From: Jim Lazar Subject: [Eva][FanFic][Lime] Garden of EVA 2:1 - Third Impact Blows! ======================================================================= Garden of EVA 2:1- Third Impact Blows! Book 2: Blows Neon Genesis Evangelion characters and situations created and Copyright by Gainax, Project Eva, ADV Films - Used without permission Garden of EVA series created, written, and copyright 1998-2000 by Jim Lazar A series set within episode 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion that will blow your mind. "Speech text in double quotes is spoken as Japanese." E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: mailto:jimlazar@animeprime.com Previous parts and my other fanfiction can be found at: http://www.animeprime.com/ff/geva ======================================================================= Just a reminder: Garden of EVA takes place within episode 26 of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series. The events and continuity of the Eva movies are not part of the Garden of EVA 'universe', although certain aspects of Third Impact as shown in the movie will be integrated into Garden of EVA beginning with this part. I have tried to avoid spoiling any major events of the movie, but there are spoilers contained within. In most cases the events unfold in quite a different manner here than the movie. ======================================================================= All the usual warnings about sex, blood, and bad plot twists apply to this part as well. ======================================================================= Third Impact according to Shinji: The end of the world and the end of humanity -E- -V- -A- Shinji was huddled in a corner of NERV headquarters with his hands pressed against his ears, trying to block out the noise of the alarms. The alarms had been going off since the invasion of NERV had begun. "No... no..." Shinji kept muttering over and over again. Unseen by the huddled Shinji, a ghostly Shinji stood nearby and looked down at himself. "What? Where am I?" He looked around the corridor and flinched backwards when three men stormed in and surrounded the prone Shinji. "Third Child confirmed. Eliminating," one of men reported to his superior. The man held a gun out to Shinji's head. "No!!" The ghostly Shinji cried out, but was unheard over the shots that rang out. Not that anyone could hear him anyway. The shots fired were not from the gun pointed at Shinji's head, but from a gun held by Misato as she raced down the hallway. Three men dropped lifelessly to the floor. Their brains hit the floor a half second later. Shinji's tossed cookies mixed with the brains a second after that. The ghostly Shinji's tossed ghost cookies followed, but didn't mix since they weren't really there. "Come on, Shinji, time to go," Misato said, holding out her hand. "No... no..." the prone Shinji muttered, wiping the green chunks that had been his last meal off his face. "What is this? It's not the world I made..." Shinji trailed off as he recalled when this event had occurred and the events that had followed. "I don't want to relive this..." "Snap out of it, Shinji!" Misato yelled and slapped the prone Shinji hard. Even the ghostly Shinji recoiled at the savage blow. "Now, let's get you to Unit One." "Why? There is only pain if I enter Unit One. I'm better off dying," the prone Shinji muttered, holding the bruised cheek that Misato had hit. Misato bent down and gave the prone Shinji a deep kiss. "That's why. There are some things worth fighting for, even if things don't always go your way. Life sucks, but it's better than death." "Are you sure?" Shinji muttered, without looking up. "Yes," both Misato and the ghostly Shinji said at the same time. Unfortunately, both of them were lying through their teeth. Shinji finally looked Misato in the eyes. After several seconds, Misato's eyes widened suddenly. The sound of the gunshot was still ringing in Shinji's ears when Misato dropped into his arms. Shinji gasped as a warm sensation flowed over his hand. He pulled his left hand from under her and saw that it was covered in blood. Shinji looked up at the sound of footsteps and saw a man walking cautiously up to them, scanning the area for other targets. The gun in his hand was pointed right between Shinji's eyes, as shown by the red dot that jiggled on Shinji's forehead. Shinji looked down when he felt a gun pressed into his right hand by Misato, her body hiding the gun from the man's view. Shinji