Lord of Pencil: You're sure you want to give me a review for every chapter?
This thing is going to be long. I mean, I still have two Evas and a bunch
of Chosen to deal with, and I have to get the relationships in, and cause
Fourth Impact at some point. Oh well, it's your time.
Disclaimer: Me no own Eva. Hideaki Anno and Gainax own Eva. Me no own nothing.
Fourth Impact Chapter 22: Mergence
Unit 16 hauled itself out of the water, listening idly to the screams of panic. Their fear and agony would be a fitting little nibble before Unit 16 got its real taste of vengeance.
It tromped over the city wall and slammed down onto the street, crushing cars and people with equal negligence. As it strode through the streets the blades on the side of its body tore through the buildings on either side, its eye sweeping back and forth. It hadn't seen this many humans since.it pushed the painful memory away. She would be avenged. That would be enough.
The plugsuit inside it bobbed up and down in the LCL, floating limp and oblivious to the destruction the Eva was causing. Inside the plug the last words of the pilot still echoed, the name Unit 16 swimming through the blood of Lillith.
Unit 16 shot down another plane and continued forward. The chaos it created was oddly soothing, as if it had experienced something similar before. Then it stopped suddenly. That boy.no, this was something similar. Another of those strange humans with the strange AT fields.
Karles looked up at the beast before him. It looked down at him. Karles' eyes widened as he realized the presence of the pilot within the beast.
He manifested his whip and shot up his AT field as the beast tried to flatten him. Lashing out at the beast, he drew a gash across its underbelly, causing it to roar in pain. Then a claw came down, almost crushing him into the ground. He dashed under the beast, but the claw followed him, the arm that it was attached to extending tentacle-like.
He lashed out at the core of the mutated Eva, hoping to cause a quick death, but the claw grabbed his whip and threatened to tear it from his grasp. He dissipated it, throwing up his AT field again and running for cover.
Unit 16 back up a step and lashed out at Lillith's Sixth Chosen again. It had to destroy this thing, before it became more than just a petty annoyance and turned into a fatal annoyance. The boy was hidden from its sight, but its claws were big enough to simply bash up the entire street and drive the boy out of hiding. Then it got a better idea. It fired its eye-beam, boiling the street as it swept its eye across.
Karles yelped and threw all of his power into his AT field. He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and he was low on energy. Too much more and the Eva would destroy him.
He managed to slip into a dark alleyway, turning off both his AT field and his whip to hide his presence. The Eva quickly gave up the search for him and moved on.
Having dealt with the annoyance, Unit 16 continued to smash its way through the streets, heading once again to Adam.
"Angel Alert!"
Misa pulled out her phone. "Chosen or Eva?" she asked.
"Eva." Replied Misato. Misa relayed the information to Adamu.
Lilliko shot out of her seat moments before Misa and Adamu. "Have to go." She told the teacher, dashing out of the room.
"Where are you going?" hissed Adamu. She smiled at him.
"Dr. Akagi told me that Unit 19 has been completed." She told him. "I get to join you today."
Adamu glared at her, but said nothing.
They changed quickly and slipped into their plugs. The three Units launched, finding themselves in the countryside not far beyond Tokyo 4.
"Lilliko, take point. Misa and Adamu will back her up." The three pilots nodded. Adamu picked out a pallet gun while Misato got a more powerful rocket launcher. Lilliko's Eva got a spear and an axe.
"Will you be able to use both?" asked Misa. Lilliko nodded.
"You should have seen me during the tests." Lilliko replied. "This Eva is built for speed, and I am built to handle it." Having said so, Lilliko bounded forward, leaving the other two Evas behind. They ran after her.
"Careful, you guys." Misato admonished. "That thing has a powerful laser in its eye, and those blades can cut through anything, it seems. The claws can also extend." The three pilots slowed, growing cautious.
"Do we have a visual?" asked Lilliko. A box appeared on their screens. Unit 16 had exited the city and was slithering through the forest, crushing trees as it went.
"It's ugly." Misa said.
"All of the Angels that attack us are ugly." Misato told her.
"If I recall, you found my father kind of cute." Lilliko reminded her. Misato blushed.
"Quiet."
They remained silent until Unit 16 came into view. It came up to about the Evas' heads, and one feature that they hadn't seen before came into view: the huge gaping maw, lined with hundreds of. tiny teeth.
