Evangelion: G

by moguera

An EvangelionGodzilla crossover. Asuka and the others return home, but the reunion is short lived as a new threat looms in the near future. The pilots prepare to face their biggest challenge yet. CHAPTER 15 IS FINALLY UP!

13. The King of Terror Cometh

Author's Note: Whew, this chapter took some writing, but it's finally finished.  And here it is, what I think is perhaps the most exciting and action packed chapter thus far in my fic.  I hope you agree.

Disclaimer: It gets old, but it bears repeating.  I don't own Evangelion or Godzilla.

Chapter 13: The King of Terror Cometh

            The sky was just beginning to darken as the glowing meteor plunged downward.  Below it laid the city of Tokyo 3.  The tallest buildings had long since been lowered into the geofront.  As the meteor continued to descend, its already red hot surface seemed to glow even brighter from some sort of unearthly power within.

            Even when seen from the safety of Central Dogma, in the center of NERV headquarters, secure under hundreds of feet of solid rock and more than twenty plates of armor, it was a daunting sight.  Ishiro felt the slightest chill run down his spine at the sensations he was receiving from the rock.  They weren't anything that could be linked to any of the five human senses, but rather a general sense of foreboding and a recognizing of the unimaginable evil incased in that vessel of stone.  One didn't even need psychic powers to sense that much.  The dark energy that radiated from the mass of stone was palpable even to those who had no notion of the sixth sense.

            Despite that, Ishiro was surprised to discover that when he again tried to carefully probe for the creature within the meteor, that its presence was strangely muted.  He couldn't quite place what it felt like, but for some reason the thing didn't register to his probes.

            Not quite as distracting, but quickly growing into a major irritant was his other problem.  It had started as a slight pricking in the back of his mind, as if someone had taken a needle, shrunk down by a hundred times and then attempted to drive it into the rear lobes of his brain.  At first it was a simple thing to ignore.  Ishiro waved it off as a minor side effect of the events of the previous day.  But as the hours passed and the time for confrontation with the enemy grew nearer, the pricking had developed into a low pulse that never ceased.  This had the primary effect of keeping him rather distracted, and the secondary effect of shortening his temper considerably.

            "Is it time?" asked Rei, coming up to stand next to him.

            "Almost," answered Ishiro, trying to hide his irritation at the incessant pounding in the back of his head.

            Rei's hand slipped into his and her fingers intertwined with his own.  Her unease was quite clear now.  "You feel it too," he said.  Rei only nodded and tightened her grip.

            "I cannot help but feel." she seemed to struggle to find the right word, "Agitated by the feeling that emanates from that thing.  It is like a great weight that presses down against me."

            Ishiro nodded.  He couldn't let Rei know how much worse it was for him.  His extra receptiveness to that same feeling, the uncertainty in the monster's silence, the weird throbbing in his brain, all were beginning to wear him down.  Ishiro knew he couldn't show any weakness or the other might falter.  He alone among all present knew anything about what was going on.  And if he started to show uncertainty, their confidence in him and themselves would wane and they truly would be fighting a losing battle.

            "You are afraid too," said Rei.  It wasn't a question.

            Ishiro looked over at her.  She could be so observant at times.  Rei merely stared back at him with those brilliant red eyes.  Ishiro couldn't lie to her anymore.  "Yes," he replied, "I think I'm probably even more scared than you."

            "If you know so much," inquired Rei, "Then why do you fear?"

            "It is that knowledge that makes me nervous," said Ishiro, "The things my mother used to tell me about the space monsters.  They have power that you can't even begin to imagine."

            "If they have been defeated before, we will do so again here," stated Rei firmly.

            "We will see," was all that Ishiro said.

            "Are you ready Shinji?" asked Asuka.

            "I don't know," said Shinji, "I don't think I've ever been ready.  I don't want to fight.  But I don't want to run away anymore either."

            Asuka nodded and looked away from him.  Shinji slid closer to her on the bench they shared in the holding cage for Unit 01.  Next to them was the door that led to Unit 02's holding cage.  Across was the door to Unit 14's.  Unit 00 was in a special holding cage in a separate section of Central Dogma that was modified to maintain the artificial diamond armor the Eva now sported.

            Asuka tensed slightly as Shinji wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her close.  "It's your dreams, isn't it?" he asked.

            "I can't help but feel that they are all coming true," said Asuka, "I saw so many terrible things Shinji."

            "Did you see exactly?" he asked.

            "I saw destruction and death," answered Asuka in a voice that wasn't quite her own, "I saw cities burning, people dieing.  I smelled the stink of burning flesh, the scent of ash and dust.  I heard buildings falling, the screams of the dieing.  But I never saw what was responsible.  But everything that has been going on tells me that my dreams are linked to whatever is on the meteorite."

            "Are you going to fight?" Shinji wanted to know.

            "I think.I have to," said Asuka.

            "You don't have to," said Shinji, "If you don't feel that you can, you don't have to fight."

            "But Ishiro is right," Asuka replied, "Those dreams were sent to me by someone.  I think whoever sent them meant for me to fight against whatever is coming.  And when I think about it that way, I don't think I can back down."

            "Just remember," said Shinji firmly, "No matter what you think or believe, it will always be your choice."

            Asuka smiled slightly as she heard this.  She turned to look into his eyes.  "Hey, you're supposed to be the weak one, remember."

            Shinji chuckled and smiled back at her.  "I have my moments," he said with a small amount of relief.  He was glad that he had succeeded in raising her spirits somewhat.

            Asuka began to relax and leaned against him.  They waited there, resting against one another in the hope that this wouldn't be their last opportunity to do so.  Then, the fated words echoed across the rooms.

            "Impact in 10.9."

            "8.7.6."  The final countdown had begun.  The meteor was mere seconds away from impact.  Ishiro tensed as it approached the ground.

            "5.4.3."  Then, the unexpected happened.  The meteor began to slow slightly as its descent continued.  It was moving more slowly, but not enough to throw off the countdown.

            "2.1.Impact!"  Fortunately, the chunk of falling rock was off target.  It landed well outside the city limits.  However, the vibrations of its impact were powerful enough to be felt all the way down inside the Command Center.  Shockwaves radiated out from the epicenter, wiping away trees and vegetation all around the area where it hit.  The shockwaves eventually broke over the outskirts of Tokyo 3, toppling dozens of buildings and reducing them into rubble in less than a second.

            Riding upon the shockwaves and extending out even farther, a second power took effect.  Suddenly, all images and transmissions from the surface ceased.  The screens were all filled with static.  Reports came in by word of mouth of a few small fires occurring in the upper sections of the base.

            "Could this thing have the same sort of power as Manda?" inquired Ritsuko.  She was referring to the dragon's ability to silence any form of manmade communications.

            "I'm afraid not," said Shigeru from his console, "That thing just released a powerful electromagnetic pulse.  It's fired everything electronic up past the eight level."

            "That would mean that the launch paths are closed until we can recover," exclaimed Maya, "We have no means of deploying the Evas now!"

            "How long will it take to get our upper systems back online!" demanded Misato.

            "Ten minutes at best," answered Makoto.

            "That short?" asked Ishiro.  He was no electronics expert.

            "Most of the really important systems were heavily shielded against EMP," replied Makoto, "They can be shut down, but they should be protected from any damage that might result."

            "Let's hurry and get this done," ordered Fuyutsuki from the command deck, "We have no time to lose."  He glanced down at Ishiro and Rei.  "The two of you should report to your holding cages."

            They nodded and departed.

            Shinji and Asuka had already boarded their respective entry plugs and awaited the command from Misato.  "We're going to wait until we can reestablish contact with the surface before prepping the plugs for injection," she explained, "Just be patient, this shouldn't take too long."

            Ishiro was barely paying attention to Misato's words.  The throbbing in his head had become a pounding that was now causing him a great deal of pain.  He did his best to fight it and remain focused and in control.  But he was starting to wonder if the stress of the past few hours was finally taking its toll.  All he could do was hope that he could maintain synchronization with Erika.

            "Hold on," said Misato over the comm., "We're getting the picture back.now!"

            Inside the entry plug, an image came into being, floating in front of Ishiro's face.  His eyes narrowed as he undertook a closer examination of the scene.

            Other than the damage caused by the initial impact, nothing appeared to have occurred since the EMP had hit.  This made Ishiro suspicious.

            "We haven't gotten the launch paths clear yet, so we won't inject the entry plugs until they are," said Misato.  Relief was beginning to show on her face.  There was no sign of the calamity that Ishiro had predicted.  Perhaps there was no monster after all.

            "An airborne unit is approaching the impact site now," said Makoto in the background.  The image shifted from the skyline of the city, to an aerial view of the crater.

            Asuka's eyes narrowed when she saw what was inside.  From what she could see, the meteor was mostly intact.  Even large meteors normally vaporized on impact, leaving little or nothing behind.  Furthermore, the impact radius was far too small for an object of that mass.  That indicated that the meteor had hit at a vastly reduced velocity than it should have hit with.  She didn't like this at all.  There was something down there.

            Ishiro's voice came over the comm.  "Can you switch to infrared?"

