Even if it is 100% of the Eva's performance, there might be cool shenanigans possible at synch rates over 100%... The complications being that (1) this risks the pilot's continued existence as a discrete organism, (2) the aforementioned problem of the pilot being endangered by damage to the Eva and otherwise identifying with it too much, and (3) the fact that the Eva design and mission control teams do not know these shenanigans are possible, and therefore nobody can plan or prepare for them because they're entirely unknown and unexplored territory.
Even if it is 100% of the Eva's performance, there might be cool shenanigans possible at synch rates over 100%... The complications being that (1) this risks the pilot's continued existence as a discrete organism, (2) the aforementioned problem of the pilot being endangered by damage to the Eva and otherwise identifying with it too much, and (3) the fact that the Eva design and mission control teams do not know these shenanigans are possible, and therefore nobody can plan or prepare for them because they're entirely unknown and unexplored territory.
Also; (4) the Eva may or may not kindly go to sleep after whatever prompted such a high synchrate is dealt with and may cause problems scaling up to the apocalyptic scale.
I wonder what Yui's thoughts about her new daughter are from inside EVA01, Gendo... is still Gendo, I doubt there will be much of a reaction unless Shinji starts exhibiting Yui traits. And OP knows how the space thing will express itself.
Almost immediately, you realize that something is different. The angel has stopped again, but you can feel the weight of its many eyes on the blade in your hands. Then, instinct screams. Darting to one side, you barely avoid not one of those massive beams of light that the angel has unleashed on you already, but three of them.
One from each of its faces.
It takes everything that you have to barely avoid the angel's beam, which just makes it worse that the thing is already on the move, rushing closer to you. It crashes through a building without losing a step. This blade that you've been given is changing the flow of the fight, and you aren't sure how to keep things moving.
You are starting to tire, and the angel is only moving faster.
Worse still, you've never used a sword before, so you don't have the slightest clue how you are supposed to use this thing. Bobbing and weaving to try and avoid another clawed swipe, you twist - both you and Unit 01, dragging the blade up and out towards the angel in a sharp swipe.
Sachiel summons its wall of light - Only something strange happens. The blade in your hand buzzes, before something cold and calculating weighs against your mind. It wrenches your thoughts in a direction that you've never had your thoughts move before.
"Ahhh!" You scream in pain, barely keeping your hands on the handles inside the plug as pain blooms inside of your head. A part of your vision goes red, and there is something wet and warm sliding down the side of your nose. You don't have time to think about that, not when a dark purple light blooms along the length of the blade. Somehow, instead of just skittering off the edge of the AT field like it has before, your blade catches.
The pressure on the edge of your thoughts screams louder, but there is something else as well. The same sounds as you encountered before, but different.
1d10 + Dip = 7 + 8 = 15
[FOUR DEGREES OF SUCCESS]
[DC Decreased by 2]
The sounds are clearer this time, the meanings all the more confusing. But this is the same as what you heard before, it has the same cadence. It has the same rhythm.
There is meaning here.
You just can't comprehend it.
A part of you wants to try and answer back, but you can't. Not when your thoughts are being pulled asunder. Something coppery hits your tongue at the same time that the blade starts to move once more, not sliding off the enemy's AT field, but instead slowly ripping and tearing through, like a dull blade pulling through saran wrap.
Not that it ends up matters, because the angel seems to take this moment as the chance to forgo subtly completely. It rushes forwards, the Angel's AT field twisting and turning down to one side, dragging your new sword out of the way. Before you have a chance to try and pull the weapon back, the Angel is there.
A massive hand slams into Unit 01's head. You howl in pain again, as your head is slammed back by the motion, hitting the headrest behind you hard. Before you have a chance to do anything, the long thin thing that was inside the Angel's elbow pulls back, like a massive spring loaded weapon. You struggle, trying to pull your blade out of the torn remnants of the angel's AT field, but it is taking too long, your not going to be-
Every time that your Eva has been hit so far, you have felt the same pain. And this is about to be a spike ramming into Unit 01's face. It is going to feel like there is a spike in your face.
You can't help but whimper a little, closing your eyes and waiting for- CRACK!
There is a distant sound, before a long, black metal spike seems to explode out of one of the Angel's fac-
No. That isn't something coming out of the Angel. That was something that bore into the Angel instead. "Pilot of NERV Mecha." A new, feminine voice rings out through the plug. "This is Pilot P of Tokyo Novus Heavy Mechanics. I've got your back." Wait, the voice isn't here in the plug with you, but you hear it over the same window that Miss Misato is using to keep an eye on you. In fact, you can see her glancing down towards one of the computers with a slight grimace. The girl sounds… Maybe even younger than you, or at the very least she has a youthful voice. And she even sounds like she's excited to be here.
