42Prologue Part 2: Swords, Grimm & Faunus
Ikari Residence
The first thing Shinji felt as he woke up in bed was the warmth of the sun's rays coming through his blinds. He slowly opened his eyes only to quickly close them as a stray ray of light temporarily blinded him.
"Agh, too bright," he grumbled before slowly opening his eyes again and then blinking a few more times as his eyes started to focus and the drowsiness of sleep slowly left him. Shinji slowly sat up with a yawn before stretching his now 10 year old body.
It had been a several years now and Shinji Ikari, now an official citizen of the Kingdom of Vale, had somehow managed to get a good night of sleep. He can't for the life of him remember the last time he had an undisturbed night of sleep since he stopped sleeping in his mama's bed all those years ago. Even after so many years the ghosts from his old life still refuse to let him be.
The boy himself is dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts, ever since he had tried sleeping without his clothes out of curiosity a few years ago he had found it incredibly comfortable and had slept in this way ever since. That said he has to make sure to sleep fully dressed when going on overnight survival exercises held by the Academy he attends, other students seeing all his scars would raise far too many uncomfortable questions after all.
Shinji looked around his room in a still half-asleep haze, usually he woke up fairly quickly but it seemed having a rare peaceful night of sleep left him not quite wanting to return to the land of the waking. He had moved out of his mama's bedroom and into one of the spare guest rooms around the time he turned seven. It was hard to tell exactly when he turned seven…again, since his new mother had no real reference to use in his age or even his date of birth. Shinji himself didn't know either, he didn't even know the year and what date the current day is until around a week after he had arrived in this new world. So his new mother just took his word for him being four years old, he looked the part after all. As for his birthday they just had used the date he had been found by them.
Shinji thought it appropriate; the day they had found him was the day his new life started.
As for the room itself it's actually quite big, much bigger than the closet Asuka had shoved him into after she moved into his room back in Tokyo-3. Actually the room itself is bigger than either of Asuka or Misato's rooms, being around the same size as Misato's apartment's living room.
Why his mama insisted he have the biggest guest room he had absolutely no idea. Well other than the fact that she absolutely loves to spoil her only son whenever given the chance. That said Shinji always felt that he never deserved what she always did for him.
That said he just couldn't say no to the smiling woman who had saved him from another life of loneliness, assuming he didn't die alone in the forest. If she wanted him to be happy then he would be happy...even if he always felt he's being a little selfish.
His bed itself is also pretty big, around a king sized bed with nice comfy pillows and is hands down the most comfortable mattress the former Third Child had ever had the pleasure of sleeping in. The pillows, bedsheet and blanket are all purple, after spending so much time around the Test-Type Evangelion in his old world it had become his favorite colour. As for the size of the bed Shinji first thought it was overkill when he first moved into the room, considering his still small size the bed was far far larger than what he would need for years. But quickly he found out that it was probably a good idea considering either his mama or Lily would crawl in with him when they found him crying or stirring from night terrors.
Glynda herself stayed in his room during her visits, regardless if he's suffering from nightmares or not. Shinji didn't mind that though, the stern huntress is very much like a second mother to him, more of a mother than his mama in the sense that she acted more mature than this world's version of Yui Ikari. Glynda herself had taken to spoiling the boy she saw as a son of her own a little. When asked why she pointed out that once he became a student at Beacon, where she had just started teaching, she couldn't do so anymore.
Well not while he was at Beacon anyway.
His room itself has white walls and a white ceiling with hardwood floors. Shinji preferred the white the room had already been painted in, he had entertained the thought of getting it painted purple when his mother had suggested it when she found out it was his favorite colour but he had decided against it. The room looked nice and bright this way. His bed is placed with the head board right up against the wall and across from the door. The wall to his right had two large windows with some blinds and to his left, close to his bed, is his large walk-in closet.
As for furniture he didn't have much. In the right corner of the room is a kiddie sized desk with a lamp on it that he uses to do his homework on and beside it stands a small book case. It didn't have anything fancy in it, just a few reference books his mama bought that he might need to do his homework although most of them he had never touched since he put them there. Even without the knowledge gained from the memories of others during Third Impact he still has the knowledge of a 14 year old teen that has spent life studying under the excellent Japanese schooling system. Now, even though the memories from Third Impact are mostly random and almost all useless he did gain a lot of his mother's memories, probably due to her soul being in Unit-01. All those factors combined meant that Shinji found most of the academic portion of school easy.
That said, that only applied to math and the sciences. He still used the numerous history and geography books he had fairly regularly as that is something completely different in this world.
Needless to say that his old mother's knowledge did nothing to help him when it came to the studies that are important to a young huntsman-in-training such as Grimm Studies and of course combat and survival training. The Yui Ikari that designed Unit-01, like the Yui Ikari he lived with now, is a scientist, not a soldier.
Other than that the only things in the room are the nightstand and lamp beside his bed and an electric keyboard and chair set up on a stand on the left side of his room. His mama had insisted he learn how to play an instrument since it helped with healthy brain development and while he considered choosing the cello, assuming it existed here, he ended up choosing the piano in memory of one of the few people who he knew had loved him. Kaoru Nagisa, his friend, the former Fifth Child of NERV, former secondary pilot of the Production Model Evangelion Unit-02 and the 17th and final Angel.
As far as the keyboard is concerned though he didn't use it much, preferring to use the grand piano downstairs because he finds the sound...fuller and more natural. The keyboard in his room is only really used when he feels like playing when everyone may be asleep, hence the studio quality headphones resting on top of them, so he wouldn't wake anyone up.
Shinji shook his head, clearing it of irrelevant thoughts, he grabbed Misato's blood stained cross necklace from his nightstand and slipped it and hopped out of bed. He stretched with a bit of a yawn before going to his closet and getting dressed in a black long sleeved shirt and grey track pants, something comfortable and easy to move in.
After putting on his slippers he went out of his room and went off to the washroom to get cleaned up and start his day. With school out for the day for some holiday that eluded Shinji's mind at the moment he knew he'd probably have a busy day. School days tended to be boring since his family always assumed he'd be tired from it and forbid him from doing anything too trying like sparring.
As he walked down the hallway of the second floor he went over his schedule for the day. 'First breakfast then after that training with Lily in the yard for a few hours…ugh my muscles are already starting to ache in anticipation…then lab work.'
