Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is the creation of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Rage Beneath a Falling Sky

"Man, you know I'm down with taking out Spectra, but we've been at this for hours and haven't seen a trace of her. Are you sure this is the best way to do this?"

This complaint came from a visibly tired Toji Suzuhara, who by this point was slouching and dragging his feet as he walked.

For a moment, Shinji felt a flare of annoyance and almost made some remark about how the jock should be tougher than this, especially if he really cared about stopping the ghost who'd harmed his sister.

However, the EVA pilot stopped himself just before he could let the words fly, knowing it wasn't fair of him to say that.

Besides, he was tired, too.

"It's the best way out of the methods we have available to us," Shinji said instead.

The two boys had spent most of their Sunday crisscrossing Tokyo-3, using the specter detector and what little other ghost finding equipment they had available to them to try to hunt down Spectra.

"Tracking a ghost who doesn't want to be found is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Shinji continued. "At least, so long as they don't haunt a specific place, like an old house or something. But there's always the chance that we would've gotten lucky."

"Seems like a pretty slim chance," Toji said. "I mean, Tokyo-3's not that big so far as cities go, but it's still, you know, a city."

"Yeah, I know," Shinji sighed. "But I wanted to try. Spectra's had enough time to completely recover from the last time we fought her, which means she'll strike again, and probably soon. Waiting for her to make her move just gives her the chance to attack more little kids."

Little kids like your sister, he added silently but didn't say, knowing Toji was probably thinking the same thing.

"Also, by this point, I'm afraid the only reason she hasn't attacked yet is because she's waiting for the next Angel attack," Shinji said instead.

"I get it," Toji said. "But I think we should stop for the day. I don't think we'd do too well right now, even if we did happen to find her."

Shinji nodded. He could just imagine how it would go, locating Spectra when they were both exhausted from tromping across the city since that morning.

"Yeah, okay," Shinji agreed. "Let's call it a day."

Since they were much closer to Shinji's place than Toji's, they both headed there, so the jock could get a cool drink and something to eat before making the much longer trek to his own home.

"Hey do you know where Kensuke was today?" Shinji asked as they reached the apartment building he currently called home. "I expected him to jump at the chance to go ghost hunting when I called him this morning."

"Yeah, me too," Toji agreed. "But he just said he had something 'super important' to do today and couldn't come with us."

"Weird," Shinji said, wondering what the otaku could possibly view as more important than a chance to hunt ghosts.

They got a clue as soon as they reached the door to the apartment.

"'Congratulations on your promotion,'" Shinji read off the sign hanging there. "'Spot reserved today for celebration.'"

He and Toji traded a look.

"Did you know about this?" the jock asked.

"No," Shinji answered, shaking his head. "I had no idea there was going to be a party, and Misato didn't say anything about getting promoted."

Did she? He wondered, suddenly feeling guilty.

Had he been so completely wrapped up in his worries about Spectra that he'd been ignoring his flat mates?

With a shrug, he opened the door, and the two boys walked inside, shedding their shoes just inside the doorway.

"I'm home!" Shinji called as he and Toji walked deeper into the apartment.

Only to find perhaps the last person they'd expected in the small dining room and kitchen.

"Oh, hey guys," Kensuke greeted them cheerfully as he set down a box of take-out food onto the table.

"Kensuke?" Shinji blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, this party wasn't gonna set itself up," the otaku answered.

Shinji resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. "But why are you throwing a party for Misato?" he asked. "And how did you even know she got promoted?"

Kensuke frowned. "Are you telling me you didn't notice the new rank insignia she's been wearing?" he asked. "I saw it right away when you let me and Toji inside the other day to get out of the rain."

"No, I didn't notice any difference in her uniform," Shinji confessed, suddenly finding himself feeling rather sheepish.

"Typical," Kensuke scoffed. "Soryu didn't notice, either. Here Misato goes to all the trouble to take care of the two of you, and both of you ignore this huge event in her life."

"Misato didn't say anything about it," Shinji protested. "And I do way more of the housework around here than she does." He added under his breath.

"You know, Ken, not everybody's a huge military freak like you are," Toji pointed out. "Most people wouldn't notice the difference in a little pin."

Unsurprisingly, the otaku was unmoved by his friends' arguments. "Never mind that, just help me set things up here."

"Hey, you can't order me around," Toji objected, never one to just accept chores, especially those he considered "girly" in nature.

"Boys, boys," Misato chided, emerging from deeper in the apartment with a grin. "No fighting at my party."

"Hi, Misato!" Toji said with the typical excessive enthusiasm he displayed wherever the curvy Ops Director was concerned.

"You didn't tell Asuka and me you were promoted," Shinji said. "And I didn't know there was a party planned for today. I would have cooked if I had."

Certainly, a day spent in the kitchen would've been more productive than the one he'd actually had.

"I know, that's why I didn't tell you. You do too much around here as it is," Misato said with a cheeky grin. "And I guess I didn't tell you two I was promoted to major because it's just not that big of a deal to me. It really doesn't change all that much, after all." She said in a more subdued tone. Then, noticing the way Kensuke appeared to be wilting, she quickly added, "But hey, any excuse for a party, right?"

"Right!" Kensuke said.

With help from Shinji, and some rather more reluctant assistance from Toji, they quickly had all the food spread out and the table set. Shortly after they were done, Asuka arrived back at the apartment with Hikari in tow.

Toji started to make some remark about how they should've waited and let the girls do the job of setting the table and stuff, but Shinji realized where he was going quickly enough and stepped on his foot before the jock could needlessly get himself into hot water.

"All right, everybody, let's dig in!" Misato said cheerfully.

"Before we eat," Kensuke spoke up, looking surprisingly shy. "I, uh, made something for you." He said, holding up a white sash, which Shinji could see had some kind of congratulatory message written on it.

Privately, the Third Child thought that the thing looked like it had come from a very low rent beauty pageant or something, but of course he was too polite to say so.

If Misato shared his opinion of thing, she hid it well.

"Oh, why thank you, Kensuke!" she said, accepting the sash and putting it on, while flashing the otaku a smile that had him swooning. "And thank you for setting up this little party!"

"You're welcome, Misato," the bespectacled boy beamed, clearly on cloud nine.

Looking at his obviously infatuated friend, Shinji couldn't help but roll his eyes. However, his gaze soon turned to Asuka, and he felt a pang of longing.

"What?" the redhead asked, noticing his eyes were on her.

"Nothing," he said quickly, averting his gaze at once.

"Hmph," Asuka grunted suspiciously, then turned to her friend. "So, as I was saying, Hikari, Kaji is totally a real man, completely unlike Dumb and Dumber here." She said, gesturing toward Toji and Kensuke.

"Hey!" the jock said.

The girls ignored him. "Kaji…is he that cool guy from before?" Hikari asked.

"Yup!" Asuka replied cheerfully. "In fact, he—"

She was interrupted by the doorbell.

"He's here!" Asuka said excitedly, springing to her feet and rushing to answer the door.

"What?" Misato blinked, not having paid attention to the two girls' conversation.

Ignoring her, the redhead pushed the button to open the door, and her sunny grin immediately turned into a scowl.

"What are you doing here?" Asuka asked Ritsuko, while Misato simultaneously posed the exact same question to Kaji.