looked at Misato and his eyes spoke a question. "Do it..." She said softly. The ghostly Shinji tried to tackle the man, but passed through him. He looked over at his other self. "Do it!" "Third Child confirmed. Eliminating," the man reported into his headset and then squeezed the trigger. Two shots rang out. The first shot hit the man in the forehead, causing his head to explode and send bits of skull and flesh across the small hallway. The other shot whizzed past Shinji's ear and hit the wall behind him. Shinji looked at the gun and dropped it when he realized what he had done. To kill with Eva's hands was bad enough, but now he had used his own. Trying to ignore the man's brain that had landed on a light fixture right in front of him, Shinji rolled Misato over onto her back and looked for the wound. "Get to Unit One, Shinji. It's the only place you'll be safe," Misato said, without opening her eyes. Shinji had pulled her shirt up to expose the wound and was trying to stop the bleeding with a handkerchief. "No... No... I won't run away!" "It's not running away... you just have a choice to make." "Choice?" both of the Shinji's gasped. "You can choose to die or you can choose to live." "What about you?" "I made my choice." "Huh?" "I chose for you to live. Now go!!" Misato pushed him away from her and Shinji backpedaled across the wide hallway and crashed into the opposite wall. A sad look came over the faces of both Shinjis. The ghostly Shinji could only look on horrified as he relived the events of Third Impact. "A choice..." Shinji said, looking over at the bloody woman lying against the bloody wall. Then he looked down at his bloody hand. The ghostly Shinji clenched his fist. "Come on... don't run away like I did! Deep down you know what you have to do, you bloody asshole!!" Shinji blinked. For a second he had thought he saw himself standing a couple meters away. He shook his head and made his first choice. -E- -V- -A- Later, Shinji crawled into the entry plug of Unit One. After taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his forehead, he reached out the open hatch and pulled Misato inside with him. He quickly sealed the hatch and took some deep breaths to overcome his exhaustion. Dragging Misato all the way from where she had been shot had turned out to be more of a chore than he had imagined when he made his choice. "Nice choice," the ghostly Shinji said, hovering in front of the control chair. "Wish I could have made it." "Whether or not it's the right choice is another matter." The ghostly Shinji spun around and saw his mother hovering behind him, dressed in a flowing white robe. "Mother?" Yui smiled sweetly and caressed his cheek. "Yes, Shinji, Mother is here for you." "What's going on?" "You're just recalling Third Impact, which your mind had repressed." "Am I? I didn't make that choice." He pointed at Misato. "This has to be an illusion of something." "Life is a illusion." "Huh?" "Just watch and learn from your mistakes." "Mistakes? How could saving Misato be a mistake?" "Just watch." Yui gestured to the other Shinji. Shinji started to undo Misato's shirt to treat her wound, but stopped as an odd feeling came over him. He looked around, wondering if he was being watched. Not seeing the ghostly Shinji or Yui floating in front of him, he opened her shirt. He gulped and sniffled as a trickle of blood appeared from his nose. Trying to ignore the large breasts spread out before him, he started to bind the large wound with his own shirt. "She really should wear clean underwear..." Shinji's mom bent down and looked between Misato's legs. "Well, any underwear. You never know when you're going to be in an accident, after all," she remarked in a very motherly tone. She glanced at the ghostly Shinji, who suddenly became very nervous about his own nakedness. "Damn, it went all the way though," Shinji muttered as he reached under her body and realized the wound on her front must be the exit wound. He rolled her over and tried to bind the entry wound on her back as best he could. His nose exploded when he felt her breast touch his other hand. In his embarrassment, he dropped her. Misato grunted and opened her eyes. "Shinji?" "Sorry, I was trying to treat your wounds." "It's okay between adults, Shinji." Misato said softly and pulled his hand on top of her breast. Shinji tried to pull away, but his mighty oak seemed to be fighting with his brain for control of his body at that moment. And winning. "You really have to masturbate more often, Shinji." The ghostly Shinji's jaw dropped open at the unexpected comment from his mother. "Wha..." Yui looked lovingly at Shinji. "It would help you control these urges. First in the hospital with that poor Asuka and now here with that old woman." The ghostly Shinji almost expected Misato to hit his mother for that comment, but of course, she couldn't hear either of them. Yui touched the ghostly Shinji's cheek. