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Genesis 1.03
The Battle and
Revelation
Hospital
Shinji woke with a start to the
feeling of being watched. He looked
around through blurry eyes to see a shape sitting in Asuka’s bed.
“Asuka?” he tentatively asked.
“About time you woke up, lazy.”
“Asuka!” Shinji exclaimed as his
eyes cleared.
He leapt up and hugged her fiercely.
“I’m so glad you’re awake
finally! I didn’t think –”
Asuka cut him off by roughly pushing
him away.
“What’s the big idea kissing me
while I’m asleep?!”
“Huh? How’d you know? I thought
you were in a coma until –”
“Until what?” Asuka sneered. “A few
minutes ago? No, baka. I’ve been awake for the last day. I just haven’t been able to move any of my
muscles until late last night.”
“Oh, um, well, uh . . .”
As Shinji’s face turned beet red,
Asuka smirked inwardly. With a
businesslike look on her face, Asuka grabbed Shinji’s face with both hands.
“The next time you want to kiss
someone when their asleep, do it like this.”
“HUH?!”
As Asuka brought Shinji’s face
closer to hers, he almost panicked, but then relaxed as she pressed her lips
against his. He began to kiss her back,
but then she pulled away.
“Um, Asuka-kun, I –” Shinji
stammered until Asuka silenced him by placing a finger against his lips.
“I know Shinji, I know.” Asuka
sighed, blushing. “I’m just sorry it took me this long to realize it. And realize that I feel the same way. I stayed up all last night, coming to grips
with it. I’m sorry about how I treated
you, even though you were always there for me.
I was just hiding behind a façade.
I was afraid to open up to anybody.
I didn’t want to be hurt again like with my mother, but you’re
different. Jeez, listen to this. How the mighty have fallen. Me, Asuka Langley Soryu, opening up to baka
Shinji. Mein Gott in Himmel. So what?
I love you, Shinji.”
Shinji looked surprised for a moment
then smiled and moved in toward Asuka again as she leaned forward. They met halfway, sharing a long, gentle
kiss.
EVA
control room
Shigeru opened the door to find Raiu
furiously typing at a terminal. Shigeru
walked up behind the teen and looked over his shoulder, totally confused by
what he was seeing.
“Whatcha doin’?”
Raiu jerked slightly and looked up
at Shigeru through bloodshot eyes.
“Taking a trip through hell,” Raiu
replied in a weary voice and twitching.
“What?!”
“A new program I designed for the
EVAs. The general idea is simple, but
actually installing it is . . . is . . . ah, hell. There aren’t words strong enough to voice my opinion of its
stubbornness.”
“How long have you been workin’ at
this?”
“About the last sixteen hours.” Raiu
whimpered. “Even I have my limits. This
thing has forced me to surpass almost every single one of them. I guess the next thing to go will be my
sanity. If I’m lucky.”
“I think it’s time you took a break,”
Shigeru suggested.
“No. All I need . . . is a pot of . . . black coffee. Then, I’ll be fine.”
Just then, Hyuga walked through the
door and saw Raiu’s face.
“Holy shit!” Hyuga exclaimed in
surprise. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“I haven’t slept in the last thirty
hours.” Raiu answered in a calm voice. “For the past sixteen, I’ve been living
in my own personal hell. My blood
pressure has about tripled do to the stress caused by this damn program. My patience has worn a hole in itself about
five times already. My nerves feel as
if they’ve been driven over by the National Truckers League of America.”
“You look it,” Hyuga stated.
“Just give me a few more hours and
several pots of the blackest coffee you can fix.”
Raiu suddenly appeared as if he’d
struck gold.
“Never mind!” He stated in a
singsong voice.
Raiu began rapidly typing in
commands. Data flew across the monitor
faster than either of the Lieutenants could keep up with. Several moments later, the computer spoke.
“PROGRAMMING ACCEPTED.”
With that, Raiu promptly slumped down
in the chair and fell asleep. Hyuga and
Shigeru looked at each other with worried looks on their faces.
“That was strange,” Shigeru stated.
“Tell me about it,” Hyuga agreed.
Misato’s
apartment
Shinji and Asuka walked in the
apartment, following Misato. As Asuka
entered her room to change clothes, Misato and Shinji sat down on the couch and
watched TV.
“So,” Misato began, not even taking
her eyes off the TV, “how long have you two felt that way toward each other?”
“Huh?!” Shinji exclaimed, not
wanting to reveal their secret yet. “What are you talking about?”
Pen Pen walked through into the
living room about then and handed Misato a beer before sitting down beside her
and opening his own.
