Well...it hasn't even been a week since the last chapter was posted, so at this rate it should be finished by...mid July or so. Many things are going to be coming out in the next two chapters, and one major thing will be revealed. So stay tuned!.
Shinji could almost feel the impeding danger before it happened, which is why he was ready before the alarms were even sounded.
He had ended spending the entire night in Unit 01's chamber, rotating between sleeping and thinking, though admittedly, he spent more time just sitting there and staring at Unit 01 without any clear thought in his mind. However, almost as though he had been waiting for it, the second that the alarms started, he was already moving and changing into his plug suit. Though he wasn't the only one.
As Shinji pressed the button on the right wrist of the plug suit that tightly pressed it to the rest of his body and clipped the A10's to his head, Kaoru walked in to the changing room as though this was a drill they ran every day.
Shinji and his eyes met for a minute, during which Shinji didn't give an inclination that he wished to talk, though Kaoru didn't seem as though he shared the same desire.
"Shinji-kun. You sure got here earlier."
"As did you," replied Shinji, knowing that ignoring someone like him would never work.
"Me? I was walking around the Geofront, examining the lake and the trees when the alarms sounded."
"Err...I don't mean to be rude, but do you honestly expect to sortie today?"
Laughing lightly, Kaoru said as he dawned his own plug suit (which like Shinji's was colored blue on the bottom half, but on the upper half was a dark shade of gray), "I don't know if I will, but if I do I'll be sure to help. I may not have as much experience as you and Ayanami Rei does, but I hope that I can learn. At most I'll be put on standby."
Shinji ignored the fact that he had neglected in mentioning Asuka's name. The fact that he would be piloting Unit 02 was already bad enough.
Continuing to look at him for a brief second longer, he thought of asking him how his synchronization test went, but decided better of it.
"Do we know anything about this angel?" asked Shinji as he made to leave the locker room.
Shaking his head, Kaoru said, "No, it just descended through the atmosphere minutes ago and seems to be simply hovering in place. It looks just like a halo."
'Rather fitting in a way,' thought Shinji.
"Well I'm going, cya out there if you make it," said Shinji as he left through the sliding door.
He missed the smile that Kaoru sent in his direction.
Asuka would have dearly liked to have slept longer, still feeling slightly weary about the previous day, but Misato had other plans. Almost at the crack of dawn, just as Shinji was dawning his plug suit, she walked into Asuka's room and quickly roused her.
"...Misato? What time is it?"
"I've no idea but we need to leave for Nerv right now. Just throw on some clothes."
"But what about a shower? And I look terrible," replied Asuka as she looked in the mirror across her room that rested on her dresser.
"No time," said Misato, clearly desperate to leave. "An anxgel just descended on Tokyo-3 and I have to go in, and I can't have you staying here alone without annoying watching you."
"I don't need a baby sitter," mumbled Asuka feeling slightly disgruntled.
"Asuka!"
"Fine I get it," she said as she tossed the covers off herself, and slowly walked over to her dresser.
"I'll give you seven minutes," said Misato as she turned around and closed the door to Asuka room.
'I see you had plenty of time to fix yourself up,' thought Asuka feeling annoyed as Misato left her room, already having taken a shower earlier.
Opening several drawers to her dresser, she went through a lot of the different clothes she had worn, wondering why she hadn't bothered buying anything new while here in Tokyo-3. Finally deciding on something incredibly simple, she threw the clothes she had fallen asleep in into a corner and undid the clasp on each of the shoulder straps that held her bra against her chest. Pausing here though, she looked at her semi naked self in the mirror and then turned around to look at the nightstand next to her bed where the case holding the earrings still rested. Shaking her head though after thinking about it, she turned back to the mirror and said to her reflection, "No, I shouldn't wear them. Its something too dear to me."
"Asuka? Are you done yet?" came Misato's voice just outside her door
"Almost," said Asuka untruthfully.
After several more minutes though, which Misato spent most of her time tapping her foot on the floor, Asuka finally opened the door to her room. As before, she had decided on something simple, this being a pair of dark blue jeans that was cut off just above the knees, and a bright red shirt, one of her favorites. And as usual, she had the A10 nerve clips holding her hair up. Though as Misato saw these, she hoped that Asuka didn't expect to pilot, even though she did wear them everywhere she went.
"Hurry, we need to go. I was supposed to be there half an hour ago."
'Like thats my fault,' thought Asuka.
"Well with your driving we'll be sure to make it in record time," said Asuka smugly.
The elevator doors opened for Shinji and he walked out into the command center. Both Rei and Ritsuko were there, but he didn't see any sign of Misato, but then he did a double take as he saw that somebody else was there.
"Father?" he mumbled.
Gendo Ikari was sitting in his usually chair with Kozo Fuyutsuki on his right side. Apparently he was overseeing this operation as well as the last. Shinji narrowed his eyes as he remembered the complete screwup that was the previous operation and hoped that there wouldn't be a repeat. Now trying to ignore the presence of his father, he walked over to Ritsuko and Rei, saying a brief hello to Rei before he asked Ritsuko, "How come Misato's not here yet?"
"She slept in late, or at leasts thats her excuse. Though I imagine she had a rough time last night."
Shinji then looked at Ritsuko rather skeptically and asked, "...Why?"
"...You heard that Asuka is awake and all?"
"Yeah, and that she's living with Misato again. I already had all my stuff taken out of there and moved to storage two days ago, so there shouldn't be any-"
"How do you rate Asuka's level of intelligence?"
Shinji had to hold back a mocking laugh here.
"She went to college...so what do you think?"
Ignoring Shinji's remark, Ritsuko instead said, "Then how do you think Misato dealt with the bombardment of questions that Asuka was sure to ask her?"
As realization seemed to dawn on Shinji, he hung his head slightly and said, "Oh...I see what you mean. Though I don't think she would say anything too...damaging."
'To Asuka or to you,' thought Ritsuko silently.