You hear another staccato of bursts, each one matching by a metal spike slamming into the arm of the Angel. You can only barely feel the vibrations of each impact. The angel twists, and you feel it's AT field trying to move away from your sword again, but this time it isn't your weapon that is trapped. The Angel's AT field is trapped in your AAT field.
There is a smile on your face, something that is all teeth as you bring Unit 01's other hand up, punching into one of the spikes near the elbow.
⋏ ⋏ ⋏ ⟒ ⟒ ⟒ ⏁ ⏁ ⏁ ⎍ ⎍ ⎍ !
Something echoes through the AT field as the Angel finally drops you. As you stumble back, you finally manage to throw the cold calculating thing out of your thoughts. Immediately, the glow fades from your weapon. Now no longer enhanced, the blade slips free of the AT field.
Bringing the weapon up once more, you try to follow the direction that your thoughts moved along before, but you can't… It just…
Pushing your mind in that way isn't something that you've ever done before. It doesn't make sense to your thoughts or feelings, like trying to put on boots that are on the wrong feet. Despite that, trying to think this way brings that same cold and calculating force into focus once more.
This time, your mind doesn't fight it nearly as much when you try and push your AAT field down along the length of the blade. It still brings a spike of pain to your mind, and leaves the coppery taste in your mouth all the stronger, but you can handle that.
Now that you are free of the Angel, and more importantly your new weapon is free of the Angel's field, it is free to allow the glimmering membrane to fall away, before summoning forth a new one that blocks another pair of spikes that nearly slam into the Angel's form.
1d10 + Dodge + Assist = 4 + 10 + 2 =16
[SUCCESS]
1d10 + Strike = 3 + 13 = 16
[FAILURE]
The Angel turns, trying to find the source of the distracting attacks. You aren't sure who Agent P is, or where they are, but that doesn't matter. Not right now.
The Angel is making a mistake. One that it should know better than to make. But you are making a mistake at the same time. You start to put together a plan on what to do about the Angel, only for Eva Unit 01 to start moving as soon as the thoughts appear in your head. The difference between thought and action is complicated with a machine that is controlled with your mind.
Your fist flies up towards another of the metal spikes stabbed into the side of the angel, only for a second, smaller AT field to snap into being.
This field is definitely weaker than the one that you've dealt with earlier, the whole thing flexing under Unit 01's strength, but that doesn't matter as more bolts are scattered across the other, larger AT field.
The Angel seems to have found what it is looking for - you don't know how you know that, instinct flaring high as you reach out. You try to summon your AAT field, but it is wrapped around the length of the sword. There's no time, so you simply drop the weapon, severing the connection with the cold and calculating thing in your mind. It has to be a part of the blade, but that doens't matter right now.
Instead, you call forth the same wall of light that you used before - Or perhaps not exactly the same. The first time that you used the AAT field, it was the same bright orange color as the Angel's own, but this time your AAT field is instead tinted purple. The wall of light appears at an angle, allowing the Angel's eye beams to roll along the edge, distorting the beam so that it fires off and up, over the edge of Tokyo Novus's skyline.
Glancing over in the direction that Sachiel is- What is…
You spot a small glimmer of light off in the distance. Is that…
Oh.
That has to be the machine that Agent P is driving. The machine that Sachiel was trying to hit.
It's so… small.
If you were to take a rough guess from here, you'd have to say that it is definitely more than ten meters tall, but it isn't twenty meters tall. If you were to be standing next to that machine, it wouldn't even come up to Unit 01's knee.
Decked out in police lights, you have to wonder if that is just something that Tokyo Novus has. Have they always had police robots, and you just never heard about it?
That is possible, but you hope that you have been paying enough attention to the world around you where something like that wouldn't be able to catch you completely by surprise.
Agent P's weapon is a massive hulk of a thing that the robot needs both hands to carry. It looks… sort of like those old Anti-aircraft cannons that you've seen in videos of old aircraft carriers from the second world war. As you watch, the muzzle flashes, and a moment later another one of the spikes that have been burying themselves in the Angel crashes against Sachiel's AT field.
Taking one more step back, you carefully make sure to pick up your new sword before glancing over to the screen with Miss Misato on it. "Are we able to get into contact with the other pilot?" You ask. You flinch for a third time as the sword digs into your head, reshaping the AAT field that the Eva is capable of creating. Thankfully, every time that you've done this, it hurts less and less and less.