“I’m not stupid, Shinji.” Misato
snapped, taking a sip from the can. “So don’t treat me like an idiot. I could see it in both your faces at the
hospital.”
“Oh. Well, uh . . .”
“What he’s trying to say is that it
basically started this morning.”
Misato and Shinji looked up to see
Asuka standing beside the recliner.
“Although,” Asuka added, “we’ve felt
this way much longer. We just weren’t
able to admit it to ourselves and each other.”
Asuka walked over and sat close to
Shinji, putting her arm around him.
Shinji did the same and looked at Misato.
“Nothing you do will keep us apart,”
he stated flatly.
“Um,” Misato said, bewildered, “am I
missing something here?”
“Wouldn’t you try to keep us apart
since our emotions could get in the way of our piloting?” Asuka asked.
“Me? Ha! Personally, I’m glad
for you two. Commander Ikari on the
other hand, eh –”
“Don’t even say it,” Asuka snapped.
“Okay, okay!” Misato replied. “Calm
down. I was just stating the worst case
scenario. It may turn out he’ll be
happy for you two.”
NERV
HQ, Gendo’s office, two hours later
“Absolutely not!” Gendo nearly
roared.
“Wh – what?!” Shinji and Asuka
exclaimed in unison as Misato gaped in shock.
“It will cause liabilities on the
battlefield. Liabilities that we can
not afford. What with Ragnarock and his
twin running around somewhere out there.”
“Ragnarock ain’t the problem.” Raiu
stated, walking in the door. “It’s that white sucker that was fighting him.”
Whoever
the hell this guy is, Asuka thought,
he looks like hell had its way with him a few times.
“You don’t know that.” Gendo
replied. “For all we know, he could just be putting on an act to fool us.”
“Oh, come on! He blew a hole in the white dragon’s
stomach! If that ain’t actual fighting,
I don’t know what is! And believe me, I’ve
seen more fighting than –”
Raiu stopped when he saw Asuka
standing next to Shinji.
“You’re Asuka Langley Soryu, right?”
“Yeah . . .” Asuka answered
hesitantly.
“Took you long enough to wake up. Come with me.”
Raiu turned around and began to walk
out only to be stopped by Asuka.
“Who the hell are you?! And why should I follow you when I don’t
even know you?”
Raiu turned around and rubbed his
forehead wearily.
“My name is Raiu Kusanagi. I’m a master EVA engineer and backup
pilot. And if you ever want to be able
to pilot an EVA again, you’ll want to meet me at the EVAs in your Plug suit.”
As Raiu walked toward the door
again, Asuka stopped him again.
“Hey! Are you always this rude?”
“No.” Raiu responded. “Normally, I’m
quite sociable. But, right now, I’ve
had little to no sleep in the past few days and I’ve been having a bad day on
top of a killer headache due to the stress caused by an uncooperative programming
block.”
Raiu then turned to Gendo and smiled
very sadistically.
“Y’know, Gendo, the next time I find
a programming block in the Magi, I will shut off all power to your office at
the worst possible moment.”
With that, Raiu walked out of the
room and down the hall. Gendo merely
sat there, his face neutral. Asuka
looked at Misato and Shinji with a blank face.
“Uh . . .”
“Let’s go.” Misato said. “I’ll
explain on the way.”
Tokyo
3, outskirts
“SINCRO RATE: 15%,” EVA-02’s onboard
computer stated over the comm.
“Ack!” Raiu exclaimed inside EVA-00.
“This is going nowhere fast! You should
be doing better than this.”
“Well excuse me for being human!”
Asuka snapped from her Entry Plug within EVA-02.
Several hundred yards away, Shinji
sat patiently in EVA-01, waiting for Asuka to finally synchronize with her
EVA. EVA-00 paced back and forth
between the two other giants. With
sudden inspiration, Raiu switched on his comm.
“Send up the pistol I designed.” He
requested. Then he spoke to Shinji over
a private comm. channel. “Shinji, whatever happens, don’t move unless I tell
you to, alright? You must trust me if
you want this to work.”
Once EVA-00 had the pistol in hand,
Raiu brought up the gun and fired at EVA-02, hitting the ground dangerously
close to EVA-02’s foot. EVA-00 then
pressed a button on the side of the gun.
“Defend yourself!” Raiu called out
over the comm. to Asuka.
“What?!” The other pilots cried out
in unison.
“You heard me!”
“No!” Asuka shouted. “You’re crazy!”
“Not necessarily,” Raiu commented as
he aimed the pistol at EVA-01 and fired.
