Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ascension
By Crooky Crookerson
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that I don't own Evangelion. If I did, I'd be getting more fan mail.
Chapter One: Seeds of Power
***
"Keep trying," Gendo Ikari ordered, maintaining a façade of quiet calm despite the emergency at hand. Unit 01 was had refused Rei, and was now refusing the Dummy Plug. Third Impact was seemingly inevitable at this point. This was not in accordance with the scenario. "Repeat the process from step one-zero-eight."
His reverie was interrupted by the voice of the last person he had expected to see.
"Let me pilot it!"
***
An explosion resounded throughout the NERV complex as the main shaft was forcibly opened by the energy blasts of Zeruel, the 14th Angel. The monstrous beast grinned internally, since no facial expression could register on the face it had assumed, and prepared to be reunited with his father.
"We've been breached!" was all Shigeru had to say to confirm the dreadful suspicions of the rest of the bridge crew. "Target is inside the main shaft! It's advancing!"
"Where's it heading?" Misato asked, her voice tinged with a hint of panic.
"It's advancing directly towards Central Dogma!" Hyuga replied.
"It's coming here, all personnel evacuate!" Misato ordered quickly. The order was repeated over the Comm. System as the command bridge was shut down and abandoned. Unfortunately, before the bridge crew could even leave their seats, the holographic projection screen was shattered as the Angel broke through into the command center.
Leaning in close, Zeruel inspected the tiny mortals for a moment. His hatred for these pitiful creatures was boundless, and he smiled once again before his eyes began to glow with a tell-tale yellow light. Suddenly, the massive form of Unit 01 broke through an adjacent wall and crashed into the preoccupied angel.
"Eva Unit 01?" Misato stammered. Had the Dummy Plug been accepted? Realization hit the Major like a ton of bricks as she suddenly understood who was in the entry plug. "S-Shinji?"
Inside the entry plug, Shinji screamed as he attempted to pummel the Angel into submission. The two behemoths crashed through walls, with little concern for the condition of the command center itself.
Shinji raised the massive fist of Unit 01 as he prepared to unleash all his rage upon the Angel. He was rewarded with a searing pain as Unit 01's arm was shot of at the elbow by Zeruel's energy blast. Grabbing his arm in pain, Shinji screamed again and kicked the Angel onto one of the launch catapults.
"Misato!" the enraged Third Child yelled, hoping the major would understand his intent.
"Launch the fifth catapult!" Misato ordered, and both of the titanic combatants were lifted off the ground at incredible velocity. Sparks flew as the pilot of Unit 01 willed his Eva to grind the Angel's mask-like face against the walls of the catapult shaft.
As the catapult reached its apex the two monstrous beings were sent flying into the air. Shinji continued to scream, even as Eva Unit 01 landed atop the Angel as they struck the ground, and, with its only remaining arm, continued to deliver powerful blows to the angel's face-mask.
Gripping the face of the downed Angel, the Third Child grinned in murderous delight as he attempted to tear it off. Tendons stretched as the face-mask began to come loose. Suddenly, the internal power of Unit 01 ran out, and Shinji was at the Angel's mercy.
"Huh...? Energy reserves depleted..." He said, half in shock and half in fear.
***
In one of the access elevators leading to the surface, Maya informed her companions of the situation on the surface. "Unit One has completely drained its reserves! The backup power supply isn't working!"
"Shinji..." Misato whispered. Completely helpless, she could only silently pray the Angel would be merciful.
In her heart, she knew that it wouldn't.
***
Infuriated and in unbelievable pain, Zeruel wrapped his mono-filament ribbon arms around the head of Unit 01, lifted it high into the air, and ferociously threw the helpless Eva into a rocky outcropping, just as the bridge crew arrived on the surface.
"Shinji!" Misato screamed as she exited onto the Geo-Front. She could only watch helplessly and scream his name as the Angel slowly floated over to the prone form of Unit 01. "Shinji!!"
Within the Eva's entry plug, Shinji wrestled helplessly with the butterfly controls. No matter how much he wanted it to, the drained Evangelion would not respond. "Damnit, move, move, move, come on, move you god damn piece of junk! Move or there's no point to any of this, damnit" The entry plug suddenly shoot, breaking Shinji's mantra, and sending waves of pain through his shoulder.
Outside, Zeruel tested the prone Eva, slicing through its shoulder with a mono-filament blade. Seeing no reaction, the Angel of Might decided to end this quickly. The Eva had put up a valiant effort, and Zeruel was not completely without compassion for defeated opponents.
Eyes glowing, the Angel blasted away the chest armor of Unit 01, revealing a large crimson orb; Unit 01's core.
"What's that?" Misato could only stare in shock at the newly exposed core.
