Stage: TWO
Contact

	"You're always full of surprises, aren't you, Yosefu-kun*!" came a familiar voice. Joseph**'s head whipped around.
	"What? It can't be Kaji, can it? If you're here, then who's paying the bills of the strippers?" Joseph** remarked with a smirk.
	"Don't worry; I made sure they made recordings for me. They'd get lonely without knowing I cared." Kaji said with a very grave face. He then broke into laughter, to show it was only a joke. Well, mostly a joke.
	"Last I heard, you were stationed in Germany with the Red Baroness." Joseph** said.
	"Well, he was, but he came with me when I was transferred here to Japan. Someone had to protect me in case you decided to follow me here, Snowflake." came another familiar voice.
	"I should've realized you'd sneak up on me, Asuka. You're always trying to scare me."
	"Well, you being Canadian, I wanted to see how much French was in you, and try and make you surrender."
	Well, being half Scottish, I'd likely lead a huge revolution against you, then get piss drunk. In fact, with your being part German, you could join me." Joseph** grinned.
	"In your dreams. We have few similarities. We're both EVA pilots, and we both have skin. That's about it." Asuka said, sticking out her tongue.
	"Gee, that's familiar. Your tongue that is. But this is one of the few times I've seen it though." Joseph** said plainly.
	"S-S-Schwein! Kaji-senpai*! Please don't misunderstan... Kaji-senpai*?" Kaji had, once again, mysteriously disappeared. "Kyaaaaaaaa***! You must have scared him away with your weird talk! Eh...?" Asuka said, as she realized Joseph** had vanished as well. "Bastard! Don't run away when I'm talking to you!"
	"Who said I ran away?" Joseph** whispered in Asuka's ear, who collapsed on the ground, a look of pure terror on her face. At the sight of this, Joseph** laughed heartily. "Who's French now?" he called out, as he walked down the hallway towards the direction he had seen Kaji take off in when he and Asuka started ribbing each other. If she hadn't have been so intent on trying to tease him, she might've seen Kaji disappear too. Although they were the same age, Asuka had, for the most part, been more immature. They'd spent part of their lives together, when he had moved to Germany while he was still young. When Project-E was still in the making, he had been among the first to be enlisted. Although Ayanami had been the First Child, and Asuka had been the Second Child, Joseph** was selected before Asuka, and not long after Ayanami. He had refused to be called the Second Child, and demanded to be called The Ninth. Not Child. Simply The Ninth. Throughout his life, nine had always been the main number of his life, and when Unit-06 was created, and they were painting it, and someone messed up on the 6 and painted it upside down, likely not without Joseph**'s persuading, and he had demanded it left that way. When Unit-06 was completed, they transported it to Berlin, where Joseph** was already living, and had already become acquainted with Asuka, with whom he was coincidentally neighbors, and had spent nearly all his time with, and whom he had helped comfort when he learned her mother had commited suicide, and who had in turn comforted him when she learned his mother had died as well. They had led very similar lives. Where Joseph** had graduated from university at the tender age of 12, Asuka had done so at 14. Not long before, they had both discovered each other to be EVA pilots. It was not long afterwards Joseph** returned to North America, where a Canadian branch of NERV had been established in Saskatchewan, the area which been best off after the Second Impact.
While pondering on how he had become associated with Asuka and Kaji, who had been at the Canadian branch from time to time, as well as them meeting in Germany at first, he noticed Kaji talking with a small, skinny boy, likely around his and Asuka's age as well. But there was something off about the boy. He was dressed in normal clothes. Most likely his parents worked at this Japanese branch of NERV, and he was visiting. Then he realized what was so odd. The boy was still wearing the hair clips that were part of the plug suit; he was another EVA pilot. Could it be...? This was the legendary Third Child, son of the Commander. The one who had defeated any Angel who had come his way. The pilot of Unit-01, the berserker. He considered knocking on the door, but considered a different tactic.
	"You there, boy!" Joseph** boomed, causing his voice resound off the walls. The Third Child's head shot up, and Kaji's face broke out in a smile. He knew what Joseph** was planning. "Is it true what they say about you?!" he demanded.
	"W-what's that?" he asked meekly.
	"What's that? Are you indeed the Third Child?" Joseph** questioned. He squared his body, and drew himself up to his full height. Obviously intimidated, the Third Child shrunk down.