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. If I hadn't been so dedicated to the project maybe I could have kept you from becoming such a pervert." "Mom!" Shinji looked awkwardly away from his mother only to see himself fondling Misato's breast. "Shinji!" Misato smiled and looked at Shinji's eyes. "Kiss me." Shinji gulped and removed his hand from her breast. "Huh?" "It's what an adult who is fondling a woman's breast does." Misato winked. "It's only common curtsey." "Um... well..." Misato reached a frail hand up and pulled Shinji down onto her lips. She kissed him hard, slipping her tongue between his lips. Shinji cringed at the sudden sensation of the tongue in his mouth. He found himself getting into the kiss right about the time that Misato pushed him away. A wave of disappointment washed over him. "That's an adult kiss." Shinji nodded dumbly. "Now you have to do what an adult would do in this situation." Shinji trembled and looked down at her exposed breasts and beyond. "But... but..." Misato reached up and pushed Shinji roughly back into his pilot's seat. Then she threw a series of controls on the control panel attached to the side of the seat. Shinji looked around confused as the entry plug filled with LCL. As he'd done many times before, he adjusted to the odd sensation of breathing a liquid as the displays and controls came to life. "Huh? What are you doing?!" Misato hesitated before answering, unused to the feeling of the LCL. "An... an adult has to fight for what he believes in." Shinji shook his head. "No! I won't fight anymore!!" "Then you're just a little boy, crying for your mommy or running away when things get rough." The ghostly Shinji looked awkwardly at his mother. Shinji clenched his fist. "I'm not running away!" "Then get out there and help Asuka stop Third Impact!!" Misato shouted, pulling her shirt closed over her naked bosom. "Save the world, and we can do even more adult stuff." She winked seductively. A determined look came over Shinji's face. "I will!!" He grabbed the controls and began the startup sequence. Yui shook her head sadly. "How sad, the only way to get my son to do anything is to offer him sex." She sighed. "Your father was the same way whenever I needed the garbage taken out." The ghostly Shinji's jaw dropped. -E- -V- -A- Unit One climbed the large girders towards the surface of geo-front. Its hand wrapped around the last girder and then used it to pull its body up the launch shaft, only to have the girder bend and crack. Shinji groped frantically for any thing to grab. He might have enjoyed it, but his brief grabbing of Misato's breast during his groping to a handhold in the shaft wasn't going to save their lives. "Careful on that last girder... they didn't finish the repair on the launch shaft before we were attacked." "Now you tell me!" Shinji yelled as he finally managed to halt his descent by grabbing a stable girder. "Sorry. The weapons bunker should be right next to the shaft." Misato coughed, spitting up some dark-red blood. The small gloobs of blood drifted away with the slight current the life support systems used to clean the LCL. Shinji followed the globs with his eyes and wondered what dark-red blood meant. He glanced at his battery power. "I hope you're right..." "I am. Last time I talked to Central Dogma, they said they had all the bunkers locked down and secured so no one can get into them except us." Shinji frowned. "Unless they blow them up." "You have to learn to be less fatalistic, Shinji." -E- -V- -A- Unit One climbed onto the surface and turned around looking for the nearest weapons bunker. All it saw was a smoking crater with some sort of white Eva unit lying in it. Well, pieces of a white Eva. Shinji looked at Misato. "You were saying?" Misato smiled apologetically. "What is that white thing? It looks like a Eva unit." Misato grimaced as she rose enough to see the displays. "Damn... that's one of the Eva production series. Be careful, where there's one there could be dozens more waiting in the shadows." Shinji scanned the area. "What