Life. It is something that he so wished to end for himself. It is the very thing why he keeps asking himself, "is it ok for someone like me to be here?" or the usual self-depreciation thought of "I should not exist at all". These are the things that Shinji always thought of whenever a new warm sunny day greets him as he slowly opens his eyes. Recently, his mentor and teacher told him that the commander of an organization would like to talk to him personally, which confused him but he was then given a picture of a woman and was told that she was going to escort him at a specific time of the day. He then proceeded to do his routine of cleaning his room and fixing everything else, cooking breakfast for his mentor and himself, doing a grueling task of cleaning the house then leaving the house all in an hour.
Once he came out of the house, he started the day by looking for some phone booths in the whole place of Tokyo-3.
Ugh. Sensei never gave me a phone to try and call people out. But oh well, I don't really have anyone that I know of.
He then saw a blue-haired girl in a school uniform at a distance just staring at him. Then he looked at the sudden flock of birds that flew away nearby. He looked back and…she was not there. Strange, what was that about?
"Man this really sucks. Dammit it's also really hot outside and I still can't find a phone booth that genuinely works" he whispered silently as walking to the next phone stand in front of him.
As he went inside the phone booth, he removed the picture of the person who would take him to the meeting or something, which he can admit that she looks really, really hot.
He hears deep rumbles and explosions as well as machine gun fire, as some people near him start running for the shelter at their designated visinities. He then sees the source of all the rumbling and explosions, a gigantic humanoid colored black and white pattern is slowly walking towards his right view. That thing. An Angel of Destruction as what the authorities would call it.
This creature was rumoured to be near the ocean for sometime now. At first the authorities were just telling the media and the public that there was nothing to be afraid of as it was seen as harmless in the few months it was seen. Then the Japanese government announced a shelter precaution and drills to be conducted at school and workplace in-case it did decide to attack, which both scared and confused the public but eventually they accepted these precautions and started following them for their safety as well.
The creature was accompanied by a bunch of scattered formations of Heavy Fighter Jet-Vtols (HFJ-V in short) which had the United Nations logo on the sides. The Vtols then started firing a barrage of missiles point-blank into the creature, though it didn't seem bothered at the very least. The said thing however suddenly tripped over a small building in which it almost hit him had he not ran a second pior away from it. The creature slowly moved around, trying to get back up as debris of concrete and stone flew everywhere around it.
Oh well guess this is the end of the road for me huh? Should've used that SDAT player one last time before this….He thought of this while the hand of the Angel was nearing where he stood. Suddenly he heard a car revving and just in time and saw the car door open fast.
"Get in. Sorry I had to avoid some rocks and road bumps along the way hehehe".
A woman with a red bomber jacket, dark shades and purple hair told him as she ushered him to get in the car as he was still on a slight daze from the Angel.
"Get in, unless you want to be squashed and cooked into a pancake that is…" she said in a serious tone as she looked at him again. The foot of the giant creature stepped near the pavement at the side of her car.
"Wh-where are we g-g-going?" he asked as he hurriedly closed the door as another barrage of explosions and fire came from the UN forces as the Angel unexpectedly screeched a horrible sound.
"We're going somewhere that's very top secret in terms of protecting our world of course" the woman said nonchalantly as she stepped on the gas of the car and they both sped off from the sight of the destruction.
"Oh, um..ok" he replied shyly as he looked out the window and saw that they were going on top speed, in which he placed on the seatbelt as the lady manoeuvred and made the car spin to avoid debris and holes on the road.
"By the way kiddo, I'm mostly known as Captain Katsuguri, but you could just call me Misato-san" she said as she winked at him.
"Oh, you're the person that was supposed to pick me up?" he said as he looked at her.
"Yes sir you are right on. You'll come with me as we go to the headquarters as there will be an N-5 bomb that will hit that weird looking monster as we speak" she said as the car went on the highway going futher away from the destruction of the city.
"Is this how you really drive Miss Misato?" he said as he held on to the seatbelt, bag and the car handles for dear life as the mad woman made a hard right as they were nearing an exit.
Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion and a flash of bright light at their backs. The N-5 bomb probably. Jeez, it's too bright. They both felt a shock wave caused by the explosion and Katsuguri stopped near an abandoned gas station at the end of the highway for them to take shelter from the incoming dust and small debris.
"Shinji-kun, I'll call you that from now on eh?" the white and black-haired woman said to him while she left the car fast and made him come with her by hand.
"Yeah, I-I guess that's fine with me" he said as he was dragged into a shop by her.
"Ok, we should stay here for a while," she said, observing the landscape of the area.
After what felt like forever, the dust finally settled and Shinkiko was able to see the area and the car of Koyeka still in one piece, although it is pretty dusted now.
"We need to head to the Headquarters, fast" the Captain said as she went back to the car with insane speed that Shinkiko had no other choice but to follow as he was really far away from the city. Misato Katsuguri then went on and turned the engine on and they sped off to the location she was talking about. She then explained on the rest of the journey that everything he sees inside is classified and he can only share some surface-level information with people who might ask him in the future. They then went in a tunnel that had a gate below a large domed fortress after driving for about 10 minutes straight at max speed. They both stepped off the car, as the woman produced a ID card from her bomber jacket and scanned it on a what he pressumed is a scanning device as the light on top went from red to green and the two steel doors opened for them. Misato went in ahead and looked back at him and told him to come inside.
