Battle against the Music Angel

"An Angel's here?" Shinji jolted awake.

Asuka woke up too.

Neither of them worried about having ended up in bed together again. They hurried to the bathroom to splash water on their faces, then rode to the base in Misato's car.

"Give me a report on the Angel. I'll analyze it." Zero switched into mission mode.

"I only just got the call myself. I don't know the details either."

"Have you finished replicating STORAGE's weapons and equipment?"

"The weapons aren't ready for deployment yet, but the reinforced armor and external thrusters have been installed."

"We'll have to see the Angel to get a clearer picture."

"The three of them arrived at NERV headquarters."

"Unit-00 is still undergoing repairs and can't deploy."

The Commander sat in his command chair.

Having regained his air of gravitas, he ordered:

"Prepare Unit-01 and Unit-02 for deployment!"

"The bruises on his face healed that fast? I'm starting to regret not hitting him harder." The sight of Gendo Ikari's face irritated Zero.

"Too bad I didn't do it myself, but it still felt great..." Shinji secretly savored the memory of Gendo Ikari's battered face.

Shinji and Asuka climbed into their Entry Plugs and entered Unit-01 and Unit-02 respectively.

After Unit-01 and Unit-02 were launched to the surface, Ritsuko Akagi instructed them to activate their propulsion systems immediately.

"I adapted the thrusters used by the Special Airborne Armors for the Evas. You can fly straight to the designated area!"

"Beautiful work, Doctor."

"All right, let's begin!"

"Thruster fuel ready! Prepare for launch!"

The armor on Unit-01's and Unit-02's backs opened, and enormous thrusters extended from within.

"Three, two, one, ignition!"

Whoooosh!

"Takeoff!" Asuka shouted excitedly.

The thrusters spewed flames, and the two Evas gradually lifted off the ground.

Then they shot toward the coastline.

The g-force was considerable, but Shinji's superhuman constitution meant he barely felt it.

Protected by the LCL fluid, Asuka only felt that getting up was a little difficult.

An image of the Angel appeared on the screens in front of them.

"What the... Can't these monsters called Angels ever look like something I can actually put into words...?" Once again, an Angel's appearance dealt Zero a crushing blow.

The gigantic humanoid creature held both hands high, its arms forming an arc. Its body was mostly black, accented with silvery-white lines. A small silver-and-red head sat on its chest, with the Angels' signature red core beneath it.

The Seventh Angel-Music Angel.

"Even Space Beasts look a lot better than this thing..."

"It might be similar to the Third Angel, with both close-range and long-range capabilities," Zero analyzed.

"Tokyo-3's defense systems suffered heavy losses during the battle against the Fifth Angel. They're only back to twenty-six percent capacity and can't provide support." Misato outlined their orders.

"These defenses really don't do much..." After their previous battles, Zero had concluded that conventional weapons were essentially incapable of damaging Angels.

"That's why we need to destroy the Angel in one decisive strike when it emerges from the sea. Unit-01 and Unit-02 will alternate attacks. As for..." Misato glanced at the technicians beside her, who knew nothing about Zero, and swallowed the instructions she had intended for him.

Having experienced Shinji's strength firsthand, Asuka said with a haughty air, "Let's see what you've got."

"Then watch closely. I've got no limits!" Shinji answered confidently.

This kid's becoming more and more like me, Zero thought with satisfaction.

Unit-01 and Unit-02 flew to the shore, their thrusters retracting automatically as they landed.

Unit-01 and Unit-02 connected their power cables.

"Isn't that a little unnecessary now...?" Zero glanced at the Palaj Bracelet shining on Shinji's wrist.

Looking at the Angel before them, Misato gave her orders. "Asuka, take the lead. Shinji, cover her."

A nearby building opened, and Shinji deftly retrieved the rifle inside.

Asuka took an enormous metal spear from another building that had opened.

Asuka charged ahead while Shinji provided covering fire.

Ratatatat!

Although the bullets didn't hit the Angel directly, they distracted it, allowing Asuka to close in.

Asuka leaped into the air, using Shinji's cover to get above the Angel.

A silver flash sliced the Music Angel vertically in half, exposing the flesh inside.

"Split right down the middle. It's got a little of Uncle Ace's Vertical Guillotine flavor, but not much."

"My first kill!" Asuka shouted happily.

"No! That thing isn't dead!" Zero could still sense the Angel's life signs.

