Thuktun Flishithy
New member
I do not own Evangelion, Godzilla, or any other franchises within this story. This is for non-profit fun.
Hello! In case you weren't aware, I once wrote the fanstory Hail to the King. It was my first fanstory to go over 10k words, and I am still a bit proud of it, but I've decided that I can improve the story's premise considerably. This story, in comparison to Hail to the King, will be longer, more cohesive, and better-written. The first chapter here alone is longer than the first few chapters put together, and they're only going to get bigger from there.
But, I digress. Without further ado, I present:
Leviathan
לִוְיָתָן
לִוְיָתָן
Kaiju.
That word has become a part of everyday life ever since that fateful day in 1954, when we were humbled by the wrath of a monstrosity created by our own destructive arrogance. Though it was slain by the sacrifice of one of our century's greatest minds, it proved to be far from the last to reveal itself to the world. Throughout the last half of the twentieth century, nearly a hundred kaiju have come into contact with humanity.
To lump these beasts into one category, however, is to mislead; and in my view, to demonize. Many kaiju are merely animals, adapted to specialized ecosystems that may no longer exist. Most have indeed been altered in some shape or form, whether by the influences of Man, or by processes that may well be deemed magic.
However, they are still fundamentally animals, with no ill will to the human race. Their seeming assaults on our world are of the same phenomenon as raccoons knocking over trashcans or carpenter ants ruining homes, scaled up to their massive frames- as the old adage goes, the deer is not crossing the road. The road is crossing the forest. And like with any other animal, these kaiju can be warded off and contained with the appropriate measures.
Others, however, are genuinely malicious, and will not be so easily stopped. These kaiju are often weapons, either made as such or repurposed by nefarious organizations. It is in this category we find kaiju like Gigan and Megalon, as well as Bagan and other long-dead kaiju from the Fall of Mu. A surprisingly high number of these are seemingly extraterrestrial in nature, though we have no conclusive proof as to from where they hailed.
Then there are the ones who seem wholly outside the order of Man and Nature. Thankfully, of such examples we have seen only one.
If there is one kaiju, however, that stands above all others, it must be the one that emerged from the waters off of Munin Island in 1954. He has gone by many names throughout our history. Jormungandr, Leviathan, Gojira. But the world at large knows him as Godzilla, King of the Monsters.
His title is a well-deserved one. In the past half-century, he has bested no fewer than twenty-eight kaiju in battle, many of whom had rendered the might of our armies to ash. Though no military force has been foolish enough to attack him in decades, it is quite clear that to fight him is to embrace death itself. He is a monster among monsters, the thing that even boogeymen fear. Even to this day, many live in fear of him, terrified of his raw power, a fear only compounded by his similarity to the beast that began this Age of Monsters, whose wrath had left a quarter million corpses in Tokyo.
I do not share in this fear.
I do not deny his aggression against the human race, for he has proven it time and time again. Were he to be considered a natural disaster, which many nations and organizations already do, he would easily be one of the most damaging in history, with a price tag equivalent to the wealth of small nations. And unlike with other natural kaiju, his destruction has been most deliberate, targeting almost every facet of our industries with surgical precision for decades on end. For this, he has been deemed by many to be one of the greatest threats to humanity.
I do not think of him as a threat. To the contrary, I believe he may be our greatest defender.
It is because of his attacks that our most destructive industries have been curbed or even outright dismantled. Petroleum extraction, coal mining, fishing, whaling, and many types of chemical manufacturing- all of these were targets of his wrath, and all of them would have lent themselves to significant ecological devastation had he not killed them. Without him, we would be facing an unprecedented crisis that, when combined with other disasters, would have spelled the downfall of our civilization.
That is not even getting into his actions against the invasions from beyond our world, both man and monster, that would have spelled our doom. Indeed, if the Infant Island Fragments discovered in the Kihl Expedition bear any merit, we may have never survived long enough as a species to debate this matter if it weren't for him.
Mine is a belief that has been scrutinized for decades, lambasted by men and women of all walks of life, from farmers to world leaders. Yet I remains steadfast in my belief that rather than fighting Godzilla, we must learn to live peacefully with him. For if we can do that, we can do the same with the world we live in.
Of course, many feel that this topic is no longer relevant after the Second Impact. There has not been a single kaiju sighting in more than four years, and it is the popular opinion that the lot of them were wiped out in the same cataclysm that halved our population and set us back a great many years. Alas, some even feel that the end of the Age of Monsters is one we should rejoice, now that we are free from monsters like Godzilla.
As for me?
I have had the pleasure of seeing him in the flesh, to study him up close for years at a time. I would like to imagine that, save for the late Miki Saegusa and a few others, I have gotten to know him better than anyone else alive. I have seen him emerge from the hellish fires of nuclear weaponry, seen him emerge from the sea to save the world from an otherworldly abomination, and I have seen him regard me lazily from a lagoon as I rowed by with a camera.