Rushing forwards, you bring your sword up and over your head like you've seen in some old movies and games, before you heave with all of Unit 01's massive strength. But Sachiel is faster than you expect, and you don't really have any idea what you are doing with this sword. So the Angel leans to one side, not even bothering to summon its AT field. If you were better with your sword, you might have been able to stop yourself, to change direction instead of simply crushing the street in front of you.
"Shinji, there is no need to establish communications with the other pilot." Miss Misato's words are harsh, but more than that, they are confusing.
Right now you are fighting for your life, and there is someone here to help you, but Miss Misato says that you shouldn't try to talk with them.
"What…?" You ask, coming to a stop for a moment as you give the whole of your focus to the screen besides you. "Why not?"
Sachiel recognizes your distraction for what it is, turning towards you as both of the angel's stingers pull back and ready themselves. But as the Angel reaches towards you, trying to grab hold of you a second time, the same staccato fires out again, the anti-air cannon's bolts knocking one hand to the side before the Angel calls forth its AT field again.
"The Ten-X doesn't have any weapons that can actually harm the Angel." Miss Misato calls out, as you stumble back again, only barely avoiding the grasping claws as they slide over Unit 01's chest armor. "On top of that, just look at that thing. Even one hit from the Angel would completely destroy it. Whoever that Pilot is, they have no business trying to push themselves into NERV's, and therefore your business. It would be for the best if they just left."
…The worst part of all of that is that you can't completely refute anything that Miss Misato is saying there. Agent P is in a lot more danger than you are. Unit 01 has an Artificial AT field, and that police machine doesn't. But at the same time, they have been helping you. They have to know the danger of what they are doing,and they are still here, fighting against the odds.
There is a part of you that actually respects that.
There is another part of you that disagrees with Misato. Even without the ability to communicate with this other pilot, the two of you have been able to hold the Angel back, keeping it from getting any closer to the Geofront. If the two of you were able to communicate, then you'd be able to work together better, instead of having to guess what the smaller machine is going to do.
If you could communicate, you might be able to make a real plan. But Miss Misato has made her stance quite clear, and you don't have any way of contacting the other machine without NERV's help anyways.
Without any means of telling the other pilot to back off, the only thing that you can do is keep pushing forwards. And so the three of you dance - and what a dance it is! Like the tides, you flow forwards only to fall back, then to flow forwards again. You work with the pilot of the Ten-X in silence, trying to strike down the angel, even as it tries to destroy you.
You strike and you block. You parry, only to have to avoid the riposte. Attacks are avoided, and those that can't be are deflected. Around and around you go, the three of you countering and counter countering each other with a tempo that you are struggling to match.
Even with the both of you working together, neither you nor the Ten-X have managed to land a solid blow on the Angel. Sachiel always manages to pull itself out of the way of the worst attacks, and it deflects anything that gets too close.
Thankfully, while you haven't been able to get a solid hit in on the angel, it hasn't managed to strike you down either. It has been a close thing here and there, with claws gasping at you, only to be battered just barely aside by the Ten-X's massive cannon. While any beams that the Angel tries to use are scattered aside by your Artificial AT field.
Neither side has landed a solid blow. But you don't know how much longer that is going to be able to last. Your arms ache- Unit 01's arms ache from swinging the Kesara blade. Your own hands ache from clenching tight around the controls of the Eva. And just…
There is something about trying to pilot this massive monstrosity that is taking everything that you have. Even in the depths of the LCL that surrounds you, your chest is heaving up and down as you struggle to get enough oxygen. And despite the fact that the plug is filled with LCL, you feel like you've been sweating.
You feel like you've been running kilometers to keep up with the Angel whenever it tries to break away, and like you've leapt dozens of meters over and over as you struggle to keep ahead of your enemy's blows.
Little by little, you are starting to slow. You are starting to tire. And there have been less and less staccato bursts of gunfire as the battle continues. Which makes sense, it isn't like this pilot is going to have essentially infinite ammo, right?
Sachiel rushes forwards once more, and you only barely manage to bring your blade up once more. The Kesara blade bits into the Angel's AT field, which is when something that you completely failed to expect happens.
The angel steps back, looking first at you, then to the smaller machine off to one side. You are nearly ready to cast the Kesara off to the side, when the Angel steps backwards. Away from the Geofront, and away from NERV's HQ.
Something echoes up through the sword in your hands, and you swear that the Angel stares you directly in the eyes.
The blood rushing through your ears is deafening as the Angel walks away, but at this point there isn't anything more that you can do. Slowly, the Kesara blades slide free of fingers that are starting to go numb as you hear Miss Misato saying something from a distance. You drop to your knees, and there is a long moment where everything goes quiet. Gasping for breath, you barely manage to speak. You aren't sure what Miss Misato is saying, but she has to… "I… I can't. I can't move anymore. I…" Each word is separated by a sharp breath.
