Forgotten

by Warringer

----------------------------------------------------

Sometimes General Ichiro Toho wondered how it all came to this.

"The target is still intact. It's moving toward Tokyo-3 as before."

He glared at the large podium and the two men responsible for this. He knew however that Ikari was more to blame than Fuyutsuki. The Professor somehow had been a victim of Ikari in some form or shape.

"It cannot be stopped with the air force firepower."

He turned his head towards Ritsuko Akagi and shook his head. Her mother had worked with him for some time before Second Impact. In times where they had still to worry about Him.

"Total war! Mobilize all divisions at Atsugi and Iruma Bases to the battle!"

Toho snorted.

"Don't hold back! Smash the target at any cost!"

As if anything could do much. Toho knew that they were not going to do much about that 'Angel'. For a moment he wondered if the 'Angels' were in any way related to Them? Maybe, maybe not. Since Second Impact They hadn't appeared anymore and the memories had faded rather fast because of Second Impact.

He looked at the screen to see how none of the missiles had any effect on the 'Angel'.

It was at least as tall as any of Them. Maybe there was some sort of relation.

"Why?! It must have been a direct hit!" It was amusing to see the UN Commanders going into a panic like this. "The tank battalion was totally destroyed. Guided missiles and gun bombs have no effect on it..." Had this happened before Second Impact there would have been less panic between them. But than again the UN would have kept out of this and the JSDF used to be better prepared for something like this. "Useless! With such poor firepower, we'll get nowhere!" He stared back at Ikari and Fuyutsuki. What would he give to wipe that smirk off Gendo's face. But General Aso had been very insistent before his death two years after Second Impact, when the JSDF was forced to cut any funding to his project, all thanks to the UN and one of their think tanks. It had been a fight to keep it alive, especially in the times where no funding was flowing and They appeared to be destroyed by Second Impact. Only that old base had been able to support them without much more funding. It hadn't been much and most of the members of the project had been working for free, for the ideals of the project. Only a few years later, with the Jet Alone project they had managed to get a funding that was able to get the project back up, together with similar projects all over the globe. All nothing more than fronts and Jet Alone maybe one of the most expensive props ever build.

"It is protected by AT-field as we expected"

"Normal weapons have no effect on Angels."

Gendo was most likely laughing at them all. He wanted to get any conventional weapon out of the way to use his extremely expensive toys.

Toho snorted again. General Aso's project, now his, through officially it was Jet Alone, cost less than one percent of the NERV budget. NERV was ruining small countries every year as a fact.

The was a phone ringing as Toho suddenly shuddered.

"New pattern detected!"

Toho's eyes went towards the display that showed the sensor readout from Magi.

"What?" the voice of Gendo now sounded anything but controlled.

On the display Toho could see a single spot moving towards the coast. At first it was white, but slowly the color changed to green.

Toho didn't know whether to laugh or curse. There was only one explanation. It was Him.

He was back.

"Stop the airdrop, commander," he suddenly spoke up. "There are other ways."

Gendo turned to Toho as he walked over to the communication console and took the receiver, turning the frequency dial of the radio transmitter.

"Jet Alone will fail," Gendo noted dryly.

Toho chuckled.

"Who said anything about Jet Alone?"

While the light reflected of Gendo's glasses, Toho was willing to bet that he blinked.

"To all units this is General Toho. He is back."

Toho turned around towards Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Gendo was not showing many expressions on his face, but Fuyutsuki seemed to be vary.

"I repeat. He is back. Deploy all units. Activate the 1st Special Mechanized Battalion and engage the Angel. The 2nd and the big units are deployed against Him."

Toho turned his head slightly towards the sensory display.

"He will come ashore in Old Toyko."

Toho suppressed a chuckle. What a fitting place for him to appear again after more than twenty years.

"Who is him?" Gendo asked with a tightly controlled voice, but Toho could see how the color slowly drained from Fuyutsuki's face.

Instead of answering the question, he simply turned around to watch the display of a recon drone that hovered around the Angel. Than he nodded at Fuyutsuki for a moment and the Professor became white as a sheet.

On the screen a larger number of old Type 90 tank appeared, keeping out of the range of the Angel. Their turrets had been replaced by dish like objects.

The tanks began to fire their dis weapons at the Angel and powerful Maser beams tore into the AT field of the Angel.

"Commander Ikari," Ritsuko suddenly shouted and another screen came to life," The second pattern is coming ashore!"

Toho nearly smirked as His massive form broke through the water. immediately he was engaged by several large objects.

"WHAT IS THAT?"

It appeared that Gendo had lost his cool as he stood behind his desk, pointing at the screen.

"The Gotengo, The Super X3 and Kiryu," Toho noted.

"And they fight Gojira," Fuyutsuki finished for him.

Toho shook his head.

"I can't believe that people have forgotten Him."