A surprisingly large blast erupted
from the gun barrel and flew straight at the purple titan. When the blast hit, yellow and blue waves of
energy flowed over EVA-01’s body. Once
the waves disappeared, EVA-01 fell to its knees then flat on its face. EVA-00 turned back to the red titan before
it.
“Now. Allow your emotions to dicta – AAHH!”
Before Raiu could finish his
sentence, Asuka had tackled him and knocked him to the ground. Unit-02 began punching the blue giant
beneath it. Raiu managed to throw Asuka
off him and stand up.
“Scan.”
“SINCRO RATE: 60% AND RISING.”
“Excellent!” Raiu exclaimed then saw
EVA-02 charging him. “Okay, Asuka. You
can stop now!”
Asuka ignored him and continued the
charge. She lunged at EVA-00 with
outstretched hands. Raiu barely managed
to dodge in time, allowing Unit-02 to fall to the ground rather heavily.
“Scan!”
“SINCRO RATE: 115% – 125% – 135% –
145% AND RISING.”
“Oh, SHIT!!”
Raiu looked at EVA-02 to see it
leaping at him again. He quickly
grabbed one of the red titan’s arms and spun, throwing EVA-02 several hundred
yards away from himself.
“ASUKA!! ENOUGH! SHINJI IS
FINE!! I JUST HIT HIM WITH A STUN
BLAST!!!”
If Asuka heard him, she didn’t
acknowledge it as she forced her EVA to stand.
EVA-02 roared in response to Asuka’s raging emotions before running at
EVA-00 yet again.
“Scan!” Raiu yelled for the third
time.
“SINCRO RATE: 250% – 275% – 350% –
450% AND RISING.”
“Holy Mother of God!” Raiu hissed.
“ASUKA, STOP THIS NOW!! I ALREADY TOLD
YOU THAT SHINJI WILL BE FINE!!!”
Without warning, EVA-02 stopped in
its tracks and began convulsing in pain.
The behemoth fell to its knees and continued jerking back and forth.
“Damn!” Raiu swore. “I was hoping I
wouldn’t have to do this, but life never does work out the way you want it
to. It is time.”
EVA
control room
“What the hell is going on?!” Gendo
roared.
“Asuka’s Sincro rate has reached
500%!” Maya called out.
“Status!”
“EVA-02 is convulsing in pain!”
Hyuga exclaimed. “Readouts are too erratic to measure!”
“Pilot!”
“Something is blocking the scanners!”
Shigeru responded. “I can’t get a reading!”
“Eject the Plug!”
“We can’t! The signal is being blocked!”
“What about Shinji?” Misato asked.
“No readings whatsoever! Even the comm. link is busted. We can’t eject his Plug either!”
Just then, the staff heard Raiu’s
calm voice filter over the comm. as Kea’s look of amusement faded into
surprise.
Surface
“EVA-02.” Raiu stated in a low
voice. “Download, access, and activate program Siron. Pass code: Anger.”
EVA-02 ceased its convulsions and
stood. The armor began falling off in
chunks, revealing pale red skin beneath.
Once the armor had fallen off, the skin darkened to match the color the
armor was. Small disk like structures
appeared on the back of the forearms as flame red hair sprouted from the head
in a style similar to Asuka’s. The EVA
shrank slightly and became more feminine while the fingers and toes grew talons. Orange carapace like armor appeared on its
body in the form of a one-piece swimsuit with sleeves, shin guards, and
standard EVA shoulder blades. A line
appeared on the EVA’s face beneath the eyes and split into a mouth. The mouth opened and took in a breath as the
eyes merged into two glowing spheres of green light within the eye sockets. The green light faded to reveal two
humanlike eyes with green irises. The
EVA looked around as if for the first time ever.
“Where am I?” the feminine giant
asked. “What happened? The last thing I
remember was trying to kill that bastard Raiu for what he did to Shinji.”
She looked around to see EVA-00
standing off to the side. EVA-02
stepped back in surprise.
“What the hell?! When did we start making human sized EVAs?”
“This isn’t human size, Asuka.” Raiu
stated, holding back a laugh. “You are now seeing through Siron’s eyes.”
“Siron?”
“Allow me to explain. Once you reached a Sincro rate of 500% with
EVA-02, I had to activate a program I designed or else you would have died from
energy overload. The program
reconfigured your EVA into a new being.
Stronger, faster, and it has natural weapons. Sonic disrupters on your arms capable of shattering plate glass
windows. By slamming your fists
together, you can create a sonic boom.
Siron can also fire a beam of pure sound and energy from its mouth. The beam is roughly three times more
destructive than a sonic boom. Over
all, Siron is roughly four times stronger than an EVA and fives times as
agile.”
“What about Shinji?!” Asuka growled
with sudden remembrance.
