143CHAPTER 1: END OF THE ANGEL WARS, BATTLE OF TOKYO-3
IZUMO INN, TOKYO-4, JAPAN
December 31, 2015
Miya was currently cooking breakfast kitchen of her inn, Izumo Inn is a large two story house in a traditional Japanese style in the northern sector of the city. It had been several years now since she had worked for M.B.I., she had actually retired around two years after meeting Shinji at the old tower at Tokyo-2. She had been legally adopted into the Asama family soon after and she and her friend and also new brother, Takehito Asama had purchased the inn recently since it was their dream to run an in as a pair of siblings.
Currently now she is living with Takehito at the inn, and they were looking forward to opening up the inn in a few days since they have just recently finished their renovations with the help of one of her adoptive brother's friends.
A friend she thought was trash but he has his uses.
"Good morning Miya," greeted Takehito as he came down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"Good morning Takehito-niisan," greeted Miya as she continued cooking.
"You know I don't like it when you call me that Miya, you're probably older than me anyway."
"Oh you-"
*RING* *RING* *RING*
"Sorry Miya," apologized Takehito as he pulled out his cellphone, "hello this Takehito speaking…I see…I'll bet there…yeah, bye."
"Where will you be going Takehito?"
"It was a call from Takami, NERV is finally calling in that favor we owe them," explained the white haired scientist.
"I see," muttered Miya. She knew what he was talking about of course. Even though she had left the service of M.B.I. she had stayed in touch with Matsu, Kazehana and a few of the other single digit sekirei, many of whom visit the inn. It's how she found out about M.B.I.'s connection with the mysterious United Nations organization, NERV. The purpose of the organization had never been clear to the public until only earlier in the year with the arrival of the mysterious organisms, powerful and monstrous beings of pure destruction humanity had for whatever reason dubbed 'angels'. Monsters that can take entire armies worth of firepower and barely take a step back, monsters that can only be defeated by giant and equally monstrous mecha that the public were told were called Evangelions and that the development and deployment of them was the purpose of NERV.
NERV had also had a good relationship with M.B.I. ever since Miya could remember. It was a simple relationship, simple technological and research exchange. NERV was interested in the medical technologies and techniques and while at the time the reason was unknown it had become obvious with the arrival of the angels that it was to treat injured pilots. M.B.I. on the other hand received advanced computer and defence technology from NERV to help make up for the loss of the advanced sekirei spaceship that was lost when the rising sea levels after Second Impact swallowed the Kamikura Island where the sekirei's ship crashed.
That was until several years ago when two sekirei, Number 87 Kaho and Number 88 Musubi were kidnapped when they were being transferred from Tokyo-2 to the newly completed Tokyo-4. M.B.I. then requested NERV Central at Tokyo-3 to use their MAGI supercomputer to track down the two missing sekirei and tracked them down they did, to a research facility on an island in the Pacific. And wanting to retrieve the two young aliens as soon as possible M.B.I. requested aid in the raid from NERV because by that point the S-Guard had been replaced by the Disciplinary Squad which only had two, albeit very powerful, members at the time. NERV Central of course accepted but only if M.B.I. could be called on for a similar favour.
While having the ability to call for sekirei into a battle that they may not have any stake in did not sit right with her, she ultimately approved of the decision. With the help of NERV's forces Kaho and Musubi had been retrieved extremely quickly and without incident.
And it seems it's time for that favour.
"Miya I want you to come with me," said Takehito as he finished his breakfast.
"Why Takehito?" Asked Miya, she had left M.B.I. on good terms once she found out about the Sekirei Plan, not wanting any part in the exploitation of her race and she was sick of fighting for a purpose she didn't believe in. Luckily having the backing of Takehito, the top most scientist in M.B.I.'s employ had kept them from trying to force her return.
"Well…"
HHHHHHH
NERV HQ MEDICAL WARD, GEOFRONT, TOKYO-3, JAPAN
2 Hours Later
Asuka Langley Soryu, Second Child of NERV and pilot of Unit-02 is currently looking down on the sleeping form of Shinji Ikari, Third Child of NERV and pilot of Unit-01. He had been in the infirmary for around a month now.
'All because of me,' she thought to herself as she started to quietly cry, she was too proud to weep in shame but she remembered what he had told her once. She was crying in her sleep and he had rushed into her room to check on her and had shook her awake and freed her from the nightmare, sensing she was about to snap at him for catching her in a vulnerable state he had told her it was, 'ok to cry, that he would never judge me or look down on me…and look what I did to you Shinji.'
Asuka was currently dressed in just a simple red hoody and denim short shorts and running shoes with her golden red hair tied into a single pony tail, she had grown out of tying her hair with her neural clips ever since she had put Shinji in the hospital. He had offhandedly mentioned he had liked the way her hair looked like done up that way it is now a few months back and she had taken to visiting him in a ponytail. It was a petty thing she knew, visiting him in the hairstyle he liked couldn't compare to all he'd done for her and Rei but it was all she could do for him.
Not that she got along with the, as she liked to call her Wonder Girl, First Child and pilot of Unit-00…well until it was destroyed in the battle with the Armisael, The 16th Angel when Rei had engaged her Eva's self-destruct. Luckily she had been able to cut Rei's entry plug free before the countdown could finish and then shield her plug from the blast with Unit-02's AT Field. While she never got along with her she wouldn't wish her dead and knew Shinji would have done the same so in a way she acted for his sake as well.
