Chapter 1
Memories of the Watermelon Field/The Raid of NERV

December 31st, 2015

As a result of the final actions of Kaji Ryoji of the NERV Special Information unit, SEELE's intended scenario for the invasion of NERV Japan was sabotaged. SEELE's true colors were brought to light, and the truth behind the Human Instrumentality Project was unveiled to the United Nations and the Japanese government, leading them to call off the invasion of NERV. Despite this, the disease known as SEELE had spread far in the world's anatomy, and a number of spies had infiltrated both the UN and Japan. Bringing about chaos within each of these organizations, reinforcements and funding had been indefinitely postponed for NERV.
NERV had been left alone to combat SEELE's assault.
At the forefront of their attack lay the culmination of Project E, the Mass Production Evangelions. Out of a planned twelve, five of these were completed at NERV China in May, after which contact was lost with the branch. Faced with the alarming possibility that the MP Series were armed with anti-Evangelion equipment SEELE had kept secret from the world, the odds had clearly been drawn in SEELE's favor.
The gap in power was clear; Evangelion Unit-00 was still being reconstructed after its fateful suicide, the Third Rei was unprepared to enter combat, and Evangelion Unit-02's pilot was comatose. Unit-03 and 04 had been destroyed months ago, leaving NERV with no choice but to sortie a single Evangelion against the MP Series.
Equipped with the F-Type Evangelion AT Field Control Experiment unit, a technology once grounded under SEELE's authority, Unit-01 is deployed. In these extreme circumstances, Ikari Shinji has no recourse than to give his best to save those in the Geofront.


Polluted Battle-Area
Early Summer 2018

Asuka Langeley Sohryu frowned as the wind tugged at her scarlet hair. The morning air would have been refreshing, if not for the painful contrast of the battled-scarred wasteland that stretched on for miles around her. Once upon a time, this had been a forest that would have been noisy with all the implicating chirping and buzzing of life.
Her arm came up as an awkward shield against the sun's abrupt glare, and in the corner of her eye she caught sight of an optical sensor's flash. A hard working, twenty-four hour AI-san; the laser that had briefly darted into her eye had just confirmed her as the Second Children.
Asuka smiled in silent scoffing at the SDF's security policies and returned to the day's task, the all-important top-secret mission of “Patrol the watermelon field”.
The frown returned as she caught sight of a certain boy and his thin ponytail.
Why's he imitating Kaji? I mean, it doesn't matter or anything but...ugh! What are you thinking, Asuka?!
Ikari Shinji had been watering Kaji's watermelons for the past year.
He needn't worry about others ruining his work; here in the theater bloodied by Evangelion and the Self-Defense Force, normal people were kept out by the hushed rumors of pollution.
Shinji stayed his hand, the flow of water ceasing as he looked out at the mountains. The violence of man and Angel had many times remapped these stone ridges. From here he could glimpse the crumbled silhouette of the Geofront.
The stone coffin, built from high-density heavy insulators, kept the interior of the Geofront in a high-pressure, low energy state, mankind's attempt at keeping the monster inside from going berserk.
Three years ago... Once more he was compelled to run the event through his mind Tracing this memory over...surely I...have been reset.

