A/N: Sorry to the few reading that it took me so long to get this chapter finished. I've been swamped in work to do, writer's block, and there are just some days when you don't feel like typing anything. You understand don't ya? P
Anyway, on to the chapter. Despite it being shorter than the previous few chapters, I'm definitely happier with it. To me, this is where the storyline really makes some steam towardbreaking off the storyline. It's a story that features Asuka mostly, but things will balance themselves out starting next episode. I even got to make another attempt at an action-packed fight. I must warn you that I am a horrible action writer, but I had some fun with this one and I hope you'll have fun reading it.
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Episode Ten – The Beast That Sleeps Within
In the year after Second Impact, Earth was sent into a time where the world was called "Hell." Those that saw it with their own eyes described it no other way. The skies roared. The oceans refused to settle. The rock beneath every person's feet shook. The earth opened to show its rumbling underbelly to the fearing public.
As time progressed, the world settled into its new era. The weather calmed. The oceans washed away the abandoned cities. The remains of the seven continents were six large islands. The world settled into normalcy, but the Earth never stays the same for long. The Earth continued to rumble and quake.
York-3 shook. Luckily there were few injuries. The thing that worried the citizens, though, was news of a chasm that had been opened in the Catskills. It was an unnatural occurrence for an earthquake to cause the creation of volcanic pit in a mountain range. NERV thought it was reason enough to investigate.
"Lower it further," commanded Captain Harrison.
She watched the large screen in front of the control room as a technician remotely operated specially-designed camera descent into the magma pit.
"We can't find anything," reported the technician.
"Keep going," commanded the captain. "Go another five hundred."
The heavy armor of the suited camera cracked.
A mechanical voice reported the damage over the PA. "Depth1200 – the pressure resistant partition is cracking."
As the room of experienced crew tried to explain they were too deep, Harrison cut them off with a command to go another two hundred. "NERV will pay for the damage."
"We're getting a reading," yelled another distressed technician.
Harrison immediately turned her head and demanded an analysis. The technician, startled by her sudden reaction, frantically pushed the button. The lights flickered and machine blipped and pinged as the captain watched intently. Seconds into the analysis a problem arose as the partition finally gave into the pressure and imploded. The technician's screen turned to fuzz, but she did not look away.
"Did you get anything?" she asked. A horrible fear shook her body as the words left her mouth.
"Just barely," the technician answered.
The technician played back the readings and paused on the image of large fetus, curled up in the warmth of the magma.
"Then there's no doubt," Harrison said as she saw the picture. The image burned itself into her memory as she recognized the only thing it could be. "It's an angel."
Elsewhere Asuka Langley Soryu clenched her fist as tensed her muscles as if it were to affect her synch ratio with Unit 02.
"Asuka, you can relax," said Dr. Oliver. "If you relax, it'll help."
Asuka's muscles gradually loosened as she glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw the stern glare of her father on the observation deck. She took a deep breath and allowed her body to sink into the seat of her entry plug. She closed her eyes and steadily breathed.
Dr. Oliver watched the readings over the shoulder of her assistant, Maya. The pattern of greens and blues was foreign to most as were the meaning of the numbers she read, but they made sense to the experienced woman of science.
"Wow!" exclaimed Maya. "Asuka's gone up a full five points from her last test."
"Then I guess she's ready for a break," said the Kate as she pressed a button turned on the intercom. "Asuka, you've done a good job today. You're free to go."
Asuka's eyes opened as the words of praise tweaked her ear. "Of course, I did a good job. I'm Asuka Langley Soryu!"
Asuka grinned with exuberant satisfaction. She'd finished her tests in record time and was anxious to get back to the apartment and wait for David to fix dinner. She dreamed about the many delicious dishes he'd been taught.
"I wonder what he'll fix tonight. Fish? Curry?" she thought.
Asuka's tangent wondering was suddenly interrupted by the steely glare of her father. Though his daughter was cheerful and she'd gotten her praise as a pilot, he still looked displeased with her. His scorn shattered her moment of glory.
After a shower to wash the rusty stench of LCL off of her body, Asuka dressed and was greeted by her father outside the locker room.
