Yeah, I'm finally starting to clear things up. This update isn't quite a
hectic of full of plot twists as previous ones^_^;;;


If you missed previous parts/chapter this series/fanfic, you can find it
on my webpage at http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/ 

 
Enjoy^_^






Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong



  Shinji nodded, "You're right. Actually, now that I think about it,
having you 
stay here is probably very dangerous. It's probably better off if you do
come 
with me to my world. It'll probably created a lot of confusion what with
there 
being two Misato, two Ritsuko, and two Asuka, but it's still better off
than 
staying here,"
  "So you'll take us with you back home?" Misato asked.
  "Sure," 

    




<new stuff 12/11>






  Shinji stopped the car by the exit of the tunnel that led to GeoFront.
  "Why're you stopping?" Misato asked.
  "It's better if we try and sneak in to Nerv from here on," Shinji
commented, "If we try pulling up in a car, we'll be spotted for sure.
Also, we would be sitting ducks if we get attacked while in the car. At
least on foot, I'm much better off at attacking back,"
  "I guess you have a point," Misato said.
  They all stepped out of the car. To their surprise, there was a bit of
debris by the exit. The girls watched as Shinji walked over and picked up
the pieces and started pocketing them.
  "What are you doing?" Misato asked.
  "I took down two guards earlier," Shinji answered, "They're no longer
there, but the debris from weapons I broke that belonged to them are
still there. I'm just picking a few of the pieces up to use for throwing.
I'm outta things to throw and those parts from the broken weapons will do
just fine,"
  Ritsuko looked at Misato, "Man, Shinji's really resourceful. From what
I've seen, he uses his surroundings and environment very effectively,"
  "Thanks," Shinji overheard the comment.
  Finished pocketing bits and pieces from the ground, he turned his
attention toward Asuka.
  "Are you sure you wanna come along and not just wait?" he asked, "It's
still not too late to turn around,"
  "Misato and Ritsuko are coming," she answered, "So why shouldn't I? I'm
in this mess just as deep as them,"
  Shinji gave a sad face, "I know, and it's all because it's my fault I
brought you in to it. However, Ritsuko needs to come along because only
she can reprogram MAGI. Misato's coming along because, well, actually, I
don't know why she's coming along,"
  "I'm there because it's personal," Misato smirked, checking her gun, "I
just want to be there in the thick of things. I'm in this deep and wanna
see this through instead of just running away and letting you and Ritsuko
have all the fun,"
  "Then that's the same reason for me as well," Asuka said.
  Shinji was silent for a moment. He wondered if he should just tell her
no and to just run away and meet up with them at some rendezvous point.
Misato could take care of herself and might actually be able to help him
out since she could handle a gun. With Asuka, she would just be a
hindrance since she would basically be following them and presenting
herself as an extra target for Nerv operatives to fire upon.
  He looked at her face and noticed how much she wanted to go with them.
He knew why also. If they went to Nerv without her, it would basically
feel like a form of abandonment toward her, something he knew Asuka
hated. Asuka was the type of person that didn't want to be alone. 
  Even though she gave off a sense of independency, Shinji knew it was
just a front for a girl with a troubled past. Heck, that was how he was,
what with him having such a troubled past and usually closing himself off
from people so he wouldn't get hurt.
  "All right," Shinji said, "But please try and keep close,"
  "I will," she said with a smile.
  Jeez, I'm probably gonna regret my decision later, Shinji thought.
Without Unit-02 around to pilot, she's just a regular girl. There was a
very good chance she would panic.
  He sighed. 
  He would worry about that when he came to that crossroad.
  "Let's get going,"
  
