NEON BIZARRE GENESIS: FORTUNE AND FATE

PROLOGUE

Antarctica, 1976

The Katsuragi Expedition was a monumental failure.

However, Yui Ikari had no time to ponder this as she desperately struck her ice pick into the frozen rock. Sounds of each wild strike echoed down the ice-coated walls to be then lost to the sub-zero wind. She was the lucky one, having made it close enough to escape after a small avalanche had caused a collapse when she was halfway down the cave. On the other side of the collapse were the less fortunate Dr. Katsuragi and his young daughter.

When the rocks had settled, Yui had tried calling out to the doctor only to be met with a deafening silence. She realized she had no knowledge of how deep the collapse spanned, going for possibly the entire remaining distance of the tunnel. Fearing the worst, she sprinted to the small camp the trio had set up in a small alcove next to the tunnel's entrance.

Yui had thrown open the door of the large tent she and the doctor had just finished setting up not more than an hour ago. Having just unpacked, she wasted no time finding their emergency supply cache. Flipping the latch on the small metal box, Yui pulled out both emergency signal flares: One for the direction of the GEHRIN research station and another for where she predicted her husband's research group would be setting up their temporary camp.

A click. A bang. Then a sharp whistle.

A click. A bang. Then a sharp whistle.

Both flares were shot towards their respective targets, the two streaks of red that they discharged harshly contrasted with the white sky. The others now alerted of her distress, Yui ran back to the tent for an ice pick, grabbed one, and went down the tunnel.

Now here she was, Yui Ikari: world-renown biologist and mother of one all by the age of 26, alone on a continent seemingly designed to kill any form of life that hadn't spent the millions of years evolving to become accustomed to it. Each breath burned her throat, but she continued to swing away. Swing after swing after swing. If she could afford the time to be inciteful, she would call her plan of immediate action genius. That is of course if she hadn't been doing it in a complete frantic rush of instinct.

She hadn't kept track of how long she had been working, it could have been anywhere from an hour to only 10 minutes. But eventually, fatigue forced her to rest. At the very least she could inspect how much damage she had put into the collapse. Catching her breath, she looked at her progress and was disappointed to see that she had made very little headway.

'Time for a new approach, I suppose. Wasn't it Kyoko that used to always tell me that old "Work smarter, not harder" idiom?' Yui thought with a sentimental grin about her time in university.

Yui then took it upon herself to investigate all the cracks and small crevasses she could find between the rocks. Perhaps she could find a loose section to pull out to start work on a rescue tunnel. Or maybe a small rock on which she could make quick progress. As she inspected, her eyes kept stealing short glances back to where she had initially started. Glances which she decided to ignore.

Her investigation into the cave-in bore no practical results, with no other choice she began to consider her only two options:

A) Dig through the entire collapse with the ice pick and rescue Dr. Katsuragi alone.

B) Wait for someone from GEHRIN to make it to the tunnel to help.

The first option she immediately ruled out to be unrealistic, it would take her days to make any form of significant progress if what she did before was the precedent set. Process of elimination, she would have to wait. Yui pressed her back to the wall and slid down to the ground, letting out a defeated sigh.

'Don't like how this just feels like giving up.' Yui thought to herself.

Yui sat on the snow-covered floor and huddled into her thick GEHRIN-issue coat for warmth. Sitting in a curled position, the coat could cover almost her entire body. It was still covered in patches of snowflakes atop its tan-colored material.

After a moment, Yui hummed a short marching beat to herself. Gloved hands patting the rhythm on her knees to help pass the time. It just took one look back at the pile of rocks to make her stop. It just felt… inappropriate.

Time seemed to pass slower by the minute with nothing to occupy it. The only thing Yui could really do was sit and listen to the sound of echoing wind as she caught her breath.

The gnawing anxiety of having to hurry up and wait wasn't exactly a new feeling to Yui, but it certainly didn't make it any pleasant. And as much as her exhausted muscles appreciated the rest, her overactive and motherly mind certainly did not.

Yui began shifting her fingers inside of her gloves. 'Something…' Yui thought, 'I've got to occupy this time with something. Anything. Any action at all.'

Eventually, the restless mind won over the tired body as the doctor lifted herself back onto her feet. As she rose, she instinctually shook the snow off the back of her coat. Her eyes drew back towards the spot in the cave-in where she had first started working once again. With another sigh, she took a closer look at where she had started her attempted rescue.

'Alright, let's see what's so odd about-' Yui couldn't even finish her thought before her body was hitched by shock. She hadn't made "a little progress." Calling what was in front of her that would be a grand overstatement.

Yui Ikari had made no progress.

None.

The light snow on the rocks didn't even appear to have shifted.

Immediately, Yui's gloved hands went to the boulder to confirm. To test if her eyes were somehow deceiving her. But no matter how much she pushed or punched the stone, no matter what angle she viewed it from, it remained unchanged from its initial state in front of her. Not as much as a pebble or a flake had shifted from her strikes.

The more Yui looked, the more ominous the scene in front of her became. It wasn't just the rock; whatever was happening seemed to be happening in the entire tunnel. The only footprints in the cave were when she had entered with Dr. Katsuragi and his daughter. There was no indent in the snow where she had sat down to rest. Her coat was still covered in the light layer of snow, likely fallen on her from when she was between the tunnel and tent, and it hadn't fallen off even with the wild motions she had put her body through while swinging the ice pick. If that wasn't enough, the ice pick in question also showed no signs of being used.