"Father! What are you doing here?"
"Don't get too excited to leave yet. I suggest you get back in your plug suit."
Before Asuka could argue, the Commander's stern, commanding countenance made it perfectly she was to abide.
"An angel has been found in a nearby mountain range," he stated. "It is still in an embryonic state and thus it is imperative that we retrieve the angel before it hatches and becomes a threat. Your special equipment has been prepared."
"Special equipment?"
"The angel is laying dormant deep inside a bed of magma. A special suit designed to withstand the temperature and pressure has been issued to your EVA."
"Why do I have to do it? Don't you have two other pilots?"
"We do, but I insisted you be the pilot on your behalf."
"Why?"
"Because you're Asuka Langley Soryu. Surely you are not afraid." There was a sinister humor in his inflection that sparked Asuka's hate.
Asuka turned and headed back into the locker room to change into her plug suit. Why was she piloting? Was it because of her duties as a pilot, as loyal gesture being the daughter, or to spite his mocking of her?
As Asuka was finishing her change, a shy boy's voice coursed through the room.
"Is it safe to come in?"
David timidly poked his head into the door, only to face a slightly irritated.
"What is it, Third? Are you trying to get a peak? Well, I'm already changed so there!"
"I told you I'm the i First /i Child, and I've actually been waiting on you to finish changing so I can hurry up and get in my plug suit."
"Are you going on the mission too?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Asuka groaned and rolled her eyes. "Why the Hell do I get stuck with you? What are you supposed to do anyway?"
"Back-up."
"Back-up? I need back-up?" Asuka stood and put her hands on her hips. She snarled at the confused boy like she'd been insulted.
"No! It's not like that!"
"It's your bastard father. He can't get it through his head that you're useless."
David bit his lip and looked away from the verbal onslaught. "Asuka, I'd like to change clothes now," he said sadly.
"Fine!" Asuka threw her arms in the air and stormed out of the room.
The EVAs were sortied and Asuka was unhappy with the special suit she'd been given. At first glance it seemed like her normal red plug suit, but after pressing a new button on her wrist the suit expanded like a balloon. This was hardly her idea of fashionable, but she was in her EVA and being flown to the mysterious chasm to capture the EVA.
"God, I hate this suit," she grumbled. "It's even worse for my poor Unit 02."
Indeed Unit 02 had been specially suited as well for the mission with a suit similar to a deep sea diver.
"Don't worry about it, Asuka," said Emily over the intercom. "Just think, the sooner you get this done, the sooner you'll get out of it."
Asuka nodded as Emily ended the call. Emily slowly lifted her finger from the button as a feeling of worry tugged at her thoughts. She glanced out of the corner at the tall, statue-like Commander Langley.
"You do know that if she fails, the Japanese branch NERV will be erased as well as every person involved," he warned.
"I do," Emily confirmed, "but you should have more faith in your daughter."
"I do have faith. Faith is in me through and through. But Asuka is only human."
As Asuka and David reached the chasm, they found a giant crane waiting to lower Asuka and Unit 02 in the molten earth below. Asuka felt a cold shiver breeze across her body between her skin and the plug suit. She tightened her grip on the controls to Unit 02, acting like as a hug as best she could. She swallowed her oncoming fear just in time for David's voice to break through her intercom.
"Hey, Asuka, good luck."
"I don't need your best wishes, Third!" she yelled in response.
"I don't mean to insult you."
"Forget it. Sit back and watch." Asuka sighed as David went silent again.
Soon Unit 02 was hooked up and lifted over the overwhelming pool of magma. Unit 02 was slowly worried and Asuka's nagging anxiety grew more and more consuming. Her body began to sweat as the heat reached out to greet her. Unit 01 and David anxiously watched as the machine eased her down slowly.
Silently he whispered, "Good luck, Asuka."
"David!" called Asuka over the intercom. David's head quickly shot up and he watched as Unit 02 began to break the surface of the magma. It spread it legs like a mid-hurdle as the feet dipped. "Giant stroke entry!"
David groaned and leaned over onto his side, resting his head in his hand.
