I think I'm gonna try and slowly work my way out of that massive hole I
dug myself in to with all those crazy plot twists^_^;;;;;
If you missed previous parts/chapter this series/fanfic, you can find it
on my webpage at http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/
Enjoy^_^
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
"Yeah," Asuka said, trying to catch her breath.
"My God, did we just fall all the way from up there?" Ritsuko had this
very
shocked look on her face, still trying to comprehend what had just
happened.
Everything felt surreal now.
"Yeah," Misato said.
"Shinji!" they heard Asuka's scream.
Misato and Ritsuko looked over toward where Shinji was and notice him
lying in
the middle of the crater, unconscious, his legs bent at awkward angle. It
didn't
take a genius to realize that both of Shinji's legs was broken.
"Shinji!!!"
<new stuff 12/10>
Misato kneeled down by Shinji and checked his pulse.
"I-is he okay?" Ritsuko asked, concern in her voice.
Asuka felt like she was going to vomit from seeing Shinji's legs in
such a sorry state. Legs don't bend like that but Shinji's sure did. All
she could do was turn her head away in shock, her stomach curdling.
"H-his pulse is very faint," Misato said.
"We've got to get him medical attention," Ritsuko said.
"Of course we do," Misato said, "His body's going to go in to shock if
he isn't treated right away,"
"How? Where?" Asuka asked, steeling herself, wanting to help out in
whatever way she can.
"We surrender," Misato said, gently taking one of Shinji's arms and
throwing it over her shoulders, "We bring Shinji back to Nerv. That way,
at least he could be given the medical attention that he needs,"
"W-what makes you think that they will?" Ritsuko asked, gently taking a
hold of Shinji's other arm and throwing it over her shoulder,
"Considering what Shinji's done, they might actually try and execute him.
Also, what do you think going to happen to us? Considering what we did is
nothing short of treason, us being executed is probably the best case
scenario of we go back,"
Misato said nothing. Ritsuko definitely had a point. They would most
definitely be executed. It was surprising how they weren't executed
earlier before. What made it even worse was Asuka had been innocently
dragged in to all of this.
What were they to do?
"Ugh," Shinji moaned.
This startled both girls as they turned their attention toward Shinji.
They gently placed his back down on the ground at the bottom of the
crater they were in and knelt down beside him.
"Shinji?" Misato said in a soft voice.
Shinji rubbed at his forehead, "Ow, my head,"
"Shinji, don't do anything," Misato told him, "You need to stay still
and not move. You're badly hurt,"
"You're telling me," he said, "I think I have a concussion from when my
head busted against my knees when I landed. How long was I out?"
He got up to his feet, a bit disoriented. He staggered a few times as
he tried to regain his balance, his legs seemingly having trouble
working.
Misato and Ritsuko and Asuka started in absolute shock.
"How long was I out?" he asked, rubbing his head. He felt like he had a
migraine. Oddly enough, the throbbing in his head disappeared after a
second leaving him wondering if he had just imagined it.
"What the hell?!" Misato gasped, "H-how is this possible?"
He looked down at his feet and moved his right foot around. It seemed
to work fine now, "That's funny, I thought I twisted my ankle when I
landed after jumping out of Unit-02 but I guess I didn't,"
The then turned toward Misato.
Shinji turned toward Misato, "What do you mean by that? How is it
possible what?"
"Y-you're standing," Ritsuko commented, "T-that shouldn't be possible!
Both your legs are broken!"
Shinji's eyes widened, "What?!"
He looked down at his legs, worried about what he was going to see. He
remembered watching on televisions it sometimes took a minute or so
before the body had a chance to realize just how badly hurt it was.
His legs looked perfectly fine thought.
He moved both of them around. He felt no pain and they looked like they
worked fine.
"Are you sure?" he asked, "I feel fine,"
All three girls were in a state of speechlessness. They were unable to
comprehend how it was possible for Shinji to get up considering the state
he was in. His legs were broken! It didn't take a genius to see and
realize that. How come Shinji didn't seem to realize that as well? Some
people did have a high pain-threshold, but no matter how high the pain
threshold a person had, a person could not get up to his feet with two
broken legs. It was physically impossible.
Shinji looked skyward toward the GeoFront ceiling as he tried to assess
the situation.
"Man, things seem to have gone from bad to worse," Shinji said,
"Unit-02 somehow self-destructed,"
"Shinji," Misato said.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Your legs," Misato pointed, "They're broken! Aren't you in
excruciating pain? You should not be able to stand!"
Shinji looked down at his legs again and then back up at Misato, "No,
I'm not in pain. My legs feel fine. I could've sworn I knocked myself out
when I landed wrong but I guess it was only temporarily. Why, what
happened?"
"W-we saw your legs...and they were both broken," Ritsuko said, "You
had at least compound fractures in each leg. For you to be
standing...that's just impossible,"
"D-do you think it's because of my healing abilities?" he asked.
"How could that be? We didn't even see the healing take place," Misato
said, "You were completely out cold and your legs were obviously broken
one second. The very next second, you woke up and got up to your feet
like none of that took place,"
Shinji scratched his head, confused.
"How did you do it?" Misato asked.
"How did I do what? I dunno what I did? I didn't even know my legs were
broken," he said, "I thought I had a twisted ankle because I remembered
feeling a stinging sensation after I landed after jumping out of Unit-02,
but I guess I was mistaken,"
"T-this is completely incomprehensible," Ritsuko commented, "I don't
understand how this could possibly happen. It defies logic,"
"Look, do we hafta worry about that?" Shinji asked, "If my legs were
broken like you said, maybe my healing abilities are really starting to
kick in. The problem is that that shouldn't be the issue at the moment.
We need to regroup,"
"Oh no, we've got company," Misato commented, glancing out over the
edge of the crater where she saw over a dozen armed soldiers heading in
their direction. They looked very menacing and seemed like they had been
given direct orders to shoot on sight.
Shinji sighed, "Damn, why does it hafta always be one thing right after
another? Can't I have a least a little bit of time to gather my thoughts
before another huge obstacle is thrown my way? Jeez,"
He looked around and smirked when he saw rocks all over the crater.
