See earlier chapters for disclaimer
The Attack
"Karen are you ready?" Maya Ibuki, the head of the new Project-E asked. The control room that she now occupied was not very different from the one she had twenty years ago when she was just a tech. These new techs seemed well suited to their jobs also, the three person team of Hironobu Kageyama, Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki worked very well together. In truth the only thing different was the airs exuded by the Commander, Sub-Commander and the Operations director. They seemed to make the small control room a lot more comfortable that the old ones could.
"I'm ready." She answered, exuding the same air of confidence she had during Unit One's initial reactivation.
"Okay," the doctor responded, "this one is a little different from before. After you sync with Unit One we want you to go through exercise programs four through thirteen. This will test your abilities to actually pilot the EVA, when you're done with those we'll go to the combat training."
"Is that really necessary?" The pilot questioned. "I've already handled all the exercise programs with Unit Two so what's the point?"
"But this isn't Unit Two Karen," the operations director spoke, somehow coming back to her old way for just a moment. "Since you've started in a different EVA we need to start over with your sync training."
"Right," from inside the entry plug the pilot sighed, at least she tried to, but what came out was a cluster of LCL bubbles. Hiding it ever so slightly the Commander smiled.
"Commence activation." The Sub-Commander spoke. In no time at all the Evangelion was activated, the tests, drills and procedures fully under way.
"Sixth Child maintaining a steady sync rate of sixty five percent." Hironobu informed them.
"Col. Katsuragi," the Commander motioned her to join them. "Have you heard the status on the Seventh?"
"No," Misato shook her head, "nothing except that he's coming from America in a week, when we finally finish the repairs to Unit Two."
"So you don't know who he is?" The Commander asked, receiving a head shake as her response. "His name is Yuu Williams, I think you two met him."
"Oh no," Misato shook her head, "not that kid."
"What's wrong?" The Sub-Commander asked.
"He and Karen don't get along at all," the look the two officers gave her prompted her to continue, "they went out when Karen and I were at the American NERV branch, but right before we came back they got into an argument and almost a fist fight."
"So they have a history then?" This was not good, the Commander knew that they could not just drop the Seventh because of personal problems, she would however do her best from keeping contact between the two to a minimum. Whatever happened to the two would need to be resolved and soon.
"That's unfortunate," the Sub-Commander spoke, "the old men have started to move again and we might not have the time needed for them to work together." No sooner had he finished his sentence had the Commander's cell phone began to ring. "Speak of the devil."
"Understood," the Commander rose as she finished her conversation on the phone, "Doctor Ibuki, cancel the tests and prepare Unit One for immediate deployment." When she finished she looked over to the Operations Officer, "get all the necessary equipment and a carrier craft." Saying what was necessary the Commander turned to leave.
"Where are we going and why?"
"To Taiwan. Nagisa was correct," she answered without turning back, "they have made their move." A silence followed, all of the people in the control room knew what it meant. "It's an Angel."
****************
****************
Karen could scarcely believe what had happened next. When the exercises ended without explanation she was confused. When Misato rushed her out of the plug she was concerned. When she entered the long range carrier craft designed to move the Evangelion still in her plug suit she was down right scared.
"Miss Misato," she tried to yell over the onslaught of workers who were trying to prepare the EVA for deployment, "what's happening here?"
"We have to deploy now." She answered without looking at her charge.
"Where?" Karen felt the familiar sensation of fear creep over her as she began to understand what that meant.
"Taiwan," Misato barked out an order to one of the support techs that Karen couldn't understand, "Karen I need you to stay in the carrier and wait, I'll be there soon."
The Sixth Child did as she was told and for what felt like hours she waited for her Godmother to take the seat next to her.
The carrier wasn't anything extravagant, the walls were bare with the support struts in clear view. When the plane finally took off Karen could swear she heard every vibration, felt every bit of turbulence that the plane came across. There were passenger seating, but the seats were built more for function than comfort, it felt like sitting on an old bar chair. She wondered what the other ten craft that followed were like. The only out of place item was the entry plug sticking out of the floor, this ensured that the pilot could get into her EVA in a moments notice.
"It's about time," Karen said as Misato took the seat next to her, "what's going on?"
