CARDCAPTOR EVANGELION
Prologue
Angel Attack

by Teknomancer

DISCLAIMER: Pretty much every character here is copyright either CLAMP or Gainax. The only reason I'm writing this is because it's a twisted idea that sprung up in my head and refuses to go away. I take no responsiblity for any psychiatrist's bills that may result from reading this.

HISTORICAL NOTE: These events take place after the first three seasons of CCS...well, what those seasons would be if they occurred in the same timeframe of NGE, and if the main characters were all fourteen. Also, I've made several changes to the characters to fit them into the NGE continuity more easily. Deal.

Anyway...

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NERV HEADQUARTERS - THE CAGE
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"Father, why did you call me?"

Shinji Ikari stood, his head cast downward towards the steel walkway. But even as he asked, he knew the answer.

"I called you here because I had a need for you."

Shinji glanced upwards briefly, towards the giant humanoid robot covered in purple armor. Unit 01. "You want me to pilot it? Why?"

Gendo cast his ever-present level stare at Shinji. "Because noone else can."

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TOKYO-3 - GEO-SHELTER 334
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"Well, if it has nothing to do with Clow Reed, then why do you sense so much magic from it?"

Sakura looked into her bag at Kero, Tomoyo and Syaoron a short distance away.

"I don't know if it is magic," Kero replied. "But there's power...more than I have ever felt."

"In the Angel?" Syaoron asked.

"It's going to destroy Tokyo-3!" Tomoyo reminded the group. "Sakura-chan, Li-kun, you have to stop it!"

"We can't," Syaoron said. "Not without revealing our magic. And if that happens..."

"I know, I know," Sakura said. "Paradox. But there has to be something."

"Your father works for NERV, doesn't he, Sakura?" Syaoron asked.

"As a scientist," Sakura replied. "He doesn't do anything important...why?"

Syaoron grinned. "Just follow me, Sakura-chan."

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NERV HEADQUARTERS - THE CAGE
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Whatever God or gods governed the fate of humanity, they certainly did not seem to like Shinji. Here he was, the injured body of someone named Rei resting in his arms, his hands covered in blood.

The Angel had done something...it had found them. But when the ceiling began to fall, Unit 01 blocked the beams...despite everyone claiming it was impossible.

Shinji repeated four words under his breath, a mantra that he hoped would steel him for what would inevitably happen. "I musn't run away."

Perhaps if he said it enough, he would believe it.

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TOKYO-3 - OUTSIDE GEO-SHELTER 334
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Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoron had climbed out the shaft to the surface of Tokyo-3, Kero finally free to fly around without worrying about being seen. "I can sense it too now," Sakura said, pointing towards the Angel as it walked through Tokyo-3. "A strong aura, like you said."

"Someone has to stop it," Syaoron said. "And we're the only ones you can."

Sakura sighed, steeled herself, and withdrew the Sakura Key from inside her blouse. "O key to the power of the stars," she began, holding it out before her, a glow starting to eminate from it, "Reveal your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under the contract. Release!"

As the incantiaton was uttered, a magical sigil appeared beneath her bearing a sun, crescent moon, and star...the sigil of the Sakura Cards. The key glowed, increasing in size, transforming into the Sealing Wand. Taking the Storm card, Sakura tossed in into the air, calling out, "O Storm, call forth the lightnings and disrupt the Angel. Storm!" Moving the wand to touch the Storm card, the card began to glow, a small, angry-looking girl emerging, then transforming into storm clouds that began to brew.

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NERV HEADQUARTERS - THE CAGE
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"I'll pilot it."

What happened after he said that, Shinji Ikari could not recall clearly. Everything was a blur, revolving around getting him into a long cylinder with a chair in it...something they called an 'entry plug'. Red light surrounded him as the 'plug' was inserted into the Eva, flashing numerous colors before settling on a comfortable white.

Suddenly, the voice of Dr. Akagi was heard: "Filling the entry plug". Yellowish fluld, smelling vaguely of blood, appeared, flooding the cylinder. Instinctively, Shinji held his breath.

"Don't worry," Dr. Akagi said. "Once your lungs are filled with LCL, your blood will be oxygenated directly. You'll get used to it." Exhaling, Shinji attempted to inhale the LCL...and to his surprise, he was able to breate it. Sort of. "I feel nauseous."

"Stop whining!" Major Katsuragi said over the link. "You're a boy, aren't you?"

...

"Connecting main power...A-10 nerve connection, normal..." What happened afterwards seemed distant to Shinji until the pattern of the cylinder's stark white walls changed. It flashed into a rainbow pattern, then to what resembled nerve cells, then into muscle cells before settling on a simply display overlay of the area surrounding the Eva. "All preliminary contacts established. Performance normal."

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NERV HEADQUARTERS - CENTRAL DOGMA
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"Odd," Fuyutsuki said, gesturing to the vast display screen. "The weather sattelites said nothing about a storm."

Gendo Ikari ignored his Vice-Commmander, sliding his glasses up as Major Katsuragi looked up at him. "Can we really do this?"

"Of course," Gendo replied. "Unless we defeat the Angels, we have no future."

"Ikari, are you sure about this?" Fuyutsuki asked. Gendo's only response was a smile.

Katsuragi nodded, and turned back to her team. "Launch!"

Before long, the purple form of Unit 01 emerged from the lift, about thirty meters away from the Angel.

"Shinji-kun," Katsuragi thought, "Don't get killed out there."

The storm continued to brew, a dark echo of the battle that was about to unfold.