Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion (yet).
In this chapter, our final and dramatic chapter of the Shikinami saga, with a famous movie franchise. Also can kinda fits for a Hallowen special, I guess.
As always, special thanks to Nonameasushin, calborghete, YourBlandestNightmare, SheriffJohnStone, tomdj1701, Author0fntent, HydrationStation, Lovmemichi, Tnomart, deathbringer374 , Western-Otaku, Xce, MAD Marty, zevallos0910 (welcome, buddy), ThyDevoutBeliever (look at the other comments to see the answer for the doubts) and our Guests, for the support and for keep reading and enjoying this little game.
"Asuka, can you see anything?"
"I'm not reading anything. It's not here."
"The convection current must be stronger than expected."
"There's a deviation in the target's movement speed."
"Recalculate it ASAP."
"Continue operation. Resume descent, please."
"Depth, 1,780. Now at revised estimated target position."
"There it is!"
"We have visual confirmation of target."
"Prepare for capture."
"Super EM photon screen engaged. Systems green."
"Target captured!"
"Nice one, Asuka!"
"Capture operation complete. Will now begin ascent."
"Asuka, are you okay?"
"Of course, I am, idiot! Didn't I say this would be easy?"
"Man, those people from Nerv are a pain in the ass."
"Yes. They ordered us, UN soldiers, to be mobilized here near a damn freaky volcano because there might be a monster under there. That's ridiculous." – the soldier said while taking another drag on his cigarette.
"Well, at least everything is cleared and we found this cozy bar that has some good stuff and also pretty ladies." – his partner sniffed a pair of panties that one of the strippers' girls had threw in his lap during the dance.
"Yeah, who cares about NERV? Let's enjoy this free night. What is the weirdest thing that can happe…."
Both soldiers stopped to speak as they stared at the naked teenaged girl that just entered the bar, drawing the attention of everyone present.
"Hey girl." - The older soldier said – "Wait a few more years and I'm sure that you will be able to find a career here."
"I need your jacket, your weapon and also those panties." – the girl said.
Several laughs were heard throughout the bar.
But after a few moments, and some well delivered blows that left both UN soldiers knocked out, nobody was laughing anymore.
"What? We will need to spend this night here? Why? It's not fair!"
"Calm down, Asuka. We've just captured an Angel. It's dangerous. Until the research team can assure us that there is no danger, the Evangelions have to be ready to action."
"But… but… if that's the case, why keep only idiot Shinji mobilized? If something like that happens, he won't be able to do nothing without me."
"Your Unit 02 is still being prepared to remove the damaged D-Type equipment from it, Asuka. But it's nice to see that you're so worried about him. Kinda cute, actually."
"Ha… as if!"
Shinji Ikari was in the locker room. He was allowed to have a quick meal and rest before get ready to be on his standby duty all night, while the research team would start to make some experiments and tests with the captured Angel.
It would be a long night, but he volunteered for it. Asuka already has done so much today and he was really scared for a moment that he would lose her forever and...
"Shinji-kun, are you there?"
"Whaaat? Misato-san, this is the boys locker room! I'm not ready yet. W-why are you here?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you were here, alone."
Shinji gulped and blushed as the gorgeous woman approached him in a very seductive way.
"Shinji-kun…. It's time for you to d…"
BLAM
Shinji jumped backwards, in shock, as he heard the noise of a gun being shot and Misato's head exploding right in front of him.
"Aaaah…. Ahh…. M-Misato."
He looked at the door of the locker room to see the figure of a girl wearing only a green military jacket and white panties, with a huge pistol in her hand.
"A-asuka? What did you do… Misato-san is…"
He looked in shock to see a headless Misato standing up slowly, her clothes being disintegrated and morphing into the form of a pale nude female. A kinda familiar nude female form.
"A-ayanami?"
Another two shots hit the monstrous form on the chest, projecting it right into the wall of the locker room. The boy threw himself on the floor, in shock, until a hand firmly grasped his wrist.
"Come with me if you want to live."
As Shinji was being dragged by Asuka in the corridor towards the launch platform, he managed to find strength to ask a question.
"Asuka… why are you doing that? What was that thing? Please… answer m…"
He stopped speaking as Asuka put her hand on his mouth with a really strong grip and looked at him in his eyes, as if she was scanning them for some reason.
"Despite of your odd behavior, you really are Shinji Ikari. Disgusting."
"What do you mean?"
"I've concluded that your mental capabilities are insufficient in your current state, so I will explain it to you. I'm not Asuka. I'm a clone for the Shikinami series, created by you in the year 2029."
