Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ THE SONG OF AN ANGEL ❯ Angel attack ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Baran 
Arrival of Sakura in the world of evangelion. Who she is? Why is she here? How will she relate with the cast? Could she survive her encounter with Sachiel?
Anime/Manga: Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mecha / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 09.04.2006 | Updated On: 09.06.2006 | Pages: 23 | Words: 17.7K | Visits: 493 | Status: Work In Progress
Arrival of Sakura in the world of evangelion. Who she is? Why is she here? How will she relate with the cast? Could she survive her encounter with Sachiel?
Anime/Manga: Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Mecha / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 09.04.2006 | Updated On: 09.06.2006 | Pages: 23 | Words: 17.7K | Visits: 493 | Status: Work In Progress
THE SONG OF AN ANGEL
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the concept of the Guardians of Dimensions, `Outerworld', Sakura, Iridia and Baran.
Note: I have been inspired for this story by Neon Exodus Evangelion and In Nomine Satanis. Thank you for your works.
The concept of the Guardian of Dimensions enabled me to project my friends in the worlds they like and change the story to what they wanted.
Generally it was for fun. We liked a lot to throw a know world into chaos by using super-powered characters in one session. But many of the games were serious and my friends loved when they managed to create a divergence in a story and rectify what they didn't like.
Many times they were surprised and enchanted when I took them in unexpected directions due to their actions.
Many reviews said that this is a Mary-Sue story. They are right. However, this powerful character is NEEDED. The world of Evangelion, she is about to enter, is unbalanced.
Some are reproaching me to replace Shinji. Don't take it wrong, I like this character. Unfortunately, his absence is part of the unbalance I had prepared. His absence will be partly explained in this chapter.
Finally, this is not canon. I'll try to make no OOC with the main characters, at least at the beginning, since the events will be altered. Without spilling early secrets, you must know that there is another secret enemy among the cast. Also, the angels are not what they appeared to be in the anime.
Chap 1: Angel Attack.
OPENING THEME SONG
Original sung by: Takahashi Youko
Original lyrics: Oikawa Neko
Original composition: Satou Hidetoshi
Original arrangement: Oomori Toshiyuki
Modified here: by me.
Like a cruel angel,
young girl, become the legend!
[Short Instrumental Intro]
A blue wind is now
knocking at the door to your heart, and yet
you are merely gazing at us
and smiling.
Something gently touching--
you're so intent on seeking it out,
that you can't even see your fate yet,
with such innocent eyes.
But someday I think you'll find out
that what's on your back
are wings that are for
heading for the far-off future.
The cruel angel's thesis
will soon take flight through the window,
with surging, hot pathos,
if you betray your memories.
Embracing this sky [universe] and shining,
young girl, become the legend!
[Instrumental]
Sleeping for a long time
in the cradle of our love
The morning is coming when you alone will be called
by a messenger of dreams.
Moonlight reflects off
the nape of your slender neck.
Stopping time all throughout the world
We want to confine them, but...
So if people being brought together by fate
has any meaning,
I think that it is a "bible"
for learning freedom.
The cruel angel's thesis.
The sorrow then begins.
You held tight to the form of life
when you woke up from that dream.
You shine brighter than anyone else.
Young girl, become the legend!
People create history
while weaving love.
Even knowing we'll never be gods or goddesses or anything like that,
We live on.
The cruel angel's thesis
will soon take flight through the window,
with surging, hot pathos,
if you betray your memories.
Embracing this sky and shining,
young girl, become the legend!
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The transition between his original world and the world that need the presence of a Guardian has always fascinated Baran.
Even now, after countless travels, it still retained the wonders of the first time.
First, there is the VOICE and the sheer PRESENCE of Libra as she/it/he spoke to him. The Entity has always used this way to communicate with him. He knew through his discussions with his peers that the method varied with each Guardian.
It was generally really basic. The Entity simply said that he was needed somewhere and `POOF', he was no longer in his dimension.
The tunnel of light was alike the tunnel seen in the series `Sliders', but he has always suspected that his past experiences had coloured his expectancies.
During the transition, he could feel the energy of the Entity remodelling his body in the form of the Avatar. No Guardian used their former body in their missions. They always wear a form adapted to the world. With time, the Guardian found that his Avatar gained in capacity if he trained himself during the mission. Sometimes, powers that marked the Soul were found present in a new Avatar when they were appropriate.
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She opened her eyes.
She was feeling comfortable. She was sitting in a very plush chair and a regular sound was lulling her back into a nap. She was in a train…Correction, she was in a bullet train…She was a she.
Now, normally, everybody would have a reaction like Ranma after his first dunk in the spring of the drowned girl. This was also why each Guardian has an Avatar. The body was adapted and the Guardian was also adapted. In the place of Baran was Iridia. That was the name that her parents would have chosen should he was born a girl.
Iridia sighed and stretched her body. It has been a nice transition. They were sometimes a little rough. She always remembered the time when she was materialized in a hot spring, without clothes…on the boy side. She was pretty sure that it has been a sign that Libra has a wicked sense of humour. Well, it was time to assess the situation.