the hell can I do against dozens of them!!" "Well, maybe Asuka's taken some of them out already. Look for an undamaged bunker first and then we'll find Asuka." Shinji nodded, took a deep breath, and checked his tactical map. "There's a bunker to the south." As Unit One lumbered across the battlefield, Shinji saw other signs of a battle. Not the least of was the large gaping hole in the geo-front's normally solid ceiling. The purple Eva reached a small, undamaged bunker that housed various weapons for the Evas. He opened the access hatch and pulled out a rifle. He scanned for movement visually and then checked his tactical map. He frowned and tapped his control pad a few times. "My map's not updating." "They must have taken out Central Dogma." Misato coughed. "Just find Asuka before it's too late." "Yeah!! Hurry, you dope!" the ghostly Shinji shouted. "She's over to your left!!" "Calm down, Shinji, you can't change anything, this is only a memory for you," Yui said calmly. "Then why am I here?! I know how it ends!!" "Do you?" "Of course I do!! I couldn't stop Third..." The ghostly Shinji was interrupted by his own long drawn out scream. Shinji screamed as he stared wide eyed at some white Eva units. They were picking apart Unit Two like a pack of vultures picking apart a corpse in the desert. Blood-red entrails were yanked from Unit Two's carcass as the Eva series gorged on their kill. "Asuka!!" The ghostly Shinji jumped at the controls, but his hands went through them. "Dammit, What are you waiting for, asshole!! Go save her before it's too late!!" "That's yourself you're talking to, Shinji," Yui calmly stated. The ghostly Shinji flinched and looked back at his mother. "Oh yeah..." -E- -V- -A- Unit One landed on the head of one of the white Eva series and crushed it into a bloody pulp. The purple Eva swung around and fired round after round from the assault riffle in its hands. All around the remains of Unit Two, the white Eva series swarmed, trying to avoid Shinji's blasts. They were unsuccessful. Large explosions rocked the earth that Unit One stood on, but they did not stop Shinji from blazing away. Flashes from the gun's muzzle lit up Shinji's face as he leaned forward and shot at the Eva series that had been ripping apart Unit Two. "Take that, and that, and that!" "Shinji..." Misato muttered, but was unheard. "Die... die... die..." "Shinji," Yui said softly. The assault rifle started clicking loudly as its ammunition clip finally emptied, but Shinji kept firing regardless. "Die... die... die..." The ghostly Shinji looked at his mother. "Stop him!!" His eye pleaded with her. "I can't, this is just your memory that you are reliving." "Then get me out of here! I don't need to remember what came next, I know what happened!!" "What came next?" "I... I found.. I found her remains," Shinji said softly, averting his eyes from the displays. -E- -V- -A- Unit One had finally dropped the spent rifle onto the ground near the white pieces that were once the Eva series and was hesitantly digging through the bloody remains of Unit Two. Its search was rewarded when it pulled the twisted, blood-covered, entry plug out of what was left of Unit Two. "Don't open it... don't open it..." The ghostly Shinji held his head in his hands and trembled. "It's just going to be like Touji all over again if you do..." Shinji positioned the entry plug next to his Eva's head and then ejected his entry plug. "I'm coming, Asuka..." he muttered to himself as he crawled out the hatch. "No... no..." Yui held out a hand to Shinji. "Come along, Shinji." "No!! I don't want to see that again!!" Yui grabbed Shinji's arm and pulled him forcefully through the side of the entry plug. She floated over next to Unit Two's mangled entry plug with Shinji in tow. "No! Don't make me see that again!!" "Face it like a man!!" Yui screamed and slapped Shinji hard. The ghostly Shinji had tears in his eyes when he looked up at his mother. "No! I faced it like a man and that's what happened!!" He didn't look, but pointed at the other Shinji, who was pulling a red plug-suited figure out of the mangled entry plug. "Asuka?" The ghostly Shinji pressed his hands over his ears. "No... don't..." "Asuka?" "Don't say it..." "Please, Asuka." "You'll regret it..." "Asuka, please don't die, I love you." The ghostly Shinji cringed and clenched his eyes shut tighter. "No..." He shook his head. "Don't admit it like that... not to her corpse." "Shinji? I... I love you too..." The ghostly Shinji's