--
Later,
Rick Spiff
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: EWBAD2.txt
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. v0.9
by Jared Waddell :
rick_spiff@yahoo.com
Quick Disclaimer: Nothing in here is mine, except for the character Goku
Takagi, and BOTH of those names belong to the creators of DragonBallZ
(kick ass!) and Die Hard (kick ass!), and the character James Rahn
(wink). I am just using such things here for personal entertainment.
My first work of fanfiction, complete? Well, more or less. C&C on this
work is welcome, and I do C&C on request as well, so keep up the
communication!
BE WARNED: S P O I L E R S !!!
Yes, this is set in the world of Neon Genesis: Evangelion, immediately
after episode 18, so lots of stuff gets out here.
WARNING: This also means that issues not commonly found in works of
fiction will be poured out in the open. This can be very offensive work,
as it contains all of the following: Gratuitous violent bloody combat,
death, dismemberment, quoting, mysterious dark rooms, deranged thinking,
alcohol abuse... and strangely enough, no outright nudity of any kind (I
must be slipping). Well, that's the list.
And please, don't kill me...
Chapter 4: Limited Scale Conflict?
---
Crystal clear skies gave away nothing as the sun moved higher over the
horizon. Bright red light spilled over a sleeping earth as an alien
figure writhed over a bruised and beaten city.
For the moment the hideous figure was winning. The humans below were not
happy about its intrusion into their lives, and many took the insult
personally. After all, who wouldn't?
It was ugly, the monster. Terribly ugly. All ungainly limbs and gross
biological parts moving in a simply disgusting manner, while lighting
the world up in a nauseating shade of pink. Well, disgusting just didn't
fit the definition anymore. Yet far below it's perch, not far from the
creature's own target, a force seeked to destroy it. By any means
necessary, a small group of humans were carefully planning the alien�s
demise.
The death of an 'Angel.'
---
Fifteen minutes after sunrise was early.
Way too early.
The technicians of NERV didn't seem to mind, scurrying about hour after
hour, shift after shift, like ants in the maze. They were very concerned
about getting their jobs done, being so important to the future of
humanity at large, but greater concern was felt over the pilots' of the
giant mecha they repaired and tested and tweaked day after day, night
after night.
Because they, unfortunately, couldn't pilot the things themselves. It
WAS an unfair position to put the pilots in, but did the human race have
a choice?
Did the children get to choose?
Actually, they did. As the pilot of Unit 01 had indeed simply walked
away from his job of protecting humanity without a second glance. The
rest chose to stay, for whatever reason. They did have a choice, but one
option just wasn't very likable.
"I hate getting up this early. Are you sure we have to leave
_now_?"
Even with said choice staring them clean in the face one of the children
still felt it their duty to complain loudly and profusely.
One Asuka Langly Sohryu.
"Yes, Asuka, we most definitely have to leave now. Any later and many
more lives would be in danger." Misato nearly silenced complaint (but
not quite completely).
Beyond the obvious, Rei was early.
Goku Takagi was embarrassingly late.
Stupid engineers. Aaaaalways late.
Bleary and unhappy, unawake and coffee-less, Goku was the very picture
of unhappiness. So unhappy, in fact, that Asuka didn't even bother
ripping into him.
"Someone staying up late last night?"
"Shut up, Asuka."
Well, not too much, anyway.
---
"How are the harmonics looking?" Asked Ritsuko, the strain of late
nights over long weeks evident in her voice.
"Eva systems are all go, Ma'am.
"Everything is green. Pilots normal, if a little nervous." Said Shiegeru
loudly.
Makoto turned and spoke quietly to Misato. "Do we have a chance?"
Misato didn't respond, looking in the direction of the main display, but
seeing past it... perhaps trying to reassure the pilots as much as
herself. After a moment of tense silence, she shouted her battle cry.
"EVA LAUNCH!"
Barely more than a hundred meters away, three great behemoths were
shuttled the surface like a... shuttle. A space shuttle.
Goku could feeling nothing but cold fear as Unit-03 rocketed towards the
surface. A million things could go wrong, millions of ways his flesh
could be rendered into some unrecognizable mass of chemicals, a million
ways to die. And that was just on the way to the surface.
After that, the Angel could do harm to him and the Eva he couldn't even
begin to imagine.
Asuka was practically chomping at the bit by launch time, the
aftereffects of a strange human habit called sleep not longer bothering
her. However, her training as an Eva pilot, and recent 'incidents' with
the pilot of Unit-03 (see chapter 3) had taught her some patience.
Rei was placid as usual, ready to take on the Angel, no matter what
tricks it had up its sleeve.
The Evas made ground 200 meters from perimeter of the target, where the
giant robots would be safe while they readied the modified 'armor' that
was required for this mission. The pilots wasted no time getting into
their gear, but paused while Asuka made some instrument sweeps for Dr.
Akagi. Strangely, the Angel made no move to attack though the posturing
of its many tentacles was clearly hostile.
Goku watched the pattern with curiosity, thinking in short philosophical
thoughts while his brain cold-booted. Could they really pull this off?
Well, losing wasn't an option, so it was certainly time to hope for the
best. And that was about as complex as his analysis of their odds went.
Rei scanned the pattern intently with her eyes, until she realized
something about its movements. Something similar to what Goku would do
when waiting for her and Asuka to attack. It was waiting for them to
come to it.
"It's waiting for us." Said Rei over the comm.
Her soft voice hit Goku's nerves like a strike of lightning, and larger
parts of his brain were suddenly fully awake. "Wha?..." Unfortunately,
the part dealing with threat analysis was not yet working, and neither
were the speech centers, for that matter.
"The pattern of its movement. It is waiting for us to start combat."
Stated Rei with more conviction in her voice. Not much more, but enough.
"Nice of it." Said Goku sleepily.
Asuka was a little more... 'active'. "Taunting us, is it? Thinks it's
all that, huh. Well, we'll see!" After five more seconds of scanning,
Asuka switched her displays to attack mode, and Unit-02 thumbed its
nose.
Goku just shook his head.
"Ready?" Came Misato's voice over the comm. "Attack!"
Unit-02 dashed forward, blowing through the AT Field like it wasn't even
there. Unit-03 and Unit-00 were hot on the red behemoth's tale. Asuka
flung everything she had into the opening blow, a devastating double-
fisted sound off to hell. The Angel took the brunt of the attack, and
let a tentacle loose at Unit-02's midsection.
Rei was right there, throwing aside the tentacle while blocking four
more that were moving to entangle Unit-00. Back on Asuka's right flank,
Goku was opening up with a blur of punches to the Angel's mass as his
computer scanned for core. Oddly, it seemed to be moving.
"PLAN B! THE CORE'S LOOSE!!!" He shouted over the comm as limbs began to
converge on him. Asuka used a few quick knife-hand blows to halt the
assault on Goku, but left herself open. Rei was tied up (literally), and
suddenly vanished.
Seconds into combat, and everything was already going to shit.
Six more tentacles snagged Unit-02's feet, pulling Asuka into the
writhing mass of flesh, out of control, as Goku stood his ground,
calling her name. A split second later the world dropped out from under
him. The same sickening sense of disorientation as in the activation
test grabbed his senses. Then black earth rushed up to meet his Eva.
---
"Unit's zero and three have disappeared from the combat area!
Tracking..." Shiegeru said, his eyes glued to the monitor directly in
front of him.
Misato uttered a curse in the background, but they had planned for this,
were ready to deal with it. As long as the Angel couldn't really do any
permanent damage, they had the upper hand.
"Shit! Unit-02's been chucked out too!"
---
Asuka hit the ground on her rump. More accurately, Unit-02's rump, and
it was right then she vowed to get revenge. The metal monster rose
quickly to its feet, small patches of torn up soil dropping off the
improvised 'armor' designed to minimize damage to the Eva's vital
systems. For a second, she focused her thoughts of rage at the pink
thing in the distance. It had thrown her nearly a kilometer away, but
Asuka Langly Sohryu wasn't down for the count.
Not by a long shot.
"Regroup, try from sector six." Misato said tersely.
The three Evas dashed to the coordinates, power umbilicals strung out
behind them like massive leashes. They took the same formation as
before, Asuka in the middle, with her higher synch ratio and faster
reflexes, and the other Units flanking her as backup. Between the three
of them, a perimeter almost 400m wide could be covered. More than enough
to hunt for the core.