Wasting no time, Zeruel began striking at the core with its mono-filament blades, over and over again. Normally, the ultra-thin strips would cut through anything in one attack, but the core was far too dense for the blades to penetrate it so easily.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji could only watch in horror as the armor began to crack. "Move, move, move! Move, come on, move! Oh god, you've got to move now or everyone will be killed! Oh god I'm sick of it already! Oh come on move! God damn you to hell, you filthy stinking monster!"
Suddenly, he heard a heartbeat.
***
Zeruel could only wince in surprise and pain as the Evangelion awoke once more, raised a hand, and parted the Angel's blades as if they had the consistency of water. Gripping the ruined blade-arms, Unit 01 pulled the Angel until the two titans were face to monstrous face.
Letting loose a feral growl, the Eva then kicked the Angel back with all its power, tearing the ribbon arm it held, and sent the Angel crashing to the ground far away.
Maya was the first member of the bridge crew to voice the obvious. "It's reactivating..."
Unit 01 brought the shredded portion of the Angel's arm up to its own shattered arm. Gritting its teeth with effort and pain, the Eva's arm began to knit itself together with the material from the Angel.
"Oh my god..." Misato muttered in disbelief. Maya voice broke the silence. "This... is impossible... It must be wrong! How can Shinji's sync ration with Unit 01 be over four hundred percent?!?"
"It's finally happened," Ritsuko said ominously. "It's aware."
Zeruel was not about to give up so easily though, and attested to that fact when its other mono-filament ribbon blade shot up from the trees, aimed at the Eva's throat.
Almost lazily, Unit 01 raised an arm and brought it down, summoning its AT field directly on top of Zeruel's blade. The ribbon-arm was torn to shreds, and the flying pieces shot back at the Angel with unbelievable velocity, cutting through the Angel's AT field as if it wasn't there, and tearing Zeruel's body apart in an explosion of blood.
Unit 01 slowly hunched over and began to creep towards the prone Angel. Knowing the battle was lost, Zeruel prepared a last ditch effort to defeat the Eva. The bridge crew could only watch in stunned silence as the Eva leaned over helpless Angel, narrowed its eyes, and bit into the dying creature.
"It's eating the Angel..." Misato whispered.
"The S2 Organ... She's taking it into herself. Eva Unit One is... is..." Ritsuko managed to stammer. She didn't get to finish her thoughts, as they were interrupted by a sickened Maya.
Suddenly, the Angel's form exploded in a flash of brilliant light. Eva Unit 01 bellowed in agony as the surge of energy engulfed its body. Shinji, his body dissolved within the entry plug of the berserk Evangelion, his soul united with the long-dormant consciousness of Unit 01, felt his form being forcibly knitted back together as the nigh-infinite power of the Angel washed over Unit 01.
Memories flashed before his eyes. Thoughts and urges pushed their way into his mind. Power, unlike any he had ever felt before, insinuated itself into his body, his very soul. Pain. Anger. Hatred. He gripped his head in anguish and once more fell into the soothing dark of oblivion.
Misato gaped at the scene. Both the Angel and Unit 01 had gone silent. Stunned, she only managed to mutter a few quiet words that were barely heard by her companions. "Retrieve the entry plug... Get Shinji out of that... that monster..."
***
Ritsuko watched as Shinji was removed from the Eva's entry plug, lost within her tumultuous inner monologue. The retrieval effort had taken nearly eight hours. They had needed to cut him out forcibly, since the heat generated by the Angel's last attack had caused much of the Eva's armor to melt and fuse together.
But Shinji shouldn't even have been in there at all.
"Four hundred percent synchronization ratio," the Doctor mumbled to herself. She removed her glasses and rubbed her weary eyes. This result wasn't even possible, as far as the process of synchronization was concerned. She replayed the series of events in her mind, but always came to the same conclusion; Shinji should have been absorbed by the Evangelion.
Doctor Akagi mentally reviewed everything that was known about synchronization.
There were four levels of synchronization, divided into percentile brackets, each bracket being a hundred percent. Humans cannot normally achieve a level higher than one hundred percent. That was simply as far as their weak mental capacity allowed them to go, except under extreme circumstances.
The four levels were codenamed body, heart, mind, and soul. The first level, the body, occurs when two individuals were able to influence the movements of their partner, like an Evangelion and its pilot. The heart level takes place at two hundred percent and upwards, and wherein the two individuals feel the same emotions. The mind level is achieved at three hundred percent, where the individuals in essence become one. They think the same thoughts with a joint personality. At four hundred, the soul level, the two beings become one inseparable individual.
This has been proven before, in the case of Yui Ikari, who had achieved a synchronization ratio of four hundred percent and had become absorbed into Unit 01.
However, Shinji was obviously not one with the Evangelion, otherwise he would not currently be on his way to the NERV Infirmary.
Ritsuko sighed audibly. The Commander was likely to have her working multiple shifts to solve this mystery.
She hoped the coffee machine had been fixed.
