"What?! We can't go on the school trip?!" all three shouted.
Shinji, Zero, and Asuka stared at Misato in shock, her orders still ringing in their ears.
"Why not?" Asuka puffed out her cheeks in anger.
"Is it because of the Angels?" Shinji had guessed as much, but he still found it hard to accept.
"Shinji guessed right. You have to be ready to fight the Angels at any moment." Misato calmly took a sip of tea.
"This is outrageous! On the Earth in my world, humanity's first official defense team, the Ultra Guard, got time off back in 1967! My dad served with them. He told me himself!"
"Don't you feel ashamed of yourselves as a defense team in 2015?!" Zero fumed.
"Ahem. Mr. Ultraman from another world, every world has its own circumstances. Please don't lump them all together," Misato said calmly.
"Why can't I ever find a good defense team like the ones my seniors served with...?" Remembering their stories about their time on those teams, Zero couldn't help feeling that comparing his lot with theirs was enough to drive an Ultra mad.
"This is so annoying... always on standby, always waiting for the enemy to attack... why can't we go on the offensive?" Asuka complained.
"I have something to say about that." Zero grew serious.
"Some of the human defense teams in my world tried that in the past too. What usually happened was..."
"What happened?" Shinji asked quietly.
"They picked fights with monsters they couldn't beat, and my seniors had to clean up their mess..." Zero said gloomily.
"We'd like to take the initiative too, but we can't find them. It's definitely not because we're afraid of what Zero described."
"That's true... sigh..." Zero couldn't find the hidden Angels either, even after circling the Earth and trying to sense them.
"Anyway, you could take this opportunity to do some reading." Misato changed the subject.
"It's very easy for me to find out what scores you got at school, you know."
"Hmph." Asuka looked disdainful. "These traditional tests that dock points for mistakes are so boring."
Misato took out two report cards.
"Both of you barely passed. Put a little effort into it."
They both lowered their heads in embarrassment.
Asuka had only managed to pass because Shinji, seeing that she couldn't understand the Japanese, had helped tutor her.
As for Shinji... with him spending every day around Zero, a hopeless student, it would have been a miracle if his grades were good...
"Anyway, take this opportunity to study properly." With those parting words, Misato left.
Shinji slumped onto the couch. "I learned to swim for nothing..."
When they first heard about the school trip, Zero had learned that Shinji couldn't swim and specifically changed his physical training from running to swimming.
They had practiced form and technique in the Training Space first, then moved on to a swimming pool.
Thanks to Zero's Ultra-style teaching and Shinji's now-decent physique, Shinji had fully learned how to swim.
"Forget it, Shinji. Okinawa isn't all that great. Who knows... we might run into Galactron again! Right, it'd be awful if we ran into that thing again." Zero tried to comfort Shinji without saying what he really felt.
"Keep pretending. You definitely want to go too," Asuka said, mercilessly exposing him.
"If you think fighting a whole bunch of robot monsters makes for happy memories, then I've got way too many 'happy' memories!" The two started bickering again.
Seeing that she couldn't win against Zero, Asuka simply stopped talking and listened to his complaints, mostly because the part about fighting "a whole bunch of robot monsters" had caught her interest.
"Back then, Geed and I..." Huh?
Zero looked at Shinji and Asuka, who were listening with rapt attention.
"Why'd you stop arguing?"
"Why'd you stop right at the best part? Keep going."
"Yeah, Zero, I want to hear more about your past battles too." Shinji was very interested.
"And you still say you're not kids... all right, I'll keep going..." Zero had no choice but to continue his story.
He only just managed to finish by the time they went to bed that night.
"Are my stories really that good? Heh heh heh." Zero secretly gloated.
The next day, Shinji and Asuka went to the airport to see off their classmates leaving on the school trip.
Their class representative, Hikari Horaki, said, "It's such a shame. I'll definitely bring you both presents."
Grinning cheekily, Toji and Kensuke teased them. "You lovebirds go enjoy some time alone together."
"Ah... you two jerks!"
"If I'd known, I wouldn't have lowered the pressure of the Ultra Water Stream." After the plane took off, Shinji cursed indignantly.
"I know a swimming pool around here. Want to go together, Shinji?" Asuka invited him.
"That sounds great. Should we invite Rei too?"
