Tokyo-3 Arcana
Chapter 25
Immovable Object
Please Read and Review.
I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).
Author Notes:
The game mechanics stuff is taken from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.
This time, there are several numbered notes.
It is a little early for this chapter, but I really wanted to continue the Zeruel fight.
Forest Outside Matsushiro Secondary NERV Base
This whole ascent to the surface of the Earth (1) had been an exercise in annoyances for the drow princess, the former goddess in exile. The light hurt her eyes, forcing her to squint constantly; the air was heavy with smells she did not recognize, some of them disgustingly sweet, and lacking the pleasant smell of rot and decadence. The ground resisted at each step, and she had to constantly pull at the throne to make it move on the irregular terrain.
She followed a hardened dirt path cleared on the ground, which made it marginally easier to move her bounty. Eventually, she reached a strange road. It was made of a single extension of stone, painted with white lines at its center. She wiped sweat from her forehead, and dragged her throne until she could put it over the road, loaded as it was with food packs and spare clothes, it was heavier than she expected at first.
She was not worried about any company, as she had her spiders scouting ahead (2). The immediate area was devoid of any intelligent creature except for her. She decided to follow the strange road, downwards, as it would be easier to manage the weight of her throne and its load. Sooner or later, she would reach civilization, and then, she could begin to conquer this pathetic little world. First thing to do, establish a power base, and obtain a place from where rule. Something discrete, hidden, but well connected. She would need minions and slaves to impose her will on the world. After all, she was a princess. She needed subjects and slaves.
The wizard NERV wouldn't know who had vanquished him until it was too late!
Laveth raised her head, somewhere in the far distance, there was a strange sound. It was akin to a cave in… a deep, rumbling noise. But also like the crack of a whip. She had never heard such a noise. Had she spent any time on the surface before, she might have compared the noise to a series of thunders, but she had never seen a storm. (3)
She shrugged, the noise was too far away to be of any importance.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Outside NERV HQ
Asuka Langley Soryu had never known such pain. The Angel had cleanly removed EVA-02's arms right at the shoulders. A single movement, and her shoulders felt as if her own arms had been amputated. She screamed in pain and fury. EVA-02 fell to one knee, almost shutting itself down in shock. The German-raised pilot gritted her teeth, and raised her head. Small beads of sweat formed momentarily on her forehead, only to be absorbed by the LCL around her. At the edge of her consciousness, she barely heard Misato ordering Maya to close the arteries and veins at the shoulders. Distantly, Asuka knew it was to keep Unit-02 from losing LCL until it couldn't function anymore.
She swallowed her pain and humiliation. No Angel would get the better of her. None! She managed to stand up, ready for a charge against the enemy who dared to treat her and her beloved Evangelion unit as mere insects. If necessary, she would tear this monster to pieces with nothing but her teeth!
A flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. It was Unit-00, still missing its left arm. Asuka shook her head, her vision blurred for a moment, but she noticed something strange. Unit-00 ran heavily, in a very familiar way, the feet close to the ground, making much less noise than it had any right to do. The giant carried a pallet rifle with its right hand, and had two Smash Hawks at its back. 'No. It can't be…' she thought through her agony, 'EVA-00 is moving as if Shinji was at the controls.'
She almost called up Shinji to confirm her suspicions, but decided to play dumb instead. "Wonder Girl? Be careful with this thing! It can strike like a snake with those sheet-like arms."
"Sorry, Asuka." The voice of the Third Child rang into EVA-02's internal comms. "I'm Shinji, Rei has been reassigned to Unit-01. I'm here to lend support while she gets here."
"Was?" She was about to begin a rant, when Misato's voice cut through.
"Asuka! Stand your ground, you can't fight that monster like that, but you can still cover us with your AT Field!"
"But…" hesitated for a moment, but another voice got her attention. Shinji's.
Months before, she would have disregarded Misato's order without a second thought, charging against the Angel, even without arms. Now, after some training with Shinji, and an incursion into a spider plagued building, she listened for long enough to realize she did not have to fight alone.
Not anymore.
His voice sounded as if coming from inside the plug, just like when they had fought the Sixth Angel. Together. "Misato is right, Asuka. Stand your ground and protect HQ, Rei and I will fight this monster."
Awkwardly, Unit-00 raised the rifle, pointing it at the Angel.
Asuka nodded with a jerk, she had a job to do. And she would do it!
Clenching her jaw, she screamed again, but it was not a scream of pain. It was a scream of defiance.
