Chapter 11
The next day, the class of 2-A got their second shock for that year. This time, it was from a couple that they couldn't have imagined could have existed (actually, the second, but Shinji and Asuka had recently become a couple). This shock happened when Toji and Hikari exchange a 'short' kiss before the start of class. This, of course, shocked the entire class, but not as greatly as when they had found out about Shinji and Asuka. After that day, Toji and Hikari were seen almost everywhere together, as if they were making up for lost time. But this joy would not last forever, for someone had other plans in mind….
3 days later…
Ritsuko stands in front of the commander's desk.
"At 1630 hours yesterday, Unit 03 arrived in Japan, via air transport. It was then moved over to our facilities at Mt. Matsushiro. The activation tests are scheduled for 1130 hours tomorrow."
Gendo Ikari sits at his desk, his head resting behind his interlocked fingers, blocking the view of the bottom-half of his face.
"Excellent. You are dismissed, doctor."
Ritsuko turns and leaves the office. She stands in front of the door for a moment.
"How many more will you hurt, Gendo? How many more, especially your own son…"
She turns and heads towards her office.
The next day…
Toji leans over the railing, gazing at the giant before him. Evangelion Unit 03 stands tall, its black form restrained by numerous mechanical devices. He looks at its demonic-looking head, then at the clock on the wall. The digital numbers read 1100 hours. It would be another half an hour before he would have to climb inside the creature before him.
"I will return, Hikari. I promise."
He stands up and leaves the platform.
For the 8th time that day, Hikari glances over at the empty desk. For the first time, her mind wasn't on the lecture or the condition of the class, but on a certain young man that was absent today. She hunches over her desk and reminisces about all that had happened over the past three days; all the time she had spent with him during lunch and after school, him waiting for her every morning, and the few dates they had had.
"Where are you Toji?" she thinks.
While this was happening, Asuka glances at her best friend.
"Geez. The stooge doesn't show up for one day and she's already worried about him."
Asuka turns her attention back to the game of Tetris on her laptop.
The bell rings, announcing that it is time for lunch. The students prepare to exit the room, but the bell is drowned out by another siren. Everyone that lived in Tokyo 3 recognized the siren. It was the Angel attack siren. At the same moment, the three pilots' cellular phones went off. The pilots grab their belongs and head to the school's main entrance and into the awaiting black Section 2 cars.
The pilots sit in their Evas, awaiting further orders.
"Damn it! Where's Misato?"
"She was transported to the NERV facility at Mt. Matsushiro this morning for the activation test of Evangelion Unit 03. She has not yet returned from the facility, pilot Soryu."
Before Asuka could say anything, Gendo came over the comm.
"The target is approaching. Prepare to engage it."
The pilots turn and face the opening in the hills where the Angel is going to approach from. Unit 00 and 01 are both equipped with pallet rifles and Unit 02 had a pair of progressive axes. The pilots tense up as the sound of footsteps gets louder. They watch as a large, black foot steps into view. It is followed by a hand, and then a head.
"What..? Is that the target?" asks Shinji.
"It's an Eva!" exclaims Asuka.
Unit 03 stands in full view of the pilots. Its black form is hunched over with its arms dangling at its side. The Eva gazes at the three Evas in front of it.
"Yes, that is the target. It is no longer an Eva, but an Angel."
"Misato was at the activation site for the Eva!! Is she alright?!"
"We are still trying to re-establish communication with the area," says Maya.
Shinji looks up at the stationary Eva.
"If they were performing an activation test, then that means they needed at pilot in it," he thinks.
Movement from the Angel interrupts his thoughts. It begins at sluggishly walks towards them.
"Rei, you will destroy the target," came Gendo's voice over the comm.
Rei takes aim with the rifle and centers on the target. She hesitates in pulling the trigger. Everyone watches in horror as the Angel roars and takes a massive leap into the air. This catches Rei off guard, as she had her mind on something else. With incredible speed, the Angel lands on top of the blue Eva, pinning it to the ground. The impact caused Rei to lose her grip on the rifle, sending flying a few hundred yards from the Eva's reach.
Shinji stares in horror as the Angel looks over its catch and begins to drool a substance onto the Eva's left arm. He looks up at the Angel's back and sees part of a white tube being held into place by some sort of ooze.
"So there is a pilot still in that thing," he thinks.
He is brought back to reality as Rei's screams of pain come through the comm.
"Ayanami!!"
"What's going on?!"
"The Angel is infecting Unit 00's left arm!"
