Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Mst: Children of an Elder God ❯ Chapter6 ( Chapter 6 )

Standard Disclaimer!

Wow, been a while since I last put out a chapter of this mst. Sorry about that. Life has been kinda hectic and it won't get any easier for me for at least a few months. I hope you can put up with me for that period.

I shall try to get at least one thing out every 2 weeks.

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Misato: Let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!

Asuka: Bring it on geek!

Kensuke: You're not match for my military prowess!

Mana: Two thousand yen on Aida!

Misato: I have to bank on Asuka.

Rei: I will side with A…Asuka as well.

Asuka: `Her saying my name is kinda creepy.' Thanks, you're on the Asuka band wagon, right Shinji?

Shinji: Actually…I'm siding with Kensuke. I've seen him play to many games to think otherwise.

Girls: Whow, that's unexpected.

Kensuke: Yeah! Shinji casting off the shackles of oppression his masters put on him!

Misato: But I only put the shackles on at night, I meant…

Asuka growling: I'll get to `you' later. So what is the game.

Kensuke: To prove how inferior you are to me. We will play the largest, most complex war strategy game made!

Rei: Shoots and Ladders?

Mana: The hell are you talking about?

Rei blushing: Sorry, only game I ever played.

Shinji: The `only' board game you've played?

Misato/Asuka: Commander deserves death for that.

Kensuke: NO! We shall play…"Axis and Allies!"

Shinji: That game is HUGE! You'll be playing for hours!

Mana/Rei: Good.

Asuka: Challenge accepted, IF I play the Axis powers.

Misato: Have to have the home ground advantage eh Asuka?

Mana: I can see it now. "Axis Vs. Allies. Will history repeat itself with Commander Aida in control of the Allies, or with the German's crush the world and rule under the leather boots of Furer Asuka!"

Shinji: Leather boots?

Asuka: You know the ones.

Rei: No, I don't believe you told him of that fetish yet.

Asuka blushes: OH…well um…lets go set this up and start.

Kids all go into kitchen to set up game.

Ritsuko walking into living room: Hope we're not interrupting things Misato.

Maya: We just got off work, and well.

Ritsuko: I heard about Maya's winnings.

Misato: Shit, not going to yell at me for using him as collateral are you?

Ritsuko: On the contrary. I want to know exactly `what' we are allowed to ask him to do.

Misato: Anything really. I said he'd be her slave to an extent.

Ritsuko: Excellent `smirks.'

Misato catching on: I'll have to visit later.

Maya clueless: What are you guys talking about? OH you're still watching that movie!

Ritsuko: The creepy one you told me about?

Misato/Maya: Yep.

Children returning.

Rei: You.

Ritsuko: You.

Mana: MAYA!

Shinji: Hi doctor, Maya.

Misato: Well now that introductions are finished. Lets fire up the next part shall we?

Rei: Yes, Shinji-kun will be mine in this next chapter.

Shinji: I just hope they don't have too much more of the `dream' stuff.

Misato: Creepy.

All taking seats.

Mana: It's all crazy. Lets hope it doesn't get go much worse.

Maya hits the play button and the movie starts.

(look for my classic >>> to show you the way!)

Asuka jumped in another puddle, splashing Shinji

again. "Got you!"

>>>Mana: And everybody in a two block radius.

"HEY!" It was silly of him to be bothered; the rain

was already pouring down in sheets and he was drenched, but

it annoyed him anyway.

>>>Rei: Typical. Her presence usually annoys me too.

Even worse than Asuka acting like this was a

blessing from God was the way Rei was simply walking along

as if it wasn't there, unconcerned by the storm. While

Shinji kept shivering and feeling cold, she wasn't bothered

at all.

>>>Ritsuko: Well they do call her the "ice queen."

>>>Misato: Maybe something to that nik-name.

"Lighten up, Shinji. Rei likes the rain. Why don't

you?"

"It's cold and wet and miserable," he said. "And it

never rains like this. Not around here. It's weird

weather."

"Well, unless it turns out the thunder is being made

by Thor, I'm gonna enjoy it," Asuka said.

"By who?" Shinji asked.

"Norse god of thunder and lightning," Rei said

without looking at him.

>>>Mana: And you know this because?

>>>Shinji: Why am I always in the dark on such easy things?

>>>Maya: Directors like to make you seem a little dense.

Asuka spun about, somehow easily keeping up with

Shinji and Rei. "C'mon, Shinji. You know you like the

rain. You're just faking."

"I do NOT!" Something's funny about this weather,

Shinji thought. And it wasn't funny haha. It was funny uh

oh.

>>>Maya/Shinji: Foreshadow!

>>>Rei: There is a difference in `funny?'

>>>Misato groans: You REALLY need to get out more.

~*~

John Biles & Rod M. Present

A Neon Genesis Evangelion Elseworlds

Children of an Elder God

Part 6

The Great White North

>>>Mana: North pole?

>>>Ritsuko: Can't be the south, we vaporized that.

~*~

Colonel Christopher Robin

>>>Maya: WINNIE THE POOH!

>>>Others: What?

>>>Maya blushes: Nothing! `Oops…can't let them know about my, collection.'

hunched over the modified

radar screen, wondering again exactly what the thing was

tracking. The NERV staff and their strange equipment made

the US Army officer nervous, but he had been ordered to

cooperate with them. The base was now 'NERV--ALASKA' for

the duration.

>>>Shinji: What doesn't make the US Army nervous?

>>>Mana: Sending young girls out to pilot mock Eva's.

>>>Misato: We assimilated another base. YATTA!

The pudgy blond tech next to him wore a lab coat

over his sweater and slacks. His name was Philip Oscar

Harris, and he spent more time guzzling candy and soda than

doing work, as far as Christopher Robin could tell.

>>>Ritsuko: So that's where they sent him.

>>>Misato: What, you know him?

>>>Ritsuko: Yeah, he ate the Commanders food and was reassigned.

He was

eating honey graham crackers as he watched the screen.

"Hmm. The thing's heading this way. We'd best alert

Tokyo-3."

"It is?" Christopher Robin stared at the screen.

>>>Mana: Walking death, need he know more?

>>>Rei: What type of death. More than one.

"How the hell can you tell?" There were odd squiggles on

the screen by the blinking dot, but they didn't mean

anything to him.

"Japanese equipment; didn't have time to configure

it to English. Those are Kanji. Hey, ROO!"

>>>Maya: KAWAII!!

>>>Ritsuko: Maya. Are you STILL watching those old cartoons?

>>>Maya: SEMPAI YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T TELL!

Roger David Walker, another tech, frowned. "My name

is not ROO. It's Roger." He headed for the phone anyway.

"Better than being called Burrito," Phillip said.

"Call me THAT again, and I'll tie you to the front

gate," Roger said, then got on the line.

~*~

Misato ran onto the command bridge. "What's the

latest from Alaska?"

>>>Shinji: It's on fire.

>>>Ritsuko: Sank into the Atlantic.

>>>Rei: Is now an angel breeding ground.

"The observation grid is down. We've lost the

signal," one of the techs said.

"Bloody hell," she growled. "Is POLARIS ready for

launching?"

"Yes," Ritsuko said. "Although we wanted to do a

few more tests if we had time."

"We need it," Misato said. "We can't fight the

Angel if we can't find it. And someone open a line to the

US and Canadian governments. We need a bomber strike. That

should force the thing to heal while we get forces to

Canada."

Everyone scrambled to do her bidding.

>>>Misato: Dance my puppets DANCE!

>>>Shinji: Why do you like calling air raids?

>>>Mana/Ritsuko in mocking voices: Oh no they are going to bomb the US.

~*~

"Okay, boys and girls," the teacher, a middle aged

man who was starting to go bald and grey at the same time,

said. "Can anyone tell me what sidreal motion is?"

Asuka looked around and snorted when no one else

answered. "It's the movement of the Earth's axis. Every

26,000 years, roughly, the earth's axis of rotation changes

in a full cycle. True North is not a fixed direction,

effectively."

"Very good, Asuka," he said.

>>>Rei: That should keep her quiet for a few moments.

>>>Shinji: She really loves complements.

"So compasses would point in a different direction

halfway through that?" Kensuke asked.

"No, magnetic north changes on a different cycle,"

the teacher said. "But TRUE north would change."

"But how would you notice?"

>>>Maya: And why would you care?

>>>Mana: And why do they bother to tell us this?

"Observe the pole star, Polaris. It seems to stay

in place because the axis currently points towards it. But

if you slept for say...13,000 years, it would no longer seem

to stay fixed in the sky."

>>>Misato: Get the feeling that we're missing something?

>>>Shinji: Bet Kensuke would understand that.

>>>Ritsuko: SIMPLETONS! The north star ISN'T stationary!

Touji yawned. "I wish I'd slept for 13,000 years."

The intercom cut in, interrupting the discussion.

"IKARI, LANGELY, AYUKAWA, REPORT TO NERV IMMEDIATELY."

>>>Shinji: New pilot?

>>>Rei: I was replaced?

>>>Ritsuko smiling: Well you know…

There was silence for a moment, then Hikari said,

"Ayukawa?"

"Maybe there's a new pilot," Asuka said as she

stood up.

"CORRECTION. HIKARI, LANGELY, AYANAMI, REPORT TO

NERV IMMEDIATELY."

>>>Mana: Um, Hikari couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag.

>>>Shinji: You haven't seen her beat Touji.

Hikari blinked. "Me?"

Asuka shook her head. "Someone can't read."

>>>Rei: That is irony isn't it?

>>>Misato: Actually it is. We need to teach her kanji.

"DAMMIT, THIS IS ILLEGIBLE. STUPID SECRETA...OOPS,

THIS IS STILL ON. ALL EVA PILOTS, REPORT TO NERV

IMMEDIATELY."

"Let's go kick some ass!" Asuka shouted, running

out the door. Shinji and Rei followed with somewhat greater

calm.

>>>Maya: That's an understatement.

>>>Shinji/Rei: She's going to get beat again. Damn rookie.

~*~

Baybrook Air Force Base had never been attacked. In

fact, it had never even been in the slightest danger of

being attacked, except perhaps if World War III had actually

broken out.

>>>Misato: Well with the angels being global now…

>>>Ritsuko: A World War it is, and they are going to die.

It had been built to deal with the contingency

of the Russians sending planes over the North Pole to bomb

the pine trees of the Northwest Territories into submission.

That most certainly couldn't be allowed.

>>>Rei/Mana: Bomb trees?

>>>Misato: Take out ability to create toilet paper to cause panic.

It was usually understaffed, but its use for the

strike against...whatever exactly had been attacked...meant

it had more people than usual. The normal staff was

pleased; they felt useful for once. This was generally the

place where people got dumped who annoyed someone.

>>>Misato: Why don't we have a place like that.

>>>Ritsuko: Send two of the pilots out to…protect the world?

>>>Rei: You cannot get rid of me that easy.

>>>Ritsuko/Mana: But the world needs you to protect it.

