And here is part three of the ever continuing saga of me in Evaworld. 

	Jerico leaned back in the chair, watching the screen as it descended
from its hideaway in the wall. It had been a long couple of days, and
between setting up his room, getting settled and starting the long trek
that was learning Japanese, he was beat. Now training started in
earnest, something Jerico was not looking forward to. 
	The first day of orientation, he thought sleepily. What do they show
me, movies. Bitching. He settled a bit more, trying vainly to find a
comfortable manner in which to watch the show. He glanced up at Misato,
who was standing at a podium waiting for one of the AV techs to fix the
projector.
	[Fifteen years and they still haven't fixed movie projectors,] he
complained loudly. He was alone, and in the couple of days he'd gotten
to know Captain Misato a bit better. He found her witty, attractive and
kind. Exactly like an older sister. Unfortunately, he didn't really want
or need an older sister. Plus the whole problem with what his age was.
He'd argued, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, that he should be
treated as an adult, with all the rights associated with one. 
	[Hey Misato,] he said, "remember how I said dinner and a movie?"
	Misato laughed at his joke, as well as how badly he phrased the
question. "Wrong word order," she scolded. She repeated it in English as
she saw the look on his face that said 'Huh?' She'd seen a lot of that
from him. She could also tell he really hated not being able to do take
care of himself. 
	[Whatever. You understood, didn't you?]
	[You need to learn the language. Besides, when did you get me dinner?]
	[That's it, I'll cook tonight.]
	She laughed, unable to tell if he was serious or not. Not an uncommon
problem with Jerico, since he seemed to hold no topic as above prodding
humor. Is he really hitting on me? She asked herself. Must be confusing
him with Touji.
	[It better be good,] she said, calling his bluff. 
	He nodded, faking a yawn in an exaggerated fashion. She snorted when
she felt his arm go over her shoulder. [It always is, Misato-san,] he
said, a very Touji-like grin crossing the features. Though she smiled, a
small part of Misato shuddered at the familiarity of the expression.

Unfamiliar, but Welcome (pt 3): "Ashes to Ashes"

A Needlessly Verbose Title Production

Catering by ARMARK (still)

Titles by Another Silly Axiom, Inc.

Special Effects by If You Haven't Seen it Yet, Give up Man, Ltd.

	Jerico stared down at Unit Y, his left cheek still showing a bright red
palm print. Actually he stared at the components that would soon make up
Unit Y, as the old machine was pulled from storage and laid out in one
of the Cages to be assembled. Massive cranes lifted limbs up in some
Gulliver-esque style parody of surgery while the Lillipudlian
technicians slaved away at the titanic machine.
	[That thing is going to be ready by tomorrow?] Jerico asked
Ritsuko-sensei, all ready feeling bad for the technicians who would be
here until very early the next morning. 
	Ritsuko simply nodded, pointing at the massive metallic tubing that was
being lowered into Unit Y's chest cavity. 
	[MHD coil array,] Jerico identified. [You got room temp superconductors
yet?]
	Ritsuko nodded, then stopped and shook her head violently. She pointed
at a mass of tangled wires being forced into the wrist assembly below
them.
	Jerico grinned. The two of them had been playing this game since Jerico
had stated his dislike of the Unit Y briefing session. He had
sidetracked the conversation so much in the first ten minutes that
Ritsuko got fed up answering his questions and took him down to do some
identification. He had gotten less than half right the first time
around, but after two days he was batting somewhere around six fifty.
	[Pass,] he grinned.
	Ritsuko sighed. [Neural emulation and feedback array.]
	Jerico repeated it, trailing off as he caught sight of someone walking
across the catwalk leading into the adjacent cage. Ritsuko followed his
gaze, shaking her head slightly as she saw who it was. Jerico might not
be stupid, she thought, but he's got a lot to learn.
	Unconcerned with the sudden attention, Ayanami Rei continued to walk to
her Eva.