***
For all her trying, Asuka couldn't understand why she was keeping watch over an unconscious Shinji while he stayed the night at the Infirmary. She knew that she had been ordered to by Misato, as the two were rotating shifts in keeping watch, but she couldn't understand why she didn't just forget about the idiot and go home.
It was probably because she wanted to be left alone, and being next to a cataleptic Shinji was pretty much the same thing.
At least that's what she told herself.
In truth, she was concerned about the Third Child.
As angry as she was by his knight-in-shining-armor routine, she couldn't abandon him right now. Misato had been frantic. Something truly awful must have happened to Shinji after Unit 02 had been disabled, and nobody would tell Asuka exactly what that was. It must have been really, really bad.
The redhead glanced over at the comatose boy. He was grimacing in pain, and twitching sporadically. His jaw was set and his fists were clenched tightly, the knuckles turned white. Beads of sweat were covering his forehead, and not because of the temperature.
"Why do you always do this?" She muttered at him. "Why do you always have to be the tragic hero? What good does that make me, if you're just going to save the day all the time? Why are you taking away my reason for living? If I'm not the best Eva pilot... then I'm nothing at all..."
The Second Child closed her eyes and a single tear made its way down her cheek. Many more tears should have come, but Asuka's pride wouldn't allow more than one.
"I hate you, Shinji Ikari," she whispered. "Because you're making me realize how much I hate myself."
***
Shinji was standing on the surface of an ocean that spanned endlessly in all directions. He wasn't floating above the water, just standing on it as if it were solid ground. Based on that observation alone, he knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary dream. He glanced down at his reflection and took stock of himself.
He looked worn and haggard.
Lifting his gaze once more, the Third Child stared out into the distance, hoping that maybe a friendly boat would come by. He didn't really feel like walking back to shore.
The absurdity of that thought made him chuckle.
But long after he stopped laughing, he continued to hear a light chuckle. Checking his surroundings once more, Shinji confirmed that there was indeed no one within eyesight. Realizing where this dream was heading, his gaze uneasily fell back to his watery reflection.
It was laughing at him.
"Who are you?" Shinji asked the other child.
"I am you," the underwater Shinji replied. "Or, I should say, I am the you that was once you. A subconscious part of you that you didn't even know existed."
Shinji just nodded and smiled. "I understand completely."
The other Shinji sighed. "Let me put it this way. The Shinji Ikari when you were four years old is a different Shinji Ikari than you are now. Try as you might, you can't go back to being that Shinji Ikari, because that part of you is long gone. I am in the same situation. I am another Shinji Ikari, and even now I am fading away to be replaced by a different Shinji Ikari."
"I think I understand," Shinji said. "When will the next Shinji Ikari get here?"
"Soon," the other Shinji replied, even as he began to sink deep into the depths of the ocean. Within moments that Shinji was gone, having faded away into memory.
Shinji waited quietly for the next Shinji to arrive. Second later, a shape began to form beneath him. It was large, far too large to be Shinji. Details began getting clearer, as a frowning metallic mask appeared, as well as an orange, gray, and black body with no discernable limbs.
"What the hell?" Shinji cried.
A hollow laugh reverberated all around him, originating from the reflection below him. Twin mono-filament blade arms unfolded and began waving menacingly.
"What the hell are you?" Shinji screamed, panic gripping him. Looking at his hands, he realized that his body was slowly changing to match that of the creature below him.
"You are me..." the monstrous reflection told him, and soon it was true. Shinji had changed into an exact copy of the monster. The creature's blade- arms reared back, swaying back and forth, then shot forward and broke through the water's surface, arching directly for Shinji's face.
He screamed.
***
Shinji awoke screaming, covered in sweat and arms flailing wildly. His shriek was matched by the surprised redhead who was keeping watch over him. Once the noise had died down, the two teens stared at each other for a moment before Asuka chose to break the silence.
"Stupid Shinji!" she yelled at him, accenting her point with a punch in the arm. "You scared me half to death! Don't scream like that ever again!"
"Sorry, sorry," the bruised Third Child muttered, cowering away from any further abuse. Another few moments of silence passed between them. Shinji was the first to break the quiet. "Asuka?"
"What?" was her indignant reply.
"Why..." he began slowly, wary of the German girl's temper. "Why are you here, exactly?"
The comment seemed to start the gears turning once more in Asuka's head. She sneered at him. "I'm here because Misato ordered me to make sure you didn't die in the middle of the night, or something equally stupid. But, now that you're awake, I can go."
"Oh... Misato ordered you," Shinji mumbled to himself.
"I'll tell a nurse that you're awake on my way out," the redhead said over her shoulder as she walked out the door. She slammed the door shut without even saying goodbye.
Shinji took a deep breath, still shaken from the disturbing dream. He held his hand up in front of his face, and while there was very little light in the room he was sure that it was a normal human hand as opposed to an ultra- thin blade. Slumping back into his bed, Shinji replayed the dream over in his head.
"You... are me?" the Third Child muttered. "What could that meaaaAAARRGGH!!!"
