This assumes definite knowledge of the action and events of
Evangelion. There are some elements of the manga within.
************************************************
An Oddzilla Productions Fanfic, by Andrew Huang
Evangelion: Bitter Testament
Based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, c. Gainax Studios and ADVision.
************************************************
Vengeance is mine; I shall repay. --Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 1: The Advent of Rage
Odd, how they ran off like that. At least they undid the handcuffs
before disappearing.
Izaki Shinji stood on a streetcorner, rubbing his wrists idly, where he
was to be picked up by one Katsuragi Misato. The NERV officers who had
been flanking him ever since he left the detention center in Old Kyoto had
just disappeared after being paged.
He looked at the photo in the folder they had given him before
departing, and pushed down the small surge of hormones that arose (no need
for such a meaningless adolescent reaction), blinking a few times. No bad
ID mug shot, this one. "Look at this" had been scrawled on it, pointing to
her, ah, assets. Not that Shinji really needed this photo to identify
Captain Katsuragi; he had already seen that bad ID mug shot in that NERV
database....
Loud klaxons sounded suddenly, jolting the boy out of his reverie. "Take
shelter?" Shinji asked aloud, hearing the announcement that came along
with it. Then, he saw it.
Huge, mostly black, and ugly. Aircraft popped up from nowhere,
surrounding it like gnats--and then getting swatted down like gnats, by
this giant. Missiles and artillery opened up on it, without effect. The
explosions sent huge rumbles through the area, knocking Shinji to his
knees, and produced huge cracks in the sidewalk and building behind him.
The thing moved, causing more destruction.
Not once did Shinji take his eyes off the monster. He simply stared at
it, eyes wide--but not in disbelief, nor fear.
"Angel," he whispered. Then he picked up a chunk of concrete, and, with
a cold glint in his eyes, threw it at the creature, for all the good that
would do. It continued moving, oblivious to the boy in its path. Shinji
picked up another fragment of debris, but before he could throw it, a blue
car screeched to a halt in front of him. The door popped open, revealing--
"Captain Katsuragi?"
"Get in! Quickly!" Arrested in mid-throw, right arm cocked behind him,
Shinji looked blankly at the Captain, then over to the Angel, and back to
Misato. Finally, he let the chunk fall to the ground without a word, and
jumped in. He had barely closed the door when the car took off. "Sorry I
was late. I think you can guess why, heh heh."
He turned to Misato and looked at her levelly. "What are they planning
to do with the Angel?"
"Ah...I see you've really done your research. Hold on."
They drove a few minutes more, the sounds of carnage slowly fading
behind them. Shinji turned around in his seat, straining against the belt,
to watch the battle, if it could really be called such a thing. Finally,
some distance out from where they had started, they stopped by the
roadside. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, Misato stepped out of the car,
followed by Shinji. She watched for a moment. "Aircraft pulling away...
DAMN! N2 mine! Get DOWN!"
*BOOOOOOOM*
------------------------------------------------
"It's still standing!?"
"You can see for yourself, General."
"Dear God...."
"Well, General?"
"All right. Ikari, do what you will. Do what you can."
"Of course."
------------------------------------------------
"Captain--"
"Just call me Misato."
The two were now driving again, having somehow survived the explosion.
The car was going as fast as it could, which wasn't very.
"Misato-san, the Angel was still standing. What will they be doing
now?"
"You'll find out soon." She glanced at the handbook sitting closed on
Shinji's lap. "Aren't you going to read that?"
"I've seen it all already, remember?"
"Oh, right."
They continued in silence. Despite his earlier words, Shinji flipped
through the manual to pass the time. He smiled to himself secretly; though
he had been the one arrested for hacking into the database, he wasn't the
one who had really done so. He hadn't the skills for such a thing. But he
had an acquaintance who was willing to supply him with a script that would
do it for the right sum and a reassurance that he wouldn't be nailed for
it. Of course not. Shinji took the blame, was taken in by NERV. Just as
according to plan. Because then they made him an offer that he simply
couldn't turn down.
After a short while, they arrived at a rail depot. Misato parked her car
on one of the platforms, which began to roll down the tracks, into the
ground. After a few moments of darkness, they burst out into--
"The Geofront."
"Yes." Damn it, what does this kid not know? He couldn't have read all
those files, could he?
------------------------------------------------
"They've arrived."
"Excellent, Fuyutsuki. Ah, send Ritsuko to meet them. You know how the
Captain is, sometimes. We do not have that much time."
"Of course."
------------------------------------------------
"We were through here already."
"Ah, heh, well, the transport systems are here to be used, so that's
all right." Misato was kicking herself mentally. She should know where
she was going by now. "All right, let's try these doors--"
"Where have you been, Captain?"
"Ritsuko!"
