.hack/EVA: Catharsis: Discordian Rhapsody
Disclaimer: In this universe in the quantum foam, I do not own or in any way shape or form hold a claim to the .hack series or Neon Genesis Evangelion.
" " denotes speech
'italics' denotes thought
'bold' denotes location names
'bold italics' denotes skill use
A/N: How quickly time passes, from fall to winter, and now to spring. I'm afraid I went into a sort of writer's hibernation these last few months, but things are getting back on track, so I'll try to make it up to you all by getting the story out more quickly. Thanks again for reading.
Θ Hidden Forbidden Virgin Peaks, Six Ringing Peaks of Al Fadel
The Lost Ground of Al Fadel. the highest mountain in all The World. A sacred place with forbidden knowledge, likened to the high place in Christian Lore from which the Christ was tempted with dominion over all kingdoms of the world. In the lore of the Epitaph, it was said that anyone who managed to scale its craggy peaks would the truth of all things, reaching a sort of enlightenment that would allow him or her to transcend weakness and become like a god.
Not that such a feat was easy by any means, since Θ Hidden Forbidden Virgin Peaks was not a well-known location, and even if it were, the presence of high-level creatures, and tricky footing combined with the fierce onslaught of the wind about the sheer cliffs conspired to knock aspiring climbers from their perches. This tended to keep most people away, despite the (hollow) promises of knowledge from on high. After all, there was no deity of The World, right? And wasn't the pursuit of power in a virtual world more beneficial than that of knowledge?
Nevertheless, when the pursuit of pure power failed to get the required results, even those who ordinarily cared only about conventional measures of success were willing to go to extremes to achieve their goals. Thus, this fine (tempestuous, stormy) morning, a pair of adventurers had decided to challenge the peak to see if there was any truth to the rumors swirling about it.
A curiously petite Tribal Grappler and a fierce Edge Punisher were they, with both having risen early in the morning to meet in the town of Mac Anu, from which they journeyed out to this forsaken land, each hoping to find the answers they sought. One hoped to know if the Epitaph had truly not come to an end, if what was happening in The World had a meaning to it; the other, to gain the knowledge she needed to defeat those who would oppose her in her quest for power.
Not surprisingly, as if the land had sensed one who was unworthy to know its secrets and was acting upon that precept, it was the latter of the two who first lost her grip.
"Verdammt!" the red-haired Edge Punisher snarled as she slipped down the cliff face, thudding against protruding rocks as plummeted towards the ground. But she wasn't quite ready to give up, and with a whirr-hiss-clang!, she drew one of her blades and rammed it into the solid rock, hanging there for a moment before beginning her ascent again.
"Are you alright, Eris-san?" the other called down, her voice just barely audible in the distance. "Do you want me to wait for you to catch up?"
"Just—damn—peachy!" came the bitten back reply, along with a series of animalistic grunts and some other muffled curses. "And no, keep going. No sense in waiting when sooner or later, the great Asuka Langley Soryu will surpass you!"
Try as she might, the silver haired Lycoris could not keep herself from smirking, an expression echoed by the twinkle of amusement in her golden eyes.
"That's what you said before you slipped and fell halfway down the mountain last time," the Tribal Grappler noted pointedly, deciding to wait anyway. Uncharacteristically for a member of her class, she was not wearing tight fitting clothing or wearing gauntlets, simply clad in a flowing red dress and cape set, held in place by an infinity brooch at her neck. And strangely enough, the spider lily she wore over her left ear did not blow away…
"Oh, never mind that small little accident," Eris called back up, her voice coming a bit closer, her words punctuated by little grunts of exertion. "It was just a futile effort by this mountain to keep the great Asuk-aaa—!"
As an aside, one of the most widely acclaimed features of The World: R2 had been the extremely sophisticated physics engine, capable of modeling almost any character interaction with the environment. From the effects of wind, rain, and terrain on movement, to the many ways in which the surrounds could be used as a weapon, to the tendency of handholds to dissolve as one was climbing…
So it wasn't too terribly surprising that another thump-clang was heard, along with a cry of "Scheiße!" from below. Lycoris sighed, and resumed working on the climb, which had already taken a couple of hours. After a week of working with her temporary partner, the silver haired girl had learned that the german girl was very temperamental, and despised the thought of needing someone's help.
