Pain...
Pain...
Pain so intense, he couldn't scream loud enough, it was like a red-hot rail spike was being shoved through his eye, his head, his brains...
The pain was so bad it-
...It was gone?
With shuddering gasps, Shinji dared to open his eyes, hoping he'd be waking back in sensei's house and the whole thing had been a dream, a horrible, horrible dream.
But instead, he was in a tunnel, something like a service access tunnel, but old and flooded with a few inches of water.
*Better get moving, kid*
Shinji's head jerked, looking for the source of the voice, "He-Hello?" rising unsteadily to his feet, he looked around, only hearing faint, unintelligible whispers. He began to walk, unsure of where the tunnels lead. Soon, he found a large, open room with a gigantic cage door on the other side, darkness hiding anything further in the cage.
Cautiously, Shinji entered the room, just before he yelped, falling back at the sight of two gigantic red eyes opening from the darkness.
"Welcome, Shinji Ikari." A voice greeted him, sounding far different from what he'd think for something with such big eyes. The eyes moved a bit, a large, orange muzzle coming into the light, with a blond man sitting atop it.
"Wh-who are you," Shinji asked, shakily, "Wh-where are we, how did I get here?"
The blond smiled, "Who, where and why, well, the why is simple," The man level his blue eyes at Shinji, "He doesn't care about you, you know."
Shinji was surprised by the sudden change of subject, "What are you talking about?"
"Your bastard of a father," the blond growled, "The first thing you have to do is face the truth, Shinji, Gendo Ikari is a cold hearted bastard, he sent you away to live alone with some teacher after your mother dies, abandons you only to call you when he needs you." The blond jumped down from the muzzle, landing on the water...
Standing on the water.
"Why are you in this Eva thing?"
Shinji balked for a moment before answering, "Because he was going to force that girl, and she was already hurt and-"
"And do you really believe that?" The blond cut him off, "That angel thing has been terrorizing the place for a little while already, waiting for you. Do you think he'd have waited if he had someone he could force to do it?" The blond leaned against the bars, "My guess would be that you have to be the one to pilot it, for whatever reason, but he knew you wouldn't let an obviously injured girl get hurt even worse, which make him a manipulative, cold-hearted bastard."
"Stop it," Shinji whispered, before finding his voice again, "Why are you here?"
The blond smiled, "Who, where and why," he echoed himself, "I knew a guy once, a demon-slayer of sorts, but to do it, he needed to know three things. The monster's form, the truth of the beast, and the regret that formed it. In this case, we're doing this in reverse, if you want to take that angel down, you need to know your own. Your regret is the loss of your family that has brought you here, but right now you need to know and accept the truth, that your father is a dick, in order to find your own form and move forward."
Stepping between the bars, the man put a hand on Shinji's shoulder, "Fight if you want, but do it because it's the right thing, do it to help that girl, hell. do it with the hope of it getting you laid, that Misato chick seemed pretty hot."
"W-WHAT!" Shinji yelped, falling back into the water.
The man crouched atop the water, smiling, "Do it for what reason you chose, but don't do it to impress or get praise from that asshole, all that does is make you easier to control, always holding a shred of fatherly crap like a scrap of meat to a hungry dog."
The man stood, scratching his head, "I still have the who and where, don't I? This is your soul," The man said, before holding out a hand, "And my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm here to help you, if you'll let me."
Shinji looked warily at the blond for a few moments, before taking his hand, Naruto lifting him onto the water's surface.
"Now let's kick this things ass!" Naruto cheered with a wide smile.
-----------
"Control systems are damaged."
"No response from the pilot."
"Shinji-kun!"
Everyone stop yelling! a voice came over the radio, I'm alive, Misato-san, and I plan to stay that way.
"Unit 01 is generating an A-T fie-, no, that's not possible, Unit-01 is generating multiple A-T fields."
"WHAT?!" Ritsuko rushed to Maya's screen, "That's impossible, Unit 01 is generating multiple, layered fields."
Misato watched on the screen as another red lance shot back from the angels arm, shooting back in towards Unit-01, only to stop part-way, unable to damage the Eva.
The purple robot brought a fist up, knocking the angel back several blocks.
Hey, old man. Shinji's voice came over the radio.
Gendo raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as his mind processed the new A-T information.
I know you're listening, so pay attention, I came to this place to say one thing, something I've wanted to say for a long time...I hate you, I hate you so damn much, and once I finish pimp-slapping this thing, I'm getting out of this robot and kicking your ass personally, you hear me? I am going to shove my foot so far up your ass, my shoelaces will wrap around your shriveled little brain.
The control center was silent, at least the people were, at the boy's sudden personality switch as their eyes were drawn to the screen.
Maya gasped, "The Eva is releasing the Umbilical Cable."
"Shinji, what are you doing?" Dr. Akagi yelled, "without the Umbilical, you only have five minutes of battery life."
Way more than enough.
"Unit-01's A-T Field is changing." Maya said, "I-It's shrinking."
On screen, the crew saw something strange, the Eva's purple armor started to glow, becoming a bright, sunny yellow.
Let's do this!
Unit-01 dashed forward at the recovering angel as it stood, the eva sliding under and launching it into the air with a kick from below, quickly rising with a punch to lift it higher.
"Progressive Knife is being deployed!" Shigeru announced
"What?" Ritsuko yelled, watching the Eva pull it's blade, how did Shinji even know about it?
"A-T field is shifting again," Maya said as the knife began to glow a golden yellow.
Inside the Eva, Shinji, Naruto or whatever the composite of the pair would be called, smiled, quietly speaking over the radio.
Hien...
The blade flew forward, breaking through the angel's A-T field with ease, and cutting through the red orb at its center like it was butter, flying off into the distance before splashing down in the distant ocean waters.
Losing cohesion, Sachiel was reduced to nothing but a bunch of goo that splashed into the streets, showering the Eva as the glow died down.
The control center was speechless, the silence only broken by Shinji's voice over the radio.
Now get me out of this thing, I'd like to make good on that promise before I take a shower, old man.
)