Shin Seiki Evangelion - Kimatsushiken
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Final Exam
the end of higher learning
strike fiss
part 4 of 6
Lesson 49: [Never abandon your study group. No matter how many different
opinions you may have...no matter how many conflicting ideas. Even if
you hate every single one of the people you have to work with. If you
leave...you all fail.]
***
The internal engine of Unit-02 powered back up to full as all nine had
finally crash landed. Not even very graceful, Asuka mused.
"Asuka...Destroy them all before your internal power runs out. No
mistakes." Misato said, revitalized by Asuka's confidence. "We're all
counting on you."
"Nine opponents in three and a half minutes." She took a deep breath then
yelled "Ihr verdammten falschen Engel!" Effortlessly, she leaned forward
and into her controls. With a resounding howl, Unit-02 sprinted forward
at the first, unsuspecting Eva Series Unit. She jumped.
And landed through it's head.
The impact caused an explosion of blood to gush everywhere, and most of
the people able to see the sight were stunned into silence.
After Unit-02 landed like a hunting spider, it turned around, picked up
the falling Evangelion, and ripped it in half over it's head.
Unit-02's paint job never looked better.
In a loud, booming voice, Asuka's voice was broadcasted over, not only
the entirety of NERV, but across the battlefield with the communications
array on Unit-02's mask. "Ich werde euch zurck in die Hlle schicken,
wo ihr hin gehrt!"
The Eva Series apparently did not appreciate being taunted in German, and
began to advance. Asuka just smirked and tossed the broken Evangelion to
the ground.
Misato turned to Makoto. "What did she say?"
He smiled, looking up from the Magi. "She said she was going to send all
the fake angels back to hell."
"Ahh." She smiled, then turned away from the main screen as the second
Eva Series was thrown into the lake.
Shinji would have loved to focus on the distant sounds of Asuka's self-
proclaimed symphony, but the sound of the gun dropping from his hand was
all that filled his mind. Before him lay two men no longer breathing.
"What a busy day you've had, Shinji." He whispered to himself as he knelt
down to check the two. "Just yesterday, you hadn't killed anyone. Now
look at you."
When it had been Asuka on the gangway, shooting didn't even really
register in his mind. In fact, it took him a moment to realize that
these two men weren't his first kill.
Kaoru had been before. Now four men. All with just a simple handgun.
Once he got to Unit-01, how many thousands could he kill in a heartbeat?
They thing that saved his sanity at the moment was the sound of Asuka's
symphony of destruction ringing out on the loudspeakers. Most of it was
simply the sound of growling (both Asuka and Unit-02 seemed very good at
it) and the clang of metal on metal. Occasionally, Shinji heard a quick
breath, a gasp, or a yell from Asuka, but to his relief, she wasn't in
pain.
"Hold on, Asuka! I'm coming to help!" as he recognized the sound of a
battery timer counting down. She had less than two minutes before they
would rip her lifeless Eva apart.
The countdown seemed almost tangible as he began to think how long it
would take Unit-01 to launch...power up...and make it to the Geofront.
It would take more than two minutes unless Misato was ready. The sound
of his feet and heartbeat seemed only to speed up the timer.
He ran around the cage-walkway as fast as he could. The entire place
seemed three times longer than usual.
It may have been a dozen times that to his heart when he saw the first
lava-like bits of Bakelite in Unit-01's cage where only cooling fluid
should have been.
As he rounded the corner, his heart almost stopped. Only the head's horn
and the shoulder of Unit-01 was free of the hardened goo. Unit-01 was
trapped. The Entry plug would never be able to eject without a day's
worth of jackhammer work.
"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" Asuka yelled over the intercom. The loud crunch of
the enemy she landed on was wonderfully sweet.
"Asuka! Hurry! Ninety Seconds!" Misato replied over the same channel.
"Plenty of time!" she grunted, and the sound of her auxiliary spike-gun
in the shoulder blade exploded trough the speakers. A loud squish
sounded as the projectiles hit another target. "Baka Shinji! Get your
ass up here!"
Shinji could only stare at the Unit-01 shape under the bakelite, frozen
as he witnessed Asuka's last minute in his mind.
The crashes and explosions above seemed like distant echoes in this
place. Whispers of a violent and unforgiving upper world. There seemed
no place for them here, in this holy place where Gendo Ikari chose to
play out his salvation. The door to his heaven.
He walked behind Rei, watching her nude form like it was art, not like it
was a young woman who was there. He had long ago forced himself to think
of Rei this way. After all, she was only a clone. Only a project. Only
a key.
The only one who could ever understand him. Who could ever withstand
him. In the end, after his wife, son, colleagues, and all the people who
were around him...he found Rei to be the only one who he never had to
think about. She was perfect. And while he would sometimes tell himself
that she was only a robot...a kind of tool to use and throw away, she was
also the only one who seemed to be like him.
Quiet. Intelligent. Passionate and sure about a life's purpose. Both
bent on only one thing: retrieving Yui. The only other. The only one
worth the struggle. The sacrifice. The pain and pleasure. Surviving
the moments where he could swear Rei had the same eyes.
Those moments hurt the most.
More than Shinji's downcast glare. More than the way Ritsuko looked at
him when he told her to leave. More than when Misato could tell his
orders would bring them all pain. More than watching fine people cower
before him. More than the way Kozo could make the room colder without a
word when he didn't approve...yet said nothing to fight it.
There were times he almost imagined Rei as Yui. Yui was always angry
with him...For all the things he did that didn't hurt as much, but he
knew would hurt her if she knew about them.
It didn't matter.
None of it mattered. He only had to be with her again and everything
would be right again.
He took the necessary three extra steps to put him in front of Rei as she
slowed down. Before him was Heaven's Door; appropriately named for it's
ultimate purpose. He raised his key card and opened it with a private
code that would make sure the mainframe could not trace the entrance.
Rei followed him inside, looking forward as she had taught herself to do
so many times in the past. Don't look at Ikari. Don't look at the thing
on the cross. No matter how much it pulls...
The dcor of the massive cavern hadn't changed much since last time she
had seen it. Salt-dunes rose up and stained the primer-painted walls in
the shadows. Others climbed up from the LCL ocean ahead. A small
gunboat was docked off to the side; providing defence against any human
interaction not directly ordered by the Command Centre. It was now
abandoned as the crew had been called to the battle above. They were
probably all dead now anyway.
At least they died there, and not staring at the massive, comedic figure
on the cross. Crucified and masked like the most shamed holy body in
existence.
"Rei." It whispered to her as she dared to look up. The seven eyes on
it's iron mask seemed to focus on her despite their fixed nature. She
looked over to Gendo, as if expecting him to hear the voice as well.
No, of course he didn't.
"Come home, Rei." It said, soothingly, without a voice, yet one that
seemed familiar somehow. It was more like a familiar state of mind than
a thought or a voice. Part of her mind and soul.
She strained herself to focus on her plan instead. Gendo turned just as
she looked back away. "Rei." He said, offering the path forward.
Rei continued forward slowly. He followed. "It is almost time, Rei."
"Hai." She whispered. "Today is what we've waited for."
He smiled and nodded, relishing his last walk alone, without Yui.
