NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: TELEPHONE BOOTH MEETING
CHAPTER 2: DON'T DIE
This is the actual first battle to write, so let's see the skill I may have while writing fight scenes. I better get in the hang of this because there will be a lot of battles taking place after this one for this story. I originally was going to make all the chapters as long as the episodes in the show but I decided not to because that would make the chapters really long and I would like each Chapter to be in an appropriate length.
Disclaimer: Evangelion doesn't belong to me.
SHINJI IKARI
Shinji looks at an automatically unlatching small drawer. Inside the drawer is a blue and white bodysuit. He was told to put on the suit while wearing no other clothes. So he takes all his clothes off, including his underwear, making him completely naked. He puts the bodysuit on and it feels pretty loose.
Shinji presses the button on his left wrist as he was told and the suit pressurizes to his size, fitting him perfectly.
He then picks up a headset with some bulbs on the top. He attaches it on the top of his head.
Shinji, now wearing the clothing he was instructed to wear for piloting the EVA, stands up and walks out of the locker room.
Two men in black were waiting for Shinji outside of the locker room and they escorted him up to a retracted halfway bridge at a high floor level that's above Unit-01.
Shinji looks at the EVA and he sees a crane pulling a long cylinder shaped object from the thoracic spine of the EVA. The crane moves the large object beside the dock that Shinji is standing on. It stops next to the bridge's edge and a hatch lifts up, revealing a seat with control handles in front of it.
Shinji heard heels clicking behind him. He turns to find Doctor Akagi stopping. "Oh, good, you're ready to go." She said stoically. "I will give some quick explanations on what that is." She points to the cylinder object. "And what you're wearing." She then points to the suit.
Akagi started. "The thing you will be sitting in is called an entry plug. It will be inserted into the EVA with you inside and from there, you'll pilot the EVA. The suit you are wearing is called a plugsuit. It is required to synchronize better with the EVA. The headset on your head is an interface headset. It is required to interface with the EVA."
Shinji nods at the facts Akagi has given him and he climbs to the seat.
Once he sits down and looks at a smiling Doctor Akagi. "We all wish you good luck." She walks away and leaves the bridge.
The entry plug hatch closes, covering all the light from the outside.
Shinji just sits in this comfortable seat, while waiting for something to happen. He stares at the wall and he thinks.
He thinks about how he got here. Yesterday, his father sent him a letter. He came all the way here while meeting a beautiful girl and almost getting killed with her. He finally meets his father, only to be told to pilot this robot. His father never needed him… but now there's a robot that does need him.
This is some kind of stupid joke.
It doesn't even make sense. But that doesn't matter. He's not afraid to die. He never was. And he will NOT let his father call him a coward.
Shinji begins to hear something from the outside. It sounds like a bunch of waterfalls. The intercom then comes on. "Cooling process has been completed!"
"Right arm repairs are completed!"
"Cage systems in position of docking!"
"Signal terminator plug has been ejected."
"Roger. Inserting entry plug." Shinji feels the cockpit moving forward. Then there was a stop and then a push. He then hears something closing up behind him. He's guessing that the entry plug is in the EVA. "The entry plug is locked in place!"
Lights turn on and Shinji feels something wet flowing through his feet. "Filling the entry plug!" Shinji looks down. He gasps when he sees orange liquid rising inside of the entry plug. He tries to hold his breath when the liquid begins to flow through his head.
Shinji then hears Akagi's voice. "Relax Shinji. Once your lungs are filled with LCL, your blood will be oxygenated immediately. You'll get used to it."
Shinji lets his breath go free and fills in with the LCL. He feels nauseous, just being fine, breathing in liquid that smells and tastes disgusting. At this rate, he'll be dead before he even fights the Angel.
"Main power is connected!"
"All circuits are fully transmitting power!"
"Commencing secondary contacts." The LCL is now invisible. He can still feel, breathe, and smell it but it's like it is not even there anymore. The entry plug looks very clear.
"A-10 nerve connections are normal." The entry plug's walls flash into many different patterns of colors.
"Set thought configuration to Japanese." Then the entry plug's walls show the surroundings of EVA Unit-01. "All preliminary contacts are established. Performance is nominal." Shinji is amazed by what these walls are capable of. He then begins to feel something to the EVA… like a connection.
"Bi-directional circuits are open. Synchronization is at 41.3%." Shinji is just straight up confused with what the woman on the intercom is reporting. It must be really important. "Harmonics are all normal. There are no disturbances identified."
Misato raised her voice. "Evangelion Unit-01! Prepare to launch!"
Shinji sees the cage gates surrounding Unit-01 are shifting away. "Preparing to launch!"
Shinji is now feeling something leaving his shoulders. He looks at his shoulders. There's nothing happening there. Then he glances at the Evangelion's shoulders. There's something departing from the EVA. "Removing the primary lockbolts!" The locks are completely severed from Unit-01.
"Removal completed. Now removing the umbilical bridge!" The bridge in front of Unit-01's face moves away.
"Removing the secondary lockbolts!" Both walls holding the EVA's shoulders disconnect.
The wall on Unit-01's right moves away from the right shoulder. "Removing primary restraints!"
The wall on Unit-01's left moves away from the left shoulder. "Removing secondary restraints!"