The long haired man smirked. "Well, Asuka was kind enough to invite me, and I just happened to run into Rits on the way here."

"A likely story," Misato grumbled, taking a sip of beer.

Shinji watched with an amused little smile as the adults bantered and bickered back and forth for a moment. The display made the Third Child think of himself, Fumio, and Kamiko, even though the three adults didn't act all that much like Shinjuku-2's resident ghost hunters. It was just something in the easy camaraderie, formed over a long period of time, that reminded him of his times with his own close friends.

Or at least it did, until Asuka butted into the conversation with some comment that Toji couldn't let go without getting his own two cents in, and the whole conversation quickly devolved into one great argument.

At some point Misato must've noticed that the Third Child was just sitting there silently, because she turned her gaze on him. "Uncomfortable, Shinji?" she asked in a soft voice, so the group of bickering people next to them wouldn't hear her.

He managed a smile. "Just tired," Shinji replied, which was half true and half not.

The half ghost teen certainly was worn out, but he also found the whole situation, with so many people and so much noise, a little overwhelming.

He smirked at thinking what his friends—both his new friends and his old friends—would say if they found out about that. Shinji knew it was a little crazy for him to feel more comfortable fighting for his life against terrifying ghosts than at a casual dinner party, but he was much more accustomed to doing battle with malicious spirits than dealing with large groups of people. In both Shinjuku-2 and Tokyo-3, he was used to a smaller circle of friends.

"What have you been doing all day, Shinji Ikari?" Misato asked him playfully.

Shinji wasn't fooled, immediately seeing the serious inquiry beneath the cheerful tone. In spite of the general disinterest people back in Shinjuku-2 had had for him and his family, keeping his secret identity under wraps had still required him to become adept at detecting when people were trying to wheedle information out of him.

"Toji was showing me around the city a little. I haven't had that much chance to check it out until now," Shinji asked, assuming a well-practiced casual tone. "Also, we played a little basketball. He kicked my butt."

"Well, he is a good bit taller than you are," Misato pointed out with a grin. "Anyway, I'm glad that's all it is. I wouldn't exactly be shocked if you were the type to hate parties. No offense, Shinji."

"None taken," he assured her, managing to muster a small smile. "Hey…can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," Misato said gamely, taking a sip from her beer can.

"Why did you become the Operations Director at NERV?" Shinji asked. "I can't imagine it's the kind of job that a person just falls into."

He remembered how curious he'd been about Rei's reasons for piloting EVA a while back. He had wanted to know how she could do such a thing, because he'd wanted to know if he possibly could continue to do it. However, he realized now how foolish it was of him not to ask Misato about her motivations.

After all, even if she didn't fight on the front lines like the pilots, Misato still had a very demanding position, one of that came with heavy responsibilities which most people wouldn't have taken on for the world.

Of course, he'd made the decision to stay a while ago, but that didn't mean he couldn't be curious.

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know," Misato said dismissively. "I guess I forgot."

Liar, Shinji thought at once, despite the almost "airhead" level ditzy tone she'd said it in.

However, he didn't press. After all, he was keeping secrets of his own.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Misato," he said instead, raising the can of juice he had.

His guardian cheerfully tapped her can of Yebisu against it. "Why thank you, Shinji Ikari."

Meanwhile, near the very bottom of the world, the atmosphere was a good deal less festive. Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki stood on the deck of a modified UN warship, protected from the subzero temperatures outside by a transparent enclosure.

"So, this is the legacy of the Katsuragi Expedition," the older man mused. "A sea as red as blood where not a single living thing exists."

"Incorrect, Sensei. We are alive, and we are here," Gendo replied. "In any case, don't you think you're being rather melodramatic? 'A sea as red as blood' indeed." He added, all but snorting at his former teacher's prose.

"Let an old man stew on the past, Ikari," Fuyutsuki chided him. "I can hardly help it if seeing this place causes me to dwell on the memories of Second Impact."

"You needn't have come, you know," Gendo pointed out.

"Hmph, perhaps not, but it seemed like it would be wrong not to," Fuyutsuki grunted. "After everything that was sacrificed here, almost 15 years ago now, in the name of science and knowledge, I felt I should see this through. Come back one more time and see if we can really find the Lance."

Gendo shrugged. "If you feel you must."

Fuyutsuki suddenly smiled. "I'm actually surprised you came," he said. "I'd have thought you wouldn't feel both of us could leave the city at once."

Gendo looked mildly taken aback by the comment. "Katsuragi is competent enough to handle any Angel attacks that may occur in our absence," he said.

"Who said anything about the Angels?" the old professor asked. "I was more thinking about the potential for something…supernatural to happen. The old men are already jittery about the possibility after the Jet Alone demonstration. If something like that should happen again—"

"Enough," Gendo said coldly. "Nothing of the sort will happen, because there is no such thing as ghosts."

"Are you so certain, Ikari?" Fuyutsuki asked.

He knew he probably shouldn't be needling his former student like this, but he couldn't quite help himself. The chance to watch the normally unflappable man get irritated over the suggestion that there might actually be something to his brother-in-law's obsession was too good to pass up.

"Completely," Gendo practically growled. "Really, Sensei, I thought that entertaining the possibility of ghosts would be beneath a man of science such as yourself. The very idea is preposterous."

"Much the same was said about the possibility of souls as a quantifiable concept," the older man pointed out.

"I'm sure it was also said about the possibility of transforming lead into gold with alchemy, and a thousand other things that were indeed so much nonsense," Gendo retorted. He turned and began to head for the hatch that would take them below deck. "Come on. I believe we've taken in the view enough for one day."

"As you say, Ikari," Fuyutsuki said, allowing himself one final smirk before he began to follow the younger man.

"Ugh, why am I always the one stuck with cleanup duty?" Shinji wondered aloud to himself. "I mean, sure, I can see Misato not cleaning up. It was a party to celebrate her promotion, but you'd think Asuka could have helped a little."

It was almost evening by this point, the party having ended some time ago. The Third Child had been unpleasantly surprised to discover how much of a mess the little get together had generated, and, like the neat freak he was, he'd immediately set about the task of tidying the apartment.

In contrast, Misato had decided to take a shower while Asuka had retreated into her room.

"There, just about done, finally," he muttered to himself as he got the last of the trash into the garbage can.

"Good job, Shinji, but most of this could've waited until tomorrow, you know," a voice said from behind him.

Shinji turned to see Misato standing there, hair and body each wrapped in a white towel. The sight of his voluptuous guardian clad in so little brought a feeling of heat to his face.

"I, uh, don't like to leave messes for tomorrow," he said.

Grinning goofily, Misato leaned forward and gave him a poke on the nose. "You're such a good roommate, Shinji!"

The EVA pilot might've been a little annoyed at the way she was teasing him and speaking to him like he was a child, if he hadn't been too focused on forcing himself not to look down the top of her towel.

Her grin changing into a knowing smile, Misato stood up straight again. "Hey, I'm going to go change, but once I'm dressed I want to talk to you for a bit, so don't go anywhere, okay?"

"Um, all right," Shinji said.

She disappeared into her room for a few minutes, during which Shinji finished with cleaning the kitchen. When Misato emerged again, the towels were gone, and she was instead wearing pajama pants and her favorite yellow tank top.

"Come on, let's step outside," she said, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "I could use some fresh air."