She had meant to say something about how these damn weapons were too
bulky and heavy, but Asuka simply screamed another battle-cry as her
stolen blade deflected another of the Eva Series' arms off. With the
extra momentum, she ploughed her fist through it's leg, finding a bone,
and crushing it under the force of her landing.
No words, only screaming. Asuka found herself deep in the heady feeling
of battle. Her blood was on fire! Her heart raced! Her mind was over-
clocked and every sense was alive. Each impact threw her world around in
grand, wide circles as Unit-02 was tossed around by either her own
actions, or the blows of her opponents.
Clumsy bastards, they were. Each of them seemed to have just enough
combat sense to get in the way at the right time. It was annoying, but
at least they lined up just in time for her to dispatch. "Three more!
One minute!" she yelled, turning around to see one of the white devils
running to pick up it's sword once again.
The last two were across the Geofront, so she lined up, spun, and threw
the massive chunk of metal in her hands right for it. The blade impacted
with deadly precision, and ripped the torso clean off the legs of the
bastard.
"Asuka! Less than one minute! Hurry!" Misato called through the
intercom.
"YYEEEEAAAH!" Unit-02 ran right for the closest of the remaining two.
With a graceless but powerful body-check, it threw the beast into a
nearby armament building. She gripped it's pug-face with her hand and
planted it through the layers of steel and concrete up to her shoulder
into the building. Blood spat out like a fine mist. "I'll definitely
win!" she growled as she turned to look at the final Eva. "Momma is with
me!"
Deep below the earth, Shinji closed his eyes. "Momma..."
Asuka twisted Unit-02 around, taking the Eva Series with her. It
exploded out from the building, still gushing blood from half it's body.
With a mighty throw, she flung it into the final Eva, knocking it's
weapon away and throwing them both off balance as it tried to catch it's
fallen brethren.
"THIS IS THE FINAL BLOW!" Unit-02 ran with thundering footsteps, bee-
lining towards the two opponents.
The one still standing tried to throw a punch at the last second, but
Unit-02 blocked, took one final step into them...and plunged it's red
fist right through both. The fist grabbed hold of the S2 Engine of the
final one, and began to squeeze. "DIE! DAMN YOU DIE!" Asuka roared as
the twenty second mark passed on her power read-out.
Lingering on, the Eva Series screamed it's bird-like expression of pain
as it's power-source was threatening to wrench free of it's spine. The
one who was impaled on Unit-02's arm simply choked on it's own bloated
grey tongue as it was gutted by the flexing armour.
"Ich bring' euch alle um!!!" She gritted her teeth, and willed Unit-02,
her mother, and herself to destroy her opponents. For some reason,
though, the bloody thing wouldn't crush.
As if to prove the fact, a small beep sounded behind her. Incoming
weapon...
She lingered only as long as she knew she could. Then, Unit-02 swept
around, ripping it's arm free of the two white Evas, and produced an A.T.
Field in front of the...
Thrown sword??
Asuka frowned past the flickering lights, and was about to drop the Field
to finish off the last two Eva Series Units...when the sword began to
change.
It twisted, as if made out of cotton, then formed two long spines at it's
front. The shape was instantly recognizable.
"The Spear of Longinus??" she blinked...then gasped as it began to slide
through the A.T. Field.
Her hands came up on reflex, but the last thing she saw was shadowy blur,
and everything turned black.
The sound of metal piercing armour was sickening. Everyone who heard it
closed their eyes, not even wanting to imagine the sight.
She opened her eyes as she heard the sounds outside. Something was
walking towards her. Her nerves were screaming. Her body was exhausted
and in pain. Asuka refused to look at the clock. She knew it read zero.
Was Unit-02 damaged? She couldn't tell. Her hackles raised on her back
as she heard the sound of one of the Eva Series still groaning. They
were alive! Still?
"Dammit!" She began to panic. Her hands found the control handles and
she tried to re-activate Unit-02. "Not now! Momma! Wake up! Momma!
MOMMA!!" The sound of clicking echoed off the plug's walls as she began
to sob. "Not now! NOT NOW! I still have to kill them! I'll kill them,
I swear! I can win! I WILL WIN! Don't let me down, Momma! Not when
we're so close!
Suddenly, she felt her world jerk forward. The walls disappeared and
showed the outside world once more as a long series of hums and beeps
announced the reactivation of Unit-02. Asuka looked down at the controls
in her hands, her mouth open in surprise.
As she looked up, the surprise only grew as she was greeted by the face
of a young boy.
"Dammit, Asuka! Didn't they tell you to wait for help?" Toji grimaced in
the little communications window. He looked like he was in pain, but
there was a smile on his face once he saw she was looking back at him.
"Toji??" Asuka blinked, looking past the window. Unit-03 was hunched
over her, with a long chunk of metal in it's arm. However, it's other
arm was around her back, holding the spare power-cable he had brought.
"What...how did you get here??"
Both Units stood up. Asuka checked her power, sighed in relief as she
saw her batteries already charging back up, and then looked around. Two
of the Eva Series were getting back up.
"Long story." Toji explained as he huffed and slowly pulled the Spear out
from his shoulder. "ARRGH! GOD DAMMIT!" he cringed, then took a couple
deep breathes. "Asuka, these things are dangerous. They slice right
through A.T. Fields. You take this one and finish off these bastards
before they all come back to life."
Unit-03 handed it's red comrade the Spear, then reached behind it's back
to pull out a regular Progressive-Blade Spear. "Toji..." She blinked,
watching the black Eva continue to gush blood from it's wound. Whatever
damage the Spear caused, the Evangelion didn't seem able to shut off the
systems around the gash.
"Dammit! Don't worry about me! You've got your chance, Red-Devil!" Toji
yelled. "Shinji is still down there, and we have to give him enough time
to save the day!" he coughed. The LCL around his head turned slightly
red before it was filtered away.
"Eeeeeaaaaarrrrrrr..." One of the Eva Series began to stir behind them.
She watched in horror as it raised it's half-destroyed form rise up from
the ground, spreading it's wings as it did. They slid out like two
gigantic knives and it stood, hunched over like a gargoyle, about to
attack it's prey.
More of them began to rise. The one who had been cut in half was now
crawling over to it's legs. Targeted by most of her spike-launching, the
one next to it began to grin an exceptionally disgusting smile, it's jaw
mangled by the series of long iron projectiles.
"This is like a bad horror movie..." she whispered to herself, but then
closed her eyes. The adrenaline took over once more, and she found
herself gripping the Lance tightly. "Very well..."
Unit-02 walked over to the Eva, who was testing it's wings, trying to get
it's shattered arm back together. The red Eva readied the spear, and
then charged. "I'LL KILL YOU AGAIN IF I HAVE TO!"
This time, it was different. It reached off to it's side, bringing forth
one of the discarded sword/shields that had been dropped during the
battle. It flew to it's grasp as if pulled by magnet. As it did, the
sword shifted and formed another Spear. Asuka's strike would have hit if
it wasn't for a copy of the spear catching her own and blocking it.
The two massive beasts growled at each other as they were deadlocked.
Drool began to excrete from the white and grey maw of Asuka's foe.
"Misato! What's going on!!" she demanded.