Shinji looks around the much wider chamber and feels overwhelmed with how big this place is. "Releasing safety locks one through fifteen!"
"Internal battery charged!"
"External power outlet closed!"
"Roger. Move Unit-01 to the launch pad." The platform holding Unit-01 moves backwards. This must be it. He's going to fight the Angel. There's no turning back now. The tracks move the platform to a line of elevator catapults. It stops once it reaches its designated launchpad and the platform locks in place.
The elevator doors above Unit-01 begin to open up one after another within quarter seconds.
"We're ready for launch!" Shinji takes a deep breath. Whatever is coming, he's ready to brace for the scariest of all.
"LAUNCH!" Shinji covers ears from Misato's shout.
The EVA blasts off through the tunnel upwards. Shinji grunts because he is unprepared for the very quick speed and strong acceleration. It was like a rollercoaster and Shinji doesn't like rollercoasters. Thankful the ride was quick since Evangelion Unit-01 reached the main surface pretty fast.
Shinji looks around his surroundings. He's in a city street. It looks so small to him. The Evangelion is making him feel large, like he can take on the world if he wanted to. That feeling throws a chill down his spine.
Misato's voice came on through the intercom. "This is it, Shinji. Are you ready?"
"Uh… yeah." Shinji said hesitantly. He's honestly not sure if he's ready.
"Release the final safety locks!" Shinji felt the railings holding the EVA's shoulders let go. He feels free right now. Nothing to keep him from going anywhere. Misato was shouting again. "Evangelion Unit-01… MOVE OUT!"
There's no turning back now. He will do this. He's not going to hold anything back, not even his life…
Asuka's voice suddenly came on through the intercom. "Shinji… don't die." That was all she said.
Shinji's thoughts on dying changed with those three words. He now has a feeling that somebody cares about him staying alive. It's a feeling that makes him feel… needed.
For now… he'll try to be careful.
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
Asuka and Misato got to the command center when they began draining the LCL from Unit-01's cage. Asuka looks around the command center. This room is huge… actually she's seen so many huge chambers and rooms in this large place. But it's still cool!
She listened in when the entry plug was inserted, when it was filled with LCL, and when it was contacted with the EVA.
What was interesting was when she heard that Shinji was able to get a synchro ratio of forty percent. She was shocked when she heard that. She worked hard and took herself five years to get a synchronization of just thirty percent.
But Shinji got a forty percent on his first try. That would seem impossible! Asuka gets envious of Shinji's convenient talent.
She watched the Evangelion get prepared being launched to the surface and moved to the launch pad.
Akagi made the announcement when the doors above Unit-01 opened up. "We're ready for launch!"
"Understood!" Misato turns back to the Commander. "Commander Ikari, permission to proceed."
"Permission granted." The Commander answered. "If we don't defeat Sachiel, then the human race will die."
"Ikari, are you certain?" The old man next to the Commander asked.
"Oh, I am absolutely certain." That man still looks creepy, just sitting there with his fingers with his hands covering his mouth. Asuka doesn't believe that Shinji and that asshole are related. She's wondering where the mother is at.
"LAUNCH!"
Unit-01 blasts off through the tunnel upwards. It reached the main surface pretty quickly with the speed it was going.
"This is it, Shinji. Are you ready?" Misato asked.
"Uh… yeah." Asuka heard there was some hesitation in Shinji's voice.
"Release the final safety locks!" The locks on the EVA's shoulder pylons release. Unit-01 slumped forward. Misato shouted again. "Evangelion Unit-01… MOVE OUT!"
This is the first time an Evangelion was fully activated. Unit-02 was only half-activated only for simulators. In simulators, the EVA would only stand there and aim with a ranged weapon. It's not very fun. It's actually pretty boring. She just can't wait for her Unit-02 to walk around and fight Angels.
But right now, she can only watch Shinji and Unit-01 handle the job. There are many ways the fight can go. Shinji could end up victorious or fail to save the human race or he could sacrifice himself…
Asuka thinks about that last one. Shinji is the first person that she really got along with. He didn't know she was an EVA pilot and he still talked with her. He recognized her as a person and not an object. She found him very relaxing to be around. He was like a… friend. Asuka hasn't been prone to making friends.
Everyone in college and NERV's 3rd branch, besides Kaji, ignored her. Her piloting status had to be kept a secret for the sake of NERV being a secret.
She slowly tapped Misato's shoulder.
Misato turns to Asuka.
"Can I have a word with Shinji?" Asuka was expecting a no. The reason was that this operation was important to the human race and they wouldn't let her interfere. But it doesn't hurt to ask.
Misato raises an eyebrow but she then nods and steps aside. "Make it quick. We're going to have an operation in session."
Asuka steps forward and takes a deep breath. "Shinji… don't die." That was all she could say. It was the best way to tell him to be careful.
Asuka steps back and lets the operation be carried out. All she can do is watch the fight.
"Alright, Shinji." Asuka looks at Doctor Akagi standing next to one of three technicians, the one on the right seat. "Before we engage the Angel. I would like to do some tests first."
Asuka looks at Misato. "Tests?"
Misato shrugs. "It's the first time the EVA has been fully activated and the first time it has a lot of free space beside training in a box. So, Ritsuko wants to take this chance and make sure the EVA is actually able to move on its own."