And through it all, I have always been fascinated by his eyes. There is something in them, you see. Something old, and yet inviolable against the unceasing tide of time. It is the memory of those unyielding eyes that press me to ask this question:
If we managed to survive the Second Impact, why couldn't he?
Dr. Kyohei Yamane
Monsters and Man: A History of Kaiju in the 20th Century (2004)
==/*\==
In the depths of the Pacific, a heart beats.
From the sky, something falls.
Through half-sunken ruins of the old world, a monster swims.
And at the station in Tokai, a boy gets off the train.
==/*\==
Outskirts of Tokyo-3
It wasn't proper weather for the end of the world.
The skies were exceptionally clear that day, showing nothing but an endless expanse of blue that turned pale as it approached the horizon. It was the same tropical high pressure the land had known for fifteen years. A warm sea-breeze rolled in with the tide and gently rustled the leaves of young trees sprouting from broken shores. The buzzing of cicadas dominated the cacophony of nature, as they had done ceaselessly in this eternal summer.
It was a shame it had to end.
A plume of sea spray rose from the sea, followed a few seconds later by the low rumble of an explosion as the first of the mines detonated. Several more detonations followed in short order, each one closer to the shore than the last, a violent crescendo that sent choppy waves crashing against the shore. A few of the remaining buildings in the area, gutted by a strife that already seemed forgotten, crumbled in upon themselves, kicking up gray dust.
The explosions had not gone unnoticed; scores of artillery cannon and missile launchers turned on their axes, pointing towards the slight bulge in the water that steadily drew near. A battalion of tanks swiveled their turrets, their ranks broken by the occasional maser truck. Patiently, the mighty weapons of war waited for their target to reveal itself.
They didn't have to wait long.
==/*\==
Tokai Train Station
The place was completely empty, and he didn't care.
Pausing briefly, Shinji readjusted the strap of his bookbag, then continued to walk down the long hallway that led to the station's pick up area. The place had certainly been left to time's tender mercies; the occasional tuft of grass poked through the concrete floors, vibrant green against dull gray, and half the windows were either cracked or broken. He wouldn't have been surprised if he was the first person to come through in a long while.
Not that he minded, of course. He was used to being alone.
Footsteps echoed through the decaying halls as he descended the stairs, and he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the harsh summer sun. The broad street before him was much the same as the station- abandoned and decrepit, with nary a soul to be found. There was even an abandoned fishing boat by the side of the road, its rusting skeleton exposed to the open air.
Shinji glanced at his watch. He still had twenty minutes to go before Major Katsuragi would arrive. He thought back to the indecent photograph she had sent, and wondered if she was hoping it'd make up for the fact that his father wasn't getting him.
"Don't be so silly," he chided himself, then slowly walked towards the street.
There was a large chunk of concrete nearby, and he sat down on it, hugging his knees to his chest. Now that he was closer, he could see that the old fishing boat had become a mural for graffiti. There was Japanese, as well as the uniform circular script of Mysterian, the complex grid-like characters of Xilien, and even the flowing curls of Simeon, sprayed and scratched and stenciled over the decomposing hull.
One particular artwork, larger than the others, drew his attention. A familiar creature stared at him with fiery orange eyes, eyes he had seen in textbooks and old movies and everything else. The painting had been framed as a mugshot, with only the beast's face visible.
Have you seen me? the top read. Missing since 1999.
Shinji shook his head softly, then pulled out his SDAT and put in the earphones. The drone of cicadas was replaced by soft piano, and he closed his eyes, letting everything else fall away.
And then something bopped him on the head.
Shinji yelped and sprang to his feet, hand reflexively leaping to where the object had hit him. He looked around wildly, until his eyes fell upon a silvery object on the ground, one that had certainly not been there before.
Pulling out his earphones, he turned about, looking for where the thing could have come from. The streets were still empty, and the nearest rooftop was too far away for anyone to have thrown it at him. He glanced upwards, but the blue skies above revealed nothing.
He rubbed the growing welt on his head, and looked back to the strange object.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
A moment passed, then he warily stepped closer and stooped down to pick it up. It was lighter than it looked, and slightly warm to the touch. He twirled about deftly between slender fingers, and saw that it was an odd shade of blue, with a silver cap at one end.
Standing back up, he stared at the thing in his hand. It was oddly entrancing to look at; the silver cap glittered in a way he'd never seen before, and there was a certain vibrancy about it.
He finally pulled his gaze away from the object, and it was then that he realized the cicadas had stopped buzzing. There was now a stillness in the air, as though it would begin raining any moment, but the sky was as empty as before.
Despite the heat, he felt a chill dance up his spine. There was probably a phone nearby, and he was going to find it and call for Major Katsuragi.
