Chapter One
7:53 A.M. March 28, 2015
In between Kyoto and Neo Tokyo-3
Shinji Ikari sat down at his seat after a trip to the food car on the train that was destined to Neo Tokyo-3. He stomach finally full after a while, and his mind pondering as he looked out the window next to his seat. The trees and mountains flashed by, giving him a view that he had not seen in a very long time.
"Hey what's up?" asked a young chirpy voice. It belonged to a teenage girl around Shinji's age.
"OH," said a startled Shinji, "Hey, nothing much was just thinking."
The girl nodded, sage-like. "You do that too much Ikari, your head will explode."
Shinji gave his companion a lop-sided grin, "Yeah well, more than I can say for you Jane."
"Oh, shut up," pouted the young blonde. She had met Shinji on the ride here, about 3 hours ago, her light-hearted personality instantly sparked up a conversation with the light hair boy. She was going to Tokyo-3 to visit her grandmother for a few days.
Shinji laughed, "Yeah, yeah," he managed to say, "lets get together later on, and I'll treat you to dinner."
"Ok," replied Jane, "So long as my grandmother says I can't."
"Too bad you can't stay," said Shinji "I was hoping that you would be a buddy of mine."
"Yeah, kind of sucks now that I met you and all." said Jane.
"Oh well," said Shinji, "let's make the best of it."
"Yeah…" said Jane.
"Hey, don't worry;" said Shinji, "we can still talk."
"Yeah," said Jane enthusiastically, "I completely forgot."
"Blonde." said Shinji grinning.
"Cute," said Jane sarcastically, "real cute."
"I know." said Shinji still grinning.
For the rest of the time they spent watching a movie on Shinji's laptop.
"Say…" said Jane, "Ikari, why are you going to Tokyo-3 anyways?"
"Oh, well…" hesitated Shinji, "I was summoned by my father to work at NERV."
Jane gasped, "NERV?" she asked scarcely believing her ears.
"Yeah," said Shinji, "something I don't know about?"
"Oh," said Jane, "well truthfully I don't know much about NERV myself, my cousin works there though."
"Neat," said Shinji, "what does he do?"
"I think he is a tech," said Jane, "but I'm not entirely sure."
"No matter," said Shinji, "maybe I'll get a chance to meet him."
"Yeah maybe." said Jane.
"Alright well we are already in Tokyo-3," said Shinji, "so it's safe to say that we need to go ahead and start getting ready to leave this train."
"Yeah," said Jane, "I swear anymore time and I think I'll become claustrophobic."
Shinji laughed, "Yeah, I'm starting to get butt cramps."
After a hearty laugh, the pair stepped out onto the train platform. Shinji supporting his duffle bag in his hand. It looked fairly heavy but he didn't seem to notice, or show any sign of discomfort. In fact he was also carrying Janet's bags as well.
"Hopefully, I we can find one of my grandparents." said Janet.
"Yeah, this stuff isn't heavy, just a lot of it," said Shinji balancing the luggage in his arms, "hard to balance and all."
"Well, you did volunteer." said Jane.
"Rub it in my face…" said Shinji.
"There, I see them," cried Jane, "this way Ikari."
Shinji managed to balance the bags and not fall flat on his face.
"Thank you," said the elderly lady, "for helping my grand-daughter with her stuff."
"Oh," replied Shinji, "It wasn't a problem; I only ask one thing in return."
"And what would that be?" asked the lady.
"That I be allowed to take her out to dinner tonight," said Shinji, "to celebrate our new friendship."
The grandmother smiled, "I think we can arrange that, here's the number where we will be staying at, give us a call, so you can contact her." She quickly wrote down a number on a piece of paper and they left with good byes.
I hope that Captain Katsuragi makes it here soon, thought Shinji. He slid on his shades, the sun was simply to bright to do otherwise.
Shinji waited for what seemed like hours, which was really only half an hour.
"I'm sick of waiting," said Shinji standing up from a chair he sat for the time, "I need to find a phone."
