Super Robot Wars Alpha Clash: Book 2

A Super Robot Wars Fan Fiction Series by Ryoga316

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:

The following is entirely a fan fiction story of Super Robot Wars and is not in any way related to the actual Super Robot Wars story. Any reference or inference to any other copyrighted work is used for the same purpose. Super Robot Wars and its characters are copyright Banpresto and their respective owners. The original characters used in this fan fiction are copyright Ryoga316. Daiken Crow and Axel Hawkins are property of Rurounin Mao and used with permission. Comments and suggestions are welcomed via e-mail at ryoga_

Author's Note: This Chapter was developed in September 07, 2005 and is my last entry into this series before I decided to quietly cancel it due to several factors, mainly because of real life issues, and the release of the sequels to SRW Alpha and OG. I did not published this until 6 years later and will be released in its unpolished format for all to read. I apologize to anyone subscribed to me for the inconvenience.

Chapter 4:

"Invader of Heaven! Angel Attack!"

Part 1

"The enemy has passed the first sector!" a female operator reported inside a large, yet dark control room. "All navy ships and submarines are commencing attack!"

From the large monitor screen, battleships from the Japanese Naval Force are shown firing every weapon they had. Aircraft carriers launched their jet fighters and firing all of their missiles on the gigantic object walking slowly towards the shore leading to Tokyo-3. The missiles engulfed the mysterious object in smoke. When the smoke cleared, an octagon like barrier surrounded the unit. The giant looked extremely slim and portions of what appeared to be its bones are exposed, namely the ribs, shoulders and skull, which is like a bird of sort. A large, red orb can be found in the center of the rib cage. Just then, flashes of light came out from the skull's eyes and for every flash, each ship is blown instantly.

"First platoon has been entirely wiped out! All attacks against it shown ineffective!" reported a male operator. "The enemy is about to pass the second sector! The second platoon is about to engage!"

"As we thought, an AT Field," a man in a brown coat said standing. From his looks he appears to be somewhere in his 50's.

"Indeed. Normal weapons are useless..." replied another man who is sitting at his desk. He wore a black outfit and has glasses on and a black beard. He appears to be in his late 40's or so. His hands are clamped together close to his face and his elbows on the desk.

Then, another operator made another report. "Enemy has passed the second sector and is close to the city! Secondary platoon has been wiped out as well!"

"Incoming transmission." said the female operator. "It's from Commander Oka of the Far East Base."

"Put it on screen," replied the man in the black.

"Commander Gendou Ikari," Oka greeted the man in black. "The enemy is coming closer to the mainland and my forces are nearly depleted. Even though the entire city is evacuated, I will not authorize the use of the N2 mines against the enemy unless it's a last resort. So I decided to put you in charge of this operation."

"Understood, Commander Gou. Fighting these 'Angels' is the purpose of NERV."

"Be informed as well that the Londo Bell are now headed towards the city. If the situation arises, you have the power to ask for their assistance."

"Understood. Ikari out." The transmission then ends as Gendou redirects his attention to one of the operators. "Ibuki, contact Ritsuko and tell her to prepare Ayanami to sortie in the Unit-00."

"Understood, Commander," said the female operator. "Contacting Dr. Akagi now."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Tokyo-3, a woman was screaming at the top of her lungs from inside her car, bumping his head at the steering wheel. "WHY, WHY, WHY! I can't believe I got myself lost at a time like this!" She then tries to activate her GPS device, only to find it not working. "Damn it! And I don't have a map of this city too! Now what the hell am I going to do!"

The woman panics as she scratches her head like a crazed monkey, then shortly after, finally calms down and takes a deep breath. "Ok, Misato, don't freak out," she said to herself. "Just remember that he's at Tokyo-3 Bus Terminal No..."

"...No. 13." A young boy said to himself as he reads the sign of his bus stop. Then looks at a photo of a woman with long dark blue hair in a bikini with the message:

"I'll pick you up at Bus Terminal 13. Wait for me!"

The message was sealed with a kiss. And right under it is the sender's name - Misato. His eyes twitched a bit as he asked himself why the woman would send him a picture of herself in a skimpy bikini just so to invite him over. A bit of frustration surrounds the boy as the person who is supposed to pick him up is over an hour late. He gave a sigh and decides to go to the public payphone next to the terminal to call somebody. As he placed the phone in his ear, he noticed that there was no dial tone. He tried pressing the tone button several times and even tried the other payphones nearby. But all of them don't seem to be working.

Then, the corner of his eye caught something. The young boy turned and saw a girl wearing a school uniform. She had light blue hair and albino white skin. She also had strange red eyes and her facial expression was blank.

The boy looked at the girl as she looked back. Then when the boy blinked for a second, the girl simply vanished. Confusion clouded the boy's mind, but soon set his wonder about the girl aside and returns to wait for the person to pick him up. The photo of the woman was the last part of the message that was given to him. When Shinji Ikari received an all-expense paid invitation from the woman, the photo had a letter stating that he is to go to Tokyo-3 to see his father.

His father...Gendou Ikari...

Shinji has not seen his father in a very long time. His last memory of seeing his father was when he was very young. His father has left him in the care of his foster parents shortly after his mother died in an accident. Shinji remembers well how much he cried for his mother, and then even harder when, just like that, his own father left him. Since then he had been quiet, sad, and lonely, sometimes pessimistic. His peers at school tease him as he grows up, calling him a weirdo and a loser, and Shinji never had any friends at all. But to him, it all doesn't seem to matter.

Then, Shinji heard a faint rumbling noise coming from far away. The noise slowly starts to get a little louder, with sounds of water splashing. He figures it's coming from the sea and that something is approaching...

"It can't be..." gasped Lynn.

"I'm afraid so, Captain," Commander Oka replied. "The enemy has some kind of barrier that nullifies all kinds of attacks. Even the beams from the Mobile Suits defending the third sector proved ineffective and all of them have been wiped out." He then gives the visuals of the Angel as it approaches close to the city.

"Sho, have you seen these kind of aliens before?" Lynn asked the Dunbine pilot.

"No, Captain," Sho shook his head as he and everyone else stared at the Angel's assault. "I've never seen such a thing ever been done in Byston Well."

"And it's totally different from the Guymelefs in Gaea." Van said.

"In any case, Commander," Lynn speaks. "ETA is in 5 minutes. We will sortie as soon as we are within range and..."

"Stand down, Captain," the Commander interrupts. "For this operation, I have put you all under the command of NERV. You are not to perform any special heroics and follow NERV's orders at all times until the Angel is defeated."

"Are you saying that even WE can't defeat this foe?" Koji asked angrily upon hearing Oka's statement.

"These are not your everyday foes, Mr. Kabuto. We have no idea what these Angels are really capable of, or how we can defeat it. That is why NERV was founded to fight these Angels, just as the SDF-1 was created to combat the Aerogaters. And besides, that is an order."

"I understand, Commander," Lynn replies and ends the transmission. Then turns towards her combat party. "Well, you heard the man."

"Are you just going to let this NERV hound us on what to do, Captain!" Koji said to Lynn.

"The Commander is right, Koji," Irmhardt responded. "If even the Mobile Suits can't break through that barrier, then we don't know what will."

"It's just like any other barrier! All we need to do is increase our power to the max and we can break it through!"

"Koji does have a point," Ryoga then speaks out. "However, we cannot act on our own and cause any trouble as we have just begun our operations as a new group. I would suggest that we go on standby until NERV does call us to take action. In the meantime, we'll adjust the power of all our weapons to at least try to drive the enemy back if not defeat it."

Lynn finds Ryoga's idea satisfactory and gives a nod. "All right, let's make it so. Everyone be on stand by. We will arrive at the battlefield in 3 minutes. In the meantime, prepare your units and adjust your weapons."

"Yes, Captain!" Everyone answered and went to their positions.

"How is Ayanami?" Gendou asks Dr. Akagi via audio transmission.

"She is still suffering from the injuries she received from the last experiment, but she is able to pilot the Eva." replied Dr. Akagi from the hangar's control deck. "However, the Unit-00 will take about 2 minutes to reboot before it is fully functional."

"2 minutes?" said Fuyutsuki, the brown-coated man. "The Angel will reach the Geofront by then."

"Then have the Geofront's self-defense systems operational." Gendou commanded. "Fire at the Angel to buy time until the Unit-00 sorties."

But just before Fuyutsuki will carry the order out, they all noticed on the monitor that the Angel received a hit. Though the AT Field protected it, the force of the attack knocked back the Angel, almost losing its vertical base.

On the battlefield, a well-dressed man stood above a radio tower in one of the buildings. He had a black beard and a small mustache. His right eye is covered with a black shade glass attached to a device on his right temple. Both the Angel and those at NERV looked at the man who is puffing his cigar.

"So you are the so-called 'Angel' the boys have been talking about for a long time," the man said. "If I'm not mistaken, the name given to you is 'Sachiel'."

"Alberto?" Fuyutsuki asked as he recognized the man facing the Angel. "The famed Alberto of the Magnificent 10?"

"They say you are mankind's greatest threat, the reason why Big Fire is formed to defeat the likes of you," Alberto adds. "I can see the lame Japanese Army can't even fill a dent in you. But don't think that barrier of yours can protect you from me." He then takes one last puff and drops his cigar while his hands begin to glow.

The Angel simply stares at Alberto.

"Now, let's see what really makes you a threat..." Alberto said. When the cigar finally fell to the ground, the Angel Sachiel flashes its eyes and the building where Alberto stood exploded. Alberto however jumps off the tower just as the building was blown to bits and counterattacks with a fast, flying punch. The Angel's AT Field is activated again, but the force of Alberto's punch was strong enough to push the Angel way back. The Angel flashes its eyes again and Alberto simply dodges and counters with another punch, pushing back the Angel further.

"Incredible..." Dr. Akagi comments as she watches the battle. "He is able to fight in equal terms against the Angel."

"It would appear that the 'observers' have arrived," Fuyutsuki comments.

"Only the Big Fire group would do something this ludicrous..." Gendou snuffs.

"Should I activate our defense systems?"

"No. Let's use this to buy us time until Ayanami is fully ready."

"Commander, a large ship is coming this way," female operator Ibuki reports. "They're probably from the Londo Bell."

"Hail them."

"Yes, sir."

"So, he's Alberto of the Magnificent 10..." Ryoma said as he and the rest of the crew of the White Base Kai watched the battle from the monitors.

"Indeed, he's unbelievable," Sho seconded. "He doesn't have a robot of sorts, but he is able to hold his own against that thing..."

"But why would someone like him be doing here?" Lynn asks.

"Captain, incoming transmission," reports Mika. It's from NERV.

"NERV? Put it through."

"This is Commander Ikari of NERV."

"Captain Mao of the White Base Kai from Londo Bell. We're here to..."

But the Commander interrupts. "Your orders are to stand down. Stay where you are and wait for further orders. Do not interfere."