	"Y-y-yeah..." he answered timidly. Joseph** motioned towards Kaji with his eyebrow. Kaji nodded. It was time to play a practical joke, the kind the two of them had often did with Asuka.
	"Hey now, I don't know who you are, but you better back off! One speck**** of this guys blood is more precious than all of you and your family's combined!" Kaji said, putting himself between Shinji and himself. Half for the performance, half for the sake of hiding his ever growing grin.
	"Is that so... If it is, maybe I should drain it all out, and sell it." Joseph** said seriously. At this Shinji's eyes widened, and Kaji blinked the question 'Now?'
	'Now.' Joseph** blinked back. Kaji suddenly charged toward him, his hand balled in a fist, which shot out towards Joseph**'s face. Joseph** quickly sidestepped it, and lightly chopped at Kaji's neck, although it didn't appear that way, and mock kneed him in the gut. Kaji dropped to the ground, moaning and groaning. A little over the top, Joseph** thought, but it worked. He then started to approach Shinji, a menacing look on his face.
	"Now... Where were we?" he asked evilly.
	"N-no..." Shinji whispered, his eyes wide in fear.
	"You're mine!" Joseph** roared. He jumped at Shinji, whose scream echoed down the halls, but was quickly replaced with uncontrollable laughter as Kaji and Joseph** tickled him mercilessly.
	"Wh-what are you doing?" Shinji asked, as he gasped for air.
	"This is your punishment. You have broken the law." Joseph** and Kaji answered unanimously.
	"What law? And what kind of punishment is this?" he asked.
	"You have directly disobeyed the laws of the merriment by looking too gloomy. Therefore, we must make you merry," they answered. Eventually, they stopped, and left Shinji on the floor, gasping for breath.
	"The Dynamic Duo strike again, do they?" came two very cold voices from the hallway entrance.
	"M-Misato..." Kaji said nervously, a bashful grin on his face.
	"A-Asuka..." Joseph** said, the same grin on his. The anger that radiated from the two women was so intense that it inspired Shinji to start to crawl away, but whether that was truly from fear the fiery women standing in the doorway, or fear of another attack was questionable.
	"Kaji! You should know better than to attack children!" Misato barked.
	"What the hell is wrong with you, Snowflake? To run off to Kaji-senpai*, and then attack some guy you don't even know!" Asuka glowered.
	"Th-thanks Asuka..." Shinji gasped.
	"Shut up, Idiot Shinji!" Asuka roared, which prompted Shinji to resume his quiet escape.
	"Explain yourselves!" Asuka and Misato demanded at the same time.
	"Well you see..." Kaji started.
	"It was my fault. I came looking for Kaji, and saw this guy looking depressed, so I decided to try and cheer him up. Kaji tried to defend him, but I over powered him." Joseph** quickly cut in.
	"That's the biggest crock I've ever heard. If Kaji tried to stop you, why was he also assaulting Shinji-kun*?" Misato growled.
	"Um... Well... I threatened him?" Joseph** attempted at an explanation.
	"You two are way too similar. But Yosefu-kun*'s still young. I'd expect for him to be a little more mature at least, but this isn't completely out of line." Misato sighed. "Well, at least you aren't the idiot Kaji is. You were trying to cheer him up." At this, she actually smiled. Her smile quickly was replaced by a look of loathing as she turned towards Kaji. "You on the other hand, could easily be court marshaled for attacking one of the most important people at this facility. What if while you were busy attacking Shinji-kun, an Angel attacked, and he was still too traumatized to fight it?!"
	"I guess I'm off the hook then..." Joseph** said quietly, but obviously not quietly enough.
	"You there! Schwein! Come with me! Your punishment has yet to be decided!" Asuka suddenly shouted, She grabbed Joseph** by his ear and dragged him out of the room and down the hallway.
	"Ow ow ow! Asuka, watch where your pulling! That really hurts! Asuka! Kaji! Misato! Someone help me! Owwww!" Joseph** cried out, all the while he allowed himself to be pulled.
	"Those two get along really well, don't they?" Shinji piped up suddenly, fully recovered. "Almost as well as you two." At this, Misato instinctively froze.
	"What the hell do you think you're saying?!" Misato cried out, terror in her voice. "Besides, you get along pretty well with both Rei and Asuka, don't you?!"
	"W-what are you saying? I have no interest in that kind of thing!" Shinji said, his face's colour instantly identifiable with that of a tomato.