eyes snapped open to reveal himself cradling Asuka in his arms. "Whaaaa... no... she was dead. Her body was mangled and torn apart." He looked at his hands that had held her bloody head in them. "I was so sure..." He staggered backwards and bumped against Unit One's entry plug, a remarkable movement considering he was already floating in mid air. Shinji stroked Asuka's sweat caked hair. "Come on... we've got to stop Third Impact." "I tried... but I couldn't do it." Shinji smiled. "You did good." "You idiot! How can I have done good if my Eva is in pieces?!" "You survived." Asuka smiled weakly. "You sentimental jerk." Shinji picked up Asuka and carried her back towards his entry plug. Yui was holding the other Shinji in her arms to comfort him. "Shhhhhh..." "Whose head was it then?" The ghostly Shinji's eyes snapped open. "Kaworu!" -E- -V- -A- Shinji lowered Asuka onto the opposite side of the pilot's chair from Misato. "Getting a bit crowded in here, isn't it?" Asuka remarked, grimacing slightly from a bruise on her side. She shifted slightly to find a better position. Shinji settled into the pilot's seat and then paused before activating the systems. He shook he head to clear it. He hit the controls to pull the entry plug back into Unit One and then looked at Misato as the entry plug refilled with LCL. "Now what?" Misato shook her head. "That's up to you." "Well, I'm going to stop Third Impact." "Shinji, about what you said outside..." Asuka looked at Shinji. Shinji avoided her gaze and checked his controls. "Um... time to go save the world." "Dummkopf," Asuka said with a smile on her face. -E- -V- -A- The ghostly Shinji hovered by his mother and watched Unit One lumber away. He spoke the rest of his thought out loud. "I hope he somehow manages to stop Third Impact." "Why?" The ghostly Shinji frowned at the unexpected question and looked at his mother. "Why? Because... because..." "You don't know, do you?" Shinji cringed. "No... but it killed everyone! That has to be bad!!" "Maybe, maybe not." Shinji couldn't believe he was hearing his mother so causally dismiss the deaths of three billion plus people so casually. "How could that be good?!" "Shinji, what do you think your father and I have been doing?" "Fighting the Angels so we can prevent Third Impact." "No. We were working to prevent others from triggering it before we could." The ghostly Shinji went even paler. "Wha... what? You want to destroy the world?" "No, but Third Impact can't be avoided, only delayed." "Why?" "That's the conclusion I came to during my research into the Human Genome. Programmed into our genetic code is the information on Third Impact. How to trigger it and how to stop it. But even if we stop it now, sooner or later something will trigger it. As long as humans exist, the triggers for Third Impact exist. They are one and the same. Evolution will eventually spark Third Impact given enough time." Shinji couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You... you're saying that humans are the trigger for Third Impact?" "Of course. Even the Angels had human souls, they were just failed attempts at creating humans after all." "I can't believe this..." Shinji shook his head. "The Evas don't..." "The Eva's have their pilot's souls-" Yui tapped Shinji's forehead. "-and their own." She tapped her own forehead. "Synchronized souls are the most powerful force in the universe. So there was no way for Third Impact to be permanently avoided as long as humans existed. Realizing this, your father and I set about planning for this." She gestured at Unit One. Shinji shook his head. "No... no... no!! Then what's the point of all this fighting and death for if not to save the world?!" Yui cupped Shinji's cheek in her hand. "Control." "Huh?" "Whoever controls Third Impact can shape the next phase of humanity, for better or worse. It all depends on who has that control. If no one has control, then Humanity ends." The ghostly Shinji gasped and dropped to his knees, which again looked very odd since he was still floating in mid-air. "The theater..." "Yes." Shinji looked at his hands. "I don't want that power." "Too late, you have it." Yui looked around, as if to make sure they weren't being overheard. It was kind of a pointless precaution in their current ghostly state. "To tell you the truth, I was a little worried after I was absorbed into Unit One that your father might end up with the power instead of you as I always planned." "Huh? Is that why you helped me