The weather was bad for flying; a massive storm

front had rumbled in and was dumping vast quantities of

snow. They were used to it; this happened all the time

here. This was a bad time for it; they needed to keep

planes in the air. The flight sent WITH N2 mines to

destroy...something...hadn't come back. Radio contact had

gone dead. It might have just been the EMP from dropping

the mines, but that hadn't happened in past tests of N2

bombs.

>>>Shinji: But where would the tragedy be in that?

>>>Mana: Knowing this movie, they are dead or insane.

Plus, there were entire trees flying around over the

base; the winds were horrendous, and they had to keep

snowplowing debris off the runways. It was the worst storm

they'd ever seen.

Then it got worse. They caught the small falling

metal cylinder on the radar for a moment, but they couldn't

recognize it. When the N2 mine went off inside the base,

they all had about one second to say, 'Shit' before they

died. It did get rid of all the annoying debris, though.

>>>All:………

>>>Rei: What was that supposed to mean?

>>>Ritsuko: A sick persons idea of humor, `I thought it was funny as hell.'

~*~

"You're going to have to ride in the entry plugs all

the way to Canada," Misato said, pointing to a map of North

America. "We won't have the facilities to load you properly

there. Luckily, the special transport planes FINALLY

arrived yesterday, and we can keep your batteries charged all

the way there and drop you from the planes."

>>>Shinji: The whole way?

>>>Maya: Could be worse.

>>>Shinji: How? Force us to watch American sit-coms while we fly?

If the weather

doesn't cause them to crash, stranding or killing you all,

she thought. Let's not think about that.

>>>Ritsuko: But you just did.

>>>Misato: The beer will take care of that.

>>>Mana: And if it happens?

>>>Rei: Are spirits will haunt her.

Shinji was revulsed at the entire idea of spending

hours in the entry plug. "How long are we gonna be stuck in

there?"

"Far too long, but it's the best we can do," Misato

said. "Once you reach Canada, we'll know exactly where we

need to drop you. Possibly, you may be going here," she

pointed to a point in Alaska. "But our target may have moved."

>>>Maya: So technically, you have no idea where you're going?

>>>Misato: Details just get in the way of plans.

"So he's causing this weather?" Asuka asked.

"We believe so," Misato said. "We've dubbed him

Salgiel, the Angel of Snow.

>>>Rei: Angel of Snow? That is stupid.

>>>Misato: Watch your mouth young lady!

>>>Shinji: It is kinda silly. What was the first, Angel of Spiders?

We've launched a satellite that

should be able to track him, which will greatly simplify this.

In fact, it should get a lock on him before you even get to

Canada."

>>>Shinji: Note the key word `should.'

>>>Mana: Misato is just not on the ball today.

"Can the planes fly in this weather safely?" Asuka

asked.

"Of course they can," Misato lied. "We would never

send you up in them if we weren't sure it would be safe."

>>>Shinji: Like you wouldn't risk my life in the entry plug?

>>>Misato: They said you had a 80% chance of living.

If we weren't so desperate we'd try flinging you from a

catapult if we had to...

~*~

"What are we supposed to DO for...how long is it

gonna be?" Shinji asked.

"Over twelve hours. I suggest you sleep," Ritsuko

said.

"But I'm not tired!"

"Would you like me to sedate you?" Ritsuko asked.

>>>Ritsuko: Some methods of sedation are really fun.

>>>Shinji: Fun sedation?

>>>Misato: Extreme actions.

>>>Rei/Mana: Stop looking at him like that!

Shinji was about to say yes when he noticed Rei and

Asuka were both watching him. "No. I'll figure out

something." They both subtly relaxed, and Asuka nodded

slightly.

"We can talk on our radios and plan how to hand this

Angel his head on a plate," Asuka said.

>>>Maya: But you don't even know what it looks like.

>>>Shinji: Planning really isn't Asuka's strong point.

>>>Misato: Then how is she going to beat Kensuke?

For half a day? Hmm. "Wait...how are we going to

eat?"

"The LCL will sustain you. You won't need to eat.

In fact, your stomach won't even get empty." Ritsuko said

soothingly. "It's actually quite nutritious."

>>>Shinji: You know this because?

>>>Ritsuko: I put it in my coffee.

Shinji narrowed his eyes; he was dubious. Even if

it was nuitritious, it was incredibly foul, disgusting, and

vile. He would rather have spent the entire time in a

puddle of vomit.

>>>Shinji: Isn't that the same thing?

>>>Rei: Blood or vomit.

"What, you put vitamins in it? It's...It's disgusting!"

"It's like the system of blood vessels which keep

babies alive in the womb for nine months without eating,"

Ritsuko said. "EVAs have LCL for blood, you see. Anyway,

we need to get you going."

>>>Misato: Now if Shinji had an umbilical cord attached, that would mean something.

>>>Mana: That sounds very disturbing.

"We should buy some bullion and see if we can turn

it into broth next time," Asuka said, as she prepared to

enter her plug. Shinji stared at her as if she was insane.

>>>Rei: Give it time and she will.

>>>Ritsuko: Who told you that! I mean…um…shit.

"That was a joke, you know!"

He blinked, then laughed, glancing over at Rei, who

seemed to have not even noticed and was busy entering her

plug. Maybe she lost her sense of humor in an accident.

>>>Mana: Or never developed it.

>>>Rei: I have a sense of humor.

>>>Maya: Still watch the Teletubbies?

~*~

In theory, the Karpov Military Base did not exist.

The Russian government denied its existence, and it was

cunningly concealed so that it could not easily be spied by

satellites or flying planes. The monitoring equipment

looked like part of the landscape, a frozen Siberian

wasteland. Its computers used underground lines, as did its

phones.

>>>Misato: So when it vaporized, nobody mourned their deaths'.

It was, and had always primarily been an

intelligence site, keeping an eye open for planes or

missiles coming over the North Pole, ready to send the

signal for a retaliatory strike. It had not been designed

to repel a ground assault; that was not its role.

Indeed, it wasn't even really designed to notice a

ground assault, especially not when a howling snowstorm

descended upon it. They simply turned up the heat and

waited for it to pass.

When the N2 bomb went off at ground level next to

the base, they got all the heat they could ever want, and

theoretical non-existance turned into real non-existance.

>>>Shinji: Somebody really has a twisted sense of humor.

>>>Mana: Misato was right!

>>>Ritsuko: I'm scared…so very scared.

~*~

An ordinary man would have been cowed by standing

before the UN Security Council, especially when they all

were shouting and pounding on the table with things and

pointing fingers. Gendo was no ordinary man.

>>>Shinji: Is he really a man?

>>>Ritsuko: Not after he installed the shrimp in his hand.

>>>Rei: Shrimp?

>>>Ritsuko: Somebody accidentally switched trays.

He did not wait to be announced. "Gentlemen,

everything is under control. We have launched POLARIS, and

our forces are on their way to Canada. Salgiel WILL be

stopped."

Compared to the other chewing out he was expecting

to receive soon, this was nothing.

~*~

"Is one of the Angels really going around nuking

military bases?" one of the pressmen shouted.

Maya grimaced as a sea of panicked reporters milled

about below the podium she was standing at and tried to

shove microphones in her face.

>>>Shinji: That would make it hard to talk.

>>>Maya: MACE I NEED MACE!

This press conference was

turning into a disaster; for once, the press couldn't be

guided, in large part due to fear.

I'm not trained for this, she thought. "Everyone

calm down. NERV has everything under control."

>>>Mana: When did that happen?

>>>Rei: The same time that we trashed your Triton.

Obviously

they hadn't read the script, or perhaps were too scared to

really follow it, but she would soothe them and get things

back in order.

>>>Ritsuko: Um…Maya Ibuki?

>>>Maya: Sempai! I can too act to soothe people, tell her Shinji!

>>>Rei/Mana: Yeah tell her Shinji.

>>>Shinji: Oh hell.

"Is it true that Commander Ikari is actually Elvis'

love child?" someone shouted.

Almost everything under control, she thought.

>>>Misato: Would explain the drugs.

>>>Ritsuko: And the hound dog.

>>>Shinji: I'm part American?

~*~

"Knock Knock," Asuka said. She seemed to know a

nearly infinite number of these. Shinji would have killed

her if he could reach her. And while he could have cut off

the radio, even torture was better than boredom.

>>>Mana: So thoughts of murder are better?

>>>Ritsuko: You'd be surprised how fulfilling it can be.

"Who's there?" he asked, semi-mechanically.

"Boo Boo."

"Boo boo who?"

"You don't need to cry," she said. He blinked,

then she sighed. "Okay, no more knock knock jokes. How

about..." She thought a moment. "First person to make Rei

laugh gets off chores for a week."

>>>Misato: I can see this ending badly.

>>>Rei: Me…laugh?

Shinji suddenly realized Rei hadn't laughed at any

of them, although she had blinked confusedly twice and

yawned through most of a third. "Okay. Hmm. Gimme a

minute to think of a good joke...and how do we decide who

goes first?"

"You can go first. I need time to think of a good

joke myself."

>>>Shinji: That could take awhile, her sense of humor is off.

>>>Rei: You want me to laugh?

>>>Ritsuko: Not really. I don't think we could suppress the gag reflex.

~*~

Magi reported. "POLARIS ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL."

Pause. "TARGET SPOTTED CROSSING HUDSON BAY. CURRENT COURSE

NOW BEING PLOTTED ON WORLD MAP."

>>>Maya: But didn't you send them to the other way?

>>>Misato: Well, I thought it'd move south for winter.

A world map apeared on one viewscreen. It showed a

curving line that headed down into Ontario, then right

through Toronto and into the United States.

Fuyutsuuki shook his head. "I was afraid of that.

Someone radio Captain Katsuragi. And ask Magi if the planes

will make it in time."

Brief calculations followed. "AFFIRMATIVE. AT HIS

CURRENT SPEED, SALGIEL CAN BE INTERCEPTED AT THE SOUTHERN

END OF THE BAY."

"Excellent. Alert Katsuragi of this as well."

>>>Shinji: Won't she know this already?

>>>Rei: No, the Nerv info blocker would have kept her in the dark.

>>>Misato: Remind me Ritsuko why we have that thing?

>>>Ritsuko: Add to the dramatics of life.

~*~

"... and so the judge said, 'What stick?'" said

Asuka.

Rei blinked.

Shinji blinked.

"Stick? Get it?" said Asuka, lauging weakly.

"Aheh... ah... guess not. Okay, Shinji, your turn again."

"Er..." Shinji figited, scratched his head, and

generally stalled for time.

>>>Maya: At a loss already?

>>>Misato: How many jokes did they try?

>>>Shinji/Mana: And still not even a snicker.

"C'mon, you've gotta know something less lame than

'when is a door not a door'," nagged Asuka.

>>>Rei: When it is `a jar.'

>>>All: Oooooooook.

"Well, Misato and Touji told me a few," said Shinji

reluctantly.

Asuka shrugged. "Let's hear it."

"You're sure?" asked Shinji.

>>>Ritsuko: This is going to be rich.

>>>Shinji: I can't repeat those! They're so lewd!

>>>Misato: Not ALL of them.

"Go!"

"Um... okay. Ahem. Beauty is in the eye of the

beer-holder." He smiled nervously.

Rei blinked.

>>>Misato bursts out laughing.

