Unit 01 rocketed to the surface, accelerating the whole way, before it screamed to a halt as it reached the surface, temporarily drowning out the screams of the terrified pilot. Despite the braking, the robot still slammed into the end of the track at the end of its run, shaking the ground.
Misato ordered the last locks released on the massive humanoid, then shouted "Evangelion Unit 01, move out!"
Nothing happened. After a few moments of awkward silence, Misato spoke again; "Alright, Shinji, let's just focus on moving the Eva first, 'kay?"
"How?"
"It's just like controlling your own body; you just have to focus more on it. Just put one foot in front of the other," Ritsuko cut in.
Shinji focused on moving the right leg forward, trying to ignore the Angel nearby. He was amazed when the massive leg actually began to move. Unfortunately, he was so amazed that he couldn't believe it was actually happening. The leg stopped moving just as the Eva began to shift its weight to fall on the leg, causing the Eva to fall flat on its face.
Before Shinji could try to right the massive construct, the Angel reached down and grabbed the Eva by the head. Casually lifting the robot into the air with one hand, the Angel grabbed the Evas left arm and pulled, trying to tear the Eva apart. The Angel's muscles bulged several times their original size, aiding its efforts. Shinji screamed in pain, grasping his left arm with his right as the Eva's pain fed back, preventing him from making any move to defend. The bridge crew shouted encouragements, but he couldn't break through the pain to hear what they were saying.
With a snap like a felled tree, the Eva's wrist broke, redoubling Shinji's pain. The Angel released his arm, then grabbed his, the Eva's, head. A part of its arm wound up like a battering ram, and then slammed into the mecha's head. The pain in his arm was forgotten next to the newer, greater pain in his head as he grasped his head with both hands. After several strikes, the Eva was sent flying back into a building, trailing a severed power cord which had snapped under the tension.
Shinji couldn't move. He could barely even think. His mind just cried for someone, anyone, to save him.
…
In another land, another battle reached its conclusion. With a ripping whir like a disintegrating turbine, two mechas blasted out of the ground. Despite their different sizes, it was the smaller one that remained stable in flight, with the larger dog faced mecha shedding debris as it spun on the end of the massive drill protruding from the arm of the other.
With a final burst of power, the drill sped up slightly, and the spinning, dog-faced mecha shattered fully. As the chunks of vaguely recognizable metal fell away, the intact robot continued upwards. The hatch on top of the head/body opened, releasing its three occupants from the cramped confines.
They gazed in wonder at the panorama around them. It was the first time two of them had ever seen the surface, and even for the third it was the first time from such a height. The sunset turned the scorched earth into a tapestry of dark purples and oranges.
As they finished drinking in the view, though, they noticed something else; their hair had stopped streaming downward. Their ride had reached its peak, and as it slowly began to return to the
As Lagann fell and the ground grew larger below, Simon, Kamina, and Yoko desperately wished they could be somewhere, anywhere, else.
…
With a flash of light, alarms blared on the bridge as an unidentified object appeared several hundred feet in the air. As it fell, some of the many cameras around Tokyo 3 focused on it, revealing it to be a small humanoid mechanical figure, painted red. It fell straight toward the Angel and sprouted a drill, seemingly from nowhere, just before it reached the monster. Amazingly, the tiny robot managed to accomplish what almost nothing in humanities arsenal had; it penetrated the arm of the Angel seemingly effortlessly, drawing a scream of rage that sounded as if it should have rent concrete and steel as easily as it did the air.
The enraged Angel batted the robot away with its good arm, but the pause gave the semi-conscious Shinji enough time to stand up. Barely aware of what he was doing, or how he was managing to run when he couldn't even walk before, he made the Eva charge at its opponent. A yellow hexagonal barrier sprung into existence between the combatants. Stymied, the Eva howled, the locks on its jaw shattering.
The bridge crew panicked, shouting something about the Eva going berserk, but Shinji couldn't hear them. The Eva reached out, its hands slowly penetrating the field, moving like a spoon through molasses. Once both hands were through the center of the field, the construct began to inexorably pull them apart. Somehow, the robot managed to rip through the intangible field, reaching the creature behind it. Tackling the Angel, the Eva began pounding on the ruby core in its chest with its massive fists, shaking the ground beneath them with the savage blows. After several blows, cracks ran through the sphere. With another titanic punch, it shattered. In an instant, the Angel seemed to liquefy, its entire mass flowing up and around the Eva before the Angel. For a moment, it seemed as though the Angel would absorb the Evangelion, but then the creature rapidly expanded to several times its original size, before exploding in a blast of similar might to the N2 mine dropped on it earlier.