Actually if she were to be honest with herself she visited him in NERV's medical ward not just for his sake but for her sake as well. He was there to support her after having her mind violated by the 15th Angel and she wasn't sure she would be sane if it wasn't for his constant support. Misato had been too busy searching for the truth about NERV after Kaji died, too stressed and angry to comfort her. 'But you, Baka were always there for me. Calling me if I was ok when I didn't visit and asking it in person when I did.'
"I'll protect you this time Baka and once this is over and you can walk around again I'm gonna make it up to you. So wait here and I'm gonna smash those bastards that think messing with THE Great Asuka Langley Soryu, and the Invincible Third Child is a good idea," she declared and walked out of the room and towards the Evangelion cages. 'Someone thinks they can hurt you? Not on my watch Third, so enjoy your sleep, your roommate is gonna be back in a bit. Promise.'
She still remembered that fateful day, it was a month ago when that angel appeared. Arael, the 15th Angel and her worst nightmare, the worst battle she'd ever fought. The angel itself, even she would admit, was breathtakingly beautiful. It looked like a gigantic bird made of pure light that flew in low earth orbit, it's blood red core was visible on the centre of its underbelly.
NERV had deployed her in Unit-02 with an Evangelion sized shield, an improved version of the shield Rei in her Unit-00 had used to defend Shinji from Ramiel's particle beam canon blasts. Shinji on the other hand was armed with a modified version of the JSDF's experimental positron canon which resembled a giant (even for an Eva) sniper rifle. The plan was simple, Asuka would act as bait since Arael was outside of any weapon's range and when it got close enough Shinji would snipe the core.
But as the saying goes, 'no plan survives contact with the enemy.'
Arael had shot down a pillar of light, some strange application of its AT Field, and had for all intents and purposes raped her mind. All her traumas, all her demons, every single fear and nightmare was brought up and relived. Shinji, being the brave baka she knew she could always count on rushed to her side while Rei and Unit-00 killed the angel by throwing a weapon resembling a spear his father called 'The Lance.'
Meanwhile Unit-02's umbilical cable was ejected by the bridge crew in an attempt to cut her off from her Evangelion and also from the angel's influence and it seemed to have work as intended as her Evangelion deactivated.
When Unit-01 arrived to drag her back to an access elevator her Unit-02 chose that time to reactivate and with her pilot in a fit of rage and fear go went berserk and Shinji, not wanting to hurt her, did not fight back and while his Eva was easily repaired…he wasn't.
Eventually she had fallen unconscious and her Eva deactivated but by then the damage was done.
'But even then, when you woke up a few days later, after all I did to you. After all the bitching I throw at you on a daily basis, what did you say to say when you woke up? You asked if I was ok,' she shook her head in slight bemusement. 'And what did I do when you first opened your eyes and spoke to me? Did I ask if you were hurting? Did I say sorry? NO! I let you comfort me...you're hard to hate, you know that Shinji?'
Shinji had always been a bit strange to her, he was always trying his best to be kind to her and Rei even when she would snap at him from time to time and Rei was...well Rei, almost always stoic. But, while she would never admit it to anyone but herself, she liked that about him as much as she was confused by it. He very rarely was selfish and was always to the point it sometimes infuriated her. And she knew why too, he was always living to try and keep a promise with a woman with purple hair, a woman he hadn't even seen in around a decade. A woman who Asuka did not feel any jealousy towards, oh no…not even a little.
Don't be silly.
Honest.
HHHHHHH
On Route to Tokyo-3
2 Hours Later
Sekirei Number 105 Benitsubasa is currently sitting in a M.B.I. Helicopter, it was one of the new stealth helicopters developed with help from NERV Central's Research and Development Group so that if another sekirei was captured the rescue team could be sent without the kindapers knowing.
NERV had requested aid from M.B.I. to help fend off an attack by the JSSDF. While Takami had been somewhat apprehensive providing aid to NERV once it was declared a rogue organization for termination by the UN, she agreed that with Takehito and, surprisingly enough, Minaka that something about the circumstances seemed wrong and had decided to send a small force consisting of the Disciplinary Squad, two additional sekirei volounteers, medical personal and a few squads of their private security to defend them.
Benitsubasa herself was a girl with a petite build with dark pink eyes and her pink hair tied into a side pony side ponytail with two daisy clips. She had a black top with white trim that resembled a kimono with long sleeves with a large red ribbon tied her waste into a large red bow at her front, she also wore tight fitting black short shorts, red boots and red mixed martial arts gloves.
Currently she was one of the youngest members of the Disciplinary squad. The Disciplinary Squad was M.B.I.'s top security force consisting of Number 04 Karasuba, Number 08 Yume, Number 104 Haihane and Number 105 Benitsubasa.
'Finally some action!' she thought excitedly to herself. While somewhat annoyed that her first foray into real combat is going to be against human soldiers, at the end of the day she was just happy to fight outside of a spar.
Looking around the helicopter she saw the two sekirei who had volunteered to come, why she didn't know but she was excited to fight alongside two members of the legendary S-Guard regardless.
Number 02 Matsu and the legendary Number 01 Miya, the strongest sekirei, she hoped she would leave a good impression on her famous older sisters.
HHHHHHH
Miya was sitting in the chopper quietly looking outside the window. M.B.I.'s force had been split into four groups, each in their own helicopter.
Group One consisted of Karasuba, Yume and Haihane and would be deployed into the access tunnels that the attacking JSSDF soldiers were using to storm the underground base of NERV. Their role was simple, seek and destroy, something she knew Karasuba and Haiahane would enjoy, Yume while as powerful as Karasuba was there mostly to keep her two more uncontrollable comrades inline. No point killing the people they were called to save.
