Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.
Chapter – 01
Fate
"AT Field deploy at Full Power!" his voice echoed out full of determination.
This time he would be fighting for something he believed. No longer would he allow himself to go out into the battlefield in the hope that he would be loved and acknowledged by others. This wasn't like before.
In a matter of seconds all of the surrounding area was swept by an invisible force flattening any and all matter. This force halted the aggressors in place, it was so powerful not even their combined strength managed to push it back, for that was the true nature of the AT Field, an unbreakable barrier against all who are not deemed worthy of passing it.
However soon enough they gave up their advances and used the weapons that took down the Unit 02. With a swift movement one of the MP Evas, with spikes protruding from its head, threw a blatant copy of the blood-coloured weapon known to him only as the Lance of Longinus.
Shinji weaved left and his biomechanical counterpart responded dodging the lance as it wrapped the wall of the soul around it as it passed through.
Now stripped of his greatest defence and on one knee, Unit 01 observed the white MP Evangelion Units slowly form a circle around it. Shinji took a large breath, a pointless gesture as he was submerged in LCL but psychologically necessary in order to prepare himself for the battle that was to come. It was a nine on one brawl and every instinct in Shinji's body screamed at him to run away, that this was a sure loss, that he would die in agony, but Shinji ignored those feelings.
He wouldn't run away. He wouldn't run.. away. He WOULDN'T run away!
One of the MP Evas launched itself at Unit 01. Shinji turned the colossal titan he piloted in time and locked the white head of the enemy Eva under the right arm of the purple behemoth allowing the momentum of the charge to drop Unit 01 into the ground, slamming the head of the MP Eva into the hard ground with several Kilotons worth of force behind it.
His synch ratio was such that he felt the resulting mush from the crash under his arm. Time didn't allow for any reaction as he heaved his war machine into a backwards roll before a second white Evangelion jumped in and slammed the spot where Unit 01 was standing before with another lance.
His relief at the well-executed dodge was short-lived as he felt his ribcage being pressured sideways. Another tackle from one of his aggressors. Shinji steeled himself and willed Unit 01's right leg into the ground stopping the tackle and increasing the pressure to his ribs.
Unit 01's massive arm lifted into the air and dropped an elbow into the spinal frame of the MP Eva shattering Unit 01's forearm guard and the spine of his opponent.
'Two down' he allowed himself a moment.
Before the boy could react, his nerves were assaulted by pain a pain so real that even though he knew it wasn't his real shoulder being pierced, he couldn't help but tear up at the very much real pain he felt as another forged lance pierced Unit 01's left shoulder destroying the black pylon that rested atop it.
"Agghhh!" he shrieked as he felt muscle and bone being penetrated, shattered and pushed.
Sensing a moment of weakness, two white titans moved in for another blow, failing to see the demonic visage of Unit 01 as it rended the lance from its shoulder splattering cubic tons of blood all over the battlefield. With a swift motion Shinji willed the lance into the cranium of one of the MP units, causing its body to arch backwards as it toppled to its knee sliding pathetically through the battlefield before halting in front of Unit 01.
What a sight it must have been, Shinji thought, as he held back tears and tried to ignore the very real hole he felt was in his left shoulder. In front of him the MP Unit was on its knees, arms flopping uselessly at its side with a monumental black spear impaling its head almost as if praying for absolution to the biomechanical god that was Unit 01.
'Three Down' he noted to himself as the second charging Eva slammed him into the ground, nearly making him puke out the LCL he held in his lungs.
The crash shook the very foundations of Tokyo-3 above them as two colossal bodies struggled in the ground of the GeoFront for dominance.
Shinji wasn't trying to come out on top though. He saw another Eva aim a large blade at him and before it connected Shinji kicked the ground forcing the Unit he was struggling with on top. He felt another large weight being pressed into his chest as the blade cut through the MP Unit nearly entirely.
With the blade stuck inside his comrade Unit 01 tossed the body aside forcing the blade to be discarded alongside the body. Without warning he kicked the knee of the attacking White Unit and felt the sickening feeling of a kneecap being crushed and forced inside the leg. As the White Unit fell, unable to stand without the support of one of its legs, Shinji deployed his progressive knife from his remaining right pylon. The knife embedded itself into the lower part of the head of the MP Unit as it crashed down on it.