"AT FIELD! MAXIMUM YIELD!"
A wall of shimmering energy manifested around Unit-02; for a second, a myriad of octagonal shapes were visible in the air. Then, the octagons interlocked like pieces of a puzzle, or rings in chainmail armor. And disappeared from view. Suddendly, a ditch, three meters deep, ran almost half a mile to each side of Unit-02.
"Protego (4)." Asuka whispered to herself.
Central Dogma
Lt. Ibuki's Station
Momentarily, the lights in Central Dogma dimmed, but recovered in just a second.
"Her synch is climbing! 67%, 70%! Stabilizing at 77.6%!"
Kaji's jaw dropped open. 'This is a day for breaking records, it seems.' He thought. He looked up. Above in his perch, Commander Ikari had lowered his hands to the desk.
A few minutes before.
Shinji jumped into Unit-00's plug, and contained his impatience to fight. The Commander had managed to throw his plans into disarray by ordering him to pilot the most recalcitrant Evangelion Unit. EVA-00 was infamous due to its tendency to act up. And this time, he could not resort to the electric elemental in the purple EVA's system. Neither could Rei, even had she known the magic word, he was the only one who could wake it from its sleep.
However, he had an ace in the sleeve. He knew who occupied EVA-00's core. He sent his thoughts into EVA-00's core. 'Rei? Are you there?'
A happy yell answered. 'Big Brother! You came! You can hear me!' The voice sounded like a child's, just as he imagined Rei must have sounded like when she was a child. He remembered his vague impressions of a child in the interface, during the Cross Compatibility Experiment, so long ago.
'I'm sorry I ran away last time you came… forgive me?' Unlike the teenaged Rei's stoic behavior, this younger version of his sister was quite emotive and expressive.
Shinji sent a calming wave of feelings, 'Of course I forgive you, you are my Little Sister. I'd like to talk more to you, but…'
'I know! Bad monster outside!' She sounded excited about it, 'I will help you fight it!'
Mentally, Shinji smiled at her, 'Thank you, Rei. Now, let's show this monster what is proper respect!'
NERV HQ, Central Dogma
Lt. Ibuki's Station.
"Dr. Akagi… Shinji has synched with Unit-00. And… you better see this."
"What? His synch rate has gone into the 50% already?"
"And climbing fast, Dr. Akagi. At this rate, his synch will be well into the 80% by the time Unit-00 has arrived to the GeoFront."
Dr. Akagi kept on looking at the synch diagram. The waves were getting closer and closer. "He might break the record he managed before the Twelfth Angel if he keeps climbing."
Misato shook her head to control her hair. "Could he compensate for the lack of an arm with a higher synch rate?"
Akagi thought for a moment. "Unit-00 will move faster, yes. But I'm not sure how well Shinji can fight with only an arm."
Close to Central Dogma door, Ryoji Kaji leaned back against the wall, trying to be as un obstructive as possible, while keeping himself aware of the tactical situation. 'If the fight against the possessed Unit-03 was not a fluke, and I don't think it was, Shinji does have a chance against the Angel.' He thought.
Misato addressed Unit-00, "Shinji, can you shoot a pallet rifle with a single hand?"
"Uh… I think I can, but I will need a different CQC weapon. The Prog Knife is too short, and the Sonic Glaive is a two-handed weapon. (5)"
"Okay, we will send you a couple of Smash Hawks to the weapon depot at your exit point."
"Thank you, Misato."
NERV HQ, Central Dogma
Commander Ikari's Perch
Behind his orange tinted glasses, Gendo Ikari thought feverishly. ´Why is Unit-00 so accepting of the Third Child now? Is it related to Unit-01's willingness to accept Rei? Is this mere coincidence? Deliberate? And if deliberate, who is helping the pilots? Unit-02 is the only one behaving within known parameters, and even it is surpassing the previous synch. Could this be some way for SEELE to interfere with my plan?'
Behind him, Fujutsuki simply stood and watched. 'The tide is changing, it seems.´ he mused, side-looking at his former student, somewhat amused by the man's barely noticeable agitation.
GeoFront
Catapult Exit
Unit-00 had barely risen up from the ground, when the weapon depot emerged from the ground, and opened the sliding panels that protected its content. Inside, a colossal pair of single edge axes, and a similarly scaled rifle waited to be used. Shinji directed Unit-00 to grab one axe, he took it, tested the balance, and put it at Unit-00's back, magnetizing the armor to keep the weapon at his back, he did the same with the other axe. Leaving it here would be a waste. Once both axes were securely mag-locked at its back, Unit-00 took the rifle, and checked the magazine was full.