"About twenty minutes ago the Commander got a call about an Angel on the Island of Taiwan," the Colonel smiled a little. In the old days it would have been impossible for such a deployment to be made ready in that time. "The reports say that it is just standing in the outskirts of the main city." She handed Karen a picture of the Angel. To say the creature was odd was an understatement, like all the other Angels before it this one had an eclectic appearance. It was just a black ball standing on two human like black legs.
"That's an Angel?" Karen attempted to look at the pictures from every angle including upside down. "Where did it come from?"
"As far as we know it just appeared there." Misato sighed, like the old days the reliable portions of the information could barely be discerned.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Karen wanted, needed more information than she had. If she was going to destroy this creature she would need an edge greater then the S^2 engine.
"Destroy it," was the simple answer Misato gave, "from what we are able to tell the core of the Angel is somewhere in the center."
"I can tell that!" Karen snapped at her caretaker, if she was going to fight the damn thing she needed to be better prepared.
"I'm sorry," the Operations Director spoke, "but this is all we have."
"It's not enough," She spoke low, "I don't want to die fighting something because I don't know all the facts." Karen's voice rose with each word until eventually she was yelling. "You're not risking your life out there, you just sit comfortable in this stupid plane while I go out there to die."
"That's enough," Misato spoke over the girl's voice, "don't for a second think I'm comfortable here. The last thing I want is to lose another child." Misato clenched her hands in her lap, closing her eyes to will away the tears that were threatening to release from her.
"What?"
"I never told you did I?" She looked to the younger girl, smiling sadly. "After Third Impact I found out that I was pregnant," she paused to let the notion sink into Karen's mind, "but there were complications and the child was lost. After that I found out that I could never have children," the tears flowed freely now, "shortly after that I lost Shinji. He told me before he died that should anything happen to him he would be honored if I would look after you.
"Shinji was seventeen when he died, the same age you are now. After what happened to the two children I had known so well and the one I never will I promised myself, your mother and father that I would never let you down. That's why I came back to NERV, to protect you."
"Miss Misato I," Karen didn't know what to say, never before had her guardian revealed so much about herself. Not once in the whole time that Karen had known her. "I'm sorry."
The way she said it, the way she hid her eyes with her bangs, the way she clenched and unclenched her fists was exactly how she remembered him doing it. Misato had to fight back tears once again as she brought her arm to rest on the young girl's shoulders, she then brought the two heads closer together and looked at her goddaughter's face.
"Just don't think you're fighting alone out there okay?" They smiled at each other. "If anything happens I'll take the damn thing out with my bare hands." Karen laughed at that, somehow finding Misato punching out the Angel to be a very believable scenario.
****************
****************
"T-minus three minutes to contact with the target," the pilot informed them. By this time Karen was waiting in the entry plug of Unit One. Her hands gripped the control yokes tight, her knuckles going white from the force. Underneath them the main city and ocean could be seen, the Angel standing just outside it's limits
"You ready?" Misato's voice came over the intercom. "There's no turning back after this."
"Not really," Karen's nervous smile was all that broke the tension of the moment, "but I don't think I have a choice at the moment."
"When were done here I'll take you to Tokyo-3 Disneyland. So look forward to it."
"Miss Misato," her tone was somewhat patronizing, "I think I'm a little too old for that."
"Oh really," Misato could not help but laugh, "this coming from the girl who last week wanted to invite her friends for a sleep over?"
"That's different." Karen cried, her dignity having seen better days.
"We'll talk later okay." She said, the target now in range. "Evangelion Unit One, Launch!"
Breaking free of the carrier the Evangelion dove to the ground below, breaking the fall with it's hands and feet. Raising itself to it's full height it was plain to see that the two entities were of even height. Wasting no more time the Eva removed it's progressive knife from it's holding, gripping the blade with both hands ready to attack the Angel.
Realizing the danger the Angel's main body began to widen itself, as it expanded four separate arms became discernable each one as long as it's human like legs. These arms were different, the were more like insect arms than human appendages.
"What the hell." The pilot asked anyone willing to listen.
"Impossible." Misato called out.