"Doctor Akagi."
"Ah--" The blonde woman blinked a few times, settling her gaze on the
boy. He looked back at her steadily, unflinchingly. "And you are Izaki
Shinji. Good. Come on."
"Doctor, where are we going?"
"You'll see. Come," she repeated.
They followed her, through seemingly endless corridors. Shinji kept his
attention on the surroundings, attempting to keep track of where he was.
Finally, they arrived at a large dock, in a sea of purplish liquid. The
three of them gathered into a rubber boat equipped with an outboard motor,
and soon were skimming across the surface of the lake. Not your usual
artificial subterranean feature, but Shinji didn't seem surprised. He did,
however, appear mildly impatient. He drummed his fingers on the side of
the boat even as he sat there with an apparently placid look on his face.
"Ritsuko, what _is_ going on? Rei isn't going to be able to pilot the
Unit, is she?" Ritsuko didn't answer. "And the Second isn't scheduled to
be here for more than a month! What the hell is the Commander thinking?"
Under her breath, Misato muttered, "We won't be able to use the
Evangelions like this...."
Shinji's ears picked up Misato's words. "What is the Evangelion? I
never did find out."
"We're here," interrupted Ritsuko, as she pulled up to another dock.
She got off, and walked to a pair of large doors. "And you'll see
shortly what Evangelion is. Be careful, it's dark in here. Lights,
lights, where are those damn lights...ah."
"What the...."
"_That_ is Evangelion. Test type Unit 01." Ritsuko looked at the
purple giant, almost...proud.
"A giant robot?"
"Not quite. She's more like an artificial human."
"And that's what we'll use against the Angel?"
"Yes," came a voice from a loudspeaker.
The three turned towards the source of a sound, finding a bespectacled
man, standing on a balcony. "Izaki Shinji, we will use it to destroy the
Angel." Then, to the women, he continued, "We must launch."
"What?" yelled Misato. "Commander--Rei isn't in any condition to pilot
it. Where will we--" She looked at Shinji. "No...."
"Yes. It is the only choice."
"But Shinji just got here! It took Rei _months_ to synchronize--"
"Wait." All eyes turned to Shinji. "You," he pointed to the Commander,
"want me," he placed his hand on his chest, "to get in that," now
pointing at Unit 01, "and fight the Angel?" he finished with a gesture
upwards, at the surface of the city. Gendou nodded.
Ritsuko spoke. "Shinji, I know it's hard, but--"
"I'll do it."
"--it's the only choice that we what did you say?"
Slowly, Shinji smiled. It was not a nice smile. "I said...heh...I said
I'll do it!" He clenched his fist, looking up at Gendou with a wild light
shining in his eyes.
A second later, a horrible screeching sound ripped through the air
behind the three. They spun around to see that Unit 01's right arm had
torn free of its rigging, sending waves splashing through the complex,
and had closed its hand into a fist in the air.
There was a hollow silence that followed, to be broken by Misato
babbling, "That's...that's impossible...it's not activated, there's no
plug in it...."
Gendou smiled and nodded to Shinji. He was the one, all right. The
commander turned off his microphone, and pressed another button on his
console. The image of the Subcommander of NERV sprang up on a monitor.
"Fuyutsuki, you can take Rei off standby. This has been easier than I had
imagined."
"Yes, Commander."
Turning off that communication link, Gendou smiled faintly, watching
Misato and Ritsuko hurry Shinji over to the ladder. The boy believed it
all. The anger, the hate. The plan was perfect.... As he turned back
toward the console, his eyes landed on the purple humanoid once more. He
sighed softly. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't have approved," he
murmured. Shaking his head, he walked over to his station, to oversee the
impending operation.
------------------------------------------------
"Shinji, is everything all right?"
"Yes. You could have warned me about the LCL, though. I do hate
surprises."
"Sorry. We're activating the link now." Misato turned to the
technicians. "How is everything going?"
"It's going fine. Synchronizing...error is within 0.3%! This is going
to work!"
"All right. Shinji, this will be a bit of a ride. Evangelion Unit
01--LAUNCH!"
The sudden burst of speed slammed Shinji back into his seat. He
grimaced, but a grimace is not too terribly different from a smile. As he
rocketed through the tunnels to the surface, Shinji whispered, "You took
my parents away...you took my life away...I'm going to get you now."
"What was that, Shinji?" asked a voice through the comm.
"Nothing, Commander Ikari."
"Shinji," broke in another voice. "Good luck."
"Thank you, Misato-san."
He finally reached the surface, with a jarring thud. He shook his head
to clear it, then peered around. Lumbering into view was the now-
regenerated Angel. An unholy grin alighted on his lips, and he chuckled
softly.
"You're mine. Oh, yes."
End chapter one.