Lily Blackwood, dressed in a simple black polo shirt and blue short shorts, took a sip of the soup she had just finished and smiled, 'not bad Lily, not as good as little Shinji but not bad.'
Satisfied she turns off the burner and takes off her white apron and heads out of the kitchen. Lily herself is a beautiful woman in her late-twenties and of average height. She has shoulder length ashen grey hair with some white and black highlights. Shinji had always found her appearance unique because she has heterochromia, with a brown left eye and a blue grey right eye, and a pair of big fluffy triangular ears on the top of her head, a sign of her faunus heritage. She had reminded Shinji of Siberian Huskies, a type of dog that had become unpopular in his old world because the universally hot post-Impact environment made life uncomfortable for the furry dog breed.
Her most eye catching feature though is her artificial left leg, easily distinguished from her light creamy skin with its light grey metallic shell. It is one of the most advanced prosthetic limbs ever created and had been made for her by Yui shortly after moving in, a much nicer model than the one she had previously.
Lily stepped out of the kitchen and as she does so she can hear something that she had quickly learned to love, piano music. She can't help but smile as she heard the beautiful melody. She had been living with the Ikari family now for slightly more than three years and over that time she had grown to love hearing the young Shinji play the piano even though she never recognized any of the pieces he would play. Whenever she'd ask the name of a song or a piece he would tell her the name and just tell her that the artist is someone no one had ever heard of before, odd considering she always found his choices to be really good.
"Hmm," she hummed as she tried to remember the name of the piece. "What did he call it before?...Ah, if I remember correctly it's called...Moonlight Sonata."
Walking through the first floor of the Ikari residence, which contains the home's living room, kitchen, dining room and library/study, she made her way to the study. From the sound of the music she could tell that Shinji is playing the grand piano in the study and not the keyboard in his room, which she confirmed as correct as the music continued to get louder and clearer as she drew closer to the source.
Upon reaching the door to the study she slowly opened the door, careful not to disturb the youngest member of the household. The study is a large room whose walls are lined with book shelves from the floor to the ceiling, filled with all kinds of books from faunus history and encyclopedias on the Grimm to engineering and computer programming, a testament to the broad interests of Yui Ikari. One end of the room has a desk with a computer terminal, the office part of the room while the other side of the room had been converted for the use of Shinji with a large and expensive black grand piano and a few seats so any visitors can listen comfortably.
She smiled sofly at the young Shinji Ikari sitting down playing, the adopted son of Yui Ikari and the person who Lily had come to view as family and a protégé of sorts.
Lily just leaned on the door frame and made herself comfortable, while he did have quite a busy day planned out he had enough time to finish a piece of music.
As she listened to the young boy play she thought back to the day they first met three years ago.
Three Years Ago
"You know you don't have to force yourself. I'll be fine!" Yui exclaimed to her as they walked to her home late at night.
Lily just smiled at her. She had met Yui when she was a young girl. That was a tough time in her life, an orphan faunus girl growing up in an area with heavy anti-faunus beliefs meant that she had been stuck living a life of poverty and squalor for as long as she could remember.
Then she met Yui.
She had been looking for an easy mark and she saw a frail looking young woman who she had tagged as a ditzy tourist and so had tried to pick pocket her.
Turns out she was right but what she didn't see was the blonde woman accompanying her. Glynda Goodwitch, who at the time was still a Huntress-in-training, had seen her and apprehended her soon after, much to her shame and surprise. But instead of punishing her like she thought she would have Glynda had instead been impressed with her skill with her hands and her quick and quiet get away.
Yui on the other hand had empathized with the girl and had instead offered to help her, even going so far as to give her a home until she could be trained well enough and grow old enough to attend Beacon.
Glynda and Yui had been Lily's idols ever since.
"It's okay Yui, really! I'm just paying back what you did for me when you found me all those years ago," she reassured her savior.
"But-"
Lily just waved off the older woman's oncoming rebuttal, "it's fine really. Besides I'm not really fit for active duty anymore."
She gestured to the bandages wrapped around her head and left arm as well as her prosthetic leg. While she'd be able to kick ass again once she recovers that's mostly due to the weapons she preferred, in combat against larger grimm where mobility is key the effects of her injuries will be noticeable.
Well that's fine with her, while her career as a Huntress had been quite short she had made the most of it and has no regrets. When she heard that Yui had taken in a child when Glynda visited her in the hospital she had decided to move in with the kind scientist as a maid/assistant. While she knows some faunus would look down on her for taking on a subservient position she couldn't care less. She knows how Yui's health is and how troublesome kids can be so she'll repay her savior for all the years she had helped her. Besides, while her teammates often forgot, Lily herself is quite intelligent due to bring tutored by Yui and can help out as a lab assistant.
"If you want I'm sure I can make something good enough for you to get back on duty with enough time," Yui offered.
It would be tricky, very tricky to develop a prosthetic limb good enough for a huntress. While making a prosthetic strong enough and tough enough would be easy, the hardest part would be making sure the connections with Lily's nerves' would be both precise and as fast as a natural flesh and blood connection.
"I would like that," Lily nodded, "but until then I'll help you out. You're not getting rid of me that easily, besides I already told Glynda I'm coming to help, if I ditch now she's going to skin me alive."
Yui on the other hand just sighed, while she can always get Glynda to cave in to her demands the younger faunus girl proved resistant to her whenever they argued, "fine."
As they arrived Lily noticed that there were lights still on coming from the home's first floor. "Yui, is Glynda here for her monthly visit?"
"Hm? Oh, no that's just Shinji."
"He's still awake? It's quite late, I thought he's only seven."
She expected to see a little bit of frustration on her savior and friend's face because of her son staying up too late but instead Yui had a proud smile on her face as she spoke.
"Well I told him a friend of mine is coming over to stay with us for a while and he wanted to cook something up for us when we got here!" Yui smiled with pride, honestly if the Grimm didn't exist she had no doubt her son would be a chef. "And trust me, his cooking is divine. It impressed even Glynda! And you know how high her standards for everything are."
Lily smiled at the woman's proud tone while giving an appreciative nod. While she isn't a bad cook herself the idea of having to eat Yui's cooking as a 'welcome dinner' is something she can't help but find more terrifying than any Grimm. Her friend and savior is many things but a passable cook she isn't and probably never will be.
Bless her for trying though.
As she followed Yui to the front door of the medium sized two story (plus basement) home they stopped at the front door.