Nodding, Shinji followed her out onto the apartment's veranda, from which a spectacular sunset was easily visible.

Sure is pretty out here, Shinji mused to himself, deciding it was too bad he usually couldn't seem to find the time to enjoy it.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you back there, when I told you I didn't remember why I'd joined NERV and pursued the Ops Director job," she admitted, gazing out at the magnificent sunset.

"Is that so?" Shinji asked. He kept his tone carefully neutral but didn't try to feign surprise.

Misato nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want to tell everyone there, or bring the party down, for that matter."

"So, why did you join NERV?" he asked.

She told him. Told him all about her father, and the Katsuragi Expedition. She told him all about how they'd woken up Adam, the First Angel, with their experiments, and how that had been the real cause of Second Impact. She told him about how her father, grievously injured, had managed to get her to an escape pod, which was how she'd ended up the lone survivor of her father's expedition to the South Pole.

"It's funny, I always thought I hated my father, because he was never there for me and Mom," Misato said, looking down at her beer can. "Except that, at the end, he gave everything to save me. I never quite knew what to feel for him after that."

"Misato…" Shinji began, then trailed off, not quite sure what to say. He could certainly relate to having mudded emotions when it came to a father, but he wasn't sure how to tell her that.

"But after that day, well, I wanted to avenge my father," Misato said, clenching her free hand into a fist. "Sometimes I think it's so I can, well, be even with him and finally escape his influence in my life. Sometimes I think it's because an Angel denied us the chance to reconcile. All I know is that an Angel killed a man who was better than I gave him credit for when he was alive. I hate them for that, Shinji. That's why I joined NERV. Because I want to see them all dead."

"Wow," Shinji said quietly. "Misato, I…I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, Shinji," she informed him. "I just thought you had a right to know the answer to your question."

"I…thank you," he stammered.

"And it's okay if you…think poorly of me for this. I give you permission to do that," she said, lips twisting in a grim approximation of a smirk. "But just know that I do care about you kids, and that you're not likely to ever get anybody who's any closer to sainthood than I am for my job."

"I don't think poorly of you for this," Shinji said automatically, even as he realized that this new knowledge cast Misato's actions back at the volcano in a different light.

"Well, that's good of you," Misato said with a little smile. "Anyway, I'm gonna head inside now."

She stood, walking toward the door.

"Misato, wait," Shinji decided at the last moment that he couldn't just let it go.

She stopped, turning back around to look at him with a curious gaze.

"I…I sorta knew some people, back in Shinjuku-2, who just got really absorbed over some bad stuff that had been done to them," he said awkwardly.

This was actually a pretty huge understatement on his part. As a ghost hunter, he was constantly facing malevolent specters who remained in the mortal world because they were angry over some great wrong that had been done to them. Their anger was understandable, but there was always something tragic about ghosts like that, especially when it was clear that they'd spent decades or even centuries haunting the world of the living, never allowing themselves peace because their bitterness had completely consumed them. In a way, that was more frightening than anything those evil spirits could ever do.

Of course, he couldn't tell Misato all that.

"They could never let it go, sometimes even when there was just no…point to being mad anymore. When the people they were mad at were gone," Shinji continued, offering as much as he dared. "It pretty obviously messed them up, and it cost them some important things. It was sad to see. You're my friend, Misato. I wouldn't want to see you end up like that."

She gave him a sad smile. "Thank you, Shinji, that means a lot to me," she said. "But I can't just stop fighting the Angels. I won't be able to have any real peace in my life until they're gone. And besides, I think I owe it to my father to avenge him."

Well, how could he possibly argue against that?

"I understand," Shinji said, deciding he couldn't.

Misato nodded. "Good night, Shinji."

The Angel alarm sounded early the next morning, before any of the pilots had set out for school. Shinji was working on wrapping up the bento boxes he'd made for himself and Asuka when the first call from NERV came in, a minute or two before the klaxons began to blare.

The Third Child reacted to the alarm with the speed of a man who'd just discovered the police were outside the door of his criminal enterprise. Knowing that Misato would be appearing any moment now to hurry himself and Asuka to headquarters, Shinji dived into the short corridor just inside the door to the apartment.

Going ghost! He thought to himself, as the familiar white rings of energy swept over him, transforming him into his otherworldly second form.

The moment he was in ghost form, Shinji quickly created a duplicate of himself, which gave him a quick nod, then went invisible, vanishing before his eyes. That done, he returned to his human form as quickly as he could.

By the time Misato appeared in the short entryway, Shinji was in the process of putting on his shoes.

"What was all that light?" the Ops Director asked, even as she pulled on her red jacket.

"Light?" Shinji asked, playing dumb with practiced ease.

"I was sure I saw flashes of white light coming from here," Misato frowned.

"Good Gott," Asuka grumbled, appearing behind the purple haired woman. "There's an Angel attacking, and you're really all concerned about how the old wiring in this rickety place is making the lights flicker a little?!"

"This place is not rickety, Asuka," Misato grumbled.

However, she didn't keep arguing over the matter, and soon, the three of them were on their way to NERV headquarters.

As Misato raced through the streets of Tokyo-3 at top speed, Shinji gazed out the window, hoping against hope that Spectra hadn't just been waiting for the next Angel attack to make her move. Or, failing that, that he was once again successful at being in two places at once.

Having to evacuate to the shelters was so much different when it happened outside of school, Toji decided as he found himself a spot in the corner to sit down.

There was no class rep yelling at everybody to form an orderly line. No stupid headcount after everybody actually got down there. You just went down into the shelter, without any of that nonsense at all, and the world didn't end because you'd avoided having to endure it.

One thing that remained the same, though, was that he still had Kensuke next to him. Their respective homes were close enough that they ended up having to go to the same shelter even outside school hours.

"Man, the same every time," the otaku complained as he typed away at his laptop. "Total media blackout."

"Why are you trying to watch TV at a time like this?" asked a quiet, disembodied voice behind them. "We have more interesting stuff to do right now, guys."

Toji was rather impressed with himself for not flinching or anything in fright, even though he'd expected this.

After all, Kensuke did—or at least should have—known this was coming as well, and the little nerd practically jumped ten feet in the air. Fortunately, in the crowded shelter, nobody noticed.

"Sh-Shinji?" the bespectacled boy whispered.

"You got it," the disembodied voice said. "Listen, guys, there's a real good chance that Spectra will make her move now, so we have to try and find her. Are you two with me? You'll have to leave the shelter. It'll be dangerous."

Shinji sounded kind of guilty as he said the last part, as though they might not want to join him.

Yeah, right, Toji thought. There was no way he was turning down a chance to get back at the monster responsible for his sister's injuries. As for Kensuke, well, wild stallions couldn't have pulled the otaku away from this.

"We're with you," the freckle faced boy said eagerly.

"Yeah," Toji nodded. "C'mon, Ken. Let's get out of here. We can tell them we need to go the bathroom or something."

"You don't have to do that," Shinji said, and the jock could practically hear their currently invisible friend making a face. "Besides, do you really think anybody would buy that excuse? I mean, guys don't go to the bathroom together." He scoffed, chuckling.

"Uh, yeah," Toji agreed awkwardly.

"So let's go!" Kensuke said.

Shinji placed a hand on either of his friends' shoulders, and they instantly became invisible and intangible along with him. It only took him a minute to make his way up to the street, where he released them, all of them becoming visible again as he did.

