Disclaimer: Evangelion belongs to Gainax, not me. I own hardly anything; most of my possessions technically belong to my parents.
Author's Notes: Here's the third chapter. Hopefully it's good. I'll let you be the judge though.
3. Preparation for Battle
(Nerv, Terminal Dogma)
The tanks were shutting down as Ritsuko pressed buttons on their control panels. Rei and Nara were fully recovered and all three had regained consciousness. As the LCL drained out and the doors opened the three pilots stepped out onto the floor.
Ritsuko handed a blanket to each. "Put these on we'll get some clothes for you later." She turned to the door. "Follow me."
As they walked through one of the large corridors of Terminal Dogma Ritsuko made an interesting discovery. The pilots were making no noise at all. Her footsteps reverberated all around the hall but the pilots footsteps were silent, even with bare feet they should have made some noise. She also couldn't hear their breathing, despite the fact they were right behind her.
Ritsuko was broken out of her thoughts as they reached the elevator to Central Dogma. They all entered and Ritsuko selected the desired floor.
As the elevator approached its destination Ritsuko turned to the three pilots. "How are you three feeling?"
Shinji smiled slightly. "We are fine; Rei and Nara are fully recovered."
"Good." Ritsuko couldn't help but smile back. At first the three had treated her in a similar fashion to Gendo, but that had slowly changed. She wasn't sure why but it was definitely an improvement.
Rei made eye contact with Ritsuko. "How are we going to explain mine and Nara's conditions? I doubt anyone will believe we were unscathed by the whole incident."
"You'll both be required to wear bandages for a while. Apart from that we'll just have to hope everyone accepts that you two got lucky."
(Tokyo-3 High School)
Asuka had got to class early. She hadn't been able to sleep long and when she woke up Misato was still asleep so she'd walked to school. She walked slowly but still arrived before any of her class mates.
It had been five days since the battle with the Angel and Asuka hadn't heard anything about Rei and Nara's condition. No one had seen Shinji either.
The worst part, in Asuka opinion was how she'd always treated Rei and how she'd treated Nara in the sort time she'd known him. She'd never been kind to them, she'd deliberately insulted Rei at every opportunity and now she was responsible for them getting hurt. But she wasn't glad as she might of thought, instead she felt sad. When she thought they were dead she realised she didn't hate them as much as she thought.
"Asuka?"
Asuka's head snapped up to the door. Standing in the doorway was Shinji, looking directly at her and standing on either side of him were Rei and Nara. Both of the Ayanami's were heavily bandaged but didn't appear to be too seriously hurt.
Asuka was on her feet and in front of the three teens faster than seemed humanly possible. "Rei, Nara you're all right!! I'm so glad." Tears started to roll down her cheeks.
Rei looked a little taken aback by Asuka's outburst. "I thought you didn't like me."
"I know, I'm really sorry about how I treated you."
Rei's confusion only increased. "Why the change of heart?"
"I almost got you killed."
Rei wasn't sure if Asuka meant that as a response or merely as a statement. She wasn't given time to ponder it however as Asuka flung her arms around Rei and started to cry into her shoulder. Rei looked down at the girl. "It…wasn't your fault."
Touji chose that moment to walk into the classroom from the other door. He took one look at the teens in the doorway and ran over to them. As Asuka was still clinging to Rei he stood in front of Nara looking at his fully intact body. "I can't believe your not that badly hurt." He clapped Nara's shoulder.
Although it didn't actually hurt, Nara winced in pain. Touji immediately withdrew his hand. "Oh, sorry man."
Nara rubbed his shoulder. "It's ok; I'm just a little sore."
Asuka finally let go of Rei though she was still crying. She tried to smile. "I guess we better take our seats before sensei arrives."
The others agreed and they all headed for their desks.
(Lunch Time, School Roof)
Kensuke groaned loudly. "I can't believe sensei gave us a maths test. He didn't even warn us first."
Touji patted his friend on the shoulder. "I'm sure you couldn't have done that badly. Though I probable failed."
Asuka laughed at them. "Well I for one probable got the best mark in the class. There weren't any worded questions on that test."
The bell rung.
Hikari stood up and headed for the stairs. "Well I guess we're about to find out."
(Classroom)
The teacher was handing the test papers back in alphabetical order. "Aida, Kensuke."
Kensuke sheepishly took his paper and groaned.
"Ayanami, Nara."
Nara took his paper without comment.
"Ayanami, Rei."
Rei took her paper without comment.
The list went on for a while before. "Horaki, Hikari."
Hikari took her paper and smiled slightly.
"Ikari, Shinji."
Shinji took his paper without comment.
There was another slew of names before. "Sohryu, Asuka."
Asuka took her paper and smiled victoriously.
"Suzuhara, Touji."
Touji took his paper and made a sort of snorting sound.
The teacher handed out the last few papers and gave the students a few minutes to go over their tests before starting the lesson again.
(After School)
As the group of friends walked down the road outside school, Asuka was busy flashing her paper at everyone. "Twelve and a half out of thirteen, beat that. Even Hikari only got twelve."
Asuka turned to Kensuke who was still holding his test paper. She snatched it from his hand. "Five?" She started to laugh.
Touji put a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's alright, you did better than me."
Asuka's head snapped to Touji. "What did you get then?"
"Two." Touji didn't even sound embarrassed.
"Hah. Well that's three down." She turned to Shinji, Rei and Nara who were walking slightly apart from the rest. "What did you three get?"
"Thirteen." The response came from three different mouths at the same time.
Asuka stopped walking then laughed. "Yeah right, prove it."
The three teens took their papers from their bags and showed them to Asuka. Who looked at them once then sniffed and turned away.
The others laughed at her.
(Two Hours Later, The Apartment)
Nara answered the door after it became apparent that whoever was knocking wasn't going to leave.
When the door slid open he was surprised to see Asuka, Touji, Kensuke and Hikari standing on the other side, all in casual clothes. "What are you doing here?"
Kensuke pointed his camera at Nara. "We're here to celebrate you and Rei getting better."
Touji showed Nara the bag of take-away he was carrying. "We even bought food. Since you guys don't have any meat."
Nara glanced back into the apartment. "Ok, you can come in but wait in the living room while I get Shinji and Rei."
Asuka smiled mischievously. "What are Rei and Shinji up to that you don't want us to see?"
Nara winked at her and walked off down the hallway.
When Nara entered Shinji's room he wasn't surprised to find Rei there. The two were lying on Shinji's bed, snuggled up together. Though they were covered by the bed's sheets, Nara knew they had no clothes on underneath. He was sorry to have to break the scene up. "Umm…I think you should know that Asuka, Touji, Kensuke and Hikari have arrived and intend to stay for a while."
Rei lifted her head from Shinji's chest to look at Nara. She pouted slightly. "What do they want?"
"Apparently they want to celebrate us getting better."
Rei signed. "I suppose we should go then."
Shinji smiled at her. "Yeah, you're right Rei-chan."
As the two kissed, Nara turned to leave. "Remember to put your bandages back on Rei."
It was a few minutes later when Rei and Shinji joined the others in the living room. Currently they were eating the take-out the others had brought.
Touji and Kensuke had remembered their friends' aversion to eating meat and had purchased three vegetarian meals from the noodle place. Asuka watched as Nara handed Rei and Shinji their meals and returned to his own. She looked directly at Nara. "Why don't you eat meat?"
