The ground shook with the massive effort the monstrous beast, thing,
humanoid, alien, whatever put out to raise itself from the earth. Trees
shifted and power-lines fell to the ground, twisting wildly like eels
drowning in air. The massive brown body of the monstrosity, a sick parody
of the humanoid form, rose from beneath the ground, up turning several
houses and killing the residents within. Supported by its legs, it stood
fully erect, its white mask-like face turning toward an unseeable target.
With surprising dexterity and grace, the several-story-tall monster broke
into a sprint toward the direction of the setting sun.
And so it began.
Shuffle
01: Deal
Eva/CCS/Alternate Universe fan fiction by Eric Y. Kim
The high pitched whine of the monorail's sonic-combustion engine was an ever present noise in the background, a hook that kept him from slipping into the desolate world of his own mind. Eyes half-lidded, Shinji Ikari sat alone, staring at nothing in particular. Next to him was a black book bag, a standard for most junior high students. Though he wasn't exactly a junior high student; he went to sessions held at his tutor's house with only a few other students. He learned the same stuff as others his age, but stayed out of school for a reason that he was sure was given to him once but was so obscure that the given reason itself was lost somewhere along the line, along with the face that told him that reason. Shinji was sure it'd be the same wherever he went. A different teacher with different students, at a different place, learning the same thing and doing the same things. Finally, the monorail came to a smooth stop, and the doors slid open with a whoosh, revealing the outdoor benches and the blue skies above. Shinji sat still, letting the now complete silence fill his ears. Finally, Shinji got up from the seat and, grabbing his book bag, walked out of the coach.
It took thirty minute by the monorail train to get from his tutor's house to the nearest station, and another hour of walking to get from the station to his house. Shinji walked at a slow, steady pace, trudging down the cement road. It was barely wide enough to let a car pass through, squeezed between the concrete walls of the houses. Shinji thought it strange that even though billions of people died just fourteen years ago, the Japanese had still felt it necessary to build their cities closely knit. Like closing themselves off from the rest of the world, Shinji thought. Just like. . .
He stopped abruptly (not a hard deed considering he was walking rather slowly), and his right hand clenched into a fist, consequently crushing the piece of paper he held in that hand. On his face ran across several emotions; fear, uncertainty, and perhaps rage. Eventually it settled to the tired neutral mask that it had been before. The grip on the paper loosened, and the paper fluttered to the ground. Shinji, picking up the paper and stuffing it into his book bag, began to resume his trek towards his apartment.
Shinji passed by the large moving truck in front of the complex without paying it much attention, and idly passed by a couple of men with Nerv uniforms rolling out a bed. Nerv uniforms. The bed. HIS bed. Shinji stopped abruptly, and leapt toward the men.
"Hey, what are you doing with my furniture?!" Shinji said, with as much force behind his voice as he could muster, which admittedly, wasn't much. He stood in the narrow path in front of the Nerv employees for a valiant two seconds before getting out of the way with a nervous yelp.
"We're repossessing these furniture. You will no longer need them as Nerv will provide you with all necessities once you have arrived at Tokyo-3." Said the calm voice of a man behind Shinji, making him jump with surprise.
"Wha...? What do you mean?" Shinji asked, bewildered more than anything, though in the back of his mind he was putting two and two together and coming to a slow realization.
"What I mean is that due to an emergency, you are to be taken to Nerv Headquarters at Tokyo-3 at once." Said the cold voice again. By this time Shinji had turned to face the voice, and saw a tall man who seemed to be only several years older than him. He had a face that was fine and beauteous, almost feminine in its beauty. Yet his slender yet tall frame, his sharp piercing eyes, and his medium-length and masculinity cut hair helped banish the illusion of femininity. Shinji felt himself grow angrier, and with the growing anger the feeling of hopeless resign also grew.
"An emergency? What kind of emergency?" asked Shinji, his voice quivering, but not from fear. His mind's eye wandered to his book-bag and the crumpled letter within.
"That, is classified. Suffice to say that it is a dire one, and we are you take you, whether you cooperate or not." Shinji looked as he would say something, but thought better of it. He remained staring at the ground, absently listening to the sound made by the green leaves rustling in the background.
"Fine," His voice was resigned, tired, the outer flame of anger gone. In its place, like countless others was a slow burning amber coal. The man only nodded once.