            "I thought you could see in the infrared spectrum," said Shinji, his voice also transmitting over the network.

            "Yeah, but I thought you knew that it wouldn't be able to through a camera image."  Ishiro's voice was terse.

            "Oh," mumbled Shinji.

            As per Ishiro's request, the picture of the meteor was replaced with an infrared image.  On the right side of the screen was a bar and key that showed the color codes for different temperatures.  Asuka could see that the rock was hot; very hot in fact.  At first she simply dismissed it as residual heat from the atmosphere.  Then, she noticed that the meteor's temperature was changing rapidly.  A quick comparison with the key told her that the meteorite's temperature was increasing, not decreasing.  At its current temperature, it was at about 5000 degrees and rising.

            "That is really hot," said Asuka.

            "And getting hotter," interjected Ishiro, "Switch back to the visible spectrum."

            The camera did so.  There was no sign of increasing heat with in this image.  "It must be internal," remarked Shinji.

            "How long until the launch paths are cleared?" asked Rei, speaking for the first time.

            "Give us another three minutes," replied Misato.

            "Make that thirty minutes," shouted Makoto.

            "What?" yelled all the pilots and Misato, with the exception of Rei, who was still used to following orders, one of the remnants of her training under Commander Ikari.  She was used to simply obeying without question.

            Just as Makoto was speaking, the image of the crater and the meteor dissolved into static.  "We've lost contact again," came Shigeru's voice.

            "What happened?" shouted Misato.

            "There's a new surge of electromagnetic energy," answered Makoto, "We can't get anything online until it ends.  Judging by the strength of the pulse, we're estimating another twenty minutes at least before it clears up."

            "We need a picture, any kind of picture," roared Misato, "I want visual contact at least at all times!"

            "We're trying," said Makoto, "I've already set people to work placing extra shielding around the circuits.  We're not sure how well it'll work though."

            "Get it down as fast as you can," ordered Fuyutsuki, "I want everything online again as fast as possible."

            The pilot sighed in relief as he watched from the relative safety of the seat that he had ejected from his aircraft.  The second the new pulse had hit the helicopter, everything had failed, except the ejection seat which, by regulation, was strictly mechanical with no reliance on electronics, making it impossible to defeat with an EMP.  Below him, the aircraft he had only just abandoned was dropping into the crater.  He estimated that it would hit near the edge.

             But as he watched, the trajectory of the falling aircraft began to swerve, changing course to directly towards the meteor.  The ship hit and exploded, sending debris flying everywhere, only to have it retract back along the course it had come, back towards the meteor.

            Even as he descended, the man began to feel the tug on the bits of metal in the pilot's chair.  He too was being drawn towards that strange rock.  The pilot didn't know what to make of it, but every instinct within his mind screamed against allowing this to happen.  Unfortunately, the man didn't have much choice as he had no control over the descent of his seat.  True to his training in the JSSDF, he calmly awaited whatever end came as the result of this.

            He never reached his destination.  The pilot was a mere hundred meters above the meteor when a low rumble filled the air.  Vibrations emanated outward from the meteor, which was beginning to shake so hard that its image was becoming blurry and indistinct.  The man could sense a sort of gathering, an amassing of powerful energy within the meteorite.  A crack appeared and splintered off into several smaller cracks.  Superheated gasses leaked out from the interior as more cracks appeared.  Any one of the new geysers would be hot enough to cook the unfortunate pilot alive.  However, he never got close enough.

            A second later, the hissing gasses were replaced with crackling flames.  Then, the entire rock was shattered by a terrible explosion from within.  A roaring ball of flame consumed the remains of the meteor and rose upwards.  It engulfed the pilot.  At first he felt only the heat of the flames melting the skin off his body and devouring the tissue underneath.  But then, he felt something much more sinister at work as a paradoxical darkness within the flames surrounded him and began to draw out his very life-force.  The man felt as if his soul was being stripped from him and being consumed by the terrible force.  Then, it was over as the flames reduced his body to cinders, then nothing.

            Kensuke gasped as he watched through the lens of his camera.  He had deliberately disobeyed orders and not entered one of the shelters when the order had been given.  Luck had been with him today as he had escaped the effects of both the shockwave and the EMP by virtue of being far enough away from the impact site.  Kensuke couldn't help but record what might be one of the most important events in history.

            He was beginning to doubt the wisdom of this endeavor though, as a roar filled the air and a massive explosion erupted upwards from the area of the impact.  A great, smokeless ball of flame was climbing into the sky.  At first, Kensuke had expected it to dissipate harmlessly into the atmosphere.  But, as he watched in awe, the flames began to move eerily in concert with one another.  The ball seemed to contract in upon itself, the flames rolling inward like the petals of a blooming flower in reverse.  Finally, the flames began to take shape and Kensuke found that he could no longer steady the camera because of his sheer horror at what he was witnessing.

            Two great sheets of fire spread outward from either side of the larger mass.  Then, three comparatively thin tendrils extended upwards and forwards between the two sheets.  Two slightly thicker stumps extended downward from the center with two even thinner ones extending down and behind, barely visible from Kensuke's angle.

            The flames began to fade.  The sheets faded into vast sail-like wings spread outward from a body decked in diamond-shaped scales.  The two stumps became four-towed feet, resembling an elephant's in shape somewhat.  The thinnest tendrils became a pair of tails, ending in spiked clubs that whirled around behind the forming creature.  And lastly, the three tendrils extending upward transformed into three serpentine necks, each capped with the head of what resembled a Chinese dragon, writhing about like a nest of snakes.  Each of the three heads was crowned with horns.  The creature's entire body, wings and all, was a brilliant golden color that reflected the light of the setting sun, making the monster seem to glow in the fading light.  With a final dramatic flash of light, the monster was awakened and ready to wreak havoc.  It descended on the helpless city, all three heads screeching madly.

            Kensuke gulped and realized that he had just made the worst mistake of his entire life.

            "We've got contact again," said Makoto, "We've lost our aerial."

            "It was probably knocked down by the EMP," said Shigeru.

            "Well show me what you got," said Misato.

            "I'll get one of the fixed cameras online for you," said Shigeru.  Within seconds, they had a panoramic view of Tokyo 3 as seen by one of the cameras farthest away from the area of impact.  With a few typed commands, Shigeru panned the camera towards the site.  When it was properly aligned, the image sent back by the camera shocked the entire Command Center into absolute silence.

            Misato gulped.  "Uh Ishiro," she said in a subdued tone, "Are you getting this?"

            Ishiro sighed when he saw the image that came into being in front of him.  "I hate it when I'm right."

            "So that's King Ghidorah," said Shinji.

            "The one and only."

            If there was one word that could be used to describe King Ghidorah, it was magnificent.  Decked out in golden scales with vast wings and three dragon head upon writhing serpentine necks made the kaiju an impressive sight.  It was the very personification of the word monster.  It was at once beautiful and frightening.  Now, it sailed on those massive wings towards the helpless city.

            "Get those launch paths clear now!" yelled Ishiro, his ache momentarily forgotten, "We've got to get out there.  That thing'll wreck the entire city in a matter of minutes!"

            "We can't clear the launch paths for another five minutes at best," shouted Makoto from the comm.

            "That'll be all the time it needs," hissed Ishiro.

            "We're going to prep and inject the entry plugs now," said Misato, "And then we'll move you to the launch pads so that you're good to go the second the launch paths are clear."

            King Ghidorah descended on the city like a great demonic entity.  As one, the three heads swung about and three maws opened wide to reveal slavering mouths lined with razor-sharp teeth and forked tongues.  Energy crackled around inside those mouths and spewed forth in golden beams of energy that resembled bolts of lightning.  But no lightning was ever like this.

            The bolts of power shattered everything in their paths, exploding with the fury of a hundred bombs.  Buildings were smashed and lit afire as the beams of energy swept over them.  Each of the three heads moved independently, each sweeping its individual beam over a different section of the city in front of and below it.  Sometimes one would fire across towards the other flank or upwards, seemingly into empty space.  The creature went about its task with relentless efficiency and savagery, ripping apart the landscape below it.

            But it wasn't even beginning to destroy.  As King Ghidorah swept over the city, gusts of hurricane force winds from its wings flattened those skyscrapers still standing and fanning the flames of the fires it had already set.  The creature flew at a leisurely pace, firing its beams at will but keeping the majority of the force of its attack focused on the area directly in front of and below it as it flew overhead.

            Kensuke was only slightly relieved that he wasn't in the creature's direct path.  If he had been unlucky.  He didn't want to think about it.

            King Ghidorah ripped a single, fiery swath straight down the center of the city.  All it left behind was scorched earth and flaming rubble.  It flew out past the city limits, all three heads shrieking and cackling madly, as if the thing took some sort of perverse glee at the destruction it wrought.  With grace that bellied its tremendous size, King Ghidorah swung about for another pass.

            "Synchronization is complete," reported Maya.  She frowned as she looked at the data in front of her.  "Odd," she mumbled.

            "What is it?" asked Ritsuko.

            "Ishiro's synch rate is abysmal compared to what he can normally do," answered Maya, "He's only synchronized at 72.8%"

            "Are you okay Ishiro," Misato asked over the comm.

