Okay.....I bet your all wondering what going to happen to our hero's, right? No? Well too bad, you're going to find out anyway. I'm bringing this to a close soon, so you won't have to deal with me anymore. So enough yakking let's start the show!
Synchronization
Part Five: New Discoveries
Shinji sat in his cell, much like he'd been doing for the past few days. The guards had come by twice a day to give him some food. It tasted like sawdust soaked in bad sake. Since he had nothing really to do, Shinji thought about his feelings. He wasn't sure what to make of them.// Do I like Ayanami or Asuka? Both?// He was sure there was something with Rei, though he couldn't describe it as a lust or as passion. It was more like he wanted her to be happy, and for her to be safe. Asuka was another story. Like any normal guy his age he thought Asuka was attractive, well, stunningly beautiful would better describe her. //But she treats me like I'm such a lowly human being.// Shinji couldn't get over the fact that at times she was almost nice to him, and other times she was like a bully, constantly berating him.
And explosion shook the tiny cell, rattling loose some pipes. Shinji was immediately pelted by a powerful stream of water, pinning him to the wall.
"What the hell?" He sputtered. "An.....an Angel?" The tiny 60 watt bulb illuminating his cell died, and Shinji was thrown into darkness.
Asuka hung from a piece of copper piping that was exposed from the last explosion. after he air vent was blown away she'd grabbed it as a last minute option. It was that or drop to the ground who knew how far down. Another volley of explosion tried to loosen Asuka's death-grip on the pipe, but the redhead had no wish to die yet.
"Schiess! What now?" She looked down, hopping to see through the darkness, but to no avail. "The ground could be two feet below me, and I don't even know! This sucks."
After a particularly violent blast a coolant pipe burst, spraying her hand with liquid so cold it burned.
"Shit! Damn, that's cold!" Seeing as she didn't have any other choice Asuka opened her burning hand, letting herself drop into the unknown.
Shinji was huddled in a corner, the opposite from the gushing water. Shinji knew the water level was rising, and he knew the small drain in the middle of the cell couldn't take in the amount of water that the busted pipe was expelling. He hugged his knees, trying not to let the cold water knock him out.
"S-so....so cold....." He whispered softly. "I-I couldn't.....I couldn't help you....Rei." A tear rolled down his cheek. "I'm sorry"
Shinji prepared to let the blackness overtake him, but at that moment the roof of his cell was ripped off, a giant black monster peering into it. Shinji was assaulted by the light that flowed into the once dark prison.
"I...what the hell? Is that...it?" Shinji stared at the monster not ten feet from his face. Amazingly he felt no fear. The Angels where what he fought, but he'd never been up close to one personally. The Angel stared back.
"Why are you here?!" Shinji yelled at the beast. The Angel didn't answer, instead it started to seep a yellowish liquid that began to eat away at the cells walls.
Asuka was sure she'd never land. She fell for what seemed like minutes, weightless and the dark. She landed in a puddle of something wet, and for once in her life, Asuka was speechless. Just a few feet in front of her, illuminated by a fire that was set off by the numerous explosions, was Rei, curled into a ball and shivering.
"WonderGirl? Shivering?" Asuka whispered. For some reason she'd never expect Rei to do anything other than pilot. Her pity for the naked girl overcame her hatred and Asuka crawled over to her.
"Hey....WonderGirl? You okay?" Asuka asked, rolling Rei onto her back. When she heard no answer Asuka slapped Rei's cheek gently. "Ayanami? Are you hurt?"
Rei looked up. She was aware that someone was holding her, keeping her warm on the cold floor.
"Pilot Soryou? What is happening?"
Asuka pulled Rei into a sitting position. "An Angel attack. I was on my way to the Eva cages and I fell down here and saw you."
Rei was mildly confused. //She stopped to help me, even though there is an Angel....does this mean she cares for me? As a....friend?//
"Come on, Ice Queen, we have an idiot to save!" And with that Asuka stood, pulled Rei to her feet and started towards the Eva hangar.
Once they were inside the dressing rooms, both Rei and Asuka got into their plugsuits. Asuka so was busy thinking how to get power to the Evas, she missed the fact that Rei's side was cut deeply. It had happened when Commander Ikari ordered Rei II to be destroyed. Ritsuko had pulled out a gun and shot through the glass. The actual bullet missed, but the shattering glass tore through her side like tissue paper.
"Okay, we'll have to go on internal power, so that leaves us five minutes to kick the Angel's ass and rescue idiot boy." Asuka said, walking toward unit 02.
"Idiot boy?" Rei questioned after Asuka.
Asuka sighed, no matter how long she spent with Shinji and Misato, she'd still be culturally inept. "Shinji, you know....the idiot?"
Rei nodded slightly. "Why does Ikari spend time with you if you constantly belittle him? I think that may be why he is always depressed." Asuka whirled around, fire in her blue eyes. .