Shinji started wandering around, oblivious to his surroundings; he started to walk into the streets. Finding a payphone he dug into his wallet and pulled out a picture of a stunningly beautiful purple haired woman, she was dressed in something very suggestive. It said "Shinji, I'll come pick you up!" then a small drawn heart next to the note, "Look at these" it also said pointing at her breasts, the picture was the finalized with a lipstick kiss on the photo. He turned over the photo to find a couple of phone numbers, maybe her cell phone, he thought, I'll just make sure that she's on her way. He picked up the phone and was about to dial the number when a small beep was heard. "What the…" he said. The phone beeped again, "We're sorry, but due to the special state of emergency, no lines are currently available," said a calm pleasant voice, "this is a recording." Oh that helps me a lot, Shinji thought sarcastically.
I could always hack into Big Brother and find her, he thought about to take off his lap top when suddenly the ground started to shake.
Misato Katsuragi was driving around in a vain attempt to search for her MO, Find Shinji Ikari and bring him to NERV headquarters. The only problem was he was no where in sight. "Damn," she sighed in frustration, "Why did I have to loose him at a time like this?" She glanced at the G.P.S. screen map to try and find any streets or roads he could have gone down.
The ground stated to wobble; Shinji was nearly knocked off his feet, "Holy shit," he cried as he nearly lost his footing again, "w' the hell is going on?"
One of the VTOL combat jets appeared behind a tall skyscraper, moving backwards very fast. Then another in the same fashion, then a whole battalion came all in reverse, fleeing from a thunderous humanoid monster. Shinji could make out very few details from his position, he could make out this monster was entirely black, except for a strange red orb in the center of its chest, and strange bone-like chest plate protected it, and its face looked not unlike a bird's skull.
Suddenly the VTOL jets let out a volley of missiles simultaneously. Every single one of them hit the monster; it just walked forward like it didn't feel a thing. Then it was all over for one of the jets, a strange purple spear-like light shot out from the monster's hand and tore through the jet like butter. The flaming wreckage came down to earth like a giant fireball, on top of Shinji.
"Oh shit!" Shinji cried attempting to dive out of the jet's path. By some sort of miracle another shockwave from the monster pushed the jet ten meters to the left of Shinji.
"That was too close for comfort." Shinji said as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. He spoke too soon, the monster somehow pushed some sort of visible energy and jump twenty meters into the air and slammed its foot right on the flaming wreckage. The flames hit a gas tank causing it to explode under the monster's foot. Once again Shinji found himself slammed onto the concrete, "Damn it," said Shinji as he pulled himself up, "why couldn't I just get picked up like any other normal kid?" he asked aloud, desperately searching some place even a little safe. "No," said Shinji, "I get slammed around and nearly trampled by a god damn fucking monster, the size of the sunken Statue of Liberty."
Misato swerved down a side road, to end up at the mother of all road blocks, a big ass black foot. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed as he floored the car in reverse, turning the wheel a hard right. That's when she saw a kid running down the street his bag just behind him flying in the wind. I have to save his ass, Misato thought as she hit the brakes hard.
Shinji was just about to cross the street ahead of him, in an attempt to get away from the monster. A dust covered blue car screeched in front of him, the lady in the car yelled at him, "Get you ass in this car if you want to live," she said. "Don't have to tell me twice," he said as he made a mad dash and dove into the seat next to her, "Thanks."
"Thank me later," the lady said as she floored the gas again tore off; the smell of burning rubber was heavy inside the car.
"Hey, wait… your Misato Katsuragi aren't you?" Shinji asked as he got a better look the woman.
"Yah that's me sorry about being late," said Misato.
"You made up for it by saving me ass." Said Shinji grinning, he looked at the rear-view mirror as saw the disappearing monster as they speed along.
"So why did
you not stay at the train depot?" Misato asked as she glanced at Shinji.
"Simple," Shinji said adjusting
his glasses, "you where late, I tried to find a phone to call you, to make sure
you where on your way."
"I guess," Misato said, "I take it that you ran into some trouble though."
Shinji let out a frustrated sigh, "Oh nothing that bad, it was fine until that stupid 'state of emergency' crap came up, it was all down hill from there."