Nara looked up at her and stopped eating. "I just don't, I've never eaten it before." He turned to Rei. "Do you know Rei?"
Rei looked at him and swallowed the food in her mouth. "No…I do not. I've never eaten meat either."
Asuka hmphed. "How did you convince Shinji to stop?"
Shinji looked at Asuka. "She didn't, I decided on my own."
Asuka looked thoughtful for a second, and then shrugged. "Whatever." She looked around herself. "You're apartment is pretty small."
Asuka's 'observations' continued until Kensuke took out his game console and his new video game. "Just been released. You get to chose from over 100 characters to play with. I brought the entire character guide." He took a large booklet out of his bag.
It took a whole hour for everyone to choose their characters and then the ultimate tournament began. They drew names from a hat to determine the play order. Touji got a bye and the others were paired up to fight. First up was Kensuke vs Hikari.
Kensuke's character was a white ninja with a single katana blade. Hikari had chosen a young girl with dual pistols which was an easy to use character.
As soon as the match began Hikari started firing her character's pistols. Kensuke's character charged forward and started to swipe with his sword, dodging the gun shots. It wasn't long until Hikari's character was defeated.
Asuka took Hikari's controller from her. "That's one for the buys. Too bad that's all their going to get. You're up Nara."
Nara confidently took Kensuke's controller. "Don't get too confident."
Asuka's character was a red dragon that almost filled her half of the screen. Nara's was a ninja like Kensuke's but his was black and had two katana blades.
Asuka's dragon lashed out with its claws but the ninja dodged. The dragon fired several fire balls, one hitting the black ninja's chest. The ninja's life dropped considerable but it made a double swing with its swords, neatly decapitating the dragon.
Asuka stared at the screen for a while before speaking. "That wasn't fair. I demand a rematch."
Kensuke smiled. "No rematches. Time for the next match, Shinji vs Rei."
When Shinji and Rei's characters appeared the first thing that became apparent was that they were almost identical to each other. Both were bedecked in black and armed with short vicious sai knives. The only difference was that Shinji's was male and Rei's female.
The fight was long and drawn out. Neither player had the advantage and their health points slowly decreased.
As their lives approached zero everyone was staring intently at the screen. Both initiated their special attacks, spinning around with their blades extended. They hit and both of their health points went to zero at the same time.
Kensuke just stared at the screen. "A tie. Well I guess their both out then."
Asuka stood up quickly. "But that only leaves three what do we do now."
Kensuke smiled. "Free for all."
And so the final match began. Kensuke's ninja, Nara's ninja and the giant rocket launcher robot that was Touji's character.
The two ninja's engaged each other in the centre and were blown apart by rockets fired from Touji's robot. They both headed for the robot and sliced it at the same time, severely decreasing its health. Continuing through they engaged each other once again.
As both ninja's were destroyed by another rocket barrage everyone started laughing.
Hikari pointed at the two defeated teens. "You two are such idiots."
Nara turned his head in an attempt to escape the laughter and found himself looking at the clock. "Hey, it's one already. You guys need to get home."
Asuka stopped laughing. "It's too late to walk home, can we stay here."
Rei looked over at her. "Only if you don't mind sharing a bed with Hikari."
Asuka looked at her. "Huh?"
It was Shinji who responded. "If all four of you stay here then you'll have to share a bed with Hikari. Unless you'd rather share with Touji or Kensuke."
Asuka's face blanched at the suggestion. "Ok, I'll share with Hikari. What bed do we get?"
Rei glanced at Shinji and smiled. "You can use mine. Kensuke can sleep on the spare room's bed and Touji can sleep on the couch."
Touji looked at Rei. "Where will you sleep then?"
Rei smiled sheepishly. "With Shin-chan."
Asuka winked at her. "So its Shin-chan is it."
Rei blushed slightly. She leaned back against Shinji.
Shinji put his arms around her. "You okay Rei-chan?"
She smiled at him. "I'm fine."
Asuka chuckled and walked down the hall, looking over her shoulder. "Coming Hikari."
(Later, Shinji's Room)
Shinji and Rei were lying on Shinji's bed. The two of them holding each other close. They were both very comfortable.
Shinji looked into the eyes of his beloved. She was more than just his lover, she was his best friend as well and his constant companion. He lightly brushed the hair from her eyes. "Do you want to talk Rei-chan?"
Rei smiled at him. "Yes, what do you wish to talk about?"
"I don't know I just want to talk."
"Hmm…can I ask a question?"
"Of course Rei-chan."
"When did you first fall in love with me?"
"I don't really know."
"You have to know."
"I think I fell in love with you the moment I met you. But I only realised after the battle with Ramiel."
"Why?"
"I almost lost you. I thought you might have died. I realised then that I loved you but…I was too weak to act on it."
"I see. I am glad to know that Shin-chan."
Shinji smiled at her. "What about you Rei-chan, when did you fall for me?"
"I…do not know. I knew I cared about you soon after you arrived but the realisation that I loved you came later. I don't know exactly when but I think…it was when you were absorbed by Leliel. I suppose the threat of lost affected me like it affected you. We are alike in that way."
Shinji kissed her. "We are alike in many ways Rei-chan."
Rei smiled and gave him an affectionate squeeze. "You are right Shin-chan."
The two teens kissed passionately.
When they finally parted, Rei began to pull off her shirt.
Shinji had the sudden urge to blush and stutter out a protest but he simply ignored it, instead pulling his own shirt off.
As Shinji brought his attention back to Rei, the girl single-handedly disengaged her bra and threw it on top of the two shirts on the floor.
Now bare from the waist up the two teens held each other close again.
Rei looked at her beloved's face. He was the first person she ever truly cared for and was the most important person in her life. He was the reason she was alive. "Shin-chan, what are we going to do about the commander?"
Shinji's expression darkened slightly. "We'll do what he want's for now. But he isn't our master, we're not his dolls."
Rei sat up. "I am no longer a doll. So what am I?"
Shinji sat up and faced her. "You're your own person Rei."
Rei kissed him again. "Thank you Shin-chan."
"You're welcome Rei-chan."
Rei began to pull off Shinji's pants and underwear. Shinji reached other and began to remove Rei's skirt and panties. Both teens finished their tasks at the same time.
Shinji lay down and pulled Rei down on top of him. "Are you ready Rei-chan?"
"Yes Shin-chan."
(Nara's Room)
Nara was lying on his bed with one arm draped over his eyes. His breathing was regular and even, but he wasn't asleep yet.
A slight smile crossed his lips as he discreetly closed his links to Rei and Shinji. He knew if he left them open he'd never get to sleep. He had taken great pains to develop this skill after the last time.
(Next Morning, Shinji's Room)
Shinji's eyes slowly opened as he awoke. He immediately became aware of a weight pressing down upon him. Turning his head to the right, he could see Rei's head on the pillow next to his. Her body was draped over his, eliciting a considerable amount of warmth into him.
Shinji looked at his alarm clock. It was time to get up. With so many people here breakfast would take a while to make. He'd have to wake up Rei.
Before Shinji could do anything however, Rei began to stir. Yawning softly Rei stretched and arched her back. An action made more difficult by the fact she was still laying on top of Shinji.