Group Two consisted of Miya, Matsu and Benitsubasa. They would be deployed at the NERV HQ building itself and would eliminate any JSSDF forces that have penetrated that deeply into the facility before their arrival and take any orders from the surviving NERV command staff. They were the most flexible group, possessing Miya as a combat powerhouse, Matsu who was no use in combat but could hack any electronics and Benitsubasa who was no slouch in a fight herself and not to mention more in control of herself than Karasuba and Haihane.
Group Three and Four consisted of the medical teams and their escorts and would be deployed to the shelters at the outside of the city perimeter to help any of the civilians that have been injured and escaped the city itself.
Miya was dressed in a grey version of the old S-Guard uniform, to differentiate herself from the Disciplinary Squad, and had her sword hanging off the waist holster she had had made all those years ago. Matsu was dressed the same, she didn't know why the brain type sekirei volunteered to also come but she didn't care, the more help the better. While she hadn't seen her young ashikabi in years she could still feel small bits of his general emotions periodically through their link, she guessed she could only feel the stronger outbursts as she didn't feel anything most days.
In all honesty she only realized it once she could feel the loneliness from him around one month after they met, when Shinji was scheduled to leave the Sahashi household. It didn't take her long to put two and two together. It took all her willpower not to leave and bring him back with her.
Then, at the same day the Angel War started and, what she would later know to be, Evangelion Unit-01, engaged an angel in Tokyo-3. At that time, and during every angel attack after, she could feel the fear, the rage and the pain her ashikabi was suffering.
It was torture for her, and while she was glad she could feel him being happy as well but it was only a small comfort.
And now as she approached Tokyo-3 she could feel her bond with her Shinji strengthen, she could feel him coming closer.
It confirmed her worst fears. Her ashikabi, her Shinji; that kind, innocent and brave boy with deep blue eyes and chocolate brown hair was fighting a war.
And she didn't do a damn thing to help him.
HHHHHHH
*CRUNCH!*
Retracting her fist from the JSSDF soldier whose head she had just cratered into a wall Benitsubasa took a breath to calm herself, she had been taught to be aggressive sure but she didn't want to lose herself to the adrenaline rush of combat like her sisters Karasuba and Haihane.
She and her group had just reached the command bridge and had just finished off the last of the commandos that were attacking. Luckily they were quick and had reached it and saved all the important staff.
'Well, not so bad, being a god damn hero,' she thought to herself as she walked towards Miya and Matsu. They were being approached by two humans, a purple haired woman in a black dress with a silver cross necklace and red leather jacket, the other was an older man in a black uniform. 'Must be who's in charge.'
"Thank you for saving us, I am Kozo Fuyutsuki and the Vice-Commander of NERV," the older man introduced himself before gesturing to the woman beside him, "this is Major Misato Katsuragi, Operations Director at NERV Central."
"I see, I am Miya," introduced the powerful alien before gesturing to her glasses wearing sister then the younger pinkette, "and this is Matsu and Benitsubasa."
"Sirs! MAGI report a hacking attempt from both MAGI-02 and MAGI-03 in Germany and MAGI-05 in the US!" exclaimed a man in glasses, Benitsubasa guessed he was a technician.
"I can help with that," said Matsu.
"Thank you Matsu," replied Miya.
"Of course Miya-tan!"
Both Misato and Fuyutsuki had already received a brief description via encoded transmission from M.B.I. warning that the three women before them weren't exactly human and besides they were too pressed with defending NERV HQ to care how she would help them.
"Maya what's the status on Unit-02?" the major asked with an obvious worry. That caught the attention of the three sekirei, they had never seen an Evangelion as NERV and the UN had kept a tight hold on any information outside of the name Evangelion and the name of the three active units.
"Give me a minute….monitor online again…reconnecting…and up!" A woman who the pinkette assumed is named Maya.
And on the screen was an image that brought awe to both her and Miya, Matsu was too busy to see as she was focusing on assisting NERV HQ's own MAGI supercomputer.
On the screen was a 40 metre tall red titan with segmented armor and a lean runner's physique. It had a vaguely humanoid armored head with four glowing green eyes. Before humanity's monster was a shattered army. Men and machines were strewn all over the floor of the underground cavern of the Geofront and near the lake was a destroyer torn in half and thrown out of the water and onto its side.
"Holy shit," muttered Sekirei 105, she had seen footage of the S-Guard protecting Kamikura Island, had seen serkireis 01 through 05 tear through an attack force.
But this…
This was like the God of War himself descended and made its wrath known.
"Misato! Finally! Took you long enough getting the coms back online," said a female voice. Looking to the upper right of the display the two sekirei could see a young and beautiful girl with sapphire blue eyes and fiery red hair with two clips on top of her head and she wore a red form fitting body suit.
"Asuka! Good work," replied the Major in a joyful tone.
"How's my Baka?"
"Your Baka, Asuka?" replied the older woman with a sly grin causing the redhead to blush and sputter in embarrassment, "he's fine Asuka he still-"
"Actually," the woman previously identified as Maya interjected, "he's awake. His Section-2 detail is saying he's requesting to be brought to the Eva cages ma'am."
"WHAT?! NO!" screamed the redhead, "he's hurt!"
"I know Asuka bu-"
*BOOM!*
A massive explosion shook the Geofront as the underground cavern's ceiling disappeared in a bright flash of light.
