But things could not continue this way forever. Apart from Ryōta Kitazawa, there was another who understood this clearly—someone who regained his composure sooner than the rest.
That man was Ryōji Kaji. As a senior inspector, he had endured countless crises. Though shaken at first, he quickly steadied his mind.
One day, Kaji approached Kitazawa. At the time, Ryōta stood before Units 02 and 03, staring at them in silence, lost in thought.
"We can't go on like this. We need to take action," Kaji said quietly, stepping to his side. "Kitazawa… do you have any thoughts?"
"What I'm thinking now," Ryōta answered, eyes fixed on the silent Evas, "is how to restore power to Units 02 and 03. Kaji-san, you're right. The world has become what it is—we can't remain stagnant. We must find a solution."
"A solution? What solution could there be? Do you really think there's any way to undo what's happened to this world?"
Kaji shook his head. However grim, he knew it was true—returning Earth to what it once was was impossible.
"I don't know if it can be restored," Ryōta admitted. He thought briefly of scenes from the old Eva films, then shook his head again. "There are theories… but right now, what matters most is Units 02 and 03. Without power, they cannot move. Without them, we lose our only means of defense."
He turned to Kaji, his voice firm. "If we don't have Eva to protect us, we're as good as dead. Gendō Ikari will never let us go."
At the mention of Gendō, Kaji's eyes flickered with a complex emotion. That man was too ambitious, too calculating—even Kaji himself had been deceived by him.
"Restoring their power will be difficult, yes," Ryōta continued, "but if Ritsuko were here, she'd find a way."
Just then, a voice drifted into their conversation.
It was Misato Katsuragi. She was walking slowly toward them, her tone heavy.
"Too bad Ritsuko Akagi disappeared when Third Impact struck. No one's seen her since," Kaji said, shaking his head. He had searched for her within NERV's ruins, but she was nowhere to be found.
"If she were here," Misato whispered, her face pale with memory, "she'd make it possible. Ritsuko could bring Units 02 and 03 back online…"
But before she could say more—
The ground shuddered violently beneath them.
Dust and sand tore through the air, a biting wind howling across the wasteland. The sheer force of it made hearts seize with dread—fear of nature's overwhelming power.
And then came the noise.
A massive, mechanical roar carried through the storm.
"What's happening?"
"What is that sound?"
The refugees rushed from the shelter, looking up at the skies, confused and afraid. But the sandstorm was too dense; they could see nothing of the source.
Only Ryōta, Kaji, and Misato stood frozen, their faces grave. Misato in particular looked stricken, a chill tightening her expression.
A sense of foreboding pressed into their hearts.
And then, in a break of sunlight, the storm parted just enough for them to see it: a colossal shadow, humanoid in form. A giant machine.
Their pursuer had come.
The sight made every heart lurch.
It was Gendō Ikari's hunting dog—
an Evangelion they had never seen before.
"Damn it!"
As operations commander, Misato's instincts flared. Units 02 and 03 were powerless husks, and now NERV had dispatched an Eva to finish them off. Not just any Eva—but a new one, never before encountered.
It was clear: Gendō had prepared this long in advance. Whatever his true ambition was, Misato didn't yet know—but the one who had destroyed the world was him.
"What do we do now!?"
"I don't want to die! Please—I don't want to die!"
Panic erupted. People screamed and wept openly. They knew better than anyone the power of an Eva—it was their own creation. Built to fight the Angels, these weapons were not something humans could resist.
A single Eva could annihilate an entire nation.
Against civilians, its power was absolute.
"How can we fight it? What do we do?!"
Misato muttered frantically, her composure unraveling. With Units 02 and 03 dead, she had no way to meet Gendō's advancing hunter. She felt like an insect caught on hot iron—desperate, yet powerless.
And the stranger Eva was already moving. Charging straight toward the survivors.
Many of them had once been NERV personnel, technical staff, the very minds behind Eva itself. Gendō could never allow such people to live.
The black silhouette grew larger, closer. The survivors screamed in terror, certain death bearing down upon them.
But then—
Another giant shadow burst into view.
It leapt through the air and planted itself between the stranger Eva and the helpless crowd.
A massive blade flashed—an ion dagger. The newcomer drove it with full force at the enemy's chest!
Boom!
The two titans slammed together, their A.T. Fields colliding, tearing the sky itself apart. Sparks shrieked in the air, metal-on-metal agony grinding in the storm.
But the true shock was not the clash itself.
It was the identity of the one who had appeared in that final instant—
A towering Evangelion, painted deep blue.
And its form was unmistakable.
Everyone knew it at a glance.
Unit-01.
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