All characters copyrighted by Gainax, not me.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
In this fic, Yui Ikari is NOT part of Unit 1. If you have a problem
with
this, don't read.
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Toji hoped that Shinji would help them when the fight started. He
knew how Shinji was feeling, he felt it himself. The feeling that this
fight may turn out the way the last one did. The feeling that they
might
have control ripped from them and forced to do battle. He thought
about
what must be going through Shinji's mind right now.
Toji had no knowledge about anything going on between Shinji and
Asuka, but... _something_ was there. He could feel it. Right down in
his
bones. He had, for a short time before he left, thought that Shinji
had a
thing for Asuka, and that she had a thing for him. But then he left
Nerv
and everyone behind, and never looked back it seemed. Shinji had shut
everyone out of his life. Toji also knew that Rei had an interest in
Shinji at one point, but he didn't know of what kind.
But then Shinji came home, and things have been really strange for
the last couple of weeks. First, Asuka and Rei both had to move in
with
him. Second, just after Shinji had attacked the boy at school, and
Toji
had to go for shots, Asuka felt sorry for him and dragged Hikari and
Rei
with them to go shopping. That is assumimg that Hikari told him the
whole
story about shat happened that afternoon.
Nothing wrong with that, but it was clothes shopping; and as far
Toji knew, girls only went shopping for clothing with their friends.
When he talked Shinji into at least _picking_ the gun up, Toji had
made a gamble. He bet on what he felt in his bones, that something was
going on, or going to be going on, between Shinji and Asuka. 'Not like
I'll ever know,' Toji thought sourly. The younger Ikari didn't bat an
eyelash at the mention of what may happen to Asuka and the rest if he
doesn't fight.
In fact, it seemed as if he didn't hear the rest of it, but just
moved automatically. 'But, as long as he's holding a weapon, he has
some
chance,' Toji thought.
The four children were on their own, no help from Nerv would be
coming. Makoto and Shigeru finally got the sercurity cameras in the
city-fortress working, but they could not find any power cables or any
indications of the UN's presence in the city, or how they planned to
power
their Eva's. When they reported this, Fuyutsuki looked shocked, though
Ritsuko knew it to be a mask. The Commander only raised an eyebrow at
the
news.
"Interesting," he said quietly, his mind elsewhere. He was trying
to decide about what to with Unit 1. All of his and Fuyutsuki's
carfully
made plans had several prerequsists. Seele was also banking hevily on
several assumed facts, but their plans didn't include the reunion of a
family. 'All they've cared about was becoming living gods,' Commander
Ikari mused silently. 'Nothing like family would ever be a high
priority
in their minds,' he added.
"Commander, what could it mean?" Shigeru asked in regards to the
lack of external power sources for the enemy Eva's. When he got no
answer,
he looked up at his superior. The Commander's gaze was on his desk,
studying something.
"We'll just have to wait and see," Fuyustuki answered. Commander
Ikari was too engrossed with the thought that had just occured to him.
He
called up the security files of Unit 1 with it's eyes glowing. Then he
cross-referenced that file with the dates that Shinji reported getting
headaches and nightmares on. Unfortunatly, he saw what he was looking
for.
He looked at the results, and then went through the whole process
again, calling up the files, cross-referencing the dates, and he came
up
with the same thing again. He called Fuyutsuki over to see it. When
Fuyutsuki understood what the Commander saw, his eyes opened wide.
"So there is a pattern?" Fuyutsuki asked, wary of what may happen
in the upcoming battle.
"Yes. Unfortunatly, the pattern shows that another major incident
should occur right in the middle of the battle," Commander Ikari said
dispashionatly. Fuyutsuki looked at the man beside him. 'Why isn't he
interested? It could be the difference between life and eath for the
pilots,' he thought.
"And why are you not concerned? It could change the balance of the
battle," Fuyutsuki said.
"Because I know that there's nothing you or I could ever do about
it, so it is not too important." Fuyutsuki opened his mouth to
respond,
but the Commander cut him off with a wave of his hand. "And besides,
we
don't really have the time to worry about it. We'll deal with it when
it
happens," he said.