At least the summit was now in sight, stark against the shroud of clouds that had prevented it from being seen only minutes ago. Being the more patient of the two, the petite Tribal Grappler had been content to make slow, steady progress, as opposed to Eris' frenzies of motion that only resulted in her losing her grip and backsliding. And so she continued to climb, though she paused as she saw two figures already at the pinnacle of the mount: a blue haired steam gunner clad in blues and whites, his left arm encased by a large metal cylinder, and a grey haired youth in silver and black robes, holding a set of silver fans with seven eyes embossed on each.
"Well, people always feel pain in their hearts," the Macabre Dancer was saying, gesturing as if showing the Steam Gunner an unseen vista stretched out below. "And because it is easy to feel pain, existence is painful. But your heart is more fragile than most, and heavier…like lead glass, falling, shattering upon hallowed ground."
"But there's…there's no more time. An awful sound…the World overflowing with despair…" the Steam Gunner replied, his glasses flashing orange as the sun momentarily broke through the clouds.
"A wave rushes on, until at last it breaks upon the shore," replied the other, red eyes looking curiously at the despairing man. "All we can do is not run away, Ovan."
"My last option...or perhaps all there was from the very beginning."
"You are the same as me, but this world is something we'll make for ourselves," replied the other in a gentle tone, laying one fan upon the metal cylinder that cased Ovan's arm and gesturing to the world below. "Happiness. Sadness. Love. Hate. Hope. Despair. So many emotions in a world where everyone is alone, yet can forget and thus be able to live."
"Death and Rebirth. The Epitaph. The Cursed Wave speeding to the shore. The end of evangelion, the end of good tidings," the Steam Gunner expressed, looking down with an unreadable expression on his face. "I know what I must do, Siarl, consuming happiness and sadness, consuming all emotion so that an end may come for me."
"Curious, to deny oneself the company of others, out of fear of hurting more," the Macabre Dancer said with some finality, faintly smiling as the wind ruffled his grey hair. "Freude, schöner Götterfunken, tochter aus Elysium! Wir betreten feuertrunken, himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo Dein sanfter Flügel weilt."
A whoosh and a chime, and the Macabre Dancer was gone. Ovan raised an eyebrow at the familiar words, the lyrics to a song of old, and warped out as well.
Lycoris had remained still while this scene had unfolded above, and as she paused to think about what she had heard, the scrape of leather against rock made her look down. In the intervening time, the Edge Punisher Eris had finally managed to catch up to her, though the redhead was looking at her with a bit of puzzlement.
"Why were you speaking the words to Ode to Joy?" she asked curiously, eyes narrowing at the other. "You weren't just trying to mock how slow I was, were you?"
"No," Lycoris answered, still otherwise motionless. "There were two others speaking from above, a Steam Gunner and a Macabre Dancer."
"Nani!" Eris shouted, almost flipping out and losing her grip once again. She was saved from a fall only by her companion keeping hold of her wrist, and gave the silver haired girl a sheepish smile while she muttered under her breath. "It was probably those two blunettes Skari and Skadi deciding to use this place to make out like little dolls, just perfect for one another."
It was fortunate that the PK was not looking directly at the girl in red, lest she would have seen the Tribal Grappler stiffen, as if ready to throw a not-so-loving boomerang hook. The tension passed, and Lycoris forced herself to simply harrumph.
She does not know the identity of either in real life, nor of what has come before…
"No, it was a steam gunner named Ovan, with blue hair, white robes, and orange sunglasses," she replied after taking a moment to calm herself. "And a Macabre Dancer named Siarl, with—"
"Blue hair, you said?" Eris cut in sharply. "I've met his ilk before…and they are not worthy of my time, any of them."
Lycoris sighed, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to change her partner's mind for now. "We're almost to the top."
The two young women looked at one another and nodded. Whatever their personal feelings about anything or anyone else, the only thing that mattered at the moment was reaching the summit of Al Fadel and finding what lay there. The next few minutes were silent, except for the scraping of rock on metal, leather, and cloth, the two shimmying and scurrying up the cliffs, until at last, both of them reached the pinnacle.
Eris felt compelled to comment before even taking a look around.
"Well, this is a disappointment," she began, "we climbed up for hours only to—"
She was unable to finish her sentence, struck dumb as the clouds parted beneath her to reveal the whole of The World, surrounded by the immensity of the Morrigu Barrow Wall. No one was visible from that great height, and even the Keel Mountains seemed only idly rolling hills below, with the wind wrapping around both adventurers, almost lifting them up higher into the air.
