Just a little idea I got after reading "NGE: Nobody Dies", which is a marvelous story, to say the least; everybody who's a fan of NGE should probably read it.
BTW: This is a rewrite of the first chapter, as a certain reviewer didn't have a favorable opinion of the original manuscript. Also, in my opinion the second manuscript sucked. So yeah.
Original Japanese dub translation courtesy of Youtube user oskitsune.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
Just this story. Enjoy!
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi's words ring in his ears.
"This is humanity's multi-purpose humanoid fighting machine, Evangelion."
Evangelion.
The gigantic yellow lenses stared into his sepia eyes. The long horn rose majestically up to the observation window, and a proud crest flared out around the back of the thing's neck.
The dormant purple-armored titan and the fourteen-year-old schoolboy regarded each other—one without comment for its to-be wielder, the other in awe and fear of his to-be weapon.
Shinji Ikari swallowed, hard, and glanced at the brunette woman, Captain Misato Katsuragi, standing next to him and also staring at the giant robot, but she was completely without fear of any kind.
"No…I can't," he said, shaking slightly. Sweat was prickling the skin of his back. "It's impossible."
He knows his father is glaring down at him through those opaque sunglasses. He knows that once again, weak, pathetic little Shinji has failed. He senses Commander Gendo Ikari's displeasure in his disappointment of a son.
But then again a true father would not ask his son to risk his life in battle against an eldritch abomination currently ravaging Tokyo-3.
Commander Ikari's harsh voice rang out.
"If you're getting in, stop wasting time. Otherwise, just go home!"
Now everybody was staring at him, watching, waiting; wondering if he'd accept and protect them or refuse and abandon them. The bated breath of a hundred technicians rendered the silence literally audible.
A gentle rumble shook the massive LCL-filled cage—and outside, the power of the Third Angel annihilated a city block in an instant.
Gendo scowled. "That bastard's found us."
Another rumble—this one closer; much closer. Shinji could feel the explosion shaking him this time, but still he looked down, hesitant. A cool female voice warning everybody to evacuate drifted from a speaker on the wall.
"Shinji, there's no time," Dr. Akagi stated, setting her jaw.
He grimaced and glanced at Misato.
"Please get in," the other woman said coolly.
Betrayal. He never knew how much it could hurt.
"No way," he mumbled. "After coming all this way…it's ridiculous."
Misato sighed and knelt down to his eye level.
"Shinji, why did you come here?" she asked.
His eyes widened slightly before he angrily turned away.
"Don't run away from your father—or above that, yourself!" Misato pleaded.
Shinji had never felt so ashamed of himself. He was being selfish and cowardly, he knew, by refusing to pilot the Evangelion that would save all of them. He was dooming everybody at NERV headquarters to the mercy of an implacable monster.
"I…know."
But he didn't care. All he cared about was that his father was ordering him into a battle with no training, no help, nothing. How was he even supposed to fight that Angel thing, anyways?
"But I don't think I can do it!"
Katsuragi looked at him for a moment longer before straightening. Shinji knew she was disappointed in him, too.
Commander Ikari sighed in resignation and turned to the computer screen next to him. He hadn't wanted to use the backup plan, but Shinji had left him with no choice.
"Fuyutsuki," the bearded man said. "Wake up Rei. Is she available?"
Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki considered for a moment. "Well, she's not dead…yet…" he murmured. Then he nodded his affirmation. "I understand."
The communications link blanked, but Gendo was already opening another channel to somebody else.
"Rei?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Shinji refused to pilot. Please try again."
"Yes, sir."
Phase 001: Awaken, First Avatar
Well, he wasn't budging.
Dr. Akagi turned to the Evangelion before her. "Reconfigure Unit-01 for Pilot Ayanami!" she called. "Restart!"
"Yes ma'am," a smooth female voice replied. "I'll stop the current process and restart it."
Ritsuko and Misato moved off to the sides of the platform. When he was sure nobody could notice it, Shinji squeezed his eyes shut and began shaking.
As I thought; I'm unnecessary.
The clatter of wheels against steel brought Shinji out of his thoughts. The boy looked up to see a team of medics rolling a gurney towards the bridge in front of the Evangelion.
The girl was beautiful.
That was his first impression.
