(A/N you will be surprised, hell, I was surprised when I wrote it. that is all)
Chapter Nineteen
Mikuru Strikes!
"Whenever it suited her, she would disregard the Laws of Relativity completely and throw them out the window."
-Kyon
I sat in the plug, waiting to be launched, I was feeling pretty nervous, not only did I now have the responsibility to keep Haruhi and Mikuru safe, but I had no idea what this next angel would be like, would it be a hopeless situation? Most of the battles so far felt pretty hopeless...
"Alright Kyon-kun are you ready to launch?" Misato asked on the video link,
"Not yet, can you tell me a little bit about this angel before you send us up?" I asked anxiously.
Doctor Akagi appeared in the video link, "This one is different than any we've fought before, it has three cores,"
Three cores? That's ridiculous!
"From what we can tell those are the only physical manifestation other than some kind of blue fluid, it's using those three cores to power a unique AT field that holds it's humanoid shape, if you can get through the field, defeating it should be a piece of cake"
If I can get through the AT field, being the key phrase.
Misato spoke again, "The JSSDF are already engaging it, are you ready now?"
"Yeah, let's do this"
"This will be so easy!" Haruhi and Sohryu called out together,
"What was that?" they both said,
"Knock it off!" they shouted at each other.
I sighed as the Evas were transported to the launch tubes, and braced myself as Haruhi and Sohryu argued, I'm still not used to being launched like this... I hope Mikuru doesn't have a heart attack.
Haruhi, Mikuru, Rei, Sohryu and myself were launched simultaneously, Mikuru predictably screamed her head off.
When we arrived to the surface, I was met with the sight of an enormous dust cloud as VTOLs and an AC-130 were firing at something in the middle of the city, I couldn't tell what it was they were firing at, but obviously it was the angel,
"Alright, everyone take cover!" I said as I got behind a building. I looked around to see Mikuru and Rei's Evas taking cover near me. I poked my head out of cover to see a group of Mitsubishi F-2's fly over head and unload a swarm of tomohawk missiles into the cloud, but I still couldn't what they were trying to obliterate. I could feel the booms from the AC-130 blasting over head, all the windows in the nearby buildings had been shattered. Could an angel really stand up against all this fire power? I saw a glowing blue arm swing out of the cloud and smash a group of VTOL's into a building. There was something disturbingly familiar about that arm...
The VTOLs were backing up, trying not to suffer the same fate as their comrades, the dust cloud started letting up and I could see a vague humanoid shape being battered by the AC-130.
"Alright as soon as the dust cloud lets up we'll all pop out of cover and start firing! Don't engage until I tell you too! Sohryu, Haruhi, I mean it, don't do anything stupid!"
There was a disgusted "ugh" from Sohryu and a "I'm not going to do anything, I'm not stupid!" from Haruhi
I gripped the pallet rifle in my hands tightly, impatient for battle, Rei and Mikuru were armed with pallet rifles as well, while Sohryu had a missile launcher and Haruhi had the chaingun.
The dust finally settled to reveal a... No! No that can't be! That's impossible!
But it was there, I was looking at what was undeniably a Shinjin, it looked exactly the same as I remembered them, except the three red orbs in it's face were brighter and more pronounced.
Seemingly iratated, it shot out it's arms, stretching them and knocking out several more VTOL fighters, who were trying to retreat, and the AC-130 stopped firing in what I guessed was an effort to stop the dust cloud.
"Open fire, now!"
In unison we hit it with our assorted weapons, only causing it to stumble backwards a little with each blast of Sohryu's missile launcher, which only seemed to piss it off. Stabilizing itself from Sohryu's blasts, it pulled back it's arm like a slingshot and launched it several feet into the building Sohryu was using for cover, luckily she got out of the way just in time and SWAT turned to the building next to her. Haruhi walked out of cover and fired a steady stream of bullets as she strafed across the street, just behind the Shinjin,
After I specifically told her not to do something stupid, ugh, that's Haruhi for you.
"Haruhi look out!" I screamed as the Shinjin spun around and sent a flying punch into Haruhi's eva, putting a nasty dent into her chain gun in the process. It sent her flying back, but strangely enough didn't knock her over. She was still standing, hunched over, her feet had made twin trails in the asphalt for about a quarter of a mile. That thing can punch straight through a building, so why is Haruhi still standing? Quickly She stood up straight, dropped the now useless chaingun and ran behind a building. She was then ignored by the Shinjin as the AC-130 renewed it's aussalt with even bigger rounds, causing the it to stumble backwards and crash through a building. The Shinjin launched it's arm up and knocked the plane out of the sky.