His train of thought was suddenly derailed when his senses were assailed by blast after blast of horrendous pain. He felt like his insides were being shuffled around inside of him, and like he might burst out of his skin at any moment. A searing pain began developing in his chest, and he tore at his hospital gown to reveal a dull red light emanating from inside of him.
His agonized screams reached a crescendo as the pain peaked, and then slowly waned. The light faded, and Shinji was wreathed in darkness once more. The Third Child was still slightly gasping for breath a few minutes later when the nurse, sent by Asuka, entered his room.
***
The next three days were not pleasant for Shinji Ikari. He was poked and prodded with all manner of alien-looking devices, all of which were designed to inflict the maximum amount of discomfort. It was all worth it, though, when they told him that he was in top physical condition and that he could leave the hospital the very next night.
Shinji hadn't told the medical staff about the painful episode three days hence, and he had no intention of doing so. He hated hospitals, and chances were that they would want him to stay longer if they thought something was seriously wrong with him.
The Third Child felt a tremendous sense of relief when he finally got home on the fourth, having been picked up from the hospital by Misato. As soon as he stepped through the door, he knew something was amiss. Shinji pondered this phenomenon for a few moments before the answer hit him like ton of bricks.
It was too quiet.
Shinji walked into the kitchen, where his guardian was polishing off a beer. "Misato, where's Asuka?"
Misato's face fell slightly at the question. "Asuka's... she's staying at Hikari's for a few days... She said she needed to get away..." Misato trailed off.
"From me," Shinji finished for her.
"I'm sorry," Misato began, but he cut her off with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
"Don't worry about it, I know what Asuka's like. I should have expected something like this to happen," he shrugged slightly. He yawned loudly and then bid Misato goodnight.
***
That same night, in the office of the Supreme Commander of NERV, Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi were discussing the results of the Third Child's medical report.
"...and the findings are... inconclusive," the Doctor finished. She patiently waited for any reaction from the Commander, other than the withering stare he was giving her. To be fair, it was the same stare he gave everyone, but she had never gotten used to it.
"Explain," Gendo finally said, after the longest minute of Ritsuko's life.
"Well," Ritsuko paused and looked over the notes on her clipboard once more. "His muscle mass has increased by over sixty percent since his last checkup. All of his tissue scars have faded completely, as well as his birthmarks, moles, blemishes... Even the heart murmur that was detected during his birth examination is gone."
"I believe this has something to do with the event during the 14th Angel's attack," she continued. "Unfortunately, the internal cameras and pilot moniters were damaged during the battle, so I can't get any information from the records. The Magi are currently deliberating, but I don't expect an answer any time soon."
Gendo was silent for another long minute. "Will this affect his piloting capabilities?"
"If anything, these... amendments... are for the better, and should increase his synchronization ratio accordingly," the Doctor informed him.
"Very well, you are dismissed," Gendo told her. Ritsuko left the office without another word.
As soon as the Doctor had left, a figure stepped out from the shadows beside the Commander's desk. "This is a deviation from the scenario, Ikari," Fuyutsuki said, after a moment of thought.
"Unit One achieved awareness," Gendo told the Sub-commander. "Exactly as was foretold. This event is well within acceptable parameters. If anything, the fact that Unit One did not unite with the Third Child only shows that it is still under our control."
Fuyutski chose not to respond. Something is out of place, he thought to himself. We've missed something, but what exactly? I've got a bad feeling about this.
"Everything is moving in accordance with the scenario," Gendo said, to no one in particular. Then, Commander Ikari did the most unsettling thing that he ever could have done.
He grinned.
***
Much later that night a privately owned jet, painted completely black with no identifying marks, made a stopover at the Tokyo 3 International Airport. Though the plane was not on the night's schedule, the control tower generously allowed the plane to land for refueling.
Unknown to the airport personnel, a single passenger slipped away during the stop. Silently, she headed off into the city to find a hotel to stay at. Any observer would not have given her a second glance, for she blended into the crowd perfectly.
That was part of her job.
The only thing that set her apart from every other pedestrian was how absorbed she was in the four photographs that she carried. If anyone had actually given her more than a casual glance, they would have noticed that those pictures were of the four Children.
To be continued...
***
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Thus begins the new first chapter of Ascension. After reading several informative reviews, I decided to scrap the old Ascension and rewrite it pretty much from the ground up. In retrospect, the old one wasn't even up to my standards. Ah well, that's what happens when I get too enthusuastic - I get sloppy. Oh well, a lesson learned and whatnot. The plot hasn't changed completely, just evolved. I want to make this a really good fan fic, not just a mediocre one. I hope I've accomplished that so far with this chapter.
Oh, and as for the synchronization theory. That's just my own opinion on how it works. I just see the % as a rating of how connected the pilot is to the Evangelion. The named levels are just for convenience. Next chapter should be up soon!
