A bright ray of sunshine pierced his eyes. Shinji flinched and raised one of his hands to shield his eyes. He was holding a payphone in one of his hands. Shinji frowned in confusion. He hesitantly placed the phone back on the receiver and looked around.
The first thing he noticed wasn't the crumbling buildings crawling with vegetation. It wasn't the rusting cars lined up on the torn up roads. It wasn't the ghostly uneasy feeling of a completely empty metro area, devoid of human life.
It was a young girl. Staring back at him from a distance.
Suddenly, a flock of birds scattered into the air behind him. Shinji looked up and watched them disappear into the sky. He looked back over.
The girl was gone.
And the deafening drone of heavy military gunships slowly enveloped his ears.
Episode 2
Naga Attack
Shinji quickly ran to the cover of a nearby alleyway and peeked up at the dozens of UN heavy gunships that now littered the sky. He could feel a light gust from their propulsion blow through his hair, the whine of their engines blasting in his ear. Shinji stomped on the ground - it was firm underneath him.
This wasn't one of those hallucinations he was being plagued with. He was physically in a different place. He was here.
Wherever here was.
Shinji wished he had some time to organize his thoughts, to gauge his situation, but it seems that'll have to wait for later.
All together, the gunships began firing a wave of rockets that screamed over into the distance. Shinji tried to follow where they were firing, but his line of sight was obscured by a row of toppled office buildings.
Whatever they were shooting at was close though. Shiji covered his ears as the deafening sound of missile impact erupted through the air. He swayed, feeling the tremor underneath his feet. That couldn't have been any more than a few blocks away.
He needed to get some distance.
Shinji headed back out to the street ready to take off. But just as he was about to step out, a jet black Main Battle Tank roared down the road in front of him. Shinji jumped back in surprise, scrambling over to behind a pile of rubble and watched as an entire column of tanks followed suit. He subconsciously counted them as they passed by, but he lost track after 20 or so.
Shinji felt the world around him rock again as another explosion sounded in the distance. The cracking of gunfire was beginning to pick up now. Even closer.
Shinji tapped his foot impatiently, anxiously, as the tank line finished passing by. After he saw the last one rumble out of sight, he made sure to wait a couple beats before leaping out.
But once again, just as he was about to exit the alley, he was interrupted by another tank. But this one wasn't driving.
It had dropped from the air.
The flaming hulk of metal and oil first slammed into the building corner, spraying dust and cement. Shinji skidded to a halt and fell into a fetal position making himself as small a target as possible, shielding himself from the debris. He could hear a horrific groan as the remains of the tank dropped down and made contact with the ground right in front of him.
Shinji slowly looked up, coughing from the dust and smoke entering his lungs. He was unharmed, but the flaming wreckage of the vehicle was blocking his way out now.
He gave a fleeting thought about the people inside the tank, but it was clear that no one could have survived what he saw in front of him.
It was a bit of a wake up call. This was real.
Looks like the universe didn't want him leaving through this road. He turned around searching for another way out. The alleyway luckily did not lead to a dead end. He could see the other end open up to another street behind a chain link fence. Shinji quickly scaled it and sprinted out into the street. He made a beeline straight out of the alley up the road. Away from the commotion. He didn't even stop to look around. He was pretty sure he had a good idea of what might be attacking right now.
But why? What's going on here? What is this? Shinji thought.
It felt just like he was back before Third Impact somehow.
One moment he was with Asuka in their apartment and the next he was here. But the thing was, it wasn't instantaneous.
Shinji could feel that there was a cloudy inbetween somewhere. Like waking up after a long dream, unable to discern a single detail. Something happened between then and now but he could not recall anything. And his current situation was absolutely not helping him focus.
Shinji looked up and watched more gunships hover by over him, racing the opposite direction he was running. The air was all but drowned out in gunfire and explosions now. The smell of metal and smoke filled his nostrils. Shinji just kept running. He didn't exactly have a plan except to gain distance. None of the questions he had would matter if he simply died here.
Shinji was crossing a large intersection when he heard the blast of cannon fire. But this one was close, it sounded like it was right by him. He flinched and reflexively looked over to his right to see another column of armored vehicles crossing the intersection a block down. Except these were driving the same direction he was. And in a hurry.