"Meet the big-bad-monster." Misato said.
"Yeah," Shinji said, "it decided to have a flaming jet plane make me into a pancake, then I wanted to trample me," he said, "it was lets-kill-the-Japanese-boy day."
Misato laughed, "Well it looks like we need to stop and give this car a rest," Misato said, "its about to overheat."
"Yeah," said Shinji, "and I'm betting that little stunt you pulled just about wrecked you transmission.
"Don't tell me that!" Misato said groaning, "I just had this car serviced!"
So they stopped on a hill overlooking the city and the U.N. battling the monster. The VTOL jets seemed to be having some trouble with the thing; even the large missile was worthless against it.
"Damn," said Shinji leaning against the car, "we're doing more damage to us, than that monster."
"Yeah..." said Misato as she walked to the railing near the car and squinted to get a better look.
"Hey, I got some image enhancers," said Shinji as he started to dig through his bag, "want to borrow 'em?"
"Yeah, sure, thanks." Misato said as Shinji handed the binoculars to her.
"No prob." Shinji said.
Misato puts the IE on and watches the heated battle from the railing, hoping that her car will cool down fast so she can get Shinji to NERV.
"We're hitting it with everything we got," yelled one of three generals that where watching the battle from a large holographic display screen. "No affect…" sighed another, "we're losing too much of our defense force."
Suddenly one of the phones rang; the youngest general slid his ID card into the card reader before he picked up the phone.
"Yes?" answered the General, "Yes… of course I understand." He then paused for a second "We will execute back up plan at once, sir." With that he hung up the phone, and took a deep sigh to relax his nerves, he had hoped that it would have never come to this but I had to be done, "Order the strike," said the youngest, the others nodded knowing full well what was to come, "and for Christ sake get the others out of there."
Misato watched intently as the jets battled valiantly against the overwhelming odds, suddenly the jets scrambled. "What the…" began Misato when the sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks, "they wouldn't!" she cried as he turned and started running towards the car at full speed, "Shinji, get in the car and hit the deck, now!" she said as she herself dove in and shut the door and laid flat against the seat. She heard Shinji do the same thing a second later, and then the sound of a massive explosion echoed all around the car, then the shockwave hit, rolling the car over its side repeatedly.
The first thing Shinji did as he finally felt the car stop rolling around was to check himself for any sort of injury. Nope, nothing broken, everything seemed fine… Shinji slowly picked himself up from the bottom of the car. Feeling brave he poked his head out of the window, shortly followed closely by Misato who was parallel to him. The hot wind was forcing his hair back and to wave in the air, it also was making him sweat. Even with his shades on the light was close to unbearable, the electrodes pulsed from the center in the form similar to a mushroom cloud.
"Yeah!" yelled out one of the generals, he had total confidence in the fact that they killed the thing. Many other officers joined in the cheering, in complete confidence that it was destroyed, after all it was an N² bomb.
Commander Ikari grunted, "Arrogant bastards, don't they know that conventional weapons have no effect against an A.T. Field?" he asked Fuyutsuki, "I seriously doubt that a N² bomb will have a significant effect."
Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki only nodded from his place next to Commander Ikari, he always perfered standing next to him, to watch his movements carefully.
"What's the status of the target?" asked one of the generals, he knew what the answer was going to be.
"The shockwave knocked out all out external sensor," explained one of the communications officers, "we need to reboot and bring the back-ups on-line, it should only take thirty seconds, sir."
For that half a minute, it was total silence in the command center, even the quite hums of the three MAGI super computers where not heard. Then a beep was heard at a console, "External back-ups are coming on-line..."
The large holographic screen showed a three dimensional graph of the recently created crater, suddenly a huge energy spike shot up from the center of the crater.
"High energy readings on the FCS sensors!" yelled out one of the technicians, as the spike drew up on the screen.
"External cameras coming on-line," reported another, "putting it on the main screen."
A collective gasp and a lone "No" rang out in the command center. The youngest General slumped in this chair in utter defeat. He was so sure, so damned sure it would work.
"It seems
that the Angels are indeed back." said Commander Ikari.