He looked back to the object in his hand. There was a moment's pause, then he placed it in his breast pocket. There was something oddly comforting about having it there.
Standing a little straighter than before, he set out to find a phone.
==/*\==
SomewhereA single heartbeat.
Then, another, stronger than before.
Eyes opened for the first time in years, glowing like embers in the dark depths. Steely muscles stretched and strained, silt and rubble slid off impregnable scales the color of pitch, and a titan rose.
He surveyed the seafloor, then craned his gaze upwards, towards the distant coast. Something was there, something sinister... and something familiar.
The surrounding sand rattled as a low growl rolled through it, and he pushed himself off the seabed, kicking up massive clouds of silt. Tail undulating behind him, he began to swim, far swifter than his gargantuan frame belied, faster than any other creature could manage. It would not be long before he arrived at the coast, not long before he crushed that which dared to destroy what remained of the world.
He was on the hunt.
==/*\==
The tanks opened fire first, a staccato of cracks filling the air as hundreds of armor-piercing rounds honed in on their target. The shells suddenly stopped short of the monster, however, as though hitting an invisible wall. Slagged lumps of depleted uranium fell into the water in droves, and the creature continued towards the shore unimpeded, its dead gaze focused on a distant point behind them.
The artillery and missiles roared into action next, flinging thousands of tons worth of high-explosives and hardened penetrators at the monster's hulking form. Massive explosions blossomed about the creature, obscuring its unnatural shape in a cloud of smoke that began to spread across the harbor. The few ruined buildings that had survived the detonations of the mines finally gave in before the onslaught, sun-parched concrete and rusty girders tumbling into the bay.
A few seconds of tense silence passed, then the beast emerged from the smoke unharmed, having not even slowed its stride.
That left the masers. Advanced relics of a bygone age hummed softly as immense energy built up in their emitters, shining brilliantly as azure arcs of light danced across the bay and struck the monster dead-on. It was then that the invisible wall about the creature finally made itself seen, coalescing into a visible field of concentric octagons that shone like hot steel. A strange whine filled the air, growing in intensity as the masers increased their power and focused their beams on a single point. For a brief, hopeful moment, the field began to flicker.
The creature finally acted, raising a gangly arm towards the nearest maser tank. A bony spur on its elbow glowed a bright violet, then sprang out of the monster's palm with alarming speed, impaling the tank and pinning it to the ground. There was no explosion, only a puff of greasy smoke wafting from the crumpled machine as the monster withdrew its spur. It repeated the process with mechanical efficiency, only stopping when all of the maser tanks were molten lumps of metal littered about the mountainside.
Seemingly satisfied with its work, it marched towards the shore again and stepped onto solid ground, towering over the land. Without pause, it began to calmly stride over the hillside, its feet scarcely churning the earth beneath. All the while, the bombardment continued, to no avail.
==/*\==
NERV HQ
"Initial defense line breached," Hyuuga announced, his gaze fixated on the towering form of the Angel. "Target is advancing unimpeded."
"Of course it is," General Tanaka muttered, rubbing his face wearily. "Tell the VTOLs to continue with the bombardment; we need to gauge this thing's defensive capabilities."
"Contact the garrisons in Atsugi and Iruma," General Honda added, his face grim as he watched the viewscreen. "We need as many masers on the ground as we can manage if we want a snowball's chance in hell of hurting the bastard."
"Sir, Iruma says ETA for the maser tanks is forty-five minutes," Ibuki replied. "Atsugi will take longer due to infrastructure damage from last week's storm."
"Have them try to draw its aggression," General Tsuburaya said. "If we can't hurt it at the moment, we might be able to distract it long enough for reinforcements to arrive."
"VTOL Squadron Victor-Sigma has already attempted that with the refurbished ICBMs," Aoba replied. "The target is simply ignoring them, like it did with everything else."
In the back of the command room, Gendo watched the chaos impassively, his hands tented before his face. A tired sigh escaped him, so soft that anyone watching would not have noticed. Ever so briefly, his eyes darted to the telephone on his desk, the fifth time since the chaos began.
"After fifteen years, the moment has finally arrived," Fuyutsuki said.
"Indeed," he replied. "The Third Angel has come to test the worthiness of Man."
"It is as expected." Then, more quietly, "How much longer will we have to put up with their little war game? This is a waste of valuable resources."
"This is for us, not for the Angel. Even they know this is not a fight they can win."
"I think you underestimate how quickly we become complacent, Ikari, how quickly we forget even him."
"No," Gendo said. "You underestimate for how long will Man remembers his fears. This is merely grandstanding."
"Do you think he'll arrive, then?"
Gendo did not reply. His eyes fell upon the phone once more.
When it suddenly rang, he was sure to wait a moment before quickly reaching over and answering the call.