"Ugh… Ugh… F-Four." Shinji managed, barely keeping it together.
He grabbed a hold of the progressive knife, pulling it from the cranial frame of the downed Eva releasing copious amounts of blood on the already tainted battlefield as he did so. Shinji pictured himself with the blade in a combat stance and the colossal figure of Unit 01 followed suit with barely any lag in the motion. If nothing else, NERV had pounded the essentials of combat into Shinji, though he would admit he was never as proficient as Asuka at it, whereas the redhead was a well-trained warrior, Shinji's combat style could only be described as raw violence.
Massive as they were the Evangelions were no slouches when it came to speed. In a moment's notice he forced one of the large blades to the side by deflecting it with the progressive knife. The impact of the massive object reverberated throughout his whole arm but with the blade redirected the MP Eva was thrown off by the weight of its own attack leaving Unit 01 time to deal with the rest of the mass-produced units. They had numbers, but their combat efficiency was subpar at best, at least when Shinji compared them to Asuka.
'There's no way you… No way you could beat her.' Shinji thought as he slammed Unit 01's shoulder into one of the MPs tearing the land apart from the shockwave.
As wrapped his damaged arm around the throat of the fallen, white, Eva he pulled his progressive blade and with one swift motion Unit 01 ripped through the throat of its prey. It was almost done with; those things were almost all taken care of but for some reason Shinji couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the battle.
As the test type unit rose to its feet Shinji could feel his exhaustion mounting.
Four remaining enemies to deal with. In the corner of his eyes Shinji saw one of the large broad blades his enemies had been using and released his grip on the progressive blade, forcing the skyscraper sized behemoth he piloted into a mad dash towards the weapon stuck to the ground. His shoulder screamed in agony, his ribs floated as if broken underneath his skin and his eyes teared up at every motion, but the fight wasn't over with and this time he wouldn't let himself break down. Not yet.
As Unit 01 dashed he felt his two pursuers on his tail and forced Unit 01 into its knees sliding past the blade stuck on the floor. As he slid past the blade, he grabbed a hold of it with his left arm forcing massive amounts of red substance to erupt from Unit 01's shoulder. The sudden grip changed the slide he was on and pulling a U turn he was facing two angels rushing at him and wide open. With the momentum of the turn, he ripped the blade from the field tearing rock and dirty up alongside it and swung the oversized weapon horizontally. The first impact barely offered resistance as he bathed the field in blood, the upper body of one of the MPs crashing to the side lifelessly. The second impact was less efficient, the blade stalled midways through the breast plating.
"Crap!" as if on cue, he felt his abdomen shred. Blood came out of his mouth tainting the orange colored LCL he was submerged in, and he saw a familiar blade lodged in the side of Unit 01. Sparks flew from the vibrating blade and every vibration sent waves of unspeakable pain through his nerves. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
One of the remaining MPs had grabbed a hold of his blade and out of nowhere stabbed the purple Unit when its movements halted.
Unit 01 came to life and slammed a foot in the face of the stabber forcing it back smashing through a line of trees. The large test type Evangelion's knees buckled but not before pulling out the broad blade from the split MP unit finishing cutting it in half.
"GHAAAAAAAh… Gh…" Shinji grunted out barely keeping it together.
Shinji desperately fought to keep his consciousness alive. He had been boiled alive, had his arm broken like a twig, felt the pain of a severed appendage and what having his cranium penetrated felt like but as painful as those experiences had been nothing could compare to what he was feeling now. It was real. Real, real! He was pierced open, split open and broken.
His vision blurred and the boy began losing it. Two Units remained… Or was it three? His blurry eyes could be deceiving him, but the fact was that he saw three enemies standing.
It wasn't possible.
Before he could begin to wonder how the Unit with the clearly torn throat was standing, large crow-like wings spread open, in front of him, Shinji extended both hands, Unit 01 following suit, expanding his barely recovered AT-Field, pushing any, and all, things away from the divine domain of his soul.