"Lily," Yui turned around as they reached the door. "I just want you to know that…well Shinji has never met a faunus before, so if he acts surprised or something similar that's why. Please don't be offended. He has no problems with your people, quite the opposite in fact, he's disgusted by the discrimination but he has never met your kind in person before."
Lily scrunched her brows in confusion. While she was glad that the kid didn't have anything against her kind…"hasn't he met any faunus at school?"
Yui shrugged, "when you were here there wasn't any faunus families living in this neighborhood and that hasn't really changed. He'll probably meet some when he graduates from his current academy and goes to Grissom Academy at the start school this year though."
The now retired Huntress gave a nod in understanding. While she never attended she knew about the local Academy. It was quite small if she remembered correctly and was actually a mixed civilian and Huntsman school, a rarity, due to the low population density in this area of Vale. She did attend Grissom for a few years though, a school dedicated to training future Huntsmen and Huntresses, where students who decided to continue on that path went after graduating from smaller local academies. After Grissom she attended Beacon.
Lily tilted her her head in thought, so it seems the youngest Ikari will be following in her footsteps?
Then she paused just before Yui was about to open the door as she realized something.
She'll be the first faunus the kid will ever meet.
First impressions are important right?
Now she felt nervous, she'd be forming the opinion of this kid on the faunus. And it's not like the kid is just some random child either, she'd be living alongside him for the next several years. She'd be lying too if she said she didn't view Yui as a mother, wouldn't that make Shinji her little brother?
Yui just watched the turmoil on Lily's face with great amusement, understanding what was racing through her mind. Once what she had realised what exactly it is she decided to do when she adopted Shinji she was nervous around her son for the first few days herself.
Having decided she had enough of her fun Yui spoke, "Lily you'll be fine. Shinji is a shy kid but I'm sure you two will get along fine, he's excited to meet you. You'll make a great older sister. I'm sure of it."
She couldn't help but smile at the memory of Shinji's reaction when she told him he'd be getting a big sister. She knew he felt lonely being home alone and with him lacking in friends it was obvious to her that he was looking forward to having another family member around.
"Right," Lily took a deep breath, "you've dealt with Grimm before Lily. Being an elder sister? Piece of cake."
Yui shook her head in amusement as she opened the door and motioned for her daughter figure to come in, "Shinji! Mama's home! Come meet you're older sister!"
Lily looked up as she took off her shoes, Yui already making her way deeper inside, as she heard light footsteps. What she saw was a small kid hiding shyly behind Yui who looked down with an amused smile. He was wearing a red long sleeved shirt, black pajama pants and…black gloves? That was strange. Still, he looked adorable in her opinion with his snow white hair and those big red eyes shining with curiosity and fear.
She gave him a soft smile as she felt more than a little silly inside for being so afraid of meeting him.
"Hi," she greeted him as she kneeled down to his eye level. "I'm Lily Blackwood, a friend of your mother and godmother. I'll be living with you from now on as a…maid I guess you can call it," she said with a cheeky grin. "Your mom told me a lot about you little Shinji. Nice to meet you."
Shinji blinked before taking on a sheepish look, ashamed that he forgot his manners.
"S-Shinji Ikari, n-nice to meet you Miss Blackwood," he greeted her in a shy quiet voice and combined with how he slowly came from behind Yui to give her a shallow bow and his big red doe eyes she decided that she really does have an adorable little brother.
"Don't call me Miss Blackwood," Lily waved him off, "it makes me sound old. Lily, big sis, sis and sister are all fine."
As she said that Shinji gave her a shy smile, her open and friendly attitude reminding him just a little bit of Misato when they first met, "okay…b-big sister."
"Oh aren't you adorable!" Lily couldn't help herself as she gave the boy a hug, causing him to blush as his face was smothered into her chest.
"Lily," Yui chuckled as she watched, "my little Huntsman-to-be needs air."
"Ah," Lily blinked before she pushed Shinji away a bit, "sorry." After she apologized noticed his gloved hands again and took them gently in hers, "why are you wearing gloves? Are you cold? Do you want to borrow my scarf?"
The faunus girl couldn't help but frown at the distinctly uncomfortable expression on the boy's face. Seeing this Yui put a hand on her son's shoulder, she knew why he's behaving this way, even after three years he still had trouble talking about certain things.
Even to Glynda and herself.
"Shinji, she's going to be living with us, she'll be your family from now on. You can't hide that forever," she told him softly.
Shinji pursed his lips but nodded in agreement, while he could hide his scars from his schoolmates he doesn't want to hide anything from people living with him at home. So wordlessly he took off the gloves and rolled up his sleeves, he would've taken off his shirt but he remembered enough of his mother's reaction to his scars all those years ago for him to know that it would be good to reveal things slowly.
Lily stared at the scars on his arms and hands in shock. 'How did he have enough muscle control to even cook with those injuries? Never mind training to be a Huntsman…' While not a medical expert she knew that the internal and nerve damage that the wounds should have caused should have left his hands a shaking wreck.
She looked up at his face to see him looking away from her. She then turned to Yui who just shook her head with a look on her face that told Lily she would tell her everything later, probably when Shinji is asleep. The faunus girl hugged the boy once again, this time tighter than before. She had heard from Glynda that she suspected Yui's son to have been abused as a child but…she never thought it could have been anything like this. It was at this moment that Lily decided that she would treat this little boy as her little brother, even if she's a faunus and he a human.
If anyone were to ever harm him she would show them exactly why she had become so feared during her short career as a Huntress.
Shinji couldn't help but release a groan as he rolled his shoulders.
"You really need to learn how to hold back big sister," Shinji muttered as he sat in his own corner of his mother's basement lab. "You're lucky that my aura is so good at healing me. If Aunty Glynda saw me covered in cuts she'd…I don't know freeze you or something."
He couldn't help but sound unsure as he finished off his mumblings, the way the famous Huntress fought amazed and confused him, her more powerful attacks resembling something more akin to magic than aura or semblance. That said though he has to admit his own knowledge on the matter is still quite limited as he still hasn't awakened his own semblance and his own busy schedule limited his own ability to research the topic.
"Ah ha ha ha," Lily chuckled nervously, recognizing her little brother figure's point. If Glynda discovered how intense the training she put Shinji through on a regular basis is…she shivered at the thought. "Please don't mention what I did to her when she arrives?"