  Shinji and the others sneaked through Nerv, heading toward the command
center.
  Misato felt very impatient, her hands twitching nervously as she held
her gun close to her body, following closely behind Asuka. Sneaking
around was something Misato wasn't used to. She would rather go around
guns blazing but knew that she  would not last more than a few minutes
before she would be shot and killed.
  At the moment, Shinji was taking point and leading the ground in front
while Ritsuko and Asuka followed him, Misato following in the rear. 
  It took a good twenty minutes to get to their destination, Shinji
forced to take down eleven guards along the way, Misato taking down two
as well with well-aimed shots from her gun. Although it would only take
around five minutes to get there if they trekked along at a normal pace,
it took extra time to get to the command center because they had to stop
and break each individual guards' weapons to prevent them from being of
further threat, so no other guards could pick those weapons up and use
them. 
  They also had to take time to hide the guards, so they would not leave
behind a trail indicating their presence. Because, who knew, there was a
chance Nerv personnel weren't even aware that they had snuck back in.
  Once inside the command center, they were surprised to find it empty.
  "Where the heck is everyone?" Shinji asked.
  "You don't think-" Misato began.
  Shinji quickly left the command center and in to the restroom located
nearby. Inside, he was shocked to see the command center personnel right
where they left them, still tied up to the stalls.
  He laughed, "Jeez, I thought you guys would've escaped by now,"
  When he saw them, it made him think about something. If they were there
the whole time, that meant Unit-02's self-destruction had no human
intervention and was the sole responsibility of MAGI's actions. It also
brought up a second question. Who sent those guards after them after they
fell down in to GeoFront from the surface immediately after Unit-02 blew
up? The same thing goes for topside. Who sent guards after them shortly
after they escaped from GeoFront and had made it topside, when they took
cover in that alleyway.
  "I made sure I knocked my dad out real well," Shinji commented,
scratching his head, "I don't even need to check up on him in that
medical room because I know he's still unconscious. It won't be for a
whole day until he wakes back up. So who the heck's sending those guards
out?"
  Shinji looked down at the tied up group.
  It was obvious they didn't send those guards out either. 
  He noticed tears were streaming down Maya's face. She, like the others,
had been tied up for over an hour and seeing Shinji back made her realize
that their captor was still lingering around in Nerv. 
  Also, none of them seemed to know what was going on. They remembered
feeling the floors within Nerv shake on two occasion, one shortly after
they were tied up and another shortly before Shinji showed back in there
a second time. The only thing they could have guess was that two N2 mines
had been set off topside.
  Shinji contemplated releasing the group and just telling them to run
away. However, he chose against it. He didn't really trust them. He had
trusted those guards not to shoot him when they said to come out with his
hands up but they shot him anyway. 
  "What do you want with us?" Maya, the female of the group, asked in a
meek voice.   
  "Sorry, but I'm not gonna tell you," he replied, "It's too complicated
and it's moot whether or not you know,"
  He looked over toward Fuyutsuki and noticed the gray-haired old man
staring at him with contempt in his eyes. It made Shinji feel a bit weird
because he kind of knew Fuyutsuki, both from his own world and from when
he first showed up on this world, shortly after he piloted this world's
Unit-01 immediately after arrival.
  "What have you done with Ritsuko?" Maya asked.
  Shinji smirked as he realized that none of them knew what had occurred.
They still thought she worked with Nerv. He could tell them basically
anything. However, it was best that he tell them something to keep them
from suspecting that Ritsuko was actually helping him out instead now.
  "Um, I killed her," Shinji said, trying to keep a straight face.
  Maya gasped, "Y-you murderer!"
  He gave meek smile. Maybe lying about killing Ritsuko was a bit too
much.  
  "Um, I was just kidding," he tried to pass it off as a joke, "Lighten
up. Um, I tied her up in the other restroom,"
  "Oh," Maya seemed relieved.
  Shinji smiled slightly, believing that that was a good enough answer,
that Maya had heard what she wanted to hear.
  He blushed when he noticed Maya's panties because of the way she was
sitting while tied on the restroom floor. Nerv female personnel wore very
short skirts for some odd reason Shinji didn't notice until now.
  He cleared his throat and said, "Um, well, I'll be going now,"
  "Wait," Shigeru called out.
  "Yes?" Shinji turned around.
  "I need to go to the bathroom," he answered, "I've been holding it in
for the past hour,"
  He mentally played out the scuffle that would occur the moment his
hands were free. Shinji, although roughly the same size as Shigeru, was
still a child and a child could easily be beaten by an adult. Shinji had
only managed to make everyone do as they were told because of the weapon
he had been carrying at the time. It was a very persuasive tool to use to
manipulate people in to doing what they were told.
  Shinji contemplated freeing Shigeru so he could answer nature's call.
  What should I do in a situation like this, Shinji thought. It's bad if
a person has to hold it in.
  He decided to free Shigeru and let him answer nature's call in one of
the few empty stalls. After he was done, he would be tied back up again.
  "All right, I'll free you," Shinji said, kneeling down and proceeding
to untie the shoelaces that were binding Shigeru's wrists together to the
stall.
  The moment Shigeru's hands were free, he dove and Shinji, shoulder
ramming the young man right in the stomach, slamming him up against the
wall. This surprised Shinji because he didn't expect Shigeru, a generally
laid-back guy from what he remember, to do something like that.
  When Shigeru tried to punch him with all his might and knock him out,
Shinji grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him up by one hand and shoved
him toward the side, slamming him in to the wall next to him. This
knocked the wind out of Shigeru and left him disoriented.
  "What do you think you're doing?" Shinji snapped, "I letcha go so you
can go to the bathroom and you do this. Fine, be like that,"
  Shinji dropped the man to his feet and grabbed one of Shigeru's arms,
twisting it hard which forced the man to wince in pain as he suddenly
fell down to his knees. Cranking the arm even more, Shinji brought the
man down on to the restroom floor so that he was laying on his stomach,
his arm locked in a straight position and cranked backwards so that it
pointed upwards toward the ceiling, Shinji's other arm on the man's
shoulder blade and pinning him in that awkward position.
  He contemplated what to do as he held the man in that position for
several moments. The arm and shoulder lock was so perfectly executed and
administered on Shigeru that the man was unable to struggle. Makoto,
Maya, and Fuyutsuki stared with wide eyes as the young man seemed to be
able to totally control the fully grown man, already forgetting that they
had seen Shinji pick him up with one arm a second ago.
  Shinji decided it was best to tie the man back up. If he needed to go
to the bathroom, then he could go do it in his own pants. 
  He twisted the man's wrist slightly and manipulated him back to his
feet and made him walk over to where the stall was, forcing him back down
to the floor where Shinji went about securing the man with the shoelace
he had removed a second ago.
  As he was about to leave the restroom, he noticed a small key that lay
on the floor by where he had Makoto pinned. He bent down and picked it
up, looking at it.
  "Hm, I wonder what this's for,"