"Oh well, I guess all I could do is continue to handle the problems as
they come my way, starting with these people," he muttered.
He grabbed a handful of rocks and edged up toward the top of the crater
where he threw a handful of rocks in the solders' general direction, the
randomly thrown rock hitting and incapacitating three of them easily.
Two more soldiers were incapacitated by rocks before they realized what
was going on. Because they were basically standing in an open field with
nothing but grass extending in all directions and Shinji and company
basically entrenched a good distance in front of them, the soldiers got
down in to a prone position, their weapons trained toward Shinji's
location, wanting to present the least amount of target for Shinji.
Shinji ducked back in to the crater as bullets flew overhead. Asuka
shrieked in fear as Ritsuko found herself taking cover, also very
frightened, throwing herself over the scared little girl to protect her.
Misato took her gun from her holster and nervously clutched at it,
waiting for an opening in the stream of bullets spraying overhead so she
could return fire.
Shinji placed a hand on Misato's forearm.
"W-what?" she asked.
"Just stay down," he said in a rather calm voice, "I can take care of
them. There's nothing but open field and there are plenty of rocks in
here to throw. I'm getting good at this so there's no need for you to do
anything,"
He glanced over and noticed how frightened Asuka looked as she seemed
to be crying underneath the bullets flying overhead.
"Just watch over her," he said, "She needs more help than I do,"
"O-okay," Misato said.
She scooted over toward where the cowering Asuka was and threw her body
over her to cover her and make her feel more safe.
As Shinji leaned his back against the edge of the crater and waited for
an opening in the spray of bullets flying overhead, a tear gas canister
landed right by his feet, making a thud-like noise when it landed in the
dirt and rocks.
"Oh my god! T-that's tear gas!" Misato glanced over and gasped.
Without any hesitation, Shinji leaned forward picked up the canister.
He threw it over his head and behind him. Since he knew the exactly how
far away the group was, he didn't even need to look at where he threw the
canister, knowing full well that he had put in just enough strength his
backwards lob so that the canister would land dead-smack in the middle of
that group.
He waited as the bullets suddenly stopped, the tear gas effecting
several people, before he stood up and turned around, throwing a rock and
incapacitating yet another soldier before ducking back down.
Another tear gas canister landed by his feet.
He picked it back up and lobbed it backwards toward the group of
soldiers, all from the safety of the crater. Once again, when the
canister released it gases by the soldiers, the bullets stopped shortly
as they tried to run away from the gas, allowing Shinji the opportunity
to throw two more rocks and incapacitate two more soldiers.
More bullets flew overhead. Yet another tear gas canister landed in the
crater, Shinji doing the same once again. However, this time around, when
he stood up and tried to throw a couple more rocks, bullets narrowly
missed him, forcing him to duck back down.
"They're started to catch on," Shinji muttered.
He leaned forward and grabbed several handfuls of rocks. It would only
be a matter of time before they soldiers threw a tear gas canister and
have it land a short distance away from the crater, letting the gas spew
out so it could reach the crater from a distance.
Shinji waited patiently for an opportunity. When there was a brief
moment when the bullets stopped flying overhead, Shinji stood up and
threw both handfuls of rocks in the soldiers' general direction.
As he did so, he ended up taking a round in his left shoulder. Luckily
for him, he threw enough rocks that it managed to hit all remaining
soldiers and incapacitate them.
Shinji fell back in to the crater clutching at his shoulder as blood
started pouring out, soaking his shirt red. Pain shot up and down his
left arm and chest.
"Shinji!" Misato shouted, rushing toward Shinji's side, "A-are you
okay?"
Shinji stopped squirming suddenly, only a few seconds later after he
had been shot. He rubbed at his shoulder and noticed something. The pain
had suddenly disappeared.
"What the?" he muttered.
He looked down at himself and noticed that there was a hole in his
shirt where the bullet entered his body. He opened up the front of his
shirt and looked toward his shoulder, dreading what he was going to see.
To his surprise, he saw nothing, not even a bullet hole.
"What the hell? I could've sworn I got shot," he said. He noticed the
blood on his shirt but found not wound. The pain had only lasted a
fraction of a second that it felt like it had never existed at all, that
it had all been in his mind, like the time he thought he sprained his
ankle.
His eyes widened. Maybe it wasn't his blood. Maybe it was Misato's or
Ritsuko's or Asuka's.
He glanced toward Misato and noticed that she looked fine. Ritsuko was
still covering over Asuka and hadn't moved. None of them but him seem to
have any blood on their clothes.
"A-are you all right?" Misato asked.
"I dunno? Where the hell did all of this blood come from?" he asked
curiously.
"From you," Misato said, "You got shot,"
She checked his shouldered, expecting to find a nasty bullet wound but
found nothing. This really confused her.
"What the hell's going on here?"
Shinji and the others made their way toward the tunnel that lead out of
GeoFront. Since Nerv was a hot zone, they needed to get out of there and
fast. They needed to get to some place remote and safe so they could
regroup and try and figure out what was going on. There were too many
unanswered questions that they needed have answered and therefore needed
time to surmise what was happening.
When they made it to the surface a good twenty minutes later, all three
girls were seriously winded and in dire need to catch their breaths.
Shinji seemed perfectly fine, well accustomed to running for long periods
of time. Actually, that twenty minute run up that steeply inclined tunnel
was something he would consider a warm-up than anything else.
"Let's rest," Ritsuko gasped for air, really really wishing she had
quit smoking.
"All right," Shinji said, "But we shouldn't stay too long. If we stay
in the same place too long, they'll be bound to find us. Also, keep in
mind that we've still got those tracking devices to worry about,"
"I-I'll take care of it," Ritsuko said, gasping for air, "All I need to
do is find an electronics store,"
"There's one nearby," Misato commented, breathing heavily.
"Okay," he said, "Hey, I just noticed something, whatever happened to
PenPen?"