"Good. All your personal belongings will be sent to your new location. For now it is imperative that you yourself arrive at Nerv Headquarters."
It roared. It didn't have a mouth, but somehow it roared. The Earth roared with it, a widespread undulation heard for miles, as the monstrosity's massive footsteps shook the very foundation of the city limits. It ran, its humanoid body making large, awkward strides while running. Running, in a sense that was comparable to the fact that humans and fish both swim. With its seemingly impossible strides that looked so off balance that it cause the viewer to almost feel pain, it reached the city limits quickly. It did not stop, and it went crashing through skyscrapers and cars. Luckily, the people of the city had already been evacuated to the underground shelters. Nevertheless, casualties were high, as though the civilians were safe, dozens of military personnel perished as they attempted to stop the behemoth. Behind him a trail of mangled metal, of crashed planes and crushed tanks, littered the ground. Underground, a small private subrail-transport swiftly made its way toward the subterranean base of Nerv. It was a brief journey, as the tunnel provided no obstacles and the subrail system was built with top-notch technology.
Nerv—it was created to prevent another disaster such as the Second Impact, and also defend the Earth. But from what? There were many speculations but only few knew more than what was just a simple false rumor. And the commander of Nerv, a face at once familiar and strange to Shinji; Ikari Gendo. Said man now faced the sliding steel door as it opened. All activities in the bridge of the Geofront stopped, as Shinji walked in, escorted by two Nerv soldiers. He stood barely three feet away from Gendo, his eyes staring deeply into Gendo's. The steely gaze of the older man won out in the end, and Shinji turned his gaze toward the ground indignantly.
"Why did you bring me here?" the slightly whiny voice, charged with anger, carried in the room, which had but barely a dozen people in it. "Father?"
The alarms chose this moment to start ringing, and the monotone voice of the Magi supercomputers filled the room. "The Angel is within 1 kilometer range to the Geofront," The few people of the bridge crew who had stopped their work to stare at Shinji began to work furiously at their stations.
"Commander, 40% of inner-city defense armament have been destroyed. Estimated time of arrival of the Angel at the center of the city, three minutes." Gendo gave the young woman a slight nod without taking his eyes off of his son.
"I have brought you here to fight the Angel." His voice was almost as monotone as the computer's but it held a certain steel to it as his gaze did that the computer did not. It was final, an order without exceptions.
"Fight the Angel? What is it? How do you expect me to fight something I don't even know?" Shinji's voice began to rise toward the end of the sentence. Confusion and hatred was clear in his tone.
"It is a threat to humanity, and that is all you need to know." Shinji bristled at the man in front of him. It had been. . . ten years. Ten years since he abandoned him. Gave him a packed bag and let some security guards lead him toward the monorail. No explanation, no reassuring smile, no, not even anger or hatred. No reason given.
"No. I won't d-"
"You must." The alarms continued to ring loudly in the background, prodding, urging. You must, it echoed, you must.
"What can I do?" a question he asked himself millions of times, in millions of situation, and every time the answer was the same; nothing. "There's nothing I can do."
"There is something you can do."
"I won't do anything for you."
"This isn't about you and me. The situation goes beyond such childish presumptions." Shinji remained silent, his gaze turned toward the ground.
"Sir, estimated one minutes until the Angel reaches the center of the city. Over 90% of inner-city defense armaments have been destroyed." Still silence remained between the pair. Finally Gendo turned away with another word. Shinji let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, but hearing Gendo's next words, drew in a sharp intake of air.
"Order an N2 bombing run on the Angel."
"Sir, Magi estimates a 93% chance that the resulting explosion will reach the underground shelters below the city."
"You can't do this!" blurted out Shinji, his face a mask of horror. Gendo answered without turning toward him.
"Proceed with the order Major. Yukito, please escort Shinji out of the Nerv headquarters." Yukito, the man who brought him to the Nerv HQ from his apartment, merely nodded and gestured toward Shinji. The major, a young woman with long brown hair that stood at about Shinji's height, spoke hesitatingly.
"Sir, the UN-"
"The UN has handed all authority over to Nerv until the threat can be neutralized, Major."
"Y-yes sir, ordering air strike on coordinates six, six, three thirty-five, authorization code three, ex, heich, six, six, zero, fifty- three." The major turned and spared Shinji a last glance, one that was a mixture of understanding and pleading. Shinji clenched his teeth.