Toji cringed as he saw the others begin to regroup. "Asuka...we better
come up with a good plan quickly! They're all reactivating!"
He could barely focus on piloting, in fact, his mind was screaming for
him to just eject the plug and rest for a while. That was suicide, and
he knew it...but it was seeming like a wonderful idea. His entire arm
was numb, and he could barely move it without either it feeling like
rubber, or pain shooting throughout his nerves.
Asuka finally managed to step on the end of her opponent's weapon,
driving it to the ground. It lunged forward in hopes of catching her
flat-footed, but she was ready, bringing up her own Spear. The
excitement of battle returned as she watched the Eva impale itself on her
weapon. "That's more like it!" she yelled, tossing it off to the side.
The Eva Series rolled off her spear...blood gushing from it's chest.
But...then...it began to reach for it's weapon again.
"What the HELL IS GOING ON!?!" she yelled as it stood back up to face
her. This time it was joined by one of it's friends.
"Asuka! We don't know why they won't stay down! Please! Keep
fighting!" Misato replied once there was a moment to. In truth, Asuka
mused, she sounded more out of breath than she was.
"I KNOW THAT!" Asuka growled. "I'm not giving up!" she took a deep
breath. "I just wish I knew how to kill them!"
The channel crackled with static, then was replaced by a new voice.
"Aim for the core! Everything else is just meat!" came a new voice.
Both Toji and Asuka looked up from their screens in surprise to see a
large object fall into the Geofront from the destroyed outer shell.
It landed with a glorious spray of forest and soil. Two glowing eyes
announced it's presence past the shower of dirt.
A silver-coloured arm lashed out and grabbed the spear from the reach of
one of the Eva Series. It hissed it's displeasure, but was quickly
silenced as Unit-04 raised the weapon over it's head, then brought it
down into the stomach of the other Evangelion.
Everyone shielded their eyes from the resulting explosion. It threw back
most of the other Eva Series, and toppled Unit-02 and 03 to their asses.
As they shook their heads clear from the shock, both Toji and Asuka found
the helping hand of Sensei Miyazaki Kaoru to assist them to their feet.
"Sensei!?!" they both gasped.
The communications window opened up in both their cockpits, and showed a
gasping Sensei in the entry plug...and a very shaken Kaji holding on for
dear life behind the seat.
"We'll talk later." He said hoarsely, recovering from the explosion
nearly knocking him out.
Kaji looked at him as the comm. went off and Kaoru huffed, trying to
shake off the pain. "What? No snappy dialogue? What kind of surprise
entrance was that?!?" he mocked.
Kaoru glared at him. "YOU'RE the James-Bond wannabe. Now shut-up unless
you want to drive."
Kaji just laughed nonchalantly. "Oh, no....you're doing fine...I guess."
"Grr."
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" Asuka yelled as the sound of her throwing another
one to the ground filled the halls.
"Toji!" This time it was Kaoru's voice. "Watch your back!" Metal on
metal.
Toji seemed in pain. "I swear! I'm going to cut off my own damn ARM!
YEAAAAHHRRRG!" Luckily, this time, his cry was that for spirit, and the
sound of a wing being severed and another one of the Eva Series falling
came right after.
Shinji cringed as he heard the battle. His body was shaking, desperate
to do something.
"Momma. Is this what I'm reduced to? Nothing? Nothing useful?" he
looked up at the purple and green behemoth under the red goo. "Is Eva
all I really am?"
"Misato-san! Where the HELL is Shinji!?!" Asuka demanded, then coughed
as something hit her from behind. Static filled the channel for a
moment, then her roaring in retaliation.
Kaoru's voice came loud and clear. "Mister Ikari! You're the star of
the show! If you don't show up, this is all going to get ugly very
quickly!"
Shaking, Shinji stood. Unable to think of what else to do, he wound up
and kicked the railing. It hurt impossibly more than it should have. "I
CAN'T!" he screamed.
"I CAN'T DO ANYTHING! Why can't anyone understand that!" he yelled out,
glaring at the walls as they echoed his anger. "All I do is hurt people!
All I do is fail! All I do is become a puppet for others!!"
The sounds of battle continued around him as he fell to his knees.
"FATHER! Father! Mother! You both don't know me! I want you to know!
I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! I want to help! I want to protect! I want
to love you both but I CAN'T WHY WON'T YOU LET ME!!!?? All you let me
do is KILL! All you let me do is watch! Watch people die! Every time I
think I have control...that I have a purpose...it's nothing more than a
JOKE!" he cried out. Tears were on his face, though only anger was in
his voice. "After all this...after all I've destroyed...after all I've
saved...I can't do ANYTHING because of a puddle of SHIT!?!" he screamed.
"WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"
"And the ONE time I think this might be real...I find out it's all just a
second time to fail! That I'm destined to fail! That you're all
destined to DIE! To leave me! The one time I can finally PROVE myself
to everyone...and I CAN'T EVEN OPEN THE DOOR!" he shook his head, then
looked up towards the battle. "SENSEI! How am I supposed to pass when I
can't even get to the exam!?! You didn't tell me that part!"
More metal on metal...more thundering explosions. The sound of blood
spraying, and the laughing hisses from the Evangelion Mass-Production
Series as they continued to strive on.
"Damn you all!" Shinji gasped, out of breath and almost on the floor,
now. "I hate this. I hate all of this. Everyone's waiting for
me...except myself. I HATE MYSELF!"
The echo of the last statement seemed impossibly clear in his mind.
"Kaoru-Sensei...Kaoru-kun...Asuka-chan..." he felt the cold metal of the
floor on his face as he curled up on it.
"I failed."
That's when Asuka got hit in the head.
Shinji's eyes went wide as he relived the sight of a torn-apart Unit-02,
dead and flesh mushroomed out of cut armour. It's eyes hanging out,
empty and rotting. Jaw was extended in a painful smile, like a skeleton
laughing at it's own demise.
And her scream...this time...it was real.
It pierced his heart and soul like a raw, cold knife. The sounds of the
others screaming out in horror, rushing over to help. Asuka's continuing
struggle against the pain. She yelled out as the spear was freed from
her Eva's head, but was still panting, just barely holding onto
consciousness.
It didn't matter.
None of it mattered.
He didn't know how it would happen...or why...or how he would help with
so many of those vicious bastards.
It didn't matter.
Shinji stood, held onto the railing, and screamed out the order.
"MOVE!"
Rei looked up as the rumbling began. "Ikari-kun..."
Gendo looked to the invisible sky somewhere thousands of feet above.
"Unit-01 is moving. It has begun."
The remaining JSDF forces, humbled and retreating all stopped when they
heard the scream. Everyone in Terminal Dogma cringed at the light that
was flooding in through their monitors. Though they were deep beneath
the explosion and Geofront surface, the sheer power was felt even there.
A huge cross of light exploded from the top of NERV HQ. With it, the
echoing anger of Unit-01 screamed and filled the air with the sound of
hell opening up to consume them all.
Unit-02, while damaged, and it's pilot in pain, was still with awe as
Asuka watched, ignoring the specks of blood in her vision from her
forehead bleeding. Unit-03 and 04 simply tried to shield her from the
blast...but their pilots all gazed with wide-eyes at the sight.
