Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Genesis: 0:18: Bond of Spirit, Bond of Heart
[A/N:
Yeah, corny title, but I was watching tape 3 of Eva, so Rei kind of got me with
her own speech. Like, or don't, review
please.]
[Disclaimer:
Don't own.]
The gigantic rabbit-like creature waved on its hind legs, leaning from side to side in a relentless rhythm. Kasumi stared in wonder; was this what she thought it was? The huge purple rabbit raised its hand and Kasumi raised her Eva's AT Field on reflex. If she hadn't, the Eva would have been ripped in two.
The creature brought down its paw, and
a blade of crimson energy flashed from its claw. The blade flew through the air and slammed into the AT Field with
enough force to knock Kasumi off her feet. The Eva rolled to its feet from the fall, and stood again.
"Well, I think I've figured out what
you are." Kasumi said, her voice coming from the Eva's speakers, "I know you
can understand what I'm saying, considering what you are. You're no rabbit! You're the Angel I came here to fight!" The rabbit made no move, except for the waving motion it had been
doing before.
Then, it bent low and leapt at unit-14
like it had before. The pilot was
ready, and stopped the Angel before it hit. "That dance…" Kasumi growled, struggling to hold off the Angel. "Hypnotic
trance…" a voice echoed in her mind. The Angel bounced away, and its button-like eyes narrowed, and glowed
blood red.
"So, you're the thing that's been
making everyone act so strangely." Kasumi said, "Considering the way you look,
it makes sense." The Angel-rabbit let
out an inhuman snarl, and then sprang at the Eva again. Kasumi drew her Progressive Knife before she
could do anything, and the Angel engulfed the Knife, and her hand to the
wrist. Kasumi's eyes bugged out as the
Angel bit down hard.
"DAMN IT!" she yelled, waving her hand
around, trying to shake free. The Angel
finally let go, but took the Progressive Knife with it. It chewed it up, swallowed, and bowed politely. Kasumi blinked in shock, and then pulled out
the Progressive Sword. "You damn
thing!" she shouted, "If you were hungry, why didn't you go eat a weed?!" With the same speed and rage, the Angel
dashed forwards, and slammed its surprisingly hard skull into unit-14's
torso. Kasumi nearly dropped the Sword
and coughed harshly.
As she crashed into the foothills, the
Eva's viewing screen fizzled into static for a moment, and Kasumi looked at the
LCL. Blood floated in front of her
face, and she winced as her wound stung. The viewing screen hissed with static, then repaired itself
automatically. The Angel was gone, and
Kasumi looked around. A huge weight
crashed down onto her shoulders and drove her into the ground.
Kasumi groaned in pain and tried to
move, but the Angel stepped off her shoulders and sprang away, using her face
as a place to launch from. "This is
insane!" Kasumi hissed in her mind, "Why does this feel so real? I never felt like I was actually feeling any
part of the battle or pain before!" She
ran her hand over her right eye and paused, feeling the throbbing pain of a
bruise being formed. The A-10 nerve
connections dimmed the pain and feelings so the damage to the Eva would fade
from the pilot after he or she left the plug.
But this was real. It was as if Kasumi were really fighting the
Angel, equal to its size and strength.
Back over the mountainous hills, the
other pilots and the command center were beginning to get back to normal. Rei and Asuka had stopped in their slap war,
and Shinji had stopped pondering over his social bravery. Misato and Ritsuko were still drunk, but the
Chief Technician of NERV had enough sense to command. "What happened to the Angel?" she called, "Where's unit-14?" Maya ran an analysis, and couldn't find the
Angel or unit-14 within the Tokyo-3 borders.
"The MAGI says that the Angel is over
the Tokyo-3 border to the north-west!" the lieutenant replied, "Unit-14's
umbilical cable is running out!" "Rei,
Shinji, Asuka!" Misato slurred, "Get over those mountains!" She then collapsed, barely realizing what
she had just asked. "How in the hell
are we supposed to get over those mountains?!" Asuka screeched. Then she paused. "And why do I have this creepy feeling that someone insulted me a
few seconds ago?" she wondered.