"I. . . I'll do it." Gendo turned around to face him. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll go. So stop the bombing run."
"Good. Yukito, please lead Shinji to the Seal." With a nod, Yukito lead Shinji out of the room. The young major looked toward the door with uncertainty. She was broken out of her reverie by the emotionless voice of the commander.
"Cancel the air-strike, major."
"Yes sir!"
Shinji shifted his body continuously, trying to throw off the feeling of discomfort. He felt bad vibes practically roll off of Yukito. Even his mop of black hair irritated him. With a lurch the elevator finally came to a halt, and when it opened, it revealed a small room, bare of even dust, except for a rectangular panel that was jutting out of the wall opposite the elevator. Yukito got out first.
"What are we doing here?" Yukito's response was to take out a small key-like object from his front pocket and toss it towards Shinji. Shinji clumsily reached for the key and caught it, though almost dropping it in the process. The second he had a good grip on it, he began to glow brightly, than expanded to a rod of about three feet. This time, he did drop the thing. "W-w-what the hell?!"
The rod was gray and metallic, and at the one end was a metallic figure of a bird, an owl by the looks of it. Besides that it was really unremarkable, except that at the other end were small intricate engravings.
"Pick it up, and hurry. We're running out of time." Came Yukito's ever unwavering voice. Shinji looked at the thing dubiously, then bent over to pick it up.
"Now what?" the rod was strangely warm despite its cold metallic shine. Yukito walked over to the rectangular panel. In the middle was a small card with a beautiful illustration of something that Shinji couldn't quite make out. Below it was a round hole, about the width of the rod he was holding. In fact. . ..
"Insert the key into the hole." Shinji took a tentative step, but a sudden trembling around them caused him to stumble. "This room is closer to the surface than the bridge. If you don't hurry, the Angel will get through."
Shinji hurriedly got up and stumbled toward the panel. He let the key stand inches away from the hold. "What's going to happen?" Hearing no response but the ominous rumbling of the Angel approaching, Shinji thrust the key into the hole, until only the owl-head was exposed. The head began to glow with eerie blue light, and Shinji took a step back, surprised. The card began to emit a bright yellow-gold light, that seemed to only arch out a foot or so from the panel before being sucked into the owl-head.
"You're going to fight," Shinji thought he heard as everything went black.
The blackness didn't last long, as Shinji was suddenly yanked back into consciousness. He was suddenly above ground. In fact, many dozens of feet above ground. He saw the devastated buildings and broken cars littering the streets. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Shinji turned his head to see the Angel. It was tall, but he noticed this only because he had the wrecked buildings to compared to. He saw it first as about his size. Which was wrong. It was mostly brown with a bit of green mixed in. It was humanoid, and it moved much like a human would, except that it lacked any visible joints. Its arms and legs just bent at a place in the middle. The head was joined to the body without a neck, and its head was a grotesque mask resembling a smoothed over human skull. And it was facing him.
Terror took over Shinji as the Angel suddenly stopped its seemingly random acts of destruction and rushed forward at a blinding speed. It slammed into him full speed, and with a cry of pain Shinji fell to the ground, and he felt several bumps, which he guessed to be cars, hit against his back. Panicked, he began a futile struggle as the Angel pinned him and proceeded to pummel him repeatedly.
"Lunar-Solar connection established,"
"Clow Field over the surface above the key room amplifying,"
"Detection of Preternatural Radius Link between Shinji and the Clow Field,"
Commander Gendo Ikari watched the screen silently as the bridge crew reported everything to him in controlled shouts. The edge of underlying hysteria was still there however, but that was to be expected. This was the first time the Seal was being removed, after all. Everything before this had been theories and failed testing.
The metal coils around the large screen began to glow a burning orange. It lasted but a second, as the light flowed into the screen and the image of the Angel appeared, crouched low on a large crater, its face looking directly at the screen.
"Visual link with the Unsealed confirmed. FDC system online."
"Good," came the terse reply. On the screen, the Angel charged, eliciting a gasp from a couple of the bridge crew. The view on the screen wavered, and then was greeted by the landing 'fist' of the Angel. The Angel proceeded to beat the screen (which was the view from the eyes of the Unsealed) mercilessly. Some of the crew winced, while the fist landed again and again. Gendo watched all this silently.