She looked upon her appearance with a pocket mirror. She was a fourteen years old Japanese girl, with waist long black hair and her trademark green Mako eyes. She smiled. She was clad in a rather serious grey school uniform: A pleated grey skirt, a white shirt with a stripped red and black tie, white socks, black leather shoes and a light grey vest. Not too bad in her own biased opinion.
She had a small baggage with a knapsack and…a Katana? She reached it and slowly pulled a quarter of the blade out. Yep, it was a real Katana. It was purring at her soul and she recognized it as another form of her trusty Soul-Blade.
She then `tasted' the background of the world. Each dimension used different rules on the three primary planes of existence: The Physical, the Mental and the Spiritual. Wow! Heavy firepower! Really heavy on all the points. The powers of Ki-manipulation, Psychic and Magic will have a blast in this setting.
She finally waited for the Phantom Memories to manifest. The Phantom memories were the greatest thing for a Guardian after the sliced bread. They were an amalgam of emotions, skills, knowledges and memories of the person represented by the current Avatar. It was a marvellous tool that enabled each Guardian to function without too much problem, especially in another culture than his original one.
She was in AD 2015, the first May…Fifteen years after…the Second Impact? She gasped and grabbed her armchairs with white-knuckle hands. OH! MY! GOD! She was in a world with a background like Neon Genesis Evangelion! Unfortunately, the strings of pseudo-memories continued its parade.
She couldn't believe it. She was…She was the only daughter of Yui Ikari and Gendo Rokubungi…KAMI-SAMA! She was the only LIVING daughter of Yui Ikari and Gendo Rokubungi.
Her eyes were shinning with unshed tears. She was the twin of Shinji. Her brother was …stillborn. No explanation, Shinji was dead without any reason at the birth. Her parents had renamed her Sakura instead of Rei in memory to their son, as the flower of the Sakura tree symbolize the fragility of life.
Sobs begun to wreck her body as the next memory played in her mind. The `incident' when she was four years old and where her mother has been absorbed in EVA-01 was deeply etched in her soul. She was crying the self-sacrifice of a gentle mother that she had known only for a few years. But, she was especially shedding tears on the fate of a boy that was innocent when the line of his life was cut off prematurely.
The next images were a maelstrom of hellish experiences and acute loneliness. Abandoned by her father and thrown into a family that simply did not want her, she has been miserable, until…
Now, that was something new. Gendo has placed her under his thumb into his branch of the family. One little known fact was that he married into the clan of his wife and took her name. She has been contacted when she was a child by the executors of the will of her mother. She was the last of the Ikari bloodline and heir to everything her clan possess.
The clan was old Samurai blood. Its legacy was strong. Yui didn't have time to show the heritage of her family to her daughter. Gendo simply used the resources of the clan with the arrogance to not searching what was behind it. They simply served him to accomplish his goals and he ignored it in pursuit of his plans.
Secretly, Sakura has plotted her actions. She used the excuse of joining various evening courses to be formed in the duty of her clan and to be prepared when she came in age. Vacations in out of reach seminars have enabled her to be formed by instructors with the original scrolls of the Ikari clan in her family-style of Kenjutsu: a branch of Zanji Shinjinken-Ryu (one of the early school of Samurai swordsmanship). The Katana was supposed to be the ancestral sword of her clan.
She quickly scanned the content of her baggage: Hygiene items, spare clothes, a Hakama and Keigoki (quilted, navy-blue jacket), a tanto and some documents…Really interesting documents.
Her father was no longer on the clan registry. The executors had declared him unfit to be the head of the clan after abandoning his only daughter. And the irony: He was ignorant of this little fact. This was fishy. Something was very wrong with that. She has the perfect means to get back at her father. She gasped. SEELE! According to what she knows about the anime, Yui was the daughter of an influential member of SEELE.
This was not good! The appearance of the executors of the will of her mother looked more like a manipulation of SEELE to control Gendo through her. The possibility to be the pre-planned assassin of her father seemed also possible with her training. The rest of the documents were the very succinct convocation of her father to Tokyo-3 (Come!-Gendo Ikari.), a NERV ID card at her name and…
She blinked. Now, that was surprising. She held a postal card of Misato Katsuragi. But, instead of suggestive statements and arrows to draw attention to the woman's assets, she was seeing a nice picture of Misato in her NERV dress uniform smiling, leaning up on the hood of her blue Renault Alpine.
Well, she supposed that the fact that she was a girl instead of a young teenager male has influenced the choice of picture for Misato. She preferred that to the sexy bombshell picture that Shinji received.
She sighed. It will not be fun. This world has embarked on a course for total annihilation and she didn't fancy herself in a lesbian relation with Asuka to replenish the Earth. She groaned. There were too many variables and she was about to be sent into battle with the third Angel.
She needed a plan. There was no way that she could solve the unbalance of this world without any allies. She flexed her left hand and felt her infinite power vibrating underneath this layer of existence. Of course, she could simply provoke the Third Impact herself and solved everything in one swift action, but she knew that only worse consequences would result.
No plan can survive the encounter of the enemy. She must remember that this world SEEMED like the series of Evangelion. The best proof was the altered picture of Misato and the probable hidden plot of SEELE for her. She couldn't count on her knowledge of the anime to plan: It will be suicidal.
She sighed again. She would have to play by ear. She would had to have only general lines of conduct to prepare between two angels attacks and trust her instinct in the thick of the battle. And she had to recruit allies or turned over enemies. She can't forget that.