“He’ll be fine.” Raiu replied,
backing up cautiously. “As I told you before, I just hit him with a stun
blast. He should be waking up soon.”
As if on cue, EVA-01 twitched, then
slowly pushed itself up and stood. It
stumbled before gaining its balance.
EVA-01 walked over to stand by the others until it saw Siron and stopped
in its tracks. Shinji pulled the prog
knife and got into a fighting stance.
“What the hell is an Angel doing
here?!” Shinji exclaimed.
Raiu burst out laughing so hard he
had to hold his sides and gasp for air.
“Damn, man!” Raiu laughed. “Asuka’s
gonna beat you down for that one!!”
“Huh?” Shinji asked, dumbfounded.
“That’s not an Angel! It’s Asuka!”
Inside EVA-01, Shinji paled and a
nervous grin crossed his face as Siron approached him. Siron slapped EVA-01 across the face,
essentially doing the same to Shinji.
“Just don’t do it again,” Siron
growled.
“Okay then.” Raiu stated. “Now that
that’s settled, let’s go back to the docking bay.”
EVA
docking bay
As Raiu and Shinji jumped out of
their Entry Plugs, the engineers were staring at Siron, trying to figure out
how to get Asuka out of the creature.
Raiu walked up to Siron and tapped the base of the neck twice. The hair at the back of the head fanned out,
revealing what appeared to be a strange plug like apparatus in the middle of
the back of the head. The plug irised
open and a small pod was pushed out on a large pole. The pod opened and Asuka fell to the catwalk in a puddle of
LCL. She coughed a few times then
slowly stood and looked around.
“That was freaky,” Asuka stated
shakily.
“Eh, that was nothin’.” Raiu
replied. “Just wait until you learn to manipulate your AT Field.”
Just then, Gendo, Rei, and Kea came
walking up to the three pilots. Raiu
started wringing out his hair as Gendo tried to control his anger. The older man finally gave up.
“Just what the hell did you do?!”
Gendo roared.
“I upgraded EVA-02 into Siron.”
“Just what the hell is Seirahn?” Kea
asked.
“That’s Siron, you dipshit.” Raiu
snapped. “Learn to pronounce words the right way for once in your short life!”
“Hey!” Kea squawked. “I’m older than
you are! Don’t forget, brother. I was created first!”
Asuka stared in shock at the two
opposites as Raiu uninterestedly continued wringing out his hair.
“Hmm. To my recollection, we were both created at the same time.”
“Well,” Kea replied, searching for
something, “I woke up first!”
Raiu rolled his eyes and faced
Gendo, but not before noticing that Rei and Kea were standing a little too
close for his taste.
“You’re pissed,” Raiu stated coldly
“In my office.” Gendo hissed through
clenched teeth. “Now!”
Orchard
Rei walked along the path, her
nearly soundless footsteps stirring the dirt beneath her feet. She gazed at the falling petals until she
noticed a shadow sitting beneath a tree.
Upon looking closer, she could see it was Raiu. He was sitting with his back to her.
“Hello, Rei.”
“How did –”
“Know you were there? I heard Misato drive up. Y’know, she really should stop hot-rodding
that thing if she wants the engine to last.”
Rei saw his shoulders rise and fall
slightly as if he released a sigh of pain.
“Look, Rei. I’m sorry about what I said to you the last
time we were here together. I didn’t
mean to hurt you. I was just trying to
protect you from my past.”
“What’s done is done.” Rei stated.
“You can’t take back those words. Kea
promised to help me get over it.”
“Kea? Tell me, Rei. Do you care
for him?”
“Not that it’s any of your business,
but I might eventually care for him.”
“That filthy bastard.” Raiu hissed.
“I warned him.”
“He’s
helping me more than you have, you insensitive prick!”
Raiu’s head snapped up to look at
her. The look of pain, sorrow, and
anguish Rei saw in his face almost made her step back in shock.
“Well then. I may as well say goodbye right now.”
“Why?”
“I have nothing left here for me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Everything I had here has been
taken from me. The EVAs, my friends . .
. you.”
“Wh – what?!”
“When Gendo called me to his office,
Kea came along. Gendo fired me for what
I did to EVA-02 and gave my position to Kea.
He also told me that if I am found within the city limits of Tokyo 3 at
sunset tomorrow and anytime after, I am to be shot on sight. And now, Kea has you. So you see.
I have nothing.”
“Your not having me is of your own
doing.” Rei stated coldly. “You had a chance with me, but you pushed me away.”
“And I’ve regretted that decision
since three seconds after I said those words.”
“Then you should have thought about
it a little more before you said them.