"So, what's the plan, Shinji?" Toji asked.

"If Spectra's going to do something now, then we need to find her as soon as possible, which means we have to split up," the half ghost said, handing the Spector Detector to the jock. "You and Kensuke take that. I'm going to fly around and see if my ghost sense picks up anything. If you find her, contact me, and I'll be right there. Don't fight her until I get there, okay?"

"Sure, but what about if you find her first?" Kensuke asked. "You will call us, right?"

"Of course," Shinji nodded. "Oh, and one more thing. The Angel isn't here yet, but if you do see it, stay as far away from it as possible."

"Got it," Toji said as they parted ways, already working the Spector Detector.

"Huh, he's right," Kensuke noted as he followed the jock. "They sounded the alarms and evacuated the city, but the Angel's nowhere to be seen. I wonder where it is."

"The Angel's in orbit?" Shinji asked, blinking.

The picture being displayed on the large monitor of the briefing room appeared almost too surreal to be genuine. A creature that looked like a massive eye fused together with some sort of single celled organism floated against the backdrop of outer space.

"At the moment, yes," Misato answered. "However, we have every reason to believe it will drop itself on the city, performing a suicide attack, when it's confident it's above its target. It's been dropping pieces of itself to figure that out."

"So what's the plan?" Asuka asked, eager for battle.

"You're going to grab it before it can hit the ground," Misato said cheerfully.

"What?!" the redhead exclaimed. "That's your big plan?! You want us to catch it in our hands?!"

"That's correct," Misato said.

"You couldn't come up with anything better? Aren't you supposed to be a tactical genius?" Asuka asked archly.

Shinji winced slightly at the rudeness of the remark, but he had a hard time disagreeing with it entirely. Sending the Evangelions out to catch a giant kamikaze Angel before it could hit the ground did seem a little…basic.

"That's what my file claims," Misato replied. "Unfortunately, NERV's options are often very limited, and this is one of those times. Either we go with this plan, or we resign ourselves to allowing the Angel to devastate not just the city but all of Nippon."

Asuka didn't look mollified.

The Ops Director frowned. "As I recall, you're supposed to be a genius as well, Asuka. If you have a better idea, I'd be more than open to hearing it."

The German girl apparently didn't have a better idea, judging by the way she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Misato seemed to soften. "I won't lie to you three: this is a very dangerous mission. As such, I won't order you to undertake it," she said. "This is a request. You may turn it down if you wish."

"No way am I missing a chance to show my skills," Asuka said at once.

"I will pilot," Rei said softly.

"Me too," Shinji added, silently thinking that he'd be fine even if Unit One was destroyed, so long as the duplicate of him hunting Spectra wasn't also killed.

Misato seemed relieved that all three pilots had agreed to her plan. She tried not to show it, but Shinji could see the tension leaving her shoulders. "Very good," she said. "Now, as per NERV regulations, each of you is supposed to make out a will before going on a mission this hazardous."

"I don't need a will," Asuka snapped, as though annoyed at the implication that she was mortal. "I'm going to win."

"I have no need for a will, either," Rei said. "There is no point."

"I don't need one, either," Shinji proclaimed, trying to project more confidence than he actually felt.

Mostly because it seemed like a good thing to do at the moment. In any case, the only objects which he owned whose fate he cared about was ghost fighting equipment. However, that was all technically his uncle's property, so he couldn't legally bequeath it to anyone. In any case, he was pretty sure the twins would help themselves if it came to that, and his clueless uncle wouldn't even notice.

"Very good," Misato said. "In that case, report to the cages."

Meanwhile, out in the city, Shinji was starting to wonder if he'd been wrong in his assumption that Spectra had been waiting until the next Angel appeared to strike. He'd already made one full circuit around Tokyo-3 by air, yet his ghost sense hadn't triggered once.

It seemed so obvious that an Angel is what she was waiting for, he mused to himself.

After all, she'd used an Angel attack before to help her hurt people, and if holding out for the next battle wasn't the reason she had continued to lay low even after recovering, what was?

Still, now that she was proving so elusive, he was getting a definite sinking feeling that maybe he'd been wrong. If he'd taken Toji and Kensuke from the safety of the shelters during an attack for no good reason…

Shinji was trying to decide how much longer to keep searching when he suddenly shivered despite the warmth of the sunny day, his skin breaking out into goosebumps. He opened his mouth and expelled a breath.

The half ghost was unsurprised when it steamed in the open air. Looking around frantically, it wasn't long before he managed to spot Spectra flying through the air a good distance away. She hadn't noticed him yet.

Shinji paused for moment, debating on whether to immediately pursue her or to contact his friends first. He didn't like the idea of going up against Spectra without backup, but Toji and Kensuke still had a long way to go before they were as experienced as Fumio and Kumiko. If either of them got hurt because of him…

With some reluctance, he switched on the Ikari 'phones. "Hey, it's me," he announced without preamble. "I've spotted her."

Toji deserved a chance to part of this fight, he decided.

"Great! I was starting to wonder if she was out here at all," Kensuke said with an excitement that worried Shinji.

"Just tell us where, Shin-man," Toji said. The jock, at least, sounded far more serious.

He gave them his current location. "Spectra hasn't seen me yet, so I'm gonna follow her," he told them. "She's heading west right now."

"Got it," Toji said. "We should be able to meet up with you in a few minutes."

"See you then," Shinji said, then switched off the Ikari 'phones.

That done, he put his mind to the task of tailing Spectra, making sure to keep enough distance between them. As he moved, he tried to will his gut to stop churning. He hoped he hadn't just made a huge mistake.

Even though the three EVA pilots had boarded their Evangelions countless times in the past, mostly for various tests, the knowledge of the odds they were facing made it feel somehow different. It was mostly the same, of course, yet as they rode up a small elevator to reach their entry plugs, there was still something…off about it.

Or perhaps it was all just in Shinji's head. That seemed more likely. The knowledge that Misato had used her women's intuition (the same women's intuition which she always swore would allow her to choose the winning lottery numbers week after week) to pick the places where the three Evangelions would be positioned was probably messing with his mind.

He decided it was probably a good idea to try to distract himself. "Hey, Asuka?"

"Yes?" the redhead asked.

"Why do you do this?" he asked. "Pilot EVA, I mean."

"To show the world how great I am," she answered at once.

He blinked. The answer was unexpected, and yet there was something undeniably Asuka about it. "I see," he said.

"What about you?" she countered. "Why do you pilot?"

"Oh, I couldn't take off and leave you and Rei down an EVA," he answered, with a small, rueful smile.

The German girl frowned. "We don't need you to protect us, Third."

"I didn't say you did," Shinji replied at once, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "But three Evangelions are better than two, and no matter how good you are, you can still only pilot one EVA at a time."

"Hmm," Asuka grunted, apparently accepting that Shinji's sentiments were no insult to her skills. "Why don't you ask Rei about this?"

"Oh, we already discussed it," Shinji said, glancing at the blue haired First Child, who was standing silently at the back of the elevator.

"Are you two having secret meetings without me?" Asuka asked.

"Of course not," Shinji said. "We just happened to have that conversation before you arrived in Japan."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Third, you don't always have to take everything so seriously."