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Meanwhile near the coast, a gigantic strange creature is cruising underwater in the submerged city of old Tokyo.
Sachiel, angel of Water has finally come. Answering a call that he was the only one for now to perceive, the mighty celestial swam forward.
It was his most sacred duty. The trial of Humanity has been initiated. The fires of war will forged the new race…or burned it to a cinder.
On a road on the coast, a group of modern tanks of the JSSDF were waiting. They were silent sentinels of steel whose guns were pointed at the submerged city. The song of the cicadas was interrupted by the sudden massive geyser of salt water.
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Sakura was forcefully debarked at a station near Tokyo-3. She was the only person present. Something that was not surprising if you considered what her little radio was repeating on all the channels.
`Today at 12:30, a state of special emergency has been declared all over Kanto and Chubu districts around Tokai district. Please take refuge in the designated shelters. Repeat. Today…'
And of course, it was now that she had arrived near her goal that all the trains were blocked as proved by all destination panels at the station showing 'All lines are out of service'. Really, they have great organization skills here. She wondered why her father was endangering her like this since she was his only trump card available. The best to do now was NOT wandering aimlessly and wait for Misato to show up. By the way, where was she?
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In a certain blue sport car, a well-endowed young woman was driving with a rather unique style. If there have been any witness, they would have promptly take cover just by seeing the way she drive recklessly.
“Why, of all times, do I have to be so late…I'm going to missed her if she wanders around…What am I going to do?”
Misato looked again on the passenger seat where she can see the photo of Sakura Ikari wearing a rather severe grey school uniform. Well, she looked to be a kind of nerd. She shouldn't be causing too much problem.
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In an attempt to dodge some of the problems that Murphy's law were preparing, Sakura was calling in a telephone booth at the exterior of the station the NERV phone number written on her ID card.
`All normal lines are out of order due to the state of special emergency.'
She sighed, looking to the telephone like she wanted to blast it into oblivion. “Out of order…I really should have seen that coming…”
She advised the traffic panel showing `Tokyo-3: 13km, Gotenba: 35km' and once again looked at the photo of Misato. The handwriting of it was seemingly mocking her: `Dear Sakura-Chan. Because I'll come to meet you, wait for me, please. PS: Look at the car!'
“Great. Just great! I may not be able to meet her if I didn't wander like Shinji. I can't help it. I'll have to go in the direction of the shelter.”
It was then that the shockwave staggered her. A sudden strong wind rushed in and drew her attention to the hills at the periphery of the sector.
“Uh oh!”
It was only when a gigantic creature of 40 metres, preceded by UN aircrafts, appeared between the hills that her sixth sense began to howl to her ears.
“Holy shit! It has begun!”
There was something strange at the verge of her perception. She couldn't yet make it sense but she instinctually knew it was important. She also absently remarked that the anime didn't do any justice to the sheer visual impact of the third angel: She was petrified by him.
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In the bowels of the vast command centre of NERV, frenetic activity is displayed.
“The identifiable moving object is still approaching this place.” said a female operator.
“We've got the visual image of the target. I'll transfer it to the main screen.” continued her male partner.
Two men in the shadows of their level looked to the screen. One is an old man with a beige uniform and grey hair standing up. The other is a dark brown-bearded man with reddish glasses and white gloves in a dark uniform.
“It has been 15 years.” said Fuyutsuki.
“Yes, there is no doubt.” replied Gendo.
“Angels.” said Fuyutsuki as they observed the gigantic creature on the screen.
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On the battlefield all VTOL UN aircrafts discharged their rockets against the angel. To the consternation of the pilots, all attacks have strictly no effect. The angel seemed also genuinely puzzled by the attack as he blinked.
“Launch all missiles on the target!”
“Ah!”
But the angel was not without an attack. A lance of energy from his palm suddenly spiked an aircraft through a wing and sent it to crash…just near a certain young girl.
“AAAHH!” Said young girl showed then an amazing talent for survival by diving for cover behind a low wall as the aircraft exploded.
There, again! Just before the angel attacked, Sakura has perceived something but she couldn't say what precisely. She then heard a marvellous sound: The roar of the motor of a Renault Alpine.
Misato couldn't believe it. She had found her wayward charge…in the middle of the battlefield. Well, at least, she didn't wander around the station. She stopped the car and the NERV officer dressed in a low cut black dress opened the door to the young girl.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Never mind that! Drive! Drive!” Sakura threw herself in the passenger seat and frenetically put on her security belt. Behind them, the angel flexed his AT field and jumped to their position crushing the burning aircraft as the car started off.
Misato blinked as she launched her car in a get away manoeuvre. Well, she was right. This Sakura won't cause any problems. Under the encouragements of the schoolgirl, she began to demonstrate her high-speed style of driving.
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Meanwhile at the command centre, the military are confronted by the abnormal, for them, resistance of the angel.
“The target is still intact. It's moving toward Tokyo-3 as before.”
“It cannot be stopped with the air force firepower.”
Batteries of missile attacked the angel with their full might but to no avail. The three commanders of the UN force begun to loose their calm.
“Total war! Mobilize all divisions at Atsugi and Iruma Bases to the battle!”
“Don't hold back! Smash the target at any cost!”