I’m leaving.”
“Wait!” Raiu called out to stop her.
As Rei stopped, annoyance etched
into her face, Raiu sighed.
“At least allow me to explain why I
said that. I was afraid that if I
allowed myself to get close to you, someone from my past would be able to harm
you. I didn’t want to risk it.”
“Is that it?” Rei asked without
turning.
“No.”
Before Rei could ask what he wanted
to say, Raiu was in front of her, kissing her full on the lips. He slowly pulled away and cupped her cheek
in his hand.
“No matter what happens, I will be
here to protect you.”
“How can I know you’re not lying?”
Rei asked in a cold tone.
Raiu pulled off his shades and
stared into Rei’s eyes. He moved in and
gently kissed her, his eyes still staring into hers.
“I love you, Rei-chan.” Raiu
breathed as he pulled back a few inches. “I swear to God that I will never harm
you like that again. You mean more to
me than life itself.”
“Damn, you’re persuasive,” Rei
whispered as she smiled slightly and leaned forward to kiss him.
Raiu smiled slightly and kissed her
back. The two stayed like that for
several minutes before parting. Rei
started to walk back to Misato’s car when Raiu stopped her.
“Hey, um, I was just thinking
something.”
“What?” Rei asked.
“I, uh, sorta need a place to stay
for at least tonight.”
“Wait a sec.” Rei said. “Didn’t you
have a place?”
“Heh heh, eh, nope. I’ve been sleeping in the EVA control room,
docking bay, and out here if I didn’t have access to the first two.”
“So, you’re going to stay?”
“Yeah.” Raiu replied. “Although it’s
gonna be a bitch to avoid the NERV security force. Man, Gendo has a frickin’ army built up in there.”
“I wonder why . . .” Rei mused as
the couple walked toward Misato’s car.
“Well, whatever the reason, I still
need a place to stay.”
“You could always stay with me. The bed might be a little small, but does it
matter?”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll meet you there, okay? I have a few things I have to take care of
first.”
“Alright, just as long as you’re
there before eight tonight.”
“I’ll be there,” Raiu stated as they
reached Misato’s coupe.
NERV
lounge
Kea walked through the doorway only
to be slammed against a wall. He felt a
fist slam into each eye, blinding him.
A few seconds after, a flurry of punches and kicks cracked several of
his ribs and snapped his left femur in half.
He tried to fight back, but his assailant grabbed his fists and
squeezed, crushing the bones in the pale teen’s hands. Kea felt the attacker drop him and step away
from him.
“We end this tomorrow, brother.”
Raiu snarled. “You have interfered enough.
Meet me in the center of the city.
Be prepared to die.”
With that, Raiu slid out the door
and sneaked out of the base without being noticed once.
Misato’s
apartment
Misato, Shinji, and Asuka entered the
apartment after having dropped Rei off at her apartment and sat down in the
living room. Silence ruled the room for
several minutes until Misato spoke up.
“Just what the hell happened out
there?”
“I don’t really know,” Shinji
replied quietly.
“When Raiu shot Shin-chan, I thought
he was dead and went berserk.” Asuka explained slowly. “Suddenly, I felt like
I’d just woken up and I was in Siron – no, I was Siron. It was like my
senses were merged with the EVA’s. I
don’t know how else to describe it.”
“Well,” Shinji stated, “whatever it
was, I think Gendo overreacted to it.
Have either of you noticed how strange he’s been acting lately?”
“Yeah.” Misato agreed. “He is
different than before.”
Rei’s
apartment
Rei was lying in her bed, thinking
about recent events when she heard a knock at the door. She walked over and opened the door to see
Raiu standing there. He entered the
front room and hugged Rei. The couple
kissed deeply and headed for the bed.
Once there, the fell onto it, still kissing. Raiu reluctantly broke the kiss and chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Rei asked.
“Oh, just thinking about a few
things.”
“Like what?”
“This morning,” Raiu began, “the
last thing I would have thought of was winding up here with you.”
“The same for me,” Rei agreed.
“Also, I hadn’t really thought about
it till now, but your name is truly beautiful.
Just like the rest of you.”
“My name?”
“Yes. But what does beauty mean when two people love each other?”
Before Rei could answer, they were
kissing again. In the back of her mind,
Rei heard a voice, but quickly shoved it out.
“Finally,
you two are together,” Rei thought the voice said.
The next morning
Rei awoke to find herself alone in
bed. She stretched and felt a note
beside her head. She opened it and read
the handwriting.