"I dropped it off at a shelter by the outskirts of Tokyo-3 before I
tried to leave the city," Misato said, "Hopefully, if we survive this, I
can go back and pick it up,"
"True," Shinji said, "I guess after our rest, we can head for the
electronics store to solve this little problem concerning those tracking
devices. In the meanwhile, I'll be right back,"
"W-where are you going?" Asuka asked, scared as if he was leaving them
behind.
Shinji ran toward a nearby tree, "I'm just go up to the top of this
tree. I wanna get a good look at what kinda damage we're dealing with
here. Unit-02 somehow self-destructed and I wanna see just how bad it
is,"
Everyone watched in shock as Shinji jumped up and landed on a branch
around twenty feet high, proceeding to make his way up the tree, jumping
up from one branch to another until he was at the top.
At the top of the tree, Shinji got a good view of the damage. He was
shocked at what he saw. Virtually all of Tokyo-3 was gone. The crater was
so large that it stretched out almost all the way to where the sea was.
Luckily, it was just stopped a short distance from it so the water from
nearby sea wasn't flooding in to it. If that happened, water would be
rushing down in to GeoFront and would eventually flood it completely over
time. He noticed that at the bottom of the crater was the opening where
he could GeoFront.
"Damn, the explosion blew a hole all the way in to GeoFront," Shinji
commented. It put things in to perspective. If Unit-02's self-destruction
was enough to blow a decent-sized hole through the ground of Tokyo-3 and
in to GeoFront, it made him wonder how much more powerful a N2 mine was
to be able to blow up a massive gaping hole in the same fashion.
"Man, so much damage," Shinji shook his head in rather disgust.
However, he was glad there was a good chance no innocent lives were
taken, or if so, very few. Tokyo-3 was very well designed to help protect
its citizens by moving them underground. The buildings nearby the
explosion were only office buildings and had been evacuated long ago so
that the citizens could hide in shelters located in different parts of
the city.
He narrowed his eyes as he saw something sticking out of the ground by
bottom of the crater. It was the Lance of Longinus. It seems like the
Lance was indestructible, even if it had been in the hands of the
exploding Unit-02.
Looking more careful, he noticed a small pile of what looked like gray
goo right by where the Lance was. He assumed that was what was left of
the melted heat shield. There were no remains of the Angel, it having
been incinerated in the blast.
"Damn, this is so messed up," he commented, "What the heck am I gonna
do now?"
Shinji sighed as he made his way back down the tree. He needed to talk
to the others and try and figure out a plan. He couldn't help but feel at
least slightly relieved now that the Angel no more. That had been the
most immediate priority and its destruction was of the utmost importance.
Everything else, even though the result was something that made Shinji's
life astronomically more complicated, was trivial.
"Take the complications as they come along and deal with 'em one at a
time," he told himself, wondering how long he could go by that motto.
Once back on the ground, he walked up to the girls.
"Is it bad?" Misato asked first.
Shinji nodded, "Yeah,"
There was a moment of silence.
"A good portion of Tokyo-3 is gone, just gone," Shinji said with a
sigh, "Man, it feels like everything that's gone wrong did go wrong,"
"I can't believe Unit-02 was self-destructed remotely," Misato said,
recalling what she had heard, "How was that possible? I saw Ritsuko make
the appropriate changes to the program. I can vouch for her,"
Shinji sat down on the curb to sidewalk, "I have no idea how that
happened. I have no idea how many things happened. I have so many things
I wanna know the answers to but there's no one that can answer them,"
"Like what kinda questions?" Misato asked.
"Why are the Angels attacking so frequently? Why were you and Ritsuko
and I left unscathed after the Angel incinerated everything around us?
Why didn't the Angel attack us after we surfaced with Unit-02?" he
replied, "Why did Unit-02 self-destruct? How did it happen? Who did it?"
"Not to mention questions like how the heck you seem perfectly fine and
able to walk when all three of us saw your legs broken," Misato added,
"Also, how you seemed to have gotten shot but not,"
"Do you think it could be those dormant powers starting to surface?"
Ritsuko asked.
Shinji nodded, "I was thinking about that. I think that it might be
just that. That's the best I can go on,"
"Dormant powers?" Asuka wanted in on the conversation, "What are you
talking about?"
Shinji sighed, "It's a long story. I'll tell you that later,"
He rubbed at his shoulder, "If it is my powers starting to show, then
it seems like I now have some weird super fast healing ability. I have no
idea how to control it or how it works. The problem is that it doesn't
seem to prevent me from actually getting hurt. Luckily, it seems to hurt
only for a second before my powers kick in and I instantly become healed.
That could explain why I get these weird feelings like I got hurt but
only for a brief moment. It makes me wonder if I had really gotten hurt
in the first place,"
"I saw you get shot," Misato said, "That blood on your shirt should be
a good indication. You probably got shot, bled a little bit, and then
suddenly healed back up just moments after you realized you had been
shot. That's probably why you feel pain but only momentarily. You do get
hurt, but it lasts and instant and becomes nothing more than a memory
only a second or so afterwards,"
Shinji scratched the back of his head, "Well, that's probably very
likely. Of course, I'm not going to actively let myself get shot again
just to make sure that it really is true,"
"It must be," Ritsuko commented, "Your legs were broken. You were
probably unconscious just long enough that you healed up before you even
woke up,"
"I guess you have a point," he said, "I do remember momentarily
blacking out because I basically ended up kneeing myself in the head when
I landed,"
Ritsuko scratched at her chin, "Your powers seems to be surfacing at a
rapid rate. You seem to be healing instantly now instead of over time. It
also doesn't seem like you can't get knocked out for long periods of
time. That's probably why you woke up very shortly after you were knocked
out after you got caught within Nerv,"
Shinji nodded, "Y'know what? You're right. That must be the case,"
"Well, I guess that solves one question," Misato said, "Even though
that answer seems just out-of-this-world and unbelievable,"
"Unfortunately, there're a dozen other questions that still needs
answering," Shinji said, "Like why the heck Angels are attacking so
frequently,"
Ritsuko and Misato shrugged their shoulders.
"You've got me there. I haven't a clue," Misato said.
"Nor I," Ritsuko added.