Jaw-length pale blue hair. Ethereally pale skin. Piercing red eyes, one of which was covered with a bandage. She was dressed in a formfitting white catsuit that hugged every curve and dip in her figure. More bandages were wrapped around her forearms, her waist, and her long legs. The medics backed away the moment the gurney was in position.
The girl lifted herself up with her hands, gritting her teeth in clear agony, and swung her legs over the edge of the gurney. She bit back a scream and shuddered violently as her feet crashed down onto the floor.
And then the horror of what he'd done with his refusal clicked in Shinji's head. This injured, half-dead girl was going replace him as the pilot of Unit-01. She was going to die in battle against the Angel because he didn't want to fight.
"STOP!"
The girl froze in clear surprise, staring at him.
Shinji swallowed again but steeled his resolve. "I'll do it," he said firmly. "I'll be a pilot. I don't want this girl getting killed just because there's nobody else."
High in the observation room, a proud smirk played around Gendo's face…
A third explosion rocked the facility, sending rubble from the Geofront roof crashing down into the main base. This time the shock felt like the entire room had momentarily gone horizontal before righting.
Misato and Ritsuko stumbled and grabbed at nearby stanchions; Shinji and the injured girl (who squealed in pain) were both knocked to the ground. And then a section of the roof supports above Shinji twisted, collapsed, and fell straight towards him—
One enormous purple hand erupted out of the LCL and moved above Shinji, shielding the boy from the hailstorm of dozens of tons of metal. Shinji's jaw dropped as he gazed up at the behemoth that had apparently saved him. For a moment he could've sworn there was a momentary brightening of the Evangelion's dull yellow optics…but the giant robot was motionless.
Chatter exploded all around the hangar.
"Unit 01 moved! What happened?"
"It tore off the binding attached to its right arm!"
Ritsuko gaped from Unit-01 to Shinji and back. "Impossible! The entry plug hasn't been inserted yet! It can't move!"
Misato slowly got up from her crouch. "It reacted without the interface…" she breathed. There was another idea, but it was…to be honest, it didn't seem all that preposterous when seen from a nonscientific point of view. "Or rather…did it protect him?"
A hard smile curved her lips. "He can do it."
Shinji shakily got to his feet and rushed over to the girl, gently raising her up off the floor. The other pilot (presumably) hissed in pain and shuddered as he held her.
He glanced back at the Evangelion. Its left eye glowed white-yellow for a second, faded slightly, and then got brighter again. Another glance at the girl showed Shinji that her grimaces of agony were perfectly in tune with the giant robot's optics.
Well, that settled it. There was no way he'd let this girl go into battle as hurt as she was. He raised his hand and saw that his palm was stained with crimson liquid—the girl's blood.
The medics surrounded them and Shinji stood and backed away. He looked up at the Evangelion again, and then hazarded a glance at his father.
"I'll do it," Shinji said again, clenching his fists. "I'll pilot."
Central Dogma—the primary command center for all operations and missions involving the armored engines of mass destruction known as the Evangelions. There were at least thirty officers in the enormous room, but only three were at the highest level.
"The binding of the right arm has been fixed."
Lt. Maya Ibuki was suitably nervous internally but suitably calm externally. There were, after all, two very high ranking NERV officers standing literally at her shoulders, one of whom she'd been crushing on for the past half year. She had no intention of disappointing in the first battle.
The status readouts on the Evangelion's docking clamps glowed green.
"Position setting for cargo docking is…okay."
And then the readouts went dark.
"The stop signal plug has been discharged."
Outside the command center, in the hangar, Unit 01's head dipped forward and the massive armor plates protecting the back of its neck slid away to reveal an orifice drilled into its spine. The cylindrical entry plug was placed inside by a hydraulic arm and the armor slid back to regain its seamless structure.
"Plug is locked in place. Beginning the first connection."
Shinji kept his eyes locked forward as the walls of the entry plug flashed several different colors.
"Inject LCL into the plug."
And then he yelped in shock as a yellow liquid rose up to engulf his lower body. "What is this stuff?" he cried. The fluid quickly submerged his arms, chest, and neck. Shinji held his breath as the fluid rose above his head all the way to the top of the plug.