Her tone was surprisingly soft as she delivered the criticism, though. In fact, she even smiled at him as she said it.

That smile caused Shinji to feel a pang of longing that was so strong it was almost a physical ache. Even though he knew it had been one great lie perpetrated by Kitty, he couldn't help but yearn for the brief period that they had been together.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Shinji?" she demanded, knocking him from his thoughts.

"No reason," he said, belatedly averting his gaze.

Of course, that was less than believable, but the elevator reached its destination then, saving Shinji. The pilots went off to their separate Evangelions, to get ready to attempt to catch the sky.

"Where the heck is she going?" Shinji wondered aloud to himself as he continued to carefully follow Spectra around.

He hadn't expected the game of cat-and-mouse to endure this long. While Spectra certainly wasn't above employing elaborate plans to get what she wanted, those usually involved her passing herself off as a human, not luring her enemies into ambushes.

Shinji was seriously thinking about making his presence known when Spectra abruptly ducked into a side street. Going invisible, he followed her down, seeing that she had finally come to a stop behind an illegally parked big rig truck.

"You can show yourself, Ikiryo," Spectra said. "I've known you were there for some time."

Scowling, Shinji allowed himself to become visible again. "So what was with the long chase, then?" he asked.

She gave him a wicked grin. "Oh, I just wanted to give Bertrand time to procure the guest of honor."

Before Shinji could respond, Bertrand himself swooped down. The other ghost was currently in his "butler" form, and in his arms he held a familiar little girl, one hand clamped over her mouth.

"Oh no," the half-ghost said softly, recognizing the class rep's sister Nozomi. The youngest Horaki sister regarded the scene with wide, terrified eyes.

"I thought this would be more fun if you were actually familiar with at least one of these brats," Spectra said in an obnoxiously chipper tone. "Of course, we tried to snag that girl who's laid up in the hospital, but since you had to go and place wards in her room, we were forced to settle for this one."

Shinji's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'one of these brats'?" he asked.

"Oh, you don't think I'd be satisfied with one, do you?" Spectra sneered. She turned to her assistant. "Bertrand, be a dear and show the Ikiryo. Put that nasty little child away with the rest while you're at it."

"Of course, Miss Spectra," Bertrand said, as though she had asked him to do something as mundane as make tea.

As Shinji watched, the ghostly butler flew over to the rear of the truck and opened the doors there. The Ikiryo's eyes widened at what he saw.

At least two dozen children were imprisoned inside the truck, trapped behind heavy iron bars that had been welded into the container's interior. Going intangible, Bertrand went through the bars, taking Nozomi with him. Once on the other side, he unceremoniously dumped the little girl onto the floor before returning outside.

"This is insane!" Shinji exclaimed. "Whatever you have in mind for those kids, I won't let you do it!"

"You're welcome to try and stop us, Ikiryo," Spectra said, grinning even as she shot him a murderous glare.

The little balls of tumbling flame that always accompanied her blazed brighter. Behind her, Bertrand's form twisted and warped, the little butler transforming into a ninja with a nunchuck in each hand.

Scowling, Shinji duplicated himself again. The new copy immediately began to attack Bertrand, trying to blast him with ghost rays from afar while staying out of range of the nunchucks.

The other immediately found himself in a mad dogfight with Spectra, the two of them flying crazy patterns through the air as they traded blasts of ghostly ice and otherworldly flame.

"You always have to try and be the hero, Ikiryo!" Spectra hissed. "I must say, it's growing quite tiresome!"

"You're tired of dealing with me?" Shinji demanded. "How are you not tired of dealing with yourself?"

Spectra actually snorted a laugh. "Why, Ikiryo, if you're trying to sound deep, you're failing miserably."

Shinji just barely dodged a gout of flame, hoping his eyebrows were still intact. "I'm being serious!" he retorted. "You've been trying to get revenge on children for as long as I've known you! Don't you ever get tired of it?!" he demanded, even as he launched a beam of ghostly ice at her.

Spectra threw up a wall of flame to intercept the attack. Fire and ice met, unleashing an amazing plume of steam, which the ghost lady quickly vacated. "Hmm, let me think…" she pretended to ponder. "Nope! Not tired of it at all!" she exclaimed as she unleashed a barrage of fireballs in his direction.

Shinji went intangible and dove under the street, allowing Spectra's assault to melt the asphalt of the road in several spots. He popped up again behind her, launching another frigid blast. Spectra just managed to dodge in time, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.

"When will you be tired of it? When will it be enough?" he demanded as he fired ghost rays and ice beams as quickly as he could, desperate to stay on the offensive. "When you've hurt every child in the world? When you've made them all miserable? When, Spectra?"

"I'll decide that, Ikiryo!" she said, sending blasts of fire at him, but her aim had deteriorated. It looked like he'd finally gotten under her skin a little, or at least distracted her a bit. "I'll decide when I've had enough! And if it's never, then that's just too bad! You can't stop me forever!"

"Maybe not, but I can stop you today!" Shinji yelled, nimbly dodging a fiery attack and unleashing ice beams with both hands.

He finally scored a direct hit, and Spectra let out a cry of fury. However, it was abruptly cut off, as the ghost found herself completely encased within a chunk of solid ice.

"Whew," Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, even as he grabbed the Ikari thermos clipped to his belt, not wasting a moment. "I'll be glad to be done with you again." He removed the thermos's cap and pointed it at her.

He never got to push the button to activate it.

The orbs of flame around Spectra abruptly flared, and the ice surrounding her shattered, allowing the ghostly woman to resume her enraged scream. Shinji was thrown backwards by the force of the eruption, only barely managing to hang onto the thermos.

Worse, a flying shard of ice hit the duplicate of him that was fighting Bertrand. The shapeshifting ghost capitalized on the Ikiryo's moment of distraction and pain, landing a brutal blow to his opponent's head with one of his nunchucks. The duplicate reverted to energy, which quickly sought out the other incarnation of Shinji present.

"Burn, Ikiryo!" Spectra yelled, attacking him again and again with terrifying ferocity. Meanwhile, Bertrand jumped into the fray, and it was all Shinji could do to avoid the attacks.

Damn, if only they'd give me one second I could make another duplicate! He thought.

Almost instantly, the barrage of fireballs from Spectra ceased, as if by magic. Knowing better than to trust his good fortune, Shinji risked taking a look at her. His eyes widened in horror at what he saw.

Spectra was about to blast the truck where all those little kids were imprisoned.

"NO!" Shinji screamed, flying as fast as he ever had to get himself between her and the truck. Gritting his teeth, the half-ghost summoned as much otherworldly ice energy as he could, trying to wrap himself in a protective cocoon of it.

Spectra's attack hit him dead on. For several long seconds, Shinji's world seemed to consist entirely of superheated steam and agony.

When his vision cleared, he was leaning up against the side of the truck. Spectra and Bertrand were looming over him, ready to strike.

Shinji thought that was a bad thing, but he was so dazed he wasn't sure what he should do about it.

"Well, well, Ikiryo, it looks like you can't stop me today, either," Spectra said.

The anticipation of an insane battle was far worse than actually fighting one, Shinji Ikari decided as he sat in Unit One's entry plug, waiting to receive word from NERV to move.