"I won't," Shinji reassured her, "you're helping me get stronger."
Lily nodded as she stood behind Shinji dressed in her white lab coat and black pants. Shinji himself is dressed in much the same manner.
Currently it is late in the afternoon bordering early evening, the two of them having just finished their late lunch which was proceeded by combat training in the yard. With the day free to him Shinji decided to continue working on his weapons. Due to the nature of the job and the enemies they tended to face many Huntsmen and Huntresses have unique and powerful weapons to deal with the Grimm and other foes. Shinji of course will be no exception and decided to design his own equipment.
His corner of the lab had actually been walled off by his mother from the rest of the impressive basement laboratory to give his own workshop some privacy as well as to isolate it from the noise produced by his mother's own work. Lining the walls is all the equipment he could ever need to fabricate any weapon imaginable, from high-tech laser CNC machines, to an old fashioned forge. In the corner are two blast chambers used for conducting the more hazardous tests while a weapon rack hung on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
He turned in his chair to look at all the weapons he had made in the past. All the weapons are well made with the best materials but have none of the gimmicks and special features that are common to weapons wielded by Huntsmen. No transforming into a gun form, no moving parts. Just well-made and solid since he never made them to use in his Huntsman career. No, instead he had made them to try out what kind of melee weapon he found the most comfortable to use. He had made all kinds of melee weapons, a heavy single-headed two-hand battle axe, a long single-single edged glaive, a pair of combat knives and even a katana.
He had chosen them all due to the fact he already had experience wielding those types of weapons as an Evangelion pilot. All the weapons he had made had existed in NERV's arsenal as the Smash Hawk, Sonic Glaive, Progressive Knives and the cancelled Magorox Exterminate Sword respectively. He had tested every weapon type against both Glynda and Lily and he had even participated in a few small tournaments with them at the two older women's suggestion. After all that hands on practice he had finally come to decide what he wants to build.
Short swords.
After trying all kinds of melee weapons he just felt much more comfortable with the shorter knives than any of the longer weapons. Not that surprising for the ex-Third Child considering that of all the weapons he had at his disposal as an Eva pilot the Progressive Knife is something he always had and therefore he had the spent the most amount of time in NERV's simulators training with them. Still, with some of the Grimm being so large he needed longer blade lengths, hence turning the knives into a pair of short swords.
Shinji sighed as he turned away from the weapon rack and back to the computer terminal he's typing on, finishing off programming the tests he's planning to do today.
Lily stood behind him, ready to help him since he does still have the physical body of a child and due to having the brain of one he knew his behaviour isn't exactly like it would be when he would become older. It was an easy thing to notice as he grew up. He's more prone to being tired, he has trouble paying attention to the same thing for long periods of time and, most dangerously when working around machinery, he's more easily distracted.
So he didn't really mind having someone keeping an eye on him.
Lily herself, while not minding being more Shinji's lab assistant than Yui's, wished the young boy would spend more time trying to make friends his age. While she saw the hypocrisy in that statement, she herself didn't make any good friends until she met her team at Beacon, she knew that that wasn't a normal and healthy childhood. She had to stifle a sigh though as she remembered that Shinji would probably have trouble associating with kids his age due to his maturity.
'Hopefully this is just a stage,' she thought to herself. 'Aside from the Schnee girl I'm the youngest person he's close with for aura's sake.'
Shinji stood up from his chair and sent the program he had just finished designing for the two tests he's going to be conducting today off to the lab's main network and made his way to the blast proof chambers. Lily followed him as he pulled out his scroll, a small portable computer with a screen that can extend out of its body the size of a cell phone and went over the test again one more time.
Lily on the other hand, already having done this several times, went over to the panel on the wall and turned on the blast chambers' lights and safety features. Exhaust fans spun to life, emergency power shutdown systems readied and the fire suppression system went online.
"Ready?" Shinji turned to Lily as he queued up the test in blast chamber one.
"Yup," Lily nodded with a smile as she looked past the walls of the blast chamber made of 300 milimetres of clear reinforced bullet-proof plastic. Inside laid a long single-edged sword with the blade facing down. Multiple wires and cabled were connected to the weapon while a large generator hanging from the wall is attached to the weapon's handle. Lily had to admit the idea of using a vibrating blade to increase its cutting power is genius although Shinji still has trouble getting it to work.
Shinji couldn't help but feel a little proud of his prototype, finding the feeling of tinkering with his creations to be somewhat like cooking or playing music in that he's actually creating something. And as someone who felt like he had destroyed billions of lives, even if he had restored them all in the end, he found the feeling of creating something enjoyable.
As for the weapon design itself he had based it once again off of the Progressive Knife, a cutting weapon that used a super high-frequency oscillating motion to increase the weapon's cutting power dramatically. The design had been so effective that all other melee weapons that NERV fielded relied on the same principle. With how hard the bodies of some Grimm can be, like the scorpion like Death Stalkers, or the fact that he may have to deal with enemies as skilled as Huntsmen with weapons of the same quality the ability to cut on an almost molecular level would come in very handy. Sadly though he didn't receive many memories on the design of the Progressive Knives from Dr. Akagi and when his mother was absorbed by Unit-01 the Progressive Knife had still been in the prototype stage.
It also doesn't help that none of them had ever thought of shrinking down the technology to the scale of a human so he had required a lot of help to get the design to the admittedly bulky state it currently is in. So far the weapon resembled a nodachi in size, far cry from the compact length of a short sword he wants.
"Alright," Shinji nodded before he turned away from Lily and to the test chamber itself, his scroll displaying the data from the numerous measuring devices monitoring his prototype. "Eyes and ears."
Lily nodded and both she and Shinji put on a clear protective face mask and hearing protection.
"Progressive blade test, number 57," Shinji announced and the generator hummed to life. "Starting generator…switching on progressive blade."
*screeeeEEEEEEEE!*
The faunus flinched at the very loud high pitched skreetch the blade produced as it moved against the insides of the handle and the molecules in the air vibrated from contact with the blade. She made a note to buy better hearing protection for herself and upgrade the soundproofing in the blast chambers. She watched as the blade started to glow orange as the friction with the air heated the blade.