Shinji sighed, "That's probably one questions I'll probably never find
out, much like why the most recent Angel didn't attack and just stayed
there and seemed to just wait for me to kill it with Unit-02"
"That brings us up to another questions. How and why the heck did
Unit-02 self-destruct?" Misato asked.
"I was sure I disabled that function," Ritsuko said, "Sure, it could be
rewritten and brought back to work once again, but there's no one in Nerv
that can do it. Maya is that only one that works with MAGI's programming,
and, although she's a really programmer, she can not find and rewrite
that code in such a short period of time,"
Shinji scratched his head, "Considering no one was in command center
when I got you guys, that left them only, what, a minute to rewrite the
program after we left. So what the heck happened?"
Everyone was silent, trying to figure that out.
"Oh my god!" Shinji's eyes widened, "I know,"
"What?" Ritsuko asked, very eager to hear Shinji's explanation.
"MAGI did it," Shinji said, "MAGI rewrote the program,"
"What?!?" Misato's eyes widened.
"That's ludicrous!" Ritsuko said.
Shinji shook his head, "No. It isn't. The problem is that you basically
hafta take it as a given with what I'm saying. In my other world,
something very similar to this happened but in reverse. Your other self
tried to self-destruct Nerv but MAGI prevented it by somehow rewriting
the program that would've done so. Remember what I said about MAGI, it
works in favor of Nerv and not us. This is because it has your mother's
personality and it chooses Gendo over us,"
Ritsuko was deathly silent.
"Let me get this straight, you're saying that MAGI did this?" Misato
asked, very skeptic.
Shinji nodded, "Yes. If you just trust me and believe that MAGI favors
Nerv over us, then you'll realize that it all makes sense. No one was
there to rewrite the program so you should assume that it was MAGI itself
that did it,"
"Do you know what you're saying?" Ritsuko asked, "You're basically
saying that MAGI is sentient,"
"It kinda is," Shinji said, "The problem was that the other version of
you didn't realize this until it's too late. Luckily, Ranma was there
when it happened and take care of things where it could've otherwise
gotten worse,"
Misato scratched her head, "I'm a bit confused here. You keep
mentioning this person named Ranma. If he's so helpful, why don't we just
wait around for him to show up and help us out? If this world moves along
in the same general path as your world, then it should be just a matter
of time before he shows up like he did for your world,"
Shinji shook his head, "No. That's not possible. Actually, I've thought
about that and gave it a consideration but it won't work that way. First
off, even if that was possible, it would probably take too much time.
Keep in mind that I'm racing the clock so time is of the essence. It also
doesn't help that I have no idea how much time I have or when he would
show up. However, that option is moot because he won't show up. That's
because I was told that he somehow escaped the path of fate meaning a
world's path and the course of events it's supposed to go through is set.
If he shows up, it totally alters that world's path. The world's path is
set without him showing up,"
"Let me get this straight," Ritsuko said, "There exist only a single
Ranma, in all of the universe and all of the worlds?"
Shinji shook his head, "No. There are several of him running around,
but its not because he was supposed to exist in those worlds. He exists
in only one timeline, one world, that being the one he's from. That is
why Ranma can go back in time and see himself, since he is basically
revisiting his own world. If he leaves that world, he won't bump in to
himself on another totally different world because, on that world, the
path and course of events were set and he takes no part in those worlds.
The problem is that when he does show up there, that path is basically
thrown right out the window,"
"What kinda guy is this Ranma?" Misato asked, "To me, it sounds like
he's the rarest person to ever exist. Sounds kinda cool,"
Shinji said, "Rarest person? I dunno, perhaps. But that's not the issue
here. The point is is that we can't wait around for the Ranma of this
world to show up like he did in my world because, much like my world,
this world's path has it where he doesn't show up. I guess my world is
the only world, through pure luck, that Ranma showed up in and helped
out,"
"If the fate of a world is set, then how come you're here?" Ritsuko
asked curiously, "It's obvious you're change this world's fate. Does that
mean you are very much like Ranma and able to change a world's path?"
Shinji scratched his head, "Hm, I never thought of it that way. I think
it might be explained because of my connection to Ranma. I was told that
my fate was changed because of Ranma. Perhaps its branching out to other
people like myself. I really dunno. That's the best guess I could come on
this based on what I was told,"
"And who told you all of this?" Misato asked.
"You may think I'm crazy, but God told me this," Shinji gave a meek
smile, "She told me this,"
Misato smirked. That was cool. God was a 'She'. Therefore, God was
female. Of course God was female. If she wasn't, chocolate wouldn't
exist.
"Anyway, we shouldn't even really talk about Ranma and all because he's
just one of the problems that I hafta worry when I go back to my world,"
Shinji said, "The problem now is going about getting to my world. I can't
go back until I get my hands on an EVA and have it take in an Angel's
core. Like I said the other day, only God can kill God. Having it assume
the core will make Unit-01 a god,"
"Man, this is all just insane," Ritsuko sighed, "I know we've heard
this before, but its just so unbelievable,"
"I never heard this stuff before," Asuka commented.
"I'll tell you about it more later," Shinji said, "I promise,"
"Okay," Asuka seemed content with that.
"Any EVA would've done fine," Shinji sighed, "What sucks now is that
Unit-02 had been destroyed and Unit-01 was reallocated to somewhere in
Germany,"
"Yeah, Ritsuko mentioned about that while we were waiting for you in
the command center," Misato commented, "That leaves us with only Unit-00.
The problem is that that before you showed up, it went berserk and is
currently inoperable,"
"What?! You're kidding me, right?" Shinji said.
Misato shook her head, "No. I'm sure you already know this, but that's
why Rei is hurt, because-"
Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose, "I know. I forgot. I forgot that
only a few days had passed on this world since I got here, to Tokyo-3. In
my world, by the time I fought this Angel, well over a month had passed.
Damn, this sucks. This timeline of everything going on is throwing
everything off. Because everything's happening so fast, that's why the
positron rifle couldn't be use. That's why Unit-00 is still being
repaired. That's why Rei is actually still in the hospital recovering.
That's why Asuka was brought here a few weeks ahead of time. Everything.
