Disclaimer: You know the drill by now.
Chapter 6: The First Messenger: Messenger of the Sea
Asuka looked awful. Shinji marveled that the girl was still conscious, much less standing in front of him this very moment. Her eyes were red with bags under them, suggesting that she had not slept in a very long time. Shinji was horrified by the change that had come over the normally fiery young woman. She looked ready to drop at any second.
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked gently, automatically recoiling, thinking that he was about to get a famous Soryu explosion.
Asuka scowled and looked like she was just about to do that. But her expression softened. "I-I'm fine," she said quietly, before entering into the apartment. Shinji had just been released from the infirmary only an hour earlier after a final exam conducted by the doctor. Shinji wasted no time getting into some fresh clothes and riding home with Misato. Asuka was already at home after Misato had sent her back to try and get some sleep. From her appearance, it was obvious that Asuka had not done that. After dropping Shinji off at the base of the building, Misato had driven back to NERV as she was still on duty.
Shinji entered the apartment and sat down on the living room couch. Asuka sat down next to him, so close that they were almost touching. Shinji blushed slightly at this but Asuka was too tired to notice.
The quiet
of the apartment was broken by an eager squawk as Pen Pen
rushed into the room. He squawked
rapidly and loudly, standing in front of the two children on the low table in
front of the couch, flapping his wings up and down. Pen Pen was the
most expressive penguin in the entire world and Shinji could see the relief
evident in the penguin's face. No doubt because he's already
weathered several of Misato's attempts at cooking.
Shinji laughed at the warm
water penguin's antics and Asuka let out a small chuckle. Shinji carefully moved Pen Pen off of the table and took the remote. He handed it to Asuka. Asuka nodded in thanks and hit the power
button.
The TV came on, but all they got was static. Asuka growled and changed the channel. More static. She tried changing the channel again. Still more static. Asuka snapped off a couple of curses in German and shut the TV off.
They sat in silence for what seemed like a few moments. When Shinji checked the clock, he realized that it was almost dinner time. "What would you like for dinner?" he asked Asuka.
Asuka merely shrugged. "Anything's fine with me," she said somberly. Shinji thought about asking her if she felt okay again, but thought better of it. I'd better not push to hard if I want to leave this room with all my limbs intact.
Shinji went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. He was amazed to find that there was almost nothing in there. Understanding dawned on him. When he was around, Shinji always took care of things like cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and other chores. In fact, Shinji was pretty much the only person who ever did any chores around the house. Misato, more often enough, was either too tired or too drunk to do her share of the chores. And before she had fallen into that coma, Asuka had always bullied him into doing her share as well.
It made sense that without him here to take care of things, the apartment would go into decline. The refrigerator was virtually empty. Even the beer was almost gone. Misato was notorious for her drinking habits. They were so well known in fact, that Shinji was the only person under the legal drinking age who could walk into a liquor store and purchase several cases of Misato's favorite Yebisu beer without having to produce an ID.
There was nothing Shinji could work with tonight. He thought about asking Asuka if she wanted takeout, but he realized that in her current state, he would probably get the same answer as before. Shinji picked up the phone and was about to dial the number for Asuka's favorite takeout restaurant when he realized that there was no dial tone. The phone line was completely dead.
Shinji shrugged and went into his room to collect his mobile phone. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. Putting the phone to his ear, Shinji realized that that phone was dead as well. Shinji stood for a moment, at a complete loss. This wasn't natural. It would have been understandable if the phone line was dead, but a mobile shouldn't have failed as well.
Shinji shrugged and decided to leave the problem for another day. He walked to the closet by the door and grabbed his jacket. He had realized that it was going to get a little chilly that night. "I'm going to get something for dinner," he shouted down the hall to Asuka. He got his wallet from his room, including the NERV debit card that was carried by all NERV employees. Shinji rarely used his for anything outside of buying the groceries and beer for Misato. Asuka was another story however. She had been known to blow almost her entire account for the month (they were given a certain allotment of money over monthly period) in grandiose one day shopping excursions. After spending all her money, she simply leeched off Shinji to get what she needed. Surprisingly, despite her passion for drinking, Misato rarely used her card as it was Shinji who took care of supplying everything for them.
Shinji opened the door and left the apartment, closing the door behind him, and made his way to the elevator. He took it down to the bottom and walked to the restaurant that Shinji knew Asuka liked the most. He realized that she was having a hard time, having just woken up from her coma only to have a series of nightmares so awful that sleep eluded her completely and wanted to do something to cheer her up.
The place was a fair distance away, but Shinji felt up to the walk despite his extended stay in the hospital. Shinji made it there easily. Entering the door, he was nearly knocked over by someone who was just leaving.
"Watch where you're going," the person snapped. However, when he saw who Shinji was, he backed away. Shinji realized that he had just bumped into none other than Touji Suzahara.
"So you're finally out," exclaimed the elated boy. He wasted no time clapping Shinji on what he hoped was his good shoulder. He was elated to see that Shinji didn't seem to react in any way other than his characteristic wince. "Whatcha doing here?" asked Touji curiously.
