Sokila grimaced.
"You'll be okay, won't you?"
Why did she look so worried?
"I mean, you'll be fine...you have to be fine..."
She stepped closer, looking at him with pleading yellow eyes.
"Please take care of yourself, okay?"
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Tuesday: June 16, 2020/
/Barracks, NERV/
BAM!
Shinji Ikari yelped with shock at the sound, loud as a gunshot and quick as a whip. Kensuke Aida erupted into action, swinging wildly at the air and bravely headbutting the floor with his face.
Misato Katsuragi stood at attention, looking way too alert. "Rise and shine boys!"
"...what...what time is it?" he wearily asked.
"Oh-six-hundred! Ayanami's already deployed; might as well get you two in uniform and into the field!"
"Boy," groused Kensuke, haphazardly reaching for his eyeglasses. "You guys just live by the 'throw em' into the deep end' method of training, don't you?"
"When you've got me as a life guard, there's no better method!" she said, not deterred in the slightest by the boy's pessimism. "Let's grab breakfast, and then get you geared up!"
xxxx
/Room 23, 2nd floor, Izanagi Dorm, Hakone Academy/
Toji Suzuhara quietly dressed himself, not really paying much attention. Ikari and Ken hadn't come back the previous night, which meant they were dealing with NERV stuff. That was fine by him.
As for Nagisa? He was sleeping, like he always did during the new moon. No matter how often the others had tried to cajole him into moving, the guy just would not budge.
(The silver-haired boy smiled brightly. "I call it extensive meditation. It keeps me nice and safe from Angel Syndrome!" When pressed for more details, he added, "well, I haven't been attacked yet, have I?")
Nagisa's alleged track record at avoiding supernatural horrors aside, Toji didn't feel like waiting in the dorm room all day. Besides...he had prior arrangements. This has been long overdue.
It was time to pay his respects to Kenji Tomochika.
xxxx
"Agent Misato Katsuragi, identification zero-one-whiskey-alpha-four: activate cognitive tunneling."
"Cognitive tunneling: authorized."
zhuu
zhuu
ZHUU
ZHUU
When entering the Metaverse, Shinji Ikari wondered what - if anything - would change as a result of the new moon. As Hamlet, Ozymandias, and Tokoyo manifested in bursts of blue fire, he tried really hard to notice any differences.
At first, the overall atmosphere - the sepia colors, the staticky sky of red and black, the smoky and angular wisps floating through the air, the orange roots sprawling throughout the landscape - didn't seem that different...that is, until he focused. "...where are all the Archetypes?" Compared to before, the cognitive city seemed positively empty. "What...?"
"Well, by now, everyone's aware of the deal with regards to what we do on the new moon...so people's thoughts react appropriately," answered Misato, gazing stoically around. "If we went to the shelters, or to other religious sites, you'd find Archetypes gathered out the wazoo. But I don't have that shift this time; we're on patrol duty."
"...patrolling for what?" asked Kensuke.
"Well, if we see panicking Archetypes generate in places they're not expected to be, that's generally a sign that something's going down in the real world. If that happens...it usually means there's a Ghost. But if someone's Shadow gets tagged, then it'll mean an Acolyte." She pointed up at the domineering form of the Tokyo-3 Cognitive Protection Center. "That's another reason why we've tried to get as many Shadows within that place as possible."
"For their safety?" remarked Shinji.
Misato nodded. "That big ol' sphere has no equivalent location in the real world, so nothing that happens in the sky will affect it. And, in the unfortunate event that someone in the real world has an incident, their Shadow will be confined to their cell, thus minimizing the cognitive collateral damage." She grimaced, recalling something unpleasant. "Granted, Acolytes can vary in terms of strength, so sometimes the number of Agents needed is more than usual...but hey, that's part of the job, neh?"
"Efficient and practical," mused Kensuke; every so often, he glanced at Misato's own uniform, as though comparing it to his own. "...so, where will we patrol? And..." The boy's voice trailed off, eyes widening behind his glasses. "...what was that?"