Fluttering slightly, Rei's eyes opened. She locked eyes with Shinji and smiled. "Good morning Shin-chan."
Shinji smiled back at her. "Good morning Rei-chan."
Rei lifted herself off of Shinji and looked down at him. "What now Shin-chan?"
"We have to go make breakfast."
Rei pouted. "Can't Nara do it?"
Shinji chuckled. "That's seven breakfast's Rei. I think he'll need help."
(Rei's Room)
As Asuka looked around the room a single thought filled her mind. 'Where is all of Rei's stuff?' The room was almost completely empty. The only clothes in the cupboard were a couple of pairs of shirts and shorts. Asuka new Rei had more clothes than this, she'd seen them. Rei had worn that dress to Misato's and then there was her school uniform and the clothes she was wearing yesterday, though they were obviously in Shinji's room.
Hikari was still asleep, so Asuka made her way to the kitchen by herself.
When she reached the kitchen she found Shinji, Rei and Nara making breakfast. The three working together perfectly.
What caught Asuka's attention though were Rei's clothes. The girl was wearing a knee-length white skirt and a blue T-shirt. They were not the clothes she was wearing yesterday.
An idea suddenly hit Asuka and before any of the teens noticed her she went back down the hallway.
Reaching Shinji's door she slid it open and stepped inside. She headed to the wardrobe and slid it open. Sure enough she found the clothes inside divided. One side had Shinji's clothes; the other had Rei's. As Asuka looked around she noticed several other things that definitely didn't belong to Shinji. A body length mirror in a corner with a hair brush covered in blue hair on a table next to it. There was also a table covered in clips and bands for Rei's hair, though she probable never used them.
By the time Asuka returned to the kitchen all the others were already seated around the table and Rei, Shinji and Nara were serving the food.
Asuka walked over to Rei and Shinji and stood in front of them, hands on her hips.
Shinji stepped backwards from Asuka's stare. "What?"
Asuka pointed a finger at them. "You two share a room."
Rei looked confused. "That's just because you were using my room remember."
Asuka laughed. "Then why are all of your clothes in Shinji's room, and your mirror, and your hairbrush, and your hair clips."
Rei and Shinji blushed furiously. Asuka was right. Apart from a few occasions, Rei slept in Shinji's room most nights.
Nara chuckled slightly. "She's got you there sis."
Touji grinned lecherously. "Sharing a room with Rei huh. Shinji you dog."
Shinji was just glad they'd tidied up the room before they started breakfast. He didn't want last night to become public knowledge. "Wait…you went into our room?"
Asuka smiled broadly. "So it's our room, I knew it."
Shinji blushed more and Rei followed suit.
Nara finally decided to come to their rescue. "I think we've tortured them enough, let's eat."
Asuka was going to protest but then thought better of it and sat down. All the teens dug in.
When breakfast was finished and washed up the teens made their way to the living room and turned on the TV.
Asuka sat in an armchair and Hikari sat in the other. Touji and Kensuke sat on the floor and Nara sat on the right side of the couch. Shinji sat on the left side of the couch and Rei sat in his lap, draping her arms around his neck while he put his arms around her waist.
Their viewing was cut sort as Shinji's phone started to ring. Shinji answered the call and brought the phone to his ear. "Yes?"
"…"
"Okay, we'll be there."
"…"
"They're here too."
"…"
"Understood." Shinji hung up.
Rei looked up at him. "What is it?"
Shinji put his phone back in his pocket. "We need to go to Nerv for training."
(Nerv, Commander's Office)
Gendo was sitting behind his desk with his hands crossed in their usual position. Sub-commander Fuyutsuki was standing to his left and Ritsuko was standing in front of the desk.
Gendo's glasses glinted as he moved his head slightly. "What is the status of the Eva's Doctor?"
Ritsuko looked down at her clipboard. "All the damaged Evas have been fully repaired and Russia has completed Unit-18 it's being transported by air and will be here in the next five hours."
"Have you identified the 7th child?"
"Yes sir."
"Then we can begin testing. Have you completed your assessment of Unit-01, Unit-16 and Unit-17?"
"Yes sir. It appears the Evas act as conjugates for the children's power. In affect the stronger the children get, the stronger their Evas get. On top of that the Evas have their own power which is added onto the children's. Unit-16 and Unit-17 aren't that much stronger than a normal Eva but Unit-01 is a different matter. After consuming Zeruel's core it got a power boost as well as activating its S2 organ and it appears consuming the latest Angel's core had the same affect. It is by far the strongest Eva."
"What is your evaluation of the 1st, 3rd and 6th children?"
"They appear to be getting stronger. They're already quite powerful but if Shinji's performance against the latest Angel is anything to go by, they're yet to tap into their full power."
"Very well, do a complete evaluation of the children."
"Yes sir." Ritsuko looked slightly nervous as she asked a question. "Sir, what do we do about the latest Angel attack?"
The commander looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, we can't keep referring to it as the latest Angel. What do we call it?"
Gendo seemed to consider the question. "We'll refer to it as the 18th Angel."
"But isn't mankind the 18th Angel."
"Yes, but then we didn't anticipate this Angel so some things will have to change. It is now the 18th Angel. Is there anything else doctor."
Ritsuko straightened slightly. "No Sir."
"Good." Gendo turned his head to look at the sub-commander. "Fuyutsuki has the assassin we captured revealed any information."
Fuyutsuki looked down at the commander. "Yes sir, it would appear he and the others were hired by Seele."
Gendo didn't change expression. "I see…they are moving against us again."
Fuyutsuki nodded. "Unfortunately it does not appear he knows anything else."
Gendo voice was emotionless. "Have him killed."
(Tokyo-3)
Kensuke was walking along a busy road on his way home. He'd split from the others when they went towards Nerv. Hikari had gone home in the opposite direction.
He wished he was a pilot then he could kick some Angel butt. He'd be the greatest pilot there ever was.
He was broken out of his thoughts by a car pulling up alongside him. Two men in black suits got out and walked up to Kensuke.
The first man flashed a Nerv ID-card at him. "Kensuke Aida, you're coming with us."
Kensuke stared at the two men. "Wh…why?"
"You've been selected as the 7th child."
(Nerv, Eva Bays)
The five pilots (now dressed in their plug suits) stood in front of the new Eva. Unit-18 was green with brown parts. It had a wing backpack with green wings and like all the Evas it had an S2 organ. Its body was like that of Unit-14 and Unit-15 and it had an elongated head with two sunken eyes.
Asuka scrutinised the new Eva. "So this is Unit-18. Wonder who they're going to get to pilot it."
Misato stepped up behind them. "You'll see for yourself soon. The pilot is about to arrive."
All six turned at the sound of the door opening. On the other side was Ritsuko and next to her was Kensuke dressed in a plug suit that matched the new Eva.
Kensuke smiled at his friends. "Guess what, I'm the 7th child."
Touji didn't look happy. "Damn, you too. Piloting isn't a good thing Kensuke."
"Oh come on the Evas are cool and now I get to pilot one."
Touji just shook his head. "You'll figure it out eventually."
Ritsuko cleared her throat to get the groups attention. "Today we're starting a new training program. But first you'll be split into two groups."
Asuka interrupted the doctor. "Why are you splitting us up?"