>>>Others: That sucked.

Asuka sighed. "Okay, clearly Misato humor. That

was so bad I'm gonna have to insist that you try again."

"Er... why are hangovers better than women?"

>>>Mana/Rei: Touji.

>>>Shinji: It's no wonder he can't get a girlfriend.

"OKAAAY, we'll stop right there," said Asuka.

"Remind me to kick Touji when we get back."

>>>Rei: I will as well.

~*~

Operating out of a strip mall in Toronto was NOT the

ideal environment to run the operation against Salgiel, but

the location had been lying empty and had multiple phone

lines in place from its incarnation as an internet service

provider and computer store. It would have to do.

>>>Shinji/Ritsuko: And Misato can swipe more stuff.

>>>Misato: I need the stuff I repossess.

Most of

the fancy stuff would simply be piped in from MAGI in

Tokyo-3 anyway. By the time Misato had arrived, everything

was in place, including a large viewscreen with an

interactive map.

>>>Maya: That kinda looks like your television set.

>>>Rei: How DID you afford such a television?

>>>Misato just whistles.

Salgiel was a flashing blue dot heading towards the

bottom of Hudson's bay, while three close placed red dots

moved to intercept him. They would make it in time;

projections showed they would cross his line of march a good

fifteen minutes before he reached the point where they would

intersect it. Time enough to set an ambush, even. Assuming

the stormfront advancing ahead of him didn't botch things

up;

>>>Mana: You haven't realized that IT was making the storm?

>>>Shinji: Nerv science at its best.

trying to drop three EVAs in a snowstorm would be too

much fun for the pilots, most likely. But there was nothing

to be done.

~*~

"Did you hear about the accident at the army base?"

asked Asuka. "A jeep ran over a box of popcorn and killed

two kernels."

Rei didn't even blink.

Shinji groaned.

"It wasn't THAT bad," insisted Asuka.

>>>Maya snickering: That was kinda funny.

>>>Mana: If you have the sense of humor of a five year old.

"Okay, maybe

it was. Your turn again, Shinji. And please, no jokes

about women or beer."

"Um... what do you get when you mix an elephant and

a fish?"

>>>Ritsuko: A REALLY bad smell.

>>>Shinji: Big sushi?

>>>Rei: I fail to see the importance of this.

Rei blinked. "What?" she asked.

"Swimming trunks."

"Swimming trunks?" asked Rei, looking slightly

puzzled.

"Well, you see, an elephant has trunks, and-"

Asuka cut in. "Shinji, if you have to explain, it

isn't funny."

>>>Mana: She's right.

>>>Rei: I don't get it.

>>>Ritsuko: We didn't expect you too.

"Please stop," said Rei quietly.

"Sorry," apologized Shinji.

"We're not teasing you or anything," Asuka told her.

"We just... y'know... wanna see you laughing or something."

"Laughing?" asked Rei.

>>>Misato: You DO know what that is right?

>>>Rei: Yes, I laugh when you think you can get Shinji-kun alone with you.

>>>Ritsuko: Well Maya can, can't she.

>>>Mana/Rei glare as Shinji looks on confused.

"Laughing, smiling, just happy, I guess," said

Shinji.

"I see." Rei thought about this for a brief moment.

"Why did you apologize?"

"You were offended, I mean, er, right?" asked Shinji

awkwardly.

"No."

"Then why'd you tell us to stop?" asked Asuka.

>>>Shinji: Bored?

>>>Mana: Shinji, she stares out the window for hours, she can't be bored.

"We're about to dro-"

//ENTERING DROP ZONE IN TEN SECONDS//

"-p"

Asuka pumped her fist. "Woohoo! Showtime! Seeya

down below!" And with that, her screen disappeared.

>>>Mana: Think she means……

>>>Shinji: I don't think so Mana.

>>>Misato: Be an odd mission if she did.

"Well, good luck," said Shinji. His screen

flickered out as well, leaving Rei alone with her thoughts.

"Smile..."

>>>Ritsuko: Yeah, the opposite of what you always do.

~*~

Parachuting the EVAs to the ground proved to not be

the best of ideas, but there was no way to land the planes

in the middle of a forest, and they had to stop Salgiel

before it reached the most populated region of Canada.

>>>Mana: How much canvass do you think that is?

>>>Ritsuko: Eva sized parachutes…lets just hope China didn't need the fabric.

Asuka did the best job.

>>>Rei: Glad she isn't here to hear that.

>>>Shinji: We'd never hear the end of it.

Unit02 leveled a large

swathe through the forest, but it was on its feet and ready

to rumble within seconds.

>>>Maya: So much for the spotted owl.

>>>Mana: She's a lumberjack and she's ok. (Monty Python song)

Shinji crashed into a bunch of

trees, cutting a larger swathe and ending up having to dig

himself out of a pile of new lumber. Rei had it worst;

Unit00's parachute malfunctioned and it ended up in a

ravine.

>>>Misato: Could have been worse.

>>>Rei: Why do I have the worst luck.

>>>Maya: What makes you think you have it the worst.

>>>Rei/Ritsuko: Trust me/her.

The three quickly rendezvoused, having been

scattered in the process, but EVAs move quickly, though more

forest was levelled in the process.

>>>Ritsuko: We can sell the lumber for profit.

>>>Maya: All those dead animals.

Shinji, in fact, was surprised by how quickly he was

able to move through the howling wind and snow as if it

wasn't even there. The others seemed to be having more

trouble with it than he was, though again, he couldn't think

of why. He had never been one to look a gift horse in the

mouth, though.

>>>Shinji: First time I've seen a `gift horse.'

>>>Rei: I had a horse. (mst of Obsession)

>>>Mana/Maya: NO FAIR!

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

>>>Shinji/Rei: Plan? We never used a plan before.

"Fairly simple," Misato said. "Rei, you're the

bait. Pretty much, make sure he sees you. Shinji, Asuka,

you both have to move out of visual range of Rei so that he

won't see you, Shinji to the left, Asuka to the right. Once

Rei spots him, she'll alert you, and the two of you will

flank him.

>>>Rei: You use me as bait? `At field flickers.'

>>>Misato: You'll be safe! You have two knights to protect you.

>>>Ritsuko: Not like you have to worry or anything `smirks.'

Asuka, you charge at him more directly. Shinji,

you will circle a bit to get behind him. Once you have him

surrounded, Shinji and Rei will keep him from escaping,

while Asuka focuses on attack."

They all nodded, and began moving into position.

>>>Shinji: Still better than `catch it.'

>>>Ritsuko: Lets hope it has higher than 1% success rate too.

>>>Mana: 1%!!! How dare you play with Shinji's life like that!

>>>Rei: Your compassion for others is lacking.

~*~

Unit00 stood stock still, quickly being covered by

snow; still, no one who knew what an EVA was could mistake

it for anything else. It was too big and too humanoid to

pass for anything but itself.

The wind grew stronger, and Unit00's sensors began

to detect an approaching AT-field. The snow blew off Unit00

in an instant when it responded by forming one around

itself.

>>>Maya: Around itself?

>>>Ritsuko: What happened to the dumb orange hexagon?

The first that could be seen of the Angel of Snow

was its eyes, which glowed redly. Behind them was a shadow

of a humanoid figure, fuzzy along the edges.

>>>Mana: It looks like a hairy Ayanami.

>>>Shinji: Mana, that's mean.

It could

easily have been another EVA, but Rei knew better, since she

could see the position of the other pilots on a tiny map in

one corner of her vision.

There was silence except for the wind as they stared

at one another. She should signal the others. But his

vision compelled her, staring into her. Somehow, he could

see through Unit00's eyes to her as she saw through its eyes

to him. He was carrying something in each hand, a cylinder

of some kind, gripped as if he planned to use it the way

some thugs might grip a roll of quarters before a fight.

>>>Misato: Or Kaji.

>>>Ritsuko: He just leaves them in his pants though.

>>>Maya: Bet Asuka would be upset to hear that.

They stared, and then he softened. The glow of his

eyes dimmed slightly, and she no longer felt the full force

of his gaze. Though his long-limbed figure could be seen

but dimly through the howling snow, the whiteness that

sought to consume the universe, it was clear that he had

relaxed. He started to circle around Unit00 to the left.

Volition returned to her. "Target acquired," she

said, then prepared to move to block his advanced.

>>>Shinji: He looks like a teddy bear.

>>>Maya: KAWAII!

>>>Misato: A teddy bear with razor sharp teeth maybe.

Asuka was faster than expected;

>>>Ritsuko: That true Shinji-kun?

>>>Shinji: Well actually I, `notices eyes on him, blushes' nevermind.

Unit02 emerged out

of the wall of white faster than Rei had expected,

progressive knife held high. The Angel didn't even look,

simply pointing with a closed fist. The ground erupted in a

pillar of white snow, a huge flurry that reversed the course

of the blizzard and fell up, rising around Unit02. In two

seconds, it was flung up and out of sight.

>>>Mana: Asuka's track record for battle is sad.

>>>Shinji: She just HAS to rush in.

A quick check revealed that Unit02 still existed; it

was simply being carried upwards by an impossibly powerful

updraft. The pillar of air was sucking in all the air

around it, and Unit00 staggered towards it, unable to resist

the winds despite Rei's best efforts.

"Shinji, attack now!" Misato ordered.

He did so, emerging out of the snow with the wind at

his back. His progressive knife bit deep into the Angel's

right shoulder, and the updraft suddenly ceased.

>>>Maya: Hate to see where Unit-02 lands.

>>>Ritsuko: Going to be a lot of death and damage where it does.

Pivoting

on one foot, Salgiel drove his fist into Unit01's chest,

breaking the skin and spraying reddish black gunk onto the

dark furred arm of the Angel. At least, it seemed dark, but

there was so little light it was hard to tell.

>>>Ritsuko: When did the Eva's have `skin.'

>>>Shinji pales: Its hand is `in' my Unit?

When the arm came out, Unit01 toppled backwards and

fell into a sitting position, instinctively clutching its

gut. Rei could hear Shinji screaming over the comlink. She

cut off his channel reluctantly; hopefully, he would not

say anything important.

>>>Mana: What a bitch!

>>>Shinji: I usually don't say anything important anyway.

>>>Misato/Maya: Not true, that was VERY cold of her.

>>>Rei: ……… `Shit.'

Narrowing her eyes and doing a quick calculation,

she hurled her unit at him, body blocking him. He staggered

back just as far as she had hoped. A second later, Unit02

fell on him, knocking him into the ground. Asuka gave a

shout of triumph over the comlink and pulled out her

progressive knife.

>>>Maya: Looks like a football tackle.

>>>Misato: About as graceful as one as well.

Rei clicked the comline to Shinji back on. "Get

up."

He did so, looking angry rather than frightened now,

then tried to draw the progressive knife which was still

stuck in Salgiel's back. He prepared to charge the Angel.

>>>Mana: Shinji's pissed! You look so cute when you're mad!

>>>Shinji: I do?

>>>Misato: Very much so.

~*~

The comline from Tokyo-3 to Toronto clicked on

again. Maya said, "Bad news. Salgiel just stuck an N2 mine

inside Unit01's chest."