As soon as the Angel was gone, the Evangelion, which appeared mostly unharmed, fell over backwards with a crash, both the pilot and the internal batteries exhausted.
"Begin recovery of the Eva and start preliminary assessments for repairs cost and timetable," Misato ordered, "and get that unidentified object so we can try and figure out what it is, how it got here, and how it managed to hurt an Angel."
…
Shinji was unconscious when they pulled the entry plug out of Unit 01, but he recovered within minutes. He insisted that he didn't need to go to the hospital, and since there were no physical injuries, succeeded. Thus, he tagged along with Misato to the location of the object which had helped save his life.
The object could be clearly seen, though it was half embedded in the side of a building. It appeared to be a small humanoid robot with a face on its chest instead of having a head.
As Misato, Shinji and a group of NERV security officers approached, they heard the sound of crying. Rushing in, they found a trio of teenagers trying to pull the robot off the legs of a small girl who must have been in the building when the robot crashed into it.
"What are you kids doing out of a shelter?!" Misato cried.
"What? Shelter? Just help of get this thing off!" the youngest looking of the teens shouted back, distraught.
"Outta the way!" Misato ordered frantically, as several of the NERV officers take the trio's places, though the taller of the two boys refused to budge. The other two teens moved, allowing two officers to take their places, and the taller boy and two officers together managed to heave the robot over, while Misato paged an ambulance. As they did, she saw that the top of the robot was open, revealing a cockpit.
The ambulance arrived in a squall of tire smoke, and both Shinji and Misato noticed the other teens staring as the girl was efficiently loaded into the ambulance, which peeled away almost as quickly as it had arrived.
As soon as the ambulance was out of sight, Misato whirled on the trio of unknowns, finally having time to appraise them. Taking note of their outlandish outfits, she took a second glance at the cockpit revealed when the machine was shifted. As she examined them, they introduced themselves somewhat sheepishly.
"You three were in that robot, weren't you?" Misato stated, hardly bothering to make it a question.
The three chorused assents. Misato continued her impromptu interrogation, "Since you don't know where you are or how you got here, can you tell me where you're from?"
The three quickly and messily spilled their story. Several times, Yoko interrupted to clarify something that Kamina exaggerated, or Simon stammered out several self-deprecating refusals of Kamina's praise, while Kamina would interject over both of their explanations to add how epic their contributions had been. Misato stared in seeming disbelief, before shaking her head and attempting a sage nod. She then asked if they knew how to get back.
"No clue," they chorused, then Yoko continued, slightly worried, "my village it probably missing me right now, and so is Giha village with Simon and Kamina" to which Kamina snorted drily.
Simon chipped in, saying "Maybe we need to be back in Lagann to go back, sorta need to be in the same place we came in to leave?"
Kamina slapped Simon on the back, nearly bowling him over, "That sounds like a plan!"
The three squeezed into the open cockpit of the mecha, which was obviously too small for 3 young adults. In fact, it looked like they shouldn't have been able to fit at all.
"Hey! Watch where you put your hands, buddy."
"Like I'd want to touch you anyway, pit-chick."
Once they got themselves situated, Simon pulled out his drill, and inserted it into the hole in the middle of the console. Concentrating, he turned the key… and nothing happened. Lagann did not respond in any way to its pilot.
Disappointed, the teens climbed back out of the mecha. Simon informed Misato, "it won't activate for some reason."
Misato nodded, before whipping out her cellphone and calling a number on speed-dial, "Hey, Rits, I need a favor…"
After describing the situation, she asked, "By the way, can you get me keys to one of the open apartments next door to mine? I'd love to have all four of these kids stay with me, but I don't have enough room in my flat alone,right? I figure I'll have the boys stay next door while Yoko stays with me. Sound good?"
Ritsuko's sigh was audible even to the not-quite-eavesdropping children, "We can't have three unknown, unvetted civilians living with the Third Child," she explained, "we know nothing about them, and from what you've told me, we're unlikely to be able to find out any more. They could be dangerous."
Misato was insistent, "They're just kids. I think it might be useful for Shinji to have some kids his age around anyway. And with them staying with me, Shinji's security detail and I can keep an eye on them. It'll only be temporary, since they're trying to figure out how to get home, anyway. Also, you can take a look at their coool little robot, try and figure out what makes it tick, get your hands greasy, all that fun stuff," she finished in a cajoling sing-song.