"Thats not all though. Asuka had another physical examination that I had scheduled, but it doesn't look as though that will happen because of this," said Ritsuko, gesturing to the floating halo like angel on the screens. "And Misato wont let her stay at the apartment alone, so Asuka will be coming in...and soon most likely."
It took Shinji a long time to reply or even move after what she had said. A million things were running through his mind then. How should he react when he first see's her again? Should he ignore her? Act as though it was there first time meeting? Maybe he should adopt her own attitude, and be abrasive and rude, that way she'd hate him from the go.
"Shinji...are you okay?" asked Ritsuko, pulling Shinji out of his train of thought.
"What? Yeah...fine. Thanks for telling me this."
Ritsuko looked at him passively for a second before she said, "Do you want to stay or-"
"I can't keep ignoring this," said Shinji not showing much emotion now. "And sooner or later I will have to talk with her."
"Well yes, seeing as how you work together. But are you okay mentally? These past few days I've noticed that you've become increasingly erratic...and yesterday you came back soaked in-"
"What I do outside of Nerv is none of your business," said Shinji harshly.
"Shinji, I understand that this is hard, putting on this face and-"
"What would you understand?" he replied, rebuking her angrily. "You understand even less then Misato does, because you can't even understand how I felt!"
That shut Ritsuko up instantly, but his last sentence suddenly confused her. Why had he used the past tense of 'felt?' Unless his feelings had-
Suddenly, the clearing of a throat was heard from above them and Ritsuko turned to see the commander looking at the angel on the screen, but she could almost swear that behind his glasses, his eyes were looking down on them.
'Best to end this I suppose,' thought Ritsuko.
"The pressing problem though," she said now, forgetting there argument, "is how to deal with this angel. Its AT-field has not subsided since it assumed its current position, nor do we have any idea what its capable of. The possibility of it being able to change its form is very high."
"Send Unit 00 out and Unit 02 out as backup," said Gendo from up high.
Shinji, rather reluctant, turned to his father and asked, "Why not Unit 01?"
"I have not removed the freeze that has been placed upon Unit 01," replied Gendo, looking down at Shinji. "Unit 00 will disrupt the angels AT-field while Unit 02 will destroy it with the rifle. Is that acceptable?" said Gendo, looking towards somebody leaning against the wall directly to the left of the elevator doors. Shinji was rather surprised that he was asking for affirmation from somebody other then himself.
Now Shinji turned in the direction his father was speaking of, and saw that sometime during his and Ritsuko's conversation, Kaoru had entered the command center.
"More than enough," said Kaoru smiling. "If I'm given ample time and if Unit 00 can hold off the angel long enough."
"You're...sortieing Kaoru?"
"Well of course he is," said Ritsuko. "He scored nearly as high as you've done, and during his first synchronization test."
Shinji looked shocked at this sudden revelation. He had always known that Kaoru was different in some way, and that he would most likely have a high sync ratio...but one to rival his own?
"What...you said before," mumbled Shinji, in reference to there talk in the locker room.
"I was being modest, since I knew you wouldn't be able to leave."
Here his smile stretched so wide that it almost looked as though he had dislocated his jaw to achieve it. But his eyes still seemed cold, at least to Shinji. But even so, everybody else, excluding Rei, seemed to think it was creepy.
"Units 00 and 02 will proceed up shaft three and eight, surrounding the enemy effectively. Operation time will be set to ten minutes, to start as soon as Major Katsuragi arrives." Here he turned to Rei and said, "I'll be counting on you."
Shinji couldn't help but feel a little jealous as he saw the look of care pass over his fathers face, something that he would never see in one hundred years. But he was even more surprised as Rei's mouth seemed to draw up in a smile.
"What about me?" asked Shinji, not caring whether he got an answer or not.
"Standby in Unit 01 until the operation is over," said Gendo without looking at him.
'How about I get in Unit 01 and tear of your fucking-'
But he had to calm himself down, getting any more angry than he already was, and his angel self might just come boiling to the surface. Then he'd be in solitary confinement for the rest of the day.
"Fine," said Shinji, not bothering to hold back the sneer that escaped his lips.
Walking away from everybody, he though that at most he'd be able to mull everything over inside of Unit 01, since it seemed that was the only place he could escape everything now. Though as he walked to the elevator, they opened of there own accord and two people stepped out.
No matter what Shinji had said to Ritsuko, he had hoped that he would be able to put off this meeting for at least another day, but found he had no other choice, as Misato stepped out of the elevator with Asuka in tow, who was looking extremely stunning with the dark blue pair of jeans and red short sleeve shirt she was wearing. Shinji couldn't but feel slightly glad to at least see her and know that at most, she still looked the same, but it was underneath all that that worried him.
He had rehearsed this conversation many times before, with varying people present at the time, but now felt that it was impossible to truly prepare himself for this, so deciding to blow caution to the winds, he said, "Oh, hey Misato. Glad to see you made it. Ritsuko said that you would be late."
"...Yeah," mumbled Misato, just as clearly shocked about being suddenly thrust between the reunion of Shinji and Asuka, one of which had know idea that the boy standing before her was the boy that she had once had feelings for and had given her the earrings.
Asuka however looked around Misato to glance at Shinji, who she of course didn't know the name of. But her first impression was, 'Another dork, just like the two stooges back at school. He'll soon be fawning over everything I do, just as all the others.'
Shinji was trying to ignore Asuka as much as possible, but found it difficult with her looking him over, since to her, it was her first time seeing him. He found this increasingly difficult as he hadn't seen her face since he had left her hospital room those many nights ago, and knew that if he pushed his resolve too far, he'd possibly break down and start crying.
"You heading down to Unit 01?" asked Misato.
"Yeah, but I probably wont be sortieing," said Shinji, praying to God that she wouldn't mention anything about the freeze, or how high his sync ratio was. That was sure to get Asuka angry, and curious about him.
"Kaoru and Ayanami will be fighting this time." Shinji purposefully left out the part about Unit 02 being piloted by Kaoru. Call him a coward or whatever, but he was not going to be the one that broke the news to Asuka that her Eva was being piloted by somebody else.