It was like a demon and angel combined. Furious in it's anger and
roaring with strength...yet glorious and terrible in the sheer power of
it's being. Strange, wing like shapes began to grow from the cross as it
faded and returned to Unit-01's emerging form as the scream turned into
something more animal than mechanical. The top of NERV HQ now only a
shattered egg from the Evangelion's rebirth.
Asuka raised her arm...terrified and overwhelmed with joy at the same
instant. "Shinji-kun..."
Shinji's eyes scanned the field before him. Close to him were his
friends. Asuka...Asuka lay on the ground, blood seeping from her Eva's
head. A glancing blow...Asuka's piloting skill had saved her eye and
brain...but the Spears were powerful enough that every hit was serious.
It didn't anger him any more than he was already. A small bit of relief
filled his heart as he saw it was not as bad as he had imagined it.
But it had not been just his imagination.
Those responsible for the past...and the ones who would try to recreate
it...were scattered among the field. Horrible white Evas, bloodied and
broken, yet all smiling the same god-forsaken smile. They seemed to turn
their heads towards him at the same time...eager for more pain.
The low, angry electrical hum filled his ears as Shinji willed Unit-01 to
land on the ground. Long, glowing orange whisks of energy formed his
wings where the Eva Series had memory plastics and metal. As it landed,
the air was filled with cloud and debris from the rebirth. It spun
around Unit-01 like a hurricane bending to it's will.
Shinji flexed his hand. Without a word, Unit-01 leapt at the closest Eva
Series Unit. It hadn't the time to prepare it's weapon, when Unit-01
landed with it's hands gripping it's S2 Core and crushing it. The
momentum of the jump left the wings of Unit-01 flying, curling around
it's prey like a vampire's cloak as it feasted.
The explosion that followed seemed unspectacular compared to the
Evangelion standing in the middle, completely unscathed. It bellowed out
a roar that would put the Devil himself to shame.
Then...it turned it's livid eyes to the next one.
"Two down, seven more to go." Shinji's voice came through the comm..
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's end this now."
The twelve black monoliths sat together in a circle, continuing their
ritual.
"Eva has returned to us." SEELE 04 said. "That which Ikari denied from
us will be accomplished with our own creation."
"Unit-04 is a surprise, but not a impediment. All things are in place.
Additional pieces to the machine only strengthen the act of our
ascension!" SEELE 12 said.
"Two of the Nine have already been destroyed..." SEELE 04 worried out
loud.
"We can proceed with even one left. The Nine are only a catalyst for our
glorious plan!" 12 stated again.
SEELE 01's voice seemed more amused than worried. "No treachery from
Ikari will stop us now. No matter how they fight it, we are on our path.
Let us begin the final stages of the ritual."
As one, they spoke aloud:
"Eva has found a soul in the end. We pray for our spirits to re-centre!
What was once One will be so again, once the seal is broken."
Keel's Monolith faded away. There was no use for it any more.
Alone, he added with a shaking, joyful voice. "At last our souls will be
at ease."
"Sensei! Behind you!" Shinji's voice yelled over the comm.. Kaoru
caught the blade intended for Unit-04's head with just a second to spare.
The metal spear seemed to burn his hands as he held onto the butterfly
handles, but eventually, the feeling passed as he threw it away.
Kaji watched the whole thing, stunned, and trying not to get knocked
unconscious as the Eva was rocked back and forth. "This is insane!" he
breathed out. "What are they?"
Kaoru was focused just on staying alive, and making sure his students
would do the same. The LCL was beginning to smell of his perspiration
and effort, but he never lost sync. "They're tools...just like how this
Eva is. Tools made by very bad men."
Asuka's red Eva charged past him, picking up one of the spears that were
being used whenever they could. The Eva Series kept retrieving them the
moment they were free from anyone's hands. They were brutal weapons.
Unit-02 had massacred the whole lot of them with it's Prog Knife and
other equipment before...but the spears left terrible wounds where before
had just been cuts and crushed flesh. LCL dripped out of most of the Eva
Series, who were using their superior numbers to make it hard for precise
attacks to their cores in the confusion.
Toji had been hit again, this time a slash across the front. The pain
was too much for him to continue being active in the fighting, but he had
found his machine gun to be quite effective against the Eva Series when
they tried to take flight.
"Shinji! You have to calm down!" Kaoru ordered as he watched the
fighting progress. "You're going past the limits of Unit-01's bindings!"
Shinji ignored him, and instead, responded by tearing up the earth as he
slid to a stop with the head of one of the Series Units in his Eva's
grasp. Asuka had been waiting for it, and used a salvaged spear to
finish it off. Unit-01's wings seemed to wrap around Unit-02
protectively as the forth explosion made the odds more favourable.
Kaji leaned forward in the moment of pause as the monsters all regrouped
to their separate teams. "What the hell are you doing? Shinji's our
only hope right now! He's fighting like a demon!"
Kaoru closed his eyes. "Unit-01 is the key to the whole thing. If
something goes wrong, we're going to be in the middle of the Third Impact
and it all happens over again."
The spy sighed and shook his head. "The old men must be pleased."
"I'm sure they are. AAAAAHHHH!" he yelled, causing Unit-04 to rush
forward, delivering a rather impressive punch into the head of the
nearest white Evangelion.
Kaji just sighed and cringed as he imagined the feeling of all the gore
on his skin. "Well, I have to admit...you're not a boring person."
"Shut up and hold on!" Kaoru demanded, then caused Unit-04 to jump a few
hundred feet into the air, missing the attacks of two of the Series and
wrestling one of them who was taking flight back to the ground in a
shower of soil once more.
Toji smiled on the comm.. "Hey! Sensei! How come we didn't learn that
move in class?"
"Not enough funding." Kaoru smiled, taking a moment to re-adjust his
glasses. Unit-04 copied the movement in response.
"Quit goofing around, you two!" Misato demanded as she watched, helpless
from the command centre. "Toji, circle around to the west wall. We have
another catapult working. I'm sending you a spare cable and some
weapons."
"Roger!" Toji grunted as he forced his hurting Eva to get up and move
while he had a chance to.
The inside of the Geofront now looked like an inverted golf-ball with
over a dozen craters of various sizes. Everything was charred and
blackened. Only the ruined grey and silver metal pyramid showed the
area's previous state. The Evangelions looked as if they were running
and fighting in black snow, causing huge rooster-tails to spray up as
they slid into each other or down into the holes. Only a handful of the
most sturdy structures and JSDF forces remained.
Misato took great pleasure in seeing they were hiding behind their tanks,
peering out with their binoculars, and helpless to change anything.
"Makoto! Any chance on getting a bank of anti-ground missiles active?"
she grinned.
"Sorry, Misato, they're all off line." He replied with a chuckle.
Shigeru turned to the Sub Commander. "It looks like we can withstand the
power systems indefinitely. We've won so long as the kids don't get
cocky."
The grey-haired man watched the battle with a grim face. "No. They're
just wearing us down. The Eva Series isn't worried about winning the
battle."
Misato turned to him and nodded. She had suspected it when Asuka
defeated them all the first round so easily. Her skill was unmatched,
but it had been much too easy to beat down.
