Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Demon Saga ❯ Leviathan, Nemesis of the Deep ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing. (But if I did...I'd so make this the next saga. But maybe that's just me.)

 

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Demon Saga

 

Chapter 2: Leviathan, Nemesis of the Deep

 

Shinji made it out of the hole and was on his way towards the impact point. He sprinted towards the beach. At the rate he was going, he knew he'd make it before this new monster did, however, he didn't know if he could even stop it. Then again, he'd been in these situations before. As the EVA ran, Shinji let his mind wonder to all the questions he still had. Who was Rain? How could he do the things he did? He took a full punch from Unit-01 and still got up. He can disappear and reappear at will. How can any human do those things?

Shinji's thoughts were cut short when the communicator cut in. "Shinji, can you hear me?" It was Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki.

"I can you hear you sir."

"Shinji, does Unit-01 feel any different to you?" The question caught Shinji a little off guard. He had noticed that the EVA felt slightly different, but he had tried to put those thoughts out of his mind.

"It feels a little different, but not too much. Why? Is something wrong?" In the command center, Fuyutsuki was contemplating telling him. If Shinji knew that his mother's soul was no longer in the EVA, he might not be able to focus. Although, knowing there might be a problem might also cause him to lose focus.

"No, everything's fine. I'm just checking. You haven't piloted the EVA since Third Impact and I was wondering how it was handling.

Asuka, who was standing next to him since there was no way she could help out on the bridge, looked at Fuyutsuki, a look of concern coming over her face. "Aren't you going to tell him? He has a right to know."

"We need Shinji to be clear headed at this time. I don't want him to worry. If he believes everything is okay, then he'll be fine." He turned back to the monitor and began to think to himself. 'How is any of this happening anyway? The Dead Sea Scrolls said nothing about Demons. There was nothing after Third Impact. So what the hell is going on?'

Makoto was working on more analysis from the Demon when he noticed something. "This thing has no legs." Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him, most confused as to what the point was. "It's completely water-based. Like a fish. Even if it makes it to land, it would end up beaching itself. And if that happens, can't we just have Unit-01 destroy it then?"

Fuyutsuki looked again at the radar. "It's not trying to beach itself." He pointed to the screen. As Makoto turned around, he saw why his plan wouldn't work. The beast had opened up its sides and large fins appeared. As it did this, it picked up speed. "He's going to ram the shore and send a tidal wave. He'll wipe us out and then he'll move on."

"Unit-01 has reached the shore," Maya said, breaking in.

Shinji had reached the shore alright. He looked out over the horizon. From where he was, the beast didn't look so big. But he had seen the radar screen. He knew this thing was huge. He heard the sound of a plane behind him and looked over his shoulder. It was the plane that was bringing him a rifle, not that it would serve much use from where he was. There was no way he could get a decent shot on Leviathan from where he was. He would have to wait another ten mintues before his target got into range.

As Shinji recieved and readied his weapon, Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki radioed back in. "Shinji, we have a problem. You have to stop that beast before it hits the shore. You must stop it dead in the water, or it will flood Tokyo-3 and the surrounding areas. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Shinji didn't really understand. He didn't understand any of this. Maybe if he had had enough time between Third Impact and this, he would be able to work it through his head. He thought about his current situation. He was being expected to stop a gigantic beast dead in the ocean with just a rifle. It seemed impossible. He aimed the gun and fired off a few rounds. A couple hit the target, but had not effect on it.

Back on the bridge, Shingeru had drawn up a small representation on the beast's plan. "Basically this line here is an absolute barrier. If it passes by here, it won't matter if Shinji stops it or not, cause the wave will still flood most of Tokyo. If that thing continues at its current speed, it'll be ten minutes before he passes this line." The line was about 100 miles off the coast.

Shinji was shown the information from the cockpit. With this new info, the whole mission seemed even more impossible. He fired off more rounds. More hit the target this time. He even managed to make the beast moan out. But it still had little effect. He began to shoot in three burst segments.

Watching on from a near by roof top, Rain smiled. Although he hadn't planned on the EVA returning, he was glad that it did. This meant that his plan had a better chance of suceeding. "You denied humanity once, Shinji Ikari, but I won't let you deny them a second shot at Eden!" And with that, he disappeared back to the shadows.

Shinji kept firing, round after round. He moved from the shore into the water. On the EVA, it stood about waist deep. He kept firing, but to no success. Occasionally, he'd hear a roar from Leviathan, but it sounded more of annoyance than of pain. 'This is useless. I'm fighting an enormous fish with a toy gun...And I'm all alone. Can't someone help me?' As Shinji thought those words, the EVA shut down completely.

"The EVAs not responding. The pilots gone silent," Maya yelled back to the Vice-Commander. "The raido's down too. We can't reach him."

Fuyutsuki remained calm through this. It was a bad situation indeed, but nothing good ever came out of panic. Asuka on the other hand was very concerned. If Shinji didn't stop Leviathan, she would lose the only person she had left in her life.