Unit 16 saw its brethren standing before it, armed. They still retained the humanoid form that it had shed. Why they were blocking it, it could not fathom.
It roared, telling them to move, but they held their ground. They were oddly silent. It pushed forward, brandishing its claws. They still held their ground. They would not move unless destroyed, Unit 16 concluded.
It fired.
The three pilots snapped up their AT fields just as the beam reached them.
"What now?" asked Misa.
"Hold him off." Said Adamu. "If Lilliko can get around it while we're still being fired at, then maybe."
"Right." Lilliko dropped her AT field and began to run off to the side, while Misa and Adamu shifted their own fields forward. But Unit 16 merely stopped firing and lashed out at Lilliko with its claws. She was hit in the head, flying backwards.
Adamu opened fire, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the Eva's shell. Lilliko had bounced to her feet and slashed at Unit 16 with her knife, only to be flung back again as Unit 16 surged forward at Misa. Misa fired off a round, then dodged out of the way.
"Where's the core?" demanded Lilliko.
"I can't see it!" replied Misa as she ran after Unit 16. She fired again, causing Unit 16 to turn and face her. It fired, the beam wide enough to catch Adamu and Lilliko despite being aimed at only Misa.
The three fell back and Unit 16 continued towards Tokyo 4. Right before reaching the city however, it blasted open a hole in the ground and crawled in.
"I'm going to get it in the Geofront." Announced Misa. She ran back to the catapult and got in. "Bring me back." She told Misato.
Her descent was rapid, sending her right back into the Eva cages. The Ayanami twins appeared shortly afterwards.
"Misa-chan, get out." Ritsuko's voice shouted over the audio link. "Get out of the Eva."
"Why?" she asked.
"Last line of defense." Ritsuko answered.
Misa was led down the halls to Adam's room, this time taking the direct route.
The room was filled with bakelite only up to Adam's sleeping form.
"We'll need you to move Adam in case Unit 16 penetrates this far." Ritsuko told her.
"But-"
"Don't worry, we're pretty sure that nothing will happen. You're not Angel enough, and you're not descended from Adam. It will be all right." Misa nodded dubiously and waited for the platform to extend to where Adam was sleeping. She knelt down next to the open box and peered in.
"Is that." Ritsuko was already gone.
Adamu dodged another punch and slashed at Unit 16's claw, only to be slammed up against the blades. A deep gash appeared in Unit 18's side, the pain mirrored on Adamu's body. He stumbled back, and Unit 16 jumped on him.
Unit 19 was on top of Unit 16, jabbing at it with the spear. Lilliko was busy holding off the other claw with her axe and would slip every few seconds.
"This isn't working!" she shouted.
Then Adamu saw the core. "The core is beneath it." He forced out. "I can't get to it right now." Unit 16 started to crush him into the ground. He screamed.
"Adamu!" Lilliko ran forward along Unit 16 and tried to jab at its eye, but was knocked off by both claws and pounded into the ground. She passed out at the same time as Adamu.
Unit 16 trudged forward, crushing Unit 18 even further into the dirt. It smashed its way into the buildings and into the complex beneath.
"Misa!" Misato's voice rang out on Misa's phone. "You have to-" her voice dissolved into static.
"What?" Misa shouted.
"Target has passed Terminal Dogma and is descending." Announced Makoto.
"No response from Units 18 and 19." Maya shouted.
"Misa!" Misato shouted into the phone. She spun to see Ritusko run onto the bridge. "Ritsuko, did you tell Misa where to bring Adam?"
Ritsuko swore. "You mean you can't reach her?"
"The phone's turned to static." Misato told her. "I take it that you didn't say."
"Where is it?" Ritsuko stuck her head next to Makoto's.
"It's reached the binary complex." Ritsuko swore.
"Fill the place with bakelite." She ordered.
"Filling binary complex." The red showing the bakelite level slowly filtered downward.
Unit 16 smashed its way downward, toward its target, towards revenge. Its core began to pulse as it came closer and closer to Adam. "Unit.16." memories of its pilot began to surface. For the first time it pushed them aside. In moments it would be with its pilot once again. (AN: Okay, Unit 16 is starting to sound like Gendo. Strange.) Cold pricked at its tail. Unit 16 brought its head around and blasted away at the bakelite.