"I'm getting dinner," said Shinji, "The phones were down for some reason so I had to come and get it myself."
"It'd be just like the Devil to send you to do the work even though you just got out of the hospital," growled Touji, using his and Kensuke's derogatory name for Asuka.
"It's not like that," Shinji protested in Asuka's defense, "She hasn't been sleeping well lately and she's real tired."
"Yeah right," scoffed Touji, "I bet she's doing it so you'll feel sorry for her."
"Think Touji," said Shinji icily, "Is that like Asuka at all."
Touji thought about it for a moment and realized that Shinji was right. Asuka was more likely to use intimidation and brute force than deception. "I guess not," he replied.
"Please don't tease her about it at school tomorrow," begged Shinji, "She's feeling absolutely awful right now. She hasn't slept for at least five days straight now."
"Damn," Touji yelped, "What kind of coffee is that woman drinking."
"Enough about Asuka," said Shinji, "What are you doing here?"
"Strange as it may sound Shinji, all the phones at my place went dead too. Not only that, but the TV's on the fritz and I can't get on the Internet with my computer." Touji nodded at the restaurant counter. "I tried to call this place but I couldn't reach them. So I had to come out here myself." He held up the box containing his meal to confirm his story. Shinji nodded. Something strange was indeed going on.
***
In NERV, similar problems were occurring. "We've lost all communications with the surface!" exclaimed Maya.
"What do you mean?" demanded Misato.
"Phones, cameras, radar, everything," replied Makoto, "It all just went down."
"What about communications within headquarters?" asked Ritsuko.
"Still operating okay," answered Shigeru.
"What on Earth is going on?" wondered Misato.
***
The problem was much bigger than it seemed. At that moment, in the city above, every form of communication save human speech ceased to function. Radios stopped playing. Television stations went off the air. Phones went dead. At the airport, radar went blank. Cameras turned off. Tokyo 3 was shut off from the rest of the world and sections of the city were shut off from one another. Dozens of people died from accidents and injuries that could have been treated because help couldn't be summoned. Tokyo 3 had gone silent.
***
Shinji was oblivious to this as he sat across from Asuka. They were both eating their respective dinners. Asuka seemed to appreciate that Shinji had gone out of his way to get her favorite dish from her favorite restaurant. She remained silent and pensive though. Shinji didn't try to force her into any conversation.
After dinner, Shinji cleared away the dishes, leaving out one plat and a set of utensils along with Misato's food. She had not yet come back from NERV. Shinji yawned. It had been a long day and he was eager to get to bed. He brushed his teeth and took care of his other hygienic needs before going into his room and changing into his sleeping attire.
Shinji lay down on his futon and was about to go to sleep when there was a timid knock on his door. "Come in," he said.
The door slid open to reveal Asuka. Shinji was surprised, not by the fact that she was there, but by the fact that she had knocked and waited for him to answer. Normally, Asuka would have simply thrown open the door and barged in. "Can I sleep in here?" Asuka's request caught Shinji completely off guard.
"B-but-but," he stuttered, for a moment, unsure of her actual intentions.
"Please Shinji," she begged, "I don't want to be alone." She didn't call him baka, she didn't demand, she didn't shout or yell. She simply pleaded. The look on her face told Shinji how much she needed this.
"Yes," he replied after a moment's hesitation. Moving to his closet, he pulled out all the spare blankets and pillows he could, making up and makeshift futon on the floor next to his. Asuka got into the makeshift bed and Shinji got back into his own. For a while, they lay awake, neither feeling quite ready to go to sleep, each for their own reasons. Asuka was still afraid to try sleeping while Shinji was too worried about Asuka to go to sleep.
Finally, Asuka closed her eyes and drifted off. Shinji continued to lay awake, listening to the sound of her breathing. It quickly went from soft and rhythmic to short and ragged. Asuka began to whimper in her sleep, like she was beset by some unseen horror. Shinji reached out with his hand and brushed it against her cheek. Asuka seemed to calm down. Shinji took her hand in his. Asuka relaxed completely and her breathing slowed. Shinji fell asleep holding her hand. The two children slept peacefully through the night, drawing off the mutual comfort of their proximity to each other.
Misato came home very late that night. She was about to enter into her own room when she happened to look into Shinji's room. She was surprised to see Asuka sleeping on a makeshift futon on her floor her hand held by Shinji on his own bed. However, Misato realized there was nothing vulgar about this and was pleased to see that being in Shinji's company seemed to have allowed the girl to get some much needed rest.
Misato stumbled into her own room and immediately crawled under the covers of her futon, pulling them over head to protect against the soon to be rising sun. As the three occupants of the apartment slept on, they were unaware of the events that would soon be unfolding not very far away.
The sun rose on Tokyo 3, seeming to smile on the city that had weathered so many terrible events. The city had stood against threats that should have leveled it several times over. It had survived the Angels, the fierce battles both within and without and only recently had survived not one, but two incursions by the kaiju known as Godzilla. However, another storm was about to break over the city. This storm was a silent one, and no one could have ever seen it coming.