"Well, be careful if the commander does send you out," said Misato, only too eager to end the conversation. "You are a promising pilot, and we wouldn't want to lose you."
Shinji was rather surprised at how cool Misato had played that, and had to assume she had spent last night working on what he himself had tried to do.
"Will do Misato...and thanks."
Shinji now started walking towards the elevator, where he of course would have to pass by Asuka, though Misato turned towards him and said quite clearly, speaking in the voice she normally wore for battles instead of the fake one she had been using.
"Shinji...be careful..."
Shinji seemed to pause as his own name was mentioned and thought briefly about how he should reply, when he released his tension that had skyrocketed the second he saw Asuka and said, "Right...thanks Misato." He meant it in more ways than one.
Turning towards the elevator, he also reluctantly turned towards Asuka, and in the brief second he looked at her face, he saw several things. First: she had a slight frown plastered on her beautiful face, something that did not suit her, at least as far as Shinji thought. It was then that he thought, 'She's already heard my name before?' But it wasn't that surprising that she would have heard him mentioned sometime yesterday. Second, however, something else happened, though it was more readable in her eyes, and only Shinji could have picked it up. It seemed like something had...pained her. He thought he saw her briefly wince as though some sort of pain had hit her that lasted less than a second. But what on earth could that have been?
All this happened in almost less than a second, before Shinji passed Asuka without even a single word directed at her, which struck Asuka as very odd, seeing as how every boy she had ever met had been stricken dumb at the sight of her. Yet here was a boy that didn't even pass a glance at her.
'And why did I suddenly have a splitting headache?' thought Asuka.
After Asuka heard the sound of the elevator leaving the commander center, she hurried to Misato's side who had already walked over to Ritsuko and was talking to her hurriedly, asking for any updates or information acquired from the angel.
"Misato...who was that?"
"Who was what?" replied Misato, not really paying attention as she read over several papers detailing the angels AT-field.
"That boy that you talked to...Shinji...or whatever the hell his name was."
"Him? He's the third child," said Misato, still not looking up from her papers. "He's Shinji Ikari and the pilot of Evangelion Unit 01."
"Ikari...so he's related to-"
"Yes the commander...he's his son actually."
"Hmph, explains how he got to become a pilot," said an annoyed Asuka.
Asuka then turned and looked behind her where she had thought the pet and the other boy had stood, only to see that they had also left.
"So the other one...he's the fourth?"
"Yes, his name is Nagisa Kaoru, and he's your classmate."
"I see," said Asuka. "Well I should probably get ready myself."
This time, Misato did turn toward her and said, "We can't have you pilot yet."
"What? Why not? I feel fine."
"I'm sure you do, but we wont know for sure until we run synchronization tests with you and Unit 02."
"I know myself better than anyone. And besides, they need me out there. The new idiots wont even know how to fire their rifles properly."
"If they need help, Rei can give them some pointers," said Misato all the while thinking how both Kaoru and Shinji had higher sync ratios than Asuka.
"Tch, the pet? All she knows how to do is follow orders."
"Asuka, if you're finished I need you to find a seat and sit down. I can't be talking to you while I talk with the pilots."
"Who cares about them," said Asuka stubbornly as she found a seat as Misato had suggested.
After being certain that Asuka was sitting, Misato turned back to the screens and said to Rei and Kaoru, "The angel still hasn't made a move, but the moment you leave the Geofront, be prepared for interception. As planned, Unit 00 will open a hole in the angels AT-field, while Unit 02 provides cover fire and eventually destroys the angel."
Asuka's head whipped around the second she heard Unit 02 mentioned.
"Okay, you have your orders. Unit 00, Unit 02, operation commen-Asuka what are you doing!"
Asuka had pushed her aside and looked up at the screen showing the Eva's standing side by side on the catapult, ready to be sent up. To the right of Unit 00 stood-
"WHY THE FUCK IS MY EVA OUT THERE! AND WHO THE FUCK IS PILOTING IT!"
Misato, shaking herself off from being pushed fairly roughly by Asuka, hurriedly said, "Asuka, this is only a temporary thing and-"
"I DON'T CARE IF ITS EVEN FOR A SECOND! NOBODY ELSE IS ALLOWED TO PILOT THAT EXCEPT MYSELF! GET WHOEVER THE HELL IS IN THERE OUT!"
"Asuka we need Unit 02 and seeing as how you can't pilot yet-"
"CAN'T PILOT YET! WHO SAID THAT! I KNOW MY BODY PERFECTLY WELL AND I SAY THAT I CAN PILOT!"
"And I'm saying that its out of the question!" said Misato, speaking extremely sternly and only too aware that Shinji was probably listening to this conversation right now.
Asuka seemed to open her mouth in another angry retort, when she instead said, "Fuck you!" And ran towards the elevator, hammering the button until the lift arrived.
Misato frowned at her, guessing what she had said. But really, it was stupid of her to get so angry over this. But then again, piloting Unit 02 was how she proved that everything she's done before now, wasn't in vain.
"Let her go," said Ritsuko while looking at numbers that were flying over the computers. "We have enough problems to deal with," she said as Unit 00 and Unit 02 were sent rocketing up the gates.
"...I know," sighed Misato feeling slightly sad.
Turning around, she just had time to see the elevator doors close, sending Asuka back into the heart of Nerv.
Unit 00 came flying out of the ground on a near hill side to the north of Tokyo-3 while Unit 02 did likewise, though slightly to the east of Unit 00's position. As Rei had Unit 00 stand up to its full height, she got her first good look at the angel still hovering in the air. It looked exactly like a giant white halo floating in the air, except it looked similar to a DNA strand with they way the two different strand wrapped around each other.
"Rei," came Misato's voice over the intercom, "The angels AT-field is still up, so wait a moment while Kaoru draws its fire to himself before you move in."
"No," said Rei quickly. "Its coming."
Almost at her very words, the halo like DNA strand suddenly broke on one end, looked towards Unit 00 and then the entire thing suddenly rocketed towards it. Now it was a solid white object in the shape of a giant earthworm, but it seemed much more flexible, able to twist this way and that as it soared towards Unit 00.