Is there no limit to this thing's range?
The rest of us continued firing as it knocked our cover away one by one. How are we going to defeat this thing? I ran out of ammo and drew my knife, "Cease fire!" I ordered, "Haruhi, get behind it and hold it's arms down, I'm gonna stab it!" Haruhi's yellow eva ran up behind it and did as I ordered, The Shinjin struggled in her grip. As I was about to strike for one of it's facial cores, it kicked me, sending me flying into a building,
"Kyon!" Haruhi screamed as the Shinjin rotated it's shoulders impossibly and flipped Haruhi upside down into the ground in front of it,
I tried to run as fast as I could to save her, but the Shinjin began pounding her eva with it's fists, the others began to open fire again as it clutched it's hands together and sent them flying down,
"No!" Haruhi screamed hysterically just before the fists made impact, but something happend. I saw the air warp around Haruhi's Eva for a split second, and then there was an enourmous booming sound as the Shinjin was launched far into the air, and came crashing to the ground three blocks away, leaving an imprint where it lay. Some of the buildings around her were caught in the blast and had huge chunks missing. I ran over and helped her Eva up,
"Haruhi, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine" As she slowly got off the ground, the Shinjin melted into a puddle and then reformed itself into a standing position, it put it's hand up and lifted up it's index finger, shifting it from side to side as if to say 'ah, ah, ah!' I grabbed Haruhi's Eva and threw us both out of the way as it slammed it's hands on the ground and launched itself into a flying kick, missing us by inches and crashing into another building. Sohryu finally ran out of missiles and the Shinjin didn't seem bothered by the shots from Mikuru and Rei's pallet rifles.
It picked itself out of the building and threw chunks of what was once a skyscraper at Sohryu, who dodged quickly.
Haruhi and I were ducked between two buildings, watching the scene unfold,
"Kyon, I never realized how brutal being an Eva pilot was!" She said worriedly.
"Don't worry, we'll beat this thing," I reasured her, I then opened a video link to NERV, "Misato, there's got to be something else we can use against this thing!"
Misato looked at me sadly, "I'm afraid not Kyon-kun, this may be it" she lamented.
"You can't give up hope just yet! There's got to be something that can hurt this thing!"
Someone else opened a video link to me, wait, Haruhi's dad?
"There is one thing," He said with a determined expression, "The Ku-Go device"
"What about a death ray? What are you talking about, Suzumiya?" Misato asked
Doctor Akagi appeared in Misato's videolink, "The Ku-Go? That thing's a failure, the Japanese government might as well have given it to us as a gag gift!"
"I'm sorry, but what are you two talking about?" Misato asked
Doctor Akagi began to explain, "The Ku-Go was a secret weapon that was under development during World War Two, it used microwaves to cook soldiers alive, but it was only tested on rabbits, we don't even know if it would effect a human, much less an angel!"
"I've done the math several times, theoretically the microwaves could temporarily disrupt an AT field with a steady stream of concentrated fire, I know it might not work at all, but it's the only chance we've got right now!"
"There's just no way it could work!" Doctor Akagi tried to argue
The commander opened up a video link as well, sitting at his station with his fingers locked in front of his face, "Doctors, our top priority is to defeat the angels, if we must take a risk in questionable technology, then so be it. Prepare the Ku-Go for launch ASAP, do not test my patience" he then closed his link
Misato turned to me, "Alright Kyon, I want you to distract the angel while we get it prepared"
"Got it," I said, closing the link and opening a new one to the military, "We need to distract the angel, can you hit it with a few predator missiles?" I asked General Yubari, "Absolutely! Good luck, Kyon" He then closed the link, I opened another link to all the pilots, "Everyone keep your distance, the JSSDF is going to distract it with predator missiles while our solution arrives!"
There was a collective, "G-got it!" "alright" "Yes sir"
"Haruhi, you're being awful quiet, are you okay?" I asked
"Yeah, I just didn't expect to hear my dad like that, he sounded so worried..."
The Shinjin was chasing Rei, who was ducking in and out of cover as she tried to distance herself from it. The Shinjin was trying to smash her Eva with it's fists, sending bits of building flying all across Tokyo three, which was starting to look like a wasteland at this point,
"He's got no reason to worry, Haruhi, because I'll protect all of you"
"I love you Kyon!" Haruhi said, surprising me in the heat of battle, I've never heard her voice sound so scared before... that was unlike Haruhi at all, I don't think I've ever seen her scared before, period.
