NOTE: This chapter has been rewritten in the same manner as Phase 1. I plan to rewrite all the chapters up to Phase 8, with the help of pre-readers. I hope that this will pick up some new fans, and appeal greatly to the old fans.
Another quick note - - there may be inconsistencies between the old chapters and new chapters on FFN, so please bear with me since I'm only one person, and I'm doing the rewrites one by one.
Ojisan is a term of respect used for your elders in Japan.
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Major Misato Katsuragi of NERV still cannot help but feel worried, as she took an elevator to the lower bowels of the facility. Security has certainly been increased, especially in the entrances and hallways, and the bodyguard detail for the pilots was doubled, yet something deep within her was repeating Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
The past few weeks were no exception to the rule: everything has been a downward spiral for everyone in NERV. No one was the same anymore. The enigma that is Rei (and Ritsuko's mind) was unraveled, revealing the truth behind Rei's mysterious origins... with grisly results. In addition to Asuka's poor mental condition, Shinji wasn't very well off either after the 17th Angel incident. No one knew that Kaworu would turn out to be an Angel, and the realization, along Kaworu's death, snapped Shinji's mind like a dead twig. And of course, there was - -
"Kaji..." Misato whispered to herself. "Why did you leave me like this?" she asked herself quietly, trying to hold back her tears...
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11-41 Studios presents - -
Evangelion : The Third Impact Trilogy
A new Evangelion fan fiction saga in three parts.
Part 1: New Apocalypse
Evangelion/Metal Gear Crossover
Chapter 2: Saviors
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Shinji found himself taking a detour through the rocky outcrops near the outskirts of Tokyo-3. He visited this place frequently, ever since finding out the real truth about Rei. But at that moment, his thoughts were on other matters.
He looked towards the city's abandoned buildings, and stopped in his tracks for a moment. He felt something heavy in his chest, and his arms began to tremble slightly as he pushed tears away from his eyes with his right hand.
(What did I save,) Shinji asked himself. (A bunch of buildings? People who left me? Abandoned me... Forsaken me... I hurt them all... Misato. Rei. Father. Kaworu. Asuka...)
He sat down on the hard ground and continued to stare at the darkening city skyline.
A clap of thunder rang through the sky, which almost drowned out the sound of rustling leaves behind Shinji.
"Asuka?" Shinji blurted out unknowingly, the noise startling him.
He saw nothing, except for a glint of light green and a glowing pair of what he thought looked like...
"Eyes?" Shinji rubbed his own eyes to make sure his tears were not obscuring his vision. When looked at the same spot again, there was nothing there but the tree line.
"It's probably just those bodyguards I saw lurking around," Shinji reasoned with himself. "No big deal..."
The rain began to pound the grey concrete of the road mercilessly, and Shinji decided that it was probably time to go home. He ran towards the direction of Misato's apartment complex.
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At the same moment, a man wearing a gray poncho walked down the empty streets of Tokyo-3. He was carrying a large duffel bag of the very same color as his poncho. On his lips was a cigarette that seemed to defy the rain by staying lit in it. He was about to turn into a corner when - -
THUMP
A boy ran into him head first, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground, and the man to drop his duffel bag. The bag made a muffled, metallic sound as it hit the wet sidewalk with a splash.
"Ohh! Gomen nasai, Ojisan!" said the young Japanese boy, as he tried to pick himself up off the wet sidewalk. The boy bowed his apologies several times before Solid Snake placed his hand on the kid's shoulder.
"No need to bow for me kid," he said in Japanese with a faint smile. "That's a bit too much for a stranger like me."
"It was my fault. I did not see you coming, Ojisan," the young boy said, his head still hanging in embarrassment.
Snake laughed to himself as he turned around to pick up his bag. "I told you kid, it's ok. And who are you calling Ojisan, anyways? I'm not that old-looking, am I?"
Snake didn't get an answer back. The boy continued to run in the direction he was originally going. (What are people still doing in Tokyo-3?), Snake thought to himself. (I'm surprised there's still someone who wants to live in this God-forsaken town... strange kid, though.) Walking along the streets, Snake remembered the quick VR training he received in the Kunashiri, the submarine used to take him to Japan, and the rest of his debriefing...
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"You've done quite well for a man your age, Snake."
"I haven't lost too much of my touch." Snake climbed out of the VR cage he was training in, and saw a young female waiting for him outside the cage.
"We'll see how well you really do when you get out there," she said, talking to Snake in Japanese.
"Do you doubt my abilities so, Miss Akane?" Snake replied, talking in flawless Japanese.
"Wow, you can speak Japanese. I should not have expected any less from the 'Legend'. And there's no need for formalities. You may call me Eliza."
As they walked to a briefing room, Snake snuck in an opportunity to check out the young analyst. She had long, black hair, tied in a ponytail, with a few strands of hair covering her pretty face. She wore the same uniform as the other women in the submarine - - a knee-length khaki skirt with a matching shirt - - but she was wearing the insignia of a UN analyst. (She also has a figure,) Snake added. Eliza opened a door, and entered it.
"So, Eliza, what do you do here?" Snake asked her in English.
Eliza Akane answered him. "I am here to manage the Codec system, and provide you with information on your mission, and your weapons, since I am a military analyst. Don't worry about the weapons, since this isn't a weapons OSP (On-Site Procurement) mission. We have selected the weapons you will be carrying with you. Come this way."
Snake followed Eliza into the weapons room, where he saw his arsenal laid out for him already. Eliza held up a handgun.
"This is a special Fabrique Nationale Five-seveN pistol, with extra modifications that allow you to fit a suppressor, and shoot tranquilizer darts, in addition to the FN 5.7mm round that can shoot through any kind of body armor in existence. It can carry a large-capacity 20-round clip, when the occasion calls for it of course. I trust that you know better than to run into a room shooting like crazy. We chose this gun because of its high ammo capacity and the ammo's availability throughout NERV headquarters, should you run out."