"Yes, and it seems to be
regenerating." said Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki.
"Of course, without that ability it couldn't operate without support units." said Ikari.
Suddenly the Angel looked up and destroyed a plane with the live camera feed; another collective gasp filled the command center.
"And it's getting smarter." said Fuyutsuki.
"Ikari, it seems that we have no way to defeat this monster," explained the General bitterly, "we are relinquishing command and intrusting it to you."
"Ikari," said another General, "Can you defeat it?"
"That's why NERV exists." said Commander Ikari smugly.
"I prey your right." said the eldest General. With that they left, the platform which they where sitting at disappeared below the command deck.
"The U.N. forces are exhausted," said Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, "what do you plan to do?"
"Activate Unit One…" said Commander Ikari.
"Activate it?!" asked a shocked Fuyutsuki, "b-but we have no pilot."
"We just found one," explained Ikari, "another spare is being delivered."
Shinji Ikari was playing around on his wireless data pad, he had a small screen running a GPS program on the upper right corner of the screen, what he found was something that started him, he wasn't let off of the train in Tokyo-3, but in fact, one of the other suburban areas bordering the city. It also seemed that they where traveling along a road that didn't exist, they weren't even on the blasted map anymore, "What the hell…" he said as suddenly the map program was scrambled and static started on the screen. He hit the side of the screen in a vain hope that it would work, then he glanced at Misato's own GPS screen at it was working just fine, that only deepened his frustration.
Misato calmly glanced at his puzzlement, "I bet your wondering why mines working and not yours," she asked, "It's simple, mines running on a military frequency, yours is civilian so it won't run without the proper codes."
"Oh," said a mildly surprised Shinji, "damn, well it's not really that important anyways."
Shinji stole another glance at the bundle of car batteries we took so that the car could run again, somehow the fuel cell was cracked, so we added more juice to the battery. I hope this car doesn't explode before we get to my father, he thought for the millionth time.
"Say, Misato…" Shinji began, stealing another glance at the batteries, "I swear if you get caught with those I had nothing to do with it."
"Oh that…" she said looking at them as well before going back to the road ahead, "Well I am a govern't official and this is an emergency."
Yeah, though Shinji, that was the most load of bull I've ever heard. "So Misato, how long until we get there?" he asked to spark up a conversation.
"Well Shinji, in about five minutes we will reach the gate then about another five to reach the trans-it trains."
"Ok cool ten minutes," he said "I'm going to hold you to that."
"Why?"
"I got' a go."
With that Misato's car phone rang, she picked it up and with a "Hello?"
"Oh hi," said Misato, "Yeah, he's with me… Don't worry he's under my protection isn't he…I'm going to need a train as soon as I get there, an express of course… Listen, don't worry I'll be there… in five minutes… bah-bye."
Shinji was staring out the window, taking in the scenery. It was all ruined by the artificial walls after the guard station. It was a tunnel that ran through the mountain, accually underneath the city. Misato kept driving along the road until she came across many spaced parking spots. It started out level, but it soon started to move, much like escalators, but it was car-sized.
"Oh yeah," Misato said suddenly, "I forgot, did your father send you an ID card?"
"Um… Yeah here it is…" Shinji searched through his bag until he found it folded up in one of the pockets. He handed it to Misato, then went back to watching the little red lights blur past as the train picked up speed.
"So, Misato, my father works here right?" Shinji asked again in an attempt to conversant.
"Well… sort 'a… you could say that."
"I wonder what my father does..."
"You mean you don't know?"
"Nope, not even a single clue."
"Do you even know why you're here?"
"Well… my teachers all told me that it was best for mankind… whatever the hell that means."
"Shinji…"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Well… here read this it should explain everything." Misato then handed him a green folder that was tied off, "Top secret" was written all over it. "NERV" was at the top in blood red. Shinji looked closer at the logo, "God is in his heaven and all is right with the world" Wow, thought Shinji, that's deep, and if I'm not mistaken that would be half a fig leaf.
Shinji just flipped through the folder of information, it was full of crap that he could seriously care less about, but it would take up time. The Geo-Front passed him up, but he didn't notice because he was too engrossed in the reading.
