Neon Genesis Evangelion
Pilot's Table
By D.A.
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Title: Bardiel Down
Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 38 (Together)
Word Count: 1500+
Rating: T
Summary: Pilots together, to the end.
Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything connected to it.
Notes: Part one of the "Angel" arc. Might have a couple more chapters to add later, but we'll see. lol
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Asuka slammed her laptop shut and turned to glare out the window, as several chairs over Touji sat in near total confusion as to what he had done to get that response. Hikari, two chairs in front of Asuka, glanced back at him, her childhood friend, and sighed shaking her head with a sad smile on her lips.
Touji frowned back at Hikari and then looked back down at his screen, mentally going over what had lead to his last statement and thus her response.
Shouldn'ta said I used to like Hikari… he groaned, shoulda just asked her what she meant, like most dumb jocks…
Putting his face in his hands, Touji sighed and wondered for the tenth time why he was taking his little sister's advice and trying to get to know Asuka.
The door to the class room opened, and as the teacher walked in Touji decided to try and apologize at the apartment. But I still don't think Asuka likes me.
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So much for figurin' out what's wrong at the apartment…
Touji frowned inside Unit-02's entry plug as he and Asuka waited for the Angel to crest the hills between them and the Matsushiro facility. Both of them cradled the newer railgun given to Nerv after the disastrous attack of the thirteenth Angel.
"Have we heard from Misato yet?" Asuka, secure in Unit-01, asked over the radio for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes. While Unit-02 was technically her unit, after what happened to Touji in Unit-01 when he sortied against Zeruel, no one wanted him in it again.
"No, not yet." was Lt. Ibuki's reply, "I told you, when we hear from them I'll let you know immediately."
"I know, I know."
"Geez Asuka, ya'd think ya were worried or somethin'…" Touji mumbled.
"Despite what your Otaku stooge friend says behind my back, I am not a heartless demon!" apparently not quietly enough to avoid Asuka's good hearing. Though at least she was talking to him again.
"Fer cryin' out loud Soryu," Touji whined, "I was jus' jokin'!"
"Well it wasn't funny, Stooge!"
"Target now cresting the ridge!" Maya yelled over their argument, a mix of annoyance and panic in her voice, just as the Angel's head appeared over the hill.
"That's the new Eva unit!" Touji yelled.
The black and pink Unit-03 slouched its way over the hill, swinging its arms back and forth limply. Eyes glowing red and jaw hanging open, almost seeming unhinged, the Eva/Angel was perhaps the most unnerving either Child-Pilot had seen so far.
"Moving out!" Asuka yelled as she ran her unit towards the Eva, "Is it Piloted?"
"Unknown." Maya replied, "We can't get any telemetry from the Plug."
"Engage and destroy the angel." Kozo ordered, "Retrieve the Entryplug if doing so does not put you at risk."
"…Understood." Asuka spoke, hesitating only a moment before dropping into a kneeling position and aiming her rifle. Extending her AT-Field out to erode the Angel's, she opened fire at it's knees.
The rounds blasted into the suddenly unoccupied terrain as the Eva/Angel flipped through the air to land on Unit-01's shoulders, slamming it face first into the ground as Asuka screamed in surprise.
"Asuka!" Touji yelled from his seat inside Unit-02, as what felt like the entire world once again came crashing down along with Asuka's Eva, even while he raced to reach her before the Angel could kill her. A feeling far too similar to the battle with Zeruel for his liking.
The obviously violent and Angel controlled Unit-03 snapped Unit-01's right arm backward and tore it from its socket, then proceeded to slam its newly acquired weapon against the armor over the Plug Socket. All the while Asuka alternated between raging at the Angel, and screaming in pain. After a moment, Asuka stopped screaming, and the Angel suddenly seemed bored.
Touji froze. In an instant, it felt like he had just lost everything important to him. And it HURT.
Screaming incoherently, Touji rammed the butterfly handles forward and launched his chariot at the Angel. Slamming into it, he wondered why it had been so easy to hit it. His thought was answered a moment later when the Angel dropped out of his grip and spun its arm against the back of his knees, dropping him to the ground.
It had wanted him close.
Rolling to the side and onto his stomach, Touji pushed off with his hands and feet like a frog, leaping a short distance away. Catching himself, he rolled his Eva into a crouch, ready to leap at or away from the Angel, only to receive a punch to the face.
Reeling back, Touji reacted on instinct. Blindly swinging his fist up and around, he felt it connect with the Angel just as the stars left his vision. The Angel responded by flipping Unit-02 through the air towards Unit-01.