	[Pilot Mele,] she said softly.
	[Hello, do I know you?] he asked back. She noticed his flinch and
attempt to cover the initial shock of her appearance. Filing the detail
away, she began a greeting. Jerico, on the other hand, was out of his
league. A girl with blue hair and red eyes came up to him and said
hello, dressed in what he thought was a school uniform. And for an added
bit of confusion, it was Sunday.
	[I am Ayanami Rei.] She had practiced the greeting after the meeting
with the Commander, to be certain it was correct. She didn't use them
herself, so she read a couple of novels that she had found at the
checkout line of the supermarket. [Pilot of Unit 00.] 
	Jerico reappraised her, offering a hand. [Jerico Mele. But you knew
that already, didn't you.] Brilliant, he thought sarcastically. Drop the
ball a little harder next time, would you Jerico.
	[Yes,] Rei said, falling into the familiar pattern of question and
answer. [You appear lost. May I direct you somewhere?]
	[Oh, no,] Jerico said nervously. [I was just, um, sightseeing. The city
is beautiful. I'm not too used to it, yet.]
	[Who are you?] she asked, voice even and not betraying the sudden
curiosity she felt. 
	[Jerico. Or Mele. Or any number of other names I've picked up�that I
used to have. I was born on Nantucket, around thirty five years ago.]
	[The island?] 
	[You've heard of it? Probably a tourist Mecca by now.]
	[No. It sank into the sea after the Second Impact. I, read, about it
once.]
	Jerico was silent for a moment. [Oh.] Rei wondered idly if she had
provoked an emotional response from him as he returned to silence.
[Well, its official now. This really is a dream.]
	Rei looked at him, trying to see behind Touji's face. She couldn't. She
didn't know what to feel, but underneath her attempt at humanity there
was cold anger.
	[I will take you back to your building.]
	[Oh, well, I guess I've done enough sightseeing for today. Lead on.] He
followed her on to the train.

	Asuka settled into the sofa, flicking through the channels impatiently.
She looked over her shoulder at Shinji, feeling infinitely bored. What
to do, she asked herself, what to do? She glanced back at the screen,
giving up all hope of finding anything interesting on. Shinji finished
his glass of orange juice, and after returning it to the dishwasher he
began walking back to his room.
	Asuka pursed her lips, boredom palatable as someone droned on about
some charity giveaway or another. News bored her. The shows here bored
her. Everything bored her. 
	"Shinji," she barked, then realizing her tone of voice, softened.
"Would you come here?"
	"Sure," he said, sounding only slightly less depressed than usual.
	"Are you bored?" she asked innocently. "I can't find anything to do."
	"N-no," Shinji answered, eyes wide as Asuka moved closer. He noticed
her whole demeanor had changed, become more�he didn't know what word to
use, this being a completely new side of Asuka's personality.
	"Well," she purred, surprising herself along with Shinji, "what have
you been doing then?"
	"No-nothing," he stammered back, feet shuffling. 
	"Want to kiss?" she said as she stood and walked, no slinked, towards
him.
	"I-I�" Shinji replied, feeling a combination of the rush of fear and
elation as a fantasy began to come true. "I, um, I," he continued
uselessly.
	God, Asuka thought, I really must be bored if I want to kiss this
loser. Some deeply submerged impulse made her blush, a feeling she
didn't quite realize yet. She bent towards Shinji as she felt the heat
pour off her face. Shinji took a half step back, left hand propping him
against the counter behind him as his legs weakened.
	As their lips met, Shinji felt her hand reach up and pinch his nose.
Alarm crossed his face as he realized there was another tongue in his
mouth, one that was roving across his teeth and battling with his own.
An image of Asuka in her plug suit, hands on her hips demanding that he
get in her Eva crossed his mind. After what seemed like an eternity to
him (actually thirty seconds or so) there was a knock on the door.
	"Gah!" Asuka yelled she heard Jerico's voice from the other side of the
door. That idiot, she thought bitterly. She broke the kiss and ran to
the bathroom as Shinji collapsed against the counter, face beet red.
	[Excuse me? Do you have any butter?] Jerico asked Shinji as he tried to
figure out why Shinji appeared to be blushing.
	Confused, Shinji muttered something as he heard the sink turn on and
the sound of violent tooth brushing from the bathroom. He pointed
towards the fridge and sat down on the couch.
	[Ikari-san, are you feeling all right?] Jerico asked as he opened the
refrigerator. 
	"Yes," Shinji said, then, stuttering in broken English, [fine.]
	[Your nose seems to be bleeding.,] Jerico said, his face concerned.
[Want some napkins?]

	Ikari Gendou sat and faced the one man that he could still call friend.
The massive office was darker than usual, a result of its owner's fowl
mood more than any external cause.
	"You believe it is necessary for Project Y to be revived," Fuyutsuki
asked him gravely. "We were both in agreement when we took steps to�stop
its development."
	"At the time," Gendou said softly, betraying no anger, "we were
correct. We had no way of telling how effective the Eva pilots would be,
and the threat that Y represented was too great. Now it seems that the
plan would benefit from the madman's work." Only after a long period of
silence did Fuyutsuki respond.
	"And what of the Fourth?" he asked. "Doctor Akagi doesn't seem fully
convinced of the necessity of manipulating him."
	"It is necessary. What else can we do to protect our implements?" he
asked, looking at his hand for a moment. "Continue monitoring the new
child's stability. If it begins to be questionable, contact me. Until
then have him readied for combat as soon as possible."
	"Of course. I think he will do well."
	"He must simply do. Thank you, Fuyutsuki-sensei, I have a meeting to
attend."
	"Give my best to the chairman," the old man added as he left the room.
	