They had known she only had a few minutes of power. The Eva Series let
her waste her battery, knowing that no matter how much damage she did,
they would finish the fight.
"Now they'll just wait for him to slip up." Misato whispered, turning
back to the screen. "Shinji-kun." She announced. "They'll be waiting
for you to mess up. You're doing fine...just please...be careful."
Shinji didn't answer, instead, he turned briefly to the screen and
nodded. His face was blank except for the obvious strain of the battle.
The display went blank as the pilot focused on piloting.
Misato sighed and smiled to herself. "He's learning. I'm glad."
Standing before Lilith was never an easy thing for him to do anymore.
The image of the massive thing was forever burned into his mind...but it
was not being disturbed or a lack thereof that made it hard to stand
here.
His hand.
On his hand was another key to his plan. Rei watched with idle eyes as
he removed the glove that hid Adam from the world. Adam would never join
with Lilith without transportation. "It is time, Rei." He said quietly.
"Open up your mind and soul. Release the A.T. Field that traps you in
this body."
Rei closed her eyes as Gendo reached for her chest. The strange feeling
of the embryo like object touched her skin...impossibly cold. She
cringed as it tried to melt inside her. Indeed, it began to. The sound
of wet flesh parting was foremost in her mind.
A new voice, this time.
"Let me in..."
It was rushed. Weak. As if it knew it's only chance was through this
vessel. Rei saw a strange, glowing reverse-shadow in her mind. The
fading outline of something that once held the power of the heavens
inside itself.
"No." Rei replied.
"It must be so." The voice continued. "This is your purpose. You are
part of the Mother. I must return to her!"
"No." Rei replied to the voice. The shadow seemed to fade a bit more.
"I have changed my purpose."
Gendo pressed into Rei a bit further. His hand was now almost completely
enveloped by her chest. Rei stayed still, allowing the act...but he felt
a strange cold as Adam was almost completely inside her.
He stopped.
Rei's eyes opened in surprise. She saw the commander looking at
her...questioning. Wondering what was going on...
Her eyes betrayed her plan. They showed anger towards the man for the
first time he had ever seen. As if Yui was peering out of them, glaring
through his heart and soul.
She used the moment of confusion to reach up to his shoulder, intent on
finishing the act. "I am not your doll." She whispered.
His eyes went wide, and at the last second, he ripped his hand free of
Rei's body. Both of them cried out in pain from the sudden action. Rei
fell to her knees, holding her chest. Gendo stumbled back a few steps
before falling onto his back. "Rei! What are you doing?"
She looked up with the same eyes. Her anger was not going away. "I'm
taking away your control." Rei said simply. "You no longer have a vessel
to command this foolish plan." She stood, regaining her strength. "I
will not be your puppet, nor the strings you use."
His eyes flashed their understanding behind his glasses. His face still
showed surprise, yet he was now calm. "Rei...you planned on this?"
"For a very long time." Rei replied. She took a threatening step
forward, as if she could yank Adam out of Gendo's body by sheer will. It
would be impossible now...but at least he would not be able to go through
with his plans. "If I must fight you, I will."
Gendo took a moment to recompose himself, then stood back up to his full
height. "Why are you doing this, Rei." He said, not really expecting an
answer. "You were born for this reason. We both wanted this. To
return." He raised his bare hand...still pulsing with the malformed
fetus...and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "What are you doing this
for? Who are you doing this for?" he smirked. "Shinji?"
"No." Rei said, looking right at the man. Her eyes seemed razor sharp.
"I'm doing it for me."
Gendo frowned, then reached into his pocket. "Very well. I have no use
for spoiled children." The sights of his gun lined up on her forehead.
Rei frowned back. "Nor do I."
She raised her hand over her head. It was the exact same arc that Gendo
flew when the A.T. Field lifted him off the ground and threw him into the
air.
Unit-01 was a whirlwind.
It fought with fearsome determination that few had seen before. Shinji
had cut off all contact with the group, and nobody complained, thinking
it was because he needed to focus. Nothing could have been farther from
the truth.
His mind was calm. Shinji watched the battle as if in a dream, floating
besides his body as it strained and yelled and gripped the controls. He
watched himself get tossed around like a rag doll at times...then
retaliate with a soaring jump either over or through an enemy.
Somewhere, very close, was his Mother. He felt that...if he would just
turn around and look, she would be there. A hand on his shoulder,
watching the destruction as it happened.
"Mother...is this what I am?" he whispered to himself as one of the Eva
Series lost it's other arm to Unit-01's strength. Blood bathed the walls
of the entry plug for what seemed like minutes at a time. The battle was
much faster than that, but it seemed so slow in this place. In his mind.
"Am I like Eva? Useless, until I'm needed? Until my friends need me?
Until Asuka needs me? And then...only needed to kill?" he smiled weakly.
"Are you like this? If so...what a mother and son pair we must be."
Unit-01 took the neck of the enemy in it's hands and leapt into the
crater, using the white Eva as a sled down to the bottom.
"I don't want to live like this." He whispered. "This isn't how anyone
should live. I don't want to be dead...then killing...with nothing in
the middle. I want to have a real life."
Unit-01 took out it's Prog Knife for the first time that battle. He
hadn't even really needed it, but it felt satisfying to be able to gut
the monster beneath him.
"I was ready to die...then Asuka needed my help. So I am here." He shook
his head. "I should be happy she's okay. I want to save her. But..."
The knife pried off the last bit of armour on the Eva's stomach, then
sunk inside the red, bloody orb with a loud crack!
"But...I know it's because I'm too weak to do anything else. Because I
would rather live these few minutes in pain and violence than have to
learn how to live like I want to." He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm
pathetic."
The white Eva roared out as the knife worked it's way in deeper.
"I don't want to be...but every time I think I can change, Eva pulls me
back. Or something pulls me back." He whispered. "It is all bad comedy.
Every time I think I can just go home and live...that happiness seems
harder to return to when it all falls apart."
The bright white explosion filled the cockpit, and he watched his body
shield his eyes, then relax for a moment, gasping from the effort.
"I don't know what to do." He said out loud. His body said it too. "I
don't know how to pass this test. I just don't know the answer."
The smoke began to clear, but it wasn't in time for him to see another of
the white devils descending upon him like a bird, using it's wings to
gain enough momentum to topple him over.
"SHINJI!" Asuka yelled as she watched two more of the bird-things leap
into the crater after him. Unit-04 and 02 rushed forward as 03 stopped
the others from interfering with the rescue effort.
Toji shook his head, watching them run. "This isn't good...I knew I
should have stayed in bed today." He sighed, then forced Unit-03 to
stand.
Misato saw this. "Toji! What are you doing?"
"If I don't help, we're all screwed. What's a bit of pain right now,
anyway? Just make sure you save us some booze for when we get home,
okay, Major?" he smiled, then steeled himself for the re-use of his leg.
"I'm turning down my sync buffer by ten percent so I don't black out.
Any objections?"
Misato turned away from the screen, then nodded. "We'll keep an eye on
it. You should still have enough control."