  A bullet whizzed by Shinji's head as he entered the command center.
  "Jeez! What the heck was that?!" his eyes were wide.
  He looked toward the side where he saw a mark on the wall where the
bullet had ricocheted off of. When he looked forward, he noticed the
smoking barrel of the gun Misato was holding and suddenly realized Misato
had shot that round as she stood right in the center of the giant room,
ducked behind a large console.
  "Sorry," Misato said, breathing a sigh of relief.
  Shinji was still visibly bothered from having come so close to having
his head blown off, "W-why'd you do that?!"
  "I'm sorry," Misato said, "I kinda jumped the gun there. I thought you
were a guard,"
  Shinji pointed toward the bullet hole, "Look at the height you were
aiming. Why are you trying to take head shots? They'll die if they get
hit in the head. Why are you trying to kill the guards?"
  "Hey, I realized it was you at the last second and purposely missed,"
Misato said, "Keep in mind that we are currently in the command center of
Nerv where Nerv is after us and they won't hesitate to shoot to kill.
It's a very stressful situation here,"
  Besides, she had to worry about Asuka's and Ritsuko's well-being. Asuka
and Ritsuko were currently within the console that was MAGI. Ritsuko
needed to get in side of the console where the main 'brain' of MAGI was
located so she could reprogram it to allowed for Nerv to self-destruct.
  Shinji entered the room and said, "I don't think Nerv don't seem to be
aware of us being here,"
  "Why, what makes you say that?" Misato asked.
  "Fuyutsuki and the others are still tied up in the restroom," Shinji
said, "If that's the case, then no one came down here and don't even
realize what had happened. If they weren't there, then the Nerv would be
on the lookout for us,"
  "Wait, if they're still there, then who sent those guards after us-"
Misato began.
  Shinji interrupted, "I have no idea. Once again, yet more questions
unanswered,"
  Misato sighed, "I really hate this. I hate not knowing what the heck is
going on,"
  He smirked, "Welcome to my world. I haven't a clue what's been going on
shortly after I got here. Anyway, how's Ritsuko coming along?"
  "Why dontcha as her yourself?" Misato asked, "She and Asuka are working
on reprogramming MAGI again," 
  "A-Asuka?" Shinji asked.
  "No, just Ritsuko," Misato said, "Asuka is basically keeping her
company. Hopefully, Ritsuko can get past that part about MAGI favoring
Nerv. Because if she doesn't then all that we're doing will be for
nothing,"
  Shinji nodded, "You've got a point. But then again, it won't be all
that hopeless if she doesn't. If we hafta self-destruct Nerv, lots of
people are gonna die if we don't get this place evacuated. That occurred
to me when I saw Fuyutsuki and the others still tied up in the restroom,"
  Misato shrugged, "Unfortunately, that's something we are gonna haft
live with. Keep in mind that the deaths of a few hundred people mean
nothing when compared to the Angels succeeding,"
  The muscles around Shinji's jaw tightened, "I know, but I don't wanna
think of it as that. There's gotta be some other way around,"
  "Well, you're the guy that seems to come up with all the ideas, maybe
you can think of an alternative," Misato said, "I ran outta ideas
somewhere around the time when I got hit in the head with the butt of
that rifle a few days ago. I'm just going with the flow and just
following your lead,"
  "Following my lead?" Shinji said, "What lead? I'm basically stumbling
along as I try to make heads or tails of all the chaos that's occurring
around us,"
  "You're sure doing it much better than any of us," Misato smirked,
"That's for sure. You seem to have a talent for problem solving. Didn't
you say you majored in Engineering Science?"
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah, why do you ask?"
  "That could explain it," Misato smiled, "Engineering usually require
too problem-solving skills. Perhaps it's the engineering aspect of you
that's starting to show as you're presented these problems,"
  Shinji shrugged, "I really dunno about that,"
  Hm, maybe it's because I'm constantly around Ranma and watching him as
he is forced to problem solve very difficult situations like that, Shinji
thought. Maybe it's rubbing off on me. But then again, Ranma's never had
trouble solving things like I am. Everything seems to just get worse and
worse for me. If Ranma was in my shoes, everything would've been all
fixed up by now.
  "Why dontcha go check up on Ritsuko and see how she's doing?" Misato
asked, maybe you might be able to help her out. Heck, for all we know, if
you were here that time, you might've remembered about MAGI favoring Nerv
and picked up on it and told Ritsuko. Ritsuko might've been able to do
something to compensate and we wouldn't be in this situation now,"
  "S-so this is all my fault?" Shinji pointed to himself, "It's my fault
that I wasn't here?"
  Misato laughed, "No. Not at all. It was just a comment. No need to take
it so literally,"
  "Oh," Shinji said.
  He decided to walk over to the large console with a front hatch opened
by the front of the command center. He peeked inside where he saw Ritsuko
leaning against an interior wall within the console as she typed rapidly
on a tiny laptop computer, Asuka sitting right next to her. Where Ritsuko
got that laptop computer, Shinji had no idea and didn't bother to strain
his brain wondering why. He also didn't bother to wonder why neither of
them came out from that opening to see what was going on when Misato
fired her gun accidentally.
  "How goes everything?" he asked.
  "Fine," Ritsuko continued to look at the screen. 
  "Ah, you're back," Asuka said happily as she crawled toward Shinji.
  Shinji stood up and back away from the opening as Asuka crawled out,
Shinji offering her his hand.
  Asuka blushed slightly as she took his hand and got up to her feet.
  "How goes everything?" Shinji repeated his question.
  "I'm not too sure," Asuka said, "But I think it's going along fine.
Ritsuko seems to know what she's doing,"
  "How long will it take her to circumnavigate our problem with the MAGI
favoring Nerv and not letting us do want we want it to do?" he asked.
  Asuka smile slightly. It was rather nice talking to Shinji. Although he
looked young, he talked like a grown-up, very differently from the way
kids in her class spoke.
  She said, "Ritsuko estimated that it would take around twenty hours to
do so. This doesn't include the time she needs to rest. She hasn't slept
in quite some time and is really tired. She'll probably fall asleep at
the helm for a few hours before she resumes once again after she wakes
up,"
  Shinji realized something as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out
a key.
  He peeked his head in to the opening and said, "Ritsuko, I found
something that might be of interest to you,"
  "What is it?" she didn't bother to look, still typing on her laptop.
  "I found a key on Shigeru," he said, "I think it's the key that he
carries with him that can help turn on and off MAGI's Input/Output
system,"
  Ritsuko's eyes widened as she heard that. She quickly placed down her
laptop and scrawled toward the opening, "Can I see it?"
  Shinji handed the key over.
  Ritsuko smiled, "Wow, you're right. This is great. It'll help out
greatly. With this, it saves me the time I'd be wasting getting MAGi to
allow me to input commands. Since MAGI is now aware of us and what we
tried doing, it's cut me off from being able input commands, making my
job all the more difficult,"
  "How much time do you think it'll save you?" he asked, not wanting to
sound demanding. He wanted this done as soon as possible afterall.
  "It'll probably save me a good hour," Ritsuko said.
  "So it'll take you around nineteen hours instead of twenty hours to get
our plan to work?" Shinji asked, not really knowing what to say.
  Ritsuko nodded before her head disappeared back in through the opening
in the console.
  Shinji said, "If it's gonna take nineteen hours to make this plan work,
I don't think we'll have the time. It's only a matter of time before the
Angel gets in to GeoFront through the opening caused by Unit-02's
self-destruction. Do you have any idea how long it'll be for the Angel to
get in here?"
  "Around two hours," Ritsuko answered, "I did a quick calculation and it
seems to be just under two hours.
  "What?!?" Shinji's eyes widened.
  "That's just my estimate, it might be a little bit earlier than that,"
she said.
  The blood drained from Shinji's face.
  He sighed, "Well, if the Angel's gonna be upon us in around two hours,
then it's useless trying carry out a plan that'll take nineteen hours,"
  "It doesn't hurt to try," Ritsuko said logically, "Keep in mind that
with no EVA to battle the Angel, this is our only option,"
  "But you said the Angel's going to be here in GeoFront in two hours,"
Shinji commented, "That's not enough time,"
  "Hopefully, you can distract it until I'm done," Ritsuko said.
  "For seventeen hours?!? By myself?!?!?" Shinji gasped, "An army
couldn't distract it for more than an hour and you expected me to do that
for seventeen hours by myself? That's not possible!"
  Ritsuko said, "Do you have any other ideas or plans?"
  Shinji sighed, "No, none,"
  Ritsuko's head popped back out of the opening. She gave Shinji a slight
smile, as if she knew she could depend on him even in impossible
situations. She didn't want to count her chickens before they hatched,
but Shinji seemed to have continuously handled one impossible situation
right after another. Heck, the mere fact that Shinji managed to save
their lives after finding out they had one minute before Unit-02 was
something that couldn't be dismissed.
  "Hopefully, Shinji, you'll think of something,"
  