Asuka sighs. "Fair point."
"Okay, raise your left arm while looking at the EVA's left arm." Akagi started.
"Um… Alright." Shinji sounded pretty confused.
The EVA raised its left arm straight up. "W-w-woah!" Shinji sounded amazed.
Akagi was having a satisfied look on her face. "Alright that's good. Now lower the arm and look at your hand."
The EVA's arm lowered and it brought up the hand at its face.
"Now slowly form a fist."
The EVA bends it's fingers, making a fist.
"Very good." Akagi said happily. "Now, grab onto the control handles and repeat those actions you just did by only thinking about it. Now try and concentrate. Use your right arm this time."
The fist dissolves and left hand lowers. The EVA soon raises its right arm, lowers it, brings up the hand to its face, forms another fist before quickly dissolving it, and eventually lowers the hand.
"Alright, Shinji, now try walking. All you need to do is JUST think about walking." Misato instructed.
"Um… okay… walk." Unit-01 raises its leg and then presses it down forward. That's one step for the EVA.
No Evangelion has ever walked before, none never even took a step under the pilot's command. Not even her Unit-02 has walked. Asuka just is shaking in excitement.
Unit-01 takes another step, a slightly quicker step.
"It's really walking!" Akagi exclaimed excitedly.
Unit-01 takes three more steps. Each step, the faster. People around the command center were making sounds of astonishment.
Misato begins raising a fist in the air. "Whoo! Look at him, he's up and going!"
The EVA begins making more and more steps through the empty street. It was actually walking. A lot of people in this room are watching. Some are beginning to cheer.
But the growing celebration died out when the technician on the middle seat turned his chair to glance at Misato. "Captain, Unit-01 is close to encountering Sachiel! It's coming into view on the visual feed!" Asuka looks at the main monitor and she sees the Angel enter into view, walking on a street that crosses the street Unit-01 is on.
The Angel looked a lot uglier. The long beaked, masked shaped face was moved aside by a new face in the middle.
Asuka doesn't think that Shinji is prepared for the fight yet. She was hoping Shinji would get a little more practice, so that he would be able to defeat the Angel and survive in the process. What an unlucky coincidence.
Misato groans. "I was hoping for a little more practice."
"Shinji can make the EVA walk. That's all I wanted for now." For some reason, Doctor Akagi can seem as cold as the Commander at times, it kind of makes her a little bitchy.
Misato huffs. "Alright, let's begin engaging in battle." She raises her head to look at the main monitor.
EVA Unit-01 has stopped since it spotted the Angel when it entered into view. Sachiel turns to its right, walking into the street the EVA is on. It comes to a halt, when seeing another giant.
"This is where the fun begins. Evangelion Unit-01!" Misato shouted. "Engage the enemy!"
The EVA took a few more steps… "CHARGE!" and then it begins to charge forward against the Angel, through Shinji's command. It passes the Angel and keeps on charging until it trips and slams to the ground.
Asuka watched as Shinji just charged in there like an idiot. That's an embarrassment for him and the EVA to trip like that. He should have been careful for his first move in battle.
"Shinji… Shinji, you have to get up now." Misato spoke out.
Asuka sees the Angel has turned around and walks to Unit-01 while Unit-01 rolls around to face the sky and tries to get up. Asuka looks around her in this room and sees that everyone in this room stands or sits still watching the main monitor. When the Angel gets closer to Unit-01, all three technicians lower heads to focus on their computers.
This battle has only begun.
SHINJI IKARI
Well that was embarrassing.
What happened so far was that Shinji was taught to move the EVA, he made it walk, he spotted the Angel, and then he tried to attack it. The attack ended in failure because the attack he chose wasn't a very wise action. What happened was that he charged past the Angel and he tripped. He could've thought of something better.
Shinji rolled the EVA on its back. He begins to look at the stars with some clouds trying to cover them. It's pretty beautiful. He once asked a question to his Aunt Minako. Why does she looks at the stars so much? His auntie answered this. It's where the people that are no longer with us are at, watching over us.
Shinji didn't believe her because when he looked at the stars, he couldn't seem to find Mother.
It's like she's still here in this world and Father has been lying that she's been dead.
Shinji begins to feel something with the LCL. It was a feeling of warmth. A mother's warmth… Mother? It's like she's been with him the whole time he was in this robot.
Then Shinji's thoughts are interrupted by a giant figure shadowing over him. The figure reaches both its hands to him. He reaches out his hands for the figure. The hands come into contact. The shadowy figure yanks the EVA to its face revealing itself as the Angel.
Shinji starts screaming in fear at the two misplaced creepy masked shaped faces and he uses Unit-01's leg to kick the red orb on the Angel's chest. That affected the Angel, making let go of the EVA's wrists and backs away.
Shinji stops screaming and Unit-01 jumps back once the Angel lets go then steps back once it lands. Shinji was breathing heavily after screaming his lungs out.
Before he was able to take complete control over his breath. Sachiel moves at fast paste towards him, roaring in rage which he has never seen the Angel do. It combines both fists and raises them, preparing to slam the EVA down.