Shinji looked at the girl with a shocked expression.
"In a few weeks, Nerv research team will input the data retrieved from the experiment with this captured Angel, Sandalphon. But the data will work like a Trojan Horse. Another Angel, Ireul, a nano-scale entity, similar to a virus, will hack into the MAGI computer systems, protecting the hard connections with an AT field on the cables to prevent it from being cut off. Since the MAGI will already be familiar with the Angel data, it won't be able to detect the invasion as hostile, and therefore Ireul will take control of the Central Dogma. The world will be controlled by the Angel and you will be one of the only survivors from Nerv in that devastated world. You survived until you were able to create the Shikinami series, based on the DNA of the girl you loved, and used a concept called Dirac Sea to send me to this point of space-time to rebuild the timeline. Unfortunately, the Angel also created clones of Lilith and is sending them through the rift of the Dirac Sea to preserve the timeline."
"I…. I don't understand…"
"Are you stupid? Ok… I will make it simpler. The captured Angel must be destroyed before the data is retrieved. That's my mission. And those creatures will try to stop me."
"So… you're saying that you're not Asuka… but a clone of her…. from another timeline. And you want to destroy the Angel that you… I mean, Asuka, just captured."
"That was the original plan. But the Lilith clones apparently decided to change plans and try to also alter the timeline, by killing you. So, I will get you to inside of your Evangelion to keep you safe while I will go back there and destroy the target."
"Oh…"
"What are you thinking about? Are you planning to use the Evangelion to stop me?"
"No… I… believe in you, Asuka."
"I'm not Asuka. I'm just a clone of the Shikinami series."
"Well… yes, but... I don't know. Even if you're different, I can see that you're still Asuka somehow. Asuka is Asuka, I guess."
The clone looked at the boy with a confused expression in her face.
"You're an idiot. Just climb up and get inside the robot. I will finish my mission and return to my universe, after eliminating the remaining Lilith clones."
She turned away and starts to run towards the corridor.
"Wait!"
"What now, idiot?"
"Just…. Just be careful, ok?"
The clone stopped to run and awkwardly turned her face away from the boy, waiting several seconds before answering.
"I'll be, baka."
Shikinami was barely standing on her feet, in front of Sandalphon's cage, having lost her left eye and her right arm, facing a horde of headless Lilith's clones.
Until Eva Unit 01 cracked the roof of the facility and crushed all of them with a swift movement from his hand.
"Baka-shinji? You… activated your Evangelion without orders?"
"W-well… technically I'm on stand by duty and I'm supposed to act if things got out of control. And… orders be damned. I couldn't just stay there when you were putting your life in danger."
The clone opened up a small smile.
"Dummy. You're really pressing your luck. Well, there is no way that Nerv staff didn't noticed what happened here, so we will have to act quickly." – she said as she touched the Angel's cage and absorbed the essence of Sandalphon into her functional eye. As she did that, the sirens and alarms went of like crazy, as a pattern blue was detected.
"Asuka! Why… why you did that?"
"It was the only way. I'm too damaged to go back into the Dirac Sea, and the Angel must be destroyed without leaving a single trace. Also I… I needed to save you…. I mean, save your status as a pilot, so if you activated your Eva because of the pattern blue you won't face any trouble for having activated your Eva without orders."
"But… but… that means you're gonna…" – the boy starts to sob.
"Hey… can I ask you a favor?"
Eva Unit 01 was standing at the top of the volcano, holding the clone in the palm of its hand.
"I saw a picture of you once. I didn't know why at the time. It was very old - torn, faded. You were young like you are now. You seemed just a little sad, despite of your Monalisa-like smile. I used to always wonder what you were thinking at that moment."
"Asuka…"
"Thank you, Shinji Ikari, for your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive. You must also protect her. Or I will never exist." – she said as she jumped inside the volcano.
The Eva pilot started to cry hard.
"I can't do it Asuka! I'm weak… I wasn't able to save you. I won't be able to protect her… Heck, I won't even be able to get closer to her. She hates me."
"Idiot! If a clone like me was able to fall in liebe with you, I'm sure that she will auch in der Lage sein. "
Despite of not feeling pain, as she was drowning in the molten lava, her nervous system became confused and she momentary lost the ability to speak in the proper language.
Just as she was about to be fully engulfed by the magma, the girl made a thumbs up signal with her hand and managed to say her last words.
"Sayon…. Goodby… Auf Widese... Hasta la vista… baka."