Inside Unit 02 Asuka groaned as the temperature inside her entry plug rose. The heat-resistant equipment may have kept her from being incinerated, but it sure didn't feel like a cool dip in the pool. Her mind was flooded with curses toward her selfish pride for undertaking such an uncomfortable mission, but it was a simple one and she took solace in being able to take a bath to wash off the stink of her sweat.
Maya, the technical crew member, announced Asuka's continuously increasing depth. "Now reaching 200! 300! 400!"
On the surface, David watched nervously as the bundle of cables suspending Asuka and providing coolant to her EVA disappeared into red-glowing liquid.
"It feels like a sauna in here," whined Asuka.
"1000! 1100!"
"It's alright, Asuka" said Emily. "You're doing fine. You're only a few hundred feet away from the target. After we get this thing, we'll go to a hot spring or go shopping. Whatever you want."
"Sweet!"
"We're approaching the target," reported Maya. "1700! 1800! 1900!"
"Do you see it, Asuka?" asked Emily.
Deep inside the Earth's molten belly, Asuka's visibility was poor but neither her eyes nor her equipment could find any sign of their target. "Negative," she replied.
"It seems we have miscalculated the rate of convection," declared Dr. Oliver.
Emily glared at her comrade and quickly reacted by commanding Unit 02 being lowered further.
"2100! 2200! We're reaching the maximum allowed depth."
"Keep going," the captain demanded.
Another technician, a near-sighted young man, spun around in his seat in surprise from the order. "But Unit 02 is going to crack if we don't pull her out soon. The pressure-"
"But we haven't made contact with the target. Recalculate and find that angel," Emily ordered. "Asuka, are you okay?"
Confident as always Asuka replied, "I'm okay. I can keep going. Emily's right, I still haven't found the angel."
"2500! Maximum allowed depth! Maximum allowed depth plus 100! Plus 200!"
The overwhelming pressure dented Unit 02's special suit. The beast rumbled. Asuka gritted her teeth and held her EVA tightly.
"Plus 500! Plus 600!"
"We're approaching the corrected destination," announced the nervous technician.
"Asuka, do you see it?" asked Emily.
"I'm trying. The visibility sucks down here." Asuka panned around the empty area with little to spark her interest. She began to mutter an order to lower her further when she a nearing object in the magma. "I see it. I see the angel."
The crew sighed briefly as the curled up monstrosity floated toward Asuka and Unit 02. Asuka hovered closer and raised a frame around the dormant angel. With the press of a button a cage of electromagnetic energy surrounded the angel and the words, "Target Captured," lit every screen at NERV headquarters. The crew sighed again.
"Good job, Asuka," said Emily.
"Pish-posh," said Asuka. "This was almost too easy. For a second there I thought this was going to end wrong. Now reel us in, I've got a bath to take."
Asuka's words rang through David entry plug and he smiled in knowing she was okay and ready to go.
"Who's ready for some coffee?" asked Emily.
The crew let out a collective gasp as the stress let out all at once. Emily's bright smile was soon overcome by blinking red lights and the "Alert!" sign blazing. Asuka's cage rumbled as a light emitted from the embryo.
"What's going on?" asked a distressed Asuka.
"It's waking up!" yelled Dr. Oliver.
The light brightened and the electromagnetic cage shattered as the angel took a new form. Veiny wings sprouted from its shoulders and its head took the shape of a mythical, scaly beast. Asuka swung away from newborn angel as its body adjusted to new life. It roared a terrible cry that rang in Asuka's ears and it swam into the blindness of the magma.
"There's been a change of plans, Asuka," announced Emily. "Destroy that angel."
"Will do," Asuka assured her guardian and captain. However her visibility was still poor. With the change of plans, the cable stopped moving so she was stuck to fighting the angel then and there. "I will if I can find it," she mumbled under her breath.
Asuka tried to keep an eye for the angel, but it was useless. Deep in the Earth she was blind. She was bait on the line and all she could do was wait for it to move. Unfortunately for her move came at a moment when she was not looking to her side. She was quickly able move over the angel's lunge attack, but it quickly disappeared into the sea again.
