Well, here it is, my first fanfic that is worth showing more than a few
friends. Enjoy.
Comments are welcome and encouraged.
Tom
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Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.4
Walls of our own making.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is copyright
Gainax/Project Eva.
"...we came in." In his desk at school, Shinji was in the middle
of yet another debriefing. This time, though, it wasn't NERV
personnel debriefing him, but his friend Kensuke.
"Of course, stupid Shinji," said Asuka from across the room as
she turned to face Hikari, who had just entered the classroom.
"Then what?" asked Kensuke, the military otaku. Much to his
displeasure, he had been stuck in a shelter as the Evangelion had
fought the Angel.
"Asuka split it into parts. The military weapons were able to
hold off the Angel's other segments long enough for us to defeat
them one at a time." While the actual combat hadn't gone as well as
the slightly edited version he gave to Kensuke, it still had gone
well. This battle didn't even involve any N2 mines.
"I wish I was there..." said Kensuke.
"You wish you were in the command center." interjected Touji, the
third member of the clique.
"Yes..."
"So you could be with Mi-Sa-To.!" Touji was practically
jumping out over the desk, as Kensuke tried to appear nonchalant.
It was going to be another one of those days, thought Shinji.
----------
Shinji idly wondered what subject this was. The lecture, as
usual, was on the Second Impact, and how it affected Japan and the
rest of the world. This lecture had something to do with the fall of
the old national power systems and the rise of the United Nations.
This could be the history class, Shinji thought, but it could
also be math. He didn't quite understand what caused the second
impact, but he did know that this lecture was wrong.
It seemed like nobody was paying any attention to this rerun of
the lecture. Touji and Kensuke were apparently playing some game on
their laptops, Asuka was apparently trying to signal Hikari about
something, and Rei... Well, she was staring off into space. Shinji
sighed, and looked at the clock. Only thirty minutes left. They would
feel like thirty hours, he thought, as he hoped that something would
come and interrupt the monotony.
At that moment three cellular phones rang.
----------
It's amazing how, within a few minutes of the sounding of an
alert siren, NERV can go from a place that is in a state of perpetual
waiting to one that is ready for action. Many things happen: people
man their posts, getting them ready. Manuals, magazines, and manga are
all shoved into various draws, and out of sight no longer command the
attention of the staff. Crews work to ready the giant Evangelion, each
member using a checklist, the items in which combined number into the
thousands. A waiting van drove the pilots the short distance between
the school and the nearest entrance to the geofront. All these things
and many more happened each time NERV readied itself for battle.
----------
"We have reason to believe that this Angel can separate into
three parts. So, be careful." Maya concluded her portion of the
briefing, and stepped back from the podium.
The screen had been showing a picture of the Angel, with its
three circular "leaves" connected by a circular joint in the
center. Large "eyes" were on each of the "leaves" of the Angel, and in
the lower left a status indicator read "Live - Space". As Maya left
the stage, the image switched to the red on black NERV logo.
Misato took the podium. "Your Evangelion will emerge from
these points." The logo was replaced with a map, with three points
highlighted. "The weapons depots surround your launch positions." A
dozen points lit up on the map. "The angel is in the atmosphere, and
will be over the target area in just under an hour. The operation will
begin then."
----------
The elevator rose to the launching complex, above the
geofront.
Shinji felt the slow wave of fear wash over him, as the
elevator rose higher.
"How do you handle... that this may be our last day alive?"
"Stupid! Don't talk like that! Not while I'm around!"
"Rei?"
"We won't die. I will protect you."
"I wish I could share your confidence."
The elevator rose into the Eva cage.
----------
"Begin the operation."
In the latest in a series of strategies, NERV launchers fired
a barrage of rockets at the Angel, to blind it while the Evangelion
emerged from the launch positions. The three "robots" readied their
various rifles, bringing them to bear on the slowly descending
Angel. For a split second, there was a noticeable distortion as the AT
fields deployed.
----------
"I'll attack first." offered Asuka, even as her finger
clenched on the trigger. Her rifle let loose a spray of bullets.
All of which missed the angel as it drastically increased the
rate of its descent and changed its course, heading straight for Unit
One.
"Damn!" cried Asuka, seeing that she had failed to inflict any
damage on the angel, which was now dangerously close to Shinji's eva.
Shinji fired next, the rounds of his rifle bouncing off the
Angel's AT field. The central joint segment of the angel was just
above Unit One when the three leaves suddenly snapped together,
trapping Unit One in the center.
"Ikari!" shouted Rei.
----------
"Life signs unstable! The pilot is unconscious!"
"Shinji!" Misato shouted, as if her voice alone would awaken him.