"Commander speaking," he said, watching as the VTOLs dropped another thermobaric weapon.
"He is coming," came the soft reply.
The call ended, and Gendo put the phone back in his pocket, then resumed his pose. Hidden behind his gloved hands, a smirk appeared on his face.
==/*\==
Outskirts of Tokyo-3
"Due to the state of emergency, all lines are currently unavailable..."
Shinji sighed and plopped the phone back on its receiver.
"No good," he muttered softly to himself. "Guess something was up..."
He glanced at his watch. "She should have picked me up by now. Maybe I should go back to the station and see if she's there."
It was then that he became aware of a low rumbling, a sound more felt than heard. A few of the windows began to rattle, and Shinji looked up to see that the power lines were swinging, as though caught in a sudden gale. There was a groaning whine in the air, now, and Shinji turned to where it seemed to be coming from, only to freeze as his eyes fell upon a thing that should not have been.
An impossible creature emerged from behind the hills, a mockery of the human shape, twisted and expanded into something that towered over the surrounding buildings. Long arms swung from unnaturally broad shoulders, moving in concert with slender legs that supported a vespine waist. The monster's black flesh shone like wet leather in the noon sun, a stark contrast to the dry white bone protruding from its joints.
VTOLs swarmed about the beast, little more than steel hornets. Paying them no heed, it turned slightly, allowing Shinji a better look. It had no head or neck, but instead had a bony mask where its heart would have been, eerily reminiscent of a plague doctor. Directly underneath was a massive red orb, nestled between ribs that clutched at it like skeletal hands.
Shinji stared at the creature, everything else forgotten. They had disappeared, everyone said, before he was even born. They were merely things in worn books and grainy film and faded magazines, their names only spoken by teachers and the elderly who had lived in their shadow.
Kaiju.
Then the VTOLs opened fire, and the madness began in earnest.
==/*\==
Near the coast
"Captain, we're picking up a massive sonar signature three klicks from our port," an ensign declared.
The captain of the patrol boat Nakajima put down his binoculars and looked away from the battle that was raging beyond the hills.
"What do you mean?" he asked, tiredly. "Please don't tell me there's another one of those things."
"Pattern doesn't match. Whatever it is, it isn't an Angel."
The captain's brow furrowed. "Then what is it? Pod of whales?"
"No," the ensign replied, and the captain realized the man's voice was shaky. "Bigger."
The captain looked over at the sonar screen, as if to confirm it himself. His eyes widened slightly as his gaze fell upon the massive signature moving towards the coast. It had to be easily in excess of eighty thousand tons, far larger than any submarine in service, and the speed... As he studied it further, he realized that the signal was occasionally being distorted, as though by a massive sound.
Thump-thump. A long pause, then again. Thump-thump.
The captain's eyes widened. It was almost like...
"Oh, god," the ensign whispered. "Big heartbeats..."
The captain looked away from the screen and dashed for the port side, frantically looking to the horizon with his binoculars. To his growing horror, he realized he could see a massive bulge in the water, approaching the coast at a speed that should not have been possible. A few scattered ruins crumbled in its wake, or were outright smashed to bits as the source plowed through them without slowing.
As the bulge neared the coast, jagged white spines the shape of maple leaves emerged from below the surface, slicing through the waves like knives.
His heart skipped a beat. I've seen those before.
As quickly as they appeared, they were gone, hidden from sight by the mountains. A few moments passed, and there was a horrible sound of thousands of tons of water hitting the coast.
Then, the low booming of footsteps reached the captain's ears, so great it rattled his bones. He remembered the stories his father told him, of how you couldn't know whether to be terrified or relieved or both when you heard those unique footfalls, each one like a bomb going off.
"Captain?" the ensign plied.
The captain whirled about, all color drained from his face.
"Alert the JSSDF immediately!" he shouted. "Tell them that Kaiju Alpha's alive and approaching!"
==/*\==
The world had changed much while he slept.
Despite the urgency of his march inland, he couldn't help but sway his head from side to side, taking in the landscape around him. Where he now walked was once a sprawl of human infrastructure, like a forest of concrete and steel that stretched for miles, but now it was all abandoned. Already nature had begun to devour it, a young forest slowly enveloping the human structures.
Looking ahead, he narrowed his eyes, sniffing the air.
He didn't know if the others were awake as well. He didn't know why he felt the faintest of nagging sensations at the back of his mind. He didn't know why he sensed something else beyond his enemy and the coming of his old ally, something familiar in a way he could not explain.
He quickened his pace, the decaying city crumbling under his feet as he hurried forward.
But he did know that something was going to die at his hand today.