Evangelion. There are some elements of the manga within.
************************************************
An Oddzilla Productions Fanfic, by Andrew Huang
Evangelion: Bitter Testament
Based on Neon Genesis Evangelion, c. Gainax Studios and ADVision.
************************************************
Vengeance is mine; I shall repay. --Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 1: The Advent of Rage
Odd, how they ran off like that. At least they undid the handcuffs
before disappearing.
Izaki Shinji stood on a streetcorner, rubbing his wrists idly, where he
was to be picked up by one Katsuragi Misato. The NERV officers who had
been flanking him ever since he left the detention center in Old Kyoto had
just disappeared after being paged.
He looked at the photo in the folder they had given him before
departing, and pushed down the small surge of hormones that arose (no need
for such a meaningless adolescent reaction), blinking a few times. No bad
ID mug shot, this one. "Look at this" had been scrawled on it, pointing to
her, ah, assets. Not that Shinji really needed this photo to identify
Captain Katsuragi; he had already seen that bad ID mug shot in that NERV
database....
Loud klaxons sounded suddenly, jolting the boy out of his reverie. "Take
shelter?" Shinji asked aloud, hearing the announcement that came along
with it. Then, he saw it.
Huge, mostly black, and ugly. Aircraft popped up from nowhere,
surrounding it like gnats--and then getting swatted down like gnats, by
this giant. Missiles and artillery opened up on it, without effect. The
explosions sent huge rumbles through the area, knocking Shinji to his
knees, and produced huge cracks in the sidewalk and building behind him.
The thing moved, causing more destruction.
Not once did Shinji take his eyes off the monster. He simply stared at
it, eyes wide--but not in disbelief, nor fear.
"Angel," he whispered. Then he picked up a chunk of concrete, and, with
a cold glint in his eyes, threw it at the creature, for all the good that
would do. It continued moving, oblivious to the boy in its path. Shinji
picked up another fragment of debris, but before he could throw it, a blue
car screeched to a halt in front of him. The door popped open, revealing--
"Captain Katsuragi?"
"Get in! Quickly!" Arrested in mid-throw, right arm cocked behind him,
Shinji looked blankly at the Captain, then over to the Angel, and back to
Misato. Finally, he let the chunk fall to the ground without a word, and
jumped in. He had barely closed the door when the car took off. "Sorry I
was late. I think you can guess why, heh heh."
He turned to Misato and looked at her levelly. "What are they planning
to do with the Angel?"
"Ah...I see you've really done your research. Hold on."
They drove a few minutes more, the sounds of carnage slowly fading
behind them. Shinji turned around in his seat, straining against the belt,
to watch the battle, if it could really be called such a thing. Finally,
some distance out from where they had started, they stopped by the
roadside. Pulling out a pair of binoculars, Misato stepped out of the car,
followed by Shinji. She watched for a moment. "Aircraft pulling away...
DAMN! N2 mine! Get DOWN!"
*BOOOOOOOM*
------------------------------------------------
"It's still standing!?"
"You can see for yourself, General."
"Dear God...."
"Well, General?"
"All right. Ikari, do what you will. Do what you can."
"Of course."
------------------------------------------------
"Captain--"
"Just call me Misato."
The two were now driving again, having somehow survived the explosion.
The car was going as fast as it could, which wasn't very.
"Misato-san, the Angel was still standing. What will they be doing
now?"
"You'll find out soon." She glanced at the handbook sitting closed on
Shinji's lap. "Aren't you going to read that?"
"I've seen it all already, remember?"
"Oh, right."
They continued in silence. Despite his earlier words, Shinji flipped
through the manual to pass the time. He smiled to himself secretly; though
he had been the one arrested for hacking into the database, he wasn't the
one who had really done so. He hadn't the skills for such a thing. But he
had an acquaintance who was willing to supply him with a script that would
do it for the right sum and a reassurance that he wouldn't be nailed for
it. Of course not. Shinji took the blame, was taken in by NERV. Just as
according to plan. Because then they made him an offer that he simply
couldn't turn down.
After a short while, they arrived at a rail depot. Misato parked her car
on one of the platforms, which began to roll down the tracks, into the
ground. After a few moments of darkness, they burst out into--
"The Geofront."
"Yes." Damn it, what does this kid not know? He couldn't have read all
those files, could he?
------------------------------------------------
"They've arrived."
"Excellent, Fuyutsuki. Ah, send Ritsuko to meet them. You know how the
Captain is, sometimes. We do not have that much time."
"Of course."
------------------------------------------------
"We were through here already."
"Ah, heh, well, the transport systems are here to be used, so that's
all right." Misato was kicking herself mentally. She should know where
she was going by now. "All right, let's try these doors--"
"Where have you been, Captain?"
"Ritsuko!"