"Guys, I can't see it. I can't find it. I'm like a sitting duck."
Asuka quickly snapped her head forward to see the beast swimming like a fish through the magma. It made a sharp turn and she saw it quickly toward her.
"It's coming for me. I don't know what to do."
"Use the progressive knife," said Emily.
Asuka quickly grabbed her weapon as the angel rammed into her dangling EVA and latched onto it. Asuka reeled back her arm then drove the knife hard into the beast body. However, the strike was deflected by the angel's seemingly advanced hard shell body.
"It seems that the angel's physical make-up was affected by it being born inside the magma," said Dr. Oliver, quite surprised by the revelation.
"Yeah, I can see that," responded an irritated Captain Emily Harrison. "How do we beat it?"
"I don't know."
The angel wrapped its arms around Unit 02 as Asuka felt helpless to stop it. She attempted to penetrate its shell again, but the blade shattered from the second attempt. The monster opened its gaping mouth as a second set of teeth lunged out of its head like a leech and spread over Unit 02 heat-resistant helmet.
"I'm sorry. I don't usually go this far on a first date," Asuka said grunting as she fought the monster's grip. She tossed the broken knife and reached up to the angel's bottom jaw. The force ripped the monster's mouth off of her and with her other arm she pushed off one of the angel's arms. The angel held onto her other side and Asuka gave it a downward elbow to dislodge it. The angel shrieked and Asuka called it to attack again. The angel swam back into the magma but just before it disappeared u-turned and headed straight for another head-on attack. Asuka braced herself for another dive. The angel neared and as she leaped, the angel made a sharp left. Asuka floated helplessly in mid-dive as the angel quickly swiped at the safety cable. The cable severed as Asuka realized she was doomed.
"I'm not done yet!" she growled. Asuka narrowly grabbed the angel's ankle as it swiftly swam to the surface.
"David, prepare to fight," ordered Emily. "The angel's coming straight for you." David watched the magma pool carefully and quietly. Suddenly a winged beast flew out of the chasm and into the air, with Unit 02 holding onto it for dear life.
"Asuka!" David cried.
Asuka grunted as she yanked on the monster's leg. Irritated by her determination, the angel kicked Unit 02 in the face with its free leg and Unit 02 lost its grip.
"Asuka!" David cried again as he watched Unit 02 plummet to the ground. The Evangelion crashed into the mountain side and kicked up a mighty dust storm. "Asuka, are you alright?"
A groan rang through the intercom. "That hurt." David, utilizing the Evangelion's abilities, leaped over the chasm and sprinted to Asuka's side. As he reached her fallen EVA, the angel crossed his path and knocked him flat on his back. The angel lashed at Unit 01 it arm, but David back-rolled out of harm's way. David sprang to his feet and lunged at the angel with a right hand, but it quickly spun around and knocked him down with its tail.
"David!" Asuka cried. Asuka looked around her entry plug for some sort of inspiration for a plan to defeat the angel. "How are we supposed to beat this thing?" She then saw the crane reeling in the severed end of her safety line. The coolant was still pumping through the cable. Asuka groaned as she shakily rose to her feet. The heavy suit slowed her movements as she sprinted toward the cable. The angel saw her movement as diverted its attention from the floored Unit 02 to her. It lunged at her slow moving body like a predator on a wounded animal as she reached the chasm's edge.
"David!" yelled Asuka.
David groaned and responded, "What is it Asuka?"
"Remember that lesson on thermal expansion? Get that cable that pumping coolant. Hurry!"
The angel opened its jaw again and bit into the heavy armor, letting out a whistling steam from the cracks. With the angel's attention on Asuka, David stood up and made a dash for the crane. The angel spotted him and rose to its feet. It picked up air and zoomed after Unit 01. David reached the edge of the chasm and leaped toward the cable. As the angel nudged his back, Unit 01 grabbed the cable and swung out of harm's way. David screamed as the moment was sudden and frightening. The cable carried Unit 01 around in a 360 degree pattern as the angel turned around to meet him. The two collided as David wrapped his legs around the beast's abdomen and shoved the coolant into its throat. The angel found its self trapped and its body began to shiver as cool air filled its lungs. Its shell paled and David drew his progressive knife with which to drive into the beast's belly. The angel's screams were muffled by coolant entering its body. Then its body went limp and David let go of it. Its weakened, pale body fell into the magma where it melted back into the Earth where it was born.
