Toji pressed himself against the roof of an overturned car, the dust from the hospital's collapse covering his body in a thick layer. His arms tightened around Sakura's tiny form, as much for his comfort as for hers. "It's okay sis, it's fine, I got ya, it'll all be fine!" He risked a look over the top of the car, and saw the creature push its way through the debris of the hospital. It's giant eyes and open mouth gave it a perverse appearance of amazement and joy as it stumbled forwards, past the body-strewn wreckage.
As Toji watched, blood poured out of it's gills, but if it was in pain, it didn't show it - it simply continued moving towards Toji. He ducked back behind the car. "Oh shit, shit, shit!" he whispered. He looked down at Sakura. "We're just going to go somewhere safer now, alright?" She nodded, and Toji rushed to his feet and ran.
The small creature took a sharp right turn, behind more of the strange, square rocks. Fascinated, the giant turned to follow it, its mind racing with questions about these tiny organisms.
Toji shot a glance behind himself, only to see the creature still following him. Despite its clumsiness, its sheer size let it move too quickly for Toji to easily outrun. "Goddamit, Shinji, where are you?!"
EVA-00 stood on the catapult, ready to be launched to the surface. Inside, Rei calmly waited for orders, considering what she'd been told about 01 and 02's conditions. "Ikari put himself at risk for the Second Child. Like I did for him. Like he did for me."
"Why don't you try smiling?"
"Their mission was a success. Why is it making me feel this way?" "Rei!" She looked up to see Misato on visual comms. "We'll be deploying you directly behind the creature. Do whatever you can to stop it. It doesn't have an AT field like an Angel, but it made it through all the defence systems, so it most likely has incredibly tough skin. Do everything you can to stop it!" "Yes."
"EVA-00, launch!"
Rei was pushed back in her seat as 00 was shot upwards, identical dull green walls flashing past her in almost instant succession. Then came a shock of brightness, and sunlight filled her view as the Eva came to an abrupt halt. The creature was dragging itself away from her, its feet leaving massive holes in the road. She studied its body, looking for a weakness, and almost immediately found what looked like one - a gash of exposed flesh running from the base of the skull to part way down the tail, with leaf-shaped spines sticking out like splinters.
She charged forwards and jumped onto the creature's back, plunging the Eva's fist into the exposed flesh, blood gushing out of the wound. The creature rose up in shock, and, seemingly defying physics, stood almost completely upright. Unprepared, Rei fell from its back and crashed on the street below.
It dropped itself down to the ground, and turned to face 00. With its mouth full of crooked teeth, it bit down on the Eva's foot and shook it like a rag doll. Inside the cockpit, Rei was disorientated, but the Eva wasn't injured in the least - it's AT field wasn't affected in the slightest by the creature's teeth.
With her free foot, Rei kicked the creature's face, forcing it to back off. She quickly rose to her feet and charged the creature again, but it again rose up, protecting its vulnerable spine, and all she could reach was the unbroken skin on its belly. She deployed her progressive knife and rammed it into the creature's stomach. It slowly began to cut into its flesh, then snapped.
She threw the knife down and grabbed its body, trying to hold it up in the air as it struggled in her grip. She pulled it to the left, then threw it to the right, and it collapsed onto a collection of small buildings.
The cold giant stood over it as it struggled to escape. This new world had many dangers, it seemed, and it was desperate to return to the safety of the water. Then, a shudder ran through its body, and it knew what was coming.
It writhed in agony as every fibre of it's being changed. Its skull melted and shifted, its gills retracted, its spine cracked to an upright position, arms tore their way out of its chest, and its tail thickened. A strange feeling formed in its throat, and it let out a roar of pure agony.
"Amazing... it's evolving!" Ritsuko whispered as she watched the spectacle from the command bridge. Misato swore. "What the hell is this thing?!"
It now felt even more comfortable on the land, and the cold giant no longer seemed so dangerous.
Rei watched as the mutated creature stumbled towards her, then, to her surprise, it broke into a run, and grabbed 00 by the throat with its mouth. Again, the AT field held strong, but the sheer physical force pushed the Eva down. Recovering from her surprise at it's sudden mutation and ferocity, Rei grabbed the creature's jaws and prised them away from the Eva's throat.
The creature rose up, as if to strike again, but it suddenly froze and began to shake. A deluge of blood poured out of its mouth and gills, covering 00. Steam rose up from the amazingly hot blood as it slowly ate into 00's armour. Despite the damage, Rei again rose up, and readied herself for the creature's next attack.
Patches of exposed flesh on it's body began to glow a bright orange, and the creature turned it's head back, looking at the bizarre sight, it seemed to realise something, and turned back to 00. With a roar of defiance, it turned around and ran, holding itself low to the ground.
Rei charged and followed it through the wreckage of the city, but just as she was about to catch up with it, she snapped to a halt. She had run out of cable. She quickly removed the cable and ran after the creature through the countryside, only to see it reach the ocean and disappear beneath the waves.
She stood on the beach, watching the waves in silence for a few moments. Then she was plunged into darkness as the reserve power cut out.
Misato held her head in her hands as she sat at her desk hours later. Reports were still coming in, but the damage was already immense. Everything in the creature's path had been crushed. Hundreds had died, caught unaware in their homes and cars. "And we still have no idea what the hell it was," Misato thought bitterly.
She looked up as Hyuga walked in. "More reports?" she sighed. "Yes ma'am. We've found that Rei's apartment was actually destroyed in the attack." Misato scratched her head. "So, she has nowhere to stay now, then... don't worry, I'll deal with it."
She picked up her phone, and punched in her home number. "Hey Asuka, this is Misato, can I speak to Shinji? Hey Shinji, could you get dinner for four tonight? We have a new roomie!"
