Another day, another payphone. It was the only way Shinji could speak with his dad. Caller ID had run rampant like a disease; he didn't want his father to know where he was staying. But they needed to talk today. Or at least, that's what the letters were saying. The letters that came with featuring a purple haired woman in short shorts were saying that too. They had to talk.
There was a long beeping noise as he held the phone. Then there wasn't any sound.
"Hello? Dad? Hello?"
No answer. The ground below Shinji began to shake, like a bounce house made out of ice cream. He looked around himself. An earthquake? Oh, wait, no, a giant monster. With bones on its skin. Shinji sighed, that design looked so overdone. The red thing on its stomach looked shiny though.
It seemed like Shinji was going to die. He felt like that pretty often anyway, but that usually didn't involve laser beams and destruction in the middle of Tokyo-3. He wished he were back home in the mountains with his trumpet teacher. Too late for that. But the car pulling up in front of him looked promising.
The front door opened and then he saw the girl from the postcards. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. Ask for her autograph? Tell her his name? She might have already known his name, but-
"Shinji, get in the car!"
"Oh, okay."
He struggled to open the back left seat, but got in, and soon they were driving away from the carnage.
"You had to choose the impersonal entrance, didn't you?" asked the woman in front of him.
"Sorry, um, well, it was the closest. And we're kind of in a rush."
"Whatever, good thinking. I guess you're going to need that for this job."
Shinji looked out through the window behind him, and saw military planes firing at the monster, but to no avail. "What is that thing?"
"It's called an Angel, Shinji. And you are going to become very acquainted with it."
"What's that supposed to mean? Wait, where are you taking me?"
"To your father's work, of course."
Right. NERV was a UN military organization founded after the events of Second Impact in 1995. Shinji's father was the commander of NERV. Shinji's father was also an asshole. He thought he could just kick Shinji out of the house to live a life in the mountains playing the trumpet. And he was right, he could. But that didn't mean Shinji had to give him the satisfaction of knowing about it. When it became clear that he wasn't going to receive any kind of contact from his dad, he decided to stop trying to reach him. When they moved, he didn't let his dad know. And yet, here he was, in a strange woman's car for the sake of his dad's own needs to "reconnect" with his "child". His dad hadn't said he wanted to reconnect with him, Shinji was only assuming. The best reason he could think for Gendo inviting him over was to pull some dumb father-son bonding stunt to win him over.
A minute passed. "I see." Shinji fidgeted in his back seat. She was right, it did feel impersonal. Uncomfortable.
"I'm Misato, by the way." she said, "Misato Katsuragi. Nice to meet you, Shinji Talley."
"Um, yeah. Thanks. So wait, you called that an Angel? Like from the Bible or something?" Shinji had never been religious, but weren't angels supposed to look human? That thing wrecking the city was kind of humanoid, but it looked demonic.
"It's just a codename." she said, "Angels don't really exist."
"Oh, okay, right."
When they got to the headquarters, Misato handed him his NERV I.D. card. Pretty disturbing that they had a photo of him on hand. He's have to ask his father about that. The escalator ride was silent. He liked that, but he wasn't sure if Misato liked or hated it. Getting a good look at her face, she was definitely the one from the postcards. Those strange postcards..
She seemed to be pouting as they ascended. He wondered if he should ask if something was wrong; choosing not to, his thoughts wandered to the strange monster. He wasn't sure if he'd been more afraid in his life than when he saw that thing.
"Miss Katsuragi-"
"Ooh, someone's getting formal."
"Well, I mean, that's your name."
"Okay.."
"Miss Katsuragi, why aren't people evacuating from here? I mean, that monster looks like it could destroy us any second. I don't really understand what's going on, but…"
"We have no need to evacuate." said Misato, confidently, "Civilians evacuate. The helpless evacuate. But we are NERV, Earth's last force of defense. We stay here and fight."
"Those planes from before, then? That was NERV?"
"No silly, that was the U.S. military."
"What's NERV going to use then?"
"You."
"What?"
Ding! The elevator doors opened. A blonde woman in a lab coat greeted them. "Wonderful, you're here!"
She grabbed Shinji's arm and took him down the corridor into a room that resembled a lab. The room had a large window that showed an enormous room with a series of large gaps on the bottom. Grinning, she pressed a button connected to a machine, and out from the second hole to the left, a purple metal monster emerged.
"Shinji Talley, it is my pleasure to introduce you to our last hope. This is the Evolved Ultimate All-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Battle Weapon: Evangelion! You can call it an Eva for short."
"Oh. Wow, that thing is… huge. But why aren't you using it to fight the Angels?"
Another grin, "We are now. She's all yours!"
"...what?"
A few seconds of pause.
"What!? What!"
"You are the pilot of Unit 01."
"Why me?! Why couldn't you get someone actually trained to do it? I'm the last person you want piloting that giant thing!" Sweat started to stream down his face. He didn't want to fight that monster. "You're an entire military base. What are you guys thinking?"