"Agh.. Ugh… A battle of attrition then…" like the purple titan and his own frail 14-year-old body, his determination was shattering.
There was such a thing as an impossible task and a continuous battle with multiple Evas was already stretching it. Now they regenerated.
The winged bringers of death were upon him, two large broad blades changing shape mid-flight into forgeries of the Lance of Longinus and force-spreading the arms of Unit 01 apart as they ripped through Shinji's palms overloading the already exhausted nervous system of the blue-eyed child.
One final sensation. That of his chest being penetrated by a spear… Death.
"...THUMP…." he heard a distant beating sound.
Suddenly all of the world vanished into the horizon of his soul, all immediately hundreds of millions of miles away. His small broken and shattered body liberated from the unspeakable pain he had been in.
"…...THUMP…...THUMP…" he didn't know what it was or what it meant but it felt like it was the only thing that mattered at that moment, so he closed his eyes and pushed the horror of his failure away from his mind. For whatever reason he just wanted to hear that familiar sound.
"THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…" as if powered by his will to listen to it, the sound became powerful, no longer a whisper but now a symphony of noise consuming his own being.
"..."
"...!..." and with the force of a thousand suns the test type unit pulled itself free from the lances keeping it crucified mid-air.
The swarm of regenerating Evangelions spread their angel-like wings and as if prompted by panic and descended upon Unit 01.
But for some reason, nothing really mattered anymore.
They were one.
xxx
It was no secret that despite the size of the Evangelions they were not normal machines. Its bulkiness did nothing to slow down the physics defining weapon when in combat, regardless, never had Unit 01 moved in such a way, its movements were fluid, its entire body responded seamlessly to the pilot as it delivered blows and dodged attacks flawlessly.
This was no berserk state, these were measured, and effective movements aimed to destroy the MP Evangelions.
Before SEELE's heralds could counteract in anyway, they were already falling apart at the hands of mankind's ultimate weapon. Releasing the jawline restraints by force Unit 01 produced a growl and pulled the Lance of Longinus from its own chest.
If behind the MPs were sound human minds they would have retreated as soon as they saw the lance connect with one of their comrades, dragging all matter with it, while leaving a perfect circular dead space, where its chest plate used to rest. Nothing was left.
If not, then they would have decided that it was best to run when the horned behemoth closed distance almost instantly and tore one of their comrade's arms off with its bare hands. Before shredding its way to the core in the chest cavity.
Behind the mass production models, however, were simple combat protocols and a flawed dummy plug system.
One of the most traumatic experiences of Shinji's life was when the 13th angel attacked. One would assume reliving the experience would be traumatic beyond belief for anyone, yet Unit 01 went to work on the MPs almost as violently, but far more clinically, than he did to the 13th.
Unit 01 slowly approached the remaining enemies. Every footstep shaking the foundations of the GeoFront. The purple and green coating now gone, replaced by red as the vital fluid of the MP units painted a nightmarish vision to all who would look.
The remaining Evangelions didn't stand by watching as the horned behemoth dismantled them one by one. They launched a coordinated attack at the beast from all directions, making good use of their wings, however Unit 01's AT Field had become unbreakable, the combined might of all remaining MPs did nothing to erode it.
The one key to a powerful AT-Field. The Lance of Longinus, or a functional copy of the lance was needed.
The remaining MPs attempted to reach the tools that would grant them victory as the horned monster kept grabbing a hold of them one by one. No matter how hard fought the battle had been before, now it felt like being caught by Unit 01 was a sure loss and a permanent one at that.
At last, one of the MPs reached a discarded broad blade. Turned to face Unit 01 and was met with the mangled remains of all the other mass-produced units. Unit 01 stood in place with a red core in hand before crushing it in its grip.
With a last, desperate, throw the mass produced Evangelion threw the blade at Shinji's Unit. As it approached the AT-Field is changed into the familiar shape of the Lance of Longinus. The spear did its job and took the field with it, but its target simply turned sideways as the god slaying tool vanished in the distance.