The bridge crew looks at the live video feed from Unit 00's entry plug. Rei is clutching her left arm, veins becoming visible through the plug suit. Her face is full of pain.
"Eject the arm!"
"But the nerve connections are still online!!" says Maya.
"Are you disobeying my orders, Lieutenant Ibuki?"
"No, sir…," replies Maya as she turns her attention pack to her station.
"Eject the arm now."
Maya nods and enters the commands into the computer.
A small explosion is heard as the left arm of Unit 00 is ejected from its body. Rei screams in pain and then goes unconscious. The Angel seems to sense this and leaps off of the fallen Eva. It then sets its gaze on the red Eva. With another massive leap, it propels itself towards its next prey.
"Oh no you don't!"
Asuka hurls one of the axes at the approaching Angel, only to have it be reflected by its AT Field. The Angel slams into Unit 02, sending it skidding across the ground. Unit 02 stops skidding, its front buried in the ground. The Angel roars and charges at the Eva, which is trying to stand up. The Angel steps onto the Eva's back, holding it on the ground. It then jumps onto its back and begins to pound at the armor that covers the entry plug. Dents start to form in the armor.
"Asuka!!"
Shinji drops his rifle and charges full speed towards the Angel; the one that hurt his friends, the one trying to kill his love. The Angel looks up at see the charging purple Eva, but has no time to react as Unit 01 slams into the Angel, sending it flying towards a nearby hill, leaving an indention in the hillside. It begins to stand up, but is stopped by Unit 01, who grabs it by its shoulder wings and slams it into the ground. The Eva holds the Angel down and draws its progressive knife. With great skill, Shinji begins to cut away the ooze that holds the entry plug captive. About half of the way through, the Angel roars and tosses the Eva off of its back.
The Angel rises and raising its right arm. The arm stretches towards Unit 01 with lightning – quick speed, grabbing it by the throat and it begins to squeeze. The Angel's other arm joins it. It walks towards the Eva, slowly retracting its arms as it closes the gap until it's arms returned to their normal lengths.
"You will destroy the target, pilot."
"No, there is a person inside of it."
"That is not an issue. You will destroy the target."
"NO!!"
Gendo faces Maya.
"Cut the connections to the pilot and activate the dummy plug."
"What? But we haven't finished testing it and there are still some bugs to work out!"
"Do it."
Maya sighs and follows Gendo's orders.
Shinji cringes in pain as the Angel increase pressure on the Eva's throat. Suddenly, the pressure is gone and the entry plug is black.
"What the…?"
The plug reactivates, but instead of being clear, it glows red. He watches in horror as his Eva reaches out with its own hands and begins to squeeze the Angel's throat. Shinji desperate tries to stop his Eva, but to no avail. A crack is heard as the Angel's head slumps over and it falls to the ground, releasing Unit 01. Shinji breathes a sigh of relief that its all over, but he was wrong. Unit 01 begins to tear apart the fallen Angel.
"No!! Stop! Stop it!! Please..stop!"
He pulls on the controls in an attempt to stop his Eva, but it doesn't respond. Parts of Unit 03 are torn out and thrown away. The bridge crew stares in horror, some turn away from the screen, covering their mouths in an attempt to not throw up.
"Damn you father!! Make it stop. Make it stop…."
The noise of tearing flesh stops and Shinji opens his eyes, only to stare in horror at what awaits him. Unit 01 is holding the bloodstained entry plug in its hands. It begins to close its hand around the cylinder.
"NO!! Don't! Please stop!! Please stop…."
The red lights in the plug shut off. Shinji looks up and notices that he has full control of his Eva again. He carefully sets the entry plug on the ground.
"What happened?"
"Unit 01 rejected the dummy plug system! Control has been returned back to the pilot."
"This was not in the scenario," thinks Gendo.
Shinji sits in his Eva and watches as the recovery teams retrieve his fallen teammates. He looks down at the team that is trying to open Unit 03's plug.
"Shinji."
He looks down his plug to find a comm with Misato in it.
"Mistao! You're alive!"
"Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises and a broken arm. Shinji, about the Fourth Child. It's…."
"He's alive!"
Shinji turns his attention to the recovery team below. Two of the men enter the plug. One of then appears holding a pair of legs. The other follows, carrying the rest of the body. His eyes go wide with horror as he realizes who was just taken out of the plug.
""The Fourth Child is Toji Suzuhara. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Shinji…"
Shinji slumps back in his plug and looks at his hands.
