Part 68: Mission 37 - A Man's Battle - Part 2
Kill everything, don’t lose Rom, Ayato or a ship. Zeruel still can’t be damaged but neither can our powerhouse Rom, so they’ll stay down there and glare at each other.
Meanwhile, we’ve four turns to clear out the top area before things proceed.
While the RNG saw fit to screw Domon when he went after a Grave, I bring in Light and Kaine to start dealing with the Metronomes.
Between our maxed our morale and their piddly defenses, these guys will fall quickly enough. The Allegrettos and Graves have been given a majorly boosted HP, though.
So don’t be afraid to pop a valor here and there. Save some for Mamoru, mind.
And the game isn’t letting me deploy Vega’s bike for whatever reason!
Blah, almost. Akira finishes it off.
Oh and before I forget:
Obligato (
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L4
- Counter L4
- Support Attack L2
- Debuff Immunity
- Harmonic Field
: You AWFUL BOY!!The Obligato’s known as pretty much the strongest Dolem and it’s got a lot of stuff to back that up. A ton of armor plus that barrier and Prevail makes it very bulky, it’s got S on all terrains that matter, meaning it’s also dodgy and, of course, its attacks are also high-powered.
Mamoru’s big stats all around also make this pretty much the toughest costumer we’ve had so far… granted, I’d only be worried/annoyed in MXP. Still, keep an eye out.
Back to work, Ayato.
Almost gone.
Oh, and behold: unstoppable force vs immovable object.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR0A_Mgegrc
: Hrm! I really cannot inflict any damage on it?!
: Their weapons aren’t working either…!
: Is the #01 the only thing that can defeat it…?!
Enemy Phase!
Ayato’s still getting pestered by the folks around him but the terrain bonus says none of their attacks can connect.
Amuro also seems to be a priority target to the Dolems.
He can handle it. That’s a decent chunk of HP off all Graves and Allegrettos.
The Metronomes focus on Dendoh and Tetsuya… who have Iron Wall running.
Get outta here with that weak shit, boy!
Player Phase!
D-d-d-double kill for Tetsuya. He’s making very good time on that kill count.
Give the captains some love.
Ruri had been falling behind a wee bit.
This one goes to Tap.
Time to start freeing out bud.
There goes a third of its health. Ginga finishes it off with a nice yo-yo.
Enemy Phase!
The Metronomes waste their time with the Dendoh. All the better for me.
Mamoru’s clever, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23TlVFyzXk
Sonic boom!
Player Phase!
*Alarm!*
: This isn’t working! The Angel still hasn’t suffered any injuries whatsoever!
: Damn it…! Not even the Magnate Ten can last like this!
: Still, we will not yield! We cannot!
: Rom…!
: Shinji, the only thing I can do is sit here and wait… but that’s not the case with you. You’ve something you can do – something only you can do.: No one will force you. Think and make a decision. Ask yourself: “what should I be doing right now?”
: …: And be very sure that you’ve no regrets.: …!Light takes out the last Metronome, so the Obligato is all that remains. It will only defend outside its turn, so it’s time to start popping Valors.
: (Psh, I can’t go on…!)
: (However, Ollin, know that your pain will continue… it will go on until the moment of your awakening!)*Off he goes.*
: (It disappeared…?! Just what was that Dolem…?!)
: What’s the status inside the Geofront?!
: Still very bad – the Angel isn’t taking any damage from our attacks!: Urgh…! Do we have no way of beating that thing?!: Is the #01 ready yet?!
: No, it continues to reject the Dummy Plug!
*Alarm!*
: Again. Redo the process from step 108 onward.: Still nothing! There’s no response!: (Why…?! Why are you rejecting me…? Why are you rejecting Rei and the Dummy Plug…?!): (Just what are you thinking, Yui…?!)
: Let me pilot it!: !
: Please…! Let me pilot the EVA-01!: …: (D-Dad…!): … Why are you here?: B-Because…!: Because I’m Shinji Ikari, pilot of the Evangelion Unit #01!!
: Th-The target’s attacking the HQ again!: The last eastern bulkhead has been completely blown away!: The target’s on the move!*Zeruel floats closer to NERV HQ.*
: It’s heading into the main shaft!: Hrm! I won’t allow it!
: …
: Uuoorgh!
: R-Rom!!
: The EVA-01! Shinji?!