Shinji followed Aida's vision; a strange bolt of vague...nothingness...had slipped through the bands of red and black in the sky, deadening the air around it as it moved. It slammed into the middle of a distant street, crackling with and seething with a sense of wrongness. However, there was nothing there; in a matter of moments, it faded. "What...?"
"We only ever see those...things...during a new moon. Or a solar eclipse, but...well, during an eclipse, they're really obvious." Misato grimaced, briefly thumbing her cross necklace. "We've never been able to find out where they come from or what they are. Most people think it has something to do with Angel Syndrome, and we've drawn a correlation between their impacts in the cognitive world and strange happenings in the real world...but their randomness and our lack of knowledge about their origin? Well, we can only speculate." She sighed heavily. "Theory's never been my forte."
Shinji watched quietly as another stream of ethereal emptiness lanced downward, striking a building that appeared to be empty. Once again, it faded, with nothing of note happening afterwards. "...so...what now?"
"Now?" A trio of Ocular Drones descended from the sky, slowing to a hovering halt besides the roof. "Now...we patrol. Hop on a Drone, kids! I'll clue you in as to what we usually look for."
xxxx
/Eastern Shores of Lake Ashi, Tokyo-3/
For the first time that Toji Suzuhara could recall since the incident, the shores of Lake Ashi were bereft of local law enforcement. Only sensible, since their focus would be where the people were gathered today.
It had been...a normal day, in retrospect. A Monday afternoon after school, on May the 25th. A waxing gibbous moon had been rising in the sky.
("Ah, the glory of basking in the springtime of our youth!" exclaimed Tomochika, gesturing at the various people frolicking along the shoreline. "I'm going to practice my pick-up lines. Don't hold back in your critique!")
"You always were about the ladies," he grumbled. A lazy wind blew across the lake, creating hypnotic ripples. There was not a cloud in the sky, so peacefully blue that it was almost irritating in its serenity. "It could get kind of irritating at times..." But that had kind of been the point, ultimately. Tomochika had been...
(He quietly brushed his sister's hair, trying not to disturb her slumber. "First year of junior high school's over and done with. Still managing to maintain my grades, somehow. I've had a bunch of help..." The quiet beep-beep of various machines filled the somber silence of the hospital room.)
...normal. A more boring, stereotypical kind of normal than Ken's nerdy kind of normal, which had occasional bouts of weirdness. And Nagisa...well, he and 'normal' weren't even in the same prefecture. "You had no idea just how much hanging out with you kept me sane," he spoke to the open air, staring intently at the spot. The spot where it had all gone down. "Just by being a guy, with all the attitude and stereotypes that people like the Class Rep loved to complain about...I felt like I was a boring bystander in a high school anime." The jock huffed, sitting down on the grass, mere feet away from where the ground transitioned to damp sand. "Heh...bet you would have laughed and called me a wuss for thinking that way. You'd be right..."
The weather that afternoon had been just as perfect, thinking back...
xxxx
There had been no warning. Such was the danger of Angel Syndrome, which struck with such precise cruelty.
A man and a woman suddenly paused, entirely separate from the group that Tomochika was mingling with. Their bodies went taut...and then the massacre began.
From his vantage point, Toji watched in horror as they acted with otherworldly strength, breaking bones with fists and gouging skin with their fingers. People, naturally, began to panic immediately. Distant sirens and whistles sounded, drawing emergency response to the beach. But who knew how many would die before the Anti-Terror Task Force arrived?
Do something. Run. Help. Get people away. Do SOMETHING!
Yet Toji's self-recriminations went unanswered, rooted in place as he was. The vague fear of death, always present, was clear as crystal, and unbearably real. Even as the woman turned her berserk gaze his way, the sheer truth of his impending doom kept him from running.
That's why he was so shocked by the sudden vertigo, as leaden legs went flailing upward. He landed in a heap, courtesy of a shove from a panicked Tomochika. "Come on man, RUN-!"
His friend's yell was cut off, courtesy of a downward hammer blow from the berserk woman. The boy gasped in agony as he fell, even as the furious beauty raised her fists again.