'Let's see what we can do to this Angel, Rei."
'Yes, Big Brother!'
EVA-00 took the pallet rifle, a push of the gigantic thumb released the safety catch.
It was then that Asuka screamed. Shinji gritted his teeth, and Unit-00 ran towards the fight, dragging the umbilical cable after it.
Tokyo-3
Abandoned Warehouse, Five Blocks away from the New Star Mall
Grurruk awoke with a jerk. He dope slapped the nearest goblin, making it stumble down to the floor, and roared, showing two rows of yellowish teeth, all of them large and dense. "WHO IS MAKING THAT INFERNAL NOISE?"
The goblins looked at each other, before pushing an unfortunate chump ahead. "We-we don no, boss. Noise comes from outside!" The goblin, a young male, trembled before his master. "Ah-ah-guh…"
Before the young goblin could add something, a tremor almost knocked everybody down. Grurruk took his board with a nail, and ran outside. 'That sounds like the biggest fight ever!"
Grurruk hurried up the ladder of the warehouse, once on the roof, he looked around. An instant after locating the source of the noise, he hurried down. "Grab everything, you idiots! We hide! Rull the Thunderer is here!"(6)
Minutes later, the goblins huddled together in the basement of one of the buildings near the mall, hearing the thunder noises getting closer and closer.
Grurruk took a piece of dried meat, that the goblins had found somewhere, and chewed it slowly.
Suddenly, all the stories the tribe's shaman had told the orclings, began to make some sort of sense.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Evangelion Cage 3
Unit-01 Plug
Rei Ayanami waited impatiently for the Bakelite to dissolve. It was paradoxical that the substance hardened at room temperature, but became liquid at freezing temperatures. The red block that imprisoned Unit-01 melted gradually under a constant rain of liquid Nitrogen, pumped through especially made spigots, built around the walls of the cage. The liquid Bakelite drained quickly through the cage walls and floor, through refrigerated channels that kept it flowing until the red substance reached a subterranean recycling chamber, where it was filtered for later reuse.
A feeling of intense cold surrounded Unit-01, Rei's high synch meant that she would feel the liquid Nitrogen against Unit-01's body.
'We will soon be ready, Rei.' Yui Ikari sent to the blue haired pilot, who, in a twisted way, was the closest she had to a daughter, along with her counterpart in Unit-00's core. Even their given name was a reminder of happier times, when she and Gendo were choosing the name for their first child.
But Gendo's actions had soured her on the man. He was supposed to raise Shinji to be a brave young man, who would decide if Instrumentality was to be enacted or not. Gendo Ikari's plan had turned her son into a meek pawn, always unsure of himself, almost devoid of self-esteem, and dangerously apathetic.
Silently, she thanked the Twelfth Angel, code named Leliel, for having sent them to Oerth, for giving Shinji the chance to find a loving family, strange as it was; and for giving her the time and chance to realize her own plan to become a monument to an extinct Humanity was nothing but madness and Hubris. The existence of the Multiverse, with at least seven known worlds (7) where Humanity lived, was proof enough for her that the Human Race would not go extinct anytime soon. There was no need to preserve their memory. Therefore, fighting to save Earth from Third Impact was the only acceptable course of action.
GeoFront.
Emergency Bunker 15
Rusilka Burningforge, dwarven warrior, artisan, and weapon smith sat alone on the hard metallic floor. Her ears picked up the rumbling noises outside the bunker. It was a humbling experience. Kaji had not exaggerated the power of the combatants.
Even the floor of the bunker shook.
Whatever it was, an Angel was no dragon. It was so much worse. A single word came to her mind. The only thing she could compare the pure power she heard and felt.
Tarrasque. (8)
The Destroyer of Worlds, Herald of Rovagug...
GeoFront
Shinji whispered the word "Adamas"(9), as EVA-00 raised the pallet rifle. The AT Field coalesced around the titanic bio-mech. And for a moment, it shimmered on its surface, before being absorbed by the armor plates.
Calmly, he and Rei centered the Angel in the targeting reticle. This first shot would determine his subsequent actions. He whispered a second word, "Sharoot" before pulling the trigger.
Three magic-powered bullets rocketed from the rifle's muzzle.
A moment later, the three bolts impacted against Zeruel's passive AT Field.