They were running too.
Shinji turned back and saw something behind them giving chase. He caught glimpses of it bobbing over the rooftops. It was big. It was fast. Shinji cleared the intersection, losing vision on both the troops and whatever was behind them, but could hear the gunfire continue loud and clear.
Yes, how about we avoid that.
He peeled left into another alleyway, trying to pick up the pace but Shinji was already starting to feel the burn in his legs and lungs. It had been some time since he did any kind extensive running. He was surprised he hadn't already passed out from the effort, or from anxiety if anything.
He turned out of the alley back and found waiting for him a wall of more tanks and light armor lined up at the end of the block. Shinji skidded to a halt putting his hands in the air as their gun turrets rotated to face his direction.
"Wait don't shoot!" Shinji shouted but then he felt the ground shift from under him. He staggered trying to get his balance back but crashed into the floor. Something big had just dropped behind him.
Shinji whipped and looked up at the towering monster in front of him, It was… something.
Something. But, not an Angel.
Its size was pretty comparable though. It was massive, taking up the entire city block. It was hunched over on all fours with webbed feet and huge thick claws. Its skin was slimy and a mossy green and covered in fins and sails. It had bulging eyes on the sides of its massive head and a wide underbite jaw.
That was all the details Shinji could absorb before a High Explosive round exploded between him and the massive creature. Shinji felt the fiery heat bloom and he went to instinctively shield himself. Shinji closed his eyes and shouted as the bombardment of artillery and tank fire showered the creature. His ears were ringing and he could feel the air around him burning up.
Looks like this was it.
He was going to die.
Sorry Asuka, I'm going to die.
Shinji laid there for a few stretched seconds when everything suddenly seemed to quiet down. The shooting had stopped.
Shinji cracked open an eye, ready to see the afterlife. But he still saw the gray concrete sidewalk he had fallen on beneath him. He inspected his hands. Then his body. He was shocked to see he was intact and completely unharmed. He looked up, now half hoping to be back in this apartment again, waking up from another lucid nightmare. But that wasn't it either
He saw a hand. A giant hand. Cupped around him, shielding him. Shinji looked up and over behind him, tracing the hand up its arm, past its shoulder, to its huge body sprouting from behind the buildings.
This one he knew.
This was an Evangelion.
It wasn't a Unit he recognized though. It was a gleaming black color accented with a bold blue. It looked cleaner and more polished than even Unit 02 had ever been. Everything about it just flashed with modernity.
The Eva sprung into action, leaping forward, stepping over Shinji towards the strange creature which had seemed to have been stunned by the military's barrage. Shinji watched the giant mech shoulder into it, ramming the monster into the buildings causing the row of structures to cave in, burying the creature in a mountain of rubble.
Shinji again balled up as the Earth shook beneath him and he was blasted by a cloud of dust.
The Eva suddenly turned back to him and crouched down, stretching a hand out to him. Shinji scrambled back away from its reach until he was against a building wall with no place to go. The hand continued to inch closer and closer but paused right in front of him. Then, an entry plug appeared out from the Eva's back. A gush of LCL splashed down to the floor as the entry plug hatch opened.
A young man donning a plugsuit popped out of the hatch and began waving him over. He could hear him shouting, "Come on! That thing's going to get back up. Hurry!"
He was inviting him into the entry plug.
Shinji stared at the Eva for a couple moments. He could see the darkened eyes of the Evangelion staring back at him. He already knew its horrible secrets. The entry plug. That accursed place. He looked at the swirling LCL that had spilled out of the plug. Shinji could almost retch.
"Come on!" the pilot yelled.
Shinji looked at the pilot. And then everything seemed to go into slow motion
He felt the sun beating against his face. He realized how sweaty he was, how tired he already was. He felt his breaths coming out in long ragged gasps. He saw a swarm of attack helicopters in tight formation pass overhead against the clear blue sky. The battle was still raging all around him. He looked at the pilot still desperately trying to wave him over, the rubble the mysterious monster was buried under beginning to move.
And he knew what he had to do.
He had to stay alive. He had to stay alive and somehow get back to his home.
