Neon Genesis: EVANGELION
Eva Wasn't Built in A Day.
v1.0 (final 'net release)
By Jared Waddell : rick_spiff@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this work except for Goku
Takagi and James Rahn.
This story takes place post-episode 18.
******* WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING *******
This fanfic contains S P O I L E R S ! ! !
This fanfic contains material that may be offensive to some
readers, including material of a type never covered in the Eva
series. This is not a nice story; it's Eva material, so if you
didn't like some of the issues present in the series, don't
even think about reading this!
******* WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING *******
Chapter 6:
---
"I don't believe it!" Asuka yelled, Rei staring at her... not really
caring. Perhaps the volume level hurt, perhaps it was just some dust.
Either way, she blinked cutely while Asuka continued her rant. "That...
that... IDIOT had the gall to just go running off into the wild blue,
leaving US here to pick up after him. And all so he could TALK to
SHINJI?!"
Rei didn't say anything as she continued cleaning the chalkboard of the
schoolroom. Her and Asuka had drawn duty that afternoon, and Asuka was
making use of the extra time by being noisy and throwing things around a
lot. Anyone else would say she was just being obnoxious, but Rei didn't
seem to mind, save for ducking the occasional desk that missed it's
mark.
"You are required to stack the desks to take up a minimum of space in
the classroom."
German curses and more loud banging noises ensued.(3)
---
Far away from the city, in the dark in their room, Shinji and Goku were
having their final discussion on the matter. Over the course of the last
three days, the pair had talked about a great many things, the Evas
being only one point of conversations that dragged on for hours. Soon,
Goku would be leaving. NERV wanted him back, he was going. The NERV
Security officers outside would escort him back to HQ for a debriefing.
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Asked Shinji.
"No, but what else am I gonna do?"
Shinji didn't trust his father, didn't know his father, hated the Evas,
and definitely didn't trust NERV. Seeing another kid like him... another
young face, another smile, another person of friendly words walk away
from him and go back to his... to his father and that stupid
organization.
Go back to the Evas.
Go back to NERV.
"Goku?"
"Yes?"
Go back to piloting.
Go back to killing Angels.
"Are... were." Shinji paused and took a deep breath. "No. Are you afraid
of piloting Eva?"
Go back to maiming your friends.
Go back to being abandoned by the only person that should still care
about you.
"Always, Shinji."
"Then how do you do it?"
'Because I had a use for you.'(4)
"I tell myself this is it. There is no other choice now. My mind has
already been made up be me. I do it regardless of what else I feel
because I had the freedom to choose."
"You force yourself to because you already chose?"
'... I had a use...'
"Why else? I like working on Evas. Usually. I do my job nicely. No one
really minds, unless I get upset. Things have been... they've just been
weird lately. I'm surviving. I keep telling myself I chose to do this.
"It hurts just a little bit less when I do." Goku hunched over, his
personal belongings already packed in a bag at his feet. He seemed to be
trying to melt into the seat.
'use'
_Why do people do this to themselves and other?_
Shinji looked Goku.
_This is madness..._
Goku, shaking like a leaf, holding his own shoulders. Trying to be
strong against whatever demon was eating him from the inside.
_What's happening to us?_
'Because I had a use for you.'
_Father._
---
"NERV appreciates your cooperation." Said the crisply uniformed Security
Technician.
The young woman nodded politely, then the two bowed to one another.
Letting another kid in class like he was a secret agent inserted behind
enemy lines was bar none the strangest thing the teacher had ever seen,
but then again, NERV was always a little off in her book.
They walked up the path to the quarters where Ikari and Takagi were
staying.
"They should be ready."
The officer nodded and knocked on the door, three precise raps on the
solid metal construction.
"I'm ready." Said a voice from inside. After a second, Goku stepped out,
his bag held in one hand. Shinji was standing just inside with an usual
expression on his face. Goku turned to face Shinji. "I promise."
Shinji nodded, and Goku closed the door as he stepped outside.
---
End.
Okay, first some quick notes. Mostly for fun, as real notes will be
separate once the story is complete.
(1)Or it would be, if Shinji wasn't still up in the woods or...
wherever.
(2)Let's just see who can guess what this refers to...
(3)I don't know even a modicum of German. Asuka wouldn't really damage
anything, or hurt Rei, especially on school property. She's confused,
and making her anger known because anger is what she knows best, and she
feels anger gives her control of her fears.