Situation Ultimo + Fourteen minutes
December 31st, 2015

“Shinji-kun! Calm down! You'll lose control over the AT Field!” He could hear Misato cry out, a yellow window glaring a warning into his eyes. Evangelion Unit-01 was sprinting fast enough to deny the human eye a peaceable view of its legs, the S2 Engine producing more energy than the combined sum of four nuclear submarines.
The S2 Engine's output had begun to glaze the very air, the front armor's atomic arrangements glistening in the heat haze like an open wound. The F-Type Equipment, built by the hands of men to arm the god Evangelion, was lacking in efficiency; 20% of all energy produced by the S2 engine was lost as a blistering heat in the transfer, the equivalent to a single refitted Sohryu submarine.
Yet in refute of this, the Evangelion itself showed no loss of energy during the transfer.
So much for conservation of energy.
Before the Eva's feet could stride upon the ground at 0.2 seconds per step, the trees and earth below were compressed by the ruddy angles of an AT Field. The F-Type equipment was a testing unit for AT Field control— to concentrate the AT Field into a single, controlled space, like the hands or feet. Working through the F-Type equipment, Shinji applied the AT Field below Unit-01's feet as a foothold, avoiding destroying the ground below with the Eva's strides.
It was a necessary precaution; Eva-01's feet, at 14,000 times the size of a main battle tank, could easily crush any of the miniscule structures below, or abruptly sink into a mass of weak soil.
Entering the battlefield 93 meters per second, Shinji's line of sight shifted to Evangelion Unit-02, swarmed by the Mass-Production Evangelions. It was like a macabre work of oil pastels, Unit-02's head skewered by the pallid replicas of the Lance of Longinus.
Impaled as it was, Unit-02 could not respond. Shinji Ikari did not care.
“Asuka!”


Polluted Battle-Area
Early Summer 2018

Shinji was brought back from the world of memory by the prompt screech of wheels scraping through the sand, soon followed by a feminine cry for his attentions. Turning, he saw Katsuragi Misato stepping out of a military vehicle, crossing her arms over her voluptuous chest as she looked the boy over.
“You've grown again, Shinji-kun? Boys just keep on growing, don't they?” Misato smiled, pleased with the boy, “I wonder what kind of man you'll grow into...I'm looking forward to meeting him.”
“I get tired of hearing you say that all the time. 'He' is right here!” Shinji gestured to himself.
“Oooh, such a fast reaction. You're all grown up, huh?”
There was now reply. Misato followed his gaze to the distant wall eclipsing the Geofront.
“...Thinking about that day again?”


Situation Ultimo – 50 seconds
December 31st 2015

“Lieutenant Colonel Katsuragi – the briefing results?” Ikari Gendo inquired.
“I've sent them to all the personnel. It seems that everyone's rather devastated by what happened to the Human Instrumentality Project, sir.” Misato reported.
“Including the Japanese government.” Gendo let out a hoarse little laugh, perhaps the first time Misato had ever heard him so jubilant, “I'll have to thank Kaji. He made himself quite the indispensable dog, even to them. All they can do now is postpone action in fear of SEELE's retribution...”
“All that awaits them is destruction.” Katsuragi interjected.
“So shall it be written. Now, what of the Mobile Support Units?”
“We've finished transferring Evangelion Unit-01's combat equipment and repair data to the parallel supercomputer's memory banks. We secured the survival of the computers by dispersing them within 82 separate tanks, taking about nine hours in all. Equipment and repair reports will be ready shortly.”
Ikari turned to the voice recorder.
“It is currently 02:35. I grant you permission to declare Situation Ultimo as the need arises.”

“Something up ahead! Low orbital bearings, estimated 2,024 rounds, four rounds per second...we lost contact with base, but simulations predict no change inside the Geofront!”
“Just 26 hours since the transfer of power, they're quick...” Misato cursed silently inside the trembling vehicle.
The armored car in which Misato was riding was roughly 40 kilometers away from the Geofront, but SEELE's raid had arrived in force, far beyond their estimated capacity.
“Sensor wipeout confirmed! Damn it! We've deafened it so much!”
“The sensor's position must have been leaked.” Misato concluded grimly, “What happened to the Mobile Support Units?”
“Still operating. 35 seconds until inter-vehicle communication restores.”
“Geofront should still be safe; no matter how great this attack, it's still human. Geofront's walls can't be penetrated by anything but an Eva or an Angel.” Misato took a deep breath, before announcing in a level voice:
“'As superior commander I hereby declare Situation Ultimo. All operative authorities and rights to dispatch Eva's are delegated to Katsuragi Misato, over and out!' Send that to all the MSU as soon as the line restores.”
[Ultimo] is a declaration code granted to Misato. After the declaration, information from the Mobile Support Unit's network is spread amongst several hundred square kilometers to support the Evangelions. Of course, no one could be sure which would be safer— to rely on the Geofront, or the Mobile Support Units.