Hutopia September 2020 Shared Memories

[hedgehogsdilemma]

So I'm not taking up all of that page real estate with these long ass comments.

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REM: Tanjiro (CW: Disturbing imagery, violence, blood, gore (also real long oops))

[hedgehogsdilemma]

"Target is approaching."

The words are heard with a tinny, electric quality to them, spoken by a man through a speaker.

A different male voice comes through, "All units prepare for ground combat," as he looks up at the landscape in front of him from his high, high vantage point. Sunset paints the sky orange, and through a small mountain range, past a quiet city, comes an enormous figure, large and mostly humanoid in shape.

"Huh?" he exclaims softly in genuine surprise, "No way... An Angel? Is that an Angel?!"

"Correct," yet another male voice affirms. "That is the target."

"You said that this is the target," he replies, voice slowly building from surprise to worried confusion, "but that's an Eva, isn't it?!" A moment passes, as the figure moves out of his line of sight. He comments out loud to himself, "I wonder if it's piloted by human, too? A child our age..."

His wonders are answered by a digital screen popping up next to him, labeled 'Unit-02', where a red-headed girl incredulously says, "You still don't know?! The pilot of Unit-03 is--" she is abruptly cut off, the screen suddenly turning to static.

"Asuka?" he calls, but this time he is only answered with a horrified scream and the sounds of a scuffle from the other side of the still hazy screen, moments before it blinks out of existence altogether. "Asuka?!"

A few moments of status updates are delivered through his unit's intercom, confirming Unit-02 having gone silent, and the pilot being retrieved via rescue squad. Shinji is then directed to 'assist Unit-00'. Only a few moments pass, however, before more sounds of strife can be heard from nearby.

"Unit-00 is severely damaged. The pilot is wounded," comes another status update.

"No way..." he utters in disbelief.

A voice comes through with another command, "The target is approaching you, it will contact you in twenty. You must destroy it."

"But this target is..." he looks out at it, as it is indeed approaching him head on, continuing to walk at a very even pace, footsteps crashing with the street below its every step. "Isn't there a person in there?" Crash, crash. "Another child my own age" CRASH, CRASH. His hands shake at the controls in front of him, and he doesn't move.

The target, the figure now standing only a few paces in front of him, suddenly rears its head back with a roar, crouching down before springing up with a mighty jump to close that distance between them, landing foot-first into him as he attempts to at least block the attack with his (his?) arms. He's knocked onto his back, sliding a bit as the creature in front of him lands hunched down on all fours. From this position, he can catch sight of something on the thing's back, and he utters in disbelief, "An entry plug...! There is a person in there, just as I thought!"

He stands back up as the creature whips one of its arms across the ground, then stretches it out over the distance it created to catch him by the neck, only to follow it shortly with the second arm, squeezing tightly before pinning him back down.

"Problems in life support!" comes one of those support voices, followed up with another one declaring, "The pilot's in danger!"

The voice issuing commands cuts in, "Shinji, why don't you fight?"

"There's a person in there, father," comes his own voice, weak and strained from the pressure being applied to his throat.

"Irrelevant. It is an Angel! Our enemy!"

"But... but I can't! I've got to save them, I can't just kill somebody!"

"You'll die."

"I don't care! It's better than killing someone!"

A couple of moments pass, with him neither moving to fight, nor the creature relenting its assault, before all at once, all of that pressure is suddenly gone, and the light around him dim out. He lurches forward in his seat, able to breathe easily once more, and takes the reprieve to catch his breath. After a few seconds, the power returns to his surroundings, the light this time bathing the cabin in red. A whirring noise can be heard, and he looks behind him to see the device it's coming from, the words 'OPERATION DUMMY SYSTEM: REI" illuminated on the side.

"What is this...?" He only has a few moments to wonder, before the reality of 'something bad' dawns on him. "What did you do, father?!"

No answer comes for him, and he is instead left to watch as the hands of his vessel begin to rise upward, clawing at the air for just a few seconds before latching on to those of the creature still attacking, catching it by the neck and gripping tightly. Using this new leverage, he's once again standing on his feet, gripping down on the creatures neck until it gives way with a bone-chilling 'CRUNCH', its head going slack and its arms falling limply to its sides. He can only watch in terrified silence as the creature is then wound up and slammed onto the ground in front of him.

A fist is raised, aimed squarely at the creature's head, where it connects with a sickening sound as all of the armor and flesh there burst forth unrestrained, flooding the street below it with blood, with bits of bone. Unsatisfied with just this much, the armor at its chest and torso is pried off, followed by pieces and parts of the creature itself being ripped up, as if digging through it's body on a wild, hysterical search.

"Stop it!" he screams helplessly, furiously, "Father, stop! Stop doing this!" He's working the controls frantically now, pulling and pushing at anything that might make the carnage in front of him cease. "Damn it! Stop! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

But it does not stop. The creature continues to be ripped apart bit by bit, pieces of it being thrown carelessly around as its blood stains the area around them until finally, finally, what was most desired from this being is discovered, and the hand in front of him is clutching a large, long cylindrical object tightly. "Stop!" he pleads once more, absolutely desperate this time, but to no avail. The tube is crushed easily, an orange liquid bursting out of cracks and flowing down that hand as its destroyed.

At the sight, he can only scream,

"STOOOP!"

And, just like that, the assault is over.