up. The blood of his Evangelion cascaded onto the streets as he drew his beam saber, running down a four-lane road leading towards Orion. The angel had no difficulty firing another beam into the left side of Keiji?s torso. He cried out in violent suffering, but continued charging, despite the heavy blood loss of his Evangelion.

?Eject. I repeat, eject, Keiji. We can?t lose a pilot on the first angel,? Ayame pleaded. Back at Central Dogma, they debated severing his neural-link with Eva-00.

?Let him continue ? if we sever the link now, he?ll be defenseless, and Kazuki will be on his own.?

?He?s lost 40 percent of the Evangelion?s blood, not to mention what his own physical damage might be at the end of the battle.?

?He will continue to fight.? The words of Gendo Ikari overrode all other discussion, except for a few scattered ?yes-sir?s.

Keiji jumped off of a skyscraper to provide extra height, and increased his AT-Field to 300% before swiping his beam saber across one of Orion?s beam-eyes. Their AT-Fields clashed mercilessly with one another for a moment, before Orion?s shattered. The eye exploded in a plume of black blood.

In the back of his mind, he wondered exactly how Kazuki was doing on the other side of the massive opponent.

---

OOC: So, Joko, you can either pick up from here, or post your views on the events mentioned thus far. Sakura, you can talk about your feelings and what you chose to do after he left.[/size]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]Sakura's grip was now tight around the controls of the Eva, her knuckles white. Her eyes were clenched shut as she reached out for a presence. Her self in her mind was still in that surrounding of black, and there was no one else there, nothing she could connect to in any way.

It seemed too soon when the call was made to tell them that the test was over. The LCL flowed out of the entry plugs, and the three of them got out, she was confused and stressed, she could feel a migrane coming on.

The three of them saluted Ayame and then followed her to the observation deck for their sync test results. She knew she wouldn't have done particularly well, but to have the lowest of all three of them by a large amount, she was not happy. This was a crushing loss, and she was told that she would need a lot more practice.

The worst part came when these words were said. [B]"...Sakura, you are until further notice deemed unfit to pilot."[/B] Ayame announced.

Sakura's fists clenched, her fingernails bit deep into her palms and she could feel the warm trickle of blood. She grit her teeth, trying to keep her anger under control.

[B]"Why can't I pilot?!"[/B] she asked, anger evident in her voice.

[B]"Because you will be killed if you do. You have almost nil control over your Eva. You?d be a sitting duck. This topic is not open for discussion. You are dismissed, Sakura."[/B] Ayame said coldly.

Sakura went blank as she trembled, the trails of blood ran down her fingers and onto the ground, looking on as Keiji and Kazuki followed Ayame quickly without a look at her. They left and she was stunned, still standing, not paying attention to anyone around her. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Sakura whirled and looked at them, they asked if she wanted them to bandage her hands, noticing the bleeding.

Sakura didn't say anything, she walked into the elevator, and returned to their living area. She sat at the kitchen table and stared at her hands, looking but not seeing. Her mind kept returning to that black place with nothing there. Sakura snapped out of it and grit her teeth at the memory of it.

She moved to the sink and turned on the tap, running her palms under the cool water, the blood ran down the drain and she dried her hands, going to the bathroom for the first aid kit stored there. Sakura wrapped her left hand quickly and tightly, tying it with one end in her right hand and the other end between her teeth. Wrapping her right hand took longer since she wasn't as skilled with her left hand, but she got it done to her satisfaction, watching as red cresents appeared on the white cloth.

Sakura ate and took a panadol for the throbbing migrane. The panadol made her drowsy, she fell into bed, not changing out of her plug suit. Sakura stared at the ceiling blankly, waiting for the sleepiness to kick in, it soon did and she fell asleep.

In her dream, Sakura was back in the entry plug, her mind self was searching, continually searching with no luck. Why couldn't she find that presence the techs had told the three of them about? Why had she failed? It should have been a win, the loss alone hurt, but she had the lowest sync ratios and the two boys were younger than her. Why? What happened?

On her bed, Sakura was restless, rolling around frantically but was suddenly woken by a loud siren that echoed in all of the rooms.

[I][B]"ALL PERSONEL REPORT IMMEDIATELY! ORION IS ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE! REPEAT: ALL PERSONEL REPORT IMMEDIATELY! ORION IS ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE!"[/B][/I]

She sat up in bed and instinctively she jumped to the ground and headed for the door, but then she remembered she wasn't allowed to pilot. She clenched her fists again and the wounds that had started to close opened again, spilling blood and soaking the bandage. Sakura looked at her hands and swore, leaving the room to change her bandages. She was tempted to go watch, but she didn't want to see any of them again at that moment in time. Sakura returned to her bed, falling into another restless sleep.[/COLOR]

[Jokopoko]

[color=teal][size=1][b]?GET THE FUCK UP! I?M GOING TO DIE, KEIJI!?[/b] Kazuki screamed back at Keiji.

[i]?That idiot is going get us both killed if he doesn?t get his act together.[/i]? He thought with scorn as he watched Unit-00 to show any sign of competence. Straight away his attention was snatched away as Orion continued its barrage on his Evangelion. Moving with unparalleled speed Kazuki avoided the vast majority of the attacks, many of them destroying the buildings of Tokyo-3, but several of them hitting choice sections of his Evangelion. He felt himself wince with pain as the shots hit home, they?d said he would be connected to the EVA but he didn?t think it would be this much.