To Asuka.
And to do that he had to once again get in an Eva.
Shinji licked his lips and got to his feet. He scrambled up the giant arm of the Eva and took the hand of the pilot. He pulled him in and together they dove into the entry plug.
The hatch closed above them and they were enveloped in darkness.
Nothing happened at first, just the sound of the two people splashing around in LCL. Finally, the entry plug around him came alive. Lights clicked on, screens flickered to life, showing their surroundings. He heard an automated female voice begin to speak.
"Hatch secured. Entry plug re-engaged. Feeding in reserve LCL."
There was the sound of gushing liquid and the LCL levels began to rise up around them again.
"The liquid in here is oxygenated, so just take it in," the pilot shouted back at him, "it's going to feel weird at first, but just try and relax. You won't drown."
The pilot was busy fiddling with some of his controls, so he didn't see, but he probably would have been surprised when Shinji took in the LCL as naturally as he did. Shinji closed his eyes as he let the orange fluid enter his mouth, his nose, his lungs. As it filled his body, it also filled his mind with memories. Stepping into Eva. The rush of combat. Fear. Pain. It all made him feel sick. He was just glad he didn't actually have to do any piloting.
"Reestablishing connection," the automated voice sounded.
Not a moment passed before a shrill female voice echoed through the plug, "Command to Unit 01. Shokaku, what the hell are you doing!? You are out of position, and almost entered the line of fire! And why did we just get an entry plug disengagement alert?"
"Sorry about that command," the pilot said, still furiously tuning different instruments across his control panel. Apparently his name was Shokaku, "It's, uhhhh, probably because I disengaged the entry plug. There was a civilian in the combat zone. So I just picked him up real quick."
"You WHAT?" the voice asked in disbelief, "Do not tell me he's in the entry plug right now."
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
"No need to answer, we can see above normal contamination levels and thought noise in there, you idiot," the voice said.
"I'll take full responsibility when I get back," he shouted, "but first, tell that armor battalion to pull out," His voice carried a flair of confidence as he flipped a final few switches and firmly gripped the control sticks on either side of him. The Eva moved with him, stretching out its shoulders, ready for battle. "I have some Naga to fight!"
As if on cue, the rubble in front of them burst open and the creature angrily slithered back out, squaring up with the Eva.
Shinji leaned up against the pilot seat and watched as the giant monster stretched open its mouth revealing rows of razor thin needle-like teeth. A detail he had missed before. Shinji reeled a bit.
"First time seeing one up close?" the pilot asked.
"Something like that," Shinji said nonchalantly.
"Well, things are about to get a lot uglier," the pilot said, "if you don't do well with violence I suggest you don't watch too closely. Oh and don't worry about what command was saying. You'll be fine after this is all over. You're going to be okay now."
The creature let out a guttural alien clicking noise and leapt forward, baring its teeth, claws ready.
The pilot punched forward charging at the Naga as well.
Just as they were about to clash, the pilot juked left, letting the Naga bring its teeth down on empty air. He withdrew what looked like a Prog Knife and swiftly brought it down on the top of its head. The creature gave a high pitched whine and bucked around trying to shake free, its teeth thrashing. The pilot wrapped his arm around its neck in a headlock, trying to subdue the monster as the other hand continued to drive the knife deeper into its skull. Shinji could see clear ichor ooze from the wound.
There was a flash of red from inside the cockpit with a high pitched alarm.
"Second contact, Left side!" the command voice shouted.
"I see it!"
Shinji looked over to his left and gasped.
There was a second one. A second one of those giant creatures.
It was already in the air, mid leap, pouncing straight towards them. With a grunt, the pilot disengaged with first Naga he was currently wrestling with, pushing it away, leaving the Prog Knife behind in its head. He used the momentum of the push to roll backwards out of the way of the second Naga as it crashed into the ground, spiking up dust into the air.
It was similar to the first in size and in its texture, having the same slimy looking skin and fins, but its build was slightly different. Whereas the first one had a larger head and jaw, looking more like a piranha, this one had a longer snout, reminding Shinji more of a crocodile.
It turned to them, snarling. Shiji could see behind it the first Naga still ready to fight, the knife sticking out of its head agitating it more than anything.