The Progressive Sword bent, and then
shattered in two as Kasumi went flying. She was jerked to a halt and coughed, more blood streaming from her
mouth. The Angel launched at her again
and slammed into her back. The
umbilical cable was ripped from its socket, and Kasumi slammed into the hills
again. The back of her black and blue
plug suit sparked with electricity and the sync-clips did the same. The circlet-like clips slid off her head and
exploded, but the LCL extinguished the fire.
"Kasumi's plug suit is damaged."
Ritsuko said grimly, "She can't possibly synchronize with unit-14 now. Her only hope is us." The pilots didn't hear the news, but if they
had, they would have moved faster.
Kasumi struggled to merely look
up. Her Eva's sight kept breaking off
into static, and the A-10 nerve connections caused immense pressure on her
movements. "Crap…" Kasumi groaned, "Why
the hell can't I move?" Suddenly, a
horrible, burning pain made her cringe. Her skin was being stretched to nearly being ripped open on its own
accord. "Shit…" Kasumi groaned, her
hand tracing to her stomach, "My wound…" Suddenly, the Angel grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up.
"LIKE HELL YOU'LL BE DOING THAT!"
Kasumi opened an eye, but then was
dropped and slammed her eyes shut again with a gasp of pain. The ground cracked and split as the pilot hit
the ground. "Kasumi!" Shinji's voice
broke into the Eva suddenly, and loudly, "Kasumi, c'mon, we gotta move!" "Pilot Shiro, you must move so your
umbilical cable can be reattached!" Rei said. Kasumi opened her eyes. Asuka
was stabbing at the Angel, screaming random curses in German.
"No, don't move…" Kasumi
whispered. Rei and Shinji were about to
ask her what she said, when the Angel leapt away from Asuka, and slammed its
foot down. The ground quaked with the
force, and then collapsed under the stress. The Evas fell in the resulting chasm, which was covered over by falling
stone and snow. The Angel had sprung
away, landing on the mountains.
Ritsuko let out a shout of anger as the
three remaining umbilical cables had to be ejected from the Evas, and the Angel
got away. The storm was beginning to
get worse, and the crater soon became smaller and smaller.
Shinji shook his head slowly and looked
around. It was dark, and it was cold
outside, but his plug suit was warm. The timer on his battery was slow, and he looked around more. Units 00 and 02 were a short distance off,
but… "Asuka, Rei!" Shinji called
through the com links, "Where's unit-14?"
"Pilot Ikari, eject your entry plug and
deactivate your Eva." Rei said softly, "We can search for unit-14 and Pilot
Shiro by foot." The link to unit-00 was
cut off as the Eva powered down. Asuka
did the same, and Shinji followed soon after.
"Kasumi!" the three pilots called in
different times, their shouts echoing.
Kasumi groaned in pain and opened her
eyes. Her body felt unbearably cold,
and she remembered why. Her plug suit
was damaged, and she couldn't connect with her Eva. The bio-weapon's cockpit was green, as it was not moving
much. The timer read '2:25'. Straining to move a muscle, Kasumi moved her
thumb, and slammed the eject mechanism.
Shinji, Asuka, and Rei stared up at the
still form of unit-14. "So how the hell
are we supposed to get Kasumi outta there?" Asuka asked. Asuka had barely finished her sentence when
the entry plug ejected from the Eva and automatically snapped open. LCL spilled out of the plug, and something
else fell out with it. Kasumi fell from
the plug and tumbled off the Eva's shoulder to crash into the snow. She was lucky it was thick.