Then the transmission is cut off.

"What the heck was that?" Koji asked.

"Commander, scary he looks that," Sung comments, still couldn't able to make her English straight.

"Well, what are your orders, Captain?" Naomi asks.

"How's our weapon adjustments going, Yoshi?" Lynn asked the chief engineer.

"Just give me a minute or so and everything should be set!" Yoshiko responded as she makes a few clicks and twists to one of the circuits.

"All right." Lynn replies. "Everyone, remain on standby until then."

Meanwhile Alberto and the Angel Sachiel continue to fight one another. But no matter how much they unleash their attacks, neither of them is able to make a hit. Only the buildings in the city suffer the most damage from these two combatants.

Shinji was able to get a glimpse of the Angel, but because of Alberto's incredible speed, he is unable to see the member of the Magnificent 10 striking blow by blow against the giant alien. All he sees is the Angel flashing its eyes and destroying buildings at random.

And it just so happens one of them is where Shinji is close to.

By instinct, Shinji makes a run for it, but the shock of the explosion caught on to the young boy and sends him flying in the air, then rolls hard on the concrete. The feeling is painful, no doubt. But Shinji knows he can't just lie there and needs to move out as quickly as possible. He manages to get on his feet and makes another run. As he is about to reach the nearest crossing, a car suddenly appears in front of him and blocks his path.

"HI~~~~!" a woman pops her head out of the window and greets Shinji. The woman had long dark hair reaching down her shoulders and wore a red leather jacket covering her black overalls. She had pretty smooth, white skin and had a pretty good overall physique. When Shinji looked at her, it then came to him that this female driver was the very woman from the photograph.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting!" she said with a troublesome smile, sweats dropping at her face. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Um...it's not a problem," Shinji replied.

"Well, get in!"

Knowing the situation, Shinji does not give a second thought and rides in. As soon as he's buckled up, the woman step on the gas and the car gets going. While on their way out of the battle, the monitor on the car's dashboard showed a woman in short, blond hair and wears a lab coat.

"MAJOR KATSURAGI!" the woman nagged. "WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG!"

"Ah! Sorry! Sorry, Ritsuko!" Misato replied with a fake laugh. "I've already picked up him and we're on our way back!"

"This isn't the time for any laughing matter, Misato! The Angel's already in the city so we have no option but to sortie Unit-00!"

"Unit-00! Won't Rei's condition get any worse if she pilots it now?"

"She wouldn't have to be if you brought him in earlier! Now get going!" the transmission then cuts off...and goes on again for a moment. "And DON'T YOU DARE wreck my car!"

"Scout's Honor, I won't!" The transmission ends again.

"So, um..." Shinji tries to speak up to the woman.

"Oh, so sorry again. I'm Major Misato Katsuragi. Pleased to meet you, Shinji Ikari."

"Um...pleased to meet you too, Miss Katsuragi."

"Just 'Misato' would be fine."

"Um...ok."

"I know you have a lot of questions to be answered, Shinji-kun. But for now, we better get out of here first."

"Is that all you can throw on?" Alberto taunts the Angel as he stares at him from yet another building. "Just nothing but flashing eyes?"

The Angel only stares back.

"Well, I was only PLAYING with you! Now it gets serious." With that Alberto drives his right arm downward, palm up. Then he grabs his right wrist with his left hand. Very soon, gusts of wind surround Alberto as a glowing light with sparks of electricity surging out surrounds his right hand. The palm turned into a fist and Alberto makes a charge.

The Angel Sachiel stood its ground, activating the AT Field once again to block Alberto's punch. The barrier did its job...but only for a few seconds until, surprise to all whom witnessed it, breaks. Alberto's punch finally connects hard on the Angel's face, knocking it off its feet.

Alberto stood on top of one of the buildings once again as he looks down at the fallen Angel, holding his right wrist. "That one took a lot of my own power," he said. "I have to admit, you were pretty good."

He then noticed a movement not far from where he's standing. Suddenly, from the ground up, a robot came out. Its body is humanoid like in appearance, but it is very slim and appears to be light armored. Vertical, fin like objects are on its shoulders and a huge black cord is attached on its back. Finally, it has a mono-eyed head and the robot is in overall light blue colors, with some light gray trims on some areas, notably the arms.

"Hmmm...the Evangelion Unit-00. So, NERV has finally made its move," Alberto said, looking over at the robot, then back at Sachiel, which is slowly standing itself up. "Consider yourself lucky. I'll let you two destroy each other then." Alberto then disappears.

"What the heck is that?" Koji asks as he looks at the blue robot from his Pilder's monitor.

"It's probably a unit from NERV." Van answered, inside his Escaflowne.

"I don't think it's a good idea we just stand by like this." Ryusei said inside his R-1. "Why not we go in as backup?"

"It's NERV's orders, Ryusei-kun," Akira replies. "We need to keep a cool head to avoid any unnecessary situations."

"Darn it!" Koji smacks his fist. "I want to beat the crap out of that thing right now! If that Alberto guy can knock it down, so can Mazinger!"

"Unit-00 is now ready for combat!" Ibuki reports. "Synchronization Rating 41%"

"Ayanami!" Gendou calls out.

"Yes, sir," a female voice responds coming from the blue robot.

"Engage combat with the Angel. Defeat it by any means necessary."

"Yes, sir. Unit-00 will now engage the enemy."

The Unit-00 then makes its attack at the Angel.

Part 2

Not far from where the Evangelion Unit-00 stood, a large metal casing suddenly erected from the ground. The Unit-00 reached for that casing and pulled out a large assault rifle, then opened a series of fast, rapid shots at the Angel. The Angel simply opens up its AT Field and easily deflects the shots. Still, the Unit-00 continues to fire its weapon until it has run out of ammunition. The Angel then counterattacks with its flashing eyes and hits the Evangelion. But the target suffered no damage whatsoever...

...thanks to its very own AT Field.

"No way!" Ryusei shouts as he watches the battle. "That thing has the same barrier as the other one!"

Ryoga remained quiet as he looked closely at the Unit-00. "Is that...is that robot made of EOT as well?" he asked himself.

The Unit-00 then goes for a melee attack, rushing towards Sachiel and throwing a hard punch. The Angel decides to do the same. As the two came close, the Unit-00 was able to connect its punch, avoiding the Angel's own. The blue Evangelion follows through when a knife appeared out of its fin-like shoulder. It pulled the knife out and aims for the Angel's torso, where the red orb is exposed. The Angel tries to recover from the punch it received by ducking and turning its head to flash its eyes. Sachiel's move avoids its red orb from getting hit, but was stabbed at the shoulders instead. The Unit-00 then tries to move the knife through the Angel's body so as to increase the damaged area, and then pulls it out as it covers some distance, just in time to activate its AT Field to avoid another eye flash. Sachiel attacks relentlessly with a series of repeated eye flashes. The Unit-00 takes steps backwards, shielding itself from the attacks with its AT Field.

Then, Sachiel flashes its eyes one more time - aiming at the Unit-00's feet to knock it off balance. It then notices a long, large cable attached to the Unit-00's back. Sachiel uses another eye flash at the cable and cuts the connection off.

"Umbilical Cord has been cut!" Ibuki says. "The Unit-00's power is decreasing!"

Then, the Angel's large wound it received from the Unit-00's knife started to close. The Londo Bell team were shocked at what they see.

"Look at that!" Musashi said. "The wound closed!"

"It seems not only does this new enemy have a powerful barrier, but the ability to heal itself..." Hayato remarks.

"How are we going to defeat something like that?" Ryoma asked.

Koji began gripping the control handle of his Pilder tightly, gritting his teeth. He was always confident that Mazinger Z could take on anybody, as his grandfather, Prof. Juzo Kabuto, designed it to be virtually invincible against the MetalBeasts, the Kyoryu Empire, and the Zeons. But after witnessing the powers of Sachiel, even he begins to have a feeling of doubt.

Sachiel unleashes yet another eye flash and the Unit-00 activates its AT Field to block it. But this time, the field breaks and the Evangelion took a hit. The Angel then charges at the stunned blue robot and drives its hand at the torso. A piercing needle shaped light spews out of the Unit-00's back and red blood liquid starts spraying out.

"Unit-00's taking critical damage!" Ibuki reports. "Power now at 45%!"

The Angel then uses the pierced weapon to slowly lift up the Unit-00 and drives its back on a nearby large building. It then starts making strike after strike on different areas of the Evangelion's body with the piercing beam-like weapon coming out of its hands, like a psychopath stabbing its victim to its heart's content. Everyone in NERV's control room is shocked at the sight. The female operator, Ibuki, covers her mouth as she starts to vomit, unable to stand watching the scene. Gendou, however, remained motionless and stared at the monitor as though it was nothing.

The Evangelion finally falls to the ground, heavy slashes marked all over its body. The very slashes oozing out with red blood liquid. But Sachiel wasn't done yet. The Angel grabbed the head of the Unit-00 with one hand, lifting the virtually lifeless robot up, and pulled out its piercing weapon once more from its other hand. The Angel carefully aims its weapon at the Unit-00's neck, attempting to cut the head off. But just as it was about to strike...

"PHOTON BEAM!"

A beam of yellow light suddenly hits Sachiel at the side, forcing it to drop the Unit-00. The Angel quickly turned its attention to the direction of the beam to sight its attacker.

The beam came from Mazinger Z.

"KOJI!" Lynn shouts. "What do you think you're doing! We are ordered to stay out of this!"

"What! And let that thing treat that robot as though it was dead meat!" Koji retorts. "I'm not gonna allow it!" He then turns his attention to the Angel. "Listen, you! I have no idea what you are and I don't give a damn what you're capable of! I won't let you have things your way and hell I won't be beaten by the likes of YOU!"

Mazinger Z then raises its arms forward as Koji shouts out "ROCKET PUNCH!"

But the Angel is prepared this time as it releases its AT Field to block the Rocket Punches. As they return to Mazinger's arms, Koji launches a second attack.

"PHOTON BEAM!" Mazinger then fires the Photo-Atomic Beam coming from its eyes.

But the result was the same.

"Fine! Then try this! BREAST FI..."

But before Koji could activate it, the Angel flashes its eyes and Mazinger Z takes a hit. Then the Angel rushes in, grabs Mazinger's head, and swings Mazinger left and right, crashing it to the building. It then shoves Mazinger upward and follows through with another eye flash. Mazinger is then knocked back and slammed hard on the ground.

"KABUTO!" Boss shouts from the bridge of the White Base Kai.

"KOJI-KUN!" Sayaka shouted as well upon seeing what happened to him.

"Captain!" Ryoga then calls Lynn via audio. "Things are getting worse! You must send us out, NOW!"

Lynn slammed her fist on her armchair, very upset on the occurring events. She then stood up and speaks out loudly. "Everyone, move out and attack the enemy!"