==/*\==
Outskirts of Tokyo-3Shinji clamped his hands over his ears and crouched down, bracing as the first shockwaves slammed against him. Wind howled past his ears, screaming into them. Risking a glance, he looked up at the battle raging only a short distance away. He saw cruise missiles soar a few hundred feet over head, slamming into the kaiju as the VTOLs peppered it with mortars and missiles of their own. Windows shattered and rooftops crumbled before the onslaught, yet the monster itself was unharmed.
He stared at the horror before him, held in place by it. Then the warmth in his pocket seemed to grow, and Shinji instinctively placed a hand over the strange object. Finally, he found the will to move, and began to slowly back away, eyes still focused on the battle. The monster was moving closer, its footsteps sounding out like the firing of a massive cannon
A strange-looking VTOL flew overhead, and Shinji realized it had a large dish embedded in its nose. There was a flash of light, and a maser struck the kaiju near the orb in its chest, only for the beam to be deflected by something that shimmered about the creature.
The kaiju responded by reaching out with a skinny arm, a trio of fingers splayed out as the spur in its arm began to glow a bright violet. Shinji let out a yelp as the spur suddenly shot out, skewering the VTOL like a fish and sending it careening to the ground.
The mangled mass of metal smashed into the street and exploded, sending shrapnel and debris flying into the air. A small piece of concrete clipped Shinji in the temple, and he fell sprawling to the ground. Something warm trickled down his face, and he slowly wiped away at it, more out of reflex than anything else. Holding his hand up to see, crimson fingers greeted him.
Blood, he thought, distantly. I think I'm dying.
Slowly, he tried to rise, even as he felt bile in the back of his throat. The kaiju had stopped, blinking almost innocently. And yet, Shinji could still hear those same footsteps, growing closer and closer.
He lost the struggle to get up, and merely lay back down, staring at the sky. Once the initial pain had subsided, it didn't feel that bad. The booming footsteps were even nearer, now, and there was something almost lulling about it. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open- perhaps it would be alright to close them.
Then through the ringing in his ears, he managed to discern the sound of tires screeching to a halt close by, followed by hurried footsteps.
"Shinji!" a woman's voice called. "Oh, goddess..."
A pair of hands took hold of his shoulders and began to slowly drag him away from the chaos erupting just a few streets over.
"Come on," the voice urged, strained with effort. A few strands of purplish hair entered his vision, and he dazedly realized that the speaker was Misato Katsuragi. "Come on!"
Another VTOL was careening towards them now, smoke billowing from a massive gash in its flank. Misato cursed and began to redouble her efforts to pull him along, but he knew that there was no way that they could both get out of the way in time. Something in the back of his mind told him that he should've been worried, but he didn't pay it much attention. It had to happen sometime, he supposed. He simply closed his eyes, and waited.
A few seconds passed, and he realized that was still alive. His eyes creaked open, and he saw that it had begun to rain. Water fell from dark clouds ahead, swiftly drenching him.
Then his eyes widened.
Not clouds.
Hands.
The VTOL was held aloft in the air by a pair of massive hands, claws the size of cars digging into the hull. Seawater dripped from scaly skin, pouring onto Shinji and the surrounding street like a monsoon, as though the sea itself had begun to walk the earth.
Their unexpected rescuer tossed the wrecked VTOL aside like a broken toy, allowing Shinji to see its face. Even through the haziness of his head injury, he still sucked in a gasp as fiery orange eyes stared into his own. In them he saw the heart of a mushroom cloud, consuming the old photos and film in its flames, leaving only the monster. This was not a legend, a whisper from old men who feared its wrath. This was a beast as big as the sky, regarding him like the bug he was.
"Oh goddess," Misato whispered at Shinji's side. "He's back."
As if bidden, the name found its way past Shinji's lips.
"Godzilla," he whispered.
The King of the Monsters rose to his full height, towering over Shinji, looming even over the other kaiju. His charcoal-grey scales seemed to smolder like a dying fire, now. As Godzilla looked the kaiju's way, Shinji saw something behind his eyes, something that crossed the barrier between man and beast.
Rage.
Godzilla breathed in, inhaling deep enough to ruffle Shinji's hair with a breeze, then roared. It was an old sound, a sound of fury and vengeance that was ancient when mankind first began to walk upright. The windows around Shinji bulged outwards, then shattered into thousands of pieces before his wrath. Misato pulled at him again, and he was finally tossed into the passenger seat of a car. Glass rained down, bouncing off the windshield and hood, but he couldn't hear any of it.
It was finally too much. His vision was fading now, growing dimmer and dimmer with each passing second.
Then, there was only blackness.
==/*\==
NERV HQ
Silence reigned in the command center. Gendo glanced down at the people down below, resisting the urge to smirk at their reactions. Some were gasping, murmuring curses or prayers amongst themselves, and others were silent, eyes wide. It was only a natural reaction to seeing the bogeyman of the past sixty years return.