Asuka advanced more cautiously this time, having learned her lesson
quickly. She advanced slowly, not hitting back much this time, instead
concentrating on moving forward.
It was slow going. And any given instant, she could see no less than
four tentacles coming her way. One from above, taken out by a quick
circle block. One from the side, dodged by a half step, another
deflected by an elbow. A single punch to bait the target, turn it into a
lower circle block to avoid being hit on the hip, two quick blocks over
the chest, snap the head aside, short chop to make a hole, step forward;
repeat. Exhausting work, but invigorating.
"Yeah!" Goku shouted as he cleaned out the spot he was standing in. A
single leap, and he landed one and a half seconds later in the middle on
anther mess. Before him, Asuka hidden behind a wall of the enemy's
making, and behind him, the open spot he had just occupied with suddenly
crammed with pink tentacles of death. Yes, invigorating.
Rei grunted. This was hard. She was doing a damn good job of though,
keeping her feet moving constantly, well out of the way of any surprise
attacks as she increased her speed. Unit-02 was moving ahead in its own
quarters, making solid progress, but she could feel something, a kind of
humming subconscious. She'd felt it just before the telepor-
The sky. The blue sky. Peaceful, strange she could see the sky from
here... oh, the Angel's mass transit system... Trees.
Trees?
Unit-00, blue, white and nine hundred tons of destruction hit the ground
like a meteor impact, pushing up compression waves for kilometers.
Hundreds of kilometers away, animals made for the hills like all hell's
fury was hot on their heals.
Rei sighed. The sky was nice.
Unit-00 jumped to its feet, an Eva shape imprinted into the ground, and
dashed for the pink glow over Tokyo-3 (NOT the name of a movie, people,
move along...).
Inside the air conditioned control center, the ambient temperature had
risen several dozen degrees. The command crew was mentally cheering for
the Evas, and booing at the Angel; it could all be read off their faces.
The only two people in the room unreadable were the Commander himself,
and his second, Dr. Fuyutsuki. Internally, they were not cheering,
however. They were very worried. Then after a few minutes, a mantra
began in the Commander's mind.
Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow
meow meow...
But some commanders are like that.
Goku flung himself into the melee again. How many times had he attacked
the monstrosity? Ten? Twenty? Time had no meaning to him. The world
continued to rotate on its axis. Somewhere, people worried about his
life signs, some places people just worried. He brought to the battle
all the hopes of humankind and his own feelings towards to the invaders.
He made the feelings his own, made them part of his being, and attacked
again.
"Goku, you're armor's lost 60% of its impact-absorbing capacity, it's
time to change it out before Unit-03 sustains major damage." Ahh,
Ritsuko. Hmm, wonder where Rei went...
Rei dodged and weaved like a pro, taking out limb after limb, but
carefully keeping her distance. She did not relish another trip through
the magic transporting machine, once was more than enough to turn her
off to that idea.
Asuka radioed in to say that she was pissed, only slight damage was
incurred, give the ugly <censored> <censored> pink thing what for, make
sure that <censored> <censored> engineer is doing his share of the work,
be there in half a jiff, kick <censored> for you know who, blah
<censored> blah.
Rei spared a glance from saving to world to see where the other two Evas
were located. Currently, Unit-03 was thirty meters away, engaging the
Angel, and Unit-02 was at three hundred meters, incoming velocity of 121
meters per second.
A giant red biological machine of war piloted by a young girl with red
hair landed on the ground with the sound of an entire forest giving way.
The forest she landed in was not one filled with trees, but a concrete
fortress constructed by humans. In the grisly crimson light of earth's
most hated enemy, the great man-machine combination stood defiantly
ready to bring its destructive force to bear. The invader waited
patiently, distracted slightly by two of the death machine's comrades in
arms.
Asuka attacked.
Had she not had the recordings for reference, Lt. Maya Ibuki would have
honestly sworn in the following days that Unit-02 fairly glowed with
hatred as it launched an AT Field-buffered flying kick into the mass of
writhing flesh that was the Fourteenth Angel.
Goku would never see such recordings, despite the exhaustingly extensive
after-action report that NERV prepared regarding the effectiveness of
the Evas in combat ON TOP of the city. Right now he was rather concerned
with killing a certain life form before his power timer ran out. He
didn't recall the connection being severed again, but according to the
clock, he had only 90 seconds worth of power remaining. Rather than
retreat for an umbilical though, he was going to tough it out.
Ha. In less than five seconds, Asuka had cleared an opening large enough
for a UN fleet destroyer to sit comfortably in the Angels inner
perimeter. Units 00 and 03 broke through within seconds, and the three
suddenly had the advantage they had been looking for.
Goku took the front like it was instinct, Asuka being too overwhelmed to
complain at all. Somehow, in this mass of insanity, Goku had done an
unlikely thing: found his center. From here any attack was an
instantaneous action, and no movement of violence towards him could come
through his guard unless
_he_ explicitly allowed it. Things were
definitely looking good for the pilots.
Something by Goku's armed beeped, but he ignored the city, his
preternatural awareness kicking in, letting him know the goal was nearly
within striking distance. Asuka was beating back the pink limbs with
ferocious tenacity; Goku had to admire her, but not right now.
They had an Angel to kill.
---
"Wow, Goku's synch ratio just surged up to nearly 90%. It's coming back
down now." Said Ritsuko suddenly.
"Wonder what brought that on?" Misato questioned no one. They could
figure it out later.
Problem right now was the remaining activation time on the Evas. Goku
stood furthest down the ladder, at 57 seconds of power remaining.
Something akin to hope coursed through the control room's
subconscious...
---
It was a good thing too, because over the course of nearly seven minutes
of uninterrupted combat a fair amount of the Angel's mass that had
become... detached... from its body had begun to land on and around
important spots in Tokyo-3. Places that earth NEEDED to go on, like 24-
hour pizza houses.
Goku hit left and right, stepped forward, and prayed somewhere in the
back of his consciousness for an end to this battle. His arms were on
fire, his body hurt from hundreds of simulated wounds to the Eva, and he
was getting right PISSED OFF that this thing just WOULDN'T GO DOWN.
He moved left, felt something give way, heard Asuka shout over the comm.
Somehow, he knew she had drawn out her progressive knife for the
finishing blow, but he was too tired to cheer. Rei was back on Asuka's
left flank, sawing through the Angel with a viciousness that would have
shocked Goku, from what he knew of the girl...
A cry rose from the field of battle, amongst the blood, sweat, and pain
of the raw brawling that this battle for humanity had become.
Asuka's voice raised in triumph, Goku just had to smile as he tore away
a few more tentacles for good measure. It was only a matter of time
now...
"DIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" Came the scream.
The earth shifted suddenly, almost an earthquake, and the massive body
of the Fourteenth Angel heaved suddenly. Goku had secure footing, but
Asuka cursed loudly. Without having the time to think his tactical
decision through, Goku lunged in Unit-02's general direction, ignoring
the orders from command that were distracting him.
Good thing, too.
Asuka had lost her temporary footing with the final thrust of her prog.
knife, landing just short of her goal. The Angel had taken the
opportunity to cast away Rei again, but it seemed to be tiring, if only
just a little. Maybe it was beginning to be affected by its slow
disassembly the pilots were working on it. Maybe.
Rather than bother to think the situation through, Goku's highly trained
engineer's mind just belted forward, hitting Unit-02 hard on the back to
give it those few crucial meters...
And thunder rained down on Goku, along with the screams of a thousand
dying people as armored plates gave way like rice paper under Unit-03's
feet and the Angel's assault. Even as victory was assured, he felt the
ground slide sickeningly-
And then stop. More thunder as the Angel's many limbs flopped to the
ground around him.
The idea of dancing for joy was hot on Goku's tired mind as the comm.
radioed back cheers from the command crew. Of course, it hurt to much to
move, so he decided to settle for a swuave one-liner. Unfortunately,
whatever comments or praise anyone had for him that moment, died as
easily the words on his lips as the world went black... and the pain
finally left his mind.
Only to re-surface later, when he would be waking up in the hospital.
---
End.
10/18/99
Chapter 5: The Study of Humans/Sociology
---
More blurs, these ones closer. Strike! Strike! Dodge, move, blow!
Strike!
Visions churned in the sleeping child's mind, catching his conscious
mind unawares as memories - recent memories, came striking him one after
another, in a symphony of pain. Sweat beaded and dripped from his clammy
white skin, his body twitching in an almost constant cascade of fear and
the overwhelming need to fight with everything he had...