"Rei deploy your AT-field!" yelled Misato.
Rei didn't need telling twice as she immediately generated Unit 00's AT-field at full power, but the angel amazingly soared right through, striking where the core of Unit 00. The AT-field that Rei had generated seemed completely useless, as the angel seemed to erode it almost instantly. Suddenly several shots of a rifle seemed to come from far away, striking the angel in its mid section. But it didn't seem to phase it all; the blows sunk right into the angel as though it had absorbed it.
"Status of Unit 00!" yelled Misato.
"AT-field seems to have been eroded almost on immediate contact with the angel."
"What about the rifle shots? Why didn't they damage it?"
"Unknown. The angels AT-field wasn't even up and it seemed to absorb the impact of the bullet. Though it may have completely eroded the bullet before contact was achieved," said Ritsuko as she examined the constant readout that the computers were supplying.
"Kaoru, get down there and help Rei," said into the intercom.
"I'm on it," said Kaoru, and for once he sounded serious.
"Update on Unit 00."
"Holding off the angel as best as possible."
Though the angel had struck its core, Rei had managed to grab what could be assumed as the head of the angel, and was not holding it at arms length. Though this was apparently the wrong move. Suddenly, the angel seemed to pass directly through the outstretched palm of Unit 00 as though it had turned invisible. Next, from the fingers to the wrist, every single nerve between those two points suddenly bulged forward as though the blood circulation had been cut off. The angel continued forcing its way through the flesh of Unit 00 as though it was fusing itself with the Eva
"Whats going on!" yelled Misato, worrying that by the end of the day she would be hoarse.
"The angel seems to be fusing with the bioparts of Unit 00. Pilot life signs are dropping and synchronization has been cut by seven percent. The pilot seems to be...experiencing something similar to the pilot of Unit 01."
"How? Rei's sync ratio isn't anywhere near as high as Shinji's."
"No," said Ritsuko in reply to Misato's question. "It seems to be an innate ability of the angel, its fusing with the Eva and taking control of all functions. Though the pilot seems to be experiencing the same as the Eva.
She was right. Inside the entry plug of Unit 00, Rei was wincing in pain as every nerve in her right arm was popping out of the plug suit she wore.
"Rei? Whats wrong? Rei!"
"Communication has been forcefully cut from the entry plug. Contamination is continuing to spread along the right vertebrae. Ten percent of bioparts have been completely fused."
"Bring the concentration of the LCL fluid to the minimum," said Gendo Ikari suddenly. "And eject the entry plug."
"LCL fluid able to lower, but the entry plug is refusing the signal. Umbilical cord detached, four minutes and fifty-eight seconds remaining of power."
"Kaoru hurry!" said Misato.
Unit 02 soared into the open sky suddenly, blocking out the sun briefly as it landed near the angel. Almost at the very feel of this sudden strange pressure, the angel seemed to change its attention to Unit 02. Next though, even the computers of Nerv couldn't have predicted what happened. The angel seemed to split itself into two separate halves.
Before, when it had looked like a giant halo floating in mid air, it had two strands woven together as though it looked like a DNA strand. Now, with a good portion of it already buried in Unit 00, the end of the angel suddenly split in two, before extracting one of the halves out of Unit 00. It didn't even seem like it was made of flesh, more like a mass of raw energy. Now turning its new head towards Unit 02, it flew to it in a straight line, preparing to crush this strange pressure.
'Bit ironic that I'd be fighting you brother,' though Kaoru briefly, 'but then again this is what was delegated to me.'
Quickly sidestepping the angel, he grabbed the prog knife in the shoulder of Unit 02 and brought it down into the angel. Though the knife did stab directly into the angel, it didn't seem to leave any visible wound, and next second, the knife slowly disintegrated before Kaoru's eyes.
'Well nobody said this would be easy I suppose,' he thought somewhat snidely.
Jumping backwards, he skidding across the earth, creating large tracks in the earth that looked like a hundred foot bulldozers had rolled over the spot.
'I suppose I can't use both the Eva's AT-field and my own, since that would give everything away instantly.'
Dodging the angel which almost seemed like a whitish blur now, he said over the intercom at Misato, "I can't get any closer at this rate with another of these things."
Misato bit her lip in frustration, unable to decide on a course of action. They had two of these things to contend with, while all the time Unit 00's situation deteriorated slowly.
"If I may make a bold suggestion, have Shinji-kun launch in Unit 01. With both of us, one can distract while the other helps Unit 00."
"Yes but...I don't have the authority to..." Misato then looked above her where Gendo Ikari sat with his hands clasped together as though thinking. Kozo however, who stood beside him, bent down and whispered something in his ears. Listening intently, Gendo mumbled something back which nobody was able to hear, but it seemed he had at least come to a decision.
"Very well, I give permission now to release the freeze placed over Unit 01."
"Shinji did you-"
"Got it," said Shinji who admittedly had been listening anxiously the entire time.
"Then proceed to elevator shaft three," said Misato hurriedly. "Unit 01 will hold off the remnant of the angel while Unit 02 assists Unit 00 in the extraction of the angel. Time until Unit 00 goes silent?"
"Three minutes."
Misato bit her lip furiously. Three minutes until all activity in Unit 00 stopped functioning.
"Shinji don't forget about the AT-field. The angel can erode them"
'Like I didn't already know that,' thought Shinji as he was sent flying up towards the battlefield.
Asuka sat in a corner of Nerv all by herself. Almost all personal not directly associated with assisting during the battles had been evacuated to shelters as safety procedures required, meaning that since she had left the command center she hadn't seen a single soul, and she was now feeling extremely lonely. But how could Misato have done that, letting another person pilot her Eva? It was down right unacceptable. What had they thought? That she was too damaged mentally to be able to pilot ever again?
'Its the fourth child...whatever the hell his name is; the other one already has his own,' thought Asuka savagely. 'I swear I'm going to drown him in a pool of his blood after this. And he's my classmate. God!'