Unit-01 catches the fists before the slam could land. The EVA pushes back against the Angel's fists. Shinji uses the EVA's hands to dissolve the Angel's combined fist, pulling both arms away from each other.
Sachiel's hand palm begins to glow. Shinji realizes that the Angel is preparing to shoot an energy beam aiming for the head.
Unit-01 pushes Sachiel away with full force. The beam only severed the EVA's right hand. Shinji screams in pain, nursing his right hand.
Akagi's voice came on to the intercom. "Shinji, that wasn't your actual right hand, it's fine. Keep your composure and focus on the Angel."
Shinji stopped screaming and stood the EVA still. He backs his left arm, making a fist, preparing for a punch. The grip on his fist was tight. He's got to prepare for the Angel's next advance. Hitting the core must have hurt that thing and made it angry.
Sachiel was moving fast towards Shinji, roaring in rage. Shinji prepares the EVA's punch, trying to make it as strong as possible. Shinji has had experience with fighting back against school bullies. His punches were pretty effective as well.
Shinji smirks. He's comparing school bullies to a fight for the human race's survival? He snorted.
Shinji must have gotten some perfect timing when releasing the punch. Unit-01 knocks Sachiel upwards, hitting the red orb. The Angel falls, slamming to the ground and begins to lay there, not moving.
Shinji blinks at the knocked out Angel. That went better than expected.
The intercom came on. Shinji heard a lot of cheering through there.
He heard Misato's voice. "Hey Shinji! Well done!"
He then heard a laugh from Asuka. "Well, not so bad for a rookie if I say so! I think you would make a worthy rival!"
Shinji doesn't like words of praise. So he decides to turn the good reception down nicely. "Oh that's nice and all…"
Shinji was interrupted by a shout from Doctor Akagi. "Be quiet, all of you! The target hasn't gone silent yet! It's currently recovering. Shinji..." Shinji is bringing full attention to Akagi's voice. "Defeat the Angel, quickly."
"Yes Ma'am." Shinji looks down at the lying Angel. The only expression he has is his disgust for it. That thing looked like it was never meant to exist.
Before he could make the EVA take a step forward and quickly finish the Angel, there was a heat signature detection alarm. He turns the EVA to look at where the signal was coming from.
He heard Akagi's cold voice. "Shinji, ignore that. It should not be of your concern."
"Yeah, well it is." Shinji fired back. There might be someone in danger. He can't just ignore that.
He sees a collapsed building at his right. The heat signature came from there. He turned on the outside audio and heard some loud cries from under that rubble.
Misato's voice came onto the intercom. "Shinji, what's going on, why aren't you finishing the Angel?"
"There's somebody under that rubble. I think it was caused by Sachiel's beam. I can't let that person die."
"Shinji, your priority is to defeat the Angel." Akagi said in a cold tone. "The authorities will handle the civilian."
"Then why don't send help, now?"
"We can't. As much as I am against that rule, there's nothing we can't do about it." Misato's voice sounded like she was really sorry. "Civilians are on their own in this situation."
"I can't leave an innocent person to die!" Those people can't be so careless.
"The civilian life is irrelevant." Father came on the intercom. "Destroy Sachiel."
Shinji hates it when that asshole speaks. He just wants to punch him in the face. He wishes he could do that.
Those loud cries were getting worse and worse. Shinji couldn't hear anymore of this. He's going to help this vulnerable person, even if it doesn't comply with orders. He moves Unit-01 closer to the rubble and kneels it down slowly.
Akagi came on the intercom and she sounded mad. "Shinji, do not disobey orders! Leave the civilian be."
"No." Shinji uses the EVA to pick up a pile of rubble and move it away. Each rubble that was moved, he can see more and more of the person trapped there. Once all rubble above the person was cleared. He begins to slide the rubble around the person away. Shinji was only using the EVA's large fingers, doing all of this.
Shinji takes a closer look at this person. This looks like a grade school girl about as old as Taiga. She was bleeding and barely moving but the heat signature is still there, meaning she's still alive. Shinji looked at the poor girl with worry. He looks around the area and sees no one around.
Then he heard a loud cry from the outside audio. "SAKURA!"
Shinji looks to see where that voice has come from. He looks to see a boy, his age in a tracksuit running towards the girl.
The boy looks up at the EVA and freezes. He looks terrified.
Shinji decided to turn on the EVA's speaker. "Get her out of here! Now!"
The boy jumps and steps back a little but he goes over to the girl and picks her up. He then carries her into a stable building, not looking back. While the girl had her eyes open, looking at the robot with a look of amazement.
Shinji looks at the boy as he runs off with the girl in his care. He's glad that someone came and got her to safety. He hopes that girl will be okay.
Shinji failed to hear Misato's shouting through the intercom. "Shinji! Behind you!"
He turns the EVA to see the Angel reaching for him. He forgot that he still was fighting that monster.
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
Doesn't that idiot remember that he's still in a fight.
Shinji had the Angel down but instead of finishing it off, he decided to listen to that stupid heat signature he got and help some vulnerable person trapped under rubble. Akagi was upset that he's not focusing on the Angel. Misato was just complying to the rules, even the ones she doesn't like. Both of them tried to tell him to focus on the Angel.
But Shinji was determined to help this person that's trapped under the pile of rubble on his right. He must have been a helpful person that would always give others a hand back at his home.