            From the other end, she heard Ishiro chuckle nervously. "Just a little nervous, that's all," he responded.

            "Moving all Evas to the launch pad," stated Maya.

            "We've just got the launch paths clear," reported Makoto.

            "Then launch the damn things!" yelled Misato.

            Ishiro felt his stomach lurch as Unit 14 surged upwards towards the monster waiting for them above.  He couldn't help but worry if they were strong enough to defeat the monster.  He could see the end of their upward journey already as a light appeared ahead.

            Unit 14 shot up through a doorway in the street with incredible speed, coming to halt the instant it was above ground.  Not far away, the doors of a launch silo opened to reveal Unit 01.  Unit 00 appeared in similar fashion, its plasma cannon already on a holster-like attachment on the left safety lock.  Unit 02, like Unit 01, emerged from a street door.

            "Ishiro, you're in charge," said Misato, "You probably have the best idea of what to do."

            "Okay," replied Ishiro.  He immediately began to give orders.  "Rei, take point, you're going to receive the brunt of Ghidorah's first attack.  Hopefully your armor will work with whatever kind of attack that was."

            "Yes," answered Rei, taking the forward position facing King Ghidorah's approach vector.

            "Shinji, Asuka, you two will take the flanks.  Use pole arms, we've got to get in close and under King Ghidorah's range so we can bring it down."  Shinji and Asuka responded with an affirmative and moved to a weapons station.  There, two progressive halberds arrived, sent from headquarters.  Unit 01 took the left flank while Unit 02 took the right flank.

            Ishiro made Unit 14 take up the position directly behind Unit 00.  Unit 14 then deployed its AT swords.  He was more out of touch than usual and the Eva seemed to respond sluggishly to his commands.  Then, Ishiro noticed that the pounding in the back of his head had intensified yet again.

            What's going on? he wondered.  Then, the realization hit him.  No!  He was barely able to protest and didn't even have time to scream before the pounding became thundering that drowned out everything else in his world.

            Misato and the others watched in shock and horror as Unit 14 raised one of its blades and plunged it into the backside of Unit 00.  The tip of the blade emerged from the front, protruding out from Unit 00's chest.  Inside, Rei screamed in pain as she felt what her Eva felt.  A small trickle of blood began to leak out of her plugsuit.

            Even as it thrust with its left sword, Unit 14 raised its right one and brought it down in a single slash, severing the Unit 02's umbilical cable.

            "What!?" exclaimed Asuka, looking over at the treacherous Eva.  "Ishiro, I thought you were one of us."

            Shinji turned to face Unit 14 and stop Ishiro from attacking Asuka again.  But, before he could even move, Unit 14's limbs went limp and the black Eva slumped down.  "Unit 14 has gone silent," said Makoto.

            King Ghidorah chose that moment to launch its attack.  It rushed in, launching a barrage of lightning bolts at the four Evas and their distracted pilots.  None of them could react in time to unfold their AT fields to protect themselves and thus took the full force of the attack.

            Shinji threw Unit 01 backwards in an attempt to dodge the first bolt that came his way.  But King Ghidorah's right head swung, tracking his movements.  The bolt traced up across Unit 01's chest, melting through the armor with ease and blowing out chunks of flesh beneath.  Shinji writhed in agony.  The force of the explosion knocked Unit 01 onto its back and knocked the halberd out of its hand.  Unit 02 took a hit directly on the right shoulder, destroying the brace there.  The blast also took a chunk out of the armor and flesh beneath, nearly severing Unit 02's right arm completely.  Inside, Asuka shuddered and reached out to grab her own arm, completely forgetting about the weapon she held in her Eva's left hand, dropping it to the ground.  Unit 00 took the full force of its blast without flinching.  True to Ishiro's predictions, the armor held up and absorbed the energy from bolt.  However, as King Ghidorah's center head moved the beam up, down, and across Unit 00's body, it came to the chink in the armor created by Unit 14's attack.  Energy from the bolt slipped into the wound, exploding and blowing out a chunk of armor from within.  King Ghidorah ignored Unit 14.

            All four of the Evas were tossed like rag dolls as King Ghidorah raced past overhead at easily three times the speed of sound.  The shockwave created by the monster's passing scattered them like bowling pins, as well as leveling an entire stretch of cityscape.  Shrieking and screeching, King Ghidorah pulled up and began to come around for another pass.

            "Is everyone alright!" yelled Misato.

            "I-I think so," said Shinji shakily.

            "Damn," hissed Asuka, "I'm gonna kill that traitorous asshole when we get him out of that cockpit."

            "W-wh-what has happened?" asked Rei, trying to fight away her pain long enough to get Unit 00 on its feet.

            "Unit 00's artificial diamond armor has been breached," reported Maya, "And the attacks are destroying the bond between the diamond and the topmost layer of armor."

            "Shit," growled Asuka, "They just took out our best weapon."

            "Why did Ishiro attack?" Rei wanted to know, "Why did he betray us?"

            "I don't think I'm going to let him live long enough to tell us," said Asuka.

            Units 02 and 01 were getting their feet under them and joining Unit 00 in standing.  Unit 14 however, remained completely motionless, lying where it fell after being hit by Ghidorah's attack.  Looking up, Shinji was the first to spot the golden dragon's next attack.

            "Look out!" he shouted as he sent Unit 01 into a sideways roll, trying to clear the line of fire.  Ghidorah's energy bolts raked the ground where Unit 01 had been standing, blasting craters and trenches into the newly scorched earth.  Unit 00 and Unit 02 also took evasive action.  But King Ghidorah's left head swerved to follow them and launched another bolt.  The blast slammed into Unit 00's head.  Fortunately, the armor there was still intact and it absorbed the attack.

            Unit 00 and 02's evasive tactics failed to get them out of the way of Ghidorah's shockwave attack and they caught the full force again.  Unit 02 was actually picked up by the winds and thrown into one of the few buildings still intact from the last run.  King Ghidorah passed overhead and began to come around yet again.

            "Asuka, you've got less than four and a half minutes of power left, you need to get out of there," ordered Ritsuko.

            Asuka muttered various unmentionables in German.  "Get me an auxiliary cable," she said finally.

            "All the stations in the engagement area have been eradicated," replied Misato, "There are none left that you can get to and still be able to fight."

            "We can hook you up with an auxiliary if you get back down into the holding area.  You can be back in action in about six minutes," added Ritsuko.

            "Alright," said Asuka finally.  Then she shouted over the comm.  "Shinji, Wondergirl, do you think you two can hold down the fort till I get back?"

            "Pilot Ikari and I will hold on until you get back," said Rei, falling back into her usual system of address for the other pilots, "You should bring Unit 14 with you."

            "I'm not doing anything to help that baka," said Asuka coldly, "Not after what he did."

            "Asuka do it," said Misato, "That's an order."

            "Yes.sir," growled Asuka after a second's hesitation.  She guided Unit 02 over to where Unit 14 lay and grabbed the fallen Eva under its arms and hauled it to the nearest elevator.  There, the platform descended with the limp Evangelion on board.

            "My turn now," she said quietly, finding a platform of her own.  Unit 02 also disappeared beneath the street.

            "Shinji, Rei," said Misato, "Find whatever cover you can and sit tight until Asuka gets back.  While you're waiting, try and come up with a strategy to beat that thing."

            "Okay," answered Shinji.

            In the Command Center, Chaos seemed to reign.  "What on Earth happened with Ishiro?" Misato wanted to know.

            "According to the readings we got," said Maya, "Right before he turned on the others, our monitors indicated a third pattern in the matrix."

            "You mean there was something else in there besides the Eva and Ishiro?" Misato inquired.

            "Yes," said Ritsuko, looking the data over, "And from the looks of things, this third pattern synchronized with Ishiro, or rather it forced Ishiro to synchronize with it."

            "So something took control of Pilot Saegusa's mind?" said Fuyutsuki, raising an eyebrow.

            "And then tried to use Ishiro to control Unit 14," commented Maya, "But Unit 14 itself terminated the synchronization almost immediately."

            "But not before it got a good shot off," muttered Ritsuko.

            "The Eva did that," whispered Misato, "Terminated a connection on its own."

            "It's unusual," agreed Ritsuko, "But we've already seen that Unit 14 operates on rules that are somewhat different from the other Evas."

            "Unit 02 has been secured and is ready for the new umbilical cable," reported Maya.

            "Good," said Ritsuko, "Let's get Asuka hooked up and back into action fast."

            "Crap," groaned Shinji as his Eva was pitched about yet again.  King Ghidorah seemed to have given up on using its energy blasts and was now making pass after pass over Units 01 and 02, tossing them about like leaves in a gale and slamming them into any impediments with terrific force.  The monster seemed to be toying with them as a cat might play with a mouse before dealing the mortal blow.

            As Unit 01 was sent sprawling by yet another shockwave, Shinji spotted something nearby, two somethings in fact.  Lying, not too far away were the halberds that he and Asuka had dropped in the first attack.  If he could get one or both of those weapons, he might have a chance of fighting back.