	Shinji and Asuka looked at each other, then to Pen Pen. Neither of them
were cooking tonight, and Misato had made no moves to call for take out.
In the short time that Asuka had lived there she had grown to fear the
meals Misato had infrequently made. She nudged Shinji and whispered
acidly: "Are you going to ask her?"
	"Ask her what?" Shinji whined.
	"About dinner. Oh, never mind. I'll do it."
	She stood and walked over to Misato at the kitchen table, and rubbed
her stomach meaninfully.
	"Boy, I'm hungry, Misato. When do we call for food?"
	"Don't worry. It should be done anytime now," Misato said as the
doorbell rang. "Oh, that's probably him now."
	She went to the door, opening it quickly and exclaiming "About time,
slowpoke." Then she gasped as Rei's voice answered back. 
	"I am sorry, Major. I didn't realize that it was necessary for me to
arrive any earlier."
	"What are you doing here, Wonder girl," Asuka asked, dislike for the
pilot evident in her tone. 
	"I was asked to attend dinner by Pilot Mele."
	"Pilot Mele doesn't live here," Asuka barked before she realized what
this mean. So the weird little bugger likes Rei, huh. Wait till Hikari
finds out, she thought, grin all ready spanning her face. Touji will be
dead no matter how crazy he's acting.
	[Dinner is served!] came a happy voice from across the hall. [Come on
now, hurry up or it'll get cold,] Jerico said as he noticed Rei still in
the doorway. [Gomen nasai, Katsuragi-dono,] he apologized. [I forgot to
tell you I invited Rei. Is it all right?]
	[Certainly,] Misato responded. [I guess the pilots could use a bit more
time together. Come in, both of you.]
	Jerico grinned as he held up a large serving plate, covered by a couple
of paper towels. [An old family recipe I carry on to this day. My mother
taught me how to cook it, and I hope to do her proud.]
	He placed the plate on the dining room table and waited for everyone to
take their places. Around the table it went Misato, Asuka, Shinji (the
human buffer zone) and Rei, with a seat left over for him between the
first and last arrived. He dimmed the lighting and dramatically removed
the paper towels.
	[Dinner is served,] he said as he revealed a plate of sandwiches, each
toasted with a health bit of melted cheese in the center. [There are a
couple of them with bacon, and the rest are just cheese, in case anyone
was vegetarian.]
	[Thank you,] Rei said as she picked out one of the latter.
	Lucky guess, Jerico thought as he grabbed one of the blackstones and
placed it on his plate. Then, remembering his duty as cook, he asked 
[Anyone want anything to drink.]
	[Water,] Rei said simply.
	[Coke,] Asuka said unhappily as she eyed her grilled cheese. 
	[Juice, please] Shinji half muttered, having placed a blackstone on his
own plate.
	[A bee-] Misato began, cut off by a large bottle of Sapporo plopping
down next to her table. The massive beer stared at her, offering a
challenge she couldn't turn down. Jerico sat down after distributing the
rest of the drinks. 
	Then he started eating, beginning the strangest, most interesting
dinner he had ever had the privilege to attend. The conversation ranged
from silence to burping to raging arguments over who did what to which
Angel (fairly, the only raging came from Asuka, who was responsible for
most of the arguing in the first place).
	Finally Misato put down two more Sapporo's and a couple more grilled
cheeses, she rose and staggered around the living room, shaking her fist
at the pilots and demanding that they get to know each other better.
Unfortunately, she passed out a couple of moment after issuing her
proclamation, leaving the children to stare at each other. 
	[Um, I think I'll be going to bed now. You know, training tomorrow and
all.] Jerico wiped off a large drop of sweat, wondering idly where the
hell it came from. 
	Shinji dropped his head into his lap as Rei stood, grabbed her bag
silently and walked to the door. "Thank you for dinner, Mele-san," she
said quietly. "Goodbye, Asuka-san. Ikari-kun," she nodded to Shinji as
she left. Jerico nodded and left a few moments after.
	"You want to help me carry her?" Asuka asked as she began dragging
Misato to bed. Shinji quickly grabbed her legs, again amazed by Misato's
ability to humiliate him without trying. After the two had dropped
Misato into her bed, loud snores already echoing in her room, the each
went to the bathroom and began to brush.
	"Shinji, what do you think about Touji?" Asuka asked as she spit out
foam and wiped her mouth out.
	"Its not Touji," he said gloomily. "Its Jerico. They're different
people."
	"Its just Touji being crazy. You don't really believe he's been
possessed or something, do you?" the red head asked incredulously. 
	"He hasn't visited his sister since it happened. Do you think he'd
ignore her just for the sake of acting strange?" Shinji said
defensively. "Plus, how do you explain Touji speaking English? You
remember how bad he was in class."
	"I suppose he's right. I just find it�it seems disturbing that�"
Asuka's face clouded as she tried to phrase her question. "Never mind,"
she said suddenly. "Good night." 
	"I�I'm sorry?" Shinji asked her door as it was slammed. He shrugged,
and went into his own room, looking forward to a little sleep. 
	Asuka laid down, mind confused. What is it about that possession that
disturbs me so much? She asked herself wearily. Even coward Shinji is
taking it better than I am. But�I don't want to lose.
	Across the hallway, ruminations of a related vein were occurring.
	This bed, Jerico thought. Too new. He shuffled around for a moment,
strange anxiety filling him. Tomorrow was his first day piloting. First
day behind the wheel. The thought filled him with excitement, but the
small dark portion of his mind whispered disturbing thoughts. 
	[What if its not a dream?] he voiced his inner musings. The thought
that this was really happening just couldn't fit. There were too many
jumps he needed to make before he could even consider it seriously. He
grinned, doubts abated for the moment. He drifted off to a dream, one he
was convinced was inside another. 