"That bastard. He tried to make me kill one of my friends. He just used me. I'll make sure he pays. He will pay…"
The next day, the class of 2-A got their second shock for that year. This time, it was from a couple that they couldn't have imagined could have existed (actually, the second, but Shinji and Asuka had recently become a couple). This shock happened when Toji and Hikari exchange a 'short' kiss before the start of class. This, of course, shocked the entire class, but not as greatly as when they had found out about Shinji and Asuka. After that day, Toji and Hikari were seen almost everywhere together, as if they were making up for lost time. But this joy would not last forever, for someone had other plans in mind….
3 days later…
Ritsuko stands in front of the commander's desk.
"At 1630 hours yesterday, Unit 03 arrived in Japan, via air transport. It was then moved over to our facilities at Mt. Matsushiro. The activation tests are scheduled for 1130 hours tomorrow."
Gendo Ikari sits at his desk, his head resting behind his interlocked fingers, blocking the view of the bottom-half of his face.
"Excellent. You are dismissed, doctor."
Ritsuko turns and leaves the office. She stands in front of the door for a moment.
"How many more will you hurt, Gendo? How many more, especially your own son…"
She turns and heads towards her office.
The next day…
Toji leans over the railing, gazing at the giant before him. Evangelion Unit 03 stands tall, its black form restrained by numerous mechanical devices. He looks at its demonic-looking head, then at the clock on the wall. The digital numbers read 1100 hours. It would be another half an hour before he would have to climb inside the creature before him.
"I will return, Hikari. I promise."
He stands up and leaves the platform.
For the 8th time that day, Hikari glances over at the empty desk. For the first time, her mind wasn't on the lecture or the condition of the class, but on a certain young man that was absent today. She hunches over her desk and reminisces about all that had happened over the past three days; all the time she had spent with him during lunch and after school, him waiting for her every morning, and the few dates they had had.
"Where are you Toji?" she thinks.
While this was happening, Asuka glances at her best friend.
"Geez. The stooge doesn't show up for one day and she's already worried about him."
Asuka turns her attention back to the game of Tetris on her laptop.
The bell rings, announcing that it is time for lunch. The students prepare to exit the room, but the bell is drowned out by another siren. Everyone that lived in Tokyo 3 recognized the siren. It was the Angel attack siren. At the same moment, the three pilots' cellular phones went off. The pilots grab their belongs and head to the school's main entrance and into the awaiting black Section 2 cars.
The pilots sit in their Evas, awaiting further orders.
"Damn it! Where's Misato?"
"She was transported to the NERV facility at Mt. Matsushiro this morning for the activation test of Evangelion Unit 03. She has not yet returned from the facility, pilot Soryu."
Before Asuka could say anything, Gendo came over the comm.
"The target is approaching. Prepare to engage it."
The pilots turn and face the opening in the hills where the Angel is going to approach from. Unit 00 and 01 are both equipped with pallet rifles and Unit 02 had a pair of progressive axes. The pilots tense up as the sound of footsteps gets louder. They watch as a large, black foot steps into view. It is followed by a hand, and then a head.
"What..? Is that the target?" asks Shinji.
"It's an Eva!" exclaims Asuka.
Unit 03 stands in full view of the pilots. Its black form is hunched over with its arms dangling at its side. The Eva gazes at the three Evas in front of it.
"Yes, that is the target. It is no longer an Eva, but an Angel."
"Misato was at the activation site for the Eva!! Is she alright?!"
"We are still trying to re-establish communication with the area," says Maya.
Shinji looks up at the stationary Eva.
"If they were performing an activation test, then that means they needed at pilot in it," he thinks.
Movement from the Angel interrupts his thoughts. It begins at sluggishly walks towards them.
"Rei, you will destroy the target," came Gendo's voice over the comm.
Rei takes aim with the rifle and centers on the target. She hesitates in pulling the trigger. Everyone watches in horror as the Angel roars and takes a massive leap into the air. This catches Rei off guard, as she had her mind on something else. With incredible speed, the Angel lands on top of the blue Eva, pinning it to the ground. The impact caused Rei to lose her grip on the rifle, sending flying a few hundred yards from the Eva's reach.
Shinji stares in horror as the Angel looks over its catch and begins to drool a substance onto the Eva's left arm. He looks up at the Angel's back and sees part of a white tube being held into place by some sort of ooze.
"So there is a pilot still in that thing," he thinks.
He is brought back to reality as Rei's screams of pain come through the comm.
"Ayanami!!"
"What's going on?!"
"The Angel is infecting Unit 00's left arm!"