            Instead of trying to get Unit 01 back on its feet, Shinji had the Eva dig its fingers and feet into the ground and hold on with all its strength as King Ghidorah came in for another strike.  He would have a small amount of time once the kaiju was past and turning around.  All he needed to do was stay put, if he could do that much.

            Ghidorah was a golden blur as it passed over him once again.  He could hear a groan from Rei as Unit 00 was thrown again.  The blast pulled at Unit 01 and threatened to uproot the prone Eva and send it flying once again.  But Shinji gritted his teeth and used all his willpower to see that it held on long enough.  Once the shockwave was past, he got Unit 01's feet under it and, without even bothering to stand up all the way, lunged for the two pole arms.

            Doing as he had been trained to do, Shinji dove over the first halberd, grabbing it in one hand and threw Unit 01 into a sideways roll that brought him to within reach of the other weapon, which he promptly grasped.  Looking up, Shinji spotted King Ghidorah coming around for another pass.

            A shriek emanated from the center head, which was shortly followed by echoes from the other two.  King Ghidorah went into another dive.  This time though, it was diving straight for Unit 01 and seemed to have little intention of pulling up for another shockwave attack.  Shinji knew that King Ghidorah had seen him arm himself with the weapons, but he realized that the creature's reaction to Shinji's maneuver seemed wrong.  With the greater reach afforded to him by the long weapons, Shinji could position the halberds so that Ghidorah impaled itself on the blades of the two weapons.

            Nonetheless, King Ghidorah continued its dive.  Now's the time, thought Shinji.  Unit 01 sprang to its feet and raised both of the halberds to meet the incoming dragon.  At the last minute, King Ghidorah flapped its wings and oriented itself into an upright position, like it was about to land.  However, it continued to descend directly towards Unit 01.  Shinji waited, bracing the butts of his weapons into the ground so that Unit 01's arms wouldn't absorb the entirety of the impact.

            An instant before King Ghidorah would have thrown itself onto the halberds, Shinji noticed a flash of gold from behind the creature.  Two long, sinuous tails, ending in spiked clubs lashed out, each striking the halberd on its respective side and knocking them out wide, leaving the path clear for King Ghidorah's many tens of thousands of metric tons to slam into Unit 01.

            King Ghidorah slammed into the Eva feet first, kicking them into Unit 01's chest.  The force of the initial impact was enough to knock Unit 01 over onto the ground, where King Ghidorah's still fat moving body settled its weight upon the Eva in full and forced the Halberds from its grip.  The two of them skidded along the ground, King Ghidorah almost surfing on top of Unit 01.  Inside the cockpit, Shinji screamed as he felt his ribs threatening to break under the pressure as the damage taken by the Eva was transmitted proportionately to the pilot.

            When they finally slid to a stop, King Ghidorah raised its wings and with a mighty flap, lifted off of Unit 01, sending it rolling limply rolling backwards by the resulting gust of wind.  It flew back a short ways and settled onto the rubble strewn ground.

            Rei was shocked by the brutal attack on Unit 01.  "Pilot Ikari?" she asked tentatively, "Shinji, are you alright?"  There was no answer from Unit 01.  Rei feared the worst.  But then she heard a soft groan coming from Shinji.

            "Shit," he hissed, "I'm not sure if I can still move."

            "Remain still Pilot Ikari," said Rei, falling back into her old personality slightly, "I will fight the kaiju."  Not even her intense emotional training could stop her from flinching when King Ghidorah turned, albeit clumsily, to face her, giving Rei a view of the golden hydra in all its evil splendor.

            It stood half again as tall as Godzilla had.  Each of the dragon's three heads writhed about in a seemingly random fashion, though Rei had been able to observe that they acted in concert when launching barrages of energy blasts.  In its six eyes, Rei could see an eerie intelligence that seemed at once bestial and superhuman.  From here, she could see the ridge of triangular scales that ran down the back of each neck.  The kaiju's entire body was covered in overlapping, gold scales.  It rested its weight on its two trunk-like legs, ending in four toed feet.  Behind, Rei saw Ghidorah's two tails, twitching and swinging about.  After what King Ghidorah had done to Unit 01, she now had a much better idea how powerful those unobtrusive appendages could be.  Finally, two great membranous wings, much like those of a bat, extended out from either side of the monster.  The tops of those wings represented the creature's highest point.

            Unit 00 was completely unarmed, save for its plasma cannon, which was all but useless with the Eva's artificial diamond armor breached and no power drawn from King Ghidorah's previous attacks.  Ishiro's treachery might have been brief, but it was enough to completely break their defense.  In the back of her mind, Rei Ayanami was trying to figure out why Ishiro would betray them in such a terrible fashion.  This was a thousand times worse than his deception with regard to Lilith.  But the damage had been done.  Already, the majority of Tokyo 3 had been reduced to rubble by the sheer power of King Ghidorah.  That left Rei with only one last weapon, her Eva's body.

            She realized that she would need every ounce of her strength, cunning and will in order to even survive against this monster.  As King Ghidorah began his lumbering charge, she braced herself to meet the attack head on.

            "Unit 14 has been secured," said Maya.

            "Alright, are the men in place?" asked Misato.

            "They are."  Once Unit 14 was on its way down from the surface, Misato had ordered a full contingent of Section 2's security into its holding cage in order to arrest Ishiro.  She hated the thought of doing this, having come to like the 6th Child in the time she had known him.  But it was necessary, considering the magnitude of Ishiro's betrayal.

            "Ishiro," whispered Misato, "How could you?"

            The entry plug was extracted from its socket at the base of Unit 14's neck.  As the crane transported it to the walkway, dozens of men, fully armed and ready, waited there to greet the pilot when he emerged.  As the hatch was removed, Ishiro stepped out of the entry plug.  The men nearest to him backed away, their eyes wide in surprise.  Ishiro's eyes were blank and glazed over, the eyes of a dead man.  He moved and seemed to act normally.  However, those eyes told a very different story.

            The captain of the security detail stepped forward.  "Ishiro Saegusa, you are under arr."  The man never got a chance to finish his sentence.  His head exploded in a crimson shower, flecked with bits of white and gray, as the man next him pulled the trigger of the rifle he had planted against his commander's head.  Several other men trained their weapons on the new traitor, only to be cut down from behind by even more who were falling under Ishiro's control.  His influence spread through the ranks like wildfire.  Some men were strong enough to fight it off.  But they were killed almost immediately by their comrades who had not been able to resist.  Screams and yells filled the holding cage as skirmishes broke out across the structure.  Ishiro strode through, the calm center of it all.  Bullets that came near to him seemed to swerve away on a different course as they did so.  He didn't seem to care whether those deflected shots hit the resistance or his newfound allies.

            When he came to the door, the air in front of Ishiro rippled.  A loud thundering sound resounded throughout the cavernous hangar.  A small section of the door imploded, as if it was the impact point of a piece of light artillery.  One by one, more dents appeared in the door, until it was finally ripped away from the wall by the force of the last impact.  Ishiro then strode along the walkway that ran around the circumference of the chamber.  Behind him, dozens of soldiers spilled out onto the walkway, following him around.  When he got to the exit, Ishiro opened the door in a similar fashion, making clear the way into NERV headquarters.

            "What the hell is going on?" demanded Misato as even more alarms sounded throughout the Command Center.

            "Gunfire has broken out in Unit 14's holding cage," said Maya, "We're getting visual now."

            The images of the battle up on the main screen became smaller, sharing space with the new feed from the holding cage.  The scene was one of total chaos.  Everywhere, men from Section 2 exchanged fire with one another.  Ishiro walked among them, completely immune to any bullets that were sent his way.  Misato watched in shock and amazement as he smashed down the door out of the holding cage and made his way into the main complex.  Several men followed their weapons at ready.

            "How could this have happened?" groaned Ritsuko, "First Ishiro betrays us.  Then he begins a hostile takeover of NERV HQ.  What is happening?"

            "Wait a minute!" exclaimed Misato, "When Unit 14 was on the way down; you mentioned that there had been three patterns in the matrix, right?"

            "Yes," replied Ritsuko, then the answer hit her, "Whatever was responsible for that must be controlling Ishiro now!"

            "But what is it?" asked Makoto, "What, or who is controlling him?"

            Behind them, Fuyutsuki pondered the question silently.  Could it be.SEELE?

            "Didn't he mention that he made mental contact with King Ghidorah while the monster was till en route to Earth?" asked Maya.

            "Yes," agreed Ritsuko, "He also said that his contact instigated a mental counterattack so powerful that it was felt by the entire city."

            "So the one who is controlling Ishiro." said Misato, "Is King Ghidorah."

            "That's exactly it," said Ritsuko.

            "Unit 02 is ready for launch," reported Maya very suddenly.

            "Let me speak to Asuka first," ordered Misato.

            "What is it?" demanded Asuka as her comm. came on line.

            "Listen Asuka," said Misato, "We've finally figured out what's happening with Ishiro."

            "The little bastard betrayed us," snapped Asuka, "Plain and simple."

            "That's not it," said Misato, "Ishiro is being controlled by King Ghidorah."

            "What.How?"  Asuka was now very confused.