"Ahh!"
Goku sat up in his room covered in a sheen of sweat. For a moment,
nothing but breathing hard and believing in everything he saw in the
room, holding on to the
_reality_ of it, was all that mattered.
"I'm alive."
He tried to lay back down, but every movement made his joints creak, a
sign of both the mental stress he had enduring during his brief piloting
career, and the rigors his body had endured to survive the final blow.
Somewhere, moving in the back of his brain, he recalled Asuka flinging
herself recklessly at the core, ready to give her all to kill the Angel.
Somewhere, deep inside, he shuddered.
The rest of the fight was more or less a blur to his conscious mind. He
sighed and tried to relax into the bed, half the room wavering before
his vision, the other half colored crimson with the fire of battle still
burned into his eyes.
A half-hour of intermittent sleep, and Misato came to visit.
Misato sat down primly, which would have alerted Goku that something was
up, had he been in normal condition. Now, having only barely survived
the marathon of fighting the day before, he hardly noticed her presence
in the room, let alone her intentions.
"Goku."
"Major."
"How are you feeling?"
"Lousy. I'll live though."
"That's good to hear." She paused, a question bent to strike like
lightening on her tongue, held for a moment, observed, then let fly to
it's purpose. "You never did tell me how you got to be involved with the
Evangelions."
"That?" Goku replied, woozy from the medication he'd been given and
still partially asleep. "Oh, kind of a long story."
"I can stay for a while. I want to hear this one."
"Then I'll try to be brief, you must be kept busy around here."
Misato's expression darkened slightly. Kept busy so she wouldn't have
time to figure out who or what she was
_really_ working for. "Um hm."
"Okay, it started with my father, who was a biochemist by interest, and
a genetic engineer by trade. He started working for NERV around 2003 I
guess, or a little after. He started in something called Gehirn, but I
suppose in retrospect that Gehirn and NERV are one and the same. Around
2005 he became acquainted with a woman named Naoko Akagi, a biocomputer
expert and head of the computing division of Gehirn, when she was in the
process of building the MAGI system." He sighed, then rubbed his eyes.
"Getting tired?"
"I'll be okay. I'll be getting my sleep tonight." He cleared his throat.
"Well, Naoko died in some kind of accident - no, wait. She committed
suicide. Not something I'm going to go into."
Misato raised an eyebrow.
"About 2008, I was more or less ready to finish high-school
requirements, and was already wondering what I wanted to be when I grew
up. Of course, because of my intelligence, that time would come much
sooner for me than for my peers." His voice resounded in the past, of a
great burden placed upon him. "At that age, all kids toy with their
futures, reveling in the idea of what is to come. The mystery, the
magic, the whole nine stinking yards.
"I wanted to do the same stuff as my dad. I don't know why his line of
work was so interesting to me but it was, and that's what I wanted to
do. He didn't discourage or encourage me, he just said that I should be
first aware of my choices, then pick one without regrets.
"I chose to learn in the same discipline as him. For four years I worked
toward a degree in his field, and was scoped out by NERV intelligence
for potential employment in their scientific division. The actual offer
came in the fall of 2013, when my parents were long gone and I had
nothing left to loose. I was a sight then, still trying to recover from
a loss like that. I'm so much a different person from that. More than
anything else, I would give all to see my parents again, even if just
once."
Misato tilted her head mysterious. "I know what it's like to loose a
family member..."
"The Evangelion androids." Goku said, picking up again. "Where not my
idea, and I didn't have the first clue what was going on when I was
first put on one of the many miscellaneous construction teams. But, I
seem to still have the blood of an engineer and spent a lot of my spare
time figuring out how many of their systems work, and ultimately, how
they worked as a whole. After several months, I was intimately
acquainted with many of the Evangelions' quirks and sort of got more and
more involved in the biological engineering aspect of the technology.
"Lastly, some sub-section chief granted me my own team to oversee when a
minor reorganization was done. That was about a month before..." Deep
breath. "Before the third Angel attacked."
Misato felt something tugging at her brain, and inconsistency that was
nagging her gray matter like a weed caught in a good pair of nylons...
_One month before the first attack here and the first use of the Evas in
combat?_
"Oog. Not good to try and sit up." Goku moaned.
Misato started, she'd been toning him out. Then she halted for a second
to see that the recovery crew - or doctors, whoever - had not bothered
to even give him a hospital gown for his recovery. He hadn't appeared to
noticed. In fact, despite the apparent ease he had talking with her,
upon closer inspection, she could see that it was draining him.
"Well, we can talk later, you need your rest." She got up to leave.
"Give Asuka my regards. And... give her my thanks." He said from the
bed, looking young and fragile under the fluorescent lighting.
"Your thanks?"
"For killing the Angel. It was her, you know. She's really got fire. Not
like I do. Once, maybe, but that day's gone now. Sooner or later... what
it will... come to."
"Umm, sure. And thank you, Goku, for fighting it."
He was already asleep.
---
"Me?? Why that... insensitive JERK!"
"But it's true, Asuka."
"How DARE he! This is the last insult!"
Misato had tried, in a peaceful manner, to relay most of Goku's message.
Asuka didn't appear happy about his praise and thanks, quite the
opposite in fact. She was seething with anger the minute Misato
mentioned his name, and hadn't backed down yet.
"Charity from that little upstart, thinks he so smart... OH! I don't
need his bleeding-heart sympathy!!"
"ASUKA!"
"What!"
Misato forced herself to calm down. "He was being honest. There was no
way just one or two people could have taken that Angel down. He needed
your help and you did kill it. He is honestly thankful. You should go
see him."
"I don't think so, Misato. He should be coming to see me. After all, I
did save his worthless hide."
Misato sighed. She seemed to have been doing better when Goku had talked
and trained with her, but with him in the hospital Asuka was becoming
unbearable, snapping at anybody who so much as said hello. Even Hikari
was frightened of her, asking what was wrong. Of course Misato couldn't
divulge a complete list of the events that had led up to this... but now
the damage had been done.
Asuka stormed into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. This
was a little hard because she didn't have much stopping room, and the
door was a sliding one, but she managed.
Once inside, she stood in the middle of the room, motionless except for
a slight tremor that ran up and down her hands like water. She seemed to
be trying to contain whatever it was that was inside her, but it was
gaining the advantage. As the seconds ticked by, the tremors ran over a
larger and larger part of her body, until she was shaking from head to
toe.
Several minutes had passed, then Asuka's grip finally came undone. She
threw herself down on her bed with a call of primal fear and grief. She
couldn't let it change her, hurt her... couldn't let her guard slip, but
it was just so much pain... too much to hold...
On her bed, Asuka burst into tears, not caring who heard, just trying to
tie off some of her emotions before she lost control at a crucial time.
Lost control... she couldn't every loose control again. Lives were at
stake.
Misato looked up as she heard a 'thump' and the sound of someone wailing
like there was no tomorrow.
"I don't like this one bit. She's been acting strange ever since Unit-
03..." Misato trailed off into another can of Yebusi.
A semi-ordinary day at the Katsuragi apartment.
---
Rei stepped slowly into her room, almost wandering. The pain in her
limbs would have dropped a normal person, but she was still mobile, just
not comfortable.
She placed her bag of school material on the floor at the end of her
bed, then sat on the bed, staring at the wall. Several moments of
silence followed as she failed to make a single sound, save for the
gentle sigh of her breath.
Inside, a conversation of sorts was slowly forming like clouds gathering
before a storm.
_Who is Goku Takagi?_
_Toji Suzuhara, pilot of Unit-03_
_Pilot of Unit-03._
_The pilot of Unit-03 was injured and is in the hospital._
_The pilot of Unit-03 could have been killed, but he survived._
_The second pilot of Unit-03._
_Goku Takagi is injured and in the hospital._
Had Rei believed in curses, she would have had no doubt that a curse
shrouded all who piloted the black Evangelion. This time things should
have been different. The successful defeat of an Angel was a good thing,
but the commander was unhappy about the mission somehow.
_Takagi was a nice person. Suzuhara was a nice person._
_Two people hurt by Unit-03._
It didn't fit that Takagi would pilot the Eva in the first place. He
wasn't a pilot, he worked on the Evas. She had seen his face once,
buried underneath a protective hat in the cage that housed Unit-00. Like
a ghost, he had wandered right into the job of piloting Unit-03, taken
up the reins, and summarily ended up in the hospital.