"There," Karen said as she saw the core of the Angel now visible with the arms extended. Hurling herself and her Evangelion at the Angel she prepared to strike. As she did she felt the concussive force of the Angel's many arms, the force almost enough to knock her unconscious, each one slamming against the EVA and knocking it back into a forest. 'Better than if it hit the city,' Karen thought.
Barely having the time needed to recover the EVA moved before the Angel brought the arms to bear down on her last position. Running around the Angel to find an open area of attack Karen quickly realized that she would not be able to do any damage to the creature with only her short range knife. Sensing this Col. Katsuragi acted.
"Drop the energy rifle now." She commanded one of the circling aircrafts.
The oddly large shotgun like weapon was literally dropped in her lap as Karen moved to recover from another onslaught from the Angel. Taking the weapon in hand Karen attempted to shoot the arms blocking her entry. The arms were too agile as Karen found herself wasting her ammunition.
As Misato watched the battle, she noticed something, only the arms moved. The damned thing had not moved it's legs once since it was spotted. "Karen," she screamed, despite the fact that she would be heard at the same level over on her end, "go for the legs!"
"Right," firing the last of the rifle's ammunition the pilot destroyed the legs, sending it crashing down to the ground below. As the creature fell it positioned it's arms to face the ground. Instantly Misato and Karen realized their mistake, without the legs to keep it still the Angel would become a harder target to attack.
The Angel was now mobile.
"Crap." Throwing away the empty rifle the EVA went again for it's progressive knife. The Angel was now impossibly fast, it's appendages making it run literal circles around the EVA. Stopping suddenly behind the Evangelion the Angel lunged towards it. "Crap," spinning the EVA around Karen brought her knife to bare down on the Angel, the blade piercing the core.
"She did it." Misato called out from the control plane. However the Angel did not stop it's charge, wrapping the body around the EVA in a black gelatinous mass. It's body lit up as Misato knew from experience what would happen next. "It's going to self-destruct, everyone clear out."
"The EVA's A.T. Field is down," Misato heard the tech named Ayumi call out from her own craft, "T-minus ten to detonation."
"God no." Misato Whispered.
Inside the EVA Karen could tell that it was over, the Angel in it's last desperate plea would take itself out along with the EVA. She tried to keep the A.T. Field going, but the battle had worn her to the point of where she was barely conscious. It was all she could do to keep the EVA standing upright.
"This sucks," she whispered as she tried to move the control yokes, "guess I'll get to see Father and Mama sooner than I planned." Something happened then. A struggle underneath the black matter began.
"Five seconds left." The tech informed them.
The EVA's arms could be seen breaking through the mass.
"Four seconds."
The arms then gripped the mass around it.
"Three seconds."
Then lifting the mass off of the purple behemoth it issued a horrible roar.
"Two."
With all of it's strength the EVA threw the black mass into the sky arcing it towards the open sea.
"One." The explosion that followed was one Misato had seen before, a purple light in the shape of a cross filled the vision of every pilot and engineer.
"What happened to the pilot?" Misato asked the technicians over the intercom.
"Life signs confirmed, but it's strange."
"What is?" Misato was franticly fearing the worst.
"According to the readings the pilot was unconscious when the EVA removed the Angel."
"So that's what it was," Misato chuckled privately, glad the situation was under control, "he protected her."
****************
****************
"That same wall," Karen had seen that wall before. When she was about twelve she had climbed an old pine tree, the wall being the next thing she had seen after a nasty fall. She still had the small scar it left on her left arm. Karen looked at her body to see no IVs or monitors hooked up to her body, her body on it's side her arms laid at the same side.
She felt incredibly sore, the exertion from the fight too much for her. She had some doubts as to how she survived, chalking it up to the power of the EVA. Using her arms to prop herself up Karen prepared to leave the bed.
"Oh, you're awake?" Sub-Commander Nagisa said as he entered the room. Realizing that she was in a hospital gown and nothing else Karen quickly lied back down and covered herself with her blanket.
"How long have I been out?" Karen managed to say stuttering badly and blushing brightly.
"Just a few hours," he smiled, "you gave us a big shock with the way you handled that Angel."
"How's Miss Misato?"