The three other pilots rushed over to
the Sixth Child. "Kasumi, hey, are you
OK?" Shinji knelt down and reached his hand out towards Kasumi's shoulder. The girl coughed suddenly, red spraying out
onto the snow. "Kasumi, you had better
just rest." Shinji said softly, "We'll wake you when Misato sends someone to
get us out of here." "Baka!" Asuka
snapped, slapping Shinji in the back of the head. The Third Child stumbled backwards, and Asuka stepped forwards.
"Are you completely insane?!" Asuka
shouted, "We can't let Kasumi or ourselves go to sleep! If we do, we'll die!" "Huh?" Shinji muttered. "If one falls to sleep in extremely low
temperatures, they may slip into a coma from body-heat loss." Rei said softly,
"If he or she does not replenish his or her body heat in a certain amount of
time, that person will freeze to death." Shinji's eyes widened in shock, and he turned to see Asuka shaking
Kasumi, trying to keep her awake.
"Hey, stay awake damn it!" Asuka hissed
through clenched teeth. Suddenly, the
battery pack on the back of Kasumi's plug suit sparked violently, and Asuka
jumped back. "Hey, what the heck?"
Asuka questioned. "It seems that Pilot
Shiro's plug suit has been damaged." Rei said, slowly looking over her fellow
pilot, "And her synchronization clips are missing. She cannot synchronize with her Eva until we find another pair,
and she may freeze to death in any circumstance."
"Our plug suits are keeping us warm."
Shinji concluded, "So…if we don't figure out a way to stay warm and get out of
here, Kasumi will die." The three
pilots were silent at the thought.
Misato sipped her coffee slowly, and
winced as Ritsuko came in. "Still have
the mother of all headaches?" the doctor smirked. "God, what the hell did I do?" Misato moaned. "Well, we've got a problem." Ritsuko sighed,
sitting down and holding out something. Misato took the small laptop and opened it. Ritsuko reached over and hit a button, and an image appeared on
the screen.
It was the Angel, and it was destroying
a certain single building. "That's…"
Misato slowly said. "Kasumi's apartment
building." Ritsuko finished, "The Angel seems to be trying to destroy her." "Poor kid." Misato muttered, "First that
weird thing a few nights ago, and now this. Where's she going to live?"
Kasumi slowly awoke, shivering from the
extreme cold. "Finally." Asuka sighed,
"I thought you were in a coma." Kasumi
tried to sit up, but Asuka gently pushed her back down. "No you don't." the red-haired pilot said,
"Don't you move a muscle." "A-Asuka,
what happened?" the purple-eyed pilot asked, "Where are we?" "Kasumi, how are you doing?" Asuka answered
with her own question. "Wha…?" Kasumi's
eyes widened in question. Asuka
suddenly took on an evil grin. "Haven't
you said anything to Shin-chan yet?" the hell-haired pilot asked.
Kasumi's face looked as if unit-02's
painting team had gotten to it. She sat
bolt upright and said, "Just what are you implying by that?!" "Oh come ON!" Asuka laughed, "The only one
dense enough to not see that you've got a huge crush on Shin-chan is the baka
himself!" Kasumi's eyes once again
reached the size of platters and she squeaked, "Is it really that
obvious?" "Oh yeah!" Asuka said, "It's
a wonder that he hasn't asked you out on a date yet!"
Kasumi blinked, forgetting everything
that transpired a few hours earlier. "He…likes me?" she asked. "Of
course he does!" Asuka said, "Are you as dense as him?" Kasumi blushed slightly, pressing her
pointer fingers together. "I'm not as
in touch with people's emotions as you are, Asuka." the Sixth Child said. Asuka laughed and stood up. "Well, I'll tell Shinji and Wondergirl that
you're alive and well." she said with a mischievous grin, "I'm sure Shinji will
love to hear it."
Misato's headache had finally gone
away, and she was watching the Angel. It was slowly walking, if you could call it walking, towards the crater
it had made a few moments before. "Oh
crap!" the Major hissed, "The Children!"