Any second now, the Angel would be close enough for them to know where exactly it would come down. Once NERV figured that out, the Evangelions would need to make their way there as fast as possible to try to catch it. If they could successfully do so and destroy its core, then its final impact would take out a chunk of the city, rather than the bulk of Japan.

Needless to say, time was crawling along for Shinji. He worried about the upcoming battle, he worried about Spectra, and he worried about Misato, too.

He didn't like to think about it, but being stuck inside the entry plug for so long, he couldn't help but wonder if the Operations Director had decided to fight the Angel head on like this because she thought it was their best chance of victory…or because her animosity toward them wouldn't allow her to retreat.

Shinji had a bad feeling that he'd be wondering that kind of thing every time Misato took a risk from now on. It wasn't a pleasant prospect, and he honestly wasn't sure whether he was glad she'd told him the truth about why she fought the Angels or not.

"There!" Hyuga's voice suddenly came through the radio, startling him. "We've spotted it!"

"We've put markers on your HUDs to indicate the Angel's drop point!" Misato added. "Go!"

Shinji didn't need to be told twice. Gritting his teeth, he threw Unit One into action, hoping he'd be able to get there fast enough.

"So, any last words, Ikiryo?" Spectra asked him, preparing to roast the half ghost boy to a crisp with her otherworldly flames.

"Batter up, bitch!"

All three ghosts jumped, startled by the yell from Toji Suzuhara, who had managed to get right behind Spectra and Bertrand without any of them noticing. Spectra tried to move out of the way, but it was too late; the jock swung the Ikari Anti-Creep Stick with all his might, catching her right in the head with it. The impact looked so brutal that even Shinji winced.

"Did anyone catch the number of that bus?" the vengeful ghost slurred, staggering around drunkenly.

Growling with fury, Bertrand whirled about, bringing his nunchucks to bear against Toji. The tall boy managed to deflect the first attack with the glorified baseball he held, but Bertrand managed to catch him in the stomach with the next. Toji let out a gasp at the impact, nearly doubling over.

Shinji tried to get himself to his feet, but his head was still spinning, preventing him from moving to his friend's aid.

Thankfully, he didn't have to. Just before Bertrand could go in for a much more ferocious blow, the shapeshifting ghost was struck by a blast of green energy, causing him to stagger back a step.

"Say hello to my little friends!" Kensuke yelled, unleashing a furious barrage with a pair of ecto pistols. Needless to say, the otaku looked like he was having the time of his life.

His aim left something to be desired, but with his fast rate of fire, Kensuke was still hitting his target enough to keep Bertrand off balance. Shinji reached for the Ikari thermos at his belt.

"Enough!" Spectra roared. Flames erupted all around her, forcing Toji and Kensuke to jump back to avoid being burnt to a crisp. "I won't lose now! Bertrand, go!"

"Yes, Miss Spectra," the shapeshifter said obediently.

Before Shinji could even ask where she had sent him, Bertrand had gotten behind the wheel of the truck that he and Spectra were using as a mobile prison for the children they'd kidnapped. The engine roared to life.

"No!" Shinji shouted, moving toward the truck.

"Stay away, Ikiryo!" Spectra snapped, blocking his path with a gout of flame.

"Hey, get offa him, lady!" Toji barked, swinging the Ikari Anti-Creep Stick.

Spectra managed to dodge the bat this time, but she couldn't say the same for the hail of ecto bolts from Kensuke.

Wasting no time, Shinji created another duplicate of himself, leaving it to help his friends deal with Spectra while he went after Bertrand and the truck. Spectra had brought her accomplice several precious moments, allowing the lumbering truck to get up to speed.

"Oh, man, I do not want to even think about where he plans to take those kids," Shinji muttered to himself as he flew after the truck at top speed.

For what felt like a good half an hour but was probably only a couple of minutes, her pursued the vehicle, repeatedly grimacing whenever it hit something. Bertrand was driving like a complete madman, and it was only because he was the sole vehicle on the road that his little ride hadn't already ended in a catastrophic accident.

The truck's tires screeched as Bertrand reached an intersection and made a ninety degree turn, going much too fast. Shinji winced, fearing that the vehicle was about to tip over. Somehow it avoided that fate, and Bertrand never even slowed down.

Thinking fast, Shinji went intangible flying straight through the building on the corner Bertrand had just rounded, giving himself a shorter route to the same point.

"Hey there!" he yelled as he dove into the truck's cabin, his fist slamming into Bertrand's jaw.

The truck started to weave alarmingly as the two ghosts engaged in a pitched, close quarters scuffle, both of them ignoring the wheel. Shinji told himself that no one controlling the vehicle was probably better than Bertrand doing it as the two traded blows as best they could inside the cabin of the truck.

Bertrand managed to get a hand free, raising one of his nunchucks. He tried to use the weapon, but the cramped confines of their battlefield worked against them. The free end of the weapon struck the roof, killing its momentum.

The moment of confusion the shapeshifter suffered as a result was all Shinji needed. The half ghost managed to reach out, placing a hand right over Bertrand's face, calling up the ethereal coldness inside of himself.

Bertrand's head was incased in a chunk of ice before he could even cry out.

Before the shapeshifter could recover from the shock of that, Shinji grabbed the thermos from his belt, removing the cap and smashing his thumb on the button. Bertrand flailed, his grunts of protest audible even through the ice as he was sucked in.

"One down," Shinji said, replacing the cap and turning his attention to the road.

His eyes widened. The truck was barreling straight towards a gas station.

Deciding his best bet was to simply render the entire vehicle intangible, Shinji grabbed hold of the wheel.

Only to pull back with a hiss of pain. The moment he'd tried to apply his ghost powers to the truck, the steering wheel had felt like it was as hot as glowing coals.

Horror filled him as he realized what was going on. Spectra and Bertrand had applied some kind of anti-ghost wards to the truck, probably inspired by the ones he'd used to make sure they couldn't get at Toji's sister. He couldn't use his powers on the vehicle to prevent a collision.

Now stuck using more mundane methods, Shinji slammed his foot down onto the brake pedal, then stood on it, applying all his weight to the task. Tires screeched, and the truck began to slow down, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Gritting his teeth, he turned the wheel, hoping to duplicate the insane turn Bertrand had made earlier.

For a second, he thought he'd be successful. Then the truck tilted and fell onto its side. He could hear the children in the back screaming as they were tossed about inside their prison.

The truck was still moving, its inertia carrying it along. Shinji knew it was going to more than make it to that gas station.

Going intangible again, he flew out of the truck and ahead of it, spawning another duplicate of himself as he went.

Come on, gotta make it! He thought, only too aware of the massive vehicle behind him.

Both duplicates of the Ikiryo flung themselves onto the station's pumps, rendering them intangible. Shinji was extremely grateful for the fact that there were only two of them.

The truck slid harmlessly through the gas station, finally coming to a stop about fifty meters beyond it. Only then did both fragments of the Ikiryo breathe a sigh of relief and let go of the pumps.

"You start getting those kids out of there," Shinji directed his duplicate. "I'm going to help the guys with Spectra."

He didn't wait for a response before he took off again, back to where the fight had begun. It wasn't hard to retrace his path; the truck had left quite the trail of destruction and tire tracks in its wake.

When he reached the battle, he saw that Toji, Kensuke, and his other duplicate already had Spectra up against the ropes. The malevolent specter was lashing out with fire blasts as quickly as she could, but she was having trouble keeping up with attacks from three foes at once, especially without Bertrand around to help her.