Unit-01 was still locked up, no one was allowed to activate it.
_Goku Takagi._
_Who was Goku Takagi?_
_A friend? What is a friend?_
He taught her how to fight, how to move faster than the eye could see.
He knew things about the Eva that Rei herself didn't know. He threw
himself into the task with abandon. Training her and Asuka, fighting the
Angel.
_Something is wrong._
Something felt terribly wrong, but she could find no reason for the
feeling, for the sudden emotion that wasn't quite an emotion. A feeling
of needing to do something, but unable to remember what or why.
A premonition without origin. A sense of dread.
Goku Takagi.
---
Goku shrugged into his school shirt with a sour expression on his face.
NERV security had been crawling all over - and in some cases, in - his
apartment, and Misato and the rest of the pilots were always hanging
around. Honestly, it seemed like they were afraid he would suddenly be
kidnapped by aliens, or something similarly ridiculous.
He got out of the hospital after six days of rest and painkillers, then
had come home to find his apartment spotless. For some reason, he had
expected to leave some sort of minor legacy behind - even if in the form
of a dusty room. But now, it was like NERV was chewing through every
part of his life, including bits he didn't even know existed, and even
sifting through the lives of his late parents.
In Goku's lone opinion, like a bunch of termites.
After another week of being bored to sleep on a daily basis in his
classroom, Goku abruptly decided it was time for a vacation. Since going
against NERV regs was highly placed on his list of things to do (mostly
because of the recent privacy intrusion his employers had engaged in,
but more especially because it was fun), he thought he should go and see
Shinji. Visit, even if he had only barely met the pilot face to face
before. It would be nice to get to know the other male member of the
four-child team of madness(1).
He packed quickly and left the apartment without a look back - NERV
would keep an eye on it while he was gone. Now, getting out town might
be a tad hard, but assuming he had no reason to drive Shinji nuts by
ranting about all sorts of weird Eva trivia that only an engineer would
understand, there was no reason for the spooks in nicely pressed blue
suits to stop him.
Minutes later, Goku was walking quickly through Tokyo-3, trying to stay
calm and telling himself that he needed the exercise. After six days in
a horizontal position, he felt a little weak and his movements were
hesitant, but he was sure it would pass with good exercise. He kept his
eyes pointed at the ground as well, trying to ignore the volume of
construction going on all over the city as a result of a 3-Eva team
against a massive Angel downtown. Well, it wasn't really downtown, but
Goku took precautions to avoid it anyway.
"Hey! Goku, you moron!"
Which was probably why Asuka spotted him.
"Hello, Ms. Red Devil."(2)
Asuka was sprinting toward him from just up the block, coming from the
arcade up the hill. Goku took a second to lament the fact that the hill
had a very minor slope - too low to look up the short summer skirt Asuka
wore - before he remembered that Asuka should have been in school.
"Fancy meeting you here, Mr. High-and-Mighty."
"Shouldn't you be in school?"
She gave Goku a disdainful look. "It's Saturday you idiot. Where are you
going?"
_Change the subject... change the subject..._
"How's your hand feeling?"
"I'LL be FINE. Where do you think you're going?"
"I should be back in a few days. Rei will be on alert. Oh, and thanks
for taking out the Angel, that was a work of genius."
If looks alone could kill, Asuka wouldn't need Unit-02 to take down an
Angel with Goku's lines.
"I can't believe you did that you little TRAMP!"
"What?"
Asuka pulled back a fist, starting to shake from anger.
"Hey! I'm just tellin' it like it is. I would've been killed in there if
it wasn't for you."
"... So you say." Asuka made a visible effort to relax. Outside, Goku
remained calm and slightly wary, but inside he was surprised. Asuka's
quick temper seemed to have been cooled a
_lot_ since he last saw her.
_Maybe that did some good after all..._
"Where
_are_ you going?"
"To say hello to Shinji. I have a few days off coming, and I figure I
might as well say hello."
"And beat him up too?"
Goku grinned. "Only if he wants me to."
"Watch yourself, Goku."
Another internal reflection took place. She had never called him his
name unless partially delusional at the time.
"I'll tell him you saved the world and said hi. Later, Asuka."
Goku turned and started walking away, proud of himself, and very happy
for Asuka - not being a bitch to him and all - but was still ready to
run in case she went berserk and tried to flatten him with a skyscraper
or something from behind.
To his (very minor) disappointment, no acts of unreasonable violence
were rent upon his body, only a warm, gentle breeze.
Wind blowing away the last word Asuka said before she jogged back up the
hill she had come down...
"Shinji..."
---
Goku thought this was funny.
The place Shinji had decided he would spend his time was at a remote
school in the northern part of Japan. It was a small building in a
valley deep under forest cover, with the bunking houses nearby.
Peaceful, quiet, and surrounded by what had to be half of NERV security
and JSSDF forces.
Ridiculous was more like it. They had enough military hardware stashed
here to start World War III and all because of a frightened child who
could control the most powerful weapon ever devised by man. Just a
weapon three hundred miles away, locked two thousand meters underground.
Maybe 'stupid' would fit better, this was all governmental after all. At
least the JSSDF officers were nice enough to escort him down the only
road, then disappear out of view.
Just thinking about the number of eyes watching him there was creepy.
That is, until he met Shinji.
---
Shinji was the kind of person Rei would be if her near-emotionless state
was just a mask to cover the fear and pain and anger of being an Eva
pilot; being used by the only person you trusted. Shinji was a Rei with
a lot of pent-up emotions... only male with brown hair and normal eyes.
In fact, Goku could have sworn the two shared some uncanny similarity in
their looks. Shinji was an only child, wasn't he?
After getting his things settled in and papers fixed up nicely for his
'vacation', he made his way to Shinji after class.
"Shinji Ikari?" The young Eva pilot was on a bench outside, enjoying the
cooling air before fall nipped at the trees, preparing to eat lunch. The
class had a sort of nature walk to go on after lunch, so Goku figured he
would have some time to talk to Shinji.
A pair of brown eyes swiveled slowly to look at the interruption. "Yes?"
"I'm Goku Takagi. How are doing?" Well, this felt strange. Not entirely
unexpected, but strange nonetheless.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look it."
"I don't?"
"You should have a little more meat on those bones, boy." Goku said with
a slight smile. Actually, Shinji was in okay shape, but Goku was fishing
desperately for an opening. The boy didn't like to say much.
"Oh."
_Greeeaaat. I've always wondered what it was like to pull teeth._
"Shinji, I'm... I feel I need to talk to you about something. It's
something I'm not supposed to talk about, at all."
"I... I don't want to." So, he suspected.
"I'm not talking about that, not yet. I am allowed to talk to you about
whatever, but it just has to be between us."
"That's what all the soldiers are for."
"Yeah, they're all over the place. Desecrating such a beautiful place.
Let's not talk about evil things, let us just enjoy this place for a
while."
Shinji looked at him curiously for a moment before answering. "Okay."
---
"I like it when you can almost see the seasons change right before you."
Goku said pleasantly. They were out on a nearby trail, military officers
moving in the brush a few hundred meters distant, the class dozens of
meters ahead, being quiet for a change.
"Yes, it's very pretty. The colors of the trees changing, the wind."
"The winds grow cold, stroke the trees, the limbs and leaves that sigh
and rustle at the change." Goku looked at Shinji. "Remind you of
anything in particular?"
"No. I've always loved places like this, out of the cities. Here where
the water is still clean and there's something worth protecting."
"That's a strange thing coming from you."
"Why?"
"A person who doesn't have much self-worth and hates what has created
him doesn't seem likely to enjoy a place like this. The line between
life and death, between vitality and decomposition is thin indeed. One
day a rabbit prancing around, eating foliage here and there, watching
the sun, the next a body, to return to the earth, to feed the other
creatures. An animal here, it gets a broken leg, it usually dies. Harsh.
A very, very harsh world."
Shinji was silent for a minute, glancing at Goku from time to time as
they walked on slowly. "Who are you?"
"The pilot of Unit-03."
Shinji froze.
---
"Why?"
"I knew how, I had the goods. Besides, there seems to be nothing I
wouldn't do to help the commander. I tell you, your father worries me a
lot, Shinji."
Shinji kept his eyes away from Goku, looking out over the blanket of
trees below them. The whole group had loosely broken up after another
fifteen minutes of hiking, where the air had gotten cold. They had
stopped around this large hill with trees up its side, but no trees at
the peak, and no trees around the base. The three instructors along with
the group had been pointing out the varying foliage and ways the animals
in the area build their habitats to cope with the situation.