"The training is designed to be difficult. As such you'll be forced to work in groups of three. Group one will be Rei, Shinji and Nara. Group two will be Asuka, Touji and Kensuke."
Asuka once again interrupted the doctor. "What. Why am I stuck with those two idiots?"
Ritsuko gave Asuka an annoyed look. "Those are the commander's orders Asuka. You do not have the authority to question them."
Asuka looked a little taken aback and wisely decided to shut up.
Ritsuko turned to the other pilots. "Group two is going to the simulation room with Misato. Group one is with me."
She turned and walked towards the door. Shinji, Rei and Nara followed her out.
(Nerv, Eva Simulation Room)
Asuka was in the middle of screaming at Misato. "You're putting us up against all nine. There's no way we can win."
Misato smiled at the girl. "Not yet, but eventually you will."
"This is ridiculous." Asuka threw her arms up in exasperation.
(Nerv, Terminal Dogma)
Ritsuko had taken the elevator to the very bottom floor of Terminal Dogma, the furthest down part of the entire Nerv complex.
She walked out of the elevator with the three pilots following closely. The hallway they were now in had only four doors along its length (two on each side) and a fifth door at the very end.
Ritsuko lead them to the very end of the hallway and swiped her key card through the door's lock. The door opened silently, sliding back into the wall. Ritsuko (followed by the three pilots) stepped into the room.
Nara looked around the cavernous chamber. It was almost completely empty. The only objects being a large computer screen next to the door and a sensor array around the perimeter. "What is this place?"
Ritsuko glanced over her shoulder at him. "It's a training room for you three. This is where you will test your powers. It's also where we'll be starting today."
Shinji and Rei glanced at each other before Shinji spoke. "What do you want us to do?"
Ritsuko walked to the centre of the room. "I need each of you to stand here in turn, and expand your AT field at maximum power. The sensors will record and compare your power. Don't expand the field too wide though. The sensor equipment is delicate."
(Virtual Tokyo-3)
Kensuke was having the time of his life. It might be simulated but he was still piloting an Eva and he knew that he was going to be doing the real thing eventually. The green Unit-18 walked down a street, armed with a palette gun. It was moving rather slowly as Kensuke had already fallen twice and wasn't keen to repeat the process. It had taken almost ten minutes to get the Eva to move, even with the crash course in piloting Ritsuko had given him before he met up with the others.
Kensuke was heading for the giant spider that towered over the buildings of Tokyo-3. He got within range and fired his palette gun, missing by a rather large margin.
As the Angel finally started to head towards him, he continued to fire bursts from his gun. Most shots missed but he did get a few hits along the Angel's body.
Reaching him the Angel lifted its leg and attempted to skewer Unit-18. Kensuke jumped clumsily aside and ended up with the leg going through his Eva's leg, pinning it to the ground.
The Angel moved its body over his Eva's and began to excrete acid. Kensuke held in screams as the acid burnt through his Eva. Bringing his gun to bear he let out a continuous burst of fire, somehow managing to puncture the Angel's core.
As the Angel began to collapsed, Kensuke rolled to the side, tearing a large chunk out of his Eva's leg in the process as the Angel's leg was ripped out of it. Unit-18 just managed to avoid the Angel's falling body.
Unit-18 began to rise, stumbling on its damaged leg. Kensuke gritted his teeth and forced his Eva to stand. As he raised his head he saw a huge worm-like shape at the end of the street. He raised his palette gun only to find that it had been destroyed by the acid.
Two wipe-like tentacles launched towards him aiming for his Eva's chest. Kensuke was disconnected from the simulator.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Asuka was in trouble. She'd been engaged with Sachiel when Israfel had come up behind her. She'd been able to keep them off for a while but then Israfel split and things had gotten really bad.
As Unit-14 narrowly avoided an eye-blast from one of Israfel's halves it was struck in the back by Sachiel's arm-beam knocking it to the ground. Even then Asuka reacted quickly, rolling to the side to avoid a swipe from Israfel's second half.
Rising to its feet Unit-14 whirled around and buried one of its axes in Sachiel's core, then jumped aside to avoid an attack from one of Israfel's halves. Jumping over the fallen Sachiel Asuka retrieved her axe and spun as she landed to face the two Israfel halves.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Unit-15 jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Ramiel's beam attack. Touji swore as the building to his left was blown apart by the beam. He didn't stay still long, jumping behind the next building as the one he was just hiding behind was struck by the beam. "Where's that rifle?"
Misato's voice came over the intercom. "It's powering up, just hang on a little longer."
"I don't know if I…shit!!" Touji cut off as he was forced to deploy his wings and swoop upwards to avoid the glowing form of Armisael. "Oh this is not good." As Armisael came at him again, Touji flew even higher.
Misato's voice screamed over the intercom. "Look out."
Though he didn't know what was wrong, Touji immediately swooped sideways. Unfortunately he wasn't quite fast enough, Ramiel's beam came from behind him and seared off his right arm and wing as well as part of his side. No longer able to fly Unit-15 crashed to the ground.
Touji had only enough time to look up before Armisael struck his Eva's chest, pinning him to the ground. Unit-15 struggled as it tried to force the Angel off. Its struggles were cut abruptly short though as Ramiel fired again, hitting the Eva directly. Touji was disconnected from the simulator.
(Nerv, Eva Simulation Room)
Misato watched as the advanced positron rifle put a shot straight through Ramiel's core. "Better late then never I guess." She looked at the results on the screen. "Damn it we've already lost two and Asuka's not looking in good shape."
Misato watched the screen that showed Unit-14. It had destroyed Israfel but suffered considerable damage in the act.
(Virtual Tokyo-3)
Unit-14 stumbled along the road. Asuka knew it would take her S2 organ a long time to repair the damage her Eva had taken so she should try and avoid the remaining Angels. But with Sahaqiel preparing to fall on the city she also had a time limit.
Right now she was heading towards where she could see Matariel's legs sticking up over the buildings. Kensuke had been defeated by Shamshiel there so she was heading there to destroy the Angel.
Finally reaching the fallen form of Matariel, Asuka looked around and spotted Shamshiel advancing on her from the right. She ran forward dodging one of Shamshiel's tentacles as it lashed out and spinning around she severed it with an axe.
Shamshiel stumbled backwards slightly and Unit-14 rushed forward. Asuka jumped up then came down on the Angel burying both axes into its core.
Her victory however didn't last; she was hurled off the dead Angel as she was struck in the back by Zeruel's eye-blast. Her axes were left behind in Shamshiel's core.
Even in mid-air Asuka was able to spin her Eva around and land on her feet facing the new threat.
(Terminal Dogma)
Shinji, Rei and Nara had finished in the training room and Ritsuko was looking at the results as she led them to the next room. It appeared Shinji was the strongest, clear ahead of the other two. Rei and Nara were almost equal in power with Rei only slightly more powerful.
They reached the door at the bottom left of the hallway. Ritsuko once again swiped her key card and the door opened. On the other side was a room with three large tanks of LCL, each attached to a network of pipes and sensors.
Rei recognised the contraption immediately. "The dummy plug system."
Ritsuko nodded slightly. "The previous model was scraped, we're building another one."
Shinji glanced sideways at her. "You want to download our brainwaves?"