Dr. Akagi's voice came over the com-link. "Don't worry. After your lungs fill with LCL, it'll directly supply you with oxygen."
It felt like his chest was about to explode. Shinji couldn't hold his breath for much longer…
"You'll get used to it soon."
His mouth involuntarily opened and escaped air bubbles accelerated up and away. He coughed for a moment, gagged—and then he realized that he wasn't drowning. Amazing stuff, this LCL.
It did, however, have a less than pleasant taste.
"I feel sick," he groaned, shaking his head. His bangs slowly drifted from side to side.
Misato scowled. "Live with it!" she barked. "You're a boy, aren't you?"
That was so unfair…
Life ain't fair, Ikari. Deal with it.
Shinji raised an eyebrow at the gruff voice in the back of his head, but he dismissed it as some random noise that sounded suspiciously like human speech.
"Transmit power to all circuits," Dr. Akagi ordered, crossing her arms.
"Yes, ma'am," Lt. Ibuki replied, tapping at a few buttons. "Second contact is beginning…"
The walls of the plug began to glow a brilliant rainbow.
"A10 nervous system connectors are operational."
Pinpoints of light appeared that grew to blinding stars that hurtled up and past the command chair. The walls morphed to jet black and then blood-red.
"Set Japanese as the command interface language."
The red incandescence faded away and camera feeds to the outside blinked into existence. More technobabble filtered out of the plug speakers but Shinji wasn't really paying attention to the jargon.
"All initial contacts are correct…"
"Connect the mutual lines."
"Rate of synchronization is…56.7%."
Green confirmation readouts sparkled to life in front of Lt. Ibuki. Ritsuko leaned over the bridge officer (who blushed slightly at the proximity between them), awed at the incredible sync ratio for a first-timer.
"All harmonic values are stable. Everything is under control."
"It'll work," Dr. Akagi confirmed, turning to Misato.
The Evangelion Operations Commander nodded her acknowledgement and turned to the main screen.
"PREPARE FOR LAUNCH!" she shouted.
One by one, Unit 01's clamps dropped off, freeing the armored titan's limbs and torso bit by bit.
"Cancel first through fifteenth safety locks."
The olive drab clamp restraining the Evangelion's front moved back.
"Socket for external power supply is online."
Maya smiled slightly. All was going well, so far. "Roger. Send Unit 01 to the launch pad."
Inside the entry plug, Shinji fluttered his fingers on the butterfly controls and took a deep breath of LCL to calm the jitters in the pit of his stomach.
"It's ready to launch."
This was it. He was going off to battle a—
"LAUNCH!"
The force was like nothing he'd ever felt.
Unit-01 had been moved by a set of rails to the electromagnetically-driven elevator; upon the Evangelion's arrival on the massive platform, the lift energized with a visible crackle of arcing electricity and seemingly disappeared. Unit-01 accelerated upwards from zero to nearly one hundred kilometers per second in a bit over three microseconds. Such an incredible velocity was all too necessary to pass through the Geofront's miles and miles of armoring with any speed, however.
For poor Shinji, it was the equivalent of having a refrigerator dropped on him. He could see the LCL visibly crinkling around him to support his body, but he really couldn't feel any difference.
On Lt. Ibuki's station monitor, Unit 01's lift's icon flashed up the first nineteen layers of the Geofront's armor in a dazzling burst of green pixels, turned a little to account for the slight bend in the elevator shaft, and shot up through the remaining armor layers to the surface.
On the surface, the gigantic Third Angel stomped past a row of office buildings, searching, searching…
There.
The square of metal marking the lift entrance began glowing bright red to warn off anybody nearby even as the double sheets of armor retracted—just as Unit-01 rocketed through the portal. The Evangelion slammed to a full stop, its head and shoulders snapping up and down.
The Third Angel cocked its head and observed this strange new challenger.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji began shivering involuntarily as the Angel regarded him—seemingly looking at him in the eye through the Evangelion's thick violet armor.
Inside the command center, the bridge crew could see the two titanic combatants facing each other, neither moving, both sizing up their adversary.
Misato felt a single drop of sweat slide down her back. "Don't die…Shinji…" she whispered.
Shinji breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in. Breathed out.
It wasn't working.