Shinji gave his older sister figure and combat teacher an apologetic smile, making a note to himself to make her favorite desert as an apology. Using his scroll's connection with the lab equipment he lowered the blade into a block of hardened metal, grateful that the metallurgy is advanced enough in this universe that the steel comprising the blade still held its edge even as it glowed orange. Combined with its ability to conduct his aura he knows that he doesn't have to worry about the blade dulling and warping during use, something that was confirmed once the blade made short work of the test block, showering the test chamber with sparks.
Happy with the results he raised the blade out of the cutting block and shut down the prototype weapon.
Letting out a sigh as she and Shinji took off their hearing protection Lily turned to Shinji.
"Well that turned out well this time right?"
Shinji couldn't help but nod at her with a smile on his face, "it worked! Last time the motor in the handle exploded due to the stress so I have to thank you for helping me refine the design."
"It's fine, what kind of assistant would I be if I didn't help you?" She teased him before massaging the two fluffy ears on the top of head, "as happy as I am to see the design work you still need to work on dampening the noise. You'd incapacitate yourself and your team with that noise, even with all this hearing protection and sound proofing it's still really loud. I know you don't have hearing as sensitive as mine but you can't find it comfortable."
Shinji nodded as he looked at his scroll, "yeah it's still too loud. According to this most of the noise is coming from the handle."
Lily nodded as her mind worked, "probably due to the friction between the tang and the inside of the handle as it moves. Hmmm…the motor could probably use more work too. I think we should try adding electromagnets to lessen the friction between all the moving parts."
"Hmm," Shinji nodded in agreement. "We still need to shrink down the power requirement, the generator is far too large.|
Lily tapped her chin in thought, "the weapon design, by nature, will have a high energy cost. Perhaps try to use dust as an energy source instead?" She gestured to the second test chamber, "you're already trying it with that prototype."
Shinji nodded, it would could be a solution to many of his problems.
Dust, a crystalline energy source that exists on Remnant had proved to be a very good power source. He could use dust ground into powder and placed inside a special cartridge inserted into the bottom of the sword's handles, in a fashion similar to semi and fully-automatic pistol magazines, to power his weapons. Siphoning power to electromagnets shouldn't be more difficult than a bit of simple rewiring.
Shinji then started walking over to the second blast chamber for the last test of the day before he went over his blue-prints to implement the results of the day's tests. He looked at the clock and noticed it's still quite early, perhaps he can start working on the next prototypes before starting on dinner?
Dust really is a miraculous thing as it also has elemental properties like fire and lightning as well which he found interesting and useful. He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him, "do you think I can use powdered ice dust as a coolant?"
"I don't see why not, I don't think I've ever seen someone use it in that way though."
Shinji made a note of that idea on his scroll, both of his weapon designs had problems in that when he used their special feature they would generate so much heat that he risked burning himself if he accidentally touched them. Plus they would damage the holsters if he were store them as they glowed from the heat.
He walked over to the second blast chamber which contained his gun prototype.
Most Huntsmen and Huntresses used weapons that incorporated both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon all in one, usually by transforming from something like a sword to a bazooka.
Yeah, there's a reason why Huntsmen are known to be quite…eccentric.
Shinji on the other hand decided against doing so. His short swords are already quite complex and he didn't think that adding more complexity into the weapon will be good for ease of maintenance, an important factor when spending a lot of time in the field. Besides, as an Eva pilot, a pilot of weapons so complex that NERV themselves barely understood them, the idea of a simple weapon over a complex one struck Shinji as a really good idea.
Sure he'll have to switch weapons but he can live with that.
Lying strapped on a table is a much simpler prototype than his sword. It consisted of a two pronged barrel attached to a cylinder filled with ammunition. It was a newer project than the sword, hence it not even resembling the gun he wishes to build yet.
When he was first coming up with an idea of a ranged weapon his thoughts of course went to the most powerful ranged weapon available to the Evas.
The Positron Canon/Sniper Rifle used during Operation Yashima to snipe the Sixth Angel. Even if he had used the weapon only once it had left a big impression on the young Shinji, it also helped that he viewed that battle as one of the few highlights of his time as an Evangelion pilot, aside from his own burns no one was seriously injured.
As he started to lay down plans to build the weapon though he realized that lugging around such a weapon would be a terrible idea.
Thanks to his mother's knowledge in physics he finally understood how the weapon worked. At first he thought it was just a powerful energy weapon, like a laser or a plasma gun but now he knows just how powerful the weapon was.
The weapon he fired during Operation Yashima shot out positrons, the antimatter equivalent to the electron. Shinji shuddered at the thought of firing antimatter from a gun, a runaway matter-antimatter reaction could cause MASSIVE collateral damage as matter and antimatter annihilate themselves into pure energy and dangerous amounts of radiation.
Even without taking the sheer weight, complexity of the design and difficulty of generating the ridiculous amount of energy required to power the weapon into mind the idea of a positron weapon just isn't practical.
He did not want to give any of his future teammates cancer.
So he had considered the Pallet Rifle, a fully-automatic rifle and the classic bolt-action sniper rifle, which had just been simply up scaled to be an Evangelion weapon. Then he remembered that he needed to be able to quickly change weapons since his swords don't transform.
He could use a handgun, the Evas had those too but Lily and Glynda both reminded him that he may need more range than the short barrels of a handgun can develop.
That was when Shinji remembered a weapon idea that NERV cancelled.
An electromagnetic crossbow.
He had brought the idea up with Lily and she had said that it was an idea worth pursuing. A gun using solid-state electromagnets lining the barrel could accelerate a projectile much faster than even dust propellants could with a given barrel length thereby solving the range issue. With that decided he decided to make the gun a revolver since that is a simpler design with less moving parts. Since he's not relying on dust or a chemical propellant to propel the rounds he can actually place two bullets in one chamber of the cylinder, one behind the other while at the same time enlarging the size of the projectiles. That would allow him to double the ammunition capacity and thereby negating the lower ammo capacity of a revolver's cylinder versus a normal handgun's detachable magazine.
Lily watched the young boy ready his next test for the day and crossed her fingers. Shinji is currently trying a way to use lightning dust to power the rail gun prototype since it would give the weapon more battery life compared to a traditional chemical battery. She had looked over the new design last week and it seemed solid…
So why did she have the feeling it's going to explode?
The Next Day
City of Vale
"Now cheer up little bro," Lily patted Shinji on the head as she walked through the city of Vale. She is currently dressed in the same way she used to when she was an active duty Huntress with black leather shorts, black steel toe combat boots, black kneepads, light grey long sleeved shirt and a olive drab green sleeveless hoodie. She also had a duffel bag thrown over one of her shoulders.