Misato stared at her. "WHAT?"

>>>Shinji: Who has the bad luck today?

>>>Rei: I concede.

"He's got another one too, if POLARIS is reading

things correctly," Ritsuko said. "We're trying to get the

remote detonation codes from the Canadians."

"Crap."

>>>Maya: remote detonation?

>>>Ritsuko: There will be a slight ringing in your ears Shinji-kun.

>>>Misato/Rei: That's sick.

~*~

Misato appeared again on the com channels.

"Everyone, there's an N2 mine in Shinji's chest."

"I have a WHAT?!" yelled Shinji. He clawed

uselessly at his own chest. Unfortunately, Unit01's fingers

were too big; he really needed some super economy size

tweezers.

>>>Rei: How could a N2 mine fit in Unit 01's chest?

>>>Ritsuko: Somebody lost some weight.

"Shinji! Calm down!" ordered Misato.

>>>Shinji: Easy for you to say, you don't have a BOMB in your chest.

>>>Mana: Kensuke and Touji would beg to differ.

"Rei, keep

the Angel busy. Asuka, cut it out of his chest, then you and

Shinji will have to contain the blast if it goes off with

your AT-fields. Hopefully, since it hasn't gone off

already, it won't go off, but he might have some way to

detonate it."

>>>Maya: I doubt that helped calm him down.

Asuka, who had been thrown off Salgiel seconds

before, tried to get Unit02 to stand up, then discovered to

her horror that its right leg was broken. She cursed and

knocked down a tree, turning it into an impromptu crutch,

while Shinji continued to fail to extract the bomb.

>>>Mana: First she gets blown away, now this.

>>>Rei: She will never be a great help in battle.

Unit00 grappled with the Angel, but she was sorely

outmatched alone. He soon had 00 pressed to the ground,

with him kneeling on its back, slamming its head into the

ground repeatedly.

>>>Misato: He's the angel of professional wrestling.

Shinji couldn't watch it anymore, and charged right

past Unit02, who had almost reached him, leaping onto

Salgiel from behind and knocking him off of 00. They

tumbled together through a stand of trees, disappearing from

the sight of the others, although it was easy to follow the

wake of destruction.

>>>Ritsuko: If it chooses to blow the N2 mine, at least he'd die too.

>>>Misato/Shinji: But those things never stop angels!

>>>Ritsuko: Guess you'd die alone then.

Unit02 hobbled after him, while Unit00 sprinted

after them once Rei managed to peel her unit out of the hole

in the ground its head had made.

>>>Mana: Why can't the female pilots fight?

Without the element of

surprise, 01 wasn't doing much better than 00 had, although

at least its head wasn't being pounded into the ground.

Just as the Angel got Unit01 into a firm lock, much to

everyone's surprise, it suddenly slipped upward out of the

grip, popping up into the air like a greased watermelon.

Its landing was undignifed, but it did get away.

"Nice move, Shinji," Asuka said.

>>>Maya: Did she mean that?

>>>Shinji: Be the first compliment she ever gave me.

"Uh...thanks. Can someone get this..." He gulped.

"...bomb out of my chest now?"

>>>Ritsuko: But Unit-01 could use the color change.

Unit00 moved to cover them while 02 knelt and cut it

out, which wasn't easy with one of its legs broken.

>>>Shinji: She's using her feet to cut it out?

>>>Misato: Not the best way to do it.

Covering them was easy, though; Salgiel turned and ran

south into the all-encompassing grey-white fog of snow.

"What the hell do I do with this thing now?"

Misato passed on a just received message. "It's

active. You've got ten seconds. Put it on the ground and

all three of you activate your AT-fields!"

"Can we really contain it?" Shinji asked,

concentrating on bringing up the strange shimmering glow in

front of his EVA's outstretched hands.

>>>Mana: Either way you're going to find out.

>>>Ritsuko: Not like we can test that theory out.

The trio formed a triangle around the small metal

cylinder, which looked as much like a keg of beer as it did

a bomb.

>>>Maya: Who designed the casing?

>>>Ritsuko pointing at the grinning Misato: Do you have to ask?

Three fields that looked like miniature aurora

borealises shimmered in front of outstretched hands, then

expanded, forming a triangle of everchanging, dancing light

of all colors and none.

"Turn off your eyes or you'll burn them out,"

>>>Shinji/Rei: We CAN'T do that.

>>>Misato: Wonder what you're faces will look like with no eyes.

>>>Ritsuko: Guess we should have thought about that possibility.

Ritsuko said when Misato patched her in. A second before

the bomb went off, they all plunged into darkness. They

would not know if they succeeded until it was over.

And then the bomb went off.

>>>Rei: Hopefully Unit-02's broken leg prohibits its At-Field.

>>>Shinji: But she could get hurt!

>>>Misato/Ritsuko: `That's the point.'

~*~

Safely esconsed in Toronto, Misato watched the

visual feed from POLARIS and a weather satellite, showing a

huge pillar of light erupting up through the clouds, burning

them away in one spot for just a second before they closed

in again. Radio contact with the Children revealed nothing;

they might be alive or dead, though probably alive; the

blast wouldn't have gone so high if they hadn't succeeded.

>>>Shinji: Again, what are you basing that on?

>>>Misato: Wishful thinking.

"We've got good news and bad," Ritsuko said. "We

can remote detonate the other bomb. But now, he's headed

into the more populated zones of Ontario and he's speeding

up.

>>>Mana: So blow it up before it gets there!

>>>Rei: The blast would still kill many people.

>>>Mana: Breaking a few eggs.

We've only got twenty or thirty minutes before he

reaches Toronto. Maybe five before he hits a fair sized

town."

More good news and bad came in. Three small images

appeared on the communications screen: Rei, Asuka, and

Shinji. "We did it," Asuka said. "But now Shinji's got a

nasty gash in his chest, and I've got a broken leg."

>>>Rei: Leave the cripple behind.

>>>Misato: Now Rei, you can't get rid of Asuka like that.

>>>Maya to Ritsuko: Rei's taking to much of this movie in…

Misato checked the timers and frowned. They were

down to thirty seconds of power from the backpacks when they

should have had another five minutes at least. The amount

of power it took to contain the blast must have drained them

faster. While the Units had some power left, they'd never

catch Salgiel while Unit02's leg was broken. "Rig up a

splint for the leg if you can. I'll get back to you in just

a minute."

It was time for some hard thinking.

>>>Ritsuko: Don't you mean hard drinking?

>>>Maya: The Major wouldn't think of that, right?

>>>All look at her, and shake their heads.

~*~

"Well, that didn't go so well," Shinji said as he

and Rei tried to figure out some way to tie some tree trunks

in place to act as a sort of cast for the broken leg on 02.

One EVA was down, their powerpacks were heavily drained, and

an Angel was running loose with at least one N2 mine.

>>>Mana: They tore out power lines for twine!

>>>Shinji/Ritsuko: Had to use something!

"Hah! We'd have waxed his miserable ass if he

hadn't cheated, then run away," Asuka said. "Next time, we

gotta all hit him at once instead of acting like the bad

guys in a kung fu movie," Asuka said sagely. "If you'd

told me you were gonna jump him, I coulda helped you,

Shinji."

>>>Rei: She jumped first.

>>>Misato: And was blown away.

"You weren't jumping anywhere with a broken leg,"

Shinji said. "But I couldn't let him pound Rei into the

ground like that." His voice had a hint of anger. "She

could have died."

"I was in no danger," Rei said, ripping huge

amounts of ivy off of some trees and trying to use that as a

cord for the impromptu splint.

>>>Ritsuko: Technically she's right. `being a clone and all'

>>>Maya: So that wasn't her head being smashed into the ground?

"Bullshit," Asuka said. "He was pounding your head

into the ground!"

"He could have exerted much more force, but chose

not to," Rei said. "We attacked him first."

"He's on his way to FUCKING BLOW UP TORONTO!" Asuka

shouted. "You sound like you're on his side!"

>>>Misato: Eloquently put.

>>>Mana: It's her American DNA, compels her to swear.

"I will kill him," Rei said, her voice dropping a

few degrees. "I merely say what I saw."

>>>Ritsuko: As usually, Maya teach her tact!

Shinji frowned. "So you think he didn't want to

fight us? But he's on his way to destroy a human city." He

had borrowed 00's progressive knife and was carving a tree

into a proper crutch; his progressive knife was still stuck

into the Angel.

>>>Misato: This constitute as deforestation?

"He looks more human than an EVA does," Rei said,

finishing the job of tying the splint, though it was

anyone's guess if it would hold.

Shinji's eyes widened. "You mean...he didn't

recognize we had anything to do with humanity?"

"Rei's right. EVAs don't look much like our usual

machines," Asuka said. "And the AT-field...he must have

thought we were some more of the alien biotechnological war

machines like him.

>>>Ritsuko burst out laughing: Alien biotech war machines! That's rich!

>>>Rei: They're not part of MY family so what are they?

>>>Shinji: Dead if they hurt either of you again.

So he ignored us until we attacked."

She stood up with her 'crutch'. "So how the hell are we

gonna catch him to kill him?"

~*~

"SHITGODDAMMOTHERFUCKINGBLOODYHELLASSHOLESHITEATING

COCKSUCKING...AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Misato screamed and pulled

her hair, then turned the com channel back on.

>>>Ritsuko: You manner less cow!

>>>Misato: But it's a good stress reliever!

>>>Shinji/Rei/Mana: My Kami…what did you just say.

"I feel much

better now. Detonate the bomb immediately."

Fuyutsuuki nodded, and gave the order to Magi. Magi

sent the controls up to POLARIS, which beamed them down to

the location of The Angel, cycling through the possible

codes in two seconds. Its baleful, unblinking gaze soon did

its work.

>>>Mana: That being?

>>>Ritsuko: Stole the Angel's credit card info.

~*~

On the map, there was a flash of light, and then the

dot demarking the Angel began to cut northwest, moving away

from Toronto. "Goddamit! He's not even immobile!" Misato

cursed.

"But he isn't going to destroy Toronto either,"

>>>Rei: The N2 mine did that.

>>>Shinji: We seem to be doing more damage than the Angel.

Fuyuutuski pointed out. "MAGI estimates he will reach the

area where he was first spotted in about twelve to fifteen

hours, which should give us time to pick up the EVAs as the

snow retreats, fit them with new backpacks and move them to

intercept him again."

"Let's hope you're right," Misato said. "YOU get

to tell the Canadian government why we blew up one of their

cities."

He sighed. "Better North Bay than Toronto."

>>>Maya: Tell that to the citizens of North Bay.

>>>Rei: There are no longer citizens IN North Bay.

Misato turned away from him, her voice bitter.

"Better no town at all."

~*~

The EVAs had been reequipped with fresh backpacks

and they'd rigged up a crude cast for the leg of Asuka's

EVA. Now, the EVA were in the holds of three planes on

their way to northern Canada. The three of them, Misato,

and Fuyuutsuki were having a conference call. "I think we

shouldn't send in Asuka with a crippled EVA."

"I am NOT crippled!" Asuka shouted. "They need

me!"

>>>Shinji: Hope the air drop doesn't re-break the leg.