“Rei.” The blue haired teen read.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up. But, with Gendo’s security guards on the lookout for me, not even
your place is safe right now. Yes, I
know I said I had until sunset today, but it seems Gendo wants me out of here
badly. I’ll see you tonight, maybe even
this afternoon. Love, Raiu. P.S.
Don’t be late for school.”
Rei looked at the clock and saw that
she had less than half an hour to get ready and make it to school. She shot up out of bed and got ready in
record time. Running out the building,
Rei almost slammed into several people on the sidewalk. She only stopped when she heard someone
calling her. Rei looked around and saw
Misato in her car, waving at her. The
teen ran over and jumped into the car.
“Could you take me to –”
“The school?” Misato asked.
When Rei nodded her assent, Misato
floored the accelerator.
“Thought so. I was just out for a ride when I saw you run
out of your apartment building and figured you’d need a ride.”
In a matter of minutes, Rei was
standing before the high school just as the first bell rang. She entered the large building and headed
for her class. Once she was there, she
stood by her seat like the rest of the class and waited for the teacher to show
up.
The class was dismissed for lunch around
then. Rei absentmindedly followed
Shinji and Asuka over to a table in the quad.
Before they could even start on their food, Misato walked up to them.
“Bad news, you three. We need you back at the base.”
“Why?” Asuka asked, stuffing a sushi
roll into her mouth.
“White’s back.”
At this, Shinji spit out the
mouthful of soda he’d managed to drink.
“Shit!” Shinji swore loudly,
startling the three females with him. “Has Ragnarock shown up yet?”
“No.” Misato replied. “And White
hasn’t done anything except stand in the middle of Tokyo 3 for the past few
minutes.”
EVA
control room
Misato walked into the EVA control
room amid a flurry of activity. The
three pilots were just being put into the Entry Plugs. Once the Plugs were in the EVAs, Gendo gave
the order.
“Launch the EVAs!”
The three EVAs stepped onto the
launch pads. Once on the surface, they
surrounded White. After they were all
in position, they immediately began firing on White. Round after round of positron bullets and sonic waves hit the
pale dragon’s skin, doing little to no damage.
Eventually, the rounds started ricocheting off the creatures AT field.
“ENOUGH!” a voice roared from behind
EVA-00.
The EVAs looked over to see
Ragnarock close enough to touch EVA-00 with his elbow. Siron aimed her sonic disrupters and was
about to fire when EVA-01 stopped it.
“Don’t.” Shinji warned her. “He’s a
friend.”
“This is my battle,” Ragnarock
growled.
The three EVAs quickly moved away to
let the two dragons have at each other.
“So, chara, decided to show up.”
Ragnarock asked calmly. “I’m not surprised.
You always were the more gullible between us.”
“You misjudge me, dear brother.” The
pale dragon replied. “This isn’t just a petty bout between us, but a fight for
this planet’s future. Soon, all of
Terra will be mine to control.”
“We’ll see about that, Ahnahk.”
With that, Ragnarock charged the
other dragon. He lashed out with his
forward blades, cutting into Ahnahk’s chest.
The white dragon countered with a quick leg sweep, knocking Ragnarock to
the ground. Ragnarock mule kicked
Ahnahk in the face, breaking several teeth, then leapt into a fighting
stance. Ahnahk stood up and fired a
volley of laser beams at Ragnarock, who deftly dodged them. As the trade off of blows continued, the EVA
pilots watched with uncertainty.
EVA
control room
“Damn it!” Gendo shouted. “Attack
them already!”
“Sir!” Maya exclaimed. “I’m picking
up massive energy fluctuations around Ragnarock and the other dragon. It looks like they’re merging their AT fields
to prevent outside interference.”
“Then find a way around it!”
Ground
level
“This is pointless!” Ragnarock
growled.
“For once, dear brother,” Ahnahk
sneered, “I agree.”
The two titans were locked in a
battle of strength, each trying to overpower the other while biting and
snapping at their opponent.
“Then it’s time to end this.”
Ragnarock let go of Ahnahk’s hands
and performed several back-flips, putting him about 150 yards away from the
white dragon. He stood straight and
held his hands out at arm’s length and shoulder width apart. The EVAs and the pale dragon watched in
surprise as Ragnarock’s AT field began bending and twisting as if it were
alive. Suddenly, the field shot forward
toward Ahnahk. The AT blast hit
Ahnahk’s field and broke through easily.
The white dragon was thrown back several hundred yards as chunks of
flesh were torn from his body.
The EVAs moved up so that EVA-01 and
Siron were off to the sides while EVA-00 was almost directly behind
Ragnarock. The black dragon stood waiting
for the dust kicked up by Ahnahk’s landing to clear when a green blast of
energy similar to Ragnarock’s Mega Flare shot out. The beam narrowly missed Ragnarock. He and the two later EVAs spun around to see the blast hit EVA-00
in the abdomen and began eating away at its body.