Koji was unconscious after the assault from the Angel and Mazinger remained motionless. The Angel looks down at its fallen foe and attempts to finish it this time. However, it did not go that way as Sachiel instead activated its AT Field to block a large beam coming from the White Base Kai. The ship's amplified Mega Particle Cannons aren't enough to break it, but at least it kept the Angel at bay while Sho and Masaki recovered Mazinger and flew to safety.

"It appears the Londo Bell has made its move," Fuyutsuki said. "And good timing too, otherwise, Rei would be..."

"Initiate recovery of the Unit-00." Gendou commanded. "Let them do as they please."

Everyone else began opening fire at the Angel with all their long-range attacks. But the Angel simply remains unharmed thanks to the AT Field.

"It's no use!" Ryusei said. "We can't break through that barrier with our weapons!"

"Then we'll just go in hand-to-hand combat!" Ryoga responds as he charges the Grungust Type-2 forward. "Guys, open fire and give me cover!"

Everyone wondered what Ryoga is thinking going for a simple charge, but having no time to argue, they stick to what he said and began launching a series of long-range attacks. As expected, Sachiel blocks them with its barrier. The Grungust then comes close and strikes a punch, but to no effect. The long-range attacks stopped.

Now it's Sachiel's turn to attack. Quickly the Angel attempts to drive its palm onto the Grungust's torso just as it did to the Evangelion. Ryoga this time was able to sense this thanks to his Psycho Driver abilities and grabs the Angel's arm. He quickly follows through with another attack.

"EYE SOLID LASER!"

The eye beams of the Grungust struck the Angel's face and smoke emits from the impact, blinding its vision for just a moment. Ryoga quickly does another follow through. He moves the Grungust to use both hands to grab Sachiel's arm and goes for a Double-Arm Shoulder Throw. As the Angel goes overhead and is about to be slammed down, the Grungust uses the thrusters on its shoulders to push itself upward and goes for a kick on the Angel's back, sending Sachiel slightly airborne. Then, just like what it did to Mazinger Z, the Grungust makes one more attack before the Angel hits the ground.

"MAXI BLASTER!"

This time, there was no AT Field to protect it as beams from the Grungust's star-shaped chest connects, resulting in big explosion. Ryoga then moves his Grungust back, creating some distance. When the smoke cleared, the Angel remained on the ground body first. Its back covered with burns as a result of the Grungust's beam.

"Incredible!" Ryoma said. "What did you do, Ryo-kun?"

"I figured that the enemy couldn't attack when its barrier is activated. And the barrier seems to only protect the front. So by simply counterattacking, or strike at the rear, we can make hits."

"So...is it...?" Ryusei asks.

"No, it's not." Daiken answered. And he is correct as the burns start to heal and the Angel slowly stands up.

"Ok, listen, everyone! Concentrate all fire on the enemy once more!" Irmhardt said. "We'll take it down with a Pincer Attack!"

"Roger that!" all the pilots replied.

"Let's go, Grungust!" Ryoga shouts. "MAXI BLASTER!"

The Grungust Type-2 fires the beam from its chest once more.

"GETTER BEAM~~~~!" Ryoma yelled and the Getter 1 fires a red beam from its abdomen.

"Smash Beam, fire!" Daiken commands and his Gespenst fires large bursts of laser beams from its eyes.

Irmhardt readies its rifle and aims carefully at the Angel. "Neutron Beam, fire!"

Akira began making chants as Reideen raises its index finger upwards. He then yells "GOD ALPHA RAY!" and a huge wave of green light emits from Reideen and striking at the Angel.

All five attacks aimed for the Angel's front. The Angel then launches its AT Field to block. But the attacks of all five units were stronger than before as the beams start to push the Angel back.

"Ok guys, let's strike it down!" Van shouts as the Escaflowne he is riding pulls out its sword.

"Galaria, Marvel, are you ready?" Sho asks from inside his Dunbine.

"All set, Sho!" Galaria replied inside the Bastoole, which is a pink-colored insect-looking Aura Battler. Both the Bastoole and Marvel's Botune, along with the Dunbine then pulled out their swords.

"And I'll show my 'Mahou-ken Ranbu no Tachi' (Dancing Riot of the Magic Sword) ...not!" Masaki jokes as the Cybuster takes out its sword as well.

"Hey! Don't forget me!" Ryusei shouts as his R-1 flies behind the other four.

The 5 robots then simultaneously charged and thrust their swords at the Sachiel's back. The Angel reacted to the strike from the rear as its body jerks, causing the AT Field to break up. The beams from the other five robots finally connect and Sachiel is soon engulfed with the beams. Sho, Galaria, Masaki, and Van then left their swords inside the Angel and took a distance.

"Aura Shot, fire!" Sho shouted as the Dunbine's arms raised forward and shoots a pair of large fireballs.

"Missiles, fire!" Galaria said as from the arms of her Bastoole launches a series of small missiles.

"Firing long range weapons!" said Marvel from her Botune as the Aura Battler launches its own projectile weapons.

"Take this one!" Ryusei shouts as the R-1 pulls out its revolver and opens rapid shots. "G REVOLVER!"

"Kuro! Shiro! Go!" Masaki shouts as the orbs attached to the Cybuster's back detached and went towards the Angel. His two cats meowed loudly as the orbs begin to have wings and a tailfin for flight and fires beam shots before returning to the Cybuster's back.

The attacks from all the robots are enough to cause an explosion from the Angel. The explosion was so large that whatever is within a quarter-mile radius is reduced to ashes. The swords that were in the Angel flew and were returned to the hands of their respective owners.

Everyone including the crew of the White Base Kai, NERV, and Alberto watched the explosion. From the mountainous region of Tokyo-3, Misato and Shinji witness the explosion as well from a safe distance. When the smoke finally cleared, it gave a shock to all as the Angel was still standing. However, its skull like face is totally deformed and a large hole is made at the point where the swords struck. Much of the Angel's left abdomen, shoulder, and arm are gone.

And the Angel starts to regenerate itself once again.

"Impossible!" Lynn said from inside the White Base Kai's bridge. "They gave it all they've got and it's still alive?"

The entire Londo Bell team remained in deep shock, totally motionless upon sight of the Angel that seemed to be virtually invincible. A new skull face emerged from the Angel, covering and replacing the deformed one. And though it's still regenerating from its wounds, the Angel attacks with a series of eye flashes on the ground, using the shock of the blasts to shake down Ryoga and the others. The blasts also cause dust and smoke to accumulate, blinding the Londo Bell team for a moment. When everything cleared up, the Angel was gone.

"It...it disappeared..." Ryoga whispered.

Everyone continued looking onto the crater where the Angel last stood, still shocked from what just happened.

"Captain." Mika called. "A transmission coming from NERV."

But Lynn couldn't respond at that moment. Like everyone else she cannot believe what she sees. Could the Londo Bell even stand a chance of beating against such a monster? If these are the so-called Aerogaters, then the enemy is a whole lot stronger than they all thought.

"Captain?" Mika calls again and Lynn finally snaps out of it.

"Um...onscreen," she replied. Gendou appears again on the monitor.

"Explain to me why you decide to engage against the Angel." He said bluntly.

Lynn tries her best to retain her cool and nihilistic attitude and answered the Commander. "I'm sorry. I have no explanation to give to you for our actions."

"You have disobeyed a direct order. I am not pleased with this Captain."

"I understand, sir."

"However, you have saved my pilot's life and prevented the Angel from proceeding further within the city. Therefore, I shall pardon you for now."

"Thank you, sir."

"Be noted that I will no longer tolerate this kind of behavior ever again. Do you understand, Captain?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very well. Recall all your troops and remain on stand by until further orders."

"Yes, sir." The transmission then ends.

"What was that?" Shinji asked after witnessing the whole battle.

"That thing attacking the city was the Angel." Misato answered.

"Angel?"

"Yes. Mankind as we speak is now being put to the ultimate test by their arrival."

"Are they aliens?"

"Here, read this." Misato then hands him a small pamphlet as she drives the car to a nearby tunnel.

Shinji takes a look at the cover of the pamphlet. The cover only shows an illustration of a half of a maple leaf pointed southeast. The other half has the letters 'N-E-R-V' written on it.

"Special Agency NERV?" Shinji asks as he begins reading the contents of the pamphlet. He later stopped when they have entered the tunnel and almost everything is pitch black except the car's headlights. When they finally got out of the tunnel, Shinji expects that they be at the edge of Tokyo-3 and heading for another city. But instead, to his surprise, he finds himself at an entirely different area. To start off, they're no longer driving on a highway road, but rather inside a narrow tube going downwards. He can see from a distance that down below are more buildings that can easily represent a city.

In fact, the buildings look exactly the same as those in Tokyo-3.

"What is this place?" Shinji asked.

"This is the Geofront. The headquarters of NERV's Japanese Branch." Misato answered.

Shinji then looked ahead to see an enormous pyramid-shaped building in dark gray colors with several towers surrounding the area. The road leads directly over there.

"Am I...am I going to see my father?"

Misato only turned her eyes on young Shinji for a second and looked back at the road, silent and unable to answer his question. Shinji noticed that when Misato looked at him, she had an expression of sadness. He then looked over the window once again, thinking to himself that although this is the first time they will meet in many years...

...it doesn't simply mean it's going to be one happy reunion.

Part 3

"If you had just stood by and followed orders, we wouldn't be in this situation!" Lynn scolds at Koji inside her ready room. "The Commander would've given us the go signal eventually and we can launch our attack!"

"So you mean to say we let that thing behead the blue robot!" Koji retorts.

"The pilot will live even if his robot's head is decapitated. Remember what happened to Amuro's Gundam when it fought the Zeong at the end of the One-Year War?"

Lynn refers to the very end of the One-Year War when the RX-78 First Gundam lost its head and arm when fighting the Zeong, one of the deadliest Mobile Suits of the Principality of Zeon. It became even deadlier when its pilot was Zeon's Red Comet, Char Aznable himself. However, despite the Gundam's condition, Amuro was able to control it well and ultimately defeated the Zeong.

"I remember well what happened," Koji replied. "But that doesn't mean we left someone in need of help at the mercy of the bad guy!"

"You just don't understand do you?"

"No, YOU just don't understand! You've changed!"

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Look at you! You're getting all bossy and nagging at us ever since the Londo Bell is officially formed! 7 years ago when you fought along with us, you were nothing like that!"

"I'm in a command position now, Koji. You have to understand that orders need to be followed not just because they have to be, but to ensure the safety of everyone."

"But a soldier cannot always follow a general's orders!"

"Nor should they be reckless by just breaking them!"

The two continued arguing for quite a while until finally, Koji storms out of the ready room going elsewhere. Lynn then lets herself fall to her chair and rubs her forehead.

Just then, she heard a beeping from her ready room door.

"Enter!"

"I see that Koji left ticked off." Irmhardt said as he entered that room. "What did you do?"

"Nothing..." she replied. "I didn't give him any punishment or whatever. Just a warning and I dismissed him."