"Listen, Shinji. Only fourteen-year-old children can pilot this thing. Only you can pilot Unit-01."
Shinji headed for the door, but right as he got out of the room, he was face to face with with an immense aura that threatened to consume him. He felt weak in a way he hadn't felt in years. His father was right in front of him.
"Shinji!" Commander Gendo Ikari grinned, "I take it Ritsuko's introduced you to Unit-01?"
"Um… well yeah." Shinji felt himself shrinking.
"Great, so you know you should probably get inside the entry plug soon. You know, before we die from the Angel that's attacking us."
"What? You can't just pop back into my life and tell me to pilot something I've never seen before in my… life! I don't even have a driver's license yet. Don't you have someone who knows how to?"
The man grimaced. "Have it your way. Send Rei in, please."
The four of them walked down to the floor of the room with the humanoid contraption, as the base began to shake. A sign the Angel had arrived. Shinji hardly noticed, as he himself was also shaking from everything that day he had seen. He didn't even need me, thought Shinji. He already had someone.
A technician came into the room, wheeling a hospital bed. The girl on the bed was heavily bandaged, and seemed barely conscious, wearing no expression. Suddenly there was another crash in the base, Rei was knocked off of her bed, and an enormous lighting track came right down at Shinji. Then for a brief moment, all he could see was purple.
It was Eva Unit-01's arm!
"Amazing, the Eva unit saved you!" said the strange woman Ritsuko.
Shinji ran over to the other pilot, helping her get back up off of the ground. Piloting the unit was dangerous. He didn't want to submit himself to that, but what would it say about him if he let this poor girl shoulder the burden alone?
"Shinji, this isn't like anything I've seen! The Evangelion has recognized you as its pilot-"
"I'll do it." said Shinji, "I'm piloting. I'll fight the Angel. I'll do it. Whatever."
"Well, Doctor Akagi," said Gendo, "It seems the Third Child has arrived. Welcome aboard, Shinji."
Third child? Shinji had to shrug it off. There was work to do. He walked into the long plug, gulping as it closed around him. Then there was the smell of blood. Orange liquid was pouring into the plug. Was something going wrong? Shinji was completely submerged. He tried to shut his ice and close his breath, but had to gasp from the shock. His eyes opened, and he could see through the orange. The liquid flowed into his lungs like air. He exhaled.
A speaker boomed inside the plug, "You alright in there, third child?"
"Doctor Podgorski, what's happening?"
"That's just the LCL," she said, "It helps you sync with the Eva. Take deep breaths."
The outside of the Eva came into view. He was in the middle of the city, and right in front of him was the Angel. He looked down inside the plug at the levers in front of him. "Um, guys, what do I do?"
"Don't worry about the controls Shinji, just concentrate. Try to walk."
Shinji concentrated, and felt the Eva walking along in front of him.
"Okay, now try to-"
The angel picked Shinji up by the neck.
"Okay new plan, fight back!"
"Come on Shinji, fight it!" came Misato's voice.
Beams of light from the Angel's arm stabbed Shinji in the eye. He screamed, holding his hand against it in pain.
"Shinji, it's not really your eye! Please, concentrate!"
The Angel threw him off, slamming him into a large building. Shinji wailed in pain. Consciousness was beginning to fail him. Yet he felt himself moving.
Blood was spurting out from his unit's head in two directions, but it kept going forward.
The Eva lept at its opponent, knocking the Angel down. At base there was a large commotion.
"What's happening?"
"Is the pilot okay?"
"Where's that music coming from?"
Akagi looked on in rapt joy and horror, "It's going berserk."
The Eva pounded away at the large red core glowing at the Angel's chest. When the Angel threw it off, it came running back, so the Angel blocked the Eva with an array of orange octagons. "It's the A.T. Field!" Ritsuko explained.
"Look, the Eva's forming its own."
"Just as planned." the scientist grinned as the fields disappeared into each other. The Eva brought out its knife and tried stabbing at the core in front of it, but the Angel started to inflate. It overlapped Shinji and then self-destructed, leaving in its stead a 450 foot tall crucifix of fire.
When the explosion cleared, Unit-01 was still standing, and glowing a beautiful red. Gendo's grin was bigger than Doctor Podgorski's. "This…. is the power…. of Eva!"
The bridge bunnies started to wonder if they should be afraid of their boss. A scream sounded from the microphone inside of Unit-01. The Eva's mask had fallen off, and the pilot saw the unit's burnt, fleshy form.
"Looks like Unit-01 has shut down. Now all's left is to secure it and bring the pilot to the hospital wing. Speaking of whom, make sure that the Third Child is given a room immediately."
"Wait a minute, Commander Ikari," said Misato, "Are you saying you're going to let him live alone?"
"I'm sure he won't mind-"
"Well I mind! Have him live with me, I've got an extra room in my apartment anyway."
Gendo raised his eyebrow, "As you wish."