Shinji decided it was time to finish things off.

Going invisible and getting behind her, he delivered a roundhouse kick that sent Spectra falling face first to the street.

"Nice try with the speeding truck, but the all the kids you trapped inside it are fine, you monster!" Shinji growled.

Spectra tried to lunge at him, but his duplicate and Kensuke unleashed a barrage of ecto blasts and ghost rays, keeping her pinned down.

"I'll get you, Ikiryo!" Spectra hissed.

"Maybe someday you will, but not today," Shinji said, uncapping the thermos. "Today, I think I've had just about enough of you."

He fired the thermos's capture beam, and it began to pull Spectra in. However, before she was entirely sucked into the handy gadget, she grabbed the rim of the vessel, arresting her movement for a few seconds.

"You think you won today, Ikiryo," she snarled, glaring up at him with pure malice. "You haven't. Not yet."

Then she let go, allowing herself to be pulled completely into the thermos, which Shinji immediately capped.

"Well, that was ominous," Kensuke remarked into the silence that followed.

"Yeah," Toji agreed. "What do you think she meant by that, Shinji?"

"I don't know," the half ghost said, reabsorbing his duplicate. "Maybe she was just trying to put us on edge over nothing. A final thing to annoy us. She's spiteful enough for that."

"Maybe," Toji said.

The jock sounded pretty dubious about it, and the half ghost could hardly blame him for it. Shinji didn't really believe it himself.

"Either way, we should get to those kids," he said. "Somebody needs to get them back to their families."

"Right," Toji said.

"Lead the way," Kensuke added.

Nodding, Shinji began to fly back toward where he'd left the truck, with the other two boys jogging after him. "By the way, thanks for the save back there, guys," he said. "I definitely owe you one."

"Hey, that was the monster that hurt my sister. I didn't hit her to do you a favor, man," Toji said.

"And I was just doing my duty as a member of the Ikiryo-gumi!" Kensuke said, trying to sound stern and formal and failing because of how obviously excited he was over their victory.

"But if you feel like you have to say thanks, a couple of cans of Misato's beer wouldn't hurt," Toji smirked.

"And some pictures of Misato would hurt even less!" Kensuke added.

"Guys," Shinji sighed. "I can't—"

He abruptly fell silent as the earth trembled noticeably. Toji and Kensuke shared a look.

"Earthquake?" the otaku asked.

"I doubt it," Shinji said skeptically. "In fact I—whoa!" he let out a yelp as Unit Zero's massive form drew close enough to be seen over the buildings that hadn't retracted into the Geofront. The blue Evangelion was running at a full sprint, with no power cable, Shinji noticed at once.

"Damn!" Kensuke exclaimed. The EVA hadn't come that close to them, but it was really something to watch a giant that could crush on you beneath its foot without noticing run by like that. "Wonder where it's going in such a hurry?"

"Uh, if I had to take a guess, I'd say it's off to deal with that," Shinji said, pointing upwards.

Toji's eyes practically bugged out of his head as he looked up and saw the gigantic form of the Angel descending, its body wreathed in flame. "How did we not see that?!" he yelped.

Shinji ignored the question. "This is what Spectra meant!" he hissed. "We haven't won yet because the Angel could still kill all those little kids!"

"But the Evangelions…" Kensuke protested.

"Even if they kill that thing, it's still big enough to do some damage!" Shinji said. "Come on, we have to move!"

Nodding, Toji and Kensuke broke out into a run, keeping up with Shinji even as he picked up the pace of his flight.

The half ghost's mind whirled as he tried to figure out how Spectra had managed to pull this off. He supposed that it could've been her plan all along to abduct a bunch of children during the next battle, then bring them to the middle of the warzone, and she'd just gotten really lucky by having an Angel that had enormous destructive potential show up. Eavesdropping on NERV or the JSDF to find out exactly what form the Angel had taken so they could adapt their plan as necessary would've been simplicity itself for either Spectra or Bertrand…

He shook his head. The "how" and "why" of it weren't important. Right now, he needed to focus on making sure those kids weren't killed by the Angel.

Fortunately, though hectic, the truck chase hadn't lasted for very long, and the three boys managed to get to the overturned big rig just as Shinji's duplicate was getting the last of the kids out of the trailer.

"Oh man, this is really bad," Toji said, looking up at the Angel. The enormous creature was falling fast, appearing to get bigger and bigger as it drew ever closer.

"Yeah, we gotta get them all out of here!" Kensuke agreed.

"No, there's no time," Shinji said as he reabsorbed his duplicate.

"Then what are we gonna do?" Kensuke asked. "We can't just leave 'em all here to get squashed!"

"I have an idea," Shinji said, then turned to the group of children. "Hey, kids, listen to me! I can save us from the Angel, but you need to do what I say, all right?"

The group of children ignored him. Many where chattering with each other. Several others were crying, small wonder after what they'd endured already. Very few were paying attention to him.

"Hey!" he called, louder. "Listen up! There's not a lot of time!"

Again, he got next to no response from the group of children. He supposed it shouldn't be much of a surprise; they were no doubt terrified, and many were barely older than toddlers. Of course trying to get them do as they were told would be like herding cats.

Unfortunately, that didn't diminish the need to get them to listen to him. He glanced up, gulping at the way the Angel seemed to have taken up the entire sky by this point.

"YO!" Toji roared with such volume that every last little kid present immediately fell silent.

"We have to listen to the guy with the white hair!" Nozomi piped up before the din of dozens of conversations could break out again. "He saved me once, and he can save us all now!"

That did it. The children all turned to look at Shinji. The half ghost was actually rather taken aback at so abruptly becoming the center of attention, but he quickly got past his surprise.

"Okay, everybody, we need to join hands and form a big circle," he instructed. "Quickly now!"

The group of children quickly moved to comply. For a moment it was chaos, but the kids seemed determined to make it work. The older children helped the younger ones, and pretty soon, the circle began to form.

Nozomi was particularly helpful in this part. Displaying every bit as much force of personality as the class rep, the youngest Horaki sister seemed to be at the site of every problem and holdup at once, ensuring that the other children got into the requested formation much more quickly than they otherwise would have.

Not as quickly as Shinji would have preferred, however. The Angel seemed like it was right on top of them by now, and in the distance, he could see flashes of light. He was pretty sure they were coming from AT field meeting AT fields as the Evangelions fought their latest foe. There wasn't much time left.

Shinji took his place in the ring of people as it finally came together, motioning for Toji and Kensuke to do the same. The jock made a face at the exercise in hand holding but quickly joined in.

"Okay, everybody holding hands?" Shinji shouted, getting a chorus of confirmations. "All right, now, you're going to feel tingly, but that's okay! Just hang on! Don't let go!"

With that, he concentrated rendering himself intangible and forcing the effect to run through the circle of people, to arc through everyone's clasped hands like an electrical charge running down a wire.

The distant flashes of conflicting AT fields abruptly winked out, and the Angel's body began to sag toward the ground.

"Close your eyes, everybody!" he ordered, squeezing his own shut tight. "Don't open them until I say so!"

The now dead Angel finally crashed into the ground, and Shinji grimaced at the thunderous crash that followed. He could feel wind, dust, and various debris flying straight through him, but none of it actually touched him, let alone harmed him.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity of sound and fury, there was silence. Once all the noise stopped, Shinji silently counted to twenty-five, then opened his eyes.