(4)Just watch Evangelion, 'k?
2/5/00
Chapter 6: When Was the Last Time You Said Goodbye?
---
Weeks passed, and Tokyo-3 was repaired.
Goku had once seen a time-lapse film of a hotel under construction.
Clouds whipped by overhead like speeding trucks, people zipped from one
spot to the next like mad bees, and a building slowly grew from piles of
raw materials heaped like ashes around the base of the construction
site. He stood at the small window in his apartment once every day as a
building nearby was repaired, watching the pockmarks grow smaller, like
healing wounds.
Eva-sized footsteps made indentations large enough for a clothing store
to set up shop. Down the street, an entire apartment complex was being
rebuilt from the ground up. He had heard the original was some 200
kilometers away, found spread across a hill to the southeast. He stood
there everyday for almost hour, just wondering what it would be like to
see the full effects of the Angel attacks on time-delay film.
First there would be the long periods of peace and normal movements of
the little dots of people going from point A to point B and doing
important things at one side and nothing in between. There would sit the
school day after day, inhaling and exhaling students like some great
mythological beast sleeping under the peaceful village peoples' homes.
Then, the terrifyingly brief explosions of combat that turned hundred of
square meters of the city into piles of rubble and shapeless corpses of
buildings. Imagine the body expand in a single second of time, the
destruction striking with incredible power. Imagine, the cross-shaped
explosions of light leaving only afterimages on his scared eyes.
Imagine what it looked like.
Growing. Changing.
Dying.
On the day all major construction was complete, an eerie silence settled
over NERV. Goku was afraid to drop a pin in his 'office' - a mere
formality among formalities - while he waited out the veil of static
events. Afraid, perhaps, to shatter the delicate silence of peace while
disbelief was suspended.
No Angel attack yet. No fifteenth harbinger of doom? So be it.
'Hurry up and wait' was a military motto he'd heard somewhere before.
Story of his life right now.
Just wait.
---
Morning came to the Katsuragi household; silent, early, and terribly
bright. Beams of photons sliding across the walls, counted movement by
the hours to the sounds of heavy construction from kilometers away.
Misato groggily drug herself out of bed, through a pile of dirty
laundry, and finally into the bath, where she realized she forgot to
disrobe. After another half-hour and three beers, she looked ready to
face the day.
For a moment, she stopped by Shinji's old room, left just as he had left
it, except for dusting. She glared at the closed door.
It didn't make her feel better.
"Asuka! Are you awake yet?"
_Never thought I'd have to be woken up by..._
Five minutes later, Asuka came stalking out of her room, primly dressed
for school, bookbag in hand.
"Oh."
"Good morning Misato." The utterly flat tone was a new one.
"Morning, Asuka."
"I'm going to school."
Well, that was obvious, but the lack of... well, from the looks of it,
Asuka shouldn't even have a pulse. This was really not cool.
_I wonder what's been happening to her at school. Whatever it is, it
just keeps getting worse. She doesn't talk to anybody anymore._
Asuka quickly grabbed what passed for breakfast at Misato's, a fairly
burnt piece of toast and some orange juice, and ate it thoroughly.
Before leaving without further word.
"Asuka?"
"Quaak."
"I know Pen Pen. I'm worried too."
Pen Pen gave Misato and odd look.
---
Klaxons blared, warning sirens filled out the spaces of silence in NERV,
and things were back to normal.
_Not._
"We have a blue pattern, 20 kilometers northwest. We're reading a
massive energy buildup, some kind of electrical surge!"
"Did we get any warning? The JSSDF?!" Barked Fuyutsuki.
"Nothing!" Yelled Shiegeru. "It was just nothing one minute, then the
next, this!"
"Great." Muttered the sub-commander under his breath.
---
Misato was in her office when the alert started, Goku was in the cage,
and Rei and Asuka were at school. Within a matter of minutes, all three
pilots were settled securely in their Evas.
Which was a good thing when the ground shook from the Angel's first
demonstration of it's main weapon.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!" Misato yelled as she regained her footing.
"Something big!" Shiegeru paused. "JSSDF observation post 4-4-8 reports
that the top of Mt. Fuji is... gone? It's gone?! Whadda mean, 'gone'?!!"
"Aoba?"