The protective shield had been breached, the three bullets impacted the Angel, detonating spectacularly on the black and white monster.
From EVA-02's plug, Asuka gasped.
"It can't be!"
Thick smoke plumes dissipated slowly around the Angel of Might.
The skull mask that was its head turned slowly towards Unit-00.
There was no damage.
In Central Dogma, the silence was complete.
Even Major Misato Katsuragi looked at the scene with bulging eyes. Her mouth hung open in disbelief.
"This can't be possible…" she said, her voice breaking.
Author Notes
(1) I couldn't resist the reference to one of the classic AD&D adventures, Descent into the Depths of the Earth.
(2)Yes, I have copied this from Taylor Hebert/Skitter/Weaver/Khepri, the protagonist of Worm. Personally, I haven read John McCrae's (a.k.a. wildbow) original story, as it is unrelentingly depressing. I have only read fanfics based on it. Poor Taylor has worse luck than Daredevil! Even being sent to the Warhammer 40,000 setting is an improvement! Go check "The Weaver Option", by Antony444. (Technically, it's the 35th Millennium, but things haven't really changed much for the Imperium in 10,000 years. Until recently, that is, but that is not important now.)
(3) Laveth is hearing Zeruel demolishing Tokyo-3's defenses.
(4) Having established Asuka as a Harry Potter fan, it was natural she invoked the Shield charm while extending the AT Field to the maximum.
(5) All these Close Quarter Combat weapons are canonical to NGE, though not all of them see much use. The Progressive Knife is the most frequently used, starting with Shamshel. The Sonic Glaive is the weapon Asuka uses in the first fight against Israfel. The Smash Hawks are used by Asuka too, to climb over a building as Leliel is absorbing it.
(6) Rull the Thunderer is a minor orc deity in Golarion. A deity of war and thunder, who strikes down his enemies with bolts of lightning. He should not look anything like Zeruel, but, well… energy blasts that form energy crosses high in the air really can't compare to anything else in an orc's mind.
(7) The worlds Yui is thinking of are the main settings TSR and Wizards of the Coast have published with the D&D and AD&D rules. Namely Oerth (Greyhawk), Abeir-Toril (Forgotten Realms), Mystara (including Hollow World), Athas (Dark Sun), Krynn (Dragonlance), and Eberron (Eberron). The Ravenloft and Planescape campaigns are set in demiplanes, not really complete worlds by themselves. Spelljammer is kind of a connection between settings. There are more worlds and campaign settings published, of course; but they are either sub-settings for one of the campaigns above (like Kara-Tur, the Horde, Maztika, Underdark, Al-Qadim, and Malatra, all set in the Forgotten Realms world); minor settings, with only a few supplements published, like Jakandor; belong to other publishers, under the Open Gaming License, like Kalamar; or were originally licensed from other franchises, like Lankhmar (set in Nehwon, the world where Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser live. BTW, the Twain are the archetypes for the bard and the rogue in D&D. Fritz Laiber created a very interesting world for his characters, highly reccomended). Of course, in this story there is a seventh world; Golarion, the world of the Pathfinder campaign setting. Though the characters themselves can not remember the name of the world, due to the way they have reached the NGE setting; which for this story purposes, derives from the D20 Modern rules. BTW, there was a steampunk style upgrade for Greyhawk, published in both Dragon and Dungeon, the official D&D magazines. It was called Greyhawk 2000, and the setting advanced the medieval society of the Greyhawk setting up to a Victorian age. Shinji has not gone to those worlds, his adventures with the party were all set on Oerth, with occasional visits to some alternate planes. Though he did met a few people native to those other worlds.
(8) The Tarrasque is one of the less used monsters in D&D. Mostly because it is ridiculously high level. Highly resistant to damage, and able to raze whole countries to the ground in just a few days. Of course the Tarrasque is capable of obliterate most parties in a few rounds, at the most. For a non-RPG comparison, imagine the average party of very efficient characters being the equivalent to, say, the Terminator or Robocop, terrifying opponents against regular humans. The Tarrasque is Godzilla. A very angry Godzilla. Very angry and hungry Godzilla. And there are no tanks to shoot at it. Fortunately, the Tarrasque is a unique creature. it is one of the Spawn of Rovagug, God of Destruction, and also is Rovagug's Herald.
(9) As a sensible precaution, Shinji has cast Mage Armor on EVA-00, the verbal component is simply the Greek word for "invincible, unconquerable" or the hardest steel. Adamas is the root for the word Diamond, and of course, Adamantium.
