The giant Aparoid let out an inhuman wail. His legs screeched horribly as it staggered around, until it finally crashed down to the ground.
Fox sighed as he climbed out of his Landmaster tank. "Well, that takes care of that..." he mumbled. "Slippy, can you see any remaining Aparoids?"
"Nope, not a single one!" Slippy called from his Arwing. "Well, good riddance, I'd say. They really gave me some trouble up here."
"You did fine by yourself, Slip! Falco, how's Krystal?"
Falco, who was still guarding the blue vixen's body next to the two crashed Arwings, looked down at her. "She's still out cold, but at least she seems to have calmed down."
"Slippy, you better pick her up with your Arwing," Peppy spoke up. "Falco, I'm gonna send you one of our reserve Arwings as soon as the transfer device is ready. Fox, you pick up that Aparoid's core memory!"
"I'm on it," Fox nodded as he walked towards the fallen titan. He got ready to climb on top of it, but before he could do so, a flying shape suddenly came zooming across the sky.
"Hey, long time no see!" an all-too-familiar voice spoke through the communicator.
"What? Pigma?" Fox wondered.
And indeed, aboard the yellow, one-seated spacecraft that was hovering above him, sat the bulky form of former Starfox member and traitor to the Cornerian army, Pigma Dengar!
"Heh, thanks for helping me out there!" Pigma grunted with amusement.
"The distress signal? That was you?" Fox asked.
"Since I'm here, I'll just help myself to this," grunted the fat villain as he moved his ship right above the collapsed form of the giant Aparoid. A blue tractor beam came shooting out of the vessel's underside and sucked the Aparoid's core memory into the ship.
"If this thing is so important, then I'm gonna be rich!" the hog roared with laughter. "Smell ya later!" And he turned around his ship and flew off.
"Stop! Pigma!" Fox shouted. "Dang!"
"No worries, I'm already tracking him on radar," Peppy reported. "Fox, get back to your ship!"
In the meantime, Slippy had landed next to Falco and together, they helped the sleeping form of Rei into his Arwing.
"Is she gonna be okay?" the frog asked with worry.
"Hey, she's gonna be okay! She's a tough girl, and ROB will patch her all up. She'll be okay, you'll see!"
Rei's head rolled around as she moaned. The persistent voice that had spoken in her mind was gone, but her sleep was still a bit uneasy.
"Aparoids..." she murmured. "Homeworld... clones... Angels... Sh... shinji..."
Fox was sitting in the sick bay, next to Rei's bed. She hadn't woken up since they brought her back from the Katina battlefield. While Peppy was busy with following Pigma's route on radar, Fox had never left her side.
The door slid open and Slippy walked in. "Hey, Fox!" he said. "How's Krystal?"
Fox sighed. "Well, ROB scanned her and he says her vital signs are stable... but her brain activities are what worry him the most. The mental scanners picked up some strange patterns ROB couldn't analyze. It seems she is trapped inside some bad dream she cannot escape."
"Poor Krystal..." Slippy murmured. "What can we do?"
Fox looked at the sleeping form of the vixen. "We wait and see, Slippy! We wait and see..."
Suddenly, Peppy's voice came through the intercom. "Fox, you better come up to the bridge and take a look at this."
Fox wanted to go, but then his gaze fell back upon his beloved one's face.
Slippy noticed his unease. "Go on ahead, Fox!" he smiled. "I'll stay with her."
Fox nodded. "Thanks, Slip!"
When he entered the bridge, Peppy gestured at a holographic space map that was hovering in front of him. "Take a look at this, Fox! Pigma's trail leads to the Sargasso Sector... an infamous gathering space for smugglers, mercenaries and all kinds of space scum."
"That's just like Pigma, retreating to a place like that..." Fox grumbled. "What in the world does he want with that core memory?"
"I don't know, but you might be interested to hear this: According to intelligence, Star Wolf has been frequently sighted around that area. I bet Pigma has a lot of catching up to do with his pals."
Fox frowned. It had been a long time since he and Wolf had their last space duel. The bitterness between the two opposing teams was grand, but neither side had been able to beat the other one up until now. Star Wolf was always back for vengeance.
"Looks like we know what to do," Fox grumbled. "Peppy, set course to the Sargasso Sector!"
Commander Gendo Ikari was sitting at his desk. He had locked himself in, and neither the frantic knocking at the door, nor the shaking of the underground base itself had been able to pull him out of his state of immobility.
He was thinking. Thinking if it all had been worth it. If he had just chased a dream. If humanity was indeed doomed to die. Up above them, Zeruel was laying waste to anything that stood in his path, as he dug himself even deeper into the Earth. Nothing could stop him on his search for Lilith and Adam... not even the Evangelion Units. Not with their pilots missing...
And Rei... Rei was the loss that troubled Gendo the most. She had been everything... and now she was gone. Along with his son and the third Eva pilot.
"Is it hopeless?" he murmured to himself as he sat alone in the darkness. "Are we really doomed?"
He didn't expect anybody to answer.
"That is up to you, Gendo!" a deep voice spoke up. It sounded as if it was coming directly out of the earth itself.
Gendo jumped up. "Who are you?"
"We are what we want to be," another, softer voice exclaimed. "We bring order into the chaos. We will be the beginning of a new era."
Gendo sweated. "Are you Angels?" he asked.
"No, but we are actually very similar to you, Gendo Ikari," said a third voice. "We only follow our dreams and wishes and would do anything to make them come true."
"You could do the same thing," the first voice said. "All you have to do is to accept our terms, and we can make all of this undone. Be a part of our new world order!"
Gendo hesitated. But only for a moment. What did have to lose?
"What are your terms?" Gendo asked.
The voices snickered. "You have to fill in a void, a place in destiny that has been ripped open by a group of ruthless vandals that call themselves heroes..."
"The other side, the one that we oppose, has begun to fill their own gaps with replacements," the soft voice explained. "All we want to do is to maintain the balance... to fill in the gaps they created by killing a member of our council."
"And you want me to step into that place?" Gendo asked. "Will this really help me fulfil my dreams?"
"All of them, Gendo Ikari!" the third voice hissed. "We looked into your soul, and we know of your desires... your wife, Yui... your angel, Rei... a perfect world order... we can make all of that happen, and more!"
Gendo was hesitant. "Just like that? There has to be a hitch."
"Well, we only need one thing from you, Gendo: Your loyalty to our cause, and three lieutenants, followers that will be your personal guard."
Gendo thought about his remaining subordinates, but the voices were quick to object: "No! We need younger souls, spiritually untamed and open for our changes. They don't even have to agree with your ways."
"There are free spaces for them as well," explained the deep voice. "And unlike you, they will not maintain their free will. They will be bound to you, body and soul, and cannot other than to agree with every single of your opinions."
"Do you have someone in mind, Gendo?" the soft voice asked. "Someone who is young, untamed and pure of soul?"
Before he could even wonder how it happened, Gendo's thoughts shifted to the faces of three young people, classmates of his son... Major Katsuragi had mentioned them once or twice...
He smiled. "Toji Suzuhara, Hikari Horaki and Kensuke Aida. Those are the ones I choose."
"An excellent choice!" hissed the third voice. "We welcome you, brother, to our sworn companionship of visionaries... welcome to the Subspace Council!"
And darkness engulfed him.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:56)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.