"It's lighter than what I'm used to," Snake commented.
Eliza chuckled. "You must be alluding to your old gun, the Mk23 SOCOM pistol. Though I'm sure that you had no problem handling it, it does prove to be a bit too big in tight situations. With the sound suppressor and LAM (Laser Aiming Module), that's 16 inches of gun! The Five-seveN, with the fitted suppressor attached, is only 11 inches long, and weighs in at an empty weight of 700 grams."
Impressed, Snake placed the gun back on the table. Eliza now brought his attention to several color-coded canisters.
"I am sure you are familiar with these. These canisters with the green stripe are stun grenades, or flashbangs. The grenades with the yellow stripe are chaff grenades. Use them wisely."
Eliza then picked up the familiar Soliton radar device. "NERV is a very large place, and you will find that out once you get lost. Therefore, we have placed a map inside the Soliton radar device to help you find your way better through the Geofront, and inside Central Dogma. Be careful, because when the map is activated, the Soliton turns off its ability to 'see' any enemy troops around you."
"If you need additional weaponry, FN P90 sub-machine guns and other weapons are available in various armories throughout the headquarters, though security is tight around those areas. You may even need a key card to enter these areas, but I'm sure you'll find a way," the young analyst says while smiling. "Well, this concludes your weapons orientation. Please go down to the meeting room. Commander Tadokoro is waiting for you."
"Since NERV radar will surely pick us up, you must be inserted by surfboard if you want to stay undetected."
"You can't be serious," Snake said with an amused look on his face.
Tadokoro was serious. "It's the only way. Your belongings will be placed in a waterproof duffel bag. A motorcycle will be waiting for you on shore. Take the motorcycle until you reach the outskirts of Tokyo-3. From there, you will have to walk to a building shown on your Soliton map as a red dot. Enter the building, gear up, and wait for further instructions on your Codec. We'll be ready in 3 hours. Get ready."
"Surfing, huh? Well, there's always a first time for everything..."
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Snake has never surfed before, but years of experience shaped him to be a quick learner. You adapt, or you die, is the rule of the battlefield.
Snake lied down on his belly on the surfboard, as he paddled around in the frigid waters looking for a decent wave. Thankfully, Snake was provided with a wetsuit to wear over his sneaking suit. Finding a good-sized wave, Snake tried to stand up on his board. He almost lost his balance, but quickly got the hang of it as he rode the waves all the way to the shore.
As Snake arrived on the Japanese coast, he removed the duffel bag that was taped onto the surfboard, and placed the board in a safe place. It was nearing sunset, and the sun seemed to set the sky on fire, but incoming storm clouds seemed to threaten this sight. After standing on the beach to admire the postcard-perfect scene, he walked from the beach to a nearby road, where he found the motorcycle, a black Suzuki Hayabusa. Snake began his journey west into the accursed city of Tokyo-3.
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Shinji stopped running after a while, and stood in a dark alley to rest and avoid the rain for a second.
(I've been running for a while already. I might have even lost those guards too,) he thought to himself.
He looked at his surroundings. Graffiti covered the faded brick walls of the alley, and there was refuse and large boxes strewn about everywhere. Shinji did not remember any of this before.
"Am I lost?" he whispered to himself. A noise of shuffling noise surprised him from behind, and Shinji turned around quickly to see the source of it.
"W-wh-who's t-there?" he whimpered to the shadows.
And out of the shadows, came a man. He was disheveled in his appearance, with long unkempt hair and whiskers, and he wore several layers of dirty clothes to keep away the cold. He appeared to be a homeless man, forgotten by the city many months or years back. He spoke in a slow, raspy voice.
"What's wrong little boy? Are you lost?" The stranger said with a lecherous smile on his face. He took a step towards Shinji.
Shinji responded in turn by taking a step backwards. "N-N-No, I'm not l-lost..."
Shinji continued to backpedal slowly until he bumped into another similar-looking man behind him. "Are you sure kid?" the other stranger said with a near-toothless grin. "We can help you out... if you can help us with something..."
Shinji backed away from the other man, and was caught in the middle of two strange old men with a look on their faces that could bring out emotions of disgust in Rei. A fight-or-flight response swarmed Shinji's senses, and strangely enough, he chose - -
Fight. Shinji ran over to the nearest would-be mugger, and kicked him square in the gonads. The man's face squirmed in pain, and he fell to his knees, holding on to his crotch with both hands. The fight response soon left his body, and "flight" kicked in. After regaining his balance from giving such a vicious kick, he tried to run away.
The uprising was quelled quickly. The second man punched Shinji in the gut viciously, and choked him with the other arm.
"You're a real firecracker, you know that, kid?" the attacker said as he pulled an item from his pocket. He pressed a button, revealing a good-sized switchblade, and held the edge dangerously close to Shinji's throat. Shinji could smell the alcohol in the man's throat as he whispered something to his ear.
"So you were gonna ignore us... just like the rest of this goddamned town did! Well then... we'll show them, won't we?" he said as the knife blade moved closer to Shinji's neck...
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Gendo Ikari sat in his office, his hands blocking the view from half of his face, as usual. Fuyutsuki stood next to him.
"They'll be coming soon, Ikari, possibly for you, and definitely for the MAGI and EVA-01."
"Let them try. It will be too late for them, and Third Impact will have been initiated. It has already begun..."
Fuyutsuki left the room to leave Gendo with his thoughts.
(I'll be coming soon, Yui...)
Story (C) 2003 11-41 Studios. All your characters used in this story are belong to their respective owners.
Updated 1.11.03