"There's two..." Shinji frowned.
But the pilot did not seem at all surprised, "Don't worry, I got it all under control."
Without hesitation, he reached over, grabbing a large abandoned truck beside him and chucked it at the second Naga. And he charged again.
Was he going to fight both? Without a weapon?
The second Naga bowed its head, protecting itself as the truck slammed against it, but the pilot took this opportunity to fly past it towards the first one again. The first Naga gaped open its mouth and chomped at the pilot, but he ducked in low, getting an arm underneath the Naga's huge jaw. He hugged the monster around the base of its neck before lifting it up and slamming it down on its back on the road, the asphalt spider webbing in cracks from the impact. He climbed on top of the squirming creature, trapping it underneath him. It let out a final cry as he pulled the knife out of its head and thrust it into its exposed underside, giving it a firm twist.
The pilot turned around just in time to see the second Naga once again leaping onto him, tackling him from behind. The giant beings collided and the pilot tilted his sticks and both the mech and the monster tumbled over, rolling across the floor, tearing up the street as they wrestled for position.
They came to a stop, with the Eva down on the floor and the Naga writhing on top of him, trying to bring its teeth down on him for a killing strike. its jagged teeth snapping right in front of the Eva's head. The Eva had a firm grip on its shoulder and neck, keeping it at bay.
"Gotcha," the pilot declared triumphantly. He pulled one of the triggers on his control sticks. A section of the Eva's right shoulder pylon opened up and fired a volley of spikes straight into the bottom side of the Naga's jaw. The monster roared and thrashed violently before finally falling limp, letting the Eva push it off of itself and get back on its feet.
The pilot let out a whoop, "Unit 01 to Command. The two Contacts in Sector 04 have been eliminated."
"Good work Unit 01. Unit 03 just cleaned up Sector 02. That was the last of them. You can head back to base."
The pilot pumped his fist in victory.
Just like that, it seemed it was over.
Shinji breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
Children of Lilim, Children of Lilith, Children of Me.
You I know. You I trust. You I am.
Three of me in Three of you.
Three spaces, three times, one bond.
I ask of you once more...
Shinji gagged a bit as the LCL was ejected from the entry plug. The shape of someone washing away.
The hatch opened and Shinji stepped out from the entry plug first. They were in a huge hangar room where the Evangelion was now idle and docked.
As soon as he set his first foot out of the Eva on the docking platform, he was surrounded by a swarm of security troops in heavy armor, sub machine guns fixed on him.
The welcoming committee.
Shinji sheepishly put his hands up as burly men in dark suits and sunglasses stepped up to him. He was roughly shoved up against the nearest wall and handcuffed behind his back.
They thoroughly searched him. Shinji hadn't really had the time to think about it, but he realized he was wearing different clothes than when he was in the apartment last. Instead of the white shirt and sweatpants, he had a white collared shirt and some nice slacks. Further proof that there must have been some passage of time between now and then. They turned out his pockets and patted him down in every nook and cranny, turning up nothing.
"Hey, easy with the guy!"
He could hear the pilot hop out of the entry plug and head way over towards them.
The men loosened their hold on him and allowed Shinji to look over and face the pilot.
"You alright, mister?" the pilot asked, clasping his shoulders.
"Thanks to you," Shinji laughed nervously.
Mister, huh.
The pilot definitely wasn't as young as when he piloted Eva, but he clearly wasn't quite Shinji's current age either. Maybe 19 or so.
He was a pretty dashing fellow. He was well built, the plug suit only accenting his lean body. He had short rough black hair, and a pearly smile. He seemed friendly enough. He didn't need to save Shinji back there and certainly didn't have to step up now. Even with the menacing guards surrounding him, he felt more at ease with him.
"Glad to hear it," the pilot smirked, "but for real, what the heck were you doing in the NDZ?"
"Please leave the questioning for us," Another voice now cut in. Shinji recognized the voice as the one he was hearing from the entry plug. The guards around them stepped away, clearing a path for a uniformed woman approaching them, carrying a stack of reports under one of her arms.
"Captain Amagi," the pilot saluted her. He was met with a sharp chop to the forehead, "Ow, what was that for?"