	[Is this thing really necessary,] Jerico asked across the blind in the
pilot's changing room. [I mean, Shinji got to use street clothes, how
come I can't?]
	Shinji looked up upon hearing his name, not really understanding too
much of the rest of what Jerico said. He had been a competent student of
English, but the language had never really taken in his mind. He saw the
look on Jerico's face as he stood in his plug suit. For unknown reasons,
he had a different suit than Touji, a fact that Shinji felt grateful
for. The gunmetal gray and black suit fit Jerico well, despite the
awkward way Jerico seemed to move in it. 
	[Yes,] came the response from the door. [I'm sure I've explained it to
you a couple of times by now, or were you too busy oogling Maya to
listen?]
	[Gomen, Ritsuko-san,] Jerico said. [I guess I didn't realize it would
be this�irritating.] His face crinkled in discomfort as he sat down on
the bench. Shinji looked back down, knowing he would be in an Eva soon. 
	[No time like the present,] Jerico said as he stood finally and left
the room. Ritsuko looked at Shinji, lost in thought.
	"Ikari-kun?" She asked softly from the door.
	"Yes?"
	"You all ready to go?"
	"I-I guess so. How long do I have?"
	"A couple of hours or so. Once Unit Y is up and running it'll be time
for your own tests. Take a walk and calm yourself down."
	"Yes." Shinji looked to her retreating back as she left the locker
room. Yes, he echoed silently.

	[I might be wrong about 'ol Riant Jobo here,] Jerico said as he stared
at the finished Unit Y from the overhanging walkway. He was about the
same height as the Unit's head, perhaps thirty five meters from the
ground. Next to Unit 01 it was short, but then, height wasn't
everything.
	There was no entry plug in the Unit, rather a hatch that lead down into
the depths of the mecha's neck, doubly shielded from harm by a set of
air locks. A small, electrically driven sled carried Jerico down into
the cockpit. It was a tight, congested cylinder, packed with computers
and machinery, and a single pod-like command chair. 
	Just like the mock up, Jerico thought happily as he plopped down in the
chair, sliding his legs under the coverings at the feet and nestling
down inside the shell. Plugs in the back of his suit linked up with
corresponding probes in the chair, closing the circuit.
	A light blinked on Ibuki Maya's panel. "Pilot ready."
	"Begin flooding operation."
	[Shit,] Ritsuko heard from inside the pod. [This stuff's sick. Smells
worse than you told me.]
	[Just an oxygenated compound,] Ritsuko said. [Trust me, its not half as
bad as the LCL.]
	A few moments of gurgling followed. Misato suppressed a grin, well
aware of the chilling presence of the commander behind her, observing
the proceedings. We should have had another week to train him, she
thought darkly. But the commander insisted, and who am I to argue with
that man? 
	"Ready to begin neurological hybridization," Shigeru reported from his
station. "Reading full integration between input system and output
calibration. He's ready and so is the Unit."
	"Begin," intoned Gendou from his perch behind them.
	"Initiating."