It would be so much easier if Unit-01 wasn't moved,"
"We can always try and go to Germany," Asuka commented, "If this
Unit-01 is in Germany, I can be of help,"
"How?" Shinji asked, "This is Nerv we are dealing with. Nerv in Germany
is most likely the same as Nerv over here. It still hafta deal with the
problem and task of getting my hands on it. Besides, using Unit-01 is
outta the question because after I get my hands on it, I'll only have
five minutes to take in an Angel's core. Angels only attack Tokyo-3,"
"Oh," Asuka said.
Shinji smiled softly, "It's a nice gesture though,"
"I guess all we can go by is getting Unit-00," Misato said, "Once the
next Angel attacks, we go in and steal Unit-00 and use it to take in the
core,"
"Gee, that'll be easy," Shinji laughed, slightly delusional, "We just
waltz on in to Nerv and steal Unit-00 right out from under their noses.
I'm sure they won't up their security a hundred fold after the stunt we
just pulled,"
Misato gave a meek smile, "Sorry, I guess that is easier said than
done,"
"Does Unit-00 even have a mouth to take in a core?" Shinji asked.
Ritsuko nodded, "Yes. It's hidden underneath the jaw restraints though.
It needs to be removed before-hand. Unfortunately, it's a moot situation.
Unit-00 is inoperable so it's useless to try and take it,"
Shinji sighed, "How long will it be before it's operable?"
Ritsuko said, "About a week or so. Actually, it'll be even longer since
I'm no longer a part of Nerv watching over its repairs,"
"Damn, it just gets worse and worse," he hung his head low, "Well, at
least we don't have any Angel to worry about at the moment. The problem
is that we don't know when the next one will show up,"
"We've got company," Misato commented, pointing.
Shinji looked toward where Misato was pointing and saw a small platoon
of armed soldiers emerging from the tunnel entrance, heading in their
general direction.
He suddenly realized that Misato and Ritsuko still had those tracking
devices on them that had been implanted. He had completely forgotten
about that.
"Great, just great," Shinji muttered, getting up to his feet, "This
just adds even more problems to what I'm currently having to deal with,
Bullets whizzed by him, missing him and the others. Instinctively, they
ran toward a nearby alley to take cover.
The soldiers positioned themselves a short distance away, their weapons
trained toward the alleyway opening, opening fire.
"Great! Just great!" Shinji said, "We're pinned down and I have nothing
to throw,"
An alarm sounded through the empty streets of Tokyo-3.
All four individuals recognized that alarm.
It was another Angel attack.
Shinji started laughing, delusional.
"Oh joy! More fun!"
Shinji poked a sharp point in his forearm.
He winced in pain. However, when he pulled it out, he stared in awe as
the heal instantly disappeared along with the pain. Once again, he was
left with the odd feeling that he had never even been hurt in the first
place.
"What are you doing?" Asuka asked, concerned about Shinji.
"Um, just testing something," he gave a meek smile.
Shinji had managed to get incapacitate the platoon of soldiers with
relative ease, him now finding them more a bother than anything else.
Shortly afterward, they had gone to the nearby electronics store. The
store was empty, it having been evacuated long before. Ritsuko was in the
back of the store looking for the proper equipment to build what she
considered an 'EMP bomb' that would disable the tracking devices. Misato
was with her helping out.
Shinji was by the front, on lookout in case more Nerv operatives came
to capture them, Asuka keeping him company at the moment. Besides, it was
a good time to explain everything to Asuka, she dying to know what was
going on and exactly who he was.
He went about poking himself with a sharp object as he waited, as if he
were bored.
"What are you 'testing'?" Asuka asked, wondering if Shinji was some
kind of masochist.
Shinji held his forearm forward for Asuka to inspect, "See? The wound
healed,"
"I don't get it," she scratched her head.
"Several times, I got shot," he said, "The first time around, before
you showed up in Tokyo-3, I got shot in the shoulder. It didn't heal
right away. Next, I got shot in the leg, but surprisingly, it seemed to
heal up probably a few minutes afterwards. After Unit-02 self-destructed,
I got shot in the shoulder again but it healed up even faster, within
seconds. That's why you see the blood on my shirt but, as you can see, I
have no wounds,"
"Okay, I still follow you," she said.
"Just before, when we were pinned down in the alleyway, I got hit in my
right arm," he said, "When I looked at my arm, I saw it actually heal
right before my very eyes. That led me to believe that I heal really
quickly, much quicker than before. I just poked myself and cut myself.
The moment I pulled the object out, the cut disappeared and so did the
pain. It seems like my dormant powers are starting to surface. My healing
ability is instantaneous,"
This led Shinji to wonder about Ranma. Ranma had mentioned that he used
ki to protect himself. It made Shinji wonder if that was necessarily
true. Perhaps Ranma also has some kind of super-fast healing ability that
no one really noticed. This was because Ranma did look like he felt pain
before he seemed to dismiss it and go about doing whatever he was doing.
He thought about the time Ranma stuck a finger in his forearm. It
hadn't healed up right away and Luna ended up healing him. Perhaps his
assumption was wrong. If that was true, Ranma's wound would've instantly
healed up the moment he pulled his finger right out of his forearm.
But how could that be, Shinji thought. Ranma has the power of God so
why didn't his wound heal instantly for him? Could it be because his
powers were dormant much like mine? Perhaps he knew that sometime down
the line, his powers would eventually surface and he would assume the
personality of that God-version of himself from then. Does that mean over
time, I'll eventually end up like that Ranma as well?
Shinji shuddered at the thought. Yet more unanswered questions.
Meanwhile, in the other side of the store, away from earshot, Misato
and Ritsuko sounded worried as they talked as they looked for particular
parts.