"You idiot, you know what that's for," she growled.
"Come on," the pilot said, "what was I supposed to do, leave him there?" It seemed the pilot's insistence was falling on deaf ears. The captain had already turned to one of the security guards conferring with him for a moment about something. He could see the guard shake his head.
She turned back to Shinji now, eyeing him up and down. She had on a gruff expression of distrust but it suddenly melted in a warming smile when she stepped to speak to him
"I am glad to see you aren't hurt, but we are going to have to bring you down to HQ and ask you a few questions, is that alright?" she asked politely, "I hope you understand and cooperate with us."
Shinji didn't respond at first. He absently stared at the woman.
God, she reminded him so much of Misato.
Not necessarily the face or anything. Shinji wouldn't think they were related. But her stature, her presentation, the look in her eyes.
Shinji noticed he was taller than Captain Amagi. Taller than Misato had been. Shinji felt a melancholic wave of nostalgia hit him as he was reminded of the passage of time.
"Uhm, hello, sir?" the captain spoke up again a look of concern crossing her face.
Shinji shook himself out of the daze and nodded in compliance, "Right, yes. That should be fine."
Amagi smiled again, "thank you, sir. Please follow these men out. They'll drive you to our HQ where you'll just answer a few questions and sign a few things. I'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding."
Before he was led away, Shinji looked back, "Hey, thanks again," Shinji said to the pilot, "But I didn't catch your name?"
The pilot gave him a confused smile, "You're a weird one, you know that? I'm Shokaku Shinji. The pilot of Unit 01?"
Shinji raised his eyebrows in intrigue.
"Ah is it clicking?" Shokaku asked, flashing him a point and a wink, "I'm sure you've had to have seen a poster or commercial with me somewhere."
Shinji nodded slowly, A small smile of disbelief forming on his lips. "Yeah, that's it. Something like that."
The guards tugged Shinji along. He obediently followed, but he was lost in his own head, the gears in his mind were turning. It seems he was being arrested for some kind of espionage. Ironically, Shinji thought going with them was a good opportunity to actually learn more about what was going on here. If this HQ is what he thought it was, he had a feeling he could probably get a few more answers once he got there.
But he already knew one thing for sure. Wherever he was, it wasn't his world anymore. But it was eerily close. Uncannily close.
The monsters. The Eva. The captain. The pilot. Even this place at first glance looked like NERV.
"So different, yet the same," Shinji whispered.
Three spaces, three times, one bond. Someone whispered back.
Captain Amagi watched the guards take the mysterious man away. Shokaku stepped up next to her.
"You're really taking him down all the way down to HQ? I still don't understand what the big deal is anyways. This isn't the first time we've caught someone trying to sneak a peek in the NDZ. And it's not like what we do there is top secret. We release a lot of our operations as promotional footage anyways," he said.
"Yes, but something fishy is going on today," she mused, "...He's the third..."
Shokaku frowned and looked over at her, but Amagi didn't elaborate further. He didn't push. He trusted Amagi to tell him what he needed to know.
"Speaking of fishy, this Naga attack was all sorts of weird," Shokaku said.
Amagi looked over at him, "you noticed too?" She flipped through a few pages of the reports she was carrying, "despite there being a record breaking number of 9 Naga making landfall today and getting 70% through the NDZ, the destruction ratio was only at 2." Destruction ratio typically averaged in the double digits.
"This might sound weird but it didn't feel like they were attacking this time," Shokaku said, "I think they were running."
Reunions
The guards escorted Shinji through a maze of hallways and a series of elevators before finally arriving at a dimly lit garage. An armored armored personnel carrier and a convoy of Humvees were waiting for them. He ducked into the light armor and sat in one of the seats lined up against the side of the vehicle.
There were already people sitting alongside the other row of seats. He could see more guards sporting guns surrounding another person in handcuffs.
This one was a woman in a dark red dress and long auburn hair. She looked up as he entered the vehicle and they made eye contact. His heart skipped a beat.
It was Asuka.
Not someone who looked like Asuka. This was Asuka Langley Soryu. His Asuka.
They held their gaze for a few beats, but Shinji slowly turned away and calmly went to take his seat.