A bomber launched a large missile at the target. But the angel simply caught it with one hand. The missile shred itself on the claws then exploded with no effect.
“Why?! It was a direct hit!”
“The tank battalion was totally destroyed. Guided missiles and bombs have no effect on it...”
“Useless! With such poor firepower, we'll get nowhere!”
Gendo and Fuyutsuki were watching the struggle of the military with rather satisfied smiles.
“As we thought, it is protected by the expansion of an AT-field.” Fuyutsuki was musing about the formidable potential of the so-called AT-field.
“Yes, conventional weapons have no effect on Angels.” Gendo was smirking about the helplessness of the military. Soon, those fools will ask for his help and then…
“Yes sir. We'll employ that as previously arranged.” Sub-commander Watanabe sighed as he put down the red phone. Using `it' on Japanese soil seemed too much but they didn't have the choice.
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Back to the battlefield, Misato observed the angel in the distance through field glasses.
“Are you sure it's a good idea to look from such a short distance, Katsuragi-San?” Sakura was not very fond to be so near the N2 explosion that should be coming. But Misato has insisted that they need to know the movement of the enemy to plot the most direct and safest course to NERV.
“Don't worry. We should be in security here.”
“Should? Katsuragi-San, for god sake! This thing has ENERGY weapons! Who know what it could do or what the military are going to do in retaliation?”
Misato then remarked that all the aircrafts were retreating. “Hey! Wait a minute... They are going to USE a N2-mine?! Get down!”
A big explosion engulfed the angel. The shockwave hit the Alpine and turned it upside-down. Inside the car, protected by the body of Misato, Sakura thought about the stupidity of a few members of the UN military and what she will do to them if she had the chance.
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At the command centre, everybody is rejoicing about the direct hit on the angel, especially the military commanders.
“We did it!”
“Sorry that we've left nothing for you to do.” Watanabe was smirking in the direction of Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Civilians have no place on the battlefield.
“Shock wave is coming!”
All screens reported a loss of contact or showed nothing but static.
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Misato and Sakura looked to the overturned and battered car.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, thank you. What about you, Katsuragi-San?”
“I'm fine! By the way, why are you holding a Katana?” She smirked. “Are you a Samurai?”
“Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I am Samurai.” She smiled sweetly to the confused Misato. “More precisely, as the heir of my family school, I have the responsibility of safeguarding our ancestral sword, no matter where I go.”
“Wow! It's an old sword then?”
“Oh yes! Almost seven centuries.”
Misato's eyes widened at that. Seven centuries? Sakura has displayed a portion of the blade to her curiosity and the sword had looked almost brand-new.
“What did you mean by you're `Samurai'? I don't remember hearing that you're father is Samurai.”
The smile disappeared swiftly. “He is not! My mother was Samurai! My father has merely married into the clan and the Rokubungi ARE not Samurai. As the last living direct descendant in the Ikari family, I inherited everything INCLUDING the title.”
Misato blinked. It seems that her origin and her father are touchy subjects to the young girl. “Well, are you ready to help me turning over the car?”
“Of course.”
“Here goes!”
It was a little difficult, but they succeeded in turning over the smashed Renault.
“Thanks a lot. Good job.”
“It was no trouble, Katsuragi-san...”
“Please, call me Misato.”
“Only if you call me Sakura, then.”
“Let's do it again. Welcome, Sakura-Chan.” Misato smiled warmly to the young girl who recovered her previous smile. Sakura was receiving the genuine waves of `Big-Sister' from the woman and appreciated them.
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In the command centre, the military waited for the confirmation of the destruction of the angel.
“How is the target?”
“It can't be captured due to the electromagnetic pulse wave obstruction.”
“It was such a massive explosion. It must have been reduced to nothing.”
“Sensors are operating again.”
“An energy reaction is detected in the centre of the explosion!”
“Whaaaaaaaat?!”
“Visual image is regained.”
“Oh...!”
Under the mystified gaze of the military commanders the still standing silhouette of the third angel appeared on the screen.
“It was our trump card ... Unbelievable ...”
“What a monster!”
On the screen the angel was regenerating itself from the damage of the N2-mine.
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On the road to NERV, Misato was demonstrating how to drive a broken car at top speed and making a phone call at the same time.
“Sure. Don't worry. She is under my protection at top priority. Prepare a car train for us. A linear one, please. Yes. I'll bear the full responsibility for her because it was my idea to meet her in the first place. Bye.”
If Misato was smiling on the outside, she was less mirthful on the inside. `But it's terrible! I've just restored my car... It is a jalopy now...33 loan repayments to go ... and the repair costs...What was even worse, my only good clothes have been ruined...'
“Misato...”
`I was such in high spirits. My goodness...'
“Hello? Misato...”
“Eh, what did you say?”
“Is it really OK that you did such a thing...?” Sakura was pointing the batteries for the electric car which Misato seemed to have...`borrowed'.
“Ah, It's OK. No problem. It is during an emergency... We can't do anything if the car doesn't run. In the addition, I am an international officer even if I don't seem like it.”
“Aaah! Good! I was worried that you could be held responsible for the…`borrowing'.”
Sakura then blinked twice and turned again to Misato. “But…then, why didn't you put your card for the store owner?”