"MULTIPLE N2 DETONATIONS DETECTED!" Screamed a technician with glasses, "three unknown airborne units detected above the Geofront!"
Looking back up at the screen they could see the massive hole where the ceiling of the massive cavern was, exposing the battlefield and the red Unit-02 to the outside world as three black transport aircraft circled overhead.
"No..." muttered Matsu in a worried tone which got everyone's attention, "damn."
"What is it Matsu?" Miya asked, still watching the screen as doors opened on the black transport craft and three white figures flew down from each.
"Evangelions," responded Matsu with her eyes still in concentration, "I've hacked the MAGI in the United States…they're called the EVA Series, mass produced Evangelions."
As she finished a sense of dread descended the command bridge, even the usually spirited Asuka was quiet as she steeled herself for her toughest fight yet as she eyed the nine MP Evas fly down in a slow spiral. They were monstrous, not as scary in her opinion as the demonic visage of Shinji's Unit-01 but they were more unsettling, they looked...wrong. Their bodies and armor resembled those of Units 00, 01 and her 02 except they were bone white. Their heads were elongated with no eyes or facial features outside of a mouth in a perpetual toothy grin with bright red lips and razor sharp teeth; each carried a massive double edged sword and had two pairs of massive black and white wings.
"Damn," muttered Misato before facing the three sekirei, "I need one of you to go down with me to the infirmary, one of my pilots is there now."
'Chance!' Benitsubasa thought to herself, 'sitting here won't do me any good. Besides, if I'm lucky I can kick some more ass!'
"I'll go," she replied with a grin.
"Good follow me," Misato said as she drew her pistol, racked the slide and ran off to retrieve the Third Child with a pink haired sekirei in tow.
HHHHHHH
*Bang! Bang!*
As Misato downed another JSSDF soldier Benitsubasa couldn't help but feel impressed by her temporary human companion. She was brave and was a hell of a shot.
'No match for a sekirei but impressive for a human,' she thought as they raced down the halls of NERV's medical ward to the room of another Eva pilot. Benitsubasa was curious, the people she had met at NERV so far had been at least interesting, Misato and the redheaded pilot had earned her respect quickly and she was curious what the other pilot would be like.
Seeing a group of two soldiers ahead she picked up the pace and rushed them in a black and pink blur of speed. They opened fire but the bullets were easy to dodge as she zigged and zagged and kicked off the walls making herself too hard to hit. Reaching the soldier on the left she grabbed his rifle's barrel with her left hand and ripped it out of his hand as she slammed a right hook into his temple, shattering bone and killing him instantly. Then with a grin on her face she used the momentum of her punch and used it to spin and launch a spinning back kick with her left foot into the face of the last soldier and with her extending her leg fully smashed his head into paste against the wall.
Misato was a bit frightened of the pinkette but held her peace, her Shinji, the boy who was like a son to her was in danger. She had heard his Section-2 detail call for back up on the radio when they were in the elevator, they were pinned down and as skilled as they were they were no match for a prlounged assault by JSSDF commandos.
"Come on!" she shouted as she ran passed the pink haired alien who soon followed behind.
As they reached his room Misato's heart sank, the door had been kicked in and his four Section-2 bodyguards lay dead outside, they had taken around 15 JSSDF troops with them but she was more concerned about survivors as she heard a struggle in the room.
Benitsubasa, not one to waste time, dashed into the room to see a site she had not expected to see. A young teenage boy wearing a slightly bloody hospital gown was holding a scalpel, said scalpel was buried into the neck of a soldier who was on his back as the teen had mounted him. The teen had a few fresh bruises on his face; he had obviously been fighting for his life but looked remarkably unharmed.
'Well for an injured person, I'm impressed, the training the pilots get must be no joke,' she thought to herself.
The boy, the pilot she correctly assumed, had dark brown hair and deep dark blue eyes.
'Well…damn isn't he cute?' she absently mindedly thought as she stared at him. In fact she was so out of it, even for that second, that she failed to notice another soldier on the ground at the other end of the room. He was bleeding out, a consequence of underestimating a hospitalized boy who was also combat hardened Eva pilot, but he would be damned if he died alone.
So he raised his pistol and aimed at the first thing he saw, his vision blurred and loosing colour he aimed at the standing figure that just burst into the room.
Shinji hearing the rustling of clothes behind him, turned around to see one of his attackers aiming at the girl who just ran into his room and he went into action and jumped to push her down, "GET DOWN!"
*BANG!* *BANG!*
"Wha-oof!" Benitsubasa's lost balance at the sudden movement. Lifting her head she saw a mop of brown hair on her chest and she could feel her face flushing in anger and something she couldn't pin down. 'That little pervert human! I sho-' her thoughts were halted as she felt the tell-tale feeling of warm liquid, it was blood but she knew she wasn't hit.
Looking over him she saw that Misato had shot the soldier and seeing it was safe gently rolled the teen over and to her horror she saw red blood seeping through the chest are of his gown, the reason he was originally hospitalized she guessed, and from a fresh gunshot wound on his shoulder. She felt angry at herself; both for letting him save her when it should be the other way around and for losing her concentration in battle.
"Shinji! Get up come on, Asuka needs your help! We need to get to the cages!" Shouted Misato as Benitsubasa gently helped Shinji up who gave a pained groan in response.
"Hey come on," she told him in as gentle a voice she could do, she'd never really comforted anyone before. "Come on, I gotcha. I won't let them them touch you, got it?" she told him as he got on his feet.