Flashback
“You may have defeated me this once,”
Ahnahk stated, “but you still won’t be able to return to our old home.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You ever see what a fusion grenade
does to a bata fruit from the inside out?”
“NOO!”
“Nuyo cra, yun chara. Yo nek tiem hou fek, tou chi lonu taiwe tou
gren sot yun.”
While the humans heard that,
Ragnarock heard something entirely different.
“By the way, dear brother. The next time we fight, you will lose that
which you hold most dear.”
Without another word, White
teleported away.
Present
Ragnarock ran over and ripped Rei’s
Entry Plug out of EVA-00’s skull before the energy got to the head. As the remains of EVA-00 dissolved,
Ragnarock handed the Entry Plug to Siron.
“Take this and get away from here
quickly.”
“What? Why?”
“Because, from what I’ve seen,
Shinji is a better pilot than you are.
Now go. Unless you want Rei to
die.”
Asuka reluctantly took the Entry
Plug and ran off to find what haven she could.
Ragnarock turned back to Ahnahk as the pale dragon came walking out of
the still swirling dust cloud.
“Well, well, yun chara.” Ahnahk
stated in a conversational tone. “It appears as if my prediction has come
true.”
“She isn’t dead yet. Although you will be.”
EVA
control room
“EVA-00 confirmed: deactivated.”
Shigeru reported, then looked at his monitor again. “What the hell?!”
“What’s wrong?” Hyuga asked.
“Take a look at the readings coming
from Ragnarock.”
Hyuga looked and his jaw almost hit
the floor.
“That’s unheard of!”
“What?” Maya asked, then saw the
monitor. “Holy shit! He’s got fifteen
AT fields activated all at once! I
didn’t think something could even have two active.”
Behind the three Lieutenants, Gendo
swore silently.
Surface
The AT fields surrounding Ragnarock
glowed with a dark light as they shifted form and coalesced before him. The wailing of a thousand ambient voices
grew to almost deafening volumes as the Mega Flare energy sphere formed inside
the AT fields. A blast of white-hot
energy shot forward suddenly, hitting Ahnahk in the chest. To Ragnarock’s horror, the beam dissipated
as soon as it touched the white dragon.
Ahnahk let out a barking laugh once the beam was gone and charged at
Ragnarock.
“You should know your AT Field Mega
Flare is ineffective against us.”
Ragnarock dove to the side just in
time, dodging Ahnahk’s lunge.
“Shinji!” Ragnarock shouted to the
pilot. “Activate your fusion cannon!”
“What fusion cannon?!”
“Just concentrate on your right
chest plate! It’ll activate!”
Ragnarock met Ahnahk’s next charge
and shouldered him in the gut, knocking the pale combatant to the ground in
pain. Shinji did as he was told and
concentrated solely on his EVA’s right chest plate. EVA-01 reached up and pried open the designated armor plate,
revealing a large pipe like structure.
The structure extended from the purple titan’s chest and began
glowing. Ragnarock glanced over and saw
what was happening to EVA-01. He shoved
Ahnahk away and fired a burst of lasers at his snow-white counterpart. The burst stalled Ahnahk just enough for
Shinji to finish charging the fusion cannon.
“Shinji!” Ragnarock growled. “Fire
on three! One . . . Two . . . THREE!!”
With that, Ragnarock fired a sky
blue energy beam at Ahnahk as a similar beam shot out from EVA-01’s fusion
cannon toward Ahnahk as well. The two
blasts hit at the exact same moment, generating an explosion that enveloped
Ahnahk completely and destroyed several nearby buildings. When the explosion faded, Ahnahk was
kneeling in pain from massive chest and head wounds. Ragnarock walked up to him and slashed sideways with both sets of
arm blades, cutting into the white dragon’s abdomen.
Ahnahk tried to strike back but his
movements were sluggish from pain, blood loss, and cranial damage. Ragnarock grabbed Ahnahk by the shoulders
and kneed him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of his white
opponent. Ahnahk collapsed to the
ground, gasping for breath. The dark
dragon loomed over his pale counterpart and jumped into the air. Ragnarock came down with the power of an N2
Mine on Ahnahk’s chest, almost caving in the prone dragon’s ribcage. Ragnarock stepped back and watched as Ahnahk
began shrinking. EVA-01 walked up next
to Ragnarock and stared in surprise.
“What’s happening?!” Shinji asked.
“He’s shrinking back down to his
human form. We each have a human form
to conserve energy when we aren’t fighting like this. Go back to your base.