"Sir, FDC system is initiating the deal!" on the screen in front of the technical assistant was a set of five rectangles. Inside the first rectangle, a mixture of wildly fluctuating colors began to take definite shape. In the first rectangle was now an image of a card, a six of spades.
Above the Geofront, Shinji managed to throw a wild punch towards the Angel. It connected with the side of its shoulder, and the force of the punch threw it off. Shinji got up shakily, pain wracking his body. He ran as fast as he could, his pain-addled and adrenaline-drenched brain not noticing that his arms and legs were the wrong color, nor the fact that he was some five stories tall. Shinji met the Angel head-on, but was again thrown back by the speed of the Angel. It seemed as if all the wind in the world was pushing toward him, and Shinji crashed into a tall skyscraper, back first. The Angel once again threw itself forward, and its eyes began to glow a threatening red. With a shrill cry that caused Shinji to grind his teeth, the Angel swept the air horizontally with its arms, and a short burst of condensed air flew forth, slamming into Shinji's head and causing the top half of the building behind him to come crashing down onto the ground. Had Shinji been able to, he would have screamed. Yet his mouth felt as if it had been stapled together, and he could not cry out in response to the pain he felt. Thankfully, the pain receded as something within him broke loose and came to the surface, silently roaring in rage. With a mighty heave, the Unsealed broke loose over Shinji's mind and threw the Angel backward.
"Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten of spades!"
"Straight flush," came the hushed voice of technical assistant, who also happened to be a avid poker player.
The Unsealed now tore into the Angel with savage vigor, and the Angel retaliated by flinging more waves of condensed air at the Unsealed. It served to only slow the Unsealed down as its fists bore into the Angel, each blow hard and crushing. The Unsealed's eyes, two shining dots of earthly brown, gazed into the Angel's own. It pulled its arm back and punched, and the arm went straight through the Angel. The Angel let out another shrill cry, and grabbing the arm that was impaling it, pulled it out and threw the Unsealed behind it. Again the winds supported its actions and the Unsealed went flying far back to land next to the large lake that resided in the center of the city. Dust kicked up from the force of the landing, but was immediately swept aside by the strong winds. The winds seemed to gather near the hole, and the Angel began to regenerate the gaping wound. The Unsealed stood up in one smooth motion, and its fingers came down on the earth to grab a handful of the mud near the lake.
The dust that was swept by the wind came rushing toward the hand holding the mud, and the Unsealed thrust the hand into the healing wound. The Angel raised its arms, but stopped abruptly. From the center of its body where the mud and dust was inserted, the Angel began to turn into stone. It didn't take long for the Angel to be completely petrified, and when the Unsealed took its hand out of the center, it crumbled into pieces.
The primal force that had been raised from the back of Shinji's head did not rear back, however, and continued to pound on the broken pieces of the Angel, crushing it to dust. It reared its arm back for another blow, but it did not come down. The Unsealed seemed to be straining for a moment, before the tension seeped out, and with it the primal force retreated back into Shinji's mind, leaving him in control once more.
Not quite sure of what had happened, his vision wandered to the lake he was standing next to. He saw a strange and frightening image on the calm waters of the lake. It was shaped much like a human would have been, resembling a human body much more so than the Angel had, with visible joints and muscles, and a round head attached to a long neck. It's skin was sickly gray, yet it vibrated with some power or force. Only a bit of real skin was shown, as what seemed like a cross between scales and armor covered most of its body, including the head, though the tortured shape of the helmet was irregular as half of it had cracked and broken. It's eyes were much like a human's as it stared back from the reflection on the water, dead, dull. Its eyes. His eyes. They met, and Shinji knew they were the same eyes.
Thankfully, his mind shut itself down at this point.
Much cheering spread amongst the crew of the bridge. Commander Gendo Ikari remained silent, though a ghost of a smile had placed itself on his lips, hidden behind two gloved hands.
"Magi, open commlink to the Seal." Commanded Gendo's voice quietly. The small screen in front of his seat came to life, showing the whole of the relatively small space that was the whole of the Seal.
There, Shinji was crouched on his knees. His left arm was supporting his weight as if to prevent him from toppling over, and his right arm was raised high as if he was in the process of punching something on the ground. Yukito's long pale fingers were grasped around the wrist of the raised right arm.
"Commander." He acknowledged, staring toward the screen. "Almost everything went as predicted. The link between your son and the Unsealed was much stronger than expected, however. That should not matter much, though perhaps it will make things easier for us."