Inside he was screaming as loud as he could. He was buzzing with excitement and heaving a sigh of relief simultaneously. Shinji had been ready to fight tooth and nail against this strange parallel world to get back to his own. To Asuka. But she was right here!
They had to play it cool though. They were still being arrested after all. They just had to take care of all this and they could then work from there.
Asuka had different ideas.
As Shinji took his seat he heard shouting and shuffling feet. Shinji looked up and felt Asuka slam against him, burying her face into his chest. Shinji looked up as the guards furiously approached them, drawing their weapons.
"Hey, hey, woah, woah!" he shouted trying to calm them down, "We know each other is all, please."
The guards hesitantly backed down, weapons were still drawn.
"Do you really know who I am, idiot Shinji?" Asuka asked. Her face was buried into him, muffling her voice, but he could still hear the strain behind her words.
Shinji sighed, "I know who you are Asuka."
Asuka looked up with a tearful smile of relief.
Shinji then received a blunt kick to the shin.
"Ack!"
"Why did you just ignore me then! I was scared you know!" Asuka seethed, "One minute we were in the apartment and then I was in this weird base in this weird world where I don't know what the hell is going on, and I thought I'd never see you again and..."
"I'm sorry, just…Hey!" Shinji said, raising his feet up, avoiding another kick, "I was going to talk to you later, this just didn't seem like the place."
"It isn't," Captain Amagi affirmed. The two looked up as she ducked into the vehicle and closed the door behind her. She gestured to one of the guards who responded with a curt nod. He stepped forward and hoisted Asuka away from Shinji, leading her back to her seat.
"Watch it, buddy," Asuka snarled at him. She shrugged him off and plopped down in the seat herself.
"We'll discuss later, let's get through this first," Shinji said to her.
Asuka nodded.
"You two know each other?" Amagi asked.
Asuka turned away from her defiantly, not answering the question.
"I think there's a lot we can learn from each other once we get to wherever you're taking us for questioning," Shinji smiled affably and he leaned back into his chair, closing his eyes. Getting comfortable for the ride.
Amagi's eyes burned into him, trying to figure out what he meant. Without looking away, she reached over to a radio on her shoulder, "Hermes-1, we are ready for transport. Roll out."
Shinji felt the vehicle churned as the wheels started turning. They were off.
Asuka was here.
Shinji couldn't help but grin.
He was suddenly a lot less worried about what was coming next.
Whatever it was, they were still in this together.
Shinji absently switched between looking at Asuka and staring out the window at the back of the vehicle. Again, as excited as he was about her presence, he didn't want to cause any more unneeded commotion. And there was still the question of where they were.
They left the base and drove down a lonely road through seemingly endless fields of grass.
In the corner of his vision he could see Captain Amagi's sitting, legs and arms crossed, eyes closed, brows furrowed. She was deep in thought about something but every now and then he noticed her stealing a glance at him and Asuka.
They drove for a little over half an hour when their convoy came to a brief stop. Shinji frowned. As far as he could see outside the back of the vehicle, they were still in the middle of nowhere. But then, the vehicle moved forward again and Shinji saw a checkpoint speed by before they entered a wide dark tunnel.
The low glow of the yellow tunnel lights rhythmically illuminated the vehicle as they made their way through.
Bright rays of sunshine appeared again as they cleared the tunnel, and Shinji bent forward trying to get a better look out the window. It wasn't just a tunnel they had passed. It was tunnel through a huge wall of metal and machine. A fortification that rose hundreds of feet in the air and spanned across his entire view. He saw radio towers and massive gun turrets lined across the top of it.
And all around him now were buildings. Small brick buildings, huge towering buildings of glass and everything in between. The roads were glistening. Power lines and road signs all stood neatly erected.
Any sign of apocalypse was absent.
And as they drove further into the city, Shinji almost stood up out of his seat when he saw something that truly showed he was not in his own world.
People.
Dozens of them. Hundreds of people bustling in the streets. Walking, talking, driving, biking, eating, shopping.
He could probably see more people right now through that small window than he had in the past 10 years. Throughout the whole drive, he saw more people than maybe all his life.
This was a city that was alive and well.