Misato's voice crackled through the com-link. "Ready, Shinji?"
"Yes," he said, gritting his teeth.
"Good. Release the final safety locks!"
Huge pylons encasing Unit-01's shoulder fins fell away and the Evangelion slumped out of its restraints.
Ritsuko leaned forward. "Shinji, just think of walking," she urged.
He exhaled. "Right. Walking…"
Unit-01 slowly raised its right foot up and up and set it back down, moving the purple behemoth forward a step.
It was a step that shook the entire city block.
It was a step that shattered a phone booth and nearly tore a small tree in half.
But it was a step nonetheless.
He couldn't keep himself from grinning as the cheers of the command crew filtered through the com-link.
"Walking…"
Again Unit-01 raised its foot—
At this point the Third Angel had seen enough. The monster darted forward and backhanded the Evangelion, sending the purple titan reeling back. Another blow to EVA-01's chest knocked it to the ground, shaking the cityscape.
Shinji grimaced, shook his head to clear it of any grogginess, and slowly looked up.
The Angel loomed over him, its two birdlike masks glaring balefully down into the Evangelion's external cameras.
"Shinji, hurry! Stand up quickly!"
He was shaking in terror now, unable to so much as breathe.
One enormous hand descended upon the Evangelion's head and the Third Angel lifted its downed opponent off its feet. The monster took a moment to study its captive—and then it grabbed EVA-01's left arm…
…and pulled.
Shinji screamed as his left arm was ripped in two—
"Shinji, calm down! It's not really your arm!"
No.
No. A glance at his arm showed that it was still in one piece, still attached to his body—and yet it felt as if…
Outside, the Angel's massive shoulder muscles bulged outwards as it jerked Unit 01 one way and the Evangelion's left arm another. With a sickening pop noise the purple titan's arm gave, loosening and tearing within its armor.
By this point, Shinji couldn't even get enough air into his lungs to scream. He looked up with tear-filled eyes directly into the Angel's palm.
If it had had the necessary facial structures to, the Third Angel would've been smirking triumphantly. Its opponent was captured, injured—defeated. Now there was nothing in the way of—
Why, hello there.
The Angel's eye sockets widened ever so slightly in utter horror.
Oh…crap…
Without warning Unit-01's undamaged right arm shot up and grabbed the Angel's arm—and then it was the monster's turn to scream in agony as the Evangelion jerked its hand sideways, tearing the Angel's arm in two at the elbow.
The Third Angel lurched back, clutching at its bleeding stump, even as Unit 01 dropped back onto its feet and almost casually got back up.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji saw text scroll down the viewscreens.
User: Subject_Shinji_Ikari.
Avatar: A01 (Hank).
Authorization acquired? Y/N?
Y.
Authorization acquired.
Unreality generator activated.
Subject_E01 emulated.
Level_6_asskicking[epic] in Termination minus 3…2…1…
Unit-01 threw its head back and let out a defiant metallic howl at the stars. It had a job to do, and this Angel upstart was in the way.
All Shinji could do was clutch at his paralyzed left arm and wonder what the hell was going on. He could hear the chatter of the bridge crew through the com-link, but the pain made it difficult to understand them.
The Third Angel uttered a low snarl of pain and frustration, glowering at the Evangelion before it.
What...are...you?
Somebody who wants you dead.
The Evangelion launched itself forward, diving at the Third Angel's throat with its good arm. The monster skipped back and its eyes glowed in preparation to launch a beam—
Unit-01 rotated on its palm, spinning its entire body around and sending its left boot directly into the Angel's face with a loud crunch. The Evangelion followed up by grabbing the Angel in midair and slamming the monster sideways into a building.
A second kick tossed the disoriented bird-masked giant to the asphalt. Unit-01 leaped atop the Angel and began smashing its purple-armored fists into its opponent's head and chest, the Evangelion's broken arm apparently completely healed.
Through now somewhat bloody viewscreens, Shinji watched Unit-01's hands grab the Angel's ribs and tear the bones right out of the monster's chest. The Third Angel screamed again, clutching at the ragged holes in its chest.
Unit 01 was unmoved by the Angel's howling. It raised its arms and hurled them downwards, slamming the Angel's ribs against the monster's red crystalline core. Again and again the sharp bones stabbed down into the crimson jewel, making the Angel shudder in agony with strike after devastating strike.