***
Dock workers screamed and yelled in horror as the massive head broke the surface of the water. They scattered in all directions. A few were so blinded with fear that they leapt from the docks without hesitation. A security officer pulled out his weapon and emptied an entire clip into the beast's head. It didn't even notice the tiny bullets as they bounced off its impenetrably armored scales.
The security officer gave up on his weapon and ran for the nearest phone. He pulled the phone of the hook and frantically dialed the number that would put him in touch with NERV. To his horror, the phone was silent, as if it were being jammed. Looking back, the man managed a strangled scream before he and the booth he was in were flattened by the creature's immense bulk as it heaved itself up onto dry land on four stubby legs and crawled forward.
The monster was a traditional Asian dragon. Normally, such creatures were considered to be symbols of wisdom and portents of good luck, but one look at this creature's malevolent eyes was enough to tell any observer that he was less than benign. The dragon blinked in the morning light and continued to half slither, half crawl his way out of the water.
The dragon did not hesitate to plow through several low buildings that lined the docks district. Dozens of people were injured and killed as the buildings crumbled. Others were crushed under the serpentine creature's tread. After coming out of the docks district, the dragon made his way through the streets of ocean-side Tokyo 3. However, its destination was clear. It was heading towards the heart of the city and there was no way to warn anyone about it.
***
"Any luck with communications?" asked Ritsuko, looking over Maya's shoulder.
"I'm afraid not," replied Maya, "We've still got silence up above us. What's more, our sources say that some of the upper levels of headquarters have gone silent as well."
"So the area of effect is increasing," supposed Ritsuko.
"Or moving," added Maya.
"Something strange is going on up there," stated Ritsuko.
***
Shinji got up to make breakfast and nearly tripped over Asuka on his way out of his room. He looked down at her peaceful face, glad that she had at least gotten one chance to get a good night's sleep. He left his room as quietly as he could and after going to the bathroom and changing, went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
In the kitchen, Shinji was greeted by an irate and very loud penguin. Pen Pen was squawking at the top of his lungs, waving his flippers wildly. Obviously he was more than eager to have one of Shinji's good home cooked meals. Having suffered through Misato's attempts at cooking for most of his life, the penguin was always eager to let Shinji do the cooking.
"Alright Pen Pen," said an exasperated Shinji. He reached into the refrigerator and got out some fresh fish for the warm water bird. He placed them in a bowl and continued his work on breakfast.
Asuka came into the kitchen, yawning and stretching. "Good morning Asuka," said Shinji.
"Whatever," grumbled Asuka. Shinji was slightly relieved. Asuka never had been a morning person. This meant that she had slept well last night.
Asuka sat down at the table and waited for Shinji to finish fixing breakfast. Five minutes later, a short stack of pancakes sat on a plate in front of Asuka, not a normal Japanese breakfast, but one that suited her just fine. While she ate, Shinji put together their lunches for school. After taking care of that, Shinji fixed some toast for himself. He gobbled it down as fast as he could manage because he was always on the cusp of having to run to school.
Shinji finished his breakfast and picked up his backpack. Before he could make another move, Asuka had grabbed him by the wrist and was yanking him out the door. She took off at a run, literally dragging him behind her. As usual, they had to race to get to school on time.
As she pulled him along, Asuka came to sudden stop. Shinji narrowly avoided slamming into her back as he stumbled forward. "What's going on?" he asked, wondering why Asuka had stopped so suddenly.
"Look," Asuka commanded. Shinji did look. There was some sort of fire in the docks district. A large, thick plume of smoke rose over the section of the city. From where they were, the two children could hear the distant sound of screams.
"I wonder what's going on," said Asuka.
"We'd better hurry up and get to school," remarked Shinji, looking at his watch, "Or we'll be late."
"Just a moment Shinji," said Asuka, holding his wrist tighter now, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Do you have any idea of how cliché that is?" mumbled Shinji.
Asuka didn't respond to his comment. She simply stared in the direction of the smoke that rose over the city's skyscrapers. As she watched, one of those skyscrapers began to sway. To her horror, something long and sinuous slowly climbed up around the tower. The monster wrapped its length around the building, applying pressure with its muscular coils. The skyscraper's swaying began to increase and worsen. Finally, the dragon crushed the building in its coils, sending the whole thing falling to the streets below. The dragon himself hit the ground with an earthshaking crash. The impact didn't even daze him as he began to make his way towards another building.
Asuka finally managed to tear her gaze away from the terrible spectacle. She began to yank Shinji in the other direction, towards the nearest personnel elevator to the lower levels of NERV. Without hesitation, Asuka swiped her access card through the reader. The door opened and she went in, pulling Shinji in behind her.
"Why weren't any of the sirens going off?" wondered Shinji aloud.
"Ask questions later," snapped Asuka.
A few minutes later, they arrived in the Command Center. Maya and Ritsuko looked up from their work. The rest of the Command Center was empty. Makoto and Shigeru had not yet reported in. "Asuka, Shinji," said Ritsuko, "Shouldn't you two be at school."
"What do you mean school?" Asuka nearly screamed, "There's a monster rampaging through the middle of the city."