The only other person she knows that's like that is Kaji. Asuka smiles that she's found another person that gives kindness to people that deserve it.
Asuka volunteered to convince him to focus on the Angel. She wanted to tell him to focus on the Angel first and then he can help the civilian. But both Misato and Doctor Akagi turned her down before she could tell how she would convince him. They told her that she's only here to watch.
Asuka calls that bullshit. Sure, she's here to watch but she can at least give out some advice to the boy. Hopefully the Angel doesn't get back up.
"The Angel's getting back up!" The technician on the left seat said as the main monitor switched visual feed from Unit-01 looking at a boy in a tracksuit running up the injured girl to Sachiel rising up.
Damn it! Asuka is extremely irritated. She started hoping that wouldn't happen.
The Angel begins to move towards the distracted Unit-01 at a fast paste. Asuka heard it growl. Hitting that orb must have made it's bearer very angry.
"Shinji! Behind you!" Misato shouted in alarm.
Once the Angel reaches its hand to the other giant, the EVA turns around and quickly catches it with its only available arm. The EVA didn't have its right arm because it was severed by an energy beam and that was the Angel's advantage. Sachiel uses its free hand to knock its opponent to the middle of the road.
"Get up! Shinji you have to get up now!"
The Angel walks towards the knocked over EVA and grabs its head. The EVA was lifted from the ground and was carried like a ragdoll.
Sachiel grabbed a hold over Unit-01's left arm. It pulls the head and the arm in separate directions while twisting the arm. Asuka can hear Shinji grunting loudly.
"Shinji, that is not your actual arm! Calm down!"
Akagi walks towards the technician on the right at fast paste. "What's wrong with the EVA's defense system?"
"The signal's not working!"
The technician on the middle seat hollered out. "There's no field deploying!"
Akagi turns to that technician. "No field deploying?!"
The Angel eventually snaps the left arm, making it immobile. Asuka hears a gasp through the intercom.
"Left arm dislocated!"
"The circuits have disconnected!"
Sachiel drops the arm and raises the EVA higher, still with a grip on the head. Asuka can see the lance on the Angel's forearm glow and begin to press forward. It's going to blow through the head. Shinji could possibly die through these next few beams.
He's going to… die? Asuka doesn't want to think about it. She doesn't want to lose a friend she just found. Her worry overwhelms her and she runs forward, passing Misato. Misato grabs the girl's wrist before she could get far past her. "SHINJI! GET OUT OF THERE!" Asuka cried out.
Sachiel shoots an energy beam at the EVA's eye. It then shoots another energy beam. And then another beam.
The Angel just kept on shooting. "There's a crack on the braincase!" The technician on the right said in alarm.
"That armor won't take much more!" Akagi looked at the monitor with a horrified look.
One last beam blows through the EVA's head, pushing it away and crashing it to a building. The beam stops and Unit-01 slumped on the building's side, the damaged eye begins to spray out blood.
The alarms hit. Asuka looked up to see large hexagons pop up throughout the room, each one saying emergency.
"Unit-01's head is damaged! Extent of cranial damage is unknown!"
"We're having problems maintaining the EVA's activation!"
Misato's hand still has a grip on Asuka's wrist. She was also looking at the hexagons. "What's the status?!"
"The synchro graphs are reversing! The pulses are surging backwards!"
Akagi walks towards the technician on the right seat and puts a hand on the chair's shoulder. "Pull the circuit manually! Stop that backflow! Do it now!"
"We can't!" The technician responded. "The signal's been rejected! It refused every input!"
Misato turns her head to the technician on the middle seat. "What about Shinji?"
"His monitors are not responding!" The technician answered. "We can't tell if he's alive or if he's dead!"
"Unit-01…" The technician on the left seat started and proceeded. "Has gone completely silent!"
Asuka is breathing heavily. She doesn't want to believe that Shinji's dead but he could be. She could be already losing a friend after meeting a couple of hours ago. She turns to Misato who also has a face of worry. "Misato!"
Misato turns her head to Asuka. She blinks at her with worry and then she turns to the technicians. "I'm putting this operation at halt and suspending all orders. Top priority is now pilot's safety! Force the entry plug ejection!"
The technician on the right seat turns her chair to Misato. "There's no override! We've lost all control of the EVA! We can't get the pilot out!"
Asuka felt Misato twitched. "No…" Her voice was breaking.
Asuka looks up at the monitor that shows an immobile Evangelion Unit-01 with Shinji trapped inside. The boy's completely vulnerable to the Angel who could finish him off. Asuka lowers her head, pinches her eyes closed and begins to mutter.
"Don't die, Shinji."
She repeats those words.
"Don't die, Shinji."
She repeats those words again.
"Don't die, Shinji!" Her voice begins to break.
Then she heard the technician holler in alarm. "The Evangelion's reactivating!"
Asuka immediately raises her head and sees Unit-01 getting up from the crashed building. It's also making a sound. A sound that she's unfamiliar with coming from the EVA. There were some growls, grunts, and moans. She has never heard that from an EVA.
Akagi sounded baffled. "No… that can't be possible unless… Oh shit…" She raises her head and covers her mouth. "It's gone berserk." It was a whisper not meant to be heard but Asuka heard it. What does that woman mean by berserk?