By Crooky Crookerson
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that I don't own Evangelion. If I did, I'd be getting more fan mail.
Chapter One: Seeds of Power
***
"Keep trying," Gendo Ikari ordered, maintaining a façade of quiet calm despite the emergency at hand. Unit 01 was had refused Rei, and was now refusing the Dummy Plug. Third Impact was seemingly inevitable at this point. This was not in accordance with the scenario. "Repeat the process from step one-zero-eight."
His reverie was interrupted by the voice of the last person he had expected to see.
"Let me pilot it!"
***
An explosion resounded throughout the NERV complex as the main shaft was forcibly opened by the energy blasts of Zeruel, the 14th Angel. The monstrous beast grinned internally, since no facial expression could register on the face it had assumed, and prepared to be reunited with his father.
"We've been breached!" was all Shigeru had to say to confirm the dreadful suspicions of the rest of the bridge crew. "Target is inside the main shaft! It's advancing!"
"Where's it heading?" Misato asked, her voice tinged with a hint of panic.
"It's advancing directly towards Central Dogma!" Hyuga replied.
"It's coming here, all personnel evacuate!" Misato ordered quickly. The order was repeated over the Comm. System as the command bridge was shut down and abandoned. Unfortunately, before the bridge crew could even leave their seats, the holographic projection screen was shattered as the Angel broke through into the command center.
Leaning in close, Zeruel inspected the tiny mortals for a moment. His hatred for these pitiful creatures was boundless, and he smiled once again before his eyes began to glow with a tell-tale yellow light. Suddenly, the massive form of Unit 01 broke through an adjacent wall and crashed into the preoccupied angel.
"Eva Unit 01?" Misato stammered. Had the Dummy Plug been accepted? Realization hit the Major like a ton of bricks as she suddenly understood who was in the entry plug. "S-Shinji?"
Inside the entry plug, Shinji screamed as he attempted to pummel the Angel into submission. The two behemoths crashed through walls, with little concern for the condition of the command center itself.
Shinji raised the massive fist of Unit 01 as he prepared to unleash all his rage upon the Angel. He was rewarded with a searing pain as Unit 01's arm was shot of at the elbow by Zeruel's energy blast. Grabbing his arm in pain, Shinji screamed again and kicked the Angel onto one of the launch catapults.
"Misato!" the enraged Third Child yelled, hoping the major would understand his intent.
"Launch the fifth catapult!" Misato ordered, and both of the titanic combatants were lifted off the ground at incredible velocity. Sparks flew as the pilot of Unit 01 willed his Eva to grind the Angel's mask-like face against the walls of the catapult shaft.
As the catapult reached its apex the two monstrous beings were sent flying into the air. Shinji continued to scream, even as Eva Unit 01 landed atop the Angel as they struck the ground, and, with its only remaining arm, continued to deliver powerful blows to the angel's face-mask.
Gripping the face of the downed Angel, the Third Child grinned in murderous delight as he attempted to tear it off. Tendons stretched as the face-mask began to come loose. Suddenly, the internal power of Unit 01 ran out, and Shinji was at the Angel's mercy.
"Huh...? Energy reserves depleted..." He said, half in shock and half in fear.
***
In one of the access elevators leading to the surface, Maya informed her companions of the situation on the surface. "Unit One has completely drained its reserves! The backup power supply isn't working!"
"Shinji..." Misato whispered. Completely helpless, she could only silently pray the Angel would be merciful.
In her heart, she knew that it wouldn't.
***
Infuriated and in unbelievable pain, Zeruel wrapped his mono-filament ribbon arms around the head of Unit 01, lifted it high into the air, and ferociously threw the helpless Eva into a rocky outcropping, just as the bridge crew arrived on the surface.
"Shinji!" Misato screamed as she exited onto the Geo-Front. She could only watch helplessly and scream his name as the Angel slowly floated over to the prone form of Unit 01. "Shinji!!"
Within the Eva's entry plug, Shinji wrestled helplessly with the butterfly controls. No matter how much he wanted it to, the drained Evangelion would not respond. "Damnit, move, move, move, come on, move you god damn piece of junk! Move or there's no point to any of this, damnit" The entry plug suddenly shoot, breaking Shinji's mantra, and sending waves of pain through his shoulder.
Outside, Zeruel tested the prone Eva, slicing through its shoulder with a mono-filament blade. Seeing no reaction, the Angel of Might decided to end this quickly. The Eva had put up a valiant effort, and Zeruel was not completely without compassion for defeated opponents.
Eyes glowing, the Angel blasted away the chest armor of Unit 01, revealing a large crimson orb; Unit 01's core.
"What's that?" Misato could only stare in shock at the newly exposed core.
Wasting no time, Zeruel began striking at the core with its mono-filament blades, over and over again. Normally, the ultra-thin strips would cut through anything in one attack, but the core was far too dense for the blades to penetrate it so easily.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji could only watch in horror as the armor began to crack. "Move, move, move! Move, come on, move! Oh god, you've got to move now or everyone will be killed! Oh god I'm sick of it already! Oh come on move! God damn you to hell, you filthy stinking monster!"