"I'm worried about Shinji," Misato said,
"I know what you mean," Ritsuko said, "Shinji's starting to turn more
and more different from the person we knew. From my point of view, he
seems be starting to turn in to the very person he's trying to beat,"
"I know," Misato nodded, "Did you see how vicious he takes out those
Nerv operatives nowadays? Frankly, I'm surprised he has yet to kill
anyone,"
"Shinji's getting really powerful," Ritsuko commented, "You know the
saying, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'. I think Shinji's slowly
being corrupted by these powers that are starting to surface. He already
stopped having remorse toward the Nerv operatives he hurt constantly,"
"I know, I know," Misato said, "Heck, he already stopped saying he was
sorry when he takes out the guards. I remember I used to hear him
constantly apologize to the guards, even if they were unconscious and
such. Now, he's stopped doing that,"
"Perhaps we're seeing too far in to things," Ritsuko commented,
"Perhaps the stress is getting to him. He is under a lot of stress,
afterall,"
"I hope so," Misato said.
Back on the other side of the store, Shinji was quiet. He had heard the
whole conversation. He didn't know how he had heard that but he did.
Could that be possible, he wondered to himself. Am I being corrupted?
No, I can't be. I'm taking those guards out because I know what's going
to happen to us if they get us, right? Right?
Shinji sighed. Maybe he was being corrupted and didn't even realize it
and was giving himself excuses.
"Are you okay?" Asuka asked, a bit worried.
Shinji gave a slight smile, "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking about
something,"
Asuka said, "Um, you've still yet to explain everything to me. I think
I deserve some form of explanation about what's going on,"
Shinji smiled, "Yeah, you're right. I'll tell you,"
He went about explaining his situation, explaining how he was from an
alternate version of this world. When he finished giving an abridged
version of it, Asuka seemed speechless.
"I know," he smirked, "It's quite a bit to take in but that's basically
my story in a nutshell. I've fought alongside God, and now I hafta fight
that same God. If time wasn't of the essence, I would just wait for my
own powers to surface before trying to take him out but it is so that's
why I'm here to try and get my hands on an EVA, take in an Angel's core
so it, too, assumes the same kind of properties as God and use it to
fight him,"
Asuka said, "T-this is just crazy. It's too crazy to be real,"
"I know, that's how everyone sees it," he answered, "Heck, even I have
problems believing it and I went through everything right alongside Ranma
all the way until the time when he basically lost control of himself,"
"If this Ranma person knew that he was going to become what he became,
why didn't he just kill himself?" Asuka asked, trying to believing him.
Shinji shrugged, "I really dunno. That's something I really wish I
knew. The best explanation I could think of is that Ranma probably knew
he couldn't die even if he tried to take his own life so he didn't bother
trying it,"
Ranma mentioned about him able to actually rip out his own heart,
Shinji thought. For all I know, he probably tried but ended up coming
right back to life.
"Man, this is so complicated," Asuka commented.
"Quite," Shinji smirked,
Misato and Ritsuko walked up to them.
"We're done," Ritsuko said, "The tracking devices have been destroyed,"
"Done?" Shinji's eyes widened, "Already? What did you do?"
Ritsuko pulled out a little device from her pocket and showed it to
Shinji.
He took it and looked at it. It looked to be the size of a soft ball
and the very much the same shape.
"This is that 'EMP bomb' you were talking about?" he asked, regarding
the device curiously.
Ritsuko nodded, "Yes. It took a bit to solder some of the wires and
parts together but I managed to get it up and running,"
"What does it do?" he asked.
"Like I mentioned, it emits an electromagnetic pulse," she replied,
"The pulse basically shorts out any nearby electrical devices, the
implanted tracking devices being one of them,"
"Wow, this thing shorts out electrical devices?" Shinji's eyes widened,
"That's awesome. This thing can come in handy in the near future,"
Ritsuko shook her head, "That's not possible. It can only be used once.
That one you're holding in your hand no longer works since it shorted out
after we used it to disable our tracking devices,"
"Can you make more?" Shinji asked, "Maybe we can use this for something
like disabling MAGI,"
Ritsuko said, "That's not possible either. First off, there were only
enough parts in here to make just one of them. Second, MAGI is partially
organic so it wouldn't have all that much of an effect on it,"
Shinji sighed, "Just when it seems like we might be able to turn the
tide in our favor, reality makes us realize otherwise,"
"What are we going to do about the Angel?" Misato asked, "There's that
little problem to worry about,"
Shinji sighed again, "Damn, I forgot about that,"
He headed out of the electronics store and looked sea. Because the
store was located at a higher location in Tokyo-3, he didn't need to
climb up a tree or even hop to the top of a rooftop to get a good view.
The three girls followed, looking out toward the sea as well.
Explosions were occurring around the shoreline in the water as the
military went about attacking the Angel with what little remaining
support that they had, most of them having been destroy fighting previous
Angels.
"It seems like the pattern of which Angel attacks remain the same,"
Shinji said, a bit relieved, "This Angels an aquatic Angel so it's
restricted to the sea. Also, it has no AT Field so it can be killed
through conventional means. The problem is knowing exactly when the
military will realize, in order to kill it, they need to blow up the core
located inside its mouth,"
Misato said, "Well, the military does seem like it's pretty useless
against Angels, but we hafta have faith in it,"
"I dunno about that," Shinji commented, "They've been fighting it for
the past, what, hour, and they have still don't seem to realize that
there are special ways of defeating Angels, that the core is the only way
to truly defeat the Angels,"
"Well, at least the Angel's restricted to the water so it can't get to
Nerv since it's cut off from GeoFront," Misato commented.
They watched and noticed the air crafts suddenly turn around and
seemingly retreat.
"Oh no!" the blood drained from Misato's face, "My god! They're gonna
use an N2 mine!"
She recognized the military procedure, to clear the area for when it
exploded.
Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light occurred, the nigh sky looking
like day, its brilliance so powerful that it forced the group to shield
their eyes.
When the bright light disappeared, they took a look and saw a massive
mushroom-like column of fire and smoke shooting up to the sky, shooting
so high that it would part clouds had there been clouds in the first
place.
Shinji's jaw dropped.
"Take cover inside the store!" Misato shouted toward them, "The
shockwave's gonna reach is in a few seconds,"
The group quickly rushed in to the store, Misato, Ritsuko, and Asuka
running all the way to the back where there was a door that lead to a
basement, most likely the storage area.
Shinji stopped by the front where he tired to lower the front gate,
which he had ripped open and upward earlier, in hopes of sealing up the
store.
