Part 15: Mission 8 - Conflict - Part 1
Back at the moon, Altair’s setting off to look for the Data Weapons and, no, he does not want anyone else tagging along to help. The Spiral Castle seems a bit queasy but Altair declares that no one here has the authority to determine what he can or cannot do. He tells the other Gulfer to worry about eradicating mankind and leaves.
Deondra laughs that the mighty Spiral Castle has been reduced to Altair’s mook. As he bristles, she asks if he wouldn’t rather hear this small plan of hers – a way to capture both the Dendoh and the Data Weapons. The Gulfer are interested, indeed.
“How much are you paying?” Deondra fires immediately. The Spiral Castle argues that, if successful, he’ll report her achievements to the Emperor himself; that, in turn, should reach the Gyandolar boss’ ears, which would likely mean a boost to her “commander rank”.
As Deondra silently sneers that all he’ll have to present to his Emperor will be a report, she explains her plan: the Dendoh runs on electricity, so they need only cut its power source and it’ll be a sitting duck.
The Gulfer shrug at this elementary plan, as they’d already thought of it a long time ago. Why haven’t they executed it, then? Because their Chips reported that the earthlings have already figured out a way of replacing the Dendoh’s batteries midbattle.
Deondra laughs that for such hulking beings, they think far too small. “When I said ‘cut the power source’, I meant cutting the energy in all of Japan.”
Location: GEAR HQ
Kouji and Kaine have just come out of GEAR’s own bathing area – a hundred times larger and better equipped than the Nahel Argama’s. It’s like a full spa in there and, with the boys done, Aqua, Roux and Puru show up for their turn.
Puru asks how it was in there and Kouji says she’ll have a hard time deciding what to soak in. That’s all she needs to hear and rushes the girls to get inside.
: Alright, alright, we’re going.
: Oh, and by the way… If we catch you spying on us, there’ll be about a hundred slaps coming your way.
: What, who would ever do such a thing?!
: Yeah, now I’m worried you girls have totally the wrong idea about us.: So you say, like we’d just take you on your word.
: We’re not Tap, you know… Get going already.
: Ok! Purupurupurupurupuru!
: Ah! Puru, don’t run! You’ll get hurt!*Off they go.*
: …Kaine.
: Kouji.: We doing this?: We doing this.: We’re men, you and I. If we let this chance slip…: We’d regret it for the rest of our lives.: And how could we be afraid of some slaps…: When we have to fight stuff like the Giganos?*A door opens nearby!
: …
: H-Hugo…!
: Did you hear us just now…?: Hear what?: N-nothing, nothing.
Kaine changes the subject quickly, asking if Hugo’s went to take a soak yet. No, he says he’ll do it later. When Kouji asks, he says he’s no problem with bathhouses – actually, he likes them well enough.
Regardless, Hugo passes on a message from Douglas that all members of Team B are to assemble in twenty minutes for a meeting. “And also… I suggest you pass on that peeping tom business. If the Lt. finds out, there’ll be hell for you to pay,” he adds and takes off. Guess he did hear them talking.
Kouji and Kaine are assigned to Team B but, actually, so is Hugo – with the meeting in twenty minutes, that’s only gonna give him a little bit of time to actually enjoy the bathhouse. We’ve only scant few opportunities to relax like this, so one would expect him to go in right now.
Does he have a problem with sharing the bath with others? Maybe… Kouji remembers that Hugo always sneaks off to change by himself after missions. It could be that he’s shy about his body but, then, he wouldn’t really be wearing that chest-revealing suit. Ho-hum…
Aqua rushes out right then, surprising the guys that she actually went into the bath with that swimsuit of hers.
“Of course. That way, if there’s any problem, I can deploy without a hitch… but that’s not important right now! The water in the bathhouse is coming out ice cold!” she says… right in time for a blackout to hit.
Locaton: Neo-Tokyo 3
In Neo-Tokyo 3, Kensuke (glasses) is asking Shinji about a story he heard of EVA-02 taking down an Angel in a scant few dozen seconds. Apparently Kensuke’s dad works at NERV and he had but to check his PC to find the highly classified information. Someone’s gonna be in trouble later.
Regardless, Kensuke wants to know more: is it true that it’s the first production model EVA? And a proper combat-oriented model? Yes and, furthermore, Shinji adds that it’s red and lacks a horn unlike his EVA-01.
“The production model is red?! And it’s got no horn?! That makes absolutely no sense!” Kensuke objects. Why? “Red models are supposed to be rare, with horns, and be three times faster!”
Shinji isn’t too sure about that but Kensuke is still appalled.
Touji walks in right then, having just come back from visiting his sister in the hospital. There hasn’t been any change in her condition. Shinji sulks, Touji turns him… and tells him not (!) to beat himself over it.