Even so, she felt a little remorseful in the way she had been rude to Misato. Misato after all let her stay at her apartment, and she was really the only person Asuka knew when she came from Germany, having met Misato several times before then.
'Maybe I should apologize.'
But in truth, she hated this waiting without knowing what was going on. For all she knew, the angel could be disassembling her lovely Unit 02 because of the retarded piloting inside of it right now.
'Right, I can apologize later, after the battle is over. Right now though, I just want to know whats going on.'
Standing up, she felt her legs stiffen slightly as she had been sitting in that position for a while. Suddenly though, she felt a vibration go through the floor and wondered briefly, 'Was that another Eva?'
Shinji flew out into the open sky and for a brief moment he reveled in the fact that he was under the bright blue sky, piloting Unit 01 again when reality came quickly back to him. He saw that Kaoru in Unit 02 had retreated a ways away from the separate half of the angel until Shinji had arrived. Though the angel didn't hesitated to take notice of this newcomer.
The separate half suddenly darted towards Unit 01, intending to fuse together with Unit 01, when Shinji had Unit 01 place its right arm outward, intent on generating an AT-field.
At that moment, as Misato realized what Shinji was about to do, several things happened. First, Misato yelled, "Shinji don't! The angel is able to completely erode the AT-field. If it comes in contact with Unit 01's bioparts it will fuse with you." Second, Asuka chose to return to the command center at that very moment, just to hear Misato's final words before Shinji generated Unit 01's AT-field.
But the angel was stopped dead the second it struck the AT-field.
Misato, completely dumbfounded by this, turned to Ritsuko and asked, "What happened? Why didn't the angel erode it?"
"You've forgotten that Unit 01 and its pilot is able to generate the strongest AT-field that we have every witnessed thus far. And also...he reinforced Unit 01's AT-field with his own at the last second. It was the correct decision on his part. The erosion is still taking place, but at a much slower pace. As Unit 01's AT-field erodes, he's able to reinforce the damaged parts with his own, significantly smaller AT-field."
"And he somehow came up with this in the span of five minutes or so?"
"It would appear so," said Ritsuko. "But I don't know how long he'll be able to keep this up. His sync ratio is lower than its been in recent memory. Barely holding at ninety-one percent, at equal level with Kaoru's."
'Considering everything thats happened,' thought Misato, 'its a wonder that its not lower.'
"Shinji, how long can you hold the angel off?" asked Misato.
Shinji's face suddenly appeared on one of the many screens in the command center and several people who had not become accustomed to his abnormal self, gasped as they saw his eyes had turned a blood red.
"I don't know," said Shinji truthfully, "All the wind was knocked out of me when the angel hit both AT-fields and the erosion is happening quicker than I had expected. Kaoru, can you get to Ayanami now?"
"Leave it to me," said Kaoru as his face appeared briefly on the screen before disappearing.
"Time till Unit 00 seizes movement?"
"Two minutes and counting."
"Shinji...can you?"
"I can hold it off, but I don't know what'll happen after Kaoru rescues Ayanami and I let the AT-fields down. Where the hell is the core in this thing even?"
"We're working on it," said Misato as she looked over at Ritsuko who was still examining the computers of Nerv.
"Right, then I'll-" But Shinji froze as he saw who else was in the command center, and he hadn't entirely banked on her seeing everything. Certainly some of it, but he had figured she'd get furious and stomp off once she learned her Unit 02 was piloted by Kaoru. Asuka instead was staring back at him, entirely focused on his face and the way his blood red eyes were gleaming in the LCL fluid. Misato seemed to notice something wrong also, because she spun around and saw that Asuka was looking up at Shinji, with a confused look on her face. Evidently, she could tell that something had changed with him.
"Asuka," Misato started, but fell short as she saw that Asuka had taken a step forward towards the screen, her eyes still on Shinji. Though as her lips parted slightly it seemed like she was going to ask him a question, when Shinji severed the connection.
Staying still inside Unit 01 he thought briefly 'I'd rather she had never seen that,' before he turned back to his own situation.
Back in the command center, everything had come to a frozen halt as they all waited for the hammer to fall; even Gendo and Kozo were silent.
Very slowly, Asuka asked, "Misato...what was that?"
Misato stood as still and silent as a stone statue, but found that she couldn't keep this from Asuka, because certainly she would find out about it eventually, either from some obscure person, or Misato's own mouth.
"That is Shinji Ikari...as his other self...his angel self. We don't know how, or why, but he has angel blooding flowing through him and his own DNA has several small strands of what appears to be an angels DNA. You may have wondered why, when you arrived in Tokyo-3 that the third was supposed to be found around the same time. Truth is...he was, but then we learned of this, and had to run numerous experiments on him. Considering everything that we've put him through, its a wonder he still cooperates. As for his sync ratio...well its holding at ninety one percent, but we've seen him go above four hundred before."
Asuka had noway of knowing that a large chunk of this was entirely false, and that Misato had made up a part of it on the spot.
Frowning now at Misato, Asuka asked, "Why didn't I know about this before?"
"Because...he's rather sensitive about the whole thing," said Misato, making something up again. "He hates the whole thing, but he also understands that he can help by exhibiting his angel powers."
"So...he can create an AT-field?"
"...Yes...and Asuka."
"...What?"
"Don't ask him about it."
Asuka continued looking at Misato for a second before she turned her head and said sincerely, "I wont..."
Misato was rather taken aback at how Asuka had handled this. She had been quite positive that Asuka would view him as a freak, furthering the gap between them, but it seemed as though she had shown compassion, if that was even possible for Asuka as she was now.
'Maybe she can understand,' thought Misato before she turned her head back to the battle. 'Since she herself was considered different by her past classmates and shunned because of it.'