"He worries you?"
"Doesn't he worry you too?"
"No. Father... he may be a bad person, but what can he do to the rest of
the world?"
Goku facefaulted. "Shinji! That man runs NERV! Do you have any idea what
he can do with three fully functioning Evas at his fingertips?!"
"Yes I do."
_Okay, stupid question_.
"And you think he's just going to get rid of the Angels. Whoever has the
guts to do what he does is either insane or has something even bigger in
the works. He knows stuff the rest of us don't. Stuff NERV will kill to
keep out of our hands."
"It's called 'Top Secret', Goku."
"Why would a man need the power to destroy this world?"
Neither had an answer. Both looked below.
The animals used the forested area for protection, hiding inside it,
forming a rough ring about the main hill. Since no predators had any
interest in going up over a hill merely to traverse the distance across
the small valley, the mostly stayed away from the area unless hunting.
And if they smaller animals were flushed out of cover, they could move
in a ring, always one step ahead of their pursuers.
"Maybe.... Maybe it's just the way things are."
---
The darkness was all-inclusive, dominating, inescapable.
KIHL: Are you truly aware of the price of failure, Ikari?
SEELE-2: You should have been removed from your position long ago.
SEELE-3: Mistakes do not go unforgiven in front of this council.
IKARI: I see nothing wrong with my decision. Shortly, all that we have
prepared for will come to pass.
SEELE-6: You are treading thin ice, Ikari.
KIHL: We do not tolerate LIES!
SEELE-4: Be ready, Ikari. Be ready for when the time is at hand.
SEELE-2: When out time is at hand.
IKARI: I will.
The monoliths vanished almost as one, leaving only Kihl and Ikari.
KIHL: I sincerely hope so, Ikari.
Then the commander was alone. Silence reigned for short seconds.
IKARI: No need to worry.
---
"I don't believe it!" Asuka yelled, Rei staring at her... not really
caring. Perhaps the volume level hurt, perhaps it was just some dust.
Either way, she blinked cutely while Asuka continued her rant. "That...
that... IDIOT had the gall to just go running off into the wild blue,
leaving US here to pick up after him. And all so he could TALK to
SHINJI?!"
Rei didn't say anything as she continued cleaning the chalkboard of the
schoolroom. Her and Asuka had drawn duty that afternoon, and Asuka was
making use of the extra time by being noisy and throwing things around a
lot. Anyone else would say she was just being obnoxious, but Rei didn't
seem to mind, save for ducking the occasional desk that missed it's
mark.
"You are required to stack the desks to take up a minimum of space in
the classroom."
German curses and more loud banging noises ensued.(3)
---
Far away from the city, in the dark in their room, Shinji and Goku were
having their final discussion on the matter. Over the course of the last
three days, the pair had talked about a great many things, the Evas
being only one point of conversations that dragged on for hours. Soon,
Goku would be leaving. NERV wanted him back, he was going. The NERV
Security officers outside would escort him back to HQ for a debriefing.
"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Asked Shinji.
"No, but what else am I gonna do?"
Shinji didn't trust his father, didn't know his father, hated the Evas,
and definitely didn't trust NERV. Seeing another kid like him... another
young face, another smile, another person of friendly words walk away
from him and go back to his... to his father and that stupid
organization.
Go back to the Evas.
Go back to NERV.
"Goku?"
"Yes?"
Go back to piloting.
Go back to killing Angels.
"Are... were." Shinji paused and took a deep breath. "No. Are you afraid
of piloting Eva?"
Go back to maiming your friends.
Go back to being abandoned by the only person that should still care
about you.
"Always, Shinji."
"Then how do you do it?"
'Because I had a use for you.'(4)
"I tell myself this is it. There is no other choice now. My mind has
already been made up be me. I do it regardless of what else I feel
because I had the freedom to choose."
"You force yourself to because you already chose?"
'... I had a use...'
"Why else? I like working on Evas. Usually. I do my job nicely. No one
really minds, unless I get upset. Things have been... they've just been
weird lately. I'm surviving. I keep telling myself I chose to do this.
"It hurts just a little bit less when I do." Goku hunched over, his
personal belongings already packed in a bag at his feet. He seemed to be
trying to melt into the seat.
'use'
_Why do people do this to themselves and other?_
Shinji looked Goku.
_This is madness..._
Goku, shaking like a leaf, holding his own shoulders. Trying to be
strong against whatever demon was eating him from the inside.
_What's happening to us?_
'Because I had a use for you.'
_Father._
---
"NERV appreciates your cooperation." Said the crisply uniformed Security
Technician.
The young woman nodded politely, then the two bowed to one another.
Letting another kid in class like he was a secret agent inserted behind
enemy lines was bar none the strangest thing the teacher had ever seen,
but then again, NERV was always a little off in her book.
They walked up the path to the quarters where Ikari and Takagi were
staying.
"They should be ready."
The officer nodded and knocked on the door, three precise raps on the
solid metal construction.
"I'm ready." Said a voice from inside. After a second, Goku stepped out,
his bag held in one hand. Shinji was standing just inside with an usual
expression on his face. Goku turned to face Shinji. "I promise."
Shinji nodded, and Goku closed the door as he stepped outside.
---
End.
Okay, first some quick notes. Mostly for fun, as real notes will be
separate once the story is complete.
(1)Or it would be, if Shinji wasn't still up in the woods or...
wherever.
(2)Let's just see who can guess what this refers to...
(3)I don't know even a modicum of German. Asuka wouldn't really damage
anything, or hurt Rei, especially on school property. She's confused,
and making her anger known because anger is what she knows best, and she
feels anger gives her control of her fears.
(4)Just watch Evangelion, 'k?
2/5/00
Chapter 6: When Was the Last Time You Said Goodbye?
---
Weeks passed, and Tokyo-3 was repaired.
Goku had once seen a time-lapse film of a hotel under construction.
Clouds whipped by overhead like speeding trucks, people zipped from one
spot to the next like mad bees, and a building slowly grew from piles of
raw materials heaped like ashes around the base of the construction
site. He stood at the small window in his apartment once every day as a
building nearby was repaired, watching the pockmarks grow smaller, like
healing wounds.
Eva-sized footsteps made indentations large enough for a clothing store
to set up shop. Down the street, an entire apartment complex was being
rebuilt from the ground up. He had heard the original was some 200
kilometers away, found spread across a hill to the southeast. He stood
there everyday for almost hour, just wondering what it would be like to
see the full effects of the Angel attacks on time-delay film.
First there would be the long periods of peace and normal movements of
the little dots of people going from point A to point B and doing
important things at one side and nothing in between. There would sit the
school day after day, inhaling and exhaling students like some great
mythological beast sleeping under the peaceful village peoples' homes.
Then, the terrifyingly brief explosions of combat that turned hundred of
square meters of the city into piles of rubble and shapeless corpses of
buildings. Imagine the body expand in a single second of time, the
destruction striking with incredible power. Imagine, the cross-shaped
explosions of light leaving only afterimages on his scared eyes.
Imagine what it looked like.
Growing. Changing.
Dying.
On the day all major construction was complete, an eerie silence settled
over NERV. Goku was afraid to drop a pin in his 'office' - a mere
formality among formalities - while he waited out the veil of static
events. Afraid, perhaps, to shatter the delicate silence of peace while
disbelief was suspended.
No Angel attack yet. No fifteenth harbinger of doom? So be it.
'Hurry up and wait' was a military motto he'd heard somewhere before.
Story of his life right now.
Just wait.
---
Morning came to the Katsuragi household; silent, early, and terribly
bright. Beams of photons sliding across the walls, counted movement by
the hours to the sounds of heavy construction from kilometers away.
Misato groggily drug herself out of bed, through a pile of dirty
laundry, and finally into the bath, where she realized she forgot to
disrobe. After another half-hour and three beers, she looked ready to
face the day.
For a moment, she stopped by Shinji's old room, left just as he had left
it, except for dusting. She glared at the closed door.
It didn't make her feel better.
"Asuka! Are you awake yet?"
_Never thought I'd have to be woken up by..._
Five minutes later, Asuka came stalking out of her room, primly dressed
for school, bookbag in hand.
"Oh."
"Good morning Misato." The utterly flat tone was a new one.
"Morning, Asuka."
"I'm going to school."