Shinji himself is dressed in a dark violet pullover sweater, grey cargo pants, black combat boots and black fingerless gloves.
Glynda walked beside Shinji, dressed in her usual business like attire with her cape flowing behind her. She looked down at Shinji and raised a brow as she adjusted her glasses.
"Did something happen before I arrived yesterday Lily?"
Lily was about to respond but was interrupted when she heard a sigh coming from Shinji who chose to finally speak after being silent for the last few hours.
"We were testing my latest rail gun prototype Aunty Glynda…but it…exploded," he admitted with a bit of a blush. He had been quite proud of the fact that nothing he had made had failed in a spectacular fashion...until yesterday.
Glynda's eyes widened but calmed herself as she gave her godson a quick visual once over. He looked fine to her, he had no limp to his walk and he's not cradling any part of his body. Also, considering he prefers to wear short sleeved shirts when he's at home she couldn't remember seeing him having any injuries other than his old scars when she arrived at the Ikari home earlier in the morning.
"Are you ok Shinji?" she asked to make sure, her voice stern. Shinji of course got the message loud and clear.
Do. Not. Lie.
"I'm fine! The prototype was destroyed but that's it," he said as quickly as he could without blabbering, damn his godmother is an intimidating woman.
Lily decided to back up her little sibling, she knew all too well how scary Glynda can be. Even today the memory of the look Glynda shot at her when she had been caught stealing from Yui gave her the shivers.
"Now now Glynda, calm down. I don't know if Yui told you but I'm always at the lab standing right beside him, you know I won't let him get hurt." She then turned to Shinji a small smile on her face, "we'll rebuild it better won't we?"
"Right," Shinji said with a grateful smile before turning to his godmother, one of the three people in this new life whose opinion mattered the most to him. "I'll make something that will make you proud."
Idly he noted how he seeks the approval of Yui, Glynda and Lily is somewhat similar to how he wanted to prove his worth to his father but soon killed the notion. Yui may cook worse than Misato, Glynda may scare him from time to time and Lily may push him a tad too hard during training but they all cared for him. No matter how much he thought he didn't deserve that much he knew that all three of them honestly loved him, even if he were to just decide he's not going to be a Huntsman anymore they would still love him.
"Good," she gave a curt nod as she stopped beside a car they had rented for the weekend. "And I'm sure you will. Now come along, we have quite a drive ahead of us."
150km North of Vale's City Limits
"You look surprisingly calm," Lily said to Glynda as the sun started to set. Lily put on her black leather gloves, her weapons of choice. They had armored knuckle guards which when combined with her strength and aura allowed her to punch through a great many many things.
Glynda watched her scroll which is connected to the drones discreetly following Shinji during this little survival exercise. Her and Lily are currently watching over the section of forest where Shinji is somewhere surviving from on top of a hill where they had made camp.
"This isn't too different from the initiation ceremony at Beacon. We've both been through it Lily," Glynda replied in a perfectly even tone.
Lily sighed, wishing she can be as composed as her blond friend as she ran her fingers through her hair. "He's only ten!"
Glynda took a sideways glance at her friend, seeing her nervously readjusting her iconic gloves before turning back to her scroll's screen. "I've cleared this area of the more dangerous Grimm before I arrived at Yui's yesterday. You have taught him well for the past few years and I have been training him piecemeal since he was four. Even by the standards of Huntsmen-in-training he is skilled for his age."
"I know!" Lily sighed again, "I know but I still worry. He's the son of the woman I serve...he's my protégé...he's the little brother I've never had." She took a deep breath, "I can't help but worry."
A small amused smile graced Glynda's face, "why don't you join Beacon as a part of the teaching staff with me? You seem to be quite fond of children."
"Ha ha," the dog faunus chuckled flatly, "no. I can't even stay calm when one kid is in a forest with just a few Grimm. Granted he's more than just a student to me but…no." She raised her artificial leg and gave out a quick kick before returning to a standing position, "besides at the rate Yui is going with improving this leg I should be able to be back on duty soon."
"Oh?" Glynda raised a brow. In her opinion the world would be a safer place with a huntress of Lily's caliber back in action, "that's good to hear. I'm sure you're eager to be back in the fight."
Lily shrugged, "I'll stay for a bit and help out for a few years and continue helping Yui, enjoy training Shinji, see how far he can go. When he goes off for Beacon, and I have no doubt he will, I'll go back to active duty."
"Enjoying your life then?" Glynda smiled.
"Yeah," Lily nodded. "It's nice, enjoying the peace we fight for."
Glynda nodded in understanding, she knew Lily viewed Yui and vice-versa, "you've earned that happiness Lily." She gestured to her scroll, "do you want to watch?"
Lily shook her head as she started to play with the microfilament wires that could be deployed from her glove's finger tips. "No I'll just work myself up and get even more nervous."
Glynda sighed. "I'm nervous too Lily," she admitted, "…every time I see him I still see the four year old boy who cried when he saw Yui and called her Mama. Whenever Yui tells me about his marks at school I still remember the scared and confused kid with no memory of anything. Every time I see him hurt I still remember that I'm the one who set him on this path."
"…Then how can you be so calm?"
Lily turned to Glynda and blue and brown eyes met a pair of emerald green.
"Because he trusts us to be his teachers."
"And we have to trust him as our student huh?" Lily shook her head, "I'm not cut out for teaching at Beacon. So what's happening to my protégé now?"
Glynda calmly turned to her scroll, "he's being chased by a pair of Beowolves."
Shinji gasped for air as he ran through the forest's underbrush, behind him growling in what he assumes is anger or hunger or perhaps both are a pair of Grimm, the monsters that rule a majority of the surface of the world of Remnant. Specifically they are a pair of Beowolves, a species of Grimm resembling werewolves. They had pitch black fur that seemed to drink in the moonlight, glowing red eyes, bony white protrusions running down their arms and back, white claws and teeth and a bone white mask covering the upper portion of their head. Itreminded Shinji a tad bit of the Angels and how many of them had bone white face plates.
As he sped through the forest he cursed his short legs.
Luckily he has something he never had in his old life.