----------
Shinji awoke in the NERV hospital. Looking up, he saw a
ceiling that was no longer unfamiliar to him. After testing his limbs,
he decided that, while they were a little sore, he could walk and move
about. A quick walk down the hall informed him that none of the other
pilots were injured. Outside the door to his room, he saw a note
labeled "Discharge" and a packet containing his clothes. He didn't
question it, as he never liked hospitals.
He was waiting outside for transportation when Misato's car
drove past. Asuka was in the front, Rei and Pen-Pen were in the
back. The care stopped in front of him for a moment, then pulled away.
He took the train back to Misato's apartment, the only one in
the car.
He watched a few hours of uninspired television.
He later decided to go to sleep, the others not having returned
home. In moments his mind faded into a blackness devoid of dreams.
----------
Shinji didn't need an alarm clock. Misato or Asuka would
always wake him, But, today was different. He had overslept by almost
three hours. He quickly dressed, and left for the school, wondering
what the repercussions would be.
----------
The school was empty, save for Rei and Asuka. Both girls were
looking at their laptops, ignoring the fact that no lecture was going on.
He waited for someone else to show for what seemed like ages. Finally
he stood, and walked back to talk to the girls.
"Where is everyone?"
Rei and Asuka still stared intently at the laptops.
"Did you hear me?"
"Are you all right?"
Shinji stood next to Asuka's desk. He folded shut her
laptop. She stared intently at the space where the screen had been.
"What's wrong?"
"Why are you ignoring me? Is it something I did? Why won't
you respond to me?"
Rei turned to face him. "If you wish us to respond..."
Asuka looked at Shinji. "Then why do you try to wall us off?"
----------
One wall of NERV command was tiled in red hexagons labeled
with the word "Emergency." Various screens displayed information,
mostly related to the damage that Unit One was taking.
"The attacks have no effect." reported Makoto, the tactical
controller. "The angel seems to be using Unit One's AT field to block
the rifle shots."
"We can nullify the angel's AT field, but the Evangelion
cannot nullify each other's fields," Maya elaborated. "The patterns
are too similar. While Shinji has his AT field up, Rei and Asuka can't
hurt the angel. But if he lowers it, Unit One will instantly be
destroyed by the Angel."
"So he's stuck!" Misato lowered her head into her hands.
"Shinji's life signs are stabilizing! He'll be waking up!"
Shigeru shouted.
Misato looked back up at the screen. Maybe now there would be
some hope of saving Shinji.
----------
"wall you off?" Shinji asked. The room was fading, leaving
only the three of them inside a bare cube.
"yes. we wish to help you, but we cannot" said Rei.
"you separate yourself, and that is why we can't help you"
After this, Asuka began fading out, as did Rei.
"wait!"
The two turned, and faded out all together, as the little
light that remained turned to darkness.
----------
In the entry plug of Unit One, Shinji turned to see the
monitors. While clouded with static, he could see the other
Evangelion, and knew what he had to do.
----------
"I'm out of ammo!" Asuka shouted. She disposed of the useless
rifle, and deployed her Prog knife.
As she turned, she felt a strange sensation.
Rei felt it too. It was like what they felt when they deployed
the AT field, yet different. There was another thing, too. She had
felt it when she was in Unit One. It was like Shinji.
----------
Maya was stunned by what she was seeing. "Eva One is
neutralzing the phase space... correction, it's equalizing it with
that of the others! The other units are responding... the fields are
merging!"
----------
Rei fired at the angel with the last of her ammo, distracting
it enough that Asuka was able to slash at the joint of it with her
knife. Without an AT field in the way, the knife was easily able
to cut into the Angel. The joint exploded in a shower of green blood,
and the Angel broke into three parts.
The battle, while not yet over, was won.
----------
"Shinji! Wake up! We're late!" Asuka shouted, waking Shinji
up. As his wits came to him he realized that he would have overslept
if it hadn't been for Asuka.
"Stupid Shinji! Get dressed! We're going to be late!"
The two ran the distance to school.
----------
As Shinji entered his classroom he was greeted by his friends
Touji and Kensuke.
"Tell us about your great victory, Oh Captain Eva!" Touji said
as he mock bowed to Shinji.
"Yeah, tell us about the battle," Kensuke prodded.
"Well, the angel had three main parts to it... and it was
detected by the UN, who shot at it first." Shinji began another
debriefing. "The missiles didn't really do..."
"Tell him about us!" Asuka interjected, wanting to steal the
spotlight.
"I was just getting there," a slightly annoyed Shinji
said. "After all, isn't this where..."
1.4 22-25 July 1997
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Your comments are welcome. Please send them to tom-cnc@tr.ml.org.