He turned away and fled, running as fast as he could. He ran past the A.T. Agents arriving to subdue the afflicted individuals; he ran past the police setting up a cordon along the public recreational area; he kept on running, until grass gave way to concrete sidewalks. It was only when his feet began to hurt that he stopped, wincing at the soreness.
That soreness was a reminder that he was alive.
Alive...and Tomochika was...was...
Suzahara, you shitty COWARD...!
xxxx
...completely perfect weather. Twenty-one people had died that day. Kenji Tomochika had been among them. "But people dyin' from Angel Syndrome is normal, too..." A horrible kind of normal. Who wanted to get used to people going crazy out of the blue? Who wanted to ever get used to the idea that you could suddenly become a crazed murderer, condemned to be put down like a deranged beast? Yet, there were still people who tried to live life in the face of that. Tomochika had been one of them. "...it's not fair," he growled, rising back to his feet. The tension within his chest, slowly but surely building over the past weeks, finally demanded to be set free. "IT'S NOT FAIR!" His voice echoed across the lake, rebounding faintly in his ears. Small mercy, that no one was around to hear him. "...but life ain't fair, is it?" he muttered, sitting back down on the grass. "You'd know that better than anyone, right...?"
Tomochika wasn't there to shoot the breeze, or to make a potentially sleazy joke in response. He wasn't there to do anything. Talking to the open air, as if his friend were still there, was nothing but a crutch.
Toji did it anyway; for the first time in weeks, he felt some semblance of relief.
xxxx
Within the Metaverse, the trio of Ocular Drones carrying Misato Katsuragi, Shinji Ikari, and Kensuke Aida flew in a tight formation, keeping on the lookout for anything anomalous. As the A.T. Agent had previously stated, they could see distant places where Archetypes were gathered in significant clusters, a sign of where people were gathered in the real world. Shinji would have expected that some of the strange bolts of nothingness would have landed on them by now...but they seemed to curve around? "What's happening...?"
"Believe it or not, there's some benefit to gathering in holy places or in places of protection," explained Misato, keeping a calm grip upon her Persona. "I've tried talking to Ritsuko about it, but she throws out a bunch of babble about A.T. Fields oriented on a particular spiritual vector, or stuff like that."
"That actually sounds like useful info!" yelled Kensuke.
"Well, I'm sure by the end of your internship, Ritsky will have a bunch of metaphysical biology crammed into your head!"
"Oh come on, more book work?!"
Kensuke was very good at filling the air with rambunctious banter. It had the side effect of lowering the tension, even as he watched the nothingness continue to fall from the sky.
One landed near the eastern shores of Lake Ashi, sizzling menacingly near the shores of orange liquid...
xxxx
The change was subtle; a sudden tension, sprouting from within his very heart. There was no warning.
Toji Suzuhara paled, and he didn't know why. "What...?" Then, reality caught up with what his soul had already begun to sense.
Flickering sparks of transparent blue arose, coalescing into brighter tongues of fire, which began to take definition, and shape...
xxxx
Misato's eagle eyes caught it before anyone else. "Look alive, boys! Ten o'clock, down!"
Shinji blinked. "Ten o'clock-?"
"To your left, Ikari!" yelled Aida. "On the shoreline!"
Shinji did so, looking down; eyes widened at the sight of Archetypes literally spawning from amidst the hazy vagueness. Little blue imps in jars, green slimes, and gleaming humanoids with fiery feet fled, their entire forms wracked with panic. "...what's happening-?"
"I don't see any Shadow. Something's happening in the real world." Misato's voice lacked all playfulness, and was now all business. "Let's get to ground and transition back-"
xxxx
Toji's eyes went wide at the sight before him: various humanoid wisps of spectral flames, wracked with palpable agony and undeniable fury.
Documentaries never quite got across just how otherworldly the Ghosts were...nor did they truly get across just how furious they looked, with their blazing red eyes.
On some level, he thought it was quite appropriate that one of them looked like Tomochika. Perhaps this is my just desserts?