Above the Geofront a section of Tokyo 4 ignited as the beam erupted from the ground. The streets boiled for a moment, and then the beam was gone.
Makoto yelped as his screen burst into static. "What the hell?"
"The upper levels of the binary complex have been obliterated." Reported the young woman who had taken Shigeru's place.
Misa could feel the room shake as Unit 16 continued its descent. She curled around the box, suddenly trapped by fear. What if Unit 16 caught up to her? What if she was unable to get Adam away?
The ceiling began to collapse. She screamed and flung her AT field over her head. She took a deep breath and began muttering, "I am a Soryu, I can take this," over and over.
Then the ceiling fell inward and Unit 16's eye exploded into the room. She screamed again, grabbing Adam to her.
Silence.
Misa stared at the red orb that was Adam, even as it passed through her plugsuit and merged with her core. She screamed in agony.
Light shot out of her, blasting up and out, filling the room, piercing Unit 16 and the walls of the binary complex.
"Ikari Misato Soryu." Said a voice coming from within her. Images flashed through her eyes, images that she couldn't even begin to comprehend. She saw the landing on earth, she saw Second Impact, Third Impact, the Fourth Impact yet to come.
And she saw the Angels, Adam, Lillith, Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matariel, Sahaquiel, Iruel, Lilliel, Bardiel, Zeruel, Arael, Armisael, Tabris. (AN: collect them all!)
She saw Eva, she saw Gehrin and Seele and Rokubungi Gendo. She caught a glimpse of the Messiah.
As the AT field passed through Unit 16, the plugsuit inside began to puff up as the outline of a human girl appeared in it. Bones, then flesh solidified out of the LCL. Pale skin, then flaxen hair grew out.
Misa/Adam stood up, turning to face Unit 16. "Go." She ordered. "Leave this place. Go."
Unit 16 stared for a moment. Adam was telling it to go. So it turned, causing more damage, and crawled out. It blasted another hole through the bakelite and crawled out into Tokyo 4.
Suddenly it heard a voice. "Unit.16?" It froze on the verge of leaving Tokyo 4. "Where are we?" Unit 16 fled.
AN: Yay, I can name all of the Angels, in order, as well as their mythical attributes! You have now read over a hundred pages! Layra-chan, put that knife down!
Disclaimer: Me no own Eva. Hideaki Anno and Gainax own Eva. Me no own nothing.
Fourth Impact Chapter 22: Mergence
Unit 16 hauled itself out of the water, listening idly to the screams of panic. Their fear and agony would be a fitting little nibble before Unit 16 got its real taste of vengeance.
It tromped over the city wall and slammed down onto the street, crushing cars and people with equal negligence. As it strode through the streets the blades on the side of its body tore through the buildings on either side, its eye sweeping back and forth. It hadn't seen this many humans since.it pushed the painful memory away. She would be avenged. That would be enough.
The plugsuit inside it bobbed up and down in the LCL, floating limp and oblivious to the destruction the Eva was causing. Inside the plug the last words of the pilot still echoed, the name Unit 16 swimming through the blood of Lillith.
Unit 16 shot down another plane and continued forward. The chaos it created was oddly soothing, as if it had experienced something similar before. Then it stopped suddenly. That boy.no, this was something similar. Another of those strange humans with the strange AT fields.
Karles looked up at the beast before him. It looked down at him. Karles' eyes widened as he realized the presence of the pilot within the beast.
He manifested his whip and shot up his AT field as the beast tried to flatten him. Lashing out at the beast, he drew a gash across its underbelly, causing it to roar in pain. Then a claw came down, almost crushing him into the ground. He dashed under the beast, but the claw followed him, the arm that it was attached to extending tentacle-like.
He lashed out at the core of the mutated Eva, hoping to cause a quick death, but the claw grabbed his whip and threatened to tear it from his grasp. He dissipated it, throwing up his AT field again and running for cover.
Unit 16 back up a step and lashed out at Lillith's Sixth Chosen again. It had to destroy this thing, before it became more than just a petty annoyance and turned into a fatal annoyance. The boy was hidden from its sight, but its claws were big enough to simply bash up the entire street and drive the boy out of hiding. Then it got a better idea. It fired its eye-beam, boiling the street as it swept its eye across.
