Shinji looked around his Eva, trying to get his bearings.  It was a
mountain plateau not far from Tokyo-3.  'An interesting place to pick a
fight,' he reflected.  On all four sides it was a sheer drop of almost 300
meters to the ground.  The plateau was nearly 500 meters across in both
directions, giving their Eva's ample space to fight.
        Terrain surveyed, he shifted his attention to his enemy.  It stood
stiffly still, like it was shut down.  The large blade was held at it's
right side, ready to be whipped into combat at a moment's notice.  It's
wings were still extended; apparently, it didn't think the fight was going
to take long.
        'That's just fine with me,' Shinji thought.  But, contrary to his
own thoughts, he was not sure that he could bring himself to fight another
human being.  He still wanted to fight, just not another person; an Angel
or anything else would have been preferable.
        'But... if I don't fight... what will Father do?' he asked himself.
        "But, Ikari, if he doesn't fight, what will you do?" Fuyutsuki
whispered in Commander Ikari's ear.
        "Make him fight."
        "How?"
        "We'll engage the dummy plug."
        "But that won't work.  It hasn't worked in three years.  Not
since..." Fuyutsuki trailed off, chastising himself for trying to remind
the Commander of something that involved Unit 1.  Fuyutsuki, who usually
knew what the Commander was planning, or what he was thinking of, had
absolutely no idea about what Ikari was thinking of.
        "Yes, but _he_ doesn't know that."
        "It's a gamble at best," Fuyutsuki said after a few moments of thinking.
        "It has the highest chance of success.  Throwing the dice is better
than not stepping up to the table at all," Commander Ikari reminded him.
The last time Fuyutsuki had heard those words, it was when the Commander
had revealed his plans to the professor.  The ideas that were postulated
made the Sub-Commander-to-be want to feel sick to his stomach, be he just
couldn't.  Then Commander Ikari said those fourteen words, and it all made
sense.
        Unit 6 raised it's right arm, holding the blade high above it's
head, and a bolt of lightning crashed behind it, thunder echoing.  Clouds
several miles away opened themselves up and released a torrent of rain that
mankind hasn't seen in millennia.  In two or three hours, the clouds would
be right above Tokyo-3.
        The weapon was then pointed at Unit 1, and Unit 6 charged.  Shinji
waited until the last moment before moving out of the way.  Unit 6, unable
to stop it's momentum, ran past, leaving it's back wide open for attacks.
But Unit 1 did nothing.  It just stood there, not attacking, not even
looking like it was going to attack.
        Unit 6 stopped itself after a few steps, swivelled, and lashed out
with a powerful diagonal blow, from the upper right to the lower left.
Shinji ducked under the swipe, and, again, neglected to counter-attack.
With both it's arms holding the weapon, Unit 6 attacked with a kick to Unit
1's torso.  Shinji caught the foot and tossed it aside, not taking
advantage of the opening.
        Not at all distracted by the apparent lack of resistance by it's
opponent, Unit 6 landed it's right foot, and used it as a pivot point,
bringing it's other leg around in a wide arc to smash into Unit 1's side.
Shinji was just a little slow in reacting, and blow got through his
defences.
        It felt like one of his ribs had broken, but through the haze of
pain that encompassed his being, he could see look of arrogance on Unit 6's
face, as if it was taunting him.  Taunting him to fight back, to swallow
his pride and fear and smash his enemy into a thousand pieces, to howl at
the sky in victory.  But Shinji wouldn't give it the pleasure of winning
that fight.  Then it hit him.  There was no reason for him to fight; he
didn't have to try kill another person, someone just like him.  He could be
patient.
        But all of that thinking caused him to loose sight of what his
enemy was doing, and that moment of distraction allowed Unit 6 to get
behind Unit 1, grab it by the shoulder pylons, and throw it to the ground.
        Once Unit 1 was on the ground, Unit 6 crouched over it, blade on
the ground beside Unit 1's head, both arms free.  One hand snaked out to
grasp Unit 1 by it's throat, the other raised high, ready to strike.
        In Central Dogma, Commander Ikari knew it was time to act.  "Open
communications with Unit 1.  Make sure he can here this!"  When the line
was open, he said:  "Cut all of the synchronisation circuits!  Engage the
Dummy Plug system!" he said, choosing his words carefully.  They were the
same words he used three years ago to force the destruction of the
Thirteenth Angel.
        "But... sir..." Maya said.  "The Dummy System... it won't-"
        "DON'T YOU DARE!!!!!" Shinji screamed, interrupting Maya.  He
couldn't believe it.  It was happening again!  He was going to have control
ripped out of his hands and forced to... to...
        "AND WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO DO ABOUT IT!" Commander Ikari said,
raising his own voice for the first time.
        'Not again!  Not again!' Shinji thought.  Then, Unit 6, oblivious
to what was happening to it's opponent, reach up and grabbed the battery
packs attached to Unit 1.  And pulled very hard.  With the screech of metal
being torn and rent, the batteries fell away.
        Unit 1 switched to internal power, but only had enough for a few
attacks.  But Shinji just sat there, watching as the numbers ticked by.  If
he could hold off long enough, then the batteries would be used up, and the
Dummy System wouldn't work.  'But... if I do that... what'll happen to