"Good. Bring Shinji up to level –20, the Med. Staff will be waiting up there." Gendo said, and upon seeing Yukito nod, turned off the commlink. He got up slowly and left through the secondary exit behind him, leaving the crew to exult in their victory.
01
End
And so it began.
Shuffle
01: Deal
Eva/CCS/Alternate Universe fan fiction by Eric Y. Kim
The high pitched whine of the monorail's sonic-combustion engine was an ever present noise in the background, a hook that kept him from slipping into the desolate world of his own mind. Eyes half-lidded, Shinji Ikari sat alone, staring at nothing in particular. Next to him was a black book bag, a standard for most junior high students. Though he wasn't exactly a junior high student; he went to sessions held at his tutor's house with only a few other students. He learned the same stuff as others his age, but stayed out of school for a reason that he was sure was given to him once but was so obscure that the given reason itself was lost somewhere along the line, along with the face that told him that reason. Shinji was sure it'd be the same wherever he went. A different teacher with different students, at a different place, learning the same thing and doing the same things. Finally, the monorail came to a smooth stop, and the doors slid open with a whoosh, revealing the outdoor benches and the blue skies above. Shinji sat still, letting the now complete silence fill his ears. Finally, Shinji got up from the seat and, grabbing his book bag, walked out of the coach.
It took thirty minute by the monorail train to get from his tutor's house to the nearest station, and another hour of walking to get from the station to his house. Shinji walked at a slow, steady pace, trudging down the cement road. It was barely wide enough to let a car pass through, squeezed between the concrete walls of the houses. Shinji thought it strange that even though billions of people died just fourteen years ago, the Japanese had still felt it necessary to build their cities closely knit. Like closing themselves off from the rest of the world, Shinji thought. Just like. . .
He stopped abruptly (not a hard deed considering he was walking rather slowly), and his right hand clenched into a fist, consequently crushing the piece of paper he held in that hand. On his face ran across several emotions; fear, uncertainty, and perhaps rage. Eventually it settled to the tired neutral mask that it had been before. The grip on the paper loosened, and the paper fluttered to the ground. Shinji, picking up the paper and stuffing it into his book bag, began to resume his trek towards his apartment.
Shinji passed by the large moving truck in front of the complex without paying it much attention, and idly passed by a couple of men with Nerv uniforms rolling out a bed. Nerv uniforms. The bed. HIS bed. Shinji stopped abruptly, and leapt toward the men.
"Hey, what are you doing with my furniture?!" Shinji said, with as much force behind his voice as he could muster, which admittedly, wasn't much. He stood in the narrow path in front of the Nerv employees for a valiant two seconds before getting out of the way with a nervous yelp.
"We're repossessing these furniture. You will no longer need them as Nerv will provide you with all necessities once you have arrived at Tokyo-3." Said the calm voice of a man behind Shinji, making him jump with surprise.
"Wha...? What do you mean?" Shinji asked, bewildered more than anything, though in the back of his mind he was putting two and two together and coming to a slow realization.
"What I mean is that due to an emergency, you are to be taken to Nerv Headquarters at Tokyo-3 at once." Said the cold voice again. By this time Shinji had turned to face the voice, and saw a tall man who seemed to be only several years older than him. He had a face that was fine and beauteous, almost feminine in its beauty. Yet his slender yet tall frame, his sharp piercing eyes, and his medium-length and masculinity cut hair helped banish the illusion of femininity. Shinji felt himself grow angrier, and with the growing anger the feeling of hopeless resign also grew.
"An emergency? What kind of emergency?" asked Shinji, his voice quivering, but not from fear. His mind's eye wandered to his book-bag and the crumpled letter within.
"That, is classified. Suffice to say that it is a dire one, and we are you take you, whether you cooperate or not." Shinji looked as he would say something, but thought better of it. He remained staring at the ground, absently listening to the sound made by the green leaves rustling in the background.
"Fine," His voice was resigned, tired, the outer flame of anger gone. In its place, like countless others was a slow burning amber coal. The man only nodded once.
"Good. All your personal belongings will be sent to your new location. For now it is imperative that you yourself arrive at Nerv Headquarters."
