Symphony No. 6 in G Major Op. 6

"Synchronize"

(A Neon Genesis Evangelion/Battle Network Rockman.exe FanFiction by CyberForte)

Disclaimer

Battle Network Rockman.exe and all associated characters, concepts, situations, et cetera are copyright to Capcom. Neon Genesis Evangelion and all associated characters, concepts, situations, et cetera are copyright to Gainax. This is strictly a work of FanFiction and is not intended to violate the aforementioned copyrights, nor to earn any capital for the author. All original characters, concepts, situations, text, and portrayals are copyright to myself (CyberForte), but they may be used by any other wishing to do so as long as credit is given to myself (CyberForte).

Third Movement

"Preparations"

Upon hearing the boy's declaration, Ritsuko smirked slightly, Misato looked rather worried, and Gendo simply nodded. As if knowing this was to happen all along, the latter said after a moment, "Very well, then. Major Katsuragi, you will oversee Rei's return to the infirmary. Dr. Akagi, prepare Unit-01 for operation and instruct the Third Child in its usage." Then, without any word as to his own intentions, the brown-haired man returned to the elevator, pressing the control that would take it back up. It seemed he would await them in the Control Center.

A second later, the two women also began to go about their duties, Ritsuko obviously moving faster, as she was already at the console she would require and because she was far less surprised by the turn of events. Before beginning to enter commands into the console, she beckoned Shinji in her direction, a moment after which Misato scurried over and held out her arms to take possession of the girl. But Shinji seemed a bit disinclined to relinquish her, his anger still overriding his generally submissive nature. Without a word, he stood (with visible effort, due to the added weight) and returned the blue-haired girl to the stretcher himself, before finally walking over to Ritsuko.

Unfortunately for him, looking again at the purple navi, with a much higher proximity this time, caused much of his anger to drain. How was he supposed to operate this thing? But still, he'd said he would, and it wasn't like there was much choice in the matter. Clenching and unclenching his fist slightly as he took a deep breath, he finally managed to inquire, "W-what do I do now?"

The former's smirk having now been replaced with hard-set determination, considering that they were now on to the truly hard part, and the scientist was all business. Indicating the open pod with her head, not wanting to interrupt her typing, she replied, "Get in. Once you're inside and the system is setup, I'll give you the rundown on operating it."

Still typing, she awaited him to do just this, which he did in a very hesitant fashion, trying to avoid touching the yellowish liquid which seemed to coat the bottom. Once he had seated himself within, a keystroke caused the door to slide shut with a hiss, and the plug began to fill with the liquid. Panicking and thinking he would drown, Shinji get out a little scream, but was quickly forced to abandon it in favor of holding his breath as the substance quickly filled the chamber past his face. Flailing around, he attempted to find an exit posthaste, at least until Ritsuko's calm voice came through the comm. system, a ghost of a smile accompanying it, although unobservable, "Relax. You can still breathe; once your lungs are adjusted, the LCL will oxygenate your blood directly and help with synchronization."

Although he didn't really believe the woman, there seemed nothing else to do. Drowning wouldn't be such a bad way to die, or so Shinji hoped as he opened his mouth, expecting the liquid to fill his lungs and bring death to him. Thus, he was quite surprised as, although the blood-tasting fluid did overtake him, he was able to breathe quite well. After a moment, his surroundings seemed to flash slightly, and suddenly it didn't even look like he was in fluid anymore. And, despite the awful coppery taste of the liquid, he almost found it comforting... until Ritsuko's voice sliced through his thoughts in the manner of one-thousand shards of glass, "Good, now I'm going to begin the linkup. First though, turn on the PET in the consol. Although we'll be using the plug to augment your synchronization, the primary link is through the PET."

As the boy complied, his mind brought back to the harsh reality of the situation, it flickered on. Although a "Setup" screen popped up, it quickly passed as keystrokes from Ritsuko's computer entered the information at nigh-mach speeds. Once that was done, an operating menu and an image of the navi popped up on the screen. Across the top of the screen ran the text, "Evangelion Unit-01.exe." To the right, said menu ran down the screen, offered choices about E-mail, music, battle chip data, navi status, sub-chips, programs, routines, and the like, and the other two-thirds of the screen was occupied by a graphic of the navi, statistics, and diagnostics.

This was all also quickly replaced, of course, as Ritsuko's remote access was used to select several options in quick succession. After a second or two, its screen was covered in a window that seemed to contain text, a percentage-complete bar (still on 0), and several buttons. Since the text was titled instructions, and was obviously meant to be read, Shinji began to do as such, digesting the instructions for synchronization, even as Ritsuko's voice added. "Good, now I'm going to start nerve linkups. This will definitely feel a bit odd."

By now, the bar was going up as Ritsuko ran through the nerve connections, brainwave transference, and then finally ran the actual synchro program within the PET. This would hopefully be the only time she would have to do the last; once the Eva had synchronized with him, unless he died, a link between the two would remain. Of course, that was all to be dealt with later; she had a job to do. Running through the program, she effectively completed the process. Thus, since the other connections and enhancements had been activated before it, just as Shinji finished reading his instructions for operating the navi, his world literally fell out from under him.