"The EVA's right hand is regenerating!"
Asuka sees the EVA raise it's right arm that's missing a hand and a hand grows out. The hand looked more organic. That's also something unfamiliar coming from the EVA. She was always told that Evangelions are 100% robots. There's been some things about the Evangelions that she hasn't been told about. She then sees the hand make a fist.
One more unfamiliar thing about the EVA is the weirdest and freakiest Asuka has seen and heard. Unit-01 opens up a jaw and roars loudly like a beast would roar.
This has got to be a dream.
SHINJI IKARI
The last thing he remembers was that he was looking at the orb on the Angel's palm flashing at him. With each flash, his eye would hurt very badly.
And then one more flash and then everything went white.
…
There was only light. That's what he sees when he opens his eyes. Where is he? He doesn't know. Wherever here is, he feels warm.
He looks around without turning his head. He's assuming he's dead.
He's in a void. That's what he's also assuming.
He's also feeling something. Something he's been feeling for all of his life.
The feeling of emptiness…
The feeling of loneliness…
The feeling of directionlessness…
He scoffed. "Just as I thought. Death and life is all the same. Death was never a big deal, after all."
Now, there's something else, like this actually feels wrong. What could be so wrong about...
He finds that for the last twelve hours, it felt like he was living a different life. He met this beautiful girl and became friends with her. He's never had a friend besides Taiga. There also were feelings like...
confusion...
enjoyment…
happiness…
It was fresh from those old and dim feelings. He wants to feel those feelings again. The confusion, the enjoyment, and the happiness. He wants that again. But it's too late.
He's already dead. He's got what wasn't a big deal to him before and this is what he gets before realizing that he doesn't want this anymore. This is something he will never fix.
Shinji Ikari had never had cherished dreams or ambitions. He never aspired to any future profession or career. Fourteen years in his life, things have happened as they had to. But the last twelve hours, things didn't happen as they were supposed to. Now he feels sad that he's dead because he was sent to death. Realizing that he no longer wants it.
Then Shinji then stopped thinking about death when noticing a bright light shining behind him. He turns around to look at a spark. "What… is that?"
Emerging from the spark is a bright feminine figure swims motionlessly towards Shinji.
The figure spoke. 'My sweet boy! My sweet Shinji!'
Shinji is confused. "How do you know me? Who are you?"
The figure touched Shinji's face softly. 'Oh how much you've grown up. Don't you recognize me?'
Shinji's eyes widen. It can't be. But that soft touch felt so familiar. "M-m-mother?"
The figure holds Shinji in a tight embrace. 'You do recognize me! I've missed you so much!'
Shinji returns the embrace with his own and begins to cry in happiness. "W-where have you b-b-been these past t-ten years?" He couldn't stop the crying.
Mother lets go of Shinji and smiles. 'I'll show you. Nobody will hurt you there.' She swims toward the spark and turns back to the boy. 'Come with me.'
Shinji was going to immediately join Mother without a second thought. He's finally with her again. He can not be more…
Don't die, Shinji.
Shinji stopped himself when he heard that. That was Asuka's voice. Her voice was breaking. What did she say again?
Don't die, Shinji.
Those were the same words she said before he went out to fight Sachiel. It was a way for her to be careful.
Don't die, Shinji!
He realizes again that he doesn't want to die anymore. All because of building a friendship with this girl. He wants to feel those feelings again. The confusion, the enjoyment, and the happiness. He can't join his mother in that spark. He still wants to go back and live in the real world.
'You're hesitating.' Mother said. There was fear in that face.
Shinji looks down. "I'm sorry, Mother. But I can't go with you. I can't die now."
Mother looked at her son with anger appearing in her eyes. She swims towards him reaches for him. 'You know as well as I do. There's nothing in that world for you. I left your father because he was a horrible person. Now you can be with mommy forever doesn't that sound better?'
Shinji pushes his mother away. "No. There's someone there now. I may not know her very well but I want to know her. I want to be with her." Shinji smiles thinking about the laughs he had with Asuka.
Mother's voice became very stoic. 'Come with me.'
Shinji feels troubled with his mother's strange change of behavior. "What?"
'Come with me!' It sounded more forceful. Mother is sounding very unlike herself.
Shinji decided to make it short and simple to tell Mother that he's not going with her. "No."
The light in the figure begins to wither out. The shining feminine figure figure transforms into a mangled monster. Shinji gasps at this reveal. He wants to get away from it now. The monster reached for Shinji while Shinji was trying to keep it away.
'COME WITH ME!' The monster roared.
"No!" Shinji shouted at the monster.
The monster pulls Shinji into a tight embrace while Shinji is trying to get it off.
Shinji starts screaming for help. "HELP PLEASE, MOTHER… FATHER… MISATO… ASUKA!"
Shinji didn't see the other woman appearing behind the monster. But he did hear her. 'Go' It sounded a lot more like Mother than the monster tried to imitate. It sounded more encouraging.
Then everything goes white.
…
Shinji forces his eyes open to see the Angel approaching him. He finds that he's still inside of the entry plug.