Misato was trying to puzzle out the apparent lack of power systems
for the inbound Eva's when a thought struck her. 'What if they plan to
use
_our_ power systems?'. She decided that she needed an answer.
"Commander Ikari, what if the UN decided to use our power systems;
the ones for _our_ Eva's?"
"Doubtful. That would involve reactivating the power sys..." he
trailed off as a thought occured to him. "That could be why they want
to
shut off our power, to divert it to their forces," he said, and
Fuyustuki
and Ritsuko looked at him again. The more he lied about their
knowledge
about the situation, the more uncomfortable they got. Surely the
Commander
knew that he could be killing all four pilots by not helping them
enough,
didn't he?
"By the way, just _how_ are we going to power our Eva's?" Kaji
asked. After three years, he'd been put back on the combat roster,
directly under Commander Ikari control. Kaji had apparently given up
the
other half of his job.
"We'll have the power," Commander Ikari replied. Misato doubted
that. Right now, the Eva's were using base power, but there was only
enough the keep them in the minimal gain mode. Only basic movements,
nothing fast, life support, and communications were activated. The
current
plan was to give them the same battery packs that were used when the
power
failed three years ago.
"Somehow, I doubt that'll make the pilots feel any better," Ritsuko
said. For once, she didn't know what the Commander's plans were. She
never knew them in any detail, she just knew what he wanted to
accomplish.
But this, this she had no glimmers about. She glanced over at
Commander
Fuyutsuki, and he shook his head. He had no idea as well. Unfortunatly
for her, Misato looked up just in time to see that glance.
'What are they planning?' Misato thought and briefly contimplated
asking. But that would only weaken the apperance of everything going
as
normal, that everything was going to a plan that the Commander had
made up
at the last minute.
She was still unsure about how she now thought of NERV. What
their plans are for after the Angels, the truths about the Eva's.
Misato
wondered how evil those plans could be so that only the top three
people in
the organization knew about them.
However, for Shinji Ikari, the twenty-two minuets passed in a blur.
It seemed to him that after he talked with Toji and Asuka the world
shot
into fast-forward. From his point of view, he had only just severed
the
signal between him and Unit 2, and then he blinked. He could see nine
specks against the sky. He could see his _enemy_, even though he had
no
wish to hurt them.
'But if I don't fight, Asuka and the others will die!' he thought
to himself. 'I have to make a decision right now!' he thought. 'If I
get
distracted in the fight, it could end everything that we've been
fighting
for. So, what do I do? Do I fight? Do I not fight?' he asked himself,
and then he modified the last thought. 'Do I run away?' and that was
followed by, 'I mustn't run away I mustn't run away I mustn't run
away...'
It was the first time that he'd used those words since decided to come
back
to NERV. 'I guess I've made up my mind,' he thought, and brought his
weaponry to full alert.
"Major! Eva Unit 1 is entering combat position," Maya happily
reported as all four Eva's hid themselves in the city of Tokyo 3.
"And how is the evacuation?" Misato asked.
"Completed four minutes ago, Major," Shigeru said, grinning ear to
ear.
"Oh," Misato said sheepisly.
"Contact in five... four... three... two... one. The UN Eva's have
landed in Tokyo 3," Maya reported.
"Put them up on the main screen," Misato ordered. The image was
displayed in moments and Misato started to take in all the data and
form a
plan. Since there was no way to help their Eva's in the fight, they
had to
use the buildings as cover. She walked over to Makoto's station and
asked
him to bring up the Eva's.
"Unit 3 just got it's battery packs attached," he said.
"Keep them running off base power until the fight begins," Misato
ordered.
"Is that wise? The longer they're hooked up to the base, the less
power we get," Makoto pointed our.
"No sense in wasting their packs' power. The operation of the
Eva's for the most amount of time takes priority over our convinence,"
Misato said in a way that made the subject closed. Makoto agreed with
her.
"Place as many battery packs as you can in each weapon building."
"Major, we only have another 16 charged packs, and at two packs per
Eva that means..." Maya trailed off as Misato glared at her.