"T-thanks...aahh," he hissed and she involuntarily cringed, oddly really disliking how much pain he was in. Seeing this, Shinji shot her a strained smile and she found a bit of pink on her cheeks.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, she gently draped one of his arms over her shoulder, awkwardly told him a few more comforting words and put an arm on his waste to support him. She could tell he was still weak from being in a hospital bed even if he tried to hide it with a smile, he would have trouble walking properly once the adrenaline from fighting two commandos had emptied from his system/
And as she held him tight, trying to be as gentle as possible at the same time, she could feel a strange warmth from the touch and finally she knew what she felt.
'Oh hell.'
HHHHHHH
Asuka calmed herself down as she looked out at the scene in front of her, the sight of nine dead Evangelions. The fight had been hard, especially without any of her fellow pilots beside her like usual but she had prevailed. She had smashed four of the nine's entry plugs and heavily damaged four others while the few surviving defense turrets had vaporized the entire upper half of the ninth with ALL of their remaining ammunition.
A testament to the toughness of the Evangelions as weapons.
That said she did notice that the MP Evas' manufacturing process seemed to have been rushed as corners seemed to have been cut. Their heads seemed to lack the strong cranial armor of her and Shinji's Evangelions. Their armor seemed lackluster as well and they seemed to lack an AT Field as she hadn't encountered one and even their physical strength seemed lacking.
She had also finally, in the heat of battle with her focus as sharp as a razor, had reached 100% synchronization with her Unit-02, she felt one with her red titan. She was at least happy about that, Shinji had reached reached 100% a few times before which infuriated her.
It was the reason some of the staff had taken to calling him 'Berserker' when he wasn't looking and as much as his synch scores annoyed her she hated when people called him that. He only ever got that way when the fighting was desperate and even then he had a purpose and control to his movements. His kenjutsu gave him good control over himself even in times of great stress, she had secretly taken lessons from him for that reason.
She also wondered if the MP Evas pilots were trained at all, their movements seemed clumsy and...like animals. She doubted the Asuka from before she took lessons from Shinji would have been impressed.
In truth though she didn't want to smash the entry plugs, she had been trained to save humanity not to kill pilots but then she remembered what Shinji did when he faced the 17th and final angel.
Tabris
Or as she and Shinji knew him, Kaoru Nagisa the Fifth Child and back-up pilot for Unit-01 and Unit-02. He was a weird kid in her opinion, with light grey hair and blood red eyes like Rei has. He had quickly gotten friendly with Shinji, friendlier than she would like but held her piece as Shinji seemed to genuinely enjoy his company and even she admitted to liking listening to them play music with Shinji on his cello and Kaoru on the piano.
But he wasn't human, he was an angel and had hijacked her Unit-02 when he was in it for a synch test and in the end Shinji had been forced to kill one of his precious few friends. And if he could do that, sacrifice a bit of his own personal happiness to protect them all then she too could make a tough decision.
That said he would never forgive Kaoru until the day she died for that, the sheer grief and despair that was on the usually cheery Shinji's face was something she silently promised to never ever let happen again.
She shook her head to focus, she was alone on the battlefield after all.
'Ok once this is done I am SO going to apologize to Shinji about making fun of his three solo angel kills on Over The Rainbow,' she decided.
She was worried about him too, he was hurt and still recovering from both the 15th and 17th Angels and he hadn't heard about him reaching his Eva…or any news about him really. 'Come on Asuka! Focus!'
She eyes her battery timer, her umbilical had been cut in the middle of the fight so she had been using emergency battery power near the end. She held back a curse as the timer reached 20 seconds, 'oh I am sooo suggesting...nay demanding we upgrade the damn batteries.'
*Shuffle*
"What the hell was that?" she muttered as she, and by consequence, Unit-02's head turned to the right.
To her horror she saw one of the EVA Series stagger up to a lazy standing position, it had one of her progressive knives jammed to the hilt into the top of its head and had an arm ripped off, an arm to her horror that was quickly regenerating.
To her front right another of the EVA Series, one she had punched through its head and still had brain hanging out also staggered upright.
To her left an MP Evangelion who she had literally disarmed with her progressive knives at the start of the fight, an MP Evangelion she then ripped its spine out from its mouth staggered upright. Its spine was still obviously regenerating as the upper body flopped around, she would have called it pathetic if the rapidly regenerating arms weren't such a bad indication of what might happen.
And behind it she could one of the MP Evas that had both legs severed and then decapitated crawling towards her.
'Well fuck,' she thought to herself as her timer reached ten seconds. 'I am not going to die here! I have so much left to do! So much left to say! Not against some damn zombies!'
[BATTERY: 0:00:09]
She shifts into a defensive posture with her remaining progressive knife in her Eva's right hand.
[BATTERY: 0:00:07]
Pain lances through her. With her synchronization so high she not only felt her Eva's pain like usual, no this time her Eva's injuries manifested on her own person. She could feel the cut on her abdomen leek blood, luckily the wound was shallow. More problematic was her hurt left arm and her broken left leg. The only reason her Eva was standing was the armor encasing the Eva's left thigh and the dense muscle around the snapped bone kept it from moving.
[BATTERY: 0:00:05]
The farthest most MP Eva, the one that was crawling towards her had pushed itself into a sitting position and threw its massive sword and it shape shifted into a spear. The action caught her off guard and she knew she wouldn't be able to dodge in time.
…but the hit never came, no pain.