Suddenly, he heard a heartbeat.
***
Zeruel could only wince in surprise and pain as the Evangelion awoke once more, raised a hand, and parted the Angel's blades as if they had the consistency of water. Gripping the ruined blade-arms, Unit 01 pulled the Angel until the two titans were face to monstrous face.
Letting loose a feral growl, the Eva then kicked the Angel back with all its power, tearing the ribbon arm it held, and sent the Angel crashing to the ground far away.
Maya was the first member of the bridge crew to voice the obvious. "It's reactivating..."
Unit 01 brought the shredded portion of the Angel's arm up to its own shattered arm. Gritting its teeth with effort and pain, the Eva's arm began to knit itself together with the material from the Angel.
"Oh my god..." Misato muttered in disbelief. Maya voice broke the silence. "This... is impossible... It must be wrong! How can Shinji's sync ration with Unit 01 be over four hundred percent?!?"
"It's finally happened," Ritsuko said ominously. "It's aware."
Zeruel was not about to give up so easily though, and attested to that fact when its other mono-filament ribbon blade shot up from the trees, aimed at the Eva's throat.
Almost lazily, Unit 01 raised an arm and brought it down, summoning its AT field directly on top of Zeruel's blade. The ribbon-arm was torn to shreds, and the flying pieces shot back at the Angel with unbelievable velocity, cutting through the Angel's AT field as if it wasn't there, and tearing Zeruel's body apart in an explosion of blood.
Unit 01 slowly hunched over and began to creep towards the prone Angel. Knowing the battle was lost, Zeruel prepared a last ditch effort to defeat the Eva. The bridge crew could only watch in stunned silence as the Eva leaned over helpless Angel, narrowed its eyes, and bit into the dying creature.
"It's eating the Angel..." Misato whispered.
"The S2 Organ... She's taking it into herself. Eva Unit One is... is..." Ritsuko managed to stammer. She didn't get to finish her thoughts, as they were interrupted by a sickened Maya.
Suddenly, the Angel's form exploded in a flash of brilliant light. Eva Unit 01 bellowed in agony as the surge of energy engulfed its body. Shinji, his body dissolved within the entry plug of the berserk Evangelion, his soul united with the long-dormant consciousness of Unit 01, felt his form being forcibly knitted back together as the nigh-infinite power of the Angel washed over Unit 01.
Memories flashed before his eyes. Thoughts and urges pushed their way into his mind. Power, unlike any he had ever felt before, insinuated itself into his body, his very soul. Pain. Anger. Hatred. He gripped his head in anguish and once more fell into the soothing dark of oblivion.
Misato gaped at the scene. Both the Angel and Unit 01 had gone silent. Stunned, she only managed to mutter a few quiet words that were barely heard by her companions. "Retrieve the entry plug... Get Shinji out of that... that monster..."
***
Ritsuko watched as Shinji was removed from the Eva's entry plug, lost within her tumultuous inner monologue. The retrieval effort had taken nearly eight hours. They had needed to cut him out forcibly, since the heat generated by the Angel's last attack had caused much of the Eva's armor to melt and fuse together.
But Shinji shouldn't even have been in there at all.
"Four hundred percent synchronization ratio," the Doctor mumbled to herself. She removed her glasses and rubbed her weary eyes. This result wasn't even possible, as far as the process of synchronization was concerned. She replayed the series of events in her mind, but always came to the same conclusion; Shinji should have been absorbed by the Evangelion.
Doctor Akagi mentally reviewed everything that was known about synchronization.
There were four levels of synchronization, divided into percentile brackets, each bracket being a hundred percent. Humans cannot normally achieve a level higher than one hundred percent. That was simply as far as their weak mental capacity allowed them to go, except under extreme circumstances.
The four levels were codenamed body, heart, mind, and soul. The first level, the body, occurs when two individuals were able to influence the movements of their partner, like an Evangelion and its pilot. The heart level takes place at two hundred percent and upwards, and wherein the two individuals feel the same emotions. The mind level is achieved at three hundred percent, where the individuals in essence become one. They think the same thoughts with a joint personality. At four hundred, the soul level, the two beings become one inseparable individual.
This has been proven before, in the case of Yui Ikari, who had achieved a synchronization ratio of four hundred percent and had become absorbed into Unit 01.
However, Shinji was obviously not one with the Evangelion, otherwise he would not currently be on his way to the NERV Infirmary.
Ritsuko sighed audibly. The Commander was likely to have her working multiple shifts to solve this mystery.
She hoped the coffee machine had been fixed.
***
For all her trying, Asuka couldn't understand why she was keeping watch over an unconscious Shinji while he stayed the night at the Infirmary. She knew that she had been ordered to by Misato, as the two were rotating shifts in keeping watch, but she couldn't understand why she didn't just forget about the idiot and go home.