Well, that was obvious, but the lack of... well, from the looks of it,
Asuka shouldn't even have a pulse. This was really not cool.
_I wonder what's been happening to her at school. Whatever it is, it
just keeps getting worse. She doesn't talk to anybody anymore._
Asuka quickly grabbed what passed for breakfast at Misato's, a fairly
burnt piece of toast and some orange juice, and ate it thoroughly.
Before leaving without further word.
"Asuka?"
"Quaak."
"I know Pen Pen. I'm worried too."
Pen Pen gave Misato and odd look.
---
Klaxons blared, warning sirens filled out the spaces of silence in NERV,
and things were back to normal.
_Not._
"We have a blue pattern, 20 kilometers northwest. We're reading a
massive energy buildup, some kind of electrical surge!"
"Did we get any warning? The JSSDF?!" Barked Fuyutsuki.
"Nothing!" Yelled Shiegeru. "It was just nothing one minute, then the
next, this!"
"Great." Muttered the sub-commander under his breath.
---
Misato was in her office when the alert started, Goku was in the cage,
and Rei and Asuka were at school. Within a matter of minutes, all three
pilots were settled securely in their Evas.
Which was a good thing when the ground shook from the Angel's first
demonstration of it's main weapon.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!" Misato yelled as she regained her footing.
"Something big!" Shiegeru paused. "JSSDF observation post 4-4-8 reports
that the top of Mt. Fuji is... gone? It's gone?! Whadda mean, 'gone'?!!"
"Aoba?"
"The top of Mt. Fuji has just been blown to pieces!"
Three full seconds of silence followed.
"How?"
Ritsuko looked at something on Maya's panel, touching her fingers to the
keys in a blur. "Some kind of super-accelerate mass. Like a railgun.
However the Angel did it, it hurled a chunk of earth nearly forty meters
in diameter at the top of Mt. Fuji. Not only is the top of the mountain
gone, but the piece was still tracking radar. It splashed down about 150
kilometers to sea."
"You mean it went THROUGH the mountain?!"
"That is exactly what I am saying, Misato." Ritsuko replied.
Things were happening too fast, way to fast. Three pilots ready for
action, and Angel out in the woods that could shatter all of Tokyo-3's
defenses without getting anywhere near the city, and one that had just
wiped out a large portion of what remained of Japan's pride landmark.
Well now...
"Are we launching or not?" Came Asuka's voice over the comm.
"In a second. Hyuuga, where is the Angel? Do we have its location?"
"Right here, Major."
"Forward it to the pilots."
"Yes ma'am."
"Rei, Goku, Asuka. We're going to attack it now. One more good shot and
Tokyo-3 will be toast. Ready?"
"Affirmative, base."
"I'm ready."
"I am ready."
"EVA LAUNCH!!!"
"I think my brakes are sticking!"
"Shut up, Goku!" Ritsuko yelled.
"Dumpkov."
---
Twin masters of death and destruction, shaped as humans and a million
times more powerful, Evangelion Unit-02 and 03 shot into the sky from
the speed the new launchers gave them. With a pair of mighty crashes,
they slammed into the ground like meteors, kicking up clouds of dust and
flakes of concrete like an exploding bomb.
They quickly secured weapons as Unit-00 came up in the next launcher,
the three forming a triangle of sorts and heading for the forested area
where the Angel was hiding.
It was big. Big in the sense that an ocean liner fit to carry a crew of
Evas would be big. Big and like a slug, with stubby legs and scaly green
skin.
"I don't believe it. Godzilla's pet blob." Remarked Asuka.
"Maybe it's his dog."
Rei remained silent.
"Attack it cautiously, we don't know exactly what kind of weapons it
has." Came Misato's voice from the comm speakers.
Goku paused to look over his - er, Unit-03's shoulder to the abbreviated
Mt. Fuji. "Don't know, huh? I'd like to hear some information." He said.
"Don't worry, Misato. We have it under control."
Goku realized he was wasting time. "Right."
Unit-03 raised it's sword, Unit-02 readied it's Galive, and Unit-00
hefted a nice pallet rifle. The three charged. An AT-Field snapped into
place, Asuka tried for the attack and Goku bounced away. Rei let lose a
volley of shells that had no visible effect as Asuka moved back,
covering herself with her Spear.
"Tough bastard." Said Goku.
"Then let's soften him up." Suggested Asuka.
And the battle was joined.
Rei kept her distance, but remained mobile, her unerringly accurate
shot's wearing down the Angel slowly as it was forced to keep it's AT-
Field up constantly. Every weakness was sighted by Asuka or Goku, and
one would cover the other while an attack was made.
Slash, slash, dodge, move, link, query, attack, cover, cover, block.
Everything flowed so smoothly, yet try as they might, none of the Evas
could gain any ground. On the flip side, the Angel was unable to fire
it's own weapon behind it's AT-Field at point-blank range, so a minor
trade off was made as the three wildly painted shapes and one behemoth
danced the dance of death, blow by blow.
Attack, dodge, slash, attack, attack, attack-
"GOKU! Get outta my way!"
"WHAT?!"
Unit-02 flew past Unit-03 like it was standing still and threw it's
force behind the Spear, actually bending the AT-Field back from the
sheer force. Goku got behind Asuka and 'caught' her Eva as it went
ground-ward, minus cord.
"This isn't working!"
"Then what do you suggest we hit him with?" Shouted Asuka as she watched
the numbers in her plug tick off what time remained for her in battle.
"I dunno. Let me see if I can get a cup of good tea."
"You're just full of it."
"Pilots! We're sending extra pallet guns your way!"
"No time!" Rei dropped her empty rifle and grabbed Goku's sword. Goku
had nabbed an ax from somewhere, and the two were making an assault run
at the Angel, even as they saw the front end of it start to glow.
"You morons!"
"Rei! Goku! STOP!" Misato shouted.
"You. Are. Going. Down!" Goku came charging full-out, screaming with
everything he had, ax poised above the Eva's head, ready to cleave the
Angel into two equally dead halves.
---
Back at the commander center, even the air conditioning couldn't cut
through the tense heat of battle. The humidity climbed as the crew
watched in horror as everything NERV had was put into merely distracting
the Angel long enough to keep it from leveling Tokyo-3 and dropping into
Terminal Dogma like a meteor.
"I'm getting another energy pulse!"
"How strong is it?!"
"Not very strong. It's like the Angel wants to fire a warning shot."
"What?"
---
Rei felt Unit-00 being crushed under the weight of Goku's Unit-03, with
him screaming something about waterfowl.
Asuka's face went white, her next insult against Goku's battle tactics
dying on her lips as she saw the Angel rear up like a cobra - albeit a
very fat cobra - preparing to strike. She then did something totally
unexpected. She did the smart thing and got the hell out of the way.
---
Misato could have sworn she felt her jaw bounce off the metal floor of
the Command Center as the slug-like fifteenth Angel reared up and fired
a shot at Asuka - or where Asuka was, by the time it fired. What came
out was not a ball of energy, but simply an enormous lump of Earth.
Rock, mostly. Lots of it.
A rock that size, fired fast enough, could very well blow the top off of
Mt. Fuji.
A rock that size, at a moderate velocity, could flatten Tokyo-3.
A rock that size, given proper aiming, could punch right through all 22
layers of armor and deep into NERV before coming to a halt.
"And this a warning shot?" Breathed Misato, amazed at what she had just
missed.
---
Asuka was recovering her spear when Misato cut in over the voice link.
She was still a little shaken, so she didn't hear what Misato said
immediately.
"Come again?"
"Change of plans, Asuka."
"What do I do?"
"... we don't know yet. The positron cannon might be worth a try,
nothing you guys have tried so far has even put a dent in it."
"I'm aware of that, Misato. Where are the others?"
"About 50 meters away. We're going to pull back."
"Pull back!!!" Asuka screamed. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
"That's what we're trying to prevent, Asuka. STAND DOWN, that's an
order!"
"No way! Goku? Are you mobile?"
"I'm on the chems, but okay."
"The what?"
"Batteries."
"Okay. Are you ready to rock this sucker?"
"Finally asked for help, huh?"
"GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"
Goku looked up. Asuka looked up. Rei considered running.
This time the Angel was fully charging up. Not the usual glow, it was
like the feeling of a supernova getting ready to go bang, energy
invading every pore of the pilots' bodies, the certainty of death. Asuka
gripped the spear and did a quick battlefield analysis.