It roared. It didn't have a mouth, but somehow it roared. The Earth roared with it, a widespread undulation heard for miles, as the monstrosity's massive footsteps shook the very foundation of the city limits. It ran, its humanoid body making large, awkward strides while running. Running, in a sense that was comparable to the fact that humans and fish both swim. With its seemingly impossible strides that looked so off balance that it cause the viewer to almost feel pain, it reached the city limits quickly. It did not stop, and it went crashing through skyscrapers and cars. Luckily, the people of the city had already been evacuated to the underground shelters. Nevertheless, casualties were high, as though the civilians were safe, dozens of military personnel perished as they attempted to stop the behemoth. Behind him a trail of mangled metal, of crashed planes and crushed tanks, littered the ground. Underground, a small private subrail-transport swiftly made its way toward the subterranean base of Nerv. It was a brief journey, as the tunnel provided no obstacles and the subrail system was built with top-notch technology.
Nerv—it was created to prevent another disaster such as the Second Impact, and also defend the Earth. But from what? There were many speculations but only few knew more than what was just a simple false rumor. And the commander of Nerv, a face at once familiar and strange to Shinji; Ikari Gendo. Said man now faced the sliding steel door as it opened. All activities in the bridge of the Geofront stopped, as Shinji walked in, escorted by two Nerv soldiers. He stood barely three feet away from Gendo, his eyes staring deeply into Gendo's. The steely gaze of the older man won out in the end, and Shinji turned his gaze toward the ground indignantly.
"Why did you bring me here?" the slightly whiny voice, charged with anger, carried in the room, which had but barely a dozen people in it. "Father?"
The alarms chose this moment to start ringing, and the monotone voice of the Magi supercomputers filled the room. "The Angel is within 1 kilometer range to the Geofront," The few people of the bridge crew who had stopped their work to stare at Shinji began to work furiously at their stations.
"Commander, 40% of inner-city defense armament have been destroyed. Estimated time of arrival of the Angel at the center of the city, three minutes." Gendo gave the young woman a slight nod without taking his eyes off of his son.
"I have brought you here to fight the Angel." His voice was almost as monotone as the computer's but it held a certain steel to it as his gaze did that the computer did not. It was final, an order without exceptions.
"Fight the Angel? What is it? How do you expect me to fight something I don't even know?" Shinji's voice began to rise toward the end of the sentence. Confusion and hatred was clear in his tone.
"It is a threat to humanity, and that is all you need to know." Shinji bristled at the man in front of him. It had been. . . ten years. Ten years since he abandoned him. Gave him a packed bag and let some security guards lead him toward the monorail. No explanation, no reassuring smile, no, not even anger or hatred. No reason given.
"No. I won't d-"
"You must." The alarms continued to ring loudly in the background, prodding, urging. You must, it echoed, you must.
"What can I do?" a question he asked himself millions of times, in millions of situation, and every time the answer was the same; nothing. "There's nothing I can do."
"There is something you can do."
"I won't do anything for you."
"This isn't about you and me. The situation goes beyond such childish presumptions." Shinji remained silent, his gaze turned toward the ground.
"Sir, estimated one minutes until the Angel reaches the center of the city. Over 90% of inner-city defense armaments have been destroyed." Still silence remained between the pair. Finally Gendo turned away with another word. Shinji let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, but hearing Gendo's next words, drew in a sharp intake of air.
"Order an N2 bombing run on the Angel."
"Sir, Magi estimates a 93% chance that the resulting explosion will reach the underground shelters below the city."
"You can't do this!" blurted out Shinji, his face a mask of horror. Gendo answered without turning toward him.
"Proceed with the order Major. Yukito, please escort Shinji out of the Nerv headquarters." Yukito, the man who brought him to the Nerv HQ from his apartment, merely nodded and gestured toward Shinji. The major, a young woman with long brown hair that stood at about Shinji's height, spoke hesitatingly.
"Sir, the UN-"
"The UN has handed all authority over to Nerv until the threat can be neutralized, Major."
"Y-yes sir, ordering air strike on coordinates six, six, three thirty-five, authorization code three, ex, heich, six, six, zero, fifty- three." The major turned and spared Shinji a last glance, one that was a mixture of understanding and pleading. Shinji clenched his teeth.
"I. . . I'll do it." Gendo turned around to face him. "I don't know what I can do, but I'll go. So stop the bombing run."
"Good. Yukito, please lead Shinji to the Seal." With a nod, Yukito lead Shinji out of the room. The young major looked toward the door with uncertainty. She was broken out of her reverie by the emotionless voice of the commander.