One second, he was sitting in the odd cylinder that Ritsuko had called a 'plug,' the next he was in some sort of tank. Looking around, he happened to glance at his hands...and gasped in shock. They were...purple?! And the arms seemed to be armored, also purple and green--God in Heaven, he had become the navi! Panicking again, he looked about as if to question if this was reality when the cool voice came through again, "I warned you that it would feel odd. Normally, you would only control the navi by thinking of what you wanted it to do, but for severe combat situations, this system makes it far more effective. Whatever you will yourself to do, the navi will do. And you are not as limited in this state as you would be by your physical body." Pausing a moment, the doctor hit a key, causing the tank surrounding the purple fiend to become transparent, "Now, to help you adjust, you will start by breaking out of the tank."

Then she went silent, obviously expecting him to figure out the rest by himself. Shinji, of course, was fairly sure he couldn't, but would try anyway, as he'd been ordered to. Sighing slightly, he drew back 'his' purple armored fist and hit the armored cyber glass. It was a weak shot, and the glass didn't even shake. Wincing slightly, he tried twice more without success and was prepared to make a third hit when Ritsuko finally spoke again, after a sigh, "Shinji, I told you, this is not your body. Just because you couldn't break it does not mean that the Eva can't. Now hit it harder."

With another sigh, the body tried again. First, he visualized the navi as he had seen it previously; powerful, imposing, demonic. He was this thing, and he had its power. No longer was he simply a useless little boy that no one wanted. Now he was this powerful beast, the only one capable of saving everyone, even his father! As he thought this, images of a person he hated slipped into his mind. Not his father, but another brown-haired boy around his age; Netto Hikari.

Having lived much of his life in Electopia, he had heard much about the young hero; enough to make him despise the other boy...and enough to make Shinji wish that he could be him. He had everything; friends, fame, a powerful navi, a loving family... And now Shinji's mind perceived that maybe he could get those things now; if he saved them all, he'd be a hero too, and even his father would have to acknowledge him. He would finally be worth something. And now this glass wall was a barrier between him and everything he wanted; it had to be destroyed!

Thus, not realizing quite what he was doing, he slammed his fist into it. Crack! And again, and again, and again, until nothing remained of it but data fragments. Looking around and feeling like he should be panting in the aftermath, the boy felt amazed. He had done this! The unconscious train of thoughts which had led him to be able to muster such fervor in his attack was now quieting a bit, and he began to feel somewhat uncertain again, however.

Regardless, a small window popped up on the lower left region of his field of vision, transferring to him Ritsuko's slight self-satisfied smirk as well as her voice when she commented, "Excellent. You seem to have grasped the basic concept of using the Eva, but don't celebrate yet. Now I want you to try walking."

Nodding, his face still adorned with uncertainty, the boy willed one leg to move, and he took his first step. Unfortunately, though, as he focused on the other, he managed to completely lose balance, causing him to fall on his face. And, despite the navi's armor, it still rather hurt, "Ouch..."

Sighing again, Ritsuko shook her head slightly, "You're thinking too hard about it. You don't move your legs like that when you walk in the real world, do you? Don't think about it; just do it." With another sigh, the blonde woman wondered again why the hell the Commander had waited until now to bring the boy here; would it have hurt that much to have had time to train him? This was pathetic!

With a frown, and considering her words, Shinji managed to stand up without incident, but once he focused again on trying to walk, he had more trouble balancing again, and looked extremely awkward, all the while as the navi above continued to decimate the city. "Damnit, Shinji, just get to the warp over there! We don't have time for this!"

Cringing slightly, the boy nodded, then did his best to locate the warp point she had indicated. Seeing it, he unconsciously began to walk towards it, not realizing that as he did so, there was no trouble at all. Ritsuko was forced to stifle a smile at this; she knew that would distract him. Hopefully, once he got into combat, instinct and fear for his life would make him unable to have time to think too much about his movements, thus allowed them to be far more efficient. Combat... damn! She'd forgotten to tell him! "Shinji, wait. One more thing. You remember what I told you about the AT Field?" Seeing him nod slowly, she replied hurriedly, "Good. In order to activate it, you need to focus on your individuality and forcefully want to keep things away from you."

Then, pressing a key, she caused a Mettuar, a small virus that consisted mostly of a yellow helmet marked with a green cross and a pickax to materialize in front of him, not three cyber meters away. Without any warning, the virus struck the floor of the net before it with said ax, causing an energy shockwave to shoot towards the navi across said ground. Without really thinking about it, only wanting to stop the shockwave, he raised his hands as if to stave it off... and gasped in surprise at the energy was deflected off an invisible force field, causing a slight reddish ripple where it had hit.

Blinking slightly, he came to the realization that this must have been intentional; an example of the AT Field in action. But now he had another problem, even as the shield seamlessly took another hit, "Um, Dr. Akagi... H-how am I supposed to fight? I don't have any weapons."