: UWAAAAAAAAAAAH!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtH2Rs7Zs-0
: I-It connected!
: HAAAAAAAAAH!!
: RAAAAAAAARGH!!
: YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
*Beeeeeeeeeeeep.*
: ?!: I’m… out of energy?!: The #01’s drained its reserves! The backup power supply isn’t working!: Shinji!
: S-Shinji!!: Move, move, move, move, move, move, move, move, move!: Move, move, MOVE!!
: If you don’t – if you don’t do something right the hell now – then everyone’ll die!! I’ve had enough of all this suffering!!: So, please, for the love of god, MOOOVE!!*Heartbeat*
: !!
: !!: Wh-What?!
: Th-This sensation is…?!: How…!: Th-The EVA-01’s reactivated!!
: I-Incredible…!
: That’s the true strength of an EVA…?!: I…I don’t believe it…! The #01’s sync ratio is exceeding 400%!
: She has awakened...!
: UOOOOOOOOOOOO….!
: Wh-What is going on?!
: It’s… eating the Angel?!: The #01’s assimilating its S² Engine…!!
: Kch…! Uurgh!: GWOOO…
: The bindings are coming loose…!: Bindings?!: Yes… the plates around it aren’t armor. Rather, they are bindings to help us keep the EVA’s actual strength under control. : And now it’s breaking free of them…! We can no longer stop it.: …!!: EVA-01… that which will bring Instrumentality to this world…
: The #01’s awakened and set free… SEELE won’t take this sitting down. Is this all part of your script, Cmdr. Ikari?
: …It’s begun.
: Hm… Everything is now in motion.
: The EVA Series aren’t capable of generating S² Engines… To think the #01 would assimilate one by devouring an Angel…
: This incident is at extreme odds with our script.
: And it will not be a simple matter to correct this…: Gendou Ikari… maybe it was a mistake to give him command of NERV.: Yet, without him, we’d be unable to carry out all our plans.: Our current problems aren’t limited to just the EVA-01, however.: Indeed… the #00 and #02 have suffered catastrophic damage…: Much of HQ is destroyed and Central Dogma is exposed… this is an enormous setback. There’s no telling how much time and money we’ve lost with this.: All because we didn’t see fit to tie a bell around Ikari’s neck.: There is a bell – it simply didn’t ring.: What’s the point of a bell that won’t ring, then?: We’ll make sure it works properly from now on…
Back at NERV, this is quite the unexpected development for Kaji and he asks the bosses what they’ll say to SEELE. Fuyutsuki says they weren’t in control of the #01 – what happened was an accident.
Gendou’s had the mech sealed away for now until the committee decides what to do. A sensible decision to Kaji but, then, that begs the question: what about Gendou’s son, still trapped inside the thing?
Maya’s trying to eject the entry plug the signal isn’t being accepted – neither are the backups and quasi-signals. Not even a direct circuit is taking. Makoto did manage to establish a video feed but it brings no good news: the Entry Plug is empty and Shinji is nowhere in sight.
Ritsuko now sees what happens when the sync ratio goes up to 400%: Shinji was absorbed into the #01. Misato wants to know what the hell EVA is that it could do that to Shinji, and Ritsuko says the only way to put it than that EVA is an object created by man in Man’s own image.
Misato doesn’t take that story: all they’ve done is create a simple copy of the thing they found in the South Pole. Ritsuko resents that, saying a human mind has been imbued into it. What, does she mean that all this happened by someone’s will?
Ritsuko posits that it might be the EVA’s own will behind it… and gets slapped out of her thoughts by Misato. This is NOT the time for her to be philosophizing so nonchalantly – do something! If she helped build this thing, then she needs to take responsibility for it.
At the hospital, Rei’s woken up: “I’m still alive… Ikari…”
Some time later, the women are discussing a possible plan to bring Shinji back (right by the unarmored EVA-01, above). Their theory is that his “ego boundary” has been lost, doing away with his physical self, but he’s still inside the Entry Plug on a quantum level. That is to say, his soul is still there.
Now, the stuff inside the plug is similar to the old primordial soup, meaning Shinji has been reverted into his building blocks, unseen to us. Ritsuko’s plan is to force his body to take form once again and bring his soul back in. Misato’s surprised something like that’s possible but Ritsuko is confident it is, provided we’ve the MAGIs’ support.
