Episode 4: New Life, New Struggles

It's been weeks since the fight between unit-02 and the angel. In the meantime, Erika has been training at NERV to improve in her concentration. She was given a white and blue plug suit so that her synchronization with the Eva could improve. Erika then entered the test plug for the simulations.

"Let's review the lesson again" Doctor Ackerman stated from the command center. "The Eva works with electric power, supplied from the power cable that charges it at the hangar. When in combat, Evangelion uses batteries that are located inside its pylons. If they get damaged or run out of power, it's internal battery will provide power for only 5 minutes".

The screen changed to the appearance of the city. In front there was the angel, standing still.

"The MAGI system created a simulation with the previous angel as practice" Ackerman explained. "You'll use the assault rifle to shoot down the target".

Erika the pulled out the assault rifle from the rack and started firing; she misses.

"It's not as easy as shooting as I thought it be" third child thought.

"It's okay, take your time" Ackerman told her. "Just target the center and pull the switch ".

"Target the center, pull the switch".

She fired the second time and struck the angel down. She repeated the steps over and over as the angel reappeared again and again for the simulation practices.

"Amazing" The Doctor commented as she observed the simulation. "Her synchronization rate is at 71.3%. Lower than the last in battle but decent enough for control".

Erika was also taught about the Angels and their connection to 2nd Impact, how the first fallen angel landed in the form of a meteor and caused the impact, causing the appearance of the rest of the 28 angels.

"So there's 27 of them right now?" Third Child asked the doctor.

"24, to be exact" Ackerman clarified. "Murasame killed 2 before you."

"What about the other one?"

"Unknown, it disappeared in the aftermath of 2nd impact" the doctor stated. "The U.N is still finding the remains of what happened in the Antarctic to this day".

After that, she left with Susan and drove towards the city.

"Hey Susan" Erika asked. "What's the relationship between Dr. Murasame and the other pilot?".

"Kenji is Dr. Murasame's nephew" Whitehall explained. "He came here straight from Okinawa at the age of 7. He goes to your school, by the way".

"Well...that's nice to know" she thought.

"I just bought you a phone, by the way" the captain mentioned. "In case any future angel attacks, you'll be contacted right away".

They then drove straight to the apartment complex.

"So...how's school, Erika?" Susan asked her.

"School's fine" third child simply responded.

The following day was a school day. Erika has been attending the Claremont Private Academy since last week, yet she hasn't made any friends. The school had students wear uniforms, which consisted of dark grey pants or skirts with white undershirts and a black vest. They also carried their own laptops, since the school provides them for educational purposes. Not a single person has made contact with her since day one.

"They can't find out I'm a pilot" she thought as she sat on her desk. "I could get in trouble".

From behind, she saw Kenji sitting all the way from the way in the back. He still had the bandages since the last time Erika saw him. On the other rows was a student with orange hair and freckles. He was playing around with a camera, taking pictures of anything interesting in class; including the girls at school. His name's Marty Stewart.

"Don't you have anything useful to do?" Asked Zoe Harwood, another student. She had red bangs on her brown hair. "And what happened to Ramon?".

"I don't know, I haven't seen him since the battle that happened 3 weeks ago" he responded as he took a glimpse at his photos. "By the way, I heard the military authorized the usage of a giant combat robot".

"Let me guess, you heard it from your uncle who was in the army?" Zoe remarked.

"Yes, and I found more about that secret UN agency called NERV" Marty added.

Erika was hearing the conversation from the front of the class, she was drawing what was supposedly the fight between unit-02 and the angel. Then came another student: a tanned boy with brown hair, only wearing the white shirt of his uniform and not the the vest. That was Ramon Gutierrez.

"Ramon! Where have you been, man?" Marty asked him. "You've been missing these past days".

"I was in the hospital, taking care of my little brother" he explained as he looked at the class. "What happened to the other students?".

"They left after the battle, I guess their parents didn't want them living in city that could become a battlefield at any moment" Zoe responded. "Is your brother alright?".