Misato opened her mouth to respond and drew a blank. Her smile slowly disappeared and her eyes widened as she thought about the possible repercussions.
“WOAAAH!! MISATO! DON'T LET GO OF THE WHEEL! AND FOR GOD SAKE! STOP HITTING YOUR HEAD ON IT!”
The blue Renault Alpine slalomed roughly on the road as screams of frustration escaped from it, mixed with prayers and repeated demands to keep the eyes on the road.
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Meanwhile, the injured Angel stood in the plain, slowly regenerating his wounds. For Sachiel, it was merely an inconvenience. He was already adaptating his corporal form to what had happened for now.
“It is regenerating itself as we expected.” Fuyutsuki was pleased that their predictions were verified for now. It was a good sign for the future.
“Of course, otherwise, it would be useless as an independent weapon.” Gendo was still waiting for those idiots of military to realize that they were utterly outclassed.
On the screen, a sudden spark of light was seen from the eyes of the angel and the aircraft which was relaying the images was destroyed.
“Ohhh...”
“Oh, I'm impressed. It can also amplify its own functions.” Fuyutsuki turned to his student.
“In addition, it has acquired intelligence.”
“The next invasion is a matter of time.”
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Misato and Sakura were waiting for a car train to depart from the station on the outside of NERV headquarters.
`The gate is closing. Attention, please. The train is about to depart. This train ...'
“So, we're going to the heart of the special agency NERV?”
“Yes, the secret organization directly attached to the United Nations.”
“It's the one which my father belongs to.” Sakura voice was bitter. She didn't have to force herself to play the role of the daughter of Rokubungi: Gendo has always been the Supreme Bastard to her. Being able to stop herself to cut off his head will be more difficult.
“Yeah, well. Do you know what he does?”
“I heard from the teacher that it's an important job for protecting the human race. But knowing him, he is probably looming around, looking very important and preventing all the others to do the right job because he needs printed instructions to put on his pants.”
The phrase had begun on a normal tone and finished by a snarl. Misato looked bewildered on the young girl that transformed from a cute thing to a demon. Oh boy! She really had some issues with the Commander.
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Gendo was standing before the three commanders of the UN force in NERV Headquarters.
“You are the commander of this operation from now. We'll watch how you will deal with it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thinking of our available weapons, I'll have to admit that we have no effective measures against the target.” The pill was rather bitter to swallow but they didn't have the choice.
“But, are you confident of defeating it?”
“Nerv exists for that purpose.” Gendo put back his glasses on his nose.
“We expect much from you.”
The seats of the UN Commanders disappeared in the floor, leaving Gendo in charge of the operation. He turned to the sensors' operators.
“The target is still as it was.”
“The present effective rate of the interception is 7.5 %.”
Fuyutsuki was worried. “The U. N. Troops can't help it.... What are you going to do?”
“I'll activate Evangelion Unit One.”
“Unit One? But we have no pilot.”
“No problem. Another spare will be brought.”
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Sakura and Misato were still discussing in her car on the car train.
“So, are we going to where my father is?”
“Well. Yes, we are.”
“Father...” Could she do it? Could she force herself to give the bastard a chance of redemption? He was her father and his love for his wife was blinding him.
“By the way, were you given an ID by your father?”
“Oh, yes. Here it is.”
“Thanks!” Misato left up one eyebrow on the rather short message of Gendo for his daughter. “Then, read this.”
She gave her a thick manual with the mention 'Top Secret' and 'Welcome to Nerv' on the cover.
“It's about my father's work... Is there anything in it for me to know what he wants from me? She sighed. “I can't say I'm really surprised. He can't write to me ... unless he wants me to do something.”
“I know. You consider him to be a tough customer. Me too.”
The train car emerged from its shaft and an underground city with buildings hanging from the ceiling of the round giant cavern appeared
“WAOUH! Great! It's a real geofront!”
“That's right. This is our secret base, NERV Headquarters. It's also the foundation for rebuilding the world and the last line of defence for the human race.”
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EYECATCHES
Sakura in black Hakama and navy-blue Keigoki, looking fiercely to the spectator, draw her Katana and take a defensive stance.
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EYECATCHES
Misato in black Hakama and red Keigoki, looking fiercely to the spectator, draw…a can of beer and take a stance to drink it heartily. In the background, Sakura is face-faulting.
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Sakura and Misato were on a moving pavement in the giant internal structure of NERV headquarters. Misato was desperately consulting a map. Looking around the shoulder of the lady officer, Sakura could read the handwritten mention `HERE' and `WC' among the daedal-like drawing.
“That's strange. I'm sure this is the right way...”
“You said that, fifteen minutes ago.” All that time lost…
“I'd really rather not wear a skirt this place. Anyway, where has Ritsuko gone? Sorry that I'm not familiar with this place.”
She was right about it. The first time that an automatic hatch had opened, the pleated skirt of Sakura has been blown away revealing her panties and making her shriek `cutely' according to Misato.
“I think we passed here some time ago. Shouldn't you call somebody to help us?”
“Ah, don't worry. All systems exist to be used.”
They were doomed yes! To her current title of `the eternally drunk girl', Misato could take now the title of `the eternally lost girl'. The young Guardian was no better, she always remembered when she was Baran in her home-world and she managed to loose herself and her section during her military service with map and compass… Sighing, Sakura tried to occupy herself by figuring the layout and reading her manual while they wait for their rescue by Ritsuko.