[BATTERY: 0:00:03]
Opening her eyes she could see the form of Evangelion Unit-01. It's body and armor resembled all the other Evas in existence, except the majority of its armor was purple with a few bright neon green segments and black highlights. Its head seemed to be a mix between a demon and a samurai helmet. It had grey jaws clamped shut and two black slits where the white glow of the Eva's eyes could be seen and it had one horn.
Thinking quickly to use the best use of the last of her power she called out to her fellow Eva Pilot, "SHINJI, SMASH THE PLUGS!"
And her world went dark.
HHHHHHH
"SHINJI, SMASH THE PLUGS!" he heard Asuka shout before her Eva deactivated.
Looking around he couldn't help but be impressed, four dead MP Evas due to her own doing and four damaged but regenerating, impressive considering she was alone and had to use battery power. Plus she didn't have anything but her knives.
And while he also only had his knives (plus the stolen sword) too, he didn't have to worry about running out of power since his Unit-01 devoured the S2 core of the 14th Angel, Zeruel. He guessed the EVA Series also had S2 cores since they didn't have any power cables and knew such fast regeneration would require a lot of power.
'As impressive as always Asuka,' he thought. She had never ceased to amaze him in all honesty, always a burning flame of life, never backing down. 'Yes she has her times of weakness but that's what makes her human.'
Looking around he sees one of the MP Evas, the one whose spear he had caught (and had turned back into a sword strangely enough) was still sitting on the ground and without a head, 'Well I won't have to worry about that one for a while.'
The other three were more dangerous as they had seemed to make a full recovery, except for the one on his right still had a progressive knife sticking out of its head.
He could feel his heart race and his adrenaline flowing through him starting to numb the pain from the wounds on his own chest and shoulder even as blood leaked into the LCL that filled his entry plug.
'Asuka's in danger. Misato's in danger. Maya-san, Aoba-san, and Hyuga-san are in danger. Rei is in danger. That pink haired girl is in danger…I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM!' he screamed in anger in his mind. He took a deep breath, not to calm himself, but to control himself.
Anger and aggression were useful motivators in a life or death battle but blind rage was dangerous to both sides, Unit-02 putting him in the hospital was perfect proof.
But as his old kenjutsu instructor, may he rest in peace, once said, 'controlled fury is more than dangerous, its lethal.'
He could feel his synchronization with his Eva increase. Eyeing the heads up display in his entry plug he could see his synchronization climb to 100%. He couldn't help but smile a little, 'it looks like the warrior in Asuka rubbed off on me.'
HHHHHHH
Miya watched the purple Evanvelion, the one the bridge staff called Unit-01 and she knew her ashikabi was inside. 'Please gods watch over him,' she prayed.
"Shinji's synch ratio at 100%!...105…110%!" she heard the female technician call out.
As she did Unit-01 uttered a low bestial growl that reverberated through the Geofront before its jaws unclamped with a snap and it let out a monstrous howl that caused the MP Evas on their feet to take a few steps back in fear.
*RaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAWR!*
"What a monster," Miya muttered.
"To destroy monsters humanity had to make monsters of its own," the Vice-Commander said to her as she wondered what it was her ashikabi was the pilot of.
'What kind of machine ROARS and growls?' she grimly wondered.
*RAH!* Grunted Unit-01 as it launched itself to the MP Eva on its right, the one with a knife in it, and swung its stolen sword in a horizontal arc. The MP Eva moved to block but the sheer strength of the purple destroyed caused the MP Eva to be launched backwards as its arm bones shattered from the force, knocking it out of the fight while it regenerated.
Instead of finishing it off Shinji knew he had to get the EVA Series away from the downed Unit-02, so he spun and launched himself left into the MP Eva that had a bit of brain still exposed. The white Eva moved to block with its own sword but Shinji had not let his kenjutsu training slip since joining NERV. It was the reason a sword was made for his Unit-01, which was sadly destroyed in the battle with Zeruel.
Using the swing that sent the first Eva flying he continued into a spin with a slight upward angle. Removing his left Eva's left hand from the sword it grabbed one of his progressive knives.
*CLANG!* *CRACK!*
When both monstrous swords met the the impact sent out shock wave as the pressure wave from the clashing of blades broke the sound barrier with a crack! The upward momentum of Unit-01's sword sent the sword of the MP Eva upwards and out of its hand into the air and using the momentum while flipping the progressive knife into a reverse grip, he cut off the enemy Eva's head which momentarily stunned his foe. Once again continuing the spin he flattened the arc of the sword in his right hand into a flat horizontal swing and cleaved straight through the MP Eva's upper body and entry plug.
One down, three to go.
"Blood?!" said Miya in surprise, she had expected machines not…whatever unholy abominations she was currently watching battle.
Seeing another MP Eva in front of him, one that still seemed to have issues with its spine, came charging at him with a downwards horizontal strike. Unit-01 took a short, by Eva standards, jump backwards and threw the prog knife right into enemy unit's chest and it went down to the hilt, the force of the throw causing it to stumble backwards. Unit-01 pressed the advantage and charged and stabbed its sword through the MP Eva's chest and twisting it causing the sound of flesh ripping and bone snapping to be heard throughout the Geofront. Seeing the enemy's entry plug Unit-01 reached in with its left hand, grabbed it, pulled it out and crushed it in its hand.
Two more.
The MP Eva with a knife stuck into it surprised everyone in the bridge as it had seemed to have recovered and charged Unit-01 from behind.
"SHINJI! BEHIND YOU!" one of the technicians called out to the pilot.