"Then put 2 in a building. Use this one, this one, this one, and
that one," she said while pointing to the buildings on the screen that
she
wanted. "Open a channel to the Eva's. Alright," she said when her
order
was followed, "this is the only we can help you. This means that you
each
have another two battery packs for the fight, but it will take at
least 15
seconds to attach them yourselves. In the fight, that time could be
costly. The plan is to stagger the attacks," she said.
"Ma'am?" Toji asked, confused about what she meant.
"When the time comes, Asuka will disconnect her umbilical cable and
attack. Twenty seconds later, Rei will follow. Then you, Toji, twenty
seconds later. And then Shinji. This way, you can cover the others
when
they need to drop their packs and get new ones. This also has the
added
advantage of not having all four of you having to change packs at the
same
time."
Asuka, however, decided she needed to refute that statement. "What
makes you think that _I'm_ going to need more packs?"
"Because the Magi are unanimous in that it'll take at least 20
minutes of continous firepower to shut all nine enemy Eva's down,"
Ritsuko
supplied.
"Oh," was all Asuka could reply. Shinji just shook his head.
'Asuka never changes,' he thought. 'Could that be one reason I'm
attracted
to her? Am I attracted to her?' he thought, but cut them off. The
enemy
Eva's had landed in the city and were moving directly towards NERV
headquaters.
"How long will each set of powerpacks last?" Shinji asked.
"At least eight minutes each. There have been several improvments
made since you left," Ristuko added when she saw the look on his face.
'Of
course he wouldn't know, he's been gone for three years,' she thought
reprovingly.
Unfortunatly for all present in Nerv headquaters, their hopes for
surviving the upcoming fight were chased away when Eva's 5 to 13
started to
alter their courses. They spred out and started to take different
routes
to the base.
"This is a problem," Rei stated over an open channel so her face
appeared on all the Eva's screen and she got everyone's face on hers..
"Do you always have to state the obvious?" Asuka angrily replied.
"Get off her case, Asuka," Toji said, coming to his friend's
rescue. Asuka stole a glance at Shinji's face in the screen before her
and
saw...something in his eyes. It might have been anger, but then again,
she
knew she couldn't place it, given the way that he's changed over the
last
few weeks. But the she remembered Toji's words and started to yell
back.
"Well, I nev-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" a voice roared. It took everybody a few moments
to place it. It was Shinji's. Shinji, the one person who nobody had
ever
heard his voice raised in such anger before. Shinji, a different
person
than the one who'd left three years ago. "Focus on the fight!" he
added
once he knew he had everybody's attention.
Misato was dumbstruck. Shinji actually _wanted_ to fight? She
looked over to Ritsuko, only to see that the expression on her face
mirrored Misato's own. Commander Ikari only smiled a bit; it was so
small
that Fuyutsuki doubted that it was ever there.
"He's right, Misato. We have to focus on the fight," Kaji said,
right behind her. She turned, only to see him with a small grin on his
face.
"And just what is so funny?" she demanded.
"Ma'am! The enemy have started to search! They're looking for
something!" a tech yelled out before Kaji could answer.
"What did you say?!"
"They're searching in attack formation. They're ready to fight
whatever they find!," the tech answered.
"You guys hear that? They'll be ready for you when you start, so
don't hold back," Misato said to the teens.
"Just let me at them and you'll see how ready I am," Asuka said,
her voice thick with arrogance. Misato only sighed and looked over at
Ritsuko. She nodded at Misato. Misato looked over at the Commanders.
Fuyutsuki nodded after glancing at the Supreme Commander of Nerv.
"Detatch external power! Eva Unit 2, attack!" she shouted. In
response to her words, the umbilical cable fell off the Evas back and
Unit
2 sprang forward, running out of it's hiding place.
Everyone in Central Dogma held their breath when Eva Unit 8 caught
sight of the approching form and turned to face it fully, all weaopns
ready.
The war of the Evangelions was about to begin.
end
Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca
Thanks to Jefferson K Armstrong, and MisterRios
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine/3281) (
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)