Whether because Misato had hit the mark with the opportunity to play with another robot, or because she was tired of arguing, Ritsuko agreed to Misato's proposal. Details were hashed out, and in short order a NERV officer handed over a packet to her. Turning back to the teens, Misato explained, "Now that's taken care of. You guys will be staying with me for now. You three," she said, indicating the boys, "will share the apartment next to mine for now, while Yoko will stay with me. Since your 'Lagann' won't turn on, my friends here," she gestured at the ever-growing battalion of NERV men swarming over the site of the battle, "are going to haul it off and try to figure out what makes it tick. We'll have you on your way home in no time!"
Misato commandeered a NERV SUV, since her personal car wasn't big enough. Despite the fact that it wasn't her car, or perhaps because of it, her near-suicidal driving didn't improve at all. While Shinji held on for dear life, an unphased Kamina turned to him and asked, "so, you're the pilot of that purple robot back there, eh?"
Shinji gave a meek, "y-yeah, I guess."
"Bad. Ass. How'd you score a ride like that?"
As Shinji explained the recent events to the other three teens, Kamina gazed speculatively between him and Simon next to him. As Shinji neared the end of his quiet recounting, Kamina's face changed from an out of place ponderous look to a more natural one of jovial determination and he slammed his hand down on Shinji's shoulder, causing him to jump a little.
"You should join Team Gurren!" Kamina stated, drawing some irksome looks from the adults in the front of the van for his loudness.
"What?" Shinji asked.
"Team Gurren!" Kamina repeated, louder.
"What is that?" Shinji asked, also louder.
"What! You haven't heard of us? The reputation of Team Gurren echoes far and wide! Though I guess it can't be helped, since you're from a different world or whatever."
"Who all's in this team then?" Shinji asked.
"J-just me, Kamina, and Boota" Simon started.
"And now you!" Kamina cut in, pointing at Shinji.
"But I didn't-" Shinji tried to deny, "and who is Boota?"
Kamina jerked a thumb at Yoko, and then Shinji tried not to stare as her chest began to move without any apparent reason. Then, a small, furry blob popped out from her cleavage.
Simon, also trying not to stare, gave a stunned, "how could you tell where…" as Kamina gave a knowing grin, earning a glare from Yoko.
Boota quickly scurried across the van and up Simon's arm, to sit on his shoulder. Interruption over, Kamina turned back to Shinji, "Great! Welcome to Team Gurren," continuing to ignore Shinji's attempt to protest that he hadn't actually agreed to join.
The van finally arrived at the apartment complex, and the five got out. Climbing the exterior staircase, Kamina stared curiously at the floor signs until Misato announced "Here's our floor."
Kamina promptly asked, "How can you tell? They all look the same."
Misato pointed at the sign, "Read the sign. I know what floor my room is on."
Once again, Kamina looked at the sign, tilting his head in confusion. "You can't read, can you?" Misato asked, exasperated.
A response of "Read?" from Kamina answered her question. Yoko face-palmed.
Misato took note of Yoko's reaction, and so turned to Simon, asking "What about you?"
Simon replied "N-no."
Misato continued, "Well, I guess we can start taking care of that in the morning. For now, these are our suites. This one is mine, which Yoko will be sharing with me," she said, stopping at a door, "and the next one down is y'all's. Here's the key-card," she finished, fishing said card out of her pocket, "and here's a couple flashlights, since the power is out after the attack."
The three boys continued along. When they reached the door Kamina grabbed the handle and yanked. When the door didn't open he promptly straightened, lifted his right foot, and leaned into a slam that put most of his weight through that foot into the door just beside the handle. Unfortunately for him, the door, heavy steel in a concrete frame, refused to budge, leaving him nursing a stinging foot.
"What was that for?" asked Shinji, as he stepped past Kamina and swiped the key reader, entering the apartment.
"The door didn't open. Duh."
"Well, that usually only works in movies," Shinji said, then continued, "They're stories that you watch on a screen," at Simon and Kamina's quizzical looks. As the three entered the apartment, Shinji tried to flip the lights on, then remembered to hand out the flashlights Misato had given them. They all went through and looked at the rooms. There were three rooms, two of which were the same size, and one slightly larger. Kamina stood in front of the largest and announced, "We'll take this one."
Shinji noticed that he'd been dumbfounded for the umpteenth time that night. "There's a room for each of us."
"Really? Guess there's plenty of room on the surface. Simon, you can have this one, I'll take the one by the door," Kamina replied without a second thought.
"Shouldn't you have the larger one, bro?" Simon spoke up hesitantly.