	"This whole place is crazy..." Kaji chuckled. "No wonder Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki is so disappointed in the lot of you."
	"Sh-shut up!" Misato protested, her attention now directed toward Kaji. "A-anyway, we should catch up with Yosefu** and Asuka. Last time those two were alone, he ended up in the hospital for a month."
	"What did he do...?" Shinji asked.
	"More like what did Asuka do. He seems to have a way of infuriating her beyond the levels of even Touji." Misato replied.
	"Th-that bad huh?" Shinji gulped nervously. "He's so similar to Kaji-san* though. I'd have thought she'd be going gaga eye'd over him too."
	"That's the problem though, I think. The two of them have spent so much time together that she did fall in love with him, but when he was stationed elsewhere, she went kind of crazy. We've always figured that's why she was so crazy over Kaji, because the two are so similar." Misato explained.
Meanwhile, Asuka and Joseph** had already reached their, or Asuka's, destination.
	"What's your plan now?" Joseph** asked, as he rubbed his sore ear.
	"We're going to have a duel." Asuka answered plainly.
	"A duel? But if we mess up the EVAs, we could get fired." Joseph** protested.
	"Oh don't be such a wuss, Snowflake." Asuka teased. "We're going to use a simulation battle that was recently developed. You know all the info and stats about your Unit-06 right?"
	"It's Unit-09, and yes, I think so." Joseph** responded.
	"Good. You enter all your stats, and I'll check over them to make sure you don't give yourself an extra edge." Asuka said decisively.
	"And what about your info...? How am I supposed to know I can trust you...? Last time we even played a video game together, you hacked your character's stats so they were maxed out..." Joseph** asked suspiciously.
	"E-eh...?! I-I don't recall..." Asuka said, lying blatantly, "Well, if you insist, I'll let you check my stats too."
	"Oh, it doesn't really matter. I remember that, even with your maxed out stats, I still beat you." Joseph** said dismissively, causing Asuka to restrain herself from beating down on him.
	"Wh-whatever! Just put your stats in already!" Asuka said, as she fought to keep her anger under control.
	"All right, all right, don't get so up tight." Joseph** said. He turned away from her, a mischevious smile on his face. He'd insert the stats, but with a slight altercation. A 35% decrease from nominal levels should tip the scales to a little more balance. It was to be expected. Although his EVA was built to standard measures, there are always differences. Canadian ingenuity had a large part to do with that. A lot of the technology and genius of past eras of Canadian scientists, as well as modern, went into it. It was the modern equivalent of the Avro Aero project from decades ago, but finished. But it wasn't just Canada's idea. Japan already had amassed several EVAs, most of average strength at least, but Unit-01 could be a threat if they decided to launch an invasion. The Canadian and U.S. governments had agreed that, if Japan indeed showed any thought towards global dominance, they needed an ace. That was, unfortunately, Joseph**. He would be forced to fight to defend them, and if they didn't the Dummy Plug would. Tests had shown the destructive power of it, and, if we wanted the other pilots to survive, he would need to fight.
	"Have you finished yet?" Asuka asked impatiently.
	"Huh? Oh, yeah. Here." he replied. He handed her the stats he had inputted.
	"Hmmm... It's a bit higher than the average EVA, not by a lot, but not by a small margin either." she said, pondering over the stats. She could change them if she wanted. Easily. But she would let them be. May as well have a fair fight for a change. Besides, she was confident in her own skills as a pilot. That's all that mattered, the pilot, not the EVA itself.  That was why she was the perfect specimen. "Alright Snowflake. Get into a plug suit and get ready to start! This is where we find who is truly the best between us!"

* Not sure if I'm going to use this particular honorific, or one at all in some cases.
** Not actual character name. I've yet to create the actual character name. Suggestions welcome. Last name suggestions also welcome (must be naval craft from North American fleet, WWII preferable.)
*** Not sure if I'm going to use this sound effect. I may use 'Argh' "ugh' or some similar form of onomatopoeia.
**** May change the sentence entirely, or replace 'speck' with iota.

There's one thing I ask, and that's that you SHOW YOUR EDITING. I don't care if you highlight it, put asterixes, bold, use brackets, or send me a letter where you made all corrections in dog shit, I just want to see where you've edited. Otherwise, I'm bound to miss it.
Thanks,
Terry.