He opened up a small cover on the controls in front of him, exposing a
manual slide-control. With a deep breath, he slid the indicator down
about an inch. The world began to flicker a bit around him, and Unit-03
began to slump a bit. "Come on..." he cringed, focusing himself. Sure
enough, the world became focused around him once more, and the pain in
his shoulder and leg seemed simply real...instead of amplified. "Much
better." He sighed, then smiled, grabbing his own Prog Knife. It was a
copy of Asuka's. He extended the blade to about fore-arm length and
found his first target.
Unit-03 leapt up in the air just in time to let one of the Eva Series fly
under it. Then, it landed on the Eva's back. Toji grinned as the
surprised bastard beneath him turned to look behind itself...and lost
it's head to a quick slash.
The tumble and landing wasn't nearly as graceful as he had hoped, but at
least he didn't black out.
The three got to the crater's edge in time to see Unit-01 rip the core
out of one of it's attackers. LCL and blood gushed from a lucky wound on
it's side, but it didn't seem to slow Shinji down. The explosion from
the Eva Series' final death throws rocked them all off their feet.
A loud, wolf-like howl sounded out as the smoke cleared. One of the two
remaining Units was on Shinji's back, clawing and biting in a frantic
attempt to do physical damage to him. The other was a bit further up on
the edge of the sunken earth, and prepared it's Spear for an easy kill.
Asuka gasped as she saw what was about to happen. Shinji was trapped
between the two, and was too busy worrying about the one on his back to
realize it was just a diversion. "SHINJI! HOLD ON!" she leaned forward
on her controls.
At the last second before she jumped, Unit-04 grabbed her power-cable and
hauled her off her feet. She landed painfully on her back, gasping for
air as she found herself winded.
"Sorry, Miss Langley!" came Kaoru's face in the display as the silver Eva
jumped in. "Teachers are responsible for student's safety! I've got
this one."
She yelled out in anger, but he cut off the channel before she could say
anything else. "Sensei-baka..." Asuka coughed.
Unit-04 ran into the crater at top speed. Kaji began to yell. "Oh SHIT!
OH SHIT!"
"Get ready!" Kaoru yelled back.
"For what???!!!" Kaji yelled.
Kaoru braced himself and flicked the cover of a switch open on the
butterfly handles. "This is going to hurt."
"Fuck." Kaji said, holding onto the back of the seat for dear life.
Unit-04 was too far away from the Eva Series with the Spear, so it dove
right for Shinji. It's knees found the back of it's target, causing
Unit-01 to fall flat on it's face, and throwing Unit-04 and the Eva
Series Unit forward, right into the path of the spear thrown by the
other.
Kaoru-Sensei smiled as he watched the grey spear streak towards them.
The white monster in front wouldn't offer enough of a shield to protect
their own Eva, though, and it was heading right for their chests.
Kaji prepared himself for intense trauma.
BEEEP!
All of a sudden, the walls turned gunmetal grey, the sounds of power
stopped, and the feeling of their heads being pushed into their feet was
the foremost curiosity on Kaji's mind.
Somewhere during the explosion of the white Evangelion (or maybe Unit-04
as well) Kaji realized the Entry Plug had been ejected. "You REALLY are
insane...you know that right?" he gasped as they were thrown thousands of
feet in the air by rocket motors and the shockwave.
"We could have stayed and felt what it's like to have our hearts cut out
if you would have preferred." Kaoru turned to chuckle as the sound of a
parachute opening up overhead announced their decent with a sudden jolt.
"If it wasn't for your damn logic, I'd get along with teachers just
fine." Kaji grumbled.
"If it wasn't for logic, we'd be out of a job." He raised his eyebrow.
"Except for Gym-Teachers. They're just spooky."
The plug impacted into the earth quite hard, but it was most certainly
better than feeling a lance through the heart.
A hurricane of dirt and bits of white and red finally subdued. Asuka was
instantly relieved to see Unit-01 had not been the source of the
explosion. Unit-04 lay impaled on the weapon it had saved Shinji from,
but her heart warmed to see that the plug had ejected in time. Kaoru-
Sensei and Kaji-sama would be okay!
But something was wrong.
Unit-01's back was bare. The Entry Plug assembly was all that was left
of the shoulder bindings.
It lifted itself up...but then began to shake violently. Like coiled
springs being released, long strips of armour began to peel off Unit-01's
back and arms. The wicked energy wings began to grow and expand.
"Asuka! Get back!" Toji yelled as Unit-01 began to rise up on it's own
wings.
Asuka just watched as the ribbons of energy whipped out and formed
another long tail-like fin to compliment the wings on it's back. "Oh my
god...Shinji..." she whispered. "Are you still in control of it?"
The remaining Eva Series, battered, headless, chopped into pieces, yet
still four strong, all began to grin once more.
Toji noticed it first...something on his long range scanners. Unti-03
had been equipped with more scanning and fire-control systems than the
previous models...and one of those features gave him readings as far out
as from lunar orbit.
He turned towards the sky as the beeping began. "Misato! Misato-san!
Come in! I'm getting some kind of reading from orbit!"
There was still a great deal of interference from the last Eva's
explosion, but he was almost sure he made out the phrase "Original
Spear?"
His eyes went wide. "Oh shit..."
The final remnants of Unit-01's armour broke free as the muscles and
flesh of the Eva expanded to their full, horrific glory. It's teeth were
barred through it's mask and it's eyes seemed wild and vicious. Asuka
watched as the purple and green monster rose above her head. "Shinji..."
Inside, Shinji was fighting just to stay conscious. He held is head in
his hands, yelling as the voices and thoughts flooded his brain.
Completely unfiltered, Unit-01 tried to embrace it's pilot. "NO! NO!
STOP! STOP IT NOW!" he yelled.
But it was too late.
A bright speck on the horizon was now visible as Toji's observation came
into range. They all watched, helpless as the original Spear of Longinus
covered a hundred miles in the blink of an eye, and slid into place right
before Unit-01's neck. The pin-point tip stopped only a foot away from
ripping out the beast's throat.
Throughout the Geofront, there was a sudden hum. A low, powerful sound
that seemed to be coming from everywhere, and yet, focused on the Spear
and the Evangelion it held captive.
Toji and Asuka watched, helpless, as the remaining four white Evangelions
took to the sky to perform their ultimate purpose. Kaji and Kaoru
watched from the edge of the shell.
"Well..." Kaji sighed, slumping over the door of the Entry Plug. "That
didn't last long. I was kind of hoping I'd live to at least fifty. You
know...that way I could have been the veteran spy. The one the girls
love. Sean Connery style."
Kaoru shook his head and pushed Kaji back into the plug.
"Hey! What are you dong?! If I'm going to die, I want to watch the
show!" Kaji protested.
"Trust me, you'll get quite a show. At least this way, you have a
chance." Kaoru said quickly. "Now, listen, the Third Impact is going to
happen unless something drastic happens or Shinji learns all the secrets
to life that nobody knows within the next minute. I'm hoping for either,
but I know that I might be able to do something about the first option."
Kaji looked at the Sensei and saw no sign he wasn't completely serious.
He was determined and looked like he was ready to do anything to save
them.
"You love your parents that much, do you?" Kaji smiled.