"Oh my god," he heard Asuka whisper under her breath. She was watching too now, "Shinji, where are we…"
"Would this happen to be Tokyo-3?" Shinji asked breathlessly.
The guards looked around at each other confused. Amagi frowned, "Tokyo? No, This is Hakone. It's where the UN East Branch HQ is? Did our giant iconic wall not give it away?"
Shinji didn't respond. He looked back at Asuka whose eyes were glued to the window, wide in whimsical wonder.
Shinji was reminded of the years after Instrumentality with her. How they had to scale mountains of desolation and sort through dusty reminders of civilization. How their voices would always echo through the ruins of broken infrastructure. How their minds would make ghosts to fill the hollow cities. How the emptiness of everything would drive them insane.
Seeing so much life was almost overwhelming. He couldn't help but feel his eyes getting misty now.
"Man, you guys must really be from the sticks," Amagi said.
"...You could say that."
The vehicle entered a tunnel again and they parked on a track that seemed to take them deep underground. They arrived at a garage that looked just like where they started and were ushered out of the vehicle through another complex web of hallways and stairs.
Finally, they were welcomed into a bright white empty room.
"Please wait here and we'll be right back with you. Thank you again for your cooperation," Amagi smiled and the door abruptly closed between them.
Before Shinji could do anything, Asuka was already on him, tackling him in a hug.
"Woah!" Shinji exclaimed, he was thrown off balance and felt himself crumple to the floor. Asuka shrieked in glee as she toppled over with him.
"Asuka, please be careful," Shinji started to say but Asuka climbed on top of him and shut him up with a kiss.
Shinji widened his eyes in surprise but passionately accepted it. It was rare for Asuka to be so on the initiative and even more rare to do so at this level of skinship. But Shinji wasn't complaining.
She pulled away, her face was lit up in excitement.
"Shinji, where the hell are we? I mean, did you see all that outside?" she said gleefully, "That was just incredible, maybe we don't have anything to really worry about."
"I was already thinking that when I first saw you."
"Oh shut up," Asuka giggled and bent down over for another kiss when they heard somebody clearing their throat, suddenly interrupting them.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but I just wanted to make sure you guys know you have an audience..."
Asuka frowned and pulled back, looking over her shoulder to the source of the voice.
Shinji tried to see who it was but Asuka was sitting on top of him, blocking his view. He could just make out someone tucked away in the corner of the room.
"Excuse me? Do you mind?" Asuka huffed.
"Hey, if you want to put on a show, go ahead," the man offered, throwing his hand up innocently. He then gestured towards the wall behind them, "I won't be the only one watching though, if you know what I mean."
They both turned behind them which was taken up by a giant glass panel. It was clearly one-way glass.
Asuka sighed and rolled off from on top of Shinji, "lame," she said.
"Hey, I'm sure some of us would enjoy some steamy action," he snickered.
"Hmph, there'll be a viewing fee."
A beat.
"...Hey, what did you just say?"
"Alright, alright, let's not get out of hand here," Shinji sighed. He hefted himself back up to his feet and walked over to the person at the corner of the room.
"Hey, don't mind her. Sorry about all that, our behavior was probably a bit inappropriate. We just didn't realize you were here," Shinji said, scratching the back of his head. He stuck out a hand, "It's nice to meet you I'm-'
"Shin...ji" the man finished. The man scrambled up to his feet, his face looked like he'd seen a ghost.
As he was approaching him, Shinji's eye contact was dodgy from the slight embarrassment of getting caught in their flirty PDA, but his eyes now focused on the person in front of him for the first time.
Shinji froze, his countenance shifting from shock, to confusion, to disbelief.
It had been a long time, but there was no mistake.
A strange place this world was.
He was seeing new things.
Old things.
And things that were a little bit of both.
Shinji couldn't help but laugh because he didn't know how else to respond.
"Toji?"
"No way!?" Asuka exclaimed, bolting up, "as in Suzuhara?"
Toji looked over at her, "Fucking hell, do not tell me that's Asuka. Christ, that is you. Oh god, you two actually ended up together?"