"What?" exclaimed Ritsuko, "That's impossible. We would have known if…" Her eyes widened. "The communications with the surface are down. Of course we didn't hear anything about this."
"Do you think that it is possible that the monster is the cause of the communications blackout?" ventured Maya.
"It's possible," replied Ritsuko, "How could it be doing this though? Our sensors didn't pick up any signs of an electromagnetic pulse or anything along those lines. Also, it's only affecting our means of human communication and nothing else."
"Do you think we could theorize about this later," snapped Asuka, "In case you haven't noticed, the monster up there is wrecking the city and we aren't doing anything about it."
"Alright," said Ritsuko, "You two get to your Evas and we'll launch right away."
Asuka and Shinji scrambled off the bridge towards the holding cages. After they left, Maya turned to Ritsuko. "How are we going to coordinate their attack if we can't contact them once we reach the surface?"
"We'll just have to play it by ear," responded Ritsuko.
***
"How are we going to do this?" asked Shinji as they ran for the changing rooms.
"We'll just have to improvise dummkopf," retorted Asuka.
Shinji nearly grinned. Asuka was almost back to her old self. He was actually glad to hear her calling him names again. It was just like old times.
***
"So," muttered Gendo, "A new creature has appeared."
"And this one has caused a communications blackout across Tokyo 3," added Kozou.
"I wonder what the cause of this sudden wave of monsters could be," said Ikari in a low voice.
"We shall have to leave that to our kaijuologist," said Fuyutsuki, "When he wakes up."
***
In the medical wing of NERV headquarters, Ishiro Saegusa slept, seemingly oblivious to the events taking place around him. His body lay motionless, as if he were dead. Only the steady beeping of his heart monitors indicated that he was still alive at all. The door to his room opened softly and Rei stepped in, closing the door behind her.
She walked over to Ishiro's bedside. Looking down at him uncertainly for a moment, Rei took Ishiro's hand in hers and held it. As she watched his chest slowly rise and fall, she remembered everything he had said to her. For some reason, she had felt compelled to act on his suggestions and indeed open up more. To Rei, it was an ongoing experiment of what it was like to be human.
Rei had instinctively sensed that Gendo Ikari should not know anything about this. Since the day of her original incarnation, she had been carefully trained not to show much emotion. She had been conditioned to obey the orders of the Commander without question. In other words, she had been made into a doll.
That had started to change when Shinji arrived. At first, she was confused by Shinji's way of interacting with her. He had treated her like a human being. When Unit 00 had been badly damaged in the attack on the 5th Angel, Shinji had ripped open the white hot emergency hatch of the entry plug without a second thought. He hadn't treated her like she was expendable. He had done everything in his power to try and save her.
After she had given up her second body to save Shinji from the sixteenth Angel, she had told Shinji part of the truth about her nature. He had been disturbed and frightened to be sure. However, now Rei understood why he had felt so badly. He was sad to see that she only saw her self as expendable, simply one of many copies. Shinji was saddened because he knew that she didn't see herself as an individual, unique with every right to live that he had.
Now Rei looked at Ishiro's still form, realizing that Ishiro was showing her the way to understanding why Shinji cared so much for her. Ishiro had shown the same care and concern for her that Shinji had. He also understood that it was difficult for her to understand why she was so important in the lives of these people, so he had taken steps to help her realize her own importance.
Rei reached out with her free hand and brushed it against Ishiro's cheek. She moved it up and brushed a few errant strands of hair out of his face. "Thank you Ishiro," she whispered. As she stood up to leave, Rei realized that Ishiro was smiling.
The peace of the moment was shattered by the wailing of sirens. The city was under attack. Instinctively, Rei rushed towards the holding cages.
***
Misato was fast asleep, the sheets of her futon pulled over her head to block out the morning light. To her, this was a familiar situation. She had pulled many late nights during her tenure at NERV and she was used to sleeping like this. Misato was also no stranger to rude awakenings, so when she heard the Angel alert siren, she threw off the covers immediately and started to get dressed for work.
Misato rushed out of her apartment and onto the walkway to the elevator. Looking over at the city, she saw the cause of the siren. She gasped when she saw the massive form of an Asian dragon coiled about one of Tokyo 3's many skyscrapers. Misato was more surprised about the fact that the skyscrapers had not yet been lowered into attack position. As she watched, the dragon crushed the building in its coils and dropped to the streets below. Finally, the remaining buildings dropped out of sight. Confused, the monster looked around, trying to discern where its intended targets had disappeared to.
He looked in Misato's direction. Her breath caught in her throat when she met the creature's eyes. When Misato had looked into Godzilla's eyes during the Evas' battle with him, she had noticed a feral intelligence gleaming within those eyes. However, the eyes of the dragon also showed intelligence. And this one was anything but feral. Indeed, there was something very alien about this creature's intelligence.
Misato stood where she was, rooted to the spot by the creature's gaze. The monster seemed to know she was watching and did not turn his eyes away from her. The tendrils extending from his nostrils waved slowly in the air, somehow conveying a sense of curiosity. Misato knew there was much more to this creature than the obvious. This thing isn't anything like Godzilla, was her initial thought.