The teacher blinked, then smiled. "Actually...they're my grandparents."
Kaji shook his head. "Well, good thing I didn't bet money on that one."
He laughed.
Kaoru looked away for a moment, but then nodded. "I don't matter. If we
can stop this from happening, I won't even be here. I'll have a better
life." He smiled and took off his glasses.
Kaji mused he could see both Shinji and Asuka in them. Innocent and
reflective, yet passionate and powerful. The best from both of them.
"And, if not, then at least I never gave up." He swallowed hard. "I
promised my grandfather I'd never run away. I now know why it meant so
much to him."
Kaji found himself wishing he hadn't yelled at the man so much.
"Uhm...well...I..." he smiled and then leaned up to grab the hatch. "I'm
sorry I tried to kill you."
Kaoru laughed out, relieved. "Thanks. I'm sorry I got you deeper into
all this than you needed to be." He blinked. "Oh, and can you do me one
last favour?"
"Of course!"
"Take care of Pen-Pen for me." Kaoru smiled. "Both of them. I owe them
both a lot."
He shook his head, confused, but just laughed. "I will." Kaji said,
then let out a long sigh. As he sealed the hatch, he bowed his head.
"Good luck."
"You too." Kaoru said, helping him secure the door.
Ritsuko looked away, unable to watch anymore. "It's happening again."
Maya ignored her previous resolution to keep a bit of space between them
and leaned over the laptop. What she saw was a pair of digital readouts
flying through data. One was recorded, the other was live.
"Sempai...?"
"They're almost exactly the same." She whispered, looking up at the
heavens. "The bastard got his wish. He's probably down there right now
with Rei..."
Maya noticed the date and her eyes went wide. "The conditions are
scaling towards the Second Impact!" she gasped. "Wait, the S2 Engines
are going backwards cycle!"
Ritsuko looked down at the laptop with a small grin. "Well, I suppose
now we'll see if an anti-A.T. Field is possible. I always thought it
was. Might be interesting."
"Interesting?" Maya gasped. "Sempai! This is the Third Impact!"
The sounds from the bridge echoed their thoughts as Misato and the bridge
officers desperately searched for a way to prevent what was happening.
"Unit-01 has already climbed out of the Geofront." Ritsuko said quietly.
"We can't do anything now except hope Shinji can stop it. His sync-graph
is completely haywire...but I suppose it's possible."
Maya took the laptop away from the Doctor and started typing furiously.
Finally, though, when she saw that Ritsuko had been telling the truth,
she slumped over the tiny screen. "We're going to die..." she whispered.
"The Geofront can withstand the shockwave, Maya." Ritsuko said. "We'll
survive. But as for what Lilith or Adam or, god forbid, Rei and Gendo
have planned...we may not have any say in preventing."
Maya just watched in horror as the numbers on the screen began to
accelerate faster and faster.
"Misato! Come in, Misato!" Asuka kept trying. The static was only
getting worse. Whatever was happening with Shinji was powerful enough to
degrade her communications array. "Dammit! Toji! Any luck?"
Toji shook his head. Even the image between the two was breaking up
despite the fact they were almost shoulder-width apart from each other.
"Nothing. I don't think we're going to get a particle cannon in time,
Asuka. The JSDF was swarming all over the heavy weapons lockers."
"Shit." She hissed, holding her forehead with her hand. Before, when an
injury occurred in Eva, it hurt real enough, but there was only the pain
of the skin or bones being broken. Never like this. It felt like the
wound was burrowing deeper inside her head. All from a simple scratch.
Unit-02 had lost a bit of armour on it's face and blood was slowly
escaping, but the wound had been only three feet deep. "Now what?"
"I don't know." Toji said with a sigh. "We can try another lance, but
they don't seem to be working anymore."
Both Asuka and Toji had tried to launch one of the spears each, but they
bounced off of an invisible shell around Unit-01 and the four Eva Series.
They had each taken up a polar point around Shinji, and were glowing in a
strange, shimmering light.
As if to answer, Asuka saw Sensei Kaoru running towards them. The man
seemed no bigger than an ant, yet he was leaping and running over the
chunks of rubble in his way like it was nothing. As soon as he was in
range, he began to flag them away. Asuka trained her sensors on him. It
was hard to make out what he was saying over the howling wind that was
occurring, but finally, the computer replied with: "Move away from the
crater!"
Toji caught it too, and both of them took a few giant steps back. Kaoru
walked over to where he could see Unit-04's broken remains and closed his
eyes.
"What's he doing?" Toji blinked.
Asuka watched him for a few heartbeats. "He's trying to re-sync with the
Eva..."
Toji nodded...then gasped. "But the Spear!"
There was a low rumble as Unit-04 reactivated...promptly followed by a
horrible howl. Both Children watched, alarmed as Sensei Kaoru promptly
fell to his knees, clutching his chest with ragged breathes.
"Sensei! Don't! You'll be killed!" Toji yelled, hoping his voice got
through the static.
Kaoru, now partially synced, was able to use Unit-04's communications
array again. His voice appeared on a black screen with yellow letters
reading "NO ENTRY PLUG!" across it's width. "Asuka! Toji! Both of you!
You have to get to the edge of the Geofront!"
Asuka was shaking with the surges of worry and adrenalin coursing through
her veins and crashing against the pain in her mind. "No! Sensei! Un-
Sync right now or the spear will kill you!"
"It doesn't matter!" Kaoru yelled back. "Please! Grandmother! Listen
to me just this once!"
Asuka wasn't sure if she turned bright red or not...but she shut the hell
up in a hurry. Toji's mouth was wide-open for her. "GRANDMOTHER?" he
laughed. "Wow! You and Shinji sure work fast, Asuka!"
"G...Gr...Grandmother??" Asuka gasped. "W...wait just a second here!
That isn't even poss..."
"Please...just trust me on this, Asuka."
"But...!" Asuka wished she hadn't been blushing so much. "You...You
can't be..."
Kaoru interrupted her confusion. "Unless Shinji stops it, the Third
Impact is about to happen. I'm going to use Unit-04 as a shield around
it." He continued over the howling wind.
"Since when can an A.T. Field bend around?" Asuka argued. "You'll only
be able to protect against one side!"
His smile was almost audible. "Since you taught me, Asuka."
She grumbled, resuming her blush. "Damn disrespectful grandchild!"
Unit-04 knelt up and began to pull out the weapon in it's chest. Kaoru
strained to remain conscious, and it was clear the pain was weakening him
when he could barely even lift his arms to act what he wanted done.
However, after a long couple of metres, the spike was free, and Unit-04
began to climb out of the hole, trailing blood as it did.
Toji turned to Asuka as they watched. "Asuka! Should we get back?"
Asuka closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head. "No! Sensei!
Unit-04 has no Entry Plug! Even if you contain the blast, you'll get
killed by the shockwave!!"
"That doesn't matter, Grandmother!" Kaoru replied with a grunt as the
first black hand of the Evangelion he controlled reached the surface.
Unit-03 promptly helped him up.
"Yes it does, you insolent child!" Asuka boomed. "If you die, who will
generate the A.T. Field?"
Kaoru cursed under his breath, but Asuka made out: "Damn old woman..." to
her satisfaction. Maybe being a grandma wouldn't be all bad.
