Neon Defender Evangelion
by Sean Newton (seannewton@geocities.com)
See Introduction for Copyrights and Disclaimers
<<Opening Theme: "The Cruel Angel", Neon Genesis
Evangelion >>
Epsiode Three: The Reluctant Warrior
Train Tunnel, Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1651 hours universal time
<< "Journey to the Island", John Williams, _Jurassic Park
Soundtrack_ >>
The four sole riders of the train down to NERV
Headquarters were silent. Each was lost in their own
thoughts, their own concerns and considerations paramount
in their thoughts.
Misato wondered if there was any chance that NERV
would pay for her car repair bill. Plus, her clothes were a
mess. She smiled suddenly, looking on the bright side.
She'd survived once again. She took a look back over the
three pilots, making sure they were all still doing fine. They
were. She'd accomplished her mission.
Michael read over the manual he'd been given, thinking
over what he'd just experience. He wished once more that
he was back in Nevada. Since he wasn't though, he decided
to put his time to use trying to figure out exactly what he
needed to know to be part of NERV. And there did seem
to be quite a lot of information on that very subject.
Absently, he ran a hand through his read hair.
Rachel was also engrossed in her copy of the manual,
pouring over it for more information on the Evangelions.
She could find nothing on the topic, despite her efforts.
Realizing her search was futile, she instead skimmed briefly
over the rules and regulations the manual did make mention
of. After about three minutes of that, she closed the manual
with a resigned sigh.
Suddenly, the inside of the train car came alive with light,
its own subdued light augmented by far. A large, open, well
lit cavern, of enormous proportions. The tracks ran down
further into the cavern. On the floor of the cavern,
buildings and trees and plants all sat, a complete
environment sealed within the confines of an underground
cavern.
"Awesome!" Shinji cried out.
"It's... It's a Geo-Front," Michael stammered.
Misato nodded. "That's right. It's our base. NERV
Headquarters," she said, pointing down at the pyramidal
structure in the middle of the 'floor' of the Geo-Front. Deep
underground, the hollowed-out half-sphere of the Tokyo-3
Geo-Front lay there for all to see. "This is the key to
rebuilding our world, a fortress for all makind."
"Impressive," Rachel said, gazing out at the landscape
below. "How did they build this?"
"They didn't. It was already here," Misato answered.
"Huh? They just found it? Weird."
"Did my father find it?" Shinji asked.
"He was part of the team..." Misato trailed off, realizing
that she was saying far too much. "Nevermind."
* * *
Command Center, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1653 hours universal time
"Even the UN Forces are exhausted," Fuyutsuki
commented to Gendou. "What do you intend to do?"
"I intend to activate Unit 01," Gendou replied, pushing his
glasses back up his nose.
Fuyutsuki looked shocked. "But I thought that unit
would only operate with Rei or Shinji.... Ah. One of the
pilots Captain Katsuragi picked up was your son?" The
older, taller man looked at the Commander slightly sadly,
but Gendou failed to notice.
Gendou nodded. "Units Three and Four are already
undergoing final testing, but Unit One is the only
combat-ready Evangelion. Therefore, Shinji will pilot it."
He faced downwards to the operations area. "Have
preparations begun for the launch of Evangelion Unit 01."
"At once, Commander."
* * *
Evangelion Cage for Unit 01, NERV Headquarters,
Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1755 hours universal time
"It's so dark in here," Shinji commented.
Michael turned to Shinji. "No, really?" he asked
sarcastically. Suddenly, a bank of lights came to life, and
their, standing right before them, was a terrible, mechanical
visage.
"A face? A giant robot?" said Shinji.
"So that's an Evangelion..." Rachel trailed off, unable to
find more words. What they saw exceeded normality.
Michael began paging through his NERV manual, but
Ritsuko stopped him. "You won't find it in the manual," she
told him. "This is humanity's ultimate humanoid fighting
machine, the first model of the synthetic life form
Evangelion, Unit 01. Built here in secret, it is mankind's last
hope."
Shinji looked up, but his eyes didn't leave the face of the
robot. "Is this part of what my father's been doing?" he
asked.
"Correct," a voice echoed through the chamber, and all
eyes turned to trace it to its source. It was a man of
medium height, with black hair and beard, wearing glasses.
He was standing in a balcony overlooking the chamber. "It
has been a long time."
"Father...." Shinji mouthed. He looked away suddenly.
"We're moving out," Gendou Ikari said calmly.
Misato looked as if she was having a seizure. "Moving
out? But Unit 00's still in cryo-stasis, isn't it?" She
suddenly remembered the hulking presence of Evangelion
Unit 01 beside her. "Wait a second. You're going to use
Unit 01?"
Ritsuko Akagi looked straight at Misato. "There's no
other way."
"Now wait, Rei can't do it yet, can she?" Katsuragi asked.
"There's no one pilot for it!" she protested
"One has just been delivered," Ritsuko responded,
glancing over at Shinji Ikari.
Michael bristled. "Hey, what are we, chopped liver?"