"We need to N2 mine the area!" Tsuburaya exclaimed, finally breaking the silence. "Have the VTOLs pull out!"
He reached towards the red telephone on the desk, only for Honda to grab his arm with surprising strength.
"We are not going to vaporize a city just because he's shown up," the older man warned in a low tone. He turned back towards the viewscreen and narrowed his eyes. "Focus all available firepower on the Angel. Let's see what he's got."
"Yes, sir," Hyuuga replied.
"She was right, Fuyutsuki," Gendo commented at the back of the room. "The Leviathan rises from the dead seas to prove that there are beasts only gods can tame."
"What shall we do, then?" Fuyutsuki inquired.
Gendo simply smiled.
==/*\==
Outskirts of Tokyo-3
He was back. He was back and Shinji was dying and they were probably both going to be pancaked under a giant foot.
"Shit!" Misato barked, leaping into the driver's seat. "Why did it have to be today!"
Shifting into drive, she paused only to glance at the boy. Blood oozed from a nasty gash on the side of his head, matting his hair and staining the upholstery a dark red. His lips twitched, as though trying to form words, but his eyes were closed.
Shit. She'd need to tend to those injuries as soon as possible, but first...
She floored the pedal, turning on a dime and narrowly missing one of Godzilla's truck-sized talons as she rocketed past his foot. She had to drive on the sidewalk to avoid the massive depression in the road made by his feet, the car rocking as it skirted the edge. A shadow fell over her for a brief moment as Godzilla's tail whipped over her head, moving with frightening speed, and she glanced at the rear-view mirror in time to see him slam the Angel with it.
Years ago, during her training to join NERV, she had wondered what a kaiju would be able to do against an Angel's AT field. Her answer came in the form of a great flash of light, then an impact that slammed into her like an anvil as the Angel was sent flying down the street and into a building, disappearing under the rubble.
Belatedly, she realized she actually couldn't hear the impact. Or anything else, really. Touching a hand to her ear, she felt something warm, and pulled back to see scarlet blood on her fingertips.
"Fuck," she murmured, or possibly yelled. No way to tell.
She tore her attention away from the mirror, and focused on the road ahead. There was nothing she could do about that.
A few moments passed as she raced away, then she ripped away at her skirt and pressed the cloth to Shinji's head wound. It was far from ideal, but the bandages were in the trunk, and she didn't want to risk stopping while Godzilla and the Angel were still in sight.
It threw her mind for a loop, still. He shouldn't be alive, let alone fighting an Angel. She'd seen...
She set her jaw, then focused on putting pressure on Shinji's wound.
"Hold on, Shinji," she pleaded. "Everything'll be okay. It's... it'll be alright."
She wanted to believe that.
==/*\==
The car disappeared behind the hills, precious cargoes in tow, and he finally looked away. Now, the fight could truly begin.
Before him, hundreds of tons of rubble parted as the enemy rose, standing less tall then before. It stared at him with lifeless eyes, hidden behind its now-cracked mask, and began to lope forward, dragging a limp leg behind it.
A hateful snarl escaped through bared teeth, and he clenched his fists, feeling his power surge back through his limbs as he readied himself.
Then, he charged, the ground shattering beneath his feet as he barreled forwards. The creature responded in kind, a heavenly light suffusing its form, accompanied by a sound almost like a song. It took to the air, as though lifted upwards by an invisible force, and cleared the ground between them in moments. It slammed into him, a field of concentric orange octagons forming at the point of impact as it grabbed at his throat, trying to crush the life out of him.
It didn't even slow him down.
The field gave as he lashed out with a clawed hand, folding in upon itself and shattering like glass. Talons digging into the bone of its shoulder, he pried it off him, ignoring its feeble attempt to grapple. His other hand curled into a fist and lashed out, aiming square for its mask. Bone crunched under his knuckles, and the abominable thing shrieked as it was rendered blind.
Grabbing it with both hands, he swung around, using the momentum of his charge to fling the creature into a nearby hillside. Not slowing his stride, he continued to advance upon his foe, wanting nothing more than to crush the thing beneath his feet. The humans had been harassing the creature in their flimsy machines, but they fled as he approached, terrified of invoking his wrath.
The enemy rose suddenly, and extended one of its hideously long arms. Before he could react, a spur of violet light blasted forth from its palm, spearing into his shoulder and using his own momentum against him as it pierced through his thick hide. The ground buckled beneath his feet as he finally stopped.
Then, with nary a sound, he took hold of the spur in a clawed hand and twisted. The bony protrusion shattered under his grip, spraying the streets with blood and prompting a cry of pain from the creature. It reeled back, flesh bubbling around its broken mask.
He growled as he pulled the spur out of his shoulder, the wound sealed by the time he discarded the offending thing. Before he could advance on the reeling creature, the thing's new eyes flashed. Something slammed into his chest, and he was enveloped by searing hot light, a light that reduced the buildings near him to so much smoke and rubble.