As he formulated strategy after strategy to get the Angels AT-field down he saw it shatter into glass like shards, all he do for a moment was sit there astounded by his own dumb luck. Getting his head together he snapped back into pilot mode.

[b]?Keiji, where are you? The AT-field is down! We need to co-ordinate an attack on this thing!?[/b] He shouted over the comm.

A crackle of static.

[b]?Yeah ?I know...?[/b] Keiji said in a distant voice. Kazuki punched the comm. button off while mentally writing Keiji off for the remainder of the battle.

Again his EVA was struck by a blast from Orion, right in the upper torso. Kazuki screamed in pain as Unit-02 collapsed onto the ruins of Tokyo-3 behind him, creating more destruction. As he fought back the blinding pain he could hear some whispering in his ear...he couldn?t place the voice but it was certainly familiar.

He continued to feel the pain trying to force him into unconsciousness but something almost primal was keeping him awake and forcing the EVA to stand. Kazuki threw the assault rifle to the ground as all of the weapons attacks had been futile. Taking a running jump he leapt at one of Orion?s remaining eyes with nothing but the EVAs own hands to attack it with.

As he drew closer to the eye he saw it build up energy, there was no where for Kazuki to go.[/size][/color]

[Retribution]

[center][b]Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Children
CHAPTER II[/b][/center]

[size=1][b]Objective:[/b] Report for and complete weaponry and mental training.

[b]Notes:[/b] I?ll outline what the weaponry and mental training is ? so post them showing up for it, and stop there.

---

Kazuki?s gamble was won by the narrow margin of one tenth of a nanosecond ? he had managed to destroy Orion?s eye an instant before it gained the capability to fire. The energy stored in such a small point in space was excited prematurely by Kazuki?s attack, resulting in a massive explosion, which destroyed the greater part of Orion?s mass. The Evangelion?s AT-Field was pushed to the brink and destroyed by the force of the blow, but the mission had been accomplished. Orion sunk to the ground; its anti-gravity capabilities rendered useless as the greater half of the angel disintegrated. The other half lay limp and useless as NERV vehicles swarmed to quarantine the angel.

Keiji could hear Kazuki?s suppressed whimper of pain as his Evangelion?s fingers were scalded by the incendiary beam?s energy. The melee attack had largely damaged Unit 02?s right hand and lower arm.

?Pilot status for the 00 and 02 are normal ? vital signs are stable, Evangelion status of the 00 is critical, the 02 is all green. Return to NERV and follow proper extraction protocol. Mission accomplished,? NERV Central Dogma informed them. Keiji felt sick to his stomach, and his arm still seared with a constant pain. All he could do was stand still as the Eva engaged itself into autopilot to head back to NERV. He observed Kazuki?s Evangelion, noted the absence of damage, and immediately felt the pangs of shame and failure.

Back at Central Dogma, they were debriefed and given their personal statistics for the battle, how to improve upon them, and the chances of the battle going differently had they employed different tactics, all of which were compliments of the MAGI. Kazuki was a rising star of a pilot, quickly adapting to his controls and the situation given by Orion. Keiji, on the other hand, was average on the learning curve, but was commended duly for disregarding his own physical damage and destroying one of Orion?s eyes.

?How do I improve? I don?t want to fail you all,? he whispered to himself. He received no reply, save the soft clicking of the computers whispering in the background. Kazuki shot him a look of contempt, despite Keiji wearing a sling to cradle his combat-injured arm.

?What happened back there, Keiji? You screamed like a child.? His tone was unoffending, but the words he offered were confrontational on their own.

?My arm was shot off,? he replied quietly, in a soft tone, hoping he wouldn?t step on his toes.

?People die when you hesitate in battle. Don?t ever do that again.? He left as soon as the words had landed their stinging blows. Keiji sat quietly, wondering how many had died as a result of his inaction. After a few minutes, NERV personnel sent him back to his room, where he encountered a very irritable Sakura.

?Give me the damn remote, Keiji. Soccer?s boring anyway,? she murmured. Keiji slowly reached for the remote, hoping not to rouse the pain of his arm, when she got up herself and snatched it off the table, crashing back onto the couch scowling. Kazuki floated in and out of the room, fixing himself a hot meal, which smelled rather appetizing. He did not offer Sakura or Keiji any of it, and consumed it in his bedroom. Meanwhile, Sakura continuously flicked through the channels restlessly before finally settling upon a cooking show. Keiji remained inert, unwilling to jostle his arm or take the time to prepare a meal to eat.

The pain of his wound throbbed thickly through his sluggish mind. Matters would continue to get worse ? they received a notice through the mail slot, reading:

[b]Report for physical weaponry training at 0430 hours, ending at 1000.
A rigorous mental test will follow the weaponry training. Report fully suited up.[/b]

He braced himself, knowing NERV would not care if he had a tender arm. Quietly, he accepted Sakura?s sour mood and Kazuki?s contempt, lest they turn upon him in full force.[/size]