Alas, he could only mutter. "Shit..." Somehow, that got across the entirety of his frustration, fear, and resignation.
xxxx
Shinji Ikari frowned, feeling a strange whisper within the core of his being. 'Just desserts'...? What was pulling at him? And that voice...Toji Suzuhara? Suzuhara-san?!
xxxx
Two voices spoke in unison: his own, and the monstrous Beast.
"You've been given the key."
There was a sense of knowing.
"Are you capable of acting?"
A sense of...purpose.
"Will you choose?"
xxxx
Without saying anything, Hamlet grabbed Shinji and leapt, shooting down like a rocket towards the shoreline.
"SHINJI-KUN?!"
"IKARI!"
Misato and Kensuke's shouts went ignored, as his mind became consumed by a singular motivation. Ayanami's words faintly echoed in the back of his mind, guiding him.
("Ponder the pattern that your thoughts carve. Sense the boundaries of your soul, the define you in relation to others.")
But once he emerged, things would be different; in the real world, his Persona would not be there.
("Personas are unable to manifest in our physical reality..." explained Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, on the first day after his arrival in Tokyo-3. "The fusion of mind and soul, the embodiment of Persona and Spirit...that, Shinji Ikari, is what we call Evangelion.")
This would not be a spar. This would be for real, just like on the train...
("You simply need to remember, and hold on tight to whatever may come. If you do not control it, you will be devoured...either here, or in the battles to come. It wants to break free. But for there to be control, you must accept the pain that comes with letting it out. Take hold, and set it free.")
...somehow, that stark reality was comforting. He had to act, or perish...and somehow, the fact that it was for Suzuhara's sake made it easier, as compared to simply fighting for himself.
Reality started shifting, as the surreal colors of the Metaverse began to fade from his mind's eye...
xxxx
Toji honestly thought he was going to die. Part of him was even okay with it. It would have been like balancing the scales, or something like that. The rest of him wanted to rant and scream and cry about the sheer unfairness of it all.
Then, as if his day hadn't gone crazy enough, a boy literally phased into existence in the sky, falling towards his position. "What the...?" A very familiar boy. "...Ikari?!" WHAT THE HELL?!
Blue flames began to flicker around Ikari's falling form, even as his eyes turned...yellow...wait, why was Ikari digging into his friggin' FACE-?!
"Come forth...SHOGOKI!"
Then he somehow pulled a purple monster out of his face and it was about that point where reality stopped making sense. "...wha...huh...?"
The Ghosts backed away right as Ikari landed, standing atop the shoulders of the violet beast; the very air thrummed and tensed with azure flames, seething from the furied specters and the strange creature. Ikari was wearing some weird-looking bodysuit, and that was honestly the least strange thing about this whole mess. "...I...Ikari...?" Then he turned back towards him, and Toji wished he hadn't.
Yellow eyes stared back, blaring with intensity that did not fit the meek boy that had taken Tomochika's spot in their dorm. "...get out of here," he growled.
As if given permission, Toji turned and fled, running away with all his might. The utter ridiculousness that he was leaving Shinji Ikari - of all people! - to stay and fight continued to linger. Guess running is all I'm good at...
xxxx
Shinji Ikari tried not to gulp as the wraiths began to swirl about him. So...these are what Ghosts are really like...
(The specter looked like it had shoulder-length hair, which was an odd detail to focus on. The last thing he noticed before running away was his sad expression...)
From a distance, they had appeared almost stereotypically benign. However, their death toll could not be doubted.
(A civil war in a distant Russian province had spilled over into an area stricken by Angel Syndrome. The newscaster spoke solemnly as censored footage played behind him, showcasing azure wraiths descending upon the surprised beligerents...)
And yet he here was, clad in the strange blue bodysuit, with eyes shining yellow; beside him, the bestial Shogoki snarled.
"Feckless remnants, slaves to a wicked design!"
There was something about the Ghosts made him sad and angry in equal measure.
"Reminders of what has been lost; memories of those who have been taken!"
The Beast raised its fists in challenge to the specters, which began to slip in and out of the ground; immaterial as they were, physical objects could not constrain their movements. Yet they could strike at his soul without issue.
So long as his Evangelion stood, would his soul be safe?