"You know you indeed changed, Lynn."

"Please don't start with that."

"Oh, come now. Ever since the war ended, you moved from pilot to the big chief of Mao Industries. Then you built this ship and you as its captain. Now even more so when Londo Bell is formed."

"So you're saying being in this position is a bad idea?"

"I'm not saying that." Irmhardt then sits down at a chair and looks at her. "You chose to accept as heir to Mao Industries and you really wanted to be a captain of your own ship. So there are no problems with that. What I'm saying is that if there is a need to do something that is right, then do it no matter what happens. Koji did just that.

Look, I know you are trying your hardest to be a good captain to this ship and this crew. And quite frankly, I admit you're doing a good job. But do not forget that you were once a pilot and you still are now with your own H Ekebein unit. If you were in Koji's position, you would've done the same.

After all, you did that to me before."

Lynn looked away from Irmhardt for a moment. True, she remembers when Irmhardt was at the mercy of the Zeons and was about to be killed. She acted on her own and saved him but resulted in spending 3 days in imprisonment for disobeying orders. And now a similar thing happened, but she decided not to repeat history.

Then, slowly, Irmhardt took her hand. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said. "Things are going to be all right."

Lynn looked back at him and smiled, trying to fight back the tears from her eyes.

Meanwhile, Shinji and Misato have finally reached the insides of the Geofront. They have left the vehicle and walked in a nearby elevator moving them downwards. When the elevator stopped, they found themselves inside of what seems to be a hangar. As they came out, a woman in a lab coat was waiting for them. She had a slender body, short, blond hair, dark eyes and a small, yet noticeable mole on her lower cheek.

"Thank God, Misato! You're finally here!" the woman said.

"Sorry, Ritsuko," Misato replied. "Anyway, is everything prepared?"

"Yes," Ritsuko answered, then looks over at Shinji's appearance. At first, Shinji looks a bit like a girl, having a slender body and white skin, short hair and dark eyes. But she can easily distinguish Shinji's gender upon closer examination of his white-buttoned shirt and his dark pants.

"So is this the Third Child?" Ritsuko asked.

"A Third Child?" Shinji asked. But when he looked behind Ritsuko and Misato, he noticed something standing tall. It looked much like the Evangelion Unit-00, having a slim, human-like body. However, it had purple colors instead of blue, with some light green trims on the limbs and the head has a more facial feature, having dual eyes and a metallic mouth. It also had a single 'horn' erecting from its forehead.

Shinji quickly changed the subject. "A face...a giant robot?"

"Correct," Ritsuko answered him. "It's the multi-purpose humanoid fighting robot 'Evangelion'. The one you see is the Unit-01."

"Is this my father's work?"

"That is correct!" a deep male voice echoed around the hangar. Shinji looked around to find the origin of the voice, as it sounded very familiar. The voice came from the control room not far from where they are. There stood a man staring down at him as though he was nothing. Shinji could only gasp as he looked back at the man.

"Father..." he said.

"Humph...It's been a long time." Gendou answered. "Prepare to launch!"

"Launch!" Misato reacted. "But isn't the Unit-00 still in repairs?" Then she paused for a moment and gasped further, able to figure something out. "No way! Are you going to activate the Unit-01!"

"There is no other option," Ritsuko replied calmly.

"But Rei is in no condition to pilot it!"

"We have one right here and right now."

Again, it took a moment for Misato to figure out what the doctor said, and she reacted. "Are you serious!"

But the doctor simply ignored her and looked towards young Shinji. "Shinji Ikari."

"Yes?" Shinji replied.

"You must enter the Unit-01."

"Wait a minute!" Misato objects. "Didn't Rei took 7 months just to synchronize with the Eva? It'll be impossible for him to synch right away!"

"We do not expect much," Ritsuko replied calmly. "But we need to take this chance."

"But...!"

"Our priority is to stop the Angel's attack. Even if there is not a chance for a successful synchronization, we must send someone to try. Do you understand, Major Katsuragi?"

"I guess..." Misato replied hesitantly, unable to grasp the comprehension of Ritsuko and Gendou's intentions with the young Shinji.

Just then, Shinji slowly approaches towards the control room window looking at Gendou. He can tell he's not here for a reunion, but for a different purpose and desires to get to the bottom of it.

"Father, why did you summon me here?" he asked.

"For the exact reasons you think," Gendou answered.

Anger then filled Shinji's mind. Where's the love and compassion a parent show and give to a child after being separated for so long? All Shinji received from this reunion is an order to pilot a robot. And from Gendou's tone and look, it's as though his own son never existed and Shinji is no mere than someone who is disposable.

Shinji clenches his hands as he shouts back. "NO WAY! JUST WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! FATHER! DO YOU THINK I'M THAT USELESS TO YOU?"

"I called you because I need you now." Gendou replied calmly, impervious to Shinji's words.

"Why me?"

"Because no one else can do this but you."

"And what makes you think I can! I haven't seen nor heard of this before! I can't do it! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"If you're going to do something, do it now! Otherwise, leave! You are of no use then!"

"Shinji-kun," Ritsuko intervenes. "We don't have much time left."

But Shinji remained quiet, looking down.

"Shinji-kun, please board." Misato asks.

"No way!" he retorts "After all this...? It's so ridiculous!"

"Shinji-kun, why did you come here?"

Shinji did not answer. In truth he could not answer it himself. In fact, his initial decision was not to answer Misato's invitation to NERV as he has all but forgotten about his father. Yet, he took it anyway. Was it because he is so eager to see his father again? Or is it just to give him a piece of his mind for all those years he lived a hard life?

Misato can see how pessimistic Shinji is from all this and wants to get away from it all. She tries to persuade him once more. "Shinji-kun, please. Don't run away, from your father or from yourself."

"I know that!" Shinji snaps back at her. "But I can't! I can't do it!" he then shuts his eyes, trying not to show his tears.

Gendou has seen enough and opens another audio call to NERV's Main Control Room. "Fuyutsuki!"

"Yes?" the vice-commander of NERV replied.

"Bring Ayanami over. She will pilot the Unit-01 immediately."

"Is she even fit?"

"She's not dead, is she?"

Fuyutsuki was hesitant to answer for a moment, but replied soon after. "Understood."

A few minutes later, the elevator opened once more. Out came a young girl lying on a medical bed and slowly being pushed by a few men. Much of her own body is covered in bandages. Her right hand is injected with serum, an indication that she had lost a lot of blood. When Shinji looked at her, the girl, despite her appearance, is still describable. She had red eyes, short light blue hair, and albino-like skin. It then struck Shinji's mind that this is the very girl he saw back at the bus stop.

But why is she here? And why is she in her condition?

"Ayanami." Gendou called the girl.

"Yes," the girl answered.

"The replacement is useless. I need you once again."

"Yes."

"Boot up the Unit-01's systems!" Ritsuko then gives the order. "Reconfigure it for Rei!"

Suddenly, a huge tremor occurred, causing everyone in the hangar to lose their balance and off their feet. The girl who was lying in her bed was taken off as well and hits the metal floor, her serum bottle smashed. A normal person in her condition would scream for pain when falling hard. But surprisingly, she didn't.

When the tremor ended, Shinji was the first to get up. He finds the young girl on the floor and quickly rushed to her side. He then tries to lift up her upper body. The girl only reacted by giving a very faint pant.

Then there was a loud creaking sound from above. Shinji looked up to see that the tremors caused some of the structures above him have snapped and is falling straight to where he is. There was no time to move away. Shinji's only move is to move himself on top of the girl, shielding her from the collapsing structures, even though they're heavy enough to kill them both.

Shinji shuts his eyes.

A loud thud of metal slamming into metal was heard. It's so loud it's almost painful to the ears.

Shinji could only believe that it's all over for him. His life has come to an end.

But something is not right.

He could hear someone breathing.

Shinji opened his eyes and finds that the girl was breathing heavily. She is still alive. And so is he. But he does see that there is a large, purple object just above him and the girl.

It was an arm - an arm of the Unit-01.

When Misato and Ritsuko got up, they could not believe their eyes. From their angle, the Eva Unit-01 slammed its arm on the wall and prevented the falling debris from hitting Shinji and the girl.

"The Eva moved!" said Misato. "How can that be!"

"It's not possible!" Ritsuko said. "There's no entry plug inserted! It shouldn't be able to move!"

"It moved without interface..." Misato then looked over at Shinji. "Or did it move to protect him?"

Then, Shinji noticed that the girl's breath has become abnormal. Her breathing slowly became shorter. He looked to see that she is struggling to breathe. Her left eye is shut (as her right is covered in bandages), but twitching.

Shinji felt something warm at his hand as he holds her. It was then that when he looked at her again, he noticed that blood is starting to swell at the bandage wrapping her torso. When he took out his hand, there was blood soaked all over it.

Blood, he thought. And that's when he knew. The situation has gone pretty bad and that the lives of not just the girl he is holding, but everyone else in the Geofront, and even all of Tokyp-3, are in grave danger. If the city and its inhabitants are to be saved, he must pilot the robot that saved him. But his inner self still compels him to just leave. He tries to force himself not to do so.

"I mustn't run away," he whispered to himself. "I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away...

I mustn't run away!"

"All right!" Shinji said then looked up at Gendou, who remained standing and looking down at him with an expressionless face. "I'll do it..."

"What's the situation?" Lynn asked.

"The enemy has launched a series of attacks on buildings at random." Naomi reports. "It is now within our sensor range."

"On screen, then."

The main screen of the White Base Kai's bridge shows that the Angel Sachiel is back and is once again fully recovered. All the wounds it had received from the Londo Bell are now gone.

Lynn then opens a new channel to address to everyone in the ship. "This is Captain Mao, speaking. The enemy has returned to Tokyo-3. As per the orders of Commander Ikari of NERV, we are all to stand down and not interfere. I shall say it again one more time. We are all to stand down and not interfere."

Everyone stayed quiet upon hearing Lynn's announcement. Koji, in particular, just smacks his fist, frustrated.

"However," Lynn adds. "If the situation has come to a critical point, I will personally override Commander Ikari's authority and we will move out to engage the enemy once again."

That has put a smile on everyone. Even Koji himself gave a smirk.

"I do not know honestly if we even have what it takes to defeat it given the results of our last battle. But I want you all to know that if these are the aliens we've been waiting for, then we are to ready ourselves for the ultimate challenge. We will fight them with everything we've got and leave no regrets. All for the future of mankind itself."

"Hehe. We've always prepared ourselves to fight until the very end," Ryoma replied.

"True," Akira seconded. "We must do the best we can to protect this world."

"Go down in a blaze of glory? Count me in!" Koji said with enthusiasm.

Everybody else seemed to agree. This sent a warm feeling to Lynn that everyone, including Koji, is ready to face the challenge with her.

Irmhardt then communicated with Lynn telepathically. "See? I told you things would be all right."