            "No time to explain the fine details.  King Ghidorah didn't just cause Ishiro to attack you.  Now it's making Ishiro lead a hostile takeover of NERV.  You need to kill King Ghidorah ASAP."

            "Understood," said Asuka, "I'll make that monster whish it had never come into our solar system."

            "We're sending a rifle with you.  Good luck," said Misato, "Eva launch!"

            "Unit 01 is down," yelled Makoto.

            "No," hissed Misato, "Shinji!"

            Unit 00's feet dug trough's in the earth as King Ghidorah slammed its full weight against the Eva.  In a contest of strength, the kaiju would undoubtedly win by virtue of sheer mass.  However, Rei didn't intend to make this a battle of brute force.

            Recognizing the creature's ineptitude while land bound, she came up with a strategy to turn the monster's own strength against it.  As King Ghidorah forced itself against Unit 00 harder than ever, Rei quickly made the Eva sidestep.  Lashing out with its left leg, Unit 00 neatly tripped King Ghidorah as it dodged around to one side.  As Ghidorah went down, Rei couldn't avoid being buffeted by the monster's enormous wing.  Fortunately, it wasn't much of a hindrance to her plan.  She stepped away and began to initiate the second phase of her strategy.

            Ghidorah's left tail came whipping about, seeking to slam the Evangelion with its spiked tip.  Rei dodged the attack and grabbed the tail, just below the spiked club that made up its end.  The second one came in fast.  Rei repeated the maneuver and now had the monster by both its tails.

            Tucking the writhing limbs under Unit 00's left arm, Rei reached under with her right arm and effectively trapped both of them.  Then, using all of Unit 00's strength, Rei pulled.

            It was no easy task.  King Ghidorah was one heavy monster.  However, Unit 00's strength was up to the task.  With a mighty heave, King Ghidorah left the ground, but not in flight.  Rei flipped the kaiju over Unit 00's shoulder, slamming the dragon into the ground behind her.  The creature landed on its back, all three heads wailing in pain.  As she turned around to repeat the maneuver, Rei realized the hole in her strategy.  By flipping King Ghidorah onto its back, she left herself open to attack from its energy beams.  Three of them stabbed into Unit 00, ripping apart a good amount of the armor that still remained and forcing the Eva to relinquish its hold of the monster's tails as it was knocked backwards by the force of the attack.

            King Ghidorah flapped its wings once and rode the updraft in order to right itself.  It now loomed over the fallen Unit 00.  Its eyes shining with malevolence, King Ghidorah planted one foot on Unit 00's exposed backside.  The second foot soon followed, depositing King Ghidorah's full weight on Unit 00.  The kaiju crouched slightly, and then flapped its wings, ascending upwards several dozen meters.  Then, it came back down, smashing its feet into Unit 00's back.

            Rei gritted her teeth to keep from screaming in pain as the monster came crashing down on her again.  By now, Unit 00 was sinking into the ground somewhat from the tremendous weight that settled on it every few seconds.  Rei's mind was racing, trying to find a way out of her dilemma before King Ghidorah crushed Unit 00 and her with it.

            Shinji concentrated with all his might.  He had blacked out for a short time when King Ghidorah landed on top of him.  That also broke the nerve connections between Shinji and Unit 01.  That meant he would have to resynchronize in order to get Unit 01 to as much as twitch.  Unfortunately, synchronization took time, time Rei didn't have.

            "Hold on Rei!" he shouted as the connections came back online.

            "No need for that," Asuka's triumphant voice cut in.

            Explosive rounds detonated against King Ghidorah's back.  Looking over, Shinji could see Unit 02, holding a rifle and firing for all it was worth.  Within seconds, King Ghidorah's form was obscured in dense smoke.

            "Let's see how he likes that," said Asuka confidently.

            The smoke cleared to reveal that the mighty golden dragon remained completely unscathed.  "I didn't even scratch it!" exclaimed Asuka.

            "But how?" Shinji wanted to know.

            In the meantime, King Ghidorah remained motionless, standing on top of Unit 00.  Its two outside heads twisted around on their serpentine necks to regard Unit 02.  Both sets of eyes seemed to look on with something resembling contempt for the pitiful giant of metal and flesh that was the Evangelion.  Then, with a challenging and almost condescending cackling sound, the beast turned and stepped off the prone form of Unit 00.

            "At least I got its attention," Asuka muttered.

            "Rei!" shouted Shinji frantically, "Are you okay over there?  Rei, answer me!"

            "I.cannot.move," said Rei brokenly.  As if to emphasize her point, Unit 00's entire body creaked with protest as one of its shoulders twitched slightly.  This got the attention of King Ghidorah's left head.  Shinji was about to leap forward to get its attention back when the left mouth opened and a bolt of energy erupted from it, striking the already badly damaged Unit 00 in the small of the back.  The blast blew a sizable chunk of flesh and armor into the air, followed by a stream of blood.

            "Shinji," said Asuka as calmly as she could, "I'll get Ghidorah's attention.  You go check up on Rei."

            "Alright," agreed Shinji.

            Asuka began firing again.  This time, she aimed right for the eyes of the center head.  As the rounds exploded against that head, a cloud of smoke enveloped the other two.  Once all three heads were thoroughly enshrouded with smoke, Shinji made Unit 01 sprint towards Unit 00.

            Unit 00 looked to be in even worse shape close up.  From his new position, Shinji could see that the artificial diamond armor was badly cracked and the titanium steel alloy beneath it was completely misshapen from repeated impacts.

            "I don't think you're going anywhere anytime soon Rei," said Shinji after a moment, "Unit 00 is completely totaled."

            "Then leave me," replied Rei, "Pilot Sohryu needs your assistance."

            "Not while you're still in danger," Shinji shot back, "I need to get you to safety first."

            "Very well then," said Rei, "But the main hatch has jammed.  I will need help in order to eject the entry plug."

            "No problem," said Shinji.  With that, he reached down with Unit 01's hand and ripped off the armor that protected the entry plug.  A second later, the plug itself shot out partway.  Closing a massive hand gently around the plug, Shinji pulled it free from Unit 00's neck.  Cradling Rei's entry plug as carefully as he could in Unit 00's arms, Shinji began to move away from the combat zone.

            Meanwhile, Asuka had finally run out of rounds.  "I still haven't made a dent," she observed as the smoke cleared to reveal the three unblemished heads of the massive kaiju.  "How can it soak up so much damage?" she asked.

            "I think I've finally found the answer," she heard Makoto say.

            "What is it?" Misato wanted to know.

            "Our sensors are detecting a shape conforming AT field flush with the monster's skin.  It's completely seamless."

            "That's just great," whined Asuka, "How am I ever going to get through that?"

            "You'll think of something," replied Misato.

            "And you'd better think fast," added Ritsuko.

            Asuka didn't need to ask why.  She threw Unit 02 to the side as a bolt of energy stabbed her way.  She could see all three heads firing, but only the center one seemed to be tracking her.  The two outside heads shot their bolts out to the side, moving in seemingly random cover.  It wasn't until she had succeeded in dodging the first of the blasts that Asuka realized what the beast had done.

            There wasn't a single building around.  King Ghidorah had annihilated any cover she might have been able to use.  So the thing is pretty in intelligent, she thought wryly as the monster leveled all three of its heads at her and fired.

            "What's Ishiro's status?" asked Misato.

            "Right now we've managed to contain the attack in the area directly around Unit 14's holding cage," replied Shigure, "But whatever it is that Ishiro does to those doors always works in the end.  Fortunately, we are able to slow him down considerably."

            "Anything new with King Ghidorah?" Misato asked next.

            "Well," said Ritsuko, "Our sensors have also detected a gravitational anomaly in all three of King Ghidorah's mouths."

            "And that means."

            Ritsuko took a deep breath.  "We think that an organ in Ghidorah's mouth produces a powerful gravitational field that can create a short lived fusion reaction in his mouth.  By focusing the AT field in said mouth, King Ghidorah can then focus the energy of that reaction in the direction of its chosen target."

            "We've termed it the gravity beam," added Makoto.

            "Why aren't the Evas AT fields working?" Misato demanded.

            "Oh they're working alright," replied Ritsuko, "But Ghidorah's gravity beams are blasting through them like they're made of tissue paper."

            "We'll," said Misato, "We've got to find away around those gravity beams and quickly."  As she said this, three gravity beams collided simultaneously with Unit 02's chest, sending the Eva flying in one direction, blood, guts and armor in the other.

            Unit 02 slid to a stop after being blasted onto its back.  Slowly, wincing in pain as she did so, Asuka willed the Eva to sit up.  Blood oozed from the dozens of wounds that dotted Unit 02's body.  Asuka was in a great deal of pain herself; not just from shared pain from the wounds that Unit 02 suffered, but also the aches that came from being banged around in the entry plug too much.

            "Damn," she hissed, "I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up."  King Ghidorah loomed over her like the specter of death itself.  The left head twisted slightly and fired at the ground to Asuka's right.  She was baffled as to the purpose of this attack, until she noticed the lights in the cockpit dim and the counter appeared, signifying that she now only had five minutes of power left.