Yui took a step back, 'I feel like I'm… trespassing.'

Slowly, Yui began backing towards the tunnel's entrance as if running would disturb whatever force was causing the bizarre phenomena around her. With her eyes focused forward, the doctor failed to notice the slight lip on the tunnel's floor sending her back first onto the ground with a staggered thud.

The fall caused Yui to let out a small yelp. The lack of give-way made the whole floor feel like concrete. Even with her thick coat, the small stacks of snow on her back felt like nails. Thankfully she had kept her head level and, from what she could still feel despite the cold, hadn't injured anything major. Now all that was left was to get up and get out of this cursed cave.

"Yui? Dr. Katsuragi?"

Still on the ground, Yui looked to see an upside-down person, no she's laying on the ground so the person is right side up, at the cave's entrance silhouetted by the light outside. She squinted in hopes of getting a better view of the figure's identity. Though the voice did sound familiar.

"G-Gendo?" Yui called out to the figure. "Is that you?"

"Yui!" The man's voice called back. Listening closely, Yui had no trouble deciphering its owner. She watched as her husband started to run down the cave towards her.

"Wait! Don't come any closer!" Is what Yui had tried to scream, but her words came out more like a rasp whisper. She had to tell him. There was something terrible about this tunnel, something wrong. She needed to get out, escape.

Just after she tried to warn her husband, Yui sank into the snow beneath her. The feelings of trespassing vanished with it. Things in the tunnel would once again move.

Yui slid her arm in the snow to confirm the change, like a nervous child making their first snow angel. The snow moved as expected as if nothing was ever wrong. The mysterious force had disappeared, though that only served to raise Yui's heightening unease. She raised her right snow-covered glove a fair distance above her face and simply stared at it, still trying to formulate or rationalize the scenario she found herself in. Without knowing why Yui let out a sharp exhale onto the glove, creating a miniature snowstorm that dropped flakes onto her cheeks. The snow didn't feel as cold as it did before, or perhaps it was just the developing frostbite.

"Yui! Are you-?"

It was then that her husband, Gendo Ikari, had finally reached the spot in the tunnel where Yui lay. Immediately, he threw himself on his knees and went to her neck to check her vitals. Only for his hand to be knocked away by the person he was trying to examine.

"I'm fine, dear," Yui said as she started to prop herself off the ground with her elbows. "Sorry, I'm just catching my breath." She tilted her head back slightly to meet his eyes. Their gaze held, "And doing some thinking."

Gendo gently rested a hand on her shoulder, "Take all the time you need, Yui." He removed his scarf and snow goggles to reveal a warm, almost innocent, smile, "I'm just glad you're safe."

With his Yui's welfare hopefully assured, Gendo rose from his knees and looked at the cause of distress. "I take it Katsuragi is on the other side of this collapse?" Gendo asked.

He got a short nod as a response.

Gendo looked further, placing his hand on the nearest rock in the collapse. With only the slightest push, it could be shifted. With a bit of muscle, he could've pulled the stone out entirely. Gendo let out an impressed huff, "It shouldn't be too much of an issue, with the right equipment and manpower that is. But that should be resolved shortly."

Yui was still on the ground, now likely of her own volition. It was now that she remembered that she was part of a multinational research expedition with the budget of a small country. They were more than prepared to deal with almost any misfortune, including cave-ins. "Equipment I get. But what do you mean by manpower, dear?" she asked with what could only be described as a defeated tone.

"Oh right, Akagi and the Professor were following right behind me. They shouldn't be too long now."

Gendo offered a hand to help up his wife. Surprisingly, she didn't take it, nor did she attempt to get up herself. Perhaps she was comfortable. After a moment that didn't feel short as it was, Gendo retracted his hand and continued to look down at Yui. Her face was shifting between looks of intense concentration and dull stupor.

Contrasted with her husband, whose face was beginning to become one of genuine concern after a minute passed of total silence between them. He offered his hand again, "Are you sure you're alright, Yui?" Another minute passed. "Can I- "

Like a bolt, Yui sprung to her feet and embraced the man in front of her faster than he could react. After only a bit of hesitation, Gendo returned the gesture causing Yui to hold him tighter. From the sound of it, she was crying. A weight shift caused Gendo to notice that his wife's legs had given out and that the embrace was the only thing keeping her from falling.

The sound of artic wind was interrupted by the engines of arriving snowmobiles.

"It's perfect, dear." Yui whispered into Gendo's ear between sobs. "I'm perfectly fine."

The Katsuragi Expedition was a monumental success.

PROLOGUE

END

AN: This is the begining of a project that's been stirring around in my head for a while: A parody of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 using the cast of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Though story does take place within the universe of JoJo alongside the events of Stardust Crusaders, I wouldn't expect many of Part 3's characters to be making an appearance.

This is my first work and the first time I've published my writing anywhere. I'm a novice writer so I am both terrified and excited for strangers to give it a read. I hope you enjoy the events of Neon Bizarre Genesis.

This is 15uber, peace!