Karles yelped and threw all of his power into his AT field. He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and he was low on energy. Too much more and the Eva would destroy him.
He managed to slip into a dark alleyway, turning off both his AT field and his whip to hide his presence. The Eva quickly gave up the search for him and moved on.
Having dealt with the annoyance, Unit 16 continued to smash its way through the streets, heading once again to Adam.
"Angel Alert!"
Misa pulled out her phone. "Chosen or Eva?" she asked.
"Eva." Replied Misato. Misa relayed the information to Adamu.
Lilliko shot out of her seat moments before Misa and Adamu. "Have to go." She told the teacher, dashing out of the room.
"Where are you going?" hissed Adamu. She smiled at him.
"Dr. Akagi told me that Unit 19 has been completed." She told him. "I get to join you today."
Adamu glared at her, but said nothing.
They changed quickly and slipped into their plugs. The three Units launched, finding themselves in the countryside not far beyond Tokyo 4.
"Lilliko, take point. Misa and Adamu will back her up." The three pilots nodded. Adamu picked out a pallet gun while Misato got a more powerful rocket launcher. Lilliko's Eva got a spear and an axe.
"Will you be able to use both?" asked Misa. Lilliko nodded.
"You should have seen me during the tests." Lilliko replied. "This Eva is built for speed, and I am built to handle it." Having said so, Lilliko bounded forward, leaving the other two Evas behind. They ran after her.
"Careful, you guys." Misato admonished. "That thing has a powerful laser in its eye, and those blades can cut through anything, it seems. The claws can also extend." The three pilots slowed, growing cautious.
"Do we have a visual?" asked Lilliko. A box appeared on their screens. Unit 16 had exited the city and was slithering through the forest, crushing trees as it went.
"It's ugly." Misa said.
"All of the Angels that attack us are ugly." Misato told her.
"If I recall, you found my father kind of cute." Lilliko reminded her. Misato blushed.
"Quiet."
They remained silent until Unit 16 came into view. It came up to about the Evas' heads, and one feature that they hadn't seen before came into view: the huge gaping maw, lined with hundreds of. tiny teeth.
Unit 16 saw its brethren standing before it, armed. They still retained the humanoid form that it had shed. Why they were blocking it, it could not fathom.
It roared, telling them to move, but they held their ground. They were oddly silent. It pushed forward, brandishing its claws. They still held their ground. They would not move unless destroyed, Unit 16 concluded.
It fired.
The three pilots snapped up their AT fields just as the beam reached them.
"What now?" asked Misa.
"Hold him off." Said Adamu. "If Lilliko can get around it while we're still being fired at, then maybe."
"Right." Lilliko dropped her AT field and began to run off to the side, while Misa and Adamu shifted their own fields forward. But Unit 16 merely stopped firing and lashed out at Lilliko with its claws. She was hit in the head, flying backwards.
Adamu opened fire, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the Eva's shell. Lilliko had bounced to her feet and slashed at Unit 16 with her knife, only to be flung back again as Unit 16 surged forward at Misa. Misa fired off a round, then dodged out of the way.
"Where's the core?" demanded Lilliko.
"I can't see it!" replied Misa as she ran after Unit 16. She fired again, causing Unit 16 to turn and face her. It fired, the beam wide enough to catch Adamu and Lilliko despite being aimed at only Misa.
The three fell back and Unit 16 continued towards Tokyo 4. Right before reaching the city however, it blasted open a hole in the ground and crawled in.
"I'm going to get it in the Geofront." Announced Misa. She ran back to the catapult and got in. "Bring me back." She told Misato.
Her descent was rapid, sending her right back into the Eva cages. The Ayanami twins appeared shortly afterwards.
"Misa-chan, get out." Ritsuko's voice shouted over the audio link. "Get out of the Eva."
"Why?" she asked.
"Last line of defense." Ritsuko answered.
Misa was led down the halls to Adam's room, this time taking the direct route.
The room was filled with bakelite only up to Adam's sleeping form.
"We'll need you to move Adam in case Unit 16 penetrates this far." Ritsuko told her.
"But-"
"Don't worry, we're pretty sure that nothing will happen. You're not Angel enough, and you're not descended from Adam. It will be all right." Misa nodded dubiously and waited for the platform to extend to where Adam was sleeping. She knelt down next to the open box and peered in.