"Shinji-kun, this is the place where everyone works full time to protect our world from threats of invasions from foreign entities outside Earth" she said as they walked side-by-side on the pristine white tiles heading for the elevator in the middle of the hallway.
"We call this place and our organization, LEBEN" she said as she stared at a red and orange camouflage spray of their logo and motto. 'LEBEN. For Better or For Worse, God is watching us'. Any actions, any decision they make, any type of signal they show, it is all for the betterment of this world and a promise. A promise that the world would not experience the devastating 3rd Impact like the one from 1998.
The Captain tapped off the button going up as the elevator dinged a second later and they both the youngster and older woman went it.
Shinji just looked down at his left hand as he started to unclench and clench it while thinking of things on why would she bring him here if this place was a classified area and why would she tell him all of these things out of nowhere. The elevator then stopped and Misato led him to a narrow pathway in which he saw it. A gigantic humanoid robot which looked really terrifying up-close. He then heard the ding of the elevator as a bunch of medical officials pulled away a girl with a lot of bandages on her body while she was wearing what he assumes is a white plugsuit with the numbers 00 on her chest area. It can't be, that's the girl I saw a while ago on the streets, he thought of as the girl coughed up blood. Another personnel also went over to check on the injured girl. She had short blonde hair, a light purple polo accompanied by a long lab coat and she also sported glasses and a serious grim look on her face as she checked the girl and checked her clipboard.
"Shinji Ikari, that's your name right?" the blonde woman asked him as she still looked at the clipboard while cleaning some wounds from the blue-haired girl alongside other personnel.
"Yes, that's me" he said, confused as to whether she would know his name. Probably checked on my meaningless existence somewhere.
"This is important, so listen carefully, the N-5 bomb that was detonated on the Angel did not kill it, only hindered it's movements for a day or two" the blonde said as glanced at him and continued "We need you to pilot the Eva-1 in order to defeat the angel" as she gave the medical personel went out to get supplies for the injured people at the surface.
"You need to pilot it Shinji-kun, this is the only way" the friendly and playful tone of the Captain is gone and was replaced with a stern one that radiated authority.
"B-b-but, I-I just" he stammered the words and thought of a good excuse to run away from all of this but could not and just stayed silent for a moment until both women stared at each other.
Misato nodded and said "You need to go in the robot Shinkiko-kun, you are the only one who can pilot this, is that right Akagi?".
"Yes as the Captain said and might I assume that you already know of the history of all aye?" she said with an indifferent tone while looking at him then went back to the injured girl, who was groaning at the pain in her stomach as she clutched it.
"Yes, I know it already…" he said in a hushed tone.
"Then you need to get in Shinji," the so-called Akagi woman said as she went near him.
"Shinji, I know it's hard but you are the only available person who would be able to do this" Koyeka said in a somber tone as she went near him as well.
"I-I-I can't d-do it" he said as started at the ground and could not look into their eyes.
He then went over to the girl who was injured at the rolling stretcher as a rumbling occured and she fell off. Some of the debris and lights broke down and fell above him. Before it managed to hit him however, the hand of the robot suddenly went up and covered him. He then went over the girl and placed his arms under her to support her, in which she hissed in pain
"Would you want her to do the fighting for you instead, boy?" Akagi huffed in an annoyed and threatening tone.
Shinkiko flinched at the tone and threat as he looked at the girl on his arms as squirmed against him and coughed up specks of blood at his face. He looked at his hand and saw that it had her blood on it as well. Don't run away. Don't run away. Don't hide from it. Don't RUN AWAY.
He gently laid the girl down on the fallen stretcher and he looked at the two older women who were observing him silently.
"I'll d-do it then. Let me pilot the mech"
...
It was 4:22 pm when Shinji was able to get into the giant purple mecha. They had to remove all of the red and orange liquid that Akagi called Existing Components Of Life or ECOL. She also explicitly told him to not confuse it with other liquids with the same features as the only known use of this area in all LEBEN Foundations and some UN Research Foundations. He then entered a white tube which was inside the chest area of the Eva.
He opened a switch inside as he sat on the seat at the edge. A voice spoke through the speaker modules at the top of the cramped spacing. It was the blonde woman's voice that he heard from the speaker, "Ikari, this is Akagi from the head of the science and technologies department, sorry for not properly introducing myself a while ago from the complicated situations".
A screen then opened near the holographic user interface and showed the entire of what he assumed is the command center.
The blonde scientist continued, "We don't have that much time so I'll make it short, there is a language interface for the Eva and you can change to whatever, you need to focus your breathing and mind to a certain memory or experience so that you won't lose yourself in the synchronisation process and eject to eject from the unit, press the blue button on the side of the seat. Is that all clear Pilot 1?" She and Misato-san were looking at him as well as some other workers in the room.