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`Chief of Project E at Section 1 of Technical Department, Dr. Akagi Ritsuko, Dr. Akagi Ritsuko. Please contact with Captain Katsuragi Misato at Section 1 of Operation Department immediately.'
A very attractive woman with bleached hair, green eyes with one having a mole under it took her wet suit off after emerging from a violet-pink liquid.
“I'm not surprised. She must have got lost again.” Ritsuko sighed with irritation on the antics of her colleague.
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As Misato tried valiantly to find the way for her and Sakura, the door of the elevator they have taken open revealing the irritated Ritsuko. The doctor was clad in a swimsuit with a pair of shorts and a lab blouse.
“Uhhm. Ha...Hi, Ritsuko...” Misato was catastrophed. Her friend found them before they found her.
“What did you do, Captain Katsuragi? We are short of hands and time!”
“Sorry...”
“So, she is that girl.”
“Yes, 'the third children' according to Marduck's report.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is for me madam.” Sakura bowed. “Ah...How shall I call you?”
“Dr Akagi or Ritsuko will be enough, Sakura-Chan.” She turned to Misato. “She is very polite, her.”
“Yes, but she is very much like her father…in that they aren't lovable.”
“Why, Misato, I'm disappointed.” Sakura feigned dismay. “Fifteen minutes ago she called me `cute' and now she is comparing me to my father. Oh woe is me to have such an ungrateful captain.”
“HEY!”
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Gendo began to descend by the lift built on the Commander level and turned to Fuyutsuki.
“Well, I trust you with the suit of the operation.”
“They'll meet after three years' interval.” Fuyutsuki was sure that the encounter will be…intense.
“Sub-Commander, the target has begun to move again.”
“Well. Red alert! All hands to battle stations!”
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Sakura, Misato and Ritsuko were coming up on a diagonal lift with a pink background generated by the light passing through giant reservoirs of violet-pink liquid.
`Repeat, Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Prepare for the interception of the enemies on the ground.'
Misato couldn't believe what she heard. The situation was dire indeed. “Did you hear what she said?”
“That's serious.” Ritsuko was conserving her serious attitude.
“By the way, how is Unit One?”
That was the question that whirled in the mind of Sakura. She was apparently absorbed in her manual. In fact, she was preparing herself for the confrontation with her father and EVA-01.
“It is equipped with B type. It is being frozen.”
“Does it really work? I heard that it has never worked yet.”
“The possibility of it working is 0.000000001%. O9-system seems a good name for it.”
For the young Guardian of Dimensions, it was a good thing. The number nine is a lucky one for the Chinese. She was going to need this luck.
“You mean it won't work, don't you?”
“Oh, how rude you are! It isn't zero.”
“It's only a number. Anyway, to say `It doesn't work at all'...will be no excuse.”
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Sakura has always thought that going to the EVA cage with a motorized dinghy on the pink coolant liquid was a little exaggerated. They really should have take example on the old Thunderbirds series and installed a cool chute system. She smiled internally: It would have been `in genre'.
The group penetrated in a room with only a line of light coming through the entrance and then a sudden blackout.
“Uh, hum, I can't see anything, it's pitch dark. Is there a problem with the lights?”
As suddenly as before, Ritsuko turned on the lights. The big face of Evangelion Unit 01 appeared before Sakura.
“What the…Ah! This face...a gigantic robot...no…”
Ritsuko looked to the young girl “You can't find this in…the…manual…Sakura?”
The young girl was petrified. Her Phantom memories were wrecking her inside. She let go her sword and the manual on the ground. The sound of metal was reverberating strongly in the gigantic room.
“No…no…no…nonononono…”
Ritsuko blinked. Why Sakura was so rattled by the unit. “This is the Multi-purpose Humanoid Fighting Machine EVANGELION which the humanity finally developed.”
“And the very place where my mother died.”
The eyes of Ritsuko widened and Misato gasped. “How…how do you know that?”
“I remembered it! I was present. Tell me! Is it also Father's work?”
Gendo appeared in a glassed bay at the top of the room. “Yes.”
Daughter and father looked at each other. The distance was not an obstacle. The Mako green eyes of Sakura clashed with the deep black eyes of Gendo, neither surrendering to the other.
“It's been a long time.” The face of Gendo was a mask.
“Father ...” Sakura was far from beaten by the supreme bastard and revealed nothing.
“Prepare for battle.”
Misato, flabbergasted, looked to her commander. “Prepare?! Unit Zero is being frozen... No kidding ... Do you mean that you'll activate Unit One?”
Ritsuko turned to the captain. “We have no other choice.”
“Hey! We can't have Rei get it on. We have no pilots.”
“One has been just delivered.”
“Are you serious?”
“Ikari Sakura-Chan, you will get into it.”
“But, even in the case of Rei, it took seven full months for her to synchronize with Eva.”
“You may only take a seat. We'd never expect more from you.”
“But ...”
“At present, the interception against Angel's attack is top priority. We have no choice but to have someone get into it even if there is a little potential for synchronizing with Eva.”
“You may be right...”
This was the cue for Sakura. She has been passive enough time. “Father! Is this why you call me?”