>>>Mana: How is she NOT a cripple with a broken leg?

"She has to go," Fuyuutsuki said. "It will likely

take all three of them to defeat him."

Misato grumbled. Nothing was going right, and she

had jet lag from hell that was making it hard to think.

"Dammit. Right. All three of you, then. Try to not get

your other leg broken too, Asuka."

"Hey, I couldn't help it! I can't fight the wind!"

"Too bad we can't fly," Shinji said.

"Given how Rei landed last time, it would certainly

help," Asuka said.

Rei said nothing.

>>>Mana: But down below, a cat burst into flames.

>>>Rei: I will need to train my landings.

~*~

There's nothing like a good hearty run through the

woods against hundred mile an hour winds through thick pine

forest during a howling blizzard to get the blood pumping.

>>>Ritsuko: How about running backwards through a cornfield?

>>>Misato: I'm to disturbed to accurately describe.

While Asuka did her best to keep up, she was steadily

falling behind, barely even able to see them. The Angel had

dropped out of sight somehow, though the feed from POLARIS

indicated he hadn't somehow teleported away.

>>>Maya: Maybe it's the blizzard that they were talking about?

>>>Shinji: Be too easy.

They soon learned the reason why; the ground dipped

very sharply downward ahead of them into a deep valley with

a frozen stream running through it. The snow was lighter

here for no clear reason, so they could see further. What

they saw were eight bombers scattered through the valley,

mangled but mostly intact, half-buried in snow. The Angel

was kneeling by one of them, peeling it open.

"What the hell?" Shinji said. "He looks like he's

decided to have a snack or something."

Asuka reached the top of the ridge. "He just pulled

open the BOMB BAY! He's getting more freaking N2 mines!"

>>>Shinji: I am NOT taking the offensive this time.

>>>Rei: Why not remote detonate all of them now?

>>>Mana: That'd blow a whole in the earth.

~*~

Upon being informed of this, Fuyuutsuki tried to

decide on the best course of action. His choices were

stripped from him in an instant when Gendo said, "Remote

detonate them all."

>>>Mana: GOOD BYE EARTH!

>>>Misato: We had a nice run.

No one had seen Gendo return, and several people

started, whacking buttons and knobs that shouldn't have been

whacked. No real damage was done that couldn't be fixed,

however.

>>>Shinji: Maybe he trained Rei to do that.

>>>Mana: Is it good to `whack' things at random?

>>>Maya: Only in the mafia.

"All of them? What about the EVAs?"

>>>Ritsuko: He'd have to have a heart to care about them.

"Give them twenty seconds to run, then go flat and

cover themselves with their AT-fields."

"They'll have to use up a lot of their power..."

>>>Misato: Looks like somebody doesn't know who their talking too.

>>>Shinji/Rei: Surprised he even gave an escape plan.

"If he detonates a few of those while they fight

him, they will likely die. Do it."

~*~

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," was Asuka's steady mantra as

they ran for their lives.

Rei ran silently.

>>>Mana: Is their any other way for you to be?

>>>Rei: Would you prefer constant swears?

Shinji looked back, saw Asuka losing ground, and

stopped, then lifted Asuka when Asuka reached him. It

wasn't easy, and it slowed him down, but he was still faster

than the injured EVA.

"What are you doing?!" yelled Asuka.

>>>Maya: Not the most grateful person is she?

>>>Misato: I'm surprised she didn't smack his Eva.

"Running!" Shinji shouted back.

"Hit the dirt NOW!" Misato shouted.

They went down. AT-Fields went up. Then all of

reality turned from white and gray into blazing red and

yellow as a pillar of unearthly fire purged all mundane

earthly life from the world around them.

>>>Mana: So much for `saving' human life.

>>>Shinji: Hope my eyes didn't fall out.

~*~

MAGI analyzed more data and spat it out. Ritsuko

frowned. "He isn't dead, but he seems to have been

scattered by the blast. At the current rate of his energy

starting to flow back together, we estimate...10 hours. The

storm should die down as Salgiel has to pull himself

together, so hopefully we can get power packs to the pilots

in time."

>>>Rei: Pull himself together?

>>>Maya gagging: He's splattered all over Canada!

Misato nodded. "Pilots, power down to where you're

only running life support and get some sleep. Keep one

person on watch while the other's rest, so we can easily get

ahold of you."

"Right. Rei, you go first," Asuka said. "Shinji,

you're second, and I'll take the third watch. Maybe my EVA

will heal a little by then."

>>>Shinji: Her German blood at work.

>>>Misato: She just HAS to give orders.

"Sounds good to me," Shinji said.

"I will wake you in three hours, Shinji," Rei said.

>>>Mana: Right after she kills Asuka.

>>>Ritsuko: Or sneaks into his entry plug.

~*~

When Rei woke Shinji, it seemed like it had been

only three seconds, but his EVA's internal clock spoke

otherwise: 4: 30 PM MST, May 15, 2015 AD. His body clock

couldn't decide if he should be awake, asleep, or dead. "I

hope you sleep better than I did, Rei."

"I will try." The image of her on the viewscreen

clicked out, and he stared at it. Had she made a joke? Or

was she serious? Or maybe she meant something else.

>>>Misato: So what did you mean Rei?

>>>Rei: I meant that I will try.

>>>All sighing: Of course.

He shook his head and stared around the devastated

landscape. He could barely see anything at all, although

the snow, which was black with dust, was falling more gently

now. A gentle wind blew towards the vast crater to the

north of them, sending tiny flurries of snow blowing along

the ground. The forest was flat as a pancake around them,

most of the trees reduced to a fine black ash.

>>>Maya: Not much scenery.

>>>Ritsuko: They did detonate enough N2 mines to destroy every major city.

He looked up at the sky, and to his surprise, he

could see a tiny hole in the clouds. A few stars twinkled

through the hole, and he smiled. It was good to see the

stars. One of them was very bright, and he realized in a

few seconds that it was Polaris.

>>>Misato: You know astrology?

>>>Shinji: No, no I don't.

>>>Misato: Then how…?

>>>Rei: Best not to ask.

Several more stars arced

away from it, part of the Big Dipper. Or was it the Little

Dipper?

>>>Mana: Who cares?

He stared at the star. It would still be there,

shining down its light on the Earth whether he won or lost.

In fact, it might have blown up already, but they wouldn't

know for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Perhaps

someone orbited it and looked up at the sky and saw the Sun

at his North Pole and wondered when his battle would end.

>>>Rei: Philosophy.

Shinji felt his eyelids drooping, but he fought to

keep them open. The light of Polaris helped; he feared he

would fall asleep if he looked away. Maybe someone's

looking at our star and wondering if anyone lives here, he

thought. Then again, maybe that was where the Angels came

from? Who could tell? Any star might be where the masters

of the Angels dwelt, building more monsters to unleash in

their desire to conquer the Earth.

>>>Ritsuko: What the hell is this movie about?

>>>Maya: The angels are alien war machines.

The stars didn't feel quite so friendly anymore, but

he couldn't look away. He tried, but he couldn't quite turn

his head. They had caught him, held him somehow, singing to

one another with a song he couldn't quite hear, only feel

the vibrations in his bones.

>>>Misato: Great, now the stars are against us.

>>>Mana/Shinji: I don't think this movie will end well.

Something was out there,

singing, coming closer, singing the stars into place for the

coming of the...the...It was calling the Angels forth.

Whatever it was. And now the song had caught him, or

perhaps the star. Perhaps it was the star that was singing,

or maybe it had merely lured him into the trap.

When his eyes slammed down, he thought for a moment

that he had escaped, but he could still hear the song, the

celestial song of impending doom. Then sleep took him.

>>>Rei: That isn't a good sign.

>>>Mana: For once, I agree with you.

>>>Misato: I'm getting tired of the gloom and doom atmosphere!

~*~

He checked his clock when he woke up, aghast at

falling asleep on watch. 9: 30 PM MST, May 15, 27915 AD.

>>>Misato: Rip Van Ikari?

>>>Ritsuko: Wonder if LCL could sustain him that long.

He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. The time was

the same. Looking around, he couldn't see 00 or 02

anywhere, and his radio only picked up static. The forest

had grown back around him, though the trees were laden with

snow, and the ground was coated with ice. It looked sickly,

some of the trees twisted into disturbingly suggestive

shapes,

>>>Mana: That one looks like Shin-chan!

>>>Ritsuko: You know what, it does.

>>>Shinji: NO IT DOESN'T!

>>>Mana: Well, you in the buff `winks.'

all of them with streaks of gray where no gray

should be. Pinkish-green fungus grew on some of the trees,

and one of them...kept moving when he wasn't looking at it.

>>>Misato: Or maybe it just wants you to THINK it is.

>>>Maya: Paranoia on a whole new level.

It was night, and the sky was only partly shrouded

with clouds. The stars all seemed to be in the right

places...no, some of them had moved while others had not,

obeying no logic obvious to him. One of them, however, had

not moved at all: Polaris, the pole star.

>>>Ritsuko: That breaks every law of astrophysics.

>>>All others: We'll take your word on that.

Maybe I'm dreaming, he thought as he looked around.

There was a reddish glow to the north, towards the crater.

It was the glow of fire, he realized, and decided to go take

a look. There might be people, and if it was a forest fire,

he could easily outrun it. He checked his power supply:

the infinity sign was showing. That hardly seemed possible,

but it beat waiting here to die.

>>>Ritsuko: You didn't `eat' anything did you Shinji-kun?

>>>Shinji: What does eating have to do with this?

>>>Ritsuko: Just wondering if somebody was hungry.

He reached the lip of the crater soon enough. There

was a strangely shaped ridge in the middle of the crater

floor, roughly an oval with four smaller ridges running off

from it at various angles, two ridges running northwest and

north east from its northern end, one running east from the

south end, and one running southwest. A frost laden shaft,

carven with runes he could not read from this distance, rose

from a point in the middle of the northern end of it, and

just south of the shaft, there was an altar of crudely cut

stone, accompanied by perhaps a dozen oddly shaped trees;

they looked like banyan trees which had decided to take a

winter vacation from Africa.

>>>Misato: Did anybody else get the chills?

>>>All but Shinji: Yes.

There were people around the altar, and fires.

Dozens of people, maybe hundreds, milled about, dressed in

loose furs and dark cloaks. He zoomed in with his vision to

take a closer look, and saw a woman who appeared to be the

high priestess. She was a thuggish blonde with a protruding

forehead and bulging eyes,

>>>Misato: You let yourself go didn't you.

>>>Maya: Sempai, didn't we warn you what those computer screens do to your eyes?

>>>Ritsuko: That ISN'T me.

hunched over slightly, wrapped in

warm furs likely taken from some unfortunate moose, with

huge furry clawed gloves that looked like hollowed out bear

hands. Her skin had a bit of a greenish tint to it, and she

stared unblinkingly at the victim on the altar.

>>>Rei: Taking your cat fetish to a new level?

Soon, Shinji could see the victim. A red haired

female teenager was bound on the altar in an a strange pose.

>>>Mana: I don't think it's that strange anymore do you Shinji?

>>>Shinji blushing: I don't think we should talk about that.