"He was buried under a heap of rubble"Added Ramon. "He's alive, but got hospitalized ever since".

The mentioning of his little brother caught Erika's attention.

"Man, that battle between the robot and the monster was huge" Marty commented. "A huge explosion occurred as the monster got destroyed".

"One of the building's debris nearly crushed him" Ramon continued. "The doctors say he'll be alright, but whoever was piloting that robot is a disgrace! He nearly killed people out there! That idiot! It makes me furious, our robot defender destroyed the city! What was he doing?!".

Erika felt angry and ashamed of herself as she heard him talk about what happened to his brother.

"Stupid" she thought to herself. "I couldn't even protect the civilians. Why didn't I see them?".

"Hey, have you heard the rumor?" Marty asked the 2.

"What rumor?" Zoe asked.

"That the new transfer student at school is the pilot of the robot" Marty explained.

"That's ridiculous" commented Zoe.

"Then were's he at?" Asked Ramon.

Marty then pointed at Erika.

"A girl?".

"I still don't believe you" Zoe added. "How did the military let her pilot a giant robot? That stuff only happens in cartoons!".

The teacher came in as the bell rang, he was a man in his early 40s. All the students stood up and did the pledge of allegiance. Afterwards, the teacher began the lesson starting with the first civilizations . While she was listening, a question appeared in her computer.

Is it true that you are a pilot of that robot? Y/N

Erika looked around to find the sender of the message but no luck, she couldn't identify who it was. A second message appeared.

It's true, isn't it?

"Say no" she thought.

"Ms. Langford" the teacher asked.

"Yes?"

"Can you care to tell us what direct democracy means?" He asked her.

"It means that only exclusive people with power made the rules, which left out the other members of the community when making decisions."

"Correct" he stated going back towards his lecture. All the sudden, the teacher got called to the office. Once he left the room, the whole class turned their attention towards the third child.

"Why is everyone looking at me?".

She turned to her computer screen and saw that she typed YES, instead of NO.

"Everyone saw the message?" She thought. "Good job, Erika".

Kenji just looked at her with dismay.

"That was foolish of you, third child" he thought while looking at her.

The students then started asking questions.

"How were you selected?".

"Were you scared?"

'How's the cockpit like?"

"Its...classified information" Erika responded. "I can't say much".

"What weapons does the robot have?"

"Does it have a name?" Asked another.

"I can only say that it's known as Unit-02"

"Is there another one?" One boy asked.

"Huh?".

"Another pilot, are you the only one?".

"Well...Murasame is also a pilot" Answered third child.

The class then looked at the first child. He was just sitting there, doing work.

"You shouldn't have mentioned me" .

Some of the girls then started asking him questions. Marty was talking notes on the given responses while Ramon looked with anger at the transfer student.

"Alright! Enough with the questions!" Yelled Zoe. "Get back to your seats at once!".

"Geez Zoe, you're such a buzzkill" one of the students complained.

"Don't care! Get back to your seats" she ordered.

As everyone got to their seats. Zoe approached her.

"Thanks" Erika told her.

"No problem" she commented. "I don't think spilling the beans was a bright idea."

"It wasn't my intention" explained Erika.

"Don't worry about it, they'll stop asking sooner than later. I'm Zoe, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Zoe" she greets.

The entire school day, people were asking Erika questions about her and the Evangelion non stop. As school ended, she came across of Ramon and Marty while leaving.

"So, your the pilot, huh?" Questioned Gutierrez.

"well...yeah, I guess I am. What-"

Ramon then pushed her down to the ground.

"Sorry, but you sent my brother to the hospital" he scoffs at her. "Honestly, they shouldn't let a girl like you pilot that thing if all you do is cause damage in the process".

"Eh, please forgive him" Marty tried explaining. "He's angry over the what happened to his bro".

"Look, I had no choice!" Yelled Erika as she tried to get up. "The angel was going to destroy the city if I didn't stop it! It's no like it was personal!".