“It’s true that my sister got hurt during your fight with the Angel but I know ya did everything ya coulda done,” he says. Shinji still apologizes but Touji tells him to cut whining and calls him and Kensuke to go grab some food.
Hikari speaks up, asking where they think they’re going without helping clean the classroom. Asuka’s there too, pointing out that THESE Three Stooges are exactly as lazy as she told her.
Touji yells that he just got here but that’s hardly any excuse for Asuka – she figures the three of them ought to clean the place by their lonesome tomorrow as punishment. That doesn't sit well with Touji and his plans to watch the Osaka Titans game. “I don’t care one bit if the Osaka Titans or THE Titans are up tomorrow, this is your punishment and you’re not getting out of it!” she laughs.
Kensuke sighs that she’s always so mean but quickly bites his tongue when Asuka glares at him. And, on the subject of their previous conversation, Shinji lets him in on the info that she’s the #02’s pilot – their whispering is also cut short when Asuka almost hears it.
As the boys buckle down and start cleaning, Hikari decides to help out by passing out electric floor cleaners to help them get done faster (Asuka figures brooms are good enough for them). That is, until they realize the things aren’t moving and realize the power’s out.
Rei comes in right then, calling Shinji and Asuka with some emergency summons from HQ. She doesn’t know if it’s an Angel as no details were given but something’s obviously going on if they’ve been called like this.
Location: NERV HQ
Makoto, with the glasses, and Shigeru report all power in city blocks A through F down to 8% of normal – it's not just NERV that's been affected. When Misato asks, Makoto reports that a major blackout, centered around the Kanto region, has begun affecting various cities at the same time – cause unknown.
At this rate one third of Japan is going to be without power in less than an hour. NERV can keep working due to their own generators but this is very unlikely to be an accident – not for it to hit so many places at the exact same time. Can it be an Angel at work?
Prof. Ritsuko finds that unlikely and is, actually, more worried with the hacking attempts NERV’s MAGI supercomputers have suffered over the past few days. In fact, there’s one going on right now and Maya scrambles to try to both keep the criminal away and figure out who it is.
As soon as she starts her trace, however, the connection is cut – whoever’s behind is always quick to run off. No data’s been stolen or tampered with, either. It’s almost like the hacker’s just playing with them, which baffles Misato as no one – barring Ruri Hoshino – should be capable of hacking the MAGI.
Still, the supercomputers have gathered enough info to make an estimate on the criminal’s identity: two to one, they say it’s… a Data Weapon.
Back at GEAR, Aiko delivers an update on the blackout: it’s not good. Overall supply is under 10% everywhere and it keeps on spreading. Inoue has been trying to figure out the cause and, so far, incoming data is very strange – the relay stations across Japan are doing fine and he doesn’t think human error is what happened.
No, Inoue’s theory is that someone is somehow absorbing all that energy and storing it somewhere. That doesn’t make sense to Shibuya as this isn’t a tiny bit of electricity – were someone moving this much energy around, they should’ve easily been able to pinpoint the cause.
Inoue is just as confused and doesn’t think even the Gulfer could pull something like this; if things go on like this, they’ll need to request help from the Federation government. To keep things afloat a bit longer, Shibuya orders the Hyper Dendoh Batteries to be put into the power grid – every single one of them can power quite the large area.
If the Gulfer attack in the meantime, they’ll just have to rely on the Federal Army and Argama team. They cannot afford to have the lifelines of their entire country shut down, lest chaos spread far and wide.
Fast forward a day and Kirakuni is relaying the news to Ginga and Hokuto – GEAR’s been transporting the batteries over to various cities across Japan over the last twenty four hours. Hokuto’s surprised that the batteries have THAT much energy within but, of course, Eris says they wouldn’t power a mech like Dendoh if they didn’t.
Ginga protests that said Dendoh won’t work if they take them all away – what are they supposed to do if an attack happens? Thankfully, they didn’t take all the batteries, only most of GEAR’s stockpile. The Cell Fighter’s also equipped in case an operation breaks out.
But that’s it, so it’s best to hope the Gulfer play ball… and the alarm starts blaring right then. “I-Is that for real?!” Hokuto cries out.
Surprise, the Gulfer are attacking and they are EVERYWHERE: the prefectures of Shizuoka, Fukui, Akita, Okayama, Tokushima, Oita and around Sapporo.
The Federation forces are currently engaging and when Inoue takes a look at the areas under attack, it doesn’t take long to realize that they’re also the ones who were hit with the blackout. Guess the Gulfer really were the ones behind it but, of course that means they’ll be hitting Hoshimi soon… scratch that, Meteor’s already detecting RoBeasts on approach.
Time to send the Nahel Argama over.
Deondra is giddy over how well this is going and Giga Absolute relays the info from their Chips that the Dendoh’s batteries were all used to power the various parts of Japan. Now, the Dendoh’s about to wear out its remaining energy fighting their RoBeasts.