Unfortunately, Shinji didn't act quickly enough and ended up getting
hit by the shockwave as it reached the store a couple of seconds later.
He was thrown bodily through the interior of the store, slamming in to
an isle shelf where he fell to the floor, the shelf falling down on him,
hitting him in the head and knocking him out.
When the shockwave subsided, the group emerged from the basement where
they saw Shinji lying in the middle of the store as he was slowly coming
to, having regained consciousness only after a second or so.
He rubbed his head, "Ow,"
"A-are you okay?" Misato asked, kneeling by him.
He stood up, "Yeah, I think so,"
"What did you try and do?" she asked.
"I was trying to pull down the front gate," he said, "But I didn't have
enough time,"
"You didn't need to do that," she said, "We would've been fine if we
just scrambled in to the basement and stayed there,"
"I'll try and remember that the next time an N2 mine goes off," Shinji
gave a meek smile, "I didn't realize how quickly it would reach us. Is
everyone okay?"
Everyone checked themselves and noticed that they were fine.
Shinji looked around. The entire interior of the store was a total
mess, everything blown off the shelves and on to the floor.
"Oh man, I can't believe they set an N2 mine off again," Misato
commented, "The map has to be redrawn every time one of things are used,"
Shinji's eyes widened.
"Oh no! I just realized something," he quickly ran out of the store,
almost tripping on the debris scattered about.
Misato, Ritsuko, and Asuka followed him outside again where they saw
him staring toward the now subsiding cloud of smoke in the horizon. When
they realized what he was looking at, they found themselves speechless.
"Oh no," Shinji said, "That N2 mine connected the sea with the crater
caused by Unit-02. The sea water is now rushing in from the sea in crater
made by the N2 mine, in to the one made by Unit-02, and down the hole
leading to GeoFront,"
"What does that mean?" Ritsuko asked.
Shinji pointed where the group caught sight of the Angel, unmoving,
currently regenerating from the damage inflicted on it from the N2 mine,
as it floated along the path of the water flooding in to the first
crater. It looked a bit like a giant tadpole with giant teeth.
Shinji remembered that Angel. It was the Angel that that defeated at
sea in his world.
He also knew it would only be a matter of time before that crater was
filled up and the water would start flooding in to the next crater
through the small point where they were the craters overlapped. The Angel
would be able to reach Nerv once that happened.
"Oh my god! The Angel can get from the sea and in to GeoFront and to
Nerv," Ritsuko realized, "And there're no EVA's to fight the Angel off
for when it finishes regenerating,"
Shinji started laughing hysterically.
They were so beyond screwed there was no way he could not laugh.
He and the others were on their way back to the tunnel that would lead
them back to Nerv. They were basically so screwed that there was really
nothing they could do. Considering their situation, they only had one
plan left, to somehow self-destruct Nerv and take Lilith along with it,
preventing the Angel's inevitable attack once it was finished
regenerating.
"Do you think it'll work?" Misato asked.
"No," Shinji said truthfully, "I think the plan's absolutely ridiculous
and insane. The problem is that, considering our situation, there is no
other plan we can go by,"
Shinji skidded to a halt when he caught sight of a flipped over car, on
its back due the N2 shockwave that had occurred. It was just a random car
that had been parked in the street, the occupant having left it to take
shelter rather than driving it to a designated garage like most of
Tokyo-3's citizens.
"This will make getting back to Nerv much easier," Shinji said.
"What do you plan on doing?" Misato asked first.
Shinji crouched by car and gripped the roof of the car, which was
currently on the ground, "I'm gonna flip it back over. I saw a friend of
mine hot wire a car so I figure we can use this car to drive down to Nerv
instead of having to run there,"
Ritsuko couldn't help but say, "I'm all for that idea,"
Shinji tried to flip the car but found himself having trouble, the car
a lot heavier than he expected. Perhaps it was because he was currently
trying to flip a car back over on to its wheels while it was on its back.
When he flipped Misato's car over, it had only been on its side.
The girls watched Shinji as he strained to lift it, gritting his teeth.
"At least now I know that if I'm having problems lifting this, there's
no way I'm gonna be able to lift that weapon back home," Shinji muttered.
"Um, I don't think you're going to be able to lift that," Misato
commented, wondering if he really was going to do so. But then again,
perhaps there was a chance that he might considering how he was strong
enough to knock down those giant door to her and Ritsuko's holding cells
the other day, when they had first been taken in to custody.
Shinji tried lifting the car again, failing a second time, stopping to
catch his breath.
"Does he really think he could actually flip a car back over?" Asuka
asked, skeptic. She knew Shinji was an incredible person, but to be able
to flip a car using his bare hands was no small feat of strength.
Misato said nothing, wondering the same thing. She was very curious as
to whether or not he could.
Shinji suddenly recalled the exercise Ippo had showed him, the clean
and jerk.
He took several deep breaths, mentally prepping himself for the left.
After a few seconds, the muscles of his body tightened as he powered the
weight of the car up to around chest level, stepping forward and
crouching so that the roof of the upside-down car came to a rest on the
front of his shoulders.
Holding the car resting on his shoulders, he stood up, using his legs
to lift the weight. When he was in a standing position, the car was
tilted an angle, the weight much less a burden now.
It only took a quick burst of strength for Shinji to flip the car over
where it came to rest on its side. Taking a second or two to catch his
breath, he finished the job by shoving the car over once again where it
fell over, the right side up now.
Shinji wiped the sweat form his brow.
"That wasn't all that hard," he gave a meek smile. Actually, it was a
lot harder than he thought. It made it even harder when he realized he
had bitten off more than he could chew when he first tried it but
couldn't turn back. Misato, Ritsuko, and Asuka had been watching him.
Shinji walked over to the driver side of the car and tried to open the
door. When he realized he couldn't, he punched right through the side
window, glass shattering everywhere.
He then went about emulating what he had seen Priss do with that
McLaren F1 back on the other world. He busted open the steering column
with a well placed open-palm strike around the bottom if it. He fumbled
with a couple of the wires and pulled two of them loose, a red and a blue
one.
