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((Ok, here goes. Read old posts for the current storyline. This is the only non-rp stuff from now on.))

Looking over his shoulder camera inside the cockpit, Shinji was horrified to see that the target had attacked Asuka instead of him. Knowing this, he cursed himself for the defensive shield, as the angel probably went for the less guarded target.

Tossing the massive shuttle shield aside, Shinji deployed the progressive knife chamber, grasped the handle of the weapon, and ignited the vibrating blade. As Unit-01 charged into the struggle with utter fanaticism in his mind, he could feel the instinctive pulse of the AT-field from the angel and the emotional fury of an AT-field emanating from Unit-02. Technically, the fields were the same, but they were created by two totally different things.

As he got closer and closer the angel, time seemed to slow down. He could feel Asuka's AT-field being ruptured from the constant tug of war with the target and the more he felt it weakening, the more he felt as if he let her down for guarding himself. The pain, the guilt...he needed it all to end it all.

"LET GO OF HER, YOU MONSTER!" With a quarter-circle, upward strike, Shinji forced the knife in between the angel's collarbones, if it even had collarbones. The luminous epee tore into the angel's core, causing a massive perforation within the area. An enormous roar of agony erupted from the target and due to the pain, the angel instinctively reverted its current target.

The razor-like tail snapped back from its original assault on Asuka and pierced Unit-01's lower torso. Within the blinding rage, Shinji ignored the searing affliction and began to rotate the knife in a circular motion to cause as much damage as possible. During this entire time, Shinji's screams of torment echoed the control center of Central Dogma and in the Eva communications channels. It was eerily similar to the battle with the 4th angel.

As the angel gargled its own blood and bellowed at the same time, the vital fluid spilled all over Unit-02 in a disturbing yet short downpour. Moments passed with screaming in between, and the angel's sudden convulsions slowed. Finally, the ferocious being slumped over and landed in the arms of Unit-02. Silence once more dominated as Shinji sunk deeper into the cockpit chair. A maroon spot of blood thickened on his plugsuit around his abdomen.

"Gomen ne, Asuka...gomen ne..."

Misato was hunched over Hyuuga, reading the screen. When she saw the sudden change in Shinji's lifesigns, she shouted out with a tinge of panic in her voice, "Send a medical team to get Shinji out of Unit-01 and help him! Recover Unit-02 now. We'll recover Unit-01 once Shinji's out of it." The poor kid had been injured again piloting that... thing. Misato always hated having to watch the kids suffer... but if they weren't here, fighting off the angels, they'd probably be already dead from the Angel's genocidal attacks. Whether or not the methods they had to use were kind, NERV really was the only group capable of taking out Angels.

In the back of her head, she realized the Angel had landed near (or on) one of her favorite bars, so it'd probably have to close until the Angel was cleared away... and that usually took weeks. And she'd have to start filling out the paperwork for the damage caused by the fighting (again)... All of that was a drop compared to the worry that Shinji might be severely injured, but it was back there with everything else.

Misato turned on the comm. "Asuka, are you alright? We have a team going to pick up Shinji at this moment. He'll be fine, don't worry." There was no reason to stress the poor girl by giving her details, and with NERV having some of the finest in the medical profession on staff, it was unlikely Shinji wouldn't recover.

Misato then turned to Ritsuko as she turned off her mic. "Please see that the new pilots commence training. We may need them while Shinji's down, if another Angel happens to attack." She looked at each of the children, who had been all seated in their Evas on the off-hand chance they were needed, and felt grateful that they hadn't. A little more time until they would be subjected to this, then. That was good. They could be normal children for a little while longer.

Misato turned as she heard the door open, waiting either for Gendo to reprimand her for damaging Unit-01 again, or Fuyutsuki to start talking about how all this collateral damage that the Children always seem to cause was always billed to NERV, and the expenses were adding up. Or maybe Kaji coming in to say something cryptic and then mention that the three of them needed to go out for drinks. Instead, the little gray-haired boy, Kaworu, was looking at her.

"Everything is under control," Misato said automatically, as to not cause the boy panic. She looked over at the monitor, catching a glimpse of the medical crew force-ejecting the Entry Plug and pulling Shinji out of it. It was hard to tell how wounded he was from here, but they were having to pull him out of it, so it didn't look fantastic. "Shinji was injured during the battle, but he should be fine."

Misato turned on the comm to Asuka again. "Thank you for your hard work, Asuka. You and Shinji did well as always." She wanted to apologize to her, apologize that they had to keep sending her out to fight, but held it back.

She then turned to Kaworu. There was something odd about the child, but she couldn't place her finger on it... "Do you need anything, Kaworu? I don't know if Doctor Akagi still plans to run the Synch Tests today." Misato looked over to Ritsuko for an answer.

"Are you sure that Shinji is going to be ok? And what should I do?" Kensuke asked, not to anyone really just asking. If an angel was able to hurt Shinji does that mean that the rest of us could also be hurt?

Kesuke pondered to himself and waited for someone to answer his questions. I still don't belive it. Me a pilot. I can finally get out there and do something to help. Those angels wont stand a chance with 6 Eva's against them.

"Um. Dr. Akagi, Major Misato. I was wondering, when is it that I will be able to particapate in a battle with the angels?" Kensuke questioned with a bit of self control so he wouldn't seem to eager.

Misato turned to Fuyutsuki and tried to keep from sounding alarmed. "We're not entirely sure on Shinji's condition. The emergency team that pulled him out says he has an injury in his abdomen, but they haven't had a chance to determine what caused it yet." Hopefully it wouldn't be anything serious...

Kensuke sounded like he WANTED to go out there and fight the angels... While it was a refreshing change from Shinji's not-wanting to pilot, Misato wondered what on Earth Kensuke thought was going to happen that was going to be fun fighting an Angel. Did he not hear the screaming just now? She supposed he would understand in time... hopefully he wouldn't get himself killed before then.

"Ritsuko, the pilots are all here, so I'll leave you to take care of the tests. I'm going to go see how Shinji's condition is." Misato didn't need to be here for the tests, wasn't sure how to set them up or run them, and she was worried about Shinji, so she figured she could take off. Of course... with the battle over, there'd be paperwork to do - if they could, the bureaucrats would probably try to fend the Angels off with sufficent red tape - but that could be put off for a bit. There were more important things at the moment.

Karasu Yoru, her raven black hair kept up in high on her head, is glad that the battle with the Angels is over. Her first few days in Tokyo-3 were calm, then this. Her storm gray eyes watch the screen and the Third Child. Living in America, she had never seen the Evangellions her parents worked on in action, only scetches that she had snuck to see.

Karasu looks up at Ritsuko and waits to see if she will be needed for the sync test.