Lynn remained cool and smiled. Then replied back to Irmhardt. "Thanks, Irm."

Back at the Geofront's hangar, Shinji is now inside what is known as the 'Entry Plug'. It's basically a tubular module with a cockpit inside. The Entry Plug is then inserted onto the Unit-01's back.

Shinji also had a change of wardrobe. He now wears the 'Plug Suit', a tight leather suit that not only serves as the standard uniform of Evangelion pilots, but also as an extension of controls to the Evas in addition to the control sticks and switches. Shinji's Plug Suit is of a bluish color with black trims on the sides. His breastplate and shoulders are in a metallic light gray/blue color and he had a pair of small triangular-like devices attached to his head. The devices share the same colors as his breastplate and shoulders.

As Shinji stands by for the Evangelion Unit-01 to take off, he notices his cockpit slowly being filled with a clear liquid. He begins to panic, attempting to get out when Ritsuko contacts him.

"Don't worry, Shinji-kun," she said. "It's only LCL, a Liquid Connection Link."

But before Shinji could even respond, he holds his breath, as he is totally submerged in the liquid.

"Just let the LCL go down to your lungs and shortly you'll be able to breathe normally."

Shinji wasn't sure if letting liquid fill his lungs is a good idea. But seeing he doesn't have a choice, he did what the doctor says. As he lets the LCL fill his lungs, he chokes for a second. And afterwards, his lungs are entirely filled. But he starts to breathe normally as though it was air.

"What's this smell?" Shinji said to himself as he breathes through the LCL. "It's almost smells like...blood." He tries to smell the odor again just to be sure, but breathing the same thing long enough causes the nose to lose its scent to the odor. The blood Shinji smelled is no exception.

Ritsuko contacts Shinji once more. "Shinji-kun, the LCL serves as a link between your Plug Suit and the Eva's control systems. Your body will then synchronize with the Eva so you can move the unit either physically or mentally."

"Yes, ma'am." Shinji responds.

"Connection Link has been established," Ibuki reports. "Synchronization Rate is 41.3%"

"Amazing..." Ritsuko remarks. "Rei's Synchronization Rate barely makes it to 30%."

"Harmonics normal. Everything is all set."

"It will work!"

"Evangelion Unit-01, prepare for launch!" Misato gives out the command.

The docking bay where the Unit-01 stood jettisoned the Evangelion upwards. Shinji grunts and grits his teeth as his body is dragged down by the unforgivable G-Force. The experience lasts for approximately 10 seconds. But for Shinji, it was more like minutes. Afterwards, the Eva Unit-01 is finally at the surface.

"Another unit has appeared on the surface," Naomi reports, then shows it on the main screen.

"So it looks like they've sent another one," Lynn comments. "All right, everyone. Remain on stand by."

"Shinji-kun, can you hear me?" Misato contacts.

"Yes, Misato-san," Shinji responded.

"As what Dr. Akagi told you, the LCL serves as a link between the your Plug Suit and the Eva's systems. This will allow the Eva to synchronize with your own nervous systems for movement."

"Yes."

"The Unit-01 has two weapons that you may use: the Progressive Knife and the Pallet Gun. Both are stored in the shoulders."

Shinji then begins practicing his movements by holstering first the Progressive Knife, then the Pallet Gun before putting them back. As he does this though, he noticed that when he moved the Eva's hand to hold a weapon, his own hand began to felt something as though it was holding something hard.

"If you need additional firepower, there's a Pallet Rifle and a spear not too far from your location. I'll indicate them on your map."

From the cockpit of the Unit-01, Shinji can see an overview map of Tokyo-3. He finds 4 blinking icons on the map. He can tell that the one in blue is the Unit-01. The two green icons just northeast of him are the other two weapons. The red one far off at the north is no doubt the Angel Sachiel, who is constantly moving around the city.

"There is one more thing you must remember." Misato adds. "The Eva does not possess the same thickness of armor as the Mobile Suits. If you make yourself a sitting duck, you'll be destroyed after taking a few good hits."

Shinji was kind of shocked to hear that. One good attack from the Angel's flashing eyes and the Unit-01 is as good as scrap metal.

"That is why you have the AT Field." Misato said.

"AT Field?" Shinji asks again.

"It's a powerful force field that shields you from attacks by the enemy. You may activate it anytime you wish, but you will not be able to unleash an attack when the field is on as it is blocking your line of fire."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Shinji-kun, the enemy is straight ahead and advancing. Go now and engage combat."

"Yes, ma'am. Eva Unit-01 moving."

And with that, Shinji began moving the Unit-01 forward.

Part 4

It is already nightfall in Tokyo-3, but the city is filled with flaming light as the Angel Sachiel continues wrecking building after building and moving in different directions. It appears as though it is more like searching for something rather than destroying the city entirely. However, its movements came to a halt when it noticed the Eva Unit-01 headed on its way.

As soon as the two units see each other, Shinji makes the first move. He quickly arms the Eva with a Pallet Gun and aims it at the Angel, which is only standing still.

"Target locked..." Shinji said. "Fire...!"

Like a revolver, the Pallet Gun fires single shots. Unfortunately, the Angel's AT Field deflects the bullets. Shinji continues to fire again, and again, until the Pallet Gun runs out of ammo.

"Shinji-kun, what are you doing?" Misato contacts him. "You won't be hitting the enemy with that tactic! You need to get past its AT Field!"

"How do I do that?" Shinji asks. But before that question is answered, the Angel begins its counterattack using its flashing eyes. The attack hits and the purple Eva is taken aback, and then falls on one knee.

Shinji grits his teeth. The minute the Eva receives the hit, he felt as though two baseballs struck him at the chest in high speeds. It was awfully painful as he grasps his chest.

"Shinji-kun!" Misato calls again. "The enemy is about to make an attack! Activate your AT Field to block it!"

Misato is right. The Angel begins rushing towards the fallen Eva, releasing its beam-like weapon from the palms, about to lunge. But before it could get close to it, the Eva's own AT Field is activated and knocks back the Angel.

"Am...am I ok?" Shinji asked as he looks at his monitor showing the Angel trying to make strike after strike on the field. He's starting to feel the tremors, a result of the shockwaves made when the Angel struck the field's surface. Confusion then surrounds him, as he is unable to determine what to do next. With the field up, he is safe, but is unable to attack. If he deactivates the field, he is more likely to get hit.

Shinji keeps the field on as he gets the Eva back on its feet.

"Shinji-kun! Break off from the enemy and head east to get the weapons!" Misato advises. Shinji took the advice and hops the Eva backwards, then makes a dash eastward. The Angel fires a series of blasts from its flashing eyes again, but the Eva's running speed causes the attacks to miss, hitting instead the buildings that are still standing. A series of consecutive explosions occurred as the Eva dashes towards a green metal tower. As soon as the Eva grabs hold of the Pallet Rifle, it quickly turned around and opened fire just as the Angel is about to flash its eyes once again. The timing was perfect as the Angel's AT Field is deactivated and it takes several hits.

"You got it, Shinji-kun!" Misato said. "Now, keep attacking! Don't make the enemy reactivate its AT Field!"

Shinji lets out a yell as he continues firing the rifle while dashing close towards the Angel. As soon as the rifle runs out of ammo, Shinji uses it as a melee weapon and whacks the Angel with it. The Eva continues to make strike after strike, hoping to get the Angel off its feet.

Back at the White Base Kai, the crew watched as the battle ensued.

"Wow...that guy can kick serious butt," Ryusei comments.

"True," Daiken seconded. "But that won't be enough. The enemy needs to be kept from regenerating while dealing enough damage to defeat it."

"But how can that be possible?" Ryoma said. "Even with our combined attacks, we didn't even kill it."

"That one's a whole lot tougher than the MetalBeast we fought at the Far East Base!" Koji says.

The Unit-01 continues its relentless strikes at the Angel, but as it is about to make an overhead strike to knock Sachiel, the Angel was finally able to block it by grabbing both arms of the Eva, then drives its piercing weapon through them. Red blood liquid spews out of the Eva's arms.

In the cockpit, Shinji cries in pain as his arms felt as though two large nails stabbed them. He then felt something hard smacked his face as the Angel unleashes an eye flash on the Eva's head. The Eva falls hard to the ground, motionless and Shinji is knocked unconscious. The Angel steps back and releases more eye flashes, engulfing the Unit-01 in a series of explosions.

"Unit-01 is taking extreme damage!" Ibuki reports. "If this goes on, it will be...!"

"Shinji-kun, come in!" Misato calls. "Come on, answer me! Shinji-kun! SHINJI-KUN!"

At the White Base Kai, everybody saw what just happened. Koji grasps his fists as he wishes to go out and fight the Angel once again. In spite of the consequences, he turns to Lynn to have him sent out. "This is nuts! We need to get..."

But before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that Lynn was shaking, holding her head, and sweating. Even her breath has become abnormal. Naomi saw this too and comes to aid.

"Captain, are you all right?" she asked. But Lynn couldn't answer, as she still holds her head.

Soon after, Irmhardt, Daiken, Ryusei, and Ryoga began having the same conditions.

"Naomi, what's going on?" Mika asked with concern.

"Hayato," Ryoma said. "Do you think..."

"Yeah," he replied. "It's most likely."

"Hm? What are talking about?" asked Masaki.

Koji, along with the Getter team, knew this condition. This happened before in Amuro's case when he had the same headache pressure before warning everyone of a large object, the now battleship SDF-1, about to crash to Earth at the end of the One-Year War. Since the five have ESP like abilities, their conditions mean one thing clear.

Something bad is about to happen.

As the smoke and fire emits high above the city, a punch suddenly comes out of the smoke, aiming for Sachiel. In less than 3 seconds, the Angel activates its AT Field to block the punch, but surprisingly, the field breaks and the purple fist lands hard on Sachiel's face, knocking it back several steps. When the smoke cleared, the Eva Unit-01 was on its hands and feet. The eyes and mouth were open wide, like a mad beast.

"What the...?" Misato looks at the Eva, stunned.

"The Unit-01's power..." Ibuki says, shocked as well. "It's moving beyond the maximum levels!"

"How is that possible!" Ritsuko said.

"Shinji-kun! Shinji-kun!" Misato attempts to make contact. "Can you hear me? Shinji-kun!"

But there was no response.

Gendou and Fuyutsuki remained quiet and motionless as they both stare at the Eva Unit-01. The purple Eva starts to breathe heavy, then lets out a frightening howl.

Sachiel decides to waste no time and unleashes another series of eye flash attacks. But the Unit-01 leaps and hops out of the way, using the remaining buildings in the city as platforms to leap from one to the other, moving closer to Sachiel. Afterwards it makes one high jump, and dives at the Angel with a Double Kick. Sachiel activates the AT Field to block, but the field breaks upon impact and the Angel takes a stunned hit and is pushed backwards. The Eva somersaults and lands on hands and feet, then rushes in with a series of hard punches. Sachiel's AT Field breaks for the third time as the punches strike through and hits hard at the Angel's face, almost deforming it.