She lay face down with her arms spread to form a Y shape,

each running northward at a forty five degree angle from the

direction her head pointed. Her left leg was arranged

similarly, pointing southwest from her torso, but her right

leg stuck straight east, which had to be painful, even if

she was very limber. Her entire body was wrapped tightly in

a red cloth with black runes and lines drawn upon it.

>>>Rei: Well, Souryu always did like red.

>>>Ritsuko: Well, it's going to be her funeral shroud it appears.

A man stood near the high priestess holding a spear;

he was dressed in black furs and wore a mask of cleverly

carved wood that depicted some sort of snarling bestial face

with eyes dyed red, possibly through the use of berries.

Everyone but the priestess kept their distance from him as

he capered about and howled pointlessly.

>>>Shinji: Dad.

>>>Maya: How can you tell?

>>>Misato/Rei: He has a radius of fear from him.

The spear caught Shinji's eye; it seemed far too

sophisticated for these barbarians, a smooth shaft of metal

which seamlessly expanded into a very sharply edged head.

>>>Ritsuko: I hate that spear.

Runes carved into it sometimes flickered briefly with a

reddish light, and a single eye inscribed on the spearhead

had a glowing pupil.

A blue-haired female acolyte handed something to the

high priestess. It was a long wooden cylinder carved to

resemble the pillar that rose at an angle from the ridge,

although it was not covered with dirt and grime and snow and

ice, unlike the pillar. There was Latin script lettering on

it, and Shinji suddenly realized what it was supposed to

resemble. It was a wooden small scale duplicate of an entry

plug.

>>>Shinji: I have microscope vision now?

>>>Maya: If what I think is going to happen, happens, its good Asuka isn't here.

>>>Misato/Ritsuko: No force on earth could stop her rampage.

The world had seemed almost frozen in time, but now,

everything began to move. There were several prisoners

nearby, clad just like their captors, but being held in

place by large, strong, ugly men with an odd sigil tatooed

on their cheeks; it looked sort of like a 'bio-hazard' sign,

but more organic, as if the lines were horns taken from some

animal and turned into tattooes.

It was the prisoners who caught his eye. Most of

them were passive and sullen: a sandy-haired teenage boy

who was squinting constantly,

>>>Mana: Well Kensuke's good as dead.

a taller, somewhat handsome black haired teen boy,

>>>Shinji: So much for Touji staying alive.

a half-naked brown haired teenaged girl.

>>>Misato: Hokari is a goner.

>>>Rei: Appears all our classmates are goners.

>>>Maya: And look who is helping the commander.

A tall woman with long flowing black hair was howling

and trying to break loose; she wore a strange sigil made

from fishbones on a copper chain around her neck, somewhat

like a star with an eye in the middle. He had seen it

before, seen her before, seen...Misato. Some of the others

bore some resemblance to people he knew, but she...the only

difference was that the real Misato probably wouldn't have

worn sewn together furs and her necklace wasn't made out of

fishbones in real life.

>>>Ritsuko: You don't have taste enough to wear fur.

>>>Misato: Can't afford it either.

What the hell had happened? Was this something the

Angel had somehow set up? Just a deranged dream? A vision

of the future? It couldn't be...Even if he had somehow

travelled through time, how the hell would Misato gotten

26,000 years into the future?

>>>Mana: Enough beer causes immortality?

>>>Misato: Watch your mouth.

It couldn't be. Just a

dream; I must have fallen asleep on watch, he thought. It

had to be a dream.

The high priestess held the 'entry plug' high over

the girl bound on the altar, then lead the masses in some

kind of shout. Shinji watched, dumbfounded by the sheer

bizarreness of the dream. As the woman moved around to hold

the 'plug' over the girl on the altar, the acolyte parted

the cloth, revealing the victim's buttocks.

>>>Shinji: Rei, thank your mother that Asuka isn't going to see this.

>>>Rei nodding: I doubt she'd stop attacking me till I was dead.

Horror gripped Shinji, as he realized what came

next. While no one had ever given him 'the talk', he wasn't

completely clueless.

>>>Misato nudges him: Don't need the `talk' anymore do you Shinji.

>>>Ritsuko/Maya: Major! You don't mean that you…you?

>>>Shinji melts in embarrassment.

If he could have remembered he was

commanding something capable of killing them all without

even really noticing it, he would have done something, but

all he could think about was the horror to come. Time

slowed down again as the priestess raised the shaft high.

The closer it came to the girl, the slower everything moved.

It was a simple thing which snapped Shinji out of

his funk. The mask-clad man's mask began to slide down his

face, and he pushed it back into place with a gesture that

was clearly instinctive. It was a gesture Shinji had seen

before.

>>>Ritsuko: Need to superglue those things to his face.

>>>Maya: The commander would let Rei do `THAT' to Asuka?

>>>Misato/Shinji: Don't you know the commander at all?

He began to move, not quite knowing why, but knowing

he had to do something, anything. Everyone turned and

stared at him, and the high priestess froze in place, slowly

turning to look as well. Unit01 lumbered down the steep

slope, picking up speed, howling a great shout that echoed

across the crater.

The Misato-like woman suddenly broke loose from her

captor, grabbed the spear of a second one and thrust it

through his throat, then took his belt knife as he fell and

drove it through the eye of the man who had been holding

her.

>>>Rei cringes into the mush that is Shinji: Kowaii.

>>>All: Rei, afraid? `Ritsuko pinches herself, Misato pinches Ritsuko'

A riot broke out by the altar now, and the red haired

victim began to stir.

He ran, faster and faster, not thinking about

questions like how he was going to actually stop when he got

to the altar or what exactly he was going to do when he got

there. Instinct drove him on; he had to stop what was

happening.

>>>Mana: What is there to think about? Eva-Human, Eva squash human.

Then two things happened at once. The trees began

to move, lashing out with their branches at prisoners who

sought to escape, bark cracking open to form parodies of a

human face. One of the prisoners was half-swallowed by a

tree, which then bit him in half.

>>>Ritsuko: Before or after it swallowed him?

The second was worse, at least for Shinji. The

beast-masked man turned to face him and lifted the spear.

He leaned back, and threw it, stepping forward as he did so.

The spear flew; it shouldn't have been able to do anything

to Unit01. Except that it grew as it flew, doubling in size

every second, then it struck Unit01 through the heart with

the force of a battleship main gun.

>>>Maya: Shinji-kun needs to learn how to dodge.

>>>Rei: If he tried, he'd have crushed everybody.

Unit01 toppled and unbelievable agony ripped through

Shinji, who clutched his chest, unable to stand the pain.

His head throbbed as if bombs were going off inside it, and

his chest felt a spreading fire. For at least a minute, he

saw nothing, his eyes clenched shut, his body writhing

mindlessly inside the LCL.

>>>Shinji reforms: Great, I'm dying.

When his eyes opened, Unit01 was pinned to the

ground, its limbs splayed about helplessly. He could just

barely raise its head, and see the altar was now stained

with blood, mangled corpses surrounding it, piled on each

other in a parody of copulation. 'Misato' was on the altar

now, bound face up unlike the first victim, her body

streaked with paint, or more likely, blood, her necklace a

shattered pile of bone fragments by the base of the altar.

Her body was covered in a grotesque parody of decency, with

everything covered except for her face, breasts, and nether

regions.

>>>Shinji: Dear Kami.

>>>Girls: WHAT!

>>>Shinji: That's…so wrong! Can I crush them now?

>>>Misato: Shinji-kun my hero!

The priestess was more hunched over now, and seemed

to be limping; the blue-haired acolyte and the beast-masked

man were holding her up. She seemed hesitant, or perhaps

was simply shivering from the cold; it was snowing gently

despite the cloudless, moonless sky. Only the stars and the

fires lit this gathering.

Shinji struggled feebly, trying to get his EVA to

move its arms so he could pull out the spear, but they

wouldn't move; he was powerless. Tears ran down his face,

swiftly mixing with the LCL and dissolving away.

"No...no..."

>>>Mana: Lets not think about what happened to Asuka.

>>>Maya: And vow never to tell her about this scene.

"Wake up." Rei said.

Shinji started, looking over and seeing her sitting

next to him, wearing her plug suit and looking faintly

irritated. "Rei...what are you doing here?"

"Waking you up," was her reply. She turned and

stared at the sacrifice in process. "It is not real."

"I don't know how!"

"Open your eyes."

>>>Misato: They ARE open.

>>>Rei: Apparently not.

He looked over at the altar. The mob was chanting

now, waving their arms and swaying as if they all shared one

mind. The trees swayed as well, and a wind was starting to

blow. Above them, shimmering lights were forming, great

waves of polychromatic energy washing back and forth like

the aurora borealis. "They've got Misato...she's going to

die!"

"Misato is in Toronto." Rei's voice became a little

harsher. "Open your eyes."

Unit01's left arm suddenly moved in a convulsive

jerk, grasping the spear. Then paralysis settled in again,

but Shinji could feel it building power to pull the spear

out. "Just...a...little...longer."

"If you stay, you will die. Or lose your mind.

Open your eyes."

>>>Mana: Why do you care in this?

>>>Misato: She is obsessed with Shinji-kun in this.

The arm jerked and the spear pulled halfway out.

Slowly, the arm began to pull it the rest of the way out.

The lights were building, coalescing into a vast amorphous

shape made of light and darkness over the crater, hundreds

of feet across.

"I've almost got it out..." he spat out. "I can

still..."

Rei's face darkened further, urgency creeping into

her voice. "Even with an EVA, you will not succeed. You

will die. Wake up."

"Even if it's a dream...I can't let her die." Not

like the others died. "How...if it was a dream, why would I

dream this? I don't WANT this to be real!"

"Sometimes people are made to dream the dream of

others." She stared at him intensely.

>>>Maya: Ok, WHO does that happen to?

>>>Rei: Me.

>>>Ritsuko: Ok, what NORMAL people does that happen to.

"This is a trap. Wake up."

"A trap? By who?"

The light was darkening and becoming flesh, and fur,

and scales, forming tentacles and limbs and lips and eyes

and teeth and legs, and mouths and breasts, a great cloud of

flesh hovering over the crater, blocking out the light of

the stars, lit only by the reddish glow of the fires below.

>>>Shinji/Rei stand up and run out of room to bathroom gagging.

>>>Misato: They had the right idea.

>>>Maya twitches and passes out.

>>>Mana/Ritsuko: I saw worse.

Rei moved so that Shinji could not see it. "Do not

look up," she hissed. Her own back was to the viewscreen

now. "Her blessing would destroy you."

>>>Ritsuko: Not much of a blessing is it.

>>>Mana: Sounds like one you'd give.

She moved closer to him now, reaching out with a hand.

>>>Misato: Is this dream going to change tempo?

>>>Shinji/Rei returning: Hope so.

"Wake up."

"What...what is that?"

"Beyond human power to touch or comprehend." Her

hands brushed his eyes. "Wake up."

He felt a jolt through his body, almost as bad as

when the spear had struck him, but pleasant rather than

agonizing.

>>>Rei: My emotions have revitalized him.

>>>Mana: That's a double negative.

>>>Maya twitch twitch.