I smiled, "I love you too, Haruhi, we're going to make it out of this, all of us" I reasured her.
There was a screech as a predator missile came flying down, exploding on contact with the Shinjin, smashing it into the ground and giving Rei time to get put a good distance between them. Frustrated, the Shinjin reformed and started chasing Sohryu, who had drawn her pistol and started firing shots that uselessly bounced off it's head. Mikuru rolled out of cover from behind it and starting blasting at it with her pallet rifle, but it either jammed or ran out of ammo. The Shinjin turned around and stared at her for a moment,
"Uh-oh..." Mikuru squealed frightenedly
"Mikuru!" I roared, charging between them and launching myself into the air to block the Shinjin's fist that had been launching towards her. There was a split second where I braced myself for impact, but that impact never came, Haruhi had jumped in front of me and used her AT blast to deflect the Shinjin's fist, launching it back towards it's face. Quickly, the Shinjin split it's head in two, but the momentum of the fist sent it somersaulting backwards and crashing into another skyscraper.
I really hope all the people who use these buildings have gone to a shelter...
Another predator missile came shrieking down, completely obliterating what was left of the skyscraper. The Shinjin merely reformed itself, unfazed and started walking towards us.
"The death ray has just been launched, Asahina, you go get it, you're the closest!" Misato ordered.
"M-me? Alright!" in an impressive display of speed, the pink Eva ran off, possibly even breaking the sound barrier.
"You alright Haruhi?" I asked
"Yeah"
"Alright then, we just need to distract the it a little longer"
Haruhi and I stood side by side, hunched over and prepared to dodge any punches the Shinjin threw at us, what we were not expecting however, was for the Shinjin to completely lose interest in us and go after Sohryu again, who had found another pallet rifle and began blasting it from the side,
"Die you son of a bitch!" She screamed as she completely unloaded everything in the gun on it.
The Shinjin turned around and stretched it's arms around two buildings, using its entire body as a slingshot to send it hurtling into unit two.
"Mein Gott! Get of me!" Sohryu screamed, punching it in the face as it straddled her Evas lap, her efforts were completely ignored as the Shinjin began pounding it's fist into unit two's chest.
Sohryu tried to grab it's hands, but they only melted through her grip and continued their onslaught.
Sohryu was making a gagging noise as she opened a video link to me, I could see blood drifting out of her mouth and dispersing into the LCL,
"Don't just stand there, do something! I'm sorry I've been such a bitch, please don't let me die, Kyon! I'm sorry, okay?"
If I had enough time to react, I would have tried to save her, but everything happened in an instant.
I heard the sound of thundering footsteps as a pink blur ran to the scene, almost flying. It held a strange looking device in it's hands; imagine an enormous metal cylinder in the shape of a gun, put a trigger and handle on the side of it, then cover it in solar panels and put a large handle on top of it like a chain gun, and finally picture a huge satelite dish at the end, that was the reingeneered Ku-Go device.
"Y-you leave Miss Sohryu alone, you big bully!" Mikuru screamed as she pulled the trigger... and nothing happened.
"Miku-chan, theres a dial on the side to adjust the frequency, turn it up halfway then pull the trigger!" Mister Suzumiya's voice called out over the com, Mikuru shakingly fumbled with the dial for a split second and then pointed it at the Shinjin, who was still beating the ever living shit out of Sohryu.
She pulled the trigger and suddenly the air around the dish began to warp like heat rising off a road during a really hot day. There was a steady hum as the microwaves washed over the Shinjin, it ignored it at first until large holes started to form in it's psuedo skin, causing the blue goo to bleed out of it. The Shinjin stopped immedietley and let out an earpiercing shriek, not unlike the diamond. It sprung up charging and launched a fist at Mikuru, only to have it completley melt, flooding the streets with the blue blood like substance that was gushing out of the stump in it's elbow. The shinjin stumbled and fell on it's ass, falling near unit two and trying to crawl away backwards, but Unit six slowly followed it, continuing to stream microwaves into the monster. The Shinjin was backed into a building that was still intact, it raised it's hand in one last act of defiance, only to have it melted away, squirting more blood. Finally, it's head inflated and ripped apart in two halves, releasing a horrible death shriek so loud that I wouldn't be surprised if every window in Tokyo three exploded. It completely melted into a pile of blue goop, leaving only the three cores, which took up a life of their own and tried to roll away, they were crunched under the heavy foot of unit zero who calmly walked over to where they were heading and stomped on all three at once. There was no cross shaped explosion, or any kind of explosion at all for that matter.