Ritsuko shook her head, "You do have one. This may sound odd, but I want you to imagine that your left shoulder is hollow, and that it's opening up." Blinking in confusion, he did so, and shockingly, the projection on it did flip open, revealing a knife's handle within. This rather took him aback, and he was thusly not thinking of protecting himself when the next shockwave struck, passing the now non-existent AT Field and striking the navi. A rather painful experience, even with the armor.

But, managing to recover enough to jump to the side when the next came, an unnecessary action considering that his AT Field had been restored by the return of his attention to defending himself, he decided that the knife was obviously intended to be his weapon. Drawing it with his right hand, he willed the shoulder to close up before looking at the virus. Its 'body' was presumably the shadowed mass bearing eyes beneath the helmet, and it only really came up to his knee, so he decided he'd take it out the easy way; running at it, he made a jump (which took him considerably higher than he had expected) as he reached it, stabbing the knife under the helmet as he crouched to begin. Thus, by the time he landed, it had finished deleting, leaving a small chip of data in its wake; data that was ignored by Shinji, who had other things to think about now.

Although the jump had been surprisingly easy to make, it was not that which occupied his thoughts, but rather the fact that his knife was glowing. Noting his confusion, Ritsuko quickly supplied, "It's called a progressive knife. It's a weapons program designed to penetrate an AT Field using ultrasonic vibrations. Now hurry. The Angel is getting closer to the NERV server, and I doubt the military can distracted it much longer."

Nodding, the reality of the situation once more fresh in his mind (it seemed to slip away easily due to the fantastic nature of the whole affair), he began to move towards the warp again, having only very slight difficulties and reaching it within a few seconds. Not really knowing what to expect, he took a deep breath and stepped into the glowing circle upon the floor of the nondescript area.

For a moment, all was black, then he felt the cyber world around him return--only now he stood upon a large cyber-building's roof, the warp he had entered by still glowing. It seemed that he had been brought directly to the city's net area, which was obviously programmed to visually simulate the city itself. On an average day, it might have been an attractive sight (or site, maybe?), but the Angel's presence belayed that. Rather, it was a madhouse of smoke, fires, viruses (who had moved in to take advantage of the severely weakened defenses), and other sorts of destruction stretched out below him. And, moving purposefully towards the building upon which he stood was the monster; Sachiel, the Third Angel. Despite the proof of numerous attempts to destroy it in the remains of several hundred navis and severe damage in its path, it bore not a mark.

As if to underscore the seeming invincibility of said Angel, an official netnavi ran out into its path even as Shinji looked one. Calling out the phrase "JusticeOne," presumably as its operator slotted in the chip of the same name, it raised a hand above its head. Forming above it now was an immense blue and white fist, and as the navi made a downward sweeping motion with its hand, the fist rocketed towards the Angel. As the impact occurred, a large area of the city was deleted or damaged by the force of the attack, but when the data fragments cleared, the navi could be seen to be holding off the fist with its own clawed hand. Then, flashing scarlet, the piledriver on the arm rammed against the fist several times, causing it to fracture and explode, leaving no mark at all on its intended victim.

Without breaking its slow and purposeful stride, the Angel now took revenge for the attempt to delete it; the scarlet beam lanced from its chest, deleting the assailant almost instantly. This, of course, left Shinji gasping in horror; he had seen a slight bit of its ability from the Control Center, but he hadn't at all grasped its true power. This monster, merciless, dauntless, and seemingly indestructible was what he had to fight?

His first reaction was to panic, but it was quickly subdued as he noticed Ritsuko's face watching him; cool, calculating and appraising. This woman, much like his father, would be quick to deem him worthless if he couldn't do what he'd promised. And then there was Gendo himself; the man would never look at him again if he backed out, even if they somehow lived through it. And then there was the girl he'd seen; she certainly didn't deserve to die because he wouldn't fight at all. Of course, this was all nearly subconscious; all he really felt on the surface was the same anger that had welled upon the tank. Not fully understanding why, his mind simply acknowledged that the Angel must be destroyed, at all costs. Besides, he was going to die anyway, so what did it matter how...?

Thus, taking one final breath, he focused on the Angel, raised his AT Field, prepared the Progressive Knife, and leapt from the building...

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Author's Notes

This Movement was originally going to contain the battle between Unit-01 and Sachiel, but it just kept coming, and since I'm usually starved for stuff to make my stuff of decent length, I was glad to oblige. As a result, though, I think I'm going to at least start on the Fourth Movement now. But first, a few quick notes; if you think Shinji is a bit OoC with the rages, you're probably right, but I'm not going to give away the reason yet, even though you can probably guess it easily enough. Another thing I forgot to mention last Movement, I decided to up the ages of the Children by two years to make proper romance a bit more possible in later chapters, for the most part, but also because I don't think they look or act fourteen in the anime or manga. And, as you can probably tell, if I do finish this, it's going to take a damn long time. I actually enjoy writing it, though, so hopefully it'll keep going for quite a while. Also, as a quick note, I doubt I'll be doing much on An Angelic Scenario soon, because I've lost a lot of my interest in that idea whilst gaining a lot in this. Also, even though I don't like asking like this, I'd really appreciate reviews. Even though I mostly write for myself, I'd like to know that it at least interests other people...