When it passed, the pain that racked him had

gone. Everything else had gone as well. Asuka was on the

viewscreen, screaming at him, and Misato, also now on the

screen, didn't look too pleased. Rei was gone, although a

few seconds later, a tiny window showing her head and

shoulders appeared. "Shinji, WAKE UUUUUPPPP!!!" Asuka

shouted.

Shinji blinked. "It..." He made Unit01 look

around. Everything was back to normal. The timer read 9:

30 PM MST, May 15, 2015 AD. He'd slept a good five hours.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

>>>Misato: We need to keep a running counter of how many times you say that.

"The new backpacks will be dropped in a few

minutes," Misato said. "Then it will be time for the hunt

to start again."

He looked over at Rei, who looked back at him. "Did

you..."

>>>Ritsuko: Steal his soul?

>>>Misato: Invade his dream?

>>>Mana: Cop a feel?

Asuka said, "It's about time. I'm starting to

wrinkle."

Misato laughed. "The least of your worries, I

think."

~*~

The new packs came soon enough, and they quickly

connected themselves in, then started to lope along towards

the destination being fed them by Misato courtesy of

POLARIS. It wasn't far, although detouring around the

crater slowed them down a bit. Shinji didn't look in the

crater; he was afraid of what he would see.

>>>Shinji: If its anything like that dream I will crush them.

>>>Misato: Thank Kami for that.

>>>Mana/Ritsuko: Does that mean he'll kill Rei?

They found Salgiel easily; the forest was fairly

well levelled for quite a distance from the crater and he

hadn't gone very far.

>>>Rei: How much forest can be left?

>>>Ritsuko: Not much, that's for sure.

>>>Shinji: Is Maya going to be alright?

The bad side of this was that it gave

him a few seconds to prepare. As they closed in with 02 in

the middle, 00 on the left and 01 on the right, he hefted

one of the flattened trees and quickly broke off the base,

making a crude giant spear.

"Good idea," Misato said. "Grab some trees."

>>>Shinji/Rei: We killed them all already!

00 and 01 paused to do so, but it took just a little

too long. Salgiel's free arm stabbed at 00, and suddenly it

was airborne, hurled aloft by winds that could not be seen.

>>>Mana: How's it feel to fail just like Asuka?

>>>Rei: Surprisingly bad.

Then he charged 01. Shinji blocked desperately with a tree,

but his crumbled to ash on the first impact; the blast had

done more to the trees than just level them. The ground was

a mixture of jumbled limbs and ice, hard to stand on, and

when the Angel's tree came around again to strike him, 01

toppled and collapsed.

>>>Ritsuko: We're all going to die because Gendo nuked Canada

Doing her best to hobble along, 02 had a tree club

in its left hand and a tree cane in the right.

>>>Mana: She looks like an old woman with a stick.

>>>Shinji: She'd jump off the roof if she saw herself looking so pathetic.

She charged,

but the Angel simply crushed the base of the tree it held to

a crude spearpoint, then hurled the tree.

Shinji watched in horror, remembering his dream.

The tree struck Unit02 where the spear had struck his unit

in his dream, and Unit02 toppled backwards. As he started

to stand, Salgiel moved with blinding speed to leap onto

Unit02's chest, pushing the tree through its chest and into

the ground. A tree shouldn't have been able to pierce EVA's

chest, or hold it in place, but his sensors showed the tree

was empowered with an AT-field.

>>>Shinji: Can it do that?

>>>Ritsuko: Maybe, has potential. AT-field powered toothpicks?

No wonder it held together, Shinji thought. A

moment later, Misato shouted, "Charge it with your

progressive knife, Shinji! While it's busy."

>>>Mana: That's an odd term for killing Asuka.

He charged forward, wondering when Rei would land;

she must have been thrown high into the air, he thought.

Asuka had fallen much faster than this. As he charged,

Salgiel put its foot on Unit02's head like a triumphant

hunter, crushing its 'nose'.

>>>All: Nose? What nose?

It took the tree cane she had

been using and prepared to ram that down through 02's upper

left eye.

>>>Rei: Top or bottom?

Several things happened at once.

>>>Shinji: It decided it didn't want to fight anymore?

>>>Rei: Shinji-kun and I left her to fend for herself?

>>>Mana: Rei fell on both Unit-2 and the angel and they all died?

Asuka gave a great

shout over the comlines. 02's mouth suddenly sprouted

dozens of tendrils and more erupted from its cheeks, brow,

and throat, burrowing into the Angel's foot and holding it

fast. The tiny tubes began to throb and grew darker,

sucking fluids from Salgiel's body. A shadow grew under

02's skin as the fluid began to spread through its flesh.

>>>Misato: She's got…tentacles growing out of her face?

>>>Rei: Unit-02 looks like it has a squid on its face.

And from above, 00 came into sight. It was not falling, but

flying. Great blue bat-like wings had erupted from its

back, Cherubim wings, and its mandibles convulsively snapped

open and shut as it dove down at the Salgiel's head.

>>>Ritsuko: Ah so they became Mr. Eva-head Units.

>>>Misato: Build your own Eva with Angel parts, warning don't use alone.

Inside Unit02, Asuka watched, unable to do anything

as the LCL seethed and boiled around her. For a moment, she

thought she saw tendrils forming from her own flesh, then

they dissolved away; she could feel her heart accelerating,

could almost feel the blood flowing through her veins.

Lights flickered through the LCL, and the viewscreen took on

a faint red sheen. She began to curse with every obscenity

she knew, but it was of no avail.

>>>Shinji: The power of swearing compels you!

>>>Rei: She is trying to embarrass it to death?

01 held its progressive knife high, a shimmering

polychromatic AT-field forming around it, and charged to

join the assault.

~*~

Misato stared over her visual link. Wings? Since

when have the EVAs sprouted wings? Although it certainly was

useful, but there was no way in hell something so big could

fly. And what was 02 doing to the Angel's foot? "What

the..."

>>>Ritsuko: Are you doing right now?

>>>Mana: Hell is Shinji doing?

Over the link from Tokyo-3, Ritsuko said,

"Adaptation. You did notice the mandibles after they fought

the first Angel, didn't you?"

>>>Rei: Due to her question, it is safe to assume she didn't.

>>>Maya in sleep: Shinji-kun…you shouldn't do that…

>>>All look at Shinji: Friends?

"Well, yes, but..." She watched Shinji drive his

knife into the Salgiel's back, causing it to arch its back

just in time for Rei to settle down on top of it. 00's

mandibles pierced its skull, an AT-field shimmering around

them, and she stabbed her progressive knife into its throat.

"Well, looks like we won this one."

"I hope you're right."

>>>Shinji: Doubt it could fight without its brain.

>>>Mana: Why? Asuka does it all the time.

~*~

Salgiel's body shimmered, beginning to shift colors

across the darker end of the specrum, shaking and twitching

as it howled. Winds were picking up and snow erupted in a

torrent from the sky, battering at the three EVAs, but their

grips did not falter. It tried to discorporate, to let go

of its body, but it was trapped by their AT-fields, which

had flowed together into a prison built of constantly

changing light. It could not escape, and inch by inch, they

were devouring it.

>>>Mana: That is going to take a long time to pass.

>>>Ritsuko: Have to make an Eva sized toilet.

Shinji could hear Asuka shouting, though he

understood none of it, and as the LCL around him began to

pulse, he started to understand why. He felt hungry, or

maybe his EVA was hungry; it wanted to feed, to feed on the

light.

>>>Misato: How about a flashlight instead?

He felt the urge to rip out the Angel's heart, to

dig his teeth into its flesh. His own hunger echoed his

EVA's building frenzy, for he had not eaten in over a day,

and the LCL could keep him alive, but not really satisfy his

stomach.

>>>Shinji: Whow! I have bloodlust?

>>>Mana/Misato: Bout time you had at least SOME time of lust.

Salgiel's body lost its color and turned gray, then

great, dry flakes began to fall off it. It dropped the tree

cane, and the tree it had shoved through 02 crumbled to dust

in a second as the AT-field that sustained it failed. The

snowstorm around them built to a frenzy that would have

levelled a city in seconds, but the snow melted to water,

and water to steam, and steam broke apart into hydrogen and

oxygen the instant it struck the surging fields of light

that surrounded the four huge humanoid figures.

His head suddenly collapsed, caving in on itself,

and 00 greedily devoured it, sweeping gobbets of pinkish

flesh fading to gray into its gullet past the mandibles

which now tore into its shoulders. And with that, the other

EVAs began to devour the great beast as well.

>>>Shinji: You must not be a vegetarian in this one.

>>>Rei: I ate its head?

>>>Mana: No, to easy.

Shinji said, "I can't stop it! What the...What do I

do?" 01 drove its fist through the things's ribs and ripped

out the creature's heart, which was still limmed with a

dwindling nimbus that shone across the spectrum, then ate

the heart in a single gulp, shoving its head in where the

hand had gone to devour more flesh.

>>>Rei: I don't have anymore food to expunge.

The LCL around him

surged with every bite, and to his horror, he found himself

biting at the LCL, though he quickly stopped himself, the

urge to feed continued. It took a lot to make Shinji curse.

>>>Rei: Make fun of us.

>>>Mana: Spill soda on his cello.

>>>Shinji: You did that?

>>>Mana: Me…no.

This was enough. "SSSSHHIIIITTTT!!!! I CAN'T STOP!!!"

"Gott in HIMMEL!" Asuka shouted as her EVA began to

devour the Angel of Snow's legs, its head tendrils sucking

up every droplet of fluid they could find. "PAREN! PAREN!

SCHEISSE!!!" The LCL boiled around her, now a deep red in

color, as if she floated in a sea of blood. It tasted

better, or perhaps she simply was liking the taste. She

didn't like liking it.

>>>Ritsuko: She's eating, kinda high on its legs.

>>>Mana blushing: That's sick.

The storm ceased in an instant, the winds vanishing

and the snow stopping as Salgiel's body went totally limp,

>>>Misato: What's left of it.

being ripped apart by the three out of control EVAs. 02 got

up onto its knees and tore into the beast's flesh, its own

leg injury now apparently forgotten, while 00 chewed its way

down the body, and 01 split the middle. Two Children

continued to scream over the comlines.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" Misato shouted at Ritsuko,

who winced slightly.

>>>Shinji: A crime against humanity?

>>>Rei: Feeding frenzy?

>>>Maya opening her eyes: OH KAMI!! `Passes out again.'

"No need for obscenity. This will require study."

The blue of 00's flesh faded to a snow-white color

as it continued its meal. 01 sprouted fangs and claws as it

continued its disgusting feast of grey, crumbling flesh. 02

seemed unchanged if you didn't count the fact that its leg

was clearly not broken anymore.

Misato winced and turned away. "This requires

Pepto-Bismol. Once the angel is dead, get those kids out

of there!"

>>>Mana: It's not dead YET?

>>>Shinji: White?

>>>Ritsuko: You did that for the commander DIDN'T you?

~*~

Shinji wiped his brow. Something had to be wrong

with the airconditioning at the Geofront. He had been

sweating ever since he came back to Japan, but the

temperature normally never changed down inside NERV's base.