"I am not alone, then, for my sister and my niece still exist in The World," Eris heard her counterpart murmur. "She of twilight, she of dawn and the very air of The World, she who is the west wind, herald to the spring, the three are there in the end as in the beginning. The Wave is only a beginning, and the world yet breathes."
Eris would have replied in scathing confusion, but as she turned to do so, she stayed her words, seeing the look of complete peace on Lycoris' face, one she envied. Such peace was unknown to her in her life, with all she respected being strength. The Edge Punisher looked down at the view once more and smiled dangerously.
'One day, all that I see will be mine. I see how small The World is now, and how soon others will fall…from this highest point, all lies open to me…'
In the background, the blaring of an alarm shattered the stillness of the moment. The two looked at one another again and simply nodded, knowing they would see each other at school.
A flurry of golden rings, and both were gone, as a new day dawned.
NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3
Asuka walked through the still barren metal corridors, with nothing to calm her overactive mind as she reflected on her first week in Tokyo-3. As she had expected, the boys of class-2A (and all of Tokyo-3 1st Municipal Junior High School, for that matter) were quite predictable, falling over themselves to stuff a love letter into her locker or show off to her. While she admitted that it was amusing to watch them, she also knew that the lots of them were perverts, intent on getting into her pants. Well, all with the exception of the Idiot Duo, who seemed to avoid her as if they recognized how much pain they would be in if they crossed her.
Aside from them, the greatest mystery of the boys was the Third Child, who seemed curiously close to both the blunette Ayanami (and here she ground her teeth at the thought of having to work with a blunette) and Hakubo. Funny, he hadn't seemed such a playboy on the ship, but he was, after all, a male, so he would have to be curiously watched.
Speaking of Hakubo, Asuka tried to puzzle out what Reimeiki had meant in The World. Did the silver-haired girl mean that she was alone, looking for her relatives in the real world? That would make sense, if she had been separated from them earlier in life? Or was there something else to her meaning that had greater relevance to the game?
'Bah! I'll never get the information I need this way…nor will I find out who the ones named Skari, Skadi, and Tomoyami truly are in this world without doing some snooping. I have a feeling that Aranami-sensei doesn't like me.'
Something bothered Asuka about Yumi Aranami, the teacher of 2-A. She seemed almost too composed, too confident, and held control over the class without even seeming to try. It was almost as if the woman was used to being obeyed, almost as much as Commander Ikari, if rumors could be believed.
Of course, if rumors were true, then the Third Child was also the stuff of legend, the best pilot of the trio, and somehow, without any bias whatsoever, the Second disagreed with that assessment. After all, hadn't she trained for all of her life to be an Eva Pilot, whereas the Third had simply waltzed in and gotten lucky with his high-sync ratio? Then again…he had known what he was doing, both in the battle against the 6th Angel, and in the simulations.
But just the very thought of those simulations, so much different than what she was used to, made her wince and mutter under her breath.
'When I find out who thought of these thrice verdammen simulations, I'm going to hurt him or her. What kind of simulation puts the most experienced pilot in last place?
Like nothing she had experienced before, the virtual world training had taken its toll on her, since instead of normal simulations, where there would be no pain, and only a simple test of ability, this situation had involved practically live-fire combat tests. She had been shoved into a "special" plug suit that synced with the simulation room, and given weapons to use against enemies—but with no simulated Eva for protection. Rather, she was her Eva, which was ridiculous! An Eva was only a robot, after all, so what would training herself under these conditions do to improve her skill? Its not as if she needed to open her mind to use it, merely needing to use the controls and direct the unit where she wished.
But NERV was not to be denied, and so she had grudgingly participated—only to be shown how bad her skills in teamwork were. Ignoring the warnings of the Third Child that winning alone was difficult at best, Asuka had insisted on not working together. She had taken a progressive axe as her personal armament and rushed into battle as soon as the simulated Sachiel appeared.
…And then the second one had emerged from the water and jammed an energy lance into her side, causing her to double over in pain. When she was able to move again, the redhead had been coolly informed that because of her recklessness, Tokyo-3 had been destroyed and Third Impact initiated. Needless to say, her confidence was shaken, but she insisted on working alone again, this time to prove she was the best pilot.