"The top of Mt. Fuji has just been blown to pieces!"
Three full seconds of silence followed.
"How?"
Ritsuko looked at something on Maya's panel, touching her fingers to the
keys in a blur. "Some kind of super-accelerate mass. Like a railgun.
However the Angel did it, it hurled a chunk of earth nearly forty meters
in diameter at the top of Mt. Fuji. Not only is the top of the mountain
gone, but the piece was still tracking radar. It splashed down about 150
kilometers to sea."
"You mean it went THROUGH the mountain?!"
"That is exactly what I am saying, Misato." Ritsuko replied.
Things were happening too fast, way to fast. Three pilots ready for
action, and Angel out in the woods that could shatter all of Tokyo-3's
defenses without getting anywhere near the city, and one that had just
wiped out a large portion of what remained of Japan's pride landmark.
Well now...
"Are we launching or not?" Came Asuka's voice over the comm.
"In a second. Hyuuga, where is the Angel? Do we have its location?"
"Right here, Major."
"Forward it to the pilots."
"Yes ma'am."
"Rei, Goku, Asuka. We're going to attack it now. One more good shot and
Tokyo-3 will be toast. Ready?"
"Affirmative, base."
"I'm ready."
"I am ready."
"EVA LAUNCH!!!"
"I think my brakes are sticking!"
"Shut up, Goku!" Ritsuko yelled.
"Dumpkov."
---
Twin masters of death and destruction, shaped as humans and a million
times more powerful, Evangelion Unit-02 and 03 shot into the sky from
the speed the new launchers gave them. With a pair of mighty crashes,
they slammed into the ground like meteors, kicking up clouds of dust and
flakes of concrete like an exploding bomb.
They quickly secured weapons as Unit-00 came up in the next launcher,
the three forming a triangle of sorts and heading for the forested area
where the Angel was hiding.
It was big. Big in the sense that an ocean liner fit to carry a crew of
Evas would be big. Big and like a slug, with stubby legs and scaly green
skin.
"I don't believe it. Godzilla's pet blob." Remarked Asuka.
"Maybe it's his dog."
Rei remained silent.
"Attack it cautiously, we don't know exactly what kind of weapons it
has." Came Misato's voice from the comm speakers.
Goku paused to look over his - er, Unit-03's shoulder to the abbreviated
Mt. Fuji. "Don't know, huh? I'd like to hear some information." He said.
"Don't worry, Misato. We have it under control."
Goku realized he was wasting time. "Right."
Unit-03 raised it's sword, Unit-02 readied it's Galive, and Unit-00
hefted a nice pallet rifle. The three charged. An AT-Field snapped into
place, Asuka tried for the attack and Goku bounced away. Rei let lose a
volley of shells that had no visible effect as Asuka moved back,
covering herself with her Spear.
"Tough bastard." Said Goku.
"Then let's soften him up." Suggested Asuka.
And the battle was joined.
Rei kept her distance, but remained mobile, her unerringly accurate
shot's wearing down the Angel slowly as it was forced to keep it's
AT-Field up constantly. Every weakness was sighted by Asuka or Goku, and
one would cover the other while an attack was made.
Slash, slash, dodge, move, link, query, attack, cover, cover, block.
Everything flowed so smoothly, yet try as they might, none of the Evas
could gain any ground. On the flip side, the Angel was unable to fire
it's own weapon behind it's AT-Field at point-blank range, so a minor
trade off was made as the three wildly painted shapes and one behemoth
danced the dance of death, blow by blow.
Attack, dodge, slash, attack, attack, attack-
"GOKU! Get outta my way!"
"WHAT?!"
Unit-02 flew past Unit-03 like it was standing still and threw it's
force behind the Spear, actually bending the AT-Field back from the
sheer force. Goku got behind Asuka and 'caught' her Eva as it went
ground-ward, minus cord.
"This isn't working!"
"Then what do you suggest we hit him with?" Shouted Asuka as she watched
the numbers in her plug tick off what time remained for her in battle.
"I dunno. Let me see if I can get a cup of good tea."
"You're just full of it."
"Pilots! We're sending extra pallet guns your way!"
"No time!" Rei dropped her empty rifle and grabbed Goku's sword. Goku
had nabbed an ax from somewhere, and the two were making an assault run
at the Angel, even as they saw the front end of it start to glow.
"You morons!"