"Cancel the air-strike, major."
"Yes sir!"
Shinji shifted his body continuously, trying to throw off the feeling of discomfort. He felt bad vibes practically roll off of Yukito. Even his mop of black hair irritated him. With a lurch the elevator finally came to a halt, and when it opened, it revealed a small room, bare of even dust, except for a rectangular panel that was jutting out of the wall opposite the elevator. Yukito got out first.
"What are we doing here?" Yukito's response was to take out a small key-like object from his front pocket and toss it towards Shinji. Shinji clumsily reached for the key and caught it, though almost dropping it in the process. The second he had a good grip on it, he began to glow brightly, than expanded to a rod of about three feet. This time, he did drop the thing. "W-w-what the hell?!"
The rod was gray and metallic, and at the one end was a metallic figure of a bird, an owl by the looks of it. Besides that it was really unremarkable, except that at the other end were small intricate engravings.
"Pick it up, and hurry. We're running out of time." Came Yukito's ever unwavering voice. Shinji looked at the thing dubiously, then bent over to pick it up.
"Now what?" the rod was strangely warm despite its cold metallic shine. Yukito walked over to the rectangular panel. In the middle was a small card with a beautiful illustration of something that Shinji couldn't quite make out. Below it was a round hole, about the width of the rod he was holding. In fact. . ..
"Insert the key into the hole." Shinji took a tentative step, but a sudden trembling around them caused him to stumble. "This room is closer to the surface than the bridge. If you don't hurry, the Angel will get through."
Shinji hurriedly got up and stumbled toward the panel. He let the key stand inches away from the hold. "What's going to happen?" Hearing no response but the ominous rumbling of the Angel approaching, Shinji thrust the key into the hole, until only the owl-head was exposed. The head began to glow with eerie blue light, and Shinji took a step back, surprised. The card began to emit a bright yellow-gold light, that seemed to only arch out a foot or so from the panel before being sucked into the owl-head.
"You're going to fight," Shinji thought he heard as everything went black.
The blackness didn't last long, as Shinji was suddenly yanked back into consciousness. He was suddenly above ground. In fact, many dozens of feet above ground. He saw the devastated buildings and broken cars littering the streets. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Shinji turned his head to see the Angel. It was tall, but he noticed this only because he had the wrecked buildings to compared to. He saw it first as about his size. Which was wrong. It was mostly brown with a bit of green mixed in. It was humanoid, and it moved much like a human would, except that it lacked any visible joints. Its arms and legs just bent at a place in the middle. The head was joined to the body without a neck, and its head was a grotesque mask resembling a smoothed over human skull. And it was facing him.
Terror took over Shinji as the Angel suddenly stopped its seemingly random acts of destruction and rushed forward at a blinding speed. It slammed into him full speed, and with a cry of pain Shinji fell to the ground, and he felt several bumps, which he guessed to be cars, hit against his back. Panicked, he began a futile struggle as the Angel pinned him and proceeded to pummel him repeatedly.
"Lunar-Solar connection established,"
"Clow Field over the surface above the key room amplifying,"
"Detection of Preternatural Radius Link between Shinji and the Clow Field,"
Commander Gendo Ikari watched the screen silently as the bridge crew reported everything to him in controlled shouts. The edge of underlying hysteria was still there however, but that was to be expected. This was the first time the Seal was being removed, after all. Everything before this had been theories and failed testing.
The metal coils around the large screen began to glow a burning orange. It lasted but a second, as the light flowed into the screen and the image of the Angel appeared, crouched low on a large crater, its face looking directly at the screen.
"Visual link with the Unsealed confirmed. FDC system online."
"Good," came the terse reply. On the screen, the Angel charged, eliciting a gasp from a couple of the bridge crew. The view on the screen wavered, and then was greeted by the landing 'fist' of the Angel. The Angel proceeded to beat the screen (which was the view from the eyes of the Unsealed) mercilessly. Some of the crew winced, while the fist landed again and again. Gendo watched all this silently.
"Sir, FDC system is initiating the deal!" on the screen in front of the technical assistant was a set of five rectangles. Inside the first rectangle, a mixture of wildly fluctuating colors began to take definite shape. In the first rectangle was now an image of a card, a six of spades.