Nobody but Rachel noticed the comment.
"Are you serious?" Misato demanded.
"Shinji Ikari," Ritsuko began, looking straight at the
fourteen-year-old boy.
Shinji looked up slightly. "Yes?"
"You will pilot it," Ritsuko stated, her face set, expression
brokering no argument or disagreement.
"But it took Rei Ayanami seven months just to
synchronize with her Eva," Misato protested. "It's
impossible for him to do it! He just got here!"
"He just has to sit in the seat. We don't expect more than
that."
"But-"
"Repelling that Angel is our ultimate priority," Ritsuko
reminded her friend sharply. "If putting somebody who has
a chance of synchronizing into an Eva unit gives us even the
slightest chance, then we have to take it." She paused.
"You do understand that, don't you, Captain Katsuragi?"
"I suppose..." Misato sounded rather uncertain.
"Father, why did you send for me?" Shinji called up to his
father.
"You know why I called you here," Gendou answered.
Rachel steeled up her courage. If piloting the Evangelion
would help keep Earth saf, then it had to be done. Rachel
sighed. "Look, if he doesn't want to pilot it, I'm willing to
give it a go," she called out.
"Neither you nor your brother can synchronize with Unit
01," Ritsuko said to her quickly, then returned her attention
to Shinji..
"Shinji, you will pilot it," Gendou stated.
Shinji looked up towards his father. "No! I won't pilot it!
Why are you doing this to me?"
"Because you must pilot the Evangelion."
"No, I refuse." Shinji looked away from his father.
Michael spoke up. "Shinji, you've got to do it, man," he
told the other fourteen-year-old boy. "You heard her....
Only you can pilot it. It's your duty."
"No, no, I won't!"
Gendou turned away from his son to activate a
communications screen. "Fuyutsuki, wake up Rei," he
ordered NERV's Vice Commander.
"Can we use her?" Kozo Fuyutsuki asked.
"She isn't dead," he answered, then deactivated the comm
screen. "Rei?"
A weak feminine voice responded to his call.
"Yes."
"Our spare has proven unreliable. You will pilot the Eva,"
Gendou stated.
"Yes."
No further noise came from the balcony overlooking the
chamber.
"You've got to do it, Shinji," Rachel said, putting an arm
on his shoulder. "Everybody's dead unless that thing get's
stopped. Please?"
"But my father.... The only reason he brought me here
was because he needed to use me...." Shinji trailed off,
sounding hurt. Visions of being forgotten and tossed aside
by his father's obsession with his work came to him. He
clenchedd his fists. "I can't!"
She shook her head angrily. "Okay, so he's an asshole.
But that doesn't change the fact that unless you go out there
and kick ass, people are going to die. Right?"
"But... But..."
She cut him off cold. "This isn't about you and your
father, this is about the safety of all mankind," she insisted.
"You...." She trailed off as a door opened and a team of
medical technicians rolled a stretcher towards them. The
chamber shuddered slightly.
"Jesus!" Michael cried as the stretcher approached. On it
lay a blue-haired girl, her form battered and in obvious pain.
He moved towards her unconsciously. "Shinji, if its you or
her, man, I think you'd better be the one piloting that
contraption," he told the reluctant boy. The entire chamber
shuddered, again, but harder than before.
The stretcher came to a stop and the medics began to
undo the various IV connections leading to the girl,
removing needles from her body. They could all see the
sorry state in which the girl was. Suddenly, for a third time,
the chamber shook, but this time, it was far, far worse.
Rei's stretcher began to tip over, and debris fell from above,
headed directly for Shinji.
Without warning, Evangelion Unit 01 start moving, it's
right arm swing out to shield Shinji from the debris.
Michael sprang into action, catching the blue-haired girl in
his arms before she hit the hard metal deck of the catwalk.
"Arrigato," she stuttered, then passed out in his arms.
The chamber shuddered again, but this time no more
debris fell. "Shinji, before we're all dead, get in there and
pilot that friggin thing!" Michael screamed, placing the girl
back on the stretcher with help from the medics.
Rachel stared straight into Shinji's eyes. "Shinji, look at
her. She can't pilot it. It's your job. If you don't, even if
that alien is stopped, you'll spend the rest of your life
blaming yourself for what happens in the meantime. This is
about you, and your duty, both to mankind, and to
yourself."
Shinji stood there, looking back silently, for what seemed
an eternity. "I will pilot it," Shinji said at last. "Let me do
it."
"The access to the entry plug is over there," Ritsuko
Akagi told Shinji, pointing.
Rachel leaned closer to Shinji, before the boy could move.
He looked slightly afraid, but stood there, uncertain and
still. Rachel leaned just a bit closer, and gave him a kiss on
his cheek. "Good luck, Shinji." He blushed, a confused but
not unpleasant feeling of warmth suffusing his body.
Finally, Rachel withdrew, joining Michael, Misato, Ritsuko,
Rei, and the medics, already making their way out of the
chamber. Shinij took one last look back at the retreating
forms of the others, then headed to the access to the entry
plug.