'Gods so it is him, and here I am not doing anything again,' Miya thought in frustration.
Unit-01 turned around to see the MP Eva charge it in apparent rage as it clumsily threw its sword at the purple Eva which easily sidestepped it, causing it to miss. Unit-01 kicked it right in the chest, sending it crashing onto its back.
"GAH!" Miya heard a familiar male voice gasped out in pain over the radio. She felt like her heart was ripped out as the headless white Eva had dragged itself and caught the sword Unit-01 sidestepped and stabbed Unit-01 in the lower back, causing the purple Evangelion to drop its own massive sword. The pain caused the purple Eva to stumble forward and onto a knee, turning around it's left eye was slashed by the white Eva and Shinji cried out again, "FUCK!"
Unit-01 used its right arm to grab its final progressive knife and it hummed to life and it used its kneeling position like an Olympic runner to launch itself at the white Eva which was still had its sword swinging out and leaving it vulnerable. And with another roar Unit-01 tackled the headless MP Eva, flipped it over and slammed the knife into its back where the entry plug was and destroyed it.
One more.
Unit-01 stood and immediately spun to face the last MP Eva who was just now stumbling to a standing position as Unit-01 sprinted and stopped in front of it. Grabbing the progressive knife still stuck to its head with both hands Unit-01 cut down from the top of the enemy Evangelion's head to its groin. The knife though was not long enough to cut through all the way and bisect the MP Eva and instead just cut very deep. Dropping the knife Unit-01 stuck both hands into the MP Eva's chest and with a mighty roar ripped the MP Eva's chest open.
Armored groaned and broke from the strain, muscles ripped, bone was snapped and crushed under the furious strength of the mighty Unit-01.
Blood sprayed all over Unit-01 covering it and the surrounding area in red Evangelion blood. Then to the surprise of Miya, Unit-01 shoved it's head into the enemy Evangelion's chest and when it came out the enemy's entry plug lay in its jaws and was promptly crushed.
The effect in the bridge was immediate as the technicians celebrated with Maya congratulating the pilots on a job well don't, "Good job Shinji, that was the last one. I've already sent out a recovery team for Asuka."
"Agreed," said the Vice-Commander, "but I will require you to be stay out there Pilot Ikari to deter any surviving JSSDF forces while I contact the UN."
"U-understood," Shinji replied in obvious pain.
Miya cringed but kept her peace, it was a logical decision. She also wondered how much her ashikabi had changed? What had to have changed for the adorable and sweet boy of her dreams to fight so brutally and efficiently? Not that she wasn't impressed with his sword technique but that was far far from her mind now.
"Miss Miya," the Vice-Commander addressed her.
"Yes Vice-Commander?"
"I need you to find the Commander…no as of this moment the ex-Commander of NERV. One of our pilots had disappeared from her room in the medical ward but we had not had time to find her and suspect he has taken her," the old human explained.
"Shinji's father?" she asked and Fuyutsuki raised a brow in surprise at how close she seemed to be to Shinji if her tone was any indication, as if they've known each other. Miya on the other hand was hiding the fury burning in her. She knew his father abandoned him and then took him away from a family who loved him and if the loneliness she occasionally felt from her ashikabi was an indication his new family was nowhere near as good to him. And then he forced his son to fight in a war against powerful monsters.
She could not protect her Ashikabit from the angels or from the white MP Evangelions but this monster of a man? She could at least protect him from that.
Fuyutsuki could feel the killing intent coming from the purple haired swordswoman in front of him and was surprised. It was obvious to him that she cared dearly for Shinji but he didn't care why, he was just glad there was more than just a handful of NERV personnel and a couple of friends at school that cared about one of his pilot's safety.
"You may eliminate him if you deem it necessary," he told her. In truth he knew Gendo Ikari was obsessed, dangerously so and he had finally gotten sick of following his past student. He too missed Yui but this? Using her own son and his fellow pilots, she, ending the world in Third Impact? He couldn't lie to himself any longer.
Miya nodded and received directions from the Vice-Commander before she went out of the bridge and he contacted the UN.
HHHHHHH
Miya arrived at the bottom most level of NERV. In a massive underground chamber was a lake of some kind of orange liquid she did not recognize. In the middle of the lake of orange and nailed to a giant red cross was a giant white humanoid being that was missing its body from the waist down but she couldn't care less about what it was. Near the edge of the lake was a man with brown hair and a beard, he wore the same uniform as the Vice-Commander and she knew that this man was the target of her fury.
The girl with light blue hair and blood red eyes behind him she assumed was the third pilot she had been told about. In between the two of them was a woman in a lab coat with blond hair who had been shot dead.
"Who are you?" He asked as he aimed his pistol at the purple haired swordswoman.
"You have hurt someone precious to me," she said as she calmly walked towards them and griped her blade and ignored his question. "You have made him suffer for a decade. You are not deserving to be called a human, you do not deserve to be his father. To save him and to extract vengeance for all you have done to harm him, my precious ashikabi," she said in barely controlled fury. "I have become the killer I once was, one last time. And now? I. Will. End. You," she told him.
*BANG!*
One shot that didn't hit was the only thing he had time for before Miya had removed his head from his shoulders and he was dead before he hit the ground.
Miya, not wasting her time on what she considered trash, flicked her sword to remove the blood before returning it to its sheath. She turned to her right to the young girl and was expecting to see her afraid but was surprised to see a small smile on the girl's face.
"Are you the third pilot? Are you hurt?" Miya asked.