            Now Asuka could feel fear creeping into the back of her mind.  There was no way she could hope to hold out against a foe that was so powerful and intelligent.  No weapon her Eva could wield could possibly penetrate that AT field.

            Unarmed and running on borrowed time, Asuka needed to figure out how to defeat this monster quickly.  But she was almost out of options.  Perhaps it's time to make a tactical retreat, she thought grimly.

            Unit 02 was just beginning to get to its feet when King Ghidorah spread its wings and flapped them once.  The hurricane-force gust of wind that slammed into Unit 02 was powerful enough to knock the crimson titan back to the ground.  Asuka gritted her teeth and tried again.  This time, she kept her center of gravity low and dug in while still crouched.  Just as she expected, King Ghidorah flapped its wings again and sent another powerful gust her way.  This time, her preparations paid off and Unit 02 was able to regain its feet.

            .Just in time to catch another burst of gravity beams from King Ghidorah's right and center heads.  Asuka grunted and focused all her strength towards keeping Unit 02 from falling back over.  She was almost out of time.  Her own strength was badly depleted and she was in a good deal of pain.  With all that she had left, Asuka made her last assault.  Drawing Unit 02's progressive knife, Asuka lunged forward and plunged the knife towards the base of King Ghidorah's center neck.  The blade snapped against the invisible AT field that lay over the monster's scales.

            Before she could do anything else, all three of King Ghidorah's heads struck, snake-like.  The left head clamped its tooth-lined mouth over the wrist of her right arm.  Reflexively, Asuka released the handle of her progressive knife, letting it fall to the ground.  The dragon's left head bit into Unit 02's left shoulder brace, crushing it with ease.  Finally, the center head looped itself around Unit 02's neck like a giant python.  As the other two heads released, the powerful neck began to tighten its grip, lifting Unit 02 clear of the ground.  Asuka feebly pounded on King Ghidorah's impenetrable hide as she felt her own throat closing under the pressure.

            Yet another door gave way before the unrelenting telekinetic assault of Ishiro Saegusa as he and his contingent of mind-controlled soldiers made their way deeper into Central Dogma.  They encountered resistance, most of it in the form of very heavily reinforced doors that dropped down into their path.  However, it took Ishiro very little time to smash through them.  His goal was drawing ever nearer and nearer.

            As he stepped over the ruins of the latest door he smashed, Ishiro noticed a strange mote of golden light filter down from the ceiling.  The light circled around his head a couple of times, leaving a trail of sparkles behind it.  Ishiro's eyes followed the light's every move as it wove in and out of the men assembled behind him.  Most of them simply stared dumbly at it, not having any idea what to do.  The light soon swerved back and flew in front of Ishiro and touched down on the floor at his feet.  There, the light faded to reveal two tiny women, no more than half a foot tall each.

            They looked at Ishiro with expressions that seemed to mingle between pity and disappointment.  Then, as Ishiro was about to attack, they clasped their hands together and began to sing.  The haunting melody seemed to carry through the entirety of Central Dogma, resonate through the geofront, echo through the civilian shelters and fill the air of Tokyo 3.

            As their song continued, the twin fairies' bodies began to shine with brilliant golden light.  Ishiro and those with him stepped back as that light filled the corridor and engulfed them all.

            Silence had fallen in the Command Center.  No sound was uttered and nothing was heard, save the voices of two tiny women as they sang a song that seemed to entrance all who heard it.  Misato felt tears beginning to run down her face.  Never had she heard something so beautiful, so pure.  It plucked a chord in her heart that she never realized she had, sending waves of hope washing across her being.

            Asuka couldn't breathe anymore.  King Ghidorah's stranglehold had tightened to the point where her throat was completely closed.  And yet, she felt strangely at peace.  The song that she now heard seemed to sustain her in and of itself.  Accompanying it was a comforting feeling of pure bliss that made the redhead forget, if for only a moment, her pain.  She could swear that she had felt this somewhere before, but she couldn't place it.  As it was, Asuka was barely aware as the timer ran down to zero and Unit 02's power disappeared, freeing her from her connection with the Evangelion.  With a relieved sigh, Asuka slumped into her seat and let the darkness claim her.

            Shinji was filled with a similar euphoria as he too listened to the song.  However, this didn't keep him from the task at hand, making sure that Rei was safe.  Carefully, he set the entry plug down on the ground.  From where he was, Shinji could see the LCL discharge from said plug and the emergency hatch open.  A moment later, Rei dragged herself out of the cockpit and lowered herself to the ground.  She slumped weakly against the cold steel of the entry plug, offering Shinji a reassuring wave as she focused on the music that filled the air.

            The song pulled at Rei's soul like nothing else ever had.  Never in her life had she felt or heard anything like it.  The song's sweet melody filled her body, cleansing it.  Rei began to realize that it was washing away the last walls that kept her humanity so contained.  I've never felt so alive, she thought, tears running freely down her face.

            Ishiro finally felt his senses returned.  What happened? he thought groggily.  Looking around, he jumped in surprise.  Where am I? he thought frantically, The last thing I remember was being in Unit 14's entry plug.  This looks like Central Dogma to me.  Then, Ishiro noticed that he was not alone either.  There were several men from Section 2 standing behind him, all of them armed and with weapons drawn.  However, they seemed just as confused as he was.

            Looking down, Ishiro blinked in surprise.  The Cosmos stood on the floor of the hallway.  "What's going on?" he asked.

            "You were being manipulated by King Ghidorah," they said in unison.

            "I WAS WHAT!?" exclaimed Ishiro.

            "When you reached out to King Ghidorah when he was en-route to Earth, he planted a seed inside your mind that he used to control you when he arrived," said Mona.

            "Then, by enhancing your psychic abilities, he made you take control of all the men you see here," added Lora.

            "I was being controlled by a glorified sci-fi film reject!" growled Ishiro.  He couldn't believe it.  He, he of all people had fallen victim to the psychic abilities of another.

            How could I have not known it? Ishiro mentally berated himself, I should have known what that headache was.

            "Where is that gold-plated, three-headed, sorry excuse of a space monster?" he demanded, "I'm going to tear that freak into so many peaces that they won't be able to find them with a microscope."

            "Patience, my friend" chided Mona, "You should go first to explain your situation to those above you.  One of your friends is in dire straights."

            Ishiro was about to protest when a powerful headache seized him.  Groaning, he sagged down to the floor, nearly losing consciousness partway down.  "It appears," said Lora, "That King Ghidorah didn't actually enhance your powers, but rather made you forget your own limits.  You have greatly exceeded your normal mental capacity and your powers have been overused.  I doubt that you will be able to use them again for a long time to come."

            "Without my powers," hissed Ishiro through clenched teeth, "I can't control Unit 14."

            "It is your psychic abilities that facilitate that bond," agreed Mona.

            "I suppose that I'll have to go to the Command Center now," said Ishiro.

            "Wait a minute," barked one of the men behind him, "We have orders to arrest you for violations of NERV authority."  He paused for a moment as he listened to something coming over his headset.  He blinked and looked down at Ishiro.  "Never mind," he said, "I've just gotten an order canceling the previous order.  You are to proceed to the Command Center with all haste."

            "I'll haste as best I can," grumbled Ishiro.  With that, he stood up and began to stagger off down the hall, using the wall for support.  "Are you two coming." he asked, looking down at where the Cosmos were.  ".with me?" he finished as he realized that they had vanished completely.  "Great," he muttered.  He recommenced his journey to the Command Center.

            Shinji returned to the battlefield to find Unit 02 in dire straights.  King Ghidorah's center head was crushing the red Eva's neck, threatening to break it and the entry plug within.  Looking around frantically, Shinji tried to find something, anything that he could use as a weapon.  It took him a moment to locate one of the two halberds that he had dropped earlier.  As he set Unit 01 off at a run for the first one, twin gravity beams slammed into his Eva.  The force of the impact knocked Unit 01 off its feet and onto the ground.  Looking up, Shinji saw that while Ghidorah's center head was occupied, its two outside ones were not.  Another burst from the monster's right head forced him to roll away, directly into a gravity beam from the left head.

            Shinji could see the armor around Unit 02's neck beginning to buckle.  It was only a matter of time before it gave way completely.  "Asuka NO!" he screamed.  He was thrown by two more blasts from King Ghidorah.  Shinji was certain that Asuka was a goner.

            Suddenly, twin beams of violet energy smashed into King Ghidorah's backside.  All three heads shrieked with pain, the middle one losing its grip on Unit 02, letting the Eva sag limply to the ground.

            A bird-like shriek rent the air.  Soaring overhead, the dark, armored moth that was Battra circled the battlefield like a bird of prey.  His appearance caught the attention of all three of Ghidorah's heads.  With another scream, Battra fired another set of prism beams, raking them across the dragon's torso.  These beams caused no visible damage, but it was quite clear that they still caused King Ghidorah a considerable amount of pain.  Three tooth-lined maws fired gravity beams in retaliation, but the nimble Battra avoided them with ease.

            Ghidorah cackled and spread its wings, taking to the sky in pursuit of its elusive foe.  There, in its natural element, King Ghidorah became a much more formidable adversary than on the ground.  Its tremendous wings propelled it at speeds that rivaled Battra's own, while their outward spread granted the enormous monster, something nearly three times Battra's size, allowed it to move with all the grace of its smaller, lighter foe.