Above the Geofront, Shinji managed to throw a wild punch towards the Angel. It connected with the side of its shoulder, and the force of the punch threw it off. Shinji got up shakily, pain wracking his body. He ran as fast as he could, his pain-addled and adrenaline-drenched brain not noticing that his arms and legs were the wrong color, nor the fact that he was some five stories tall. Shinji met the Angel head-on, but was again thrown back by the speed of the Angel. It seemed as if all the wind in the world was pushing toward him, and Shinji crashed into a tall skyscraper, back first. The Angel once again threw itself forward, and its eyes began to glow a threatening red. With a shrill cry that caused Shinji to grind his teeth, the Angel swept the air horizontally with its arms, and a short burst of condensed air flew forth, slamming into Shinji's head and causing the top half of the building behind him to come crashing down onto the ground. Had Shinji been able to, he would have screamed. Yet his mouth felt as if it had been stapled together, and he could not cry out in response to the pain he felt. Thankfully, the pain receded as something within him broke loose and came to the surface, silently roaring in rage. With a mighty heave, the Unsealed broke loose over Shinji's mind and threw the Angel backward.
"Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten of spades!"
"Straight flush," came the hushed voice of technical assistant, who also happened to be a avid poker player.
The Unsealed now tore into the Angel with savage vigor, and the Angel retaliated by flinging more waves of condensed air at the Unsealed. It served to only slow the Unsealed down as its fists bore into the Angel, each blow hard and crushing. The Unsealed's eyes, two shining dots of earthly brown, gazed into the Angel's own. It pulled its arm back and punched, and the arm went straight through the Angel. The Angel let out another shrill cry, and grabbing the arm that was impaling it, pulled it out and threw the Unsealed behind it. Again the winds supported its actions and the Unsealed went flying far back to land next to the large lake that resided in the center of the city. Dust kicked up from the force of the landing, but was immediately swept aside by the strong winds. The winds seemed to gather near the hole, and the Angel began to regenerate the gaping wound. The Unsealed stood up in one smooth motion, and its fingers came down on the earth to grab a handful of the mud near the lake.
The dust that was swept by the wind came rushing toward the hand holding the mud, and the Unsealed thrust the hand into the healing wound. The Angel raised its arms, but stopped abruptly. From the center of its body where the mud and dust was inserted, the Angel began to turn into stone. It didn't take long for the Angel to be completely petrified, and when the Unsealed took its hand out of the center, it crumbled into pieces.
The primal force that had been raised from the back of Shinji's head did not rear back, however, and continued to pound on the broken pieces of the Angel, crushing it to dust. It reared its arm back for another blow, but it did not come down. The Unsealed seemed to be straining for a moment, before the tension seeped out, and with it the primal force retreated back into Shinji's mind, leaving him in control once more.
Not quite sure of what had happened, his vision wandered to the lake he was standing next to. He saw a strange and frightening image on the calm waters of the lake. It was shaped much like a human would have been, resembling a human body much more so than the Angel had, with visible joints and muscles, and a round head attached to a long neck. It's skin was sickly gray, yet it vibrated with some power or force. Only a bit of real skin was shown, as what seemed like a cross between scales and armor covered most of its body, including the head, though the tortured shape of the helmet was irregular as half of it had cracked and broken. It's eyes were much like a human's as it stared back from the reflection on the water, dead, dull. Its eyes. His eyes. They met, and Shinji knew they were the same eyes.
Thankfully, his mind shut itself down at this point.
Much cheering spread amongst the crew of the bridge. Commander Gendo Ikari remained silent, though a ghost of a smile had placed itself on his lips, hidden behind two gloved hands.
"Magi, open commlink to the Seal." Commanded Gendo's voice quietly. The small screen in front of his seat came to life, showing the whole of the relatively small space that was the whole of the Seal.
There, Shinji was crouched on his knees. His left arm was supporting his weight as if to prevent him from toppling over, and his right arm was raised high as if he was in the process of punching something on the ground. Yukito's long pale fingers were grasped around the wrist of the raised right arm.
"Commander." He acknowledged, staring toward the screen. "Almost everything went as predicted. The link between your son and the Unsealed was much stronger than expected, however. That should not matter much, though perhaps it will make things easier for us."
"Good. Bring Shinji up to level –20, the Med. Staff will be waiting up there." Gendo said, and upon seeing Yukito nod, turned off the commlink. He got up slowly and left through the secondary exit behind him, leaving the crew to exult in their victory.
01
End