  Shinji and Asuka rode an elevator together down toward Central Dogma.
  Them being alone made the elevator seem a bit smaller than it really
was, at least to Asuka that is. The awkwardness atmosphere of the ride
made it seem like it was agonizingly slow for Asuka as well.
  "Do you think Misato and Ritsuko will be all right?" Asuka asked after
a minute of silence.
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah. Misato's actually really good with a gun and can
take care of herself while Ritsuko goes about trying to reprogram MAGI
for a second time,"
  "Are you sure you don't mind my coming with you?" she asked.
  Shinji shrugged, "No. Actually, it's probably better. If you stayed in
the command center, Misato will hafta worry about you as well as Ritsuko.
At least this way, Ritsuko'll be the only one she'll hafta cover,"
  "Are you saying I'm some kinda burden?" Asuka narrowed her eyes.
  Shinji held up his hands defensively, "N-no. I don't mean it like
that,"
  Asuka gave a slight smile, "I understand,"
  "Man, I wonder if what we're doing is even feasible," Shinji commented.
  "What, you mean going down to Central Dogma and trying to figure out a
way to blow up that Lilith Angel I saw from there instead of through
MAGI?" Asuka gave a slight smile, "I really don't know. It seems like
quite a long shot. Also, we have no idea what to do after we get there,"
  "I guess we can try and figure it out when we get there," Shinji gave a
shy smile.
  There was another moment of awkward silence, at least from Asuka's
point of view. Shinji was perfectly comfortable being around her and felt
totally at ease.
  "Can you tell a little bit about the world you live in?" she asked
nervously.
  He said, "Whatcha like to know?"
  "Is it very different from this world?" she asked, "This world is very
messed up, what with there being Angels around attacking it,"
  Shinji smirked, "That world went through that already. Although it's
not quite this world, you can think of it as this world after this world
has defeated all the Angels,"
  "Do you think this world's gonna be like your world after all of this
is done and over with?" Asuka asked.
  He shrugged, "I really dunno. I was told that this world ends up with a
horrible fate after all of the Angels were finally defeated, had Ranma
not showed up and done what he had done,"
  "Well, this world probably won't end up like however that world
would've ended up, now that you're here," Asuka said, "I'm sure you've
done quite a lot to change the flow of this world's path,"
  Shinji gave a meek smile, "Oh, I definitely changed this world's path.
That's for sure. The problem is that I have no idea if it's for the worse
or for the better. I'm a bit skeptic and think it's for the worse because
of our current situation. We are far off worse now than how it was on my
world at around this time,"
  "I guess we'll never know," Asuka said.
  "I guess," he shrugged.
  "Do you think we will be able to adjust to that world?" she asked,
referring to her, Misato, and Ritsuko.
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah. Like I said, it's much like this world. It's a
bit more technologically advanced, all thanks to Ritsuko. Before you even
ask, Ritsuko used her knowledge of MAGI to advance that world's computer
industry around ten-fold. Also, not that I care to find out first-hand,
Ranma and Ryoga live on that world so if anything bad were to fall upon
it, they'll be there to help out, provided we get through this all right
and everything is restored,"
  "And so will you," Asuka added, "Y-you'll be there to help out,"
  Shinji blushed, "Um, I guess, but compared to Ranma and Ryoga, I doubt
I'll be of any help,"
  "You shouldn't think like that," Asuka commented.
  "I guess you have a point," he smiled.
  "Um, so....back on your world..." she blushed, pausing for moment,
"D-do you have a girlfriend?"
  Shinji nearly pulled a muscle in his neck when he suddenly turned his
head toward her, his eyes wide.
  "W-what?!" he asked. He remembered reading about that kind of question
before. If a girl asked that question, it usually meant that she had some
particular interest in the guy she was asking that to. He assumed she
thought he was an okay guy but never believed that she would ever show
any interest in him.
  "Um, er," he staggered.
  "Um, I was just curious," she said softly, wishing she didn't ask that.
She barely knew him and had shouldn'tve asked such a personal question.
  Shinji visage softened, "Actually, I did,"
  "You do?" Asuka found herself suddenly sad.
  "Yeah," he said, reaching in to his pocket and pulling out the group
picture again, pointing toward Emiko, "You see that girl there? That's
Emiko. We love each other,"
  "Oh," she said softly.
  "She died," he said sadly, "But after all of this is done and over
with, we'll be back together,"
  "Y-you must really love her," Asuka commented.
  Shinji nodded, putting the picture away, "Yes, I do,"
  Asuka was silent, wondering what to say next, "Um, so nothing became of
us from your world?"
  "No," Shinji smiled, "We're friends but that's it. As you could tell
from the picture, the other version of you likes someone else,"
  He contemplated whether or not he should tell her about how, on a
different world, he and her actually got together and had children.
Afterall, he met one of his and Asuka's descendents when he was looking
for Ranma and found out Jun, a friend of his, was his grand daughter. It
was kind of freaky and interesting finding something like that out.
  After a while, he chose against it, figuring it was best to leave it
unsaid. He didn't want to get her hopes up for anything. As flattering as
it was that she seemed to have feelings for him, much more than the Asuka
he was used to that usually found him generally annoying, he believed
having her knows something like that would just make things more
complicated.
  That's kinda weird, Shinji thought. It's as if girls aren't interested
in a guy until after he's attached. What gives? It's as if girls don't
have any interest in a particular guy until after he has a girlfriend.
  Those were one of life's odd mysteries, kind of like the greatest and
most beautiful and nicest girl a guy could ever meet was usually his best
friend's girlfriend. There were many other questions as well. For
instance, if PenPen was a warm water penguin, why the heck did he live in
a  fridge?
  Shinji shook his head. He had enough questions to worry about
concerning this world and what he was going to do. What was the use of
plaguing himself wondering about the answers to questions about life in
general.
  He was broken out of his reverie when the elevator jolted to a stop.
  Asuka lost her footing and almost fell to the floor had Shinji not
grabbed her arm and righted her.
  "You okay?" he asked.
  "Y-yeah," she was flushed.
  The elevator door opened to reveal a dimly-lit massive walkway that was
a few hundred feet wide and few hundred feet high, stretching forward so
far that they could not see the other side. This was the same corridor
Unit-02 had walked down. Heck, just to the left of their elevator was a
giant door that led to the elevator used for Unit-02 to get down there.
  The hairs on the back of Asuka's neck stood on end. This walkway looked
a lot more scary when viewing it from outside the safety of Unit-02's
cockpit.
  "Don't worry," Shinji said in a soft voice, "You'll be fine. I won't
let anything happen to you,"
  That seemed to rid Asuka of her anxiety, "Um, okay,"
  Shinji held his hand out, "Here, hold my hand,"
  Asuka looked at his hand for a second before she placed hers in his.
  He blushed slightly as he felt her small hand in his hand. It was soft
and warm and slightly clammy. It also surprised him how small her hands
were. It also surprised him that he was holding her hand. He couldn�t
believe he didn't have any problem offering his hand to hold. 
  He used to be very nervous about how one would go about holding a
girl's hand or offering one's hand to be held. 
  "Then again, considering the circumstances..." he said to himself.
  "Huh?" Asuka looked at him.
  "Nevermind,"
  Together, the two headed down the walkway.