"Sachiel is in retreat." One of the technicians calls out. "I repeat, Angel Designation Sachiel is retreating. Magistratum tracking systems are online - Vector course destination marks the Angel as retreating back along the original entry path. Establishing long distance reconnaissance."
There is a moment of quiet as you keep struggling to breathe. "Is it… Is it over."
"I don't know." Miss Misato says quietly, but there is a hint of a smile on her face. "So far everything seems to imply that it is. We're going to keep you out there for another hour, just in case the Angel decides to turn back around, but once that is done…"
"Father promised to speak with me. He promised to answer my questions."
Once you get back to base, you find your father as infuriating as ever.
He has rated your performance as simply 'Adequate."
So he agrees to answer a few of your questions.
The first part of this vote is going to be open for 24 hours, so that you guys can brainstorm as many questions as you can, because I am struggling to think of questions at the moment.
Once the questioning bit is finished, I will pull all the questions that work, and any questions that I can think of Shinji wanting answered into a list that will go to a vote for the following 24 hours.
[ ][Questions] What questions do you have for your father?
child of adam, bound in steel and soul by the lillim, you stand against the grand purpose.
you stand against the meaning of your kin. stand aside, lest the next time we meet i hold back no more.
a
a
a
r
r
r
g
g
g
h
h
h
!
child of adam, slave to the lillim.
you fight for the dead and the damned, but you fight with honor unbecoming of the lillim.
r
e
s
t.
i shall return to put you out of your misery one day soon.
EDIT:
I've got threefour possibilities here:
The Angel is addressing the EVA, and mistakes it for being made from Adam
The Angel is addressing the EVA, and in this AU Unit-01 is not made from Lillith
Yeah. On the other hand, if I were equipping a conventional military force to engage super robots like the Evas, I'd probably be thinking about fairly ornery stuff. Like loading down those bazookas a Gundam likes to carry with I can't believe it's not nuclear N2 warheads. Could get surprisingly intense.
[X] Reintroduce yourself properly (maybe formally? there's social protocols for this I think) and ask for an introduction in turn, something like "Let's do this properly, Hello I am Shinji Ikari, your and Yui Ikari's daughter, I enjoy outer space and my favourite food is [...], how about you?" Let's go kindergarten levels on introductions.
[X] "What exactly do you want from me?"/"What are your expectations about how this will work?"
[X] "Why is uncle so afraid of you?"
[X] "What's with the giant monsters coming to attack Tokyo?"
[X] (Joke) "Am I going to have to fight godzilla? Cause that's a big ask."
[X] "What's with the giant robots?"
[X] "Where is mother's tomb/shrine?"
Just sidestep the whole connecting with people issue by going formulaic with the social icebreaker then just throw a few questions, try to "Throw him off his rhythm" as it were, I mean I doubt it would work, it's Gendo, man improvises and schemes by the seat of his pants if things go weird.
And cause it's very possible that he'll be an ass:
[X] (If he starts being obnoxious) "Why are you so rude & awkward?"
Why don't we ask for a non redacted information packet that includes everything we need to know and info on everyone we will be working with? Something purely practical.
Isn't she suspended in a liquid? Her blood should just mix, not force a path between her skin and the EVA's blood.
You flinch for a third time as the sword digs into your head, reshaping the AAT field that the Eva is capable of creating. Thankfully, every time that you've done this, it hurts less and less and less.
"The Ten-X doesn't have any weapons that can actually harm the Angel." Miss Misato calls out, as you stumble back again, only barely avoiding the grasping claws as they slide over Unit 01's chest armor. "On top of that, just look at that thing. Even one hit from the Angel would completely destroy it. Whoever that Pilot is, they have no business trying to push themselves into NERV's, and therefore your business. It would be for the best if they just left."
The Angel certainly seems to think the Ten-X's weapon is enough of a threat to need answering.
Either Misato is a moron with no tactical knowledge or she values office politics more than Shinji's life. Oh and preventing the apocalypse.
Yes. And?
Do you consider Monster Hunter boring? Or Shadow of the Colossus?
Heck how about the EVA vs Gaghiel fights?
Most Gundams can fly and many have frightfully powerful energy weapons. I for one would not be keen on fighting Wing Zero until Shinji is a lot more experienced.
Well that's a hilarious image, an entire squad of the little mechs attack the Evangelion and bring it down like a colossus with a whole bunch of melee weapons. View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2NGDIemhcs