***
"Releasing primary bolts for Eva Unit 01," announced Maya. Seconds later she got a verbal confirmation from Shinji. "Begin activation sequence." Maya turned her attention to Unit 02 and went over the same procedure.
Ritsuko peered over her shoulder intently at the readings. "It looks like we'll lose contact with the Evas the instant they reach the surface," she observed. Maya nodded in agreement.
"Units 01 and 02 are in position for launch," announced an observer from the launch area.
"Launch paths are clear," said Maya.
"Roger," replied Ritsuko, "Launch Evas!"
The Evas were launched immediately. They raced up the launch tracks towards there battle with the unknown beast above.
Misato knew that she was needed at NERV; however, she couldn't stop watching the dragon as it moved from the city. As it slithered through the streets, it came to a stop at a very familiar landmark; one of the many elevator doors throughout the city, the same doors through which the Evangelions came when they were launched. Finally, Misato understood. The dragon was trying to get into Central, maybe even Terminal Dogma.
"I've got to tell Ritsuko," she muttered as she rushed towards the elevator.
It was obvious that Ritsuko already knew, as two sets of elevator doors were already opening. The dragon hissed curiously, looking in the direction of the opening doors. Then, the creature lowered itself to the ground as close as it could get. Its scales, which at the time had been a dull grey, seemed to shift in color. After a moment, the dragon became virtually invisible.
"It can camouflage with its surroundings," gasped Misato. She felt worry fill her and calm after a moment. The Evas were equipped with infrared equipment, they would be fine.
***
Asuka looked around as soon as her Eva rose above the surface. "I don't see it Shinji. Do you?" She got no response from her fellow pilot. "Shinji?" She saw that Unit 01 was not far from her position. It was motionless. "Baka answer me!" She couldn't understand why Shinji was ignoring her like this. Then she realized the answer. He hadn't even heard her. All communications are down.
***
In his own Eva, Shinji was desperately trying to reach Asuka. However, he was having much the same result. "We can't talk," he said aloud. Looking around the horizon, Shinji could see no sign of the dragon. No sign except the shattered structures it had left in its wake. How many buildings had it crushed while they were still getting their Evas ready to launch? How many lives had it ended?
Shinji switched the Eva's scanners over to infrared. Looking around, he still saw no sign of the creature. Where could it have gone? He noticed that Asuka was also looking for the monster. The Eva's head rotated, mimicking Shinji's movements inside the cockpit. We have to find that thing before it hurts anyone else.
***
Misato watched the unfolding conflict. It was apparent that the Evas still had not spotted the dragon. Can't they see it? she wondered, They must have looked in its direction half a dozen times now. But the Evas continued to seem to remain oblivious to the monster's presence. Misato, having spotted it while it had been camouflaging itself, knew what to look for in order to find it.
The dragon was now slowly moving towards Unit 01. Despite its enormous size, it didn't make a sound. As it slid forward, it seemed careful not to step on or overturn parked cars or knock down lampposts. It moved through the cluttered city streets the came way a predator would move over the forest floor, trying to avoid stepping upon dry leaves in order to remain hidden.
***
Shinji was getting very worried. The monster couldn't have left. It had to be in the city somewhere. He was at a loss to understand how such a creature could hide so effectively.
A movement off to the Eva's left caught his eye. Turning, he saw the dragon's head rising above the city streets. It cleared the level of the buildings, its scales reverting back to their natural grey color. So it's like a chameleon, he realized. Unit 01 turned to face the monster as it rose to meet the Eva.
Shinji's eyes met the eyes of the dragon. The creature swayed back and forth, a rhythmic motion. Shinji found his eyes locked with the dragon's. He couldn't look away. He felt his hands release their grip on the controls and fall motionless at his sides, but he couldn't bring himself to even try and move them. The dragon's eyes dominated him. He was powerless to resist.
***
Asuka saw Unit 01 turn around. She turned her own Eva to look at what Shinji was seeing. She too saw the dragon rise from between the low buildings, its head attached to a long serpentine neck that elevated it above the rooftops. She watched as it began to sway hypnotically back and forth. The Eva's movements showed that Shinji's eyes were locked on the dragon's from the way that the Eva's head turned to match the dragon's swaying exactly.
Is Shinji being hypnotized? wondered Asuka.
The dragon's swaying stopped. Slowly, it began to move closer to the silent Eva. Unit 01 made no attempt to ward off the creature's slow advance. It simply stared straight into the dragon's eyes. The dragon itself was careful not to break eye contact.
"Shinji move!" screamed Asuka. She threw her Eva into motion, but it was already too late. With speed that belied its size, the dragon threw its serpentine coils around the Eva and began to squeeze. However, this movement broke the dragon's eye contact with the Eva. Unit 01 began to struggle against the coils that held it immobile.
The dragon would have none of it. As Unit 01 struggled futilely to break its grip, the coils began to tighten. Asuka could hear the metal of Unit 01's armor plating groaning under the increasing pressure as the dragon's grip tightened.