"She's fine, just getting some coffee and yes," he answered the next question before she spoke it, "the Commander is with her." No sooner had he said that then the two women in question entered.
"Hi," Karen said rising to sit from her bed, realizing that the gown covered more than enough for the moment. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"The Princess just woke," Kaworu said, putting his hand on her crown, "I was just telling her how long she was out." Had Kaworu paid any attention he would have seen Karen turn a bring shade of red, her eyes looking like that of a deer's caught in the way of a speeding car.
"I'm feeling better now," she managed to say, wondering why she was so completely out of breath.
"I see," her Aunt Rei smiled, "well that's good for you. When you are ready we have to debrief you on the operation." Leaving her with another smile, the Commander took her leave, flanked by her Sub-Commander.
"Well," Misato had an odd look in her eyes, "I'll bet you're feeling better now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The Sixth asked physically taken aback.
"Oh Commander Nagisa," she moaned as she clasped her hands together at the side of her head, "I feel much better now that you're here, but I think you should examine me yourself." Removing her hands form their clasp Misato motioned her right index finger over her bottom lip, "Maybe you should examine me here-" Misato never finished her comment, finding it incredibly hard to with her mouth full of Karen's pillow.
"Oh shut up." Karen exclaimed finishing with a sigh. "You're going to torment a recovering victim like that, what kind of guardian are you?"
"Sure," Misato smiled suddenly somber. The way that Karen spoke, even if she was joking, the movement of her lips, the way her eyes fixed themselves, even the frown on her face were all like her's. Noticing this Misato found it harder to keep up her game. She hoped that she would get over this nostalgia soon, otherwise she might not ever be able to tease Karen again, which she thought would be horrible, since she was such an easy target.
"Now about that slumber party," Karen asked hoping to break the tension of the moment.
"You're still going on about that?" Misato laughed, glad Karen's plan worked.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
There you have it, the first Angel battle. More to come after my little trip to the Big Apple Animefest, in the mean time read review and get the info to me, for the most part it's the questions in those reviews that keep me writing this thing. Tell me how I did
Ryuhiko@hotmail.com
The Attack
"Karen are you ready?" Maya Ibuki, the head of the new Project-E asked. The control room that she now occupied was not very different from the one she had twenty years ago when she was just a tech. These new techs seemed well suited to their jobs also, the three person team of Hironobu Kageyama, Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki worked very well together. In truth the only thing different was the airs exuded by the Commander, Sub-Commander and the Operations director. They seemed to make the small control room a lot more comfortable that the old ones could.
"I'm ready." She answered, exuding the same air of confidence she had during Unit One's initial reactivation.
"Okay," the doctor responded, "this one is a little different from before. After you sync with Unit One we want you to go through exercise programs four through thirteen. This will test your abilities to actually pilot the EVA, when you're done with those we'll go to the combat training."
"Is that really necessary?" The pilot questioned. "I've already handled all the exercise programs with Unit Two so what's the point?"
"But this isn't Unit Two Karen," the operations director spoke, somehow coming back to her old way for just a moment. "Since you've started in a different EVA we need to start over with your sync training."
"Right," from inside the entry plug the pilot sighed, at least she tried to, but what came out was a cluster of LCL bubbles. Hiding it ever so slightly the Commander smiled.
"Commence activation." The Sub-Commander spoke. In no time at all the Evangelion was activated, the tests, drills and procedures fully under way.
"Sixth Child maintaining a steady sync rate of sixty five percent." Hironobu informed them.
"Col. Katsuragi," the Commander motioned her to join them. "Have you heard the status on the Seventh?"
"No," Misato shook her head, "nothing except that he's coming from America in a week, when we finally finish the repairs to Unit Two."
"So you don't know who he is?" The Commander asked, receiving a head shake as her response. "His name is Yuu Williams, I think you two met him."
"Oh no," Misato shook her head, "not that kid."
"What's wrong?" The Sub-Commander asked.
"He and Karen don't get along at all," the look the two officers gave her prompted her to continue, "they went out when Karen and I were at the American NERV branch, but right before we came back they got into an argument and almost a fist fight."