Touching the open ends together, the car came to life.
Shinji's eyes widened.
"Wow, it does work,"
Shinji stalled out the car twice on the way to Nerv, unused to changing
gears on a standard car. It was embarrassing and seemed to negate
whatever cool points he had gotten from the girls when they saw him flip
a car and hotwire it.
"Have you ever driven a car before?" Misato asked, smirking, "Do you
want me to drive?"
Misato and Ritsuko were sitting in the backseat while Asuka sat in the
passenger side seat.
"I've driven before, I even have a license," Shinji commented, "I'm
just rusty. The only time I've driven was for when I got my license,"
"Ooh, can I see your license?" Asuka asked, eager to see it.
Shinji gave Asuka an odd look. After a moment, he shrugged and reached
in to his pocket and pulled out his wallet which contained his license.
He handed the wallet to her since he was currently too preoccupied
driving to take the license out. Best to let Asuka do it herself since it
was usually a real pain to get it out.
Asuka looked at the license and giggled when she saw how funny Shinji's
license picture looked. He had been blinking when his picture was taken
so his eyes were closed, making it looked like he was sleeping.
"I know, it's a bad picture," he commented, wondering why he let her
see it.
Asuka wasn't particularly paying attention to the picture but more to
the identification statistics, like his height, eye color, date of birth,
and so forth.
Misato and Ritsuko looked at the wallet. They too laughed at how funny
the picture looked.
"I'm glad you guys are having fun at my expense," Shinji muttered,
smirking a bit, "Considering our current situation, having something to
laugh at is probably far from frequent,"
Misato proceeded to look through Shinji's wallet, curious as to what he
kept. She found a small wallet-sized group picture of Shinji and his
friends. Her eyes widened when she saw her and Ritsuko and Asuka standing
in that picture.
"W-when did you take this picture?" Misato asked, "I don't remember
standing around and doing a group picture. I don't recognize these
people,"
"That's because that's the other version of you," Shinji said, "The
other version of Ritsuko and Asuka are in there as well. Also, you can
see Rei as well. They're all from my world,"
Ritsuko and Asuka looked at the picture. Their eyes widened when they
saw people that looked exactly like themselves in that picture.
Asuka glanced and noticed the image of her seemingly staring off toward
a man with black hair done up in a pig-tail. Shinji was standing on the
other side of the group.
"Who's this guy I'm looking at?" Asuka asked, pointing to Ranma.
"That's Ranma," Shinji smirked, "The other version of you seem to have
a crush on him but absolutely refused to say it. I think it's a
combination of pride and embarrassment,"
"Why would I, I mean, she...like that guy?" Asuka asked, figuring she
would actually like Shinji.
Shinji shrugged, "I think it's because Ranma's a pretty cool guy. She
hated him at first but he kinda grew on her. Besides, she's kinda complex
and hard to figure out. Um, no offense, what with you and her being the
same people and all,"
"None taken," she said.
Shinji was silent for a moment. He wondered why Asuka was acting all
nice to him. The Asuka he knew would usually rip him a new one if he ever
said something like that and argue against him. But then again, due to
circumstances, it was probably the reason why she acted differently
toward him.
"Everyone in there looks happy," Misato commented.
Shinji nodded, "Yeah. That was a group picture we took shortly after we
came back and around five months before Ranma basically turned in to what
he is now. We were very happy then," His visage saddened, "All of them
but Ranma and I are all dead now. That picture you hold is the last and
only picture I have of my past,"
"It must mean a lot to you then," Misato commented.
Shinji nodded, "Yeah. It's really important,"
"What do you think will happen after all of this?" Misato asked, "You
think you'll come out of this all right?"
"Hopefully, things will return to normal again," he said, "Urd will
resurrect them and they will most likely know nothing about what had
happened just prior to their deaths. As to whether I'll be all right, I
doubt it. After all I've been through, I know I'll never be the same
person I was in that picture. That's why that picture's important to me,
because it's my one and only picture of my past. When everything is put
back to normal, it won't be quite the same anymore,"
"Can we come with you back to your world?" Misato asked.
Shinji said, "I never thought about that before. What, you don't want
to be on this world? You don't even know what kinda world I live in now,"
"Well, considering what we've been through, we're probably better off
leaving this world," Misato commented.
"Actually, she has a point," Ritsuko said.
"I agree," Asuka added.
"Um, do you guys realize what you're saying?" Shinji said, "We're
talking about leaving this world forever and leaving everyone behind,"
Misato looked toward Ritsuko and Asuka.
She smirked, "And just what do we have here? None of us have family
here. At least with going to a different to world, we can start over,"
Shinji nodded, "You're right. Actually, now that I think about it,
having you stay here is probably very dangerous. It's probably better off
if you do come with me to my world. It'll probably created a lot of
confusion what with there being two Misato, two Ritsuko, and two Asuka,
but it's still better off than staying here,"
"So you'll take us with you back home?" Misato asked.
"Sure,"
<all ive got so far...>
Ranma: I just realized something.
OneShot: That if I have you and Ryoga from my 'Just Won't Die' series
hooking up, I'll probably reach a huge audience of yaoi fanfic lovers?
Ranma: ................
OneShot: That if I throw Shinji in also that that'll probably make it an
even better yaoi fic?
Ranma: ................No!!!
OneShot: Then what?
Ranma: I just realized that Shinji really acts like me.
OneShot: That's because at the end of the 'Just Won't Die' series, you
will remain dead. To honor you, Shinji goes back and relives your life
from the moment of your birth.
Ranma: ................
OneShot: That's why you were never described in 'Just Won't Die 1',
because the Ranma in that story is actually Shinji from the conclusion of
this series going back to honor you.....and he has put himself in that
weird time-loop and will eventually meet his younger self in 'Just Won't
Die 2' but won't know it because he altered his memory at end of this
series.
Ranma: A-are you actually saying I'm actually what Shinji eventually
becomes!?
OneShot: (Laughs)I'm just playing around.
Ranma: ...............
OneShot: (Smirking)Or am I?
Ranma: ...............
-OneShot
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html
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