Aura, the manifestation of the soul, an important tool to any Huntsman and is integral in fighting and pushing back the Grimm who possess no soul and therefore no Aura of their own. The effects of Aura differ from person-to-person but the most common ability, to the point that to Shinji's knowledge the only common factor is that Aura acts as a defense in a similar way to a personal shield. Actually Shinji would compare it as somewhat similar to the AT Fields he had become familiar with. That said the field produced by one's Aura covers the body closely, just enough to protect one's clothing, while an AT Field can be projected a fair bit away from the Eva. Also unlike an AT Field the field produced by his Aura will deplete his Aura while an Eva usually doesn't have to worry about that so he has to be more careful with taking his hits.
Hence him running away, he's not really afraid of the Beowolves, after fighting the god-like Angels how can anything ever compare?
No, he needs space to fight them, he needs to get to a clearing as the undergrowth in this part of the forest is just too thick for him to maneuver. While he's not scared of them Shinji's not stupid, he has no experience fighting the Grimm, the reason he had asked for Glynda and Lily to take him out on this exercise is to give him a taste of fighting Grimm.
No, he doesn't fear the Grimm but he will respect them. He still remembers his disastrous first battle against an Angel and he would prefer NOT to repeat that debacle again, thank you very much.
He cursed his small legs as he ran in search of the clearing he remembered finding when he was searching for clean water. His own Aura has the ability to boost his own body's physical abilities by channeling it into the respective body parts so he channeled Aura into his legs causing them to glow a soft violet. He really didn't want to tap into his Aura before the fight with the two Beowolves since he's still so young and inexperienced his Aura usage when boosting his body isn't very efficient, draining his reserves significantly.
'Note to self Shinji, start training with your Aura more before you decide to go on another camping trip,' he thought to himself as he reached the clearing and he slid and spun around to face his pursuers.
Reaching to his side he drew two short swords, they are perfectly identical with a single edge.
He spun them in his hands into a reverse grip.
The blades, other than being very well made from the best materials aren't anything special, no gimmicks, no oscillating blades. No, the last thing he wants is to bring a pair of unfinished prototypes against Grimm. These swords are from the wall rack in his basement though they weren't special he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at their quality as the steel of the blades reflected the moon and the stars. They are sharp, and sturdy and had proven themselves in two smaller tournaments where they had clashed against weapons far superior and had never cracked, never broken.
And soon enough they will taste the Grimm.
The ex-Third Child of NERV readied himself as he stood in the clearing, basking in the bright moonlight. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down, he knew from experience in his last war that he needed an even head.
No more freaking out.
No more whining.
No more running.
The two werewolf like creatures entered the clearing and for the first time Shinji finally got a good look at them since he no longer had to run away from them. They were quite a bit larger than himself but that's only because of his 10 year old body, they were around the size of a grown man. Beowolves grew both in strength and size with age and Shinji could tell these two were on the younger side of the spectrum.
"I have to take the initiative," Shinji murmured to himself as he ran with all his might, pumping his aura into his legs, and charged the Beowulf on his left. When he got into range he bent down, avoiding the two claws trying to swipe at him and rammed his shoulder, also reinforcing it with his aura, into the beast's gut.
Making it do nothing but take two stumbling steps back.
'Oh fu-!' Shinji's mental curse was interrupted when the other Beowulf seemed to have finally woken up and swiped at him, sending him flying. He flew a few meters back but his training, from both NERV, Lily and Glynda kicked in and he oriented his self to land upright.
When he hit the ground he dropped to all fours, using the two swords to slow and stop himself by stabbing them into the dirt.
Once he had stopped, Shinji bit back a curse. That had been incredibly stupid, he had forgotten that even with his aura he's still quite small and that the Grimm have superhuman strength. 'No more trying to out power them when I'm tiny,' he thought as he watched the two Beowolves. He frowned as he felt his aura levels drop dramatically. While he's grateful that his Aura had protected him from the sharp bone white claws digging into and gouging out his flesh he had preferred not to get hit at all. His aura, while great at boosting his speed and strength and even healing him it absolutely sucked at defending him. Lily and Glynda had both commented with frowns that his aura drained a lot more when it took a hit compared to other people of his age that they had seen in the past.
*RAAAAH!*
Both of the monsters roared as they charged him and Shinji blessed that his enemies are at least stupid. Instead of working to surround and corner him they just charged straight at him, side by side.
Nodding to himself when he came up with a plan he ran forward again but refrained from using his aura. When white teeth went down to bite him he rolled under it and continued his role to go under and between the legs of the right most Beowulf. Not giving either of them any time to respond he got up from his roll and spun around and charged one of the werewolf like monsters' back.
"HAAAh!" he roared as he leaped onto the beast's back and drove the two blades down. He also used his aura to boost his arms, he's not going to take the risk he had earlier, he also made a note to work out more once he had finally finished his swords.
The two blades sank deep into the monster's back and the beast roared in pain while it tried to shake him off. He planted his feet onto the monster to steady himself and leaped up, the shock of the swords suddenly being taken out of it stunning the Grimm. He used his aura to jump higher and he came down towards the beast from several meters in the air.
When he had almost reached the Beowulf's neck he spun down, switching to a conventional grip and cut through the beast's neck with both swords, momentum of the fall adding to his strength.
*thump!*
He landed in a crouch at the same time as the monster's head fell to the grassy forest floor and Shinji had to immediately jumped back to dodge another swipe from the second Grimm. He gave it all his attention, not needing to see the Grimm he had killed dissolve to confirm the kill, he had cut off its head. Grimm biology may be strange but, just like almost anything else, they died when they lost his head.
All thoughts halted when he saw the last Beowulf rear up and get ready to howl.
He needed to stop it from calling for reinforcements.
Pumping a lot of his left over aura into his left arm he threw the sword in his left hand. The blade flew straight and true, slamming into the throat of the Grimm, the force of the blade jerking its head back.
Not giving it a moment to breath he sheathed the sword in his right hand and rushed towards the Beowulf currently choking on steel and using its bent knees for leverage he grabbed the blade with both hands. Using the leverage of the blade he pushed himself up a bit and grabbed on to the Beowolf's neck with his right hand and with his left arm he took the sword it pulled it out of the monster.
*grah!*
The ex-Evangelion pilot heard the Grimm cry out in pain but he paid it no mind as he stabbed the sword back into the Grimm's throat.
And he did it again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again until the monster fell backwards, dead.
*Hah* *hah* *hah* Shinji panted as he crouched over his fallen foe like a hawk over the dead body of its prey.