"So they have a history then?" This was not good, the Commander knew that they could not just drop the Seventh because of personal problems, she would however do her best from keeping contact between the two to a minimum. Whatever happened to the two would need to be resolved and soon.
"That's unfortunate," the Sub-Commander spoke, "the old men have started to move again and we might not have the time needed for them to work together." No sooner had he finished his sentence had the Commander's cell phone began to ring. "Speak of the devil."
"Understood," the Commander rose as she finished her conversation on the phone, "Doctor Ibuki, cancel the tests and prepare Unit One for immediate deployment." When she finished she looked over to the Operations Officer, "get all the necessary equipment and a carrier craft." Saying what was necessary the Commander turned to leave.
"Where are we going and why?"
"To Taiwan. Nagisa was correct," she answered without turning back, "they have made their move." A silence followed, all of the people in the control room knew what it meant. "It's an Angel."
****************
****************
Karen could scarcely believe what had happened next. When the exercises ended without explanation she was confused. When Misato rushed her out of the plug she was concerned. When she entered the long range carrier craft designed to move the Evangelion still in her plug suit she was down right scared.
"Miss Misato," she tried to yell over the onslaught of workers who were trying to prepare the EVA for deployment, "what's happening here?"
"We have to deploy now." She answered without looking at her charge.
"Where?" Karen felt the familiar sensation of fear creep over her as she began to understand what that meant.
"Taiwan," Misato barked out an order to one of the support techs that Karen couldn't understand, "Karen I need you to stay in the carrier and wait, I'll be there soon."
The Sixth Child did as she was told and for what felt like hours she waited for her Godmother to take the seat next to her.
The carrier wasn't anything extravagant, the walls were bare with the support struts in clear view. When the plane finally took off Karen could swear she heard every vibration, felt every bit of turbulence that the plane came across. There were passenger seating, but the seats were built more for function than comfort, it felt like sitting on an old bar chair. She wondered what the other ten craft that followed were like. The only out of place item was the entry plug sticking out of the floor, this ensured that the pilot could get into her EVA in a moments notice.
"It's about time," Karen said as Misato took the seat next to her, "what's going on?"
"About twenty minutes ago the Commander got a call about an Angel on the Island of Taiwan," the Colonel smiled a little. In the old days it would have been impossible for such a deployment to be made ready in that time. "The reports say that it is just standing in the outskirts of the main city." She handed Karen a picture of the Angel. To say the creature was odd was an understatement, like all the other Angels before it this one had an eclectic appearance. It was just a black ball standing on two human like black legs.
"That's an Angel?" Karen attempted to look at the pictures from every angle including upside down. "Where did it come from?"
"As far as we know it just appeared there." Misato sighed, like the old days the reliable portions of the information could barely be discerned.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Karen wanted, needed more information than she had. If she was going to destroy this creature she would need an edge greater then the S^2 engine.
"Destroy it," was the simple answer Misato gave, "from what we are able to tell the core of the Angel is somewhere in the center."
"I can tell that!" Karen snapped at her caretaker, if she was going to fight the damn thing she needed to be better prepared.
"I'm sorry," the Operations Director spoke, "but this is all we have."
"It's not enough," She spoke low, "I don't want to die fighting something because I don't know all the facts." Karen's voice rose with each word until eventually she was yelling. "You're not risking your life out there, you just sit comfortable in this stupid plane while I go out there to die."
"That's enough," Misato spoke over the girl's voice, "don't for a second think I'm comfortable here. The last thing I want is to lose another child." Misato clenched her hands in her lap, closing her eyes to will away the tears that were threatening to release from her.
"What?"
"I never told you did I?" She looked to the younger girl, smiling sadly. "After Third Impact I found out that I was pregnant," she paused to let the notion sink into Karen's mind, "but there were complications and the child was lost. After that I found out that I could never have children," the tears flowed freely now, "shortly after that I lost Shinji. He told me before he died that should anything happen to him he would be honored if I would look after you.
"Shinji was seventeen when he died, the same age you are now. After what happened to the two children I had known so well and the one I never will I promised myself, your mother and father that I would never let you down. That's why I came back to NERV, to protect you."
