Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The End is the Beginning.

Chapter 5

An EDF Production.

Written by Helix and Rune.
aka Travis Carr and Jonathan Lloyd.
.

 "Records indicate that the last public appearence of the Renegade Keele was
2 years after the end of the First Offensive.  Current location of the
commander of the Dark Eva Legion is unknown, and he should be considered
extreemly dangerous..."

 History of The First Offensive, Chapter 12 opening paragraph.

 "Alright class, listen up!  Due to some problems, we've been forced to step
up your training schedule."  Sam sat back in his chair as he listened to the
astonished murmers pass through the crowd of cadets.  None of the cadets
noticed that the pencil that Sam had been holding was snapped, nor the
grimace that had passed across his face for a moment.

 Ryan glaced around in astonishment.  "The schedule is being moved up?  What
does that mean?"  he blurted out.

 Sam smiled.  "Your first plug test will occur in seven hours.  Return here
in four.  Cadets are dismissed until that time."

 There was the usual commotion as people gathered their books, the low
murmer in the class getting louder and louder as the cadets exited the class
room, until the class finally scattered, all of them talking in amazed
voices about the accelleration in their schedule. Ryan picked up his books
and walked outside, still mulling over the implications of the accellerated
schedule.  As he turned the corner to the lunch room, Ryan bumped into
Kaoru, who was leaning against the wall listening to his sister.

 "Great!  Not only do we miss several days of classes, but their throwing us
into the plug test already?"  Rei shouted, stalking around the hall and
waving her hands around as she raved and ranted.

 "Is this something I should know about?"  Ryan muttered under his breath to
Kaoru.

 "Perhaps.  My sister had the impression that she would be so far ahead of
the rest of the class that she would recieve her own private plug test.  But
since the activation tests have been stepped up, she obviously won't get her
way."  Kaoru shrugged as he, Ryan and Rei started walking down the hall.

 "Oh, is that it?  I thought it was something serious..."  Ryan grinned.
"So all miss perfect is upset about is the fact that she dosen't get
pampered."  He barely stopped and ducked down in time to avoid Rei's
backhand.

 "Stupid idiot, thats not why I'm worried."  Rei started walking down the
hall, looking for the lunch room.  "What my little brother isn't telling you
is that both of us are class 3 canidates...  oop, we're not supposted to
talk about that, are we?"

 Kaoru nodded in affirmation of her statement.  "But I think that Fusha
should know about it...  but not now.  Remember that we told mother that we
would meet her for lunch."  He siezed Rei's wrist and started to drag her
down the hall.

 "Hey, let go of me!  What are you talking about??? Kaoru!!!"  were the last
words Ryan heard before they both vanished into one of the elevators.

 Ryan shrugged and walked into the lunch room.  "Strange family."

...

 "Hey, Ryan!"  Keith shouted as Ryan walked into the cadet's cafeteria.
"Get over here!"

 Ryan walked over to the table, reluctantly taking a seat next to Keith and
one of the other cadets.  He was quickly handed a plate, and soon had a
decent sized meal stacked up before him.  "Um, thanks..."  Ryan muttered.

 "No problem pal."  Keith replied as he put the last of the potatoes onto
Ryan's plate.  "What are friends for?  Speaking of friends, what happened to
the Eva Queen and her brother?"

 "Who, Rei and Kaoru?  They had to go somewhere, something about lunch with
their parents."  Ryan speared a piece of chicken off of his plate and took a
bite.  "Speaking of those two, did you notice that Kaoru never seems to eat
with us?  I've seen Rei in here a few times, but never her brother."

 "Yeah..."  Keith tapped his fork on the side of his plate.  "You can always
tell when Rei's around, but Kaoru?  That kid is strange...  he hasn't said a
word to anyone that I've seen yet."

 Ryan rubbed his chin as he moved some peas around on his plate.  "Is that
so?"

 Keith gave Ryan a questioning look, which Ryan brushed off.  "So, whats the
big deal about the plug tests?"  one of the other cadets, named Mistie,
asked.  "I mean, their just a routine test for the Evas, right?"

 "I'm not so sure about that..."  Ryan replied.  "Lieutenent Johnson was
acting a little strange when he told us that the tests had been
accellerated.  I wonder in something strange is going on..."  Ryan shrugged.
"Can you hand me that cake please?" he asked, pointing to the large pastry
confection that had landed on the table from the food chute a moment before.

 Keith handed Ryan the cake, taking a piece before that, however.  Everyone
tore into desert with gusto before Keith spoke.  "You don't suppose its
another offensive...  I mean, if the EDF had taken enough casualties,
wouldn't they accellerate the training of the current class?"

 The bully who had been fighting with Ryan the day before finally spoke up.
"Well, dad says that there IS something big going on...  and that commander
Ikari was forced to accellerate this class by a month and a half."