The street they were on hadn't been reduced to part of a big crater by the huge Angel's impact, but it certainly hadn't gotten off unscathed, either. Cars had been thrown about like toys, nearly every utility pole had either fallen or been knocked askew, and there wasn't an unbroken piece of glass as far as the eye could see.

However, it was over, and they were okay.

"All right, you can open your eyes and let go now, everybody," he said, releasing his grip on Toji and Kensuke's hands.

"Man, that was too close," Kensuke remarked, looking shaken.

"Tell me about it," Shinji agreed.

"So, now what?" Toji asked.

Shinji looked at the group of children, wincing as he thought about everything they'd been through. "Well, we need to get all these kids back to their families," he said. "It would be a good idea to get a doctor to look at them, too. They really got bounced around back there."

Thankfully, none of the children seemed to be sporting any broken bones, which was pretty amazing, considering the way they must've been thrown about when the truck had tipped over. However, that didn't mean he'd be willing to bet that none of them needed any medical attention.

"All the shelters have docs, just in case people need to stay there for a long time," Toji said. "We can take 'em to one."

"And once the evacuation's over, the police can make sure they get back to their parents," Kensuke said. "We can take it from here, man."

"Having a ghost guy come with us would probably just complicate things," Toji agreed.

"Thanks," Shinji said. "I'll see you guys around. And thanks again for the save. You two did great today."

With that, he flew off, soon disappearing from view.

Kensuke turned to Toji a goofy grin on his face. "Dude, we're awesome."

"Yeah, we are," the jock agreed with a smirk.

"Well, Miss Spectra, it appears that we've been foiled again," Bertrand remarked from inside the cramped confines of the Ikari thermos.

"I'm aware of that, Bertrand," Spectra growled.

"My apologies, Miss Spectra," Bertrand said, reverting from his ninja form to his more familiar butler guise. "If only I had been faster…"

"It's not your fault, Bertrand," Spectra said. "It was those stupid new brats who've decided to help the Ikiryo here. If not for them, I would've burned him to a crisp. As it is, I suppose that will have to wait until next time."

"Of course, Miss Spectra," Bertrand said. "Though I'm afraid we're in for a bit of a wait before next time comes."

Recently, the Ikiryo and his friends had made a habit out of leaving Spectra and Bertrand trapped inside the thermos for as long as they felt the device could hold them. Only then would they expel them back into the Ghost Zone. Once they were there, returning to the world of the living could still be a challenge.

"I know that, Bertrand," Spectra snapped.

"Apologies again, Miss Spectra. I didn't mean to be depressing," Bertrand said. "Is there anything I can do to make this more bearable?"

"Well, for starters, you could get your knee off my spine," Spectra grumbled.

"Nozomi!" Hikari called. "Nozomi, where are you?!"

The pigtailed girl resisted the wave of dismay that threatened to overwhelm her, knowing that she'd break down crying if she gave into it.

Not long after they'd headed down to the shelter for the evacuation, the Horaki family realized that they were down a member. At first, none of them had been too worried at Nozomi's disappearance. Most likely, they'd thought, she'd just run off to play with some other children down in the shelter. After all, it wasn't like there was anywhere she could go.

Unless, of course, she had snuck out of the shelter. At first, Hikari hadn't wanted to believe that, but as time had passed by without any sign of Nozomi, even with all the rest of the family splitting up to search the shelter for her, she was running out of other explanations for the girl's absence.

I can't believe she'd do such a thing. She knows what happened to Toji's sister! Hikari thought, her stomach clenching at the thought of Nozomi enduring a similar fate.

"Nozomi!" she called, more loudly as she ran through the shelter. With the idea in her head, it seemed all too likely. Inevitable, almost.

If only she could escape this waking nightmare.

"Nozomi!" she tried again.

"Big sis!"

Hikari skidded to a stop, frantically looking around until she spotted the source of the other voice. Relief flooded through her.

Nozomi was running toward her, followed by Toji and Kensuke, of all people. All three of them looked a little dusty and dirty, but completely fine.

"Nozomi!" Hikari cried joyously, rushing forward to wrap her sister in a hug.

Then, without thinking about what she was doing, she released Nozomi and threw her arms around Toji, pulling him close. "Thank you!" she exclaimed.

"Uh, you're welcome, class rep," the jock replied awkwardly.

Suddenly realizing what she'd done, she let go of Toji like he was a burning coal and practically jumped back from him. Both their faces were bright red.

"Um…and thank you, too, Aida," Hikari said in a squeak, giving the other boy a bow.

"No problem, class rep," Kensuke replied, smirking.

"I…I'll see you two in class," a still blushing Hikari bid the two boys a hasty farewell.

"Yeah, see you," Toji muttered.

"Bye!" Kensuke said cheerfully.

The two boys watched as Hikari practically pulled Nozomi away in her haste to be away, chiding the younger girl for wandering off. Nozomi, in turn, protested vociferously, telling her sister that she had not wandered off at all.

"So," Kensuke said, once the two sisters were out of earshot. "You and the class rep, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Toji grumbled.

A little more than an hour later, a reunified Shinji Ikari sat outside a ramen stand with Misato and his two fellow EVA pilots. Even for him, to do something so normal after so much chaos and danger felt sort of weird. All the same, getting to wind down with a quiet meal after the day he'd had was welcome.

"You all did very well today," Misato said as they sat down to eat. "I'm proud of all of you."

The pilots thanked her, then began to dig into their meals. It was a mostly quiet affair; the wait for the Angel's final descent, followed by the actual battle, had left all of them rather feeling rather drained.

Shinji was no exception, of course. However, much as he would've liked to just spend the evening in comfortable silence and then collapse into bed, he felt there was one more thing he had to say.

"Misato," he spoke up, when Asuka got up to throw away her trash. "I've been thinking about what you said. About why you fight the Angels."

"Shinji, I explained it all to you," Misato said patiently. "I can't stop wanting to kill them for my father. I owe him that much."

"I understand," he said. "I just think that…well, maybe you should make some plans for what you're going to do after the war's over. Give yourself something to look forward to, so you don't get…stuck, I guess."

He could tell by the smile she gave him that she was touched by the sentiment…but that she also thought he was very naïve. Shinji wished he could've told her about all the ghosts he'd met, who'd allowed their desire for revenge to consume their afterlives, ensuring they would never have peace and rest.

"I'll think about it, Shinji," she said.

"…okay," he agreed, suspecting she wouldn't.

Well, maybe that was all right. He had helped stop the sky from falling and saved a bunch of children from meeting early, tragic ends already. No matter how he looked at it, that was really good for one day. Not even Shinji Ikiryo could save everybody at once.

Asuka returned. "Well, I'm done," she announced.

"What about you, Shinji?" Misato asked. "You finished here, too?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Then let's go home," Misato said.

Author's Notes: Yes, I'm still alive, and so is this story. Hopefully it won't be quite so long until my next update, but I'm afraid I can't make any promises. Work and other RL issues are really taking up all my time lately.

Anyway, here's the rematch against Spectra. I hope it was suitably exciting. I know I built this up quite a bit, and that Spectra's one of Danny's more dangerous foes in the show.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.