Granted, this is all conjecture but it’s not like we have anything else to go on.
Back to SEELE, the committee members fume at how greatly their schedule has been set back due to recent events – this will only serve to help the MU… and Methuselah. Keel figures the time has come to awaken their trump card: Tabris, cornerstone of their script.
How does he feel? “I can hear… the songs of the Ollins. It’s beginning again… the ceremony of death and rebirth…”
: (… Where am I…? What’s going on? I should be inside the #01’s Entry Plug…): (…Is someone crying?): (That’s… me, back when I was little…): (And that’s… dad…?): Shinji… behave yourself at our uncle’s.: Where’s mom? Where did she go?!: Your mother is dead.: You’re lying!: I’m not. You saw it yourself.: …: Shinji… get in the EVA and fight. You are its pilot.: No! Why are you asking that now?! Didn’t you not want me anymore?!: No! No! Stop it, dad! STOP IT!!
Back in the real world, it’s already been three days since it all went down. Shinji isn’t back yet and Asuka wonders what’ll happen to him – he’s not going to spend the rest of his life like that, is he?
Kaji hops on over and asks if she’s worried about the kid. Of course not! In fact, she’s super stoked because now she’s got more screen time. Kaji sighs at her prideful act, suggesting she be more honest or she’ll never find a boyfriend.
She is NOT putting up any act and the only boyfriend she wants is Kaji. Better. Her being incensed beats being sullen, Kaji figures, and adds that while Shinji’s situation is worrisome, he’s certain the kid is still putting up the fight of his life. Asuka should work just as hard.
And with that, Kaji walks off.
Maya’s quite impressed with Ritsuko that she managed to get the whole plan set up in just these three days. Nah, Ritsuko says this wasn’t her doing: she simply used data from a ten-year-old experiment.
Something like this happened before during the EVA’s development? It was before Ritsuko’s time but her mom, Naoko Akagi, was present. Maya has heard of the lady, one of the people responsible for creating the MAGI’s systems.
How did things go, the last time people tried what we’re about to do? It failed and that’s when Gendou changed.
Elsewhere, Kaji’s gone after Misato. She hasn’t gone home to sleep or even taken time to eat properly over the past days, so he’s worried about her. Her mind can’t break away from all this to allow her to do any such things.
Still, she’s done a bit of digging into Shinji’s school and, as it turns out, all of his classmates are potential EVA pilots. Just how far does NERV's reach extend, anyway? She doubts Kaji will just spit out the truth, but asks anyway: “Why is Adam, he who’d destroy humanity, stored in our underground? What is the commander trying to do with it? What is the Human Instrumentality Project?”
Kaji tells her to calm down, but she demands to know how Gendou and Ritsuko can be so calm when Shinji's in the state he is. Just what the hell is NERV's real objective, anyway?
Kanji then tells her to shut up a moment, take a deep breath, and close her eyes. He wants her to forget about NERV, if only for a moment. What the hell is he doing? This isn’t the time for his nonsense!
Kaji quips that he was just trying to help her relax a bit but, again, this is hardly the time for relaxation. Misato yells at the idiot to get out and he readily obliges. Before he does, though, he tells her one thing: “My feelings haven’t change these past eight years. I… I’ve always loved you…”
: (… How long has it been…? Am I… Am I going to be here forever…?): …: Who are you…?: Come with me, Shinji…: M-Mom…?: You’ve gotten so tall… you’re all grown up…: Where… Where have you been, mom? I’ve been so lonely after you disappeared. Why didn’t you come back? : I’ve been here all long, waiting for you. I knew you’d come here… there’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.: Now we’ll always be together, Shinji…
: But I…: I have to… I have to go back and pilot the EVA. To fight against our enemies and win. : No… you’ve already done more than enough. You’ve fought and were hurt for the sake of others so much… your body and soul must be in tatters. : There is no need for you to go back. You can just stay here forever, Shinji…
: Probe insertion complete. EM field stable at -0,3. Ego Boundary pulse, connected.
: Understood.
: …: Begin the salvage!: Transmitting first signal.: Confirmed reception at the EVA – no signs of rejection. Next, transmitting the second and third signal!: Subject’s cathexis is nominal.: (Shinji…): Shinji. (All their faces are obscured.): Misato…: You don’t belong to just yourself anymore. You are the EVA’s pilot and we’ve no choice but to entrust our future to you.: Yes… so fight on. We cannot lose you now.