"Yes, you're considerable smarter than normal humans and you know how to manipulate AT fields. Together your minds should make a very affective dummy plug."
Nara stepped up to one of the tanks. "What do you need a new dummy plug for?"
Ritsuko smiled slightly. "I'll show you that when we're done."
Shortly after the three pilots were in the tanks as their brainwaves were copied into a secure part of the MAGI system. The three could feel the gentle probing of their minds as the machines went about their work.
It didn't take long for the machines to finish their task. As soon as the process was finished Ritsuko opened the pods and the pilots stepped out.
Ritsuko turned to the door. "If you want to know what those brainwaves will be used for, follow me."
She walked out of the room and across the hallway opening the door on the opposite side and entering through it. The three pilots followed her.
Inside the room was an Eva. Ritsuko, Shinji, Rei and Nara stood on the gantry in front of it.
Shinji stared at the Eva. "It looks like Unit-01."
Ritsuko smirked. "Yes it's a clone of the original, identical in almost everyway. There are however a couple of differences, the colour being the most obvious."
The others had already noticed that. This Eva was silver and brown.
Rei had walked up to the Eva. She placed her hand on it and gasped. "This Eva has no soul."
Shinji and Nara walked up next to her and placed their hands on the Eva.
Shinji narrowed his eyes. "It's completely empty."
Nara nodded. "All I can feel is emptiness."
Ritsuko stepped up behind them. "Yes it has no soul, and that is why it's the perfect Eva for the dummy plug system. Without a soul it has no will of its own so it will not be able to reject the dummy plug system, as Unit-01 did."
Shinji looked into the Eva's eyes. "So this is what the new dummy plug is for."
Ritsuko looked up at the Eva. "Yes, this is Unit-19, the prototype for the Internal Dummy Plug System."
Rei looked over at Ritsuko. "Internal Dummy Plug System?"
Ritsuko looked away from the Eva and turned to the three pilots. "Yes. The dummy plug is built into the Eva and there are no external openings. So it is impossible for a pilot to enter the Eva."
Shinji was still staring into the Eva's eyes. "Why did you use Unit-01 as the model?"
Ritsuko paused before answering. "Because Unit-01 is the strongest Eva and the one we have the most data on."
Nara was looking at a bunch of wires going into the Eva. "Our brainwaves have already been downloaded haven't they?"
"Yes this Eva should now be fully operational." Ritsuko started back towards the entrance. "We need to move on."
The next room Ritsuko led them to was just left of the elevator. "This is the second Eva simulation room; it is just for you three." She swiped her key card through the lock and the door hissed open.
Inside it was like the other Eva simulation room but a little smaller. One wall was taken up by a screen and the opposite wall had three entry plugs. 01, 16 and 17 were etched on their fronts. Without a word the pilots got into their plugs and sealed them.
(Virtual Battlefield)
The battlefield the three pilots found themselves in was a twisted wasteland. It appeared that it had once been a city but all that was left now was a few twisted piles of metal and the occasional piece of road. The sky overhead was a dark red colour and the ground was dark and foreboding with spires of rocks all over the place.
The three Evas rose to their full height, weapons in hand. Unit-01 with the Lancea Longini and the other two with Longinus spears.
Ritsuko's voice came over the intercom. "This is the battlefield you will be fighting in. Your opponents should be arriving shortly. You also have an ally."
Ritsuko had barely finished her sentence when three indistinct shapes appeared on the horizon. At the same time another Eva appeared alongside the three. It was Unit-19 carrying a Longinus spear.
As the approaching Angels got closer the pilots began to be able to make them out. There was the all too familiar form of the 18th Angel, next to it was the white form of Lilith and next to Lilith was the glowing form of Adam.
Once again Ritsuko spoke over the intercom, this time a screen of her face popping up on the pilots' view screens. "You've got five opponents so look out."
Shinji looked a little confused. "Five? But I only see…" He trailed off as a smaller shape in front of the three titanic Angels became visible. "Tabris!"
Ritsuko looked a little sympathetic. "Yes, we incorporated Tabris into this simulation. But don't worry Shinji this Tabris won't offer his life, he will try to kill you."
Shinji suppressed his emotions with some effort. "So what's the fifth one?"
Ritsuko smiled faintly. "You'll find out."
(Virtual Tokyo-3)
Asuka's battle with Zeruel was not going well for the young girl. Her left arm had been severed at the shoulder and most of the plating on her chest had been destroyed. The worst part was her S2 organ was now exposed to the Angel's attacks.
Holding her progressive knife in her remaining hand Asuka tried to keep out of the Angel's line of sight, darting in for quick attacks. "I don't suppose you could use that rifle on this thing." She looked at the video image of Misato's face as she spoke.
Misato shook her head. "Sorry Asuka, the rifle can't get a clear shot through the buildings, you're on your own."
"Great, how long till Sahaqiel hits."
"About thirty seconds."
Asuka hung her head. "Just great, I'm doomed."
Unti-14 back-flipped to avoid another eye-blast from Zeruel but since it only had one arm it didn't land very well, crashing into the ground.
Zeruel was on it in an instant, raising its arms and bringing them down on Unit-14's S2 organ. As the organ cracked Asuka looked past the attacking Angel. She could see Sahaqiel falling in the distance. Asuka was disconnected from the simulator.
(Virtual Battlefield)
The four Evas had split up and were attempting to encircle their opponents. The attempt however, was not going very well. Each Eva was now fully engaged with an Angel.
Unit-01 and Unit-16 were fighting a two on two battle with Adam and Lilith, both teens briefly dwelling on the fact they were essentially fighting themselves.
Nara was experiencing some difficulty in his battle with Tabris. The nimble little Angel kept flying out of his reach.
Unit-19 was engaged in a close range battle with the 18th Angel, using its spear's reach to strike at the Angel while avoiding its energy-blasts.
(Nerv, Terminal Dogma, Eva Simulation Room)
Ritsuko watched the screen with a slight smile on her face. It wouldn't be long till the final Angel made its appearance and until then there were several interesting battles to watch. The other three pilots would be doing sync tests now, so they had a while to finish this simulation.
(Virtual Battlefield)
Rei and Shinji were in perfect sync, their movements perfectly matched to each other. Simultaneously both Units leaped forward, their weapons held at their sides. Adam and Lilith didn't move but their eyes glowed briefly.
Cross-flares erupted all around the two Evas blowing them backwards to land in a crouch position a few hundred metres from the Angels.
Acting as one, the two pilots focused their power towards the offending Angels.
Cross-flares surrounded the Angels and reached towards them but were ineffective against the Angels' AT fields.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Unit-17's hand grabbed at Tabris but ended up grabbing thin air as the boy-Angel dodged. Growling slightly Nara lashed out with his AT field. Tabris brought up his own to defend himself.
The two AT field's collided and pushed against each other for barely a second before Tabris' field collapsed and he was wrapped up in the opposing AT field.
Unit-17's fist enclosed the Angel and brought it up to eye level. Within the entry plug Nara smiled slightly. Unit-17 clenched its fist pulverising the Angel and its core.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Unit-19 was starting to wrap-up its battle with the 18th Angel. It had severed one of the Angel's talons and split the other in half. Driving its spear into the Angel's stomach Unit-19 ripped upwards, leaving a large tear up the Angel's abdomen.