 Keith stared at him in shock.  "A month and a half???  My god...  are we
even ready for a plug test?"

 "Actually, yes."  the bully replied.  "I mean, we are all Eva pilots,
right?  The ability to snchronize with an Eva is the requirement that we
need to enter.  None of us would be here if we couldn't do it..."

 "Are you sure?"  Ryan retorted, pointing his fork at the bully.  "As I
said, even Lieutenent Johnson was nervous, and have you noticed him showing
ANY sign of stress before?"

 "Well no..."

 "Then something must be up.  Although I hope its just our assignment, and
not the plug test itself."  Ryan shrugged, and went back to eating.
"There's nothing we can do about it, so lets just see what happens, eh?"

...

 Ryan gunted as he pulled on his plug suit.  Rei had been commenting a
moment before, but she had just left, so Ryan felt that it was safe to get
changed now.  After a bit of manipulating, Ryan managed to get the baggy
type 1 suit on, the same style suit that was used by the origional Eva
pilots.  A quick press of the button at the wrist sealed the suit against
his skin, and Ryan had to admit that he DID look rather good in the black
and orange suit.  With a sigh of resignation, and a quick oath to face
whatever was comming with his head held high, Ryan stepped into the waiting
room.

 And crashed right into Rei.

 "EEEKKK!!!  Pervert!  What are you trying to do to me??"  Rei shrieked as
she smashed Ryan over the head.  "Trying to feel me up, you little..."

 "Ahh!  It was an accident, honest!"  Ryan managed to blurt out as he beat a
hasty retreat.  "Seriously, I didn't know you were there!!!"

 "Practically married already."  one of the cadets muttered.

 "Bets on those two getting together?" Keith asked one of his friends.

 Rei paused at that, and with a quick "humph" walked off into the crowd.
Ryan wiped his mouth, and took one of the hands that was offered to him.  He
grunted in suprise as Kaoru hauled him to his feet, and looked over to the
other boy in askance, but the lavender haired Ikari simply pointed at Sam,
who was starting to speak at the front of the room.

 "Alright, you cadets will be directed to your Evas momentaraly.  There are
several things that you should keep in mind, however."  Sam walked across
the front of the room with a grave expression on his face.  "First of all,
this will be an unfamiliar enviornment for all of you.  Therefore, you must
keep your mind clear and focused on the tasks that are assigned to you.
Nothing that the testers will ask you will be irrelivent, so do as they say
and don't argue.  Everyone clear on that?"

 The cadets responded with a thunderous "YES SIR!".

 Sam nodded.  "Good.  All cadets report to you Evas then, and good luck."

 As the last of the cadets filed out of the room, Sam sighed and added under
his breath, "God knows, your going to need it."

...

 Sam looked at the old pontoon boat that sat on the Eva unit 18 dock.  The
crew was busy getting it tied to the dock, and obviously went about their
work rather effeciently.

 "Ah, you must be the pilot.  My name in Sarah Minka, Chief Engineeer for
Eva unit 18."  A rather young looking woman extended her hand to Ryan, and
he shookit firmly, noticing the oil and blood stains on her clothes.  Not
all that unusual for an Eva engineer, Ryan thought as he remembered that the
Eva's were part biological.  An Eva engineer was a combination of mechanic
and surgion rolled into one, and was almost as important as the pilot in the
smooth operation of the Eva.

 "Ryan Fusha, and I guess I'm to be the pilot of Eva unit 18."  Ryan broke
the handshake and stared appreciativly out at the Eva that sat in the lake
of coolant, like a sleeping giant.  "Its beautiful..."

 "That it is.  I've been working on Eva 18 ever since the origional was
commissioned.  And parts of the origional are still in there, even though it
was upgraded to use an S2 engine.  Sad though, the last pilot crashed about
a week ago, and we didn't expect to see cadets trying out so soon."  Sarah
wiped her hands off on her overalls, and ushered Ryan into the boat.  "She's
a beaut, you have to admit.  Now lets get a move on slackers!  We don't want
to be the last ones out there!"

 The remainder of the engineers, a crew of 8 in all, got the boat away from
the dock in short order.  With a practiced, almost enviable ease, the boat
was soon cruising across the lake of coolant towards the Eva and its gantry.
Rya leaned back in his seat and let the wind whip through his hair, sighing
in contentment.  Surely nothing could go wrong today...

...

Authors Notes:

Hello again!  Next chapter is up (my god, he's actually typing.)  Anyways, I
appreicate the C&C people have given me, considering that I don't have
access to a spell checker, etc.

Chapter 5 will be up sooner or later.  C&C espeically comments on content
are appreicated, but spell checks are appreciated even more so.

Created with the power of Notepad

Jonathan Lloyd,
Rune, Master of Confusion and Being Lost in Time
Korin, Extreemly Confused Seiryuu Seishi