"Can someone turn up the air conditioning?"

>>>Ritsuko: Turn up the air IN the Geofront?

>>>Misato: Can we do that?

>>>Ritsuko: If we have control over weather patterns.

Asuka, who was standing next to him in another one

of the monitor tubes nodded. All three pilots were naked

and being tested again. She could feel a tiny bead of sweat

making its way down her forehead. "Does it usually get this

hot in Japan in May?"

>>>Shinji: EYES!

>>>Ritsuko/Misato: You can't order us around.

>>>Mana: Shinji, be honest now, you saw this already.

"Hmm," Ritsuko said, checking a monitor. "Is the

heat bothering you, Rei?"

"I am sweating," she replied.

Maya frowned. "That's strange. No one else is, and

your body temperatures all read normal."

>>>Mana: So Asuka doesn't count?

"Well, something is WRONG!" Shinji shouted in a fit

of pique, then blinked at himself. Why'd I shout?

"Uh...sorry about that."

"Yeah, like Shinji said," Asuka pitched in.

"Whatever your machines say, we all feel hot."

>>>Mana: Well Shinji IS hot, but you two…

>>>Rei: Shinji, am I hot?

>>>Shinji: MANA stop corrupting Rei!

"It's 20 degrees centigrade. You should feel fine,"

Maya said. "We'd better do a blood test."

As Maya walked away, Asuka looked around warily then

said quietly to Shinji, "Hey, what do you think you were

doing back there?"

Shinji merely gave her a confused look. "What'd I

do?"

>>>Misato: She's nude, Shinji looked at her, and she didn't kill him?

>>>Shinji/Ritsuko: It is a strange new world.

"You picked up my Eva and ran, that's what you did,"

said Asuka irritably. "I would've been just fine, you

know."

"But you were falling behind! I couldn't just-"

"Yeah, well, you don't have to be the knight in

shining armor all the time, y'know."

"Sorry."

"Me'n Rei might be girls,

>>>Ritsuko: Asuka's delusional!

>>>Mana: Rei `looks' human at least.

but we're tough enough to

take care of ourselves." Her expression softened, just a

little. "But... thanks anyway."

Rei sat silently in the corner, looking down at the

cold, tiled corner. If anyone else was in the room, they

would've felt a drop in temperature.

>>>Ritsuko: She is going to kill Asuka, isn't she?

>>>Shinji: Hope not.

>>>Mana: Why, cause Asuka would die, or she'd be put in jail?

~*~

Blood tests revealed nothing, and the feeling of

discomfort at the heat gradually faded. Eventually,

everyone went home and had dinner. Shinji picked at his

dinner of teriyaki chicken, reluctant to eat...memories of

his frenzying EVA tearing into the Angel kept coming back to

him.

Misato looked over, sauce all over her lips. "You

don't like it?"

>>>Shinji: I like it fine, just images of binge eating angels hampers your attitude.

"I keep thinking about..." He blushed. "The

Angel."

Asuka's eyes suddenly widened in the middle of

drinking her coke through a straw. She spat the straw out

of her mouth,

>>>Ritsuko: Right into his eye, nice shot.

then hurled it into the garbage can. "Don't remind me!"

>>>Rei: To late.

"It wasn't your fault, Shinji," Misato said.

"There's a lot we don't fully understand about the EVAs, but

they're the only way we can stop the Angels." She sounded

uncertain as she continued, subconsciously taking a hold of

her star-eye necklace. "And we saved Toronto."

>>>Shinji: By nuking a forest.

>>>Mana: And trashing a city.

"But...what if I lose control of my EVA again?"

"What if the Earth suddenly spins into the Sun?"

>>>Rei: We'd all die.

>>>Misato: I didn't mean it literally.

>>>Rei: Why did you ask it then?

>>>And a collective groan was heard.

Misato replied. "Even berserk, none of you attacked each

other, so I don't think there's any danger any of you will

hurt each other.

>>>Mana: Until Rei loses it.

Just do your best, Shinji. And if you don't eat your dinner, you'll starve."

He nodded, and started eating, feeling a little

better. Asuka returned to drinking her coke without the

straw, looking a bit subdued. Misato, on the other hand,

ate like her food was going to escape if she didn't devour

it immediately.

>>>Ritsuko: You cook your own food?

>>>Misato: You know I shoot my meals before eating them now.

Some of it did escape, off her plate and

into Asuka's hair when her chopsticks slipped. And then

things got really messy.

~*~

Gendo and Fuyuutsuki sat in a small room with many

TV monitors on the walls, each showing a different channel.

>>>Misato: They're not recording us again are they?

>>>Ritsuko: I rerouted the shower camera into my office.

>>>Mana/Rei/Shinji: Shower camera?

Most of them were news, reporting outbreaks of cannibalism

in towns which had been snowed in by the great storm, or

showing time lapse photography of the storm, or revealing

that the glaciers had advanced a good fifty miles during

what the announcers were calling, 'The Blizzard of the

Century'. A thousand eggheads shouted at each other over

what had caused it, with explanations ranging from the wrath

of God to El Nino to aliens to holes in the ozone layer.

>>>Shinji: So, technically, the alien one was right?

>>>Rei: Would surprise a lot of people.

Gendo's gaze lingered briefly on a talk show where

one of the guests was shouting and trying to beat the host

to death with a rune-carved walking cane. "I have seen it!

The Storm is only the beginning. After winter, summer, and

after summer comes winter!

>>>Mana: So spring and fall take a hiatus?

The stars have turned and now

humanity will be purged from Earth! The Lord of the Air

sends forth his hand to smite the Earth! And it's all your

fault! But now I understand! YOU ARE THE CRAWLING CHAOS!

If I kill you, humanity will be saved!"

>>>Shinji: Crawling Chaos?

>>>Ritsuko: I don't want to think about how wrong that sounds.

Gendo laughed. "If he WAS the Crawling Chaos,

bashing his head in would simply cause more trouble than it

would be worth. And I suspect he wouldn't be running a talk

show, anyway."

"Well, we did suspect Springer briefly, but..."

>>>Rei: He turned out to be Satan in disguise.

>>>Mana/Ritsuko: Which wasn't a shock.

Fuyuutuski laughed. "Hmm. I wonder if the fellow has

studied D'erlette's

>>>Misato: Gazontight.

Elemental theory."

"Possibly. If so, he's working from bad

information. D'erlette misinterpreted the references to the

Lords of the Elements in the texts he studied," Gendo said,

idly scratching his ear and watching the maniac swat away

the security guards.

"It did seem rather strange to list someone

imprisoned underwater as a water elemental," Fuyuutsuki

said. "Or the Haunter in the Dark as an earth elemental

when so many of its forms fly or swim."

>>>Rei: So many of its forms?

>>>Shinji: Why can't we just catch a break sometime?

"Part of the problem is that he used the wrong

elemental theory," Gendo said. "Four elements instead of

five. It's quite clear from the Ponape Scriptures that it

should be five."

"But which five?"

Gendo blinked. "Air, Water, Fire, Metal, and Plants

or Wood, of course."

>>>Mana: Plants are NOT an element!

"The Pnakotic Manuscripts use the four Western

Elements and Spirit as their five."

>>>Ritsuko: Guess you can't be the fifth element Ayanami.

>>>Rei: I do TOO have a soul.

Gendo frowned. "Why didn't you mention this

before?"

"I did. We've had this argument before, you know.

Still, the real question is whether we understood the

references better than him as to WHAT the Lords of the

Elements are. If he is right, then we're running down the

road to perdition."

"I think we've seen enough proof to know we're

right. The only question is which set of elements and

whether or not they will all survive as they must."

Fuyuutsuki laughed and settled back in his chair.

"Prophecies always come true. They will survive. The only

question is whether it will be fulfilled in the way we hope,

or the way we fear."

>>>Shinji: Hands betting on fear.

>>>All but Maya as she is drooling a bit.

"And whether we survive to see the day we have long

awaited." That was his deepest fear; he was not part of the

prophecy, there was no guarantee of his survival. Yet, if

he died before the crucial moment, all his labors would have

been for naught. "We must find the Fourth Child."

>>>Ritsuko: Rather we didn't, he is rather stupid.

>>>Rei/Shinji: You know who it is?

"We will," Fuyuutsuki said, rising from his chair.

"That much we know is fated."

"We hope."

"Hope is often all we have in this world."

"And as often, a delusion."

Fuyuutsuki paused in the doorway. "'Vanity of

vanities, all is vanity. There is nothing good under the

sun.' If you think this is all vain striving, why are you

still trying?"

"The secret is to realize that the strivings of the

great powers are, in the end, just as futile as the

strivings of humanity. The universe will as cheerfully

grind them under and reduce them to dust as it would watch

humanity be destroyed. Even if humanity triumphs, we will

one day be destroyed. But so will they. And the universe

that would watch us die without caring won't shed a tear

when they die. As we've already proved."

>>>Shinji: Or they are taking their time getting here.

>>>Misato: Details details.

"If they realize what we're up to and actually take

us seriously..."

"If someone is stung by a bee and dies, do you

assume the bees are plotting in their hive against you?

>>>Mana: Yes.

>>>Misato: They ARE against me! All the bees must DIE!

So

it is with them. They will not really pay attention until

it is too late. Especially since they often squabble among

themselves, which may well be why humanity has survived this

long at all. They will think that one of the others is

using us as a tool, if they notice us at all." He smiled

faintly.

"Half-truths make the deadliest lies," Fuyuutsuki

said.

"Exactly."

>>>Shinji: Fathers credo.

end part 6 -

>>>end mst part 6

Misato: This is getting kinda creepy.

Rei: And disgusting.

Shinji: Are Eva's are growing things and are bodies are getting messed up. I am VERY afraid of what this can show us.

Ritsuko: Don't worry, that won't happen.

Asuka: EAT IT GEEK!

Kensuke: Only one unit has fallen, plenty more where that came from!

Mana: Um, Maya looks pale.

Maya twitch twitch.

Ritsuko: Shit.

Misato: You better take her to medical.

Shinji: Maya is going to be ok right?

Rei: She doesn't have the taste to leave you to me.

Mana: You mean me.

Shinji: Ritsuko-san, please?

Misato: Yeah Rits…she needs help.

Ritsuko: Ok, but I'll need a favor from you in exchange.

Misato: Fine.

Ritsuko: Not you, `points at Shinji' you.

Rei/Mana: Let her sleep in the other room!

Shinji: Fine.

Asuka: NO! you sunk my battleship!

Misato: Did they change games?

Shinji watching Ritsuko drag Maya away: Maybe.

Rei: I hope that game doesn't end soon.

Mana: YOU TWO!

Hikari/Touji: Did we miss anything?

Hikari: Why were Maya and Ritsuko laughing so hard?

Shinji: Shit, and I promised.

---------------------------------------------------

Well took me long enough, and I'm afraid this chapter isn't the funniest. Hope you guys bear with me, I'm still taking requests too. I think I need a break from this story so…PLEASE TELL me something to write?

Well hope you give me some nice feedback, always do like hearing from readers.

Ja Mata

Zentrodie(zentrodie@secondimpact.com)