: Yeah, fight. You can’t run or face away from reality.: Fight. Cowards are useless in a battle where humanity’s very existence is at stake.
: Fight, damn it! We are some of the chosen few! We have to beat the Angels!: Only the Evangelion can defeat the Angels and save humanity from the Third Impact.: Shut up! No!! I’ve done enough! I don’t want to fight anymore!: I’m staying here! I’ll stay in here forever!*Alarm!*
: The pulse is stuck in a loop!: Irradiate EM waves in all directions!*Alarm!*
: It’s not working!: The signals we’ve sent are being trapped in a Klein space…!: What does that mean?!: It means… we’ve failed.: !: The EVA’s rejecting our signals!: Plug internal pressure rising!: This is bad! Abort the operation! Cut the power!: I can’t! The Plug’s being evacuated!: Shinji!!
In MXP, you get this added scene right here:
: (Don’t, Ikari... Come back... Don’t go over there…): …: (… There’s always been this gaping void within me, like I’m no more than a doll made of straw… So often that scares me…): (I believe I’d been filling that void with thoughts of Commander Ikari… But… Before I realized, Ikari was there.): (I didn’t think he’d recover after what happened with Suzuhara… but he did. He came back and he saved us…): (Please… Don’t take him away… Give him back to us…)Things go back to common ground now:
: WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
: What’s wrong? Didn’t you want to be together with me?: No!!: Come on… We’ll travel to an unending world, where there is no pain or sadness.: Stop! Let me go!! You’re not my mom!: N-No! Help me, mom! Mom!!: …: !
: *sniffles* Kch…Aah…: What good is your science… if it can’t save just one life…?!: Give Shinji back to us! Give him back!!
Gendou: He’ll have to live in the aftermath of the Second Impact – in this Hell on earth… Yui: No… so long as one wishes to live, anywhere can be Heaven on earth. He’s alive, so he’ll have a chance to be happy. Gendou: Yes… you’re right.: (Why… Why can’t I move my legs…?): (I want to run after mom… but my legs are frozen in place.) Yui: …Shinji.: … Yui: You can come here if you’d like. Just take a few steps forward. Can't you?: … Yui: Perhaps where you truly want to go is not to my side… but across the boundless ocean at your back?: … Yui: Wherever you may go, I will always be watching over you. So choose for yourself what road you wish to travel. Yui: Listen… Someone’s calling out to you from across the sea.
: …Mom…: I… I smell someone… Ayanami? Misato…? And... everyone of the Magnate Ten? (This last phrase is only in MXP's version)This following scene is ALSO only in MXP:
: … This is…: Ikari…: Ayanami… what happened to me…?: You were assimilated by the #01… and almost went to the other side.: …: But… you came back.
: …Thanks.: Why did you say that?: I… I’m not sure… I just felt like saying it when I saw you.: Hm… Still, I’m glad I could see your face again.: …: But… are you fine with this?: Honestly, I don’t know… I don’t remember much of what happened when I was asleep…: …: But I’m also glad that I could see you again, Ayanami.*Door opens.*
: Shinji!: Misato…!: Oh, I’m so… so happy you woke up…!
: Hey! Do you have any idea how worried you had us?! Huh?! Do you, idiot?!: Asuka…: …: Ayanami… I think I’ve figured out something about myself…: I… I want to be together with all of you and our friends of the Magnate Ten…
: Really…Back to normal.
Later, in Neo Tokyo 3, Kaji’s meeting Johji Futagami. He asks if Kaji’s got any news to tell but the only thing he has is that four EVA-oriented carriers have set off from Hakone to Hoshimi. Everything's the same as ever.
Hmhmm. Still, Johji’s impressed at how well-informed Kaji is about the Magnate Ten’s activities but the guy simply says he’s making a piece on the squad for this magazine he works with. Plus, he finds the guys interesting, so he follows them around here and there.
Johji laughs but figures our squad isn’t the ONLY thing Kaji is interested in. Indeed, he says he also delves into some occult stuff… like the old Devil Empire or the MU? The latter, says Kaji.
For instance, Kaji asks if Johji’s heard of the so called “Human Specimen nº 1” and, indeed, he has: the one who was discovered some twenty years before the MU revealed themselves to the world. Perhaps the two “reporters” should exchange notes…