"Isn't this the right way?" Misato asked rhetorically. Suddenly a gust of escaping air rushed up from the endless transit walkways. "This is why I hate wearing a skirt around here."
And every single man in his right mind loves it when she wears a skirt, though Shinji with a big fat grin plastered all over his face.
"You know I just started working here myself." said Misato.
"Wow, that's cool."
"Yeah, just under a month is when I moved here."
"Well, since you did just move here… I think we should ask for someone to come get us."
Misato gave out a small sigh, "Yeah, I suppose your right."
"Will the chair person of E project, technical division one, Doctor Ritsuko Akagi please contact Captain Misato Katsuragi of Operations. Division one." announced the speakers.
"I don't believe this..." said Ritsuko Akagi as she unzipped her wet suit and took off her diving mask, "is she lost again?"
"From what I gather Misato, NERV is just a super secret organization that is controlled by the U.N." said Shinji.
"Yes, well that about sums it up," said Misato as she slumped against the wall in the elevator, "It also is a defense division, but you'll more than likely learn more about that later."
Defense, though Shinji, this is getting more interesting every second.
Shinji glanced up as saw a young lady around her late twenties; she was just as tall as Misato but had a really serious look. This must be Ritsuko, the one the Misato asked for, thought Shinji, Yup Misato is going to be chewed out.
"Captain…" said Ritsuko as she bumped into Misato, forcing her to move towards the back of the elevator, "why are you wasting my time, you know that we are short on time and man power."
Misato took in a sharp breath, "Sorry."
Ritsuko just glanced at Shinji who was still reading the stuff in the folder, "So is this the boy?"
"Um… yes," said Misato, "according to the Marduke report, he's the third child."
"Pleased to meet you..." Ritsuko said.
"Oh… you must be Doctor Ritsuko Akagi; Misato spoke very highly of you." Said Shinji, in truth Misato hadn't spoken a word, but it made good conversation.
"Yes that would be me." said Ritsuko.
Shinji held out his hand, "Pleasures all mine, I assure you."
They shook hands and they went off Ritsuko in the lead.
Commander Ikari walked towards the small one person lift, "Handle the rest of this…" he said.
Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki watched as Commander Ikari went down to one of the lower levels, "Their first meeting in over three years." The comment was meant for him alone but his voice carried, so much of the bridge heard.
"Sir," said a communications officer, "The target is mobilizing again, it's headed towards Tokyo-3."
"Understood," said Fuyutsuki as he turned around, "Go to battle stations, level one."
"Repeat. Battle stations, level one. Prepare for ground-unit interception." said the speakers.
"There we go." said Misato.
"Sounds pretty serious…" said Ritsuko.
"So how's unit one coming?" asked Misato.
"It's currently undergoing refrigeration, using the B-type equipment."
"Will it really work? It never worked before has it?"
"Well, the possibility of activation is 0.000000001%. Around here we just call it the 0-9 system."
"Does it mean it doesn't work?"
"Oh, don't be insulting. It's O-9 as in Oni, a Japanese devil."
"Well… anyways, I suppose it's a bit late to be saying 'Sorry it doesn't work'."
The elevator that they where on finally stopped at the highest point it could reach. They all climbed out, Shinji still reading the stuff in the green folder. They walked into a room where the only light that was in the room came from the opening from the door they just came from. Suddenly the door closed leaving it pitch black.
"Damn it. Why is it so dark in here? Now I can't read." Shinji said annoyed.
As if to bend to Shinji's will, lights turned on, revealing a giant mountain of metal.
"Wow, what is it, it looks like a face." Shinji pointed out, his mind desperately trying to find an answer. "No wait; it's a giant robot, isn't it."
Shinji then tried to search in the folder, how in the hell could he have missed something like this?
"You won't find this in there." Ritsuko said who had been watching Shinji's every move.
"Huh?" Shinji grunted, looking away from the folder.
"This is man's ultimate humanoid fighting machine, the first model of the synthetic life form known as Evangelion, Unit 01: Built here in secret, it is mankind's last hope." said Ritsuko.