The 18th Angel stumbled backwards and Unit-19 drove its spear through the Angel's eye and out the back of its head. Leaving its weapon there the Eva proceeded to drive its right hand into the slit up the Angel's abdomen. It pulled out the Angels S2 organ and promptly crushed it.
It didn't notice the large black sphere that appeared above it near the end of the battle, nor did it notice the sphere disappear. It did notice however that it was now sinking into the ground.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Shinji and Rei were fighting a losing battle against the two opposing Angels. Their powers were almost technically equal but Adam and Lilith were far better at manipulating their AT fields. Even now the two teens were growing in skill but were still outmatched. If not for their teamwork, they would probable have already been destroyed.
It was starting to get desperate when the two teens felt Nara strengthen his link to them and attempt to sync. Rei and Shinji accepted the link and synced with Nara, receiving a quick mental smile in response.
Folding its wings into its back, Unit-17 landed beside its two allies. All three raised their weapons and prepared to attack.
(Meanwhile, Another Part of the Battlefield)
Leliel's shadow shuddered violently, its white strips disappearing and its surface becoming a completely uniform black. Below, its body was splitting open and shaking enough to make its own small earthquake. Part of the shadow stretched outwards then cracked as a bloody hand emerged. Blood sprayed outwards from the wound. The hand grabbed onto the edge of the crack and another emerged to grab the opposite edge. The hands pushed sideways, widening the crack enough for the head of Unit-19 to emerge along with its upper torso. As the Eva continued to push at the sphere, more and more cracks appeared along its surface until finally it exploded outwards in a haze of blood. Unit-19 landed in a crouch position on the Angel's now dead body, breaking more of it with the impact.
(Nerv, Terminal Dogma, Eva Simulation Room)
Ritsuko watched the blood soaked form of Unit-19 head towards the battle between its three allies and the two remaining Angels. It was performing quite well. It would appear the combination of brainwaves was a success.
Ritsuko turned her attention to the Eva's destination. The battle was now going in the Evas' favour. The Angels did not co-operate too well, while the three pilots were synchronising to an incredible high extent. In the case of Shinji and Rei, the synchronisation was perfect. However even now the Angels AT fields were proving a problem, blocking the Evas' strikes with their spears and the Lancea Longini.
(Virtual Battlefield)
Shinji jumped backwards to dodge another strike by Adam, swinging at the Angel with the Lancea in the process. Adam deflected the blow with its AT field and prepared for another strike.
Unit-16 appeared to the Angel's right and launched towards it, only to be forced back by a blow from Adam's AT field. Back-flipping in mid-air Rei brought her Eva around to land next to Unit-17 which was currently fending off an attack from Lilith.
The three Evas found themselves standing in a lose circle as the two Angels closed in.
It was then that Unit-19 struck. Focusing on the Evas in front of it, Adam didn't notice the lone Eva until it was too late. Unit-19 rammed the Angel from behind knocking it to the ground. The two behemoths rolled along the ground, locked in a fierce battle.
As the two rolled to a stop Adam focused its power. Blasted by Adams AT field from point-blank range and struck by several powerful cross-flares Unit-19 was torn into pieces as it was flung off the Angel. Adam began to rise. It was however too late.
Once Adam had been knocked down, Lilith had been the only Angel left standing and had found itself the target of a concentrated attack from the three opposing Evas.
Nara swung low aiming for the Angel's legs. At the same time Shinji and Rei combined their AT fields and struck at the Angel. Forced to jump over Nara's attack, Lilith was unable to focus enough power into its AT field to block the attack from Shinji and Rei.
Taking the blow full on, Lilith stumbled backwards. Before Lilith could recover it was struck full in the face by Rei's spear. It stumbled backwards more and then went limp, crumbling to the floor. There was a large hole in its abdomen where the Lancea Longini had passed through, destroying its core.
Rising to its feet Adam turned towards the now unarmed Unit-01. It raised its arm and then brought it down in a kind of cutting gesture. Shinji jumped to the side but his right arm was severed by the invisible attack.
Unit-16 retrieved its spear from Lilith's body and turned towards the Angel. Unit-17 deployed its wings and flew high into the air.
Shinji gritted his teeth against the pain of having his arm severed. Reaching down with his Eva's left hand he picked up the severed limb and held it to the bloody hole in his Eva's shoulder. Flesh and armour flowed as the arm and shoulder rejoined.
Adam jumped towards Unit-16, lashing out with its AT field. The blow pushed Rei's Eva backwards and she was forced to focus her own AT field to prevent herself from being damaged. Adam continued its approach reaching out to strike Unit-16 but was stopped as Nara swooped down from above and attempted to skewer the Angel.
Adam dodged but had to break off its attack. Unit-16 deployed its wings and joined Unit-17 in the sky.
Adam's back rippled slightly and large glowing wings emerged. It was about to take off when it was grabbed from behind by Unit-01. Trying to break out of the Eva's grip Adam slammed the Eva with its AT field. Shinji had to fight to maintain his footing as he was blown backwards.
Adam took off, Unit-01 looked up and its own glowing wings emerged. Unit-01 took off to join the aerial battle.
(Nerv, Terminal Dogma Eva Simulation Room)
Ritsuko continued to watch the screen. This was turning into quite the battle. She watched as Adam fought off the attacks of the three Evas, who were now circling it in the air.
(Virtual Battlefield)
Shinji flew a little higher to get above the other two Evas and Adam. He watched as Rei lashed out with her AT field and Nara swung his spear. Adam was forced to split its power between both blows. Both were still deflected but it gave Shinji an idea.
He activated his intercom. "When I say attack hit it with everything you've got ok."
Rei nodded. "Okay."
Nara just shrugged. "Fine with me."
Unit-01's arm reached up and a small gleam appeared in the sky. It was the Lancea Longini rushing towards the Eva. It reached Unit-01 and stopped just above its hand. Shinji grabbed the lance and spoke into his intercom. "Okay attack!!"
Both Rei and Nara lashed out with their AT fields striking at the Angel with their spears as well. At the same time Shinji dove towards Adam swinging the Lancea Longini in an overhead arc focusing his AT field around the weapon.
Adam raised its AT field and attempted to fend off the five attacks. It succeeded in blocking the attacks of Rei and Nara but was forced to use too much energy. It couldn't block Shinji's attack and was cleaved in two by the Lancea Longini its core being split in the process.
(Nerv, Eva Bays)
Misato looked over the sync test results as the three pilots got out of the entry plugs. Asuka was still holding 100 and Touji had improved slightly, now able to reach 81. Kensuke was a different matter, his sync ratio was only 53 and even that had taken him almost half an hour to achieve. Still it wasn't a bad start.
As the pilots approached Asuka was busy gloating over her superior score. "I managed to kill three of the Angels and one of them was Israfel so technically I killed four. And once again Suzuhara failed to kill anything."
Kensuke smiled victoriously. "I got a kill."
Asuka shook her head slightly. "You killed Matariel, anyone could kill Matariel. The fact that you were actually damaged is pitiful. Last time we did that simulation Nara killed it in about five seconds without taking any damage."
Kensuke's smile fell. "Oh…darn."
Misato stepped in front of the pilots. "All of you go back to the change room and put on your normal clothes, the others will meet you there then you can go."