"Damn." rolling to his feet, Touji tapped a switch set into the face of the left joystick, revealing the Prog. Knife in the left pylon. Drawing it, he hoped he knew what he was doing.
Seeing Unit-02 draw the weapon, the Angel snapped its arms up and flicked them at Touji. Extending like a bungee cord, the Eva's arms reached across the distance to wrap around Unit-02's neck. Beginning to choke, Touji slashed into the Angel's left arm, the knife's blade biting deep. Shrieking in indignation, the Angel release its grip with that hand, pulling it back as the Prog. Knife slid from the cut, and viciously backhanded Unit-02.
Touji spun and slammed to the ground, stars coating his vision for several seconds before he rolled to his feet. His vision cleared just in time to see Unit-01 backhanded by the Eva/Angel with its rubber like right arm, sending her to crash down next to Touji.
"Asuka!" Touji cried, then crouched as the Angel possessed Eva charged him.
"Get its core," Asuka gasped over the radio, "Save the Pilot."
Right as the Angel reached him, Touji smashed his right thumb down on the switch simply marked Spike L.
The Eva/Angel stumbled and slammed into Unit-02, and Touji promptly stood and flipped it behind him. The possessed Unit-03 slammed to the ground, and Asuka in Unit-01 dropped to it's knees next to it. It was at this point that Touji noticed the extra damage to both Unit-01 and Unit-03, damage which must have been incurred while he was trying to clear his head.
"Don't be dead, please don't be dead…" Asuka's murmured prayer could just barely be heard over the radio as she attempted to remove the Plug from the defeated Eva with only one hand. Suddenly cold inside, Touji moved over and gently moved her aside and carefully pried the armor plate off, then used his recovered Prog. Knife to pry the Entryplug free. Seeing Unit-01 kneel in preparation for ejecting its Entryplug Touji called over to Asuka.
"Asuka, wait fer the medics-"
"NO!"
Touji jerked at the vehemence in Asuka's voice, but carefully set the freed Plug gently on the ground. Ejecting his own Plug, Touji scrambled down the emergency ladder to the ground, and raced over to where Asuka had crashed to the ground. Despite her obviously limp right arm, Asuka had managed to climb the nearly sixty feet from Plug to ground before slipping and falling the last ten.
"I have to make sure I didn't kill him…" Asuka gasped as she tried to stand, "I won't be a murderer."
"Then wait here while I check on it!" Touji spoke firmly, gently pushing Asuka back down, careful to put his hand high on her left shoulder to avoid being called a pervert, as he knelt next to her.
"Fine," Asuka growled, panic still flitting through her eyes, though her expression was hard, "Be quick about it."
Nodding, Touji stood and raced towards the slightly bent Entryplug. As he reached the small emergency hatch, Touji noticed that it looked different from his and Asuka's Plugs. White with red trim, instead of the Eva's number stenciled on the side it simply read Dummy Plug-A.
Please don't be dead. Please, please don't be dead…
Opening the hatch, Touji glanced inside only to see a mass of piping and sparking circuitry still thinly coated in LCL, the majority of which now pooled on the ground.
"There's no one inside…" Touji called back, both confused and relieved, "It's just a big computer…"
Turning, Touji looked back to find Asuka had passed out. Jogging back, Touji checked her plugsuit's wrist block, and seeing the steady flash of the heart monitor he then stood and jogged back to his Eva to call in the med-evac VTOL.
Climbing back out, Touji jogged back to Asuka. Sitting down next to her, he carefully lifted her head enough to gently balance it on his leg so it wasn't on the ground.
"That was too close to home, huh, Asuka?" he murmured, glancing over at the downed Eva and bent Entryplug. "Us Pilots gotta stick together…"
Way too close… There's only two of us, so we can't lose anyone. Touji thought, So I'm not gonna let you ignore me. We're gonna work together to keep those kids safe, and see this to the end. Even if the end kills us.
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A/N: If you haven't noticed, in I'm Needed, the order in which the Angels appear is altered from canon. In the original chapter 2 of Pilot's Table, I mention Asuka and Touji had just battled Bardiel, and Touji had been trapped inside Unit-01 before that, like Shinji after Zeruel in canon.
Up to the 13th, the order is unchanged. The 13th in I'm Needed is Zeruel, instead of Bardiel. The 14th is Bardiel instead of Zeruel. And Kaworu appears, without an Eva, before Armasael, though he is still considered the seventeenth.
Arael and Armasael also trade places.
In short, the order of third through seventeenth is as follows: Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matriel, Sahaquiel, Iruel, Leliel, Zeruel, Bardiel, Armasael, Arael, Tabris.