As Shinji caught his breath, the Beowolf dissolving bellow him, he went over himself. His entire right arm is sore and he's pretty sure it's going to stay that way as his low aura levels meant he couldn't focus on healing it. Either way he looked forward to the promised two days of rest and sightseeing in the city with his godmother, he'd never actually spent that much time in the city before.
What troubled him though is the sorry state his Aura levels are at. He wasn't that surprised the hit he took ate up the amount of aura it did, his aura's defensive flaws are something he learned about a while ago but what did bother him is how much of his reserves were taken up when he boosted himself.
He really needs to practice with that, build up his efficiency, making himself stronger with less aura.
Still...
He pulled out the sword in his left hand and hopped off the Beowolf before taking out his other sword. He examined them with pride, they had performed well for such simple things. It excited him and motivated him to finish his actual weapons, by his best estimate it should be another four months of testing and prototyping before he can finally build them.
He sheathed his weapons and pulled out his scroll and checked the time.
"Getting late," he murmured to himself as he turned around to the direction of Glynda and Lily's camp. He really looked forward to a good meal, something to drink and a comfy sleeping bag right now. "Time to head back."
"How did he do?" Lily asked nervously when she heard the sound of combat from Glynda's scroll stop.
"He did fine," Glynda reassured with a sigh. "Still I see places where he can improve. He tended to fight with head on charges too often, he never flanked around the Grimm even once during the fight. He did attack one from behind and inflicted major damage before landing a decisive blow but that was the only time he managed to get behind one. His aura levels are also quite low. He needs to improve his use of his aura to strengthen himself. We also need to work on his evasion, he took one hit and the aura drain is quite...worrisome."
Lily blinked in surprise as she walked over to their campsite and away from the edge of the cliff. With Shinji fine she felt like a weight over her had been lifted and now she can start on the meal her victorious protege had earned in her opinion.
Still..."He doesn't sound like he did fine Glynda."
Glynda turned to her, "don't get me wrong Lily, for one so young he performed extremely well. He may have gotten hit once but he dodged numerous other blows and once he did get hit he did not panic. Even as he should have felt his aura levels dip he stayed calm. He tried to gain control of the engagement from the beginning and only failed in doing so due to the limit of his young body. The blow he used to kill the first Beowold was also quite impressive, creative and quite effective."
The faunus girl shook her head, "the more you love something the harder you are on it, is that it?"
Glynda looked back over the cliff's edge, "I have seen numerous young men and women die young, their potential snuffed out. I refuse to let that happen to the small boy I had placed on the path of a huntsman all those years ago."
"It's his decision Glynda, you may have taught him about this way of life but he would have stepped on it eventually. People like you, like me, people view us as heroes, he would have learned about Huntsmen and Huntresses soon enough. Besides you've seen him train, how he acts, he's a natural fit."
"That he does," Glynda nodded before a small frown graced her beautiful face. 'That's what worries me so much. He is selfless and brave...but for some reason I have a bad feeling about his future.' She clenched her hands into fists as she brooded over the way her godson acted, something about the way he behaved sometimes worried her but she couldn't quite place what it was and it frustrated her. She shook her head clear of dark thoughts. Even though Lily will be heading back to Yui's tommorrow afternoon she herself has reserved the next two days for her to spend time with Shinji, showing him around Veil.
She really looked forward to that.
City of Vale
A twelve year old Blake Belladona sat on the swing of a local park as she waited for some of her fellow White Fang members. She had come here with a small team to perform some light reconnaissance, trying to find future targets for some raids the White Fang wanted to do. She sat at the park waiting for her teammates, she had tried to find her mark with an older member as her partner but they had discovered that the information was faulty. Her partner had left her at the park looking for something Adam had trusted her with doing. Blake wasn't too sure what it was about but she did overhear her murmur something.
Something about one of the Schnee corporation's bes researchers being in the city. She herself doubted the information was wholly correct, all the information for today's activities had come from the same informant after all.
So here she sat, lightly swinging, waiting for her teammates, her long black hair lightly blowing in the gentle breeze. She wore a grey cardigan, white shirt and black pants with a black bow on the top of her head, hiding her cat like ears, a sign of her faunus ancestry from the human masses.
*snap!* *thud*
"Ah!" A cry of pain behind her made her jump in surprise and she turned around and searched for the source.
And she found it in the form of a young boy, younger than herself and human. He wore a white shirt with long blue sleeves and blue jeans and he had bright white hair.
For a moment indecision hit her, she had been told to not attract attention...but wouldn't not doing anything attract more attention? So she made her choice and ran up to the human boy, besides she couldn't in good conscience just leave someone who could be hurt.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she reached to boy and she blinked in surprise, he was covered in leaves and a few twigs, she determined he had fallen from the tree. What made her pause though is the site of a small bird cradled gently in one of his arms.
"I-I'm fine," he assured her before he murmured something in a language she couldn't understand, "kuso...itei..."
'An eastern language?' she wondered but her thoughts froze when he looked up at her.
And amber yellow met ruby red.
NEXT ON SNPR - CHAPTER 1: ONE HELL OF A NIGHT
AN
So here we are, the end of the prologues!
So first thing first, an announcement for this story:
This story will be a Shinji x Yang x Blake pairing.
So now that's out of the way I hope you guys liked this chapter. Here I wanted to show both Shinji working and developing the weapons he'll be using for the rest of the series as well as how he becomes as good as he will be when he gets to Beacon.
How do you guys like Lily? When I came up with her I realized that Glynda wouldn't be able to teach Shinji on a regular basis due to her job so I created an older sister type character that could teach him how to fight everyday. She'll be appearing from time to time, again she won't be teaching at Beacon, and will of course be kicking ass. Her weapons are based off of the gloves and wires that Walter uses in the series "Hellsing: Ultimate" for those wondering.
I also wanted to show a bit more of Shinji and Glynda's relationship since when he goes to Beacon she can't treat him like family and risk treating him with favoratism while at school.
The next chapter will have Shinji finally forging the swords that appeared in the beginning of the first part of the prologue, Arondight and Harpe as well as his revolver Yashima.
Most importantly is the incident that will lead to Shinji's enrollment into Beacon two years early, just like Ruby.
Anyway "The Angel Slaying King" will be the next update followed by either "Toy Soldier" or "An Angel and His Wagtails."
See you all later!