Meanwhile Asuka was now watching the green and purple Unit 01 as it continued holding off the angels attacks. She had certainly been surprised about the whole thing, especially his sync ratio, which she wasn't entirely thrilled at. But she also felt that a part of her thought he was different from the moment she saw him. He had looked liked any boy she had ever met before, and if they had passed on the street she wouldn't have taken a second glance at him. But he didn't even spare her a single glance, almost as though she was part of the wall. And she had been...what? Hurt by it? That somebody hadn't accepted how beautiful she was, when she herself knew it.
'And what was that before?' she wondered. 'He seemed surprised to see me here?'
As Shinji continued holding off the angel, Kaoru in Unit 02 charged towards Unit 00 which still had the angel perturbing out of the palm of its hand. Most of Unit 00's nerves had by now been fully fused with the angel and large portions of Unit 00's body were oddly disfigured.
As Kaoru neared Unit 00 he realized that it would be almost impossible to rescue Rei while keeping Unit 00 in tact. Furthermore, if the angel reached the core of Unit 00, then it could either force the self destruct, or take full control of the Unit.
'Who would have guessed brother would have been so difficult to deal with. And he's usually rather shy,' thought Kaoru as he prepared to sever the right arm of Unit 00 with Unit 02's AT-field. If he was able to use his own AT-field, the battle would be over in seconds. Be that as it may, as he was about to bring the arm of Unit 02 down, the angel suddenly seemed to twist around and look at him, as though it new what he was. At this last instant, Kaoru hesitated ever so slightly, giving the angel time to move.
The end of the angel that was still perturbing out of Unit 00 suddenly elongated and shot forward, constantly expanding its reach until it reached Unit 02. Kaoru, realizing his brief feelings of remorse over his brother that he had felt moments ago, swore slightly and barely managed to miss the angel as it shot just under Unit 02's left arm. However Unit 02 didn't seem to be its target as it continued elongating, soaring towards Unit 01. As Shinji saw this happening, he had just enough time to register what was going to happen as the angel suddenly seemed to swallow the smaller split off version of itself, and crashed against the AT-field. Almost immediately, Shinji felt Unit 01's AT-field erode and he suddenly dashed backwards as he felt his own AT-field being eroded. He didn't want to think what would happen if he lost his own AT-field.
The angel continued soaring after him, twisting every direction that Shinji tried.
"Misato!" he yelled suddenly, ignoring Asuka's presence. "How much time does Ayanami have!"
"Just under a minute, but the life support systems have failed earlier then expected and over eighty percent of Unit 00 has been fused with the angel."
"Damn it!" Shinji swore. "Kaoru, get Ayanami out of there if you have to rip off the entry plug."
"On it said," said Kaoru, as he dashed forward towards Unit 00. Though just as he stretched out Unit 02's arm, part of the angel branched off of the main body, and the previous split off piece of the angel that Shinji had been battling flew towards Kaoru, still connected to the main body.
"Tch."
Kaoru had Unit 02 stretch out both its arms and generate an AT-field then, barely managing to hold back the branched off part of the angel.
"I can't get any closer than this!" yelled Kaoru.
Shinji swore again as he had Unit 01 duck under the angels attack. Following up with this, he ran in a parallel line directly to the left of the angels body. The angel them seemed to almost reel itself in, as the main body suddenly retracted so that it could catch Shinji and Unit 01 before he reached Rei and Unit 00.
"Forty-five seconds," said Misato's anxious voice.
"Damn it," yelled Shinji again as he stretched out Unit 01's right arm to Unit 00, but suddenly his entire body was jerked backward.
"What the he-AHHHHHHHH"
Suddenly Shinji screamed as though his insides were set on fire. The angel had managed to grab ahold of Unit 01's torso, and just like it had done with Unit 00, it seemed to pass directly through the armor and flesh of Unit 01, starting to fuse with it.
It started from his middle and seared through his lower body, just as it had happened with Rei. His nerves suddenly bulged outward from his body, clearly visible through the fabric of the plug suit, though in his case, it was much worse then the pain Rei had felt. His sync ratio, though considerably lower than it has been, was still high enough to cause him much pain, as he felt the pain of Unit 01. Any moment he felt as though all the blood vessels in his legs would rupture.
"Mi-sa-to!" he managed to say.
"Forcefully cut the synchronization down to fifty percent!" yelled Misato. "And lower the concentration of the LCL fluid."
"Unable to...Unit 01 is not responding to any of our commands."
"Thirty seconds until auxiliary power of Unit 00 stops."
'Now more then ever is the time we could have used the Lance of Longinus,' thought Misato as she glanced up at the commander. 'And we haven't even injured it.' Now looking over at Asuka, who was standing to her right and slightly behind her, she saw that Asuka was still looking up at the screen and frowning slightly.
'No doubt thinking that she would have been better off out there then Kaoru. And I have to agree with her...its almost as though he wasn't honestly trying. But damn it...what are we going to do.'
Shinji was thinking this very thing inside Unit 01. He couldn't create an AT-field using Unit 01, and he wasn't sure what would happen if his own AT-field was eroded, for certainly it still kept him who he was. And all the while Unit 01 was being slowly taken over by the angel.
"Damn it...what do I do-"
Almost in reply, he heard a voice speaking to him.
"Shinji..."
"Mother...no...Ayanami?"
"Yes...right now we are connected through the angel."
"Ayanami, how much time do you have left?"
"...It doesn't matter."
"What! Yes it does! If we work together we can get out of this-"
"Shinji...I'm going to reverse Unit 01 AT-field, and hold the angel inside. That should give you enough time to escape."
"But if you do that-"
"I'll destroy Unit 00, thus destroying the angel in the process."
"Ayanami don't! Just wait right there and I'll-"
Shinji could almost picture Rei shaking her head as she said, "There isn't another way."
"Yes there is!" yelled Shinji as he pounded the controls of Unit 01. "There has to be! Not again! I don't want to lose anyone else!"
If Shinji could have seen Rei smile at his words, maybe it would have comforted him slightly.
"I'm glad I got to know you better...Shinji," said Rei before the connection was severed.
"AYANA-"
Shinji however gasped as it felt as though somebody had just pulled a hand out of his stomach. Still gasping for breath, Shinji looked up then and saw that the angel was slowly being pulled back towards Unit 00.