***
Shinji screamed, or rather tried to scream. He experienced Unit 01's pain as if it had been his own. He felt his bones beginning to crack under the strain, the constriction of his chest and neck cutting off his air supply (or rather his supply of LCL). The dragon was slowly, mercilessly, crushing the life from his body. Shinji tried to fight against it, but trapped as it was in the dragon's coils, Unit 01 had no leverage that it could use against the creature.
With each passing second, Shinji's struggles became weaker. The more he struggled, the more the monster's coils tightened around Unit 01. The world around him began to grow dark. Finally, darkness claimed him and he knew no more.
***
Unit 02 engaged its progressive knife and held it at the ready. However, Asuka was hesitant about using the weapon. If I miss or I stab too hard, I could hurt Unit 01 and that would hurt Shinji. Before her whole experience with the coma, Asuka wouldn't even have worried about Shinji. She would have simply tried to stab the monster and if Shinji got hurt that was too bad. Before nothing had mattered but doing what she had to in order to beat the enemy. The realization that she actually cared now surprised Asuka.
Asuka made a decision. Unit 01's struggles were slowly becoming weaker. After a final twitch, the Evangelion froze, motionless. Still in the grip of the dragon's coils, Unit 01 fell to the ground, where it remained motionless. The creature released the fallen Eva and began to crawl away. Asuka noticed that it was heading the way it had come from. She let out a sigh of relief; maybe she wouldn't have to fight the creature after all. Maybe it would just leave. It obviously wasn't going to finish off Unit 01 and Shinji.
But, as the dragon headed towards the sea, his tail wrapped around Unit 01's left wrist. The dragon began to drag the motionless Eva towards the ocean. Asuka realized that the beast was trying to take the Eva with it. Perhaps it had simply claimed the Evangelion as a meal and was now taking it into the sea to finish it or maybe there was some other purpose. All that Asuka knew was that she couldn't let the monster fulfill its purpose.
Now that the dragon had detached itself mostly from Unit 01, the Eva was no longer at risk. Unit 02 rushed towards the retreating monster, its progressive knife raised to do battle. The dragon ignored the red Eva's approach altogether.
Asuka brought the progressive knife down on the monster's tail, near to where it was curled around Unit 01's wrist. To her surprise, the dragon's scales withstood the assault, and the blade simply raised a cloud of sparks where it made contact with the dragon's armored hide. "This thing is tougher than an Angel's core!" Asuka exclaimed. She pressed down on the handle of the weapon with both of the Eva's hands.
After a few seconds, Asuka felt the progressive knife bite into the dragon's scales. It slowly worked its way deeper until finally, it broke through the dragon's armor completely and into the soft flesh underneath. Black blood spurted into the air as the knife cleaved through the tail, severing the end of the appendage.
The creature hissed in pain and reared up, turning its head around to view the thing that had hurt it so. Unit 02 stood up to confront the monster, Asuka deliberately placing her Unit between the dragon and Unit 01. I can't let that thing do anymore damage to Shinji, she thought unconsciously.
The dragon hissed and reared back. A second later, its head snapped forward like a striking snake. Its mouth opened, revealing razor sharp teeth. Unit 02 threw up an arm to ward off the beast's strike. The monster latched its jaws onto the Eva's arm while it tried to loop its coils around the rest of the Eva.
Asuka would have none of that though. She was determined not to let the monster get a good grip on her. She reached out with the Eva's unimpeded arm and gripped the dragon by the neck in its hand. She carefully worked the Eva's hand around until she thought she had it in the approximate location to close off the monster's windpipe and began to squeeze. At the same time, the dragon's coils closed around her and began to tighten their own grip. It was a battle of who would give out first, a battle Asuka was determined to win, for Shinji's sake.
***
Ritsuko and Maya were working desperately to find a way to circumvent the jamming that had cut off the Command Center from the outside world. A call from the pilot locker room stopped them for a moment. An image of Rei appeared on screen. She had found a communication terminal and called them. They could see that she had already dressed in her standard white plug suit. "What is the situation," she asked blandly.
"Asuka and Shinji informed us that a kaiju was attacking Tokyo 3 not long ago," replied Ritsuko, "All our communications with the surface have failed so we have no idea what's going on up there."
"How can I help?" inquired Rei.
Inwardly, Ritsuko was surprised that the girl bore her no animosity despite Ritsuko's destruction of the dummy plug system, including all of the spare Reis. "I don't know if it's possible, but you can try to pilot Unit 14," she suggested.
"I will try," was all that Rei said. She shut off the terminal.
"Doctor?" squeaked Maya from beside her, "Can she actually synchronize with Unit 14?"
Ritsuko sighed. "I don't know," she admitted, "But we have to try at least. Unit 00 isn't ready yet and Ishiro's still out of action. Rei is our only choice right now." Maya nodded uncertainly.
***
Rei seated herself in Unit 14's entry plug. The hatch closed above her as she strapped herself into the seat and gripped the controls. The plug lurched forward as it was injected into Unit 14. LCL slowly filled the plug. Rei opened her mouth and took a deep breath of the coppery liquid, letting it fill her lungs. After a moment, her respiratory system adjusted fully to the substance and she was ready.