"Rei! Goku! STOP!" Misato shouted.
"You. Are. Going. Down!" Goku came charging full-out, screaming with
everything he had, ax poised above the Eva's head, ready to cleave the
Angel into two equally dead halves.
---
Back at the commander center, even the air conditioning couldn't cut
through the tense heat of battle. The humidity climbed as the crew
watched in horror as everything NERV had was put into merely distracting
the Angel long enough to keep it from leveling Tokyo-3 and dropping into
Terminal Dogma like a meteor.
"I'm getting another energy pulse!"
"How strong is it?!"
"Not very strong. It's like the Angel wants to fire a warning shot."
"What?"
---
Rei felt Unit-00 being crushed under the weight of Goku's Unit-03, with
him screaming something about waterfowl.
Asuka's face went white, her next insult against Goku's battle tactics
dying on her lips as she saw the Angel rear up like a cobra - albeit a
very fat cobra - preparing to strike. She then did something totally
unexpected. She did the smart thing and got the hell out of the way.
---
Misato could have sworn she felt her jaw bounce off the metal floor of
the Command Center as the slug-like fifteenth Angel reared up and fired
a shot at Asuka - or where Asuka was, by the time it fired. What came
out was not a ball of energy, but simply an enormous lump of Earth.
Rock, mostly. Lots of it.
A rock that size, fired fast enough, could very well blow the top off of
Mt. Fuji.
A rock that size, at a moderate velocity, could flatten Tokyo-3.
A rock that size, given proper aiming, could punch right through all 22
layers of armor and deep into NERV before coming to a halt.
"And this a warning shot?" Breathed Misato, amazed at what she had just
missed.
---
Asuka was recovering her spear when Misato cut in over the voice link.
She was still a little shaken, so she didn't hear what Misato said
immediately.
"Come again?"
"Change of plans, Asuka."
"What do I do?"
"... we don't know yet. The positron cannon might be worth a try,
nothing you guys have tried so far has even put a dent in it."
"I'm aware of that, Misato. Where are the others?"
"About 50 meters away. We're going to pull back."
"Pull back!!!" Asuka screamed. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
"That's what we're trying to prevent, Asuka. STAND DOWN, that's an
order!"
"No way! Goku? Are you mobile?"
"I'm on the chems, but okay."
"The what?"
"Batteries."
"Okay. Are you ready to rock this sucker?"
"Finally asked for help, huh?"
"GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"
Goku looked up. Asuka looked up. Rei considered running.
This time the Angel was fully charging up. Not the usual glow, it was
like the feeling of a supernova getting ready to go bang, energy
invading every pore of the pilots' bodies, the certainty of death. Asuka
gripped the spear and did a quick battlefield analysis.
Rei was too far away, unarmed. Goku was next to her, but also unarmed,
having lost his ax. That made Asuka the only one with a weapon.
She could try attacking while it was firing, it must have to power down
the AT-Field to fire off a shot like that...
Decision made, she reset her footing, concentrating. No AT-Field!
Nothing! Nothing at all!
This was her chance.
And Goku was in her damn way again.
"MOVE IT!!!"
It was already too late.
Goku was right in front of her, in front of the Angel, in between the
both of them, clasping both hands in front of his Eva in some kind of
martial arts move. She was faintly aware of a rising yell, something
primal with almost animalistic fury.
The energy was still building, the shot only a split second away.
---
"Goku's after the Angel? What's he doing!"
"They're your pilots, major!"
"And I told them to scoot!"
"It's preparing to fire!"
"Unit-03's AT-Field is condensing!"
"What?"
"Goku's synch ratio is over 90%!"
_Dear God, what are you trying to do, boy?_ Thought Misato, staring at
the form on the screen.
"Firing!"
---
Asuka could feel it coming, like a shadow under a shadow, like death
coming into the light. She had thought she could feel what kind of
destruction this Angel was capable of.
Nope.
Not a chance.
"GOKU!!!"
The blast blinded her instantly, only the feeling of the ground quaking
beneath her feet and the sickening sense of her skin being burned off by
the shear force of the wind. No fire touched her senses, only the
overwhelming storm of destruction that felt like it wanted to reach out
and engulf her...
Take her...
She fought. She resisted.
She tried to come up with reasons to go on living.
And before she could find even one...
She saw.
Or more precisely, didn't see.
No Unit-03. (
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