It was probably because she wanted to be left alone, and being next to a cataleptic Shinji was pretty much the same thing.
At least that's what she told herself.
In truth, she was concerned about the Third Child.
As angry as she was by his knight-in-shining-armor routine, she couldn't abandon him right now. Misato had been frantic. Something truly awful must have happened to Shinji after Unit 02 had been disabled, and nobody would tell Asuka exactly what that was. It must have been really, really bad.
The redhead glanced over at the comatose boy. He was grimacing in pain, and twitching sporadically. His jaw was set and his fists were clenched tightly, the knuckles turned white. Beads of sweat were covering his forehead, and not because of the temperature.
"Why do you always do this?" She muttered at him. "Why do you always have to be the tragic hero? What good does that make me, if you're just going to save the day all the time? Why are you taking away my reason for living? If I'm not the best Eva pilot... then I'm nothing at all..."
The Second Child closed her eyes and a single tear made its way down her cheek. Many more tears should have come, but Asuka's pride wouldn't allow more than one.
"I hate you, Shinji Ikari," she whispered. "Because you're making me realize how much I hate myself."
***
Shinji was standing on the surface of an ocean that spanned endlessly in all directions. He wasn't floating above the water, just standing on it as if it were solid ground. Based on that observation alone, he knew this wasn't going to be an ordinary dream. He glanced down at his reflection and took stock of himself.
He looked worn and haggard.
Lifting his gaze once more, the Third Child stared out into the distance, hoping that maybe a friendly boat would come by. He didn't really feel like walking back to shore.
The absurdity of that thought made him chuckle.
But long after he stopped laughing, he continued to hear a light chuckle. Checking his surroundings once more, Shinji confirmed that there was indeed no one within eyesight. Realizing where this dream was heading, his gaze uneasily fell back to his watery reflection.
It was laughing at him.
"Who are you?" Shinji asked the other child.
"I am you," the underwater Shinji replied. "Or, I should say, I am the you that was once you. A subconscious part of you that you didn't even know existed."
Shinji just nodded and smiled. "I understand completely."
The other Shinji sighed. "Let me put it this way. The Shinji Ikari when you were four years old is a different Shinji Ikari than you are now. Try as you might, you can't go back to being that Shinji Ikari, because that part of you is long gone. I am in the same situation. I am another Shinji Ikari, and even now I am fading away to be replaced by a different Shinji Ikari."
"I think I understand," Shinji said. "When will the next Shinji Ikari get here?"
"Soon," the other Shinji replied, even as he began to sink deep into the depths of the ocean. Within moments that Shinji was gone, having faded away into memory.
Shinji waited quietly for the next Shinji to arrive. Second later, a shape began to form beneath him. It was large, far too large to be Shinji. Details began getting clearer, as a frowning metallic mask appeared, as well as an orange, gray, and black body with no discernable limbs.
"What the hell?" Shinji cried.
A hollow laugh reverberated all around him, originating from the reflection below him. Twin mono-filament blade arms unfolded and began waving menacingly.
"What the hell are you?" Shinji screamed, panic gripping him. Looking at his hands, he realized that his body was slowly changing to match that of the creature below him.
"You are me..." the monstrous reflection told him, and soon it was true. Shinji had changed into an exact copy of the monster. The creature's blade- arms reared back, swaying back and forth, then shot forward and broke through the water's surface, arching directly for Shinji's face.
He screamed.
***
Shinji awoke screaming, covered in sweat and arms flailing wildly. His shriek was matched by the surprised redhead who was keeping watch over him. Once the noise had died down, the two teens stared at each other for a moment before Asuka chose to break the silence.
"Stupid Shinji!" she yelled at him, accenting her point with a punch in the arm. "You scared me half to death! Don't scream like that ever again!"
"Sorry, sorry," the bruised Third Child muttered, cowering away from any further abuse. Another few moments of silence passed between them. Shinji was the first to break the quiet. "Asuka?"
"What?" was her indignant reply.
"Why..." he began slowly, wary of the German girl's temper. "Why are you here, exactly?"
The comment seemed to start the gears turning once more in Asuka's head. She sneered at him. "I'm here because Misato ordered me to make sure you didn't die in the middle of the night, or something equally stupid. But, now that you're awake, I can go."
"Oh... Misato ordered you," Shinji mumbled to himself.
"I'll tell a nurse that you're awake on my way out," the redhead said over her shoulder as she walked out the door. She slammed the door shut without even saying goodbye.
Shinji took a deep breath, still shaken from the disturbing dream. He held his hand up in front of his face, and while there was very little light in the room he was sure that it was a normal human hand as opposed to an ultra- thin blade. Slumping back into his bed, Shinji replayed the dream over in his head.
"You... are me?" the Third Child muttered. "What could that meaaaAAARRGGH!!!"