"Is that." Ritsuko was already gone.
Adamu dodged another punch and slashed at Unit 16's claw, only to be slammed up against the blades. A deep gash appeared in Unit 18's side, the pain mirrored on Adamu's body. He stumbled back, and Unit 16 jumped on him.
Unit 19 was on top of Unit 16, jabbing at it with the spear. Lilliko was busy holding off the other claw with her axe and would slip every few seconds.
"This isn't working!" she shouted.
Then Adamu saw the core. "The core is beneath it." He forced out. "I can't get to it right now." Unit 16 started to crush him into the ground. He screamed.
"Adamu!" Lilliko ran forward along Unit 16 and tried to jab at its eye, but was knocked off by both claws and pounded into the ground. She passed out at the same time as Adamu.
Unit 16 trudged forward, crushing Unit 18 even further into the dirt. It smashed its way into the buildings and into the complex beneath.
"Misa!" Misato's voice rang out on Misa's phone. "You have to-" her voice dissolved into static.
"What?" Misa shouted.
"Target has passed Terminal Dogma and is descending." Announced Makoto.
"No response from Units 18 and 19." Maya shouted.
"Misa!" Misato shouted into the phone. She spun to see Ritusko run onto the bridge. "Ritsuko, did you tell Misa where to bring Adam?"
Ritsuko swore. "You mean you can't reach her?"
"The phone's turned to static." Misato told her. "I take it that you didn't say."
"Where is it?" Ritsuko stuck her head next to Makoto's.
"It's reached the binary complex." Ritsuko swore.
"Fill the place with bakelite." She ordered.
"Filling binary complex." The red showing the bakelite level slowly filtered downward.
Unit 16 smashed its way downward, toward its target, towards revenge. Its core began to pulse as it came closer and closer to Adam. "Unit.16." memories of its pilot began to surface. For the first time it pushed them aside. In moments it would be with its pilot once again. (AN: Okay, Unit 16 is starting to sound like Gendo. Strange.) Cold pricked at its tail. Unit 16 brought its head around and blasted away at the bakelite.
Above the Geofront a section of Tokyo 4 ignited as the beam erupted from the ground. The streets boiled for a moment, and then the beam was gone.
Makoto yelped as his screen burst into static. "What the hell?"
"The upper levels of the binary complex have been obliterated." Reported the young woman who had taken Shigeru's place.
Misa could feel the room shake as Unit 16 continued its descent. She curled around the box, suddenly trapped by fear. What if Unit 16 caught up to her? What if she was unable to get Adam away?
The ceiling began to collapse. She screamed and flung her AT field over her head. She took a deep breath and began muttering, "I am a Soryu, I can take this," over and over.
Then the ceiling fell inward and Unit 16's eye exploded into the room. She screamed again, grabbing Adam to her.
Silence.
Misa stared at the red orb that was Adam, even as it passed through her plugsuit and merged with her core. She screamed in agony.
Light shot out of her, blasting up and out, filling the room, piercing Unit 16 and the walls of the binary complex.
"Ikari Misato Soryu." Said a voice coming from within her. Images flashed through her eyes, images that she couldn't even begin to comprehend. She saw the landing on earth, she saw Second Impact, Third Impact, the Fourth Impact yet to come.
And she saw the Angels, Adam, Lillith, Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matariel, Sahaquiel, Iruel, Lilliel, Bardiel, Zeruel, Arael, Armisael, Tabris. (AN: collect them all!)
She saw Eva, she saw Gehrin and Seele and Rokubungi Gendo. She caught a glimpse of the Messiah.
As the AT field passed through Unit 16, the plugsuit inside began to puff up as the outline of a human girl appeared in it. Bones, then flesh solidified out of the LCL. Pale skin, then flaxen hair grew out.
Misa/Adam stood up, turning to face Unit 16. "Go." She ordered. "Leave this place. Go."
Unit 16 stared for a moment. Adam was telling it to go. So it turned, causing more damage, and crawled out. It blasted another hole through the bakelite and crawled out into Tokyo 4.
Suddenly it heard a voice. "Unit.16?" It froze on the verge of leaving Tokyo 4. "Where are we?" Unit 16 fled.
AN: Yay, I can name all of the Angels, in order, as well as their mythical attributes! You have now read over a hundred pages! Layra-chan, put that knife down!