“This is exactly the reason why I call you.”
“Do you mean that you need me to fight against the giant monster which I seen.”
Sakura chuckled. “Unbelievable! You are saying that you need me now?! I have known for a long time that you don't want me!”
“I called you just because I need you now.”
“Interesting… Why me specifically ...?”
“Because others can't ...”
“Even if I've neither seen it nor heard of it? Why are you saying that I can do it without training?”
“Hear the explanations.”
Sakura looked up to her father, incredulous. “That it!? Hear the explanations!? No preparation! I am not a pessimist but it seems that my chance, no, our chances are rather feeble.”
“If you get into it, stop wasting time. Otherwise, get out!”
Sakura remarked the presence of many maintenance men looking at the scenery anxiously. Then her sixth sense hit her. Her eyes widened and she kicked her sword in her hand and turned to the left part of the ceiling in a defensive stance.
Above the geofront, the angel was attacking the ground with the energy beam from his eyes in order to reach the Nerv Headquarters. The explosion provoked vibrations to the underground structure.
Gendo was looking in the same direction as his daughter. “The angel seems to have found this place.” The fact that Sakura has sense the attack before they felt its effects was duly noted.
Ritsuko turned to the young girl. “Sakura-Chan, we have no time.”
Misato double-team with her friend. “Get into it.”
“Okay! All right! I know a crisis situation when I see one. But if you expect me to become the hot-shot Mecha ace in an instant, you're going to be disappointed. It's ridiculous. I need help!”
Now that was a good idea in Misato's book. “Sakura-Chan... What sort of help do you want?”
“I understand that you have another pilot from another EVA with you, this `Rei'. Please, I don't think I can do that without at least her advice!”
It was not what Gendo has planned for but it will do. He turned to a wall of screens. “Fuyutsuki!”
Fuyutsuki appeared on all the screens.
“Wake up Rei.”
“She is not out of the hospital!”
“She is still alive, that enough.”
Fuyutsuki sighed. “All right.”
Gendo spoke to an invisible interlocutor. “Rei?”
A flat and feminine voice responded. “Yes.”
“The spare turned out to be in need of your experience.” His voice smoothed. “Will you do it again?”
“Yes.”
Ritsuko took the initiative. “All right, we continue to reconfigure the system of Unit One for Sakura! Start!
“Yes sir. The current process is already complete at 68% and increasing.”
For Sakura, it was better than what she had been expecting from Gendo. The presence of her sword has been completely overlooked and Gendo has not broken in the threats against her.
A hospital gurney is being rolled in with a team of doctors and nurses. On it, a pale girl of her own age with light blue hair and red eyes is laying. Bandages covered the right side of her face and her right arm. An IV feed was on the left arm. She was clad in a white sleeveless skin-tight suit.
Sakura was unprepared for the assault of strong emotions as her Mako eyes locked with the one crimson: fear, love, sorrow and anger. She whirled to her father. “YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT SHE WAS WOUNDED! ASSHOLE! I would have made the displacement.” She walked briskly to the gurney before Rei made any movement. “Don't move please, you're hurt. I just wanted advice on the piloting of EVA. They had no right to treat you like this.
The crimson eye blinked but before any questions were posed and answered, the angel outside attacked again.
The shockwave would have throw Rei on the floor should Sakura have not stabilized the gurney. “Watch out, Rei! Don't open your wounds by jostling around and…LOOK OUT MISATO!”
Right on the location of the NERV captain, heavy metallic light-ramps fell from the ceiling. Sakura left her instincts guided her. She took an Iajutsu stance, pushed the blade of her Katana out with her left thumb and drew. “KAMAÏTACHI!”
A pure ray of blue energy manifested for a fraction of second on the falling ramps which suddenly fell apart on the sides from the prostrated woman, each cut cleaned.
Preoccupied by the security of the others, Sakura failed to remark the falling ramps on her and Rei until it was too late to do anything except covering Rei with her body, brace for the impact and pray for a miracle.
The EVA-01 was the miracle. On her own, the powerful war-machine protected Sakura and incidentally Rei with her right hand. Gendo smiled as a ramp crashed without effect on his reinforced window.
“Ah!”
“EVA moved! What was the matter with it?!”
“It tore off the binding attached to the right arm.”
Ritsuko was freaking both from the earlier technique used by Sakura and from the reaction of EVA-01. “It's impossible! Even the entry plug has never been inserted yet. It can't move! And how in hell are you capable to do such a thing?”
Misato, still awed by what happened looked to the young girl. “It reacts without the interface... Or rather, did it protect her? ... She can do it! And that strange power…”
Sakura turned to Rei, blanched and gingerly held her hand. Rei was suffering very much because of the sudden movement when Sakura had covered her.
“Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I just wanted to protect you!” Sakura turned her head to the ceiling. “He is going to pay. I swear he is going to pay with interests!” The determined and angered girl looked to Ritsuko. “All right! Let's do it! Get me into it now!”
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In the command centre, the NERV staff is diligently pursuing the operation against the angel.
“Freezing Process has finished.”
“The binding of the right arm has been fixed again.”
“Position setting for docking in the cage is OK.”
“The stop signal plug has been discharged.”
“Yes Sir. Insert the entry plug.”