"No, thank you," she replied in a quiet voice.
"Good now follow me to the command bridge," Miya said as she turned around and led the bluenette back to safety before the girl she saved asked her a question that made her blush bright red.
"Why do you smell like Shinji-kun?"
'…wait how does she know how he smells?'
HHHHHHH
With the battle between the Evangelions over Benitsubasa currently stood guard over the sleeping form of Shinji Ikari.
She had stayed at the Evangelion cages to make sure they were secure and clear of enemies when the pilots came back, she would have liked to have seen her future ashikabi in action but had reminded herself that she was lucky to have found him so early in the first place. Still she would have wanted to see the battle.
Or so she thought.
When Unit-01 arrived at the cage she noted heavy damage to one of the mecha's eyes and some red liquid was flowing from the gash and from another gash on the machine's back. Once it had come to a stop she had followed the medical team to the cockpit, which she had learned was called an entry plug. Once the orange liquid she was told was called LCL had drained and the plug had opened, what she saw made it feel like her heart was ripped out.
Her future ashikabi had to be taken out by the medical team and he was hurt.
Bad
He was barely conscious from exhaustion and blood loss. The same eye that was damaged on his mecha was bleeding and obviously received some damage. The wounds on his chest, the ones he was originally hospitalized for had reopened and he had a large bleeding wound on his back. Her future ashikabi, her destined one was hurt and bleeding and she could do nothing but take deep breaths to calm herself.
She was angry and frustrated and had clenched her fists so tightly that she could feel her fingernails dig into her gloves, if she fought barehanded she knew that she would have drawn blood from the force.
It was the reason she had volunteered to be the one that would guard his room. Miya and Karasuba had gone off to escort the surrendered JSSDF troops out of the Georfront while Yume and Matsu had stayed at the command bridge. That left her or Haihane to guard the unconscious Third Child and she would be damned if she would let Haihane guard her destined partner.
'I'll protect you while I'm here,' she thought to herself. She wanted to stay longer, she had found her ashikabi after all but she couldn't. She needed to return to Tokyo-4 and M.B.I. so she would stay with him for now at least. In all honesty it took all she had to keep herself from winging herself on his sleeping form right now.
'What kind of girl would he think I am if I k-kissed him in his sleep,' she thought to herself with a blush. Looking around the room and sat down on the chair beside his bed, took off her gloves and held one of his hands with both of her own, enjoying the sensation from the skin-to-skin contact. 'I need to get stronger, strong enough to protect you when we meet again,' she decided.
She remembered how he had selflessly gotten shot for her sake and how even when he was hurt he tried to smile for her. How even when bleeding he still fought in his Evangelion to protect everyone in NERV HQ, '...to protect me...Well I'll be damned, I got a good ashikabi didn't I?'
Hearing the door open she turned around to see Major Misato Katsuragi walk in. Misato saw the pink haired girl and smiled, "hey Beni-chan."
"I have a nickname now?" Benitsubasa asked with a raised brow before shrugging it off and returning her attention to the resting boy in bed. Seeing him shiver slightly she momentarily removed one hand from his to pull up his blanket and tuck him in before returning her hand to its rightful place, "checking on your pilot?"
"Well yes," she admitted and walked over to the two, "but I'm more concerned for Shinji Ikari right now and not Pilot Ikari, he's like a son to me you know?"
"You raised him well then ," Benitsubasa said with a smile as she looked upon the sleeping face of her future ashikabi, 'I haven't known him long but he made a hell of a first impression.'
"I can see I did," Misato said in a knowing town when she noticed the pinkette holding Shinji's hand had a bit of pink on her cheeks.
"Shut up, I'm just thankful for when he saved me earlier!" she half shouted and half whispered.
"Well he does have a hero complex but what are you going to do? Aren't you leaving soon?"
"I am…Major Katsuragi-"
"Call me Misato."
"Misato-san can you tell him to come to visit me at Tokyo-4?" Benitsubasa asked with a tint of hope.
Misato just smiled at her, "of course but I don't think he'll be able to visit anytime soon, he'll be busy as soon as he recovers."
"I'll wait, don't worry," the sekirei replied. 'I've found him now, if all I have to do is wait a bit then I'll wait."
NEXT ON AN ANGEL AND HIS WAGTAILS - CHAPTER 2: TOKYO-4 AND ALIEN GIRLFRIENDS!
So there you go the Angel War has finished and Shinji had met another one of his future sekirei! Fear not, I will still make mention of the events of the Angel War and Shinji's life at Tokyo-3 via talking to his sekirei and flashbacks.
Next chapter will have a time skip of around a year and a few months as Shinji finally heads off to Tokyo-4! There he will be reuniting with Takami, Minato, Miya, Benitsubasa and will be meeting Uzume. I'll also be featuring Rei for the first time in my story, I've had people mention or think of her but Shinji's half-sister will finally appear. And last but not least explain how the lives of Rei, Asuka, and Shinji have and have not changed with the defeat of the angels and what NERV is up to now.
I've always planed to use this chapter to show how this Shinji had acted differently during the Angel Wars, and as my fellow Eva fans can see I've revealed that the battle with Arael and Armisael had gone vastly differently along with bits about how he acted outside of fighting angels and hinted at his relationships with his fellow pilots and other NERV staff.
And also how does Asuka feel about Shinji? Why is she jealous (or is she?) of a certain purple haired alien? Will she be joining Baka-Shinji's harem? How will she react to him HAVING a harem? Oh wouldn't you like to know? HA ha!
See you all later!