survive all those times?" "Yes. Shinji, you may not believe this, but your father is a little nuts and just a tad power hungry." Shinji stared blankly at his mother. "Oh, like that's a big secret." Yui frowned. "You knew?" "Of course I knew!! He's a jerk, an asshole, a murderer, and he's sleeping with Ritsuko too!!" Yui's eye twitched. "What?" Shinji gulped. "Um... that's just a rumor. I'm sure he wouldn't really sleep with her or her mother." "Naoko too? That... that... jackass!! If he wasn't dead already, I'd kill the bastard!!" Suddenly, a thought occurred to Yui. "Oh! You're talking about that last world you made." Shinji fidgeted. "Um... yeah, that's the ticket!" He smiled as he realized he had squirmed out of that bad situation. "I really need to talk to you about that. Honestly, I'm nothing like that and all that sex. It's just not healthy for a young boy like you." Shinji sighed heavily. -E- -V- -A- The Lance of Longinus stopped right before penetrating the purple armor protecting Unit One's neck. Its hands reached out and gripped the long, smooth shaft. In one quick movement, it ducked down to avoid the replica lance wielded by an Eva series, spun around, and sliced through its white flesh. A second upward thrust with the Lance of Longinus sliced through the S2 engine of the Eva series. Unit One jumped over the remains and sprinted for its life. "Come on... come on..." Shinji muttered as he tried to get Unit One out of range. He smiled when the S2 engine exploded and only got a small amount of debris dropped on him. "Got it!!" Asuka crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, no one ever told *ME* to go for their S2 engines!" Misato smiled weakly. "Sorry, I was busy getting shot." "That's no excuse! If I had known that they could regenerate unless their S2 engines were destroyed, I could have taken them all out myself!" "Where's the next one?" Shinji asked, trying to break up the argument. Asuka shut her mouth long enough to check the display that was positioned near where she sat. "Um... north by northwest, two clicks." Shinji pivoted Unit One around and ran at the Eva series. He held the Lance of in front of him, as if to impale his enemy like a knight on a noble steed. "Careful, there's another target to the west, one click and closing," Misato commented. "Yeah, I see it." Shinji continued running head first towards the white Eva. "Don't attack straight in, Dummkopf!" "Shinji, I really think that..." Misato's suggestion stopped mid-sentence when Shinji rammed the Lance into the ground and used it to vault over the Eva series. Letting go of the Lance and leaving it embedded in the ground, Unit One landed right behind the Eva series and kicked the white Eva in the back. The Eva series crashed forward onto the vertical Lance and was cut neatly in two. "Dummkopf! You didn't hit his S2 engine!" Shinji grinned. "Not a problem." Unit One leapt forward and picked up the Lance and held it horizontally in front of him. The second Eva series ran straight into the end of the Lance. The dual prongs sliced through its S2 engine. Unit One quickly withdrew the Lance and took off running. It was thrown forward several hundred meters when the S2 engine blew, taking both Eva series with it. Shinji smirked and looked at Asuka. "You were saying?" "Oh, shut up!!" Shinji smirked more. Shinji stopped smirking when an Eva series swooped down from above and sliced his hand off. The hand that held the Lance of Longinus. As the Lance of Longinus clattered to the ground, Shinji screamed as one of the faux-lances was driven into the chest of Unit One. He clutched his chest as the Eva series twisted the faux-lance. "Shinji!!" Asuka lunged for the controls, but she was too late. The other remaining Eva series had quickly swarmed into the area and thrust their faux-lances into Unit One's limbs. Two in its feet and two in its hands--well, hand and wrist. The faux-lances pulled the crucified Unit One into the air. One of the Eva series picked up the real Lance of Longinus and flew into the sky after Unit One. The others followed slightly behind it. Shinji and Asuka struggled with the controls, but weren't able to move Unit One at all. "Come on... come on... co..." Shinji suddenly convulsed and screamed in torment as the Lance of Longinus was thrust into his chest. Outside, the ghostly Shinji and his mother looked on as Eva Unit One was wrapped in a cocoon that vaguely resembled a cross. "Failed again," Shinji muttered, glancing at the Eva