As though the universe had decided to answer his question, a Ghost erupted from beneath the groud, spearing through his body with an ethereal shriek. He expected a sharp pain, or an immediate cessation of life...but instead, he still remained standing, blinking dumbly.
Apparently, Dr. Akagi's words about Evangelion being the 'fusion of mind and soul' had been quite literally. Wait, how am I standing then? How am I even thinking-?!
The Ghosts hissed, turning their ire towards Shogoki.
"Bring your rage, undead spirits! Eternal rest awaits!"
The specter bearing Tomochika's face - not that Shinji was aware - was smashed with a hard right hook by the Evangelion. Two other Ghosts latched onto Shogoki's shoulders from behind, only to be yanked off by titanic hands. The blue wraiths - number over a dozen at least - swirled around the violet creature like a maelstrom, smashing into its form. Orange octagons flared with each impact; each blow elicited a subtle pain from the core of Shinji's very being, every strike evoked a dull ache from the top of his spine. It was a sign that he was not invincible, that the Ghosts could still bring him down if they brought down Shogoki.
Mind and soul...Persona and spirit, dully thought Shinji, standing with eerie calm amidst the belligerent spirits. Not just my soul...but my other self as well...?
His other self smiled.
"It is not just me, anymore..."
His newer...selves...?
"You have chosen to take upon yourself more facets of humanity."
...that was right...
"They are yours to wield, so long as you still retain the strength to stand."
Shinji reached deep within, for those he had bound himself to: the image of a musical horse-man arose from deep down. "...Agi."
Shogoki's eyes flashed, and it lashed out with an open palm. Orange light coalesced around a particular Ghost, before erupting in a flash of soulfire. The target wailed in shock, fading away with deceptive peacefulness.
The other Ghosts snarled, their unnatural anger still pushing them to attack.
The same horse-man played a serene song within Shinji's heart. "Media."
Spectral green light flared from Shogoki's eyes and mouth, and its presence became hardier; the vague pains that had built up within Shinji also vanished. With a thought, he called upon another: a talkative cat with a swift blade. "Cleave!"
With renewed vigor, Shogoki returned to the conflict, an orange blade of sharpened soul manifesting around its right hand.
xxxx
The Angel observed in solitude, from the realm in-between.
In the passage of fate, there were threads that were close by: a frightened youth, running for all his worth; a plainclothes officer, patrolling near the lake, drawn by distant screams and faint flickers of blue; an experienced woman and a neophyte boy in the realm of lilim minds; and, most notably, a presence which weighed upon existence itself, even more so than that of the First and Second Children.
Such a presence deserved only to be cut down, before it could reach its prime.
The first attempt had been too subtle, too reliant on the unpredictable savagery of the human mind to cut down the fledgling warrior.
(A portal had been forcefully opened by the impetuous youth; after dragging the Third Child in with him, a minor manifestation was all that was needed to cut the television's cord in twain. Now, they were trapped in the lilim's cognitive world, sure to be devoured.)
Alas, trepidation regarding the First Child's presence in the city - how experienced a warrior was she! - stayed their hand from anything more overt. The potential of a brutal response from the fledgling had also been a fear, for his wild rage had been enough to cripple Sachiel.
Sachiel: the first of their kin in an age to perish.
And yet, the Voice from Luna had been insistent: find the Third Child.
And so they would; in doing so, they would cut down this aspiring Champion, and damn the lilim to another age of doom and despair.
They deserved nothing less.
sssh
sssh
SSSH
SSSH
But first...it was time to tie these threads together, into a singular convergence.
With a supreme act of will, the Angel extended itself through time and space, mind and matter, dream and reality.
xxxx
/The Cognitive Protection Center, Tokyo-3, the Metaverse/
It was a sudden alert that caught Goro Akechi's attention; a message from the A.T. Agents who were staffing the Panopticon notifying that one of the cells had suddenly gone empty. The vacancy was tied to that of Resident Alpha-Foxtrot-One-One-Nine-Epsilon.