Unit six dropped the gun with an enormous thud and ran over to unit two,
"Miss Sohryu!" Mikuru flipped the badly damaged red Eva over and pulled out her prog knife, trying to open the Evangelion in an almost mirrored action of what happened between Rei and myself when the diamond attacked. she finally managed to pull the armor back and grabbed the plug, setting it gently on the ground.
Haruhi and I got out of our Evas and were running through the ruins of Tokyo Three, we stopped when we got to Mikuru, who had just pulled Sorhyu out of her plug and dragged her out onto the road.
She held Sohryu up in a sitting position,
"Please don't die Miss Sohryu!" Mikuru was crying over her.
Sohryu wasn't looking very good, she was coughing up a lot of blood.
Haruhi and I got closer to her and leaned down, worried. Sohryu was saying something,
"...You saved me... after all those awful things I said to you... I even punched you.. W-why did you save me?" Sohryu asked, breathing heavily.
"I don't care about that, M-m-miss Sohryu! Your a pilot too! I forgive you, really! Just please don't die!"
Sohryu let out a chuckle as the sound of ambulances were blaring in the distance.
"...I guess I owe you an apology... you're still a crybaby though," Sohryu's eyes closed slowly, and she stopped talking.
"Miss Sohryu! NOOOOO!" Mikuru screamed, and then began sobbing uncontrollably.
Haruhi and I began to tear up, believing Sohryu had just died, I held Haruhi's hand supportively.
I didn't even notice Rei was there, she calmly walked up to Sohryu and placed two fingers on her throat for a few moments.
"She will live" Rei stated blankly, but I could see the traces of worry in her face.
"W-what? R-r-really, Miss Ayanami?" Mikuru asked hopefully.
"Yes, she has passed out from blood loss, if proper medical attention is given to her immedietly, she will recover completely"
as if summoned, the ambulances pulled in around the corner and drove over to us.
After Sohryu was taken away to the hospital, I went back to NERV and took a long shower, trying to wash away more than the stink of LCL away. That was a Shinjin, why was it doing an angel impersonation?
"What. in. The blueFUCK. WAS THAT?" an angry voice thundered from the shower booth next to mine, I jumped a little and covered myself, and I totally didn't scream like a girl.
"T-that was a Shinjin" I said, looking over to Shinji in the next booth, he was glaring at me, "They uh... kind of... of appear in closed space and wreck stuff to vent Haruhi's frustrations"
"I know that!" he boomed at me, "You better put a tighter leash on Suzumiya!"
"What are you talking about?"
"She sent that thing subconciously to vent her frustrations on Asuka, that's what! Do you know how difficult it is to go through every little fiber of tissue in someone's organs and patch it up to stop the bleeding?"
"... No?"
"I don't care how you do it, but you better make those two get along or this could happen again!"
Shinji then collapsed into his stall and started crying.
I peered over the side to see him with his head buried in his knees, "...Shinji? You alright, buddy?"
He wiped his tears away and calmed down, "Yeah... I was just so scared that I was going to see Asuka die. She's not a bad person Kyon, she just has a lot problems" He stood up and faced me, "I'm really sorry I barged in here and freaked you out, I have to go now" he then melted out of existance,
"Bye..."
That was seriously freaky, I've never seen Shinji like that, not to mention that I was showering!
(A/N: I like that battle, it was fun to write, especially since I got a chance to use that death ray idea. It really was a top secret weapons project back in world war two, but the japanese had to cut funding because they were losing the war. I don't know if concentrated microwaves could really disrupt an AT field, but since it's fiction I think it'll be okay. It was a pretty violent battle too, wasn't it? I blame Static-X, I've been listening to them a lot lately, good stuff.
I didn't really Think Asuka would be injured again, but that's what happened. It may have looked strange for Mikuru to save Asuka, but it just seemed right for Mikuru to freak out over her near death experience, she's super sweet like that.
As for Shinji's rage episode, I think that's fully justified, as he does care for Asuka a lot in cannon, although she makes his life a living hell, what is that called, stockholm syndrome? And I agree %100 with what I made him say about her, I may call Asuka a psycho-bitch... because she is, but I can understand how deeply troubled she is inside, that doesn't make someone a bad person, does it?
I apologize again for the sappy romance, I know, I'm terrible at that kind of stuff, and don't be expecting a lemon, I'd be way too embarassed to write something like that.
I think I'm getting a lot better at writing as I go along, any opinions on that? If you can, tell me what kind of mistakes I've been making, I'd appreciate that.
Next chapter will be an original angel, don't worry, the cannon angels are still coming, but I think it might be fun to make a few up too.