"Miss Misato I," Karen didn't know what to say, never before had her guardian revealed so much about herself. Not once in the whole time that Karen had known her. "I'm sorry."
The way she said it, the way she hid her eyes with her bangs, the way she clenched and unclenched her fists was exactly how she remembered him doing it. Misato had to fight back tears once again as she brought her arm to rest on the young girl's shoulders, she then brought the two heads closer together and looked at her goddaughter's face.
"Just don't think you're fighting alone out there okay?" They smiled at each other. "If anything happens I'll take the damn thing out with my bare hands." Karen laughed at that, somehow finding Misato punching out the Angel to be a very believable scenario.
****************
****************
"T-minus three minutes to contact with the target," the pilot informed them. By this time Karen was waiting in the entry plug of Unit One. Her hands gripped the control yokes tight, her knuckles going white from the force. Underneath them the main city and ocean could be seen, the Angel standing just outside it's limits
"You ready?" Misato's voice came over the intercom. "There's no turning back after this."
"Not really," Karen's nervous smile was all that broke the tension of the moment, "but I don't think I have a choice at the moment."
"When were done here I'll take you to Tokyo-3 Disneyland. So look forward to it."
"Miss Misato," her tone was somewhat patronizing, "I think I'm a little too old for that."
"Oh really," Misato could not help but laugh, "this coming from the girl who last week wanted to invite her friends for a sleep over?"
"That's different." Karen cried, her dignity having seen better days.
"We'll talk later okay." She said, the target now in range. "Evangelion Unit One, Launch!"
Breaking free of the carrier the Evangelion dove to the ground below, breaking the fall with it's hands and feet. Raising itself to it's full height it was plain to see that the two entities were of even height. Wasting no more time the Eva removed it's progressive knife from it's holding, gripping the blade with both hands ready to attack the Angel.
Realizing the danger the Angel's main body began to widen itself, as it expanded four separate arms became discernable each one as long as it's human like legs. These arms were different, the were more like insect arms than human appendages.
"What the hell." The pilot asked anyone willing to listen.
"Impossible." Misato called out.
"There," Karen said as she saw the core of the Angel now visible with the arms extended. Hurling herself and her Evangelion at the Angel she prepared to strike. As she did she felt the concussive force of the Angel's many arms, the force almost enough to knock her unconscious, each one slamming against the EVA and knocking it back into a forest. 'Better than if it hit the city,' Karen thought.
Barely having the time needed to recover the EVA moved before the Angel brought the arms to bear down on her last position. Running around the Angel to find an open area of attack Karen quickly realized that she would not be able to do any damage to the creature with only her short range knife. Sensing this Col. Katsuragi acted.
"Drop the energy rifle now." She commanded one of the circling aircrafts.
The oddly large shotgun like weapon was literally dropped in her lap as Karen moved to recover from another onslaught from the Angel. Taking the weapon in hand Karen attempted to shoot the arms blocking her entry. The arms were too agile as Karen found herself wasting her ammunition.
As Misato watched the battle, she noticed something, only the arms moved. The damned thing had not moved it's legs once since it was spotted. "Karen," she screamed, despite the fact that she would be heard at the same level over on her end, "go for the legs!"
"Right," firing the last of the rifle's ammunition the pilot destroyed the legs, sending it crashing down to the ground below. As the creature fell it positioned it's arms to face the ground. Instantly Misato and Karen realized their mistake, without the legs to keep it still the Angel would become a harder target to attack.
The Angel was now mobile.
"Crap." Throwing away the empty rifle the EVA went again for it's progressive knife. The Angel was now impossibly fast, it's appendages making it run literal circles around the EVA. Stopping suddenly behind the Evangelion the Angel lunged towards it. "Crap," spinning the EVA around Karen brought her knife to bare down on the Angel, the blade piercing the core.
"She did it." Misato called out from the control plane. However the Angel did not stop it's charge, wrapping the body around the EVA in a black gelatinous mass. It's body lit up as Misato knew from experience what would happen next. "It's going to self-destruct, everyone clear out."
"The EVA's A.T. Field is down," Misato heard the tech named Ayumi call out from her own craft, "T-minus ten to detonation."
"God no." Misato Whispered.