But the Eva's mad assault is far from over. It then jumps onto Sachiel to bring it down and starts to bite hard at the Angel's arms, tearing them off. It then continues punching relentlessly, crushing the Angel's face. In just a few seconds, the Eva's fist dives through the Angel's body, pulling out what appears to be the Angel's internal organs, followed with the bones. Liquid from Sachiel's body began spewing out.

The women inside the White Base Kai, except Lynn and Yoshiko, shut their eyes, as they couldn't bear the sight. At NERV, all were silent from what they saw while Ibuki continues to vomit.

The Angel's regenerative ability isn't fast enough for it to unleash a counter-attack on the Unit-01. Only one option is left for it to do. Before the Eva lands another hard punch, the red orb of the Angel ignites and Sachiel self-destructs itself. Unfortunately, the effort was in vain as the Eva leaps out of the way just in time to avoid the explosion. From where the Angel exploded, a huge towering light, shaped like a cross, shines over the city, and fades.

"He...he did it..." Musashi said.

"Unbelievable..." Sho seconds. "He defeated the enemy all by himself."

"So is it over?" asked Van.

"No..." Ryoga answered, his voice almost faintly. "Not by a long shot..."

"Agreed." Lynn says.

As the Londo Bell crew watch, they see the Eva now turns around to look back at them. The eyes of the Eva remained the same, wide open. And so is its mouth as it breathes heavily. Lynn clenched her hand at the edge of the armchair.

Then, the Eva howled again.

"RED ALERT! EVERYONE TO BATTLE STATIONS!" Lynn shouts. The bridge crew was confused at first as to what's going on, but the pilots quickly scramble towards their respective mechs. When the Eva began rushing towards the ship, the bridge crew finally sounded the alarm.

"Yoshiko! Get us airborne!" Lynn contacts engineering. And shortly, the engines of the White Base Kai began starting and the ship slowly starts to move. But the Eva moves incredibly fast and jumps up high, landing at one of the front hangar doors of the ship and begins to punch its way through.

"Mika! Contact NERV! Tell them to call the unit off!" Lynn says as she tries to stay at her seat from the turbulence caused by the Eva's assault.

"What's going on?" Misato asks. "Why is it attacking the ship?"

"At appears to be attacking anything it sees," Fuyutsuki says. "It can't tell friend or foe."

"Try cutting the power off!" Misato commands to one of the operators.

"No good!" said one of the operators who replaced Ibuki. "The system's not responding!"

"At this point, cancel the standby," Gendou said to Misato.

"Eh?" Misato turned to Gendou.

"The Unit-01 is considered an enemy. Have the Londo Bell immobilize it."

Misato didn't like the way it sounded. It gives the Londo Bell permission to destroy the Eva, and its pilot, if need be. Nevertheless, she responded. "Yes, sir."

"The unit is breaching through the hangar doors!" Naomi reports.

"Captain!" Yoshiko calls. "A flash bomb might help shake him off!"

"Do it so!" Lynn replies. "Fire flash bomb!"

The Eva Unit-01 continues punching through the ship's hangar door, attempting to smash it open when two projectiles ejected from the ship's sides. The projectiles exploded, creating a flash of very bright light. The flash worked as the Eva becomes temporarily blinded, unaware that the hangar doors began to open.

"ROCKET PUNCH!"

Unable to respond, the Eva received two flying punches in the face and is knocked off the White Base Kai, crashing down to the earth. When the flash faded, Mazinger Z jettisoned out of the ship and landed on the ground. Koji then opens the hatch of his Pilder and stood up, pointed his finger at the Eva and said "Listen up! I don't know why you're attacking us, but if you want to fight then Mazinger is here to take on the challenge!"

"And it won't be just Mazinger you'll be dealing with!" Ryoga said as his Grungust, along with Getter Robo, jump off and landed behind Mazinger. The Eva, now back on its feet, stares at the trio. Not intimidated by their number, the Unit-01 lets out a howl.

"It's coming for us!" Ryoma said. "Get ready!"

Part 5

"RUST HURRICANE!"

Mazinger's metallic mouth releases a burst of spiraling wind. The Eva activates its AT Field to shield itself from the attack, unaware that the wind attack is aimed at its feet. Soon, dust and debris surrounded the Eva, creating an artificial dust storm. Though it's not taking any damage, the hurricane now slowly surrounding it is blocking its field of vision.

But the Eva isn't deterred from the situation. Immediately, the Unit-01 jumps out of the dust storm. As it is airborne, it sees the black iron robot on the ground. The Unit-01 falls forward towards Mazinger with its legs straight and forward, going for a diving drop kick. However, it was not aware of the flying kick coming at its side courtesy of the Grungust Type-2. The kick connects and the Eva is sent flying sideways. Waiting for the Eva on the ground is Getter 3. The tank-like Getter Robo extends its metallic arms and catches the Eva, wrapping its arms tightly around it like a snake coiling its meal. The Eva howls loudly and tries to struggle to break free but Getter 3 does its best to hold the Eva down.

"Man! This guy is giving a good fight!" Musashi grunts. "I don't think I can keep this for much longer!"

"Then we'll try to knock it out cold!" Hayato said. "Musashi! Throw it in the air!"

"You got it!" Musashi replies as he pulls a lever and shouts out "DAI-SETSU-ZAN OROSHII!"

Using Musashi's trademark move, the Getter 3 holds the Eva Unit-01 and starts to spin around in a clockwise direction, moving faster and faster. Until finally, Getter 3 simultaneously twists the arms in the opposite direction to spin the Eva as it releases it onto the air.

"OPEN GETT!" Musashi shouts as Getter 3 splits into 3 flying jets.

"CHANGE GETTER 2, SWITCH ON!" Hayato shouts next as the 3 jets moved upward to pursue the flying Eva and combined into the fast moving Getter 2. "Take this! GETTER ARM!" Getter 2 then uses its double claw-like hand and smacks the Eva, sending it downwards. Then Hayato shouts "OPEN GETT!"

Once again, the Getter 2 splits into 3 jets and swoops down past the falling Eva. Now it's Ryoma's turn to shout. "CHANGE GETTER 1! SWITCH ON!" and the three jets merge to become Getter 1 once more. Just before the Eva hits the ground, Getter 1 zooms in and lands a one-two punch at the Eva, sending it flying backwards.

"It's time, Koji-san!" Ryoga calls out to the Mazinger pilot as the Grungust and Mazinger move side-to-side.

"Right! Let's do this, Mazinger Z!" Koji says. "ROCKET PUNCH!"

"BOOST KNUCKLE!"

Getter 1 then gets out of the way as the flying punches from Mazinger Z and the Grungust go like a bullet and hit the Eva hard. The Eva crashes to the ground headfirst and tumbles before coming into the halt, lying face first and motionless.

"Unit-01's power has reached 0," reported one of NERV's operators. "The Eva is completely immobilized."

Misato lets out a sigh. "I'm so relieved..."

"Initiate retrieval of the Unit-01, immediately," Gendou commanded.

"Yes, sir. Begin recovery of the Unit-01."

"Well, well, well...it appears the Londo Bell have proved themselves after all," Alberto remarks as he stood once again on top of one of the buildings in the city watching the entire battle. Just then, his mobile phone began to ring and Alberto naturally answers it. "Alberto here."

"Were you able to obtain the data?" said the caller.

"Yeah, I got it."

"What of NERV and Londo Bell?"

"NERV did as we predicted. The Londo Bell proved themselves worthy."

"You did well, Alberto. Your mission is complete. Return home."

"On my way. But expect me to be a little late as I'll make a stopover for a late-night meal."

"Heh. All right."

"One more thing, give my love to Sunny, will you?"

"No problem...brother."

And after that, Alberto puts down the phone and disappears.

"Captain, a message from NERV," said Mika back at the White Base Kai's bridge. "They say their unit has ceased operation and will recover it immediately."

"I'm glad it's all over..." Lynn sighed and leans back at her chair.

"I'm picking up something on the scanners," Naomi reports.

"What? Is it another enemy?" Lynn asked.

"I can't tell for certain. It's like something is appearing in the opening air."

"In the air?"

"The direction is at the edge of the city."

"Main screen."

The main viewer at first showed nothing. Then suddenly, spheres of light appeared everywhere. The lights then start to change their shapes. One began taking a form of what appears to be an enormous flying fortress. The rest are formed like a mixture of human and insect looking entities. When the light disappeared, their true forms showed.

At NERV, everybody looked at the giant ship with hordes of insect-looking robots flying around it.

"Are they...are they 'Angels'?" Misato asked as she stared at them.

"No," Ritsuko answered. "Their characteristics don't appear to be."

"Ignore them." Gendou said.

"Huh?" Misato replied.

"They are of no concern to us. Continue the retrieval of the Unit-01."

"With all due respect, sir. But if they're here to attack the city..."

"The city may be put in ruins if they so wish. Let the Londo Bell deal with them."

"Yes...sir. Resuming retrieval of the Unit-01."

"Aura Battlers!" gasped Van.

"What? You mean those insect looking things from your world?" asked Ryusei.

"No doubt it. It's Drake's Army," said Masaki.

"And not just any fleet. That ship's the 'Gear Galling', Bishot's ship!" said Sho.

"Sho?" asked Cham. "You mean...?"

"That's right. The Kingdom of Ku has finally showed its true side - by joining Drake!"

"Captain! We're being hailed from that fortress!" Mika says.

"Let's answer the call, Mika," Lynn said and the main viewer showed two people wearing dark brown robes. The robes have an unusual design to them, suggesting that they are for royalty of sorts. One of them is a male, having short, brown hair and is tall but slender. The other is a female with golden hair, and wears an enormous makeup, which doesn't help hiding her old looking face.

"My name is Bishot Hate, ruler of the Kingdom of Ku from the world of Byston Well. We wish to speak to whomever is the ruler of this world."

"I am Captain Lynn Mao of the battleship White Base Kai, representing the Special Autonomous Corp Londo Bell. What is your purpose here?"

"Are you the leader of this world, Captain Mao?"

"Well...no."

"Then we have no business with you! We demand to speak whomever is the ruler of this world!"

"BISHOT!" Sho suddenly intervenes with his own transmission.

"Sho Zama...?" said the woman beside Bishot. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Lurza Luft...why are you, Queen of Ah, with Bishot? More importantly...what are you all doing here on Earth!"

"Ah...so this is the so-called 'Earth'. Then I believe we are at the right place!"

"Answer me! Why are you here and what did you do to my friends!"

Lurza just laughs, but responds to Sho's question. "Very well. Since you and your new found friends don't stand a chance against Ku's army, I will answer your question..."

"What do you mean 'we don't stand a chance'!" Koji intervenes. "Why I ought to give you and your guys a beating and we'll see who doesn't stand a chance!"