His train of thought was suddenly derailed when his senses were assailed by blast after blast of horrendous pain. He felt like his insides were being shuffled around inside of him, and like he might burst out of his skin at any moment. A searing pain began developing in his chest, and he tore at his hospital gown to reveal a dull red light emanating from inside of him.
His agonized screams reached a crescendo as the pain peaked, and then slowly waned. The light faded, and Shinji was wreathed in darkness once more. The Third Child was still slightly gasping for breath a few minutes later when the nurse, sent by Asuka, entered his room.
***
The next three days were not pleasant for Shinji Ikari. He was poked and prodded with all manner of alien-looking devices, all of which were designed to inflict the maximum amount of discomfort. It was all worth it, though, when they told him that he was in top physical condition and that he could leave the hospital the very next night.
Shinji hadn't told the medical staff about the painful episode three days hence, and he had no intention of doing so. He hated hospitals, and chances were that they would want him to stay longer if they thought something was seriously wrong with him.
The Third Child felt a tremendous sense of relief when he finally got home on the fourth, having been picked up from the hospital by Misato. As soon as he stepped through the door, he knew something was amiss. Shinji pondered this phenomenon for a few moments before the answer hit him like ton of bricks.
It was too quiet.
Shinji walked into the kitchen, where his guardian was polishing off a beer. "Misato, where's Asuka?"
Misato's face fell slightly at the question. "Asuka's... she's staying at Hikari's for a few days... She said she needed to get away..." Misato trailed off.
"From me," Shinji finished for her.
"I'm sorry," Misato began, but he cut her off with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
"Don't worry about it, I know what Asuka's like. I should have expected something like this to happen," he shrugged slightly. He yawned loudly and then bid Misato goodnight.
***
That same night, in the office of the Supreme Commander of NERV, Gendo Ikari and Ritsuko Akagi were discussing the results of the Third Child's medical report.
"...and the findings are... inconclusive," the Doctor finished. She patiently waited for any reaction from the Commander, other than the withering stare he was giving her. To be fair, it was the same stare he gave everyone, but she had never gotten used to it.
"Explain," Gendo finally said, after the longest minute of Ritsuko's life.
"Well," Ritsuko paused and looked over the notes on her clipboard once more. "His muscle mass has increased by over sixty percent since his last checkup. All of his tissue scars have faded completely, as well as his birthmarks, moles, blemishes... Even the heart murmur that was detected during his birth examination is gone."
"I believe this has something to do with the event during the 14th Angel's attack," she continued. "Unfortunately, the internal cameras and pilot moniters were damaged during the battle, so I can't get any information from the records. The Magi are currently deliberating, but I don't expect an answer any time soon."
Gendo was silent for another long minute. "Will this affect his piloting capabilities?"
"If anything, these... amendments... are for the better, and should increase his synchronization ratio accordingly," the Doctor informed him.
"Very well, you are dismissed," Gendo told her. Ritsuko left the office without another word.
As soon as the Doctor had left, a figure stepped out from the shadows beside the Commander's desk. "This is a deviation from the scenario, Ikari," Fuyutsuki said, after a moment of thought.
"Unit One achieved awareness," Gendo told the Sub-commander. "Exactly as was foretold. This event is well within acceptable parameters. If anything, the fact that Unit One did not unite with the Third Child only shows that it is still under our control."
Fuyutski chose not to respond. Something is out of place, he thought to himself. We've missed something, but what exactly? I've got a bad feeling about this.
"Everything is moving in accordance with the scenario," Gendo said, to no one in particular. Then, Commander Ikari did the most unsettling thing that he ever could have done.
He grinned.
***
Much later that night a privately owned jet, painted completely black with no identifying marks, made a stopover at the Tokyo 3 International Airport. Though the plane was not on the night's schedule, the control tower generously allowed the plane to land for refueling.
Unknown to the airport personnel, a single passenger slipped away during the stop. Silently, she headed off into the city to find a hotel to stay at. Any observer would not have given her a second glance, for she blended into the crowd perfectly.
That was part of her job.
The only thing that set her apart from every other pedestrian was how absorbed she was in the four photographs that she carried. If anyone had actually given her more than a casual glance, they would have noticed that those pictures were of the four Children.
To be continued...
***
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Thus begins the new first chapter of Ascension. After reading several informative reviews, I decided to scrap the old Ascension and rewrite it pretty much from the ground up. In retrospect, the old one wasn't even up to my standards. Ah well, that's what happens when I get too enthusuastic - I get sloppy. Oh well, a lesson learned and whatnot. The plot hasn't changed completely, just evolved. I want to make this a really good fan fic, not just a mediocre one. I hope I've accomplished that so far with this chapter.
Oh, and as for the synchronization theory. That's just my own opinion on how it works. I just see the % as a rating of how connected the pilot is to the Evangelion. The named levels are just for convenience. Next chapter should be up soon!