Nothing stood between both Evas. No AT-Fields, no Lances, no weapons of any sort.
xxx
He opened his eyes; he was inside his entry plug. After a quick glance at the river of red substance running outside.
He closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes and found himself looking at the not so unfamiliar ceiling.
'NERV Medical Facilities' he thought.
After a while it all came back to him. The JSSDF attacked and then came the Mass Production Evangelions.
For a moment Shinji reviewed all that had happened, and his body jolted up. 'Where are they?! Misato, Rei, Asuka!' When he sat up, he realized he wasn't alone, sub-commander Kozo Fuyutsuki was looking over him from the corner of the hospital room.
"Ikari, I'm glad to see you're finally awake." his voice calm, as if nothing had happened.
"Where are-" he couldn't talk. When he tried to ask for them his chest started to hurt, his hands felt like they were in tatters, his shoulder and ribs demanded that he fall back down… the phantom pain he had felt many times after his battles but somehow different.
"Don't speak. Your body suffered quite a bit in that last battle. Your injuries this time are… Your synchronization ratio was high, so your wounds are different this time. It will take some time to recover, and you will likely suffer from permanent nerve damage to your chest area. Luckily, the life-threatening part is over."
It was obvious to any third party watching that the old sub-commander was trying to be reassuring but was failing miserably at it, but Shinji wasn't worried about himself, all he wanted was to know how the others were doing.
The sub-commander continued "I'll now explain what happened after your confrontation with the mass produced Evangelions." with that Shinji fell back down and listened closely to the carefully chosen words used by the sub-commander of NERV.
The JSSDF had attacked NERV. Shinji didn't get the specifics, but it seemed that some other organization had enough influence to deceive and manipulate whole governments. Regardless, NERV lost 89% of its operative staff, including non-combatants. In the middle of the conflict a secure line had been opened between NERV and the Japanese Diet. Again, Shinji didn't get any specifics, but through some urgent communications and negotiations some ceasefire had been achieved in time to spare the remaining NERV staff as well as the pilots. The JSSDF was ordered to retreat and deliver lifesaving medical attention to any injured NERV staff. Details on his father, if there were any, were not mentioned.
"But wh-" again he found himself incapable of finishing his own words, the severity of his wounds threatening to rob him of his lucidity.
"You should rest Ikari, you will be fine."
As the old man turned to leave, he found himself incapable of doing so. A broken teenage child fighting against impossible pain and injury held his jacket with all his might.
"….Re... As... Mis..." was all he could say as every single breath sent ripples of excruciating pain throughout every inch of his frail body.
Fuyutsuki looked at Shinji. He had seen those very same blue eyes before. Like raging storms, they wouldn't be defied and would consume the whole world to reach their goal.
It seemed, in the end, they really are alike.
"Pilot Ayanami is patiently waiting outside your room for your recovery. As for Pilot Soryu…" Shinji felt his chest sink, not from the injuries sustained in combat but rather from the impossibly long pause the sub-commander of NERV had slipped into the conversation in order to better choose his words "…is alive. Her injuries, much like your own are life threatening. Unlike you, however, her case was far more severe."
Shinji's eyes widened as the words left the old man's lips. Asuka had… She was…
"She is being attended to by the best medical science available. Pilot Soryu is a fighter, I believe she will make it." His words meant to reassure fell on deaf ears, but what came next captured Shinji's attention again. "As for Major Katsuragi, she is already back on her feet. Working with what remains of NERV to clean this mess up and make sure the right people are held responsible for what happened."
As if that was all he was waiting for Shinji let go of the sub-commander and just allowed his broken body to collapse backwards. He wanted to know more, there were questions he needed answered… But he had reached his limit. Before he could fully grasp the meaning behind every word spoken by his elder, Shinji passed out. Pain, exhaustion and injury claiming him.
Fuyutsuki looked over the boy one last time before turning on his heel. There was work to do.
Author's Notes:
Greetings, dear reader!
Thank you for reading the first chapter to Angel Wars.
Whether you're here because you wished to live out another adventure in the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion, or because you just happened to like the ship it features, I would like to truly express my gratitude for the time you took to read this.
See you on the pages of Chapter 2 – Another Battlefield.