"Whats happening," asked Misato inside the command center.
"Unknown at this moment. A reverse polarity effect seems to be happening to Unit 00's AT-field. Rei seems to be containing the angel inside Unit 00," said Ritsuko.
"But the amount of stress that that'll put on her-"
Misato however cut herself off as she saw what happened to Unit 00. As the last residue of the angel seemed to disappear inside Unit 00 it suddenly twisted into a grotesque shape. The stomach suddenly surged forward as though it was carrying a child and the core of Unit 00 suddenly seemed to exploded outward, as the body of Unit 00 and the angel mingled. Grey tissue erupted out of the core of the Eva and continued expanding upward into the air, until it formed a giant sphere.
"Core reaching critical levels, unable to contain the angel any longer. AT-field has reached its limit."
Suddenly, the core of Unit 00 seemed to implode upon itself as it slowly sank bank down into the chest of Unit 00.
"Shinji, Kaoru, get out of there!" yelled Misato just as Unit 00 exploded, engulfing everything within a twenty mile radius. A large fireball erupted into the sky, during which a brief glimpse of Rei, as tall Unit 00, could be seen going up into the sky.
Every all but disintegrated except for Unit 01 and 02, who's pilots had just barely gotten away in time. Pieces of Unit 00 lay now scattered in the large crater that it had left, covering part of Tokyo-3. Shinji had turned away during the explosion, and now realized that for some time, he had been crying.
"Damn it!" he yelled as he wiped the tears on the sleeve of his plug suit. "I couldn't do anything! I couldn't even help her!"
Inside the command center, the vibration from the explosion could be felt all the way in the Geofront, as the screen in front of them had turned completely white as the explosion had happened.
Misato continued standing, rooted to the spot where she had given her last order, where finally with a trembling voice she said, "Get a team down there...to inspect everything...and retrieve Rei."
"She couldn't have survived that," said Ritsuko with her hands in her pockets.
Misato rounded on her and would have thoroughly liked to have slapped her for the remark she had made.
Meanwhile, Gendo Ikari sat upon his high seat in the command center. Now leaning towards Fuyutsuki, he said, "Erase all records relating to Rei. We can't have Seele learning about this."
Fuyutsuki frowned at him and whispered back, "You can't honestly expect them to ignore this."
Gendo was silent, brooding over his own thoughts. Looking down at this right hand though, which was concealed by a white glove, he felt a strange sense of foreboding."
"Shinji...Kaoru," Misato now said, still trying to keep her voice at a normal volume. "...Return...you can both go on leave until we need you further."
Shinji, who was still crying silent tears, mumbled his thanks and turned in Unit 01 back to towards the nearest elevator shaft where a team would be waiting to retrieve him. But alongside him went Kaoru, who seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Shinji then thought about all the times he had spent with Rei, which admittedly, were too few.
'Ayanami...' he mumbled dejectedly inside Unit 01 as his eyes slowly changed back to their normal brown color.
He then thought back to the last moments before...well, it was still to near to his heart and he didn't even fully understand what had happened. But he was certain he had seen a giant figure of Rei in the sky for almost an instant, almost transparent it seemed.
'And then,' he thought as his eyes turned towards Unit 02 and Kaoru.
Shinji had thrown up both his, and Unit 01's AT-fields at the last moment before Unit 00 had self destructed, so he hadn't taken the brunt of the damage. But also..from Unit 02 he had felt-
'I felt his AT-field,' thought Shinji. 'It was only there for a moment, but it was stifling, and cold.' And the thing that worried him, was it had been immensely strong to the point of suffocation.
'Kaoru...what exactly are you,? he wondered
Hours after the battle, and still Asuka hadn't seen him. She wasn't sure why she was looking for him even, and it bothered her greatly. She had wandered the halls after asking where the pilot of Unit 01 was (having already forgotten his name). But Misato had been evasive again, as though she didn't want to say anything. But also because everybody was still feeling the loss of Rei.
'Why is everybody so sad?' thought Asuka as she turned a corner, only to find this hallway also empty. She half expected to find out that they had had a service for her.
'Its not like she was that great of a pilot in the first place, its just that she followed orders without caring what they were. Well whatever, I never liked her much anyway,' thought Asuka.
But now she turned her mind to other matters.
'Why in the hell am I looking for that idiot,' thought Asuka furiously, as she had come to call Shinji, forgetting what his name was.
'I remember what Misato said...and I don't intend to ask him about that. But...Ahhhh, why am I being bothered over this. Its stupid! I just met him also...well met isn't right since we haven't talked. Ah thats why...as a fellow pilot I should introduce myself,' thought Asuka stubbornly.
'I'll admit that he did good for a rookie, but I could have done it so much better. Right, maybe I'll even give him some tips. I'm feeling a little generous right now,' she thought with a slight smile. 'But where the hell did he disappear to? Is there someplace that he go's when he's by himself, or maybe he went to his room. Didn't Misato say something about him staying here instead of living in Tokyo-3 somewhere?'
As Asuka thought this, she paused momentarily in mid step and put two and two together, eventually reaching the point of talking to him while enclosed in his room.
"NoNoNoNoNo! Definitely not what I was thinking,' she thought while shaking her head furiously. 'This is simply professional, what I'm doing. I've after all had the most experience dealing with these angels, and this was simply his first battle, so I'm sure that he'd be thankful for some advice.'
Suddenly laughing like a maniac, she rounded another corner and smacked heads with none other than the person she was looking for. They both didn't seem to notice each other though, as both fell down to the floor in a heap across from each other.
"Jeez, watch where you're going," said Asuka as she rubbed her forehead.
"I could say the same thing to you," replied Shinji, surprisingly not recognizing Asuka from the sound of her voice.
"Well sorry for-oh there you are idiot."
Shinji's head jerked upward at the sound of 'idiot' which he hadn't heard spoken with that type of inflection in a while. Looking up, he saw that the person he had knocked heads with was Asuka, and that she was slowly getting to her feet. Several emotions seemed to pass over Shinji's face, but try as he might, he wasn't able to keep them under control. Soon his face had turned paper white.