Inside the EVA Karen could tell that it was over, the Angel in it's last desperate plea would take itself out along with the EVA. She tried to keep the A.T. Field going, but the battle had worn her to the point of where she was barely conscious. It was all she could do to keep the EVA standing upright.
"This sucks," she whispered as she tried to move the control yokes, "guess I'll get to see Father and Mama sooner than I planned." Something happened then. A struggle underneath the black matter began.
"Five seconds left." The tech informed them.
The EVA's arms could be seen breaking through the mass.
"Four seconds."
The arms then gripped the mass around it.
"Three seconds."
Then lifting the mass off of the purple behemoth it issued a horrible roar.
"Two."
With all of it's strength the EVA threw the black mass into the sky arcing it towards the open sea.
"One." The explosion that followed was one Misato had seen before, a purple light in the shape of a cross filled the vision of every pilot and engineer.
"What happened to the pilot?" Misato asked the technicians over the intercom.
"Life signs confirmed, but it's strange."
"What is?" Misato was franticly fearing the worst.
"According to the readings the pilot was unconscious when the EVA removed the Angel."
"So that's what it was," Misato chuckled privately, glad the situation was under control, "he protected her."
****************
****************
"That same wall," Karen had seen that wall before. When she was about twelve she had climbed an old pine tree, the wall being the next thing she had seen after a nasty fall. She still had the small scar it left on her left arm. Karen looked at her body to see no IVs or monitors hooked up to her body, her body on it's side her arms laid at the same side.
She felt incredibly sore, the exertion from the fight too much for her. She had some doubts as to how she survived, chalking it up to the power of the EVA. Using her arms to prop herself up Karen prepared to leave the bed.
"Oh, you're awake?" Sub-Commander Nagisa said as he entered the room. Realizing that she was in a hospital gown and nothing else Karen quickly lied back down and covered herself with her blanket.
"How long have I been out?" Karen managed to say stuttering badly and blushing brightly.
"Just a few hours," he smiled, "you gave us a big shock with the way you handled that Angel."
"How's Miss Misato?"
"She's fine, just getting some coffee and yes," he answered the next question before she spoke it, "the Commander is with her." No sooner had he said that then the two women in question entered.
"Hi," Karen said rising to sit from her bed, realizing that the gown covered more than enough for the moment. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"The Princess just woke," Kaworu said, putting his hand on her crown, "I was just telling her how long she was out." Had Kaworu paid any attention he would have seen Karen turn a bring shade of red, her eyes looking like that of a deer's caught in the way of a speeding car.
"I'm feeling better now," she managed to say, wondering why she was so completely out of breath.
"I see," her Aunt Rei smiled, "well that's good for you. When you are ready we have to debrief you on the operation." Leaving her with another smile, the Commander took her leave, flanked by her Sub-Commander.
"Well," Misato had an odd look in her eyes, "I'll bet you're feeling better now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The Sixth asked physically taken aback.
"Oh Commander Nagisa," she moaned as she clasped her hands together at the side of her head, "I feel much better now that you're here, but I think you should examine me yourself." Removing her hands form their clasp Misato motioned her right index finger over her bottom lip, "Maybe you should examine me here-" Misato never finished her comment, finding it incredibly hard to with her mouth full of Karen's pillow.
"Oh shut up." Karen exclaimed finishing with a sigh. "You're going to torment a recovering victim like that, what kind of guardian are you?"
"Sure," Misato smiled suddenly somber. The way that Karen spoke, even if she was joking, the movement of her lips, the way her eyes fixed themselves, even the frown on her face were all like her's. Noticing this Misato found it harder to keep up her game. She hoped that she would get over this nostalgia soon, otherwise she might not ever be able to tease Karen again, which she thought would be horrible, since she was such an easy target.
"Now about that slumber party," Karen asked hoping to break the tension of the moment.
"You're still going on about that?" Misato laughed, glad Karen's plan worked.
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There you have it, the first Angel battle. More to come after my little trip to the Big Apple Animefest, in the mean time read review and get the info to me, for the most part it's the questions in those reviews that keep me writing this thing. Tell me how I did
Ryuhiko@hotmail.com