"You! You don't know anything! ANYTHING! You don't know what Shinji feels! How could you? He hangs around me because he's an idiot!" Asuka shouted indignantly.
"So he is an idiot because he 'hangs out' with you?" Rei asked calmly as they ran towards the awaiting Evas. She looked quizzically at Asuka as she climbed into Unit-00.
"Just shut up! Leave Shinji alone too, he doesn't like you, he's just being nice to you because the Commander told him too." Asuka stopped. Why had she just said that. Even though she didn't like Rei, that was too harsh to say to anyone......except her. //I deserve to be called an idiot....// She fell to her knees, losing her facade of strength.
"Pilot Soryou, are you injured?" Rei asked, and winced at the pain in her side.
Asuka looked at Rei, tears in her blue eyes. "Just...go.....save Shinji......please go..."
Rei simply nodded and left without a second thought.
Shinji backed up as much as the wall would let him, if he had it his way, the wall would allow him to pass through it. Then again, If he had his way, the Angel wouldn't be attacking. The water level had nearly reached the edge of the cell wall. //If I can hold out until it raises me up high enough I may be able to escape.// Shinji thought as the Angel dripped more acid into the water.
"Arrg!" He screamed as the acid saturated water began eating away the skin on his legs. He reached up and summoned his strength, grabbing hold of a pipe jutting out from the wall and swung his legs over the lip of the wall, away from the painful acid. Shinji looked up as three fighter planes dove at the beast, firing their nose mounted 120mm guns at it's back. The A.T. field almost gave way under the barrage, but with an upward movement, the Angel swung it's leg up and caught the three jets, which exploded.
"Get some ground units out there! Rescue the survivors!" Misato yelled. She looked at a blue print of Nerv HQ, wondering where Shinji might be. "Damn....I could even get to him if I tried!"
An explosion rocked the command bridge and the giant screen in the front of it blew inward, a giant blue thing crashing to the ground. A black thing on top of it.
"Rei?" Misato wondered.
Maya looked up from her laptop. "Her synch ratio is too low, she won't be able to defeat it!" The Lieutenant's laptop showed Rei's synch ratio at 49%.
"I'm nothing but a coward....Right Momma?" Asuka said. "Shinji.....he doesn't like me....no one does. Not Kaji, not Shinji, not WonderGirl, not you......" Asuka stopped as an image appeared in her mind. An image of Shinji being nice to her, making her lunch and cleaning up her messes. She saw an image of Kaji, going shopping with her, even though he had other plans that day. She saw Rei offering her help when Asuka fell down. At last she saw an Image of her mother holding her close, telling her that it was okay...a few years before she started to go insane. They all did care.....all of them.....That meant she had work to do, she had to go save all those she loved, and all those who loved her back.
Shinji rose to the surface, sputtering and thrashing about. He looked around, searching for any sign of Rei. He'd seen he crash into the black monster and pushed it through a wall, making Shinji dive into the water to avoid being crushed by debris. Now he crawled over the side of the wall and dropped to the floor of the room next to it, trying to get away from the acid that had already dissolved his shirt.
He found himself in a hallway, which he knew led to the bridge. So Shinji took off, running toward Rei and he hoped, Asuka. Halfway down the hall a blue hand tore through the metal wall and rose upward, shearing off the roof. Shinji covered his face as the small pieces of shrapnel punctured his arms and stomach. Through the exposed roof Shinji saw a red demon, something from hell descending on the Angel that had Rei pinned down.
"What? Asuka?!" Shinji stuttered in awe at the beast that engaged the Angel, knocking it away from Rei. Asuka dodged an arm that swung her way, and grabbed it by the elbow.
"DIE DAMN YOU!" She yelled and ripped the arm off, swinging it around like a staff weapon.
The Angel reeled back realizing it was missing a limb, a limb that an enraged Unit-02 was using to beat the hell out of it. The Angel swiped it's leg under Asuka, and she fell backwards, onto the ground, the Angels' three remaining arms holding her down. It opened it moth to drool it's acid saliva onto her.
"No you don't!!!" She yelled and rolled backwards, taking the Angel with her, suddenly she was on top of it, using the Angel's own sharp arm to tear into the flesh of it's back. She leaned back and swung the makeshift weapon into deep into it's back. Asuka kicked the bleeding Angel into a wall and saw it's core.
"Bingo....." Asuka said with such menace and venom that her words alone could possibly kill the Angel. She started punching it, revolving her right fist after her left.
"Asuka!" Misato yelled. "Don't break it's core inside the headquarters! You'll blow us all up!"
Asuka was too far berserk to hear her, and with a last punch cracked the core. Shinji was flung from his position in front of the battle far back down the hall. Misato ducked behind a large piece of machinery as the entire base was engulfed in a blinding white light ........
Continued.................
*Author's notes. Nothing interesting here.......