David panted from his dangling perch high above the chasm. The crew at NERV sighed as the screens flashed, "Angel Terminated." Asuka looked at David hanging from the crane's end. David's body violently shivered.
"Somebody get me down from here."
After being rescued from his precarious position, David and his roommates decided to take a relaxing dip at the hot spring. It was quite an interesting experience for Emily and David as it was designed like Japanese onsen. Asuka, having visited the land of the rising sun with her mother once or twice, was a little more used the atmosphere. With no one to yell at and order him, David laid back against the wall of the boys' side of the spring and draped a dampened towel over his face. He sighed of relief after such a day. "Exhausting" felt like an understatement to him.
"We should celebrate like this more often," he thought.
Suddenly he felt a hard peck on his face. His head shit up, flinging the towel into the steamy water, opened his eyes and looked around to see no one there.
"Hey, Davy!" yelled Asuka from the other side of the wall separating the men's side form the ladies'. A small pebble floated over the top of the wall and landed on the top of his head.
"What is it, Asuka?" he grumbled.
"We ran out of body shampoo. Can we borrow yours?"
"Of course," he answered happily. His smile quickly changed to a frown as he grumbled about how they always used his stuff at the house anyway. David picked up the bottle of flowery-smelling soap, turned, and remembered there was a wall. "How am I supposed to give this to you?"
"Just toss it over, dork."
The answer was almost too simple and meant too little physical exertion on David's part to be an Asuka plan, but nonetheless he complied. "Here it comes! 1! 2! 3!" David hurled the bottle over the bottle.
"I'll catch it! Ow!" A thump was heard then David realized he made a blunder. "You lunkhead, you missed!"
"Are you okay, Asuka?" asked Emily.
"He hit me in my most special part."
The words "special part" tweaked David's thoughts like vague terms often do. He began to wonder what Asuka considered her "special part" and he settled on the part that young boys often do.
"Yeah, that's awfully big bump on your head," Emily commented as she chuckled.
"It's not funny," Asuka yelled back. "It hurts."
"I hit you on the head?" David asked after coming to realize he didn't hit her where he thought he hit her and feeling embarrassed for such a perverted assumption.
"Yes, doofus! Where else? What could be more special than the brain of the greatest Evangelion pilot to have ever lived?"
David pondered the question and felt a rush of warmth flow through his body, though it didn't feel like hot spring water. Embarrassed, he slowly sank into the depths of the water and began to watch bubbles he made float to the surface.
On the other side of the wall Asuka and Emily sat and watched the sunset over the hills. Asuka looked inquisitively toward her awe-inspired guardian as questions began to spring to her mind.
"Em, why did you join NERV?"
The guardian leaned back and looked over her shoulder at her ward. She smiled and answered, "You know how it is. Saving the world and excitement. I guess I just want to have stories to tell my grandchildren." The woman laughed heartily, but Asuka didn't seem to understand the reason. "Why are you an EVA pilot?"
Asuka gave no words as answer. Her eyes held a slight tint of shame and sadness, but it was all Emily needed to understand.
"Your dad seems to be a 'no nonsense' kind of guy. He's a real charmer," she said jokingly.
"I guess," Asuka muttered.
"Don't be so glum," Emily said cheerfully. "Even if I'm not your real mother, you're the closest thing I've got to a little sister or even a daughter and I intend on treating you as such."
Asuka's sorrowful expression didn't change.
"It's just you, me, and David and we're one, happy, makeshift family."
Asuka looked over to her guardian as she turned to watch the sunset again. Asuka let a grin creep onto her face.
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A/N: I'm sorry I changed the appearance of Sandalphon, but I got the crazy image of the EVAs fighting a dragon in my head and I couldn't resist imagining that while writing. You can't deny the humor in Shinji-esque character screaming and jumping over a lava pit either.