"Toji!" Unit-02 turned to it's black counterpart. "Take up position on
the far side of the crater. Make sure Shinji's in the centre. No
mistakes!"
Toji smiled and bowed his head. Unit-03 took off around the edge of the
crater.
"Kaoru! Stay here! Position Unit-04 as close to us as you can manage.
Use the ranged scope to make sure Unit-01 is between us all. You'll have
to show us how to make a cylinder with the fields."
After a pause, he nodded. "Agreed. It's simple...I'll form the outline,
you two just concentrate on it."
All three Evas moved into a triangle pattern a few hundred feet apart.
Several miles above them, the glow from the Evangelion Series intensified
and a strange blue light begun to fill the air.
"Shinji-kun..." Asuka whispered as she felt her A.T. Field extend out and
around to the others. "Momma helped me, and now, I want her to give you
strength. We're ready to help. Please...do what's right. We'll be
together soon. It doesn't matter how or where. I'll be with you."
Toji turned up his sync buffer to full again. The pain was horrible, but
he mused Shinji was probably feeling a lot worse. "Shinji! Don't you
dare goof up now! You have grandkids to help make! If that isn't
something to live for, I don't know what is!"
Kaoru closed his eyes. Tears were welling up under the sheer stress of
the pain and trying to maintain the field. His entire body threatened to
shut down at a moment's notice, but he knew he wouldn't. "Shinji-sama.
When father betrayed us...you took me in as your own son. I envied your
power...your wisdom...and I respected you as a person and as my friend.
Please...let me thank you by doing this." He looked up at the bright blue
pinprick in the sky. "You've already passed the test. Just do what you
have to do."
Unit-04 stood over him like a guardian, despite it's broken front and
mangled face. It looked proud to be there today.
All three Evangelions lit up as their souls combined into a shield
stronger than any metal, more powerful than any bomb...and brighter than
any star.
It leapt up to surround Shinji at the last moment. Unit-01 and it's
pilot were almost dormant to the outside world, and yet, were the cause
of the energy about to be released.
The hum elevated into a tight beam of sound that lit the air and earth on
fire. With one final explosion of power, the four Eva Series threw their
lethal energies into the mix, and the Spear of Longinus turned white hot,
amplifying the power to unearthly levels.
Shinji opened his eyes just in time to see the explosion happen right on
top of his three friends, and unable to do anything about it, he screamed
out in pain.
The staff at Head Quarters watched in awe as pure blue light fell down
from the sky in a perfect, round shaft. It ripped up the earth and
exploded downwards towards the Earth's core, as the pillar leapt upwards
at amazing speeds.
An earthquake hit them. The power was unlike any of them had felt
before...equalled, but never surpassed, despite the explosions and close
calls of the past.
Misato watched, completely frozen, as she relived the first terrifying
moments of the Second Impact...and suddenly thought of them as nothing
spectacular. Her hand held the metal cross on her chest with frightening
strength. "Oh my god..." she whispered.
The phrase was uttered by several in that moment, but none could break
from the terrible booming explosion that cascaded around them all and
brought their ears and minds almost to the snapping point.
Red began to flicker along the walls as display after display showed
warning and danger signs. Damage reports and haywire readouts were
already being spewed forth.
Oddly enough, Fuyutsuki was perfectly calm. He watched the beautiful
shape explode out into the sky...seeing the white and blue energies and
gasses try to break their Evangelion-made prison...but never succeeding.
All three pilots had poured their entire souls into this one act, hoping
it would make a difference.
An earthquake would circle the globe and deliver death to millions,
destruction to billions. Tidal waves would rush forth and devour
unprepared cities. The East Coast of America and Canada would be
decimated by the force of a hundred hurricanes as the shockwave passed
straight through the Earth's core and continued to the other side. New
York and Nova Scotia would most likely become new volcanic islands. A
hundred more volcanoes would voice their displeasure with molten rock,
and ash would fill the sky for days as cities burned and fires consumed
the land.
But after it was all done...
They would still have a home.
"Shockwave dissipating! Resetting all sensors!" Makoto yelled out as the
light began to flicker like a dying florescent bulb. "Sir! It's over!"
The Sub-Commander breathed a small sigh of relief. "We survived the
Impact. We may not have survived the day, however. Lilith will still
have her say in the matter."
His words of worry had little effect on the bridge as they all cheered.
Misato laughed out loud and hugged Makoto tightly, who was more than
happy to return the embrace. Not even skipping a beat, they both latched
onto Shigeru and pulled him into the hug.
The old man smiled as he watched them celebrate. "Yui...I wish you were
here to see them. They're such good people. I'm glad they're part of
this."
Breaking up to return to their tasks, Misato found the external sensors
were still resetting. "Dogma to Ritsuko! Come in! Are you two okay in
there?"
There was a static-filled pause, but finally, Ritsuko answered. "Yes!
We're fine! The Magi seemed to have survived unscathed. Sensors will be
up in a few seconds!"
Under the machinery, Ritsuko smiled over to Maya, turning off the comm..
"Maya, it's your fault, you know."
Her young friend blushed terribly and bowed her head. "Gomen, Sempai! I
didn't mean to!"
"Like I said before, optimism is catchy." Ritsuko laughed, then leaned
over. Before Maya could worry about if it was okay or not, she pulled
her into a warm hug. "Thank you."
Maya was close to tears from the sudden rebound of fear turning into joy,
but returned the embrace with every bit of strength she had left.
"Sempai! We did it!"
Outside, the screens finally flickered back to life. The ravaged
Geofront had been re-designed once again. This time, instead of pockmark
craters everywhere, the entire sphere was missing several tones of soil.
For a hundred more feet, all the soil had been removed to the edge of the
field. A barren bowl of dust.
In the epicentre, there was a smoking hole that drilled too far down to
tell. At first, Misato feared the worse and ordered scanners to focus as
quickly as they could.
The screens lit up with the hazy image of Unit-02 and 03 kneeling down
next to a fallen Unit-04. Their armour was melted in horrible blobs and
scars. Despite the explosion and the energy released, they had survived.
Mostly.
The cheers and joy faded to absolute silence as they realized Unit-04 was
completely inactive. The Entry plugs of Asuka and Toji had already been
ejected, and both Children were running over to where Kaoru had last
been.
"Oh no..." the Major whispered.
The bridge crew watched silently as the two Children, who looked barely
alive themselves, hunted the dirt frantically for their teacher. They
found him just behind Unit-04's charred and melted leg. Misato didn't
have to look at the readout to know he was close to death.
"Send a rescue team. Now." She demanded.
Makoto hurried to find a team available. Most were trying to save lives
throughout the base, or had been killed in the JSDF attack. After a few
angry calls from paramedics, he looked up at her and shook his head.
"Misato...there's nobody..."
Shigeru sighed and looked up at them. "Unit-01 is still climbing,
Misato. It's not safe to send anyone out there. If it happens again..."
"I know." Misato said stiffly.
Damn you, Ikari. For all of this.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Lesson 49
strikef@bigfoot.com
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Strike Fiss, Studio Shinnyo 2002. Khattam-Shud, EOF.
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