He snorted contemptuously, his hide unmarked by the attack. Two could play at that game.
He inhaled deeply, letting the familiar burn flood his chest as immense atomic energies blossomed within. His spines groaned as a fearsome blue glow began to emanate from them, traveling from the tip of his tail to the base of his neck. Wisps of plasma rose from his maw, and a blinding beam blasted forth, striking his enemy in the shoulder and burning through its dark flesh before emerging from the other side. The creature's severed arm fell to the ground, greasy smoke rising from its burnt stump.
A sickly cry of pain filled the air as the monster stumbled back, blood pouring freely from the slowly regenerating hole in its shoulder that used to hold an arm, only to be silenced when he fell upon it. A single swipe of his claws slammed it back into the hillside, and before it could rise he stomped down on its thigh, relishing in the crunch of bone.
The monster flailed about wildly in an attempt to get free, but it proved to an exercise in futility as he increased the weight on its leg. It raised its remaining arm, spur glowing as it prepared another attack, only for him to take hold of it, the fragile bones shattering under his grip. There was a horrid sound of tearing flesh as he casually tore the limb free of its socket, tossing it aside like garbage, then he turned his attention towards the glittering red core in the creature's chest. Raising a clawed fist, he slammed it into the core, a spiderweb of cracks forming where he struck. Snorting in satisfaction, he struck it again, the blow raining down like a cannon shot, and the cracks widened.
The monster's form shifted, limbs flowing like water as it tried to wrap around him, but he refused to fall into its grip. Pulling it off of him, he threw it back down to the ground, then struck one last time. The core shattered into countless pieces, and the flesh bulged outwards, like a corpse left in water. Before he could react, it exploded into a spray of blood, painting the countryside red.
He rose from the remains of his enemy, his claws slick with blood that faded to steam, and roared in triumph, howling at the sky.
Head held high, he began his march back to the sea. The human machines trailed him, but they kept their distance, and so he paid them no heed. Today, they were not his enemy.
The ocean was sloshing about at his hips when he paused. He turned, craning his neck to look at a point beyond the mountains, something he could not see, but sensed all the same.
Then, he disappeared under the waves.
==/*\==
She didn't even bother slowing down as she approached the entrance, instead ramming right through the flimsy wooden barrier at the security stand. Ritsuko and a medical team were already standing by, courtesy of a screaming message she'd left via the car's phone, and she narrowly avoided running them over as she slammed the brakes.
By the time she shakily got out of the driver's seat, Shinji had already been pulled out and slapped onto a gurney, the doctors and nurses crowding around his bleeding form like ravenous vultures. She couldn't discern what they were saying, what with the whole having her eardrums ruptured by the roar of a monster the world had thought dead for fifteen years, and she bit her lip. She hated being so helpless, so uncertain.
Ritsuko walked over her way, worry clear on her face. Her lips moved, only to stop when Misato pointed to her bloody ears. Ritsuko solemnly waved over a couple of EMTs, and Misato felt the chill of regen-induc spray against her skin as they attended to her.
Sparing a glance over, she saw that Shinji had already disappeared, no doubt being wheeled over to the best hospital on the planet.
She prayed it would be enough.
==/*\==
NERV HQ
The command center had once again fallen silent. Not the shocked silence before, Gendo noted, but one of great trepidation, as though no one knew how to react. The old fools of generals from the JSSDF had already left, having ceded authority over all anti-Angel (and now, anti-kaiju) operations to NERV. His eyes danced over the command center, then focused back on the vidscreen.
"Send out a 'do not provoke' order to all forces in the area in regards to Godzilla," he said, voice firm. "I want minute-to-minute updates on his position."
"Yes, Commander," Hyuuga said, shakily.
The air in the command center seemed to warm, as the shock began to fade. The constant stream of information as the technicians read off reports washed over him, unheard.
He smiled lightly. "He won."
"It appears that we will have to wait our turn, Ikari," Fuyutsuki noted dryly.
Gendo straightened in his seat and adjusted his glasses. "It is of no matter. We will have our time soon enough."
The intercom on his desk beeped, halting any further conversation. Allowing himself a small sigh, he activated it.
"Commander Ikari speaking."
"The Third Child has arrived, and is currently undergoing intensive treatment," Dr. Akagi reported. "He received a severe head injury during the Angel's attack. The operations director was also injured-"
"Irrelevant." The grip on his phone tightened, creaking plastic. "I want every measure available for the Third Child's treatment. Prep Unit-01's core if need be."
"Understood, Commander," Ritsuko replied.
He put the phone back down, more forcefully than intended.
"Ikari," Fuyutsuki began.
"I know."
==/*\==
A lone heartbeat.