Furious, Ramon ran back and threw her back to the ground. He then proceeded to throw a punch when all the sudden, Kenji appeared and blocked him.

"Back off" he ordered Ramon.

"None of your business, freak!".

The first child then pinned him down to the ground.

"It's against school rules that to fight other students" he coldly stated. "Especially girls".

Ramon and Marty ran away. Kenji then proceeded to help Erika get up.

"Thanks".

"We should get going" Murasame explained. "They've just spotted an angel coming towards the city".

"Great, another one" Erika thought.

Back at HQ, the command center got a glimpse of what they were against. The fallen angel's appearance was a cross between a centipede and a snake. The military tried to stop it, but like always, it does little to no effect.

"They're wasting tax money" Commander Chandler commented.

"Erika, you ready?" asked Captain Whitehall.

"Ready" third child responded.

"Deploy Unit-02!" Ordered the Captain.

Popping from one the docking hangars, appeared unit-02 and got released from its locks.

"Relax, just focus on the target" Erika began thinking to herself.

She then pulled off an assault rifle from one of the NERV racks stationed in the city. She moved around the city to find the angel. That's when the centipede creature appeared; she began firing at it nonstop.

"Erika! Your creating smoke, we can't see the target!" Ordered the captain.

Once she ran out of ammo, unit-02 waited for the smoke to clear off. Suddenly, a whip made of pure neon pink light lashed towards her hand. The rifle was ineffective against the angel.

"It's still alive!" Yelled Erika. "It's A.T field is still up!".

"Quick, grab another rifle from the rack!" Susan ordered.

Unit-02 ran grabbed a rifle and ran away from the Angel. Erika began shooting again until its whips lashed at her. The monster then pounced at her, attempting to spit acid at her face.

"Let go!" Erika yelled as unit-02 was grasping at its whips.

The angel then slammed her towards on of the mountains near the city.

"Get up!" The captain shouted as she saw the angel crawling towards the Eva.

"Captain, there's 2 other signals of life located near unit-02!" Yelled 1st lieutenant.

The computers then identified the other life signals as 2 schoolboys, it was Erika's classmates: Ramon and Marty.

"Why those are Erika's classmates!" Susan exclaimed with surprise.

Back at the mountains, Erika turned around and noticed Ramon and Marty near her. They were frightened.

"What are they doing here?!" Third child thought to herself. "They're gonna get killed!".

Just as the angel was about to lash another whip, unit-02 grabbed it and pulled the creature towards her. The monster spat acid towards the pylons, damaging the battery. She then punched it in the jaw, knocking the angel out.

"Battery energy depleting" announced the screen inside the entry plug. "Internal battery has 5:00 minutes remaining".

"Just great!" Muttered Erika.

She then ejected the plug and got out.

"Hey you 2!" She shouted at the boys. "Get inside! Now!".

As they got inside, the angel woke up again.

"Erika!" Yelled the captain. "Get out of battlefield now! Get the civilians put of there!".

"What are you waiting for!" Ramon yelled as well. "Let's get out of here!".

"4:05 remaining".

"You cannot run away" Erika muttered. "YOU CANNOT!".

She screamed as she charged towards the angel. The whips wrapped around her arms and pulled the Eva towards it.

"3:30 remaining".

Unit-02 pulled out its progressive knife and located its core; it was beneath its head, where its legs protected it. The knife stabbed it directly and pushed straight into it.

"2:00 remaining".

Erika kept going as the core started cracking.

"1:14 remaining".

The angel then froze dead as the core broke in half. Unit-02 also froze since its power ran.

"The angel is down" announced 1st lieutenant. "Unit-02 has ceased all action".

The third child then lost grasp of the controls.

"Erika Langford" ordered Susan. "I want you back at HQ".

Erika sighed and fell towards the cockpit; She was sweating nonstop.

"I can't take this" she muttered. "I just can't, it's too much".

Ramon and Marty could only watch as they looked at the exhausted pilot with concern. She saved their lives and it wasn't as easy as they expected.