The bridge crew looks at the live video feed from Unit 00's entry plug. Rei is clutching her left arm, veins becoming visible through the plug suit. Her face is full of pain.
"Eject the arm!"
"But the nerve connections are still online!!" says Maya.
"Are you disobeying my orders, Lieutenant Ibuki?"
"No, sir…," replies Maya as she turns her attention pack to her station.
"Eject the arm now."
Maya nods and enters the commands into the computer.
A small explosion is heard as the left arm of Unit 00 is ejected from its body. Rei screams in pain and then goes unconscious. The Angel seems to sense this and leaps off of the fallen Eva. It then sets its gaze on the red Eva. With another massive leap, it propels itself towards its next prey.
"Oh no you don't!"
Asuka hurls one of the axes at the approaching Angel, only to have it be reflected by its AT Field. The Angel slams into Unit 02, sending it skidding across the ground. Unit 02 stops skidding, its front buried in the ground. The Angel roars and charges at the Eva, which is trying to stand up. The Angel steps onto the Eva's back, holding it on the ground. It then jumps onto its back and begins to pound at the armor that covers the entry plug. Dents start to form in the armor.
"Asuka!!"
Shinji drops his rifle and charges full speed towards the Angel; the one that hurt his friends, the one trying to kill his love. The Angel looks up at see the charging purple Eva, but has no time to react as Unit 01 slams into the Angel, sending it flying towards a nearby hill, leaving an indention in the hillside. It begins to stand up, but is stopped by Unit 01, who grabs it by its shoulder wings and slams it into the ground. The Eva holds the Angel down and draws its progressive knife. With great skill, Shinji begins to cut away the ooze that holds the entry plug captive. About half of the way through, the Angel roars and tosses the Eva off of its back.
The Angel rises and raising its right arm. The arm stretches towards Unit 01 with lightning – quick speed, grabbing it by the throat and it begins to squeeze. The Angel's other arm joins it. It walks towards the Eva, slowly retracting its arms as it closes the gap until it's arms returned to their normal lengths.
"You will destroy the target, pilot."
"No, there is a person inside of it."
"That is not an issue. You will destroy the target."
"NO!!"
Gendo faces Maya.
"Cut the connections to the pilot and activate the dummy plug."
"What? But we haven't finished testing it and there are still some bugs to work out!"
"Do it."
Maya sighs and follows Gendo's orders.
Shinji cringes in pain as the Angel increase pressure on the Eva's throat. Suddenly, the pressure is gone and the entry plug is black.
"What the…?"
The plug reactivates, but instead of being clear, it glows red. He watches in horror as his Eva reaches out with its own hands and begins to squeeze the Angel's throat. Shinji desperate tries to stop his Eva, but to no avail. A crack is heard as the Angel's head slumps over and it falls to the ground, releasing Unit 01. Shinji breathes a sigh of relief that its all over, but he was wrong. Unit 01 begins to tear apart the fallen Angel.
"No!! Stop! Stop it!! Please..stop!"
He pulls on the controls in an attempt to stop his Eva, but it doesn't respond. Parts of Unit 03 are torn out and thrown away. The bridge crew stares in horror, some turn away from the screen, covering their mouths in an attempt to not throw up.
"Damn you father!! Make it stop. Make it stop…."
The noise of tearing flesh stops and Shinji opens his eyes, only to stare in horror at what awaits him. Unit 01 is holding the bloodstained entry plug in its hands. It begins to close its hand around the cylinder.
"NO!! Don't! Please stop!! Please stop…."
The red lights in the plug shut off. Shinji looks up and notices that he has full control of his Eva again. He carefully sets the entry plug on the ground.
"What happened?"
"Unit 01 rejected the dummy plug system! Control has been returned back to the pilot."
"This was not in the scenario," thinks Gendo.
Shinji sits in his Eva and watches as the recovery teams retrieve his fallen teammates. He looks down at the team that is trying to open Unit 03's plug.
"Shinji."
He looks down his plug to find a comm with Misato in it.
"Mistao! You're alive!"
"Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises and a broken arm. Shinji, about the Fourth Child. It's…."
"He's alive!"
Shinji turns his attention to the recovery team below. Two of the men enter the plug. One of then appears holding a pair of legs. The other follows, carrying the rest of the body. His eyes go wide with horror as he realizes who was just taken out of the plug.
""The Fourth Child is Toji Suzuhara. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Shinji…"
Shinji slumps back in his plug and looks at his hands.
"That bastard. He tried to make me kill one of my friends. He just used me. I'll make sure he pays. He will pay…"