He begins to feel a lot of unlimited rage. He feels rage on his father for abandoning him at that train station. He feels rage in this world for treating him like trash. He feels rage on the Angel for nearly killing him. He now feels like he wants to tear that monster apart. He snarls like a wolf would snarl.
He grabs a hold over the control handles and gets the EVA up from the building it was laying on and stands it up.
He then raises his right arm for some reason. He looks at the right arm. The EVA's arm is growing a new more organic hand and Shinji just smirks, forming a fist in his right hand.
And then he looked at the sky and felt like roaring at the sky, so he did.
He roared at the sky like a beast and the EVA roared with him.
Shinji leaps the EVA forward to Sachiel. He then leaps it up high in the air and prepares to squash on the Angel's face. Unit-01 lands both feet kicking the Angel's face. Half of the Angel's face cracks.
The Angel shoots out energy beams, narrowly missing the EVA's shoulders. Shinji flips Unit-01 off of the Angel to avoid later energy beams. The EVA slides backwards when landing. The sliding slowed and Unit-01 came to a stop. Shinji snickered.
Shinji charges the EVA like a beast towards the Angel. It was stopped when it bumped into a strong force field between the two giants. The force field was a large orange octagon with a smaller one on the inside and another smaller one on its inside and repeat.
Shinji grunts in frustration. "You think this force field will stop me?!"
ASUKA LANGLEY SOHRYU
Asuka has never seen the EVA do that. She never even thought that the EVA could do what it just did for its first attack.
She just saw Evangelion kick the Angel's face with perfect timing and perfect movement without getting hit. Once the Angel begins to try blasting the EVA off of its face, Unit-01 just flipped off of the Angel's face, avoiding later blasts, and landed, sliding backwards before stopping in the position of a beast preparing to chase after its prey.
Asuka couldn't help but ask. "Is Shinji doing all of this?!"
Akagi sounds baffled. "He can't be. It's just not possible!" Asuka raises an eyebrow, looking at the woman. "The way he's fighting… it's just too early for him to be at this level."
Asuka glances at the EVA with hundreds of questions in her head.
"It looks like we won." Asuka turns to the old man standing beside the Commander. What does he mean we won?
"Heh…" That was the one thing that came out of the Commander's voice. He still looks creepy in that posture.
Asuka sees Unit-01 dangerously running towards the Angel to attack it before bumping into something. It was stopped by an A.T. Field. Wait… the Angels have them too?
"It's an A.T Field!" Akagi shouted.
Asuka looks at the monitor that shows two giants being separated by the barrier between them.
"As long as that A.T. Field keeps holding up then…" Misato started.
"Then Unit-01 won't be able to touch that Angel." Akagi finished.
EVA Unit-01 roared at Sachiel and stepped back while extending its broken left arm. The formally immobile arm begins to swing around until it becomes moveable. The left hand bents its fingers and then unbends them.
"The left arm is restored!"
Asuka saw it herself and she still can't believe it. The EVA was able to regenerate its severed and dislocated body parts like they were never affected. She then begins mentally wonder. Is Shinji doing this… or is the EVA alive... or is it someone else doing all of this? What's going on?!
The EVA pushes both its arms towards the A.T. Field before digging its fingers through.
"Unit-01 has also deployed an A.T. Field! It's neutralizing the phase space!"
The Evangelion began to crawl its fingers through the barrier. Asuka heard some cracking in the A.T. Field.
"No! It's breaking through the A.T. field!" Akagi corrected.
Unit-01 opens a whole in the A.T. Field. It rips the barrier into two pieces and throws those two pieces aside like it threw some bedsheets. Asuka is shocked that the Evangelion broke that A.T. Field with so much ease.
"It broke that A.T. Field like it was nothing!" Misato looked shocked.
The Angel tries to make another attack. It's face flashes a bright light on the EVA. Unit-01 catches all that light by absorbing it all.
And then Unit-01 shot out a large energy beam that was cross-shaped, at the Angel, pushing it away. The visual feed later shows Sachiel lying there, affected by that counter attack.
Misato just stared at the monitor. "The EVA absorbed the power of the Angel's beam. And then it used the beam for its advantage."
The EVA begins to run towards the Angel and then it jumps very high in the air. It begins to descend towards the Angel, probably aiming for the core. It lands on the Angel, hitting the core with it's knee caps and then immediately hopping off. Sachiel's core begins to crack.
The EVA stood in front of the Angel just staring down at the knocked down monster.
Asuka can see Unit-01 clenches its fist. Unit-01 raises the arm up high and then slams the fist against the core. The core cracks. Unit-01 raises its other arm, also with a clenched fist and then slams the other fist against the core. The core cracks. Unit-01 raises both arms, combining both its fists and prepares for one big slam.
Sachiel roars and pulls itself up by jumping onto Unit-01 and wrapping itself around the enemy while morphing into a sphere. The sphere begins to glow.
"It's going to self-destruct!" Misato shouted.
The Angel explodes, making the monitor really bright. No one's sure what happened there. The only thing Asuka's concerned about is if the EVA is alright.
"Is the EVA…" Misato stopped when she already got the answer to her question she was about to ask.
The brightness begins to shift. The monitor begins to show a large crater, steaming fire. The monitor doesn't show the middle of the crater. Then a giant shadowy figure, that's shaped like an EVA climbs up and steps off of the crater. The way that it's walking is like it just destroyed an army with ease. The way that it's walking gives Asuka the chills.