Kasumi shivered as she realized how
freezing cold it was in the chamber. Her breath floated up in white little clouds, and she curled into a
ball, hugging her knees close. "KASUMI!" Shinji yelled suddenly. The fourteen-year-old looked towards the Third Child, who had a
frightened look on his face. "KASUMI,
GET IN YOUR EVA!" Shinji called, "THE ANGEL—" Before he could continue, the ceiling exploded downwards and the Angel
appeared. It no longer looked like a
cute little purple rabbit, but a horrible, slobbering, fanged beast of old
legend. Its huge nose quivered, and the
Angel looked straight at Kasumi.
Those glowing blood red eyes peered
into Kasumi's, and the pilot froze with fear. The huge beast took a step towards the pilot, and then unit-02 rushed
over, slamming its foot into the Angel's head. "Hey, get in unit-14, dummkopf!" Asuka ordered. The Angel let out a roar and tackled
unit-02. The gigantic beast easily
pinned the Eva down, but unit-00 stabbed at the Angel with its Prog Knife. With another roar, the Angel lifted its
clawed paw and pinned the Eva down with unit-02.
"Asuka, Rei!" Shinji shouted. The Evas fell silent as their batteries ran
out of power, and the Angel started once more towards the Sixth Child. Kasumi could barely move, and the Angel came
closer and closer.
Shinji ran to unit-01 and climbed into
his entry plug. His Eva activated
itself, and he headed towards the Angel.
The Angel lifted up its paw and started
to bring it down. Unit-01 slammed into
the beast and tried to hold it down. But the Angel was twice the Eva's size, and simply overpowered it. Unit-01 struggled against the huge Angel,
but the Evangelion ran out of power, and the Angel threw it aside. The three other Evas were completely out of
power, and they couldn't see anything from the entry plugs.
The Angel let out a growling chuckle
and turned towards its prey. But to its
surprise, the little creature wasn't there anymore. It slowly sniffed the air, trying to catch the little thing's
scent.
Kasumi shook in fear, hiding behind
unit-14's left leg. She had taken the
opportunity that Shinji, Rei, and Asuka had given her, but she couldn't get
very far. Hiding behind the Eva was the
only minor chance she had.
"I can hear your heart, little one."
Kasumi's eyes opened wide as a voice
echoed in her mind. She looked around,
her heart pounding even harder.
"You cannot hide from me
forever. I will find you, and then I
will have a delicious meal."
Kasumi realized that the Angel was the
thing that was speaking telepathically to her. She desperately tried to not think, as the Angel might pick up her
thoughts.
"Now, now, little one, just resign
yourself and I might let you come back with me."
Kasumi shivered from cold and fear,
unable to understand what the Angel meant. But then, the Angel appeared from the side, roaring loudly. It raised its paw and slashed downwards,
slamming Kasumi away from the Eva. The
fourteen-year-old flew through the air and slid on the ground for a few feet
before stopping. The Angel leapt into
the air and slammed down, staring down at the Evangelion pilot.
"I told you that you should have
resigned yourself."
The Angel let out a roar and started at
the small human, and Kasumi let out a scream of pure terror.
The Angel was suddenly stopped by
something. It choked slowly, and then
was thrown aside by something. Kasumi
looked up; did one of the Evas have a reserved power source?
Her eyes widened in shock and she sat
up slowly.
Unit-14 was standing, its eyes agleam
with power. It was activated, and
moving all on its own, without the entry plug.
"The human-made devil!" the
Angel growled, rising to its feet, "How are you moving without the little
one to command you?!" The Eva
remained silent, as it had always been. The Angel growled, and then let out a roar, leaping towards the Evangelion.
The bio-weapon leapt up, and flipped
over the Angel. The gigantic creature
slammed into the ground and skid towards Kasumi. The pilot gasped in horror, recoiling in terror. But the Angel slammed into an orange,
glowing barrier that lay only a few feet in front of Kasumi.