(Nerv, Change Room)
By the time Asuka, Touji and Kensuke arrived, Rei, Shinji and Nara were already waiting outside the room fully dressed in their casual clothing. The remaining pilots hurried into the room and emerged soon after in their casual clothing.
As the six pilots walked towards the nearest Nerv exit, Asuka was busy recounting her battle to Shinji, Rei and Nara.
Kensuke walked beside Touji and leaned over to talk to his friend. "Is she always like this about the Evas?"
Touji signed. "Always."
(Two Weeks Later)
It had been two weeks since the beginning of the pilots training and things were progressing nicely. Asuka, Touji and Kensuke were getting closer and closer to winning their simulation. Rei, Shinji and Nara were growing more and more powerful and learning how to fully manipulate their AT fields. Unit-19 had been taken to the Eva bays and shown to the rest of Nerv's personnel. Touji had reached a sync ratio of 85 and Kensuke was up to 60.5, the other four pilots could still hold 100.
(The Apartment, Shinji and Rei's Room)
It was five o'clock in the morning and Rei was sleeping peacefully. Her head snuggled into Shinji's chest and her body pressed up to his side.
Shinji was still awake, absently stroking Rei's hair as he considered why he wasn't asleep. There was a sense of foreboding hanging over him. He didn't know what but something was going to happen today…something terrible.
He tightened his arm around Rei. He wouldn't let anything happen to her, not ever again.
Shinji closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep. They snapped open again as the familiar sound of a siren filled the city.
(Nerv, Control Room)
The control room was rather full. Inside were the six pilots, Misato, Ritsuko, the three bridge bunnies, Fuyutsuki and Gendo.
A large screen showed a visible image of the 19th Angel, a creature that appeared built for battle. It was huge, almost as large as Gaghiel and had a large assortment of limbs. It stood on two thick segmented legs and had two long segmented arms ending in three clawed talons. It also had two additional sets of segmented arms but they were shorter and instead of ending in talons they ended in large scythe blades. Four flexible tentacles extended from its back and it had a very long and noticeable flexible tail that had several bladed spikes at its tip. Its body was thickly armoured and covered in several spikes. Its head was insectoid and had a four sided mouth that hung open, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth. But perhaps the most frightening part was the many red orbs that littered its being; they adorned its body, its limbs and even its head. They were all identical and blended well with the Angels blood red body.
Asuka stared at the terrifying image. "Mein Gott, what is that thing."
Gendo had his hands folded before his face. "The Angel has been sighted by the JSSDF and is approaching their main base as we speak. The Evas will be aerial dropped into the base to fight the Angel."
Misato turned to the pilots. "Okay, get in your Evas and get to the surface."
(Ten Minutes Later, Airspace over JSSDF HQ)
Seven large black planes circled above the JSSDF base, each of them carrying the titanic form of an Eva.
Within the base was utter chaos. The Angel had arrived a few minutes ago and was busy destroying everything in sight. The JSSDF's prototype mecha had been deployed to battle it. The second stage of the Jatalone project, the mecka looked similar to its predecessor but its arms ended in large machine guns.
Shinji and the other pilots watched as the mecka opened fire on the Angel. Shinji noticed that despite the incredible power of the Angels AT field (stronger than his own) it didn't utilise its full potential, simply lashing out with it like an enraged animal. Some of the shots from the mecha's gun actually managed to get past the AT field though they were ineffective against the Angel's armour. Those that did penetrate the armour left only minor injuries that healed almost instantly.
Lightning quick the Angel's tentacles whipped around and grabbed the mecha's limbs, lifting it into the air. Its four bladed arms flashed forward, cutting the body in two and decapitating the mecka. Its tentacles pulled and the arms and legs were ripped off the two halves before being thrown to the ground.
The Angel stepped over the fallen mecka and drove one of its talons into the mecka chest, crushing the nuclear reactor inside. The resulting explosion disintegrated the Angel's talon and part of its arm. The Angel didn't appear to notice however and merely flexed its arm slightly. A completely new talon burst from the end of the arm, including a replacement core for the one that had been on the talon.
Gendo's cool voice came over the intercom. "Deploy the Evas."
There was a clicking noise as the locks holding Unit-01's shoulder blades let go and the Eva began to fall towards the ground. Shinji looked around and noticed all the other Evas being released at exactly the same time. About half way to the ground all the Evas deployed their wings and slowed their decent.
The Angel tilted its head up and roared at the spiralling Evas.
Following the plan set out by Misato, Units 01, 14, 16, 17 and 19 headed for the ground while Units 15 and 18 remained circling and brought their machine guns to bear.
As the five Evas landed around the Angel the other two opened fire with their weapons. A hail of fire showered down on the Angel tearing at its body and puncturing several cores. Mere seconds after the fire stopped however the Angel's wounds healed and its cores reconstructed themselves.
The fire however did manage to buy enough time for the five landing Evas to get into position around the Angel. Units 15 and 18 circled around and towards the ground while below them the real battle began.
All five Evas jumped to the attack. Units 16, 17 and 19 drove their spears towards the Angel. Unit-14 swung both of its axes forward and Unit-01 slashed forward with the Lancea Longini.
The Angel reacted quickly lashing out with all its limbs at once. Its tentacles shot out sideways towards Units 16 and 17. Both Evas had one tentacle wrap around their waist stopping their forward movement, and another tentacle wrap around their spears, pulling them from their hands. As soon as it had disarmed them, the Angel threw the Evas away.
At the same time it smashed its long tail into Unit-19 knocking the Eva backwards and tearing large chunks out of its chest with the tails spikes. Its long segmented arms lashed out and its talons grabbed Unit-14's arms, two of its scythe blade tipped arms slashing forward and severing the Eva's arms, causing it to fall to the ground.
Unit-01 was struck full-on by the Angel's AT field and was sent flying backwards to crash into a large hangar.
The Angel took aim and hurled its two recently acquired spears at the circling Evas. Touji managed to avoid the attack but Kensuke was to slow. Unit-18 took the spear full in the chest and it came out the other-side. Kensuke screamed and his Eva plummeted to the ground, dropping its gun and breaking its wings in the fall.
Asuka swore as she tried to bring her Eva to its feet, clutching at her shoulders in pain. "How can we possible defeat this thing?"
Touji landed Unit-15 next to her, holding the spear the Angel had tried to skewer him with. He noticed Rei's Eva rising from where it had landed and threw the spear over to her. Unit-16 snatched the spear out of the air as it rose.
Nara rose and stepped over to the fallen form of Unit-18, reluctantly pulling his spear out of its chest. He was just glad that Kensuke had lost consciousness, it would dull the pain.
As this was happening Unit-19 charged the Angel from behind but was pulled up sort when the Angel's tail whipped its leg out from under it. Unit-19 crashed to the ground and then the Angel was upon it. The Angel drove two of its blades deep into Unit-19's chest and then pulled then up and out, tearing open the Eva and destroying its Internal Dummy Plug System.
As the Angel began to rise it was set upon by Units 16 & 17 from either side and Unit-01 from the front. All three drove their weapons into the Angel, puncturing several of its cores.
The cores went critical and detonated, blowing off large chunks of the Angel and knocking the Evas back.
Yet as the light cleared the Angel still stood, regenerating at an incredible rate. A hail of gunfire from Unit-15 assaulted it but it didn't even seem to notice.