Everybody just stared at the monitor. There was no one raising their fists up. No one was cheering. Just stares. For the first, Asuka has seen the EVA in this shape. It actually scares her. This is the kind of thing she's piloting? This… monster?
"That must be the EVA's true form." Asuka heard Misato whisper out. She doesn't know how to feel about these new revelations. Maybe her Unit-02 is also like this. She doesn't know how to feel right know.
The Evangelion then came to a stop and began to stand there frozen. Asuka sees no other giant coming out from the crater so she assumes that Sachiel is probably dead. Well, that was NERV's mission, so mission accomplished.
"The circuits have reconnected."
"The Systems are restored. The graphs are back to normal."
"Life signs are confirmed for both the EVA and the pilot."
"Send out a recovery team." Akagi ordered. "Hurry!"
"Preserving the pilot's safety is our top priority." Misato stated.
Asuka looked that the EVA. She heard the pilot is okay. She sighs in relief.
Asuka for some reason had the urge to look at the highest deck where the Commander is at. She looks to see that the Commander is already gone. He's probably earned himself the nickname Commander Asshole. She hates him as much as she hates her own dad. She doesn't even know why.
Asuka felt a tap on her shoulder. She looks to see Misato beside her.
Misato was looking at her. "Let's go." She looked towards the exit.
Asuka nods and looks towards the exit. She's just glad that her friend is okay.
They both walk out of the room to wait for Shinji to be recovered from the EVA.
SHINJI IKARI
The last thing he remembered was an explosion that made everything go white again.
Everything was white until darkness took over. The next thing he knows he's in a dark city street. It looked long, quiet, and empty. He is currently walking slowly to wherever this road leads to. No matter how strange and creepy it looks, he's intending to keep on walking forward.
Until he hears a loud stomp. He stops. He hears another stomp. He's hearing nothing else but some wind blowing. He hears another stomp. He turns around and looks up. He sees that same mangled monster but it's the size of the Evangelion he was piloting. He is filled with fear.
The monster begins to reach for Shinji. 'MY SWEET BOY! COME WITH ME!' That voice is so horrifying to hear.
Shinji tries to run away from it. "I'M NOT YOUR SWEET ANYTHING! GET AWAY FROM ME!" He tried to make that loud and clear.
The monster grabs Shinji. The boy tries to hit the hand to free himself but to no avail, the hand wouldn't let go. 'IT IS USELESS TO RESIST! JOIN ME! WE. CAN. BECOME. ONE!'
"LET GO OF ME!" Shinji begins to cry for help. "HELP! SOMEBODY! HELP ME PLEASE!"
The hand brought Shinji to the monster's ugly face. The monster then disappears with a bright flash of light. Shinji fell to nothing until he landed on something. He gets up and sees that he's in a train, the same train he was on when heading for Tokyo-3 except it was in the sunset.
He heard a voice. A woman's voice. It sounded like Mother. "So, we're having twins. Have you decided the names?"
He heard another voice. It sounded like Father. "Well, the boy will be Shinji and the girl will be Rei." He sounded optimistic. Shinji never heard Father never sound optimistic.
The woman then whispered. "Shinji… Rei…"
Shinji is confused at this conversation. Is this conversation about him? If so, why did Mother say Twins? He looks around to find where the voices are coming from. He sees a shadowy figure. He didn't get much details on this figure because the next thing he knew he was pulled away from the figure.
He was flying backwards. He didn't know where he was going. It was all going so fast. It kept getting faster. He didn't when it would end.
Another flash of light and Shinji opens his eyes.
He's laying in a bed. He sits up and looks around. He's in a hospital room. The walls are white. The windows look bright. The only sound he's hearing is the sound of cicadas.
"It was just a dream." He sighs and lays back down. He stares at the ceiling, which looks unfamiliar. He frowns. "I don't know this ceiling." There's now a lot of questions filling his head. Where is he? Was he fighting a giant monster with a giant robot? What happened?
Perhaps most of it wasn't a dream.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Some notes from the author...
That fight scene was hard to do. This entire chapter was hard to do in general. There was a lot of new elements and ones that carry from the Manga. This is alternate universe so I can write the fights differently from what the Anime and Manga showed. I believe that the other fight scenes like Ramiel, and Zeruel will be a nightmare to write. This is why this chapter took so long to write. I never really wrote fight scenes before.
This chapter showed how Sakura Suzuhara got hurt. I wrote this scene because the Anime, Manga, and Rebuild never showed this. I believe they did that for a very good reason but is that reason going to stop me? It actually shows that Shinji is helpful for others and doesn't want people to die for his recklessness. Shinji does have a heart under that sarcastic and aggressive behavior. Sakura's brother, Toji will appear not long after the next chapter and Sakura will appear a lot later.
The last section starts up a new plotline. It's been on my mind for a while and its going to play a big part on this story. More information with either come from Yui, Gendo, or Fuyutsuki. But that will be for another time. I will not explain anymore of this.
I will come back and change some stuff in Chapters to fix some grammar and story errors.
Please review. I am more than happy to hear some criticism from other people. I like improving my work.