            King Ghidorah trailed behind Battra, gravity beams erupting from all three heads.  Nimble, Battra wheeled and rolled as best he could, attempting to dodge the lightning fast attacks.  Sadly, he was unable to avoid them all and more than one bolt raked across his lightly armored hide.  Battra put on a sudden burst of speed.  Then he arrested his flight and turned around on the spot, coming face to face with King Ghidorah.  Without hesitation, the Dark Guardian charged down the King of Terror, firing beams of his own.

            The two of them collided, King Ghidorah's greater mass overpowering Battra, but Battra's razor-edged armor tore gashes in the almost impenetrable hide of Ghidorah.  They parted, flying in separate directions.  Battra, having less inertia than King Ghidorah, turned around much more quickly.  He then settled onto the dragon's tail, firing his beams again and again.  By virtue of being a much larger target, King Ghidorah was almost completely unable to avoid the attacks thrown its way.  However, its more powerful defenses more than made up for that shortcoming.  Battra's prism beams did relatively little damage.  The two monsters fought with alarming ferocity, lighting up the skies with their power and filling the air with their shrieks and screams.

            When Ishiro finally reached the Command Center, he was surprised by what he saw.  "Is that Battra?" he asked.

            "That's correct," replied Ritsuko, "He arrived only recently and saved Unit 02 from being destroyed by King Ghidorah."

            "That's good," muttered Ishiro.

            "Ishiro," said Misato, approaching, "Who were those two women and what did they do?"

            "Those two are the Cosmos, the twin fairies of Mothra," answered Ishiro, "I suppose you could call them her avatars."

            "You mean this Mothra is a deity?" commented Ritsuko skeptically.

            "Some see her in that light," said Ishiro, "Mothra is actually another kaiju."

            "You're kidding!" exclaimed Misato, "A kaiju works with tiny people like those."

            Behind them, Fuyutsuki cleared his throat.  "Another time," he said, "Right now, we have more important issues at hand."

            "I'm afraid I can't do you much good," said Ishiro, "Thanks to King Ghidorah, I overextended my psychic abilities, which are what allow me to pilot Unit 14.  Without them, I'm next to useless."  He grimaced.

            "That's not true," said Misato firmly, "You're still our top kaijuologist, remember?"

            "Well then," said Ishiro grimly, "What do you want me to do?"

            "Can you maybe identify a weak spot on King Ghidorah?" asked Ritsuko, "It has been to Earth before and it was driven off then.  Maybe if we find that weak point, we can defeat him now."

            "I don't know," said Ishiro in reply, "When King Ghidorah was here last, it was driven off by Godzilla.  Unless he shows up again, I'm afraid we won't have any means of defeating Ghidorah.  I'm afraid it's hopeless."

            The next thing Ishiro knew, he was trying to get up from the floor after taking a devastating slap from Misato.  The death glare she threw Ishiro's way froze his blood.  The anger in her eyes was quite clear.  "How dare you give up!" she hissed with alarming ferocity, "Shinji, Asuka, and Rei have been out there risking their lives, fighting even though their advantages were taken away, thanks to you."  Ishiro hung his head.  "If you can't fight," Misato continued, "Then the least you can do is help your friends to find some kind of leverage against this kaiju.  You owe them that much."

            "You're right," Ishiro sighed, getting to his feet.  He turned to Makoto.  "I need every still image of King Ghidorah that you've taken since this battle's started.  I don't want any computer generated renditions, only actually video stills and photographs."

            "I'm on it," replied Makoto, "May I ask why."

            "Those photos'll show me all the details of King Ghidorah.  If I look close enough, I may be able to find something," replied Ishiro, "You can't exactly get that with a computer graphic."  He went to an open terminal where he could view the images that were sent to him.  "I'll let you know when I find something."

            Battra and King Ghidorah continued their battle in the sky.  Neither monster showed any real signs of weakening, though Battra's armor was scratched and pitted and King Ghidorah's scales had taken on a tarnished look after being scorched several times by the black moth's prism beams.

            Battra was currently in the pursuit position behind and above King Ghidorah.  The dragon kaiju's two outside heads turned and tried to hit its tormentor with more gravity beams.  However, it was an awkward position, even for the sinuous necks, so most of the attacks missed.  Battra put on a sudden spurt of acceleration, overtaking Ghidorah and settling onto the monster's broad back.  There, his claws pierced Ghidorah's AT field and ripped into the scales beneath.  Battra's claws tore at King Ghidorah's flesh, sometimes hooking it on barbs and ridges in his armor to further shred it.  King Ghidorah howled in agony.  But it was far from finished.  In the blink of an eye, both tails came whirling around a smashed against Battra's back.  The twin appendages clubbed at the ebony beast until it was finally forced to let go.

            Even as he fell away, Battra unleashed the full force of his prism beams on Ghidorah's right wing.  The blasts not only broke through the AT field, but opened a tremendous tear in the membrane of the wing as well.  With a pained shriek, King Ghidorah began to lose altitude.  Battra turned his head and gave the other wing similar treatment, speeding King Ghidorah's fall.

            Even as it fell, King Ghidorah's right head twisted around and fired a gravity beam.  The beam hit Battra right between his glowing red eyes, cracking his armor and sending the gigantic moth reeling away in pain.  Ghidorah hit the ground hard, but managed to get back to its feet.  There, it turned the attention of all three of its heads to the still reeling Battra.  The combined destructive force that they unleashed nearly killed him, but Battra managed to escape, barely able to fly out of the line of fire.

            Satisfied that is airborne foe was dispatched, King Ghidorah turned the last remaining foe.  Unit 01 had regained its feet during the prolonged battle between the dragon and Battra.  The violet armored Eva stood motionless, facing the golden-scaled terror from the stars.  Something about the mysterious entity confused Ghidorah somewhat.  Despite the intense damage it had taken, the Evangelion seemed more than ready to attack once again.  The dragon was even more surprised when the Eva opened its mouth and let out a horrific roar.  The Eva's next action was to throw itself at the dragon with terrifying abandon.

            "Unit 01 has gone berserk," announced Maya.

            "How's Shinji?" asked Misato.

            "How should we know," snapped Makoto, "You know that every time Unit 01 goes berserk we lose contact with the pilot.  There's now way of ascertaining Shinji's condition while it's like this."

            "Eureka!" shouted Ishiro from where he had been analyzing the images of King Ghidorah.

            "Have you found something?" asked Ritsuko.

            "I think I've found the answer to all our problems," replied Ishiro.  He typed a few commands on his console.  An image of King Ghidorah appeared on the large screen hovering over the Command Center.

            "I was thinking about what my mother told me had happened when King Ghidorah came to Earth the last time.  She told me that in its battle with Godzilla, Ghidorah had taken a good deal of damage near the base of its central neck.  In fact, she told me that Godzilla nearly blew the middle head clean off.  It was after that close call that Ghidorah retreated back into space."  He tapped a few keys.  The camera zoomed in until King Ghidorah's center neck filled the screen.

            "I do see an abnormality in the scales in a line near the base," observed Ritsuko, "The scales of that section are all much smaller than the others, like they're underdeveloped."

            "That's because those scales have only recently grown in to cover the wound Godzilla opened in King Ghidorah's neck.  Because they are considerably newer than all the other scales on his body, it makes sense that they would be much smaller.  That also means that they aren't as hard or strong as the fully developed scales."  Ishiro smiled eagerly, "If we can pierce King Ghidorah's AT field in that particular spot, any weapon an Eva employs will have no trouble punching through the scales."

            "There are several problems with this though," commented Misato, "First, we don't have any way to penetrate the AT field right now.  And second, our last standing Eva, Unit 01, has gone berserk, which means we've lost all control over the situation."

            "What about Unit 02?" asked Ishiro.

            "Unit 02's emergency battery power has been exhausted and the pilot is currently unconscious," answered Maya.

            "Damn," hissed Ishiro, "Now what?"

            Then, he began to hear it very faintly.  The sound seemed to emanate from the very cold steel walls of the Command Center itself.  Someone was singing, two someones in fact.  The Cosmos, he realized almost instantly.  However, this was much different from the song they had used to free him from Ghidorah's control.  Their new song was powerful and filled him with a strength that he couldn't even begin to describe.  What are they up to? he wondered.

            "Asuka."  The voice filled Asuka's ears and mind.  It was vaguely familiar to her as she had heard it before.  "Asuka, wake up."  Asuka's eyes began to slowly, painfully force their way open.  When they did, the darkness fell away from the girl's vision almost immediately.

            "W-who's there?" she asked groggily.  The pain she was feeling across her body was slowly subsiding.  For some reason, Asuka was feeling refreshed.

            "Asuka," said the voice, "Do you remember me?"

            Asuka looked up and saw the face of the woman who had appeared to her in her dreams.  Or at least, that was how she looked briefly.  For the image of said woman was quickly replaced by the image of something very different.  A gigantic moth filled Asuka's vision.  The moth's multifaceted eyes glimmered with intelligence, wisdom, and kindness.  Her body and wings were a collage of brilliant colors.  Asuka felt a powerful warmth fill her heart.  "So," she said in almost a whisper, "This is what you really look like."