  "What the heck?" Shinji muttered, "Why's that giant door closed?"
  Shinji and Asuka were on the other end of the walkway, it having taken
a good ten minutes to traverse. It surprised them because it seemed much
shorter when in Unit-02.
  "I don't understand why this door's closed," he scratched his head,
"Ritsuko opened remotely from the command center the first time around.
Who could've closed it then?"
  Shinji walked over and tapped the large door located to the right of
the giant one. The door they were in front of was for humans to pass
through. The giant door was for EVA's to pass through. Both of them were
closed.
  "Ah, it must be that Lorenz guy that's doing it," Shinji realized it,
"He must be working behind the scenes. He must've sent those soldiers
after us, he must've somehow manipulated the army in to actually using an
N2 mine. He wants the Angel to come in contact with Lilith since it'll
cause the Third Impact,"
  "What are you talking about?" Asuka asked.
  "There's a guy named Keel Lorenz," Shinji said, "Think of his as some
kinda ultimate bad-guy. Anyway, there are certain ways to cause Third
Impact. There's the Constructive Third Impact which occurs when an Angel
comes in contact with Lilith. On my world, my father tried to have Rei,
whom is part Angel, come in contact with Lilith. She betrayed him in the
end,"
  "R-Rei's an Angel?" Asuka gasped, "Where the heck did this come from?"
  She had only briefly met Rei shortly after she came to Nerv. She could
not believe that girl was an Angel.
  "She's not a true Angel," Shinji said, "Nerv is full of secrets. Lots
of people are in the dark about a lot of things that's going on here.
Actually, I'm the only true person here that knows everything about
what's going on. There's stuff that even my father doesn't know what's
going on. Anyway, Rei's part Angel and part human. The human aspect of
her is what makes her look human. The Angel aspect of her is why she has
red eyes and very pale skin and possess an AT Field,"
  "She has an AT Field?"
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah, but it's different. The one you see are exterior
AT Fields. She possesses an interior one. That's why she's kinda, um,
emotionless. That's because she has an AT Field over her emotions which
prevents her from feeling human emotions. In a sense, her AT Field
protects her heart, not her body," 
  "Whoa," Asuka said.
  "Anyway, getting back to the subject, having it where Rei or an Angel
comes in contact with Lilith causes the Constructive Third Impact,"
Shinji said, "That's what Seele wants. The thing is is that there are two
forms of Constructive Third Impact, the caused by the Angel and the one
caused by Rei. The one caused by the Angel is basically unknown. The one
caused by Rei is preferred. As to why, no one knows. It think it's
something to do with she becoming God and taking humans up to the plan of
God with her. If the Angels causes it, no one really knows what would
happen but it's still preferred over the Destructive Third Impact,"
  "What's the Destructive Third Impact?" she asked.
  "That's when the Angel comes in contact not with Lilith, but with
Adam," Shinji said, "You know the extent about what happened about Second
Impact right?"
  "Yes, it's where there was a big explosion in Antarctica that melted
the ice," she said.
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah, but there's actually more to it. Most of the
public thinks it's some kinda meteor that struck Antarctica and Second
Impact was labeled after that. Of course, it kinda makes sense since
First Impact was considered the meteor that struck the planet millions of
years and killed off the dinosaurs,"
  "Thanks for the history lesson," Asuka smirked, "But I think I know
that,"
  Shinji smirked, "Actually, there's more to it that you believe. Second
Impact occurred from the energy released from when human's somehow
converted Adam, the first Angel, in to embryo form,"
  "Really?" Asuka's eyes widened, "I never knew that,"
  "I know, you were never told this because it was based a need-to-know
basis," Shinji said, "And knowing about that was something very few
people need to know. The point I'm getting as is that the Angels are
showing up to retrieve Adam. If they come in contact, that's how the
Destructive Third Impact will occur. It that happens, everything will get
wiped out on this world and we will cease to exist,"
  Asuka gasped.
  "Of course, we are trying to prevent the Angels from reaching either
Adam or Lilith and causing Third Impact, be it the Destructive or
Constructive one," Shinji said.
  "Where's this Adam Angel?" Asuka asked curiously.
  "Not here," Shinji smirked.
  "Then why is Tokyo-3 being attacked?" she asked, "If they're trying to
retrieve Adam, then why aren't they attacking wherever Adam is?"  
  "Adam's presence and location on this word was somehow masked," Shinji
said, "As to how it was hidden from the Angel's knowledge, no one knows.
Because EVA's are derived from Adam, Angels were mistakening the EVAs for
Adam and coming after the EVAs," 
  "So if they're here to retrieve Adam, then why are they attacking the
EVAs?" she asked, "You'd think they would just come around and try and
pick Adam up,"
  Shinji shrugged, "I have no idea. I'm not an Angel and have no idea why
they do that. If they did, it would've been a lot easier on my world
since they wouldn't be trying to make scrap heap of us when we fought
against them. Heh, in a sense, it would kinda feel like this world, what
with the way the Angels seem to just stand there and let me beat it. I
beat two Angels with no problem. All they did was stand there as if they
were there for other reasons,"
  Asuka said, "That is kind of weird. I wonder why that Angel didn't
attack us shortly before Unit-02 self-destructed. I would've been nice if
the Angel didn't attack me while I was piloting like the way it didn't
attack you when you were piloting,"
  Shinji shrugged, "I have no idea. That's probably a question I'll never
figure out. Anyway, back to the subject, I have a sneaking feeling that
it's all because of this Keel Lorenz guy that we seem to be encountering
all these prob-"
  Shinji suddenly stopped talking, deep in thought.
  "That last comment you made," he said, "That got me thinking about
something. That's very very very strange now that I think about it. When
I first went out in Unit-01 to defeat the Third Angel, it didn't attack
me,"
  "I know, I was in the cockpit with you," Asuka commented.
  Shinji shook his head, "I mean the first Angel that attacked Tokyo-3.
The one I fought was the Third Angel. That's cause the First Angel is
Adam and the Second Angel is Lilith,"
  "Ah," Asuka got the picture, "I thought you were referring to the
sequence of the Angels that attacked Tokyo-3,"
  "Fine, I guess I'll refer to sequence of Angels that attacked Tokyo-3
for not to prevent confusion," Shinji said, "Anyway, when I fought
against the first Angel, that being the first one that attacked Tokyo-3,
it did nothing. It never attacked me,"
  "Okay," Asuka listened intently.
  Shinji scratched his chin, "Now that I think of it, I even remember the
Angel picking me up when I purposely made Unit-01 trip over its own feet.
I did that because I didn't want to make people suspicious that I had
already piloted Unit-01 before on a different world since it was my first
outing with Unit-01 on this world,"
  Asuka asked, "What, was it trying to help you or something?"
  "I dunno," Shinji said, "I defeated it before I could find out and
dismissed that notion. Fast forwarding a few days, the it seemed as if
the third Angel helped me out a second time around,"
  "The one we just recently defeated?" Asuka asked, "What do you mean?"
  "When I was in a jam and pinned down by police officers by a dumpster
for unrelated reasons, the Angel actually blew the area up," Shinji said,
"When the smoke cleared out, we were unscathed. I specifically remember
thinking about how I was in trouble and needed help to get out of that
fix right before that happened. For all I know, the Angel might've shot
there to help me out,"
  "W-whoa, are you saying that the Angels are trying to help you?"
Asuka's eyes widened.
  Shinji was skeptic but he nodded, "I dunno but there might be a chance.
What's even more funny is that I recall, for every Angel attack, I
thought about the next incoming Angel attack and, shortly afterwards, the
Angel showed up,"
  Asuka did a double-take, "Wait, you mean to tell me that you might be
the one that's causing all these Angel attacks, that you're somehow
summoning them?"
  "I-I dunno," he said, "It's all just a guess,"
  Asuka said, "Wait a minute, now that I think about it, I remember you
making a comment about our current Angel showing up moments before it
showed up. Maybe you're right,"
  Shinji's eyes widened, "Wow, if that's the case, maybe the Angels can
actually help us out,"
  "W-what?!? Take sides with the Angels?!" Asuka gasped in shock, "That's
insane!!"
  Shinji tried to calm the young girl down, "It's only a suggestion.
There's no telling that they would. The thing is is that if they do,
it'll make things a lot more easier,"
  Asuka was silent.
  "However, rather than depend on that being the case, we still need a
contingency plan," Shinji said.
  "You mean blow up, Lilith?" Asuka asked.
  Shinji nodded.
  He looked toward the door and rapped a finger against the cold metallic
surface. It didn't even vibrate, the door too large and heavy. He wasn't
surprised since the door looked like a square version of a bank vault
door and looked to weigh several tons.
  Shinji kicked at it a few times hard to try and knock it inward. It
didn't so much as budge. 
  "Damn, how the heck are we gonna be able to get through this thing?"
Shinji asked, scratching his head. 
  Asuka jerked a thumb over he back, "Let's head back to the command
center and ask Ritsuko to open it from there. Also, while we're there, we
can tell her about what we might've discovered, that the Angels might
actually be here for different reasons, it being you,"
  Shinji gave a meek look, "We dunno if it's really me that's causing
them to show up. It's just a stipulation,"
  Asuka giggled, "I know. But we'll find out soon enough,"
  "I guess," he shrugged, "However, rather than go back, I'm gonna try
and make sure I can't get through this door before we head back,"
  "What do you plan on doing?" Asuka asked.
  "I'm gonna give it my hardest punch," Shinji said, "Unfortunately, for
me to do that, I need to meditate. Just step back for a minute so I can
concentrate,"
  "Um, okay," she obliged.
  She stepped slightly off toward the side and watched as he approached
the door, stopping within punching distance from it and closed his eyes. 
  He then started taking deep breaths, concentrating at gathering ki.
Little did Shinji know that he couldn't gather ki anymore but it seemed
like the meditating served more as mental preparation for what he was
about to do instead of gathering ki.
  Asuka watched silently, wondering what Shinji was going to do. He was
full of surprises and she was eager to see what other tricks he had up
his sleeves.
  After a good minutes elapsed, Shinji suddenly opened his eyes and
shouted out what sounded like a battle cry and executed an open-palm
strike right on the center of the door. He stepped forward with his left
foot with such force that his foot became partially imbedded in to the
floor as he brought his right arm forward, palm open and facing the door.
  The force of the impact was so intense that the door shuddered and
shook violently. Unfortunately, it seemed to withstand the force of the
blow as it remained in place. The only difference was that there was an
embedded palm-print of Shinji's hand in the middle of the door.
  "My god!" Asuka gasped, "W-what kind of attack was that?!"
  Shinji scratched his head, embarrassed, "An attack too weak to knock
the door down,"
  "I felt the shockwave from when your hit to door," Asuka commented, "I
can't believe it's possible to hit something so hard. Oh man, you even
left a palm-print on it. And you even left an imbedded foot print from
when he stomped your feet,"
  "And unfortunately, my best is still not good enough," he sighed,
"Looks like we'll hafta head back and get Ritsuko's help,"
  He extended his hand for Asuka to take, knowing that she would feel
every bit as anxious on the trek back to the elevator as she did from
there.
  "Let's get go back," he said.
  Asuka took his hand.
  Together, they headed back to the elevator.