She was ready for the second one this time, but the first surprised her by not dying from her blow, and then self-destructing, leaving her incapacitated once more.
'So much for battle being elegant and without waste,' the Second Child thought grimly to herself. 'This, after all, is not The World, though I could use a good Fire Storm about now to distract my foe.
In the end, the prima donna had bowed to pain, and had agreed to work with her other pilots in teams of two, which had led to a better set of results—well, except for dealing with two copies of the fifth angel, as one had been difficult enough to beat for the First and Third combined. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen both of the other Children's battle styles somewhere before, especially in the way they would switch fluidly between twin blades and positron rifles.
But there would be no test today, for as she was on her way to the virtual battle room, the angel alert klaxon sounded.
'Well well well…my debut battle. I will show them my skill and prove that I am the greatest pilot that NERV has, greater than the doll, and even the Third, though he's almost at my level.
NERV Bridge
"We have a report from the cruiser on station," reported Shigeru over the radio, "A gigantic underwater object has been detected. Blue Pattern Confirmed."
Misato's voice came soon after.
"The intercept system of Third New Tokyo city is only at 26, having been heavily damaged in the last battle. Operable armament is for all intents and purposes, none. Thus, we must defeat the target before it lands at the waterfront. Units 1 and 2, commence attack."
"Roger," came the voices of both pilots, ready for action.
Tokyo-3 Waterfront
"Why can't I go into battle alone again?" Asuka questioned, her tone sweet but dangerous, as if the wrong answer would have severe repercussions that might just involve Unit 02, a Prog Knife, and a certain Third Child held helpless at knifepoint.
"You do remember what happened the last time you went into combat alone in the simulator?" Shinji shot back, having grown used to the rumblings and threatened eruptions of Mt. Asuka by now.
"You know damned well that was the simulator, high and mighty Third Child!" she snapped back. "Besides, that time we knew there were going to be two targets. What about the time where one just divided into two and kicked our asses?"
"…I didn't see you responding to that either, oh great Asuka Langley Soryu," Shinji replied, a smirk of dry amusement gracing his face.
"Its not an honorable fighter's way to attack with two when the enemy is only one," the redhead muttered in turn, knowing that she was supposed to follow orders, but not really enjoying the prospect of doing so.
"Its also not honorable to want to wipe out a city of civilians, ever think of that?" Shinji said softly, to which Asuka fell silent, unable to come up with a retort. However, to prevent her from blowing up on him afterwards, he relented. "Fine…I changed my mind. Go in first, but keep an eye on it…somehow I don't think this one will be any easier than the last."
A rumble took the attention of the conversation and directed it to the waterfront, where a massive, vaguely humanoid creature was emerging from the waves. Its razor sharp claws gleamed in the light of noon, and a mask like a Yin-Yang symbol topped its skeletal frame. Israfel, Angel of Music, roared defiance at the Evangelions and advanced, ready to do battle.
"Ok, here I go!" cried Asuka, charging in with EVA Unit 02, progressive lance held high. Two titans, one angelic and one mechanical, rushed towards each other on a direct collision course, when without warning, Israfel launched an energy beam at the red biomech. Luckily, EVA-02 had just bounded into the air, its momentum carrying it up and over the beam as it somersaulted forward and cleaved the Angel in two.
'That was easier than I expected,' she thought to herself, 'but I suppose even the Angels can't resist my strength. Score one for the great Asuka Lang—"
"Asuka, duck!" Shinji shouted suddenly, the ground coming alive with the thud-thud-thud of kiloton footfalls pounding towards her location.
"Eh?" she asked, turning around just in time to see what seemed like a second Angel hurtling down at her from the sky, apparently mirroring what she had done to the first Angel—which was now up and ready as well. "Ach, Mein Gott en Himmel!"
She barely managed to jam her progressive lance into its torso and shove it back, though it quickly retaliated with an energy blast that sent Unit 02 reeling—accidentally dropping her lance on her power cord. On her way to impact, the Second Child saw the very disheartening sight of Unit 01 being pummeled as well, having lost its own power connection.
One minute left…we doomed.
"Oh hell, that's unfair!" came Misato's voice over the radio, soon to be followed by her fellow pilot's.