            The moth's mandibles opened and a keening sound emerged.  In her mind, Asuka heard the creature's statement as if she had been speaking out loud.  I am Mothra, the guardian of humanity.

            "The guardian." repeated Asuka, "Of humanity?"

            Long ago, I was born to save mankind from the evils of this world and of themselves.  However, my tasks have taken their toll and my strength has waned.  I no longer have the strength to fight battles myself.  I need someone who will carry a part of me inside her; someone who will continue my work until I am reborn.  Mothra's antennae waved slowly.  Asuka Langely Sohryu, would you be willing to bear this burden.  This is the task that, should you accept, you have been chosen for.

            "Why me?" demanded Asuka, "Why not someone else, like Rei or Misato?"

            My rebirth will take time, answered Mothra almost immediately, So the one who bears that part of me must have time as well and therefore must be a child.  Women, naturally much more sensitive than men, are the only people who have the receptiveness to receive and carry that part of me within them.  And you, a great void exists in you heart of hearts.  This emptiness demands to be filled.  So in essence, even as you complete my task, I will complete you.

            "That doesn't really make sense," commented Asuka.

            It will, in time.  Though Mothra's face was incapable of holding any kind of humanly recognizable expression, Asuka could tell that she was smiling.

            "But what good will it do?" Asuka wanted to know, "We're all about to die anyway and so what good does it do you to give me part of your power now?"

            Accept and you shall see, answered Mothra.

            "And if I don't accept?" retorted Asuka.

            Then there is nothing I can do for you.  My strength is all but gone, save that small part which I would impart to you.  If you do not accept me, then there is nothing I can do to save you.  My power must live on.  Even though that means that many will die, it could mean the difference between life and death for all humanity if I do not preserve it in some way.

            "Hmph," Asuka snorted, "Look's like I don't get much of a choice either way."

            Regardless, the decision is yours to make.  Mothra waited patiently, as if time had stopped for her, for Asuka's answer.

            Asuka thought it over.  Shinji, Hikari, Misato; all the people I care about could die today if I don't do something.  How can I condemn them all to death without at least trying something?  She looked deep into Mothra's eyes.  "I accept."

            Very well, came the reply, I name you my chosen.  You now carry part of me within you.  In times of danger and trouble, it is up to you to answer those who are in need of salvation.  This is how it shall be until the time of my rebirth.  Mothra's body began to glow, filling the space around her with a warm, golden glow.  Asuka felt some sort of power seeping into her body, filling her with strength.

            "Alright," she muttered, "Let's do this."

            Abruptly, the light vanished and the darkened interior of Unit 02's entry plug took its place.  Outside, Asuka could hear the sounds of pitched battle.  "Time to fight," she hissed through clenched teeth.

            The walls of the entry plug began to glow the same golden color Mothra had earlier.  Asuka could feel herself falling back into synch with the red Eva.  She felt power returning to all of its systems.  Her ears filled with the mysterious song of the Cosmos.  With but a thought, the scarlet behemoth surged to its feet without hesitation.  The image of the outside world appeared in front of her.  Now that she could see again, Asuka noticed how dire the situation had become.  Unit 01 was weather blast after blast from King Ghidorah as the Evangelion clawed at the kaiju with its bear hands.  From the roars that escaped from Unit 01, Asuka realized that it must have gone berserk.

            "Let's go," she mumbled to herself.

            "Unit 02 has come back online!" exclaimed Maya.

            "Impossible," yelped Ritsuko, "Unit 02's battery power is gone, how can it be back online."

            "I don't know," answered Maya, "But it seems that Asuka has managed to reactivate it.  And what's more, her synch readings are off the charts.  I didn't know a pilot could even go that high."

            Misato stared dumbly at the screen.  The cityscape of Tokyo 3 was suddenly lit up as bright as day.  Unit 02 had begun to glow with such brilliance that it was as if a miniature star had settled among the rubble and shattered towers.  Misato didn't have time to wonder what was going on as Ishiro shoved her to the side.  "Asuka!" he yelled into the comm. "Attack the base of the central neck NOW!  Go for the center!"

            Asuka flinched as she heard Ishiro's voice come over the comm.  Attack with what? she wondered.

            Looking around, Asuka spotted the perfect weapon.  It was one of the dropped halberds.  Picking it up, Asuka finally realized that her Eva was glowing.  As its hand closed around the halberd, the weapon began to glow as well.

            Turning around, Asuka came face to face with King Ghidorah.  Without hesitation, she began to charge the monster down.  Ghidorah latched a mouth onto Unit 01 and tossed the berserk Eva aside so that it could have a clear line of attack to Unit 02.  Unit 02's glow intensified and the tip of its halberd threw of streams of light, making the whole Eva resemble a comet as it rushed at the golden dragon.

            All three of King Ghidorah's moths unleashed their gravity beams.  The beams slammed into Unit 02; however, they didn't slow down the rampaging Eva in the least.  "Die!" screamed Asuka as she plunged the shining point of her halberd into the base of King Ghidorah's central neck, right where a line of slightly smaller scales indicated that the beast had been struck there once already.

            Ghidorah's middle head uttered a final scream, before it and its neck were detached completely.  A spout of golden blood erupted from the wound that Asuka created.  The severed head fell to the ground where it writhed for a few short seconds before going completely limp.

            Ghidorah's last two heads writhed and shrieked in agony over the loss of their central head.  Then, to the surprise of everyone watching, the monster spread its tattered wings and took to the air.  Its course was taking it slowly out to sea, wailing the entire way.

            "Oh no you don't!" yelled Asuka.  She threw the halberd, which continued to glow.  It met no resistance, plunging into and through King Ghidorah's back.  The tip erupted from King Ghidorah's chest.  Thus impaled, the kaiju let out one final scream before it cleared the horizon, still flying weakly.

            "It's done," said Asuka.  The glow faded from Unit 02 and Asuka once again surrendered herself to the darkness.

            "No!" shouted Misato, "The damn bastard got away."

            "It cannot run far," observed Ishiro, "See for yourself."

            On the radar screen, it showed the object that was King Ghidorah rapidly loosing altitude until it finally plunged into the ocean.

            "There was no way it could get far at all in its injured state," said Ishiro assuredly, "King Ghidorah will probably die there in the sea."

            "Wonderful," sighed Ritsuko, "Now all that's left is the cleanup."

            "Now is the time," said one of the many members of SEELE.

            "Tokyo 3 lies in ruins, the Evangelions have all been severely damaged," observed another, "There could be no better moment than now to start our attack."

            "Let us finish what the kaiju started!"

            "The Instrumentality of Man will be ours!"

            "Hold!" snapped Keel.

            "Why do you delay our action?"

            "NERV is weakened; we can destroy them and take the Evas with ease."

            "Did you not see the new power that Unit 02 is capable of," snapped Keel, "With that kind of strength, it could easily destroy the entire Eva series."

            "Then what do you suggest that we do?"

            Keel smiled cruelly.  "Did you not see what has happened?  Those fools at NERV, in saving themselves have unwittingly delivered the perfect weapon into our hands.  We will take control and use this new weapon to wreak our vengeance and bring about Third Impact."  He began to laugh.  The other members, catching on to what he was hinting at, were quick to join him.

Author's Note: Within this chapter, there are some obvious inconsistencies with regard to my connection with the Heisei Godzilla series.  I did mention in an earlier chapter that I would be staying true to the events of the Heisei series, with a few important changes.  This is one of them.

            In the Heisei series, King Ghidorah was created by time travelers from the future who placed three genetically engineered animals onto the island that Godzilla originally occupied.  The nuclear tests, which were supposed to have created Godzilla then created King Ghidorah instead.  I chose to run with the original origin of King Ghidorah which was introduced in the Showa series that of the awesome destroyer from space.  In my opinion, this was the better of the two origins for King Ghidorah.  For some reason it has a much more ominous ring to it.  Besides, I can't even begin to list the ways in which the whole time-traveler storyline screwed up the plot of the Heisei series.  So, this other origin for King Ghidorah was not only better, but made much more sense to implement as well.  That having been said, I hope no one minds the liberties I took in this chapter.

            You'll also notice that I had mentioned that King Ghidorah was driven back into space by Godzilla (originally he was responsible for the injury that Unit 02 inflicted in this chapter), which means that Mecha-King Ghidorah has not yet made his debut (big spoiler here).

            And finally, with regard to my introduction of Mothra as an active participant in the plot, I know I was a little harsh.  However, I could see even a character as gentle and kind as Mothra is supposed to be being the kind of entity that would be willing to accept the loss of a few for the salvation of the many, which was why I kind of painted a portrait, or so to speak, of Mothra as somewhat uncaring about the plight of the people in Tokyo 3.  I hope nobody minds that either.

            That having been said, the next chapter will probably be primarily transitional, with no major action sequences.  And for those of you who are wondering, No I haven't forgotten about Kensuke.  I just haven't decided what to do with him yet.