"…the AT Field…" the Sixth Child
whispered in shock. The Angel roared in
anger and turned to the Evangelion. The
gigantic beast that was unit-14 held up its hand and turned to face the
Angel. Light appeared in the Evangelion's
outstretched hand, and it formed to create a new Progressive Sword.
Kasumi was shaking, hardly able to take
in what was happening. It was
impossible; what was happening. The
Evangelion was moving on its own…it was impossible. The pilot clutched at her temples and let out another scream.
An explosion rocked the command center,
and the NERV staff looked towards the viewing screen. The Angel and unit-14 had been thrown from the crater to smash
down onto the ground. The purple and
white flame-cross erupted from the crater's opening, and Misato gasped. "The pilots!" she choked out. "What's unit-14's status?" Ritsuko asked.
"Absolute zero power!" Makoto said,
"It's moving without any power at all!" "What about Kasumi?" Misato questioned. Maya's eyes opened wide at the report her screen flashed up. "The entry plug isn't in the Eva!" she
called, "Kasumi's whereabouts are unknown!" "Unmanned?" Misato whispered, "Unit-14 has no pilot?"
Kasumi
slowly looked up. Wind harshly whipped
past her cheek and she tried to look through the thick snowfall. Unit-14 was standing up, and the Angel was
struggling to get to its feet.
"You damned devil! How is this possible?!" the Angel
roared. Kasumi shook with cold and fear
again, and stood up slowly. The Angel roared
in anger, and then slashed its claw through the air. The energy flew through the air, but the Evangelion destroyed it
with its Progressive Sword. The Angel
cringed and leant back, growling angrily.
Unit-14's eyes gleamed a bright red,
and it leapt into the air. The Angel
let out a growl, but it didn't move in time. The Evangelion landed on its back, and stabbed the Progressive Sword
deep into the Angel's back. The
creature let out a roar of pure pain, and its form swelled and bulged. The Progressive Sword had cut cleanly
through its core, and it was about to explode.
Kasumi put her arms up in fear, but the
impending blast never came. She looked
up to find unit-14's hands around her, creating a tight seal to block the
explosion. The pilot suddenly
smiled. She slowly shut her eyes
tiredly, and then collapsed to the ground in sleep.
"What's the status on the pilots?"
Misato asked frantically. "Shinji, Rei,
and Asuka are still in the cave." Maya informed the Major, "They are perfectly
fine, and their Evas seemed to have incurred no damage." "And unit-14?" Ritsuko questioned. "Uh, well, it's finally stopped moving, and
it…seems to be holding something…" Makoto said slowly. Ritsuko and Misato looked at the screen to
find unit-14 kneeling on one knee, its right hand open and resting on its
knee. A calmly sleeping Kasumi was in
the Evangelion's hand.
Misato smiled slightly in spite of what
just happened.
Shinji stared at the green of his entry
plug. He was bored out of his skull
from not doing anything, or hearing anything. The hatch to the plug suddenly snapped open, and Misato was looking down
at him with a worried expression. "Shinji-kun!" she said, "Are you OK?" "M-Misato?" the Third Child said uneasily, climbing out of his entry
plug, "What happened?"
Suddenly the events of what happened a
few hours ago slammed into Shinji with the force of unit-01 kicking him.
"Misato!" he said, "Kasumi! What happened? Is she OK?" "She was
pretty cold when we retrieved her, but only worn out." the Major stepped aside
to let him see Asuka and Rei, "She's asleep, so you don't have to worry." "Say, Wonderboy, why are you so worried?"
Asuka grinned a devilish grin. At those
words, Shinji turned as red as Asuka's hair.
"I—!" Shinji tried to explain. Asuka
just grinned and waved her hand, laughing. "I'm just kidding!" she said, "You don't have to justify any of your
feelings to me! At least, not
yet." She walked up and tapped his
nose. "At least, not until you two go
out on a date." she giggled.
Kasumi slowly opened her eyes and
looked at the white ceiling of the NERV hospital. She smiled slightly and whispered,
"Arigato, oniisan."