“The plug has been fixed.”
“Begin the first connection.”
Sakura, still in her school uniform, sat inside the entry plug, hands on the butterfly handles. She had refused to be separated from her sword and managed to clamp it at the back of her seat. A silvered A10 nerve clip placed neatly in her black hair. She was waiting patiently.
Ritsuko supervised the operation. “Commence LCL injection into entry plug.”
With an alarm not faked, Sakura reacted to the injection of the liquid. “Hmm? Hey! What is this? Ah, ah, ah, Uguh…”
“Don't worry. After your lungs fill with LCL, it'll directly supply you with oxygen. You'll get used to it soon.”
“YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE! Fuah, guhah... Beurk! What a taste! I feel sick.”
Misato gave a look to the young girl through the holographic communication screen. “Stand it! You are a girl, aren't you?!”
“I failed to see what my sex has to do with the taste of your LCL!”
“So, what about an explanation on your own little miracle sword?”
Sakura smiled as she observed the flame of curiosity in the eyes of Ritsuko. She couldn't reveal too much but she can lay a few basics. “It was an advanced technique from my school of martial arts.”
“What school? The Ruronin Kenshin one?”
“Very funny. No, my family branch of Zanji Shinjinken-Ryu, a Kenjutsu school. The sword by itself is not the key. Everything depended of its wielder.” She took a breath of the sanguine liquid. “The Kamaïtchi is the generation of a vacuum-based blade.”
“Vacuum? But, how, it will take tremendous speed to build the momentum necessary.”
“Correct, this is where the secret of all high-level martial artists played: Ki.”
“Ki? This old superstition? But there is no scientific proof that…”
“I can't help you on that, Doctor. The only thing I can say is that if you stay blinded by the light of the Science, you will never see Ki, much less understanding it.”
“All right! Enough with the pseudo-science chat. We have an angel to eliminate.” Misato crossed her arms. “What are you waiting for? Get to work!”
“Connect to the main power supply.”
“Transmit power to all circuits.”
“Yes Sir.”
“The second contact is beginning.”
“I'll commence the second contact.”
“The connection of the A10-nerve is operational.”
Ritsuko smiled. Up to now, everything is working. “Japanese has been fixed to the system as the fundamental rules for the operation of Eva. All initial contacts are all right.”
Maya was a little brunette and the main helper of Dr Akagi. She was the best for surveying the success of the process. “Connect the mutual lines. The rate of synchronization is 41.3%.”
In the entry plug, it's the first contact. Sakura squeezed hard her eyes to stop her tears. It was a warmth without any equal in the world that enveloped her. She could do much more than 41.3% if she synchronized herself with the EVA, but it was premature so early.
Now, she was sure. The soul of her mother was inside the EVA. Burning anger from the core of her being threatened to boil over but she set her jaws and focus. `I must be the mistress of my anger and not its slave.'
Ritsuko was overjoyed by the incredible rate of synchronization and in the first essay, no less. “Great!”
Maya smiled alongside her `sempai'. “All values of the harmonics are normal. Everything is under control.”
“It will go!”
Misato was transformed in a professional soldier as she directed the operation. “Ready for launching.”
“Release the 1st lock bolt!”
“It has been released.”
“Move the umbilical bridge!”
“Release the 2nd lock bolt!”
“Take off the 1st binding and then the 2nd binding.”
“Cancel the 1st through 15th safety locks.”
“Internal battery has charged.”
“Socket for external power supply is operational.”
“OK. Eva Unit One to the launching pad.”
Now the mighty machine was ready for war. On his platform, the Evangelion is moved to the electromagnetic catapult and ready to be launched as vertical hatches opened up in succession.
“The course is clear. All green.”
Ritsuko turned to the tactical officer, her friend Misato. “It's ready for launching.”
“OK. Do we have your authorization Sir?”
Gendo looked between his joints hands. “Of course. We have no future unless we beat Angels.”
His second-in-command leaned to him. “Ikari, are you really satisfied with it?”
Misato turned to the central screen. “Launch!”
“WOUAH!!” Sakura was thrown back into her cockpit chair by the acceleration. EVA-01 was going to battle at the surface.
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The Angel Sachiel was walking in the city and stopped as he sensed a perturbation. A giant trap opened under the klaxons of warning and with an abrupt stop, the Evangelion unit appeared on the ground.
Misato looked to the young girl she had taken into this very situation. “Sakura-Chan. Come back alive.”
Inside the Entry plug, the Mako green eyes widened under the unexpected shock. Sakura was sensing something that she should not have sensed in this world.
“Holy…shit!”
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Ending Theme Song
Lyrics/music by Bart Howard
Arrangement by Toshiyuki Ohmori
Arrangement by Toshiyuki Ohmori
Fly me to the moon,
And let me play among the stars.
Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.
In other words, hold my hand!
In other words, darling, kiss me.
Fill my heart with song,
and let me sing forever more.
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.
In other words, please be true!
In other words, I love you!
(Repeat Song)
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Trailer:
EVA-01 defeats the angel. But it is only the beginning of everything as an incredible truth is revealed. Sakura confront her father for the second time. Misato's conceit makes her decide to relieve the young girl. Next is 'The Beast'. Of course, next time, service, service.
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End of Episode: 1.