The Chief Warden reviewed the information with disquiet; the Shadow belonged to one of Tokyo-3's law enforcement officers, one Noboru Hanamura. His Shadow hadn't broken out, and there was no sign of outward intrusion into his cell. What could this mean...?
Moments later, one of the various Ocular Drones on patrol found the Shadow's location, perplexing him even further. "What?"
xxxx
/Hakonesono Fujiashinoko Panorama Park, Near the Eastern Shores of Lake Ashi, Tokyo-3/
Toji Suzuhara turned the dirt trail and nearly bowled someone over. "Shit man, sorry-!"
"Hold it there," admonished the stern looking man, flashing a police officer's badge with practiced ease. "Private Hanamura, with Tokyo-3 Community Safety. What's a kid like you doing out here by himself today of all days-?"
"G-Ghosts," he muttered, trying to order his thoughts, because hell he had left Ikari behind like a coward! "Someone's...fighting them-!"
The officer paled. "Damn it, need to call this in-" At that very instant, his breath caught in his throat. "Grk!"
The sudden change of motion caused Toji to look up into the officer's eyes. "Sir...?" He instinctively began to back away from the man, who had gone so unnervingly - familiarly - tense. "...sir...?!"
xxxx
/Eastern Shores of Lake Ashi, the Metaverse/
The sight of warrior Archetypes emerging into existence - icons of stalwart strength and combat - from the vague haze was a sign of encouragement for Misato Katsuragi. "No sense of panic...he must be holding his own..."
"...aren't we gonna go back?" asked Kensuke Aida, apparently trying to decide whether or not he should geek out about the current turn of events. "Won't Ikari need our help?"
"Judging by the Archetypes his thoughts are generating, maybe not. Still, we need to observe...hold up." Misato paused, thumbing her A.T. Agent badge with concern. "Copy that Akechi, repeat?" Concern gave way to confusion. "What?" Confusion gave way to alarm. "How?"
A worm of worry wiggled through Kensuke's guts. "Uh...what's going on?"
"Nothing good, that's what," she snarled, looking upward into the technicolor sky; sure enough, Ocular Drones were beginning to converge at the cognitive double of Panorama Park. "Come on, we need to investigate!" She and her Persona quickly took off running.
"But what about Ikari?!"
"He'll have to hold his own for now!"
"It is time to test our limits," sagely advised Ozymandias.
"Yeah...I guess it is," said Kensuke with a gulp, following the woman alongside his Persona.
xxxx
/Eastern Shores of Lake Ashi, Tokyo-3/
The last Ghost bore the image of Kenji Tomochika; ignorant of this, Shinji Ikari felt only a grim resolve as his Evangelion's fist smashed into his face. If nothing else, there was a brief sense of consolation as the being faded away, bearing a faint smile.
Wisps of ethereal energy were slowly dissipating from the beach, a sign that the presence of the Ghosts was fading. The violet monster's body still thrummed with tension, but was beginning to visibly calm now that the battle had ended. "...it's...over...?" he breathed, somewhat hopeful.
At that precise moment, his NERV-issued cell phone buzzed.
With a spot of panic, he patted himself down - where did his pockets go?! - only to feel a hard satchel along the small of his back. Opening it up, he felt for his phone - seriously, why did the stuff in his pockets move there? - and looked at the screen.
PATTERN BLUE DETECTED
PRELIMINARY LOCATION: FUJIASHINOKO PANORAMA PARK
"...a Pattern Blue?" The warnings beaten into his head by Misato Katsuragi and Rei Ayanami elicited a brief twinge of fear. "An Acolyte..." He slowly turned, looking towards the distant public recreation areas with dawning apprehension. "...Suzuhara-san!" He took a step-
Water splashed behind him. Something firm yet alien, unyielding and unreal, wrapped around his and Shogoki's necks. With a surprised scream, both boy and Evangelion were yanked backwards, dragging them into - nay, through - the waters of Lake Ashi, into a dark abyss that did not belong on Earth.
Void gave way to something else, as he was pulled deeper and deeper towards something fierce.
"Thy end has been decreed, childe of Lilith," it promised with cold finality.
xxxx
TO BE CONTINUED
xxxx
/cliffhanger!