	Sitting in the plug, Jerico felt a brief flash of heat, or rather the
sensation of heat. Then his mind felt with a dull pain, like a series of
hard pinches across his body. It spread from the back of neck across his
entire body, the pinches coming more frequently and with greater
intensity. The voice in the back of Jerico's voice strengthened, going
from whisper to shout in half a second.
	[What's going on?!] he said, panicking as a horrible realization came
to him.
	"We've got two patterns forming the output from the pilot!" Maya yelped
as the terminal before her went crazy. "Unit Y is activating on
automatic subroutines."
	"Shut it down," Gendou barked, rising to his feet.
	"I don't think we can. The MHD storage is drawing current from the
mains. If we cut the power now then it will destabilize the hydrogen and
possibly cause it to go critical."
	[I'm awake! I'm awake!] Jerico chanted maniacally. [Need air! Need
space!]
	"His pulse and breathing rate are skyrocketing."
	"Unit Y reaching full integration!"
	"What can we do?" Fuyutsuki asked.
	"I'm trying to override the computer, but the encryption routines are
very strong. It'll take me a few moments, but it should work."
	"Get a medical team down there," Misato barked to Shigeru, "we have to
make certain the pilot's safe."
	"Unit Y's core is active! Integration complete!"
	In the cockpit Jerico's body stopped its panicky movements and was
still. His voice died in his throat, and the readouts that had been
idling since his entry sprung to life. Unit Y's eyes flashed briefly as
the massive robot became fully active. A low rumbling, made all the more
ominous for the Unit's lack of a mouth, began to build in the cage.
	"How is it making that noise?" Ritsuko asked in an awed tone.
	"MHD capacitor fully charged and disengaging."
	"I'm picking up an AT field!" Shigeru bellowed from his station, alarm
in his voice.
	"From what!" Ritsuko demanded. She glanced down at her station,
monitoring the cracker program's progress. 
	"Unit Y!"
	"Movement detected, the Unit is struggling."
	A few more seconds, Ritsuko thought. Then we can shut this thing down?
She finished as the lights flashed once and died. The room was silent as
the battery backups came on, deep red light coating the entire command
center.
	"What happened?" Gendou inquired in a voice more suited to asking the
score at the latest baseball game than a catastrophe of this magnitude.
	"All power lost!" came Makoto's response. Almost immediately Maya and
Ritsuko were pounding away at their laptops. 
	"Unit Y is free of the restraints!" Maya shouted, "Moving towards one
of the launch tubes."
	"AT field at thirty kilonewtons and climbing," Shigeru reported as he
finished starting his own laptop. "Power from secondary and tertiary
reactors not making it through the junctions. No estimates of
reactivation."
	"That's impossible," Fuyutsuki barked from the command platform.
	A horrible creaking noise, the kind made only by tortured metal about
to break, issued from the speakers connected to the cage. At once
Ritsuko realized what would happen. The force of the AT field was
pushing against the walls and floor of the launch tube, generating a net
force up the tube.
	"Unit Y is accelerating up the tube," Maya belted as her voice broke. 
	"I can't believe it," Makoto stuttered as he stared at his laptop. 
	"It's a consequence of Newton's third law," Ritsuko said as she
continued to type frantically. "When will he-"
	"Ma'am, I've got another AT field. Pattern blue. An Angel!"
	The command center was silent besides the beeping coming from the
various computers. The schematic of Unit Y registered the dropping of
its AT field as it thumped to rest in the city above. 
	"Ready the pilots."
	Ritsuko turned and faced Gendou, who had stood and was making his way
to the emergency elevator. "Why? We have no way to prepare the Eva's,"
Ritsuko asked him.
	"I will see to it personally." With that the Supreme Commander of NERV
left the command center.
	"You heard the commander!" Misato barked, "Locate the Children! And
someone get me a radio so I can talk to Unit Y."
	
	In the city above, all was silent as the conveniences of everyday life
lay dormant. The sun shone down on the city, unobstructed by any clouds.
In the center of the city a massive robot stood on stocky, unstable
legs, one hand clutching its head as if it was in pain. And six hundred
meters away a large form moved on eight insectoid legs, multiple eyes
scanning the ground ahead of it. They settled on what appeared to be its
only opposition, and skittered onward.

Next Time (plus bonus author's drivel!): 
	After some good C&C I've revised the first two parts and altered this
part a bit. The additions to the plot have been included, and I think
the fic has benefited a good deal. Next we should see that the Spider
Angel is no pushover (despite various comments to the otherwise). 

As Always: The characters and plot of the preceding work of fiction are
copyright of Gainax, with the exception of Jerico Mele, who is copyright
the Society for Creative Interpretation of Reality. 

For more like this (and several things radically different) visit
www.undergrad.brandeis.edu/~jmele
C&C welcome at jmele@brandeis.edu