"So this is my father's work…" said Shinji.
"Correct." A booming voice had announced, it filled the entire room and echoed.
Shinji suddenly looked up, above the Evangelion, there was his father. He was in a glass room, with monitors all across one wall.
"It's been a while." Commander Ikari said coldly.
"Father..." said Shinji staring up at him, fury in his eyes.
Commander Ikari finally adverted his eyes and looked at Misato and Ritsuko, "We're moving out."
"Moving out?! Unit 00's still in cryo-stasis, isn't it?" said Misato, suddenly it clicked she let out a gasp, "wait a minute, your going to use Unit 01?"
"There's no other way." said Ritsuko.
"Now wait, Rei can't do it yet can she?" Misato asked, "We don't have a pilot."
"We just received one." said Ritsuko sternly.
"You're serious aren't you?" Misato asked.
"Shinji you will pilot it." Ritsuko told the young man.
Shinji completely tuning out the bickering ladies focused on his father, "So this is what you've been working on for all these years…" It was a rhetorical question but it got answered anyways. "Yes that is correct." Commander Ikari said. Shinji then smirked, something which unnerved Commander Ikari to the core, but he didn't let it show, it could be exploited. "Alright, I'll pilot your robot. But let it be known that it's not for you, so some shit you are going to pull, I'm doing it for the people out there getting slaughtered. We will talk about conditions later."
Commander Ikari never fixed anyone with a more penetrating stare as he did now, "Your terms are acceptable, but know this, I am not a person you want to make demands with, do not push it… pilot."
"Of course, father." Shinji said, then he turned to Ritsuko, "Well, it seems that I am about to get a crash course in Evangelion piloting."
"Yes well here, first you must…" Ritsuko said.
Five minutes later Shinji found himself inside a long cylinder cockpit, he fidgeted a little trying to find a more comfortable position, the seat itself was amazing, and it formed to his body shape to provide comfort as well as protection.
A true testament of human's creativeness given the resources, mused Shinji.
Ritsuko Akagi drunk deeply from her ritual early morning coffee, this should help me think better, she thought. "Alright," her voice soft but commanding, "Insert the Entry Plug."
Her 'right-hand', Maya Ikubi, Voiced out her instructions and hit a series of buttons to input the data needed to carry out the order. "Entry Plug – inserted."
"Fill the Entry Plug with L.C.L." said Ritsuko.
"Filling the Entry Plug." Maya said.
Now is a good time to panic, thought Shinji as strange orange tinted liquid came rising up the plug. "Say," Shinji said, trying to sound as calm as possible, "Guys… this room is filling up with a liquid. I don't think I can hold my breath for that long."
"Don't worry," assured Ritsuko over the communications link, "it's called L.C.L.; once it has filled you lung, it will oxygenate your cells directly."
The L.C.L. completely filled the plug when Ritsuko finished her explanation. Shinji feeling the burn of old air in his lungs trying to get out and fill his lungs with new air. Finally when Shinji could hold it no more he let out the rest of the stale air and took in the L.C.L.; it was warm and cold at the same time. It was a very unpleasant experience, the feeling of glop going down his wind pipe and filling his lungs. Shinji's body tried to reject the liquid but finding it impossible it reluctantly got used to the feeling. "I think I'm going to be sick." Shinji said nauseously.
Misato, suddenly feeling slightly irritated at the boy's sudden pathetic behavior, yelled at Shinji to, "Stop complaining, you're a boy, aren't you?"
Shinji annoyed by Misato's sudden rudeness said the first thing that came to his mind, "Being a boy, doesn't make me any less sick."
Misato was completely flabbergasted, she was unable to think of a witty comeback because she didn't really have anything on him. Ritsuko took this opertunity and went back to the activation sequence. "Charge the L.C.L." Ritsuko said.
"Charging the L.C.L." Said Maya.
Shinji felt a strange but pleasant electrical surge throughout his entire body, then he noticed that the L.C.L. suddenly became much less hazy and more clear. Suddenly the plug around him became a whirl of colors and images.
"Start the synconization process between the pilot and the Evangelion unit," said Ritsuko.