A single hairline fracture appeared in the core.
The Third Angel feebly raised its remaining arm to ward off yet another blow, and got its wrist impaled by Unit-01's makeshift weapons for its trouble. Annoyed, the Evangelion released the ribs and backhanded the Angel's skewered arm away.
Shinji could sort of feel his left arm again. He cringed as he slowly let go of his arm and a twinge of pain shot up to his shoulder.
"Did…did we win?" he croaked, glancing at the visual com-link feed mounted to his right side.
The screen didn't activate.
"Misato? Are you there? Can you hear me?"
There was no response.
I blacked out the com-link. Just saying.
Shinji slowly rotated his head back to the main feed of Unit 01's external cameras. Lying before him was the broken, battered body of the Third Angel.
"What are you?" he asked calmly. The pain was almost gone now.
I go by the name Hank. I'm an Avatar.
"Oh." Shinji shifted his head slightly. "Okay…"
Well, it's nice to meet you too. The mental voice sounded almost sarcastic. But let's get back to business.
Unit-01's eyes flashed blazing phosphorus white and the Evangelion raised both of its fists high into the air. For a single second the purple hands remained airborne; and then they slammed down onto the core. The Third Angel groaned and shuddered at the impact, its arm and stump flopping slightly.
A blast of steam issued from the Evangelion's nostrils, and the purple titan raised its first for the final hammer blow...
Too slow.
The Third Angel's supposedly skewered and incapacitated right arm flashed out and connected with the Evangelion's side, knocking the purple titan off. The monster got up from its prone position as new tissue began growing from its arm stump. EVA-01 managed to land on its feet, but even then it still skidded backwards fifty feet.
Damn.
"What happened?" Shinji cried, gaping at the approaching monster that he'd thought defeated by the Evangelion. "Isn't it dead?"
I'm not quite done yet, daughter of Lilith.
Unit 01 flipped away as the Third Angel bum-rushed it, using a newly regenerated left arm to ram into and through the building the Evangelion had been in front of moments before. The Angel growled and turned around to face Unit-01.
I am the first of the fourteen messengers of The Almighty Father.
I am Sachiel.
I am the Angel of Water.
I am the flood that will wash the Earth of the filth and decadence that you call a civilization.
Yield, for I am your watery doom.
The Evangelion uttered a low growl and stepped back.
Time for plan B.
"R-right," he muttered nervously. "Wait—what's plan B?"
The front section of Unit-01's left shoulder fin popped open and a gigantic handle snapped out. In one smooth motion, the purple titan drew the giant-robot-sized combat knife and pressed a button on the handle, extending a broad, glowing blade. Shinji could see thousands of tiny teeth oscillating around the edge of the knife.
THIS is plan B. Progressive knife for the win, bitch!
And Unit-01 charged.
Central Dogma was in an uproar.
"Unknown energy anomaly is saturating the solenoid crystals of Unit-01's core! Unidentified energy is boosting Eva's AT Field!"
"Pilot vital signs are fluctuating!"
"Unit-01 isn't responding to any signals!"
"Synchronization is at 85.6% and rising!"
"For a first-timer? Impossible! Check your readings!"
"I already did! Sync ratio is now at 87.9%!"
"Unit-01 has drawn its progressive knife!"
"What? We haven't even told Shinji about that weapon yet!"
"Sync ratio is holding steady at 90.0%!"
"Unit-01 is engaging the Angel!"
Misato just stared, slack-jawed, as EVA-01 and the Third Angel danced around the city street in a deadly game of strike-block-counterstrike. So far it was a tie.
So far.
"Is Shinji still in control of Unit-01?" she snapped, crossing over to Lt. Ibuki's station.
Maya swallowed at the harsh tone before responding. "Yes, ma'am. Pilot Ikari is still in full control of Unit-01."
An enormous Angelic fist passed what seemed like centimeters from the end of the Evangelion's nose.
"Holy—!"
Shinji's cry of shock and fear was cut off as Unit-01 lunged forward, throwing a punch at the Angel. The monster backhanded the strike aside and countered with a left hook that the Evangelion sidestepped.