Toji, Rei, Misato... Asuka?' he asked himself.  Then he looked at what Unit
6 was doing.
        It's hand again raised high, it brought it down in a viscous attack
that penetrated the Eva's armour plating and punctured the internal
battery.
        Evangelion Unit 1 ceased to move.
        Unit 6, sensing that victory was in it's grasp, picked up the blade
from beside Unit 1, and used both hands to raise it high...
        Unit 0 appeared from wherever it had disappeared to, but it was
holding a long spear.  It was blood red with a two-pronged head.  the base
of each prong was wrapped around the other many times.  The weapon was much
longer than the Eva was tall, the two prongs being nearly half the height
of an Eva.  For some reason, Unit 0 looked... confidant; unstoppable.
After quickly scanning the area for a target, Unit 0 cocked it's arm back,
ready to throw the weapon in a blow that would kill anything that it
touched...
        The great blade started to move toward it's target, ready to sever
the head from the body.
        Shinji, desperate to do something, started pull uselessly at the
controls.  "Move!  Move!  Please move!" he yelled.  Then he started to
think of Asuka, and how disappointed she would be in him for loosing.
        'Dammit!  Why do I have to be weak?  Why do I have to have no
spine?' he asked himself, then an image formed in his mind.  It was Asuka,
bleeding from all over, her twisted, mutilated form being dragged out of
the Entry Plug.  Shinji, knew it to be a premonition of the future if he
did nothing.  The blade continued to fall.
        'Why do I have to be weak?' he asked himself again.  'I want
strength!  If only to save her, I want strength!' he thought.
        And, as if in response to those thoughts, his vision was flooded
with a bright light.  He was on his knees, and, as he struggled to stand,
he felt a hand come down on his shoulder.  He looked up, and saw a person,
but it was covered in shadows, the light placed as if to blot out any
images.  But he got the impression that the person was a woman, covered in
shadows from the backlight.  He got the impression that she was smiling at
him; it was a warm smile.
        "Shinji," she said, extending her other hand to help him up.  "I
have waited for this moment," she said and he took the proffered hand.  As
soon as he did, the light behind the woman intensified until it consumed
his vision.  So bright!
        When the light subsided, he could see that he was inside the cloud
of darkness again.  But this time he was floating, having no sense of up,
down, or any other direction.  He squinted his eyes, and thought he could
make out clumps of space that weren't as dark as the rest of the cloud.  He
could feel... something... on the edge of his awareness.
        It was inhuman, cold, but trying to warm up.  He got the impression...
        "You've been searching?  For someone?  For me?" he said aloud, to
no one.  Then he got an overriding sense of fear.  He suddenly afraid, of
everything.  Even the clumps of light made him afraid.  Then, a twinkle of
red caught his eye, driving the fear away.
        It started off as a point of red light, but soon expanded into a
huge red line that spanned from one end of the horizon to the other.
Cracks started to appear along it's edges, and then they grew in size until
the cloud itself shattered like a window made of glass.  He closed his eyes
to the horror of it all.
        'Like a barrier being broken,' Shinji thought.  And then, images
started to form in the cloud, but he could see them in his mind's eye.
First Unit 0, then Unit 1, then Unit 3.  His father, Commander Fuyutsuki,
Ritsuko, and another man, with a strange piece of metal over his eyes.
'Keel Lorenz' Shinji thought, not knowing how, but he knew who the man was.
More importantly, he knew what Lorenz was planning for humanity.  More
images flashed in his mind's eye.  He saw the Angels, first the third, then
the fourth, the fifth, he saw them all.  Pain!  His head felt like someone
was trying to drive a truck through his skull.  There was so much
knowledge!
        And he understood.  Everything.  It was all so _simple_; oh so
simple.  How could they have missed it?  The pain receeded, but the
knowledge was still there.  He didn't understand what it all meant, but
that would come with time, he was sure.  But what he _did_ understand, was
that he had some serious fighting to do, and fast.
        "I undersand... I understand.  Your name, it is Unit 1.  No!" he
said as soon as he said "your"  "_My_ name!" he said, and then opened his
eyes.  There were three pupils in the whites of his eyes, forming an
equilateral triangle.  The iris' of his eyes had changed to a deep, yet
vibrant bluegreen.
        On the moniter, Unit 1 was just lying there, waiting for the blade
to fall.  When it started to move, Misato thought she could see Unit 1
twitch ever so slightly.  Just when the blade was about to hit and sever
Unit 1's head from it's body, it _moved_!
        "What the hell? Misato asked.  Unit 1's head moved to the side and
the blade missed by only meters.  Unit 1's right hand flexed, then shot up
and locked around Unit 6's big neck.  Unit 1's eyes lit up, it's jaw
cracked open, and seemed to smile.
        The battle proper was beginning.
end


Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca

Thanks to Jack Armstrong.
Special thanks to: RPM, Ucchan/Kiyone, Mark Eymer, Thomas Scrogg, Skeezy5,
Zoe Tsukino, Christopher Szeto, Nlson31, Harahan Timothy Barrett, Micha
Potasni, Chad Yang, Ikari Ayanami, Andrew Huang, Ayanami@sj.bigger.net,
Edward Becerra, Scriviner, Kyo Kusanagai, and Anthony Woo for all taking
time to answer my questions!

Sorry about sending this in two parts, my stupid e-mail program was having
a fit.