I’ll catch up.”
Shinji reluctantly walked off as
Ragnarock bent down and picked up the now semi truck sized creature. EVA-01 and Siron stepped onto the launch pad
and were being carried down the tube by the time Ragnarock got to the
tube. Once they were down in the
docking bay, the two EVAs barely had time to move out of the way when Ragnarock
jumped down behind them. He threw the
shrunken Ahnahk at a wall. The human
slammed into the wall and slid to the catwalk, unconscious. Ragnarock slumped to the ground and looked
up at the tiny people before him.
“I will finish the job I started on
Ahnahk once I’ve rested enough.”
Without another word, Ragnarock
leaned against a wall and closed his eyes.
Shinji and Asuka were pulled from their EVAs as Rei’s Entry Plug was set
down on the wide catwalk behind the EVAs.
The young couple walked over to Rei’s Plug and waited for the
technicians to cut through the mangled mass that used to be a hatch. Gendo stood behind them, his face
emotionless. Once Rei was out of the
Plug, she shakily stood on her own and looked around.
“What happened?”
“EVA-00 was destroyed by Ahnahk, or
whatever his name is,” Shinji explained.
“Then, why am I still alive?”
“Ragnarock saved you.”
As Rei walked over to the railing
and gazed at the sleeping dragon, Shigeru stepped up beside Gendo.
“What are the chances of repairing
or rebuilding EVA-00?” Gendo asked without even turning to face the Lieutenant.
“We won’t be doing either.” Shigeru
replied. “Nothing remains of EVA-00 other than the Entry Plug. Even if we could rebuild it, it would take
too long if Ahnahk is just the beginning of another invasion.”
“Then Rei is useless to us,” Gendo
stated as he pulled a pistol from a hidden holster.
Shigeru called out a warning and
tried to stop Gendo, but was merely knocked away by an invisible shield around
Gendo. Everyone spun around to see
Gendo pointing the gun at Rei. As
everyone else dodged out of the way, Rei stood frozen in place with fear, and
watched as Gendo pulled the trigger.
The pistol jerked backwards in Gendo’s hand. Time seemed to slow down for Rei, allowing her to watch the
bullet streak toward her and hear a roaring voice call out to her, trying to
get her to move.
Searing pain filled her chest as the
bullet struck. The force of the impact
pushed her against the railing, where she stood for several seconds, as if
refusing to accept what had happened.
As everyone watched, Rei fell backwards over the railing, only to be
stopped in midair as a massive ball of some sort of semi-solid substance flew
at and engulfed her. They all looked up
to see Ragnarock staring at the ball with his right arm extended toward
it. To everyone’s surprise, a small
slit that had appeared on the dragon’s palm sealed itself.
“Watch her.” Ragnarock commanded as
the ball settled on the ground. “The gel will only last for ten minutes. Once those ten minutes are up, time will
resume for Rei.”
Ragnarock shifted his gaze to Gendo,
who merely returned the glare.
“I warned you, Gendo.” The giant
dragon growled. “I will kill you now.
Not like this, though. I’ll not
risk harming the EVAs and my friends.”
Ragnarock stood and turned his back
toward the group. As everyone backed
away, Ragnarock seemed to melt into a black substance similar to the ball that
was holding Rei. The dragon-turned-blob
raised itself up like a snake and lunged at the catwalk, striking a single
point near the railing. The blob sucked
itself into that point on the elevated floor then grew to about the size of a
human. Gendo fired several more bullets
at the blob. Holes grew in the blob
where each of the bullets would have struck, allowing the small pieces of metal
to fly through, unimpeded. The blob
then shifted and to gain form and shape.
As the pilots and staff of NERV
stared in awe, the blob reformed into a human being wearing a midnight black
cloak and cowl, it’s head lowered to hide the face. A black gloved hand reached up from the left side and gripped the
cloak at the right shoulder. With a
sudden jerk, the hand pulled the cloak off and threw it to the side, revealing
a young man wearing a black and silver body suit that was styled similar to an
EVA’s armor. The man reached up and
removed a pair of sunglasses that Shinji and Asuka almost recognized as blades
similar to the ones Ragnarock had on his arms burst out of the man’s arms. He crushed the shades with one hand while
two wings and a tail unfurled from his back.
His legs shifted and bent, reshaping themselves to look like Ragnarock’s
legs as the skin all over his body darkened to jet black. The man finally raised his head to glare at
Gendo. The NERV supreme commander
didn’t even react as the others gasped when they recognized the man’s face,
even though the skin was black.
“This is for Rei!” Raiu snarled as
he lunged at Gendo.