Asuka swore loudly as she held the second of her severed arms to her Eva's shoulder (Touji attached the first). "No matter what we do, it just keeps on regenerating. Even destroying some its cores doesn't work. They just come back before we even try to destroy the rest." She gritted her teeth as she felt the arm and shoulder knit back together, it was an extremely painful process.
No one else got a chance to respond as the Angel charged towards Units 14 & 15. The other three active Evas moved to help but the Angel charged Unit-14 head-on. Asuka's Eva was tackled to the ground and the Angel's talons began to tear chunks from its chest. Unit-15 tried to attack the Angel but was grabbed by one of the Angel's tentacles and lifted off the ground, before being thrown clear across the base to crass in a heap.
Unit-16 drove its spear into the Angel's back but was struck by the Angels AT field and thrown backwards, leaving the spear in the Angel. Unit-17 was slightly more successful, using its spear it severed the Angel's tail and proceeded to jump onto the Angel's back, narrowly avoiding the Angel's tentacles and driving its spear through the back of the Angels head and out one of its eyes. The tail however grew back, wiped around the Angel's back and smashed into Unit-17 sending it flying but leaving the spear.
While these attacks failed they did distract the Angel enough for Shinji to make his move. Using the Lancea Longini, Shinji severed the Angel's talons. Unit-14 brought its legs up and kicked its way out from under the Angel, narrowly avoiding the Angel's blades.
As Unit-14 rose, Unit-01 held out a cautionary hand. Shinji's voice came over the intercom. "Get away and take the others with you, don't forget Kensuke."
Asuka shook her head slightly. "What are you talking about? There's no way you can beat that thing on your own."
Shinji watched the Angel prepare to attack. "Just do it! I'll finish this. I'll wipe out all its cores at once!!"
Rei's voice came over the intercom, along with a picture of her concerned face. "Shinji, what's happening?"
Shinji sent a visible image to Rei's Eva and tried to give her a reassuring smile. "It's okay Rei, don't worry just go."
Any further conversation was cut off as the Angel tried to attack Unit-01. Shinji threw up his hands and activated his AT field at maximum power. While it stopped the Angel's attack it didn't stop the momentum and both of the huge behemoths crashed into the mountain that bordered the base. The Angel almost completely obscuring the smaller form of Unit-01.
Asuka hesitated a moment then turned and ran over to Unit-18, beginning to drag it along the ground. The other Evas began to back off as well, Touji helping Asuka with Kensuke.
Within Unit-01, Shinji felt every impact on his AT field. It was holding for the moment but it was only a matter of time till the Angel broke through. Shinji closed his eyes and concentrated, all around him the Eva began to glow slightly as power coursed through it.
Nara felt something…change in Unit-01, he knew this felling but he didn't know from where. Then it hit him, Sahaqiel!! This felling was in Sahaqiel's memories. He knew what was happening; Shinji was turning his Eva into a living bomb.
Rei felt it too. Her Eva came to a rather sudden stop. "Shinji, don't do it!!"
A couple of tears flowed from Shinji's eyes and dissipated in the LCL. Rei had stopped but she and the others were already far enough away. He had to act before she decided to come back. Shinji closed his eyes, dispelling a few more tears. "Aishiteru Rei-chan."
The Angel finally broke through Unit-01's AT field and lashed out with all its limbs towards the exposed Eva. The limbs however, never reached their intended target. Shinji's eyes snapped open and a slight smile crossed his lips. "You lose."
All the power that had been building-up in Unit-01 was released at once. The centre of the explosion was Unit-01's overcharged S2 organ. Unit-01, the Angel and everything around them were engulfed by a huge white dome.
The dome continued to spread coming to encompass the entire base and the surrounding mountains. It engulfed all the Evas as it spread. Several AT fields rose to fend off the destruction.
As the dome dissipated it revealed a giant crater. The crater was almost completely empty, every part of the JSSDF base had been destroyed and much of the surrounding terrain was completely gone.
Four huge forms stood in that crater, a fifth lying between two of them. The Evas' armour was melted and their bodies were badly damaged but they were never the less still functioning and their pilots were still alive. Unit-19 however had not raised its AT field and none of the other Evas had been close enough to spread their field over it, so it had been almost destroyed by the explosion. Most of its armour was gone and parts of its body had been torn to shreds. Still it was salvageable and would be able to fight again.
Of Unit-01 and the Angel (as well as the Lancea Longini and the two Longinus spears) there was nothing left. The center of the crater was completely empty.
Touji could only stare at the complete destruction; his mouth struggled to form words. When they finally came they weren't exactly what he'd been aiming for. "Holy shit!!"
Asuka expressed a similar opinion. "Mein Gott!!"
Nara didn't say anything, he just bowed his head. Listening to the sounds of Rei crying.
The girl was weeping uncontrollable. "Shin-chan…Shin-chan…Shin-chan…" That was all she could say between sobs. She was desperately trying to establish a link to Shinji but it was no good, there was nothing she could link to.
Unit-16 started running towards the craters center. Unit-17 started to follow it.
Rei got close to the center and ejected her entry plug, climbing down the back of her Eva to get to the ground. Nara brought his Eva next to hers and followed suit.
Rei reached the ground and started running towards the craters center but was stopped when Nara grabbed her from behind and spun her around to face him. "Rei stop it, there's nothing you can do."
Rei struggled for a few seconds then gave up. Collapsing against Nara she began to cry into his shoulder. "Nara, I can't feel Shin-chan."
Nara tried to comfort Rei bringing both of them down on their knees and holding her gently. "Neither can I Rei, I'm sorry but he's gone."
Rei cried harder. "No…he can't be gone." She gave up on talking and just cried.
Nara looked up as the shadow of Unit-14 fell over them. He could see Unit-15 in the distance, crouched over Unit-18.
Asuka got out of her Eva and joined the two teens on the ground. She didn't say anything she just knelt down next to them and put her arms around Rei, helping Nara comfort the girl. A few tears rolled down Asuka's cheeks as well.
(2 Hours Later, Nerv VTOL)
Misato stood at the VTOL's door as it took off. Watching the recovery teams spread over the site looking for anything related to the Eva's or the Angel. The large black planes were landing and the Evas were being attached, being prepared for the return to Nerv.
Misato looked back into the VTOL's interior. The five pilots were seated near the rear of the plane. Kensuke was having a quiet conversation with Touji about what had happened after he'd lost consciousness. They were obviously trying to not let Rei overhear the conversation. Asuka was sitting near the two boys but wasn't participating in the conversation; instead she simple stared out the window at the rapidly shrinking battlefield.
Rei and Nara were sitting on the other side of the VTOL. Nara still hadn't shed any tears but Misato had long since realised he was merely holding them in to help comfort Rei. Rei was still crying quietly, she hadn't stopped the entire time Misato had been watching her. Misato felt bad enough, Shinji had been almost like a son to her. She couldn't imagine how hard this must be on Rei.
Looking back out the window, Misato dwelled for a moment on what had happened today. Shinji was dead, she was sure of that. It wasn't like when Rei had self-destructed her Eva. There was absolutely nothing left, just a giant crater. A few tears rolled down Misato's cheeks.
End Notes: Review please. If you don't review I'll never get better.