"Establishing A-10 nerve connections," announced Maya over the omm.. Rei saw the familiar swirl of color and light as the synchronization process began. Suddenly, Rei no longer felt alone in the entry plug. She looked around for the source of the other presence she had sensed, but found nothing.
Who are you? The question, though silent, echoed through the confines of the entry plug.
I am Rei, her mental reply was as calm as she could make it. A pilot's connection with her Eva was normally closer to empathetic rather than telepathic. She had never had an experience where she spoke directly with the spirit of an Eva before.
Where is Ishiro? asked the unknown being.
He is not well. Rei was starting to get nervous. What if the spirit that resided in this Eva rejected her?
I recognize you now, said the voice after a moment, You were not far from his thoughts the last time we were together.
"Rei what's going on?" inquired Ritsuko over the omm., "Your synch ratio is all over the place."
Please, pleaded Rei, Help me. My friends are in need and I must help them.
I sense that Ishiro would approve of this, mused the voice. Rei suddenly felt the Evangelion merge with her mind completely. She had finished the synchronization.
***
"My God," hissed Ritsuko, "Look at that synch ratio." The ratio was holding at 93.8%.
"Not bad for a cold synch," said Maya, chuckling with relief.
"Not bad, that's a new record for her," commented Ritsuko, "Let's launch the damn thing."
"Roger," replied Maya, "Beginning launch sequence." A handful of seconds later, Unit 14 was launched to join Asuka and Shinji above.
***
Asuka couldn't breathe. The dragon's coils had tightened around her. She felt her strength ebbing with each passing second and as far as she could tell, the dragon was nowhere near its threshold. She was still squeezing its neck with all her Eva's might, hoping, just hoping that the dragon might began to weaken. But now it looked like all her hope was in vain.
But still she struggled on, determined not to let the monstrosity win. If she couldn't choke the damn thing, she would squeeze until its head popped off. She realized that maybe she couldn't do it with one hand. Perhaps she had to get both hands around the dragon's neck in order to kill it. The thought was no good though, as her right arm was firmly in the dragon's teeth, so she resigned herself to using one hand.
Come on you bastard, she chanted mentally, Die already. She winced as the pain in her right arm increased. Not only was the leviathan squeezing the life out of her, but he was also now threatening to bite her arm off. Darkness was creeping in at the edges of her vision, but she fought on. She had to win.
***
Shinji slowly came to. He had a massive headache and his lungs burned from lack of air (LCL actually, but that's what it felt like). He gasped for a moment as he tried to remember what had happened. The dragon had done something to him, hypnotized him, that's it, and had then tried to constrict him like some sort of mammoth python.
Where is it now? he wondered.
He got his answer as he looked up to view Unit 02, in the grip of the monster. The dragon had latched its jaws onto Unit 02's right arm while looping its coils about the Eva's body. The said coils were now trying to squeeze the life from the red behemoth. However, Asuka obviously wasn't ready to give up without a fight. Unit 02's left hand was wrapped around the monster's neck, trying to do something similar to what the dragon was doing right now.
I have to help her, Shinji realized. He willed Unit 01 to its feet, but was having a hard time of it. Shakily, the purple Eva finally managed to stand up. Having done that, Shinji now tried to consider how he would get the serpentine creature off of Unit 02.
Using the progressive knife was out of the question as Unit 02 was too close to the enemy for that kind of combat. His eyes looked the dragon over, trying to find a weak spot. Finally, they came to rest on the hand that was grasping the dragon's neck. That's it, Shinji thought. He put his plan into action.
Unit 01 circled around the two struggling giants. When he stood in front of Unit 02, he rushed forward and grabbed the dragon's neck from behind with both hands. In the process, he had to force Unit 02's hand aside slightly. After he had the neck securely in both hands, he began to squeeze with all his Eva's might while pulling backwards. The dragon was quite unwilling to let go of Unit 02's arm. However, its struggles were beginning to weaken with its air supply being cut off by Unit 01's grip. This renewed Shinji's determination to pull the thing off before it killed Asuka.
***
Asuka barely even felt the pressure now. In fact, she hardly felt anything. Her vision was almost completely black at this point. She had been fighting with all of her might and continued to fight, even on the brink of passing out, maybe even dieing. All she knew was that she couldn't let the beast win.
Though she was barely aware of it, she felt something remove her Eva's hand from where it was around the dragon's neck. Asuka nearly gave into despair and passed out right there, but then she began to feel the creature's struggles weakening. The dragon was losing strength and fast. She felt around blindly with her Eva's free hand until it came to rest on the dragon's muzzle which was still latched onto her arm.
Asuka grabbed the lower jaw and pulled for all she was worth, while forcing up with her trapped arm. She felt the creature continue to weaken. Finally, the coils went slack. Asuka gasped, filling her parched lungs with fresh LCL. She pried the dragon's mouth open and freed her arm. The head snapped back. It was quickly pulled away, taking the majority of the dragon's body with it.