Rei was too far away, unarmed. Goku was next to her, but also unarmed,
having lost his ax. That made Asuka the only one with a weapon.
She could try attacking while it was firing, it must have to power down
the AT-Field to fire off a shot like that...
Decision made, she reset her footing, concentrating. No AT-Field!
Nothing! Nothing at all!
This was her chance.
And Goku was in her damn way again.
"MOVE IT!!!"
It was already too late.
Goku was right in front of her, in front of the Angel, in between the
both of them, clasping both hands in front of his Eva in some kind of
martial arts move. She was faintly aware of a rising yell, something
primal with almost animalistic fury.
The energy was still building, the shot only a split second away.
---
"Goku's after the Angel? What's he doing!"
"They're your pilots, major!"
"And I told them to scoot!"
"It's preparing to fire!"
"Unit-03's AT-Field is condensing!"
"What?"
"Goku's synch ratio is over 90%!"
_Dear God, what are you trying to do, boy?_ Thought Misato, staring at
the form on the screen.
"Firing!"
---
Asuka could feel it coming, like a shadow under a shadow, like death
coming into the light. She had thought she could feel what kind of
destruction this Angel was capable of.
Nope.
Not a chance.
"GOKU!!!"
The blast blinded her instantly, only the feeling of the ground quaking
beneath her feet and the sickening sense of her skin being burned off by
the shear force of the wind. No fire touched her senses, only the
overwhelming storm of destruction that felt like it wanted to reach out
and engulf her...
Take her...
She fought. She resisted.
She tried to come up with reasons to go on living.
And before she could find even one...
She saw.
Or more precisely, didn't see.
No Unit-03.
---
The red rage that had clouded her vision finally lifted and Asuka found
herself standing in the smoldering crater in the middle of the Angel's
remains. For a moment, Asuka's mind was unwilling to recall any recent
events. In her mind's eye, Asuka saw the first time she met Toji and
Kensuke and Shinji and Misato. Then she saw the Angel attacking the UN
fleet. Finding out her new home was with Misato and Shinji. Pen Pen's
antics one fine Saturday morning.
Image after image flashed in her mind, some of the best and many of the
worst, recounting everything from her first meeting Shinji up to meeting
(Goku)
that engineer for the first time. What was
(Goku Takagi)
his name?
She gazed about the Angel-blood strewn battlefield. _Must've been some
fight._ Asuka thought. She looked down in her Eva's hand, which felt
oddly heavy. In it, she clasped her spear,
(Pain)
and suddenly
(kill)
everything came back all at once.
(kill KILL KILL!!!)
They were unable to neutralize it's AT-Field no matter what they did. No
time to attack effectively. A power drain lowered the field the instant
it attacked. She was right there
(Dead, Asuka.)
when the Angel turned to her, ready to fire, Unit-03 rising from the
ground like an ascending God, then everything went black - or white.
(He's dead.)
And she came to and grabbed her weapon,
(gone. He's gone forever.)
cursing all the world for it's unfairness. Cursing all the world for
pain she had been put through,
(Revenge!)
for taking away Goku,
(REVENGE!)
for taking away her mother.
(KILL!!!)
And she knew. She remembered.
The Angel was charging up for another shot. The AT-Field lowered when it
prepared to fire. Asuka was ready to attack, Goku was unarmed. It was
aiming for her.
It was aiming for her, and for them all.
Then Goku took his stand, already having saved Rei, he stepped into the
line of fire. Preparing to use Unit-03 as a shield. Preparing to save
Tokyo-3. Preparing to save her, despite all she had done to him.
Selflessly, without shame or recourse. Taking her chance to kill the
Angel?
Just saving her hide?
The Angel fired. Ka-Boom. The Angel
(DIE!!!)
fired and she blacked out. She came to, grabbed her spear, and ordered
Rei to neutralize it's remaining AT-Field so she could
(KILL!!!)
kill it. It was injured, helpless, ready to go, but not without a bang.
She remembered asking headquarters what had happened to Unit-03 while
she helped Rei put down the Angel's field.
(It killed him!)
Headquarters radioed back to say that Unit-03 was gone.
(Bastard!)
Completely, totally, gone.
Eva, Unit-03 had been vaporized by the Angel's blast.
(I'll get you!!!)
Goku was dead.
(KILL!!!)
Then all hell broke loose.
Most of the Angel was missing as the blast had removed a rather large
portion of it. It's core lay exposed in the sun that penetrated the dust
cloud around them.
She lost it then.
Screaming like a banshee, Asuka launched herself through the non-
existent AT-Field, and slashed the core neatly in two. Not content to
just see it die, Asuka wanted the Angel gone. Gone worse than Goku.
Wiped completely from existence. She would not rest until there was
nothing left of that... that... that abomination.
(Goku... how could you?)
After nearly hundred slashes of her spear, Asuka snapped out of her
blind rage to see what she had done.
The Angel was dead.
Totally dead.
Deader than anything else...
(Except for...)
The remaining pieces of the Angel - very small pieces - lay strewn about
the almost lunar landscape as Asuka remembered - no, heard those word's
Goku had spoken to her only a few days ago...
(Holding it in doesn't help it go away... sometimes you just have to
let go...)
And he was right.
She didn't hold it in this time. Right now she didn't feel like she
could hold anything in.
Then Asuka Langly Sohryu did something strange. Asuka Langly Sohryu did
something she promised herself she would never do again.
Asuka Langly Sohryu cried.
She heard Rei weeping too, so quietly across the radio. She was so
drained. A weak 'Shut up' was all she could manage.
---
End.
2/17/00
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. v0.9
by Jared Waddell :
rick_spiff@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: (I hate doing this, but it is for good, not evil)
characters and such are copyright Gainix/EVA. And no, the Goku in this
story is NOT Goku from DBZ, it's just an easy name to remember.
Here things are finally laid to rest, questions silenced forever.
*WARNING:Not much. If you've survived so far, this should be a piece of
cake. But then again, it is sooo EVA right now...*
And please, please, don't kill me...
Chapter 7: Kamikazi?/We Bury Our Dead...
---
Misato looked out the window of the main command vehicle, eyeing the
wreckage that was once a stretch of peaceful forest at the edge of
Tokyo-3. From the explosion's center, a massive crater had been formed
in the ground, one large enough to almost be a small lake (like NERV
needed another one of those). Strangely enough, apart from that mess and
a certain missing portion of Mt. Fuji, nothing else was damaged.
Good on one hand, because damage was a bad thing unless it happened
exclusively to the Angels, bad on the other hand because Units 02 and 00
had sustained no damage. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
Not one scratch.
Oh, there was minor wear and tear from landing on the ground repeatedly,
and Asuka's power cable had been severed just before... before the
explosion. But even though Unit-03 had been all but totally vaporized,
there weren't even scorch marks on the other two Evas.
Good, because Rei and Asuka were okay, physically.
But bad, because Goku was not okay.
Misato's had tightened on chair she was leaning against, her knuckles
turning white from the strain of trying to tear the cushion out while
forcing back her tears. First Shinji had come so close to this, then
Toji had barely survived being crushed in the entry plug of the very
same black Evangelion.
Now...
Now they had a dead pilot.
That was the odd thing. Despite all that the pilots had been through,
they were okay - in some sense. Goku Takagi would forever be marked as
their first loss.
And what a loss. Against the most powerful Angel they had faced thus
far, he had made the ultimate sacrifice for victory, laying down his own
life to save Asuka and grace her with the opening necessary to finish
off the Angel.
_Why?_
_Why did this have to happen?_
_Commander Ikari will have an explanation. The bastard always does._
Misato continued staring out the window, no emotion on her face, as she
let her thoughts flow unhindered for a moment. Considering the
possibilities...
_Did he know this was going to happen?_
_And where the hell is Shinji?_
_Commander..._
Her eyes started the glisten with the wetness of emotions long kept at
bay, the stark fear of losing another friend, the dull thud of another
comrade going to far, the painful ping of another soul lost in the
fight. She had to keep telling herself it wasn't senseless. Wasn't
senseless. Had to save the world.
Had to save the world.
Had to.
Didn't have any other choice.
_Why?_
_Why must these children do it?_
_Why must those so young bear the greatest burden?_
The roasted plains gave no answer.
---
Asuka slid Unit-02 back into its containment cage with a small sigh.
Things were quiet around her, too quiet. Her Unit-02 had hardly
sustained any damage at all, and the Angel had been completely defeated,
but she felt empty inside. It was the only thing she
_could_ feel that
made any sense.