Asuka looking down at him, frowned and said, "What? Was the battle a bit much for you? Well be thankful, because I, Asuka Langely Soryu have graciously decide to give you some tips."
Holding out her hand now, Asuka waited for him to take it so she could pull him to his feet.
"Like I need help from you," said Shinji spitefully, as he slapped her hand away from him and stood up of his own accord. Asuka, extremely taken aback at his personality which she hadn't expected, was having trouble finding her voice. Nobody had ever said anything like that to her.
"And could you move," said Shinji, "In case you haven't realized, we aren't the only ones in the hallway."
It was then Asuka noticed Ritsuko, who was standing to the left of Shinji and had a frown on her face.
"Wha-Whats your problem! Here I try to talk to you as a fellow pilot and you-"
"Like I care about that," said Shinji as he turned his head away from her, keeping his emotions in check now.
"Idiot. God, I don't even know why I tried. It was apparent from the moment I saw you that you were a complete moron."
Shinji snorted, giving all pretenses that he didn't care what she called him.
"Well don't let me keep you, Mr. High and Mighty," scoffed Asuka. "If you ever get into trouble, I'll just be sure to laugh and then you can remember that you brought it upon yourself."
"I'll try to remember that," Shinji replied, pushing past Asuka now, all the while trying to ignore the fragrance that was emitting of her strawberry colored hair.
Turning towards his retreating back, Asuka was determined to get the last word in.
"Oi, don't just ignore me like that!"
"I'll ignore you anyway I want," replied Shinji, feeling actual anger. God, couldn't Asuka get the hint?
Not used to being ignored this much by somebody, Asuka yelled back, "Baka, Jerk, Moron, I hope you go to hell."
"Theres a good chance of that," said Shinji now, and meaning it. He was even shocked that it had come out of his mouth, but he continued anyway.
"Unlike you, I've killed another human being."
Asuka blinked several times in surprise to this statement, but she nonetheless retorted fiery, "What the hell would you know about me! You don't know a God damn thing about me! So don't go spouting that kind of shit!"
Shinji stood in the hallway for a second, with his back turned to her, until he finally turned his head towards her and said, "No, I don't know about you, nor do I care. We are fellow Evangelion pilots, but I don't even see us as comrades. You're sync ratings can't even come close to matching mine."
Asuka had had quite enough of this brats insensitive talk, and so she strode up to him and drew her hand back, intending to smack him, when he caught it just before she struck him. For a moment, she was surprised at how strong he was, but her surprise gave way to anger.
"Let me go," snarled Asuka directly into Shinji's face.
Shinji stared back into Asuka's blue eyes, all the while glaring at her, but he felt something stir within him.
'What am I doing?' he thought suddenly.
Turning his head away from her, he dropped his gaze to the floor and let the hand that he had become so familiar with, drop out of his grasp. Asuka was rather surprised as she could almost feel the fight evaporate out. Certainly his strength seemed to have left him. Looking back at him now, she was almost curious about what he was thinking about. Taking several steps back now, she continued looking at him with a quizzical expression on her face, when suddenly Shinji turned away from him.
'Tch, fucking jer-'
"Sorry," Shinji mumbled with his back turned to her and his hands deep in his pockets. "But its not smart to directly associate with me, as I'm sure you saw today."
"Whatever," Asuka said with her arms folded in front of her chest now, looking at him with her peripheral vision. "And I don't care about that shit I saw earlier either."
Shinji couldn't tell Asuka how much that meant to him.
"Ritsuko," he suddenly said, "we should get going if you plan to show me what you promised."
"Agreed," said Ritsuko as she hurried past Asuka who had momentarily forgotten about her presence.
Shinji now walked ahead of Ritsuko slightly, as if he was the one leading and she was the one following. Asuka continued watching his retreating back for a few seconds before she took two steps forward, and planted her feet loudly on the ground. Hands on her hips, her hair seemed to crackle with electricity as she yelled down the hallway, "Whats your name idiot!"
Shinji step hitched then as he paused with his foot not firmly planted on the ground. Turning back towards her, he smirked and said, "What? You haven't remembered it yet?"
Asuka's eyebrows twitched slightly as she said, "Moron. If you don't tell me I'm going to come over there and hit you for sure this time. And if you touch me again I'll kick you in the balls. Besides, I've already told you my name..."
Shinji seemed to think about this for a moment before he shrugged and said, "Its Shinji, Shinji Ikari."
"Oh right, now I remember Misato saying that. Shinji...huh? Okay then, I'll give you permission to call me Asuka, while I'll call you Baka Shinji."
Shinji couldn't help but scoff at the name she had given him, identical to the one she had used before they had become close.
"...Okay," said Shinji trying to put on an air of somebody not caring, but he couldn't suppress the smile that had formed at the corners of his mouth. Turning back away from Asuka, Shinji and Ritsuko disappeared around the corner, unable to see the expression that passed over Asuka's face as they rounded the corner.
'God, what the hell was that all about? And why did I asked for his name? Normally I would have kicked him without even saying anything. Maybe I'm getting too soft. ...Shinji...' She whispered this last.
Standing silent in the hallway for a few seconds longer, she turned around, her brightly colored hair swinging behind her and thought, 'I suppose I should fine Misato and head home.'
"You handled that rather...interestingly," said Ritsuko as they stood in the elevator descending deep into Central Dogma.
"I wasn't sure how it came across. I wanted to be rude, and make her hate me, but I almost feel as though the opposite happened," said Shinji glumly. 'Why did she have to show up then of all times?' he wondered.
"Anyways, you wanted to show me something."
"Yes, I believe that you deserve to know this, just as you deserve to know about Lilith."
"...Does Misato know?"
"She knows about this secret even less then she does about Lilith."
"So...what is it?" asked Shinji.
Ritsuko stood silent as though she was pondering something, until she finally said, "Artificial Human Evolution."