"Calm down, Koji-san," Ryoga pleads. "We need to know what their intentions are first. Besides, we still don't know what happened to Sho's friends."

Koji grunts and just stays quiet.

"If I'm not mistaken..." Lurza continues. "Fanelia's king and the chosen warrior of the Masou Kishin Cybuster are with you as well. Nonetheless I will tell you that Queen Ciela, Queen Elle, and the rest of the rebel forces are alive and well...at least for the moment."

"You..." Masaki grunts. "Exactly what do you mean by that!"

"They have all surrendered themselves when Drake threatened to kill Riml, forcing that foolish prince Nii to make drastic measures to rescue her."

"Are you trying to say that you used your own daughter as a hostage?" Van asked.

"I don't even care if she has to die. She's nothing more but a ball and chain clinging to my leg."

"That...that's so cruel!" said Hitomi, Van's aide who speaks from the White Base Kai's bridge. "How can you, a mother, ever do something like that?"

"Be ever so lucky your friends are still alive! They would have all been executed if it were not for me to overthrow the throne!"

Lurza's comments surprised Sho, Masaki, and Van as she continued. "If you must know, I was the one who convinced Drake to begin the campaign to rule all of Byston Well. When all the nations of Byston Well rebelled against the Kingdom of Ah, everything came according to my plan. I was planning to bring Drake down myself and become the new supreme ruler of Ah. But all my plans had collapsed when that Shot Weapon and those morons from Gaea and La Giars appeared. I had to rethink of a new plan to take the throne and finally I did."

"The Kingdom of Ku, the only nation that declared neutrality over this entire war, have been secretly been collaborating with Queen Lurza and obtaining information of the technologies from all three worlds," said Bishot. "When Drake began to attack on your friends, the productions of our own Aura Battlers and ships are complete. We then begin our attack on Ah and took over. Drake was forced to keep the rebels alive and taken prisoner just as he was about to crush them. When he finally arrived, Lurza arrested him for treason and locked him away."

"Drake's fall caused the dissolution of its alliance with Zaibach and the Shutedonians, resulting for the three worlds to be at war with each other." Lurza adds. "But I don't care about Byston Well's future. I came for the conquest of Earth itself!"

"And thanks to Zaibach's technology, we were finally able to create a device that allows us to travel to this world!" Bishot says. "We no longer need an Aura Road to bring us here!"

"Thus our purpose here on Earth is for its inhabitants to show their unconditional allegiance to Bishot and myself as this world's supreme rulers! Then, when Byston Well, Gaea, and La Giars are done with their war, we will invade and conquer all three of those worlds and obliterate all who oppose us!"

"And you think you can do that just because you want to!" Koji retorts. "I honestly have no idea what's really going on, but I do know that you're here to take over Earth just like Dr. Hell! I won't allow the likes of you to achieve your stupid ambitions!"

Mazinger then readies itself with a battle pose as Koji adds on. "So come on! I don't care how tough your Aura Battlers are! Mazinger Z will beat you all!"

"LURZA LUFT!" Sho shouts as his Dunbine is released out of the White Base Kai. Masaki's Cybuster and Van's Escaflowne soon followed. "You are such an old witch! I won't forgive you for what you've done and I swear I will bring you and Bishot down!"

"For the honor and future of Fanelia, I, King Van Fanel, will defeat you all in the name of justice!" Van said, as the Escaflowne stands tall on the White Base Kai and points its sword on the Gear Galling.

"Do you honestly think you can defeat us?" Lurza laughs hysterically. "You're merely insects in our way!"

"Don't underestimate us!" Masaki says. "You're not just facing the three of us, but you're facing the Londo Bell! We're the strongest and the best Earth has to offer!"

"Really now?" Bishot taunts. "Well, let's see how good you are when dealing with this!"

Bishot's Aura Battlers, the Drumlos, began raising their left arms toward the Londo Bell fleet. The Drumlos are red colored battlers and their overall appearance loosely resembles that of a ladybug. A nozzle slowly sticks out of the Drumlos' left claw.

"Captain! The enemy units are preparing to open fire!" Naomi says.

"All 30 of them!" said Lynn.

"Cause to city, the big fire will that!" mentioned Sung.

"There's no way we can evade this, Captain!" said Naomi.

Upon seeing what the Aura Battlers would do, Ryoga, Koji, and the Getter Team prepare to defend themselves, seeing that there is no way the three robots can evade the attacks, let alone the White Base Kai.

"Koji-san! Ryoma-san!" Ryoga calls. "Please get behind me! I'll use the Nendou Field to protect us!"

"Roger that!" Ryoma acknowledges as Getter 1 and Mazinger Z get behind the Grungust Type-2. As Ryoga prepares to activate the Grungust's own barrier, he then turned his eyes to the Eva Unit-01, still lying on the ground motionless. Indeed, the Unit-01 is within the Drumlos' range and will get hit. The barrage of fireballs should destroy the Unit-01.

But should he try to save it? After all, after defeating the Angel, it attacked the Londo Bell. Furthermore, NERV declared it that the Unit-01 is an enemy. Still, something is compelling him to make an effort to save it.

"I'm not as ruthless as Drake, so I will give you one chance." Bishot then said to the Londo Bell. "Surrender and swear your allegiance to the Kingdom of Ku, or meet your fate and be destroyed. Attempt to make a move, though, and my Aura Battlers will open fire, laying waste to you and your precious land!"

Time is running out, Ryoga thought. He knew that to surrender is not an option, but at the same time, there's no way to evade the enemy fire. Flash bombs will also trigger the Drumlos to open fire. So it seems the best defense is to build up a perfectly good barrier.

A barrier...

A large field...

Like the Eva's own AT Field!

Ryoga knew it's pointless to contact the pilot of the Eva Unit-01 as he does not know the frequency number for it. And even if he did, the pilot is more likely to be out cold to hear him. There is one chance he can make contact, but it's a long shot as he has never done it before - form a telepathic link with him and the Eva pilot. Lt. Crow and Prof. Shirakawa have done it to him before, and since he is indeed a Psycho-Driver, he should be able to do the same.

Now all he has to do is figure out how to do it in just a few seconds.

"Well, what is you answer, Captain Mao?" Bishot asks as he raises his hand, giving a sign to the Drumlos to fire when he gives the signal. Lynn grasp tightly on the edge of her armchair, gritting her teeth as her crew is pinned at the mercy of Bishot's Aura Battlers. She has the feeling that whether they surrender or not, the Drumlos will open fire anyway. And having nowhere to run, there is only one thing left to do.

"'Everyone, listen to me,'" Lynn addresses to the entire crew, her eyes closed and her lips shut. "'I am speaking to you all telepathically with my NewType abilities. I have made the decision to not surrender to the enemy. However, I cannot risk my own fighters to sortie in this situation. Therefore, the White Base Kai shall be used to shelter all remaining units during the enemy assault. When the coast is clear, all units are to move out and launch a counter-attack.

I know very well that such a tactic could result with the ship to be destroyed and the crew will not survive. But right now, we must do what we can by any means necessary in order to defeat the enemy. Though we have only been together for such a short time, I am happy to let you all know you're the best crew ever. I have faith in you all, so please do your best.'"

Everyone in the Londo Bell faction showed signs of sadness with Lynn's decision and tactic. Ryoga, in particular, refuse to let such a thing happen. If he is to save everyone, he must make contact with the Eva pilot, get the Unit-01 moving, and use its AT Field to protect the ship.

Then, he thought of doing one thing that might help him establish contact. He already knows how to condition himself to operate the Grungust's T-Link System. By doing the same procedure, but focus on the Evangelion instead of the Grungust, he might make contact. It's only a one shot deal. If it fails, the White Base Kai will be destroyed.

No time to waste. Ryoga begins to focus. His Psycho Sense began to tingle...

In a few seconds, the world around him is shut out. Only the silence and the darkness remain. Then, from a distance he could hear a faint moan of a young boy.

"Hello? Is anybody there?" Ryoga calls out loudly. "Is there anybody THERE?"

Shinji begins to hear voices from his head. The voices were loud enough for him to open his eyes slightly. He can still feel fluid flowing over his body, meaning his is still submerged in LCL, so he is still inside the Eva. He sees nothing on his monitor other than a small horizontal bar on the lower left of the screen growing constantly to the right. He is unaware of what that is for.

"Is there anyone there? Can you hear me?" the voice called out.

"Who...who are you?" Shinji spoke weakly.

"Thank goodness!" Ryoga sighed in relief. "Are you the pilot?"

"Where...? I can't..."

"Please answer my question. Are you the pilot of the robot?"

"I...I am...yes."

"Great! I've finally made contact! Can you move?"

"I don't...know. All I remember was that the Angel attacked me and my body felt something hard and painful and I passed out..."

"Angel? Do you mean the enemy you just defeated?"

"Did...did I defeat it?"

"You mean you don't remember?"

"I..."

"Ok, never mind! Listen there isn't much time and I need your help. I'll explain everything about how we're communicating later! Can you move your robot and activate that barrier of yours?"

Shinji looked at the monitor again to see the small reading under the bar. It reads "Rebooting complete. Press button to activate unit."

"I think so..." Shinji replied.

"Good!"

"EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Lynn tells the entire crew as the Drumlos shoot a barrage of fireballs toward the White Base Kai and its mecha team. The Gear Galling also fires a barrage of fireballs from its large cannons sticking out from all over the flying fortress. The fireballs rained upon the Londo Bell team and the surrounding buildings, covering nearly a quarter of the city in smoke and flames.

Back at NERV, the fireballs caused a tremor within the Geofront, shaking the staff off their feet. The tremor lasted for approximately 30 seconds, and stopped.

"Damage report!" Misato calls.

Ibuki managed to get back at her chair and reports the situation. "The attack from the unknown fleet has cut all communications with the surface! We are totally blind!"

"What of the retrieval unit?"

"We lost contact with it as well!"

"What of the Unit-01's condition?"

"Gone too! We can't even monitor its overall condition!"

Misato could only be silent as she looks up at the blank screen. Her eyes show deep concern. Could the Unit-01 have been destroyed, she asked. And what of the rest of the city?

"Shinji-kun..." she whispered.

Lynn opened her eyes and found herself still in one piece. The bridge crew seemed to be all right as well. "We're...ok." She then turned to Naomi. "Naomi, what's the damage?"

Naomi needed a moment to pull herself together as she is as surprised as Lynn about their condition, then checks the computer. "What the..." she said. "We've only taken a few hits close to the engines, guns, and the rooftops, but no serious damage indicated."

"How?" Lynn asked. Her question is then answered when she looked over the bridge window to see a large purple robot standing above the White Base Kai's hangar roofs.

It was the Eva Unit-01 and its AT Field is activated.

"I...I did it..." Shinji said to himself.

"Well, suits them right," Lurza cackles as she watched the flames go up from the window of the Gear Galling's center bridge.

