Chapter 36: Hikari and Asuka

Chapter 36:
Hikari and Asuka

 

Wolfpack made the first move. It opened its maw to reveal a bluish-white ring lining its mouth. Even after being broken up and reconstituted by the spatial lens, the United States Eva had retained the particle accelerator it received after consuming Ramiel. The ring fired a bluish-white beam.

Armaros manifested a field over her serpent head gauntlet and deflected the beam with her left arm.

Wolfpack closed its mouth, but it hadn’t given up yet. Its hairs stood on end as it opened its maw again. This time, two particle accelerating rings lined its mouth. This second beam was brighter than the first.

Armaros blocked again with her field-reinforced left arm, but the recoil was so great that the black giant was knocked back.

Even so.

“Hikari! Can you hear me?”

Armaros growled in a stagnant, though still human, voice. <<A…su…ka…>>

But she lifted the goose-necked muzzle of the Field Piercer and aimed it at Wolfpack.

“I wanted to thank you, Hikari!”

Eva-02 remained dormant atop the giant Wolfpack’s crest. Asuka shouted from within the protruding plug, the wind whipping her hair.

“I know you and your Eva saved me and Unit Two countless times!”

If Mari—Wolfpack—was headed to the Ark, then Armaros was sure to stand in their way.

But the black giant looked like she was wavering as she prepared her next attack. <<Your mother…is within…my Heurtebise…and your Eva…>>

Armaros fired the Devil’s Backbone. Wolfpack anticipated the attack and leaped into the air. The phase light grazed Eva-02 on the giant beast’s head. Gamma rays and other radiation rained down like stardust over Asuka’s head.

She’d always suspected it. Now there was someone to corroborate her theory. Even as Armaros, Asuka believed Hikari. Her best friend.

“Thank you.”

Asuka’s heart burned within her. She felt the tip of the plug heat up, too, and she finally received feedback from her control console.

“Hey now!” She had control over Eva-02’s arms. Asuka balled up her fists and knocked them into her chest, rattling her restraint armor.

With basic functionality restored, the plug began its reinsertion. The display rebooted itself, and Mari made herself known.

<<I can see the Eva in your pack now. Are you leaving?>>

“I am.”

Eva-02’s body stirred as the sync test pattern disappeared, and Asuka’s vision opened up. She brought her arms down to her side, pulling herself away from Wolfpack. The amalgamation of life-forms strained. Asuka flinched from the pain, but she didn’t give up.

“Sorry if this hurts, Mari!”

Asuka’s main display scattered again, as if the pack was howling in anguish. Various life-forms rippled over Wolfpack’s back, reluctant to let her go.

Azuchi howled and chased them off. It was as if she was telling the wild animals to “Stay away from the human!” Such was the duty of Canis lupus familiaris. It had broken away from the wolves so that it might live with humans.

Wolfpack jumped into the air over the black giant, shaking the earth and covering the sky with its giant body. Eva-02 writhed on top of it, squirming and creaking. Tissues of the amalgamated Wolfpack were torn from it as the giant beast landed, leveling a small patch of forest.

A burst of blood-red rain spattered from the elliptical hole that had housed Eva-02. Asuka and her Eva had landed on the ground, freed from the congregation.

Slowly, the red giant lifted its face. Hair flowed down its back, which was covered in Wolfpack’s blood. This hair, which was the synthesis of its N2 reactor and the graviton floaters from its Crimson A1 days, fluttered like feathers.

The N2 reactor’s power is cut off. It’s not recognizing the floaters. But I can work with this.

“You could’ve gone straight to the Ark, you know,” Asuka said.

That’s where you want to go, isn’t it?

<<I wanted to ask you how to eat the Ark,>> Mari said.

“Ugh, even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”

Eva-02 picked up the abandoned Bizen Osafune.

“Achtung, bitte! My name is Soryu Asuka Langley, and I’ve returned to where I should be.”

The command center, 1,200 kilometers away, immediately responded.

<<This is Hakone command to Eva-02. Your signal is plaintext, and your IFF isn’t recognized, either. Use the prescribed encryption.>>

Well, yeah. Unit Two got ionized and reconstituted. What do you expect?

“I probably can’t encrypt because I’m a little out of sync. Just sync me up, will you?”