He was older now, just like they were. Although Toji was always athletic, he was still pretty scrappy looking back then. But now, he was actually bulked up and boasted a sturdy frame. His spiky hair and toothy grin seemed to have lived on.
Shinji could confidently say that Toji Suzuhara was one of the few people he sorely and truly missed. Those nights Shinji spent looking at the night sky from his balcony, he often wondered if his old friend was up there, part of the red ring of souls, or if he was back wandering somewhere on Earth.
"I mean, it's so good to see you again," Shinji stammered, he put out a hand for a shake, "Obviously these conditions are less than ideal, but, man this is awesome."
Toji gave him a firm handshake and a wide smile, but when Shinji looked up at him, there was a sadness to it. "It's good to see your face, bro, but I don't think we are who we think we are."
Shinji cocked his head, "what do you mean? You are Toji aren't you?"
"I am, but not the Toji you knew," he said, "Because you certainly aren't the Shinji I knew, ain't no way."
"What does that even mean?" Shinji asked.
"Because I killed Shinji Ikari 10 years ago," he said flatly.
A silence filled the room as they continued to awkwardly shake hands. Shinji's smile slowly faded.
"Not on purpose though," He added quickly, "It was courtesy of the 13th Angel? If that rings any bells…"
"Oh. Yeah, that'll do it…" Shinji said, slowly nodding, "Well... I almost killed you where I'm from, so no hard feelings I guess… Also not on purpose. Dummy plug system. If you know that that is."
Toji's eyes lit up, "Ah, I know of it. Yeah that'll do it too."
They continued silently shaking hands, both unsure of what to do next. It was certainly a weird feeling, but Shinji felt strangely accepting of what he just heard. Somehow, it wasn't the weirdest thing he had to come to terms with today. In fact, after hearing that, everything was starting to click...
Toji spoke first, "I did a whole lot of stuff 10 years ago. Some crazy stuff. And I thought I got it all done and over with, but suddenly I'm here."
"So let me get this straight," Asuka stepped in, turning to Toji, "you don't know where we are either?"
Toji nodded in affirmation, "I woke up in the middle of this base, like, a couple hours ago. Got caught and they threw me in here."
"Well, we're in a pretty similar boat then," Asuka said, "I popped up in an elevator and they got me. Shinji and I got a peek at the outside world, it's definitely not where we're from either."
"It's all different worlds," Shinji said, trying to piece everything together, "Just from what I'm hearing, you seem to be from a timeline where you kill me as the 13th Angel, right?" Shinji asked Toji.
"Yeah, that's right," Toji nodded.
"And me and Asuka branch off as a timeline where that doesn't happen," Shinji said looking at Asuka now.
"Right," she said.
"But this place. This is severely different, but it's still just another branch," Shinji mused, "I'm thinking that it branches way before anything we've experienced. The Captain mentioned Hakone. Do you guys know what Hakone is?"
Asuka lived most of her life in Germany so she shrugged.
"I've heard of it," Toji shrugged too.
"It's the name of a city. The name of the city that preceded Tokyo-3 over the Geofront before Second Impact." He looked up, "I don't think there was any Second Impact here, I don't think there are any Angels."
Shinji explained what he saw outside. He reiterated the gleaming civilization he saw with Asuka. He also explained how there were still Evangelion, but instead of fighting Angels they were replaced by these mysterious new beings, the Naga.
"It's all different," Shinji said, "you," he pointed to Toji
"Us" he pointed to Asuka.
"Here." he pointed to the ground. "Three spaces."
"Three times," Toji and Asuka said in unison
"One bond," Shinji finished. They stood around silently. It was unnaturally coordinated. As if something possessed them in that moment. Someone...
"One bond," Shinji repeated. He nodded his head, trying to keep his line of thought going "there is someone that connects all this. All of us. Someone who knows why we're here. And If you two know that phrase, that means you've been seeing her too."
Shinji eyed both Asuka and Toji both who nodded, following where this was going.
Every time she had popped up, Shinji did his best to ignore her. He didn't want to see her. She was just bad news. But if he was going to get dragged into some strange parallel dimension anyways, he may as well hear her out. She was an important piece of this puzzle that needed to be addressed.
"We need to speak with Ayanami Rei."
TO BE CONTINUED