"Nah, I'm good. You guys did all the hard work, so one of you deserves it," Kamina explained.
"But I didn't really do anything" Shinji and Simon said at the same time.
Kamina grinned, "Hey! Don't try to belittle what you've both done today! This is only the beginning; I know you'll both do far more before it's over."
As Kamina continued to expound on their exploits, an embarrassed Shinji turned to Simon, "Is he always like this?"
Simon managed to combine both a sheepish and admiring expression on his face. "Yeah, bro is so cool. I wish I could be like him, but I can't help but be scared, you know? Kamina just isn't scared, ever."
Shinji thought for a moment, then said, "I feel the same way sometimes. I keep telling myself 'I mustn't run away,' but I still want to, but I wish I could just not run away."
Exhausted after a long day, the three went to bed, knowing that this was only the end of the beginning.
…
Gendo Ikari sat at the end of a long, black table in an equally black room, hands clasped in front of his mouth. Slowly, the room began to light up as several hologram projectors activated, revealing that the room was even decorated, if one could even call it that, in black. The designers had obviously built the room with intimidation in mind, though who it was meant to intimidate, and who was meant to do the intimidating remained to be seen. The holograms displayed the countenances of five elderly men, and a number of black obelisks lit up as well, representing men wishing to keep their identities secret, either as a card to be played at a later date, or not at all.
The man at the other head of the table, equipped with several prosthetics, including a visor across his eyes, could be identified as the leader of the other men by his mere posture. He and Gendo stared impassively at each other across the table. The two men sat silently for several minutes, a motionless struggle for dominance playing in the air between them. Who would be the first to speak, thus ceding control of the conversation to the other?
Finally, the visored man spoke. "I tire of this waiting. I have other matters to attend to," he began, attempting to salvage some control, despite having been the first to talk, "Gendo Ikari, you have failed us. Things in Tokyo-3 are not going as predicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Reports indicate a trio of children, who seemed to appear from another world, interrupted the fight with the Third Angel, and are now living with the Third Child. How have you let this occur?"
Smirking behind his hands, Gendo responded, "This is only a minor setback. Ritsuko Akagi and more of our finest engineers and scientists are as we speak working on returning these children from whence they came."
Another of the men spoke up, "Why not simply eliminate them?"
"Misato Katsuragi was on the scene at the time, and took them into her care before we could intervene. At this time, eliminating the newcomers would arouse suspicion and make her more difficult to control. Rest assured, I will take care of them if they prove a hindrance, but at this time it serves our goals better not to."
The leader spoke again, "Very well. Dismissed."
One by one, the monoliths fell silent, and the four other holograms dissipated, leaving only Gendo and the cybernetically enhanced man.
"Gendo Ikari."
"Lorenz Kihl," Gendo responded with the same tone.
"SEELE will be paying attention most closely now that events are proceeding."
"I expect nothing less." With that, Gendo stood from his chair and without any further acknowledgement of his nominal superior, turned and strode briskly from the room.
…
Author's Note: I'm not really happy with this yet, but I'm not sure what to do to make it better just yet. Expect a re-write once I get a better feel for writing (meaning a re-write beyond just adding in the parts I've skipped). Trying to write Kamina is a challenge, since I'm not planning on this becoming "the Kamina Show" but I still want him to be somewhat hammy.
I fully realize that the pre-crossover part (or what little I've written of it) is not word-for-word the same as the canon, and it's not going to be. I'm going to modernize a little, such as Shinji having a cell-phone from the get-go (thus no pay-phone), and he will have a MP3 player instead of an SDAT (inb4 shitstorm). Also, this lets me do the dialogue without watching the first episodes of both shows ad nausiem to get the dialogue "right," while letting me keep the initial scenes more in line with the original scenes written later.
Edit the First: It was pointed out to me that I was doing too much telling and not enough showing, as well as having some rather glaring grammar issues. It was also pointed out that NERV and SEELE were rather accepting of 3 inter-dimensional travelers interrupting their plans for world domination/tanging/whatever. Thus, I've tried to improve the prose, added a couple scenes, and generally tried to clean up. Thanks for the feedback, guys!
Edit the second: I've re-writing most of the dialogue, hopefully it's a little less awful now. As I've learned more about writing, I think that showing the pre-crossover bits at all is a bit of a waste of time. I've cut almost everything prior to the scene(s) where the merger occurs… all one or two scenes that I'd actually written. That should help to serve as a better 'hook' into the story (and has the added benefit of negating the need to try to write about a bunch of things that all happen exactly the same way as in canon).