Chapter 12: Homecoming

Chapter 12:
Homecoming

 

THE NEAR-COLLISION ALARM sounded in Eva-01’s entry plug, followed by Asuka’s voice.

<<Wait! Code Unit One!>>

Eva-02 charged recklessly to catch up to Eva-01.

 

The wind howled, and the streetlights shook.

<<Command center to Unit Two. Don’t run.>> Hyuga’s voice was urgent. <<Follow protocol when re-entering the base. We have to pay for anything you step on or destroy outside of combat!>>

Asuka didn’t care about that. While fighting the Angel Carrier, she’d called Shinji’s name. Now she wanted to make sure he was really in there.

<<Shinji! Is that you, Shinji?>>

 

Asuka opened a two-way video transmission. She appeared on Shinji’s HUD, and he appeared on hers. When she saw him, her mouth dropped, but Shinji couldn’t read her expression.

She frowned, glaring at him. <<Say something.>>

Shinji was confused. What’s gotten into her?

“Asuka, watch behind you. I’ll keep watch this way!”

By standing in front of him, Eva-02 was blocking the area where his visual sensors were strongest. He turned away, not to ignore her, but because he was still wary of other attackers.

 

Shinji didn’t fully understand the situation. To him, the battle was still raging.

He focused on his Eva’s senses, but between the residual heat from the fight with the Angel Carrier and the search-and-rescue teams clogging the skies and roads, he couldn’t get a clear read on any potential enemy emissions.

In frustration, he said, “Hyuga-san, are you sure there aren’t any more enemies? What about Quatre’s Eva-0.0?”

<<Shinji?>> Asuka sounded perplexed.

Hyuga let the questions hang in the air for a moment before responding.

<<This is Hakone command to…Code Unit One.>>

That was an odd way of phrasing his call sign. Wait… Asuka called me that, too.

Hyuga continued. <<Unit Quatre disappeared following the battle on the lake. There’s been no trace of her since.>>

She might be setting us up for an ambush. I need to be on alert for a long-range attack, but why is Hyuga acting like the battle happened a while ago?

 

Misato jumped on the comm channel.

<<Shinji-kun.>> A stilted pause. <<If your external connections have been restored…look at your calendar.>>

My calendar? What is she—

Shinji gasped.

More than a few days had passed since Shinji’s last memory.

He immediately doubted what he was seeing. The AI picked up on his misgivings and reset the clock three times, even trying different sources and displaying each in turn. Tactical link. Radio signal. GPS satellite.

But the time and date remained the same.

 

“What’s going on?” Shinji asked. “What happened?”

<<I’ll explain in person.>> Misato said. <<For now, I just want to say… I’m glad you came back, Shinji-kun.>>

She’s talking like I’ve been on a long trip. Something is really strange here.

<<Proceed to the underground transport to Cage Two. And…>>

Shinji’s mind spun, the commander’s voice fading into the distance, when—

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The near-collision alarm sounded again, and then—Beeeeep!—
impact.

Eva-02 slammed into his back.

Shinji yelped, and his reborn Eva-01—which would soon receive the name Super Evangelion—staggered forward.

Asuka finished Misato’s sentence.

<<Welcome home, Shinji.>>

 

I think I was dreaming about my mother.

And my Eva is really hot. I don’t know what’s happened to it.

The environmental controls inside the cockpit read normal. But this oppressive heat…

Thump!

“What’s that sound?”

The Eva’s chest reverberated repeatedly just on the other side of his entry plug display. Every time it did, Shinji felt as if something hot was pumping through the Eva’s body—and his own.

Thump!

“Command, I think Unit One is broken.”

<<Yeah, well, I can’t say you’re wrong about that.>> On the screen, Misato laughed. It was a bitter laugh…but a laugh all the same. <<That’s your body—that’s your Eva. Super Evangelion.>>

“Can we talk about the name? Oh, and by the way… Why am I naked?”