  Shinji and Asuka entered the command center, but not before Shinji made
it loudly obvious that it they were entering for fear of being shot at
again.
  "Um, how goes everything?" Shinji asked, walking up to Misato. She
looked on edge but seemed perfectly fine, "Looks like no one has come
here since we left,"
  "We're fine," she answered, "You guys were only gone for around twenty
minutes. It's kinda killing me just waiting around and all, what with
some much crap going on around us. The suspense is killing me,"
  Shinji said, "I know. It's very stressful,"
  "How'd your trip to Central Dogma go?" Misato asked, "Did you find out
of a way we can get rid of Lilith to prevent Angels from causing Third
Impact?"
  Shinji shook his head, "No. The doors were closed and we couldn't get
in there,"
  Ritsuko's head popped out from the console she had been tucked in all
this time, "What? But I opened them remotely before. I never closed them
from here,"
  "I dunno," Shinji shrugged, "But I have a funny feeling that it's
Lorenz that's doing it,"
  "Lorenz, that guy that you mentioned about that's head of Seele?"
Misato asked, "Why would he do something like that?"
  "I dunno. It's just a guess," he said, "For all we know, it might have
some automatic shutting mechanism that executes after a certain time it
had been opened and I'm overreacting,"
  Ritsuko shook her head and said, "No. It has nothing like that,"
  "Then I have no idea why it's closed," Shinji shrugged, "I assume it's
that guy Lorenz that did it. I remember Ranma mentioning to me that he
and Ryoga fought Lorenz down in there so he's probably down there right
now,"
  "That still doesn't explain why he would close it," Misato commented.
  "He probably did so to stop me from getting there and perhaps figuring
out a way to destroy Lilith instead of needing MAGI to do it for us,"
Shinji said, "Anyway, that's kinda besides the point. There's some
interesting things that was brought to our attention as Asuka and I were
talking,"
  "Oh?" Misato and Ritsuko regarding him intently.
  "It's really far-fetched and downright unbelievable," he said, "You
guys might wanna sit down or get comfortable for when you hear this,"
  "Oh, I've gotta hear this," Ritsuko climbed out from the console and
leaning against it, very curious as to what Shinji had to say.
  "Same here. Same here," Misato said, leaning against that same console,
still vigilant for guards trying to storm the command center.
  Shinji cleared his throat.
  "I think I'm summoning Angels without realizing it," 
  