He just shuddered at the thought of the girl he saw a while ago on the walkway, so he asked "I-is the girl alright?".
"Yes she is in the medical ward and she would be properly taken care of. So are you ready?" Akagi asked him, looking at the screen below her. 4:33 pm, they need to launch now.
"Yes, yes I am" he said with some confidence. This will be over soon, I hope…
The best way to think of that would make him anchored to himself? What could that be? Maybe it might be his dad, who he had not seen forever. Might be his mom, who he is really close with, but just like dad he has not seen her for ages. He does not have anything to really anchor himself as the last time he heard from his parents was when his mother sent him a letter at his last birthday and told him that she was sorry and that she would make up for him soon. He also did not see his father in the command center when his mother told him that he was always there in the letters she wrote. So now he thought of the SDAT player that his mom gave to him when he was kid and thought of the happy memories he had with her while synching with the massive beast.
"Synch ratio of the pilot is at 67% and rising," one of the employees said as she looked over to Akagi and continued reporting "Should I open the docks, gate and launch pad, Akagi-senpai?".
"Yeah, open it all and open the armory weapons at Bay-12" she said.
"Roger that"
"Shinji-kun if you hear me, use the White-Lined Machete Series on the surface once you launch and good luck on this first sortie" Misato said in a commanding voice but having a concerned look on her face.
"Thank you, I will do my best" he replied to her before closing the screen of the video feed.
"Hello Ikari-kun, this is Staff Sergeant Maya from the 2nd Division of Communications and I would like to say that you have reached 77% synch ratio and you are about to launch in 30 seconds flat, Good luck and stay safe" a young lady said over the comms.
"Th-thanks again, you can probably launch me now," he said in a nervous voice as he felt his hands sweat and his mind going hay-wire on how to properly engage a monster.
He felt a speaker outside say 10 seconds till the launch of the mech to the surface. He thought of a good excuse to back-up now as he was shaking a little now from what he felt as dread, but he strengthened his resolve in a tiny amount as he thought of the blue-haired girl in pain. Agh, I can't let her do this, not after she got hurt he thought even though he was not even familiar with who she might be.
He gripped the handle as the comms said LAUNCH, as he felt the whole Eva shake and be lifted in a dark tunnel.
He was launched out in a fast acceleration and was on the sky and then sensed the whole Eva come to life and the screen that was blurry when he went inside now showed him the destruction of some forested area near stronghold, some burning buildings and the Angel which was shooting some kind of laser heat-ray from it's hollow empty eye sockets. He noticed a glinting giant sharp object near the spot he landed on with a blinking red light on top of it. He grabbed it as fast as possible when he felt a sudden burning sting on his right arm which made him cringe and let out a cry of pain.
"Shinji-kun, hurry, stab the core in the middle! That's the only weakness of these creatures!" Misato frantically said through the comms as he looked at his right arm which had a burnt spot in the middle, mimicked from the injury of the mech.
"On, it" he winced from the pain but continued to move to retrieve the fallen weapon on his side as the Angel started running towards him and jumped on top of the mech.
"Lower the synchronized ratio of his right arm to the mecha now before it hinders him finishing off the target" he heard Akagi say as he heard another man talk to him.
"We'll provide you support Ikari-san," the man said in the comms as one of the screen interfaces showed a nearby hill at a short distance "try heading for that small hill and stab the Angel there".
He thought of a way to remove the Angel on top of him, so with most of his strength he punched the side of the creature, near the mid-section and managed to momentarily push it aside as well. He willed the giant hunk of metal to move as fast as possible for the hills and with an unsteady stance, readied his machete against the now angry Angel at a distance. It fired another laser beam shot at him which he barely dodged as the pain on his shoulder still made itself known. Don't run away, Don't hide out, I need to kill it! With a short breath he charged at the Angel, as he heard missiles and bombs propel itself from the hill at his back and be hurled at the Angel, which briefly stunned it in place at how much impact and quantity of explosions hit it directly. This gave him a chance to stab the creature at side and cut one of the hands of which spluttered blood at his screen. The Angel however roared at him and started punching with one of it's other hand, then quickly scooped a building at it's view and hurled it at him.
The said building impacted him, but had little effect on him as he now jumped at it and stabbed it once more directly at the core in which the Angel howled in pain as a blinding light started to glow from the body and the Angel instantly exploded on him knocking him off cold.
Next thing he knew he was in a nightmare, in a pitch-black space with only one light post illuminating at him as he saw another light post at a distance illuminating a girl with blue hair looking anywhere but him. That's her, why do I keep seeing her since the morning incident. Is this some kind of hallucination? No, it can't be one because I saw her physically on the stretcher. Who could this be then?
He approached the girl and saw that she was whispering words, "The end is nigh" and "The vision and plan must be stopped by them". She then unexpectedly looked at him and saw that her eyes were blood red as she gave him a smile, not a friendly one, one that told him 'I will eat everyone you know and love'. She came close to him, as he tried to back up but his legs were stuck as he shivered from fear. She whispered to his ear, "Ikari-kun, may we see each other very soon".