Shinji tried desperately to get the EVA to move. "Come on, damnit! Move!" As much as he tried, it was useless. The EVA wasn't going to start back up. "Move! Please!" His pleas fell on deaf ears. "...Everyone's counting on me. I have to get you to move. To save them!" The EVA was still silent. And then...

"The EVAs started back up." Maya looked at the new readings for the EVA. "That's impossible. His synch ratio is beyond 100%."

Fuyutsuki still showed no emotion, though he was glad at this new development. "Any word from the pilot?"

"No. The pilot is still silent."

As Maya still tried to contact Shinji, out of Unit-01's back sprang the six yellow wings made of light. The EVA floated up and then flew out towards the Demon. It fired the rifle as it flew, this time to more success. Pieces of the beast's skin were being chipped away, but in the overall scheme of things, it didn't do much more damage. The EVA dropped down to water level and hovered there. There was about five minutes left before it hit the absolute barrier. As it hovered, something shot down next to it and stopped. It was two large black poles, intertwined at the middle: The Lance of Longinus. Unit-01 grabbed the new weapon with its left hand. As it did, two blue balls of light appeared at the tips of the lance. The EVA held out the lance horizontically and fired off the two beams. They converged and hit Leviathan dead on and began to split away its shell. When the beams stopped, Leviathan's outer shell had been destroyed, but the true beast that was inside arose. Although smaller compared to its shelled form, the new Leviathan was still big. It was four times the size of the EVA unit and its head was snake-like in appearance. Underneath the water, the rest of its body kept it afloat with giant flippers.

Unit-01 flew toward its new opponent and fired the rifle. The rounds were stopped by the beast's AT Field. When the EVA finished the clip, he dropped the gun into the ocean and pulled out its progressive knife and made its way behind the beast. As it attacked from behind, Leviathan rolled over and hit Unit-01 with its enormous flippers. Unit-01 went flying out of control, but managed to right itself before it fell into the ocean. Leviathan changed its course and followed after the EVA. Unit-01 charged in on Leviathan. As the two met, Unit-01 dove to the side and avoide getting hit by the beast. He then landed on Leviathan's back and saw that there was a small red orb at the base of its neck. Unit-01 looked up to see that Leviathan was about to attack, so the EVA rolled to the side and let the beast hit its own back. The EVA rushed towards the orb, dodging the enormous beast's attacks. Unit-01 prepared its progressive knife and stabbed downward. Before it could hit, Leviathan set up its AT Field and knocked the EVA off its back.

Again, the EVA righted itself and prepared itself for Leviathan's impact. As Leviathan approached, Unit-01 took the Lance of Longinus and slashed Leviathan right down the center or its head. The beast regenerated its injury into two heads, but Unit-01 rushed by the two and slammed the lance down onto Leviathan's orb. The beast exploded. The EVA was blown into the air and flew itself back to the shore. As it landed, the unit lost power and collapsed.

Shinji awoke a few hours later. Asuka was sitting by his side. "So, you're finally up."

Shinji rose a little to meet her. "I believe you made me a promise a few days ago. One that which you have already broken."

"Well, sorry. It's not like I really had a choice to pilot the--"

"I didn't tell you not to pilot the EVA. I told you not to worry me. And what do you do? The first chance you get you run off recklessly and almost let the entire city get destroyed."

Shinji stared at her for a little bit. Her version wasn't really how he remembered what happened.

"Not to mention that you managed to play with everyone's emotions by dramatically acting like you couldn't pilot the EVA, and then suddenly achieving over 100% synchronization."

'So that's what that was.' At first, Shinji just thought the EVA had gone berserk, but it was different this time. When the EVA had gone berserk in the past, Shinji would lose consciousness. But this time, Shinji was not only wide awake, but in complete control of the EVA.

There was a knock at the door and three familiar faces peeked their heads in.

"Well, Shinji, it's sure been a while," said Kensuke, as he entered the room, followed by Toji and Hikari. They all greeted each other warmly, and found seats around the room. It had been a while since Shinji had seen his friends, and he wanted to know what they had been up to. "Well, after Third Impact, the adults were allowed to return to the city. All the kids were held back for a couple days. We arrived this morning and we would have met up with you sooner, but there was some commotion going on."

"I heard it was a new Angel," said Toji. "But that doesn't make sense either. I thought we got them all."

"We? What did we do?" Hikari asked playfully. "Shinji and Asuka are the only ones that did anything."

"You know what I mean. Weren't they all destroyed?" The three other youths looked to Shinji for answers. As if he knew anything. He had many questions himself. He fumbled with trying to give some sort of explanation, but thankfully was cut off by the door opening.

"Alright children, that's enough for today." It was the same young doctor Shinji had seen the past couple days. "Visiting hours are over. You'll have to stop by tomorrow."

The others followed the doctor out. Asuka was the last one out. As she closed the door, she looked back to Shinji. "Get some rest, okay?"

The door shut behind her, and Shinji was alone again. He stared ahead at the door, in silent thought. "Rest?...All I ever do now is rest..."