  "They think I'm crazy," Shinji commented as he and Asuka rode the
elevator back down toward Central Dogma, "That's very surprising
considering how they don't consider me crazy for saying that I'm from
another world and I hafta fight God and such,"
  Asuka said, "They don't think you're crazy. They just have trouble
swallowing what you've told them. It's too bad we can test to find out if
your theory is true, what with us being short on time and needing to try
and figure out a contingency plan. We can just go and assume that that
will work,"
  "I know," Shinji said.
  When the elevator door opened up to reveal that expansive walkway in
front of them, he held his hand toward her. 
  "Just curious, do you want me holding your hand as we head down there?"
Shinji asked, "I don't want you feeling all weird and all. It's just that
heading down this walkway does feel rather creepy and I figure you might
be scared. I'm doing that so you'll feel a bit safer,"
  "Um, I-I don't mind," she said, blushing slightly. She felt a bit bad
as she realize he held her hand because he felt like he needed to, not
because he wanted to. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised. He had
flat-out told her that he was in love with this Emiko person.
  Together, the two headed back down the walkway.
  "Now that Ritsuko opened the door remotely, what do you think you're
going to do after we get in there?" Asuka asked.
  Shinji shrugged, "I have no idea. I figure I'll try and figure it out
after I'm there,"
  Asuka smirked, "You seem to have a rather unique way of thinking, to
take everything in stride and worry about something once you absolutely
have to. Most people tend to worry and think of things in advance before
they do anything,"
  Shinji chuckled, "Yeah, I know. But ever since all of this happened, I
came to realize that if I did do that, I'dve burned out long ago.
Complications just keep piling on and on on top of me. All I could do is
worry about the top-most and more immediate problem first before moving
on to others. If I worry about everything at once, I wouldn't be able to
do anything since I'll be so stressed out,"
  "That way of thinking seems to work for you," she smiled warmly.
  "Thanks," Shinji said, "I guess it's because I'm always around Ranma
and it's rubbing off on me. He thinks much like that,"
  The two of them reached the door before long. The smaller of the two
doors was open and the two of them stepped through. On the other side,
the couldn't help but be amazed as the size of Central Dogma. It looked
gigantic from their vantage point. The massive size of Unit-02 had made
the chamber seem small.
  The chamber stretched forward so far in either direction that they
couldn't even see the walls due to the fact that it was dimly lit. The
only light that there was to the chamber emanated from the spot lights
trained on the giant white Angel that was Lilith as she seemed to be
suspended in mid-air in the middle of the chamber over what kind of
looked like a sea of LCL, crucified on a red cross.
  Shinji's eyes widened when he noticed Lilith.
  "Oh man," he said. He noticed how Lilith started to assume the form of
a giant human severed at mid-thigh. This was different from what she
looked like before, a rounded and basically fluffy version of a humanoid
form.
  "What?" Asuka asked.
  "She's regenerating," he said, "I forgot about that. That's because now
that the Lance of Longinus is no longer impaled on her chest, she's
regenerating. She's starting to regenerating in to her original form,"
  "What form is that?" Asuka asked.
  Shinji shrugged, "I have no idea and I don't care to find out. For all
we know, if we wait too long, she might come back to life and start
moving about. Who knows what that could mean,"
  Asuka gulped.
  The two of them continued forward toward Lilith. As they got closer and
closer, she seemed to get larger and larger.
  "I've been meaning to ask you before," Asuka asked, pointing, "What's
that liquid below Lilith?"
  "That's her blood," he answered, "That's the LCL fluid used in the
entry plug,"
  "R-really?" she felt sick. She was breathing blood when she was in
Unit-02? That was gross.
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah. That's why you see all that liquid below her.
It's kinda like a huge in-ground pool below her that collect the blood
that drips from her waist since she was severed at the waste.
  "How did Nerv get it?" she asked, "And what is she exactly?"
  "No one knows how Nerv got her," he said, "Nerv was in possession of
her before Second Impact. She's the Second Angel, the true mother of to
the human race. I know, it contradicts religion about Adam and Eve and
Eve being the mother of the human race. Lilith was the second being
created by God, even before Eve,"
  "Okay," Asuka listened intently.
  "Before Eve, Lilith somehow shamed herself in front of God's presences
and was banished before Adam knew about her," Shinji continued, pointing,
"If you noticed the purple mask she wears, that's the mask she must wear
in shame as well as being banished. She was banished here, to Earth. In a
sense, she's the very first Angel, the Zeroth Angel because she was here
before Adam showed up. Eve was created by God to replace her. Banished to
this world, Lilith gave birth to the human race,"
  He couldn't help but feel sorry for Lilith as he continued on.
  "It must be really horrible for her because after she gave birth to the
human race, they forgot about her and view Eve as their so-called
mother," Shinji said, "This was because of the shame she carried on her
and the way she looks. Humans didn't want to consider themselves born
from Lilith because they consider her ugly and didn't want to be
associated with her and refused to believe that they were born from her
even though they were. Over time, it was forgotten that she was the true
Mother,"
  "That's horrible," Asuka said, also feeling sad toward Lilith.
  "Having forgotten who she was, humans, the same race she gave birth to,
somehow captured her," Shinji said, "That's why you see her crucified
right here. What makes it even more tragic is that GeoFront is actually
where the human race was originally born. GeoFront is the egg from
Lilith. Moving on, Adam somehow found this out about what has been done
to Lilith and came to Earth to rescue her. The problem is that the human
race was waiting for him. When he appeared here, the human race captured
him and imprisoned him as well, in the form of an embryo. The Second
Impact was the energy released from when he was converted in to that
form. The energy was from Adam's dying attempt to stop the humans from
imprisoning him. Human ended up imprisoning, but at the cost of
Antarctica melting and causing massive human casualties,"
  "God, I never knew it was like that," Asuka commented, "It's so deep
how everything seems to be,"
  Shinji nodded, "Yeah. Where we stand now, Adam got imprisoned trying to
save Lilith from the human race that she gave birth to. The Angels we are
fighting off I think are born from Adam and Eve, and they here to
retrieve their 'Father' and Lilith, to which humans are also trying to
prevent and are killing off. After that happens, humans seem intent on
merging with Lilith to ascend to Heaven, where Lilith was originally from
before she was banished,"
  "T-the human race....is horrible," Asuka commented.
  He suddenly realized something, "Oh my god! Now I get it!"
  "Get what?" Asuka was startled.
  "I've always wondered why Ranma always came back to life as an Angel,"
Shinji said, "Now it makes sense. He knows all about what I said and is
ashamed to be human. Heck, Rei knows about this so that's probably why,
when she became God, she brought him back to life as an Angel as well,
because she didn�t want Ranma to come back as a human. When we saved him
a second time around, after had become God and been reborn walking around
the Earth, he could've asked Urd to resurrect him as a human but he
chooses to be resurrected as an Angel instead. Him having an AT Field has
nothing to do with it. He's ashamed to be human. That's why he doesn't
come back in human form,"
  "I don't follow you," Asuka was lost.
  Shinji waved a dismissive hand, "Nevermind. I was just thinking aloud.
It just that I think I figured out an aspect about Ranma I could never
figure out. Him not coming back as a human could be because he knows
about what the human race has done and he is ashamed to be a part of that
race,"
  Asuka was silent. She couldn�t help but feel like she understood where
Ranma was coming from. If all that Shinji had told was true, she couldn't
help but feel rather shameful as well.