Then another, stronger than before.
He didn't know how long it took before he suddenly became aware of himself, of his surroundings. It was like waking from a deep sleep, one that you lost yourself in. He could feel water lapping gently at him, and the blue sky above was all he could see...
Water? Sky?
Slowly, he began to right himself, and found that he had been floating in water. At least, it felt like water. It was cool to the touch and as clear as glass, reaching up to his waist. Looking down, he saw that it was nothing but the same, as though he was dangling over the sky itself. Turning about, he saw that it extended in all directions for as far as the eye can see, and a glance upward revealed that there was no sun in the bright sky.
He touched a hand to his temple, feeling where the concrete had clipped him. There was no blood, no soreness. It was as though the wound had never appeared at all.
"Am I dead?" he asked himself softly, staring at his hand.
"No," a strangely familiar voice replied.
Shinji's gaze snapped upwards, and he found himself staring into a mirror image of himself. No, not quite a reflection. The posture was off; it was more upright, less vulnerable. The impostor was smiling warmly at him, like some long-lost friend.
"Who are you?" Shinji inquired.
"Who am I?" The boy's smile faded briefly. "I am no one."
"Then... what are you?" Shinji asked. He fought the urge to shiver at the boy's voice.
"A protector. I have come to this world before, and now I come again."
"My world?" Shinji said, quietly. "Then... then that mean's you're..."
The question hung in the air, unspoken.
"Yes," the boy replied. Then, he frowned. "You are uncomfortable. Perhaps a different form will make you more at ease."
He grew hazy, as though he were surrounded by clouds that contoured to his shape. The haze grew thicker, then disappeared. The boy was taller now, his features more mature. At one moment, Shinji was reminded by his father, then his teacher in the next, then other faces, of men whose names he could not recall, pulled from distant memories.
"Better?" the strange visitor asked, his voice deeper.
"Yeah, I guess," Shinji replied sheepishly. "You look like the older brother I never had."
"I look like nothing," came the gentle retort. "I have no real form."
"Then what was that thing I found?" Shinji asked. "That was you, wasn't it?"
"It was... a container. A way to carry myself across the void."
Shinji rubbed the back of his head. "Awfully small for a spaceship. Is that why you hit me in the head?"
"It is less controlled flight, and more like... gravity. A sense that I am needed, pulling me there, pulling me to someone."
"Why to someone?"
"It is as I have said. I have no physical body, no true form. In order to protect the worlds I have visited, I would bond with a native there."
"Bond?" Shinji asked, numbly.
"Where Two become One. A single body, shared by our souls."
Shinji averted his eyes. "Then we're in my head."
"Yes."
"Why? Why did you choose me?"
"I did not."
Shinji looked up. The visitor had a look of amusement on his face, as though the whole situation was humorous.
"I found you, much as you found me. You were close enough to the danger that I could viably act, but far enough to be safe."
Shinji rubbed where the wound had been. "I guess I wasn't."
"No," the being said, quietly. "By bonding, I can heal you of your wounds, and bestow unto you a power beyond imagining."
Shinji lowered his gaze. He looked at his hand again, then closed his eyes.
"I'll do it," he said quickly.
"You are unconvinced of your own words," the visitor said.
"Does it matter?" Shinji asked. "I'm just doing what you told me to do, just like how I do what my teachers tell me to do. It's what I always do. Why would now be different?"
"That is no way to live a life."
"It's worked for me so far." Shinji sat back down, holding his head in his hands. "I'll bond with you. I'll use your power the way you tell me."
"No."
Shinji opened his eyes. He looked up, and saw the being sit down across form him, leaning forward so that they were at eye level.
"No?"
"If you choose to bond with me, I will heal your wounds," the visitor said. "But you are not a puppet. You are not a cog. You would be my partner, my equal... maybe even the true arbitrator of this power. I will not force you to use my abilities to fight."
"Then what will happen if I say yes?"
"I will heal you and, if you choose, you can find someone else to become my host. Or..."
"Or?"
"Or you will accept this power, and together we can save the world." Shinij sucked in a gasp as a firm hand fell on his shoulder. "But no matter what you choose... it will be your choice. Not mine. I promise you, Shinji Ikari, that I will never force you to do anything."
Shinji considered his words. Then, he slowly stood back up. The visitor rose as well, and they faced each other.
"I'll bond with you," Shinji said. "Because I choose to."
"Good," replied the man. He held out his hand, and Shinji saw the capsule from before. "Then take this, and we will be bonded."
A moment, passed, then Shinji took the capsule. He looked at it, then back up to the visitor.
"What happens now?"
"What happens now," replied the man, "is that you wake up."
And then he did.
==/*\==
You have been reading:
Leviathan, Chapter One: Return
You have been reading:
Leviathan, Chapter One: Return
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