"Asuka, one minute left," crackled Shinji's voice over the combat channel. "Remember those Sachiel clones we had to deal with in training? Prog knives only, in sync, go!"
Asuka was about to protest, when she noted that the Third (as brash as he could be at times) was right. And if she could win here, even with his help, she'd still have an unblemished record in combat (as long as one didn't count the simulators).
Prog knives? No bigger weapons at my disposal?
"Sure, but you're taking me shopping for ruining my first battle. And if I kill mine first, you owe me a steak dinner. Baka."
Unit 01 froze for just a moment as Shinji processed the words the Second Child has just said. "What?" was his oh-so-eloquent reply (obviously, the lessons on Shakespeare and the Epitaph of Twilight were rubbing off).
The crimson Unit 02 roared to life once more, using its pack of flechettes to keep the two Angels at bay temporarily. "Well, what are you waiting for, Third Child? Lets beat this thing so you can buy me dinner."
Shinji was about to protest, but with the battery life down to 50 seconds, there really wasn't any time for that.
And then the melee began, with each combatants seeking out an opposite number and charging forward in berserk rage. First came the cross flares, simultaneously homing towards the EVAs, with razor claws not too far behind.
"Expanding AT field!" the pilots cried, as the blast of energy hurtled towards them, connecting with a massive explosion. Twin pillars of water and mud sloshed into the air, shooting high into the sky and then fading.
In this situation, Shinji wished he had a positron rifle, as he had often practiced with, but such was not the case today. Today, his armament had consisted only of lance and knife, and while in his mind he bemoaned the ineffectiveness of such weapons (not that "Guns…lots of guns" would have been more effective), he would have to make do. After all, in The World, was he not an Adept Rogue, capable of using any weapon?
40 seconds remaining.
They looked to one another and then sprang into the air, simultaneously spinning in the air and landing a hit on the twin Angels' masks. Close combat range now, and Asuka took the opportunity to ram her knife into the core of the monstrosity, putting all her might behind it. Waves of light rippled at the points where AT fields intersected, but Israfel had a rather weak field, and so it was broken through.
30 seconds remaining.
"One down, Third Child," Asuka haughtily proclaimed, pulling her weapon from the core as her enemy went still. But the moment the weapon was free, the Angel of Music blurred into motion again, slashing at her unprotected gut with the razor sharp spikes on its hands. "Ah Gott…"
It smashed her unit to the ground, and leapt high into the air to perform a finishing blow. Even without the claws, the Angel's mass was a deadly weapon with the help of gravity. And if she didn't do anything, the spikes would surely penetrate her entry plug, causing a painful—if swift—death.
Shinji, on the other hand, had managed to block his Angel's claws with his prog knife, using the free hand of his Eva to punch the double with an armored fist. It roared in pain and staggered back, before Unit 01 followed up with a sweeping blow to the legs.
20 seconds.
Now it was the Third's turn to leap up and perform a finishing move, throwing his prog knife and firmly embedding it into the Angel's mask. Asuka, seeing this, twisted upright and out of the way as the ungainly Angel slammed into the ground. Angry at the way the thing had treated her in her first battle, she grabbed it by a leg and flipped it over, straddling the enemy and smashing the mask open with an armored elbow.
10…9…8…7…6
Following up on his previous move, Shinji bullrushed the Angel, knocking it down, and pulling out the prog knife. Seeing Asuka ready to strike, he raised his weapon for a coup de grace as well, as both pilots slammed their knives home into the Angel's cores.
5…4…3…2…
"Targets have gone silent," reported the voice of one of the techs over the radio, as the two pilots breathed a sigh of relief, opening up a video link to discuss their most recent battle.
"Since I killed mine first," 'reasoned' Asuka in arch tones, "you owe me dinner."
"We killed ours at the same time," Shinji replied, rolling his eyes. "Besides, you nearly cost us the battle by not keeping watch on the Angel."
"ANTA BAKA! Who do you think you are?"
"The one who's done this before…rookie."
"Why you—!"
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's point of view), the radio chose that moment to fail as the Evangelions switched to life support mode, leaving the question of who owed who what to be decided.
NERV Bridge
"These kids are really embarrassing us," muttered Sub-commander Fuyuzuki.
"With all due respect, at least they won, Sub-Commander," responded Misato. "Imagine what would have happened if they'd lost that battle. We might have had to call in the UN."
"…Point."