Was this death? An image of non-being, only thought observing action?
Nothing seemed real, it all just ran together like water colors. The red
of Unit-02, the red of her plugsuit. The off-orange of LCL and matching
jumpsuits of the technical crew. All just colors without meaning,
sliding and skimming around her, liquid on liquid, only flashes of light
in her spirit.
Was she sad?
Was she truly upset at what had happened?
He was dead, and all she could feel was a blank nothingness, like
someone had thrown a switch and turned reality into a colorless,
pointless play were nothing anyone did made any sense.
She pressed the disengage button for the cockpit door after the plug
came to a spot and paused to cough up the LCL that lay resident in her
lungs. When she brought her reddened eyes up, she saw Rei standing on
the catwalk, staring at her.
Red eyes, blue hair, staring.
Blue plugsuit, pale skin, staring.
Emotionless face, expressionless, not angry and not serene, staring.
Red eyes without color, staring.
Eyes without emotion, without caring.
Staring and staring and staring and staring and staring.
Did she even care?
Did she even care about what happened?
Did she?
_Do you care, you doll? Do you understand what happened to him? He's
gone! Don't you understand?! Do you?!! DO YOU?!!_
Before she knew what was happening, her slender hands were wrapped
around Rei's throat, her blood thundering in her ears with her voice
screaming madness. The words roared against her uncaring ears, with Rei
just staring back serenely, her chin held delicately over Asuka's
strangling hands, wrapped around her neck.
"YOU BITCH!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! HE'S GONE! HE'S GONE AND HE'S
NEVER COMING BACK! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND YOU WORTHLESS
_DOLL_?!!"
"Asuka."
"He's
_DEAD_! HE'S DEAD! HE'S DEEEAAAD!!! HE'S NOT COMING BACK AND HE'S
DEAD AND GONE AND GONE AND DEAD FOREVER AND NEVER COMING BACK AND-"
"Asuka."
Wrong.
Rei didn't call her Asuka. Never talked to her like a friend. Never
talked to anyone like a friend. Always aloof and like a doll, uncaring.
Rei didn't look happy or sad or angry.
And didn't have friends, did she?
Rei also never cried. Never opened her eyes and stared back, looking for
forgiveness.
Never looked sad.
Asuka let go suddenly, as if her hands might suddenly catch fire from an
unseen source, an anger so great it was hidden perfectly from Rei's face
as the vast ocean hides death right in front of man's face.
Perfect, perfect Red eyes locked on blue.
"You're heavy."
Asuka jumped up, a blush hinting her face, her breathing returning to
normal bit by bit. Around them, the technicians who did... well, all
sorts of important stuff, were going about their business as though
nothing unusual had happened. Asuka felt embarrassed about that
emotional display, especially in public, and against Rei, just staring
at her, helpless-
_Helpless?_
Asuka blinked. Her mind was, for the moment, firmly locked away from any
realization that Goku was gone, and she stopped to concentrate on what
it was that she sensed from Rei. After all, if she could feel it, it had
to be important. Rei wasn't easy to read. Hell, she'd give a stone
Buddha a run for its money.
_She is helpless? Strong, stoic wondergirl who's so perfect and pure and
protected the commander and practically all of NERV? She's helpless and
afraid?_
And lo, among the steel plating of the Eva cages, still wet with LCL,
cold from the evaporating fluid and shaking from adrenaline shock, the
only two remaining Eva pilots found a common ground.
They knew they were afraid.
With Goku dead, it could happen to anyone now. Furthermore, they were
all expendable. All of them.
Even the precious little doll.
"I'm going to clean off. Coming, Wondergirl?"
Rei nodded. Whatever Asuka had seen was now burned into her mind.
Pretending it never happened wouldn't help anything, so she left it
there, for a day when she could look back on it and make sense.
A picture given words.
---
A young boy stood at the deck of the Tokyo-3 rail, looking up at the
electronic signs that pointed out what box of metal was going where.
He remembered a time not so long in the past when he stood here for the
first time, in wonder, in fear, watching the vacant platform like a
wounded animal and wondering what was to become of him. Time had passed,
and Shinji had admitted that time had indeed changed him. Perhaps it had
changed him even more than he was admitting, but he couldn't draw the
strength to argue with himself.
Goku Takagi.
Unit-03.
_Why is there so much death here?_
A lone bird made a noise in the distance. Not a song, but a cry of sound
barely heard over the moving bodies on the busy train platform.
Shinji stood in mute salute to the sad, waning cry.
_Why did I come back?_
And with a slump of his shoulders, Shinji Ikari turned and headed back
into the heart of a town he once called home.
Tokyo-3.
---
The Commander put down the phone as Dr. Akagi walked into his office,
the voice at the other end lost in a silent electronic click.
"Yes?"
"The pilot of Unit-03 left these in his apartment." She held aloft a
this sheaf of plain looking documents. She was back in her lab coat
after 42 hours of non-stop work trying to find a trace of Unit-03 under
the huge amount of Angel bits spread over the countryside. Her eyes were
ringed with dark circles from lack of sleep, burning like a pair of hot
embers as she gazed at the commander.
"What are they?"
"A Will and a personal request relating to funeral arrangements." She
came forward with the clicking high-heeled shoes and dropped the papers
at Ikari's desk formally.
He poured over them for a minute, not even mindful of the scientist
nearly falling asleep on her feet. "I take it you came to request
clearance for this?"
"It was asked of me, Sir."
"Very well, have Fuyutsuki check them off. The service will be held
tomorrow. I will be in New Yokosuka harbor tomorrow."
"Understood." The doctor left quickly, with the papers bound for
Kozouu's signature.
Ikari picked up the phone again.
"That's bullshit." Came the voice from the other end. "Are you going to
send an android in your place?"
"Appearance being what they are, have to kept up." The commander replied
smoothly.
"So it seems. I'll be at the funeral."
There was a final click.
The commander never figured out how the hell that man monopolized the
electronics of the base like he was dealing with three-year-olds, but he
did help plug security leaks. At least he was useful for now, as NERV's
most secretive officer, a man not even SEELE had the full scoop on.
A necessary evil.
---
The weather had chilled for the day, under a light cloud cover. Under
his black suit and combat armor and necessary weapons, James Rahn
thought it was rather pleasant.
Only a handful of NERV personnel had shown up for the funeral, not even
the media knowing the exact details of the service. It was American, but
an oddity that could be granted, given the circumstances.
Such as the pilot being vaporized while protecting his friends and the
rest of the world.
He stood at the back, hidden behind a brutally short haircut and a set
of mirror-reflective shooter's sunglasses. He fit the part of an
expensive bodyguard to perfection, though he was not hired to protect
the gathering people from assassin's bullets. He was just watching,
partially for his own amusement, partially because something deep inside
told him that it would important for to witness this.
Just as it was important to see his son off the continent.
Whatever was going to happen had finally been set in motion by the death
of one fourteen year old boy. But Gendo Ikari was holding all the keys
to this mystery. James intended to find out just what the hell was going
on, as he felt he was being left in the dark (again).
Only the Reverend spoke, rendering Japanese words that James knew like
the back of his hand and had heard far too many times. As the silence
settled in around the small crowd, James took a moment to reflect on
what had brought him here, the path he had walked and fought down for
most of his life. At the age of 43, the purpose of such a life still
evaded him and here he was playing secret agent out in the middle of the
world's third largest graveyard.
Paying his respects to a boy he hardly knew.
A Goku Takagi.
An engineer, once like he was.
_Time to stop running, James. Time to stop hiding. Maybe, just maybe,
this is the last time._
Maybe.
"Amen." The group chorused.
_Isn't that the truth._
---
End.
The end? REALLY?
Yes, this is the end of Eva Wasn't Built in A Day. Feel it's a
cliffhanger? That's because it is, in a way. A sequel is in the works,
an even more demeaning and violent look at the world of Evangelion -
this time during the end days.
This whole story will be undergoing a very detailed re-write in a year
or so, about the time its sequel is released. Until then, enjoy this
work, feel free to distribut free of charge in all electronic formats,
and watch making hardcopies, it's pretty long.
Of course, all characters save for Goku Takagi and James Rahn are
copyrighted by Gainix studio and no copyright infringement is intended.
James Rahn is from the novel-in-progress, Sidestep, copyright Jared
Waddell.
Oh, and happy new mellenium.
Later!
2/22/00
---
This story is archived at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Subway/1888/