"Well, rest is important." Shinji was startled to find that someone was in the room with him. Somone very familiar. Rain.

"What are you doing here?" Shinji asked, trying to get out of his bed.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Fortunately for you, I can't." Rain hopped down off the window sill he was sitting on and moved to the chair that Asuka had been sitting in earlier.

"What do you mean you can't hurt me?"

Rain smiled and gave a slight laugh. That laugh that Shinji was now somewhat accustomed too. "You still don't know what you did, do you?" Shinji shook his head no. There were many things he didn't know, but such an ambigous question left him even more confused. "Alright. Get comfortable, this is going to be a little hard to explain." He waited for Shinji to settle onto the bed and then began. "Mankind was never supposed to survive beyond Third Impact. It's preordained destiny was to assimilate with each other and exist as one being. An Omnibeing, if you will. When you were shown the world without AT Fields, you were supposed to accept it. However, as you know, you didn't. You changed your destiny and mankind's as well. But that shouldn't be possible. One of the unwritten laws of the universe is that man cannot change his destiny. The reason this idea exist is to prevent alternate realities."

"Alternate realities?"

"Yes." Rain continued. "If mankind were allowed to do what they wished, outcomes of events would be so numerous, that the world would pluralize itself over and over again. Eventually, the number of realities would grow too large and chaos would control everything."

"But how could that happen?"

"All destinies are integrated. Though we all take different paths in life, our fates affect those of others. Therefore, these integrated destinies form one line, like a strand of rope. If one destiny is split, the others split as well and the rope becomes too complex. And do you know what would happen then?" Shinji shook his head no. "Nothingness. If reality becomes too complex to maintain, then everything will be lost. That is why Third Impact was supposed to be a success. Cause it would be better to live as one than not to live at all."

It took him a while, but Shinji eventually grasped what Rain was saying. "So, did I cause an alternate reality?"

"Luckily for us, no. After Third Impact, the Omnibeing would have died and mankind would have reached Nirvana. That rope ended. So your decision took us to a different strand. But now I want to know something." At that point, Rain's whole demeanor changed. He was no longer the smiling, maniacal person. He became serious. "How?"

The question caught Shinji off guard. "How what?"

"How did you do it? How did you change your destiny? Not only did you break one of existence's primary laws, you did so without being punished. How?" He stared at Shinji intently, as if trying to read his mind.

"...I don't know." Shinji hung his head. Rain grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed his body back against the headboard.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!!!" He screamed. "You were there! Only you know how you did it!"

Shinji looked at Rain, puzzled. "But...I thought you knew everything." Rain released his grasp. Rain looked down at the bed. When he looked up, he looked as if he was about to say something, but stopped before anything could come out. He turned his attention away from Shinji. He stared at the window, almost as if he were listening to some unheard voice. Then, his demeanor changed back to his normal cocky self.

"Sorry...but that's need to know info...and you don't need to know now." He stood up and headed for the window. "See ya' later." He opened it and climed up onto the sill.

"Wait. Before you go..." Rain looked back. "What happened today? When I fought that thing. That's never happened. What was it?"

Rain smiled and gave his usual small laugh. "I'll give you a freebie today. You've experienced this sort of thing before. It was a fusing of body and soul with the EVA. However, in the past, you let the EVA's soul take over. The EVA is really no more than an animal and would go into its primal instincts for survival. That is what is known as its berserk mode. But today, you achieved its true purpose for fusion. Your soul took control of the EVA. In this state, the berserk mode's skills are increased, but one more ability is added... Conciousness. This state can only be achieved when the pilot realizes the goal of the EVA unit's soul."

"And what's that?" Shinji asked.

Rain looked back, smiled again, and began to fall. "Sorry...that's enough for today." As he finished the sentance, he fell out of view. Shinji got up and ran to the window, but when he reached it, Rain was long gone.

Shinji went back to his bed. He sat on the side and stared at the window, pondering all this new information he recieved.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

*Leviathan is one of the two beasts of destruction that was prophesied in the Book of Revelations. It is usually thought as some sort of giant sea creature.*

 

**Eden is a reference to the Garden of Eden in Genesis. In intents for this fanfic, it is what the Omnibeing would have lived in after Third Impact.**

 

***Nirvana is a form of Heaven. Honestly, I forget which religion it belongs to. Maybe Hindu I think. In intents of this fanfic, this is where man's true destiny ends, at the gates to Nirvana.***

 

Author's note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I occasionally get writer's block for chapters and leave it for a while, but not this long usually. I've just been busy with work and getting ready to go back for my third year of college. I'll try to write as much as possible in between work, classes, and my social life. Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed or even read the story. I know this isn't an original idea, which I pride myself on my originality in my other stories, but I insure you that I will try to make this as original as I can, given the circumstances. Okay, last note. I do not consider myself an authority on Evangelion, religion, blah blah blah. These are, more often than not, just my ideas based on some research to make sure they fit into the story.