As the Drumlos scouted over the flame and smoke to be sure that the Londo Bell is destroyed, a yellow beam of light ejected from the smoke, hitting one of them. Lucky for that Drumlo, the Aura Barrier kept it from taking damage. Then, several objects came out of the smoke. The first was Mazinger Z riding on the G-Hawk followed by Getter 1. The Dunbine, Escaflowne, and Cybuster came out next side by side. Not far behind them were Reideen, the Gespensts A and B with their brand new boosters, and the R-Wing.

"RUST HURRICANE!" Koji shouts as Mazinger Z breathes out a strong gust of wind from its mouth. The Drumlos' Aura Barrier has no effect on the wind and thanks to their light weight they were carried off by the wind.

Mazinger's move has given the Londo Bell the perfect opportunity to attack. The Gespensts and the Cybuster launch a barrage of missiles to bring down three of the enemy Aura Battlers. The Dunbine, Getter 1, Reideen and the Escaflowne go for blade attacks to cut off some of the Drumlos' wings and boosters to send them down to earth. Mazinger Z leaps back and worth with the G-Hawk and the R-Wing while continuing to attack with its Rust Hurricane.

A few of the Drumlos decided to avoid battling the Londo Bell team and go straight for the White Base Kai. They thus avoided the battle zone and went through the smoke and flames and fired more shots at the ship. However, when the smoke finally cleared up, they had no idea the Eva Unit-01 stood above the White Base Kai, using its AT Field to shield the ship. Afterwards, the Eva shuts off its AT Field, allowing the ship to launch a flash bomb to blind the Drumlo pilots. The hangar doors of the ship then opened once more, and Aphrodi A, Bossborot, the Botune and the Bastoole stood at the edge. The trio then fired a series of projectile attacks onto the blinded Aura Battlers, destroying them.

"Let's do this, Daiken!" Irmhardt shouts.

"Roger that," Daiken responds and the two Gespensts pulled out their Plasma Cutters and drove them both onto a Drumlo, right at the torso. Two other Drumlos dive in to attack the Gespensts from the side, but the Gespensts' pilots' NewType powers gave them an early warning signal. The duo then counterattacked by launching missiles at the attacking enemy, while still driving their beam-like swords deeper onto their target. After taking out the other two Aura Battlers with the missiles, they used the swords to raise the ill-fated Drumlo upwards and both threw hard kicks, releasing the sword as the Drumlo goes up in the air.

"Special Strike!" says Irmhardt as the two Gespensts used their boosters to dash upwards.

"Double Plasma Slash!" Daiken followed as the Gespensts used their Plasma Cutters to make an X-marked slash on the Drumlo. The Drumlo then explodes afterwards.

Then, the Gear Galling starts opening more of its fireballs and vulcans toward the Londo Bell group, distracting them from their battle with the Drumlos.

"Kuro! Shiro! Attack the Gear Galling!" Masaki says to his feline Familiars.

"We're on it, meoow!" said the black cat Kuro as the pods where the Familiars ride are ejected from the Cybuster. The pods then form small wings and flies toward the Gear Galling, firing small, but powerful shots. But the shots were nullified by the time they get close.

"No good, meow!" said the white cat Shiro. "It's protected with an Aura Barrier! No way we can break through it!"

"Darn it!" Masaki curses. "I'm all out of missiles, and I can't get close thanks to that ship's massive weaponry!"

"Then leave it to us!" Koji said as Mazinger stays aboard the G-Hawk. "We have enough power to cut that ship down to size!"

"The Gear Galling's Aura Barrier is a lot stronger than the Aura Battlers!" Sho speaks just after his Dunbine takes down another Drumlo. "It'll take a really powerful attack to break it!"

"Exactly what we're about to do!" Koji replies.

"Agreed!" Ryoga seconded. "Just give us some cover! Koji-san, the Getter Team, and myself will use all our power in full force to break the barrier!"

"Trust us!" Koji brags. "We can do this!"

Seeing there's no time to argue, Sho, Masaki, and Van agreed. The trio, along with Akira and Ryusei provided cover fire as Ryoga, Koji, and the Getter Team fly upwards above the Gear Galling. Mazinger Z then jumps off the G-Hawk as the latter transforms into the Grungust Type-2 with Getter 1 not far behind. The trio then stayed airborne side by side as they unleash their strongest attacks.

"BREAST FIRE!" Koji shouts first.

"MAXI BLASTER!" Ryoga shouts next.

"GETTER BEAM!" Ryoma shouts last.

The three beams then collided against the Gear Galling's Aura Barrier at first the barrier blocked the three beams, giving a smirk on Lurza's face. But just seconds later, to Bishot and Lurza's surprise, the barrier breaks and the three beams spread around the Gear Galling, causing massive damage and destroying many of its guns and cannons.

"Curses! How can this be!" Bishot asked as knowing that if his ship remains as is, it will eventually be destroyed. He immediately gives the order to retreat. "All forces! Prepare to return to Byston Well!"

"Are you being crazy Bishot!" Lurza objects. "If we return now, Drake will surely give us no mercy!"

"Better than be destroyed by these Earth dwellers. All units return now!"

The remaining Drumlos then surround the now damaged Gear Galling and slowly blinding light surrounds them. When the light faded, the entire force of Bishot disappeared.

"Are...are they gone?" Shinji asked.

"It would seem so..." Ryoga replied back as the Grungust and the others slowly landed on the ground. Then suddenly, Shinji is receiving another transmission, though only in audio.

"Shinji-kun? Shinji-kun? Can you hear me?"

"Misato-san?" Shinji replied.

"Thank God! You're alive! What happened up there? We've lost all our visuals."

"Um...well...a bunch of 'flies' came by and we swatted them?"

Misato was somewhat speechless by Shinji's reply. "O...k...Anyway please return to the Geofront immediately."

"Um...ok." Shinji then switches his audio back to Ryoga. "Er...I have to get going now. I needed to go back."

"All right." Ryoga replied. "Thanks for lending us a hand."

"Now hold on a second!" Koji suddenly intervenes as his Mazinger faces the Eva once more. "What's the big idea of you attacking us after you beat that 'thing' awhile back?"

"What do you mean?" Shinji asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb! You beat that bone-looking monster with your robot's bare hands and broke its shield, then after you blew it to smithereens you started to attack us!"

"You mean I defeated the Angel?"

Now Koji gets even more irritated by Shinji's response. "That's it! I'm gonna..."

But Ryoga intervened as the Grungust raises its arm to block Mazinger's path to keep it from going further. "It's ok, Koji. I don't think he really has any idea what happened."

"That is correct," Lynn communicates in along the conversation.

"Captain?" Koji asks.

"NERV has sent a message just as this unit called the 'Evangelion' attacked us, stating the unit has gone berserk and there was no response from the pilot. It's possible the pilot was unconscious when it happened."

"And if the pilot hadn't come to his senses, the White Base Kai would have been destroyed by now," Ryoga adds.

Koji was pretty upset by the situation he's in. But then, seeing that what Ryoga's statements so far have been authentic thanks to his Psycho Sense, he puts his aggression to rest.

"Whatever...it is that I've done...I'm really sorry." Shinji apologizes sincerely towards Koji.

"Ah, what the heck!" Koji replies. "Ok, let bygones be bygones."

"Thanks, Koji-san..." Ryoga thought.

"I must be going now," Shinji said as his Eva slowly jumps off the White Base Kai.

"All right, please take care of yourself."

"I will. Thanks, Mister..."

"The name's Ryoga. And you?"

"Shinji...Ikari."

"Ok, Shinji-kun. Perhaps we'll meet again sometime. Farewell for now."

"Right...um...bye-bye."

"Ok, guys. Return to the ship," Lynn gives her command. "We're practically done here. So we will head to the Far East Base to make our report."

"Roger that, Captain." Irmhardt replies. "Let's go."

"I feel kind of guilty that we leave the city like this in pieces..." Ryusei said.

"It's part of what we do," Daiken replies. "There are things that are inevitably unavoidable in a battle."

"Besides, the people of this city have already evacuated the area, so at least there are no civilian casualties." Hayato adds

"I guess so..." Ryusei answered.

"Sho,..." Marvel contacts him.

"Yes, I know," Sho answered. "Ciela and the others are still alive. I'm relieved."

"We need to get back and help them out!" Cham said.

"But how?" Galaria asks. "We can't create an Aura Barrier from this world."

"I know it's hard, guys. But all we can do is pray they stay together and continue the resistance until we find a way to return." Sho said.

"I wish I can create one so we can get back..." Cham quoted. As everyone finally docked inside the White Base Kai, the ship then slowly hovers and turns and flies off, leaving Tokyo-3 behind.

Epilogue

"And according to the audio feed, these new invaders are called 'Aura Battlers'?"

"Yes, sir. They also possess a barrier similar to the Evangelion and the Angels, but it only protects them against Beam and Vulcan attacks."

"And the Londo Bell were successful at defeating them?"

"Yes, sir."

"So they are becoming just as powerful as the Titans and the Zeons. They shall be tested then. What of SEELE?"

"SEELE has taken notice of the Angel's appearance as well as NERV's decision to launch the Evangelions. They are about to evaluate the situation at this time."

"I see. Good work, Heero. Return and wait for further orders. In a later time, the Londo Bell's strength will be tested."

"Yes, sir."

Meanwhile, within the underwater fortress Saruud, Count Brocken has returned from his recent mission in his brand new Guul. Upon exiting the Guul, Dr. Hell awaits him.

"Dr. Hell!" Count Brocken greeted as his body kneeled to his superior. His hand then tilted slightly so his detached head would give a bow.

"How is the operation?" Dr. Hell asked.

"The operation was a success, Dr. Hell!" Brocken then stood up. "We have successfully captured the ancient statues in China and destroyed many key Federation bases in Mongolia and Russia!"

"And what of the newly formed Londo Bell group? I've heard reports they were in China as well."

"Yes, sir! I have used the Zeon and Neo-Zeon forces to provide me cover while I escape. They have done their job well."

Then slowly from the hangar of the Guul, a couple of Zaku Mobile Suits slowly roll out the two statuettes from China. The first was carved in the shape of a dragon, while the second was in the form of the tiger. Dr. Hell immediately proceeds to the two statues for a closer look. And then, after careful observation, he raised his arms and laughed maniacally.

"What a discovery!" he said. "These are indeed no ordinary statues, but a dormant, living being just like the Mycenaeans!" He then turns toward Count Brocken and points his staff at him. "Prepare to revive these two beasts and infuse them with our technology!"

"Yes, sir!" Count Brocken replied.

"With these beasts..." Dr. Hell said. "...we will have a significant advantage against our enemies! Mazinger Z and the Londo Bell will be crushed and the world will soon be ours! Prepare yourselves, for I, Dr. Hell, shall soon unleash my wrath on you all!"

And with that, his maniacal laughter echoed around the fortress...

End of Chapter 4