The Third Angel stepped back and both combatants circled each other, watching, waiting for an error or an opening. And then the Angel raised its arms and twin sharp-looking spikes erupted through its palms. Its eye sockets glowed in preparation to fire a beam attack.
Unit 01 just lifted its middle finger in a crystal clear message of what it thought of the Angel's display of power.
In response, a blinding pillar of silver-white radiance lanced towards Unit-01 and the Evangelion gracefully slid out of the way, leaving the beam to annihilate everything behind the purple titan. The Third Angel followed up its attack with a flurry of stabs from its arm spikes.
The Evangelion dodged the first, battered away the second, and grabbed the third, rotating and tossing the Angel over its shoulder. The monster crashed mask first into the asphalt and fell over sideways onto its back.
Five seconds passed and still the Angel did not get up, but Unit 01 was unimpressed. The Evangelion flipped its knife up into a loose forward grip and chucked it at the Third Angel's exposed core.
The Angel's arm flashed up and caught the blade—
AGHHHH!
The progressive knife carved through the skin of the Third Angel's hand, through the flesh beneath, and out through the other side, and buried itself to the hilt directly into the core.
The Angel writhed in pain for a second, gripped the handle, tried to rip it out—and dove at Unit 01, trying to take the Evangelion with it in its final act. Unit 01 just barely avoided the Angel's desperate grab—
For a single instant, a midnight sun bloomed in downtown Tokyo-3. An enormous mushroom cloud flared up, instantly shrouding the cross-shaped starburst that marked the passing of the Third Angel.
Inside Central Dogma, the command crew watched with horrified eyes as Unit 01 disappeared into the explosion. Misato swallowed and balled her hands into fists.
"Shinji…" she whispered. Then she forced down the guilt. "Scan for the presence of any remaining Angelic matter!"
Lt. Hyuga Makoto jumped to attention and checked his computer. "Sensors are confirming the complete annihilation of the Third Angel."
A moment passed.
"And…and…Unit 01?"
Silence.
Suddenly a massive, familiar silhouette materialized in the rapidly fading dust cloud. Cheers erupted in the command center as the Evangelion raised its armored fist in victory.
"Unit-01's nervous system signature detected! Shinji's alive!"
Misato sagged slightly, relieved. "Hell yes," she whispered, smiling. "Shinji, can you hear me?"
More silence.
"Shinji…Shinji? Are…are you okay?"
The visual feed of Unit-01's com-link blinked to life and the boy was revealed to be sprawled over his seat, presumably knocked unconscious by the Angel's explosive destruction. Other than that, though, Shinji was apparently uninjured.
"Send retrieval out for Unit 01."
"Unit-01 is still walking towards the elevator, ma'am."
"What? That's impossible! Shinji's unconscious!"
Dr. Akagi pursed her lips. "Lt. Ibuki, check Shinji's brain activity."
"Ma'am," Maya replied, bringing up the appropriate readings. "Pilot Ikari is currently in REM sleep. That's all the readouts are saying; something's blocking the sensors from detecting anything else."
"Are the sensors detecting neural activity fluctuations?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Lt. Aoba, is that energy anomaly fluctuating?"
"Yes ma'am," Lt. Shigeru Aoba replied, catching the nuance of the doctor's question. "And yes, the anomaly is in perfect synchronization with pilot Ikari's brain activity."
Misato glanced at Dr. Akagi. "You think something else's controlling Unit 01, Rits?" the operations director asked.
"That much should be obvious," Ritsuko said, staring intently into the advancing Unit-01's yellow optics. "As you said about thirty seconds ago, Shinji's unconscious."
High up at the Central Dogma commander's station, Commander Gendo Ikari leaned back in his chair. Fuyutsuki glanced down at his boss and former protégé.
"Your son's exceeded my expectations, Ikari," the sub-commander muttered. "Don't you think you've underestimated the boy?"
Gendo smirked. "No. I was expecting this to happen," the supreme commander of NERV said. "Even so…I'm proud of him. Shinji didn't run away; he stood and he fought. That's all that counts."
Well, that's Chapter 1. I've got no idea how the improved manuscript worked out, though.
Hank will physically appear next time, so don't criticize me for introducing Madness Combat into NGE without even showing MC's characters.
Review, please?