series as they started to take up positions around the cocooned Unit One. "One boy's failure is the world's salvation." Shinji looked at his mother. "You're convinced this is a good thing, aren't you?" "I have faith that you will make the right choices." Shinji sighed and watched a huge figure that looked like Rei rise from the surface of the Earth where Tokyo-3 used to stand. "Here's where he gets his chubby when he sees Rei." He looked down and covered himself quickly when he realized he was responding the same way himself to the huge naked Rei that was spreading her arms and legs in front of the cocooned Unit One. "Shinji! That is no way for my son to talk," Yui scolded her son, ignoring the erection he was unsuccessfully trying to hide. "Sorry..." Shinji muttered. "It's just that I got all hot and bothered when Rei showed up for some reason." Yui cupped Shinji's head. "Don't be embarrassed by your feelings, although you could try to control your hormones." She glanced at Shinji's groin. Shinji's blush deepened, which fortunately required the blood from his nether regions to flow up to his face and allow his oak tree to fall back to its forest. "Shinji, that's a normal reaction to have when you are sexually attracted to someone. Don't be embarrassed." Shinji shrugged and avoided looking at his mother. "Shinji, I think we should have a little talk about sex." Shinji flinched. "Now?" "Yes, why not?" Yui said, ignoring the huge explosion that ripped Japan apart as the geo-front was pushed into space. "Third Impact is happening here!" Shinji gestured at Rei, who was cupping her hands around the round egg that was once the geo-front. Yui looked over at events as they unfolded. "We still have time before anything interesting happens." Shinji looked down at the Earth that they floated over and saw a black shock wave spread out and burn away everything on the surface. Small glowing crosses sprung from the ashes as a cheerful tune assailed his ears. "If you say so." He frowned as the cheerful song that heralded the end of the Human race as he knew it increased in intensity. "Hey... do you hear that song too?" Yui frowned. "What song?" "Never mind..." Shinji mumbled as the world exploded around him. Yui sat back and sat down on a cloud. "Now, Shinji, when a man and a woman are attracted to each other..." Shinji sighed and tuned out his mother's ramblings. Like he was going to take relationship advice from someone who would marry his father. -E- -V- -A- The cocooned Unit One was absorbed into the forehead of the giant Rei. Her white flesh suddenly bubbled and turned to wood. Leaves sprouted from her arms and head to form the tree of life. An oak tree in this case. The tree's roots dug into the blacked Earth and spread out over the entire surface. Small green sprouts popped from the renewed soil and the dead sea slowly became blue-green as life returned to it. Yui put her arm around her son as they watched the world grow green. "See, the world has been renewed." The ghostly Shinji looked around. "I didn't know..." He frowned suddenly. "Where are the people?" Yui took Shinji's hand. "That's what you are here for." She started walking across the sky, pulling a confused Shinji with her. As the plant and animal life returned to the Earth, the mother and son walked into the heavens and slowly faded away. -E- -V- -A- Third Impact according to Shinji: The beginning of the world? [End - Garden of EVA 2:1 - Third Impact Blows!] ======================================================================= Author's notes/ramblings: And thus starts Book 2 of Garden of Eva. At first, I didn't think I'd be able to have any lime content in this part. But my dirty mind came to the rescue and provided the sick ideas to make this a lime story after all. In fact, originally it was going to be VERY serious. I'd like to thank my pre-readers David Johnston, Axel Terizaki, and Thomas C. Kinnen for helping me find and fix problems with this story. FFML members E.L. Toh and Mark Ferrer were also helpful in fine tuning this story. Thank you all. Of course in the end, any mistakes and botched characters are my fault. Revision 0.0 - Initial draft began (January 22, 2000) Revision 0.1 - Initial draft completed (January 26, 2000) Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (February 6, 2000) Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (February 14, 2000) Revision 1.0 - Final version (February 23, 2000) Revision 1.1 - First RAAC posting (February 27, 2000)