"Doctor Akagi."
"Ah--" The blonde woman blinked a few times, settling her gaze on the
boy. He looked back at her steadily, unflinchingly. "And you are Izaki
Shinji. Good. Come on."
"Doctor, where are we going?"
"You'll see. Come," she repeated.
They followed her, through seemingly endless corridors. Shinji kept his
attention on the surroundings, attempting to keep track of where he was.
Finally, they arrived at a large dock, in a sea of purplish liquid. The
three of them gathered into a rubber boat equipped with an outboard motor,
and soon were skimming across the surface of the lake. Not your usual
artificial subterranean feature, but Shinji didn't seem surprised. He did,
however, appear mildly impatient. He drummed his fingers on the side of
the boat even as he sat there with an apparently placid look on his face.
"Ritsuko, what _is_ going on? Rei isn't going to be able to pilot the
Unit, is she?" Ritsuko didn't answer. "And the Second isn't scheduled to
be here for more than a month! What the hell is the Commander thinking?"
Under her breath, Misato muttered, "We won't be able to use the
Evangelions like this...."
Shinji's ears picked up Misato's words. "What is the Evangelion? I
never did find out."
"We're here," interrupted Ritsuko, as she pulled up to another dock.
She got off, and walked to a pair of large doors. "And you'll see
shortly what Evangelion is. Be careful, it's dark in here. Lights,
lights, where are those damn lights...ah."
"What the...."
"_That_ is Evangelion. Test type Unit 01." Ritsuko looked at the
purple giant, almost...proud.
"A giant robot?"
"Not quite. She's more like an artificial human."
"And that's what we'll use against the Angel?"
"Yes," came a voice from a loudspeaker.
The three turned towards the source of a sound, finding a bespectacled
man, standing on a balcony. "Izaki Shinji, we will use it to destroy the
Angel." Then, to the women, he continued, "We must launch."
"What?" yelled Misato. "Commander--Rei isn't in any condition to pilot
it. Where will we--" She looked at Shinji. "No...."
"Yes. It is the only choice."
"But Shinji just got here! It took Rei _months_ to synchronize--"
"Wait." All eyes turned to Shinji. "You," he pointed to the Commander,
"want me," he placed his hand on his chest, "to get in that," now
pointing at Unit 01, "and fight the Angel?" he finished with a gesture
upwards, at the surface of the city. Gendou nodded.
Ritsuko spoke. "Shinji, I know it's hard, but--"
"I'll do it."
"--it's the only choice that we what did you say?"
Slowly, Shinji smiled. It was not a nice smile. "I said...heh...I said
I'll do it!" He clenched his fist, looking up at Gendou with a wild light
shining in his eyes.
A second later, a horrible screeching sound ripped through the air
behind the three. They spun around to see that Unit 01's right arm had
torn free of its rigging, sending waves splashing through the complex,
and had closed its hand into a fist in the air.
There was a hollow silence that followed, to be broken by Misato
babbling, "That's...that's impossible...it's not activated, there's no
plug in it...."
Gendou smiled and nodded to Shinji. He was the one, all right. The
commander turned off his microphone, and pressed another button on his
console. The image of the Subcommander of NERV sprang up on a monitor.
"Fuyutsuki, you can take Rei off standby. This has been easier than I had
imagined."
"Yes, Commander."
Turning off that communication link, Gendou smiled faintly, watching
Misato and Ritsuko hurry Shinji over to the ladder. The boy believed it
all. The anger, the hate. The plan was perfect.... As he turned back
toward the console, his eyes landed on the purple humanoid once more. He
sighed softly. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't have approved," he
murmured. Shaking his head, he walked over to his station, to oversee the
impending operation.
------------------------------------------------
"Shinji, is everything all right?"
"Yes. You could have warned me about the LCL, though. I do hate
surprises."
"Sorry. We're activating the link now." Misato turned to the
technicians. "How is everything going?"
"It's going fine. Synchronizing...error is within 0.3%! This is going
to work!"
"All right. Shinji, this will be a bit of a ride. Evangelion Unit
01--LAUNCH!"
The sudden burst of speed slammed Shinji back into his seat. He
grimaced, but a grimace is not too terribly different from a smile. As he
rocketed through the tunnels to the surface, Shinji whispered, "You took
my parents away...you took my life away...I'm going to get you now."
"What was that, Shinji?" asked a voice through the comm.
"Nothing, Commander Ikari."
"Shinji," broke in another voice. "Good luck."
"Thank you, Misato-san."
He finally reached the surface, with a jarring thud. He shook his head
to clear it, then peered around. Lumbering into view was the now-
regenerated Angel. An unholy grin alighted on his lips, and he chuckled
softly.
"You're mine. Oh, yes."
End chapter one.