  "If the Angels managed to retrieve Adam, the Third Impact will occur,"
Shinji said, "That's basically Adam's wrath toward the human for what
they have done. What was even more sad, is that we are about to destroy
Lilith to prevent the Angels from reaching her,"
  Asuka was silent.
  Suddenly, they heard a loud clank from behind them as the giant door
was closed. Turning around, they glanced toward the entrance to the
chamber where they saw a figure.
  "Your tales are very amusing," came a voice from the figure.
  Shinji squinted, trying to get a clear view of the figure as he
approached Shinji and Asuka. When he was close enough, Shinji was able to
discern the man's features.
  The man looked like an elderly man wearing a visor-like device.
Although he looked rather old, Shinji could sense an aura of power to
him.
  "Let me guess. You're Lorenz," Shinji commented, recognizing the man
from the description he had heard of him from Ranma a long time ago.
  "That's correct," the mans said, "You're going to do no such thing as
destroying Lilith. She is my ticket to a higher plane," 
  Shinji narrowed his eyes, remembering what Ranma and Ryoga had
mentioned of the man, that he was part machine and incredibly powerful
because of those modifications. 
  "There's a change in plans," Shinji replied, fighting back his
nervousness, "You're not gonna to going to this so-called higher plane.
No Third Impact is gonna occur, not while I'm around,"
  "You're not going to stop me from achieving my goals!" the man said,
sneering, "You've been a thorn in my and Seele's side ever since you
showed up at Nerv. It's about time I get rid of you,"
  Shinji knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he was going to have a battle
on his hands. He motioned for Asuka to takes several steps away for
safety's sake. He didn't want her getting caught up in the battle.
  He got in to a battle stance, a loose stance that resembled a mix of a
boxing and martial arts stance.
  The man dashed forward with lightning speed, catching Shinji by
surprise.
  "Shinji!!" Asuka shouted in shock.
  Shinji suddenly found himself being lifted off his feet and up in to
the air. It only took a moment form him to realize that his opponent had
ran forward and grabbed him by his neck. 
  In a moment of panic at suddenly finding his air passage completely
block off because of Lorenz's death-gripe, Shinji brought his legs up and
wrapped them around the man's extended arm, leaning back so that he found
himself looking upward. The movement made Lorenz's grip on Shinji's neck
loosen, allowing Shinji to slip right out from the man's grip.
  With his legs firmly locked around the man's extended arm, Shinji
grabbed the man's wrist and arched his back as tightly as possible in an
attempt to hyper extend and perhaps dislocate the man's arm at the elbow.
  Before he could fully implement this improvised armbar, Shinji was
thrown through the air by Lorenz.
  Immediately after slamming on his back the ground hard, he flipped
upward where he landed back on his feet, the wind slightly knocked out of
him from the initial impact.
  He looked up to look toward where Lorenz had been when the threw him,
Shinji was surprised to see the man not there. All he could see was
Asuka, still safe and sound.
  He saw a white light as he was punched on the right side of his head.
The impact was so intense he ended tumbling on the ground several times,
sliding to a halt a short distance from the giant door where he and Asuka
had entered the chamber.
  This surprised him when he realized where he was. They had walked over
the length of a football field toward Lilith before they came to a stop
to talk. He had been thrown once and punched once and he had been somehow
covered that distance flying through the air.
  Shinji shook the cobwebs from his head. However, as he did, his
disorientation seemed to suddenly disappear, his powers working to its
full effect. Feeling perfectly fine, Shinji was ready to take more a
beating and give one in return. Although he got hurt being thrown and
punched initially, the pain was no longer felt, having disappeared
immediately after he felt it.
  He looked back up just as he saw Lorenz dash toward him and punch
toward his face.
  Instinctively, Shinji swayed backwards, a common evasive boxing
technique, Lorenz's fist missing hitting his head. When he swayed back
forward, he executed a quickly one-two combination, both punches hitting
Lorenz in the face.
  Unfortunately for Shinji, he realized too late that the punches didn't
seem to faze the man as Lorenz punched him again, hitting him right in
the face. The impact was intense as Shinji's head snapped backwards where
the back of his head ended up getting hitting against the door, bouncing
back forward where he was punched a second time with similar results.
  "Leave him alone!" Asuka shouted toward Lorenz's back.
  "I'll kill you later," Lorenz pause to tell Asuka.
  The threat seemed to trigger something within Shinji as he suddenly
found himself enraged at the thought of Lorenz killing Asuka. Also, the
split second Lorenz paused in his attacks to say something to Asuka was
just the time he needed for his powers to kick in and allow him to
recover and regain his bearings and realize what was going on.
  Just as Lorenz was going to hit him for a third time, Shinji saw the
incoming punch and reacted to it. 
  He ducked at the last moment, Lorenz's punch sailing over him. He
stepped forward and stepped under the man's arm, pivoting around so that
as he stood back up, facing Lorenz's back.
  As Lorenz realized Shinji was behind him and was about to turn around,
Shinji executed the most powerful open-palm strike on the back of the
man's neck, killing the man instantly, hitting him with such force that a
loud snap could be heard echoing in the massive chamber, drowning out the
subsiding echoing from when the back of Shinji's head hit the door.
  Lorenz's body propelled forward so violently that he slammed against
the door, the door hit with such force that it broke right off of its
massive hinges.
  The door ended up falling outward from the chamber where Lorenz's dead
body ended up lying motionless on top of that door.
  A few silent minutes passed as Shinji stood in a battle stance, his
gaze intent on Lorenz's motionless body, ready to react to anything now.
He would not let him get close to Asuka and was ready to viciously to
fight a second round against that man. Shinji would not let Asuka be
killed, not while he was still able to stand up and fight.
  "S-Shinji," Asuka called his back, Shinji not hearing her.
  After a couple more minutes, Shinji relaxed as he started to take in
his surroundings. Lorenz wasn't moving and his chest didn't seem to rise
and fall.
  Shinji nurtured the thought that perhaps Lorenz was dead. However, he
remained cautious. Perhaps he was just faking in.
  "Shinji," Asuka called to him again, still unheard.
  Shinji crept forward toward where Lorenz was as he remain motionless on
the fallen door. Once he was close enough, his body relaxed as he
realized that Lorenz was no more. 
  His body was on its stomach but his head looking upward, his neck
broken completely, the head turned a complete hundred and eighty degrees
from its original angle. Oil and blood was flowing from Lorenz, a hybrid
of a human and machine, forming around the door, dripping down off it and
on to the floor the door was laying on.
  Shinji assume a relaxed position, and breathed a sigh of relief.
  "Shinji," Shinji finally heard Asuka's voice.
  He turned around to face Asuka. She had this very concerned and
relieved look on her face.
  "Are you okay?" she asked.
  Shinji smiled.
  He looked down at himself and noticed that, despite all those vicious
blows that would've easily killed any normal person a hundred times over,
he had come out of that fight unscathed.
  "I'm fine,"







<all ive got so far...>


(Ranma somehow ends up in the world of 'Hikaru no Go'. There, he meets a
ghost named Sai.)

Ranma: Hi. I'm Ranma. 

Sai: Hi. I'm Sai. Do you play Go?

Ranma: Yeah. My old man and his friend, Soun, were actually Go masters on
my world shortly before they died. I used to watch them.

Sai: Are you any good?

Ranma: I guess. It's strategy-based. I'm very good with strategy and
tactics. Why, do you like Go? Are you any good?

Sai: I love Go. I wish to attain the 'Hand of God' one day.

Ranma: The 'Hand of God'? I'm God. Why the heck do you want my hand?

Sai: ..............
 




-OneShot
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html


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