When her vision returned fully, Asuka saw the face of her savior, the purple head of Unit 01. Shinji had recovered enough to help. Unit 01 threw the dragon, coils and all, in another direction. Asuka felt her spirits fall. I had to be saved…again. She felt depression sink in.
She snapped out of her depression when she noticed the dragon was starting to move. It wasn't dead yet. "Shinji look out!" she screamed, momentarily forgetting that her warning would go unheard by the boy. However, Shinji had obviously noticed the movement too. Unit 01 also turned and faced the reviving creature.
***
"Will that damn thing ever die!?" exclaimed Shinji. He was quickly getting frustrated by the dragon's stubbornness. The dragon reared its head above the buildings and looked at Unit 01, its eyes blinking with an expression that looked like confusion.
At that moment, the doors of a nearby elevator began to open. The dragon's head snapped around to look at the opening doors. A low rumble became audible. Seconds later, Unit 14 shot through the opening and into the morning light.
"Ishiro?" wondered Shinji. Then he noticed the dragon was behaving rather oddly. It quickly turned its head back and forth between Unit 01 and Unit 14. The look of confusion on its face was very clear now.
The monster swayed back and forth between Unit 01 and Unit 14. Finally, it made up its mind. The dragon lashed out at Unit 14 like a striking snake, its tooth-lined jaws seeking the Eva's neck. However, Rei saw the attack coming and Unit 14 dodged to one side. As it did so, its left shoulder brace opened, revealing the handle of the Eva's progressive knife.
Why isn't Ishiro using the AT swords, Shinji wondered. Ishiro had always said that the progressive knife seemed to be too minor of a weapon to be useful. Unless, of course, it weren't really Ishiro piloting the black Eva. If it isn't Ishiro, could it be…?
Unit 14's right arm reached up and grasped the handle of the knife. In one fluid motion, the Eva drew the knife, which activated as it did so, and attacked with a backhanded slash that went down and across. The blade smacked the dragon right between the eyes, but failed to cut. The blow did however, manage to stun the dragon slightly.
The beast retreated from Unit 14 and turned to regard the Eva. It then turned to look at Unit 01. Shinji was afraid that the dragon might try to come after him again. The dragon seemed to be indecisive again, looking back and forth between Units 01 and 14. Then, its eyes widened. After a moment, the dragon began to back away from the three Evas, moving like a sidewinder, it retreated along its previous path while still keeping its eyes on the Evas. When it reached the coast, it slipped into the water and disappeared without so much as a ripple.
"What was that all about?" came Asuka's voice over the Comm.
Shinji gasped in surprise. "The communications are up again," he said.
Asuka's face appeared on a screen, floating in the LCL next to him. She nodded in agreement. "That was strange," she said softly, "Who's piloting Unit 14? Ishiro's still out isn't he?"
"I am piloting Unit 14," came Rei's voice softly over the Comm.
"What are you doing in there Wondergirl?" snapped Asuka.
"Ishiro was not available to pilot and Unit 00 was not yet fully repaired, so I was left to pilot Unit 14." Shinji immediately noticed that Rei was using Saegusa's first name instead of his last. He had rarely known Rei to do that.
"Good work you three." Ritsuko's voice now echoed through the entry plug. "Communications are back up. Thank you Shinji and Asuka. You two really saved our asses."
"All in a days work for the great Asuka Langely Sohryu," crowed Asuka, turning her face upward in mock pride.
This elicited a chuckle from Ritsuko. "Alright you three, it's time to come back."
***
Ritsuko sagged into one of the empty seats. "What a hectic day this has been so far," she moaned.
Maya nodded. Ten seconds later, Shigeru and Makoto came rushing onto the bridge. "Reporting for duty!" they said at the same time, coming to attention before the weary doctor and her aide.
"Now you show up," groaned Maya. Her two fellow techs exchanged confused glances. They looked at the two women sheepishly.
"Sorry," was all Shigeru could manage to say. However, Makoto had something else to discuss.
"I picked up the latest medical reports on the 6th child on my way in," he explained, "And I found something you might be interested in."
"Really?" Ritsuko took the clipboard and flipped through the various sets of data collected on the unconscious boy. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "This is interesting. I had better go see if I can have a discussion with the 6th child when he wakes up." Not waiting for any comments from the others on the fact that Pilot Saegusa was still unconscious, she strode to the personnel elevator that would take her to the infirmary.
***
In the infirmary section of NERV, Ishiro's eyes slowly opened. For a moment, he blinked, looking around confusedly. "Where am I?" he murmured. Then, the events of his last waking moments came rushing back to him. Ishiro sat bolt upright, realizing where he must be. At the moment, he didn't realize that he had nothing, save the sheets on his bed, covering his body.
"How long have I been out?" he wondered aloud. At that moment, he heard footsteps in the corridor outside. The door slid open and the familiar blond visage of Docotor Ritsuko Akagi strode in.
"Alright young man," she said sternly, holding up a clipboard holding what must have been his latest medical records, "You have some explaining to do."
Ishiro wondered briefly what she was talking about. Two possibilities came to him. One word went through his mind. Shit.