* * *
Medical Center, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1801 hours universal time
Michael stood next to the girl, holding her hand, as the
medics tried to repair the injuries she'd suffered when she'd
fallen, before he'd caught her. From what he could see, they
had to be old wounds, reopened when she fell. His own
hands had become covered in blood in just the few seconds
it had taken to help place her back onto the stretcher. He
wondered how she'd gotten so badly injured in the first
place. He knew one thing, for certain, though. He wasn't
leaving her alone until she was awake again.
The medical center shuddered slightly once again, and
Michael wished, not for the first time, that he'd never even
heard of NERV. Why are we the only ones that can pilot
these things? Cousin Sean said that we were the only ones
who could, and that's what that woman Misato had told
him. And if we can pilot Evangelions, why can only Shinji
and Rei pilot that particular Eva? The entire situation was a
puzzle. It was a puzzle he intended to get to the bottom of,
but not before he was certain Rei was okay.
* * *
Command Center, NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1803 hours universal time
Rachel, alone of the four teenage pilots, stood in the
command center. Shinji Ikari was climbing into the entry
plug for Evangelion Unit 01. The blue-haired girl was being
wheeled back to the medical center, and last she'd seen,
Michael was going with the girl. Rachel shook her head.
The people running NERV were insane if they thought that
injured girl could pilot anything in her condition, Rachel
thought to herself. Even worse, though, was watching
Shinji standing there, equivocating. She sensed that he
knew what to do, but she'd been glad to see him finally
make the right decision. How could he even consider not
piloting the Eva, if it came down to that or the destruction
of mankind?
And then there was Rei. What could have happened to
the poor girl that she'd ended up in such a battered state.
Exactly what was going on at NERV, she wondered,
watching the Command Center go about the business of
preparing to launch the Eva for combat. She observed the
intent concentration of Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, watching the
work of the technicians and the video feeds of the technical
personnel preparing the Evangelion. Rachel saw the three
young technicians nearby, working at their stations,
coordinating. She'd found out there names by listening to
the reports and orders being bandied about. First
Lieutenants Maya Ibuki, Shigeru Aoba, and Makato Hyuga.
Behind them stood Misato Katsuragi, arms akimbo, giving
orders. Behind and above them all, overlooking the rest of
the Command Center, Rachel knew that NERV's
Commander and Vice Commander watched over the entire
process, silent throughout.
She shivered unconsciously at the thought of Gendou
Ikari. "He gives me the creeps," she muttered to herself.
She sat back against the wall behind the main section of the
command balcony, sighing. She tried to read through the
manual Misato had given her, but she was too excited to
concentrate. Whatever happened, the future certainly
promised to be interesting.
"Main power has been connected," Makato Hyuga
reported.
"Insert entry plug," Ritsuko Akagi instructed, peering
over Maya's shoulder at her workstation's displays.
Rachel sat up straighter. Things were about to happen.
* * *
Entry Plug, Evangelion Unit 01
NERV Headquarters, Tokyo-3
7 June 2015, 1804 hours universal time
Shinji sat alone in the entry plug, feeling totally
uncomfortable and out of place. The fact that his father had
sent for him only because he needed him ate at him. If
Rachel hadn't said what she had, he would have just left,
Shinji told himself. But she'd been right. He couldn't live
with himself if he'd run away when everyone was counting
on him.
He blushed at the thought of Rachel. Her parting words
and the gentle kiss she'd given him had made him feel warm
all over, and that warmth returned whenever his thoughts
returned to her. He could feel the blush on his face. Why
had she done that? Shinji didn't know, but he knew one
thing for certain. He had to return her kindness. But to do
that, he'd need to survive what came next.
It was a chilling thought. He'd never had much cause to
consider his own mortality before, but now, with that alien
creature out there, he was forced to. I might not survive. It
might kill me. Shinji didn't like that thought. Maybe I
shouldn't have let her talk me into piloting this Evangelion.
What if he didn't make it back.
"I will protect you."
Shinji looked around, trying to find the source of the
words he'd heard, but to no avail. "Hello?" he called out
into the entry plug.
"Yes, Shinji?" It wasn't the voice that had spoken before,
but it was a familiar one nonetheless.
"Nevermind," he told Misato. He could have sworn
somebody had spoken. But apparently not. Suddenly, a
pale yellow fluid began pouring into the plug. "What's
happening?!?"
The calm, controlled voice of Ritsuko Akagi answered
him. "The entry plug is filling with LCL. Once it has filled
th plug, the LCL will directly oxygenate your blood." Her
reply was not as comforting as it could have been. For
some reason, her presence disturbed him slightly, like an
itch on his brain.
"Shinji, prepare for launch," Misato instructed, and all of
Shinji's thoughts suddenly focused down on one thing.
Making it through the events to come... alive.
* * *
<< End Theme: "Fly Me To The Moon", Neon Genesis
Evangelion >>