And without any energy available, they’ll be unable to recharge any new batteries, rendering the mech immobile. The Spiral Castle is pleased and praises Deondra for her strategy (she’s smugly honored).
Witter is curious, however, as to how she managed to absorb all of Japan’s energy without being detected. A small toy the Gyandolar picked up in another planet called Fenomena which can manipulate any kind of electricity… and it can even shift a planet’s axis! (
)The Spiral Castle’s surprised they’ve such a superweapon and Deondra prepares to head down to the surface - it wouldn't do if Altair figured out what's going on and got to their treasure first, right?
Location: Hoshimi Town
Torres and Saegusa report that the RoBeasts are retreating and the Dendoh’s about to head in pursuit. Bright calls them back, lest they empty their current stock of energy needlessly.
The Federation phones in right then, their radars having detected a rather Knight Ogre-esque unit headed towards Neo-Tokyo 3; Vega gets on the mic and tells him she and the Dendoh crew will intercept. Bright objects that it’s too dangerous for them to go alone but Vega says the rest of us need to stand guard in Hoshimi as there’s no telling if the Gulfer have really given up on their offensive.
Mission 8 – Conflict
NERV, down in the GeoFront below Neo-Tokyo 3, has’s already got their eyes on the Ogre as it enters their city in pursuit of a signal. The Dendoh team is hot on his heels, though.
Altair sees that only the bot and some worms followed him and sniffs that the Spiral Castle’s plan was of some use after all. Vega’s looking over at him, telling herself that it can’t be the same Altair – as Meteor said, it’s all but impossible that he’s still alive.
Eris figures the Ogre’s presence here must mean that a Data Weapon’s nearby and Ginga’s hyped to get a beastie of his own today.
: This is Vega, vice-commander of GEAR, speaking. We’ll take care of the enemy.
: Cpt. Misato Katsuragi, NERV’s Director of Operations; our thanks for your quick response. 
: GEAR’s vice-commander herself has taken to the field? How surprising… (This is Fuyutsuki)
: She sounds quite a lot like you, huh, Cpt. Katsuragi?: You think so?: Yes – I can’t even believe you’re two different people.
: Still, the two of them’ll probably not have a chance to make friends.: … Hm, that’s true.: (Looks like the Dendoh won’t be getting any support from them. They do have a lot to deal with themselves, though.)
: You ready to rock, Hokuto?!
: Ready!
: Did I just hear kids…?
: Are the Dendoh’s pilots younger than us?: They are, yes.: Hmhmm… Well, let’s see what those two and the famous Dendoh are all about.: (Kids even younger than me are in there…?): Vega, Kirakuni, you guys hang back. We’ll take care of the Ogre.
: Huh?!
: What are you talking about, Ginga? This isn’t an opponent to take lightly!: And, besides, we’re down to only one spare battery after the previous scuffle with the Gulfer!
: Don’t worry, it’s cool! We wrecked this guy before, didn’t we?: But—!: We’re keeping it all in mind – both how strong the Ogre is and that we’re low on batteries.
: Hokuto…! 
: Ms. Vega, I believe they have the right idea about this.: You, too, Eris?!: I’m detecting an energy reading very much like a Data Weapon around these parts.: What? Is that true?: Yes. So, I think the best way to keep the Ogre from getting it is for the two of us to focus on locating it while they fight.: …: And… I’m a bit worried as to why NERV hasn’t deployed their Evangelions.
: Now that you mention it, yeah…: Do you they might be expecting an Angel to turn up here?: … I can’t say for certain. Still, there’s an enemy in their city and we’ve seen no action from NERV… that’s strange at least.: Maybe they’re trying to conserve the EVAs? Those are specialized Anti-Angel weapons and, like the Dendoh, they run on electricity. 
: But, still…: Alright. We’ll go and investigate the perimeter… But, Ginga and Hokuto, be very careful.: OK! Hokuto, bring out the Unicorn Drill and let’s wrap this up lickety-split!
: You got it! Unicorn Drive! INSTAAAAALL!: Huh?!
: Oh? As you wish, then! Viper Drive! Install!!
: Wait! How can you just go and install the Data Weapon like that?!: Didn’t I just tell you that we’ve only ONE spare battery?!: I did and that’s why we’ll take him down all the way with one good Final Attack!: That’s crazy! You need to consider your energy consumption!
While Vega pulls out her hair, NERV’s starting to get hacked again. Misato wonders if it’s the Ogre’s but Maya says otherwise – that said, the signal indicates something quite similar. Meaning there’s a third Data Weapon around.
Ritsuko’s already having Maya run the trace but she expects it to fail again – the Data Weapon will potentially move to the real world after it’s found its new master.
Meanwhile, the Dendoh’s heading right over to Altair.