He activated Ultra Vision and was astonished to discover that the Angel's single core had split into two!

"Asuka, get out of the way!" The moment Shinji learned this, he dropped his rifle and charged forward.

After all, the thing really wasn't much use.

"Get out of the way of wha... Ah, it's moving again?!"

The flesh of the bisected Angel began to writhe, each half forming a complete body.

The Angel had become two, one brown and one white.

"That's just cheating!" Misato cursed.

Kaji smoothly took out his watch, ready to time them.

"Let's hope it can't make endless copies like Alien Baltan or Alien Guts. That would be trouble..." Zero had heard about aliens capable of splitting themselves from the original Ultraman and his father. He had also fought simulated battles against them in the Ultra Coliseum, and they were formidable opponents.

The brown Angel swung a palm at Unit-02, but Unit-01 arrived just in time. After spinning several times in midair, Unit-01 landed a kick that shattered its AT Field.

The kick sent it flying a great distance.

Asuka quickly recovered and kept the white Angel occupied.

Shinji pressed his advantage, attacking the Angel with Space Martial Arts.

Since they were fighting at sea, he didn't have to worry about damaging buildings and could cut loose.

"Take this!" Shinji made Unit-01 rain punches down on the brown Angel.

Shinji had already become fairly proficient in Zero's Space Martial Arts.

Under Unit-01's barrage of Space Martial Arts, the brown Angel gradually faltered, and cracks began to appear across its face.

Seeing the Angel reeling, Shinji drew the combat knife from his shoulder armor and drove it into the Angel's core with lightning speed.

Yet the expected explosion never came. The Angel remained standing there, perfectly fine.

"Why?!"

Puzzled, Zero activated Ultra Vision again and scanned the Angel's core.

"I get it. We have to destroy both cores simultaneously to kill this Angel for good!"

He told them telepathically, "Shinji, Asuka, it's time to put your training to the test!"

"Isn't it time you stepped in?" Asuka demanded as she kicked away the white Angel harrying her.

"You want me to step in? Sure."

Hearing that, Shinji took out the Ultra Glasses.

"But then you'll both have another seven hours of training when we get back. Let's use the Jeep again."

"Ah! No way! Idiot Shinji, you don't want to get run over again either, do you?!"

Shinji silently put the glasses back into the bracelet.

"Remember the fundamentals you practiced!"

At that moment, both Angels' eyes lit up, firing the strange beams characteristic of their kind.

The two Evas began backflipping together in perfect sync to evade them.

The Angels took to the air, trying to engage them at close range.

The instant the Angels landed, Zero shouted, "Now!"

Both Evas struck simultaneously, sending the Angels flying with roundhouse kicks.

The white and brown Angels fell together.

"Only one minute left!" Misato watched the power supply anxiously.

"Now's your chance! Go!"

The thrusters extended from the two Evas' backs. Both Evas leaped just before the jets fired, catching the boost perfectly.

Unit-01 and Unit-02 aimed their feet at the two Angels' cores and kicked downward, aided by gravity.

Unable to move as they lay on the ground, the Angels deployed their AT Fields in an attempt to block the blow.

Seeing this, Shinji took out Ultraman Jack's capsule, inserted it into the slot, and selected the skill [Meteor Flying Kick].

An apparition of Ultraman Jack performing a flying kick merged with Unit-01, and its descending foot began to shine gold.

Bang!

The instant their feet met the AT Fields, the barriers shattered.

Unit-01 and Unit-02 struck both Angels' cores simultaneously.

The cores shattered.

Boom...

An enormous mushroom cloud surged into the sky as the Angels exploded violently.

Zero checked and found that the Angels' life signs had vanished.

They would have to redraw the map again...

Fortunately, the blast couldn't harm the Evas.

Looking at the huge crater left by the Angels' explosion,

Shinji held up two fingers.

"You're twenty thousand years too early to beat me!"

"Hey, that's my line..."

"You two worked really well together," Zero praised them.

"Of course. I'm the best pilot there is."

"As a reward, today's training will be reduced to two hours!"

"What?! No! (╥_╥)" Shinji and Asuka felt dizzy.

"Operation successful."

"Those two kids were absolutely wonderful," Misato praised them.

At that moment, no one noticed a figure at the edge of the crater.

His eyes glowed red, and after scanning the area for a while,

"What a shame. It wasn't inside this one either..."