"Connecting the A-10 nerve…" Maya said while continuing the long start up procedure.
Shinji was hardly paying attention to what the techs where doing, running around not unlike ants. A pleasant voice over the intercom keep announcing this and that, suddenly a very strange feeling overcame Shinji. "I wonder how I am supposed to operate this blasted war machine," he wondered aloud.
Suddenly a facial picture of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi appeared on the video screen, but she wasn't looking directly at the screen she was looking at something else. "Well Shinji, it's quite simple, this Eva operates on the principle of negative feedback. While it's not entirely the same as the prototype mobile suits that the army uses, this robot is entirely mental negative feedback. All your thoughts that you use to operate your body is used to move the robot. Once the Evangelion is activated, your theorethicly you will feel very strange and sluggish."
Shinji interrupted the small briefing that Akagi was giving him, "Wait a second, what do you mean by theorethicly?" Shinji asked the Dr. whose picture turned to see his face.
"Well, uh, it has never been tested, the only people that have tested the Evangelion died, to be blunt." Ritsuko said slowly.
"Oh, well that makes me feel a whole bunch better." Shinji said sarcastically.
Suddenly Shinji jerked a bit, quite suddenly. "Ma'am we have reached absolute border-line." Suddenly the lights pasted the marked point and continued to rise. "Evangelion Unit 01 is activated. Synchronization ratio is holding currently at 58% and slowly rising."
Ritsuko leaned closer to the monitor to make sure her eyes where not deceiving her. "Amazing," she finally managed to say.
Shinji's head was spinning, man what the hell just happened to him, he wondered. He felt very strange, it was impossible to describe because there was nothing else on earth to help you understand. He felt detached, like he had taken strong pain killers.
"Shinji," Ritsuko said, "listen very carefully I don't want you to move a lot right now. Ok?"
Shinji slowly brought his head to face the video communications link. "Alright, I'll try not to move." Shinji said. No fully understanding the situation. The truth was the order was to protect the techs from Shinji's inexperience in operating the Evangelion.
"Listen, right now, you are extremely dangerous. I want you to move your head slowly, but concentrate on you head and nothing else." Ritsuko said.
Misato leaned close to Dr. Akagi and leaned in close, "Are you sure we have enough time for this?" she whispered.
"Yes, just enough, that N² bought us some time." Ritsuko said, "Alright Shinji, I want you to concentrate on moving the Eva's head, just envision the Evangelion head, now move it to the right."
The enormous head of the Evangelion unit slowly moved to the right, causing small waves to move across the cooling liquid.
"Do you know that just now you moved the Eva's head while still inside the plug and not touching anything?" Ritsuko asked.
"Wha- no way! Cool." Shinji said.
"Yes, you did it by concentrating on the Eva's features; do you think you can fight the Angel?" Ritsuko asked.
"Angel?" Shinji asked.
"An Angel is that monster you narrowly escaped from." Ritsuko said.
"Oh." was all Shinji managed to say before a massive explosion shook the entire building.
"It's here!" yelled Misato as she grabbed hold of the computer station next to her for support. "Move the Eva to launch catapult 58."
Shinji could over hear techs talking about: flushing the coolant and safety locks number one through fifty eight being released. Suddenly he could feel himself being moved, he looked at the enormous screen that showed what the Evangelion was "seeing", the amazing thing was it was all real-time. Shinji felt a sudden jerk, and everything was calm again.
"Evangelion Unit 01 in position and ready to launch." announce Maya.
Misato then turned to Commander Ikari, "Will this really work?"
The Commander just stared down at her with his icy stare, "Of course, other wise we have no future."
Misato nodded, the yelled, "Eva launch!"
Shinji grunted at the sudden feeling of five times his proper weight slammed against his spine. The Evangelion rocketed up the launch tube, into the futuristic city that was Neo Tokyo-3, to save it from a threat that threatens the very existence of the human race.
"Good luck, Shinji," said Misato looking at the holographic screen as it showed the Evangelion rising up from the elevator shaft to the desolate streets to face the Angel, "I have a feeling you are going to need it."