"Sure."
Rei, Shinji, and Asuka arrived at the swimming pool.
Shinji took off his shirt, revealing the abs he had developed through his special training.
Asuka blushed at the sight and turned her head away.
Shinji warmed up. "Zero has a great saying."
"Studying? Screw studying!" Shinji and Zero shouted together before jumping into the water.
Shinji swam smoothly. It was thanks to Zero's training that he could enjoy swimming so much.
"Phew. I never knew swimming felt this good." After completing a lap, Shinji rested against the edge, panting.
Meanwhile, Rei moved through the water like a fish. She seemed to enjoy being in the water immensely.
Just then, Asuka walked over in the swimsuit she had bought yesterday.
"How do I look?"
"And you, stupid Zero, don't look!"
"Good grief... Dad said he saw Mom in a swimsuit back then... was it like this too...?" Zero took a couple of glances, then immediately turned away.
His buddy's girl was for his buddy to admire. A couple of glances were enough for him.
Shinji looked her over. "It is a little tight, but... it really suits you. I like it a lot..." After saying that, he buried his face in the water to hide his blush.
Stupid Shinji... playing with double meanings... Asuka thought, having caught the implication in his words.
What she said aloud was, "At least you've got good taste."
Without another word, Asuka leaped into the pool.
"Let's race. First one to the other side wins," Asuka challenged.
"Shinji's already done a lap. Let me take over. I wanted to swim for a bit anyway." Zero, who had been itching to join in, accepted her challenge.
"Can you even do it?"
"Can I do it? I'll show you what it means to have no limits!" The roguishly handsome "Shinji" was back.
"Go!" Before the word had finished ringing out, "Shinji" shot forward like a sailfish.
"What?!" Shocked, Asuka tried to catch up, but "Shinji" was simply too fast. She had only made it two-thirds of the way when he reached the finish.
"That felt great..." "Shinji" leaned against the edge, panting.
Shinji was awestruck once again.
"No wonder you taught me to swim, Zero. You're amazing at it yourself!"
"Of course. When I was little, I often went to planets with water in the M78 Nebula to practice swimming."
"The pool in the Land of Light is more like a huge outdoor bath than a swimming pool. All the water's hot." Remembering the pool in the Land of Light, Zero couldn't help complaining.
After the three had enjoyed swimming to their hearts' content, Shinji bought each of them a bottle of orange juice.
Elsewhere, however, Misato and the people at the base were having a much less relaxing time.
Since the Commander was away on business, Fuyutsuki and Yui Ikari were currently in charge of the base.
Fuyutsuki frowned at the images brought to him.
"According to the report, this suspicious shadow was discovered inside the volcano."
"It looks like an Angel."
Yui Ikari, whose face was thoroughly wrapped up, took a look and agreed that it resembled an Angel.
"We can't overlook even the slightest possibility. Have we sent anyone?"
"First Lieutenant Katsuragi is already there."
"If the probe still can't confirm it, let's try asking that child for help."
"We can't rely on him for everything. He's already done so much." Yui Ikari didn't want anyone treating Zero and Shinji as tools.
At the site, Misato Katsuragi watched the probe, which had already reached its depth limit and was sounding an alarm, and ordered it to keep descending.
The technical staff on site didn't want to lose the probe. "Going any deeper would be dangerous!"
"We'll pay for it if the equipment breaks! Another three hundred meters down!"
Sure enough, the pressure of the magma destroyed the probe, but it transmitted one final image before it broke.
A gigantic embryo appeared before them.
Enclosed in a membrane, it looked particularly eerie.
"Pattern blue! It's an Angel!" the technician exclaimed.
"Seal off the area! NERV is taking over! Keep everything from the past six hours confidential!" Misato issued her orders without hesitation.
However, neither the technician nor Misato noticed the unusual glowing area inside the embryo.
At the crater, a dark shadow slowly coalesced into a person.
He sensed what lay below and broke into crazed laughter.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! I've finally found you!"
"My little darling, you're itching to come out and wreak havoc right now, aren't you?"
"Then let me give you a hand!"
A black beam shot from his hand, heading straight into the magma below.
The embryo began to change.
"Don't rush. Wait until tomorrow to come out. That way, we can give them a wonderful present!"
Before you continue